said its executives and labor bosses will begin talks next week on the future of the carmaker's German plants as they seek to recover from a costly diesel emissions scandal.
Industrial relations at Volkswagen's core VW brand hit a low in April when works council boss Bernd Osterloh accused VW chief Herbert Diess of betraying workers and trying to use "Dieselgate" as a pretext for job cuts.
But two weeks after Volkswagen and the IG Metall union struck a pay deal for the firm's 120,000 workers in western Germany, top managers and labor leaders on Tuesday signaled further rapprochement at a critical time for Europe's biggest automaker.
After a gathering of more than 20,000 workers at the main Wolfsburg plant, Volkswagen's brand management and works council issued a joint statement saying they had "reached a common understanding about the starting situation and the challenges" created by the emissions crisis.
Pressure has mounted to make cuts at Volkswagen's core operations in Germany since the revelations almost nine months ago that the company had fitted some of its models with "cheat" devices which enabled them to pass emissions tests.
This has led to U.S. regulatory bodies seeking billions in damages and fines from the German company.
"We must raise productivity and profitability and cut costs," VW human resources chief Karlheinz Blessing said. "Then, VW can and will remain a strong engine for employment."
"This (rebuilding of VW) requires a huge effort from the company and its workforces," Osterloh said. "VW will only be able to offer safe jobs over the long term if we now take bold decisions."
Volkswagen plunged to a record loss last year after setting aside 16.2 billion euros ($18.4 billion) to cover the costs of the emissions scandal, but still faces potential U.S. Justice Department fines and questions over who was responsible.
Story continues
Next week it will present a new business plan aimed at improving accountability and decentralizing product planning and sales operations, with greater investment in electric cars and mobility services.
Bilateral talks on the future of VW's German factories, which labor wants to set fixed targets and quotas for products, output and investments, should be concluded by the autumn, VW said.
($1 = 0.8805 euros)
(Editing by Alexander Smith)
MONTREAL (Reuters) - Madrid's Anti-Doping Laboratory was suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Monday after failing to comply with international standards. WADA said in a statement that the decision was a direct result of the WADA Foundation Boards March 19 decision to declare the Spanish Anti-Doping Agency (AEPSAD) non-compliant. The suspension, which takes effect immediately, prohibits the laboratory from carrying out any WADA-related anti-doping activities including all analyses of urine and blood samples. However, WADA said that Spain's other laboratory in Barcelona (Fundacio Institut Mar D'Investigacions Mediques - IMIM) has maintained its accreditation. The Madrid laboratory has 21 days to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. (Editing by Ken Ferris)
Dan Meropol is addicted to caffeine and allergic to alarm clocks. While millions like him reach for a mug of coffee, this 25-year-old entrepreneur has a different approach: He relies on a toothbrush to get his morning rush. Within minutes of waking up, Meropol says, his heart is beating faster and his pupils are dilated thanks to the power of his Power Toothpaste, a dental product that contains 106 milligrams of caffeine per milliliter. Though theres no scientific study to prove it, Meropol says that the boost hits him faster than a cup of java because hes ingesting it through his gums, making mornings a less painful experience.
While Americans have been swilling coffee for centuries, caffeinated products are becoming increasingly vital for some who see the minutes spent brewing and sipping old-fashioned joe as a waste of time. Thats generating a new kind of buzz for caffeine-infused consumables, including addict-friendly, bracelet-like skin patches as well as chewable coffee and coffee gum. Too hard-core? Try caffeinated gummy bears, granola bars, alcohol, popcorn and even hot sauce. Sales of caffeinated products totaled $2.48 billion last year, up from $1.78 in 2012, according to Euromonitor International.
American culture emphasizes productivity at all costs, and that requires us to always be up and available. Krystal DCosta, anthropologist
So why all the jitters? Blame time-strapped workaholics. American culture emphasizes productivity at all costs, and that requires us to always be up and available, anthropologist Krystal DCosta says. She believes consumable caffeine products are a cultural response to people struggling with increasing workloads. And DCosta may be on to something: A fifth of Americans say theyre putting in more than 60 hours a week at work, according to a new Gallup Poll.
There are also other evolving tastes at work here. While a whopping 85 percent of Americans reach for a caffeinated beverage every day, according to a report published in Elseviers Food and Chemical Toxicology journal, some health-conscious millennials seeking a similar buzz without the crash or sugar intake are turning to caffeine vaporizers. Because the caffeine enters the system through inhalation, which some people claim they feel immediately, the experience offers customers greater control of their intake, says Matt Lang, marketing director for Eagle Energy, which has sold 50,000 caffeinated vapes since its launch last year.
Story continues
New consumables often spell regulatory concerns, and caffeine-infused products, which mostly use a mixture of synthetic caffeine and plant extracts, including guarana, are no exception. In 2013, the Food and Drug Administration started investigating the safety of certain products, which led to the fizzling out of items like Wrigley Alert Energy Caffeine Gum, Wired Waffles and the AeroLife Energy inhaler. Last year, the caffeinated peanut butter company Steem was reprimanded by the FDA for noncompliance because it hadnt provided any safety research for caffeine-infused products that might appeal to children. Regulators continue to investigate new companies.
Despite the negative publicity, several new startups are still looking to innovate the coffee industry, which was valued at $48 billion last year and has seen a 54 percent boost in revenue since 2012, according to the Specialty Coffee Association of America. To cash in, theyre looking to see what could be popular, and what consumers will try, says Catherine Tucker, author of Coffee Culture and a professor of anthropology at the University of Florida. But Tucker doubts that consumables will replace traditional coffee culture. After all, its a simple way to stay awake and keep working, one that rarely leads to immediate health deterioration, she says, adding that places like Starbucks offer a social outlet and are easily accessible. History is also not in innovations favor: Coffee drinking has always been cyclical, Tucker says, with people eventually returning to it no matter the alternative. DCosta agrees, saying the ritualistic experience of consuming coffee cannot be undone with toothpaste.
Although coffee demand remains high, production in Brazil which supplies a third of the worlds coffee has declined. Experts also predict a worldwide bean shortage, and ICE Futures expects a coffee price hike by 2018, both of which could help give caffeine-infused consumables one hell of an industry-affirming jolt.
Related Articles
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has yet to join the rest of her Democratic colleagues in formally backing Hillary Clinton for President. But by many measures, she has become Clintons unofficial basher in chief by going after Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
The former Harvard Law professor and Obama administration consumer financial affairs advocate repeatedly turned down the pleas of liberal Democrats to seek the presidency herself this year, and pretty much stayed on the sidelines while Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont challenged Clinton for the Democratic nomination.
Related: Why Sanders Supporters Might Not Switch Their Votes
However, the one-term Democratic senator appeared to some to be auditioning for the second spot on the Democratic ticket in the last several months by lashing out at Trump as a money grubber, misogynist, racist, bully and first-class narcissist. Lets be honest Donald Trump is a loser, Warren wrote on her Facebook page in late March, which is the ultimate insult to the billionaire businessman.
Now that Clinton, the former secretary of state, has clinched her partys presidential nomination, there is renewed speculation that Clinton and Warren might team up for an historic all-female national ticket.
Democratic Path to Nomination | InsideGov
According to a spate of media reports, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has begun quietly promoting Warren as Clintons running mate as a way of helping to unify the party after a hard fought, increasingly bitter primary contest between Clinton and Sanders.
Politico and other publications were speculating about a Clinton-Warren ticket because Reid had previously argued strenuously against Clinton choosing as her running mate any sitting Democratic senator from a state with a GOP governor who would almost certainly appoint a Republican to fill the vacancy.
Related: A Clinton-Warren Ticket Would Be Both Historic and Risky
Story continues
While Warrens vacated seat would eventually be filled by the winner of a special election, there would be no guarantee that another Democratic would be elected to the seat. If we have a Republican governor in any of those states the answer is not only no, but hell no, Reid said in an MSNBC interview last month. I would do whatever I can and I think most of my Democratic colleagues here would say the same thing.
Reids harsh decree appeared to take Warren out of the running for vice president. Republican governor Charlie Baker would almost certainly replace her with a Republican. Reids dictum also presumably would apply to Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, who are both from states with GOP governors.
However, something changed in recent weeks. The Boston Globe reported that Reid has retained Mark Elias, an election lawyer and general counsel to the Clinton campaign, to explore ways to work within Massachusetts law to limit the number of days a Republican appointee could serve in the Senate before a special election is held to replace Warren. A source close to Reid told Politico, He thinks Warren is a good choice to unify the party.
Forging an all-female Democratic presidential ticket no doubt would be historic, but it also carries inherent risks. The fusion of Clinton and Warren would help to energize the party and patch over differences between moderates and liberals that have festered throughout Sanderss aggressive challenge to Clinton for the nomination. Moreover, Warren, who pioneered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for the Obama administration, and is a major scold of big banks, could protect Clinton from liberal criticism that she was too cozy with Wall Street.
Related: Why a Clinton-Warren Ticket Just Might Work
However, some experts say there is no way to know in advance how voters would respond to the arrangement. Neither Clinton nor Warren is considered a natural-born politician, and either might struggle at first to choreograph campaign strategy against Trump and his GOP running mate.
Nathan L. Gonzales of the Rothenberg and Gonzales Political Report, said Monday, Its difficult to evaluate whether some voters would be turned off by an all-female ticket because Clinton is a uniquely polarizing individual and there are a lot of reasons voters might oppose her besides her sex. Whats more, voters will focus far more on the two presidential candidates than their running mates, he said. It will come down to the two nominees Clinton and Trump, he said.
Clinton and her advisers have struggled for months to devise strategies to combat Trump and his vicious attacks a trait that served him well in emerging from a crowded Republican field. Clinton has said often that she refuses to get down in the mud with Trump. Yet she needed a way to counter his blistering attacks on her integrity (calling her Crooked Hillary) and revelations about her use of a private email server during her four years as secretary of state, in contravention of federal guidelines.
Related: Some Democrats Pray for Clintons Indictment as Sanders Pushes On
Last week, she may have found her voice in a foreign policy speech in California in which she declared that Trump was unprepared and unfit to be commander in chief, and that electing him would be a historic mistake.
Meanwhile, in an escalating battle of tweets, Warren has repeatedly denounced Trump as a bully who has built his campaign on racism, sexism, and xenophobia.
Count all his failed businesses, she said in her Facebook attack. See how he kept his fathers empire afloat by cheating people with scams like Trump University and by using strategic corporate bankruptcy (excuse me, bankruptcies) to skip out on debt. Listen to the experts whove concluded hes so bad at business that he might have more money today if hed put his entire inheritance into an index fund and just left it alone.
Trump, of course, gives as good as he gets, and has repeatedly dismissed the Massachusetts Democrat as Goofy Elizabeth and Pocahontas. He uses the name Pocahontas to invoke a controversy that arose during her 2012 Senate race against Republican Scott Brown. Warren had claimed in a law directory before teaching at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard that she was of Native American descent. As it turned out, that connection was hard to prove conclusively, and Brown accused Warren of misrepresenting her as a minority to get ahead in the academic world.
Related: We Now Know Hillary Lied Multiple Times About Her Email Server
Trump tweeted at one point that, I find it offensive that Goofy Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to as Pocahontas, pretended to be Native American to get in Harvard. Warren tweeted back that Trump needed to get his facts straight, and that she never attended Harvard as a student, but was a graduate of the University of Houston and Rutgers.
She followed up by tweeting, If @realDonaldTrump means my job at Harvard, he can ask Charlies Fried, Solicitor General for Reagan. He says loud & clear thats a lie.
A minor correction was made to this story at 11:30 am on June 7, 2016.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Its become a political cliche: if XYZ becomes the U.S. president, those opposed to his or her policies will move to Canada. With two polarizing candidates presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and his Democratic counterpart, Hillary Clinton set to clash in November, Air Canada is trying to cash in on the platitude.
In an advertisement posted to YouTube earlier this month, an actor dressed in Air Canada gear says, It seems like a lot of you are talking about moving up here to Canada. Its very flattering and we certainly have the room. But before you sell your house and book a one way ticket, maybe it makes sense to check us out first. Check out the full advertisement below.
The ad then urges Americans to test drive Canada to see if they like the country, and to determine if they find the metric system agreeable, before they move to the Great White North.
The spot has a receptive audience. According to MarketWatch, after Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton each won seven state primaries on Super Tuesday in March, searches for Move to Canada spiked to their highest level ever. In addition, a March Ipsos poll showed 19 percent of Americans would consider moving to Canada if Trump wins, and 15 percent would think about heading north if Clinton takes the White House.
Photo credit: Air Canada
By Will Boggs MD (Reuters Health) An experimental wearable artificial kidney shows promise as a substitute for dialysis machines, researchers report. More than 2 million people worldwide with kidney failure require chronic dialysis. They must follow strict limitations as to what they eat and drink. Longer, more frequent dialysis would offer better outcomes, but current dialysis machines arent portable. They limit patients freedom of movement and ability to engage in the normal activities of daily living. As a physician who cares for patients with kidney disease, it is my hope that in the future we have something better to offer than we do today for dialysis therapy, Dr. Jonathan Himmelfarb from the University of Washington in Seattle told Reuters Health. He would like to see a treatment that can enhance quality of life, allow for more autonomy and opportunity for full rehabilitation, and possibly to extend life as well, compared to todays available therapeutic options. We owe it to our patients to do everything we can to make this a reality, Himmelfarb said by email. He and his colleagues created a continuously operating wearable artificial kidney that was effective in earlier pilot studies where treatment was limited to 8 hours. Now they report the results of a 24-hour test of the wearable artificial kidney in 11 patients with end-stage kidney disease who had been on dialysis for an average of 15 months. Five patients completed the planned 24-hour treatment period, during which the device performed as expected. There were challenges along the way, though. One patient had to stop treatment because of clotting of the blood circuit. In two patients, the machines needed new batteries before the end of the 24 hours. Three patients had to interrupt treatment to have gas bubbles removed from the blood circuit. Because of a variety of device-related technical problems, the trial was stopped early, the authors reported in JCI Insight. There were no serious complications, and all subjects were able to walk around freely while receiving artificial kidney treatment. The patients reported satisfaction with the few side effects, the convenience and flexibility of treatment, the discomfort associated with treatment, and the freedom allowed by the wearable artificial kidney. The researchers say the technical problems will need to be addressed through device redesign and refinement before further long-term studies can be done. We would hope to be able to conduct a follow-up trial beginning sometime in the next several years, Dr. Himmelfarb said. It will be a number of years before such a treatment can be proven safe and effective, and be readily available to patients living with kidney disease. Dr. Karin Gerritsen and Dr. Jaap Joles from University Medical Center Utrecht in The Netherlands, who recently reviewed the current status of wearable kidney development, told Reuters Health by email, "Wearable and portable artificial kidneys are certainly on the horizon, but it will still take a few years before they become widely available. The device may be a very good alternative for daily (nighttime) hemodialysis while operating in a bedside mode, they said. This would already be a great step forward compared to conventional in-(clinic) hemodialysis three times a week. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/28i4Yvc JCI Insight, online June 2, 2016.
TUSTIN, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 6, 2016) - Premier Holding Corporation (OTCQB: PRHL) today announces that its subsidiary, The Power Company (TPC), introduces an expanded feature of its unique internet-based Energy Services Portal (ESP), dubbed "Power Ambassador" which is designed to make it extremely easy for a referral agent or any affiliate marketing entity to sell deregulated power over the internet.
Developed in partnership with J. Joseph Inc., The Power Ambassador feature will make it extremely intuitive for independent agents to sign up and promote deregulated power on social media such as Facebook and Instagram, and email. Their referral is seamlessly directed to a special page on The Power Company's website where they can easily view their options and select their desired plan. The sale will then be validated, compliance confirmed, and the transaction completed in mere minutes. The agent has complete visibility and a personal dashboard to monitor their sales results.
Power Ambassador is part of an upgrade that will also further enhance dashboard, statistical reporting, compliance, and management reports for these new sales avenues. This enhancement to this state-of-the-art sales portal improves this tool which is designed to revolutionize the energy reseller business and allow PRHL's subsidiaries to capture a larger part of each energy transaction.
By providing this unique sales portal to the industry, which the company has been using internally, it is believed that resellers will find that this takes a transaction which normally takes hours, sometimes days, to complete and allows it to happen in minutes in many cases.
Chairman and CEO of Premier, Randall Letcavage, said: "As you read this release, understand that there are thousands of resellers in the energy market; by providing the Energy Services Portal to these resellers, we will capture a piece of each transaction and eventually our goal is to become the industry platform that brings compliance, efficiency, execution tracking, and accounting, and thereby gain a larger percentage of these resellers utilizing ESP."
Story continues
About Premier Holding Corporation
The Company provides financial support and management expertise, which includes access to capital, financing, legal, insurance, mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and management strategies. The Company's mission is to acquire clean technology companies and/or green products and services that are accretive and that can be seamlessly integrated and utilize the overall economics of such products and services for the benefit of its customers. Through subsidiaries we offer renewable energy production, energy efficiency products and services to commercial middle-market companies, Fortune 500 brands, developers and management companies of large-scale residential developments. Additional integrated business offerings include direct energy services as power purchase agreements (PPAs), energy financing and leasing of generation programs in urban and rural real estate environments, lighting efficiency systems and refrigeration systems. For more information, visit PRHL Investors Relations: www.prhlcorp.com.
About J. Joseph Inc.
J. Joseph Inc. ("JJI") incorporated in 1999 provides technology services and management consulting to individuals, non-profits, small to mid-sized business, multinational organizations and Government. JJI has evolved into an agile development organization providing Internet-based solutions, mobile / tablet based applications, and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. Its client relationships extends over multiple years and projects based on the fact JJI believes understanding their clients' values, goals and needs are the basis of any relationship or project.
Website: http://jjoseph.net
email: contact@jjoseph.net
About The Power Company (TPC)
The Power Company USA, LLC is a professional energy services firm offering brokerage and consulting services with a progressive and unique perspective on energy management based in Chicago, Illinois. Their mission is to assist companies in reducing and managing their electricity expenses. Their diverse portfolio of energy providers, transparent pricing, and unparalleled industry experience offers customers the freedom of exploring all of their options for choosing the best plan and provider. Operating in all currently deregulated states, including Texas, New York and Illinois, TPC and its partners/suppliers have provided an invaluable service to its clients. Their team has consulted and/or serviced such prominent companies, organizations and governmental entities such as: The City of Dallas, Ralcorp, Choice Hotels, Apex Hospital Systems, Mercedes Dealerships, Leona's Restaurant Group, McDonald's, and many others. Because of the large amount of business transacted and their long-standing relationships with Regional Energy Suppliers, TPC is assured to provide the most competitive prices in the industry. For more information, visit: www.thepowercompany.com
Premier Holding Corp. Safe Harbor
This press release contains certain statements that may include "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are often identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes," "expects," "anticipate," "optimistic," "intend," "will" or other similar expressions. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including those discussed in the Company's periodic reports that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on its website at http://www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these factors. Other than as required under applicable securities laws, the Company does not assume a duty to update these forward-looking statements.
Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3017669
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed support for the enactment this year of a worldwide climate accord reached in Paris, the White House said on Tuesday. "I believe what Prime Minister Modi has said about this is that India shares the objective that the United States has laid out, which is to see the agreement come into force this year," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a news briefing after President Barack Obama met with Modi at the White House. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
Often theres a fine line between fascinating and repulsive as Kanye West proves. Within the gray area, popping pimples falls somewhere between Yeezus and pulling gunk out of your shower drain. Check out Sandra Lee, MD, a dermatologist in Upland, CA, who goes by the alias Dr. Pimple Popper for proof. Her YouTube and Instagram accounts each have over 1 million followers, who watch her videos of the cheesy, lumpy, pussy, gritty, and goopy substances she extracts from the faces of her patients.
Dr. Lee has tapped into an audience that cant get enough of our urge to purge whether were vicariously enjoying it on Reddit or doing DIY dermatology in real life. I think watching popping is similar to seeing a scary movie or riding a roller coaster for some, she says. You get a rush of euphoria and excitement.
The problem with popping, squeezing, and picking is that we know we can do some serious damage and make problems even worse. Yet we just cant keep our hands off. So before you start digging into your skin problems, you should learn whats happening to your brain chemistry and how youre damaging the structure of your skin.
Why We're So Hands-On With Our Skin
When you have an Everest-sized spot, the reason you have to pick it, to paraphrase George Mallory, is that its there. In the moment, people feel like they have to do something, says Amy Wechsler, MD, a dermatologist and psychiatrist in New York City. The occasional popper or picker thinks theyre making themselves better they think theyre helping. In other words, were trying to be problem-solvers or more like control freaks, Dr. Wechsler says. The immediate gratification of seeing stuff ejected from your pores feels productive.
The satisfaction of extracting a blemish releases dopamine, which activates the brains reward center, explains Heather Berlin, MD, a neuroscientist and assistant professor of psychiatry at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Theres a cycle of anxiety or arousal before the act and a sense of relief after, she says. So theres a physical release of pressure from the extracted blackhead or squeezed whitehead, as well as a mental sense of calm and pleasure. Its hard to fight that combo.
Story continues
Some people go beyond the occasional pop and develop serious habits. There is a spectrum of behavior that ranges from normal urges to pick to disorders like acne excoriee and Skin-Picking Disorder, which are related to OCD, Dr. Berlin says. When the behavior is interfering with your daily life your job, socializing, relationships, health, sleeping youve veered into clinical territory.
Often a lack of impulse control is to blame. Dr. Berlin explains that those dealing with OCD may have an underactive prefrontal cortex, which serves as the brakes for the brain. If your prefrontal cortex is slow to react, your brain has a harder time resisting impulses so much so that some people cant pass a mirror without looking for something to pop.
Most of the time the act is so pleasurable, that there is no impulse to stop, Dr. Berlin says. If popping feels good and youre seeing results, why would you stop? The people who feel guilty are the ones who think the behavior is abnormal thats who comes in to see me, she says.
Illustrated by Norah Stone.
When Popping Becomes A Problem
Picking isnt a crime. In fact, Dr. Berlin says its an absolutely normal behavior. (From an evolutionary-biology standpoint, we want to remove bumps from our skin because they could be parasites or infections, she explains.) But the problem is that we treat popping and squeezing like we do watching Gilmore Girls its a challenge to stop doing it.
The issue arises when you keep picking and ultimately cause more harm than good, says Joshua Zeichner, MD, director of cosmetic and clinical research in dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital. The problem is that when you dont see the result you want, its easy to keep going and thats when the damage happens."
Worst-case scenario: You cause an open wound or infection. Ive seen this many times, Dr. Wechsler says. Now, youve extended your healing time and set yourself up for scarring and more breakouts its a vicious cycle.
Like the proverbial iceberg, most of the blemish is below the surface. The clogging and inflammation thats causing the pain and swelling lies deep inside the pore. Squeezing can cause more inflammation, push dirt and debris further down, and rupture the follicle youre causing collateral damage, Dr. Zeichner says. The effects of squeezing are the worst when youre not getting the contents out of the skin, so you squeeze more.
Inflammation, from the original breakout or from squeezing, causes damage and scarring. Your body creates a patch to address any skin damage, Dr. Zeichner explains. You produce new collagen, but its not organized and smooth its thick and disordered. It doesnt look like normal skin, and looks like a bump or depression. Too much damage disrupts the connections between skin cells, he says, so the body tries to reconnect them with scar tissue.
In the attempt to shield your skin from more damage, your body also creates pigment in response to inflammation much like you tan after UV exposure, but in a more localized way. If you have more red pigment in your skin, youll have more residual redness, Dr. Lee says. If you have a darker skin tone, youre more at risk for post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. But theres no way to predict the exact way your skin will respond. The only way to avoid scars is to be hands-off.
Illustrated by Norah Stone.
How To Handle Your Popping Urges
My job is to give you nothing to pick, Dr. Wechsler says. So your best coping mechanism is to see a professional to figure out how to clear up your skin. But even Kendall Jenner has the occasional zit crisis, so it takes some effort to avoid Pimple-gate.
Throw out your magnifying mirror, Dr. Wechsler advises. Nobody looks normal under a magnifying mirror, and you dont need to get that close. This way, youre less likely to find "faults" to pick at.
Dr. Wechsler also suggests some behavior modification limiting time in the bathroom and putting Post-its on the mirror that say Hands off or Leave it alone. For more extreme measures, Dr. Berlin suggests treating a popping problem the way you might treat a smoking habit wear a rubber band around your wrist and snap it when you have the urge, or reward yourself for every day you go without popping.
I tell patients to apply a spot-treatment cream, or cover the area with a Band-Aid when they are at home to remind them not to pick, Dr. Lee says.
Simple distraction also helps. Celebrity aesthetician Renee Rouleau sells a toy that busies your hands and prevents you from poking at your face. Other derms suggest worry stones or Silly Putty as diversions. But perhaps the most satisfying skin-popping surrogate is found at Staples take out your frustration on a roll of bubble wrap.
For those who really need a fix, there are always Dr. Pimple Poppers videos. Sometimes watching the video can bring the same satisfaction as actually popping, Dr. Berlin says. Dr. Lee says you dont have to be a popper to benefit from her cathartic videos. I think my videos make a lot of people happy in general, she says.
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
How To Bust Cellulite In Your Bathroom
I Told My Dates I Get Botox & This Is What Happened
Watch Dr. Pimple Popper Fearlessly Remove A Massive Back Lipoma
Hillary Clinton has become the first female to clinch the nomination of a major political party, shattering a glass ceiling she only cracked in 2008 and inching closer to gender equality that was only a dream for early womens rights activists like Susan B. Anthony.
Its really emotional, Clinton told reporters in California on Monday before the Associated Press reported that she had secured enough support to win the nomination.
But few, it seems, fully appreciate what was happening.
Clinton, a former Secretary of State, Senator and First Lady, has already been a trailblazer over four decades in public life, and her nomination has long been one of the better bets in American politics. Clintons boosters and Clinton herself made her credentials the focus of their pitch, and those watching her campaign often forgot that they were, perhaps, watching history when it came to gender. Unlike Barack Obamas campaign in 2008, which was heralded as a potential turning point in the countrys long history of racism, few treated Clintons ascent to this role as a corollary on sexism.
For one, women are no longer newcomers to presidential politics. Before the rise of Obama in 2007, Clinton was a likely Democratic nominee. Younger voters remember Sarah Palins turn as a vice-presidential nominee in 2008, and their parents recall Geraldine Ferraros turn in 1984; a woman leader just seems obvious to them. Others, such as Carol Moseley Braun in 2004, Michele Bachmann in 2012 and Carly Fiorina in 2016, have made unsuccessful attempts before, and the novelty simply is not there for Clinton.
At the same time, the nations former top diplomat is being overshadowed by the drama of her rival Senator Bernie Sanders, who is promising to continue his fight against Clinton all the way to the convention in Philadelphia at the end of July. Clinton has won 3 million more votes, earned more pledged delegates and recruited more superdelegates only to have Sanders loyal supporters insist that their mascot could still pull this off in an intra-party fight. Hes urging them on.
Story continues
The AP, which has tracked delegates awarded through voting and superdelegates secured through wooing, published its tally just after 8 p.m. Monday that all but ensured the results for Tuesdays six states were moot.
Clinton allies warn that the moment must not get lost in the maelstrom of a presidential election. This is a monumental moment in our nations history and in the progressive movement, said Marcy Stech, communications director for EMILYs List, a group that backs female candidates who support abortion rights. For the next couple days, we need to take a step back. Our country has never done this before.
Bernies going to do what hes going to do, she added. The bottom line is Hillary Clinton is going to be the nominee.
Sanders told the AP he disagreed with its math and said he will continue campaigning against Clinton, arguing he still has seven weeks to win over the superdelegates the party insiders who have known Clinton for years he needs if he is to become the partys nominee. Our goal is to get as many delegates as we possibly can, Sanders told reporters on Monday as he campaigned on the eve of the California primary. So much for a graceful exit.
That finality has set in for Clintons allies, but not for Sanders. Many people have waited a long time for a woman to be major party nominee.Seems wrong to ignore historic moment bc male competitor says to, tweeted Neera Tanden, a Clinton supporter and president of the Center for American Progress.
Polling shows that Americans are not clamoring to elect a female President based solely on her gender. While 8 in 10 Americans believe the country is ready for a woman President, according to a CNN poll, just 31% say its a very important priority. In other words, its cool if it happens, but it is not the most pressing qualification for the next Commander in Chief.
Younger voters believe especially that a woman will become President in their lifetimes and the nomination of a woman is not the milestone that it might have been even eight years ago. Electing the nations first black President, it seems, blunted the knife of history.
Many older voters and Democrats who want to see a woman President do not believe they must vote for Clinton. From Iowa to California, they have repeated an oft-heard refrain: We want a woman president, but we want the right woman. Most of my girlfriends dont want Hillary and they say shes just not the right woman for the job, said Caroline Motschman, a Sanders supporter who attended a rally late last month in San Diego. There will be a right woman at some point, but lets not jump the gun and just vote for her just because shes a woman. Some point to those like Elizabeth Warren or Kirsten Gillibrand.
Sanders is leaning on that as a tacit permission for his supporters to work against Clintons nomination. In recent weeks Sanders has sharpened his attacks against Clinton, criticizing Donald Trump and the Clinton Foundation in the same breath. He has also insisted that he cannot ask his supporters to back Clinton without some kinds of compromises that would remake the Democratic Party in his progressive image.
The idea that I can snap my fingers and have millions of supporters march in line that is not what our effort is about, Sanders told CNN on Sunday.
Clintons allies are starting to show exasperation with Sanders stubbornness. But rules are rules, and the math is the math, Clintons former spokesman turned House of Cards producer Jay Carson wrote in the New York Times. Senator Sanders is not going to be the Democratic nominee. Theres staying in a race to cross the finish line with your head held high, and then theres participating in or condoning language and actions that will damage the nominee and help Mr. Trump.
Sanders shrugged off a reporters question on Monday about whether he was being sexist by spoiling a historic moment for Clinton. So if Hillary Clinton runs for President, your point is that it is sexist for any man to oppose her? Sanders scoffed. I dont think it is sexist. He has insisted the superdelegates dont count until the convention, a point he repeated to the AP even after the news organization made clear the math is not on his side.
Clinton has at times struggled when she discusses her gender. During her 2008 campaign, her advisers urged her to not run solely as a woman and to downplay her gender. Pollster Mark Penn went so far as to urge her to offset her gender by being more hawkish. Clinton heeded her familys longtime advisers and pitched herself as a tough-nosed pragmatist who had seen history up close. Voters respected it, but instead seemed to be opting for Obama, who channeled optimism and potential in his own history-making campaign that seldom mentioned his race. Then, she shifted late in the primary to seem to embrace her own gender, bringing her mother and daughter out on the campaign trail for a pre-Christmas 2007 pitch. It was discordant for the less-engaged public.
Eight years later, Clinton started her campaign by overcorrecting at times, talking about her role as grandmother and policies to help families. She seemed to find even footing in time, though. Yes, she was doing roundtables with working mothers. But she was also talking about the night she sat across from Obama as the Navy SEALs took out Osama bin Laden.
Clintons treatment of her gender and because of it have been meticulously analyzed. Was she too shrill? Was she too hawkish? Was she too maternal?
Lost in all the punditry is this reality: Clintons late mother, Dorothy Rodham, was born on the same day Congress passed the 19th Amendment. Clintons mother was born into a country where she could not vote, let alone imagine her daughter being the nominee of a major political party. Clintons mother, were she still alive, would have celebrated her 97th birthday last week. And Clinton ended her previous campaign, with her family at her side, almost eight years ago to the day she won this time. This is personal for Clinton, for sure.
Asked by reporters on Monday about the historical significance of the nomination, Clinton said she was moved by the moment in history, and several times tried to push her comments on it to Tuesdays rally on the Brooklyn waterfront.
I do think it will make a very big difference for a father or a mother to be able to look at their daughter, just like they can look at their son and say, You can be anything you want to be in this country, including President of the United States, Clinton said, allowing herself a brief moment of reflection at a senior center in Compton, Calif. She quickly pulled herself together and got back on script.
Ill have something to say tomorrow night, she said and turned back to Trump. Even if I werent running, even if I werent about to become the nominee, I would be making the case against Donald Trump. And with that, she was back to glad-handing. History and its authors would have to be addressed later.
If you only read one thing: Sorry, Bernieits over. Hillary Clinton clinched the Democratic presidential nomination late Monday as the Associated Press, which tracks delegates, found sufficient support among superdelegates to give her the requisite 2,383 delegates to the convention. Sanders supporters have argued that since those superdelegate votes wont actually be cast until Philadelphia that they shouldnt be counted. Thats hogwash. Democrats, unlike Republicans, do not have strong faithless-delegate rules, so to discount superdelegates, one would also have to discount pledged delegates until they vote (since they could theoretically support anyone at the convention). Thats not how the system works. Clinton is the presumptive nominee and Sanders and his supporters will have to come to terms with that in the coming weeks as days, while watching the entire Democratic Establishment rush to embrace her.
Hillary Clinton made history late Monday becoming the first woman to win a major party presidential nomination almost eight years to the day after conceding the 2008 primary to Barack Obama. The announcement came a bit sooner than shed have liked, coming a day before the actual anniversary and before millions of voters cast ballots in California, New Jersey, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota. Facing a tight race in the Golden State in particular, the outcome of these races wont affect her nomination, but will determine Sanders capacity to fight for his agenda at the convention. It remains to be seen what the call will do to turnout in those statesand whether it will affect the vote.
Donald Trumps assault against an American judge continued Monday as he ordered campaign surrogates to keep up the fight against the jurist presiding over a lawsuit against him over Trump University. Trumps comments on a conference call overruled those off campaign aides in a late-Sunday memo to his supporters, and came as top Republicans are weighing how long they can stand by Trump given is remarks. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested this controversy could be the breaking point for many in the GOP, while Maine Sen. Susan Collins wont rule out voting for Clinton as a result.
Story continues
Obama prepares to endorse Clinton. Marco Rubio, who endorsed Trump, says he warned against his tendencies. And why its easy to forget Clinton is making history.
Here are your must-reads:
Must Reads
Why Its Easy To Forget Hillary Clinton Is Making History
The first female major party nominee may not be getting the attention it deserves, TIMEs Sam Frizell and Philip Elliott write
Susan Collins Says Shes Not Yet Ready to Back Donald Trump
GOP lawmaker tells TIMEs Jay Newton-Small shes concerned by Trumps comments
Trump Orders Surrogates to Intensify Criticism of Judge
Countermands staff instructions [Bloomberg]
Democrats Jump on Allies of Donald Trump in Judge Dispute
See opening for down-ballot races [New York Times]
AP: Hillary Clinton Clinches the Democratic Nomination
Like everything about her campaign, it was harder than expected [TIME]
Paul Ryan Starts Unveiling Plan for Better GOP
Still lacks buy-in from presumptive party nominee [USA Today]
Sound Off
This is the most un-American thing from a politician since Joe McCarthy. If anybody was looking for an off-ramp, this is probably it, he added. Therell come a time when the love of country will trump hatred of Hillary. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham on Trump to the New York Times
After the Democratic voters in New Jersey and California weigh in tomorrow, you know, we may have a better sense of where the race is headed. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest Monday on the prospect of an Obama endorsement of Clinton this week
Bits and Bites
Arnold Schwarzenegger Calls Judge in Trump University Case an American Hero [TIME]
Could California Primary Turnout Dip Due to Hillary Clinton Call? [Sacramento Bee]
That Judge Attacked by Donald Trump? Hes Faced a Lot Worse [New York Times]
Donald Trump Says He Broke Glass Ceiling for Women in Construction Industry [New York Times]
State Dept.: 75-Year Wait for Clinton Aide Emails [CNN]
Rubio on Trump: I Warned This Was Going to Happen [WFTV]
Now that Hillary Clinton has clinched the Democratic nomination, at least numerically, the race for president now comes down to the former Secretary of State, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump orGary Johnson?
There are plenty of other third-party candidates itching to sit in the Oval Office, but former New Mexico Governor Johnson, the nominee of the Libertarian Party and a recovering Republican, has an edge over the rest of those on the fringe of the presidential contest. He will be on the ballot in 32 states and is working to get on the rest; he has been here before, having captured one percent of the general election vote in 2012; and he is at long last starting to get noticed.
Related: Cant vote for Trump or Clinton? Here Are Some Third Party Options
Johnsons positions havent changed much since his last run, but in this bizarre election year, there is a factor that could work in Johnsons favor: Bernie Sanders and his frenzy of followers.
Johnson and Sanders are on many of the same pages: Both support a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, both are pro-choice, both support equal pay for equal work, both vigorously back same-sex marriage, both want to keep America out of foreign conflicts, both are for criminal justice reform and both would decriminalize marijuana. In fact, Johnson may be more vocal about what he calls the failed War on Drugs than Sanders, and he opposes mandatory minimum sentencing that has removed common-sense discretion from judges and prosecutors.
Although Sanders has been called soft on gun control by Clinton and others, Johnson is a stronger supporter of the Second Amendment. And his fiscal positions are considerably more conservative and somewhat less realistic -- than those of Sanders.
Government spending
Johnsons website says that by the time President Obama leaves office, the national debt will be $20 trillion. That is not just obscene, it is unsustainable and arguably the single greatest threat to our national security, his position statement says. Johnson blames both Republicans and Democrats for years of fiscal irresponsibility and calls balancing the budget without cutting military spending and reforming entitlements fantasy.
Story continues
Taxes
Johnson told Judy Woodruff on PBS NewsHour last night that he would eliminate income taxes, eliminate corporate taxes, abolish the IRS and implement a federal consumption tax. If we abolish corporate tax in this country, I believe tens of millions of jobs would get created. Imagine not having to comply with the IRS, he said.
Related: Why a Third-Party Run Could Hurt Clinton More Than Trump
His website reflects the Libertarian rejection of Big Government and its influence on the lives of everyday Americans. Tax laws have been used not just as a means to collect needed revenues, but as a weapon with which to manipulate our behavior, create and destroy industries and fulfill politicians dreams of social engineering, Johnsons position statement says.
A Smaller Washington
Besides eliminating the IRS, Johnson wants to shut down the National Security Agency (NSA), whose domestic spying is anathema to most libertarians both inside and outside the party. And like a lot of conservatives, he favors shuttering the Department of Education.
Unlike Senator Sanders, who has excited many of his younger followers with a call for free college education, Johnson doesnt believe that the federal government should have a role in education he thinks schooling at all levels should be in state and local hands. That includes getting government out of the business of guaranteeing student loans.
Related: Get Ready for a Third Party Run from Bernie Sanders
Only chance of we have of winning, Johnson told Fox News, is to be in the presidential debates. To be included in the debates, Johnson and running mate William Weld, former governor of Massachusetts, must be getting at least 15 percent in the polls, according to the rules of the Presidential Debate Commission.
In the Real Clear Politics average of national polls, Johnson takes 8.5 percent of the vote, vs. 39 percent for Clinton and 38 percent for Trump. But a new poll by Investors Business Daily gives Johnson 11 percent.
Should Johnson actually get on Americas radar screen and snatch a place in the debates, he would make what has been a wildly unconventional election season even more so because the 63-year-old, pot-smoking candidate (he promises to give up weed if elected) is in many ways less mainstream than Sanders or Trump.
I believe in free markets. The model of the future should be Uber-everything, Johnson told satirist Samantha Bee in a refreshingly wacky interview on Full Frontal, Uber-accountant, Uber-lawyer, Uber-doctor. Responded Bee: I cant wait to pay surge pricing mid-colonoscopy.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
With California voters heading to the polls, among the topics that have been unleashed in one of the last primary races of the political season is whether the state's long-term drought is real. On May 27, Donald Trump asserted that "there is no drought" in the state, despite some of the driest years on record by the state's emergency water regulations. "They turn the water out into the ocean," Trump added.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee's comments were quickly mocked by Democratic contender Bernie Sanders. "You see, we don't fully appreciate the genius of Donald Trump, who knows more than all the people of California, knows more than all the scientists," the Vermont senator told a crowd of supporters two days later in Visalia, Calif. "[Trump] knows there is no drought. Not to mention, and I love this one, that Trump has concluded that climate change itself is a hoax," Sanders said. This past Saturday, meanwhile, Hilary Clinton in a campaign stop in central California steered clear of commenting on calls to increase pumping, saying generally of the drought, "We're going to get to work on water." She's previously said, "I'm not going to prejudge anything."
Read More: Trump Campaign Moves Event from Trump Tower After Scrutiny
But while it's inevitable that residents, farmers, environmentalists, regulators and other residents would battle over how to best allocate water in the state, it's simplyto assert, as Trump has done, that there is no drought. His statement attempts to controvert more than 120 years of record-keeping, confirming that recent precipitation has dropped to record lows.
So why would a political candidate such as Trump engage in both drought - and climate - denial? There are deep psychological processes at play, asserts Renee Lertzman, an environmental consultant, expert on psychosocial studies and author of the book Environmental Melancholia: Psychoanalytic Dimensions of Engagement. It should be noted that Trump has not benefited from large contributions from the oil and gas companies (which in many cases fund and support research and lobbying that denies the existence of climate change.) According to Open Secrets, Trump has received $12,833 in contributions from those sectors as of mid-May of this year, while Sanders has received $81,674 and Clinton $332,739.
Story continues
Read More: Meryl Streep Dressed Up As Donald Trump at New York Gala
On a psychological level, however, Trump's denial of drought and climate-change science is of a piece with his overall campaign promise to "Make America Great Again." To many Americans, environmental regulations - especially directives to to use less, conserve more - are a threat to their way of life and may make them nostalgic for a time when things, whether natural resources or jobs, were felt to be in more abundance. Trump's message speaks not only to his supporters' sense that things they valued have been lost but also to "anticipatory loss," says Lertzman.
"It has to do with fear of change," she says, "the perception that I'm going to be asked to or forced to change who I am, to let go of what is cherished and what I've worked very hard for." In this framework, denial that the earth's climate is changing is not so much a logical determination but an emotional response driven by avoidance. "How we relate to energy and water and nature is part of who we are. It's how I dwell in my home, the way I use heat and light and water, how I get around, drive and fly, what I buy. These are all things that shape our identity. So there's an understandable anxiety around this that includes both actual loss and what we imagine is coming down the line.
"Make America Great Again is an expression of a collective anxiety and mourning. It's about longing for a time when there was more nature and their kids could run around until dark and not have a problem. They are longing for their childhood when they felt more free." If that "longing doesn't get processed, it can get co-opted [by politicians]," says Lertzman.
Read More: Roseanne Barr on Trump "Playing the Heel for Hillary," Pot and Being a Farmer
It also makes sense, she says, that Trump would embrace science denial given the fact that his temperament is so driven by emotion and gut reactions.
"What we see with denial is that it's very clearly a response to managing unwanted information," she says. "It's an incredibly, I hate to say it, primitive level of human development. For example, if you are trying to tell your child something that they don't want to hear, they just say, 'No, no, no.' And that's exactly what we see happening. It's really at that level of saying, 'No, I'm choosing to not engage with this because it's unwanted, because it challenges my worldview. I'm simply going to just reject it and it's something that as humans we all have a capacity to do. It's not new."
"The problem with anxiety is that it lights up the brain in very particular ways. Unfortunately, it tends to kind of short circuit sand impair our cognitive abilities, our ability to have foresight and to reason, to problem solve and have ingenuity and creativity, all of those things we need right now. These are all largely associated with the prefrontal cortex, which gets impaired when our anxiety is activated."
Lertzman isn't denying the affect of propaganda from the extractive industries that obfuscates and creates confusion around the reality of climate change. But she thinks that it gives too much power to politicians, doesn't see individual responses and doesn't recognize that it's a social phenomenon: "The point is that we as citizens have to collude with this propaganda, we have to join in. [Propaganda] fulfill a function for people. It allows them to not have to engage."
Even most people who believe in climate-change science - and take regular steps to conserve natural resources - engage in some form of denial at times, whether it's the one time out of 10 they don't recycle something, or it's people who regularly take business trips by air while at the same time driving a hybrid car.
Many people who care about the environment fall short of their conservation goals not just because of the time commitment involved but often because they "feel powerless or overwhelmed that their impact is limited, when it's beyond the scale of what they can do. We as humans have enormous capacity to manage distressing and difficult information in creative ways. These tend to be referred to as defense mechanisms. We all do this to cope. It's part of being human."
Where the environmental movement has faltered is in failing to address the psychological component of science denial and the root causes of fear and anxiety Thinking informed largely by emotion often can't be countered successfully with logic. "Climate change is very scary. No one wants to deal with it. We have to find a way to acknowledge this. Just using alarming facts and figures and saying, 'Get with the program' is going to create more resistance."
That's why in her work - Lertzman advises a number of governmental agencies on how to implement conservation measures - she looks at ways to engage people in conversations that take into account their emotions and their values. "It's less about pushing information and nagging. The best way to address denial is to meet it on the same emotional level as the resistance to engage with it. We need leadership that comes out and says, 'Yeah, you know what, these are really complicated and intense issues.' And here is what we need to do about it. We need politicians who can just say that very clearly."
Read More: Even Jerry Springer Thinks Donald Trump's Campaign Is Getting Too Outrageous
Philippe Dauman has perhaps one chance to save his job as Viacom chairman, president and CEO and it begins right about now.
On Tuesday, Dauman and George Abrams will present their case to a Massachusetts court, asking a judge to overturn their removals last month from the Sumner M. Redstone Trust and the board of directors of National Amusements, Inc., the parent company of both Viacom and CBS.
The two are essentially pushing the legal system to reconsider previous decisions that have upheld 93-year-old Redstones mental competency, and thus his ability to oust Dauman and Abrams in the first place.
Also Read: Philippe Dauman Bracing for Life After Sumner Redstone and Viacom, Insider Says
The stakes couldnt really be higher, as Dauman (and the rest of the Viacom board, which includes Abrams) could be removed from his actual job(s) any day now, unless theyre able to override Redstones legal ability to make business decisions.
On Monday, Redstone raised the stakes again by using National Amusements to rewrite Viacoms bylaws to block Daumans announced plans to sell a stake in Paramount Pictures by requiring a unanimous vote of the board something thats unlikely with both Redstone and his daughter, Shari Redstone, still on the board and opposed to a sale.
Even if the court managed to rule against Redstone, the aging mogul has other ways that he can upset the leadership at Viacom.
Also Read: Philippe Dauman: Sumner Redstone Can't 'Speak, Stand, Walk, Eat, Write or Read'
As TheWrap previously reported, the National Amusements board which is currently made up of just four members, including Redstone and Shari has the authority to add or subtract members from Viacoms board and could potentially replace all of them.
The National Amusements board also controls Daumans director-level role at Viacom, and its unlikely you can be chairman of the board of directors if youre not actually a director.
The ex-Redstone confidants believe that Shari is really the one behind their removals and theyre not alone in that line of thinking. Even those who share the Redstone surname are crossing familial lines.
Story continues
Also Read: Sumner Redstone Marks 93rd Birthday by Announcing He's Still the Man
Last week, Sumners granddaughter, Keryn Redstone, accused her aunt Shari of kidnapping and brainwashing the aging media mogul. Dauman, who has the support of much of the Viacom board, has publicly accused Shari of manipulation, a charge that Sumners ex-girlfriend Manuela Herzer has also thrown around numerous times.
Not only do Dauman and Abrams assert that Redstone cant speak, stand, walk, eat, write or read anymore, they also think hes going to die soon. And thats what makes the timeline here so important, the two contend.
(Ironically or perhaps not Dauman and Abrams used to fall on the opposite side of this competency argument, when they were serving as family trustees and Dauman additionally acted as Redstones healthcare agent. Now theyre just scrambling to stay employed.)
Also Read: Sumner Redstone Steps Up Legal Attacks on Philippe Dauman's 'Self-Interested' Claims
Unfortunately for Dauman and Abrams, Redstone has been found legally competent each time thats been challenged to date. In a statement released Friday by the moguls family representatives, Dr. James Spar of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA said that Redstone affirmed his decision about the execs and was lucid enough to do so.
Spar wrote that Redstone appeared well dressed and groomed, alert and in no distress, and quite cooperative with the examination.
Of course, Dauman and Abrams are displeased by the fact that they werent given an opportunity to cross-examine the chairman emeritus. Today is their opportunity to possibly do just that.
Related stories from TheWrap:
Sumner Redstone Ousted Philippe Dauman Because 'He's Done a Bad Job Running Viacom'
Sumner Redstone Ex Wants New Competency Trial in California
Sumner Redstone's Granddaughter Blasts Shari Redstone for Media Mogul 'Kidnap,' 'Brainwash'
Philippe Dauman Bracing for Life After Sumner Redstone and Viacom, Insider Says
From ELLE
Nobody likes to fail. But women take failure particularly hard-studies have shown that women are so averse to failure that they don't apply for jobs unless they feel 100 percent qualified. This hesitancy is understandable: When they do fail, women are judged more harshly than their male counterparts. Men, on the other hand, throw veritable failure parties; they're more likely to embrace "what doesn't kill you " and plow ahead.
This week on ELLE.com, we've asked women to share their stories of failure. Not the kind of failure that led to some great business idea-just failure, plain and simple. We hope to shift the narrative about failure (it's ok! it happens!), or, at the very least, chip away at the idea that failure should be shameful or a secret. So here's to failing, loudly and proudly.
Freshman year of high school, I received the first failing grade of my life, just two weeks into a journalism class. One of our very first assignments-to sell ads to local businesses in my Ohio town-had proved impossible for me. A combination of extreme shyness and lack of a driver's license meant that, when it came time to tally up our ad sales, I came to class empty-handed. Days after the D appeared on my desk, I dropped the class-no matter that the assignment was only a tiny portion of our overall evaluation and no measure of my journalistic potential. It seemed to me that the only way to protect my potential future as a writer was to avoid all outwards signs of failure.
At 15, I had unwittingly joined the ranks of women proving an unfortunate but increasingly substantiated truth: That women are more influenced by the negative feedback we receive and struggle to bounce back from failure. Not only do women hold themselves to higher standards in contexts where we perceive a male advantage, but we also tend to take failures personally. Often, low self-confidence and negative stereotypes about women's abilities create a vortex pulling women's achievement lower.
Story continues
Women Hold Themselves to Higher Standards and Are More Quickly Discouraged
When Harvard economics professor Claudia Goldin set out to determine why male economics majors outnumber women by almost 3:1, she discovered that women who earn below an A in introductory economics classes are far more likely than their male peers to switch majors. According to her analysis, women who earned B's were half as likely as those who earned A's to stick with the major. But their male classmates weren't nearly so dissuaded: a man who earned a B was just as likely to major in economics as a man who earned an A. "Women are less likely to major in the field if in their first course they don't do super well," Goldin said in an interview. Another study shows that women don't process feedback the same way as men; high-achieving women in particular derive less confidence from positive feedback than men of the same caliber, and negative feedback takes a greater emotional toll.
I had unwittingly joined the ranks of women proving an unfortunate but increasingly substantiated truth: that women are more influenced by the negative feedback we receive and struggle to bounce back from failure.
Women in STEM disciplines have also been documented to hold themselves to higher standards than their male peers: a study by Stanford sociology professor Shelley Correll found that when women believe they are being tested for an ability for which males are more naturally gifted (in the case of her study, a fictitious "contrast sensitivity" skill participants were told men excelled in), they believe they have to earn a score of at least 89 percent to be successful. Men, meanwhile, said they would be happy with 79 percent or better. (The test, scored out of 100, consisted of 20 questions that pretended to measure "contrast sensitivity.") When women are put in situations where they are aware of negative stereotypes about their gender, they become more anxious about failing and proving those stereotypes right.
And if Women Don't Succeed, They Take it Personally
Part of the reason that women hold themselves to these higher standards may be that we believe there's something innately wrong with us when we fail. Stanford psychology professor Carol Dweck says in her book Mindset that women who struggle with failure are falling prey to "fixed mindsets": A student with a fixed mindset might look at a poor grade as a criticism of her core self, rather than a reflection of her particular effort or skills. Those with "growth mindsets," Dweck writes, are able to accept failure more readily, since they view their traits as constantly under development. A poor grade doesn't preclude a better grade in the future.
The way women are raised makes them more likely to think of their qualities as innate.
Studies have shown that fixed mindsets can be particularly toxic for women, because negative stereotypes about their abilities can fuel a feedback loop of poor self-confidence. According to one study women with a "growth mindset" were able to persist with a calculus class at an elite university, while women with a "fixed mindset" struggled, and perceived each setback or critical comment as an attack on their innate abilities.
Women are disproportionately harmed by fixed mindsets, and they're also more likely to have them. Dweck and the associate director of Columbia Business School's Motivation Science Center, Heidi Halvorson, argue that the way women are raised makes them more likely to think of their qualities as innate. Boys tend to be less compliant in the classroom, acting out more frequently and receiving a heavy inoculating dose of criticism. And the different ways in which boys and girls are encouraged or criticized in school can affect their overall sense of self and ability. One study has shown that teachers tend to provide boys effort-based feedback when they fail and ability-based feedback when they succeed. Girls, meanwhile, are more likely to receive feedback that their failures were based on ability while their successes were due to good behavior.
Women Can Be So Afraid of Failure That They're Disinclined to Even Try
All this isn't really so much of a problem in school. Girls consistently outperform boys in the classroom all the way up college graduation, earning better grades and going to college in greater numbers. It's when women enter the workforce that this perfectionism erodes their achievement. Whereas men will apply for jobs they feel 60 percent qualified for, women only throw their names into the ring when they feel 100 percent qualified. According to one survey, the second greatest reason why women don't apply for jobs is because they don't want to put themselves in a position to fail.
Perhaps that looming fear of failure is a factor explaining the growing body of scientific evidence that women are less likely to engage in competitive or difficult tasks than men when given the option to opt-out. Rather than eagerly searching for opportunities to challenge themselves, women tend to be anchored in their comfort zones, in large part, researchers say, because they don't believe they can succeed. It's a self-enforcing mechanism: when women opt out of the competition even before it begins, men end up dominating the leaderboards.
The second greatest reason why women don't apply for jobs is because they don't want to put themselves in a position to fail.
In a now-famous 2007 study, economics professors Muriel Niederle at Stanford and Lise Vesterlund at the University of Pittsburg had groups of two men and two women perform simple addition problems. In the first round, participants were paid a flat 50 cents per correct answer; in the second round, they competed tournament style, so that the highest scorer in the group would be awarded $2 per correct question, while the other participants would win nothing. Then, the participants were told they'd be able to choose the compensation scheme. Almost three-quarters of the men chose the tournament format, while only 35 percent of the women did so, even though the genders performed at about the same level in both schemes.
Part of that gender gap might just come down to a matter of taste. "Men just enjoy the competition a lot more," Vesterlund said in an interview.. "It's a lot like if you ask women and men to describe how they perceive a negotiation, the perception of a negotiation is completely different. Men will look at a negotiation as the equivalent of going to a ballgame, while women categorize it like going to a dentist." But she says that confidence also plays an important role. It's not that women are under-confident; rather, men are just staggeringly overconfident-in the study, three-quarters of the men predicted they were the best in their group of four, while 43 percent of women thought so. When women thought they had a better shot at succeeding, they were more likely to give competition a try.
And Yet Another Way in Which the Deck Is Stacked
Of course, an aversion to failure isn't just in women's heads. In many cases, a woman's mistakes are judged more harshly than those of their male counterparts. Victoria Brescoll, a social psychologist at Yale, has found that leaders are viewed as less competent when they make mistakes in "gender-incongruent" fields. A female police chief, for example, is judged more harshly after a mistake than a male chief who made the same mistake. (The findings went both ways: male nurses, for example, can expect more flak for their mistakes, too.) For women already fighting an uphill battle against gender stereotypes, failure can really be more costly.
Fortunately, a growing awareness of all this has the potential to shift the way women face challenges. By challenging ourselves to persevere despite initial failures, we set ourselves up for greater success. For me, that D needn't have been the end of my early shot at journalism-and thanks to a lucky series of events in college, it wasn't. But of course, it also wasn't the end of a long line of bad grades and rejections. Learning to deal with failure productively, I'm learning, is the best way to avoid more of it.
Claire Groden is a writer based in Brooklyn whose work has appeared in Fortune, The New Republic, and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications
By Dan Freed NEW YORK (Reuters) - The chair of the House Financial Services Committee has proposed getting rid of much of the regulation put in place after the financial crisis, unveiling a plan on Tuesday that ignited fierce debate in the presidential election but is expected to flame out in Washington. In a sweeping speech at the Economic Club of New York, Republican Representative Jeb Hensarling, from Texas, laid out his ideas on weakening the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law just as polls opened in six states holding presidential primaries. Hensarling also met on Tuesday with Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee who has called for dismantling the massive reform law. Trump's campaign declined to comment on Hensarling's plan. The lawmaker told Fox Business Network on Tuesday he would not describe the "blow-by-blow" of his meeting with Trump but said they had common ground on Dodd-Frank. Meanwhile, the Democrats' likely nominee, Hillary Clinton, sought to tie the real-estate tycoon to Hensarling's proposal. Clinton "strongly opposes Chairman Hensarling and Donald Trumps efforts to gut critical reforms put in place to protect the public after the financial crisis," said her adviser Gary Gensler, who headed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission when Dodd-Frank was passed. "While Republicans attempt to roll back measures that protect consumers and curb excessive risk-taking on Wall Street, Hillary Clinton will fight to defend Dodd-Frank and go beyond it, with tough new rules, stronger enforcement and more accountability." Hensarling's plan would allow banks to choose between complying with Dodd-Frank or meeting much tougher capital requirements. It would also throw out the Volcker Rule that restricts banks from making speculative investments and eliminate the authority of the Financial Stability Oversight Council consisting of regulatory agencies' heads to designate firms as "systemically important," also known as "too big to fail." That label triggers requirements to hold more capital and abide by stricter regulations. In essence, Hensarling said his plan involved "far more loss-absorbing capital and far less federal control." It would also maintain the law's section on derivatives and keep the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created by Dodd-Frank, albeit with a changed structure. "I'm only replacing 89.7 percent of Dodd-Frank," Hensarling joked. Few expect the plan, previewed in a video last week, to become law soon. While it could pass the Republican-controlled Congress, it would then have to be signed by President Barack Obama, who also signed Dodd-Frank into law. On Tuesday White House spokesman Josh Earnest said reforms enacted after the crisis "essentially guarantee that taxpayers will not be on the hook for bailing out big banks if their risky bets go south." But Obama leaves office in January and those vying to replace him, including Senator Bernie Sanders running as a Democrat, have distinct views on regulation and Wall Street. "Those on the left who gave us Dodd-Frank believe in the principle that human nature is self-destructive and that people - except themselves, of course - are fundamentally ignorant," Hensarling said, demonstrating the political charge of his ideas. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, a Democrat mentioned as a possible vice presidential pick, shot back that Republicans seek "to make life easier for mega bankers and tougher for ordinary Americans." Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat who is a firebrand for stronger regulation, said "while most Republicans in Congress are debating not whether to run away from Trump - but how far and how fast - Congressman Hensarling is sprinting toward Trump Tower." Trump has given few clues to how he would take apart Dodd-Frank and what he might put in its place. "Here's something we both agree with, and that is Dodd-Frank is impeding economic growth," Hensarling told Fox Business. "I think he well received the message. I think he was interested in the policy." Clinton has proposed breaking up large banks that take excessive risk, charging institutions a "risk fee," taxing high-frequency trading, and creating more oversight of "shadow banking." The most liberal candidate, Sanders has gone further and suggested reinstating the Glass-Steagall law that once separated commercial and investment banking. James Ballentine, head of congressional relations at American Bankers Association, the industry's lead trade group, said both parties "agree that parts of Dodd-Frank just aren't working." "Any law that generates more than 24,000 pages of proposed and final rules will inevitably include problems that should be fixed," he said in a statement. (Writing and additional reporting by Lisa Lambert in Washington; Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson in Washington and Luciana Lopez in New York; Editing by James Dalgleish)
Until Monday, Brock Turner was represented in the media using not the mugshot befitting a convicted felon, but a headshot taken during his days as a Stanford swimmer. Whenever anyone reported on his rape of an unconscious woman behind a dumpster, they used a photo of his broadly smiling face under a head of neatly combed blonde hair, rather than a more disheveled image of Turner with the kind of bloodshot eyes a person gets when they are very, very drunk.
For 18 months this mugshot of Brock Turner was hidden. Only today did they release the new one. White privilege.pic.twitter.com/pVwZFRYheD https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CkT9egIVEAA5zMo.jpg:large
Why the disparity? Because the former was, for well over a year, the only photo available; the latter was only released on June 6. As the Washington Post reported, people displeased at what looks a lot like unfair misrepresentation of Turner, especially in the wake of the victim's court statement, can thank a breakdown in communication between law enforcement agencies.
The Stanford Department of Public Safety arrested Turner and took the below booking photo, originally released to Boing Boing.
Stanford released Brock Turner's booking photo from the night of his arrest https://boingboing.net/2016/06/06/brock-turners-actual-booking.html ...pic.twitter.com/hsHNg0ULur https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CkTxOWWWUAEnOx4.jpg:large
The SDPS then handed the case over to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's department. As the Cut reported, the SDPS understands booking photo release to be among the sheriff's responsibilities, while the sheriff's department held that "it's the arresting agency's responsibility to decide whether or not to release the photo." The sheriff's department shared Turner's sentencing photo, below, with the Cut early Monday evening.
Story continues
Source: Uncredited/AP
According to the Post, whether or not the sheriff's office will release a booking photo depends on whether or not that photo might "jeopardize the successful investigation and prosecution of the individual," and it will not publish photos of people arrested by other agencies. In this case, the issue seems more to be about reticence to "jeopardize" Turner's reputation.
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky has attracted criticism for his light sentencing of Turner, whom he gave just six months in jail, despite the fact that a jury found him guilty on three separate sexual assault charges. As he explained at the sentencing hearing, Persky believed prison would have a "severe impact" on the 20-year-old, whose lack of a previous record and young age made him an unlikely repeat offender in Persky's estimation.
The of the Turner case has prompted a wave of Change.org petitions in support of the victim, some of which call for Persky to recuse himself. And certainly, it seems difficult to argue that his ruling wasn't biased. One wonders what kind of sentencing a young black man, for example, might have received in Turner's position.
That was the boy Persky sentenced, though: the star athlete at one of the country's best schools. He deemed six months appropriate to the golden boy in the only picture available to the media, rather than the rapist in the booking photo, and that's why the internet has Turner's case pegged as a victory for white male privilege let them eat steak, in a nutshell.
Winds were howling and rain was heavy as Tropical Storm Colin approached Florida on Monday, June 6. Florida Governor Rick Scott issued a state of emergency on Monday, saying the storm was expected to impact the entire state, according to local news reports.
The storms center tracked north of Tampa Bay toward the panhandle, bringing with it heavy rain and high winds. Four to six inches of rain were expected during the storm along with flooding, and emergency officials warned roads could be closed.
Brian Smith, who took this video, said he shot it when the first real rain band moved through with the storm. The power also went out for about an hour following the rain, he said. Credit: YouTube/Brian Smith
WME | IMG held a company-wide meeting today of all agents across all divisions, including the folks from IMG which the venerable talent agency merged with in 2013 in a mega $2.5 billion deal. No major announcements came from the meeting, rather one agent in attendance said the agency thought it was time to connect everyone from different parts of the company.
The meeting was called the WME | IMG Global Town Hall and it took place at Cooper Union in New York with Los Angeles agents piped in via video. Martin Scorsese, who is putting together mob film The Irishman, was in attendance for a Q&A as was model Chrissy Teigen.
Scorsese talked about how he started out back in the day with such filmmakers as Steven Spielberg and Brian DePalma and how his love and passion for filmmaking has kept him in the directors chair still today. Teigen was interviewed by her longtime rep and together they talked about how the WME and IMG relationship was working and how well it meshed for her personally.
The companywide event was hosted by WME theater agent Scott Chaloff and IMG Models agent Josh Otten. Following the Q&As with their filmmaker and model clients, there was a talk from Angela Duckworth, the author of Grit: The Power Of Passion And Perseverance.
Related stories
David Ayer Has Change Of Heart, Returns To CAA
'Suicide Squad' Helmer David Ayer Signs With WME
Garth Brooks Signs With WME
From Good Housekeeping
Engagement photos are a wonderful way to celebrate happy news with loved ones and treasure the beginning of a new stage in your relationship, but one woman's pictures were recently met with animosity rather than excitement.
Mzznaki Tetteh, a nurse from Accra, Ghana, couldn't have been happier when she got engaged to her boyfriend, Kojo Amoah. The pair shared their upcoming nuptuals with Tetteh's Instagram followers, posting a few beautiful shots:
Adorable, right? Most of her followers sincerely thought so, commenting with their well-wishes and giving the happy couple their regards. Unfortunately, as is so often the case when anyone reveals their happiness on the Internet, a few strangers spotted Tetteh's last picture and decided to insult her because of it.
"RIP that man's spine," one comment reads. "I gotta hand it to him his arms are stronger than my last relationship," says another. Other Internet bullies took to Twitter to voice their negativity:
However, instead of letting these comments get her down, Tetteh opted to post an oh-so-perfect response - in the form of a stunning photo, naturally.
The caption simply reads, "Still confident ... your rubbish comments ain't ruining my happiness ... thanks to all for the compliments and best wishes ... am honoured." The initial negativity she received also hasn't deterred her from posting cute pictures of she and Amoah hanging out together. Just a couple days later, she Instagrammed this fun photo:
What better way to prove that they're not brought down by bullies than to show how uplifted their love makes 'em? Enjoy your misery, mean folks on the Internet - this bride-to-be has already moved on.
Follow Good Housekeeping on Instagram and Pinterest.
By David Lawder
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - The World Bank slashed its 2016 global growth forecast on Wednesday to 2.4 percent from the 2.9 percent estimated in January due to stubbornly low commodity prices, sluggish demand in advanced economies, weak trade and diminishing capital flows.
Commodity-exporting emerging market countries have struggled to adapt to lower prices for oil, metals, and other commodities, accounting for half of the downward revision, the multilateral lender said in its latest Global Economic Prospects report.
It expects these economies to grow at a meagre 0.4 percent pace this year, a downward revision of 1.2 percentage points from the January outlook.
Commodity-importing emerging market countries are faring better, but the benefits of lower energy and other goods have been slow to materialize, the World Bank said. It now expects growth in these countries will reach 5.8 percent, down a tenth of a percentage point from the January forecasts.
In the United States, a steep decline in energy sector investment and weaker exports will also shave eight tenths of a percentage point from the World Banks 2016 forecast, bringing growth to 1.9 percent.
The euro area saw a slight downgrade of its 2016 forecast to 1.6 percent, despite extraordinary monetary policy support and a boost from lower energy and commodity prices.
As advanced economies struggle to gain traction, most economies in South and East Asia are growing solidly, as are commodity-importing emerging economies around the world, said World Bank Chief Economist Kaushik Basu said in a statement.
However, he cautioned that the rapid rise of private debt in several emerging and developing economies posed a risk to growth should non-performing bank loans rise.
The downgraded World Bank forecast follows a similar move by the International Monetary Fund, which cut its growth forecasts two months ago.
Among major emerging market economies, the World Bank kept Chinas growth forecast unchanged at 6.7 percent this year after 2015 growth of 6.9 percent. It expects Chinas growth to slow further to 6.3 percent by 2018 as the worlds second-largest economy rebalances away from exports to a more consumer-driven growth model.
Story continues
Indias robust economic expansion also is expected to hold steady at 7.6 percent, while Brazil and Russia are projected to remain in deeper recessions than forecast in January.
South Africa is forecast to grow at a 0.6 percent rate in 2016, 0.8 of a percentage point more slowly than the January forecast.
(Reporting By David Lawder; Editing by Bernard Orr)
Oil and gas operator WPX Energy Inc. WPX announced an increase in its oil production guidance for 2016 by nearly 5% from its earlier projection. The company now expects oil production to be in the range of 39,00041,000 barrels of oil per day, up from the earlier expectation of 37,00039,000 barrels per day. With oil prices moving up from the depressed level, this will surely benefit the company.
WPX Energy has gradually shifted its focus from natural gas to oil production. Oil contributes a major part of its total production. During first-quarter 2016, oil production volumes accounted for nearly 52% of the total output. As a result of the uptick in oil production expectation, the total production guidance has also moved up by 3% to 7782 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (Mboe/d) from 7580 Mboe/d.
The upgraded guidance is primarily due to strong well performance and an expected increase in drilling and completion activity in the Delaware and Williston basins during the second half of 2016. WPX Energy has plans to complete 15 to 20 drilled but uncompleted wells in the Williston Basin at the beginning of August and add a third rig in the Delaware Basin in October.
WPX Energy is also planning an expansion of its owned and operated midstream infrastructure in the Delaware Basin with the addition of a crude oil gathering system. The infrastructure strengthening activities will provide support to WPX Energys large contiguous acreage position in the Stateline area of the basin.
Despite the increase in the total production guidance and additional activities to strengthen its existing infrastructure, the total drilling and completion budget for 2016 is expected to be $400 million to $450 million, well within the original guidance range of $350 million to $450 million.
The company has been selling off its non-core assets to focus more on its core operations. In May, WPX Energy entered into a buyout agreement of $239 million, which will free the company from its Piceance Basin transport obligation. This buyout will mark the complete exit of WPX Energy from the Piceance Basin, allowing the company to concentrate on its core assets situated in the Permian, Williston and San Juan basins (read more:WPX Energy Closes Piceance Basin Obligation through Buyout).
WPX Energy currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the oil and natural gas space are EXCO Resources Inc. XCO, World Point Terminals, LP WPT and Statoil ASA STO, all carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
STATOIL ASA-ADR (STO): Free Stock Analysis Report
EXCO RESOURCES (XCO): Free Stock Analysis Report
WPX ENERGY INC (WPX): Free Stock Analysis Report
WORLD POINT TER (WPT): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has handed over to Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's government 54 child prisoners who were captured during fighting with the Iran-allied Houthi militia, Yemen's foreign minister said on Tuesday. Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi, who heads Hadi's peace negotiating team, said the children were aged between 8 and 17 years and their release showed the government and its Saudi-led coalition ally "reject the Houthi crime of using children in war". The Houthis have not commented on such accusations. But Houthi fighters often bring in their sons to volunteer for service. Human Rights Watch said this month that both sides in Yemen's conflict had deployed child soldiers and UNICEF reported that 900 children were killed and 1,300 wounded during the conflict in 2015. "They (child prisoners) will be freed in addition to those who had been freed in Marib," Mekhlafi said on his Twitter account, referring to a previous prisoner release in a province east of the capital Sanaa. A coalition of Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia intervened in the Yemen conflict in March 2015 when the Houthis advanced on the southern port city of Aden and forced Hadi and his government into exile in Saudi Arabia. The Houthis, who hail from the Zaydi branch of Shi'ite Islam, and Yemen's Saudi-backed government began U.N.-sponsored peace talks since April to try to end a war that has killed at least 6,200 people and caused a humanitarian crisis in the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country. The U.N. special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said earlier this week that the parties attending peace talks in Kuwait had agreed to unconditionally free all child prisoners they are holding. It was not clear how many child prisoners are being held in all, but Yemeni political sources say that the Houthis and the government submitted in late May a list of nearly 7,000 names of prisoners they say are being held by the other side. The U.N. has struggled to encourage a prisoner release in Yemen coinciding with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began on Monday, and over a month of negotiations have produced few concrete results. There was no immediate comment from the Houthis on any planned release of Yemeni government prisoners. (Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
A Tesla Model S charges at a Tesla Supercharger station in Cabazon, California, U.S. May 18, 2016. REUTERS/Sam Mircovich
By Hyunjoo Jin
SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung SDI is making progress in talks with Tesla Motors to supply batteries for the U.S. automaker's Model 3 electric car as well as its energy storage products, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Shares in the Samsung SDI surged to trade 6 percent higher in early afternoon trade, beating the wider market's 1.1 percent gain.
Tesla, which currently procures its batteries from Japan's Panasonic Corp, is likely to add Samsung SDI as a supplier should sales exceed expectations, the source said, although he declined to specify what level of sales would clinch a deal for the South Korean company.
Citing "tremendous demand," Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said in April that the automaker planned to boost total vehicle production to 500,000 in 2018 - two years earlier than its original target. Suppliers have said the goal will be difficult to achieve.
Tesla has taken 373,000 orders for its Model 3 - which has a starting price of $35,000, about half its Model S - and has said it would begin customer deliveries in late 2017.
"It remains to be seen whether the orders will translate into actual sales," the source said. The source declined to be identified as the discussions were confidential.
A Samsung SDI spokesman declined to comment.
Samsung SDI is an affiliate of Samsung Electronics Ltd.
(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
The two prison escapees who tunneled their way out of a New York state prison last year joked about The Shawshank Redemption as they worked on their escape, according to a report released Monday by New York's inspector general.
As David Sweat and Richard Matt chipped away at the wall of their tunnel located between two cell blocks of Clinton Correctional Facility last spring, the pair were reminded of the critically acclaimed 1994 film, which tells the story of Andy Dufresne, a man wrongly convicted of murder who spends 20 years tunneling his way out of prison using only a rock hammer.
"We were laughing and joking about how Andy [Dufresne] did it in 20 years; I think we might be able to do it in 10," Sweat told investigators, according to the report, which was obtained by PEOPLE.
Sweat and Matt were on the run for three weeks in upstate New York before Matt was fatally shot by authorities and Sweat was captured.
Sweat pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to his beak out in November and in February was sentenced to 3 1/2 to 7 years on top of his life without parole sentence.
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.
Report Criticizes 'Longstanding Lapses in Basic Security Functions'
The 150-page report details Matt and Sweat's escape plan, which included smuggling in tools from the outside as well as test runs.
The report also cites alleged longstanding "lapses in basic security functions."
The report reads: "These included the failure by officers assigned to the front gate to search employees' bags entering the prison; night counts of inmates that were conducted negligently or not at all; inadequate cell searches; and poor supervision of inmates and employees by security staff and civilian managers in the tailor shop, among others."
According to the report, Sweat said he spent 85 nights cutting an escape path through a system of catwalks and tunnels behind his cell's walls. Matt allegedly helped Sweat in the tunnels for two nights before they escaped on June 5.
Sweat would spend up to three hours a night inside the prison walls and pipes, the report says. To get past nightly inspections, Sweat would leave a dummy in his bed. He told investigators he would eat candy bars for dinner as he cut through pipes and walls.
Matt and Sweat used tools that were allegedly smuggled in by the prison's seamstress, Joyce "Tillie" Mitchell who allegedly had a sexual relationship with Matt, the report says. Mitchell claimed she was sexually assaulted by Matt, and said, "If I could take it all back, I would."
In September, Mitchell pleaded guilty to helping the pair escape, blaming depression for her actions.
On the night of their escape, Matt and Sweat went into the tunnels sometime after 11 p.m., leaving dummies and notes in their beds for prison staff.
"You left me no choice but grow old & die here. I had to do something," a note left by Matt on a notepad read. As he made his way through the tunnels, Sweat left notes for investigators.
New York Prison Escapees Richard Matt and David Sweat Joked About The Shawshank Redemption, Inspector General's Report Says| Crime & Courts, Murder, True Crime
Security guards did not realize Matt and Sweat had escaped until the next morning during a 5:30 a.m. standing count. The guards had reported that they had conducted checks throughout the night but did not suspect anything until the morning.
By the time guards made the discovery, Matt and Sweat had been on the loose for more than four hours.
"I almost threw up," one of the officers who discovered the empty beds told investigators.
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL June 07, 2016 Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet ( GOOGL) and Wal-Mart (WMT).
Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.
Here are highlights from Fridays Analyst Blog:
Why Google Remains a Contender in the Race to Your Doorstep
Mobile devices have brought the world to our fingertips much the way the Internet appeared to do at the turn of the century. So now we live in an always-on always-hungry world that continues to ask for not just information but also goods and services all through the night and day. So whos going to be the one to deliver the stuff? If Amazon (AMZN), Alphabets (GOOGL) Google or Wal-Mart ( WMT) had their way, it would be only them.
Is the market big enough for all of them? Probably. So are they going to split it up in some decent way? Of course not. Thats not the way it works.
Amazon got where it has by piggybacking Googles search engine. But its today such a waste of money to keep paying Google, when people have apps, Prime, Dash buttons (and Echo!) to do the job. Amazon just doesnt need Google anymore. And that is Googles problem.
For one thing, Amazon is this huge giant of an etailer that no one seems to get enough of. And second, its bundling goods, services, music, video and everything else into what it calls a Prime subscription for free two-day shipping at $99 a year. Everyone likes an all-you-can-eat offer so people are flocking to the platform. And CEO Jeff Bezos has promised, "We want Prime to be such a good value, you'd be irresponsible not to be a member.
Thats a very strong statement coming from the CEO and means that a chunk of the product listing ads (PLAs) that Google might have won have been lost forever. So what does Google do?
Story continues
Google: Contribution to Make
Traditional retailers looking to expand their reach have been selling on Amazon, but there are two problems with this. Since Amazon has effectively become the store front for them, they are losing the advantage of customer interaction and access to sales data, thus limiting their scope for brand building and growth planning.
To make matters worse, Amazon has decided to increase focus on private labels.
True, retailers can (and many already do) have their own apps, but its already evident that downloading hundreds of apps on a small screen is not the best customer experience, unless youre a regular that is.
On the other hand, Google has been a longstanding advertising partner for many. The fact that Google is more interested in ads than product sales, makes Google more attractive for retailers.
For Google, this is a golden opportunity to keep its product search and data collection machinery alive. So it has launched a system called Google Shopping Express (later rebranded Google Express) that allows customers to choose the things they need for same-day or overnight delivery for $95 a year. It also started collating a delivery fleet much like Uber manned by folks ready to go to the retailer site, pack the ordered items in the designated area and take it out to customers.
Google is expanding the service rapidly and also the number of partners. But note that since the business is currently more of a local type at this stage, geographic breadth may not be a deal breaker. On the other hand, selection and the ability to serve in the suburbs (something Google is doing) could be.
Will Customers Bite?
This is the big question, particularly because Amazon can offer so much more, not just of physical goods but also digital stuff. It also has a humongous amount of knowhow in logistics.
Roughly half of U.S. households subscribe to Prime already, so the fight is on for the other half. It will be hard for Google to wean away Prime members at this stage. But the company can and will expand products, customers and locations over time. Moreover, retailers have reason to go with Google, so who knows? Well have to wait and see.
Alphabet shares currently have a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.
About Zacks Equity Research
Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.
Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.
Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today.
About Zacks
Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978. The later formation of the Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock picking system; continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros.
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zacksresearch
Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts
Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.
Media Contact
Zacks Investment Research
800-767-3771 ext. 9339
support@zacks.com
https://www.zacks.com
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
AMAZON.COM INC (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report
ALPHABET INC-A (GOOGL): Free Stock Analysis Report
WAL-MART STORES (WMT): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL June 07, 2016 Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), Chevron Corp. (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP), Valero Energy Corp. (VLO) and HollyFrontier Corp. (HFC).
Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.
Here are highlights from Fridays Analyst Blog:
Oil Rises as Inventory Draw Outweighs OPEC Inaction
The U.S. Energy Department's weekly inventory release showed that crude stockpiles recorded another drop. The report further revealed that refined product inventories gasoline and distillate both decreased from their previous week levels too.
EIA Data Blunts OPEC Impact
Importantly, these bullish data sets offset the uneventful OPEC summit that again failed to agree on a production freeze. As a result, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures edged up 0.3% (or 16 cents) to settle at $49.17 per barrel Thursday.
Analysis of the EIA Data
Crude Oil: The federal governments EIA report revealed that crude inventories decreased by 1.37 million barrels for the week ending May 27, 2016, following a decline of 4.23 million barrels in the previous week.
The analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts the leading independent commodities and energy data provider had expected crude stocks to go down some 3.1 million barrels. Another pullback in the level of production, marking the twelfth consecutive weekly drop, led to the modest stockpile drawdown with the world's biggest oil consumer.
In particular, crude inventories at the Cushing terminal in Oklahoma the key delivery hub for U.S. crude futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange were down 704,000 barrels from previous weeks level to 66.92 million barrels.
Story continues
Despite the third inventory decline in 4 weeks, at 535.70 million barrels, current crude supplies are up 12% from the year-ago period and are at the highest level during this time of the year.
The crude supply cover was down from 33.1 days in the previous week to 32.9 days. In the year-ago period, the supply cover was 29.4 days.
Gasoline: Supplies of gasoline were down for the third time in 4 weeks as demand strengthened. The 1.49 million barrels draw slightly more than analysts polled number of 1.4 million barrels decrease in supply level took gasoline stockpiles down to 238.62 million barrels. Despite last weeks decline, the existing stock of the most widely used petroleum product is 8% higher than the year-earlier level and is comfortably above the upper half of the average range.
Distillate: Distillate fuel supplies (including diesel and heating oil) fell 1.26 million barrels last week, easily outpacing analysts expectations for a 400,000 barrels drop in inventory level. The decrease in distillate fuel stocks the seventh in as many weeks could be attributed to lower imports. But at 149.62 million barrels, distillate supplies are still 13% higher than the year-ago level and are well above the upper half of the average range for this time of the year.
Refinery Rates: Refinery utilization was up by a marginal 0.1% from the prior week to 89.8%.
About the Weekly Petroleum Status Report
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) Petroleum Status Report, containing data of the previous week ending Friday, outlines information regarding the weekly change in petroleum inventories held and produced by the U.S., both locally and abroad.
The report provides an overview of the level of reserves and their movements, thereby helping investors understand the demand/supply dynamics of petroleum products. It is an indicator of current oil prices and volatility that affect the businesses of the companies engaged in the oil and refining industry.
The data from EIA generally acts as a catalyst for crude prices and affect producers, such as Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), Chevron Corp. (CVX) and ConocoPhillips (COP), and refiners such as Valero Energy Corp. (VLO) and HollyFrontier Corp. ( HFC).
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.
About Zacks Equity Research
Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.
Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.
Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today.
About Zacks
Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978. The later formation of the Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock picking system; continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros.
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zacksresearch
Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts
Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.
Media Contact
Zacks Investment Research
800-767-3771 ext. 9339
support@zacks.com
https://www.zacks.com
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
EXXON MOBIL CRP (XOM): Free Stock Analysis Report
CHEVRON CORP (CVX): Free Stock Analysis Report
VALERO ENERGY (VLO): Free Stock Analysis Report
HOLLYFRONTIER (HFC): Free Stock Analysis Report
CONOCOPHILLIPS (COP): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL June 07, 2016 Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include TreeHouse Foods Inc. (THS), SunOpta Inc. (STKL), General Mills, Inc. (GIS), Costco Wholesale Corp. ( COST) and Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG).
Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.
Here are highlights from Fridays Analyst Blog:
Food Industry Hit by Widespread Recalls
The food industry has been facing the brunt of the recent outbreak of bacterial infections caused by potentially lethal bacteria like Listeria monocytogenes and E.coli. Fast food restaurants and food companies are incurring heavy losses from the repeated recalls of their products fearing that they could be contaminated with these bacteria. .
Last week, TreeHouse Foods Inc. (THS) announced the recall of products which are expected to be contaminated by L mono bacteria. A supplier SunOpta Inc. ( STKL) had notified TreeHouse of the possibility of contamination of the products that had been distributed nationwide. The recall is expected to affect revenues significantly for the company.
L mono is known to cause serious infections in children, weak or elderly people. It can be as lethal as to cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women. However, healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
General Mills, Inc. (GIS) also announced a voluntary national recall of four specific flavors of its Nature Valley protein chewy bars and Nature Valley simple nut bars on grounds of possible L mono contamination in this week.
Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) came into news for the wrong reasons after Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) alleged that its rotisserie chicken salad caused E. coli infection in 19 people from the U.S. states of California, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Utah, Virginia and Washington. The company took its rotisserie chicken salad off the shelves, effective Nov 20. In addition, the retailer stopped further production of the item.
Story continues
E. coli is commonly found in the intestines of humans and animals, some strains of which can cause severe food poisoning.
Also in November, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) had to close 43 outlets in Oregon and Washington as a safety measure after 37 students from Boston College fell ill, most likely after the consumption of E. coli infected food from one of the companys restaurants. The company enforced stricter guidelines for suppliers in the wake of the latest E. coli outbreak that affected several customers in six U.S. states.
Widespread recalls by food companies are in one way a relief for consumers because it ensures that regulatory authorities are more vigilant. However, negative publicity associated with these outbreaks keep customers away from fast food restaurants.
Chipotles first-quarter revenues reported in Apr 2016 took a hit as negative publicity surrounding the E. coli outbreak had dented its sales to a large extent. The E. coli outbreak, has hurt traffic severely for many of its restaurants. Similarly, repeated recalls made by companies like Starbucks and TreeHouse can hurt the companys top and bottom line.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.
About Zacks Equity Research
Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.
Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.
Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today.
About Zacks
Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978. The later formation of the Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock picking system; continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros.
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zacksresearch
Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts
Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.
Media Contact
Zacks Investment Research
800-767-3771 ext. 9339
support@zacks.com
https://www.zacks.com
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
TREEHOUSE FOODS (THS): Free Stock Analysis Report
SUNOPTA INC (STKL): Free Stock Analysis Report
GENL MILLS (GIS): Free Stock Analysis Report
COSTCO WHOLE CP (COST): Free Stock Analysis Report
CHIPOTLE MEXICN (CMG): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe has set a Tuesday deadline for the country's second largest ferrochrome producer Zimbabwe Alloys to hand over half its chrome claims or risk having them seized, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The Southern African nation holds the world's second largest deposits of chrome, which is smelted to produce ferrochrome, a raw material used in the making of stainless steel. Zimbabwe's mines minister last year asked Zimasco, a unit of China's Sinosteel and Zimbabwe Alloys (ZimAlloys), which owned 80 percent of all chrome mining claims, to release some ground for distribution to new investors. Sinosteel's Zimasco said in April it had ceded half its mining claims to the government. Francis Gudyanga, a senior official in the mines ministry, said the government wanted to redistribute ZimAlloys claims to new firms as per rules it issued in October and accused the company of failing to heed the demands. "Despite repeated efforts to have a common understanding you have remained evasive with regards to this matter," Gudyanga said in a letter dated May 30 addressed to the company previously owned by Anglo American until 2005. "Therefore we will be giving you up to the 7th of June 2016 to present the claims to be handed over to the Ministry or risk the claims being acquired at our discretion or without notice." Gudyanga could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. ZimAlloys acting chief executive Kudakwashe Mahobele confirmed receiving the letter and said if the company complied, it would mean giving away nearly 20,000 hectares of ground. Mahobele said ZimAlloys was consulting its shareholders on how to respond to the government's letter. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by James Macharia)
John Oliver made a huge splash this week when, to prove a point on his show, he purchased $15 million worth of medical debt for $60,000 and then promptly forgave it all. A lot of that debt was zombie debt, which, like its namesake, keeps coming back from the dead to bother people who would much rather be left alone and unbitten.
But how does a debt die? What brings it back from its unmarked grave, anyway? Its a long and sordid process, but there are two big things that lead to all of it:
One: Any unpaid debt can (and probably will) be sold.
Two: There is in theory a limit on how long unpaid debt can remain in play.
Heres how it all fits together.
How Does Debt Normally Work?
Youve got somethinga loan, a credit card, medical debtthat needs repaying. Ideally, you meet repayment deadlines with the correct payment, the person you owe processes the payments correctly, attributes them to you, and in time, the debt is paid off and everyones happy.
But sometimes, things go wrong. The person who owes the money misses a payment, through accident or neglect. They cant or wont make the payments on time, or maybe the error is on the other end and the recipient isnt processing the funds correctly. Either way, the debt is going unpaid. The entity that lent the money or performed the service gets annoyed about this, and sends the bill(s) to someone who specializes in getting some or all of the money back: Collections.
More from Consumer Reports
And When That Happens
Collections may be a department inside a massive business (like a hospital chain), or it may be an outsourced third-party company. Either way, their job is to try everything they legally can to get you to send them the money you owe, up to and including lawsuits. Sometimes they go too far, but thats another story. The point is: bugging you until you pay up is their job.
Story continues
Sometimes they succeed. Sometimes they fail. When they succeed, that should be the end of it. But when they fail, well, you know what they say
If at First You Dont Succeed
The first-round collections may give up on you. The second-round collections may give up on you. But someone, somewhere, will keep trying.
Thats because thats how they get paid: If you dont pay up right away, the debt gets sold.
Lets make up an example with completely fictitious numbers, and say that 100 people didnt pay their bills to Company X for 90 days, and they went to collections. Those 100 people owe $1,000 each for a collective total of $100,000. Company X sells the debts to Collections Company A for, lets say, $15,000, and at least gets to pocket that much (writing off an $85,000 loss).
Now if Collections Company A can come up with more than $15k of payments out of $100,000 in debt, they make bank. So they hound every one of those 100 people with everything they can until theyve made $25,000 total out of their $100,000 in owned debt, with half the debtors paying.
At that point, its not worth it to them anymore to keep chasing down the remaining 50 people, so they sell the remaining $50k in debt to Collections Company B. By now, after so many attempts, collecting on that money is a worse bet, so Company B buys $50,000 worth of 50 peoples debt for $2,500. If Company B can manage to scrounge up even $3,000 from these 50 people, theyve made a profit.
This chain can go on for quite some time.
More About Debt Collection
For more advice about:
what debt collectors are or arent allowed to do,
how to respond if youre being harassed by debt collectors,
and what to do if collectors are asking you to repay a debt you do not actually owe,
have a look at CFPBs extensive, plain language Q&A all about debt.
But 'Quite Some Time' Isn't 'Forever,' Right? There Are Limits?
There are! Debt has a statute of limitations attached theoretically.
The CFPB explains just what a statute of limitations is, but basically: you can only be subject to lawsuits over an unpaid debt for a certain period of time after it was incurred. After that window closes, youre off that one particular legal hook.
Debts that are covered are called time-barred debts, but that period of time varies widely depending on what state youre in and what kind of debt it is, so theres no one hard-and-fast rule.
So if I Cant Be Sued Anymore Im Free, Right?
Wrong!
Just because you cant be sued over it anymore doesnt mean that Company X or any collection agencies that have since purchased some or all of the debt have to stop asking you to pay, because they dont.
In most states, they can keep at it basically however long they want, as long as theyre acting within the boundaries of the law and not threatening to sue.
The two exceptions are Wisconsin and Mississippi, where a debt does in fact expire when its statute of limitations does.
So How Does That Lead to Zombies?
Lets go back to Company X, and the 50 folks who never paid. Ten years have passed since those debts were incurred, and those 50 folks are no longer legally lawsuit targets in any state.
At this point, we might effectively term the debt dead, and it kind of is. Except Collections Company P, down at the bottom of a long, long chain of resold debts, has just acquired that list of namesand really wants to make a buck.
So they send out letters and start making phone calls to those 50 people, none of whom has thought about these bills in at least seven or eight years. All of them have completely forgotten this debt was ever incurred, let alone has gone unpaid all this time.
One day Jane Doe gets a call telling her she owes a wad of cash. She feels particularly conscientious, and sends $50. Or maybe she doesnt send anything, but says, Oh! Of course Ill pay what I owe!
That action resets the statute of limitations. Because she promised to pay, the debt is now reborn, fresh. No longer dead, but a brand-new debt all over again, kicking off the whole process once more. And lets remember that this debt can be continually resold: every single time a new company gets its hands on it, they can start demanding payment all over again.
In short, at this point it will continue to shamble along perhaps indefinitely, slowly but surely, maybe muttering braaaaaaains from time to time for maximum effect.
Which Brings Us Back
to John Oliver.
The point of his exercise was in large part to convey just how awful the debt collection industry really is. The folks way down the chain, who buy the debt the second or tenth or hundredth time its sold, may not have any information about it. Or the information they have may be wrong. Or it may be out of the statute of limitations. Or the debt may never have been owed to start with, or the debtor has died, or one of a hundred other things has happened that means the person being harangued should be left alone.
As Oliver put it: It is pretty clear by now that debt-buying is a grimy business and badly needs more oversight. As it stands, any idiot can get into it, and I can prove that to you, because Im an idiot and we started a debt-buying company And it was disturbingly easy.
In fact, Olivers crew paid a whopping $50 to found their new debt-buying business, and in return were offered that pile of dataincluding names, addresses, social security numbers, and amounts that may or may not actually be owed anymoreon the $15 million worth of medical debt they have now so famously acquired.
The National Consumer Law Center, armed with their own reports on zombie debt, alongside a 2013 FTC report on debt buyers, asked the CPFB in 2015 to prohibit debt collection after a statute of limitations has expired.
The CFPB is considering updates to debt collection regulation, but is not at this time taking action on any proposed rules or rule changes.
More from Consumer Reports:
Top pick tires for 2016
Best used cars for $25,000 and less
7 best mattresses for couples
Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright 2006-2016 Consumers Union of U.S.
Losing a smartphone or having it stolen is one of the worst things that can happen, considering that we use these small devices for many of our daily routines. Its not just the monetary value of the lost smartphone, but also the personal data it contains, and which might be lost forever. However, iPhone and Android devices have tracking mechanisms in place that can help us retrieve a lost smartphone, or at least find out where it was last seen. And Google is apparently working on an interesting feature that might improve smartphone security in a sense that thieves might have little incentive to steal them.
DONT MISS: Groundbreaking 'bionic leaf' converts sunlight and water into liquid fuel
According to Android Police, Google is exploring a method to permanently brick lost or stolen devices. That way, the person who either finds a smartphone or steals it wont be able to use it in the future. Furthermore, the victim will rest assured that data on the lost device is deleted.
Current Android security features let you perform remote wipes, and thieves would have a hard time using your device. Though, the smart ones may always find a way around these security protections.
Googles new feature would not only perform the remote wipe, but it would also brick the phone. That means the device wont boot later on.
This Nuclear Brick feature, which is what Android Police calls it, was just discovered in AOSP, suggesting that Google might deploy it in future Android builds.
Once invoked, the feature would securely wipe the device. That means it will write zeros over your data, but also over everything on your Android partitions. Even the recover, boot, and bootloader would be erased in this procedure. Recovering the device would be nearly impossible, at least unless dedicated JTAG hardware.
Android Police speculates that manufacturers would be able to define which partitions would be included in the brick command and that users would be able to recover the device without any special hardware. The hard part is coming up with the software that would let users seamlessly recover their bricked device upon retrieving it.
Story continues
Its not known whether Android N would offer this type of security, or whether Google will simply make it available to users via an Android Device Manager update at some point in the future.
Related stories
Google's Larry Page has secretly spent more than $100M to build flying cars
How Google's transformation into Alphabet led to Tony Fadell's ouster
Your first look at Google's redesigned search page
More from BGR: This is what the Galaxy Note 7 will look like
This article was originally published on BGR.com
By Roger Tung TAIPEI (Reuters) - Apple Inc sold a 30-year U.S. dollar bond in Taiwan at a yield of 4.15 percent, sources said on Tuesday, aiming to raise between $1 billion and $1.2 billion in the first issue of debt by the U.S. technology giant on the island that is home to major players in its supply chain. The yield compares with a range between 4.2 percent to 4.3 percent ahead of its pricing, people familiar with the deal earlier told Reuters. At 4.15 percent the yield is well below that offered in recent bond issues in the flush Taiwanese market by blue-chip multinationals like Intel Corp and Anheuser Busch InBev SA. The total amount raised by the bond - callable after the second year - had not yet been finalised, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter was confidential. Subscriptions rates in the sale couldn't immediately be determined. Apple could not be reached immediately for comment on the issuance in Taiwan, which houses Apple suppliers including iPhone assembler Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and lens producer Largan Precision Co. The U.S. giant joins a crowd of big global names that have sold billions of dollars on the island's busy debt market. Liquidity in the Taiwanese bond market is high, with long-term buyers of debt, primarily life insurance firms, seeking creditworthy names and chasing higher yields. Cathay Financial Holding Co, the parent of Taiwan's biggest life insurer, has bought "a small part" of the bond as the yield is lower than others issued by Apple outside of Taiwan, a Cathay executive told Reuters by phone. He asked not to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to media. In December, U.S. chipmaker Intel sold $915 million of 30-year bonds with yields of 4.7 percent. A month later, global brewer Anheuser Busch InBev issued a $1.47 billion bond of the same maturity at 4.915 percent, according to data from the Taipei Exchange, the island's over-the-counter market. The island's 30-year government bond, which is less liquid in the secondary market, was last quoted around 1.6475 percent. (Additional reporting by Loh Liang-sa and Faith Hung; Writing by JR Wu and Faith Hung; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
2017 might be the most exciting year the smartphone industry has seen in quite some time. Not only have we seen rumors that Apple in 2017 will release an iPhone with an edge to edge screen and a curved OLED display, a new report from Bloomberg suggests that Samsung's smartphone lineup next year may easily outshine anything Apple brings to the table.
DON'T MISS: Googles Nest acquisition was more disastrous than we thought
According to the report, Samsung in 2017 may release not one, but two new smartphone models with bendable OLED screens. One model is said to fold completely in half like a "cosmetic compact" while the other device will reportedly be a 5-inch device that "unfurls into a display thats as large as 8 inches."
Color us intrigued.
Stemming from a secret initiative called Project Valley, rumblings of Samsung's concerted interest in bringing a bendable smartphone to market have been floating around for a few years now.
Now as for when we might get a chance to feast our collective eyes on such a device, Bloomberg notes that Samsung's rumored and admittedly futuristic smartphones might be officially unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next February. Also of note is that Samsung isn't planning to advertise its bendable phones under its Galaxy S line, perhaps implying that these somewhat mythical smartphone models will be premium products priced beyond what most smartphone buyers are accustomed to.
Of course, skeptics might rightfully bring up the fact that Samsung CEO Kwon Oh Hyun back in November of 2013 boasted that Samsung would release a device with a bendable display by 2015. In other words, as exciting as the Bloomberg rumor is, it's probably best to take this news with a grain of salt.
Related stories
The best feature on next year's Galaxy S8 was probably just revealed
This is what the Galaxy Note 7 will look like
The Galaxy S7 Active has the battery all smartphones need
More from BGR: This is what the 2016 MacBook Pro might look like
This article was originally published on BGR.com
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan should welcome Chinese investors into the island's protected chip sector, but they shouldn't have seats on company boards to ensure protection of prized intellectual property, the chief of the world's largest contract chipmaker said on Tuesday. "I think investment (by Chinese investors) should be welcome," Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman Morris Chang said. "But don't let the investor be able to appoint a director to the board." "Even if there is one (director) or more than one, then - relatively - it will not be that easy to protect intellectual property," he said, speaking to reporters after TSMC's annual shareholders' meeting. Chang's comments come as the new Taiwan government, which is wary of its giant neighbor, is reviewing China-backed Tsinghua Unigroup's plan to invest and take board seats in two Taiwanese chip test and packaging firms. The government is also considering whether to open the island's chip design sector to Chinese investors, currently banned. Following civil war in China, Nationalist forces fled in 1949 to Taiwan which has been self-ruled ever since. But China regards it as a wayward province to be taken back by force if necessary, fuelling fears among Taiwanese about Chinese influence in the island's main industries. Chang is well respected in the global chip industry, and policymakers and corporate executives in Taiwan regularly reference him on key industry matters. China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but said last year plans by Tsinghua Unigroup to invest in Taiwan should not be politicised. Tsinghua Unigroup chairman Zhao Weiguo declined to comment. TSMC decided to build an advanced plant in China late last year only after the island's government allowed such investments to be wholly owned in order to protect its intellectual property. Previously Taiwan required chip plant investments in China to operate under a joint venture structure, which was partly aimed at discouraging a rush into China. The go-it-alone style of TSMC, a rival of Intel Corp and a key supplier to Apple Inc, contrasts with global peers partnering up with Chinese investors to crack the Chinese market. Chang said he expected the second half of the year to be "not bad" and reiterated the company's earlier forecast of 5-10 percent growth in 2016 for operating profit and revenue. (Reporting by J.R. Wu; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING and Yimou Lee in HONG KONG; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
By Josh Smith KANDAHAR, Afghanistan/CREECH AIR FORCE BASE, Nevada (Reuters) - When U.S. drones obliterated a car carrying Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour last month, it was the kind of targeted killing that unmanned aircraft are best known for. But 15 years after a drone first fired missiles in combat, the U.S. military's drone program has expanded far beyond specific strikes to become an everyday part of the war machine. Now, from control booths in the United States and bases around the Middle East, Afghanistan and parts of Africa, drone crews are flying surveillance missions and providing close air support for troops on the ground. "In the wars we fight, this is the future," said drone pilot Lieutenant Shaw, as he stood in a hangar at the Air Force's drone base in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. Crews spoke to Reuters on condition that only their first names and rank be used to identify them. The increased use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in a wide range of battle applications comes as the United States looks to reduce the number of soldiers fighting abroad. The U.S. military declined to provide statistics breaking down drone activity into types of missions, but dozens of interviews with people working in the secretive programs show UAVs have become an integral tool on the battlefield. That is likely to raise further objections from critics who say drones often miss their intended targets, can only partly relay what is happening on the ground and encourage warfare with impunity waged by people at computer screens far from danger. In Afghanistan, the United States has around 9,800 troops left and plans to cut the level to 5,500 by early 2017. At its peak a few years ago, the U.S. military had around 100,000 soldiers there, yet the dramatic decrease does not mean the conflict is winding down. In fact, the Taliban insurgency is as potent now as at any time since 2001. DRONES TAKING OVER As part of its expanding program, the Air Force aims to double the number of drone squadrons over the next five years. Even some proponents, like retired Lieutenant Colonel T. Mark McCurley, a former Air Force drone pilot, say over reliance on remote killing and electronic intelligence has hurt efforts on the ground. "Too often, remotely piloted aircraft are being used as a tool to wantonly kill individuals, rather than as one of many tools to capture and shut down whole terrorist networks," he said. Central to the shift toward remote operations is Afghanistan, where weak local forces, a dwindling troop presence and rugged terrain have made it something of a testing ground. Drones there log up to eight times as many flight hours as the few remaining manned fighter aircraft. They also release more weapons than conventional aircraft, Reuters reported in April. For the first time, the top Air Force general in the country was trained as a drone pilot before he deployed, a move he said reflected the importance of unmanned aircraft in the broader military mission. "Our airmen are flying persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and strike missions all across Afghanistan," Major General Jeff Taliaferro told Reuters in Kabul, referring to the drone program. "They're performing everything from counterterrorism to base defense, and really it's a capability a lot of our missions have come to rely on." RAPID EXPANSION The latest generation of drones carries more and bigger weapons and an expanding payload of hi-tech sensors designed to handle a wider range of missions for the conventional military. The number of hours flown by the Air Force's newest attack drone, the MQ-9 Reaper, more than doubled globally between 2010 and 2015, to nearly as many hours as F-16 fighter jets, according to statistics from the Air Force Safety Center. In a plan announced late last year, the Air Force proposed roughly $3 billion in funding to expand its attack drone force further, adding 75 of the latest Reaper aircraft. It already fields at least 93 Reapers and 150 of the older MQ-1 Predators, both built by General Atomics, as well as 33 much larger Global Hawk surveillance UAVs, manufactured by Northrop Grumman . The U.S. Army also operates a fleet of roughly 130 MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft, an upgraded version of the Predator, and all military services have thousands of smaller, mostly unarmed surveillance drones. One challenge for the U.S. military is recruiting enough staff to operate a growing fleet and expanding range of roles. As many as 3,500 new personnel may be added to a workforce of roughly 1,700 pilots and sensor operators in a bid to expand the program and relieve stress and overwork, according to proposals released by the Air Force's Air Combat Command. FULL CIRCLE While Afghan missions are flown via satellite link by pilots at bases in the United States, aircraft take off and land under the control of crews deployed to the airfields in Afghanistan. As a steady procession of Reapers rolled down the runways and into the bright Afghan sky, operators at Kandahar described life in on of the fastest-changing sectors of the military. "My old job was going away, while this field is rapidly expanding," said Captain Bryan, a pilot who used to fly KC-135 refueling aircraft. Kandahar's role as a drone center in Afghanistan brings the drone full circle. Fifteen years ago, a U.S. drone made history over Kandahar when it fired the first weapon deployed by unmanned aircraft in combat, during a failed attempt to kill then-Taliban leader Mullah Omar in the first days of the U.S.-led operation that ousted the hardline Islamists from power. On its way back to base, the drone fired its second missile at Kandahar airfield, then suspected of being occupied by Taliban and al Qaeda fighters. At the height of the NATO coalition mission, Kandahar, which is also a civilian airport, hosted a range of military aircraft including F-16 fighter jets and C-130 cargo planes. Now, the only attack aircraft deployed here are about two dozen drones. Squeezed into sand-colored shipping containers just off the tarmac, pilots and sensor operators flip through checklists amid an array of monitors, touch screens, radio consoles and a secret chat system with which they talk to pilots in the United States. At the beginning of the year, the squadron at Kandahar began flying new, extended-range Reapers, usually carrying four Hellfire missiles, one 500 lb GBU-12 bomb and an external fuel tank under the wings. That load has allowed the aircraft to be used for more than just hunting individuals, including close air support for troops fighting on the ground. "ANYTHING BUT A VIDEO GAME" Almost 8,000 miles away, pilots sitting at another sun-bleached desert base, this time in the United States, are among the crews that take over a few minutes after takeoff and guide the aircraft during the mission. Sitting in dark, air-conditioned booths at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, pilots and sensor operators work closely with large teams of intelligence analysts who sift streams of real-time data transmitted by the drones on the other side of the planet. While air strikes often grab the headlines, the vast majority of missions in Afghanistan involve hours of mind-numbing surveillance and intelligence gathering, crews say. The most revolutionary aspect of unmanned aircraft, crews add, is the combination of weapons and surveillance capabilities, which often provide more information than analysts can process. At Creech, crews handle nearly half of all the Air Force's 60 global drone flights on any given day. "For us it's anything but a video game," said Captain Tim, a pilot based at Creech, addressing one of the main criticisms leveled at the drone program. "From here you're having an impact on the battlefield." (Editing by Mike Collett-White)
ABU DHABI (Reuters) - IBM on Tuesday said it signed a $300 million, ten-year technology services agreement with Dubais Emirates Airline. IBM will provide information technology services, allowing the airline to improve efficiency on its passenger support systems and functions, a statement from IBM said. Under the managed services agreement, this will include assistance in encrypting the airline's data in near real-time and systems which allow different software components to communicate more effectively, the statement said. In October 2015, IBM signed a $700 million deal with Abu Dhabis Etihad Airways for a range of IT services and infrastructure. Emirates, the worlds fourth-largest carrier of international passengers reported a profit of $1.93 billion for the financial year to March 31, a jump of 56 percent over the year. (Reporting by Stanley Carvalho; Editing by Louise Heavens)
TipRanks
The stock market had a good day today. The S&P has gained 1.63% and moderated its year-to-date losses to 19%. That rally has pushed the index up just out of bear territory. Despite these gains, at least one major bear believes that the index hasnt bottomed out yet. Mike Wilson, Morgan Stanleys chief US equity strategist, sees more room for the index to fall, and predicts that the S&P will hit its low point somewhere between 3,000 and 3,200 a drop that would mean another 20% loss for stocks.
Planned Parenthood supporters in Columbus, Ohio
Planned Parenthood supporters
It was 51 years ago today that the Supreme Court ruled in a landmark case about contraception use by married couples that laid the groundwork for a constitutional right to privacy in the United States.
Writing for a 7-2 majority in Griswold v. Connecticut, Justice William O. Douglas famously said that a general right to privacy is found in the penumbras, or zones, created by the specific guarantees of several amendments in the Bill of Rights.
It was nearly a century prior to the decision, however, that its wheels were set in motion.
In 1879, Connecticut passed a law that criminalized the use of contraception: Any person who uses any drug, medicinal article or instrument for the purposes of preventing conception shall be fined not less than forty dollars or imprisoned not less than sixty days.
The law went on: Any person who assists, abets, counsels, causes, hires or commands another to commit any offense may be prosecuted and punished as if he were the principal offender.
Prior to Griswold, challenges were made to the Connecticut law but were never heard on the merits of their claims. In Tileston v. Ulliman (1943), the Supreme Court dismissed a challenge from a doctor based on a lack of standing, as he had not demonstrated a threat to his personal life or liberty. Similarly, in Poe v. Ulliman (1961), the Court dismissed a challenge from a woman based on a lack of standing, as the woman had not actually been prosecuted under the law.
But in 1961, opportunity emerged. Estelle Griswold, the executive director of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut, and Dr. C. Lee Buxton, medical director for the League, opened a new health clinic in New Haven. As a result, they were arrested and convicted for providing information and advice to married couples seeking contraception. They were also fined $100 each.
Griswold and Buxton appealed their case immediately, but their conviction was upheld by the Appellate Division of the Circuit Court and by the Connecticut Supreme Court.
Story continues
With nowhere left to turn, the pair looked to the U.S. Supreme Court. They argued that the Connecticut law violated their due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.
The Court ultimately agreedand went even further. A right to marital privacy had been violated, it said, an integral part of a more general right to privacy built upon several other rights explicitly defined.
The First Amendment has a penumbra where privacy is protected from governmental intrusion, the Court said. While it is not expressly included in the First Amendment, its existence is necessary in making the express guarantees fully meaningful.
The Court also pointed to the Third Amendment (prohibition against the quartering of soldiers), the Fourth Amendment (protection against unreasonable searches and seizures) and the Fifth Amendment (prohibition against self-incrimination) as further examples of privacy guarantees.
Undergirding the majoritys analysis was the Ninth Amendment, which says that the rights of the people are not limited to those enumerated in the Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment allowed the Court to bring these protections to bear against state law.
In his concurrence, Justice Arthur Goldberg argued that the Ninth Amendment alone allowed the Court to find a fundamental right to marital privacy without needing the support of others. In separate concurrences, Justice John Marshall Harlan and Justice Byron White called the Connecticut law simply a violation of liberty under due process protection of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Griswold and the general right to privacy have since been cited in many important rulings, including Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972; right of unmarried couples to use contraception), Roe v. Wade (1973; right of women to an abortion) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992; upholding abortion rights).
Nicandro Iannacci is a web strategist at the National Constitution Center.
2000 - 2022 24 .- . focus-news.net, () . 24 . 24 . . 24 .
We value your privacy.
Focus Taiwan (CNA) uses tracking technologies to provide better reading experiences, but it also respects readers' privacy. Click here to find out more about Focus Taiwan's privacy policy. When you close this window, it means you agree with this policy.
TORONTO Ontario's minister of municipal affairs and housing says he will resign his cabinet post to help the premier achieve gender parity.
Ted McMeekin wrote in a Facebook post today that he will continue to serve as minister until Premier Kathleen Wynne names a replacement.
Speculation about a pending cabinet shuffle is rampant at the Ontario legislature, and Wynne has said that in a "hypothetical" one, she would like to have an equal number of men and women in her cabinet.
McMeekin says that he thought of his three daughters and his wife and has often dreamed of a day when the question of gender parity wouldn't even arise.
The Hamilton-area MPP says he is a feminist and adds that sometimes the best way for a man to advance the equality of women may be to step back and make room at the table.
McMeekin says that when a new cabinet is named he will return to serving his constituents, but does not say whether he'll run again in 2018.
Where's the elbow?John McCallum tells a joke, Michelle Rempel doesn't find it funnyConservative MP Michelle Rempel had mocked his government's seriousness and John McCallum saw an opportunity for a joke at his own expense in reply.Laughter would ensue. And then, indignation.Rempel, the Official Opposition's immigration critic, was preceded in question period Tuesday afternoon by a New Democrat, Jenny Kwan, with similar concerns about access to language training for refugees. And so, after McCallum had stated the government's case, Rempel picked up the thread."If there's been no cut to the Vancouver community college, why have they been forced to cancel language training services for over 228 immigrants and refugees? That's shameful," Rempel said."Yesterday, when the minister stood here and glibly claimed that he had a plan to address language training, was he looking at these cuts, or was he just planning his next photo op?"McCallum, 66 years old, hair typically mussed, perhaps a slight hint of a smile on his face, stood and turned to look across the aisle at Rempel."Mr. Speaker," he said, "if the government wanted to send somebody somewhere for a photo op, I suspect there are people along this aisle they'd probably send before they sent me."There were guffaws in the House.Few are the comments in Parliament that are both intentionally funny and actually deserving of laughter, but possibly this was one of those rare moments.McCallum remained standing for a moment as the laughter continued, as if he might have more to say, but after a few seconds he returned to his seat.The Speaker stood, chuckled and turned the floor over again to Rempel. But the Conservative MP did not appear amused."While the people across the aisle here, Mr. Speaker, laugh at something like this, we have refugees in front of committee who are saying that they are isolated," she said, prompting groans.Seated along the front row of the government side, Stephane Dion pointed across the aisle to the opposition to suggest Conservatives had chuckled as well."And you're laughing right now too," Rempel said, pointing at the Speaker."This is not a laughing matter. The fact that the government has not provided language training for refugees is shameful. When are they going to help the Calgary board of education, when are they going to help some of these agencies that cannot provide these services? They've spent over a billion dollars and they haven't got the job done, Mr. Speaker."His respectfulness now called into question, the Speaker apparently thought it necessary to explain his reaction."The honourable member for CalgaryNose Hill knows," he said, "that members on all sides were laughing at the minister's self-depreciating joke."
10larry said:
Entertaining to watch whitehouse press breifing spokesmen trying to define what a moderate rebel is or how did russia reclaim palmyra in short order also how did u.s. pilots not notice all those oil tankers heading to turkey, pass me another prozac plz.
British Prime Minister: Turkey is governed by a demagogue pro-Al Qaeda dictator - AWD News Be comic if not so deadly serious, merkel making many trips to visit her buddy erdogan even as he pushes for visa free travel and cameron despite his disdain for turkey still wants them in the eu. That the u.s. abides turkey aiding isis indicates their lust to terminate assad remains paramount and the eu plays along treating turkey with kid gloves, imo the longer the eu dances to the u.s. tune the sooner it will implode.Entertaining to watch whitehouse press breifing spokesmen trying to define what a moderate rebel is or how did russia reclaim palmyra in short order also how did u.s. pilots not notice all those oil tankers heading to turkey, pass me another prozac plz. Click to expand...
And Merkel let a German comedian face prosecution because he poked fun and makes jokes about Erdogan during a stand up routine. Erdogan didn't like what the comedian was saying about him so he told Merkel that he'd like to comedian to face prosecution, and Merkel allowed it. It's one of the great things about our Western free speech - what's left of it nowadays - that you can poke fun at politicians. It's political satire. Yet, in Germany, you can't poke fun at Turkey's Islamist-supporting president. Doing so lands you in court. It's absolutely disgusting - and yet Merkel (and Cameron, too, should the horrific happen and Britain votes to stay in the EU on 23rd June) are desperate to get Turkey into the EU. And, with Germany's declining population and Turley's rapidly rising one - and Erdogan has said recently that he wants Turks to have lots and lots of children - Turkey would soon become the EU's largest member state, taking over from Germany, with the most seats in the EU Parliament and most voting power. The Turkish president, not the German chancellor, would be the EU's most powerful politician. The EU would be run by an Islamic state with terrible human rights records. That's a terrifying thought.For this reason (and many others) I'm voting Leave on Thursday 23rd June.
Norways politicians have announced that they intend to ban all fossil-fuel vehicles by 2025. Which, by the way, is just seven and a half years from now.Norway has a higher number of electric cars, because theyre cheap. That is, the government subsidizes them so heavily, theyre artificially cheap.And Norway is floating on oil. Thats where all the cash comes from to subsidize their electric cars. Sort of like a guy who eats a huge T-bone steak and then says, he wants the vegan dessertThe PMs policy advisor, the environmental extremist Zoe Caron, expressed approval. (Of course, this wouldnt apply to her bosss jet.)Then theres Elon Musk, the president of Tesla, perhaps the most subsidized company in the United States. They make extremely expensive cars and would be out of business in a month without government intervention. So naturally, he was tweeted at Norway:What an amazingly awesome country. You guys rock!!This is just a small story, and it will likely come to nothing.But it shows us a lot aboutJoe Oliver has made the amazing claim that the Liberals spent $9 billion in a single month so they could turn around and say there was a deficit. My guestof the Sprott School of Business talks about this extraordinary assertion, and the Liberals other economic policies.Then I catch up with Breitbartsabout the U.S. presidential election, and support for Trump among Hispanics.Finally: I got a lot of emails about my interview with my old Conservative Party colleague Mark Cameron, who is now campaigning for a carbon tax. Like you, I want to learn more about who is funding his organization.
'I'd like to give him a hug': A visit to Friendship Park's U.S./Mexico border fence
Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump has talked plenty about his plans for a border wall with Mexico. But what's there now? Kim Brunhuber visits Friendship Park, south of San Diego, where separated loved ones come to touch pinkies through a grilled fence.............................Maybe the USA should just take over Mexico.... and maybe Canada while there at it.. under Trump with his love for Canada so much, I wouldn't put it past him. LOL :lol:
PLATTSMOUTH Plattsmouth Board of Education members have hired a Missouri company to oversee all food service items in the district for the 2016-17 school year.
Board members voted 6-0 to hire Opaa! Food Management Inc. at their regular meeting Monday night. Mary Caverzagie, Tony Foster, Matt Glup, Nancy Lowery, Karen Parsons and Cory Wehrbein all voted for the motion. Mike Brodersen, Don Freeburg and Ken Winters were absent from the meeting.
Board members began looking at food service management options after former Plattsmouth Food Service Director Dean Harrifeld announced in November that he would retire. The board first looked for an individual to replace Harrifeld but received very few applications. That prompted members to begin searching for a food service management vendor.
Harrifeld officially retired from the school district March 31. Superintendent Dr. Richard Hasty and district employees Nita Spencer, Dawn Haines and Rhonda Salazar provided oversight for food service for the remainder of the school year. The quartet will also oversee food-related items for the duration of summer school.
The board received proposals from four companies: Opaa! Food Management Inc., Lunchtime Solutions Inc., Taher Inc. and Treat America Food Services. Opaa! is based in Chesterfield, Mo., Lunchtime Solutions is based in North Sioux City, S.D., and Taher is based in Minnetonka, Minn. Treat America Food Services is based in Merriam, Kan., and has regional offices in Des Moines, Indianapolis, Omaha and St. Louis.
An ad hoc committee comprised of Caverzagie, Foster, Glup and Winters reviewed all four proposals in May. The committee used a rubric to evaluate each bid. Members ranked the companies on their service capability plan, experience in the food service business, financial and business practices, accounting and reporting systems, overall costs, personnel management, innovation, promotion of the school food service plan and their involvement with students, staff and patrons.
The committee narrowed the field down to Opaa!, Lunchtime Solutions and Taher after the initial rubric scoring. Opaa! had a total of 97 points on the 100-point scale and Lunchtime Solutions and Taher each had totals of 96 points. Committee members discussed each of the top three proposals again at a May 31 meeting. They decided to recommend the Opaa! proposal for the full board to consider at Mondays meeting.
Foster told fellow board members Monday that Opaa! would keep all current Plattsmouth food service employees on staff. He said the company would offer current Plattsmouth workers a three-percent raise in salaries for the 2016-17 year. Opaa! will also offer health insurance to all employees regardless of the number of hours they work.
Im excited for this company to come, Foster said. My biggest concern was our staff and how they would be treated. All of the companies were willing to take them on as employees, which was very reassuring to me.
Caverzagie said she felt Opaa! would be a good partner because of the companys interest in securing additional Nebraska clients. The firm has food service management agreements with approximately 150 schools in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Plattsmouth will be the corporations first customer in Nebraska.
They wanted to come in and get a foot in Nebraska, Caverzagie said. That was something that sold us. We felt they would treat us well.
The final cost of the food service management agreement with Opaa! has not yet been set. The boards motion authorized Hasty to enter into contract negotiations with the company. The negotiations will likely be completed by the time of the boards next regular meeting July 11.
Foster said the Opaa! proposal included a guarantee of net revenue for the Plattsmouth district. He said the company promised Plattsmouth would receive at least $15,000 in profit at the end of the 2016-17 year.
It is yet to be known how the Opaa! contract will affect prices for individual meals. The board previously approved meal prices in April as part of the 2016-17 student fees policy. The student price for breakfast in the policy was listed at $2.05 at the elementary, middle and high schools. Student lunch prices were $2.65 at the elementary school, $2.75 at the middle school and $2.80 at the high school. The milk price was 50 cents at all three buildings.
Opaa! will begin serving Plattsmouth students in August. The first day of school for students in grades 1-9 will be Aug. 15. Grades 10-12 will begin Aug. 16, kindergarten will start Aug. 17 and early childhood classes will begin Aug. 24.
OMAHA The American Red Cross is partnering with Nexcare Bandages and supermodel Niki Taylor to urge eligible blood and platelet donors to give this June in honor of World Blood Donor Day on June 14.
I am proud to team up with the Nexcare Give Program each year, with the mission of sparking a critical dialogue around the vital need for blood donation, said supermodel and Nexcare Give spokesperson, Niki Taylor. For me, the cause is also a personal one. Following a car accident 15 years ago that left me in critical condition, the efforts of the American Red Cross and their brave donors saved my life. In honor of World Blood Donor Day, I am sharing my story and encouraging people around the world to support blood donation, inspiring their friends and families to join the cause.
This is the eighth year that the Red Cross and Nexcare Bandages have partnered for the Nexcare Give program. To honor those who give around the world, Nexcare Bandages has developed a limited-edition collection of bandages with the theme Feel the Beat, Give Blood, featuring five vibrant dance-inspired designs reflecting different styles and cultures from around the globe. The limited-edition bandages will be available to those who come out to donate blood or platelets with the Red Cross now through World Blood Donor Day on June 14.
Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs a lifesaving blood transfusion. The Red Cross must collect approximately 14,000 blood donations every day to meet the needs of patients at 2,600 hospitals and transfusion centers nationwide.
Donors of all blood types are currently needed. For more information or to make an appointment to donate blood or platelets, download the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit redcrossblood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).
Upcoming blood donation opportunities
Avoca
6/20/2016: 1 - 7 p.m., Town Hall, 623 House St.
Louisville
6/11/2016: 9 a.m. - 3 p.m., Louisville High School, 202 West 3rd St.
Plattsmouth
6/29/2016: Noon - 6 p.m., Hy-Vee, 16418 Westside Dr.
Syracuse
6/14/2016: 11:15 a.m. - 5:15 p.m., Luther Memorial Lutheran Church, 1162 Mohawk
How to donate blood
A blood donor card or drivers license or two other forms of identification are required at check-in. Individuals who are 17 years of age (16 with parental consent in some states), weigh at least 110 pounds and are in generally good health may be eligible to donate blood. High school students and other donors 18 years of age and younger also have to meet certain height and weight requirements.
Now that the Legislature has adjourned for the year, I have had perspective to evaluate whether or not my goals and priorities were accomplished this year.
The main priority of mine was to plug the projected General Fund revenue shortfall of $110 million that existed in the 2015 biennial budget by looking for ways to reduce spending. Unfortunately, the budget adjustments ended up being a mixed-bag result.
With the 2016 session changes, the state is projected to end the current biennium with a projected balance of $267.9 million. This is an approximate $4.5 million over the required 3 percent minimum reserve.
The Cash Reserve Fund, the states savings account, is estimated to be $654 million at this time next year.
I was satisfied that the Legislature did not look to tax increases to fix the funding shortfall. One bill that would have dramatically raised cigarette taxes to add more revenue was defeated by members of the Revenue Committee. However, I was disappointed that the overall average spending growth increased from 3.5 percent to 3.7 percent for next year.
Except for key items that funded a new levy project for Offutt Air Force Base and adjusted water project funding, I did not support the additional spending this year. Collectively, the Legislature is having difficulties in making the hard decisions when controlling the growth of government spending.
Nebraska Economic Forecast Advisory Board (NEFAB) in February forecasts the current bienniums revenue growth for the state to be at 4 percent, below the historical average of 5 percent.
By law, we have to balance the budget, and we did. Controlling spending when funding key priorities is important. We are now awaiting the June 30th close of the current fiscal year. Tax receipts are not coming in as projected. Spending control is looming as one of the 2017 session key issues.
Stopping President Obamas Medicaid expansion in Nebraska was the next priority I discussed at the start of 2016.
Bills like this year's version, LB 1032, had the potential to really hurt our states fiscal health, with out of control costs that other states which implemented a Medicaid expansion program have experienced.
Again, I was glad to be a part of stopping this repackaged bill we had defeated three times earlier. With the bill's supporters not having enough votes to advance the bill, it was bracketed, or defeated, by a vote of 28 to 20.
At the outset of this year's session, I also listed another carryover bill that if passed, would be a problem for the business climate in our state and would decrease First Amendment liberties for business owners to freely live and work according to their faith and conscience.
LB 586 had proposed to give special legal status to homosexual and transgender people in employment and public accommodations. These types of bills are being used as hammers in other states to force acceptance of a controversial lifestyles and chill any dissent from their new and radical definition of normal human sexuality.
This bill, LB 586, was thankfully, quickly dispensed with once it finally came up for debate late in this year's session. A motion to bracket the bill, removing it from the Legislative Agenda for the remainder of the session, was successful by a vote of 26-18-4 on March 23.
Property taxes and guns were the last two goals I mentioned at the start of the year. Though we made some progress, it wasnt as much as I had hoped for in these two areas.
With property taxes, we were able to provide an extra $20 million of property tax credits for agricultural land owners and got rid of the disincentive of the minimum levy requirement for school districts to receive equalization funds from the state formula. These were very large achievements for rural Nebraska.
I was hoping for more permanent property tax reform, but I am optimistic that some of the potential new faces that could be here next year will give us a better chance a real reform.
Finally, LB 289, which would have made state law preemptive over local firearm ordinances to get rid of the confusing patchwork currently in place, was filibustered and did not advance, but only by one vote. Again, I am optimistic about the potential of a similar bill passing next year.
Overall, this was a productive session the most productive since I have been privileged to serve as your state senator. Many of the priorities that I had hoped to achieve were at least, in part, accomplished. Many bad bills were killed.
For two decades, a local agency has served homeless and near-homeless people.
Recently, that agency Care Corps Family Services received a $43,000 grant from the Fremont Area Community Foundation that will help in its mission to prevent homelessness.
Care Corps provides emergency shelter and basic needs for individuals and families.
But it does more than that.
It offers services that range from therapy and parenting classes to housing search assistance and after-care services. It has two housing programs.
The community foundation gift will be used to provide prevention case management services from Care Corps facility at 723 N. Broad St. The funds will provide for a prevention specialist who will oversee various programs and services.
Care Corps has always provided prevention and after-care services, however, our case managers are at capacity with our two housing programs and our shelter program so there was no case manager at Care Corps who owned this program of prevention and after care and basic needs, said Lindsey Valla, development and public relations director.
Besides overseeing these services, the specialist will enter after care and prevention data into the Homeless Management Information System.
Grant funds also will provide for transportation, emergency and life skills programming costs.
In 2015, Care Corps served 505 individuals 118 of whom were children under age 18. Of the children served, most were under age 5.
About 40 percent of individuals served by Care Corps annually enter as part of a family, Valla said.
Everyone who enters the shelter receives case management services. There now are three case managers and support staff who stay very busy with all the programs and clients.
Every case manager teaches one life skills class a week and a prevention specialist can help grow the classes, Valla said
All clients take part in a budgeting program and a minimum of 50 percent of their income goes into a savings account so they have money for rent or utility deposits when they leave the program.
Each program participant, whos a parent, is required to complete a Love and Logic parenting class. Every participant in a supportive housing program is required to complete a Rent Wise program.
Other life skills classes include smoking cessation, basic computer skills and employment skills development.
Care Corps is the only shelter of its kind in Northeast Nebraska in that it requires program participation, Valla said. People cant come in and not agree to receive case management services creating goals, planning to meet those goals, budgeting, looking for employment and seeing a mental health therapist if necessary.
The agency has an on-site mental health therapist.
Tera Kucera, interim executive director, said 42 percent of adults who came to Care Corps in 2015 reported a mental illness.
Other statistics include:
* About 20 percent had at least one known health condition such as mental illness, alcohol or drug abuse, a chronic health condition or disease or developmental or physical disability.
* 14 percent had two of these conditions and 13 percent had three or more.
* Approximately 25 percent of adults reported past domestic violence experience.
Besides providing life skills and other services, Care Corps has two housing programs, supportive and permanent supportive.
Grants pay for the majority of the housing programs. Care Corps raises the matching grant funds.
Supportive housing pays for rent and utilities for a person or family for up to two years.
Permanent supportive housing also pays for rent and utilities, but doesnt have a time cap and is specifically for individuals with disabilities.
Grants for both programs were renewed. Care Corps needs to raise $22,000 to meet its matches for the supportive and permanent supportive housing programs.
Care Corps has 13 units for supportive housing and 10 for permanent supportive housing in Fremont.
The funds are needed to continue to house the 23 families benefiting from this.
Valla also noted that in 2015, Care Corps had to turn away 133 individuals who met the qualifications and could have entered the shelter; 69 of those were children.
Care Corps has applied for Rapid Re-Housing dollars.
Those people that we turned away, we could have quickly placed them into housing and had the funding to pay for their deposit and rent, Valla said.
The prevention specialist would help oversee the Rapid Re-Housing budget.
Valla also noted that the first three months of 2016, 70 percent of Care Corps program participants exited into a permanent housing solution.
With that comes the desperate need for more in-depth after-care case management for clients in our housing programs, Valla said. Individuals and families often need continued mental health therapy, life skills instruction and other supports months after they exit our emergency shelter program.
The life skills classes and after-care support can help clients become successful so they dont have to return to the shelter.
We want those individuals and families to remain successful and sustainable, Kucera said.
Kucera and Valla are pleased about the grant that Care Corps recently received.
We are ecstatic about this award, and are so grateful to the Fremont Area Community Foundation, as it will allow us to better serve those in need in our community, Valla said. The need for case management ownership in areas of basic needs, after-care and life skills classes at Care Corps is great especially because these services greatly contribute to homelessness prevention.
Donations and volunteers continue to be needed at Care Corps.
This year marks Care Corps 20th anniversary of serving people who are homeless and near homeless in the community.
The public is invited to an open house from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 9. To volunteer time or resources, call Valla at 402-721-3125.
A 29-year-old Fremont man was sentenced to prison Monday morning in Dodge County District Court for strangulating his intimate partner in early April.
Charles Spray pleaded guilty and was found guilty of strangulation, a Class IIIA felony, by Dodge County District Court Judge Geoffrey Hall.
Through a joint agreement, Spray was sentenced to serve three years in the Lincoln Correctional Facility. Spray was credited with serving 58 days in Saunders County Jail and under the Nebraska Good Time Law, the defendant could be eligible for release in 1 years. Upon release, Spray will be required to complete nine to 18 months of post-release supervision.
Spray was arrested April 10 after the Fremont Police Department was contacted by a female party claiming that she was assaulted by her boyfriend, who was later identified as Spray. At the time of the phone call, the distressed woman was hiding from Spray, and she informed law enforcement that earlier in the morning their 2-month-old child was crying and the defendant would not let her pick up the child to offer comfort.
He proceeded to grab her by the right arm and throat, squeezing so hard marks were visible when police later arrived.
All of the events were captured on video with a cellphone, Dodge County Attorney Oliver Glass said.
In other District Court news:
*Cody Miller, 22, of Fremont pleaded not guilty to being in possession of a controlled substance meth, a class IV felony; tampering with physical evidence, a Class IV felony; obstructing a police officer, Class I misdemeanor, and driving during revocation, a Class II misdemeanor.
Millers Bond is set at $30,000 with a 10-percent option, and was denied the possibility of a bond reduction because of his lengthy criminal past, Judge Hall said.
*Brooke Stevens, 36, was sentenced to serve one year in the Nebraska Correctional Facility for Women after being found guilty of two counts of being in possession of a controlled substance methamphetamine. Stevens was credited with serving 48 days in jail and under the Nebraska Good Time Law, Stevens could be eligible for release in six months.
*Melvin G. Aldrich, 52, of Fremont was sentenced to serve a term of probation after being found guilty of felony possession of methamphetamine. Aldrich was sentenced to 30 months of intensive supervised probation, with terms including attending two AA/NA meetings weekly, working or seeking work, completing moral reconation therapy and 120 hours of community service. Aldrich was arrested on April 15 when the III CORPS Drug Task Force located meth and drug paraphernalia at his residence.
Abbi Jamison, Worlds Pre-Teen Miss Nebraska Tourism 2016, will read from 11-11:30 a.m. Saturday at Keene Memorial Librarys Saturday Storytime.
Jamison will appear in her crown and sash and is looking forward to spending time with the children of Fremont. In addition to reading stories, Abbi will be giving every child who attends a book. She has chosen childhood literacy as her platform and has developed a community service project titled My Own Book.
Over the next year, Abbis goal is to give away as many books as she can to children across Nebraska. She chose her platform after discovering that some children do not own a single book.
Abbis other primary responsibility is to promote tourism in Nebraska. She is on a seven-day tour across Nebraska. She has made several personal appearances that will showcase Nebraska. She will complete with girls from all over the world for national titles at the official International/Americas Miss Tourism Pageant from July 8-10 in Clarksville, Tenn.
Abbi is a 12-year-old seventh grader at Shickley Public Schools and calls Edgar home. She began her efforts at Shickley Public Schools on Feb. 15, 2016, by donating a series of books to her school library and continues to distribute books to children in Nebraska.
A 41-year-old Fremont man is in stable condition after being shot by a gun in the early hours of Sunday morning, information released by the Dodge County Sheriffs office says.
Deputies were dispatched at 4:30 a.m. to BP Fuel Express, 1305 E. Morningside Road, in reference to a man who had driven to the location after sustaining gunshot wounds.
Upon arrival, deputies discovered that Jason Marty drove his gray 2002 Dodge Dakota pickup truck near the front entrance of the business where he was found.
Marty was transported by the Fremont Rescue Squad to Fremont Health Medical Center and later taken via helicopter to the University of Nebraska Medical Center where he was operated on.
An investigation led to the discovery that Marty was shot while his vehicle was at a rural location approximately 2 miles southeast of Fremont. He then drove by himself to the gas station.
Released information says that there currently isnt any known motive for the shooting.
The Douglas County Crime Scene Investigation Team was in charge of processing the scene and additional assistance was provided by the Nebraska State Patrol.
Three individuals were arrested Monday as a result of an investigation into the shooting of Jason Marty on Sunday morning.
According to a release, the Dodge County Sheriff's office arrested William D. Cady, 32, of Dodge City, Kan., Andria N. Cady, 31, and Jacob Cross, 43, both of Fremont.
William Cady is charged with attempted first-degree murder, a Class IIA felony; use of a weapon to commit a felony, a Class 1C felony; and tampering with evidence, a Class IIA felony.
Andria Cady is charged with accessory to a felony, a Class IV felony; and aiding and abetting -- attempted first-degree murder, a Class IIA felony.
Cross is charged with two counts of accessory to a felony, a Class IIA felony, and Class IV felony.
Marty, 41, of Fremont, is in stable condition after being shot by a gun in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Deputies were dispatched at 4:30 a.m. to BP Fuel Express, 1305 E. Morningside Road, in reference to a man who had driven to the location after sustaining gunshot wounds.
Upon arrival, deputies discovered that Jason Marty drove his gray 2002 Dodge Dakota pickup truck near the front entrance of the business where he was found.
Marty was transported by the Fremont Rescue Squad to Fremont Health Medical Center and later taken via helicopter to the University of Nebraska Medical Center where he was operated on and is currently in stable condition.
An investigation led to the discovery that Marty was shot while his vehicle was at a rural location approximately 2 miles southeast of Fremont. He then drove by himself to the gas station.
Released information says that William Cady and Andria Cady (William's estranged wife), Jacob Cross and another male, who has not been charged, were together in a vehicle driven by William Cady.
While riding in the vehicle, Andria Cady was in contact with Marty, with whom she had been in a relationship for the past couple months, via phone and text message. Arrangements were made to meet at the location southeast of Fremont and discuss an argument from a few days prior.
The investigation showed that William Cady and Andria Cady conspired to arrange the meeting with Marty for the purpose of robbery and/or assault.
William Cady parked the vehicle on the side of the gravel road and exited the vehicle, while the other persons remained in the vehicle. As Marty arrived at the location and toward the parked car, William Cady began firing a .40-cal. handgun, striking both Marty and the vehicle. Marty then drove from the scene, colliding with a parked vehicle and a utility pole at a residence on Hills Farm Road before arriving at the BP Fuel Express.
The Douglas County Crime Scene Investigation Team was in charge of processing the scene and additional assistance was provided by the Nebraska State Patrol.
The investigation is ongoing.
When the men who valiantly fought in the war returned to American soil, they werent met with cheers, applause or gratification.
Most were met with jeers, insults and nasty looks.
They were called "baby killers" and "murderers" some were spit on when they got off the planes.
These were the soldiers of the Vietnam War, arguably the most controversial war of the modern era.
But when these same soldiers arrived at Eppley Airfield in Omaha Monday evening after their day-long trip in Washington, D.C., they witnessed firsthand the appreciation so many people have for their service and sacrifice.
Five-hundred Vietnam vets from 200 communities around the state traveled on three flights to D.C. to visit the Vietnam Wall, Korean War Monument, World War II Monument, Iwo Jima Monument, Air Force Memorials and Arlington National Cemetery they even saw the solemn Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
The trip provided the veterans with a time interact with their brothers-in-arms, a time to reflect on the hard memories many worked so hard to suppress and a time to give thanks for making it out of Vietnam alive, unlike the nearly 58,000 of their American brothers whose names are etched into the hallowed black granite walls at the memorial site.
But while seeing the monuments was a touching experience, perhaps nothing was as moving as the showing of support received when the vets landed in D.C. followed by Eppley Monday.
Thousands upon thousands of people turned out for both flight landings to offer their support, to give the vets the proper reception they never received when many returned home in the mid-1970s.
As the vets arrived in Omaha, hordes of people from all around the state jam-packed the hallways of the Omaha Airport waving flags, sporting banners and posters and singing songs like American the Beautiful and the National Anthem.
Smiles were everywhere, tears ran down faces and grandsons and granddaughters threw themselves into their grandfathers arms, recognizing them for something their young minds know little to nothing about.
As they veterans left the terminal and walked through the hallways toward Eppleys exit, thunderous applause resonated through the building. And through the applause another sound was heard bagpipes.
Clad in red and green kilts, accompanied with black hats with red tassels, the Lincoln Fire and Rescue Pipes and Drums Troupe was at the front of the long line of veterans as they made their way down the hallways.
Since 2002, the Pipes and Drums have traveled around the state and country playing their songs at veterans events, Memorial Day parades, St. Patricks Day parades and funerals.
We organized in 2002 to honor fallen firefighter brothers and sisters, military personnel and law enforcement, said John Hibberd, member of the Bags and Pipes.
Hibberd said that the group has played at four other honor flight ceremonies, and that the return of the veterans from their D.C trip provided the perfect opportunity to come out and showcase their skills, skills that honor those who have fallen and served.
While the group plays and many festive events, they also play at somber ones, too.
Each year, the Lincoln Fire and Rescue Bags and Pipes travels to Colorado Springs, Colo., to perform at the International Association of Firefighters Fallen Firefighters Memorial.
Following the death of Omaha Police officer Kerrie Orozco in May 2015, the Bags and Pipes played during the fallen officer's memorial ceremony.
The group is there to provide whatever service is necessary, said group member and firefighter Alan Crist. Sometimes they perform to help people celebrate, other times they are there to help people cope and heal.
Most importantly, the music benefits the people who hear it as well as those who play it.
It makes a huge difference for the people we serve, and it also makes a huge difference for us, Crist said. We enjoy uplifting peoples spirits, but more importantly, we try to honor peoples' memory.
OKINAWA, Japan Leah Siangco, a 34-year-old California native, and her husband, a pastor, put out a call recently to members of their congregation, Neighborhood Church Okinawa. Join us, they said, for a silent memorial along Route 58, a busy thoroughfare on the southern Japanese island where tens of thousands of American troops are based.
The couple felt moved to action by their faith, they said, disturbed by news that a former U.S. Marine-turned-civilian contractor had been arrested by Japanese police and acknowledged abducting and killing a 20-year-old local woman.
So they prepared some posters at the church office, with simple messages in English and Japanese like We mourn with Okinawa, alongside a heart formed by the U.S. and Okinawan flags. The idea was to stand by the road with the signs, heads bowed in prayer, to express their grief and solidarity with the local community.
Almost anywhere else, such a gathering would be considered a kind and natural even routine neighborly gesture after a brutal and senseless crime. But until they walked out to the highway, the Siangcos felt extremely anxious about how theyd be received. I was super nervous, said Leah Siangco, who hails from the city of Orange. Almost sick to my stomach.
Because Okinawa is not just anywhere. A diminutive tropical island paradise ravaged in the final months of World War II, Okinawa has long been a nexus for U.S.-Japanese cooperation and conflict.
After Japans surrender, Okinawa found itself transformed into one of the most extensive overseas U.S. military installations in the world. In 1972, Washington handed administrative control to Tokyo, but the islands have continued to host a vast network of bases used by the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines as well as Japans Self-Defense Forces.
Over the last seven decades, Americans and Okinawans have worked together, worshipped together and wed one another, forging a co-dependent community even as politics have cycled through episodes of confrontation and collaboration.
But anti-base sentiment has been festering in recent years, fed by concerns over the environment, economy and crime, among other issues. In the aftermath of the homicide, many here are wondering whether the situation has reached a tipping point.
We are at a new low, said Robert D. Eldridge, an American scholar who has researched Okinawa extensively and served as a senior public affairs official for the Marines from 2009 to 2015. In a nutshell, its unsustainable here ... operationally, strategically, fiscally and politically.
The case has put Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a staunch proponent of strengthening defense ties with Washington as Chinas military flexes its muscles, in a tight spot.
U.S. officials have scrambled to try to contain the damage, with President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter offering apologies and Marine Lt. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson, the top commander in Okinawa, announcing a monthlong mourning period, a temporary curfew and new restrictions on drinking off-base.
Okinawa politicians, though, are not satisfied, passing a resolution calling for Marines to withdraw completely from the island prefecture. Anti-base activists, meanwhile, have ramped up their protests and stepped up pressure on Abe to cut, at long last, what they say is Okinawas disproportionate burden for hosting U.S. troops in Japan. They are trying to organize a large rally on June 19.
But many ordinary islanders Americans and Okinawans say the increasing polarization is in neither sides interest. The swirl of events has left them wrung out, suspended in a matrix of frustration, sadness and uncertainty.
Christian Siangco, the pastor, said he fielded numerous phone calls warning him that his plans for a silent memorial could be construed as being anti-base, and suggesting it might be better to lie low.
But I had just been preaching on standing firm in ones faith, said Siangco, a retired Navy chief petty officer. Someone needs to stand up for hope.
Rina Shimabukuro vanished in late April while out for an evening walk. It took three weeks for police to find the young womans corpse, dumped along a bend in a wooded area in the village of Onna.
Authorities found the body after questioning Kenneth Shinzato, a 32-year-old ex-Marine who was working as a computer and electrical contractor at Kadena Air Base. Security camera recordings showed his car near the site where Shimabukuro disappeared. Local media reports say she was sexually assaulted.
The case has sparked incredulity not least because Shinzato, a civilian employee born Kenneth Franklin Gadson, seemed to personify the close relations in Okinawa between Americans and Japanese. Married to a local woman and the father of a newborn, he had taken his wifes last name and lived off-base.
The case immediately dredged up memories of a litany of crimes committed by U.S. servicemen in recent decades, from the rape of a 12-year-old girl by three Americans in 1995, to robberies and a March incident in which a U.S. Marine pleaded guilty to raping a woman he found asleep in the corridor of his hotel. This past weekend, a 21-year-old Navy petty officer second class was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after crashing her car into two vehicles while traveling the wrong way on Route 58.
Though Shinzato was no longer a member of the military, that distinction matters little to many Okinawans. He works on the base. Before, he was a Marine, said Hiroji Yamashiro, 63, an activist who has spent 700 days protesting plans to expand the Marines Camp Schwab in the village of Henoko to allow the closure of Futenma Air Base, situated smack in the middle of Ginowan City. Its the same force.
Before, people didnt think we should close all the bases, Yamashiro added, sitting in a sweltering tent encampment across from Camp Schwab. But after this incident, people are afraid, and really angry.
On weekends, Yamashiro flies to one of Japans main islands and delivers speeches anywhere he can at train stations, or conference halls discussing what he sees as the onerous U.S. military presence in Okinawa. He has nothing but disdain for Abe, who has fought for the expansion of Camp Schwab and modifications to Japans postwar pacifist constitution. I think Abe wants to start a war with China, he said.
Eisaku Yara, now in his sixth term as a Naha City assemblyman, said it would be dangerous for all U.S. troops to be suddenly booted from Okinawa. Though anti-base forces have found an energetic advocate in the current governor, Takeshi Onaga, Yara believes not even half of Okinawans want all Americans gone.
Personally, Id be sad if they all left, said Yara, who thinks a gradual reduction is the most prudent approach. After 70 years, we are all family here.
But Yara said more needs to be done to deepen understanding between Americans and Okinawans. Even as a local assemblyman, he said, he has scant substantive contact with U.S. military officials. Some come to the citys annual holiday party, but theres little follow-up after business cards are exchanged.
As a junior high school kid, I remember doing a weekend home stay on one of the U.S. bases. I stayed with a black serviceman, his wife and two kids, recalled Yara. It was a chance to experience American culture, which I only knew from TV and movies.
More such programs are sorely needed, he said. And Okinawans, he added, could do more to introduce Americans to Japanese culture and language.
Eldridge agreed. More needs to be done, he said, to publicize the good things Okinawa-based troops do, both on and off duty from volunteering to disaster-relief missions after earthquakes, typhoons and tsunamis.
If you get the community relations right, the politics fall in place, he said.
Every year about this time home cooks are faced with the most delicious dilemma: what to do with all those wonderful blueberries that are in season.
Of course you can sprinkle them on cereal, stir them into yogurt and whirl them in the blender for smoothies. But tossed in a healthy, fresh salad, blueberries are irresistible.
Here are some things to remember about the little gems when you buy them fresh:
A pint of fresh blueberries is about 2 to 2 cups and weighs about 12 ounces.
Choose plump dry berries covered with powdery bloom a sign of freshness.
Refrigerate berries in a covered container or bowl; wash just before using.
Freeze dry berries in a sealed container or plastic bag. For recipes, measure them while still frozen.Blueberry Farro Salad
Look for farro, also called wheat berries, next to the grains and rice at the supermarket. It can also be found in the bulk bins at larger supermarkets.
Serves 6.
1 cup farro (wheat berries)
2 cups blueberries
1 cup diced celery
5 green onions, chopped
cup diced red onion
1 cup diced red bell pepper
cup sunflower seeds, toasted
cup cider vinegar
cup canola oil
2 teaspoons cumin
1 tablespoon coriander
1 tablespoon maple syrup
teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1. Rinse farro and put into a pot with 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until soft, about 40 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.
2. Combine blueberries, celery, green onions, onion, pepper and sunflower seeds in a large bowl. Add farro.
3. Combine vinegar, oil, cumin, coriander and maple syrup in a small bowl; whisk until combined. Drizzle over farro mixture. Toss gently. Add salt and pepper and toss again. Serves 6.
Recipe courtesy of Tom Rocket, Green Fields Market, Greenfield, Massachusetts.
DES MOINES Iowa regulators in a split vote Monday gave a Texas oil company the green light to begin construction of an interstate crude oil pipeline on Iowa land where the company has all the necessary permissions.
The Iowa Utilities Board ruling covers the vast majority of the 346 miles of pipeline route through 18 Iowa counties from northwest to southeast, and company officials said work will begin immediately after receiving a signed order.
The ruling will be official and pipeline developer Dakota Access can be begin construction when the board signs the order, which is expected by Tuesday.
We will begin construction in the appropriate areas immediately upon receiving the signed order from the Iowa Utilities Board, Dakota Access spokeswoman Lisa Dillinger said, noting her company has secured voluntary easement agreements on 89 percent of the Iowa properties.
The company plans to have the pipeline in service by the end of the year. The company declined to provide the schedule of construction sites but noted several sites will be ongoing at the same time across the route.
Dakota Access sought special permission to begin construction in Iowa because the March 10 Iowa Utilities Board order granting a hazardous liquid pipeline permit required all permits must be in hand before construction begins. The Army Corps of Engineers still is reviewing some parcels under its jurisdiction.
The intent (of the Iowa Utilities Board permit) is satisfied and I would grant a motion to commence construction in areas where Dakota Access has all other authorizations, Iowa Utilities Board Commissioner Nick Wagner said before the board voted.
Wagner and Libby Jacobs voted to support the construction request, while board Chairwoman Geri Huser voted against. At an earlier meeting Huser questioned whether the Iowa Utilities Board had jurisdiction.
The 1,168-mile $3.8-billion pipeline will carry up to 570,000 barrels of crude oil per day from northwest North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to Illinois. Construction has already begun in the other states. About 4,000 trade workers per state are expected to be put to work.
After the meeting, about 50 or 60 critics of the project assembled on the state Capitol grounds near the Iowa Utilities Board office to protest the vote. Several lawsuits have been filed to block the pipeline, including one by nine landowners and another by the Sierra Club.
One hurdle for Dakota Access could be a parcel along the pipeline route in the Big Sioux River Wildlife Management Area in Lyon County. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources issued a stop work order after issuing a permit in March conditional on authorization from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The service revoked authorization after learning the land may contain human remains in sacred tribal burial grounds.
Iowa State Archaeologist John Doershuk visited the site on Friday with state, federal and tribal officials and followed up by email on Saturday stating the site should not be disturbed. He said it has significant cultural and historical importance to the Upper Sioux Community, Standing Rock, and other Sioux.
He recommended that the parcel be considered eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and protected under Iowa law protecting ancient human remains.
The site is to be avoided and protected in place, he wrote.
MASON CITY The Mason City School Board appointed Mike Penca as interim superintendent during a special session held Monday evening.
Penca, 42, assumes the role effective immediately. He will be offered a one-year temporary position with the option to apply when the board considers a permanent hire.
The board voted 6 to 1 to approve the appointment. Board member Doug Campbell voted against the decision via phone.
Board Vice President Lorrie Lala said during the meeting she really felt like the timing is critical ... to the children of the district for some continuity.
The board voted to allow Penca to join the board table immediately following the vote.
His new salary has not yet been determined. Human Resources Director Jodie Anderson said after the meeting his contract would likely be drawn up by July 1. Pencas current salary is $125,000.
Penca began his career with Mason City as a Harding Elementary kindergarten teacher in 1996.
In 2002 he became principal at Madison Elementary, then moved to the principal role at Harding Elementary in 2005. In 2013, Penca became an interim principal for one year at Jefferson Elementary.
He has worked as a district administrator since 2010. In 2013, he was appointed to his current role as executive director for learning supports and pk-4 programs.
Penca and his wife, Kristine, have two children.
After the meeting, Penca said he was excited for the opportunity to serve in a different way.
Last month the board reached an agreement with Superintendent Anita Micich to leave her post, one year prior to the end of her contract.
As part of the agreement she has been placed on administrative leave from June 6 to June 29.
At Mondays meeting, the board held a nearly two-hour closed meeting. It cited the option under Iowa open meetings law allowing a closed session to evaluate the professional competency of an individual whose appointment, hiring, performance, or discharge is being considered when necessary to prevent needless and irreparable injury to that individuals reputation and that individual requests a closed session.
It is unclear if it was related to the superintendent search. Penca remained in the room for the first portion of the meeting.
When salary and benefits are set for the role, each will be paid from the districts general fund, said Business Manager John Berg.
With Micichs departure, the board agreed to pay a sizable portion of her severance by July 15.
That includes the payment for half of her estimated salary during the 2016-17 year worth $93,910. In addition, the district will also pay half of her unused vacation worth $44,535, a tax sheltered annuity contribution of $37,500 and an early retirement payment of $55,055 by that date.
Her total severance agreement including salary and benefits is at least $285,000, which is expected to be paid from a combination of the districts general fund and management fund, Berg previously told the Globe Gazette.
On Monday, Berg said via email where the funds will come from is still under review by district legal counsel.
CHARLES CITY Doug Lindaman will spend up to 10 years in prison for touching a teenage boy in 2011.
A jury in April convicted the former lawyer and magistrate of third-degree sexual abuse, rejecting his claim handling the boys penis represented a therapeutic act meant to unblock an unpleasant sexual memory.
Lindamans 90-year-old mother, brother and apparent supporters attended the sentencing hearing Tuesday afternoon in Floyd County District Court. So, too, did Lindamans victim, now 22 years old, and some of the young mans family.
The young mans mother offered a written victim impact statement, which a stand-in read into the record. In the short letter, the woman took on a few allegations Lindaman made during his trial.
Our boys have not and do not suffer a psycho-sexual disorder, the mother said. The only pain theyve suffered, she added, was caused by Lindamans actions.
The woman accused Lindaman of fulfilling his sexual desires ... at any cost. The mother also challenged Lindamans notion she and her husband dislike Lindaman because he is gay.
We are not anti-gay. We are anti-anything-that-is-going-to-harm-our-kids, the mother added.
Lindaman was barred from practicing law following convictions in 1988 in Floyd County on two counts of committing lascivious acts with a child. He left the bench five years earlier because of an allegation he made an inappropriate advance on a young man.
Though he has no law license, Lindaman served as his own legal counsel throughout the most recent case and trial.
Lindaman was assisted Tuesday by defense attorney John Standafer of Cedar Falls, who helped Lindaman ask for an arrest of judgment and a second trial.
Lindaman on Tuesday used a chalkboard during a demonstration and later testified. While on the witness stand, he conceded hiring a lawyer earlier might have been beneficial. But he said he approached several and nobody would touch it.
Lindaman also argued instructions provided to jurors needed some mention of legitimate, nonsexual contact allowed under Iowa law. As his examples, he cited diapering a child, caring for a dependent adult and performing a circumcision.
After Lindamans comments and testimony, Judge Gregg Rosenbladt ticked through about a dozen of Lindamans objections and motions, reviewing each briefly then denying or overruling each in turn.
Before sentencing, Lindaman offered a final thought.
Im just sorry that its come this far, he said.
Besides serving up to 10 years in prison, Rosenbladt also ordered Lindaman to sign up for the sex offenders registry for life and imposed a $1,000 fine.
Lindaman must also make restitution to the Crime Victims Program but the amount has not yet been determined.
CHARLES CITY Cory Poyner avoided prison Tuesday but will be on probation for up to five years for strangling his former live-in girlfriend.
Judge Peter Newell stuck to the terms of a plea bargain struck between Floyd County Attorney Rachel Ginbey and defense attorney Nellie OMara, sentencing Poyner to five years in prison but suspended the term.
Poyner pleaded guilty to domestic assault by impeding normal breathing or circulation. At an earlier hearing, he admitted putting his hands around Kayla Smiths neck.
Smith and her mother, Renee Reams, provided victim impact statements at Tuesdays sentencing.
I hate what you did to me. Im very lucky to be alive, Smith said.
Smith also alleged Poyners attack was not the only time he committed physical and emotional abuse on her but it was his last.
Smith said she also regrets the time she wasted with Poyner.
Reams called Poyner out for alleged years of physical and emotional abuse, describing Poyner as a habitual abuser.
You almost destroyed her and her family, Reams added.
Poyner declined an opportunity to speak.
Newell noted the seriousness of Poyners crime.
This is the type of offense that can have a very debilitating affect on the victim and the victims family, Newell said.
Newell allowed the sentencing hearing to proceed Tuesday over OMaras objection and request for delay.
According to OMara, one of the states witnesses recently expressed interest in changing her testimony. The witness, according to Ginbey, knew Smith lived with Poyner and saw Smith immediately after the choking incident.
I want time to investigate what she is changing in her statement, OMara said.
In denying the continuance, Newell said the person was a tangential witness to ancillary facts. He also noted Poyners plea and admission of guilt were already on the record.
MASON CITY Ethel Magner of Mason City has found herself in a jam.
Magner, 85, owns a rental property at 633 Fourth St. N.E. She recently got a notice from the city the sidewalk in front of the property needs to be repaired at a possible cost to her of $870.80.
She said she doesnt have that kind of money. Im a senior citizen, she said. I limit myself to two baths a week or my water bill goes up.
She said he has complained to city officials about her plight but doesnt know who to turn to.
City Engineer Mark Rahm said he has talked with Magner and said she has talked with other city officials.
Rahm said the city has had a sidewalk improvement program in place for the past 11 years. Inspectors zero in on certain neighborhoods, usually ones with heavy pedestrian traffic such as ones near parks, playgrounds, schools or grocery stores.
Magners property is across the street from East Park.
When we come across a sidewalk that looks to be unsafe, we get bids from contractors and then inform the property owner that it needs to be fixed and the estimated cost to fix it, said Rahm.
The property owner has 30 days to comply, but we work with them. If its going to take longer than 30 days we try to be fair, he said.
Property owners can get their own estimates to see if they can get a better deal. If nothing is worked out, the property owner can sign a waiver to have the city hire the contractor, fix the sidewalk and bill the property owner.
Magner said she got one estimate and it was $900 $30 more than the citys estimate.
The sidewalks are the responsibility of the property owner to keep them maintained. It is the citys responsibility to keep them safe, said Rahm.
He said it is not right to make exceptions when sidewalks need repairs and not fair to make exceptions when other property owners have paid to have their sidewalks fixed.
None of that reasoning is reassuring to Magner.
If you have to pay more for your sidewalk than you do for your taxes, theres something wrong, she said.
MASON CITY The Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health will host a free public bedbug information session at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Health Department in the Liberty Room on the first floor of the Mohawk Square Building.
This session will address how to look for bedbugs, what you should do if you find one, the treatment of an infestation and how to prevent from bringing bedbugs into your home. No registration is necessary.
There will also be a free bedbug training for home care workers and individuals who work in the home environment at 1 p.m. Friday at Lime Creek Nature Center. Registration is required for this session by visiting www.surveymonkey.com/r/preventbedbugs.
IOWA CITY | The Iowa State Patrol has moved to terminate the employment of a ranking officer who had been one of its rising stars, invoking a seldom-used disciplinary process for supervisors.
Sgt. Michael Haugen, of Forest City, was informed May 3 that the patrol is firing him "due to misconduct," according to a document obtained under the open records law. A related criminal investigation is underway.
The patrol's parent agency, the Iowa Department of Public Safety, has so far kept the details under wraps. Haugen has the right to appeal his termination and would continue to be paid his $79,000-annual salary until the action becomes final.
Haugen, 31, had been a trooper for a decade at the patrol's Mason City post, which serves eight counties in northern Iowa. Last year he was promoted to sergeant, a position that only a few dozen patrol officers in the state hold.
It is the first time in nearly three years that the department has launched formal termination or demotion proceedings against a supervisor through the Employment Appeal Board, as required by state law. This time, the department has taken steps to shield details of his alleged actions from public scrutiny, at least temporarily.
Departing from past practice, the department didn't give the board Haugen's termination notice, which would make it a public record and spell out why his firing was being sought.
Instead, Commissioner Roxann Ryan's executive officer, Jeff Ritzman, filed an undated letter saying Haugen had been given notice of his pending termination for misconduct but providing no details.
The letter is the only document that must be filed as long as Haugen doesn't appeal, a board spokesman said. The board would ultimately decide whether his firing is justified if Haugen does appeal, following a hearing and an initial ruling from an administrative law judge.
As of June 2 the department hadn't responded to a public information request filed the week of May 23. Spokesman Alex Murphy didn't immediately return messages seeking comment for this story.
The patrol's public information officer, Sgt. Nathan Ludwig, said Haugen was terminated but that he had no other information, saying he was too busy "trying to deal with the good news."
Law enforcement officials say northern Iowa is buzzing with talk about Haugen's dismissal, but that the patrol hasn't shared any details.
"We're all kind of curious about it," said Cerro Gordo County Sheriff Kevin Pals. "It's disappointing. He was a good guy."
Mike Krapfl, a special agent with the Division of Criminal Investigation, declined comment on the criminal investigation, referring questions to Murphy.
Cerro Gordo County Attorney Carlyle Dalen said he is awaiting reports from investigators detailing the facts of the case. Given his prior work with Haugen on numerous cases, he said he might have to step away from any decision on whether to bring charges. If he does, the case would be referred to the attorney general's office.
"I'm sure I'm going to know a lot more about it soon," Dalen said.
Haugen had a wide array of skills and duties, including negotiating with suspects during standoffs, maintaining evidence and investigating everything from car accidents to human trafficking. His LinkedIn page now lists him as an employee of a family-owned contracting business. He didn't return a message left there.
Haugen is also listed as being a reserve officer with the Forest City Police Department from from 2003 to 2006.
The last time the department tried to fire a sergeant in 2013, it didn't go well. Kevin Knebel, who was also based in Mason City, collected $118,000 in salary for not working during a 17-month appeal process before the department withdrew his firing and reinstated him to another job.
MASON CITY A Mason City-based state trooper on administrative leave since March says he is resigning because of an addiction to painkillers.
Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Michael Haugen, of Forest City, said in a resignation letter submitted Monday that he became addicted to opioids while seeking relief from ulcerative colitis and another chronic gastrointestinal disorder.
Haugen, 31, was placed on paid leave March 25 and fired last month amid disciplinary and criminal investigations into alleged misconduct. His firing was to become official Monday if he declined to appeal within a 30-day deadline.
Instead, he resigned.
My addiction has negatively impacted my family, friends, co-workers others, and Im taking responsibility for my actions, he wrote in his resignation letter.
Haugen could not immediately be reached for comment on the letter, which the Globe Gazette obtained from the Iowa State Patrol Monday night.
The Iowa State Patrol and its parent agency, the Iowa Department of Public Safety, have not described Haugens alleged misconduct, including now whether his admitted drug addiction played a part in it.
Iowa Department of Public Safety spokesman Alex Murphy refused to provide any more details on Monday, saying the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is still investigating the misconduct allegations.
Right now, thats all part of the investigation, he said.
Iowa State Patrol plans to fire Forest City officer IOWA CITY | The Iowa State Patrol has moved to terminate the employment of a ranking officer
About two weeks before Haugen was placed on administrative leave he was involved in a rear-end collision while on patrol in Forest City.
A report by Haugens supervisor, Lt. Dan Schaffer, placed blame for the March 7 incident on the lead driver, 46-year-old Wiliam Lawrence of Forest City, saying Lawrence made an abrupt left turn into a church driveway without properly signaling.
Haugen tried to swerve to the outside lane but hit Lawrences rear passenger-side corner, the report said.
The crash caused an estimated $700 in damage to Lawrences 2002 Saturn and $2,000 in damage to Haugens state-owned Ford Crown Victoria.
Its not clear whether the incident on Highway 9 played into Haugens departure.
Its a bigger story than just the accident, Schaffer acknowledged Monday. But he declined to answer questions, saying he had no permission to release information.
The Associated Press used the state open records law to obtain records related to the crash, which occurred in a 45 mph zone on Highway 9.
Lawrence didnt receive a traffic ticket in the crash. But Schaffer wrote him a $330 citation for driving without a valid license, which Lawrence has paid.
Legal experts said it is uncommon for the lead vehicle in a rear-end collision to be blamed for the accident. Even if the lead vehicle acts abruptly, a following vehicles driver is supposed to be following at a distance that gives him time to react safely.
Ninety-nine percent of the time, the rear-ending vehicle is ticketed, attorney Jason Abraham said. Id say the report was written in a way to benefit the officer.
However, Iowa Department of Public Safety Commissioner Roxann Ryan said in an email released Monday night that the incident did not warrant an independent investigation.
She said Lawrence realized he was being followed by a state trooper and was attempted to avoid getting pulled over.
The driver was concerned that he would be discovered driving without a valid license, so he braked suddenly and turned abruptly into a church driveway, she wrote.
The email was sent to members of the Iowa Department of Public Safety at 7:41 p.m. Monday.
Haugen has been with the Iowa State Patrol since 2006 and was promoted to sergeant last year.
In his resignation letter, the former sergeant says he hoped to, build awareness about the opioid addiction crisis in the United States.
In addition to using opioids for ulcerative colitis, which is inflammation and ulcers on the large intestine, Haugen said he also used the painkillers for relief from C. difficile, or C-diff.
C. difficile is a bacterium that can cause inflammation of the colon, according to the Mayo Clinic.
I am thankful for the opportunity I had making a positive difference for people in our communities, the varied assignments in which I was able to participate, and the bond with fellow officers, Haugen wrote. With that said, at this point, I need to focus on my health and family.
* NOTE: An email from Iowa Department of Public Safety Commisioner Roxann Ryan explaining the State Patrol's position on the March 7 traffic incident was released late Monday. The story has been updated with this new information.
To be sure, Iowa received considerably more attention for its February caucus results than it will for todays primary elections.
Yet obviously, that doesnt diminish the results of those elections and the intriguing matchups they will set up. Thats why, as always, we urge voter participation in setting the agenda for the states and the nations business.
Nationally, most attention has gone to the Democratic race for the U.S. Senate nomination not necessarily because of the candidates themselves but because of who the winner will face.
If ever there was a sure bet in Iowa politics, its that Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin would be U.S. senators for life. But Harkin, the Democrat, retired and Republican Joni Ernst now holds that seat. Grassley, on the other hand, is running for re-election to continue his elected public service that started with his first campaign for the Iowa Legislature in 1958.
Where he had been seen as mostly invincible in the past, this year there is belief in some ranks that he is vulnerable because of his steadfast opposition to holding confirmation hearings on President Barack Obamas Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland.
Four Democrats are running for the opportunity to challenge him. The biggest name is Patty Judge, former secretary of agriculture in Iowa, who was recruited by the national party. Others in the field are state Sen. Rob Hogg, Tom Fiegen, a former state senator and U.S. Senate candidate in 2010, and Bob Krause, former state representative and also a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010.
Todays winner will instantly be thrust into the campaign with strong backing from the national Democratic Party hoping to turn negative publicity about Grassleys Supreme Court stand into a win in the Democrats column.
Closer to home, there are two congressional primaries affecting North Iowa.
Perhaps the most surprising race developed in the 4th Congressional District, where seven-term conservative Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, also has been seen as pretty much invincible. Hes being challenged by state Sen. Rick Bertrand of Sioux City, who more moderates seem to favor.
The Associated Press reports Bertrand has argued that voters are tired of Kings brash statements on topics ranging from immigration to abortion. King, however, has picked up endorsements from Grassley and Ernst.
In the Republican caucuses, King backed U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who drew the ire of Gov. Terry Branstad for his opposition to the federal Renewable Fuels Standard. Branstad has remained neutral in this race, although clearly at odds with King over the issue.
The winner today faces Democrat Kim Weaver, of Sheldon.
The other primary race affecting North Iowans is in the 1st District, where Pat Murphy, a former state legislator, and Monica Vernon, a former City Rapids City Council member, are seeking the nomination to oppose first-term Republican Rep. Rod Blum.
Both candidates ran two years ago, and this year both claim to be the more progressive candidate, according to The AP, which reports this race has received extra attention because its seen as a serious opening for Democrats nationwide to try to take back a majority in the House.
So the stakes are high, and it appears national parties will be sinking considerable resources into the races. It will, of course, be a campaign of sound bites, mass mailings and popup advertising.
In the past, Iowans have been known for going beyond that, for doing their homework and learning about the candidates. We hope thats the case today as Iowans once again are thrust into the national political spotlight.
HAMILTON, Bermuda, June 06, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UK-based organisers of this springs second annual Transcontinental Trusts: International Forum have committed to return to the island next May following the growing success of the trust and private client industry event in Bermuda.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/031052e2-6de5-4175-ac67-58a99accd5ab
Next years event will be held once again at the Fairmont Southampton Resort, following two well-attended previous events; exact dates for 2017 are currently being determined. This years forum, held May 810, attracted more than 260 attendeeshigh-level trust professionals from the US, UK, Europe, the US and the Caribbean. That compared with 230 attendees in its inaugural year, and organisers say they expect numbers to continue to rise.
The support, enthusiasm and togetherness of the Bermuda trust industry continues to mark the Forum in every practitioners calendar, said David Gold, commercial director for UK-based IBC Global Conferences. The 2016 event built on the outstanding success of 2015 and somehow managed to surpass it in quality of the programme and number of attendees. The event is now firmly established as the largest event in IBCs Private Client series and will no doubt go from strength to strength in the coming years.
BDA CEO Ross Webber made the opening remarks at this years event, welcoming the high-calibre event as a new fixture on Bermudas industry calendar. Bermuda is a perfect fit to be host venue, given our heritage as one of the worlds leading and oldest international wealth-planning jurisdictionsa place for quality, Webber said. The BDA is proud to be lead sponsor of this conference for that same reason. Were committed to ensuring Bermuda remains at the forefront of international trust law and making certain our domicile provides an innovative, competitive, fit-for-purpose product. Our environment suits your businessfrom our world-class pool of talented practitioners and globally-respected regulation, to our superior judicial systemwhich, by the way, turns 400 years old this summer.
A highlight of this years forum was the Trans Trusts International Supreme Court, a mock hearing in which three barristers presented arguments in a fictional family dispute to a panel of five Supreme Court Justicesincluding Bermuda Chief Justice Ian Kawaleywho returned a judgement at the end of the day.
Also memorable was the events new Rising Stars Programme, in which 18 practitioners with five or fewer years experience in the trust industry were nominated. Each entrant submitted a 1,000-word paper predicting issues private-client professionals would face in the year 2030. Emma Hargreaves, a young litigator from London, was named the 2016 winner.
By all accounts, it is becoming one of the must-attend events on the trust and private client calendar, said Sean Moran, Business Development Manager (Trust & Private Client) of the BDA, which secured the event for Bermuda two years ago. The high-quality speakers, informative content and excellent networking, combined with picture-perfect weather, made TransTrusts International 2016 an event to remember. As we look forward to next year, were already talking with organisers and sponsors about ways to make it even better in 2017.
Bermuda trust lawyers agreed the event is an important showcase of the jurisdiction and its world-class talent.
The forum has become a market-leading event in the private-client world, noted Appleby Partner Keith Robinson, whose practice focuses on high-value trust disputes and restructurings. The breadth and quality of both the content and attendees is remarkable, and places Bermuda at the forefront of thought leadership in trusts and estates.
CONNECTING BUSINESS
The BDA encourages direct investment and helps companies start up, re-locate or expand their operations in our premier jurisdiction. An independent, public-private partnership, we connect you to industry professionals, regulatory officials, and key contacts in the Bermuda government to assist domicile decisions. Our goal? To make doing business here smooth and beneficial.
Provision and SLN sign MOU to consider in-salon promotional collaboration
CHATSWORTH, Calif., June 07, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Provision Interactive Technologies, Inc. ("Provision"), a subsidiary of Provision Holding, Inc. (OTCQB:PVHO), announced today that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Salon Life Network (SLN), a national media network. The MOU describes the plan to create a strategic partnership which would offer Provisions 3D holographic displays for the front lobbies of SLNs participating salons, which may include up to 10,000 locations within the U.S. by the end of the year.
A partnership would draw on the proprietary assets from each enterprise. SLN would contribute all of its current and future salon locations in the U.S., its proprietary content and programming, as well as its marketing and advertising relationships with leading personal care products companies. Provision would contribute its patented 3D holographic display technology, and operational and logistical expertise to the Salon Life Network. SLN has committed to exclusively offer Provisions 3D holographic displays for the front lobbies of the salons within its network.
SLN represents an exciting opportunity for us, said Provision President and CEO, Curt Thornton. Salon customers are very attractive to advertisers as they represent a truly captive audience. We look forward to increasing the value of brand exposure on SLN with our eye-catching 3D P-O-P displays.
Provisions 3D holographic displays will not only be a value-add for advertisers, but will also enhance the experience for salon customers, said Consuelo Sanchez-Octavio, CEO of the Salon Life Network. We look forward to exploring a partnership with Provision and leveraging its unique technology.
About Salon Life Network
Salon Life Network is a salon-based media network delivering compelling content and relevant advertising to the salon industry. We reach the most valuable commodity to the advertising industry; a captive audience in a relaxed environment, at a time and place where they go to look and feel their best. Salon Life Network also enhances the consumer experience and quality of the time spent in the salons.
For more information, visit www.salonlifenetwork.tv.
About Provision Interactive Technologies, Inc.
Provision Interactive Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of the publicly traded company Provision Holding, Inc. (OTCQB:PVHO), is the leading purveyor of intelligent interactive 3D holographic display technologies, software, and integrated solutions for both commercial and consumer focused applications.
Provision's 3D holographic display systems represent a revolutionary technology that provides the projection of full color, high-resolution videos into space detached from the screen, without any special glasses. Provision is currently the market leader in true 3D consumer advertising display products being implemented by innovative, consumer-focused companies.
Provision Holding, Inc. (OTCQB:PVHO) trades on the OTCQB venture stage marketplace for early stage and developing U.S. and international companies. Companies are current in their reporting and undergo an annual verification and management certification process. Investors can find Real-Time quotes and market information for the company on www.otcmarkets.com.
For more information, visit www.provision.tv.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains projections of future results and other forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Important factors that may cause actual results and outcomes to differ materially from those contained in the projections and forward-looking statements included in this press release are described in our publicly filed reports. Factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to, the acceptance of our products, lack of revenue growth, failure to realize profitability, inability to raise capital and market conditions that negatively affect the market price of our common stock. The Company disclaims any responsibility to update any forward-looking statements unless legally required.
DOVER, Del., June 07, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fantini Research, publisher of Fantinis Gaming Report and other publications and research services for investors and the gaming industry, has hired Robin Coventry as director of business development.
Ms. Coventry will be responsible for revenue generation and brand development for Fantini Research generally, and for its various products and services.
I am delighted that Robin has joined Fantini Research at an opportune time in our history, CEO Frank Fantini said.
We have achieved a reputation among institutional investors and C-level executives in the gaming industry and developed a portfolio of useful, even essential, products that position us to grow significantly, he continued.
I have worked with Robin in various tourism and arts organizations over many years and I know she is just the right person to help lead our development into a much larger company serving investors and companies within the industry, Mr. Fantini said.
Ms. Coventry will work directly with Mr. Fantini and Associate Publisher and Fantini Gaming Editor Ashley Rentz, who heads daily business operations.
Robins experience, positive go get em attitude and willingness to learn make her a perfect fit for Fantini Research, Ms. Rentz said.
Ms. Coventry comes to Fantini with a wide range of experience: over nine years of business development, newspaper editor, audio-visual project manager, website content manager, director of PR and special events, director of economic development and tourism and owner of several small companies. She also ran the U.S. division of British company Aegis Research. Ms. Coventry has an MBA in marketing management.
On the personal side, Ms. Coventrys nature photography has appeared in books, cards, magazines, calendars and newspapers. She is a stained-glass artist and a collector of mounted butterflies and has been a pastry chef. She is an instructor of Art History and Human Development at Delaware Technical and Community College.
ABOUT FANTINI RESEARCH
Fantini Research publishes Fantinis Gaming Report, the global gaming industrys leading daily source of information for investors and executives. Fantini also publishes the monthly National Revenue Report, weekly gaming Public Policy Review, and co-publishes the EILERS-Fantini Quarterly Slot Survey, the industrys largest and leading survey of trends among gaming suppliers, and co-publishes Spectrumetrix-Fantini, the Gaming Industrys Data Source.
Fantini Research also conducts proprietary and commissioned research for gaming companies and investment firms.
More information about Fantini Research is available at www.fantiniresearch.com or by calling 866-683-4357 or 302-730-3793 and talking to Ms. Rentz or Ms. Coventry.
NEW YORK, June 07, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pzena Investment Management, Inc. (NYSE:PZN) today reported its preliminary assets under management as of May 31, 2016.
AUM for month-end May 2016, month-end April 2016, and month-end May 2015 are listed below:
Pzena Investment Management, Inc. Assets Under Management1 ($ billions) As of As of As of May 31, 2016 April 30, 2016 May 31, 2015 Account Type Institutional Accounts $ 14.7 $ 14.9 $ 16.3 Retail Accounts 11.6 11.7 12.3 Total $ 26.3 $ 26.6 $ 28.6 Investment Strategy 2 U.S. Value Strategies Large Cap Value $ 9.5 $ 9.6 $ 11.2 Mid Cap Value 2.2 2.2 2.0 Value 1.9 1.9 1.8 Small Cap Value 1.2 1.2 1.2 Other U.S. Strategies 0.1 Total U.S. Value Strategies 14.8 14.9 16.3 Global & Non-U.S. Value Strategies International Value 4.2 4.2 3.8 Global Value 3.7 3.8 5.6 Emerging Markets Value 2.1 2.2 1.8 European Value 1.3 1.3 0.9 Other Global & Non-U.S. Value Strategies 0.2 0.2 0.2 Total Global & Non-U.S. Value Strategies 11.5 11.7 12.3 Total $ 26.3 $ 26.6 $ 28.6 Account Domicile U.S. $ 19.3 $ 19.6 $ 20.3 Non-U.S. 7.0 7.0 8.3 Total $ 26.3 $ 26.6 $ 28.6 1 Numbers may be subject to rounding. 2 Inclusive of our Expanded Value, Focused Value and variations thereof.
About Pzena
Pzena Investment Management, LLC, the firm's operating company, is a value-oriented investment management firm. Founded in 1995, Pzena Investment Management has built a diverse, global client base. More firm and stock information is posted at www.pzena.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain, in addition to historical information, forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements provide the Companys current views, expectations, or forecasts of future events and performance, and include statements about our expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, intentions, assumptions and other statements that are not historical facts. Words or phrases such as anticipate, believe, continue, ongoing, estimate, expect, intend, may, plan, potential, predict, project or similar words or phrases, or the negatives of those words or phrases, may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not necessarily mean that a statement is not forward-looking.
Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed or implied by a forward-looking statement are those described in the sections entitled Risk Factors and Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, as filed with the SEC on March 14, 2016 and in the Company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q as filed with the SEC. In light of these risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and factors, actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date stated, or if no date is stated, as of the date of this release.
The Company is not under any obligation and does not intend to make publicly available any update or other revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances existing after the date of this release or to reflect the occurrence of future events even if experience or future events make it clear that any expected results expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements will not be realized.
VALENCIA, Calif., June 07, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wesco Aircraft Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:WAIR), the worlds leading provider of comprehensive supply chain management services to the global aerospace industry, today announced that Dave Castagnola, president and chief executive officer, and Rick Weller, executive vice president and chief financial officer, are scheduled to speak at the Citi 2016 Industrials Conference in Boston, Mass. Wesco Aircrafts presentation will begin at 2:15 p.m. EDT on June 14, 2016.
A live audio webcast of the presentation will be available at the following address: http://www.veracast.com/webcasts/citigroup/industrials2016/35109267771.cfm
The presentation materials will be available on the investor relations page of Wesco Aircrafts website at www.wescoair.com. A webcast archive will be available for approximately one year following the presentation.
About Wesco Aircraft
Wesco Aircraft is the worlds leading distributor and provider of comprehensive supply chain management services to the global aerospace industry, based on annual sales. The companys services range from traditional distribution to the management of supplier relationships, quality assurance, kitting, just-in-time delivery and point-of-use inventory management. The company believes it offers one of the worlds broadest portfolios of aerospace products, including chemical, electrical and C-class hardware and comprised of more than 565,000 active SKUs.
To learn more about Wesco Aircraft, visit our website at www.wescoair.com. Follow Wesco Aircraft on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/wesco-aircraft-corp.
guerrero25 wrote:
Archaeologists should make greater use of satellite images in their search for Mayan ruins in the jungles of Guatemala. Though satellite photographs have proven unhelpful because of their inability to penetrate the dense tree canopy, infrared imaging translates heat signatures into distinct colors, making previously-undiscovered ruins visible.
The conclusion above is based on which of the following assumptions?
a)Infrared imaging is helpful because the heat signature of ruin sites is different from the heat signature of the surrounding jungle.
b)Archeologists in the field have not been able to discover many ruins because the jungle is impenetrable.
c)Archaeologists use both satellite technology and local folklore to theorize the location of ruins.
d)Archaeologists require special training in order to read maps produced by infrared imaging.
e) Satellite photography has not produced images of sufficient detail to locate ruins in the jungle.
I chose (e) since , "Satellite photography has not produced images of sufficient detail to locate ruins in the jungle, infrared imaging translates heat signatures into distinct colors..
Please elaborate .
"Infrared....makes previously-undiscovered ruins visible"
Thus, the eliminate answer choices that don't affect "Infrared being a useful choice"
GMATPill Steps
Step 1:Check relevancy
Step 2: Then apply assumption negation if necessary:
What about (E)?
it fails GMATPill's step 1, rule of relevancy
If you apply the assumption negation technique, you may mistakenly choose (E). But it's incorrect.Let's try the GMATPill approach. First focus on topic relevancy. Then apply assumption negation where necessary.Topic relevancy. This depends on conclusion. What is the conclusion?It's actually not the first sentence here. "Archaeologists should make greater use of satellite images..."No, it's not that. It's more subtle here. It's:Essentially, the passage changes direction and makes a new statement in favor of Infrared. Infrared is better than satellite because it "makes previously-undiscovered ruins visible".My gut instinct when reading:"Infrared" better than "satellite" because of this heat signature advantage. But for this to be true, a "Mayan ruin" should indicate a heat signature and non-Mayan objects should not. That way if we do see a heat signal, we know it is a Mayan ruin.But without that, let's go through the answer choices.(A)Is (A) relevant to "Infrared being a useful choice"? Yes. Now, apply assumption negation.Original: Infrared imaging is helpful because the heat signature of ruin sites is different from the heat signature of the surrounding jungle.Opposite: Infrared imaging is helpful because the heat signature of ruin sites is NOT different from the heat signature of the surrounding jungle.Opposite.....? ok well, if the heat signature of ruin sites is the SAME as the heat signature from surrounding jungle, then when we see our infrared results, we won't be able to distinguish what is Mayan, and what is jungle. We are UNABLE to distinguish and make visible the ruins. How does this compare to the conclusion of the original argument? It's opposite.Thus assumption negation worked.Original -> Infrared helpful, ruins visibleOpposite -> Infrared not helpful, ruins not visibleThus (A) is a good answer choice.Is (E) relevant to "Infrared being a useful choice"? No.No....(E) is actually talking about the "+" points of satellite photography...NOT about the "+" points about Infrared..which is what the argument's topic is. Thus...it's not a valid contender to apply assumption negation.If you do mistakenly apply the assumption negation, you'll see that it might be a contender too. But that would be wrong,
rosemont83 wrote:
rosemont83
Howdy neighbor, big shouts from Garden Highway! Enjoying the 103 degree weather?
Can I guess that you were born in 83? If you are 33 - that is the absolute oldest for applying for a FT MBA so keep that in mind.
I also got my BA in Econ from CSUS waaaay back in 1996. Then taught Macro & Micro at ARC in 2005, and then taught Strategic Mgmt & Advertising at CSUS 2010-11 while ramping up my consultancy
Congrats on getting great grades in your masters at CSUS. Did you do stats or calculus as part of that? Need a track record of academic success in quant courses along with a strong GMAT to be competitive. If not, do MBA Math. Look it up.
I have greater regard for MP in quant than verbal. Like 99% of my clients come to be deeply confused by MP questions and strategies; I have to unravel all the bad programming. Please contact me if you need verbal help. I have awesome test-taking strategies for those who don't have time to relearn English. FYI, for a career in Investment Banking, you generally need a GMAT of 700+ to be considered
Definitely good essay material
I think it will still benefit you, you are taking steps to achieve a goal. What are your MBA goals?
OK I need to show you the light and set you straight here. This is extremely foolish. Applying to Haas as the ONLY school WILL NOT increase your chances of being accepted. It is not like a dating relationship, where your commitment to them will increase the chances of it being reciprocated.
Please realize that the acceptance rate at Haas is almost that of HBS, because the class size is so small. It is VERY HARD to get in there, even with a totally unblemished profile.
If you are 33, you have NO time to waste. This is your last year to be seen as a viable applicant for a FT MBA program, and therefore, should diversify your school portfolio a great deal. The recommended practice is 3 stretch schools 3 schools where you meet the average criteria and 3 safety schools. Be more logical and analytical than hopeful. Crossing fingers is not a strategy. Always think of yourself as the rule and not the exception
Yes, but will they be as convinced about you as you are about them? Enthusiasm is not a rare commodity for Haas. I don't mean to be pessimistic, but to help you adopt the right mindset here.
This last line is also good essay material!
I like your attitude of gratitude
In order to give it your best shot, please put your full attention on the GMAT between now and September and put your application to the side. Studying for the GMAT and attempting to write your application essays - along with all the other components of a strong app - is called sabotaging your chances for success and shooting yourself in the foot. Get the GMAT sorted - quickly - and then work with a professional on your application elements
I don't see you driving back here for many Sunday dinners. To be honest, I was so slammed in my MBA program I could have lived on Mars or Jupiter. The location was irrelevant. 21 months (or 10 months) when you need to put your CAREER in first place which will eventually give you the finances and flexibility in your life down the road.
If you want a career in investment banking - listen - you need to apply to several schools, and sadly, most of those schools are not on the West Coast.
If staying in California is more important than going to good schools for Investment Banking, I would like to see you apply at UC Anderson and also UC Davis. If you are 31, and want to be close to home, it might make sense to do some research to apply to the Haas weekend program. The acceptance rate is a bit more reasonable for that program.
Please feel free to contact me via my website for a full profile evaluation - sorry for my harsh words but I am trying to talk you off the ledge here.
I really want to help you get what you want!The truth is, Haas, while it is wonderful, is not the only MBA program that will help you achieve your goal. So give it your all - but not your only.
Sending you all my best!! I feel for you re: the disabled parent, but isn't it likely that you will eventually need to leave Sacramento anyways to pursue your IB career? The course curriculum is already overwhelming, not to mention recruitment, student organizations, attending speakers, externships, networking, social stuff.I don't see you driving back here for many Sunday dinners. To be honest, I was so slammed in my MBA program I could have lived on Mars or Jupiter. The location was irrelevant. 21 months (or 10 months) when you need to put your CAREER in first place which will eventually give you the finances and flexibility in your life down the road.If you want a career in investment banking - listen - you need to apply to several schools, and sadly, most of those schools are not on the West Coast. http://news.efinancialcareers.com/us-en ... t-banking/ If staying in California is more important than going to good schools for Investment Banking, I would like to see you apply at UC Anderson and also UC Davis. If you are 31, and want to be close to home, it might make sense to do some research to apply to the Haas weekend program. The acceptance rate is a bit more reasonable for that program.Please feel free to contact me via my website for a full profile evaluation - sorry for my harsh words but I am trying to talk you off the ledge here.I really want to help you get what you want!The truth is, Haas, while it is wonderful, is not the only MBA program that will help you achieve your goal. So give it your all - but not your only.Sending you all my best!!
Hello everyone,I'm currently preparing for the Fall 2017 HAAS full-time MBA and will be taking the GMAT at the end of August.By "odd stats" in my title, I obviously mean bad statsOut of high school I had a 4.20 GPA and went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for one year as an Electrical Engineering major. I hated the curriculum and they didn't allow changes of majors out of that program so I basically wasted my time there and left with about a 1.0 GPA (which actually had a much bigger effect than I thought it would at the time).I switched schools (don't know if I got kicked out of CP or not but I didn't want to be at the school anyways so I never asked or checked) and went to community college, and then transferred to CSUS as an Economics Major.I raised my grades quite a bit but still had a horrible GPA of 2.85 CSU with a 2.60 cumulative GPA, but I was not the same person I was when I started my college career and I had grown quite a bit. I decided to attend my CSU's graduate program, the Master of Science in Accountancy, and I graduated this past December (2015) with a 3.70 GPA and was in an honors fraternity. I took the GMAT for that program but it was rather low as it was a last minute decision and I basically just signed up, walked in and took the GMAT so I am taking it again now.I have purchased 's study materials and took a Manhattan practice CAT and achieved a low score of 570 Q37 V31. I am hoping/planning to score in the 710+ range in 2.5 months when I take the actual test.I do have circumstances surrounding my life that are different than some; first person from the family that went to college, oldest child of the family, disabled parent, lived under the poverty line my whole life, worked full-time throughout college, both undergrad and grad.I managed a store for 4 of the past 6 years and then I transitioned into the accounting industry and have been doing that for about 11 months. When I managed the store I hit some good numbers and I will be having the owner of that store write me a recommendation as well as my direct manager of the accounting firm that I currently work at.I've also been volunteering for six months at a start-up asset management firm/investment bank, which is really tiny so I'm not sure that putting this on my resume would even do much.There's more to my story, but I will save the details for the adcomI really am going to put 100% into this application process, as HAAS is the only program that I want to attend.I've done much research and from what I can gather about the values, curriculum and alumni network, HAAS is perfect me.[/b]I want my MBA to be an inspiring, transformative experience, that will positively and directly influence my life and will indirectly benefit those around me.I know that this is an uphill battle but I am determined and I know that the first step (besides getting my mind right for this chapter of my life) is to destroy the GMAT, which I am confident I will be able to do this time around. I really value all of the resources I've found so far on gmatclub and I look forward to continuing to read and learn from all of your experiences in order to be successful on this test and application.I'm not going to lie, I feel intimidated by the great stats and work experience of the many who apply and the class profile is of course, top-notch, but I still have to give this my best shot.If anyone has any tips, criticisms, or general advice that would help me out, I will be very appreciative of any comments, and if I can help out in any way I will do soGood luck to everyone on here!
wouldbecrazy wrote:
Thank you very much for sharing this great news.
Some of the things are quite tempting and truly important to me such as
class average age and maturity
internship option
18 months programme
probably ease in visa ..although it depends whether you stay back in that country or not.
I do not attach too much importance to ranking, brand value or alumni network ... probably I have already crossed those.
Can you please share something about the following please?
1. Current class size, class mix, average age and average experience
2. I guess the school is not full with Indian IT Male and Asians (I myself is Asian), please confirm
3. Language issue if any
4. How comfortable for family, specially for kids
5. You roughly mentioned about placements, but can you plese share about the quality of the internship and placements, like some of the company names, average salary, whether most of the class got an offer, etc.
6. Outlook of jobs for Asians?
7. Although not a crucial point but still nice to know roughly about cost of living
8. Any other things that you would like to share
Sorry, I have already asked too many questions but hope to get some genuine reply. ... and please .. no "it depends" answer please.
*******************************************************************************************************************************Sure dude. When I started by search for schools I had soo many questions in mind and hardly anyone to answer. So I think I should answer all the questions what I can.Also - You will stay back in this country bcoz - economically very strong, people are soooo good, hardly any crime, GOOD WORK CULTURE - I have no reasons to go away from this place.. Alumini is very very strong . Now to your questions:-1. Current class size - See it is a dynamic class- in the sense all the full-time and part-time students don't participate in all the classes. So generally the class size would be 10-20 students. This is a small school and so don't enroll many students every year. Now there are almost 50-60 students which include part-time, specialized certificate courses and full-time students. So the thing is only good students are enrolled.Class mix - There are a wide range of students - my classmates - phd students of other technological subjects, people who have worked in the navy/airforce for 18 yrs, CIO's, Advisors of some companies and to the government, entrepreneurs with successful and unsuccessful business, fresh graduates who have some special talent in them, audit/tax consultants, few people working in IT @ project management level, people who worked in NGO's as pm.Class is amazing - i would say.Class age - Since we have a mixed class of full time, part time and certificate courses students - age of the class is 21-45, average age is around 35 bcoz young candidates are quite less. So your network would be superb - you name the company, you will have a good contact there.Average experience - I would say around 6-7 years.2. School hardly has indian and asian students. I personally don't want many asian students to come because it will disturb the diversity.Last year I was the only indian student to have got through. Since the class size is small - the admissions committee is only looking for good candidates which bring diversity. Presently I would say few asians, more europeans, few americans. I had a good IT background and then started my own business,so I had a good experience and also a good gmat score. Then I had an interview. They will clearly see what value you bring to the class. It is not a school like, most of the other schools which only focus on GMAT and work experience. So I personally feel that if you bring good value and diversity and a decent gmat, I think you have a very very good chance to join the class.One more thing. If you are looking for a school which pumps you with classes and makes the course very hectic. I think this is not the place to come. You can find any school that can deliver that to you. Here when you work in the morning fulltime for a company and when you have classes in the evening and preparation during weekends for your classes, it becomes hectic automatically. I personally know a lot of students who study for 18-20 hrs a day during their mba and don't enjoy life at all in other schools . If that is what you are looking for please don't come here.3. There will be no language issue because English is spoken a lot and also at work. And since all the people here knows french , german and luxembourgish, it gives you a good opportunity to learn other languages and use it. I am learning French.4. Dude! one of the best places to live in the world. You will never regret for what you are reading now. Hardly any crime. People are soo friendly and multi-cultural. Very good education facilities and good transportation. Yes, generally living cost is expensive here because it is one of the richest countries in the world, but trust me every penny is worth spending. I would say only the housing cost is high, rest all are very cheap. Cheaper than in most of the asian countries.5. Since it is a mixed class, most of the students already have a very good job, but for young candidates or people who are looking for a shift they take the internship offer. I cannot mention the names of the companies because I shouldn't do that.I can tell about that incase we have a personal conversation.People work for the big four, some people work in very good banks because it is the financial city - you have a very high concentration of banks, some people are working in top consulting firms, some good insurance companies, good automobile firms, research institutions, government firms, european investment firms, some supply chain companies, myself working in consulting and marketing, few entrepreneurs are present.6. Dude!, in my batch there was 100% internship placement. The internship lasts for 9months-1 year. How do you think your chances would be. Ofcourse, the company would employee you provided you are able to do a good job. Even if that company didn't hire you for a permanent position which I don't think will even happen - you have a work permit and you can still try. Unemployment in the country is 4-6%, which is very very low. If you are sooo bad, nobody will employ you. I personally had 3 internship offers.7. This is a good question. It is based on your living style but still the cost is majorly for the apartment. Rest all are cheap. Housing I would say for rent 600 - 1400 euros . If you can buy an apartment here, I would say you can live with 500 euros. Food items to buy from supermarket is very cheap, alcohol and cigars are cheap, bus and train for monthly is cheap, for contract phones it is cheap, clothes are cheap. I would say the housing is the costliest. You can manage all the other things very easily.8. From my side, if you are looking for a very hectic schedule like 18-20 hrs of study everyday, please don't come here. Another thing, since this is maintained as a small school don't expect for a huge campus and huge infrastructure - this is purely a practical mba program were people work for most of the time. But you can also enjoy that since the school has an exchange program and students go to the big campus in US for 1-2 semesters.I think this is worth for the ROI. Later in your career you can shift to any other country close by. With the visa you get here- Schengen visa, you can travel to a lot of countries - Germany , france , switzerland, croatia, czech......i think anybody who comes here will have a beautiful time......If you are able to invest here in some future point in your career, i feel the returns would be very good and also the exchange rate of the currency....Good luck to all the Candidates.
jstar88 wrote:
Hi,
I would really appreciate your thoughts on my profile. Any feedback/advice is welcome and extremely appreciated. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read!
Demographic: 25 year old Asian male
Academics: MS (4.0 GPA)/BS (3.90 GPA) in industrial engineering and operations research at uc berkeley
GRE: V161, Q170, AW: 5 (equivalent to 750 GMAT)
Work Experience: Worked at google for 2 years as a payments and risk management analyst (promoted once, consistent rankings). Created and managed a team of vendors in India. Transitioned to a career in data science within google last year, helped launch and grow our paid subscriptions business (promoted again) and will be here for another year while applying to bschool (total 3.5 years before start of bschool).
Extracurricular/personal: Volunteer experience teaching English to students in Taiwan. Started a computer science club for third to fifth graders at a nonprofit in SF. Huge fan of music (blogger, music curator for a worldwide music collective).
Career Goals: become a growth product manager focused on using data analytics to grow and scale smaller size tech companies (learn the interpersonal skills of what it takes to being a manager) or transition to a career in consulting heading up big data analytics
Long term goal: to work in VC with a focus on early- and growth-stage investments in the consumer technology space.
Schools: (looking to apply R1 2016): stanford, harvard, wharton, u. of chicago, mit, columbia, kellogg
debating if i should apply to haas (and get a third degree from the same school) or an international school for the network/experience, something like insead?
mbaMission Senior Admissions Consultant
Chicago Booth Alum, over 70 5-star reviews on GMAT Club
Sign up for a free 30-minute consultation at https://www.mbamission.com/consult/mba-admissions/
Read our Insider's Guides to the top b-schools: http://www.mbamission.com/guides.php?category=insiders
Kate RichardsonmbaMission Senior Admissions ConsultantChicago Booth Alum, over 70 5-star reviews on GMAT ClubSign up for a free 30-minute consultation at https://www.mbamission.com/consult/mba-admissions/Read our Insider's Guides to the top b-schools: http://www.mbamission.com/guides.php?category=insiders Signature Read More
Hi there!You have a very strong profile. Top 10 schools are definitely in reach for you, though Stanford could still be quite tough just cause it's StanfordSo if you want another West Coast / Bay Area option, then Haas would be a good one to add (though if you prefer to diversify your network I understand why you might leave it off). Your work experience sounds great, especially with the multiple promotions and Google brand name. Excellent GPAs and GRE too - well done! I like the extracurriculars and passion for music, that's a nice bonus to help you stand out. I really see no red flags or major concerns.I think your only challenge may be time! 7, potentially 8, schools in one round is a lot of work! So hopefully you are getting started now on brainstorming and application strategy. Stanford, HBS, Columbia and Haas all have their essay questions out now so those are the ones to start with!Feel free to PM me or sign up for a free phone consult at the link in my signature if you need help planning out your next steps. Otherwise good luck!Kate_________________
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today
A 23-year-old woman died after being shot in the head at Brooklyn Bridge Park last night.
At approximately 9:30 p.m., police responded a 911 call about a "possible crime taking place involving a firearm in the vicinity of Joralemon Street at Brooklyn Bridge Park," by Pier 6. When they arrived, they found the woman lying unconscious and unresponsive on the sidewalk at the edge of the park along 360 Furman Street, with a gunshot wound to her head.
(David Torres)
The NY Post reports that she was found with "her body against the chain-link fence that borders the park," near the luxury development One Brooklyn Bridge Park, which is by Pier 6.
EMS pronounced the victim, identified as Michelle Marks, dead at the scene. A police source tells the Wall Street Journal that Marks was an employee at Fornino, the pizza restaurant inside the park at Pier 6. The restaurant's owner reportedly told police that Marks left work at 9 p.m.
(David Torres)
NBC New York reports, "Police said they're not sure if a robbery led up to the shooting or if it was random, but they do believe she was murdered." The Journal's sources say she was shot at close range in the back of the head.
No arrests have been made. The investigation is ongoing, and we'll update as more information becomes available.
Update: Captain Sergio Centa, who heads the 84th Precinct, sent an email to some residents last night, saying that they believe Marks was killed due to an "ongoing domestic dispute"and not as a result of issues at Pier 2:
There are still six primaries and one caucus left to go in the Democratic primary race, six of which will take place today, but multiple news outlets are already reporting that Hillary Clinton has secured enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination over Bernie Sanders, pending official confirmation at the Democratic National Convention in late July. The AP first reported last night that, according to its count of pledged delegates and insider knowledge of superdelegates, Clinton has the support of the 2,383 delegates required to be the presumptive nominee; not long after, a number of other networks declared that, per their own surveys of superdelegates, the AP's report is correct.
Sanders, who has been consistently critical of superdelegates and argued that they point to a corrupt and undemocratic primary system (an argument he's also made in reference to New York's closed primary), was quick to refute these reports: in a statement posted to his campaign website last night, a spokesperson said that "it is unfortunate that the media, in a rush to judgment, are ignoring the Democratic National Committee's clear statement that it is wrong to count the votes of superdelegates before they actually vote at the convention this summer." Pointing out that superdelegates who've endorsed Clinton can nonetheless change their minds before the convention, he said that "our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump."
The AP says that since it began surveying superdelegates toward the end of 2015, none has switched his or her support from Clinton to Sanders. 95 of the 714 superdelegates reportedly remain publicly uncommitted.
The timing of this declaration of victory for Clinton also angered Sanders's supportersperhaps not the most strategic move, considering that Clinton, should she indeed be the presumptive nominee, will now have to try to unite the Democratic party against Donald Trump. Some supporters, such as Grizzly Bear frontman Ed Droste, who headlined a Prospect Park rally for Sanders in April, argued that the timing of the networks' announcements could suppress voter turnout in today's primaries in California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota, and the caucus in North Dakota.
Clinton hasn't yet publicly declared herself as the presumptive nomineeat a rally last night in California, she said that she was on the brink of a "historic, unprecedented moment," and is "going to fight hard for every single vote" in the races today and in D.C. on June 14th. But should these early reports be accurate, Clinton will be making history as the first woman to be the nominee for either of the U.S.'s two major parties, shattering what she referred to in 2008 as "that highest, hardest glass ceiling."
Meanwhile on the Dark Side, Trump is expected to hold a news conference in New York today marking the end of the Republican primaries. As the New York Times notes, Republican concern about Trump is running high: in the past week, he's continued his pattern of racism and been accused of corruption and fraud. Former Trump challenger Senator Lindsey Graham recently appeared to go so far as to nearly endorse Clinton, arguing that "If anybody was looking for an off-ramp, this is probably it...There'll come a time when the love of country will trump hatred of Hillary."
The inmates were effectively running the asylum at Clinton Correctional Facility up until last year's prison break by murderers David Sweat and Richard Matt, which led to a massive three-week manhunt and exposed gaping security holes and glaringly obvious coziness with inmates.
A new report by the state Office of the Inspector General lays out in devastating detail how lax management and guards and prison workers too lazy to patrol cellblocks, search cells or personnel, report missing tools, or monitor workrooms allowed Sweat and Matt to execute their plot over the course of months, with the direct help of a horny tailor shop supervisor and a crooked guard, among others.
Based on interviews with 170 people, including jailers, inmates, and administrators, as well as with Sweat, who state police shot and recaptured 40 miles from the upstate prison, the report's authors skewer the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision for "longstanding, systemic failures in management and oversight" that allowed the escape.
Among those failures, during the close to three months' worth of nights that Sweat spent exploring the tunnels beyond the hole he'd cut in the back wall of his cell and hacking through pipes and bricks, guards were supposed to have been checking his cell multiple times per night. Instead, it seems, guards logged false head-counts ahead of their nights' shifts, during which they actually did next to nothing. The report authors found that more than 400 inmate bed checks should have happened while Sweat was sawing away, "any one of which, if conducted properly, would have detected Sweats absence and instantly foiled the escape plot."
If guards did patrol, they didn't check to ensure that they could see Sweat's skin or that he was breathingif they had, they would have noticed that the body in his bed was a dummy consisting of a pair of pants and a hoodie seemingly stuffed with other fabric.
Also, though the prison is supposed to have a system of random cell searches, Sweat's cell was never searched in the year prior to his escape, while some other inmates had their cells searched as many as nine times. The review notes that Sweat's cell came up as one to be targeted, but for whatever reason guards chose to go elsewhere. What's more, a guard reported searching Matt's cell, but it's not clear the search ever happened. Sweat and then-correction officer Gene Palmer, a crony of the inmates, both say they don't remember such a search. The guard who reported Matt's cell search, if it happened, failed to notice the 18.5x14.5 inch hole in the wall, covered by the detached piece of wall and painted tape.
Similarly, guards doing weekly scheduled inspections missed the holes in the walls, and required weekly inspections of the cells' outside walls, along catwalks that were supposed to only be accessible by prison staff, were apparently never done.
"Unquestionably, thorough searches and inspections would have discovered the holes in both cells and stopped the escape," the report's authors wrote.
David Sweat, left, and Richard Matt; Sweat was serving a life sentence for killing a sheriff's deputy in Broome County. Matt was serving 25 years for killing his boss.
To be sure, Sweat and Matt couldn't have done it without the hands-on assistance of Palmer and Joyce Mitchell, the civilian tailor shop supervisor. As early as 2012, one supervisor noticed that Mitchell "didn't keep the distance with inmates." A subsequent supervisor called her an "inmate lover," which proved to be prescient, as Mitchell went on to have sexual relationships with the escapees-in-the-making and entertain the idea of having them kill her husband as part of an escape to Mexico as a trio.
"I will visit with the guys," Mitchell told investigators. "Its like you get a rapport with them because you are in that same room with them every day of the week," she added.
Multiple complaints regarding Mitchell's behavior with Sweat and Mattdisappearing into a spare parts room with Sweat for 3-5 minutes at a time multiple times a week, spending nearly all of her shift talking at Matt's work station rather than overseeing inmates' workfailed to result in meaningful consequences for any of the three, or to keep them apart, despite multiple investigations. Both inmates remained housed in a cellblock with special privileges including extra storage space and longer recreation times, and Mitchell remained in charge of her tailor shop.
In that capacity, Mitchell took advantage of the lax security at the front gate (guards didn't search or use metal detectors on staffers) to smuggle in all sorts of contraband, including cookies, cakes, a Big Mac, bags of Cafe Bustelo coffee, and more than 70 containers of black and cayenne pepper, which Sweat and Matt planned to use to throw police dogs off their scent. All of this happened under the not-watchful eye of correctional tailor shop supervisor Allan Trombley, who by all accounts spent his shift reading books and magazines.
For their trouble, Sweat and Matt gave Palmer and Mitchell paintings, including portraits of family members and pets. Mitchell also "engaged in numerous sexual encounters with Matt in the tailor shop," according to the report. Earlier, Sweat had been removed from her shop on suspicion of being in a sexual relationship with her, and as Matt carried on with Mitchell, he also passed sexy notes from Sweat.
As Mitchell remembered, Sweat "was telling me that he loved me and that he wanted to spend his life with me...[H]es like, 'I love you, cant wait to get you in my arms, make love to you all night long.'"
Joyce Mitchell in court (AP)
As the plot advanced, and Mitchell got more involved, they persuaded her to bring in six hacksaw blades, and later, two chisels, a steel punch, concrete drill bits, and two more hacksaw blades hidden inside frozen ground beef. In the first blade delivery, Matt taped the gear to his side and went back to his cell escorted by Palmer, who told researchers he didn't ever frisk inmates coming into or leaving the shop, or put them through metal detectors. For the second tool delivery, at which point Sweat had made his entry hole into a steam pipe and needed one more set of blades to cut an exit on the other side of the prison wall, Palmer passed the blades himself, though he contends he didn't know what was inside the meat package.
Palmer said when he took the handoff from Mitchell, he discouraged her from future smuggling, telling her to leave it to him:
"Tillie, dont be doing this," he recalled saying. "If [Matt] needs something, hell go through me."
The report also breaks down in spellbinding detail the trial and error of Sweat's travels through the tunnels beneath the prison, recounted wistfully by Sweat to his captors:
[I]t felt good, because you kind of felt free. You know, you werent caged up in the cell no more. Nobody knew where you were. I always left my ID in my cell, you know, when I left the cell, so I didnt feel like I was an inmate anymore. It gave me that little feel of freedom because whenever I left my cell, on a normal basis, I always had my ID. And it was different for me, you know, after 14 years, or 13, or whatever its been. It was something new, it was doing something that I could actually use my mind for, that I could apply myself to.
Matt, killed by police 20 days into the manhunt, was heavier than Sweat and only ventured out of his cell a few times before the escape. Sweat recalled coming back to their cells after a night's excursion:
So were sitting on the pipes, Im pulling my boots off, he goes What are you doing. I said Cleaning my boots off. I said, Youre cleaning yours off, too. He says, Do you do this every night? I said, Yeah. I said, Take one of them washers . . . pull all the gunk out of your boot, and then take your glove off and wipe the bottom of your boots off. He said, Im not doing that, and I said, Bullshit. I said, Youre wiping your boot off because youre stepping on my back, there aint no way youre stepping on my back with a dirty-ass boot. So I ended up helping him up and . . . the first [tier] you go up is really tight for him, so he was fidgeting to get his chest through and then, you know, hes got a gut, so when he finally got his . . . Im already up, you know, hes downstairs, hes standing on a pipe coming up. Im already up on the first [tier] and his gut plops over the catwalk and hes stuck. It looks like hes stuck there like a half a man with a gut hanging out, and Im laughing my ass off, in the middle of this. And hes like, Whats so funny, man? I said, The way your fucking guts hanging out. That was kind of funny. I helped him up.
Down in the guts of the prison, Sweat got help from sloppy maintenance workers who repeatedly left tools, including a sledgehammer, unattended, and failed to report them when they went missing.
When, after three months of dirty toil that shaved 30 pounds off his frame, Sweat emerged from a manhole on a Dannemora village street just beyond the prison, he said to himself and Matt, "Shawshank ain't got shit on me," according to testimony cited in the report.
Matt left notes for the guards discovering his disappearance, including a note on the table in his cell that read, "You left me no choice but to grow old and die in here. I had to do something," and a second on a picture of Tony Soprano, saying, "Time To Go Kid!"
Palmer was sentenced at the end of February to six months in prison after pleading guilty to promoting prison contraband and official misconduct. Mitchell is serving two and a half to seven years in prison for her role. Several other guards and the prison's superintendent have been disciplined. Sweat, already serving life, got additional years tacked onto his sentence and is being held in solitary confinement.
Oh, Maine. You can't get there from hereor wait, no, you definitely can. (It's only a five hour drive from the city!) And for those who have experienced the pleasure of the great Pine Tree State (and those that understand the way life should be), you might agree that there's a certain sense of zen-like ahhhhhh after crossing the state line at the Piscataqua Bridge and beholding that giant lobster plastered across the roadside water tower.
A naturalist's playground, Maine offers a million and one ways to get out of town and reconnect with the great outdoorseverything from craggy mountains and rocky coasts to glacial lakes and dense evergreen forests. (Not to mention a million and one places to eat sweet, sweet crustaceans with abandon.) We should know, because we asked the experts who know about the way life should bethe hometown reps at Poland Spring. And there's more good news! Once you've crossed the bridge, you've got a near-infinite coastline of sea-salted beauty to behold as you venture onward.
Nestled in small pockets along Maine's southern coast is one of the state's quieter and lesser-known escapes for those not looking to go whole hog into the great northern wild. Founded in 1966 and eponymously named after the great environmentalist, Rachel Carson, the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge protects 1,167 acres of estuaries and salt marsh habitats for migratory birds, spanning from Kittery to Cape Elizabeth.
Piping Plover (istockphoto)
It's a true paradise for many feathered friends, home to a near-exponential array of birds like sharp-tailed sparrows, common loons, red-tailed hawks, and the state-endangered piping plover, a downy fluff of a beach-nesting shorebird. It's estimated that 50 to 75% of the piping plover population (say that three times fast) nest within or very near the preserve, making the bird's longevity a top priority for the refuge's conservationists.
For us mere mortals who must to walk this Earth on two legs, there's plenty to do and see while visiting the tranquil stretch of protected land along Maine's shoreline. Take a stroll down one of the preserve's many trails and peep some serious wildlife in the vast shrubland. For lovers of the open water, embark on a sightseeing adventure by canoe and kayak. The park offers three dedicated launch sitesbut please, no motorized boats! Prior to your cruise along the Little River in Biddeford or the Spurwink River in Scarborough, may we also recommend you come to terms with your likely not-so-waterproof camera phoneand besides, with wilderness like this, spotty cell service is probably a good excuse to finally tune out.
Hunting, fishing, and shellfishing are also common activities for you hunter-gatherer types, but note that state regulations and specific permit laws apply.
Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge (istockphoto)
Expanding their preservation and conservation efforts beyond the land itself, the refuge also provides educational curricula to area teachers hoping to make wee environmentalists of our nation's youngest. With on- and off-site teaching tools, the refuge hosts programs such as Adopt-A-Salmon and virtual tours, with the goal of developing and fostering environmental citizenry, so that all may enjoy Maine's natural beauties for generations to come.
Poland Spring Brand 100% Natural Spring Water is proud to hail from the great state of Maine, and the brand celebrates all those committed to the preservation of the local land and the sustainable use of local natural resources. Sourced from carefully selected Maine springs, Poland Spring delivers the fresh taste that those in the Northeast have come to love and cherish. So while you're out there getting in touch with your inner naturalist, make sure you do right by your body and keep hydrated like a local.
To learn more about their commitment to sustainably sourced water and their Maine heritage, visit the Poland Spring website today.
This post is a sponsored collaboration between Poland Spring and Gothamist staff.
If you thought the 2nd Annual NYC Porn Film Festival was going to be little more than a bunch of smut enthusiasts watching dirty movies together, you were only half right. This year's iteration of the fest, which was held at Chemistry Creative in Bushwick, featured both actual pornranging from artsy shorts to vintage flicksas well as live performances, free dildos and butt plugs, discussions about the industry and about sexuality more broadly, and an appearance by New York native and perhaps the most well-known adult film star of all time, Ron Jeremy.
The festival featured camgirls, furries, doms and dommes, virtual reality headsets, stand-up comedians, a James Franco music video (sans Franco himself) and even an intellectual property attorney. Panel speakers included Cindy Gallop, founder of MakeLoveNotPorn.tv; professional dominatrix Mistress Dahlia Rain and her submissive, Kenny; and Daliah Saper, the aforementioned intellectual property attorney whose lecture on the legal hurdles faced by victims of revenge porn was one of festival's highlights.
According to Simon Leahy, who organized the festival, the goal was to "embrace pornography in all forms and examine its societal role, while showcasing new actors, technologies, genres, movements, and trends." Despite Leahy's intentions, porn was by no means the highlight of the festivalespecially not the "mainstream" genres that are prominently featured on the homepage of Pornhub, the festival's main sponsor.
In fact, one of the overarching (if unintentional) themes of the festival was an acknowledgement of the porn industry's myriad issues: most notably piracy, poor compensation for performers, exploitation through "revenge porn," and the adult film industry's pervasive misogyny.
(Gaby Del Valle/Gothamist)
Rae Sanni, one of the stand-up comedians who performed as part of the "Iron Lady" set, focused her bit on the difficulty of finding porn that suits her sexual needs. "I have a really weird fetish," she said. "It's women being treated well."
"We aren't anti-porn, because the issue isn't porn," explained Cindy Gallop during her panel, "The Social Sex Revolution," which promoted her website MakeLoveNotPorn.tv. "The issue is that we don't talk about sex in the real world." Gallop's website, however, is a direct challenge to most porn sites and streaming services: instead of professional (or even amateur) porn, MLNP hosts videos of everyday couples having what Gallop calls #realworldsex without gimmicks, professional lighting, or hair and makeup teams. Viewers can log onto MLNP and rent the videos posted by real-world couples, who in exchange receive financial compensation for their uploads.
Gallop and her co-panelists, MLNP curators and community managers Sarah Beall and Ariel Martinez, did highlight some issues with the porn industry, including the fact that porn actors are paid by scene and never receive residuals, regardless of how many times their films are purchased or streamed on websites like Pornhub. MLNP's main focus, though, is creating a community where members understand the difference between real-world sex and porn-sex; their tagline is "pro-sex, pro-porn, pro-knowing the difference."
During the MLNP panel, curator Sarah Beall asked: "Who knows better than how constructed and performative porn can be than the people who actually work in it?" Her sentiments were echoed the following day during a Q&A session with Ron Jeremy during which an audience memberwho described himself as being a "huge fan"asked the porn star for romantic advice.
"I work at a coffee shop, and there's a girl who always comes in and she's really hot," the question began. "I'd really like to cream her coffee. But I've never talked to her."
Jeremy's response? "I would suggest not being too aggressive so quickly. Just be yourself and be nice. Say, 'Listen, I think you're very sweet. Would you like to have a drink with me some day?'" Not exactly what you'd expect from someone who has starred in over 2,000 pornographic films.
(Gaby Del Valle/Gothamist)
But even Ron Jeremy's paneltitled The Golden Age of Porn, a retrospective on the way the industry has changed over the past four decadessuffered from the festival's biggest problem: a lack of organization from the top-down. It was intended to be a discussion of the industry's 1970s heyday followed by a brief screening of Joy, a film about a woman who gets raped and begins to enjoy it, causing her to go out and rape men throughout New York City.
Although Ron Jeremy and his co-panelist Gerry Visco briefly talked about porn's declining artistic value, there was little discussion of sexism in the industry, which was the focus of so many of the other discussions. Despite the '70s reputation as the "Golden Age," both Jeremy and Visco talked at length about performers who had died from drug overdoses during that time.
They were confused about how long they were supposed to talk for or when the screening was supposed to begin. Organizers and assistants regularly walked on and offstage and the panel ended up running thirty minutes over time. During an interview with Gothamist, Jeremy described the festival as "a little disorganized, but nice."
Overall, the Porn Film Festival's organizers' desire for shock and awe eclipsed their organizational skills, resulting in an underwhelming and confusing experience for audience members and panelists alike. Although the screenings and lectures were interesting enough, they didn't bring anything new to the tablewe've all heard about furries and femdoms before. The intent was clearly to highlight various aspects and perspectives from the adult film industry, but the result was a festival rife with contradictions instead of nuances.
For All U of U Health Patients & Visitors
The Whitehall Biological Weed Control Project will be accepting phone and email requests on Tuesday, June 7, from those interested in having insects to combat Dalmatian toadflax.
According to a news release, project coordinator Todd Breitenfelt can be reached by phone at 406-498-5236 during business hours to arrange for Dalmatian toadflax stem boring weevils, mecinus janthiniformis.
Breitenfeldt can also be reached by email at tbreit@whitehallmt.org to arrange for a release of the insects. Each release contains about 100 insects.
Funding for the Whitehall Biological Weed Control Project is primarily from the Montana Noxious Weed Trust Fund, the Montana Department of Transportation and through donations, the news release stated.
While the releases of the insects are free, the Whitehall Biological Weed Control Project hopes that those who receive the insects would be willing to make a donation to help with required matching funds for the Weed Trust Fund grant.
Breitenfeldt is a teacher in Whitehall and the project is based out of Whitehall High School.
The insects, gathered in the Missoula area, are provided on a first come, first served basis.
Those who receive the insects will need a small cooler with an ice pack and some packing to separate the insect container from the ice to transport the insects.
These small stem boring weevils feed on Dalmatian toadflax. Recipients will receive adult beetles that will lay eggs on the stems. The larvae will soon hatch and eat their way into the stem. Larvae will feed inside the stem until they pupate within the stem.
In late summer they emerge from the pupa as adult weevils. These adults stay inside the stem all winter until May when they will emerge from the old dead stem and lay their eggs on the newly sprouting stems to start the cycle again.
Heavily infested stems will not flower. After several years, they often greatly lower the density of toadflax at the release sites.
The insects can be released on both warm, dry and open sites as well as forested and shady sites, the news release noted.
The Whitehall Biological Weed Control Project recommends that the insects be released every quarter mile or quarter section. The insects prefer Dalmatian toadflax with large stems. These small weevils are strong fliers and spread quickly.
They should be released on the lower part of a hill as they seem to fly uphill more than down.
Releasing them on an area that tends to hold snow in the winter helps as snow covering the stems insulates the weevils from severe winter temperature changes.
Severe drops in winter temperatures cause high mortality of the weevils overwintering in exposed stems.
Many Helena-area voters have already mailed in a ballot, but theres still plenty of votes to be cast before Tuesdays primary contests are decided.
Voters still holding on to an absentee ballot can drop it off at the Lewis and Clark County elections office, 316 N. Park Ave., Room 168. Those casting their vote in person can do so at one of 18 county polling places.
A full list of precincts and polling places is available at lccountymt.gov.
Each location opens at 7 a.m. and closes at 8 p.m., except Dearborn Community Center, located at 5400 Montana Highway 434, in Wolf Creek. That polling place opens at noon.
Those who havent yet registered to vote can do so at the elections office, which is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day. Registrants must be U.S. citizens that have lived in Montana for at least 30 days and are at least 18 years old.
They will also need to be able to provide an address along with a Montana drivers license, Montana ID number, the last four digits of their Social Security number or another form of identification.
Voters registered ahead of the primary will also have to show either a photo ID, current voter confirmation card, bank statement, utility bill, paycheck, or another government document that shows their name and address.
Those with none of the above can still vote by casting a provisional ballot or filing a Polling Place Elector ID form.
Tuesdays ballot features one countywide race, six Helena-area legislative contests and a full slate of candidates to choose from in the presidential primaries.
Voters can check their registration status, track their absentee ballot and find their polling place sos.mt.gov/Elections.
County election administrator Paulette DeHart can be reached at 406-447-8339.
A parade in Pablo is a highlight of Denise Juneaus eight years as Montanas top K-12 education leader. Students wearing bright green T-shirts signed pledges to graduate from high school. Then they paraded through their small town.
Parents came out to cheer for the children. Horns honked. The whole community joined in the Graduation Matters event to support education.
That pledge idea came from my student advisory board, my very first one, Juneau said on a recent visit to Billings. Now we have more than 11,000 pledges engaging students and parents.
One Fort Belknap parent proudly told Juneau that her student displays his graduation pledge on a wall in his room.
Graduation pledges are just one idea that communities across the state have adopted for their Graduation Matters programs. Graduation Matters started in Missoula, and Juneau promoted the program statewide.
Fifty-eight communities now have Graduation Matters, including all the largest districts and schools educating 80 percent of the states K-12 students. Juneau said the strength of the program is engaging local community members who decide whats needed to help their students.
The state graduation rate has increased every year since 2010 when Graduation Matters Montana was launched. The 2016 graduation rate was 86 percent, the best ever a significant improvement over the 2009 rate of 80.7 percent.
The states dropout rate has been reduced by a third. Native American students still graduate at a much lower rate than other students, but this groups graduation rate is trending upward.
We have work to do, said Juneau, who has focused on lifting up Montanas lowest performing public schools by introducing the Schools of Promise program.
Among the tasks not yet complete is bringing Montana education statutes into the 21st century. The Legislature repeatedly rejected Juneaus proposals to raise the legal dropout age from 16 to 18 and to count 19-year-olds as students for the purpose of state funding.
Montana is the only state that doesnt provide funding for students over age 18, Juneau pointed out. That policy creates a dilemma for local school districts that receive no money to serve students who started school late, repeated a grade or continue to need special education. The dropout age hasnt been changed since 1921.
Graduation Matters Montana has received no funding from the Legislature. It has depended on private grants and gifts.
Graduation Matters Montana grant recipients include districts in Billings, Laurel, Lockwood, Hardin, Colstrip, Crow Agency, Miles City, Lame Deer, Livingston, Sidney and Wolf Point. The grants of $2,500 to $6,500 will help pay for locally devised projects such as events linking career mentors with students, a peer tutoring program, reading tutors, Saturday and after-school tutoring and summer school for seniors who did not graduate with their class.
Every year, there are new students and new challenges to help each one graduate college and career ready. Meanwhile, every Montanan who earns a high school diploma is much more likely to be successful and contributing to our state for a lifetime.
This is a Billings Gazette editorial.
In part, the Ten Commandments or "Decalogue found in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:1-21 plays an important place in the moral, spiritual and legal development of humankind. However, much that is in it falls short even of portions of the Hebrew Bible. For example, wives are listed with the cattle and are not asked separately to avoid coveting since their authority is through their husband. Not only are there slaves but in the Mosaic legislation there are directions for buying and selling them. The Lord is pictured as a jealous god, visiting the iniquity of the parents upon children to the third and fourth generation of those who reject him (20:5).
Jeremiah 31:29-30 calls for turning away from punishing children for their parents since, just before the New Covenant of 31:34 which will not be like the Old Covenant. The New Covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-34 features the giving of the Holy Spirit and forgiveness.
I once heard a rabbi claiming the New Covenant for the people of Israel. For Christians Jesus answer to Peters question as to how many times he should forgive his brother (seven times?) was: I say not seven times but 70 times seven. This was based on Gods own grace! This cannot be reconciled with the petulant and jealous God of some of the Old Testament.
Portraying the 10 Commandments as a perfect example of the God way with human beings makes sense for those who prefer having women under the authority of their husbands, holding certain type of people as though they deserve no freedom, hating enemies instead of loving and praying for them and acting as if they are better than all other nations for thinking in this way.
James P. McClarey, Decatur
TAYLORVILLE Mario Godinez was impressed by what he saw Monday during a tour of the GSI production facility in Taylorville.
GSI, which is owned by Agco, manufactures equipment for the swine and poultry industry at the plant, said Tom Stuthman, the company's director for North American protein.
Godinez, 19, is among a group of pork producers from Mexico, China and Colombia visiting the United States this week to learn about the agriculture industry.
Godinez said he helps out on his father's pig farm in Mexico and wants to benefit from his first of its kind trip to the U.S.
GSI has some eye-opening technology, he said. Improving the pig farm with it is something we're looking forward to.
The tour is organized through the Illinois Department of Agriculture in an effort to increase export sales for the Illinois pork industry. Similar tours in the past 20 years have generated more than $11 million in sales for participating Illinois agribusinesses.
Department Director Raymond Poe hoped the visitors could benefit from the experience.
We hope you learn things to take home, Poe said to the group, which includes 10 participants from Mexico, 13 from China and three from Colombia. Through the Illinois Pork Tour we can build relationships between foreign buyers and Illinois agribusinesses in the hopes of growing our industry and improving our export sales.
Supporting agribusinesses such as GSI is an important way to boost the local economy, said State. Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Raymond.
Agriculture is so much more than cultivating crops, Bourne said.
GSI is attempting to incorporate all of the latest technology into its equipment, Stuthman said.
The plant in Taylorville is one of 14 GSI manufacturing plants around the world, including four in Illinois, he said. Feeding, ventilation and confinement equipment from the Automated Production Systems International and Cumberland divisions are made at the Taylorville facility, Stuthman said.
The company has been participating as one of the stops on the Department of Agriculture foreign trade tour every other year, Stuthman said.
The visit is timed so the group can stop at the World Pork Expo later this week in Des Moines, Iowa, Stuthman said.
Before then, Godinez is looking forward to seeing other destinations in Illinois, including the Chicago Board of Trade. With so much of their grain coming the U.S., Godinez said he wants to better understand how the market works.
He thinks seeing the Board of Trade can provide a beneficial learning opportunity. Other planned stops during the tour include Cedar Ridge Farms in Red Bud, the National Soybean Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Prairie State Semen Inc. in Champaign and Amlan International in Vernon Hills.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A deal to keep agribusiness giant Cargill operations in Wichita includes nearly $10 million in tax breaks over a 10-year period from state and local government entities, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
Cargill announced May 24 that it planned to keep its protein operations in Wichita and would look for a new facility. At the time, the company declined to specify what incentives it had been offered to stay. The AP obtained the information from the city through an open records request.
The incentive package, dubbed "Project Orion," for the Minnesota-based Cargill includes tax abatements and sales tax exemptions from the state, county, city and school district, but no cash incentives. Wichita has agreed to provide industrial revenue bonds to build a new facility estimated to cost up to $41.6 million plus an estimated $6 million more in bonds for the equipment and machinery, as well as possibly picking up half the cost of the company's $15 million parking garage.
In return, Cargill has committed to staying in Wichita for a minimum of 15 years.
The Kansas Department of Commerce spokeswoman Nicole Randall said the incentives are "private information" until contracts are signed. But records obtained by AP show the state's share of the tax breaks total $3.01 million over the next decade. Randall referred to the governor's office any comment as to the impact those tax breaks would have given the state's revenue shortfalls; the governor's office had no immediate comment.
Wichita is home to the company's beef business and its turkey and cooked meat business, which includes deli meats. Its processed-protein services, such as its North American egg business and food distribution, also are located in Wichita. Cargill employs about 900 workers in Wichita.
The vast majority of the incentives will go to the developer of the building Cargill will lease at a site yet to be determined, and the amount of those incentives varies depending on the size of the building and employees, Cargill spokesman Mike Martin said, adding it is premature to comment given the Wichita City Council has yet to vote on any potential incentives.
Kansas has not been "very friendly" in terms of offering cash incentives to get companies to move to the state, so Cargill's decision to stay shows other companies that the state is still competitive in other ways, said Jeremy Hill, executive director of Wichita State University's Center for Economic Development and Business Research.
"Companies like Cargill staying in the state is important for the workforce here. ... It shows that there are viable reasons a company can be here because they remain competitive here," Hill said.
DECATUR -- A plan to fund the connection of the village of Mount Zions bike path with that of the county has the go ahead from the villages board.
But a wait on whether there will be grant money for the work will prevent any work from being done for the foreseeable future.
That was the guidelines put to the villages board of trustees, who voted unanimously during their Monday night meeting go forward and seek grant money for the construction of 1,600 foot bike path in the northwest part of the village. The proposed path would go along Harry Land Road from Sundance Drive to Baltimore Avenue, then turn south along Baltimore Avenue to the Glenwood assisted living facility.
The project is estimated to cost $310,000, and village Administrator Julie Miller said they are hoping to receive a grant from the Illinois Department of Transportations Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program, which helps cover 80 percent off the cost for alternative transportation options. If the village does receive the grant, the total cost of the project for the village would be $64,000. Grant winners to be announced at the end of the year.
With efforts being done at the county level and within other nearby cities to add on to their walking and biking path, Miller said the Mount Zion one could be a great additional to the regions long-term plan.
(Local municipalities) have all realized how important these are and how much people want them as a quality of life issue, she said.
In addition to the path, an at-grade crossing at the intersection of Harry Land Road at Baltimore Avenue would be built in order to connect the future Macon County bike path along Baltimore Avenue.
If the village does not receive the grant, Miller said they would investigate plan B options, which could include applying for the same IDOT grant or other available ones, or having the villages public works department work on sections of the trail on their own.
In other business, Debra Welton was unanimously approved as the new village clerk. A graduate of Mount Zion High School, Welton began working at the village in March and will replace Joann Maulding, who is now full-time with the villages police department.
WYNNE, Ark. For many male defendants in Judge Joseph Boeckmann's courtroom, the initial deal seemed simple enough: The judge would approach them after court, either himself or through a bailiff, and offer a way out of traffic or court fines.
His instructions were to gather some cans and bring them to his house or another location. Then he asked the defendants to take off their shirts, pretend to be picking up trash and let the judge take a few photos of them bending over to prove they had performed community service.
Sometimes, the men told investigators, the encounters went further. The judge might tell them to spread their legs a little. He might touch their buttocks a little. He might offer them a drink. Then the fines would disappear.
Now dozens of the defendants have accused Boeckmann of sexual abuse and misconduct, saying the small-town judge paid them to allow him to spank their naked buttocks with a paddle and to take photos of the red skin. Others said they posed nude in exchange for money to pay off court fines.
The head of the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission called it "if not the worst, among the worst cases of judicial misconduct" in state history.
The case brought into the open gossip that had circulated in private for years about the judge from a prominent family that settled in the farming community more than a century ago.
Boeckmann "systematically used his authority and the trust of the state of Arkansas ... to prey upon people he knew would be less credible, people who were in danger of losing their houses, their jobs and their freedom. He is a predator," said David Sachar, the commission's executive director.
The 70-year-old Cross County judge, who has denied the allegations through his attorney, resigned in May, ending the commission's investigation. But at least part of the probe has been turned over to criminal investigators. No charges have been filed.
"His resignation is not to be construed as an admission of anything," said Boeckmann's attorney, Jeff Rosenzweig. He said his client concluded that it was "not worth going through the hearing to keep a position that he would have vacated at the end of this year anyway." The judge did not seek re-election in March.
Once the investigation became public, Sachar said, men came forward with similar stories from as much as 30 years ago, alleging Boeckmann had propositioned them, taken nude photos or engaged in other sexual behavior when he was the city attorney in the county seat of Wynne and a deputy prosecuting attorney.
One man, identified only as A.A. by the commission, reported having a sexual relationship with Boeckmann that started when A.A. hired the judge as his personal attorney. The relationship continued for more than a decade.
A.A. told investigators the judge sometimes loaned him out to friends for work to pay off A.A.'s debts or in exchange for leniency. Other defendants said A.A. put them in touch with Boeckmann and told them the nude photos were an easy way to pay off court fines.
About 4,600 photographs depicting nude or semi-clothed men in various positions were recovered from computers belonging to the judge, according to Sachar.
The commission also subpoenaed checks worth tens of thousands of dollars written from the judge's law firm and real estate company accounts to his own court, to other district courts and to defendants who had or would later appear before him as a judge.
The town of 8,400 people stands in the shadow of Memphis, Tenn., and is heavily dependent on agriculture.
By economic measures, Wynne is doing better than many communities in the Arkansas Delta. It has a handful of factories and a median household income approaching $40,000.
Townspeople had heard rumors about the judge for years.
Randy Scott's brother claimed Boeckmann propositioned him in the 1990s, when he was convicted of a murder charge. Scott moved away almost two decades ago, returning in 2014 in the hope that the small school district would be good for his teenage son.
Shortly after his return, Scott was pulled over for not wearing his seatbelt and got arrested on a warrant from a public intoxication incident that happened 17 years earlier. He was told he would have to spend the night in jail before seeing the judge.
The next morning, a jailer approached him, but instead of taking him to a courtroom, the man passed Scott a note.
"It was signed by the judge, and he wanted to know if I would spend some time with him before court," Scott said. "I knew what that meant, and I told him no and to get the hell away from me. I got an extra night in jail and a $400 or $500 fine out of that no."
Scott and a handful of other men have filed a lawsuit against Boeckmann under a legal classification called a "tort of outrage," alleging various levels of emotional distress from sexual abuse or misconduct.
A gag order was issued in the misconduct case by a circuit court judge almost a year ago, and authorities including Sheriff J.R. Smith declined to answer questions.
Asked about a criminal investigation, Deb Green, a spokeswoman for the Little Rock office of the FBI, said she could not comment.
A search of more than 100,000 pages of court dockets dating back to 2009 showed some men appeared before Boeckmann multiple times over his seven years in office. Despite being repeat offenders, the judge routinely assigned them to community service, reduced their charges, dismissed their cases over the prosecution's objections or sometimes made notes that key files had disappeared.
Several of the men who appeared before Boeckmann either listed the judge as their employer or listed home addresses owned and rented out by the judge's real estate company. Boeckmann did not recuse himself in those cases.
Since 2009, Boeckmann was the only judge in the district court to order community service. The court had no written policy for how community service was to be conducted or monitored, staff members said.
A Freedom of Information Act request showed the judge had never submitted any photos as proof of community service.
The commission's investigators identified about 35 victims through court and financial records and the photographs. If the commission investigation had continued, Sachar said, more victims would probably have been found.
When authorities announced the charges, he added, "we started receiving calls immediately."
Associated Press researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.
Hillary Clinton has been wrong on one foreign policy issue after another, from the war in Iraq to the war in Libya to the war in Syria. She is secretive, averse to transparency, habitually deceptive and arguably corrupt. She is a risk to lead us into another messy conflict.
Donald Trump has said some things that don't sound bad. He recognizes the invasion of Iraq and the bombing of Libya as mistakes. He vows to refrain from nation building. He says he'd make our allies do more to defend themselves.
So let me be clear: If I had only these two choices of whom to be in charge of U.S. foreign policy for the next four years or five minutes I would pick Clinton in a heartbeat.
Clinton is a bad option, in the way that Salisbury steak at a roadside diner is a bad option. Trump, however, resembles a tuna sandwich left out on the counter for days: definitely harmful and possibly fatal.
Her speech Thursday, which highlighted the many ignorant, reckless and noxious statements he has made on the subject, should not have been necessary. The president of the United States has more power to do harm than any person on the planet, and such power should be entrusted only to someone who meets a basic standard of knowledge, judgment and maturity. Trump plainly doesn't.
In this realm, as in most areas of government obligations, he combines ignorance and arrogance. He didn't know what the nuclear triad is. He came up empty when asked about Brexit, Britain's possible exit from the European Union. He insists "we are not a rich country." His chief idea for combating the Islamic State is to "bomb the (expletive) out of them."
Trump made a big speech on foreign policy in April at an event sponsored by the Center for the National Interest, which used to be called the Nixon Center, after a president who knew a great deal about the world and how to pursue America's interests in it. Richard Nixon was a terrible president. But had he known less, he would not have been better.
On her worst days, Clinton evokes memories of him stiff, charmless, overly enamored of air power, even paranoid. But she also has a wealth of knowledge of the world and many of its leaders, and she needs no on-the-job training in international affairs. At the routine daily business of international diplomacy, Clinton offers competence and predictability.
Trump, however, has Nixon's darkest impulses and none of his understanding. The idea of someone so vindictive, petty and psychologically unbalanced having the power to start World War III ought to induce stark terror in every corner of the globe.
Much of Clinton's Thursday speech consisted of airy banalities, "We need to be strong at home," for example, and "We need to embrace all the tools of American power." Sometimes she sounded less like a former secretary of state than like Captain Obvious.
But Trump's example makes her platitudes appealing. It's true that he avoids the obvious. No one but him would think to ask, "Who the hell cares if there's a trade war?" No one else would say John McCain, who was tortured during his five years in a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp, was not a war hero. But unconventionality can be a symptom of insanity or stupidity rather than creativity.
Clinton, for all her flaws as a public official and a person, is neither crazy nor clueless. Her establishment credentials and outlook mean her mistakes fall within a predictable range. Knowing something about crafting policy and dealing with foreign leaders might also steer her clear of hazards.
Robert Gates, one of the most informed and sensible people ever to serve as defense secretary, had his differences with her. But in his memoirs, "Duty," he described Clinton as "smart, idealistic but pragmatic, tough-minded, indefatigable, funny, a very valuable colleague, and a superb representative of the United States all over the world."
Trump is doomed to make mistakes because he not only doesn't know much but thinks his lack of knowledge is actually an asset. The less you know, the simpler the world appears. But that's a dangerous illusion.
Giving the presidency to Clinton is far from ideal. But if you needed a major operation, would you choose a surgeon with a haughty manner and a checkered past who loses more than the usual number of patients? Or would you trust the job to a taxidermist?
By Marineh Khachadour
Authors note: I had the privilege of working with close to 120 refugee children and their mothers in Armenia between 1992 to 1994 for a duration of eighteen months. I created informal learning environments for them as they were not attending school due to lack of residency or were placed in "sink or swim" settings in Armenian language classrooms within the public educational system.
The particular ecologies that had influenced these children's learning experiences were inherently wrong. Most had little or no formal educational training and limited conversational skills in Armenian. In my informal interactions with them, I discovered that, nevertheless, learning does take place, and that the most important thing that I, as a teacher, could do for them was to promote specific types of conceptual and cognitive experiences that could provide temporary relief from the daily burdens of survival and transfer them to a different place where another way of being was possible. In the process, I learned from them of war, discrimination, poverty, and their dreams of someday returning to their homes.
This is the first in the series of stories about the lives of children in places of conflict. Looking back, I find myself more and more concerned about the environment of war that influences millions of lives at a very critical period of human development, childhood.
My husband has purchased an old Zhiguli from a Yezidi young man for $400. It is white with golden velvet interior.
"Fit for a lamb," Charlie jokes as he straps Arpa, our almost two-year-old son, on the back seat. I sit next to him, so I may quickly reach for him if a need arises. Old Soviet cars were not manufactured with seat belts. Local people don't seem to mind, but for us who have been indoctrinated with the American standards of life, having a child loose in the back seat is unconscionable.
I sing to him the Armenian version of my favorite children's song:
I wake up in the morning and what do I see?
Popcorn popping on the apricot tree.
Is it really so, or it just seems to me?
Popcorn popping on the apricot tree.
In a time and place of war where death and destruction dominate the surroundings and mar every aspect of life, a little bit of imagination and magic can go a long way. Today, I will teach this song to the 70 refugee children I visit every Saturday at the Arzni pansionat some 18 miles north of Yerevan, the capital city in Armenia, where we have made home for the past six months.
Our makeshift classroom is the hall of the Soviet era resort building where women and children have been housed. Leaving their husbands, fathers, and sons to fight for their homeland, they have fled their homes in Nagorno Karabakh, an Armenian enclave that Josef Stalin granted to the neighboring Azerbaijan in 1923. The demand of the people for independence and self-determination in 1988 turned into a full-fledged war when Azeris decided to exterminate the Armenian communities in Sumgait and Baku in retaliation.
Like all government operated facilities, the building has been deserted since then, and five years later, it is in dire need of repairs. The once indigo-washed-white now greying lace curtains are fluttering in the breeze. An oversized planter that used to be the centerpiece of the room has been pushed into a corner. A few green leaves are dangling on finger-thin stems. The paint on the ceiling is chipping. Mold is growing in the communal restrooms. Slats of parquet, leftover wood used for heating the space on cold winter days, have been peeled and stacked against a wall.
I hope no little feet get stuck in the holes of dry, black tar as children run to meet me for a weekly activity. Somehow they manage to bypass or overpass the ditches without much concentration. I wonder if they will be able to circumvent the holes war leaves in their lives as swiftly.
Many of them have their mothers who hug them tightly, wipe their snotty noses and the tears of fear and pain. Some, however, don't have that privilege. 8-year-old Anoush is in care of an eighty-year-old woman she calls "grandmother." She is not her real grandmother but is from the same village and knows Anoush's parents who are both at the front lines. Who knows when they will come back for her or if they will at all. I think, I might want to adopt her.
In a video of a previous visit, made by my husband, Arpa is tugging on my leg begging me for attention, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy..." he repeats while I am determined not to lose the focus of the two dozen or so eyes following me as I take out jewel-colored eggs from the basket. Charlie reaches out and takes Arpa's hand. Father to his rescue! And, it allows me to continue my lesson without being interrupted.
In the background, Zakar, our musician friend from Lebanon, plays the flute. It's a melodic song about lilies. Girls and boys 5-13 years of age repeat the verse over and over, calmly gazing at the lens of the camera when it focuses on them. They seem so serene and content. Yet, I know if I ask them what they wish for at that moment, their eyes will tear up, and they will say, "I just want to see my father again." I know this, because I have asked them before and have received the same response.
It is May. We meet in the courtyard, by the dried up pond with exposed tarnished pipes where a fountain used to flow. The children interrupt each other wanting to tell me the big news. Ten of them who were picked by an aid organization to spend the winter months in Iran have returned! It is close to 75F degrees outside, but they walk around with their ski jackets and boots, valuable as gold, that they have received as charity.
I proceed with my lesson about spring, hope, and popcorn on the trees.
"In the spring, Father Sun reaches out for Mother Earth," I say, "holds her hand and reassures her that all will be well." Today, it is my goal to help the children experience this, since their own fathers will not be able to do the same for them.
As I pass out the bags of popcorn I have wrapped the day before, among the sea of faces in front of me, I see the old woman but cannot find Anoush.
"Where Is Anoush?" I ask. No one seems to know of her whereabouts.
Suddenly, I hear the old "grandmother" scream as if she was struck by lightning, "May I go blind! I locked the door and left the key. The child was sleeping inside! There is no way she can reach the lock!" She says with her face turning beet red.
"There must be a way," I say, trying to not lose composure.
"There is no way. The lock is too high," say the women, all obviously worried at the same time. A few of the men, wounded soldiers in convalescence, rush to look into the situation on the eighth floor, while the rest of us try to calm "grandmother."
Minutes later, a child points to the balcony on the top floor of the hi-rise and says,
"Look, there is Anoush!"
I cannot believe my eyes, as I watch the little girl climb out between the metal rods and balance herself on the pipe that stretches from one end of the building to the other about six inches just below the balconies on the eighth floor. Anoush carefully walks herself towards the balcony next door from where, by now, men are extending hands for her to grab on to.
I hug Anoush and look at her sparkly eyes, her triumphant smile between her dimpled red cheeks, and know that she knows: ALL WILL BE WELL.
Charlie is hesitant when I suggest that we take Anoush home with us.
"You know, shes not real. She is a mythical character capable of the unthinkable," he argues in his typical dramatic way whenever he wishes to dissuade me.
"She is courageous. This girl has no fear. I wish to give her a fair chance to thrive. Besides, I would love for our son to have a big sister like her," I insist.
A few weeks later, we agree to bring her home for a trial period. After a meal and a bath, and three episodes of Barney the Purple Dinosaur, the children and I fall asleep until my husband wakes me up.
"Where is Anoush?" I ask noticing her empty bed.
"By the door," says Charlie. "She tried to escape and won't give up."
"I kneel by her and ask if there is anything that she wants.
"I want my father," she says and gets up to unlock the door.
"Your father is far away," I say, "You can stay with us until he comes for you," I say.
"My father is where my home is in Karabakh. I want to go home," she says and makes an attempt at the door again.
"I will take you back to Arzni in the morning. You can be with "grandmother" and the other children, if that is what you want," I promise her. She does not respond. I put my hand out. She takes it, and we go back to bed.
After Anoush's second attempt to take off that night while everyone is asleep, I glue myself to the floor in order to guard the door and prevent the little girl from roaming the streets of Yerevan in the middle of the night.
The phone rings early in the morning. The care coordinator at the pansionat says, "Her mother has come for her. She wants to take Anoush back to Karabakh."
"What about her father? I ask.
"No one knows where he is," she responds.
" " What if your doppelganger ran off with your identity? Jonathan Knowles/Stone/Getty Images
It's often said that we all have a double somewhere in the world. It's a haunting thought. In a sense, our identity is all we have. When it fails to form properly, we struggle psychologically. When it's stolen, we face fraudulent bills, ruined credit and a years-long nightmare of red tape. And when it's mistaken, well, far worse outcomes might await.
Perhaps that's why, in so many legends and weird tales stretching back centuries, encountering one's doppelganger tends to end badly. Thankfully, we live during the age of fingerprints, DNA and CSI, in the post-911 world of ever-more Orwellian identification requirements, and we've left cases of mistaken identity firmly in the past.
Advertisement
Well, perhaps not. According to a 2012 report in the Denver Post, "More than 500 people were wrongly imprisoned in Denver's jails over seven years, with some spending weeks incarcerated or pleading guilty to crimes they did not commit."
Such stories provide sobering reminders that a world run by bureaucrats contains at least as much of Kafka as Orwell and maybe a touch of Rod Serling, as well. The people you are about to meet would no doubt agree.
Judith Faulkner, CEO of Epic Systems, during the 2010 UW Commencement at the Kohl Center. Forbes has estimated her net worth to be $2.4 billion.
Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.
Paul Ryan, shown here talking with an Associated Press reporter June 2 in Janesville, is a master manipulator who knows how to create an impression that serves his interest. A gullible media and a gullible Republican base still treat him as something of a fresh face even though he's a career politician and the ultimate Washington insider. ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO
A $25,000 cash bond was set Monday by Judge James Isaacson for the man accused of kidnapping a girl Saturday in the town of Cleveland.
Timothy A. Rathbun, 57, appeared via a video link for the bond hearing. Rathbun is scheduled to return to court at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 12.
(Rathbun) admitted to taking the victim because he wanted to adopt the (girl) and wanted her to see where she would live. The (girl) did not know Rathbun prior to the incident, the Chippewa County Sheriffs Office said.
The $25,000 bond set for Rathbun wasnt enough, according to the man identifying himself as the father of the girl authorities said was abducted.
It should have been more, the man said, adding that bond should have been set at $1 million after what he did to my daughter.
The man said he hopes Rathbun is charged, convicted and sentenced to prison time, at least 45 years.
Rathbun, who was arrested on charges of kidnapping and endangering safety with the use of a dangerous weapon, was ordered by the judge to have no contact with the girl or her family, and is not to use alcohol or illegal drugs.
Chippewa County District Attorney Steven Gibbs said he was pleased with Judge Isaacsons finding on the cash bond.
Law enforcement did another great job, he said of the arrest of Rathbun.
According to the sheriffs office:
Deputies were called to a residence in the town of Cleveland at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday on a report of a child abduction.
They discovered that Rathbun had taken the girl by force against the victims will from a neighboring residence and brought her to his own residence. Family friends of the girl were able to get her back from Rathbun after entering his residence, the sheriffs office said.
Minutes later, gunshots were heard in the area. A SWAT team arrived at the scene, and contact was made with Rathbun, who surrendered peaceably.
A judge Monday sentenced a La Crosse woman tied to a sophisticated methamphetamine trafficking enterprise to three years on probation based on her involvement in the case.
Brynn Panek, 35, is one of 17 people involved in the ring that operated between the Twin Cities and the La Crosse area for a decade before authorities interrupted it in October. Authorities say several co-defendants brought pounds of meth manufactured by Mexican drug cartels each week into the area, where Panek and others distributed it to surrounding counties.
Panek is a user turned dealer who played a lesser role in the conspiracy and cooperated with law enforcement, La Crosse County Deputy District Attorney Brian Barton said. She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deliver more than 50 grams of meth and agreed to testify against her co-defendants.
Attorneys jointly recommended she serve probation. Panek, who has a minor criminal history, did not make a statement to the court.
La Crosse County Circuit Judge Scott Horne also sentenced Panek to four months on electronic monitoring with credit for 76 days and 200 hours of community service. While on probation, Panek must continue drug treatment and cannot have contact with drug users and dealers.
Authorities say a Wisconsin Dells man severely beat a 3-year-old boy for not going to sleep.
According to the criminal complaint filed against 28-year-old Michael J. Moriarty, the beating left the boys entire face bruised and cut, his eyes blackened and nearly swollen shut, and his lips swollen.
The boy was living with his mother, two sisters, and his mothers boyfriend, Moriarty, at the Twi-Lite Motel in Lake Delton when the incident occurred late last month, authorities say.
The sisters told authorities that Moriarty became angry with their brother when he would not go to sleep. Moriarty allegedly shoved the boy off the bed numerous times before picking him up and slamming him to the ground.
Michael held (the boys) arms behind his back and lifted (the boy) over Michaels head and slammed (the boy) to the ground, the complaint states. Michael asked (the boy) if he liked that and wanted him to do it again. Michael lifted (the boy) again, and slammed him to the ground.
The boy told authorities that Moriarty also punched him in the head and repeatedly hit him with a slipper.
Illinois authorities have filed for extradition to Cook County, where Moriarty is wanted for kidnapping, battery, child abuse, and intimidation of a victim.
The Sauk County case charges Moriarty with physical abuse of a child, a felony that carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison and $10,000 in fines. He has been jailed on a $10,000 cash bond in the extradition case and a $3,000 cash bond in the child abuse case. He and is due to appear in court June 9.
Wisconsin Brewing Co. in Verona announced an addition to the growing roster of beers it produces for other brewing companies, and this one is a big hitter from a small Midwestern city.
WBC officials said Tuesday that it will begin brewing Dorothys New World Lager, the flagship beer from Toppling Goliath Brewing Co. in Decorah, Iowa. Toppling Goliath known for its PseudoSue, an American pale ale is considered one of the top beer makers in the country and is rapidly expanding its distribution. It is about to break ground on a $10 million expansion project.
In 2015, the company signed an agreement with Brew Hub, a contract brewing company in Lakeland, Florida, to brew four of its beers that are sold in cans. The agreement with Wisconsin Brewing Co. will further add to Toppling Goliaths production capabilities and meet the demand from bars and restaurants that want their products on tap, something available only for customers in Iowa and Wisconsin and not in the five other states it serves.
The other states are screaming for draft, said Clark Lewey, Toppling Goliaths president and founder. WBC has some draft capacity and thats the biggest issue for us. It made good sense for us (to contract with WBC) because were so close we can haul our kegs back and forth.
Toppling Goliath was founded by Lewey and his wife, Barb, in 2009 after they experimented with home brewing in their garage. That led to the creation of a nano brewery where they brewed three times a day on a half-barrel system. They later added a used 10-barrel brewhouse, and now have a four-vessel, 30-barrel system and a high-tech packaging line, but still they have struggled to keep up with demand.
The company shipped 10,000 barrels of beer in 2015.
The expansion project will build a 53,000-square-foot brewing facility a mile from the existing plant and add a 100-barrel brewing system. Construction is scheduled to begin this week and be completed in 2017, said Lewey, an Iowa native who has a vacation home on Lake Winnebago.
Working with our sister state, Clark and the team at Toppling Goliath will leverage opportunities for both breweries, said Carl Nolen, president and CEO of Wisconsin Brewing. As we look to the future, were considering cross-promoting new beers especially made for beer lovers in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. Were really proud to be working with Toppling Goliath and looking forward to many new projects together.
The addition of Toppling Goliath beefs up of the production at WBC, founded in 2013 in a 21,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility in the Verona Commerce Park. In 2015, the brewery, with an 80-barrel brewhouse, produced about 13,000 barrels of beer, a number that is sure to grow with the companys own brews and with contracts now with three other companies.
In April, Small Town Brewery of Wauconda, Illinois, announced it had contracted with WBC to be the exclusive brewer for a 10.7 percent alcohol-by-volume version of Not Your Fathers Root Beer. The beer will ultimately be available on draft in restaurants and bars across the country and in limited 22-ounce bomber bottles. In October, WBC announced a deal to brew Old Tankard Ale on contract for San Antonio-based Pabst Brewing Co. That beer will be sold initially in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Michigan before rolling out to more states in the future.
Weve had a relationship with Wisconsin Brewing for some time; weve shared a few beers together and really hit it off, Lewey said. Theyve built a state-of-the-art facility and their quality control is phenomenal. We felt the best way to expand our distribution into Wisconsin was to brew in Wisconsin.
A 22-year-old Fitchburg man pleaded guilty to an amended felony charge Monday stemming from an incident in 2015 when police say a spate of jealousy led him to stab his boyfriend more than 20 times.
Aaron J. Wiater was convicted of second-degree reckless injury by Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke after attorneys for both sides came to a plea agreement.
The maximum sentence Wiater can receive is 7 years of initial confinement and 5 years of extended supervision.
Ehlke ordered a pre-sentence investigation.
The stabbing incident occurred Nov. 28 after Wiaters boyfriend came home with another man after a night out, a criminal complaint states.
A doctor at UW Hospital said the victim had 26 superficial stab wounds and did not require surgery or have any medical complications.
According to the complaint, Wiater said he threw several pieces of glassware, including a goblet fishbowl, at his boyfriends head until he fell. When he ran out of items to throw, Wiater said, he grabbed a steak knife and stabbed the victim along his chest and hip.
Wiater said he was unaware of how many times he stabbed the victim, the complaint states. After the attack, Wiater fell asleep. He awoke later in the morning and left for work. The victim woke up the next morning with no memory of the attack and thought he might have been drugged. The victim later had a seizure after Wiater returned home and was taken to a hospital.
A Madison man who had a gun during a fight last fall was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison on Monday, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Michael Peterson, 35, took part in a fight outside of a bar on State Street in November, the statement said. Peterson, who was convicted of a felony in 2006, stashed a handgun in a trash container after fleeing the scene, according to the statement.
Police followed a trail of blood from stab wounds Peterson suffered during the fight to find the 9 mm Glock handgun, which also had traces of his blood on it, the statement said.
He was treated at a hospital after the fight, according to the statement.
In 2006, Peterson was convicted of a felony in federal court for distributing crack cocaine, and he was on supervised release for this crime during the time of the fight, the statement said.
For violating the terms of his release, Peterson received six months in federal prison to be served consecutively with the 48 months from the separate gun charge he plead guilty to in late March, the statement said.
A Madison man charged last month with tagging buildings and electrical boxes with symbols representative of white supremacist groups also made anti-Semitic remarks on his Facebook page, according to an unsealed warrant for records of communications or other information.
Timothy A. Arnold, 21, has been charged with 17 counts of misdemeanor graffiti after a criminal complaint said he used paint or markers to draw Swastika-like symbols on buildings that include the Jewish Experience of Madison and the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, both on Langdon Street; Samba Brazilian Grill on Gilman Street; and Madison Gas & Electric boxes on North Mills Street.
The search was requested by the Dane County District Attorney's office because it believes the Facebook comments could lead to felony charges of criminal damage or graffiti on religious property with a hate crime enhancer.
A criminal complaint said Arnold told a Madison police detective that he found some green spray paint and used it to draw "old runic" symbols on places in the Langdon Street area.
But the warrant indicated that, in April, Arnold posted comments on his Facebook page that included, "Jews ruined everything" and "I need a fascist girl who can cook, clean and fire a Kalashnikov."
Arnold pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges on May 18 after Dane County Court Commissioner Jason Hanson ruled him competent to stand trial. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Tuesday and his trial is scheduled to begin in July.
The alleged interstate gunman who shot and killed a female passenger in a black BMW near Wisconsin Dells last month also fired at other cars as he drove a vehicle that contained boxes, cartridges and magazines full of ammunition for a handgun and rifle, according to a search warrant unsealed Monday.
Zachary Hays, 20, of West Allis, has been charged in Sauk County with first-degree intentional homicide and three counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety after police say he randomly fired three shots into the BMW while driving on Interstate 90-94 on May 1, killing Tracy Czaczkowski, 44, of Buffalo Grove, Illinois.
Hays is scheduled to make his initial appearance Thursday at the Sauk County Courthouse in Baraboo. The court date had been delayed because he was shot by police after law enforcement officers stopped the vehicle he was driving on I-39-90-94 near DeForest.
Czaczkowski, who was in the front passenger seat, had been visiting Wisconsin Dells with her husband and two small children, both of whom were in the back seat. The children were not injured, but details of the incident spelled out in the warrant said a detective at the scene noticed what appeared to be a bullet hole in the rear passenger door.
Two other possible bullet holes were found through the tinted window on the front passenger side and into the hood of the vehicle, the search warrant indicated.
Hays was identified as the shooter in the warrant by his brother, Jeremy Hays, 30, who was a passenger in the Chevrolet Blazer at the time of the incident.
According to the warrant, Jeremy Hays told a Sauk County detective that his brother freaked out when a black vehicle with tinted windows approached their SUV. He watched Zachary fire the gun at the vehicle while yelling, Im not scared, Im not scared! You want to die, you want to die!
Jeremy Hays also told the detective that his brother cocked the hammer each time before he fired the pistol at the passing vehicle, according to the search warrant. It also said Hays told the detective that, after hitting the BMW, he accelerated the Blazer to about 90 mph and fired the pistol at other cars on the Interstate.
According to the warrant, Jeremy Hays also told detectives that he tossed an SKS rifle into the back of the Blazer when Zachary Hays asked for it after his vehicle was stopped by police near DeForest. The warrant indicated that after Hays was shot, a detective saw a long rifle, uncased, in the back cargo area of the Blazer.
Besides the firearms and ammunition, detectives also found spent casings of ammunition, a stun gun, drug paraphernalia, a digital scale and $660 in cash, according to the warrant.
Hays also is suspected by police in the fatal shooting of his downstairs neighbor, Gabriel Sanchez, 42, earlier on May 1 in the apartment building on South 92nd Street in West Allis where both men lived.
The Madison School District plans to spend the next year or so seriously studying whether to push back school start times for adolescent students, particularly those in middle school.
The topic has gained traction nationally due to research suggesting later middle and high school start times can lead to higher attendance rates, fewer behavior problems, and an increase in state assessment scores and grade-point averages.
Although no vote was taken Monday, Madison School Board members directed administrators to come back with a formal plan for studying the issue, with an eye toward making any changes for the 2017-18 school year. Possible next steps include surveying parents, assembling a study team that includes community members, and holding in-depth consultations with transportation providers.
I really do think that if we start now and lay out these next steps carefully, by this time next year, we can be talking about our new middle school start times, said board member TJ Mertz, who brought the matter forward.
Current start times for the districts four large high schools range from 8:12 to 8:18 a.m. Shabazz City High School, a smaller alternative school, begins at 8:45. Of the districts 12 middle schools, 10 start at 7:35 a.m. Badger Rock starts at 8:25 and Wright at 8:13. Both are charter schools.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends middle and high schools start at 8:30 a.m. or later. Doing so aligns school schedules to the biological sleep rhythms of adolescents, whose natural sleep cycles begin to shift at the start of puberty, making it difficult for them to fall asleep before 11 p.m., according to the academy. A too-early start to the school day is a critical contributor to chronic sleep deprivation among adolescents, the academy says.
Parent Jennifer Rosen Heinz spoke in favor of later start times Monday, displaying a photo of her 11-year-old son, who will be a middle school student this fall.
She said hes a good student and that their home does not lack discipline. Yet she said its hard to override biology.
He is changing, he is maturing, and his circadian rhythms have changed, she said. And so weve noticed that it is harder to motivate him in the morning and that its not just prepubescent sullenness.
She encouraged the board to think of it as a public health issue.
Madison administrators surveyed starting times in 10 other districts. Especially at the middle school level, Madisons start time is among the earliest.
Districts with later middle school starting times include Middleton (8:20 a.m.), Monona Grove (7:45), Mount Horeb (8:00), Oregon (7:55), Sun Prairie (8:00), Verona (8:30) and Waunakee (8:15), according to the districts research.
Barriers often identified in moving to a later start time include increased transportation costs, difficulty scheduling interscholastic events with neighboring districts, and a community lack of understanding of adolescent sleep needs, Madison administrators said.
Board member Dean Loumos spoke enthusiastically of at least pursuing the idea, saying his own experience trying to rouse adolescents for school involved strategic placement of squirt guns in the house.
On a serious note, he said later start times could be another positive move toward reducing achievement gaps in the district.
Everything suggests this is the best thing to do, he said. If its an issue of money, then we can determine if its worth the cost.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the starting time for Badger Rock Middle School.
A pen pal program that pairs students at Gompers Elementary School and Black Hawk Middle School with employees at Great Lakes Higher Education Corp. is so popular that there is a waiting list of workers who want to participate.
This year, the second of the program, 166 employees in the Madison office participated.
Gompers principal Sarah Chaja said the program is a great fit because it gives her third- through fifth-graders a meaningful writing experience.
It gave us a chance to learn how to write well, and also it helped us with social skills, said fifth-grader Norah Al-Amoodi.
Its great. Its an opportunity to get to know other people. It helps you with your future, said fifth-grader Rodney Yang.
The program concluded last month with an event that allowed the pen pals to meet each other after writing in shared notebooks since November. Each Friday the notebooks were exchanged through a Great Lakes employee.
It was a mysterious person but you know a lot about them, said fourth-grader Fatou Ceesay. Youre just like Hi, do I know you? Weve been (writing) all this year but its surprising to see your face.
Great Lakes employee Jaclyn Perry said that when she met her pen pal, the Gompers student drew a picture of her so she wouldnt forget, held her hand the whole time and declared they were BFFs.
In addition to having the pen pals meet, Great Lakes employees surprised Gompers with a $64,171 check to fund a major portion of a renovation of the school library. It has not been updated since the school was built in 1960 and is sometimes used by students at Black Hawk, which shares the same building on Madisons North Side. The donation is a dollar-for-dollar company match to the money Madison employees contributed to the 2015 United Way and Community Shares Campaign.
Great Lakes employees also delivered 2,941 books collected during a book drive so students can take them home during the summer to help prevent reading skills from sliding backward.
The pen pal program is just part of a budding relationship between Great Lakes and the schools. The company linked up with Black Hawk in 2013 through the Foundation for Madisons Public Schools Adopt-A-School program. The company then decided to adopt Gompers for the 2014-15 school year, and about $68,000 was donated for a new playground both schools use. Book drives have been held all three years.
An expansive study of employee positions, pay and benefits in the University of Wisconsin System will also touch on family leave policies that a UW-Madison report found are far less generous than those available at other universities.
The study, a joint effort by UW-Madison and the UW System, will seek to clarify the more than 1,000 job titles held by UW employees, and examine the pay and benefits those workers receive, said Bob Lavigna, the Madison campus associate vice chancellor for human resources. It is expected to take two years and end with recommendations for policy changes.
We havent done a study like this in 30 years, Lavigna said.
One employee benefit the study will examine is policies for maternity and paternity leave.
The UW System does not provide its employees with any paid family leave, requiring that parents instead use sick or vacation days for up to six weeks of paid time off, or take an unpaid absence. An employee who wants to take more than six weeks must use unpaid time off.
Thats not the norm for professors at UW-Madisons competitor institutions, according to an April 2015 report from the Commission on Faculty Compensation and Economic Benefits that found paid family leave is widespread for faculty.
Compared to other Big Ten institutions and four competitors the University of Chicago and the flagship public universities of Virginia, Texas and California the report found that only UW-Madison and the University of Iowa did not offer professors at least six weeks of paid time off. Most offered at least 12 weeks.
The current policy does not meet the needs of many faculty and is not competitive with benefits offered at most peer institutions, the commission wrote.
UW-Madisons policy requires faculty members to avoid using sick time for other uses or face a pay cut by taking unpaid leave, the commission wrote, and it creates logistical headaches as professors and departments try to find other faculty who can cover the parents teaching load during the school year.
The commission recommended UW-Madison further study its family leave policies and provide at least one semester of teaching relief for faculty on family leave by bringing in a lecturer to teach that semesters classes.
The report estimates a teaching relief program would cost UW-Madison $640,000 per year, but claims improving family leave policies would make it easier for UW-Madison to attract and retain faculty members.
Lavigna said the new study will look into the benefits programs, including those for family leave, at UW-Madisons competitors. But he noted officials arent going into the review with the expectation it will advocate for certain new policies.
We want to know what other institutions of higher (education) are doing that we may want to adopt here, Lavigna said.
The study also wont consider employee benefits that are managed at the state level, such as retirement and health care programs.
And Lavigna said the review will not seek to determine if any UW employees positions are unnecessary and could be cut, nor will it lead to pay changes for current workers.
Were not going into this with the intention of increasing or decreasing anyones particular salary, Lavigna said.
After years of talks, the city and Madison School District have a tentative deal on how the district can quickly access nearly $9.3 million from a successful Downtown tax incremental financing (TIF) district.
The city has long planned to keep the TIF district open the maximum number of years and use a surplus to help support the massive Judge Doyle Square redevelopment south of Capitol Square. But the cash-strapped school district has wanted its share of tax proceeds as soon as possible.
This agreement marks another major step forward in cooperation between the city and school district toward improving the educational outcomes for all Madison children and building a city tax base that supports their education, Mayor Paul Soglin said in a statement.
Schools Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham said, With less and less support from the state, we are so grateful that our partners at the city are stepping up to support our public school students.
With TIF, the city, school district and other taxing entities agree to freeze property values in an area with tax revenues from growth used to support private development or public infrastructure. When investments are repaid, the TIF district is closed and the higher valued property is fully returned to the tax rolls and any surplus is paid to taxing entities such as the city and school district.
After covering responsibilities, the Downtown TIF district, called TID No. 25, had a surplus of $19.5 million the school districts share of which is $9.27 million as of Dec. 31, 2014. The surplus is projected to grow to $56 million if the TIF district remains open to its legal maximum life in 2022-23.
Under the tentative deal, which needs City Council and School Board approval, the city would essentially loan the district its $9.27 million share of the TIF surplus now with the city being repaid when the TIF district closes in the early 2020s.
The School Board on Monday took a first step by unanimously authorizing a resolution for a $9.27 million promissory note. The board will have a more detailed discussion in July.
If the plan proceeds as hoped, the district could begin spending the money this fall, said Mike Barry, assistant superintendent for business services. It likely would spread the funds over at least five years, he said.
On Tuesday, Soglin will introduce a resolution to enter into an agreement with the school district to guarantee the districts tax proceeds up to $9.27 million. To cover the guarantee, if necessary, the city would use its share of the surplus when TID No. 25 closes.
In April, the council chose to enter exclusive negotiations with Beitler Real Estate Services of Chicago on a $170 million proposal for the Judge Doyle Square project on blocks that hold the Madison Municipal Building and Government East parking garage.
But timing is now critical. Because the city failed to secure a project in previous efforts with other developers, it has a relatively narrow time frame to negotiate a final development agreement with Beitler to use TID No. 25 money. The city must commit to spending those funds by September 2017, with the district set to close about five years later.
To meet those timelines, the city must negotiate a final development agreement with Beitler by Sept. 30. Taxing entities the city, school district, Dane County and Madison Area Technical College must act by Oct. 31.
Beitlers $170 million proposal includes a 252-room hotel, apartments, retail, office space and parking. It would require $43 million in public money, including $24 million in TIF, almost all for underground public parking. The sides are continuing to negotiate.
State Journal reporter Doug Erickson contributed to this report.
While consultants develop a plan that could close that part of the jail entirely, Dane County officials are looking at ways to mitigate safety risks to inmates kept in the City-County Building.
Last month, the countys Public Protection and Judiciary Committee directed consultants Mead and Hunt, Potter Lawson and Pulitzer/Bogard and Associates to form two plans that would allow the Sheriffs Office to cease use of the buildings sixth and seventh floors as a jail.
The committee on Tuesday will consider amending a contract with the consultants to require interim recommendations that could lessen the dangers the dated City-County Building poses to inmates. Those solutions could include short-term repairs or changing staffing procedures, according to the resolution.
Committee chairman Paul Rusk said the amendment is intended to help the county reasonably ensure safety during the 31/2 to five years it could take to plan for, approve and construct an addition to the Public Safety Building.
He was reluctant to say how much the county would be willing to spend on repairs to a facility it plans to close.
I think we should wait until we get the suggestions with the cost to figure that out, Rusk said. Hopefully they can come back to us with some solutions with dollar amounts promptly because wed like to get the health and safety addressed tomorrow if we could.
The Dane County Jail is housed across three buildings: the Downtown Public Safety Building and City-County Building, which are connected by a tunnel under South Carroll Street, and the work-release Ferris Center on the South Side.
A May report from the consultants dealt only with the City-County Building portion, which was opened in 1954. It recommended closing it with due haste because conditions there put the county at significant risk for liability in the event of suicides, inmate sexual assaults and fire.
The report estimated it would cost more than $47 million to bring the City-County Building jail in line with building code, safety standards and supervision requirements, with at least $16.5 million of those costs recurring annually.
The figure does not include removal of lead and asbestos that may be present in that portion of the jail.
Instead of pursuing costly renovations, the committee directed consultants to create two plans to remodel the newer Public Safety Building to accommodate the maximum-security and special-needs uses of the City-County Buildings jail.
If approved, the amended contract would include an additional $30,590 for the interim danger mitigation work.
Self-insuring state workers could save money by reducing overhead, but it could increase costs by weakening a competitive insurance market that has kept costs low, authorities said Tuesday.
The state Department of Employee Trust Funds, which administers health benefits for 250,000 state and local government workers and their family members, will seek bids in July for self-insurance, on a regional or statewide basis, in 2018.
The Group Insurance Board will vote on the matter in November.
Currently, nearly all of the workers and dependents, almost 100,000 of whom are in Dane County, are covered by 17 HMOs, which receive premiums and accept the risk for claims.
Under self-insurance, the state would pay benefits directly and take on the risk.
Consultants have said the move could cost $100 million a year or save $42 million, largely by avoiding $18 million in Affordable Care Act fees, cutting $11 million in administrative costs and eliminating $11 million in insurance company profits.
Gov. Scott Walker said any savings would be used on public education.
Bids, due in September, should better define potential savings, said Lisa Ellinger, an administrator for the state Department of Employee Trust Funds, or ETF.
Since our program is financed by the taxpayers, we also have a responsibility to explore and evaluate whether alternatives to our current structure are more cost effective, Ellinger said during a panel discussion about self-insurance organized by Wisconsin Health News.
The average cost increase for state worker insurance has been 2.5 percent the past five years, compared to 5 percent to 7 percent nationally, Ellinger said.
Pete Farrow, CEO of Group Health Cooperative of Eau Claire, said Wisconsin has the most competitive health insurance market in the country based on a commonly used index.
That has helped keep state worker costs down, he said.
Removing 250,000 people from the commercial insurance market would change it from a competition market to a concentration market, Farrow said.
Group Health of Eau Claire and Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin, Dean Health Plan, Physicians Plus and Unity Health Insurance are members of the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans, which opposes a move to self-insurance.
J.P. Wieske, the states deputy commissioner of insurance, said its impossible to say how much self-insurance would cost or save, or how much it would disrupt the insurance market or care for patients, before analyzing bids from companies seeking to run the program.
Yes, there may be some market impacts with us moving, but there also may not be market impacts, Wieske said.
The federal Affordable Care Act has created a fundamental instability in the market, he said. Thats probably a much larger impact than anything the state can do.
Most states self-insure some or all state workers.
Many large private employers do too, but its not clear if it makes sense for state workers in Wisconsin, said Jerry Frye, president of The Benefit Services Group in Pewaukee.
Large employers typically adopt self-insurance because they want to avoid state insurance mandates, which ETF cant do, Frye said. They also want to avoid a state premium tax, which ETF doesnt pay, and they want consistent benefits, which ETF already provides with a standard plan.
There is a reason why large employers go self-funded, but most of those reasons do not apply to ETF, Frye said.
If the Group Insurance Board adopts self-insurance, the legislatures Joint Finance Committee will have oversight of any contract.
The Group Insurance Board may not pursue an all-or-nothing strategy, Ellinger said.
The model at the end of day ... could be a hybrid of what were talking about: self insured, fully insured, regional, maintaining certain regions as they operate today, she said.
Low wages and limited access to healthy food are major factors in an ongoing health care problem in Dane County: hunger and food insecurity.
A report issued Tuesday by Public Health Madison and Dane County said one out of three Latino, African American and single-parent households, and one out of five white households, experience food insecurity, which in turn contributes to the hunger problem.
"Food insecurity is a significant public health issue in our county," said Nick Heckman, food security policy analyst at PHMDC.
"Hunger can decrease a child's ability to focus and perform in school," Heckman said. "Food insecurity can also increase risk for other health problems, including diabetes and obesity, because high-calorie, processed and nutrition-deficient foods are all that many in our community can access or afford."
The report said when a household experiences food insecurity, people are unsure of where their next meal is coming from, or worry about running out of food without having money to buy more. As a result, they often cut back on the size of meals or skip meals.
PHMDC supports several partnerships in the community that give a boost to food security, including the free summer meal sites for school kids, beginning June 18; a new Willy Street Co-op on the North Side, which will accept WIC benefits; and the Double Dollars plan at participating farmers markets, where FoodShare users can double the value of their benefits.
Credit: Colt CoanTonight's episode of America's Got Talent will be a lot heavier thanks to John Hetlinger. The 82-year old contestant shocked the judges with a spirited version of Drowning Pool's signature hit "Bodies" on the reality talent show. You can watch a clip of Hetlinger's performance ahead of tonight's episode on AOL.com.
Hetlinger is from Broomfield, Colorado and previously worked as the program manager for the instrument that repaired the Hubble Space Telescope. He told the judges that auditioning for America's Got Talent "would be probably the high point of my life."
To see Drowning Pool themselves perform "Bodies," you can catch them on tour this summer in support of their latest album, Hellelujah.
America's Got Talent airs tonight, June 7 at 8 p.m. ET.
Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
The results of the first-ever aptitude test will be handed over to the students along with the mark sheet on June 15.
By India Today Web Desk: The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary Education announced the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) 2016 results on June 6, 2016.
Though the students can check the results online, mark sheets will be distributed on June 15 at 3 PM, as said by state board secretary Krishnakumar Patil.
Results of first-ever aptitude test for Class XI:
advertisement
Along with this, the results of the first-ever aptitude test will be handed over to the students along with the mark sheet on the same day, as revealed by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE).
According to a report by The Indian Express , around 15,62,248 students from 21,153 schools in the state have taken the aptitude test conducted by MSBSHSE and Institute of Vocational Guidance and Selection, Mumbai, which held the online test between February 9 and February 25 this year.
Helpline number and website for career counselling:
"Class XI aspirants can seek information of institutes offering the different courses from the websites, http://www.mahacareermitra.in. Parents and students wanting to clear any doubts regarding career choices or results of aptitude test can contact the helpline number at 8275100001," quoted Gangadhar Mhamane, chairman, MSBSHSE.
The Maharashtra Board had successfully conducted the SSC examination across the state in March 2016.
Around 17.3 lakh students have appeared in the Class 10 board examination this year from all over the state, out of this more than 3.2 lakh students were from the Mumbai division.
About the Board:
The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education conducts HSC and SSC examination through its nine divisional boards located in Pune, Mumbai, Aurangabad, Nasik, Kolhapur, Amravati, Latur, Nagpur and Konkan. There are about 21,000 schools (SSC) and 7000 (HSC) /junior colleges in the entire state.
Click here for more news updates on EDUCATION.
--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: Space agencies of around 60 countries are coming together to tackle the alarming issue of global warming. These space agencies realise that their contribution and equipment is imperative in dealing with the raising global temperatures. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the French Space Agency (CNES) arranged this meet in New Delhi.
Last year, in December, the Paris COP21 climate conference acted as a trigger to this unanimous decision to monitor human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. The involvement of space agencies such as ISRO and NCES is deemed necessary because 26 out of the 50 climate variables can only be tracked from space. ISRO believes that it is the job of these space agencies to keep an eye on the countries that are violating the prescribed limits of greenhouse gas emissions.
UN conference on climate change
The aim of this confluence is to setup a network of information collected from the satellites. This network will help in providing a standardised report on green house gas emissions. ISRO is also trying to collaborate with NASA to use state-of-the-art technology for global climate change observation.
Here are a few facts about the current state of global warming:
According to a scientist in the USA, Global warming is real and is a direct result of human activity
The atmosphere holds more carbon dioxide than it had at any point in past 5,00,000 years
Carbon dioxide, Methane, Nitrous oxide, Fluorinated gases such as Hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, sulphur hexafluoride, and nitrogen tri-fluoride are greenhouse gases
A few gases can remain mixed in the atmosphere for a long period of time. Nitrous Oxide remains in the air for almost 121 years
Few of the most potent green house gasses come from human activities
Carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere through burning fuels, such as: coal, natural gas and oil, solid waste, trees and wood products
Methane is emitted through during the production and transport of coal, natural gas, and oil
Nitrous oxide is emitted from agricultural and industrial activities
According to the World Economic Forum, climate change is the one of the biggest threats to the world economy and global warming is the worst and immediate possibility
According to World Wildlife Federation (WWF), power generation is responsible for about 23 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year which translates to 700 tonnes every second.
advertisement
Interested in General Knowledge and Current Affairs? Click here to stay informed and know what is happening around the world with our G.K. and Current Affairs section
To get more updates on Current Affairs, send in your query by mail toeducation.intoday@gmail.com
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Anisur Rahman
Dhaka, Jun 7 (PTI) Three suspected Islamists were killed today in separate gunbattles with Bangladesh police which launched a massive crackdown on extremists as a Hindu priest became the latest casualty in a wave of attacks on secular activists and minorities in the Muslim-majority country.
The three were operatives of the outlawed Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) outfit which was targeted by Superintendent of Police Babul Aktar whose wife was brutally killed by the militants on Sunday.
advertisement
Two operatives of JMB were killed in a shootout with police detectives here while another member of the same outfit was killed in a gunfight with police in the northwestern Rajshahi city, police said.
"The two were killed in a predawn encounter at Kalshai area (in the capital)... they first fired gunshots, prompting our detectives to retaliate as they raided the area on a secret tip-off," Dhaka polices spokesman Masudur Rahman said.
The two are said to be involved in several recent attacks including the bombing of a Shiite mosque and the murder of a liberal professor, police said.
The two militants succumbed to their bullet wounds as doctors declared them brought dead. The third operative was gunned down in a "gunfight", hours after he was arrested from the outskirts of the northwestern Rajshahi city, police said.
"We took Jamal Uddin (third operative) as our escort to a JMB den but his cohorts opened fire sensing our presence at their hideout... Jamal was caught on the line of fire as we retaliated and died instantly," a police officer said.
He claimed that two policemen were also injured in the operations. A small cache of arms and ammunition was seized from the spot.
The developments came as suspected militants hacked to death a Hindu priest in western Jhinaidah district, the second priest to be killed this year, two days after they killed a Christian businessman and the wife of a police officer, who visibly earned the militants wraths by leading a clampdown against the extremists.
There have been systematic assaults in Bangladesh in recent months specially targeting minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and foreigners.
The ISIS and al-Qaeda in Indian Peninsula have claimed responsibility for some of the attacks although the government denies their presence in Bangladesh. PTI AR CPS NSA AKJ CPS
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 6 (PTI) Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha will embark on a five-day visit to Sweden, starting tomorrow, to take the existing defence cooperation between the armed forces of the two countries to the next level.
During his stay at Sweden, from June 7 to 11, the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) will be calling on the Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist and is scheduled to hold bilateral discussion with the Supreme Commander of Swedish Armed Forces and the Chiefs of Staff of Army, Navy and Air Force.
advertisement
The challenges faced by the Defence Forces of both the countries in the current world scenario, is expected to be discussed during these meetings.
The CAS will also be visiting a flying base of the Swedish Air Force and the production facilities of SAAB, Swedish aerospace and defence company, at Linkoping where Gripen aircraft are manufactured.
The visit assumes greater significance as it is taking place after the Swedish PM Stefan Lofvens February 2016 visit to India to attend the Def Expo-2016 held at Goa.
The Prime Ministers of both India and Sweden had also identified defence as one of the key areas of cooperation between the two countries during the visit. PTI PR RG
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 7 (PTI) Drug firm Alkem Laboratories today said the UK health regulator has given a clean chit to its Taloja facility in Maharashtra after going through the corrective and preventive steps submitted by the company.
The company today announced the closure of the inspection by the UKMHRA for its its bio-equivalence facility in Taloja.
advertisement
"The facility stands UKMHRA compliant," Alkem Labs said in a regulatory filing.
The health regulator has reviewed the corrective and preventive actions submitted by the company and has considered them acceptable, it added.
The UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulator Agency (UKMHRA) had inspected the facility at Taloja from March 14-18 and had notified eight observations in a report dated March 31, 2016.
Alkem shares were trading 0.73 per cent down at Rs 1,351.25 apiece on BSE. PTI MSS ABI
--- ENDS ---
CBFC has asked the makers of Udta Punjab to drop Punjab from the title and this has made co-producer Anurag Kashyap very angry.
By India Today Web Desk: With just 10 days left for Shahid Kapoor's Udta Punjab to hit the screens, the film based on drug abuse in the state of Punjab has landed itself in a controversy. After Censor Board of Film Certification refused to issue a certificate to Abhishek Chaubey's film, thanks to expletives, the board has made harsher suggestions and asked the makers to remove Punjab from the film's title and also set the film in a fictional world.
advertisement
ALSO READ: Shahid's Udta Punjab can't have Punjab in title?
ALSO READ: Udta Punjab faces title trouble, Twitter mocks Censor Board
This very demand hasn't gone down too well with co-producer Anurag Kashyap. The 43-year-old filmmaker-turned-producer took to Twitter to rant against the unjustified demand and even compared India to North Korea.
I always wondered what it felt like to live in North Korea .. Ab to plane pakadney ki bhi zaroorat nahin.. Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 6, 2016
He added that people opposing the film and its title are actually guilty of promoting drugs.
There is no film more honest than UDTA PUNJAB .. And any person or party opposing it is actually GUILTY of promoting drugs Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 6, 2016
The co-producer has found support in Ashok Pandit, CBFC member and a filmmaker. Pandit also took to Twitter to condemn the act of asking makers to remove Punjab from the title.
I as a filmmaker & a citizen of this country condemn d act of asking the producers 2 remove d word 'Punjab' from the film #UdtaPunjab. #CBFC Ashoke Pandit (@ashokepandit) June 6, 2016
I question the intelligence of the committee which has given this judgement of removing the word 'Punjab' from #UdtaPunjab. #CBFC Ashoke Pandit (@ashokepandit) June 6, 2016
I as a #CBFC member appeal to the #Chairman to take a call as a filmmaker & protect the FOE of a filmmaker.#UdtaPunjab Ashoke Pandit (@ashokepandit) June 6, 2016
The Revising Committee has claimed that the film is defamatory to Punjab and hence the name of the state be dropped from the title. In fact, earlier, Akali Dal party had also objected to the film.
Pandit did not stop here and said that if Nihalani had been the Chairman earlier, issue-based films like Salaam Bombay and Bombay would not have ever released.
advertisement
"If there are 89 cuts in #UdtaPunjab, then the film loses its impression, basic ethos. You cannot massacre the film by giving so many cuts and saying that you cannot use the name of a state. All limits crossed, people will laugh at us that you can't even take the name of a place? Not a single board member who is based in Mumbai 100 percent will be involved in this mockery. Confident that this decision is taken by our chairman, we've been fighting against diktats of chairman. Decision of not allowing the word Punjab condemnable, mockery of freedom of expression of a filmmaker," Pandit told ANI on Monday. Even filmmakers like Hansal Mehta and Karan Johar came in support of Udta Punjab.
#UdtaPunjab speaks of the reality of our times....censoring reality amounts to delusion.....the fraternity has to stand by what's right!! Karan Johar (@karanjohar) June 6, 2016
What is this I'm hearing about #UdtaPunjab? Makes me very, very angry. Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) June 6, 2016
advertisement
Can the truth defame a state? #UdtaPunjabCensored Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) June 6, 2016
Delusion or collusion? Why is the establishment so scared of films that mirror reality? #UdtaPunjabCensored Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) June 6, 2016
Udta Punjab, which stars Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Diljit Dosanjh, is a story that revolves around drug abuse in north of Punjab and how the youth there have succumbed to it. The film is set to release on June 17.
--- ENDS ---
The online debate will be streamed early next week.
By AP: Australia's Prime Minister and Opposition leader have agreed to hold the country's first-ever online election campaign leaders' debate.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull today said that he had reached an agreement with Facebook and News Corp. Australia to stream the debate early next week in a bid to reach more voters.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten later agreed to participate.
advertisement
ELECTION FORMAT
Australian election campaigns traditionally feature three televised leaders' debates. Turnbull and Shorten have so far participated in two TV debates ahead of the July 2 election.
Turnbull said Facebook and News.com.au are the platforms from which many Australians get most of their news. Other interested websites and broadcasters will also be able to show the debate.
"I'm very excited by it and look forward to it really engaging the wider Australian community," Turnbull told reporters.
He said the debate would allow the audience to interact in a way that traditional media could not.
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 7 (PTI) BJP MP Vijay Goel today demanded that Delhi University conduct a common eligibility test for admission to undergraduate courses, besides the cut-off criteria, to ensure only meritorious students are given a chance.
Goel also demanded that students from the national capital be given some relaxation in cut-off and 85 per cent seats be reserved for them in 18 DU colleges run by Delhi Government.
advertisement
"Different states have their own education boards, different courses and separate examination system. These boards cannot be equated with CBSE. In some boards, liberal marking is adopted whereas in others strict marking is done.
"For that purpose the cut-off list in DU does not ensure justice to all students. Hence, there should be a common eligibility test to ensure only meritorious students get the chance," Goel told a press conference.
The BJP MP, who had also met DU Vice Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi yesterday over the issue, said, "It is the right time for the university to take strict action against students who resort to false practices such as corruption, cheating, represent false mark-sheets and other malpractices for gaining admissions."
"It is very painful for the citizens of Delhi that their children are not able to get admission in colleges and courses of their own choice in their home state despite getting more than 60 per cent marks.
"We demand that at least 85 per cent seats in 18 government colleges are reserved for them. Also they should be given some relaxation in cut-off for admission to non-government DU colleges," he said.
The process for admission to more than 60,000 seats in various undergraduate courses is underway. The last date for submitting application is June 19 and the varsity will announce the first cut-off on June 27. PTI DPB GJS SMN ZMN SMN
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Kasganj (UP), June 7 (PTI) In a sharp attack on Rahul Gandhi for questioning the work done by Narendra Modi in last two years, BJP President Amit Shah today said the biggest thing that his partys government has done is to give the country a Prime Minister who speaks.
"Rahul baba has asked what Modiji and his government has done in the last two years. Rahul baba, what do you ask from us.The biggest thing we have done is to give the country a Prime Minister who talks.
advertisement
"During your times, for ten years no one except you and your mother heard the Prime Minister speak. The people of the country craved to hear the Prime Minister for ten years," he said.
Attacking Congress for repeatedly questioning Modis foreign trips, the BJP chief said in the past no one would even know about thePrime Ministers foreign trips but such visits were now being noticed because Modi received "massive receptions" during his tours overseas.
He took a dig at former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, claiming he only read out two typed pages during his trips abroad "sometimes even mixing up papers to be read in Thailand and Malaysia".
"No one in the world earlier knew of any foreign trip of the Prime Minister. Today they know because Modiji gets a rousing reception wherever he goes. This welcome is not for the Prime Minister. It is not even for BJP. It is for the people of UP who made Narendra Modi an MP and PM," Shah said.
He alleged the UPA rule, which wassupported by SP and BSP, was "full of scams" and scams to the tune of Rs 12 lakh crore tookplace during that time.
"They left no place whether it is the skies, water, earth and beneath the surfacewhere corruption and scams did not take place," Shah quipped while listing out various scams during UPA rule.
The BJP chief said, "There is not a single allegation of corruption against the present government" and added that Modi government has provided a corruption-free rule. PTI SKC AAR PAL AAR
--- ENDS ---
News agency ANI said the blast occurred on a private bus on Bhuna Road of the town.
By India Today Web Desk: Fifteen passengers were injured following an explosion on a bus in Haryana's Fatehabad district today.
News agency ANI said the blast occurred on a private bus on Bhuna Road of the town.
A passenger was carrying a potash bottle and the blast was triggered by its breaking. The chemical is generally used in farming and also to break rocks.
Explosion in a bus on Bhuna road in Haryana's Fatehabad district (Spot visuals) pic.twitter.com/syLmmLju10ANI (@ANI_news) June 7, 2016
advertisement
Most parts of Haryana are on alert after the Jats threatened another round of protest for quota.
More details are awaited.
Also read: Mumbai-Pune Expressway accident kills 17, injures 30
--- ENDS ---
A video clip shows Morgan, a SeaWorld orca, beaching herself outside a water park pool at a zoo in Canary Islands. Activists believe Morgan is 'trying to take her life' as she is upset over living in captivity.
By India Today Web Desk: A killer whale at a popular zoo in Canary Islands, Spain, is said to have 'attempted suicide', possibly to redeem herself from captivity.
A footage shows Morgan, a SeaWorld orca, beaching herself outside a water park pool at Loro Parque.
The Dolphin Project, which campaigns against whale and dolphin captivity, shared the video on social media.
advertisement
As visitors clicked pictures, Morgan lay out of the water for almost 10 minutes. One of the many witnesses said the orca, "Looks to me as if she was trying to take her own life, I don't blame her."
Reports say another video had surfaced a few weeks back of Morgan banging her head against a metal gate "in an apparent attempt to escape her enclosure."
Where did Morgan come from?
In 2010, Morgan was rescued in Netherlands by a local theme park. Found in an emaciated state, she was taken from the wilderness under a Dutch Government 'rescue, rehabilitation and release' permit, explains Free Morgan, a group fighting to free her.
A year later, she was transferred to Canary Island's Loro Parque by a Dutch court order. At this point, Morgan was reported to be unsuitable to be released in the wild.
Is it normal for killer whales to beach themselves?
While hunting, killer whales some times beach themselves to attract prey, but that happens for very short spans of time.
Why would the animal 'attempt suicide'?
A member of The Dolphin Project, Ric O'Barry, said, "While we cannot explain the reason for her behaviour, the juxtaposition of a previously-wild orca against the stark backdrop of the park's performance area is unsettling, to say the least."
"Some people took selfies with Morgan in the background. Sadly, Morgan was still out of the water," he added.
"The orca is obviously in huge distress and rams its head forcefully against the metal gate in what seems to be an attempt to escape," said another member of the campaign, Helene Hesselager O'Barry.
In a statement published by Sky News, Loro Parque said, "The orcas at Loro Parque are trained to leave the water on their own accord."
"This behaviour is used for manifold purposes, for example, for presenting the animals to the public, for conducting corporal check-ups, for inspecting their blowholes, as well as for testing hearing abilities of the orcas."
The zoo hit back at the activists saying the latter were attempting "manipulation through exaggeration and dramatization of a completely normal situation in which there is no problem for the animals."
advertisement
However, since the video clip of Morgan beaching herself surfaced, people have been taking to the social media to call for the orca to be freed.
That awful video of Morgan, the Orca, at Loro Parque, Tennerife @LoroParque IS BEYOND DISTURBING. Praying for your release <3 #FREEMORGAN Claudius. (@CosmicClaudius) June 6, 2016
#FREEMORGAN #Tenerife @SeaWorld These beautiful animals do not belong in captivity. Visitors to Tenerife please don't go to @LoroParque ?? Suz (@DaisysMum5) June 5, 2016
Please sign and share Let Morgan the Orca Go Home from @LoroParque like she was meant to https://t.co/2dmeYkeVcz #FreeMorgan Louise (@OrcaLou1) June 6, 2016
--- ENDS ---
5 instances when the Censor Board took on the vulgarity of films like Spectre, Deadpool and got trolled
By Tatsam Mukherjee: The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is in the middle of the storm it has stirred around the release of Abhishek Chaubey's Udta Punjab. The film hasn't been given a certificate yet because of the excessive use of expletives and for supposedly showing the state of Punjab in poor light.
ALSO READ: Anurag Kashyap snubs Arvind Kejriwal as AAP leader tries to grab Udta Punjab
advertisement
The CBFC has consistently been in the news for the past 12 months for enforcing cuts with filmmakers claiming that the board has been certifying their films in an unfair manner. The board has therefore been trolled on social media multiple times, with the Twitterati making a mockery out of chairman Pahlaj Nihalani's public statements explaining the decisions of the board.
Here are five such films which have faced the brunt of the board's decisions recently.
Spectre
The 'Sanskari Bond'
#SanskariBond became a trending hashtag after the board forced the removal of a few kissing scenes between Daniel Craig and his co-star Monica Bellucci from the latest Bond release. The scenes, the committee thought, had 'excessive' making out. Jokes about the hashtag surfaced immediately and the censors were trolled.
Deadpool
A still from Deadpool A still from Deadpool
Being an R-rated film, Deadpool was always going to run into trouble with the Censor Board. The film was allowed to release with seven cuts, and chairperson Nihalani told the media how they were considerate, and 'how the film was banned in China'. Fans were outraged at how words like penis and vagina were beeped, in addition to numerous other words, even though the film was passed with an 'A' certificate.
Angry Indian Goddesses
A still from Angry Indian Goddesses
Pan Nalin's film celebrating girl power was ordered to make 16 cuts with some things as banal as a gang of girls addressing their good-looking neighbour as 'lunch'. Hell broke loose after the makers decided to release the scenes/lines removed from the film like ''Woh guitar achha bajata hai, mujhe bhi achha bajata hai", and pointed out objections to an image of Goddess Kali.
The Jungle Book
A still from The Jungle Book
Pahlaj Nihalani became the toast of Twitter after he cleared children's favourite Jungle Book with a U/A certificate, because he thought that the special effects made the film too scary for children. Social media folk had a field day trolling Mr Nihalani, asking him if he was 'upset with the naked animals'.
advertisement
The Angry Birds Movie
A poster of The Angry Birds Movie
Just like The Jungle Book, the board decided to grant a U/A certificate to animation film The Angry Birds Movie, and what was funnier was a member's vague reasoning to the media, "We know animation films generally get a U certificate, but we saw the film and agree that the film needs parental guidance."
Here's hoping the reasoning behind the board's decisions become a little more sound in the near future and Pahlaj Nihalani stops becoming the butt of jokes on social media.
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From K J M Varma
Beijing, Jun 7 (PTI) China today kept mum whether Indias inclusion into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was discussed during the strategic dialogue with the US, but insisted on "full discussion" and "consensus" on the issue within the elite grouping.
"Members within the group still differ on the accession of countries which are not party states to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)," Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a written response to a PTI query.
advertisement
The ministry was responding to a question on India securing Switzerlands support on the NSG and whether the issue figured in the Strategic and Economic Dialogue with US.
"China stands for continuous and full discussions within the group on this issue in order to forge consensus and make a decision based on agreement," the Ministry said, adding that it has been "explicitly" articulated Beijings position to the Indian media in recent weeks.
The Ministry, however, did not respond to the question whether the issue was discussed with the US during the strategic talks which covers all aspects of the bilateral ties and multilateral issues of interest to China and the US.
While the US has backed Indias inclusion in the 48- member NSG, China is reportedly supporting Pakistan though it maintains that Islamabad too is not a signatory to the NPT.
The issue was expected to figure in the plenary meeting of the NSG on June 9 in Vienna.
The US-China strategic talks was attended among others by Secretary of State John Kerry.
In his remarks after the conclusion of the talks, Kerry mostly touched differences relating to the South China Sea dispute as well as mutual position on the nuclear issues relating to North Korea.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry also reacted guardedly to the recent remarks by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at theShangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
"China holds a consistent and clear position on the South China Sea (SCS)issue," it said.
"While firmly upholding territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, China is committed to resolving disputes peacefully through consultation and negotiation, managing differences by establishing rules and mechanisms, achieving win-win results through development and cooperation, and safeguarding the freedom of navigation and overflight as well as peace and stability in the South China Sea," it said.
"China is poised to work alongside regional countries to maintain regional peace and stability, achieve economic prosperity and share development dividends," it said.
In his comments on the SCS, Parrikar had said, "we have traditional links with the countries in the South China Sea. More than half (of) our trade passes through its waters".
advertisement
"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 overflight in accordance with international law, in particular the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea," he had said. PTI KJV ZH AKJ ZH
--- ENDS ---
By India Today Web Desk: Dimpy Ganguly, who got married to businessman Rohit Roy on November 27 last year, is expecting her first child with him. The reality TV star, who was also part of Bigg Boss 8, has posted a lovely picture of her baby bump with hubby Rohit on her Instagram account.
Incidentally, last year, this day, Dimpy had decided to spend the rest of her life with Rohit. And she perhaps chose this day to break the news of her pregnancy to her fans, to make it more special.
advertisement
Also see: These pictures from Dimpy Ganguly's fairy-tale wedding will leave you super-jealous
She has also posted this caption to go with the pic. "A year back on this very day we decided to be a part of each others life for the rest of our lives..Can't believe how time flies! Feels like it was only yesterday that I thought I had lost everything when you came along to hold my my hand and gave me everything that I had ever hoped for and so much more.. I thank God everyday for sending you to me - my guardian angel, my lucky charm, my best friend. But today I want to thank you, thank you for being YOU! Can't tell you how happy you make me Rohit Roy! Love you infinity times infinity and yes, Happy One Year baby."
Dimpy shot to fame after taking part in reality show Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jaayega. She went on to win the show and got married to Rahul Mahajan. Their marriage however lasted for less than 5 years. Soon after the wedding, Dimpy had accused Rahul of kicking, punching and dragging her by hair.
--- ENDS ---
Congress General Secretary Gurudas Kamat has decided to hang his boots. The early movers included former cabinet ministers GK Vasan and Jayanthi Natarajan. Senior leaders like Ajit Jogi, Hemanta Biswa Sarma and Kaliko Pul have also left the party.
By Ashhar Khan: It's one more down for the Congress. Congress General Secretary Gurudas Kamat decided to hang his boots on Monday night. In a missive to all his partymen, he has expressed a desire to retire from active politics. Kamat has been a five term MP and presently in-charge of the key states of Gujarat and Rajasthan.
A thoroughbred Congress leader who had started from the students wing NSUI and rose up the ranks to become a minister in the UPA government. Kamat laments in his missive that he had met the Congress leadership and told them about his desire to retire. He even wrote to them but there was no response so he chose his own path. A sentiment often shared by many Congressman.
advertisement
SIX MLAs OF CONGRESS IN TRIPURA RESIGN
Even before the news of retirement of Kamat could sink in, six MLAs of Congress in Tripura resigned from the party. These MLAs have drifted to the Trinamool Congress. Since the strength of the rebel MLAs fulfils the condition of the anti-defection law, there is nothing the Congress can do to salvage the situation in the state.
While Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat who was in Delhi to appear before the CBI was quick to term the actions of Kamat a sign of weakness. He said, "People who are faint hearted leave when the going is tough."
Since the debacle of 2014, it seems that the sluice gates for the Congress have opened. The early movers included former cabinet ministers GK Vasan and Jayanthi Natarajan. Senior leaders like Ajit Jogi, Hemanta Biswa Sarma and also Kaliko Pul, who is current Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, have left the Congress. All of them have had only one grouse that is the indifference of the high command towards their issues.
RAHUL FAILS TO LEAD CONGRESS
So much so right till the end Kaliko Pul wanted to meet then Congress leadership so that a way could be found out. He blames Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for not listening to his demands. Former Congress stalwart Hemanta Biswa Sarma also left the Congress and joined the BJP. Sarma was the heir apparent to the then chief minister Tarun Gogoi and strongmen of Assam. The reason stated by him was that Rahul Gandhi was playing with his dog when they were stating the problems of Assam to him. The irony is that Sarma claims that he got Rahul Gandhi's message to meet him when he was about to meet BJP President Amit Shah.
AJIT JOGI'S EXIT NOT 'GOOD RIDDANCE'
Ajit Jogi has formed his own political outfit in Chattisgarh. This has ensured that a two party fight in the state turns into a three party contest. Congress Chattisgarh in-charge BK Hariprasad says, "Thanks to Jogi that he has taken this decision, otherwise he had to be expelled from the CWC."
There is serious trouble brewing for the Congress in the north east. The fight between the Meghalaya Chief Minister and state president escalated to Delhi. Congress had to depute it's Shillong MP Vincent Pala to quell the protest in the state. As on now an uneasy calm prevails in the state. Six out of ten MLAs in Tripura have already deserted the Congress
advertisement
Interestingly, Randeep Surjewala the Congress Communications in-charge rubbishes all this. He says, "This keeps on happening many people in the last two years have merged their parties with the Congress." Though, it is a fact that Kuldip Bishnoi has merged his Haryana Janhit Congress with the Congress, Manpreet Badal has merged his Punjab People's Party with the Congress.
It's has been a rough two years for the Congress post the 2013 Lok Sabha defeat. The stories of impending reshuffle are causing stress and anxiety to all in the Congress. But it's the lack of clarity of the future which plaguing the party.
ALSO READ:
Congress has reduced Rahul Gandhi's elevation as president to a joke: Omar Abdullah
Congress sends 14 K'taka MLAs to Mumbai, asks them to remain off-limit to JD(S) leaders
--- ENDS ---
The Congress did not want to risk losing the support of these MLAs with the Karnataka Rajya Sabha elections just a few days away.
All the 14 MLAs will reportedly be flown in to Bengaluru on the morning of the Rajya Sabha polls and will directly proceed to Vidhana Soudha to cast their votes.
By Aravind Gowda: On sunday afternoon as many as 14 MLAs, including nine Independents and others owing allegiance to the Congress in Karnataka, received a phone call from a senior leader of the party and the instruction was clear - pack your bags and leave for Mumbai by evening from wherever you are!
With the elections to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka just four days away, the ruling Congress did not want to take any chance of losing the support of these 14 MLAs, as the party received reliable information that its rival, the Janata Dal (Secular), was in discussion with some of them to enlist their support.
advertisement
OFF TO MUMBAI
The Congress packed off the 14 MLAs whose votes are crucial to ensure the victory of the party's third candidate in the fray, to a star hotel in Mumbai. The legislators left in batches from Bengaluru, Hubballi and Belagavi airports to Mumbai where they were welcomed at a hotel by Congress legislator S T Somashekar, who reportedly convinced the MLAs to leave Karnataka in a hurry.
However, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was quick to dismiss the party's involvement in sending the MLAs to Mumbai. "I have no clue about this? We will never stoop to that level. We have not indulged in any kind of horse trading. The Independents might be there on their will. But it is a fact that other parties are using unfair practices to ensure victory of their candidates in the polls," Siddaramaiah told journalists in Bengaluru even as the Independents were spotted in the company of Somashekar in Mumbai.
It is said that legislators, including Subba Reddy (Bagepalli), Sathish Sail (Karwar), Nagendra (Kudligi), M Vaidya (Bhatkal), Aravind Patil (Khanapur), Ashok Kheny (Bidar South) were among the first to land in Mumbai. Congress MLA Muniratna reportedly accompanied them. But the Congress is unwilling to reveal the full list of MLAs who headed towards Mumbai.
ANYTHING FOR VOTES
A majority of them checked into the hotel and a few of them immediately left for sightseeing. A couple of them decided to seek the blessings of Shirdi Sai Baba and left by road. The legislators travelled alone to Mumbai leaving behind their families. "A few of us were curious about Shani Shingnapur temple in the wake of the recent controversy. So we are heading in that direction tomorrow," said an Independent legislator, who did not wish to be identified.
The legislators have been asked by the Congress to remain off-limit to the JD(S) leaders.
A source in the Congress said that all the 14 MLAs will be flown in to Bengaluru on the morning of the Rajya Sabha polls and they will directly proceed to Vidhana Soudha where they will cast their ballot.
The practice of taking away elected representatives to a star hotel or resort in a different state in times of crisis was started by former BJP minister and minelord G Janardhana Reddy when he had a fall out with the then CM B S Yeddyurappa in 2010.
advertisement
Since then, every party has followed the culture of preventing their legislators from falling prey to the Opposition's offers by disconnecting them from the rest of the world by taking them to a private resort or star hotel.
ALSO READ:
India Today Impact: Amid horse-trading allegations, ECs to meet shortly to assess Karnataka situation
--- ENDS ---
Interestingly, the police took sou motu action after a video showing the Congress workers defacing PM Modi's posters went viral.
The Hardoi Police is trying to identify the Congress members who were present during the agitation on the basis of the viral video.
By Abhishek Rastogi: The Uttar Pradesh Police has booked 25 Congress workers for defacing poster of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The police have slapped various sections of the IPC against the Congressmen, including the party's Hardoi district chief.
Interestingly, the police took sou motu action after a video showing the Congress workers defacing PM Modi's poster went viral.
The Congress had organised a protest rally on June 5 against the Modi government's alleged move to change names of development schemes named after Congress leaders.
advertisement
COPS IDENTIFY CONGRESS WORKERS THROUGH VIDEO
The Hardoi Police is trying to identify the Congress members who were present during the agitation on the basis of the viral video.
Reports say that the cops had reached the spot after getting information the protest, but they had failed to arrest any of the Congress workers. The police swung into action only after the video of the whole episode went viral.
CONGRESS WORKERS ABSCONDING
The police, in its complaint, has named Hardoi Congress chief Mithilesh Singh and six other local leaders. Over 20 unidentified people have been booked under sections 143, 149, 153A, 341, 504, 506,7. The police have also slapped Criminal Law Amendment Act against the Congress workers, who are now absconding.
NO PRIOR INFORMATION
The Congress had organised the protest rally without any prior information to the police, Hardoi ASP BC Dubey said. "The police wasn't informed about the protest by Congress. They came in several vehicles and defaced PM Modi's face on posters of government schemes. We have registered a case against Hardoi Congress president and others. Action will be taken after a thorough probe," Dubey said.
Also Read:
Yogi Adityanath is Lord Ram on BJP minority wing posters in UP
BJP omits Narendra Modi from posters wooing Muslims in Delhi
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 7 (PTI) A special court today granted bail to Home Ministry official Anand Joshi, who was arrested for allegedly issuing FCRA notices arbitrarily to several NGOs for financial gains, observing that the accused cannot be put in jail for an indefinite period.
Special CBI Judge Vinod Kumar gave the relief to Joshi, who was an under secretary in the Home Ministry, on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of the like amount.
advertisement
"Accusations are serious but the accused cannot be put in jail for an indefinite period. Considering that he is not likely to abscond, bail is granted to the accused," the judge said.
The court imposed several bail conditions on the accused while cautioning him "if CBI makes any complaint that he is trying to contact/influence any NGO or witness, the court will cancel the bail."
The court directed Joshi not to leave Ghaziabad and Delhi till the time investigation is over and also asked him to deposit his passport with the investigating officer (IO).
It, however, said that in case of any emergency, he can leave for Ranchi, where his parents reside, after taking the courts prior permission.
"He will not try to influence any witness or to contact any of the NGOs being probed," the court said.
During the arguments on the bail plea, the court observed that Joshis conduct was doubtful as he had earlier fled as per CBIs allegation.
The court also asked Joshi to make his presence before the IO every Monday.
Joshi sought bail, saying that he was not in a condition to influence any witness or NGO and that he has been transferred from the Home Ministry.
Opposing the plea, CBI said that if granted bail, Joshi could threaten witnesses as he was in an influential capacity.
It also submitted that a large number of NGOs were required to be investigated and there were apprehensions that he could abscond.
While seeking bail, Joshi said neither the files nor the NGOs were under his control and he could not even touch those documents. He added he will not flee if granted the relief.
Joshi, who was arrested from west Delhi on May 15, was presently under judicial custody.
CBI had earlier claimed that files relating to several NGOs had gone missing from the Home Ministry and they were recovered from his house although he was not supposed to take them away. (More) PTI UK SKV DV
--- ENDS ---
advertisement
By PTI: Ranchi, Jun 7 (PTI) Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today appealed the people of the state to participate in the International Yoga Divas on June 21.
In the context of receiving a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister issued directions to the health department to prepare for the Yoga Day, an official release said here.
advertisement
Asking to include students of schools/colleges and people from social organisations and business associations, he said Yoga got international fame due to Prime Minister Narendra Modis vision and has benefited people around the world. PTI PVR DKB
--- ENDS ---
The civil aviation ministry has cleared the proposal from DIAL, the GMR Groupled consortium that manages the airport, to move the operations of the two private carriers to T2 so Terminal 1 can be revamped.
By Ankur Sharma: Domestic air travellers can expect some confusing times ahead at Delhi airport with authorities set to revive the mothballed Terminal 2 for SpiceJet and GoAir flights as part of a sprawling expansion plan.
The civil aviation ministry has cleared the proposal from DIAL, the GMR Groupled consortium that manages the airport, to move the operations of the two private carriers to T2 so Terminal 1 can be revamped.
advertisement
FLYING HIGH
The airport, which is the busiest in the country, has a capacity of handling more than 40 million passengers annually. This is expected to go up to 100 million by 2030 based on the expansion, which would include a new runway and a new terminal.
Sources say authorities will have to consult other stakeholders before implementing the plan while some have raised concerns about security and passenger amenities that could prove to be stumbling blocks.
DIAL maintains this is a temporary move and till Terminal 1 gets a facelift only IndiGo will operate from there. After the process is over, SpiceJet and GoAir would return to the domestic terminal. Airlines sources say this could spark confusion among travellers who already have a tough time traversing between Terminal 3 and T1. Terminal 2 is dormant for most of the year and is only used for special operations, such as Haj flights.
"According to the plan, soon two airlines will be shifted to Terminal 2 on a temporary basis. GoAir and SpiceJet passengers will have to travel from Terminal 2 instead of Terminal 1," a top aviation ministry source told Mail Today.
"The domestic terminal (T1) will be for IndiGo passengers only, just for domestic operations. After shifting back from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1, DIAL will start the demolition of T2 to build Terminal 4." The airport operator says it will ensure passengers face little inconvenience.
"DIAL has plans to expand Terminal 1 to a much bigger facility. So, it is possible that during the construction period, some traffic may be shifted to Terminal 2 as a stop-gap arrangement. Haj operations will continue as before, without any change," a spokesperson of the consortium told Mail Today.
ON THE RUNWAY
DIAL has also rejected the expectations of an airline company of getting Terminal 1 exclusively for its operations.
"IndiGo wanted Terminal 1 exclusively for its international and domestic operations. But, the request was turned down by both DIAL and the government," a senior ministry official said. The airlines that are waiting for official communication on the move plan to ask DIAL to shift them to the swank Terminal 3 instead of T2.
advertisement
"Terminal 3 can be a better option for airlines, especially SpiceJet, as they have around six international services as well. Also, international passengers can easily shift for travelling domestic. If someone is coming from any other state through SpiceJet or GoAir to travel abroad, they can easily move within the same terminal," a top airline official explained.
SpiceJet says it has not received any word from DIAL. "There is neither any official intimation nor any intentions shared by DIAL with us at any forum till date. We are happy operating out of T3 at present," a SpiceJet spokesperson said. Mail Today tried to contact GoAir, but the airline didn't respond.
LESS THAN-ADEQUATE MANPOWER
The CISF, which is responsible for securing all commercial airports in the country, may have to deploy more personnel if Terminal 2 opens up for the two airlines.
"Terminal 2 will require extra security. Though we can withdraw some personnel from Terminal 1 once these airlines will move out, but it would be tough to manage the situation with the same strength as already CISF is securing Delhi airport with less than-adequate manpower," said a senior CISF official.
advertisement
Last year, the civil aviation ministry wrote to DIAL to come up with a plan to decongest Terminal 1 with the possibility of making it a full-fledged cargo terminal and synchronising all operations of passenger aircraft from Terminal 3.
ALSO READ:
Flight services from Delhi hit due to bad weather, 12 killed in UP storms
DIAL claims IGI Airport is now greener and healthier
--- ENDS ---
The judge convicted the accused under Sections 376 (D) (gangrape), 395 (dacoity), 366 (kidnapping), 342 (wrongful confinement), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) of IPC.
File picture of the accused being taken away by police in 2014.
By Sneha Agrawal: Five accused in the gangrape of a 52-year-old Danish tourist in 2014, were convicted by a Delhi court on Monday. Additional Sessions Judge Ramesh Kumar II fixed June 9 for hearing arguments on the quantum of sentence in the case.
The judge convicted the accused under Sections 376 (D) (gangrape), 395 (dacoity), 366 (kidnapping), 342 (wrongful confinement), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) of IPC.
advertisement
JUSTICE SERVED
The convicts - Mahendra alias Ganja (27), Mohd Raja (23), Raju (24), Arjun (22), Raju Chakka (23) -were present in the court. According to the prosecution, the five, all vagabonds, had robbed and gangraped the Danish tourist at knife-point on the night of January 14, 2014, after leading her to a secluded spot close to the Divisional Railway Officers' Club near New Delhi Railway Station.
During the hearing, the court was informed that the defence counsel had challenged its previous order dismissing a plea seeking to examine some doctors as witnesses on the potency issue of the sixth accused, 56-year-old Shyam Lal who died in February this year.
The court, however, said nowhere in the application was it mentioned that the proceedings of this court had been stayed by the Delhi High Court. "Hence, this court is not barred from passing the order," the judge said.
Three other accused in the case are juveniles and the inquiry against them is in progress before the Juvenile Justice Board.
ALSO READ:
Five convicted of robbing, gangraping Danish woman at knifepoint
--- ENDS ---
The letter claims that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim is planning multiple attacks in the national capital.
By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu, Arvind Ojha: A letter delivered at North-West DCP's office in Delhi has sent the cops into tizzy. The letter claims that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim is planning multiple attacks in the national capital.
Indian media has already painted me black: Dawood
TERROR ASSIGNMENT TO PUNE MAN
According to the letter, Dawood, who India believes is operating his underworld business from Karachi, has given the responsibility to target Delhi to one of his aides in Pune.
advertisement
The letter states that the Pune man, who is an arms dealer, is preparing to target Delhi Metro, VVIP areas and other important installations in the capital on Dawood's order.
FAKE LETTER?
The letter addressed to North West DCP was written by a person named Kamal. The DCP has handed over the letter to IB for further investigation. However, the name and address of the Pune man mentioned in the letter were found to be fake.
Sources in the Intelligence Bureau said that the letter could have been a handiwork of some miscreants.
Also Read:
Exclusive: New Dawood Ibrahim photo surfaces
Maharashtra's prominent politicians on Dawood's speed dial
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Tribunal: Rathore
Kharagpur, Jun 7 (PTI) Amid a row over Bollywood film "Udta Punjab", Union minister Rajyavardhan Rathore today said filmmakers who are not satisfied with decisions of the censor board have an option of approaching the Appellate Tribunal for relief.
Speaking to reporters here, he said the decisions of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) are sometimes liked by the movie makers and sometimes not.
advertisement
"Therefore, as per the process, there is a system of appeal as per which after an examining committee, the filmmaker can approach the revising committee. As per the process, the filmmaker may approach the revising committee a second time as well," the Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting said.
Referring to the Shahid Kapoor starrer "Udta Punjab", he said "the movie being discussed at present has gone to the revising committee."
Rathore said that if somebody is still not satisfied with the decisions of the revising committee, then they may appeal to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), which is altogether a separate body headed by a retired judge, the minister said.
"If you look at the past 4-5 months, there have been instances where those who were not satisfied with the decisions of the CBFC, were satisfied by the decisions of the FCAT," Rathore said.
His reaction was sought to filmmaker Anurag Kashyaps outburst against censor board chief Pahlaj Nihalani, calling him a "dictator" and that it was like living in North Korea.
The minister responded in lighter vein asking the reporter if he thought he was in North Korea.
"Okay, you dont think so, then its okay. We can have a vote here, it is a democracy," Rathore quipped.
"Udta Punjab", which looks into how the youth in Punjab have succumbed to drugs, has also unleashed political sparring in the state which goes to polls next year. PTI ADS ZMN
--- ENDS ---
Referring to Nigerians with the pejorative "negroes", the senior Congress leader also told reporters that Nigerians have been causing "problems" in Goa as well other metros.
By Indo-Asian News Service: The Central government should "ban" Nigerians from entering India, former Goa Chief Minister Ravi Naik has demanded, adding that the state does not need Nigerian tourists.
Referring to Nigerians with the pejorative "negroes", the senior Congress leader also told reporters that Nigerians have been causing "problems" in Goa as well other metros.
"The Central government should ban Nigerians," Naik said.
advertisement
Naik also said that even the Aam Aami Party leaders had a fight with Nigerians in Bengaluru.
"They create problems everywhere... We do not want Nigerian tourists," Naik said demanding a probe into the activities of Nigerians in Goa, who he alleged masquerade as students.
--- ENDS ---
These include a priceless bronze idol of Lord Ganesha removed from a temple in Tamil Nadu, a statue from the Chola period and a Mauryan dynasty statue. Some of these priceless pieces were stolen from museums and temples and then smuggled into the US.
Talks are going on for the move to be streamlined and many more such statues and stolen Indian artefacts will be returned to India.
By Gaurav C Sawant: There is an added cause for cheer during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's US visit this time. At a ceremony in Washington on Monday night, artefacts stolen from India will be returned to Modi.
These include a priceless bronze idol of Lord Ganesha removed from a temple in Tamil Nadu, a statue from the Chola period and a Mauryan dynasty statue. Some of these priceless pieces were stolen from museums and temples and then smuggled into the US.
HOMECOMING of STOLEN GODS
advertisement
"One of these is the idol of Saint Manikkavichavakar also known as the Sampanthar Sivan. This is from the Sripuranthan village in Tamil Nadu," sources told Mail Today in Washington DC. The US Department of Justice and the US Department of Homeland Security have painstakingly recovered the stolen idols and are now returning them to India.
"There is an impressive ceremony planned at the Blair House where Prime Minister Modi will be staying. Here, more than 10 such priceless Indian cultural properties will be returned to India," sources added.
One of the statues to be returned is a female figurine from the Mauryan period, between 320-200 BC. There is also a plaque of Yakshi (female nature spirit) from the eastern India, perhaps from the Shunga period in West Bengal. Sources have told India Today that this is just the beginning.
Talks are going on for the move to be streamlined and many more such statues and stolen Indian artefacts will be returned to India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Washington on Monday on a three-day visit during which he will hold talks with President Barack Obama to review bilateral ties and address a joint session of the US Congress.
ALSO READ:
Visit No. 4: All about PM Modi's American sojourns
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 7 (PTI) Government has approved the expansion plan for the international airport in the national capital that would see addition of fourth runway as well as increase its passenger handling capacity.
The international aerodrome in the national capital is operated by Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd -- a public private partnership where diversified group GMR, Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Germanys Fraport are the stakeholders.
advertisement
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said the Delhi international airport has made a target of having the fourth runway in three years. This would increase the facility for cargo as well as for services to all domestic and international passengers, he added.
"... The government has already cleared the expansion plan," Sharma said. He was speaking at a function organised by DIAL to felicitate its stakeholders for making the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport the worlds number one airport -- in the 25-40 million passengers per annum category -- for the second consecutive year.
It has been recognised as the number one airport in this category by the Airport Council International (ACI). GMR Group Chairman G M Rao said Delhi airports current capacity to handle 62 million passengers per annum and 1.5 million tonnes of cargo makes it ideally suited to serve the growth of Indian aviation. "The airport has the ability to expand to 109 million passengers per annum and 2.2 million tonnes of cargo," he added. According to Sharma, out of the 484 airports in the country, only around 84 are being used. "We are coming up with a regional connectivity scheme, where tier 2 and tier 3 cities will be connected by the flights where the ticket price will not be crossing more than Rs 2,500 for a one-hour flight," he noted. In the last three months alone, the passenger growth has been almost 25 per cent. Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said there is a need for much more robust security system. "We will need to have much more coordinated efforts so that we have a complete robust security system in place, I personally feel that the security of aviation is directly proportional to the security of the nation. We have to ensure that all our airports are safe," he said. Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said a beginning was made with the public private partnership model of DIAL. "Government has no business to be in business. We have other businesses to do...," he noted. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju also spoke. PTI IAS DP RAM MKJ
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: London, Jun 7 (PTI) A compound present in green tea may help improve cognitive ability in people with Downs syndrome, scientists have found for the first time.
Researchers showed that epigallocatechin gallate together with a cognitive stimulation protocol, might improve some cognitive domains in individuals with Downs syndrome and may modify the excitability and functional connectivity of their brains.
advertisement
The findings suggest that participants who had received the treatment had better scores in the visual memory recognition and inhibition tasks, and improvement in adaptive behaviour than those in the control group (placebo and cognitive training).
"This is the first time that a treatment has shown some efficacy in the improvement of some cognitive tasks in persons with this syndrome," said Mara Dierssen from Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Spain.
"It must be made clear that our discovery is not a cure for Downs syndrome and that our results have to be proven in larger populations, but it may be a treatment to improve these individuals quality of life," she said.
According to the World Health Organisation, Downs syndrome affects approximately one out of 1,000 persons in the world, and is the most common cause of genetic-origin intellectual disability.
Researchers from CSG and Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) in Spain focused on the role of a compound called epigallocatechin gallate, which compensates for the excess of function of one of the genes present in chromosome 21 (DYRK1A), involved in cerebral plasticity and certain cognitive functions.
The results indicate that individuals treated with epigallocatechin gallate and a cognitive stimulation protocol had score improvements in visual recognition memory, inhibitory control, and adaptive behaviour and that these changes might be correlated with biological changes in their cerebral connectivity.
Researchers studied 84 persons with Downs syndrome aged 16 to 34 years.
"The results suggest that individuals who received treatment with the green tea compound, together with the cognitive stimulation protocol, had better score in their cognitive capacities," said Rafael de la Torre from IMIM.
Epigallocatechin gallate was known to inhibit the excess of the DYRK1A gene, and the success achieved in previous studies with mice suggested that the treatment could also work for human beings.
Scientists studied more than the cognitive effects on the study participants. They also conducted neuro-imaging tests to determine whether the improvement was attributable to physical or neurophysiological changes in the brain.
advertisement
"It was surprising to see how the changes are not just cognitive - in the reasoning, learning, memory and attention capacities - but suggest that the functional connectivity of the neurons in the brain was also modified," said de la Torre.
The findings were published in the journal Lancet Neurology. PTI SAN SAR SAR
--- ENDS ---
A newly-wed man in China's Huaiyang county thought the worst had hit him when his bride fled after robbing him blind. Then, he learned his 'expecting' wife was actually a man.
By India Today Web Desk: Do you think this is the worst sob story a newly-married man can have: man marries supposedly pregnant girlfriend, she robs him blind and flees in a week, then he learn she's done this to several other men?
No. Here's the worst of 'em all: man marries supposedly pregnant girlfriend, she robs you blind and flees in three days, he learn she's done this to several other men...and then, he's told his wife was actually A DUDE.
advertisement
Yeah, top that.
How the 'man bride' pulled this stint off?
Last October, a young man in China named Wang married his 'pregnant' girlfriend before his family in a big fat wedding. Three days later, his lawfully-wedded wife ran with all the gifts and "valuables worth tens of thousands of RMB."
Around the same time, another man reached out to the police about a girl he met online who had coerced him into giving her 31,000 yuan (i.e., Rs 314846).
Police figured that both these women are the same person. So, they hatched a plan to lure her into a trap and arrest her red-handed.
The plan was a success. They managed to nab the suspect, but there was one problem: he was a man. The identity card he carried said he was a 27-year-old man named Miao Songtao.
But soon, his case unraveled. One thorough search of Miao's apartment poured out skirts, wigs, high heel shoes, cosmetics masks, and even women's underwear.
In an interview from behind the bars, Miao said he wasn't sure if he liked guys or girls. He was just "fond of money".
He also revealed that in a little over a year, he has conned "hundreds of thousands of RMB" from 11 different men. So far, only one has contacted the police.
Miao will certainly be facing jail time for his fraud bridal stints, but that didn't stop him from making fans on the social media.
--- ENDS ---
Chinese State Television CCTV9 has, in a documentary aired recently, highlighted the role of the Lashkar-e-Taiyaba (LeT) and its sponsors in Pakistan in this horrific attack which shook the world.
By Asian News International: In a major development, China has for the first time, publicly acknowledged the role of Pakistan in the coordinated terror attacks that took place in Mumbai between November 26 and 29, 2008 that claimed the lives of 164 people and left another 308 injured.
Chinese State Television CCTV9 has, in a documentary aired recently, highlighted the role of the Lashkar-e-Taiyaba (LeT) and its sponsors in Pakistan in this horrific attack which shook the world.
advertisement
This change in policy by China is significant in the sense that it is taking place on the eve of the expiry of Beijing's decision to place on technical hold the listing of three known LeT/JuD(Jamaat-ud-Dawa) militants - Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, Talha Saeed and Hafiz Abdul Rauf, on June 9, 2016.
The listing of these individuals by the Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council in September 2015, had the overwhelming support of all members of the international community, with the exception of China, which acted on Pakistan's behest.
Stand on Hafiz Saeed
China is already facing considerable global flak over a similar technical hold over the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, even though the JeM stands listed by the United Nations Sanctions Committee.
China has obviously realised that extending blind support to Pakistan on terror-related issues taints its own reputation as a responsible world power that is seeking to build an international consensus on the need for all countries to jointly fight the menace of terror.
--- ENDS ---
Hillary Clinton is set to become the first woman in the America's 240-year history to lead the presidential ticket of a major political party.
By Reuters: According to tallies by two US media outlets, Hillary Clinton has clinched the Democratic Party's presidential nomination on Monday.
Hillary has secured 1,812 pledged delegates and 572 superdelegates for a total of 2,384 delegates -- one more than needed for the nomination, reports said. Her delegate count will grow on Tuesday when six states, including delegate-rich California and New Jersey, hold contests.
advertisement
Hillary and her rival Bernie Sanders face off on Tuesday in contests in six states. A former senator and US secretary of state, Hillary would be the first woman to ever be the presidential candidate of a major political party in the country's history.
But Sanders has vowed to keep up the fight in what has been a long and increasingly antagonistic Democratic primary race.
Hillary Clinton makes a speech during a campaign stop in Lynwood, California. Photo: Reuters
Sanders, a US senator from Vermont who calls himself a democratic socialist, has commanded huge crowds spilling out of parks and stadiums, galvanising younger voters with his promises to address economic inequality.
But Hillary has continued to edge out Sanders, particularly among older voters with longer ties to the Democratic party. Her less lofty promises focus on improving upon the policies of her fellow Democrat and former boss, President Barack Obama.
'RUSH TO JUDGMENT'
After the Associated Press and NBC on Monday night said Clinton had clinched the number of delegates needed to win her party's nomination, a Sanders campaign spokesman castigated what he said was the media's "rush to judgment."
Under Democratic National Committee (DNC) rules, most delegates to the party's July 25-28 convention are awarded by popular votes in state-by-state elections.
But the delegate count also includes "superdelegates" - party leaders and elected senators, members of Congress and governors - who can change their mind at any time.
Hillary Clinton at a campaign organizing event in Salinas, California. Photo: Reuters
For that reason, the DNC has echoed the Sanders campaign, saying the superdelegates should not be counted until they actually vote at the Philadelphia convention.
But that has not deterred the news media. The AP and NBC reported that Hillary reached the 2,383 delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee with a decisive weekend victory in Puerto Rico, a US territory, and a burst of last-minute support from superdelegates.
"According to the news, we are on the brink of a historic, historic, unprecedented moment," Clinton told a rally in Long Beach, California, shortly after the AP report.
"But we still have work to do, don't we? We have six elections tomorrow and we're going to fight hard for every single vote, especially right here in California."
advertisement
SANDERS' SPOKESMAN DISMISSES TALLIES
But Michael Briggs, Sanders' spokesman, dismissed the AP and NBC tallies.
"Our job from now until the convention is to convince those super delegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump," he said.
On Tuesday, voters will go to the polls in California, New Jersey, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and New Mexico hold nominating contests.
But the outcome in California, the last and largest state to vote, could help shape whether Hillary will gain traction in her efforts to unify the party behind her.
If Sanders, who was trailing in polls in California until recently, roars back to take the state, he may have little incentive to exit the race despite increasing pressure from party luminaries to stand down.
Hillary Clinton addresses Service Employees Union (SEIU) members in Detroit, Michigan. Photo: Reuters
Hillary spent Monday working to turn out Hispanic and African-American voters - demographic groups that have provided a pillar of support for her during the nominating process.
She spent the day in Southern California, first in the heavily Latino city of Lynwood, then later in central Los Angeles, speaking before throngs of black supporters.
advertisement
Sanders, meanwhile, campaigned in the San Francisco Bay Area.
SANDERS VS CLINTON
Sanders' supporters have become increasingly resistant to Hillary in recent months, with fewer than half saying they would vote for her if she becomes the party's nominee, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in May.
Last month, 41 per cent of Sanders' supporters said they would vote for the former secretary of state if she runs against Trump in the Nov. 8 general election. That was down from 50 percent in April, and 52 percent in March.
Those who have decided not to support Hillary are split on what to do if Sanders quits the race. Some may cross party lines and vote for Trump, but many others appear to be interested in a third-party candidate. Some 27 percent of Sanders' supporters said in May that they would vote for neither candidate or another alternative.
One Sanders supporter, Andrew Swetland, 31, an accountant from Long Beach, told Reuters he would not vote for Hillary if she heads the Democratic ticket.
"We're tired of all the things the establishment in the party is trying to force on us," he said, adding that he would support the Green Party's Jill Stein instead.
advertisement
The Reuters/Ipsos poll included 2,919 Sanders supporters during the month of May and has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 2 percentage points.
ALSO READ: Donald Trump's latest: Hillary Clinton using gender to win votes
--- ENDS ---
Campaigning this time as the loyal successor to the nation's first black president, Clinton held off a surprisingly strong challenge from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
By AP: Striding into history, Hillary Clinton will become the first woman to top the presidential ticket of a major U.S. political party, capturing commitments Monday from the number of delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.
Clinton's rise to presumptive nominee arrived nearly eight years to the day after she conceded her first White House campaign to Barack Obama. Back then, she famously noted her inability to "shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling."
advertisement
Campaigning this time as the loyal successor to the nation's first black president, Clinton held off a surprisingly strong challenge from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. He mobilized millions with a fervently liberal message and his insurgent candidacy revealed a deep level of national frustration with politics-as-usual, even among Democrats who have controlled the White House since 2009.
Clinton, the former secretary of state, New York senator and first lady, reached the 2,383 delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee on Monday with a decisive weekend victory in Puerto Rico and a burst of last-minute support from superdelegates. Those are party officials and officeholders, many of them eager to wrap up the primary amid preference polls showing her in a tightening race with presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.
HISTORIC MOMENT
Campaigning in California on Monday night, Clinton said she was on the brink of a "historic, unprecedented moment." But she said there was still work to be done in six states voting on Tuesday and made little mention of her claim on the nomination.
"We're going to fight hard for every single vote," Clinton said during a rally in Long Beach.
Clinton has 1,812 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses. She also has the support of 571 superdelegates, according to an Associated Press count.
The AP surveyed all 714 superdelegates repeatedly in the past seven months, and only 95 remain publicly uncommitted.
Sanders' campaign said it was a "rush to judgment" to declare Clinton the presumptive nominee given that superdelegates can switch their support before the Democratic convention in late July.
"Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump," said Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs.
The supredelegates counted in Clinton's tally have unequivocally told the AP they will do so.
"We really need to bring a close to this primary process and get on to defeating Donald Trump," said Nancy Worley, a superdelegate who chairs Alabama's Democratic Party and provided one of the last endorsements to put Clinton over the top.
Clinton outpaced Sanders in winning new superdelegate endorsements even after his string of primary and caucus wins in May. Following the results in Puerto Rico, it is no longer possible for Sanders to reach the 2,383 needed to win the nomination based on the remaining available pledged delegates and uncommitted superdelegates.
advertisement
Sanders said this past weekend he plans to fight on until the convention, promising to make the case to superdelegates that he is better positioned to beat Trump in November. But since the start of the AP's survey in late 2015, no superdelegates have switched from supporting Clinton to backing Sanders.
HILLARY OUTPACES SANDERS
Indeed, Clinton's victory is broadly decisive. She leads Sanders by more than 3 million cast votes, by 291 pledged delegates and by 523 superdelegates. She won 29 caucuses and primaries to his 21 victories.
That's a far bigger margin than Obama had in 2008, when he led Clinton by 131 pledged delegates and 105 superdelegates at the point he clinched the nomination.
Echoing the sentiments of California Gov. Jerry Brown, who overcame a decades-long rivalry with the Clinton family to endorse her last week, many superdelegates expressed a desire to close ranks around a nominee who could defeat Trump in November.
"It's time to stand behind our presumptive candidate," said Michael Brown, one of two superdelegates from the District of Columbia who came forward in the past week to back Clinton before the city's June 14 primary. "We shouldn't be acting like we are undecided when the people of America have spoken."
advertisement
Though she marched into her second presidential primary campaign as an overwhelming favorite, Clinton could not shake Sanders until her final days. He campaigned aggressively in California ahead of the state's Tuesday election, unwilling to exit a race Clinton stood on the cusp of winning.
UNPOPULAR AMONG REPUBLICANS
Beyond winning over millions of Sanders supporters who vow to remain loyal to the self-described democratic socialist, Clinton faces challenges as she turns toward November, including criticism of her decision to use a private email server run from her New York home while serving as secretary of state. Her deep unpopularity among Republicans has pushed many leery of Trump to nevertheless embrace his campaign.
"This to me is about saving the country and preventing a third progressive, liberal term, which is what a Clinton presidency would do," House Speaker Paul Ryan told the AP last week after he finally endorsed Trump, weeks after the New Yorker clinched the GOP nomination.
Yet Clinton showed no signs of limping into the general election as she approached the milestone, leaving Sanders behind and focusing on lacerating Trump. She said electing the billionaire businessman, who has spent months hitting her and her husband with bitingly personal attacks, would be a "historic mistake."
advertisement
"He is not just unprepared. He is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility," Clinton said last week in a speech that was striking in its forcefulness, previewing a brutal five-month general election campaign to come.
Even without the nomination, Sanders can claim ideological victory. His liberal positions pushed the issue of income inequality into the spotlight and drove Clinton to the left on issues such as trade, Wall Street and campaign finance reform.
But she prevailed, in part, by claiming much of the coalition that boosted Obama. She won overwhelming support from women and minorities, catapulting her to decisive victories in diverse, delegate-rich states such as New York and Texas.
When Clinton launched her campaign last April, she did so largely unopposed, having scared off more formidable challengers by locking down much of the party's organizational and fundraising infrastructure. Vice President Joe Biden, seen as her most threatening rival, opted not to run in October.
HILLARY vs SANDERS
Of the four opponents who did take her on, Sanders was the only one who emerged to provide a serious challenge. He caught fire among young voters and independents, his campaign gaining momentum from a narrow loss in Iowa in February and a commanding victory in New Hampshire. His ability to raise vast sums of money online gave him the resources to continue into the spring.
But Clinton vowed not to repeat the failings of her 2008 campaign and focused early on winning delegates, hiring help from Obama's old team before launching her campaign. They pushed superdelegates into making early commitments and held campaign appearances in areas where they could win the most pledged delegates.
Her victory in Nevada in late February diminished concerns from allies about her campaign operation. Decisive wins in Southern states on Super Tuesday and a sweep of March 15 contests gave her a significant delegate lead, which became insurmountable by the end of April after big victories in New York and in the Northeast.
HILLARY vs TRUMP
She now moves on to face Trump, whose ascent to the top of the Republican Party few expected. The brash real estate mogul and reality TV star has long since turned his attention from primary foes to Clinton, debuting a nickname "Crooked Hillary" and arguing she belongs in jail for her email setup.
After a long primary campaign, Clinton said this past weekend in California she was ready to accept his challenge.
"We're judged by our words and our deeds, not our race, not our ethnicity, not our religion," she said Saturday in Oxnard, California. "So it is time to judge Donald Trump by his words and his deeds. And I believe that his words and his deeds disqualify him from being president of the United States."
Also Read: Donald Trump beats Hillary Clinton in new opinion poll
--- ENDS ---
Ananta Gopal Ganguly, a priest at Naldanga temple in Karatipara village was attacked by three unidentified men who came on a motorcycle.
By Sahidul Hasan Khokon, Indrajit Kundu: A Hindu priest was today allegedly hacked to death in Bangladesh's Jhenaidah district by armed assailants.
Ananta Gopal Ganguly (65), a priest at Naldanga temple in Karatipara village was attacked at 9:30 am by three unidentified men who came on a motorcycle.
Armed with sharp weapons, the assailants slit Ganguly's throat while he was on his way to the temple.
advertisement
Police said they have recovered the body and have sent it for an autopsy.
Meanwhile, Amaq News Agency of the Islamic State (ISIS) reported that ISIS fighters in Bangladesh killed a Hindu priest in Jhenaidah, in the west of the country.
HISTORY OF MURDERS
In the recent times, Bangladesh has witnessed a series of grusome murders, specially targeting the minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and even some foreigners.
On Sunday, a Christian businessman too was hacked to death by unidentified men near a church.
Earlier in April, a Hindu tailor was also hacked to death in his shop in Tangail district.
A Buddhist monk, and two prominent gay rights activists were among several others who have fallen prey to such deadly attacks by extremists in the past few months in Bangladesh.
While the ISIS has claimed reposibilty for some of these attacks in recent months, the Bangladesh government has firmly denied their presence in the country.
ISIS claims murder of top Hindu priest in Bangladesh
--- ENDS ---
A 66-year old Hindu priest was hacked to death in Dhaka when he was on his way to the temple.
By India Today Web Desk: A Hindu priest was killed today in a suspected militant attack in Bangladesh's Jhenidah district, police said.
Gopinath Kanjilal, the district's Assistant Superintendent of Police, said that three assailants riding a motorcycle murdered Ananda Kumar Ganguly, 66.
HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED
According to him, the assailants slit Ganguly's throat while he was going to the temple.
advertisement
He was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.
The incident took place in a rice field some 180 km west of Dhaka.
"This is the second such incident in the area this year. In January, a Christian convert was stabbed some 20 km away," Ahsan Azizur Rahman, a police officer said.
PREVIOUS INCIDENTS
On April 30, another Hindu was hacked to death in Bangladesh's central Tangail district.
11 people have been killed in a similar manner in various parts of Bangladesh since April.
The victims include a secular activist , a professor accused of atheism, two gay activists , two Hindu merchants, a Sufi spiritual leader and a homeopathic doctor accused of promoting Christianity.
GOVERNMENT REACTION
In the wake of militant attacks, Bangladeshi government has banned motorcyclists from carrying more than one passenger until further notice.
The ban came a day after the spouse of a top police officer was shot dead by suspected militants in Chittagong.
Some of the attacks have been claimed by the Islamic State and others by an Al Qaeda branch in the Indian subcontinent.
Nearly 90 percent of the 160 million in Bangladesh are Muslims, while Hindus are the main minority group.
Also read:
Muslim Sufi leader murdered by suspected Islamists in Bdesh
Bangla professor hacked to death by Islamic State
Doctor hacked in Bangladesh, IS claims responsibility
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Anisur Rahman
Dhaka, Jun 7 (PTI) A 65-year-old Hindu priest was today hacked to death in Bangladesh by three assailants who nearly severed his head, the second priest to be killed this year in the Muslim-majority nation which has seen a string of brutal attacks by Islamists on minorities and secular activists.
Ananta Gopal Ganguly was attacked at around 9:30 AM by three bike-borne men who slit his throat with sharp-edged weapons in the western Jhinaigah districts Noldanga village, Assistant Superintendent of Police Gopinath Kanjilal said, adding that suspected militants carried out the murder.
advertisement
Police said they have recovered the body and sent it for an autopsy. An investigation was launched into the incident.
The near-decapitated body of the priest was discovered by farmers at a farmland near his home.
Ganguly, who was a priest at the Noldanga temple in Sadar upazila, was on his way to the temple riding a bicycle to offer prayers when the unidentified assailants struck. They first shot him and then hacked him to death to make sure that he was dead.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility and the cause behind the murder was not known.
There have been systematic assaults in Bangladesh in recent months specially targeting minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and foreigners.
On Sunday, a Christian businessman was hacked to death by unidentified machete-wielding men near a church, hours after the wife of a top anti-terror police officer was shot dead by religious extremists.
In February, militants stabbed to death a Hindu priest at a temple in Bangladesh and shot and wounded a devotee who went to his aid.
In April, a liberal professor was brutally hacked to death by machete-wielding ISIS militants who slit his throat near his home in Rajshahi city. In the same month, a Hindu tailor was also hacked to death by ISIS militants in his shop and Bangladeshs first gay magazine editor was brutally murdered along with a friend in his flat in Dhaka by Islamists.
The ISIS and al-Qaeda in Indian Peninsula have claimed responsibility for some of the attacks although the government denies their presence in Bangladesh. PTI AR CPS NSA AKJ CPS
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 7 (PTI) Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today said India is the most tolerant country in the world and had a history of not attacking any nation even as he maintained that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government was committed to its agenda of development.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has only one agenda -- development, development and development. Nothing else. Some people criticise, raking up unnecessary issues. We will never get distracted by that," Naidu, the Urban Development Minister, said tonight at a function organised by the Delhi International Airport here.
advertisement
Naidu said those people, who talk about India in the manner that it isnt, should go out of the country then "they will get to know what is happening here and what is happening there".
"Otherwise India is the most tolerant country in the world," he said.
Naidu said India has never attacked anybody even as smaller countries have come here and taken away many things from this country.
"However, some of them are now returning them," Naidu said in an obvious reference to the US governments decision to return Indian artifacts worth USD 100 million.
Naidu also said that it was the then NDA Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who provided all sorts of connectivity, even political connectivity in this country.
"Thanks to Atal Bihai Vajpayee the opportunities started coming in. He gave rail, port, road, rural connectivity...And also political connectivity. First time, he got 23 political parties, gave an able and stable government without having a majority of his own," Naidu said. PTI IAS DP SMJ
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 7 (PTI) Indias nuclear disaster emergency plans are "not in line with international standard" and some interventions set by Indian nuclear regulator in case of an emergency provide "inadequate" protection against possible radiation, Grrenpeace India claimed today.
"Some of the disaster intervention levels set by the Indian nuclear regulator allow inadequate protection against possible exposure, both internal (from consumption of irradiated foodstuffs or radioactive particle-laden air) and external (by simply being physically present in an area with high radiation levels) in case of a nuclear emergency," it alleged.
advertisement
The NGO, which released a report Red Alert ? Indias nuclear disaster plans outdated and inadequate, highlighted key issues like "lack" of emergency preparedness, "ancient" manual for emergency guidelines, "unacceptable" standards of food contamination among the reasons for Indias plans being "outdated" in case of an emergency.
Referring to the recent "accident" at Kakrapar Atomic Power Station (KAPS) in Gujarat, Greenpeace India said it proved that Indias nuclear accident plans are "not in line" with international standards.
The report highlighted that population density around nuclear power plants in India poses a "significant" evacuation challenge in the event of an emergency.
"The current evacuation plans only provide support within a radius of 16 km in case of an offsite nuclear accident. For Fukushima, Japan had to set an evacuation zone of 30 km.
"Our report examines such differences and provides recommendations for the authorities to act upon," said David Boilley, Director ACRO Labs and lead author of the report.
The NGO further said the manual on emergency preparedness at Kalpakkam, despite being revised in April 2011, still includes a regulatory guideline with intervention levels based on Publication 40 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) adopted in 1984 which was well before the Chernobyl disaster.
There have been updates to these international guidelines in 1992, and then again in 2007 but the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has not updated its guidelines for 26 years, it said. (MORE) PTI TDS AAR PAL AAR
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Yoshita Singh
New York, Jun 7 (PTI) With US and India reaffirming their commitment to tackle climate change, a global research organization today said that the clean energy initiatives announced by President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will bring mutual benefits.
Modi, currently on a three-day US visit at the invitation of President Obama, met the US leader in the White House.
advertisement
The new US-India joint announcement on Climate and Clean Energy includes announcements on a number of climate and energy related issues including the Paris Agreement, Montreal Protocol and clean energy.
World Resources Institute (WRI) President and CEO Andrew Steer said in a statement that Obama and Modi are delivering on their common understanding and resolve that long-term prosperity must be underpinned by a stable climate.
"Modi and Obama deserve credit for not shying away from historically contentious issues, like curbing dangerous hydrofluorocarbons," Steer said adding that the announcement signals that the US and India are overcoming the few remaining differences between them.
"The clean energy initiatives announced will bring mutual benefits and spur greater and faster uptake of renewable energy in India. Increased US investment from public and private sectors will help deliver more clean electricity to rural populations and communities that will promote their economic development," the institute said.
"Indias support for the Montreal Protocol may well be the tipping point that leads the world to curb these fast-growing, potent greenhouse gases.
Limiting HFC emissions has greater potential for limiting warming in the short-term than any other approach, potentiallyavoiding as much as 1 degree Fahrenheit of global temperature rise by the end of the century," he said.
WRI said with India now on board, a growing chorus of countries are seeking to bring the Paris Agreement into full effect as soon as possible and early entry into force of the historic agreement will inspire leaders around the world to take action to reduce climate risks and enhance resilience.
"Indias commitment to greatly expand clean, affordable electricity is beyond doubt. The country not only has one of the boldest renewable energy targets in the world, but also one of the largest markets for wind and solar technologies.
Indias renewable energy goals make it clear that incremental change is insufficient to meet today?s challenges," he said.
Obama, in his final months in office, continues to push for bold climate action by expanding partnerships with India, China, Vietnam, Brazil and more.
"President Obama can cement his climate legacy and ensure a brighter future for all people by continuing to rally the global community to bring the Paris Agreement into force as soon as possible," WRI said. PTI YAS ANP ASK ANP
--- ENDS ---
advertisement
By PTI: Mumbai, Jun 7 (PTI) Anurag Kashyap, one of the producers of "Udta Punjab", has compared the ongoing censorship regarding his upcoming film "Udta Punjab" to the dictator regime of North Korea.
The "Bombay Velvet" director said there is no sense of freedom here.
"I always wondered what it felt like to live in North Korea... Ab to plane pakadney ki bhi zaroorat nahin...," he posted on Twitter.
advertisement
The 43-year-old filmmakers tweet came after Censor Board had purportedly raised certain objections regarding references to Punjab following which the movie may have to go through some changes.
"Udta Punjab", starring Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosanjh in a pivotal role, deals with the substance abuse in Northen part of the state and its effects on the youth.
"There is no film more honest than UDTA PUNJAB... And any person or party opposing it is actually GUILTY of promoting drugs," Kashyap added.
Directed by Abhishek Chaubey, the film is slated to release on June 17. PTI NDS NDS
--- ENDS ---
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.
If JLR wins its case, it could prompt other automakers to also take legal action.
By 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, 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.
advertisement
ALSO READ: Jaguar Land Rover production crosses half million-mark
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 authorized 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.
ALSO READ: Fast and Furious star Michelle Rodriguez drives new Jaguar F-Type SVR to 323kmph
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.
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.
ALSO READ: JLR to launch all-new Jaguar XE in India next month
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 Taobao shopping website cost around 128 yuan ($19.43).
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.
advertisement
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.
ALSO READ: Jaguar Land Rover has no plans to set up manufacturing plant in India: CEO
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.
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 7 (PTI) In a fresh confrontation, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today accused Lt Governor Najeeb Jung of snooping on him and his cabinet ministers and sending his governments "secret information" to the Prime Ministers Office, a charge rejected by the LGs secretariat.
Kejriwals attack on Jung came after a letter written by the LG to the Prime Ministers Principal Secretary Nripendra Mishra in February on working of a bureaucrat in the office of Delhis Home Minister found its way to media.
advertisement
In the letter, Jung had said that an officer, S K Nagarwal, belonging to Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE), was found working with Delhis Home Minister while on study leave from the Railways.
The LG, in the letter dated February 26 to Mishra, sought departmental action against Nagarwal saying he was found working with Delhi government on December 29 last year.
Rejecting LGs report, a Delhi government spokesperson said Nagarwal never worked with city administration as he was not released by the Railways.
"Shocking! LG snooping on CM and Ministers. Who visits CM and ministers- LG secretly collecting this info and informing PMO," the Delhi Chief Minister tweeted.
A senior official in the Lt Governors secretariat termed Kejriwals allegation as "baseless", saying that it had received a written complaint stating that Nagarwal was working in the Delhi government when he was on study-leave from Railways.
"Services matter is the domain of the LG. On written complaint, Lt Governor had written to Principal Secretary to Prime Minister and brought the breech of service rules to his notice," the official said.
The Delhi government is also furious over a directive by the Union Home Ministry which had asked it to furnish details of all officers on deputation to Delhi administration. The MHA, in its letter dated May 24, even asked the city government to provide details of all consultants appointed by the AAP dispensation.
In reply to the Home Ministry directive, Kejriwal today wrote a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh refusing to provide the details as sought by his ministry.
Instead, Kejriwal asked Singh for information relating to appointment of consultants by the NDA government in the last two years. PTI BUN MPB ZMN
--- ENDS ---
"The prime minister spends much of his time abroad. But when he is in India, much of his time is consumed on matters related to the Delhi government," Kejriwal said.
By India Today Web Desk: In a tit-for-tat reaction, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today sought details from Home Minister Rajnath Singh about various consultants hired by the Modi government since coming to power in 2014.
Kejriwal's letter to Rajnath Singh was in reaction to the May 24 communication by the Home Ministry to the Delhi government asking for details of all officers on deputation with the AAP government.
advertisement
KEJRIWAL'S HARD HITTING REPLY
"You have sought to know the number of IAS posts now held by other officers. As per my knowledge, there won't be more than two or three such officers," Kejriwal wrote to Rajnath Singh.
Arvind Kejriwal calling me a dog was a nave reaction: Najeeb Jung
"I am confident that the central government would have also asked for this information from N Chandrababu Naidu, Vasundhara Raje, Devendra Fadnavis and Shivraj Singh Chouhan as well," the Delhi CM said.
The AAP leader said that legal experts have told him that the Centre has no authority to seek such information.
KEJRIWAL TAUNTS MODI
In a sarcastic remark, the Delhi CM said that he is "happy Modi is taking so much interest in the affairs of the Delhi government."
"The prime minister spends much of his time abroad. But when he is in India, much of his time is consumed on matters related to the Delhi government," Kejriwal said.
TARGETS CENTRE OVER DELHI CRIME GRAPH
Kejriwal, in his letter to the home minister, also him to detail the steps taken by the central government to contain what he said was the deteriorating law and order situation in Delhi.
"Day-by-day, incidents of rape are increasing. The law and order situation has been badly hit. There is jungle raj. As Chief Minister, I am worried," Kejriwal said.
Delhi L-G Najeeb Jung faces another salvo from Kejriwal
"I request you to tell me what steps have been taken by the central government and the Lt. Governor to contain the situation," he added.
KEJRIWAL'S TIT-FOR-TAT
Kejriwal's letter has come just days after the Home Ministry demanded the Delhi government to furnish details of all officers on deputation with the AAP government.
Not only the babus, the MHA also instructed the Kejriwal government to provide details of all consultants employed on contract basis in Delhi. This letter has taken the war between the Centre and the Delhi government to a different level.
THE KEJRIWAL-MODI WAR
advertisement
Since coming back to power last year following an election in which the BJP was decimated in Delhi, the AAP government led by Kejriwal has repeatedly accused the Centre of using Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung's office to prevent it from working.
Kejriwal, who has had an acrimonious relationship with the Modi government, has been demanding complete statehood for the national capital to ensure that it is not controlled by the Centre.
Also Read:
Exclusive: Modi government wants details of officers from Kejriwal, AAP accuses LG of spying for PMO
Centre and AAP shun politics to put Delhi in fast lane
--- ENDS ---
The AAP government has set up a five-member panel to investigate whether there were procedural lapses on the part of the hospital. The probe team will submit its report within 15 days.
By Mail Today: Tightening the noose around the kidney racket, the Delhi Police have started the verification of recipients and donors. Also, the cops may soon arrest two donors related to the case.
However, police teams are yet to arrest alleged kingpin Rajukumar Rao, who is on the run. Raids are being conducted in several cities to break the pan-India web of kidney trading.
advertisement
"The gang has managed to transplant five kidneys only this year. The exact number of people involved can be ascertained only after Rao's arrest. We are verifying documents submitted by the recipients and have found that one of the recipients submitted fake documents to get a donor," said a senior officer associated with the case.
UNDER THE SCANNER
During the initial probe, cops found a businessman living in posh locality of Ghaziabad along with recipients at Jaipur and Hyderbad who were in touch with the gang. Police will take legal action against them if they are found violating the rule under section 19 (Punishment for commercial dealings in human organs) the Transplant of Human Organ Act (THOA).
Cops claim that soon two donors can be detained who are in the city and are under the police radar. They were brought to Delhi by the gang to donate their kidneys. On Friday, Delhi Police busted a kidney racket gang operating at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, which used to deal with the transplantation of the organ. Commercial trade in organs is illegal in India and transplant donations to non-relatives must be approved by a special committee.
The AAP government has set up a five-member panel to investigate whether there were procedural lapses on the part of the hospital. The probe team will submit its report within 15 days.
ALSO READ:
Cops bust kidney racket, tracing money trail to nab kingpin
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 7 (PTI) Under the scanner for a kidney racket busted by Delhi Police, Indraprastha Apollo hospital here has constituted a three-member inquiry committee to study the existing system for giving approval for transplant of an organ in the hospital.
The hospital has invited former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court and eminent jurist Justice Mukul Mudgal to head the committee. Others joining him will be forensic expert, N C Sood along with an eminent medical professional.
advertisement
"The committee will study the existing system for authorisation in the hospital and give its recommendations to ensure that the current approval mechanisms are strengthened.
"In the interest of patient safety, it would also suggest safeguards to ensure that such an incident is not repeated in the future," a statement from the Hospital said. PTI PLB SMJ PAL SMJ
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 7 (PTI) After brands like Motorola, Xiaomi and Yu, Chinese Internet major LeEco is now taking the offline route and expects about 50 per cent of its sales to come from brick-and-mortar retail in the next one year.
The company, which forayed into the Indian market in January this year with ecommerce major Flipkart, plans to be present across about 10,000 retail points in the first phase of offline expansion.
advertisement
"We have fast-tracked our growth trajectory in India. This is a step ahead in making our phones more accessible to users. In the first phase, we are looking at retail presence in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru as well as parts of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra," LeEco India Smart Electronics Business COO Atul Jain told PTI.
He added that the company would also look at setting up its wholly-owned retail stores across the country.
Brands like Xiaomi, Motorola and Yu, which had launched operations in India through the online route, have expanded their presence in the offline space to cater to the huge demand in the Indian market.
India is one of the fastest growing smartphone markets globally.
The Chinese internet and ecosystem conglomerate is also looking at launching its own ecommerce platform, LeMall in India to sell its devices in the country.
"We are looking at a presence across 5,000-10,000 retail points in the next three months. In the first year, we expect about 50 per cent of the sales coming from offline retail," Jain said.
LeEco will start selling its Le1s smartphone through offline retail and will add more devices in the coming weeks.
The company will launch two new devices on June 8.
"In the second phase, we plan to cover close to 70 per cent retail stores across India that contribute to mobile sales by the end of September 2016," Jain said. PTI SR SBT MKJ
--- ENDS ---
The biopic will be directed by David Franzoni, the screenwriter of Oscar Award-winning film Gladiator and might have Leonardo DiCaprio playing Rumi.
By India Today Web Desk: Leonardo Dicaprio might play the role of the 13 century Persian poet Rumi in an upcoming biopic. The film will be directed by David Franzoni, the screenwriter of Oscar Award-winning film Gladiator, according to Daily Mail .
The film will be bankrolled by Stephen Joel Brown, and it is said that both Franzoni and Stephen Joel want Leonardo DiCaprio to play the world famous poet.
Rumi
advertisement
For the role of Shams, an important person in Rumi's life, the makers have planned to rope in Robert Downey Jr.
Talking about Rumi, Franzoni said, "He's like Shakespeare. He's a character who has enormous talent and worth to his society and his people, and obviously resonates today. Those people are always worth exploring."
However, the makers' choice of actor for the role of Rumi didn't go down too well with netizens. Many considered this another 'whitewashing' act by Hollywood, which is becoming increasingly notorious for casting white actors as Asians and people from other races.
The film industry faced similar backlash when it chose to cast Tilda Swinton for the role of 'Ancient One' in Marvel's upcoming film Dr Strange, which has Benedict Cumberbatch playing the superhero.
Many people took to Twitter to express their distaste over the choice of actors for the upcoming biopic.
Leonardo DiCaprio as Rumi!
Seriously? #RumiWasntWhite FGS ?? Raneem AlAwashiz (@Raneem_A) June 7, 2016
Leonardo Di Caprio will play Rumi and Robert Downey Jnr will play Shams in upcoming film. But #RumiWasntWhite pic.twitter.com/tTrB2IzGN9 Shaeera Kalla (@shaeera_k) June 7, 2016
Rumi was born in Balkh, Afghanistan. He was Afghan. Hollywood, get it right if you are gonna make a film. #RumiWasntWhite mariamamini (@mariamamini) June 7, 2016
Don't "challenge Muslim stereotypes" by trying to change fact and history #RumiWasntWhite Khushii (@____Zugzwang) June 6, 2016
Is this a joke Hollywood?? #RumiWasntWhite Aniqah C (@AniqahC) June 6, 2016
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Toronto, May 7 (PTI) Exposure to loud music may be associated with early permanent hearing damage in young people, new research into the ringing-ear condition known as tinnitus has warned.
"Its a growing problem and I think its going to get worse," said Larry Roberts of McMaster University in Canada.
"My personal view is that there is a major public health challenge coming down the road in terms of difficulties with hearing," said Roberts.
advertisement
The researchers interviewed and performed detailed hearing tests on a group of 170 students between 11 and 17 years old, learning that almost all of them engage in "risky listening habits" - at parties, clubs and on personal listening devices - and that more than a quarter of them are already experiencing persistent tinnitus, a ringing or buzzing in the ears that more typically affects people over 50.
Further testing of the same subjects showed that even though they could still hear as well as their peers, those experiencing tinnitus were more likely to have a significantly reduced tolerance for loud noise, a sign of hidden damage to the nerves that are used in processing sound, that can foretell serious hearing impairment later in life.
Roberts said that when the auditory nerves are damaged, brain cells increase their sensitivity to their remaining inputs, which can make ordinary sounds seem louder.
Increased loudness perception is an indication of nerve injury that cannot be detected by the audiogram, the standard clinical test for hearing ability.
Neuroscience research indicates that such "hidden hearing loss" caused by exposure to loud sounds in the early years deepens over the life span, worsening ones hearing ability later in life, researchers said.
"The levels of sound exposure that are quite commonplace in our environment, particularly among youth, appear to be sufficient to produce hidden cochlear injuries. The message is, Protect your ears," said Roberts.
It is common after listening to loud music to experience a ringing in the ears for the next day or so, said Roberts, who collaborated with researchers at the University of Sao Paulo School of Medicine for the study.
More than half the students in the study said it had happened to them.
This brief tinnitus is an early warning sign of vulnerability to the injurious effects of noise exposure, according to Roberts. Testing showed that 28 per cent of the study participants had already developed persistent tinnitus.
The 28 per cent of participants with persistent tinnitus also showed heightened sensitivity to loud sounds, indicating that the neurons that transmit sounds to the brain may have been damaged, said Roberts.
advertisement
The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports. PTI SAR SAR
--- ENDS ---
Former MasterChef Australia contestant Sarah Todd is all set to feature in a show that will discover the unexplored facets of Goa.
Former MasterChef Australia contestant Sarah Todd is all set to debut in Indian TV with Serve It Like Sarah.
By Indo-Asian News Service: Former MasterChef Australia contestant Sarah Todd will soon make her debut on Indian television with Serve It Like Sarah.
Featuring Todd, the show will discover new and unexplored facets of Goa including its hidden culinary treasures, read a statement.
From tracing Goa's traditional dishes with Portuguese roots to underwater walks and exploring marine life, Todd will take viewers on an exotic journey through Goa.
advertisement
Also read: What this Indian MasterChef Australia contestant did on being eliminated will make you proud
Swati Mohan, Business Head for FOX Networks Group, said: "We're very pleased to be bringing a talented chef like Sarah to FOX Life. She has a very special connection to the country and passion for these food adventures which has been well captured in the show. The viewers are in for a visual treat and will get a glimpse of a new, off beat side of Goa."
Talking about her experience during the shoot and her association with FOX Life, Todd said: "Everyone has heard of Goa, most of us have been there for the sun and sand. But there is so much more to it. Working with FOX Life, gave me an exciting opportunity to showcase my 'home-away-from-home' in a way that I know it.
Also read: MasterChef Australia is back, and the food looks more gorgeous than ever!
"I have been in awe of the place from the first time I saw it and since then, kept going back to it whenever I could. Moving to Goa has been an eye opener and I believe, one can spend an entire lifetime in Goa and still be unknown to so many things."
Serve It Like Sarah premieres on FOX Life on June 13.
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Lalit K Jha
Washington, Jun 7 (PTI) There has been a "meeting of mind" between India and Switzerland on the issue of black money and tax evasion, a top Indian official today, a day after it assured India of stepped up cooperation over the issue.
"Clearly there was a meeting of mind on the issue of black money and tax evasion," External Affairs Ministry Spokesman Vikas Swarup told reporters here, a day after the Prime Ministers visit to Switzerland.
advertisement
"As (Swiss) President (Johann) Schneider-Ammann said Switzerland is not a country that supports these practices. Switzerland is a country which wants to be part of the international mainstream on these matters. And of course there would be further co-operation between India and Switzerland," Swarup said.
Yesterday Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his talks with Swiss President Schneider-Amman, raised the issue of black money and tax evasion by Indians to which the latter offered to extend the level of cooperation.
Schneider-Amman said his government will send a state secretary for international financial matters to India on June 14 to explore enhancing cooperation on the issue.
Indias membership to Nuclear Suppliers Group was the another major issue discussed in Switzerland, Swarup said, adding that New Delhi has received categorical assurance from the Swiss President himself saying that he would support India?s membership to NSG. PTI LKJ NSA
--- ENDS ---
The AAP government is furious with the letter, which they claim is a case of overreach of the Centre in the affairs of an elected government.
The MHA has instructed the Kejriwal government to provide details of all consultants employed under contract in Delhi.
By Ankit Tyagi: The Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi came under sharp attack by the Ministry of Home Affairs recently, when the MHA on May 24, 2016 shot a letter to the Delhi government asking them to furnish details of all officers on deputation with the AAP government.
Not only the babus, the MHA also instructed the Kejriwal government to provide details of all consultants employed on contract basis in Delhi. This letter has taken the war between the Centre and the Delhi government to a different level.
advertisement
India Today is in exclusive possession of these letters sent by the MHA signed by Under-Secretary Dilip Kumar.
LETTER FROM MHA
With the letter are attached two formats in which the Delhi government is expected to reply. What is interesting is that the entire process of these diktats started with a confidential letter written by LG of Delhi Najeeb Jung to Nripendra Misra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister in February 2016. In this letter, Jung had complained about an officer of Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE) who was deputed to Delhi government in February.
LG Jung in his complaint had said, IRSE officer SK Nagarwal was found working with Home Minsiter of Delhi government while on study leave from Railways and before he was deputation orders came through. This charge has been furiously denied by Delhi's Home Minister Satendra Jain.
ACT OF INTIMIDATION?
Speaking to India Today, Jain said "These allegations by the LG are baseless. The said officer has not even been released by the Railways, so where is the question of him working with us. This is blatant interference in the functioning of Delhi Govt."
Going a step further, Sanjay Singh of the AAP accused LG Jung of spying on Kejriwal government for the the PMO. Singh said "LG is acting like spy for PM Modi. After failing in Uttarakhand, now the BJP wants to destabilise the Delhi Govt. This is an attack on federal structure of India."
The AAP government in Delhi is furious with this letter which they claim is a fit case of overreach of the Union government in affairs of an elected government. Delhi government sources say acting in this manner, it seems the MHA is trying to intimidate the officers working for the government of Delhi. They also contend that asking details of consultants if completely uncalled for as any government is free to choose experts they want to employ. Furious Kejriwal is in the process of replying to this diktat of the MHA.
Recently in a Twitter attack Delhi CM Kejriwal had accused the LG and the Modi government of aggressively creating hurdles. In his tweet, Kejriwal also said "PM Modi is firing using the shoulder of the LG".
advertisement
Going a step further, Sanjay Singh of the AAP accused Jung of spying on the Kejriwal government on behalf of the PMO. Singh said: "LG is acting as a spy for PM Modi."
LG n Modi governmentaggressively start creating hurdles in Del Govt, almost in every file. ???? ?? ?? LG ?? ???? ?? ?? ?? ?????? ????? ??? :) Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 2, 2016
This letter is not only going to take Centre and the Delhi government's relations to a new low, but also further add to the already bitter political fight between the AAP and the BJP.
ALSO READ:
Centre and AAP shun politics to put Delhi in fast lane
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Lalit K Jha
Washington, Jun 7 (PTI) Notwithstanding a "difficult political" climate in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi "demonstrated" the countrys leadership on the issue of climate change, the White House has said ahead of his crucial meeting with US President Barack Obama.
During his Oval Office meeting with Modi today, Obama is expected to discuss the economic ties along with national security, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said yesterday.
advertisement
Earnest, however, did not divulge on the possible outcome of the meeting.
"I dont have anything to say about potential deliverables yet. We may have more on this tomorrow, obviously. I can tell you that there are a couple of things that the President is interested in discussing the Prime Minister Modi," he said.
"The first is obviously the important role that India played in completing an international climate change agreement. We discussed back in December in Paris that India was going to play an important role in making important commitments to this agreement that would ensure that the world came together to confront this challenge," the presidential spokesman said.
Obama had an opportunity to meet Modi and the rest of the Indian delegation to those negotiations, to talk over what role India could play and what commitments India could make.
"Obviously, this is a situation where Prime Minister Modi demonstrated a lot of leadership even in the face of a difficult political climate back home. He committed his country to standards that will be good for the Indian people, but more importantly, will be good for the rest of the world, too," Earnest said.
"So obviously, the President has a lot of respect for the way that Prime Minister Modi has handled this issue. And I would anticipate that theyll have a discussion about what more the US and India can do to advance the climate agenda," he said. (More) PTI LKJ DBS
--- ENDS ---
Modi arrived at the Joint Base Andrews from Switzerland where he secured the European nation's support for India's NSG membership ahead of a key meeting of the 48-nation bloc.
PM Narendra Modi with Secretary of Defense Ash Carter (right) and, Maj. Gen. Bradley Becker, lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington. AP Photo | Paul Holston
By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in Washington on the fourth leg of his five-nation tour, will address a joint session of the Congress and meet business leaders. During his three-day visit to the US, President Barack Obama will host lunch for Modi at the White House.
Modi arrived at the Joint Base Andrews from Switzerland where he secured the European nation's support for India's NSG membership ahead of a key meeting of the 48-nation bloc. In pics
Here are the top developments: PM Narendra Modi placed a wreath on Monday evening at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. He also paid homage to Indian-American astronaut late Kalpana Chawla. President Barack Obama will on Tuesday host PM Modi for lunch at the White House after which the Prime Minister will attend a meeting of US business leaders and address the US-India Business Council. Modi attended a meeting of heads of US think tanks and a function at which some rare Indian artefacts were repatriated. "For some, these artefacts may be measured in monetary terms but for us this is beyond that. It's a part of our culture and heritage," the Prime Minister said at the ceremony held at the Blair House. Items returned included religious statues, bronzes and terra cotta pieces, some dating back 2,000 years, looted from some of India's most treasured religious sites. India got Switzerland's support for New Delhi's membership to the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group or NSG. "I am thankful to the President for Switzerland's understanding and support for India's membership of the NSG," PM Modi said. PM Modi said that combating the menace of black money and tax evasion was a "shared priority" for both countries after the two leaders held comprehensive talks.
advertisement
Visit No. 4: All about Modi's American sojourn
--- ENDS ---
Justifying the coming together of the two airlines, which account for about 60 per cent of the market share, Naresh Goyal says the break-even point for the aviation sector is at 90 per cent capacity utilisation.
By Press Trust of India: Amid speculation that there could be a merger between Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, promoters Vijay Mallya and Naresh Goyal said that there are no plans for equity sharing and there are no discussions on this issue.
"There is no equity swap. Our understanding is for purely commercial alliance," Mallya said.
Justifying the coming together of the two airlines, which account for about 60 per cent of the market share, Goyal said that the break-even point for the aviation sector is at 90 per cent capacity utilisation whereas, "We are now operating between 60-70 per cent."
advertisement
Goyal said, "On top of all this, international airlines are dumping capacity in India, lowering their prices knowing we cannot match the competition.... Therefore we have to work together."
Asked about Jet retrenching up to 1,000 employees following the alliance Goyal said, "They were probationers. Our idea is not to get rid of (permanent) staff. Without them no one can exist."
Stating that demand is more compelling now than ever before, Mallya said, "We are re-evaluating our entire international route structure. No point in flying London (by Kingfisher) half-an-hour after Jet. Therefore, we are doing code sharing and rationalising international route."
On cost savings as a result of the alliance, Mallya said, "Cost saving can be Rs 1,500 crore for both. But this is my personal estimate. People are working on it."
"The results of benefits of the alliance you can see in the next quarter," he added.
Both Jet and Kingfisher are believed to be losing about Rs 10 crore a day, accentuating a financial crunch that has prompted each of them to downsize the manpower, rationalise and cut routes.
Kingfisher has also cut the fleet size to overcome the situation.
Echoing the sentiment Goyal said, "because of the rising cost situation, bankruptcy was facing us. In the US there is a Chapter 11, but there is no such thing in India... Market size is no answer to profitability. Costs are going up and up in India. There is excess capacity of about 30 per cent. No company can last if cost is not lowered."
Emphasising that alliance would help them rationalise routes to improve viabilities, Goyal said that the major routes like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad needed to be rationalised between the two companies.
"Therefore the companies can combine their strength to handle stores, spares, engines and inventories instead of operating these separately.
--- ENDS ---
Diplomats with direct knowledge of the matter said a deadline for the members of the 34-nation group to object to India's admission had expired on Monday, without any of them raising objections.
Under this so-called 'silent procedure', India's admission follows automatically, diplomats from four MTCR member nations told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Admission to the MTCR would open the way for India to buy high-end missile technology.
This entry also makes more realistic India's aspirations to buy state-of-the-art surveillance drones such as the American Predator.
India also makes a supersonic cruise missile, the BrahMos, in a joint venture with Russia that both hope to sell to third countries.
Membership of the rules-based MTCR would require India to comply with rules - such as a maximum missile range of 300 km - that seek to prevent arms races from developing.
India's foreign ministry said before Modi departed on a five-country tour last weekend that the MTCR process was "looking good".
Several students were injured after an argument between the All India Students Federation (AISF) and the JD(U) student wing over the exam date turned ugly.
By India Today Web Desk: Violent clashes broke out today between two student groups in Patna Arts College over the examination schedule.
Several students were injured after an argument between the All India Students Federation (AISF) and the JD(U) student wing over the exam date turned ugly. While the AISF wanted the exams to be postponed, the JD(U) student wing wanted it to be conducted today.
advertisement
In a video released, students can be seen hitting one another with chairs and sticks. It was not until the police resorted to lathicharge that the situation was brought under control.
--- ENDS ---
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said India and the US will work together for peace and security in the world as US President Barack Obama stressed that wider cooperation between the two major democracies of the world will be helpful for developing countries.
US President Barack Obama (right) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House in Washington on June 7, 2016. (Photo ANI)
By India Today Web Desk: After securing Switzerland's support for India's bid for membership in Nuclear Suppliers Group, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today met US President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington, DC. Prime Minister Modi said India and the US will work together for peace and security in the world as President Obama stressed that wider cooperation between the two major democracies of the world will be helpful for developing countries. This is the seventh meeting between the two leaders in the last two years. The two sides discussed a range of issues of cooperation from business and technology to governance. Here are the highlights:
Prime Minister Modi said he will meet Obama again for 11th G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, (on September 4-6) and the two countries will fulfill their dream of climate justice. The two leaders discussed how to ensure a worldwide agreement forged in Paris to curb climate change could be enacted swiftly. The White House confirmed that Prime Minister Modi shared the same objective of the US to enter the Paris Climate Agreement this year. After meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Obama said they discussed on the progress made on civil nuclear cooperation. Prime minister Modi thanked Obama for extending support to India on issues such as Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Obama and Modi welcomed the start of preparatory work on six nuclear reactors in India, a key step in closing the first deal stemming from a US-India civil nuclear accord struck over a decade ago. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India and Westinghouse of the US will finalise their contractual arrangements by June 2017. The two leaders said in a joint statement that India and the US Export-Import Bank intend to work together toward a competitive financing package for the project and will work to finalise contractual agreements by June 2017. Modi said India is a young country with more than 800 million Indians below the age of 35. India's youth in partnership with US will serve mankind, said Modi. "India and America are working shoulder to shoulder and will continue working together the same way," said Modi. The two leaders discussed regional security issues and wished to work together on cyber security. President Obama said India and USA have strong bonds.
advertisement
ALSO READ: #NuclearNaMo: India gets 'automatic entry' into Missile Technology Control Regime
--- ENDS ---
The seventh Modi-Obama meeting will highlight the deepening of the US-India relationship.
By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama are scheduled to meet at the White House today for over two hours that will include a working lunch to be attended by Vice-President Joe Biden.
Visit No. 4: All about PM Modi's American sojourns
The seventh Modi-Obama meeting will highlight the deepening of the US-India relationship in key areas since Obama's visit to New Delhi in January 2015, the White House said.
advertisement
HERE IS WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR:
"They have two pretty lengthy meetings. One would be in the Oval Office. Then there is a little bit of a press spray. Then they would shift to a lunch meeting as well. It is pretty significant," a US official said. Obama and Modi are expected to discuss India's desire to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a 48-member club of nuclear trading nations. Notwithstanding a "difficult political" climate in India, PM Modi "demonstrated" the country's leadership on the issue of climate change, the White House has said ahead of his crucial meeting with Obama. After an hour-long meeting, the two leaders are briefly scheduled to address the press inside the Oval Office for about 15 minutes. Soon thereafter, Obama would host Modi for a working lunch in the Cabinet Room of the White House. Biden would also be present for the lunch. On Monday, the New York Times described the bond between the two leaders as an "unlikely friendship". "There are few relationships between Obama and another world leader more unlikely than the one he has with Modi," the New York Times said, adding that the two largest democracies in the world have "compelling reasons" to find common cause. Obama had invited Modi for one of the last big visits by a world leader before his term ends in January. Washington views India as an important part of its rebalance to Asia and as a counterweight to China. Modi is currently on a three-day US visit. On Wednesday, he would address a joint meeting of the US Congress, a rare honour for a visiting leader.
Also read
Modi in US: Visits Arlington National Cemetery, to address the Congress
#NuclearNaMo: Will Obama snub China to help India enter NSG?
--- ENDS ---
By Amarnath K. Menon : He is the tenth chief minister of Puducherry where only four have completed their five year tenure. Given his controversial climb, rather swiftly as a Gandhi family acolyte, to be a Congress MP for three decades, the choice of V Narayanasamy, 69, who has never won an assembly election, is hardly surprising. He is a controversial choice as he worked for the removal of ex-chief minister N Rangasamy in 2008 who floated the All India N Rangasamy Congress (AINRC) on quitting the Congress following its fiat asking him to step down when cabinet colleagues raised a banner of revolt.
advertisement
Congress-DMK combined preferred Naryanasamy, perhaps a deft move, once they realised that the NDA chose Kiran Bedi to be Lt Governor. He is the second person, after his mentor P Shanmugam, to become chief minister without having contested the assembly elections, and is now expected to contest from the Raj Bhavan assembly constituency.
Narayanasamy's strength is in playing a Machiavellian role in the churns in Puducherry politics that led to upheavals and added to the litany of his political detractors. So, a Bedi-Narayanasamy spat like that in Delhi is not far off. There is a clamour for statehood in Puducherry and the new Chief Minister will stoke this in order to consolidate his position. For the NDA and BJP, what Bedi does can possibly be a model for what it could do later to emerge stronger in contiguous Tamil Nadu.
CHALLENGES THAT NARYANASAMY FACES
There are numerous challenges that Naryanasamy faces in trying to improve governance after the whimsical Rangasamy rule. The Congress-DMK combined have a two seat majority with the support of both DMK legislators in a 30-member house. But that is no certainty about completing a full five year term given the unedifying record of political instability with 18 governments formed in the past 53 years.
However, he brings to the table administrative experience as minister of state first in the Prime Minister's Office, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Public Affars during UPA - 1 and the in charge of Parliamentary Affairs in the second Manmohan Singh ministry. The son of a toddy tapper of Thavalakkuppam, a small village in the union territory, Narayanasamy trained to be a lawyer and practiced for about a decade since 1973 before he took to politics in the 1980s.
The Congress-DMK combined have assumed office riding anti-incumbency while losing for the second time in a row in contiguous Tamil Nadu. It won the battle for the Puducherry assembly having dealt a massive blow to the once popular and three times chief minister N Rangasamy and AINRC. It has won just eight seats as against 15 in 2011, while its vote share dipped 3.6 per cent to 28.10 per cent that year. Anti-incumbency hit the AINRC and Puducherry's longest serving chief minister, known as Makkal Mudhalvar (Chief Minister of the Masses), hard. Rangasamy neglected industry forcing wind power major, Suzlon Energy, to shut shop in 2013.
advertisement
Another factor is the decline in law and order in once tranquil union territory. He was also involved in an ugly spat with former Lt. Governor Virendra Kataria which ended only when the BJP led government sacked Kataria in July 2014. There was also lopsided development with only areas represented by AINRC getting preferential treatment. The sympathy and support Rangasamy gained in the 2011 polls was frittered away during third term as chief minister between 2011 and 2016. Compounding it was his quirk that forced AINRC activists to quit the party as the beleaguered Rangasamy chose to delay announcing of the list of contestants until after he went into trance like state in consultation with his late guru Appa Paithiyam Swami.
Congress has ruled this former French colony from 2000 to 2011 when it was ousted by Rangasamy's AINRC. It is conscious of the fact that he cannot be dismissed as a pushover and that the AINRC can be a challenge in future. Besides this, apart from a woman as Lt Governor, Puducherry will also have more women MLAs than at any time in its legislative history. As many as four, while there was none for the past 15 years and only seven were elected earlier since 1963.
--- ENDS ---
advertisement
By PTI: Doha, Jun 7 (PTI) Qatar today released 23 Indian prisoners, in a special gesture just after the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi, who had taken up the issue of welfare of Indians here with the leadership of Qatar, expressed gratitude to Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani for this gesture that coincided with the start of holy month of Ramadan.
advertisement
"A special gesture to mark the start of a special month...the Government of Qatar releases 23 prisoners, who will return home to India," the Prime Minister tweeted.
"My deepest gratitude to the Emir of Qatar for the gesture," he said in another tweet.
The release comes close on the heels of Modis two-day visit here.
According to officials, the Prime Minister had been assured by the Emir that Qatar will take care of Indian diaspora whose population is about 6.3 lakh. PTI AKK DBS
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: oligarch New Delhi/Chandigarh, Jun 7 (PTI) The row over drug-themed Bollywood film "Udta Punjab" slated for release on June 17 escalated today with co-producer Anurag Kashyap hitting out at Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani, calling him "oligarch" and "dictator" and that it was like living in North Korea. The Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Diljit Dosanjh starrer movie that delves into how the youth in Punjab have succumbed to drugs, also unleashed political sparring, prompting Kashyap to ask parties to stay away from the censorship row. Punjab goes to polls next year. The makers of the film are said to have been asked by the Revising Committee of the Censor Board to remove all references to Punjab and to make 89 cuts. Kashyap, however, said they are waiting for an "official letter" from the Board in this regard. Kashyap got the support of several filmmakers including Karan Johar, Mahesh Bhatt, Ram Gopal Varma and Mukesh Bhatt. "It is a dark day for freedom of expression and creativity in the country," Mukesh Bhatt said, calling Nihalani a "stooge" of the government. The "Bombay Velvet" director took to Twitter to vent his ire at the Censor Board and said there is no sense of freedom.
advertisement
"I always wondered what it felt like to live in North Korea... Ab to plane pakadney ki bhi zaroorat nahin...," he posted on Twitter. "I request Congress, AAP and other political parties to stay out of my battle. Its my Rights vs the Censorship. I speak only on my behalf."
The "Gangs of Wasseypur" helmer, who often faces the burnt of censorship, says his fight is not against the Censor Board.
"Its my fight Vs a dictatorial man sitting there operating like an oligarch in his constituency of censor board, thats my North Korea," he said.
"Rest of you go pick your own fights. I will fight mine. So please dont colour my fight with any political affiliation because there is none." The movie is produced by Kashyaps Phantom Films and Ekta Kapoor-led Balaji Films. AAP and Congress accused Punjabs ruling SAD-BJP alliance of exercising its influence to "censor" the movie, a charge denied by the state government. Punjab Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister Sohan Singh Thandal said, "any movie or film which is not in the interest of state and which tries to defame Punjab should always be opposed." Punjab BJP Chief and Union Minister Vijay Sampla hailed the move of the Censor Board and any attempt to defame Punjab, which is a foodbowl of the country, should be dealt with sternly. Attempts to reach Nihalani over phone were met without success.
When contacted, I&B ministry officials said the CBFC is independent when it comes to certification of films.
The ministry is, however, re-looking at the entire process of certification of films in the light of the Shyam Benegal committee report which had given its suggestions recently, they added.PTI NDS ADS SHD CHS VJ GSN GSN
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Chandigarh, Jun 7 (PTI) With ruling BJP-supported media baron Subhash Chandra locked in a keen contest with INLD-backed lawyer R K Anand for the second Rajya Sabha seat falling vacant in Haryana, State BJP legislature party held a meeting here today to draw up the strategy for the biennial elections to be held on June 11.
The meeting was held under the leadership of party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and was attended by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and party MLAs among others.
advertisement
While BJP leader and Union Minister Birender Singh is assured of a win on one Rajya Sabha seat by virtue of the saffron partys strength in the 90-member Assembly, it is the second seat for which the battle between the two Independent candidates will take place when the polls are held on Saturday.
BJP, with the support of five Independents and one BSP legislator, has the support of 52 MLAs in the 90-member House. It needs 31 votes to wrest the first seat.
The saffron party will also want that Chandra, although Independent, wins the second seat since he is backed by the ruling party.
All eyes are on Congress move in the polls. A few days back, Haryana Congress Chief Ashok Tanwar had said the party will soon take a decision on whether to vote or abstain in the June 11 polls as the party has not fielded any candidate and two Independent candidates are in fray for the second seat.
INLD-supported Anand has been pitted against Chandra for the seat.
Chandra had earlier said he reached out to Congress and sought its support since none of its own candidates was in fray. He had also claimed that he had the support of the five Independent MLAs, the lone BSP MLA, while two INLD members too had offered their support to him, the media baron had claimed.
BJP has 47 MLAs in the Assembly, INLD 19, Congress 17 (Kuldeep Bishnois two-member HJC merged with Congress recently), BSP one, SAD one and five are Independents.
The two seats, currently occupied by Union ministers Birender Singh and Suresh Prabhu, will fall vacant on August 1. PTI SUN SMJ PAL SMJ
--- ENDS ---
Former SIT chief Vikas Narain Rai has been subjected to a barrage of criticism for arresting those involved in the blasts. The allegations levelled against him range from acting at the behest of the UPA government to being on Dawood Ibrahim's payroll.
By Javed M. Ansari : Vikash Narain Rai, former head of the SIT, that probed the 2007 Samjhauta blasts, has debunked attempts being made to give Colonel Purohit and some of the other accused in the case, a clean chit.
"We had credible evidence, it was shared with the Army chief of the day by the Director of the Intelligence Bureau (DIB) and it was only after that did we arrest him," Rai told India Today TV.
advertisement
Speaking exclusively to the channel, the former SIT chief was of the view that a concerted attempt was being made to give the accused a clean chit by the powers that be, destroying evidence and cooking up alibis. "There is nothing in the records to show that he was a part of a Military Intelligence (MI) covert operation, would the Army have given up one of its serving officers just like this," asked Rai.
COL PUROHIT PLEADS INNOCENCE
Col Purohit has been in jail for the last seven years, and his version differs from that of the SIT and the ATS. He maintains that he was a assigned by the MI to infiltrate terror outfits and had always kept his superiors in the loop. Sometime back he wrote Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar is complaining that he had been falsely implicated in the case.
EX-SIT CHIEF FACES CRITICISM
The former SIT chief has been subjected to a barrage of criticism for arresting those involved in the blasts. The allegations levelled against him range from acting at the behest of the UPA government to being on Dawood Ibrahim's payroll. "It's preposterous. I live on the pension that I receive from the government. I have never sought any favours from the government. If we were on their payrolls, would Karkare been martyred at the hands of terrorists". He asked.
Rai also does buy into the allegations that by going after the right wing groups in the country they ended giving Pakistan a stick to beat India with. "Our loyalty is to the country and the Constitution. We acted on the basis of solid irrefutable evidence and the truth," said the former SIT chief. In the course of the interview, Rai said even the previous UPA government was constantly looking at a Pakistani hand behind the blasts, initially, the SIT too pursued that angle.
"it was only after we discovered the suitcase and began through investigation, the involvement of right wing Hindu groups emerged," said Rai. The real breakthrough, however, came after the second Malegaon blasts. Evidence discovered by Hemant Karkare tallied with that of the SIT, all pointing to the involvement of the same fringe groups.
advertisement
ALSO READ: Lt Col Shrikant Purohit booked for planning 2008 Malegaon blasts in Mumbai
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: *
Samsung today launched its new range of top, front load Add Wash washing machines with five models in the crystal range and a K Series which comes with a magic dispenser in the top load segment.
Rajeev Bhutani, Vice President, Consumer Electronics, Samsung India Electronics, said the new top load range also incorporates Samsungs ActivWash+ technology for a more convenient washing experience.
advertisement
ActivWash+ is now being sold in 33 countries across the globe.
****** Zebra Technologies bets big on govt for growth in India *
US-based Zebra Technologies, which makes tracking and computer printing solutions, today said it expects government sector to account for 10-12 per cent of its revenues in India over the next few years.
The USD 3.6 billion firm company, which is witnessing double-digit growth in India, currently sees less than 5 per cent coming from the government sector in the country.
"Government and healthcare are emerging sectors for us in India. Some very large tenders are coming out from government which requires our technology and devices. These tenders vary in terms of requirements, some may demand for 200 devices while some require 5,000 (devices)," its Regional Sales Director India and sub-continent Deep Agarwal said.
****** Paradip Port bags award for improved efficiency parameters *
Paradip Port Trust has received best performance award from Shipping Ministry for improvement in efficiency parameters for 2015-16.
The port reduced its vessel turnaround time by 36 per cent among 12 major ports along with increase in berth day output, the government today said.
"Vessel turnaround time has been drastically reduced by 36 per cent from 7.01 days in 2014-15 to 4.50 days during 2015-16. Similarly, berth day output has also increased by 19 per cent from 17,736 metric tonnes to 21,139 metric tonnes," Ministry of Shipping said in a statement.
It said the ports mechanised coal berths being used for loading the thermal coal for power plants located in southern states have also recorded throughput increase by 23 per cent from 32,880 metric tonnes to 40,440 metric tonnes. PTI NKS SR NAM SRK GDK NSK SBT SRK MKJ
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Aditi Khanna
London, Jun 7 (PTI) Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been discharged from hospital, a week after successfully undergoing an open-heart surgery here.
Sharifs wife Kulsum Nawaz and his two sons Hassan and Hussain accompanied the Premier from the Harley Street Clinic in London to his house in the British capital.
Sharif moved to his home in Park Lane this evening after undergoing the "successful" surgery last Tuesday.
advertisement
"He is in good spirits with his family by his side," a source close to the family said.
The 66-year-old PML-N leader had gone to London on May 22 for a regular medical checkup but was diagnosed with a heart complication by doctors who suggested surgery.
Premiers daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif tweeted, "Dekho, dekho kon aaya (look, look, who has come)", along with a picture of Sharif coming out of the hospital.
Earlier in the day, Maryam said, "Doctors satisfied with PMs progress and latest reports. All being well, InshaAllah PM will be discharged this afternoon."
"PM going back home," she wrote on twitter.
Yesterday, nearly a week after the Premier underwent surgery, Maryam had announced that his recovery was on track.
"PMs recovery on course. Was made to walk several times in the corridor during the day, and up and down a flight of stairs twice," Maryam tweeted.
This was Sharifs second cardiac procedure in five years.
The need for the surgery arose after the Premier went through a cardiac procedure called Atrial Fibrillation Ablation in 2011, "during which certain complications occurred resulting in perforation of heart", Maryam had told the media.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani were among several world leaders who had wished Sharif ahead of his surgery.
However, Sharif had only spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the surgery. PTI AK/ASK NSA
--- ENDS ---
Watch this Soviet-era tank barge into a discotheque in Poland. What a party pooper!
By India Today Web Desk: This decommissioned Soviet-era tank slammed into a disco in "Mono Club" venue in Szubin, northern Poland.
"The brakes and steering failed as I was moving the vehicle in front of the club," Rafal Pasionek, owner of the tank and club, told AFP.
Luckily, no one was hurt in the incident which took place last Saturday. The video immediately went viral on social media.
advertisement
Firemen rushed in to clear out the mess left behind by the massive tank.
To have a military vehicle crash in a disco is one of the most bizarre things to happen while you are out partying.
Watch the video below
--- ENDS ---
The apex court has asked the petitioner to approach the Allahabad High Court, saying the Centre cannot impose a CBI inquiry when the matter could be investigated by the Uttar Pradesh government.
By India Today Web Desk: The Supreme Court today rejected a petition seeking a CBI probe into the violence in Mathura last week, in which 29 people, including senior police officers, were killed.
The apex court has asked the petitioner to approach the Allahabad High Court, saying the Centre cannot impose a CBI inquiry when the matter could be investigated by the Uttar Pradesh government.
advertisement
The latest developments:
The Mathura violence followed an anti-encroachment drive against a cult occupying a large park in the western UP town. "Is there any evidence to show that the state is lacking in its effort or there is any deficiency in the investigation?" the Supreme Court asked. The petition asking for a CBI probe was filed by Delhi BJP president Ashwini Upadhyay. In the first major fallout after the clashes, the UP government on Monday shunted Mathura's District Magistrate and the Senior Superintendent of Police. The new District Magistrate Nikhil Chandra Shukla on Monday said his priorities are to "wind up" the Jawahar Bag episode and to establish law and order in the district. The Akhilesh Yadav government also dismissed the opposition BJP's charge that there was political pressure on police to not evict encroachers from Jawahar Bagh. The government said the violence was the result of the failure of the local authorities to assess the situation. Links to Naxals have not been ruled out given the quantity and type of weapons used by Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, an outfit that claims to owe allegiance to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Meanwhile, the body of Ramvriksha Yadav, who had led the encroachers of Jawahar Bag, was cremated on Monday evening. Police did not hand over Ramvriksha's body to one of his council members, who had came to claim it after the post-mortem.
Also read: Mathura cult received financial aid from Naxal-hit zones, claims police
Also read: UP govt appoints new DM, SSP for violence-hit Mathura
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Geneva, Jun 6 (PTI) In a major boost to its diplomatic push for NSG membership, India today managed to win crucial support of Switzerland ahead of a key meeting of the 48-nation bloc even as the two countries agreed to step up cooperation in unearthing blackmoney stashed by Indians in Swiss banks.
Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann announced his countrys support to Indias membership in the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) after holding comprehensive talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a range of bilateral and global issues.
advertisement
Switzerland is a key member of the NSG and its support to Indias bid for membership of the elite grouping was seen as crucial in the backdrop of China harping on the need for consensus as India was not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
"We have promised India support in its efforts to become a member of NSG," Schneider-Ammann said at a joint media interaction with Modi.
In his remarks, the Prime Minister thanked the Swiss President for Switzerlands "understanding and support" for Indias membership of the NSG. He also said combating the menace of black money and tax evasion was "shared priority" for both the countries.
The US and many other NSG member countries have supported Indias inclusion based on its non-proliferation track record. The NSG works under the principle of unanimity and even one countrys vote against India will scuttle its bid.
India has been pushing for membership of the bloc for last few years and had formally moved its application on May 12 which will be taken up for consideration in its plenary meetings on June 9 in Vienna and June 24 in Seoul.
The NSG looks after critical issues relating to the nuclear sector and its members are allowed to trade in and export nuclear technology. Its membership will help India significantly expand its atomic energy sector.
The Prime Minister is likely to raise the issue with the leadership of Mexico, another key member of the NSG.
India has stepped up its diplomatic outreach to various NSG member countries including China ahead of the groups crucial meetings.
The NSG had granted an exclusive waiver for India in 2008 to access civil nuclear technology after China reluctantly backed Indias case based on the Indo-US nuclear deal. MORE PTI MPB AKJ ZH
--- ENDS ---
Only 30 per cent of Syrian children living in Lebanon go to school and rest have no choice but to work. From selling flowers on the streets to working as shoe shiners, these refugee children are sometimes the only breadwinners of their family.
By India Today Web Desk: While Syria remains war-ravaged, nearly 4.5 million Syrians have been displaced and have taken refuge in Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon.
Lebanon alone hosts 1.1 million Syrian refugees, who are having a tough time leading a 'normal' life. The country is struggling to provide drinking water and regular electricity to these refugees.
Amid this crisis, it is the young ones who are suffering the most as they end up taking jobs to earn for themselves and their families. Only 30 per cent of Syrian children living in Lebanon are able to go to school.
advertisement
The U.N.'s children agency, UNICEF, says there are 2.8 million children out of school in the region. Children are in fact more prone to abuse and exploitation and most of them do not have a choice but to work.
From selling flowers to working as shoe shiners and as construction workers, meet these Syrian kids who are the breadwinners of their families:
Source: AP
13-year-old Ali Rajab works on an average for 12 hours a day and his job is to clean and fill perfume bottles. He also helps sell mobile phones in a shop in Beirut.
It has been two years since Rajab started working.
Source: AP
8-years-old Syrian refugee Mohammed Hassan works at a market in the Palestinian refugee camp of Sabra in Beirut, Lebanon. He is seen rearranging fruits on display for sale.
Source: AP
Mohammed Ali Darwish uses his talent to earn some money. He makes cards and hangs them for sell in Beirut, Lebanon.
Source: AP
8-year-old Nermin Abrouch fled her hometown Aleppo with her family and sells flowers on the Mediterranean Sea waterfront promenade in Beirut.
Source: AP
A young Syrian boy shines a customer's shoe on Hamra street in Beirut.
Source: AP
15-year-old Mohannad al-Ashram works at a super market to survive in Lebanon.
Source: AP
8-year-old Ahmed Abrouch has to roam around to sell flowers on the Mediterranean Sea waterfront promenade to make a living.
Source: AP
In the town of Taanayel in the eastern Bekaa valley, a Syrian refugee boy works as a mechanic to earn for his family.
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Jaishree Balasubhramanian
Bangkok, June 7 (PTI) Thailand authorities today barred people from entering the now infamous Tiger Temple, where carcasses of several tiger cubs and hundreds of other tiger parts were recently unearthed, saying the facility was built illegally.
Watcharin Wakamanon, Kanchanapuri districts chief land reform officer, put up a sign in front of the temple which said the sprawling plot belonged to the Land Reform Office and was meant for use by poor farmers.
advertisement
Meanwhile, park officials, troops and police raided a house in Kanchanaburi earlier today and seized four live tigers, which were believed to have been brought from the Tiger Temple.
Authorities believe the house was a slaughterhouse and tiger holding facility used in a suspected animal trafficking network.
The officials found two male and two female tigers in four separate cages.
Police said the officials would check DNA of the four tigers to see if they matched with three tigers that disappeared from the Tiger Temple in 2015.
Police said thehouse might be a transit point for smuggled wildlife and tigers and the big cats could have been slaughtered.
Last week, authorities found 40 dead tiger cubs in a freezer and 20 more preserved in jars during a raid on the temple premises.
The temple, a popular tourist destination in Thailand that charged admission for visitors to take photos with the tigers, now faces allegations that it unlawfully bred tigers and encroached on public land.
Officials said they had found evidence that temple abbot Luang Ta Chan had signed an agreement with Laos to exchange tigers.
So far all137 tigers have been relocated, according to the temples legal team.
The lawyers of the Tiger Temple said the 61-year-old abbot Luang Ta Chan, would return to the temple for a news conference on Thursday to tell his side of the story.
The whereabouts of the abbot has been unknown since the eve of the official raid on his 22-year-old temple now suspected of illegal trade in wildlife and forest encroachment.
Earlier, it was reported that he was ill after returning from Indonesia.
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation earlier filed complaints against the abbot for abusing tigers by putting them on display and shows to entertain tourists.
About 2,000 animals remain at the temple, which is now suffering food shortages.
They include boars, horses, various kinds of deer, cattle, and a male lion which appeared depressed and did not eat.
advertisement
The management of the temple has yet to present documents to prove the legal ownership of the animals.
Once a tourist attraction of Kanchanaburi, the Tiger Temple became quiet and now appeared more like a Buddhist temple with 15 monks and a novice on its premises. PTI JB SUA AKJ SUA
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Japan
New Delhi, Jun 7 (PTI) Japan today strongly supported Indias bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and said it was working with the Indian government to garner support from other countries ahead of the blocs crucial plenary meeting.
"I hope that India will be the part of the NSG. Japan is working with India to make sure that it becomes a member of the NSG. We are talking to Indian government on how India can get more support from other countries," Kenji Hiramatsu, Japans envoy to India, said.
advertisement
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to pay a "reciprocal" visit to Japan this year, adding no date has been finalised. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had visited India in December last year.
On finalising the nitty-gritty relating to the broad agreement for cooperation in civil nuclear energy between India and Japan, inked in December last year, the envoy said both countries were working on it and that there was no "road blocks" or any "major pending issues", He, however, did not give any time line.
India has planned a major expansion of its nuclear energy sector and membership of the NSG, currently comprising 48 nations, will help it trade in and export nuclear technology.
Switzerland, a key member of the NSG had yesterday said it will support Indias application after Modi held talks with Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann.
Indias application is expected to be taken up for discussion by the NSG at its plenary meetings on June 9 in Vienna and June 24 in Seoul. China has been opposing Indias bid arguing that it was not a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The NSG works under the principle of unanimity and even one countrys vote against India will scuttle its bid.
On the Indo-Japan nuclear pact, the Japanese envoy said "I dont see any road block... It is a technical review. There is no major pending issues."
He was delivering a lecture on "Challenges and Prospects of Japans Diplomacy in the context of India-Japan relationship", organised by the Observer Research Foundation.
Asked when Japanese Parliament will approve the nuclear agreement with India so that the final deal could be signed, he said, "We dont know when that will happen."
India and Japan had sealed a broad agreement for cooperation in civil nuclear energy during Abes visit here last year. It was said the final deal would be signed after certain technical and legal issues are thrashed out.
Emphasising that the tri-lateral Malabar naval exercise among Japan, US and India is important for "strategic and safety reasons" in the Indo-Pacific region, Kenji hoped that cooperation among the three countries will more "meaningful".
advertisement
Asked about implementation of the Indo-Japan pacts on transfer of defence equipment and technology, the envoy said the two sides are in the process of identifying projects for transfer of technology. PTI PR MPB ZMN
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: Fatehabad (Har), Jun 7 (PTI) A couple was injured today in an explosion in a private bus at Bhuna in Fatehabad district, the second such incident in Haryana in two weeks.
The explosion took place at around 11 AM near Bhuna when the vehicle was on its way from Jakhal to Fatehabad, following which panic-stricken passengers jumped off to save themselves.
advertisement
"Two persons including a woman have been injured in the explosion," Fatehabad SP, O P Narwal said, adding that they have been taken to Fatehabad hospital. They have been identified as Bhagirath Luhar and his wife Raj Bala of Kanoh village near here.
He said forensic experts have been summoned to the spot.
The incident comes two weeks after a low-intensity blast took place in a state-run bus near Pipli in Kurukshetra, leaving 12 passengers injured.
Asked if todays explosion bore any similarity to the earlier incident, Narwal said, "At this stage, we cannot comment on that. Investigations are on."
He, however, said according to preliminary accounts gathered from the spot, it appeared some passenger was carrying a chemical powder which caught fire either because of smoking or some other reason.
"It could be possible that some farmer was carrying the chemical powder, which is used in agricultural fields to scare away birds by causing an explosion," Narwal said.
The SP said no passenger had come forward to claim the chemical substance yet. The private bus, belonging to Bhuna Friends Cooperative society, left from Jakhal at 10 AM for Fatehabad.
Haryana has witnessed three low-intensity blasts this year, two of which occurred in trains in Panipat.
The explosion on the bus on May 26 had occurred when the vehicle was on its way from Sonepat in Haryana to Chandigarh.
Earlier, on January 16, a bomb blast had taken place on a passenger train at Panipat railway station. The explosive material was planted in a compartment next to the engine, but there was no casualty.
On May 13, an explosion had rocked an EMU train which had reached Panipat from Delhi and had been moved to the yard. Again, there was no casualty. PTI CORR SUN BSA DV BSA
--- ENDS ---
Anurag Kashyap is locking horns with the Censor Board once again, this time over Udta Punjab.
By Devarsi Ghosh: Anurag Kashyap is at loggerheads with the Censor Board once again as the CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification) has reportedly asked the producers of Udta Punjab to do away with any mention of Punjab, its government or politics from its scenes and dialogues.
ALSO READ: Anyone opposing Udta Punjab is guilty of promoting drugs, says Anurag Kashyap
advertisement
ALSO READ: Five recent instances when the Censor Board became the butt of internet jokes
Given that the film is a criticism of the persistent drug abuse problem in Punjab, the decision to ask the makers to avoid any reference to the state is absurd. The Revising Committee of the CBFC has also asked director Abhishek Chaubey and the producers of Udta Punjab to get rid of 'Punjab' from the title.
But it is also understandable. The Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) alliance is clearly paranoid about the fact that a major film with stars like Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor Khan, criticising the state's drug abuse problem and the government's incompetency to deal with it, will damage the reputation of the SAD-BJP-led state government ahead of the state assembly elections in early 2017.
As the opposition is expected to bank on the controversy to gain brownie points for the 2017 elections, Anurag Kashyap requested on Twitter today to not politicise the issue as he considered the fight a one-on-one with the Censor Board.
This is not the first time the Censor Board has had a problem with a Kashyap film or production.
Since its formation in 1951, the CBFC has time and again tried to choke our filmmakers' freedom of expression, throwing artistic liberty out of the window, branding mature, confrontational content as vulgar, unhealthy or "likely to incite commission of any offence".
While mainstream films often have their run-ins with the Censor Board, the worst of the brunt, historically, has been faced by non-mainstream films Fire (1996), Urf Professor (2000), The Pink Mirror (2003) and Bandit Queen (1994). While the first three were banned outright, Bandit Queen was cleared by the Supreme Court after the initial ban.
A still from Bandit Queen
Needless to say, these films had garnered rave reviews around the world and Bandit Queen won three National awards.
But few filmmakers have consistently challenged the high-handedness of the Censor Board the way Anurag Kashyap has. He has fought the CBFC at every turn, and rightfully so.
advertisement
Paanch, Kashyap's directorial debut, was banned for release. This is something unheard of in the West, where films in their entirety are never banned. In the US, a film might get an R (Restricted) or an NC-17 (Adults Only) rating, but is never prohibited from getting screened.
A poster of Black Friday
His second movie, Black Friday, based on the 1993 Bombay blasts, also ran into trouble. The Censor Board stopped its release in India for its "sensitive content" and the movie, which was completed in 2004, was released in 2007 after the Supreme Court cleared it.
Anurag Kashyap, thus, known for pushing the boundaries of commercial Hindi cinema, found a natural enemy in the Censor Board. They kept butting heads frequently over the course of his career.
A still from Water
Deepa Mehta's Water, scripted by Kashyap, released in 2007, following several controversies. The film is based on the life and plight of widows in Varanasi, and faced stiff opposition from fringe elements even as it was being shot in India. After the shooting was shifted to Sri Lanka due to violent protests from various groups alleging that the script is 'anti-Hindu', the film that was ready by 2005, was released two years later, with several cuts.
advertisement
Kashyap's Gulaal, initially rejected by the board for its politically charged content, was finally released with an A-certificate in 2009.
All his films thereafter got released, after some quibbling with the Censor Board.
A poster of Ugly
However, things went real ugly with Kashyap's Ugly. The film that was meant for release in mid-2013, was released in December 2014, because Kashyap did not agree with the board's mandate that every scene in Ugly which featured a character smoking should have an anti-smoking scroll. Kashyap fought the rule for a year, before he was compelled to release the film, following reports that it had been pirated online. However, Kashyap has promised to continue challenging the rule.
Now, as Kashyap and his partners at Phantom get ready to move court over Udta Punjab, his upcoming film Raman Raghav 2.0 is set to release on June 24. Kashyap has already made it clear that he would not like a single cut in the film. We hope it stays that way.
--- ENDS ---
Udta Punjab's co-producer Anurag Kashyap feels the censor board has arrogated to itself the role of an oligarch over the nation's film industry.
By Harmeet Shah Singh: At issue is drug addiction in Punjab, something that the Sikh heartland is no stranger to. But Udta Punjab has run into censorship primarily because the movie is themed on the state's old problem.
The regulator's harsh restrictions on the film, however, have sparked a counter-discourse on depiction of social issues in cinema.
NIHALANI AN OLIGARCH
advertisement
Udta Punjab's co-producer Anurag Kashyap feels the censor board has arrogated to itself the role of an oligarch over the nation's film industry. Kashyap slammed censor-board chief Pahlaj Nihalani for ordering a series of cuts on his movie, including chopping the word Punjab from the title.
"Mr Nihalani is behaving like an oligarch, who is trying to control his subjects, which is the entire film industry," he told India Today. "For long, he has been behaving like a dictator. He doesn't want the films to go out of his control," the filmmaker said.
Kashyap refuses to accept the censor board's advice about edits on his Udta Punjab. He denies allegations his film portrays the state and its present Akali-BJP government in poor light, especially ahead of assembly elections due next year. Besides, the filmmaker believes the scourge of drug abuse in Punjab merits greater public attention.
FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS
"Anybody who wants to block the release of this film is somewhere complicit," he said, without naming any individual or political organisation. Distraught at Nihalani's blue-pencilling of Udta Punjab, Kashyap compared the censor board with North Korea -- which is often described as a "rogue regime" because of its totalitarian rule.
"The reason for me to say that the censor board is behaving like North Korea is simply because you cannot make sense of it," the filmmaker said.
In a tweet earlier Tuesday, Kashyap called his film an "honest" illustration of Punjab's drug situation.
"There is no film more honest than Udta Punjab. And any person or party opposing it is actually guilty of promoting drugs (sic)," he tweeted.
He also rejected offer of support from political parties, saying his battle stemmed from his right to free expression as a filmmaker.
Censor-board chief Nihalani was not available for comment.
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: London, Jun 6 (PTI)Britains special forces have taken on frontline roles in Syria to help a rebel unit counter ISIS attacks, a media report said today.
They have been forced to take on a more active role rather than just training the rebel forces due to a sustained attack near the Jordan-Syria border, The Times reported.
"British special forces based in Jordan frequently cross into Syria to assist the New Syrian Army (NSA), which has been holding out in the south-eastern village of al-Tanf.
advertisement
"The rebel unit, made up of former Syrian special forces who defected from President Assad?s army, was retrained by the British and Americans," the newspaper said.
Unlike regular troops, the deployment of special forces does not require parliamentary approval in Britain.
Almost two years ago, Prime Minister David Cameron was defeated in the House of Commons when he failed to secure enough votes from MPs for airstrikes on Syria against the Assad regime.
However, since then British and American special forces have been deployed to train and assist rebel groups to destroy ISIS, which is now fighting on four fronts in Syria and Iraq.
The UK ministry of defence has refused to comment on the role of the country?s special forces, either in Syria or Libya. PTI AK ZH
--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Lalit K Jha
Washington, Jun 7 (PTI) Backing Indias bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the US has said by becoming the member of the elite grouping the country would be in a stronger position to be a "good citizen" on proliferation- related issues.
"Having gone down the path of the civil nuclear agreement with India, and having invested a significant amount of time in building up our cooperation with India as it relates to nuclear security," Deputy National Security Advisor Benjamin Rhodes told a Washington audience.
advertisement
Rhodes remarks on India came in response to a question about why some countries like China are opposing Indias membership in the 48-member NSG.
"..I think the bottom line for us is that we believe that through engagement with India and through engagement with groups like the NSG, we are in a better position to support India as a good citizen on these issues," Rhodes said.
He said the US believed that engaging India and trying to bring it into international processes will be more effective in promoting the countrys security protocols.
"And frankly, it takes place against continued conversations that we have with India about their approach to nuclear weapons; and of course, the support that weve always expressed for diplomatic efforts between India and Pakistan," Rhodes said in response to a question at an event organised by the Arms Control Association.
Based in Washington, Arms Control Association is a think-tank that had opposed India-US civil nuclear deal and is now opposing Indias membership to the NSG.
Rhodes remarks on India came in response to a question on India about why some countries are opposing Indias membership to NSG.
"So, I think the bottom line for us is that we believe that through engagement with India and through engagement with groups like the NSG, we are in a better position to support India as a good citizen on these issues going forward," Rhodes said.
"Of course, well take seriously the concerns of other nations, but again for us I think this is part of a broader context where weve decided to take this approach with India. And weve seen it bear some fruit, particularly on issues related to nuclear security," he said.
"So again, we understand the concerns, but in many ways were dealing with a challenge that was fairly far advanced by the time we took office. And we decided to sustain the previous administrations decision to pursue that civil nuclear cooperation broadly," he said.
"Then what weve tried to do is nest it in these international bodies and protocols so that, again, India is in a stronger position to be a good citizen on proliferation- related issues," Rhodes said. PTI LKJ
advertisement
NSA AKJ NSA
--- ENDS ---
Deputy National Security Advisor Benjamin Rhodes said that the US has invested significantly with India as far as building cooperation in nuclear security is concerned.
By India Today Web Desk: Backing India's bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the US has said by becoming the member of the 48-nation elite group the country would be in a stronger position to be a "good citizen" on proliferation-related issues.
Visit No. 4: All about PM Modi's American sojourns
Speaking to the press, Deputy National Security Advisor Benjamin Rhodes said that the US has invested significantly with India as far as building cooperation in nuclear security is concerned.
advertisement
Rhodes remarks on India came in response to a question about why some countries like China are opposing India's membership in the NSG.
US WANTS INDIA TO BE 'GOOD' NUCLEAR NATION
"... I think the bottom line for us is that we believe that through engagement with India and through engagement with groups like the NSG, we are in a better position to support India as a good citizen on these issues," Rhodes said.
PM Modi's seventh meeting with Barack Obama today: What we know so far
He said the US believed that engaging India and trying to bring it into international processes will be more effective in promoting the country's security protocols.
"And frankly, it takes place against continued conversations that we have with India about their approach to nuclear weapons; and of course, the support that we've always expressed for diplomatic efforts between India and Pakistan," Rhodes said in response to a question at an event organised by the Arms Control Association.
Based in Washington, Arms Control Association is a think-tank that had opposed India-US civil nuclear deal and is now opposing India's membership to the NSG.
SWITZERLAND BACKS INDIA'S NSG BID
America's backing of India's NSG bid came just hours after Switzerland assured New Delhi of its support.
"We have promised India support in its efforts to become a member of NSG," Swiss Federation President Johan Schneider-Ammann said during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Geneva yesterday.
Modi had thanked the Swiss leader for his country's "understanding and support". India had formally applied for the membership of the NSG on May 12.
"India and Switzerland have both been the voices of peace, understanding and humanitarian values in the world," Modi said.
Also Read:
Thank you, says PM Modi as Switzerland backs India's bid for NSG
NSG row: Exception shouldn't be made for India, says China
--- ENDS ---
Zuckerberg's Twitter and Pinterest accounts were compromised over the weekend, a hacker group named OurMine Team claimed the responsibility.
By Reuters: Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg's Twitter and Pinterest accounts have been resecured, a spokesman from the social media platform said on Monday, responding to questions about weekend media reports that the founder's sites had been hacked.
Zuckerberg's Twitter and Pinterest accounts were compromised over the weekend, according to a report on Sunday from technology news website VentureBeat.
Those accounts have since been "re-secured using best practices," a Facebook spokesman told Reuters, adding, "no Facebook systems or accounts were accessed."
advertisement
Zuckerberg's Twitter account, @finkd, last used in January 2012, posted a tweet on Sunday with the message, "Hey, @finkd You were in LinkedIn Datatbase with the password 'dadada' ! DM (direct message) for proof," according to a screenshot posted to Twitter by Ben Hall (@Ben_Hall), founder of Katacoda, an interactive learning platform for software developers.
The tweet appeared to ask Zuckerberg to contact the sender, who claimed to have accessed his account.
Zuckerberg's Pinterest page, meanwhile, was defaced with the headline "Hacked By OurMine Team" according to a screengrab of the page posted by VentureBeat.
"Hey , we are just testing your security ,please dm (direct message) us for contact! twitter: twitter.com/_OurMine_," the compromised page said in a message that seemingly identified the hackers as being associated with the linked Twitter account.
Also read: Lesson from Zuckerberg hacking: Silly passwords are the easiest links to break
The Twitter page associated with that account, @_OurMine_, has since been suspended.
Pinterest did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"A number of other online services have seen millions of passwords stolen in the past several weeks," a Twitter spokesperson said. "We recommend people use a unique, strong password for Twitter."
The nature of the tweet sent from Zuckerberg's account on Sunday suggested the alleged hackers may have gained access to the account by using the same password associated with his LinkedIn profile.
"We've invalidated all accounts believed to be at risk here," a LinkedIn spokesperson said.
Last month, LinkedIn acknowledged that a 2012 data theft may have affected far more users than originally thought.
The professional networking site said on May 18 that it was working to invalidate the passwords of some 100 million accounts after it "became aware of an additional set of data that had just been released that claims to be email and hashed password combinations of more than 100 million LinkedIn members from that same theft in 2012."
--- ENDS ---
The lawsuit is filed by advertisers who claim Google displayed their ads on "low quality" websites.
By Reuters: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand a lower court's decision to allow a class action lawsuit against Google Inc to proceed regarding claims that the company deceived California advertisers about the placement of Internet ads through its Adwords service.
The court decided not to hear Google's appeal of a ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last September that the litigation could move forward as a class action representing advertisers who used the service between 2004 and 2008. Google is part of Alphabet Inc.
advertisement
A Google spokesman said the company does not comment on pending litigation.
The 2008 lawsuit accused Google of violating California fair advertising laws because it misled advertisers about where the ads would be placed.
The Adwords service was primarily aimed at placing ads next to relevant Google Internet search results. But the plaintiffs said Google should have disclosed that ads would also appear in undesirable places such as error pages and undeveloped websites known as parked domains.
A federal district court judge in 2012 ruled that the case could not move forward as a class action in part because each advertiser would receive different damages. Each advertiser would have paid a different sum for the ads in question, the judge said. The appeals court reversed the district court, prompting Google to ask the Supreme Court to intervene.
Under a 2011 U.S. Supreme Court precedent involving claims brought by employees against Wal-Mart Stores Inc, class actions can move forward only if each plaintiff has a similar claim and that claim can be resolved on a class-wide basis.
The Supreme Court has shied away from taking new class action cases since the death in February of Justice Antonin Scalia, who had authored the 2011 Wal-Mart ruling. Scalia had been a leader of the court's moves in recent years to curb class action litigation, although that trend was not borne out in three class action cases decided during its current term.
--- ENDS ---
Mark Zuckerberg can be hacked and so can you. Here are six things you can do to stay safe:
By AP: Mark Zuckerberg can be hacked and so can you.
The Facebook founder's rarely used Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest accounts were briefly compromised on Sunday, serving as a reminder that everyone is susceptible to hacking.
Also Read: Mark Zuckerberg's social media accounts restored after alleged hack
Safeguards you could take include creating strong passwords and changing them frequently. Yes, all this is a pain, and it's not your fault that the tech industry couldn't grapple with the rise in security breaches. But if you do nothing, someone could break into your financial account or use your social media account to spew obnoxious or hateful messages. Think of how many friends you'll lose.
Pick a good password
advertisement
The more complicated and lengthy a password is, the harder it will be for hackers to guess.
Don't include your kids' names, birthdays or references to any other personal details. Hackers routinely troll Facebook and Twitter for clues to passwords like these. Obvious and default passwords such as "Password123" are also bad, as are words commonly found in dictionaries, as these are used in programs hackers have to automate guesses.
Long and random combinations of letters, numbers and other characters work best.
Don't reuse passwords
Avoid using the same password for multiple sites, so that a break of your school's PTA site wouldn't lead hackers to your online banking account.
You can make things easier on yourself by using a password-manager service such as LastPass or DashLane. They remember complex passwords for you - but you have to trust them. Last June, LastPass disclosed "suspicious activity" and told users to change their master passwords.
Some web browsers such as Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome also have built-in password managers. They work if you switch devices but not if you switch browsers.
New toothbrush? New password
It's important to change your password regularly, just as good physical hygiene calls for replacing your toothbrush every few months.
And don't be tempted to recycle an old one. The longer a password sits around, the more likely it is to fall into the wrong hands.
And if company announces that it's been hacked, change your password right away, even if it says your information wasn't compromised. Breaches are often worse than they first appear. LinkedIn recently disclosed that a 2012 breach affected 117 million accounts- not the 6.5 million previously thought.
Make it harder
Multi-factor identification - which asks users to enter a second form of identification, such as a code texted to their phone - will provide additional protections at services that offer it.
Even if hackers manage to get your password to, say, Facebook, they still need your phone with the texted code. It's not as much of a pain as it seems, as services typically ask for this second code only when logging on from a new device or browser.
Also Read: Lesson from Zuckerberg hacking: Silly passwords are the easiest links to break
Take out the trash
advertisement
Delete or deactivate accounts you no longer use. Got a spam-filled Juno or AOL email account lying dormant? Maybe it's time to say goodbye.
Just last week, Myspace said a hacker has put up for sale login information for some accounts created before June 11, 2013.
If, like most people, you've moved on to greener social media pastures, permanently get rid of the ones you no longer use. This often can be done through your account settings - as long as you still have your password to sign in.
Social media clean up
And while we're on the subject of social media, make sure you restrict posts to just your actual friends. You can adjust that in the settings.
Some companies try to help their users with this. Facebook, for example, occasionally prompts its users to review who can see their personal information and how strong their security settings are.
Nonetheless, assume that everyone everywhere can see what you're posting. Personal tidbits can not only help hackers crack easy passwords, they also can be used to answer supposedly personal questions to reset passwords.
--- ENDS ---
advertisement
A comprehensive approach
Guaranteeing the right to abortion isnt enough. We know that economic, cultural, religious, and systemic barriers prevent many people from accessing abortion care even where its legal and available.
Our solution: We work across institutions and communities to build sustainable abortion ecosystems. In such an ecosystem, people have the information they need to make decisions about reproductive health, theres community and health-system support for human rights and abortion access, and laws and policies support full bodily autonomy.
Blackbeard's cat, unimpressed
by the State of North Carolina.
Caitlin Freeman's Piet Mondrian cake .
Cake plagiarism: Had it not been for the three slices of lemon cake this Kat ate shortly before coming across this picture, he might have had trouble focusing on the plagiarism element of this story. The cake pictured is served at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). It was originally developed by Caitlin Freeman, a pastry chef who ran the Museum's 5th Floor Blue Bottle Cafe.
When SFMOMA reopened after a major refurbishment, it did not renew Blue Bottle's contract, instead giving the space to a new company who are continuing to make the range of art inspired cakes developed by their predecessor. Freeman is understandably irritated by this: "if they didn't want what I was doing, then why is this happening?" she told the San Francisco Chronicle. There is no suggestion, however, that she is contemplating an IP infringement claim: "[the appropriation is "tacky and gross but there's kind of nothing I can do about it" Freeman said. While it sounds like she has been treated badly by SFMOMA, Freeman has enjoyed success off the back of her work with the museum, seeing her Blue Bottle brand expand across the country and publishing the cookbook Modern Art Desserts
Rick Allen, a photographer who spent years creating images and video footage of the pirate Blackbeard's sunken flagship (The Queen Anne's Revenge), is pursuing a copyright infringement claim against the State of North Carolina. Mr Allen seems to have had a career almost as colourful as Blackbeard's - the complaint introduces him as the man who:"has followed SWAT teams through the door on drug busts, traveled from Cuba to Kazakhstan with the 82nd Airborne, weathered live broadcasts during hurricanes, gone nose to nose with 14 foot Great White sharks during underwater expeditions and for nearly two decades has been the project videographer on the Queen Annes Revenge Shipwreck Project."Mr Allen's video production company, Nautilus, "produced a substantial archive of video and still images showing... the efforts of teams of divers and archaeologists to recover various artifacts from the wreck." The complaint says that Allen owns the copyright in these materials (which are licensed to and commercialised by Nautilus).The disagreements began in 2013, when North Carolina's Department of Cultural Resources (DCR) uploaded some of Allen's video footage online. Allen complained that this infringed several of his copyright registrations and was apparently vindicated, as the State agreed to pay $15,000 compensation for copyright infringement. The complaint says that North Carolina's state officials and the DCR continued to infringe Allen's copyrights after the settlement agreement, uploading several more Youtube videos (including 'Raising Blackbeard's Anchor').And here is where the plot thickens. State officials are accused of attempting to avoid a second copyright infringement claim by changing the law:The relevant and suspiciously specific section of the statute reads as follows:(b) All photographs, video recordings, or other documentary materials of a derelict vessel or shipwreck or its contents, relics, artifacts, or historic materials in the custody of any agency of North Carolina government or its subdivisions shall be a public record... There shall be no limitation on the use of or no requirement to alter any such photograph, video recordings, or other documentary material, and any such provision in any agreement, permit, or license shall be void and unenforceable as a matter of public policy.How often does the defendant in a copyright infringement claim try to change the law to escape liability? Even if the law survives, it would seem odd if it applied retrospectively to infringements committed before it was passed. If Allen has got his facts right, it looks like the State of North Carolina may have to reach into its pockets and shell out a substantial proportion of Blackbeard's gold to make amends.
The Islamic Republics commercial air fleet is badly in need of upgrades and repairs as a result of the effects of years-long economic sanctions. Consequently, some Western manufacturers were quick to explore their options once those sanctions were lifted, and the French-based Airbus even went so far as to sign a contract for the sale of 118 jets worth 27 billion dollars, almost immediately after the JCPOA was implemented in January.
The finalization of the contract encouraged greater speculation about Airbus competitors, especially the US aircraft giant Boeing, entering into similar agreements despite their uncertainty about the stability of the Iranian market and the restrictions that remained in place on doing business with the Islamic Republic. Now that speculation has been amplified once again, with Reuters reporting that IranAir and Boeing are in talks over a deal that would roughly match that which was agreed between IranAir and Airbus.
In addition, IranAir is in talks with international banking institutions over the ways in which they could facilitate such a sale without falling afoul of US sanctions that still remain in place, unrelated to the Iranian nuclear program. US law prevents direct interaction between the Iranian and American financial systems, meaning that unless existing rules change or Iran makes an effort to come into compliance with international rules, payments will have to be made in a form other than American dollars.
This creates less of a problem for Airbus than it does for Boeing, as the former can receive payment in Euros via financiers who would themselves be paid in local currency by the Iranians. As Boeing will ultimately need to deal in dollars, this difference highlights the obstacles that still may prevent a final sales contract, despite the interest that apparently exists on both sides.
Of course, this is nothing new. Virtually since the implementation of the JCPOA, it has been variously reported that Boeing and a number of other American and European companies have been exploring the prospect of new trade agreements with Iran, but have fallen far short of finalizing those agreements due to the outstanding issues related to sanctions and a lack of willing financial intermediaries.
The persistence of these obstacles was also brought up by a separate but related Reuters report on Monday, this one dealing with the weapons and commercial aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin, which is also reportedly at a serious phase of exploring possible business with Iran. The would-be contract involves the sale of commercial helicopters via the Lockheed subsidiary Sikorsky. It is apparently the first serious expression of interest from that parent company, and a brand new indication that Iran might be a viable market for commercial helicopters. In fact, that speculation also has its roots in Airbus, which said that it saw a demand for this product sometime after it arranged the sale of commercial jets.
Despite the fact that Lockheed Martin has picked up on this apparent demand, the American company also indicates that it still sees great need for government guidance as to what business will be permitted and under what conditions. Furthermore, Reuters indicates that even if these questions are successfully cleared up, there will continue to be obstacles for Lockheed, Boeing, and other companies, stemming in part from lingering skepticism about the longevity and effects of the JCPOA.
Despite the emphasis being given in some circles to Irans commercial aircraft and other potential foreign imports, the strength of its economy and by extension its trade with other countries will certainly hinge in very large part upon the ongoing recovery of its oil economy. This also presents a potential obstacle to other sorts of agreements, but it also illustrates the power that some foreign nations could have to influence Irans long-term prospects.
Iranian officials have attempted to entice investors and to encourage confidence in the Iranian oil economy by making bold claims about the extent to which it has already recovered. They have, for instance, claimed that the country has already recovered to pre-sanctions levels of output, totaling roughly four million barrels per day on average. And although some independent analysts have indicated that these figures are likely not sustainable insofar as they reflect the sale of large quantities that have been held in storage, there are nonetheless some indications that it is having its effect on a certain portion of foreign investors.
On Monday, the Middle East and North Africa Financial Network reported that one Austrian firm had joined the ranks of prospective investors by essentially pinning down plans to invest six billion dollars in an Iranian petrochemical plant and oil refinery. The contract for this agreement has not yet been finalized but is expected within 30 days. However, there is arguably much that could alter the global markets expectations regarding Irans recovery in the next month or so.
As it regards oil in particular, the deepening competition between Iran and Saudi Arabia is one major factor in the still-emerging conditions. Last week, Iranian-Saudi discord once again prevented an agreement among OPEC powers regarding a collective freeze on production. It is now already apparent that the effects of this will be to encourage more aggressive competition between the two OPEC rivals, thereby possibly forestalling Irans recovery and keeping global oil prices at artificially low levels.
One of the latest and clearest indicators of this trend was reported in the Wall Street Journal on Monday. The article noted that at the same time that Iran has continued to ramp up production with an eye toward securing its supposed pre-sanctions levels of output, the Saudis have made the surprising move of cutting prices at a time when overall market conditions would ordinarily dictate increased profits. This goes to show that the Saudis, and potentially some of their regional allies, are more interested in defending market share against Iranian intrusions than they are in maximizing profits.
Recent political conflicts and proxy wars between Iran and Saudi Arabia help to make it clear that this strategy is not only a response to the economic threat posed by an Iranian recovery, but also the broader threat that Saudi Arabia perceives as coming from a wealthier Islamic Republic that has greater influence in the whole of the Middle East.
And of course, the Saudis are far from being alone in this regard. The level of international agreement with those concerns may still have a strong effect on the extent to which the world community encourages or allows foreign investment in Iran. If these concerns become predominant, they may even serve to undercut the longevity of the JCPOA itself.
Over the past several weeks, the White House has taken a leading role in encouraging investment, making it clear that Western companies will not be penalized for dealings with Iran that are legal under the nuclear agreement. But at the same time, the Obama administration and its allies have come under fire from many of those who share Saudi concerns, including many members of the US Congress.
Their concerns about an enriched Islamic Republic were arguably given a significant boost last week when, as Breitbart reports, the State Department delivered a briefing on its latest report on global terrorism and explained that Iran remains the worlds second greatest terrorist threat, after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Such statements could be harmful to Western businesses perceptions of the viability of the Iranian market, especially at a time when Iranian officials insist that they will not make changes to alleviate concerns about terrorism and human rights.
Also last week, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivered a speech on the occasion of the anniversary of the death of the founder of the Islamic Republic. In it, he declared that Iran would not cooperate with the US in their mutual fight against the Islamic State, and he accused Western powers of using the issues of terrorism and human rights as a pretense for withholding assistance to Irans economic recovery.
As well as highlighting the long-established concerns about the potential uses of Iranian wealth, this sort of commentary serves to remind potential foreign investors about the cold reception that Western individuals can be expected to receive from their would-be Iranian business partners. This issue was further highlighted on Monday when Naharnet reported that the trial had been delayed in the case of American permanent resident Nizar Zakka had been delayed. Zakka, a Lebanese-born IT expert, is among a number of individuals who have been arrested since the conclusion of nuclear negotiations on the basis of their ties to the West, and subjected to apparently groundless accusations of spying, in what many see as an effort by Iranian hardliners to discourage foreign economic infiltration into the Islamic Republic.
[June 06, 2016] RF Power Semiconductor Market Worth 31.26 Billion USD by 2022
PUNE, India, June 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The report "RF Power Semiconductor Market by Product (Power Amplifiers, Passives, Switches, and Duplexers), Material (Silicon, Gallium Nitride, and Gallium Arsenide), Frequency, Application (Consumer, and Aerospace & Defense), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2022", published by MarketsandMarkets, The market is expected to grow from USD 10.57 Billion in 2015 to USD 31.26 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 15.4% between 2016 and 2022. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 )
Browse 70 market data Tables with 57 Figures spread through 155 Pages and in-depth TOC on "RF Power Semiconductor Market".
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/rf-power-semiconductor-market-79671536.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. The use of power amplifiers for long-term evolution (LTE) has increased with the growing demand for LTE. The transition to LTE would require a significant investment in the market as the core networks would also need to change for the upgradation of the wireless standard. This would also drive the demand for RF power devices, which would boost the growth of the RF power semiconductor market. The increased use of smartphones is another major factor driving the growth of the RF power semiconductor market. RF power amplifiers to play a key role in the RF power semiconductor market The RF power amplifiers are expected to hold the largest market share and dominate the RF power semiconductor market between 2016 and 2022 owing to the increasing adoption of power amplifiers across the globe. The growing preference for wireless connectivity has driven the use of RF power devices in wireless connectivity. The RF power amplifiers have applications in sectors such as aerospace & defense, automotive, medical, telecommunication and data communication, and consumer among others. Consumer application held the largest market share in 2015 The consumer application is expected to hold the largest market share and dominate the RF Power Semiconductor Market between 2016 and 2022. The growing use of smarphones and demand for faster data rates are the major drivers for the RF power semiconductor market in the consumer sector. The growth of LTE is also one of the major drivers for the growth of the RF power semiconductor market.
APAC expected to hold the largest market share and grow at the highest rate APAC is expected to hold the largest market share and dominate the RF power semiconductor market between 2016 and 2022. The established electronics industry and adoption of innovative technologies are the reasons for the high growth rate in the region. The RF power semiconductor market in Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at a high rate in consumer, telecommunication and data communication, and medical sectors among others. The increasing number of players in the region is further expected to drive the growth of the APAC RF power semiconductor market.
Inquiry Before Buying: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=79671536 The key players in RF power semiconductor market include Infineon Technologies AG (Germany), M/A-COM Technology Solutions Holdings, Inc. (U.S.), NXP Semiconductors N.V. (Netherlands), Qorvo, Inc. (U.S.), Broadcom Limited (U.S.), Toshiba Corporation (Japan), Qualcomm Inc. (U.S.), Skyworks Solutions, Inc. (U.S.), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (Japan), and Murata Manufacturing (Japan). Browse Related Reports GaN Power Devices Market by Technology (Semiconductor Materials, Transistor Application Technologies), Wafer (Wafer Processes, Wafer Size, and Design Configuration), Device (Power Discrete, Power ICS), Products, Application & Geography - Global Forecast to 2022
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/gallium-nitride-wafer-market-93870461.html Electronic Warfare Market by Category (Electronic Support, Electronic Attack, Electronic Protection), Platform (Airborne, Naval, Land, Unmanned), Product, Technology, Portable, and Region - Global Forecast to 2021
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/electronic-warfare-market-1301.html
About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is the world's No. 2 firm in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors.
M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical info graphics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers.
We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository.
Contact:
Mr. Rohan
Markets and Markets
UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ
Magarpatta city, Hadapsar
Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India
Tel: 1-888-600-6441
Email: [email protected]
Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/electronics-and-semiconductors
Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 06, 2016] Comcast Business Announces Grand Prize Winners of Innovations 4 Entrepreneurs Contest
Comcast Business announced today that six businesses from across the U.S. - three entrepreneurs and three startup businesses - have been named grand prize winners in the "Innovations 4 Entrepreneurs" contest, a national competition that awards cash and consultation services to the selected winners who submitted entries explaining how they could expand on or modify technology to help enhance their business. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160606006076/en/ The grand prize winners come from a wide range of industries and locations across the U.S.: CAVU Biotherapies, Inc - Houston, TX - A veterinary onco-biotechnology company.
Hall Brans LLC - Tigard, OR - A family-owned business that produces a baked cheese snack called Chedz.
Kidsports - Stoughton, MA - A children's facility offering an indoor play center and a state-licensed child care center.
Marketplace New England, Inc - Concord, NH - An innovative gift shop providing a wholesale model market for emerging and established craftspeople.
VR Therapy and Counseling Center, LLC - Grand Rapids, MI - A provider of mental health services for individuals, couples, and families using a multi-sensory virtual reality system.
Westlight Studios - Franklin, TN - A member-based photography and video studio created to help photographers use professional facilities without the overhead.
News - Alert) headquarters in Philadelphia where they will consult with teams of business innovation experts on how to implement their technology plan. This year's roster includes 15 experts who will cover the topics of financials, business planning, operations and technology, growth strategy and marketing. Many of last year's experts, including Robert Irvine, celebrity chef and restaurateur, and Anita Campbell, founder and CEO of Small Business Trends, are returning to work with this year's winners. In addition, there will be several new experts, including Chuck Sacco, MBA and Orly Zeewy, both of the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship at Drexel University.
Previously, 30 regional winners of the contest (including one entrepreneur and one startup from each of the 15 Comcast Business regions) won a $10,000 cash award. With the additional $20,000 granted to grand prize winners, the final six businesses now each have a total of $30,000 to use for technology that creates innovative ways to connect with customers, manage back office operations more efficiently, or create a new line of business. About Comcast Business Comcast Business offers Ethernet, Internet, Wi-Fi, Voice, TV and Managed Enterprise Solutions to help organizations of all sizes transform their business. Powered by a next-generation, advanced network, and backed by 24/7 technical support, Comcast Business is one of the largest contributors to the growth of Comcast Cable. Comcast Business is the nation's largest cable provider to small and mid-size businesses and has emerged as a force in the Enterprise market; recognized over the last two years by leading industry associations as one of the fastest growing provider of Ethernet services. For more information, call 866-429-3085. Follow on Twitter (News - Alert) @ComcastBusiness and on other social media networks at http://business.comcast.com/social. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160606006076/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 06, 2016] Vaddio Introduces RoboTRAK Next Generation Presenter Tracking, along with New Enterprise-Class Cameras and Controllers, at InfoComm 2016
Vaddio (News - Alert) (www.vaddio.com), the premier provider of conferencing and production audio visual solutions, today introduced the next generation in enterprise-class Presenter Tracking, Vaddio RoboTRAK. RoboTRAK delivers intelligent IR tracking, optimized for large venues, that's effortless and affordable. Vaddio is also featuring the new RoboSHOT 20 UHD 4K PTZ, the new PCC Premier IP camera controller, and ClearSHOT 10 USB PTZ conferencing camera. These latest Vaddio innovations will be demonstrated live at InfoComm 2016. Vaddio RoboTRAK
Vaddio's 4th generation presenter tracking system, RoboTRAK is built on proven technology to deliver the most accurate and precise tracking, optimized for large venues, on a small venue budget. Unlike audio or facial-recognition based tracking systems, this advanced IR technology and ultrasmooth pan and tilt motion insure presenter tracking is natural and effortless, enabling the presenter to focus on the teaching not the technology. RoboTRAK is a powerful solution that's simple to install and easy to use, comprising: RoboTRAK performance IR tracking camera, any Vaddio RoboSHOT PTZ, and a convenient, single-piece presenter lanyard that supports up to 40 hours of operation on a single battery charge. Capable of tracking up to 40 feet, RoboTRAK can be either ceiling- or wall-mounted, and can be paired with the Vaddio AV Bridge MATRIX PRO for an automated 'classroom in a box'.As with all Vaddio solutions, RoboTRAK incorporates the Vaddio Remote Management System, enabling easy, accessible configuration, management and control from any web browser.
"As the market leader in Presenter Tracking systems we are excited to announce this next-generation RoboTRAK technology," commented Scott Gill, CEO, Milestone AV Technologies. "RoboTRAK, as well as our new 4K camera, IP camera controller and entry-level USB PTZ camera enable Vaddio to respond to our customer requirements for powerful yet simple solutions for lecture capture, live production, and conferencing applications." In addition to the debut of the new RoboTRAK, Vaddio will also be highlighting and demonstrating additional new products including:
Vaddio RoboSHOT 20 UHD
Vaddio's RoboSHOT 20 UHD delivers ultimate UHD (4K) video, and unsurpassed HD (1080p/60) video, superior to higher priced 3-chip cameras. RoboSHOT 20 UHD boasts the highest quality, razor-sharp imaging for truly fine detail and exceptional color reproduction. Built around a back-illuminated 9.03-megapixel image sensor with a maximum 2160p/30 resolution, the RoboSHOT 20 UHD leads in Vaddio's enterprise-class PTZ camera line. RoboSHOT 20 UHD is the first to provide simultaneous HDMI, HDBaseT, HD-SDI and IP streaming outputs, 20x zoom and 74-degree horizontal field of view, suitable for the most demanding video production, live event, lecture capture and conferencing applications. Vaddio Precision Camera Controller Premier
PCC Premier is Vaddio's newest camera controller capable of simultaneous control of up to 16 PTZ cameras. IP enabled, the PCC Premier virtualizes camera control across an enterprise when paired with Vaddio's RoboSHOT cameras. The Remote Studio feature provides an H.264 decoder incorporated into the controller allowing operators to view live IP video streams remotely with no additional equipment. In addition, the PCC Premier includes eight dedicated RS-232 ports supporting legacy operations of Vaddio, Sony, or Panasonic (News - Alert) PTZ cameras. An intuitive user interface presents individual access to all image settings and presets for each camera providing operators with ultimate flexibility in live production events. PCC Premier has a full-color touchscreen interface, pan/tilt/zoom speed control knobs, large focus knob for fine control with auto/manual toggle, and a three-axis Hall-effect joystick for smooth, precise camera movements. Vaddio ClearSHOT 10 USB
Vaddio's ClearSHOT 10 USB sets new price-performance standards for professional quality conferencing cameras suited to any size meeting space. This enterprise-class HD PTZ camera delivers exceptional image quality with USB plug-and-play simplicity, enabling any Mac or PC-based application to be used in a group collaboration environment. ClearSHOT 10 USB features simultaneous uncompressed USB 3.0 and IP (H.264) streaming video outputs, and is fully equipped with a 10x optical zoom lens and 74-degree wide horizontal field of view. These new Vaddio products, and others, support the Vaddio Remote Management System. Pioneered in the RoboSHOT USB products, Vaddio RMS provides remote monitoring, management and control from any web browser, enabling efficient, manageable deployment of distributed conferencing and production networks. Vaddio products are Made in the USA and unique to the industry include a 2-year standard warranty. Experience Vaddio Innovation Live
These new Vaddio solutions and others will be demonstrated live at InfoComm 2016, Las Vegas, June 8-10, Booth N1337. About Vaddio
Vaddio is a Milestone AV Technologies company. Acquired by Milestone AV Technologies (www.milestone.com) in April 2016, Vaddio (www.vaddio.com) designs, develops and manufactures professional quality PTZ cameras, Pro AV solutions and a full suite of Unified Communication and Collaboration systems for the audiovisual, collaboration and production markets. Combining enterprise class performance and industry leading support with system-configured design for simplicity of installation and operation, Vaddio products enhance any AV experience by elevating the science of communication with the Art of Easy. For more information visit www.vaddio.com or 1.800.572.2011. 2016 Vaddio. All rights reserved. Specifications subject to change without notice. Vaddio, the Vaddio logo, and the names and marks associated with Vaddio products are trademarks and/or service marks of Vaddio. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160606006123/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 06, 2016] Global Satellite-Based Automatic Identification Systems Market to Post a CAGR of More Than 25% Until 2020, Reports Technavio
According to the latest market study released by Technavio, the global satellite-based automatic identification systems (S-AIS) market is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 25% during the forecast period. This research report titled 'Global Satellite-based Automatic Identification Systems Market 2016-2020' provides an in-depth analysis of the market in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. This market research report also includes up to date analysis and forecasts for various market segments and all geographical regions. Request sample report: http://goo.gl/qCIQDV The report categorizes the global S-AIS market into four application segments. They are: Defense
Intelligence and security
Search and rescue
Other applications Global S-AIS market by defense application The global S-AIS market by defense application is expected to reach USD 42 million by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 30.14%. AIS data helps defense forces to achieve real-time monitoring and detecting vessels. Naval and maritime defense agencies require information related to warships, coast guards, and other government related vessels. Big data analytics on AIS data can further help defense agencies to predict and detect anti-national activities with the support of maritime intelligence and domain awareness. According to Rakesh Kumar Panda, a lead analyst at Technavio for M2M and connected devices, "Improved advancements in AIS network can enhance the quality of data used for defense applications. The majority of the government agencies adopt AIS technology to provide defense services in various applications." Global S-AIS market by intelligence and security sector application AIS helps intelligence and security agencies to collect huge amounts of data to improve the precision of data analysis. AIS data provides maritime security such as protecting seaports, vessels, and other infrastructure assocated with the shipping from the growing threat of terrorism, piracy, and disruption. It also enables counterintelligence security systems to gather and evaluate information needed by military and government agencies to have appropriate decisions about the scope and concurrence of terrorism.
Advanced satellite communication systems help to identify terrorist planning activities to counter attack before the occurrence of a disaster. M2M solutions in security systems improve reaction time from detection to interception, match the diversity of threat's nature and severity level, and optimize deployment and usage of the different human and technical resources. For instance, Thales (News - Alert) delivers advanced turnkey solutions to address the customized requirement and constraints of border guard's entity. Hence, this segment's revenue is also expected to grow rapidly during the forecast period. Global S-AIS market by search and rescue application
Maritime customers highly require public safety, global reach, uninterrupted service, and network security. S-AIS provides robust mobile communication services and products to cater the unique requirements of government-centric maritime operations. It helps SAR agencies to detect abnormal operations in maritime and to witness efficient traffic monitoring systems. AIS maritime applications enable secure and interoperable network communications for naval operations and critical marine operations such as rescue, administrative, and support functions. S-AIS services can provide global coverage and an efficient communication channel to help in relief operations during emergency situations. It also detects oil spill incidents and transmits relevant information related to disaster to enable spontaneous SAR operations. "This application is mostly performed by Government and port authorities to ensure the safety of the mariners and vessels carrying commodities. Therefore, the market is expected to witness an increasing growth during the forecast period," says Rakesh. Global S-AIS market by other applications The global S-AIS market by other applications was valued at USD 18 million in 2015 and will reach USD 35 million by 2020. Approximately 50% of the AIS revenue is obtained from the applications including defense, intelligence and security, and SAR. The remaining 50% of the market's revenue is contributed by other application categories. Other applications include anticipation of shipment arrivals and verification of goods entering nations and environmental monitoring activities. The top vendors highlighted by Technavio's research analysts in this report are: exactEarth
Iridium (News - Alert) Communications
ORBCOMM
Saab
Thales Browse Related Reports: Satellite-based Earth Observation Market in Europe 2016-2020
Satellite-based EO Market in the US 2016-2020
Global Industrial Automatic Data Capturing and Identification Systems Market 2015-2019 Purchase these three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact [email protected] with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160606005558/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 06, 2016] EMC Special Shareholder Meeting To Be Held July 19, 2016
HOPKINTON, Mass., June 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- News Highlights: EMC special meeting of its shareholders to be held on July 19, 2016
Close of business on May 13, 2016 announced as the record date for the special meeting
announced as the record date for the special meeting Shareholders planning to attend must pre-register no later than July 12, 2016
The transaction is on schedule under the original timetable and the original terms EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) announced today that a special meeting of its shareholders will be held at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on July 19, 2016 at EMC's facility at 176 South Street, Hopkinton, Massachusetts. At the special meeting, shareholders will be asked to take actions to approve the merger agreement among Denali Holding Inc., Dell Inc., Universal Acquisition Co., and EMC. The EMC board of directors has fixed the close of business on May 13, 2016 as the record date for the special meeting. Only holders of record of EMC common stock as of the record date are entitled to attend and vote at the special meeting. Shareholders planning to attend must pre-register no later than July 12, 2016, by visiting www.emc.com/specialmeeting and completing the registration form. As announced on Oct. 12, 2015, the combination of Dell and EMC will create the world's largest privately-controlled, integrated technology company. The transaction is on schedule under the original timetable and the original terms. The combined company will be a leader in the extremely attractive high-growth areas of the $2 trillion information technology market with complementary product portfolios, sales teams and R&D investment strategies. About EMC EMC Corporation is a global leader in enabling businesses and service providers to transform their operations and deliver IT as a service. Fundamental to this transformation is cloud computing. Through innovative products and services, EMC accelerates the journey to cloud computing, helping IT departments to store, manage, protect and analyze their most valuable asset information in a more agile, trusted and cost-efficient way. Additional information about EMC can be found at www.EMC.com. Disclosure Regarding Forward Looking Statements This communication contains forward-looking information about EMC Corporation and the proposed transaction that is intended to be covered by the safe harbor for "forward-looking statements" provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not liited to: (i) the failure to obtain the approval of EMC Corporation shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction; (ii) the failure to consummate or delay in consummating the proposed transaction for other reasons; (iii) the risk that a condition to closing of the proposed transaction may not be satisfied or that required financing for the proposed transaction may not be available or may be delayed; (iv) the risk that a regulatory approval that may be required for the proposed transaction is delayed, is not obtained, or is obtained subject to conditions that are not anticipated; (v) risk as to the trading price of Class V Common Stock to be issued by Denali Holding Inc. in the proposed transaction relative to the trading price of shares of VMware, Inc.'s common stock; (vi) the effect of the proposed transaction on VMware's business and operating results and impact on the trading price of shares of Class V Common Stock of Denali Holding Inc. and shares of VMware common stock; (vii) the diversion of management time on transaction-related issues; (viii) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; (ix) delays or reductions in information technology spending; (x) the relative and varying rates of product price and component cost declines and the volume and mixture of product and services revenues; (xi) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures and new product introductions; (xii) component and product quality and availability; (xiii) fluctuations in VMware's operating results and risks associated with trading of VMware common stock; (xiv) the transition to new products, the uncertainty of customer acceptance of new product offerings and rapid technological and market change; (xv) the ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees; (xvi) insufficient, excess or obsolete inventory; (xvii) fluctuating currency exchange rates; (xviii) threats and other disruptions to our secure data centers or networks; (xix) our ability to protect our proprietary technology; (xx) war or acts of terrorism; and (xxi) other one-time events and other important factors disclosed previously and from time to time in EMC Corporation's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Except to the extent otherwise required by federal securities law, EMC Corporation disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this communication.
Additional Information and Where to Find It This communication is being made in respect of the proposed business combination transaction between EMC Corporation and Denali Holding Inc. The proposed transaction will be submitted to the shareholders of EMC Corporation for their consideration. In connection with the issuance of Class V Common Stock of Denali Holding Inc. in the proposed transaction, Denali Holding Inc. has filed with the SEC a Registration Statement on Form S-4 (File No. 333-208524) that includes a proxy statement/prospectus regarding the proposed transaction. The registration statement has been declared effective by the SEC, and the definitive proxy statement/prospectus is being mailed on or about June 10, 2016, to each EMC Corporation shareholder entitled to vote at the special meeting in connection with the proposed transaction. INVESTORS ARE URGED TO READ THE DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND ANY OTHER DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE TRANSACTION FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY, BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Investors may obtain copies of the definitive proxy statement/prospectus and all other documents filed with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction, free of charge, at the SEC's website (http://www.sec.gov). Investors may also obtain these documents, free of charge, from EMC Corporation's website (http://www.EMC.com) under the link "Investor Relations" and then under the tab "Financials" then "SEC Filings", or by directing a request to: EMC Corporation, 176 South Street, Hopkinton, Massachusetts, 01748, Attn: Investor Relations, 866-362-6973.
Participants in the Solicitation EMC Corporation and certain of its directors, executive officers and other members of management and employees may be deemed to be "participants" in the solicitation of proxies from EMC Corporation shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction. Information regarding the persons who may, under the rules of the SEC, be deemed participants in the solicitation of EMC Corporation shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction and a description of their direct and indirect interest, by security holdings or otherwise, is set forth in the preliminary proxy statement/prospectus filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed transaction. You can find information about EMC Corporation's executive officers and directors in its definitive proxy statement filed with the SEC on April 1, 2016 and in its Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 25, 2016, and the amendment thereto on Form 10-K/A filed with the SEC on March 11, 2016. You can obtain free copies of these documents at the SEC's website (http://www.sec.gov). You can also obtain free copies of these documents from EMC Corporation using the contact information above. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/emc-special-shareholder-meeting-to-be-held-july-19-2016-300280394.html SOURCE EMC Corporation
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 07, 2016] Telit Enables Konect Smart Metering in Less Than Two Weeks
Telit, the global leader in the Internet of Things (IoT), today announced that Konect, a new smart metering proposition, has integrated the Telit IoT Platform within a fortnight, rapidly accelerating time to market for the new smart meter plus management system offering. Kron Medidores, a Brazilian provider of automation for about 90% of the country's shopping centers and intelligent buildings, has developed the Konect offering which is composed of the smart meter hardware and software for managing and monitoring utilities consumption. The company is using the Telit IoT Portal to provide the management and remote visualization capabilities for Konect customers. The platform enables all the necessary adjustments to be made to a smart meter so measurements on any device can be accessed in real-time. In addition, Kron Medidores is now starting to integrate Telit mobile communication modules into the Konect meters to make the product 100% plug-and-play. The company had initially intended to connect existing meters via Ethernet cables but sees the simplicity and speed of deployment of devices using mobile connections as a means to lower the costs of implementation and accelerate time to market for customers. Konect smart metering aims to minimize energy, water and gas costs for organizations, while bringing together other information such as temperature and the humidity level of the air in workplace environments. "The solution presents a new approach to the electricity meters market," said Roberto Bedicks, the chief executive of Kron Medidores. "Konect is extremely versatile and integrates with other devices in automation systems incorporating multiple functions. Energy, one of the major inputs, requires efficientmanagement to achieve better performance and lower expenses, making the organization more competitive."
The smart meters will boost awareness of consumption in commercial buildings, condominiums and shopping centers that want to achieve a complete view of their usage. That holistic view provides information about monthly energy, water and gas consumption before the end of each month, thereby facilitating better decision-making. The Konect offering offers assessment capability that encompasses the individual metering of consumption so enterprises can become aware of the variables of a particular department of a factory, shop, office building, condominium or other site. Employees can also control internal consumption within a retail outlet, for example.
"With the solution, a segmented organizational vision is possible, which leads to better decision-making and helps avoid the negative impacts of unexpected energy bills," added Bedicks. Kron Medidores, which has worked in the electricity metering industry for more than 60 years, is looking to market the Konect smart meter hardware plus service offering beyond Brazil and is demonstrating the technology to distributors in Latin American countries such as Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Mexico. "With the Telit IoT Portal, access to consumer-variable information such as water, energy and gas consumption is possible anywhere in the world," said Ricardo Buranello, the vice president of Telit Latin America. About Telit Telit (AIM: TCM), is the global leader in Internet of Things (IoT) enablement. The company offers the industry's broadest portfolio of integrated products and services for end-to-end IoT deployments - including cellular communication modules in all technologies, GNSS, short-to-long range wireless modules, IoT connectivity plans and IoT platform services. Through the IoT Portal, Telit makes IoT onboarding easy, reduces risk, time to market, complexity and costs for asset tracking, remote monitoring and control, telematics, industrial automation and others, across many industries and vertical markets worldwide. About Kron Kron Instrumentos Eletricos is a Brazilian company founded in 1954 and specialized in measuring electricity. With a presence in Latin America through Sales Representatives and Distributors, Kron presents solutions to market in several segments such as Energy Meters, Measurement and Protection Transformers, Analog and Digital Instruments, Analog and Digital Encoders. Visit www.kron.com.br for further information. Copyright 2016 Telit Communications (News - Alert) PLC. All rights reserved. Telit, Telit Wireless Solutions, Telit Communications PLC, telit.com, telit2market, Telit Technical Forum, secureWISE, deviceWISE and all associated logos are trademarks of Telit Communications PLC in the United States and other countries. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160607005295/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 07, 2016] NYU Researchers Find Weak Spots in Europe's "Right to be Forgotten" Data Privacy Law
BROOKLYN, N.Y., June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Under Europe's "Right to be Forgotten" law, citizens there can petition Internet search providers such as Google to remove search results linked to personal information that is negative or defamatory. In many cases, these links lead to information about accusations of criminal activity or financial difficulties, which may be "delisted" if the information is erroneous or no longer relevant. But "gone" doesn't always mean "forgotten," according to a new study by researchers at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering, NYU Shanghai, and the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil. "The Right to Be Forgotten has been largely working and is responding to legitimate privacy concerns of many Europeans," said New York University Professor Keith Ross. "Our research shows, however, that a third-party, such as a transparency activist or a private investigator, can discover many delisted links and determine the names of the people who requested the delistings." Ross, the Leonard J. Shustek Professor of Computer Science at NYU Tandon and dean of engineering and computer science at NYU Shanghai, led the research team, which included Professor of Computer Science Virgilio Almeida and doctoral students Evandro Cunha and Gabriel Magno, all of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, and Minhui Xue, a doctoral student at NYU Shanghai. They focused only on requests to delist content from mass media sites such as online newspapers and broadcast outlets. Although the law requires search engines to delist search links, it does not require newspaper articles and other source material to be removed from the Internet. A hacker faces a fairly low bar if he or she knows a particular URL has been delisted. Of 283 delisted URLs used in the study, the authors successfully determined the names of the reqesters in 103 cases.
But the authors also demonstrated that a hacker can prevail even when the URL is unknown, by downloading media articles about topics most commonly associated with delisting, including sexual assault and financial misconduct; extracting the names from the articles; then sending multiple queries to a European Google search site to see if the articles were delisted. The researchers estimate that a third party could potentially determine 30 to 40 percent of the delisted mass-media URLs, along with the names of the people who made the delisting requests. Such hackers do exist and have published the names of people who requested delisting, thereby opening them to even more public scrutiny the so-called "Streisand effect," a phenomenon, named for the reclusive star, whereby an attempt to hide a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely.
Their results show that the law has fundamental technical flaws that could compromise its effectiveness in the future. Demographic analysis revealed that the majority of requesters were men, ages 20-40, and most were ordinary citizens, not celebrities. In accordance with the law, Google delisted links for persons who were wrongfully charged, acquitted, or who finished serving their sentences, among other privacy issues. The researchers believe that defenses to these privacy attacks are limited. One possible defense would be for Google to never display the delisted URL in its search results. (Currently, Jane Doe's delisted robbery article would not show up when her name is used in a search, but would do so if the name of the bank were searched, for example.) This defense is not only a strong form of censorship, but can also be partially circumvented, they said. A French data protection authority recently ordered Google to delist links from all of its properties including Google.com, in addition to its search engines with European suffixes. Google has so far refused, and the dispute is likely to end up in European courts. "Even if this law is extended throughout all of the Google search properties, the potential for such attacks will be unchanged and they will continue to be effective," said Almeida of the Federal University of Minas Gerais. The researchers noted that they will never publicly share the names discovered in association with their analysis. They informed Google of the research results. The paper, entitled The Right to be Forgotten in the Media: A Data-Driven Study is available at https://docs.google.com/a/nyu.edu/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=bnl1LmVkdXxrZWl0aHJvc3N8Z3g6MzA5NmYxOWZlMjcwMzM1NQ. It will be presented the 16th Annual Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium in Darmstadt, Germany, in July, and will be published in the proceedings. The NYU Tandon School of Engineering dates to 1854, when the NYU School of Civil Engineering and Architecture as well as the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (widely known as Brooklyn Poly) were founded. Their successor institutions merged in January 2014 to create a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences, rooted in a tradition of invention, innovation and entrepreneurship. In addition to programs at its main campus in downtown Brooklyn, it is closely connected to engineering programs in NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai, and it operates business incubators in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn. For more information, visit http://engineering.nyu.edu. facebook.com/nyupoly
@nyupoly Note: Images available at http://dam.poly.edu/?c=1739&k=6892ff72f9 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151013/276541LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nyu-researchers-find-weak-spots-in-europes-right-to-be-forgotten-data-privacy-law-300280874.html SOURCE NYU Tandon School of Engineering
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 07, 2016] Zayo Receives Hewlett Packard Enterprise Customer Excellence Award
Zayo Group (News - Alert) Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ZAYO) and Canoe received the Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Partner Ready for Service Providers 2016 Customer Excellence Award in the "Transform to a Hybrid Infrastructure" category. The companies were recognized based on Canoe's successful implementation of Zayo's hybrid infrastructure as a service (IaaS) solution. Canoe's video on demand (VOD) dynamic ad insertion (DAI) business has seen incredible growth since launching in 2013. The company went from over two billion decisions the first year, six billion the second, 11 billion in 2015, and is on target to top the number again in 2016. Their traditional IT infrastructure was challenged in sustaining this rate of growth. Canoe selected Zayo, a premier HPE partner, to implement a hybrid cloud infrastructure that would enable them to scale to meet their growth needs. "Zayo's hybrid cloud solution delivers an exceptional mix of flexibility and performance," said Greg Friedman, executive vice president of Colocation and Cloud Infrastructure at Zayo. "Now Canoe can continue on its impressive growth trajectory without the resource and time constraints of buying and maintaining their own infrastructure." "As our rapid growth increased our infrastructure demands, we knew traditional IT could not scale to meet our growing needs," said Sid Gregory, senior vice president of architecture and engineering at Canoe. "By iplementing a hybrid cloud environment, Zayo and HPE enabled us to eliminate the wait time for additional servers and rack space, which in turn allows us to get applications to market quickly."
"The HPE Partner Ready for Service Providers 2016 Customer Excellence Award honors partners' collaboration with their customers on business outcomes. We are delighted to bestow this year's Transform to a Hybrid Infrastructure category award to Zayo Group," said Chuck Adams, regional sales manager, HPE Partner Ready for Service Providers program. For more information on Zayo, please visit zayo.com.
About Zayo Group Zayo Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ZAYO) provides communications infrastructure services, including fiber and bandwidth connectivity, colocation and cloud services to the world's leading businesses. Customers include wireless and wireline carriers, media and content companies and finance, healthcare and other large enterprises. Zayo's 112,000-mile network in North America and Europe includes extensive metro connectivity to thousands of buildings and data centers. In addition to high-capacity dark fiber, wavelength, Ethernet and other connectivity solutions, Zayo offers colocation and cloud services in its carrier-neutral data centers. Zayo provides clients with flexible, customized solutions and self-service through Tranzact, an innovative online platform for managing and purchasing bandwidth and services. For more information, visit zayo.com. About Canoe Canoe is an advertising technology company dedicated to providing software and services to national television programming networks. The company is focused on delivering dynamically inserted advertising into national TV network programs available on cable operators' VOD platforms. Canoe was founded by Comcast (News - Alert), Cox, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks and has offices in Denver, CO, and New York City. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160607006191/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 07, 2016] TSP's Frank Gonzalez and Rick Skaggs are Jointly Named EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2016 Finalists in the Southwest Area
TSP (Technology Service Professionals) is proud to announce that co-founders Frank Gonzalez and Rick Skaggs were recently named as finalists for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2016 Southwest Award. "Rick and I started TSP together almost 15 years ago and are so proud of the company we built," said Frank Gonzalez, CEO and co-founder, TSP. "We feel blessed to have grown from just the two of us to over 600 employees by providing top quality IT services for our customers - and doing it with integrity." The awards program recognizes entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Gonzalez and Skaggs were selected as a finalist by a panel of independent judges after undergoing a written application and in-person interview. "We're so honored to be in the running for EY Entrepreneur Of The Year, a prestigious award," sai Rick Skaggs, co-founder and president of emerging business, mergers and acquisitions at TSP. "This has been one of the most rewarding experiences of our careers - it feels great to be recognized for our hard work."
Now in its 30th year, the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year program has expanded to recognize business leaders in more than 145 cities in more than 60 countries throughout the world. Regional award winners will be announced at a special gala event on Saturday, June 25, at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas. If named regional award winners, Gonzalez and Skaggs are then eligible for consideration for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year national program.
About EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Program EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world's most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 145 cities in more than 60 countries. About TSP (Technology Service Professionals) TSP (Technology Service Professionals) is a privately held information technology services company founded in 2002 by Rick Skaggs and Frank Gonzalez. The business provides top-tier services in enterprise solutions, shared solutions, and industrial automation. The Certified Minority Owned Business has more than 600 employees, and its service area includes more than 35 U.S. states as well as Canada. The company's client portfolio includes Texas Instruments, International Paper, Hewlett-Packard, Goodyear, Georgia-Pacific, Dell, Raytheon, 3M, Hitachi (News - Alert), NetApp, Lockheed Martin, IBM, and Neiman Marcus. To learn more, visit http://mytsp.net. Subscribe to our Blog
Check out our Social Center View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160607005216/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. Illinois Farm Bureau members, staff and agri-business professionals are invited to attend the 2016 Farm Income and Innovation Conference on July 27 at the Bloomington-Normal Marriott Hotel and Conference Center.
The conference, formerly known as the Illinois Farm Bureau Commodities Conference, will feature two general sessions and multiple breakouts that focus on topics traditionally included in the Commodities Conference, but will also include new topics which focus on technology and emphasize farm innovation.
Were excited about the shift in emphasis and focus for this conference, said Mike Doherty, senior economist, Illinois Farm Bureau. Todays farms rely heavily on technology and farmers abilities to develop new and innovative strategies, and the Farm Income and Innovation Conference supports that trend for farmers.
First general session speaker, David Fikes, vice president, Consumer/Community Affairs and Communications for the Food Marketing Institute, will address food marketing trends and second general session speaker, Chad Colby, general manager, Central Illinois Ag, will present an update about drones and precision agriculture.
The conference also will feature breakout sessions regarding farm management, trade, managing costs and farm income under stress, cover crops, transportation infrastructure, and weather and grain market outlook. The conference will conclude with a panel of young farmers sharing their strategies to improve their farms and their view of future of farming.
Farming is ever-changing and ever-challenging, Doherty said. We hope this new conference will give our members additional ideas when it comes to what has worked and will work in the future, and how technology and strategic thinking can play into that.
Those wishing to attend the conference may pre-register online now through July 15 at www.ilfb.org/fiic16, or by contacting their local county Farm Bureau. Registration is $35 per person and includes lunch.
Registration the day of the event will begin at 7:30 a.m. at the Marriott. New this year, the first 30 Illinois Farm Bureau Young Leader members to register for the conference will receive a free registration.
For more information about the conference, visit www.ilfb.org/fiic16 or contact Nicole Moore at nmoore@ilfb.org.
Do your friends all tell you that your homemade bread is delicious, that your cookies melt in their mouths, or that you should be selling your baked goods?
It might be easier than you think, says Jenna Smith, University of Illinois Extension nutrition and wellness educator. Illinois has a Cottage Food Law that enables small-scale entrepreneurs to sell their products, such as baked goods, jams and jellies and dried herbs and teas, made in their own home kitchens, at their local farmers market.
If youre interested in learning more about what you can legally sell at local markets, University of Illinois Extension has designed a website with all the information you need to know. Learn what foods you can and cannot sell, requirements youll need to meet to get you started, and essential food safety information to keep your customers safe and your business reputable. Go to http://web.extension.illinois.edu/cottage/.
Most breads, cookies and fruit pies may legally be sold at farmers markets under the Cottage Food Law, but there are exceptions. Pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, cheese cake, custard pies, cream pies, and pastries with potentially hazardous fillings or toppings are NOT permitted.
Home-canned food products also fall into a gray area when it comes to sales at farmers markets, according to Mary Liz Wright, a U of I Extension nutrition and wellness educator based in Marshall. Some may be sold at farmers markets under the Cottage Food Law, while others may not be.
Fruits are naturally high in food acid, she said, and only high-acid jams, jellies and preserves are permitted to be sold under the law. High-acid jams and jellies are those made from apples, apricots, grapes, peaches, plums, quince, oranges, nectarines, tangerines, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, boysenberries, cherries, cranberries, strawberries, red currants, or a combination of those fruits.
Low-sugar jams and jellies, those that are made with sugar substitutes, fruit butters, and other jam/jelly-type products not on the above list are subject to different rules under the Cottage Food Law, Wright said.
Wright will be offering a Yes, You Can! food-preservation workshop on Wednesday evening, June 22, at the Neoga Municipal Building. It begins at 6 p.m.
In addition to learning the latest, most up-to-date canning methods, you will also be able get your dial-gauge pressure canner tested for accuracy. If you have a dial-gauge pressure canner, you need to get it tested once a year to ensure the safety of home-canned products, Wright said.
While the focus of the canning workshop will be on preserving food for home consumption, the workshop content also should be of interest to canning enthusiasts who wish to sell items at a farmers market.
Pre-registration for the Neoga canning workshop is required, to ensure that enough printed handouts are available.
To register, call the U of I Extension office in Toledo, 217-849-3931.
CHARLESTON -- With months to spare, the general election for state representative for the 110th district will be contested.
As of June 1, Dennis Malak of Charleston made it on to the ballot running as a democrat, opposition to Incumbent 110th State Representative Reggie Phillips, R-Charleston.
This will be Malaks second foray into the race for the position. Malak ran as a democrat in the general election in 2010 against another incumbent at the time, Chapin Rose, now, Illinois State Senator for the 51st district.
Now, a more seasoned candidate with one election under his belt, Malak said he now has a better understanding of how to run a campaign.
Often first-time candidates have little experience in understanding the organization, funding and efforts needed for a successful campaign, Paul Wieck, Coles County Democratic Party chairman, said. Many of these candidates, because of an unsuccessful past experience, do become successful with that learning experience.
Our state representative should be responsive to the needs of his constituency and community, Wieck said. There comes a time when the interests of the district override loyalty to one party's agenda that time has come.
Months ago, Malak originally attempted to run as an independent, but Illinois election law did not allow him to do so because he had voted in the primaries. Still, he said he plans on running as an independent democrat.
I am not changing who I am (for the party), Malak said.
Malak said he did not plan on running initially, but seeing professors and students rally for MAP Grants in Springfield to seemingly deaf ears, he was inspired to try again.
The tipping point was me going and teaching students how to rally in Springfield," Malak said. "No matter what we did, our opinions and our voices had no effect... That's just not how it is supposed to work... I was tired of not being represented."
Malak said he considers himself to be largely fiscally conservative but is largely liberal on social issues.
Depending on how the state shakes out in coming months, Malak said a large focus if elected will be helping to push a viable state budget through. The state has not seen an approved budget for almost a year now.
Malak said to get Illinois out of the mess it is in, the state is going to have to raise taxes and cut spending and not either or.
He said the state deficit spending cannot be a way of handling the budget in the future. He is opposed to the recent proposal of $7 billion in expenses over revenue proposed by State House Speaker Michael Madigan.
But, he said, he is also largely opposed to Gov. Bruce Rauners turnaround agenda, which is a source of contention between democrats and republicans in the state.
The turnaround agenda, he said, includes reforms to workers compensation, procurement, and prevailing wage as well as redistricting in the state and pushing for right to work zones, areas where businesses face fewer taxes and receive less regulatory burdens. Malak said he considers much of Rauners turnaround agenda as anti-union, which he is vehemently opposed to.
Malak is open to the idea of procurement reform, though. He said hoops have to jump through sometimes unnecessarily in this state. However, Malak disagrees with Rauner's strong stances on these issues at this time.
Aside from state budgetary issues, Malak said he would be focusing supporting unions and union workers.
Unions are the best protection against poverty in this country, he said.
Also, funding education fully both at the K-12 and higher education levels are big sticking points for him as well, he said.
People are ready for just something to change, more so than ever before, he said.
Malak is the auditorium technical director at the Doudna Fine Arts Center at Eastern Illinois University. Malak has a wife Sarah and two children, Aiden and Aubrey. More information about Malak can be found at www.dennismalak110.com
CHARLESTON -- The city is seeking to transition to a more localized administrative judiciary system or administrative adjudication system for handling city code violations.
City Council members will be voting whether or not to establish an administrative code enforcement hearing department and system for the efficient enforcement of the city code at their meeting at 6:30 p.m. today in the City Council Chambers of City Hall.
According to city records, this ordinance would establish this city-governed department allowing jurisdiction to the department to handle the judicial decisions and enforcement of any violation of the city code including but not limited to parking and vehicle registration violations, housing, building and zoning code violations, and engineering and health safety violations.
This excludes code with a potential penalty of incarceration, any offense under the Illinois Vehicle Code and various other specific traffic laws.
City Manager Scott Smith said city code violations like petty ordinance violations and others would go through city hall instead of the through the circuit courts, where these cases currently run through.
If the ordinance is passed, Smith said the process to have an operational hearing department will take time. Until then, the circuit court will still be handling city code violations.
According to city records, the city under state law has the authority to establish this department for the purpose of expediting the prosecution and correction of all eligible violations of the city code.
Smith said this would give the city a larger amount of control in this area as well as free up the circuit court system. He said the department and system essentially make some court systems more localized.
Along with this, the council will also vote on the authorization of a service agreement with Tyler Technologies to provide the technology necessary for this judicial system and vote to amend current water billing code to better align with this system as advised by attorneys, Smith said.
Also on the agenda:
-- the authorization temporary closure of certain streets starting at 8 a.m. July 4 to facilitate the annual Four on the Fourth: Four-Mile Foot Race sponsored by Habitat for Humanity. No roads will be closed, but runners will get right-of-way in traffic situations.
-- the authorization of various street closures for the Fourth of July parade as well as other related activities.
EDITOR'S NOTE: A former Sullivan and Charleston resident, Jerry Ginther writes a column the first Tuesday of each month in the JG-TC with his remembrances of years gone by in Charleston, Sullivan and the area.
If you are less than 30 years old you are probably unaware of the vast railroad system that spread over this country like a web prior to the mid 1980s. There are few visible reminders these days. Many of the rights-of-way where the rails laid were abandoned after the steel was retrieved; others were abandoned leaving the rails to rust in place. The high centers of the rail beds where the tracks once laid are still visible in many parts of the country, running through the landscape like a scar and a fading reminder of these once busy railroad corridors.
Some may still be seen along a few of our nation's highways, but in time nature will erase all evidence of a roadbed. If you are over 30, perhaps you have called attention to these vacant rights-of-way in the area where you live as you traveled about with your children or grandchildren.
So, why have so many of these rail lines, which were the most efficient movers of all sorts of freight, disappeared from the landscape? There are several contributing factors, but Ill discuss a few, which I believe were the most significant.
First of all, let me explain that in their most profitable era, railroads provided many needed services, which became less and less attractive, and in some cases seldom used, as our nation modernized.
Passenger train service is just one of those many faceted services that suffered due to increased airline service. The famous passenger trains of the era, with their elegant dining and club cars, provided more than hauling passengers. The other facets that I alluded to were the transportation of the U.S. Mail, Railway Express Agency (REA), transportation of human remains and some special, perishable products.
The railroads continued to operate these passenger trains for several years after it was no longer profitable from the revenue of passengers alone. Government contracts for carrying the U.S. Mail and the revenue from the express companies kept them running for a while. The proverbial final nail in the coffin, which brought about the demise of the passenger train, was the awarding of the government mail contracts to the airlines. Immediately, the railroads began to petition the Interstate Commerce Commission for relief of the passenger train service, which wasnt long in coming. One by one they were eliminated and that ushered in the government take over of the service we now know as Amtrak.
Freight service was another matter, but still a competition problem. From the railroads perspective they were not only competing with the air-freight services, but with the advent of the interstate highways, big trucks, and more of them, were acquiring an ever increasing share of the available freight business. To exacerbate the problem for the rail carriers, many of these interstate highways were built alongside the existing rail corridors from one end of the country to the other, which directly affected businesses within the towns both transportation systems passed through. Even businesses located alongside railroads that had previously serviced them began to ship and receive goods by truck due to faster and more frequent service.
As a result of the foregoing, railroads began to cut back on local freight services, which led to the closing of many depots serviced by a freight agent. Next came the suspension of freight services on many branch lines serving mostly small towns. As the rail carriers continued to focus on a streamlining campaign, most of those lines were subsequently abandoned.
This focus also concentrated on the concept of single commodity trains that didnt necessarily need rapid movement. Some of those commodities included coal, ore, grain, oil and stone. However, carriers with lines between ocean ports and major cities continued refrigerated car services for perishable products such as fruits and vegetables. Piggy-back trains hauling semi-trailers and large containers mounted of special flat cars became a new concept for railroads.
The loss of so much business brought about mergers of railroad companies in order to survive. Merging allowed the surviving companies to abandon even more lines by pulling up parallel tracks of their one-time competitors, thus alleviating the expense of maintenance and taxes on the properties.
I was a telegraph operator and train dispatcher during the downsizing era of the '70s and '80s that left in its wake many small and mid-sized cities and towns with no rail service. Along with the loss of services, thousands of rail jobs from the top down were lost. This is, at best, an over simplified account of the disappearing railroad blues, but offered just in case you were wondering, What Happened to our Railroads.
100 years ago, June 7, 1916
MATTOON -- Clothiers and hatters of Mattoon have designated Saturday as official Straw Hat Day, and after that date men and boys who continue to wear their winter and spring derbies will be out of style. Local merchants proclaiming Official Straw Hat Day are A.H. Adler, T.L. Hilsabeck, Louis Katz & Son, Hendrix-Rice Co., Frank & Montie Spitz and G.C. Figenbaum. Mattoon's clothiers and hatters are up-to-date, up-to-the-minute in all kinds of hats... MATTOON -- Street traffic in Mattoon is to be regulated in accordance with traffic rules of the larger cities, an ordinance having been approved by the Mattoon City Council Tuesday evening. The ordinance provides that all vehicles must stay to the right side of the street at all times. Vehicles traveling east and west shall have the right of way over those traveling north and south at intersections. The council also voted to change the name of North Park to Allison-Cunningham Park.
50 years ago, 1966
CHARLESTON -- State Rep. James P. Loukas, D-Chicago, investigator of the Illinois Legislative Audit Commission, said Monday he talked for several hours with a representative of the anonymous writers who have made charges of irregularities in construction at Eastern Illinois University. Loukas declined to identify the person who contacted him, but said that person was not one of the letter writers... CHARLESTON -- Several new faculty members have been named at Eastern Illinois University. recent hires include Calvin Campbell, executive assistant and assistant, registration and records. He has been teaching in Albuquerque, N.M. Also hired was Rhoderick E. Key, instructor and supervisory teacher of music in the lab school. Key has been teaching at Anna-Jonesboro High School. Also hired was Karen J. Larvick, executive assistant and academic adviser. She most recently was a teaching assistant at the University of Wisconsin. Giles Lee Henderson was named instructor in the chemistry department. He recently received a master's degree from Montana State University. Billy J. Heyduck was named assistant professor in the art department. He has been art supervisor in Villa Grove since 1957... SULLIVAN -- John Payne, star of 60 motion pictures, opens tonight in the premier of the adult comedy, "Timid Tiger, Lusty Lamb," at the Little Theatre on the Square. The play will run here through June 12 and then move to a five-week engagement in Chicago. This is the second premier in less than six months at the Little Theatre. In late December, June Allison premiered in the comedy, "Goodby Ghost." Payne is perhaps best known as attorney Fred Gailey, who represents Kris Kringle in "Miracle on 34th Street."
25 years ago, 1991
CHARLESTON -- The Charleston Board of Zoning Appeals and Planning voted 5-0 against a petition to rezone the former New Life Apostolic Church at 803 Sixth St., to R-3, limited multi-family residential. The church currently is zone R-1, single family residential with a conditional use grandfathered into the zoning. The Rev. R.L. Hayes told the board the church has completed a new building and would like to sell the 79-year-old structure to a buyer hoping to turn it into apartments. The deal hinged on the building being rezoned. Jim DiNaso, who recently purchased and remodeled the former Frommel Hardware store on the square, proposed developing 12 apartments in the church SULLIVAN -- Peter Palmer will direct the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! to open the 34th season at The Little Theatre On the Square, which begins Wednesday. Palmer, who starred as Curly in the musical comedy on Broadway in 1963 during the shows 20th anniversary and the following year at the New York City Center, has made more than 1,000 appearances in the show. Palmer also has appeared on stage at The Little Theatre more than any other male actor, including in two stagings of Oklahoma! CHARLESTON -- Georgia Bough was named Bowler of the Year and three others have joined Charlestons Womens Bowling Association Hall of Fame. Peggy Pankey, Brenda Briggerman and Sarah Cougill were selected to the Hall of Fame at the associations recent annual banquet. Bough had a high game this year of 264, a high series of 624 and an average of 172 for the year. Pankey has bowled for 40 years and has highs of 292 game and 692 series. Briggerman, a 31-year bowler, has a high game of 267 and series of 640. Cougill, a longtime association officer and delegate, owns a high game of 267 and high series of 613.
100 years ago, June 8, 1916
MATTOON -- Frank S. Thomas, formerly of Mattoon and now chairman of the advisory board or the Order of Railway Conductors, is in New York with others, negotiating with representatives of the railroad companies for an eight-hour work day. Mr. Thomas says there are 450 working men from all over the country meeting with representatives of 19 railroads. the workers, made up of engineers, conductors, firemen and brakemen, all are of "one opinion," and that is to secure the eight-hour day and time and one-half pay for overtime in freight and yard service... MATTOON -- The Bates & Rogers sub-contractors who have charge of the construction of approaches to the railroad subway bridges, this morning began pouring concrete for the base of the approach to the west end of the Charleston Avenue bridge. The bridge is closed to all traffic except that of pedestrians, and they are urged to not make use of the bridge at present as a passage way... MATTOON -- The finance committee of the Mattoon Fall Festival and Homecoming Association resumed work today. The committee now has secured $2,610 in subscriptions and reports that there are 100 prospective subscribers it will call upon. The latest donations include Five at $25 each, three at $15 each, 12 for $10 each and four at $5 each.
50 years ago, 1966
MATTOON -- An eight-acre tract of land west of the newly annexed area of western Mattoon was annexed Tuesday night by the Mattoon City Council. The land consists of the Schaeffer and Gatewood property north of Western Avenue Road and west of Waltrip Road. The annexation includes the Kull and Waltrip property adjacent to Waltrip Road... MATTOON -- Sgt. Harold L. Allen, an 18-year veteran of the Mattoon Police Department, was named assistant police chief at Tuesday's Mattoon City Council meeting. Allen, whose service dates to August 1947, had military police service during World War II... MATTOON -- Charles M. "Charlie" Chism has been Mattoon's official bugler ever since he was discharged from the Army after World War I. Now 75, Charlie has not missed a single Memorial Day ceremony in Mattoon since he started in 1920. He has blown taps for 319 military funerals that span six wars: Civil War, Spanish-American War, two World Wars, Korea and Vietnam.
25 years ago, 1991
CHARLESTON -- Local physician Mack Hollowell was one of two new appointments to the Board of Governors of State Colleges and Universities made by Gov. Jim Edgar on Friday. Edgar replaced both the BOG chairman (Jim Althoff) and vice chairman (Ray Wilson), but reappointed board member Wilma Sutton. An announcement from Edgars office at 4:55 p.m. Friday said Hollowell will replace Wilson while Daniel Goodwin, a real estate developer from Oak Brook, would replace Althoff. Hollowell said he knows there will be some opposition when the appointments go before the state senate for approval CHARLESTON The Central East Alcoholism and Drug Councils Hour House was praised during dedication ceremonies Friday. At one time the home of Dr. John T. Montgomery, the building at 635 Division St., became the Charleston Sanitarium in 1900; the M.A. Montgomery Sanitarium in 1911; became the Charleston Hospital until 1957; reopened as Hilltop Nursing Home in 1963; and was donated to CEAD Council in 1972 SHELBYVILLE The Lake Shelbyville Festival of Lights has garnered an award for the excellence of its public relations program. The program to publicize last winters inaugural Festival of Lights attracted 98,000 people and pumped more than $500,000 into the local economy. It was recognized by the Publicity Club of Chicago in its 32nd Annual Golden Trumpet Competition, known as the academy awards for public relations in the Midwest.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second of six stories in the JG-TC series, "Dopesick: The Heroin Epidemic," exploring the wider impact of heroin use on families and local communities.
MATTOON -- Switching from a strong painkiller like hydrocodone or oxycodone to heroin is a large step, but it is not an uncommon one, and it is a step being taken by many who have been and are addicted to intense pain medications.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), among new heroin users, approximately three out of four report abusing prescription opioids prior to using heroin.
John Lauer, medical director of inpatient psychiatry at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center, said specifically for opiate addicts who are making the move to heroin, the notion of doing so is not extreme or unbelievable especially given the similarities of painkillers and heroin.
At a biological level, the differences between heroin and strong painkillers are not vast. Lauer explained strong painkillers like oxycodone, along with heroin, are opiates, and they both work on the same opioid receptors in the brain in similar ways. The only major difference between the two drugs is their strength in comparison to each other, Lauer said, with heroin producing larger highs for the users.
Heroin is an opiate, a pain medicine, that works on the same receptors, so when you can't get painkillers, the heroin works just as good, Lauer said. (Theoretically) you can use heroin for pain control if you wanted to.
For many who get addicted to painkillers and potentially go over to heroin, that is all they are looking for: a pain reliever, at least initially, he said. But after continuously taking the opioid painkiller, they can grow an addiction and eventual tolerance, requiring higher, more dangerous doses for the same effect.
However, their growing wants for these painkillers are conflicting with a growing shift for doctors to not prescribe opioid pain medicine.
Recently, those in the medical field have pushed against using opioids so frequently. In March, the CDC released guidelines on prescribing opioids explaining in detail that there are too many opiates prescribed as an approach for dealing with pain. This push was developed on the heels of a notable issue facing medicine: a large number of prescription opioid overdoses and addicts.
The United States is in the midst of an opioid overdose epidemic, according to the CDC. Opioids (including prescription opioid pain relievers and heroin) killed more than 28,000 people in 2014, more than any year on record. At least half of all opioid overdose deaths involve a prescription opioid.
Lauer said at this point, the pendulum is swinging against prescribing these drugs, but not too long ago, in the late '90s and early 2000s, governmental bodies thought doctors were not active enough in treating pain, and they pushed for these pain pills to be prescribed much more frequently.
Even though doctors knew of the addictive nature of these drugs, governmental and patient pressure, in essence, forced them to give out these medications, Lauer said.
Jim Hildebrandt, vice president of medical affairs at Sarah Bush, said before this push, doctors would almost never prescribe these drugs. Now, after seeing the negative effects of prescribing these addictive drugs so frequently, Hildebrandt said doctors are dealing with preventing further addiction and keeping those addicted off of the medicine to avoid eventual overdoses.
It comes at a price, though.
This growing lack of medically prescribed drugs has led addicts to search for other avenues to satiate their habit and avoid withdrawal. Rachel Duhamell, alcohol and drug counselor at Sarah Bush Lincoln, said availability of opioids or lack thereof increases the odds of a switch to heroin. There is a high likelihood they will go to heroin, she said.
The withdraw is unbearable, Lauer said. You are either going to go through opiate withdraw, or you are going to look elsewhere for the same stuff.
But, the more the medical field cracks down on opioid painkillers, the less is seen on the streets, causing more demand and higher prices for painkillers. This, too, has helped heroin to develop a demand beyond recreational drug use. Now, heroin is becoming a cheap alternative to painkillers, said Brandon Spindler, officer with the East Central Illinois Task Force drug investigation unit.
Prices fluctuate regularly, but law enforcement is now seeing street prices for pills like hydrocodone go from $5 to $10 a pill and a tenth of a gram of heroin, a common amount used a day, go from $20 to $40, Spindler said.
He said while each pill might be cheaper, addicts and those chronically taking painkillers often take five to 10 pills a day to get the same highs that a tenth of a gram of heroin will provide.
Hildebrandt said this transition to heroin is a complex one because there are correlations to the medical field's move away from opioid drugs for some pains, but doing so might lead those addicted to those medicines to different drugs. The medical field is still striving to stay tough on painkillers, he said.
At Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center, Hildebrandt said other forms of medicine like meditation therapy, physical therapy and massage therapies are being encouraged. Also, doctors are being encouraged to use less potent opioids or use other small scale pain relievers to treat pain.
Pain is a challenge when treating it properly, though, he said.
Pain is difficult. Chronic pain is really difficult, Hildebrandt said. There are no other great answers for it. So you get tempted to use opioids in it because you want to do something for this poor soul.
Ultimately, it is an individualized issue, highly dependent on the patient, he said, and it is up to the judgment of each individual doctor on how to best treat the patient.
Hildebrandt said it is still crucial to stay strong on limiting prescription opioid use as much as possible, even if current addicts move to heroin.
Local Time Warner Cable customers got their first look this week at what's in store under new owners.
Letters started arriving Monday from Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge in which he writes that "exciting changes are in the works."
However, it likely will be months before any customers in Lincoln or Southeast Nebraska see any changes.
Charter has said it won't start offering its Spectrum cable TV, phone and Internet packages until it completes a digital conversion in each market. When that will happen in Lincoln is anyone's guess, and company officials have said it could take up to 18 months for all markets to go digital.
For now, customers will continue to receive Time Warner Cable services, and the same website and customer care numbers remain in effect.
One intriguing part of Rutledge's letter is a claim that Charter will bring more than 10,000 offshored customer service jobs back to the U.S.
Whether that would mean more jobs in Lincoln remains to be seen.
Although Time Warner Cable has periodically added jobs in Lincoln, over time it has slowly reduced employment. The company had about 300 local employees as recently as three years ago but now has closer to 250.
Charter officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
For more information about Charter's purchase of Time Warner Cable, go to https://www.spectrum.com/merger-charter.
This website is intended for U.S. visitors only.
AccessNebraska has taken many steps forward in the past year to improve services to 198,000 economic assistance and 235,000 Medicaid recipients, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services CEO Courtney Phillips told a legislative oversight committee.
Phillips detailed those improvements Tuesday on call wait times, food stamp processing, recruitment and retention of employees.
Call wait times have been averaging 5 minutes or less since September. Eight days is the average it takes to process economic assistance applications. And the food stamp program has met or exceeded the processing timeline of 96 percent since February.
"Our AccessNebraska staff and others in the department who support AccessNebraska are continually working on process improvement," Phillips told the AccessNebraska Oversight Committee.
The staff begins processing daily mail at 2 a.m. so it is scanned into the system and available for viewing by 8 each morning, she said.
In April, call routing was updated and clients can get the scan date of the last document the department received and the date for the clients' next program review. Self-service information is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Clients now can apply by telephone for economic assistance and Medicaid.
Recruiting, retaining and training employees has also improved, Phillips said. The turnover rate is 3 percent to 4 percent for 2016.
In addition, some correspondence and major forms have been rewritten so they are easier to understand, she said.
Even with the improvements, the department's work isn't done, Phillips said. The program will continue to adjust to changes in the operating environment and economic conditions.
State Ombudsman Marshall Lux said the struggle that was AccessNebraska, before it began to turn around last year, looked like this: Client callers were put on hold for a half hour to an hour while their cellphones drained. They were given inconsistent information, had calls dropped after long waits, or were treated poorly in terms of customer service.
In 2012 and 2013, the Ombudsman's office got about 50 complaint calls each year. Last year, the calls dropped to six. There have been three so far this year.
The decision in 2013 to separate economic assistance and Medicaid cases was a good one, along with restoring the ability to have some in-person interviews, Lux said, and helped to turn the system around.
Lux told the oversight committee the lesson is that when a state agency considers doing something as important as making weighty changes in how people access state benefits, it needs to come to the Legislature first for input.
Mike Marvin, executive director of the Nebraska Association of Public Employees, sent a letter outlining some employee complaints.
He acknowledged application processing was getting better, but feedback from some union stewards and others showed concerns about demands put on workers to meet quotas. In some locations, employee work statistics are posted, by name.
Managers are pushing quotas rather than accuracy, one worker reported, and so teamwork has suffered and morale is low.
Another letter the oversight committee received from an employee said the staff was being micro-managed and given unrealistic expectations. People are getting promoted over others, even though they have "less seniority, poor work history and less job knowledge."
Marvin has asked for a meeting between labor and management to fix any communication issues, because the messages to workers seem to vary from location to location.
Molly McCleery, staff attorney with Nebraska Appleseed, talked to the committee about the resolution of a 2014 class action lawsuit that challenged Nebraska's slow turnaround time for processing food stamp benefit applications and renewals.
Even with the resolution, McCleery said, Appleseed appreciates the continued oversight of the committee.
Appleseed also is receiving many fewer complaint calls about AccessNebraska, she said. But it does get calls about inconsistent information given to clients about their benefits. For example, a client might be notified of a reduction in benefits, even though there's been no change in his or her household circumstances.
"Ultimately we acknowledge that the system has gotten significantly better for both workers and for clients," McCleery said. "At this point, what we are looking for and want to make sure occurs is that any improvements are sustainable, and we really see a long-term fix to some of these problems."
The civil rights trial against Gage County and the sheriffs deputies who sent six innocent people to prison began with attorneys for the Beatrice 6 calling it "the worst miscarriage of justice in the state of Nebraska.
And youre here to right that wrong, Herb Friedman told the jury Tuesday in opening statements.
Joseph White, Ada JoAnn Taylor, Tom Winslow, James Dean, Debra Shelden and Kathy Gonzalez would spend a combined 75 years in prison for Bruce Allen Smiths brutal rape and murder of 68-year-old Helen Wilson in her Beatrice apartment early on Feb. 6, 1985, Scottsbluff attorney Maren Chaloupka said.
Decades later, DNA cleared the six and implicated Smith.
"Yet Gage County still refuses to take any responsibility for this unfathomable travesty of justice," she said.
On the other side of the aisle, attorney Jennifer Tomka, who represents Gage County, the late former Sheriff Jerry DeWitt and Deputies Burdette Searcey and Wayne Price, later would say "this is indeed a journey to justice.
Tomka urged the jury to remember what it was like in 1989. No cellphones, no satellite TV, no DNA testing to corroborate or refute what five of the six defendants confessed to. And, she noted, all six were represented by lawyers.
In November 2007, the Nebraska Supreme Court ordered DNA testing in the case over the objection of then-Gage County Attorney Dick Smith, who prosecuted the case.
White, the only one who stood trial rather than enter a plea in the case, fought for the testing after being convicted and sentenced to life in prison, and tests on evidence from the crime scene would free him.
In 2008, White, Winslow and Taylor were released after nearly two decades behind bars. The other three had completed their sentences and were pardoned by the state.
Later, the six sued the county, the sheriff and deputies for the investigation that put them there, saying it was so reckless it shocked the conscience.
In the U.S. District courtroom Tuesday, four of the six former defendants listened from court benches on one side. Dean was at work. White died while working in Alabama in 2011, but his mother was there.
On the other side sat Searcey and Price.
Attorneys for the six say Searcey, a white-haired man wearing a polo shirt in court Tuesday, was in the 1980s a man obsessed with Helen Wilsons murder. Once he developed a theory about what happened, they say, he ignored any evidence that contradicted it.
And Price, the man with a hearing aid sitting on Searcey's left, convinced three of the six they had witnessed the crime and were repressing their memories. Price was a part-time deputy and a psychologist who had seen several of the six professionally.
Both men still work as deputies for the sheriff's office.
As the second trial in the federal civil rights case got underway Tuesday -- the first ended in a mistrial -- attorneys picked up the story in late 2007, when the convictions were just starting to unravel.
The first to take the stand was Randall Ritnour, who was Gage County attorney then. He said he assumed the DNA tests the court ordered would bolster what he believed then: The six had committed the crime. After all, five of them confessed to participating in the murder.
But the results ruled out White and Winslow, who were in prison for killing and raping Wilson. Still working from the assumption the six were guilty, Ritnour said he got the OK to test 43 more pieces of evidence preserved from the crime scene.
Surely, he remembered thinking, with six people in Wilson's tiny apartment, there should be all sorts of DNA. But the testing pointed to a single perpetrator -- and not any of the six who had been convicted of the crime, he said.
After Whites conviction was set aside, a task force formed to find the match.
Assistant Nebraska Attorney General Corey OBrien, who led it, testified Tuesday that he initially thought they were looking for a seventh co-defendant. Within three weeks, they had matched DNA from the scene to Bruce Allen Smith, a suspect Beatrice police developed early in 1985 and later cleared -- because of a screw-up in blood testing.
They found no connection between him and the six, said Ritnour, also a member of the task force.
He said he dropped the charge against White knowing his DNA wasnt at the scene and that witnesses who testified against him at his first trial had recanted. As a prosecutor, Ritnour said, he was duty-bound to seek justice, not just win cases.
During opening statements in the federal retrial, Tomka focused on the role others played in what happened, from Dick Smith, the Gage County Attorney who decided to file the charges after reviewing the evidence back in the '80s, to defense attorneys who represented the six and the jury that convicted White.
The officers have nothing to do with that process, she argued.
On top of that, Tomka said, none of the five who took plea deals told anyone at the time they felt coerced or that they'd been threatened with the death penalty. Not until this lawsuit, she said.
On the other side, attorney Jeffry Patterson said six innocent kids, all but one of them in their 20s, were convicted of murdering and gang-raping a grandmother. Investigators who put them in her apartment relied on dreams, not facts, and ignored cold, hard evidence, he said.
At the end of what is expected to be a three-week civil trial, the question for the jury will be whether Deputies Searcey and Price conducted a reckless investigation, manufactured false evidence or conspired with someone who did. And, if they did, how much the Beatrice 6 should be compensated for it.
A convicted felon will go back to prison, this time for possessing a gun.
Anthony Richardson, 46, was accused in 2014 of using a crowbar to get inside a stolen safe that had three guns inside. He held the guns, then gave them to another person and left the house, according to court documents. Later, he denied breaking into the safe or knowing the guns were stolen but was convicted of being a felon on possession of a firearm and was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in prison.
Defense attorney Mark Rappl said Richardson is already serving a 14-year federal sentence on drug charges and argued an additional sentence would prolong the amount of time it will take to get him into a court-ordered drug treatment program.
Lancaster County District Judge Robert Otte ordered Richardson's state prison sentence to run concurrently with his federal time.
"I'm torn because by the time you get out of the federal penitentiary, you'll be pretty close to 60 years old," Otte said. "And then you'll have five years of supervised release after that."
By then, he said, he hopes Richardson will have aged out of his criminal activity.
Starting Tuesday, nine women and three men will hear a civil rights trial against Gage County, its former sheriff and two deputies behind a 1989 cold-case investigation that put six people, later cleared by DNA, behind bars for a woman's brutal killing.
The Beatrice 6 case is believed to be one of the largest false confession cases in the country.
Their attorneys say investigators manipulated mentally ill co-defendants, fed them details of the crime scene and threatened them with the death penalty in an effort to secure the convictions and build a case against Joseph White, all the while knowing none of the six had the same blood type as that left at the scene of Helen Wilson's Feb. 5, 1985, rape and murder in Beatrice.
Attorneys for Gage County and the deputies say the investigators were working with the information they had at the time and can't be held responsible for people lying to them.
White, the only one of the six to go to trial, maintained his innocence, but the jury found him guilty.
From his prison cell, serving a life sentence, he fought to get the DNA testing that ultimately pointed to a drifter who died in an Oklahoma prison.
In 2008, the Nebraska Supreme Court overturned White's conviction and five others -- Ada JoAnn Taylor, Tom Winslow, James Dean, Debra Shelden and Kathy Gonzalez -- earned pardons.
By the time they got out, White, Taylor and Winslow each had served nearly 20 years in prison.
All six later sued Gage County, the late Sheriff Jerry DeWitt and deputies Burdette Searcey and Wayne Price calling their investigation so reckless it "shocked the conscience" and violated their constitutional rights.
Except for White, they all confessed to or entered pleas in the case.
About 2 years after he got out, White died in a workplace accident in Alabama in March 2011, years before the federal civil case went to trial the first time, in January 2014. It ended in a mistrial when the jury deadlocked.
That time around, U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf dismissed the case against Gage County and the officers in their official capacity at the midpoint of trial. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later reinstated the case against them, saying it was for a jury to decide.
On Monday, Kopf and attorneys on either side spent the day questioning a group of about four dozen Nebraskans called as potential jurors to hear the trial, which is scheduled to go the rest of the month.
They were asked if they'd seen the popular Netflix documentary "Making a Murderer," and about their opinions on whether law enforcement should be allowed to interview mentally ill people or to lie during interrogations (by law, they can).
"They stand for truth and justice," one man said of why he had a problem with police lying to suspects. "I'm not going to say they don't make mistakes, but a lie is intentional. They shouldn't go down that road."
Asked if incidents in places like Ferguson, Missouri, had changed how he sees police, another man, a teacher who ended up on the jury, said he was brought up to believe all police were good.
But, he said, he has come to believe the world is more complicated than that. When people get emotional, they make mistakes, including cops, he said.
By 3:15 p.m., the attorneys had cut the group to 12.
Lancaster County government could get almost $700,000 more on the sale of the former county mental health center building, if the City Council will change the building's zoning.
But top administrators for Bryan Medical Center, which wants to buy the building at 2201 S. 17th St., say the zoning change would allow retail uses that could jeopardize the safety of the nearby hospital campus. Those uses include liquor sales, smoke shops, sexually oriented shops, motor vehicle sales, motor vehicle repair.
The two groups took their arguments to a public hearing Monday before the City Council, which is expected to make a decision on zoning next Monday.
The city-county Planning Commission voted 6-2 to deny the zoning change, preferring to let a new owner request zoning changes so the city has some control over the buildings use.
The county and Bryan staff are working on a compromise that would allow a zoning change, but limit the kinds of businesses that would be allowed.
Under state law the County Board must get a fair market appraisal for the property before offering it for sale at a public auction. If there is a bid at that appraisal price or higher, the board must take it.
If bids are lower, then the County Board can negotiate with a prospective buyer, and the contract could include an agreement on the use of the building.
The appraisal for the building under its current residential zoning is around $2.5 million. The appraisal for business zoning (B3) is $3.185 million, County Commissioner Todd Wiltgen told the council.
The county needs the B3 zoning because it does not own enough parking spaces to qualify for other zoning. With a parking limitation, the new owners would have to set aside 9 percent of the building for storage.
The county gave up 24 parking spaces to the hospital in 2007, under an agreement that also included rates the county would pay for indigent patients.
However the County Board didnt intend to sell off any of its property rights or diminish the value of the building under that agreement, said Kerry Eagan, chief administrative officer for the county.
Without a zoning change the county cannot get full value of the building, he said.
The county hopes to use the money from the building sale to offset a nearly $3.8 million renovation of the Benesch Building, just west of the Hall of Justice at Eighth and J streets. The Crisis Center, now in the 17th Street building, is expected to move into the renovated space.
WASHINGTON -- The Caligulan malice with which Donald Trump administered Paul Ryan's degradation is an object lesson in the price of abject capitulation to power. This episode should be studied as a clinical case of a particular Washington myopia -- the ability of career politicians to convince themselves that they and their agendas are of supreme importance.
The pornographic politics of Trump's presidential campaign, which was preceded by decades of ignorant bile (about Barack Obama's birth certificate and much else), have not exhausted Trump's eagerness to plumb new depths of destructiveness. Herewith the remarkably brief timeline of the breaking of Ryan to Trump's saddle.
On May 3, Trump won the Indiana primary, ending competition for the Republican nomination. On May 5, Ryan said he still was not prepared to endorse Trump. That day Trump responded that he was not ready to endorse Ryan's agenda. This was not news, considering that Trump has campaigned against every significant element of this agenda -- entitlement reform, the rule of law, revival of Congress as a counter to the executive overreach that Barack Obama has practiced and that Trump promises to enlarge upon.
On May 12, a Trump meeting with Ryan resulted in a cringeworthy joint statement that had to be read to be properly disbelieved. The two spoke about the "great conversation" they had about "our shared principles." They celebrated their "many important areas of common ground" while offhandedly mentioning "our few differences." Those who know, or thought they knew, Ryan doubted that he could name a single shared principle, and he did not do so.
In spite of, and in conspicuous dissonance with, the May 12 happy talk, Ryan continued to withhold his endorsement. Perhaps he hoped that Trump, at age 69, was going to mend his manners.
Instead, Trump dragged a personal problem, his coming trial on fraud charges associated with Trump University, into the presidential campaign. Having first done so in February, on May 27 he again attacked the "Mexican" judge (born in Indiana, 1,332 miles from Mexico) who will preside at the trial, asserting that the Hoosier Mexican was unfit to preside because his ethnic heritage would incline him against Trump, the wall-building scourge of Mexican rapists. On May 30, Trump again attacked the judge, again embracing the identity politics that actually characterizes contemporary progressivism: An individual has, always and only, the interests and motivations of his race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.
By June 2, Ryan had heard enough. He endorsed Trump. He did so because President Trump would sign Ryan's House "agenda." Well.
Since May 5, the Hamlet of southeastern Wisconsin had indeed learned something. He had learned Trump's contemptuous response to his scruples. Trump's response was an insouciant intensification of his anti-institutional politics -- the judicial system, too, is "rigged." Ryan limply described Trump's attack on the judge as thinking "out of left field" that he could not "relate to."
All supposedly will be redeemed by the House agenda. So, assume, fancifully, that in 2017 this agenda emerges intact from a House not yet proved able to pass 12 appropriations bills. Assume, too, that Republicans still control the Senate and can persuade enough Democrats to push the House agenda over the 60-vote threshold. Now, for some really strenuous assuming: Assume that whatever semblance of the House agenda that reaches President Trump's desk is more important than keeping this impetuous, vicious, ignorant and anti-constitutional man from being at that desk.
In March, Trump said of Ryan: "I'm sure I'm going to get along great with him. And if I don't, he's going to have to pay a big price." Ryan has now paid a staggering price by getting along with Trump. And what did Ryan purchase with the coin of his reputation? Perhaps his agenda.
In Robert Bolt's play "A Man for All Seasons," Thomas More is betrayed by Richard Rich, who commits perjury to please the king, in exchange for being named attorney general for Wales. Says More: "Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world. ... But for Wales?" Or for the House agenda?
Over the past several years, arguments for Medicaid expansion in Nebraska have been made using sound economic, budgetary and public health rationales. They have collapsed, however, under the reflexive antipathy toward the Affordable Care Act of Gov. Pete Ricketts.
The result: Tens of thousands of Nebraskas workers go without health insurance compared to states that expanded Medicaid, according to a study by Families USA. Expansion states, on average, saw a 25 percent decline in their rate of uninsured workers, compared to just 14 percent for Nebraska a difference of nearly 2 to 1.
It shouldnt be this way. State/federal partnerships, like Medicaid expansion, have a history of success and have been a hallmark of Republican governance for more than a century.
Lets start with the Land Grant College Act of 1862, sponsored by Congressman Justin Morrill and signed by President Abraham Lincoln, both Republicans.
Under the Act, the federal government gave states federal land they could manage or sell to endow colleges specializing in agriculture and engineering. The states would have to pay for the construction and maintenance of the schools.
Since 1862, more than 20 million people many who could not have otherwise afforded it have graduated from the 100 Land Grant colleges were created in every state and territory, which also includes the University of Nebraska.
Another example is the Federal Highway Act of 1956, proposed by Republican President Dwight Eisenhower, who as Supreme Commander of European Forces in World War II had seen first-hand how deficient Americas road network was compared to the German Autobahn.
As President, Eisenhower decided the United States needed a national network of modern roads and that it had to be a joint state/federal enterprise. Otherwise our nation would be a mere alliance of many separate parts, he said.
The bipartisan bill Eisenhower signed called for the construction of more than 46,000 miles of interstate about 500 in Nebraska that would be paid for with a 90/10 split between the federal government and states respectively. Studies have shown that every $1 invested in the Interstate System returned $6 in economic benefits.
The Governor himself is trying to take advantage of a federal-state partnership by pushing for an infrastructure bank (LB 960) that would take $150 million from the state general fund in order to draw down $100 million in federal roads funding.
Expanding Medicaid would provide an even bigger return on Nebraskas investment in a state/federal partnerships. Helping low-income Nebraskans get health care is an investment in human capital every bit as important to our future as building universities and roads.
For Nebraskas state investment in expanded Medicaid, the state would receive nearly $2.8 billion in federal tax dollars through 2021 to provide coverage to working people with low incomes, improve the health care delivery system, and sustain jobs.
Medicaid expansion would extend eligibility to adults with incomes at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level or about $2,130 a month for a family of three.
The majority of the expansion population about 97,000 in Nebraska are working men and women who earn too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid, but not enough to be eligible for subsidies on the health care exchange.
The federal government would pay 95 percent of the cost in 2017, sliding to a permanent 90/10 ratio by 2020 the precise split of the Highway Act.
Gov. Ricketts already has shown he has faith in state/federal partnerships with his ambitious infrastructure bank. He should reconsider his opposition to accepting federal funding for health coverage as the Unicameral considers LB 1032 this session, and look beyond short-term elections cycles, but rather gaze out to the horizon with an eye toward generations yet to come as great Republican leaders like Lincoln and Eisenhower did.
Nebraskans should be proud that their state is a national leader in tracking the rate at which students graduate from high school after five, six and seven years.
A recent story by Journal Star reporter Margaret Reist put faces on some of those statistics, recounting the journey that Charlie Bush III and Christian Peralta took to their high school graduation ceremonies.
If Bush had stayed on a four-year schedule, he would have graduated from high school in 2013. He took a few wrong turns. He was expelled, transferred to Parkview Christian. Then he got in such serious trouble that he was sent to the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center in Kearney.
Peralta moved from Mexico to Lincoln to be with his mom and stepdad in 2012. When he started at Lincoln High School, he said he did not even know how to say hello in English. He started as an English language learner, and moved on to advanced placement classes.
Both Bush and Peralta were among the hundreds of students who walked across the stage to receive their diplomas.
These would be the students that I was most proud of, the students that stuck with it even when they wanted to give it up, said TJ McDowell, who with Pete Ferguson coordinates at $4.5 million grant to increase the graduation rate at Lincoln Public Schools.
LPS has been tracking four-year-plus graduates for years. The state began tracking the rates more recently and is now one of 13 states that track five- and six-year graduation rates.
Thats in line with recommendations from the GradNation campaign begun in 2010 by Americas Promise Alliance with the goal of achieving a national high school graduation rate of 90 percent by 2020. (Nebraska is a leader in that effort with a statewide graduation rate of 89.7 percent in 2013-14, second only to Iowa, which posted a graduation rate of 90.5 percent.)
At LPS the graduation rate of subgroups low-income, racial minorities, ELL students and special education students -- lags behind white students. But when seven-year graduates are included, the gap between white students and racial minorities narrowed significantly. The graduation rate for low-income students after seven years jumps from 78 to 96 percent.
Lincoln High Principal Mark Larson said he appreciates that the state tracks extended graduation rates because it recognizes the work the staff has been doing for years. State Education Commissioner Matt Blomstedt said he hopes that it will encourage schools to focus more on helping struggling students.
When schools dont give up on students, the extra effort can change lives for the better and benefit communities as a whole. Its gratifying that Nebraska is ahead of the curve.
Brian Rockey, former manager in the Nebraska Department of Revenue's Lottery and Charitable Gaming Division, will return as its director beginning July 1, Tax Commissioner Tony Fulton announced Monday.
Rockey, 55, worked for the division in capacities including marketing manager from its startup in 1993 through 2011. He then worked for International Game Technology, the primary contractor for the state lottery.
He has a Bachelor of Arts from Creighton University, a Master of Arts from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Ill have the opportunity to work with many of the same wonderful people I worked with before, and I look forward to taking the Nebraska lottery and charitable gaming division into the future, Rockey said Monday.
Jill Marshall has been acting lottery director and Aaron Hendry acting charitable gaming director since 2014.
The lottery and charitable gaming divisions merged under a single administrator in July 2007.
More than $596 million has been raised for the Nebraska Lotterys beneficiary funds since it began in 1993.
Gov. Pete Ricketts said Tuesday he has approved new local roads and bridge standards that will provide more construction and repair flexibility, resulting in efficiency and cost-saving while protecting safety requirements.
Ricketts said the standards will "give counties and cities more flexibility so they can design solutions (that) fit the problem, do the work and stretch our dollars."
"We'll get more bang for the buck," the governor said during a Capitol news conference.
Infrastructure is a key element in Nebraska's economy, Ricketts said, and "one of the focuses of my administration."
Nebraska Department of Roads Director Kyle Schneweis described the new standards as "smart and responsible" as well as practical.
"They simply streamline design approaches," he said, providing flexibility and encouraging a culture of innovation.
The changes represent "a right-sizing of regulations," Schneweis said.
Roger Figard, chairman of the Board of Public Roads Classifications and Standards, said the changes will protect safety standards while resulting in less government and "more work" on local roads.
"It's a big win for local government," said Hall County Engineer Steve Rhiele of Grand Island.
The result will be "common-sense, practical, cost-saving decisions," he said.
As an example, Rhiele cited roads in his county that have fewer than 50 vehicles of traffic per day that should be assessed with practical standards.
Answering a few questions on other topics, Ricketts said he has not studied the details of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's dispute with Judge Gonzalo Curiel, a federal judge who is overseeing a lawsuit against Trump alleging fraud associated with the defunct Trump University.
Trump has questioned Curiel's impartiality and described the Indiana-born judge as "a Mexican."
"I hold the judiciary with respect," Ricketts said. "I am not advising Mr. Trump in his campaign."
Ricketts deflected a question about the use of restrooms at the College World Series in Omaha.
The governor said he opposes President Barack Obama's declaration that restrooms should be accessible to people based on their gender identification.
The NCAA requires its host sites to be free from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Ten people live in Whiteclay, but nearly 10 percent of calls to the Sheridan County Sheriffs Office during the month of April came from the tiny village that is home to four beer stores.
Activists fighting for change there showed the sheriffs log to members of the state Liquor Control Commission in Lincoln Tuesday. They say the state has failed to enforce liquor laws, and they want the stores closed.
Filmmaker John Maisch said the dispatch logs show the dozens of calls to law enforcement included alleged assaults, car accidents and a fire in Whiteclay.
Its a snapshot of the conditions in Whiteclay, where four beer licenses have been issued, he said. I dont think these four licenses should have been issued because existing licenses havent been enforced.
Maisch and Winnebago activist Frank LaMere called on the commission to stop renewing the liquor licenses for the stores. The commission took no action on the request Tuesday.
Whiteclay has long been the source of divisiveness between activists who would like to see the stores closed and those who support their right to operate. The four sell nearly 4 million cans of beer a year, mostly to residents of South Dakotas nearby Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where alcohol is banned.
Maisch said the Sheridan County Sheriffs Office dispatch logs show people called the sheriffs office on most days during April to report fights, unconscious people, sick people and public drunkenness. One caller reported a man lying in front of a building for a few days, although a sheriffs deputy later failed to find anyone.
Another caller reported some men in Whiteclay throwing rocks at a car after being refused money.
On April 26, a caller reported a large fire on the towns northwestern side. The sheriffs office responded by calling someone in Whiteclay to ask if they could see a fire, and the log never said whether the report was confirmed.
Maisch decried response times of as long as 3 hours, but acknowledged the sheriff's office is 20 miles away in Rushville. He blamed the commission for allowing so many beer stores to operate in such a small town.
Issuing four licenses creates an undue concentration of licenses in one area, he said.
Liquor Control Executive Director Hobert Rupe said Sheridan County officials have the right to cancel the liquor licenses for Whiteclays beer stores themselves, though the state Liquor Control Commission would have to approve such decisions. However, Sheridan County officials have not attempted to cancel the town's liquor licenses, he said.
Sheridan County's population is about 5,500.
After his presentation, Maisch questioned commission Chairman Robert Batt about his demeanor, saying he appeared agitated.
The question prompted a heated exchange.
Dont pretend to speak for me, Batt said.
Unlike you, when I have something to say to you, I say it to your face, Maisch said.
Batt responded that Maisch had no standing in this matter and was grandstanding for the media and to earn profits.
Maisch then claimed Batt appeared to be cozy with beer distributors at a conference for alcohol regulators last September in Chicago. Batt denied receiving any financial advantage from alcohol regulators and called Maisch a liar.
I think your actions have been shameful, Maisch said.
KEARNEY Buffalo County authorities have released names and more details about the shooting of a man by a Kearney police officer Sunday night.
The sheriff's office said Officer Derek Payton fired three rounds at 35-year-old Jose Klich and hit him in the torso when Klich tried to flee a traffic stop.
Klich's car clipped Payton's cruiser, but it's not clear whether that was intentional. Payton gave chase and collided with an uninvolved vehicle driven by Mattie Davis, 25.
Police said Amanda Journey, 31, a passenger in Klich's car, was hurt when he crashed into a building.
Klich, Journey, Davis and Payton all were taken to a hospital, the sheriff's office said. Payton was released after treatment.
NORTH PLATTE An Iowa woman who was badly injured in a car accident in Nebraska 24 years ago has finally found the man who helped keep her alive.
Jennifer Hardie-Fehrer, now a nurse in Chariton, Iowa, has thought often about the man she calls her hero.
Hardie-Fehrer, then 12, and her sister Trisha, 23, were driving from Colorado on June 4, 1992, to see their dad in Iowa. Trisha lost control of the car on Interstate 80 near Hershey and it rolled, throwing Jennifer into the eastbound passing lane.
Chris Scaff was an emergency medical technician and firefighter who drove a truck in his spare time to pay for additional education.
"Jen was bleeding out," he said recently.
Scaff grabbed his medical kit but said he ran out of bandages as he tried to stop the girl's bleeding and had to use a blanket.
She survived, and after surgery and other treatment, she eventually went home.
It turns out she lived in Arvada, about half an hour from where he did back then. They visited several times but eventually lost touch and she remembered only his first name.
But she wanted to find him.
"I wanted to do a better job saying thank you than I was capable of at 12," she said.
She and a friend put together a Facebook post on May 30 asking for help in finding Scaff. A newspaper reporter offered to help track him down, and did.
"I didn't even know if she was still alive," said Scaff.
On Saturday, the two spoke. He moved had moved to Indiana and lives in Loganton, Pennsylvania, where he teaches fire and emergency medical services classes.
Scaff said he'd been thinking about her as the anniversary of the accident approached. She thanked him and called him her hero.
"We will never lose touch again, I promise," Hardie-Fehrer said.
LOS ANGELES Striding into history, Hillary Clinton will become the first woman to top the presidential ticket of a major U.S. political party, capturing commitments Monday from the number of delegates needed to become the Democrats presumptive nominee.
The victory arrived nearly eight years to the day after she conceded her first White House campaign to Barack Obama. Back then, she famously noted her inability to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling.
Campaigning this time as the loyal successor to the nations first black president, Clinton held off a surprisingly strong challenge from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. He mobilized millions with a fervently liberal message and his insurgent candidacy revealed a deep level of national frustration with politics-as-usual, even among Democrats who have controlled the White House since 2009.
Clinton, the former secretary of state, New York senator and first lady, reached the 2,383 delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee on Monday with a decisive weekend victory in Puerto Rico and a burst of last-minute support from superdelegates. Those are party officials and officeholders, many of them eager to wrap up the primary amid preference polls showing her in a tightening race with presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.
Clinton has 1,812 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses. She also has the support of 571 superdelegates, according to an Associated Press count.
The AP surveyed all 714 superdelegates repeatedly in the past seven months, and only 95 remain publicly uncommitted.
While superdelegates will not formally cast their votes for Clinton until the partys July convention in Philadelphia, all those counted in her tally have unequivocally told the AP they will do so.
We really need to bring a close to this primary process and get on to defeating Donald Trump, said Nancy Worley, a superdelegate who chairs Alabamas Democratic Party and provided one of the last endorsements to put Clinton over the top.
Clinton outpaced Sanders in winning new superdelegate endorsements even after his string of primary and caucus wins in May. Following the results in Puerto Rico, it is no longer possible for Sanders to reach the 2,383 needed to win the nomination based on the remaining available pledged delegates and uncommitted superdelegates.
Sanders said this past weekend he plans to fight on until the convention, promising to make the case to superdelegates that he is better positioned to beat Trump in November. Superdelegates can change their minds. But since the start of the APs survey in late 2015, no superdelegates have switched from supporting Clinton to backing Sanders.
Indeed, Clintons victory is broadly decisive. She leads Sanders by more than 3 million cast votes, by 291 pledged delegates and by 523 superdelegates. She won 29 caucuses and primaries to his 21 victories.
Thats a far bigger margin than Obama had in 2008, when he led Clinton by 131 pledged delegates and 105 superdelegates at the point he clinched the nomination.
Echoing the sentiments of California Gov. Jerry Brown, who overcame a decades-long rivalry with the Clinton family to endorse her last week, many superdelegates expressed a desire to close ranks around a nominee who could defeat Trump in November.
Its time to stand behind our presumptive candidate, said Michael Brown, one of two superdelegates from the District of Columbia who came forward in the past week to back Clinton before the citys June 14 primary. We shouldnt be acting like we are undecided when the people of America have spoken.
Though she marched into her second presidential primary campaign as an overwhelming favorite, Clinton could not shake Sanders until its final days. He campaigned aggressively in California ahead of the states Tuesday election, unwilling to exit a race Clinton stood on the cusp of winning.
Beyond winning over millions of Sanders supporters who vow to remain loyal to the self-described democratic socialist, Clinton faces challenges as she turns toward November, including criticism of her decision to use a private email server run from her New York home while serving as secretary of state. Her deep unpopularity among Republicans has pushed many leery of Trump to nevertheless embrace his campaign.
This to me is about saving the country and preventing a third progressive, liberal term, which is what a Clinton presidency would do, House Speaker Paul Ryan told the AP last week after he finally endorsed Trump, weeks after the New Yorker clinched the GOP nomination.
Yet Clinton showed no signs of limping into the general election as she approached the milestone, leaving Sanders behind and focusing on lacerating Trump. She said electing the billionaire businessman, who has spent months hitting her and her husband with bitingly personal attacks, would be a historic mistake.
He is not just unprepared. He is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility, Clinton said last week in a speech that was striking in its forcefulness, previewing a brutal five-month general election campaign to come.
Even without the nomination, Sanders can claim ideological victory. His liberal positions pushed the issue of income inequality into the spotlight and drove Clinton to the left on issues such as trade, Wall Street and campaign finance reform.
But she prevailed, in part, by claiming much of the coalition that boosted Obama. She won overwhelming support from women and minorities, catapulting her to decisive victories in diverse, delegate-rich states such as New York and Texas.
RACINE A Racine man will spend the rest of his life prison for his role in the shooting death of 28-year-old Terrence Miller in 2008.
Damont L. Carey, one of two men charged with Millers murder, was sentenced Monday morning by Racine County Circuit Court Judge Charles Constantine to life in prison without the possibility of extended supervision, according to online court records.
Racine County District Attorney Rich Chiapete recommended Carey be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, while Careys defense attorney asked that his client be eligible for parole in 20 years, those records show.
Carey and his co-defendant, Jerome S. Burkhart, were charged in 2010 with first-degree intentional homicide, armed robbery with use of force, and burglary-armed with a dangerous weapon in connection with the shooting.
According to investigators, the two men allegedly broke into a home at 3315 Victory Ave. on July 23, 2008, and shot Terrence Miller in front of his mother. Miller later died of multiple gunshot wounds.
Carey pleaded guilty to the homicide charge in February 2015, with the remaining charges dismissed and read into the record, online court records show.
He had originally been slated to be sentenced in August 2015, those records indicate, but that process was delayed as the state worked to prosecute his co-defendant.
Carey had been set to be the states main witness in Burkharts trial, initially slated to take place in February, but those plans changed when Carey decided not to testify, and instead pleaded the Fifth Amendment, which allows people to not answer questions that might incriminate them.
Burkharts trial is now scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on June 20.
MOUNT PLEASANT Two Illinois men face felony charges after one allegedly stole six vehicles from Porcaro Ford, allegedly with assistance from the other.
Israel T. Staley, 51 and Levar Outlaw, 36, both of Richton Park, Ill., were arrested Saturday after a Mount Pleasant officer pulled them over as he investigated a suspicious vehicle.
Staley faces six counts of felony theft, while both men also face one count each of conspiracy to commit felony theft and one count each of operating a vehicle without the owners consent.
Both men made their initial appearances in court Monday, according to court records. Records show Staleys bond was set at $15,000 cash, while Outlaws was set at $10,000 cash.
According to the complaint, Porcaro Ford, 6001 Washington Ave., had six cars with an estimated value in excess of $270,000 stolen from its lot. On May 25, a 2016 Explorer and 2016 F150 were stolen, while on June 2, a 2016 Mustang, two 2016 Explorers and a 2016 edge were taken, police said.
An officer pulled the two men over after noticing them driving a vehicle with a similar paint job to the one he had seen in security footage of the Porcaro thefts, according to the complaint. He recognized Staley as the man in the footage allegedly stealing key fobs from Porcaro and returning to steal the cars after hours, police said.
According to the complaint, Outlaw had a key fob in his possession at the time of his arrest, and officers located two additional fobs in the vehicle. One of the fobs belonged to an Expedition that had not yet been stolen, police said.
Police said they also found Illinois dealer license plates and screwdrivers in the vehicle, which they said would be used to place on the stolen cars. The vehicle the men were pulled over in had been reported stolen from Indiana, according to the complaint.
Both men are scheduled to next appear in court at a joint preliminary hearing on June 15.
Prosecutors in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region have accused 74 defendants of killing people and using their corpses to make false claims of mining incidents, the regional prosecuting authority said on Monday.
The prosecuting body in the region's Bayannur League alleged that the defendants fabricated mining disaster claims after murdering 17 people in six provinces and autonomous regions, including Shanxi, Hebei and Xinjiang, and then asking for compensation.
After interrogating the suspects and reviewing materials, facts and evidence, the league's prosecutors brought the case to court on May 30, charging the defendants with homicide, fraud, blackmail, hiding offenses and possessing criminal gains.
No more details, such as the times of the alleged crimes, have been released by the regional prosecutors.
It is not an isolated case.
According to a report in China Youth Daily two years ago, a gang of 21 migrant workers, most from Sichuan and Yunan provinces, cheated around 1.85 million yuan ($281,000) in one year after killing four other workers and making their deaths look like mining accidents.
Using mined stones in Handan city, Hebei province, the gang murdered the four colleagues and then "helped" the victims' families ask for compensation from the mining employers, the report said.
Many of the defendants in that case were related, it said.
In August 2014, the Handan Intermediate People's Court sentenced five defendants to death, one to a suspended death sentence and three to life imprisonment for homicide, said a report from the Supreme People's Court.
The other defendants were sentenced at the same time, it said.
They appealed but were rebuffed by the provincial High People's Court, which sustained the original judgment. The original verdict was strictly in line with the Chinese Criminal Law, and the sentences were reasonable, it said.
In 2011, the People's Daily website also reported that some defendants took people with mental diseases to mining sites and then killed them to ask for compensation from the mine owners, even creating a criminal network.
RACINE Stressing the importance of offering nutritious meals to children during the summer months, Racine ELCA Neighborhood Camps announces the sponsorship of the Summer Food Service Program at Neighborhood Camp at Emaus ELCA and Living Faith Lutheran Church.
The Summer Food Service Program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is administered by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, provides nutritious meals to children during the summer, when free and reduced-price school meals are typically unavailable.
Free meals will be made available to children 18 years of age and younger. Persons over 18 years of age who are determined by a state or local public educational agency to be mentally or physically disabled and who also participate in a public or private non-profit school program during the regular school year may receive free meals as well.
The following locations will be serving the free meals this summer: Emaus Lutheran Church, 1925 Summit Ave. and Living Faith Lutheran Church, 2915 Wright Ave. Meals are provided between June 20 and June 30; July 11 and July 28 to eligible children regardless of race, color, national origin, age, gender or disability and there will be no discrimination in the course of meal service.
TOWN OF NORWAY The bold, all-capital letters on the towns website makes it clear: Norway wants its stolen street signs back.
Weve been battling this for a couple of years now, Norway Administrator/Treasurer Tom Kramer said. We just dont want anybody to get hurt.
The call to return stolen signs doesnt come from a particular increase in sign thefts, but serves as more of a general request to the public to be wary of the problem. Still, the words HELP US FIND OUR SIGNS! indicates a desire to resolve the issue.
If people keep their eyes open and watch whats going on they might be able to (see) something, Kramer said.
Stealing signs affects Norways bottom line. According to Kramer, the average sign costs between $90 and $150 to replace, depending on the type and size.
But perhaps more significantly, sign theft can present safety issues, especially if the sign in question affects traffic flow, like a stop or yield sign.
Sometimes people dont see that it has the potential to be dangerous, Kramer said.
Kramer added that the two primary motivations behind the thefts are to scrap the metal for money; or for novelty purposes, such as someone stealing a street sign with their last name on it.
The town will accept returned signs with a no-questions-asked policy, but warns on its website that those caught with the signs could face fines or jail time.
We would like to see them not take the signs, because its pretty much common sense and its dangerous, Kramer said.
When Gun Control Kills
Gun control's legacy -- restrictive laws that fail to disarm criminals,
even while they make it harder for honest citizens to defend themselves.
By Erich Pratt. June 4th, 2016
Anniversaries are usually a time for celebration. But that won't be the case for the Bowne family this year.
Last June, Carol Bowne was murdered outside her New Jersey home by a violent felon who had threatened her on several occasions.
The 39-year-old hairdresser had secured a restraining order against the former boyfriend, and had even installed security cameras and an alarm system.
But realizing these measures would not be enough to stop a violent attack, she began the labyrinthine process for purchasing a firearm in New Jersey.
Carol applied for a permit to purchase a handgun on April 21, 2015.
Sadly, she was still waiting for permission to purchase her weapon on June 3, the day that her former boyfriend showed up at her home and viciously stabbed her to death. .....
This is way too typical in some jurisdictions - no thought for other's right of self defense. It might well be theorized that a purchase denial due to waiting periods, or simply a drawn out burocratic process, should be labeled a culpable homicide in a case such as described. This tragedy might have been averted if the lady's rights had been respected. Sadly it would appear, NJ is close to top of the list with regard to disregarding Second Amendment rights.
"You don't have to be Jewish to fight by our side."
2016 JPFO All rights reserved.
jpfo@jpfo.org
1-800-869-1884
Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership
12500 NE 10th Pl.
Bellevue, WA 98005 USA
Americas most aggressive civil rights organization
We make the NRA look like moderates
Join JPFO
Back to Top
Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain.
Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred.
For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here.
Anil Giri is a reporter covering diplomacy, international relations and national politics for The Kathmandu Post. Giri has been working as a journalist for a decade-and-a-half, contributing to numerous national and international media outlets.
944 families get rebuilding aid in Gorkha
Nine hundred and forty-four displaced families from Hanspur VDC in Gorkha, the epicentre of the April 25 earthquake last year, have received the first instalment of the housing reconstruction aid so far.
Advocating environment conservation through cartoons
A week long cartoon exhibition titled Cartoon Exhibition on Climate Change Awareness that boasts cartoons that play with the motifs of the impact of global warming in the world, has opened at the Nepal Art Council in the Capital.
Call for effective changes in new accord
Traders and experts have called for making effective changes in the Nepal-India trade treaty when it comes up for review on October 28 to address the countrys ballooning deficit with the southern neighbour.
Changing gender status: Medical board asks for detailed report
The medical board of the Ministry of Health (MoH) has asked two persons who have applied for gender change in their citizenship to furnish detailed medical reports before they can decide on the matter.
Cine de Chef to offer new packages for patrons
Sundhara-based Cine de Chef, a cinema that fuses fine dining with movies, has resumed its services by offering five new packages to its patrons.
Customs revenue inflows exceed last years figure
The countrys customs offices collected more revenue during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year than during the same period last year pointing to a rebound in the economy since the Indian blockade last September.
Economics of cyber security
It is important for businesses to think of cyber risks as business-related risks and not merely IT-related risks
Foreigners up in Mustang for Tiji festival
A three-day ritual Tiji (Tenchi festival) celebrated in Upper Mustang (Lo Manthang) has become famous among the foreigners as well.
French mission submits report
French Ambassador to Nepal Yves Carmona submitted a feasibility study report on Kathmandu City Urban Cable Car Project to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport on Monday.
Fresh propopsal floated to China
Nepal has asked China to restart conducting trade through Tatopani border point temporarily without customs, quarantine and immigration facilities on either side of the border
Ganga Maya says her fast wont stop
Ganga Maya Adhikari on Monday observed the 13th death anniversary of her slain son, Krishna Prasad, at Bir Hospital where she has been staging a fast-unto-death protest for the past three years demanding that her sons murderers are brought to justice.
Amber Gurung is a never-fading star: PM Oli
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has expressed shock and sadness over the death of veteran musician and composer of national anthem Amber Gurung.
Gurung will be cremated with both Hindu and Bouddha rites
The final rites of veteran musician Amber Gurung, who passed away in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, would be performed according to both Hindu and Bouddha traditions.
Health institutes shutdown services in Baitadi
The health workers at the District Health Office, Baitadi shutdown health service demanding action against some miscreants that misbehaved with District Health Office, Baitadi Chief, Dr Gunraj Awasthi.
Hold feet to the fire
Government inaction on dangers posed by rain-induced disasters is criminally negligent
Housepooling plan catches city dwellers in two minds
A year after the Gorkha Earthquake, tremors have largely subsided and the government, albeit at snails pace, has deployed engineers to the affected areas to help quake victims rebuild safer houses.
Importers evading tax by submitting bogus bills
Importers have been found to be avoiding paying import duty by submitting different sets of bills for the same shipment to Nepali and Indian customs offices in Birgunj and Raxaul respectively.
Initiate the investigation
The state should probe the killings that took place during the Tarai unrest, all of them
11 people killed in Istanbul blast
At least 11 people have been killed by a blast which targeted a police bus in central Istanbul, officials say.
Mexican security forces committed crimes against humanity: report
Mexican security forces have committed crimes against humanity, with mass disappearances and extrajudicial killings rife during the country's decade-long drug war, according to a report released by rights groups on Monday.
MH17 crash: Big Buk missile part found in Ukraine
International investigators have published a photo of a large Buk missile component found at the MH17 airliner crash site eastern Ukraine.
Govt to provide state honours to Musician Gurung
Veteran musician Amber Gurung will receive ceremonial funeral with state honours at Pashupati Aryaghat.
Nepal to request India for defence loan waiver
Nepal is preparing to request India for the supply of military hardware and a helicopter, during the meeting of the Nepal-India Bilateral Consultative Group on Security that takes place in New Delhi on Thursday and Friday
Honouring the code of honour: Not-so-gentlemanly agreements!
As two key allies of the left coalition make contradicting claims over the so-called gentlemans agreement on changing the government, many have started questioning whether such unwritten code of honour indeed works in a country like Nepal
NSU meeting to fix convention date
Amid mounting pressure, the Nepali Congress leadership has asked its student wing to gear up for its convention nearly a decade after the last jamboree.
Pillion rider killed in road mishap
A pillion rider was killed in a road accident at Bandipur-8 in Tanahun district on Monday.
Sanghiya Gathabandhan begins relay hunger strike from today
Sanghiya Gathabandhan, an alliance of Madhes-based and Janajati parties, began relay hunger strike from Tuesday after changing its form of the agitation.
Senior UK officials arrive Nepal to commemorate bicentenary Nepal-Britain diplomatic relations
The United Kingdom (UK) Foreign & Commonwealth Permanent Under-Secretary Sir Simon McDonald and the UK Department for International Developments (DFID) Permanent Secretary Mark Lowcock arrived in Nepal for an official visit on Tuesday to celebrate bicentenary of Britain Nepal diplomatic relations.
Shakya is the founder CEO of beed, an international management consulting and advisory firm. He is the author of Unleashing Nepal and Unleashing The Vajra.
Shock has gripped residents of Kasensero landing site in Rakai district after four of their colleagues were reportedly killed by Tanzanian pirates.
The deceased have been identified as Isiah Mbabazi, Gerald Muyunga, Godfrey Ssemwanga, and Steven Kikambi all residents of Kasensero landing site in Kyebe Sub County in Rakai district.
It is alleged that the group was murdered by Tanzanian pirates who attacked them and made off with their boat, money and other valuables.
Two fishermen that were on water during the time of the attack managed to escape the robbers because the pirates boat that was chasing them had run out of fuel.
The southern Region Police spokesperson IbinSsenkumbi has confirmed the incident saying that they are going to work closely with their counterparts in Tanzania to hunt for the robbers that are on ran.
He however says that police and fishermen are working tirelessly to retrieve the deceaseds bodies.
The police plan to formally write to the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) over concerns about unregistered simcards that are still in use.
The police spokesperson Fred Enanga says this has crippled the fight against organized crime that is mainly thriving via telephones and internet.
He says the police has often failed to track criminals that are using unregistered simcards since neither police nor UCC have their data.
Story By Samuel Ssebuliba
The three royal guards attached to the Obusinga Bwa Rwenzururu cultural institution in Kasese district that were arrested over the weekend are due to appear in court today.
The district police commander, Martin Tukahebwa says the suspects case files are ready.
The trio is believed to have crossed to Bundibugyo in what is seen as re-organization for fresh ethnic clashes in the sub region.
The suspects were found in possession of dangerous weapons at Njanja Masaka in Mirambi sub county Bundibugyo district.
Tukahebwa says they were also found carrying dangerous weapons like batons, knives, sharp swords as well as UPDF boots and belts.
On Saturday another royal guard of the Obusinga bwa Rwenzururu was shot dead as he allegedly resisted arrest by police at Bigando in Kasese district.
The incident left one police officer, Amos Mutamba critically injured and was rushed to Kilembe hospital where he is still admitted.
AUBURN Local police officers arrested 13 people Monday night through Friday, according to DeKalb County Jail records.
Pamela
J. Nihart, 44, of Road C75, Edgerton, Ohio, was arrested Monday at 6:44
p.m. by DeKalb County Police on charges of operating a vehicle while
intoxicated at the Class A and Class C misdemeanor levels. She posted
$1,000 bond to be released Tuesday at 1:08 p.m.
Denell M. Barlow,
27, of the 400 block of South Wayne Street, Waterloo, was arrested
Tuesday at 3 p.m. by the Waterloo Marshals Department on a warrant from
Allen County for unspecified charges. Barlow was not eligible for
release on bond.
Steven V. Blomberg, 52, of the 16100 block of
Viberg Road, Leo, was arrested Wednesday at 12:03 a.m. by Auburn Police
on a charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a Class A
misdemeanor. He posted $1,000 bond to be released at 9:57 a.m.
Alicia
A. Convey, 20, of the 400 block of West Fifteenth Street, Auburn, was
arrested Wednesday at 12:50 a.m. by DeKalb County Police on a warrant
charging her with criminal mischief, a Class B misdemeanor. She posted
$1,000 bond to be released at 10:22 a.m.
Belinda J. Menier, 37,
of the 10400 block of West 300S, LaGrange, was arrested Wednesday at 3
p.m. by DeKalb County Police on a charge of driving while suspended with
a prior offense, a Class A misdemeanor. She posted $1,000 bond t be
released at 5:33 p.m.
Travis E. Leas, 19, of the 200 block of
Wayne Street, Kendallville, was arrested Wednesday at 6:45 pm. by DeKalb
County Police on a charge of disorderly conduct, a Class B misdemeanor.
He posted $500 bond to be released at 9:45 p.m.
Danielle L.
Leas, 29, of the 100 block of Walnut Street, Butler, was arrested
Wednesday at 6:50 p.m. by DeKalb County Police on a charge of
intimidation, a Class C felony. She posted $3,000 bond to be released at
10:05 p.m.
Danielle D. Wells, 19, of the 1300 block of South
Cowen Street, Garrett, was arrested Thursday at 2:40 a.m. by Garrett
Police on charges of resisting law enforcement, a Class A misdemeanor,
and minor consuming, a Class C misdemeanor. She was held at the jail for
$1,500 bond.
Travis Shepherd, 36, of the 800 block of South C.R.
500E, Avilla, was arrested Thursday at 2:18 p.m. by DeKalb County
Police on a warrant charging him with possession of methamphetamine, a
Class D felony; possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia,
Class A misdemeanors. He posted $2,500 bond to be released at 4:04 p.m.
Ted
A. Johnson, 20, of the 300 block of West Seventh Street, Auburn, was
arrested Thursday at 2:18 p.m. by DeKalb County Police on a warrant
charging him with domestic battery, a Class A misdemeanor. He was not
eligible for release on bond.
Gary A. Davis, 56, of the 5800
block of C.R. 34, Butler, was arrested Thursday at 3:07 p.m. by DeKalb
County Police on a warrant charging him with pointing an unloaded
firearm, a Class A misdemeanor, and intimidation, a Class C felony. He
was not eligible for release on bond.
Bradley J.L. Wolfe, 27, of
the 3900 block of S.R. 8, Auburn, was arrested Friday at 3:26 p.m. by
DeKalb County Police for failure to report to jail to serve a sentence.
He was not eligible for release on bond.
Mark A. Lewis, 46, of
the 1300 block of Duplex Avenue, Auburn, was arrested Friday at 11:28
a.m. by Indiana State Police on a warrant from Grant County charging him
with dealing in a Schedule III controlled substance, a Class B felony.
He was not eligible for release on bond.
Gov. Scott Walker, speaking last month in Portage, said he would apply any savings from a shift to self-insurance for state workers to public education.
Self-insuring state workers could save money by reducing overhead, but it could increase costs by weakening a competitive insurance market that has kept costs low, authorities said Tuesday.
The state Department of Employee Trust Funds, which administers health benefits for 250,000 state and local government workers and their family members, will seek bids in July for self-insurance, on a regional or statewide basis, in 2018. The Group Insurance Board will vote on the matter in November.
Currently, nearly all of the workers and dependents are covered by 17 HMOs, which receive premiums and accept the risk for claims. Under self-insurance, the state would pay benefits directly and take on the risk.
Consultants have said the move could cost $100 million a year or save $42 million, largely by avoiding $18 million in Affordable Care Act fees, cutting $11 million in administrative costs and eliminating $11 million in insurance company profits.
Gov. Scott Walker said any savings would be used on public education.
Bids, due in September, should better define potential savings, said Lisa Ellinger, an administrator for the state Department of Employee Trust Funds, or ETF.
Since our program is financed by the taxpayers, we also have a responsibility to explore and evaluate whether alternatives to our current structure are more cost effective, Ellinger said during a panel discussion about self-insurance sponsored by Wisconsin Health News.
The average cost increase for state worker insurance has been 2.5 percent the past five years, compared to 5 percent to 7 percent nationally, Ellinger said.
Pete Farrow, CEO of Group Health Cooperative of Eau Claire, said Wisconsin has the most competitive health insurance market in the country based on a commonly used index. That has helped keep state worker costs down, he said.
Removing 250,000 people from the commercial insurance market would change it from a competition market to a concentration market, Farrow said.
Group Health of Eau Claire and Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin, Dean Health Plan, Physicians Plus and Unity Health Insurance are members of the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans, which opposes a move to self-insurance.
J.P. Wieske, the states deputy commissioner of insurance, said its not possible to say how much self-insurance would cost or save, or how much it would disrupt the insurance market or care for patients, before analyzing bids from companies seeking to run the program.
Yes, there may be some market impacts with us moving, but there also may not be market impacts, Wieske said.
The federal Affordable Care Act has created a fundamental instability in the market, he said. Thats probably a much larger impact than anything the state can do.
Most states self-insure some or all state workers. Many large private employers do too, but its not clear if it makes sense for state workers in Wisconsin, said Jerry Frye, president of The Benefit Services Group in Pewaukee.
Large employers typically adopt self-insurance because they want to avoid state insurance mandates, which ETF cant do, Frye said. They also want to avoid a state premium tax, which ETF doesnt pay, and they want consistent benefits, which ETF already provides with a standard plan.
There is a reason why large employers go self-funded, but most of those reasons do not apply to ETF, Frye said.
If the Group Insurance Board adopts self-insurance, the legislatures Joint Finance Committee will have oversight of any contract.
The Group Insurance Board may not pursue an all-or-nothing strategy, Ellinger said.
The model at the end of day ... could be a hybrid of what were talking about: self insured, fully insured, regional, maintaining certain regions as they operate today, she said.
The La Crosse Medical Health Science Consortium has been awarded a $1.5 million grant spread over eight years to help ramp up and coordinate behavioral health services.
The Changemaker grant from the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment, at roughly $200,000 a year, will allow the consortium to hire a full-time coordinator and a half-time evaluator when the project begins in July, consortium director Catherine Kolkmeier said in announcing the award Tuesday.
The consortium is one of 10 community coalitions from throughout the state to receive nearly $20 million in grants from the endowment through the Healthier Wisconsin Partnership Program at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
One of the main goals for the consortiums program is better integration of mental health services, especially during transition periods, such as moving from high school to college, from college to a job or from jail back into the public sphere, Kolkmeier said.
For example, when a student is working with a high school counselor, there is no hand-off to college, so it falls on you to make the contact, she said.
Similarly, the program would help provide continuity of mental health services for someone leaving a jail to re-enter civilian life, Kolkmeier said.
Another goal is to ensure that agencies throughout the community are using common language and assessment tools, she said.
It also will increase the capacity of the community to help, she said. Not everybody needs a psychiatrist to deal with mental health issues, as some can thrive with less intense services.
How do we make even more people aware of mental health issues, such as supervisors, co-workers and friends, Kolkmeier said.
The coordinator, expected to be hired next month and be stationed at a partner agency, would help more people recognize signs of mental health issues and guide them to resources, Kolkmeier said.
Along those lines, the program would dovetail with the national Campaign to Change Direction launched in March 2015, with La Crosse as one of the main players, she said. That initiative, which was involved in seeking the grant, teaches the five signs of mental illness:
Personality change
Agitation
Withdrawal
Poor self-care
Hopelessness
The grant stipulates the first year to plan, recruit partners and design the project; second through sixth years to implement the plan, and seventh and eighth years to develop sustainability and continue the project, as well as distribute results. After receiving about $200,000 annually for the first seven years, the consortium would receive a smaller grant to reach the $1.5 million total at the point the program would sustain itself.
The program, which is expected to cover at least La Crosse County and perhaps beyond, also would focus on the underlying social determinants of poor mental health that may be barriers to treatment or other resources, Kolkmeier said.
The Changemaker title is intended to reflect the endowments shift two years ago from merely providing grants to promoting sustainable changes in health, said Cheryl Maurana, senior associate dean and director of the Medical College of Wisconsin School of Medicines endowment.
Other grant recipients include the Eau Claire City-County Health Department, including Eau Claire and Chippewa counties; the Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Program, encompassing Grant, Green, Iowa, Lafayette and Richland counties, and Mental Health America of Wisconsin in Milwaukee County.
TOMAH JP Olson, founder of Journey Into the Word, will speak Friday at the Christian Fellowship meeting at the Dennys in Tomah.
Dinner will be served at 6 p.m., and Olsons presentation begins at 7 p.m. Olson will talk about her work in Australia, New Zealand, France, Africa, Haiti, India and the Philippines. For more information, call 608-378-3123.
MADISON The first television ad of Republican Sen. Ron Johnsons re-election campaign released Tuesday draws a sharp contrast between his background and that of his Democratic opponent, without mentioning Russ Feingold by name.
Career politicians manufacture hogwash I manufacture plastic, Johnson says in the ad shot on the manufacturing floor of the Oshkosh company he ran before going to the Senate. And I respect you enough to tell you the truth.
The spot is part of a $1.3 million television ad buy in the race thats one of the most hotly contested nationwide. Feingold and Johnson are meeting in a rematch of the 2010 race Johnson won, ending Feingolds 18-year career in the Senate. That was Johnsons first run for office and came after a career spent working for plastics manufacturer Pacur.
Johnson returns to his manufacturing roots in Pallets, his first ad of his re-election campaign. In addition to filming the ad at Pacur, Johnson also officially launched his re-election campaign there.
Johnson helped build Pacur with his brother-in-law after joining the company in the late 1970s. He rose to become chief executive officer by the time he left for the Senate in 2010. In the ad, Johnson speaks directly to the camera as a forklift drives by an American flag.
Some companies export jobs. We export our product, Johnson says in the ad. Been doing it for decades, helping to create more Wisconsin jobs. And Ive stayed put right here in Oshkosh for 37 years.
Feingolds campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said in response that Johnson has spent his time in the Senate rigging the system for giant corporations and multi-millionaires like himself.
Senator Johnson is not manufacturing anything now, hes just a typical politician who votes time and time again to send Wisconsins jobs overseas, Tyler said.
Feingolds campaign cited Johnsons support for free trade agreements over the years and votes against Democratic-sponsored proposals to end tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas. Johnson has not taken a position on the latest free trade proposal in the Senate, the Trans Pacific Partnership, saying he wont decide until he needs to take a vote.
Johnsons campaign said he has a record of creating jobs, starting with his work at Pacur. His campaign also said hes fought to grow the economy not government by working to control government spending and enact policies to get Washington out of the way of good Wisconsin jobs and economic opportunity for all.
Johnsons brother Barry now runs Pacur, but Johnson retains a 5 percent stake in the company.
He has fashioned his re-election campaign around the argument that he remains a citizen legislator, unlike Feingold whom he labels a career politician. Prior to being in the U.S. Senate for 18 years, Feingold also served 10 years in the state Senate.
After losing to Johnson in 2010, Feingold set up a political action committee, worked two years as a diplomat to the Great Lakes Region of Africa, wrote a book and taught college courses at Marquette University, Lawrence University and Stanford University.
Consultant Erin Healy is challenging the Coulee Region to shoot for the moon to end homelessness, with down-to-earth collaboration to harness the resources of governmental, social service, religious and other agencies already engaged in the quest.
You have substantive experts here on homelessness, Healy told about 100 people, including mostly members of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, as well as representatives of community and governmental agencies, at St. Rose Convent in La Crosse Tuesday.
I am here to provide catalytic space for innovation to happen to staunch the bleeding of human and financial capital that homelessness causes, said Healy, who has been involved in efforts to eliminate hunger for a decade and was one of the key players in the 100,000 Homes Project that secured housing for 105,580 formerly homeless people across the country between 2010 and 2014.
Falling into homelessness has a corrosive physical and mental effect that is rapid, said Healy, whose private consulting firm is in Brooklyn, N.Y.
She cited people who obtained housing through the 100,000 Homes Project as examples of literally the rebirth of a human being when people thought they never would make it.
One was Ed, a chronic alcoholic who looked like death warmed over in a picture taken when project staffers first found him on the streets of Los Angeles. Within a year after obtaining housing and supportive services, he was a new man, healthy, smiling and willing to help others.
Another was Laura, who was addicted and homeless in Times Square in New York. After being provided with housing and support services, she became a concessions manager at a movie theater in Times Square, Healy said.
Healys visit, with the working title A La Crosse Collaboration to END Homelessness, is being sponsored by Gundersen Health Systems new Population Health and Strategy Department. Gundersen established the department in part on the philosophy that safe, secure housing is essential to the health of families and, by extension, the communitys overall health.
She outlined four guiding principles intended to foster unprecedented collaboration among agencies instead of parallel efforts that she said often perpetuate the problem rather than solving it:
Housing first: The quest to provide housing for people who need it most, such as those who are chronic alcoholics or are beset with mental health problems, helps provide the stability for them to be able to address those other issues.
People get better when they have housing, Healy said.
Prevention and rapid re-housing When someone encounters unforeseen circumstances such as a car repair cost that affects their ability to pay rent or the loss of a job, he or she may need assistance to bridge the cost or a job connection to prevent housing loss or restore housing.
Coordinated entry : This involves providing a single path to housing and services, which Healy said Couleecap does an excellent job of doing, so that services arent duplicated, increasing costs for all agencies.
We need to know peoples names to coordinate services so someone isnt going to five agencies, she said.
Know your data: The project will conjoin names, needs, statistics and other information to be able to measure progress and assess where improvements are needed.
Human nature sometimes impedes efforts to defeat homelessness, Healy said.
We dont like paying somebodys rent in this country, even if it costs five times as much to provide services when someone is homeless, she said.
Solving peoples homelessness by getting them into housing is three to four times cheaper, she said, citing a Los Angeles study as an example.
The study found that physical and mental health care, treating substance abuse, police department contact and other costs totaled $63,000 a year per homeless person in public funds, compared with just $16,000 a year for services to someone living in supportive housing, she said.
Generally, people with high needs make up a small percentage of people who are homeless, usually 10 to 20 percent, but their needs are so great that they take up 80 percent of the resources, she said.
Assessing needs and addressing the most severe cases at the outset will reduce that burden, both saving money and allowing more services for others.
Handling some issues, such as chronic alcoholism, often requires novel approaches, Healy said.
She pointed to a Seattle Housing First program nicknamed wet housing that provided apartments for alcoholics even when they continued drinking, unlike most programs that demand sobriety first.
Lifting the requirement helped attract participants who simply didnt want to abide by that rule, she said. It also debunks the myth that people want to be homeless, when they actually are trying to maintain a semblance of freedom.
The result, as chronicled in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was that the program saved $2 million in public costs for things such as health care and public services during its first two years.
The solution for individuals is a solution for public sector dollars, she said, making it a both-sides-of-the-aisle issue about wasting money.
Whats more, the support services to the tenants also helped them cut back on their drinking, Healy said, adding, If I was living on a bench, Id probably be drinking, too.
Cities involved in the 100,000 Homes Project, including New Orleans, Nashville, Phoenix and more than 100 others, were able to double accommodations for homeless people by reshuffling existing resources, not creating new funding, she said.
Healy is meeting almost nonstop with public, private and nonprofit officials, agencies and organizations during her five-day visit, including the La Crosse County Board on Monday night and City Council on Tuesday night.
During a meeting with Mayor Tim Kabat and police, parks and planning officials Tuesday, she stressed the fact that it is cheaper to provide housing than services, despite challenges.
Kabat expressed dismay at the lack of state support to address homelessness compared with Minnesota, as the Wisconsin State Journal is chronicling this week. Although state officials say they provide tens of millions in support, the WSJ quotes the Wisconsin Coalition Against Homelessness, local officials and providers as disputing that, saying little is targeted at needs.
The Badger States direct funding to meet homeless needs is about $3.3 million, they say, compared with the Gopher States $44.3 million.
There is no help coming from Madison at all. Its very, very frustrating on the local level, Kabat said.
He expressed relief that others have been able to make inroads on existing resources, adding, Were not going to have a lot of new resources.
Sandy Brekke, director of the St. Clare Health Mission in La Crosse and one of the driving forces, along with Gundersen and the FSPAs, behind Healys appearances, said, It takes changing the culture. The trend is definitely toward philanthropy away from charity, helping vs. harming.
To that end, the campaign will endeavor to enlist businesses and foundations for funding assistance.
Healy is a taskmaster, often challenging cities to set firm goals with a target of accomplishing them within 100 days.
New Orleans rose to the occasion, she said, meeting goals and setting new ones. It ended veteran homelessness in January 2015, aims to halt family homelessness by Thanksgiving, erase chronic homelessness by 2017 and eliminate youth homelessness by 2019, she said.
When Kabat voiced the citys goal of finding housing for 80 homeless vets in the city, Healy said it very well could be done by Thanksgiving and certainly by Christmas.
After huddling with the various stakeholders again today, Healy will present the issue during a public meeting from 9 to 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Rose Convent at 701 Market St. She will spend Thursday afternoon compiling recommendations and present them to leaders Friday.
In working with communities, she said, I push them with high enough goals so they have a pit in their stomach. If you dont have a pit in your stomach, you dont have a high enough goal.
The time pressure the urgency releases innovation, she said.
WASHINGTON Donald Trump issued a long statement Tuesday neither apologizing nor retracting his race-based criticism of a federal judge, but rather insisting that the questions he raised were justified.
Trump noted that he has friends and employees who are of Mexican and Hispanic descent.
It is unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage, Trump said.
I do not feel that ones heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial, Trump said.
The statement was notable both for Trumps attempt to backtrack somewhat from his caustic criticism of the judge and for the lack of bombast that usually characterizes Trumps news releases.
Trumps racial criticism of Judge Gonzalo Curiel unleashed a firestorm, leading to open revolt among Republicans on Capitol Hill.
Trump had said the Indiana-born jurist had a conflict of interest because Trump wants to build a wall to deter illegal immigration and Curiels parents were Mexican immigrants.
Earlier Tuesday, Speaker Paul D. Ryan called Trumps criticism a texbook definition of a racist comment.
And even GOP leader Mitch McConnell, in a rare public rebuke, urged Trump to quit attacking minority groups and get on message.
Trumps lengthy statement Tuesday appeared as an attempt to deflect the criticism without backing off his criticisms.
He stood by his initial assertion that Curiel who was appointed to the state court by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and to the federal bench by President Barack Obama was not fair, even though Trump has not sought to have him removed from the Trump University case.
Given my unique circumstances as nominee of the Republican Party and the core issues of my campaign that focus on illegal immigration, jobs and unfair trade, I have concerns as to my ability to receive a fair trial, Trump said.
Questions were raised regarding the Obama-appointed judges impartiality. It is a fair question. I hope it is not the case.
Trump appeared to want the last word on the subject, but that seemed unlikely.
Barring a miracle, Bernie Sanders still isnt going to win the Democratic nomination even if he wins the California primary. But that doesnt mean todays 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 percent in the remaining eight contests and thats not going to happen.
That brings us to Sanders Plan B: superdelegates.
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.
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.
The following editorial appeared in Saturdays Chicago Tribune.
The millennials have surpassed baby boomers to become the countrys largest living generation, according to the Pew Research Center. How does that make you feel? Responses in the form of a selfie or an emoji are optional.
If youve never taken a selfie or used an emoji indeed, if you stumble over the terms youre likely not a young-adult millennial. And you may wonder how things will pan out for society when they take charge. Especially since they never pry their phones away from their faces.
Thats not us talking. Were, ahem, slightly past millennial age, but work closely with those in the 19-35 age bracket and they knock us out. However, plenty of people in older generations are puzzled by millennials, concerned that they will turn out to be less responsible than running the world requires. Nagging oldsters fuss over millennials quirks. To generalize (always unfair), the rap is that theyre technology-addicted, entitled and frankly rather soft.
Psychology Today collected many of the perceived weaknesses in one paragraph: They seek constant feedback and immediate gratification. They multitask and cant focus. Theyre sensitive to criticism and unable to work alone. They refuse to pay their dues. Dont even mention their (limited) verbal and writing skills.
The marketing world struggles mightily to understand millennials as consumers and citizens. Fabrizio Freda, a baby-boomer cosmetics CEO, told The Wall Street Journal: Millennials are much more about immediate results than saving for the future. The 30-year-old today gets more photographs of themselves in a day than their mother did in a year, so they care about what their skin looks like now, not when they are 40.
Talk about self-absorption. No, not by millennials. By boomers, who see the world through their own lens, crowding out the ability to look objectively or generously at the younger generation.
Were not trying to shame Freda, who runs Estee Lauder. Millennials get grief all over. Writer Molly Worthen in The New York Times objected to millennial use of the phrase I feel like as an alternative to the declarative I believe or I think. She tied the squishy sentiment to the safe zone/trigger warning/microaggression movement: the silencing of controversial or provocative discourse in the guise of being inclusive and sensitive to others. Meanwhile, a put-down story about millennials in The Atlantic magazine was titled, The coddling of the American mind.
Each generational shift profoundly ushers in roiling changes to the culture at large that feel natural to the ones coming of age but startle older folks not paying close attention. Boomers as a group are set in their ways, and so is next-up Generation X. Millennials are still evolving, but one day soon brace yourselves! they will take power and reshape society based on their own experiences.
Already, their influence suffuses America. Offices look different because millennials have their own work style. Tattoos, beards, energy drinks, Chipotle all millennial trends. Their priorities are different, their tastes are different. Everything about millennials is different. Except for one crucial, ironic twist: the concern this young generation sows in parents and grandparents. Looking down on the kids is something that never changes. Remember, boomers?
If you go back to the late 1960s, youll find the establishment was whipping itself into a frenzy over what to do about hippies, real and imitational. They would ruin everything! Young people were drug-addled (as opposed to technology-obsessed today), promiscuous (free love vs. Tinder and other hook-up apps today) and had awful taste in music (the Grateful Dead, compared to Deadmau5 today).
In August 1969, after the Woodstock musical festival, the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal lit into the concertgoers as self-centered, uncivilized regressives who wouldnt amount to anything. It would be a curious America if the unwashed, more or less permanently stoned on pot or LSD, were running very many things, the Journal sniffed.
The New York Times knew whom to blame: Surely the parents, the teachers and indeed all the adults who helped create the society against which these young people are so feverishly rebelling must bear a share of the responsibility for this outrageous episode.
Of course the boomers (who also mistrusted previous generations) turned out OK. Their cohort ended the Vietnam War, pioneered equality movements, started a tech revolution. But they didnt do everything right. They created a hellacious pension debt crisis to fund their retirements. Oh and thanks for the college tuition hikes. Thats the judgmental voice of millennials, saddled with paying for the messes left by older generations.
American millennials will face rising challenges. But they are our most educated generation in history and our most diverse, too. Theyre open-minded. Theyre demanding (they want to work from home or Starbucks) and yes, coddled (everyone gets a medal for competing!). Yet theyre also flexible, caring and savvy.
The millennials are unique but, like preceding generations, will prove themselves extraordinarily capable. Our country will be in good hands. Maybe better.
Is Wisconsin's economy stumbling, crawling or charging ahead? Crawling along. It's certainly trailing Minnesota as numerous articles have shown. But here is the important thing: Our economy could be far better than it is.
Imagine if we had taken the $810 million in federal money for high-speed rail. Imagine as many as 10,000 more jobs. The angriest man I have met in the last 10 years was a Republican businessman who was going to put a lot of people to work with that money. Some thought it was dirty money, but remember it was our tax dollars that instead went to California.
Gov. Scott Walker also rejected federal dollars (recycled Wisconsin tax dollars) to expand the growth of high-speed internet. The expansion would have created jobs for technicians installing it, and it would have expanded the capacity of local small businesses.
Repeatedly, our governor also rejected millions of dollars in Medicaid expansion funds. This federal money would have hired thousands of medical employees and lightened the load of our medical system. And each of those employees would have created more jobs as they spent their wages. As John Greenleaf Whittier said, For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been.' "
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson seeks to cast Democratic challenger Russ Feingold as a Washington insider in his first ad of the Senate race, filmed at his Oshkosh plastics manufacturing company.
"Career politicians manufacture hogwash," Johnson says from the floor of PACUR, the company he helped launch in 1979. "I manufacture plastic. And I respect you enough to tell you the truth."
While Johnson, 61, is the incumbent, he is currently serving his first term in the Senate, his first elected office.
Feingold, 63, served three terms in the Senate between 1993 and 2011 and was a state legislator before that. Johnson ousted him with a five-point victory in the conservative wave of 2010. Johnson has been deemed one of the most vulnerable senators up for re-election in 2016.
Johnson's ad is part of a $1.3 million buy for the month of June. The TV ad doesn't mention Feingold by name, but it follows a digital ad released last month painting the former senator as an untrustworthy "career politician."
The TV spot shows Johnson walking the floor of PACUR, pointing out pallets of products set to be shipped overseas.
"Some companies export jobs. We export our products," Johnson says. "We've been doing it for decades, helping to create more Wisconsin jobs. And I've stayed put, right here in Oshkosh, for 37 years."
Johnson's allies have hammered Feingold throughout the race for his time teaching at Stanford University in California.
Meanwhile, Feingold has made a point of touting his tours throughout Wisconsin, visiting the state's 72 counties twice in this election cycle.
Feingold launched his first ad of the race in April, focused on his 72-county tour.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday that Donald Trump made the "textbook definition of a racist comment" in saying an American-born judge isn't qualified to preside over a case because of his Mexican heritage.
"I regret those comments he made. Claiming a person can't do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment," Ryan said at a news conference. "I think that should be absolutely disavowed. It's absolutely unacceptable."
Ryan's comments highlight acute GOP divisions around Trump's candidacy, as Republicans squirm over what may be the billionaire's most incendiary stance to date the claim that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel can't preside over his case fairly because the judge is of Mexican heritage and Trump wants to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.
The flap comes as Republicans are struggling to close ranks behind Trump, and complicates those efforts. Ryan endorsed Trump only last week after a lengthy delay, just before the judge controversy lit up, and affirmed that stance anew Tuesday even while he was unstinting in his criticism of Trump's comments on the judge. "But do I believe Hillary Clinton is the answer? No, I do not," he said.
"I believe that we have more common ground on the policy issues of the day, and we have more likelihood of getting our policies enacted with him than we do with her," Ryan said. "But I do absolutely disavow those comments, I think they're wrong, I think they're wrongheaded, and the thinking behind it is something I don't even personally relate to."
Democrats immediately ridiculed Ryan for denouncing Trump's comments as racist yet continuing to back his candidacy.
"Paul Ryan continues to endorse someone who spews racist rhetoric the 'textbook definition' of a coward more concerned with partisan politics than the good of the country," said Meredith Kelly, spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Curiel, who is presiding over a case alleging that Trump University fleeced students, was born in Indiana to parents who came from Mexico in the 1940s. Trump has been questioned repeatedly about his stance that the judge's ethnicity makes him unqualified to preside over his case, but has refused to retract his comments, and may not be any likelier to do so in response to Ryan's complaints.
Ryan made his comments at an event in a low-income neighborhood of Washington, D.C., where he was unveiling new proposals to fight poverty, the first piece in a six-plank governing agenda by the House GOP.
But instead of discussing his poverty proposals he was forced to deal with numerous questions on Trump, illustrating anew Trump's tendency to create troublesome distractions for members of his own party. The flap over the judge is proving particularly problematic and leading Republicans have taken turns denouncing Trump's comments.
While some others have sought to avoid calling Trump or his comments out-and-out racist, Ryan leveled the charge matter-of-factly while still attempting to steer the conversation back to his agenda.
"I'm going to defend our ideas, I'm going to defend our majority, and I think our likelihood of getting these ideas into law are far more likely if we are unified as a party," Ryan said. "And so I see it as my job as speaker of the House to help keep our party unified. I think if we go into the fall as a divided party, we are going to lose, and that's why I am going to be focused on these ideas and these solutions and not attempt to defend the indefensible."
The poverty proposal, unveiled at the House of Help City of Hope, an alcohol and drug treatment program in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, would make changes to welfare, food and housing aid, among other programs, to increase work requirements, make the aid more efficient and allow states to make more decisions about how it is distributed.
Ryan and several House committee chairmen met the organization's founder, Shirley Holloway, and later praised her for working with addicted individuals and helping lift them out of poverty. Ryan contrasted that approach with treating the symptoms of poverty through welfare programs.
"They are not isolating the poor, they are elevating the poor," Ryan said
Ryan won't immediately translate most of these ideas into legislation since his major points wouldn't be enacted under President Barack Obama. But the idea is to set the stage for the future if a Republican should become president.
The Buddhism-themed ink painting by Zhang Daqian [Photo provided to China Daily]
A Buddhism-themed ink painting of master Zhang Daqian, which was among dozens of his copies of Dunhuang murals, fetched 63.8 million yuan ($9.7 million) at a Beijing auction on Saturday night.
The painting portrays a Dakini goddess in Tibetan Buddhism which literally translates as "sky goer" in Tibetan, and features a heavy coloring scheme. It was hammered by Beijing Poly International Auction during its major spring sales.
A devout Buddhist, Zhang lined the subject matters in this painting with expensive gold powders.
Zhang arrived at the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, Gansu province, in 1941 with a team of assistants. During their stay for two and a half years, Zhang copied many murals inside the caves. He later exhibited these copies in Chengdu, helping publicizing the excellence of Dunhuang art.
The sold painting came from the collection of a Taiwan collector. It was believed to be transported to Taiwan along with other of Zhang's copies and art collection, when he was aboard a plane heading for the island in 1949.
Northern Hills Elementary School in Onalaska will provide meals to students 18 years and younger this summer when free and reduced-price meals are typically unavailable. People over 18 who are determined by the state or local school district to be mentally or physically disabled and who also participate in a public or private non-profit school program during the regular school year may receive free meals, as well.
On Memorial Day, Monday, May 30, Westby, Coon Valley and Chaseburg members of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars organizations, held prayer services, prior to the honor guard salute to deceased veterans at area cemeteries, while families gathered in respect around their loved ones graves.
Hundreds of people lined Central Avenue in the village of Coon Valley for the annual Memorial Day Parade and for the first time in the past four years the Memorial Day program returned to the outdoors, held at Veterans Memorial Park, near the Coon Creek Veterans Memorial.
Hundreds of people were welcomed by area dignitaries including: Gary Hess, the Coon Valley American Legion Commander; Rick Stegen, the Coon Valley Village Board president; Julie Nelson, the Coon Valley Auxiliary president; Cal Manske, the SAL commander; Randy Lenser, the Chaseburg American Legion Service Officer; Quinten Larson, the Coon Creek Area VFW commander; and Rev. Mitzi Miyamoto provided the invocation and benediction.
Utilizing Tom Gibbons sound equipment, the Westby Area High School band under the direction of Monte Dunnum played three musical selections and Peter Engh, the high school choral department director and a group of students performed the National Anthem.
Westby Girl Scout Troops 4234 and 4589, under the direction of leader Miranda Oliver, led the program with the Pledge of Allegiance; Westby Middle School students Devin Nelson read Lincolns Gettysburg Address and Bree Hatlan recited In Flanders Field.
The featured speaker for the day was Pastor Gary Daines, a Vietnam era veteran who served in the U.S. Navy. He was reserve member from 1962-1968 and active duty through1972. Daines was a Naval Lieutenant, qualified in submarines; A-Division Officer; and Assistant Engineer. He served aboard the U.S.S. Nautilus, stationed in Groton, Connecticut.
Daines spoke with gratitude about the many members of his own ancestry who fought for their country and made it home safely. He then acknowledged a staggering number (1,342,640) which was the number of men and women veterans of this country who did not make it back home from war as of Memorial Day 2016.
His speech was insightful and clarified many misunderstanding about the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day. He said Memorial Day is a time to honor and thank the fallen and deceased veterans and their families, while Veterans Day is a time to thank the living, active and non-active military personal who continue to fight for freedom.
Daines reminded everyone that freedom isnt free; that in life we have rights; but freedom has to be earned. He added that beyond anything else we need to remember to count our blessings, not our problems. Daines challenged everyone to take 24 hours and not issue a single complaint, and instead count their blessings.
Chaseburg Cub Scout pack 319 and Coon Valley Boy Scout Troop 322, under the direction of Scout Master Lisa Stenslien, presented crosses of area veterans who died within the last year. The scouts then decorated the crosses as Legion and Navy veteran Daryl Brye placed a wreath in the Coon Creek in honor of all veterans lost or buried at sea. Post 116 American Legion members held a honor guard salute, followed by Charles Nelson and Rolv Ihle performing Taps to end the program.
Lunch was then served by the Ladies Auxiliary at the Coon Valley American Legion Hall.
Lest we never forget their bravery, because they all gave some, but some gave all.
God Bless and on this Memorial Day and always.
For a host of reasons, I am pleased to see the Libertarian Party getting more than its usual attention this election cycle; and, as reported here, this past weekend the Libertarian Party selection Gary Johnson and William Weld to be their Prez and VP candidated for 2016. Supporters of marijuana reform likely know the name Gary Johnson, and this recent AP article headlined "This marijuana-loving Libertarian staking claim as Trump alternative," highlights some of the reasons why. Here are excerpts:
Johnson is [going to be] relying on an intensifying schedule of media appearances to boost his name recognition in an effort to reach the necessary 15 percent threshold to qualify for the presidential debates this fall. We cannot go into a battleground state and compete, said Johnsons senior strategist Ron Nielson, citing the high cost of running a campaign in states like Florida or Ohio. The Johnson campaign will instead focus its resources on cheaper states where libertarians have done well in the past, places like Alaska, maybe New Hampshire, he says.
Yet Trumps Republican critics dont necessarily need to find a candidate who can win. Many are seeking a legitimate protest candidate where they could focus their anti-Trump energy. Should that candidate earn even a few percentage points in key states this fall, it could hurt Trumps chances. Gary will be an outlet for millions of Americans who just cant fathom the idea of voting for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, said Ed Crane, who co-founded the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute and now runs a super PAC he says may support Johnson down the road....
Johnson represents a set of policies that do not line up perfectly with Republicans or Libertarians. He embraces fiscal conservatism, but not to the lengths that some hardline anti-government libertarians would like. He considers himself a liberal on social issues, supporting same-sex marriage and abortion rights. And he supports a non-interventionalist foreign policy that focuses on Americas challenges at home.
Many know him best for his repeated calls to legalize drugs. Johnson largely focuses his energy on marijuana, but also suggests that concern over narcotics such as heroin are exaggerated compared to the impact of alcohol or even smoking cigarettes. He is a regular marijuana user, noting that he most recently took an edible form of the drug three weeks ago.
Im one of the 100 million Americans that do this. If that disqualifies me from being president, so be it, he told The Associated Press, adding that he recently purchased the drug legally in Colorado but illegally transported it back to his home in New Mexico. Sure, Im in the tens of thousands of those that are guilty of that phenomenon, he says.
He promises not consume marijuana if elected president, however. I think the American people deserve to know that there will be a steady hand, he said. And I would hope that my history regarding this stuff would bear out the fact that Im a pretty disciplined cat.
The question in the title of this post is the headline of this interesting new International Business Times article discussing the state and possible fate of the significant number of marijuana reform initiatives to be appearing on state ballots this fall. Here is how it gets started and additional excerpts from the middle and end of the lengthy piece:
In early May, the national advocacy group Marijuana Policy Project sent out a panicked email titled Alone, beaten down and incredulous in Boston. MPP had been working to land a marijuana legalization measure on Massachusetts ballot this November, but a recent fundraising event in Boston had drawn just a single attendee. Whats worrisome isnt this one bad event, but that it mirrors the contributions and involvement across Massachusetts since the initiative launch, MPP Executive Director Rob Kampia wrote in the message. Simply put, the campaign is broke, he noted. The organization might not have the money to collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in one of the most liberal states in the U.S.
A lack of fundraising dollars in Massachusetts isnt the only reason marijuana advocates are beginning to feel nervous. 2016 is a pivotal year for the cannabis movement, with an unprecedented 10 states potentially voting on recreational or medical marijuana reforms in November. Planned are medical marijuana initiatives in Arkansas, Florida, Missouri and Montana, as well as recreational cannabis measures in Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada and California, the last of which would launch a legal cannabis industry in what is the worlds eighth-largest economy. But, according to campaign finance records, the 10 campaigns altogether to date have raised less than $11 million, just slightly more than marijuana advocates amassed in 2014 midterm elections to pass legalization measures in two states, Alaska and Oregon.
While its still relatively early in the 2016 campaign calendar, a lot more cash will be needed before November. Representatives of the national advocacy group Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) estimated at a recent webinar that it would likely cost between $40 million and $50 million to win in all 10 states. There is a little bit of concern among people I have talked to that the movement might be trying to do too much too soon, said Tom Angell, founder and chairman of the cannabis advocacy group Marijuana Majority, who recently wrote about the issue for Marijuana.com. There are only so many dollars that can be raised to purchase advertising time and put together get-out-the-vote operations. It doesnt help that so far the growing marijuana industry has been reluctant to shoulder much of these campaigns costs or that anti-marijuana efforts are gaining traction. This confluence of factors has led some observers to posit that 2016 may not be the watershed year for cannabis legalization that many have predicted. Instead, it could be the year the ascendant cannabis crusade finally faces defeat.
The marijuana movement is stretched so thin in 2016, DPA Executive Director Ethan Nadelmann said during a presentation last month at Marijuana Business Dailys Marijuana Business Conference and Expo in Orlando, Florida. I think what could happen in 2016 could be a harsh wake-up call....
As in years past, the two largest marijuana advocacy groups, DPA and MPP, are dividing their efforts between different reform campaigns. For example, DPA is playing a large role in the big California legalization effort, while MPP is highly involved in recreational marijuana initiatives in Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada (MPP suspended a medical marijuana effort in Ohio last week after legislators passed a medical cannabis law).
While MPP may be working on more concurrent state campaigns than it ever has before, Mason Tvert, the organizations communications director, insisted it isnt stretched too thin. We only get involved in campaigns when we are confident we will be able to run an effective campaign and win, he said. Still, he added that weighing in on the financial fitness of various political efforts can be a dicey prospect in the middle of campaign season. If you say you have no money, people arent going to donate because they dont think you have a chance, he said. If you say you have money coming out of your ears, they arent going to donate either....
Meanwhile, marijuana advocates are facing increasingly well-organized and well-funded opposition. In Massachusetts, the anti-marijuana campaign has garnered the support of Governor Charlie Baker, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and House Speaker Rovert DeLeo. In California, opponents of legalization are gathering donations from police associations, prison guard groups and the Teamsters union. In Arizona, a conservative fundraising firm announced an anonymous donor had pledged $500,000 as a matching gift for all donations the anti-legalization campaign received during the month of May. In Florida, real estate mogul Mel Sembler has pledged to raise at least $10 million to fight the states medical marijuana initiative, $2.5 million more than he raised to defeat a similar effort in 2014. And Smart Approaches to Marijuana, or Project SAM, the most prominent anti-marijuana group nationwide, just announced it has raised $300,000 and formed new state partnerships to fight the various 2016 marijuana initiatives....
As the marijuana industry has flourished, Project SAM founder Kevin Sabet thinks the cannabis movement has been exposed to new lines of attack, such as that legalization is becoming all about the business bottom lines and not about social justice. They have written these initiatives as corporate free-for-alls, said Sabet. The old-school pot legalizers who are not really in this for the money, a lot of them are pretty stunned and not sure what to do this year.
But Troy Dayton, CEO of cannabis investment network the ArcView Group, disagrees. He said the marijuana industry isnt very involved in the reform initiatives and he thinks thats a problem. Our opposition likes to say this is Big Marijuana trying to pass laws, he said. I wish that was the case. At least so far, that hasnt really happened. Dayton is concerned that theres a false sense of security in the marijuana movement. The media has done a very good job of suggesting the marijuana industry is making money hand over fist, so a lot of philanthropists who otherwise might be backing these issues are thinking, Hey, there is an industry now, they will take this the rest of the way, he said. But that is not really happening to enough of a degree to fundamentally move the needle. For example, while ArcViews members have together invested more than $70 million in various marijuana companies since 2010, the investor network has only contributed roughly a million dollars to various legalization initiatives in that same period.
According to Dayton, marijuana businesses are struggling with various industry headaches such as sky-high tax rates and a lack of banking services that make it unlikely they have loads of excess funds they can donate to political campaigns. But at this point, Dayton thinks that is no excuse. He believes marijuana activists and industry stakeholders alike need to realize that 2016 is the make-or-break year for cannabis reform. I am out there pounding the pulpit, telling people, Come on, folks, whether you are on the business side or the social justice side or both, now is the time. Whatever you would normally give, give three times that, he said. If we win most of these initiatives, its really lights out on marijuana prohibition. But if we lose a significant portion of them, that could mean a much longer fight to ultimately end this disastrous policy.
Monday, June 6, 2016
This new Politico article, headlined "National poll: Majority supports legalizing marijuana," provides a review of the latest Quinnipiac University poll asking registered voters their views on marijuana reform policies. And the demographic breakdowns show, yet again, why politicians who adamantly oppose reform will do so at their peril unless their voting poopulation is older and heavily GOP affiliated. Here are the basics (with my emphasis added):
Slightly more than half 54 percent said the use of marijuana should be made legal across the country, while 41 percent said it should not. The results broke down along partisan lines, with 65 percent to 30 percent of Democrats in support and 62 percent to 36 percent of Republicans in opposition. Independent voters backed legalization 61 percent to 36 percent, as did men (60 percent to 37 percent) and women, albeit within the margin of error (48 percent to 46 percent). Possession of marijuana is legal in Alaska, Washington state, Oregon, Colorado and the District of Columbia, with several other states having decriminalized the drug. Majorities of registered voters younger than 65 said they would support legalization, while 57 percent of those surveyed 65 and older said they would oppose. On the question of whether people should be allowed to use medically prescribed marijuana, 89 percent overall said they would be in favor, while just 9 percent opposed. Nearly the same share 87 percent said Department of Veterans Affairs doctors should be able to prescribe medical marijuana in pill form in states where it is legal to veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, while 9 percent said they should not be able to do so. Quinnipiac conducted the poll via landlines and cellphones from May 24-30, surveying 1,561 registered voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
In the cross-tabs on this poll (which can be accessed here), the numbers in support of marijuana legalization among voters aged 18 to 35 are especially potent: marijuana reform is supported by 69% and opposed by only 27% of this group (which I think is now the largest demographic voting block). These numbers, and especially the consistently strong support for medical marijuana reform that all polls now show, lead me to continue to think that federal marijuana reform is all but inevitable in the next four years no matter who ends up prevailing in the Prez election.
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/marijuana_law/2016/06/latest-poll-numbers-show-continued-strong-support-for-marijuana-legalization-among-independents-and-.html
There has been some enduring debate and uncertainty as to whether Louisiana should "count" as one of the two-dozen-plus states that have enacted significant medical marijuana reforms. For a number of reasons, and especially since recent legislative reforms to the state's medical marijuana rules, I think Louisiana should count in any accounting of such states. And this recent local article, headlined "Louisiana gearing up for marijuana business: How much might LSU, Southern, companies profit? How will it be distributed?," suggests that now shortage of Louisiana officials and institutions are now considering the state's work in this space very seriously. Here are highlights from the interesting article:
Growing up on a cotton farm in Missouri in the 1950s, Bill Richardson didnt know a thing about marijuana. Nobody talked about it, he never saw it and he certainly never smoked it. I didnt inhale, Richardson, LSUs 71-year-old vice president for agriculture and dean of the College of Agriculture, said with a smile in a recent interview.
Richardson has become the unlikely leader of an effort to get LSU into the pot business. Last month, the Louisiana Legislature approved a bill that legalizes the use of marijuana for people suffering from a specific list of debilitating diseases. The so-called medical marijuana legislation authorizes LSU and Southern University to grow and produce cannabis to be consumed in a liquid form. (Hold the Cheech and Chong jokes it cannot be smoked, and no, they wont be offering samples.)
The boards of both universities appear likely to give the go-ahead for pot cultivation. Its not clear yet, however, who will provide the $10 million to $20 million needed to produce the drug, which will be sold at 10 standalone pharmacies designated by a state agency. None of the people wanting to be treated by pot will have access to it for at least 18 months.
When the Legislature legalized marijuana for patients suffering from 10 specific diseases, lawmakers told emotional stories about the children and loved ones who stood to benefit. Opponents, meanwhile, warned darkly that Louisiana was heading down a slippery slope toward legalizing a dangerous drug. Lost in the debate is what the measure will mean for LSU and Southern and the private companies that are now emerging to try to profit from the new industry by partnering with the universities.
The legislation by state Sen. Fred Mills, R-Parks, gave LSU and Southern no money to launch this new venture, meaning they will have to rely on private companies to buy the seeds, hire scientists, rent or build growing facilities and pay for all the other costs. All of the money would have to come from venture capitalists, or youd have to sell bonds, said Adell Brown, the point person at Southern as the universitys interim chancellor for its Agricultural Research and Extension Center. Neither Brown nor Richardson can say yet how much it will cost to get the business running at full speed, but both agree that it probably will take at least $10 million.
Brown and Richardson both report getting calls from representatives of companies that want to rent or sell land or provide a growing facility. Others are inquiring about financing the entire venture with the expectation of earning a profit. Its a money-making venture, Brown said.
Neither he nor Richardson knows yet where they might grow the pot, but the universities are not likely to do it together. (The Legislature has authorized them to cultivate the marijuana because of federal laws prohibiting the transport of marijuana across state lines.) The University of Mississippi grows marijuana for research under a special federal license on the edge of its campus, in a field surrounded by two fences and armed guards, said an Ole Miss spokesman. My recommendation is that it not be grown on campus, for the PR, Richardson said.
He expects that LSUs Board of Supervisors will authorize the growing of marijuana at its June 24 meeting. Its something we can do, Richardson said, adding that he sees this as an opportunity for the university to duplicate its pioneering work with rice and other crops. Besides, over the past year, Ive heard enough testimonials of the medicinal effects to believe that the benefits outweigh the negatives. Plus, there may be some opportunities to create an income stream to help us balance our budget.
Brown said he expects Southerns board to approve the venture at either its June or July meeting. It will be a highly sophisticated and self-controlled facility with the proper protocols for security, he said. We have faculty members who have done work with a lot of different crops that are of the same family....
While LSU and Southern are gearing up, several state entities are working to provide the regulatory framework for everyone who wants to be involved. The Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners already has drafted its rules for doctors who want to apply to treat patients suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and seven other diseases, including HIV and AIDS. No doctor can treat more than 100 patients, said Eric Torres, the executive director of the medical board. Mills legislation, Senate Bill 271, requires doctors to recommend, not prescribe, the drug, to get around federal laws.
The state Department of Agriculture and Forestry is drafting rules that will govern the growing and production of the medical marijuana. The Legislature has authorized money for the agency to hire outside labs to make sure the marijuana is free of pesticides and heavy metals and has the least possible THC the active ingredient that makes people high and to hire staff to regulate the new business. We have to make sure that end product is safe, Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain said in an interview.
The end product is what the patients actually will buy. The marijuana cannot be inhaled, said Jesse McCormick, of the Louisiana Cannabis Association, who lobbied to pass SB271. It could be a cream. It could be in liquid form tincture. It could be a gel cap. It could be a vitamin gummy. If youre going to a dispensary to find bud well, you wont. The Louisiana Board of Pharmacy will decide on the drugs final form and is leaning in favor of allowing LSU and Southern to make that decision. Let the producers be as creative as they wish, said Malcolm Broussard, the executive director of the board.
The 17 members of this Baton Rouge-based board who are appointed by the governor to six-year terms also will decide who will operate the 10 pharmacies throughout Louisiana that will sell the medical marijuana. Under state law, they cannot be part of a normal drugstore, although Broussard said its possible that the therapeutic drug could be sold in a convenience store. That store could not also sell prescription drugs, but it could offer over-the-counter drugs, he said.
Next years licensing decision will put a spotlight on a board so obscure that Broussard said he had never before been interviewed by an Advocate reporter during 17 years as executive director.
Hillary Clinton is making history as the first woman to become the presumptive nominee for president of one of the two major political parties in the United States.
The Associated Press reported that Clinton has the 2,383 delegates needed for the Democratic presidential nomination. The former secretary of state reached the total with support from super delegates in addition to pledged delegates won from the primary elections.
Clinton expressed caution Monday night. She said that while media delegate counts show her close to an "unprecedented moment," she continues to campaign for every vote.
Democratic primaries are taking place in six states on Tuesday, including California and New Jersey. New Mexico, South Dakota and Montana are other states with primaries.
A spokesman for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders released a statement saying the media was rushing to declare Clinton the winner too soon. But Sanders said he planned to "assess where we are" following the California results.
The senator's comments came after a phone call with President Barack Obama. The president has stayed out of the Democratic primary but he plans to endorse Clinton this week.
"The president intends certainly through the fall, if not earlier, to engage in this campaign," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. "That's an opportunity the president relishes."
In 2008, Clinton battled Obama for the Democratic nomination. In an emotional speech to concede the race, she said that she was unable to "shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling."
John Hudak is with the Brookings Institute research organization. He told VOA the importance of the moment might be lost since Clinton has been expected to win the Democratic race.
"Its ironic that the moment in history where a woman becomes the nominee is almost seen as what was supposed to happen," he said.
Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump had an increase in support in opinion polls after his final rival dropped out. Hudak said he expects Clinton to see the same lift.
Since February 1, the process of choosing the next U.S. president has mainly involved voters who are registered members of the Democratic or Republican parties. However, the candidates will need to appeal to all voters in the November 8 presidential election.
Hudak said both Clinton and Trump have made a mistake in not listening to certain groups. He said they must now find out what moderates want in their next president.
"I think with Trump, hes effectively communicated with many groups, but weve seen over the past couple of weeks he needs to transition toward working with moderate Republicans, working with establishment Republicans, and hes not doing that, Hudak said.
About Clinton, Hudak said, She really failed to listen to anger and discontent within the Democratic Party at the outset, and so when this uprising of support for Sanders happened, it sort of caught the Clinton campaign off guard.
Trump and Clinton have already aimed criticism at each other. Hudak said that is not expected to change before Election Day.
"Between the fiery attitudes from both candidates so far, the increased use in social media in this campaign, and frankly, medias addiction to the fighting between the candidates, Hudak said, Youre not going to see the lull that weve seen in previous years.
Im Mario Ritter.
Chris Hannas reported this story for VOA News. Mario Ritter adapted it for Learning English with additional reporting from the Associated Press. Hai Do was the editor.
Write your thoughts in the comment section below, and post on our Facebook page, thank you.
_____________________________________________________________
Words in This Story
presumptive adj. based on a reasonable opinion or belief, considered to be the case without further information
Ppledged adj. promised
primary elections n. elections held by parties to decide who will be the partys nominee in the presidential election
shatter v. to break into many pieces
glass ceiling idiom, an invisible barrier to a high office
ironic adj. strange or funny because it is different from what would be expected
appeal v. to ask for support, to be acceptable
discontent n. dissatisfaction, unhappiness
A car bomb in Istanbul killed 11 people and wounded 36 others during morning rush hour Tuesday.
A police bus was the target. Seven police officers were killed.
The blast happened on the second day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. It is the latest of several attacks in Istanbul and Ankara this year.
Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin spoke at the scene of the blast, or explosion. He said a bomb inside a car blew up as a police vehicle passed by, according to the Associated Press.
Many ambulances were sent to the scene. The bomb went off in a central historic district, near Istanbul University and Bayezit Square -- a popular tourist destination.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing.
Turkey has been struggling against Kurdish groups. The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that police held four suspects.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey's fight against terrorists will continue to the end. He made the comments after visiting the wounded being treated in a hospital.
The Associated Press reported that authorities have a news blackout meaning the media cannot report details of the investigation. There are concerns about security and police efforts to investigate the attack.
The police bus was turned over by the force of the blast. It also damaged nearby buildings, including a closed hotel. Its entrance appeared ruined, and windows were blown out.
The blast also broke the stained glass windows of a 16th-century Ottoman mosque.
U.S. Ambassador to Ankara John Bass said in a Twitter message that "such senseless violence could never be rationalized by any cause." The United States will "continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Turkey in the fight against terrorism," Bass said.
Many world leaders expressed their alliance with Turkey and their rejection of terrorism.
Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy or independence -- have attacked police and military targets in the past.
Last month, at least eight people, including soldiers, were wounded by a car bomb. The target was a military vehicle in Istanbul. The Kurdish worker's party, or PKK, claimed responsibility for that bombing.
Two blasts in Ankara took dozens of lives earlier this year. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, or TAK, a radical group that broke off from PKK, claimed responsibility.
Im Kathleen Struck.
Isabela Cocoli reported on this story for VOANews.com. Anne Ball adapted her report for Learning English with additional information from the Associated Press. Kathleen Struck was the editor.
We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, and find our Facebook page.
________________________________________________________________
Words in This Story
rush hour - n. a time during the day when many people are traveling on roads to get to work or to get home from work
blast - n. explosion; a loud sound
scene - n. an area where the action takes place
district - n. an area established by a government for official government business
This is Whats Trending Today:
Bretagne worked in rescue efforts in New York City after the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.
Bretagne died on Monday. She was 16 years old.
Bretagne was a golden retriever.
She helped to search for survivors and recover human remains from the wreckage of the World Trade Center. Over 2,500 people were killed when terrorists flew airplanes into the twin towers.
The World Trade Center was Bretagnes first deployment. She was only two years old at the time.
Denise Corliss was the dogs handler. She cared for Bretagne. They worked together in the area known as Ground Zero for 10 days.
The dog also worked at other disasters, including three major hurricanes.
Bretagne retired from active duty at age nine.
According to Texas A&M University, the dog continued working in Texas as an ambassador with the local fire department. She also visited people who were sick, and children in learn-to-read programs. The university oversees a search-and-rescue program.
A member of the team that worked with Bretagne says she took her job seriously, but was always ready to help others, get a belly rub, or have a treat.
On Monday, on her way to see a doctor, Bretagne walked past a group of firefighters and rescue workers who gave her one final salute.
One news report called her a four-legged hero.
And thats Whats Trending Today.
Im Dan Friedell.
Dan Friedell wrote this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
How do you feel about Bretagne, the last remaining 9/11 rescue dog? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.
_______________________________________________________________
Words in This Story
salute v. to give a sign of respect by moving ones right hand to the front of your head : to give a salute to (someone or something)
twin towers n. the tall, side-by-side buildings in downtown New York City that collapsed during a terrorist attack in 2001
belly n. a person's stomach or the part of the body that contains the stomach
hurricane n. an extremely large, powerful, and destructive storm with very strong winds that occurs especially in the western part of the Atlantic Ocean
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said his comment about a federal judge was misconstrued as an attack against people of Mexican heritage.
The presumptive Republican nominee issued a statement after criticism from both Republicans and Democrats. He added that, while this lawsuit should have been dismissed, it is now scheduled for trial in November. I do not intend to comment on this matter any further.
Trump has repeatedly said U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel cannot rule fairly in the case because of his Mexican heritage.
People who paid money to take real estate courses at Trump University are suing Trump for fraud. They claim they did not receive the education they paid for and have demanded their money back.
The billionaire real estate developer denies the fraud allegations. He says many Trump University customers were happy with the classes they paid for and gave the program positive reviews.
Trump says Curiel has a conflict of interest in the case because the judges parents were born in Mexico. The candidate has called Curiel a Mexican, even though he was born and raised in the Midwestern U.S. state of Indiana.
Trump has explained that Curiel is biased against him because of his proposal to build a wall along the Mexico-U.S. border to stop illegal immigration. He has also said that if elected, he would begin to deport millions of illegal immigrants.
Trump has called on Curiel to withdraw from the case so that another judge can take over.
Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday he absolutely disavows Trumps unacceptable remarks about the judge. He asked Trump to reject the comments.
I regret those comments he made. Claiming a person cant do the job because of their race is sort of like a textbook definition of a racist comment."
Republican Senator Ben Sasse, from Nebraska, tweeted his opposition to Trumps views. Saying someone can't do a specific job because of his or her race is the literal definition of 'racism, Sasse said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday on NBCs Meet the Press he could not disagree more with what Trump said.
This is a man who was 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 8 not speaking a word of English - or the rest of us, whose ancestors were risk-takers, who got up from wherever they were and came here and made this country great.
Two of Trumps former rivals in the presidential race Ohio Governor John Kasich and Florida Senator Marco Rubio were also critical.
Kasich tweeted that Trump was flat out wrong and urged him to apologize to Judge Curiel & try to unite this country.
Rubio agreed. There shouldnt be any sort of ethnicity, religious or racial tests for what kind of judges should hear what kinds of cases, he said. Its wrong and I hope he (Trump) stops.
Other Republican leaders also publicly criticized Trumps comments. They include Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
On the Democratic side, Congressman Filemon Vela wrote an open letter criticizing Trumps "ignorant anti-immigrant opinions." He said the candidates statements on a border wall and his attacks on Curiel "are just plain despicable.
Vela added: Mr. Trump you are a racist and you can take your border wall and shove it.
Trump stepped up his verbal attacks on Curiel after the judge ordered the release of sealed documents relating to the Trump University case.
Trump was asked if he would also reject a Muslim judge because of his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States. Yeah. That would be possible, absolutely, he said.
Im Bryan Lynn.
Smita Nordwall reported on this story for VOANews.com. Bryan Lynn adapted it for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.
What do you think about Donald Trump's comments about Judge Curiel? Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.
________________________________________________________________
Words in This Story
misconstrued v. to interpret someones words or actions wrongly
sue v. take someone to court to resolve a legal dispute
fraud n. a crime using dishonest methods to take money or valuables from others
real estate n. property involving buildings and land
review n. an expression of someones opinions
conflict of interest n. when a person is in a position to gain personal benefit from an official job or position
biased adj. having or showing bias or prejudice
literal adj. representing exact words in writing or speech
ancestors n. members of a persons family from past times
ignorant adj. lacking knowledge or information
despicable adj. very bad or unpleasant
More than 20 North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO member states, began a large military training exercise Tuesday.
The exercise is part of efforts by the alliance to show interest in central and eastern European countries. Many of those countries are concerned about Russias actions in Ukraine.
The Russian government condemned the NATO operation early Tuesday. Russian officials said the exercises do not help to build a feeling of trust and security in Europe.
Tensions between Russia and the West are higher than they have been since the end of the Soviet Union. Though Russia opposes NATO expansion into the former soviet states, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the Cold War is history, and we want it to stay that way.
Testing on the eastern side of NATO
Poland is leading the 10-day long exercises, which NATO officials are calling Anakonda-16. They will involve 31,000 troops, 3,000 vehicles, 105 aircraft and 12 Navy ships.
A total of 24 nations are taking part, according to the U.S. Army.
The Anakonda military exercise is an exercise which aims to test the capabilities of the alliance member states to defend the territory of the eastern flank of the alliance, said Polands defense minister, Antoni Macierewicz.
The NATO forces will practice a night-time attack by helicopters, bridge-building operations and air defense. Other training includes a chemical decontamination exercise and safely removing a large number of injured individuals.
U.S. Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Mark Milley says the U.S. has a single purpose in the operation. That goal is to demonstrate that we are shoulder-to-shoulder with the Polish people, he said. We are shoulder-to-shoulder with the Polish army and we are shoulder-to-shoulder with NATO, to ensure that all of the countries of NATO remain free and independent.
Im Ashley Thompson.
This story was published on VOANews.com. Jim Dresbach adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section and visit our Facebook page.
________________________________________________________________
Words in This Story
flank n. the side of something
capabilities - n. abilities
practice v. doing something again and again so that you become better at it
decontamination adj. of or related to removal of dirty or dangerous substances
shoulder-to-shoulder -- n. standing next to or beside in support
In June 1966, U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy visited South Africa and made what some historians believe was his best speech ever.
Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
Fifty years later, his words are still remembered.
Recently, members of the Kennedy family traveled to South Africa to mark the anniversary of the speech.
In 1966, the country was living under apartheid, a social system in which whites had more political and economic rights than other races. At the time, it seemed as if South Africas racial separation policies would never end.
Robert Kennedys four-day visit raised hopes that apartheid might end someday.
Kennedy went to South Africa less than three years after the murder of his brother John F. Kennedy, the 35th president. In 1968, the senator hoped to become president. But he was shot and killed by a gunman after winning the Democratic Partys presidential primary in California.
Kerry Kennedy is a human rights activist and Robert Kennedys daughter. She says that while race relations have improved in both the U.S. and in South Africa, changes took place because the two countries were forced to make them.
All those changes took place not because governments wanted them to -- governments tried to stop them. And not because militaries wanted them to -- militaries tried to stop them. And not because huge multinational corporations wanted them to -- multinational corporations tried to stop them -- including South Africa.
"All those changes took place because small groups of determined people harnessed the dream of freedom and made it come true. Thats what creates change.
Kennedy spoke to a gathering at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Many in the crowd were young South Africans who have expressed anger about corruption and their political leaders. Millions of South Africans say they have yet to experience the economic equality they were promised when apartheid ended 20 years ago.
Kerry Kennedy said that, when times are dark, one thing always shines through: hope.
Im Christopher Jones-Cruise.
VOA Correspondent Anita Powell reported this story from Johannesburg. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
We want to hear from you. Visit our Facebook page and post your thoughts about Robert Kennedy. Or write to us in the Comments section, thanks!
________________________________________________________________
Words in This Story
ripple n. something that passes or spreads through or over someone or something -- usually singular (often + of)
sweep down v. to destroy or remove (something) completely
multinational corporations -- n. a company or business with offices around the world
harness v. to use (something) for a particular purpose
The Grow Grand Island Cultural Engagement and Understanding (CEU) group's first educational seminar emphasized the importance of immigrants in Central Nebraska knowing the difference between relief programs.
The presentation titled "Immigration 101: Is Getting in Line an Option?" examined which application lines are worth getting into and what applicants should expect.
Carlos Barcenas, Grow Grand Island CEU chairman, was joined by Mindy Rush-Chipman and Rosangela Godinez, both from Justice for Our Neighbors-Nebraska (JFON-NE), for the seminar.
Rush-Chipman is the managing attorney for JFON-NE. She works to promote inclusion statewide by offering immigration education and advocacy, as well as low-income immigration legal services.
Godinez works in the organization to provide immigration legal services and support to rural communities in Nebraska. She facilitates community efforts to meet immigration legal needs.
The nonprofit organization provides free immigration legal services, education and advocacy to individuals and families in need.
Monday's seminar covered immigration terminology for example, why "undocumented" should be used to describe certain immigration statuses rather than "illegal."
Rush-Chipman explained to about 35 community members the different types of immigration statuses, as well as the limited forms of immigration relief currently available to those seeking citizenship.
Godinez said there is often a stigma surrounding who is eligible for asylum.
"I think there's a stigma that Mexico necessarily cannot apply for asylum, and that's not true," she said. "You can apply for asylum as long as you have a good case."
Asylum is an immigration benefit that allows certain immigrants who fear persecution in their home countries to lawfully remain in the U.S. indefinitely.
In addition to humanitarian forms of relief such as asylum and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the women discussed family-based immigration options. Some areas of relief set unrealistic timelines, Rush-Chipman said. Depending on what type of application is submitted, it can take anywhere from three to 162 years for the forms to be processed and citizenship to be granted.
One idea that was heavily stressed is the importance of those at the seminar reaching out and help community members in any way possible. Immigrants, especially in rural communities, can be targets of ill-intentioned attorneys looking for easy money.
"It is our job as advocates to inform, but it's also all of our jobs just to look for opportunities to increase knowledge within our community," Rush-Chipman said.
The seminar was hosted by the CEU group, a Grow Grand Island Initiative. Barcenas said the CEU group has goals to increase diversity in community decision making, increase efforts to provide information in multiple languages and create and promote more opportunities for learning that reflects the current population.
Future topics will include community awareness on census numbers, intercultural communication and unconscious bias.
"It's, here's the information and now let's explore it," Barcenas said. "If someone might feel on the fence about one of the topics, just come and listen. Let's just have a conversation and go from there."
With the turnout on Monday afternoon, Barcenas said, he looks forward to the continued success of the program. Dates have not been set for future workshops, although he hopes to release those soon.
Only one presentation was offered on Monday, but the CEU group wants to make more seminars available by offering multiple sessions of presentations. Monday's seminar took place at noon in the community meeting room at Tom Dinsdale Automotive.
For more information on the free seminar and the CEU Grow Grand Island initiative, contact Barcenas at (308) 383-3103 or carlosb@cfra.org.
WASHINGTON Many Vietnam veterans returned home to an American public that had soured on the war and at times greeted those in uniform with indifference or worse.
Some of Nebraskas Vietnam veterans recall facing jeers, one-fingered salutes, job discrimination, even threats of physical violence.
It was better to tell somebody that youd spent time in prison than to tell them that youd been off in the Army over in Vietnam, said Omahan Walter Anderson, 66.
On Monday, Anderson and about 500 other Vietnam veterans from across Nebraska received a much different reception when they touched down at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Three jets brought the group to Washington, D.C., from Omaha.
Airport firetrucks saluted the planes with water cannon. Welcoming banners decorated the inside of the terminal, where the West Point Alumni Glee Club sang and groups of Nebraskans turned out specifically to greet the flights.
Random travelers set their suitcases and coffee cups aside to wave little American flags and cheer as the veterans walked off the plane.
Bill and Evonne Williams nonprofit Patriotic Productions raised $450,000 through 550 individual and corporate donors to cover the cost of trip. The group spent the day touring military memorials around the nations capital. They were to return to Nebraska late Monday.
Robert Trosper Sr., 77, of Papillion thought back to his time in Vietnams central highlands as he walked along the black granite panels that bear the names of more than 58,000 fallen.
My name could be there too, Trosper said, his voice catching.
Anderson sought out familiar names alongside Charles Endorf, 67, of Fairbury, Nebraska.
The two served in the same infantry unit, which slogged through rice paddies and swamps of southern Vietnam looking for the enemy.
Anderson enlisted when he
was 18 and volunteered for Vietnam, motivated by a family history of military service stretching back to the Revolutionary War.
He remembered close calls in Vietnam, such as the time he earned a Purple Heart by getting hit with shrapnel in a rocket attack.
I was one of the lucky ones that night, he said. There were 42 wounded and five killed in about 15 minutes.
Then there was the time his unit was hopelessly outnumbered and pinned down in a river. Low on food, water and ammunition, the unit took days to reach a spot where it could be picked up.
He and Endorf worked their way down the granite wall, pointing out names and recalling how each man had been lost drowned in a river, shot by a machine gun, blown up in a rocket attack.
Then Anderson found the names of the two men with whom he walked point for much of his time in Vietnam. One was killed by a booby trap, the other a sniper.
This ones hard, he said at the last name. He was my best friend.
Visiting the memorial would have been too overwhelming years ago, he said, but time has provided enough healing that it seemed right.
In a short ceremony near the memorial, former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel praised the mens service and sacrifice.
Hagel served two terms as a Republican senator from Nebraska and was seriously injured during his own time as an Army grunt in Vietnam.
I am particularly proud that I am here with you because I am one of you, he told the group.
After the ceremony, several of the veterans laid a wreath at the memorial. Many of those on the trip had never visited before, including Jim Peter, 70, of ONeill, Nebraska, who lost an arm to an enemy grenade and wears a prosthetic.
Every morning when I get up, I put Vietnam on and walk out the door, he said. Every day I think of them guys. I was blessed and fortunate and everything else to be here.
Many of those on the trip expressed at least some lingering bitterness about the hostility they faced after the war. But they said the community support evident in Mondays trip helps ease that pain.
Lynn Ruple, 79, of Lincoln was wounded in the war and had shrapnel removed as recently as two years ago. He recalled how he once couldnt wear his uniform without someone calling him names or trying to beat him up.
But things are different now.
I dont have to be ashamed of my service anymore.
Wyoming water continues to pour out of the Rocky Mountains into Lake McConaughy, pushing the western Nebraska reservoir toward capacity.
The lakes overseer, Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District, will continue to use the remaining space in the lake to reduce peak flows from Kingsley into the North Platte River. Sixty miles downstream, some low-lying areas have flooded at the city of North Platte.
Inflow to Lake McConaughy was 7,200 cubic feet per second Monday. Outflow was about 5,200 cfs.
The reservoirs level was 1.4 feet below normal maximum. At that rate, the reservoir would reach capacity in about seven days, Cory Steinke, a Central engineer, told the districts board Monday in Holdrege.
A year ago, the lake was much lower (87.2 percent capacity) and inflows were smaller (about 5,600 cfs).
The river flow at North Platte was nearly 3,200 cfs Monday, compared with just 412 a year ago.
Steinke said McConaughy, Nebraskas largest lake and a popular recreation site near Ogallala, is catching the higher flows, shaving the peak off of releases that otherwise would be going down the river.
Federal officials managing Glendo Reservoir in Wyoming are beginning to store additional water there to reduce downstream effects along the North Platte River in Nebraska. Farther upriver, Pathfinder Reservoir is sending excess water over the dams spillway.
Snowmelt above the Pathfinder and Seminoe Reservoirs is accelerating, and plenty of water is yet to come downstream, Steinke said. Flows below Kingsley Dam appear to have peaked, unless there is a rapid change in the rate of that upstream snowmelt, he said.
Late spring rains and snowfalls, combined with cool temperatures in the mountains, have made it a challenging year to manage runoff, he said.
LINCOLN A watchdog commission has imposed a $500 fine on a state senator for failing to disclose a financial interest in a company that could have been affected by a bill the senator sponsored.
Sen. Al Davis of Hyannis last week signed an agreement that listed a single violation of the Nebraska Political Accountability and Disclosure Act. The nine-member Accountability and Disclosure Commission voted unanimously to approve the $500 civil penalty.
Under the settlement agreement, a second alleged violation of the law was dismissed.
In 2015, Davis disclosed that he held stock in NioCorp, a Canadian company that wants to mine a rare mineral, niobium, in southeast Nebraska. He bought the stock in 2011, before he was elected to the Legislature.
Davis filed the disclosure forms after
he introduced, and later withdrew, a bill that would have imposed a severance tax on the rare-earth mineral. Severance taxes ensure that resource extraction costs, such as road construction and environmental protection, are paid by the producers.
Last year the citizen watchdog group Common Cause Nebraska filed a complaint with the accountability commission.
In response to the complaint, Davis said he did not intend to violate the law. And NioCorp officials said they did not oppose the tax bill. Davis said he withdrew the bill because it was premature, given that no mining was yet being done.
Davis is campaigning for a second term. In Mays primary election, he finished about 800 votes behind his challenger, Tom Brewer of Gordon. Both are registered Republicans.
Qualcomms Snapdragon 820 processor is one of the most powerful smartphone chips on the market at the moment, but theres mounting evidence that a faster version is on the way.
A few months ago, rumors started making the rounds that Qualcomm had a chip called the Snapdragon 821 or 823, and now Asus may have spilled the beans, because spec sheets for the companys upcoming Zenfone 3 Deluxe suggest that the phone will be available with two different chip options: Snapdragon 820 or Snapdragon 821.
So whats the difference between the two processors? Not much. Both are expected to be 14nm chips with four of Qualcomms Kryo CPU cores and Adreno 530 graphics.
But while the Snapdragon 820 has a top speed of 2.2 GHz, the Snapdragon 821 is said to max out at 2.3 GHz.
If the Asus press materials are correct, its likely that the Zenfone 3 Deluxe could be one of the first phones with the new chip, but I doubt itll be the last. Chinese phone maker LeEco is expected to launch one soon as well.
The Snapdragon 821 (or 823, if thats what it ends up being called), will likely be Qualcomms flagship processor until the Snapdragon 830 is ready to go, probably in 2017.
via GizmoChina and Blog of Mobile
Improving societal and work parity between men and women in South Africa will realise substantial economic benefits, but deep-rooted negative attitudes and behaviours towards women must first be addressed.
McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) has released a report that shows how advancing womens equality could add $12trn to global growth.
Deep-rooted attitudes
The report rigorously interrogated the gender inequality landscape in 95 countries, including sub-Saharan Africa. Despite accounting for 50% of the global working-age population, the report shows that women only generate 37% of global GDP. Some 40 out of 95 countries involved in the research have high or extremely high levels of gender inequality.
Donna Rachelson
This report is the first to link gender equality in society with gender equality at work. It has particular relevance for South Africa where more than 50% of the population is female. The potential of women to contribute to South Africas economic growth is considerable, but gender initiatives in South Africa need to more effectively tackle deep-rooted attitudes and behaviour towards women and their role in society.
South Africa has made headway
Gender inequality is a disturbing moral and social issue but also a critical economic challenge. If women do not achieve their full economic potential, South Africas economy will continue to suffer.
All agencies in SA need to understand that narrowing the gender gap will significantly boost the contribution of women to the economy. Our current approach to advancing women has become 'business-as-usual' and far more needs to be done.
MGI underscores the economic prize of gender parity and calls on policy makers, business leaders, and other stakeholders to address fundamental drivers of the gap in work equality. These are education, health, connectivity, security, and the role of women in unpaid work.
South Africa has made headway in the key interventions the report identifies as critical in bridging the gender gap, namely, financial incentives and support; technology and infrastructure; the creation of economic opportunity; capability building; advocacy and shaping attitudes; and laws, policies, and regulations.
However, a lot more work needs to be done to ensure that women in South Africa enjoy the dignity and power they deserve at home and at work.
Report findings
Public and private companies, and civil society, should take heed of the findings of this report that highlights:
The economic benefits of closing the gender gap in South Africa.
That initiatives led by a single stakeholder are insufficient to drive change
That public and private sector organisations must work together to address gender issues.
All role players involved in empowering women in South Africa should note the findings of this report, which show how progress in four key areas facilitate progress:
Education levels
Financial and digital inclusion
Legal protection
Unpaid care work
There are many organisations involved in womens rights and issues, and they are playing an important part, including the media. But, these role players would do well to align their knowledge to understand the gender inequality landscape in South Africa in sufficient detail to have a positive systemic outcome.
The report has two clear messages for the private sector. Firstly, to pursue interventions on their own or in partnership with government, and to view these as opportunities rather than a source of additional cost; and, secondly, to proactively ensure companies are having a positive impact on female employees as well as on participants in their supply chains, distributors, and customers, and the broader communities in which they work.
However, according to this Quint report, the revising committee went one step further and asked for the use of 'Punjab' in the title to be removed, and recommended 89 cuts.
They also want the film to be set in a fictional land rather than a real state. Reportedly, Pahlaj Nihalani has a problem with the "portrayal of reality in the film."
Update: Shyam Benegal to watch the film
An exclusive screening of Abhishek Chaubey's controversy-ridden Udta Punjab has been organised on Wednesday for eminent filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who heads the government-appointed censor board revamp committee.
The move comes in the wake of the movie's producer Anurag Kashyap slamming the board for its apparent issues with the film, which deals with problem of substance abuse in Punjab. National Award-winning director Benegal said once he watches the movie, he will be in a position to comment on the controversy surrounding it.
"I don't know the actual matter as I have not seen the film. I will see it tomorrow and then only I can say something. Before that, it is not fair on my part to comment or say anything on it (cuts and issues raised by censor board)," he told PTI.
Political connections
The Akali Dal is a member of the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance at the Centre, and they are said to have a problem with how the film portrays Punjab.
In this Times of India report, a source from the CBFC has countered this claim, by saying "We have just held back the certification. The film producers have the option to move Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT). It is only about certain expletives and nothing more."
Udta Punjab makers to sue CBFC
In order for the filmmakers to approach the next level of certification, which is Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), they will need a list of suggestions from the revising committee, which they have not received, reports Scroll.
It is now learnt that the producers are all set to move the Bombay High Court against CBFC's verdict on Udta Punjab. Phantom and Balaji Motion Pictures (co-producers on the film) have reportedly decided to fight for the release, even at the risk of it being postponed. There is a good chance Udta Punjab will not see its initial release of 17 June.
Twitter reacts
#UdtaPunjab speaks of the reality of our times....censoring reality amounts to delusion.....the fraternity has to stand by what's right!! Karan Johar (@karanjohar) June 6, 2016
Udta Punjab is currently the Tanmay Bhatt of the Bollywood industry Atul Khatri (@one_by_two) June 7, 2016
#UdtaPunjab:
Punjab Udega; Udta Rahega
Punjabis spend Rs 7,500 crore annually on drugs. 1-in-3 college students are addicts: #AIIMS study Dibang (@dibang) June 7, 2016
There is no film more honest than UDTA PUNJAB .. And any person or party opposing it is actually GUILTY of promoting drugs Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 6, 2016
I always wondered what it felt like to live in North Korea .. Ab to plane pakadney ki bhi zaroorat nahin.. Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 6, 2016
Govt which wants to ban Udta Punjab shud realise that by banning a Udta film they actually trying to ban Udta truth Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) June 6, 2016
In Cong times, we had kissa Kursi ka; in BJP times, we have Udta Punjab da! Times change, mindsets don't! Gnight, shubhratri Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) June 6, 2016
May be Pahlaj Nihalani & CBFC are right. Untruthful to name the film #UdtaPunjab It should be renamed Doobta Punjab instead Shekhar Gupta (@ShekharGupta) June 6, 2016
Instead of banning Udta Punjab the Punjab Government should ban Udta drugs and if they can't do that they. should ban themselves Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) June 6, 2016
I as a filmmaker & a citizen of this country condemn d act of asking the producers 2 remove d word 'Punjab' from the film #UdtaPunjab. #CBFC Ashoke Pandit (@ashokepandit) June 6, 2016
Censor Board wants Punjab removed from Udta Punjab.
Thank God these guys weren't around when Bombay to Goa was released. Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) June 6, 2016
Kharagpur: Amid a row over Bollywood film Udta Punjab, Union Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore said on Tuesday filmmakers who are not satisfied with decisions of the censor board have an option of approaching the Appellate Tribunal for relief.
Speaking to reporters in Kharagupur, he said the decisions of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) are sometimes liked by the movie makers and sometimes not.
"Therefore, as per the process, there is a system of appeal as per which after an examining committee, the
filmmaker can approach the revising committee. As per the process, the filmmaker may approach the revising committee a
second time as well," the Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting said.
Referring to the Shahid Kapoor-starrer Udta Punjab, he said "the movie being discussed at present has gone to the
revising committee."
Rathore said that if somebody is still not satisfied with the decisions of the revising committee, then they may appeal to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), which is altogether a separate body headed by a retired judge, the minister said.
"If you look at the past four to five months, there have been instances where those who were not satisfied with the
decisions of the CBFC, were satisfied by the decisions of the FCAT," Rathore said.
His reaction was sought to filmmaker Anurag Kashyap's outburst against censor board chief Pahlaj Nihalani, calling
him a "dictator" and that it was like living in North Korea.
The minister responded in lighter vein asking the reporter if he thought he was in North Korea.
"Okay, you don't think so, then its okay. We can have a vote here, it is a democracy," Rathore quipped.
Udta Punjab, which looks into how the youth in Punjab have succumbed to drugs, has also unleashed political sparring in the state which goes to polls in 2017.
Spoiler Alert: Please do not read further if you have not watched Game of Thrones, Season 6, Episode 7 yet.
Last week, I had said that Game of Thrones seemed to be taking a breather; the show-runners are continuing with their 'Frankie Say Relax' mode of storytelling even in the 7th episode, The Broken Man. It's a little worrying, especially when there are only three more weeks to build up to a crescendo. Are you reading this, Weiss and Benioff?
This episode moves at a glacial pace it was hard to not skip forward. And, we all know that it's not a particularly great sign.
Last week's prediction that Queen Margaery's faith in the Church of the Seven was an ersatz is now true.
She is dressed in better clothes and most importantly, she has been given her beloved crown back. I think this was the first signal by the show-runners that she is back and she's at least ornamentally and symbolically gotten back what she was yearning for. And, it's definitely not divine deliverance that she is seeking.
My favourite old-lady of Westeros, Lady Olenna also realises that her granddaughter might not be "lost" after all, as Margaery secretly hands her a sketch of the rose (Tyrell House sigil), imploring her to leave King's Landing the High Sparrow made a veiled threat that she Olenna might be taught a lesson otherwise.
Sidebar: Lady Olenna dishes out the best insults ever. She doesn't disappoint one bit in this episode as she tells Cersei off:
Loras rots in cell because of you. The High Sparrow rules this city because of you. Our two ancient Houses face collapse because of you and your stupidity (emphasis).
In Braavos, Arya Stark walks around the market with an insolent gait, despite that fact that the House of Black and White, especially the Waif are looking to murder her. She books a passage to Westeros only to be stabbed in the gut multiple times by the Waif who catches her off-guard disguised as an old lady.
Arya pretends to die by jumping into the sea, resurfacing minutes later scared and bloody.
She walks through the market again, with her innards spilling out, unable to ask for help, because really, who can she trust? She has made an enemy of the face-changing assassins.
There was an interesting contrast to her brazen and bold walk through the market in the beginning to her walking through the same market looking at everyone with suspicion.
Arya cannot trust anybody but herself. It's going to be a miserable and pathetic future ahead of her.
Sidebar: Come on, Arya! They taught you better. Don't be cheeky and walk around the city like you're not in trouble. You made it so easy for the Waif to kill you. And, if Arya does end up dead, it would signal an extraordinarily vacuous form of storytelling. A girl must die, but that's not to happen this way. Capisce?
But, the story this time was not about these arcs at all, as the title suggests, it was about The Broken Man.
In Episode 4, I wrote about the "women of steel" who were probably going to be important contenders to the Iron Throne, this episode is about the men of steel. In a way, all of them Jon Snow, Sandor Cleagane, Jamie Lannister and Theon Greyjoy are making their comeback, proving their relevance and sometimes, even questioning it.
The episode opened with Cleagane and there was something wrong with pleasant Scottish music in the background, and the visuals of the women and men going about their work cheerfully had the underpinnings of a socialist utopia and that was what it was unattainable utopia, especially in the twisted world of Game of Thrones.
Cleagane is saved by an old, peace-loving man (read as Hippie folk of Game of Thrones) of the septon but this old man is more of an agnostic than a believer. He wants to make the world a better place, less violent and gentle there is a long drawn speech aimed at Cleagane, but one that conveniently addresses his audience, where he says that it is never too late to take the path of non-violence. And in this 'Murderers, Sinners Anonymous' type session, Cleagane appears almost convinced but the Brotherhood Without Banners make a rude interruption, later killing these hippie-peace-lovers. And, Cleagane is not happy, he picks up the axe and we know now that The Hound is back.
Cleagane, with his scarred face, has had both physical and emotional upset in his life Cleagane was damaged goods, he feared fire because of the trauma caused to him as a child and he did terrible things as an adult to fulfill the demands of an evil authority in King's Landing. It's almost as if he was a symbol and a metaphor for the rotting carcass that is Westeros. Cleagane was also resurrected from almost-death and just as he finds his share of zen and calm, it is brutally taken away from him through the very things he was running away from weapons, rage and violence. This turmoil has renewed a sense of purpose in Cleagane, he is meant to be a warrior, not someone who fells wood.
Jon Snow is coming to terms with his status as a bastard it seems that such a status matters a great deal to the people he's seeking help from. And the fact that he has an army of Wildlings or the Free Folk who are not accepted by those south of the wall at all. Jon also appears to be coming to terms with his own resurrection, he doesn't know what to make of it, what to do, where to stand. Of course, Sansa and Ser Davos are giving him all the support they can, but the internal anguish he feels is obvious.
Yara and Theon share a tender moment as she tells him to either be a broken man and slit his wrists she won't judge him for it. But, if he wants to be with her and make a difference, he needs to stop cowering and thinking about the past. Theon's body-language up until now, still had the remnants of all the horrific things that Ramsay did to him, but in that moment, you can see that there is a resurgence of energy within Theon. He is unwilling to accept himself as broken.
Jaime Lannister reaches the Riverrun Castle along with Bronn (the wonderfully hilarious sidekick) and decides to confront Blackfish who greets Jaime as 'The Kingslayer'. Jaime on the field is confident, even though he has only one good hand it is almost as if war is what he is meant for. There's something far more noble about Jamie when he is on the field, with his army and a purpose. He tells Blackfish to surrender, who tells Jamie that he would rather die fighting than surrender; Blackfish is adamant about keeping the Castle not because of its merits, but for sentiment. Blackfish tells Jaime he wanted to see him in person and then says that he is "disappointed". And that is what Jamie has been disappointing ever since he went back to King's Landing. Cersei exerts an inexplicable, yet dangerously powerful influence over him. Away from her, he is different. And it is only on the field that his true mettle can shine.
Worn out, weathered and broken in so many ways, these men of Westeros Jon, Sandor, Jaime and Theon are back in places where they do their best work, on the field, in war, on the run and seeking vengeance. They are warriors not meant to be seated on a throne or be advisers to a lord or a king. It is in battle that they will display their true valour.
Bengaluru was the place to be this weekend.
With the city playing a first time host to the International food festival, 'World On a Plate', in India, you might think the gourmet food would be the highlight of the weekend, but think again.
Masterchef Australia judges Gary Mehigan, Matt Preston and George Calombaris flew in the middle of the Masterchef Australia season 8, especially to be a part of the festival.
India's love for anything to do with food, and a few Indian contestants over the years on the show, have boosted Masterchef Australia's popularity in the country. This assured them a big welcome to the event.
The trio made sure they put the entire event on Instagram to appease their fans.
Matt Preston's Instagram account gave us a footprint of their Bengaluru trip, and can we just say, it looks really exciting!
There's always a little bit of pantomime about #thethreemusketeers . At least the Bangloeans who saw us got a laugh!! A photo posted by Matt Preston (@mattscravat) on Jun 5, 2016 at 5:03am PDT
The food festival had 50 plus pop-up restaurants and food trucks spread across the city. The icing on the cake of the was the ever-so-popular but hard-to-recreate masterclass with the chefs from down under. Each of the judges dazzled the crowd with their versions of gourmet dishes, with Gary serving up his version of white mousse, Matt whipping up his famous corgi-styled chicken with spiced pumpkin and George styled up a soft shelled crab dish with an Indian twist (soft-shell crab soulaki wrapped in Indian bread in a cone).
When you're in @MattsCravat's class, you can be sure you're going to have the time of your life! #WOAP #Bangalore pic.twitter.com/fqQ4ngYGV5 WorldOnAPlate (@World_OnAPlate) June 4, 2016
The chefs were also fascinated by local produce, like this Instagram post of Matt checking out the vegetable vendors at Russel Market in Bengaluru.
Culinary inspiration everywhere! First stop in any city has to be a market - and in #bengaluru for world on a plate is no exception! A photo posted by Matt Preston (@mattscravat) on Jun 2, 2016 at 4:25am PDT
Gary Mehigan fell in love with the Appams and curries Bengaluru had to offer:
They also got a chance to sample a lot of yummy delicacies by visiting a few iconic hotels in Bengaluru.
Street art in #Bengaluru @world_onaplate A photo posted by Matt Preston (@mattscravat) on Jun 2, 2016 at 4:23am PDT
The judges have then sadly rushed back to Australia to finish the mid-season filming of the latest Masterchef season.
Bengaluru, you're really lucky.
Anurag Kashyap has been very vocal about his fight with the CBFC regarding the cuts for his co-production, Udta Punjab.
In an exclusive interview with CNN-News18, Kashyap spoke about his issues with the board and clarified that the film doesn't paint Punjab in a bad light.
"It's been four weeks, we haven't heard from the Revising Committee of the CBFC on the proposed cuts. We've been kept in a limbo. In order for us to go ahead to the Tribunal or the Supreme Court, we will need an official document," he said.
Kashyap informed that when his team approached Pahlaj Nihalani for further clarity he said that the letter has "left the office" but hasn't been received by anyone yet.
The most important question to ask to him would be whether there seems to be any pressure from political parties on the representation of Punjab in the film.
Kashyap clarifies, "If this was just happening with Udta Punjab I would say it is political. However, this happened with Prakash Jha, with Mastizaade, and many other films over this last one year. It is like one person acting like a monolith. I am not going to sit here and assume that Akali Dal or BJP has asked the CBFC to make the cuts. I am just going to say that there is nothing derogatory in the film about Punjab. It's about youth and drugs."
Switzerland promised on Monday to work with Indian authorities to tackle tax dodgers who stash money in Swiss bank accounts to avoid Indian taxes.
After talks in Geneva with Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann and round-table discussions with Swiss businessmen, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the two countries had agreed to make combatting tax evasion and "black money" a shared priority.
"We discussed the need for an early and expeditious exchange of information to bring to justice the tax offenders. An early start to negotiations on the Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Information would be important in this respect," he said, referring to a portal supported by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Modi promised in his 2014 election campaign to recover billions of dollars sent to tax havens abroad to avoid income tax, now about 30 percent in India.
Schneider-Ammann said no figure had been put on the amount of "black money" to be recovered. Talks would begin later this month, he said.
Modi said Switzerland had also agreed to support its bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which it applied to join last month, having won a waiver in 2008 that accorded it the right to trade in commercial nuclear technology.
New Delhi's bid for full membership of the 48-nation club, if granted, would tip the balance of power in South Asia against its arch-rival Pakistan, whose own application has been backed by China despite questions over its proliferation record.
Modi tacked on Switzerland and Mexico as extra stops on a five-country tour to seek their support on joining the NSG. He left Switzerland for Washington, where U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to offer his backing also.
Both Switzerland and Mexico have been viewed as sceptical about India's bid for nuclear legitimacy. They are among countries concerned that India has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a step that would require New Delhi to give up its nuclear arsenal.
The nuclear club holds its annual meeting later this month.
New Delhi - The government will examine the capital requirements of various public sector banks (PSBs) for the current fiscal to meet credit growth and NPA provisioning, said Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha on Monday.
"We are going to go through process of analysis now because banks have finished announcing their results (for 2015-16)," he said after launching IDBI Express, a low cost banking model of IDBI Bank, here.
"It is credit growth in some cases as well as what the further NPA provisioning that may be required that will drive the exactly what the capital requirements are," he said.
The government had made a budget provision of Rs 25,000 crore for re-capitalisation of public sector banks for the current fiscal.
Besides, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has also promised to provide more if there is an additional requirement.
On the IDBI stake sale, Sinha said, the transformation process is underway.
"There are variety of factors that we are considering including the QIP, the size of the QIP, the kind of bidders that will emerge so let's wait and see how the whole process will emerge," he said.
The government in December gave approval to IDBI Bank for raising Rs 3,771 crore during the year, by way of Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP), a move which will dilute its holding by about 26 per cent in the lender.
The government's holding in the bank stands at 73.98 percent.
As part of transformation plan, IDBI Bank aims to increase its business to Rs 10 lakh crore and raising net profit to Rs 5,000 crore by 2018-19, its Managing Director Kishor Kharat said.
For 2015-16, the bank's net loss was Rs 3,665 crore against net profit of Rs 873 crore in 2014-15.
The bank also plans to add another 1,500 new branches, he said, adding total network will increase to over 4,000.
New Delhi: Telecom Commission on Tuesday stood by its decision to levy 3 percent spectrum usage charge (SUC) of adjusted gross revenue on telecom operators.
"For future auction, the Telecom Commission stood by its recommendation to levy 3 percent SUC," an official source
said.
Weighted average will be calculated between broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum, the current SUC rate and the
spectrum that will be acquired in future by the company, the source said.
To prevent loss of revenue for the government, telecom operators will pay a minimum amount they are paying as per
2015-16 rates.
The annual SUC collection is at around Rs 7,000 crore.
"DoT to move Cabinet note for inter-ministerial consultation on spectrum auction in a week. All the spectrum bands will be auctioned simultaneously," sources said.
The sources added that the SUC for Reliance Jio, which has pan-India licence to offer high-speed broadband services, will go down to 2.88 percent, from 5 percent.
Also, for Airtel, it will fall from 4.9 percent to 3.74 percent, they said.
DoT will move the cabinet note on spectrum auction in a week for inter-ministerial consultations and place it before the cabinet for a final decision after receiving the feedback.
GSM industry body COAI had sought uniformity in the rate of SUC at 3 percent for all assigned airwaves and bringing it further down to 1 percent in a phased manner.
PTI
NEW DELHI The members of the Missile Technology Control Regime, an international anti-proliferation grouping, have agreed to admit India, diplomats said, in a win for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he met U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday.
Diplomats with direct knowledge of the matter said a deadline for members of the 34-nation group to object to India's admission had expired on Monday without any raising objections.
Under this 'silent procedure', India's admission follows automatically, diplomats from four MTCR member nations told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Obama was expected to say he was looking forward to India's "imminent entry" into the MTCR when he and Modi address the press after their seventh bilateral meeting, sources aware of its agenda said.
Admission to the MTCR would open the way for India to buy high-end missile technology, also making more realistic its aspiration to buy surveillance drones such as the Predator, made by General Atomics.
ARMS EXPORTER
India makes a supersonic cruise missile, the Brahmos, in a joint venture with Russia that both countries hope to sell to third countries, a development that would make India a significant arms exporter for the first time.
Membership of the MTCR would require India to comply with rules such as a maximum missile range of 300 km (186 miles) that seek to prevent arms races from developing.
The BrahMos weapon systems are displayed during a full dress rehearsal for the Republic Day parade in New Delhi January 23, 2015. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/Files Italy had objected to admitting India but, after an unrelated bilateral dispute was resolved, did not object this time within a 10-day deadline after the group's chair, the Netherlands, wrote to members suggesting India be welcomed. An Italian marine, held for four years at the country's embassy in New Delhi over the killing of two Indian fishermen in an anti-piracy operation in 2012, was recently allowed to return home. A U.S. congressional source confirmed that India's membership in the missile control group was expected, as Modi visited Washington. "In my mind, the hurdle was the Italian veto over the Indian arrest of the Italian marine. Now that the marine has been released, I think it appears that yes, admission will be granted," he said. No formal meeting is required for India to complete its entry into the group, set up in 1987 to limit the spread of unmanned systems capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction. The MTCR is one of four international non-proliferation regimes that India, which in recent decades has gone from being a non-aligned outsider to a rising nuclear-weapons power, has been excluded from. New Delhi has also applied to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a 48-nation club that governs trade in commercial nuclear technology and was originally set up in response to India's first atomic weapons test in 1974. Joining the NSG will be much more difficult because China is a member and has backed the membership aspirations of Pakistan, its ally and India's arch-rival. Still, the breakthrough on the MTCR will be welcomed in the U.S. Congress, which Modi will address on Wednesday. Congress ratified a civilian nuclear agreement with India in 2008 that seeks to build commercial ties, while at the same time binding New Delhi into the global security order. Ahead of the summit, U.S.-based nuclear reactor maker Westinghouse, a unit of Japan's Toshiba Corp, has made progress towards a deal to build six reactors in India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh. A deal, if completed, would be the first to stem from the civil nuclear accord. (Reporting by Douglas Busvine Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and James Dalgleish)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
WASHINGTON The United States and India have finalised the text of an agreement to share military logistics, and it will be signed very soon, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday.
"The agreement has been concluded," the official told reporters during a visit to Washington by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The agreed text has been finalised by each country. It will be signed very shortly."
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Leslie Adler)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
New Delhi: Qatar has released 23 Indian prisoners following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the Gulf nation as part of his ongoing five-nation sojourn.
The prisoners were released on Monday, a day after Modi was in Doha where he met Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. The release is part of an annual Ramadan tradition of granting pardons by the Qatar government.
"A special gesture to mark the start of a special month (Ramzan). The government of Qatar releases 23 prisoners, who will return home to India," Modi tweeted on Tuesday.
"My deepest gratitude to the Emir of Qatar for the gesture," he wrote from the US.
A special gesture to mark the start of a special month...the Government of Qatar releases 23 prisoners, who will return home to India. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 6, 2016
My deepest gratitude to the Emir of Qatar for the gesture. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 6, 2016
During his five-nation six-day sojourn, Modi has already visited Afghanistan, Qatar and Switzerland. He is also scheduled to visit Mexico.
India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also expressed her gratitude to Qatar. "Thank you Qatar. Thanks for releasing 23 Indian prisoners on the request of (the) prime minister."
New Delhi: Recently appointed as chief of a premier government-funded art centre here, Ram Bahadur Rai on Tuesday stoked a controversy by questioning Dr BR Ambedkar's role in framing of the Constitution and describing it as a "myth".
A former general secretary of the ABVP, RSS affiliated student organisation, Rai was quoted as saying in an interview to a weekly magazine that Ambedkar did not write the Constitution.
Rai, who was appointed as Chairman of Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) in April, was quoted by Outlook as having said that Ambedkar's role was limited and that whatever material BN Rau, a civil servant, gave to him, Ambedkar would correct the language.
"So, Ambedkar did not write the Constitution. In fact, he said, if the Constitution is ever to be set afire, then 'I will be first to do so,'" Rai said.
Asked if Ambedkar's role was then a myth, Rai replied, "Yes, myth hai, myth hai, myth hai (yes, it is a myth, it is a myth, it is a myth). It is part of identity politics."
Rai immediately came under attack with BJP's Scheduled Caste Morcha chief Dushyant Kumar Gautam condemning the controversial comments, saying they amounted to insulting Ambedkar and are a hurdle in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Dalit outreach.
When contacted, Rai denied giving any such interview, claiming it was a "breach of journalistic ethics".
Attacking Rai, Gautam said, "Those who are saying so are doing it without any thinking and it seems they have some malice and enmity against the Scheduled Castes and the concept of social justice.
"This is the reason otherwise such statements would not have been made. If Ambedkar was from upper castes, then they would not made such comments," he added.
Asked about Rai's commets, Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma said he was not aware of the content of the interview.
The interview quoted Rai as saying that the Constitution needs to be reconsidered afresh.
"This Constitution is a haven for lawyerslawyers wrote it, the kind with no connection to India's nature or culture. This does not mean that they were not desh bhakts, or learned or that they did not want a good Constitution.
"But they were trapped in circumstances, which is why the Constitution they came up with became, broadly, a new testament of our gulaami (slavery)," Rai said, according to the interview.
He said some "myths" have been created in the country and one is that the Constitution is like a "temple idol" nobody can touch.
"Some people feel, if the Constitution is tampered with, what will happen to the dreams of Babasaheb Ambedkar. But people to represent Babasaheb's dreams are in this Parliament, so this danger does not exist," he said.
Rai's controversial comments come at a time when BJP has been making vigorous attempts to win over politically crucial SC community to its side ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
Gautam called Ambedkar the "foremost patriot" and claimed that people like Rai were "concerned" over Modi's attempts to attach the Dalit community with BJP.
"The way and speed with which Modi is working to create social harmony and taking everybody along has caused concern among some people," he said.
Asked for his comments, BJP vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said Ambedkar continues to be "supremely important icon" of the emancipation of downtrodden sections of society, especially Dalits.
"Whatever way people may assess him, he remains our national hero," he said.
Fatehabad: A couple was injured on Tuesday in an explosion in a private bus at Bhuna in Fatehabad district, the second such incident in Haryana in two weeks.
The explosion took place at around 11 am near Bhuna when the vehicle was on its way from Jakhal to Fatehabad, following which panic-stricken passengers jumped off to save themselves. "Two persons including a woman have been injured in the explosion," Fatehabad SP, OP Narwal said, adding that they have been taken to Fatehabad hospital. They have been identified as Bhagirath Luhar and his wife Raj Bala of Kanoh village near here.
He said forensic experts have been summoned to the spot. The incident comes two weeks after a low-intensity blast took place in a state-run bus near Pipli in Kurukshetra, leaving 12 passengers injured.
Asked if Tuesday's explosion bore any similarity to the earlier incident, Narwal said, "At this stage, we cannot comment on that. Investigations are on."
He, however, said according to preliminary accounts gathered from the spot, it appeared some passenger was carrying a chemical powder which caught fire either because of smoking or some other reason.
"It could be possible that some farmer was carrying the chemical powder, which is used in agricultural fields to scare away birds by causing an explosion," Narwal said. The SP said no passenger had come forward to claim the chemical substance yet.
The private bus, belonging to Bhuna Friends Cooperative society, left from Jakhal at 10 am for Fatehabad. Haryana has witnessed three low-intensity blasts this year, two of which occurred in trains in Panipat.
The explosion on the bus on 26 May had occurred when the vehicle was on its way from Sonepat in Haryana to Chandigarh.
Earlier, on 16 January, a bomb blast had taken place on a passenger train at Panipat railway station. The explosive material was planted in a compartment next to the engine, but there was no casualty.
On 13 May, an explosion had rocked an EMU train which had reached Panipat from Delhi and had been moved to the yard. Again, there was no casualty.
Washington: India may join the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) "very quickly" as there are no longer any major obstacles and things are moving positively, a senior US official has said.
"We do expect that India will join MTCR very quickly. I think things are moving positively," a senior Obama administration official told PTI when asked about the possibility of India joining the 34-member group.
"There are no longer any major obstacles that we are aware of," the official said on Monday. US President Barack Obama has strongly backed India's membership into the MTCR and three other export control regime Australia Group, Nuclear Suppliers Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement.
The move will boost India's efforts to purchase Predator drones from the US and export its high-tech missiles to friendly nations.
However, on India becoming a member of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) where China is openly opposing it, the Obama administration is keeping its fingers crossed for the moment. "On NSG, there is a process that is still ongoing. I do not think the NSG plenary is not meeting until later in this month. Let's see how it goes but the US is absolutely, categorically, unreservedly committed to India's membership in the NSG.
"The US and India and other friendly countries are working actively together to see that India get there," the official, who requested anonymity, added. 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-kilogramme payload at least 300 kilometres 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 of unmanned aircraft for the Indian military.
Mumbai: BJP-led Maharashtra government on Tuesday decided to rename the Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayee Arogya Yojana, a scheme for cashless treatment for the poor, after social reformer Mahatma Phule, drawing flak from Congress.
"Before being named after Rajiv Gandhi, the scheme was called Jeevandayee Yojana," state Public Health Minister Deepak Sawant told reporters at Mantralaya, after the weekly state cabinet meeting.
The meet, chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, was the first one after the exit of senior minister Eknath Khadse, who resigned in the wake of a string of allegations.
"The earlier scheme, whose tenure ended, has been modified and some new processes added to make it more comprehensive," Sawant said.
These include raising the insurance limit to Rs 2 lakh per family on floater basis and inclusion of new procedures like paediatric, geriatric care, he said.
The Shiv Sena minister also announced a new cashless accident insurance scheme, to cover 3 days of hospitalisation,
named after late Sena chief Bal Thackeray.
Criticising the decision to rename the scheme, MPCC chief Ashok Chavan said, "Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayee scheme was a
flagship programme of the Congress regime to provide health to the economically backward people. In the last few years,
the scheme benefited large sections of the society. Renaming the scheme by making minor changes is inappropriate."
By initiating change of name of Rajiv Gandhi Yojana, this government has proved that it's just a name-changer and not a game-changer, Congress MLC Sanjay Dutt said.
"I strongly oppose this decision. It proves the BJP-led government's mental bankruptcy," he said.
Talking about the scheme, Fadnavis said,"the Cabinet has decided to implement Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jeevandayeeni
Yojana in the state with some unique features."
Earlier, 971 ailments were covered in the old scheme. Now, this number got increased to 1,100, including old age issues, hip and knee replacement, sickle cell, anaemia treatment, he said.
Benefits under this scheme increased from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh and from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh in case of kidney transplantation, he tweeted.
"Ashramshala, orphanage, old age homes and journalists are also now included in this scheme along with farmers from 14 distressed districts," he said.
In October 2015, former Agriculture Minister Eknath Khadse had said that the state government had no plans to
rename the 'Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayi Arogya Yojana'.
"I don't think the scheme will be renamed. It would smack of political bias. There are few instances in the state, where
flagship schemes of previous governments have been renamed after a new dispensation took charge. New governments have
continued with old schemes and started new ones in name of their own leaders," Khadse had said, referring to his
government's new schemes like Deendayal Upadhyay Gharkul Yojana and Pramod Mahajan Skilled Development Scheme.
State unit Congress president Ashok Chavan, in a letter to Fadnavis, had then suggested that the government should focus on improving the quality and scope of the scheme, so that the maximum number of citizens get healthcare facilities.
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government is mulling to develop a state-wide water supply grid, on the lines of Gujarat, to tide over the problem of its scarcity and for equitable distribution of water.
"In the first phase, the parched Marathwada region will be supplied water through the grid network, to give an impetus to farming and industrial growth in the region," Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar told PTI.
"We had recently visited Gujarat to study their water grid network. Marathwada region of Maharashtra has been facing water scarcity since a long time. Now that affects farming and industries as well. Adding to the woes, rain water does not get accumulated underground and goes into the sea," he said.
There are five river basins in the state through which water will be supplied to different regions, the minister said.
"There are some places, like Konkan region, that receive good rainfall. But there are no measures in place to harvest rain water. Once we put the grid system in place, water will be evenly supplied across the state," he said.
Mungantiwar said that Marathwada region will be supplied water through Godavari river basin.
"Gujarat developed a water supply grid at a cost of Rs 7,000 crore. Ever since the system was put in place in the neighbouring state, 3.90 crore people have able to use water of the Narmada river. Earlier, there were places where 7,000 water tankers were required for sustenance. The number has come down to just 100 tankers," he added.
"We dream of having a Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. We have decreased the tariff of electricity for industries in Marathwada region and providing benefits to farmers. But there is simply no water! We will be able to put our development plan in place and provide water for farming once we have the grid system in place," Mungantiwar said.
He added that the first meeting with experts took place on Tuesday in this regard and the intricacies would soon be discussed.
New Delhi: Months after her statement that the "concept of marital rape cannot be applied in the Indian context" created controversy, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi on Tuesday said even if there was a law against it, women are unlikely to complain about this kind of abuse.
The Minister for Women and Child Development said women could instead file a complaint of marital rape under the existing Domestic Violence law.
"We have a law already on violence against women and that includes marital rape. The point is that there has never been a complaint under it, never... We can use domestic violence (law) and then build on it but at the moment there is not even one complaint," she told an All Women Journalists' Workshop at Vigyan Bhawan.
"A lot of women who feel very angry with their husbands and hate them, would really want them to be finished and still have two children and they think about them and they take a decision appropriately...I can have a law on marital rape but it will make no difference because no one will complain," she said.
She had earlier courted controversy saying, "The concept of marital rape, as understood internationally, cannot be suitably applied in the Indian context due to...mindset of the society to treat marriage as a sacrament, etc."
The workshop saw participation of over 250 journalists from 30 states and Union Territories across the country, representing 120 media organisations.
Maneka made a presentation on the issues taken up by the Women and Child Development Ministry in the past two years.
She highlighted the numerous 'firsts' of the Ministry like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme, setting up of One Stop Centres for women in distress, Mahila e-Haat, panic button on mobile phones, guidelines for matrimonial websites, 33 per cent reservation for women in police force among others.
Lucknow: Bowing to opposition demand, Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday ordered judicial probe into last week's Mathura violence in which 29 people, including two police officers, were killed.
The probe will be conducted by a retired judge of Allahabad High Court and the inquiry committee has been asked to submit its report within two months.
"A judicial probe has been ordered into Mathura violence. Retired Allahabad High Court judge Imtiyaz Murtaza will conduct inquiry," an official spokesman said here.
The spokesman said the inquiry panel will go into the circumstances that led to the incident. It has been asked to make suggestions that would help in ensuring that such incidents do not recur. 29 people, including two police officers, were killed during clashes between encroachers and police in Mathura last week.
The violence had claimed the lives of Superintendent of Police (City) Mukul Dwivedi and SHO Santosh Kumar. Political parties had been demanding a judicial inquiry into the violence. BJP Member of Parliament from Mathura Hema Malini had demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident.
Srinagar: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has lashed out at Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, saying it was "disdainful" of him to claim that the success of Kashmiri youth in civil services was due to the NDA government at the Centre.
"How disrespectful and disdainful of @naqvimukhtar to claim the success of Kashmiri youth as some sort of NDA achievement.#shame," Omar wrote on Twitter.
The former chief minister was responding to the reported remarks of Naqvi that "youths in Kashmir earlier joined ISIS. They have now started joining the IAS (Indian Administrative Service)".
Naqvi had said this was because of the NDA government at the Centre.
"Actually Kashmiris joined the civil services LONG before the NDA existed & will join long after the NDA disappears!" Omar said.
New Delhi: With India trying to boost its relations with African countries, President Pranab Mukherjee will embark on a six-day visit to Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Namibia from 12 June.
This will be first ever visit of the President to Cote d'Ivoire after both countries established diplomatic relations while it will be the first at the highest level in over two decades to Namibia.
The President will have meetings with the respective Heads of three nations and a number of bilateral agreements are also likely to be signed during the visit.
Mukherjee will arrive in Ghana's capital Accra on June 12 on a two-day visit during which he will have meeting with President John Dramani Mahama. The two countries may sign agreements on a joint Commission and renewal of Cultural Exchange Programme.
The President will address a Joint Business Forum and the students and faculty of University of Ghana besides having an interaction with the Indian community at a reception organised at the Indian High Commission.
He will also unveil a statue of Mahatma Gandhi gifted by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.
The bilateral trade between the two countries has crossed bilateral trade crossed three billion USD in 2015-16, the Ministry said. He will also visit India-Ghana Kofi Annan Centre of ICT Excellence in Accra, set up with modest Indian assistance of USD 2.86 million.
The deaths of 17 people in an accident on Sunday on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway, a part of Thane-Chennai National Highway 4, once again brings to the fore the dangers of road travel in India.
According to the Global Status Report on Road Safety released by the World Health Organisation in 2015, more than two lakh deaths occur on India's roads.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways revealed in a report that in 2013, over 39,829 people were killed in accidents on national highways alone. That number rose to 42,049 in 2014.
But all that's going to change soon, if the ministry has its way. The ministry has allocated Rs. 11,000 crore to fix 726 black spots on national highways in the coming five years. According to government guidelines, a black spot is classified as a location on a national highway that witnesses more than 10 accidents a year. The states with the highest number of black spots are Tamil Nadu (100), Uttar Pradesh (99) and Karnataka (86), according to Factly.
Here we take a look at the top four deadliest national highways in India:
Delhi-Kolkata Highway
Official name: National Highway 2
Connects: Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal
Length: Over 1,465 km
Black spots: 59
Delhi-Mumbai highway
Official name: National Highway 8
Connects: Delhi, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Ajmer, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Mumbai
Length: 1,428 km
Black spots: 45
Nongstoin-Sabroom Highway
Official name: National Highway 44
Connects: Nongstoin, Shillong, Passi, Badarpur, Agartala and Sabroom
Length: 723 km
Black spots: 38
Thane- Chennai Highway
Official name: National Highway 4
Connects: Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Chennai
Length: 1,235 km
Black spots: 27
New Delhi: A suspended home ministry official Anand Joshi, arrested in a graft case, was on Tuesday granted bail by a court here.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Vinod Kumar granted bail to Joshi on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of the like amount.
The court directed him to neither try to tamper with evidence nor influence witnesses apart from placing some other conditions on him.
Joshi, an undersecretary in the ministry when he was suspended, was arrested by the CBI on 15 May on the charge of "obtaining illegal gratification" from various non-governmental organisations after issuing notices to them under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
The CBI is reported to have found files relating to activist Teesta Setalvad's NGO Sabrang Trust in his possession.
Joshi had gone "missing" from his residence in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh after summons were issued to him by the CBI.
Earlier, home ministry sources said Joshi, posted in the Foreigners Division, had access to files related to the FCRA and was under the scanner for several months.
Joshi had denied the charge of receiving bribes from the NGOs.
London: It's more often likened to a circus than a gallery, but Britain's Parliament is full of art.
For the most part that means portraits of somber-looking men, but the latest addition is different a huge, vividly colored light sculpture commemorating the decades-long battle that won British women the vote.
The first abstract artwork created for permanent display in the 19th-century parliamentary complex, New Dawn was unveiled Tuesday on the 150th anniversary of the first mass petition to Parliament calling for women to have the right to vote.
It would be more than 60 years before the goal was achieved, and artist Mary Branson wants her work to pay tribute to the thousands of people who fought for women's voting rights over the decades.
A few are well known, especially the militant suffragettes who fought with protests, hunger strikes and even bombings. But Branson, who spent six months exploring Parliament's archives, said she was moved by "all the women that I'd never heard about, ordinary people like ourselves."
"There were so many women coming in relentlessly day after day," she said. "Petitioning, protesting."
Branson calculated how many petitions calling for female suffrage were submitted to Parliament between 1866 and 1918, when women over 30 were granted the vote. (Full voting equality with men took another decade).
There were almost 16,500, featuring more than 3 million signatures.
"That said to me I needed to make something really big, and I needed to put it in a really powerful space," Branson said.
Branson found visual inspiration in Parliament's Act Room, where thousands of laws stretching back centuries are stored on parchment scrolls.
New Dawn consists of 168 circles of hand-blown glass inspired by the scrolls, mounted in a four-meter-by-six-meter (13 foot-by-20 foot) ellipse.
The sculpture is lit from behind in a rainbow of colors to reflect the many strands of the votes-for-women movement. The lighting changes over a 12-hour period timed to the tides of the River Thames that winds through London symbolising the unstoppable tide of change.
Parliament may have been slow to grant women the vote, but it has paid for the 124,000 pound ($180,000) cost of the sculpture and is selling a range of mugs, earrings, chocolate bars and other New Dawn merchandise in its gift shop.
"It's a fitting tribute to the champions of liberty of the past, as well as an inspiration for future generations," Commons Speaker John Bercow said of the artwork.
It hangs in one of the most prominent positions in Parliament, above the entrance to St. Stephen's Hall, the main approach to the House of Commons and the site of many protests over the years.
Branson said her glass scrolls are mounted atop a portcullis, an iron gate that is the traditional symbol of Parliament. In the artwork, the portcullis is open.
"It's like women are here," Branson said. "We're in."
Copenhagen: The National Gallery of Denmark said Tuesday it was removing the word "negro" from titles and descriptions of artwork, prompting criticism that it was trying to rewrite history.
The Copenhagen museum said the words "negro" and "Hottentot" a derogatory name for the Khoikhoi ethnic group would be removed from 14 works, as they reflected the language used during colonial times.
"At the time, it was the word that was used (but) you no longer do," the art museum's head of collections and research, Peter Norgaard Larsen, told AFP.
The two words would be replaced by either a nationality or a mention saying the person depicted was of African descent.
"We continually change the titles of our works. They are always being revised ... so that we address the audience in a language corresponding to the time we are living in," he added.
Original titles by an artist however will not be changed.
A spokesman for the anti-immigration Danish People's Party (DPP) blasted the move, saying it was "stupid" and "unhistorical".
"It makes our ancestors (look) better than they were," he told Danish news agency Ritzau.
"If you are to take history seriously, you should obviously show that they used the term that we, for various reasons, do not use," he added.
Naser Khader, a Syria-born lawmaker for the Conservative People's Party, accused the museum of "cleansing history."
Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum took similar steps to remove racially offensive terms from titles and descriptions last year.
As Monday marked the declaration of SSC results, Maharashtra state witnessed a 1.3 percent dip in the success rate of class X students. From recording the best SSC performance in the year 2015, the performance rate has fallen for the first time in five years. An overall success rate of 86.4 percent was recorded, one percent down from 87.7 percent recorded last year in the SSC examinations, reports The Times Of India.
The Mumbai division in particular comprising Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Palghar, noted a dip in the class Xth success rate to 85.7 from the recorded 86.1 last year.
In terms of pass percentage, out of a total of nine divisions, the Konkan division took the lead with 96.56 percent, Kolhapur followed at 92.89 per cent and Mumbai ranked fourth, as reported by Mumbai Mirror. The report further says that girls, once again, fared better, with a pass percentage of 89.48 percent, 5.56 percent more than their fellow male peers.
While the number of students scoring in the nineties rose across the state, in the Mumbai division, it dipped from 12,100 to 11,416 this year, reported by Hindustan Times.
As the high-scorers club gets bigger across boards, and the competition gets tougher, the Mumbai divisional board has decided to look at why certain schools recorded a poor pass percentage.
Dattatreya Jagtap, Chairman, Mumbai Divisional Board, said that the drop in the percentage was because students were not prepared for an external examination of their science practicals,reports The Indian Express. However, school principals do not agree. The poor pass percentage has nothing to do with practicals. Its because some students do not take exams seriously owing to the no-detention policy, said Jean Gomes, principal of Michael High School, Kurla. The board should be stricter about promoting students till Class IX.
According to Mumbai Mirror, state school principals have expressed the opinion that state board students will be in for tough competition due to high scores of the other boards.
Patna: Bihar government on Tuesday sanctioned a fund of Rs 40 crore from its contingency fund for effectively enforcing complete prohibition in Bihar.
"The Cabinet today sanctioned Rs 40 crore from Bihar Contingency Fund for purchasing various equipment and instruments to effectively enforce complete prohibition in the state," Cabinet Secretariat Department's Principal Secretary Brajesh Mehrotra told reporters.
Registration, excise and prohibition department would purchase 1,000 breath analysers, 1,000 CCTV cameras, 2,000 movable trolleys, besides installing 600 checkposts, 700 barriers and 200 dropgates for effectively implementing the complete prohibition, which came into force on 5 April, Mehrotra said.
Earlier, the government had banned manufacture, trade, transportation, sale and consumption of country-made and spiced liquor from 1 April.
The Cabinet also sanctioned Rs 112.85 crore for the construction of buildings for skill development training centres in all the 534 blocks of the state, Mehrotra said.
As per the state government's 'saat nischay' (seven resolves) programme, youths have to be trained for enhancing their communication skill, besides imparting training to provide basic knowledge of computer to them. A skill development training centre has to be set up in every block for imparting training to youths, he said.
The cabinet also sanctioned Rs 234.52 crore for allotment of 125 acres of land identified at mega industrial park for development of new campus for NIT, Patna, Mehrotra said.
It also gave its nod for hike in dearness allowance (DA) of those whose salary/pension/family pension have not been revised since 2006, the principal secretary said, adding that they would now be paid 245 percent of DA instead of existing 234 percent from 1 January, 2016.
The number of such employees would be around 15-20 in the state, he added.
A total of 11 decisions were taken at today's Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Sending clear signals of anti-incumbency against the Okram Ibobi Singh-led Congress government in Manipur, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday emerged as a strong contender of the Imphal Municipal Council (IMC). In the result declared so far of the election held on 2 June, the saffron party has bagged 5 seats, which is equal to the number of wards won by the ruling Congress party.
It is seen as a big gain for the saffron party. In the last IMC election, BJP barely managed to win one seat, whereas Congress won 14 out of total 27 number of wards spread across two districts namely Imphal East and Imphal West.
A source in the Deputy Commissioners office said that counting of votes are likely to continue till Wednesday.
The ambience in the state BJP office was buoyant.
It is a good sign for us. Especially at a time when the state is heading towards assembly election to be held early next year, says Bikram Singh, a party worker.
For beginners, Manipur is the next Congress bastion after Assam the BJP has tacitly declared to dismantle. Signs of anti-incumbency against the Congress government which has been ruling the state for the last 14 years, showed during the election itself. More than 80 percent voters turned out despite unrest going on the Imphal valley till the previous day.
Aggressive movement on demand of implementing Inner Line Permit system in Manipur has kept the police on its tows for the last one month.
Results declared so far indicate BJPs growing grip over the plains. Both the districts are on the plains of the state. But voices in the plains often do not echo in the hills of Manipur.
Politics in the hills differ from that of plains, admits Ksh Bhabananda Singh, who has recently been selected as the partys state president.
He also adds that the party has yet to figure out as to how to connect to the masses of the hills, to have a coveted result in the forth coming assembly election.
The political terrain
The political situation in Manipur somewhat resembles Assam. Like Assam having large Assamese Hindu population we have a sizeable Meitei population who are also mostly Hindus, the state president says.
Moreover, there is growing mistrust between the hills and plains, he explains.
He also says that Nagas and Kukis who dwell in the hills are mostly Christians and Meiteis and those living in the plains are mostly Hindus.
But JNU professor Oinam Bhagat, who is a known figure in Manipur, says that political terrain in Manipur far more complex than it appears.
Meiteis cannot be bundled into a singular identity. Among the Meiteis there are also Christians and Sanamahis who also do not identify themselves as Hindus, he adds.
North East Student Organisation Secretary General, Sinam Prakash Singh, says that there are also issues related to civil society demands to implement Inner line Permit System and to recognise Meiteis as scheduled tribes.
A brief history of strife
Some hill dwellers feel neglected and complain Meiteis who live in the plains absorb most of the development funds, says the Manipur BJP president.
On the other hand some Meiteis feel their cultural identity and economy being threatened because of influx of population to the plains of Manipur from both hills and other parts of India, he adds.
The land in the plains of Manipur is not reserved by any law. The law permits any Indian citizen to own land here. On the other hand the land in the hills is reserved only for the tribals residing there.
There are also other reasons for the growing mistrust, says a journalist who did not wish to be named.
In 2001, Government of India extended its ceasefire agreement with the Naga militant outfit NSCN (IM), withdrawing the clause of territorial limit of its operation. This irated the Meiteis, he explains.
The agreement was seen as an official recognition of the demand of constituting greater Nagaland layed down by the outfit. Demanded Greater Nagaland encompassed a major part of Manipur also.
Violent protests rose in the Meitei dominated valley of Manipur. Many lost their lives, recollects Sinam Prakash Singh of NESO.
These protests led the Government of India to revert to its original ground rule of ceasefire agreement which did not allow the outfit to move without territorial limits.
Greater Nagaland also included large areas of Kuki inhabitance. The ceasefire agreement led to fresh violence among Nagas and Kukis.
Brigadier Sushil Sarma who is posted as the DIGP of CRPF in North East says in one of his articles, that signing of the Naga Peace Accord in recent times has allayed fears in Manipur, Arunachal and Assam.
But political parties continue to play on differences. Manipur Congress spokesperson Biren Singh says that very little is known about what is written in the Naga Peace accord.
If it contains anything against the interest of the larger section of the society, than it will enhance mistrust further, he points out.
The hills saw violent protests fearing impingement of the interests of the tribals, when the Manipur Assembly accepted three bills on 31 August last year to provide with Inner Line Permit System, a demand layed down by Meiteis.
Differences are not only between hills and plains. There are also differences among the Meiteis dwelling in the Manipur valley.
Twenteith century Manipur saw revival of traditional Manipuri religion among the Meiteis. It was known as Sanamahi movement and was primarily anti Hindu. Sanamahis are still a strong voice among the Meiteis, says Professor Oinam Bhagat.
The election strategy
BJP has opted for a two pronged strategy to win Meitei votes in Manipur. One is overt and the other is covert, says Professor Bhagat who keeps tab of political happenings in Manipur.
In an overt attempt to win over votes of Meitei Hindus it has been using the bait of Inner Line Permit Sytem, he adds.
The Congress which has 28 MLAs from the plains was early to spot this opportunity.
Our government has already passed three bills last year in the assembly which will protect the political and economic rights of the Manipuris. The bills have been sent for the President of Indias assent, but they have not been returned yet, says Congress spokesperson N Biren Singh.
He also adds that the said bills neither impinge upon the rights of the tribals nor the people who have already settled in Manipur. Rather they aim at restricting further influx of people to the state by making it difficult to purchase land here.
BJP keen on garnering Meitei votes is actively supporting the Inner Line Permit System cause. Hinting that the Central Government may pass another legislation to protect the economic and political rights of Manipur, if the said three bills fail to get Presidents assent Ksh Bhabananda Singh the state president of BJP says Our party leaders have assured me that an Act in the lines of Inner Line Permit System will be brought into force before Assembly Election.
In its covert attempt to attract Sanamahi voters BJP has given the bait to recognize them as scheduled tribes. While doing this the party has used neither any of its agencies nor of RSSs, but with agencies those have no direct links with it, says Professor Bhagat.
IMC result declared so far suggest that strategies to win Meitei votes have started showing results.
Limiting the flow of central government funds by central government to Manipur is also seen as another strategy opted by the saffron party.
BJP government in Delhi has limited development funds to Manipur. On account of which dissidence grew in Manipur Congress, says Congress spokesperson N Biren Singh. Although he feels that Manipur Congress may not have to face the crisis that its counterpart in Assam did, where Himanta Biswa Sarma, a vatern Congress leader alongwith a bunch of dissident MLAs defected to BJP.
He also says that his party leadership has taken timely step to mitigate dissidence by accommodating disgruntled MLAs in the state cabinet.
But a source in the Congress tipped that BJP has continued trying to woo away a good number of its MLAs. The saffron party plans to fill up its dearth of powerful candidates to field in various constituencies, the source says.
Last year two of the defecting MLAs of Trinamool Congress Party won bypoll as BJP candidates. Now the party has two MLAs in the 60-member state assembly of Manipur.
What seems to perturb the saffron party leadership are the hills of the state which it is still clueless about how to make inroads there.
Analysts say that alliance with Naga Peoples Front, which has strong holds in certain hill constituencies might have helped BJP. But NPF promote the idea of Greater Nagaland. Alliance with it may risk BJPs targeted Meitei Hindu voters in plains.
Though NPF is an ally of NDA we have to discuss with our leaders about how much beneficial it will be for us to have an alliance with them here, Bhabananda Singh the state president of Manipur BJP raises doubt.
He also says that state BJP might not ally with North East Democratic Alliance, formed by party President Amit Shah just after the result of Assam Assembly Election was declared. For it also has NPF as its ally.
In the last assembly election held in 2012, Congress won 14 of the 19 assembly constituencies in the hills and 28 out of 41 in the plains.
I am not sure how BJP is going to benefit by only focusing on the constituencies in the plains, says Professor Bhagat.
Until and unless BJP formulates a strategy to connect to the voters in the hills, its strategies to win over Manipur may prove ineffective, despite other factors lined in its favour.
After a series of electoral defeats, the Congress is once again banking on a Gandhi for its revival. Reports suggest that Rahul Gandhi will soon be anointed as the Congress president and the party will go through a complete overhaul where the old guard will make way for the "young" ones. But a change in central leadership is unlikely to change the party fortunes. What Congress needs to focus on are the state units and regional leaders who have repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction over the Delhi's bigwigs way of handling party matters.
Himanta Biswa Sarma's defection to BJP, cost the Congress the Assam Assembly polls and now Ajit Jogi's announcement of floating a new party poses a new threat to the Grand Old Party in Chhattisgarh. The story is somewhat similar in Maharashtra.
Former Union minister and senior Congress leader Gurudas Kamat on Monday resigned from the party and announced his retirement from politics. He was the secretary of All-India Congress Committee and in-charge of Congress unit in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu. In fact, he was instrumental in Congress' win in Gujarat zilla parishad and panchayat elections. Considered a Congress loyalist, Kamat was close to Rajiv Gandhi. However, he has been left out of the Rahul Gandhi camp.
Kamat has a significant hold on the party corporators and youth workers and his presence would have been important for the Congress to win the Mumbai civic polls next year. Of the 62 corporators, Kamat has the support of 50. He also has the support of prominent Congress leaders like Priya Dutt, Eknath Gaikwad. Sources told Firstpost that many of the MLAs and corporators from Kamat's camp have threatened to give their resignation to the party high command.
In his text message to party workers, he wrote:
Dear friends, over the last more than 44 years I have worked with most of you and served the Congress. For several months now, I have felt I need to take a backseat to enable others to get the Opportunity. I met Hon Cong President about 10 days ago and expressed a desire to resign. Subsequently I sent letters to both Soniaji and Rahulji that I would like to exit. Since there was no reply I have formally informed that I would like to retire from Politics. I would like to thank each one of you for all the Cooperation I received and wish the Best to the Party leadership and each one of you.
Sources in the party said that Kamat was not happy about the recent Rajya Sabha nominations and for getting sidelined in the Mumbai unit. He made his displeasure known across party lines after Sanjay Nirupam was elected as the Congress Mumbai party chief. Sources said that the party secretaries whose tenure was coming to an end on 15 June were asked to submit their resignation by Congress vice-president's team.
The Congress suffered its worst defeat in the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly Election. The Congress-NCP alliance could clinch only six of the 48 seats. The anti-incumbency against the 15-year rule of the Congress-NCP government and the Modi wave together managed to wipe out Congress from the state. Ironically, former chief minister Ashok Chavan, who has been named in the multi-crore Adash scam, won the Congress seat in Nanded.
After the death of Vilasrao Deshmukh, the party has been rudderless in Maharashtra. It was with Rahul's backing that Ashok Chavan was made the head of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee. However, the recent Bombay High Court directive to demolish the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society, could render a severe blow to the party's prospects in Maharashtra under Chavan's leadership. Sanjay Nirupam, the Mumbai's Congress chief, has no influence outside the city.
The strained relationship between the old alliance partners Congress and the NCP did not help matters. The two parties came at loggerheads over seat sharing during the Maharashtra Assembly elections in 2014. There were reports that the NCP President Sharad Pawar held a secret meeting with Narendra Modi ahead of the elections. Later, Pawar dismissed the reports. After Navi Mumbai Municipal polls in 2015, Ashok Chavan had said, "Due to the coalition with NCP, Congress organisation faced a virtual extinction in several districts like Jalgaon, Beed, Thane among others. Our endeavour will be to strengthen the party organisation in such districts."
According to The Indian Express, Rahul Gandhi has proposed holding primaries for selecting candidates for the Mumbai civic polls in February 2017. A model which is followed in the US, a candidate has to fight out the primary elections to get a party ticket. The report added that though the party has not won the civic polls is two decades, this election is crucial to remain relevant in Maharashtra, which was once a Congress bastion.
Washington: From a bronze Ganesh to a Jain figure of Bahubali, the US has returned more than 200 pieces of rare cultural artefacts to India during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi expressed his gratitude for the return of the ancient artefacts during a ceremony on Monday night here.
"We are very grateful for government of the US and the President for returning a part of our culture. This heritage inspires us for the future," he said.
"Usually it's the present that brings nations together, but sometimes it's the heritage that brings two nations closer. Over the past two years, various countries have endeavoured to return India's stolen cultural heritage," said Modi who arrived in the US on Monday on the fourth leg of his five-nation tour.
"My gratitude to the US government for the sensitivity shown to India's heritage. This will evoke great respect among the people of India," he said, according to External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup's tweets.
"There treasures are to be enjoyed by the entire world. Technology can help us catch those indulging in illicit trafficking," he added.
Earlier, Swarup posted along with pictures of the artefacts: "From a bronze Ganesh to a Jain figure of Bahubali, here are pics of some of the returned cultural artefacts."
From a bronze Ganesh to a Jain figure of Bahubali, here are pics of some of the returned cultural artifacts pic.twitter.com/k1BmSytUY4 Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
During her address at ceremony of Repatriation of Cultural Property, US Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said: "Today (Monday) we begin the process of returning more than 200 stolen cultural objects back to India." Earlier, Modi paid tribute to the US space scientists who lost their lives during their research in space at the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial and also laid a wreath at Arlington Cemetery (Washington DC), the tomb of US soldiers killed during conflicts. During his visit to Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial, Modi met NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and the family of Kalpana Chawla, Indo-American astronaut, and invited them to visit India. He later had an interaction with think tanks in Washington. "Probing the minds of those who shape foreign policy. PM @narendramodi at an interaction with think tanks in Washington," Swarup tweeted.
Probing the minds of those who shape foreign policy.PM @narendramodi at an interaction with thinktanks in Washington pic.twitter.com/sukRbwaaaL Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
Modi arrived in Washington on Monday on a three-day visit, during which he will hold talks with President Barack Obama to review bilateral ties and address a joint session of the US Congress.
This is the Prime Minister's fourth visit to the US in the last two years.
Biennial elections for Rajya Sabha are otherwise a routine electoral affair. Each party knows its strength in respective Assemblies, number of vacancies, how many legislator votes are required to make a candidate win and thus parties easily assess if they have a chance to win and if so, how many seats they can win. Once the parties announce the nominations, their berth in Upper House of Parliament is generally taken for granted and elections become a mere formality.
But the 11 June biennial elections for 57 seats in 16 states have thrown up some most interesting scenarios.
In at least six states Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Haryana, an extra candidate, supported by either the BJP, the Congress or by the regional party concerned, has filed a nomination. The presence of one extra candidate in the contest in these states has opened the situation up for horse-trading, allurement, pulls and pressures of all kinds. Elections for Rajya Sabha or the Council of States are indirect elections, where the electoral college comprises elected MLAs of a state. Even as parties issue whips and voting is not secret, cross-voting ie a vote to a candidate other than the one desired by the party leadership does not make one liable under the Anti-Defection Act.
The inner voice, ironically calls for corruption, at least for a section of them.
The sting operation carried out by some TV news channels have shown as how a section of MLAs in Karnataka are finding this to be an occasion to make crores of rupees just to stamp their first preference vote in favour of a particular candidate.
The visuals of some MLAs openly fixing prices worth several crores of rupees is indeed most disturbing, but there is little that the Election Commission can do at this stage other than make the right noises and receive petitioners of all hues, either demanding polling as per schedule or those demanding countermand or postponement. We will explain later why EC is broadly helpless in this matter.
Let us first understand how the cards are placed on the electoral table in each state where the biennial polls will be held on Saturday:
Karnataka
Number of vacant seats: 4
Number of candidates: 5
Total strength of House: 224
Minimum votes required to get elected: 45
While the first three candidates Nirmala Sitharaman of the BJP, Oscar Fernandes and Jairam Ramesh of the Congress will easily sail through, a contest will be held for the fourth seat, between KC Ramamurthy of Congress and BM Farooq of JD(S). The Congress with 123 members in the House needs the votes of 12 MLAs from outside to make its candidate win and JD(S) with 40 MLAs needs five votes from outside the JD(S).
The sting operations conducted by Times Now and India Today have shown how ugly elections can get and how crores of rupees can freely change hands for every single vote. The Congress has shifted 11 Independents to Mumbai, away from Karnataka, to be brought back to Bengaluru only on polling day. The Congress led by its general secretary Digvijaya Singh petitioned the EC not to cancel or postpone polls amidst reports of the commission taking cognisance of horse-trading.
Madhya Pradesh
Number of vacant seats: 3
Number of candidates: 4
Total strength of House: 230
Minimum votes required to get elected: 58
The BJP with 165 members in the House is sure to send its first two candidates MJ Akbar and Anil Madhav Dave to Rajya Sabha. It has however, queered the pitch for Congress candidate Vivek Tankha, a lawyer, by supporting an Independent Vinod Gotiya. Tankha should have otherwise been sitting pretty because the Congress has 57 MLAs and just needs one from the outside. Gotiya has 49 spare votes of the BJP and needs nine from outside.
Rajasthan
Number of vacant seats: 4
Number of candidates: 5
Total strength of House: 200
Minimum votes required to get elected: 41
The BJP, with 161 members, will easily secure victory for its first three candidates Venkaiah Naidu, Om Prakash Mathur and Harshvardhan Singh. Its fourth candidate Ram Kumar Verma will need three votes from outside the BJP, but the Congress has supported an Independent Kamal Morarka, a former Union minister and businessman. The Congress has only 23 MLAs and Morarka will need 18 more to win. The number of Independents and Others are 16. Even if all of them vote for Morarka, he cant win on the basis of first preference votes, but his entry into the fray has made the contest interesting.
Uttar Pradesh
Number of vacant seats: 11
Number of candidates: 12
Total strength of House: 229
Minimum votes required to get elected: 34
Going by the list, 10 candidates Shiv Pratap Shukla from the BJP, seven from the Samajwadi Party including Amar Singh, Beni Prasad Verma, Surendra Nagar, VP Nishad, Rewati Raman Singh, Sukhram Singh Yadav and Sanjay Seth, two from the BSP including Satish Mishra and Ashok Siddhartha are sure to win. On the last day, the BJP sprung a surprise by putting up a wealthy Independent Preeti Mahapatra to spike the chances of the Congress Kapil Sibal who, on paper, needs five extra votes other than those from the (29). Mayawati has 12 spare votes. But she has still not opened her cards. Sibals chances are brighter than Mahapatras, but the vote is expected to go down to the wire.
Haryana
Number of vacant seats: 2
Number of candidates: 3
Total strength of House: 90
Minimum votes required to get elected: 31
The BJP that has 51 seats, has fielded one candidate, Chaudhary Birendra Singh and will have 20 spare first preference votes. It has thus supported an Independent media baron Subhash Chandra. Now Chandra will have to fetch 11 votes from outside the BJP. His options include the INLD (19 votes), HJC (2), SAD (1) and BSP (1). But what has complicated matters for him is that the Congress and Lokdal have supported RK Anand, former MP and lawyer. The Congress has 15 MLAs. If all of Congress and INLD vote for him, then he is through but game is still open.
Jharkhand
Number of vacant seats: 2
Number of candidates: 3
Total strength of House: 81
Minimum votes required to get elected: 28
The BJP, whose strength in the House is 43 plus four from the AJSU, has fielded Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (sure to win as first candidate) and Mahesh Poddar. But Poddar has a deficit of nine votes and will have to slug it out with Basant Soren of the JMM, which has 19 votes. Soren, the younger son of Shibu Soren too has to manage nine votes. The Congress (seven votes) is supporting and mobilising Bablal Marandis JVM (two votes) to defeat the BJP.
Uttarakhand
Number of seats: 1
Number of candidates: 3
Total strength of House: 61 (70 in total but nine were expelled)
Minimum votes required to get elected: 31
It is yet another challenge for chief minister Harish Rawat to see his official candidate Pradeep Tamta wins against the challenge put up by two Independents Geeta Thakur and Anil Goyal. The Congress on its own has 27 and needs four from outside the party. The BJP has 28, so the candidate it chooses to support has to manage three votes from wherever he or she could.
As to why the EC cant take action by countermanding the polls where sting operations have exposed rampant horse-trading is for four reasons: First, unlike the Lok Sabha or Assembly polls where the EC has special powers to countermand elections in the event of massive rigging or other malpractices including bribing voters, it does not have such powers with regards to Rajya Sabha polls. Perhaps, that was never envisaged by the makers of the Constitution and when the Representation of People Act was framed.
Second, sting operations are merely indicative. No money actually changed hands. A public perception can be built around that, but guilt cant be established on that basis.
Third, polling is yet to take place to claim that votes of suspected MLAs went to particular candidates because of bribery or other inducements.
Fourth, what does EC cancel? Since it is an indirect preferential voting, there is no conflict for other remaining seats than first, third, fourth, fifth, eleventh etc. How can the EC then differentiate between seats? Should it have all the elections cancelled or postponed, or hold elections only for one seat on the basis of certain presumptions?
Questions abound.
An aerial photo taken on Sept 25, 2015 from a seaplane of Hainan Maritime Safety Administration shows cruise vessel Haixun 1103 heading to the Yacheng 13-1 drilling rig during a patrol in the South China Sea. [Photo/Xinhua]
Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte's goodwill gesture on the South China Sea issue has left space for improving ties with China, but fundamental improvements in bilateral ties still hinge on more efforts and concrete actions from the Philippines under Duterte's leadership.
Given his previous stance toward China, how Duterte will deal with China, especially on the South China Sea issue, has become a focus of international attention. Despite his inconsistent remarks, the positive signals he has transmitted mean that the new government may embrace a different policy toward China from his predecessor Benigno Aquino III.
The legally-savvy Duterte should know that the ruling to be made by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on the case unilaterally submitted by the Philippines is not a binding verdict. The ruling does not have any binding force to change China's stance and actions in the waters.
The congratulatory message extended by President Xi Jinping to Duterte on his election victory and China's willingness to bring bilateral ties back on the track of healthy development should have made the Philippine president-elect feel the sincerity of Beijing and its firm but goodwill attitude toward resolving the disputes.
However, the Asia-Pacific strategy of the United States and its close alliance with Manila are also expected to restrict the space for Duterte to pursue a foreign policy free of the US' influence in Asia, including its policy toward China.
But to better serve the Philippines' interests, the new Philippine government should hold a proper attitude toward the arbitration case, such as ignoring or suspending its procedures, and hold unconditional talks with China on the territorial disputes as this is only way to deepen and advance mutually beneficial cooperation.--People's Daily overseas edition
Sambhal: The Centre on Tuesday hit out at the ruling Samajwadi Party accusing it of not being serious about law and order in Uttar Pradesh, days after the Mathura clashes left 29 people dead.
"The UP government is not serious about law and order. It has to be strict, but its intentions were not right. The Ministry of Home Affairs cooperates with the state government and does not discriminate," Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju told reporters.
He said the UP government should recommend a CBI probe into the violence in Jawahar Bagh in Mathura so that the truth comes out.
Rijiju said the Centre could order a CBI inquiry only on the recommendation of the state government, order of the court or on the recommendation of NIA in a special case.
To a query on terrorist acts in Uttar Pradesh and the connection of Al-Qaeda and Islamic State with Sambhal and other districts, he said several terrorist activities have taken place in the country, which were connected with the state.
Vijayawada: Union Minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday assured Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu that the Centre would take steps to establish a Central university and a tribal varsity in the state in accordance to the AP Reorganisation Act-2014.
The Central university is proposed to be set up in Anantapuramu district, while the tribal varsity is to be located in Vizianagaram district. The state government has already agreed to provide necessary land for the two universities.
"Naidu told Irani that the Union Cabinet's nod was required to establish the two universities and requested her to expedite the process. The Union HRD Minister responded positively to this," a release from the CMO said.
Irani, who was in the city to take part in the 'Vikas Parv' programme organised by BJP to celebrate the two-year rule of Modi Government at the Centre, met Naidu on Tusday afternoon and discussed issues related to education sector.
Union MoS for Road Transport Pon Radhakrishnan also met the Chief Minister along with Irani.
When she told Naidu that universities like Stanford, Yale and Harvard are ready to establish their branches in India, he immediately asked her to arrange for their establishment in the state's new capital Amaravati, the release stated, adding she responded positively to this as well.
Irani also said the Centre is ready to extend all help to the state for improvement of educational sector. The Centre would particularly support the state in implementing the back-to-school programme for dropouts, it stated.
"The Centre has decided to provide conveyance facility to such students," she told the Chief Minister.
Naidu said the state government has asked engineering students to study the existing conditions in primary schools and suggest steps for improvements. The Union minister lauded this initiative, the release added.
State HRD minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas, MPs Kesineni Srinivas and K Narayana were also present at the meeting.
With the nation getting fed up of the perennial perhaps mutual exchange of jibes and accusations between the Congress and the BJP, dont you think its high time that somebody showed these two prima donna entities a mirror, reflecting their true worth in the overall political space in India?
The picture that emerges in the mirror makes it clear that both these parties, which think too big of themselves, are living in a fools paradise. Even if they were to join hands at the current juncture, they wouldn't even occupy half the space in the country! Like it or not, that is a fact.
Lets examine their strength in the Rajya Sabha first. The Congress continues to be the largest single party with 64 members. The strength of the BJP stands at 49 currently. If you add the numbers of the two top national parties, they would account for less than half of the total strength of this House of 245. Its the others who are in majority.
And this picture wouldn't alter even after the ongoing biennial elections in the states. In fact, the strength of the others would go up from 128 to 129 regardless of the fact that the BJP too would register a gain of six seats raising its strength from 49 to 55. And as for the Congress, it would go down from 64 to 57. What is startling in all this is that the Congress and the BJP would jointly go down by one seat in sharp contrast to the others who would, in fact, gain in number.
Those who refuse to view things from this angle might argue that things are vastly different in the Lok Sabha, which truly represents India. No, it doesn't in spite of the fact that the BJP, with its 282 members, enjoys absolute majority in this august House.
Dig a little deeper beneath the surface and you would find that the ruling party had swept to power by bagging just 31.34 percent of the total valid votes polled at the height of the Modi wave in 2014.
And if you consider their vote share in relation to the total number of voters not just those who preferred to exercise their franchise the figure drastically comes down to 20.58 percent. Yes, that is a fact. The BJP now lords over India by getting support of just one fifth of the total voters.
The performance of the Congress was even worse. This grand-old party of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty could manage to bag only 19.52 percent of the total valid votes polled in during the Modi wave. Their vote share, in relation to the overall number of voters in country, had shrunk to 12.82 percent.
Can you believe that the Congress doesn't enjoy the support of even one eighth of the Indian voters? And together, the BJP and the Congress havent been been getting the support of even one third of Indias population on the whole!
But the perception that these two parties are 'be-all' and 'end-all' of politics in India persists, thanks to the heat and dust generated by their mutual, never-ending attacks and counter attacks.
Obviously, both the parties have, over the years, developed expertise in keeping camera arc-lights focused on them, through an endless series of allegations and counter-allegations. And they have succeeded massively.
The nation listens to their otherwise explosive statements attentively. Dont you remember some of these catch-phrases that were used by Narendra Modi and Sonia Gandhi to settle scores maut ka saudagar (merchant of death), zahar ki kheti (sowing seeds of poison), khooni panja and zalim haath (bloody claws and cruel hand)?
Lets play back some of their more recent jibes at each other:
- At a party rally in the Capital on 6 May, Sonia said: Do not frighten us. Life has taught me to fight on. They are murdering democracy. The achche din of the BJP are over.
- In retaliation, Modi raked up the issue of the Italian Connection to target Sonia over the AgustaWestland deal, in the election rallies in Kerala and Tamil Nadu three days later.
- Targeting the Modi government for its rather loud celebrations on the completion of two years in office, Sonia said: Modi ji acts more like a Shahenshah than a democratically elected Prime Minister.
- Hitting back, Union agriculture minister, Radha Mohan Singh, thundered: The daughter-in-law of a big family is not a Maharani.
The ranting and raving of the two players apart, the fact regarding their worth remains unchanged: two-third of Indian voters dont like them! They either stay away from the polling booths or vote against them actively. They are weak collectively and even weaker separately.
Chances are that they would never shake hands, not even when the nation calls for a unity between forces espousing the cause of Congress-mukt Bharat and Sangh-mukt Bharat. But just visualise for a minute: What happens if all the non-Congress, non-BJP people unite in this country? Maybe its unthinkable.
Since the beginning of the current session of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, the state government has been left red-faced on several occasions, facing protests by the legislators of the ruling parties. Most of the lawmakers who have openly come out in protest against the government were dropped from the Council of Ministers by the new government.
Jammu and Kashmir has a coalition government of PDP and BJP since Mehbooba Mufti took oath as the first female Chief Minister of the state on 4 April. Several ministers from the cabinet of previous PDP-BJP government led by late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed were dropped by the Mehbooba Mufti either for going against the party or due to the low performance card in their previous tenure as ministers.
From a senior minister, such as Sajjad Lone, refusing to join office of insignificant ministry to the verbal duels between the PDP MLAs in the Assembly, it looks like that CM Mehbooba is struggling to maintain the consensus among the members of the government. During a discussion in the Lower House of the Assembly on 28 May on the implementation of controversial National Food Security Act (NFSA) in the state, the Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CA and PD) Minister, Choudhary Zulfikar Ali, was cornered by the fellow PDP lawmakers Ashraf Mir, Javaid Mustafa Mir and Yawar Dilwar Mir over the poor implementation of the act.
Another member of coalition partner, BJP, RS Pathania, while trying to interrupt the CA and PD Minster castigated him for making misleading statements on NFSA. When MLA Yawar Mir supported opposition leader Ali Mohammad Sagar for questioning the food law, the government found itself in an embarrassing situation. While the trio accused CA and PD Minister of adopting a flawed scheme, the Opposition members shouted shame, shame while thumping the benches.
The CA and PD Minister while replying in a sarcastic tone to the fellow agitating party members said: nayi, nayi ministry gayi hai. Both Ashraf Mir and Javaid Mustafa Mir were dropped from the Council of Minister in the Mehbooba-led government. The angry legislators were pacified only after the intervention of other fellow MLAs.
On 28 May, Javaid Mir, former Revenue Minister, trained guns on army for interfering in the life of the people of Leh and not paying the rent of the government land used by army for garrisons in the division. Meanwhile, the fellow BJP legislators, who are very vocal when it comes to support forces, remained tightlipped on their seats in the Assembly.
The ruckus continued in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Friday over the controversial SRO-105 which allows non-state subjects to participate in the bidding for mineral excavation in the state. Amid din by the Opposition over the implementation of SRO-105, the senior PDP legislator, Altaf Bukhari, former R and B Mininster and Khalil Bandh, and other BJP lawmakers too joined the protest against the government over the implementation of SRO-105.
The PDP lawmakers said the government move will be a violation of Article 370 and will have impact on the livelihood of the locals workers. On facing the protest, the speaker announced setting up of a committee to look into the its implementation and the House had to be adjourned amid ruckus.
The open rebellion of the ruling party legislators particularly of PDP against the State Government is a worrying sign for Mehbooba Mufti who is already battling to run a government with an ideologically opposite, BJP and united separatists. Mehbooba needs to make some bold efforts to bring all the members of the party on board for effective and strong government before the opportunity slips out of her hands and the cracks become more wider.
Nairobi: Five African Union peacekeepers in Somalia have been arrested over alleged illegal sales of military supplies, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has said.
AMISOM said the soldiers were found in possession of fuel and sand bags and were detained on Sunday in a joint operation with Somali police that followed an investigation and a period of surveillance.
"AMISOM exercises zero tolerance to unprofessional conduct among its personnel and the culprits will be prosecuted in accordance with the law," read a statement from AMISOM, which has over 22,000 peacekeepers in Somalia.
"All personnel serving under the African Union Mission in Somalia are bound by the AMISOM Code of Conduct and any deviation from the standards set therein will be met with the full might of the law."
AMISOM promised "requisite steps to ensure that this practice is uprooted from within its ranks" to ensure such "selfish acts" did not derail its mission.
The Mission did not reveal the nationality of the soldiers but Ugandan defence minister Paddy Ankunda later told AFP that they came from Uganda.
"An investigation is underway. If they are found guilty, the law will follow its course," he said.
AMISOM's task is to shore up Somalia's internationally- backed but fragile government in the face of threats from Al Qaeda-affiliated Shabaab extremists.
Deployed in 2007, AMISOM drove the group from Mogadishu in 2011 but the extremists have continued their bid to overthrow the government, launching regular attacks on military, government and civilian targets in Mogadishu and elsewhere.
Recent months have seen a clutch of deadly Shabaab attacks on restaurants and hotels in the capital.
Last week at least 10 people killed after a car bomb attack and an assault by gunmen outside the Ambassador Hotel in the heart of Mogadishu. AMISOM said two parliamentarians were among the dead and some 40 people were injured.
Dhaka: Three Islamist militants were killed Tuesday in gunfights with police as authorities launched a nationwide crackdown on extremists blamed for a series of murders of minorities and secular activists.
Two "high-ranking" members of the Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were shot dead in the capital Dhaka and another JMB militant was killed in the northwestern district of Rajshahi, police officials told AFP.
The two JMB men who were killed in Dhaka had roles "in most of the recent attacks" including the bombing in a Shiite mosque and the murder of a liberal professor, deputy commissioner of police MR Khaled told AFP.
London: Administrators at an elementary school in Bristol, England, arrived in the morning to find acclaimed street artist Banksy had painted a mural on one of the facility's walls as a gift to students.
The mysterious artist, whose identity is unknown, took advantage of a school break last week to complete his work depicting a girl rolling a tyre in flames, EFE news reported.
Banksy left behind a letter that was found by the Bridge Valley School's principal.
The street artist expressed his gratitude for having one of the buildings in the school named after him in a vote by students.
Principal Geoff Mason said his intention was to preserve the mural where Banksy painted it, adding that "there are no plans to sell it".
"I got here and found this beautiful mural painted by Banksy. It's fantastic that Banksy, such a famous person, chose to do this in our school," Mason said.
The school had sent the artist a letter informing him about the use of his name on one of the facility's buildings, but Mason said they were not expecting such a response.
Many of Banksy's murals in London and other cities have been sold or auctioned off for hundreds of thousands of pounds.
A Banksy work, titled "Slave Labour", was removed from the wall in north London's Wood Green district, where it had been painted, and later sold for more than $1.1 million at an auction.
Washington: US President Barack Obama on Tuesday supported India's candidature for membership of the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) as he discussed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi ways to take the bilateral ties to new heights.
Addressing the media jointly with Modi after over hour-long talks at the White House, Obama said it was natural
for India and the US, two biggest democracies, to "deepen and broaden" partnership.
Modi said the two leaders discussed a wide range of issues, particularly ways to take the bilateral economic ties
to new heights.
The other issues discussed by them included terrorism, clean energy, climate change, regional security and cyber
security.
During his remarks to the media, Obama said they discussed progress made in the Civil Nuclear agreement.
"I indicated support to India being a part of NSG," the US President said amidst opposition by China to such a move.
Obama underlined that India needs technology which is critical for its progress and prosperity.
Modi later said, "I am thankful for the help and support that my friend President Obama has extended with regard to
membership in MTCR and NSG."
Obama said non-proliferation of nuclear material and technology was also discussed.
"I also mentioned the Prime Minister's very effective participation in the Nuclear Security Summit," he said.
Traditional security challenges as well as new challenges, like cyber security, were discussed during the talks, the US President said.
While informing that they also discussed "important regional issues", he said the US and India have "shared vision
of peace and development" and that "complex issues" should be resolved diplomatically.
Modi said India and the US, the two biggest democracies, have worked shoulder-to-shoulder in meeting the challenges
that face, not only the two countries, but the entire world.
"Over the last two years, India and the US have been cooperating on global issues like climate change, nuclear
security, terrorism...I feel proud, not just as friends but as two countries, on this and we will continue to work
shoulder-to-shoulder," he said.
"The more we work together in new areas, the better it is for the benefit of the world as well as our two countries, which our dream," the Prime Minister said.
PTI
London: UK Prime Minister David Cameron warned voters Tuesday against believing "total untruths" peddled by the Brexit campaign, seeking to regain momentum in the referendum race ahead of a crucial TV grilling.
As hundreds of thousands of people rushed to register for the 23 June referendum ahead of a midnight deadline, Cameron urged the public: "Don't make this choice on the basis of false information."
Opinion polls on Monday gave the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union a slender lead, sending the pound temporarily tumbling as concerns grow over the potential global market turmoil that could follow a Brexit.
The polls increased the pressure on Cameron ahead of a television grilling by a live studio audience at 2000 GMT Tuesday, when he will appear alongside but not debate UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage.
In a hastily-arranged press conference ahead of the prime time ITV show, Cameron said: "It's time the 'Leave' campaign was called out on the nonsense they are peddling."
He challenged claims that non-eurozone Britain could be forced to contribute to future eurozone bailouts, that its EU budget rebate was at risk, or that the economic benefits of leaving outweighed the potential costs.
WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo warned in a speech in London on Tuesday that British exporters could face an extra 5.6 billion ($8.2 billion, 7.2 billion euros) of annual customs duties if Britain left the EU.
His comments follow other warnings by the IMF and the governor of the Bank of England of the economic risks.
"Listen to the experts, don't stand on the sidelines this matters for you," Cameron urged voters.
He accused his rivals of "resorting to total untruths to con people into taking a leap in the dark. It is irresponsible. It is wrong."
A close race
"Leave" moved into the lead in the WhatUKThinks polling average on Monday for the first time in weeks, with 51 percent against 49 percent for "Remain", excluding undecided voters.
The latest polls on Tuesday put "Remain" back in the lead with 51 percent to 49 percent, but this is uncomfortably close for Cameron with just over two weeks to go.
"Cameron panics over flagging 'In' campaign. The public doesn't believe his message of fear they want to #VoteLeave," the Brexit camp wrote on Twitter.
In a potential boost to the prime minister's campaign, new figures from the Electoral Commission revealed a sharp rise in the number of young people registering to vote in the referendum.
Some 226,000 people applied on Monday alone, including 148,200 people under the age of 34 a group which is overwhelmingly in favour of staying in the EU.
'Spreading fear'
Following his first TV grilling of the campaign last week, Cameron was criticised in the press and he will be hoping for a better reaction from Tuesday's event with Farage.
The UKIP leader is not part of the official Vote Leave campaign but has been dictating the Brexit agenda with his relentless focus on cutting back on the hundreds of thousands of EU migrants who come to Britain each year.
In a new video released ahead of the debate, the "Remain" camp highlighted derisory comments Farage has made about gay people, Romanian migrants and ethnic minorities.
"Share this video if you don't want to live in Farage's Britain," it said.
Conservative peer Sayeeda Warsi, who backs Brexit, also attacked Farage in a joint letter with senior female human rights advocates after he suggested that women in Britain may be at risk of mass sex attacks by migrants.
"Spreading fear in this way is an age-old racist tool," they wrote in the letter to The Guardian newspaper.
But Vote Leave maintained the focus on immigration by publishing details of 50 EU citizens convicted of serious crimes in Britain who cannot be deported because of the bloc's laws and court rulings.
"This puts British families at risk," said junior justice minister Dominic Raab.
Junior immigration minister James Brokenshire, for the "Remain" camp, countered that the European Arrest Warrant had allowed the deportation of 6,500 criminals since 2010.
Istanbul: Turkish police detained four people in a hunt for the perpetrators of a car bombing in central Istanbul Tuesday that killed seven police and four civilians, state media said.
The third attack in Turkey's biggest city within six months targeted a bus transporting anti-riot police in Beyazit district, close to many of the city's top tourist sites, Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin said on Turkish television.
Thirty-six people were wounded, three of them seriously, he added.
The four suspects were taken to police headquarters in Istanbul for interrogation, state-run Anatolia agency said, without providing further information.
There was no early claim of responsibility, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was behind the attack.
For the PKK to target major cities such as Istanbul "is nothing new," he said after visiting the injured at an Istanbul hospital.
"We will fight against terrorists relentlessly to the end."
In a statement from his office later, Erdogan also vowed the culprits would "pay the price for the blood they shed."
Kurdish militants have repeatedly targeted Turkey's security forces, but Islamic State (IS) jihadists have also staged attacks around the country, including in Istanbul, in the past year.
Reports said the explosion took place close to Vezneciler metro station, within walking distance of some of the city's main tourist sites including the Grand Bazaar and Suleymaniye Mosque.
The blast reduced the police vehicle to mangled wreckage and windows in nearby shops were shattered. Reports said that shots were heard afterwards.
The attack occurred outside the upscale Celal Aga Konagi Hotel, a converted Ottoman mansion that is favoured by foreign tourists.
The 16th-century Sehzade Mosque considered one of the greatest masterpieces of Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan was also damaged by the force of the explosion.
Television footage showed its windows blown out and debris littering the floor.
Loudspeakers on mosques warned people to vacate the area, after which a controlled explosion was carried out on a suspect vehicle.
Security summit
Erdogan, who flew back to Ankara later in the day, chaired a security summit at the presidential palace, with several ministers as well as the top army general and spy chief.
French President Francois Hollande condemned the attack as an "intolerable act of violence" that should strengthen common resolve to fight terrorism.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin was "on the side of Turkey in the fight against terrorism" and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg also expressed solidarity.
US Ambassador to Ankara John Bass said in a Twitter message: "Such senseless violence could never be rationalised by any cause."
The United States will "continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Turkey in the fight against terrorism," Bass said. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also reaffirmed support.
Tuesday's bombing, which occurred on the second day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, is the latest in a string of attacks that have rattled citizens and damaged tourism.
Two blasts in Ankara claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) -- a radical splinter group of the better-known PKK -- earlier this year claimed dozens of lives.
Last month, at least eight people including soldiers were wounded by a remotely-detonated car bomb targeting a military vehicle in Istanbul that was claimed by the PKK.
Turkey has stepped up its military campaign against the Kurdish rebels in the southeast of the country and in neighbouring Iraq.
Warplanes dropped bombs on PKK targets in northern Iraq Monday night, Turkish media reported.
On 12 January, a dozen German tourists were killed in a bombing in the heart of Istanbul's tourist district blamed on Islamic State.
Two months later, three Israelis and an Iranian were killed in a bombing on Istanbul's main Istiklal shopping street which was also blamed on IS.
Turkey, a member of Nato and the US-led anti-jihadist coalition, has responded defiantly to the attacks, vowing to overcome the threat both from the PKK and Islamic State.
The Kurdish militants have in turn threatened more attacks.
Tourism industry hit
The violence has had a devastating effect on the tourism industry, with the latest attack coming at the worst possible time, at the outset of the key summer season.
Some 1.75 million foreigners came to Turkey in April, down more than 28 percent on April 2015, the tourism ministry said in its latest release.
The fall was the steepest monthly decrease for 17 years and raised fresh concerns about the health of the industry.
Britain has urged its citizens to avoid all but essential travel to Turkey's southeast and to remain vigilant in crowded places popular with tourists.
The US embassy in Turkey in April warned of "credible threats" to tourist areas in Istanbul and the resort city of Antalya, especially in public squares and docks.
Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama on Tuesday committed themselves to join the Paris climate change deal this year, which would provide a "significant global momentum" towards implementation of the historic agreement, a top White House official said.
"The US reaffirms its commitment to join the agreement as soon as possible this year. India similarly has begun its processes to work toward this shared objective," the White House said.
Noting that the US and India share common climate and clean energy interests and are close partners in the fight against climate change, the White House said the leadership from both countries helped galvanise global action to combat climate change and culminated in the historic Paris Agreement reached last December.
"Both countries are committed to working together and with others to promote full implementation of the Paris Agreement to address the urgent threats posed by climate change," the White House said after the Oval Office meeting between Obama and Modi.
The Prime Minister is currently on a three-day US visit at the invitation of President Obama.
Climate change was one of the major topics of discussion between the two leaders.
During the meeting, Obama and Modi reiterated their commitment to pursue low greenhouse gas emission development strategies in the pre-2020 period and to develop long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies.
In addition, India and the US "resolved" to work to adopt an HFC amendment in 2016 with increased financial support from donor countries to the Multilateral Fund to help developing countries with implementation, and an ambitious phasedown schedule, under the Montreal Protocol pursuant to the Dubai Pathway, the White House said.
Modi and Obama resolved to work together at the upcoming International Civil Aviation Organisation Assembly to reach a successful outcome to address greenhouse gas emissions from international aviation.
"Further, the two countries will pursue under the leadership of the G20 strong outcomes to promote improved heavy-duty vehicle standards and efficiency in accordance with their national priorities and capabilities," the White House said.
Obama and Modi welcomed the signing of an MOU to Enhance Cooperation on Energy Security, Clean Energy and Climate Change, and an MOU on Cooperation in Gas Hydrates.
Reflecting Modi's call to embrace wildlife conservation as a development imperative, the two leaders also welcomed the signing of an MOU to enhance cooperation on Wildlife Conservation and Combating Wildlife Trafficking.
Seoul, South Korea: An emergency call centre in South Korea released a list Tuesday of the most ridiculous requests for help it has received, including one that concerned a particularly large cockroach.
Staff at the call and dispatch centre in western Incheon city, which handled around a million phone calls last year, voted for the 10 most inappropriate requests for assistance made to emergency services.
"We've got a roach here... a real big one. Please take care of it!" was one caller's urgent predicament.
Other callers had an array of bizarre "emergency" requests ranging from needing help obtaining the phone number of a popular movie star to a plea for assistance hailing a taxi in the rain.
One female caller asked for guidance about how to make her ex-boyfriend come back to her.
Another caller informed emergency services they had lost their mobile phone "somewhere on the mountain" and required help locating it.
An 85-year-old man rang the 119 number South Korea's equivalent of 911 after his children chastised him for having a romantic affair in his twilight years.
An official at the call centre told AFP that they could only dispatch emergency workers to actual crisis situations.
"A cockroach, no matter how big it may be, does not make the cut," the official added.
The head of the Incheon emergency call centre, Kim Joon-Tae, said the vital 119 phone line must be used only for actual crisis situations, not frivolous calls.
"We really have to focus on emergencies," he said, adding the centre plans to launch a publicity campaign to reduce time-wasting requests this month.
Luxembourg: EU countries cannot imprison illegal migrants just for crossing borders inside the passport-free Schengen area, the bloc's top court ruled Tuesday, in a new blow to efforts to crack down on the migration crisis.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg said that European Union rules prevent the jailing of non-EU migrants who have illegally crossed a frontier if they have not already been subject to deportation procedures.
The ruling came in the case of a Ghanaian woman, Selina Affum, who was caught by French police at the Channel Tunnel while on a bus from Belgium to Britain using someone else's passport.
French police placed her in custody for illegal entry to France, and then asked Belgium to readmit her.
The EU court, ruling on Affum's appeal against her detention, said that it was against the EU's "return directive" or laws on deporting migrants.
"The return directive prevents a national of a non-EU country who has not yet been subject to the return procedure being imprisoned solely because he or she has entered the territory of a Member State illegally across an internal border of the Schengen area," it said.
The Schengen passport free area of 26 European countries has come under severe pressure from the continent's biggest migration crisis since World War II as people flee war in Syria and elsewhere.
Faced with an an influx of more than one million migrants and refugees in the past year and a half, many Schengen countries have brought back border controls that were dismantled a decade ago.
New Delhi: India is all set to become member of Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), a key anti-proliferation grouping, as it cleared final hurdles in getting membership of the bloc that will help it access high-end missile technology.
Diplomatic sources said there was "no objection" to India's applications for the membership of the MTCR and that the deadline for member countries to object to it had expired on Monday.
They said the plenary meeting of the 34-nation grouping will take place later this year in Seoul during which India will be formally inducted as the new entrant into the bloc.
"Mission almost accomplished. Only some procedural formalities remain before India becomes member of #MTCR," Roald Naess, Norwegian Ambassador to Ireland tweeted.
Mission almost accomplished. Only some procedural formalities remain before India becomes member of #MTCR. @AlphaNonpro @RRajagopalanJNU Roald Nss (@Roald_Naess) June 6, 2016
Membership of the MTCR will help India procure high-end missile technology and surveillance systems by leading manufacturers which are allowed to be accessed by only MTCR member countries.
Sources said India had applied for the MTCR membership last year and its application was under consideration as part of a "silent procedure" which ended yesterday without any objection from any country.
There were certain formalities to be completed before India is inducted into the bloc, added the sources.
The development comes as India was expanding its diplomatic outreach seeking support for its entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
India has developed a range of missile systems including Brahmos, Agni and Prithvi missile systems. Brahmos is a joint venture with Russia.
India's application at the NSG is expected to be taken up for discussion by the NSG at its plenary meetings on 9 June in Vienna and 24 June in Seoul. China has been opposing India's bid arguing that it was not a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said India and the US will work together for peace and security in the world as US President Barack Obama stressed that wider cooperation between the two major democracies of the world will be helpful for developing countries.
India has made a name for itself as the fastest growing economy in the world, Modi said in a joint address to media with Obama following bilateral talks in the Oval Office of the White House.
We (India and the US) will work together for the world's peace and security, the Prime Minister said.
He said the two sides discussed a range of issues of cooperation from business and technology to governance.
India and the US have been cooperating on global issues such as nuclear security, global warming and terrorism, Modi said.
He also thanked Obama for his support to India's membership in the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
Obama said India and the US were the largest democracies in the world.
Our wider cooperation will be helpful for developing countries of the world, he said.
India is a young country and and we are aware of the talent it has. We will continue to work together in the future too.
This is be the seventh meeting between Modi and Obama as Prime Minister and President.
Modi arrived here on Monday from Switzerland on his second bilateral visit to the US after his trip in September, 2014. Prior to Switzerland, he visited Afghanistan and Qatar.
The Prime Minister is visiting the US at the invitation of Obama, who in the last year of his presidency is inviting a few world leaders with whom he shared a "close and productive working relationship".
New Delhi: Japan on Tuesday strongly supported India's bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and said it was working with the Indian government to garner support from other countries ahead of the bloc's crucial plenary meeting.
"I hope that India will be the part of the NSG. Japan is working with India to make sure that it becomes a member of the NSG. We are talking to Indian government on how India can get more support from other countries," Kenji Hiramatsu, Japan's envoy to India, said.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to pay a "reciprocal" visit to Japan this year, adding no date has been finalised. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had visited India in December last year.
On finalising the nitty-gritty relating to the broad agreement for cooperation in civil nuclear energy between India and Japan, inked in December last year, the envoy said both countries were working on it and that there was no "road blocks" or any "major pending issues", He, however, did not give any time line.
India has planned a major expansion of its nuclear energy sector and membership of the NSG, currently comprising 48 nations, will help it trade in and export nuclear technology.
Switzerland, a key member of the NSG had yesterday said it will support India's application after Modi held talks with Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann.
India's application is expected to be taken up for discussion by the NSG at its plenary meetings on June 9 in Vienna and June 24 in Seoul. China has been opposing India's bid arguing that it was not a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The NSG works under the principle of unanimity and even one country's vote against India will scuttle its bid.
On the Indo-Japan nuclear pact, the Japanese envoy said "I don't see any road block... It is a technical review. There is no major pending issues."
He was delivering a lecture on "Challenges and Prospectsof Japan's Diplomacy in the context of India-Japan relationship", organised by the Observer Research Foundation.
Asked when Japanese Parliament will approve the nuclear agreement with India so that the final deal could be signed, he said, "We don't know when that will happen."
India and Japan had sealed a broad agreement for cooperation in civil nuclear energy during Abe's visit here last year. It was said the final deal would be signed after certain technical and legal issues are thrashed out.
Emphasising that the tri-lateral Malabar naval exercise among Japan, US and India is important for "strategic and safety reasons" in the Indo-Pacific region, Kenji hoped that cooperation among the three countries will more "meaningful".
Asked about implementation of the Indo-Japan pacts on transfer of defence equipment and technology, the envoy said the two sides are in the process of identifying projects for transfer of technology.
NAIROBI The Kenyan government said on Tuesday it had banned all opposition protests against the country's electoral body after an escalation of violence at rallies held every Monday since early April.
Kenya is not due to hold its next presidential election until August 2017. But tensions have been rising amid clashes between security forces and opposition leaders and their supporters who accuse senior officials of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) of favouring President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The opposition coalition for reform and democracy (CORD), led by Raila Odinga, Kenyatta's main rival, also says the IEBC is incompetent, citing failure of voter verification equipment in the last poll.
In a statement, the government accused the demonstrators of destroying both private and public property worth millions during the protests.
"To avert further violence, destruction of property and loss of life, from today the government prohibits all unlawful demonstrations in the country," said the statement, issued by the interior ministry.
On Monday security forces clashed with opposition supporters who were trying to march on the offices of IEBC in the opposition stronghold of Kisumu in western Kenya.
In those riots, two people were killed and 50 people, including both civilians and security personnel, were injured, the statement said.
Western ambassadors have accused the police of using excessive force and have called for dialogue in the east African nation, which is prone to political violence.
(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Louise Ireland and Gareth Jones)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
The Hague: German and Swiss authorities have carried out raids seizing documents after learning a German private detective had investigated the MH17 air disaster, Dutch officials and media said Tuesday.
Among the objects seized during last week's raids were "apparently explosive papers" which Dutch investigators hope may narrow down the search for those behind the 2014 tragedy, said the daily De Telegraaf.
All 298 passengers and crew the majority of them Dutch died when Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was hit by a Russian-made BUK anti-aircraft missile while flying over war-torn eastern Ukraine on 17 July, 2014.
The Boeing 777 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
"It's possible that the suspected culprits behind the firing on MH17 may have been in contact with" the detective's office, de Telegraaf said, citing what it said was the Netherlands' request to Swiss authorities for help.
According to the Dutch paper, the private detective was paid some 17 million euros ($19 million) by a rich donor whose identity remains unknown to investigate the causes of the crash.
Identified only as Josef R., the detective began his inquiries two months after the disaster, having been initially promised a fee of some 30 million euros.
"We are hoping to get some information about this. That's why the raids at his home were carried out," the spokesman for the prosecution service, Wim De Bruin, told AFP.
After the private eye's home in Bad Schwartau in northern Germany was searched, a safe deposit box in a bank in Zurich, Switzerland, was also emptied and its contents seized.
"We don't actually know what was in the box. The Swiss judge must now decide if its contents can be handed over to Dutch officials," de Bruin added.
The news comes after Dutch investigators on Monday released an update on their inquiry to the families of the victims. It included pictures of fragments of the BUK missile found at the crash site.
The same pictures were also included in the final conclusions of the initial Dutch-led international investigation, which determined in October that the flight was shot down by the Russian-made missile, fired from an area in eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russian separatists.
Now a criminal investigation in the Netherlands is underway to identify exactly who fired the missile and where from, even though many believe that those to blame will never be arrested and tried.
The first official findings by the criminal investigators are now expected after the summer, as they await further information from Russia.
Hyderabad:Prime Minister Narendra Modi may visit Israel early next year as both countries prepare to
celebrate 25th anniversary of establishment of full diplomatic relations, an official of the Jewish state has hinted.
"Prime Minister Modi, that we know, wants to go and visit Israel. We don't have any specific dates. I can tell you that next year, we are celebrating 25 years of full diplomatic relations. It is a major milestone and it will be celebrated with high-level visits on both sides," said the spokesperson of Embassy of Israel, Ohad Horsandi.
The two countries established full diplomatic relations on January 29, 1992.
Modi's visit, if it happens, would be the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the Jewish state.
Horsandi also confirmed that Israeli President Reuven Rivlin proposed to visit India.
"We don't know when he (Rivlin) is going to visit. We are hoping to a find a suitable date that's good for India and for Israel because Modi is a busy man and (undertakes) lot of trips," he said.
"Our Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) is (also) very keen to visit India," Horsandi added.
The diplomat noted that recent years saw high-level bilateral visits, with President Pranab Mukherjee making a trip to Israel in 2015 and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in January this year, and (the then) Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon coming to India for the first time last year.
Since the establishment of full diplomatic relations in 1992, he said bilateral relations have gradually grown and improved in almost every field, whether it's defence, agriculture, trade or tourism.On the proposed regional comprehensive economic agreement between India and Israel, he said both sides understood its benefits.
Seven rounds of discussions have already taken place in this regard.
"In many ways, Indian and Israeli economies arecomplementary. We are hoping to have further discussions in the next few months on this (proposed agreement) to see how it can go further," Horsandi added.
Washington: US President Barack Obama will visit Poland and Spain in July in what will likely be his final presidential trip to Europe, a continent that has often presented more problems than opportunities during his term.
The White House said Obama would travel to Warsaw on 7-9 July for "his fifth and final summit with NATO leaders," before making his first trip to Spain.
During his nearly eight years in office, Obama has at times had difficult relationships with America's oldest allies.
For most of his first term, Europe was frustratingly slow to contain sovereign debt crises that were fed by and prolonged the Great Recession.
Relations with Europe were further tested by Obama's "pivot to Asia" which was widely seen as capping a decades-long strategic shift from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Obama has publicly said it was a mistake to depend on European allies to manage Libya's political recovery from decades of Moamer Kadhafi's dictatorial rule.
Five years after Kadhafi was killed, the country is still in turmoil and is now a base for the Islamic State group.
NATO leaders are expected to discuss support for efforts to control the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean.
They will also consider NATO support for operations against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, providing cover for AWACS early warning and control aircraft to be deployed.
Continued tensions with Russia will also feature prominently.
Relations between Moscow and the West were plunged to the worst point since the end of the Cold War by Russia's annexation of Crimea.
The United States and its allies have also been irked by Russia's support for separatists in the east of Ukraine, a de facto partitioning of the country.
Meanwhile, Russian aircraft have launched a series of provocative intercepts of NATO, Swedish and other aircraft.
Obama has announced an increased US troop presence in eastern Europe, with continuous rotations of an additional armored brigade beginning in early 2017.
NATO is likely to agree to rotate four brigades into eastern Europe, officials said.
Obama will also hold bilateral talks with Poland's conservative President Andrzej Duda to "reaffirm the American commitment to Poland's security, and exchange views on the broader security environment in Europe," the White House said.
Duda's government is deeply controversial, accused by critics of breaking European Union norms on democracy by reforming the constitutional court.
Obama will also hold talks with EU leaders in Warsaw, hoping for movement on stalled transatlantic trade talks, although a breakthrough before he leaves office seems unlikely.
Islamabad: In the backdrop of recent test-firing by India of its supersonic interceptor missile, a top Pakistani foreign advisor on Tuesday informed the country's Senate that Pakistan would take all possible measures to augment its defence capability.
Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said Pakistan was not oblivious to its defence requirements and was upgrading its capabilities through suitable technologies without entering into an arms race.
He said: Our efforts for peace and friendship must not be interpreted as our weakness. We are fully capable to defend our people and territory.
The advisor said Pakistani scientists and experts constantly monitored and evaluated the strategic threats that Indian nuclear doctrine posed to Pakistan's security.
Despite limited resources, Pakistan had developed a robust nuclear deterrent system whose safety and security was acknowledged (by the world), he said.
On the diplomatic front, he said, Pakistan was planning to highlight at all relevant international fora "the dangerous implications of India's plan to nuclearise the Indian Ocean".
One specific proposal under consideration was to move a resolution in the next session of the UN General Assembly to declare the Indian Ocean a nuclear-free zone.
He said Pakistan would approach other countries as well to co-sponsor this resolution.
About the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) membership, the adviser said Pakistan had undertaken a proactive diplomatic offensive in all the member countries of the group. Our efforts towards non-discriminatory approach will pay off, he said.
He said Pakistan's lobbying in the US was quite active. We have short-listed lobbying firms. Our missions are also very active to protect the country's interests.
Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday laid a wreath at the Tomb of Unknown Soldiers and paid homage to Indian-American astronaut late Kalpana Chawla at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington.
"Honouring sacrifice, saluting valour. Formal engagements begin with a solemn ceremony," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.
Honouring sacrifice, saluting valour. Formal engagements begin with a solemn ceremony at @ArlingtonNatl pic.twitter.com/6mF13EJElL Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
"In homage to heroism and indomitable courage," Swarup said in another tweet.
In homage to heroism and indomitable courage. PM @narendramodi at the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial pic.twitter.com/HXJwgPFs8f Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
He also had a brief interaction with the husband and family members of Chawla, senior officials from NASA, Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams and her father at Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial.
US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter accompanied the Prime Minister. Indian Ambassador to the US Arun K Singh, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, US Ambassador to India Richard Verma and Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal were also present on the occasion.
"All of us are very honored that he took time to come and acknowledge the shuttle catastrophe and the deep cooperation that we have with India in the space world," Williams told PTI after her brief interaction with Modi.
"Personally it is commemorating my friend (Kalpana Chawala)," Williams said.
Modi spoke to Sunita's father in Gujarati and invited them to visit India.
"With health permitting, I definitely look forward to visiting India," her father said.
"The Prime Minister said come to India. Please come and visit," she said.
Chawla's husband Jean-Pierre Harrison presented a set of books on the late astronaut, including a biography written by him, to the Prime Minister.
The Tomb of the Unknowns is a monument dedicated to American service members who have died without their remains being identified.
WASHINGTON Synthetic designer drugs, especially synthetic opioids like fentanyl implicated in the death of pop star Prince, pose an "unprecedented" threat for U.S. overdoses and deaths, especially among youth, the country's top anti-drug official said on Tuesday.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has been cracking down on synthetic drugs since they began gaining popularity in 2010. But because each newly designed drug needs to be separately banned through a "clunky and cumbersome" process, the problem continues to spiral, DEA head Chuck Rosenberg told a U.S. Senate committee.
"For every one substance weve controlled, legislatively or administratively, there are 11 more out there that are uncontrolled," Rosenberg said.
"We're playing catch-up, and we need your help."
Among commonly used designer drugs in the United States are synthetic cannabinoids that mimic marijuana, so-called bath salts that have effects similar to cocaine and methamphetamine and synthetic opioids including counterfeit painkillers.
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein suggested creating a committee to decide how to classify new synthetic drugs as they appear on the market.
"To me, its like Zika, and theres a lot of effort going on now to speed up research. Here, weve got to speed up the ability to enforce," Feinstein said at Tuesday's hearing.
Rosenberg testified that the DEA has seen a particularly alarming rise in illicit use of the fentanyl, which a medical examiner recently identified as the drug that killed Prince.
More than 11 million people illegally consume prescription painkillers for non-medical purposes each year, and overdoses are likely to increase as fentanyl is introduced to that market, according to Rosenberg.
U.S. President Barack Obama earlier this year asked Congress for $1.1 billion in new funding over two years to expand treatment for users of heroin and prescription pain killers.
Fentanyl users typically first develop an addiction to prescription drugs, and then turn to fentanyl because it is cheaper, although fentanyl has a much higher potential for abuse and overdose.
Some illicit fentanyl distributors disguise the opiate as a prescription drug, said Michael Botticelli, the Obama administration's top drug policy adviser, at Tuesday's hearing.
Botticelli said the administration supports legislation that would broaden prosecutors' ability to cite sales strategies as evidence when prosecuting synthetic drug manufacturers, especially manufacturers who claim their drugs are not intended for human consumption but clearly market them as such.
(Reporting by Julia Harte)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
GENEVA/UNITED NATIONS The United Nations is still waiting for Syrian government agreement for an aid convoy to enter the besieged town of Daraya and has requested approval to airlift food into four locations if land routes are unavailable, U.N. officials said on Tuesday.
The U.N. has said malnourished children in Daraya will die without outside help, a claim a top adviser to President Bashar al-Assad denied last week.
"The blockage of aid is a political issue," U.N. spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told a regular U.N. briefing in Geneva. "Daraya is 12 km (7.5 miles) from Damascus, so it can be done but we need the political go-ahead from the government."
Daraya is one of four locations for which the U.N. presented the Syrian foreign ministry on Sunday a backup plan to airlift food if land access is not approved, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York. It is awaiting approval.
"The written request included a plan for airlifts not airdrops - as a last resort, to Daraya, Douma and Mouadamiya in rural Damascus Governorate, and Al Waer in Homs Governorate," Dujarric said.
So far Damascus has only authorized the delivery of medical assistance, school supplies and children's milk to Douma, Daraya and Mouadamiya during June, not food.
Al Waer was not among the approved areas for June. The Syrian government noted in a statement that the Syrian Arab Red Crescent had delivered seven trucks of medical supplies, food and children's milk to the area on June 1.
Last week Syria's government, under pressure from its ally Russia and other countries belonging to the International Syria Support Group overseeing the peace process, allowed the first U.N. aid convoy into Daraya since late 2012.
It brought baby milk and medical supplies to support an estimated 4,000 civilians, just in time for Syria to meet a Thursday deadline to improve aid access or face having aid deliveries imposed by air drops.
But the convoy took no food to Daraya. U.N. officials had hoped food would arrive in a second convoy on Friday, but that was delayed with no government approval.
Jens Laerke, spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the government had later given partial approval for the food convoy.
"That is not good enough," he said. "We are reverting to the government."
Syria's opposition says the government approved the first convoy in a cynical ploy to alleviate international pressure.
Bouthaina Shaaban, an adviser to Assad, said last week that "nobody is starving in Daraya", which was "producing peas and beans and food and wild berries that is enough for the entire Syria".
(Reporting by Tom Miles and Stephanie Nebehayn in Geneva and Michelle Nichols and Louis Charbonneau in New York; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Andrew Hay)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Geneva: Tens of thousands of people have fled southeastern Niger following deadly attacks by Boko Haram insurgents on the town of Bosso in recent days, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
"An estimated 50,000 people or so fled," UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesman Adrian Edwards told reporters in Geneva. The attacks beginning Friday against a military post in Bosso in Niger's troubled Diffa region killed 26 soldiers, including two from neighbouring Nigeria.
A total 55 insurgents from the Nigeria-based Islamist group were killed and "many" injured, according to authorities. Edwards said most of those fleeing the violence were walking westwards to Toumour, some 30 kilometres west of Bosso.
"Many people are reportedly traumatised and worried about their safety. People are sleeping in the open and urgently need shelter and other assistance," he said.
A local journalist working with Radio Amfani told AFP that people began leaving the town at dawn Saturday after the gunmen initially withdrew. "We trekked to Toumour where most of us are now sheltering with no food," he said.
In Bosso, he said, the Islamist fighters torched "the military barracks, police facilities and local administration office before looting shops and carting away food supplies."
Edwards said some of the displaced had moved on from Toumour and were heading to the town of Diffa, around 140 kilometres west of Bosso, and northwards towards Kabel awa, where a camp for the internally displaced is at near capacity with some 10,000 people."
"The welfare of these people and others forced to flee the violence in Bosso is of great concern," he said.
The latest attack was among the deadliest by the jihadist group in Niger since it began launching raids in the country in February 2015 from its stronghold in neighbouring Nigeria.
At least 240,000 people have been displaced in the Diffa region since then.
UNHCR, which has not had a presence in Bosso since the Boko Haram raids began nearly a year and a half ago, said it was working with the authorities and local partners to coordinate the response to the mass displacement.
"A team will be on route to the Diffa region this week," Edwards said.
Boko Haram's seven-year insurgency has devastated infrastructure in Nigeria's impoverished northeast and forced around 2.1 million people in the country to flee their homes, according to UNHCR.
The unrest has left at least 20,000 people dead in Nigeria and made more than 2.6 million homeless.
ISTANBUL Turkish security forces have killed 7,600 Kurdish militants since July 20, 2015, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, citing the date when the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) abandoned a two-year ceasefire.
"The terror organisation had its biggest defeat in its history. The bomb mechanisms to divide the nation blew up in their own hands," Erdogan said in a televised speech where he addressed families of security forces who have been killed in the violence, most of it in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast.
"We will continue our operations with determination," he said.
The PKK has waged a decades-long armed campaign for greater autonomy in the impoverished southeast region. The conflict reignited last July after a ceasefire and peace process spearheaded by Erdogan collapsed.
(Reporting by Seda Sezer; Editing by Gareth Jones)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
United Nations: The United Nations has said it is focusing on delivery of humanitarian aid by road to millions of Syrians in need of help in the war-torn country despite an earlier announcement that it would formally ask Damascus to allow more costly and difficult air drops to besieged areas.
The UN had requested access to 34 locations to help 1.1 million people in June and Syria approved 23 requests in full and six partially, while rejecting five. France's UN Ambassador Francois Delattre, the current Security Council president, said Friday the UN would send Damascus a letter on Sunday to authorise humanitarian air drops to all the areas where access was denied.
But Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters that the UN is now concentrating on continuing land-based deliveries rather than parachuting pallets of supplies to the needy or sending aid by helicopter. "At this point the focus is on land deliveries," he said, noting that safety and logistical issues make air drops less than optimal. "If we see that we are getting the land access that we need, that's the way we will go."
Two UN diplomats said on Monday, however, that the UN humanitarian coordinator for Syria had sent a letter to the Syrian government on Sunday requesting authorisation for air drops to four besieged areas. The diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because contacts were private, said the UN asked for a response by 10 June.
The 5-year-old civil war in Syria has killed some 250,000 people, displaced millions and left vast swaths of the country in ruins, enabling the Islamic State extremist group to take control of large areas of the country. A Russia- and US-brokered truce began on 27 February, but fighting has continued in many areas.
WASHINGTON Bowing to pressure from fellow Republicans, Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would no longer talk about a Mexican-American judge after U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan denounced the presidential candidate's criticism of the jurist as textbook racism.
But Trump refused entreaties from party leaders to disavow his charge that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel was showing bias because of his Mexican heritage and should recuse himself from a lawsuit alleging fraud at Trump's defunct Trump University real estate training school.
In a lengthy statement, Trump said his previous remarks about Curiel had been misconstrued.
"I do not feel that ones heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial," the presumptive Republican nominee said.
But he added: "While this lawsuit should have been dismissed, it is now scheduled for trial in November. I do not intend to comment on this matter any further."
Trump acted after Ryan, the country's top elected Republican, blasted Trump's comments, which have threatened to disrupt Republicans' already rocky efforts to unite behind the candidate.
"I regret those comments that he made. Claiming a person can't do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment. I think that should be absolutely disavowed," Ryan told reporters.
But Ryan, who endorsed Trump last week after initial misgivings, said he still supported his candidacy, saying Trump would be preferable to Hillary Clinton, the expected Democratic nominee.
Behind the scenes, Trump has been pressured from friends and family to back down, fearful of the damage that may be done to his prospects in the Nov. 8 election, a source close to the Trump campaign said.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a potential Trump vice presidential running mate, was spotted at Trump Tower in New York before Trump's statement was issued. Christie earlier in the day defended Trump as "not a racist."
"Some of his friends and family have talked to him and asked him to drop it and so far he wont do it," the source said, speaking before Trump's statement was issued. "Everybody is mystified about why he would keep doing it."
Whether Trump will stick to his pledge will soon be known. He has a 9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT) news conference scheduled to celebrate expected victories in California and other states voting on Tuesday.
HIGH ANXIETY
Ryan's emphatic rejection of Trump's comments showed anxiety among party leaders about their ability to hang on to control of the U.S. Congress in the Nov. 8 election if voters trounce Trump and also punish Republicans lower down on the ticket.
Ryan's counterpart in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, said Trump should stop attacking minority groups.
"My advice to our nominee is to start talking about the issues that the American people care about, and to start doing it now," the Senate Republican leader told reporters.
"In addition to that, it's time to quit attacking various people that you competed with or various minority groups in the country and get on message."
Senator Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican who said back in March he would support whoever turned out to be the Republican nominee, said on Tuesday he could not support Trump because he did not have the temperament necessary for the White House.
Kirk condemned Trumps comments on Curiel as dead wrong and un-American. Kirk is seeking re-election in November.
During the Republican primary campaigns, in which Trump vanquished 16 opponents with a stream of insults to rivals and inflammatory comments about Muslims, immigrants and women, establishment Republicans squirmed over the prospect of the former reality television host becoming their standard-bearer.
But many, seeing no alternative, have reconciled themselves to a Trump run for the White House.
'UNFAIR POSITION'
Trump's continuing practice of making explosive remarks about racial, religious and gender issues is making Republicans, including those who have embraced him, uncomfortable.
Trump just needs to throw everybody a lifeline here and back off what he said," Republican strategist Ryan Williams said. "Hes put his supporters in a very unfair position because they cant defend what he said but they dont want to undermine his candidacy."
Williams noted that Trump had been able to put behind him controversies in the early stages of the Republican primary contest, such as when he called some Mexican immigrants rapists and urged a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country.
The situation with the judge is different, Williams said. "Hes not been able to put this behind him. The traditional Trump strategy of simply doubling down and punching his way through a controversy doesnt seem to be working this time around."
With greater scrutiny of Trump now that he is set to formally win the Republican presidential nomination at the party's July convention in Cleveland, there are concerns about the party's ability to maintain control of the House of Representatives and Senate.
"Trump's continuing missteps, punctuated by his outrageous and indefensible comments about Judge Curiel, make that goal much more difficult to achieve," said Lanhee Chen, a senior adviser to former presidential candidate Marco Rubio and a senior fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan and Steve Holland; Additional reporting by David Morgan, Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Frances Kerry and Peter Cooney)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Washington: Backing India's bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the US has said by becoming the member of the elite grouping the country would be in a stronger position to be a "good citizen" on proliferation-related issues.
"Having gone down the path of the civil nuclear agreement with India, and having invested a significant amount of time in building up our cooperation with India as it relates to nuclear security," Deputy National Security Advisor Benjamin Rhodes told a Washington audience.
Rhodes remarks on India came in response to a question about why some countries like China are opposing India's membership in the 48-member NSG. "..I think the bottom line for us is that we believe that through engagement with India and through engagement with groups like the NSG, we are in a better position to support India as a good citizen on these issues," Rhodes said.
He said the US believed that engaging India and trying to bring it into international processes will be more effective in promoting the country's security protocols. "And frankly, it takes place against continued conversations that we have with India about their approach to nuclear weapons; and of course, the support that we've always expressed for diplomatic efforts between India and Pakistan," Rhodes said in response to a question at an event organised by the Arms Control Association.
Based in Washington, Arms Control Association is a think-tank that had opposed India-US civil nuclear deal and is now opposing India's membership to the NSG.
"Of course, we'll take seriously the concerns of other nations, but again for us I think this is part of a broader context where we've decided to take this approach with India. And we've seen it bear some fruit, particularly on issues related to nuclear security," he said.
"So again, we understand the concerns, but in many ways we're dealing with a challenge that was fairly far advanced by the time we took office. And we decided to sustain the previous administration's decision to pursue that civil nuclear cooperation broadly," he said.
"Then what we've tried to do is nest it in these international bodies and protocols so that, again, India is in a stronger position to be a good citizen on proliferation-related issues," Rhodes said.
Washington: The US is "committed" to help India build its defence capabilities until it can be the "net provider of security" in the Asia-Pacific region, a senior Obama administration official has said.
"There is a recognition that as India grows and develops the capacity to protect its interests, not just in immediate region, but also broadly throughout Asia Pacific particularly in the Indian Ocean region. It is in the US interest to build India that capacity until it can truly be the net provider of security," the official told PTI.
"Whether India decides to operate with us or not, we are committed to help India develop that capacity to protect its own interest and to ensure that the Indian Ocean region is free from the kind of threats to maritime transport, shipping, the way it is being in the South China Sea," he said.
Enhanced global co-operation with greater role for India, strengthening of defence and security relationship and initiating steps to boost bilateral trade are believed to be on top of the agenda for US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they meet at the White House on Tuesday.
The official said the India-US relationship has now "emerged at the world stage" and is no longer a "restricted to narrow" South Asia or subcontinental set of issues.
"This level of engagement between an American President and an Indian Prime Minister is absolutely unprecedented," the official said.
India recognises that it now has a tangible and active role to play in protecting its interest, the official said moments after Modi landed at the Andrews Air Force Base for his three-day visit to Washington. So "it drifted away" from previous governments insisting on values and ideals like disarmament, non-discrimination to being "much more practical" in really reaching out protecting that interest.
The first manifestation of this was at the Paris Climate Change Summit last November.
The summit was successful largely because "Modi made a personal decision" to shift away from the integrated north-south narrative to one of really joining in with other world leaders to solving these problems, the official said.
"I think the President and the Prime Minister are likely to talk about how they continue their co-operation on world problems. That would come up in the meeting on different issues. And that would be reflected in the joint statement as well," said the official.
"Secondly the other major convergence that has taken place in recent years is in the realm of security. Again you have a country that historically was non-aligned, probably more closely aligned to the Soviets than with any other country. The US on the other hand was a major cold war protagonist and preferred operating with close alliances," the official said.
"What we have seen from the joint strategic vision from last year is that there is really a strong convergence of perspectives on security matters including regional security matters," the official added.
At the same time, the officials conceded that the convergence is not complete yet.
"There are areas where US still prefers to operate with partners and do operations together as we do elsewhere in the world. India is still hesitant to operate with any other country. It prefers to be autonomous and truly non-aligned," the official said.
"There was a statement made by one of our military commanders that created kind of push back, blow back inside India. But that is the kind of issue where we are on the edge where our co-operation is today. But I think in the years to come, we would look back at this period and say well we managed to get that through as well," observed the official, who is privy to the discussions between the two countries.
The official also conceded that Americas security partnership with Pakistan over the years still poses challenge to India-US relationship.
"But even there you would see there is going to be a much greater convergence again that no country should allow territory to use to launch terrorist attack against neighbours. And I think that is a very strong point of convergence between these two," said the senior administration official.
Economic front is one area, where there is less convergence as compared to security and global issues, the official said.
"On economic front, historically we had a socialist command economy in India and US promoting global liberalised trade. This is an area where convergence is far from complete," the official said.
"I think, as US is working with other countries in the Asia Pacific region, trans-pacific partnership, we have envisioned of a liberalised high standard trade and investment system in the Asia Pacific region. And India is not yet comfortable with that," the official said.
"It (India) still has an approach that is more protectionist which is internally oriented to advance its own industry and make its own industry more competitive. Of course, we understand that. But we are working and we are intensifying discussions including in the Oval Office on Wednesday between the President and the Prime Minister, how we can come on board and find areas to c-operate on in the trade investment area," said the official.
Each time Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepares to engage with the US, public health activists and observers in India get really anxious. And its happening yet again as Modi sets foot on American soil for a packed, three-day state visit.
The anxiety of public health specialists is not without reason and its not restricted to India alone, but also across the developing world. The fear is that if Modi capitulates to US pressure on Indias Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regime, which it has been overtly and covertly exerting for years, it will make many lifesaving drugs unaffordable. Not just in India, but in most poor countries because India is the main pharmacy for the entire developing world.
The reason to peg this concern to a high level India-US diplomatic engagement is historic.
Although Indias trade and strategic conversations with the US are not all about pharmaceuticals, even a marginal mistake on the latter can be too costly for the country. Among a host of other negotiations, Big Pharma in the US, through several lobbying arms have been trying to water down Indias IP policy to suit their interests. They want India to freely issue patents for their drugs, even if they dont qualify according to Indian IP laws or involve unfair practices such as ever-greening, so that they can sell them at whatever prices they choose and prevent Indians from making generics. They also don't want India to use its legitimate right to issue compulsory licenses to drugs that are critical to the health of the people of India as allowed by TRIPS.
Although the Government of India has clarified early this year that it hadn't promised the US that it wouldnt issue compulsory licences, the Indian position is still not totally transparent for a number of reasons.
First, it is a strange India-US policy group. The Government of India had constituted an India-US annual high-level Intellectual Property (IP) Working Group with appropriate decision-making and technical-level meetings after Modis visit to the US in 2014. This decision allowed the US a role in influencing Indias sovereign rights. A real foot-in-the-door policy.
The details of the deliberations of this WG are unknown. But that the group came into existence in the wake of a joint letter by the US Senate and House Committees to the US International Trade Commission (USITC) which said that "India has not yet taken action to fully and effectively protect and enforce copyrights, particularly against innovative US pharmaceutical companies, so as to advantage its domestic industries has been disconcerting.
Then came the denial of patent to pharmaceutical giant Gilead for its Hepatitis C drug Sofosbuvir and its subsequent revocation. The application was originally rejected by the Indian patent office in 2015, but was accepted early this year. Media reports said there was intense pressure from the government on the patent office to grant a patent for this prohibitively expensive drug. Had the 2015 decision stayed, Indian companies could have manufactured the drug locally and made it available at a fraction of its original cost. In the US, the drug costs abut US $84,000 for a 12-week course. In a bid to probably avert further pressure from Indian activists and companies, Gilead subsequently made it available at a cheaper price in India through a voluntary licencing agreement with Indian companies.
In 2016, the patent office also rejected the application from a Hyderabad based company, Lee Pharma, for a compulsory license for an important diabetics drug Saxagliptin, originally manufactured by AstraZeneca. The grounds for compulsory licensing that the reasonable requirements of public with respect to the patented invention have not been satisfied, or that the patented invention is not available to the public at reasonably affordable price, or that the patented invention is not worked in the territory of India as stipulated by the Indian patent law were not accepted, although the drug was not available widely at affordable prices. Activists saw this also as a bad sign of forfeiting the countrys IPR sovereignty.
Finally, the timing of the new IPR policy that the government had finalised recently also showed that India was yielding to pressure from the US. According to Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the policy was finalised well in time for Modis visit. Intellectual property rights lawyer KM Gopakumar wrote about the new policy in Economic and Political Weekly: Even though the policy contains certain measures to protect public interest, these measures can get undermined during implementation of the policy due to the overall thrust on IP generation and commercialisation without adequately recognising Indias socioeconomic imperatives. One of the unstated reasons for putting together the policy is to ease pressures from the US to deliver on IP awareness, service orientation of the Patent Office and IP generation. Thus the policy bears the danger of further increasing the pressure instead of minimising it.
Leena Menghaney, South Asia head of MSF's Access Campaign minced no words when she said in a statement: Its outrageous that the US is trying to export its broken intellectual property system to India a system that has caused medicine prices to skyrocket, leaving patients empty-handed, and patients and payers struggling to manage the cost of expensive patented medicinesThese policies, which are increasingly not working for people in the US, should not be forced on people living in India or anywhere else in the world.
India doesnt realise that even a country such as Egypt fared better in resisting the US pressure. Egypt refused patent to Gileads Hepatitis C drug and will be in a position to manufacture and export the drug to other countries. Modis advisers and lobbyists of American pharmaceutical industry have likely misled him on Indias legitimate and legal rights and the importance of fair drug prices to keep Indians alive.
A few weeks ago, when Arvind Singh collapsed in the middle of his farmland at Lohagir, his panic-stricken family dialled every one of the dozen-odd unlicensed medical practitioners in the village. By the time village 'doctor' Laxmi Sahni got there, the 52-year-old farmer was writhing in pain, clutching at his stomach, shaking involuntarily and cursing with frustration. Unflustered by all this and seemingly without reflection, Sahni fished out a syringe, found a vein and quickly injected first a painkiller and then an antibiotic. In this case, it even worked-the pain subsided and Singh was rushed to a city hospital in Samastipur, 19 km from Lohagir, for further attention.
Sahni, 47, carries a stethoscope, syringes and an assortment of antibiotics, painkillers and anti-allergic and digestive tablets along with vials of different injectables and saline bottles in the grey bag that remains strapped to his Honda motorcycle.
advertisement
A doctor on the move? Well, almost. Except that Sahni is an arts graduate with no qualification whatsoever in medicine. Yet he has been practising medicine for over two decades. After all, no one asks for your degree in villages where something is better than nothing.
Unlicensed medical practitioners are a fact of life in Bihar. Rough estimates put their number at some four lakh, practising a deadly hit-and-miss style of medicine in the state's 40,000-plus villages.
"The patients seldom complain, there are never any legal issues," says one, requesting anonymity. "But, deep down, we know we have no mandate to do what we are doing. A police vehicle always scares us. Life is like one long air-raid drill. We are tired of living like this."
Munnabhai MBBS?
As if on cue, the Bihar government will start a one-year diploma course to educate 'untrained health activists' this July. The State Health Society (SHS), under the Bihar Health Department, stitched up an agreement with the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in June last year to run the programme. Matriculates with a minimum of three years of experience were eligible to apply. The course fee was fixed at Rs 5,000. "We have already received 22,000 applications," says Sanjay Kumar Sinha, regional director, NIOS.
Laxmi Sahni attends to a patient. Photo: Ranjan Rahi
"The quacks will get a diploma after completing 400 hours of training," says Dr L.B. Singh approvingly. Chairman of the 10-member state advisory committee overseeing the implementation of the programme, Singh seems at peace with the certification of these ersatz doctors. "They'll be trained at 149 first referral units (FRUs) and 533 primary health centres. The NIOS will engage health department employees and doctors for the training." The students will be assessed after a year, with 40 per cent marks assigned to theory, 60 per cent to practical examinations.
Why quacks thrive in Bihar
As BJP leader and former health minister Nand Kishore Yadav puts it, "The quacks are not the real problem, the healthcare vacuum is." Bihar is fifth among states with the highest shortfall of primary health centres in rural areas. Against the required strength of 3,099 such centres in 2015, the state had only 1,883, or 1,216 centres less than required for its 92.3 million people at the time.
While the private healthcare business is booming in the state, aided by the growing middle class willing to pay for costly treatment, the rural healthcare infrastructure remains skeletal. Bihar has only one government doctor for every 30,000 people. The World Health Organization specifies a ratio of one doctor to every 1,000 people in low-income countries. There are privately employed or self-employed doctors; but like pizza parlours, they don't open shop in villages. Government-run clinics are either too far away or have unending queues.
advertisement
A necessary evil?
Several NGOs find it useful to enlist these quacks in initiatives such as the pulse-polio immunisation programme. Singh is convinced their programme is a path-breaking initiative. "Quacks are already part of the healthcare system," he says. "Training them would enhance their skills, minimise risk and help people with minor ailments. They can also refer emergency cases to MBBS doctors."
The course is 'comprehensive', covering everything from lessons on high-risk pregnancy, resuscitation of a new-born, maternal and child healthcare to communicable diseases, internal haemorrhage, even cancer.
Course of 'action'
Sinha insists the programme will at the very outset tell the 'medical practitioners' "what not to do". But as an SHS officer admits, "The government just cannot monitor these unlicensed medical practitioners. The NIOS certification may give them the status of a community health worker. But these 'doctors', many of whom already have a thriving practice, are unlikely to scale down their activities just because the certificate does not allow them to, say, prescribe a medicine."
advertisement
Sahni, for instance, is delighted at the stamp of legitimacy the course will give him, even if it means dropping the doctor prefix before his name. "We are already doctors," he says, "the diploma will only legitimise what we do." And therein lies the biggest threat.
"We have seen several instances where these rural medicine men have turned acute cases into chronic ones," says Dr Ajay Kumar, chairman, IMA Academy of Medical Specialities, Bihar, citing examples of quacks who misdiagnose, prescribe strong, unnecessary medication, and buy cheap, out-of-date antibiotics. "If the rural population of Bihar has developed high drug resistance, it is only because of these medical imposters," he says. "More than 80 per cent of Bihar's people live in its villages. Are they second-grade citizens that they deserve inferior medical care by a brigade of 'qualified' quacks?"
Only last month, Phoolwanti Devi, wife of a labourer in Amanabad in Patna district, lost her four-year-old son Anshu after a local quack, Dhaneshar Choudhary, injected him with something unknown. Seemingly unperturbed by this, the man continues to practise medicine, some 35 km from Bihar health minister Tej Pratap Yadav's residence.
advertisement
"The government," says Dr Ranjit Kumar, general secretary of the Bihar Health Service Association, "should first take note of why qualified doctors are migrating from Bihar." Medicine, he adds, is a highly specialised practice, unlicensed practitioners cannot take it up on whim. "Can you allow air hostesses to fly planes because you do not have enough pilots?" he asks. Yet, this is exactly what is happening. Ram Bharose, 36, who has a degree in commerce, and is now contesting the Bihar panchayat elections, has been practising medicine in Lohagir in Samastipur district for the past 10 years.
The solution, according to Nand Kishore Yadav, is in meeting the National Rural Health Management (NRHM) criteria of having one subcentre per 5,000 people in 'general' areas and another per 3,000 people in 'difficult' areas. Until then, Bihar will continue to be at the mercy of its newly legitimised quacks.
Follow the writer on Twitter @Amitabh1975
--- ENDS ---
These days, when government officials and politicians in Goa approach Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar for policy decisions, they get either of these two responses: Paatravank vicharche padattale (I need to consult Sir) or paatraav yetgat tharovya (let us decide when Sir comes). The 'Sir' in question is Manohar Parrikar, who might have bequeathed the chief ministership to Parsekar in November 2014 when he moved to Delhi as the Union minister for defence but who still seems to be ruling the state by proxy.
It was something Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal was quick to catch on to as he launched his party's campaign for assembly elections in the state next year. "The present government is a 'kathputli' (puppet) one," he declared at a rally in Panaji on May 23. "Parrikar concentrates less on defence and more on Goa."
advertisement
The arrangement is proving costly for the incumbent BJP. Parsekar is unpopular with party MLAs because they feel he does not take them along. The RSS is unhappy with the government's continued grants to church-run English-medium schools, which it perceives as pandering to Catholics.
The Catholics, the new voters of the BJP, are in turn upset with the government for reneging on its promise to consult them on the regional development plan for villages.
AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal addresses a rally at Campal ground, Panaji. Photo: Edric George
The middle class is miffed that the government has backtracked on its intention to shift four casinos anchored on the Mandovi river to an alternative site. Not only did the government defer the decision by a year in March, it also issued a licence for a fifth casino.
There has also been no effort to arrest the culprits in the Rs 16,000 crore mining scam. Instead, Parrikar, tried to play down the scandal in November 2014, saying the loss to the state exchequer had been exaggerated. The ban on mining too was lifted in March 2015.
Discontent is also brewing among taxi drivers and fishermen, who accuse the government of turning a deaf ear to their demands. When taxi owners went on a two-day strike in April protesting digital meters and the competition from rent-a-car services, Parsekar made no attempt to talk to them. Nor has he made any effort to pacify local fishermen who have been agitating against the use of LED lights and bull trawling by commercial fishing operators, which they say puts them at a disadvantage.
It's a choppy sea, therefore, that the BJP seems to be negotiating a few months away from the election. Fighting the 2012 election on the plank of corruption in the Congress regime, the party had won 24 of Goa's 40 assembly seats in alliance with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).Today, AAP is looking to occupy the opposition space vacated by the faction-ridden Congress.
The BJP's-and Parsekar's-troubles began when Parrikar left for Delhi and chose Parsekar to run the government in his absence. Deputy CM Francis Souza, the second most senior person in the party, did stage a brief revolt, but that fizzled out after an unprecedented 15 of the 21 BJP MLAs supported Parsekar in a ballot.
advertisement
Parsekar's first, and only, independent decision was to reject the demand for special status to Goa. In August 2015, he had announced that 40 workers of the Forum for Rights of Children to Education (FORCE) would be prosecuted for damaging public property during their agitation. Parrikar, however, made him withdraw the announcement.
The former CM apparently flies down every weekend and holds a durbar in his home town Parra in north Goa. Parsekar and his officials are summoned to his residence, where Parrikar looks at important files and issues directives to the CM. "Parsekar's only job is to nod his head at such meetings," says a BJP source. "He does not dare to take any big decision when Parrikar is not around."
Calangute BJP MLA Michael Lobo, however, denies Parrikar is remote controlling the government. "Parrikar has some great ideas on turning Goa into a developed, tourist-friendly state," he says. "If he feels things are not moving at a certain pace, he might give some instructions. You can't call it remote controlling."
advertisement
Convincing the electorate, though, will be a different matter. Voters are unlikely to forgive what they perceive as the BJP's U-turns on the several assurances the party had incorporated in its 2012 election manifesto. Goa RSS chief Subhash Velingkar is especially chagrined at Parrikar's 'betrayal' over the grant to Catholic educational institutions. Velingkar had filed a petition against then CM Digambar Kamat's June 2011 decision to provide financial assistance to 136 church-run English-medium schools. Parrikar made him withdraw the petition, saying his government was about to announce a policy on the issue. "He made us wait for two years making sugarcoated conversations," says a livid Velingkar, a retired teacher. "A day before he resigned as CM, Manohar signed an order to continue the grant. It was a clear breach of trust." Parrikar, in fact, announced the decision before the press, keeping Velingkar in dark.
"Manohar thinks he can become an inclusive leader if he keeps the church happy," says Velingkar from his home in Panaji. "But most of Goa's Christians want Konkani, not English, as the medium of primary education."
On May 21, Velingkar gathered 3,000 people under the banner of the Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) at Mayem, around 18 km from Panaji, and took to the streets in protest. Giving Parsekar a deadline of October 2, Velingkar, who claims he is using money from his pension to run the agitation, said, "If the grant is not discontinued, we will create an alternative to the BJP and ensure the party loses the 2017 assembly elections." BBSM asserts that the grants to English medium-schools will strike a death blow to local languages.
advertisement
D'Souza, however, denies that the BJP has made any U-turn on its election promises."It is our policy to provide grants to English-medium schools," he says. "We can have a rethink on it. As far as the mining scam is concerned, the Lokayukta has started an inquiry. As for the casinos, we can shift them to land instead of the deep sea."
Yet others find fault with Parsekar, not Parrikar, for bringing the BJP to this pass. The workaholic Parrikar put in 16-18 hour workdays, and travelled the countryside to oversee preparations for big events like the Goa carnival. Parsekar makes no such field trips. "Unlike bhai (Parrikar),"says a BJP legislator, "Parsekar prefers to operate out of his office or his official residence Mahalaxmi in Panaji."
Rohan Khaunte, an independent MLA from Porvorim, thinks Parsekar pushes Parrikar to decide on issues where a public backlash is expected, and takes decisions on other matters. Anyhow, the BJP will pay a heavy electoral price for Parrikar's U-turns, he says. "He promised us the moon but did not even give us its shadow."
Political observers believe that the BJP might lose seven to eight seats in north Goa where the BBSM has intensified its agitation, down from the present 21. The BBSM is also working at weaning away BJP ally MGP or fielding independent candidates against the BJP. "We will not vote for the Congress and will not allow the BJP to retain the CM's chair if our demand is not met," Velingkar says.
AAP could make inroads into the Congress bastion of South Goa. Congress president Luizinho Faleiro, however, claims AAP will not be able to displace the party as people still have faith in the Congress.
Sensing trouble, the Goa BJP had organised a two-day self-assessment camp for its legislators at the RSS-run Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini training institute in Mumbai in the first week of May. Speaking at the camp, Parrikar advised Parsekar to focus on fulfilling the leftover promises in the last year of his tenure to win back the state. Parsekar listened carefully, no doubt, intent on overturning a popular superstition in Goa: that no CM staying in official residence 'Mahalaxmi' has returned to power.
Follow the writer on Twitter @kirantare
--- ENDS ---
An American yoga entrepreneur will appear in court in Hawaii on Wednesday charged with the murder of her identical twin, after she drove their car over a cliff, smashing into the rocks 60 metres below and killing her sister.
Alison Dadow, 37, has insisted that she would never harm her sibling Ann, with whom she begun a yoga business in Florida. She has pleaded not guilty to murder.
The twins at the launch of their yoga business. Credit:Twitter: aGuyonClematis
But witnesses have told how, before the May 29 crash, the pair were seen arguing furiously, with one pulling the other's hair and yelling, as their car was parked in the middle of the road.
And, despite their glossy appearance, the twins' past may hold clues to a surprisingly troubled path.
Sometime in the next several weeks, an international tribunal in The Hague will announce its long-awaited ruling on a territorial dispute in the South China Sea between China and the Philippines. The court is expected to rule at least partially in favor of Manila.
China already has said it will ignore the ruling of the tribunal, which it claims is biased.
If China does disregard the decision, the United States almost certainly will portray the case as yet another instance in which Beijing flouts international law. But any U.S. attempt to pressure China over its rejection of the ruling will be complicated by the fact that Washington itself has not ratified the treaty on which the Philippine complaint is based the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS.
The vast majority of the world's nations have signed onto UNCLOS, which is known as the "constitution for the oceans." The treaty provides guidelines for how nations use the world's seas and their natural resources. It also contains mechanisms for addressing disputes, such as the current one between the Philippines and China.
The U.S. has not accepted UNCLOS because of opposition from Republicans in the Senate, where treaties must be approved by a two-thirds' vote. Failure to act on the treaty has drawn regular critiques from U.S. President Barack Obama.
Last week, Obama specifically linked the issue to China.
"If we're truly concerned about China's actions in the South China Sea ... the Senate should help strengthen our case by approving the Law of the Sea convention, as our military leaders have urged," Obama said in a commencement speech to the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Arguments against signing
Steven Groves, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation who has written extensively on the Law of the Sea treaty, says that argument is "completely ridiculous."
"There's no evidence to support it," Groves told VOA. "China is going to disregard any negative outcome from the arbitration whether or not the U.S. is party to the treaty or not."
Groves is among the camp of conservatives who are generally skeptical about U.S. participation in international treaties and systems, viewing them as undermining U.S. sovereignty. He also is concerned that UNCLOS will subject the U.S. to stricter and, in his view, unnecessary environmental standards.
"All indications are that if we joined the Law of the Sea treaty, that all kinds of meritless environmental lawsuits would be brought against us," Groves said.
Arguments for signing
Other analysts argue that ratifying UNCLOS would give the U.S. more leverage on the international scene, especially in relation to China.
The U.S. "could say a lot more, and probably much more convincingly" if it were a party to the treaty, says Andrew Chubb, a China expert at the University of Western Australia. "As it stands, they have to talk about more abstract terms like 'accepted rules' of international law and 'rules-based order,'" he said.
Any diplomatic damage is limited to some extent because almost all the provisions in UNCLOS reflect customary international law, which is binding on all states.
"In fact, the irony is that the United States already scrupulously follows the rules in the convention," said James Kraska, an international law expert at the U.S. Naval War College.
But Kraska says the U.S. has more to gain by formally joining UNCLOS, including a more stable legal framework for accessing resources on the extended continental shelf of the U.S. He also says joining the treaty would give the U.S. more credibility on the world stage.
"I'm not willing to say it's going to make all the difference, because China is not going to suddenly change their mind, just because we join the convention," he said. "But I think it helps."
The lingering question of whether the United Kingdom will remain in the European Union will be at least partially decided by the referendum to be conducted on June 23, although the immediate outcome of the vote however it unfolds is likely to cause a ripple effect across much of Europe in the near future.
The issues at stake in the campaign are much the same as those that have troubled Britain for decades, as the island-nation has reluctantly edged toward the ever closer union, all the while negotiating extraordinary exemptions and special treatment from Brussels.
Among the burning issues are the questions of economy, immigration, security, and national sovereignty or lawmaking ability; the latter of which is, according to former London mayor Boris Johnson, being very greatly eroded by the EU.
The pre-referendum polls show that public opinion in Britain is on a knife-edge, with the electorate split equally between the Brexit campaign and the Bremain campaign. According to Telegraph polls held weekly between March 15 and June 6, only between 3 and 5 percent of voters remain undecided.
However, the opinion of British residents living overseas appears to be entirely unreflective of that in the home islands, even though the arguments raised are almost identical.
In Macau, all of the respondents contacted by the Times and willing to speak on-the-record indicated a strong preference for staying within the union. None of the respondents said that they would advocate a Brexit, although many stated that they did not wish to comment on the matter.
Eileen Stow, a founding member of the British Business Association of Macao (BBAM), is not able to vote in this months referendum due to a ruling that excludes British citizens who have lived abroad for 15 years or more from participating in the vote.
I voted for entry into the EU [back in the 1975 referendum] in what was the first election in which I was eligible to participate. And I would vote to stay in today if I was allowed to vote, Stow told the Times, adding that she would appreciate the opportunity to vote in general elections and referendums while living in Macau.
My feeling is that if the British in Macau care about the EU [referendum] then they will probably be voting to stay. When youre an expat you have a stronger sense of internationalism and sticking together, she explained.
Professor Glenn Timmermans of the University of Macau, who identifies as half-British, half-Dutch, says that he is also unequivocally voting to remain.
I am definitely voting to remain. The EU is hardly a perfect system but I generally think that the UK is in every sense economically, socially, culturally better off as part of Europe, said Timmermans, who, having lived outside the UK for just 14 years, will be able to vote on June 23.
The sentiments are echoed, though less strongly, by Suzanne Watkinson, who says she wants Britain to remain, though she too cannot vote in the referendum.
I wish to vote [in the referendum] but I cannot since I have been out of the country for 15 years, she said. I have discussed the issue with my parents, who are both UK residents, and we all agree on the side of Bremain, though some of us reluctantly.
We also think that the others [British] in Macau will vote to stay because were expats and we want to retain the benefits of being within the union, added Watkinson.
Asked whether British residents in Macau might feel any effects of a withdrawal, Eileen Stow reckoned that, from a business perspective, there will not be much of an effect.
Our chambers are interlinked, but we would still be considered a part of them [if Britain exited], I think, she added.
Timmermans largely agrees that the referendum wouldnt directly affect Macau. He says however, that he is invited to French, German and Italian events in the MSAR by virtue of being considered a European, and that he certainly considers himself as one.
I think that there is a sense of togetherness among Europeans in Macau, slightly against the Americans and the Australians and the other gwai lo, he jokes.
The outcome on June 23 could present wide-reaching ramifications for the rest of the union, as well as elsewhere. According to a BBC report late last month, the net contribution of the UK to the EU amounts to about 161 million (MOP1.88 billion) per week, although other estimates (publicized by the leave campaign) put this figure as high as 361 million (MOP4.21 billion) per week. The loss of this contribution could put added stress on an already fragile economic bloc.
Germanys DZ Bank predicted last month that a British exit might cost the German economy alone 34.8 billion (MOP405 billion) by 2017, and the country might fall into recession. According to conservative media outlet Breitbart, the head of the Berlin Stock Exchange said last week that if Britain votes to leave, Germany may not be far behind, contrary to what Denmarks Prime Minister expressed at around the same time; that Denmark would never follow Britain in an EU exit.
Leaders from other countries have also weighed in on the issue, such as Japans Shinzo Abe and outgoing U.S. president Barack Obama, who both urged Britain to stick with Europe. Even presidential hopeful Donald Trump threw his lot in, backing Brexit and arguing the case that the UK is better off outside the EU.
The vote this month will be the third referendum to be held in the UK within the last five years, following a Scottish independence referendum in 2014 and a campaign to alter the voting system in Britain in 2011.
I find it quite amazing that we have had two referendums in such a short period of time, said Stow, referring to the Scottish referendum. I would hope that, whatever the outcome of the referendum, this reflects a wake-up call for the government as in the case of Scotland [in the aftermath of 2014].
Indeed there are some similarities between the two plebiscites in the use of political scaremongering and the question of a contingency plan in the event of an exit.
There isnt a real contingency plan. I dont think the Leaves have expressed an idea of what will happen [if they get their way], said Timmermans.
BBAM will hold a breakfast meeting today at 7.45 a.m. at the St. Regis Macao, Cotai, titled: Bremain or Brexit: The debate over the UK in/out referendum.
The Chief Executive, Chui Sai On, met yesterday with the Auditor General of the National Audit Office of the Peoples Republic of China, Liu Jiayi. According to a government statement, both parties debated ways to achieve a continuous improvement of their regions audit procedures. During the meeting, the CE emphasized the guidelines given by Mr Liu to the territory in the context of the participation in the conference, Enhancing the Chinese government: How to fully play a role in the national audit. Chui Sai On highlighted the important role of the audit and the fact that society itself is paying increasingly close attention to the work done in this field. Both parties discussed issues surrounding the use of technology as a means to increase efficiency. Liu Jiayi made a brief presentation on the results achieved by Chinas National Audit Office.
Nomura expects June GGR decline
Nomura Research believes that Macaus gross gaming revenue (GGR) in June is unlikely to see growth and will instead mark the 25th consecutive month of year-on-year decline. GGR for the first five days of June amounted to HKD2.5 billion, implying an average daily GGR (excluding slot machines) of HKD468 million. If the averages are to keep consistent for the remainder of the month, then GGR for the month of June will be down between 2 and 7 percent compared with the same month in 2015, and between 8 and 12 percent less than that in May. Nomura said that its previous expectation of growth in June seems increasingly unlikely, though the shortfall recorded in the first five days of June may reflect the recent termination of phone-betting and the implementation of new UnionPay terminals. Alternatively it may be simply driven by volatility in GGR.
Gongbei customs intercept one million patacas in cash
On Monday, Gongbei customs inspected a local woman and discovered her to be carrying one million patacas in cash, according to a report by Jornal Va Kio. The woman, surnamed Choi, was in possession of two paper bags when she was checked. The money was divided into ten bundles in one of the bags, each consisting of one thousand pataca bills. This marks the 27th currency smuggling case in June to be recorded by Gongbei customs. The department has dealt with approximately 400 currency smuggling cases so far this year, involving a total of RMB50 million. It reminds the public to be aware that currencies are restricted items when passing through Chinese border control.
A fire broke out at an army camp near Sri Lankas capital, setting off explosions and damaging hundreds of nearby homes, officials said yesterday. One soldier was killed.
It was not immediately clear what caused the fire Sunday night at the Salawa army camp, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) east of the capital, Colombo. Soldiers managed to douse the flames at the camp, but small blasts were still erupting at an ammunition depot and were expected to continue through yesterday, military spokesman Brig. Jayanath Jayaweera said, adding that the explosions posed no threat.
The explosions sent shrapnel and munitions flying into the surrounding area, damaging hundreds of homes and a government hospital, and forcing thousands of people to evacuate, officials said.
One soldier was killed and eight other people were injured, including seven civilians, according to Health Ministry spokesman Nipuna Ekanayake. He said 39 other civilians were treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation before being released.
Yesterday morning, shrapnel and mortar shells could be seen scattered in peoples front yards. Local television channels and news websites showed videos and pictures of heavily damaged houses and vehicles.
My house is almost completely destroyed, said hotel worker Menaka Madhushan, who fled the home when he heard the first explosions. That decision saved our life.
He described a demolition scene where his home once stood its roof now collapsed and the ground littered with debris and at least six artillery shells.
Its clear those artilleries hit my house, the 30-year-old said. I fear the house is beyond repair [] this is a huge loss for me.
At Wasantha Rupasinghs private photography studio half a kilometer from the camp, the glass windows and doors were broken and shattered into pieces, he said.
He fled the area along with his wife and two children, aged 10 and 14, when the explosions started. The family slept in their car, which they parked on a remote road far from the site.
We never thought this kind of thing would happen, said Rupasingh, 39. I dont know what to do now. I fear my house is also destroyed by this. At the moment, all I can do is wait and see until they allow us to go and see our house.
Thousands of nearby residents who were evacuated from a 5-kilometer radius around the site Sunday night were being allowed to return to their homes yesterday, but many like Rupasingh with homes within a kilometer from the camp were being blocked until soldiers could check the area and declare it safe.
Minister of Law and Order Sagala Ratnayake said the fire started at a small arms depot and then spread to other depots where heavy weapons, such as artillery shells, were stored. Bharatha Mallawarachi, Colombo, AP
Taiwan and Guangdong have reportedly detected two instances of people infected by the Zika virus, the Health Bureau (SSM) announced in statement.
In Taiwan, a 22 year-old man from Indonesia arrived in the territory on June 1 showing signs of fever and red eyes, which are symptoms of the disease.
After examination, it was confirmed on June 5, that he was infected with the Zika virus, is currently being treated, and is presenting a stable clinical status.
As for the case registered in the Guangdong province, it was identified in a 32 year-
old woman from Venezuela. The woman traveled from Venezuela to Enping City, Jiangmen through Guangzhou on May 31.
On June 3 due to symptoms of fever, back pain and skin rashes, she searched for medical support. The woman was isolated on suspicions of a Zika virus infection, and the diagnosis was confirmed on June 5 after examinations performed by the Guangdong Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The SSM announcement also mentioned that the mosquito Aedes albopictus, which is responsible for the transmission of the Zika virus, exists in Macau. Although there are not yet any registered cases in the territory, the bureau warned that people should be aware and take preventive measures to prevent the disease spreading, such as avoiding travel to areas affected by the virus spread as well as adopting anti-mosquito measures. People should also be alert to any potential symptoms until 28 days after travelling in affected areas.
Shes 21, has thyroid cancer, and wants people in her prefecture in northeastern Japan to get screened for it. That statement might not seem provocative, but her prefecture is Fukushima, and of the 173 young people with confirmed or suspected cases since the 2011 nuclear meltdowns there, she is the first to speak out.
That near-silence highlights the fear Fukushima thyroid-cancer patients have about being the nail that sticks out, and thus gets hammered.
The thyroid-cancer rate in the northern Japanese prefecture is many times higher than what is generally found, particularly among children, but the Japanese government says more cases are popping up because of rigorous screening, not the radiation that spewed from Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant.
To be seen as challenging that view carries consequences in this rigidly harmony-oriented society. Even just having cancer that might be related to radiation carries a stigma in the only country to be hit with atomic bombs.
There arent many people like me who will openly speak out, said the young woman, who requested anonymity because of fears about harassment. Thats why Im speaking out so others can feel the same. I can speak out because Im the kind of person who believes things will be OK.
She has a quick disarming smile and silky black hair. She wears flip-flops. She speaks passionately about her new job as a nursery school teacher. But she also has deep fears: Will she be able to get married? Will her children be healthy?
She suffers from the only disease that the medical community, including the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, has acknowledged is clearly related to the radioactive iodine that spewed into the surrounding areas after the only nuclear disaster worse than Fukushimas, the 1986 explosion and fire at Chernobyl, Ukraine.
Though international reviews of Fukushima have predicted that cancer rates will not rise as a result of the meltdowns there, some researchers believe the prefectures high thyroid-cancer rate is related to the accident.
The government has ordered medical testing of the 380,000 people who were 18 years or under and in Fukushima prefecture at the time of the March 2011 tsunami and quake that sank three reactors into meltdowns. About 38 percent have yet to be screened, and the number is a whopping 75 percent for those who are now between the ages of 18 and 21.
The young woman said she came forward because she wants to help other patients, especially children, who may be afraid and confused. She doesnt know whether her sickness was caused by the nuclear accident, but plans to get checked for other possible sicknesses, such as uterine cancer, just to be safe.
I want everyone, all the children, to go to the hospital and get screened. They think its too much trouble, and there are no risks, and they dont go, the woman said in a recent interview in Fukushima. My cancer was detected early, and I learned that was important.
Thyroid cancer is among the most curable cancers, though some patients need medication for the rest of their lives, and all need regular checkups.
The young woman had one cancerous thyroid removed, and does not need medication except for painkillers. But she has become prone to hormonal imbalance and gets tired more easily. She used to be a star athlete, and snowboarding remains a hobby.
A barely discernible tiny scar is on her neck, like a pale kiss mark or scratch. She was hospitalized for nearly two weeks, but she was itching to get out. It really hurt then, but there is no pain now, she said with a smile.
My ability to bounce right back is my trademark, she said. Im always able to keep going.
She was mainly worried about her parents, especially her mother, who cried when she found out her daughter had cancer. Her two older siblings also were screened but were fine.
Many Japanese have deep fears about genetic abnormalities caused by radiation. Many, especially older people, assume all cancers are fatal, and even the young woman did herself until her doctors explained her sickness to her.
The young woman said her former boyfriends family had expressed reservations about their relationship because of her sickness. She has a new boyfriend now, a member of Japans military, and he understands about her sickness, she said happily.
A support group for thyroid cancer patients was set up earlier this year. The group, which includes lawyers and medical doctors, has refused all media requests for interviews with the handful of families that have joined, saying that kind of attention may be dangerous.
When the group held a news conference in Tokyo in March, it connected by live video feed with two fathers with children with thyroid cancer, but their faces were not shown, to disguise their identities. They criticized the treatment their children received and said theyre not certain the government is right in saying the cancer and the nuclear meltdowns are unrelated.
Hiroyuki Kawai, a lawyer who also advises the group, believes patients should file Japans equivalent of a class-action lawsuit, demanding compensation, but he acknowledged more time will be needed for any legal action.
The patients are divided. They need to unite, and they need to talk with each other, he told AP in a recent interview.
The committee of doctors and other experts carrying out the screening of youngsters in Fukushima for thyroid cancer periodically update the numbers of cases found, and they have been steadily climbing.
In a news conference this week, they stuck to the view the cases werent related to radiation. Most disturbing was a cancer found in a child who was just 5 years old in 2011, the youngest case found so far. But the experts brushed it off, saying one wasnt a significant number.
It is hard to think there is any relationship, with radiation, said Hokuto Hoshi, a medical doctor who heads the committee.
Shinsyuu Hida, a photographer from Fukushima and an adviser to the patients group, said fears are great not only about speaking out but also about cancer and radiation.
He said that when a little girl who lives in Fukushima once asked him if she would ever be able to get married, because of the stigma attached to radiation, he was lost for an answer and wept afterward.
They feel alone. They cant even tell their relatives, Hida said of the patients. They feel they cant tell anyone. They felt they were not allowed to ask questions.
The woman who spoke to AP also expressed her views on video for a film in the works by independent American filmmaker Ian Thomas Ash.
She counts herself lucky. About 18,000 people were killed in the tsunami, and many more lost their homes to the natural disaster and the subsequent nuclear accident, but her familys home was unscathed.
When asked how she feels about nuclear power, she replied quietly that Japan doesnt need nuclear plants. Without them, she added, maybe she would not have gotten sick. Yuri Kageyama, Koriyama, AP
Pagkakaisa, Pag-aambagan, Pagsulong (Unity, Participation and Progress) is the theme of the 118th anniversary of the declaration of Philippine Independence, which was celebrated in the city yesterday.
The celebration is momentous as the Filipino people are set to enter a new chapter in the countrys history under the leadership of the incoming administration of president-elect Rodrigo Duterte.
As this years National Elections recorded one of the largest turnouts in recent history, with 81 percent of registered voters casting their ballot, Philippine Consul General Lilybeth Deapera confidently said: The peoples voice has been heard and together the Filipino people will move toward just and participatory governance.
I hope he will be a president for all, said Deapera when commenting on the vast majority of votes Duterte received. Moreover, she expressed her hope that the new president will be able to fulfill his duties in terms of promoting inclusive growth in the economy to the benefit of all sectors of society, including marginalized sectors.
Deapera recalled in her speech that the 2016 first quarter figures show that the country continues to be one of the fastest growing economies in Asia as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund project 6 percent growth in the economy.
The Consul General acknowledged that economic relations with MSAR have played a vital role in the economic development of the Philippines. According to Deapera, the two regions bilateral merchandise trade in 2015 increased 28.4 percent over 2014, emphasizing that several business ventures not only cater to Filipino nationals but to expatriates and locals as well.
It is my hope that the cooperation between our respective private sectors remains strong and that the trade between our two countries continues to expand and grow, she added.
The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Sonia Chan, attended the event and acknowledged Filipino workers as a valuable addition to the manpower resources of the city. As such, she expressed her hope that the community would continue to make significant contributions to the sustainable development of the local economy.
The Consul General also thanked local NGOs including Macaus Architecture Sans Frontiers (ASF) as it has been extending aid to a province in the country affected by typhoon Haiyan in 2013.
Through exchanges like these, the peoples of the Philippines and Macau learn from each other and enrich each others culture and experiences, she said. Staff reporter
tourist arrivals grow
As the city continues to be a favored destination for the Filipino citizens, tourist arrivals from the Philippines grew by 5.3 percent in 2015, according to the Consul General of the Philippines in Macau. The trend continued for the first quarter of 2016 as 91,314 Filipinos visited the city, representing an 8.1 percent increase year-to-year for tourist arrival figures. Moreover, Deapera revealed that as of April 2016 some 24,963 Filipinos were working in the city, stressing that the Filipinos are indeed given the opportunity to contribute the territorys development and economy.
The Environmental Protection Bureaus (DSPA) public tender for a wastewater treatment plant located at Areia Preta, which was supposed to be announced yesterday morning, has been suspended.
The suspension comes as one of the parties involved in the bidding process applied to the judiciary to pass the postponement.
Radio Macau has alleged that the party in question is CESL Asia, adding that the company has been warring with others interested in the tender for some time.
Yesterday morning, interested parties arrived at the site of tender to find a board stating that a suspension had resulted from a judiciary decision. The reason for the suspension has not been disclosed.
According to an official statement, procedural impediments to the tender have led the government to decide not to hold it. The statement adds that, when appropriate, the date and details relating to the new tender will be released to interested contenders.
The chief executive is able to cancel the suspension if he invokes public interest.
DSPA decided last year to open up the contract for maintenance and operation of the wastewater treatment plant to public tender, in order to select a qualified operator.
French skincare brand LOccitane has revealed its plans to expand into Chinas lower-tier cities through e-commerce, in particular Tmall, an online platform for branded goods operated by Alibaba Group Holding.
The company revealed that it has a marketing partnership with the online platform to meet Chinas emerging middle class, who are creating growing demand for imported premium products.
According to Andre Hoffmann, LOccitanes vice chairman and managing director of Asia-Pacific, opening new physical stores in Chinas second and third-
tier cities would help create brand awareness.
The group reported that mainland China was its largest source of growth last year, with sales in the country growing 16.8 percent, contributing nearly 30 percent to the companys overall growth. The company saw an 8.9 percent rise in sales to USD1.45 billon over the 12 months ending in March.
Meanwhile, LOccitane held off on plans to expand in Hong Kong and Macau due to the declining numbers of Chinese tourists visiting the two regions. The company revealed that it will be shutting down a store in Hong Kong in September, following a recent closure of one of its shops in Macau.
Now [that] mainland tourist numbers are shrinking, maybe we dont need so many stores to do the same level of business, said Hoffman in a Nikkei report.
LOccitane is planning to continue adding to its 187 stores in 65 cities across mainland China. Some 50 stores, which are set to open globally later this year, will be in mainland China, Japan and South Korea.
While Hoffman noted that all stores in Hong Kong have been profitable, he admitted that the retail market has been very challenging in the past 18 months.
The vice-chairman revealed that its current strategy is to focus more on local costumers, adding, The mainland tourists are just like the cherry on top of the ice-cream sundae.
The opinions of British residents living in Macau appear to be largely in favor of staying within the European Union. However, that is not the case in all places outside the British Isles.
A SKY news report last month, interviewing some of the 800,000 British residents who live in Spain, found that a significant number indicated that they were in favor of a Brexit. This is despite the fact that uncertainties exist over what might happen to European residents in Britain and British residents in Europe, should the U.K. withdraw from the union.
It is a slightly odd thing among expats, University of Macau (UM) Professor Timmermans told the Times. They [British expats] tend to be more patriotic or nationalist than those in the UK. So maybe there is a tendency to be slightly more anti-EU.
Facing elimination, Bernie Sanders vowed yesterday [Macau time] to win primaries in California and beyond even as Hillary Clinton secured the commitments of enough delegates to become the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
Campaigning in San Francisco, Sanders declined to speculate to reporters about what a poor showing in todays primaries might mean to his presidential campaign. Let me just talk to you after the primary here in California where we hope to win. Lets assess where we are after tomorrow, he said.
Hours later, at an evening rally at Crissy Field in the Presidio, Sanders steered clear of reports from The Associated Press and multiple television networks that Clinton had reached the 2,383 delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee. She has 1,812 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses, and the support of 571 superdelegates.
Sanders supporters expressed disappointment that the calls were made before Californias primary and urged the senator to continue on despite the pronouncements.
Were going to keep fighting until the last vote is counted, said Kristen Elliott, a Sanders supporter from San Francisco who attended the rally.
Said another attendee, Patrick Bryant of San Francisco: Its what bookies do. They call fights before theyre over.
He said the campaigns job is to convince the superdelegates that the Vermont senator is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump. He said calling the Democratic contest before superdelegates formally vote at the convention was a rush to judgment.
Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said Clintons support was dependent upon superdelegates who could still change their minds between now and the July convention.
Sanders tone was more subdued before reporters after saying over the weekend that the Democratic convention would be contested if no one wins the nomination based solely on delegates awarded in the primaries and caucuses. Sanders also faced new questions about the future of his campaign amid reports that President Barack Obama was readying an endorsement of Clinton.
Sanders and Clinton are competing in contests in six states today (Macau time), headlined by California, the nations largest state, offering 475 pledged delegates. Clinton, a former New York senator, is heavily favored in todays New Jersey primary and winning a share of the states 142 pledged delegates would likely put her over the top.
Obama, who bested Clinton in 2008 during her first bid for the Democratic nomination, is preparing to formally endorse her and start aggressively making the case against Trump. White House officials said the announcement could come within days, although not before the elections. Ken Thomas, San Francisco, AP
TWIN FALLS A near-closure of Thousand Springs State Park in 2010 was a turning point that brought tourism to the forefront of many Idahoans minds.
Thats what Southern Idaho Tourism Executive Director Debbie Dane sees as a major success in her nearly 14-year career with the organization. Dane will retire June 15 and fully turn her position over to Melissa Barry.
Southern Idaho Tourism board members and other area leaders say Dane was key to bringing tourisms focus in south-central Idaho back to economic development.
Ive really admired how she has really brought the region together in that one unified voice, said Diane Norton, tourism manager for the Idaho Department of Commerce.
In 2009, Gov. C.L. Butch Otter suggested merging the state Parks and Recreation Department with two other agencies. The Parks and Recreation Board then selected Thousand Springs as one of two parks that would close if Otter or legislators ordered more budget holdbacks.
But a local effort spearheaded by Dane helped prevent the closure, as the governor announced the following January he would no longer support the proposal to merge agencies. Southern Idaho Tourism and its partners documented that the parks closure would have had a disastrous impact to the community, Dane said.
There was a realization on everyones part that we could do something, and we did it, she said.
Cuts to the parks budget brought Thousand Springs Park Manager Dave Landrums staff down from two rangers and 11 seasonal workers, to one ranger and four seasonal workers, he said. So when the park had 200 trees donated to plant along U.S. 30, replacing some removed by Idaho Power, there wasnt sufficient park staff to get the job done.
That weekend, (Dane) had over 200 volunteers there, Landrum said. By 10 oclock, we had every tree planted.
In his mind, Landrum nicknamed her The Great Dane, because of her work for the entire valley.
She stands up for what she believes in, and she believes in state parks, he said.
But to Dane, the lions share of the credit goes to the communities that are a part of Southern Idaho Tourism.
Dane joined the organization as its second executive director in 2002. Southern Idaho Tourism serves a seven-county region with a mission of using tourism as a tool in the community and economic development.
Still, vice chairman Dan Olmstead said Dane has been instrumental in shifting the organizations focus.
I think it was very project-oriented, Dane said about the organization upon her arrival.
But the board assisted in her efforts to change directions and use tourism to drive economic development, she said.
Weve since moved into a much broader organization, Olmstead said.
Two other things Dane has brought to the organization are her customer service training to convenience store and hotel employees, and her grant-writing ability, he said.
Dane was born and raised in Pocatello. She moved to the Magic Valley in 1989 when she took a position as marketing director at the Magic Valley Mall. She has a degree in marketing from Western Governors University, and received a Twin Falls Chamber Ambassadors Lifetime Achievement award earlier this year.
Tourism and hospitality vocations account for 11.5 percent of the non-farm workforce in the state, she said. A half dozen hotels have opened in the past 10 years.
Dane said shes proud of her part in recruiting Clif Bar to Twin Falls. But she had plenty of help along the way.
I truly believe one person cant do it all, Dane said. It is completely every one of the folks in the community we work with, because they made it possible.
Norton says Danes leadership will be missed.
She really empowered the tourism region with her leadership, she said.
Dane said she plans to continue living in the community and doing all of the things shes marketed for the past 14 years.
TWIN FALLS Thursday is the last day to submit a comment to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management on a supplemental environmental impact statement for the final segments of the Gateway West transmission line project.
Eight of the 10 segments of the massive 500 kilovolt project were authorized by the BLM in April 2013, after the project stirred much controversy over right-of-way issues through public and private land. The BLM postponed authorization of segments 8 and 9 to give extra time for routing those segments.
Public concerns about segments 8 and 9 centered around sensitive bird habitat, such as the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, and historical and cultural sites, such as the Old Oregon Trail and Toana Freight Wagon Road.
The BLM identified significant impacts in segments 8 and 9 from construction and operations of the transmission line on historical resources (historic trails), visual quality, and cumulative impacts on several resources based on past and present levels of disturbance, says the supplemental EIS, published March 11. The agency has identified seven alternative routes and have selected two as preferred alternatives.
Idaho Power Co. and co-applicant Rocky Mountain Power in 2007 proposed two electrical transmission lines stretching 1,000 miles from Glenrock, Wyo., to the proposed Hemingway substation near Murphy. Segment 8 runs west from the Midpoint substation between Jerome and Shoshone, staying north of Bliss, King Hill and Mountain Home. Segment 9 runs west from the proposed Cedar Hill substation in western Cassia County, through southern Twin Falls County north of Hollister, then north of Saylor Creek Range, Bruneau and Murphy.
HAZELTON An Interstate 84 crash Monday night involved eight vehicles, including four semi trucks, and caused multiple injuries and at least one fatality, officials say.
The crash occurred at 8:33 p.m. at milepost 191 near the Hazelton/Eden exit, and the interstate was closed in both directions at press time.
The cause of the accident was under investigation.
BURLEY | A Burley man stole more than $2,000 in survival gear from a parked car.
Isaac Pena Wallace, 22, is charged with burglary and grand theft, both felonies. A woman with him, Beatrice Guzman, was charged with possession of stolen property.
Employees at All Pro Linen, 500 E. 10th St., said Wallace and Guzman came inside and asked about a job application, then asked for money from the secretary.
Then, court records said, employees saw Wallace take a green bag out of a car and run down the street. The bag contained $2,166 worth of gear, including a Grundig brand short-wave radio.
A deputy found Wallace and Guzman, who was carrying the radio, nearby.
Wallace told police he wanted to show off so he took the bag out of the car, court records said.
He is being held at the Mini-Cassia Criminal Justice Center in lieu of $50,000 bond.
A preliminary hearing is set for June 10 in Cassia County Magistrate Court.
TWIN FALLS | A Shoshone woman wanted in California for embezzling public funds was arrested in Twin Falls over the weekend.
Kristy Raquel Berry, 46, was wanted in San Joaquin County, Calif., on a no-bond warrant for failure to appear.
According to the Lodi News-Sentinel, Berry was arrested in 2014 for embezzling more than $8,000 from the Mokelumne Rural Fire District, which covers part of San Joaquin County, east of San Francisco.
Shes charged with felony embezzlement by a public officer.
According to the California newspaper, Berry was a bookkeeper for the fire district and was accused of making unauthorized charges to the districts Visa, Costco and gasoline credit cards.
Court records show Berry has been living in a Shoshone apartment. A warrant for her arrest was issued Feb. 5 in San Joaquin County.
Berry was arraigned in Twin Falls County Magistrate Court on Monday and is being held in the county jail without bond per the terms of the warrant. A fugitive identity hearing is scheduled for June 17.
TWIN FALLS | A Nevada man working at the Twin Falls Western Days carnival was arrested on drug possession charges after his coworkers told police he was buying, selling and using meth during the festival.
Kenneth William Rowe, 46, of Reno, Nev., was arraigned Monday in Twin Falls County Magistrate Court on a felony count of possession of a controlled substance and a misdemeanor count of possession of marijuana.
Rowes coworkers reported he was buying, using and distributing methamphetamine to other carnival employees, and when his boss gave him a drug test, he tested positive for methamphetamine and marijuana, court documents said.
Rowe admitted to police he had a marijuana pipe in his living quarters, which was a trailer set up for carnival employees on Fourth Avenue South and Jerome Street South, court documents said. He gave police permission to search his trailer.
During the search, cops found the marijuana pipe and remnants of methamphetamine left over from what he had snorted earlier in the day, court documents said. At the Twin Falls County Jail deputies found a small plastic bag with methamphetamine in his wallet.
Rowe is being held in the Twin Falls County in lieu of $25,500 bond. A preliminary hearing is set for June 17 on the felony charge.
TWIN FALLS Twin Falls city staff are going over the citys contract with the YMCA and how the money has been spent as they consider the future of the citys relationship with the Y and the city pool it manages.
City Manager Travis Rothweiler and other city officials met recently with the board of the local YMCA, which is on probation with its national parent organization following years of mismanagement and misappropriation of donations. Rothweiler told the City Council on Monday that the Y has taken some initial steps to deal with the problems and plans to do more, and that they stressed to the YMCA board the importance of being good stewards.
They are an extension of us whenever one of our partners is operating a service on our behalf, Rothweiler said.
Under the citys contract with the Y, which took effect Aug. 31, 2011, and runs through Aug. 31, 2018, the city pays $120,000 a year for the pools operation and maintenance plus a smaller, variable amount for needed capital costs such as repairs.
The Y has given annual financial reports to the Parks and Recreation Commission and City Council. Rothweiler said city staff would look at the citys contract with the YMCA, to make sure it has been complying, and work with the Ys third-party accountants to assess the pools operations and expenses. Also, he said he had met with the citys auditors and shared with them the absolute importance of honoring our fiduciary responsibilities to the citys taxpayers.
Rothweiler said the city needs to know if the Y is financially viable and whether its management of the pool can continue over the long term. Severing the contract immediately would not be the right move, he said, citing the longtime relationship between the YMCA and the city.
I dont think that theres reason at this point in time to take a reaction that might not be appropriate, Rothweiler said.
Should it come to that, though, Rothweiler said the city could partner with another organization to run the pool or take over the pool itself. The contract allows the city some ways out, including for breach of the agreement. He told the Council that Parks and Recreation Director Wendy Davis, who happens to be one of the three current city employees with past experience managing the pool, has been directed to start thinking about how things might work if the city took it over.
Rothweiler said city officials are also still learning about the situation, and he asked the public to be patient.
We are taking this issue very, very seriously, he said.
Also, Rothweiler told the Council the demolition of the former Rogerson hotel building downtown, the site of which is going to be rebuilt into a plaza as part of the Main Avenue redesign, is going to be delayed because of gas line improvements Intermountain Gas Co. is doing on Second Avenue North.
The demolition had originally been scheduled for Tuesday, but, Rothweiler said, there is some structural instability in the part of the building facing Main Avenue, which could necessitate closing that section of Main Avenue to tear it down safely. Rothweiler said it could cause incredible complications to have to close Main when part of Second Avenue is also closed.
Rothweiler said he is meeting with the engineers on the demolition Tuesday, and no date has yet been set for the demolition. The gas project is expected to continue to move up Second Avenue North, up to Addison Avenue, and be done in the next two to two-and-a-half weeks.
Some business owners in the area have said they werent warned about the scope of the work and the length of the road closures that have accompanied it. Part of the problem, Rothweiler said, was that the traffic closure plans were submitted to the state, not the city, because Second is a state road. The city, he said, didnt appreciate the depth of the closure and the length of the closure that were occurring.
Councilman Chris Talkington called the work a yellow flag that the city shouldnt have been surprised by.
I think this is something we need to learn our lesson from, he said. Im not very happy on it.
JEROME Jerome County Sheriff Doug McFall is reminding parents and others to stay safe around water this summer a day after a mother and her toddler escaped unharmed after being swept down the Snake River.
The woman, her husband and their two children, a 7-year-old girl and 2-year-old boy, were playing in the river Sunday, sitting in inflatable tubes tied to the so-called Broken Bridge south of Auger Falls, Jerome County Sheriff Doug McFall said. About 4 p.m. the woman and the boy fell off a tube and were swept downstream in deep, swiftly moving water.
She was able to keep the toddler out of the water and they were able to climb to safety about a or mile down on the south bank, the sheriff said.
A Jerome County deputy who lives near the canyon rim helped direct rescuers to the woman with the aid of a spotting scope. The rescue operation took about 1 hours, McFall said.
There were no injuries, the sheriff said. The mom and toddler were really upset, they were crying, but everyone made it out without injuries.
The parents were lectured by deputies about water safety but were accountable and wished they wouldnt have done it, McFall said.
When you have small children, you definitely need to stay in recognized swimming areas such as Dierkes Lake, McFall said. You should not allow children to get near swift moving water and make sure they are wearing proper floatation devices.
The sheriff said both children Sunday were wearing some sort of flotation devices, though he didnt know what kind.
The parents were not cited and wont be charged with a crime, McFall said.
Rescuers from Jerome and Twin Falls county sheriffs offices, Twin Falls City and Magic Valley Paramedics responded.
There may be others like me, hoping basic human intellect and sensibility will somehow make a triumphant return to the dominant culture. But, no, at least not this week.
Men who say they feel like women can still pee next to your little daughters and granddaughters. President Obama piled on with a new directive aimed at school restroom policies. And for too many, it wasnt clear that a little boys life, facing potential peril inside a violent gorillas enclosure, took precedence over everything else inside that enclosure.
Also, May turned out to be Moron Month at Yellowstone National Park with some bison kidnapping and petting, elk taunting, bear approaching, and thermal feature exploring. (We visited Yellowstone last month, and I briefly considered strutting out onto Old Faithful wearing only a speedo and carrying a bar of soap and a washcloth, just to be funny and to make a fond memory. Then I realized getting handcuffed in a speedo in front of thousands may not be a great career boost, and could traumatize my kids.)
So weve always had morons. Morons have indeed been a permanent fixture of the human race. Much of the time, the morons get relegated to a fringe and obscure corner, right where they belong. But right now, the morons have taken over the place, down to the very last public restroom, thanks to the power of social media and shameless political forces that like to exploit the softer minds among us. And guess what? The morons are outnumbering us. Just poke around on Facebook for a while and youll find that out quickly. Its almost as if they show up waiting for their instructions each day.
We first go to the Cincinnati Zoo. Sad story where a 3-year-old acted like a 3-year-old, somehow slipped into Harambes enclosure and was getting dragged about aggressively by the beast that easily outweighed the kid by a factor of 10. Luckily, Cincinnati Zoo officials have some common sense and came to the outrageous conclusion that human life is superior to animal life, and within minutes made sure the little boy was safe. It was the right choice. It was the only choice for those with a properly functioning moral compass. Yet, the attacking social media hyenas wished for the mother to be shot, to let the boy get killed, to put people in jail, and all other sorts of crazy conclusions. The Harambe outrage felt a little like the Cecil the Lion outrage. Im completely serious when I say we need really need to stop naming animals that have wide public exposure. If Harambe had instead been Gorilla #72A-47 this unnecessary outrage would have been muted.
Now to Yellowstone National Park. Im not even sure where to begin. Weve had quite a stretch, and its barely June! Thereve always been dummies getting too close to bison and bears and elk. Its just that now we can record it and share it instantly with the world. Ive always been puzzled at the human tendency toward living outside of the rules and beyond the reach of natural consequences. Theres a reason why Do Not Approach the Wildlife is so prominently displayed in the park, yet people continue to push the boundaries.
Finally, the transgender bathroom issue. President Obama gave legitimacy to the cause with his directive to local school districts to let Timmy and Sally pee together, or risk losing federal dollars. I feel a real dread underneath all of this, this methodical destruction of gender and the premature and over-sexualization of our kids. Its not the culture drivers who are the morons on this issue. They happen to be terribly clever and methodical. But the social media masses, programmed into thinking that every sexual claim must be coddled and pampered, sadden me with how quickly they adopt the unspoken directive without resistance or question. We saw it with gay marriage. Were now seeing it with sexualizing public accommodation. We are losing kids left and right to a world that teaches in direct contradiction to important tradition.
Indeed we are seeing the death of common sense, the dimming of a once-bright, vibrant, shimmering culture. And I didnt even mention our presidential choices.
Swiss Federal President Johann Schneider- Ammann, right, speaks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, on the opening day of the Gotthard rail tunnel, at the fairground Rynaecht at the northern portal in Erstfeld, Switzerland. [Photo/Agencies]
Switzerland inspired its European neighbors on Wednesday by announcing the completion of the world's longest traffic tunnel, linking north and south Europe.
Landlocked Switzerland is expected to gain tremendous benefits from the multibillion euro Gotthard Base Tunnel through the heart of the Swiss Alps, which will be used by freight and passenger trains to travel to and from Italy later this year.
The tunnel, which is over 57 kilometers long, cost more than $12 billion and took 17 years to complete. Leading European political figures such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, preoccupied with the continuing headaches of terrorism, the refugee influx and economic stagnation, took time out to celebrate the engineering miracle with Swiss leaders that day.
In Europe, transforming such an engineering feat from a grand vision idea into reality is not easy, as various constraints, ranging from complicated environmental impact assessments to the conflicting interests of different parties and laborious approval procedures have to be overcome.
Even smaller projects face hurdles.
In 2010, the local authority in Stutgartt, Germany, decided to invest about 6 billion euros ($6.78 billion) to revive its main train station area into a business hub, but the plan failed to go ahead when more than half the local population voted against it in a referendum.
Supporters of Kenyas opposition party, Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD,) have once again hit the streets on Monday to continue protests despite warning by police after declining the partys notification.
Unconfirmed reports by the BBC said one person has died at opposition protests in Kisumu, western region of the country.
The weekly protests, which began in April, are against the countrys electoral body, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC,) which the opposition accuses of being biased and calls for its immediate dissolution.
Last month, three people were killed in demonstrations in the Western part of the country. During a requiem mass for those killed in the clashes, the opposition accused police of using excessive force against innocent Kenyans.
The protesters are demanding the electoral body be scrapped and a new one be appointed.
Local media reports that one of the leaders in the opposition alliance is threatening to increase the frequency of protests.
The opposition accuses IEBC of rigging the last elections in which the presidential results were contested at the countrys highest court.
The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) has been adamant that they will not participate in the countrys 2017 elections.
Almost a year after winning an election on promises to fix Nigeria, Muhammadu Buharis grand vision of reform is fading away, with power centralized in his increasingly remote presidency and a bureaucracy in disarray.
After axing almost 50 top civil servants and 40 ambassadors and shaking up ministries in a bid to excise endemic graft, the 73-year-old former military ruler has even started cancelling some weekly cabinet meetings, local news said.
Since taking office a year ago, he has been on almost 30 overseas trips, visiting gulf countries, China and Western allies, where officials say he hopes to drum up interest from investors.
On Sunday, the presidency announced that President Muhammadu Buhari will travel to London Monday for a 10 day-rest during which he will undergo medical check-up.
His opponents complain that his external focus comes at the expense of the two pillars of the domestic economy the oil-producing Niger Delta and Lagos, the sprawling mega city that serves as Nigerias commercial capital.
Buhari has won plaudits from ordinary Nigerians for fighting graft as part of a crackdown on the elite whose wealth has grown for decades while most of the countrys 170 million people remained in poverty.
'Like' us on Facebook Follow us:
Posted on: June 07, 2016
How My Swami's School Shaped Me
Sai School Topper shares her story...
Ms. Sai Shruti Dubey
In 1979 Bhagawan started the Sri Sathya Sai Junior College which functioned in the premises of the Easwaramma High School for a couple of years. Then in 1981 Swami unfurled the Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School. So eager was the Lord to open this edifice which would go on to create His white army, that even before the Chief Guest, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, arrived to do the honours, Bhagawan bent down, went below the ribbon and inspected the rooms to check if they were up to the mark. Once it was formally opened by Mr. Anjaiah, Swami got involved in every tiny and large detail of the school's progress and ensured that it grew from strength to strength every year. That is perhaps how in 1991, the school achieved 100% first-class result every student of the XII grade had not only passed but also secured first division. In the subsequent years, half of the students' performances every year have been above the 90% mark. This year too the results have been nothing short of stellar. The topper at 96% is Ms. Sai Shruti Dubey. Cover Story on Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School: The Zenith of Holistic Learning Sai Shruti joined the primary wing of Bhagawan's school in 2004, and today has made her school and Swami proud of her. What enabled her to reach this height? How has been her experience studying in a system which lays more emphasis on discipline and devotion than excellence in academics or cultivation of any talent? What are her take-aways? Is there anything for us to imbibe from her story? Read on...
Sai Shruti (left) with her dear Muni Aunty and her sister Sai Preeti
Born into a family of Sai devotees, from day one I was always taught that Swami alone is my mother and father. My father had always wished that I should get an opportunity to study in Swami's school.
In November 2000 when our family was blessed with an interview with Bhagawan, He lovingly patted my cheek, asked me my name and said Sweet girl. I knew not at that tender age that after some years, I would get an opportunity to study in His school.
In 2004 Bhagawan Himself ticked our names when He was in Brindavan. That list was then put up in Puttaparthi and when my Grandpa saw it, he was overjoyed. He later informed us about it.
The Unmatched Care of Sai Maa
I was just 5 and 1/2 years old then and my mother had full faith in Swami. She enrolled me in the school. The first day I was very sad and was missing my parents a lot, but lovingly Muni aunty and teachers consoled me and never again did I feel sad or lonely. The love they showered on me made me start to like the school.
Whenever we went for darshan,our sisters would hold our hands and take us, and after Swami arrived it used to be heavenly. The love and grace He showered on us gave us strength and happiness. Swami used to daily send chocolates, prizes, skirts and fruits to school. I don't think even at home we would be able to get so many things as much as Swami used to send us. Never did He make us feel we were away from home.
I remember during my third grade GK final exam, as we were all writing we heard everyone running and shouting that Swami had come to the school. The moment we heard this, we just forgot that our exam was going on. We left our answer sheets and ran out to see Swami. Bhagawan entered our school and we stood with eyes full of tears, hands folded in salutation to our Sai Maa. Swami stayed for some time and then Muni aunty offered Arati to Bhagawan, and He left.
In the first and third grades, I got an opportunity to perform in front of Swami on Ladies Day. Swami gave us all wrist watches with His own hands. At school, I never used to miss my parents as I knew that Swami alone is my guardian. Moreover, the teachers were as loving as my own mother. In my fourth grade I was severely affected by pneumonia and unfortunately had to leave the school. For four years I studied in Indore. Then again Swami's will prevailed and I rejoined the school in the ninth grade. Now I was quite old and had the understanding about what was best for me. After living for four years outside, I understood what I could learn here and how I could get moulded in the right way. This would not be possible anywhere else or even by staying at home in Indore.
Primary School the Playground of Sai Love
After 2011, life at school without Swami's physical presence was no different. Always I felt His loving hand guiding me throughout.
I was always inspired by and used to admire Headmistress Aunty, Warden Aunty, Kitchen Aunty and all my teachers. I was always amazed at their dedication to their work and devotion for Swami. Truly, all of them are my role models.
How lovingly from morning till night Muni Aunty takes care of us without any sign of tiredness on her face! This always impressed me.
Academically, no doubt our school is the best. The efforts of our teachers always inspired me to work hard. During examinations, from early morning to late in the night they would sit with us to clear any doubts we had. In fact the examination period was when the teachers worked as much as we did; they would tirelessly support and encourage us. The teachers always gave us this one important advice: Put your full efforts but never forget to surrender everything to Swami.
Whenever we started to do anything, we surrendered it to Swami, and doing so gave us the self-confidence and faith that Swami will take care. That is why I never had the fear of writing examinations because I knew that after I have done all my hard work, Swami will take care.
At school another impressive thing is how all live to please Swami. On any festival occasion, the atmosphere at school is very different. From the first standard tiny tots to the senior-most students, all the children are engaged in making cards for Swami. Everyone tries their best to make the best card possible. In our classroom too, whenever we had free time, we would start making cards for the upcoming festival. The artists used to draw the shape and cut thermocol. Some would put cotton to cover it, others would string pearls, and then one of us would write our humble prayer over it. All would do their best to present this small offering to Bhagawan. The enthusiasm among all the children while making such cards is amazing.
Sai Shruti and Sai Preeti with their parents and grandparents
Also in the school and hostel, more than as classmates we were all taught to live as sisters, help each other and live happily. All these years of staying together has connected us all with one another deeply the common factor binding us being our love for Swami.
The lessons learnt at school have become a lifelong treasure for me. The gems I have collected here are infinite and words are not enough to explain the quality of education and values that we get in our school through our dedicated aunties and teachers.
I am there with you, in you, around you...
I will cherish these moments forever. I will make sure that discipline, duty, devotion, dedication, determination and discrimination are my lifelong wealth, and will strive to practise them always. The day I left the portals of this holy school I was very sad and prayed to Bhagawan saying, Swami, when You were physically present every graduating batch would receive so many blessings from You. Today I am leaving. How nice it would be if You could bless me too! Praying so I slept.
That night I had a dream that all of Swami's photos in our school prayer hall were filled with Vibhuti and I was standing in the hall. I was able to see one silver-framed photo which is actually a picture of Swami's face where no hands are seen, but in my dream I saw that Swami was in the Abhayahastha posture and Vibhuti was emerging from His palm. Suddenly I woke up.
It was just a mere thought in my mind the previous evening and Swami so compassionately blessed me on my last day in the school. These marks I have achieved are all due to Swami's grace, our teachers' efforts and their blessings. I am very grateful to all my aunties, teachers, my parents and most of all to Swami for taking me towards the right path. I will cherish these experiences forever. Sairam!
Credit: Michael Bonert
A drug, more commonly used in the treatment of angina, could be the focus of a new strategy in fighting the fatal fungal infection cryptococcosis.
Researchers from the University of Birmingham found that the compound fendiline hydrochloride could be used to stimulate a patient's own white blood cells to fight the disease more effectively, instead of trying to use drugs that directly kill the fungus itself.
The findings, published in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, propose a role for calcium-channel blockers such as fendiline hydrochloride as potential inhibitors to the survival of Cryptococcus neoformans, the pathogen which causes cryptococcosis, and represent a promising strategy for future anticryptococcal drug design and therapy.
Professor Robin May, from the University of Birmingham, explained, "Fungi are intrinsically more difficult to target than bacteria, because they are much more closely related, evolutionarily, to humans. Finding an essential pathway in a fungus that you could inhibit, which doesn't exist in humans, is very difficult. Therefore the approach of stimulating your own immune system to kill the fungus, instead of killing it directly through treatment, is potentially more powerful."
In order to cause disease, Cryptococcus neoformans hides inside the patient's own white blood cells, making it particularly difficult to treat. In the Birmingham Drug Discovery facility, the team screened 1,200 off-patent, FDA-approved, drugs to identify candidates that might be redeployed to fight cryptococcosis by triggering the white blood cells to recognise that they are infected and to kill the fungus hiding inside them.
After initial screening, 19 of those compounds in the Prestwick Chemical Library of FDA-approved small molecules showed promise for significantly reducing intracellular growth of the pathogen.
Secondary screening and host cell toxicity assays ruled out many of these molecules, but highlighted fendiline hydrochloride, more commonly used in the treatment of angina and chest pain, as a potential candidate for the development of future anticryptococcal therapies.
Professor May said, "Although calcium channel blockers have not previously been identified as a potential anticryptococcal agent, their ability to work in this way makes sense. We have previously shown that Cryptococcus perturbs calcium signalling when living inside human cells, probably in order to trick the cell into not killing it. Consequently, it's possible that fendiline hydrochloride works by overcoming this perturbation and restoring normal calcium dynamics, helping the host to kill the fungus.
Cryptococcosis neoformans poses a major threat to immunocompromised patients and is a leading killer of HIV patients worldwide.
HIV/AIDS patients are particularly prone to cryptococcal infections, with an estimated overwhelming disease burden of about one million cases of cryptococcal meningitis per year. The highest incidence of cryptococcal meningitis related deaths in HIV-positive patients occurs in sub-Saharan Africa with an associated mortality of 70%.
The infection process begins with inhalation of infectious agents (spores or dessicated yeasts) resulting in a primary pulmonary infection, which can further disseminate to the central nervous system causing meningitis.
Cryptococci are particularly difficult to treat with antifungal agents due to their ability to manipulate and exist within the host's immune response.
Dr Rebecca Hall, also from the University of Birmingham, added, "Considering the poor status of current anticryptococcal drugs, new treatment options for cryptococcosis are much needed."
"Though the relatively high dose of fendiline hydrochloride required renders it unfit for clinical deployment against cryptococcosis in itself, our study presents an opportunity to approach treatment of this much neglected disease in a new way."
The team note that further research is required to identify if other compounds that target calcium dynamics could be used in the fight against a much neglected disease.
Explore further Scientists discover bird blood cell which destroys fatal fungal infection
More information: Sweta Samantaray et al. Novel cell-based in vitro screen to identify small-molecule inhibitors against intracellular replication of Cryptococcus neoformans in macrophages, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents (2016). Sweta Samantaray et al. Novel cell-based in vitro screen to identify small-molecule inhibitors against intracellular replication of Cryptococcus neoformans in macrophages,(2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2016.04.018
Exposure to radioactive fallout from the April 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident in Belgium may have increased the incidence of thyroid cancer in those exposed as children, according to new research published in the journal Acta Chirurgica Belgica.
Thyroid cancer is usually rare among children, with less than one new case per million diagnosed each year. However, after the Chernobyl accident a striking increase in the disease was reported in children and teenagers in the most contaminated areas of Belarus and Ukraine. Now, this new research from Belgium suggests countries further afield were also affected.
Prior to April 1986, surgeons at Mont-Godinne University Hospital, Yvoir, Belgium had seen no cases of thyroid cancer in children. But in 1995, surgeon Luc Michel and colleagues treated four cases of papillary thyroid cancer in patients who were younger than 9 years old at the time of Chernobyl and operated on a further five patients between 2000 and 2002 aged under 12 at the time of the accident.
To examine whether this disturbing trend could be due to exposure to radioactive fallout from Chernobyl, the surgical team collected information on the number of new cases of papillary thyroid cancer in all patients born before April 1986 who were operated on at the hospital for any type of thyroid lesion between April 1986 and April 2015. They also obtained data from a classified Belgian Royal Institute of Meteorology (BRIM) report which revealed that in early May 1986 the average level of atmospheric radioactivity in Belgium rose to twenty times higher than normal, from 3.2 Bq.m-3 to over 70 Bq.m-3.
36 new cases (19.5%) of papillary thyroid cancer were found among 185 Belgian children aged under 15 at the time of the accident, compared with just 175 cases (8.1%) in 2164 patients aged older than 15 years.
Numerous studies have shown that exposure to certain types of radiation increase the incidence of thyroid cancer in children and adolescents. The authors conclude that it is likely that radiation exposure from Chernobyl has affected residents of countries much further afield than Belarus and Ukraine including Belgium, potentially increasing the incidence of thyroid cancer in those exposed as children over the last 30 years. However, they caution that it is not clear whether these cases reflect an increased incidence in the Belgian population as a whole.
Explore further Radiation exposure linked to aggressive thyroid cancers
More information: Luc A. Michel et al. Post-Chernobyl incidence of papillary thyroid cancer among Belgian children less than 15 years of age in April 1986: a 30-year surgical experience, Acta Chirurgica Belgica (2016). Luc A. Michel et al. Post-Chernobyl incidence of papillary thyroid cancer among Belgian children less than 15 years of age in April 1986: a 30-year surgical experience,(2016). DOI: 10.1080/00015458.2016.1165528
Skin cancer screenings performed by primary care physicians (PCPs) during routine office visits improve the detection of potentially deadly melanomas and find them in earlier stages, according to new research from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
The results will be presented today at the 52nd annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago.
"Our findings suggest that PCP screening is an effective way to improve early detection of melanoma, which could potentially save lives," said lead author Laura Ferris, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Dermatology, Pitt School of Medicine and member of the Melanoma Program, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.
Rates of melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, are on the rise, and skin cancer screenings are one of the most important steps for early detection and treatment, said Dr. Ferris. Typically, patients receive skin checks by setting up an appointment with a dermatologist.
The goal of the new UPMC screening initiative, which was modeled after a promising German program, was to improve the detection of melanomas by making it easier for patients to get screened during routine office visits with their PCPs, explained Dr. Ferris.
PCPs completed training on how to recognize melanomas and were asked to offer annual screening during office visits to all patients aged 35 and older. In 2014, during the first year of the program, 15 percent of the 333,788 eligible UPMC patients were screened in this fashion.
On average, the melanomas detected in the group who received a screening at a primary care visit were nearly twice as thin as those detected in the group that was not screened by a PCP. Thinner melanomas have a better prognosis than thicker ones that are more advanced, so the new findings suggest PCP screening is able to find melanomas at an earlier, more treatable stage, said Dr. Ferris.
In addition, only 5 percent of people in the screening group had especially worrisome melanomas that were thicker than 1 millimeterwhich are more likely to metastasize and require a biopsy of a nearby lymph nodewhile 20 percent of the unscreened group did.
"The PCP screenings prevented a lot of people from needing more aggressive therapy. Additionally, we did not see a high rate of false positive biopsies, in which no skin cancer was present, nor did we see a high rate of unnecessary dermatology referrals or skin surgeries, all of which suggest that the program did not simply drive up health care costs needlessly," Dr. Ferris said.
Another important finding was that nearly half of the screened patients were men, who are more likely to get and die from melanoma than women but have been underrepresented in other skin cancer screenings published to date. "It's exciting that our approach improves detection in this especially vulnerable population," said Dr. Ferris.
Explore further Ways to improve patient comfort during skin cancer screening
Credit: Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute
New research combining eight large child care studies reveals that preschools prepare children to succeed academically when teachers provide higher quality instruction.
Margaret Burchinal, senior scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, led a research team whose findings have groundbreaking implications for publicly-funded early care and education. They found as the overall quality of instruction in preschool classrooms increases, children experience better outcomes across a range of skills, but the needle only moves on language and reading skills when instructional quality is at or above a threshold.
"Preschoolers in center-based care showed larger gains in reading and language when their teachers spent more time supporting their learningbut only if the quality of instruction was in the moderate to high range," Burchinal said.
Burchinal's co-authors included Martha Zaslow of Child Trends and Louisa Tarullo of Mathematica Policy Research. Their team also found that children appeared to benefit from a larger "dose" of center-based child care.
"Children showed larger gains in academic skills when they attended more than one year of Head Start, had fewer absences, and spent more time in reading and math instruction," Burchinal said. "Early childhood education is widely accepted as an effective way to improve opportunities for all children, and this finding about Head Start supports the growing trend of two years of publicly funded preschool for children from low-income homes."
Burchinal explained that unlike most of the Head Start classrooms in her study, some programs do not meet a threshold of quality, offer a second year, or provide sufficient time in math and reading instruction to enable children to make academic gains.
"The lowest quality programs are going to have to change a lot in order for us to likely see the kind of improvement in language and academic skills that provide the foundation for succeeding in school," Burchinal said. "Children in our study showed the largest gains when teachers interacted with children frequently in engaging activities that were designed to teach those language and academic skills deliberately."
Burchinal explained that if lower-quality preschool classrooms do not improve children's reading and language skills, this could inform the conceptualization and design of publicly funded programs, as well as efforts to improve existing learning opportunities for children. Shifting the field's current focus from overall quality and instead zeroing in on content may be more effective in promoting children's academic learning.
"At present, our field focuses on broader classroom quality and teacher-child interactions," she said. "Our study found that only small gains in language and literacy outcomes were associated with higher quality interactions between teachers and children, but large gains were associated with high quality instruction in those areas. Having a sensitive caregiver is really important for young children, but it probably isn't sufficient alone for promoting academic skills. There has to be content and an intentional approach to instruction."
Burchinal, Zaslow, and Tarullo published their study, "Quality Thresholds, Features, and Dosage in Early Care and Education: Secondary Data Analyses of Child Outcomes," in a special monograph for the Society for Research in Child Development.
Explore further Preschools top home-based care in preparing children for school
More information: Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development (2016). (2016). DOI: 10.1111/mono.12248
Provided by Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute
Researchers have built a model to investigate the metastasis of cancer by examining the metabolism of breast epithelial cells and look at the role of signaling. This research, published in PLOS Computational Biology, may contribute to the development of cell specific anti-cancer interventions. Credit: VCU Libraries / Flickr
Researchers have built a model to investigate the metastasis of cancer by examining the metabolism of breast epithelial cells and look at the role of signaling. This research, published in PLOS Computational Biology, may contribute to the development of cell specific anti-cancer interventions.
Scientists, led by Ottar Rolfssonat the University of Iceland, have built a mathematical model to examine the metabolism of breast epitheliumas the majority of breast cancers originate from these cells. The model specifically looks at the process of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) which is an important event during development and cancer metastasis.
One of the key metabolic alterations that takes place during EMT is that of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) which is a pathway that regulates growth, survival, proliferation, and differentiation in mammalian cells. EFGR signaling often affects metabolic rate in tumor cells and controls their progressionthe dysregulation of signaling pathways during this process is therefore a hallmark of metastasis.
The scientists' model looks at the EGFR signaling cascade to investigate crosstalk between EFGR signaling and EMT in cell culture models of human breast epithelium. The model was then used to obtain a list of potential signaling and metabolic targets of EMT.
These targets may aid in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms that underlie EMT and cancer metastasis. The results also show how the metabolic signposts of cancer cell growth and EMT can be predicted based on the transcriptome analysis of EGFR signaling genes alone (where current methods are inconsistent)thus supporting the idea of cell specific anti-cancer interventions.
Explore further Breast cancer stem cells radicalize normal neighbors for purpose of metastasis
More information: Kumari Sonal Choudhary et al. EGFR Signal-Network Reconstruction Demonstrates Metabolic Crosstalk in EMT, PLOS Computational Biology (2016). Journal information: PLoS Computational Biology Kumari Sonal Choudhary et al. EGFR Signal-Network Reconstruction Demonstrates Metabolic Crosstalk in EMT,(2016). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004924
Credit: Paul Brennan/public domain
Why is it worse when someone causes work for us rather than produces work for us? Why does each word prompt a different interpretation of "work," with "caused" work seeming burdensome and "produced" work seeming advantageous?
The two words, cause and produce, seem synonymous, but they could nudge an individual to make different inferences because of a phenomenon known as semantic prosody, according to researchers at the University of Michigan and University of Southern California.
"Some words have a meaning to them that we don't often think about but yet still affects us, which has applications to persuasion, social influence and bias in our judgments and decisions," said David Hauser, a doctoral candidate in the U-M Department of Psychology.
In a new article, Hauser and colleague Norbert Schwarz, a USC provost professor of psychology and marketing, conducted five experiments to uncover how the everyday context of a word sways people's judgment and decision making.
For example, most people do not associate cause with negativity. But because it is often followed by negative words in everyday language, such as "death," "problems," "pain," "cancer," "harm" or "disease," cause conveys negativity.
"Some words tend to occur in a certain context and that context bleeds into the word's meaning. Those same words can frame our judgment," Hauser said.
One experiment randomly assigned 400 people to read either the "produce" or the "cause" version of a sentence; "Surprisingly, ingestion of the substance produces (causes) endocrination of abdominal lipid tissue."
They then identified whether "endocrination of abdominal lipid tissue" was a good or bad thing. Endocrination is a fictional medical outcome, but most respondents (73 percent) thought it was bad when it was caused, compared to 48 percent who had a similar view when it was produced.
Another experiment asked participants to read a sentence about a senator who initiated legislation that either produced or caused additional work for middle class families. They rated how they thought the families felt about the legislation and estimated the likelihood he would be re-elected.
Participants believed the families liked the legislation far less when it caused additional work. They also thought the senator was less likely to be re-elected when he caused rather than produced additional work. Other experiments showed similar framing effects with other words.
Schwarz said that society often uses words automatically, especially those that seem like a good fit.
"When people hear the word, they infer we're trying to convey that additional meaning but the other person might not be intending it," he said.
The word meanings are not restricted to English; they have also been identified in other languages, such as Chinese, Portuguese and Italian. But when individuals learn English as a second language, they often use the dictionary's definition, which might not have the same connotation, Hauser said.
Hauser said sometimes people don't consider how a word is typically used, which can leave a positive or negative impression.
"Simply be aware of the words that you use, because people will make inferences that might not match your intended meaning," he said. "It's a matter of word choice. You might be better off finding the right word by looking at how most people speak rather than looking in a dictionary or thesaurus."
The findings appear in the Journal of Experimental Psychology General.
Explore further Teaching computers to understand human languages
Georgian wine on show in Lithuania
Six Georgian wine companies have participated in the biggest wine and spirits event in the Baltic States this week.The Vyno Dievent wine exhibition hosted a special event dedicated to Georgian wine - Distinguished Wines from Georgia which was held in Vilnius, Lithuania.Wine and spirits producers, international importers, gourmet representatives, and companies that make glass and wine accessories presented their goods to more than 3,600 visitors during the May 27-28 event.The Georgian National Wine Agency hosted a presentation about Georgia's Eight Thousand Vintage, and told guests about Georgia's wine culture and offered various tastings.The main accent was made on the oldest traditions of Georgian wine-making, the variety of vines and the traditional Qvevri wine-making method which was approved by UNESCO to be included in the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013.The six Georgian wine companies were: Wine Man; Kakhuri; Winiveria; Kindzmarauli; Royal Khvanchkara; Dugladze Wine Company.Lithuania is a growing export market for Georgian wine. In 2015 Georgia exported more than 658,000 bottles of wine to Lithuania a four percent increase year-on-year.
Parliamentary elections as test
By Messenger Staff
The next parliamentary elections will be another test which you should pass, Slovakian President Andrey Kiska told Georgian officials on May 30,during his first official visit to Georgia since the country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.For the Slovak people, the goal was clear - to become a member of NATO and the EU. Like all young people, we wanted to get results as quickly as possible.Some of us thought that it would take 3-4 years; some thought that 4 years was too long, but the fact is that it took 12 years. We learned that it is unpopular but necessary to carry out reforms in order to elevate standards. We also learned how important it is not to give up; we learned that politicians should not make cheap populist decisions. As a result, today, our economic benefits from the EU market are the highest than ever. NATO and the European Union have brought us security and stability," said Kiska.He also called Georgias enthusiasm towards Euro-Atlantic integration impressive.Andrei Kiska also said that Georgia is fully ready for visa liberalisation with the EU."There is no reason for hesitation to make a final decision. Georgia is fully ready.But do not be fall in premature satisfaction. You are at the beginning of a very long road which will not be easy. You will have to prove many things and the next upcoming parliamentary elections will be a further test which you have to pass, said the President of Slovakia.The upcoming parliamentary race that is scheduled for October is very important due to several reasons.The very first reason is that Georgia has carried out a range of reforms and came close to meeting Euro-Atlantic demands; the country must now be very cautious and careful not to make dramatic mistakes.The elections are special as there is no clear dominant party and the majority of Georgians are undecided as to whom they will vote for.In previous years, there were popular leaders people voted for; now there is no such leader, and there is a chance that different political parties will appear in parliament.The elections will be a big challenge for the current Government on how they will manage to ensure peace and transparency during the election process.The elections will also be a test for different political parties and the voters. It will be interesting how realistic parties election programmes might be.The elections will also reveal whether the voters have changed how they decide which party to vote for; generally, most Georgians never read election programmes and cast their votes due to populist promises.
As controversy swirls around Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, her opponent in her first election could see it coming. Former state Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach was Bondi's Democratic rival in 2010, and he bristled back then at what Bondi described as a "pro-business" candidacy for the job of the state's chief legal officer and consumer watchdog.
Gelber, a former federal prosecutor, promised to create an anti-corruption unit in the A.G.'s office. But like most Democrats running in mid-term elections, Gelber didn't have a chance, and Bondi won easily.
Now, as Bondi attracts unfavorable publicity across the country from having solicited a $25,000 donation from Donald Trump three years ago, Gelber has a number of questions, such as: After the first whiff of controversy in the fall of 2013, a month after she got Trump's check, why didn't Bondi return the money?
"The way you run for attorney general is utterly political. But the way you govern has to be, in some ways, absolutely apolitical," Gelber said.
He said an attorney general must scrupulously avoid any appearance that political influence plays a role in decisions such as -- in the case of Bondi and Trump University -- whether influence could affect a pending investigation, which undermines the public's faith in government.
Bondi's spokesman, Whitney Ray, said Monday that the release of more than 8,000 pages of internal documents in the Trump case "consistently demonstrate that through due diligence, staff assessed matters brought to their attention and properly determined that New York litigation seeks relief for any and all aggrieved consumers, regardless of their state of residence."
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi personally solicited a political contribution from Donald Trump around the time her office deliberated joining an investigation of alleged fraud at Trump University and its affiliates, The Associated Press reports.
The new disclosure from a spokesman for Bondi to the AP adds new details to the unusual circumstances of Trump's $25,000 donation to a Bondi political committee. After the money came in, Bondi's office decided not to sue Trump.
The money came from a Trump family foundation, in apparent violation of rules regulating political activites by charities. A political group that backed Bondi's 2014 re-election, called And Justice for All, reported receiving the check on Sept. 17, 2013, four days after Bondi publicly announced she was considering joining a New York state probe of Trump University's activities.
Mark Reichelderfer, a Tallahassee political consultant who worked for Bondi's 2014 re-election and who fielded questions on the donation at her request, told AP that Bondi spoke with Trump "several weeks" before her office announced it was deliberating whether to join a multi-state lawsuit proposed by New York's attorney general, Democrat Eric Schneiderman. Reichelderfer said Bondi was unaware of dozens of consumer complaints received by her office about Trump University filed before she solicited the donation.
"The process took at least several weeks from the time they spoke to the time they received the contribution," Reichelderfer told AP.
The timing of the donation is notable because the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has said he expected and received favors from politicians to whom he gave money.
"When I want something, I get it," Trump said at a rally in Iowa in January. "When I call, they kiss my ass. It's true."
The AP reviewed thousands of pages of records related to consumer complaints about Trump University and its affiliates that were filed with Bondi's office. The documents, previously obtained by The Orlando Sentinel, reveal a new reservoir of unhappy Trump University customers, despite recent claims from Trump that students of his real estate seminar company were overwhelmingly satisfied.
The states of New York and California, in a separate federal class action lawsuit, allege that Trump University, which was largely owned by Trump, defrauded consumers by as much as $35,000 with promises of a real estate investing education that they either did not receive or was found to be worthless.
More than 60 people sought help from the Florida attorney general's office in obtaining refunds from Trump University and its affiliates.
"I was laid off work for the first time in my life and really need this money to support my family," one man wrote, saying he had been promised a refund but did not receive it. "$1,400 is so much money for my family."
Bondi's office has said she received only one complaint about Trump University at the time she decided not to join the New York investigation. Her office said that statement was accurate at the time because most complaints dealt with Trump Institute, a separate entity from Trump University. Trump Institute was licensed by Trump to run his real estate seminars, with Trump keeping a share of the profits.
A message left on Bondi's cell phone Monday by the Times/Herald was not returned.
via @adamsmithtimes
Donald Trump's campaign is putting together plans for a rally at the Tampa Convention Center Saturday. Among those expected to join the presumptive nominee for the 11 a.m. event in Tampa are Gov. Rick Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Republican National Committeewoman Sharon Day. Look for an endorsement from Dena DeCamp, president of the Florida Federation of Republican Women.
Details on how to obtain tickets have not yet been released, though it is usually through eventbrite.com.
Tampa Convention Center director Rick Hamilton said the campaign has booked the east hall on the third floor of the convention center, but Hamilton assumes that, as in the past, it will need some additional rooms as well. Trump held a rally at the Tampa Convention Center in a room that fit only about 1,000 people on March 14, the day before he overwhelmingly won Florida's presidential primary. In February, he drew more than 10,000 people to a rally at the USF Sun Dome.
--ADAM C. SMITH, Tampa Bay Times
Sen. Bill Galvano, the Bradenton Republican who has been at the core of the Legislature's gambling negotiations for the past seven years, said Tuesday that when lawmakers adopted the change to the state gaming law in 2010, they did not intend to open the door to the expansion of slot machines as Gretna Racing and five other pari-mutuels around the state are claiming.
"It was not the intent of the Legislature to open the door for counties to hold their own referendums to allow the expansion of slots,'' he said in an interview with the Herald/Times.
"In fact, the language as written -- and as explained at the time -- was that it needed to be a legislatively-approved referendum, or one that was brought forward by voters at a constitutional level. It was never what Gretna is attempting -- which flies in the face of the bill they claim is giving them the authority."
Galvano's remarks came on the day the Florida Supreme Court heard oral arguments over what could be a pivotal case as it relates to the future of gambling in Florida.
Gretna Racing, a Gadsden County racetrack and card room, argued before the court on Tuesday that it is entitled to operate slots at its facility because county voters gave them approval to operate the machines in 2012 and they meet the criteria because they have operated "flag drop" races for two years. If it succeeds, at least five other counties Brevard, Hamilton, Lee, Palm Beach and Washington which have already voted to bring casinos to their stressed horse and dog tracks and jai alai frontons would install them as well.
Lawyers for Attorney General Pam Bondi responded, arguing that the 2010 law allows counties to authorize slot machines only if the Legislature authorized the referendum and agreed to expand gambling. Galvano and former state Sen. Dan Gelber, who attended the oral arguments Tuesday hearing on behalf of former Gov. Bob Graham, agreed.
Galvano, a lawyer, was point man for the House of Representatives in 2009 and 2010 during negotiations with the Seminole Tribe over the state's gaming compact. In 2009, the legislature modified the implementing law relating to slot machines in Miami-Dade and Broward by allowing Hialeah Race Course to be eligible for a slots license.
The race track was not an operating pari-mutuel when voters approved the statewide constitutional amendment allowing slot machines in Miami Dade and Broward in 2003 but, because Hialeah was located in Miami-Dade, legislators agreed to revise the law to include it among the casinos that could operate Class III slots.
By 2010, the Legislature wanted to clarify the terms of the referendum language referred to in the 2009 law, Galvano said.
"We didn't want the Hialeah expansion to muddy the waters,'' he said. "Instead, we reiterated that if we approved legislatively-expanded slots -- or a legislatively constitutional amendment...we didn't relinquish authority."
But instead of clarifying, the law has become another vehicle for gaming owners across the state to use as a method to get access to lucrative slots license -- which now are allowed only in Miami-Dade and Broward and at the seven casinos owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
If the court sides with Gretna, it could usher in the explosive growth of gambling across the state and invalidate the $250 million-a-year gaming compact between the state and the Seminole Tribe of Florida
Galvano said the 2010 language was drafted by legislative staff and, in the process, "I did receive input from the entire pari-mutuel community and their representatives,'' he said.
"The actual drafting came down to the legislature and the bill drafting staff and counsel. I can tell you there was no one in the process at the time that was advocating for the independent ability of counties to expand based on referendum without legislative approval. That was not even part of the discussion."
Absent a public debate, there was pressure from the pari-mutuel industry who wanted the opportunity to bring slot machines to their ailing horse tracks, dog tracks and jai alai frontons, Galvano said. "But from the [legislative] members' standpoint, it was understood there would be an opportunity for Hialeah to expand, but that we were not expanding anywhere else."
According to the legislative archives, quoted in the attorney general's brief, Rep. Dwayne Taylor, D-Daytona Beach, asked Galvano during the 2009 debate on the gambling bill whether it "would allow for the slot machines at the pari-mutuel facilities outside Miami-Dade and Broward and whether a local area would need to have a referendum, and in order to do that, they would have to come back to the House or to the Legislature to get approval for the referendum?
Galvano is recorded as having replied: Yes, if you are talking about Class III games [which includes slot machines], you are correct. A county could come back to the Legislature, which could authorize that type of referendum. It could also be through constitutional amendment, [whether] through a joint resolution or a citizen petition.
Gelber, a Miami Democrat and gambling opponent, agrees that is how he perceived the debate when he served in the Legislature in 2009 and 2010.
"In that decade, the Legislature never, if at all, would expand gambling -- unless it was forced upon them by a constitutional amendment,'' he said after the court hearing Tuesday. "The notion that that somehow authorized 65 other counties to start doing what the legislature refused to do every time it was brought before them is pretty absurd...
"Nobody was standing up and saying we're having a debate about 65 other counties,'' Gelber said. "The idea that in implementing that constitutional amendment, they would sort of under-the-the table give 65 other counties that same right is sort of absurd... If that had happened, I know a few of my colleagues whose heads would have exploded."
via @alextdaugherty
Helen Aguirre Ferre, the newly minted Hispanic communications chief for the national Republican Party, should step down from her position as chair of the board of trustees at Miami Dade College, Miami-Dade GOP chairman Nelson Diaz said on Monday.
Diaz said if he faced the same circumstances, he would step down to avoid increased scrutiny from Democrats and activists. Its up to Aguirre Ferre, he said, to decide what she wants to do. Diaz first made his comments on Prohibido Callarse (Silence Banned), a local Spanish-language television show, on Monday night.
I support Helen 100 percent and what she is doing, Diaz told the Miami Herald on Tuesday. I personally wouldnt serve as both, and I dont think there is an actual conflict in any shape or form. I think she should step down to avoid the conflict that results from Democrats and activists.
That conflict reared its head Monday morning when a number of Miami Dade College students and parents started a petition calling for the removal of Aguirre Ferre from the colleges board. The national group United We Dream created a similar petition.
More here.
@doug_hanks
A last-minute item before Miami-Dade commissioners on Tuesday would mean a $6 million rent break for Secure Wrap, the politically connected vendor with an exclusive contract to encase luggage in plastic at the county-owned Miami International Airport.
The resolution to waive bidding procedures for an amended contract bypassed the traditional commission committee system, and will face a first, and final, vote at Tuesdays meeting if no commissioner objects to hearing the item. It would mean a significant windfall for Secure Wrap, which last fall won a crackdown on outside competitors only to see the new rules vetoed by Mayor Carlos Gimenez.
At the time, Secure Wrap said the baggage-wrap industry outside MIA including home set-ups available at hardware stores was crippling its business with lower fees. Gimenez objected to stifling competition, saying the company should ask for its rent to be renegotiated. Secure Wrap, which gave more than $50,000 to commission reelection campaigns since 2014, initially won support of the rule on a 10-to-2 vote on Oct. 6, but fell one vote short in overriding Gimenezs veto two weeks later.
The new proposal comes from Gimenez and includes a package of concessions for Secure Wrap: Instead of paying 52 percent of its revenue to the county-owned airport, it would pay 35 percent. Its minimum rent would drop nearly two-thirds, from $9.6 million to $3.5 million. And Secure Wrap would receive a credit for rent already owed in 2016, with MIA giving the company a $2.7 million refund.
Sarasota Republican Party Chairman Joe Gruters (left) behind Donald Trump during a speech in Tampa on Feb. 12, 2016. (Tampa Bay Times file photo)
@JeremySWallace
The man who gave Donald Trump a platform to speak in Florida on the eve of Republican National Convention in Tampa four years ago when Trump was left off the agenda, is now getting a chance to craft the platform for the entire Republican National Committee for the next four years thanks to his friendship with Trump.
Sarasota Republican Party chairman Joe Gruters and Duval County Republican Party chairwoman Cindy Graves have been named as Floridas two representatives to the Republican National Convention's Platform Committee by Florida delegates to the national convention.
Im definitely excited, Gruters said.
Every state gets to send two Republican representatives to be part of the committee to craft the partys platform for the next four years. Gruters and Graves replace former House Speaker Allan Bense and Miami Republican Remedios Diaz who served on that platform committee for the last four years.
In 2012, Trump was left off the speakers list for the Republican National Convention in Tampa. That is when Gruters announced he was awarding Trump the Statesman of the Year award and invited Trump to speak in Sarasota to more than 1,000 people on the night before the convention started.
This Joes some piece of work, Trump said about meeting Gruters then.
But the two have struck up an alliance ever since, with Gruters serving as his co-chairman to Trumps presidential campaign in Florida.
From one point of view, Montana gets off lucky: Out of 15 tick-borne diseases that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists on its website as health concerns in America, only three commonly cause tick-borne illnesses in humans in Montana.
And the Northern Hemispheres biggest threat from tick bites Lyme disease, which is estimated to affect about 300,000 Americans annually and some 65,000 in Europe is not a concern for Montanans unless theyre exposed to it elsewhere.
We havent found the species of ticks that transmit Lyme disease in Montana, said Greg Johnson, a professor of veterinary entomology with Montana State University.
Those species the black-legged tick, formerly called the deer tick, and the western black-legged tick still could be a concern if Montanans are exposed to them in other states.
To our knowledge, they are not present in Montana, Johnson said.
The bad news?
Montanas public health officials still record an average of eight tick-borne illness reports every year, most commonly from Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Colorado tick fever and tularemia.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, Colorado tick fever is caused by a virus transmitted by the Rocky Mountain wood tick, Dermacentor andersoni. Its found in the Rocky Mountain states at elevations of 4,000 to 10,500 feet.
Rocky Mountain spotted fever can be transmitted by the American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis), Rocky Mountain wood tick (Dermacentor andersoni), and the brown dog tick (Rhipicephalus sangunineus) in the U.S.
Tularemia can be transmitted to humans by the dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis), the wood tick (Dermacentor andersoni), and the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum). The disease occurs throughout the U.S.
Tom Schwan, a senior investigator at Rocky Mountain Laboratories, the National Institutes of Health's research facility in Hamilton, said ticks are more likely to carry Colorado tick fever, studies suggest. But he said Rocky Mountain spotted fever remains, in his opinion, a bigger concern.
"Rocky Mountain spotted fever historically has been more important because it actually kills people," Schwan said. "It's still increasing in numbers in the U.S. and people die of it every year."
Information from the CDC says the incidence of Rocky Mountain spotted fever has increased in recent years from fewer than 2 cases per million persons in 2000 to over 6 cases per million in 2010. But during the same time period, the proportion of cases resulting in death has declined to a low of less than 0.5 percent.
Schwan said Rocky Mountain spotted fever was historically important in western Montana. In fact, the research institute now known as Rocky Mountain Laboratories got its start in Hamilton in 1927 as health officials were trying to learn more about the disease that had been first known as "black measles."
"We're here because of the first work on Rocky Mountain spotted fever," Schwan said.
Schwan said though it varies from place to place, wood ticks in the Bitterroot Valley have about a 1 percent infection rate with the Rocky Mountain spotted fever bacteria.
"It's treatable with antibiotics. It ought to be on everybody's radar screen in western Montana," Schwan said.
It can go untreated when a person on a visit to a mountain state such as Montana is bitten by an infected tick and returns to some other state in which doctors aren't familiar with the disease and don't recognize it.
Tips for staying safe
As Montanans hit the parks and trails this summer, the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services and local public health officials say taking a few simple steps may help prevent tick bites and associated illnesses. The strategy is: Limit, repel, and inspect.
The best defense against tick-borne illnesses is by spraying your legs, ankles, pants, socks, and shoes with insect repellent, DPHHS epidemiologist Christine Mulgrew said in a news release.
Heres what experts advise:
Limit : Ticks live in wooded, brushy, or grassy areas so walk in the center of trails and mow your property where you and your pets spend time.
: Ticks live in wooded, brushy, or grassy areas so walk in the center of trails and mow your property where you and your pets spend time. Repel : Wear long, light-colored pants and socks to spot ticks more easily and use insect repellents. Repellents containing up to 30 percent DEET can be used on the skin or clothing. Repellents with lower DEET concentrations might need to be applied more frequently. Repellents containing permethrin can be used on clothing, but not on skin. One application to pants, socks, and shoes may be effective through several washings.
: Wear long, light-colored pants and socks to spot ticks more easily and use insect repellents. Repellents containing up to 30 percent DEET can be used on the skin or clothing. Repellents with lower DEET concentrations might need to be applied more frequently. Repellents containing permethrin can be used on clothing, but not on skin. One application to pants, socks, and shoes may be effective through several washings. Inspect: Check your skin carefully for ticks after returning from outdoor activities especially if you were in wooded, brushy, or grassy areas. De-ticking clothing is best done by throwing clothes into a drier on high for 10 minutes, even before washing. Remember to inspect children and animals after an outing.
The health department said the most common symptoms of tick-borne infections include fever and chills, aches and pains, rash, and fever of varying degrees. Although easily treated with antibiotics, these diseases can be difficult for physicians to diagnose. Early recognition and treatment of the infection decreases the risk of serious complications.
See your doctor immediately if you have been bitten by a tick and experience symptoms, Mulgrew said.
The Missoula Mercantile ball is officially in the city councils court after the council Monday night accepted for review a Bozeman developers appeal of the Historic Preservation Commissions denial of a demolition permit.
The council referred the appeal to its Land Use and Planning committee and set a timeline of discussions at its next three Wednesday meetings leading up to a public hearing before the full council on June 27. The council has a deadline of July 11 to approve or deny a demolition historic preservation permit.
The process and timeline are based on the Board of Adjustment process for appeals of administrative decisions, development services director Mike Haynes said.
In an appeal letter addressed to the council Friday, HomeBase Montanas attorney claimed three errors were made by the commission, starting with its failure to invoke a 90-day demolition delay. Minus that formal move, the HPC had just 60 days to act on the permit after the application was filed March 7, Alan McCormick of Missoula argued.
That issue is a function of a poorly worded ordinance, McCormick said Monday.
In its appeal, HomeBase Montana also made the argument that its due process rights were violated when various members of the Historic Preservation Commission continued to participate in the review process and assisted in crafting the findings of fact after demonstrating conduct which requires recusal.
The third error was the HPCs failure to support its decision with accurate findings of fact, even acknowledging during (Thursday nights) meeting they had stricken all findings which supported approval of the application.
After more than four hours Thursday night, the 10-member HPC voted 6-0 to deny the demolition permit, which HomeBase applied for on March 7 to clear the way for a five-story Marriott hotel.
Chairman Mike Monsos was absent, and four members recused themselves from voting after a warning from city attorney Jim Nugent that they had compromised their objectivity. That wasnt enough, McCormick maintained.
Im sure theyre saying to themselves they didnt vote so they fixed the problem. But they continued to help craft findings of fact, and they continued to help others make decisions and thats a problem, he said.
McCormick admitted the issue of 90 days vs. 60 days for the HPC to review HomeBases application is a legal argument thats obviously not all that sexy or interesting.
He said a parenthetical clause in the historic preservation ordinance says a decision on a permit application will be made within 60 days or 90 days in case of demolition.
Its very clear they never did that, McCormick said, adding that the HomeBase team warned the commission of the oversight two weeks before the 60-day periods expiration date of May 11 but didnt hear back.
Alan has a different opinion based on where the parentheses occurred, said Leslie Schwab, the citys historic preservation officer. Weve been operating under a legal opinion that was issued before the application even came in, that the 90 days would be assumed to begin as soon as an application was filed.
Schwab said regardless of the outcome of the application, the Missoula Mercantile issue has underlined the flaws in the 2010 historic preservation ordinance.
Itll get rewritten, she said. We already assume thats going to have to happen.
***
The council also agreed Monday night to accept a land swap of city blocks should Missoula County voters approve a $30-million general obligation bond in November to build a new public library.
The library would be built a block to the east of the current one. The owners of the property, Terry and Patricia Payne, agreed to allow the library to remain in use until construction is completed.
The losses of affordable housing downtown and of six buildings that are contributing elements to the Downtown Historic District should be part of the conservation, several commenters agreed. The resolution passed by a 9-0 count, with Jon Wilkins of Ward 4 and Ward 2s Harlan Wells abstaining.
The council voted 9-2 to send back to committee a motion to spend an additional $40,000 to study the feasibility of a public intergenerational community center in partnership with the Missoula International School. The private Spanish immersion school plans to relocate from the old Prescott School in the lower Rattlesnake to the site on South Third Street West of The Hive and formerly ProBuild.
Also approved with conditions was a plan to grant the Thomas Meagher Bar on West Pine Street an encroachment permit to use two city parking spaces in order to add six tables to its sidewalk cafe and four temporary additional bicycle racks. The permit is for a trial three years.
The conditions are that an agreement must be reached with the Parking Commission for adequate compensation, something that co-owner Mike Schmechel said is far from a done deal. The parking commission is asking for $400 per space each month, which
Schmechel said is seven times what a parking garage space is worth. The bar owners are willing to pay $160 a month.
The motion carried by a 9-3 vote with Wells, Wilkins and Ward 5s Julie Armstrong casting no votes.
This fall, Paxson Elementary School's dual-language immersion program will live up to its name, with every student required to participate.
Principal Kelly Chumrau, who's leaving Paxson at the end of this school year, sent an email to the Paxson community May 26, announcing the transition to a full dual-language immersion program starting with the next kindergarten class.
Since the program launched in fall 2013 incorporating Spanish into half of a student's day it has been in a gradual transition. The first year, families opted in to the program. In 2014-2015, families could opt out.
Last spring, Chumrau announced that every kindergartner would be enrolled in the program starting in 2015-2016, but soon after put that plan on pause due to concerns from parents and MCPS trustees.
Now it's back on.
"All kindergartners will get it, and the reason for that is that we believe that it's just really good for all kids," Chumrau said last week. "It has so many great brain benefits. We're looking forward to having all students receive it. Then we end up not having to do the lottery, which is also nice."
The immersion will continue in first and second grades, phasing in as next year's kindergarten class moves up. By grades 3-5, though, the program will operate on rotation. Classes will move between three teachers, allowing new students to fold into the mix with beginner's Spanish while the students who have been at Paxson since kindergarten will be able to progress at a higher level, Chumrau said.
Its raised the ire of some parents who say they've been stripped of choice for their child's education.
The hardest part for us is four years ago when this program began, there should have been a clear outline to what it looked like for a child moving through the whole immersion program, said Evie Taylor, parent of a Paxson student. There was never anything set out.
***
Those concerns have been repeated throughout the life of the program. When it launched, Paxson was the first public school in Montana to implement a dual-language immersion program.
I am all for language. I went through all bilingual education in California," Taylor said. "Its not that. This is a public school and they need to account for those who dont fit into the cookie-cutter immersion program.
Taylor said that while she and several other parents don't support the transition, the majority of Paxson parents do.
Alisa Wade, a researcher and a parent of a Paxson third-grader and kindergartner, said she thinks the good outweighs the bad with bilingual programs, regardless of students' academic achievement or whether they have special needs. Chief among those benefits she mentioned is improved English language literacy.
In addition, "Both with creative and abstract thinking skills, they better respond to social cues, she said. And bilingualism can only benefit someone on the job market."
As for those parents who don't want their children in the program, Chumrau said, "I'm going to do everything I can to help them so that they will want to be here at Paxson and embrace their neighborhood school.
"I don't have any research or evidence that has convinced me yet that learning an additional language is harmful in any way to any child," she said.
She pointed out that Paxson isn't the only elementary school with mandates. Lewis and Clark is an International Baccalaureate school. Hawthorne has Project Lead The Way. These programs are part of Missoula County Public Schools' 21st Century Model of Education initiative.
Full immersion wasn't necessarily the end game when this program began, Chumrau said.
"We really liked the idea of offering it and we weren't sure that it would be as popular as it was," she said. "When it first started, we weren't even sure we would have to do a lottery. But after that first year it evolved to that, and it became really necessary for us to have to do a lottery and create a waiting list.
"There were always several people that were not getting into the program that really wanted to be in the program. From their perspective, it didn't feel equitable or diverse, so we really determined as a faculty that we had to come to a consensus on a plan that was going to address those three things: equity, diversity and flexibility."
***
Taylor argued that the plan presented at the May 26 community meeting should have been developed when the program was getting underway three years ago.
Dropping this on everyone at the end of the school year, when we start school in three months, seems like a few years too late," she said.
Parents have also expressed concerns at trustee meetings that Paxson students Spanish education will be lost or diminished during their three years in middle school. MCPS middle-schoolers can take Spanish as an elective.
"We know that's a concern for some people because of course they will have been in it for a long time," Chumrau said. "We already have people who come to our school who teach high school-level Spanish and take a look at what our students are doing and say the third-graders are beyond what they're doing at the high school level oftentimes."
Chumrau said she expects middle and high school programs will adjust to the advanced language abilities of students as the program continues. Washington Middle School principal Craig Henkel said they are still in the planning stages.
"Just like any other thing, if you stop practicing, of course your skills will decrease," she said. "We want to make sure kids going on to middle school continue to have an opportunity to speak at such a high level with people with high language abilities."
These kinds of instructional changes happen at the building level, and don't require board approval. Chumrau is talking to the board at its June 14 meeting, however, to explain the changes.
"Sure, I could talk about the individual cute anecdotes that matter to me, but the reason I support the program across the whole school is because the data are showing long-term benefits that stick with kids across their lifetime," Wade said.
"Sometimes people come to Montana, and they think it's not the most progressive place in the world, so I'm excited that Missoula is being progressive and committing to this long-term. They're willing to take a stance and make it happen."
Paxson will be led by Peter Halloran starting this fall. He's coming from Butte Central Catholic Schools, where he's a Spanish teacher and marketing and recruitment director.
In 1964, Congress designated the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Fifty-two years later, on May 12, 2016, the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission unanimously passed a resolution supporting the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project, which - among other things - would modestly expand the boundaries of the "Bob."
Why is this relevant? Because big game needs big country. When it comes to abundant wildlife populations, one of our biggest challenges is providing enough room for wildlife to roam. The most fundamental way to protect our hunting heritage is by protecting the habitat that both wildlife and hunters depend on.
In their recent resolution supporting the project, the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Commission addressed this positive relationship between protecting security habitat and the abundance of Montanas big game species.
They said the Blackfoot Clearwater project would help ensure the future viability of the Blackfoot-Clearwater Game Range, which supports wintering elk, mule deer, whitetail populations and over 200 other species of wildlife who utilize the surrounding habitat year-round.
They also said the project will help preserve the future viability of Montanas native fishes, including bull trout and Westslope cutthroat, by protecting the North Fork of the Blackfoot, Monture Creek and West Fork of the Clearwater River - all are critical habitat for spawning fish.
Its important to recognize that nobody is proposing these new protections lightly. This effort is community driven and developed by local residents. Several long-time Seeley Lake and Ovando residents and business owners came together around the local sawmills conference room table 10 years ago to hammer out a proactive agreement for the Blackfoot and Clearwater valleys. Thats why all three local county commissions in the area support the project.
The Blackfoot Clearwater project isnt just about protecting important headwaters like Monture Creek, the North Fork of the Blackfoot and the West Fork of the Clearwater River. It also included active forest management, restoration and local jobs in the woods.
Community members have already successfully leveraged federal funds to pay for ongoing stream restoration and vegetative treatment on our national forests. These treatments have improved habitats for elk, bighorn sheep and deer populations. They have improved watershed health by reestablishing natural stream channels, combating noxious weeds and removing barriers to fish migration. Importantly, they have also created jobs.
But the work is not done. Protective status for the higher elevation headwaters has yet to be realized. Its time to change that. We hope Montanas delegation will pay attention to the recent endorsement by the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission. The Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project will protects our rights to fish and hunt on public land in Montana for generations to come.
Hunters and anglers have always been at the vanguard when it comes to conserving critical habitats, and special places. Its why we are joining the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission in urging our Montana delegation to introduce the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Project as soon as possible.
We are eighth-graders at Missoula International School, Whitney and Connor; interested in the Missoula community. In science class we have been studying water, specifically around our hometown. We went to the Clark Fork River Kids Expo, and we wanted to learn more about the aquifer. Our Missoula aquifer is in good condition, but as a community we should strive to conserve it.
Overall the Missoula aquifer is above average in water quality, but if people of Missoula dont keep up the effort, things could go down the drain. At the River Kids Expo we talked to Jim Sears, a University of Montana professor of geoscience, and he told us an alarming story of when thing really did go down the drain. He told us that years ago, the aquifer and the sewage drain combined. Both drains are placed very close together and the sewage backed up, starting to leak into our drinking water. This was a very big problem, our water had been contaminated. The main drain was shut off completely until the problem had been solved. This example shows how easily our quality water can be ruined.
Why is there a need to have a DUI Task Force in Missoula County? How big a problem is impaired driving? What are the costs in fatalities, property damage and injuries? How do Missoula County and Montana compare with other counties and states? Is our problem cultural? What do law enforcement officers see on the street? The forum will feature a panel of specialists who will answer these questions and more. They will be Lonie Hutchison, DUI Task Force coordinator; Officer Jenna Volinkaty of the Missoula Police Department; Missoula County Sheriff TJ McDermott with Captain Bill Burt; and Captain Jim Kitchin, district commander for the Missoula Highway Patrol.
PLAINS A man will spend his summer here with his parents, rather than in an Oregon jail, as he awaits his trial on federal charges he participated in the armed takeover of a national wildlife refuge earlier this year.
A U.S. District Court judge released Jake Ryan late last week, warning the 27-year-old, If you mess up between now and September, youre just shooting yourself in the foot.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Papek initially ordered Ryan held until his Sept. 7 trial date. Papek cited Ryans flight from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 27 he was found hiding in a shed in Vancouver, Washington, almost 10 weeks later, armed with a .45 caliber handgun and several knives as the reason for not granting him pre-trial release.
But Ryans court-appointed attorney, Jesse Merrithew, told Judge Robert E. Jones that Ryan believed the FBI had broken promises it had made.
The decision to run was not a smart one, but it was also not a violent one, Merrithew said in his motion to revoke Papeks detention order. He was a scared young man with no experience in the criminal justice system, television ideas of what jail is like and no trust left for the system.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Knight argued that because Ryan had been on the run for 2 months, and was armed at the time of his arrest, it shows hes a flight risk.
***
The Oregonian newspaper reported that Jones questioned Ryans father under oath before releasing Jake into the custody of his parents, who live near Plains.
Daniel Ryan told Jones that Jake was one of his 11 children who had all been home-schooled.
What guarantee do I have that you wont try to influence him to act in another unlawful protest? reporter Maxine Bernstein of the Oregonian said the judge asked.
Daniel Ryan replied that he believes the United States is the greatest country on Earth, and that he strongly supports the Constitution but believes it limits the power of the government.
When he said Jake and his other children had been home-schooled, Jones asked, Do you also teach him to obey the law?
He and his wife, Roxsanna, were attempting to arrange a meeting between their son and federal officers when Jake ran, Daniel said. He added that the gun found with Jake had probably come from their home in Plains.
Bernstein reported that Daniel Ryan said of the 41-day refuge occupation, To our knowledge, this was a peaceful protest where no one was threatened at any time.
Except for people marching around with weapons, AK-47s, the judge said.
I dont know of any marching, the father responded.
***
Daniel Ryan agreed to keep his guns locked away from his son.
Jake Ryan is restricted to Plains. He is not allowed outside his parents residence from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. each day, unless he gains employment that demands otherwise, and his location will be monitored using a radio frequency monitoring system. He is required to find and maintain full-time employment not connected to his fathers business.
Jones also ordered Ryan have no contact with known Patriot Movement groups or leaders, individuals involved with the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, militia members or co-defendants, except in the presence of his attorney. Ryan is also barred from participating in any protests prior to his trial.
Can he keep his mouth shut between now and then? Jones asked Daniel Ryan. Ryan said his son would.
***
Ryan was released Thursday.
According to a flyer obtained by the Missoulian, a Dance for Jakes Freedom was scheduled for Saturday night at the Plains Pool Park, followed by an event called The Meeting LaVoy Never Had on Sunday at the Plains Bible Chapel.
Robert LaVoy Finicum was the wildlife refuge protester killed by Oregon State Police, who said he was reaching for a gun after being pulled over on Jan. 26. Jake Ryan left the refuge the next day.
According to the flyer, the dance was for all political prisoners and a meet-and-greet for all freedom-loving people to review their thoughts on the tyranny of the criminal BLM, FBI, CIA, Forest Service, EPA, and all other parties involved in taking our freedom, liberty and land.
Sundays event promised several speakers, including Finicums widow, Jeanette, and a possible appearance by Carol Bundy, wife of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy.
Cliven Bundy was involved in an armed standoff with federal officers in 2014. Their son Ammon is said to be the leader of the Malheur standoff this year.
It was unclear whether the two Plains events had been scheduled before or after Jake Ryans release, whether they did take place, and whether Jake Ryan was present at either. There was no answer at Daniel and Roxsanna Ryans home phone, which was listed on the page advertising the dance, on Tuesday.
Fifteen of the 26 defendants in the Malheur Refuge occupation have now been granted their release pending trial. On the same day he released Ryan, Jones also released 21-year-old Travis Cox into the custody of his mother in Oregon.
Its February 1966, and three Missoula businessmen are about to meet the Heavyweight Champion of the World and a world champion traveling companion to boot.
It was the private side of Muhammad Ali, the flamboyant fighter and showman. Though he called himself the Greatest when the TV cameras were rolling, Ali proved to be anything but haughty when it came to spending time with ordinary people from Montana.
Art Mandell of Missoula, who spent much of his career owning Dairy Queen restaurants, said it happened after he and some colleagues boarded an eastbound Northern Pacific train in Missoula about 5:30 a.m. to attend a regional Dairy Queen meeting in Bismarck, North Dakota. Mandell was already owner of the Dairy Queen restaurant in Missoula. Traveling with him were Herb Searles, who owned Meadowland Dairies and made the mixes for all the Dairy Queen restaurants in the state, and Cliff Kerney, who worked for Meadowland Dairies and delivered the mixes.
It was early in February 1966 and there were few passengers on the train. Shortly after they got on, a conductor told them Muhammad Ali, the boxer, was on the train, a car or two forward.
Ali, who died Friday at age 74, had won his first heavyweight title in 1964 from Sonny Liston. He was to win the title again in 1974, despite being forced to stay out of the ring for several years. Ali had refused to register for the draft because of his religious convictions as a convert to Islam and his opposition to the war in Vietnam. And he was to win the title a third time in 1978.
The Missoula men made their way forward to the observation car, the Vista Dome, and there was the fighter, along with his wife and driver. After a while, Mandell approached him.
I walked up and said, Can I shake the hand of the champ? And he said, Sit down, sit down, join us, Mandell told the Missoulian this week.
Mandell recalled it all in a memoir he wrote later for his children: We spent most of the day with them, playing checkers, Old Maid, a game called Pitty-Pat and one called War. He had a short, light rope, and showed us rope and knot tricks. He told one story after another, many about his career and about his fight with Sonny Liston, and also about his conscientious objector status that got him into so much trouble. He was mild-mannered and not at all like we were used to seeing him on television.
Ali told them he was returning from a speaking engagement in Portland, Oregon. Hed been traveling that way by car when the car slid off the road in a snowstorm near Moorhead, Minnesota. So theyd gone the rest of the way to Portland by train, and now they were returning by train to pick up their car in Minnesota. The benefit of that change in plans by Ali and his party was that the travelers from Missoula got to see the person behind the showman.
Someone came by later in the day and offered to buy him a drink and he said the only thing he drank was 7UP; then he got started on the evils of alcohol and drugs, Mandell wrote later in his memoir. A while later, a fellow came by with a Polaroid camera and took a picture of Muhammad and me playing Old Maid and gave me the picture. I took some Northern Pacific napkins and asked Muhammad to autograph them for me and he did.
Mandell still has one of those autographed Northern Pacific napkins to this day: To Art from Muhammad Ali, World Heavyweight Champion. Ali also wrote an autograph for Mandells son John, and then Herb Searles asked Ali to write an autograph for a friend of his, Snooze, who was a big fight fan.
Part of what Mandell remembers is that the fighter world heavyweight champion though he was was no champ at all when it came to cards. Mandell said his own strategy was to have the Old Maid card sticking out slightly higher than the other cards in his hand and Ali either on purpose or by bad luck seemed to draw it every time.
He seemed to like that game, Mandell said.
Ali turned in about 9:30 p.m., but the Montana travelers still sat up in the observation car visiting.
After about an hour or so Muhammad came out of the sleeper car and sat with us. We were the only people in the car. This time he was wearing only his white boxer shorts. He was quite a sight. We visited with him until around midnight when he went back to his sleeper.
About 2 a.m. the train pulled in to Bismarck and let the Missoula travelers off. The fighter went on, riding a course that would take him to two more world titles, and more and more fans including three of the staunchest from Missoula, Montana.
The Mount News Center
Featuring the extraordinary people, stories and news of Mount St. Mary's University, America's oldest independent Catholic university. Members of the media looking for information about setting up interviews, finding faculty experts or gaining access to campus for stories should contact Executive Director of Communications Donna Klinger at 301-447-5657 or d.j.klinger@msmary.edu.
Have a question, comment to share or want to find a photo from this week's big event? Check out the Mount on our social media channels!
Police reports
COUNTY PROPERTY VANDALIZED
Butte-Silver Bow County workers reported Monday a vacant property at Basin Creek Reservoir was vandalized. A caretaker had once occupied the residence. Police say graffiti including "SOS" and "Butane Clan" was found on the walls. Plaster from at least one of the walls had been removed, exposing wooden lath. Workers plan to board up the county-owned structure.
WARRANT SOUGHT IN ASSAULT
Police are seeking an arrest warrant for a 50-year-old Butte man who allegedly cut the left hand of his ex-wife, 43, with a yellow pocket knife after the two argued outside his home on the 1900 block of Florida Avenue on Monday. Police met the victim at St. James Healthcare where she reported the argument was over the condition of the property.
THEFT FROM GARAGE
A Honda weed eater, hydraulic jack, and Dewalt compressor, valued at $620, went missing from a garage on the 800 block of south Colorado Street between Saturday and Monday. There was no forced entry.
I have to confess that I'm not doing a good job as a reporter. I haven't called Tom Llamas of ABC News so that he could confirm or deny that he's "a sleaze." That's what Donald Trump called him at that bizarre news conference where Trump berated journalists for having the audacity to check into his claims about donations to veterans organizations.
My dictionary defines "sleaze" as "a contemptible or vulgar person," and it goes on to suggest synonyms like "creep," "scumbag" and "slime bucket."
So is someone a "sleaze" who mocks a person with a disability? How about a guy who is charged with fraud in a lawsuit, or whose businesses repeatedly go bankrupt? And what about the man who is accused of treating women like disposable objects? Does spreading hate and constantly lying qualify a person for sleazedom? How about trashing those who are simply doing their jobs seeking to hold a major party's presumptive candidate for president accountable?
On that last point, I must admit that we make a big mistake when we in the media go totally bonkers whenever anybody attacks us. We show just how thin-skinned and self-absorbed we are every time somebody trashes us. Let's us not forget, fellow ink-stained and hair-sprayed wretches, that the people we cover are not supposed to like us. And while they're not as colorful about it, most of them don't hold us in high regard. If they do, we're not doing our jobs. When I've put together a story, if everybody is angry, I think I've possibly done some good work. If not, I worry. That makes me a journalist. Or a sociopath. Of course, the two are not mutually exclusive. Donald Trump, though, simply prefers another S-word. He's not alone in his contempt. It's one of the few subjects where there is bipartisan agreement.
Hillary Clinton, after all, hasn't held a full-blown news conference this year. It's June. I'm not suggesting equivalency here; Hillary has not called any reporter a "sleaze" -- at least not in public. Still, let us not forget that her peeps did try to contain the herd using ropes.
Barack Obama is not considered a great fan of the press either, what with his administration's record of stifling requests for information and prosecuting leakers. More than a few of us believe that this administration, in its manipulative way, is particularly hostile to journalists. It's certainly not the first to try to stiff us. Nor will it be the last. In fact, the whole process is too frequently a big deception.
One of my most memorable encounters took place when I was covering Capitol Hill and there was a secret meeting to discuss something controversial. It was supposed to be hush-hush but, typically for these kinds of things, was anything but. One congressional leader in particular was providing me a constant flow of information "on background," meaning I could report it, but not identify the source. Imagine my chagrin, at the end of the meeting, when that very same congressman held a news conference to raise a ruckus about all the leaks. Through the entire newser, he looked at me with a slight smirk, knowing full well that I was honor-bound as the leakee not to identify him as the leaker. To this day, I won't name him.
So rather than getting all bent out of shape, we should thank Donald Trump for being so willing to just dump on us in such obvious ways. No sly little maneuvers with him. Nuance is not his thing.
It could be worse. Rodrigo Duterte -- who is the president-elect in the Philippines and who makes Trump look like a wuss -- was asked about a rash of media killings. His response: "Just because you're a journalist you are not exempted from assassination if you're a son of a b---h." It hasn't gotten that bad here. Yet.
(c) 2016 Bob Franken
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
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
PLAINS A man will spend his summer here with his parents, rather than in an Oregon jail, as he awaits his trial on federal charges he participated in the armed takeover of a national wildlife refuge earlier this year.
A U.S. District Court judge released Jake Ryan late last week, warning the 27-year-old, If you mess up between now and September, youre just shooting yourself in the foot.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Papek initially ordered Ryan held until his Sept. 7 trial date. Papek cited Ryans flight from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 27 he was found hiding in a shed in Vancouver, Washington, almost 10 weeks later, armed with a .45 caliber handgun and several knives as the reason for not granting him pre-trial release.
But Ryans court-appointed attorney, Jesse Merrithew, told Judge Robert E. Jones that Ryan believed the FBI had broken promises it had made.
The decision to run was not a smart one, but it was also not a violent one, Merrithew said in his motion to revoke Papeks detention order. He was a scared young man with no experience in the criminal justice system, television ideas of what jail is like and no trust left for the system.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Knight argued that because Ryan had been on the run for 2 months, and was armed at the time of his arrest, it shows hes a flight risk.
The Oregonian newspaper reported that Jones questioned Ryans father under oath before releasing Jake into the custody of his parents, who live near Plains.
Daniel Ryan told Jones that Jake was one of his 11 children who had all been home-schooled.
What guarantee do I have that you wont try to influence him to act in another unlawful protest? reporter Maxine Bernstein of the Oregonian said the judge asked.
Daniel Ryan replied that he believes the United States is the greatest country on Earth, and that he strongly supports the Constitution but believes it limits the power of the government.
When he said Jake and his other children had been home-schooled, Jones asked, Do you also teach him to obey the law?
He and his wife, Roxsanna, were attempting to arrange a meeting between their son and federal officers when Jake ran, Daniel said. He added that the gun found with Jake had probably come from their home in Plains.
Bernstein reported that Daniel Ryan said of the 41-day refuge occupation, To our knowledge, this was a peaceful protest where no one was threatened at any time.
Except for people marching around with weapons, AK-47s, the judge said.
I dont know of any marching, the father responded.
Daniel Ryan agreed to keep his guns locked away from his son.
Jake Ryan is restricted to Plains. He is not allowed outside his parents residence from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. each day, unless he gains employment that demands otherwise, and his location will be monitored using a radio frequency monitoring system. He is required to find and maintain full-time employment not connected to his fathers business.
Jones also ordered Ryan have no contact with known Patriot Movement groups or leaders, individuals involved with the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, militia members or co-defendants, except in the presence of his attorney. Ryan is also barred from participating in any protests prior to his trial.
Can he keep his mouth shut between now and then? Jones asked Daniel Ryan. Ryan said his son would.
Ryan was released Thursday.
According to a flyer obtained by the Missoulian, a Dance for Jakes Freedom was scheduled for Saturday night at the Plains Pool Park, followed by an event called The Meeting LaVoy Never Had on Sunday at the Plains Bible Chapel.
Robert LaVoy Finicum was the wildlife refuge protester killed by Oregon State Police, who said he was reaching for a gun after being pulled over on Jan. 26. Jake Ryan left the refuge the next day.
According to the flyer, the dance was for all political prisoners and a meet-and-greet for all freedom-loving people to review their thoughts on the tyranny of the criminal BLM, FBI, CIA, Forest Service, EPA, and all other parties involved in taking our freedom, liberty and land.
Sundays event promised several speakers, including Finicums widow, Jeanette, and a possible appearance by Carol Bundy, wife of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy.
Cliven Bundy was involved in an armed standoff with federal officers in 2014. Their son Ammon is said to be the leader of the Malheur standoff this year.
It was unclear whether the two Plains events had been scheduled before or after Jake Ryans release, whether they did take place, and whether Jake Ryan was present at either. There was no answer at Daniel and Roxsanna Ryans home phone, which was listed on the page advertising the dance, on Tuesday.
Fifteen of the 26 defendants in the Malheur Refuge occupation have now been granted their release pending trial. On the same day he released Ryan, Jones also released 21-year-old Travis Cox into the custody of his mother in Oregon.
Jake Ryan has pleaded not guilty to gun and conspiracy to impede law enforcement charges, as well a charge that he violated a Native American archaeological site by using heavy equipment to dig a latrine at the refuge.
Another four African countries together with deputy chairperson of the African Union (AU) voiced their support to China's stance on the South China Sea, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
The latest support came from Tanzania, Uganda, Eritrea, Comoros as well as the African Union's deputy chairperson, whose expressions are "in line with the fact of the South China Sea issue" and "represent fair and just voices of the international community", according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei.
Hong said China "highly appreciates" such expressions.
The South China Sea issue has been a hot topic as the arbitration case unilaterally initiated by the Philippines over its disputes with China in the region is expected to have a ruling soon.
"More and more countries expressed their understanding and support to China's stance on the South China Sea issue, and support China and relevant countries in solving the South China Sea disputes according to bilateral agreements and regional consensus and through negotiation and consultation," Hong said.
Hong also urged relevant countries to abide by such agreements and consensus and "come back to the right path of solving the South China Sea issue through negotiation and consultation".
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 []
The use of marijuana is a contentious issue globally, with many politicians calling for the legalization of the drug.
Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema, who said alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana, is the latest to join the cause.
Former IFP MP Mario Oriani-Ambrosini, who died of cancer, tabled a bill in 2014 that would decriminalise the use of cannabis for medical and industrial purposes.
The use of marijuana among IT professionals is also nothing new.
In 2014, FBI director James Comey said the agency may have to relook its no-tolerance stance on marijuana use to attract the best computer programmers and hackers to fight cyber criminals.
South African IT professionals and marijuana use
MyBroadbands latest lifestyle survey, which was completed 2,020 respondents, showed that 16.26% of South African IT professional smoked marijuana in the last year.
Designers which includes website designers, graphic designers, and multimedia professionals had the highest percentage of marijuana use at 29%.
They were followed by Internet, e-commerce, and website management professionals at 25%, and IT security specialists at 20%.
The graphic below shows the percentage of marijuana users per IT profession.
More on marijuana
Smoking weed does not make you dumb
Why you will never be able to load your brain into a computer
What is a nuclear bomb, and does North Korea have one?
The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) has dismissed a complaint by Vodacom against Cell Cs claim to be the first to have launched Wi-Fi calling in South Africa.
Cell Cs print advertisement states: New and Exclusive and Another SA first introducing Cell Cs Wi-Fi calling.
The companys radio commercial states: Cell C has done it again, with another exclusive innovation called Wi-Fi calling.
Vodacom argued that it made the first commercial voice over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) call in South Africa on 4 June 2015.
Vodacom said VoWiFi was launched across the Vodacom network, although the service is currently limited to Samsung Galaxy S6 handsets.
Vodacom has launched Wi-Fi calling some time prior to the Cell C launch. It is therefore factually incorrect that Wi-Fi calling is new, or exclusive to Cell C, or a first from Cell C, said Vodacom.
Cell C responded, stating that while Vodacoms network was capable of supporting Wi-Fi calls from June 2015, it did not offer the service to customers.
Cell C is the first, and currently only, provider to offer the Wi-Fi calling service to consumers, said Cell C.
Cell C submitted research, which involved interacting with Vodacom shops and call centres, which showed that Vodacom does not offer Wi-Fi calling to subscribers.
The ASA accepted Cell Cs evidence, and was satisfied that its Wi-Fi calling is a new service and that it was the first mobile operator in South Africa to offer Wi-Fi calling to its customers.
The ASA dismissed Vodacoms complaint.
More on Vodacom and Cell C
Were sorry our best effort wasnt good enough: Cell C
Vodacom, Cell C and Telkom ditch consumer protection ombudsman
Best and worst tech companies in South Africa
The Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) has unveiled its new supercomputer system, the first of its kind on the continent.
Named Lengau, which is Setswana for Cheetah, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) said this is the fastest computer in Africa.
It will allow CHPC to better service the growing computational needs of researchers and scientists, especially those working on the square kilometre array (SKA).
The Lengau system consists of Dell servers powered by Intel processors, using FDR InfiniBand by Mellanox, and is managed by the Bright Cluster Manager.
It consists of 19 racks, containing 1,008 standard compute nodes with 24 cores per node for a total of 24,192 cores. Each node has 128GB of memory.
In addition to the nodes, Lengau has five fat nodes which consist of 56 cores per node and 1,024GB of memory per node.
As it stands now, the whole system has a theoretical peak Linpack performance of 774.5 teraflops.
In the future, the system will be capable of petaflop performance (1,000 teraflops), as the CSIR expands it to comprise of over 40,000 cores.
System Name Lengau Cluster Fat Nodes CPU Intel Xeon (R) E5-2690 V3 Intel Xeon (R) E7-4850 CPU Clock 2.6GHz 2.2GHz CPU cores 24,192 280 Number of Nodes 1,008 5 Memory 126TB 5TB Peak Performance 890 Flops , 774 TFlops (RMax) Interconnect FDR Infiniband Network FDR Infiniband Network Shared Storage 4PB Lustre Storage 4PB Lustre Storage
More on supercomputers
Stampede 2 supercomputer to provide 18 Petaflops of power
Poco Supercomputer a multi-function, Pi gadget for under R5,400
How SAs supercomputer champs won
Former CEO of the African Network Information Centre (AfriNIC) Adiel Akplogan has apologised after his racially-charged outburst about the organisations upcoming board elections was reported by The Register.
Akplogans outburst followed a discussion in which AfriNIC members raised concerns about the candidacy of Mike Silber for a seat on the board of the Internet numbers registry for Africa.
Silber would be the second person from Liquid Telecom on the board, while others were worried about the fact that he would be the fourth South African.
Akplogan suggested that behind-the-scenes campaigning for Mike Silber was racially motivated.
Akplogan said the elections may be rigged, and, in an email to the AfREN mailing list, said that they have always [claimed] that we Black cannot run an organisation like AfriNIC.
Silber subsequently withdrew his candidacy for the AfriNIC board a few days later, but it was not confirmed whether Silber saw the email.
An apology
Akplogan subsequently issued an apology on the AfREN list, stating that the email was intended to be private.
I would like to apologize to my many friends and colleagues globally who may have felt targeted by its content.
Contrary to what was reported, I did not accuse Mike Silber particularly in my e-mail. He is someone I know well and hold a lot of respect for.
Even though I do not deny my frustration, I should have exercised a bit more control and not allow it to burst publicly.
More on Internet governance
South Africa slow to adopt new Internet protocol
Get your .game on
Net neutrality in South Africa must be protected: ISPA
Price increase concerns for co.za domains addressed
dotAfrica launch frustrated by new court case
Shopping centres in South Africa have jacked up their security following terrorist attack warnings from the United States, Britain, and Australia.
The United States recently warned of possible terrorist attacks in South African shopping malls and areas frequented by American citizens.
The British government followed, issuing an alert warning its citizens of a high terror threat in South Africa.
The Australian government also issued a warning, advising its citizens to be vigilant in areas frequented by foreigners.
Most of South Africas major shopping malls took note of these warnings and improved security.
JHI Retail CEO Nomzamo Radebe said they are on high alert at the five shopping centres in the Liberty Property Portfolio.
Additional security measures have been implemented in line with the Liberty Group policy. We are also working closely with SAPS, said Radebe.
The malls are Sandton City, Nelson Mandela Square, Eastgate, Liberty Midlands Mall, and Liberty Promenade.
The Mall of Africa is also improving security. The malls spokesperson Vanessa Fourie said they are working with security agencies and the police to safeguard their properties.
Spokesperson for the V&A Waterfront Carla White said security teams at the mall meet regularly and cooperate with SAPS and national and regional intelligence.
In response to the notification of this threat, SAPS has increased their presence and vigilance at the V&A Waterfront, and similarly we have also implemented actions accordingly.
Menlyn Park management in Pretoria confirmed they are strengthening their security to protect shoppers.
SA government downplays alert
The Department of Home Affairs said on Monday that South Africans should not panic following the travel warning by Britain.
Spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete said travel warnings were precautions taken by countries to protect their citizens, it is not for us to panic.
Whatever they are warning their citizens about, it doesnt necessarily mean it is going to happen or it is a fact. Ebola is an example of something that [we were warned about] but never happened on our shores, said Tshwete.
State Security Minister David Mahlobo downplayed the US governments terror alert, giving assurances that his department would keep South Africa safe.
It was part of the United States governments standard precautionary recommendation to its residents, he said in a statement.
We remain a strong and stable democratic country and there is no immediate danger posed by the alert.
Additional reporting by News24
More security news
No immediate threat of terrorist attack: State Security Minister
New terrorist attack alert for South Africa
New terrorist attack alert for South Africa
The terrorist attack alert issued by the United States Embassy stating that South African shopping malls may be targeted is based on claims from a discredited East African businessman, according to a report.
News24 stated that a source with access to South African intelligence said the businessman was a discredited informer who was only after the money hed be paid for the information.
The US, British, and Australian governments warned about a terror threat in South Africa, particularly in areas where its citizens gathered such as high-end shopping malls.
News24 quoted the Africa Director for the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium Jasmine Opperman as saying that the alerts were clearly from the same source.
Opperman said there was simply no indication of Islamic State cell structure presence or planned attacks in South Africa.
The US Embassy declined to comment on the claims, and said it was working closely with local authorities.
State Security spokesperson Brian Dube said his department was not in a position to reveal the intelligence being worked on.
More security news
South African shopping malls on high terror alert
These Cape Town and Johannesburg malls have increased security to stop terrorist attacks
Samsung recently announced the launch of the Injustice Edition of its Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone in South Africa, with Bidorbuy.co.za selling it for R22,999.
The device commemorates the third anniversary of the mobile game Injustice: Gods Among Us, and is functionally the same device as the regular Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.
The Injustice Edition is black with gold detailing, has a Batman-inspired seal on the back, includes a black Samsung Gear VR, in-game credit for the Injustice mobile game, and Oculus VR content vouchers.
Dion Wired has the standard Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone for R14,800, while Incredible Connection sells it for R15,999.
Specifications Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Dimensions 150.9 x 72.6 x 7.7 mm Weight 157g Operating system Android 6.0 Marshmallow Display 5.5 QHD (1,440 x 2,560) Rear camera 12MP with f/1.7 lens Front camera 5MP with f/1.7 lens Storage, internal 32/64GB Storage, expandable microSD RAM 4GB Processor 2.3GHz + 1.6GHz Exynos 8 Octa 8890 Battery 3,600mAh Cellular data LTE, HSPA+ IP Rating IP68
More on the Samsung Galaxy S7
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Injustice Edition launched in South Africa
The Galaxy S7 made Samsung a lot of money
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge review a beautiful powerhouse
Kenyans on social media have decided; Kenya Film Classification Boss Ezekiel Mutua should be returned to where he came from.
Following another set of strict directives from the CEO over the weekend, Kenyan tribes have moved swiftly and hilariously to distance themselves from Mr Morals, as he is referred to.
Mr. Mutua on Saturday banned television stations from filming wedding shows from videographers with no film licences. He also called for the rescheduling of two popular programmes, Maina and Kingangi in the morning and the marital counselling session by Bi Msafwari, from the watershed period of between 5am to 10pm.
Heres how Kenyans on twitter disowned Mr. Ezekiel:
Showbiz couple of Diamond Platnumz and Zari is easily one of the wealthiest in East Africa and beyond.
The two have been likened to Jay Z and Beyonce, especially since welcoming their daughter Tiffah Langote. The little one added to the familys big fortunes even before she was born.
Zari, a successful business woman even before she met Diamond Platnumz owns a palatial home in South Africa. She gave a sneak peek of her backyard on social media as she took a swim with her daughter.
She wrote, Can SA summer come back already. My back yard seems so miserable without the laughters and splashing of water. Its another 3 months before we can get that life back?
Scenes of rioters in Kisumu looting Ukwala Supermarket after the 2007 elections are still fresh in our minds. Railas supporters helped themselves with anything they could find, from refrigerators to TVs, before setting the supermarket on fire.
Several other businesses were looted at the height of violence.
Yesterday, we almost saw a repeat of that.
Two supermarkets were attacked, reportedly because they have kikuyu ownership.
Naivas and Tumaini Supermarkets, which were already closed by the time the demos began, had their glass shattered and it goes without saying what would have followed had the police allowed the protesters to have their way.
This habit sends a very strong message to investors considering investing in the lakeside town.
If you were an investor, would you put you money in Kisumu?
ST. HELENA When at the table, pick up your napkin from the top, open it slowly and set it on your lap with the open side facing down, so the fold is at your waist. Wipe your mouth from the bottom at the raw edge, so the food stays away from your clothing.
If you use the restroom, leave your napkin on the chair.
To some, this might sound like a protocol from an outdated rule book.
However, St. Helena resident Mary White, owner of White House Etiquette, says these and other rules of etiquette are just are relevant today.
Ive always felt that good manners would take you anywhere, she said.
As a teacher for more than 30 years, White noticed that many of these social skills are lacking in todays young people. She is dedicating her retirement to teaching them through her business.
We live in Napa Valley where we talk about hospitality, and we dont give the tools to these young children, she said.
White started offering classes 10 years ago after she attended the Protocol School of Washington in McClain, Virginia, with Dorothea Johnson. She later continued training at the Etiquette and Leadership Institute in Athens, Georgia.
Although she taught basic manners as part of the curriculum at St. Helena Montessori School where she worked, she felt that it wasnt enough. So she began offering etiquette courses on the side.
Since she retired from teaching a year ago, she has made the business a focus.
White teaches dining etiquette, tea etiquette, ballroom dance, business etiquette and everyday etiquette, and offers instruction on successful job interviews. The courses range in price from $75 to $325.
In her classes, she teaches young people how to give a proper handshake, introduce themselves, make eye contact and allow a comfortable space between them and another person. Her dining course covers using a napkin, how to seat a lady or be seated, which utensils to use and how, and other table manners.
At the end of her class, she has her students write a thank-you note to their parents for allowing them to come to her class.
I think its important that they know the value of thanking, she said. So many children dont put the pen to paper anymore.
Shes offered courses in homes, at restaurants and in classrooms.
Many of her students who go off to college stand out to adults due to their good manners.
People have complimented them on their dining and soft skills with grown-ups, she said. Theyve been very impressed. It makes me feel like Ive accomplished a little bit.
Proper etiquette makes others feel at ease and special.
Its not necessarily about you, she said. Its about the other person and getting to know them.
These skills pay off in the world of business.
At one of her classes she was teaching at a restaurant, a businessman ducked in and told the class how lucky they were to be learning these skills now, White said. He just happened to be at the restaurant teaching his staff members how to have lunch with a client.
Another young woman once told her as one of three candidates left for a job opportunity, she lost to the others because she didnt use her knife and fork while eating a hamburger at a nice restaurant, White said.
They are also valuable for the family environment, where many people are forsaking the family dinner.
She makes sure her classes set the stage for a culture that brings them back to valuing relationships as well as possessions.
It should be beautiful. Everything should be beautiful for the children to see, she said, so they have a sense of awe and care for things. Were such a throw-away society.
Her courses are a way to ensure that people are treated with respect, something that is lacking in todays society, she said.
Everyone is sort of out for themselves, and if we can find a way to look out for others instead of just ourselves, I think it makes for a better environment for everybody, White said.
BEIRUT -- Syrian President Bashar Assad signaled Tuesday that his government intends to escalate military efforts to crush the five-year-old uprising against his rule, saying the bloodshed will not end until he has regained control over all areas of Syria lost to the rebellion.
His tough words came amid indications that Russia is preparing to reengage in the war in support of Assad, about three months after it threw its support behind a U.S.-backed cease-fire and announced it was withdrawing most of its military from Syria.
The violence has already been ticking up, with government and Russian warplanes conducting intense air raids over northern Syria in the past week and rebels launching an offensive to recapture territory south of the city of Aleppo. According to the Institute for the Study of War, Russia tripled the number of its airstrikes over a four-day period last week, to levels not seen since before the imposition of the cessation of hostilities in late February.
Assad's comments, made in an address to a newly installed parliament in Damascus, suggested that he and his Russian allies are preparing for a full-scale resumption of the war, with Aleppo as their first target.
"As we liberated Tadmur [Palmyra] and before it many areas, we will liberate every inch of Syria from their hands. Our only option is victory, otherwise Syria will not survive," he said, referring to the ancient town in central Syria recaptured from the Islamic State militant group in March.
A peace process launched in Geneva earlier this year has failed, Assad said, blaming the West and its allies. The talks have deadlocked mainly because of disagreements over whether he should remain in power.
"Our war on terrorism will continue not because we like war. They imposed war on us." Assad said. "The bloodshed won't end until we root out terrorism, wherever it is."
He singled out Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for blame, saying Erdogan had continued to funnel support to "terrorists" in the Aleppo area. Assad has consistently labeled all the armed opponents to his rule as terrorists.
"Aleppo will be the grave where all the dreams and hopes of that butcher will be buried," he added, referring to Erdogan.
A full-scale return to war would mean an end also to U.S. hopes for a diplomatic settlement through a tentative partnership with Moscow. The effort has yielded some results, diplomats say, including evidence that Moscow has exerted pressure on the Syrian government to comply with the cease-fire at least in some places and has held back from supporting some of the regime's recent offensives.
But Moscow has also signaled impatience with what it regards as U.S. intransigence on several key Russian demands. They include a request that the two powers conduct joint airstrikes in Syria and that the United States oblige moderate rebels to disengage from al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra.
On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would step up air support for the government in the Aleppo area in response to an offensive launched mainly by Jabhat al-Nusra to the south of the city.
"What is now happening in Aleppo and around it - we warned the Americans about this in advance," Lavrov said. "The U.S. knows that we will be providing air support to the Syrian army to prevent territories from being seized by terrorists."
At the same time, Russia and the Syrian government have stepped up airstrikes to the northwest of Aleppo, effectively severing a key supply route that is the last remaining link between the rebel-held portion of the city and the outside world. Scores of civilians have been killed in the escalation of strikes, which have also targeted Aleppo itself and towns in the nearby province of Idlib.
Liz Sly is the Posts Beirut bureau chief.
We need a revolutionary strategy to stop the death spiral at Lake Berryessa.
The 15-year failure of the Bureau of Reclamation is not based on simple ineptness; often complex ineptness is involved. But the failure is actually based more on a fatally flawed policy at the federal level which treats Lake Berryessa as just another "lake in the country" to be dealt with as any other federal rural holding -- independent of context.
Lake Berryessa is not another lake in the country. It is a major economic, social and recreation resource in an urban-proximate setting whose value to Napa County and the state of California is being utterly wasted.
Old-school environmental thinking, especially at the federal level, is pointless in this situation. After 50 years of progress, we know how to implement sustainable practices for wineries, sustainable design outcomes for lake resorts, and sustainable rural development for the good of local people.
The federal government needs to be fired! "You're fired!" We need home-rule closer to the source. Napa County should take control of Lake Berryessa again. The state should do everything it can to support economic development here.
Why isn't the Napa County Board of Supervisors outraged by the economic and social damage done to the county by the feds? Napa County should stop sitting on the sidelines -- now!
Why have the big guns in the Napa Valley tourism and financial industries ignored the perfect location to expand their businesses and Napa Countys reputation as a premier recreation destination? Your expertise is needed -- now!
Even Governor Brown wishes to see more rapid progress at Lake Berryessa. The Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development could be a resource for revitalizing an economically-depressed Lake Berryessa region.
The rationale for revolutionary change is simple:
1. The federal government has shown its inability to successfully implement its own policies for decades, resulting in the destruction of a once-thriving region.
2. Knowledgeable recreation and hospitality companies have pointed out the flaws in the federal governments contract policies, policies which would need to be changed before serious companies would be interested in the lakes investment potential.
3. The federal government (BOR or BLM) is unlikely to change its policy on those flawed contract terms -- which is a recipe for future lack of action.
4. Napa County successfully ran the lake from 1958 to 1975. Many U.S. counties run major successful concessions -- San Diego County, for example.
5. Napa County managing the resorts again is a home-rule issue which solves many problems the county has complained about for decades -- cost of public services with no financial return -- sheriff patrol costs, for example. One supervisor infamously called the lake a black hole in the county budget.
6. There are several precedents for the BOR turning over management of the land portion of their water projects to local jurisdictions; Elephant Butte, New Mexico, for example.
The parties who could help create a framework for this revitalization of Lake Berryessa are:
-- Napa County Board of Supervisors (specifically Dillon and Pedroza, who represent Lake Berryessa residents);
-- The state of California -- through Bill Dodd, state Assembly/Senate member and previous county supervisor for part of Lake Berryessa;
-- Visit Napa Valley, leader of the Napa tourism industry;
-- Congressman Thompson, needed to effect change at the congressional level;
-- Sally Jewell, Interior Secretary, who could be the top-down advocate for this change and who is familiar with Lake Berryessa from her work on the National Monument.
Simply put, the federal government owes the Lake Berryessa community and Napa County big time. Napa County owes the Lake Berryessa community big time for its lack of action over the decades. Napa County managing Lake Berryessa in partnership with Napa Valley tourism professionals is the best opportunity for a Renaissance Lake Berryessa. Let's start now!
Peter Kilkus
Napa
Is it safe to swim in the Napa River?
Warmer weather in Napa Valley leaves some locals looking for a cool place to swim or dip their feet. But is it safe to swim in the Napa River?
A 2005 study reported that due to bacterial contamination, including E. coli, swimming in the river, especially within the Napa city limits, was not advisable.
The water quality of the Napa River hasnt changed significantly since then, said James Ponton, water resources control engineer with the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board.
The upper parts of the watershed are safer to swim in than the lower parts, he said. The cleaner portions are north of the city, outside the urban influence on the river.
Shari Gardner, executive director of the Friends of the Napa River, has a more accepting view of river water. No matter where youre swimming there are always hazards, but I would feel safe swimming in the Napa River and letting my kids swim in the river, she said.
Report issued on Napa Countys high cancer rate
A report on Napa Countys statistically high cancer rate finds no smoking gun and in particular finds no known link with the Syar quarry.
Overall, the patterns found in the incidence and mortality rates of Napa County are consistent with what would be expected for a higher-than-average socio-economic status population receiving better-than-average cancer screening and access to care, the report said.
But such statements are unlikely to settle the matter for everyone. Dan Mufson of Napa Vision 2050 the group that raised the cancer issue said the report raises more questions than it answers.
Napa County had The Cancer Registry of Greater California prepare the eight-page report. This organization is designated by the state Department of Public Health to collect cancer data.
Land Trust helps preserve 1,500 acres at Lake Berryessa
A deal coordinated by the Land Trust of Napa County will preserve 1,558 acres of ranch land 2.4 square miles along the remote, eastern side of Lake Berryessa, with perhaps more to come.
The Land Trust worked with two owners to establish conservation easements on the Gunn Ranch and adjacent Smitty Ranch. That means the ranches will remain as private property and closed to the public, but no longer have development rights.
Amy Gunn said seeing the stars over Lake Berryessa while growing up on the Gunn Ranch helped motivate her to preserve the familys land.
Son sentenced to prison for stabbing his father
A Napa man was sentenced to five years in state prison in Napa County Superior Court on Friday for stabbing his father multiple times last year.
Anthony Yserdo Resendez, 35, pleaded no contest to assault with a deadly weapon and resisting an officer on April 21. The original attempted murder charge, as well as a charge of battery with serious bodily injury, were dismissed.
Resendez was arrested by Napa Police on April 11, 2015, after stabbing his father multiple times with what was described as a large kitchen knife at their home on Almond Avenue, according to court documents.
His father suffered stab wounds on his back and shoulders and had cuts on his fingers and chest, according to the report. Resendezs mother reported that their son was being mean toward them the night before and not long before the incident had said that he was going to gut both of them.
CHP investigating bicycle fatality
The California Highway Patrol is continuing to investigate Friday afternoons fatal bike accident on Highway 29 in which the motorist left the scene.
Paul Schapiro, a former Napa County Bicycle Commuter of the Year, was killed shortly after 5:30 p.m. Friday as he rode southbound on the shoulder of Highway 29, north of Airport Boulevard.
A southbound car driven by Patricia Hill, 76, of Vallejo drifted onto the shoulder, striking Schapiro, then continued driving, the CHP said.
Law enforcement put out an alert for Hills 2009 Honda CR-V. A Napa County sheriffs deputy pulled Hill over a short time later as she was entering American Canyon, CHP Sgt. William Bradshaw said Monday.
Firefighter sentenced to jail for killing puppy
Nicholas Luiz, the Santa Clara firefighter who pleaded no contest to two charges of animal cruelty after killing his 6-month-old German shepherd puppy, was sentenced to 210 days in jail in Napa County Superior Court on Friday.
The puppy named Woody was killed by Luiz at his former home on Massa Drive in Napa on Dec. 29 after months of being abused. The incident was reported by a neighbor who claimed to have seen Luiz beat his dog to death, according to the prosecutions sentencing brief.
The neighbor reported that Luiz had picked Woody up, thrashing his body on the ground seven or eight times, prosecution said. When police arrived that night, no one answered. They obtained a search warrant and found the animal the next morning wrapped in a plastic garbage bag in the laundry room. Luiz admitted that things got out of control and that he had been drinking, prosecution said.
Car show raises money for students trip to London
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.
Napa Live sends music ringing through downtown
On Sunday, downtown Napa came alive with the sounds of music from rock to folk to classical and every style in between.
For six hours the heart of the city became the heart of its musical scene, as the inaugural Napa Live: Inside & Out brought free performances to parks, plazas and 30 downtown businesses. Napas mosaic of retailers doubled as a patchwork of melodies, electric guitar riffs overlapping with mandolin strumming, horn notes and tinkling keyboards.
The approachable, down-home mood of the Napa Live bands, which organizers said drew more than 3,000 visitors to downtown, were a sharp turnabout from the scenes from a week earlier, when 120,000 spectators packed the Napa Valley Expo for the name-brand bands playing the three-day BottleRock festival. And even for some who had had a taste of the big-time pop spectaculars, being surrounded by musicians at street level was just fine.
Transportation leaders think projects that help people travel more conveniently by foot can be built without destroying scenery, fouling the air or disturbing rare frogs -- and they have a study to prove it.
The Napa Valley Transportation Authority under state law had to do an environmental study for its draft Countywide Pedestrian Plan. But this study is a walk in the park at 85 pages.
By comparison, a proposal to mine hills for the Syar quarry expansion resulted in more than 2,500 pages of studies. A proposal to create the Walt Ranch vineyard in hills east of Napa resulted in more than 1,500 pages.
Still, the pedestrian plan for the county and its five cities is about more than installing a few additional sidewalks. Some of the 99 proposed projects would reshape the landscape to some extent, if money can be found to build them.
One section of the environmental report looks at aesthetics and finds steps can be taken to avoid significant impacts.
For example, Napa wants to build overpasses along Highway 29 at West Pueblo Avenue and Trower Avenue. Although the proposed -- and yet-to-be funded -- projects are for cars as well as walkers and cyclists, they show up in the pedestrian plan.
These overpasses would block views of the Napa Valleys scenic hillsides, the study said. But the areas are urbanized and dont afford highly scenic views relative to rural sections of Highway 29, it said.
Design treatments could make the overpasses themselves more attractive, the study said. It mentions artistic endeavors that display the history of the area as a possibility.
Installing more pedestrian lighting along Jefferson Street in Napa near downtown Napa and in rural Angwin would improve safety, the study said. It concluded that these types of projects would not significantly cause light pollution that blocks out views of the nighttime skies.
Two proposed pedestrian bridges over the Napa River in the Oxbow District would block river views. A St. Helena trail along Sulphur Creek could remove trees and shrubs visible from Highway 29.
On balance, however, the pedestrian projects would improve the visual quality of scenic roadways and expand non-motorized access to scenic areas, the report said.
Another section of the report addresses air pollution.
Walkers on the new sidewalks and bridges could be exposed to carbon monoxide and other pollutants from passing cars. But the report said the exposure would be brief and the projects could reduce vehicle miles traveled.
Yet another section addresses plants and animals protected by federal and state law.
Projects such as new trails, road extensions and bridge construction could disturb habitat where the California red-legged frog and other rare species live. A biologist should inspect the areas before construction, the study said.
Proposed landscaping improvements in downtown Calistoga and St. Helena would require irrigation. To reduce water use, drought-tolerant plants are to be used for landscaping.
People can comment on the environmental study -- called a mitigated negative declaration -- through 5 p.m. June 22. Go to nvta.ca.gov to find the pedestrian plan and environmental study.
The Napa Valley Transportation Authority is to consider adopting the pedestrian plan on July 20. Transportation leaders say having such a plan in place will help the county compete for grants to build the projects.
The St. Helena Public Schools Foundation (SHPSF) and its supporting organization, the St. Helena Public Schools Foundation Endowment Trust, community nonprofits that have supported educators and students at St. Helenas four public schools for more than three decades, have announced the elevation of current board directors to leadership posts.
Outgoing SHPSF board president Dorothy Mondavi, who served as president for the last three years and as a board director for more than two decades, has been succeeded as president by Cecilia Raffo, another long-serving director and past treasurer. Mondavi will continue her service to the SHPSF as a board director.
Board director Becky Boult has accepted the treasurer position on an interim basis and has been elevated to chair the organizations Grant Committee, previously led by Dorothy Mondavi.
Kris Hoffmeister continues in her current role as secretary, as does Vice President Dianne Maher. Joel Toller continues as Endowment Trust Liaison.
The SHPSF designates a board director to serve as liaison between the organization and the administrators, educators, students and parents of each public school.
The School Liaison designees for the 2016/17 school year are:
St. Helena Primary School and St. Helena Elementary School: Kerri Beeker
Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School: Dianne Maher
St. Helena High School: Cecilia Raffo
The mission of the SHPSF is achieved through its grant program, funding excellence, innovation and advancement for educators and students at St. Helenas four public schools. Grant information, including application guidelines, forms and submission dates, can be found on the organizations website, shpsf.org.
If youve ever had the urge to live like a very, very rich Redneck Woman, then youre in luck because Gretchen Wilson is currently selling her musician-friendly Tennessee home.
According to the listing, the home is just under 9000 sq ft and is close to the Nashville International Airport and Downtown Nashville. It sits on nearly 17 prime acres and features 4 bedrooms, 5 full baths, 1 half bath, an attached garage, a detached garage, as well as an incredible recording studio, although youll have to purchase the equipment separately if you want to actually record there.
Take a peek at Gretchens amazing home in the video below and if you have a few million to spare ($1.7 million to be exact) and are ready to jump at this bargain, head over to artisthomeandstudio.com to get all the contact details.
[youtube id=Inss7UOK8-g]
India fines Google for $113 million
Biden says Russia would make 'serious mistake' if it deploys tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine
Romania plans to intensify talks on Black Sea and military purchases
Karekin II and Aram I refuse to participate in World Armenian Forum
IMF Director: Ukraine's need for external financing could reach $5 billion month
Turkey continues to beat out gas discount from Russia and payment deferral from Gazprom
Alen Simonyan refuses to participate in fifth meeting of Russian-Armenian Lazarev Club
UN Security Council to meet at Russia's request over accusations that Iran is supplying drones to Russia
Leading Wall Street bankers warn of recession in US and Europe
Armenian FM tells Vatican secretary of state about Azerbaijani aggression
Secretary of Armenian Security Council holds telephone conversation with Biden's aide
IEA head: World still needs Russian oil to flow into the market
Norwegian police arrest man on suspicion of spying for Russia
Ambassador-at-Large meets with Personal Representative of OSCE Chairman-in-Office
EU to offer banks to offer mandatory instant payments in euros
Ambassador: Active efforts of Armenian authorities are registering regress in Armenian-Russian relations
Saudi minister: Saudi Arabia and US will overcome unjustified spat
Zatulin: My ban on entering Armenia coincides with trilateral meeting planned in Russia
Rishi Sunak vows to fix 'mistakes' of Liz Truss
MFA comments on information about meeting of special envoys of Armenia and Turkey
Daily Sabah: Armenian, Turkish special representatives next meeting planned in Turkey
The Telegraph: US President Biden mispronounces Rishi Sunak's name
Zelenskyy proposes creating platforms for the 'de-occupation' of Transnistria and Abkhazia
'Armenia' bloc deputy: Nikol Pashinyan and Suren Papikyan are lying
Dollar falls, euro rises
Stanislav Zass discusses with Lavrov situation in CSTO zone of responsibility
New British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife are richer than royalty
Klaar: EU actively engaged in Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process at all levels
Nissan reveals updated Juke crossover
FM briefs Sovereign Order of Malta Grand Chancellor on Armenia position on normalizing relations with Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan prepares for peace with Armenia but dramatically increases military budget
North Korea completes preparations for nuclear test
Azerbaijan manipulates facts, creates information pretext to encroach on Lachin corridor
Azerbaijan military aggression against Armenia is discussed at Francophonie Parliamentary Assembly conference (PHOTOS)
Peskov says details of gas hub with Turkey were being worked out
Konstantin Zatulin on ban on his entry into Armenia: I see it as insulting move
Putin's spokesman says building wall on Russian-EU borders is nonsense
Turkey begins its part of work on gas hub agreement with Russia
Kremlin responds to Macron's appeal to Pope to negotiate with Putin
Millliyet: Turkish and Finnish delegations hold talks on NATO membership in Ankara
Zelenskiy: Ukraine receives not 'a single cent' on $17 billion rapid recovery plan
Rishi Sunak takes office as Prime Minister of Great Britain
Indonesian armed woman tries to break into presidential palace
Pashinyan's family newspaper writes that Konstantin Zatulin is forbidden to enter Armenia from now on
President Raisi accuses U.S. of information terrorism, organizing riots in Iran
AraratBank and 4090 Charity Foundation team up for the education of war participants
Ursula von der Leyen: EU to provide Kyiv with 1 billion for urgent restoration of energy supply
World Bank to provide Armenia with EUR 22.6 million of additional credit funds
Macron asks Pope to call Putin to solve Ukraine crisis
PM: Azerbaijan hinders search of Armenian soldiers' bodies in occupied territories
German president assures Ukraine of his full support
Armenia ruling force MP: Major powers have told us You should sign that agreement by the end of the year
WSJ: Saudi Prince Bin Salman mocks Biden in private talks
OSCE needs assessment mission is briefed on situation in Armenias Jermuk after Azerbaijan military aggression (PHOTOS)
Armenias Pashinyan to Kazakhstans Tokayev: Mutually beneficial cooperation corresponds to our countries interests
Driver, 41, dies in hospital 2 days after Armenia car accident
US: Former student opens fire at school
Turkish Finance Minister says he would seek gas discount from Gazprom
US State Dept.: We are interested in seeing stable Caucasus where we work both with Armenia and Azerbaijan
US plans to allocate $25M to project to strengthen Armenia economy
Copper prices decline
Armenia premier: Italy is friendly country, important partner for us
Pashinyan to Xi: We will succeed in qualitatively raising Armenian-Chinese political dialogue to new level
World Bank allocates Ukraine additional $500 million
Zelenskyy: If Moscow says Ukraine is making dirty bomb, then Russia made it
Newspaper: Anti-CSTO consolidation initiative group of Armenia sends petition to parliament speaker
World oil prices going up
Newspaper: Armenia PM forbids political teammates to say anything about Karabakh
Azerbaijan opens fire at Armenia positions
Largest cruise liner in world 'Icon of the Seas' presented
U.S. police officers mistake pet cat for mountain lion
Joe Biden gets another Covid-19 booster shot
US imposes sanctions on Nicaragua's gold mining industry
Kremlin says Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents prepare to meet
Leading Party Sponsor: Conservative Party is not fit to run Britain
'From Old Memory': Drivers can't see road signs on section of North-South highway under construction in Yerevan
Russian MFA: We are sure that attempts of external forces to split Moscow and Yerevan will not succeed
Yair Lapid: Israel is deeply concerned over Russia and Iran's military ties
Another school shooting in U.S.: 3 dead, including shooter
Azerbaijani Armed Forces shell Armenian positions
The NATOs Secretary General Jens Stoltonberg believes that the NATOs potential military operations in Libya may need support of the international community and be implemented within the framework of the UN.
We stand ready to help Libya and the new government of national accord Any help from NATO will be, of course, based on a request from the new government and will be part of the UN-led efforts to stabilize that country We do not speak about combat forces or combat operations Our main focus is on how NATO can help Libya build defence institutions said Stoltenberg in Brussels.
According to the NATOs Secretary General, so far there have not been any decisions," reports RIA Novosti. What is important now, according to him, is to carefully evaluate different alternatives - with the EU, the UN and the Libyan government - to discuss the best approach ," said the NATOs secretary general.
He noted that the NATO is ready to help, but the help needs to be acceptable for the international community and the Libyan government.
STEPANAKERT. In accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission will conduct a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan.
The monitoring will be held on Wednesday, in the eastern direction of Kuropatkino settlement of the NKR Martuni Region.
From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring will be conducted by Jiri Aberle (Czech Republic), Field Assistant of the Personal Representative to the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office (CiO); and Simon Tiller (Great Britain), Personal Assistant of the Personal Representative to the OSCE CiO.
The NKR authorities have expressed their readiness to assist in conducting the monitoring and to ensure the safety of the OSCE Mission members.
The International Committee of Defense that pleads for 34-year-old Aramayis Avagyan charged of radical Islamist activity in Uzbekistan and a number of other serious crimes applied to the Uzbek authorities urging on them to consider the calls of the EU to review Aramayis Avagyans, his friends and lawyers - Odil Kobilov- case in accordance with international standards and Uzbekistan's legislation, reports the RFE/RL Armenian service .
As the agency report, Avagyan and his friends were sentenced to seven years of imprisonment.
Avagyan +4 firm, that pleads for the prisoners, made a statement that Uzbekistan's National Security Service officers "illegally arrested Aramayis Avagyan, Furkat Juraev, Bektemir Umrzakov, Dilshod Aminov, and Akmal Mamatmuradovin, and that no one knew their whereabouts during 40 days. According to the statement, Avagyan and his friends were subjected to violence with an anticipation that they would make a confession.
The statement was sent to the UN Secretary General, to the European Union , the OSCE, the UN Human Rights Council ,the Human Rights Watch, the Amnesty International, and the Freedom House.
"Human rights activists and those involved or follow the development of the case are convinced that the criminal case was initiated with a purpose to deprive Avagyan from his business," says the statement. The statement also reminds: "after the governments threats Avagyans lawyer Abdullayeva had to abandon the case, whereas the second attorney, Odile Kobilov found himself in a situation where he had to defend his interests, as he was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment. The criminal case against Odile Kobilov simply rules out the rule of law and trust in the Uzbek criminal justice.
On May 26 of 2016 in Vienna the OSCE Permanent Council issued a statement that calls to review the case of Avagyan and his lawyer Odile Kobilov.
Meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Heads of Government Council, during which more than twenty programs are planned to be discussed, got underway Tuesday in the Kyrgyz capital city of Bishkek, reported RIA Novosti news agency of Russia.
Vache Gabrielyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Economic Integration and Reforms, represents Armenia at the event.
The heads of CIS governments will meet in narrow and extended formats, during which they will discuss cooperation among the CIS countries.
Most of the matters on the event agenda are devoted to economic cooperation, but they also include cooperation in health care.
YEREVAN. The German Bundestag decision to recognize Armenian Genocide is not so much linked to this issue of the Armenians concern, as it is to a certain political line that has become dominant in Germany.
Russian Armenian political scientist Karine Gevorgyan on Tuesday said the aforementioned at a press conference in Armenias capital city of Yerevan.
She recalled that the European Parliament is an advisory, but not a legislative body. Several years ago, the European Parliament had called for the recognition of Armenian Genocide.
As per the analyst, since this decision is solely advisory, the respective Bundestag resolution is linked to German domestic matters.
To put it bluntly, this is a message that if you [i.e. the Turkish community of Germany] are German citizens but do not accept the decision of the [German] legislative body, bye-bye to you, said Gevorgyan. Germany has resolved its matters. The Armenian side received moral satisfaction, which is certainly very important. But one must be able to judge clear-headedly and understand that the decision was adopted to achieve ones own goals.
Moreover, Karine Gevorgyan noted that this was done very competently, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who declares that Germany is open to everyone, was not in attendance to the respective Bundestag session.
On June 2, the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, formally recognized the Armenian Genocide, with the aforesaid resolution and with only one vote against and one abstention. The resolution also notes that the Bundestag regrets that the German government at the time did nothing to stop this crime against humanity, and therefore the Bundestag also acknowledges the respective historical accountability of Germany.
YEREVAN. After Ukraine, Armenia was the second blow that was struck to the positions of Russia.
Russian Armenian political scientist Karine Gevorgyan, who is co-author of the 1995 report on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, on Tuesday noted the aforesaid at a press conference in Armenias capital city of Yerevan.
The analyst said, back in January, she had predicted the hostilities in the Karabakh conflict zone in early April.
She noted that Russia is simply confused by what occurred and the anti-Russian sentiments that surfaced in Armenia.
The Armenian society was containing the insult [toward it by Russia], noted Gevorgyan. But it could not help noticing that Russia forgives the large debts of others, and it is solely Armenia that has paid [its debts to Russia] until the last penny, with its property.
In terms of arms, the political scientist added that Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev supplied S-300 missile systems in the context of a difficult situation in Russia.
There are Turkish advisers in the Azerbaijani army, said the political scientist. [Azerbaijan President Ilham] Aliyev has money. What can they [i.e. the Russians] offer? Weapon is the fastest and greatest money. Otherwise, Aliyev would buy arms from NATO.
Separately, Karine Gevorgyan stressed that there is a high probability of a new short war in the Karabakh conflict zone in August.
They [i.e. the Azerbaijanis] will burn the crop, she explained. It is inevitable.
YEREVAN. On the occasion of Europe Day, President Serzh Sargsyan on Tuesday visited the European Union (EU) Delegation to Armenia.
The Presidential Press Office informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that Sargsyan congratulated Ambassador Piotr Switalski, Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, as well as the delegation staff and the large EU family on Europe Day, and wished them peace and prosperity.
I am glad that our relations, political contacts have become quite active, [and] the high-level mutual visits have become more frequent in recent years, said the President. Our talks around the Armenia-EU new comprehensive legal document are proceeding successfully, and we hope that the document will be signed within a reasonable time, which will further enhance our cooperation.
Ambassador Switalski, in turn, stressed that the EU Delegation considers the Europe Day celebrations to be a shared holiday, which it wishes to celebrate with Armenia and the large European family.
He said they are grateful to the Armenian authorities for their assistance in holding Europe Day celebrations throughout Armenia. The European diplomat noted that they are exerting their best efforts to develop relations with Armenia, and they find that they have the potential for further development of these relations.
Subsequently, President Serzh Sargsyan and Ambassador Piotr Switalski discussed Armenia-EU cooperation, reflected on the ongoing reforms in Armenia, and the Armenian Presidents thanked the EU for its continued assistance in the implementation of these reforms.
The interlocutors also expressed the hope that the mutual efforts toward the development of Armenia-EU relations will further enrich the bilateral agenda and raise these relations to a new level.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu made the ridiculous claim and accused the Armenian lobby of carrying out anti-Turkish campaign in Russia.
Cavusoglu stated, on the air of Turkish state-run TRT television, that Turkey and Russia need to restore their relations like smart countries, and stressed that there is no direct contact yet between them.
The Turkish FM, however, seems to forget that after downing a Russian military plane over Syria in November 2015, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and then Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had stated that they were right in destroying this aircraft, and this had caused anti-Turkish sentiments in Russia.
And after all this, the Turkish FM claimed that the cause of these anti-Turkish sentiments in Russia is the Armenian lobby which, as per Mevlut Cavusoglu, is influential in Russian media.
German officials should press President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan during his visit to Berlin to free unjustly imprisoned government critics and political activists, Human Rights Watch said.
German officials should also urge Aliyev to lift restrictions on activists recently freed from prison and reform laws that severely curtail fundamental freedoms.
Aliyev is in Germany for an official visit on June 7-8, 2016.
Aliyevs visit provides a crucial opportunity for German officials to lend their voices to justice, said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. German officials should encourage President Aliyev to end the countrys human rights crackdown and stop muzzling dissenters.
Those freed in recent months had been targeted and jailed in the governments sustained and pervasive crackdown on dissent. Since 2013, dozens of human rights defenders, political and civic activists, journalists, and bloggers have been arrested or imprisoned on politically motivated charges, prompting others to flee the country or go into hiding. In June 2015, the Bundestag adopted a resolution on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan, criticizing the crackdown and calling on the authorities to immediately and unconditionally release those unjustly imprisoned.
The convictions of the released activists remain in force. Furthermore, five were released on suspended sentences, and three of those remain vulnerable to being returned to custody and their freedom of movement and ability to leave the country have been curtailed. In April, the authorities allowed the veteran human rights defender Leyla Yunus, and her husband, Arif Yunus, to travel abroad for medical treatment, as their fragile health had deteriorated precipitously in custody.
Other journalists and activists remain behind bars, following similar politically motivated charges, ranging from hooliganism to tax evasion
In recent months, Azerbaijani authorities have taken some steps to rectify the results of the pervasive government crackdown on dissent, Williamson said. However, the authorities should release everyone in jail on politically motivated charges and allow them to continue their work free of intimidation and harassment.
Azerbaijan has also adopted repressive laws on nongovernmental groups and taken criminal and administrative actions against many independent groups. The laws, together with criminal investigations against a number of groups and foreign donors, have paralyzed many independent groups in Azerbaijan, Human Rights Watch said.
Although the authorities halted a number of investigations into nongovernmental organizations in March, existing legislative restrictions continue to hinder their ability to operate.
German officials should impress upon President Aliyev that the quality of bilateral relations depends on Azerbaijans fulfillment of its international obligations, Williamson said. Releasing unjustly jailed activists and amending repressive laws should be first few steps on that road.
About 47 percent of European businesses would expand business in China this year, and a clear majority would likely increase their investment if they see China's reforms in many sectors to be better implemented, says a survey released on June 7.
"Despite slowing and L-shaped growth, China's economy could be powered, for another two or three decades, on high-quality expansion by measures including further pruning overcapacity, supply side transformation and strengthening innovation," said Roland Berger CEO Charles-Edouard Bouee.
"Addressing these tasks and the challenges highlighted by the Business Confidence Survey will ensure both that all of this growth ultimately takes place. And that European businesses are able to make a major contribution towards attaining it," he says.
The European Chamber, in cooperation with Roland Berger, today, released its annual Business Confidence Survey 2016, which says that 41 percent of European companies are now re-evaluating their China operations and planning to cut costs through head count reduction. While 56 percent of respondents report that doing business in China has become more difficult, a five-point increase from 2015, 70 percent of respondents do not feel more welcome in China than they did 10 years ago, and 72 percent European companies' willing to invest in R&D in China , dropped from 85 percent in2015.
China has vowed to provide a more open and competitive market for foreign companies. However, the reports says European companies still think China's progress in reforms is not fast enough, which triggers some pessimism among them.
Xu Hongcai, director of the economic research department at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges says that China is undergoing an economic slowdown and an economic transformation.
"It is also tackling the problems of overcapacity, so European companies might need time to adapt to this situation, but they should see China is speeding up the process of reform and opening up," says Hu.
Moreover, Hu says there are still huge opportunities in China for Western companies.
"The key is for them to do more field researches in different regions and industries of China to find out the specific demands in different regions and industries and find opportunities for themselves. For example, in China's urbanization process and the development of green industries, Europe's technology, capital and management experiences are all greatly needed."
European Chamber President Joerg Wuttke says that the China-EU bilateral investment treaty, which is still undergoing negotiations, would be integral to improving the business environment and reducing market access barriers.
"European companies now need a road map. This will give them with the confidence they need to commit more to China's future development in these economically challenging times," Wuttke said.
The survey was based on response from 506 European companies in China, of which half of them are small and medium-sized companies.
Germany, as the chairing country of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), will contribute to the pacific resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated the aforesaid during her joint news conference, on Tuesday in capital city Berlin, with visiting Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
In her words, it is indispensable not only to maintain ceasefire, but to achieve progress in the political process.
In this regard, it is necessary to cooperate not only with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries [i.e. Russia, US, and France], but all members, stressed Merkel. We need to think about how we can move the process forward. [But] we cant do it alone; all parties to the conflict are its part.
The German chancellor also noted that Russia plays an especially big role in settling this conflict.
When the word is about reaching a resolution to the conflict, we will use our contacts with the Russians, Americans, and French, added Angela Merkel.
The tension in Armenian-Turkish relations will reduce when the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is resolved.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel noted the abovementioned during her joint news conference, on Tuesday in capital city Berlin, with visiting Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. She stated this while reflecting on the German Bundestags passing of the resolution that recognizes Armenian Genocide.
Efforts were made back in 2005 and 2009, to normalize relations between Armenia and Turkey, said Merkel.
In the chancellors words, Germany will continue to make efforts to review history between Armenia and Turkey.
We support the setting up of a commission of historians, she added. And I have spoken about this with the leaderships of both Armenia and Turkey.
As for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans recent statement, according to which the blood of the Bundestags Turkish MPs that have voted for the aforesaid resolution should be analyzed to check whether they truly are Turks, Angela Merkel noted that they dont understand Turkeys reaction, these lawmakers are freely elected deputies.
On June 2, the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, formally recognized the Armenian Genocide, with the aforesaid resolution and with only one vote against and one abstention. The resolution also notes that the Bundestag regrets that the German government at the time did nothing to stop this crime against humanity, and therefore the Bundestag also acknowledges the respective historical accountability of Germany.
An article about Armenia has been published in the Italian journalist Silvana Pepes authoritative Credere magazine.
Below we present the abridged version of the article:
Arat Mateyan tells that he risked his life every moment when going shopping out of the district controlled by jihadist groups in Aleppo. Finding provisions to survive was merely a struggle of life and death. Once the jihadists caught him and questioned for a long time, inquiring whether he was from the opposite front. He explained that he was an Armenian, who had been living in Aleppo for many years and who was now trying to make both ends meet by re-selling food and wood, having no political owners.
In the end, he had to leave Aleppo with his wife Talin and move to Yerevan, where they now live in the outskirts of the city. Arat is a 30-year-old engineer. His wife says they have lost everything in Aleppo, including the ice factory of their relatives captured uncle and cousin which was left in the territory controlled by the opposition, in Aleppos Shaykh Najjar district. Having no news from the captured relatives, a week later they received a death penalty video, which was accompanied by an announcement addressed to all the Christians.
The Christian migration began. Prior to the war, 150,000 Christians lived in Aleppo, 80,000 of which were Armenians, who had found asylum there, having survived the genocide of 1915. They had their rich cultural heritage, the Forty Martyrs Cathedral (15th century) now totally destroyed being part of it.
20,000 Syrian Armenian migrants, 14,000 of which have decided to stay in Armenia, get the support of various international organizations, including UNHCR, Oxfam, Caritas, AGBU, as well as other institutions and Armenian Diaspora benevolent organizations, without which the government even despite its readiness and will wouldnt perhaps have been able to address the needs of all the Syrian Armenians. Many of them have set out without any belongings, taking only the Bible with them, and crossing the same heroic path which their ancestors passed. This is the modern history of the people, who are looking forward to the visit of Pope Francis on June 24-26.
This is an exceptional event for us, which will give us strength to manifest our Christian faith, Etchmiadzin spokesman Father Vahram says.
Our centuries-old history is a history of martyrs, since we have always struggled for maintaining our Christian values. Referring to the Karabakh War, Father Vahram notes: This is a war which is waged for our peoples defense and their right to live freely on the land of our ancestors. Here the words of Pope Francis can be recalled: This is a war periodWe are witnessing piecemeal of World WarWar is madnessa senseless bloodshed. But will Pope Francis be able to stop that senseless madness?
During the Vienna meeting, the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents confirmed their commitment to ceasefire and peaceful settlement of the conflict.
Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Popov, said the aforementioned in an interview with Interfax.
In his words, according to the information received from the OSCE monitors, this agreement is mostly observed: [This is apparent] Especially if we compare the current situation with what we had in early April this year. Therefore, it is important to move towards the practical implementation of the agreements reached in Vienna on reduction of military risks and creation of conditions for the resumption of the negotiation process aimed at achieving stable settlement.
According to the mediator, the possibility to enter the expert level depends on the sides readiness to overcome the existing controversies on the key issues of the settlement and reach a framework agreement.
After this it will be possible to speak about the setting up of expert groups, also in order to include this agreement in a legally binding document. There are prospects for this. In Vienna the presidents principally agreed on the necessity to resume the negotiation process on essential matters. I hope the constructive stance will prevail, Popov noted.
Referring to the investigation of military incidents, Popov noted that the high-level agreements on completing the work on the relevant mechanism have been reached, and the OSCE specialists are now working on its final adjustment. Last week, together with the Minsk Group Co-Chair, we passed the experts preliminary project to the Azerbaijani and Armenian FMs. We are waiting for the sides conclusion.
The deployment of international peace support forces is provided by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement plans, Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Popov said in an interview with Interfax.
In practice, the issue on peacekeepers may arise after the key agreements on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement are reached. The launch of the international peace support forces must be preceded by the adoption of a relevant UN Security Council resolution, as provided by the decision of the OSCE Budapest Summit. The selection of peacekeeping contingents from the countries ready to provide them will be carried out on the basis of an agreement between the sides to the conflict, the mediator said.
Asked about the position of the Russian side on the proposals to include unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh in the talks and expand the number of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs, including at the expense of Germany, Popov noted that the Karabakh people indeed do not formally take part in the talks. However, much attention is attached to this topic during the meetings of the Co-Chairs in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh. I suppose that at a certain stage - for instance, after reaching the framework agreement they will be given an opportunity to return to the negotiation table.
Referring to the expansion of the number of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Popov noted that this topic is occasionally included in media outlets, being actively circulated among the political community.
But the issue on increasing the number of the Co-Chairs has been advanced neither during the talks of our troika with the sides, nor in the contacts with other mediators of the initiative. After all, reaching an agreement doesnt depend on the number of the Co-Chairs, but on the sides readiness to reach compromise, he noted.
As to Germany, as the current OSCE Chairman and member of the Minsk Group, it actively works in the direction of Karabakh [conflict settlement], taking direct part in the implementation of the Vienna agreements related to the reinforcement of confidence-building measures between the sides. The Co-Chairs closely keep in touch with the Germany representatives, the Co-Chair stressed.
STRASBOURG. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance today published its new report on Azerbaijan. While progress was achieved in areas such as migration legislation and living conditions of historical minorities, other issues give rise to concern, such as the continued use of hate speech, a crackdown on independent civil society and media, prejudice against LGBT people and discrimination against religious minorities.
On the background of a general attitude of openness towards most historical minorities in Azerbaijan, ECRI welcomes that the authorities have improved their living conditions by decentralising institutions and by constructing infrastructure such as schools and roads to remote villages. In 2014, the Baku International Multiculturalism centre was set up and a Migration Code was adopted.
At the same time, ECRI expresses concern about a wide ranging crack-down on independent civil society and media. As a result, vulnerable groups can no longer turn to NGOs for assistance in cases of racism, hate speech and discrimination.
Even though no violent hate crime based on ethnic affiliation has been registered in Azerbaijan during the last five years, political leaders, educational institutions and media have continued spreading hate speech. The pardon, release and promotion in 2012 of Ramil Safarov, who had been sentenced in Budapest to life imprisonment for the murder of an Armenian army officer, contributes to a sense of impunity for the perpetrators of racist crime. The report recommends that authorities put an end to the constant, mediatised use of hate speech, and rather promote mutual understanding and confidence.
Political leaders, educational institutions and media have continued using hate speech against Armenians; an entire generation of Azerbaijanis has now grown up listening to this hateful rhetoric. Human rights activists working inter alia towards reconciliation with Armenia have been sentenced to heavy prison terms on controversial accusations and there are big concerns that hate speech provisions have been misused against the Talysh minority. Hate speech is also targeted at LGBT persons, the report says.
The Commission urges authorities to ensure that public officials at all levels refrain from hate speech towards Armenians and create adequate conditions for the development of a diverse and independent civil society.
Azerbaijan has not enacted comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation and there is no institution responsible for preventing and combating racism and discrimination in the private sector. ECRI also deplores a considerable number of violent attacks against LGBT persons, many committed by family members. The Law on Freedom of Religious Belief is not in line with international standards. Various religious minorities have been subject to harsh restrictions and discrimination, including police raids, detention, closure of places of worship, the ban on praying outside mosques, censorship of religious literature and heavy penalties. In practice, there are no alternatives to military service in Azerbaijan.
Biology alumna Sara Briley is this year's recipient of the Giles T. Brown Outstanding Thesis Award.
As a graduate student, Cal State Fullerton biology alumna Sara Briley spent two years and many days and hours swimming in Alamitos Bay in Long Beach counting eelgrass found in shallow coastal areas for her thesis research.
She collected samples and took them back to the lab to study the impacts Olympia oyster bed restoration may have on nearby eelgrass beds.
Since 2010, her faculty mentor, Danielle Zacherl, professor of biological science, and her students have been restoring Olympia oyster beds in local coastal waters. The oyster, native to the West Coast, has experienced significant population declines due to over-harvesting and habitat destruction. When Briley joined Zacherls lab in fall 2011, she took on the eelgrass research project to explore the possible impacts and relationship of the oyster bed in Alamitos Bay on eelgrass density and its growth.
In her graduate thesis, Briley reported that overall, there was no conspicuous impact on the adjacent eelgrass bed neither positive nor negative.
The findings support the potential coexistence of a constructed Olympia oyster bed and adjacent eelgrass, which is relevant to the design of future restoration efforts for both species, she said.
For her research work, Briley was awarded the 2016 Giles T. Brown Outstanding Thesis Award, which recognizes distinguished scholarly achievement at the masters level.
Its such a huge honor and speaks to the guidance and support Ive gotten along the way, said Briley, who earned her masters degree in biology in 2015. My thesis project ties in with my passion for inspiring ocean conservation through community restoration. Its been a fulfilling project and something that can have a lasting impact on coastal habitats.
Zacherl, who nominated Briley for the award, called her a positive and dynamic addition to my lab.
Sara is a serious scholar who produced a timely and well-written thesis, said Zacherl, who added that they are preparing her thesis for publication.
Eelgrass beds are important for the marine ecosystem to promote oxygen production, food and serve as nursery grounds for many species of fish and invertebrates, said Briley. Like the Olympia oyster, eelgrass beds have been impacted by coastal development and dredging, she added.
As a result of her work, Briley forged collaborations with area eelgrass researchers, including Orange County Coastkeeper, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect and promote water resources, which hired her in 2014 as its restoration coordinator. In her role, she coordinates the restoration of oyster, eelgrass, abalone and other nearshore habitats with the help of community volunteers.
Additionally, since her eelgrass research left many questions unanswered, Briley leveraged her thesis data to apply for funding from the California State Coastal Conservancy, with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration support. She received a $250,000 grant for her Living Shorelines project to explore the potential use of adjacent oyster and eelgrass beds as more natural alternatives to protect shorelines instead of man-made structures such as a sea wall.
Briley will lead an eelgrass restoration project in upper Newport Bay starting this month, and has hired Zacherl, who with her students will focus on oyster monitoring.
I look forward to continuing to working with Dr. Zacherl. As a student, she allowed me the flexibility to develop the eelgrass project independently while giving me the feedback I needed to succeed. I definitely would not have gotten this far without her mentorship.
15:06
The Shiv Sena on Wednesday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop maligning India on foreign shores with his public utterances on corruption in the country.
The Sena took strong objection to Modis repeated statements criticizing the corrupt systems in India during his foreign trips, saying this would prove counter-productive in the long run.
The PM said publicly in Doha how India was steeped in graft, and outlined the measures he had initiated to clean up the mess. The gathering clapped and cheered him. This is nothing but maligning the countrys fair image abroad, the Sena said in an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana.
It wondered who was responsible if there was talk of corruption among the masses even two years after a Bharatiya Janata Party-led government took charge of the country.
The (corruption) matters coming up in (BJP-ruled) Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh can the Gandhi family be still blamed for it? it asked.
The PM knows better. Hes the countrys face and the world has faith in him. But the world may also misinterpret his statements abroad and this could directly hit our economy, the Sena cautioned.
Chiding Modi, it advised him to criticize corruption and other ills plaguing India domestically and tackle them effectively.
Enough has been spoken about the alleged corruption of Gandhi family and Robert Vadra. Now, its time for action against them. No need to travel to Europe and America shouting about it, the editorial said.
As a nation we are all united, and despite our political differences, we are like a big undivided family and this is the image which should be presented before the whole world.
Touching on Modis recent trip to Switzerland, it chided Modis request seeking the names of Indians holding black money in that countrys banks. This, Saamana said, was ruining Indias image abroad.
The Swiss economy thrives on stash monies from all over the world and they will never reveal whose black money is lying there.
Modi had assured Rs.15 lakh to each Indian by bringing back the hidden money in foreign banks. But all this must be done very discreetly, the Sena said.
Anyway, it pointed out that there was enough black money within India. So what is being done about it?
The Sena said India must be the only country in the world where its a sin to eat beef, mutton, chicken, eggs, fish, garlic and onions but it is no crime if public money is stolen.
SYDNEY, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Health authorities in the Australian state of Queensland are awaiting test results to confirm if two women who recently returned from a holiday in Bali have contracted the Zika virus.
Residents located in Queensland's north are being urged to protect themselves from the virus following the two suspected cases.
Queensland state Director of Public Health Dr Steven Donohue told Xinhua in a statement on Monday there was no connection with another recent case as the virus was acquired in a different country.
"The Bowen and Cannonvale travellers became unwell after returning from Bali," Donohue said.
"They were travelling with another person who lives near Gordonvale and that person has tested positive for Zika."
Donohue noted both women had now recovered, which made getting a definitive diagnosis a longer process, as the virus was no longer active in the body.
Authorities have now been sent to the area in northern Queensland to look for potential breeding sites.
The Asia-Pacific has been on high alert for the mosquito-borne virus, currently found in epidemic proportions in the Americas, after being declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO) in early February.
The virus has been linked to birth defects in unborn babies.
BEIJING, June 6 (Xinhua) -- China released a remote sensing report on Monday, detailing ecological information related to land cover, vegetation, agricultural conditions and marine environment on a global scale.
The report, compiled by the National Remote Sensing Center under the Ministry of Science and Technology, has covered a land area of more than 56 million sq kilometers and more than 22 million sq kilometers in sea area.
In particular, the report included environmental data of countries covered by the China-proposed "Belt and Road" initiative, said Li Jiahong, chief engineer of the center.
The report highlighted the China-Central Asia-West Asia economic corridor, noting that the arid environment in China's Xinjiang, Kazakhstan and Iran is extremely fragile and water resource must be a top consideration when formulating economic and urbanization policies.
The report and relevant data will be published on the website of the center www.nrscc.gov.cn and the website of the group on earth observations chinageoss.org.
ADDIS ABABA, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) has commended China for the overall development support China provides to Africa in general, and to capacity building of the continent in information and communication technology (ICT) sector in particular.
Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the AU Commission, has called for more cooperation with China on ICT development in Africa.
Mwencha made the remarks on Monday during an event organized in connection with the Huawei "Seeds for the Future" program at the headquarters of the pan-African bloc in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.
Huawei and AU signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in January 2015 for cooperation between the two sides in the area of ICT and capacity building for the African continent.
In the implementation of the MoU, under its initiative dubbed "Seeds for the Future" Huawei has been organizing training and experience sharing visits for African experts in China.
In line with the Huawei "Seeds for the Future" program, the first batch of 20 African experts have attended the training in December 2015 in China, which was accompanied by a site visit aimed to familiarize the African experts with the latest information and communications technologies at Huawei China.
In the latest move, the 2nd Batch "Seeds for the Future", which includes 10 ICT experts from AU, is going to China on June 10 for two-week training and visit sessions in Shenzhen and Beijing.
Hailing the ongoing collaboration between China and Africa in different areas including the ICT infrastructure, Mwencha has called for more cooperation towards capacity development of Africa in the ICT sector.
He stated that the two sides have been cooperating in development programs under the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
"We do have very strong cooperation between Africa and China under FOCAC. We have signed agreement to pursue certain programs; one of them has got to do with infrastructure which we are talking about today, on industrialization, but also fighting poverty," he noted.
Speaking on the occasion, Cheng Ning, Counselor of Cooperation and Exchange at the Chinese Mission to AU, said China would continue its cooperation with the AU Commission and its member states towards realizing common dreams of development and prosperity.
"You have this dream of Africa; you also have this bright future; and in China, we have also Chinese dream. Hand in hand between Chinese dream and African dream, we will make our bright futures," he said.
He stated that China would further strengthen its cooperation with Africa in capacity building by providing more and more training opportunities to experts on the continent.
Elham Ibrahim, AU Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, has commended China in her part and said, "I want to thank the government of China and Huawei for implementing our MoU. It is one of the most important elements of our MoU to build the capacity; and the ICT area is very important area."
Huawei, a leading global ICT solutions provider, has been implementing its "Seeds for the Future" program in different parts of the world, in which Huawei leverages its world-leading ICT technologies to cultivate ICT professionals and thus drive knowledge transformation for the development of local ICT industry.
Speaking during the event at AU today, Stone Shi, CEO Huawei Technology Ethiopia, stated that people are now living in a super connected world and human lives are getting smarter and smarter due to advancements in the ICT industry.
The CEO expressed Huawei's readiness and willingness to partner with Africans to share experiences and best practices in the industry.
With years of experience with Africa ICT industry coupled with the Company's extensive industrial global network, "Huawei is well positioned to share the best practice, and the latest ICT solutions; we are ready and willing to share our experience."
According to the CEO, participants of the training will stay in Shenzhen and work with the Huawei team in the Chinese Headquarters, learning about Huawei's international culture, strategy and values, and receive technical training from some of the finest professionals in the industry.
They will be Huawei's guests in Beijing for an immersive introduction to Chinese language and culture.
BEIJING, June 6 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Education on Monday urged colleges and universities to make detailed policies to support job-seeking students, such as allowing them to temporarily suspend schooling to start businesses.
The ministry said in a circular that local departments and colleges should also help graduates obtain more job-related information, particularly employment information from emerging industries, private sectors and small enterprises.
The ministry said more flexible policies should be made to encourage college students to engage in innovation and starting up businesses.
The circular came ahead of the graduation season of college students amid a slowing economic growth. A record high of 7.56 million students will graduate in July.
XINING, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Hualong, a remote county in northwest China's Qinghai province, may be little known to outsiders, but its lamian, or hand-pulled noodles, enjoy nationwide fame.
Most people in Hualong, with a total population of 286,000, lived below the poverty line until the beginning of a wave of migrations to other Chinese cities to open lamian restaurants.
Now more than a third of Hualong's registered population are in the lamian business, working in hundreds of cities across China, said Ma Qianli, deputy head of the county government.
These restaurants' annual revenues totalled 6.2 billion yuan (about 950 million U.S. dollars) last year, with profits of more than 1.8 billion yuan, he added.
Though flavors may vary according to location, Hualong lamian has common standards: The clear broth should be made from marinading cow bones for more than four hours, noodles should be served with thin slices of white radish, and the dish should use local hot pepper as its seasoning.
Lamian dishes have become a desirable fast food for city folk.
Hard work and honesty in doing business are the keys to success in running a lamian restaurant, said Ma Yong, a 40-year-old man from Hualong. He has made a fortune selling lamian noodles in Shenzhen since the 1990s.
"Poverty forced me to leave home and find a living," Ma said. "When I arrived in Shenzhen, I had nowhere to sleep but on the floor of the shop I rented, or I would sleep in cheap public bathhouses, five yuan a night."
"Now many of my friends own franchise stores selling the noodles in cities like Beijing and Shanghai," said Ma, who returned home in 2014 and opened an animal husbandry company.
Hualong lamian makers have taken their noodles abroad too. Lamian restaurants have been opened in countries including Malaysia, Bangladesh and Turkey.
"Pulling noodles has changed the lives of people in Hualong. It has freed them of the entrapment of the mountains, and helped them move out of poverty," said Ma Qianli.
BELGRADE, June 6, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Li Xiaomu(3rd R), deputy president of Beijing International Studies University and chief expert of China Institute for Cultural Trade Research and Deputy cultural minister of Serbia Asja Draca Muntean (3rd L) give their closing remarks at the end of the First China-Central Eastern European(CEE) Cultural and Creative Industry Forum in Belgrade, Serbia on June 6, 2016. The first China-Central Eastern European (CEE) cultural and creative industry forum concluded here on Monday with an appeal for further China-CEE cooperation. (Xinhua/Nemanja Cabric)
BELGRADE, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The first China-Central Eastern European (CEE) cultural and creative industry forum concluded here on Monday with an appeal for further China-CEE cooperation.
A memorandum of understanding between relevant institutions dealing with cultural trade research from Serbia and China was signed on Monday at the event.
The two-day forum, which attracted some 100 participants from 16 CEE countries and China, included discussions in the area of cultural heritage and cultural policies.
Addressing the closing ceremony, Li Xiaomu, deputy president of Beijing International Studies University and chief expert of China Institute for Cultural Trade Research, hailed the forum as "a great success" and expressed hope that over time the forum would become a tool to foster cooperation among the countries.
Noting that China and the 16 CEE countries were connected by the "Belt and Road" initiative, he called on governments of CEE countries and China to continue to support cooperation and development of the cultural industry.
"The scale of cooperation and exchange should be increased," Li said.
Deputy cultural minister of Serbia Asja Draca Muntean said the forum was not only a platform but also an instrument to enhance cultural policy and trade between China and the 16 CEE countries.
Participants over the course of two days discussed various topics -- from copyrights and publishing to contemporary arts and film.
ATHENS, June 7, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (2nd L, front) cuts the ribbon during the opening ceremony of Posidonia 2016 in Athens, Greece, on June 6, 2016. Posidonia 2016, the largest and most prestigious maritime exhibition internationally, was inaugurated here on Monday by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in the presence of numerous officials, exhibitors and delegates from around the globe. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)
by Maria Spiliopoulou
ATHENS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Posidonia 2016, the largest and most prestigious maritime exhibition internationally, was inaugurated here on Monday by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in the presence of numerous officials, exhibitors and delegates from around the globe.
Addressing the biennial event at the Metropolitan Expo Center next to the Greek capital's International Airport Tsipras hailed the achievements of Greek shipping, one of the traditionally stronger pillars of the national economy, and its significant contribution to Greek economy.
Despite the rough seas in recent years as a result of the global economic crisis Greek ship owners held on to their leading position in the international level, the Greek leader noted.
"The Greek shipping sector's growth model could act as a positive example for the establishment of a new development model (for Greece)," he stressed during the opening ceremony, calling for closer cooperation to make the best use of Greece's comparative advantages to help the wider efforts to exit the six-year debt crisis.
"Our country's geostrategic position combined with the key location of Greek ports guarantee the prospects for enhancing Greece's role as a strategic gateway for products and services to Europe," Tsipras underlined.
China holds a key role in these efforts in particular after the privatization of Piraeus Port Authority this year. Sino-Greek cooperation in the maritime sector has a long history and broad prospects, officials from both sides and experts have stressed.
Posidonia 2016 is the largest show ever in the five decades long history of the event, highlighting the importance of Greek shipping for the global economy, organizers said.
Over the next four days some 20,000 visitors are expected to visit the kiosks of more than 1,800 exhibitors from 89 countries representing all sectors of the industry.
Until the curtains come down on June 10 representatives of the global maritime community will showcase their achievements, exchange views on the most challenging issues and emerging trends as well as explore investment opportunities and clinch cooperation deals.
This year's exhibition includes over 40 conferences, seminars and workshops, Theodore Vokos, Executive Director of Posidonia Exhibitions underlined addressing Monday's ceremony.
The event is organized under the auspices of the Greek shipping community and major associations representing Greek shipping interests, such as the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and the Municipality of Piraeus.
A picture taken on May 21, 2016 in Buni Yadi shows burnt computers littering a destroyed computer room of the Federal Government College in Buni Yadi. Piles of blackened furniture, iron bed frames and computers still litter the burnt-out shell of the Federal Government College in Buni Yadi, more than two years after it was attacked by Boko Haram. Boko Haram fighters stormed the boarding school on February 26, 2014, killing at least 43 students as they slept, destroying classrooms, offices, laboratories and dormitories as they left. / AFP PHOTO / AMINU ABUBAKAR
UNITED NATIONS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said an estimated 40,000 people were displaced in one of its deadliest offensives by Boko Haram in Niger, a UN spokesman told reporters here Monday.
Boko Haram attacked a military position in Niger's Diffa region last Friday killing and wounding soldiers, after a string of attacks, including in the town of Yebi, on May 31, UN spokesman Spokesman Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.
"It is estimated that the attacks in Yebi and Bosso displaced some 40,000 people, although no official figures are yet available," he said. "Initial reports indicate that the displaced people urgently need food, shelter, psychosocial support, health care, household items, water and sanitation. "
Around 30 humanitarian organizations operate in Bosso, a city near Niger's border with Nigeria, and are mobilizing existing relief stocks to the affected areas, Dujarric said. "An inter-agency assessment mission is planned for today."
At least 30 soldiers from Niger and two from Nigeria were killed on Friday in the wake of Boko Haram's attack on the two neighboring countries' border near the city of Bosso, reports said.
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 Boko Haram fighters.
The eastern part of Niger, close to the border with Nigeria, has witnessed since February 2015 repeated attacks launched by Boko Haram, who has claimed the lives of hundreds of Nigerien civilians and soldiers, the group has also displaced thousands of Nigerians as well as Nigeriens.
UNITED NATIONS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- "The global threat emanating from ISIL (the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) remains high and continues to diversity," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report issued here on Monday.
The continued military pressure exerted in Iraq and Syria by international coalition forces has led to serious military setbacks for ISIL, Ban said in his 21-page report to the UN Security Council.
NOT YET WEAKENED
"However, even though the territorial expansion of ISIL in both States has been halted and, in part reversed over recent months, many (UN) member states have noted that ISIL is not yet strategically and irreversibly weakened."
"A worrying factor is that no member state has reported that ISIL is short on, or lacks, arms or ammunition," he said in the report, compiled on the basis of information from all the 193 UN member states.
Over the past six months alone, "ISIL has carried out, inspired, or claimed responsibility for, terrorist attacks in Bangladesh, Belgium, Egypt, France, Germany, Indonesia, Lebanon, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Turkey and the United States of America," he said. "The attacks have killed more than 500 individuals and injured hundreds more."
"The attacks in November 2015 and in Brussels in March 2016 demonstrate the ability of ISIL to mount complex, multi-wave attacks," said the secretary-general.
National law enforcement agencies continue to investigate those attacks, but it is already clear that they were coordinated by foreign terrorist fighters who had returned to Europe from ISIL-held territory in Syria, Ban noted.
"To some extent, these cells received directions from the ISIL leadership and were supported and facilitated by a range of individuals and groups with pre-existing records of involvement in criminality, including Al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist groups," he said.
"This demonstrates the ability of ISIL returnees to quickly link up and draw on the support of established radical networks and supporters of Al-Qaida and thereby enhance their newly acquired terrorism skills with local knowledge and support," he said.
"Continuing pressure on ISIL in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic also increases the likelihood that the terrorist group may try to move funds to affiliates outside the immediate current conflict zone," he said. "Initial reports received from member states indicate that this may already be occurring."
FOREIGN TERRORIST FIGHTERS
Meanwhile, the secretary-general said, "Significant numbers of foreign terrorist fighters continue to travel from States around the world to join ISIL in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic," he said, citing a report from a member state saying that around 38,000 individuals may have attempted to travel to the region in the past few years.
"Most foreign terrorist fighters currently with ISIL travel from North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia," Ban said. "Significant numbers have also travelled from Europe and South and Southeast Asia."
"Even though the increase in the number of new foreign terrorist fighters travelling from some regions has slowed, the travel and attempted travel of new foreign terrorist fighters from other regions has increased," he said.
"Countermeasures taken by States to detect and deter foreign terrorist fighters, and increased controls at the borders of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, may be affecting the numbers of such fighters able to join ISIL."
"Sexual violence continues to be used as a tactic of terrorism to increase the power, revenue and recruitment of ISIL, as well as to shred the social fabric of targeted communities," he said. "The trafficking of women and girls remains a critical component of the financial flows to ISIL and its affiliates."
"There is a need to ensure accountability for sexual violence as part of United Nations counter-terrorism strategies," he said. "Sexual violence must be prosecuted as vigorously as terrorist acts."
The UN Security Council has maintained ISIL, also known as Da'esh, poses a threat to international peace and security, calling upon all UN member states to fight the terrorist group, including making the joint efforts to cut off funds for it.
Therefore, the secretary-general called for strengthened international cooperation to fight ISIL and other terrorist groups in the world.
LIMA, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Peru's Pedro Pablo Kuczynski will install a government of national unity in order to bring parties together, should his victory in Sunday's presidential elections be confirmed, said Martin Vizcarra, the vice presidential candidate from Kuczynski's Alliance for Change (PPK) party, on Monday.
According to Peru's electoral authority, with 92.6 percent of the votes counted, Kuczynski had a very slim lead, maintaining 50.32 percent of votes over Keiko Fujimori's 49.68 percent.
If this trend is confirmed, Vizcarra said, Kuczynski would seek to bring together all of Peru's political forces to reach a broad understanding.
"We have the obligation of taking Peru forward. It is very important for us to see agreement between the capital and all of Peru's regions," said the potential vice president at a press conference.
He added that one of the priorities of a Kuczynski administration would be to bring various political organizations into government in return for their support in barring Fujimori from power.
Finally, Vizcarra thanked all those who had supported Kuczynski and allowed him to overturn Fujimori's commanding lead in the first round.
As of Monday afternoon, both candidates were awaiting the final result from Peru's National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE). As of 4:00pm, 92.6 percent of votes had been counted, with only the ballots from certain rural zones and from Peruvians abroad still to be counted.
Members of the Shi'ite Badr organisation inspect the remains of Iraqi security forces who were killed by Islamic State militants in Saqlawiya, north of Falluja, Iraq, June 5, 2016. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
UNITED NATIONS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- "The global threat emanating from ISIL (the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) remains high and continues to diversity," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report issued here on Monday.
The continued military pressure exerted in Iraq and Syria by international coalition forces has led to serious military setbacks for ISIL, Ban said in his 21-page report to the UN Security Council.
NOT YET WEAKENED
"However, even though the territorial expansion of ISIL in both States has been halted and, in part reversed over recent months, many (UN) member states have noted that ISIL is not yet strategically and irreversibly weakened."
"A worrying factor is that no member state has reported that ISIL is short on, or lacks, arms or ammunition," he said in the report, compiled on the basis of information from all the 193 UN member states.
Over the past six months alone, "ISIL has carried out, inspired, or claimed responsibility for, terrorist attacks in Bangladesh, Belgium, Egypt, France, Germany, Indonesia, Lebanon, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Turkey and the United States of America," he said. "The attacks have killed more than 500 individuals and injured hundreds more."
"The attacks in November 2015 and in Brussels in March 2016 demonstrate the ability of ISIL to mount complex, multi-wave attacks," said the secretary-general.
National law enforcement agencies continue to investigate those attacks, but it is already clear that they were coordinated by foreign terrorist fighters who had returned to Europe from ISIL-held territory in Syria, Ban noted.
"To some extent, these cells received directions from the ISIL leadership and were supported and facilitated by a range of individuals and groups with pre-existing records of involvement in criminality (including Al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist groups," he said.
"This demonstrates the ability of ISIL returnees to quickly link up and draw on the support of established radical networks and supporters of Al-Qaida and thereby enhance their newly acquired terrorism skills with local knowledge and support," he said.
"Continuing pressure on ISIL in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic also increases the likelihood that the terrorist group may try to move funds to affiliates outside the immediate current conflict zone," he said. "Initial reports received from member states indicate that this may already be occurring."
A truck mounted with a home-made rocket launcher is parked on the front line as Iraqi pro-government forces hold a position near the village of al-Azraqiyah, northwest of Fallujah, on June 5, 2016, during an operation to regain control of the area from the Islamic State group. AFP PHOTO / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE
FOREIGN TERRORIST FIGHTERS
Meanwhile, the secretary-general said, "Significant numbers of foreign terrorist fighters continue to travel from States around the world to join ISIL in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic," he said, citing a report from a member state saying that around 38,000 individuals may have attempted to travel to the region in the past few years.
"Most foreign terrorist fighters currently with ISIL travel from North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia," Ban said. "Significant numbers have also travelled from Europe and South and Southeast Asia."
"Even though the increase in the number of new foreign terrorist fighters travelling from some regions has slowed, the travel and attempted travel of new foreign terrorist fighters from other regions has increased," he said.
"Countermeasures taken by States to detect and deter foreign terrorist fighters, and increased controls at the borders of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, may be affecting the numbers of such fighters able to join ISIL."
"Sexual violence continues to be used as a tactic of terrorism to increase the power, revenue and recruitment of ISIL, as well as to shred the social fabric of targeted communities," he said. "The trafficking of women and girls remains a critical component of the financial flows to ISIL and its affiliates."
"There is a need to ensure accountability for sexual violence as part of United Nations counter-terrorism strategies," he said. "Sexual violence must be prosecuted as vigorously as terrorist acts."
The UN Security Council has maintained ISIL, also known as Da'esh, poses a threat to international peace and security, calling upon all UN member states to fight the terrorist group, including making the joint efforts to cut off funds for it.
Therefore, the secretary-general called for strengthened international cooperation to fight ISIL and other terrorist groups in the world.
Head of the National Office for Electoral Processes Mariano Cucho delivers the first official advance of the results of presidential run-off election in Lima, Peru, on June 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Eddy Ramos/ANDINA)
LIMA, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Peruvian presidential candidate Pedro Pablo Kuczynski maintained a slight lead over his rival Keiko Fujimori, the country's electoral official said on Monday.
Kuczynski had 50.32 percent of the vote against 49.68 percent for Fujimori, with 92.55 percent of votes counted, National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) director Mariano Cuchos said.
With less than one percentage point between the two candidates, the election is the tightest in Peru in 25 years, according to Peruvian daily El Comercio.
Presidential candidate Pedro Pablo Kuczynski of the Peruvians for Change (PPK) party waves to his supporters at the end of the second round of the presidential elections in the district of San Isidro, Lima Province, Peru, on June 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Luis Camacho)
Both sides are anxious to get a final result. However, Cucho said, both candidates should remain calm until all votes are fully tallied.
The tight race was likely due to a lack of ideological differences between the two candidates. Kuczynski and Fujimori could name the same Minister of Economy and nobody would be surprised, political analyst Arturo Maldonado told local media.
The winner will assume presidency on July 28 with a mandate of five years.
Federica Mogherini, high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy, speaks to journalists at the UN headquarters in New York, June 6, 2016. The European Union (EU) on Monday asked the UN Security Council to authorize EU's naval forces in the Mediterranean to enforce the UN arms embargo on Libya. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)
UNITED NATIONS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) on Monday asked the UN Security Council to authorize EU's naval forces in the Mediterranean to enforce the UN arms embargo on Libya.
Federica Mogherini, high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy, asked the 15-nation council to adopt a resolution on authorizing Operation Sophia, the EU mission set up to stem migrant trafficking from Libya, to enforce the arms embargo on the high seas, off the coast of Libya.
"This is the course of action that our European Union has chosen: constant coordination with the United Nations, to best serve our collective interests," said Mogherini.
In 2015, the EU launched the naval operation to reduce migrant and refugee smuggling across the Mediterranean.
Last year in October, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution to authorize member states, including the European Union, to take actions on vessels that are used for people smuggling from Libya.
Libya, a major oil producer in North Africa, has been witnessing a frayed political process after former leader Muammar Gaddafi was toppled during the 2011 political turmoil, as two rival parliaments vying for power and several groups have been fighting for control of national resource wealth.
The UN Security Council imposed sanctions measures including arms embargo on Libya in 2011 to prevent sale or supply of arms and related material of all types to the country.
BOSTON, June 7, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Dr. James Si-Cheng Chao (5th L) cuts the ribbon at the inaugural ceremony of the Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center in Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts, the United States, June 6, 2016. Harvard Business School (HBS) inaugurated on Monday the Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center, the first ever building named after a Chinese American on Harvard campus in the Ivy League school's 380-year history. Built with a donation of 40 million U.S. dollars from the Dr. James Si-Cheng Chao family foundation back in 2012, the center honors the memory of Chao's late wife and recognizes her life-long dedication to education and female empowerment. (Xinhua/Li Changxiang)
CAMBRIDGE, the United States, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Harvard Business School (HBS) inaugurated on Monday the Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center, the first ever building named after a Chinese American on Harvard campus in the Ivy League school's 380-year history.
Built with a donation of 40 million U.S. dollars from the Dr. James Si-Cheng Chao family foundation back in 2012, the center honors the memory of Chao's late wife and recognizes her life-long dedication to education and female empowerment.
"We gather to celebrate a woman who understood the importance of education, and celebrate a family elevated by her commitment, and themselves," Harvard University President Drew Faust told a grand dedication ceremony that attracted heavyweight guests including U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker.
The three-story, 90,000-square-feet (some 8,300 square meters) center was designed mainly for the training of corporate executives at HBS. It features gathering spaces, academic classrooms and dining facilities, all open to the school's Executive Education participants and students in the MBA and Doctoral Programs.
With Monday's launch, the Chao Center, also the first on HBS campus ever named after a woman, joins other school facilities bearing the names of prominent donors, such as the Chase Building, the Bloomberg Center and the Baker Library.
Braving the early summer sun, Dr. Chao, a shipping industry magnate and philanthropist from New York who is now in his late 80s, sat through the outdoor ceremony along with his five daughters, among whom the eldest, Elaine Chao, was the 24th U.S. Secretary of Labor from 2001 to 2009 and the first Asian American woman to hold a cabinet position in history.
"When my parents relocated in America, a key element that helped them to not only survive but thrive was their education," said Elaine Chao. "That is why they devoted so much of their philanthropy to helping others access education."
And the Chaos had a very close connection with Harvard, as four of the six daughters in the family including Elaine attended HBS.
"Four daughters honoring their mother, four daughters went to Harvard Business School. To mark this moment reminded ourselves that only 50 years ago it was the first time that we admitted women into the Harvard Business School," said Nitin Nohria, the HBS dean.
Besides the Chao Center, the Chao family donation also includes 5 million dollars for a fellowship fund to provide financial assistance to students of Chinese heritage.
In an early interview with Xinhua, Dr. Chao said he hoped that the fellowship could help qualified Chinese students who couldn't afford the tuition to have a chance to study in a top university like Harvard, and that those beneficiaries could help promote U.S.-China relations in the future.
According to a Chao family statement, the five living presidents of the United States, from Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama, all sent in congratulatory messages for the Chao Center's inauguration.
YEREVAN, June 7, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli (L) meets with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in Yerevan, Armenia, June 6, 2016. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)
YEREVAN, Armenia, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli on Monday held talks respectively with the Armenian president and prime minister, calling on the two countries to further synergize development strategies to upscale their substantial cooperation.
During his meeting with President Serzh Sargsyan, Zhang hailed the sound development of bilateral relations in recent years.
The Armenian president paid a state visit to China in March last year and attended the Boao Forum for Asia, reaching an important consensus with Chinese President Xi Jinping on bilateral relations and substantial cooperation, which injected new impetus into the relationship between China and Armenia, Zhang said.
"China-Armenia relations, standing at a historic new starting point, are facing unprecedented opportunities," said Zhang.
He called on both sides to continue to conduct exchanges of high-level visits, deepen political mutual trust and strengthen mutual support.
China and Armenia need to work together to promote the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative, better synergize each other's development strategies and seek areas where their interests coincide, said the vice premier.
He suggested both countries select and nurture projects of strategic and overall importance and provide them with policy and financial support.
The Chinese government supported Chinese companies in participating in infrastructure construction in Armenia, including building roads and railways, Zhang said.
The synergy between China's Silk Road Economic Belt initiative and Russia's Eurasian Economic Union provides a new platform for China and Armenia to expand cooperation, he said, expressing the hope that both countries could lift regional economic cooperation to a higher level.
Zhang also encouraged both countries to deepen cooperation on local areas, culture, education, sport, tourism and media, so as to promote mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.
The two countries need to enhance cooperation on international and regional issues, so as to maintain international and regional peace and stability, said the vice premier.
Calling China "an important partner of Armenia," Sargsyan said it is a priority of his country's foreign policy to forge ahead friendly ties with China.
He said Armenia will firmly adhere to the one-China policy, actively participate in the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative, and beef up cooperation with China on copper smelting, chemical industry, transportation infrastructure, trade on agricultural products, tourism and education.
Armenia welcomes more Chinese companies to invest in the country, said the president, pledging it will create a more favorable condition for investors.
After the meeting, Zhang and Sargsyan attended a launching ceremony of a Chinese-language school in Armenia.
Also on Monday, Zhang held talks with Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan.
He suggested both countries make keen research on each other's mid-term and long-term development plans and list new areas of growth to expand cooperation.
Zhang called on both sides to focus on making iconic projects in the hope of improving the scale and quality of bilateral cooperation.
Abrahamyan, for his part, spoke highly of China's economic development, calling it "a paragon for the rest of the world." ' He said Armenia is ready to work with China to implement the consensus reached by their leaders to further advance bilateral relations.
Zhang and Abrahamyan witnessed the signing of bilateral documents after the talks.
Yerevan is the last leg of Zhang's four-nation tour which started on May 30. Prior to Armenia, the nine-day tour also took him to Sochi of Russia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
CARACAS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The governing left-wing alliance in Venezuela, known as the Great Patriotic Pole, denounced a "U.S. re-colonization plan" in Latin America on Monday.
"Faced with this growing interference, we will not hand over our resources or our nation. Fascism will never come to Venezuela," ruling Socialist Party official Blanca Eekhout said at a press conference.
The alliance has been vociferous in its criticisms of Luis Almagro, secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), for his stance against Venezuela.
Almagro last week called for an urgent meeting of the organization's permanent council to debate the political situation in Venezuela and suggested the bloc's Inter-American Democratic Charter be applied to Caracas.
If this is approved in a meeting, which is set to take place on June 10-20, Venezuela could be suspended from the OAS.
Eekhout said the left-wing parties had come together to "prevent" an eventual "intervention" in the South American nation, and referred to the fall of left-wing governments in Argentina and Brazil as an example.
Also on Monday, the Venezuelan government condemned the U.S. State Department for "defamatory statements" made in its 2015 terrorism report.
In its Country Reports on Terrorism 2015 released on June 2, the U.S. State Department accused Venezuela of having the right environment for terrorist groups to flourish.
The groups listed included the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the National Liberation Army, which have waged a guerrilla warfare in Colombia for decades while allegedly operating from bases within Venezuela.
The U.S. report also accused Venezuela of helping sympathizers of the Basque group ETA and the Lebanese Islamic group Hezbollah.
The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said on Monday that "the United States has no mandate to evaluate sovereign states on any matter, including terrorism."
"Venezuela condemns all forms of terrorism, including state-sponsored terrorism, and reaffirms that Venezuela is free of this scourge," said the ministry in a press release.
SYDNEY, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Four people have died while three are still missing from the massive storm front that hit Australia's east coast as major inland floods, giant waves and unusually high tides continue to wreak havoc.
The waves and a massive king tide have eroded 50 meters of beach along a key stretch of Sydney's Northern Beaches, according to the University of New South Wales' (UNSW) Water Research Laboratory, risking a number of multi-million dollar waterfront properties falling into the sea.
While most of the damage occurred on Saturday and Sunday nights, Australia's weather bureau is forecasting another 'king tide' on Tuesday night, potentially causing more erosion to the coastline as wave heights continue to remain high.
"The threat of coastal erosion continues to ease as wave heights gradually reduce along the coast. There remains a low-level threat of some residual erosion, given the forecast tides being at or near the highest of the year," Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said.
Residents from seven of the waterfront properties and an apartment block were evacuated on Sunday, and have not been allowed to return until structural engineers conduct safety inspections.
Local residents are also anxious as the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) said on Tuesday that those properties are unlikely to be insured given most policies don't cover "actions of the sea" which include king tides and coastal erosion.
"Ninety-three percent of all new home insurance policies purchased in Australia now include cover for flooding (under the standard definition), but neither actions of the sea nor the effects of gradual sea level rise are considered to be flooding for insurance purposes," ICA spokesman Campbell Fuller said.
The ICA said insurers have received more than 11,150 claims worth an estimated 38 million Australian dollars from the storms, however it's expected that the figure will rise over the coming days.
Adding insult to injury, many residents and government authorities have known the present situation on Sydney's northern beaches may rise as the area is the most 'at-risk' to coastal erosion along the New South Wales state coast, leading coastal management experts have told local media.
"It has been a risk for more than 100 years and essentially nothing has been done for those 100 years," University of Sydney professor of geoscience Andrew Short told Fairfax Media.
Though the number east coast lows that caused the damage along Australia's east coast are expected to fall by 25 percent due to human-induced climate change, the intensity of the storms, and resulting damage, however will rise, climate experts have said.
Four lives have been lost to floodwaters caused by the low across eastern Australia, while search crews are still looking for two people believed swept away from rising waters in Tasmania state. Police and lifeguards are still searching for a man swept off the rocks just south of the iconic Bondi Beach.
The dangerous situation in Tasmania state is still not over with warnings currently in place for three major river systems that are threatening Launceston, testing the levy system built to protect the city following the 1929 floods that saw up to 12 meters of water in some parts of the city.
The state's farmers are also feeling the deluge with some seeing crops destroyed and livestock being swept away.
"There's been huge losses of stock, I'm aware of farmers who have lost 200 head of stock, dairy cattle and beef cattle, logs smashed through houses, irrigators a mangled mess, farms completely underwater," Tasmania Deputy Premier Jeremy Rockliff told Australia's National Broadcaster.
LOS ANGELES, May 6, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gestures as she campaigns at East Los Angeles College in Los Angeles, the United States, May 5, 2016. (Xinhua file photo)
WASHINGTON, June 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Monday reached the number of 2,383 delegates needed to become the first-ever female nominee of a major political party in the United States, according to the latest AP delegate count.
The former first lady and secretary of state garnered 1,812 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses, plus the support of 571 superdelegates -- party leaders who can choose whom to support at the national convention, the AP reported.
Though Clinton's nomination would not become official until the party holds convention in Philadelphia in July, Robby Mook, her top campaign aide, already hailed the news as "an important milestone."
Shortly after the news, the Bernie Sanders campaign said it is too early for the media to call the race, reiterating that superdelegates can still change their minds between now and the July national convention.
"It is unfortunate that the media, in a rush to judgement, are ignoring the Democratic National Committee's clear statement that it is wrong to count the votes of superdelegates before they actually vote at the convention this summer," said Michael Briggs, the spokesman for Sanders.
"Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump," he said in a statement.
Sanders, with 1,521 delegates and 48 superdelegates currently, is widely thought unlikely to sway superdelegates to his side, as Clinton has won more votes, more states, more pledged delegates and more superdelegates.
The news came one day before the last Super Tuesday during the whole primary process starting on Feb. 1. Six states, including California, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota and Montana, are all set to vote Tuesday.
Many U.S. media have already prepared to call the race on Tuesday, especially when the poll closes in 142-delegate New Jersey where Clinton holds a solid lead, 61 percent to 34 percent over Sanders.
Sanders defiantly vowed again earlier on Sunday to take his campaign to the Democratic National Convention in July even if Clinton garners enough delegates to reach the threshold for securing the nomination.
Related:
Experience is Clinton's biggest advantage over Trump in presidential race: poll
WASHINGTON, June 4 (Xinhua) -- When it comes to experience, U.S. Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has the advantage over Republican nominee Donald Trump, according to a newly released Gallup poll.
BRASILIA, May 20, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Photo provided by Brazil's Presidency shows Brazilian interim President Michel Temer meeting with women of the Chamber of Deputies in Brasilia, capital of Brazil, on May 19, 2016. (Xinhua/Beto Barata/Brazil's Presidency, file photo)
RIO DE JANEIRO, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's interim President Michel Temer decided on Monday to have three cabinet members newly accused of corruption remain in office.
Media reports in the past few days highlighted the accusation against Tourism Minister Henrique Alves of taking Air Force planes for personal use, and the probe into a possible part of Attorney General Fabio Medina Osorio in the Petrobras corruption scheme.
Secretary of Women's Policies Fatima Pelaes, under an investigation of fraud and embezzlement of public funds, is also criticized by feminist groups for her opposition to the Brazilian abortion law over its license for raped women to abort.
According to local news website G1 reports, the interim president doesn't consider their situation to be serious enough to warrant sacking them.
Temer's decision is widely regarded as an attempt to mitigate the sufferings his administration faces as a result of controversial moves and statements made by cabinet members and himself, as well as corruption probes against ministers.
Recently, Temer lost Minister of Planning Romero Juca and Transparency Minister Fabiano Silveira. Both fell because of leaked recordings connecting them to the Petrobras corruption scheme.
Related:
Brazilian ministers investigated for corruption will have to step down, says govt
BRASILIA, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Minister of the Presidency Eliseu Padilha, who is in charge of liaising between government officials, announced Monday that any officials being investigated by Operation Lava Jato will have to step down.
WELLINGTON, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A 5.6-magnitude earthquake has shaken the Southland region in the southwest of New Zealand's South Island.
The quake struck at 2:55 p.m. local time on Tuesday and was centered 70 kilometers west of Te Anau, according to the government's GeoNet monitoring agency.
The quake's intensity was classed as strong and its depth was measured at 30 kilometers.
UNITED NATIONS, June 6 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese exhibition opened Monday at the UN headquarters to display the cultural and scenic beauty of Karamay, a city in the north of China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Those being put on display are photos and paintings depicting the natural scenery and unique landscape of Karamay, as well as handicrafts including Yixing clay teapots and jade crafts from the city.
The exhibition offers people a chance to learn Karamay's natural scenery, cultural heritage as well as modern development of the city, said Zhang Xian, organizer of the UN Staff Recreational Council Chinese Book Club.
The exhibition will last till June 10.
SYDNEY, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Queensland state government has earmarked 12 million Australian dollars (8.91 million U.S. dollars) in its next state budget to help save its dwindling koala population.
"Koala numbers in south east Queensland are showing no signs of stabilizing despite considerable efforts to address their decline over the past 20 years," the state's environment minister Steven Miles said in a statement on Tuesday.
Koalas in parts of the state have been labelled "effectively extinct," according to a report from the University of Queensland, while numbers in New South Wales state have fallen almost 30 percent since 1990 to list the endemic bears as vulnerable.
Koala populations have been under pressure from habitat destruction associated with human development, however researchers are warning they are also susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases which are spreading rapidly due to closer interaction.
It's estimated Australia's koala populations have fallen to around 333,000 in 2012 from 10 million koalas before British settlement in 1788.
MOSCOW, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Russian agricultural watchdog agency, Rosselkhoznadzor, imposed on Tuesday a ban on the poultry imports from a Brazilian company, as well as the beef and beef by-products from an Argentine enterprise, Russian media reported.
According to the watchdog, the ban is imposed because of the presence of bacterium listeria in imports from the Brazilian company JBS AVES LTDA, and the Argentine enterprise Madeka S.A..
Currently, 58 Brazilian poultry farms and 74 Argentine companies are authorized meat suppliers to Russia. However, imports from eight companies of each group are being banned for violating Russian veterinary standards.
WELLINGTON, June 7 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand will help Pacific island peoples adapt their homelands to climate change and rising sea-levels as many are unwilling to leave their homes, Climate Change Minister Paula Bennett said Tuesday.
Bennett said she had visited Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Kiribati and Tuvalu last week to see first-hand how communities were working to mitigate the effects of climate change and adapt to big weather events and king tides.
She also met climate change ministers and officials and reinforced New Zealand's commitment to providing climate-related support to the region.
"Ultimately, the residents I spoke to said they do not want to leave their homes, which is why New Zealand is committed to working alongside impacted communities to make them more resilient and sustainable," Bennett said in a statement.
New Zealand was involved in initiatives such as building water tanks, sea walls, toilet and shower blocks, and improved rubbish collection systems.
"New Zealand is providing in excess of 200 million NZ dollars (138.24 million U.S. dollars) over the next four years for climate-related support, most of which will benefit the Pacific," Bennett said.
"We are focusing our efforts on projects to bring more renewable energy to the region, which is good for the environment and helps isolated communities become more self-sufficient."
CANBERRA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Tuesday announced plans for the first ever online leaders' debate, to be held on social media website Facebook and hosted by News Corp's News.com.au.
The Prime Minister has challenged Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to join him online, as it would enable "millions" of Australians to track and follow the debate.
He said Australians would be able to use laptop and smartphones to access the debate, in what he described as the first step towards an "innovative" Australia.
"(I) have reached an agreement with, subject to Mr Shorten participation, Facebook and News.com.au to hold the first online leaders' debate," Turnbull told reporters on Tuesday.
"We've had a Sky News people's forum debate, the traditional Press Club debate, it is traditional to have three debates, so let's have the third one in an innovative way and that every Australian can participate in.
"We are in 2016, this is the 21st century and this is the time of innovation. This is the most exciting time to be an Australian and to participate in an election debate in the media of our time."
Turnbull said hosting a third debate on Sky News would shut to door to millions of Australians without pay TV services, and this new format would allow the majority of the voting population to take in the leaders' points.
Shorten is yet to accept the prime minister's offer, but is likely to agree to the terms.
There is no date set for the online debate, but Turnbull is pushing for it to be held early next week.
BOGOTA, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Colombia is positioning itself to play a key role in the expected transformation of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), the region's crucial trading bloc, and to promote integration with its newer counterpart, the Pacific Alliance.
Set up in 1991, Mercosur is perceived more as a left-leaning bloc that applies protectionist policies. In addition to its five full members -- Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela, it also has several associated members and observer members.
Colombia, as an associated member that can take part in Mercosur political forums and meetings, signed the Economic Complementation Agreement in 2004 which grants it preferential tariffs. But it does not participate in Mercosur's process of economic and trade integration, unlike its full members.
However, South America's changing political environment is bound to entail changes in the bloc's expected transformation due to the new leadership of Argentina and Brazil, and Colombia is working to deepen its role in Mercosur, particularly in the area of economy and trade, according to Colombia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In the coming years, Colombia plans to table certain issues at Mercosur, including cross-border mobility, educational integration and recognition of degrees between member states, and information exchange in matters of security, human rights and health.
Colombia's government is currently in peace talks with the country's largest guerrilla group, the Armed Revolutionary Front of Colombia. It could be well positioned to play a key role in South America's process of political transition, should it succeed in reaching a peace deal with the rebels.
While deepening its associated status, Colombia also aims to promote the bloc's integration with the Pacific Alliance, which the Pacific coast countries founded in 2011 to spur trade with Asia, gathering Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Chile. It has made a name among international investors for its efficiency.
The Colombian government says it sees Mercosur as a bridge to other countries in the region, which appears to be closing a cycle and entering a period of transition.
During an official visit to Brazil in early 2014, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said the Pacific Alliance was not in competition with Mercosur and welcomed the idea of greater synergy between the two to strengthen members in both blocs.
And today, greater collaboration between the two blocs seems more likely given the rise of pro-business administrations in Latin America.
"For Colombia, Mercosur represents an opportunity to strengthen ties with the Southern Cone countries and take advantage of this scenario to share good practices and opinions on topics that concern the region, as well as work on matters that are of great benefit to the citizens of the member and associate states," the ministry said.
"Our country's participation also seeks to contribute to a progressive complementarity of regional integration agendas in areas that allow it, to increase efficiency to attain better results and avoid the duplication of efforts in other regional integration mechanisms," the ministry added.
PREAH SIHANOUK, June 7, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen (front, R) and Luo Zhijun (front, L), Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, attend the inauguration ceremony of the 100th factory in the Chinese-invested Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone (SSEZ) in Preah Sihanouk province, Cambodia, June 7, 2016. (Xinhua/Sovannara)
PREAH SIHANOUK, Cambodia, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Tuesday inaugurated the 100th factory in the Chinese-invested Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone (SSEZ).
Hun Sen said the industrial zone has been contributing to the development of Cambodian economy and has provided convenience for foreign investors seeking to invest in Cambodia.
"This special economic zone provides favorable conditions for investors because it has been fully supported by the governments of the two countries," he said. "We hope that the volumes of trade and investment between China and Cambodia will be expanded in coming years."
The prime minister said Cambodia strongly supported the China-proposed the Belt and Road initiative because it would contribute to the development of Cambodia's industrial policy, which was launched last year.
Luo Zhijun, Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, congratulated the SSEZ for receiving the 100th factory, saying that under the Belt and Road initiative, China and Cambodia would have greater possibility for economic cooperation.
"The success of the SSEZ clearly shows close cooperation between China and Cambodia in the fields of economy, trade and investment under the Belt and Road initiative," he said at the inauguration ceremony.
Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Bu Jianguo said that the SSEZ was symbolic of excellent cooperation between China and Cambodia under the Belt and Road initiative.
"We are very happy to see the SSEZ, under the support from the governments of the two countries, develop rapidly and create a lot of jobs for Cambodian people," she said. "We are confident that the industrial zone will attract more investors in coming years."
Established in 2008, the SSEZ has now accommodated 100 factories from China, Japan, the United States, France, South Korea, Ireland, Vietnam and Thailand, generating 11,500 jobs, according to Zhou Haijiang, President of China's HoDo Group, the developer of the 5-square-kilometer SSEZ.
"We predict that the zone will receive up to 200 factories in the next three years," he said.
Cambodia initiated the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) projects in 2006. To date, the government has approved 33 SEZs, 11 of which are operational as the rest are under construction.
SEZs are mostly located along the country's borders with Thailand and Vietnam, and some are on the outskirts of Phnom Penh and in coastal provinces.
The Combodian government sees the SEZs as an important part to boost the economic development as they bring infrastructure, jobs, skills and enhanced productivity.
Photo taken on June 5, 2016 shows a harbor in Wollongong experiencing damaging winds with rainfall in New South Wales, Australia. (Xinhua/Zhu Hongye)
SYDNEY, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Four people have died while three are still missing from the massive storm front that hit Australia's east coast as major inland floods, giant waves and unusually high tides continue to wreak havoc.
The waves and a massive king tide have eroded 50 meters of beach along a key stretch of Sydney's Northern Beaches, according to the University of New South Wales' (UNSW) Water Research Laboratory, risking a number of multi-million dollar waterfront properties falling into the sea.
While most of the damage occurred on Saturday and Sunday nights, Australia's weather bureau is forecasting another 'king tide' on Tuesday night, potentially causing more erosion to the coastline as wave heights continue to remain high.
"The threat of coastal erosion continues to ease as wave heights gradually reduce along the coast. There remains a low-level threat of some residual erosion, given the forecast tides being at or near the highest of the year," Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said.
Residents from seven of the waterfront properties and an apartment block were evacuated on Sunday, and have not been allowed to return until structural engineers conduct safety inspections.
Local residents are also anxious as the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) said on Tuesday that those properties are unlikely to be insured given most policies don't cover "actions of the sea" which include king tides and coastal erosion.
"Ninety-three percent of all new home insurance policies purchased in Australia now include cover for flooding (under the standard definition), but neither actions of the sea nor the effects of gradual sea level rise are considered to be flooding for insurance purposes," ICA spokesman Campbell Fuller said.
The ICA said insurers have received more than 11,150 claims worth an estimated 38 million Australian dollars from the storms, however it's expected that the figure will rise over the coming days.
Adding insult to injury, many residents and government authorities have known the present situation on Sydney's northern beaches may rise as the area is the most 'at-risk' to coastal erosion along the New South Wales state coast, leading coastal management experts have told local media.
"It has been a risk for more than 100 years and essentially nothing has been done for those 100 years," University of Sydneyprofessor of geoscience Andrew Short told Fairfax Media.
Though the number east coast lows that caused the damage along Australia's east coast are expected to fall by 25 percent due to human-induced climate change, the intensity of the storms, and resulting damage, however will rise, climate experts have said.
Four lives have been lost to floodwaters caused by the low across eastern Australia, while search crews are still looking for two people believed swept away from rising waters in Tasmania state. Police and lifeguards are still searching for a man swept off the rocks just south of the iconic Bondi Beach.
The dangerous situation in Tasmania state is still not over with warnings currently in place for three major river systems that are threatening Launceston, testing the levy system built to protect the city following the 1929 floods that saw up to 12 meters of water in some parts of the city.
The state's farmers are also feeling the deluge with some seeing crops destroyed and livestock being swept away.
"There's been huge losses of stock, I'm aware of farmers who have lost 200 head of stock, dairy cattle and beef cattle, logs smashed through houses, irrigators a mangled mess, farms completely underwater," Tasmania Deputy Premier Jeremy Rockliff told Australia's National Broadcaster.
SEOUL, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Controversy resurfaced in South Korea over the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system called Terminal High Altitude-Area Defense (THAAD) amid lingering concerns about its effectiveness on the Korean peninsula and conflicts with neighboring countries.
The rekindled controversy came as some U.S. media reported last week that the United States would talk with South Korea about the THAAD deployment on its ally's soil during the bilateral defense ministers' talks on the sidelines of the Asia Security Summit (the Shangri-La Dialogue) held last weekend in Singapore.
Seoul's defense ministry almost immediately responded to the media reports on Friday, denying the THAAD discussion which South Korea's Yonhap news agency described as an unusually swift response in consideration of past cases.
When one Japan-based TV reported on Friday that Seoul and Washington had agreed to deploy the U.S. missile defense system in South Korea's southern city of Daegu sometime in 2017, Seoul's defense ministry spokesman made an almost immediate response in Singapore to say that no decision had been made yet.
Reversing the earlier cautious mode, Minister Han said on Saturday that South Korea has a clear will to deploy the THAAD on the peninsula, stressing its military effectiveness to defend his country from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear and missile threats.
Han said in an interview with CNN on Monday that the THAAD deployment would bring military benefits to South Korea as it strengthens the country's missile defense capability, while Yonhap cited multiple government sources as saying that multiple candidate areas for the deployment had been under detailed discussions between Seoul and Washington.
South Korea announced the start of discussions on the THAAD deployment on its soil following the DPRK's fourth nuclear test in January and the launch of a long-range rocket, which was condemned as a disguised test of ballistic missile technology, in February.
The deployment has been widely believed to escalate tensions and arms race in Northeast Asia as its radar can locate missiles far beyond the DPRK territory. The X-band radar can allegedly spot missiles as far as 2,000 km with forward-based mode and 600 km with terminal mode. As the two have the same hardware, the terminal mode, which South Korea plans to adopt, can be transformed into the radar with a much longer detectable range.
China and Russia have opposed to it as the U.S. missile defense system far exceeds South Korea's actual defense needs and would directly threaten the strategic security of the two countries. Beijing and Moscow have called for Seoul and Washington to respect their stances and legitimate concerns.
Military effectiveness of the THAAD operation in South Korea has been in doubt as the U.S. missile defense system is designed to track and destroy missiles at a high altitude of 40-150 km. Pyongyang would not use longer-range missiles in times of military conflicts with Seoul as hundreds of DPRK missiles targeting South Korea fly at a much lower range of less than 20 km.
The main opposition Minjoo Party reiterated its negative stance on the THAAD deployment, saying that the majority even in the United States didn't believe its defense capability was proven. Rep. Woo Sang-ho, the party's floor leader, said during a party meeting on Tuesday that worries remained among the general public about why the country should spend massive fiscal coffers on the unproven weapon.
Citing oppositions from China and Russia, Woo urged the government to think again about the oppositions as South Korea needs cooperation from China and Russia to denuclearize the Korean peninsula and secure peace and stability in Northeast Asia.
Civic groups also expressed oppositions. The People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, an influential liberalistic civic group, said in a statement on Tuesday that South Korea made the deployment as a fait accompli, which brought natural oppositions from China, a necessary partner in resolving the DPRK's nuclear issue.
Calling it a self-destructive misstep, the statement said that the THAAD deployment, irrelevant to South Korea's national defense, would provide no help in resolving the DPRK's nuclear crisis and speed up tensions and arms race in Northeast Asia.
ISTANBUL, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A car bomb targeted a riot police shuttle bus in Istanbul on Tuesday, causing several people injured, Turkish media reported.
A parked car exploded as the police bus passed by in the neighborhood of Vezneciler in Fatih district, press reports said.
An exchange of gunfire then broke out between the police and gunmen near a police station, some reports said.
Many ambulances were dispatched to the scene, while police evacuated and cordoned off the area and halted the public transportation.
The security situation in Turkey has deteriorated in recent months, with Istanbul, the national capital of Ankara and other cities having been hit by a number of bombing attacks.
Turkey entered the holy month of Ramadan on Monday, a time when Muslims in the country practice fasting. Enditem
Vice President of China's Xinhua News Agency Long Xinnan (L) presents a gift to Minister of Parliamentary Reform and Mass Media Gayantha Karunathilaka in Colombo, Sri Lanka, June 6, 2016. (Xinhua/Huang Haimin)
COLOMBO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- China's Xinhua news agency is willing to expand cooperation with Sri Lankan media, Vice President of Xinhua Long Xinnan said.
When meeting with Minister of Parliamentary Reform and Mass Media Gayantha Karunathilaka on Monday, Long introduced the cooperation and exchanges between Xinhua and the Sri Lankan media since the Xinhua bureau was launched in Colombo in 1958.
As the official news agency of China, Xinhua hopes to boost cooperation with Sri Lanka's media, through objective, fair and comprehensive news coverage, to futher strengthen understanding and friendship between the two countries and two peoples, so as to promote the China-Sri Lanka strategic partnership, he said.
Xinhua is exploring cooperation fields with the Sri Lankan media organizations, such as joint reporting, special edition or column, and economic information service for the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative as well as social media, Long said.
Minister Karunathilaka said Sri Lanka appreciates the support from China, including Xinhua's help to the local media.
The Sri Lankan government is ready to help facilitate cooperation between Xinhua and the local media, including exchanges of news and economic information, personnel training and exchanges of visits.
On the same day, Long also met with Chairman of Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Kavan Rathnayake and Chairman of Upali Newspapers Nimal Welgama.
Xinhua signed cooperation deals with six Sri Lankan media under the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon.
Vice President of China's Xinhua News Agency Long Xinnan (L) meets with Minister of Parliamentary Reform and Mass Media Gayantha Karunathilaka in Colombo, Sri Lanka, June 6, 2016. (Xinhua/Huang Haimin)
LIMA, June 6, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Presidential candidate Pedro Pablo Kuczynski of the Peruvians for Change (PPK) party waves to his supporters at the end of the second round of the presidential elections in the district of San Isidro, Lima Province, Peru, on June 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Luis Camacho)
LIMA, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The former World Bank economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski maintained a very narrow lead over his rival Keiko Fujimori in the tightest presidential race in Peru in more than two decades.
Kuczynski, 77, had 50.32 percent of the vote against 49.68 percent for Fujimori, with 92.55 percent of votes counted, National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) director Mariano Cuchos said on Monday.
With less than one percentage point between the two candidates, the election is the tightest in Peru in 25 years, according to Peruvian daily El Comercio.
Both sides are anxious to get a final result. However, Cucho said, both candidates should remain calm until all votes are fully tallied.
The tight race was likely due to a lack of ideological differences between the two candidates. Kuczynski and Fujimori could name the same economic minister, political analyst Arturo Maldonado told local media.
The winner will assume presidency on July 28 with a mandate of five years.
Kuczynski will install a government of national unity in order to bring parties together, should his victory in Sunday's elections be confirmed, said Martin Vizcarra, vice presidential candidate from Kuczynski's Alliance for Change (PPK) party, on Monday.
Vizcarra said that Kuczynski would seek to bring together all of Peru's political forces to reach a broad understanding.
"We have the obligation of taking Peru forward. It is very important for us to see agreement between the capital and all of Peru's regions," said the potential vice president at a press conference.
He added that one of the priorities of a Kuczynski administration would be to bring various political organizations into government in return for their support in barring the 41-year-old Fujimori from power.
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.
For the economist, while the two candidates share a common vision for economic development, Kuczynski's experience as former economic minister and World Bank economist does mark the difference between them.
"Kuczynski is likely to follow the economic policy Peru has adopted since the 1990s, as he has been minister of 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 a 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.
Related:
Kuczynski to call for national unity govt in Peru if victory is confirmed
LIMA, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Peru's Pedro Pablo Kuczynski will install a government of national unity in order to bring parties together, should his victory in Sunday's presidential elections be confirmed, said Martin Vizcarra, the vice presidential candidate from Kuczynski's Alliance for Change (PPK) party, on Monday.
According to Peru's electoral authority, with 92.6 percent of the votes counted, Kuczynski had a very slim lead, maintaining 50.32 percent of votes over Keiko Fujimori's 49.68 percent. Full story
Ex-banker Kuczynski leads Peru's presidential runoff: exit poll
LIMA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Ex-banker Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, of the Peruvians for Change (PPK) party, appeared to be leading Peru's presidential runoff on Sunday, according to unofficial results.
by Jon Day
TOKYO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A recent spate of internationally-reported crimes committed by U.S base-linked personnel in Okinawa Prefecture in Japan's southwest has renewed calls from prefectural officials as well as locals for the tiny island to comprehensively have its base-hosting burdens lifted as the disproportionate number of bases being hosted on the tiny island is thought to be directly attributable to the rising instances of crime.
Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga is a stanch advocate of lessening the island's burden by at first blocking the planned transfer of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from the crowed area of Ginowan to the coastal Nago region also on the island, and along with other prefectural officials opposed to the move, following recent elections, now comprise a majority in the prefectural assembly.
As such, and in light of crimes committed by U.S. base-affiliated personnel, calls are becoming more vociferous from assembly officials to not only scrap the plan to relocate the controversial marine base, but to see a key agreement made between Japan and the U.S. governing how U.S. servicepeople are dealt with legally, following instances of crime and infraction, reviewed.
"Following the most recent drunk driving incident, that actually occurred on the same day as the prefectural election and saw a car driven by a member of the U.S. Navy off base, careening out of its lane and striking at least two other cars and injuring two civilians, and the sexual assault, murder and dumping of the body of a young women by a base-linked worker last month, it's unsurprising that anti-U.S. sentiment is now reaching a fever pitch in Okinawa and this will play nicely into the hands of Onaga and other officials who are fully taking on the central government and demanding comprehensive change," David McLellan, a professor emeritus of postgraduate Asian Studies told Xinhua on Tuesday.
McLellan went on to say that the gravity of the recent crimes of late, which also include a U.S. Navy sailor raping a women after she had passed out in a hotel in Naha City, the capital of Okinawa, has ensured the international spotlight is now firmly concentrated on the U.S. presence in Okinawa, with the fact that 75 percent of U.S. bases in Japan are in Okinawa, the island of which accounts for just 1 percent of Japan's land mass, no longer being just a "quotable statistic."
"U.S. President Barack Obama was called out by Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when he was here during the recent Group of Seven (G7) leaders' summit which was hosted by Abe, over the rape and murder of the 20-year-old local girl, with the U.S. leader offering his apologies and pledge that U.S. officials would fully-cooperate with Japanese investigators, while U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy was summoned to the foreign ministry here after the incident to hear Japan's extreme condemnation for yet another U.S. indiscretion in Okinawa," McLellan said.
The apparent increase in frequency of crimes being committed by U.S. service people in Okinawa will come as a blow to both Nagatacho and Washington who have committed to a deal to shift the Futenma base within the island, with the coastal Nago region being picked for the colossal replacement facility, as Onaga himself, backed by the support of the islanders, is set to become an even bigger thorn in Abe's side, and has already sued and counter-sued the central government over the issue and has, at least, ensured an ongoing impasse with little progress being made on the construction of the new base, which involves reclaiming a wide swathe of land from the pristine coastal region.
"While the crimes are heinous and unforgivable, in a cruel twist of irony they add ammunition to Onaga and other assembly official's plans to prevent the relocation of the base within the island, at a bare minimum, and possibly see it relocated outside the prefecture or the country all together. This, at a time when the U.S. is gearing up to realign its forces here as part of the Washington's plans to 're-balance to the Asia-Pacific'," said McLellan, adding that Washington must now be "utterly vexed" about the worsening situation.
The crimes by U.S. servicepeople against Japanese citizens are not just being committed in Okinawa, which has even more serious implication for the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), McLellan explained, adding that there would almost certainly be a sizable "dark figure" of lesser crimes that go unpunished or unreported, meaning the actual scale of the problem is likely far larger than thought and should be dealt with as such.
In part, he was referring to yet another U.S. Navy officer who was arrested in March after sexually assaulting and repeatedly punching a Japanese woman in the face as he sat next to her on a commercial air flight from the United States to Japan.
The Navy lieutenant, based at the Atsugi Naval Air Facility, Japan, was arrested for assaulting the 19-year-old female college student on a flight from San Diego to Japan. According to testimony, he repeatedly groped her body while she was sat in her seat, before punching her in the head several times, in a brutal assault that lasted 90 minutes.
Flight attendants finally managed to intervene and seat the girl elsewhere on the plane and the Navy lieutenant was arrested at Narita Airport although handed over to U.S. personnel under the SOFA.
With curfews issued by the U.S. military and strict guidelines on driving having already been issued yet consistently thwarted by U.S. military personnel in Okinawa, as well as elsewhere on the mainland, with the likelihood that the current indefinite blanket ban issued on Monday by the the U.S. Navy covering the consumption of all alcohol by Navy personnel in Japan following the recent drink driving arrest, may also be snubbed, Okinawa officials believe it is high time that Japan and the United States review the rights granted to U.S. servicepeople in Japan.
Abe said he plans to expedite a review of the current SOFA, which was originally inked in Washington between the United States and Japan in 1960, with many political watchers also believing it does not work to effectively legislate treatment of U.S. servicepeople here who commit crimes and doesn't reflect the growing instances and severity of such.
Under the current agreement, U.S forces' personnel can be granted a great deal of legal autonomy and while the Japanese court system has jurisdiction for most crimes committed by U.S. service members, if the accused was "acting in official duty," or if the victim was another American, the U.S. justice system is used, not Japan's, despite the location.
In some instances, as McLellan pointed out, "Under SOFA the majority of U.S. military members are exempt from Japan's visa and passport laws and past offenders have dodged the Japanese legal system here by being transferred back to the United States before being charged. Another loophole that exists in the agreement is that unless an offender is arrested outside of a base by Japanese police or invesitigators, then U.S. authorities are allowed to retain custody of that individual, while senior politicians all the way up to the president, as has been seen recently, will try and 'appease' the situation by offering full cooperation with local investigators."
"This is not always the case," McLellan said, adding that once the media and social hype dies down, the U.S. often invokes its extraterritorial rights and deals with the case as per U.S. law and out of the view of Japanese investigators or prosecutors; with suspicions constantly aroused about leniency being used by the U.S. in favor of its own nations in cases that Japanese prosecutors would come down far harder on."
Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and his U.S. counterpart Defense Secretary Ashton Carter agreed on Saturday to review the scope of the accord following the latest spate of crimes, while the Okinawa prefectural government is gearing up to lodge a protest against the U.S. forces stationed in Japan, as well as the Japanese Foreign and Defense ministries, to demand the stricter enforcement of discipline for U.S. service-people and mechanisms to stamp out such instances of fatal, brutal and mindless crimes against innocent Okinawans, who have collectively suffered for decades having been effectively occupied by the U.S. since the end of WWII.
SYDNEY, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The smell of death has inundated Australia's Great Barrier Reef, scientists and environmentalists say, as the ghostly white bleached coral is inundated by an algal slime.
The world's coral reefs have been devastated by a mass bleaching event from warming sea temperatures linked to human induced climate change that was seemingly exacerbated by the El Nino weather phenomenon in the Pacific.
Australia's Great Barrier Reef itself is suffering its worst bleaching event on record. However, overall mortality is 22 percent, 85 percent of which has occurred in the northern third of the reef.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and researchers from James Cook University in Queensland state on Tuesday released photos showing a "ghastly sight" of the bleaching's "ground zero", with hard corals looking like they had been dead for years covered in a brown algal slime.
"Some people see coral bleached white and think it looks pretty. But this is what follows -- it's literally an attack of the slime," WWF-Australia spokesperson Richard Leck said in a statement.
XL Catlin Seaview Survey executive director Richard Vevers, who took the photos at Lizard Island, 250 km north of Cairns, said "it was one of the most disgusting sights I've ever seen" with soft corals "still dying" and the flesh of the coral's animal host "decomposing and dripping off the reef structure."
"I can't even tell you how bad I smelt after the dive - the smell of millions of rotting animals," Vevers said.
Coral reefs are one of the most important and productive marine ecosystems that the world depends on for tourism and fisheries sustainability. The Great Barrier Reef itself is the world's largest living ecosystem, spanning some 2,000 km along Australia's eastern coastline, bringing in billions of Australian dollars from tourism each year.
Coral bleaching occurs when stress such as heat caused the animal to expel the symbiotic algae, loosing vital nutrients and energy reserves, thus color, leading to the wide scale loss of productive habitats for fish.
The coral host then becomes weak and susceptible to disease. When bleaching is prolonged, the animal can die.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) believes the ecosystem is still resilient enough to survive the current, and likely future major bleaching events, if enough time is provided to recover.
"The agency's strong protective measures, including no-take green zones which make up 33 percent of the Marine Park, play a critical role in maintaining the resilience of the wider ecosystem," GBRMPA chairman Dr Russell Reichelt said.
"This underlying resilience was on display recently when the Australian Institute of Marine Science found coral cover increased by 19 per cent across the Marine Park between 2012 and 2015, nearly doubling in the southern sector due to good early recovery from cyclones and floods."
Recent research suggests corals with high levels of fat or other energy reserves can withstand annual bleaching events, which is critical to predicting the persistence of corals and their capacity to recover from more frequent events resulting from climate change.
Severe bleaching events, however, may take highly impacted coral reefs up to 10 years to recover.
Scientists are also investigating weather deeper coral reefs can act as a refuge for coral and fish species under threat when extreme temperatures become the norm, potentially providing a "seed bank" to re-populate shallow reefs.
DHAKA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Second Confucius Institute in Bangladesh will begin its activities early next year at the country's leading University of Dhaka here.
Vice Chancellor of the University of Dhaka AAMS Arefin Siddique and Cultural Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy to Bangladesh Chen Shuang Monday cut the ribbon to inaugurate the construction of the second Confucius Institute at the University of Dhaka, the oldest and most prestigious university in Bangladesh.
The Confucius Institute is being established at the university in collaboration with China's Yunnan University.
First Confucius Institute in Bangladesh was established at the leading private North South University (NSU) about a decade earlier, also in collaboration with Yunnan University.
Officials said the Confucius Institute at the University of Dhaka will immensely contribute to further developing academic, cultural, economic and social ties between the two countries.
Vice Chancellor of the University of Dhaka AAMS Arefin Siddique said," We are delighted as we have get the Confucius Institute."
He said Confucius Institutes not only promote the teaching of Chinese language and culture, but facilitate the training of language teachers, cultural and academic exchanges and research into China's education system, economy, arts and society.
"We are also delighted to team up with the esteemed Yunnan University."
Chen Shuang said Confucius Institute at the University of Dhaka will surely also act as a catalyst to further strengthen the growing educational and cultural ties between China and Bangladesh.
"We look forward to working more closely with Bangladesh."
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese and U.S. officials on Tuesday encouraged business people to invest in both countries during the Eighth Round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogues.
China is committed to protecting intellectual property rights, expanding market entry and increasing the transparency of laws and regulations to create a fair, transparent and predictable business environment, said Vice Premier Wang Yang.
"One of the priorities now is negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty (BIT). We should try to reach a mutually beneficial and high-level agreement as an early date," said Wang.
State Councilor Yang Jiechi said he hoped enterprises in both countries would explore new cooperation areas and foster new growth drivers.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said they welcomed Chinese investment in the United States, and that they were ready to grasp opportunities created by China's supply-side structural reform and increase investment in the country.
An aerial photo taken on Sept. 25, 2015 from a seaplane of Hainan Maritime Safety Administration shows cruise vessel Haixun 1103 heading to the Yacheng 13-1 drilling rig during a patrol in South China Sea. (Xinhua/Zhao Yingquan)
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The All China Lawyers Association issued on Tuesday a statement on the South China Sea arbitration case unilaterally initiated by the Philippines. Following is the full text of the statement's English version:
All China Lawyers Association
Statement on the South China Sea Arbitration Case Unilaterally Initiated by the Republic of the Philippines
The All China Lawyers Association (ACLA) hereby makes the following solemn statement on the South China Sea arbitration case unilaterally initiated by the Republic of the Philippines:
1. ACLA firmly supports the stance of the Chinese Government on the South China Sea issue, and the positions clearly stated in the Position Paper of the Government of the People's Republic of China on the Matter of Jurisdiction in the South China Sea Arbitration Initiated by the Republic of the Philippines dated December 7, 2014. No country, organization or individual is in a position to deny China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea.
2. The Philippines unilaterally initiated the South China Sea arbitration, disregarding the fact that the disputes between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea are in essence about territory and form an integral part of maritime delimitation, denying the consensus of the two countries that they have chosen to settle relevant disputes through bilateral negotiations, and denying the optional exceptions declaration China made in 2006 pursuant to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The Philippines' conduct violates relevant provisions of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), abuses the UNCLOS arbitration procedures, and infringes upon China's right to choose means of dispute settlement on its own will, and is thus illegal.
3. The Arbitral Tribunal established at the unilateral request of the Philippines, while having no jurisdiction over the arbitration case, has wantonly expanded and exceeded its power, and made serious mistakes in areas such as verification of facts and application of law. Its conduct goes completely against the principles and purposes of UNCLOS, erodes the integrity and authority of UNCLOS, runs counter to international judicial justice, violates the spirit and goals of international rule of law on peaceful settlement of international disputes, and is by no means impartial.
4. China's non-acceptance and non-recognition of and non-participation in the arbitration unilaterally initiated by the Philippines is a justifiable act aimed at defending state sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, upholding international rule of law, and protecting the authority and integrity of UNCLOS.
Related:
Chinese Society of the Law of the Sea issues statement on South China Sea arbitration initiated by the Philippines
BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Society of the Law of the Sea has issued a statement on the South China Sea arbitration initiated by the Philippines. Following is the English version of the statement: Full story
Spotlight: China will not fall into trap of South China Sea arbitration: Chinese ambassador
JOHANNESBURG, June 2 (Xinhua) -- China will not give certain countries the satisfaction of tricking it into the trap of the South China Sea arbitration, Chinese Ambassador to South Africa, Tian Xuejun, said on Thursday.
In an article carried by Independent Media's nationwide newspaper The Star, Tian reveals the fallacy of the arbitration and reiterates the legitimacy of China's decision of neither participating in nor accepting the arbitration. Full story
Old map shows the Philippines' claim over South China Sea islands groundless
NEW YORK, May 29 (Xinhua) -- An old map published in 1899 by geographer J. Martin Miller shows that islands in the South China Sea have never been Philippine territory, Zeng Yingjing, the owner of the map, has told Xinhua.
SANTIAGO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Foreign Relations Committee of the Chilean Senate approved Monday legal proposals to eliminate double taxation with China and three other countries.
Chile and China first signed an agreement over the matter on May 25, 2015 in Santiago. "China is our main trading partner and we are working on a series of investment projects with them. Also, many Chileans have investments in China, making up large sums that are covered by this agreement," said Senator Jorge Pizarro, president of the committee.
"This agreement would bring more Chinese investments to Chile, said Senator Francisco Chahuan. "With the approval of the bill, we will improve the conditions for Chinese investments to arrive in Chile."
The three other countries involved in the proposed legislation are Argentina, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
The draft law, which also aims to curb tax evasion in business interactions between Chile and the these countries, will be put to vote in the Senate. If approved, it will be signed into law by President Michelle Bachelet.
SEOUL, June 7 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's arms procurement agency said Tuesday that it will mass-produce indigenous armored vehicles from this month, aiming at improving mobility and operability of infantry troops.
The project to develop indigenous wheeled armored combat vehicles, which was launched in December 2012, passed the final operability test on May 9, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). Local defense company Hyundai Rotem had undertaken the project.
Mass-production of the new combat vehicles would start this month, planning to produce about 600 units by 2023. The vehicles would be deployed in both frontline and rear army units from next year.
Major armored vehicles, operated currently by South Korea's military, such as K200 and K21, are tracked combat vehicles that have a relatively low mobility compared with the newly developed wheeled armored vehicles.
The new vehicles, including K808 and K806, can drive at a maximum speed of 100 km per hour, faster than 74 km for K200 and 70 km for K21.
The K808 was designed for fast transport of infantry troops and reconnaissance missions in mountainous frontline areas, while the K806 would be used for strikes on the move and reconnaissance missions.
The agency said that the new wheeled armored vehicles can move on the ground and in waters while carrying heavy firepower, protecting infantry troops from enemy machine gun attacks while transporting them.
It has an eye to export the newly developed vehicles thanks to price competitiveness compared with similar vehicles developed in the United States, Germany and the Netherlands, the agency said.
Hillary Clinton (Xinhua file photo)
WASHINGTON, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Monday reached the number of delegates required to notch the Democratic nomination, according to the Associated Press's latest delegate count.
The tally included the overwhelming support by unpledged delegates or superdelegates for her. Superdelegates are party leaders who are free to change their allegiance before the national convention in July.
At the age of 68, the former U.S. secretary of state enjoys near universal name recognition after her almost four-decade-long public life.
Her debut as a political spouse started in 1979 when her husband Bill Clinton became the governor of Arkansas. When Bill Clinton campaigned for the presidency in 1992, he once quipped that he was offering voters two presidents "for the price of one."
As first lady of the United States, Hillary Clinton raised her profile in 1993 by aggressively campaigning for universal healthcare for all Americans. However, her campaign ended up being a fiasco.
Between the mid-1990s and the end of his second term in office, Bill Clinton became deeply involved in various scandals, including an investigation into a failed real estate project in which the Clintons had invested and his affair with a White House intern that later led to impeachment proceedings.
In 2000, Hillary Clinton successfully ran for senator in New York State and easily won re-election in 2006.
She launched her first White House run in 2008 and was immediately viewed by many as the front-runner in the Democratic field.
However, she was defeated by then first-term Senator Barack Obama from Illinois in the nomination race, who later won the general election and became the first U.S. African-American president.
She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as U.S. secretary of state in January 2009.
She entered the 2016 presidential race with strong momentum in April 2015. But since then, her candidacy has been dogged by controversy around her exclusive use of a private email account and server while helming the U.S. State Department.
Related:
Deepening split within Democratic Party could pose problems to Hillary Clinton's presidential run
WASHINGTON, May 19 (Xinhua) -- A deepening split within the U.S. Democratic Party amid front-runner Hillary Clinton's ongoing battle with rival Bernie Sanders could be problematic for Clinton in her race to the White House.
WELLINGTON, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Donors at an international energy conference in New Zealand have committed more than 1 billion NZ dollars (693.3 million U.S. dollars) to sustainable energy projects in the Pacific, Foreign Minister Murray McCully said Tuesday.
The money committed at the Pacific Energy Conference in Auckland followed 635 million NZ dollars (440.12 million U.S. dollars) committed at the 2013 Pacific Energy Summit, McCully said in a statement.
Investors included conference co-hosts New Zealand and the European Union, as well as the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank Group, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Australia.
The sum raised at the 2013 event had eventually translated into more than 900 million NZ dollars (624.69 million U.S. dollars) in investments across 70 projects, so the commitments announced Tuesday could increase as opportunities for leverage became apparent, said McCully.
"With the growing role for the private sector and the prospect of access to the UN Green Climate Fund there should be significant potential to further expand our efforts in this area," said McCully.
New Zealand had agreed to provide a further 100 million NZ dollars (69.33 million U.S. dollars) to Pacific energy projects, bringing its total contribution to 220 million NZ dollars (152.63 million U.S. dollars).
Since 2013, New Zealand and the EU had partnered to deliver renewable energy projects in Tuvalu, Samoa, the Cook Islands, and Kiribati.
EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica welcomed the expansion of the partnership.
"I am particularly pleased to have signed today with New Zealand a Joint Declaration of Cooperation on a Pacific Partnership for Sustainable Energy. It signals our commitment to expand the scope of our close cooperation on renewable energy to benefit, among others, Tonga, Niue and northern Pacific," Mimica said in a statement.
"Furthermore this declaration paves the way for the future expansion of the successful EU-New Zealand partnership to fields such as climate change, in accordance with the framework established by the Paris Agreement, and sustainable agriculture, starting with Vanuatu."
Undated file photo provided by city of Perth, Australia, shows the skyline of South Perth City. (Xinhua)
SYDNEY, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has scapegoated foreign investors for soaring house prices, said Terry Ryder, a researcher and writer on Australian real estate.
According to Ryder, the root cause of the unaffordability crisis is the hideously high cost of creating residential land and building dwellings. And much of the blame for that rests at the feet of politicians at all levels of government.
"So while politicians are busily pointing the affordability finger of blame at others, they might want to consider the high cost of producing home sites as a relevant issue, with themselves as the major problem," Ryder wrote in an article published in late March.
"In our major cities, housing blocks have become smaller over time but the cost keeps rising. In Sydney, according to one set of recent figures, the median price for a home site is 410,000 Australian dollars (296,000 U.S. dollars), up 20 percent in the past year. Melbourne's median has risen 23.5 percent. In Perth, you pay 300,000 Australian dollars for a housing block," he said.
The expert pointed out that over 40 percent of the cost of new dwellings in the country is the taxes and charges imposed by various levels of government. Numerous studies have been done on this issue and they all arrive at pretty much the same result.
It means that a house-and-land package priced at 500,000 Australian dollars could be sold for 300,000 dollars if you removed all the politicians' imposts that inflate the cost, he concluded.
"You can be sure that politicians won't discuss this, " he said.
DHAKA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A Hindu priest was killed in a suspected militant attack in Bangladesh Jhenidah district, some 178 km west of capital Dhaka, on Tuesday, police said.
Gopinath Kanjilal, the district's assistant superintendent of police, told journalists that three assailants riding a motorcycle committed the murder.
"The assailants armed with sharp weapons slit throat of Ananda Kumar Ganguly, 66, on Tuesday morning while he was going to the temple for offering puja (worship)," he said.
He said doctors declared him dead while he was rushed to a local hospital.
The motive behind the killing has not been known.
Unidentified attackers earlier on April 30 also hacked a minority Hindu person to death in Bangladesh's central Tangail district, some 97 km away from capital Dhaka.
In the wake of militant attacks, the Bangladeshi government has banned motorcyclists from carrying more than one passenger until further notice.
A day after spouse of a top Bangladeshi police officer was shot dead by suspected militants in the country's seaport city Chittagong, some 242 km southeast of capital Dhaka, Bangladesh's Ministry of Home Affairs Monday imposed the ban.
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.
In most of the cases, it was noticed that the attacks in a similar fashion were carried out by motorcycle-borne assailants.
ISTANBUL, June 7, 2016(Xinhua) -- Policemen work at the explosion place in Istanbul's Fatih District, Turkey, on June 7, 2016. A car bomb targeted a riot police shuttle bus in Istanbul on Tuesday, causing several people injured, Turkish media reported. (Xinhua/Cihan)
Click here for more photos >>
ISTANBUL, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Seven police officers and four civilians were killed and 36 others injured in the car bombing attack on a police shuttle bus in Istanbul on Tuesday, the governor said.
Three of the wounded "are in critical condition," Governor Vasip Sahin said on the scene.
He said the car bomb exploded at 8:40 a.m. local time (GMT 0540) when the riot police shuttle bus passed by in the neighborhood of Vezneciler in Fatih district.
Many ambulances were dispatched to the scene, while police evacuated and cordoned off the area and halted the public transportation.
The deadly attack came one day after Turkey entered the holy month of Ramadan, a time when Muslims in the country practice fasting.
The security situation in Turkey has deteriorated in recent months, with Istanbul, the national capital of Ankara and other cities having been hit by a number of bombing attacks.
In Istanbul, two suicide bombing attacks killed 12 Germans and four foreigners respectively in January and March.
Police secures the area near the site where a Turkish police bus was targeted in a bomb attack in a central Istanbul district, Turkey, June 7, 2016. (Reuters photo)
ISTANBUL, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Seven police officers and four civilians were killed and 36 others injured in the car bombing attack on a police shuttle bus in Istanbul on Tuesday, the governor said.
Three of the wounded "are in critical condition," Governor Vasip Sahin said on the scene.
He said the car bomb exploded at 8:40 a.m. local time (GMT 0540) when the riot police shuttle bus passed by in the neighborhood of Vezneciler in Fatih district.
Many ambulances were dispatched to the scene, while police evacuated and cordoned off the area and halted the public transportation.
The deadly attack came one day after Turkey entered the holy month of Ramadan, a time when Muslims in the country practice fasting.
The security situation in Turkey has deteriorated in recent months, with Istanbul, the national capital of Ankara and other cities having been hit by a number of bombing attacks.
In Istanbul, two suicide bombing attacks killed 12 Germans and four foreigners respectively in January and March.
Muslims get ready for the fourth prayer session of the day in the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar on June, 6, the first day of Ramadan. (Xinhua photo/Ma Kai)
URUMQI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Muslims around China finished their first day of Ramadan after a long day without food and drink on Monday.
For many in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, it is customary after a day's fasting to have a glass of "doc," a milk drink mixed with yogurt, honey and ice.
"Nothing is better than doc for breaking fast. Both thirst and fatigue disappear after a glass," said Abdokrim Ismail, a resident of Kashgar's old town.
After a day's fasting, people have some food in an eatery in Kashgar on June 6. (Xinhua photo/Ma Kai)
This year's Ramadan, which lasts from Monday to July 6, coincides with the hottest part of the year in Kashgar. Going without drinking in temperatures consistently over 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) is quite a challenge.
"Ramadan is an occasion for us to experience starvation and learn endurance. No matter how hard it is, I will keep fasting for the holy month," Abdokrim said.
Muslims are not allowed to eat or drink between sunrise and dusk during the Islamic holy month of fasting and spiritual reflection. The practice is widely observed by ethnic minorities in China, including Uygur, Hui, Kazakh, Uzbek, Tajik and Kyrgyz.
But for Mayis Hagei, a Muslim hotcake cook from Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu Province, work continues.
Mayis Hagei, his wife and daughter got up at about 4 a.m. as usual. After morning prayer, the family began a busy working day.
"Ramadan is good for us Muslims to purify the heart, strengthen the mind and contemplate over doctrine," he said. "But non-Muslim residents of the neighborhood also need our cakes and service."
"I have sworn to stick it out until the Eid al-Fitr (festival of breaking of the fast)," he added.
A man sells hotcakes to residents in Kashgar on the evening of June 6. (Xinhua photo/Ma Kai)
While Mayis Hagei was making cakes for his customers, Eprhan Abdokadhre, a housewife in Kashgar, was also busy preparing food before the sunrise: mutton, lamb pilaf, fruits, desserts, bread, milk, tea and honey -- plentiful enough for the whole family to endure the day.
"We believe in a light supper and a heavy breakfast," Eprhan said.
After grabbing a bite in the dusk, the men in her home went to a nearby mosque for the fourth prayer of the day, and women performed the ritual at home.
Residents buy appetizers in Kashgar after dusk on June 6. (Xinhua photo/Ma Kai)
According to Hamit Aisha, assistant general manager of Xinjiang Arman halal food company, sales usually double during Ramadan, as demand for finished and semi-finished food soars.
Hermit Parati runs a carpet factory in Artux City of Xinjiang's Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture. He is thinking of shortening working hours by three to four hours per day for Muslim employees.
On Monday, about 20,000 people visited Dongguan Mosque in Xining, capital of Qinghai Province, almost double the usual number. Qinghai is home to more than a million Muslims, or about one fifth of the province's total population.
Wang Shaofeng, an imam at the mosque, leads tours for visitors. "Not drinking water for the whole day is quite a challenge for people like me, who talk a lot, but many people are quite considerate, and they did not ask many questions today," he said.
A cook prepares to roast buns in Kashgar on the evening of June 6. (Xinhua photo/Ma Kai)
After sunset, young girls distributed dates at the gate of the mosque and some believers brought milk tea and melons to share.
Ma Jian, a middle-aged Muslim, left the mosque after he finished his prayer sessions for the day. "My family have prepared noodles and desserts for the night. After a day of fasting, the delicacies are a great joy," he said.
China has about 20 million Muslims.
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- China, the world's largest steel producer and consumer, is resolute in its commitment to reducing overcapacity in the sector, although this may result in job losses.
China's industrial overcapacity is a byproduct of the stimulus program implemented during the global financial crisis, during which China contributed about 50 percent to world economic growth.
Now that the global economy is showing signs of picking up, however, the country has been blamed for flooding overseas markets with cheap steel.
It is unfair to rely on China for economic growth during times of strife, only to sing another tune when the global economy warms.
Measures by China to reduce excess capacity are there for all to see. Huge subsidies have been issued to help steel and coal companies resettle their redundant workers, as the two sectors will have to reduce their workforce by a combined 1.8 million.
Moreover, loans and credit to the steel sector are now under much tighter scrutiny.
China has shut down steel factories with a total capacity of over 90 million tonnes over the past five years and plans to reduce this by an additional 100 million to 150 million tonnes by 2020.
The northern province of Hebei, which produces one fourth of the country's steel, pledged to reduce iron and steel output by 17.26 million tonnes and 14.22 million tonnes, this year.
Despite a recovery in global steel prices, the province asked local governments to not approve any new steel projects or allow steel mills that had already been closed to resume operation. Otherwise, local party and government leaders will be removed from office.
Hebei is not alone in combating overcapacity. Resource-rich provinces including Liaoning, Shanxi and Shaanxi have also rolled out their own measures.
Due to the country's unwavering commitment to the cause, crude steel output continued to decline in the first four months of the year, falling 2.3 percent year on year, compared with a 1.3-percent decrease in the same period last year.
As the world's biggest steel producer, China cannot just shutter all it unproductive steel mills overnight, but that does not translate into China dumping its steel products on overseas markets.
As China embarks on its challenging economic transition, patience and encouragement from the global community would be more useful than criticism and trade protectionism. Enditem
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang has called for joint efforts to address industrial overcapacity.
Addressing a joint press conference on Tuesday for the eighth round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogues, Wang said both countries recognized that excess capacity in many industries, such as steel, is a global challenge and addressing it needs joint efforts.
"It is the result of the fragile recovery of the world economy and weak demand," the vice premier said.
He called for resorting to legal means, market mechanisms, and proper policies to address this issue.
GUANGZHOU, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Until very recently, the children of migrant workers had no right to sit the "gaokao," China'a annual college entrance exam, in their adopted cities, even if they had studied there for most of their academic life.
Since the 1950s, the population has been divided into urban and rural residents. Every adult is issued with a "hukou," the household registration certificate, which binds them to a city, town or village.
This system is like a social passport, guaranteeing families access to health care, education and other support resources. However, and herein lies the problem, the mass movement of people across the country for work has meant that many families are hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away from their registered hometown.
In short, the system does not work in today's China: This is best illustrated by gaokao rules, as currently, most offspring of China's 200 million migrant workers must return to their parents' hometowns to sit the make-or-break test.
On Tuesday, 9.4 million students sat the gaokao, and of that number almost 10,000 had been saved from making the arduous journey back to the countryside.
Guangdong Province in south China was chosen to pilot the gaokao reform program, which allowed the offspring of migrant workers to finally sit the exam alongside their urban peers, providing their parents met certain requirements.
Zhong Mengyao's parents are from southwest China's Sichuan Province and they have worked as sanitary workers in Guangzhou for 20 years. Despite speaking fluent Cantonese and having lived in the city for almost all her life, Zhong can not legally identify as a native of Guangzhou.
"Without a Guangzhou hukou, I always felt I was different from my classmates. I dare not make friends in school in case I am forced to return to Sichuan," said the senior student in Hexie High School in Guangdong's capital of Guangzhou.
On Tuesday, however, she was found taking the national exam along with her classmates in Guangzhou.
Zhong was among the first group of 9,500 migrant students to sit the exam in Guangdong.
"Migrant workers have contributed greatly to Guangdong's development. Many migrant children have gone to school in Guangdong. They must be allowed to take the exam here," said Huang Youwen, deputy head of the provincial examination authority.
Children from migrant families eligible to sit the exam in Guangdong have to meet five requirements -- their parents have stable jobs, a legal residence, a residence permit, social insurance records in Guangdong for three consecutive years, and children's school record in Guangdong for three years.
With the progress in the gaokao reform, it is foreseeable that more migrant workers will bring their children with them instead of leaving them at their rural hometowns.
Guangdong is among only a handful of places that have piloted the gaokao reform. Many education authorities are concerned about "gaokao migration."
"Opening gaokao to migrant students has put Guangdong to the test," said examination official Huang.
He said Guangdong sees around 200,000 migrant children arrive every year. If they are all allowed to study in Guangdong, the province must build 100 more schools.
"The cost of land use and investment for the schools is huge," he said.
Guangdong had 733,000 students to sit gaokao this year, down from 754,000 last year.
Huang said as the number of total examinees reduced this year, there was no need to worry about an increase of migrant examinees.
Education equality is the primary objective of China's gaokao reform, which is a key part of the government's efforts to safeguard social fairness.
LIBREVILLE, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Gabon National Judges Union (SYNAMAG) on Monday organized street protests against political appointments which, according to them, erodes judicial independence.
"The promotion of the former public prosecutor Sidonie Flore Ouwe, a first grade judge, to the position of First President of the Court of Appeal, threatens our independence," the protesting judges said.
The position is reserved for judges who have reached grade 5, they insisted.
"This decision must be cancelled. We are ready to adopt other measures if our demand is not satisfactorily addressed," one of the judges said.
"No to political interference and politicisation of the judiciary, and no to judges who are tainted by corruption," SYNAMAG Secretary General Stanislas Koumba said.
On the same day, Gabon's Justice Minister Seraphin Moundounga proceeded to swear into office Ouwe and her other colleagues whose appointment was equally contested by SYNAMAG.
During the judges' protest, they equally denounced repeated violations of Gabon's Constitution, especially with regards to the law touching on the Supreme Council of Judges, as well as the law on the status of judges.
The judges' union said it would issue a strike notice to the Justice ministry on Tuesday.
By Shristi Kafle
RUKUM, Nepal, June 7 (Xinhua) -- With the mercury having plummeted well below zero in the Pupal valley of upper Rukum, some 700 kilometers from the Nepalese capital, it was not a normal weekend for those gathering 4,500 meters above sea level.
Despite heavy snow, people were outside their shelters roaming around here and there, wearing clothes that looked impossibly thin to offer any real protection against the wintry climes, yet their eyes were bright and they seemed eager to get moving.
Suddenly, a loud ceremonial gunshot rang out from the top of the hill, after which hordes of people started running towards the grassy, yet snow-capped meadow of the valley, but this was no regular race, but the beginning of the harvesting season of the precious caterpillar fungus known as Yarsagumba in the region.
As with every year, thousands of people undertook a trenuous 2-day journey from many different districts like Rukum, Dolpa, Baglung, Myagdi and Dolpa to get to Pupal; trekking uphill, some carrying infants to participate in the harvesting of Yarsagumba.
Laxmi Prasad Pun, president of the Pupal Yarsa Festival 2016, told Xinhua "People will stay in Pupal for nearly two months to collect the unique hybrid Yarasagumba, which has become a major means of income for thousands of people living in this mountainous region."
Nearly 100 volunteers and 40 security personnel have been mobilized in the area to curb any looting or illegal trading of Yarsagumba. Last year, 18,000 people had participated in the harvesting in the Pupal area alone, which borders the Dolpa district although has absolutely no transportation or infrastructure.
HIMALAYAN VIAGRA
Ophiocordyceps sinensis, or, as it's more commonly referred to here, Yarsagumba or Yarsa, is a small, somewhat fragile, mummified body of what is known as the Himalayan bat moth caterpillar, which has been taken over by a parasitic fungus. The species is known throughout Himalayas as a powerful medicine and in some instances is worth more than its weigh in gold. It's stalk-like fruiting body can be found in dizzying heights of up to 5, 000 meters above sea level.
In actuality, it is a finger-shaped caterpillar fungus that sprouts above the soil from two to five centimeters and is usually golden in color, soft to the touch and tastes like a milk product.
However in the local language, it is called 'chyau' meaning mushroom, 'kira' meaning 'insect' or Yarsa, and is mostly found in Nepal, China, India and Bhutan. Researchers have recently found that this hybrid is also found in some parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan as well.
This precious biological resource is traded worldwide, especially in neighboring China for medicinal purpose. It is highly-valued for its aphrodisiac capabilities and the potential to treat cancer and other diseases related to the lungs, kidney and stomach.
But mostly, it's recognized for curing impotence, and has been dubbed 'Himalayan Viagra'. However, not much extensive scientific research has been conducted on the actual medicinal properties of Yarsagumba, and so its restorative potential remains shrouded in folklore and mystery.
YARSA ECONOMY
Communities in the upper Rukum are solely dependent upon the picking and selling of the precious Yarsagumba for their livelihoods. Though the region has immense possibility for agricultural production, locals find Yarsagumba to be the quickest and easiest way to make money.
In recent years, locals have stopped working in traditional agriculture, livestock and weaving clothes and nowadays prefer to keep horses and sheep; make home-made wine, along with running seasonal hotels targeting the Yarsa season.
Surabindra Pun, a local of Maikot and a photojournalist told Xinhua "People have become money-minded these days. You can see the barren fields everywhere as they don't want to do hard labor. Instead they only focus on working for two months a year."
Fifty-five-year-old Krishna Bahadur Pun started running a temporary hotel two years ago during the Yarsa season. He runs a small portable hotel inside a tent in three different locations, Hampa hill, Dule base camp and Pupal valley.
"My family has been running a hotel targeting the Yarsa pickers. We provide local lunch and dinner comprising rice, daal and sheep curry and a home-made drink called 'raksi' or 'chhyang' to the visitors. It is the only season to make money," Pun told Xinhua, adding that his wife and two teenage daughters support him in running the business.
Once the Yarsa season that usually runs from mid-May to July is over, his family migrate back to Maikot village.
SLUMPING SUPPLY
There was a time when people used to pick 500 and 700 pieces of Yarsagumba every day. Now, it has dropped to between 5 and 15 per day. High demand but less availability has compelled hundreds of people to lose interest in the harvesting of Yarsagumba.
Jogamaya Pun, 40, a local of Maikot village who runs a hotel in the Pupal valley said "When I was 15, I used to pick more than 500 Yarsa every day. In return, my trader used to provide a wage of Rs 80. After a few years, its price gradually increased to Rs 2, 5, 25, 50 a piece and so on. The price has gone up but we can hardly find 10 pieces these days."
Though the pickers claim that Yarsagumba is hard to find in recent years, traders believe that there has been an uptick in harvesting.
"In the past, there were fewer pickers so the availability was high. Nowadays, people don't see it as a simply a piece of Yarsa, they see it as a 1,000 rupee note which means they are in race to see who can grab the most first. I am worried about the future of Yarsagumba," Jit Man Pun, a veteran trader told Xinhua.
He buys the caterpillar fungus from pickers directly in kilograms and sells them in bulk to traders in Kathmandu and China's Tibet. According to Pun, the-over exploitation of the highland including increasing numbers of people and grazing animals have led to the shrinking numbers of Yarsagumba.
TRAILBLAZERS
The newly-explored Yarsa trail has been initiated by the local community of the Ranmamaikot village development committee, located at upper Rukum, with the 20-kilometer trail starting from Maikot, a beautiful Magar community and running to the Pupal valley.
Raj Dharma Magar, a local of Maikot told Xinhua "Around 700 locals were mobilized for the construction of the trail and more than Rs 20 million was invested by the locals for the trail's completion."
Locals claim that this new trail is an adventurous one, but there are security concerns as well. They are hopeful that the trail will be used by the foreign trekkers who travel to neighboring Dolpa and then mountainous districts like Manang and Mustang via the Dhorapatan hunting reserve.
"If we could arrange home-stay facility, then we could easily introduce our isolated village and rich culture to the outer world," Magar said.
FLORA AND FAUNA
Yarsagumba is the major asset of this region that is traded in the global market, especially in neighboring China, and is worth millions of rupees a year. According to the District Forest Office Rukum, it collected revenue for 15 kg of Yarsagumba last season worth Rs 15,000 (around 150 U.S. dollars) per kg.
The collected revenue was lower than usual however, as most of the traders sold it through the bordering Dolpa district rather than Rukum, considering its shorter transportation distance and easy government process.
However, the department collects up to Rs 4 million annually from the valuable medicinal herbs from across the region.
The region is rich in a number of medicinal herbs including Padamchal, Kutuki, Jatamasi, Pakhandit, Somlata, Samayo and Paachaaule among others.
The Pupal region is also a habitat for the endangered Red Panda, Snow Leopard, Musk Deer, Spotted Tiger, Himalayan Tahr and Blue Sheep.
But only few locals are aware that these precious plants and animals are on the verge of extinction.
Lalit Jung Khadka, a ranger at the District Forest Office Rukum told Xinhua, "The region's Maikot, Pelma and Ranmam are endangered wildlife and valuable medicinal herbs. But there is a lack of awareness about conservation and indifference from the state, I am worried that these riches will be lost in 10 years time. It's a serious matter," he said. ( One U.S. dollar equals 106 rupee)
Damaged cars are seen at the site of a bomb explosion in the central business area in Nigeria's capital Abuja, on June 25, 2014. (Xinhua/Olatunji Obasa)
NAIROBI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Rising incidents of terrorism in the Sahel region pose a major security challenge, especially after the many deaths and injuries the region has witnessed in the last one year.
The latest of such incidents occured on the night of May 31 to June 1, 2016, when twin terrorist attacks hit northern Mali region of Gao.
One of the attacks targeted a camp of the United Nations Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). This was the first night attack at a UN camp.
In another locality within the same region, the offices of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) was hit by light weapons.
Islamist militant group Al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the twin attacks which killed four people, including a Chinese peacekeeper.
Just a day after, in the Somali capital Mogadishu, Al-Shabaab raided Ambassador hotel which is frequented by government officials, leaving at least 15 people dead, 30 injured.
On the same day, at least 30 soldiers from Niger and two from Nigeria were killed in an attack carried out by Boko Haram in southeastern Niger, close to the border with Nigeria.
Is it possible to talk of coincidence?
SAHEL-VICTIM OF RISING TERRORISM
The three countries that were attacked are located in a region commonly referred to as the Sahel, which has seen an upsurge of terrorism.
From the Atlantic to the Red Sea, going through the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa, the region covers ten countries that include Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Eritrea and Somalia.
The region has seen a proliferation of terrorist groups such as Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab and AQIM, that have been carrying out attacks in different countries.
By end of November last year, at least 100 terrorist attacks had taken place in Africa with the majority in Sahel region.
The number was equivalent to one third of terrorist attacks that happened across the world in 2015.
People walk past burnt vehicles after an attack by Boko Haram Islamists on Feb. 20, 2014 in a northeastern Nigerian town. (AFP Photo)
In the second half of May this year, at least 20 people in Mali lost their lives due to terror attacks, including soldiers, UN peacekeepers and civilians working for the UN mission.
ENDING POVERTY KEY TO FIGHTING TERRORISM
Poverty has been blamed for the rising cases of terrorism in the Sahel region and in Africa at large.
A European Commission report released in April 2016 revealed that at least 20 percent of the population in Sahel is poor with 25 million living in extreme poverty.
Analysts say poverty-related criminal activities are on a growing trend in Africa, such as drug and human trafficking, abductions; more poor people have joined terrorist organizations.
What has become more worrying are the increased cases of extremism, a state of mind that lures and controls people, especially desperate youths.
In Arabic, the word Sahel means border. However, this border is collapsing under the weight of rising extremism, which was heightened after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in Libya and the resultant disappearance of a huge cache of weapons that could easily be accessed by terrorists.
The security situation in Sahel countries and recent terrorist attacks were at the center of discussions in Bamako between Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for West Africa and Sahel, Mohamed Ibn Chambas.
On May 26, 2016, at the UN Security Council in New York, China's representative Wu Haitao urged the international community to actively promote cooperation in the fight against terrorism in the Sahel region.
"To end terrorism, socioeconomic development cannot be neglected," Wu said, adding that "countries in the region should leverage on the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals by adopting their own local development programs and strategies."
In Mali, the implementation of the National Peace and Reconciliation Agreement has stalled, something that is worrying the international community.
Due to rising incidents of terrorist attacks, ex-Malian Prime Minister Moussa Mara said recently there was need to adapt "a rigorous, determined and sustainable" counter-terrorism strategy.
"We must integrate intelligence, collaborate with the people, work with religious organizations, use technology as well as socio-cultural skills acquired from our communities," Mara proposed.
Baby pandas are seen at the Ya'an Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Ya'an, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Aug. 21, 2015. (Xinhua/Li Qiaoqiao)
NAIROBI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- China has been successful in panda conservation and the experience can be applied in conservation of African flagship species, a Kenyan official on wildlife protection has said.
Edwin Wanyonyi, acting deputy director in charge of strategy and change of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) , made the remarks after meeting with a delegation from China's State Forestry Administration.
Wanyonyi said the KWS will continue to strengthen cooperation with China in wildlife protection.
Kenya has recorded an 80 percent reduction in poaching for the last three years thanks to robust partnership with countries like China in fields such as enhanced surveillance at the parks and ports of entry.
Wanyonyi said the visit was also part of the ongoing efforts to strengthen Sino-Kenya cooperation in wildlife conservation.
"Today's visit by Chinese officials is part of our continuous engagement with Beijing on issues that promote conservation of wildlife species. We sought to deepen this cooperation in today's discussion with Chinese colleagues," said Wanyonyi.
A herd of elephants move together while protecting their young one between inside the Maasai Mara national reserve, Oct. 5, 2012. (Xinhua/Liu Jiang)
KWS in 2013 signed a memorandum of understanding with China's State Forestry Administration and since then delegations from both sides have been meeting under an exchange program.
In April 2015, senior KWS officials visited China and held discussions with Chinese officials over the strengthening of collaboration in areas of mutual interests.
SEOUL, June 7 (Xinhua) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will visit Russia next week to discuss issues on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear program, Seoul's foreign ministry said Tuesday.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuk told a regular press briefing that Minister Yun will visit Moscow on June 12 to hold a foreign ministers' dialogue with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov the next day.
The two-day visit would be the first since Yun took office in early 2013 and mark the first South Korean foreign minister's travel to Russia in five years.
Cho said the two ministers will make in-depth discussions on the Korean Peninsula issues, including the DPRK's nuclear program, as well as regional situation and ways of enhancing bilateral cooperation.
The spokesman said Yun's visit would serve as an opportunity to gain momentum in Seoul's diplomatic pressure on Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear program.
COTONOU, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Confucius Institute at Abomey-Calavi University in Benin has celebrated the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival, a traditional Chinese festival that falls on June 9 this year.
On the occasion, four mixed teams of the Confucius Institute learners competed their talent on Monday in activities such as tug of war, picking up ping-pong balls with chopsticks as well as games with prizes that attracted also people from neighboring communities.
"These events are purposed to ensure, in the Institute, the intermingling of learners from different backgrounds", Confucius Institute principal Segbo Julien said.
He explained that conditions are not met for now in Benin to celebrate the dragon boat festival in pure Chinese tradition.
Thus, games are created to familiarize students with this traditional festival, officially named Duan Wu Festival in China.
Learners at Confucius Institute are mostly from French speaking as well as English speaking countries of the West African sub-region.
The festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar and commemorates the death of Qu Yuan, a poet/minister from the Warring States period (475-221 BC) who committed suicide in the Miluo River in central China.
Racing of traditional longboats originated from the fishermen who raced to save the fallen statesman, and has become the centerpiece celebration of the Dragon Boat Festival nowadays. On this day, traditional Chinese food called zong zi, which is made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo, reed, or other large flat leaves, is eaten.
DUBAI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The United States multinational technology firm IBM said here on Tuesday that it has signed a 10-year technology services agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) international carrier Emirates Airline worth approximately 300 million U.S. dollars.
IBM and Dubai's government-controlled Emirates said in a joint statement the American blue chip firm will provide IT infrastructure as a service, allowing the airline to improve efficiency on its passenger support systems and functions.
Emirates Airline which flies from its home airport Dubai to 150 destinations globally also collaborated with IBM earlier this year to enhance its Passenger Service System (PSS).
IBM technology and services will allow Emirates to re-design its business processes and streamline airport operations.
Emirates has run its ticketing and reservations system on the IBM mainframe for more than 30 years.
The deal marks IBM's second multi-million dollar agreement in the Gulf state's civil aviation industry within less than 12 months.
Earlier in October 2015, Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad Airways signed a 700 million dollars deal with IBM for a range of security and technology, infrastructure services.
CAPE TOWN, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A total number of 44 schools across South Africa have introduced Mandarin in this academic year, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said on Tuesday.
The Western Cape Province has 27 schools that have introduced Mandarin, the highest number in the country, to be followed by Gauteng (11), the Eastern Cape (three) and KwaZulu-Natal (three), the minister said in a parliamentary reply.
Schools in other provinces will follow suit, the minister said.
A total number of 500 schools in South Africa will offer Mandarin as a second additional language in the next five years, according to Motshekga.
Ultimately 100 teachers will be trained for this year and 500 will be trained over the next five years, the minister said.
She said South African teachers will undergo a three-week training programme, which is sponsored by the Institute of Global Chinese Language Teacher Education.
The roll-out of Mandarin teaching was incrementally implemented in schools with Grades 4-9 and 10 in January 2016, to be followed by Grade 11 in 2017 and Grade 12 in 2018, according to the Department of Basic Education.
Under the South African Schools Act of 1996, education is compulsory for all South Africans from the age of seven (grade 1) to age 15, or the completion of grade 9. Further Education and Training takes place from grades 10 to 12.
The Chinese government will send Chinese teachers to South Africa and donate 2, 000 textbooks to assist in teaching Mandarin in schools until a South African textbook is developed, Motshekga said earlier.
Mandarin is one of the most commonly spoken languages in the world.
TEHRAN, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Millions of Iranian Muslims started observing the codes of the holy month of Ramadan across the country on Tuesday.
Based on the teachings of Islam, they would care primarily for two major duties of the Muslims during Ramadan, namely, to avoid certain sins and to abstain from eating and drinking in private or in public spheres from dawn to dusk.
In addition, Ramadan for Muslims in general is a period of spiritual causes, including prayers, charity activities, self and collective restraint.
From the first day of Ramadan in Iran, some people start reciting the holy Quran with the aim of completing the entire sacred text by the end of the month. The activity is usually done hours before breaking the fast in the evenings or before starting to fast at dawn.
Regularly, in an Iranian household, the woman of the house gets up before the sunrise, prepares rich and nutritious food for the family members. The citation of Athan (or the call to Muslims ritual prayer) on TV or from the loudspeakers of the mosques before the sunrise is the sign of refrain from food and drink.
In the same manner, the citation of Athan at the sunset is a signal for the end of fasting period on the day and beginning to "Iftar" or to break the fast.
Since the meal time, or lunch, is cleared from the working hours during the daytime, many businesses and state organizations amend their working hours.
Communal brief meals in public, or ceremonial meals in private homes are available in the Iranian cities or villages in the evenings of Ramadan.
Fasting is not obligatory for young children and patients based on the principles of Fiqh or Islamic code.
The month of Ramadan begins with a new moon sighting, marking the start of the ninth month in the Islamic calendar. Ramadan ends when the first crescent of the new moon is sighted again, marking another lunar month's start.
ISTANBUL, June 7, 2016(Xinhua) -- Policemen work at the explosion place in Istanbul's Fatih District, Turkey, on June 7, 2016. A car bomb targeted a riot police shuttle bus in Istanbul on Tuesday, causing several people injured, Turkish media reported. (Xinhua/Cihan)
ISTANBUL, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday denounced the latest bombing attack in Istanbul, vowing continued battle against terrorism.
"This terror attack is against humanity, there is no way to forgive these attacks," the president said after visiting some of the wounded in hospital, adding that "we will continue our struggle against terrorism tirelessly until the end."
Seven police officers and four civilians were killed and 36 others injured in the morning rush hour, when a parked car exploded as a riot police shuttle bus passed by in the neighborhood of Vezneciler in Istanbul's Fatih district.
Three of the wounded are "in critical condition," Governor Vasip Sahin said.
Erdogan said two people were undergoing surgery in the hospital where he visited.
The deadly attack came one day after Turkey entered the holy month of Ramadan, a time when Muslims in the country practice fasting.
"Terror can happen anytime anywhere, we should be prepared," Erdogan said, pledging all the precautions to "minimize" the threat of terrorism.
Press reports said the buildings of several universities, the Istanbul municipality headquarters and Ottoman-era mosques were damaged in the explosion, while the final exams in Istanbul University were postponed.
Police have boosted the security measures across the city and were conducting searches at the metro stations, the reports said.
The security situation in Turkey has deteriorated in recent months, with Istanbul, the national capital of Ankara and other cities having been hit by a number of bombing attacks.
In Istanbul, two suicide bombing attacks killed 12 Germans and four foreigners respectively in January and March.
Related:
11 killed, 36 wounded in Istanbul car bombing attack: governor
ISTANBUL, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Seven police officers and four civilians were killed and 36 others injured in the car bombing attack on a police shuttle bus in Istanbul on Tuesday, the governor said.
MOGADISHU, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Africa Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has stepped up security in the Somali capital Mogadishu during the month of Ramadan.
AMISOM Police Commissioner, Francis Ayitey Aryee, said more security officers had been deployed to Mogadishu, which has suffered waves of attacks by Al-Shabaab militants.
"Experience has shown that in the month of Ramadan, whereas our brothers and sisters engage in communing with Allah through fasting and prayers, threats against them are heightened," Aryee said in a press release issued by AMISOM.
Aryee said the officers will be stationed in key locations in the city and work with the Somali police to prevent Al-Shabaab attacks.
Apart from routine patrols, the officers will set up check points and, depending on intelligence, take part in cordon and search operations.
AMISOM forces have been helping the Somali government battle Islamist group Al-Shabaab. The militants have been driven to rural areas in southern Somalia, but still stage periodic attacks in the country.
BEIJING, June 7, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Yi Gang (C), vice governor of the People's Bank of China, attends a press conference during the eighth round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogues and the seventh round of China-U.S. High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange, in Beijing, capital of China, June 7, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- China will grant the United States a quota of 250 billion yuan (38 billion U.S. dollars) under the country's Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII) program, an official with the central bank said Tuesday.
"China values the cooperation with the U.S., and both sides will jointly promote renminbi businesses in North America," Yi Gang, vice governor of the People's Bank of China, told press at the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogues on Tuesday.
The RQFII mechanism was launched in December 2011 to widen investment channels for overseas renminbi funds on the Chinese mainland, allowing those that qualify to invest in China's securities market within a permitted quota. It aims partly to increase the international use of renminbi.
Yi said China was considering appointing qualified foreign institutions as settlement institutions and bond underwriters, and is simplifying the approval procedures for its RQFII program.
The new quota will expand the mechanism by about 50 percent. The combined RQFII quota stood at 501.77 billion yuan at the end of last month.
By the end of May, China had approved RQFII quotas to 165 institutions from 10 countries and regions.
KUNMING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A wild Asian elephant killed a villager and injured another in southwest China's Yunnan Province, local authorities said Tuesday.
Li Yunshan, a resident of Tuanjie Village, Pu'er City, was attacked by a wild Asian elephant while picking up mushrooms in a mountain forest alongside his wife Lin Youzhi, Li's son Li Shaoyi reported to the local government at around 2 p.m. Monday.
The senior Li was killed instantly, while Lin suffered injuries to her face.
The site of the accident has been cordoned off, and authorities have warned local residents to stay alert.
Wild Asian elephants are under state protection in China, with about 300 living mainly in Yunnan Province. Enhanced protection for wild animals has seen the mammals' number rise in recent years, but cases of clashes with humans have also increased, according to the local government.
Last month, wild Asian elephants killed two villagers in Yunnan's Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture.
MADRID, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Spanish police on Tuesday confirmed they have arrested a Moroccan man in the city of Valencia on charges of glorifying terrorism, radicalizing and recruiting potential radical fighters over the internet.
The Spanish Interior Ministry confirmed the man had "established with a stable, active and complex network, destined to the spreading, justification and glorification of the jihadist ideas of Daesh (the Islamic State)."
The ministry adds that the detainee used "multiple internet accounts" and "every possible strategy to remain hidden."
Investigations show that he maintained contacts with "a high number of Daesh fighters, some of whom were important figures in the Syria-Iraq conflict zone," and had expressed a desire to join the organization himself as a fighter.
Officials consider the operation has "deactivated a dangerous radicalizing element and promotor of terrorist activities" in Spain.
DAMASCUS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday addressed the newly-elected parliament, saying the new parliament was elected after unprecedented participation of the Syrian people.
"The elections were not normal, but came amid political gravitation and tough internal circumstances," he said.
The president said "the unprecedented number of the voters was clear message to the world that the more pressure we have, the more we cling fast to our sovereignty."
He urged the lawmakers of the new parliament to work for serving the people, noting that the new parliament was elected in exceptional times.
He noted that by prioritizing the public interest, confronting the challenges that have resulted from the crisis would be possible.
Syria's parliamentary elections were held last April in government-controlled areas, with some 3,500 candidates vying for the 250 parliamentary seats amid a boycott by opposition groups.
A day earlier, Hadiyeh al-Abbas, a member of the ruling al-Baath party, was elected as the speaker of the Syrian parliament, the first woman to claim the position in Syria's history.
According to state news agency SANA, al-Abbas was elected during the first session of the newly elected parliament.
SANA said al-Abbas was the first woman to be the speaker of the parliament since the Syrian parliament was formed in 1919.
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese and U.S. officials have agreed to speed up negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) during the Eighth Round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogues (S&ED).
"The two countries will exchange new 'negative list' offers in mid-June," Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang told a news briefing here on Tuesday.
"We will try to reach a mutually beneficial and high-level agreement at an early date," he said.
A negative list outlines sectors closed to foreign investment. The last time the two sides exchanged such lists was in early September last year.
China and the United States started to negotiate a BIT in 2008 and 24 rounds of talks were held ahead of the eighth S&ED as both countries sought to increase mutual investment.
Related:
China, U.S. welcome mutual investment
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese and U.S. officials on Tuesday encouraged business people to invest in both countries during the Eighth Round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogues.
China is committed to protecting intellectual property rights, expanding market entry and increasing the transparency of laws and regulations to create a fair, transparent and predictable business environment, said Vice Premier Wang Yang. Full story
Commentary: 2016 China-U.S. dialogue is of "quintet" significance
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. Full story
China to grant RQFII quota to U.S.: official
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- China will grant the United States a quota of 250 billion yuan (38 billion U.S. dollars) under the country's Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII) program, an official with the central bank said Tuesday.
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into Wang Yang, a former senior legislator in northeast China's Liaoning Province, following allegations of bribery, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) announced Tuesday.
The SPP said that Wang, who was formerly the deputy director of the Standing Committee of Liaoning Provincial People's Congress, is subject to compulsory measures, a legal term that can cover arrest, detention, summons, bail pending trial, or residential surveillance.
Earlier this month, Wang was expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and removed from public office for violating the Party's code of conduct, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) ruled after an internal investigation.
KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 (Xinhua) -- China's major telecom equipment maker ZTE said Tuesday that it would set up a training center at one of Malaysia's top universities as part of its efforts for a "digital silk road."
The agreement between ZTE and Malaysia's Multimedia University will see the establishment of a training center to provide training for customers and employees of ZTE, and also to provide internship opportunities for students of the university.
The students will enjoy the priority access to the world-class information and communication technology without leaving campus. In addition, the training center will also be open to Malaysian public with the public training course for local ICT engineers.
Steven Ge, chief executive of ZTE Malaysia, said the agreement marked an important milestone for ZTE as it will be a major step forward, benefiting both parties as participants of the "digital silk road," in synergy with China-proposed Belt and Road initiative.
Ge said ZTE will provide its telecommunication equipment and technology in a bid to contribute to the cultivation of local talents.
As part of the agreement, ZTE University, a corporate training center founded by the company, will also send a large number of technical instructors and consultants to support education cooperation in training, study, consulting, certification and training center operations in the follow-up educational cooperation.
HANGZHOU, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese food company Wufangzhai in east China's Zhejiang Province is collaborating with Walt Disney Co. to produce snacks branded with Disney cartoon characters for Dragon Boat Festival.
Wufangzhai is a famous producer of Zongzi (a pyramid-shaped glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in reed leaves) and other rice products. To mark this year's festival, the company will release specially-designed products featuring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Iron Man on the packaging.
"I bought a box of cartoon-branded Zongzi this year. I'm sure my granddaughter will love it," said one grandmother, who was shopping at a store in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province.
Customers said the campaign is a good way to help the younger generation understand the festival.
Xu Wei, brand director of Wufangzhai, said both Wufangzhai and Disney are time-honored brands. The cooperation is a combination of tradition and innovation.
Dragon Boat Festival, or Duanwu Festival, is traditionally celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese lunar calendar. It falls on June 9 this year.
Zongzi are traditionally eaten during the festival to remember ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan. Enditem
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping underscored that the duty of providing demobilized military officers with civilian jobs was a political task, and was closely linked to national defense and military reform.
Xi made the comments during a speech given to a recent top leadership meeting, which was conveyed by Zhao Leji, head of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee's organization department, at the 2016 national conference on employment of demobilized officers on Tuesday.
Xi, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), called for greater support and care for demobilized military officers and improving working mechanism, which would help transfer them to civilian posts and assist the ongoing reform push.
Related:
China aims to complete military reform by 2020
BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhua) -- China aims to complete military reform and have armed forces capable of informationized warfare by 2020, according to a five-year military development plan published on Thursday.
In the next five years, China's armed forces will realize "a significant increase of key combat capabilities," said the 13th five-year military development plan (2016-2020), issued by the Central Military Commission (CMC). Full story
China Focus: China releases guideline on military reform
BEIJING, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Central Military Commission (CMC) has released a guideline on deepening national defense and military reform, about a month after CMC Chairman Xi Jinping called on a military administration and command system overhaul at a key meeting.
ANTANANARIVO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- An international trade fair on textile and clothing called "Origin Africa" will be held in Madagascar Nov. 3-5, the Executive Director of Madagascar Export Processing Zone Association, Eva Razafimandimby said.
"This is the first time for Madagascar to host this international event," Razafimandimby said during a press conference held in Madagascar's capital Antananarivo on Monday.
"This fair will be the engine for the revival of Madagascar's textile which has been doubly affected by the global financial and economic crisis of 2008 and the suspension of the country's eligibility from the U.S. African Growth Opportunity Acts (AGOA) in January 2010," Razafimandimby added.
Amid the political crisis in Madagascar in 2009, the United States suspended from 2010 to 2014 Madagascar's eligibility to AGOA, a program allowing African countries to export their textile products without tax to the United States. Due to the suspension of AGOA, hundreds of thousands jobs were lost, making the country among the poorest countries in the world.
By this fair, Madagascar will target to regain its place in the first rank among African countries in terms of textile export and is planning to export about 100 million US dollars of textile products, Razafimandimby said. The country is currently at the fourth rank after Kenya, Lesotho and Mauritius.
Before the political crisis in 2009, Madagascar exported around 350 million US dollars by year but the export value dropped to 15 million in 2010 amid the suspension of the country from the AGOA.
According to Eva Razafimandimby, hosting of this international fair on textile is important for Madagascar because the development of the country was made in the textile sector since the last 10 years. "The sector recorded 105,000 direct jobs in April 2016 representing 30 percent of jobs in the formal sector in Madagascar," Razafimandimby said.
The main destinations of textile products made of Madagascar's processing zones are European Union countries, USA, member countries of Southern African Development Community and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, Australia, Canada and China. Enditem
BISHKEK, June 7, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Prime ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) attend a meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, June 7, 2016. Prime ministers of CIS gathered in the Kyrgyz capital on Tuesday to discuss development and integration among CIS member states, Kyrgyz press service reported. The agenda of the meeting includes cooperation in trade and economics, energy, health care, food security and innovation. (Xinhua/Kyrgyz government press service)
BISHKEK, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Prime ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) gathered in the Kyrgyz capital on Tuesday to discuss development and integration among CIS member states, Kyrgyz press service reported.
The agenda of the meeting includes cooperation in trade and economics, energy, health care, food security and innovation.
Before the start of the meeting, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev expressed confidence that this meeting would pave the way for the CIS Heads of State Council Summit scheduled in September in Bishkek.
The CIS Heads of Government Council, established in 1991, is the second major body in the CIS after the CIS Heads of State Council.
NAY PYI TAW, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar and Singapore agreed Tuesday on mutual exemption of visa for ordinary passport holders of the two countries, according a release of the Myanmar Foreign Ministry.
Notes on the arrangement were exchanged following a meeting between visiting Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Myanmar State Counselor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi in Nay Pyi Taw.
The exemption, which will grant 30 days of stay for ordinary passport holders in each other's country, will be effective from Dec. 1, the release said.
At their meeting, Prime Minister Lee and State Counselor Suu Kyi also discussed boosting of investment between the two countries, opening of Singapore's vocational training institute in Yangon, tourist promotion including Singapore's aviation flight re-arrangement and review of the two countries' avoidance of double taxation agreement signed in 1999.
Moreover, the two leaders touched on active participation in international affairs by the two countries.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong arrived Nay Pyi Taw earlier Tuesday on a three-day goodwill visit to Myanmar, aimed at consolidating the two countries' friendship and cooperation and helping Myanmar in its development
At the invitation of Myanmar President U Htin Kyaw, Lee is the first leader of Asian countries to come to Myanmar after the new government assumed office on April 1.
Lee's visit also comes on the occasion of the 50th anniversary Myanmar-Singapore diplomatic ties.
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The latest annual list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women was released by American Business magazine Forbes on Monday, with Chinese women making their strongest show on this list.
The world's most powerful females were selected from across the fields of politics, business, technology, nongovernmental organizations and philanthropy, which included 32 chief executive officers, 12 world leaders and 11 billionaires.
2016 is a record year for China, which was represented by nine women for the first time, including Lucy Peng, a senior executive of e-commerce giant Alibaba, who was the highest-ranking Chinese woman in the 35th position.
World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan, ranked 38, is the second highest ranking Chinese woman on this list.
Kingston Securities CEO Pollyanna Chu, and Great Wall Motor Co. CEO Wang Fengying, are also included in the list.
The 2016 list features 100 women from 29 countries.
According to the BBC website, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is ranked first for the sixth consecutive year and 11 times in total. She is followed by American presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Meanwhile, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is the youngest women in the list while the oldest is 90-year-old Queen Elizabeth II.
The list ranks women by "money, momentum, media, spheres of influence and impact."
According to the magazine, those women control a total net worth around1 trillion U.S. dollars in revenue and influence more than 3.6 billion people around the globe.
BEIJING, JUNE 7 (Xinhua) -- Students sitting China's college entrance examination entered exam halls on Tuesday morning knowing this is the first year when cheating will be treated as a criminal offense, punishable by up to seven years in prison.
Some 9.4 million high school students are registered to sit the exam, known as the "gaokao," from Tuesday to Wednesday.
The gaokao is considered a relatively fair way to screen and select higher-education candidates, but the reputation of the test has taken a battering in recent years over allegations of cheating arranged between teachers and students.
Efforts have been made to limit sales of concealed wireless devices, frequently used for cheating, as well as improper gaokao-related content online and the use of substitute examinees.
By far the toughest measure to guard the exam's fairness has been an amendment to the Criminal Law, which took effect on Nov. 1, covering organizing cheating, facilitating cheating or hiring others to sit state-level exams. Lawmakers hope the maximum seven-year sentence will act as an effective deterrent.
On Tuesday morning, in Ruijin, east China's Jiangxi Province, test monitors used instruments to scan students' shoes before entering the exam hall, while devices to block wireless signals were also employed.
In Ningxia, technical staff from the regional wireless transmission regulatory commission checked the monitoring facilities at all test centers a day ahead of the test.
In Lanzhou, Gansu Province, test center patrollers examined the stationery package provided at a test center in Lanzhou No. 2 High School.
In Beijing, an average of eight police officers have been deployed at all test centers to look out for suspect behavior, according to the city's police force.
In Jiangxi, 23 police officers patrolled outside Dongfangzhixing Foreign Language School's test center, while another 100 were on stand-by.
"So far, no clues of organized cheating have been detected," said Du Chuanjia, director of the education bureau of Zhongxiang City, Jiangxi Province.
Many parents waiting outside of a test center in Zhongquan City, Hubei Province, said they had received warnings and were aware of the criminal penalties for cheating this year.
"The stricter the exam is, the fairer it will be for students," said a parent, Zhang Ling.
However, some believe the penalties may be too strict.
"I think it's too much," said an examinee in Hunan Province. "It may ruin one's life forever."
Liu Lijun, another parent of an exam-taker in Hefei City, Anhui Province, also dislikes the criminalization of cheating. "Its effect on society is not that severe, so I think writing cheating in state-level exams into the Criminal Law is taking things too far," Liu said.
Xiong Bingqi, a freelance educationalist, suggested an overhaul of the system so that the gaokao forms just one part of the college entrance examination, to reduce the benefits of cheating on the exam.
"To fully eliminate cheating, not only must the punishment be strengthened but also the admission system must be reformed," Xiong said. Enditem
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Tuesday urged the Japanese government to take the right position on the issue of "comfort women."
Spokesperson Hong Lei, who was speaking at a routine press briefing, said that inscribing "comfort women" archives on the Memory of the World Register will help people to understand the cruelty of war, remember history, cherish peace and safeguard dignity.
Some NGOs from China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, the Philippines and other countries and regions are working together to nominate documentation on comfort women to be included on the Memory of the World Register.
Japan should not interfere with their activities, Hong stressed, urging Japan to honor its commitments and win the trust of its Asian neighbors as well as the international community.
Historians estimated that hundreds of thousands of Asian women were forced to serve in Japanese military brothels during WWII.
The Memory of the World Programme, established in 1992 by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), preserves the world's most important documents.
SINGAPORE, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, Singapore Branch (ICBC) and seven organizations signed a series of agreements for strategic cooperation here on Tuesday.
Under the agreements inked during the second RMB Internationalisation Summit, ICBC will provide financing services and look at project structuring to support Singapore companies in China-proposed Belt and Road infrastructure projects across Asia.
"China's Belt and Road initiative has opened up investment opportunities in infrastructure projects for Singapore companies," said Chua Taik Him, deputy chief executive officer of International Enterprise (IE) Singapore.
Chua Taik Him added that through this strategic partnership, IE Singapore and ICBC can leverage on each other's global networks to meet the market opportunities.
The summit also witnessed the launch of ICBC shipping finance centre (Asia Pacific), which marks the first dedicated shipping finance center among Chinese banks in Singapore.
An aerial photo taken on Sept. 25, 2015 from a seaplane of Hainan Maritime Safety Administration shows cruise vessel Haixun 1103 heading to the Yacheng 13-1 drilling rig during a patrol in South China Sea. (Xinhua/Zhao Yingquan)
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- State Councilor Yang Jiechi on Tuesday called on the United States to deliver on its pledge to take no position on territorial disputes.
China always respects and protects the freedom of navigation and overflight that all countries enjoy in accordance with international laws, Yang said, adding that China hopes the United States could play a constructive role in safeguarding peace and stability in the South China Sea.
"It is important to protect regional peace and stability," Yang told a press briefing for the eighth round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogues in Beijing.
He stressed that territorial and maritime disputes in the South China Sea should be settled through peaceful negotiations and consultations by the countries concerned.
China has not changed and will not change its position of non-acceptance and non-participation on the Philippines' arbitration case concerning the South China Sea, he said, as it was in accordance with principles of international laws including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
China and the United States support a full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, and are ready to advance consultations on a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, Yang added.
Related:
China Voice: South China Sea arbitration lacks legal basis
BEIJING, June 6 (Xinhua) -- There is a Chinese saying that goes like "the villain brings suit against his victim before he himself is prosecuted."
This is true in the Beijing-Manila South China Sea dispute.
The Philippines, which began illegally occupying some of China's islands and reefs in the 1970s, unilaterally filed the case with the arbitral tribunal in The Hague in 2013. Full story
Commentary: Will the South China Sea issue be a tipping point of China-U.S. relations?
BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The increasingly active U.S. military presence in the South China Sea region is fanning tensions in the region, and fueling concerns that it may lead to a tipping point in China-U.S. ties.
KATHMANDU, June 7 (Xinhua) -- British Foreign and Commonwealth Permanent Under-Secretary Sir Simon McDonald and the British Department for International Development's (DFID) Permanent Secretary Mark Lowcock arrived in Nepal Tuesday for an official visit.
A press release issued from the British Embassy in Nepal said that the visit is an opportunity to celebrate both modern and historic links between the two countries.
The British officials will discuss bilateral and international issues with senior government officials including Prime Minister K.P Sharma Oli, Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa, and Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel, the embassy said.
"They will also meet with a wide range of people from business and politics to discuss issues that are important to both countries, including the current political situation, human rights, the economic and humanitarian challenges facing Nepal, ways the UK can help Nepal improve its business environment and boost bilateral trade and investment, and future development partnerships," the embassy added.
The British officials are also scheduled to visit Britain-funded projects in Nepal. Britain has been one of the oldest development partners of Nepal over the years. Enditem
A man casts his ballot at a polling station in Geneva, Switzerland, June 5, 2016. Swiss people voted on Sunday on whether to give every adult citizen a basic guaranteed monthly income. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan)
GENEVA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Switzerland has launched a referendum on whether the government should give out an unconditional 2,500 Swiss francs (2,584 U.S. dollars) to its citizens, but almost 80 percent of Swiss said no on Sunday.
The plan was to provide a minimum income for all Swiss citizens, including children and adolescents, who would receive 625 francs (646 dollars) per month.
Though the initiative gathered 100,000 signatures needed to kick-start the vote, only 23.1 percent of voters were behind the move, with most of the Swiss concerned about the cost of the program to the Swiss economy.
The Swiss government said the idea "would endanger the economic success and social achievements of Switzerland."
Referendums are a common approach for the Swiss to decide on major issues. In another high-profile referendum, the Swiss voted down a motion to raise the minimum wage to about 25 dollars per hour, the highest in the world.
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday condemned a deadly terrorist attack in the western Kazakh city of Aktobe on Sunday, promising to strengthen anti-terrorism work with the central Asian country.
Spokesperson Hong Lei, who was speaking at a routine press briefing, said that China supported action by Kazakhstan to combat terrorism and safeguard national stability.
China will work with Kazakhstan to maintain regional security and stability, he said.
Hong extended condolences to the victims, their families and the injured.
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- China is set to invest 6.6 trillion yuan (about one trillion U.S. dollars) on developing low-carbon cities in the next five years, according to a report released on Tuesday.
The money will be mainly spent on developing low-carbon buildings, green transportation system and clean energy to meet China's low-carbon ambitions outlined in the 13th Five-Year Plan, according to a report jointly released by the Paulson Institute, Energy Foundation China and a branch of the China Association of Circular Economy.
The majority of the investment, about 4.45 trillion yuan, will go to build or upgrade energy-efficient and environmentally friendly railways, buses and other infrastructure, the report said.
About 1.65 trillion yuan is needed to finance construction of green buildings or reconstruction of existing residential and commercial properties so that they conserve more energy.
Developing distributed solar photovoltaic power generation infrastructure, considered to be vitally important to clean energy, will require investment of about 500 billion yuan before 2020, according to the report.
Ma Jun, the Chinese central bank's chief economist, said the sums of money needed for this work are too great to be covered by the government alone. China needs to turn to specialist financing like issuing green bonds to introduce more private support, Ma said.
OUAGADOUGOU, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The international arrest warrant against the president of Cote d'Ivoire's Parliament Guillaume Soro over ongoing investigations in last year's failed coup, and which was cancelled recently on "technical grounds," will not be renewed, an official source has said.
"Regarding Soro, due to the legal constraints, the prosecutor has decided to cancel the arrest warrant," the new government commissioner Alioune Zanre told the media in Ouagadougou on Monday.
Zanre said the international arrest warrant had been cancelled due to legal obstacles that make it difficult to execute it.
He said despite cancelling the arrest warrant, Burkina Faso will "report" the crimes committed by Soro to Cote d'Ivoire authorities so that they can deal with him.
Early this year, Burkina Faso's military judicial authorities, on the basis of "telephone conversations," issued an arrest warrant against Soro over his suspected involvement in last year's attempted coup to overthrow Burkina Faso's transition government.
The arrest warrant against Soro threatened to sour diplomatic relations between the two states which have always enjoyed friendly ties.
BEIJING, June 7, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping (C) meets with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (3rd L) and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew (2nd L), who are here to attend the eighth round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogues and the seventh round of China-U.S. High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange, in Beijing, capital of China, June 7, 2016. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called on his country and the United States to promote the healthy and stable development of ties through increased exchanges and cooperation.
Xi made the remarks here while meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, who attended the eighth round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogues and the seventh round of China-U.S. High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange.
Xi stressed that three years ago, he and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed to work together to build a new model of major-country relations between the two sides.
The development of bilateral ties over the following three years indicates that the path is in line with the fundamental interests of the two peoples and the world, he said.
The president called on both sides to focus on cooperation, manage their differences properly and promote the healthy and stable development of China-U.S. relations.
On macro-economic policies, Xi suggested the two countries strengthen policy coordination, strive for more positive outcomes at the G20 Hangzhou summit, and inject new impetus into the world economy.
He suggested that both countries make the most of cooperation potential in the areas of trade and investment, clean energy, and environmental protection, adding that they should strengthen communication and coordination on major global and regional issues.
Referring to divergence, Xi said the two countries should respect each other's core interests and major concerns, and settle problems through dialogue and consultation.
Kerry and Lew said the United States would like to work with China to ensure the G20 Hangzhou summit is a success, adding that Obama welcomes a stable and prosperous China.
Effective cooperation between the two nations on major issues such as climate change indicated the significance of the U.S.-China relationship, they said.
The two U.S. officials agreed the United States and China have extensive cooperation potential, and could solve differences properly.
Related:
China, U.S. agree to accelerate BIT talks
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese and U.S. officials have agreed to speed up negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) during the Eighth Round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogues (S&ED).
"The two countries will exchange new 'negative list' offers in mid-June," Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang told a news briefing here on Tuesday. Full Story
China, U.S. welcome mutual investment
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese and U.S. officials on Tuesday encouraged business people to invest in both countries during the Eighth Round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogues.
GENEVA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- A planned aid convoy containing mainly food has been unable to reach the besieged Syrian town of Darayya as planned, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesperson Jens Laerke said Tuesday.
The shipment was meant to follow last week's first humanitarian instalment after the town received medical and nutritional supplies for children for the first time since 2012.
"We've only received a partial approval for overland transport of that second instalment," Laerke explained.
In light of protracted challenges to cater to the needs of those living in besieged and hard to reach areas because of ongoing restrictions, plans to carry out airdrops are still being considered.
"The humanitarian coordinator submitted to the government on Sunday a request for full approvals to deliver a complete package of assistance to all the locations that were either partially approved or not approved," said the Director of the United Nations Information Service, Ahmad Fawzi.
"Air delivery is not off the table, whether its high altitude or helicopter. The World Food Programme has drawn up a comprehensive plan over a two month period as a last resort to deliver by air to the locations I just mentioned," he added.
As of June 1, UN figures reveal that 269,250 people out of the 592,000 civilians living in besieged areas have received life-saving humanitarian assistance so far this year.
TAIYUAN, June 7 (Xinhua) -- North China's Shanxi Province has launched an innovative way to select candidates for its local elections, hoping for a cleaner political environment after a spate of corruption cases.
The township-level leadership transition ended in early May and the county-level election is under way in Shanxi's Lyuliang, the first prefecture-level city in the province to try the new system.
This year, there will be elections in over 2,850 county-level regions and more than 32,000 townships.
In Shanxi Province, more than 300 positions were left vacant as a large number of officials were implicated in graft, including seven provincial-level officials. Media outlets have described the ousting as a "cave-in."
Under such circumstances, the way in which officials are selected and promoted has become a thorny issue, said Wang Rulin, secretary of Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
To prepare for the elections once every five years, the province last year examined all of its 70,000 officials, resulting in more than 5,000 being penalized for violating the CPC codes of conduct.
To date, six documents have been issued to stop "problematic" officials from being promoted.
"We have to learn a lesson," said Wang.
SURPRISE INTERVIEW
On a workday afternoon, Li Hongzuo, vice president of the Party school in Lyuliang City, rushed to an emergency meeting. When he arrived, he was informed that he was one of 38 officials to be assigned the role of inspector. They were tasked with interviewing all of the city's candidates for official positions.
The inspectors had all communication to the outside world cut.
Almost at the same time, Li Ruigang, a township-level official in the city's management center for government services, was informed he had to attend "training" at the Party school. This turned out to be a surprise interview designed to determine who would be nominated for the coming county-level election.
"I thought it was a course on Party rules and leadership instructions," he said.
Li is a common surname in China and the two Lis are not related.
Li Ruigang was given seven minutes to prepare a speech on how he would use his power if he was elected a county-level official.
"I have thought about what causes corruption and ways we can eradicate it -- so the topic was not difficult for me," he said. He was given a score of 90, one of the highest, from the inspectors.
Li Ruigang was one of 13 to stand out as suitable for a county-level position. Two candidates did not even show up.
"It they had known the event affected their future, they would not have dared miss it," said Li Ruigang.
Li Ruigang had held his position for 13 years and never expected promotion. "I was told by a colleague that I was lucky to be given a chance for promotion -- I am not local, and I am not well connected."
Wu Zhenjie, an official supervising local elections in Shanxi Provincial government, said the surprise interview was arranged to prevent interviewees seeking connections or offering briberies to interviewers.
"Instead of being chosen by higher leaders, candidates must compete. This has eliminated corruption and prompted cadres to improve their workstyles," he said.
SCREENING TIGHTENED
According to Ma Jinbiao, an official with the Organization Department of CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee, a candidate faces more than 10 steps to be promoted, including public recommendation, qualification check, deliberation by related authorities, public notification and voting by local lawmakers.
Inspectors will now supervise the elections in cities, counties and townships across the province, and public tipoffs are encouraged.
As of mid May, organizational authorities in Lyuliang City had revoked the election qualification of a man, whose father-in-law, a local senior lawmaker, had lobbied for him by sending text messages to voters.
During the township-level elections in the district, Zhang Nengqiang was finally elected director of the Fengshan Subdistrict Office at the age of 43. In China, a township-level official usually will not be promoted if he or she is older than 45.
"I'm very grateful I was elected without offering any bribes," he said.
The cleaner political air has also eased the financial burden on local companies, as few officials dare to request election "sponsorship."
Niu Zhiming, a tourism entrepreneur in Lyuliang, said he and his peers have not been asked to back any candidates, without disclosing how much he donated last time.
In an electoral fraud case in Hengyang City, Hunan Province, in 2013, 56 provincial legislators offered bribes totalling 110 million yuan (16.7 million U.S. dollars) to nearly 600 municipal lawmakers and members of staff.
A total of 467 people have been given Party or administrative punishments after they were implicated, and 69 had their cases transferred to judicial organs.
The CPC in April issued a statement stressing a ban on forming factions, bribery, fraud and leaking confidential information, among other types of malpractice. It urged local Party committees, disciplinary organs and organizational departments to carefully oversee the elections.
BUDAPEST, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Hungary's parliament on Tuesday amended the constitution to manage the threat of terrorism in the country while adopting a law to set up an Anti-terrorism Information and Criminal Analysis Center and a legal package to combat terrorism.
Winning the constitutional amendment with a two-thirds majority, parliament can now, at the initiative of the government, declare a state of terrorism emergency that allows the government to suspend certain laws and take emergency measures.
Although a two-thirds parliamentary majority is required to declare the terrorism emergency, the government may act before the parliamentary vote.
Immediately after it submits its initiative, it may take emergency measures for a maximum of 15 days or until the parliamentary vote.
If parliament approves the action, the state of terrorism emergency remains in force and laws may be suspended, but if it rejects it, the government will be required to halt its actions.
As for the Anti-terrorism Information and Criminal Analysis Center, it will take the place of the Coordination Center against Organised Crime but will continue to operate within the interior ministry. It will research all available data on possible threats of terrorism, on the domestic security situation, and on public safety and report its findings to the government.
Parliament also voted to include terrorist actions or preparations for terrorist actions as a separate category in the penal code.
NAY PYI TAW, June 7, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's State Counselor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi (R) shakes hands with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, June 7, 2016. Leaders of Myanmar and Singapore Tuesday vowed to enhance cooperation in economy and vocational education, U Zaw Htay, spokesman of Myanmar's President, told the press. (Xinhua/Aung Shine Oo/Pool)
NAY PYI TAW, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of Myanmar and Singapore Tuesday vowed to enhance cooperation in economy and vocational education, U Zaw Htay, spokesman of Myanmar's President, told the press.
During a meeting between Myanmar President U Htin Kyaw and visiting Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong here, the two leaders had discussions on boosting bilateral investment, opening of Singapore's vocational training institute in Yangon, tourism promotion and review of the two countries' avoidance of double taxation agreement signed in 1999.
An agreement between the two governments on mutual exemption of visa for ordinary passport holders was signed on the occasion.
The exemption, which grants 30 days of stay by ordinary passport holders in each other's country, will be effective from December this year, the spokesman said.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Lee also met with Myanmar State Counselor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi who responded to the prime minister's call for active participation in international affairs by the two countries.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong arrived in Nay Pyi Taw earlier Tuesday on a three-day goodwill visit to Myanmar , aimed at consolidating the two countries' friendship and cooperation and helping Myanmar with its development.
At the invitation of Myanmar President U Htin Kyaw, Lee is the first leader of Asian countries to visit Myanmar after the new government assumed office on April 1.
Lee's visit also comes on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Myanmar-Singapore diplomatic ties.
NIAMEY, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Niger government has denied reports that terrorist group Boko Haram had recaptured the country's southeastern town of Bosso, less than 72 hours since the group carried out one of the deadliest attacks in the same town that left 30 Nigerien soldiers dead and over 70 injured.
Earlier on Monday, military sources that did not wish to be named had told Xinhua that the militant group had retaken the town, and forced governmental forces to flee.
"Contrary to the rumour being spread, the town of Bosso is totally under control. The will of Niger to fight cannot be weakened by Boko Haram," Government Spokesman Assoumana Malam Issa said on the state broadcaster.
Between Friday night and Saturday last week, hundreds of heavily armed Boko Haram fighters attacked a military base in the town, killing at least 30 Nigerien soldiers and leaving tens of others injured.
They looted and razed down the camp. Feeling overpowered, Nigerien soldiers fled. But reinforcement was deployed later in the day to recapture the town.
On Sunday, Niger's Defense Minister Hassoumi Massaoudou visited the town to deliver the message of sympathy and condolence from President Mahamadou Issoufou and the entire Nigerien population to the country's defense forces.
"We must continue to fight and ensure we avenge for the death of our comrades. We must win this war," the minister declared.
JOHANNESBURG, June 7 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's Business Confidence Index (BCI) suffered a setback in May after a gradual recovery in April, according to data released here on Tuesday.
The BCI came in at 79.3 in May, down 7.6 points compared to the May 2015 level. It was also 3.2 points lower compared to April 2016, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) said.
Setbacks in the real business environment were evident in last month with four of the seven sub-indices declining month-on-month while the financial climate deteriorated even more.
The largest negative year-on-year contribution to the BCI in May came from the rand exchange rate followed by new vehicle sales and all-share prices on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
The only positive year-on-year impact on the BCI in May came from municipal services.
The main matters that could seriously affect the immediate South African economic conditions and the business climate are the announcements by Standard and Poor's and Fitch regarding South Africa's sovereign credit rating, said the chamber.
South Africa avoided a downgrade to junk status last week by Standard and Poor's, but the government will have to give serious attention to measures that promote the production side of the economy, he said.
The sovereign credit rating should serve to emphasize the need for revisiting the economic policy narrative to restore business and investor confidence, said Mukoki.
BEIJING, June 7, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Yi Gang (C), vice governor of the People's Bank of China, attends a press conference during the eighth round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogues and the seventh round of China-U.S. High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange, in Beijing, capital of China, June 7, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- China will grant the United States a quota of 250 billion yuan (38 billion U.S. dollars) under the country's Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII) program, an official with the central bank said Tuesday.
"China values the cooperation with the U.S., and both sides will jointly promote renminbi businesses in North America," Yi Gang, vice governor of the People's Bank of China, told press at the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogues on Tuesday.
The RQFII mechanism was launched in December 2011 to widen investment channels for overseas renminbi funds on the Chinese mainland, allowing those that qualify to invest in China's securities market within a permitted quota. It aims partly to increase the international use of renminbi.
Yi said China was considering appointing qualified foreign institutions as settlement institutions and bond underwriters, and is simplifying the approval procedures for its RQFII program.
The new quota will expand the mechanism by about 50 percent. The combined RQFII quota stood at 501.77 billion yuan at the end of last month.
By the end of May, China had approved RQFII quotas to 165 institutions from 10 countries and regions.
Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang told a news briefing Tuesday that China and the U.S. welcomed continuous cooperation between financial platforms and both sides would strive to connect their financial markets and products.
Financial regulators from both countries are willing to enhance cooperation in information sharing and cross-border law enforcement, Wang said.
The vice premier added that the two sides had agreed to promote exchanges to address money laundering, the financing of terrorism and counterfeit bank notes.
The two sides reiterated that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should increase quotas, the voting power and maximum financial commitment, for emerging markets and developing nations. Enditem
JAKARTA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian government on Tuesday strongly condemned the latest bomb attack in Istanbul, Turkey, that killed 11 and injured 36 others.
"Government and people of Indonesia conveyed their deepest sympathy and condolences for Turkish people and government, particularly for families of those fallen in the attack," a statement release by Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry said here.
The bomb blast occurred in morning rush hour at 08:15 a.m. local time, as car was detonated when a police bus passed through in Vezneclier, a tourist destination district in Istanbul.
The Indonesian government also advised its nationals to remain cautious, stay alert and stay away from public spaces prone from attacks.
No party has claimed responsible for Tuesday's attack.
An Indonesian student, Azwar Abadi Arsyad, was among those injured in the car bomb blast. He was studying in his campus, Istanbul University, when debris of ceiling fell onto his head due to impacts of the blast. He already went back to his dormitory after received treatment for his wounds.
Turkey saw four bomb blasts throughout this year. In January, dozens of German tourists were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Istanbul. Another bomb attack ripped through a military parade in February, killed 28 people.
In March, 35 people were killed in bomb attacks carried out by Kurds militants in Turkish capital of Ankara. In separated occasion in the same month, 4 people were killed in a suicide bomb blast in an Istanbul shopping area.
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- European firms in China are feeling the pinch as the country's economic growth slows, a report showed on Tuesday.
About 41 percent of the surveyed 506 European companies operating in China are now re-evaluating their China businesses and planning to cut costs, including through headcount reduction, according to the annual Business Confidence Survey released by the European Chamber and consulting firm Roland Berger.
About 47 percent of the surveyed companies said they plan to expand their operations in China, down by 39 percentage points from 2013.
However, a majority of European businesses would probably increase their investment in China in the event of market access barriers being removed, according to the report.
It said the signing of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment is seen as integral to improving the business environment.
"European companies now need a roadmap. This will give them with the confidence they need to commit more to China's future development in these economically challenging times," said European Chamber President Jorg Wuttke.
Roland Berger CEO Charles-Edouard Bouee said China's growth over the next few decades would rely on supply side transformation, greater innovation and pruning overcapacity, all of which European businesses can contribute to.
TEHRAN, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari condemned the deadly terrorist attack in Turkey's Istanbul on Tuesday, semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
Jaber Ansari offered condolence to the families of victims of the blast, urging serious global cooperation to deal with the issue of terrorism and extremism.
A car bomb attack on a bus carrying riot police in Turkey's Istanbul claimed the lives of 11 people, including seven police officers, and wounded 36 others on Tuesday morning.
Turkey has blamed the militants of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) for the blast. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
BRUSSELS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday condemned the deadly attack in Istanbul which killed and injured dozens of people.
"I firmly condemn this morning's terrorist attack targeting a police vehicle in Istanbul, which killed a number of people, including police officers, and injured many others," Stoltenberg said in a press release.
He said Turkey, a member of the Alliance, was struck once again by the scourge of terrorism.
"NATO Allies stand in solidarity with Turkey against the global threat of terrorism," the NATO chief added.
Seven police officers and four civilians were killed and 36 others injured in a car bombing attack on a police shuttle bus in Istanbul on Tuesday.
In Istanbul, two suicide bombing attacks killed 12 Germans and four foreigners respectively in January and March.
ANKARA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Embassy in Turkey on Tuesday warned its citizens to exercise caution during the Ramadan holiday over the deadly explosion in Istanbul.
"This morning, at approximately 8:45 a.m., there was a bomb explosion in the Vezneciler area of Fatih District in Istanbul... We strongly encourage U.S. citizens to avoid the area, maintain a high level of vigilance, monitor local media for updates, and exercise caution if you are in the vicinity," the statement said on its official website.
"No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but extremist organizations or groups continue to issue non-specific warnings of terrorist attacks during the Ramadan holiday," the statement added.
Seven police officers and four civilians were killed and 36 others injured in the car bombing attack on a police shuttle bus in Istanbul earlier on Tuesday.
The security situation in Turkey has deteriorated in recent months, with Istanbul, the national capital of Ankara and other cities having been hit by a number of bombing attacks.
In Istanbul, two suicide bombing attacks killed 12 Germans and four foreigners respectively in January and March.
A tourist rests on the Aventine Hill in Rome, Italy on April 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Jin Yu)
by Alessandra Cardone
ROME, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Italian anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) secured a big score in the first round of mayoral elections in Rome, and emerged as largest opposition force at local level in the country, according to definitive results came out on Monday.
The local ballots to elect mayors and municipal councils were held in 1,342 cities and towns across Italy on Sunday. M5S candidate Virginia Raggi took the lead in the Italian capital with 35.25 percent of the vote, largely ahead of the contender from center-left Democratic Party (PD), Roberto Giachetti, with 24.87 percent, according to interior ministry data.
Since none of the candidates won more than 50 percent of the vote, the mayoral race in Rome will be decided by a run-off on June 19. The same will happen in Italy's other four largest cities, namely Milan, Turin, Naples and Bologna.
Yet, the positive result of populist, anti-establishment M5S in the capital sent a significant blow to the ruling Democratic Party, to which Prime Minister Matteo Renzi also belongs.
"This is not a debacle, but we would have wanted to do better," Renzi told a press conference on Monday, commenting the final results. "I am not satisfied. This (first round of voting) will bring us to face a hard run-off turn."
On her part, 37-year-old lawyer Virginia Raggi said she was looking forward to securing a victory in the run-off, and felt ready to take charge as mayor.
"The citizens of Rome have sent a message, and this is a historic result for the M5S," she said on Monday. "On June 19, we will have to complete what we have begun. It will be the opportunity to rewrite the future of our city, definitively and all together," Raggi also told Ansa news agency.
People in Rome showed a mixed reaction to this perspective. "I did not vote at all," 28-year-old student Marta Giuliano told Xinhua.
"None of the candidates submitted programs really worthy, and none were up to solve the serious problems of this city, in my view."
However, she added the M5S good result came as no surprise for her. "Roman citizens are long fed up with the inefficiency showed by several past administrations, and M5S offered them the chance to cast a vote of protest," Giuliano explained.
Nonetheless, in case of final victory, she hoped the M5S candidate would prove ability to solve Rome's lasting problems of mismanagement in the public services and overall decline.
An older fellow Roman appeared less disenchanted, and much more satisfied with the results. "I used to be a PD voter, but I did not like the way they managed the city as a majority party in the last municipal council," 48-year-old electrician Salvatore Bruno told Xinhua. "This is mainly why I voted for Virginia Raggi."
The man said he would not trust the M5S at national level, and keep voting center-left PD in the government.
"Yet, mayoral and local polls concern the city administration, not big political issues. I hope all other parties will hear the message and clean up ranks: Rome is decay, and needs a revamp."
Still the largest political force at national level, Renzi's PD yet harbored hopes to win the mayoral race in Milan and Turin.
Candidate Giuseppe Sala scored 41.69 percent of the vote in Milan on Sunday, only slightly ahead of center-right rival Stefano Parisi with 40.77 percent.
Incumbent PD mayor Piero Fassino in Turin took a larger lead with 41.83 percent against M5S contender Chiara Appendino with 30.92 percent.
In Naples, however, the PD failed even to make a run off ballot, and incumbent leftist mayor Luigi De Magistris, with 42.86 percent of the vote, would face a center-left rival.
DAMASCUS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Muslim fasting month of Ramadan was deemed to have lost its attraction after the eruption of the crisis in Syria, but the despair didn't keep those afflicted from trying to rekindle the glamour of the holy month, even a little.
Syria's crisis has brought intolerable burdens, woes and calamities to the lives of most Syrians, and over half of 23 million people have found themselves in places they had never imagined.
The Syrian government has opened centers to host the Internally Displaced People, or IDPs. Such centers are either schools or summer children camps. In each city in Syria under the government control, displaced families try to cope with their situations in shelters.
In the town of Hirjalleh in the countryside of the capital Damascus, Abu Ahmad, a man in his fifties from the rebel-held town of Ataibeh east of Damascus, sat at the doorstep of his room in the Hirjalleh camp, watching his wife preparing the Ramadan breakfast.
Having to fast from dawn to dusk, without smoking or drinking a cup of tea, Abu Ahmad spent the first day of Ramdan recalling how he and his family used to observe this month, the most important one in the Islamic calendar.
He was forced to leave his house and everything behind when the town fell to the rebels. He and his wife and kids have been living in the camp for four years.
What Abu Muhammad misses the most is the company of his friends and relatives back in Atiabeh.
"We are observing Ramadan this year, but unlike pre-war times, the atmosphere has largely changed, as we used to stay up late with family members and friends. But now, they are in different locations, pushed away by the war," he said.
Although spending Ramadan in Ataibeh was much better for him, Abu Muhammad said he is trying to observe the month this year, with people he had come to know in the camp.
"The people here have become like one family, we share food, and pain as well," he said.
His wife, Sawsan, spent the first day thinking what else she can cook to her children, aside from the two free meals the camp provides for them daily. She said she wanted her kids and husband to feel a bit of the lost joy of the holy month.
"We are spending Ramadan this year in this displacement camp in Hirjalleh, with people like family members to us," she said. "It's been four years since we were displaced, and we don't feel like strangers here anymore. We are trying our best to live our lives and be positive and hopeful in the future."
Outside their room, children were playing and laughing, waiting for their parents to finish preparing the iftar meal, or breakfast, unaware of what they must have missed away from home.
In another room was Abu Muwafaq, another displaced man from the eastern countryside of Damascus. The 62-year-old has 14 children on the during his 35 years of marriage.
He said four sons serve in the army on different fronts, while the rest are either live with relatives or with him at the displacement center.
The man considered the month of Ramadan as a chance for people to spend more times together, as the people used to pay each other visits, exchanging invitations on the iftar and even long-evening visits.
"I try hard to revive the traditions of Ramadan here by socializing with other families, exchange food and make special dishes for the breakfast," he said.
His wife, Fatima, also tries her best to have some joy during the month and hopes for a quick return to their home.
"Even though the people here are so nice, no matter how good the situation here, it cannot be compared to one's home or neighborhood," she said.
Fatima said the people in the camp usually gather after the breaking of the fast in Ramadan at the yard, exchanging talks and knowing each other more, in an effort to maintain the spirit of the month.
"Being surrounded by people makes it easier for me to spend my time without keep thinking about my home, my past and future. But I hope that by next Ramadan, we could be celebrating it at home," she said.
Muslims around the world celebrate the holy month by praying during the night time and abstaining from eating and drinking during the period between sunrise and sunset.
Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar and it is believed that the Koran's first verse was revealed during its last 10 nights.
NAIROBI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank said Tuesday it will help Kenya to harness its vast geothermal resources in order to reduce the reliance on fossil-based fuel.
World Bank Kenya Program Leader on Sustainable Development Sector, Meskerem Brhane, told Xinhua in Nairobi that the bank will provide financial and technical assistance for Kenya.
"Part of the World Bank's 840 million U.S. dollar energy portfolio in Kenya is targeted at the geothermal sector," Brhane said during the World Bank Group's Open Day event.
Geothermal power is a clean source of energy that is available 24 hours a day, said Brhane.
"Our goal is to help Kenya wean off expensive sources of energy so that the cost of electricity is brought down," she said.
She said geothermal electricity accounts for about 30 percent of Kenya's installed electricity capacity and their aim is to increase the figure to between 40 and 50 percent in the near future.
World Bank is also providing expertise on drilling of geothermal steam wells for Kenya. "Kenya is currently developing local talent on this renewable energy sector," Brhane said.
Brhane said Kenya is a regional leader in geothermal development. "A number of countries such as Ethiopia have also benefited from technical expertise from Kenya."
She lauded Kenya's energy policy that allows private sector participation in geothermal power industry.
Kenya's geothermal potential is close to 10,000 MW but has so far been exploited less than 1,000 MW.
The East African nation's 280 MW Olkaria geothermal power plant is one of the largest of its kind in the world.
BEIJING, June 7, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi (front) and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry attend the Second U.S.- China Climate-Smart/ Low-Carbon Cities Summit in Beijing, capital of China, June 7, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo)
BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese and U.S. officials are eyeing more cooperation on low carbon development after the opening of a high-level meeting on Tuesday.
Green growth is high on China's development agenda, said State Councilor Yang Jiechi at the Second U.S.- China Climate-Smart/ Low-Carbon Cities Summit, attended by senior representatives from over 50 Chinese and U.S. cities.
Yang called for more concrete cooperation between Chinese provincial regions and cities and their U.S. counterparts, the key practitioners of low-carbon growth, to benefit both countries and the rest of the world.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said U.S.-China low-carbon cooperation will contribute to the sustainable growth of the two economies and the global fight against climate change.
BEIRUT, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The latest U.S. military assistance to the Lebanese army arrived at Beirut's Rafik Hariri airport on Tuesday, the U.S. embassy said in a statement.
The U.S. Charge d'Affaires in Lebanon, Ambassador Richard H. Jones, was present at the airport to witness the arrival of the aid, added the statement
The statement said that "the United States provided sophisticated mapping equipment valued at over 3.6 million U.S. dollars that will improve the army's ability to plot Lebanon's terrain."
It added that "the detailed maps produced by this equipment will enhance the military's operational planning capacity and ability to protect Lebanese troops as they continue decisive action against extremist elements along Lebanon's border."
"The delivery demonstrates America's sustained commitment to ensure the Lebanese Armed Forces has the support it needs to be the sole defender of Lebanese territory," said the statement.
U.S. military assistance delivered over the past year included Huey II helicopters, Hellfire missiles, border surveillance equipment as well as ammunition.
Further deliveries to the Lebanese army are expected soon, including artillery systems, armored vehicles, tactical radios, in addition to hundreds of thousands of additional ammunition rounds.
The United States has provided Lebanon with over 1.4 billion dollars in security assistance since 2005.
NAIROBI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Somali counterpart Hassan Sheikh Mohamud held talks in Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday over Kenya's plan to close the Dadaab refugee camp, which is home to more than 300,000 Somalis.
A statement from Kenyatta's office said the talks focused on issues including the decision to close Dadaab, bilateral trade and security cooperation.
The two leaders will hold a second round of talks on Wednesday, it added.
President Mohamud visited Dadaab on Monday, making him the first sitting Somali president to visit the world's largest refugee camp set up more than two decades ago to house people fleeing conflict in Somalia.
During his visit to the refugee camp, President Mohamud assured the Somali refugees that there will be no forceful repatriation.
"Let me assure you that we (Kenya, Somalia, and the UN refugee agency) have never discussed and agreed on your quick return to an uncertain future," he told the refugees.
"We do not want you to go back forcibly without services such as shelters, education, health services in place. We want you to get at least services similar to what you get here," he added.
The Somali government wants plans in place for accommodation for Somali refugees to be repatriated if Kenya closes Dadaab, President Mohamud said.
Kenya recently announced it would close Dadaab by November and repatriate all Somali refugees living in the camp.
Despite UN calls for it to reconsider the decision, the Kenyan government has remained adamant, citing a "very heavy economic, security and environmental burden".
Kenya claims Somalia-based Islamist group Al-Shabaab, which has staged bloody attacks in Kenya in recent years, has hideouts in Dadaab.
It is not yet clear when the repatriation will begin, but the government has disbanded the Department of Refugee Affairs, which worked with humanitarian organizations for the welfare of refugees in Kenya.
Kenya didn't act on a previous threat to close Daddab made last April following Al-Shabaab gunmen's massacre of 148 people at Kenya's Garissa University.
CAPE TOWN, June 7 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) on Tuesday petitioned President Jacob Zuma to refer the "job-killing" Expropriation Bill back to Parliament.
"This follows advice from our lawyers that this Bill is unconstitutional... because of the procedural irregularities which characterized its passing," the DA said.
This needs to be rectified by Parliament and the president cannot in good conscience assent to it, until it has been brought in line with the Constitution, it said.
Parliament in May approved the Bill that would allow the government to make compulsory purchases of land to speed up redressing racial disparities.
South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC), facing local elections in August, has promised to speed up plans to redistribute land, which remains predominantly in white hands two decades after the end of apartheid.
The Bill, which sets out the legislative requirements for the State to lay claim to land for public purpose or in the pubic interest, was passed after ruling ANC and some MPs of opposition parties voted in favour of the Bill, which was slightly amended by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).
The DA maintains that the chief concern with this Bill is that the Bill, in its current incarnation, violates the Constitution with specific reference to the right to property and the right not to be evicted without an order of the court as distilled in the Constitution.
Additionally, the Bill was met with fatal procedural errors because it was not passed in a manner consistent with the Constitution and should be referred back to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) to fix these errors, according to the DA.
Specifically, this Bill needs to be subject to more public participation, it adds.
"The DA has fought relentlessly throughout the duration of the fifth Parliament to ensure that bills that are passed are in line with the Constitution," said Anchen Dreyer, DA Deputy Federal Chairperson.
"If the President is at all serious about the Constitution in general, and property rights in particular, he will not sign the Bill," Dreyer said.
Some economists and farming groups have said the Bill could hit investment and production at a time when South Africa is emerging from a major drought.
But the government says the redistribution process needs to be accelerated, to rectify past wrongs and provide opportunities to the previously excluded. It has also said it will stick to the law and not follow the example of Zimbabwe, where farm seizures have destroyed the economy.
After taking power in 1994, the ANC promised to transfer 30 percent of the farmland to blacks, but only a third of the target has been achieved.
Experts estimate that about eight million hectares of farmland have been transferred to black owners since the end of apartheid.
Municipal workers clean the damages caused to a hotel and the road by a bomb in the Vezneciler district of Istanbul on June 7, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / OZAN KOSE
UNITED NATIONS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday condemned a deadly terrorist attack in Istanbul, Turkey, which killed 11 people, voicing his hope that "the perpetrators of this despicable terrorist attack will be identified and brought to justice."
Ban "extends his sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wishes those injured a speedy recovery," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here, reading a prepared statement. "The United Nations stands in solidarity with the people and Government of Turkey at this difficult time."
The explosion in the heart of Istanbul, reportedly caused earlier Tuesday by a car bomb targeting a police bus, claimed the lives of at least 11 people and injured dozens more. The killed included seven members of the police force, reports said.
The bomb blast occurred during rush hour at 08:15 a.m. local time, as car was detonated when a police bus passed through in Vezneclier, a tourist destination district in Istanbul. No party has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Turkey saw four bomb blasts throughout this year. In January, dozens of German tourists were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Istanbul. Another bomb attack ripped through a military parade in February, killed 28 people.
In March, 35 people were killed in bomb attacks carried out by Kurds militants in Turkish capital of Ankara. In separated occasion in the same month, four people were killed in a suicide bomb blast in an Istanbul shopping area.
Combo photos show U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan(L) speaking at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C., the United States on Nov. 5, 2015, and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking to motorcyclists participating in Rolling Thunder parade in Washington D.C., the United States on May 29, 2016. U.S. Republican House SpeakerPaul Ryan announced on Thursday that he would vote for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in November. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)
WASHINGTON, June 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday doubled down on his criticism of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, calling his comments on a judge because of his ethnic background "textbook" racism.
"I regret those comments that he made," said Ryan here at a press conference. "Claiming a person can't do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of racist comments. ... I think that should be absolutely disavowed."
Over the past week, Trump repeatedly accused U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the Indiana-born jurist overseeing a civil fraud suit in California involving Trump University, of being unfit for the case because he was of "Mexican heritage."
Trump implied that Curiel, the Hispanic-American judge, was biased against him because of Trump's proclamation that he would build a wall along the border between America and Mexico to halt illegal immigration.
Trump expanded his argument on Sunday, suggesting to several U.S. cable news hosts that a Muslim judge might also not be fit to rule without bias in the case because of his previous call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.
Other Republican leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, had already denounced Trump's attacks of Curiel.
Ryan's denunciation came at a time as he and Trump were still in the middle of rapprochement after a chaotic and divisive primary season, during which Ryan repeatedly scolded Trump for his incendiary remarks.
After almost month-long reservation about Trump's nomination status, Ryan announced on Thursday in a newspaper column, not a joint press conference with Trump as other GOP supporters had done before, that he now was ready to vote for Trump in the fall.
However, Ryan's struggle to distance himself away from Trump was all but highlighted less than 24 hours after his embrace of the New York billionaire developer.
"The comment about the judge the other day just was out of left field for my mind," said Ryan in an interview with local media on Friday. "It's reasoning I don't relate to. I completely disagree with the thinking behind that."
SANAA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's foreign minister said Tuesday that his internationally recognized government has received 54 child prisoners who had been captured by Saudi Arabia in order to free them.
Abdul Malik al-Mikhlafi, head negotiator of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's government delegation in Kuwait, tweeted through his official twitter account that "the Yemeni government appreciates that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the coalition released the Yemeni children and handed them over to the Yemeni government."
"The children, whom the Houthis used during the war, are aged between eight and 17-years-old. They will be released along with those released in Marib," al-Mikhlafi said, referring to six child prisoners who were already released by the Yemeni government earlier in the province of Marib northeast of the Houthi-held capital city Sanaa.
He said that "the children released highlights the government's rejection of the Houthi's use of children in wars and the government's commitment to international laws."
On Monday, the UN envoy to the Yemeni conflict, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who is in charge of the ongoing peace talks between Hadi's Saudi-backed government and the Iranian-allied Shiite Houthi group, said that all Yemeni warring parties have agreed to the unconditional release of child soldiers.
There was no immediate response from the Houthis.
However, last week, Hadi's government as well as the Houthis submitted lists of approximately 7,000 prisoner-release requests, including political detainees, to UN mediators.
Government officials accused the Houthis and former President Ali Abdullah Saleh's party of detaining over 4,000 prisoners, mostly politicians and activists.
The UN's latest report accused both the Yemeni warring parties of using child soldiers and UNICEF reported that 900 children were killed whilst 1,300 were wounded during the 2015 conflict.
The Iran-allied Shiite Houthi group supported by forces loyal to Saleh advanced from their stronghold in the far north of the province of Saada, storming through the capital Sanaa and other cities in September 2014, dissolving the Saudi-backed government along with President Hadi based on combating "corruption" allegations.
The Saudi-led air force coalition intervened in March 2015, vowing to reinstate Hadi to power and reclaim Sanaa.
So far, Hadi and his government are still in exile in the Saudi capital city of Riyadh.
The civil war has escalated since then, leaving over 6,000 dead so far in ground battles and airstrikes, half of whom are civilians.
The ongoing conflict has also forcibly displaced over 2.4 million people from Yemen.
The warring parties have now been in talks in Kuwait since April under the UN's auspices to end over one year of war.
Last month, delegates from both sides agreed in Kuwait to a considerable prisoner exchange before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
However, the process failed, and so far only child soldiers have been released by the government.
The government demands that Houthis and Saleh's delegates comply with the UN's Security Council Resolution 2216, which orders their withdrawal from the capital city of Sanaa and their complete disarmament in order to end the war.
The demand has so far been rejected by the Houthis as well as Saleh. Enditem
Slovakia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Miroslav Lajcak speaks during an informal dialogues for the position of the next Secretary-General, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, June 7, 2016. The United Nations on Tuesday kicked off a second round of public audition with another two new candidates for the position of next UN secretary-general.(Xinhua/Li Muzi)
UNITED NATIONS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Tuesday kicked off a second round of public audition with another two new candidates for the position of next UN secretary-general.
The two candidates are Slovakia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Miroslav Lajcak and Argentina's Minister of Foreign Affairs Susana Malcorra.
They are expected to present themselves in front of representatives of UN member states and answer questions publicly from the representatives as well as from the civil society, which will be broadcast through website.
Lajcak was European Union special representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2007 to 2009. He also once served as Slovak ambassador to Japan from 1994 to 1998.
Argentina's Minister of Foreign Affairs Susana Malcorra, speaks during an informal dialogues for the position of the next Secretary-General, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, June 7, 2016. The United Nations on Tuesday kicked off a second round of public audition with another two new candidates for the position of next UN secretary-general.(Xinhua/Li Muzi)
Malcorra was chef de cabinet to the UN executive office, appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2012, prior to her current post. She also served as UN under-secretary-general for Department of Field Support which is responsible for delivering logistical support to UN peacekeeping missions worldwide.
From April 12-14, nine UN secretary-general candidates have gone through the public audition of this kind.
The nine candidates are: Montenegro's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Igor Luksic, Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova, former Prime Minister of Portugal Antonio Guterres, former Slovenian President Danilo Turk, former Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic, former Moldovan Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Natalia Gherman, Administrator of UN Development Program Helen Clark, former Foreign Minister of Macedonia Srgjan Kerim, former Foreign Minister of Serbia Vuk Jeremic.
Under the UN Charter, the UN secretary-general shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. In practice, the 15-member Security Council and its five permanent members will make the final choice and send a single candidate to the General Assembly for approval.
Students in Woodstock, Ontario, leave their classrooms on Tuesday, June 7, 2016, and march to raise awareness of the teen crisis in their community. (Lorenda Reddekopp/CBC)
TORONTO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of high school students walked out of class on Tuesday in Woodstock, Ontario, in the wake of the suicides of five teenagers, hoping to raise awareness of the teen crisis which is gripping the small Canadian city.
Students from the city's five high schools and a few elementary students joined the walkout, which included a mass rally in Museum Square downtown Woodstock. They gathered to share stories and discuss what can be done to help young people struggling with mental illness.
Police say that five people aged 19 and younger have killed themselves in Woodstock since February of 2016 in what an official of the Canadian Mental Health Association is calling a "suicide contagion."
Another 36 young people have expressed suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide in Oxford County (which includes Woodstock and seven neighboring communities) since the beginning of the year, according to Woodstock police.
Officials in the area say they're working together to ensure they have enough resources to deal with the onslaught of calls to crisis lines, but high school students say they aren't seeing the effects.
This is nt an isolated case. A couple of months ago, suicide crisis in Attawapiskat came to light, and members of the northern Ontario community have been urging governments to address what many see as a growing problem in smaller communities.
Members of the NGO Rio de Paz hold a demonstration against violence against women, displaying some 420 panties and portraits of bloodstained women, in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro on June 6, 2016. According to the NGO, some 50,000 women each year are sexually assaulted in Brazil. / AFP PHOTO / VANDERLEI ALMEIDA
UNITED NATIONS, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Eight out of ten 18-year-olds believe young people are in danger of being sexually abused or taken advantage of online, and more than five out of 10 think friends participate in risky behaviours while using the internet, said a new study by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday.
The report, "Perils and Possibilities: Growing Up Online," is based on an international opinion poll of more than 10,000 18-year-olds from 25 countries, and it revealed young people's perspectives on the risks they face growing up in an increasingly connected world.
"The internet and mobile phones have revolutionized young people's access to information, but the poll findings show just how real the risk of online abuse is for girls and boys," said UNICEF's associate director of child protection, Cornelius Williams.
"Globally, one in three internet users is a child. Today's findings provide important insights from young people themselves," Williams said. "UNICEF aims to amplify adolescents' voices to help address online violence, exploitation and abuse, and make sure that children can take full advantage of the benefits the internet and mobile phones offer."
The new report found that adolescents appear confident with their own ability to stay safe, with nearly 90 percent of interviewees believing they can avoid online dangers.
Approximately six out of 10 said meeting new people online is either somewhat or very important to them, but only 36 percent strongly believe they can tell when people are lying about who they are online.
More than two-thirds of girls, 67 percent strongly agree they would be worried if they received sexual comments or requests over the internet, this compares to 47 percent of boys. When online threats do occur, more adolescents turn to friends than parents or teachers, but less than half strongly agree they know how to help a friend facing an online risk.
According to the new report, other findings included:
-- Two-thirds of 18-year-olds in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean believe children and adolescents are in danger of being sexually abused or taken advantage of online. This compares to 33 percent polled in the Middle East and North Africa.
-- Two-thirds of interviewees in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean either believe strongly, or somewhat, that friends put themselves at risk online, compared to 33 percent in the United States and United Kingdom.
-- Eighteen-year-olds in the United States and United Kingdom are most confident they can avoid online dangers with 94 percent strongly or somewhat agreeing they can protect themselves on social media. In the Middle East and North Africa only 41 percent strongly agree and an additional 37 percent agree somewhat.
-- Adolescents in Sub-Saharan Africa appear to value meeting new people online most, with 79 percent saying it is either very or somewhat important. In the United States and United Kingdom 63 percent say it is not very, or not at all important to meet new people online.
-- In Central European countries, 63 per cent of interviewees strongly agree they would tell a friend if they felt threatened online, compared to 46 percent who would tell their parent. Only 9 percent would tell a teacher.
To engage children and adolescents in ending violence online, UNICEF is launching #ReplyforAll, which is part of its global End Violence Against Children initiative. #ReplyforAll puts adolescents' front and centre as messengers and advocates to keep themselves safe online.
Children and adolescents will be asked to give their advice on the best ways to respond to online violence or risks and to raise awareness among friends through social media. This work has been supported by the WePROTECT Global Alliance, which is dedicated to ending the sexual exploitation of children online through national and global action.
UNICEF, together with the WePROTECT Global Alliance, is calling on national governments to establish coordinated responses between criminal justice systems including law enforcement, and child welfare, education, health and the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sectors, as well as civil society, to better protect children from online sexual abuse and exploitation.
"When young people, governments, families, the ICT sector and communities work together, we are more likely to find the best ways to respond to online sexual abuse and exploitation, and send a strong message that confronting and ending violence against children online -- indeed anywhere -- is all of our business," said Williams.
CHICAGO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn, wheat settled higher for their fifth successive trading days on Tuesday, while soybeans also extended a little gains.
The most active corn contract for July delivery was higher of 0.5 cents, or 0.12 percent, to close at 4.2775 dollars per bushel. July wheat delivery added 1.50 cents, or 0.30 percent, to settle at 5.09 dollars per bushel. July soybeans rose 3 cents, or 0.26 percent, to close at 11.4125 dollars per bushel.
Analysts said that corn and soybeans settled a little higher on Tuesday as traders remained worried about the forecasts for hot weather in the U.S. Midwest and Southern plain in the coming days.
The hot weather forecasts have heightened awareness to the expected La Nina event this summer, Farm Futures Daily reported Tuesday, adding that the previous La Nina events have been linked to droughts.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said Tuesday morning that private exporters reported export sales of 180,000 tons of soybeans for delivery to China during the 2016/2017 marketing year. Analysts noted that this data gave additional support to soybeans on Tuesday. USDA already announced Monday export sales of of 125,000 tons of soybeans to unknown destinations.
As for the wheat, some analysts said that fresh fund short covering prompted wheat higher on Tuesday. CBOT floor brokers reported that funds have bought some 7,000 contracts of wheat before midday, according to the report of AgResource, the Chicago-based agriculture consultancy.
Outside the market, the U.S. dollar dropped against most major currencies on Tuesday. In theory, a weaker dollar usually supports U.S. agricultural commodities higher as the weaker dollar make them cheaper in the international market.
USDA released its weekly crop progress report Monday after the market closed. In the report, corn planted till the week of June 5 was rated at 98 percent, 4 percent higher than previous week and also higher than previous 5-year average, while corn condition was rated 75 percent as good to excellent, higher than previous week and previous year.
As for the wheat, the winter wheat condition was rated by USDA at 62 percent as good to excellent, 1 percent lower than previous week but 19 percent higher than previous year; while 79 percent of spring wheat was rated as good to excellent condition, unchanged from previous week but much higher than previous year.
Soybeans planted was 83 percent, also higher than previous week and past 5-year average, while 72 percent of soybeans was rated as good to excellent, which was 3 percent higher than previous year.
TORONTO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Canada's main stock market in Toronto extended the recent rally to a nearly-10-month high on Tuesday as heavyweight energy and financial stocks got boosted after crude oil prices rose to over 50 U.S. dollars while Canadian dollars rose to highest level in two weeks.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index gained 89.45 point, or 0.63 percent, to close at 14,365.61 points, its highest level since early August.
The Toronto market is now seen qualified as a bull market as it maintains the 20-percent-plus gain since its low point in January.
Five of the TSX index's eight main sub-sectors were higher, while energy jumped 3.07 percent and financials went up 0.77 percent while metals & mining was down 1.57 percent.
The North American benchmark oil price closed above 50 U.S. dollar a barrel for the first time since last July, pushing the Canadian dollar higher along with it.
The West Texas Intermediate for July delivery increased 0.67 U.S. dollar to settle at 50.36 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for August delivery gained 0.89 dollar to close at 51.44 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
The price of oil has nearly doubled since January, boosted largely by a spate of unplanned outages that have eroded production in Canada, Venezuela, Libya and Nigeria, along with a steady decline in U.S. shale output.
However, the overall TSX gains were capped by a sharp fall in shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., which fell 14.95 percent to 31.47 Canadian dollars (24.64 U.S. dollars) after the embattled drug company missed quarterly profit estimates and cut its full-year earnings and revenue forecast.
The most influential gainers included Baytex Energy Corp., which rose 13.95 percent to 8.25 Canadian dollars, and MEG Energy Corp., which also added 12.66 percent to 7.12 Canadian dollars.
Royal Bank of Canada advanced 0.78 percent to 79.95 Canadian dollars and Bank of Nova Scotia increased 1.84 percent to 67.07 Canadian dollars.
Bombardier Inc. shares remained unchanged at 2.00 Canadian dollars after the Canadian aircraft and train maker won a contract to supply 43 trains to European rail operator Abellio Rail Sudwest for about 215 million euros (244 million U.S. dollars).
The company said the trains would be inducted on the Stuttgart regional network in Germany from June 2019. Bombardier expects to supply all of the trains by 2020.
Canadian National Railway was up 0.01 percent at 77.44 Canadian dollars after announcing its CEO would step down for medical reasons.
On the economic beat, Western University's IVEY Purchasing Managers Index for May came in at 49.4, compared to 53.1 for April. The survey of purchasing managers asks whether their purchases increased during the month or went down. Any reading below 50 indicates a contraction.
Meanwhile one of Bay Street's most prominent economists believes that Canadian policymakers are taking the wrong approach in attempting to cool the country's red-hot housing markets.
The way wealth management firm Gluskin Sheff Chief Economist David Rosenberg sees it, Canada needs to focus more on increasing housing supply and less on trying to curtail demand.
"We continue to focus on the wrong area," he said. "The focus (needs to be the) supply constraints that politicians at every level of government can ease up."
Despite high demand in Toronto and Vancouver, building permits have dropped over the past year -- thus exacerbating the supply crunch in those markets, said Rosenberg.
Some observers have called on Canada to introduce new taxes to curb demand from foreign buyers. But foreign buyers are not price-sensitive and new taxes will do little to cool their appetite for Canadian properties, said Rosenberg. Indeed, he worries there is little the federal government can do to cool the market.
Real estate markets in Toronto and Vancouver have been a bright spot in a sluggish Canadian economy that continues to struggle with the crash in crude oil prices. However, Rosenberg warns that Canada's runaway housing markets are becoming not just a financial risk, but a social one.
The Canadian dollar traded higher at 0.7830 U.S. dollar, compared with Monday's closing rate of 0.7808 U.S. dollar.
By Catherine Sozi
Like many young married women in China, Mei Zi wanted to have a child. But because she was living with HIV, she denied herself this dream for many years. However, thanks to Chinas successful programme to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission, Mei Zi gave birth to a baby who was HIV-free two years ago. Now she is watching her son grow with expectation and excitement like many other mothers.
Mei Zi is one of many women living with HIV, who have shared their stories with me. Her happiness brings home to me the amazing progress China has made towards eliminating mother to child HIV transmission as part of its successful HIV programme.
Every year, globally, an estimated 1.4 million women living with HIV become pregnant. Untreated, they have a 15 to 45 percent chance of transmitting the virus to their children during pregnancy, labour, delivery or breastfeeding. However, the risk drops to just over 1 percent if antiretroviral medicines are given to both mothers and children throughout the stages when infection can occur.
While, Chinas success in reducing new HIV infections in people who inject drugs has won global recognition, its efforts towards achieving an AIDS-free generation have received scant attention. The countrys achievement stands out - in particular because of the sheer geographical size, massive population and ethnic diversity of the country. Chinese authorities report that infection rates amongst babies born to HIV-positive women have witnessed a sharp decline of more than 80 percent in the past decade.
Chinas robust health care system means that most of the more than 16 million women who give birth every year are delivering their children in healthcare facilities. The countrys prevention of mother-to-child transmission programme (PMTCT) began 15 years ago with a pilot in one county in Henan Province. While the scaling up of the programme was initially slow, a renewed commitment saw the number of implementing counties almost doubling between 2014 and 2015 to reach 3000 counties.
Now all hospitals and clinics providing maternal and child health services across the country implement PMTCT and HIV testing for pregnant women takes place in all antenatal clinics. In 2010, the government expanded the programme to include the prevention of syphilis and hepatitis B, which can also be transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy and delivery. This is an example of how the response to HIV is helping to improve health outcomes in other areas.
But even with so many steps forward, there is still work to be done. Chinese health authorities estimate that there were about 180 new HIV infections in babies in 2013.
Confronting and addressing issues of stigma and discrimination remains an ongoing challenge that is holding back some women from accessing the services they require and have every right to access.
While Mei Zi is happy to share her story, she is still afraid to use her real name and come out publicly about her status. Her experience with health care workers was generally positive, but unfortunately that is not the case for everyone. Also, women who use drugs, sex workers and migrants are often at higher risk of HIV and face a double discrimination from society that impedes their access to health services.
However, Chinas leadership and communities are opening up to people who live with or are impacted by HIV. The First Lady of China is a champion of children living with HIV and top political leaders have spoken up in support of HIV-positive people.
Chinas commitment to eliminating mother-to-child HIV transmission and the AIDS response will be evident this week at the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS in New York. We are at a unique moment in history. The countrys remarkable scaling-up of successful programmes like PMTCT and harm reduction are an example of UNAIDS Fast-Track approach. China is showing how to reach ambitious HIV prevention and treatment targets over the next five years. We will be on course to ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030.
Ensuring the success of the sustainable development goals, including ending the AIDS epidemic, will require global solidarity and partnership, especially in times of diverse and demanding global challenges. China has already achieved so much in the AIDS response and I know we can count on the country as a key partner.
(Catherine Sozi, UNAIDS Country Director for China)
by Zhang Dongmiao
BEIJING, June 6 (Xinhuanet) -- The exhibition on science and technology achievements during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015) casts light on how technology is transforming traditional industries in areas that are closely linked to peoples lives.
Visitors look at the intelligent plant factory during an exhibition on China's science and technology achievements during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015) in Beijing, capital of China, June 4, 2016. (Photo source: Xinuanet/Zhang Dongmiao)
The intelligent plant factory, for instance, applies LED light to grow crops such as lettuces, tomatoes in a sustainable way. It can manage the growing environment of the plants automatically, thus improving the quality and yields of the plants.
Error. Page cannot be displayed. Please contact your service provider for more details. (17)
Sagicor seeks home move to Bermuda
In a letter to shareholders in advance of the AGM, the companys management said if the move is approved the company could reasonably expect to receive a Standard and Poors rating lift to BB+ unhindered by the restrictions of the current Barbados rating. Improvement in the companys rating would result in reduced cost of capital, increased attractiveness to regional and international investors and all the attendant ancillary benefits flowing therefrom. Questioned about these benefits following a news conference yesterday, Ravi Rambarran, chief executive officer of Sagicor International, said we will have the ability to have improved access to capital, secondly improved cost of capital and those two will allow us to fund in a more effective manner our opportunities for growth. Regarding the downgrade, he said Standard and Poors rating methodology says that under normal circumstances a company cannot be rated above its country of domicile. In exceptional circumstances it will allow a company to be rated two notches above its country of domicile. He said Sagicor had been in that exceptional basket for quite some time and they have indicated that Sagicor is likely to receive an upgrade if it successfully executes its plans for redomiciliation in an investment grade country. Bermuda has a Standard and Poors Rating of A+ with a positive outlook while Barbados has a sovereign rating of B with a negative outlook. The Sagicor annual general meeting will be held tomorrow afternoon at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre at Two Mile Hill, St Michael, Barbados. The company is currently domiciled in Barbados and its credit rating is limited by the rating of Barbados which is not investment grade.
According to notes to shareholders contained in the notice of the AGM, This is after a series of downgrades (of Barbados) in the period from 2009 to 2014. In order to improve the companys ratings (both corporate and securities), the company is seeking approval to redomicile into Bermuda, which is an investment grade-rated country. This would be achieved via a corporate migration, or continuance, of the company to Bermuda and the discontinuance of the company in Barbados.
IFC aims to generate $1B
The event to showcase the benefits of doing business in TT will be held at the Hilton Trinidad, St Anns, starting on June 15. The IFC yesterday announced the event at a news briefing at their office at Tower D, Wrightson Road, addressed by chairman Richard Young, and CEO Varun Maharaj.
Maharaj said that this first-ever event of its kind will allow companies such as Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and AT&T to told high-level talks with TTs business leaders and Government officials. He said, The companies scheduled to attend will span the banking, financial services, insurance and outsourcing sectors, he said. They will witness first-hand our nations competitive advantages as a BPO location. Maharaj said interest in the June event was built by the IFC facilitating inward missions to TT and by marketing TT at foreign conferences.
For example, at the 2015 Nasscom BPM (Business Process Management) Strategy Summit in Bangalore (India) on September 24 to 25 - which is the premier international event for outsourcing, the TT IFC took full advantage of the opportunity to discuss new deals, build stronger brand awareness and deepen the interest in TT as a potential location among BPO providers. (NASSCOM, the National Association of Software and Services Companies is a trade association of the Indian Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing industry.
It is a non-profit organisation.) Maharaj said the IFC is also building links to top BPO firms including Sutherland, EXLS, Qualfon, Infosys and Genpact. He foresaw 100 high-value jobs soon arising from a MOU between TT and a top BPO firm.
Richard Young, former Scotiabank head in TT, spelt out TTs attractions to foreign investors. This include having a highly- skilled and talented population including graduates who are highly-skilled and talented, plus top infrastructure including broadband, electricity and rental properties.
TT also boasts a facilitative Government.
Young said the initiative is a form of diversification, as he noted that the financial services sector is the second largest sector after the energy sector.
He was encouraged a high rank for TT awarded by AT Kearneys Global Services Location Index (GSLI), reportedly scoring better that Ireland, Singapore, Canada and Jamaica.
Young hailed Scotia and Royal Banks for respectively employing 500 people and 400 people to do regional BPOs in TT.
Prison officer charged
The charge was laid yesterday by Acting Inspector Desmond Wilson after consultation with Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard, SC.
The prison officer with four years service was detained by Portof- Spain CID detectives last Friday hours after keys for the Remand Section of the West Wing of the Port-of- Spain prison went missing.
It was the officers first day on the job at the Port-of-Spain prison, when the incident occurred. It is alleged the officer worked last Thursday and at the end of his shift, the keys were discovered missing. The officer was contacted and he claimed to have no knowledge of the missing keys.
When he turned up for duty on Friday and claimed to have no knowledge of the keys, the officer was detained by police who took him to his girlfriends home in St Helena, where the keys were found.
The prison officer remained in custody on the weekend as investigations proceeded.
It is strongly suspected that the keys were cut (duplicates made) to facilitate a planned prison breakout. The PoS prison has seen security beefed up since it was discovered that the keys were missing.
CCJ rules on gays this week
In 2013, Jamaican gay rights activist Maurice Tomlinson sued the Governments of TT and Belize for their ban on the entry of gays under immigration law.
TTs Immigration Act in Section 8(1)(e) bans the entry to TT of prostitutes, homosexuals, or persons living on the earnings of prostitutes or homosexuals, or persons reasonably suspected as coming to Trinidad and Tobago for these, or any other immoral purposes. According to Tomlinson, the relative provisions in the laws of both countries are against the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas which provides for the free movement of Caricom nationals.
He is seeking relief from the CCJ for the breaches of right to freedom of movement, and not to be discriminated against. Hearings took place last year before CCJ President Sir Dennis Byron and Justices Jacob Wit, Rolston Nelson, Adrian Saunders and Winston Anderson.
A final ruling is expected on Friday, officials said yesterday.
In 2007, Sir Elton John had to be granted a special permit by the Ministry of National Security because of the Immigration Act when he was due to perform at the Tobago Jazz Festival. Related provisions of the Immigration Act were also cited in 2010 when then minister of national security Martin Joseph invoked his powers to declare American political strategist Bernard Campbell as an undesirable inhabitant, though the reason for this classification was never disclosed.
Today, the Immigration Division is expected to convene a special inquiry in relation to one person who was denied entry under the Immigration Act, lawyers said last week. The ruling comes at a sensitive time in relations between TT and Jamaica.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley on Sunday said he will personally seek to, speak to Jamaicans on the ground, to assure them there is no discrimination against their countrymen in TT, in the wake of controversy over rulings by the Immigration Division. The ruling also comes at a time of debate of several highly contentions issues involving human rights in recent weeks, namely abortion and child marriage.
On the question of gay rights, Rowley in March suggested he would not condone any laws that discriminate against gays. I am not okay with any aspect of behaviour which discriminates against people, giving them rights that others do not have, Rowley said when questioned in an interview on the Equal Opportunities Act.
No end in sight in Highway court case
At yesterdays hearing, the trial judge spoke of the antiquity of the case, saying it was one which was weighing on him for a long time. Lets batten down the hatches and get this ship sailed.
This case has gone on for too long, he told attorneys who spent the greater portion of yesterdays hearing arguing why the State should not be allowed to cross examine Kublalsingh and his witnesses on the alleged granting of permission for him and members of the HRM to erect its strike camp in Debe. Justice Aboud ruled to err on the side of inclusion and allow the cross examination.
He was also informed that there was an agreement on other issues relating to the questioning of witnesses. That was the last of the interlocutory applications before him, clearing the way for the setting of a date for the hearing of the substantial claim.
Justice has repeatedly said he wanted to avoid the prolongation of the case. When the construction of the highway began, Dr Kublalsingh embarked on two hunger strikes in protest.
His second lasted 288 days. His first hunger strike was in 2012 and that lasted 21 days, all in protest of the construction of the Debe to Mon Desir section of the highway.
However, the group says it is not opposed to the entire highway extension project but only a specific segment.
Representing the Attorney General are Russell Martineau, SC, Deborah Peake, SC, along with Kelvin Ramkissoon and Shastri Roberts. Senior Counsel Fyard Hosein, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj SC, Anil Maraj and Rishi Dass are representing Kublalsingh and the Re- Route Movement.
Prisoners complain of empty canteen shelves
Relatives explained that convicted prisoners only receive one visit per month from relatives and they depend heavily on items purchased at the canteen to see them through the month.
In fact, relatives said yesterday that during the one time for the month they are allowed to visit, whenever they go to the canteen at the Remand Section to purchase toiletries and other items, they are being told that he items are simply not available.
Newsday understands that the canteen at the Remand Section also supplies items for those prisoners incarcerated at the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation facility and because of the shortage of the items, those prisoners are also feeling the pinch. One of the affected relatives of a convicted prisoner said yesterday that she will be writing to the Minister of National Security explaining the grim situation and will be copying that letter to Prisons Commissioner Sterling Stewart.
She will also be recommending to the Inspector of Prisons that proposals be put forward for relatives of convicted prisoners to be given the opportunity to purchase basic items for loved ones from the outside.
The relative added that it breaks her heart to know that her relative is not only suffering the cruel fate of being locked away but is being denied the right to enjoy simple items such as basic toiletries and some snacks such as cornflakes, juice and softdrinks. Efforts to contact Prisons Commissioner Sterling Stewart on the matter proved futile.
Probe continues into Felicias murder
Newsday understands that a team of detectives went to the suspects home recently and seized the items which have been sent for tests to ascertain if any of Persads blood or other bodily tissue may be on those items.
According to reports, the officers secured search warrants and went to at least three houses belonging to the businessman.
During searches of the properties the officers seized items including clothing, bed sheets and mats which were placed in garbage bags.
Homicide officers are working on the theory that Persad may have been abducted on the afternoon of April 2 and taken to different locations where she was being kept hostage.
They also believe she was strangled and her body placed in a bag and then thrown into the Mitan River in Manzanilla. While in the river, Felicias abdomen was reportedly bitten by fishes and she bled out, which was the reason why no blood was found in her body during an autopsy.
Homicide sources said yesterday that the results of the test hold the key to solving the murder of Persad because they have been unable to secure any information from persons who may have knowledge about her murder. Police believe that they may be able to solve this killing shortly.
A man who was questioned in connection with Persads abduction and murder denied any involvement and has been released.
Persad was expected to have a matter heard at the Sangre Grande Magistrates Court a few days after she went missing. The matter centred around a domestic violence case in which she had sought a restraining order against a man whom she knew.
Relatives have blamed the justice system for the murder of Persad, claiming that had the court system been more speedy in the hearing of matters, Felicia might still be alive today. On April 17, Persads body was found at the Mitan River by URP workers, who went to clean the mouth of the river.
Her body was later identified by brother Felix Persad, a Special Reserve Police Constable.
Man pleads guilty to having 3 trapguns in pillowcase
The 23-year-old farmer of Buen Intento Road Extension, Princes Town, appeared before Senior Magistrate Rajendra Rambachan charged with the possession of three homemade 12 gauge trap guns, ammunition and marijuana. The court heard that Sgt Roland Ramlogan, PC Lee Lum and other officers of the Princes Town CID went to the mans home at about 2.45 pm on Friday when they found the weapons inside a pillowcase under the bed.
They also found 664 grammes of marijuana in a plastic bag under the same bed. When police questioned the farmer about the illegal narcotics, he responded: That is some weed I does smoke now and again. The police further questioned him about the guns and ammunition found inside the pillowcase and he responded he uses the weapon to, catch wild animals. Constable Lee Lum laid the three charges.
Yesterday attorney and police officer Ramdath Phillip prosecuted. The magistrate adjourned the case to Thursday for the court to have his criminal records traced before he passes his sentence.
Motorist chalks up 7 traffic offences in one day
But that was not all. Stefon Beharry admitted he drove with no insurance. He was not wearing a seat belt. He also admitted to failing to stop when called out by police to do so. But that was not all. He also pleaded guilty to driving while drunk.
Beharry admitted his guilt before Magistrate Natalie Diop in the San Fernando Magistrates court yesterday.
Asked to say something on all of these charges, Beharry said, Im sorry, I break the law so much. In all he was slapped with seven charges. The court heard that at 9.40 am on Saturday, PC Wayne Ali of the Highway Patrol Branch, spotted Beharry driving along the south-bound lane of the Solomon Hochoy Highway near the Claxton Bay Flyover.
Court prosecutor Sgt Manick said the police officer drove alongside Beharrys vehicle and noticed he was not wearing his seat belt. PC Ali motioned Beharry to stop. Beharry, the magistrate heard, refused to stop his vehicle and the police officer gave chase in his police vehicle.
When Beharry eventually stopped near the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba, PC Ali asked him to explain why he had failed to stop. Boss, I thought you was telling me to slow down, Sgt Manick said as he quoted Beharrys answer to PC Alis query.
A Field Sobriety Test with the breathalyser machine was conducted and Beharrys alcohol content in his breath read 104 microgrammes per 100 millilitres of breath. He was charged with driving without a valid permit; driving without insurance; failing to stop when directed to do so by a police officer; not wearing seat belts; failing a breathalyser test; failing to produce a drivers permit and failing to produce a certificate of insurance.
Magistrate Diop fined Beharry $5,000 or nine months in prison for driving under the influence; $1,000 or a month in prison for failing to have insurance and she disqualified him from driving for three years. Beharry was reprimanded and discharged on the charge of failing to produce a permit and certificate but was fined $500 or 30 days in prison with hard labour for not wearing his seat belt. The magistrate fined Beharry $200 for failing to comply with PC Alis instructions to stop his vehicle and $300 or 30 days in prison for driving without a permit. He was given two months to pay the $7,000 total fines.
Dead mans witness statements tendered
Dookerans witness statement was read to the jury in the San Fernando High Court and Justice Carla Browne-Antoine.
Dookeran died in 2011 and Senior State Attorney Shabaana Shah requested the deposition containing the evidence Dookeran gave at the Preliminary Inquiry, be read.
Krysta, 23, was at home at about 3 pm on January 21, 2004, when Hosten is alleged to have stabbed her to death. She was the daughter of Steve Lackpatsingh who is the Dean of Discipline at Cedros Secondary School and Jade, who is a retired principal of Cedros Anglican Primary School.
The jury has heard that Hosten pushed a door open and stabbed Krysta over 20 times even as she begged him to stop.
Dookerans evidence as read to the jury, was that at about 9 am on January 20, 20014, he was driving a vehicle when he saw Hosten standing 100 feet from the Lackpatsinghs house. Dookeran said he knew Hosten for 20 years prior. The evidence of Deodath Toolsie who was a Justice of the Peace, was also read and tendered yesterday, as well as statements of retired Assistant Superintendent Ruthven Paul. Senior State Attorney Shabaana Shah and Stacy Ann Lalloo-Chung are prosecuting while attorney Rekha Ramjit is defending Hosten. The trial continues today.
PARANG SEND-OFF FOR HOLLY
Despite inclement weather, there was standing room only inside the Santa Rosa RC Church for a man who gave this country the better part of his long life, in promoting local culture and in particular Parang, via his radio shows and the Scouting for Talent.
In fact there was hardly a house, back in the day, where the refrain made popular by Holly - Crix in the morning, Crix in the evening, Crix anytime... - was not known. It was only fitting then, that packets of the vital supply were distributed among mourners after the funeral service, to keep hunger at bay, during the trip to the nearby cemetery for Hollys burial.
The Arima Kid, as he was fondly known, was 91 when he passed away on May 30. Delivering the homily during the service, Deacon Keston De Verteuil, said there would be no eulogy because Betaudier always said, If you dont know me by now...you will never know me. De Verteuil said Christian funerals were not for the lives of those who have lived, but to rejoice in life. He said Betaudier gave back to live in his service to the community.
De Verteuil joked that before there was Americas Got Talent, here in little TT, there was Scouting For Talent. Betaudiers life was celebrated in dance and parang as the Julia Edwards Dance Troupe, accompanied by drummers paid tribute to the man who many said, was larger than life. On his final earthly journey, Holly got a grand Parang send-off as paranderos led the way as the coffin was taken to the nearby cemetery for burial.
Throughout this journey, the sound of joyful clapping was heard while some mourners danced to the Parang music.
TREASURE HOLLYS MEMORY Education Minister Anthony Garcia, another born and bred Arimian, said if he had his way, Betaudiers final resting place would have been at Kitcheners Square, next to the Arima Market.
Apart from being a cultural icon, Holly B was also somewhat of a historian. I remember sitting during meetings at the Arima Borough Council where Holly would recount the history of Arima. He had a very good grasp of what went on in the early days, when transport was horse and buggy.
I will be asking the Mayor (George Hadeed) and members of council to do something to recognise Hollys contribution to Trinidad and Tobago in general, and Arima in particular. Perhaps one of the things we can do is ensure his burial site is properly maintained by the Arima Borough Council. I think that would be a tribute to his work. His memory and the things he has done for Arima, must not be forgotten, Garcia said.
Newsdays Editor-in-Chief, Jones P Madeira who attended the funeral, said Betaudier was the consummate searcher for talent in TT.
Even though there is rain today, it is not because the skies have opened up and are very sad. These are in fact showers of blessings for a great soul that Arima will miss, but recognises that he has lived a full life not for himself alone, but for those who came to him for help and those whom he helped, Madeira said.
TREMENDOUS SMILE Those of us who worked with him remember this bouncy, jovial guy, always with a tremendous smile, his raspy voice not given to sophistication because some would criticise him for his outlandish language now and then. But Holly was a good soul and a gentleman, Madeira added. Betaudiers son Holly Jr, said his father was around for such a long time and had done so much for so many, it is expected that there would be a void.
The way he did what he did, he showed people what to do. So lets hope people would be able to follow in his footsteps. These are different times but the qualities required to do good remain the same. We must live in optimism and see the good in people. My father was like that.
Ill be here to do as much as I can (to carry on his legacy) and there are a lot of people who would follow his example, Im sure, he said.
Holly Jr said with his father, what you saw was what you got. He was always generous, the proud son said. Always there for you, making sure that everything worked and making sure he always gave all that he could.
The strength to carry on was the strength that he was born with, something that he had until his very last breath. Even in his last days his mind was very sharp.
His voice may have varied, but his mind never did, he said.
Holly Jr said his father was never involved in insurance but he was an adjuster. He said Betaudier, as a child, went through many an adversity.
I saw him change and adjust to diabetes, to making himself comfortable in his later days. Difficulty was not a word that he used...
he would adjust, Holly Jr said.
Also in attendance were former Arima Mayor and Health Minister John Rahael, former Arima Mayor Elvin Edwards, president of the Santa Rosa First Peoples (Carib) Community Ricardo Bharath-Hernandez and current Mayor George Hadeed.
Charged for poisoning granny
The charge was laid yesterday by PC Durant Neaves of the Rio Claro Police Station after Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard SC, gave instructions to do so. The schoolboy was briefed by a legal officer.
The charge came almost an hour after the schoolboys 58-yearold grandmother gave a statement to police regarding an incident which took place last Saturday when she was allegedly fed a meal of macaroni, cheese and egg which was laced with termite poison.
She claimed that one hour after eating the meal on Saturday afternoon she began vomiting and at about 6 pm went to the Rio Claro health facility where she was treated and discharged. Doctors determined that she had eaten a meal mixed with poison and a report was made to the Rio Claro police station late Saturday.
The schoolboy who is a Form One student of a secondary school in East Trinidad was detained by PC Neaves and taken to the Rio Claro Police Station where he was questioned and allegedly confessed to trying to poison his grandmother.
Officers under the supervision of Assistant Commissioner of Police Surujdeen Persad and Inspector Wayne Doodai assisted PC Neaves in investigations along with a legal officer from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Services Legal Department.
Statements were recorded and the boy was interviewed in the presence of his mother.
The boy said he had grown frustrated after being smothered by his grandmother who did not want him to go out and lime. He claimed also that he was taunted regularly by schoolmates and even persons close to him.
The boy has been suspended from school at least five times and said he was very angry by a female relative whom he claimed did not spend much time with him and instead palmed him off on the grandmother.
Newsday understands that the victim has told police that she has forgiven her grandson.
Officials from the Child Protection Unit (CPU) were called and the boy is said to be receiving counselling. Following the court appearance today, a decision will be made on the childs future with respect to where he will live and who will be entrusted with responsibility of taking care of him.
Moore: Investigate London, Imbert
Moore, speaking at the bi-monthly media briefing of the party, said it was clear that the Chief Secretarys office was working without legal advice. The Chief Secretary has admitted he knows the matter is illegal but he understands why the illegality needs to be continued, so he is facilitating this illegality.
Were they in receipt of legal advice, the Chief Secretary would have not been saying this to the public, that he is participating in an illegality and in the league with the Finance Minister in perpetuating that illegality, Moore said.
She described as outrageous a public official of the status of Chief Secretary in effect confirming to be in a conspiracy with another holder of high office.
The victims are the 62,000 people who live on this island and rely on the regularity of lawful payments from Central Government to Tobago. I want to say to the Chief Secretary, sir, you need better legal advice, I want to say to the Chief Secretary and the Finance Minister, that your actions amount almost to a criminal conspiracy against the people of Tobago, she said.
Speaking at last week Wednesdays THA post Executive Council media briefing, London admitted to a breach of the THA Act by Central Government regarding disbursement of funds to the Assembly.
He described this breach as, understandable. Responding to a query that funds to the THA were being disbursed monthly rather than en bloc, on a quarterly basis, in keeping with the THA Act, London said while the law was being broken, in spirit, it was not being breached...that badly.
The Tobago House of Assembly Act does indicate that monies should be received en bloc, but in order to receive money, they (Government) have to have money. If they do not have money, whether the law says so or not, we were prepared to deal with the reality of that a particular situation. So that the letter of the law yes, the spirit of the law, which is that the Tobago House of Assembly must be provided with the funding that it needs in the particular period, we did not feel that the spirit was breached that badly, that we had to make do, we negotiated, we talked.
People with disabilities need love too
A Parliament committee yesterday heard of the challenges faced by this group as in addition to contending with State systems that do not adequately cater for them, people with disabilities face hurdles in finding love.
Oropouche West MP Vidia Gayadeen-Gopeesingh, a member of the Joint Select Committee on Human Rights, asked members of the Consortium of Disability Organisations (CODO) to say what challenges members face when looking for a partner or spouse. Appearing before the committee were: CODO President Bhawani Persad, interpreting officer Niobe Rodrigues, trustee Sharda Ramlakhan, mental health representative Nicole Cowie, and Autism Society of TT member Nichol Alves. Alves said people with profound and severe disabilities are wrongly perceived to be asexual.
There needs to be consideration of their needs, programmes and services that go beyond the age of 18, that serve them and give them opportunity to meet friends and meet people, Alves said. Very often, persons with multiple and severe disabilities are looked on as asexual; as though they should not have a partner. This is absolutely incorrect. She continued, Should they get opportunities through programmes, they have the ability to come out of their home, meet people, interact and socialise, which is another really important thing. Cowie, who has bipolar disorder, said stigma hurts chances for love.
I am happily married, Cowie said. The issues that I had are the normal ups and downs in marriage, in life and everything else.
Granted, because of the fact that there is stigma attached, there are some people who will face challenges.
We are not the representative sample. She said discrimination by the State precluded people from having a full life.
Rodrigues, an interpreter, disclosed details of life with her husband who is deaf. She said, I have been married to my husband for 11 years. We have three children who are all hearing and they all sign. They must sign because at home Im not paid. We had no challenges although I must say when I have an argument with my husband he always wins because if he turns his head the conversation is over. Rodrigues said if her husband has to attend a PTA meeting, she has to be there. Schools often have no protocols to deal with the possibility that a parent may have a disability. Of the question posed by the committee, Persad chuckled and said, You really want me to answer that? I am happily married, Persad said. I did not face any immediate challenges with my family.
I was free to chose who I wanted to choose to get married. I am visually impaired, my wife has a physical disability but we are a combined team. And love is what you make it, life is how you live it.
Ministry officials to meet with protestors
Ministry officials confirmed this yesterday hours after angry parents staged a placard protest in front of the school.
A meeting is being organised and following that, other mechanisms will kick in, an official said.
However, a date is yet to be set for the meeting.
A few parents braved the inclement weather to demand that construction work resume on the incomplete school structure which is located next door to the dilapidated wooden school.
Patrick Antoine noted that Phase One of the construction work started in May 2014 and today, it is less than 50 percent complete.
As such, students and staff are operating under a cramped environment and Antoine called on the Education Facilities Company Limited (EFCL) and by extension the Ministry to rectify the problem.
What is worse is that in the last two weeks the contractor, who has not been doing work for more a year, has began to remove materials from the site.
We are asking, what is next? What is EFCL doing to complete Phase One of the project so the children can be accommodated in a better environment, Antoine asked.
Antoine said he was a member of the schools PTA committee in 2012 and at that time, members lobbying for a new school.
The wooden school is more than 60 years old and houses an estimated 250 students.
If there is an earthquake, that school could crumble on top of our children and their teachers.
Some repairs were effected to the building in 2012, but the walls developed vertical cracks because of the weight of the new roof, Antoine said.
Last October, parents staged a placard protest to highlight sewer problems at the school.
The Ministry intervened and rectified the sewer problem.
Firemen warned, respond to calls for help
The service is free of charge to members of the public and Newsday understands that fire officers who render those service receive additional monies in their salaries for the additional duties.
Yesterday, Gopaul added that he had received a number of complaints from members of the public who were turned away by fire officers who referred them to the private ambulance service.
According to Gopaul this is totally unacceptable and he urged any person who had been turned away to contact him at number so that they matter could be dealt with expeditiously. He said that he had observed in recent time that the vehicle are hust parked up and the amount of calls for the ambulance service have decreased tremendously and he wants to know why. He made it clear that, if persons are being turned away he is urging them to secure the name of the person who is turned away and report them to him immediately.
He said persons who are in distress should not have any more difficulties to deal with and he is urging members of the fire service to deal with members of the public with compassion and render any form of service they may require.
Police for Police seeks polices vote
He was speaking yesterday at the official launch of P4Ps campaign for his slate, at the Solomon Mc Leod Lecture Theatre, Police Administration Building, Port-of-Spain. Once our team wins this election, we can assure you from June 30th, the Death Benefit for all Police Officers shall increase by $10,000, and officers retiring from July 1st 2016 will be given an increase from $1,800 to $3,200 , Francis said.
He said it is clear that the police officers are suffering and there were a lot of issues needed to be addressed. While a press conference might be good it doesnt solve the day to day problem police officers have for example watch at the condition of Besson Street. Have any of you been to Besson Street to attend one of the associations conference? Imagine that is the home of the police association and it is in a total state of dilapidation, he said. Francis said while there are a lot of changes to be made within the association, he is concerned about Michael Seale who heads the Police Empowerment Party (PEP), is currently on suspension and running as a candidate. As a police officer, he has been suspended of the duties in the police service. I cannot understand how a person who has been suspended still continues in his position as secretary in the police association, he continued, he siad
What you need to know about the Octagon Art Festival on Sunday in Ames
news
Dr Jitendra Singh lays foundation stone of Northeast girls' hostel in Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Tue, 07 Jun 2016 NI Wire
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports, MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh laid the Foundation Stone of a Hostel exclusively for Northeast girl students in Bengaluru Yesterday.
The hostel, which is the first of its kind in Bangalore University, will have a capacity to accommodate 269 students and will be constructed at a cost of around Rs. 14 crore.
Speaking on the occasion after laying the foundation stone, Dr Jitendra Singh said, soon after taking over the Ministry of DoNER about one and a half year back, he had realized the importance of having hostels for Northeast students in different Universities where they are undergoing studies in particularly high numbers. Considering the fact that Bangalore University attracts students from Northeast in huge numbers, many of whom find it difficult to afford accommodation, Dr Jitendra Singh said, he had decided to make a beginning from the Bangalore University and that too for the girl scholars.
Dr Jitendra Singh disclosed that the next hostel project will shortly be started in the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, where land has already been acquired by the North Eastern Council (NEC). Since JNU has a larger number of students from the eight North Eastern States compared to several other States of India, it was found appropriate to raise the facility there, he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Jitendra Singh informed that negotiations are going on with Vice Chancellor of Delhi University, Prof. Yogesh K Tyagi for suitable land to have a hostel for Northeast students in the South Campus. Following up this initiative, Dr Jitendra Singh said, he is now looking for land in other student hub towns like Pune as well.
For students looking for quality education in some of the best institutions of the country, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the DoNER Ministry has taken upon itself the responsibility of enabling the youngsters from Northeast to achieve highest form of academic qualification as per their potential.
Among those present on the occasion were Shri T. B. Jayachandra, Minister for Higher Education, Government of Karnataka, Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University Prof. B. Thimme Gowda, Additional Chief Secretary of Karnataka Shri Bharat Lal Meena, Secretary, North Eastern Council (NEC) Dr. Ram Muivah and senior officers of the Union Ministry of DoNER.
Source: PIB
STRANGE NEW WORLD WITH A LOOMING WASHROOM CRISIS
By Mrs. Elinor Montgomery
June 7, 2016
NewsWithViews.com
The left is terrified of Donald Trump. Their terror can be measured by the style and increase of the personal attacks coming against him from the radical, socialist, liberal, far-left media. Let us take an example from the New York Times, which was created to demonize him with its invented story regarding Trumps relationship with women!
The first woman interviewed, Rowanne Brewer Lane, claimed the Times actually twisted the truth purposely, about what she had said, using the article to misrepresent Donalds words in order to give the wrong impression about his intentions. As a former girlfriend, in answer to a question she stated that there was never any indication at all to her of his either abusing or mistreating women. The good news is that such corrupt reporting appears to roll off the backs of Trump supporters, and it would seem to have the effect of only adding to their already high numbers.
What is equally intended to try and destroy the growing momentum for the Donald is the third-party threat being leveled against him by Mitt Romney and his little group of traitors to the party. It appears again to have only increased support for Trump.
It is interesting to note that those who claim the loudest that Donald is not a true conservative, belong to the GOP establishment group. They are the same elected GOP, Congressional and Senatorial members of government, who were elected to stand, like Trump actually does stand, against the Washington liberal stronghold, but then failed to do so after being elected. Instead, once in office, they embraced the liberal governments out-of-control spending, and are now the same ones who are accusing Donald of not being conservative.
With respect to the medias on-going support for Hillary Clinton, it continues to ignore the evident misrepresentation by the Clintons as they lie to the public, this time, with regard to their dishonest, fraudulent handling of the Clinton Foundations so-called, charitable funds. It was recently widely reported in an intensive study of the Foundations spending practices, and then denied by Clinton supporters, that only about 10% of the donated funds actually are ever translated into charitable, good works. Instead, they are being used for the Clintons own personal use and for the funding of their political expenses. The remainder is being spent on office expenses and salaries, according to the study. The study also discloses that big gaps have been found in the cash flow records of the organization.
Trump has become a political phenomenon, for promising to do what the corrupt Republican Party has failed to do with respect to looking after their voters. I ask you, Which of the two are the real conservatives, Donald Trump or the failed, elected, Republican establishment? They were a bunch of cowards afraid of losing the support of the electorate, which they will surely lose if they refuse to support Donald, the overwhelming choice of the voters to be their Republican, presidential candidate.
He is promising to take steps to protect the security of his fellow Americans and to create jobs in a new and better economy for them, instead of sending their jobs abroad. He is also promising to make America great again. What do his supporters care about the shenanigans of the likes of the New York Times and other such newspapers caught up in the lies of ideologically-driven reporting?
In contrast to that of the Donalds so-called inappropriate behavior, we could find ourselves faced with a new species of animal on the political stage. It is that of a new kind of first lady in the form of a male creature called Billie, something, which has never been seen before on the American political scene, having no official name attached to it as of yet. Could this lead to a complete, emotional upset for Billie with respect to his gender identity? You could describe it as the possible, trans-gender crisis of a male first-lady appearing on the scene in the White House.
Now this brings us to the Obama edict, intended to enforce transgender washroom activities. Could this not lead to mothers across America having grave concerns about their young daughters? Is it not possible these young ladies could find themselves caught alone in the washroom with the first lady Billie, a former president who was impeached and disbarred for sexual misconduct with young women? This is a peculiar animal indeed!
It is for sure that Hillary will be wearing the presidential pants in the family, if elected. So the question remains as to whether or not Billie will try to wear a skirt and even possibly get a new Donalds style, unisex haircut. The media should be all over this possible, looming, washroom crisis. Of course, it is all just hypothetical at this point in time, awaiting the outcome of the coming, November election. But then, with Hillary in her pant suit and Billie in his skirt, there is the potential for the two of them to work both the mens and womens washrooms at the same time.
O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't.
William Shakespeare, The Tempest
One will surely have to be brave to be able to make any sense of this strange new world we could be facing, with government tyranny in a liberal, socialist, negative Utopia. Bring in the clowns and give me the Donald any day! At worst, he could only be infinitely better than the Hillary-Billie situation and the washroom crisis in the nation, which it could present.
2016 Mrs. Elinor Montgomery All Rights Reserved
1. Blasting News Jeff Bezos, of Amazon.com and Blue Origin, wants to move heavy industry into space
Bezos listed two advantages for this scheme.
* Relocating heavy industry into space will help to save the planet from the pollution inherent in building things. The threat of human-caused climate change would be lifted. Everything will be green and pristine.
* Space is exposed to 24/7 sunlight, unfiltered by the Earths atmosphere, which can be converted to solar energy to run these heavy industries.
Bezos did not list a couple of other advantages to building things in space.
A factory in space would have access to boundless extraterrestrial resources, on the moon and in thousands of asteroids. This fact would have the side effect of ending the mining and refining industries on Earth.
2. Nextbigfuture Jeff Bezos Wants to Build Giant Factories in Space to save the Earth and here is how it might be done
Amazon.com and Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos envisions millions of people living in orbit as his exploration company, Blue Origin, and other commercial ventures develop spacecraft to make travel more widely available.
Bigelow Aerospace has designed 2100 cubic meter expandable space station modules which might be launchable by a slightly refined Spacex Heavy. Bigelow now has a expanded room on the International Space Station.
Spacex could launch 100 Bigelow 2100 cubic meter modules for about $1 billion using two reusable Spacex Heavies over as little as one year (one launch per week). Blue Origin might also be able to make larger reusable rockets.
This would be 200,000 cubic meters of volume. This would be enough for 2000 people with the same facilities per person as the Hercules resupply depot design.
Robotic and additive manufacturing could enable massive frames and massive solar power arrays
Tethers Unlimited is currently developing a revolutionary suite of technologies called SpiderFab to enable on-orbit fabrication of large spacecraft components such as antennas, solar panels, trusses, and other multifunctional structures. SpiderFab provides order-of-magnitude packing- and mass- efficiency improvements over current deployable structures and enables construction of kilometer-scale apertures within current launch vehicle capabilities, providing higher-resolution data at lower life-cycle cost.
They have received a $500,000 phase 2 NASA NIAC contract, which follows a $100,000 phase 1 contract to develop the technology.
Henson Bootstrapping plan for planet wide energy replacement
Space based solar power satellites could replace fossil fuels. This would require both lower cost and higher volume than SpaceX could deliver. The cost to GEO cant go to over $200 per kilogram and the required traffic level is 15 million tons per year to LEO. (12 million to GEO.)
The main advantage of orbital space based solar is you get 5 times as much sun as the best deserts and 15 times for places like Japan and the UK.
Hensons space based solar plans solve energy concerns without subsidies and make a lot of money. Low energy cost makes everyone better off.
Initial target cost is 3 cents per kWh to undercut coal, 2 cents or less to replace oil.
3. Blasting News SpaceXs Elon Musk says he will launch the first human to Mars in 2024 if all goes well
4. Nextbigfuture SpaceX will send an unmanned mission to Mars using the Dragon V2 rocket starting in 2018 and launch a rocket to Mars every 26 months. The plan is for the first manned Mars mission in 2024.
First planned unmanned Mars mission 2018
Second planned unmanned Mars mission 2020
Third planned unmanned Mars mission 2022
First planned manned Mars mission 2024
A study of a potential 2021 Red Dragon mission suggested that it could offer a low-cost way for NASA to achieve a Mars sample return for study. The Red Dragon capsule would be equipped with the system needed to return samples gathered on Mars, including a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), an Earth Return Vehicle (ERV), and hardware to transfer a sample collected in a previously landed rover mission, such as NASAs planned Mars 2020 rover, to the ERV. ERV would transfer the samples to high Earth orbit, where a separate future mission would pick up the samples and de-orbit to Earth
5. Universe Today Daylight Arrival Affords Eye-popping view of Radiant SpaceX Recovered Booster Sailing Victoriously into Port Canaveral
Incredible sight of pleasure craft zooming past SpaceX Falcon 9 booster from Thaicom-8 launch on May 27, 2016 as it arrives at the mouth of Port Canaveral, FL, atop droneship platform on June 2, 2016. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
6. Planeteria Back to the Moon? New House bill defunds NASAs Asteroid Redirect Mission
7. The Examiner The return to the moon may be coming together at last
8. The Examiner What Greta Van Susteren got wrong about transmitting pictures from Pluto
9.Chandra X-Ray Telescope Blog Cosmic Genealogy: the Ancestors of Supermassive Black Holes
10 .Universe Today The Hubble Constant Just Got Constantier
11. Chicago Space A Space Policy Discussion with Libertarian Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson
The Chinese Academy of Sciences has issued invitations to apply for funding for projects under the China Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI), a US$9.2-billion, 15-year project announced during the National Peoples Congress sessions in March, 2016.
China has enlisted the private sector as well as government resources in its bid to make the country a leader in precision medicine, a proposed model for the treatment of diseases tailored to individual patients based on their genetic makeup.
The first step will be to assemble a database of genomic data from the Chinese and international populations. A cross-disciplinary team coordinated by the Beijing Institute of Genomics will first collect genetic information from about 2,000 volunteers and aim to develop new treatment concepts.
Wuxi Nextcode, which involved in the PMI, previously provided the database for the national genome projects in the United Kingdom and Qatar as well as the foundation for the rare disease diagnostics and research programmes at Boston Childrens Hospital in the United States and Fudan University Childrens Hospital in Shanghai.
[We focus on] the application of sequence data to improve disease diagnosis, develop better and more targeted drugs, and to provide informed, personalized scientific wellness regimes that can help people to stay healthier longer, Sun said.
Meanwhile, Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Company will develop cloud infrastructure to facilitate the handling of genomic data associated with the PMI.
Precision medicine is still in its early stages, experts note. While some advances in precision medicine have been made, the practice is not currently in use for most diseases, US National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins noted in 2015. (A PMI was launched in the US in January 2015, with a budget of US$215 million for its first year).
China appears determined to be move to the forefront in the field. China is poised to play a leading role in advancing the most cutting-edge precision medicine in the world, says Sun. This includes population genomics, drug discovery, clinical diagnostics, and personal wellness.
The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) a US$215-million project plans to collect data on genomes, health records and physiological measurements from 1 million participants, to learn how genetics, environment and lifestyle influence disease risk and the effectiveness of treatments.
Genome-sequencing companies are already vying to provide services to deal with the anticipated demand. For several years, China has boasted high genome-sequencing capacity. In 2010, the genomics institute BGI in Shenzhen was estimated to host more sequencing capacity than the entire United States. This was thanks to its equipment, purchased from Illumina of San Diego, California, which at the time represented state-of-the-art technology. But Illumina has since sold upgraded machines to at least three other genomics firms WuXi PharmaTech and Cloud Health, both in Shanghai, and the Beijing-based firm Novogene.
Jason Gang Jin, co-founder and chief executive of Cloud Health, says that this trio, rather than BGI, will be the main sequencing support for Chinas precision-medicine initiative although BGIs director of research, Xu Xun, disagrees. Xu says that precision medicine is a priority for BGI and that the organization has a diverse portfolio of sequencers that still gives it an edge. If you are talking about real data output, BGI is still leading in China, maybe even globally, he says. BGI has already established a collaboration with the Zhongshan Hospitals Center for Clinical Precision Medicine in Shanghai, which opened in May 2015 with a budget of 100 million yuan and is run by Fudan University.
Jin thinks that China will be faster than the United States at sequencing genomes and identifying mutations that are relevant to personalized medicine because Chinas larger populations of patients for each disease will make it easier to find sufficient numbers to study.
Still, it remains to be seen whether China has the resources to apply these insights to the individualized care of patients.
Researchers at Tsinghua University, Fudan University and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences are setting up precision medicine centers with Sichuan Universitys West China Hospital planning to sequence 1 million human genomes itself, the same goal as the entire U.S. initiative, Nature reported.
The larger precision medicine project has 92 times the funding of the Fudan project. If the genome sequencing was scaling with the funding then China could have around 100 million genome sequenced within 15 year.
Whole Genome Sequencing costs will soon be below $10 a genome from about $1000 today
If the prices do fall as expected by Harvard Professor and multiple startup founder George Church. The $9.2 billion project could enable the sequencing of everyones genome in China (1.4 billion people) by 2024.
The sequencing of over half of the worlds population (everyone in the developed world and China and parts of other countries seems possible by 2025 and very likely to by 2030. This would enable deep understanding of the correlation between genes and traits.
Effective Human Genome editing using detailed gene knowledge is also on track
George Church indicated that recent research shows that editing sperm stem cells could be the safest approach to genetically editing humans. Jinsong Li, a biologist at the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences has managed to use CRISPR to edit a gene that causes eye cataracts in mice, creating healthy newborn animals with 100 percent success. Scientists say working with eggs will be harder. Men produce millions of new sperm a dayclear proof of stem cells at work. But womens bodies work differently. Women appear to be born with all the eggs theyll ever have, and biologically, it seems unlikely there is such a thing as an egg stem cell in adults.
Yet other scientists are already developing a work-around. They predict it will eventually be possible to take a skin cell from a woman and use a technology called reprogramming to convert it into an artificial egg in the laboratory. And they could make sperm the same way.
That means IVF clinics in the future might take a skin punch from a customer and return either gene-edited eggs or sperm a few weeks later. There is no reason to think it cant be done, says George Daley, a noted stem cell researcher at Harvard Universitys medical school. From what hes seen, he says, the prospect of installing custom DNA edits into lab-grown reproductive cells is very real.
SOURCES- Nature, China government, Steve Hsu, George Church
The Henderson Police Department appears not to have reported six hate crimes that took place in 2009, but the department said it was because of a clerical error, and that it was too late to make changes.
In Atlanta, with its pivotal role in the civil rights movement, the lack of a thorough accounting is particularly painful to community leaders still working for equality, who fear abuses by police. State officials said efforts are being made to encourage agencies who have failed to file reports to do so.
- In 2013, the Lake Alfred Police Department was the only agency to report a hate crime.
Indiana's current lack of such protections shouldn't be a hindrance to police investigations into suspected hate crimes, said Rob Wiley, the president of the Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police and police chief in the northeastern Indiana city of Kendallville.
"I'm not surprised they're not reporting because what would they report?"
Fifteen law enforcement agencies in IN investigated at least 50 possible federal hate crimes during 2014, according to the latest FBI data. Elsewhere, a county sheriff's office or department in a major city might be responsible for overseeing inmates at the county jail and transferring defendants to and from court. The crime in Bartow was against someone for his or her sexual orientation, according to the report.
"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.
Last month, two Boston brothers who claimed to be inspired in part by Donald Trump's views on immigrants were sentenced to state prison after pleading guilty to assault and hate crime charges for beating a homeless Mexican man because they thought he was an in the US without legal documentation. 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 Federal Bureau of Investigation during the six-year period of 2009-2014 examined by The Associated Press. Law enforcement agencies representing cities, counties, tribes, states, federal offices and colleges participate in the program, which remains voluntary.
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.
Hate crimes aren't underreported, because the state's reports accurately reflect how rare such incidents are in the islands, Apele said.
IN is one of five states without hate crimes laws.
Arkansas saw the first person convicted under this act in 2011 when a Green Forest man pleaded guilty to one count of committing a federal hate crime and one count of conspiring to commit a federal hate crime.
Since 2009, four hate crimes have been reported at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, the state's largest public university.
Fifty-five agencies have reported hate crimes sporadically, the AP analysis shows.
There has been only one incident in the six years in question that was debated as a hate crime because the people involved were yelling derogatory names at one another, Sisemore said.
Lisa Purinton, a program coordinator with the Department of Public Safety, said she is not aware of any money being withheld from a local agency under that law. "It works for us because if it's designated as a possible hate crime, we flag it so that prosecutors can properly investigate it", he said.
That means voters in the three-county area will have ballots with only the state Supreme Court candidates on it. And that means turnout likely will be affected, said King, who predicted turnout would be around 10 percent. In this case, Holding. He said he thought she didn't stay true to her conservative principles, agreeing with the message of some of the anti-Ellmers attack ads. The state legislature redrew parts of all 13 districts in the state and delayed the March primary.
Canedo said he watched the televised debate pitting Holding against Ellmers, but also dug into their records.
If you don't have an ID, you can still vote using a provisional ballot, but you will have to return to the local board of elections and show the ID to get your ballot counted.
"It's been slow. We've had five or six at a time, but then we'll go 30 minutes and have no one", she said. Several conservative groups combined have spent more than $1 million opposing Ellmers or supporting Holding. A Republican doctor is also running.
With the endorsement, the PAC rejected U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers, who won her first congressional campaign with tea party backing, and Greg Brannon, a Cary obstetrician who has won tea party support in his campaigns for U.S. Senate.
King said Edmunds, who has served on the court since first being elected in 2000, may have a slight advantage, in that those who do show up likely will have done their homework.
Republican Congressman Mark Meadows in November.
Unlike Holding in the 13th District, Democratic Rep. Alma Adams made a decision to try to keep her current 12th District seat even when the boundary lines moved far away from her Greensboro home to cover most of Charlotte and surrounding Mecklenburg County.
Tuesday is the official election day for North Carolina's congressional primary.
Walter Jones is facing a challenge from New Bern businessman Taylor Griffin and Phil Law, a former Marine and information technology supervisor from Jacksonville. Congressional races and the ideological split of the state Supreme Court are up for grabs.
The Air Force said the Thunderbirds will cancel upcoming shows while the crash is investigated, but officials did not say how long the team will be grounded. Captain Jeff Kuss, Blue Angel 6, was killed in the incident. "The solo pilots integrate their own loud and proud routine, exhibiting some of the maximum capabilities of the F-16 Fighting Falcon - the Air Force's premier multi-role fighter jet".
The pilot, who safely ejected, is in good condition, but he will undergo medical screenings.
Two fighter jets from elite U.S. military demonstration squadrons crashed in separate incidents on Thursday, including one that had just done a flyover of the Air Force Academy graduation in Colorado where President Barack Obama had spoken, APA reports citing Reuters.
The cause of the crash is not known. Both are under investigation.
The teams are pricey, too.
U.S. Air Force Academy cadets toss their hats in the air upon graduating as Air Force Thunderbirds fly overhead. A Navy spokesman couldn't immediately provide the Blue Angels' budget. The Air Force's Air Combat Command said on Twitter that no one was hurt on the ground and there was no hazard to the public. He said his goal was to inspire all the kids now looking up at him. "But we really just try to invoke that fire in their belly to go out and do what they want to do that makes them happy and successful in life". That air show is scheduled for August 26-28.
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo.
"Is it worth the money?"
"What I heard was a big boom", Payne said.
"I started booking straight for the aircraft", Rodriguez said.
Yahoo was expected to hold at least one additional round of bidding, the WSJ added.
At first glance, that's a fraction of the $6 billion to $8 billion analysts thought Yahoo's business would fetch.
It wouldn't be the first in this kind of acquisition for Verizon, which acquired AOL a year ago for $4.4bn. Private-equity firm TPG was also expected to submit a second round bid, but it wasn't clear whether Yahoo's other suitors would put in second-round offers, the Journal reported.
Verizon would also scoop up an array of miscellaneous web products and services, including Yahoo Answers and Yahoo Finance. Verizon is reportedly working with Bank of America and a number of other investment banks on its Yahoo bids, which could give Verizon some insight into the beleaguered Internet company, which has been tight-lipped about its finances.
American telecommunication giant Verizon seems to be inching closer to buying core internet business (news sites and ads business) of Yahoo Inc. A number of companies have shown interest in investing in Yahoo's Internet business, including Twitter, which for a while reportedly considered a possible deal. Rebecca Neufeld, a spokeswoman for Yahoo, declined to comment.
Meanwhile, ransomware attacks, which represented $1.6 million in losses in 2015, are becoming increasingly common, reports Steven Melendez. Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer started a review of the company's options in February after pressure from investors and a failed turnaround.
The unnamed source said the final offer will hinge on various details, including whether Yahoo will cover severance packages for any employees who are displaced amid the sale. Revenue in the first quarter of previous year was over $1.2 billion. CFO Fran Shammo hinted the company was mulling if a strategic fit with Yahoo's assets existed.
We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription.
Spanish Foreign Affairs minister Jose Manuel Garcia has hailed the cooperation ties existing between security services of Morocco, Spain and France, saying this triangular cooperation is currently unmatched, the best-ever and the closest in history.
Spain cooperates in this field with its neighboring countries, added the top Spanish diplomat, noting that his country is part of the international coalition against Islamic extremists.
Moroccan and Spanish counterterrorism services have joint efforts to foil terror plots and save lives. They have conducted many joint operations that led to the arrest of suspects recruiting fighters for the Islamic State terrorist group.
Last March, Moroccan Interior Minister Mohamed Hassad and Head of Moroccos internal intelligence service Abdellatif Hammouchi, who is also Chief of General Directorate of National Security (DGSN), visited Spain wherein the two top security Moroccan officials met with Spanish Interior minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz and Security Secretary of State Martinez Fransico.
On this occasion, the Moroccan and Spanish officials praised the excellent and exemplary cooperation ties existing between the security services of the two countries thanks to the friendship binding King Mohammed VI and King Felipe VI.
In a joint statement released after the meeting, the two countries delegations expressed great satisfaction at the efficiency and positive results reached at the operational level particularly in the fight against terrorism and organized crime.
Regarding the fight against terrorism, the Moroccan and Spanish top security officials hailed the bilateral cooperation based on a sound sustained intelligence exchange and joint operations that led to the dismantling of many terrorist cells, including those that recruit and send foreign terrorist fighters to hotbeds of tension.
They also reviewed the efforts made in the fight against drug trafficking, underscoring the efficiency of the measures that helped to reduce drastically drug trafficking activities using small planes over the Strait of Gibraltar.
The United States has commended Moroccos sustained efforts made in the fights against terrorism, saying the North African country has worked out a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy that includes vigilant security measures, regional and international cooperation, and counter-radicalization policies.
In its Country Reports on Terrorism 2015, the U.S. Department says the Moroccan government has placed counterterrorism at the top of its priorities following the Casablanca terror attacks in 2003 and the subsequent attacks of 2007 and 2011.
In 2015, Moroccos counterterrorism efforts mitigated the risk of terrorism but the country continues to face threats, largely from numerous small, independent violent extremist cells, stresses the document.
The Moroccan authorities have dismantled multiple groups with ties to international networks that included the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL.)
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and ISIL continue efforts to recruit Moroccans, according to the U.S. Department report.
Approximately 1,500 Moroccans are believed to have joined terrorist organizations since 2011, with 719 fighting alongside ISIL. The Moroccan government is concerned about the potential return of veteran Moroccan foreign terrorist fighters from those conflict zones to conduct possible terrorist attacks at home.
The government is also concerned about Moroccans becoming radicalized to violence during their stay in Western Europe as ISIL continues to call for attacks against the Moroccan monarchy and prominent Moroccan institutions and individuals, according to the US Department report.
It also says that Morocco is a member of the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL and has made contributions and commitments to the effort. Morocco also participates in the Counter-ISIL Finance Group. The government was increasingly proactive in 2015 to both stem the flow of foreign terrorist fighters and to counter ISIL propaganda.
According to the report, Moroccan government authorities worked directly with U.S. Customs and Border Protections Regional Carrier Liaison Group and the DHS Homeland Security Investigations Office.
Morocco and the United States continued implementing an Antiterrorism Assistance (ATA) trilateral agreement to partner in the development of counterterrorism capacity and cooperation in the Maghreb and Sahel regions.
Moroccos counterterrorism efforts and cooperation with international partners led to numerous disruptions of terrorist cells and prosecutions of associated individuals, says the State Department report.
Moroccan law enforcement units aggressively targeted and effectively dismantled terrorist cells within the country by leveraging intelligence collection, police work, and collaboration with regional and international partners, adds the document, noting that the local Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ) is the primary law enforcement agency responsible for counterterrorism in the North African country.
The BCIJ was established in 2015 as a central institution with the goal of bolstering security governance nationwide within a legal and transparent framework.
David French, the National Review blogger who briefly considered mounting an independent presidential bid, says that Donald Trump tried to preempt his campaign through intimidation.
Well, you know, it was probably one of the more ham-handed attempts at intimidation, which out of the Trump operation you can expect things to be done in the most incompetent way possible, French told MSNBCs Morning Joe, before describing a phone call his wifes family had recently received. An individual calls he says, Im sorry, but Ive been asked by the Trump campaign to make sure that David knows this will be really, really bad for him.
French said his critical writings of Trump combined with the fact that he and his wife have an adopted daughter from Ethiopia had already inspired violent threats from the GOP nominees supporters long before Bill Kristol declared him a potential presidential candidate.
I assumed if I did this, look, I have been up against Trump for some time, and the assaults on my family have been overwhelming just as a writer, French said. As everyone knows, Trump has an online racist mob that he often stokes by retweeting some of these horrible white supremacists. As that online racist mob is fond of pointing out, I have a multiracial family, and so they have gone after my youngest daughter in the worst way imaginable.
French provided no evidence that the phone call was made by the Trump campaign itself rather than by one member of that online racist mob. Still, this isnt the first time a Trump surrogate has been accused of aiding his candidacy through intimidation.
Cleveland could be a riot yet. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
After several weeks of sunny weather for Donald Trumps presidential campaign this spring, marked by the rapid surrender of his intra-party opponents and strong general-election poll numbers against Hillary Clinton, Republicans are again in semi-panic over his behavior. The backlash to Trumps racially tinged comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel, and the putative nominees apparent inability to back away from them, has the senior leaders of the party unable to defend him. South Carolina senator and former presidential candidate Lindsey Graham, quite recently the quintessential Trump disparager who was reconciling himself to the moguls candidacy, is now sounding a new alarm and urging fellow Republicans to withdraw their endorsements: This is the most un-American thing from a politician since Joe McCarthy, he told the Times. If anybody was looking for an off-ramp, this is probably it. Therell come a time when the love of country will trump hatred of Hillary. Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell has offered the candidate a terse directive: Get on message.
So is there actually some mechanism whereby Republicans could dump Trump if the panic spreads or the putative nominee freaks out and starts blaming his troubles on a conspiracy between ISIS and the Cisco Kid?
Well, yes, there is a nuclear option but it still has to be considered very unlikely. Approximately one-third of the delegations to the Republican National Convention will be bound to primary or caucus winners by state election laws. For the rest of them, however, the binding is by national party rules, and ultimately the rules of every Republican convention are made and can be unmade by the convention itself. So, in theory, convention delegates could vote to unbind themselves (or at least those not bound by state election laws) before the first presidential ballot and throw the nomination open again. If you recall that a significant number of Trump delegates are not personally loyal to the wiggy dude to begin with, you could see how a revolt could gain traction under very precise and unlikely circumstances.
There are two internal GOP conditions that would need to be present before the nuclear option could ever come into play. The first would be a widespread abandonment of Trump by the very party opinion-leaders who have been climbing aboard his bandwagon in the last few weeks a mass exodus on the off-ramp Graham is talking about. The second and more important development would be a radical change in the rank-and-file sentiment which was strongly evident long before Trump appeared to have nailed down the nomination opposing any kind of coup against the primary results.
Regardless of what Lindsey Graham and other fair-weather friends of Donald Trump think, neither of these things is going to happen unless there is first a sudden, sickening downward lurch in Trumps general-election poll numbers. I doubt anything other than 20 points or so and with it a renewed fear of a down-ballot disaster for the GOP would get the dump-Trump bandwagon rolling. At that point, all hell could break loose, and Cleveland could be wild and crazy fun after all.
Harambe Photo: Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden/Facebook
Prosecutors have decided not to charge the mom of the toddler who tumbled into the moat of a gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo over Memorial Day weekend. The 3-year-old boy slipped past the barriers and fell about 15 feet into shallow water. The exhibits 400-pound male gorilla, Harambe, rushed over to the boy, at one point dragging the kid through the water. Zoo officials decided to shoot the gorilla to protect the boy, killing the 17-year-old animal.
The Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deters said the boy slipped away, and the incident unfolded so rapidly, there was nothing the mom, Michelle Gregg, could possibly do to prevent it. By all accounts this mother did not act in any way where she presented this child to some harm, Deters said. If anyone doesnt believe a 3-year-old can scamper off very quickly theyve never had kids. Witnesses had apparently overheard the boy telling his mom he wanted to go into the habitat, to which she repeatedly replied that he could not.
The prosecutor expressed regret over the beloved animal, but said there really was no evidence that Gregg, who had three other children with her, had endangered the child. The case had turned everyone into an self-anointed expert on zoos, gorillas, and parenting as people questioned the zoos decision to shoot Harambe, and the mothers failure to keep track of her child.
The prosecutors decision comes the day before the gorilla exhibit is set to reopen on Tuesday. The Cincinnati Zoo has raised the barriers six inches with solid wood beams on top and at the bottom, plus knotted rope netting at the bottom, reports ABC News. Until this incident, no person had ever fallen into the gorilla enclosure since the Gorilla World exhibit opened 38 years ago. The enclosure also passed recent inspections, but the USDA is going to investigate the zoos operations and safety protocols.
But when Trump called Nancy Reagan ugly, what did he expect? Photo: Alex Wong/2004 Getty Images
Monday saw many of Donald Trumps fellow Republicans express their displeasure at his comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel, whom Trump says cant make an impartial ruling in a lawsuit involving Trump University because of his Mexican heritage. Newt Gingrich called his attacks inexcusable, and Paul Ryan said the comments are based on reasoning I dont relate to. But the GOP front-runner also received a rebuff from beyond the grave from one of the most important Republican figureheads of all time: Ronald Reagan.
Okay, so Reagan didnt actually manifest to dissuade voters from supporting Trump instead, his son Michael Reagan expressed his doubts about Trump via Twitter. I will not be voting for Donald Trump tomorrow in the California primary, he announced. He went on:
This most likely would be the 1st time if my father was alive that he would not support the nominee of the GOP @Reince @newsmax Michael Reagan (@ReaganWorld) June 6, 2016
Reagan was criticized, but he hit back at detractors. No one in our family would vote for Trump tomorrow, he told one user. Hes an embarrassment. To another he said, My father would be saying, I didnt leave the GOP; the GOP left me.
Michael Reagans comments are the latest in a long series of anti-Trump remarks; back in January, he told Newsmax that Ronald Reagan wouldve been absolutely appalled if Trump were to win the nomination and said he didnt understand the comparisons many draw between Trump and the late Reagan Sr. If you look at what he has said and you look at what hes done over the years, it has nothing to do with conservatism, he said, referring to Trump.
Of course, there could be other factors at play in Michael Reagans dismissal. In a 2004 interview Trump said Nancy Reagan was never very beautiful, which probably didnt endear him to her son.
Some of my best friends are American flags. Photo: Boston Globe/Getty Images
If theres been a single consistent theme in the past 12 months of Donald Trumps ramblings, its that America is the only place that matters. The GOP nominee has argued that on matters of foreign policy, trade, and immigration, the United States should set policy with only the welfare of its citizens in mind. If ripping up our security agreement with Japan forces them into a war with North Korea, so be it. If banning all Muslim refugees from our shores increases the burden of resettlement on our European allies, thats not our problem. If a trade war with China immiserates some factory workers in Beijing, oh well.
And yet, one month before launching his campaign, the archenemy of political correctness told a room full of tea-party patriots that they shouldnt call their country exceptional because that would hurt the feelings of Russian businessmen.
In late April 2015, the mogul spoke at an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC titled Celebrating the American Dream. In a video of the event obtained by Mother Jones, Jim Mattress Mack McIngvale, a prominent local businessman, asks Trump, Define American exceptionalism. Does American exceptionalism still exist? And what do we do to grow American exceptionalism?
I dont like the term. Ill be honest with you, Trump replied. People say, Oh hes not patriotic. Look, if Im a Russian, or Im a German, or Im a person we do business with, why, you know, I dont think its a very nice term. Were exceptional; youre not.
Trump then offered a second reason why he rejected the term one more in keeping with the messaging of the campaign to come.
First of all, Germany is eating our lunch, Trump said. When I see these politicians get up [and say], the American exceptionalism were dying. We owe 18 trillion in debt. Id like to make us exceptional. And Id like to talk later instead of now.
Make America Exceptional Again. This argument against the U.S. being a shining city on a hill that Obama killed what made our hill so shiny is more organic to the Trump campaign and conservative politics more broadly. But even when arguing for his America First trade policy, Trump kept decrying American exceptionalism with reference to the feelings of our overseas allies.
First of all, I want to take everything back from the world that weve given them, Trump continued. Weve given them so much. On top of taking it back, I dont want to say, Were exceptional. Were more exceptional. Because essentially were saying were more outstanding than you.
Donald Trump: pro political correctness, anti bragging. Its starting to look like the only unwavering aspect of the moguls political persona is intellectual inconsistency. (Or, all right: He has been pretty steadfast in his espousal of not-so-veiled racism, misogyny, and authoritarianism.)
But the single most heretical excerpt of Trumps long answer was this: I watch Obama every once in a while saying American exceptionalism. Its I dont like the term.
One of the few redeeming features of the Trump campaign has been its penchant for negating the basic premises of conservative orthodoxy. As some of the moguls biggest supporters have repeatedly emphasized, Barack Obama (and his administration) never say that America is exceptional because he is a Kenyan anti-colonialist who hates the United States.
This is a president that denied American exceptionalism. Obama is a radical himself. #Hannity Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) February 20, 2015
Trump is right, of course: Obama, like virtually every contemporary American political figure, has publicly affirmed American exceptionalism. And the mogul is also right, in a second sense: The foundations for the popular conception of American exceptionalism have crumbled. When every other Republican presidential candidate talks about American exceptionalism, they speak as though Britain is still governed by an all-powerful king and liberal democracy has yet to take hold in continental Europe.
I live in an exceptional country where even the son of a bartender and a maid can have the same dreams and the same future as those who come from power and privilege, Marco Rubio said in April 2015, ignoring that the U.S. lags far behind most western European nations in economic mobility.
But being right isnt a virtue in Republican primary politics, and its odd that no rival GOP candidate ever surfaced this very public act of blasphemy.
Zika, as even those who have been only vaguely paying attention are surely aware, was confirmed by leading health experts earlier this spring to be linked to microcephaly, a birth defect that causes a babys head to be abnormally small, likely because the fetal brain stops developing in utero. More recently, doctors studying the babies born with Zika have suggested that the microcephaly associated with the Zika virus may be especially destructive, resulting in structural brain damage in the areas of the brain associated with cognition and vision.
It gets, unfortunately, worse from here. In its June bulletin, the World Health Organization released a list of other birth defects the agency believes to be associated with Zika, too: seizures and spasticity, facial abnormalities, and problems with feeding and vision, among other things. The authors of the report write that the abnormalities associated with Zika may be part of a spectrum, something theyre calling congenital Zika syndrome. Microcephaly, then, as veteran health reporter Helen Branwell phrases it, appears to be the tip of a much larger iceberg.
Photo: JONATHAN ALCORN/This content is subject to copyright.
On Monday night, almost eight years to the day since she suspended her campaign and threw her support behind then-senator Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton obtained the support of enough delegates and superdelegates according to an Associated Press count to clinch the Democratic nomination. According to the news, we are on the brink of a historic, historic, unprecedented moment, Clinton told a crowd of supporters at a rally in Long Beach, California. But we still have work to do, dont we?
Her campaign cautioned that voters in six states have yet to make their voices heard, but theres no denying that, based on the numbers, Clinton is now her partys presumptive nominee when she formally accepts the nomination in July, shell be the first woman ever to head the ticket for a major U.S. political party.
Clinton has been gunning for this moment since 2008, when she conceded to Obama. In her 2008 speech, Clinton thanked her supporters for helping to break down the barriers that might forestall a woman one day presiding over the White House. You can be so proud that, from now on, it will be unremarkable for a woman to win primary state victories unremarkable to have a woman in a close race to be our nominee, unremarkable to think that a woman can be the president of the United States, she said. And that is truly remarkable, my friends.
She went on:
Although we werent able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, its got about 18 million cracks in it, and the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time.
And no, the path to the presumptive nomination hasnt exactly been easy for Clinton shes faced sexist attacks from the Trump campaign and the media and heightened levels of scrutiny over her use of a private email server while she was secretary of State. And Trump the presumptive Republican nominee is likely to continue both lines of attack for the next six months.
But as Clinton said in her graduation speech at Wellesley College in 1969, We found as all of us have found that there was a gap between expectation and realities. But it wasnt a discouraging gap, and it didnt turn us into cynical, bitter old women It just inspired us to do something about the gap.
Photo: Mark Miller/Mark Miller Photos
Peter Jonsson and Carl-Fredrik Arndt, the two Swedish Ph.D. students who discovered Brock Allen Turner assaulting an unconscious woman and tackled him, have spoken out for the first time since being described as heroes by the victim in her open letter to Turner.
Arndt spoke to Swedens Expressen about what he saw that night when he and Jonsson came upon the scene.
We saw that she was not moving, while he was moving a lot, said Arndt, according to BuzzFeed, which translated the interview from Swedish. So we stopped and thought, This is very strange. When he got up we saw that she still wasnt moving at all, so we walked up and asked something like, What are you doing?
Turner took off running, but the two quickly caught up to him and tackled him before going back to make sure the victim was all right and calling campus safety. She lay perfectly still, Arndt said.
In a Facebook post, Jonsson said he will not publicly comment on the outcome of the trial, but rather shared a link to the victims letter, stating, To me it is unique in its form and comes as close as you can possibly get to putting words on an experience that words cannot describe.
I want to be initiated now, I announced, staring into the eyes of the teacher. I knew he could bestow special powers. I want to learn my mantra today.
I was 3 years old, with my mother and brother at an office of the Transcendental Meditation Center in Manhattan. I knew even then that meditation connected you to another realm. Every evening, I watched my mom sit on our couch, covered in a paisley shawl, her legs folded Indian style, her eyes closed. She never moved, never made a sound. To me, she looked like a king from one of my books, seated on her throne. Receiving my mantra would be my entree into the secret world she had been slipping into away from me throughout my life. This was my chance to follow her to wherever she went, to become like her, to be silent and majestic.
There, in front of a framed painting of our guru, Maharishi, my teacher whispered the secret sound of my mantra to me.
I will tell you one Word of Wisdom this will be your own private Word of Wisdom. You would like to have it? he asked.
I nodded.
And you want to become great and do great things? Yes?
I nodded again.
Yes, you will become a great lady with your Word of Wisdom and you will repeat it a few times each day; but do you know one thing, everyone keeps their Word of Wisdom very secret you will keep it to yourself, you will not tell it to your friends or to anyone, yes?
I nodded again. I knew that a mantra was the most secret of things and that everyones was different, like snowflakes.
Then he left me for ten minutes to roll the sound around in my head. I loved it. I felt my thoughts slow down. I sensed that I had tapped into something powerful and important. I stayed in that room with the incense burning, and when the time was up, my teacher returned and whispered, Jai Guru Dev, in a deep, serious voice. He told me this meant praises to Guru Dev, who had handed down my secret sound just so I could have it. My body surged with the specialness of it as I ran out of the room to give my mom a hug.
My mom told me her story of meeting Maharishi the way most people tell their kids about falling in love. It went something like this: On a crisp fall day in 1970, my mother stood near the back entrance of the University of Colorado auditorium, shyly clasping a pink carnation in her hands. She was a petite 19-year-old, with long shiny brown hair, glittering blue eyes, and an upturned nose that made her look forever baby faced. A cute boy from her art-history class had invited her there, handing her an extra flower and telling her that a group of them were going to wait to greet the Maharishi and catch a glimpse of a real live guru.
My mom didnt even really know what that meant: guru. But everyone on campus seemed to be talking about consciousness, about how the world was so much bigger than it seemed, that life could be so much more expansive than their parents had ever imagined. She knew the Beatles had turned to something called Transcendental Meditation to alter their reality without drugs. So when a friend from class invited her to an introductory lecture on TM, she jumped at the chance.
In the crowded auditorium, a well-spoken man in a suit explained the experience of meditation as well as Maharishis transcendental theory of the universe. In simple terms, he told the standing-room-only audience that all of existence was consciousness. From consciousness sprang all of life. Meditation was a tool that would take you to that most fundamental layer of consciousness, what the instructor called Pure Consciousness. This was the source of all creation. The man explained that when you meditate, the mind acts like a pebble, floating down to the bottom of the ocean. The TM mantra took you down to this place of Pure Consciousness, and the thinking mind brought you back up. Diving down to that state of consciousness, he said, would make you happier, more relaxed, more creative, more intelligent, and a host of other good things.
It made so much sense to my mother that all of consciousness and being sprang from an underlying layer of creation that served as the source for the universe. And the idea that life should be simple and joyous, without suffering, and that nature itself was inherently blissful it was so organic and appealing, a comforting departure from the judgmental Catholicism that shed been raised in.
A few months after that lecture my mother received her mantra. And a few months after that, she met Maharishi. (Hes so small! my mother thought, when he climbed from the back of a white car, dressed in a single sheet of white silk, his face wide open to the people who had gathered to bring him offerings.) And more than a decade after that, after my alcoholic father disappeared from our Upper West Side apartment, leaving us penniless and on the verge of eviction, my mother decided we would follow Maharishi to Iowa. This was where, in 1974, the guru had set down spiritual roots by buying a bankrupt college campus and founding the Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa, a little town two hours southeast of Des Moines.
Photographs courtesy of Claire Hoffman
By the time I was 8, we were still broke but living in Utopia Park, a trailer park on the Maharishi University campus for meditators only. We were going to the Maharishi School on scholarship, learning to experience the world the way that Maharishi did. That seemed to be why everyone started every sentence with Maharishi says Doing so seemed to shift your perspective a little, helping you imagine what things might look like if you were a super-powered Enlightened person instead of just regular old you who lived in a trailer.
Maharishis campus was a beehive of activity at the time, filled with men and women dressed in long skirts and suits rushing to and fro along the crumbling walkways. They were organizing retreats, printing brochures and books of Maharishis knowledge, designing classes and new curriculums and workshops to disseminate ideas that were going to change the world. This was the Global Headquarters for Heaven on Earth, and it felt like it. Maharishi was intent on making Fairfield and our lives here more closely resemble the ideal ancient Vedic civilization he was always envisioning.
Science, Maharishi said, was the language of the West. In order for Americans to understand something, it had to be scientific. On the walls of our classrooms and everywhere you looked on the Maharishi University campus, there were elaborate charts and diagrams showing how Maharishis interpretation of Vedic knowledge was scientific. What did scientific mean? It meant that you could prove that Maharishi was right. There were laboratories on campus where scientists worked for years, proving that Maharishis Knowledge was scientifically accurate. More and more, Maharishis Vedic Knowledge seemed to be flowing into our community at an unstoppable pace, codifying every aspect of life. There were special herbs, special food, special housing, special gems, special music, and so on.
Sometimes this brought true blessings, at least if you were a kid. That year, word was sent down that in order to have a more blissful Vedic family experience we should have a two-hour lunch break during the school day. Our teachers had seemed a little stunned when they delivered this news to us, perhaps wondering where that extra hour of class time was going to come from. Mom wasnt thrilled either there was panic in her voice when she got the sheet from school. I get paid by the hour! Thats two less hours!
I was, however, thrilled. After all, schoolwork was effort, and life, according to Maharishi, was meant to be effortless. The school administrators argued that we didnt need as much time on task since our consciousness was being raised by Maharishis programs.
As I got older, things started to seem a little less clear to me. Sometimes, I felt like we were on a never-ending treadmill, trying and failing to reach enlightenment (and spending lots of money in the effort). Then, on November 10, 1989, we were all called in to the campus assembly hall for some big news.
Children, said Dr. Bevan Morris, Maharishis most trusted messenger and president of the university. I have something so beautiful to tell you. The Dawn of the Age of Enlightenment is here! World Peace is on its way!
He had everyones attention. As Maharishi has predicted, we are in a golden age of Ved. It is because of you each and every one of you and your daily practice of meditation that World Peace has come. It is here! This week the wall in Berlin was torn down. It is an incredible moment for humankind and a sign that the Dawn of the Age of Enlightenment is here, and it is all thanks to you students, the shining light of peace and Maharishis wisdom. We have toppled the wall with our meditation!
Some girls from my class hugged each other and let out little cheers. Teachers gasped and laughed. But I shifted in the itchy auditorium seat and looked at my scuffed brown loafers. My meditations hadnt been any more powerful than usual. There were times when my mantra could take me to a remote and still space inside myself. But more often, I told my mom I was meditating when instead I was hiding under my bedcovers eating sour-cherry candy balls and reading my Sweet Valley High books. There was no way that my meditations were responsible for monumental change on the other side of the world.
Then I met Jiten. Jiten was the smartest kid at school and the funniest. Pale and skinny, with a perfect Kid n Play haircut, he was different from all the other meditator kids. I started sneaking out during program time to spend more time with him. We would walk the railroad tracks and sometimes sip from the bottles of MD 20/20, the cheap table wine that he would steal from the local supermarket. We spent most of our time making fun of our teachers and our parents spouses or boyfriends, imitating their sanctimonious voices, parroting Maharishis knowledge. Then wed abruptly start making out.
One day, I emerged from the afternoon meditation at school and found Jiten waiting for me. How was your meditation? he asked, mimicking the prissy voice of a teacher. Was it easy? Was it smooth? I laughed and said Id been imagining the sex life of our rather shrill meditation teacher, barely remembering my mantra. All the mantras are the same, he told me, snickering. I laughed, but the idea felt like a missile going through my head.
I thought they were all different, like snowflakes, I said, trying to sound sarcastic.
But I was serious; the idea that my mantra was like anyone elses was until that moment inconceivable.
No, tell me yours. Ill bet its the same as mine, he said.
He leaned in close to me, his hand on my arm. His breath warm on my ear, he whispered my mantra to me. My mind moved slowly as I looked up at his mischievous grin. I hadnt heard my mantra said out loud for years. What had felt special for so long was not.
Doubt became my constant companion as a teenager. Everything felt so binary. You were a townie or you were a meditator. Maharishi was a living saint and we were living out his vision of Heaven on Earth, or he was a con man and we were fools.
I felt stuck between those two worlds the townies and the rus (short for gurus). I wasnt either one, though I could successfully pretend in both. I could cross over by rolling up my T-shirt sleeves and drinking a beer, or I could speak slowly with lots of eye contact and assure meditators that I was still one of them, that I knew what god consciousness was and still aspired to it. But I felt confused about who I was. I really didnt belong anywhere, and it was then that I started to form the idea that my identity was that of an outsider.
Where I felt most myself was during my weekly phone calls with my dad, who was sober now and had come back into our lives. He encouraged me to tell him about the kids at school, what I was doing. He loved hearing about the townies and their redneck ways and my descriptions of Maharishis plans to rebuild the world. He would laugh at my stories, as if I were living in the funniest place in the world. Hed send back hand-drawn cartoons and short plays that showed me as a puffy-haired diva, sophisticated and spoiled, who could barely be bothered by the rednecks and the weirdos who surrounded her. Its such a great story, he would say, as if this were just a temporary chapter that would soon come to a close.
When my dad invited me to come finish my senior year in California with him, I jumped at the chance. The idea that I didnt have to choose sides but instead could just walk away into another life seemed too good to be true.
Photographs courtesy of Claire Hoffman
And it kind of was. Even as I went to college, became an adult, married, and had children, I never fully resolved how I felt about the way I grew up. My very foundation was one of meditation, utopianism, belief. And as much as I rejected the all-encompassing demands of Maharishi and the complete devotion of his followers, sometimes I worried that in trying to be a normal person, I had let go of who I was.
This became more complicated as Transcendental Meditation became less fringe-y and more mainstream. Growing up, the people I knew who had sought out Transcendental Meditation had been former hippies my mom and her friends who were interested in consciousness and creating world peace. But two decades later, people like Katy Perry and Russell Simmons and Rupert Murdoch and David Lynch were tweeting about how great TM was, how it had transformed their lives. And people I knew started asking me about it. Did I like it, did it work, would it make them happier?
I had to admit: It did work. As much as I rolled my eyes at the Movement, meditation was still a touchstone for me. For years I used it only sporadically, when I needed it. If my plane ride was especially turbulent, I would close my eyes and start meditating before I even consciously realized what I was doing. If I had a houseguest who was staying a little too long, Id retreat to my bedroom and meditate for an hour to be in a space that was all my own. When I had my daughter and became perpetually exhausted, meditation became something I looked forward to. It was then that I started to realize that meditation didnt have to be everything for me it didnt have to be a Movement or a philosophy or the cure-all that Id been raised to think it was. Just because the waters had been muddied didnt mean I couldnt still hold on to that which still felt real for me. After a lifetime of meditating, the quietness had become who I was. So what if my mantra wasnt a secret special sound made just for me? If it worked, why would I let it go?
When I asked my 4-year-old daughter if she wanted to learn to meditate, she replied with an enthusiastic yes, as if I had asked her if she wanted candy or ice cream. But when the date and time were set, and we were on our way over to the TM initiation ceremony, she had a change of heart. I dont want to meditate, she told me. I dont like sleeping.
I laughed. Josies image of meditation was me hunched over, slacked jawed in my bed. No, I reassured her, her meditation wouldnt be anything like sleeping. During her Word of Wisdom time, she could walk around and play or color. She just couldnt talk. That sounds hard, she said pessimistically.
Lets see how it goes, I said.
We drove to a busy residential street in Hancock Park, where we stopped in front of a small, Spanish-style house with a little sloping yard and rose bushes and a little blue sign that said David Lynch Foundation. We rang the bell, and in a joyous swoosh, Bobby Roth, the head of the David Lynch Foundation and former right-hand man to Maharishi, opened the door, squealing with glee.
Hooray! he said. Ive been waiting all day for this!
His excitement was contagious, and Josie and I both bounced into the dimly lit living room. On the walls were large framed photographs of David Lynch with other famous meditators, among them Jerry Seinfeld and Russell Brand. Josie was spinning around in her new rainbow-colored dress and falling into my lap, snuggling her teddy bear. We had brought an offering: flowers from a street-side vendor on the median of Highland for ten dollars and two greenish-yellow bananas from Starbucks.
Bobby asked us to follow him down the hall and invited us to sit on the floor, as if we were just a group of friends hanging out. He asked Josie if she ever felt stressed although what would toddler stress look like?
No, Josie said definitively. What about sad or unhappy? asked Bobby. No, she said again, perhaps sensing some sort of trap. Bobby quickly changed tacks. Hey, Josie, do you want to be great? Yes, she said, without pause. Okay, this is a special word just for you, a mantra thats called your Word of Wisdom, and itll help you be great, okay? Okay, she said.
We stood up, and Bobby placed the bananas in a basket in front of Guru Devs photograph and then asked Josie to choose a flower from our street-side arrangement she chose a red rose, and a lily for me. Bobby took the rest, crushing one of the roses in his hand expertly, gathering the petals, then began to chant, slow and gentle and soft.
I was sort of shocked at the swelling feeling I had. I felt deeply moved to think that the tradition my mother had learned four decades earlier, and then taught me, was now being handed down to my sweet, beautiful daughter. A family legacy of silence. My eyes filled with tears as Bobby lit the incense, put the petals in the water, and burned the camphor.
He then asked me to leave the room; Josie was unfazed by my departure. I stood in the hall, near a picture of Maharishi, feeling emotional and proud and confused.
A few minutes later Bobby came out beaming. She went so deep, bam. I rolled my eyes he was of course being hyperbolic, but he assured me that she got it right away and that she was inside drawing by herself. He opened the door and there she was, sitting on the floor, happily drawing stick figures on a large sheet of paper. She looked up at me, her eyes bright, and I felt like my chest was going to crack open. This is who we are, I thought meditators.
That evening I suggested to Josie that she go to her bedroom and meditate. I loved the idea of her being lost in her Word of Wisdom. No, she said flatly. What could I say?
Adapted from Greetings From Utopia Park: Surviving a Transcendent Childhood (Harper, June 7, 2016).
Kerry Washington Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images
Hollywood is rife with terrible casting choices, and heres another anecdote to add to the mix. In an interview with Variety, Kerry Washington told fellow actor Aziz Ansari that the road to Shondaland was paved with two firings from other shows, because Washington didnt fit a particular urban bill.
Before Scandal, I was actually cast in two other pilots. Both went to series, but I was fired and recast, Washington said. For both, it was because they wanted me to sound more girlfriend, more like hood, more urban.
Of course, after the firings, Washington helped usher in Shonda Rhimess Thursday-night juggernaut and the rest is history. No doubt that, somewhere in Hollywood, there are two casting director sipping the bitter nectar of regret.
Alison and Ann Dadow (otherwise known as Alexandria and Anastasia Duval). Photo: Courtesy of Twitter/aguyonclematis
On May 29, two women were pulled from the wreckage of a Ford Explorer SUV in Maui, Hawaii, after their car plunged over a 200-foot cliff. The driver, 37-year-old Alexandria Duval, was still alive. The passenger, her twin sister, Anastasia, was pronounced dead.
Witness accounts given to KHON 2 indicate that they saw the sisters screaming and arguing with each other and that the passenger was pulling at the drivers hair and the steering wheel. Witnesses told the Associated Press they saw the car accelerate forward and then take a sharp left over the cliff.
Alexandria was arrested on Friday at the Seaside Hotel in Maui after she attempted to leave the state; she was later charged with second-degree murder. Her attorney, Todd Eddins, told the AP that she did not try to harm herself or the person she most loved and was closest to in the world.
But the twins have an odd, and sometimes contentious, backstory. For starters, Alexandria and Anastasia Duval arent even their real or legal names until their recent move to Hawaii, they were known as Alison and Ann Dadow. (They will henceforth be referred to by their legal names.) In 2011, the sisters, who are originally from Utica, New York, opened a yoga studio called Twin Power Yoga in West Palm Beach, Florida, and quickly became a fixture of a local South Florida gossip site. In 2014, the Dadows abruptly shut down their studio and disappeared without paying their staff or refunding memberships.
Later that year, they moved to Park City, Utah, and opened another yoga studio only to declare bankruptcy in December 2014, according to the Washington Post.
Since then, theyd moved to Hawaii and changed their names and, according to Eddins, were trying to give the yoga business another shot. They were in the process of building a business plan and were aspiring to open up studios here, he told the Associated Press. They also had another brush with the law: on December 24, the twins were arrested for disorderly conduct.
Alison is currently being held without bail, with her preliminary hearing scheduled to commence on Wednesday.
Lol this is awesome
Reply
Thread
Link
awww <3
Reply
Thread
Link
lmaoooo i love puns.
Reply
Thread
Link
Lmao so cute!
Reply
Thread
Link
aww lol
Reply
Thread
Link
this gif is so precious!!!
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
lol i'm a sucker for puns.
Reply
Thread
Link
Does that make you a fan of Sucker Punch?
Badum
tss?
I'll show myself out.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
lmao ilu
Reply
Parent
Thread
Expand
Link
So great lol
Reply
Thread
Link
this is a good one and they should feel good about making it
Reply
Thread
Link
What an amazing honor
Reply
Thread
Link
lmao cute, I love that puny name.
Reply
Thread
Link
doesn't top boaty mcboatface, sorry!
Reply
Thread
Link
that still has me lolling
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
I was just thinking the same thing
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
Lmao still love this, and will repeat a comment seen on FB: "When he was born his father spit, full of it, desert ridden."
Also today I was giving a class about this era and this 5th grader (who seemed to like the musical, because she was quoting it) tried to "correct" me when I said that Jefferson was someone that Hamilton had a lot of disagreements with, going, "ACTUALLY Hamilton endorsed Jefferson as president!" And I'm thinking, "Did you somehow miss the line, "I've never agreed with Jefferson once!" Or like, all of Act II??
Edited at 2016-06-07 12:52 am (UTC)
Reply
Thread
Link
Lol this group was so gd chatty that at one point I did jokingly say, "Guys you need to talk less, smile more." (Which excited many of them more, oop). ;)
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
Ozzy Osbourne's ex manager claims split from wife Sharon is a 'publicity stunt' and rocker would never cheat https://t.co/w5gs0aXGRw Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) June 6, 2016
-Steven Machat, who managed Ozzy in the 1980s, says their divorce is an attempt by Sharon to stir up publicity for Black Sabbath's tour, which started this month-Machat claims Ozzy "isn't all there" and that he couldn't or wouldn't cheat on Sharon. He says Sharon knows how to use the media to make Ozzy relevant and says Sharon is Ozzy's nurse, mother & manager-Rumor is that the split is a publicity stunt inspired byafter Sharon discussed their divorce on her talk show (The Talk) holding a glass of lemonade; Kelly also posted a photo of herself holding a lemon on Instagram-Ozzy & Sharon are allegedly estranged but arrived in the same car at the Hollywood Palladium for an Ozzfest-related press conferenceWhat's your favorite publicity stunt, ONTD?
I thought this was about WWE divas and now I'm disappointed. But they aren't divas anymore. They're superstars.
Reply
Thread
Link
Bots are now making posts. When will us humans tbh
Reply
Thread
Link
Lol it's a brave new world
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
white_imp Bots/pr shills have been making posts here for years tho. Just ask
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
[ :) ] for real, this is something 2 aspire to!
Reply
Parent
Thread
Expand
Link
OMG I remembah that Megan Girl. Whatevah happened to ha?
Reply
Thread
Link
she fell :(
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
i lived on long island for about 20 years all together and i've never been to a bli summer jam. won't be starting now altho hailee's ep is a guilty pleasure
Reply
Thread
Link
I've never been to one either, and I don't really plan to. I used to listen to BLI all the time as a kid, but growing up, I realized that they only the same 10 songs over and over again.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
haiz was so good, i was pleasantly surprised
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
When did Iggy Azalea get demoted from Headliner to the "other" act?
Her success was so short-lived. OMG!
Reply
Thread
Link
The only 'diva' that matters
Reply
Thread
Link
BLI is the worst, so this concert lineup is no surprise.
Reply
Thread
Link
Hailee still doing the music thing?
Reply
Thread
Link
Me Too is gonna be the song of the summer!
Reply
Thread
Link
you need to let it go.
you need to let it go.
need to let it go.
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
So. Where are the divas?
Reply
Thread
Link
mte
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
how did fka not get to this post first
Reply
Thread
Link
i literally scrolled back up when i finished reading because i was sure it was him
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
i mean its not like there's enough meghan news to share going around
Reply
Parent
Thread
Link
Isabel dos Santosthe richest woman in Africa, the Angolan presidents daughter and now the CEO of the countrys state-run oil gianton Monday said she plans to overhaul the Sonangol oil company department by department to bring it out of the oil price crisis.
Isabel dos Santos became CEO last week after a presidential decree from her father, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, appointed her to the lucrative and vital position.
The companys previous leader had been at its helm for 36 years, prompting fears of nepotism from the presidents opponents, one of which, The National Union for Total Independence of Angola, rejected Isabels appointment on Tuesday.
Related: Rebound In Oil Prices Changes Drillers Mindset
The measure confirms once more the practice of nepotism by President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Unita, said in an emailed statement released on Tuesday. Angolans should not accept President dos Santos becoming an absolute king.
According to analysts cited by Reuters, the president could be laying the groundwork for a dynastic succession if and when he steps down from his presidency in 2018 after elections occur next year.
Local media sources said the overhaul would involve the firms Boston Consulting Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers, which would assist in the restructuring process.
At a press conference last week, Isabel said she would split the national company into three parts, in order to better organize and oversee operations, logistics and concessions to international oil companies.
Related: Oil Prices Stimulated By Feds Inaction
The new CEO will also consider building a domestic oil refinery in order to reduce the countrys need to import almost all diesel and gasoline, all while cutting production costs instead of resorting to layoffs during this difficult financial period.
Santos has a net worth of US$3.4 billion and holds major investments in banking and telecommunications companies, according to recent reports by Forbes.
By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Yokohama 1910, a ramen restaurant specializing in cocktails on draft, will soon open in the former Yield space, 1932 E. Kenilworth Pl.
Yokohama is StandEatDrink Hospitality Group's latest venture. The group also owns the upscale Spanish resturant Movida in Walker's Point and the Hotel Madrid, which is under-construction.
In an update provided by StandEatDrink today, we learned that the new restaurant, which is expected to open in fall of 2016 will feature a beverage program headed up by Beverage Director Dan Beres which includes a seasonal collection of Pacific Asian influenced cocktails, as well as draft sake-based sangria.
The menu, which will be designed by Chef Jessica Brandser, will include a variety of ramen dishes, as well as steamed buns and Japanese-inspired small plates.
Yield closed suddenly on Saturday, May 26, after the owners were unable to negotiate a renewal on their lease.
The opinions expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the opinions of OnMilwaukee.com, its advertisers or editorial staff.
I finally got around to watching the "conversation" (moderator Alan Borsuk insisted it was not a "debate") between Republican State Rep. Dale Kooyenga and the executive director of the Milwaukee Public Schools' teachers union (MTEA), Lauren Baker, held a couple weeks ago at the Marquette University Law School.
As so often happens, this discussion of schooling in Wisconsin and Milwaukee was scheduled for a time when anyone directly involved in that schooling parents, students, teachers would not be available to attend or participate: the middle of a school day. Marquette does archive these, though, so like me you can watch the video after the fact if you haven't yet.
You probably know Kooyenga as one of the authors of the MPS takeover legislation known as the Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program, or OSPP. You probably also know that I oppose that legislation strongly, but trust the current efforts of those tasked with implementing it: Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele and OSPP Commissioner Demond Means, who have promised to do so in a way that least affects the ability of MPS to fulfill its mission of teaching all children who come through their doors.
What struck me while watching Kooyenga defend not just OSPP, specifically, but his ideology in general was not the obvious absence of horns and a pointed tail, but rather the breathless sincerity with which he spoke of wanting all children to succeed. In doing so, he espoused the common belief among conservatives and Republicans that the focus of legislative and funding efforts should be not on schools or school systems, but on students.
"We should have a student-centered focus," Kooyenga said, "not a school-centered focus or a district-centered focus. When we have that money conversation, we're focused on funding of the districts. We need to focus on funding students."
This is the Milt Friedman school of educational thought. Friedman, an economist whose market-centered philosophy has deeply influenced the modern conservative movement, was an ardent early supporter of school vouchers. He believed that if parents had the power to choose where their children went to school and the money to back up that decision the "market" would ensure that good schools expanded and flourished while bad schools would fold up and disappear.
This market-based reform has been the norm in Milwaukee for 25 years, and I'll let you decide for yourself how well it's working.
But here's the thing about Kooyonga's insistence that money follow the student, and that reform and legislation should focus on the child rather than the schools or districts: Students don't learn in a vacuum.
I'm not merely talking about the 85 percent of a child's first 18 years when he or she is not physically in school, although that does have a serious effect on educational outcomes, obviously.
Rather, I'm talking about schools and school systems, the infrastructure both physical and human that delivers a child's education. As much as reformers of any stripe both conservative pro-voucher types and liberal pro-charter types like Democrats for Education Reform like to think that focusing only on students and worrying only about funding students whatever school they attend, the health and quality of that school and the system supporting that school is just as, if not more, important.
Consider that by far the best schools in the city's voucher program are those connected to larger systems the Catholic and Lutheran schools that mostly were already in existence before vouchers were opened to religious schools in 1998. The flip side of that is the program's most spectacular failures have tended to be one-off startups unconnected to any larger support system.
Look at the city's charter schools, public schools supported by public funds and chartered by MPS, the city or the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Again, the best of those schools have organizations behind them Seeds of Health and La Causa being prime examples that have records of success pre-dating their becoming part of the charter school program.
Voucher and charter schools that do well also have not just institutional support of pre-existing organizations, but major outside donor funding, as well, that goes above and beyond what comes to those schools through state payments for students. Even when that's the case, schools still sometimes end up in trouble with funding as in the city's Rocketship charter, which is backed by a national charter chain and started in Milwaukee with millions in donor seed money or student achievement as in the city's North Point Lighthouse school, also backed by a national charter organization.
Merely giving parents a choice and letting the money follow the student is not enough if the places those students go aren't part of healthy school systems.
Even in MPS, where you find some of the state's best schools and most of the state's worst schools, success is not easy or magical. Consider the district's flagship International Baccalaureate high schools, Rufus King and Ronald Reagan. Neither of those schools could exist with significant institutional support from the district as a whole. King's conversion to an IB school more than 30 years ago came through deliberately focused funding and programmatic choices at the district level for a school that was, at the time, seriously struggling.
Reagan was started at the urging of South Side parents who wanted an IB program on that side of town, but it would not have happened had MPS not already had a stable of IB-trained administrators and teachers (many poached from now-closed IB programs at Marshall and Madison high schools) to open the school.
The district has also directed significant resources to funding and expanding its Montessori programs. As Lauren Baker pointed out in her discussion with Kooyenga at Marquette, Milwaukee has the largest Montessori enrollment of any major city, in large part because MPS dedicates resources to the program. The availability of empty buildings and construction funding to pay for that expansion comes because of the size and relative fiscal health of the district.
But if MPS can do all that, you may wonder, why can't it fix the dozens of schools where success is rare and expansion is the last thing on anyone's mind?
There are several answers to that question, one of which is awkward: the demographics of students in MPS's Montessori and IB high schools do not match the demographics of the district as a whole. Students in those schools tend to be whiter and wealthier and much less likely to need special education services than students across the district.
But another answer is that MPS is not, in fact, as fiscally healthy as it could be. In 2004, according to state data, the "equalization aid" provided to MPS per student was about $7,300 (in adjusted 2015 dollars). In 2015, the latest year data are available, the payments were only about $6,200 per student.
Now, this is not the only funding MPS receives from the state, and there are also federal and local dollars thrown into the mix. Still, at MPS's current enrollment levels, that's almost $90 million a year not coming to the district to support its work.
Kooyenga, at Marquette, was quick to point out that Act 10 offered savings to districts by forcing districts to cut teacher pay to cover health insurance and pension costs. But if you consider, say, a third-grade class with an enrollment of 25 children, the teacher is not earning $27,500 less than she was in 2004. No, the damage from lower state funding is felt beyond that teacher's pocketbook in fewer librarians and art teachers, outdated technology and deferred textbook adoptions, delayed maintenance and building repair and a higher student-to-teacher ratio overall.
Kooyenga's OSPP plan, if implemented as originally, would flat-out bankrupt MPS, imperiling the quality schools MPS does have and making recovery of the rest of the schools pretty much impossible.
Baker, for her part, also confronted Kooyenga with the fact that when all state payments are taken into account, MPS students are valued less than the students in Kooyonga's home district of Elmbrook $1,300 less, in fact. The health of the Elmbrook School District, the system supporting the schools Kooyenga's children would attend, is significantly stronger than that of MPS, in large measure because the state values those students more.
In other words, the conservative, Republican, Kooyenga-backed focus on students over districts significantly disadvantages and could destroy the one Wisconsin district that serves not only the most children in the state, but the children who are most difficult to teach and with the most challenges to overcome.
In the end, the ultimate rejoinder to Kooyenga's assertion that it is not schools or school systems that are important but only students comes in the area of evaluation. The state does not nor should it! report out the test scores, attendance rates, ACT scores and graduation status of individual students. Rather, those things are reported by school and by district. It is from those school and district reports that sanctions are determined.
It would be one thing if, for example, the OSPP were handed a list of students whose scores and other data showed them behind or at risk with the instructions to build enrollment from among those students. Nope; instead, the commissioner is given the list of failing schools and told to pick up to three of them.
As long as accountability remains centered on schools and districts, rather than on students, and as long as the state values some students more than it does others, saying you want to take a "student-centered approach" to education is not just unhelpful but also dangerous.
Sadly, it's the Kooyengas of the world in charge right now in the legislature, and I don't expect anything to change unless and until we start to hold them accountable for what they have done to MPS and the children of Milwaukee.
These past few episodes of "Game of Thrones" has been pretty damn exciting if you ask me. Many points that were merely mentioned in the past are coming to light: Benjen Stark, Jons uncle and fellow member of the Nights Watch, is alive (sort of), while Lyanna Stark may not have been captured by Rhaegar Targaryaen. And then there's so much more.
First things first: The Hound is alive! Im sure I wasnt the only one with a perplexed WTF look on their face as it was revealed. This man was not only viciously stabbed by Arya Stark, but he proceeded to fall off a cliff afterwards. But it would seem this Hound has a greater purpose that hasnt been fulfilled as of yet, because he was found hanging on a thread of life by former soldier named Brother Ray. In order to atone for his former sins, Brother Ray finds people and saves their lives. He found The Hound almost bled out to death, complete with a bone sticking out of his leg and maggots eating at his flesh. The Hound came back to life right before his body was laid to rest, to which Brother Ray just knew was a sign.
Long after healing up The Hound, a clan of riders came to threaten Brother Ray and his people, an action that The Hound thought should be met with dominance.
"Fighting is a disease; you dont cure a disease by spreading it to more people," said Brother Ray. The Hound responded that you dont cure disease by dying either. Turns out that the broken man was right, because Brother Ray, along with all his people, were slaughtered while The Hound was chopping wood. He tried to be good, but refraining from a fight does nothing but get you killed in this world.
Meanwhile, Jon and Sansa are trying to build their army, something thats proving to be a most difficult task. Most of the loyal northerners who they thought would fight by their side refuse to do so because of their affiliation with the Wildlings. They can all refuse now, but theyre going to have to come to their senses when the Night arrives.
Sansa, painstakingly aware of their current armys shortcomings, sent a letter off to an unknown recipient. Did she write that letter to Blackfish? If not Blackfish, then to whom?
Poor Theon is forced to attend a brothel with his Yara and their soldiers, an event that hes obviously uncomfortable with considering hes missing his parts. Yara is tired of seeing him cower like a dog and needs the old Theon back, so its either get it together or end his own life. She claimed that she would never bring any harm to Theon, but I dont know if I fully believe her. I feel like, under the right circumstances, she would take his life in the name of power. It is, after all, "Game of Thrones."
The ultimate chameleon, Margaery, is playing the role she needs to stay on the High Sparrows good side. The High Sparrow urged her to lay with her husband, King Tommen, to bare him an heir to the throne. No matter what she does, this woman is always having to sleep with men to gain power. Is there ever going to be a time when she can get her own way without being objectified? That time might arrive soon enough, for she slipped her grandmother a drawing of a flower as a probable sign of her being as lucid as ever.
In another plot, Jaime Lannister arrived at Riverrun. Our old friend and my favorite knight, Bronn, was offered the position of Jaimes right-hand man. This is a pretty good position for Bronn to be on, as long as they dont get killed off by Blackfish. We all know that Bronn makes smart moves that will directly benefit his well-being, so Im sure hell make the right decision.
Walder Frey told his army to offer Blackfishs nephew, Edmure Tully, in exchange for Blackfishs surrender. Edmure was the one who actually got married at the infamous Red Wedding; I bet you didnt remember him at all. To Freys armys dismay, however, Blackfish was ready to watch them slit his nephews throat before giving up his castle.
Jaime approached the gates for a little parley with Blackfish, and lets just say that Blackfish finds the "Kingslayer" to be a non-factor. "Bargaining with oathbreakers is like building on quicksand," said Blackfish. Ouch. It may be harsh, but would you break bread with a man most known for his treachery?
To further bring down the Lannister House, Olenna Tyrell reminds Cersei of her downfalls that brought both House Lannister and House Tyrell into compromised positions.
"Loras rots in a cell because of you," hissed Olenna. "The High Sparrow rules this city because of you. Our two ancient houses face collapse because of you and your stupidity."
Olenna Tyrells words couldnt be anymore true. Because of Cerseis venomous ways, Olenna has to scurry back to her home to avoid the High Sparrow from throwing her in a cell as well.
The real kicker of the night involved my favorite, Arya Stark. Arya finally escaped from the House of Black and White and their faceless assassins at least, so she thought. As she looked across the water contemplating her new start, the faceless wench, Waif, came and stabbed her up real nice. Arya somehow got out of it by jumping into the water, but shes now left with multiple stab wounds to her abdomen. She walked throughout the market as people watched her blood trail the streets. How the heck is she going to survive this now?
I must say, if Arya dies after all of this, Ill be one angry lady no matter how good this season's been so far.
After months of public meetings, transit modeling and route analysis, an alignment has been recommended as the East-West Bus Rapid Transit route. The 9-mile route, which can be seen here, travels through Downtown Milwaukee, and through the west side of the city on Wisconsin Avenue and Bluemound Road to 95th Street. The route turns north on 95th Street to the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center and ends at the Watertown Plank Road Park-Ride lot.
Analysis shows that a trip from end to end could take as little as 35 minutes, which in comparison is more than 30% faster than a bus traveling in mixed traffic. That time savings really adds up for riders, who could save up to 112 hours a year on their commute.
"The recommended BRT route will help connect people to tens of thousands of jobs in Downtown Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center and all the areas in between," County Executive Chris Abele said. "Make no mistake, this service is more than just a rapid route from Downtown Milwaukee to Wauwatosa. The route provides high quality transportation to thousands and thousands of people living at or below the poverty line. Faster and more frequent bus service gives riders more access to medical appointments, school, work force training and jobs."
The recommended route includes 19 station locations in each direction that serve as stops. According to the route analysis, within a half mile of the stations there are:
47,000 residents
120,000 jobs
4,800 households without a car
12,700 residents living below the poverty line
19,700 residents of color
Community Support
The proposed BRT service has received a wide and diverse level of support from organizations and individuals from across the community, including: ACLU, Vision Forward, Milwaukee Urban League, MMAC, Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce, WAM DC LLC and many others.
Timeline
This Summer
The Milwaukee and Wauwatosa Common Councils will be asked to consider the recommended BRT route this month and the Milwaukee County Board is expected to consider the route and local funding in July. If the local legislative bodies support the route, Milwaukee County and MCTS will apply for capital funding through the Federal Transit Administrations (FTA) Small Starts program in September 2016.
2016-2017
The FTA typically takes a year to evaluate and select which applicant projects will receive capital funding through Small Starts (anticipated announcement in Fall 2017). In the interim, Milwaukee County is requesting FTA permission to begin detailed engineering and environmental clearance work, which is the federally-required project phase known as Project Development (PD). Milwaukee County expects to receive that permission by Fall 2016. In May 2016, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved $2.1 million to complete the PD phase; that money can be credited towards Milwaukee Countys capital contribution for the project once the FTA approves entry into PD.
The PD phase is anticipated to occur throughout 2017. Milwaukee County will continue to work with the cities of Milwaukee and Wauwatosa, residents, business owners and other stakeholders to further refine this alignment to include analysis of service plans, station locations and design and where dedicated, bus-only lanes can be located.
2018 - 2019
Once PD is completed, and the project is awarded Small Starts funding, construction can occur during 2018 and 2019. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) operations are scheduled to commence by the end of 2019.
Ridership
The proposed BRT service would ease traffic in one of the most heavily congested corridors in the Milwaukee area. Using population and employment estimates, highway travel times, current transit data, and the information about the proposed BRT service, the project team estimates that by 2035:
As many as 9,000 new riders will use MCTS every day on the BRT route and other routes in the corridor
Another 9,000 low income or transit dependent riders will take trips in the corridor every day
BRT will help increase ridership by up to 40%
Reducing Congestion
The study team found that the proposed BRT service would also benefit drivers by taking more than 6,700 cars off the road and reducing the amount of miles people drive by up to 17 million miles a year. Fewer cars mean less congestion on local roads, and cleaner air for everyone.
Without the addition of BRT, the analysis shows transit trips in the corridor could take up to 10 minutes longer, buses would become more crowded and less reliable, and the increased car and truck congestion could require the removal of parking spaces to allow for more traffic.
Funding
Final cost estimates will depend on the further analysis during Project Development, the stations and route design elements of the bus lanes and buses; early estimates of the project are $42 million to $48 million to build. Federal funds, otherwise not available to the area, are expected to cover 80% of the cost.
NBC News hasn't yet projected Clinton as the presumptive nominee, according to its own delegate count.To win the nomination, a candidate must secure a majority of all delegates, or 2,383. But 15 percent of the total delegate pool is made up of superdelegates current and former elected officials and party activists who aren't bound to vote for the candidate selected by voters in their home state's primary.Many but not all of the Democratic superdelegates have publicly declared their support for either Clinton or her rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.Clinton's clinching of the nomination wasn't unexpected, but the timing of the AP's decision was earlier than anticipated. Clinton was widely expected to reach the 2,383 threshold on Tuesday, when six states hold their nominating contests on one of the final primary nights of the race.The final Democratic primary will be held on June 14 in the District of Columbia.Sanders has long protested that the superdelegate system fails to reflect the will of the voters. He has argued that superdelegates can switch their votes at any time before the Democratic National Convention in July.While Sanders is correct that superdelegates can switch their votes, there is no precedent for a huge number of superdelegates' switching sides. In the 2008 Democratic race, when superdelegates made up 20 percent of the delegate pool, no more than about 30 switched their support from Clinton to Barack Obama. What's more, Obama then led among pledged delegates even when superdelegates weren't included in the total count.Sanders, on the other hands, trails Clinton significantly among pledged delegates, as well as in the total delegate count.Sanders' continued objections to party rules presents a maddening problem for Clinton, who has already sought to focus her energies on the general election matchup against Donald Trump.But while Trump has largely been able to unite the Republican Party despite major ideological rifts with party leaders, Clinton risks alienating Sanders and his supporters by dismissing a campaign that far exceeded its quixotic beginning in fundraising and voter enthusiasm.What's more, Sanders hopes to notch a victory in Tuesday's California primary, in which polls have shown the candidates in a dead heat.Despite urging from party elders that Sanders exit the race, a win in the large and diverse state would bolster his case to remain a candidate until the convention in hope of influencing the party's platform, swaying superdelegates and even contesting Clinton's nomination on the floor.
Even within what Dr. King called the greatest purveyor of violence in the world, there used to be one constituency you could count on to speak up for world peace: beauty contestants.
No more. And the switch has produced no scandal. Last year, when Miss Italy said she wished she could live during World War II, survivors of that worst ever horror that humanity has inflicted on itself, and other people of normal intelligence in Italy, were scandalized.
But when a soon-to-be Miss USA recently praised the U.S. military as a member of it, as a participant in it, despite the world's view that the U.S. military is the greatest threat to peace in the world, the U.S. media adored this new development.
This is a 180 degree reversal of the traditional stance of beauty contestants, who had endlessly said they favored world peace. But of course it's framed as something else entirely. With war totally and amorally normalized, a female (and African-American) member of the military, even a beauty contestant, is interpreted as a symbol of enlightened progress, along the lines of the current neoliberal push to force every young woman to register for the draft.
Miss USA joined the military at age 17, the Washington Post tells us in passing, something illegal under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a treaty ratified by every single nation on earth except the United States.
For those interested in the draft question, I refer you to my handy guide on "How to Oppose the Draft for Women and Not Be Sexist."
You think this is all tongue-in-cheek and war's not been normalized? Go ahead and name the seven nations where the United States is at war right now, the seven that the current U.S. president has bragged about having bombed.
Can't do it? O.K., well, surely you can explain which of the seven wars are justified and legal and which are not?
No? Or perchance you were outraged and raised objections and organized protests when a presidential debate moderator asked a candidate if he would be willing to kill thousands of innocent children as part of his basic duties if elected?
What? You didn't? Well, maybe you grew concerned when announcers of a televised sporting event (any major U.S. sporting event) thanked U.S. troops for watching from 175 countries? Surely, you got out the list of 175 and asked someone to explain what U.S. troops were doing there.
No? You didn't? Did you read about kindergarten teachers pushing militarism? Did you know that Starbucks says choosing not to have a store at Guantanamo would constitute a political statement, while having one there is just normal? Did you know that the United Nations now says war is the norm rather than the exception? The United Nations!
The University of Virginia's magazine has an article in its summer 2016 issue praising and interviewing an alumnus named Robert Neller who is commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps. The big focus? The super progressive step of recruiting women into greater participation in wars. But did UVA ask about any of the numerous disastrous wars the United States has been waging? About the troops now fighting on the ground in five nations?
Actually, toward the end of the interview, the interviewer Dianna Cahn (who, like the interviewee, also works for the U.S. military, at its propaganda magazine Stars and Stripes) asked something about the U.S. troops dying in Iraq and Afghanistan (nothing about the 95-plus percent of the deaths in those wars/genocides that are Iraqi and Afghan). She asked something (she doesn't print the questions) about the futility of fighting over and repeatedly winning and losing the same bits of ground in someone else's country. Neller said this in response:
"Somebody asked me that when I left Iraq nine years ago . . . 'What would you tell the families?' I was really tired. I got all emotional and I said. 'I'd tell them they did their duty.' I hated that answer because it sounded just so inadequate."
Inadequate? I was going to say fascistic. Never mind, Neller has a new answer:
"What I really wish I'd said was, 'Imagine we lived in a country where if people were called to go do something like this nobody would stand up. Imagine if there were not men and women who would pick up the challenge and go to a faraway land to help somebody live a better life. That would be terrible.'"
Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali was our hero, not only for his performance in the ring and his infectiously happy and charming wit, but for his clear, upright, honest, compassionate and unequivocal condemnation of his nation's racist invasion, bombing and genocidal occupation war in Vietnam.
Just before his indictment for refusing the draft in March of 1967, Ali stated publicly, "Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and 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 from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn't have to draft me, I'd join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I'll go to jail, so what? We've been in jail for 400 years."
Only weeks after Ali's blistering statement, Rev. Martin Luther King from the pulpit of New York's Riverside Church called his government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world," and held all Americans (including himself) responsible for "atrocity wars and covert violence on three continents since 1945, for refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments these atrocity wars are meant to maintain." King vilified in media owned by investors in wars and deserted by friends and fellow civil rights leaders, received his bullet to the head a year to the day after that sermon King had titled "Beyond Vietnam - a Time to Break Silence."
For being indicted for refusal of the draft, Ali was unlicensed to box from 1967 until 1971, when the US Supreme Court found in Ali's favor after years of appeals during which former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark assisted and became a life time admirer and friend of Ali.
We know from listening to his wife being interviewed on television, that Ali was a devout Muslim. One cannot avoid wondering if Ali ever spoke or wrote about his feelings and thoughts during all these years of patently illegal murderous use of US Armed Forces and CIA in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya and Syria.
murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over," every single nation of Caucasian population, even tiny Andorra, Lichtenstein and Monaco, have taken part in an international coalition that is now in its sixteenth year of killing Afghanistan's defenders against foreign invaders and the Quisling drug lord government the USA has imposed. [see In 1979, President Carter criminally ordered an attack upon a friendly and popular women's liberating socialist Kabul government by CIA covert funding, arming and training fundamentalist hill tribe war lords, who did not want their daughters in school. Brzezinski correctly advised it would scare the USSR into coming to the Kabul government's defense and into a trap.] - Afghanistan: Apropos Ali's "every single nation of Caucasian population, even tiny Andorra, Lichtenstein and Monaco, have taken part in an international coalition that is now in its sixteenth year of killing Afghanistan's defenders against foreign invaders and the Quisling drug lord government the USA has imposed. [see No Afghani Ever Attacked the US, UK, EU, Australia or Anywhere Else Synopis:
- Iraq: A non UN authorized 2003 American invasion and occupation of Iraq is awaiting eventual Nuremberg International Law prosecution not only for crimes against humanity, but genocide, by of way over a million and a half murdered Iraqis and the destruction of what was a prosperous nation. No official US source even attempts to justify the invasion now. Previous to this genocide by the US, was the period of severe sanctions that were credited with costing the lives of a half million young Iraqi children, which US Secretary of State Madeline Albright later, with Clockwork Orange horrific callousness, estimated as "worth the price" of keeping sanctions on Iraq.
- Somalia: US attack and funding of war lords friendly to US interests in military attack on a overwhelmingly popular Islamic Courts government, including using Ethiopian and Kenyan and UN proxy armed forces, have brought death through US NATO UN war and resultant starvation situations to a million and a half to two million Somalis and brought terrorist involvement to justify more war. [ see Jay Janson: Merciless US NATO UN Genocide In Somalia ]
- Libya: US NATO destruction of a wealthy socialist democratic independent Libya, at the time, the 53rd highest UN Quality of Life indexed nation, higher than nine European countries including Russia, afterwards proven with watertight documentation to have been initiated by CNN, Aljazeera and CIA assets Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International falsifying Libyan government attacks on a non existent uprising of Libyans, in reality a CIA and its overseas branches organized well armed army of terrorists. Article's larger theme is the willingness of humanity to accept white world profitable investments in genocide until world economic power shifts from Europeans and their descendant nations overseas to the six sevenths of humanity they plunder. Article chronicles in detail the immediate before, during and after of a preposterous destruction of Libya.] - Libya: US NATO destruction of a wealthy socialist democratic independent Libya, at the time, the 53rd highest UN Quality of Life indexed nation, higher than nine European countries including Russia, afterwards proven with watertight documentation to have been initiated by CNN, Aljazeera and CIA assets Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International falsifying Libyan government attacks on a non existent uprising of Libyans, in reality a CIA and its overseas branches organized well armed army of terrorists. [see Russians Calling Medvedev a "Traitor" for Not Vetoing UN NATO War on Libya in Larger Context
And years before all the above mentioned taking of many millions of Muslin lives, Ali, who said in 1967 that "such evils must come to an end," would have had to have known of General Westley Clark's exposing in March of 2007 of the Pentagon being informed by the Secretary of Defense of a plan to take out seven nations, Iraq, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran, in five years. Ali would have watched the US support its client the Shah as some twenty or more thousand Iranians were mowed down in the street. Ali would have eventually heard all about Reagan giving Saddam Hussein's Iraq 'most favorite nation status' in order to go all out to assist Saddam's eight years long bloody invasion of Revolutionary Iran at a human cost of a million Muslim lives - US spy satellites giving Saddam coordinates of Iranian positions, saving Saddam from defeat.
So what was Ali thinking and feeling about all this decades long American slaughter of millions of innocent Muslim men, women and children in their very own beloved countries, as often as not in their own homes? Your author as an archival research peoples historian encouraged by Ramsey Clark to seed a world public outcry for justice for the surviving victims of US NATO wars, wrote to Ali a few times at his published correspondence address, but received no answer. I learned that Ali's mail was understandably being handled by Ali's wife, and out of respect for Ali's illness made no further inquiries. Perhaps at some time in the future, when things within the US open up, we might learn of Ali's feelings through private papers made public.
Of major interest would be whether Ali believed that the law would eventually come down on Americans, who would then be forced to compensate and indemnify financially at the super mega vast amount that would make all investments in enslaving "those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality" not only to have been unprofitable but punitive to an nth degree.
Being that the civil rights movement in America has been for such a long time now a war supporting movement in spite of the greatest civil rights leader Martin Luther King having warned in 1967 that "there will be no progress on issues of justice at home as long as we are killing the poor overseas at such an enormous expense in human and financial resources as to make such progress at home impossible," perhaps Ali's most telling quote for our time might be,
"I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here - white slave masters of the darker people the world over."
For Bernie Sanders's sake, I truly do grieve about the blind spots in the Mainstream Media towards him, his ideas and his successes. I don't know how he stands the unfair treatment by the oblivious press. He is a brilliant, decent, eloquent and tough guy from Brooklyn with the ideals of Gandhi, whom I have considered my personal hero for decades.
However, because I really can't do much about these blind spots in American political journalism, I have to look at it as a kind of numbers game, which is balanced out by and made up for by the inherent integrity of social media journalism, particularly Facebook.
Blind spots in the media were described brilliantly by Robert Reich in the San Francisco Chronicle exactly one month ago in his Commentary "Sanders' impact obscured by media's blind spots"
"Some Sanders supporters speak in dark tones about a media conspiracy against him. I doubt one exists. The mainstream media are incapable of conspiring with anyone or anything. They wouldn't dare try. Their reputations are on the line. If the public stops trusting them, their brands are worth nothing. The real reason the major national media can't see what's happening is they exist inside the bubble of establishment politics, centered in Washington, and the bubble of establishment power, centered in New York. So they're most interested in the personalities of the candidates, and in the people and resources backing them." Reich memorably wrote:
Newspapers, in general. lose their relevancy and credibility every time they warp the truth, and they do excel at warping the news to continue and extend the larger scale blindsiding going on by the leadership at the Democratic National Committee, something like the Emperor's New Clothes, and like lemmings about to jump off the cliff, and at times descending to the level the capos leading the victims to the gas chambers while the brass bands played on, the victims led to believe they were just going in for a shower. Yes, I think what is going on is almost that serious, and if you find this shocking, I am sorry to offend your sensibilities with such a grim historical analogy.
In this primary season, we have all seen rampantly abounding media blind spots in every corner of the United States, as if every journalist and editor had been offered some kind of bribe or incentive or hidden reward to "Tell it like it Isn't."
Since February 1, I have had minor successes with articles and letters published about Bernie Sanders in the Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, the Baltimore Sun, the Los Angeles Progressive, the New York Daily News, the Albuquerque Journal, the East Arizona Courier, Indian Country Today, OpEdNews (my favorite), the Lafayette Indiana Courier Journal, Sioux City South Dakota's Argus Leader, the Madison Wisconsin Capitol Times, the Baltimore Post Examiner, and many others. Sounds like a lot, but truly? Never as many as I wanted, and perhaps only 2% of what I sent out.
By comparison, Charles Krauthammer, Cal Thomas, or Paul Krugman articles are carried in hundreds of newspapers. That's the way it goes. If they say something you object to in a 1200 word article, there is maybe a 1% chance that you will get 150 words to rebut them, and if there are hundreds of letters objecting to whatever they wrote, you have even less of a chance to air views and set the record straight.
In short, for whatever reasons unknown, the journalistic odds are loaded against Bernie. I saw this very early on, recognizing the modus operandi. I had studied all of the hundreds of editorial page endorsements for Obama in 2008, and as managing editor had published 38 of the best of these endorsements ten days before his 2008 election.
It was a very special edition of the New Mexico Sun News, called OBAMA WINS! That was ten days before the election. It caused quite a stir and was the top story on CNN for quite a few hours. It wasn't a stunt at all; it was a solution to the problem of our paper coming out ten days before the election or four days after.
This year and in this election, the media is insidious, hostile, manipulative, and downright oblivious. It is as if they have lost every shred of higher motive and all concern for what tenuously survives by a thread of the American Democracy. The issue I have been so deeply concerned about, the purging in the hijacked New York Primary, is of absolutely no concern among 99.5% of America's editors. Are they asleep at the wheel? Indifferent? Colluding with the censors? Hard to tell, to be honest.
The Bernie Facebook supporters, however, all seven million of them, are very concerned but very difficult to educate as to what to do about this monstrous theft that makes Watergate like stealing a paper clip off the teacher's desk.
Wall Street Sign
(Image by (From Wikimedia) The original uploader was RMajouji at English, Author: See Source) Details Source DMCA
As you may know, we have shifted the focus to asking US Attorney Preet Bharara of New York to take this request into Federal Court to obtain a ruling that the results of the stolen primary should first be de-certified and then another judicial order that the primary be repeated with safeguards and monitors. Leaving it stand as is will pollute and stains the Presidency and the very integrity of the constitutionality of our government.
This is all by way of introduction to what I bring to your attention today. On the front page of today's Wall Street Journal, right next to a photo of Muhammad Ali's pink childhood home, is an article by Peter Nicholas of the Wall Street Journal's Washington bureau titled "Sanders Camp is Split Over Next Step."
The article included updates from both candidates, plus a conciliatory quote from Campaign Adviser and former Monsanto lawyer, Tad Devine, about the two campaigns talking with each other in due course. It had also a more strident quote from Campaign Manager Jeff Weaver, who has worked on Bernie's campaigns since the 1980's.
"The plan is as the senator has described it: to go forward after Tuesday and keep the campaign going to the convention and make the case to super delegates that Sen. Sanders is the best chance that Democrats have to beat Trump."
This quote was followed by dismal statements from Tom Daschle, Harry Reid, and even an absurd quote from William Daley, who chaired Gore's Campaign and who served as Chief of Staff for Obama, saying that the "damage" Sanders could do is "overwhelming if he doesn't give Mrs. Clinton the breather she needs in the run-up to the convention to take on Trump."
My obvious questions right away were:
1. Where is the rest of the "Sanders Camp" in this article, besides the two who were quoted?
2. Did the reporter speak to others who got edited out?
3. Did someone else write the intentionally misleading headline for the front page of the second largest circulating paper in the United States?
Rather than hypothesize about the answers or write a furious polemic about this skewed journalism maybe not so far removed from being another Wall Street Journal "hatchet job," I decided to call the office in DC and maybe speak to the editor, if I could, but turns out he wasn't available, but the journalist, Peter Nicholas was available.
About all he could do when I asked those questions was reply several times that "the article stands on its own" and that "the article speaks for itself." He also asked me three times, "did you read the article?"
Maybe this is how they are trained at the Wall Street Journalism School to deal with pesky questions. My approach was gentile, entirely polite, and non-confrontational. Mr. Nicholas would not say whether he had spoken with more than two members of the Bernie camp, and it almost sounded like HE had written the headline, or even improbably that someone had written the headline first and then he wrote the article to jive with the headline?! How could that be?
Wall Street is running so scared of Bernie. They have had a free run for several decades. That Bailout that we will be paying for for decades? With Bernie in the White House, all of that might have to come to an end. They are feeling besieged and attacked like never before, by United States Attorney Preet Bharara, with something like 82 convictions in a row of Wall Streeters, plus the President of the New York Senate and Speaker of the NY Assembly.
Their throne of corruption and greed is under siege and they are going all out to disrupt, discredit, and minimize our own pesky Bernie Sanders.
No matter how he does in the last primaries, we now have to focus on the crooked rigged super delegate system and on communicating with all of them. I choose to communicate through newspaper editorial pages and through news articles that may or may not ever appear.
The truth about the hijacked New York Primary has comes out. Will it go viral among the American public? I don't just mean the 7 million Bernie Supporters on Facebook. If and when that happens, the jig will be up, unless 300 million Americans are totally inoculated against more Hillary scandals, or unless they consider stealing as many as ten primaries just part of normal political "shenanigans," or that lovely euphemism for large scale larceny, "irregularities."
This will either happen before the convention and the super delegates will do the right thing, jump ship, and switch to Bernie, or, if that fails to occur for whatever insidious reasons, then count on Trump, the Koch Brothers, the RNC, and God knows whatever other unknown giant Super PACs there are out there, to combine forces, buy a half billion dollars worth of advertising in all media, to totally destroy Hillary and her legal baggage. You will be looking at shark chum, the ruins of the Democratic party, and two decades before it may or may not recover.
This is what Carl Bernstein was talking about just last week when he diplomatically stated that the top levels of the DNC and even the White House were "concerned" about Hillary's "free fall in credibility," and the apparent implosion of her campaign.
Mark my word: there will be massive complaints about the California primary and the dirty tricks used to change the outcome, but will the Californians shrug their shoulders and reply "Have a nice day"? Watch what Bernie says and does right after the California Primary closes, now that there is almost no one left to placate by avoiding "negativity" about how the other side has used every dirty trick in the book to cheat their way into victories, plus enough new dirty tricks to fill a whole other new book!
I have been recommending a new tone to Bernie's lawyer in Washington D.C., Brad Deutsch, plus court actions to de-certify several phony primaries. About the NY Primary heist, our citizen's evidence has been turned in, to both the NY Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, and to the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara. What they do with this evidence will determine the future of what is left of the American Democracy.
>>>>
[Here's a joke told to me by a witty friend in Santa Fe, New Mexico:
"Hillary's legal baggage is outgrowing her many ordinary suitcases so much that she will have to buy new baggage, and with those speech mega-fees from Goldman Sachs, the ten million dollar gifts to the Clinton Foundation, and the $338,000 George Clooney dinners, she ought to be able to afford vintage Louis Vuitton Steamer Trunks, not just Walmart suitcases, for all of her legal baggage."]
Stephen Fox
Santa Fe, New Mexico
stephen@santafefineart.com
Founder, Facebook Group: Bernie Sanders: Advice and Strategies to Win!
PLEASE SIGN PETITION!!!
It is critical for Democrats to know, prior to choosing our nominee, if Hillary Clinton will be indicted for the mishandling of classified information, exposing undercover CIA agents and purposely avoiding Freedom of Information ACT (FOIA) requests for public scrutiny of her actions while Secretary of State.
PLEASE SIGN PETITION!!!
It would be disastrous for our country if she were indicted AFTER she had been chosen as our nominee--or even as a sitting president. Conversely, if Clinton is cleared of this crime, then the nomination process can move forward as
PLEASE SIGN PETITION!!!
On Friday, May 27th, 2016, President Obama visited the Hiroshima Peace Park for two hours commemorating the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. He offered no apology, but gave a stirring speech about the need for a moral transformation of human beings on the Earth that will end war and establish a peaceful, interdependent world. His speech ended with these memorable words:
"That is why we come to Hiroshima. So that we might think of people we love. The first smile from our children in the morning. The gentle touch from a spouse over the kitchen table. The comforting embrace of a parent. We can think of those things and know that those same precious moments took place here, 71 years ago.
Those who died, they are like us. Ordinary people understand this, I think. They do not want more war. They would rather that the wonders of science be focused on improving life and not eliminating it. When the choices made by nations, when the choices made by leaders, reflect this simple wisdom, then the lesson of Hiroshima is done.
The world was forever changed here, but today the children of this city will go through their day in peace. What a precious thing that is. It is worth protecting, and then extending to every child. That is a future we can choose, 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."
In the week following Obama's visit, my wife and I were in Hiroshima for three days speaking with Japanese citizens of that city who had witnessed President Obama's speech. What were their thoughts and feelings about this historic visit (the first by a sitting American President)? One of our hosts was Professor Mineko Morishita, who was interviewed by the Associated Press regarding Obama's statement.
There have been some excellent articles analyzing the hypocrisy and crassness of this spectacle engineered for public consumption by President Obama and the U.S. State Department at Hiroshima. Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick outline a truer history (than that implied by President Obama) behind the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki three days later. They point out that 100 Japanese cities had already been destroyed by firebombing, including Tokyo in March 1945, five months earlier. They point out that Japan was ready for surrender, and that the key event that led to surrender was the Soviet Invasion of Japanese held Manchuria on August 8.
They point out the lies in history textbooks in the U.S. that claim these bombings were necessary to save the U.S. from having to invade, which would have lost many more lives than those of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We know today, they point out, that the real motive of using these horrific weapons had nothing to do with saving lives. The intent was to send a message to the Soviets that would supposedly cow them before the might of the U.S. military (instead the result was that the Soviets threw all their energies into building a bomb of their own). They intimate as well that the state of war was used as an excuse to test these weapons against human populations. The two bombs were different forms of atomic bomb (one fission-based uranium and the other an implosion plutonium based device) for which the U.S. wanted to test for their actual effectiveness as weapons.
The last time I visited Hiroshima, in February of 2005, I saw testimony in the Hiroshima War Memorial Museum that the U.S. brought in medical teams immediately after the bombing and Japanese surrender. Although there were many thousands with horrific burns and terrible wounds from the blast, these medical teams did nothing for the victims. Their purpose was to assess the effects of the blast, to record its effectiveness as a weapon. Has Obama had a change of heart? Is he different from the callous war-criminals like President Truman who mercilessly and needlessly used these weapons against civilian populations?
The call for "moral awakening" in President Obama's speech comes from the one individual who has served as the most powerful agent of US imperialism worldwide for the past eight years. It issues from the Commander in Chief of a military that is in the process of surrounding Russia with offensive military weaponry, including nuclear weapons, that is challenging China's need to protect its primary trade routes through the South China Sea, that is waging a dozen clandestine wars in Africa, including support for a brutal Saudi Arabian assault on Yemen that targets many civilians, that is promoting coup d'etats in Brazil and Latin America, that has recently destroyed the stable societies and civilian infrastructures of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and that is currently supporting terrorist forces bent on "regime change" in Syria.
Obama heads a military and security machine that has killed several million persons in this process since 2001, the vast majority of them civilians, women and children, just like those in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This speech issues from the man personally in charge of a program of targeted killings by militarized drones, who assumes the arrogant power over life and death of people anywhere in the world whom he decides, without trial, by so-called "secret evidence," are guilty of resistance to imperial forces and must be executed remotely, with inevitable "collateral damage" to families, women, children, their homes, lives, and hopes. Surely the words quoted above illustrate the epitome of callous, compassionless, meaningless rhetoric.
William Boardman correctly identifies Obama's speech as that of an "empty suit": "the sterile language of a detached president illustrates how far we are from facing the reality of our own government's deliberate atrocities." He points out the "passive voice" used by Obama. It as if this atrocity just happened, as if no one was actively responsible. While Obama currently spearheads a one trillion dollar upgrade of the U.S. nuclear weapons systems, the "empty suit" speaks of "America's commitment to peace and security in a world without nuclear weapons." The callousness of this publicity stunt defies the imagination.
This technique of propaganda (i.e., "we care so much and seek a moral awakening for the world") reminds one of that of Nazi minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, who, following Hitler's Mein Kompf, used the principle of the "big lie" to mold the German people to the will of the Nazis. If the lie is big enough, he declared, people will believe it even in the face of apparently contrary evidence. They will not be able to imagine a lie that big, in such contradiction to the reality they are experiencing. So too with President Obama: his entire record of speeches for the past eight years evidences a perpetual lie about morality, responsibility, concern, and ideals that bespeaks the exact opposite of his actual record of criminal wars, crimes against humanity, and callous use of terror and violence at the head of U.S. global imperialism.
However, neither Obama, with his contention that human beings must morally grow, nor Stone and Kuznick with their admirable commitment to bringing forth an honest history of the past century, nor Boardman who rightly exposes the moral atrocities of the atomic bombings that are continued in the on-going war crimes of the Obama administration, have penetrated to the heart of the matter of these bombings and the perpetual wars of which they are simply one manifestation. I was in Hiroshima to meet with the leading World Federalists of Hiroshima and with the Directors of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation that sponsors the "Mayors for Peace" project worldwide. The Chairperson of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, Yasuyoshi Komizo, told me that there were more than 7000 mayors of cities around the globe who work with them for the elimination of nuclear weapons. Mayors, he told me, were closer to the people than heads of state, and perhaps understand more concretely why nuclear weapons must be eliminated from the Earth.
Next Page 1 | 2
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
Reprinted from Counterpunch
As I sat in the San Diego sunshine yesterday listening to Bernie Sanders outside of Qualcomm Stadium, I was struck by the stunning contrast between the senator and Donald Trump, particularly on the issue of race.
Sanders emphasized racial justice, citing the courage of African Americans and their allies who fought against racism and bigotry during Jim Crow. He talked of the thousands of undocumented workers who are ruthlessly exploited, overworked and underpaid, vowing to end the current deportation policies. Sanders seeks to "unite, not divide families." And he wants to "fundamentally change" the federal government's oppressive relationship with the Native American community.
There are more people in U.S. prisons than in any other country in the world, Sanders noted. Those imprisoned, he said, are disproportionately African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans. The senator wants to invest in "jobs and education, not jails and incarceration."
Sanders was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He served as president of the Congress of Racial Equality at the University of Chicago, organizing pickets and sit-ins, which led to his 1963 arrest for "resisting arrest."
When Dr. Cornel West, author of the book Race Matters, introduced Sanders, he said the senator stands on the shoulders of Martin Luther King Jr., Edward Said and Cesar Chavez. Said, a professor at Columbia University, was a path-breaking Palestinian-American activist scholar, who decried the "dehumanization of Palestinians to the level of beasts virtually without sentience or motive."
The overwhelming popularity of Sanders prompted the Democratic National Committee to invite him to nominate several members to the platform committee for the Democratic Convention. Much to the consternation of Hillary Clinton, Sanders' choices included Dr. West, Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Keith Ellison, and Arab-American Institute president James Zogby, all staunch supporters of Palestinian rights.
Sanders called out Donald Trump for his bigotry, saying, "In the year 2016, the American people will not accept a bigoted president." He added, "We are not going back. We will not accept a candidate that insults Latinos, Muslims, women, veterans and African Americans." Sanders reminded us that Trump was a leader of the birther movement, whose aim was to delegitimize Barack Obama as president because he is black.
Trump has a nasty habit of attacking people based on their race. His most recent assault was on Gonzalo Curiel, a well-respected federal judge in San Diego, who is presiding over a lawsuit filed by people claiming they were scammed by Trump University. When Curiel ordered the unsealing of documents in the case, Trump mounted a double-barrel assault on the judge, stating that Curiel had "an absolute conflict" that should disqualify him from the case. Trump's reasons: "He is a Mexican." Trump said, "I'm building a wall. It's an inherent conflict of interest." Curiel is a U.S. citizen born to Mexican immigrant parents. Trump also maintains that a Muslim judge might treat him unfairly because the latter has advocated the temporary exclusion of most foreign Muslims from entering the United States. But federal courts have roundly rejected the claim that the ethnicity of a judge disqualifies him or her from hearing a case.
Trump has also vowed to deport 11 million undocumented workers from the United States.
The overt racism of the presumptive Republican presidential candidate is causing hand-wringing in GOP circles. Republican strategist Brian Walsh characterized Trump's comments as "racist, nonsensical" and "the definition of racism."
Veteran GOP operative Rick Wilson is also alarmed at Trump's racism, noting that [the Republican Party] "own[s] the racial animus that started out as a bug, became a feature and is now the defining characteristic of his campaign." Wilson said that Trump's comments about Curiel and Muslim judges are "overtly racist."
Trump's racism is also evident in his pandering to people based on their race. He recently pointed out a black man in the crowd, declaring, "Oh, look at my African American over here -- look at him."
Sanders has cited Trump's demagoguery, which, the former thinks, is a reaction to fear and anger that many people feel, leading them to embrace scapegoating.
"Don't go to the dark side," Sanders implores. He advocates building a strong, progressive movement. "Real change," he told us yesterday, "has never taken place from the top on down, only from the bottom up."
For the experiment, Stanford graduate student Georges Ndabashimiye had to figure out how to freeze argon gas into a thin layer inside a small vacuum chamber chilled to 20 kelvins close to absolute zero. Credit: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
To observe something as small and fast as an electron rushing to form a chemical bond, you need a bright light with an incredibly small wavelength that comes in very fast pulses just a few attoseconds, or billionths of a billionth of a second, long.
Scientists figured out more than a decade ago how to make this specialized form of light through a process known as "high harmonic generation," or HHG, which shifts laser light to much shorter wavelengths and shorter pulses by shining it through a cloud of gas.
Now researchers at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University and Louisiana State University have achieved an even more dramatic HHG shift by shining an infrared laser through argon gas that's been frozen into a thin, fragile solid whose atoms barely cling to each other.
The laser light that emerged from the frozen gas was in the extreme ultraviolet range, with wavelengths about 40 times shorter than the light that went in, they report today in the journal Nature.
The results give researchers a potential new, solid-state tool for "attosecond science," which explores processes like the motions of electrons in atoms and the natural vibrations of molecules.
And in the longer term, they could lead to bright, ultrafast, short-wavelength lasers that are much more compact, and perhaps even electronic devices that operate millions of times faster than current technology, says David Reis, a co-author of the report and deputy director of the Stanford PULSE Institute, a joint institute of SLAC and Stanford.
Making the First Key Comparisons
"Now, for the first time, we are able to directly compare how high harmonic generation works in the solid and gaseous forms of a single element. We did this in both argon and krypton," Reis said.
"These comparisons should allow us to resolve a number of outstanding questions for instance, what, exactly, is the effect of packing the atoms closer together? In our study it seemed to enhance the HHG process. We expect that these results, and follow-up studies that are already underway, will give us a much better understanding of the fundamental physics."
High harmonic generation is far from new. Discovered in the late 1980s, it offers a way to produce laser-like bursts of light at far higher frequencies and shorter wavelengths than a laser can generate directly. But only in the past decade has it been developed into a readily accessible tool for exploring the attosecond realm.
Today scientists generally use argon gas as the medium for generating attosecond laser pulses with HHG. Laser light shining on the gas liberates electrons from all the argon atoms it hits. The electrons fly away, loop back and reconnect with their home atoms all at the same time. This reconnection generates attosecond bursts of light that combine to form an attosecond laser pulse.
Stanford graduate student Georges Ndabashimiye in the PULSE Institute laser lab at SLAC where the experiments were performed. Credit: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Tricky Work with Fragile Crystals
In 2010, a PULSE team led by Reis and SLAC staff scientist Shambhu Ghimire reported the first observation of HHG in a crystal zinc oxide, a semiconducting material that is probably most familiar as a white powder in sunscreens.
But it was difficult to compare how HHG proceeds in this complex solid to what happens in a gas. So in 2011 they began a series of experiments to directly compare HHG in gaseous and solid argon.
"This is a conceptually simple but technically very challenging experiment," Ghimire says. "Argon crystals are extremely, extremely fragile, and the reason they're fragile is that the interaction between the atoms is very weak. But this was just what we wanted something that looked just like a gas, but at higher density."
The work of performing the experiment and analyzing the data fell to Georges Ndabashimiye, a graduate student at PULSE and the Stanford Department of Applied Physics, who had to figure out how to freeze argon gas into a thin layer inside a small vacuum chamber chilled to 20 kelvins close to absolute zero.
Ndabashimiye says he had to be patient with the challenging process. "I didn't really know how it was going to turn out, but it kept working and I found I could do more and learn more. That was quite exciting," he says.
Looking Toward Potential Applications
When used to perform HHG, the argon crystal reduced the wavelength of incoming laser light 40-fold, compared to 20-fold in argon gas hit with the same level of illumination. Consequently, it also produced a laser beam of much higher energy 40 electronvolts, versus 25 electronvolts in argon gas.
Packing the atoms closer together appears to produce higher harmonics than using single, widely spaced atoms, the researchers said, and working with these frozen gases should help them figure out why.
There are also many commonalities between the behavior in gases and solids, which leads them to believe that techniques developed for working with gases can be applied to solids, too.
"If a wide range of different types of solids can produce these attosecond pulses, we might be able to engineer the right solid with the right properties for things like inspecting semiconductor chips and masks, developing new types of microscopy and mapping out how electrons behave inside solids," Reis said.
Theorists at Louisiana State University also contributed to the research, which was funded by the DOE Office of Science and the National Science Foundation. The research team also used SLAC's Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL), a DOE Office of Science User Facility, to measure the quality of the frozen argon crystals.
Explore further New method for studying the interaction between light and matter
More information: Georges Ndabashimiye et al. Solid-state harmonics beyond the atomic limit, Nature (2016). Journal information: Nature Georges Ndabashimiye et al. Solid-state harmonics beyond the atomic limit,(2016). DOI: 10.1038/nature17660
Left panel: Modulations of receptive fields of an ES-stimulated neuron and a BMI-injected one. Right panel: BF shifts evoked by ES and BMI. Credit: University of Electro-Communications
Scientists have developed a neural network model of a bat's auditory system to understand how bats rapidly discriminate between signals from edible insects and surrounding background noise. The report by researchers at UEC, Tokyo is published Neural Processing Letters.
Auditory systems: Modelling bats' information processing
An intriguing aspect of auditory signal processing is that certain creatures can tune in to specific frequencies relevant to behavior such as for hunting or survival while filtering out all other 'noise'. Scientists know that, while sensory information is transmitted from the ears to the cerebral cortex in a 'feedforward' manner, the information is also modulated by feedback from the cerebral cortex itself. Cortical neurons are excited by relevant signals, and tell the peripheral neurons to hone in on them while at the same time reducing signals from surrounding noise a 'gating' mechanism, in other words. However, exactly how this process works is unclear.
Kazuhisa Fujita and Yoshiki Kashimori at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo, Japan, developed a neural network model of a bat's auditory system to examine how signal processing may be modulated by feedback from the cerebral cortex1.
Bats hunt by echolocation, and this involves detecting the Doppler-shifted frequency of sound echoes (as prey moves). Following feedback from cortical neurons, certain neurons in the auditory cortex are electrically stimulated by Doppler-shifted frequencies while others are not. This stimulation evokes synaptic modulation in neurons in the inferior colliculus (an area in the midbrain).
Fujita and Kashimori's model shows how an injection of GABA antagonist bicuculline methidide, or BMI, enhances signals from surrounding 'noise' picked up by other auditory neurons. The electrical stimulation from a relevant signal coupled with GABAergic inhibition enables the bats to balance activity in different neurons' receptive fields.
Their model could help understand how bats rapidly discriminate between signals from edible insects and surrounding background noise.
Explore further Bat brains offer clues as to how we focus on some sounds and not others
More information: Kazuhisa Fujita et al. Neural Mechanism of Corticofugal Modulation of Tuning Property in Frequency Domain of Bat's Auditory System, Neural Processing Letters (2015). Kazuhisa Fujita et al. Neural Mechanism of Corticofugal Modulation of Tuning Property in Frequency Domain of Bat's Auditory System,(2015). DOI: 10.1007/s11063-015-9425-6
Provided by University of Electro-Communications
Escherichia coli. Credit: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID, NIH
Mention E. coli and what pops into most people's heads are bacteria, tainted food, a rush to the hospital basically, fear.
"E. coli gets a bad rap and rightfully so," said Matthew DeLisa, the William L. Lewis Professor of Engineering.
But, as with many things, there are good varieties of E. coli and dangerous ones. And DeLisa, whose research focuses on developing tools for investigating and manipulating biological machinery directly in living bacterial cells, is working on a way to use a domesticated lab strain of E. coli to create and deliver vaccines.
A multi-institution effort involving researchers from Cornell and the universities of Iowa, Texas and Georgia has resulted in a paper that details how antigen-coated membrane vesicles derived from the surface of E. coli cells protected mice from a deadly pathogen, and how that system could work against other pathogens, as well.
The group's paper, "Outer membrane vesicles displaying engineered glycotypes elicit protective antibodies," was published online June 6 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
DeLisa, a member of the editorial board of the journal Cell Chemical Biology, has been engineering bacteria cells to do things they don't normally do for quite some time. His startup company, Glycobia, was the first to commercialize the use of engineered bacteria to make human glycoproteins a protein modified with a carbohydrate attachment.
DeLisa and co-author David Putnam, associate professor in the Nancy E. and Peter C. Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, have been working together for a decade on glycoproteins, or glycans a protein with a carbohydrate attachment, which can be used to bind to certain protein receptor sites and, for example, block cancer cells from multiplying.
In this latest work, DeLisa's group has taken a similar approach to generating designer carbohydrate structures in E. coli, but instead of transferring the glycan to a protein, the cells assemble the glycan on a specific lipid carrier molecule. From there, the molecule is shuttled to the outer membrane of the E. coli cell, which then sheds small portions of that membrane.
"So you start with a 1-micron bacterial cell, and following vesiculation you get these small nanometer-scale spheres known as outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) that come off," DeLisa said. "Because they shed directly from the outer membrane of the cell, these OMVs are membrane-based nanostructures whose outer surfaces mimic the originating cell. So whatever is on the surface of the bacterial cell say, an engineered glycolipid becomes present on the surface of these vesicles."
These "conjugate" vaccines were injected into mice infected with the Francisella tularensis Schu S4 bacterium, the causative agent of tularemia and a feared bioweapon. That particular pathogen was chosen, DeLisa said, because of its potency and the lack of an existing vaccine.
"We might have chosen easier, lower-hanging fruit in terms of target pathogens," he said, "However, the lethality of Schu S4 less than 10 colony-forming units are enough to kill you made this organism a more interesting challenge."
Infected mice treated with the conjugate vesicle vaccines survived much longer than the control group. And in separate challenge experiments with a less virulent strain of Francisella, the vaccinated group saw 100 percent protection and survival of all mice.
A major advantage of OMVs as vaccine candidates is that they are potent adjuvants, which means they enhance the body's immune response to the co-delivered antigen.
"We think there's a real opportunity to further engineer these nanovesicles to go after other highly challenging vaccine targets," he said. "It's been fun and rewarding, because it brings together several research topics that we've been working on for a while now so we can leverage all that expertise."
Explore further New tool identifies therapeutic proteins in a 'snap'
As the world anxiously awaits a report from restoration experts on the condition of the ancient Syrian City of Palmyra, now recaptured from ISIS control, a University of Kent heritage lawyer warns that, much closer to home, the Maritime Mercantile City of Liverpool is also on UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger.
In a paper titled From Local to World Heritage: a Comparative analysis, Dr Sophie Vigneron, of Kent Law School (KLS), explains that following Liverpool City Council's outline planning consent for a 5.5 billion urban development known as Liverpool Waters, the Maritime Mercantile City could even be removed from the World Heritage List altogether.
Liverpool was made a World Heritage site in 2004 to celebrate its legacy as a merchant shipping port. The home of The Beatles and many other important cultural influences was identified as 'one of the world's major trading centres in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries' and subsequently approved as having Outstanding Universal Value in 2010. However, with the proposal for Liverpool Waters, a hotel, office and residential development, the World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) mission concluded that the World Heritage Site would be irreversibly damaged due to 'substantial deterioration of its architectural and town planning coherence, a serious loss of historical authenticity and an important loss of cultural significance'.
Research on the identification of national properties for inclusion in the World Heritage List in relation to the criteria of outstanding universal value, authenticity and integrity and the nomination of properties, is examined in Dr Vigneron's research which highlights these key findings:
Balancing conservation versus economic development is an ongoing issue
Goal of more consultation and community involvement rarely achieved
National selection not representative
Specialist criteria not translating into lay concepts
Explore further No logging at protected Tasmanian forest: Australia
More information: Robert Pickard et al, Editorial, The Historic Environment: Policy & Practice (2016). Robert Pickard et al, Editorial,(2016). DOI: 10.1080/17567505.2016.1172777
A depiction of the experimental apparatus used to distinguish the pear shape (upper left) present in some barium nuclei from the more common spherical (upper right) or ellipsoidal (lower left) shapes characteristic of most nuclei.
Certain heavy barium nuclei have long been predicted to exhibit pear-like shapes. However, until recently, experimental confirmation had been impossible to achieve as these nuclei typically only live for a few seconds. The existence of this exotic shape has now been demonstrated by taking advantage of breakthroughs in both the acceleration of radioactive beams and new detector technologies.
This experiment demonstrates a significant advancement in radioactive ion beam capabilities through the successful post-acceleration of fission fragments extracted from an intense californium fission source. It also contributes to scarce data on exotic modes of excitation in nuclei that are important for deciphering the fundamental forces at work inside the atomic nucleus.
For decades, nuclear theorists have predicted that the neutron-rich barium isotopes near mass number 144 are centered in one of only two or three regions on the periodic table where nuclei may actually exhibit pear-like, or more generally, reflection-asymmetric shapes in their ground states. However, experimental verification of this property in barium nuclei was long considered to be impossible due to the short-lived nature of these isotopes, typically decaying away in seconds or less. But now, a state-of-the-art experiment at Argonne National Laboratory by a team of scientists from the US, UK, and France has finally provided the first direct measurement of the shapes of these nuclei, lending support to the theoretical predictions of decades ago. To carry out this challenging measurement, researchers created a beam of radioactive barium ions collected from fission fragments of californium nuclei (CARIBU source) and accelerated it (ATLAS accelerator) to an energy carefully tuned to study nuclear excitations via electromagnetic interactions in the bombardment of a lead target. A new generation of gamma-ray tracking detectors was employed along with a matching pixelated avalanche charged-particle detector to study the radiation from the excited nuclei. The data provided insight into the nuclear structure of barium isotopes.
The results indicate that these nuclei exhibit a pear shape even more sizeable than originally predicted by theory.
Explore further Isotope program provides target material for the discovery of superheavy elements
More information: B. Bucher et al. Direct Evidence of Octupole Deformation in Neutron-Rich, Physical Review Letters (2016). Journal information: Physical Review Letters B. Bucher et al. Direct Evidence of Octupole Deformation in Neutron-Rich,(2016). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.112503
North Dakota farmers are growing industrial hemp for the first time in more than 70 years, and the New Crops research program in the NDSU Department of Plant Sciences is conducting research to assist them.
Professor Burton Johnson leads the New Crops program and the research is conducted at the NDSU Research Extension Center at Langdon, North Dakota, by agronomist Bryan Hanson.
Federal regulation of industrial hemp production changed recently. Previously, according to federal law, all Cannabis sativa plants were defined as marijuana regardless of the Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, content. Industrial hemp is legally defined as less than 0.3 percent THC, which makes it unsuitable for drug and therapeutic uses. The Agricultural Act of 2014 allowed research institutions and state departments to grow industrial hemp if allowed under state laws. In March 2015, N.D. Gov. Jack Dalrymple signed House Bill 1436, which creates guidelines for industrial hemp production, and the North Dakota Department of Agriculture then implemented the industrial hemp pilot program. NDSU began conducting research in 2015 and farmers could apply to produce industrial hemp under state and federal guidelines.
Seventeen farmers applied to the pilot project and four were chosen. The selected farmers' applications indicated that they would grow industrial hemp for hemp oil and a building material called "hempcrete," which is manufactured from hemp plant pulp, and as a transitional crop for conversion from conventional to organic production. Other possible uses for Industrial hemp include fiber, food, paper and textiles. It also can help suppress weed growth and improve soil quality. North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goering said, "The program's primary goal is to increase our knowledge of how industrial hemp fits into the existing agriculture landscape and economy."
The research at the Langdon Research Extension Center in 2015 included 12 industrial hemp varieties originating from Australia, Canada, Finland and France. Three of the tested varieties are used for both grain and fiber production, three are primarily for grain production and six are primarily for fiber production. All varieties were evaluated for grain and fiber production, as well as various agronomic traits such as seed mortality, seedling vigor, plant height and test weight. The results of the trials indicated the Canadian industrial hemp cultivars better adapted to the Langdon region of North Dakota and grain and fiber yields were similar to those seen in Canada, where industrial hemp has been grown since 1998.
Explore further Healthful hemp poised to grow in US
Chocolatier Launches New eCommerce Site #IRCE16
How Sweet It Is! Chocolatier Takes Customers on Immersive, Digital Journey from Bean to Bliss
IRCE 2016 CHICAGO, June 7, 2016 Aptos, Inc., (formerly Epicor Retail), a recognized market leader in retail technology solutions, today announced Purdys Chocolatier has launched a new website leveraging the Aptos Digital Commerce platform with integrated Aptos Enterprise Order Management. The announcement was made today at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition (IRCE 2016), where Aptos is exhibiting at Booth #1309. To celebrate Purdys exciting digital transformation, Aptos is handing out Purdys chocolates throughout the show, during exhibit hours.
In business since 1907, Purdys Chocolatier is the leading chocolatier in Canada, with 74 retail stores throughout British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, plus an eCommerce presence that supports a mix of business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B), and group fundraising business lines throughout North America.
With Aptos, we have had an ideal partner to concept and launch our new eCommerce site, said Bob Hermanutz, vice president of eCommerce, Purdys Chocolatier. Weve benefitted from the proven and scalable Aptos Digital Commerce suite in the cloud and Aptos professional services including comprehensive journey mapping, business requirements planning, front-end design, development, and technical support. The Aptos team worked tirelessly throughout the process as a true extension of our team including being shoulder-to-shoulder with us onsite for a week during our website launch.
The fully responsive website replaces Purdys two legacy eCommerce systems, enabling the chocolatier to streamline its direct-to-consumer business and its group fundraising business. The new site delivered in just 8 months supports singular commerce and seamless experiences, giving Purdys customers a wealth of interactive content that invites customers to explore the Purdys Chocolatier journey from bean to bliss.
Every chocolate lover knows its all about the experience, said Noel Goggin, CEO and culture leader, Aptos. When we first met with Purdys to understand their goals and objectives with the new site, they told us they wanted their clientele to increase their knowledge and appreciation of chocolate, while also learning more about Purdys, their employees and the customers and communities they serve. The Purdys website does all this and more with a focus on education and experience, in a way that encourages customer inspiration, satisfaction and conversion.
Through innovative features such as Chocolate U, Purdys new site enables chocolate lovers to enjoy an online, immersive and delicious, out-of-the-box chocolate experience. Visitors can view video Insider Clips, which provide a look at the making of Purdys best-loved chocolates, as well as a virtual factory tour. A Chocolate Legend offers a fun and interactive menu of all the different types of Purdys chocolates, truffles and confections, inviting customers to hand-select their perfect mix of chocolate nirvana. Site visitors can also get chocolate recipes, learn about chocolate pairings, and sign up to attend one of Purdys in-store experiential chocolate school classes, Also showcased on the site is content about Purdys community involvement, green initiatives and sustainable cocoa usage.
The new sites navigation makes it easy to browse chocolates by type, price points and other factors such as Staff Picks, Most Popular and New items, and products which are Kosher certified and/or free from allergens. The From the Chocolate Kitchen area highlights creative chocolate selections made by Purdys talented, award-winning, internationally trained chocolatiers who create more than 150 recipes each year. Carefully curated product selections and gift baskets are organized to make it easy to select the perfect chocolates for a wide range of occasions and celebrations including wedding favors, thank you and hostess gifts, employee recognition and business gifts, and holidays and anniversaries.
With over 122,000 stores live on its cloud-based platform, more than 500 retail brands across the globe rely on cloud-ready Aptos solutions to generate over $523 billion in annual revenues.
Other Point of Sale blogs that may interest you:
NEW YORK, June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ HookLogic, the company that built the ad exchange for product brands to buy sponsored listings on retail ecommerce sites, today announced its wider ambitions with the launch of HookLogic Drive to Retail. The new HookLogic Drive to Retail program promises to vastly expand the HookLogic Exchange by now enabling brands to buy media across the internet, no longer confined to media on retail sites. The company also unveiled two revolutionary technologies that make the program possible, HookLogic Fusion and HookLogic 360.
HookLogic Drive to Retail delivers true performance marketing for brands and new high intent traffic for multi-brand retailers. The program leverages first-party data of many of the worlds largest retailers to target in-market shoppers and measure closed loop results.
Our announcement today represents the culmination of a five-year vision to build the ultimate performance marketing platform for brands and retailers, said Jonathan Opdyke, Co-Founder and CEO of HookLogic. Weve worked hard to create a model that aligns interests of both parties, enabling greater transparency and a more perfect market for digital media.
Media buying is powered by HookLogic Fusion, a breakthrough technology that makes programmatic co-marketing possible. Brands bidding on Drive to Retail are matched in real-time with retailers that sell their products to share in the cost of media buys. Brands only pay when consumers click on their products, with traffic leading to the product page on the corresponding retailers website or mobile app. By aligning shared benefits, the technology incentivizes brands and retailers to subsidize one another in achieving individual performance goals, making media buys vastly more efficient.
Performance is measured by HookLogic 360, the worlds most comprehensive attribution engine for consumer products. The technology leverages deep integrations across the retail ecosystem to measure SKU-level sales attribution within and across retailers, across devices, at brands online stores, and increasingly, online to offline. Essentially, a consumers online interaction with a brands products across the internet can now be directly connected to SKU-level sales in most places where purchases happen.
The company announced its new innovations at its fifth annual Ecommerce Media Forum where over 200 brands, retailers, and agencies gathered to discuss the intersection of ecommerce and media. The event included speakers from Walmart, Best Buy, Kohls, Peapod, P&G, Intel, Xerox and Coca-Cola.
About HookLogic
HookLogic, the pioneer of performance marketing for brands, partners with the worlds leading retailers and online travel agencies to accelerate sales for product brands and hotels. Advertisers use the platform to reach in-market shoppers, drive traffic to products, and attribute resulting sales. Network partners and advertisers include Walmart, Tesco, Target, Asda, Best Buy, Macys, Expedia, Hasbro, Intel, LG, LOreal, Mondelez, Philips, Microsoft and Marriott. HookLogic is headquartered in New York, with offices in Ann Arbor, Mich.; Santa Monica, Calif.; London, Paris, Sao Paulo and Toronto. For more information, please visit www.hooklogic.com or call (646) 467-8200.
Other Point of Sale blogs that may interest you:
Difficult times can define a public person, and they can elevate a public person who decides, in difficult times, to take a difficult stand on principle. That's what happened in the leadup to the Iraq war, when West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd, in several strong speeches, urged his colleagues not to rush into war for no good reason. Byrd had a checkered history -- a Klan member decades earlier, he had disavowed racism, but was known for his ability to steer federal spending to his home state, without regard for the value of the project. But he was one of the few members of Congress to look closely at the invasion of Iraq and take a principled stand against it. If you want to watch some of his prescient speeches, check them out on Youtube.
QUEENSBURY A Connecticut woman was arrested Monday on felony charges that accuse her of cashing a fake check at a local bank.
Jessica L. Alon, 41, of Coventry, Connecticut, was charged with counts of grand larceny and criminal possession of a forged instrument after an investigation by State Police, records show. The check was written for more than $1,000.
Police said she was part of a group from Connecticut that cashed fake checks last fall in the area.
Alon was arraigned and sent to Albany County Jail for lack of bail, where she was being held on related charges before Monday's arrest.
GREENWICH Since owner Bill Taber and his employees spend more than two-thirds of their time maintaining the Batten Kill Railroads 35 miles of track, Tuesdays announcement that the company will be getting $1.3 million in state funding was very good news.
We spend a lot of time keeping the track operational. I would say that between two-thirds and three-quarters of our time is spent working on the track, Taber said. Thats what we are doing today. The only time we stop is when our customers need us to run the trains in.
The funding, part of $16.3 million announced Tuesday from Gov. Andrew Cuomos Passenger and Freight Rail Assistance Program, will allow the Batten Kill Railroad to put new cross ties onto about 4 miles of the companys track, Taber said.
This is the second time the Batten Kill has received similar funding. Ten years ago, Taber said, the company was able to repair 2.75 miles of track and a bridge with $1 million in funding.
The funding the Batten Kill is receiving is part of $16.3 million in state funding and $12.8 million in additional public and private investments and will rehabilitate three railroad bridges and more than 52 miles of rail track and facilities across the state.
The local work is focused on tracks around the village of Cambridge and requires Batten Kill to pay for work on 1,000 of the planned 8,000 cross ties.
With the state grants, you need to fund some of the work yourself, and it needs to be focused on a specific geographic area, Taber said. The focus of the state grants is to keep the track sustainable, that is, in good repair.
The Batten Kill gives trains access to two major Washington County agricultural businesses in Salem Cargill Animal Nutrition and CaroVail Fertilizer.
We have products coming in from all over to country, and were the ones who move them to the destinations within Washington County, Taber said. And when we are not moving freight, we are working on the track.
Inventory needs to be managed and managed well, or you are going to get in recurring trouble, and lose your credibility and hard-earned conversions, whether
Read more
According to him, 235,000 pieces of metres were procured at the cost of GHC 14,553,738.41 for the NEDCo operational areas, while 764,135 pieces were also procured for the ECG operational areas.
Jinapor explained that the move to change postpaid metres to prepaid metres was to enable ECG perform efficiently.
The introduction of the prepaid energy metres was a means to enable the utilities, namely ECG and NEDCo to collect revenues affront in order to finance their operations and improve on their effort to provide quality service to the customers, Jinapor told MPs.
According to him, it was also to empower customers to manage the use of electricity and reduce waste.
The CEO of Standard Chartered Bank, Kwaku Bedu-Addo and the HR of StanChart West Africa, were asked by the Accra High Court to halt a planned lay-off of until the dispute over severance package of the employees is resolved.
The management announced in March that it was laying off workers due to unbearable economic constraints on its operations, however the parties could not agree on a financial severance package.
A disregard for the court ruling led to contempt charges, which the CEO would later purge himself of and also reinstate the sacked employees. However, the staff are still not satisfied because government has not paid salary arrears owed them.
The judge had the right to tell them to go back and purge themselves properly of the contempt. We will wait and see if they will pay the salaries of the employees from March.
According to the lawyer, the salaries of his clients have not been paid from March to June, 2016, suggesting that it is a deliberate attempt to punish his clients.
The John Agyekum Kufuor-administration sold Ghana Telecom to Vodafone at an estimated price of $900 million in 2008 giving away 70% of the company to Vodafone.
However, Mr. Kan- Dapaah in an interview on said the sale of the company was the right thing to do at the time where government needed funds to rejuvenate the company and make it profitable.
READ MORE: Ghana Telecom Industry Vodafone Ghana appoints new HR Director
Mr. Dapaah added that he feels proud to be a part of the administration which ushered Ghana Telecom into profitability.
Do you appreciate it turns out to be one of the best economic decisions ever taken in this country? Dapaah quizzed saying that there havent been any regrets in the sale of Ghana Telecom to Vodafone.
Maybe the best place to start is to ask what curriculum is so that we can understand better what people are fighting to change?
There is no universally accepted definition of curriculum, but it is a planned learning experience.
It encompasses the values, attitudes, beliefs, understandings, skills, competencies and dispositions of educators. It considers students' different backgrounds, abilities, motivations, experiences, dispositions and learning styles. It includes learning resources, teaching methodologies and forms of assessment.
The formal curriculum is concerned with the selection of content, as well as how students engage with and respond to that content.
In the sciences, incremental steps are needed to build knowledge of certain subjects. You must first learn the periodic table to develop the required literacy in chemistry. In areas like law, accounting and pharmacy, specific content may be required to secure professional accreditation, leading to specific employment opportunities and career paths.
Content needs to be renewed on a frequent and ongoing basis, especially in disciplines like computer science, pharmacy, media studies, international relations and politics. After all, research and developments are ongoing. New knowledge is emerging all the time. The Humanities are more dependent on the selections of individual academics and, as such, can be a more contested area.
Curriculum (formal, informal and hidden) not only focuses on academic endeavours but also on the attributes of graduates; ideally as active, critical and constructive citizens, entrepreneurs, employees and leaders.
In an increasingly xenophobic environment, South Africas universities need to imbue the curriculum with intercultural competencies. Students need to be equipped to engage meaningfully with each other and people from elsewhere, at a time when South Africans have never been more interdependent in forging a sustainable, inclusive and constructive future for all.
So what does it mean when people talk about transforming the curriculum?
Curriculum transformation has to avoid the uncritical borrowing of ideas and concepts. Richard Tabulawa, an educationist from Botswana, has argued that we must be critical of concepts and approaches to teaching that are transposed to the global South but totally ignore local knowledges, culture and context.
Content needs to reflect diversity of knowledge. So, certainly, increase the African authors in a literature course. However, transformation is not about a straight swap of content. You dont throw out Harper Lee for Chinua Achebe and say, Weve fixed it!
A transformative curriculum emphasises less the specifics of content and more how students critically engage with it. For example, instead of claiming Shakespeare was part of a colonial curriculum and omitting it, teach why Shakespeare was taken out of the curriculum for black schools and the significance of John Kani playing Othello under apartheid in 1987. Help todays students, who never experienced apartheid, understand their own history intellectually. Share the humour of how disappointed Kani was with the English version of Shakespeare having first been exposed to a more passionate Xhosa translation.
Fundamentally, a transformed curriculum should encourage openness, curiosity, critical thinking, creativity, flexibility and problem-solving. It should provide students with the skills they need to keep researching and learning throughout their lives, helping them to rise to new challenges that require new knowledge.
What does curriculum transformation mean in the South African context? Is it an event or process?
Transforming the curriculum raises questions about whose knowledge is to be valued and validated and how. In South Africa it would clearly include validating and teaching about a wide range of perspectives, experiences, contexts and knowledge. This would move beyond the selected content that was taught during the period of colonialism and the apartheid era.
Several individual academics have, in the 22 years since democracy, worked hard to transform their own curricula. Others have kept teaching content that theyre personally comfortable with but that may not be appropriately diverse for the South African student body. And then others still are driven by developments in their disciplines, regardless of their origin or geographical location.
Universities cater for South African and international students from a variety of race, class and cultural backgrounds with a range of sexualities and disabilities. So the curriculum needs to validate and give voice to students' diverse range of experiences and identities.
That said, students' voices like their professors' are not impartial or complete. Lived experience brings valid perspectives, but it must also be informed by reflective knowledge and understanding. The challenge is to balance what students and professors bring into learning with what is important to learn. This healthy tension is what makes curriculum a dynamic and reflexive process. It requires an ongoing epistemological humility from all involved.
South Africa isnt the only country in this boat. Many universities in Africa grappled with the same issues, and theres a lot to learn from their experiences.
Harry Garuba, an African literature expert based at the University of Cape Town, has described an important process in Kenya. This was led by authors Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Taban Lo Liyong, and scholar Henry Owuor Anyumba. The trio felt that Kenya, East Africa and the African continent more broadly should be placed at the centre of whatever historic continuity Kenyan students were to study. They argued that a fundamental question of place, perspective and orientation needed to be addressed in any reconceptualisation of the curriculum for a Kenyan university.
It will take a process of extensive participation and validation of diverse experiences to transform and renew the curriculum. Alumni, employers and students must have a say in determining what is taught, while acknowledging the epistemic knowledge and authority of teacher and professors.
Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected!
Over thirteen thousand community health nurses have laid down their tools over what they say is the Ministry of Health's failure to address their concerns.
President of the Association Esther Bamfo explained that they are unhappy with the change of name from Community Health Nursing to Nurse Assistant Prevention.
She further stated that though the name has been changed the certificate awarded has remained unchanged.
She also questioned why the then SRN nurses are being awarded diplomas after the change of name to RGN.
But a statement signed by the Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira explained that the solution to most of the issues raised are beyond the remit of the GHS, involving many agencies for which the GHS is playing a facilitation role.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (which is the regulatory body for Nurses and Midwives) issues two types of certificate (Nurse and Nurse Assistants) based on classification prescribed by its law.
Series of meetings at the MOH involving the relevant bodies Nurses and Midwifery Council (NMC), Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA), Community Health Nursing Group (CHNG), Ghana Health Service (GHS) have taken place and the GHS Council at its last meeting held on 31 May, 2016 requested the Ministry of Health to speed up the process of resolving the issue.
The GHS which employs majority of the CHNs will however maintain the name Community Health Nurse, same as the name Enrolled Nurse who undergoes similar training.
Below is the full statement:
BACKGROUD
The Ghana Health Service acknowledges with gratitude the good work and contribution of Community Health Nurses in the health development of this country. As frontline workers in the community, they provide the much needed health promotion, preventive and curative services, even in the remotest part of the country and have over the years been able to endear themselves to all.
The GHS wishes to assure them of our unwavering support to fulfill their mandate. We therefore find the strike action most unfortunate as the solution to most of the issues raised are beyond the remit of the GHS, involving many agencies for which the GHS is playing a facilitation role.
CHANGE OF NAME
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (which is the regulatory body for Nurses and Midwives) issues two types of certificate (Nurse and Nurse Assistants) based on classification prescribed by its law.
Series of meetings at the MOH involving the relevant bodies Nurses and Midwifery Council (NMC), Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA), Community Health Nursing Group (CHNG), Ghana Health Service (GHS) ) have taken place and the GHS Council at its last meeting held on 31 May, 2016 requested the Ministry of Health to speed up the process of resolving the issue.
The GHS which employs majority of the CHNs will however maintain the name Community Health Nurse, same as the name Enrolled Nurse who undergoes similar training.
AWARD OF DIPLOMA FOR POST BASIC TRAINING IN MIDWIFERY INSTEAD OF CERTIFICATE
The MOH is in the process of upgrading all its CHN and post basic certificate Midwifery Centres to diploma awarding institutions.
The award of diploma is done by the Universities for candidates undergoing a required course of study at the university or an affiliated institution accredited by the National Accreditation Board.
The KNUST will provide diploma certificates to staff who successfully undertake access upgrading course and subsequently the midwifery programme. This arrangement put in place by the MOH, NMC, the University and GHS is to ensure that CHNs have opportunity to upgrade themselves without going to take the WASSCE again.
The limiting factor has been the slowness by some of the Health Training Schools achieving the accreditation requirements of the National Accreditation Board.
LIMITATION OF NUMBERS OF STAFF WISHING TO UPGRADE THEMSELVES
Any staff who has served the number of years required is permitted to undertake study leave if he or she so wishes. However the Service operates a regional quota system for study leave with pay (according to the staff category required) to ensure staff are available to provide service. It also ensures that the wage bill provided by the Ministry of Finance is not exceeded, since upgraded staffs invariably apply for promotion. The Service also operates a staffing norm and hence promotion may only be in accordance with approved establishment level. (Distant learning, leave without pay, etc are also available).
CONCLUSION
The CHN Group Executives have had the opportunity to discuss these with the GHS as well as the MOH leadership at different times. The Service wishes to entreat the CHN Group to have confidence with the Service in our quest to mutually resolve their concerns.
I therefore call upon the leadership of the CHNG to call off the strike as their concerns are being handled. The solutions are not a onetime decision but a process involving multiple partners. I invite them once more to assist develop the Road map in addressing these concerns. Your Clients need you!!
SIGNED ON ORIGINAL
DR. EBENEZER APPIAH-DENKYIRA
Although the cases are relatively few, the service has said it is going to increase vaccinations against the disease to prevent a flare up.
Yellow fever cases have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola.
What is yellow fever?
Yellow fever is a serious viral infection common in tropical areas of the world including Africa, Central and South America. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says 47 countries are either endemic for, or have regions that are endemic for, yellow fever. 34 of these are in Africa.
The virus is transmitted between people from the bite of infested mosquitoes; some of which breed near homes.
Symptoms include fever, appetite loss, nausea, headache, fatigue, muscle pain and jaundice (yellowing of skin and eyes).
Half of those who contract the disease die within seven to ten days according to the WHO. In 2015, no cases were recorded in West Africa.
Vaccination is the best way to protect against the virus and one dose of the vaccine provides life-long protection.
If there's one word to aptly describe FTKs artistic ingenuity and personal growth, it's certainly, hard work, as their passion for music led them to record their first single in the same year (2014) as they started out.
Falobi Taiwo and Kehinde (FTK) are both undergraduates of Babcock University, Nigeria where they are currently studying Mass Communication with bias for Advertising and Journalism respectively. They ventured into the world of music and have so far released four audio singles and two videos.
On their plans for Ghana, FTK has this to say "we want to make Ghana our second home/base. We look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship with Ghanaians as we seek to position ourselves as total artistes.
"Our strength lies in our ability to play some instruments, understanding of music having gone through a music school, energetic but choreographed dance steps backed up with professional dancers as well as proven ability to perform with live bands," they stated.
FTK has just released "GBESOKE remix" in Ghana, featuring the popular Nigerian Act 91ce". It is a fast tempo celebration of their act which is directed at both the youths and the old alike.
They have previously released 5 singles with 2 videos in Nigeria while two (2) singles are also ready but yet to be released.
The Africa Border Day is a day set aside by the Commission of the African Union to be celebrated by the 54 Member States every year on June 7.
The statement noted that proper demarcation of borders is very crucial for peace, security and stability on the continent.
This years celebration is on the theme African Year of Human Rights with a special focus on the rights of women.
The statement described this years theme as instructive, considering the fact women and children are victims of armed conflicts.
With about eight armed conflicts on the continent, we are well aware that those who would suffer are mostly women and children. They are the ones most likely to cross borders to safety therefore border officials need to protect them from abuse and extend humanitarian support.
We also have on our hands a situation where a lot of our ladies are heading to the Gulf States in search of greener pastures with a number of them returning only to narrate harrowing stories. Similarly, the terrorist group, Boko Haram has also taken to abducting women and girls and in some cases using them as suicide bombers.
It is therefore incumbent on border officials to make the borders a safe area for legitimate travellers and also ensure that the borders are not breached by criminals. We need to place impediments in the way of criminally-minded persons and also ensure that our operations at the borders serve as a deterrent to criminals.
According to him, all government institutions and post-paid electricity consumers must settle all their bills in order not to be affected by the disconnection exercise.
Any attempt by any authority to frustrate or impede our move to collect the outstanding debt will be fiercely resisted and we will consider such interference as a deliberate act to prevent us from carrying out our legitimate duties as workers.
He further indicated that governments intention to privatize the ECGs concession will negatively affect local content because the foreign investors whose objective is to maximize returns on his investments will prefer to source for cheap materials from outside at the expense of the existing Ghanaian suppliers.
The ultimate punishment for what the recruits did should have been death or could be death. We have a case in our history where misfits or undisciplined youth found their way into the military and true to form have staged coups detat to the detriment of the nation. The Military leadership must be commended for weeding out potential bad nuts. In the past misfits were enrolled into the Military based on political or ethnic grounds, that is why we must put a stop to the business of asking the Presidents favour when people are removed from the military or security services on grounds of indiscipline.The Military service is a sacrifice not an employment scheme. The military is a disciplinary institution that must be insulated from political inputs as much as possible, I have been part of the recruits myself in the past and Im aware of political and ethnic influences. These boys should never be taken back into the military, if that happens that is the end of the armed forces.
Speaking at the Africa Mobile and ICT Expo in Accra, President Mahama said the partial privatization move being pursued by government is to enable the company become more efficient.
[People may argue that] Electricity is so important that it must be monopolized by the state, why are you allowing private sector in but we have had this system for years, and its not working. If its not working, we fix it.
You fix a situation by taking risks. It is a risk we took when we deregulated telecommunications. If you are not ready to take risks then the world is not ready to make progress.
Some private businesses have already tended in a bid for a Public- Private Partnership deal with the Electricity Company of Ghana, according to the Millennium Development Authority.
Under the deal, government is supposed to go for one of several options of a Public- Private Partnership that will help the ECG collects its debts more efficiently.
And government has opted for a concessional partnership which will see a partner that will have exclusive rights to operate, maintain and invest in the ECG for a number of years.
However, the Public Utilities Workers Union have continued to mount pressure against the privatisation of the power distributor.
The officer was killed instantly by robbers when he was escorting passengers who were travelling from the region to Kumasi.
According to eyewitness the robbers numbering about 6 stopped the bus on which they were travelling took the AK-47 rifle belonging to the police officer, shot him instantly and proceeded to rob the passengers off their belongings.
The Brong Ahafo regional police PRO ASP Christopher Tawiah who confirmed the news to Pulse.com.gh said "I can confirm, he was an escort of a bus."
He said the police is still gathering more information on how the incident unfolded.
That meeting was meant to bring about a production freeze to arrest the downward spiral of prices that began in July 2014. Instead, the Doha meeting was over before it began. Iran refused to slow production until it had regained its pre-sanctions position in the market, so Saudi Arabia canceled the freeze and continued to produce at peak levels.
This week, with oil trading at six-month highs, OPEC members once again had high hopes to show that the organization remains relevant as they gathered in Vienna. Yet, once again, the meeting ended without agreement, resulting in no change to the current policy of essentially unlimited production.
So does the verdict that OPEC is dead still stand, signaling the end of an era in which it supposedly ruthlessly controlled the price of oil? In fact, that era barely existed in the first place. The failed meetings confirm a longstanding truth: the worlds most famous cartelhas never really been a cartel.
Rather than the arbiter of global energy, OPEC is and has always been a dysfunctional, divided and discouraged organization.
My recent research has taken me through the history of oil, particularly the relationship between oil revenues, economic development and the geopolitical balance of power in the 1960s and 1970s. Oils history has been dominated by a struggle for balance, a contest between competing interests, both economic and political, and between the fundamental market forces of supply and demand.
OPEC has never been shielded from or been able to fully thwart these forces.
Early days: divided and powerless
When it was created in 1960, OPEC was meant to offer members a greater say in how their oil was produced and priced, addressing the disproportionate power wielded by private Western corporations. Its larger goal, to bring order to the chaotic world of global energy, has always been elusive.
OPEC was formed from frustration. In the 1950s, the world was awash in oil as small nations in the Middle East and Latin America discovered enormous deposits, and Western oil companies sought to tap them to meet rising demand.
To gain access to those deposits, the major oil companies (known as the Seven Sisters) signed concessionary agreements with local governments, allowing them to pump, refine, transport and market a nations oil in return for a royalty, typically 50 percent of profits.
This arrangement gave the companies control over the oil they set production levels and prices while governments simply collected a check and had little influence on anything else.
In February 1959, amid an oil glut, the Seven Sisters decided that a price correction was necessary. And so they unilaterally began cutting the posted price, from $2.08 to $1.80 by August 1960. (Back then, oil prices didnt always follow market forces and were typically set by producers.)
The cuts meant a significant loss of revenue for the oil-producing states. In protest, the oil ministers of Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait met in Baghdad that September and formed OPEC to achieve a more equitable arrangement with the Sisters.
In reality, the oil-producing states could do little to coerce the companies into offering better terms. The Seven Sisters dominated global markets and were capable of shutting out individual producers. Oil was abundant, and nationalization seemed out of the question because the companies could successfully exclude an offending country from the market, as they did with Iran in 1951.
In addition, the United States itself was the worlds top producer and immune from supply shocks thanks to import quotas.. If OPEC threatened to take production offline in order to put pressure on the companies, the U.S. could increase its own to make up the difference, as it did during a partial Arab oil boycott in 1967.
In the end, OPEC did not possess enough market share to make a meaningful impact.
A new balance of power
Besides being relatively impotent, OPEC couldnt agree on a consistent policy among its members. Saudi Arabia wanted to keep production levels low and prices consistent, preserving the global economy and the political status quo. Iran and Iraq, with huge military and development budgets, wanted prices pushed as high as possible in order to maximize revenue.
According to scholar and oil consultant Ian Skeet, an attempt to extract more favorable terms from the Sisters in 1963 was sabotaged by the shah of Iran, who sought a separate agreement.
During the 1960s, OPEC met, debated and released grandiose statements on their rights, yet failed to form a united front.
Nevertheless, significant changes were occurring at the time. Demand for oil shot up, while production in the U.S. stagnated. The ability of the Seven Sisters to control the market was undermined by international competitors drilling new fields in North Africa, where Libyas Muammar Qaddafi threatened to shut off supply if he didnt get higher prices.
The companies were under more and more pressure to deliver satisfactory terms to the OPEC members. The price of oil, which had held steady at $1.80 a barrel for years, began ticking upwards. American import quotas ended, leaving the U.S. more vulnerable to supply shocks as its production capacity steadily declined.
These conditions, while not the result of actions by OPEC, gave the organization an opportunity to influence the market and upset the balance of power.
The oil price revolution
This shift accelerated in the 1970s as war broke out between Israel and its Arab neighbors, creating an opportunity for OPEC to wrest control from the Western oil companies.
To punish the U.S. for supporting the Jewish state, Arab oil producers (not OPEC, as popularly believed) cut production and declared an embargo. Together with the war, this destabilized energy markets as demand outpaced supply.
Amid the fighting, OPEC met with the Seven Sisters in Geneva and demanded an increase in the posted oil price. After rejecting a small change, OPEC announced it would double the price to $5 and later doubled it again to $11.65.
This triggered a massive shift in economic power, what Stanford University professor Steven Schneider called the greatest non-violent transfer of wealth in human history. With the uptick in oil revenues, OPEC states spent lavishly on economic development, social programs and investments in Western industry and steadily nationalized their domestic industries, pushing out the Seven Sisters.
How did the balance of power seem to shift so suddenly? Among other reasons, the major oil companies could not agree among themselves on a new price and were actually tempted by the high profits that would result. In other words, OPEC had seized control of the oil market largely due to circumstances beyond its control.
The oil crisis
Despite its victory, OPEC had come no closer to resolving its internal divisions. This became evident when another energy crisis hit.
In January 1979, the shah of Iran fled amid revolution, and global oil markets panicked. Prices soared, from $12.70 to over $30 by 1980. Irans 6 million barrels per day (bpd) disappeared, and other OPEC states eagerly seized the opportunity to sell oil at costly premiums, sending the price even higher.
In the ensuing years, Saudi Arabia tried to impose a quota system, with overall production capped at 20 million bpd. Most members ignored their quotas or over-produced to gain greater revenue.
Meanwhile, the West worked to improve energy efficiency and invested heavily in non-OPEC oil sources, including Alaska, Canada and the North Sea. By 1985, OPECs market share had fallen below 30 percent. OPEC dropped its production quota to 19 million bpd, then 17 million, to account for diminishing demand, but only the Saudis obeyed the rules, losing market share as other producers pumped above the quota level.
Just as the kingdom did in 2014, this move indicated Saudi willingness to use its massive reserves to correct the market and push out high-cost producers, even at the cost of its OPEC allies.
Feeling the pain
OPECs fortunes have oscillated since the 1986 shock. Cooperation remained elusive.
A 2011 meeting, dubbed the worst ever by recently-removed Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi, produced disagreements over production levels. Acrimony reigned as OPEC states ignored calls for economic diversification in favor of oil-fueled economic growth.
High prices during the early 2000s accounted for a huge boom in oil revenues for OPEC members. For Venezuela and Nigeria, oil accounts for over 90 percent of all exports. Most OPEC states believed that high demand would last forever, that high prices could fund government programs and that the good times would never end.
Yet the good times appear to be over. OPEC has failed to control the downward spiral in prices, reportedly begun by Saudi Arabia in November 2014 to flood the market with cheap crude to put new and old competitors U.S. shale producers and Iran out of business. Saudi Arabia pursued its political interests and existing market share, leaving other OPEC members to fend for themselves.
The death of OPEC has been announced in some quarters, with its long-term decline seemingly assured as global energy enters a new era.
It is possible that Saudi Arabia may emerge from this current crisis unscathed, free to embark upon its recently announced Vision 2030 plan for an oil-less economy, however dubious that plan might appear. Its possible that OPEC may succeed in concerted action in the future. But its recent failures suggest that political interest will be more likely to divide OPEC and prevent mutual self-interest from uniting its members.
...The IGP cannot stop us. Whether you are the Electoral Commission, whether you are a police or security officer, whether you are a polling agent, whether you are a chief, you cannot stop NPP from declaring results, he said.
But in an interview with Accra-based Okay FM, Mr. Anyidoho said If after careful reflection Mac Manu has realised that he made a mistake, he should just admit and apologise.The truth is that the EC is the only body allowed to declare results and so the NPP will not be allowed to declare the results. Lets not forget that they have done it before. In 2004 , the late Jake Obitsebi Lamptey did it but this time around that will not happen because the law does not allow it, the NDC deputy general secretary added.
We do not see a future for the youth under President John Dramani Mahama and his NDC. What we see is a future of joblessness, indebtedness and hopelessness.for example, in 2015, for every one Ghana cedi, President Mahama invested only 27 pesewas in capital expenditure, building schools, roads, hospitals, and all the infrastructure projects that can create jobs for engineers, builders, painters, welders, teachers, nurses, drivers, etc. So ask yourselves where did the remaining 73 pesewas go? he stated.
He said the latest World Bank report on employment which estimates that 48% of Ghanaian youth are without jobs shows that President John Mahama who many described as a youthful President has, rather failed young people across the country.
All across the country, from the Volta region to the Northern region, the youth especially the many young people who voted for the younger president Mahama have regretted doing so because not only has the president not delivered on his promises; he has actually killed the little hopes that was there, Sammy Awuku added.
He argued that the hopes of Ghanaian youth were once again dashed when few days ago the Komenda Sugar Factory which was commissioned by President Dramani Mahama had to be shut down barely 48 hours after operation. Indeed, as it has turned out to be, what President Mahama commissioned amid all the pomp and pageantry was an NDC Propaganda hub and not a sugar production hub.
Ote Waterfall is close to the beautiful hilltop town of Amedzofe in the Volta Region. In fact, it adds to the great experience in the beautiful town of Amedzofe where visitors get to enjoy the mountainous view of the town, the Volta River and the waterfall.
This makes the Ote Waterfall a perfect location for a longer experience, with Amedzofe being the place of abode.
READ MORE: Tourist Sites in Ghana Discover the undiscovered Akaa Waterfalls
The site of the Waterfall, which gets its source from the Ote River is a 45- minute walk from the town of Amedzofe, and requires an adventurous steep descent from the hilltops to get to the site.
Just like the other less-popular waterfalls, the Ote Waterfall provides an opportunity for a personal private time for family and friends.
In terms of how to get to the Ote Falls, a three- hour journey to Amedzofe is initially required and then a journey on foot to Ote.
Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected!
Read his full piece below:
"As I am learning to stop complaining and get used to the electricity situation in my beloved Nigeria, i can't help but worry about other bigger problems facing my country at large. Once again a land already polluted with blood and oil is reported to be witnessing beheadings by religious fanatics, murders by herdsmen, and bombing of oil pipelines by a supposedly impoverished and marginalised deltan posse, let's not talk about the Biafran agitators, kidnapping and robberies....confusion everywhere.
ALSO READ: Basketmouth Comedian meets Olajumoke Orisaguna
I am an entertainer so i try to leave politics for politicians(cos i believe everybody should maintain dia own lane). However, I cant seem to understand why my beloved country will not intervene to help alleviate the sufferings and helplessness of its people. When the poor cry for help and are ignored, it can be a recipe for turmoil and when the rich also cry, can't afford to travel because flight tickets are out of their reach, can't afford to eat as they used to and all channels of their lush incomes are closed overnight, then you begin to sense a whiff of desperation.
The media also reports bias in the security handling of issues as it affects the North, West, East and South. In my humble opinion, i do not think it will hurt PMB to address this issues from time to time as much as he addresses the issue of corruption. It hurts my senses when i hear people praising the likes of Ayo Fayose or calling for return of corruption (hard to tell if they are serious or joking) hearing the soothing voice of our leaders will go a long way in strengthening is as we plunge further into the unknown.
So in all of these, I am listening to hear the wise words of President Buhari, I know he has opinions about all these because i know he reads the papers and he has access to security reports, but sometimes it's like his media advisers dont get his memo or they seem to get it a week after he sends it and by which time other depressing issues have taken over.
Conrad, was arrested and placed on probation in August, 2014 after he pleaded guilty to threatening passengers and flight attendants aboard an international flight travelling from London to Los Angeles.
He served three years probation and 750 hours of community service. However, Conrad, admitted in court that during his probation he was exposed to using drugs like Marijuana, synthetic cannabinoids and cocaine.
Us Weekly reports that the U.S. Assistant Attorney Alexander Scwab said Conrad has until Wednesday, June 8, 2016 to surrender to the authority for violating his probation.
"Hell or High Water" tells the story of a young pastor loved and adored by the people around him. Things change for him when he has to confront a hidden truth about himselfa truth that could make or break him psychologically. But, whatever decision he makes, he is still going to crash and burn, for life as he once knew it would never be the same again.
Punch reports that the Chinese man, who lives at Akura Estate, off Adeniyi Jones Street in Ikeja, Lagos, is expected to face a charge of unlawful exportation of wood.
Mr. Ajakaye Iyiola, who is the persecutor in the case, said Zhu Jinxin committed the offence on November 16, 2015, at the Tin-Can Port, Lagos.
It goes against Section 64(1)(b) of the Customs and Excise Management Act, Cap C45, Law of the Federation, 2004.
Zhu Jinxin however pleaded not guilty to the charge.
In his ruling on the matter, Justice Rabiu Shagari said the suspect must provide two sureties who will also pay N10m to meet bail conditions.
Recall that the woman who was a petty trader at Ijora Market in Ajegunle area of the state and the bread winner of the family, was stabbed to death by the jobless husband at the Araromi Street, Oshodi, residence of the couple who had been married for 26 years, on Friday, May 27.
The poster of the late Roseline Sougie
Photo Credit: Newshelm
It was gathered that her husband had suspected her of engaging in infidelity as she was always bringing thing home for the comfort of the family and was the one paying the school fees of one of their children who had gained admission into a university.
On the night the sad incident happened, the couple had taken their dinner and retired to bed, only for Jafaru to use a kitchen knife and slit the throat of his wife. After committing the sordid murder, he tried to commit suicide by drinking a substance suspected to be poison. After he was arrested and put in detention, the police said he had been exhibiting symptoms of insanity.
The coffin of Roseline Sougie
Photo Credit: Newshelm
Chabvutagondo was said to have insert a cooking stick in the privates of the women before proceeding to rape them, telling them he was doing that to cast out the demons that had been tormenting them.
Chabvutagondo of Mapfumo Village in Zvimba, who denied the charges, was found to be unreliable during the trial as he was contradicting himself.
The suspects, identified as Jude and Francis, stormed Amuka-Pemus one-storey residence on Sunday, June 5, 2016, and made away with valuable items such as Naira and Dollar notes and his electronic gadgets, Punch reports.
Fatai Owoseni, the Lagos State Police Commissioner disclosed that the suspects were arrested on Monday, June 6, 2016.
According to Owoseni, the suspects are helping the police uncover the identity of other gang members.
He said, We have arrested some people who are helping us. But from the way it happened, it appears like an insiders thing. From the arrests, we hope to get a link.
I can say that we are getting close to getting the real persons.
I will not want to disclose the names and the number of people arrested. I spoke with the victim this morning.
He is doing very well. The Inspector-General of Police spoke with the victim yesterday. The IG did not take over the matter.
The report the police have is that some persons went to the house. The street is gated. Someone must have opened the gate.
These robbers jumped the fence and went straight into Amuka-Pemus room. They asked for money because they knew the man was travelling. The command is still investigating.
Sam Amuka-Pemu was reported to have been preparing to travel to South-Africa before the incident happened.
The woman, Dorothy Ncube, according to the report, has been cohabiting with the two men, Hebert Mapinde and Prophet Thubayo Ncube, who were one time best friends before she made incursions into their hearts, and now, she has been made to choose one of them.
But the woman in the middle of the storm says she loves both men equally and would not want to drop any of them but culturally, one has to be dropped.
In the first place, Dorothy was legally married to Mapinde and while the other man, Ncube was the lobola negotiator before the marriage before they began an affair.
A source from Dorothys family said the issue of a second husband being a reality began when Dorothy was caught cheating on her husband with his best friend.
People were shocked when it was discovered that Dorothy was cheating on her husband with one of her lobola negotiators, the family source said.
For that reason, Ncube was summoned by her village head, Chief Njelele for bedding his friends wife and had to pay a fine of a cow.
That did not stop him however as it gave him more verve and passion for Dorothy and the two got on like a house on fire.
Enjoying the best of both worlds, Dorothy went about her business without fear and even had a duty roaster for the two.
Ncube was fined by the Chief, but they didnt stop their relationship. It resulted in Dorothy moving from her homestead to stay with Ncube, the source continued.
Sources say had Mapinde showed seriousness or maintained a grip, the two lovers would have probably stopped but instead of defending his territory, Mapinde had many out-of-village trips, at times staying for days away and this kind of strengthened the love between his wife and his friend.
"That is when it became official that Dorothy had two husbands with a roaster of moving from Prophet Ncubes homestead to Mapindes place.
When it got to that level, the two men came together and discussed their 'wife'. A deadlock was reached and they then approached the traditional court to decide a way forward," another family member said.
The two men reported the matter to Chief Njelele asking him to make the woman choose one husband and dump the other, said the source.
A date is yet to be set where Dorothy will be forced to choose the man she wants to be with for the rest of her life.
"They were saying: 'No, no, no, it's not malaria'," he said, describing how the family had sought advice from a traditional medicine man who said a jinni, or spirit, had invaded her body.
"They said: 'If you take this girl to the hospital, if she gets an injection, then that jinni (spirit)... will... suck all her blood'," Kikwete said.
Ignoring their protests, he took the girl to hospital but it was too late. She died from malaria.
He and his wife even appear in television adverts, urging Tanzanians to prepare their bednets before they sleep.
"We are looking at 2040 as the most probable date for a malaria-free Africa," Kikwete, who stepped down as president in November, told reporters at a recent dinner in Dar es Salaam.
"If we continue with the interventions that we have been doing here relentlessly, we should be able to get there."
THE "E-WORD"
Global plans to eliminate malaria were abandoned in 1969 as the goal was seen as prohibitively complicated and expensive, despite success in eradicating the disease in the 1950s in parts of Europe, North America and the Caribbean.
The "e-word" has been revived in recent years, with support from the world's richest couple Bill and Melinda Gates and U.S. President Barack Obama, who called malaria a "moral outrage".
Bill Gates, who Kikwete describes as a "good friend", aims to eradicate malaria by 2040 and has called for a doubling of funding by 2025.
His goal of permanently ending transmission of the disease between humans and mosquitoes is more ambitious than the Sustainable Development Goal of ending epidemic levels of malaria by 2030.
Spending on malaria, mostly by the United States, surged to $2.7 billion in 2015 from $130 million in 2000, while death rates in Africa have fallen by 66 per cent, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The most important investment was the roll out of one billion free bednets. Some 68 percent of malaria cases prevented since 2000 were stopped by these bednets, according to a study by the University of Oxford.
Money was also poured into improved diagnostic tests, better drugs, indoor spraying with insecticide and educating the public to use these tools - rather than blaming witchcraft or buying medication blindly over the counter every time they got a fever.
EVERYTHING IS FREE
In the Tanzanian town of Arusha, overlooked by the dormant volcano Mount Meru, donor-funded bednets and free tests and medicines have made a significant impact.
In a country with a powerful faith in witchcraft and traditional medicine, health officials have worked hard to persuade people to adopt proven methods of preventing and treating the disease.
"There are very few cases of malaria nowadays," said Pius Dallos, the officer in charge of Kijenge Dispensary, where women sat on wooden benches, cradling their babies.
"Previously... if you didn't have money, you could die from malaria. But nowadays, everything is free."
But donors' ability to maintain - and increase - funding is by no means certain given sluggish global growth and uncertainties over U.S. funding under a new administration.
"The political will to go that final mile may be hard to sustain because it will remain expensive until the end," Dyann Wirth, a tropical disease expert at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"It's a question of priority."
It is unlikely that Africa, which accounted for nine out of 10 of the 214 million cases of malaria in 2015, according to the WHO, could foot the bill itself.
On the edge of Arusha, Africa's largest bednet manufacturer, A to Z Textile Mills, has been the main source of 50 million free bednets given to Tanzanians between 2009 to 2016.
Giant, noisy warehouses produce insecticide-treated fibres which are woven into round and square blue bednets. Women in green T-shirts work in fast-moving pairs, folding and cutting panels ready for stitching.
Donor funding drives production of the much-needed nets, as many ordinary Tanzanians cannot afford them.
"Demand is not driven by the need (but) by the funding," said factory director Kalpesh Shah, sitting in front of framed photographs of visits by celebrity campaigners like Bono and Will Smith on the boardroom wall.
Commercial customers account for less than one percent of sales, he said. The Gates-funded Global Fund To Fight HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria is their main buyer, followed by the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative.
"The question of sustainability is on everyone's mind," said Daniel Moore, acting mission director for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Tanzania.
"Right now, we are carrying the load."
RISK
The failure of the global eradication programme that began in the 1950s casts a shadow over the latest campaign.
As mosquitoes and parasites developed resistance to insecticides and drugs in the 1960s, malaria rebounded in countries like Sri Lanka where once it had been virtually eliminated.
Resistance is becoming a major problem again. But greater efforts are being made to invest in new products that will keep humans one step ahead of evolution.
New tools are also required to eliminate the parasite from 'asymptomatic carriers' - people with a few parasites in their blood who don't fall sick but can act as reservoir and spread the disease when they get bitten again by mosquitoes.
As the number of malaria cases falls, it will become harder to maintain the momentum among donors, governments and ordinary people in endemic regions.
"Without the long term investment of funds and the political commitment to continue the fight, we risk wasting the entire investment," said Wirth.
The comment was made by the groups Vice President, Dr Osahon Enabulele on Monday, June 6, 2016, Vanguard reports.
I am very constrained to state that this foreign medical trip flies in the face of the Federal Governments earlier declaration of her resolve to halt the embarrassing phenomenon of outward medical tourism, which as at the end of the year 2013 had led to a humongous capital flight of about $1billion dollars, particularly from expenses incurred by political and public office holders and their accompanying aides, whose foreign medical trips most of which are unnecessary, were financed with tax payers resources, he said.
Mr. President should make a clear public pronouncement on his resolve to show leadership by example with respect to the utilization of the medical expertise and facilities that abound in Nigeria by him and other members of the Federal Executive Council, particularly in concrete expression of section 46 of the National Health Act which seeks to address the abuse of tax payers resources through frivolous foreign medical travels embarked upon by political and public office holders.
It is on record that most public and political office holders who seek foreign medical care abroad are handled by Nigerian trained doctors in foreign lands particularly in the United Kingdom which has over 3000 Nigerian trained medical doctors, United States of America with over 5000 Nigerian trained medical doctors, amongst other foreign countries, most of whom left the shores of Nigeria on account of governments perennial failure to address the various push and pull factors which have consistently driven this yearly brain drain phenomenon in Nigeria.
Available records show that last year alone, 637 medical doctors emigrated due largely to poor working conditions and health facilities, insecurity, unpredictable and poor funding of Residency Training Programme, uncompetitive wages and job dissatisfaction.
"Without prejudice to the expert recommendation of Presidents Personal Physician and the ENT specialist said to have examined and treated him in Abuja, I consider it a national shame of immense proportions that Mr President had to be recommended for foreign medical care despite the presence of over 250 ENT specialists and professors in Nigeria, as well as a National Ear Centre located in Kaduna state, he added.
Buhari left Nigeria on Monday, June 6, 2016, to get medical attention for a persistent ear infection.
He [Buhari] 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, Buharis media aide, Femi Adesina said via a statement before the presidents departure.
The ear infection is believed to be the reason why Buhari cancelled official trips to Lagos and Ogoniland.
This was disclosed by Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu on Monday, June 6, 2016, in Abuja.
The President is interested in dialogue and has mandated the military to halt actions for about two weeks to ensure a team that will be led by the NSA, dialogues with the militants to ensure peace in the region, Kachikwu said according to Vanguard.
This is coming as more oil companies in the Niger Delta have reviewed their operations, following continued bombing of their facilities in Delta and Bayelsa states.
The avenue is open for them, provided the militants are willing to embrace dialogue and allow truth to reign because we are going to involve key leaders from the region who have had previous experience in that area to play whatever role they can, he added.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, recently revealed that 11 states donated a total of 55,000 hectares of land for Fulani herdsmen to graze.
The Governor said I must commend the Federal Governments initiative on grazing and grazing reserve policy and we in Sokoto fully support the initiative and policy position.
If we set aside a proper structure and we have reserves, herdsmen would take maximum advantage of it. The roaming about of cattle is not the best form to raise them.
In sokoto, we have a ministry that is responsible for animal health and it is saddled with the responsibility of monitoring the success of the sector.
Tambual also said We are currently working to collaborate with some farmers in order to improve the livestock development in the state.
A multi-billion naira project is reaching completion and we are targeting October for it completion.
Sokoto state government is ready to provide farmlands to the Federal Government and individuals for grazing reserve."
Any individual interested in commercial livestock agriculture, will be supported by the state government.
I call on herdsmen and cattle owners to please in the interest of peace and their business to embrace this policy, because it will minimise the risk of their life and their livestock, he added.
undefinedthat will require state governments to provide land for Fulani herdsmen and their cattle.
Mr Olatunde Adekola, Task Team Leader, GPE/NIPEP, made this known at the inauguration of the Nigerian Partnership for Education Project (NIPEP) on Monday in Abuja.
He listed the benefitting states as Sokoto, Jigawa, Kano, Kastina and Kaduna.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the partners are United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Department for International Development (DFID), UNICEF and World Bank.
The title of the project is `Improving Access and Quality of Basic Education with Emphasis on Girls Participation'.
Adekola, who is the World Bank Senior Education Specialist for Africa, said that the role of the bank was to supervise and to ensure that all the partners were accountable.
The Word Bank education specialist said that the objective of the project launch was to sensitise the citizenry about the delivery process, knowledge sharing and capacity building.
``Since the effort is to bring more girls to school, we are focusing on five states in the North-West that have more girls out of school -- Sokoto, Jigawa, Kano, Kastina and Kaduna.
``The allocation is 100 million dollars; 95 percent of it is for the five states; while 5 per cent is for the supervising ministry and the Universal Basic Education (UBEC).
``The project seeks to give equitable opportunity to boys and girls and improve access and quality.
``It will provide scholarship for girls and and incentives so that they can come to school and stay in school; there will also be incentives for female teachers of the schools.
Adekola said that the development partners were already working on those states which also contributed to the choice of the five states.
According to him, DFID is working in Jigawa, Kano and Kaduna; USAID is working in Sokoto while UNICEF is working in Kastina.
He said that the money was not from World Bank but from a pool of contributions from UN development partners, adding that many countries had been benefiting in the last five years.
According to him, the project will run for four years.
On his part, Malam Adamu Adamu, the Minister of Education, said the project marked a turning point in getting out-of-school children back to school.
Represented by Prof Anthony Anwukah, the Minister of State for Education, Adamu said that 100 million dollars was a catalyst for boosting basic education.
Responding on behalf of the benefitting states, Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State thanked GPE for the gesture.
``We, as governors, assure that we will do our best in ensuring the provision of structures that will transparently execute this project.
``Money allocated for this project will be judiciously used, he said.
This is following the governments alleged inability to meet the demands of workers regarding their salaries.
Reports say labour has subsequently given the state government a seven day ultimatum to pay salaries or the strike will resume.
A worker who spoke to Punch under anonymity, said "We find it curious that up till now the government has yet to pay the 50 per cent salaries of workers. When we tried to find out what happened, we were told that they were working on something and that by this week, they will commence payment.
We are optimistic that the government will pay but if it fails to pay, we will be left with no option but to review our suspended industrial action. We are believing that this week will work again.
The Bayelsa state chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Tari Dounana, also said We are conferring with the state government to see that they commence payment this week.
undefinedin protest for the closure of their campus.
We wish to advice El-Rufai that he doesn't need to crush ants or spill the blood of Senator Shehu Sani and others to realize his political ambitions. El-Rufai is not appeased with his suspension of Sen Sani from his pocketed state APC he has now resorted to threats of crushing and marching, the statement said.
Our attention has been drawn to a hate speech and threat to life made by Governor Nasiru El-Rufai against distinguished Senator Shehu Sani in the governor's circus christened as Town Hall meeting in Giwa Local Government on 4th June 2016.
We could have easily dismissed or ignore this statement as tantrums of an accidental governor high on weekend marijuana, but we decided not to take things for granted in view of the petite governors mean and vicious history and his allergy to criticism. Also fresh in our mind is the mass killings and burial of members of the Islamic movement in Zaria last December, the statement said.
According to the statement, we view his unguarded and provocative utterances as nothing but a hate speech and a direct threat to the life of Senator Sani and others whom the governor perceive as his enemies.
We hold Governor Nasiru El-Rufai personally responsible for any harm done on Senator Sani, the statement said.
This statement is to publicly alert security agencies and the general public that in the event of any injury or assassination of Senator Shehu Sani, no one should be held responsible but Governor Nasiru El-Rufai.
In Kaduna, a journalist, Dickson was jailed and a university lecturer, was jailed and suspended for criticizing the governor, killing Senator Shehu Sani will not give him the quiet he so much desires to continue with his anti-people programs and policies in Kaduna State.
It will interest the general public to know that after the dubious condolence visit by the governor over the death of the senator's mother, Governor El-Rufai continues to use state funds to sponsor attacks against the senator on local radio stations, the statement added.
The statement said Elrufai has recently granted a personal interview on TVC television channel where he rained invectives against the distinguished senator.
The groups comments were contained in a statement released by the Head, Directorate of State, IPOB Spain, Mazi Uchenna Asiegbu, according to Vanguard.
The statement reads:
The massacre, the maiming and forceful displacement of unarmed peaceful people of Biafra on a day we were remembering the atrocious genocide of the same government is utterly unthinkable and absurd.
The account of what took place across the Biafra land that day is condemnable by any conscientious average person. It is expedient and expressly essential for the office of the Directorate of State, Indigenous People of Biafra, to state categorically that the acts so meted out on our kith and kin at home is nothing short of an apparently premeditated, unwarranted and extra-judicial killing of our people, men and women, young and old, even sparing the pregnant of this inhumanity was not the case.
As if the killing was not enough, they went all out to fabricate all manner of allegations and accuse the IPOB of being violent. Their deed certainly cannot be justified, and it leaves many unanswered questions. They harassed and gruesomely murdered innocent citizens without sparing even the most vulnerable like the pregnant women.
Kachikwu made the appeal while briefing newsmen on Monday in Abuja.
``My first appeal will be to my brothers who are engaged in these acts of protest to sheath their sword and daggers and come back to the table so that we can have a conversation.
``There is no doubt that over the decades of oil production, a lot of things that ought to have been done in the oil geographical areas were not done.
``The answer to the issue will not be heating up the grounds. The Federal Government is committed to continue the dialogue and the president has appointed a team, he said.
According to him, the team will be led by the National Security Adviser (NSA), the minister, opinion leaders and all the service chiefs.
He noted that the dialogue was expected to wrap up in one week, adding that the NSA had been directed to work with the armed forces to de-skill the intensity of operation to ensure the dialogue held.
``Probably, we will suspend the operation of the military in the region for a week or two for individuals in the creeks to converge for the dialogue, he added
He expressed the hope that through dialogue, everything would soon be resolved, adding that it was always difficult when arms were used against citizens.
He urged the militants to allow the truth reign and gave an assurance that the Federal Government was ready to intensify efforts to ensure development in the region.
On oil production level, he said that the level was still between 1.5 million and 1.6 million barrels per day down from 2.2 million barrels on which the budget was based.
He said government would continue to work hard to enhance the production level.
He added that over the last few months, the country had lost 600,000 barrels from various attacks by the militants.
``We are making effort to see how we get the barrels back but my attitude is that when citizens are harping on something, we need to engage.
``The take of the president is to try and engage in a dialogue, I know that given the intensity of the attack, it has caused a lot of trouble.
The militant group also called MEND criminals, adding that their days of crime are over.
The Niger Delta Avengers also said their agenda is to liberate the people of the region and not to run after pipeline contracts.
They also accused ex militant leaders like Boyloaf and Ateke Tom of carrying out several crimes in the Niger Delta.
The militants in a statement obtained from their official website, and signed by its spokesman, Brig.Gen Mudoch Agbinibo said:
"We appeal to the general public and all sane minds on the activities of Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) to disregards all purported statements and misplaced threat emanating from disbanded criminal elements like the so-called MEND (Movement For the Emancipation of The Niger Delta) that are political sidekicks and desperations from Gov. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state, Mr. Timipre Silva and their political paymasters to hold their political party to the jugular of the affairs of the Niger Delta Region.
"That our struggle is focused on the liberation of the People of Niger Delta from decades of divisive rule and exclusion. We are watching keenly their regretful efforts at rebranding and regrouping criminal elements in the region for their short political gains and territories.
"The NDA is unperturbed, we have mandate that is clearly a departure of those old tactics of the defunct so-called MEND that was indulged in kidnapping, hostage taking, Sea piracy, illegal oil bunkering, bank robberies and social crimes, the likes of Boyloafs, Ateke Toms, were associated to in their days in the name struggle.
"The wind of change in the Niger Delta struggle has come, we are are young, smart, and focused Niger deltans. Our mandate is to liberate the Niger Delta people; we dont run after pipeline contracts.
"God bless the Niger Delta People."
Nigeria's oil production has fallen by at least half a million barrels per day (bpd), due to the activities of the Niger Delta Avengers.
The minister of state for petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, and the minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Usani Uguru were in attendance.
Punch reports that the Governors of Rivers, Bayelsa, Ondo, Delta, Edo and Abia States were also present at the stakeholders meeting.
The meeting started earlier today, Tuesday, June 7, 2016, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
This move is following the call by the British government asking the Federal Government to dialogue with the Niger Delta militants.
Although, a Niger Delta Activist, Chief Ayiri Emami has urged the federal government not to negotiate with the militants, calling them a bunch of criminals.
Nigeria's oil production has fallen by at least half a million barrels per day (bpd), undefinedmost claimed by a new group calling itself the Niger Delta Avengers.
The group has carried out multiple attacks on infrastructure belonging to oil majors Shell, ENI and Chevron, vowing to reduce output to zero in what is typically Africa's largest oil exporter.
MEND made the remark via a statement released by its spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, The Cable reports.
The statement reads:
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND notes with grave concern the recent renewed spate of unprovoked and persistent attacks on Nigerias oil installations by the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, many of whom were MENDs commanders and fighters who jumped on the presidential amnesty gravy train without knowing why they took up arms in the first place.
What is more worrisome to us is the ungodly conspiracy of silence of the regions elite and their tacit support of the NDAs conduct under the pretext of a so-called Niger Delta struggle which went to sleep in luxury hotel suites in Abuja and around the world for the entire duration of the six years of Mr. Jonathans binge and unmitigated disaster as President.
However, we hereby remind our communities, which harbour criminals such as members of the NDA that their communities are not protected by the extant principles of international and/or municipal law during a conflict.
This is coming after the British governments call on the government to invite the Niger Delta Avengers to the talking table.
A statement issued by the US embassy in Abuja on Tuesday, June 7, 2016, said "We encourage all parties to resolve their disputes through peaceful means and emphasise that human rights of all Nigerians must be protected.
We continue to call on all Nigerians to persevere in efforts to achieve common goals: to end violence and curb the activities of criminal elements; to establish conditions and mechanisms for profound, positive, and lasting changes in the region; and to provide economic opportunity and needed services for residents of the Niger Delta.
undefinedShell, ENI and Chevron, vowing to reduce output to zero in what is typically Africa's largest oil exporter.
President Buhari ordered the deployment of troops to the troubled region, following the destruction of offshore facilities belonging to oil companies, allegedly by the Niger Delta Avengers.
Reports say this the Federal Government reached this decision after the Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo met with Governors and military chiefs on Tuesday. June 7, 2016.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, the Delta state Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa said We have also agreed that there is a need to distill military operations directly in communities, but the military need to actually remain on our waterways to ensure that we adequately man the waterways itself while we engage the communities and that engagement process is starting any moment from now
Adding that We have taken a lot of decisions which will help us mitigate what is going on currently in the states particularly Bayelsa and Delta.
One of such is that there is a need for us to share intelligence which is very important and for us to be proactive, working together with the various stakeholders in the states to achieve a better result going forward.
The Governors who attended the meeting, are those of Rivers, Bayelsa, Ondo, Delta, Edo and Abia States.
MEND also said the military is carrying out reprisal attacks and destroying the livelihood of the communities.
The group also called on the military to apply the rules of engagement as they carry out their operations in the region.
MEND in a statement issued to newsmen, also said Equally of grave concern to MEND is the disproportionate use of force and the sheer unimaginable dimension of the ongoing Nigerian military onslaught in the Niger Delta region and the attendant collateral damage done to the political, social and economic lives of the ordinary people, especially in the Ijaw communities.
While we commiserate with the affected persons, families and communities, we seize this opportunity to call on the international community as well as the National Emergency Management Agency to dispatch relief materials to the region, as a matter of utmost priority.
MEND notes with grave concern the recent renewed spate of unprovoked and persistent attacks on Nigerias oil installations by the Niger Delta Avengers; many of whom were MEND commanders and fighters who jumped on the Presidential Amnesty gravy train without knowing why they took up arms in the first place.
However, we hereby remind our communities who harbour criminals such as members of the NDA that their communities are not protected by the extant principles of international and/or municipal law during a conflict; even as we urge the Nigerian military high command to stick to the rules of engagement and international best practices.
Ex-militants who fought for the Niger Delta Liberation Force (NDLF), have also called on the Niger Delta Avengers to surrender.
Punch reports that the Commander, Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Delta, Commodore Riami Muhammed on Tuesday, June 7, 2016, said Today, Im pleased to announce that after several weeks of persistent efforts, the Nigerian navy in collaboration with other security agencies has arrested the main coordinator of the attacks on the NNPC and Chevron oil and gas facilities that we have witnessed since May 4, 2016, with the attack on Chevron Okan Valve platform offshore Escravos.
You are aware of the recent series of attacks on oil and gas facilities in the Niger Delta and in Delta State for which some groups/persons have claimed responsibilities. The Nigerian Navy and other security agencies have been doing their best to curtail these attacks.
The commander also said the arrested militant leader operates an illegal refinery comprising of 35 abandoned oil well heads at Okpoko and Obodo creeks in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta state.
Mohammed also said Its important to mention that the suspect is also deeply involved in pipeline vandalism and stealing crude oil. He steals crude oil from about 35 abandoned oil well heads. The Nigerian Navy believes with the arrest of this suspect, the attacks on Chevron/NNPC facilities will abate.
The Federal Government has ordered the immediate withdrawal of troops from the Niger Delta.
For today, June 7, 2016
THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER
Rep files N4.4 billion suit against Prisons Service for assaultFollowing the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) inability to investigate and take action against its staff, who allegedly assaulted a member of the House of Representatives at the premises of National Assembly in April this year, the victim, Onyemaechi Joan Mrakpor has filed a N4.4 billion suit against the service. READ MORE
Im under probe, says JonathanAlthough the President Muhammadu Buhari government has not publicly admitted a direct investigation of his predecessor for corruption, the latter thinks he is under probe. READ MORE
Labour, students protest, cripple IbadanWhat many agreed was one of the fiercest organised protests by any groups in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital in so many years, paralysed the sprawling megacity yesterday when secondary school students went on rampage. READ MORE_____________________________________
VANGUARD NEWSPAPER
Why FG withheld names of those who returned loot OsinbajoAbujaReleasing the names of persons from whom the Federal Government recovered looted funds and assets may jeopardize ongoing investigations, the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has said. READ MORE
Buhari did not inherit empty treasury- JonathanAbujaFormer President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, defended his governments record on fighting corruption and denied his successors assertion that the countrys Treasury was left empty when he handed over power last year. Jonathan, 58, was succeeded in May 2015 by President Muhammadu Buhari, who accused the previous administration of looting billions of dollars and leaving the countrys finances virtually empty. READ MORE
Buhari orders 2-week ceasefire in N-DeltaNwabughiogu, Sam Oyadongha, Egufe Yafugborhi, Grace Udofia, Perez Brisibe, Akpokona Omafuaire & Prince Okafor ABUJA President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the military to suspend operations in the Niger Delta for two weeks to create a window for dialogue with militants. READ MORE_____________________________________
PUNCH NEWSPAPER
Ramadan: Ambode, Obasa seek tolerance among NigeriansThe Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, and the state House of Assembly Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, have called on Muslims in the country to see Ramadan as a period to be steadfast and prayerful, as well as a time to promote tolerance and peaceful co-existence. READ MORE
Osinbajo to act as President for 10 daysPresident Muhammadu Buhari on Monday said he has transmitted a letter to the National Assembly intimating the federal lawmakers of his 10-day vacation starting today. READ MORE
FRSC expresses solidarty with Muslims as Ramadan beginsThe Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Boboye Oyeyemi has aexpressed solidarity with Muslims across the country, saying the corps personnel would be on duty to assist in effective traffic management during the one month spiritual activity. READ MORE_____________________________________
THE NATION NEWSPAPER
Im being investigated for corruption, says JonathanEx-President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday defended his tenure, saying he fought corruption, but added that he is being investigated for graft by the Muhammadu Buhari administration. READ MORE
Oando secures N94.6b loan from local banksOando Plc yesterday secured a N94.6 billion facility from nine local banks to enable it restructure its debt positions and improve earnings. READ MORE
Ohakim was to open his defence on Monday, on a three- count charge of money laundering he allegedly committed while serving as governor between 2007 and 2011.
The charges hinged on the property he acquired but failed to declare in his assets declaration form.
At the resumed hearing counsel to the defendant, Mr Awa Kalu (SAN), told the court that he had no case to answer and as such he had filed a no-case-submission.
Kalu also told the court of Ohakim's willingness to withdraw the initial confessional statement he made as regards ownership of the property he acquired.
"When he was arrested, he was drilled for eight hours, these are some of the things that led to the alleged confession.
``There is nothing to show that his house where his documents were kept was not burnt and his documents were not destroyed.
"It will be injurious to ask the defendant to enter the witness box to explain the transaction that has no witnesses."
The counsel, therefore, prayed the court to ask the defendant to go home as he had no case to answer.
The prosecution counsel, Festus Keyamo, however, objected to the plea saying he had filed an application to that effect.
"On the issue of withdrawing the statements, those statements were made under caution. It cuts the grass under the feet off the defendant.
"If he was not free to make the statement, he would have said so, but he signed the statement that he made it free and without compulsion."
Kayamo added that Ohakim made efforts to conceal the origin of the property acquired by money laundering, by not being not straightforward in his statements.
"A man cannot forget how he acquired his house. I ask the court to take judicial notice of the fact that a man does not forget how he acquires his house. It shows effort to conceal the origin of the house.
"We want the court to invite the accused person to explain how he acquired the house. He should be made to enter his defence."
Okorocha made the statement at the celebration of Imo at 40 and the five years account of his administration in Owerri on Monday.
He said his government was able to achieve a lot because he set aside the practices.
Okorocha, who commended his commissioners and other officials for a job well done, said the state still had challenges.
He promised to leave no stone unturned until the state reached an enviable height.
Speaking, the National Chairman on APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, and the Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, commended the governor and his team for the giant strides recorded in Imo.
They also commended Okorocha for appointing women in key positions in his government, saying the women had performed creditably.
The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami stated this when he received members of the Lawyers United for Equality and Human Rights Advocacy who were on a peaceful protest tothe ministry.
Represented by a director in the ministry, Lola Eket, the minister noted that the federal government will go after sponsors of Boko Haram insurgents.
The AGF maintained that Boko Haram could not have gone to the extent they got if there were no strong sponsors of the terrorists, disclosing that a Judicial Commission of Inquiry would be set in motion to unravel how the menace found its way into the country.
In the past, no Nigerian will commit suicide under any persuasion, and the way they have sustained onslaught against the state since they started, it seems they were being sponsored and I assure all of you that Judicial Commission of Inquiry would be set up to investigate where sponsorship of Boko Haram were coming from, the AGF said.
Convener of the group, Barrister Samson Esekhaigbe, called for the arraignment and prosecution of Boko Haram sponsors, who he said should be charged to the International Criminal Court for the death of those killed by the terrorists.
Part of the reason we are concerned was the mistakes of the past where government relaxed in prosecution of heinous act which in our reasoning was responsible for emergence militancy afresh, he stated.
40 storytellers were selected to be part of the workshop as opposed to the 35 that was earlier announced. The selected participants are drawn from varied industries, including photography, filmmaking, public relations, media, writing, poetry, blogging, and marketing.
ALSO READ: undefined
The first day, Ihidero took the attendees through the basics of crafting a good story before stepping aside for writer and television content producer, Victor Sanchez Aghahowa to also educate the participants.
"Tinsel" head writer, Nkiru Njoku also shared her knowledge with them. At the end of the day, the participants had been introduced to the realities of some of the processes involved in great storytelling.
ALSO READ: undefined
On the second day of the workshop, content producer and SMAT Media CEO, Emma Uduma, was on ground to share his experience, especially about producing MTV Shuga in Nigeria.
The master class came to a close on Wednesday, June 1 with the participants learning more skills of storytelling as directors, as well as how to make use of today's digital tools from film and television
Chris Ihideros Story Story is an intervention capacity development workshop series that is aimed at helping professionals in the Nigerian creative industry reawaken their ability to tell better stories, accurately by highlighting engaging principles that make a story alluring to the audience.
The free three-day workshop held from May 30 to June 1, 2016 at British Council in Ikoyi.
Jean-Louis, in a chat with Hip TV, said he considers Nigeria more advanced than any other African country. That has influenced his choice in connecting with the West African country.
He said, "For me, I have always felt the urge to connect with Africa, and if I have to connect with Africa, the leading country in Africa for me is Nigeria."
"Thats the country that has the most potential, power... and thats the one I chose for the past ten years to connect with.
"And moreso, being from Haita, I also have some strong roots, link with Nigeria. Most of the Haitians come from Nigeria, Benin and Cameroon. They came from that side.
"So as far as the culture, tradition... we still carry a lot of the Nigerian tradition with us. So that makes me very close to Nigeria.
"I think my grandparents were actually from here, so there is a natural connection thats here, and I believe in a whole, African cinema should have a better representation.
The actor was recently casted in Kunle Afolayan's"The CEO" movie, which is set to hit the cinemas on July 15, 2016.
ALSO READ: undefined
1. Born on June 7, 1968, Yomi Fash Lanso hails from Ogun State.
2. The actor has a degree in Business Administration from the University of Lagos.
3. Yomi Fash Lanso made his acting debut in February, 1995.
4. Married for over 10 years, the actor met his wife in a phone booth. They dated for four years before getting married in 2004.
ALSO READ: undefined
5. Recently, the "Jenifa" actor stated that he sees , and doesn't understand the meaning of Nollywood.
6. In 2015, he was made the cultural ambassador of the Olokun festival.
ALSO READ: undefined
7. Before he became an actor, Lanso worked in a bank as a banking officer.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja reports that 12 delegates from a 192 wards in 18 local government areas will converge on Benin to choose a candidate out of the 12 aspirants angling for the top job in the state.
NAN also reports that of the 12 aspirants, 11 bought their expression of interest and nomination forms for N5.5 million each while one, a woman, got hers for free.
An aspirant, Mr Charles Airhiavbere, told newsmen at the APC secretariat that such acts were fraudulent, despicable and shameful.
``That information is correct. Delegates have reported some elements buying up PVCs for N5,000.
``This is a gross abuse of human rights. It's a challenge a leader has to face in the future. It's painful to hear.
``One aspirant had to post an advert that people should not sell their birth rights. In Owan, one buyer was driven out of that area,'' Airhiavbere said.
On another allegation that the aspirants were being pressured to step down, Airhiavbere said: ``I will not be in that category of people stepping down for other aspirants.
``Aside that where is the democracy if I step down; that is a psychological warfare but for me I won't step down for anyone.
Another aspirant and incumbent deputy governor, Mr Pius Odubu, told newsmen that ``I've heard that allegation too but I cannot confirm whether it is true or not.
``In any case if anyone does that, it's just a wasteful exercise because there are other forms of identification aside from the PVCs.
``What you need is to properly identify yourself at the polling unit through the voter's register... so anybody buying up PVCs doesn't believe in the tenets of democracy.''
For Mr Chris Ogiemwonyi, the I-G, Independent National Electoral Commission and the APC should look into the allegation before the primary.
He condemned the action that a lawmaker, Rep. Phillip Shuaibu, allegedly invited members to his house and mandated them to come with their PVCs for an exchange of N10,000 each.
``The lawmaker called the delegates to his house requesting, threatening and intimidating the delegates to submit their PVCs to him with an intent to disenfranchise voters and use the PVCs for other purposes.
``As we speak the process is ongoing. This is wrong, it is not the democracy we fought for. We do not want PDP to take over the state.
``I call on the APC leadership not to allow a process that is flawed and challengeable in court to produce the next gubernatorial candidate.
``I'm equally surprised that today, the Edo House of Assembly, led by the Speaker, never sat.
``We are raping democracy. Are they supposed to be here with an aspirant. That is disgraceful, unacceptable, shameful and wicked.
``We believe the process can be managed and that is why we are talking with the APC leadership,'' he said.
Reacting to the allegation, the aspirant, Mr Godwin Obaseki, said: ``I don't believe that Ogiemwonyi with his standing will say that. I hold him in high esteem.
``I can tell you that nothing like that happened. For someone to make such a flimsy, unguarded statement is quite unfortunate.
``Everybody has a right to prefer somebody in a race. Having worked with everybody if the governor decides to choose someone is there anything wrong with that.
``What has put me at an advantage is the skills and quality I have as a person. The governor did not appoint any of these people, they chose me so that says a lot.''
He said it was very erroneous to say nothing had been done in the state for the past eight years because ``if the government before us did a tenth of what Oshiomhole did with the allocation the state had then, we would have had a platform or something tangible to work with''.
It has also been revealed that Buhari is also suffering from a terrible cough, which sources say is worse than the ear disease.
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who led the prayer session, also called on Nigerians to pray for Mr. President and other political leaders.
Ekweremadu said Before I proceed, let me quickly remind all of us that our President is presently not feeling well and has been flown abroad for treatment. So, I will like to invite you to rise, let us say one minute of prayer for his quick recovery.
The Deputy Senate President also said Our dear party men and women, we must apologise to certain institutions and aspects of our national life. And to our currency, we are worried and we are sorry about the dwindling fortune of our currency.
We are worried about the weakness of our currency. But we want to assure our currency that by 2019, you will be strong again. Our economy, by the time we left in 2015 was the strongest in Africa, today we sympathise with that economy but we want to assure our economy that you will be strong again not only in Africa but in the whole world.
Ekweremadu also told Nigerians that their story will change when PDP returns to power in 2019.
He said To the people of Nigeria, there is still hope. We sympathise with you, with what you are going through today. But with the PDP you are seeing today, there is hope for our country.
Our promise to the people of Nigeria is that we are going to produce the next President of this country in 2019. We will produce the President based on superior argument. We want our President to succeed but we believe that we have better things to offer to Nigeria because we have done that in the past and we will do it again.
The over his trip to London to treat an ear infection.
The former President said this during an interview at the Bloomberg studios in London, today, Monday, June 6, 2016.
He also said That is not true, there's no way he would have inherited empty treasury and at the same time, give a bail-out to the states.
It is not possible.
Nigeria is a fairly robust economy, But sometimes, we over politicise certain issues and make it look so bad, but it was not that bad. No! Not at all.
Buhari, on Monday, June 22, 2015, during a meeting with members of the State House Press Corps, said he inherited a virtually empty treasury from the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
The minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun, on Thursday. May 5, 2016, while being interviewed on a Channels Television program, Sunrise Daily, also said the Buhari administration inherited an empty treasury.
The former Minister/Deputy Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC), Abubakar Suleiman, howeverdebunked President Buharis claim.
Suleiman, in a statement released on Tuesday, June 23, 2015, said Jonathans administration left behind $30 billion, as at May 29, when he handed over to Buhari.
He also told members of the negotiation committee that the responsibility before them is important, and called on them to be sincere.
The Governor described the oil rich Niger Delta as the goose that lays the golden egg, adding that it is not wise to sustain a military operation in the region.
Fayose, speaking through his media aide, Lere Olayinka, also said If our daily crude oil production of 2.2 million barrels per day had been sustained, Nigeria would have been having savings in the Excess Crude Account by now.
Crude oil bench mark is $38 per barrel while the oil is now being sold at $50 per barrel, meaning that we would have been having $12 per barrel saved in the Excess Crude Account.
The Federal Government has ordered the immediate withdrawal of troopsfrom the troubled Niger Delta region.
Saraki stated this at a summit on elections, organised by the Senate Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in collaboration with the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) on Monday in Abuja.
He said that emerging issues in the electoral process had indicated that a lot needed to be done to meet the yearnings of Nigerians by ensuring free, fair and credible elections.
``We must remain keenly aware that more than ever before the Nigerian people demand a responsible government whose fate, they alone can determine.
``It all starts with having a virile electoral system with impeccable integrity and universal application as minimum standards.
``We must fashion out an electoral scheme that does not disenfranchise any Nigerian, one that does not have room for ballot tampering and manipulation.
Saraki urged participants to deliberate on issues that had affected the conduct of free, fair and credible elections in the country.
``For so long now, our citizens in the Diaspora have demanded inclusion in the democratic process, a right afforded in many other countries to citizens, irrespective of location.
``This is similar to the now germane issue of the voting opportunity of IDPs and people living in severely-challenged, hard-to-reach areas either due to security or other unforeseen challenges.
``It will be important to take another look at the role of our security personnel from the Police to the Department of State Security and the military.
``This is so in the light of certain revelations that the previous government had signed into law an amendment to the Electoral Act empowering the military to be used during elections for a variety of reasons.
``A corollary to this is the issue of the viability or otherwise of setting up electoral offences tribunal charged with dealing with electoral offences.
``This is especially important as there is an overwhelming national consensus to end election related violence and enthrone a new election culture built on integrity, safety and neutrality, he said.
Saraki also called for deliberation on the desirability of the card reader in the electoral elections.
He commended the British Department for International Development (DFID) and the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) for collaborating with the senate on the summit.
The Deputy President of the Senate, Mr Ike Ekweremadu, on his part, called for early conduct of primaries by political parties to make the nations electoral process more credible.
He said that late conduct of primaries posed serious challenges to the electoral system, and stressed the need for Nigeria to learn from international best practices.
In the United States of America, presidential primaries for presidential candidates start about twelve months to the election, culminating in the convention.
In Ghana, although neither the Constitution nor the Electoral Act gives any specific period for the conduct of presidential and parliamentary primaries, individual parties have provisions in their respective constitutions for early primaries, Ekweremadu said.
He said that early primaries would afford parties and candidates the opportunity to shape their identity and future direction.
In his remarks, Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, assured that all pending re-run elections would be concluded on or before July 31.
He called for amendment of the 2010 Electoral Act to ensure that candidates whose elections were nullified as a result of improper nominations by their candidates should have their certificates re-issued to the runner-up.
According to him, doing so will save the nation the huge cost of conducting fresh elections in such circumstances.
El-Rufai and Sani have been at loggerheads for a while, following what the lawmaker termed the dictatorial tendencies of the Kaduna Governor.
Political observers thought the hatchet had been buried when Governor El-Rufai paid a condolence visit to the Senator following his mothers death.
In a swift reaction, to the Senator's allegations, the Kaduna state publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Salisu Tanko Wusono dismissed the lawmakers story, saying Crying wolf and insinuating that anyone wants to attack them further exposes them as lightweights.
These are people clinging on straws, and trying to create mischief, conscious of their political weakness as a coalition of the defeated, the deluded and the selfish discontented.
Wusono also added that Their leaders lost bids to become state chairman and governorship candidate. They were trounced by democratic means, and they know it. The same democratic instruments and the rules of the party are what they seek to undermine.
They have been engaged in these irresponsible antics since 2014. The APC and its leaders have every right to warn them to desist from puerile politics. No one will be allowed to thwart the APC from deepening its success. The APC will not waste time pandering to the insecurities of politicians, who interpreted past efforts to embrace them as a kind of weakness.
Senator Shehu Sani recently described Governor, Nasir Elrufai as an affliction on the people of Kaduna state.
An adhoc committee of the House which had investigated the non compliance of the earlier directive of the House to seal the Kogi House of Assembly had recommended that the governor forwards the budget of the state for consideration.
In the adopted recommendations of the committee which was chaired by the House Leader, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, the House also urged Bello to send the state executive bills to the Federal House for immediate consideration.
The resolution of the House to invite Bello, was sequel to a motion on matters of urgent public importance sponsored by Hon Chukwuemeka Ujam.
While moving the motion, the lawmaker noted that the governor had begun implementing a budget not approved by the House and has failed to recognise the court's ruling nullifying the impeachment of the embattled Kogi Speaker, Mommoh Jimoh.
Contributing the motion, Hon Ali Isa Jesse expressed displeasure at the Governor's disregard for the resolutions of the National Assembly. He further urged the House to initiate an impeachment process against the Governor.
While describing the disregard of the resolution of the National Assembly and ruling of the Court by Bello as an "act of impunity", Gbajabiamila said there is no immunity protecting the Governor from investigation.
Adamu said this during a courtesy visit to Senator Barau Jibrin, who represents Kano North Senatorial Zone, at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja.
According to Leadership, the university VC explained that lack of education has deprived women in the northern region of Nigeria from participating in nation building.
Adamu appealed to members of the National Assembly to actively promote Open and Distance Learning in their constituents.
According to him, it will help get people to acquire education in the deep roots of some northern communities.
Consequently, the management of the scheme has scheduled the 2016 Batch A Stream II Orientation course to commence from Monday 13th June to Wednesday 29th June 2016 nationwide.
In a statement made available to The Guardian yesterday in Abuja, the scheme said: The management of the National Youth Service Corps wishes to inform all prospective corps members that the President, Commander-in-chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved and released funds to the scheme to hold its planned orientation course."
The council came to this decision after its meeting on Monday, June 6.
According to Dailypost, Prof. Lale had earlier sued the governing council, questioning the powers of the council to suspend him over allegations of incompetence in piloting the affairs of the university.
The VC also obtained a court injunction restraining the governing council from placing him on suspension or sacking him as vice chancellor.
The suit which had its first hearing on May 31st 2016 was later adjourned, to come up for hearing today, Tuesday, June 7th 2016 at the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt.
ALSO READ: Senate shut down varsity due to violent protest
The school management under the administration of Prof. Lale had enforced a policy of compulsory school fees payment before being allowed to sit for semester examinations.
This policy was adjudged as unfriendly and unpopular by the university students who took to the streets in protest.
He said on Monday in Teheran during a meeting with new Iranian legislators, that the Americans, including the government, Congress or presidential candidates, continue to make excessive demands and threats.
Khamenei said this has become imperative because the American 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.
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," he said.
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.
"There is a need to stand up to hegemonic policies and unmask their arrogant stance," he said.
Since Iran's nuclear deal was finalised, 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.
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.
Police fired into the air to break up a crowd trying to march on the Kisumu office of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), one witness told Reuters.
Protesters, accusing the commission of pro-government bias and demanding its members resign before elections in August next year, blocked roads with burning tyres in Kisumu and in Nairobi's Kibera slum. Demonstrators also marched in the centre of the capital, blocking traffic. "IEBC must go," they shouted.
Dennis Onyango, spokesman for opposition leader Raila Odinga who led Monday's rally in Nairobi, said two people were killed in Kisumu. But hospital officials said they only knew of one.
Juliana Otieno, superintendent at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital, said 12 casualties with bullet wounds had been admitted to her hospital, while she said Kisumu County hospital reported one dead and others with bullet wounds. A nurse at Kisumu hospital also confirmed one dead there.
There was no immediate police comment on Monday's reported deaths. Kenyan television reported at least one person killed.
Western Kenya, traditionally an opposition stronghold, has seen some of the worst violence in the almost weekly protests. Three people were killed in clashes in the region on May 23.
Western ambassadors have accused the police of using excessive force and called for dialogue in a nation prone to political strife. The 2007 election triggered weeks of ethnic bloodshed and the 2013 result was disputed.
DIALOGUE DEMANDED
A meeting last week between President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga failed to defuse tensions.
Police said on Friday that any march by protesters would contravene a court order and demonstrators could face arrest. Despite the warning, the protest in Nairobi proceeded calmly without clashes with police that were seen previously.
Businesses have called for a swift resolution of the row, saying it was taking a toll on an economy which was hit hard by the post-2007 election violence amid the tensions in the build up to the 2013 vote.
"We must find solutions and the solution must be based on the rule of law. It calls for a lot of mediation," Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) Chairman Dennis Awori told Reuters, urging churches, politicians and others to help bring calm.
The human rights group said April was the bloodiest month for attacks on albinos in the southern African nation, with four people murdered including a child aged under two. The child's father and four others have been arrested.
In the past 19 months authorities in Malawi have recorded the murders of 18 albinos and abduction of five others although Amnesty fears the real number is likely to be higher as many attacks in secretive rituals in rural areas are never reported.
"The unprecedented wave of brutal attacks against people with albinism has created a climate of terror for this vulnerable group and their families," Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's director for southern Africa, said in a statement.
Senior government officials, including President Peter Mutharika, have publicly condemned the attacks and announced several measures, including the appointment of a legal counsel to assist with investigations, and a national response plan.
"However, these measures have failed to stop the violence," Amnesty said in its report published on Tuesday.
"Some perpetrators have been arrested, charged and convicted, but the majority of crimes remain unresolved. Charges and penalties often have not been commensurate with the gravity of the crimes, creating a sense of impunity," the report said.
At least 69 crimes against people with albinism have been documented in Malawi since November 2014, according to police reports.
Amnesty did not have figures for the number of attacks prior to November 2014, but campaigners, police authorities, families and community leaders all said the number of attacks had risen.
It is unclear what has triggered the surge, but mass unemployment and drought could be part of the reason, Simeon Mawanza, lead researcher of the Amnesty report, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
There is no systematic documentation of crimes against people with albinism in Malawi, where people with albinism number around 10,000 out of a population of around 16.5 million.
People with albinism face discrimination and threats, both at school and in their communities. Myths about albinism abound, including the belief that having sex with an albino is a cure for HIV.
"The images that you see, where they hack off their hands, their feet, it's so difficult to understand what goes on in such a mind to commit such a heinous crime against an innocent human being, merely because they look different," Mawanza said.
He added that children have been sold by their parents, and some of the attackers were close family members.
One woman told Amnesty researchers in Malawi: "Most people who attack (people with albinism) are close relatives ... I met one mother in Chitipa who was hiding her children out of fear. As a result, the children were not going to school."
Attacks against people with albinism have occurred elsewhere in southern and eastern Africa, including in Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Burundi.
Last year, the United Nations warned of a surge in violence against albinos in Tanzania, Malawi and Burundi.
The 232-page report, published by the Open Society Justice Initiative and five other human rights organizations, warned that the International Criminal Court could eventually take up a case against Mexico's security forces unless crimes were prosecuted domestically.
Mexico's drug war has resulted in the most violent period in the country's modern history, with more than 150,000 people killed since 2006.
Consistent human rights abuses - including those committed by members of the Zetas drug cartel- satisfied the definition of crimes against humanity, the report said.
The authors recommended that Mexico accept an international commission to investigate human rights abuses.
A series of shootings of suspected drug cartel members by security forces, with unusually high and one-sided casualty rates, have tarnished Mexico's human rights record.
"Resorting to criminal actions in the fight against crime continues to be a contradiction, one that tragically undermines the rule of law," the report stated.
The unresolved 2014 kidnapping and apparent killing of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa teacher-training college was one of the most high-profile cases to have damaged Mexico's reputation.
The report was based on documents and interviews over a nine-year period from 2006 to 2015.
It cited mass graves and thousands of disappearances, in addition to killings such as the shooting by the army of 22 suspected gang members in Tlatlaya in central Mexico, and similar incidents, as evidence of criminality in the government's war against the country's drug cartels.
Eric Witte, one of the report's authors, recommended that the government look at the U.N. Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) as an example for inviting an international investigative commission to bring cases in Mexican courts.
Evidence gathered by CICIG against former Guatemalan President Otto Perez played a key role in his resignation and eventual arrest last year.
The report criticised Mexico's weak justice system. If atrocities continued without measures being taken to end impunity, the International Criminal Court could step in, said Witte, a former advisor at the Hague-based court.
``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, he said.
He, however, did not disclose the identities or nationalities of the five AMISOM soldiers who were arrested on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Minister of Internal Security, Abdirisak Omar- Mohamed, said the suspects would 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.
``Attorney General, Ahmed Ali Dahir has confirmed it that the AU soldiers and the other people will appear before the justice, he said.
Omar-Mohamed said this is the first time that the Somali government forces would ever 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.
This is against a statement credited to the Minister of Home Affairs, Davies Mwila that all prisoners with voters' registration cards would be allowed to vote during the general election.
He said government took the decision because the law provided for the inmates to exercise their right to vote.
Meanwhile, Dan Kalale, a former Director of the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), said allowing prisoners to participate in voting would not be an easy undertaking because it poses many challenges.
He said issues on whether the electoral body would provide polling stations in prisons or whether the prisoners would be taken to polling stations outside prison should be considered before inmates are allowed to vote.
Kalale added that safe guard measures should be put in place to counter possible manipulation.
"In case this is in the amended constitution, it still doesn't sit well because ECZ doesn't seem to have taken that consideration in their preparations of August 11 event.
Macdonald Chipenzi, former Executive Director of the Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP), said the minister's directive was illegal and that the electoral body to guide the nation on the matter.
The opposition Forum for Democracy and Development (FDD) has since challenged the electoral body to issue a categorical statement stating its position on the matter with regards to the provisions of the law.
Antonio Mwanza, the Party's Spokesperson said allowing the inmates with voters' cards to vote in the forthcoming elections is illegal, unconstitutional and would not be tolerated.
Ibrahim Ghandour, Sudanese Foreign Minister, said on Monday in Khartoum that a plan was also approved to stop supporting and harbouring rebels and open border crossings.
The joint Political and Security Committee between Sudan and South Sudan was convened in the presence of the foreign, defence and oil ministers of the two countries.
Ghandour said the committee agreed to implement the joint agreements related to the demilitarised zone.
The minister said the two sides also agreed to stop supporting rebel groups in the two countries, noting that the concerned security authorities in both countries would adopt specific measures in this regard.
Meanwhile, Kuol Manyang, South Sudan's Defence Minister was reported to have said that the two sides agreed to carry out the joint cooperation agreements, and immediately embark on implementing the decisions reached during the meeting.
The minister admitted the presence of rebel groups in the two countries.
He said the rebel movements are a reality and their problem must be solved so that peace would prevail between the two countries.
Manyang said the committee also agreed to gradually open the border crossings, and a joint border committee is to meet in Juba within two weeks to agree on dates and procedures for opening the 10 border crossings between the two countries.
He said both sides agreed to ask the African Union to support the safe buffer zone and provide the two parties with the necessary technical teams, besides establishment of three consulates in the cities in the safe demilitarized border area.
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 and 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.
Britain circulated a draft resolution to approve the measure to the 15-member council. A copy of the draft, seen by Reuters, expressed concern that smuggled arms "may be used by terrorist groups operating in Libya, including by ISIL (Islamic State)." In October, the council authorized the European naval operation to seize and dispose of boats operated by human traffickers.
"Now once again, we are asking this council to adopt a resolution on authorizing Operation Sophia to enforce the U.N. arms embargo on the high seas off the coast of Libya," European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told the council.
Council diplomats said they hoped to vote on the draft resolution, which will likely be revised, by the end of the month.
The U.N. Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Libya in 2011 when former leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces cracked down on pro-democracy protesters. Libya's government is allowed to import arms with approval of the council's sanctions committee.
Veto-wielding council member Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said that Moscow was not opposed to allowing the European naval operation to search vessels for illicit weapons but that "we need to be very careful about it."
"Everything must be done in a way which does not create any suspicions among any of the Libyan parties," Churkin told reporters.
The fall of Gaddafi in 2011 sparked chaos with two competing governments backed by militias scrambling for control of the oil-producing country. A power vacuum has allowed Islamic State militants to gain a foothold.
A U.N.-backed unity government formed earlier this year is seen by western states as the best hope for uniting Libya's many political factions.
Churkin said he valued the work done by the EU's Operation Sophia to save the lives of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean, but noted that this year more people had drowned than in the same period last year.
Museveni, 71, who has ruled the east African country for 30 years, was declared winner of the February presidential election with 60 percent of the vote and sworn in for a new term on May 12. Most of his main ministers were reappointed.
His main rival Kizza Besigye rejected the results and called the election a sham, citing widespread rigging, intimidation by security forces and use of state funds to bribe voters.
Tensions have been simmering since the February poll, with Besigye kept under virtual house arrest for several weeks while security clashed with his supporters on multiple occasions.
In the new line-up, Museveni reappointed his Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi and Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda and maintained Matia Kasaija and Irene Muloni as the important finance and energy ministers respectively.
Museveni's wife Janet Museveni was named as the new minister of education and sports, usually a coveted portfolio in Uganda because it takes one of the largest chunks of the annual budget.
Andrew Karamagi, a human rights lawyer and political commentator told Reuters the new cabinet's selection criteria appeared based on a need to balance varied ethnic and religious interests to maintain a broad base of political support.
Many of the new faces were in smaller ministries or as ministers of state.
"It's less about performance, about delivery, about citizens," Karamagi said.
CARSON CITY It is a riddle for the ages: What is dead but never dies? The answer in Nevada is the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.
CARSON CITY It is a riddle for the ages: What is dead but never dies? The answer in Nevada is the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.
As a state legislative panel overseeing the moribund Yucca Mountain high-level nuclear waste repository gets ready to meet later this week, Rep. Dina Titus has criticized a new effort in Congress to move the project forward.
In a news release last week, Titus, D-Nev., spoke out about a plan to fund the project in the Fiscal 2017 Energy-Water Appropriations bill, HR 5055.
The provision would allot the U.S. Department of Energy $150 million to continue an application process to license the project as a nuclear storage facility. The legislation also prohibits any funds from being used to close Yucca Mountain as a future storage option.
Titus noted that congressional supporters of Yucca Mountain made the same attempt last year but failed to see it become law.
Titus has sponsored the Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act, which would require projects such as Yucca Mountain to receive approval from local governments in affected areas.
Yucca Mountain is not a secure depository that would seal dangerous waste safely for a million years, Titus said.
It is instead a proposal based on bad science and faulty assumptions. Specifically, the NRC confirmed that it is not secure, that it will leak, and that radiation will travel miles through underground water sources to farming communities in the Amargosa Valley on its way to Death Valley National Park.
The waste will also have to be transported across the U.S. to the site, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The Obama administration in 2010 shelved the controversial project, which faced opposition from many Nevada political leaders and citizens, but efforts to revive it continue.
U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., sent a letter to the House Appropriations subcommittee members on April 12 asking that the provision, and another $20 million for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to advance the Yucca Mountain license application, be removed from the legislation.
I would urge the subcommittee to prioritize funding for the Department of Energys efforts to advance alternative long-term storage options for our nations spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, he said.
While I understand that many of my colleagues disagree with me on the issue of Yucca Mountain, Nevadans have a right to be safe in their own backyards.
Nevadas Committee on High-Level Radioactive Waste will meet for the first time this year on Friday to get an overview of the status of the project from various officials, including Bob Halstead, executive director of the state Agency for Nuclear Projects.
While some House members may want to move the project forward, the Senate version of an appropriations bill contains no such funding.
Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada has repeatedly said the project is dead.
But presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has not made it clear where he stands on the issue.
Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com. Find him on Twitter: @seanw801
Despite efforts to recruit a more qualified and diverse workforce, sworn officers and deputies in several law enforcement agencies across the Quad-Cities are predominantly white and male.
Some police officials said Monday that one of the biggest challenges in recruiting more female and minority officers is that the pool of qualified candidates has gotten smaller.
There are different regions in the United States, so we only have a certain pool of potential applicants to draw from, and if nationwide law enforcement as a profession is given a negative reflection, that does sour some people in applying, Scott County Sheriff Dennis Conard said.
The Quad-City Times looked at the number of officers by gender and ethnicity for Scott County, Davenport, Bettendorf, Rock Island County, Rock Island, Moline and East Moline.
Davenport Police had the highest number of female officers 15 out of 162 sworn officers, and Rock Island County had the highest number of Hispanic officers at 10.
In Davenport, the number of women and minority officers in the department had fluctuated over the years, Capt. Brent Biggs said Monday.
Biggs said community relations are an important aspect of what the department does. Working to improve that relationship, he said, allows us to be more effective.
If we can increase trust within the community, then that trust can be an essential part of enhancing relationships and investigating and solving crimes, Biggs said. It is essential in creating a relationship where the community can feel that they can rely on us.
One challenge in attracting more minority candidates is getting the word out about the required qualifications and the application process, Biggs said.
In effort to overcome that barrier, the department held workshops last year at United Neighbors, LULAC and the police station to educate potential candidates.
Biggs said the workshops were held to increase awareness and interactions with minority and other applicants so we can focus on recruiting the most qualified, diverse applicants that we can.
One of the most important recruitment tools the department uses is officers everyday interactions in the community, Biggs said.
Those interactions can help dispel negative perceptions or opinions about police, Biggs said.
The police department is with the Davenport Community Advisory Panel, which includes the Davenport Civil Rights Commission, LULAC, the Davenport branch of the NAACP and Quad-Cities Interfaith. The panel sets up monthly meetings and calls for an annual report that includes statistics and other information concerning police interactions and biased-based profiling in Davenport.
NAACP President Vera Kelly said Monday that she would like to see the police department look closer to home when finding suitable officer candidates.
There are already minority candidates in the community that are qualified, so put them out there, Kelly said.
Working on diversifying law enforcement in the Quad-Cities is an issue that the community must address together, she said.
Weve got good things going on here, but let us be a role model and let people look at us and say, Hey, look at what the Quad-Cities are doing, she said.
One way to reach potential candidates is to start with the local churches and schools to see what they want to be and kind of nudge them along," she said.
Rock Island County Sheriff Gerry Bustos said that in years past he may receive a list of 75 to 100 names of eligible candidates from the Rock Island County merit commission.
This year, there are 28 names on the list. Of those, only 11 made it through two stages of testing, Bustos said. Three are those candidates are women, he said.
Certainly, I think there are a lot of women who are interested in law enforcement, Bustos said. That percentage has been pretty steady. The more minorities we can get, the better we can do what we can do and reflect the community.
Bustos said that although he has done his best to hire qualified and available candidates for the department, the people that I have to choose from, its not a very long list.
Bustos said he has attended different community functions, especially those in the African-American community, to encourage young people to apply for law enforcement jobs.
The sheriffs department also attends various career and college fairs to get the word out about openings, Bustos said.
Conard said recruitment numbers are low in Scott County, as well. The sheriffs office, however, also has received some excellent candidates that want to go into the law enforcement field and the corrections field.
One challenge, Conard said, is finding qualified female candidates to fill correctional officer openings at the jail. Conard said the jail requires at least two female correctional officers per shift.
Conard said his office works closely with its human resources department and the Scott County Civil Service Commission to attract the best qualified candidates by posting advertisements, utilizing social media and attending job and college fairs.
U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, the Illinois Republican in a battle for his own political life, said Tuesday that he won't back Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for president.
In a statement this afternoon, Kirk said, "Donald Trump's latest statements, in context with past attacks on Hispanics, women and the disabled like me, make it certain that I cannot and will not support my party's nominee for President regardless of the political impact on my candidacy or the Republican Party."
In a video posted by NBC News, Kirk was more direct with reporters, telling them Trump's remarks about the judge were "too racist and bigoted."
Kirk's disavowal come a day after his rival in the fall election, U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., criticized the senator for not weighing in on Trump's comments about federal District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is overseeing the lawsuit against Trump University. Trump said Curiel couldn't be fair to him because of his Mexican heritage.
Curiel was born in Indiana, but Trump says that because he has proposed building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, that is influencing the judge.
Trump's comments have been condemned by the left but also by some in the Republican Party. Kirk said Tuesday that Trump's comments were not only wrong, but "un-American."
He added that he questions Trump's temperament. "It is absolutely essential that we are guided by a commander-in-chief with a responsible and proper temperament, discretion and judgment," Kirk said. "Our President must be fit to command the most powerful military the world has ever seen, including an arsenal of thousands of nuclear weapons. After much consideration, I have concluded that Donald Trump has not demonstrated the temperament necessary to assume the greatest office in the world."
Duckworth responded by saying only now has Kirk disavowed Trump, even though he's made controversial statements in the past. "What took so long?" she asked in a statement.
Trump defended his comments about Curiel in his own statement, which was posted to his campaign's website on Tuesday.
He said his remarks were misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage and that he is friends with and employs "thousands of people" of Mexican and Hispanic descent.
"I do not feel that ones heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial," Trump said.
The German American Heritage Center is hosting weekly Saturday walking tours for all ages at 10:30 a.m. through Aug. 13 to learn about the roots, heritage, and history of Davenport. The tour will last about one hour and 30 minutes. Cost is $5 per person, including members.
Participants should dress comfortably, bring water, and be prepared to walk and stand for the duration of the tour, including hills and stairs. The tour will provide insight into German residential and business influence.
The German American Heritage Center, 712 W. 2nd St., Davenport, is open on Tuesdays-Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. and closed on Mondays. For more information, call 563-322-8844, visit gahc.org.
Jon Alexander Editorial Page Editor Editorial Page Editor, Quad-City Times Follow Jon Alexander 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
It's been dubbed Brexit. And yes, you should care about it.
The United Kingdom is Europe's second-largest economy behind Germany. It's home to divisions of Deere & Co., Alcoa and Kone, which joined hundreds of U.S. multinationals that invested heavily in corporate infrastructure in the U.K. over the past 50 years. The investment ramped up in the 1970s when the U.K. somewhat grudgingly joined the European Union, providing London-based businesses instant access to Europe's single market and more than 500 million consumers. Iowa exports hundreds of millions-worth of commodities to Britain each year.
That could all change very soon.
Britons will vote on June 23 whether to leave the E.U., in probably that country's most significant referendum in a generation. The vote comes after Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron made promises to hold his coalition together. Cameron, like Speaker Paul Ryan, is grappling with a right-wing nationalist, anti-immigrant insurgency, called UKIP. UKIP blames immigrants, accessing the E.U.'s open borders, for the U.K.'s ills. Exiting the E.U., UKIP leaders say, will seal off British borders and keep out the undesirables from Eastern Europe who suck up jobs and siphon from the welfare system. Oh, and terrorism is constantly mentioned, too.
Sound familiar?
Cameron, and every leader of Britain's many major parties, belong to the "stay" campaign. Leaving Europe, they contend, would end trade deals with not only the continent, but also powerhouses such as the U.S. and China. The sudden isolationism, following the two-year exit process, could send London's market into a death spiral. Best case estimates say 5 million jobs would be lost as soon as Britain cuts ties with Brussels. But the issue has splintered those parties. Lefties dislike the free-trade deals. Farmers are annoyed with E.U. environmental regulation.
Polls say the "leave" and "remain" camps are in a dead heat with the vote just weeks away. It's a massively important day, one that threatens the post-WWII geopolitical order. And the U.S.'s closest ally is driving the upheaval.
Last month, President Barack Obama said it could take a decade for a newly independent U.K. to hammer out a trade deal with the U.S. Negotiations with a nation of 64 million aren't as weighty as with a political union of a half-billion. And this is where it might hurt any commodities-heavy portion of the U.S.
Iowa-based businesses exported $384 million-worth of goods and services to the U.K. in 2014, says the U.S. Census. Hundreds of millions more in trade were made accessible by the E.U.'s single market, often tapped through London. Deere and Company recently celebrated its 50-year anniversary of establishing itself in the U.K. But London wouldn't be so attractive to the likes of Deere if it wasn't a pipeline to continental Europe. Brexit could dwarf the recent dip in Iowa's commodity revenues caused by political instability in South America.
Surely, the Brexit vote is a much bigger deal for the British themselves, and Americans have less to lose -- or gain -- than the Germans or French. But the fact that so little has been said or written in U.S. media is a troubling reminder of just how insular Americans are.
Brexit is rooted in nationalism not unlike that which propels the presidential election cycle. It's a referendum on a 70-year-old system that has turned war-prone Europe into a semi-functional political unit. It comes at a time when some in the E.U. are calling for a single army -- just another step toward true federalist status. Perhaps that camp should first get the Euro sorted.
The U.S. and the U.K. share a common language. They share a common history. Now, they share a widespread rejection, particularly among the working class, of 20th century globalization and cultural plurality.
Come June 23, British citizens will vote on whether to leave the E.U., and its effects could be felt right here.
Chadron, Neb.
Chadron State Park turns 95
Chadron State Park will celebrate its 95th anniversary June 11 with events that will appeal to everyones tastes.
The all day celebration begins at 9 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. at Chadron State Park south of Chadron on U.S. Highway 385. On the schedule is a music performance by the local band Bar Flies from noon to 3 p.m. at the Trading Post, as well as free paddle boat rides all day. Those proficient with a bow and arrow will want to check out the archery card shoot from 1 to 3 p.m., and there will also be a free pellet gun shoot from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Kids can enjoy a bounce house from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. or dive for money at the park pool at 5 p.m.
Several displays and demonstrations are also on the schedule, including the Trailer of Shame, a display of poached mounts taken in Nebraska, and a Bighorn Sheep display. Jake Butler will demonstrate blacksmithing techniques from noon to 2 p.m., and Amanda Filipi will oversee naturalist activities throughout the day. Demos in flint knapping and primitive box making, conducted by Larry and Mary Waldron, will also be featured all day.
Buffalo sloppy joes and hot dogs are on the menu for lunch from noon to 3 p.m. for only 95 cents, and free watermelon will be served at the pool from 2-4 p.m.
Sturgis
A Sturgis Rodeo
Gather the young'uns and head on over to Sturgis June 10, 11 and 12 for the Sturgis Regional High School Rodeo
The event will be at the Sturgis Fairgrounds on Ball Park Road.
Friday events begin at 10 a.m. with cutting and reined cow horse. At 1 p.m. will be the queen horsemanship with reined cow horse to follow.
Grand entry is 11:30 a.m. Saturday with the rodeo starting at noon.
A rodeo church service will be 8:30 a.m. Sunday followed by grand entry at 9:30 a.m. The rodeo starts at 10 a.m.
Children ages 11 and under are admitted free when accompanied by an adult to the rodeo. Cost for ages 12 and over is a $12 wristband for all three days or Friday $4, Saturday and Sunday $7 per performance.
Hot Springs
Golden West celebrates 100th anniversary
To celebrate turning 100, Golden West is going on a Tour of Independence this summer. The tour will stop in Hot Springs Saturday, and the celebration will begin at 11 a.m. in Centennial Park. Golden West will serve lunch and have giveaways and door prizes, including a Samsung Galaxy tablet.
For more information, visit goldenwest.com/tour.
Belle Fourche
'Cemetery Walk' reenacts past Belle Fourche personalities
The Third Annual Cemetery Walk, dubbed Pine Slope Personalities," will take place at Pine Slope Cemetery at 511 Sixth Ave., in Belle Fourche at 2 p.m. Saturday.
The Cemetery Walk consists of selected performers who appear as celebrated persons in Belle Fourche history who are now buried in Pine Slope. Each living history performance is about 20 minutes long, and the performers often appear in period costumes. Chairs will be set up for the comfort of the audience.
People being presented at the 2016 event include Fidelia Gilger, Bertha Baird, Kathryn Giacometto, Mary Ritts, James Craig, John McClure, Gene Sly and Hi Hantz.
In the event of rain, Pine Slope Personalities will be held at the Tri-State Museum and Visitor Center at 415 Fifth Ave. For more information, call Sheila Frost at 892-3748.
PIERRE | South Dakota voters are getting their turn to be heard in the presidential race, just as the Democratic primary is nearing the finish line.
With a half-dozen states voting Tuesday, Hillary Clinton is hoping to clinch the nomination over Bernie Sanders.
Meanwhile, Republican voters will have to look down the ballot since Donald Trump became the presumptive nominee weeks ago. They'll find a raft of legislative primaries to choose from.
Here's a look at the election:
PRIME TIME
The Clinton-Sanders race is clearly the top draw. Clinton is favored to be the party's candidate, but there's little indication of how South Dakota will go.
Clinton won the state's primary in 2008 over Barack Obama, and she has key endorsements this time around from South Dakota Democratic heavyweights including former U.S. Sens. Tom Daschle and Tim Johnson.
But independents and unaffiliated voters can vote in South Dakota's Democratic primary. That's a possible boost for Sanders, said Jon Schaff, a political science professor at Northern State University.
South Dakota delegates up for grabs are proportionally allocated. A candidate has to get 15 percent of the primary vote to collect delegates.
GROUND GAME
Clinton didn't campaign personally in South Dakota, instead sending former President Bill Clinton and others on her behalf. Sanders did, holding rallies in Sioux Falls, Rapid City and Pine Ridge.
Clinton's state organization included field offices in Rapid City and Sioux Falls, five paid staff members and dozens of volunteers in South Dakota, State Director Adam Weiland said in an email. Final get-out-the-vote efforts include phone banks, surrogate media interviews and events across the state, Weiland said.
Sanders has an office in Sioux Falls and a Rapid City staging location where people gather before they canvass, said spokeswoman Diane May, who declined to provide staff or volunteer numbers for South Dakota.
TURNOUT
Although Trump, John Kasich and Ted Cruz will appear on the Republican primary ballot, the end of the competitive GOP campaign suggests turnout will be low on the GOP side.
Democrats should have higher interest thanks to the Clinton-Sanders race.
South Dakota has roughly 244,000 Republicans, compared to 168,000 Democrats and about 110,000 independents and unaffiliated people among its 524,500 registered voters, according to the secretary of state's office.
Secretary of State Shantel Krebs is projecting turnout of 20 to 25 percent, and she is encouraging people to participate in important local elections.
LEGISLATURE
Legislative candidates could face the most competitive primaries in South Dakota.
There are 22 Republican and four Democratic legislative primary races. Among the GOP races, Gov. Dennis Daugaard gave $1,000 each to at least nine Republican state Senate candidates who could influence the chamber's partisan tilt.
The highest-profile races include two term-limited west river Republican House members who are trying to move up by challenging their GOP counterparts in the Senate. The lack of polling makes outcomes difficult to gauge.
TRY AN APP
Voters can use the Secretary of State's Vote605 app to view a sample ballot and find their polling location from their phone. The app also gives citizens the ability to figure out where they are registered to vote. Polls are open Tuesday from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.
HURON | Two men who authorities suspect are involved in the death of a 49-year-old man in Beadle County have been arrested.
Beadle County State's Attorney Mike Moore says 50 year-old Kevin Krueger, of Beadle County, and 32 year-old Jose Antonio Vega, of Montevideo, Minnesota, are in custody on a first-degree murder charge.
Moore says 49-year-old Keith Houck was killed Tuesday at Krueger's home. That's where authorities found Houck's body Friday. Moore says Houck appears to have died of blunt force trauma to the head.
Krueger was arrested Friday. He requested release on a personal recognizance bond on Monday, telling Judge Jon Erickson he didn't actually strike Houck. Erickson set bond at $500,000 cash.
Vega was taken into custody Saturday in Minnesota, where he is waiting to be extradited to South Dakota.
Residents of South Dakota headed to the polls to vote in a number of local, state and national races on Tuesday, and the Journal set out to see what they had to say about candidates and the election.
Reporters fanned out across the region to ask voters how and why they voted as they did, and to capture their feelings toward the 2016 election as a whole. While many prominent local and county races were on the ballot, many focused their remarks on the presidential campaign.
Here is what they had to say:
Kristin Meunier, 36, Sturgis, teacher
Meunier, who lived in France for eight years, said she voted for the Bernie Sanders ticket because she has seen what social programs can do for the well-being of the people living in that country.
"I can stand behind the Democratic Socialist Model that Bernie is behind. It's the best things of capitalism and socialism," she said.
Ashley Frizzell, 19, Rapid Valley, engineering student at University of Wyoming
Ashley Frizzell feels strongly about keeping away foreign threats, saying that she has faint memories of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and that she fears a repeat of that horror.
Im against socialism, so Im against Bernie, and I think Hillary belongs in jail, Frizzell said. So this election is about picking between the lesser of two evils but theres still hope.
Boyd Kills Back, 26, Rapid Valley, unemployed
Boyd Kills Back said that his primary concern in this election is the cost of education. Kills Back observed that while some schools will freeze tuition for students, others will raise without warning. He also said that there was something he disliked about the mood of the election.
I guess Im OK with most of it, but I dont like seeing some of Trumps supporters on the news saying these racist things, Kills Back said.
Cassie Thompson, 21, Deadwood, waitress
Saying she is somewhat liberal, Thompson liked the idea of free college tuition, but said decisions made by both political parties in regard to seemingly never-ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were of deep concern to her and others of her age.
With the Republican Party, there is a lot of indecision. They change their mind with the wind, tell people what they want to hear at the time, and are extremely fickle. Of course, Hillary also changes her mind. But all Trump does is insult people. With that approach, how would he deal with problems with other countries and reach any sort of compromise?
John Skogberg, 75, Belle Fourche, retired extension agent
Skogberg wouldn't declare a party preference, but said, "I get a choice between Bernie and Hillary; does that tell you something?"
He said he's tired of this year's election cycle that runs too long, and that he has campaign finance concerns. He added that he's also concerned about Clinton's stance against Second Amendment firearms rights. "I will tell you that I don't always vote a straight ticket in the general election."
Ralph and Carol Boswell, both 62, Rapid Valley, hospital workers
Ralph and Carol Boswell noted that it was a constitutional right and duty to vote, with Ralph opining that if you dont vote, you shouldnt complain. Carol, meanwhile, lamented the candidacy of Donald Trump and the ugly tone of the election.
Its a bloodbath, and a maniac is in charge of the destruction, Carol said. Ive never been so discouraged about an election in all of my days. But well see what happens.
James Sullivant, 24, Rapid City, broadcast engineer
Sullivant voted for the first time ever on Tuesday because he wanted his voice to be heard on who won the highest public office in the land. It was important to cast a vote, otherwise it was just opinions in the wind, he said.
A registered independent, Sullivant said he voted for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders because he did not like the idea of businessman Donald Trump or former secretary of state Hillary Clinton becoming president.
Greg Mondillo, 56, Belle Fourche, publisher
Mondillo was blunt on his overall views of the primary: "I think the national election is a joke with the Democrat Party and all the criminality, and that nut from Vermont."
"I think Hillary is a criminal and the other one, I've met him; he's a nut. The old Democrats were for working people, the new Democrats are for themselves."
He's not much softer on the Republicans, saying, "The two parties should be called the Republicrats. The lesser of two evils will be voted for."
Joni Ronning, 55, Rapid City, retired
Ronning said she cant wait for the election season to be over. Im sick of it all the negativity in the national news.
I think were really gonna be in trouble no matter who we vote for, Ronning, a registered Democrat, said of the presidential race. She perceives all the presidential candidates as more interested in criticizing each other than talking about their plans for the country.
Tommy Thompson, 81, Belle Fourche, retired cattle buyer
Thompson is also a four-year Lawrence County commissioner, now living in Belle Fourche.
After serving as a Democrat commissioner in Lawrence County, Thompson is currently a registered Independent and said that seems to be a nationwide trend.
"I get disgusted with both parties," he said. "I think I'll vote for 'none of the above' the way it's going." He did say he'd voted for Clinton on the Democrat ticket, adding, "I think she's already got it."
Tami Bischoff, 30, Deadwood, elementary school teacher
The educator said she never regarded herself as political, but the current election cycle had shown her what she doesnt want in a politician. Bischoff said shed favor a candidate who is honest, kind and friendly, and she stressed the importance of exercising the right to vote.
I dont want someone who is a racist and wont do good things for our country. We need someone who can deal with international relations in a positive manner.
Bill Walsh, 76, Deadwood, small business owner
A lifelong Democrat who plans to be in Philadelphia in July for his eighth Democratic National Convention, Walsh said this years election cycle may seem a bit crazy to some, but it doesnt hold a candle to the one conducted in 1968.
I voted for the first woman president of the United States today; someone who will continue the policies of our great President Obama and expand on those policies, just as President Johnson did with the policies of Jack Kennedy.
Olivia Janssen, 18, Rapid Valley, will attend Bismarck State College
Janssen noted that she was eager to vote in her first election, adding that people have to understand that every vote counts and impacts what happens to the world. She said the hardest part of this election for her was hearing reason through all noise.
Its interesting for those of us who are first-timers, Janssen said. Theres so many different things said about all of the different candidates. You have to pick out what you can believe and what you cant.
Dean Rasmuson, 79, Boulder Canyon, retired forester
Rasmuson, a self-described moderate Republican who has lived in the Black Hills for 27 years, said he had real concerns over the presumptive GOP nominee.
I voted a Republican ticket today but I did not vote for Trump, primarily because of some of the comments hes made about minorities, and this federal judge. I think it will be Trump and Hillary and I havent made my mind up yet on how Ill vote there. Im still undecided.
Raymond Lewis, 89, Rapid City, retired
Lewis, a registered Republican, describes the current presidential campaign as rotten.
All theyve done is sling mud and drag each other down, Lewis said after casting his vote Tuesday morning.
Sharon Richardson, 74, Central City, self-employed
Calling herself a conservative voter who has lived in the Black Hills since 1990, Richardson said she wasnt overly concerned with local contests in Tuesdays primary election. But she has paid close attention to the unfolding campaigns on the national level.
Im concerned about the direction our nation is going. You only have to look at Venezuela to see what socialism would do. Free isnt free. There are so many people who want free -- free college tuition, free welfare, gimme, gimme, gimme. Pretty soon there is no one left to pay for it all and then were in big trouble.
Julie Egemo, 51, Belle Fourche, secretary
Egemo said she was voting because, "I feel its my American duty; we want changes."
She returned to the "changes for the good, to see good things happen."
"I don't really get involved in politics much, but I do know what's right and wrong and I like to see changes for the better."
Amy Olson, 63, Rapid Valley, freight worker at Target
Amy Olson felt that through all of the issues facing the American public today, the biggest concern was whether those running for public office were serving the people at all.
I dont think most of them are, Olson said. I have to take a hard look voting, because Im paying for their wages and most of them arent going to make sure they go to the right things. They need to work for the public, not themselves.
Charlene Afraid of Lightning, 61, Rapid City, unemployed
Afraid of Lightning found out she had walked to the wrong polling place once she reached the Lakota Homes-Oyate Community Center, the voting center closest to her home.
I thought since I changed my address through the postal service that my polling place would automatically be changed, she said on Tuesday morning, while waiting for a family member to drive her to the right polling place since she does not have a vehicle.
Afraid of Lightning, a registered Democrat and a supporter of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, said she always participates in elections.
Paul Saenz, 37, Rapid City, painter
Saenz, a registered Democrat, said he only voted for a presidential candidate since he does not closely follow local politics. He cast a vote for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders on the basis of principle despite the odds being in his rival Hillary Clintons favor.
I dont think it would really count but figured Id give it a shot, he said. I dont think Hillary would be a good candidate.
Lynda Neumiller-Simon, 60, Box Elder, rancher's wife
Neumiller-Simon is a veteran who strongly believes the president of the United States should make sure there is a strong military and have a successful background in business.
I think people need to educate themselves and not just take somebodys word for it, she said.
Still, she wasnt pleased with the tone of all the political campaigns and the lack of choices in candidates.
Its a little bit crazy this year, Neumiller-Simon said after voting at the Box Elder Events Center. I just really am tired of having to choose the lesser of two evils to vote."
Leonard Frein, 73, Box Elder, semi-retired
Frein voted in the Republican primary, but said he is so sick of the behavior by candidates in his party that he is planning on changing his registration to Independent.
This election is so messed up I dont know what is the best of the two evils, Frein said. I voted Trump, but that could change.
He said he doesnt care for any of the presidential candidates, but he still came out Tuesday to exercise his right. He said the state of politics today has him, scared for the future.
Bob Dietzman, 67, Box Elder, retired
Dietzman said he isnt happy with the candidate choices for president, but he voted for Hillary Clinton.
I dont think either one is worth a darn, Dietzman said after voting in Box Elder. Of the evils, she is the lesser one.
He said he is hoping to keep Donald Trump out of office for many reasons, mostly because of his lack of diplomatic experience and tendency to speak without thinking.
I think Trump is going to get us into a war with his mouth, he said.
Nick Amick, 23, Ellsworth Air Force Base, Airman
Amick is a Bernie Sanders supporter upset about the primary process in the Democratic Party and what he sees as an unfair system of awarding delegates.
Im mad about how our system is set up with the delegates," Amick said. And its not representative of our popular vote of the people.
DeLane Erickson, 39, Sturgis, South Dakota Army National Guard
Erickson said he sees voting as his civic duty, even when there are few candidates on the ballot.
He voted for the Trump ticket, but didn't elaborate about the candidate's qualities that swayed his decision.
Journal staff writers Tom Griffith, Deb Holland, Max B. O'Connell, Tiffany Tan, Milo Dailey and Jennifer Naylor Gesick contributed to this report.
Sen. Al Davis will pay a fine for violating the states disclosure laws regarding a bill he introduced and then withdrew during the 2015 legislative session.
The Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission voted to assess Davis a $500 fine for withdrawing LB 201, which would have taxed companies mining minerals in Nebraska. Davis owned 100,000 shares in NioCorp, a company looking to mine niobium in the state, when he introduced LB 201 to impose a severance tax on mining companies. He later withdrew the bill after a former senator and NioCorp executive convinced him the action would harm the potential for niobium mining in the state, though the company also provided Davis with a letter of support for the tax in the future.
State legislators can vote on matters that are interconnected with their personal finances or businesses, but must disclose that conflict of interest ahead of time.
John Gould of Common Cause filed the complaint against Davis in May 2015, saying the senator failed to disclose his conflict of interest in both introducing and withdrawing the bill. The settlement reached Friday with the Accountability and Disclosure Commission dismisses the allegation regarding the introduction of the bill, but finds that Davis did fail to disclose his conflict of interest in relation to withdrawing the bill.
A Scottsbluff man was killed when he wrecked his motorcycle south of Harrison Saturday.
Marcelo Escamilla, 54, died at the scene of the accident about 10 miles south of Harrison on Highway 29. A Nebraska State Patrol press release said Escamilla was northbound on his 2003 Honda motorcycle when he lost control on a 90-degree curve and rolled the bike. He was wearing a helmet.
The Sioux County Sheriffs Office and the Sioux County Rescue Squad also responded to the scene. The accident halted the high school rodeo taking place in Harrison until a back-up ambulance could arrive at the fairgrounds.
Hot Springs has been only home for Miss S.D.
HOT SPRINGS According to Ray Peterson, who for the last 50 years has served as the volunteer director and producer of the Miss South Dakota Pageant, the pageant has its roots in a Water Carnival that was once held at Larive Lake. Peterson earlier this year shared a history of the pageant at the Fall River History Conference, held at the Mueller Civic Center in January of 2016.
Lake Larive is located north of the city, between Cold Brook Lake and Evergreen Cemetery, off Germond Street.
The original water carnival had a little bit of everything, Peterson said, water floats, a talent contest, and in the evening people went into HS auditorium to vote for Water Festival Queen.
The festival began in 1927 and was run by the city Chamber of Commerce through 1937, Peterson said. During those years the carnival was quite a draw for Hot Springs, bringing tourists into the community.
In 1938, the carnival was taken over by the Business and Professional Womens Club, Peterson said. Poor weather conditions thinned the crowd that year, the last year the event was held at the lake.
In 1939, a group of businessmen decided that the Butler tract would be a better setting for the carnival.
Unfortunately, this location did not meet with audience approval, and the event ended abruptly
The last Water Festival Queen, crowned in June of 1936 as Miss Hot Springs, was Jane Miller passed away late in 2015.
Recounting this to the Hot Springs Star in 2012, Miller said the contestants wore gowns and swimsuits. There was no interview or talent competition, just a beauty pageant.
Miller topped 11 other contestants many her friends by three votes. The winner was decided by votes tallied at the Water Carnival dance, held in the old City Auditorium.
After the water carnival ended, the city Chamber of Commerce wanted to reactivate this drawing card to the city, Peterson said.
Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., during the early 1920s, the roots of the Miss America pageant were also growing, morphing from city and regional beauty contests into a nationwide effort, according to official Miss America pageant history records.
For example, in 1921, the junior class of Western High School in Washington, D.C. submitted 1,000 photos to be judged for a popularity contest. Margaret Gorman was chosen as the first Miss Washington, D. C., through this effort. Her prize was a trip to the Second Annual Atlantic City Pageant, as an honored guest.
Gorman, and similar winners from other states, entered this pageant, too. Gorman took the first place amateur prize; silent film actress Virginia Lee won the professional prize.
As the Miss America pageant grew, in 1935, Lenore Slaughter, a conservative Southern Baptist and pageant critic from St. Petersburg, Fla., voiced some issues with the pageant, an event she considered degrading, according to Peterson.
Slaughter wanted to improve the image of the pageant from a boardwalk beauty contest into something more. When Slaughter contacted the pageant sponsors to complain, they ended up hiring her for a six-month gig to generate new ideas for the pageant that would not be so degrading.
One of these ideas, from the mid-1940s, was to pull a representative from each of the 48 states in existence at that time to compete for national honors, Peterson said.
Since the growth of the Miss America effort fell directly in line with what Hot Springs was trying to do in trying to rejuvenate the water festival, the city quickly connected itself with the Miss America pageant. E. B. Adams, a prominent Hot Springs citizen, desired to stage a bigger and better pageant, and as a result, the Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce applied for and received the formal South Dakota franchise from the Miss America Pageant.
Hot Springs has held on to this franchise ever since, one of two of the longest running franchises maintained by a community in the Miss America pageant history. Seaside, Oregon shares the honor.
Slaughters six-week consultation lasted 32 years, because she was named Executive Director of the Miss America Pageant.
By 1947, Peterson said, the Hot Springs pageant now called the Miss South Dakota pageant had formally arrived. The first pageant was staged outdoors, at Woodward Field, on July 11, 1947. It remained there until 1964 when it moved inside to Case Auditorium.
In 1985, a Case Auditorium fire forced the pageant to move into what was at one time a cattle roping arena adjacent to the Red Eye Saloon.
The pageant returned to Case Auditorium in 1986 before moving to its now-permanent home at the Mueller Civic Center in 1988.
Peterson said many of the stages and platforms from Woodward Field remain in use, theyve simply been added to, to make them larger. Even the Hot Springs runway is original. It has been shortened from the original 48 feet, to 40 feet, and is now 32 feet long, so it can fit into Mueller Auditorium.
Peterson said the Miss South Dakota pageant holding to this runway tradition acts like a mini- Miss America pageant and may judges like this, because it is a signature of the Miss America pageant.
The pageant will celebrate its 70th Anniversary, June 16 18, 2016.
Honoring Donnell as founder of Arts and Crafts Festival is appropriate
HOT SPRINGS It is highly appropriate that Beulah Donnells art work specifically her historic water colors, many of which showcase Hot Springs unique architecture are on display at the Chautauqua Artisans Market, on North River Street, from June 7 - July 9, because at the center of this time, June 24 26, is the Main Street Arts and Crafts Festival.
The Arts and Crafts festival is a widely-heralded event that brings many people to Hot Springs. And it is to Beulah and her husband Art Donnell, that Hot Springs owes a great debt of gratitude for the festival. The Donnells, in 1976 40 years ago were the principal founders of the festival, which is attributed to have begun in 1974. They wanted to create an event that could be part of the United States Bicentennial (1776 1976), and something that could showcase the work of area artists and craftspeople. Centennial Park was chosen as the perfect site for this event because it was long and narrow similar to a city street hence the Main Street name.
In the four decades of growth since it began, their mission seems completed.
Beulahs life
Beulah and arts have been synonymous in Hot Springs, a 1998 Star article about Beulah Donnnell wrote.
Her daughter, Barb Highstreet, says she didnt have enough hours in the day to do the things she wanted to do and that the most important thing in her life beyond her family was her art and sharing it with the world.
One project after another, a new kind of learning techniques, art media or creative endeavor was her horizon, Highstreet wrote, describing why her mother was worthy of being included in the state Hall of Fame in Chamberlain, in 2005. Sharing it with others and teaching and inspiring occupied her every waking minute. Many projects were in stages of development as she investigated new ideas and creative endeavors. (Donnell was not inducted to the Hall of Fame.)
So who was the person behind this?
Her family called her Boo-Boo, Boo, Auntie Boo and Curly Beulah Gail Pritchett Donnell.
She was an October baby, born during the early days of the Roaring 1920s, in Crawford, Neb., to Bert and Lily Pritchett. A sister Violet (who would marry into the Inman clan) came four years later.
Some of the roar of the 1920s surely rubbed off on Beulah, when you look back at her life.
She was schooled at a country school near Crawford, attended high school in Ardmore, and in the beginning of World War II spent a year at Chadron State College (1941-42).
She worked as a teacher at the Indian Creek-Roller School, located west of Ardmore, for a year, then as deputy Fall River County Superintendent of Schools in Hot Springs until March of 1945. She served in the Womens Marine Corps, in Officer Personnel, at Camp Pendleton, near San Diego, Calif., through June of 1946, when she returned to Hot Springs.
After a short stint as a sales clerk in Hot Springs Philips & Barkley department store, she returned to teaching, this time in Orals grade school.
She met and married Art Donnell, after he moved from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania to Hot Springs with his brother John following the conclusion of his service during World War II. Together, they had three sons, Joseph, James and Andrew; and three daughters, Barb, Charlene and Jennie May. They would operate a paint store together as time continued.
Beulah received her teaching certificate through additional study and testing between 1948 and 1950, then worked at the VA as a clerk typist and sold Avon products through the early 1960s.
However, Beulahs heart was always in her creativity particularly her art along with some writing.
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, her life began traveling that trail, an art path.
In 1956, she opened an art studio and gallery in Hot Springs, while serving as an art and kindergarten teacher. And for the next 20 years, Beulah Donnell would pursue her hearts desire painting landscapes, still lifes, portraits and abstract art. Shed create wheel-thrown pottery, ceramics (including porcelain dolls). She quilted, knit, crocheted, framed art work, made jewelry.
Her art began to draw attention almost immediately. In 1957, for example, she won a first place award for a paper mache rabbits head costume at Hot Springs annual Firemans ball. By 1969, she was putting on one-person art shows, her first a mixed media show in Custer.
During the 1970s, her art flowered. She took a 1st place in the professional division in a juried Black Hills Art Association show for an oil landscape and received the 1973 Purchase Award for the Bicentennial picture at same show.
In 1975, her figures and landscapes won a Custer Art Colony award.
In April of 1976, she received an honorable mention at five state-juried show in Scottsbluff, Nebraska for her painting, Upstream. Also that year, one of her landscapes was chosen as one of 20 pieces of art from rural South Dakota to travel the state for two years as part of the East River Electric Bicentennial contest. She also designed a Womens Marine Corps ceramic cap bank which was mass-produced and used as a fundraiser for the Womens Marine Alumni Organization for the next three years.
She did a one-person art show at the Crazy Horse Memorial in 1978, also had shows at the Char Chief cafe in Hot Springs, and the Valley Cafe in Spearfish.
Later, 10 of her local scene paintings were featured in a bank.
She was a judge at local county fairs and hobby shows during the 1970s and 80s.
During the 1990s, her art again knew some growth. In 1992, her art was featured at the Artobertfest Open House in Rapid City and she was the artist-in-residence at the South Dakota State Fair. In 1997, she did the cover art for a newspaper and expanded her creativity into writing, producing a segment of a book, Leaning into the Wind: A Collection of Stories by Women of the West, published by Houghton Mifflin Co.
In July of 2001, Gov. William Janklow named July 22-24 as Beulah Donnell days in honor of her efforts to bring art and crafts to the area, and since it was her last year at the helm of the event.
Beulah was well known in Hot Springs and the surrounding Hills, Highstreet noted. People called her often to ask advice about painting, wallpapering, decorating, as well as community situations. Her art studio was a hub-bub of activity with people coming and going. Whether is was an art class being held or the weekly group of art ladies creating, people were utilizing the space as well as her expertise.
Her death (2003) created a big hole in the art community.
She served as the founder, president and treasurer of the Southern Hills Artist Association, was a member of the Black Hills Art Association, the Hot Springs Arts Council, the North Platte Art Association, the South Dakota Arts Council Association
The Arts & Crafts festival today
Since the Donnells along with others founded the Main Street Arts and Crafts Festival, it has also grown.
In the early years, only local artisans were involved. Today artisans and visitors from several states come to the show, as it is one of the featured events in the states Visitors Guide and South Dakota Magazine.
Many local organizations and individuals contribute to the success of the event, according to co-chairman Gerald Collogan and Frank Mason, who have been involved in the festival since the early 1990s.
Also, BRULE a Native American Experience in Sight, Sound and Soul will join in the 40th anniversary celebration with an indoor concert on Saturday, June 25, at 7 p.m. at the Mueller Civic Center. Admission for this concert is $20. Tickets are available at the Chamber of Commerce, 745-4140; the Depot, 745-6974; Black Hills Books and Treasures, 745-5545. Get your tickets early, because seating is limited.
The Main Street Arts and Crafts Festival days and hours this year are Friday, June 24, 12 noon 6 p.m.; Saturday, June 25, 10 a.m. 6 p.m., with BRULE at 7 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m. 3 p.m.
For more information, contact Collogan at (605) 440-2738, or e-mail hsartsandcrafts@gmail.com, website is http://mainstreetartsandcrafts.weebly.com/
Beulah Donnell Chautauqua Artist
HOT SPRINGS The works of Beulah Donnell the late local artist who was the founder of the Main Street Arts and Crafts Festival and Southern Hills Artists will be celebrated from June 7 through July 9 at the Chautauqua Artisans Market. Featured in the display will be her historic water colors, many of which showcase Hot Springs architecture. The market is located at 629 N. River in downtown Hot Springs.
The Rapid City Council on Monday sent a proposed new vacant house ordinance back to staff to fix several problems, including penalizing snow birds and potential privacy issues.
After public comments by two passionate citizens upset at having to register with the city and pay a $50 fee when they are on vacation for three or more months, nearly every council member expressed a strong belief that the ordinance either needed to be re-worked or scrapped.
Aldermen Chad Lewis, Brad Estes and Steve Laurenti agreed some long-vacant homes are creating problems for the city. But they said the proposed ordinance wont solve some issues and created other conflicts.
We do need to eradicate the city of these cancers, Laurenti said of the abandoned houses. He said city staff needs to put more teeth in the ordinance for code enforcement and other officials to be able to enforce it.
Lewis said he didnt want to see law-abiding homeowners get punished, and Estes said this was creating some unintended consequences.
Alderman Ritchie Nordstrom, who was involved in drafting the ordinance, agreed the rules needed work.
This was one of those unintended consequences because it was my intent to go after those property management companies, he said.
Alderman Ron Weifenbach said there are other ordinances that need to be enforced. He said he sees this proposal as a backdoor way to make a list of rental property owners in the city.
This is the foothold that I know some of the people on this council want to do, which is registering people who rent properties, Weifenbach said. Im not going to let that happen as long as I sit here.
Alderman John Roberts and Alderwoman Darla Drew expressed concern over lists created by the city of people who are away from their homes that could make it into the hands of criminals.
Assistant city attorney Jess Rogers told the Legal and Finance committee last week that most often when a property is in foreclosure and it is difficult to track down a person responsible for maintenance, the city has to take on caretaker duties and cannot easily collect the money owed for that.
Vacant properties also often become a nuisance leading to break-ins and squatters, and then become a police problem, Rogers said.
The city is dealing with 17 vacant properties that the city is involved with regularly.
The proposed ordinance would require owners of properties vacant for at least three months to pay a $50 fee and register with the city. The registration paperwork would require listing a contact person living in South Dakota who is responsible while the owner is away.
The new ordinance would also require the owner or person responsible for the property to deal with code enforcement citations within three days. This includes keeping mailboxes empty and fixing or covering broken windows.
The shortened timeline for a response allows city officials to charge a person with a criminal citation. This is done in the hopes of getting someone to "show-up" and deal with it and also so owners know the city is serious about this issue.
In other action Monday night,
The council approved the developer's agreement, which includes a tax-increment financing district, or TIF, for Black Hills Corp. and its new $70 million headquarters, over objections of Laurenti and Alderwoman Amanda Scott.
Alderman John Roberts noted that his favorite part of the developer's agreement was the line that states if the 50 new jobs are not created within three years, the city does not have to pay.
The council is at the second and final step in the process. The $6 million TIF application was approved in April. The company has said the TIF will aid in building space for 150 employees, including 50 new jobs at the complex being built at the Catron Boulevard-U.S. Highway 16 intersection.
The council also approved grant funding requests from Police Chief Karl Jegeris for $560,000 over five years to implement a body worn camera program for police, and to apply for a Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Grant to fund hiring three officers in 2017.
Civic Center task force spokesman Rod Pettigrew told the council the study group now has three panels reviewing the Americans with Disabilities Act violations, studying financing for any fixes that need to be done, and conducting social media relations, including the new Facebook page, RC Civic Center Resolution Task Force.
Mayor Steve Allender said he expects the civic center task force to finish its work in the first quarter of 2017 if not sooner.
PIERRE | Video lottery terminals can be placed in vented smoke shacks that some bar owners have built onto their establishments, according to several state administration officials.
An administrative policy now being followed by the South Dakota Lottery allows smoking at a video lottery establishment if it occurs in a non-enclosed area.
South Dakota voters ratified a state law in 2010 that banned smoking in public places, including bars, restaurants and gambling establishments.
But the lotterys policy rests in the laws definition of a public place.
It says a public place is any space between a floor and a ceiling that is enclosed, exclusive of doorways, on all sides by permanent or temporary walls or windows.
The smoke shacks attached to bars and casinos arent considered by lottery officials as public places under the law if they have at least a strip of open space for air to circulate.
Business people can put video lottery terminals in the smoke shacks at their own risk, according to state Lottery executive director Norm Lingle.
Lingle and his supervisor, state Revenue Secretary Andy Gerlach, talked about their administrative policy during a recent meeting with the South Dakota Lottery Commission.
Gerlach said decisions about how to treat smoke shacks now rest with local governments that issue the alcohol licenses.
Video lottery terminals are allowed only in licensed establishments that can sell alcohol for on-site consumption.
State Attorney General Marty Jackley said lottery officials didnt seek a legal opinion from his office about the smoke-shack policy and he hasnt issued one.
Gerlach said a business could move the terminals into smoke shacks and later remove them, so long as the data connection remained with the lotterys central computer.
Whether a business could place a video lottery terminal on a patio without any walls around it isnt clear, according to Gerlach.
He said the terminal must be in a place where alcohol is routinely served.
There have been questions raised in a variety of communities across South Dakota, including Watertown, Mitchell, Rapid City and Sioux Falls.
The Legislature, in passing the 2009 law, specifically repealed the previous exemption that allowed smoking in video lottery establishments.
The 2009 ban also continues to provide a limited exemption for cigar bars. There were two operating at the time. The law didnt allow for opening additional cigar bars.
Tobacco retail shops also are protected from the smoking ban but they are prohibited from holding alcohol licenses for on-site consumption.
Voters approved the smoking ban 204,160 to 113,011 at the 2010 general election.
Video lottery play dropped sharply after the smoking ban took effect and still hasnt regained its pre-2010 level.
Lingle told lottery commission members there arent state laws or rules for placement of video lottery terminals other than within the boundaries of the alcohol license.
If an owner wants to risk the terminal by exposing it to the outdoor elements, Lingle said, That is their decision.
Jennifer Stalley of Pierre was at the center of the lobbying effort seven years ago for the smoking ban. She said the definition of an enclosed structure could be tightened in state law to further enforce the ban.
I dont think it would take a lot to correct that in the Legislature, Stalley said.
The health risk might be the deciding factor, she suggested.
I think it is pretty clear employees should not be subjected to smoke, Stalley said. At the end of the day, the trial lawyers may take care of this.
Tony Venhuizen, Gov. Dennis Daugaard's chief of staff, deferred questions about the smoke-shack policy to Revenue Department lawyers.
The lotterys new policy wasnt mentioned in an April 30 memo sent to all video business businesses, local government officials and law enforcement.
Two surrogates for Hillary Clinton crisscrossed the state Monday telling South Dakotans that she would make the federal government work as well as it once did, especially in response to natural disasters.
James Lee Witt, who directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency under President Bill Clinton, barnstormed the state on the eve of todays primary election. He teamed with Rick Weiland, who worked for Witt as a regional FEMA director.
Weiland, who lost his 2014 U.S. Senate bid to Republican Mike Rounds, said the FEMA of the President Bill Clinton era won the respect of Americans with its responses to disasters, including the catastrophic 1998 tornado in Spencer, S.D.
Hillary Clinton would help restore that kind of functionality to the federal government, Weiland said. To help make the point, he played off the Make America great again slogan of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
What we really need, Weiland said, is to make our government great again.
Witt, an Arkansas native, headed that states Office of Emergency Services under then-Gov. Bill Clinton and was later appointed by President Bill Clinton to run FEMA. Witt led the federal agency from 1993 to 2001. Weiland was director of FEMAs Region VIII, which included South Dakota, from 1997 to 2001.
Witt said that Hillary Clinton, a former first lady, U.S. senator and U.S. secretary of state, is the only presidential candidate with the experience necessary to ensure that FEMA has adequate funds, staffing and leadership to prepare for and respond to future disasters.
Her experience is the key, Witt said. Shes probably the most experienced candidate for president weve ever had.
Witt and Weiland planned to visit Sioux Falls, Vermillion, Yankton, Spencer, Chamberlain, Presho, Murdo and Pine Ridge on Monday before arriving Monday night in Rapid City. A get-out-the-vote rally for Hillary Clinton is planned at 8 a.m. today at her campaign's Rapid City field office at 525 Kansas City St.
Heading into todays North Dakota caucus and primaries in South Dakota, California, Montana, New Jersey and New Mexico, Clinton is 23 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to win the Democratic nomination over Bernie Sanders, according to an Associated Press count early Monday.
An updated Associated Press count Monday night showed Clinton reached the 2,383 delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee on Monday with a decisive weekend victory in Puerto Rico and a burst of last-minute support from superdelegates.
Clinton has 1,812 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses. She also has the support of 571 superdelegates, according to the latest AP count. The AP surveyed all 714 superdelegates repeatedly in the past seven months, and only 95 remain publicly uncommitted.
Of the 25 Democratic delegates in South Dakota, 14 are up for grabs in todays election, six will be awarded later this month at the South Dakota Democratic Convention and five are superdelegates who can support whomever they please, regardless of the primary results. At least one of the superdelegates, former U.S. senator Tom Daschle, has announced he will support Clinton.
Lost Cabin Beer Co. became the latest business to join the Black Hills' burgeoning craft brew scene last month, when it opened a brewpub at 1401 W. Omaha St.
Their tasting room lineup features a number of original brews, as well as guest beers from regional breweries. Because I prefer beers that pack a punch, I went right for the Lord Grizzly Scotch Ale, which weighs in at 8.2 percent ABV. It's described as a "Malt bomb + notes of fig and toffee." It was probably my favorite of their lineup, after the Buzzard's Roost IPA, which also came in at a hefty 8 percent ABV.
Lost Cabin features live music, and on Fridays the Darning Hearts play starting at 5:30 p.m. The brewpub is open from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. It's closed on Mondays.
For more information, visit lostcabin.beer or call 605-718-5678.
Holy hoppin' Calamity
Visitors to Dakota Shivers Brewing in Lead should be on the lookout for Hop Calamity, which will be making an appearance at the brewery this month, according to Linda Shivers, who runs the brewery with her husband, Steve. This one is for those who like it "over the top," Linda said in an email. "If you like IPAs like we do, we are confident it will not disappoint."
The Hop Calamity is 5.25 percent ABV and over 90 IBU. Other beers on tap this month at Dakota Shivers include the 5280, Vertical Mile, IPA, Dark Matter RyePA and Whistle Blowin' Stout.
For more information, visit dakotashiversbrewing.com or call 605-415-5352
Pairing series at Hay Camp
Hay Camp Brewing Company has begun hosting a pairing series called The Social Club, in which they pair their craft brews with dishes. Co-owner Sam Papendick said the brewery will be hosting more beer and cheese combos, and future Social Club events will be for dessert or coffee pairings.
In addition to Hay Camp's mainstays, the Bitter Warrior and Victory Stout, other beers rotating through this month are the Better Brown Ale, The Centennial IPA, and the Hopdlebar Maltstache Double Pale Ale.
For more information, email info@haycampbrewing.com.
Live music at Crow Peak
Crow Peak Brewing Company in Spearfish will have live music by Matt Woods on Friday. On Saturday, Crow Peak will be serving beer at Spearfish City Park for the Gold Rush Gravel Grinder bike race. For more information, visit goldrushgravelgrinder.com.
Crow Peak's beer lineup this month includes the Canyon Cream Ale, Lookout Lager, Wickedly Charming Chile Ale, Pile O'Dirt Porter, 5.4 Decade Imperial IPA, Wobbling Wheel Scotch Ale, Spearbeer Pale Ale, Black Current Gose , Hitchin' Bock - Maibock, Easy Livin' Summer Ale, #BiggestSmallBeerEver - Brown Porter and the 11th Hour IPA.
For more information, visit crowpeakbrewing.com or call 605-717-0006.
Knuckle adds seasonal beers
The Knuckle Brewing Company in Sturgis has added a few seasonals to its draft lineup, including the 2nd Street Wheat, Black Hills Golden Pilsner and Stone Road Session IPA. Knuckle Brewing Company's Joe Desjarlais said in an email that the brewery is in the process of expanding and has added a 30-barrel system onto the back.
Open Vinyl Night at Miner
Miner Brewing Company in Hill City will be hosting an Open Vinyl Night from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. June 23. For more information, visit minerbrewing.com.
Russian tycoon Polonsky to stay in detention until August
MOSCOW, June 7 (RAPSI) The Moscow City Court on Tuesday extended the detention of real estate tycoon Sergei Polonsky, who stands accused of large scale fraud during the construction of two residential complexes, until August 12, RAPSI reported from the courtroom.
The alleged damage caused by Polonsky is estimated at over 2.6 billion rubles ($39.5 million) in total.
Investigation into the case has been completed; trial participants have almost finished familiarization with case materials.
Polonsky is the founder of Potok (formerly Mirax Group), a diversified corporation that has been involved in several large development projects including Federation Tower in the Moscow International Business Center, office buildings Mirax Plaza, Poklonnaya 11 and Admiral, condominium developments Fort Kutuzov, Kutuzovskaya Riviera, Rublyovskaya Riviera, Mirax Park, Golden Keys 1 and 2, and the Well House.
He ceded operational control of the company in 2012. Potok announced in October 2012 that businessman Alexei Alyakin signed a framework agreement to buy 100 percent of the companys stock from Polonsky. However, in February 2013 Polonsky, who was in prison in Cambodia at the time, sent an order to Potok to dismiss Alyakin from his position in the company.
In May 2015, the Cambodian authorities, where Polonsky had been avoiding Russian prosecution, extradited him to Russia. He is currently in detention in Moscow and facing fraud charges on the theft of 5.7 bln rubles ($86.7 mln) from Kutuzovskaya Mile interest holders.
If convicted, Polonsky could face up to ten years in prison. Polonsky has pleaded not guilty.
Kathmandu, Nepal: Final rites of veteran musician Ambar Gurung has been performed at Pashupati Aryaghat with full state honors on Tuesday evening.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Bhim Bahadur Rawal draped the body of Gurung with the national flag as final tribute from the state.
Gurungs eldest son Kishor Gurung offered the funeral pyre as a troop of Nepal Army offered a guard of honor in his respect.
Various dignitaries including of the Nepal government and hundreds of thousand fans had gathered at the Aryaghat to bid farewell to the national anthem composer Gurung.
The 79 year old Gurung had long been suffering from Parkinsons disease, diabetes and hypertension.
He had breathed his last at the Grande International Hospital in wee hours on Tuesday.
If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE).
"Fifty years ago this month, a young man and an older man sat down and began to plot the end of the death penalty in America." | Main | Terrific Stateline review of states' varied applications of and reactions to Miller
Reporters missed a story earlier this month when Attorney General Eric Holder announced new guidelines for his federal prosecutors in handling non-violent drug crimes. Holder said President Obama plans to reach out to members of Congress from both parties to begin work on legislation to revise federal mandatory sentencing rules for people convicted of non-violent drug crimes....
In this era of deep political paralysis on Capitol Hill it should have been headline news that legislation revising sentencing guidelines for drug convicts is miraculously bringing together conservatives and liberals, even Tea Party conservatives and Obama....
Conservatives, including Republicans such as Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who regularly use tough rhetoric about punishing criminals, have already signed on to the essence of what Holder and Obama want to see in congressional legislation. Even hardline conservative lobbying groups seem to be on board: Its a step in the right direction, though about five years too late, said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, in an interview with Time magazine.
My Fox News colleague, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a strong conservative Republican, proclaimed on Twitter: Finally found something I can agree with Eric Holder on sentencing too many people to prison for non-violent drug crimes.
The goal is to reduce the nations record prison population, now 40 percent over capacity. Conservatives as well as the president and attorney general are amazingly close to agreeing on the need to permanently revise thinking born during the crack epidemic of the 1980s that still has federal prosecutors asking for heavy mandatory sentences in 60 percent of cases involving any kind of illegal drugs....
Durbin and Lee, Democrat and Republican, have introduced a bill The Smarter Sentencing Act to revise the fixed sentencing guidelines for non-violent drug offenders. Leahy and Paul, another pairing across political lines, have introduced a similar bill the Justice Safety Valve Act of 2013 which gives judges more discretion to break away from the current mandatory sentencing guidelines. This bill has already won bipartisan House endorsements.
After Holders speech, Paul seemed to indicate the administration is following his conservative, libertarian lead in wrapping its arms around the idea of reducing prison sentences and cutting the cost that comes with housing so many prisoners. I am encouraged that the president and the attorney general agree with me that mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent offenders promote injustice and do not serve public safety, Paul said.
In fact, Pauls home state, Kentucky, as well as other GOP strongholds, including Arkansas and Texas, have already put in place programs to explore the impact of lesser drug sentences. In Kentucky, as Holder told the ABA, the prison population is being reduced by an estimated 3,000 inmates over the next decade, which will net savings of $400 million. Texas, Holder said, has reduced its prison population by 5,000 in the last year with new approaches to drug treatment and parole. Arkansas cut 1400 prisoners with a similar plan. Clearly these strategies work, Holder said. Theyve attracted overwhelming, bipartisan support in red states as well as blue states. And it is past time for others to take notice.
Jennifer Palmieri, the White House communications director, confirmed to me Holders announcement that the presidents fall agenda will include meeting with folks in Congress who are pursuing legislation as well as governors and mayors who have done innovative work on this issue.
The presidents personal attention to the issue could spark some conservative opposition because of their personal antipathy to him. But with existing support for the idea among Republicans on the Hill and in statehouses nationwide there is also a chance that a White House push on sentencing reform will raise public awareness, generate public support and gain the votes in Congress needed to enact potentially historic changes to 1980s sentencing laws that came out of the War on Drugs.
With the president and a line-up of his usual antagonists behind the same bill, the momentum for sentencing reform could be unstoppable. The result will be one of the biggest surprises of all the years of the Obama presidency a bipartisan success in passing new laws to reduce the nations prison population.
Lots of seemingly justifiable outrage after lenient California sentencing of privileged man convicted of three felony counts of sexual assault | Main | Is SCOTUS essentially telling Alabama its capital punishment process in unconstitutional through Hurst GVRs?
June 7, 2016
GOP Rep Labrador predicts "were going to see some of the greatest reforms in a generation" emerging from Congress
Someone should be collecting all the big talk we have heard from elected officials and pundits about the ground-breaking criminal justice reforms that are purportedly soon to happen in Congress (and, so far, just never quite seem to happen). As noted in this prior post, at least one notable commentatory was saying in summer 2013 that "momentum for sentencing reform could be unstoppable." Three years later, as reported in this local article discussing comments at a sentencing reform symposium, one notable member of Congress is still talking about momentum continuing to build:
Idaho GOP Rep. Raul Labrador says momentum is building in Congress for major criminal justice reforms aimed at reversing decades of focus on long prison terms that hit even nonviolent and first-time offenders. I believe that were going to see some of the greatest reforms in a generation, Labrador told a criminal justice reform conference at Concordia University School of Law in Boise on Monday. Momentum is building for reform. This Congress alone, Ive already met with President Obama twice. This is actually one area that I think I can work with the president. Labrador, a Republican and tea party favorite, last year co-sponsored major, bipartisan reform legislation, but it didnt advance. This year, a less ambitious bill is pending in both houses that includes some of the same provisions, including giving judges more discretion on whether to impose mandatory minimum sentences. We only have 5 percent of the worlds population in the United States, and the U.S. is home to 25 percent of the worlds prison population, Labrador said. We should not be proud of that. That bill and several others have cleared the House Judiciary Committee, Labrador said, and House Speaker Paul Ryan has expressed his support for the movement and has promised me to bring a reform package to the floor for a vote this year. It hasnt happened yet, and Labrador acknowledged that hopes are fading as more of the year passes by. Its a little bit watered down, he said. They had to look at the political reality, what can pass in the Senate and the House. Still, he pledged to continue to push the issue, one that Labrador, an immigration and criminal defense attorney, said he started work on as soon as he arrived in Congress.
Here are some more quotes of note that emerged from this Concordia University School of Law sentencing conference:
Eighty percent of federal drug prisoners have no history of violence, and more than 25 percent have no criminal history at all, said Alex Kreit, professor at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego and an expert and textbook author on controlled substances and marijuana regulation. This, in a nutshell, is what is driving interest in federal drug sentencing reform. Half of the federal prison population consists of drug offenders, Kreit said, though they comprise only a quarter of those admitted each year. Part of that is the lengthy drug sentences that we have. Though some reforms have happened, notably congressional action in 2010 to reduce the disparity between crack cocaine and powdered cocaine sentences, federal drug sentencing laws remain largely unchanged. I think there are a lot of people coalescing around the idea that what we have been doing hasnt worked in the way we wanted it to work, said Wendy Olson, U.S. Attorney for Idaho. I think all of us in criminal justice have an obligation to look at that. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill said his 28 years on the bench have shown him that the war on drugs has been an abysmal failure we certainly have not reduced drug consumption. Whatever has happened, it has not been worth the price that we have paid. He said its casualties have largely been low-level drug offenders who were associated with large quantities of drugs couriers, truck drivers, addicts hired to unload trucks. Kingpins are almost immune, in the same way that generals and commanders in chief are typically immune during wars, Winmill said, and if they are brought down, what happens is that theyre immediately replaced. Plus, though African-Americans and Hispanics use drugs at about the same rate as the general population, Winmill said, The incarceration rate for African-Americans and Hispanics is off the charts. Now, is that implicit bias? Is it overt bias? Is it a result of a policy from Congress that reflects bias? I dont know. But I think it certainly is something we need to think long and hard about.
June 7, 2016 at 09:53 AM | Permalink
Comments
When I read that Congressman Labrador said the he "already met with President Obama twice," I practically spilled my coffee.
Posted by: Michael R. Levine | Jun 7, 2016 1:27:21 PM
Everybody knows the general contours of a bill that could get 218 votes in the House, 51 in the Senate, and be signed by the President. The problem is that such a bill would not get 218 Republicans in the House and 51 Republicans in the Senate. The struggle to get a bill that Republicans can agree on guarantees that nothing will be done before the 4th of July/Convention recess. The chances of anything getting done when the parties return for the pre-election session are slim and none. The only chance would be to attach the bill to an appropriations bill.
Posted by: tmm | Jun 7, 2016 1:43:37 PM
The Congressman was quite explicit about meeting with Obama. It was a great conference, if I do say so myself. Professors Jack Chin, Lea Johnston, JJ Prescott, Kari Hong, and Alex Kreit were fantastic.
Posted by: Andrew C Kim | Jun 9, 2016 3:29:35 PM
You assembled a great line-up, Andrew. Are there going to be any papers published?
Posted by: Doug B. | Jun 9, 2016 3:34:08 PM
Post a comment
GOP Rep Labrador predicts "were going to see some of the greatest reforms in a generation" emerging from Congress | Main | New York Times editorial calls for "federal oversight of prosecutors offices that repeatedly ignore defendants legal and constitutional rights"
The question in the title of this post is prompted by this notable new local article headlined "For third time in 5 weeks, Supreme Court tells Alabama to reconsider death row case." Here are excerpts:
For the third time in five weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court has told an Alabama appeals court to reconsider an Alabama death row inmate's appeal in light of the Supreme Court's ruling earlier this year striking down Florida's capital punishment scheme.
Two Alabama attorneys said Monday that the moves by the high court indicate justices may be looking at striking down Alabama's death sentencing scheme as unconstitutional. "Personally, I think its crystal clear the Supreme Court has real concerns about the constitutionality of our current death penalty and is clearly putting us on notice of that fact," said Birmingham attorney John Lentine.
Bryan Stevenson, executive director and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, also stated in an email to AL.com on Monday that "we believe it's now very clear that the U.S. Supreme Court recognizes that Alabama's death penalty scheme is called into question following the Court's ruling in Hurst v. Florida earlier this year. There have been serious flaws in Alabama's process of imposing the death penalty for several years and state courts are going to have to now confront these problems."
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday remanded the case of Alabama Death Row inmate Ronnie Kirksey back to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals for reconsideration of his appeal in light of the Hurst v. Florida decision in January. The U.S. Supreme Court last month had also ordered the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals to reconsider its decision in the appeals of Corey Wimbley and Bart Johnson in light of the Florida case....
At issue with Alabama's death penalty scheme is that Alabama permits judges to override a jury's recommendation for a life sentence and impose death. Alabama was one of only three states that allowed such an override. The others were Florida and Delaware. Legislators in Florida's legislature re-wrote its capital punishment sentencing law this spring.
Jefferson County Circuit Judge Tracie Todd in March ruled in four of her capital murder cases that Alabama's capital punishment sentencing scheme is unconstitutional based on the Hurst case. The Alabama Attorney General's Office has appealed Todd's ruling. The decision was spurred by the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in January that Florida's sentencing scheme allowing judges to override juries in death penalty cases is unconstitutional. Alabama has a similar sentencing scheme.
A number of attorneys around the state have challenged on behalf of their clients the constitutionality of Alabama's capital murder sentencing scheme based on the Florida ruling. All but Todd, however, denied those requests. District attorneys and Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange have said Alabama's law is not the same as Florida's.
First, Alabama's sentencing scheme was ruled constitutional in 1995 by the U.S. Supreme Court, state prosecutors say. They also have pointed out that the high court held in the Florida case that a jury must find the aggravating factor in order to make someone eligible for the death penalty. Alabama's system already requires the jury to do just that, according to an Alabama Attorney General's statement.
Is SCOTUS essentially telling Alabama its capital punishment process in unconstitutional through Hurst GVRs? | Main | Minnesota survey suggests marijuana reform can help with opioid issues ... and other recent highlights from Marijuana Law, Policy & Reform
June 7, 2016
New York Times editorial calls for "federal oversight of prosecutors offices that repeatedly ignore defendants legal and constitutional rights"
This new New York Times editorial, headlined "To Stop Bad Prosecutors, Call the Feds," call for improving state criminal justice systems by having more federal oversight of those system. Here is the full editorial, concerning which I am eager to hear reactions:
Prosecutors are the most powerful players in the American criminal justice system. Their decisions like whom to charge with a crime, and what sentence to seek have profound consequences. So why is it so hard to keep them from breaking the law or violating the Constitution? The short answer is that they are almost never held accountable for misconduct, even when it results in wrongful convictions. It is time for a new approach to ending this behavior: federal oversight of prosecutors offices that repeatedly ignore defendants legal and constitutional rights. There is a successful model for this in the Justice Departments monitoring of police departments with histories of misconduct. Among the most serious prosecutorial violations is the withholding of evidence that could help a defendant prove his or her innocence or get a reduced sentence a practice so widespread that one federal judge called it an epidemic. Under the 1963 landmark Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland, prosecutors are required to turn over any exculpatory evidence to a defendant that could materially affect a verdict or sentence. Yet in many district attorneys offices, the Brady rule is considered nothing more than a suggestion, with prosecutors routinely holding back such evidence to win their cases. Nowhere is this situation worse than in Louisiana, where prosecutors seem to believe they are unconstrained by the Constitution. This month, the Supreme Court will consider the latest challenge to prosecutorial misconduct in Louisiana in the case of David Brown, who was one of five men charged in the 1999 murder of a prison guard. Mr. Brown said he did not commit the murder, but he was convicted and sentenced to death anyway. Only later did his lawyers discover that prosecutors had withheld the transcript of an interview with another prisoner directly implicating two other men and only those men in the murder. This is about as blatant a Brady violation as can be found, and the judge who presided over Mr. Browns trial agreed, throwing out his death penalty and ordering a new sentencing. But the Louisiana Supreme Court reversed that decision, ruling that the new evidence would not have made a difference in the jurys sentence. David Browns case is a good example of how every part of the justice system bears some responsibility for not fighting prosecutorial misconduct. State courts often fail to hold prosecutors accountable, even when their wrongdoing is clear. Professional ethics boards rarely discipline them. And individual prosecutors are protected from civil lawsuits, while criminal punishment is virtually unheard of. Money damages levied against a prosecutors office could deter some misconduct, but the Supreme Court has made it extremely difficult for wrongfully convicted citizens to win such claims. This maddening situation has long resisted a solution. What would make good sense is to have the federal government step in to monitor some of the worst actors, increasing the chance of catching misconduct before it ruins peoples lives. The Justice Department is already authorized to do this by a 1994 federal law prohibiting any pattern or practice of conduct by law enforcement officers that deprives a person of legal or constitutional rights. The department has used this power to monitor police departments in Los Angeles, New Orleans, Detroit and Seattle, among other municipalities with a history of brutality, wrongful arrests, shootings of unarmed civilians and other illegal or unconstitutional practices. For the most part, the results have been positive. Since prosecutors are also law enforcement officers, there is no reason they and their offices should be immune from federal oversight. Of course, many district attorneys offices will balk at being put under a federal microscope. But nothing else has worked to prevent misconduct by prosecutors, and the Justice Department is uniquely equipped to ferret out the worst actors and expose their repeated disregard for the law and the Constitution.
Because I do not closely follow local police practices or federal oversight of local police departments, I am not in a position to question (or concur with) the editorial's assertion that "for the most part, the results have been positive" from DOJ's monitoring of some big-city police departments. But even if DOJ has been generally successful at supervising problematic police practices, I am not certain that this means that it could or would be successful at supervising problematic prosecutorial practices. At the same time, there is good reason to be concerned that, at least in some local jurisdictions, it does seem that "nothing else has worked to prevent misconduct by prosecutors."
Personally, I would generally favor a "sunlight is the best disenfectant" approach to dealing with forms of significant lawyer misconduct: how about the feds calling for states to maintain public on-line registries of all public lawyers (both prosecutors and defense attorneys) who clearly have been found guilty of unconstitutional/unethical behavior. I suspect all criminal lawyers now know just how troublesome it can be to have an "on-line record," and so maybe the threat of such a record of misconduct will help deter such behavior in the first instance.
June 7, 2016 at 11:43 AM | Permalink
Comments
Agreed, Professor. It certainly isn't as though the DOJ is free of prosecutorial abuses.
Posted by: Fat Bastard | Jun 7, 2016 12:35:41 PM
Who's gonna watch the Feds, certainly NOT college law professors. They didn't watch the Supreme Court and they won't watch the DOJ.
Posted by: albeed | Jun 7, 2016 1:15:04 PM
You both are thinking like me. Who is going to watch the Ausa and the federal judges that brow beat the snot out of their districts?
Posted by: MidWestGuy | Jun 7, 2016 10:33:13 PM
A better solution is for one of the more "progressive" or "conservative" states to enact such guidelines through their legislative or initiative process. If successful, then other states can follow that process. I am extremely angry at the federalization of laws that were supposed to be left at the state level.
Posted by: Eric Knight | Jun 10, 2016 12:43:12 PM
Post a comment
The Mission is overrun with Jewish socialists rn. @davidcampossf & @supejanekim stopped the people's candidate to introduce him to the people's comedian. A photo posted by Nato Green (@mrnatogreen) on Jun 6, 2016 at 4:02pm PDT
Candidate for the Democratic Party's presidential nominee Bernie Sanders hit the streets of the San Francisco today ahead of tomorrow's California primary vote. He first strolled through Chinatown with the Sanders-endorsed Jane Kim, before heading to the Mission where he spoke at the 24th Street City College campus.
There he spoke of climate change, health care, pay equity and "corporate media" (you can watch his entire speech online).
"Climate change is real and it's a powerful threat" @BernieSanders pic.twitter.com/1YOukVPe6i Sana Saleem (@sanasaleem) June 6, 2016
He also posed with Mission District Supervisor David Campos and Candidate for District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen.
Sanders was set to arrive at a big rally across town at Crissy Field this afternoon as well, where a concert kicked off at 3:30 p.m. featuring Fishbone and Dave Matthews.
Sanders wasn't the only figure of note in the Bay Area today former president Bill Clinton stumped for his wife across the Bay in Oakland earlier.
Unexpectedly outside our regular lunch spot in Oakland today: @billclinton pic.twitter.com/UEOdCliQGv Laurie Voss (@seldo) June 6, 2016
Whether or not Sanders's visit to San Francisco will make any difference in tomorrow's race is anyone's guess. Statistics website Five Thirty Eight has his chances of winning California at 14 percent.
No word on if he swung by any coffee shops while in the neighborhood.
Related: Big Bernie Sanders Event At Crissy Field Monday To Feature Dave Matthews, Fishbone, And More
A man who was waiting for Muni was ejected from a Market Street bus shelter Friday, by a gun-wielding mugger who allegedly beat his victim before sending him on his way.
It was 2:13 a.m. Friday when a 22-year-old man waited at a Muni shelter at Fifth and Market streets, close to the Westfield San Francisco Centre.
A man police say looked to be between 19 and 20 approached the waiting man and punched him "multiple times in the head." As the recipient of his blows fell to the ground, the attacker "pulled out a gun" and demanded his property.
When the victim handed over his cash and cell phone, his mugger told him to leave the area. The victim complied, found a phone, and called 911 to report the attack.
Crime is noting new for the area of Friday's mugging: As reported this January, Market between 4th and 5th is San Francisco's "most criminal" block, with 1,400 generated in that area in 2015.
In Friday's robbery and assault, police say, the victim was transported to San Francisco General hospital for lacerations sustained in the attack, and is expected to recover. According to the San Francisco Police Department, the suspect remains on the loose as of Monday morning.
Related: SF's Most Criminal Block Is [Drumroll] Market Between 4th And 5th
The father of convicted rapist and former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner says his son shouldn't go to jail for "20 minutes of action." The sentencing of Turner, who was found guilty of three felonies for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman in 2015, to only six months by the judge overseeing the case for fear that a longer sentence would have a severe impact on him has sparked outrage and led to calls for a recall of the judge.
According to the Guardian, Brock Turner faced up to 14 years in prison but will now serve only a fraction of that in a county jail. In a statement provided to the court and published in part by ESPN, Turner's father, Dan A. Turner said his son deserved leniency.
"His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve," wrote Dan Turner. "That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life."
#brockturner father: son not "violent" only got "20 mins of action" shouldn't have to go to prison. @thehuntinground pic.twitter.com/IFECJs687b Michele Dauber (@mldauber) June 5, 2016
His plea, it seems, did not fall on deaf ears as Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky decided that a lack of a prior criminal record meant the younger Turner should be spared a harsher sentence lest it have a "severe impact on him."
The San Jose Mercury News reports that with good behavior, he'll likely only be in jail for three months.
The details in the case are disturbing captured in part by a powerful statement released by the victim (whose name has not been released). "[All] that I was told was that I had been found behind a dumpster, potentially penetrated by a stranger, and that I should get retested for HIV because results dont always show up immediately," she writes in the letter picked up by Buzzfeed.
Turner was discovered, mid-assault, by two passing students. Turner tried to flee, but the students chased him down on bicycles, tackled him, and held him until police arrived.
Mugshot of ex-Stanford swimmer Brock Turner, who was sentenced 6 months for sexual assault. https://t.co/R9kiFNLu5k pic.twitter.com/9ynkZiW9pr ABC7 News (@abc7newsBayArea) June 6, 2016
"The sad reality is that sexual assaults are committed by people you'd never expect, by people who look like Mr. Turner," the Mercury News reports Deputy District Attorney Alaleh Kianerci as saying. "The fact that he looks a certain way should not give him any leniency."
Meanwhile, one prominent blogger has suggested a recall effort aimed at Judge Persky, and a change.org petition working to have Persky removed is also racking up signatures passing 15,000 at the time of this publication.
The write-in deadline for candidates has passed; it seems it would take ~8000 signatures to recall Persky. Anil Dash (@anildash) June 5, 2016
"He is a lifetime sex registrant," wrote the victim of Turner. "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."
Turner's lawyers plan on appealing the conviction.
In a brief interview today with The Guardian, the victim spoke movingly of her decision to remain anonymous and the outpouring of support for her on social media. I remain anonymous, yes to protect my identity," she explained. "But it is also as a statement, that all of these people are fighting for someone they dont know. Thats the beauty of it."
"I dont need labels, categories, to prove I am worthy of respect, to prove that I should be listened to," she continued. "I am coming out to you as simply a woman wanting to be heard. Yes there is plenty more Id like to tell you about me. For now, I am everywoman.
Update: Stanford today released a statement, embedded below in its entirety, regarding its role in the case.
Stanford University did everything within its power to assure that justice was served in this case, including an immediate police investigation and referral to the Santa Clara County District Attorneys Office for a successful prosecution. Stanford urges its students to do the right thing and intervene and we are proud of our students for stopping this incident. Many other student witnesses cooperated in the investigation. Once Stanford learned the identity of the young woman involved, the university reached out confidentially to offer her support and to tell her the steps we were taking. In less than two weeks after the incident, Stanford had conducted an investigation and banned Turner from setting foot on campus - as a student or otherwise. This is the harshest sanction that a university can impose on a student. There has been a significant amount of misinformation circulating about Stanfords role. In this case, Stanford University, its students, its police and its staff members did everything they could. Stanford University takes the issue of sexual assault extremely seriously and has been a national leader in taking concrete steps to implement prevention programs, to train students on the importance of bystander intervention, to provide support to students who may experience sexual assault and to assure that cases are handled fairly and justly. This was a horrible incident, and we understand the anger and deep emotion it has generated. There is still much work to be done, not just here, but everywhere, to create a culture that does not tolerate sexual violence in any form and a judicial system that deals appropriately with sexual assault cases.
Second Update: Brock Turner's father today spoke out about the uproar surrounding his "20 minutes of action" comment. What I meant with that comment is a 20 minute period of time," The Huffington Post reports Dan Turner as saying. "I was not referring to sexual activity by the word action. It was an unfortunate choice of words and I did not mean to be disrespectful or offensive to anyone.
That he appears to view a sexual assault as somehow less deserving of prison time if lasts under 21 minutes was not addressed.
Previously: Former Stanford Swimmer Sentenced To 6 Months In Campus Rape Of Unconscious Woman
Victim Of Stanford Rape Releases Powerful Letter She Read In Court
It was a violent weekend capping off a kind of crazy week for crime last week. On top of the motorcycle that plowed into a 9-year-old girl in the Mission Saturday afternoon, there was a drive-by shooting early Sunday morning at 22nd and Bartlett that injured two people, a fatal stabbing Sunday morning at 16th and Mission, and a fatal shooting at Sixth and Harrison right around the time of the drive-by Sunday morning as well.
As KRON 4 reports, around 2 a.m. Sunday, "a 28-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman were fired at by a man in a slow-moving white sedan." The woman was struck in the thigh and the man suffered an abrasion to the face and both are expected to survive.
Minutes later, at 2:06 a.m., a 19-year-old man identified as Sean Ford was shot and killed near the intersection of Sixth and Harrison Street and the incident is being investigated as a homicide, as the Examiner reports. No further details are available about the shooting at this time.
At least one person on Twitter has suggested the shooting happened outside or inside The Endup nightclub.
@KTVU go see bout that shooting at the endup SWEATTEAM CH!P (@RichCityChip) June 5, 2016
Then, at 7:40 a.m. Sunday, 55-year-old Larry Peevy was found suffering from multiple stab wounds at 16th and Mission. He was pronounced dead on arrival after being transported to SF General. His case is also being investigated as a homicide.
Per the Ex, if these two deaths are classified as homicides, they will mark the 20th and 21st in San Francisco this year.
Previously: Woman Killed In Early-Morning Mission District Shooting
Everyone be cool: There was a mountain lion near Cupertino, and it growled at some kids, and that was probably very frightening, but everyone is safe now, the mountain lion quite the specimen! included.
The Mercury News reports that the Sheriff's Office evacuated McCLellan Ranch Preserve, the site of the sighting not far from Cupertino, as a precautionary measure. Captain Rick Sung was "very concerned" after the lion snarled at some kids and ran up a tree, but the California Department of Fish and Wildlife folks, who responded to the scene, elected not to tranquilize and relocate the animal, waiting for it to leave of its own accord. It did, stalking off sometime after night fell.
Usually, says Sung, "people will see [the mountain lion] and the mountain lion will just walk away," so this instance was a bit more troubling. In California, there have only been 14 reported mountain lion attacks since 1986.
The AP (via the Press Democrat) makes mention of the incident at a Cincinnati Zoo recently where a gorilla was shot and killed after a child fell into its enclosure. You read about this in the news. Sung responded, seemingly, to that incident, saying "Of course we're not shooting the mountain lion. Absolutely not." I mean, look at that thing.
The only thing is, it's not like this hasn't ended with a mountain lion being shot after actually attacking a kid...
Related: Multiple Mountain Lion Sightings On Streets Of SF
Remember how powerhouse, old-school defense attorney Tony Serra spent half of last year painting Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow as a reformed gangster with no desire but to do good in the community and play with his girlfriend's dogs? Well, now, nearly six months after his conviction on 162 different racketeering, murder, and other criminal charges, and the vow from attorneys Serra, Curtis Briggs, and Tyler Smith that they would be appealing, the three attorneys have filed a request with U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer to withdraw as Chow's counsel in the case. They cite "irreconcilable differences," as the Chronicle is reporting, and they wrote in the filing, "The present state of the relationship makes it impossible for the defense team to proceed further on behalf of the defendant."
Chow has apparently agreed to let them off the case.
The filing comes a few days after Judge Breyer rejected their initial motion to appeal last week, in which they argued for a new trial on the basis that the witness list for the defense was unfairly limited while the prosecution was allowed broad ability to call witnesses on topics that were supposed to be off-limits.
According to a statement made by Briggs to the Examiner, the real issue is that they are trial lawyers, and it's time for appellate lawyers to take over. "This is a time when communication just be seamless so as to win the reversal he deserves," Briggs said, "[and] it is time for us to let go and allow appellate lawyers to win his freedom."
Grandly, Briggs also called Chow's case "the most significant case in the history of San Francisco" and he added that his conviction "illustrates how our elite politicians influence the judiciary, the FBI, and the US Attorney."
At issue from early in the case, on which Serra worked for two years, was the fact that the FBI sting that implicated Chow for a range of offenses also ensnared a number of politicians, including several close to the mayor. As a result of the same years-long effort, former state senator Leland Yee got five years in jail, and three other local politicos including former school board president Keith Jackson were indicted on corruption charges in January shortly following Chow's trial. Serra insisted that federal prosecutors only had "shadows of evidence" and called Chow's prosecution "government-created crime."
Previously: Shrimp Boy Described As 'Buddha-Like' As His Attorneys Vow To Appeal Verdict
Shrimp Boy Guilty On 162 Criminal Counts, Including Racketeering And Murder
One of two Swedish students whose late-night actions led to the arrest and eventual conviction of Stanford rapist Brock Turner spoke with the Swedish publication Expressen today, describing how they came across the attack on January 18, 2015 when it was already in progress and could immediately see that something wasn't right.
We saw that she was not moving, while he was moving a lot, Buzzfeed translates Carl-Fredrik Arndt as explaining in Swedish. So we stopped and thought, This is very strange.'
The victim, whose powerful court statement describing the attack and its aftermath has garnered worldwide attention, was reportedly unconscious and partially unclothed behind a dumpster while Turner sexually assaulted her.
When he got up we saw that she still wasnt moving at all," explained Arndt, "so we walked up and asked something like, What are you doing?' "
According to the men, Turner took off running and Peter Jonsson gave chase while Arndt checked on the unnamed victim. She lay perfectly still, recalled Arndt worried that she may not breathing.
Jonsson managed to catch Turner after about 30 meters according to Arndt, and both Jonsson and Arndt restrained him until police arrived.
Turner, who was convicted of three felonies assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated/unconscious person, penetration of an intoxicated person, and penetration of an unconscious person was sentenced to six months in a county jail out of a possible 14-year sentence. With good behavior, he could serve as little as three months.
Jonsson and Arndt have never met the victim, but Arndt told Expressen that he had read her victim statement. "I saw it the other day and it was very strong. Obviously, it is a great joy to be able to help her."
According to a 2015 Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 20 percent of college women say they were sexually assaulted while in college and 25 percent of college women say they "suffered unwanted sexual incidents" while in college.
Meanwhile, Turner's actual, bloodshot-eyed mugshot from the night of the assault is now making the rounds, and Gawker points out that perhaps the editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed, Ben Smith, doesn't need to take such shallow pleasure in the click-worthiness of the rape victim's letter.
And in related news, the drummer in the Ohio-based female trio The Good English recently spoke out in support of Turner, and in response several Brooklyn venues that were set to host the band have canceled their shows, as Gothamist reports.
Previously: Stanford Rapist's Dad Says Jail Not Warranted For '20 Minutes Of Action'; Petition Starts To Recall Lenient Judge
Victim Of Stanford Rape Releases Powerful Letter She Read In Court
Former Stanford Swimmer Sentenced To 6 Months In Campus Rape Of Unconscious Woman
Stanford Freshman Arrested For Raping Woman In Public
A Lower Haight criminal found an odd way to express his or her (way early) holiday spirit Monday, when they broke into an area resident's home and stole her Christmas ornaments.
According to the San Francisco Police Department, the grinch invaded the home of a 47-year-old female resident of the 100 block of Fillmore, which is between Hermann and Waller Streets, some time between 2 and 7:30 a.m. Monday.
In SFPD's report, they say that when the victim awoke Monday, she "saw that the mailboxes had been pulled out in front area of her complex."
Police say that it is "unknown if any mail was taken," but the anti-elf found another target! According to SFPD, the suspect broke into the woman's garage, and stole only one thing: a box of Christmas ornaments.
Police didn't have any suspect information in this case, including if the suspect's brain was full of spiders, or if he or she had garlic in their soul. As of Tuesday morning, police say, no arrests had been made.
This is part of an ongoing series about the various staircases, and stair streets, of SF. See all installments here.
It's only fair that Adah Bakalinsky has a San Francisco stairway named for her. She did, after all, write the book on them.
"I feel favored to live in San Francisco," Bakalinsky begins the preface to her guidebook, Stairway Walks in San Francisco, first published in 1995 1984. "It is the perfect place for me to continue the tradition of walking that I enjoyed with my parents and grandparents. I always find someone to talk with who shares another portion of San Francisco history with me. Plus I enjoy the weather."
Adah's particular stairway may not be the grandest among all those she highlighted, but it's nevertheless a testament to her enduring influence. Until 2012, the stairway that now bears her name and the strip of land beside it was known as the Waller & Broderick Street Park according to Curbed, sitting at the corner of those streets just east of Buena Vista Park. The park was overgrown and poorly kept, by most reports, and so in 2013 fans of Bakalinsky began planning to refurbish it with $70,000 in funds from donations and a community challenge grant from the city.
After a year of work from volunteers, the Chronicle covered the dedication of Adah's Stairway last year. Sadly, Bakalinsky couldn't attend. Now in her nineties, she had been hospitalized with pneumonia following a fall.
However, according to attendees, the stair master was very much there in spirit. Shes the impetus behind this stairway, Amber Hasselbring, executive director of local nonprofit Nature in the City, told the Chronicle. The neighbors were working to improve it for years, but there was little ownership. Adah was so excited about it, and they responded to that enthusiasm. She has a bit of a following in this city.
She was a major source of inspiration, landscape architect Bonnie Fisher, who helped with the project, also said. "My interest was piqued in creating a more beautiful space.
Now, though some patches of dirt remain, flowers are in bloom and birds appear at home on Adah's Stairway, where a sign proudly bears her name. In her book, Bakalinsky quotes Leonardo Da Vinci on the art of walking. "Feet are masterpieces of engineering," he wrote, but Bakalinsky had found some faults. Walking all 600-plus stairways in the city took its toll, so for his help, she explicitly thanked her podiatrist.
Fortunately, Adah's own Stairway is a mere 91 steps that's nothing, she'd surely say.
Previously: The Steps Of San Francisco: The Esmeralda Stairs Up Bernal Hill
The Steps Of San Francisco: All About The Filbert Steps On Telegraph Hill
SIOUX CITY | Voters in Iowa and South Dakota head to the polls Tuesday to select their party's nominees for the Nov. 8 general election.
Polls for Tuesday's primary election are open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. in Iowa and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in South Dakota. Early voting has been underway for weeks.
The Siouxland contests in Iowa include county supervisor races, a few Republican legislative primaries, picking a Democratic U.S. Senate nominee from four candidates and determining the Republican nominee for the 4th congressional district. Woodbury County Auditor Pat Gill said the variety of races has boosted interest beyond that seen in 2012 and 2014.
U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, has served 14 years and is being challenged by Republican state Sen. Rick Bertrand, of Sioux City. Bertrand says King is not effective for people living in the 39 northern counties, while King says his record warrants an eighth term.
The Iowa House races involve Republicans running for Districts 4 and 6.
District 6 includes the Morningside area of Sioux City, and the Sergeant Bluff, Bronson and Salix areas. Two Republicans from Sioux City are vying to succeed state Rep. Ron Jorgensen, a Sioux City Republican who is leaving office after six years in the Iowa House. The primary candidates are Jacob Bossman, regional director for U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley's Sioux City office, and attorney Jim Carlin.
District 4 covers most of Sioux County. Republicans Jeff VanDerWerff, of Orange City, Skyler Wheeler, of Orange City, and Kevin Van Otterloo, of Rock Valley, are the candidates.
Woodbury County has three primary contests for County Board of Supervisors positions. Even though the county is divided into districts, people can vote for all the races, regardless of where they live.
There is a Democratic primary in District 3, where Marty Pottebaum, a former Sioux City councilman, is running against 12-year incumbent supervisor Mark Monson, of Sergeant Bluff.
In District 1, Sioux City Councilman Keith Radig is squaring off against former councilman John Fitch in the Republican primary. The winner will face Democratic incumbent Jackie Smith.
The wide District 5 field includes seven Republicans, Nathan Heilman, the mayor of Correctionville, Brian McNaughton and Rocky De Witt, both of Lawton, and four men from rural Sioux City, Gary Niles, Bruce Hokel, John Van Eldik and Tom Verzani. The waiting Democratic candidate is Bruce Garbe, of Sioux City.
Among the southeast South Dakota primary contests, there are two legislative primaries in which the field of candidates will be pared from three to two.
In House District 16, incumbent Rep. David Anderson, R-Hudson, is being challenged by Republicans Kevin Jensen, of Canton, and Bill Shorma, of Dakota Dunes.
In House District 18, which includes Yankton County, the three Democratic candidates are Christopher Svarstad, David Allen and Peter Rossiter, all of Yankton.
SIOUX CITY | The City Council Monday narrowly approved a 6.65 percent water hike, effective July 1.
Council members voted 3-2 to approve the water rate increase over the next three years. Mayor Bob Scott and Councilman Keith Radig voted no.
Under the plan, the average residential water customer would pay an additional $2.27 per month in the first year and $2.39 and $2.57 per month in the second and third years. The average water customer uses 800 cubic feet of water for a total current monthly bill of $33.65.
According to the city Finance Department, the increase will generate just over $3 million in additional water utility revenue over the three years.
Kevin Reilly, 56, of Sioux City, said he had a petition with about 200 signatures of people opposed to the change. However, that wasn't enough to sway the council.
Councilman Dan Moore said the increase was necessary.
"We still have to do what's the greater good for the community," Moore said.
Hard Rock
In other action Monday, the council voted 4-0 to approve the construction of a $5 million, nearly 8,000-square-foot addition to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Sioux City at 111 Third St.
Moore abstained from the vote because his law firm represents the casino.
The 7,857-square-foot addition will include 50 new slot machines, two blackjack tables and a wine bar with 32 varieties.
"We're excited to get approval today of our $5 million expansion," Hard Rock general manager Todd Moyer said.
SIOUX CITY | About 1,100 total voters have gone to the ballot boxes as of 11 a.m. Tuesday during the primary election in Woodbury County.
Pat Gill, Woodbury County auditor, said voting had gone smoothly so far at about noon while he was overseeing operations at East Middle School.
Its been an average turnout so far, no long lines or anything going wrong, Gill said.
Steve Hofmeyer, deputy commissioner of elections, said about three percent of registered voters had voted by 11 a.m.
We usually see a surge after the work hours compared to mornings, Hofmeyer said. So far, I would say its average.
While he didnt have a number on hand, Hofmeyer did remark a higher than usual number of absentee ballots had been received.
He attributed the rise in absentee ballots to the primary between U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron being challenged by Republican state Sen. Rick Bertrand, of Sioux City.
I think its generating a bit more turnout, Hofmeyer said.
Polls close at 9 p.m. For your precinct, go to sos.iowa.gov in Iowa. South Dakota polls close at 7 p.m., and precinct information can be found at sos.sd.gov
SIOUX CITY | A trespassing charge filed against a Nebraska man who had been accused of blocking the driveway at Planned Parenthood's Sioux City clinic has been dismissed.
Magistrate Tod Deck dismissed the simple misdemeanor charge against Steve Beller, 51, of Norfolk, Nebraska, on Friday.
Beller had been arrested March 18 after Sioux City police responded to a report of protesters who were blocking the driveway to the clinic at 4409 Stone Ave. According to the complaint filed in the case, Beller prevented a man from driving into the Planned Parenthood parking lot by standing in the driveway "for a minute or so."
"We applaud the fact that justice was served in this case," said Martin Cannon, an attorney with the Thomas More Society's Omaha branch, which represented Beller.
SIOUX CITY | A fourth person has pleaded guilty to lesser charges in exchange for testimony against Isaiah Mothershed.
Robert Seaberry, 20, of Sioux City, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Woodbury County District Court to two counts of second-degree robbery and one count of third-degree burglary for his role in three home invasions and robberies. As part of a plea agreement reached with prosecutors, Seaberry will be sentenced to 20 years in prison and will serve a minimum of 10 years before he's eligible for parole.
He had been charged with three counts of first-degree robbery, which each carried a 25-year prison sentence.
Mothershed is charged with shooting a Sioux City police officer in the leg on Feb. 7 while he awaited transport to jail. He also faces charges linked to four robberies, three of which Seaberry was involved in.
Seaberry admitted to his involvement in the three incidents from Feb. 2-6 in which he, Mothershed and others entered homes and threatened occupants with guns in an attempt to steal items. Seaberry said he was armed with a shotgun in one of the robberies and a pistol in the others. At one home, they stole marijuana from the occupants, whom they had moved to the basement and threatened at gunpoint.
As part of his plea agreement, Seaberry has agreed to testify against Mothershed. Seaberry's attorney, Mike Williams, clarified that the agreement applies only to testimony on state charges, not any federal charges that may be filed.
It was the first mention of federal charges in the case. Woodbury County Attorney Patrick Jennings said he could not comment whether federal authorities are investigating Mothershed or his co-defendants.
Macayla Knight, 18, Justin Ferguson, 19, and Austin Bulizak, 17, all of Sioux City, previously pleaded guilty to reduced charges in exchange for their testimony against Mothershed.
A fifth co-defendant, Jamaal Ferguson, 16, of Sioux City, has had his case transferred to juvenile court and faces two counts of first-degree robbery.
Mothershed, 19, of Sioux City, is scheduled to stand trial July 19 on two counts of attempted murder and four counts of first-degree robbery. In addition to being charged with shooting a police officer, he is accused of firing a shot at a homeowner who was chasing him after interrupting one of the break-ins.
CHICAGO -- 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.
Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading.
Catch the latest in Opinion Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy
DES MOINES -- Iowa public health officials worked Monday to create some buzz about mosquito-borne illnesses with the onset of warmer weather and summertime outdoor activities.
While the threat of Zika virus gets a lot of attention, Gerd Clabaugh, director of the state Department of Public Health, said Iowans are much more at risk of contracting the sometimes-deadly West Nile virus that being exposed to Zika-related problems occurring in southern climes.
Clabaugh and Dr. Ann Garvey, deputy state epidemiologist, joined Gov. Terry Branstad at his weekly news conference Monday to urge Iowans to remember to protect themselves against mosquito bites this summer.
"The greatest risk to Iowans for Zika virus is when (Iowans) travel to areas of the world where Zika transmission is ongoing - for example, the Caribbean, Mexico and South America," Garvey noted. "It is especially important for pregnant women with plans to travel to these areas to reconsider their plans or take protective action while there."
Zika causes certain birth defects in babies, which is why pregnant women should reconsider travel to Zika-affected areas, Garvey added. Also, since Zika can be sexually transmitted, women who are pregnant or who are considering pregnancy should take appropriate precautions and be aware if their partner has traveled to a Zika-affected area, she said.
Since mosquitoes known to transmit Zika are not native to Iowa, Clabaugh said, the risk of transmission in Iowa is extremely low. Since surveillance began early this year, seven cases - four women and three men -- of Zika virus have been confirmed in the nearly 200 Iowans who have been tested and all of the cases involved travel to areas outside the United States where Zika transmission is occurring.
Contracting West Nile virus is a different story in Iowa, however, health officials said, with between five and 44 reported cases occurring in Iowa annually since 2005. West Nile first appeared in Iowa in 2002. The virus since has been found in all 99 counties, either in humans, horses or birds, the health department said.
About 20 percent of people infected with West Nile virus will have mild to moderate symptoms including fever, headache, body aches and vomiting, officials said. Less than 1 percent of people infected become seriously ill. The last death in Iowa attributed to West Nile virus occurred in 2010, health officials said Monday.
The best way to prevent West Nile, according to health officials, is to eliminate mosquito breeding areas, including standing water in buckets, cans and pool covers, and to use insect repellent when outdoors.
Using an insect repellent containing DEET provides protection against mosquitoes and ticks, which can carry Lyme disease, Garvey said. Iowans also are advised to wear long sleeves and long pants when possible when outdoors and to avoid being outside around dusk and dawn when mosquitoes bite.
For more information about Zika virus, visit https://idph.iowa.gov/ehi/zika; to learn about West Nile virus, see https://idph.iowa.gov/cade/disease-information/west-nile-virus.
OKOBOJI, Iowa | Do you smell that? It smells like Okoboji and not the fishy, beer-soaked, wet-dog kind of Okoboji but the kind that captures happiness.
Lakeable, an all-natural perfume by Dallas Dotson, is made from the purest essential oils with subtle hints of jasmine, grass, mint and bamboo.
Dotson got the idea to make and market her own scent after a client came to Okoboji Skin Care with a rash on her chest. A perfume was to blame.
There is no reason there shouldnt be a natural fragrance option for clients, Dotson said. I didnt care to find a company out there that already had one. I thought lets take it a step further. Lets actually create one, give it a name that represents northwest Iowa and the Lakes area, make sure its all-natural and only use area women as models for the perfume.
When it comes to fragrances, the Food and Drug Administration requires a list of ingredients, but theres a loophole in the regulations. Whatever goes into the bottle can be simply listed as fragrance. The practice is meant to protect trade secrets.
For those with fragrance sensitivity, these cryptic ingredients may cause allergy-like symptoms with sneezing, wheezing, headaches, hives and other skin reactions.
Dotson, who opened Okoboji Skin Care in 2007, wanted to give women the option to trade in their chemical cocktails of perfume for something free of synthetic ingredients.
She began working with a company in the United States that specializes in all-natural fragrances. She received around 70 vials of different essential oil combinations and started sniffing.
I wanted a scent that truly represented the Lakes. I wanted it to be fresh. I wanted it to smell happy, if you will, and to be really memorable, she said. I told myself as I was doing this, if my response to one of them was Oh, thats nice, it went in the no pile. It had to be Wow, I love that.
She narrowed it down to six, but two really stood out. Now thats Lakeable.
The earthy-smelling, all-natural perfume was released around Memorial Day last year. It sells for $65 at Okoboji Skin Care and Fleshtones, both owned by Dotson; The Look Fashions; The Three Sons; Lace Boutique, all in the Lakes area; The Studio Yoga and Barre in Spencer, Iowa; and lakeable.com.
For the marketing campaign, Dotson sought out local women to be the face of the product, feeling frustrated by perfumeries that are quick to slap a celebrity name on a bottle.
Ever since Elizabeth Taylor introduced White Diamonds in 1991, celebrity fragrances have been on the rise. There are signature scents by everyone from David Beckham, Britney Spears and Justin Bieber to Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton and Sarah Jessica Parker.
Its not like Dotson had a direct line to Beyonce to have her drop in and pose with her perfume, but there are models she could have hired and chose not to.
Her friend Amanda Jorgensen, who owns a newly opened yoga studio in Spencer, appears in ads for Lakeable.
On the box, a metallic blue inkblot shows the crooked shape of the Iowa Great Lakes, and theres a list of ingredients: alcohol, natural fragrance oils and natural glycerin.
To Dotson, its a combination that really quite likeable. Now thats Lakeable.
If you buy something through our links, we may earn money from our affiliate partners. Learn more.
Business travel is a balance of being safe while sticking to your plans, but its often difficult to know whether youre traveling as safely as possible. Therefore, its essential to keep safety a top priority when undertaking international business travel or domestic travel. Thats why this article is looking more closely at business travel, and specifically, business travel tips to help you travel more safely for work, including state department advice.
What is the Biggest Risk for Business Travellers?
With business, travel comes quite a few risks, so its important to stay aware and take extra care. For example, you might be traveling to far destinations with political unrest or other issues, taking sensitive or confidential information as well as expensive office equipment.
During business travel, its important to protect yourself and your belonging just as you would with personal travel. For females, its also crucial to seek out travel safety tips for women specifically to ensure youre feeling safe and comfortable before leaving and while in your destination.
Top Travel Safety Tips for Business Travellers
To help make business travel as smooth as possible, weve put together some practical tips to help you travel safely. While this isnt a complete list, these tips are a great starting point to help you plan a safe and productive business trip.
Read More: business travel tips
1. Purchase travel insurance
Business travel often means that youre traveling with sensitive information and office equipment. Purchasing travel insurance protects your trip not only in case of cancelations and delays but also the contents of your belongings while traveling to keep you perfectly safe.
2. Keep your important documents safe
When traveling for work, youre likely going to carry crucial documents both personal and professional with you. That might include:
Passport
ID
Drivers license
Work clearance
Work visa documents/entry authorization
Contracts
Memos
Competitive research and/or product information
Keep your documents in your hotel room as much as possible, and use the safe for storing important information for when youve left your room to prevent any issues. Save copies of the documents on Google Drive for an extra layer of protection.
3. Keep an eye on personal belongings
Like your documents, keeping your personal belongings safe should be a priority. Use the hotel safe when possible, but also invest in travel equipment that has a protective element when youre out in the city. For example, a tamper-proof day bag or something like a messenger bag where its kept close to you can help keep your valuables safe when out of the hotel.
4. Dont put all your money in one place
Always separate your credit cards and cash when traveling. Generally, the safest bet is to keep some cash and one card with you and leave an emergency credit card and some cash in different bags like your suitcase and carry-on. This ensures that you always have some kind of access to emergency money and other valuables, even if youre in an unfamiliar destination.
5. Be extra cautious when traveling alone
There needs to be extra caution practiced on these kinds of trips for solo travelers. When traveling solo, take extra care to keep yourself and your belongings safe. Stay alert when out and about, and always trust your gut feelings if something doesnt feel right, even if its as simple as eye contact for a little too long, walk away. Paying attention to your surroundings, particularly on public transport, is also crucial. Also, try to learn some of the local language and local customs beforehand.
6. Ensure you have access to emergency money
Emergency money is incredibly vital and in different forms. As mentioned earlier, make sure you divvy up your money and ensure that you have a way to access your accounts and transfer money. Test out local ATMs with small amounts with your card, and always keep a few bucks on you in pockets or bags -its better than not having anything at all.
7. Drink responsibly when traveling
Its tempting to go out in a foreign country, but if you are, drink responsibly especially if its your first trip for work! Its easy to get carried away, and thats when someone will most likely try taking advantage of you. So keep your drinking limited to two or three, and stay aware of your surroundings when making your way back to the hotel.
8. Purchase a money belt
Try to keep a credit card with you that doesnt have foreign transaction fees as a backup so you can save money. Travel equipment like money belts helps protect your cash and credit card from thieves and pickpockets. You can place a dummy wallet in your pocket as a distraction and use a money belt to keep your important stuff, such as cash and credit cards, safe when navigating around the city.
Read More: international business travel
9. Invest in a travel lock
Another key piece of travel equipment for your business travel should be travel locks. You can use them for suitcases and bags during transit and have a locked bag while youre staying at the hotel. Travel locks come in different types, including a travel lock where you can set your own combination for extra security. You can use this in case youre traveling with pricy equipment such as expensive camera gear or even flashy jewelry.
10. Watch out for travel scams
Unfortunately, travel scams are pretty common in most parts of the world, and visitors tend to be easy targets. Double-check before you leave about what kinds of scams are specifically done so you can be aware. In addition, you can reach out to other travelers for safety tips and read up on blogs and travel experiences to understand what professional scammers are doing so you can avoid it.
11. Look for travel advisories
Some destinations are safer than others, so check any advice that might be out there before embarking on your next trip. Additionally, the State Department and other government bodies often post-travel advice depending on political, economic, or weather conditions that are work checking out before you solidify your travel plans.
12. Note down your local embassy contact details
Whenever youre in a new country, always do some research on the nearest embassy. When unexpected circumstances come up, such as political issues, a stolen passport, or other emergencies, your countrys embassy can help you with the situation and provide safety information.
13. Write down numbers for emergency services
Following the last point, one of the most important travel tips is also researching emergency services. It would be best if you have emergency info on hand for the country youre visiting. That includes locating the nearing police station, your credit card company phone number, and noting any posted signs as you explore the city.
See Also: Beef Up Customer Experience with These 4 Tips
14. Purchase a local SIM where possible
If you dont want to pay expensive roaming charges, you can still have a working phone by purchasing a local SIM. It ensures that theres an easy way for family members to reach you and that you have access to data. That enables you to use Google Maps more easily and navigate public transportation without identifying yourself as a non-native too easily.
15. Use a virtual private network for business
Whether youre doing work at a local office or a coffee shop, you should always use a VPN when working from abroad. This protects your work data while also keeping your computer device from being easily compromised, especially when using open networks and public wifi.
16. Share your accommodation details
This is particularly important if youre traveling by yourself for business, but also during general travel. Share where youre staying with a family member, your general plans, and any other information that might be helpful in case of an emergency.
17. Do your research
Most travel safety tips will always come back to this one research! While you wont be able to cover absolutely everything when digging around, you can learn a lot just through a quick search on the country youre planning to visit. Look up basic information, including the latest news, any laws travelers should be aware of, and any context that can help you navigate easier as a local. Travel communities on websites such as Reddit might also be able to help you provide on-the-ground advice before arriving and while youre at your destination.
International Travel Safety
Before traveling internationally, its always wise to look at State Departments advice on other countries and whether its safe to travel. You can find a complete list of no-travel zones on the official State Department website travel advisories. It includes an updated list of countries that are safe to visit, medium and high-risk countries, including detailed advice for citizens planning their trips.
As of April 2022, here are some of the destinations that are listed under the no-travel zones. Please note that this list is subject to change often, so its crucial to double-check on official government websites when planning travel.
Libya
Hong Kong
Syria
Ukraine
Sudan
South Sudan
Somalia
Russia
Moldova
Haiti
Yemen
Venezuela
Tonga
Papua New Guinea
North Korea (Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea)
Mali
Iraq
The central African Republic
Burma (Myanmar)
Burkina Faso
Afghanistan Travel Advisory
Read More: travel safety tips for women
Save money on shipping costs for your Amazon purchases. Plus, enjoy thousands of titles from Amazons video library with an Amazon Prime membership. Learn more and sign up for a free trial today.
A small business owner easily might become overwhelmed when it comes time to buy health insurance. With so many types of small business health insurance from which to choose, and so many companies offering those benefits, where is one to begin selecting health insurance? After all, there are a lot of health insurance acronyms to understand.
Fortunately, the decision to purchase health insurance doesnt have to be a daunting one. With just a little bit of knowledge and some basic information about small business health insurance companies, small business owners can make the best decisions for their companies and their employees
Types of Small Business Health Insurance
Before small business owners can understand the different health insurance options and various health insurance premiums, they must first understand the different types of small business health insurance plans. There are a few types of small business health insurance, each with its own benefits, deductibles and costs.
HMO Plans Health management organization (HMO) plans are limited health insurance plans with the goal of cutting healthcare costs. HMO plans work great for healthy individuals who are on a tighter budget and who are comfortable only visiting doctors within a prescribed network of healthcare providers.
Health management organization (HMO) plans are limited health insurance plans with the goal of cutting healthcare costs. HMO plans work great for healthy individuals who are on a tighter budget and who are comfortable only visiting doctors within a prescribed network of healthcare providers. PPO Plans Under preferred provider organizations (PPOs), patients have access to a larger network of doctors and more flexible care options, but they also typically pay higher costs for premiums and care. PPO plans are great for those who want to shop around for doctors, who are comfortable with and able to spend more, and who might need specialized care for a medical condition.
Under preferred provider organizations (PPOs), patients have access to a larger network of doctors and more flexible care options, but they also typically pay higher costs for premiums and care. PPO plans are great for those who want to shop around for doctors, who are comfortable with and able to spend more, and who might need specialized care for a medical condition. POS Plans A point of service (POS) plan combines the benefits of an HMO and a PPO. While customers still need a specialists referral from a primary care physician, they pay less for out-of-network medical visits. The cost of a POS generally falls somewhere in between an HMO and a PPO.
A point of service (POS) plan combines the benefits of an HMO and a PPO. While customers still need a specialists referral from a primary care physician, they pay less for out-of-network medical visits. The cost of a POS generally falls somewhere in between an HMO and a PPO. EPO Plans When consumers rely on an exclusive provider organization (EPO) plan for health insurance, they are encouraged to remain within their healthcare provider network, but they dont need to get a referral if they choose to venture beyond it. The cost-effective health insurance option offers extra flexibility to small businesses.
When consumers rely on an exclusive provider organization (EPO) plan for health insurance, they are encouraged to remain within their healthcare provider network, but they dont need to get a referral if they choose to venture beyond it. The cost-effective health insurance option offers extra flexibility to small businesses. HDHP A high deductible health plan can be a risk for those that are uncomfortable paying out of pocket for medical care. The high deductible means the plan wont start paying toward healthcare costs until the patient has incurred at least $1,300 in expenses. These plans can be offset by establishing health savings accounts through the federal government. HSA for small businesses is a tax-advantaged account that can be contributed to by both employers and employees in conjunction with an HDHP.
Choosing the Best Small Business Health Insurance Plans
While understanding the different types of group health insurance plans will help small business owners when selecting health insurance, choosing health insurance coverage still remains a challenge for many small business owners. What do various health insurance plans have to offer, which is the best health insurance company, and how much does small business health insurance cost from various sources? Some health insurance providers might even offer additional options like self-employed health insurance, health savings accounts, benefits of dental insurance, and vision insurance coverage.
Best Small Business Health Insurance Companies
What are the best health insurance providers for small businesses in 2022? Small business owners must consider a variety of factors when choosing the best health insurance company, including coverage, flexibility and cost. Most health insurance companies will offer similar plans, but each will feature unique elements and pricing. A small business owner might want to offer a health insurance option that includes dental insurance or even vision benefits, or they might seek the most affordable options or the best health insurance provider for overall general health coverage.
1. United Healthcare
Best For: Extensive coverage
Often chosen as the best health insurance for small business owners, United Healthcare features a large number of in-network providers and thousands of facilities throughout all 50 U.S. states. The health insurance provider makes substantial investments in technology to meet consumer demands, and it offers effective group coverage options for a variety of small businesses.
2. Blue Cross Blue Shield
Best For: Data-driven healthcare solutions
Other popular health insurance providers for small businesses include Blue Cross Blue Shield, which operates through the 36 local and independent health insurance companies in all U.S. states. Health benefits from Blue Cross Blue Shield are effective options for small business owners because the brand is trusted by millions of small businesses and their employees, and the health insurance plan is one of the nations most popular PPO networks.
3. Humana
Best For: Preventative care advantages
Providing health insurance as a small business can become a reality by choosing Humana as a small business health insurance provider. One of the largest insurance providers in America, Humanas plans are known for their preventative care coverage and convenient plan features like wellness rewards. Humana makes it possible to offer health insurance by offering a variety of affordable plans for small business owners and their employees.
4. Kaiser Permanente
Best For: Affordability
Small business owners in eight U.S. states and the District of Columbia can choose an affordable small business health plan from Kaiser Permanente. The largest managed care organization in the country, Kaiser Permanente offers many affordable small business health insurance plans and options. With a strong emphasis on preventative care, Kaiser Permanente health insurance customers have the chance to stay healthy.
5. Aetna
Best For: High deductible health plan options
One of the largest companies that provide health insurance in America, Aetna features competitive and affordable health insurance options for small business employers, including funding options and wellness offerings. In addition to offering health insurance, Aetna offers self-funded coverage to small businesses, and the health insurance provider is known for its high levels of customer satisfaction.
6. Cigna
Best For: Flexible premiums and deductibles
While only available in 10 states, Cigna is still one of the best health insurance providers thanks to its broad range of small business health insurance options that accommodate a variety of needs, as well as its flexible premium and deductible options. Cigna features a large provider network, a detailed website and outstanding customer service.
7. Anthem
Best For: Integrated health care
The largest for-profit managed health care company in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Anthem is available to customers in 14 states. The health insurance provider has one of the most extensive networks in the country, so finding a doctor is a cinch. Because Anthem takes an integrated approach to medical care through combined health plans, patient data is connected to more effectively manage care.
What Health Insurance Companies Rank Best for Customer Satisfaction?
Both Forrester and Verint Systems have released studies ranking the nations top insurance payers based on customer satisfaction, with varying results. According to Forresters survey of more than 85,000 U.S. adults, Human ranks first for customer satisfaction, followed by Kaiser Permanente. Verints report, on the other hand, ranked United Healthcare first in customer satisfaction, with Humana coming in second place.
What Is The No. 1 Health Insurance Company in the United States?
With total revenue exceeding $286 billion in 2021, United Healthcare is the largest health insurance company in the United States by revenue, according to analysis by ValuePenguin. The insurer is also the largest company by membership and market share. Anthem is the second-largest health insurance provider in all three categories.
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
Kayaker on the Shenandoah River, in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. (Photo: Mr.TinDC via Flickr with CC BY-ND 2.0 license)
HARPERS FERRY, West Va.
(June 7, 2016)A Maryland State Police helicopter crew hoisted a teen stranded in Shenandoah River rapids Monday night after being called to assist Jefferson County, West Virginia fire and emergency response personnel during a river rescue operation.Jefferson County is the eastern-most county of the panhandle of West Virginia.The crew of Maryland State Police helicopter, Trooper 3, based at the Frederick Airport, was dispatched at 7:15 p.m. yesterday to assist authorities with the rescue of a family stranded in dangerous rapids in the Shenandoah River near Harpers Ferry. After arriving on scene, the crew of Trooper 3 was directed to rescue a 13-year-old girl who was stranded on a rock completely surrounded by rapids that made a rescue by boat or any other means impossible.A member of the Maryland State Police helicopter crew was lowered to the stranded teen from the aircraft. A rescue basket was then lowered and the crew member assisted the teen into the basket. Both the teen and the crew member were then hoisted into the aircraft. After landing, the crew transferred the teen to Jefferson County emergency medical personnel for evaluation and returned to the hangar.Members of the Trooper 3 crew last night were: Pilot Todd Hyson, Pilot Jonathan Noble, Crew Chief and hoist operator TFC William Jansen, Rescue Tech Sgt. Gregg Lantz (who was lowered to assist the victim) and Rescue Tech TFC Jonathan Nishi.The actions of these personnel emphasize the expertise of Maryland State Police helicopter crews and the multi-platform abilities of the AW139 aircraft that support the search/rescue, medevac, law enforcement and homeland security missions of the Aviation Command, according to an MSP spokesperson.
Maurice J. McDonough High School sophomore Eunyeong Joo, left, is a native of South Korea. During the International Festival she talked to Denver Bennett, a sophomore, about her home country's traditions and cuisine. Students had their "passports" stamped as they visited different stations during the fair.
LA PLATA, Md.
Ana Chavez, right, a junior at Maurice J. McDonough High School, talks to freshman Lauren Haley about Mexico's Dead of the Dead.
(June 7, 2016)At Maurice J. McDonough High School, world geography was scrambled May 31 with Vietnam next to Spain, Jamaica bordering Pakistan, Finland neighboring Portugal. Several of the school's studentsimmigrants or the children of immigrantshosted an International Fair to showcase the cultures of their native countries.The newly formed International Club came about when three or four students met in the library during Herd Timethe school's one-hour lunch period. Soon, others trickled in, intrigued by the idea of bonding with peers, sharing stories and advice about being in a new country. Eventually the club lit on the idea of holding a festival that would highlight history, culture, cuisine and traditions of countries such as Vietnam, Mexico, El Salvador, Jamaica, Guatemala, South Korea, Venezuela, Nigeria, The Gambia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Spain and others.With the help of media specialist Stephen Fitzgerald, the fair drew about 200 guestseven without the senior class in schoolwho signed up through English classes. Everyone received a "passport" and were encouraged to visit the displays to learn more about where their classmates' families called home before moving to the States. Many of the students with booths at the fair are those in the Secondary Academy of International Languages (SAIL), an academy for the English language learners (ELLs) enrolled in the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program."People judge you because you act differently," said sophomore Ellie Karimi, whose family immigrated from Iran last year. She said her country doesn't have the best reputation in the U.S., but it's a culture of kings and queens and one which values poetry. "I have lots of friends who are ESOL or from different cultures," Karimi said. "The fair was a good chance for us to talk about our cultures. We learned a lot about each other. This is who we are, not everyone is the same."Chad Nusang, a freshman, is from Jamaica and he's proud of it. "Nobody can beat Jamaica," he said. "The food, the beach ""The food," sophomore Oshae Johnson, also a native of Jamaica, echoed. "It's a bond you have with your family." Nusang and Johnson said their favorite hometown meal is oxtail with rice and peas."You can't get it anywhere here," Johnson said. "And if you can, it's expensive.""In Jamaica, they give it away," Nusang said.Food was a common theme at the festival, with each "country" touting theirs is the best.Juniors and twin sisters Chinazam and Chisom Ojukwu were born in the States to parents who immigrated from Nigeria in the late 1990s. "We've never really done anything to express our culture," Chinazam said, adding that Nigeria is "so lively and the food is really good.""Our food is different from other cultures, it's more spicy," said Ana Chavez, a junior originally from Mexico. Chavez painted her face in calavera makeup representing the Mexican holiday of Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.Fitzgerald is quick to point out the fair was student-driven and organized. "A lot of work has gone into this, and I hope you get a lot of out of this," he said to visiting students before the start of a third session of the fair."It gives you a different perspective about everyone here," freshman Lauren Haley said after visiting Chavez's booth. "You don't learn a lot about this during the school day.""Sometimes there's cultural ignorance, and that can cause a lot of problems," said Charlie Olmsted, a sophomore who had just visited Sohna Sallah's The Gambia booth."You can't just stay in America and have an Americentric view of things," said junior Mya Harding. "We need to open our minds a little bit more."
Lt. Cmdr. Glenn Rioux. (U.S. Navy photo)
PATUXENT RIVER, Md.
(June 7, 2016)A 1990 Canyon Osbourn Park High School graduate from Manassas, Virginia native is serving with Naval Test Wing Atlantic (NTWL) supporting the future of naval aviation aboard Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland.Lt. Cmdr. Glenn Rioux is a naval flight officer serving with NTWL, responsible for the life cycle of mission systems on the MQ-8 Fire Scout Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). He is a key member of a war fighting team that researches, develops, supports and manages sensor systems on the Fire Scout aircraft."What I enjoy most about my job is having the opportunity to work with an amazing group of professionals serving their country through military, government, and contractor service to fulfill Fleet requirements for an unmanned surveillance platform," said Rioux.NTWL is responsible for safe and efficient execution of developmental ground and flight testing across all naval aviation platforms and systems.It consists of five component commands, air test and evaluation squadrons, VX-20, HX-21 and VX-23, the Unmanned Aerial Systems Test Directorate and U.S. Naval Test Pilot School.Rioux works directly for PMA-266, an unmanned aerial systems test directorate, which is responsible for testing and evaluating the Navy's newest and most advanced aircraft systems."Every command is different, each command has a different flavor, a different climate and a different pace," said Rioux. "PMA-266 definitely reflects the attitude of its commanding officer, Capt. Jeff Dodge, who is a great leader and an amazing advocate for making sure we are providing the right product at the right performance at the right time to those defending our country. He sets the tone of this program office to enable this team to aggressively pursue providing capability to the Fleet while being good stewards of our taxpayer's dollars."NTWL includes approximately 3,800 personnel, including 400 military, 800 civilian, 2,500 contractors and 65 students at any given time. Working together to accomplish the command's test and evaluation mission, they do everything from maintaining aircraft airframes, electronic systems and engines, to handling administrative requirements, developing test plans, reporting test results, handling weapons and flying the aircraft."The men and women of Naval Test Wing Atlantic do great work every day to keep naval aviation at the cutting edge, said Capt. Brett Pierson, NTWL commander. "Whether they are flying or maintaining our aircraft, developing or executing test plans, or taking care of all the support we need in order to do what we do so well, our team takes pride in ensuring systems are ready for the fleet. I am very proud of our people for what they do to defend our nation."Serving in the Navy, Rioux is learning about being more of a leader through handling numerous responsibilities."Enlisting in the Navy right out of high school, I worked my way up through the ranks, earned my college education, excelled in flight school, sacrificed to serve my country, and am now on track to be the commanding officer of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in roughly two years," said Rioux. "Since serving in the Navy for 25 years, I have learned that no matter your history, if you take pride in your work, are honest, display integrity, work hard, respect people, study the art of your trade, seek advice of those who have gone before you and stay true to your religion, yourself, your family, and your friends, not only can you make something of yourself serving in the military but in life as well."
(EDGE) On June 16, LPAC, the national grassroots lesbian political action committee supporting pro-LGBTQ, pro-women's rights and progressive candidates, will hold Levity & Justice for All, a first-of-its-kind benefit performance featuring top lesbian and queer comics and women's rights champions, including Kate Clinton, Rosie O'Donnell, Billie Jean King, Lea DeLaria, Karen Williams, Cameron Esposito, Judy Gold, Marga Gomez, Jes Tom, Marsha Warfield, Rhea Butcher, and others.
"Lesbian and queer women are on the cutting edge of cultural change," said Kate "Hilarity" Clinton. "Our comedy has always delivered pointed political commentary and helped inspire activism. I am thrilled that LPAC and this stellar line up of comics will take center stage in this critical election to urge our communities to get involved politically and to vote!"
Former "Late Show with David Letterman" Executive Producer and Showrunner Barbara Gaines will produce the show. Award-winning cartoonist and author Alison Bechdel will be designing an original poster for the event. Levity & Justice for All will take place at the historic Town Hall on June 16 and will celebrate the political voices, humor, and activism of LGBTQ women, inspiring and motivating those in attendance to actively participate in the 2016 election.
As the first national LGBTQ organization to endorse Hillary Clinton for President, LPAC plans to invest more than $500,000 -- including the proceeds of the evening's event -- to get out the vote, and inspire women, young people and the LGBTQ community to support Secretary Clinton and the LPAC-endorsed 2016 slate of progressive candidates.
"June 2016 marks the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's marriage equality decision; and it takes place in a political season that vividly reminds us that our work for justice is far from done," said Beth Shipp, LPAC Executive Director. "We face candidates at the national and local level who would overturn the gains made on LGBTQ equality, women's rights, racial and social justice. We want Levity & Justice for All to shine a spotlight -- through fun and humor -- on our work to elect candidates from the state house to the White House who will positively impact the lives of LGBTQ women and families across the country."
The event will take place amidst LGBT Pride Month and shortly prior to the 2016 national political conventions. Funds raised will be used for political education, organizing, and mobilization efforts to support LPAC endorsed candidates.
Levity & Justice for All will be held on June 16 at The Town Hall, 123 W 43rd St, New York, NY 10036.
For information or tickets, visit www.teamlpac.com.
This just in animals are gay too.
A group specializing in biological diversity is educating the public that same-sex attraction occurs in animals just as it does in humans. In honor of pride month, the Center for Biological Diversity released a video titled Some Salmon are gay. Some bison are bi. Dont let anyone tell you it isnt natural.
The 45-second video shows various animal species including salmon, bison, manatees, gray wolves, polar bears, elephants and more. Wildlife biologists have documented more than 1,500 species in same-sex relationships, reads a line in the video.
Located in Tucson, Arizona, the Center for Biological Diversity is a non-profit advocacy group for endangered species. Its mission, the group states, is to keep wildlife diverse.
We believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with focus on protecting lands, waters and climate that species need to survive. We want those who come after us to inherit a world where the wild is still alive, reads the groups mission statement on its website, www.biologicaldiversity.org
NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 6 June 2016. NASA
The Bigelow Expandable Activity Modules (BEAM) hatch was opened up for the first time today. Astronaut Jeff Williams entered BEAM and checked sensors, installed air ducts and reported back to Earth that it was in pristine condition. After Williams completed the BEAM checks he exited and closed the hatch for the day.
The crew will enter BEAM a couple of more times through Wednesday to check sensors and gear. BEAM will stay attached to the International Space Station for two years of tests of its durability.
The rest of the Expedition 47 crew moved right along with human research studies benefiting astronauts in space and people on Earth. British astronaut Tim Peake explored how astronauts adapt to tasks requiring high concentration and detailed procedures. Williams later collected biological samples for stowage and analysis for the Multi-Omics experiment that is studying the immune system.
Commander Tim Peake and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko are packing their Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft and getting ready for a June 18 departure. Peake will join the duo for the ride home after living in space for six months.
On-Orbit Status Report
Multi-Omics: Over the weekend the crew checked the remaining Fructooligosaccharide (FOS) packages and stowed the Fructooligo Bag for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Multi-Omics investigation. Today, the crew collected samples and inserted them into the Box Module in the Minus Eighty-degree Freezer for ISS (MELFI). The Multi-Omics analysis of human microbial-metabolic cross-talk in the space ecosystem evaluates the impacts of space environment and prebiotics on astronauts immune function by combining the data obtained from the measurements of changes in the gut microbiological composition, metabolites profiles, and the immune system.
Auxin Transport Run #3-2: Following completion of Auxin Transport 3-1 experiment run last week, today the crew conducted the first day of the 3-2 Auxin Transport experiment run by retrieving the samples from MELFI before preparing and installing the samples into the Cell Biology Experiment Unit (CBEF) for incubation. The incubation process takes 3 days and will be followed by the fixation, sampling and closeout activities on day 4. The objective of this Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) investigation is to clarify the role of auxins in pea and maize (corn) seedlings grown in microgravity, leading to new insight into how gravity, or the lack of gravity, affects plant development. This study may contribute to increasing the efficiency of plant cultivation in plant factories. The data obtained from the second experiment run will provide evidence of spaceflight?alterations in auxin polar transport and endogenous levels of auxin, resulting in automorphogenesis.
Fine Motor Skills: A series of interactive tasks on a touchscreen tablet were completed for the Fine Motor Skills investigation. This is the first fine motor skills study to measure long-term microgravity exposure, different phases of microgravity adaptation, and sensorimotor recovery after returning to Earth gravity.
Bigelow Expandable Aerospace Module (BEAM) Ingress: Following last weeks successful BEAM vestibule outfitting, earlier this morning the crew ingressed BEAM for the first time and performed outfitting tasks including safing the Ascent Vent Valve and initiating Inter-Module Ventilation (IMV). Sensor installation is planned for tomorrow and Wednesday.
Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Remote Manipulator System (RMS) Ops: Following Fridays ground operations to maneuver JEMRMS from the Small Satellite Deploy position to the stowed position, today the crew removed the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer (NRCSD) hardware from the Multipurpose Experiment Module (MPEP) and the Handhold Experiment Platform Adapter was installed onto the MPEP.
Remote Power Controller Module (RPCM) P12B-A Remove & Replace (R&R): Friday night, Robotics Ground Controllers powered up the Mobile Servicing System (MSS) and maneuvered the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) and Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) Arm 2 to extract the P12B_A Remote Power Control Module (RPCM) on the P1 Truss Nadir. After unbolting the RPCM, several attempts were made to extract this RPCM. During the last attempt the RPCM was accidently pulled with a force exceeding the allowable limits of both the SPDM and the RPCM due to the SPDM Force Moment Accommodation (FMA) being off. A Multilateral Anomaly Resolution Team (MART) was held where it was decided to stand down from trying to extract the RPCM and to rebolt the RPCM. After several attempts pushing the bolt at increasing force levels, the RPCM was finally bolted down when it was wiggled in pitch by SPDM Arm2, then pushed at the maximum allowable insertion force of 190 N. SPDM Arm 2 and the SSRMS were configured to a park position pending ISS program direction for continuation of operations.
Starboard Crew Quarters (CQ) Cleaning: In preparation for 45S departure, the crew cleaned the CQ intake and exhaust ducts, fans and airflow sensors.
Todays Planned Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
??? ?1 absorption cartridge regeneration (start)
KORREKTSIA. Register acceptance of food and liquids (medicaments) in on-board log r/g 2448
FMK deployment ops
FINEMOTR- experiment run
Prepare and install acoustic dosimeters
Preventive maintenance of laptop FS1 (clean and reboot) / r/g 1023
Fold ARED
Read pressure measurements from analogous manometer in BEAM module
VIBROLAB. Check equipment activation / r/g 2441
JEMAL JEM Airlock repress
Take GSC samples
BEAM first ingress (remove hatch, take air samples, install AVV valve, setup IMV air duct)
??? smart switch cleaning (monthly operation) r/g 1841
??? grille cleaning in Soyuz ?? ?719
Install JEMRMS bus monitor cable
Ham radio pass from Columbus
Air sampling with ??-1? air sampler in BEAM r/g 2442
Stowage operations before Soyuz ?? ?719 undock / r/g 2374, 2446
XF305 Video camera adjustment
JEMAL JEM Airlock leak check
Gather ESA equipment to be returned on 45S
VIZIR. Preparation and start of experiment run r/g 2447
Extend JEM A/L table to JPM side
NanoRacks CubeSat remove the device for deployment from MPEP
NAPOR-mini ???. Clean ???-? ventilation holes / r/g 1906
LBNP simulations (PRELIMINARY) r/g 2449
Egress from BEAM and start atmosphere purification through IMV
Nitrogen/Oxygen recharge system (NORS) of atmosphere control system (ACS): terminate oxygen supply
Inflight maintenance clean starboard crew quarters
???? module install IMV air duct and ventilation grille
BEAM connect SSC for collection of data from DDS sensors
Stowage operations before Soyuz ?? ?719 undock / r/g 2374, 2446
SM atmosphere analysis for freon with the help of ??? analyzer r/g 1751
Install adapter for manual platform connection
VIZIR. Experiment run with ????? equipment r/g 2445 [Deferred]
????-4 exercise
Retract JEM A/L extendable table from JPM side
Open valves of air bottles in BEAM
Closeout ops and egress from BEAM, close Node 3 Aft hatch
Check connection of BEAM IMV valve
Put ARED into working position
Preventive maintenance program (CMS) T2 treadmill- exercise
Inflight maintenance WHC Full Fill
KORREKTSIA. Register acceptance of food and liquids (medicaments) in on-board log / r/g 2448
Time to prepare for departure
VIZIR. Closeout ops with ???? equipment, tear down GLISSER-? and start copying r/g 2447
Check BIOS of EXPRESS laptop in EXPRESS Rack 8
SM ventilation system prophylactics (Group ?1)
Retrieve, clean and stow the item produced in 3D-printer
Inflight maintenance WHC Full Fill
SOZh maintenance
AUT preparation of equipment for stowage
AUT retrieve samples from MELFI
Preventive maintenance program (CMS) T2 treadmill- exercise
Search for Actiwatch Spectrums equipment
D/l via ??? data on physical exercise
Recording of video greetings / r/g 2443
Multi Omics
AUT preparation of samples
Multi Omics. Placement of samples into MELFI
Multi Omics. Stow equipment according to Stowage Note
VIBROLAB. Copy and d/l info to the ground / r/g 2441
Multi Omics. Modules assembly
AUT connect MEU-B(2)
VIZIR. Closeout ops with GLISSER-? video complex and start charging battery / r/g 2447
AUT connect MEU-B(3)
INTERACTION-2. Experiment run / r/g 2440
Imagery of Soyuz ?719 from DC1 and Cupola
??? ?1 absorption cartridge regeneration (term)
VIZIR. Terminate battery charge for GLISSER-? video complex
KORREKTSIA. Register acceptance of food and liquids (medicaments) in on-board log / r/g 2448
Completed Task List Items
None
Ground Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
BEAM ingress
JEMAL ops
Nominal ground commanding
Three-Day Look Ahead:
Tuesday, 06/07: BEAM rail, sensor install Parts A & B, JEM stowage frame install, WHC urine receptacle R&R
Wednesday, 06/08: BEAM sensor install Parts C & D, COL VCR removal & SSD install, Sokol Suit leak check, surface sample collection
Thursday, 06/09: JEM stowage frame install/consolidation, ACDU remote controller install, MSL sample exchange
QUICK ISS Status Environmental Control Group:
Component Status
Elektron On
Vozdukh Manual
[???] 1 SM Air Conditioner System (SKV1) On
[???] 2 SM Air Conditioner System (SKV2) Off
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab Standby
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 Operate
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab Idle
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 Operate
Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) Process
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Standby
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 Full Up
Back in 2013, Ashevilles Firestorm Cafe & Books decided to have custom bathroom signs made with the text this restroom may be used by any person regardless of gender identity or expression. Instead of a female or male depiction on the sign, Firestorm used the transgender symbol, created by local Asheville activist Holly Boswell in the early 1990s.
Flash forward three years, and in the wake of North Carolinas passing of the discriminatory bill HB2, the bathroom sign discussion has been elevated to new heights. Public bathroom signs have become a call to action for businesses looking to take a vocal stance against HB2, and no group of businesses is more indicative of public space than cafes.
Its pretty basic: we dont support HB2, says Jenny Bonchak, Founder and CEO of Slingshot Coffee Company. In response to HB2, Slingshot created their Coffee makes you go, no matter who you are sign, a tongue-in-cheek way of tackling a serious issue. This is a small way that we could say, listen, we dont support this bill, we love and support anyone no matter who they are, says Bonchak.
Slingshot is not alone. Cafes and other members of the coffee community across North Carolina have found ways to come out publicly against HB2. Durham-based Counter Culture Coffee changed bathroom signs to gender neutral at all of the companys regional training centers. At The Root Cellar Cafe youll find a no birth certificate required to enter sign above the bathrooms, and at Joe Van Gogh youll find Bathrooms for Human Beings post-its added to the bathroom doors.
We are an LGBT-owned business, and we are proud that our restaurant has a history of being a welcoming space for all, says Susan White, co-owner of The Root Cellar Cafe & Catering. We wanted to convey to our customers, many of whom are transgender, that however they identify is OK with us. All we want is for them to enjoy our food and atmosphere.
Robbie Roberts, owner of Joe Van Gogh, which has locations in Hillsborough, Durham, and Chapel Hill, has a similar attitude, pointing out that the post-it notes are just a way to remind customers of an open and welcoming policy that has always been in place (their Durham location has long featured a gender neutral bathroom sign). We have always had a diverse staff and our customers are our neighbors, who are also as diverse as the world at large, says Roberts. No one is singled out or expected to be anyone but themselves.
These efforts are all part of a larger movement of North Carolina businesses and individuals publicly coming out against HB2, be it with bathroom signs or otherwise. A group of North Carolina breweries partnered up to sell a Dont Be Mean Beer and Twitter is full of the hashtag #wearenottthis, signifying not only disgust at the discriminatory bill, but banding together as a community.
While the media is currently hyper-focused on the question of bathrooms, discrimination is far from a new problem, nor is the act of cataloguing safe bathrooms a new approach to tackling discrimination. While HB2 has ratcheted up and politicized the hostility towards those of us who are transgender and/or gender nonconforming, bathrooms have always been a site of insecurity and violence (threatened or actualized) against our community, says Libertie Valance, a co-owner of Firestorm, which operates as a cooperative. For that reason, creating and cataloging refuge bathrooms has been an important project of trans activists for many years.
While businesses can vocalize their opposition and identify their own bathrooms as safe, regardless of someones identity or gender, for small businesses in North Carolina, the government-supported discriminatory policy also comes at a serious economic cost.
From a business standpoint, its a horrific move for the state of North Carolina, says Bonchak. We have dozens of businesses standing up against it but we have also seen dozens of businesses say that they are going to move here and then have pulled out because of the bill.
It is estimated that the bill could cost North Carolina upwards of $5 billion. Much of that is in the form of federal funding, but the bill is also having a serious impact on commerce. For larger businesses that may only make a dent, but for smaller businesses it can be devastating. Like many Asheville businesses, our co-op had a dramatic drop in revenue last month when the boycott started, says Valance. Asheville is hard hit because it is a progressive town that caters to LGBTQ tourists. With fewer visitors, revenue dropped, and most of the Firestorm team took short-term pay cuts to ensure that the cooperative could pay its May 2016 rent.
Short-term difficulties could also mean long-term difficulties for these businesses. White and her wife Sera Cuni, who co-own The Root Cellar Cafe and Catering, are worried about the long-term negative effect this harmful law is going to have on the bottom line of businesses, especially independently-owned businesses such as ours, and our overall states economy, says White. Even if HB2 was repealed today, North Carolinas reputation has taken quite a hit, and it will take a long time to repair our image and brand.
Badi E. Bradley of Caravela Coffee, a green coffee company with a base in Chapel Hill, agrees. It is unfortunate that small businesses in North Carolina, that were not involved in passing of the bill, are being impacted by boycotts of the state due to HB2. After the passing of HB2, Caravela Coffee posted a public statement in opposition to the bill on its website. Bradley sees these types of public statements as essential to overturning the law. We think that businesses can have an impact, but will have no impact to overturn the law unless they make their voice heard, says Bradley.
While the bill has garnered North Carolina the title of the most anti-LGBT state, let us not forget that this is not a regional issue, with states around the country considering similar bills. This isnt the first and only time I think that this is going to happen, says Bonchak. So lets get people around the country to rally and show their support.
In taking a public stand, businesses like these are not only helping to express the concerns of their teams and their customers, but they are taking part in the overall movement to help combat discrimination, one that we can all be empowered to take part in, no matter where we live or who we are.
I have always felt business can be a vehicle for positive change, says Brett Smith, President and Co-Founder of Counter Culture Coffee. Even though Counter Culture is a small company, I felt our stand against HB2 could have a positive influence on how we view each other. If it is important enough, then it is time to voice your opinion. I felt like this was important enough.
Anna Brones (@annabrones) is a Sprudge.com staff writer based in the American Pacific Northwest, the founder of Foodie Underground, and the co-author of Fika: The Art Of The Swedish Coffee Break. Read more Anna Brones on Sprudge.
UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) Many people were traumatized and worried about their safety, Adrian Edward stressed, adding that they urgently needed shelter and other assistance.
"Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in south-east Niger following a series of attacks since last Friday by Boko Haram insurgents on the town of Bosso in the troubled Diffa region <> An estimated 50,000 people fled Fridays attack, mainly walking westwards to Toumour, some 30 kilometres [18.6 miles] west of Bosso," Edward said at a press briefing at the Palace of Nations in Geneva.
Only 12 percent of Americans said that the US should support Saudi Arabia as an ally, while 20 percent of Americans chose to respond with I dont know.
Populus, a research company, conducted the survey in March 2015. The survey included 1,003 American respondents aged between 18-64. The sample represents the countrys population in terms of sex, age, and location. The maximum margin of error did not exceed 3.1 percent, giving the results a 95 percent probability.
Two armed gunmen stormed a McDonald's restaurant in the province of Besancon in Eastern France, hoping to get away with if not the score of a lifetime, then at least with some ready cash and perhaps a burger or two.
What they got instead was a hefty portion of justice, served to them by the 11 off-duty policemen of GIGN (Intervention Group of the National Gendarmerie), an elite police unit specializing in resolving hostage situations.
"Executive branch to executive branch that is a dramatic transformation where the US today sees India as a security partner of choice in the broader Indo-Pacific region," explained Tellis.
The US-Indian defense relationship risked stalling at several key junctures, including after the Pokhran-II nuclear test in 1998, and in the wake of the US invasion of Afghanistan, which saw Washington often partnering with Indias arch-nemesis Pakistan, in an effort to counter terror activities.
"This is one of the biggest, fastest moving defense relationships in the world, period," said Clinton-era ambassador to India Frank Wisner. "We have an interest in an India that is robustly armed. India is not a predatory power, and she is big enough and important enough that she helps anchor the balance of power in Asia. A good relationship with India is part of a good relationship with China."
Indias relationship with rival China, however, has strained in recent years, with New Delhi viewing Beijings incursions into the South China Sea as a threat to their maritime trade, while Chinese President Xi Jinping rightfully feels threatened by the frantic efforts by US officials to develop coalitions in Chinas backyard.
The location of this years exercise appears to be a provocation to China, given its relative distance from the Indian mainland. Last year, the drills were conducted in the Bay of Bengal, more traditionally viewed as within Indias sphere of influence.
The drill comes at a time when the Obama administration seeks to contain Chinas growing regional influence. Last week, President Obama offered substantial concessions to Vietnam, including ending a 50-year arms embargo. The outgoing President also visited Japan, visiting Hiroshima the site of a World War II atomic bombing, in a bid to develop a robust international coalition to counter China.
Further, the Obama administration has welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak before a joint-session of the US Congress on Wednesday, in a bid to solidify budding military relations between the two long-time trade partners. Notably, Prime Minister Modi was banned from entry into the United States a decade ago, with officials citing at the time allegations of the leaders involvement in a massacre of minority Muslims in Gujarat.
"Demand for cheaper overseas crude is now growing in the US. It is less expensive because it is of worth quality than US-produced shale oil. And Saudi Arabia is increasing prices for the US," he said.
On the contrary, in Europe Saudi Arabia competes with Iran and Russia. Recently, Russia began to increase crude shipments to Europe. As a result, Riyadh has had to offer discounts for its oil.
Despite the fact that Saudi crude is considered sweet crude (containing low levels of sulfur) in fact it is rather close to Russian-made Urals crude which is considered sour crude (with higher levels of sulfur), Rusenergy partner Mikhail Krutikhin said.
"This is why in north-western Europe competition may speed up between Saudi and Russian oil," he added.
First of all, local dumping will hit European oil companies in Britain and Norway, Alexander Pasechnik, senior analyst at the National Fund for Energy Security, said. In the short-term perspective, it will not have a significant impact.
"Iran may offer a bigger discount. It has a margin of safety. Previously, Iran gave a discount of $1 a barrel," Pasechnik said.
Foreign investments in Russian commercial real estate had steadily increased since the early-2000s. During the crisis in 2009, investments hit a record low of $480 million but soon recovered.
However, since 2014, outlooks for the market have been downgraded to due political and economic difficulties, an article in the Russian daily newspaper Kommersant read.
Nevertheless, analysts are optimistic about 2016. According to CBRE, overall investments in Russian commercial real estate would rise to $4.5 billion in 2016.
Despite tensions between Russia and the West, analysts do not expect major changes in the geography of investors.
"Traditional investors will continue play key roles in the Russian market. There is also interest from Asian companies," Alan Baloev, investment department head at Knight Frank, told Kommersant.
"American companies are still interested in completed pieces of commercial real estate in Russia, to receive rental income. There is also interest from Asian and Middle Eastern companies," CBRE market analyst Olesya Dzyuba said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Manufacturer Russian Helicopters said Tuesday it had signed a cooperation agreement with two domestic IT companies to develop import-substituting information technologies and IT products.
"The Russian Helicopters holding, a part of Rostec State Corporation, has signed the cooperation agreement with RT-Inform and National Center of Informatization companies. The document states that the sides intend to strengthen cooperation in creating competitive and mutually beneficial conditions of work and promoting information technology and IT products of Rostec State Corporation," the Russian Helicopters said in a statement.
IRKUTSK (Sputnik) Irkutsk Aviation Plant manufactures the nose landing gear bay and other components for the A320 family. In average, every third A320 series aircraft has components produced at the Russian plant.
"We continue talks on cooperation with French representatives of Airbus which is beneficial for both us and the French side," Yamanov told reporters.
He added that the French side had asked the plant to double the production rates of the nose landing gear bays for A320 aircraft but the talks yielded no results so far.
He noted that Refah Chain Stores Company had 220 branches in Iran. Last year, 10 branches have been modernized, while forty branches were expected to be upgraded this year.
Iran began stepping up international trade and investment cooperation after reaching a historic deal on its nuclear program to ensure its peaceful nature in exchange for the suspension of international anti-Iran sanctions, in particular on its oil sector, in July 2015.
ris
La Voix du Nord newspaper reported citing a spokesman for the fire brigade that at least five people were killed in the fire.
The newspaper added that 11 more people, including three firefighters, were injured.
"At the moment 13 criminals from amongst the attackers are killed, four injured as a result of active armed resistance and seven are on the wanted list," Almas Sadubayev told RIA Novosti.
He added that country's law enforcement agencies do their best to detain the criminals, who still were at large.
The blast rocked Istanbul's central district of Vezneciler while a police bus was driving by.
#BREAKING: Explosion in Istanbul district near bus stop while police-raid bus passing, some wounded. HAKAN AKBAS (@hakana) 7 2016 .
According to conflicting reports coming from the scene, up to 18 people were wounded in the attack, including eight policemen, and numerous ambulances and firefighter crews have been dispatched to the scene. Police cordoned off the area. Two people were killed, Haberturk reported.
According to the Vatan newspaper, a car bomb was the cause of the explosion.
The powerful explosion, caused by a remote-controlled car bomb, occurred during the morning rush hour in Istanbul's historic district of Bayezit Square as a riot police bus was driving by.
"The blast killed seven policemen and four civilians. Thirty-six people were wounded, three of them were severely injured. A parked car was mounted with explosives and detonated," Vasip Sahin, Governor of Istanbul Province, told NTV.
The explosion was followed by gunfire. Police cordoned off the scene, and ambulance and firefighter teams were dispatched.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The exercises are held just weeks before NATO summit in Warsaw.
"In any case, the military drills, which are based on legends about a quite unambiguous indication in an understandable way, definitely, do not contribute to the atmosphere of trust and security," Peskov told journalists.
About 31,000 troops from NATO states as well as five partners of the bloc (Macedonia, Finland, Georgia, Sweden and Ukraine) will participate in the Polish-led drills that kicked off earlier in the day and will last until June 17. The largest contingent was sent by the United States about 14,000 soldiers.
Berlin was quick to hit back at the criticism however, with Seibert saying that although Germany also recognizes the PKK as a terrorist organization, "to associate individual members of parliament with terrorism is utterly incomprehensible to us."
Death Threats
The increase in political rhetoric comes amid a sinister turn in the genocide row, with Green Party co-leader Cem Ozdemir, who also has Turkish heritage, receiving anonymous deaths threats.
Erdogan singled out Ozdemir for his role in putting forward the resolution, while the MP is now under police protection.
Record number of death threats from Turkish nationalists against Cem Ozdemir, Greens cohead and backer of Armenian genocide resolution Chase Winter (@chaseawinter) June 5, 2016
"The votes in the German Bundestag aren't made depending on which authoritarian leaders are happy and which ones aren't," he said, in an attack back at the Turkish president.
German Turks Slam Erdogan, Ankara Vows Retaliation
While there was anger within Germany's Turkish community over the genocide vote, many have slammed the actions of Turkish officials, including president Erdogan.
"We find death threats and demands for blood tests abhorrent," Gokay Sofuoglu, chairman of Germany's Association for the Turkish Community, said.
"I think the era when people were defined by their blood ended in 1945. This is absolutely out of place."
The diplomatic row comes amid a delicate time in Turkish-German relations, with concerns it may scupper the refugee deal negotiated between Brussels and Ankara, with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu telling broadcaster TRT that the government "will take action against the German parliament's resolution. We cannot stay silent."
In May 2010, the government announced that it would reduce the overall size of the UK's nuclear weapons stockpile to 225.
A government statement, updated in May 2015, stated: "Following a further review, in October 2010 the Prime Minister announced that by the mid-2020s the overall size of the UK nuclear weapons stockpile will reduce to no more than 180 warheads.
No more than 120 will be operationally available."
However, critics say that a reduction in the number of warheads, but with increased "destructive power," is hardly in the spirit of non-nuclear proliferation.
"Parliament should debate whether to replace the UK Trident warhead, given the questions over its necessity, cost, proliferation implications, and impact on the UK's nuclear disarmament obligations," the NIS report says.
Professor Martin Rees (Lord Rees of Ludlow), Astronomer Royal and a former President of the Royal Society, in the foreword to the report says:
"[There is] a need for AWE, a highly expensive institution, to be more politically accountable and more transparent. Parallel US institutions like Los Alamos are in a less 'closed' world; to a greater extent than at AWE their staff attend mainstream scientific conferences and contribute research on non-classified topics."
According to the report, the program involves close collaboration with the US nuclear weapons laboratories through a joint US/UK Joint Re-entry System Working Group, and key components for the modified warhead are purchased from the US.
Donate today to swing undecided MPs and challenge pro-Trident MPs to #StopTrident https://t.co/5lRVJSX9VZ pic.twitter.com/cKEp9MxwlW CND (@CNDuk) June 2, 2016
A senior staff engineer at Lockheed Martin in California is responsible for planning, coordinating, and executing the development and production of 'UK Trident Mk4A Re-entry Systems' as part of the 'UK Trident Weapon System Life Extension Program'.
ATHENS (Sputnik) According to the agency, the number includes 5,700 migrants housed in the UN refugee agency-provided accommodation. Those people had previously been excluded from the daily reports.
Greece is one of the most popular transit routes used by refugees from Middle East and Northern Africa to reach perceived as prosperous Northern and Central Europe. More than 1.8 million migrants arrived in the European Union in 2015, according to the EU border agency Frontex.
"Snorkelers discovered what look like building remains off the Greek island of Zakynthos, so they had archaeologists come and look at it," Julian Andrews, a professor of environmental science at the University of East Anglia (UAE) told Sputnik.
"But they weren't convinced it was the remains of an ancient site which is when a colleague of mine in Athens called me."
Archaeologists studied the site with Professor Michael Stamatakis from the University of Athens (UoA), but weren't convinced it was an ancient city or sea port.
Finding its way inside the base perimeter the animal gobbled up the soldiers meals and then started tearing up the personal effects of the fighting men who had wisely chosen to take cover inside army trucks to stay out of the way of the deadly threat.
Happily, no one was hurt.
Bears normally stay away from people, but this one wasnt scared at all, the Kainuu brigades press secretary told the newspaper.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Austria, which is a major destination for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle Easr, had received some 90,000 asylum claims last year alone. After first adopting a welcoming approach to refugees, the country has later changed its policy and said it would limit the number of asylum claims it would accept this year to 37,500.
The proposal of Austrian Foreign Minister Kurz means nothing more than the outright abolition of the right of political asylum By adopting the Australian solution, the right to file an application for political asylum, and thus the very core of the right to asylum, would be abolished, which is not acceptable, Gerhard Jansen said.
On Sunday, Kurz, speaking to national daily newspaper Die Presse, suggested that Austria may partially follow the Australian immigration policy model and keep migrants in island camps until their asylum claims have been processed.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Klaus Radner, who lost his daughter and grandson in the crash, claims that Lubitz's doctor was obliged to notify Germanwings or Germany's Federal Aviation Office regardless of the medical secrecy, Die Welt daily said.
In March 2015, the Germanwings Airbus A320 flying from Barcelona to Dusseldorf crashed in a remote area of the French Alps killing all 150 people on board. According to the information from the planes black boxes, co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed the plane after locking the pilot out of the cockpit.
The crash investigation revealed that Lubitz visited 41 doctors several months prior to the plane crash. The evidence revealed that the co-pilot had complained of losing eyesight and suffering from insomnia and suicide thoughts.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The US State Department on May 31 warned US citizens of possible terror attacks in Europe this summer, stressing that major events, tourist sites, restaurants, commercial centers and transportation could be among the targets.
"In a bid to enhance public protection and provide concrete support for Member States, Europol has deployed staff from all its core operational units to the International Police Cooperation Centre (IPCC) to help detect potential threats of terrorism and serious organised crime (pickpocketing, counterfeiting, etc.)," Europol said in a statement.
His comments come in the wake of similar views expressed by five former NATO chiefs Lord Carrington (1984-88), Javier Solana (1995-99), Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (1999-2003), Jaap De Hoop Scheffer (2004-09) and Anders Fogh Rasmussen (2009-14) who wrote in a letter to the London Daily Telegraph:
"When NATO is trying to reinforce its role in Eastern Europe, it would be very troubling if Britain ended its membership of the EU. While the decision is one for the British people, Brexit would undoubtedly lead to a loss of British influence, undermine NATO and give succor to the West's enemies just when we need to stand shoulder-to-shoulder across the Euro-Atlantic community against common threats, including those on our doorstep."
No Impact
Lord George Robertson, who has served as Secretary General of NATO as well as the United Kingdom's Defense Minister, told a meeting of the Atlantic Council in May:
"What's at stake on June 23 in many ways is not just Britain's role in Europe, but the role of Europe in the world. [A Brexit would have] a dramatic effect on Britain and the wider world who rely on Britain's role in the European Union for stability. Britain is seen as being part of the European Union, a strong partner in the European Union, and its withdrawal from it will have a negative effect and a cascading effect."
Stoltenberg's remarks are the latest in a series of interjections on the Brexit debate by major world figures including US President Barack Obama, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, the US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
One of those charts we might look back on. 233 polls on UK-EU referendum, Sep 2010 until y'day. Remain 41/Leave 46-> pic.twitter.com/8J6osnxlem Matthew Goodwin (@GoodwinMJ) 6 June 2016
However, according to Matthew Goodwin, a professor of politics at the University of Kent, grave warnings from top figures are not having much impact on British voters. "Throughout the entire campaign, the opinion polls have been remarkably stable despite high profile interventions from President Obama, (International Monetary Fund Managing Director) Christine Lagarde, the British Treasury, Germany's Angela Merkel and many others," Goodwin told USA Today.
One of the main objectives of the Norwegian effort in Afghanistan was to help build a stable and democratic Afghan state. "This goal was never reached," former Foreign and Defense Minister Bjrn Tore Godal stated, according to Norwegian national broadcaster NRK . According to Godal, the Norwegian effort was primarily focused on posing as a good ally to the US and NATO in the fight against international terrorism.
The Godal Committee evaluated the Norwegian effort in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014 and summed its findings in a 231-page-long report titled "The Good Ally: Norway in Afghanistan From 2001 to 2014." The report was handed over to Foreign Minister Brge Brende and Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Sreide.
Godal called the situation in Afghanistan "depressing," as militant Islamist groups still have a foothold in the country and the Taliban have become stronger than ever.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The comment came after a Polish National Security Council meeting, attended by the president, Prime Minister Beata Szydlo and Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz, among other officials. The meeting focused on the upcoming NATO summit due to take place in the Polish capital of Warsaw in July.
"Regarding the issue of strengthening NATO's eastern flank, if this is about increasing alliance forces in Poland, the political scene agrees that this is a correct decision and is essential," Duda said, as quoted by the Telewizja Republika broadcaster.
The summit is expected to be the largest ever summit of the alliance as the Polish capital expects to host more than 2,000 people, including 26 delegations from NATO partners and observers.
The decision, which emerged from a Police Scotland briefing to the Scottish Police Authority, has met with great approval from Scotland's Muslim community.
"We welcome this. Anything which helps to encourage minority groups to join, and look for employment within the Police is to be welcomed. But obviously, this is something that should be done across the board with other faith communities as well for example, Sikhs who wear the turban. To ensure that the police becomes more representative of the diverse communities they work with," Mazhar Khan from the Muslim Council of Scotland told Sputnik.
"If it's perceived as a barrier, then it's good that that barrier is not there anymore. So in that sense it's a positive move. Certainly people will see this as a positive gesture, that the hijab is not seen as a problem or a barrier to being employed within the police force," he added.
Merkel is facing a split in her CDU/CSU alliance over the migrant crisis and has come in for strong criticism for backing severe austerity measures in Greece which have caused massive social unrest in a desperate attempt to prevent Greece crashing out of the euro, which would lead to a loss of confidence in her beloved single currency.
Forbes, on the other hand sees the issues through rose-tinted spectacles, based in New York, some 6,381 km from Berlin. It intoned:
"If there is a single leader able to defy existential economic and political challenges to the European Union, from edges and core, it has been German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Her successes on the one hand to convince ailing EU brethren such as Greece and Spain to aspire to German fiscal and legal logic, and on the other hand to persuade Germany's own constituents and political egos to buy in to her solutions, is illustrated by a European Union that in 2016 remains standing."
The process of laundering money is not an easy one. Firstly large sums of money are placed into legitimate systems, and then broken into units. Once this is done the launderer will then move the money around to create confusion. This is done by wiring or transferring it through various accounts. They will then integrate them into a legitimate economy, which is achieved through the purchase of assets such as property, or buying shares in a business.
Guidance for agents on money laundering from @NCA_UK pic.twitter.com/Mt67mvaogj Henry Pryor (@HenryPryor) July 12, 2015
Technology is changing meaning that a crime committed by local gangs and hoodlums is now being done by oligarchs and the global financial institutions within London.
The National Crime Agency believes that it is often the professional person, who allows the launderer to succeed in their challenge. Money laundering is difficult to do alone and in secret, so knowing someone in investment banking for instance, can pave the way for a successful crime.
"While our assessment is that the vast majority of professionals working in these fields have a high standard of integrity, lawyers, trust and company formation agents, investment bankers and accountants are among those at greatest risk of becoming involved, either wittingly or unwittingly, in high-end money laundering," the NCA said on their website.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The United States condemns Tuesdays terrorist attack in Istanbul, the US Embassy in Turkey said on its Twitter account citing Ambassador to Turkey John Bass.
1/3 Amb. Bass: Deeply saddened by the barbarous terror attack in Istanbul. Such senseless violence could never be rationalized by any cause. US Embassy Turkey (@USEmbassyTurkey) 7 2016 .
2/3 Amb. Bass: We wish speedy recovery to the injured and extend condolences to the family & friends of those who lost their lives. US Embassy Turkey (@USEmbassyTurkey) 7 2016 .
3/3 Amb. Bass: We condemn this heinous attack, and continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Turkey in the fight against terrorism. US Embassy Turkey (@USEmbassyTurkey) 7 2016 .
Earlier on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the authorities will soon name the individuals responsible for the attack.
Seven police officers and four civilians were killed and dozens were injured in Tuesday's explosion in a district in central Istanbul. The explosion took place at 8:40 a.m. local time (05:40 GMT), when a car with police officers was crossing the street close to the place where the bomb was planted.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) This road connects the communes of Morens and Payerne and local residents can use the road out of the Swiss Air Forces normal working hours. This purchase will deprive the public from the access to the road, allowing the government to implement 24/7 security protection of the base in Payerne.
"The Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS) has offered to the commune Morens a redemption of the road, which amounts to 1.3 million francs. The price involves not only the value of the road but also the consequences of its closure for the public," DDPS said in a statement issued on Monday.
YEREVAN (Sputnik) Recent events in Kazakhstan's town of Aktobe do not pose a threat to members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), threre are no plans to interfere in the situation, CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha said on Tuesday.
"We are certainly monitoring the situation. But I think these events are not threatening the collective security system," Bordyuzha told reporters in the Armenian capital of Yerevan.
"Kazakhstan's security bodies reacted quickly and efficiently staving off these attacksWe are not going to interfere," Bordyuzha said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The European Union's top migration officer added that the bloc was facing aging work force, as well as increasing skill shortages in such sectors as health care and information technology.
"We have to better equip our systems to deal with labor market and skills shortages in the future. The revised EU Blue Card scheme will make it easier and more attractive for highly skilled third-country nationals to come and work in the EU and strengthen our economic growth," Dimitris Avramopoulos said at a press briefing.
The revised project will establish an EU-wide scheme to enhance intra-EU mobility of migrants, among other measures.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, the European Commission presented a revised work permit program known as the Blue Card to allow highly skilled workers to legally migrate to the European Union amid skills shortages in health care and information technology sectors.
"Europe now and for the next 20 years will be in need of a large number of migrants, we know it We shall be in need of millions of people in the future," Avramopoulos said during a press conference.
After the Bundestag recognized the annihilation of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, all German deputies of Turkish origin have been threatened with death, the newspaper wrote
For instance, "Green party" member Ozkan Mutlu said in an interview with German television that all eleven members of the German parliament with Turkish roots are now facing an unprecedented amount of death threats.
Earlier, Ankara's mayor published an image on Twitter depicting all the deputies. The picture has been shared by thousands of social media users, with many of them saying that the politicians deserve death.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier on Tuesday, the Estonian Defense Forces said that Russian military aircraft An-26 allegedly violated the country's airspace. According to the Estonian military, the Russian ambassador to Tallinn was invited to the Estonian Foreign Ministry, where he was handed a protest note.
"The flight was carried out in compliance with a strictly specified route. During the flight, the aircraft did not deviate from his way and did not violate the airspace of Estonia, which can bee confirmed by objective control data," the press service said in a statement.
The Russian Defense Ministry stressed that the flight of the Russian Armed Forces' aircraft was carried out in full compliance with all the international agreements related to the use of the airspace.
"I would not say that there are tensions between the West and the East because of such exercises in the region. Tensions have long existed. We are already in a conflict with Russia which could lead to a change of borders in Europe, Wojciech Lutsak, editor of military magazine Raport said, cited by RT.
In early July, the NATO summit in Warsaw will decide on the long-term deployment of troops in the country. This move will demonstrate a discreet and dangerous line between deterrence and provocation.
"We are a member of NATO. And, as such, we expect the strengthening of NATO's presence to feel secure. I always say, the key point is not only that Poland is in the alliance, but also that the alliance is in Poland," Polish President Andrzej Duda said.
NATO has been reinforcing its military presence in Europe, particularly in Eastern European states, since the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis, citing Russia's alleged interference in that conflict as justification for the move. Moscow has repeatedly denied the accusations, calling NATO's military buildup near Russia's borders provocative.
The upcoming NATO summit is expected to be the largest ever summit of the alliance as the Polish capital expects to host more than 2,000 people, including 26 delegations from NATO partners and observers.
Perincek further said that his party has taken effective steps for this in the course of meetings at various levels with representatives of Syria and Russia.
The probability that we can make significant progress in this area is very high. We all see what sort of situation is developing in the north of Syria. In fact, the United States has lost because the government of Bashar al-Assad has destroyed all American plans as he still remains in power.
BERLIN (Sputnik) German-Turkish relations got strained after on June 2, the German parliament adopted a resolution recognizing Armenian genocide committed by Ottoman authorities during World War I.
"Traditionally close and trusting relations between Germany and Turkey were the point of the talk highlighting that recent remarks of German lawmakers were inappropriate and incomprehensible," the German Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) He also added that the European Union and NATO would take decisions on implementing measures to respond to threats from the east as well as from the south in the upcoming July's Summit.
"The European Union is to decide how to further develop relations with Russia which brings us to a headache because [Russia] is carrying out quite aggressive politics," Waszczykowski said as quoted by Rzeczpospolita newspaper.
On Tuesday Warsaw held a meeting of the National Security Council, the main topic of the consultations was the upcoming summit.
"The world has not seen anything like to what Aleppo has been exposed, in particular, the mass destruction of humans and infrastructure, which is an unprecedented humanitarian, environmental and architectural disaster in modern history," ISESCO said in the statement published on its website on Monday.
"Today, as a result of long, difficult negotiations we succeeded to join one more settlement to the ceasefire regime We have made an additional agreement that would make them to fight along with government forces along the Daesh and al-Nusra Front," Col. Yury Zraev told reporters.
He added that the reconciliation process had already covered the whole region of Qalamoun, where Tawani was situated.
"Despite the start of Ramadan, a holy month for all Muslims, on Monday, terrorist groups are attacking not only the positions of the government forces and Kurds in Aleppo but residential areas as well. The number of civilian casualties is growing."
In the night, the terrorists purportedly fired multiple rocket launchers, artillery, mortars and anti-aircraft weapons at Aleppo, the center said.
"Over 24 hours, the settlement of Handrat, the al-Nairab airport as well as al-Muhafaza, Meydan, Sheikh Maqsood and al-Zahra districts in Aleppo were subjected to mass fire from multiple rocket launchers and mortars."
This time round the hackers posted the portrait of the Saudi Foreign Minister, a telltale sign of who was behind all this attack. Our technicians have determined that the attack originated from outside this country.
Mosib Naimi said that at the time of the attack it seemed that all data from the newspapers website had disappeared, but our team of IT specialists prevented a complete loss of information.
Our website has been fully restored and we have already managed to determine the source of this attack. Right now we are investigating the incident and an official statement will be following, Mosib Naimi noted.
Mr. Naimi said that even though relations between the two countries have seriously deteriorated over the past few months it was still not a reason to unleash a cyberwar, adding that Al Vafagh reserved the right to file a lawsuit with pertinent international organizations.
It doesnt matter whether we have diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia or not. Through international organizations we can demand that the Saudi authorities help us find the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to justice.
In any case it is clear that the Saudis could not have staged an attack of this magnitude alone. This flies in the face of all existing international media laws so the Saudi hackers or those who were ordered to do this by Riyadh must not go unpunished, Mosib Naimi said in conclusion.
Tehran earlier claimed that a recent cyber-attack against one of its government websites originated from Saudi Arabia.
Brigadier General Seyed Kamal Hadianfar, chief of Irans Cyber Police (FATA) announced that his agency had managed to identify the IP addresses of hackers responsible for an attack against the Statistical Center of Irans website.
According to the general, the perpetrators were traced to three Arabian countries, and the entire attack was coordinated by a mastermind residing in Saudi Arabia.
Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia soured following the January 2016 execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia, an outspoken critic of the Saudi monarchy, along with 46 other people convicted of terrorism.
The Syrian leader called Turkey's regime "fascist" and said that Aleppo is the last President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's hope to "realize the Islamist project."
Assad also commented on Syrian peace talks in Geneva, saying that they truly didn't start as the opposition is backed by third parties.
The Syrian leader thanked Russia, Iran and China for their help in the fight against terrorism, emphasizing that these countries support people's right to determine the fate of their state.
"The defeat of terrorism is imminent as long as there are such states as Iran, Russia and China, supporting the right to self-determination. I thank them for it."
Assad also said that high turnout during the parliamentary elections held in April shows that "the greater pressure on Syria is, the greater is the desire of people to gain independence and sovereignty."
He empazised that any politican process is impossible and senseless until terrorism is defeated.
ANKARA (Sputnik) Seven police officers and four civilians were killed and dozens of civilians were injured in Tuesday's explosion in a central Istanbul district. The explosion took place at 8:40 a.m. local time (05:40 GMT), when a car with police officers was crossing the street close to the place, where the bomb was planted.
"We will continue the resolute fight against terrorists. I hope soon we will identify the organization responsible for this terrorist attack. I express condolences to relatives of the victims," Erdogan told journalists.
Two wounded individuals are in an intensive care unit, others are in stable condition, Erdogan added.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Al-Nusra Front terrorist group has regrouped and resumed attacks against Syrian government forces, a spokesman for the Russian center for the Syria reconciliation said.
"Using the ceasefire and the close proximity to areas controlled by the so-called moderate opposition, the Nusra Front has regrouped, restocked its weapons and arms supplies an began carrying out attacks," the representative said.
Daesh has also been receiving fresh arms supplies, according to the spokesman.
Speaking about the development of operations in Raqqa and Manbij, the journalist explained that the soldiers of the Party of Democratic Union (PDS) and Syrian Democratic Forces in the North launched an operation to liberate Raqqa.
Meanwhile, the operation was suddenly suspended and Kurdish Forces headed west of Manbij. It was not a distraction tactic because at the time the Syrian Democratic Forces were heading towards Raqqa and the Syrian leadership issued a demand to stop the advance in that direction.
Syrian Kurds began to speak of their intention to seize Raqqa, which angered the Syrian authorities, who made it clear that the liberation of Raqqa will be their own personal effort.
According to Mahalli Syrian Democratic Forces want to take control over Manbij and Jarabulus in order to block Daesh supplies in the western Mare region.
One of the most important centers of Daesh after Manbij is El Bab. The city's population is very radical. I was there as a teenager, about 50 years ago and even then all the local women wore a veil. Therefore, the operation in El Baba was left for the end.
He explained that liberating Manbij is much easier because there is practically no support for Daesh among local population.
Mahalli further said that the situation that has occurred in Syria has never happened before in history.
Despite all efforts of 4 years dislodging Assad was impossible. From all corners of the world 40-50 thousand half-witted thugs were recruited from Turkey and smuggled into Syria, as a result we got the situation we are now witnessing.
Meanwhile, Assad is still in power and all government agencies in the country have continued to operate. If Turkey closed its borders and stopped supporting terrorist groups, the Syrian authorities within 3 months would be able to take control of 90% of the country, Mahalla concluded.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) In Syria, the coalition carried out 15 strikes near the city of Manbij, hitting 13 separate Daesh units and destroying fighting positions, vehicles, a cave entrance and a command and control node.
"In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 18 strikes using bomber, attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL [Daesh] targets," the release stated on Tuesday. "Additionally in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 17 strikes coordinated with and in support of the Government of Iraq using bomber, attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft against ISIL targets."
The coalition launched three additional strikes against a Daesh unit, command and control node, headquarters and vehicle near Mara.
In addition, the Treasury report included for the first time blocked funds of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Daesh, which stand at about $14 million and $131,000 accordingly.
The Daesh, outlawed in many countries including in Russia and the United States.
The terror group controls large areas in oil-rich Syria, Iraq and Libya, and has been relying heavily on revenues from black-market sales of drugs, smuggled crude oil and human trafficking.
Purchasing a fleet of Super Hornets would push any possibility of an F-35 deal to at least the late 2020s.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program has been riddled with problems throughout its development. Costing over $1 trillion, the F-35 has had issues with software, engines, and even its dogfighting performance.
Last month, Danish lawmakers forced defense minister Peter Christensen to explain the militarys decision to purchase the plane despite its poor performance tests.
"There are always some risks, but we will negotiate the best terms we can and we will do our utmost to clarify details as much as we can before we make the first purchase," he said. "We will look to secure better certainty on costs."
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Defense News broadcaster reported Monday that four aircraft carrier strike groups were deployed at the moment, while two more were carrying out local tasks.
The broadcaster added citing a spokesman for the Navy that six of 10 US aircraft carriers had not been simultaneously at sea since November 2012.
According to the media outlet, the seventh aircraft carrier strike group is being prepared to be deployed later in the year, while the US Navy could receive the 11th carrier that will also strengthen US maritime capabilities.
The newspaper added that Shoigu and his Kazakh counterpart Imangali Tasmagambetov are expected to discuss cooperation within the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
According to the newspaper, on Wednesday Shoigu will arrive in Turkmenistan and will discuss with Turkmen Defense Minister Yaylym Berdiev a turmoil in Afghanistan, as well as struggle against the Daesh militant group, outlawed in Russia.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) According to the source, Russia is not excluding the option of holding the meeting before the NATO summit in July.
"This question is being actively discussed. The proposal has been voiced, including publicly. A cautious clarification of approaches is now underway," the source told RIA Novosti, answering a question on whether the Council could meet again before the alliance's summit.
BAGHDAD (Sputnik) Moscow is ready to supply Iraq with any military equipment necessary to fight Daesh, Russia's Ambassador to Iraq Ilya Morgunov told Sputnik.
"Anything they ask for. We can deliver whatever they need," Morgunov said, adding that the Iraqi government is interested in acquiring Russian military equipment as it is easier to use and safer than Western analogues.
"Talks [on arms supplies] never end. Unfortunately, Iraq is in a situation where it simply will not survive the battle with terrorist groups without constant replenishment of its armed forces with new types of weapons and equipment," the diplomat stated.
According to a report by a government committee, Denmark must permanently station six of the freshly procured F-35 fighters at the training center at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona for pilot training. At the last minute, however, the figure was reduced to five aircraft.
And this is not just okay, this is a decidedly good idea, many experts argue.
"If you look at what the aircraft are actually used for, training and education play an enormous role. In fact, they take up more than half of all the flying time," Henrik Breitenbauch, researcher at the Centre for Military Studies at the University of Copenhagen, told Danish Radio. According to him, it does not really matter, where exactly the warplanes are stationed.
Russia's engagement is estimated to have cost less than $500 million, according to figures circulated in the media in March. The deal with Algeria, inked in December 2015, is said to be worth up to $600 million , according to Global Security.
In retrospect, Russia's engagement was a "risky, but successful move," Austria's national daily broadsheet Der Standard observed. And it is what helped to push the deal forward.
Moscow had been in talks with Algiers for the delivery of the expert version of the Sukhoi Su-34 for eight years. The negotiations appeared to be moving nowhere. In late September 2015, Russia launched its campaign; the Su-34s took part in their first battle.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The US and Chinese navies intend to hold joint exercises to improve cooperation in disaster relief and to fight piracy, the US Department of State said in a press release on Tuesday upon the conclusion of the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.
"The two navies plan to work toward an agreement to conduct substantive exercises in conjunction with agreed upon port visits to cooperate during natural disaster or counter-piracy operations," the press release stated.
The South China Sea issue is again going to be in the limelight as India, the US and Japan are set to hold a trilateral naval exercise in the Western Pacific Ocean off the east coast of Okinawa.
The trilateral exercise called Malabar Exercise' will start on Friday and run through June 17 and is likely to strengthen naval ties between India, the US and Japan amid militarization of South China Sea by China.
#EFOSD IN Ships presently sailing across South China Sea scheduled 2 exercise with USN & JMSDF in Sasebo/off Okinawa pic.twitter.com/uqAUq4Vhby SpokespersonNavy (@IndianNavyPRO) 3 2016 .
The Malabar Exercise will focus on anti-submarine warfare and air-defense training among the three countries.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) NATO has been reinforcing its military presence in Europe, particularly in Eastern European states, since the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis, citing Russia's alleged interference in that conflict as justification for the move. Moscow has repeatedly denied the accusations, calling NATO's military buildup near Russia's borders provocative.
The upcoming NATO summit is expected to be the largest ever summit of the alliance as the Polish capital expects to host more than 2,000 people, including 26 delegations from NATO partners and observers.
"We also expect significant contributions from all other Allies to improve NATOs readiness, responsiveness, and interoperability, Nuland stated.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) In 2008, Georgia applied for membership in NATO. Since then a NATO commission has monitored Tbilisi's progress in matching the standards of the military bloc. Georgian membership in the alliance will be addressed at the NATO June summit in Warsaw.
"We dont plan to have permanent troops on the ground [in Georgia], but we do plan to increase the tempo of our exercises and trainings with Georgia," Carpenter stated.
Colonel Wilkerson said that, whether or not war was justified on strategic merit alone, Americans were clamoring for violence after the World Trade Center buildings were destroyed during the 9/11 tragedy. Even a less militaristic US leader, he suggested, such as an Al Gore, would have found himself embroiled in a conflict in Afghanistan simply to assure people that he was doing something to keep the US safe.
However, he opined that Gore would have likely carried out a war in a different way, keeping the effort limited to perhaps a few months. Many Americans believed, he said, that "we would go to Afghanistan for a few months, knock out al-Qaeda the best we could, and send a clear warning to the countrys ruling body, the Taliban, that if they let al-Qaeda back then well attack again."
Can the war be explained when 92% of Afghans never heard of the World Trade Center?
"I suppose some of the people suffering the most are those who become homeless and displaced, especially the children who should never be held accountable for governance," said peace activist Kathy Kelly. "The UN is reporting 117,976 families have had to flee their homes and there are so many different fighting warlords that people arent sure which side is which."
Saudi Arabia also argued that, notwithstanding the egregious human rights violations, inclusion of Saudi forces on the list contradicts previous UN resolutions endorsing the government the Saudi-led war intends to prop up in Yemen.
The move shocked the international human rights community, after noting the inclusion of Saudi Arabia on the list, citing the kingdoms responsibility for 60% of child deaths in Yemen since 2015.
Human Rights Watch called the move by the United Nations to strip Saudi Arabia from the list, "deeply disturbing," likening the deletion to the kingdoms successful lobbying effort with the UN General Assembly to avoid war crime accusations for atrocities committed by Riyadh in Yemen.
The move also likely factors in the effect of a US domestic law that prohibits selling weapons to countries that violate human rights or are guilty of war crimes. Observers note that America would lose one of its primary weapons purchasers if Saudi Arabia were included on the list or, at the least, the Obama administration would face international condemnation for aiding and abetting widespread casualties.
KIEV (Sputnik) Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said that participation of Russian representatives in a potential armed mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to eastern Ukraine is a "complete abstraction."
Earlier in May, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the Normandy Quartet, comprising Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine, agreed to deploy the OSCE police mission to Donbass. However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that there was no agreement between the Normandy Quartet leaders on the issue of the OSCE police mission deployment.
"On the issue of country's representation [in the mission]. Unfortunately, the decisions within the OSCE are made by consensus. We should take into consideration the positions of all the countries. We will strive for the mission to be effective to the greatest possible extent. Of course, to imagine that Russia's armed representatives would be on Ukraine's territory is a 'complete abstraction,'" Klimkin was quoted as saying by the ICTV television channel on Monday.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Hezbollah, established in the 1980s, is a political, but also paramilitary organization originating in Lebanon's Shiite population. The group initially aimed to end Israel's occupation of Southern Lebanon.
"Hezbollah has demonstrated through indiscriminate violence that it is a terrorist organization and should be broadly recognized as such by the international community," Shaheen stated on Monday. "Our resolution urges our friends in the European Union to join us in applying this additional pressure on Hezbollahs entire network."
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The press release noted that most of the items returned to India were recovered during Operation Hidden Idol, an investigation that started in 2007.
"More than 200 antiquities and cultural artifacts that speak to Indias astounding history and beautiful culture are beginning their journey home," Lynch stated during a ceremony on Monday.
The items were found during an investigation by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), several US Attorneys offices and the Department of Justices Office of International Affairs.
"Discussion of the measures aimed at development of collective security system of the CSTO member states in the sphere of tackling international terrorism and extremism" the statement published on Monday said.
According to the statement, the secretaries are also expected to discuss a number of other regional security issues.
. If you do not agree with the blocking, please use the Access to the chat has been blocked for violating the rules . You will be able to participate again through:. If you do not agree with the blocking, please use the feedback form
The discussion is closed. You can participate in the discussion within 24 hours after the publication of the article.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) On May 20, Lega Nord Lega Lombarda secretary Paolo Grimoldi told RIA Novosti that the party would submit to Lombardy's regional council a resolution demanding official recognition of Crimea as part of Russia and the lifting of anti-Russia sanctions . On May 25, a group of lawmakers from Liguria's regional council introduced a similar resolution.
"Tomorrow is only a press-conference for the occasion of submission of this draft resolution to the Council. The vote will take place in July, same as in Lombardia region. Lombardia regional council will vote on 4th or 5th of July, and I think the same is in Liguria," Gianluca Savoini said.
He added that his party was against anti-Moscow sanctions as they run against Europe's democratic values and should be lifted because of their harmful effect.
While Anakonda 2016 is "taking place at Russia's doorstep, it does not imply that Russia is threatened at least in the immediate future," he noted.
Chossudovsky's logic is simple: there is nothing secretive about the bloc's war gaming.
"History tells us that war plans are based on deceit. In this particular case these deployments in Eastern Europe and the Baltics are open. Everybody knows about them, they are in the public domain. They are part of a propaganda campaign. They are talking points of the media," he continued.
This is what makes them different from the Nazi offensive on the Soviet Union. "Operation Barbarossa was a secret operation. At the time the relations between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union were normal in terms of trade," the analyst observed.
In late-May, the Financial Times published an article with the headline "Germany is the eurozones biggest problem." According to the newspaper, Germanys EU allies are increasingly wary of Berlins political course.
The fact that Germany is the most powerful country among the 28 EU members is often considered the main problem. Previously considered key players, France and Britain, are now losing their positions. France is plagued with domestic issues and Britain is on the verge of leaving the EU.
As a result, Berlin has become the "political capital" of Europe, putting Paris, London and even Brussels on the backburner.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) German media reported last week that Berlin was intending to release a new White Paper, in which it would label Russia as a rival rather than partner for the first time since 2006.
"The White Paper 2016 is the core document on Germanys security policy. It defines Germanys place in the global security order The publication of the new White Paper is planned this summer," the ministry said.
However, the press service did not clarify, which particular threat has triggered the publication of the new document or if Russia was listed as a rival country in it.
It all started in 1875 when Russia transferred the Kurils to Japan in exchange for Tokyo's pledge not to claim Sakhalin.
"In 1905, the head of the Russian delegation, Sergei Witte, told the Japanese during the Portsmouth talks that their claims to Sakhalin went against the 1875 agreements. Foreign Minister Komura Jutaro responded that war annulled any previous deals, Russia lost the war and changing circumstance had to be taken into account," the analyst narrated.
In addition, the Japanese delegation added a clause that scrapped all previous agreements between Moscow and Tokyo, including the 1855 Treaty of Shimoda, the 1875 agreement and the 1895 trade treaty.
"This is how Japan lost any legal ground to claim the Kuril Islands," Koshkin said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Monday, Netanyahu arrived in Moscow for a three-day official visit dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and Russia. This is the third Israeli prime minister's visit to the country since September 2015.
"First and foremost there is the atmosphere of trust in bilateral relations, there is a very constructive and trusting manner of communication between the president and the prime minister. Regarding the ongoing visit, it had been planned for a long time, and previous communication had an extraordinary character. The need for this dialogue appeared, so to speak, in connection with the current issues in the region," Peskov said answering the question on the reason behind the frequent visits of Netanyahu to Russia.
The two politicians will discuss the implementation of agreements reached within the framework of Netanyahu's visit to Moscow on April 21. Special attention is expected to be paid to the relevant issues of bilateral cooperation, as well as the pressing international issues.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The more the Western public is being "brainwashed" by local media, the more it strives for an alternative news coverage, Russian Foreign Ministry's Human Rights Ombudsman Konstantin Dolgov told Sputnik on Tuesday.
"[Some Russian media are under sanctions] because you work effectively and provide an alternative point of view as a counter to para-governmental Western or pro-Western point of view. And a huge number of people [in the West] are interested in it, because the more Western public opinion, a considerable part of the Western society is being brainwashed, the more it strives for the alternative news coverage," Dolgov said on the sidelines of the New Era of Journalism: Farewell to Mainstream forum hosted by Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.
The two-day media forum, timed to coincide with the 75th anniversary of establishment of the Soviet Information Bureau, which later evolved into Rossiya Segodnya, kicked off in Moscow on Monday. The event deals with the changing nature of contemporary journalism and is attended by media experts from over 30 countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the event.
ANKARA (Sputnik) The Turkish government expects Berlin to voice its stance on the issue, which will be different from that of the Bundestag, he added.
"We will take action against the German parliament's resolution. We cannot stay silent," Cavusoglu stated as aired by the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT).
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Last month, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the military alliance wanted to hold a NATO-Russia Council before the Warsaw summit scheduled for July 8-9.
"There is a dialogue on the ambassadorial level, it is unlikely to bring us to reaching greater understanding It is possible to state the lack of mutual trust," Peskov told reporters when asked about whether it was possible for Russia to host a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council (NRC).
ANKARA (Sputnik) Israel and Turkey have come closer to signing an agreement on normalization of bilateral relations, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday.
"We are close to the signing of agreement with Israel. We have one or two meetings left prior to it," Cavusoglu told the TRT broadcaster.
It is important for Turkey that Israel provides access for humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, the Turkish minister added.
On the other hand, the White House continues to adhere to Barack Obamas policy of non-involvement in the Middle East, the expert said.
Washington does not want another military operation in the Middle East, Salame said.
"As a result, there is an asymmetric situation never seen during the Cold War and in the post-Cold War era. Russia is actively involved in the Syrian crisis while the US distances itself from the situation," he pointed out.
"The US strategy is like this: if Russia wants to be engaged in Syria well not interfere. Washington is not interested in abandoning Obamas approach," he concluded.
"I am often asked if the United States or NATO plan to discuss missile defense plans with Russia. The United States and NATO have repeatedly offered Russia cooperation in the field of missile defense, including the creation of two Russia-NATO centers and plans on how to reach a transparency regime between the sides," Tefft said in an online Q&A session on Russian social media network VK.
"Russia rejected all proposals that could have contributed to the development of cooperation and transparency. It was the Russian side that terminated the partnership dialogue unilaterally in 2013," the ambassador added.
BAKU (Sputnik) The violence in Nagorno-Karabakh, an Azerbaijani breakaway region with a predominantly Armenian population, escalated in April. Baku and Yerevan have accused each other of provoking hostilities that led to multiple deaths on both sides.
"Azerbaijan is facing double standards policy, as in some cases the resolutions are implemented within a few days, whereas in the case of Azerbaijan they have not been implemented for more than 20 years," the president said at the Azerbaijan-Germany business forum in Berlin.
Aliyev also noted that, to his disappointment, the sanctions against Armenia have not been imposed do far.
Last week, the international naval exercise BALTOPS kicked off in the Baltic Sea and will continue until June 19. BALTOPS is an annual military exercise, held and sponsored by US Naval Forces Europe in the Baltic Sea and the surrounding regions since 1971.
This year, approximately 6,100 troops from 17 countries along with 45 submarines and warships, including the USS Mount Whitney, and over 60 aircraft are taking part in one of the largest drills in northern Europe.
NATO has been conducting the exercise for several decades, but now the pretext has changed, Johnstone told RT.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The United States and China call for a prompt resumption of the multilateral denuclearization talks with North Korea, the US Department of State said in a press release on Tuesday upon the conclusion of the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.
"The two sides called on all relevant parties to make joint efforts and take the necessary actions to create the conditions for an early resumption of the Six-Party Talks," the press release stated.
China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States formed the six party talks with North Korea from 2003 through 2009 to negotiate peace on the Korean Peninsula and to put an end to Pyongyangs nuclear weapons program.
YEREVAN (Sputnik) Yerevan and Brussels have made progress in negotiating a new partnership deal, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said Tuesday.
"Our negotiations have been successfully progressing toward a new comprehensive Armenian-EU agreement, and we hope that the document will be signed in reasonable time terms and stir up bilateral cooperation," Sargsyan said, as he met with EU mission in Armenia, adding that recent cooperation between Yerevan and Brussels brought practical outcomes.
Mainstream coverage, according to Klose, is mostly " palliative ," lacking background facts that can shed light on what caused the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Moreover, reports often reflect Riyadh's point of view on the conflict, with phrases like "Iran-backed Houthi rebels" serving as a prime example.
The Internal Displacement Monitoring Center echoed this sentiment in its recent report, calling the Yemeni war "an overlooked crisis with no end in sight."
"The international media and political discourse have widely overlooked the human narrative and widespread suffering in Yemen, and there has been little political resolve to stop the violence and improve humanitarian access," Global Report on Internal Displacement said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Netanyahu noted that Russia and Israel always had some important issues to discuss, such as cooperation in the fields of technology, agriculture, regional problems.
"This visit is a special one, because in its framework we commemorate the 25th anniversary of the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between [our] countries. We will discusshow to strengthen and to develop our relations for the next 25 years," Netanyahu said.
"We face many common challenges," Netanyahu added.
Remarkably, the Saudi "game of thrones" is more about gambling, than cold calculating.
It his May opinion piece for The Vineyard of the Saker, Syrian political analyst Ghassan Kadi noted that "the thirty year old Saudi Prince, Mohammad, has risen to prominence by way of mere chance."
Kadi recalled that the once powerful Prince Bandar bin Sultan had made every effort to assume the throne.
"He was very well connected, very influential, and above all, the son of the prince (Sultan) who was meant to become king," the analyst noted.
Alas, King Abdullah had outlived both his brother Sultan and his half-brother Nayef. As a result, Prince Salman ascended to the throne in 2015. However, by then Salman was "79 years old and already suffering from Alzheimer's disease," Kadi underscored.
"It is tipped that Salman is going to soon change his Will and appoint his son Mohammad as the Crown Prince instead of Mohammed bin Nayef. In effect, [Mohammad bin Salman] is already acting like he is the king," he remarked.
"[Mohammad bin Salman] has witnessed the fall of Bandar and saw his mistakes. He has learned from this that he cannot rely on America as an equal ally. [He] obviously knows that the golden age of Al Saud is over. He knows that what seemed to be an endless wealth a few decades ago is coming to a sudden end, and sooner than anyone thought He is totally aware of the early signs of those reality checks, and he wants to do something about them. Whether he is going to be successful or not, is another story," the analyst noted.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Moscow for a three-day official visit dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and Russia. This is the third Israeli prime minister's visit to the country since September 2015.
"We in Russia set a high value on our contacts with Israel, and not only because Israel is a key country, one of the key countries in the Middle East, but also due to the historical relations [between two countries]," Putin said during the meeting with Netanyahu.
He added that Russia would like to use the enormous potential it has in Israel, namely former Soviet citizens.
The current situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, with constant violations of the ceasefire, is unacceptable, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said Tuesday.
"Violations constantly occur at the line of contact, the ceasefire regime is unstable, it is fragile. The current status quo is unacceptable. Since April, Armenia has been continuing its armed provocations against us," Aliyev said at a joint press conference with Merkel.
The violence in Nagorno-Karabakh, an Azerbaijani breakaway region with a predominantly Armenian population, escalated in April. Baku and Yerevan have accused each other of provoking hostilities that led to multiple deaths on both sides.
The parties agreed on a ceasefire on April 5.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Ishikawa is one of numerous guests from over 30 countries who are participating in the international media forum that is taking place in Russia's capital on June 6-7.
It is hosted by the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency and is timed to coincide with the 75th anniversary of establishment of the Soviet Information Bureau.
Censorship, to my understanding, is when top-level leadership is influencing the content. We don't have this kind of direct intervention, he said when asked, whether Japan has censorship problems.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) In 2009, Wikileaks published a series of secret documents stating that under the Copenhagen-Ankara secret deal approved by US President Barack Obama, the Turkish government had promised to support Rasmussen's bid to head NATO in exchange for closing Roj TV by the Danish authorities.
"A secret deal was done between Turkey, Obama, prime minister of Denmark Rasmussen, whereby he would become the head of NATO in exchange for Denmark wiping out Roj TV," Assange said via video link at the New Era of Journalism: Farewell to Mainstream international media forum hosted by Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The conversation was initiated by the Pakistani side.
"During the conversation the practical questions related to the upcoming extraordinary Nuclear Suppliers Group Plenary in Vienna on June 9 were discussed," the press release said.
Pakistan has applied to join the NSG in May, claiming it has the ability to adhere to the nuclear proliferation-reducing body's standards.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, Gatilov and UN Special Representative for Kosovo Zahir Tanin held a meeting to discuss the situation in Kosovo, the statement said.
"[Gatilov] stressed the need for the implementation of the obligation assumed by the Kosovo-Albanian side under the agreements reached with the Serbian side," the statement reads.
The US "is effectively siding with a branch of al-Qaeda" in Syria, the diplomat said. "We can only hope that it is a temporary aberration and they will soon return to their senses."
Ford was referring to al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's offshoot in Syria. The United Nations, as well as Russia and the US consider this group to be a terrorist organization. Yet Washington asked Moscow to refrain from launching airstrikes on al-Nusra Front if those rebels, whom the US considers to be moderate, are in the same area.
The diplomat maintained that this request is "not reasonable at all" and even "grotesque." However, it should not sound surprising if Washington's "obsession with getting rid of Assad and the secular government in Syria" is taken into account.
Russia agreed to the fact that the representatives of the OSCE mission in the eastern regions of Ukraine will be allowed to carry personal weapons.
"In contrast to Kiev, Moscow is now making obvious efforts to resolve the situation in Donbass," the newspaper wrote.
In the future, observers will be able to carry "guns for self-defense," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
The lawmakers from the Bundestag are not yet aware of plans for such a visit.
Last week, Maurer announced his intention to submit two separate resolutions within his 31-seat Quakenbruck city council calling for the recognition of Crimea as part of Russia and for the European Union to lift sanctions against Russia.
If politicians from the top can't solve this problem, we can give a signal from the bottom The more such signals will be, the greater is the chance that the ruling lawmakers and ministers will think about their voters, he said.
Crimea, which has a predominately ethnically-Russian population, seceded from Ukraine to rejoin Russia in March 2014, following a referendum in which over 96 percent of voters supported the move.
The Ukrainian government and many Western nations refused to recognize the legality of the Crimea referendum and have introduced sanctions against the region and Russia.
"I believe it is a positive step. Any improvement of relations between countries and peoples ultimately leads to improvement of the situation on the global arena. The less problems between countries the better. We welcome this process."
The Russian president said that Moscow has not completely abandoned South Stream or Turkey Stream gas pipeline projects, however, it is necessary to know that stance of the European Commission.
"We just need a clear European Commission position, which should be clear, intelligible and unambiguous. This does not yet exist, for neither project."
"As for export routes [for gas supplies] on the bottom of the Black Sea, we have some political difficulties with Turkey," Putin said.
When commenting on Polish authorities' statement on an intention to abandon Russia gas supplies after a contract ends, Putin said that on an official level "Polish colleagues have not abandoned anything."
If Poland's state-run PGNiG energy company decides not to renew a long-term gas contract with Russia after 2022, Gazprom will offer gas supplies to any other customer in Europe or look for other markets outside the continent, Putin said.
"Those could be Polish companies, or German, or Austrian, or Italian, or French it does not matter to us. Somebody will buy it. If not will search for other markets, not a big deal. May be the Israelis will buy it and sell it to Poland."
MOSCOW (Sputnik) In late May, media reported that a high-profile Portugal secret service officer, Frederico Carvalhao Gil, was arrested in Rome on the request by Lisbon. He is suspected of transferring classified documents to a Russian intelligence serviceman, who was also arrested.
"We consider what happened, as only a small episode, which can in no way affect the existing good relations between the two countries," Mario Godinho de Matos told reporters.
De Matos stressed that the Portuguese media was publishing only the information on the arrest of a local officer.
What lies at the root of the Russo-Israeli rapprochement?
Dan Williams and Denis Dyomkin of Reuters draw attention to the fact that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "has been a more frequent and feted visitor to Moscow than Washington."
While no one expects that Tel Aviv will break up its alliance with the United States, it is obvious that Netanyahu is "mindful of Putin's sway in the Syrian civil war and other Middle East crises as the US footprint in the region wanes," the journalists stress.
Furthermore, according to the journalists, Russia is now "the closest thing to a guarantor" that Israel's "most potent enemies" Iran and Syria would restrain themselves from attacking the country.
In exchange Netanyahu may offer the Kremlin "reciprocal Israeli restraint in Syria" as well as a more important role at the Israeli-Palestinian negotiating table, thus far recognizing Russia's strengthened geopolitical positions on the Middle Eastern arena.
There are sings showing that the Moscow-led peacemaking efforts may be under way, the journalists suggest.
"When Netanyahu last came, in April, it was three days after a visit by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. On Wednesday, when Netanyahu departs, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is scheduled to host Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki," they point out.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Lavrov and Kerry hold telephone conversations on the situation in Syria on a regular basis to exchange view on the country's political settlement and the fight against terrorism.
"The heads of the Foreign Ministries continued to coordinate the two countries' approaches to fighting Daesh, al-Nusra Front and other terrorist organizations operating in Syria," the ministry said in a statement.
Ahrar ash-Sham is well-known for its "outstanding relations" with al-Nusra Front. Although the group claims its ideology differs from that of the al-Qaeda branch, it is overtly pushing ahead with its project to create a Salafist Islamic state
In its turn, Jaish al-Islam "is a result of a mix of over 55 armed factions." The group was formed after the outbreak of the Syrian crisis aimed at fighting against Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian Arab Army.
Interestingly enough, Jaish al-Islam never hid its partnership with al-Nusra Front.
Alwaght noted that the group's former Commander-in-Chief Zahran Alloush used to say that "al-Nusra Front is a fighting faction in Syria with which we [Jaish al-Islam] worked in an array of battles and we observed their practice, jihad and diligence, and we hail al-Nusra Front and do not consider them Khawarij."
Investigative journalist Willy van Damme calls attention to the fact that the so-called moderate rebels and al-Nusra Front have been cooperating for about five years. Since the beginning of the Syrian turmoil they have been fighting against the legitimate Syrian government.
"To think that they would split from al-Nusra is dreaming," the investigative journalist told RT.
According to Alwaght, Washington attempts to use these groups "as political trump cards," including for its own interests in Syria.
To be more precise, the US policymakers are exploiting these so-called "moderate" thugs as a battering ram against the government of Bashar al-Assad and his Syrian Arab Army. However, once the Salafist groups take over Damascus, Washington will be completely unable to shape the future of the Syrian state since it lacks any kind of control over the militants.
"Russia has chosen its path because of its unique historical background. If your expectations are not met because there are someone's other interests, you feel disappointment, and conflict arises. The fact that it was about the illusory expectations is another story," Seipel said.
"The West often behaves like the Catholic Church in the 19th century, which believes that the whole world must adhere to its ideas. At least until its missionaries encountered such a granite' as Russia," the author concluded.
The book focuses on Vladimir Putin's relations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russia and Western geopolitics, US claims to global supremacy, the standoff in Syria, the conflict in Donbass, the 2014 downing of a Malaysian jet in eastern Ukraine and others.
The 300-page opus opens with "The Evil Empire and Well-Wishers" preface and ends with an epilogue aptly titled "Cold Peace."
US to Continue to Look for Areas of Aligning Interests With Russia
The United States continues to search for areas of cooperation with Russia, US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said.
"Even as we push back against Russian aggression and support neighbors under pressure, the United States will continue to look for areas where our interests and Moscows align."
The assistant secretary noted that the two countries can cooperate in the fields of "nonproliferation, nuclear and other WMD [weapon of mass destruction] security, preventing atrocities and humanitarian crises, and combating violent extremism and terrorism."
US 'Cautiously Optimistic' EU to Reimpose Anti-Russia Sanctions in June
The United States is hopeful but not certain that its European Union partners will reimpose sanctions on Russia when the issue comes to the European Council in June, Nuland also said.
"We are cautiously optimistic that the EU countries will again roll over sanctions at the end of June, because they see what we see, namely that Minsk [peace agreements] is far from being implemented in any of its components."
NATO Warsaw Summit to Address Alleged Russian Treaty Violations
The United States will use the upcoming NATO summit in Warsaw to address the alliances ability to deter Russia in the context of alleged arms control treaty violations, US Assistant Secretary of State for Eurasian Affairs, Victoria Nuland stated.
"We are also working intensively, and this is part of our package for the Warsaw Summit, to assure that NATOs own deterrent, including its nuclear deterrent is updated and strong," Nuland said when asked about US responses to alleged treaty violations.
Nuland added that the United States is also working with allies to "bring pressure to bear on Russia with regard to the violations."
The United States has accused Russia of violations the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which prohibits the development, testing, or fielding of ground-based cruise missiles with a range of 300 to 3,400 miles.
Russia has rejected the accusations, and claimed that Washingtons Europe-based missile defense system violates the treaty.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, the Russian leader held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Moscow.
"I just want to express hope that this jubilee year, the bilateral cooperation will be enriched with new initiatives. The main thing is we have a disposition to carry out consistent rhythmic work on the realization of all our plans," Putin said in an address devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Russian-Israeli rapprochement.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis in 2014 led to a deterioration in relations between the West and Russia, with Western media alleging Russian involvement in the conflict. Russia repeatedly denied the allegations and asked for proof, which West has not been able to provide.
In May 2015, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the West had imposed an information blockade on the events in Ukraine, and urged international observers to provide factual assessments to the issue.
"Since 2014, the total appropriation now, State Department, USAID [US Agency for International Development], BBG (Broadcast Board of Governors) on the US side is about $100 million to counter Russian propaganda," Nuland told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"I think the Eurozone is the catastrophe. Just look at what they've done to Greece and those Mediterranean countries. The migrant crisis is now not just dividing countries, but dividing within countries The project does not work," Farage said at EU referendum TV debate with UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
He also criticized the fact that the money within the Eurozone was running out, but at the same time, there were spendings on such things, as possible European army and increased European budget.
"[Obama and Modi] committed to deepen cooperation on cybersecurity and welcomed the understanding reached to finalize the Framework for the US-India Cyber Relationship in the near term," the statement said.
Additionally, the two leaders pledged to promote bilateral research and development in cybersecurity, including product development, testing and training.
With California and five other states voting today, Hillary Clinton is hoping to claim victory as the Democratic nominee. However, Bernie Sanders has vowed that he will fight on to the Democratic convention, which he says will be contested. Is it Bernie or Bust no matter what? Author and political cartoonist Ted Rall joins Becker to discuss what happens next for Sanders and his supporters.
Unemployment data shows the number of people out of work in the U.S. has fallen to 4.7 percentor has it? Numbers released last week show that 38,000 jobs were added in May, but do these figures really take into account the true number of people out of work or who have given up looking for work? Becker is joined from London by economist and author Steven Keen.
NATO is set to begin its largest war games of the year today. The Anakonda exercises start in Poland with over 31,000 NATO troops including 14,000 Americans taking part. Taking place a month before the NATO Summit in Warsaw, what message are these war games meant to send? Joining Becker are political analysts John Wight and Daniel McAdams.
First on today's program, a word or two about the violence outside (and inside) Donald Trump's rally on Thursday in San Jose, CA, and about the anti-American freedom of the press denied reporters covering his campaign. Then, speaking of denial, the planet's climate crisis continues to worsen and the body count continues to mount from Houston to Fort Hood to Paris and beyond. But, while GOPers continue to pretend that climate science is a "hoax" or "pseudoscience", at least the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office is finally warning about the increasing costs of federal spending that it will cause. Will Republicans bother to listen now?
And, while we're at it, GOPers continue to deny the voter suppression they are working very hard to carry out in 2016, even if it requires them to make a fraudulent case about 'voter fraud', as Tom Mechler, the Chair of the Republican Party of Texas, did this week, when he used cases of absentee fraud to fraudulently make the case for polling place Photo ID restrictions in the Lone Star State. He's hardly alone, however. GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also recently lied about voter suppression, telling USA Today: "There are no serious barriers to voting anymore anywhere in America."
Really, Senator? Hope you'll let the disenfranchised Native Americans in North Dakota and elsewhere know about that before this Tuesday's primary not to the mention the millions of Americans who do not have the very specific type of Photo ID now required to vote at the polling place in many states controlled by Republicans. As the Brennan Center for Justice notes, some 17 states have made it more difficult for legal (disproportionately Democratic-leaning) voters to cast their legal vote since the last Presidential election, many of those states passing new restrictions on voting since the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the most important section of the Voting Rights Act in 2013. (But, if all goes well, at least registering to vote may soon become a bit easier in Illinois. Maybe. If their Republican Governor plays along.)
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The second day's forum session, called "New media: Guaranteeing freedom of information," will address issues of censorship and will see a speech by German journalist Hubert Seipel, the author of the book "Putin. Inside View of Power," among other speakers. The day will conclude with the forum's third session, titled "End of the monopoly: The open information age," and will focus on the freedom of information dissemination.
The Russian president is set to make an appearance at the forum on Tuesday. Putin is expected to congratulate the journalist staff and the participants of the forum on the 75-year anniversary of the establishment of the Soviet Information Bureau, which later evolved into Rossiya Segodnya.
Assange's speech will be delivered remotely via a video conference from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he has been residing since August 2012.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday thanked all the participants of the international media forum "New Era of Journalism: Farewell to Mainstream" hosted by Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency for their fruitful work and cooperation, noting that a direct dialogue among colleagues is always useful.
"I want to thank all the Russian and foreign participants of the forum for the fruitful work, cooperation within these two days. As far as I know, you have discussed a variety of issues and, above all, of course, the role of the media in the changing world, exchanged views on your concerns, problems. And, of course, a direct conversation between colleagues is always helpful and always in demand," Putin said.
The two-day media forum, timed to coincide with the 75th anniversary of establishment of the Soviet Information Bureau, which later evolved into Rossiya Segodnya, kicked off in Moscow on Monday. The event dealt with the changing nature of contemporary journalism and is attended by media experts from over 30 countries.
When accepting a copy of the book, titled "Putin: Innenansichten der Macht" (Putin: Inside View of Power), whose official presentation had earlier been held during an international book fair on Red Square, Vladimir Putin told the author that he hadnt read it yet.
I havent read a single book about myself, Putin admitted.
When asked why, Putin smiled: Because I know it all.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Western politicians, including in the United States, are "afraid" of Russian media and therefore conducting a discriminatory policy of blockade, Dolgov told Sputnik on the sidelines of the New Era of Journalism: Farewell to Mainstream forum hosted by Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.
According to Dolgov, "politicians in the West and in the Baltic countries, in Poland, in the United States, bureaucrats in Brussels are afraid, because they understand that this access to Russian media will wipe out the blockade that they themselves have established, which is completely artificial."
"I said it yesterday, and other members of the discussion said it as well, that trying to cut people off from certain news outlets today is an absolutely fruitless activity, especially due to social media, where information is spread very quicklyOf course, you can block a TV broadcast, but you're unlikely to be able to cut off millions of, say, Russian-speaking Ukrainian citizens from Russian media. And overall, banning culture, banning mass media is the last thing one should do. It's an absolutely fruitless stance, a fearful one, and, of course, illegal, violating basic rights, the fundamental right to access information," he added.
According to Vanin, Russia's main interests are peace and prosperity. The ambassador also stressed the deadly consequences of the present-day militarism.
"Should it ever come to a war, it would not be just a conflict, but a war for total eradication. It will be the end, and nobody wants that. We are not the Soviet Union, we are not the Bolsheviks, we do not want to exterminate anyone. We think in a completely different way. But obviously we have our interests and desires and expect respect," the ambassador said.
From Russia's perspective, however, there may hardly arise any debate on who is provoking whom in the Baltic Sea. NATO's triple military exercises in the Baltic Sea region, numbering a total of 40,000 soldiers, serve as a perfect proof. Objectively speaking, NATO had only twelve members in 1991, nut now has swelled up to 28.
"I have worked with NATO for many years and know of personal experience that NATO badly needs an enemy, a powerful enemy like Russia. Now, NATO has a mission and I think it will take long," former Lieutenant General Yevgeny Buzhinsky, chairman of the independent PIR think-tank told the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. "NATO has been looking for a strong enemy for 25 years, and now they have found one in Russia," he said.
Equipped with 70 anti-ship cruise missiles, 128 anti-aircraft guided missiles and 16 anti-ship guided missiles, including Kalibr and Onix, the nuclear powered destroyer will reportedly reach a speed of 30 knots and remain at sea up to 90 days without support.
It will also carry a pair of Ka-27 or Ka-32 helicopters.
Experts note that the vessel would become the world's third nuclear-powered destroyer after the American USS Truxtun (DLGN-35) and USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25). However, according to designers, Russia's warship will outpace its American counterparts.
With nearly 60 destroyers currently afloat, the currently leads the world in the number of such ships that are mainly used to escort carrier battle groups and provide fire support for ground forces and landing parties.
With an average displacement of under 10,000 tons (half of that of Russias Lider-class destroyer) the US ships pack a lot of firepower but are a bit outdated now. The Americans planned to have built about 10 new destroyers before 2020, but had to settle for just three due to a lack of funds.
Britains Royal Navy has eight destroyers, each under 5,000 tons. They are mainly used to provide air cover for aircraft carriers. The British are currently replacing their destroyer fleet with modern, 8,000-ton ships.
As for Russias Lider-class destroyer, it is going to be an all-round ship capable of replacing older destroyers, major anti-submarine ships and small missile cruisers.
It will be a real floating fortress armed with missiles and artillery and a nuclear power plant to ensure Russias permanent naval presence in the world.
The Russian Navy is expected to receive twelve Lider-class destroyers by 2025.
According to Russian Railways, Beijing is ready to provide a $6 billion loan for the Moscow-Kazan high-speed rail. The overall cost of the project is expected to exceed $15 billion. The track is a joint project of Moscow and Beijing.
The head of the Chinese innovation program for design of the high-speed train, Jia Limin, said that the new train will be created during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).
They will have wheel sets, which can be tailored to the track in other countries, hence making them functional in China as well as abroad.
In the years that followed, the Obama administration negotiated the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty or New START with Russia, and worked with international partners to ensure Irans nuclear program is used solely for peaceful purposes.
Until President Obama leaves office in January 2017, the administration will continue to take steps to address the threat of North Koreas nuclear program, which Rhodes characterized as "the most serious proliferation challenge we face in the world today."
Missile defense in Southeast Asia will also be a "top priority" in Obamas final months in office, according to Rhodes.
The White House is less confident about making progress on further reductions in deployed and non-deployed nuclear warheads, given Russias "reduced enthusiasm" for new negotiations, Rhodes explained. The White House also estimates the US Senate will not ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, banning any nuclear test for military or other purposes.
In a 48-page response to a motion filed by lawyers of detained families, deputy assistant attorney general Leon Fresco claimed that the motion is misleading, and that, by granting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) the right to detain children and families deemed to be a flight risk, they are ignoring a court order.
Plaintiffs make claims that are inaccurate, misleading, or an attempt to improperly substitute their judgment regarding the operations of ICE family residential centers in place of the judgment of those authorized by Congress to administer these facilities, Fresco wrote.
The lawyers argued that continuing the detention practices violates a ruling that bars ICE from detaining children and their parents in jail-like facilities for more time than it takes to process and release them to family members, McClatchy reported.
Scott postponed a trip to New York to meet with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, so that he could monitor the weather situation from the state capital.
Michael Lowry (@MichaelRLowry) June 6, 2016
Colin had already been blowing near 50 mph on Monday morning, and the strength may grow through Tuesday. It has also brought enough rain to warrant authorities distributing sandbags to combat flooding.
Kaan PALA (@kaanpala) June 6, 2016
"If last night was a 'no storm' and the water was almost up to the hump in my yard I'm worried," Ronald P. Milligan, 74, told the AP as he motioned to indicate that water was now at approximately knee level. He explained that he has lived in the area since the 1970s and has never prepared for a storm so early.
Some 1,870,000 firearms-related background checks are estimated to have been completed in the US last month, setting a record for the month of May. In comparison, May 2015 saw 300,000 less checks. In 2008, the number of background gun checks in May was half that of this year.
The figures decreased slightly, compared to April, but annual statistics reveal the decline to be conditioned by season, as the summer is traditionally slow for American arms market.
The FBI processes its checks through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), to determine if a person preparing to buy a gun has a criminal record.
Trump was talking about an incident in 2009 when Gaddafi arrived in New York for a speech at the 64th UN General Assembly. His assistants were searching desperately for a place to install Gaddafis Bedouin-style tent.
After failed attempts to secure space in Central Park and some other New York locations the Libyan government turned to Trump who owned an estate in suburban Bedford.
I am rather regretful to express my opinion; we are in for another President Clinton. She is in my estimation as I have expressed in my columns, dangerous. The world is reaching its maximum tolerance of American ambition for primacy and hegemony. Nobody has announced it more clearly than the Russians in Ukraine and then in Syria, Smith said.
According to the columnist, Hillary Clinton promises more of what we have had so far. He said that the situation right now is full of disorder and confrontations.
I rather regret to forecast that she will be our next president. But the way seems unfortunately fairly open to her.
Trump has also accused Berlin of relying on the United States for protection, instead of taking responsibility to defend themselves, an allegation which Lucas has refuted.
When Russia is going into Ukraine I dont hear from the other countries in NATO. I dont hear from Germany. I only hear from the United States, Trump stated on ABCs This Week in March.
We protect everybody and we dont get reimbursement, Trump said during a September 2015 press conference, specifically naming Germany.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Last month, Spains National Statistics Institute (INE) indicated that the country saw a recent resurgence of tourism as fears of terrorism drove away visitors from Turkey and North African states.
"Spanish companies have already started to offer to our compatriots the 'all inclusive' vacation system. I am sure that the [Russia-Spain] tourism cross-year [started in April] will only contribute to positive trends and increase the number of Russian and Spanish tourists who choose our countries for holidays," Kurochkina told RIA Novosti.
Due to the closure of such popular tourist destinations as Turkey and Egypt, Spain hopes to increase the tourist flow from Russia, she added.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Western politicians, including in the United States, are "afraid" of Russian media and therefore conducting a discriminatory policy of blockade, the Russian Foreign Ministrys Human Rights Ombudsman Konstantin Dolgov told Sputnik on Tuesday.
"Certain politicians in the West and in the Baltic countries, in Poland, in the United States, bureaucrats in Brussels are afraid, because they understand that this access to Russian media will wipe out the blockade that they themselves have established, which is completely artificial, I believe," Dolgov said.
The New Era of Journalism: Farewell to Mainstream international media forum is taking place on June 6-7 in the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency in Moscow. The event deals with the changing nature of contemporary journalism and is attended by media experts from over 30 countries.
"The key limitations to free speech in a democracy should be incitement to violence <> Incitement to violence and protection of privacy, those are to me the two foundational pillars when it comes to necessary limitations on speech in a democracy," Rose said on the sidelines of the New Era of Journalism: Farewell to Mainstream forum hosted by Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.
Rose is best known for commissioning to publish satirical cartoons of Prophet Muhammad in Jyllands-Posten, a Danish daily newspaper, in September 2005.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) According to diplomatic sources, disenchanted Daesh members have been increasingly contacting their governments, some of them even turned up at diplomatic missions in Turkey, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday citing diplomats.
The diplomats, representing several Western diplomatic missions in Turkey, told the news outlet that some of the disenchanted Daesh members were fighters, while others were people who had been enticed to move to so-called Daesh caliphate.
Recently, Daesh has been losing ground and facing assaults on its stronghold of Raqqa in Syria.
The was the first hypothesis published by the newspaper Die Welt and claimed Putin was deliberately sending Chechen refugees to Germany and as a way to demonstrate his power.
According to German expert Stefan Meister from the German Society for Foreign Policy, people actually have "a lot of reasons to leave Chechnya." The researcher believes that the statement about Putin directing Chechen refugees to Germany falls into the category of a conspiracy theory.
Assumption 2 Central Asian Migrant Workers Suddenly Appeared in Scandinavia
The second hypothesis is based on the fact that in recent months Norway and Finland have been flooded by refugees from Central Asia, who previously used to move to Russia and work there. EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn suggested that the Turkmens and Tajiks are going to Europe against their will; that Russia deliberately was sending them to Europe to aggravate the current migration crisis.
According to Meister, such an assumption is doubtful and based only on an "interpretations of Russian actions." Eberhard Schneider also believes such statements are exaggerated and "unconvincing."
"The assumption that the refugee crisis has been staged by Putin for the purpose of weakening the EU and the Chancellor is, in my opinion, unconvincing," he said.
Assumption 3 Russia's operation in Syria has increased the number of refugees fleeing to Europe
The third suggestion was made by US Republican Senator John McCain. According to him, the aim of the Russian military operation in Syria was to spur the flow of migrants to Europe and divide the EU and the United States. He also said that Putin "wants to exacerbate the refugee crisis and use it as a weapon."
Speaking about about Hillary Clinton as presumptive presidential nominee from the US Democrat party Assange said that she "seemingly" wants to start wars, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Tuesday.
"What we have with Clinton is someone who is a hawk but who has the tools of legal interventionism, a rhetorical cover to start the wars, and someone who seemingly wants to start them From WikiLeaks perspective Hillary Clinton is a problem in terms of war and peace," Assange said.
The United States is expected to elect its new president on November 8, 2016.
Earlier in the day, Clinton, a former US senator, former first lady and former secretary of state, reached the number of Democratic delegates needed to secure the partys nomination, according to media reports.
The two-day media forum, timed to coincide with the 75th anniversary of establishment of the Soviet Information Bureau, which later evolved into Rossiya Segodnya, kicked off in Moscow on Monday. The event deals with the changing nature of contemporary journalism and is attended by media experts from over 30 countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the event. Assange spoke remotely via a video conference from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he has been residing since August 2012.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and Chinese Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Affairs Wu Dawei met in the Chinese capital earlier in the day to discuss situation on the Korean Peninsula.
"The need to continue coordinated efforts on maintaining the situation on the Korean peninsula in the political and diplomatic field, as well as finding ways to unlock the six-party talks on the settlement of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, was ascertained by both sides during the exchange of views," the statement reads.
The six-party talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula initially included South and North Korea, Russia, the United States, China and Japan. The talks were held between 2003 and 2009, before Pyongyang's withdrawal.
BRUSSELS (Sputnik) The EU body is working on bilateral cooperation deals with the Middle Eastern and African countries, depending on whether they are a country of origin, country of transit or country of shelter for refugees with mixed short-term and long-term funding, the Commission noted.
"Starting with a first group of priority third countries, compacts tailored to the circumstances of each of them will mobilise all our policies and tools to achieve these objectives focusing our resources including through the swift deployment of 8 billion euro over the next five years," EC First Vice-President Frans Timmermans was quoted as saying in the statement.
Brussels will also boost the Trust Fund for Africa with additional 1 billion euro ($1.13 billion) and to raise a long-term 3.1-billion-euro ($3.5 billion) rescue fund for developing countries in emergency, which is expected to reach 31 billion euro ($35 billion) in the coming years.
Investigators believe that some of the documents seized after last week's raid on the detective's home in Bad Schwartau, northern Germany, may shed light on the circumstances of the tragedy. Some of the papers are said to be "explosive" and could help determine the culprits.
According to De Telegraaf daily, the German detective began his own probe two months after the catastrophe, and has received some $19 million for his investigations. His generous clients remain unknown.
"We are hoping to get some information about this. That's why the raids at his home were carried out," the spokesman for the prosecution service, Wim De Bruin, told AFP.
According to his regular driver, 2015 Hambletonian winner Pinkman was the best he's been thus far as a four-year-old in his first winning effort as an older horse.
Pinkman, the Dan Patch and O'Brien Award winner as a three-year-old male trotter last season, was 0-for-2 in 2016 before heading to Sweden with regular driver Yannick Gingras and competing on the Elitlopp undercard in a four-year-old open trot.
"He felt really good," Gingras told Meadowlands' Bob Heyden. "He was a different horse when he hit the racetrack over there. He'd been running out pretty good here but Jimmy got him fixed and he was so good. I knew he was on in the stretch, I knew Uncle Lasse would be coming but I just tried to keep him to his task and he did the rest. He's just a really, really great horse."
Gingras still gets chills when thinking about the crowd of nearly 30,000 people cheering after his win, but he noted that the reaction provided by Solvalla's fans is the same whether you're a Hambletonian winner or not.
"They were going crazy but they do it for every race, no matter what they are. Maybe there was a bit of something special having a Hambletonian winner there, that doesn't happen very often...obviously, we know most of them get retired and go to stud but thankfully for me this one's a gelding so he's going to be around for a little while. We were in the winner's circle and you get goosebumps even thinking about it now, you have so many people cheering and screaming and applauding...it was a great feeling."
Not only is the feeling a great feeling, it's one the accomplished driver cannot compare to anything he's felt while driving in North America.
"Unfortunately with the [Little Brown] Jug, a lot of people are trying to get out of there so you don't have the big crowd still. It's a little bit different than the Elitlopp and that weekend because it wasn't the last race so obviously the crowd was still around but it's a complete different feeling and I've never had it like this. It was really, really special.
"I've been there a couple of times and what a fun atmosphere it is. The whole weekend is very special..the crowd goes crazy. It's just the cheering part of it. You can have big crowds anywhere but that crowd over there...I was in the first race [around 10 a.m.] and they were already screaming and they never stopped until six."
To watch the full interview with Gingras, who also discusses Hambletonian hopeful Southwind Frank, click the play button below.
State Sen. John Braun, a Centralia Republican who represents Lewis County and parts of Cowlitz County, was one of only three state senators with a 100 percent favorable voting record, according to the National Federation of Independent Business for 2015-16.
The organization also recognized Braun as one of its Outstanding Legislators for the 64th Washington State Legislature. Braun's mastery of complex tax and regulatory issues is impressive for any lawmaker, let alone one in his first term, NFIB/Washington State Director Patrick Connor said in a news release.
I take small-business issues very seriously," said Braun, who represents the 20th District, which includes Cowlitz County east of the Cowlitz River. Such businesses often face a difficult regulatory and tax environment in our state, he said.
During the 64th Legislature, Braun sponsored 21 bills of interest to NFIB on topics such as workers compensation reform, workplace safety and health and collective bargaining transparency.
Kelso City Council members on Tuesday will decide whether to back the controversial Millennium Bulk Terminals coal facility.
The Cowlitz Economic Development Council, of which Kelso is a member, requested the Council join its effort to build support for the project. The letter would also include a request that Cowlitz County and the Department of Ecology move forward with a final environmental impact statement after its draft EIS was released late April.
City Manager Steve Taylor drafted the letter in support of the coal terminal and needs council direction Tuesday. The letter states that the project would have a positive economic impact on Kelso, help increase its tax base and provide much-needed jobs, Taylor said.
Its unfortunate that a lot of other types of politics are involved with these projects, but were in the business here of providing services to our citizens, Taylor said.
The $680 million facility would cover 190 acres west of Longview on the former Reynolds Metals Co. aluminum plant. Opponents to the terminal are concerned about adverse environmental effects like coal dust and contributions to global warming.
Kelso Mayor David Futcher, who supports the coal terminal, said the project would provide more than just jobs but also help the well-being of the area.
Theres no question that our region needs more income, Futcher said. Our folks here need to make more money. Poverty is driving most of the challenges we have here.
The City Council meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Kelso City Hall.
Its time to grab your binoculars, beach chairs and towels and take up viewing positions along the Columbia River.
Its Fleet Week at the Portland Rose Festival, so vessels from the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy will be sailing upriver to Portland over the next two days.
Its a tradition around here to spot the vessels as they sail upriver to the Rose Festival.
Exact passage times are not available, but vessels in the fleet are due to arrive in Portland during the afternoon rush hour Wednesday and Thursday. That means theyd likely be passing Longview from early to mid-afternoon Wednesday and Thursday. The Willamette River drawbridges will be opened to allow the vessels to pass between 3 and 5 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, so plan to be out along the river banks here several hours ahead of those times.
Coast Guard vessels will steam upriver Wednesday; ships of the U.S. and Canadian navies will make the upriver journey Thursday. All the vessels will leave Portland Monday morning.
Most of the visiting boats will be open for free public tours while they are tied up at Tom McCall Waterfront Park on the Willamette River (See attached schedule).
People who want to tour the vessels must have a government-issued photo ID and pass through a security checkpoint. Searches may occur, so bring along as few items as possible. Open-toed shoes, backpacks, diaper bags, large bags, firearms, weapons and contraband will not be allowed aboard.
Here is a listing of the visiting ships:
US Navy
USS Russell: guided missile destroyer
USS Howard: guided missile destroyer
USS Champion: a mine countermeasure vessel
Royal Canadian Navy
HMCS Edmonton and HMCS Brandon: Both are coastal defense vessels that engage in search and rescue and law enforcement.
Coast Guard
USCGC Steadfast: Astoria-based cutter that received the golden marijuana leaf, for having seized more than 1 million pounds of marijuana.
USCGC Swordfish: coastal patrol boat
USCGC Fir: maintains buoys along the Pacific Coast.
USCGC Bluebell: maintains buoys along the Columbia, Snake and Willamette rivers.
hidden
A former top U.S. intelligence official on cyber security has warned that government investigators may never be able to ascertain who carried out a cyber heist that led to the theft of $81 million from Bangladeshs central bank in February. Sean Kanuck, who was the most senior official in charge of cyber security at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for five years until mid-May, told Reuters that there had been no official determination on who committed the cyber heist, one of the biggest ever.
"They may never be able to make one," Kanuck said on the sidelines of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's premier security forum, held at the weekend in Singapore. He said he had some knowledge of the case but was not directly involved in the probe. Investigations into the heist are being coordinated by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. The authorities in Bangladesh, the Philippines and some other countries are also carrying out inquiries.
The hackers stole money from Bangladesh Bank's account at the New York Federal Reserve. One fraudulent transfer to a Sri Lankan entity was reversed, but four transfers for a combined $81 million went to the Philippines and wound up being laundered through casinos and casino agents there. Most of the money remains missing. Kanuck said that he believed either an extremely sophisticated criminal group or a rogue nation carried out the theft. BAE Systems has said malware used to erase the tracks of hackers in the Bangladesh Bank heist was similar to code used to attack Sony Corp in 2014, a strike blamed by the FBI on North Korea.
"We have actually seen criminal enterprises that were able to bring together a range of capabilities, ranging from insider access to credentials, going through to people who were willing to go physically remove money from ATMs," said Kanuck. "There is a black market for different capabilities and you can actually assemble a team like in Ocean's 11," he said, referring to the Hollywood movie about a crime syndicate robbing Las Vegas casinos. "On the other side of the table, you have a growing number of nation-states developing very broad capabilities to do different kinds of operations," Kanuck said. "The water is very muddy, it's very complex."
Such states could be seeking to undermine the credibility of a central bank, or looking for hard currency funds, Kanuck added. But Kanuck warned of deceptive signals from those involved in such a heist. "An analyst or an investigator would need to consider that nation states may try to make their activity look like it's the work of criminals," he said. "And criminals might also try to make their activity look like it's the work of nation-states or even ideologically motivated cyber actors."
Reuters
tech2 News Staff
Facebook is the biggest and most successful social network today. But, back in 2011, for a relatively newer company like Facebook, prepping to face a competitor like Google could have been worrisome. Mark Zuckerberg knew what was ahead, and decided to leave no stone unturned to crush the then upcoming Google Plus. No one knew of the fate of Google Plus or Facebook then. But, Zuckerberg made it a mission to destroy the Google's social network no matter what the cost, reveals an ex-Facebook employee.
Yes, there's a new tell-all book Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley by an ex-Facebook employee named Antonio Garcia Martinez, giving us (via Vanity Fair) some of the inside tales of the shiny Zuckerberg empire. He said the moment GooglePlus was launched, Zuckerberg couldn't think of anything but destroying it, and to such a great extent that the social network went into a lockdown state. "Lockdown was a state of war that dated to Facebook's earliest days, when no one could leave the building while the company confronted some threat, either competitive or technical," Martinez explained in his book.
Zuckerberg also gave his first 'lockdown' speech the day Google Plus was launched, which clearly stated Rthe phrase 'Carthago delenda est. It meant Carthage (Google in this case) must be destroyed. Posters were put across the campus to remind employees of the mission.
By then, it was a full blown war. Google didn't see Facebook as threat, and thought its search monopoly will help it wade through it. The company launched Google Plus! While most of us found those forceful Google Plus sign-ups annoying, Facebook saw it as one of the biggest threats, and it were. There were other factors working for Google Plus too. For instance, it had no ads. "This was the classic one-hand-washing-the-other tactic of the ruthless monopolist, like Microsoft using the revenue from Windows to crush Netscape Navigator with Explorer back in the 90s. By owning search, Google would bankroll taking over social media as well," Martinez said.
"Zuck took it as an existential threat comparable to the Soviets placing nukes in Cuba in 1962. Google Plus was the great enemys sally into our own hemisphere, and it gripped Zuck like nothing else," Martinez writes.
Meanwhile, the lockdown went into action with cafes opened on weekends, shuttles running between Palo Alto and San Francisco on weekends, and Facebook turned into a seven days working company with a little concession of seeing your family on weekends. "By whatever means, employees were expected to be in and on duty. In what was perceived as a kindly concession to the few employees with families, it was also announced that families were welcome to visit on weekends and eat in the cafes, allowing the children to at least see Daddy (and, yes, it was mostly Daddy) on weekend afternoons," writes Martinez.
On the Google Plus launch day, the author noticed an Ads product manager named Paul Adams with Zuckerberg. Adams was earlier a product designer for Google Plus, and with the launch of the product, no longer tied to a non-disclosure agreement with Google. On the other hand, Google had a policy wherein it would beat any Facebook offer.
Soon Vic Gundotra, the man 'responsible' for Google Plus spoke about great numbers, which were taken serious earlier, but soon it was released that Google took into account any click on the Google Plus, which was mandatory tied to its other products. Gundotra never acknowledged Facebook and reportedly even said "Networks are for networking. Circles are for the right people. Obviously referring to Google Circles.
Soon Gundotra's exit hit headlines, and report of Google diverting Google Plus teams to Android started making news. That was a sign of relief for Facebook, and they knew they had won the war.
"I decided to do some reconnaissance. En route to work one Sunday morning, I skipped the Palo Alto exit on the 101 and got off in Mountain View instead. Down Shoreline I went and into the sprawling Google campus. I made my way there and contemplated the parking lot. It was empty. Completely empty. I got back on the 101 North and drove to Facebook. At the California Avenue building, I had to hunt for a parking spot. The lot was full. It was clear which company was fighting to the death," writes Martinez.
tech2 News Staff
Four Cisco Systems executives are resigning from the company in an apparent disagreement with their roles under a recent reorganisation. Mario Mazzola, Prem Jain, Luca Cafiero and Soni Jiandani are popularly known as the 'MPLS team' thanks to the initials in their first names. They were in charge of forming product-development startups that Cisco would initially fund and later acquire. When the company's new CEO Chuck Robbins took over, the organisational restructuring of the company found them relegated to the role of advisors. A far cry from once being the most trusted team of engineers when John Chambers was the CEO.
According to a Business Insider report, Chambers had poured in billions of dollars into the startups they launched. The team decided to leave the company on 17 June, according to an internal memo posted by Robbins. Cisco also said Soni Jiandani would be the only one to retain the title of senior vice president.
Over the years, Cisco has funded and later purchased MPLS-led startups thrice. The products made by these startups became crucial to Ciscos business. These spin-ins, as they became known, were a favored innovation strategy of Chairman John Chambers, who gave up the CEO title to Robbins last summer. A "spin-in" is when a company chooses to be the sole investor in a particular start up, hence giving the employees at the start up the freedom to develop experimental products.
In addition to bankrolling these startups, Cisco also gave them equipment and office space to assist in their functioning. In turn, Cisco received the right to buy their products at a predetermined price if they met certain financial objectives. What allegedly struck everyone as unfair was that according to former Cisco employees, the MPLS team seemed to receive financial rewards and other benefits that other product developers at the company didnt, thereby creating a loss in morale of the other team members.
The Wall Street Journal reported that one of their most recent startups, Insieme, received funding worth $135 million from Cisco, which in turn received a stake of about 84 percent of the companys shares, according to Cisco filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cisco said in November 2013 that it was ready to pay up to $863 million for the remainder of the company.
I have personally learned so much from them, and they will always be an important part of Ciscos engineering story, Robbins said in the memo.
hidden
Samsung SDI is making progress in talks with Tesla Motors to supply batteries for the US automaker's Model 3 electric car as well as its energy storage products, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Shares in the Samsung SDI surged to trade 6 percent higher in early afternoon trade, beating the wider market's 1.1 percent gain.
Tesla, which currently procures its batteries from Japan's Panasonic Corp, is likely to add Samsung SDI as a supplier should sales exceed expectations, the source said, although he declined to specify what level of sales would clinch a deal for the South Korean company.
Citing "tremendous demand," Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said in April that the automaker planned to boost total vehicle production to 500,000 in 2018 - two years earlier than its original target. Suppliers have said the goal will be difficult to achieve.
Tesla has taken 373,000 orders for its Model 3 - which has a starting price of $35,000, about half its Model S - and has said it would begin customer deliveries in late 2017.
"It remains to be seen whether the orders will translate into actual sales," the source said. The source declined to be identified as the discussions were confidential.
A Samsung SDI spokesman declined to comment.
Samsung SDI is an affiliate of Samsung Electronics Ltd.
Reuters
Bangladeshi found dead near Putkhali border
UNB, Benapole :
A Bangladeshi national was found dead on the Ichhamati river inside the Indian territory opposite Putkhali border in Benapole on Monday morning.
The deceased was identified as Guljar Hossain, 55, a resident of the area. Lt Col Arifur Rahman, commanding officer of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) battalion-21, said locals spotted his body floating in the river area that falls in the Indian territory on the border in the morning and informed BGB. However, members of Border Security Force (BSF) of India recovered the body. The reason behind the death could not be known immediately.
Hindu priest killed in Jhenidah
Jhenidah, June 7 (UNB)-In another instance of the escalating trend of target killings, A Hindu priest was hacked to death by miscreants in Koratipara village of Sadar upazila on Tuesday morning. The deceased was identified as Ananda Kumar Ganguly, 66, a resident of the village. Azbahar Ali Sheikh, additional superintendent of police, Jhenidah, said the miscreants attacked Ananda while he was going to Naldanga for offering puja. The attackers stabbed and slaughtered Ananda, leaving him dead on the spot. On information, police rushed to the spot. No further details were available immediately.
Mayor donates Tk one lakh to Bhangura Press Club
Bhangura (Pabna) Correspondent :
Golam Hasnain Rassell, Mayor of Bhangura Pouroshava donated about Tk one lakh for the development of Bhangura Press Club.
Prof Mahbub-ul-Alam, President of Bhangura Press Club received the money from the Mayor on Monday.
At that time, among others Aynul Haque, General Secretary of Bhangura Press Club, Minhazur Rahman Assistant Municipal Engineer and Nazmul Huda, Accountant of the pourashava were present .
3 JMB men killed in police `crackdown` on militants
Dhaka, June 7 (UNB) - In what appears to be a crackdown on militants following the escalating serial killings, three operatives of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were killed in separate gunfights with law enforcers in the capital and Rajshahi on Tuesday. In the capital, two leaders of the banned militant outfit were killed in a reported gunfight during a joint drive by detectives and the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police in Pallabis Kalshi Bridge area in the early hours. The deceased were identified as Barek Hossain alias Milu alias Osman, a leader of Joypurhat unit JMB, and Sultan Mahmud Rana alias Kamal, hailing from Bogra. At a press briefing at the DMP Media Centre, Monirul Islam, additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police and the chief of CTTC, said tipped off that a team of JMB leaders were coming to Dhaka from the northern region of the country, the joint team of Detective Branch of police and CTTC conducted a drive in Pallabi area. Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, the JMB team blasted a hand bomb targeting them, prompting them to retaliate with firing that triggered the gun battle. The two JMB operatives suffered bullet wounds and died on the way to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said Monirul Islam. Two DB members also received injuries during the operation. Barek is alleged to be linked to the murder of Prof Rezaul Karim Siddiquee of Rajshahi University, while Sultan is said to have links with the attack on a Bogra Shia mosque. Prof Rezaul Karim, 58, of the RU English Department, was killed by miscreants in the Shalbagan area of Rajshahi city on April 23. The attack on the Shiite mosque left its muezzin dead and three devotees injured at Haripur village in Shibganj upazila in Bogra on November 26. In Rajshahi, a JMB man, accused of having involvement in the Ahmadiyya mosque blast in Baghmara upazila, was killed in a reported gunfight with police in Foradpur area of Godagari upazila in the wee small hours. The deceased was identified as Jamal Uddin, 25, a student of Chapainawabganj Polytechnic Institute and son of Tabjul Haque of Laxmipur village in Shibganj upazila of Chapainawabganj. Police arrested Jamal from Babu Dyeing area in Sadar upazila of Chapainawabganj on Monday night, said SM Abu Forhad, officer-in-charge of Godagari Police Station. Acting on the arrestees information, police conducted raids on the houses of Jamal and Tarek, 25, who had been killed in the mosque blast. Tipped off that some other JMB members were staying in Foradpur, they also launched a drive there along with Jamal around 3am. Sensing the police presence, Jamals associates opened fire on them, prompting the law enforcers to fire back that triggered a gunfight. Jamal was caught in the line of fire and died on the spot. The body was sent to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital for autopsy. Jamal and Tarek had been activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir and they later joined JMB. On December 25 last year, Tarek was killed in a blast while reportedly exploding a bomb in a mosque of the Ahmadiyya community in Baghmara upazila of Rajshahi during Juma prayers. Three people were also critically injured in the incident.
Messi on bench for Argentina Copa opener
AFP, United States :
Argentina captain Lionel Messi was left out of the starting line-up for his team's Copa America Centenario opener against Chile here Monday.
The Argentine captain, who injured his back in a recent friendly against Honduras, is replaced by Benfica's Nicolas Gaitan in attack.
It is the first time Messi has not been named in Argentina's starting line-up during a major tournament since he was left on the bench for a game against Venezuela during the 2007 Copa America.
British High Commissioner Alison Blake visited two garment factories in Gazipur Tuesday to reaffirm the UK\'s support for Bangladesh\'s RMG sector.
Sufferings mount
Anisul Islam Noor :
The city dwellers' sufferings intensify with acute gas crisis in houses in the recent days from evening to midnight. If it continues, the sufferings of the people keeping fast will know no bounds.
The residents of different areas of Dhaka city complain to the news paper offices saying that cooking after evening has become quite impossible due to low gas pressure during the time.
Though the State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said on Monday that the government was working earnestly for adequate gas and electricity supply in the coming days. But we need time, he said.
The officials of gas distribution entities told this correspondent, short supply of gas of about 600 MMCF daily exists now at evening. As the government is determined to ensure higher electricity generation in the month of Ramzan, flow of gas to the residential quarters has fallen.
Tahmina Afroze is a school teacher and lives at Ulan in the capital's West Rampura. She does not start her cooking till 8:30pm. She said, "I do not know what shall I do during Iftar and Sehri?.
"If I get up after 2:00am, I shall not be able to finish cooking before Sehri. The gas supply falls after 9am so much so that sometimes I cannot even turn the stove on," she says.
The residents of different areas, including Rampura, Banasri, Gopibag, Mirpur, Pallabi, Shukrabad, Indira Road, Gandaria, Jatrabari, Mirhajirbagh, West Rampura, Rajabazar, Moghbazar, Tejkunipara, Baridhara and Bashundhara Residential Area, Kazipara, Kalabagan North Circular Road, Uttara and Jatrabari, have been suffering from acute gas crisis.
While many of the sufferers, who can afford, buy gas cylinders, kerosene stoves, electric rice-cookers and induction cook tops to avoid uncertainty. And the rest have either to wait for hours for the gas supply or use earthen stoves, said, Abur Rahman, a resident of Gandaria.
A Titas official said, "Titas is getting about 1600mmcfd gas against the current daily demand for about 2100mmcfd, leaving a shortfall of 500mmcfd."
But Titas's Director (operations) Engineer Ali Ashraf said, residents of some areas may face gas crisis as a large number of gas burners begin cocking all together. Itt will be overcome within few days, he hoped.
However, he also admitted to certain minor technical glitches, which would be overcome by a week.
There is already a demand-supply gap in the country. The total gas production currently stands at 2,700 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) against the demand for 3350mmcfd.
But this has nothing to do with the existing crisis in Dhaka city, claim the authorities of the Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd, which is responsible for supplying gas to the capital.
Fakhrul accuses Govt of failing to stop target killing
Staff Reporter :BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Tuesday criticised the government for its failure to check the target killing across the country and it has frightened the peace-loving people."The extremists and militants taking the advantage of the government's inactiveness are continuing their killing mission at ease. There is a question now, does the government really want to stop the militancy?" He said. The BNP leader condemned the killing and condoled the tragic death of the priest in Jhenaidah. "Target killing persists in the country. People regardless of their religious identity and professions including Police and their family members are the victims of the despicable and macabre killings. Priest Anand Gopal Ganguli is the latest victim of that killing mission.. "The people now live with fear if they would be the victims of the extremists," he said.Mirza Fakhrul said that the government had no intention of protecting the people. The ministers, MPs and the ruling party leaders claim there are no IS militants in the country, the law and order situation is very good, people live in peace. "The miscreants become very happy when the ministers and MPs blame opposition leaders and activists for every killing. Such wild accusations without holding fair investigation encourage the criminals only.The BNP secretary general have asked the people to work together to stop militancy and extremism, and asked to government to arrest the killers of Anand Gopal Ganguli. Meanwhile the Senior Joint-Secretary General of BNP Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Tuesday accused the ruling party of failing to check the price hike of essential commodities. "The ruling party leaders and their partisan businessmen are hording the essential commodities to make quick money. Their greedy mentality has become sources of pain of the poor," Rizvi said in a press briefing at the party's Nayapaltan office.
Bomb attack on Istanbul police bus : 16 dead
9NEWS.com.au :
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suggested in televised remarks that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was behind a bomb attack in central Istanbul today that left 16 people dead.
16 people, including seven police officers, were killed and 36 injured in a car bomb attack on a bus shuttle service carrying anti-riot police as it was passing through the central Beyazit district in Istanbul.
The remote-controlled bomb exploded during the morning rush hour, close to many of the city's top tourist sites, governor Vasip Sahin said in a live statement on Turkish television.
Thirty-six others were wounded, three of them seriously, he added.
Speaking to the media after visiting the injured at an Istanbul hospital, Mr Erdogan spoke of his intentions to "fight against terrorists relentlessly to the end".
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for today's bombing, which occurred on the second day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The metro station was closed as a security precaution and scheduled examinations at Istanbul University - which lies close to the scene of the blast - have been cancelled. Pictures showed the bomb had turned the police vehicle into mangled wreckage and that nearby shops had their front windows smashed out by the force of the blast. Cars parked in the vicinity were also damaged. A Reuters witness saw what appeared to be two police vehicles hit, one of them on its side next to the road. Gunshots were heard in the area after the blast, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Turkey is on high security alert following multiple attacks on its soil, blamed on the PKK and ISIL. Violence flared up last year between Kurdish rebels and government forces, shattering a 2013 ceasefire reached after secret talks between PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and the Turkish state.
Over 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984 demanding an independent state for Kurds. Since then the group has narrowed its demands to greater autonomy and cultural rights.
Abducted girl rescued 2 held in Tangail
Tangail Correspondent :Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) rescued an abducted girl after 10 months of abduction. Police also arrested the prime accused with his accomplices. Additional Police Super of Tangail PBI Md. Belal Hossain told the journalists on Tuesday that Mitu Khatoon, 12, student ofFakir Mariam Girls' High School under Gopalpur Upazila, was abducted on the 10th September 2015. A case was lodged with Gopalpur Police Station. The case was handed over to PBI.PBI submitted charge sheet without rescuing the victim and arresting the accused. The plaintiff submitted complaint against the charge sheet. Then a team of PBI arrested Ashraful, the prime accused from Nayarangonj on May 5 and rescued the victim.
3 militant suspects killed in gunfight
Separate drives in Dhaka and Rajshahi
Staff Reporter :
Three suspect leaders of banned Islamist militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were killed in a gunfight at Pallabi in the capital and in Gudagari upazila of Rajshahi early Tuesday.
The deceased were identified as Barek Hossain alias Milu alias Osman, JMB leader of Joypurhat, Sultan Mahmud Rana alias Kamal, JMB leader of Bogra and Jamal Uddin, JMB leader of Chapainawabganj, police said. Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Additional Commissioner and Chief of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit Monirul Islam in a press briefing at DMP media centre yesterday said, "A joint-team of DB and CTTC conducted a drive at Kalshi in city's Pallabi area around 3:30am that a team of JMB gathered there. Sensing the presence of law enforcers, they blasted a hand bomb at police, prompting them to retaliate and triggering the gunfight."
Two JMB operatives received bullet injuries and died on the way to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), said Monirul Islam, adding two DB members also received injuries during the operation. Barek is alleged to be linked to the murder of Professor Rezaul Karim of Rajshahi University, while Sultan had link with the attack on a Bogra Shia Mosque, the CTTG chief said.
The bodies have been kept at the morgue of DMCH.
Professor Rezaul Karim, 58, of the RU English Department, was killed by miscreants in the Shalbagan area of Rajshahi city on April 23 last, while the attack on the Shiite mosque left its Muazzin dead in Shibganj Upazila of Bogra on November 26 last year.
Meanwhile, police arrested Jamal from Babu Dyeing area in Sadar Upazila of Chapainawabganj around 11:00 Monday night. "Jamal was killed in a gunfight with police in Foradpur area around 3:00am while police were conducting drive with him in the area to arrest his cohorts," said SM Abu Farhad, Officer-in-Charge of Godagari Police Station. Active JMB member Jamal was an accused of having involvement in Ahmadiya Mosque blast in Baghmara Upazila of the district, the police official said.
The body was kept at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital Morgue for autopsy.
Farhad said, on December 25 last year, a man was killed in a blast reportedly while he was exploding a bomb in a mosque of Ahmadiya community at Baghmara Upazila during Juma prayers.
Ignoring problem is not solution: AI
amnestyusa.org :The failure of Bangladeshi authorities to take decisive action against violent groups responsible for at least 10 killings over the past two months has created a climate of impunity, Amnesty International said on Tuesday."The brazen announcement by violent groups that they will continue targeting those they perceive as 'insulting Islam' should shake the Bangladeshi authorities out of their complacency," said Champa Patel, Amnesty International's Regional Director for South Asia. "Ignoring the problem is not a solution. The authorities must categorically condemn these killings, carry out a prompt, thorough, impartial and transparent investigation, deliver justice for the victims, hold the perpetrators accountable, and protect those still under threat."On Sunday, Sunil Gomes, a 65-year-old Christian man from the village of Bonpara, became at least the tenth person to be hacked to death in Bangladesh in the last two months. He was attacked at his grocery shop near a church shortly after Sunday services.The armed group calling itself the Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for the attack, stating on a website that it was "part of a series of operations" it is intent on carrying out in Bangladesh. A day earlier, on Saturday, Mahmuda Akter, the wife of Babul Akter, a senior anti-terrorism official, was killed in the city of Chittagong in similarly gruesome circumstances. The Bangladeshi home minister, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, has said he suspects the murder was related to the anti-terrorism official's work investigating earlier killings.Since April, Amnesty International has recorded the killings of secular bloggers, LGBTI activists, a university professor, a doctor and members of minority religious communities."The Bangladeshi government has often claimed to be a bulwark against intolerance, but their actions indicate otherwise," said Patel. "Instead of devoting their energies to ending this wave of killings, it has spurned calls for protection and even sought to blame the victims for the threats they face. This is in contravention of the government's international obligations to protect and promote the right to freedom of expression and religion."In the current climate of impunity, increasing numbers of people have reported facing threats that the authorities have repeatedly failed to address. In response to appeals for protection, secular and LGBTI activists have been told by senior officials to avoid provoking the violent groups that threaten them. In some cases, they have even been accused of inviting the attacks. Following the April 14, 2016 murder of Xulhaz Mannan, the editor of Roopban, Bangladesh's only LGBTI publication, the home minister said: "Our society does not allow any movement that promotes unnatural sex." "No person should be discriminated against on the basis of their sexuality or religion," said Patel. "Only by protecting these and other human rights can the Bangladeshi authorities ever claim to be champions of tolerance." April 7, 2016: Nazimuddin Samad, 28, a law student and secular campaigner, was hacked to death in Dhaka. Ansar al-Islam, an al-Qaeda affiliate, claimed responsibility.April 23, 2016: AFM Rezaul Karim Siddique, 58, a university professor, was killed on his way home in the Rajashahi, The group calling itself Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility.25 April 2016: Xulhaz Mannan, an LGBTI activist and an employee of USAID, and his friend, Tanoy Mujhumdar, an actor, were stabbed to death in Mannan's Dhaka apartment. The group calling itself Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility. April 30, 2016: Nikhil Joarder, a Hindu tailor, was hacked to death by attackers borne on a motorcycle. The group calling itself Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility.May 14, 2016: Maung Shue U Chak, 75, a Buddhist month, was hacked to death in the district of Bandarban. The group calling itself Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility.May 20, 2016: Mir Sanaur Rahman, 55, a doctor, was hacked to death. His friend, Saifuzzaman, 45, a university lecturer, was seriously wounded. May 25, 2016: Debesh Chandra Pramanik, 68, a Hindu, was killed in his shop in Gaibandha. The group calling itself Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility.June 5, 2016: Mahmuda Akter, the wife of a senior counter-terrorism official, was killed outside her apartment in Chittagong. The Bangladeshi Home Minister said the attack was linked to her husband's investigations into the wave of machete killings. June 6, 2016: Sunil Gomes, 65, a Christian trader, was hacked to death at his grocery shop in the village of Bonpara.
Hillary secures enough support
Reuters, Los Angeles :Hillary Clinton has captured enough delegates to secure the Democratic presidential nomination, according to tallies by two U.S. media outlets, as she and rival Bernie Sanders faced off on Tuesday in contests in six states.A former senator and U.S. secretary of state, Clinton would be the first woman to ever be the presidential candidate of a major political party in the country's history.Sanders has vowed to keep up the fight in what has been a long and increasingly antagonistic Democratic primary race. The U.S. senator from Vermont, who calls himself a democratic socialist, has commanded huge crowds spilling out of parks and stadiums, galvanizing younger voters with his promises to address economic inequality.But Clinton has continued to edge out Sanders, particularly among older voters with longer ties to the Democratic Party. Her less lofty promises focus on improving upon the policies of her fellow Democrat and former boss, President Barack Obama.On Tuesday morning, Clinton secured the endorsement of House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California, who noted Clinton's career devoted to children and working families. "In this campaign, we have seen her vision, her knowledge, her ability, indeed her stamina, to get the job done for the American people," Pelosi said in a statement. After the Associated Press and NBC reported on Monday night that Clinton had clinched the number of delegates needed to win her party's nomination, a Sanders campaign spokesman castigated what he said was the media's "rush to judgment."Under Democratic National Committee rules, most delegates to the party's July 25-28 convention are awarded by popular votes in state-by-state elections. But the delegate count also includes "superdelegates" - party leaders and elected senators, members of Congress and governors - who can change their mind at any time.For that reason, the DNC has echoed the Sanders campaign, saying the superdelegates should not be counted until they actually vote at the Philadelphia convention. But that has not deterred the news media. The AP and NBC reported that Clinton reached the 2,383 delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee with a decisive weekend victory in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, and a burst of last-minute support from superdelegates."According to the news, we are on the brink of a historic, historic, unprecedented moment," Clinton told a rally in Long Beach, California, shortly after the AP report. "But we still have work to do, don't we? We have six elections tomorrow and we're going to fight hard for every single vote, especially right here in California."Michael Briggs, Sanders' spokesman, dismissed the AP and NBC tallies. "Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump," he said.California, New Jersey, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and New Mexico hold nominating contests on Tuesday. The outcome in California, the last and largest state to vote, could affect Clinton's efforts to unify the party behind her. If Sanders, who was trailing in polls in California until recently, roars back to take the state, he may have little incentive to exit the race despite increasing pressure from party luminaries to stand down.Clinton spent Monday working to turn out Hispanic and African-American voters - demographic groups that have provided a pillar of support for her during the nominating process.
Target killing a threat to state security
Analysts worried over govt failure to chase masterminds
Kazi Zahidul Hasan :Security analysts have expressed concerned over the recent spate of killings by suspected terrorists groups saying that the government has failed to curb the issue properly due to lack of a comprehensive strategy to combat militancy.Over 40 people have died in the past three years in a series of attacks targeting university professors, secular bloggers, gay rights activists, foreigners and members of religious minorities.Terming these attacks as credible 'threat to state security', they urged the government to immediately launch coordinated efforts engaging all concerned to counter militant attacks as well as fight against the growing threat of militancy."Target killing has already posed a serious threat to state security, and by killing a police officer's wife, militants have thrown further challenge to the state security," Brigadier General (Retd) Muhammad Sakhawat Hussain, a security analyst told The New Nation on Monday.He said the incidents of militant attacks are increasing steadily despite round the year operation by security agencies raising question about their efficiency to address the growing menace."The attacks mostly carried out in broad daylight creating panic among the people, but the government agencies are struggling to stem the wave of violence. Even they have failed to nab the attackers or chase the masterminds working behind the scene," he noted.Sakhawat also said that extremist groups are often making surprising presence by carrying out target killings threatening security of the state apparatus. I don't think that the whole people of the country are in security threat .only the state apparatus is in security threat. When asked, he said, "Of course, the killing of a police officer's wife will impact the morale negatively on field level officers of the police force although they are not admitting the issue". Referring to Home Minister's comment on latest killing incidents by suspected militants, Sakhawat said, he (minister) has blamed the home-grown Islamist militants for the attacks, rejecting claims of responsibility from IS and al-Qaeda. He said the Minister also blamed for killings local and international conspiracy. All these are conflicting statements because if he has the information regarding the conspiracy and local militant groups are involved, why he does not ask the security agencies to work to root out the conspiracy and nab the culprits."Extremists groups are apparently regrouping themselves taking advantage of the country's political squabbles. They might be getting patronize from some quarters in the political circle to create chaos in the country," Major General (Retd) MA Rashid, another security specialist, told The New Nation yesterday.But he said he does not agree with the people who are saying that extremists growing due to lack of democracy or freedom of speech. Like other countries, extremist groups are operating here having a particular political agenda. He claimed there has been a decline in terrorist groups from 2009 to 2014 when the government launched crackdown on extremists capturing key masterminds of such groups."But now they are trying to make a fresh come back to have a political gain under a changed political scenario of the country," added MA Rashid.The country has recently been weathering a surge of targeted killings claiming the lives of secularists, religious minorities and gay activists. In the latest spate of attack, they killed the wife of a police officer to create panic among the police force."So, it is clear that their mission is only creating panic to pursue their political agenda but not the ideology," he added."No doubt Bangladesh continues to face significant threats to its internal security following repeated target killings and attacks by suspected militant groups," said MA Rashid, adding, "The government should take a comprehensive strategy to fight against the growing threat of militancy.The strategy should be formulated involving all concerned including major political parties. Besides, political parties should work together shedding their rivalry realizing militancy is a national crisis."Our internal security is under serious threat as militant groups are carrying out attacks one after another killing university professors, secular bloggers, foreigners and members of religious minorities," Dr Zia Rahman, Chairman, Department of Criminology at Dhaka University told The New Nation on Monday.He said, "The militant groups are reaching out their target one after another but the law enforcement agencies or police are yet to nab the assistants and even failed to chase the under cover ghosts". Expressing concern over the surge in militant attacks, Dr Zia Rahman said, at least 10 people have been killed by suspected Islamist militants in the last 10 weeks alone. All they have been killed in the same fashion and police are struggling to nab the culprits," said Zia Rahman.Intelligence sources said, militant groups like JMB, HuJI-B, Lashkar-e-Taiyaba and al Qaeda affiliates having link with international jihadi organisations are operating to consolidate their presence in Bangladesh.
Horror of killing and counter-killing must stop
The government used to feel complacent claiming the acts of terrorism were isolated incidents and the need was for the police to be tough. Now the situation has grown too serious and too threatening for the government and the country. Yet the government will not re-examine its own politics and see how their politics has isolated it from the people. How the helpless people are being subjected to abuse of power everyday. In its arrogance not to tolerate opposition, the government has created a political atmosphere antagonistic to peaceful politics. The killing of the innocent wife of a senior police officer in Chittagong by militants on Sunday is a disturbingly shocking matter. The police came under attack before also. Some got killed. But the present action suggests that the terrorists may have opened a new front this time as a desperate response to excessive police operations. This police officer has earned medals for his brave police operations for suppression of terrorism. Operations against terrorism more often than not make more innocent persons to lose their lives than real terrorists. There has been too much pressure on police to contain terrorism without pausing to think about political aspect of terrorism. Those who argue that anti-Bangladesh elements, namely Jamaat followers are engaged in killings are unable to see the overall political crisis created by the direct reapers of illegal benefits from the government. They have criminalised politics. Still they proudly call them freedom fighters. There was peace after the Liberation War. There was no trouble in maintaining peace and order. Peaceful existence was made difficult later by intolerant politics of the few in the name of pro-Liberation force. The justification is simple: they are freedom fighters so they have earned the right to determine what politics the country will have. The purpose is to serve the narrow interest of a class. The country was placed in a hateful confrontational situation dividing the unity among us in the pattern of socialist class struggle. It is forgotten that the whole world supported the democratic cause of the Liberation War. The world sympathised and came to our help for inhuman sufferings of the people who remained in Bangladesh. Terrorism is the creation of wrong politics came in the trail of creation of free Bangladesh. Now the question remains who are real freedom fighters? The bravest freedom fighters are our people. The world recognised them so.Such acts of terrorism are also a challenge to the government for its utter failure to see the problem in the right perspective. The number of victims is no less than 21 from January this year. Such killings are now an everyday affair. The government is proving wholly wrong in assessing the crisis and miserably incompetent in providing safety and security essential for good governance. Any serious political leader knows that in the absence of peaceful politics for change militants emerge as a force. Our problem lies in the reality that the government is in the grip of power conscious and not people conscious bureaucrats. Now the killing of a high ranking police family member, may lead to greater mistake of using more fire power, more indiscriminate killings and more disappearances. This will be playing more into the hands of the militants. The weakness with the government is that it listens only to its selfish supporters. It cannot objectively see how insecure the whole country has become or how the government is ceasing to be effective to keep the country safe and going. Those in power do not try to understand that all terrorisms are political and grow out of an aggrieved political situation. The government committing an unforgivable error in not understanding the political make-up of our people. The great leaders including Bangabandhu inspired them with ideals of democracy and freedom. They were told to reject authoritarianism. This rising tide of militancy cannot be suppressed with the anti-terrorism assistance of some Western powers. Ours homegrown extremism is in no small part a challenge against the discarded politics of the past. It will be a terrible mistake to internationalise our kind of terrorism, knowing what has happened in Syria. We know the reason, we also know the solution. The government must not fight the people if it cannot earn the confidence of the people. We are not sure if American establishment is eager to end terrorism or keep it alive outside. There is global politics involved. It is a big disappointment that America no longer highlights the importance of democracy to fight terrorism. It is not unknown to the US government if democracy fails, terrorism succeeds. One has to look around to see the truth. We cannot destroy ourselves by becoming part of global terrorism for the benefit of others. The government is solely depending on police to fight the militants. They are depending on police cases for dealing with non-militant political leaders and workers. In short, the politicians in government have abandoned their political role in dealing with the national crisis. What we have is a senseless power struggle and no politics for political solution. But the horror of killing and counter-killing cannot go on and must be stopped. Let all sensible men and women everywhere rise to save the lives of our people.
Last month, it was reported that the European Commission is planning to impose a record antitrust fine of about 3 BILLION euros ) on Google for violating antitrust laws.Not just Europe, Google also lost an anti-monopoly appeal in Russia two months back against ruling for violating its dominant position with the help of its Android mobile OS by forcing its own apps and services like Google Map, Youtube, and others, on users reducing competition.Now to put an end to the monopoly of major mobile Operating System, Russians are developing their own mobile operating system to compete with Android, iOS, and Windows mobile OS.The Minister of Russian Communication Ministry, tweeted last month about the initiative to develop a new Russian mobile operating system, for which the Russian company Open Mobile Platform ( ) is hiring developers, testers and security engineers.Open Mobile Platform is developing a Linux-based mobile operating system for big business and privacy seekers who are looking for "trusted" mobile solutions.The new mobile operating system will be developed on the top of Sailfish OS , a product developed by the Finnish company Jolla formed by former Nokia engineers, which is now registered in Hong Kong.According to Nikiforov, the Russian Federation agreed with the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China And South Africa) countries to join efforts to Sailfish OS development in response to the total domination of US software, i.e. Microsoft Windows, Google's Android and Apple's iOS that fully control most of the world's IT-market.The new Russian mobile operating system will be targeted at the mass audience, and smartphones based on the new OS will be inexpensive, OMP President Grigory Berezkin said in an interview with Vedomosti, a Moscow business newspaper.Meanwhile, Russia is also working on the development of its own version of Tizen operating system that can be used on smartphones, tablets, laptops as well as the Internet of things (IoT) devices.For this, Nikiforov revealed that the Russian Federation wants to hire homegrown developers to migrate popular apps from Android and iOS mobile platforms to Tizen as well as Sailfish OS. He also suggests Tizen devices will be launched widely in Russia soon.Russia is not alone, who is developing its own operating system. China has also developed a Desktop Operating System named NeoKylin ), which is already running on more than 40-50 percent of commercial units sold in the country by Dell.
Pre-purchase property inspection is a relatively new thing in the United Kingdom. Its not something that most people have heard about, but it has become increasingly popular over the last few years with the rise in property prices and increased demand for high quality homes.
What are the benefits of pre-purchase building inspection? What can you expect to find out when you pay someone else to inspect your home before you buy it? And what should you look for during an inspection?
Many people want to know if theyre buying a house thats been well maintained or if its had any serious problems. If youve found a place on the market that seems attractive, but then discover some issues after moving in, you may not be as excited about buying it as you thought you were.
Its important to do your due diligence when looking at properties. A lot goes into making a property appealing to potential buyers, from the landscaping to the flooring to the kitchen appliances. The same applies when inspecting a property there are many things that need checking over to make sure everything is running smoothly.
Here are some of the benefits of performing a pre-purchase inspection:
You get to see exactly what will happen to your money
When you go shopping for a new car, youll probably be shown several different models. You might even be shown one that looks like a great value, but doesnt fit around all of the extra features that you want. When it comes time to actually buy the vehicle, however, you wont have seen how your money will be spent on it once you drive it off the showroom floor.
Likewise, when you shop for a new home, you dont really know what youre getting yourself into until you move in. In order to get a feel for whether the home youre considering is what you want, you normally have to spend quite a bit of time inside it. This allows you to learn more about everything that youre going to be spending your hard-earned cash on.
A pre-purchase building inspection gives you much the same kind of experience without having to spend thousands of dollars. Since youre paying for the service, you can expect to see exactly what youre paying for, instead of just seeing a vague idea of what you might end up with.
You find out about potential major repairs
Some buildings are very expensive to maintain, which means that owners often neglect them for the sake of saving money. While youre paying for a building inspection, youre also paying for a professional who knows how to spot signs of trouble and repair work that needs doing.
If you notice that a particular area of your new home needs fixing right away, you can call in an expert to take care of it quickly. If you find that theres something wrong with your boiler, you wont have to wait weeks for a plumber to come over and fix it. Instead, youll have access to a solution immediately.
You can save hundreds of pounds by finding out about potential problems early on
One of the biggest expenses when you first buy a home is the cost of moving in. Many people dont realize this until its too late. Buying a home involves not only paying for the actual house, but also for moving costs, furniture, and other items that have to be moved along with the home.
Having a good idea ahead of time of what youre likely to encounter can help you avoid these kinds of costs. If you know youll need to replace the plumbing system, for example, youll be able to put together a budget for the expense and plan accordingly.
You can protect your investment by finding out if the homes been well cared for
While there are plenty of people who think that houses always look better when theyre newly built, youd be surprised at how well maintained older residences can still look nice. Sometimes, though, those homes need some additional maintenance to keep them looking their best.
This could involve repairs that arent so noticeable or small improvements that you wouldnt consider otherwise. Even worse, some houses have fallen into disrepair without anyone noticing. This is why having a professional perform a building inspection prior to purchasing a home is such a big benefit.
Not only will it give you insight into the state of the property, but it will also give you peace of mind knowing youre not getting taken advantage of. As long as youre aware of the potential pitfalls, youll have less reason to worry about the state of your new home.
You can use information gathered during a building inspection to negotiate a lower price
If youre worried about buying a home because you suspect that it may need extensive renovation work, you may already have a rough idea of how much work youll need to do to bring it up to scratch. That knowledge can come in handy if you decide to buy the home.
You can use all of the details that you gather during a building inspection to present a realistic picture of what the home is worth to prospective buyers. If a potential buyer thinks that the home is worth more than what you paid for it, you can try negotiating a lower price.
You can sell your home faster and for more money
If you decide to list your home on the market soon after buying it, youll need to price it accurately in order to attract buyers. But if youve already done a thorough building inspection, youll know exactly what work is needed and what the current market conditions are.
In other words, youll be able to make a more accurate estimate of the amount of money youve invested in the home and how much its worth. If you find that youre selling your house for close to its full market value, you can use this information to convince the potential buyer that your home is worth the asking price.
Even if youre planning to stay in the home for a while before you decide to sell, the fact that you did a thorough building inspection will give you more confidence when listing it. Prospective buyers will know exactly what theyre paying for.
Your home will hold its value longer
As mentioned earlier, the value of a home depends heavily upon the condition of the building itself. If your home is in bad shape, potential buyers wont be interested in buying it. On the other hand, if youve performed a thorough building inspection and know what sort of repairs are necessary, you can offer your prospective buyer a compelling reason to invest in your property.
When you buy a home, youre essentially agreeing to have it inspected periodically to ensure that it stays in top shape. Not only does this allow you to avoid expensive repairs down the road, but it can also increase the value of your home.
You can make smart decisions about property investments
Buying real estate isnt as simple as just driving a couple of minutes to pick up a house. There are lots of considerations involved, ranging from location to cost. The same is true when youre investing in property.
If you find a house that meets all of your requirements, youll want to make sure that you have a solid understanding of where it stands with regards to the rest of the market. If you havent spent enough time researching the area, you could inadvertently end up with a bad deal.
There are lots of resources available online that can help you determine the overall level of competition in your area. They can also help you figure out if there are any properties that meet your requirements that you didnt know about.
If you own rental property, you can use the information to identify tenants who might cause damage
If you own rental property and youve noticed that certain tenants consistently cause damage, you can use the results of a building inspection to identify them. You can then contact them directly to let them know that youre watching them closely and that you dont appreciate the problem theyre causing.
They might start taking better care of their homes, which would be good news for everyone. It could also be the case that youll find out that theyre responsible for previous damages that werent caught during a previous visit.
You can make smarter decisions about hiring contractors
If youve hired contractors to build or repair your home, you might want to ask them for references. However, unless you perform a thorough building inspection, you might not know exactly what to look for.
For instance, maybe you only checked the roof for leaks or the walls for cracks. You might not have looked underneath the foundation for anything that could cause a future issue. By performing a building inspection, you can ensure that you hire reputable contractors who will be trustworthy with your money.
You can avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition
Of course, the main benefit of structural inspections perth is that it helps you avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition. Before you make the decision to buy a home, you should do whatever you can to find out about the state of the building.
You can also ask your realtor about what sorts of inspections are typically recommended. Some agents say that its standard practice to check the heating system, the roof, the electrical wiring, and the floors. Others will tell you that they recommend that you check the entire structure.
Either way, if you choose to hire an inspector, youll find out exactly what needs to be fixed and how much it will cost to do so.
As a result, it can be concluded that a pre-purchase building inspection is highly important for the buyers because it provides transparency regarding the current conditions of the structure. Additionally, the building owner is made aware of any upgrades or repairs that are required, which could lead to a fair deal throughout the purchasing and selling process.
President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia's economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine. The United States generally imports about 100,000 barrels a day from Russia, only about 5% of Russia's crude oil exports, according to Rystad Energy. Last year, roughly 8% of U.S. imports of oil and petroleum products came from Russia. Gas prices have been rising for weeks due to the conflict and in anticipation of potential sanctions on the Russian energy sector. The U.S. national average for a gallon of gasoline soared 45 cents a gallon in the past week and topped $4.06 on Monday, according to auto club AAA. Should the US ban Russian oil imports over Ukraine war?
You voted:
The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now.
Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market.
In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender.
India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex.
Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted.
But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted?
Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner.
If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems.
I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now.
I want more variation in masturbation
I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own.
If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end.
What is sex toys for Indian?
Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation.
It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms.
They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable.
Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner.
The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner.
It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past.
In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping.
Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order.
In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing.
Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome.
Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own.
But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance.
More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around.
Sextoy situation in India
Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years.
In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India.
Mumbai
Kolkata
Bangalore
Delhi
Chennai
Hyderabad
These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India.
In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well.
If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too.
If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it.
What are Sextoys for beginner?
Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms.
Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy.
I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion.
I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy.
If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma.
Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it.
Advantages of using sextoy for Indians
There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians
You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways.
Can have stimulating sex
Can develop new sexual zones
If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern.
However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways.
You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation.
Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever.
There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure.
This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it.
When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems.
It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms).
For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles
[Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou...
Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India.
Sextoy for beginner men in India
So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners.
For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men!
The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men
Masturbator
Cock rings
Love Doll
Sex Lubricants
Toys for the prostate
Lets check each one in detail.
Masturbator
The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products.
It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands.
Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands.
They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.)
Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much.
Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! !
Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa SEXToys India PR (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018
Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood.
If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here
Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ...
[For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien...
Cock Ring
A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis.
It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow.
It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber.
In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection.
Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction.
It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it.
Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time.
Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function.
Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy.
You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect.
[Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat...
Love Doll
Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex.
There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women.
Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price.
The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true.
You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste.
There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice.
You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls.
If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here
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.
BENTON The Founding President of Morthland College on Tuesday announced his intention to build a multi-million dollar hospital in Franklin County.
Dr. Tim Morthland said the new hospital would have about 25-40 beds with an emergency room and surgical center. He said there is a projected $30 million to $40 million construction budget for the hospital to be built in Benton. He said the college has been working with city officials to designate a site off of Interstate 57 near the Benton airport for a 10-acre campus.
Morthland said the project would create about 250-300 construction jobs and then 250 more healthcare jobs once the facility is complete. He would like to see a groundbreaking as early as next fall, and the construction timeline would be about three to four years, he said.
Benton Mayor Fred Kondritz said Tuesday that the announcement was a special moment for him, and Morthland can fill a need in Franklin County.
We are in the dark ages in healthcare right now, but there is a bright future ahead of us in Franklin County, he said. The city of Benton is committed to partnering with Dr. Morthland to provide assistance with infrastructure and other needs.
Morthland said the care in Franklin County is fragmented and it creates confusion in healthcare delivery to patients.
We believe the time is now to move forward on such a project, he said. Over the last few years, Morthland College Health Services, a licensed organization of the college, has been building a cohort of physicians, mid-levels, and specialists who are now serving in four hospitals in Southern Illinois.
Since the closing of the United Mine Workers Union Hospital in 2001, Morthland said he has calculated that half a billion dollars has been lost in West Frankfort, along with up to $50 million in healthcare dollars annually from the county.
With the development of an infrastructure of clinics and a focal point of healthcare for in-patient care, these dollars can be captured and funded and fueled back into our local economies, Morthland said.
Morthland said the scope of services at Franklin County Hospital are not meeting the healthcare needs of the county, and that has largely prompted this project. Morthland College Health Services LLC, is currently engaged in a lawsuit with the hospital over a terminated contract in February.
He said the project would be easier if the Franklin Hospital District Board would participate.
That would be the easiest path, but if that path does not present itself, we will proceed, because the need is clear and present in the county, he said.
Hervey Davis, Franklin County Hospital CEO, said there has been a proposal submitted to the board, but it has not been reviewed as of Tuesday. He said it would be inappropriate to comment at the time.
Franklin County Board Chairman Randall Crocker said there is support on the county board.
Any time there is anybody willing to do what he says he will do, you have to sit back and listen, he said. I think the guy is sincere and wants to improve the quality of healthcare.
He said a lot of people do go outside the county for their healthcare, even though they could get the same quality of care within Franklin County.
But for whatever reason, they choose to go whatever direction they go, Crocker said. Hopefully, with his (Morthland's) vision and approach, he can change peoples attitudes toward healthcare.
CARBONDALE Residents joined officers from the citys police department for Coffee with a Cop an event that allows members of the community to inquire and learn about their local police force.
During the informal event held Tuesday morning at Longbranch Cafe & Bakery locals purchased a cup of coffee and met with officers and investigators from Carbondales Police Department.
The event is part of a national initiative supported by The United States Department of Justice.
Carbondale Police Chief Jeff Grubbs said the event offers the community a time to interact, and voice their approvals or concerns, with officers.
Grubbs said he plans to continue the series at other locations, such as Dunkin Donuts, so more people can take advantage of the opportunity to talk with officers one-on-one.
Were going to hold a couple more, (possibly) one at Dunkin Donuts, so the public can come out and meet with us, he said.
A Las Vegas telemarketer has been sentenced to a year in federal prison for her participation in a phone scam that targeted residents in Southern Illinois.
Becky S. Marrs, 68, of Las Vegas, was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison for telemarketing fraud, said James L. Porter, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, in a Tuesday news release.
Marrs pleaded guilty to a federal charge of conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud for her participation in a scheme that victimized individuals throughout the U.S., including Southern Illinois.
The court also ordered Marrs to pay $531,416 in restitution to the victims she defrauded. When she completes her prison sentence, Marrs will serve two years of supervised release.
Marrs admitted in a plea hearing that she worked as a telemarketer for the business that operated the scam, Porter said. The business frequently changed names, but was primarily known as Showcase Resorts and Vacation Max.
Telemarketers from Showcase Resorts and Vacation Max called timeshare owners throughout the country and offered to help them sell their timeshares. The telemarketers then falsely represented that they had found corporate buyers interested in acquiring blocks of timeshare units and that the victims timeshare units could be included in these blocks.
To participate in the corporate blocks, the telemarketers told the victims that they had to pay upfront fees to cover closing costs, which usually ranged from $2,000 to $3,000. Instead, the fees were used as revenues for Showcase Resorts and Vacation Max.
The telemarketers were paid a large commission for each fraudulent sale, which typically ranged from 40 percent to 50 percent.
Because Showcase Resorts and Vacation Max had no corporate buyers, no timeshares were ever sold to any corporations. Showcase Resorts and Vacation Max employed individuals known as updaters to handle all of the calls from customers who called in to ask why their timeshares had not been sold as had been promised. The job of these "updaters" was to provide false excuses to the victims in order to string them along and prevent them from contacting their credit card companies and demanding their money back.
The scheme operated from at least December 5, 2006, until Jan. 24, 2012. The losses caused by the scheme exceeded $11 million.
This sentence reinforces the position that Ive previously stated: Telemarketers who defraud citizens of Southern Illinois are going to be prosecuted and will most likely go to prison, Porter said.
The owner of Vacation Max, Michael Patrick Sullivan, last year was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the scheme. Four other participants in the scheme are also currently serving federal prison sentences.
SPRINGFIELD Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner is criticizing House Speaker Michael Madigan and Democrats after they canceled a legislative session in Springfield scheduled for this week.
Rauner said during a stop in Bloomington that lawmakers are neglecting their jobs and want to create a crisis to force a tax increase and a bailout of Chicago schools.
Madigan says he canceled Wednesday's House session so that talks can continue about how to resolve the state's nearly year-long budget impasse.
It would have been the House's first meeting since they adjourned the spring session May 31 without a budget for the second year in a row. Madigan had said the chamber would meet every Wednesday through the summer.
Rauner accused the Democrats of "slow rolling the process" to create a crisis in the schools.
-- The Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD Amid Illinois year-long budget standoff, only a few issues have brought lawmakers together across party lines.
One is the states heroin and opioid crisis. Major legislation aimed at combating addiction and stemming the tide of overdose deaths passed unanimously in the House and was approved in the Senate with only four votes in opposition.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed a portion of the bill, but members of both parties voted to override his changes.
State Rep. Lou Lang of Skokie, the No. 3 Democrat in the House, championed the bill.
I had read one too many reports about heroin taking over Illinois, said Lang. For Illinois to be ground zero in the heroin and opioid problem in this country made me stand up and take notice.
Lang worked closely with state Rep. John Anthony, R-Joliet, a former Kendall County sheriffs deputy, in drafting the legislation.
Weve moved from crisis to epidemic, said Anthony. I dont know any neighborhood thats unaffected by heroin.
Among the law's provisions:
Law enforcement agencies, fire departments and emergency medical service providers are required to possess anti-overdose drugs such as naloxone, commonly known as Narcan.
Once trained, pharmacists are authorized to dispense naloxone without a prescription.
Hospitals, medical examiners and coroners are required to collect and report data on heroin and opioid overdose treatments and deaths.
The states Medicaid program is expanded to cover all forms of medication-assisted treatment approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for alcohol and opioid dependence.
Private insurance plans are required to cover anti-overdose medications.
Drug courts that provide an option other than prison for low-level drug offenders have been expanded.
Because the bill cuts across several state agencies, many of its provisions are still being implemented.
For example, the Department of Human Services has an advisory committee in place for its prescription drug monitoring program. The committee will identify and distribute funding for a pilot program to encourage continued integration of hospitals electronic health records with the prescription monitoring program.
The Department of Public Health has drafted rules for the required training of emergency medical personnel on using anti-overdose drugs. Public Health also is in discussions with the Illinois Hospital Association about the requirement that hospitals report overdose treatments provided in their emergency rooms.
The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has set up training for pharmacists who want to dispense anti-overdose drugs.
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the departments of Human Services and Public Health said the lack of a state budget hasnt slowed implementation of the law.
Given its scope and complexity, lawmakers and advocates said theyre generally pleased with the progress so far.
I think its going better than expected, said Kathie Kane-Willis, director of the Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy at Roosevelt University in Chicago.
However, there remain issues to be worked out, she said.
For example, the $75 fee for pharmacists to go through training on anti-overdose medications might prevent some from doing it, she said, adding theres also the question of whether enough pharmacies will stock the medications.
Kelly OBrien, Illinois executive director for The Kennedy Forum, a mental health advocacy group, said the state Department of Insurance also has done a good job so far setting up educational programs for consumers on the laws requirements that insurance plans treat behavioral health and substance abuse the same as other medical issues. The department has set up a hotline for consumer complaints.
While this all takes place, lawmakers are working to strengthen several areas of the law.
One bill the General Assembly passed this spring would require any substance abuse program licensed by DHS to provide educational information on medication-based treatments and the use of anti-overdose drugs. Another would allow people going through drug court programs to continue taking medication for opioid addiction as prescribed by their doctors.
State Sen. Melinda Bush, D-Grayslake, who sponsored the legislation in the Senate, said other changes are under consideration, including programs that allow police officers to direct people with addiction issues to treatment rather than jail and the expansion of drug take-back programs to pharmacies.
Lang said lawmakers have a tendency to move onto other issues once theyve passed legislation, but that wont be the case with him when it comes to combating heroin and opioid abuse.
As groundbreaking as (the new law) was, I did not look at it as the end of my journey, but the beginning, he said.
Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil. - C.S. Lewis
U.S. universities, until the time of the Morrill Act of 1862, were typically isolated from political interference and conceived as sectarian. In the mid 19th century, boards at Michigan and Berkeley discontinued church appointments. The transformation evolved and public universities are secular, eschewing any form of religious influence. Trading church influence for challenging and oftentimes coercive political forces, and the Orwellian idea of governmental order as righteous objectivity, has proven risky. Thoughtful free expression, not political correctness in any form, must rule.
People of diverse religious and spiritual backgrounds on university campuses create complexities unknown to most American universities only 50 years ago. Jessica Buterbaugh, commenting on the diversity of faith perspectives at Penn State confirms this truth while recognizing the educational potential. Christians, Jews, Hindus, and Muslims represent four of the 60 religious and spiritual groups on campus. They are engaged, meaningful, and present a moral and ethical code that is larger than self.
Protestantism in the United States had a significant impact on universities both public and private. History is clear. The calculus of encouraging students to reflect and operate on their faith, and the moral perspectives embedded in it, is powerful. Institutionally not endorsing one faith system over another is a Rube Goldberg contraption of moving parts, interdependencies and treacherous complexity. However, it is essential. Postmodernisms deep university roots since the mid 20th century purged campuses of faith outlooks structured around moral absolutes. This view diminishes educational opportunity and is the antithesis of university purpose.
I have seen middle-aged parents, in distance education programs, engage in discussions regarding faith and values as part of the educational process. Just like freshmen.
The assumption that college students are not interested in their spiritual lives is inaccurate. The Spiritual Life of College Students, a study by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute, confirms this: Half of the respondents said faith is very important and they believe it to be a critical part of the university experience.
Michael Beatys Paideia: Moral Education in the University examines Derek Boks views on the issue. Bok speaks with authority. Harvard University, where he served as president, came to life as a marriage between the campus and First Church in Cambridge in 1636, the same year both were born. Bok expresses justifiable chagrin: Private and public schools alike have thrown in the towel on moral education. Compartmentalization of ethics, morality, and faith into hermetic courses, safe zones regrettably does not support integrated study. People do not become moral by studying comparative ethics.
The overly simplified notion that science and ethics cannot be mixed is the genesis of the divorce. In the mid-19th century, some of the "best" universities in America began to shun the exercise of faith on campus fearing it would diminish their standing as bastions of reason and scientific pursuits.
Lapses in ethical decision-making by University leadership provide copious negative examples for students. Reverend James Keenan, a professor at a Boston college, presents this view in his book, University Ethics: How Colleges Can Build and Benefit from a Culture of Ethics.
David Brooks in a New York Times Op Ed writes, Universities are more professional and glittering than ever, but in some ways there is emptiness deep down. Students are taught how to do things, but many are not forced to reflect on why they should do them or what we are here for. My experience confirms this disarming and unpleasant reality. Brooks writes that moral underpinnings of societies, transcendent experiences, the concept of love, and its exercise in life circumstances and vocational settings, and the power of the humanities all have value.
Patrick Beretta presents the idea that there is a passion for science and religion on campus. The contrived conflicts are a chimera constructed to further personal agendas. Moreover, the ill begotten perspective creates the flimsy facade that considerations of faith have no place in the laboratory or the lecture halls of a real university. Efforts to sever the relationship of faith and reason create an institutional abyss that stretches the social fabric to the ripping point.
The Veritas Forum instituted at Harvard by students and faculty in 1992 has grown from a small group of interested participants to include 200 universities in the U.S and Europe. Their mission is about university purpose: The Veritas Forum is committed to courageous conversations. We place the historic Christian faith in dialogue with other beliefs and invite participants from all backgrounds to pursue Truth together.
U.S. universities will retain world leadership by recognizing that science, ethics, and discussions of faith coexist and are inseparable. In addition, this stew strengthens not weakens, cross-cultural understanding -- currently more necessary than at any time in modern history.
The greatness card is in play. Republican Donald Trump declares that elect him president and he will Make America Great Again. Democrat Hillary Clinton insists America already is great and tells us in her ads that we should let Trump know we agree with her.
It ought to be a simple tussle over rhetoric, but the Clintons weave webs of contradictions around everything they touch. At the end of February, Hillary Clinton told a cheering crowd, Despite what you hear, we dont need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great.
After they teach the former secretary of state to use a fax machine, someone in her vast organization should show her Google. For more than two decades the Clintons have been issuing calls to make America great, great, great again. They offer a simple recipe for restoring lost national greatness: elect one of them president.
In 2007, presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton wrote in a piece for The New York Times (excerpted from a Foreign Affairs article) that the United States had been losing influence in the world. We needed to be guided by the goodness of the American idea. If we can live up to that idea, if we can exercise our power wisely and well, we can make America great again.
Bill Clinton pitched in several months later in South Carolina, where his wife was on the verge of a humiliating defeat by surging rival Barack Obama, according to a Jan. 27, 2008, report in the Chicago Tribune. In a radio ad to what had once been a friendly Democratic electorate, Bill Clinton said, We created more than 22 million new jobs, moved 8 million people out of poverty and turned our economy around. Its time for another comeback; time to make America great again.
It wasnt the first time Bill Clinton had bemoaned American decline. His 1992 campaign was salted with promises of national greatness. Hed begun that improbably successful campaign against Republican incumbent George H.W. Bush with this: Together we can make America great again, and with your help, your heart, your devotion and your efforts, we can build a community of hope that will inspire the world.
In the spring of 1992, Clinton responded in a 30-second ad to growing attacks by saying he wanted to confront the nations real problems jobs, education and health care and make America great again. That summer Clinton told the Urban League hed take its economic plan and his own, make them into one and, yes, you can finish the sentence, make America great again.
By the fall of 1992 a campaign press release hip-hoorayed Clinton telling 400 CEO supporters he would revive the economy and make America great again. A few days later in Georgia, the Arkansas governor expanded on the greatness promise. He told a rally, And now you are being called upon, every one of you, to secure a better future for your children and your grandchildren and to make America great again economically, educationally and socially.
In Missouri the boast grew grander, as these things often do in a campaign. By October, he promised, Join with us. I ask for your prayers, your help, your hand and your heart. Together we can make America great again and build a community of hope that will inspire the world. I still believe that. Work with me for 32 days and well take our country back. Yet another shared rhetorical flourish between the Clintons and Trump.
Loathsome demagogue Trump espouses a dark and menacing view of American life. We are, his mosaic of grievances suggests, a nation surrounded by wretched, ungrateful allies and not so terrible adversaries. His notion of national greatness is an America in retreat. Hillary Clinton, diving for votes from the growing and revolting left wing of her party, recites a long list of her grievances with policies she once supported, especially when delivering a primary night victory speech, though those have been less frequent than she expected.
The yearning for uplifting leaders is a long American tradition that has, yes, contributed to American greatness. America is great because its people are great. This grim presidential campaign will not change that as a lying, greedy New Yorker looks to confront a greedy lying New Yorker in November. The chance to elect a great president is not on offer this year.
South Carolina State University is an important component of the states higher education system. Lawmakers realize that and have taken key steps in ensuring the future of the only publicly supported historically black university in South Carolina.
The 2015 legislative year saw lawmakers threaten closure of the university in the midst of major fiscal problems. The prospect of such brought the crisis at SCSU to a head.
Lawmakers chose wisely in making moves to save the school rather than see it fade into history after 120 years, a loss that would have serious negative economic consequences, particularly in the Orangeburg community.
The Legislature agreed to millions of dollars in loans for the university even as lawmakers moved to change governance with a new board of trustees tasked with getting SCSUs house in order.
There was no time to waste as an important clock was ticking and still is. SCSU faced loss of accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools over governance and fiscal problems, a punishment that would doom the university. Loss of accreditation would disqualify SCSU students from federal grants and loans.
In 2016, lawmakers saw their approach pay off. Substantial cuts in spending through closing physical facilities, eliminating programs and personnel, and increasing enrollment have the university operating in the black.
But there remains the matter of paying off debt, both to vendors and to the state for the rescue money approved in 2015.
Board Chairman Charlie Way an Orangeburg native, former state commerce secretary and noted S.C. businessman has been out front in keeping lawmakers apprised of the situation.
Were trying to get this ox out of the ditch, Way said this past week. He said the board and administration are working as hard as possible to keep S.C. State on the right track.
While praising the universitys steps to right itself fiscally, he stressed that frugality can only go so far.
Weve made a lot of cuts, Way said. Weve let people go, weve put people on furloughs. You name it, weve done it.
Weve cut as much as we can without affecting the education, Way said. We will not make cuts that will have an effect on the education.
Without action taken by lawmakers as the 2016 session neared an end, making such cuts was exactly what faced SCSU as it tries to operate in the black while facing debt payback.
The Legislature approved freeing S.C. State from $12 million in state loans and set up a 16-year repayment schedule on a separate, $6 million loan.
The plan forgives $8 million next fiscal year, then $2 million each in the following two years.
The university must make yearly payments of $355,000 until the $6 million is paid off. It has already paid the first installment.
The Legislatures budget plan for next fiscal year also provides S.C. State an additional one-time payment of $4.6 million to pay off other debt, as well as $2.5 million from lottery profits.
The debt forgiveness should remove the final obstacle to S.C. State having its accreditation renewed this month. And it should give the university a real opportunity at long-term stability.
But this is not the time to rest on recent laurels.
The university still has work to do with internal fiscal controls, with the Legislature deciding to appropriate $150,000 for additional technical assistance to ensure accountability and transparency.
Enrollment management remains a priority, both in ensuring that growth is a minimum of 1 percent annually and that payment is received from all students on the campus.
The days of promissory notes being issued in the name of serving students who have no other option for higher education are gone, one lawmaker said, adding allowing student non-payment is inherently unfair to students and their parents who are paying.
Progress is to be made toward putting a permanent administration in place. Though a specific timetable for hiring a new president was removed from the legislation authorizing loan forgiveness, lawakers are expecting to see progress by years end.
While further furloughs may be needed, they must be balanced among administration and faculty, from the highest-paying to lowest-paying positions, to ensure the education quality referenced by Way does not suffer.
Lawmakers were right to take steps to save S.C. State. The money is dollars well spent. And as stewards of taxpayer dollars, they are equally on target in insisting that old problems at SCSU do not resurface.
Disappointment fills the air these days when it comes to politics. It certainly seemed to be the general reaction when House Speaker Paul Ryan said he'd vote for presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump the other day. But if anyone has to support Trump, surely, it has to be the most powerful Congressional Republican.
But what about the rest of us? I've known David and Nancy French for a long time, and was at first as surprised as anyone that his name was being floated as an alternative candidate for president. They certainly are exemplars of patriotism and self-sacrifice, and would do a world of good in any position.
I personally have had a steady succession of people asking me what should they do, almost asking permission to vote for Donald Trump.
And of his probable opponent Hillary Clinton, people announce to me: "She's the devil incarnate!" By which they don't merely mean that she's "corrupt," as Trump has branded her, but that her secular views on human life and gender, among other things, are in direct conflict with centuries of religious belief, as my friend Mary Eberstadt lays out quite clearly in an upcoming book, "It's Dangerous to Believe: Religious Freedom and Its Enemies."
I'm only certain about one incarnation, and I'd like to see the freedom to believe in it continue, that's for sure. But politically what can we do to ensure that?
One formerly "Never Trump" friend said the other day that the idea of another four-plus years of a Democratic government, with its increasingly intolerant secular theocracy, has her in an apocalyptic mood.
Another friend shared that she has had "so many bizarre conversations about Trump with people I respect and admire who have given in to this idea that Hillary is worse. I truly don't believe she's worse -- just a different kind of evil. I think in many ways that matter (cultural, mostly, I'll admit) Trump is worse."
If you find yourself thinking similar things, my best advice is to pray and open your eyes and get involved in things that change lives and the world.
On June 1, about 100 nuns managed to get an overflowing block of New York City to stop for the better part of the day. The Sisters of Life were celebrating their silver jubilee. Twenty-five years ago, the late Cardinal O'Connor took a gamble, asking women to come forward to dedicate their lives to Jesus and protecting innocent human life. The Sisters of Life accompany women, men and children at their most vulnerable moments, not merely saving their lives, but becoming part of them.
Yet another friend said to me: "Maybe Donald Trump will be good." She recalled his car wreck of an answer to a question about abortion and whether women should be punished for having one. At least he must know it's evil, she hoped. It's the uncertainty that is keeping people wondering and worrying.
My hope lies in the people doing the real work of walking with others in hard times. These people overflow with love in their service. Just the other day, Jean Vanier, the founder of the L'Arche community, which is dedicated to ensuring that anyone severely disabled has a home in which to thrive, commented on the assisted-suicide debate in Canada. He said that while we obsess in our national politics about "the right to" do things, maybe we could take a few steps back and instead love and live and serve. People have a right to be accompanied, he said. That's not a legal issue, that's a human one.
At some point, we must let the screaming go, and stop pretending to have all the answers and magic formulas in the form of political platforms. Politics is important, but it will only ever be as good as we make it, in every other aspect of life beyond Election Day.
If you're disappointed in politics, do something beautiful beyond bemoaning its state.
-----
Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review Online and founding director of Catholic Voices USA. She can be contacted at klopez@nationalreview.com.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
The office term of the World Bank (WB) country manager for Azerbaijan, Larisa Leshchenko, will expire in late June 2016, the WB Baku office told Trend June 6.
For the present, it is unknown who will lead the WB Baku office.
Currently, the WB management is selecting candidates for that position, said the WB office.
World Bank's country manager is usually appointed for three years, but this term can be extended for another year. Leshchenko was appointed the WB country manager for Azerbaijan in September 2012.
Azerbaijan became a WB member in 1992.
The World Bank has allocated nearly $3.786 billion worth loans to Azerbaijan as of Feb. 1, 2016. Those funds were directed to finance over 60 projects.
/By Azernews/
By Laman Ismayilova
The International Mugham Center in Baku hosted a literary-musical evening dedicated to the Day of Poets, Trend Life reported.
The event was organized by the Union of Azerbaijani Writers, Association of young poets with the support of the Culture and Tourism Ministry, Turkish Embassy in Azerbaijan, Professional Organization of Authors of Scientific and Literary Works (?LESAM) and the World Association of Young Turkic Writers.
This year the event was dedicated to the famous writer-playwright, screenwriter, honored art worker of Azerbaijan, people's poet, holder of the order "Shohrat", "Sharaf" and "Istiglal", Vagif Samadoglu.
The event was attended by prominent public figures, guests from Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Ukraine, Iran, Russia, USA and Israel.
The ceremony began with presentation of book "Vagif Samadoglu. Poems from the chest" published in the framework of the project "AYBkitab".
Speaking about the publication, Spokesman for Azerbaijan Writers Union Khayal Rza noted that the book includes previously unreleased poems by the author.
The compiler and editor of the book Nushaba Babayeva-Vakilova spoke in detail about the book and its content.
Then the guests were shown a documentary about the life and creativity of national poet.
Following this, Khayal Rza informed the audience that the Day is marked on June 5 - the birthday of another outstanding Azerbaijani poet Mikayil Mushfig.
People's poet Nariman Hasanzade, the general director of Professional Organization of Authors of Scientific and Literary Works (?LESAM) and other speakers stressed the importance of holding the Day of Poets.
This year's awards named after Mikail Mushfig were given to Nariman Hasanzade, Mehmet Nuri Parmaksiz, Rashid Fahrali, Ariel Gutu (Israel), Robert Evdaev (USA) and others.
Vagif Samadoglu is prominent Azerbaijani poet, writer, playwright. He is the son of national poet Samad Vurgun.
The first literary collection of poet was published in the early 1960s. In 2000-2005 he was elected a Deputy of Milli Majlis (Azerbaijani Parliament).
Currently, V. Samadoglu is a member of the Pardon Commission and the Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation to PACE
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has today met with Vice President of the Airbus Group Jean-Pierre Talamoni in Berlin.
They praised cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Airbus Group as fruitful.
They also discussed the expansion of cooperation in different spheres, especially between Azerbaijan Airlines and Airbus Group, as well as in the field of space industry.
Baku Network expert council discussed the results of escalation of the conflict in early April on the Armenian-Azerbaijani frontline.
Elkhan Alasgarov, head of the Baku Network expert council, US Azeris Network (USAN) Director General Adil Baghirov, USAN co-director Jeyhun Mollazade and USAN member Bedir Mammadli participated in the discussions.
The experts stressed that Armenian provocation led to the escalation over the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
It was noted that Azerbaijani army was able to liberate some of its lands, and therefore tactically it was a major success by the Azerbaijani army, which was also acknowledged by Armenian government.
Experts also talked about their expectations on the negotiations process, which has been trigerred and the efforts that international community should make to push forward a solution of the Karabakh conflict.
During the discussions it was stressed that Azerbaijan has send a message to the international community that the country still hopes to find a solution to the conflict within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and that the country will never accept Armenia-initiated status quo.
On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
http://bakunetwork.com
/By Azernews/
Important issues of bilateral Azerbaijan-Germany relations were discussed at the meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said President Ilham Aliyev at the joint press conference with Merkel in Berlin, Trend's correspondent reported from the event.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan was one of the important parts of our discussion, said the president.
He went on to add that the resolution of the conflict must be based on implementation of international law norms and UN Security Council resolutions, which demand immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian Armed Forces from the territories of Azerbaijan.
Unfortunately, said the president, the sanctions have not been imposed on Armenia for brutal violation of international law, policy of ethnic cleansing and occupation of almost 20 percent of a sovereign state's territory.
Recent development in the region shows that in the land of conflict the ceasefire is not stable, it is fragile, and the status quo is not acceptable, said Ilham Aliyev.
He reminded that in April Armenia launched another military provocation against Azerbaijan.
"We had to defend ourselves, defend our civilians. By the way, six civilians were killed as a result of Armenian aggression," said Ilham Aliyev, adding that the status quo in the conflict must be changed.
The president said that issues of regional security and regional cooperation were also discussed in a meeting with Angela Merkel.
President Ilham Aliyev then said that earlier he attended the Azerbaijan-Germany business forum, adding that a big amount of leading German companies expressed interest in doing business with Azerbaijan.
According to the president, the German representatives at the forum said that 80 percent of Germany's trade with South Caucasus falls on Azerbaijan.
Speaking about Azerbaijan-initiated Southern Gas Corridor, Ilham Aliyev said that it was the project of energy diversification for Azerbaijan as a producer, and for consumers - an alternative source of gas from Azerbaijan, which will be delivered by brand new transportation infrastructure.
Energy security today cannot be separated from the national security of countries, which depend on energy supply, and these countries need to have diversified routes and sources, said Ilham Aliyev.
The president went on to say that the Southern Gas Corridor project, which is worth $45 billion, will be implemented on time.
Ilham Aliyev stated that other areas of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Germany are also of great importance.
"I also informed the chancellor about the transportation projects that Azerbaijan implements to create the reliable connection between Asia and Europe," said the president, adding that shortest route from Asia to Europe will be through Azerbaijan.
Speaking of political issues discussed at the meeting with Angela Merkel, President Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijan is strongly committed to democracy, protection of human rights.
"Many steps have been taken recently in order to address these issues," said the president, adding that today Azerbaijan provides all the fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of assembly, freedom of media.
The fact that Russia is selling weapons to Armenia doesn't create any allergy in Azerbaijan, said the country's president, Ilham Aliyev answering a question at the joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, Trend's correspondent reported from the event.
"We consider Russia as our strategic partner," he said. "We understand that Russia is a big producer of arms, and can sell weapons to any country. The allergy is in Armenia, for the fact that Russia sells weapons to Azerbaijan."
The president went on to add that unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan paid the full price for the weapons, and Russia is not the only country where Azerbaijan purchases weapons.
"It is not a secret that we purchase weapons from Turkey, Israel, Belarus, Iran and many other countries, because we are modernizing our armed forces," the president said.
Ilham Aliyev further said that Russia is also one of the members of the OSCE Minsk Group, which deals with the Nagorno Karabakh settlement, adding that Azerbaijan considers Russia's role to be very positive.
"We hope that Russia, along with the US and France will use all their potential to convince Armenia that it is time to leave the occupied territories."
Armenia, by force, occupied the territories of Azerbaijan, said Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev answering a question at the joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, Trend's correspondent reported from the event.
"It's enough to look at the map of the region to see who is the aggressor and who is the victim of the aggression," said President Aliyev, adding that Nagorno Karabakh is a historic part of Azerbaijan.
He went on to add that Armenia committed a war crime, genocide in Khodjaly, which is today recognized as genocide by ten countries.
The president reminded that during the Khodjaly genocide 613 people were killed, including 106 women and 63 children, and it all happened in front of international community.
Ilham Aliyev added that Armenia occupied not only Nagorno Karabakh but also seven other districts of Azerbaijan, destroyed Azerbaijan's historical monuments, mosques. The president said that the occupants ignore the calls of international mediators to resolve the conflict peacefully.
In order to prolong the endless negotiations, the Armenian side sometimes organizes provocations like the one in the beginning of April, in order to disrupt the negotiating process, said President Aliyev.
Only this time, according to the president, the Armenian side miscalculated the consequences, and as a result of Azerbaijani army's counter-attack, the country managed to restore parts of its occupied territories.
President Ilham Aliyev said that the Armenian government needs to comply with international law, illegal occupation of other countries is absolutely unacceptable.
"They should start the de-occupation. As as soon as it starts, we will open all the communications, we will restore transportation infrastructure, and eliminate every single possibility of a military scenario," he said.
He went on to repeat that Azerbaijan is committed to peaceful settlement of the conflict.
"We stopped the clashes because we do not want war, we need peace. We need our territories back," he said.
/By Azernews/
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who is on a working visit to Germany, met with Vice-Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmar Gabriel in Berlin on June 7, Azertac reported.
The sides hailed Azerbaijani-German bilateral ties, and noted that there were good prospects for the economic cooperation between the two countries.
They exchanged views over the implementation of large economic projects, and cooperation opportunities in the fields of agriculture, pharmaceutics, education, transport, energy, water management, soil remediation and space industry.
Earlier on June 6, President Aliyev met with Vice President of the Airbus Group Jean-Pierre Talamoni in Berlin.
They praised cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Airbus Group as fruitful.
They also discussed the expansion of cooperation in different spheres, especially between Azerbaijan Airlines and Airbus Group, as well as in the field of space industry.
The President also met with chairman of the Board of the German-Azerbaijani Forum Hanns-Eberhard Schleyer and its members in Berlin.
The sides hailed the current state of relations between Azerbaijan and Germany, and exchanged views over the prospects of the ties.
President Aliyev informed the members of the Board of the German-Azerbaijani Forum about provocations committed by the Armenian armed forces on the frontline in the Nagorno-Karabakh early April.
They discussed the course of the negotiations to settle the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The head of state briefed the members of the Board of the German-Azerbaijani Forum on the negotiations.
President Aliyev also met with chairman of the Munich Security Conference Wolfgang Friedrich Ischinger in Berlin.
They pointed to good cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Munich Security Conference. Azerbaijan`s active involvement in the organization`s work was underscored. The country`s contribution to ensuring global security was hailed during the meeting.
They broadly discussed the Armenian armed forces` provocation committed on the line of troops` contact in the Nagorno-Karabakh region in early April, as well as settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
/By Azernews/
By Fatma Babayeva
Heads of CIS governments agreed on a package of documents in the spheres of economy, military and humanitarian cooperation following the Bishkek meeting of the council of heads of CIS governments on June 7.
Overall, the participants of the meeting signed 21 documents, reported Ria Novosti.
The agreements on information swapping regarding accidents on electricity generation facilities and on cooperation in education and energy area have been signed.
The heads of the CIS governments also inked the treaty on preservation of agricultural biodiversity and the protocol between the member-states of the free trade agreement from October 18, 2011 on rules and regulation of state procurements.
Also, the council of heads of CIS governments decided to hold 2020 population census in member-states of the union as well as to organize the international Art EXPO exhibition.
The meeting also saw decisions regarding the cooperation strategy in the chemical industry and the primary plan of actions to implement it as well as the cooperation strategy in the field of tackling cancer made.
The questions of optimization of the CIS and adaptation to the new realities were the key topics addressed during the meeting, Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbai Jeenbekov told reporters.
He added that the summit of CIS member-countries leaders due to be held in Bishkek on September 16 will be "the most important event" during Kyrgyzstans CIS chairmanship this year.
The Council comprised of heads of the CIS member states also confirmed a strategy "Health of the CIS member states population". The implementation of the interstate program on innovative cooperation till 2020 was agreed by the participants as well.
The Bishkek meeting was attended by the heads of the CIS member states including Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Kazakh PM Karim Massimov, Moldavan PM Pavel Filip, Belarusian PM Andrei Kobyakov, Tajik PM Kohir Rasulzoda and, as well as, Azerbaijani First Deputy PM Yagub Eyyubov, Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Vache Gabrielyan, Uzbek First Deputy PM Rustam Azimov and deputy chairman of Turkmenistans cabinet of Ministers Satlyk Satlykov.
Ukraine was represented by the Ambassador of the country to Kyrgyzstan, Nikolai Doroshenko.
The next meeting of the heads of CIS countries will be held in Minsk on October 28.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said that the explosion in Istanbul is a terrorist attack, the TRT Haber news channel reported June 7.
Cavusoglu noted that currently, the perpetrators of the terrorist attack are being determined.
11:58 (UTC+04:00) Eleven people were killed and 36 more were injured as a result of the explosion in Turkey's Istanbul city, the TRT Haber news channel reported June 7.
Seven of the dead are police officers.
11:12 (UTC+04:00)
Two people were killed and 14 more were injured as a result of the explosion in Turkey's Istanbul city, according to the preliminary data, the Haber7 newspaper reported June 7.
11:02 (UTC+04:00)
The number of the injured as a result of the explosion in Turkey's Istanbul city has reached eight, the TRT TV channel reported June 7.
The health condition of one of the injured is very serious.
Currently, an anti-bomb squad is working at the scene. Turkey's authorities haven't made official statements on the explosion.
10:35 (UTC+04:00)
Five people have been injured as a result of the explosion in Turkey's Istanbul city, the Haber7 newspaper reported June 7.
9:56 (UTC+04:00)
A police car has been blown up in Turkey's Istanbul city, the TRT Haber news channel reported June 7.
Rescuers and fire brigades have arrived at the scene.
Reportedly, the explosion occurred near a bus stop. A shootout began following the explosion.
Several people were injured as a result of the explosion and their exact number is yet to be determined.
Reportedly, the police believe that there is a threat of second explosion.
EFG Hermes' head of investment banking, Ahmed El Guindy, has resigned from his position with the Egyptian investment bank, it confirmed to Reuters on Monday.
Guindy's last working day was May 31, a spokeswoman for the bank told Reuters in an emailed response to questions.
She added Guindy, who was also a member of the bank's executive committee, would "continue to be closely associated with EFG Hermes in a capacity that we will disclose in the right timing".
Two sources aware of the matter said Guindy was setting up his own investment company which would work with small and medium-sized enterprises, with one adding that the firm would be getting seed money from EFG Hermes.
Mostafa Gad and Mohamed Fahmi had been appointed as co-heads of investment banking three months previously, the spokeswoman added. Reuters
The Power and Water Utility Company for Jubail and Yanbu (Marafiq) has signed a loan agreement worth SR1.56 billion ($415.7 million) with the Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF), a report said.
The loan will be used to develop several projects of the company in the Jubail and Yanbu industrial cities, Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Buainain, chief executive officer of Marafiq was quoted as saying the Saudi Gazette report.
The projects include industrial water schemes at the facilities of Sadara Company in Jubail and the expansion projects of Marafiq Power Plant in the Yanbu 2, according to the report.
Cofely Besix Facility Management (CBFM), the regions leading integrated facilities management provider, won five awards at the Facilities Management Middle East 2016 ceremony held recently in Dubai, UAE.
It is a joint-venture established in 2008 by Cofely and the Besix Group, to provide first-class integrated facility management services in the Middle East. The company presently employs 650 staff members in the UAE and 800 in Qatar.
CBFM was nominated in five categories, and walked away with five respective awards. The first was for The Sustainability Initiative of the Year category, in recognition of the companys solar-powered operations and call centre, which was recently completed and has already reported significant savings in electricity.
The company also won the Engineering Service of the Year award, which focused specifically on the FM services provided by CBFM to the Yas Island development.
CBFM was also highly commended as The Overall FM Company of the Year, and Troy Muggleton received a highly commended award as FM Manager of the Year, while Marwan Abou Raad walked away with the highly commended award for Young FM of the Year.
On the big win, Ian Harfield, the chief executive of CBFM, said: "We are extremely pleased to receive all the accolades, especially in so many different categories. It is a wonderful feeling for us all to receive the recognition for our accomplishments this year, and I am certainly very proud of the whole CBFM team."
The FM Awards, celebrated their ninth year in 2016, and have come to be seen as the benchmark of success for facilities management companies in the region.-TradeArabia News Service
UAE-based Empower, one of the worlds largest district cooling services providers, has launched its nationwide summer campaign to optimise district cooling energy consumption amongst its customer base of over 55,000 people.
The three-month campaign also aims to ensure the company's customers' happiness through provision of world-class cooling services which adhere to highest levels of efficiency and environmental sustainability.
Ending by September, the campaign will offer tips on reducing cooling energy consumption such as setting the room temperature to 24C during summer peak hours as it is considered the ideal temperature to reduce cooling energy wastage.
The company said this will reflect on the services' efficiency and reliability as well as bills, consumption, and maintenance.
The campaign will target Empower's end-user customers, mainly in residential and commercial segments.
Empower pointed out that it will gauge the change in consumption rates comparing to the same period last year in projects such as Jumeirah Group, Business Bay, Jumeirah Beach Residence, Jumeirah Lake Towers, and International Media Production Zone in order to assess the effectiveness of the campaign and responsiveness of its customers.
"The core objective of the campaign is to raise our customers' awareness about the significance of preserving energy and protecting the environment through setting their AC thermostat to 24C at their homes and offices," stated Ahmad Bin Shafar, the chief executive officer of Empower.
"This will reflect on the service efficiency and will reduce energy consumption and lead to money savings during the peak summer times," noted Bin Shafar.
"We aim to boost our customers' happiness and we believe that it is our reasonability to optimise their consumption. We aim to ensure the efficiency and high levels of our services. Empower is underpinned by a skilled round-the-clock service team and a comprehensive set of emergency back-up systems that ensure complete reliability," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
The American Hospital Dubais new Advanced Rehabilitation Unit, which will provide specialty care for patients requiring treatment for serious conditions such as multiple trauma, stroke or spinal cord injuries, has now become operational.
The unit recently treated its first patient, a UAE resident involved in a serious road accident who was admitted in a life threatening condition with multiple trauma injuries and requiring a multidisciplinary team to stabilise, treat and then manage rehabilitation.
The patient is now mobile, self-sufficient and has returned home and to work, as he regains his previous quality of life. He underwent seven operations and spent 33 days in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in a medically induced coma. After successful initial treatment, he was then transferred to the Advanced Rehabilitation Unit for rehabilitation. He received specialist rehabilitation nursing care, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech/language therapy, as part of his treatment at the hospital, the hospital said.
Dr Nazakat Hussain, clinical director of Rehabilitation Medicine at the hospital, commented: The team is very pleased with Osamas progress and is working to support his return to a normal life at home and work, with the help of his family. His very serious condition was a demanding test of our teams multidisciplinary capabilities. Rehabilitation is a long-term commitment and our team aims to get the patient back into the family home and community, working with family members and other care providers, to help them adapt and support the patient.
The Advanced Rehabilitation Unit combines high-tech and high-touch to optimise the expertise of its multidisciplinary team. The holistic approach ensures care for the patient and their loved ones to help patients through their recovery and return to the highest possible quality of life and work, the hospital said.
It has 22 private rooms and a multidisciplinary team of more than 20 staff, providing patient-centric therapy and comprehensive patient care under one roof, it added. TradeArabia News Service
GAC Bunker Fuels (GBFL), the bunker fuels trading arm of GAC, has been appointed as Emirates National Oil Company Group (Enoc) Global Marines exclusive sales agent and distributor for marine lubricants in South Africa.
Dubai-based GAC is a global provider of integrated shipping, logistics and marine services.
Enoc Global Marine supplies lubricants and provides technical support services to the international marine industry.
The deal was announced during the ongoing Posidonia 2016, an international shipping event being held in Athens, Greece.
The deal marks the first time GBFL has been appointed to provide sales and distribution for a lubricants manufacturer, on the strength of the GAC Groups extensive logistics expertise, strong agency network and experienced bunker fuels team, said a statement.
GAC shares longstanding relationships with marine spare parts buyers who work with clients who also have bunker fuels needs. All logistics work and inventory management services will be handled by GAC Marine Logistics (GML), with GAC Dubai arranging lubricant freight from the UAE to the South African port of Durban. By combining the strength of the GAC supply chain and Enocs marine products, which are approved by the biggest marine engine manufactures, the partnership offers vessel owners and operators a quality service at a competitive price, it added.
Since its inception in 2015, Enoc Global Marine has built a strong presence across Africa, covering some of the continents key ports in Egypt, Nigeria, Angola, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco and Mauritania and now South Africa. The newly announced partnership with GBFL will contribute to increasing the divisions vessel delivery by 300,000 litres annually, it said.
Nicholas Browne, director of GBFL, said: Enoc is an exceptionally strong brand in the Middle East, and their business ethics and values are very similar to our own.
Sales and distribution is a logical extension to GACs existing service offering, and it meets a very real need. Were excited to see this partnership develop and open new avenues of growth for both parties, he said.
Zaid Alqufaidi, managing director, Enoc Marketing, said: We as a company aspire to build upon our successes by expanding our regional and international presence and are well aware of the potential that international markets present; particularly the African region and its contribution to the success of our operations.
This newly forged collaboration with GAC presents ample opportunity for us to expand our network and cater to the ever evolving needs of our customers, he added. TradeArabia News Service
Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone (RAK FTZ) said that it is participating in two major business conferences in Russia, Intax Expo 2016 and CIS Wealth 2016, with the aim of generating awareness about investment opportunities in the free zone.
The events, to be attended by hundreds of business delegates representing various industries, will serve as important platforms to highlight business opportunities provided by RAK FTZ, one of the fastest growing free zones in the Middle East region, said a statement.
RAK FTZ attended the Intax Expo yesterday (June 6) and today (June 7) at the Lotte Hotel, Moscow.
It will head to Ekaterinburg on June 9, to participate at the CIS Wealth Conference to be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
Tomas Csobonyei, business development director at RAK FTZ, said: We are very excited to take part in these major conferences as they present opportunities for us to connect with potential Russian investors and promote the investment opportunities in the UAE and Ras Al Khaimah.
"Russian investors would be interested to know that our free zone brings the most diversified portfolio of investments for them, he said.
RAK FTZ offers 100 per cent company ownership, freedom from taxation and customs duty, and tailor-made business solutions for up to 50 per cent lower than elsewhere in the region. Whether they are planning to establish a manufacturing base or a sales office, we can support them in achieving their business' full potential and at the same time, help them realise a higher return on investment, he added.
Csobonyei will highlight the immense business advantages offered by RAK FTZ's stable investment environment during a presentation that will be conducted at the events, it stated. TradeArabia News Service
Hillary Clinton has reached the number of delegates needed to clinch the Democratic US presidential nomination, according to tallies on Monday by two US media outlets, the day before six states were set to vote in nominating contests.
A former senator and US secretary of state, Clinton would be the first woman to ever be the presidential candidate of a major political party in the country's 239-year history.
But the campaign of her rival, Bernie Sanders, vowed to keep up the fight in what has been a protracted and increasingly antagonised primary race that has exposed deep rifts between the left-wing and the more centrist of the Democratic Party.
A Sanders campaign spokesman said it was wrong of the Associated Press and NBC News, which made the calls on Monday evening, to count the votes of superdelegates before they cast ballots at the Democratic National Convention in July.
"Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump," Sanders' spokesman Michael Briggs said in a statement, castigating what he called the media's "rush to judgment."
While most delegates are awarded by popular votes in state-by-state elections, superdelegates largely consist of party leaders and elected senators, members of Congress and governors, and can change their mind at any time.
For that reason, the Democratic National Committee has echoed the Sanders campaign, saying the superdelegates should not be counted until they vote at the convention in Philadelphia.
But that has not deterred the news media. The AP and NBC reported that Clinton reached the 2,383 delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee with a decisive weekend victory in Puerto Rico, a US territory, and a burst of additional support from superdelegates.
Sanders, a US senator from Vermont who calls himself a democratic socialist, has commanded huge crowds spilling out of parks and stadiums and has been particularly bolstered by younger voters angered by widening economic inequality with his promise of a "political revolution."
But Clinton, who prefers smaller, round-table events, has continued to edge out Sanders, particularly among older voters with longer ties to the Democratic party. Her less lofty promises focus on improving the policies of her fellow Democrat and former boss, President Barack Obama.
"According to the news, we are on the brink of a historic, historic, unprecedented moment," Clinton told a rally in Long Beach, California, shortly after the AP report.
"But we still have work to do, don't we? We have six elections tomorrow and we're going to fight hard for every single vote, especially right here in California."
Clinton has 1,812 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses, and Sanders has 1,521. She also has the support of 571 superdelegates, according to an AP count, compared to 48 for Sanders.
Her campaign manager, Robby Mook, said the media call on Clinton was an "important milestone".
"We look forward to Tuesday night, when Hillary Clinton will clinch not only a win in the popular vote, but also the majority of pledged delegates," he said in a statement on Monday.
Sanders supporters have pointed to the uncertainty of whether or not Clinton or her aides will face criminal charges as a reason for him to remain in the race. Clinton's decision to use an unauthorized private email server kept in her home for her work as secretary of state remains the subject of a criminal inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Earlier on Monday, Clinton called for party unity, suggesting it was time for Sanders, who only joined the Democratic party last year after years as an independent, to abandon his hard-fought challenge.
CALIFORNIA VOTES
Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and New Mexico also hold nominating contests on Tuesday, but most attention will focus on California, the country's most populous state where another 475 pledged delegates are at stake.
Clinton once held a sizable lead there over Sanders, but opinion polls in recent days showed them in a dead heat.
A Sanders victory there could embolden his supporters to urge him to wage a fractious convention fight. It could also help Trump, 69, who clinched the Republican nomination last month, argue that she is a weak candidate.
"It's going to make her ability to seal the deal with disaffected Democrats all that much harder," said Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist who supports Clinton. "The only one benefiting from this is Donald Trump."
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has regularly stirred up controversy on the campaign trail. In recent days, his comments about a judge he believes to be biased against him because he is Mexican-American have drawn criticism.
On Monday, Trump, a New York real estate developer, insisted his concerns were valid. Clinton, in an MSNBC interview on Monday, said Trump's comments about the judge were racist and bigoted.
The latest Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll showed Clinton with an 11-percentage-point edge over Trump, 46 percent to 35 percent, a marked change from just 10 days ago, when fewer than 4 points separated the two. Reuters
The members of the Missile Technology Control Regime, a key anti-proliferation grouping, have agreed to admit India, diplomats said, in a win for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he meets President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday.
Diplomats with direct knowledge of the matter said a deadline for the members of the 34-nation group to object to India's admission had expired on Monday without any of them raising objections.
Under this so-called 'silent procedure', India's admission follows automatically, diplomats from four MTCR member nations told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Admission to the MTCR would open the way for India to buy high-end missile technology, also making more realistic its aspiration to buy state-of-the-art surveillance drones such as the US Predator.
India also makes a supersonic cruise missile, the Brahmos, in a joint venture with Russia that both hope to sell to third countries. Membership of the rules-based MTCR would require India to comply with rules - such as a maximum missile range of 300 km - that seek to prevent arms races from developing.
India's foreign ministry said before Modi departed on a five-country tour last weekend that the MTCR process was "looking good". Spokesman Vikas Swarup, who was travelling with Modi, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. - Reuters
Expo 2020 Dubai, Dubai SME and Tejari, the strategic procurement company, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that will broaden access for thousands of SMEs in the emirate to tender for opportunities offered by the Dh25-billion ($6.8 billion) mega-event.
As a result of the MoU, businesses registered with Dubai SME will now be automatically enrolled as potential suppliers to Expo 2020 Dubai. The move forms part of ongoing initiatives aimed at encouraging participation by SMEs in the delivery of Expo Dubai 2020 and creating a positive impact on the UAE economy that extends beyond 2020.
Hosting the mega-event is expected to generate a gross value addition of Dh71 billion to the Dubai economy. SMEs currently contribute 42 per cent towards Dubais total employment and generate 40 per cent of gross value added, according to Dubai SME.
Reem Ebrahim Al Hashimy, UAE Minister of State for International Co-operation and director general of Expo 2020 Dubai Bureau, welcomed the MoU, saying: SMEs are major economic drivers and provide an important contribution to Dubais evolution as a Smart City. By uniting with Dubai SME and Tejari, we are further extending our support to this critical business community, enabling SMEs to play a greater part in the delivery and legacy of Expo 2020 Dubai. We look forward to working with them to developing a truly inclusive, SME-friendly Expo, with a sustainable economic legacy.
In April 2015, Expo 2020 Dubai launched its vendor registration and pre-qualification eSourcing Portal, which links all Expo-related procurement operations and enables the rapid deployment of tender opportunities to the local and global business community in an open and transparent fashion.
Of the 4,633 companies currently registered on the Expo 2020 Dubai eSourcing Portal, 32.7 per cent are SMEs. As part of the MoU, Tejari, a leading UAE provider of electronic contract systems, will integrate Dubai SMEs 3,500 member companies into the Expo 2020 Dubai e-Sourcing Portal database. All registered members will be automatically integrated and will be able to participate in the delivery of the World Expo through project tenders.
Dubai SME is an agency of the Department of Economic Development (DED) established to foster the development of entrepreneurs, encourage and support UAE nationals to actively participate in the economic growth of Dubai, and facilitate the establishment of small and medium enterprises.
Abdul Baset Al Janahi, CEO of Dubai SME, stated: "This initiative comes in line with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to evolve Dubai into the smartest city in the world. We at Dubai SME seek to cooperate and coordinate with the public sector, both at the federal and local levels, and the private sector to enhance business competitiveness and support entrepreneurs in the run up of the largest event regionally. We also look to coordinate by linking electronic databases to ensure members details are up to date and are easily accessible on Expos eSourcing portal. This agreement will also allow us to support our members and to provide them with access to the best tender opportunities.
Al Janahi added: Dubai SME regularly updates the database of Expo members who are registered on its electronic portal. Through this strategic initiative, we seek to implement the emirates strategy to increase the contribution of SMEs to the non-oil GDP, as well as improve the UAEs position in the ease of doing business index and the global index for entrepreneurship and development, in line with Dubai 2021 Vision. This agreement will also help promote the SME sector which represents 95 per cent of all companies in Dubai and 42 per cent of the total labour force.
Marwan Al Naqi, Chairman of Tejari, said: The UAE actively seeks to promote cultural exchange with other countries, to strengthen international relationships and enhance mutual understanding amongst nations from around the world. It is also a successful and inspiring model of one of the first governments to adopt the latest technologies to create a modern environment and support its rapid development. We at Tejari are very pleased to cooperate with Expo 2020 Dubai, which is expected to help shape the future and build on existing efforts to highlight the UAE as a global destination that brings together people, organisations and innovations from around the world. - TradeArabia News Service
Abdul Latif Jameel Energy and Environmental Services, a leading global player in solar power sector, has expressed its keenness to support Saudi Arabias national agenda for a renewable energy industry, as outlined in the Vision 2030 plan.
The company recently celebrated the first anniversary of its acquisition of Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV), a leading global developer of solar power projects.
Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel, chairman and CEO of Abdul Latif Jameel, said the company is strategically placed to be part of the development of this burgeoning sector, according to a Saudi Gazette report.
Abdul Latif Jameel Energy and Environmental Services completed the acquisition of FRV in April 2015, making the company the largest GCC-based solar photovoltaic (PV) developer and one of the leading solar PV developers in the world.
As part of its drive to identify and drive investments and strategic partnerships in Saudi Arabia, Abdul Latif Jameel appointed Omar Al-Madhi as senior managing director and member of the board for investments, based in Riyadh. He also leads the Saudi-based activities for Abdul Latif Jameel Energy and Environmental Services, exploring opportunities and forming strategic partnerships in Saudi Arabias renewable energy sector, the report said.
Abdul Latif Jameel Energy and Environmental Services holds a 4.3 GWdc pipeline of projects in emerging solar markets, including the Middle East, Australia, Africa and Latin America.
Smart technologies can help reduce the investment needs of new desalination and power plants by approximately $10 billion in the GCC by 2030, said an industry expert.
This can be achieved through a reduction in peak load demand, optimizing capacity, improving maintenance and reducing overall consumption patterns, added Christian von Tschirschky, Mena Power & Utilities leader for EY, a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services.
The GCC region is among the worlds top water consumers per capita. Freshwater demand far outstrips supply in much of the GCC, requiring all countries to engage in energy-intensive desalination to meet daily needs, he explained.
Smart water grid development would generate more data about water distribution and usage, and help GCC utilities to learn how to conserve and secure future water supply. Through smart technology, substantial capital expenditure reduction can be created throughout the region.
Similar to other regions around the world, smart water is lagging the development of smart power grids. However, most smart meter pilot projects in the GCC involve dual meters to measure water usage along with power a development facilitated in countries like the UAE and Qatar where utilities are responsible for both sectors.
This ownership structure is a unique opportunity for the region to co-optimize smart initiatives in water and power, von Tschirschky noted.
Smart technologies to create new jobs
The regions utilities can also gain a first-mover advantage in developing downstream, beyond-the-meter services, due to large volumes of data generated by smart technologies. In the US, utilities are seeing a 12-23 per cent return on investment from a range of add-on services, such as home energy management products.
These value add services may contribute an additional 25,000 qualified jobs over the upcoming years. This will require utilities to think critically about data security and whether their data management systems can cope.
Cross-border business
The smart transformation could also open up new cross-border business. The completion in 2012 of a GCC-wide electricity grid is already allowing member states such as Kuwait to tap into electricity reserves from neighbouring countries, although differential subsidies have prevented a market emerging so far.
As countries start to invest in smart grids, they could look for opportunities over the border too, and even partner with their peers in the region to spread infrastructure costs and share commercial benefits, concluded Jon Blackburn, director, Power and Utilities, EY. TradeArabia News Service
Ibis Seef Manama, a leading four star property in Bahrain, has been awarded the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence.
The achievement celebrates hospitality businesses that have earned great traveller reviews on TripAdvisor over the past year and have continually delivered a quality customer experience.
Ibis Seef Manama is owned by Action Hotels, a leading owner, developer and asset manager of branded three- and four-star hotels in the Middle East and Australia.
Alain Debare, CEO of Action Hotels, said: We are delighted that ibis Seef Manama has acquired this prestigious award and this is a testament to the teams hard work in consistently delivering quality service. We look forward to continuing to welcome guests and maintaining the high standards they have now come to expect from this hotel.
Heather Leisman, vice president of Industry Marketing, TripAdvisor, added: With the Certificate of Excellence, TripAdvisor honours hospitality businesses that have consistently received strong praise and ratings from travellers. This recognition helps travellers identify and book properties that regularly deliver great service. TripAdvisor is proud to play this integral role in helping travellers feel more confident in their booking decisions.
The Certificate of Excellence accounts for the quality, quantity and recency of reviews submitted by travellers on TripAdvisor over a 12-month period. To qualify, a business must maintain an overall TripAdvisor bubble rating of at least four out of five, have a minimum number of reviews and must have been listed on TripAdvisor for at least 12 months. - TradeArabia News Service
The Makkah Marriott Hotel is all set to receive its guests who will visit the holy city during the month of Ramadan.
Featuring contemporary Arabesque architectural design, the 426 lavishly appointed rooms and suites of one of Makkahs most sumptuous five-star hotels offer every luxury and convenience imaginable.
The hotel also has a range of gourmet restaurants that blends the citys spiritual atmosphere with connoisseur-worthy service and opulent luxury.
Every one of the hotels facilities is in full readiness for the holy month of Ramadan, said Khaldoun Hayajneh, the hotels general manager. The hotel offers an array of illustrious services that guarantee complete and total wellbeing to pilgrims, so they can focus on performing their religious rights while they stay at the hotel right next to the Holy Mosque.
Since the hotel opened in 2015 we have offered the highest levels of opulence and the best possible service to our clients, who aspire to enjoy the internationally renowned standards of the Marriott brand. We guarantee them unrivaled services that match the holiness of the city, such as the hotels own prayer hall that overlooks the Holy Mosque and is connected to its audio system.
The hotel has two restaurants, the Spice Market and the Olive, where guests may enjoy a range of gourmet dishes at Iftar and Suhour throughout the holy month, prepared by our best chefs to meet every taste. They can also relax and enjoy snacks and hot and cold beverages in a warm, cozy environment at the Atrium Cafe, where guests can meet and greet with total relaxation.
The Makkah Marriott also features other key facilities, including a business center with its own meeting rooms, a gift shop, a taxi service, free underground parking, and free internet connectivity. In addition, guests can enroll in the Marriott Rewards programme that offers discounts and other attractive benefits. - TradeArabia News Service
Meet award-winning artisans and buy their products at Kerala Arts and Crafts Village
Wyoming Medical Center laid off 58 workers Tuesday, compounding the woes of a state already suffering from increasing unemployment and a stagnant energy sector.
The job cuts are expected to save the Casper hospital $7.2 million, or 3.4 percent of the hospitals forecast total expenses this year of $213.3 million.
They come amid a downturn in the local economy, a drop in the number of patients with private insurance and increased competition from the citys two private hospitals.
In addition to the layoffs, the hospital will leave another 57 positions vacant, CEO Vickie Diamond said. And the hospital reduced hours of 11 employees by anywhere from four to 12 hours a week. Combined, the job cuts and vacant positions amount to 9 percent of the hospitals workforce.
Wyomings unemployment rate rose to 5.5 percent in April. Natrona County posted the states second-highest jobless rate, at 7.5 percent.
Officials at the states second-largest hospital announced the layoffs during a noon news conference.
They blamed the problem on more patients but less money for services. Payments are shifting from private insurance to an increased number of Medicare, Medicaid and patients with no insurance. They also said Caspers two private hospitals, Mountain View Regional Hospital and Summit Medical Center, are leaving them with patients on Medicare and Medicaid or no insurance.
The layoffs would have been less severe, hospital officials said, had the Legislature expanded Medicaid.
It is the largest layoff in at least a decade at the 105-year-old hospital. Diamond, the CEO, hopes the cuts will stem the need for more layoffs in coming years. Hospital officials said they do not know when the economy will improve.
No programs that affect patients are being cut.
Were taking early action because we want to remain very strong financially, Diamond said. What you will see from Wyoming Medical Center in the future is that we will continue to maintain cost efficiencies, and we will continue to grow our business to continue to service the patients in Wyoming.
Job losses
The job reductions affected 30 departments at the hospital from finance and radiology to quality management and central sterilization. No nurses who take care of patients at their bedsides were laid off.
Workers who lost their jobs were informed Tuesday morning, except for employees of the hospital-run daycare, which is closing later this summer. They were given 30 days of pay and benefits. If they agree to the terms of a severance agreement, they will receive another 30 days of pay and benefits, counseling and career transition services.
Wyoming Medical Centers daycare, Next Generation Learning Center, will close Aug. 30. Last year, Wyoming Medical Center subsidized the daycare by about $300,000. About 55 families used the service. The 17 daycare employees, who are among the 58 employees laid off, have been offered an extra compensation package if they agree to work through the closing date.
The hospital worked with labor attorneys to determine which employees to lay off, Diamond said. They looked at a number of factors including tenure, performance evaluations from October, disciplinary actions and licensing and education. Tenure worked in an employees favor. Employees with special skills that the hospital couldnt do without were also saved.
The 217-bed center had 1,125 employees before the layoffs, according to its website. Even after the cuts, it remains Caspers second-largest employer, said WMC Board Chairman John Masterson.
The hospital had a higher-than-average staffing level before the layoffs, Diamond said.
Our new staffing levels put us at the national benchmark of similar hospitals in size and scope, she said.
Medicaid expansion
In 2014, the hospital saw over 37,000 emergency room visits, according to tax documents that the Wyoming Medical Center, a nonprofit, submitted to the Internal Revenue Service.
That number will likely increase since the ER cannot turn away people unable to pay. The number of patients without health insurance is expected to rise, as layoffs have increased in Wyomings oil, gas, coal and uranium industries.
Hospitals throughout the state provide over $100 million a year in uncompensated care.
In January, such care was expected to cost the Wyoming Medical Center $53 million in this fiscal year, Diamond told the Star-Tribune at the time. But on Tuesday, Wiginton, the CFO, said the costs will had increased and would be $55 million by the end of June, the close of the hospitals fiscal year.
In addition to treating patients from Casper, the hospital offers specialized services that many Wyoming rural hospitals lack. Wyoming Medical Center draws patients from large swaths of the northern and central parts of the state.
In each of the past four years, the Wyoming Legislature had rejected expanding Medicaid to some 20,000 low-income adults. Diamond and other state hospital officials have argued that expansion is critical to their bottom lines. Many of the people who show up in the emergency room would be Medicaid patients if the state adopted one of the key components of the Affordable Care Act.
Each member of Natrona Countys all-Republican legislative delegation has voted against expansion including Sen. Charlie Scott, the powerful chairman of the Senate Labor, Health and Social Services Committee. That committee has reviewed the states plan for expansion three of the four times its been before the Legislature. With Scott chairing the committee and arguing against Medicaid on the Senate floor lawmakers have resisted plans for expansion proposed by Gov. Matt Mead, also a Republican, and the Wyoming Department of Health.
If lawmakers had approved expansion, it would have added at least $2 million to the hospitals bottom line, WMC officials said.
The layoffs would have been less severe had the Legislature expanded Medicaid, said Wiginton, the CFO.
Any additional reimbursement would improve our financial status, she said.
Executives and addition
Diamond, the CEO, earned $668,594 in 2014, according to the IRS tax forms. That included $520,175 in base compensation, retirement benefits and other perks.
The hospital pays for her memberships to the Casper Country Club, Casper Petroleum Club and Rotary.
Management everyone from managers, directors, vice presidents and other executives had mandatory furloughs of up to 12 days, reflecting a 2 percent overall reduction in salaries. Previously, managers could receive financial incentives for meeting goals. Those were cut. The hospital hasnt filled open positions in leadership. Four leaders were laid off Tuesday, Diamond said.
In 2014, the medical center opened a new 100,000-square-foot, 48-bed tower to the tune of $43 million. The McMurry Tower has a new mother-baby unit, surgical center and redesigned food and nutrition services department. The addition was paid for through a $20 million revenue bond, hospital savings and private donations.
Diamond said payments for the new construction are on schedule. The addition was needed. The hospital had to offer new services to be competitive in the medical market, she said.
This is not volumes that are causing this, she said. This is payer mix.
CHEYENNE Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead plans to present state agency budget cuts to lawmakers later this month.
Mead announced in April that falling energy revenues would require all state agencies to cut their spending by 8 percent in the two-year budget cycle that starts July 1. The cuts will reduce spending below the $3 billion general funds budget that lawmakers worked out earlier this year.
Mead will brief the Legislatures Joint Appropriations Committee on the budget cuts June 21. Mead has been meeting with state agency directors in recent weeks to work out specifics.
David Bush, spokesman for Mead, said Monday the governor doesnt intend to release details before his committee presentation.
Sen. Tony Ross of Cheyenne is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He says the cuts should balance the states finances until the Legislature drafts a supplemental budget bill early next year.
Ross, a Republican, said some of Meads budget cuts will go into effect July 1 with the start of a new state fiscal year.
While I understand that they could be anxious, I also really have not heard a lot personally because I think everybody understands that these are dire times right now in Wyoming, Ross said about state employees. He said Mead has been focusing on retaining state personnel while primarily eliminating vacant positions.
A state revenue update in April said incoming cash could fall $130 million below projections for the current fiscal year that runs through this month. The update Consensus Revenue Estimating Group which assess energy markets and other factors said such a shortfall would represent about 9 percent of the total $1.44 billion total general fund/budget reserve account budget for the current fiscal year.
If coal production declines further, if natural gas prices slide further after the completion of the winter withdrawal season, or if oil prices or production decline again in the next three months, the shortfall could be worse, the April CREG report stated.
Ross said he doesnt expect the CREG group will meet again before its regularly scheduled annual report in October.
Wyoming is the nations leading coal-producing state. It relies heavily on taxes from energy production to fund state government. The state has seen widespread energy industry layoffs this year as major coal companies have sought bankruptcy protection and prices in other energy markets have remained low.
Sen. Drew Perkins, R-Casper, also is on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Perkins said Monday he hasnt heard specifics of what Meads budget cuts will be.
Im not sure how much the governors going to cut, but I think the anticipation is that it needs to be another 10 to 12 percent cut off the state budget, Perkins said.
Perkins said he understands the cuts wont be across-the-board for all state agencies, but will be program-specific. He noted that the Management Council, a panel of senior state lawmakers, already has recommended reducing the legislative budget by 12 percent a move that lawmakers will consider in the next legislation session.
The people Ive visited with that recognize that youve got to live within your means and recognize that when revenues are down, there have to be cuts, Perkins said. I think people are concerned about what it is because every dollar in the budget has a constituency.
LARAMIE The University of Wyoming is hosting many of the world's leading academics on the topic of physical education and sport instruction this week.
The UW campus is the site of the Association for Physical Education in Higher Education International Conference. It begins Wednesday and continues through Saturday.
The primary focus of the conference is to promote educational research in physical education and youth sport, and to identify future directions for sport pedagogy and physical activity.
The conference was last held in the United States in 1995.
There are 275 registered participants from 33 different countries at the conference.
Editor:
Recently, upon returning from a bear hunt, I had an email from Rep. Cynthia Lummis. She was responding to a comment I sent opposing HR 2316, the Self-sufficiency Community Lands Act. Lummis is a co-sponsor of this bill. HR 2316 proposes transferring the management of four million acres of federal land to states on a pilot project basis. States would apply to the federal government for the opportunity to manage these lands utilizing an advisory board comprised of representatives of various interests.
According to Lummis, sportsmen shouldnt object to this bill because it targets only 4 million acres, and they would be included on the advisory board. I want to make it clear that I continue to object for the following reasons.
First, 4 million acres is not insignificant. That acreage is almost twice the size of Yellowstone National Park. Also, it is not insignificant if it turns out to include one of my favorite recreation areas.
Second, the state of Wyoming has a long track record of subverting recreational interests to more profitable activities such as mineral extraction. Why should sportsmen believe that this would change simply because they have a small voice on a state controlled advisory board? Furthermore, nonresident recreationists would be disenfranchised. Our federal lands belong to all Americans.
Third, the federal government has lengthy procedures in place to solicit public comment about proposed activities. Procedures for soliciting comment about land management in the state of Wyoming pale in comparison.
Fourth, the proposed legislation smacks of federal land transfer. While the bill does not propose title transfer, transferring management to the states amounts to almost the same thing. All sportsmen should be very concerned about the precedent this would set.
Finally, if Lummis thinks federal land management agencies are doing such a poor job, I encourage her to restore crippling budgets cuts.
All outdoor recreationists should object to HR 2316. The website for the House Committee on Natural Resources makes it easy to comment. Please do so. Hopefully, when Lummis leaves office this winter, she will be replaced by someone friendly to sportsmen.
KILLING OUR CHILDREN
In 1903 the American people killed 466 of its citizens, mostly children, on the Fourth of July.
In 1904 we killed 183 and injured 3,986, making a total of 4,169.
In 1909 we went up again, killing 215 and wounding 5,092total, 5,307.
Last year, 1915, we made a better record. We killed only thirty loyal celebrators of the signing of the Declaration and wounded only 1,135, with a total of 1.165.
This is doing fairly well, considering our bloody past. But do we really have to put over a thousand people temporarily or permanently out of business just because we are glad we live in these free and independent United States?
Don't the boys who celebrate with picnics and parades have just about as good a time as those who play with fire and finish in the hospital or blow themselves to glory? Does freedom require a human sacrifice?
Why not be sensible once and for all, and keep fireworks out of the hands of the young? Civic or neighborhood evening festivities where the fireworks are in the hands of trained experts are a different matter. If we want fire, that's the way to handle it!
Why not relieve mothers of anxiety, boys and girls of danger, and the country of a reputation for senseless slaughter?
And why not, while we are about it, get togethers in groups and have a lots better time than we used to?
A man was arrested in connection with a Tuesday morning fire at the donation center of Gospel Rescue Mission in South Tucson.
Claire Franklin Pierce, 61, was arrested on suspicion of arson of an occupied structure and felony criminal damage, said Lt. Jeff Inorio, a South Tucson Police Department spokesman.
Pierce was booked into the Pima County jail.
The fire started about 3 a.m. at the Gospel Rescue Mission Donation Center in the 300 block of West 28th Street, near South 10th Avenue.
The blaze appeared to have started in the centers yard, where donated items are stored, Inorio said.
The fire spread to a building on the property and also damaged at least two vehicles. No one was injured.
During the investigation, a man of interest was identified as making threats to "set the place on fire", Inorio said. He said the man was detained shortly after the fire.
While the man was interviewed by investigators, he made statements of his involvement in the fire, Inorio said.
South Tucson police and fire were assisted by the Pima County Sheriff's arson and crime scene units. The Tucson Fire Department also assisted in battling the blaze, and stopping the fire from spreading to other buildings and nearby houses.
TUSD is working to strengthen its dual language programs after an audit found significant weaknesses that could prevent it from achieving the goal of producing students proficient in two languages.
There are low expectations for students to achieve high levels of proficiency in Spanish because of pressure to perform well on assessments that are administered only in English, says the audit conducted by Rosa G. Molina, executive director of the Association of Two-Way & Dual Language Education.
The audit, conducted in March, examined three issues: the status of the current dual language programs in TUSD, how the programs are organized at each site to ensure success in both languages, and whether other TUSD schools are positioned to offer dual language programming. The results were released in May.
Molina said she was unable to conduct a comprehensive review of student performance data to analyze the progress of students in both languages on a site-by-site basis because there was a limited amount of time to conduct the review, which included classroom visits and meetings with the districts language acquisition department. However, Molina said she plans to examine data in the next few months and will work with TUSD to outline clear and viable goals.
The short visits, however, raised red flags for Molina about teachers ability to measure their students progress toward becoming bilingual and biliterate.
While students are tested in Spanish, the state-required assessment administered to kindergartners and first-graders is in English, said Mark Alvarez, TUSDs language acquisition director.
The pressure for students to do well on the state mandated test has resulted in teachers deviating from the Spanish instruction when students are struggling to grasp concepts, something that was evident to Molina.
The walk through of (dual language) classrooms showed significant weaknesses at the intermediate and middle school levels, she said. It appeared that both the teacher practices and the students use of language had been significantly compromised by the lack of fidelity to the program model, pressure to perform in English and very low expectations for students to achieve high levels of Spanish proficiencies in reading, writing and oracy.
That hyperfocus on students progress in English rather than their progress in both languages may compromise students ability to realize the goals of being bilingual and biliterate, she added.
With Molinas help, TUSD is looking to identify a Spanish-language assessment that would meet the states requirements, Alvarez said.
The district also intends to ramp up training for dual language teachers that will help them to stay true to the programs methodologies with the understanding that children will pick up the concepts.
Part of the reason teachers have struggled to effectively implement the dual language model is because of who can enroll in the program as prescribed by state law, Alvarez said.
Only students who are already proficient in English can participate in dual language programs, state law says. Native Spanish speakers have to be placed in English-only classrooms until they acquire proficiency, which can take years.
However, immersion programs require linguistically balanced classrooms, where two language groups learn by serving as language models for each other, according to Molina.
It all goes back to the fact that there are so many English-speaking students in the class, Alvarez said of the districts struggles. So instead of staying true to the target language, because the students lack proficiency in Spanish, teachers were supporting students more in English.
While Molina recognizes that state law severely restricts the development of viable dual language programs, one option for TUSD is to seek an exemption from the state. The district plans to do that, Alvarez said.
In addition to allowing native Spanish speakers to participate in the dual language program, Molina urged the district to consider developing enrollment policies that promote entry for English-speaking students in kindergarten and the first semester of first grade only. After that time frame, most English-speaking students are unable to keep up with their peers linguistically and academically, creating a struggle for both the student and teacher, according to Molinas recommendation.
TUSD teachers reported having to dramatically alter their programs to accommodate students who enter after first grade. Thats often detrimental to other students, Molina said.
While Alvarez understands the logic of strict enrollment policies, he believes the district needs to work to expand the program before adopting a practice that could be considered exclusionary.
One of Molinas recommendations, however, is already being put into practice as the district implements the dual language program at Bloom Elementary, 8310 E. Pima St., for the first time in the fall.
The east side, B-rated school will feature two dual language kindergarten classrooms. In her report, Molina noted that most, if not all, of TUSDs dual language programs designate only one classroom per grade level. Two classes allows for teachers to work together to plan instruction and sync practices, Molina said.
Despite the concerns raised by Molina about the districts dual language programming, she expressed that she is impressed by efforts to expand offerings.
TUSD has all the elements necessary to implement exemplary (dual language) programs throughout the district but needs to refocus its efforts to ensure fidelity to the model, she said.
TUSD understands the importance of establishing a strong academic program option that will prepare students to contribute to full participation in their communities and participate in 21st-century global citizenship and leadership.
Ricky Hernandez, chief financial officer at the Pima County School Superintendent's Office, explains what the most common buckets of school funding are and some misconceptions constituents have about school finance.
Video by Yoohyun Jung
Timothy DesJarlais, a staffer for Supervisor Ally Miller, resigned last week as an investigation into a short-lived news website continues.
In mid-May, someone identifying himself as Jim Falken, editor-in-chief of the recently formed Arizona Daily Herald website, sent emails to several county supervisors and supervisor candidates requesting comment on Millers proposed road improvement plan.
Shortly after the Tucson Sentinel interviewed DesJarlais about the possibility of he and Falken being one and the same, the website was taken down.
Miller and DesJarlais both denied the staffer had anything to do with the emails or website, and alleged that someone had adopted the online identity to embarrass the supervisor. On her campaign Facebook page, Miller wrote on May 20 that she and DesJarlais had filed complaints with the FBIs cyber-crimes unit.
Shortly thereafter, Supervisor Sharon Bronson requested that county administration look into whether county staff or resources were involved in the Arizona Daily Herald, after which County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry asked the sheriffs and county attorneys offices to review the matter.
In response to questions Monday from the Star, Miller said I still believe that (DesJarlais) had nothing to do with the AZ Herald emails, and that she would continue pursuing the FBI investigation to find out who caused such disruption of business operations in my office.
Pima County residents who live with a significant disability can now do something they likely never had the chance to before: Open a savings account.
While Arizona is still planning how it will carry out the federally mandated 2014 ABLE Act, Ohio on Thursday became the first state to offer the service, and residents from other states can get their accounts started online with Ohios Stable Accounts. (ABLE stands for Achieving a Better Life Experience.)
Tucson attorney Robert Fleming works with individuals and families whose lives are affected by a disability, and he has been following the changes closely.
Previously, a person with a disability could only have $2,000 in assets in order to qualify for publicly funded help, such as medical care through Arizonas Health Care Cost Containment System. Now, with the 2014 passage of the ABLE Act and the accounts becoming available, individuals can open a separate account in which they can deposit up to $14,000 annually. The account can carry a balance of no more than $100,000 if the person is to maintain all benefits.
People who open the accounts will have more control and autonomy and dignity, Fleming said.
He said many people who qualify are living on a fixed income and often need to save for work on their teeth, which isnt covered as part of government-subsidized care. Other high-cost needs include transportation or household items, such as a computer.
People can also save to fulfill a lifelong dream, like going to Disneyland or taking a cruise.
People can find a list of qualified disability expenses online by searching the ABLE Act.
You cant use it for anything except qualified disability expenses, but that list is pretty broad, Fleming said. Its certainly better than what there was before, which was nothing.
The ABLE Act is positive news, said Diane Quihuis, who is interested in setting up an account for her 30-year-old son, who works at Tucsons Beacon Group. Beacon offers employment and employment services for people living with a disability.
Saving money has been challenging, she said. Her son receives a modified supplemental security income (SSI) amount because he gets paid at work. An ABLE account will offer him new chances to save some money.
This will be a great benefit because right now you are confined to that specific dollar amount, she said.
Families at Beacon are excited, said Ken Brailsford, the nonprofits program manager.
Its a huge deal, he said. The families are very excited about this opportunity to be able to save money.
Skip Woodward, whose 40-year-old son also works at Beacon, said they have had to be vigilant for years to ensure that his sons account doesnt go over the limit. Otherwise, hed lose coverage for the many medications he needs for diabetes and seizures.
Because he could never accrue money of $2,000, we had to constantly watch his account, he said. If he lost his benefits, wed have to get back in line.
NEW YORK (AP) "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie says she's pregnant and will be skipping the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro because of the Zika virus.
Guthrie made the announcement on the NBC program Tuesday morning. She cited doctors' advice in deciding to skip the Olympics. NBC had announced in April that Guthrie would co-host the opening ceremony of the Rio Games on Aug. 5.
Zika is known to cause birth defects, including microcephaly, in which the baby's head is smaller than expected because the brain hasn't developed properly. The virus is now in 60 countries, with Olympic host Brazil the hardest-hit nation.
Guthrie says her second child with husband Michael Feldman is due in December. The couple's first child, a girl, was born in August 2014.
At 113,998 square miles of land area, Arizona is the sixth-largest state by land area, coming in right behind New Mexico and just in front of Nevada. But how big is it really?
Many people have a hard time visualizing 113 square miles, let alone 113,998. You might be tempted to look at a map to get a visual sense of Arizonas size, but be careful: most 2D maps massively distort area in favor of shape and presentation. This includes trusty Google Maps, which uses the popular Mercator Projection, a map projection which sacrifices the accurate display of size in favor of shape and presentation. With the Mercator Projection, geographic bodies become larger as you move further from the equator and towards the poles.
In order to compensate for these distorted 2D maps, we used special mapping software to create an outline of Arizona. As we move the outline around the map, it changes its shape to account for the projections distorting effects. This allowed us to create the following maps which accurately compare Arizonas size to bodies of land around the world. For Arizonans more familiar with Arizonas size, these maps should help put the size of other places in perspective and show how much these map distortions affect our perception. For those less familiar with Arizona, these maps will help give you an idea of how massive this gargantuan state really is.
Also, because this is the kind of thing we think about at SelfStorage.com, youd need 15,890,409,216 1020 storage units to store Arizona.
Help India!
By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: The Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University Prof. P. K. Abdul Azis on August 27 placed Dr. Tariq Islam, a Reader in the Department of Philosophy in Faculty of Arts, under suspension on charge of gross misconduct pending enquiry with immediate effect. Dr Islam has described it as shooting of the whistle blower for he had served 350 applications under Right to Information regarding financial irregularities in the university.
Support TwoCircles
Giving little details about the misconduct of the teacher, Dr. Rahat Abrar, Public Relations Officer of AMU said: Dr. Tariq Islam has been placed under suspension on charge of gross misconduct. An enquiry has been initiated. Dr Islam shall be paid subsistence allowance during the period of his suspension as per rules of the University. Moreover, the University has ordered Dr Islam not to leave Aligarh without obtaining prior permission of the Vice Chancellor.
Talking to TwoCircles.net Dr Tariq Islam described the suspension order as violation of the principles of natural order because he was served no notice about his misconduct before taking this decision.
Even till date, nothing has been communicated to me about this gross misconduct and I have been placed under suspension, violating the principles of natural justice. So I dont know even till date what my gross misconducts are, Dr Islam said.
Asked what could be the reason behind this decision, he said that the only reason that can be is that he has served several RTI notices on the university highlighting financial irregularities.
I am a Right to Information activist. I have filed about 350 applications on the Aligarh Muslim University under RTI. Some of them are very uncomfortable for the university as they are related to the amount spent on the VC lodge (About Rs 2 crore has been spent on the lodge) and use of Rs 8 crore of employees provident fund, Dr Islam added.
On his future course of action, he said he was weighing options.
Help India!
By Asghar Ali Engineer,
Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi is a major figure and most controversial too, among Ulama during the Mughal period who left great impact on religious and political ideas of a section of Muslims not only during the Mughul period but also on subsequent periods, particularly during 19th and 20th centuries. He had both followers as well as opponents among Muslims in India. It is, therefore, quite interesting to throw some light on his ideas.
Support TwoCircles
Akbars policies led to acceptance of religious pluralism and integration. Akbar happen to come under the influence of Mulla Mubaraks two sons Abul Fazl and Faizi. Both brothers were persecuted by orthodox Ulama and ultimately found refuge in Akbars court. Both belonged to wahdat al-wujud school of Sufism. Wahdat al-Wujud (Unity of Being) is the most liberal Sufi school.
Wahdat al-Wujud emphasizes that there is one being and we are all its manifestations. Thus all human beings are one in origin despite different religions, cultures and languages. The second major doctrine of this school is sulh-i-kul i.e. total peace and peace with all, a doctrine that eliminates all conflicts and discrimination on all grounds. Akbar was greatly influenced by both the doctrines and he had inquisitive mind which wanted to know basic tenets of all religions.
Thus Akbar was convinced of truth of all religions and played major role in bringing people of different faiths together. India has been a country of great diversities, religious diversity, cultural, racial and linguistic diversities. It never was mono-religious in its history. Any tendency to assert truth of only one religion thus gives rise to conflict and separatism in India. The religions which arose in India Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism besides several tribal practices also accepted diversity of views. The famous doctrine that truth is one but it is manifested in different ways was also product of this diversity.
Akbars greatness lay in the fact that he understood and accepted this Indian reality although he himself belonged to Islamic faith. As a just ruler he should have been neutral but Akbar was not only neutral but also accepted truth of other religions. He never considered people of other religions as kafirs as many orthodox theologians would do. Quran also never called people of other religions kafirs. On the contrary it asserted that a true Muslim is one who shows equal respect for all prophets and also said that We have sent guides to all the nations.
Thus every nation (or tribe or country or qaum) has been blessed with a guide from Allah and thus have been given truth from Allah. Quran addresses only those Arabs of Mecca as kafirs who denied truth preached by Muhammad (PBUH) although they had no truth of their own or any revealed scripture. And Quran preached doctrine of co-existence even with those kafirs who did not persecute Muhammad and his followers. It propounded doctrine of for you is your religion and for me is mine.
However, for various reasons this liberal and open approach of the Quran and Prophet (PBUH) did not always find acceptance with some narrow minded Muslims and they denounced not only non-Muslims but also those Muslims as kafirs who did not agree with them on theological matters. These theological differences are so sharp until today that every sect of Islam considers the other sect as having gone astray and kafir
The Sufis, especially those belonging to Wahdat al-wujud School, did not agree with such exclusionary approach and always recognizing truth of other religions. Akbar was also subscribed to this approach under the influence of Faizi Brothers. But he went a step further and floated his own creed which he called Deen-i-Ilahi. I think it is not for a ruler to start his own creed. It will always be seen in the perspective of political interest and not a matter of heart and soul or something spiritual.
It was not for nothing that all prophets in the Quran (with two exceptions) were from amongst poor shepherds or from amongst ordinary people having no such interest. A founder of religion cannot be seen as one having some political interest. It is not then surprising that even those closest to him did not accept his Akbars Deen-i-Ilahi and it soon died down. It did not survive after Akbars death.
However, this does not detract from Akbars greatness and his attempt to integrate people of India and adopt an exclusionary approach. But, as pointed out earlier, those with narrow theological approach to religion did not like Akbars policies and wanted to assert superiority of Islam, especially as it belonged to the ruling class. It must be pointed out here that religion should be treated primarily as spiritual approach creating humility and spirit of truth and should not be allowed to become an instrument of power.
The theologians, however, take religion as a source of power and matter of sole truth which creates attitude of arrogance. Sheikh Sirhindi and his followers belonged to this school of thought. They believed their version of Islam was the source of sole truth and all those who differed from them had gone astray. Sheikh Sirhindi considered it as his mission to revive true Islam. As he was borne on the eve of second millennium of Islamic calendar, he was referred to as mujaddid alf-i-sani i.e. renewer of second millennium.
Thus Khalid Umri from the school of Ahl-i-Hadith says that the ulama lost their influence in Akbars court and this encouraged the Hindus to assert themselves and this prepared the way for founding the creed of Deen-i-Ilahi. Mulla Mubarak and his sons Abul Fazl and Faizi inculcated anti-Islamic attitude in Akbar in order to serve their own interests and to seek closeness to Akbar. Abul Fazl and Faizi made Akbar hostile to ulama and to take revenge[1].
The orthodox ulama saw these developments in Akbars court as corruption (fasad) and condemned it. Khalid Umri considers Deen-i-Ilahi as harmful and writes that this Deen-i-Ilahi brought harmful changes in Akbars court and then whole country was affected by it and the ulama prepared themselves to confront this situation and the way they tried to revive religion and then he quotes Qazi Aslam Saif:
Prostration for respect (isajda-i-tazeem) before Akbar was made obligatory. Names like Muhammad and Ahmad were banned. Circumcision was not allowed. Cow slaughter was banned and pork was permitted so much so that breeding of dogs and swines were considered part of culture. The Shariah rules were ridiculed. Shiah beliefs and innovations were permitted. Temples were patronized and respected and mosques were locked. The Ulama and Mashaikh (elderly divine persons) were persecuted and harassed. The Sufis were treated with contempt and a campaign was launched to create contempt against them.
The dangers of Akbars Deen-i-Ilahi were felt throughout Islamic world and some servants of Allah showed courage and declared their opposition to Deen-i-Ilahi. They worked for renewal of faith and tried to promote tawhid and sunnah with firmness and courage.
One can see in these lines the highly exaggerated opposition to Akbars liberal and integrative policies. The account given by Qazi Aslam Saif is far from true. No ruler can afford to lock the mosques and allow pork while banning cow slaughter. Or ban the names like Muhammad and Ahmad. This only shows the depth of opposition to liberalism and inclusive and integrative policies.
It was in such atmosphere created by the ulama against Akbar that Sheikh Sirhindi launched his campaign against Akbar, on one hand, and, Sufis like Abul Fazl and Faizi, on the other. The Sheikh and his followers wanted to revive strict application of orthodoxy and this is what they mean when they refer to Kitab wa Sunnah (i.e. the Quran and the Prophets sayings and doings sunnah). They forget that there have been different interpretations of Holy Book and also there is no unanimity about hadith.
What Sirhindi was opposed to was liberal approach to religion and hence he firmly opposed the doctrine of Wahdat al-wujud (unity of being) which opens the doors to all religions and makes them acceptable and respectable. He came out with his own doctrine of Wahdat as-shuhud i.e. unity of witnessing or appearance. Wahdat as-shuhud strengthened orthodoxy.
Though Emperor Jahangir did not advocate Akbars Deen-i-Ilahi, he did adopt liberal approach. But unlike Akbar, Jahangir had not much love lost for Sufism or for religion as such. But he too, continued with the practice of sajda-e-tazeem. He once summoned Sheikh Sirhindi and expected him to perform the sajda. However, the Sheikh refused and greeted the emperor with Islamic way i.e. As Salam-o-Alaykum (peace be upon you).
This offended Jahangir and he imprisoned the Sheikh in Gwalior fort where he spent more than two and half years However, the Sheikh had following among a powerful group of courtiers who pressurized Jehangir to release him and he was released honorably. Sheikh Ahmad had created spheres of influence among courtiers and their followers. The Kitab and Sunnah discourse had their own attraction and many people thought, as it often happens today too, their problem is because they do not follow Quran and hadith.
Since Sheikh Ahmad was opposed to the doctrine of Wahdat al-wujud, it resulted in separatist politics too. The ruler, according to him should rule as per Quran and Sunnah ignoring Indian realities. It was negation of Akbars inclusive policy. Rule according to Quran and sunnah could be valid in Muslim majority countries but not in countries like India where Muslims were a small minority.
Jahangir and Shahjahan too understood Indian reality which was much more complex and more or less followed the policy of integration than separation. But things changed with Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb was a very shrewd ruler. He wanted to seize power from Darashikoh whom Shahjahan had appointed his heir apparent. Dara Shikoh, like Akbar, was under the influence of Sufi Islam. He had studies Hindu scriptures in Sanskrrit and also translated Upanishads in Persian under the title of Sirr-e-
Akbar (The Great Mystery). He also wrote a book Majmaul Bahrayn (Co-mingling of Two Oceans- Islam and Hinduism). He compares teachings of two religions and finds great deal of similarities.
Thus Darashikoh had gone a step further than Akbar and had he come to power he would have followed policies to bring people of India together irrespective of different religions. Aurangzeb was disciple of son of Sheikh Sirhindi and had imbibed Sheikhs outlook through his son. Also, Sirhindi, as pointed out before, had influence over several courtiers and wanted to get their support for seizing power from Darashikoh and following Sirhindis policies suited him politically too.
However, Aurangzeb was politically very shrewd and he won over some important Rajput Sardars like Mirza Raja Jaisingh and ruler of Jodhpur on his side and made Mirza Raja Jaisingh his army chief. Thus on one hand he encouraged Islamic orthodoxy to win over the Ulama and those nobles who were under the influence of Sheikh Sirhindi, and influential Rajput Sardars, on the other. But on the whole Aurangzebs rule resulted in separatism rather than integration. Later on he also re-imposed jizyah on non-Muslims which alienated many Hindus.
None of Aurangzebs sons proved to be strong enough to ensure stability of the empire and Marathas who had challenged Aurangzebs rule under the leadership of Shivaji, began to attack Delhi and indulged in plunder and loot. Jats and Rohillas too attacked Delhi and resulted in anarchy. This prompted Shah Waliyullah to invite Ahmadshah Ab- dali to come and teach Marathas a lesson.
Shah Waliyullah, it is important to note, was man of vision. He tried to bring about reconciliation between the doctrines of wahdat-ul-wujud and wahdat al-shuhud to unite Muslims following two different schools of thought. However, despite Shah sahibs sincerity, it did not work Also. Inviting Abadali was not a politically wise decision. Whatever Shah Sahibs intention to weaken Maratha power, it did not work out that way as world of political power struggle has its own dynamics and Abadali was, after all, a foreign invader. He came, looted and plundered and killed and went away.
Shah Waliyullah was a great thinker and observer of socio-political scene but could do little to change the balance of political power. He was not like other theological thinkers who confine themselves to theology but a keen observer of social scene and an analyst. He could analyze the causes off decline of Moghul Empire but it was not in his power to reverse the trend.
His followers were divided into two groups those who accepted composite nationalism and prominent in this group was Deoband School and Jamiat al-Ulama-i-Hind. Jamiat, in fact opposed separatist politics and challenged two nation theory and stood behind Gandhijis leadership. Maulana Qasim Ahmad Nanotvi had issued a fatwa urging Muslims to join Indian National Congress and collected similar fatwas from other Ulama and published under the title Nusrat al-Ahrar. Thus right from the beginning these Deobandi Ulama stood with composite nationalism.
As opposed to this group of Muslims there were those who came under direct or indirect influence of Sheikh Sirhindi and adopted separatist politics. Among them there were both theologians as well as intellectuals. However, here some qualifications are necessary. All those who rejected composite nationalism and opted for separate nationalism were not necessarily influenced by Sheikh Sirhindi. Jinnah, for example, had his own reasons to opt for separatism. He in fact shifted his position from composite to separate nationalism. It was more for personal than ideological reasons. He probably might not have even heard of Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi.
But among theologians and secular intellectuals there were those who came directly or indirectly under the influence of Sheikh Sirhindi and became separatists and rejected composite nationalism. Also, there were those who admired Sirhindi but did not necessarily agree with separatist politics. Iqbal was among them. Iqbal was undoubtedly admirer of Sirhindi but his political position was much more complex.
He was and was not separatist in politics. He neither adopted clear separatist stand nor denounced it. Iqbal had great attraction for power. He wanted to see Muslims of Indian sub-continent empowered. Also, ideologically Iqbal was internationalist and rejected nationalism as narrow and unacceptable. He considered Muslims an international community both politically and spiritually. He said in one of his poems that nationalism is the shroud of millat (i.e. international Muslim community).
Maulana Husain Ahmad Madani, on the other hand, considered Muslims a millat only in spiritual sense but accepted composite nationalism in political sense. He separated spiritual from political. Muslims of Indian sub-continent greatly admire Iqbals poetry as he wants to see Muslims of subcontinent duly empowered and criticizes mullahs for whom Islam is only saying Namaz in mosques, nothing more.
It is interesting to note that there is qualitative difference between Jinnahs separatism and Iqbals seeing Muslims politically empowered. Jinnah was hardly ideologically committed to Islam or even interested in Islam. His was purely political fight and partition came about on certain political questions, constitutional arrangements and sharing power.
For Iqbal it was not merely a secular question of constitutional arrangement or share in political power. More than anything else it was question of Islamic vision. According to Iqbal Muslims will not accept Nehruvian atheistic socialism but would like to have an autonomous region to experiment with Islamic socialism. Thus Iqbals was a unique and complex position. He was against narrow secular nationalism and critiques western concept of nationalism in his poetry.
He was also not, at the same time, a separatist like Maulana Maududi who rejected any concept of secular politics and modeled his concept of Islamic state on communist model, one party system with caliph, the ruler having all the powers. The Islamic party Maududi calls as hizbullah i.e. party of Allah. He advised his followers in India too not to participate in secular politics.
Iqbal, on the other hand, was much more open and does not devise any closed political system although he talks of experimenting with Islamic socialism. Maulana Maududis system is too conservative whereas Iqbals is quite revolutionary. Iqbal is much more open to other faiths and his vision is much broader and modern. Iqbal is a category by himself. He is neither a separatist nor a nationalist.
Thus it would be seen that there are different categories of separatism among Muslim political system builders. There is no single system available. In most of the Muslim majority countries one finds authoritarian regime, more feudal than based on modern political or Islamic theories. In fact throughout history it was personal authoritarian rule rather than based on any Islamic theory and the same continues until today.
There is no Islamic political system in any Muslim country including Pakistan. Partition itself was on secular lines and it was Zia-ul-Haq who declared Pakistan as an Islamic state though he himself was not clear what it meant except that he enforced hudud laws. His rule itself never derived legitimacy from any Islamic source. He was, at best, a military dictator.
Also, in the globalized world, separatism is loosing its political significance. Large number of Muslims is migrating to other non-Muslim countries and today a significant number of Muslims live as minority and Islamic separatism has no meaning for them. It is composite nationalism which would serve their purpose. Thus those who opposed separatism in Indian sub-continent were more relevant and realistic. Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi has very narrow circle of followers.
Sheikh Ahmads theology poses another major problem. Even if Islamic polity is to be based on Quran and Sunnah, which interpretation would be acceptable?
Help India!
By Aziz A. Mubaraki,
The Indian media published many colorful stories reporting that Madrasas are breeding grounds for Islamic terrorism and that many of them are funded by Pakistans ISI. But the media never bothered to investigate the charges seriously. In fact we have never heard such charge against any Islamic institution having ever been proved to be true in any court of law.
Support TwoCircles
Indias Muslim population, which is estimated to be as large as 150 million (the second largest in the world after Indonesia), is largely poor, illiterate, and has been victims of communal discrimination in almost all walks of life. Government-appointed inquiry commissions highlighted these miseries of Indian Muslims at least twice in recent years. Yet, Indias Muslims have remained committed to the Indian state and seek to participate in countrys mainstream political and economic life.
Living in ghettoes and backward villages Muslims often have no access to quality government, private or missionary schools. The poorer Muslim parents are left with no choice but to send their small children to madrasas where education is almost free. They send their children to madrasas to help them get at least religious education when they do not have easy access to mainstream general education.
Muslims face discrimination in education, job, housing and other fields. This discrimination has given rise to sense of alienation among many Muslims. If this discrimination is removed from the country, Muslims can positively contribute to Indias growth in all terms. But minority Muslims cannot join the mainstream unless they get help from the majority Hindu community. This open-hearted welcome gesture of mutual trust and respect must come from the Hindus first. I am sure that the gesture will surely be spontaneously reciprocated by the Muslims.
This has to be understood that there are a number of Islamic religious and political organisations across the country. But these organisations are not that popular among Muslims who traditionally prefer to support secular groups. For this reason no Islamist group has in fact been able to be involved in terrorist activities with popular Muslim support.
In fact, Indias secular education system is yet to do something substantial on its part to help integrate Muslims into the mainstream society. If Muslims are offered opportunity, like other Indians, they would surely prefer modern academic education over what poorer madrasas are offering. Like all others, Indias Muslims too want to improve their standard of living and they know that modern or English education can help them reach that goal comfortably.
However, although at a low pace, traditional hurdles to Muslims cultural integration to the mainstream society are falling apart. For all Indians many young and dynamic Muslims have turned culture icons in recent years- be it in sports, movies and other fields. As Muslims have always maintained that they are Indians first and Muslims second, they are making serious efforts to integrate themselves into the mainstream society and win the adulation and respect of other Indians. Unless the authorities guarantee unbiased opportunities for these Muslims, they will never be able to improve their lots and participate in nations development.
Separatism and religious extremism hold no appeal to Indian Muslims, and the overwhelming majority of them espouse moderate doctrines. But, its unfortunate that mainstream Indian Media have always incorrectly portrayed minority Muslims as one obscurantist community, resorting to violence and terrorism. Bent only on how they can push up their TRP, the media never bothered to unveil the TRUTH, sadly
(Aziz A. Mubaraki is Member, Advisory Committee, Airport Authority of India (NSC), Ministry of Civil Aviations, Government of India)
Help India!
By Rajaraman Sunderasan for Twocircles.net,
Between the theaters of war, the tribal population of the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh is under severe repression of the state forces. With the advent of Modi regime, the situations in these areas have become worse. At one level, the national media flaunts on Modis foreign trips where he signs MoUs with corporations and on another level, situation in Bastar has reached appalling heights with the breakdown of freedom of press and horrific human rights violations including the arrests of journalists and human rights activists on the basis of draconian acts such as Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act.
Support TwoCircles
A month ago, Amnesty international released a report on throttling of freedom of expression in the state of Chhattisgarh. As one reads through the report, one realizes the fate of democracy under these repressive state forces who are reflecting nothing but, corporate interests. One of the journalists, I felt captured the situation in Bastar brilliantly when he said If you are an honest Journalist in Bastar, you have a high chance of landing in jail. Chhattisgarh jails are overcrowded with young men and women who have repeatedly tried to oppose the state forces. Silencing the freedom of press and criminalizing people has become a routine move of most of the political parties today who are trying to further the developmental agenda into tribal areas.
The recurrence of Salwa Judum, with a new face in the name of vigilante groups has become one of the main sources of criminal activities. The only thing that seems to have changed after the Supreme Courts ban on State sponsored militant group is probably the nature of evil. According to many fact finding teams, these vigilante groups, namely the Samajik Ekta Manch and Mahila Ekta Manch have been backed by BJP and top officials from the police department. At one level, what seems to be a counter-insurgency move by the state for eliminating Naxalites is clearly turning out to be a bed of horror and gross human rights violation, where the innocent tribal people are being inflicted with violence of a different order.
Although, the national commission for schedule tribes have confirmed the allegations on the special security forces, the special investigative team setup by the district police have not been able to move a single coin since the last four months. In fact, it is interesting to note that the report reduces the act of rape and violations to a mere serious breakdown of discipline amongst the security forces including the police and paramilitary. I think, there is a need to go beyond the conventional schooled ideas of discipline to morality and ethics in terms of our civilizational subconscious. An act of rape, which encounters actions like thrusting chilies upon the rectum as reported by the villagers, reflects a broader fundamental malaise in the society. In fact, one feels, one needs a new set of vocabularies to understand this nature of violence. A framework of law which is caught up between evidence and procedures lacks the grammar to understand this nature of violence.
The consumption of violence has become a state of normalcy in the way how we define societies at large today whether it is, issues related to development or communalism. In a way, this everydayness of violence has made violence look natural, as if it is a part, of the process. The acceptance of this very state of normalcy reflects indifference and raises fundamental questions in terms of how we understand justice in terms of our civilizational subconscious. I think the recent story of Hurre, a tribal womens tragic death from the Badegudra village captures this notion of injustice. Hurre, who was at the last stage of her pregnancy went in search of her husband to the local police station, who was shot by the police mistaking him to be a Maoist. Hurre, was brutally mishandled when a policeman hit her with the butt of the rifle on her stomach. Hurre, with immense pain, and no option left had to return back to her village, where she gave birth to an underweight baby. The day after, hearing that her husband was in jail, she would go every day in the morning and wait outside the jail premises with the baby on her lap with an expectation to see her husband. Fortunately, with the help of activists like Soni Sori and Bela Bhatia, she could finally meet her husband in the jail. But it was too late by then, the struggle to meet her husband and the delivery had already worsened her health conditions. Hurre, unfortunately passed away on May 15 not only due to lack of medical facilities but more fundamentally due to the lack of human conscience in the administration and security forces.
In one of the recent meetings held at Bangalore, Puneet Minz, a tribal activist from Jharkhand put it brilliantly when he said Violence as you think is not external, it has become an everyday ritual of some sought which the state reproduces on us through multiple ways in order to eliminate us completely. This very fundamental lack of understanding of how the concept of nation-state reproduces violence needs to be analyzed and questioned before democracy as a way of life secedes from our everyday imagination.
(The author is a student at Jindal School of Government and is also the co-founder of a socially inclined youth group, Rhythm of Nation.)
Help India!
Date: Tuesday, June 7, 2016 3:00pm [EST]
Location: 1334 Longworth House Office Building
Support TwoCircles
By TwoCircles.net special correspondent
Washington DC: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is yet again in the United States. He is scheduled to address a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday. On the eve of his address, a group of activists to testify at a special hearing on the human rights conditions in India.
The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission will hold a hearing that will examine the current state of human rights in India, challenges to fundamental freedoms, and opportunities for advancement.
The hearing is going to specifically look at persecution of religious minorities, discrimination of Dalits, and human trafficking.
The hearing is hosted by Congressman Joseph R. Joe Pitts (Republican) from Pennsylvanias 16th congressional district and Coongressman James Patrick Jim McGovern (Democrat) representing Massachusettss 2nd congressional district.
A statement issued by the two Congressmen:
A wide variety of serious human rights concerns persist. Despite Constitutional provisions abolishing the legal existence of untouchable or Dalit castes and tribes, the caste system remains deeply ingrained within Indian society, leading to ongoing discrimination. Dalit communities, which make up a quarter of Indias population, are also disproportionately at risk of suffering from another major human rights concern in India, that of human trafficking. Tens of thousands of individuals, including children, are believed to be trafficking annually within India for the purposes of commercialized sexual exploitation or forced labor.
Religious minorities also face growing challenges. According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedoms most recent report, In 2015, religious tolerance deteriorated and religious freedom violations increased in India. Minority communities, especially Christians, Muslims, and Sikhs, experienced numerous incidents of intimidation, harassment, and violence, largely at the hands of Hindu nationalist groups.
Meanwhile, a large number of international non-governmental organizations supporting a range of causes, including human rights, have been added to government watch lists or had funding cut off by Indian officials. These actions, coupled with perceived crackdowns on groups or individuals critical of the Indian government, have many concerned that the rights to freedom of speech and freedom of association are being increasingly curtailed.
This hearing will examine these and other issues, while seeking to provide concrete recommendations for how U.S. policy makers can most effectively encourage the protection of human rights given the strategic importance and continued growth of the U.S. India bilateral relationship.
This hearing will be open to members of Congress, congressional staff, the interested public and the media.
Witnesses
Panel I
Mr. John Sifton, Asia Advocacy Director, Human Rights Watch
Mr. Ajit Sahi, Human Rights Activist & Journalist, Formerly with Tehelka Magazine
Mr. T. Kumar, Asia Advocacy Director, Amnesty International
Panel II
Mr. Jeff King, President, International Christian Concern
Mr. Musaddique Thange, Communications Director, Indian American Muslim Council
Ms. Martina E. Vandenberg, Founder & President, The Human Trafficking Pro Bono Legal Center
Mr. Raj Cherukonda, Representative, Dalit American Federation
Help India!
New Delhi : Qatar has released 23 Indian prisoners following Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the Gulf nation as part of his ongoing five-nation sojourn.
The prisoners were released on Monday, a day after Modi was in Doha where he met Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. The release is part of an annual Ramadan tradition of granting pardons by the Qatar government.
Support TwoCircles
A special gesture to mark the start of a special month (Ramadan). The government of Qatar releases 23 prisoners, who will return home to India, Modi tweeted on Tuesday.
My deepest gratitude to the Emir of Qatar for the gesture, he wrote from the US.
During his five-nation six-day sojourn, Modi has already visited Afghanistan, Qatar and Switzerland. He is also scheduled to visit Mexico.
Indias External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also expressed her gratitude to Qatar. Thank you Qatar. Thanks for releasing 23 Indian prisoners on the request of (the) prime minister.
ucreview.com
has expired.
If you know the owner of this domain, please let them know.
Editor's note: Gaokao is no ordinary test.
From praying parents accidently burning down trees, to forking out a 100,000 yuan to prepare for the career-defining exam, the most important time in a Chinese student's schooling is eventful, to say the least.
We've brought together everything you need to know about what students achieve by sitting the test, how it is continually changing and what gaokao has in store for students and their families, this year.
Target dates set for family doctor service Updated: 2016-06-07 02:33 By Shan Juan,Wang Xiaodong(China Daily)
All people in China are expected to have access to a family doctor service by 2020, according to a guideline released on Monday aimed at improving healthcare.
Promoting the service can help to address increasing health challenges posed by an aging population and more cases of chronic diseases.
Family doctors are expected to serve as health guards for Chinese people, according to a statement by the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
The guideline, released by the State Council's Medical Reform Office, said the family doctor service will be promoted in 200 cities in China this year.
More than 30 percent of people in the country will be covered by the service by the end of 2017. That will include more than 60 percent of those in targeted groups, such as the elderly, pregnant women, children, and those with chronic diseases.
Qin Kun, an official dealing with healthcare reform at the commission, said the system will make healthcare services more accessible to the public and also reduce costs.
General practitioners
Doctors providing the service will mostly be general practitioners from grassroots hospitals and clinics, and qualified doctors working in rural areas.
Family members can choose to sign service contracts with family doctors for a one-year term and pay a fee. They can opt to renew the contract or choose to sign with another doctor after a year.
Han Zhengzheng, director of Desheng Community Health Service Center in Beijing's Xicheng district, said China has borrowed experience from other countries, including the United States, in promoting the family doctor system.
The doctors will provide basic healthcare and medical services, and help to transfer patients to bigger hospitals if needed.
Chen Bowen, deputy director of the Community Health Association of China, said health insurance operators should join with health authorities in promoting the system, giving the public and family doctors incentives to embrace it.
The family doctor service has been piloted in some areas, including Beijing and Shanghai, since 2011, according to the commission.
Contact the writer at wangxiaodong@chinadaily.com.cn
Volunteers turn tide for stranded sailors Updated: 2016-06-07 08:17 By Peng Yining(China Daily)
The past decade has seen a steady rise in the number of unpaid search-and-rescue teams along China's coastline, providing a vital lifeline for vessels and mariners from all nations. Peng Yining reports.
In 1982, at the age of 15, Guo Wenbiao dived into a heavy sea and saved the life of his shipmate, an elderly fisherman who had fallen from the deck of their boat when it was hit by a large wave. That was the first of more than 700 lives Guo has saved as a fisherman and maritime rescue volunteer.
"I didn't have time to think of the danger," said the 49-year-old from Wenling city in Zhejiang province, East China. "If people fall into rough seas, they face certain death if help doesn't arrive promptly."
Founded by Guo in 2007, the Wenling maritime rescue team, a group of volunteers in the coastal city, comprises 14 people and six vessels.
"Fishermen are alone and vulnerable when they work on the ocean," Guo, the group's director, said. "We have to help one another."
In the past 10 years, the number of maritime rescue volunteers has grown rapidly, according to the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center. It has released a report showing that between 2003 and 2012, it organized more than 17,000 rescue missions involving more than 60,000 vessels, about 40,000 of them crewed by volunteers.
More than 80 voluntary maritime rescue groups work along China's coastline, and more than 5,000 volunteers, most of them fishermen, participate in the operations. If ships get into trouble in shallow, offshore waters that are unsuitable for large rescue vessels, local fishing boats can provide help more efficiently, Guo said.
His role as director of the local volunteer team means he carries his mobile phone wherever he goes, and even puts it next to the bed at night. "My mobile number is the 'life-saving number' for fishermen," he said. "We all have work to do and families to feed, but we are always ready to help."
Bravery awards
In 2011, Guo won the International Maritime Organization's award for Exceptional Bravery At Sea.
Having been cut by ropes, shells and debris during rescue missions, his hands are covered with scars. He is always prepared, and when storms occur or are forecast, he always sleeps fully clothed in case he is called in the middle of night.
Yin Jie, director of the emergency management office at the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center, said teams such as Guo's are vital lifelines for sailors.
"Volunteers are playing an increasingly important role in maritime rescue," he said.
According to Yin, the official search and rescue force is designed for large-scale missions in deep waters or rough seas. He used the center's rescue boat as an example, saying it has a draft of at least 5 meters, which means smaller fishing boats can provide help more promptly in shallow waters.
Even during large-scale missions, volunteers cooperate with the official forces because their boats are usually smaller and more maneuverable, which makes it easier to reach people in the water. In addition, compared with local fishing boats, the coast guard and other official vessels take longer to reach stranded boats.
"In the ocean, time is life," Yin said, adding that people can survive for one day when the water temperature is around 10 C, but when the temperature falls to zero, life expectancy is only about two hours.
Tang Wenlong, a 30-year-old fisherman from Shandong province, said the memory of waiting on a sinking boat still makes his flesh creep four years later.
"The water crept up to my waist, neck and chin; even before it had reached my nose, I couldn't breathe," he said. "We started to talk about our last wishes, in case any of us survived. Many spoke about their children. One man tucked a few 100 yuan ($15) bills into his underwear, saying his family would at least have some money if his body was recovered. I was thinking about my elderly parents, regretting I hadn't spent enough time with them."
Tang and his crewmates were saved by a nearby fishing boat that responded to their distress signal.
"I can't describe the happiness I felt when I saw them coming for us," he said. "I knew they would help. I would do the same for other people, too."
Repaying a debt
After being rescued by a local volunteer team, Lin Shaoguang, a fisherman from Guangdong province, decided to join them.
"The engine on our boat exploded and killed the helmsman, who was also my friend. We were tossed up and down in rough waves 10 nautical miles offshore. It was getting dark. The wind was blowing stronger and stronger. I was thinking about my 1-year-old daughter all the time I was making the SOS call," the 35-year-old said. "The volunteers in our village arrived in less than half an hour. We were shivering in the cold wind, and one of the volunteers put his coat on my back. I can't tell you how grateful I was at that moment."
Lin said the team displayed great courage because the windy conditions produced 40-meter-high waves that made it dangerous to sail at speed, especially as visibility was poor.
"They risked their lives to save ours," he said. "I wanted to pay them back."
Since he joined the team, Lin has saved more than 60 people on 20 vessels, and he has also retrieved the bodies of 20 drowned sailors.
The team had just five members when it was founded in 2007, but the number has now risen to 83. In the past decade, the team has rescued more than 300 people and towed 58 damaged vessels.
On March 10, the team cooperated with the Guangdong Maritime Rescue Center to rescue 14 fishermen marooned on an oyster boat whose engine had broken down.
Outstanding contributions
To encourage more people to volunteer, China's maritime administration launched awards in 2007, and every year a total of 8 million yuan is given to volunteers adjudged to have made an outstanding contribution to rescue efforts. The crews nominate themselves and if chosen they can receive as much as 40,000 yuan as a reward for their bravery.
Last year, the administration received more than 400 nominations, and 294 teams were honored, including the crew of a Chinese merchant ship, which altered course to provide assistance to a stranded Filipino fishing boat.
In addition to financial rewards, the administration also provides volunteers with essential equipment, including life jackets, flashlights and ropes. It also arranges two training sessions every year to teach the men how to perform basic first aid.
"Many people die of hypothermia. So the first thing to do after you pull someone out of the water is to keep them warm," said Yin, of the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center. "But many fishermen don't know this. We want to help them to be professional."
However, the high cost of providing their services is the biggest challenge for volunteers. Although, the local government provides Guo with an annual subsidy of 300,000 yuan, he has to use his own money to keep the team running. In 2014, it cost him more than 1.8 million yuan, mostly money he earned by fishing and running a small hostel.
"Sure, the financial pressure is huge, but I can't stop helping other fishermen. People's lives are more valuable than money," he said. "I believe they would do the same for me if I were in danger."
Contact the writer at pengyining@chinadaily.com.cn
Saving lives, winning friends
Between 2010 and last year, more than 10,000 emergencies occurred in the waters off the Chinese coast. More than 84,000 people were rescued - an average of 46 every day - along with 7,600 ships. The success rate was more than 96 percent.
In the past five years, the International Maritime Organization has honored Chinese sailors with 28 awards, including the top honor - for exceptional bravery at sea - seven certificates of commendation and 20 letters of commendation.
In 2013, when Typhoon Hudie, the Chinese word for butterfly, swept across the South China Sea, the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center searched more than 37,000 square kilometers and rescued 637 sailors, most of them fishermen - the largest number of lives saved in any single operation in the last five years.
In 2014, China sent 19 ships, eight helicopters and five planes on a six-month search for the missing airliner MH370, which was carrying 154 Chinese nationals. More than 100 Chinese cargo vessels also participated in the search, which covered 1.4 million square kilometers of ocean. Despite the search, the jet has still not been found.
In the past five years, the Finance Ministry has spent nearly 7 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) on maritime rescue missions and on building up the system. The search and rescue center now has 200 vessels designed specifically for its missions.
SOURCE: THE CHINA MARITIME SEARCH AND RESCUE CENTER
Fishermen are winched from the waters by the Beihai Flying Rescue Service on Nov 18, after their boat Lushouyu 60909 was damaged in bad weather in the waters off Dongying Port in Shandong province.Photos Provided To China Daily
A diver (right) exchanges information with a colleague after an underwater search for survivors of Dongfangzhixing (The Eastern Star), which capsized on the Yangtze River in June last year.
Rescue staff from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao join forces in a drill at the mouth of the Pearl River.
(China Daily 06/07/2016 page6)
Exquisite work inspired by Buddha draws many to HK mall Updated: 2016-06-07 08:13 By Wang Yuke(China Daily)
Loretta H. Yang and her husband, Chang Yi, are displaying a sculpture of the Guanyin bodhisattva in a shopping mall in Hong Kong. [Photo provided to China Daily]
A crystal sculpture of the Guanyin bodhisattva, or Goddess of Mercy, has become an instant draw at a Hong Kong mall, where shoppers are stopping in their tracks to stare at its intricacy.
The 2-meter-high piece, which together has 1,000 arms and eyes, was made using liuli, a kind of ancient glass. It was designed by Loretta H. Yang, an award-winning Taiwan actress who founded Liuli Gongfang, a contemporary glass studio, along with her husband, Chang Yi, a former film director.
The exquisite craft at the Festival Walk mall is the artistic interpretation of life and goodness, Yang says.
Guanyin is also an inner strength that people can experience when faced with difficulties or while helping others in need, Yang says, describing the concept in Chinese culture.
It inspired her to create the artwork.
"I intended to use the positive image of Guanyin to enlighten the public to do good deeds. It doesn't have to be a big deed. You only need to do your bit within your ability to help anyone who is in trouble," says Yang.
A crystal sculpture of the Guanyin bodhisattva, or Goddess of Mercy, has become an instant draw at a Hong Kong mall, where shoppers are stopping in their tracks to stare at its intricacy. [Photo provided to China Daily]
She believes if everyone puts self-interest aside, people will become more generous and society will be more united.
"Liuli is a material that is both beautiful and fragile. Our life is just like it, isn't it?
"I want this liuli sculpture to communicate a message that life is limited and brittle in order to remind people of living in the present and being grateful," she says.
Her husband, Chang, says Liuli Gongfang is more of a nonprofit.
"Before each creation, we ask ourselves: 'Will it do anything good to society?'" says Chang.
The majestic sculpture is far from simple. It cost Yang and Chang 20 million yuan ($3 million) and took five years. It involved 100 artisans and four tons of fire-resistant gypsum and liuli.
A crystal sculpture of the Guanyin bodhisattva, or Goddess of Mercy, has become an instant draw at a Hong Kong mall, where shoppers are stopping in their tracks to stare at its intricacy. [Photo provided to China Daily]
The whole creation processfrom crafting the model, covering it with a silicon mold, filling a wax mold, releasing the wax, casting fire-resistant gypsum, baking it in the kiln, cooling and polishingwas full of challenges. The 6-meter-tall kiln is also stunning.
The craftsmanship to make this kind of crystal glass is called pate de verre in French. Yang picked up the skill in France before it dawned on her that the technique has its roots in China, dating back to the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). It was then that the couple felt compelled to revitalize the Chinese art.
They chose the mall as the setting for the exhibition with the intention of exposing as many people as possible to the mindset that "doing somebody a favor with no conditions attached" is a good thing, as Buddhism teaches.
Yang encourages everybody, no matter their faith, to make good deeds a daily routine.
A crystal sculpture of the Guanyin bodhisattva, or Goddess of Mercy, has become an instant draw at a Hong Kong mall, where shoppers are stopping in their tracks to stare at its intricacy. [Photo provided to China Daily]
The couple wanted the sculpture to be viewed widely by the public rather than restrict it to an exhibition for connoisseurs.
Yang discovered her bond with Guanyin and Buddhism in 1996 when she embarked on a journey along the ancient Silk Road. During her stay in Dunhuang, Yang was deeply touched by the muralsA Thousand Hands and A Thousand Eyes Bodhisattva (Guanyin)in the Mogao Caves.
Marveling at the exquisite portrayal while regretting the peeling paint that blurred the image of Guanyin over time, Yang resolved to re-create the painting in a three-dimensional form.
She felt it would be a shame if the artistic legacy of predecessors was forgotten.
A crystal sculpture of the Guanyin bodhisattva, or Goddess of Mercy, has become an instant draw at a Hong Kong mall, where shoppers are stopping in their tracks to stare at its intricacy. [Photo provided to China Daily]
She began her work in 1999. Unfortunately, the disastrous earthquake in Taiwan in September that year turned her clay model into rubble.
In May 2000, a 1.6-meter-tall sculpture of Guanyin was completed and transferred to the Dunhuang Research Academy.
Six years later, the 1-meter-tall liuli sculpture of Thousand Arms, Thousand Eyes, Possessing the Knowledge of Sorrow was completed, which marked the first liuli-made 3-D rendition of the Guanyin mural.
Yang's work has been collected by more than 20 internationally renowned museums, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Corning Museum of Glass in New York and Bower's Museum in California.
Related:
Sculpture exhibition on in Shanghai
Iran exhibition showcases culture through pictures Updated: 2016-06-07 15:47 By Liu Xiangrui(chinadaily.com.cn)
A photo exhibition called Beautiful Iran was launched at the National Library of China in Beijing on June 6.
The exhibition, jointly organized by the Iranian national library and archives, China's national library, and Iran's Islamic Culture and Relations Organization, will run for about two weeks and is open for visitors to the library.
The exhibition, which aims to promote Iranian culture, showcases different aspects of the country's history, culture, and society using pictures.
The show is similar to an exhibition held at the Iranian national library and archives in January that introduced China to the Iranian people.
Related:
Photo exhibition held in Pakistan to celebrate anniversary of diplomatic ties
Ruling won't calm disputes in South China Sea Updated: 2016-06-07 07:39 By Jin Yongming(China Daily)
This satellite image shows the Yongshu Jiao of China's Nansha Islands. [Photo/Xinhua]
China's clear-cut stance in response to the arbitration case unilaterally pushed forward by the Philippines on its dispute with China in the South China Sea can be generalized as "non-acceptance, non-participation, non-recognition and non-compliance".
The arbitration case submitted by the Philippines to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague is in essence about the territorial sovereignty of some islands and reefs in the South China Sea, a jurisdiction that is beyond the scope of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and also inapplicable to the Convention's explanations.
Given that land territorial ownership is the legal basis to demarcate the maritime rights of coastal states according to international law, a judgment about maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea can be made only after territorial sovereignty is determined.
In the arbitration case, Manila partitions China's Nansha Islands, and asks the arbitral tribunal to make a ruling on the maritime rights of the islands and reefs "occupied or controlled" by China. However, the maritime rights and interests of the South China Sea islands are inseparable from their sovereignty. According to international law and judicial practices only countries owning sovereignty over islands and reefs in a sea are privileged to claim such maritime rights as an exclusive economic zone or continental shelf in accordance with the Convention. Therefore, only after a country's ownership of islands and reefs is legally recognized, can the Convention or its explanations be applied to the settlement of disputes if other countries question whether that country's maritime claims conform to the Convention or raise their own claim to overlapping maritime rights.
It is also China's stance that the legitimacy of its activities in the waters of the Nansha Islands and Huangyan Island is based on its ownership over these islands and reefs and corresponding maritime rights. In its arbitration case, the Philippines says it enjoys indisputable jurisdiction over the waters where China's "law enforcement" activities are conducted. But the fact is that China and the Philippines have not concluded their maritime demarcation in the sea. So Manila's arbitration application should come after the sovereignty of relevant islands and reefs is confirmed and maritime demarcation is completed.
The Philippines' proposal that the Convention is first used to judge China's maritime rights in the South China Sea even if the ownership of some islands and reefs in the sea is not confirmed is in violation of the general principles of international law and international judicial practices. Any ruling made by the arbitral tribunal under Manila's arbitration request will directly or indirectly make a judgment on the ownership of relevant islands and reefs in the South China Sea, thus unavoidably causing de facto maritime demarcation in the sea.
The unilateral arbitration pushed by the Philippines is also in contravention of the agreements it reached with China, and regional agreements that it is party to such as the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.
Any ruling made by the court in The Hague, which is beyond the scope of its jurisdiction, will only add to the escalation of tensions in the South China Sea rather than calm disputes. It will also harm efforts to resolve disputes through talks and the implementation of confidence-building measures, thus making the South China Sea issue more difficult to resolve.
With its forced arbitration case, the Philippines is attempting to repudiate China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights in the South China Sea, cover up its illegal occupation of some islands and reefs in the sea that belong to China, and smear China's international image. China will not budge from its stance that it will neither agree to talks on the South China Sea issue based on so-called international arbitration nor accept any subsequent appeals or proposals.
The author is director of the Ocean Strategy Studies Center at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
Oceanwide targets top real estate Updated: 2016-06-07 11:05 By Lia Zhu in San Francisco(China Daily USA)
"Location, location, location" is a real estate agent's mantra. For Oceanwide Holdings Group, a major real estate developer in China, it's part of a strategic guideline for their investments in the US.
"Our investment philosophy is prime location and major cities," said Li Chen, CFO of Oceanwide Center LLC, owned by Oceanwide Holdings Group. "Oceanwide has invested in five projects in the US, trying to diversify investments, expanding our image."
The developer has put more than $7.5 billion in those projects since 2013.
"Why are we going overseas? Because we believe in the US economy; we also believe in the most mature investment environment despite the huge tax and other issues and barriers," said Chen.
Founded in 1989, Oceanwide started trading on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 1994 and has assets worth $10.7 billion. It engages in real estate, finance, energy, culture and media, and strategic investment businesses.
Oceanwide is a controlling shareholder of three public trading companies in China, two in the mainland and one in Hong Kong. The main investment is in financial, real estate, media and energy sectors.
"We actually set up operations in the US as early as 2000, watching the market and choosing the right time to enter the market," said Chen. "After the financial crisis in 2007 and 2008, the US economy entered into a sustainable and developing stage, we bought the first project in Los Angeles - Oceanwide Plaza - a mixed-use project including more than 500 condos and 200,000 square feet of retail space."
At that time, the Chinese government was trying to slow the overheated domestic housing market, leaving fewer opportunities for Chinese developers, she said. But at the same time the government encouraged private capital to go out of the country. "They (the Chinese government) have a 'going-out' policy, relaxing a lot of restrictions," she said.
The domestic environment led to Oceanwide's globalization strategy.
The company's first US project was in downtown Los Angeles, and the second investment was in Sonoma County, California - a 360-acre project with a winery, a hotel and single family homes.
The third investment was Oceanwide Center, acquired in 2015. It includes two towers at First and Mission streets in San Francisco. The First Street Tower will be 850 feet tall with more than 1 million square feet of office space, and more than 100 luxury condominiums. The Mission Street Tower will be 605 feet with more than 155 luxury condominiums and a five-star luxury hotel. When completed, the First Street Tower is expected to be the second-tallest building in San Francisco.
Last December, Oceanwide invested in Hawaii for another large-scale, mixed-use project.
liazhu@chinadailyusa.com
China ready to play greater role for Syria crisis: envoy Updated: 2016-06-07 05:17 (Xinhua)
CAIRO -- China's special envoy for the Syrian issue Xie Xiaoyan said on Monday that Beijing is ready play an even greater role in helping end the Syrian crisis.
He made the remarks while attending a press conference at the headquarters of the Arab League (AL) following a meeting with Nabil al-Araby, the secretary general of AL.
Xie said the Syrian crisis has now arrived at a very critical stage, while all concerned parties and the international community should work even harder toward a political solution, and take effective steps.
"China believes that cease-fire must be implemented thoroughly and comprehensively," he said, adding that "urgent measures should be put in place to ensure that relief aid reach those affected."
The Chinese envoy arrived in Cairo on Sunday. It is his first visit to Egypt since he landed on the job in March.
Harvard names 1st building for a woman Updated: 2016-06-07 11:05 By Hezi Jiang in Boston(China Daily USA)
Dr. James Si-Cheng Chao (center), a business leader, cuts the ribbon at the dedication ceremony of the Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center, which was named after his wife, at Harvard University on Monday. From left: Senator Elizabeth Warren, Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria, Harvard University President Drew Faust, James Si-Cheng Chao, former US secretary of labor Elaine Chao and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Li Ge / China Daily
Nearly four centuries after the university was founded, Harvard campus opened its first building named for a woman - Chinese American Ruth Mulan Chu Chao (1930-2007).
In tribute to the life and legacy of the family matriarch, Dr James Si-Cheng Chao, a business leader and philanthropist, and the Chao family foundation in 2012 made a $40 million gift to Harvard Business School (HBS), where four of the couple's six daughters graduated. The new Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center took two years to design and another two to build.
"[My mother] believed that men and women should be treated equally, and she and my father made sure her six daughters were equipped with the tools they needed to realize their dreams," said the oldest daughter Elaine Chao, former US Secretary of Labor, on behalf of her sisters at the dedication ceremony of the center on Monday.
Mounted above the front door of the three-story, 90,000-square-foot building, the family name Chao now stands among some of the world's most notable names -Baker, Bloomberg, Chase and Morgan.
Embracing both tradition and innovation, the exterior of the center is a combination of brick and soaring glass and steel. The interior is replete with social spaces, including a terraced-stairs sitting area, two dining rooms, three lounges and a wine bar. The center is design to function as an activity hub for the more than 10,000 executives who attend HBS' executive education programs each year.
The dedication ceremony was attended by family friends, some traveling all the way from China, and top government and university officials, including Harvard University President Drew Faust, HBS dean Nitin Nohria, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and Elaine Chao's husband Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. All five living US presidents sent letters of congratulation.
"Immigrants now launch more than one-quarter of all businesses in the US," said Markey. "Immigrants are the risk takers and job creators. The Chao family is the true, perfect example of the American dream come true."
"When I first came to the US in the 1950s, immigrants like us couldn't even think about going to top universities like Harvard," said Dr Chao during the press conference. "Now we want to provide everyone with that opportunity."
Of the $40 million donation, $35 million was used for the construction of the Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center, and $5 million allotted toward the Ruth Mulan Chu and James Si-Cheng Chao Family Fellowship Fund, which has supported six to eight outstanding students of Chinese heritage each year since 2013.
China, US ready to further cooperate under G20 framework: official Updated: 2016-06-08 00:20 (Xinhua)
BEIJING -- China and the United States agreed to closely cooperate under the G20 framework to boost the world economy, a senior Chinese official said Tuesday.
The two sides "have exchanged in-depth views" over bilateral cooperation under the framework, and pledged to work together to ensure the success of the G20 Hangzhou in September, State Councilor Yang Jiechi said on the sidelines of the eighth China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue.
The strategic dialogue has achieved over 100 substantial outcomes in nine areas, Yang said.
China appreciates that the United States has reiterated its one-China policy, hopes Washington will honor its commitment and support the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, he said.
China and the United States have extensive common interests in the Asia-Pacific region and face common challenges, Yang said, adding that the two sides should respect each other's interests and strengthen communication via multi-level interaction, rather than "cultivate exclusive circles."
On the Korean nuclear issue, China has reaffirmed its position in favor of pushing for denuclearization while maintaining peace and stability across the Peninsula, and will pursue the settlement of issues peacefully through dialogue and consultation, Yang said.
China and the United States called on all parties concerned to work together to create conditions for resuming the Six-Party Talks at an early date, he added.
Hanoi, June 7 (VNA) Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong welcomed a high-level delegation from the Workers Party of Korea (WPK) in Hanoi on June 6.
The guests were led by Politburo member and Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the WPK Choe Thae-bok.
Party leader Trong congratulated the WPK on its 7th Congress and wished people from the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) success in implementing the development strategy under the leadership of the WPK.
He said Vietnam will continue to push ahead with renovation and pursue independence, autonomy, peace, cooperation and development as well as diversification of relations, and proactive international integration.
The Party chief hailed the reinforcement of relations between Vietnam and the DPRK.
He confirmed Vietnams consistent policy of maintaining peace, stability and denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula.
Choe Thae-bok said he was delighted to visit Vietnam and witness the countrys achievements through the renewal (Doi Moi) process.
He conveyed best wishes from Chairman of the WPK Kim Jong-un to Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong and said the DPRK leaders and people want to further cooperation with Vietnam.
The official also informed his host on the outcome of the 7th Congress of the WPK and congratulated Vietnam on the Communist Partys successful 12th National Congress.
VNA/VNP
Dung Quat Oil Refinery. The Finance Ministry has submitted a proposal to the Government to allow Dung Quat Oil Refinery to contribute only 10 per cent to the State budget from petroleum and to calculate its own selling prices. VNA/VNS Photo Huy Hung
HA NOI The Finance Ministry has submitted a proposal to the Government to allow Dung Quat Oil Refinery to contribute only 10 per cent to the State budget from petroleum and to calculate its own selling prices.
Currently, Dung Quat Oil Refinery contributes 20 per cent in import taxes to the Government.
The information was released by the minister, inh Tien Dung, in responding to questions from central Quang Ngai Provincial National Assembly deputies on financial mechanisms for the Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co Ltd (BSR), which operates the Dung Quat Refinery.
If the proposal is approved, the refinery could recover from its current financial difficulties caused by falling consumption and decreased turnover.
Earlier, BSR said its current petrol selling prices include import taxes. The products from Dung Quat are still subject to an import tax of 20 per cent, while under the May 2015 Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with South Korea, Viet Nam reduced its import tariff on South Korean gasoline from 20 per cent to 10 per cent, effective December 20, 2015.
The calculation of petroleum import taxes is based upon weighted averages of the tariffs, taking into account Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status and the Free Trade Agreement, which has also created a large difference between prices charged for Dung Quats products and those for ASEANs South Korea and China.
Specifically, petrol traders would have to pay an import tax of 18.08 per cent when buying petroleum from Dung Quat, 10 per cent higher than from countries that signed FTAs. Moreover, the import tax for Dung Quats products has been 1.92 per cent higher than retail taxes.
It was for this reason that a number of local businesses that bought petroleum from Dung Quat are now purchasing imported products.
Meanwhile, the deputies have asked the ministry to submit a new imported tax mechanism to the Prime Minister for approval.
The adjustment aims to ensure Dung Quats petrol products are able to compete with imported ones, thus stabilising its operation in the international integration, the proposal said.
In addition, the ministry has collected ideas from ministries and the province on the draft of revised Decision No 952/Q-TTg on BSRs financial mechanism.
Since 2009, under a special mechanism, Dung Quat has retained the so-called preferential value, in accordance with the import tariff (3 per cent for petrochemical products, 5 per cent for LPG and 7 per cent for petroleum products). This means that Dung Quat can add 3 per cent to 7 per cent of import taxes to the selling prices of its products. VNS
Worker at a German company in southern ong Nai Province. Nearly 70 per cent of German companies in Viet Nam are pleased with their business results, while more than half of German investors consider increasing their investment in Viet Nam next year. Photo thesaigontimes.vn
HCM CITY Nearly 70 per cent of German companies in Viet Nam are pleased with their business results, while more than half of German investors consider increasing their investment in Viet Nam next year, the AHK World Business Outlook Survey 2016 has found.
Conducted by the German Industry and Commerce in Viet Nam (GIC/AHK Viet Nam), the annual survey of business perspectives among German companies operating in Viet Nam aims to track and evaluate business development and confidence of German companies in Viet Nam.
The survey found that nearly 70 per cent of German companies said their business situation was good in Viet Nam.
More than half of the polled German companies were positive about the future of Viet Nams economy and 47 per cent expected further economic development in Viet Nam.
About 58 per cent of respondents had a positive outlook about their future business development, while 54 per cent were considering increasing their investment in Viet Nam next year.
Fifty-eight per cent of respondents said they planned to hire more employees.
Marko Walde, chief representative of GIC/AHK Viet Nam, said German enterprises were seeking investment opportunities and further investment in Viet Nam.
They see Viet Nam as an attractive destination, given the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community, the EU Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement and the TPP, along with other advantages.
According to the survey, German companies are more confident about the Vietnamese economy than China, India and other ASEAN countries.
However, current economic policies, shortages of skilled workers and increased labour costs are among the hindrances to investment expansion by German firms in Viet Nam, the survey found.
GIC/AHK Viet Nam suggested that Viet Nam build a modern and practical vocational training system that meets the demands of companies.
In addition, the Government also needs to support local businesses in improving their competitive capacity so they can compete with rivals from other countries as Viet Nam is a member of the ASEAN Economic Community, TPP and other free trade agreements, it said.
The AHK World Business Outlook was conducted by German Chamber Network worldwide.
It gathered feedback from about 3,400 German companies this year, with 23 per cent of the German participants in Viet Nam from industry and construction sectors, 58 per cent from the services field and 19 per cent from trading companies. VNS
Viet Nams enterprises are ready to promote lychee exports this year. This year, lychee output was expected to reach 130,000 tonnes in Bac Giang Province and 50,000 tonnes in Hai Duong Province. Photo Truong Vi
HA NOI Viet Nams enterprises are ready to promote lychee exports this year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said.
This year, lychee output was expected to reach 130,000 tonnes in Bac Giang Province and 50,000 tonnes in Hai Duong Province.
The lychee output in Bac Giang was estimated to reduce by 10 per cent against 2015. But the output of high quality lychees under VietGap and GlobalGap, national and international quality standards for farming products, have been increased, Bac Giang Province reported.
Hoang Trung, head of MARDs Plant Protection Department, said the department has granted 29 codes for 300ha for growing lychees, mostly located in Bac Giang for exports to high demand markets.
Many enterprises have come to the lychee growing regions with codes to order lychees for exports, he said. They would focus on exporting to Australian markets while also paying attention to the United States, European Union and the Association of South East Asian Nations markets.
The Ha Noi Irradiation Centre is ready to implement irradiation services for fruit exports this year to reduce spending for lychee export activities. The department has complemented procedures to get recognition from Australia for certificates of the centre, he said.
Duong Van Thai, deputy chairman of the Peoples Committee of Bac Giang Province, said the province expected to sell 78,000 tonnes of lychee on the domestic market and export 52,000 tonnes this year.
For export markets of Vietnamese lychees, last year, China was the largest export market with an export volume at 100,000 tonnes, accounting for 50 per cent to 60 per cent of total export volume.
This year, Trung said the department has asked phytosanitary agencies in Lao Cai and Lang Son provinces to create favourable conditions for issuing export licences to lychees as soon as possible.
The deputy head of customs department of Lang Son Province, Vy Cong Tuong said his department would create conditions for lychee exports, including transport, warehousing and administrative procedures.
At present, Viet Nam has negotiated with China to accord highest priority to export lychee to China and then other fruits, reported chinhphu.vn.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Committees of Lao Cai, Bac Giang, Hai Duong and Hung Yen provinces which account for a large lychee-growing area in the country met in late May to promote the exports of Vietnamese fresh lychees to China via the Lao Cai border gate.
Authorities pledged to facilitate administrative procedures, ensure transport safety, and enhance market management to reduce frauds in the trade of the fruit, reported vietnamplus.vn.
Deputy Director of the Lao Cai Department of Industry and Trade Nguyen Truong Giang said the provincial management board of economic zones has asked farmers to study the market to have a proper export policy in place.
The province also advised farmers and businesses to export via trade contracts to avoid the risk of economic losses.
It pledged to create the best conditions for firms to export fresh lychees through Lao Cai border gate, he added.
Yang Peng, deputy chief of the Hekou district in Chinas southern Yunnan province, said that the Chinese side will make it easier for bilateral trade and easier customs procedures.
The districts authorities asked Vietnamese firms to strictly follow the customs procedures of the two countries, he added.
More than 26,000 tonnes of fresh lychees worth US$11.6 billion were exported to China via Lao Cai international border gate in 2015.
In 2016, the volume of fresh lychees exported via the gate is expected to equal the previous years amount, or about 420 tonnes per day. VNS
Illustative Image vov.vn
HA NOI Viet Nam will continue running a trade deficit in 2016 that will be under 5 per cent of total export revenue, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has forecast.
Director General of the MoITs Planning Department Vu Ba Phu said at the teleconference held in Ha Noi yesterday that the country recorded a trade deficit of about US$400 million in May.
Although there was a trade surplus equivalent to 2 per cent of total export value in the first five months, demand for imported machinery and materials for infrastructure building is still high.
There is also a growing need for industrial equipment imports to expand production and optimise opportunities brought about by many free trade agreements the country has joined.
In the first five months of the year, Viet Nam posted a trade surplus of $1.36 billion as a result of some $67.7 billion in exports (up 6.6 per cent year on year) and $66.3 billion in imports (down 0.9 per cent year on year).
Notably, overseas agro-forestry-fishery shipments, during the five months, rose by $818 million or 10.1 per cent from a year earlier, compared to a 10-per cent decline in the same period last year.
China remained the biggest exporter of goods to Viet Nam during the five months, posting a turnover of $19.2 billion, dropping by 2.9 per cent annually.
Viet Nam mainly imported machines, equipment, mobile phones, computers, fabrics, iron and steel from China.
Viet Nams exports to China hit $5.8 billion in the first five months of 2016, an increase of 16.5 per cent year on year.
Viet Nam expects to ship about $20 billion worth of commodities to China and spend $48 billion on imports from the partner this year. Its trade deficit with China would total $28 billion, 13.6 per cent lower than last years $32.4 billion.
The United States continued to be Viet Nams biggest buyer, importing $14.6 billion worth of commodities, up 14.9 per cent compared to the same period last year. It was followed by the European Union with $13.3 billion in imports, up 11 per cent.
To attain an export growth rate of 10 per cent this year as targeted by the National Assembly, the ministry should devise measures for tackling business obstacles and improving production capacity, a minister, Tran Tuan Anh said. VNS
HA NOI Vietnamese shares finished lower on the two local exchanges yesterday as large-cap companies retreated from their recent gains.
The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange dropped 0.3 per cent to close at 620.05 points, losing a total of 0.5 per cent in the last two sessions.
The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange ended slightly down at 82.65 points to cut a six-day rally of 2 per cent.
14 out of 20 sectors on the stock market stayed in negative territory with property developers, brokerage firms, energy companies, and food and beverage producers being among the strongest decliners.
The property sector was driven down by Vingroup JSC (VIC), Khang ien House Trading and Investment JSC (KDH) and a Lat Real Estate JSC (DLR).
VIC was down 0.9 per cent from a three-day gain of 2.9 per cent, KDH dropped 1.3 per cent to erase a two-day gain, and DLR slumped 3.3 per cent after surging 22 per cent in the previous four days.
Other stocks such as FLC Group JSC (FLC), Tan Tao Investment and Industry Corp (ITA), and Hoang Quan Consulting-Trading-Service Real Estate Corp (HQC) also saw declines.
PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Service Corp (PVD) and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp (PVS) weighed on the energy sector despite oil prices increasing on expectations that the global glut will fall faster than expected.
PVD pulled back 1.5 per cent from a five-day increase of 11.3 per cent and PVS edged down 0.5 per cent after rising 2.2 per cent in the previous two sessions.
Other large-cap stocks such as financial service provider FIT Investment JSC (FIT), seafood firm Hung Vuong Corp (HVG) and a Nang Rubber JSC (DRC) also retreated from their previous consecutive gains.
Steel producers showed signs of significant decline after they have recorded sharp gains in the past few months, including Hoa Phat Group JSC (HPG), Hoa Sen Group (HSG), Viet Nam-Italy Steel JSC (VIS) and Tien Len Steel Corp JSC (TLH).
On the positive side, banks and insurance firms helped lifted investor confidence.
Among banks, Sai Gon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank (STB) surged 6.2 per cent, while the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam (VCB) and the Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) gained 1.1 per cent each.
The insurance business was boosted by Bao Viet Holdings (BVH) and Post and Telecommunication Joint Stock Insurance Corp (PTI), which rose 2.5 per cent and 9.8 per cent, respectively.
Both local markets traded nearly 178 million shares worth VN2.84 trillion (US$126.2 million), an increase of 6.8 per cent from last weeks daily trading value. VNS
HA NOI A documentary featuring a young victim of Agent Orange, by director Courtney Marsh, will be screened shortly at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
Titled Chau, Beyond the Lines, the documentary explores how Le Minh Chau realised his dream despite being born with birth defects due to Agent Orange.
Growing up in Hoa Binh Childrens Village in HCM City, Chaus movement was restricted due to the effects of the chemical, and he was only able to move on his knees. Despite the physical difficulties he became a successful painter, and now conducts drawing classes for both children and adults at his home.
The documentary was among the five nominees in the short documentary category at the 2016 Oscar.
Vietnamese Ambassador to the UN Nguyen Phuong Nga, director Courtney Marsh and protagonist Le Minh Chau will attend the screening on June 15 and attend a Q&A session with the audience.
Entry to the screening will be free at the headquarters and traditional Vietnamese food will be served at the end of the event. VNS
Ha Noi Toyota Motor Viet Nam (TMV) and the Ministry of Education and Trainings Department of Primary Education held the first national awards ceremony for excellent primary school children participating in the Dream Car Art Contest in Ha Noi on Saturday.
During the 2015-16 school year, organisers selected 124 outstanding artworks from nearly 600,000 paintings submitted by primary students nationwide. Awards include 10 first, 10 second, 34 third, and 70 consolation prizes, worth VN218 million (US$9,700) in total.
Organisers will now select nine of the 124 best artworks to compete in an international contest in Japan. The nine top prizewinners will be invited to visit Japan in August.
More than 2.3 milllion artworks had been sent to organisers by Vietnamese primary children since Toyotas Dream Car Contest launched five years ago. VNS
Gia Loc
HCM CITY University and high school students staged plays based on English-language novels Atonement and Vanity Fair, as well as the fairytale The Nightingale and the Rose, last weekend at the Drama Theatre in HCM Citys District 1.
The free performances, organised by HCM City Open Universitys foreign languages faculty, attracted more than 1,000 people, according to Huynh Tan, an actor at the theatre.
The performances are part of the Theatre in Education activity at Open University, pioneered by university teacher Le Quang Truc.
Most of the performers are students at Open University, and some are from other universities and high schools in the city.
Tran Thi My Lan, a third-year student at the University of Finance and Marketing, said that she enjoyed the play based on Atonement, a family saga novel which tells the story of the 13-year-old Briony Tallis.
Because of jealousy, Briony lied that Robbie, her sisters lover, had raped her cousin Lala. He was arrested and sent to prison. Briony later became a popular writer and wrote a novel whose main characters were Robbie and her sister, who lived together happily.
In 2007, the book was made into a film, which won an Oscar for Best Original Score at the 80th Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture-Drama.
Lan, a student at the Finance and Marketing University, said: It was more emotional to watch the drama performed by students.
They arent theatre majors, but they performed like professionals. However, with my English, I could understand only 50 per cent of it, she said.
Duong Ngoc Nhu Quynh of Open University, who played one of the leading roles, said she spent two months to prepare for the play.
I experienced new things, such as dancing, Quynh said.
Nguyen Thi Binh of Open University, another main character, added: My pronunciation and vocabulary improved thanks to the play. I hope that Theatre in Education will be carried out in the future.
Tran Thuc Tai, lecturer at the Open Universitys Civil and Electrical Engineering Faculty, said that the plays were a chance for students to be creative, show their potential, and relax after school.
Lecturer Le Quang Truc, who developed the initiative for the Theatre in Education, said that he wanted to create a memorable university experience for students.
Bringing theatre in education helps develop students creativity and teamwork skills, Truc said.
Pham Ba Van Quan, English lecturer at Nguyen Tat Thanh University, said that performing and listening to live plays was an excellent way to shape foreign language skills.
Many students often feel nervous when communicating in English. These students who perform in plays overcome this barrier, Quan said. VNS
President Tran ai Quang meets with French defence ministers Jean-Yves Le Drian yesterday. Photo baochinhphu.vn
HA NOI President Tran ai Quang yesterday had separate meetings with French and Indian defence ministers Jean-Yves Le Drian and Manohar Parrika who are on official visits to Viet Nam.
Receiving French Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, the leader stressed that Viet Nam considers France a leading partner in its foreign policy.
However, he said, co-operation outcomes between the two countries, especially in economy, trade and investment, have yet to match expectations.
The President called on the French Government to soon enact the Viet Nam-EU Free Trade Agreement, facilitating economic, trade and investment links between the two countries.
Speaking of the two countries defence co-operation, the President suggested the two defence ministries enhance collaboration, particularly in military activities, producing equipment for military and civilian purposes, information exchanges and at multilateral forums.
Jean-Yves Le Drian, in reply, said his own visit aims to strengthen bilateral affiliation in national defence and security as well as the strategic partnership established in 2013, and prepare for President Francois Hollandes visit to Viet Nam in this September.
Informing his host about his talks with Vietnamese Defence Minister Ngo Xuan Lich, the French guest said both sides looked into several agreements between the two defence ministries to be inked during President Francois Hollandes upcoming Viet Nam visit, in a bid to advance defence ties.
He also affirmed Frances stance of handling maritime disputes peacefully through dialogues between concerned parties and in line with international law.
President Tran ai Quang receives Indian defence ministers Jean-Yves Le Drian yesterday. Photo baochinhphu.vn
At his meeting with Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrika, President Quang said the Vietnamese Party, State and people appreciate Indias support in national defence, including personnel training and the transfer of technologies and military equipment.
The leader noted the consensus on orientations to forge bilateral defence co-operation, an important pillar of the Viet Nam-India strategic partnership.
The Party and State of Viet Nam regard India as a friend and a leading partner, and treasures its relationship with the country, he said.
President Tran ai Quang asked the minister to convey his invitation to Indian President Pranab Mukherjee to pay an official visit to Viet Nam.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, in a meeting with Minister Parrika yesterday, urged the Vietnamese and Indian defence ministries step up co-operation in traditional areas while expanding affiliation in new spheres, especially training young officers.
Phuc hailed the bilateral defence ties, which have been evidenced through regular exchanges of all-level delegations, and by their partnerships in the national defence industry and personnel training.
The PM lauded Manohar Parrikas speech delivered at the recent Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore and affirmed the Vietnamese Governments backing of Indians Look East policy.
He highlighted the strategic partnership between Viet Nam and India which has thrived across many fields.
Viet Nam and India share similarities in culture and history, he said, adding that the two countries also hold potential for co-operation in politics, economy, culture and national defence.
The PM asked the minister to convey his invitation to Indian PM Narendra Modi to pay an official visit to Viet Nam.
The Indian minister said that his Government treasures and wishes to boost co-operation with Viet Nam.
The guest displayed his belief that friendship and collaboration between the two countries and the defence ties in particular will grow stronger in the time ahead, for peace and prosperity in the region and the world. VNS
HCM CITY Deputy Prime Minister Vuong inh Hue has urged HCM City to accelerate the equitisation of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) to ensure that an SOE plan approved by the Prime Minister is completed by 2018.
In his report after a working visit to HCM City in late May, Hue said the city should continue to amend its SOE restructuring plan in accordance with the Decision No 37/2014/Q-TTg in June 2014 which gives details about criteria for classifying SOEs.
The main purpose of Decision 37 was to reduce the number of sectors where the State is required to be a majority or sole shareholder and to encourage private investment.
In particular, all SOEs in the city must be restructured so that the Governments stake will be reduced to a low level or zero when they are equitised.
Hue also asked the city to complete a master plan on the restructuring of agricultural and forestry companies under the municipal administration and submit the plan to the Government for approval.
He urged the city to identify the public service agencies which could qualify for equitisation.
Eligible units would then be submitted to the Prime Minister for approval and equitised in accordance with the Governments Decision No 22/2015/Q-TTg on transformation of public non-business units.
Hue stressed the need for the city to seriously implement financial autonomy policies at local public service units.
In addition, the Deputy Prime Minister told the city government to outline a comprehensive plan for implementation of Resolution No 35/NQ-CP.
This new policy issued on May 16 concerns the support and development of enterprises by 2020. It emphasises the citys role in stimulating and promoting business development.
Kien Giang tasks
In his report on the recent working visit to the Cuu Long (Mekong) province of Kien Giang, Hue asked the provincial leaders to develop projects that would store fresh water and prevent saltwater intrusion.
This would ensure clean water supplies for production activities and peoples daily demand.
Hue said the provinces residents must be educated about the adverse effects of saltwater intrusion and the need to save fresh water.
They also must be made aware of the importance of adapting to climate change by restructuring the breeding and raising of animals and plants.
The deputy PM also asked Kien Giang authorities to identify saltwater intrusion management projects that should be given investment priorities, putting them on a list to call for capital support from the Government.
He advised Kien Giang to adjust the provinces existing land-use plans, construction projects and tourism products in accordance with climate change.
Hue also directed the Ministry of Planning and Investment to work with the ministries of Finance and Agriculture and Rural Development to gather proposals from Kien Giang and other localities to report to the Prime Minister. VNS
Three Vie tnamese students from HCM City University of Technology won the first prize at the nation-wide Smart Water Innovation Contest, organised by the Swedish Embassy in Ha Noi. Photo infonet.vn
HA NOI Three Vietnamese students from HCM City University of Technology won the first prize at the nation-wide Smart Water Innovation Contest, organised by the Swedish Embassy in Ha Noi. Their idea was to develop a smart phone app to detect water leakages, the embassy announced yesterday.
Trinh Quoc Anh, Nguyen Tran Quang Khai and Vo Phi Long were awarded a trip to the capital of Sweden, Stockholm known as the Beauty on Water, to attend the annually occurring global event World Water Week this August.
The innovation came when the team discovered a high volume of water leakage in HCM Citys water system, reaching up to 30 per cent of the total, compared to 3 per cent of Tokyos and 4 per cent of Singapores, Trinh Quoc Anh, on behalf of the winning team said.
With only a tap on the smart phones screen, quicker than sending an email, the people who identify the water leakage are able to report the incident to a buildings managers. The position of the leak will be bases on Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates, Anh said.
The team highlighted the convenience of the app and believe that, once it is widely applied in the future, it will raise awareness of water use and save water. Their message to water users is Today everyone has smart phones in their pockets so everyone can be a water protector.
Speaking at the contests award ceremony yesterday, Swedens Ambassador to Viet Nam Camilla Mellander highlighted the fundamental part water management plays in a modern society.
In the rapid development that Viet Nam has experienced in recent years, efforts to ensure access to clean water and sustainable water use have not always kept up and innovative approaches are needed to address this. We wish to continuously uphold an exchange between our countries so that we can share our experiences and learn from each other, she said.
She also hopes that the winning team would learn a lot during World Water Week in Stockholm and in the future continue to work towards creating a more sustainable world.
According to the organising committee, this years entries combine reality with innovative ideas, including proposals to filter saline water in the Cuu Long (Mekong Delta) region by filtering and saving water in containers made from cactus.
Started in January this year, the contest is open to first-year through fifth-year university students across the nation and aims to inspire young, local students of higher educational institutions to take on sustainable development and climate change issues and develop innovative water-related solutions that will bring about real change.
It was held in cooperation with the Agency for Water Resources Management under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. VNS
Police in HCM City have confiscated 1.2 tonnes of khat leaves imported from Africa and one case re-exported to the US. The leaves, which contain the stimulant cathinone, are banned in Viet Nam. Photo thanhnien.com.vn
HCM CITY Police in HCM City have confiscated 1.2 tonnes of khat leaves imported from Africa and one case re-exported to the US. The leaves, which contain the stimulant cathinone, are banned in Viet Nam.
The city police has set up a special task force, including HCM City Customs Department, General Customs Department and the Ministry of Public Security, among others, to help uncover khat drug trafficking rings in the country.
On Saturday, the force discovered a 336kg-batch of khat leaves imported from Kenya by a Vietnamese company based in Binh Thanh District. The company had declared the product as green tea.
The same company, which police did not name, was caught importing 170kg of khat leaves on May 25.
On May 17, another company in District 1 imported 270kg of khat leaves disguised as black tea and hidden carefully in packages. The police later confiscated another 100kg of khat imported by this company.
On May 29, a Vietnamese man, whose name was not revealed, went to Tan Son Nhat airport to receive a gift package sent from Kenya, which turned out to contain 290kg of khat leaves, according to the police.
After the khat batches were imported to Viet Nam, they were re-exported to another country under the name of another leaf.
On May 18, a company in District 7 registered to export 34kg of khat leaves but declared them as dried henna leaves.
The company received a license to export the packages of leaves to the US from the Vegetation Quarantine Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The police force has not revealed the name of the companies and people involved.
Customs officials said the leaves were imported from Africa to Southeast Asian countries, including Viet Nam, and then re-exported to other countries.
Police said that if the 1.2 tonnes of khat leaves had been re-exported to the US, Australia and Europe, the owners would have gained an estimated US$2.2 million.
The use of dried khat leaves can cause many health problems and can have deadly repercussions.
According to an official in charge of investigating drug trafficking, Australian customs also confiscated about 800kg of khat leaves hidden carefully in a customers baggage at the end of last year.
Khat (Catha edulis), a flowering plant native to the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, contains a monoamine alkaloid called cathinone, an amphetamine-like stimulant, which is said to cause excitement, loss of appetite and euphoria.
In 1980, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified it as a drug of abuse that can produce mild to moderate psychological dependence, although WHO does not consider khat to be seriously addictive.
It is considered illegal or a controlled substance in many countries, including Viet Nam, while its production, sale and consumption are legal in some African nations. VNS
Deputy Prime Minister Trinh inh Dung has asked the HCM City Peoples Committee to inspect violations related to construction of the Bay Hien Tower in Tan Binh District, ensuring the rights of local residents. Photo vnexpess.net
HCM CITY Deputy Prime Minister Trinh inh Dung has asked the HCM City Peoples Committee to inspect violations related to construction of the Bay Hien Tower in Tan Binh District, ensuring the rights of local residents.
The investor, Long Hung Phat Co. Ltd., had expanded the construction area by 722sq.m.
The investor was fined VN45 million (US$2,000) and asked to remove the construction in the expanded area. However, the investor ignored the warning and continued the construction.
The company has handed over 11 apartments to customers. Last Wednesday, the Peoples Committee in Tan Binh Districts Ward 11 in coordination with related agencies cut electrical power and water at the tower and forced the residents to move out.
According to the Department of Construction, the tower, which has 170 apartments, is not safe for living as construction work on fire control, water and electricity as well as a basement parking area has not been completed. VNS
THANH HOA Some 45 rescue personnel and soldiers from the Military Command, Border Guard and Fire Protection teams in the central province of Thanh Hoa were dispatched this morning to rescue three trapped gold miners.
Nearly 100 other people were also deployed to rescue the miners who got trapped yesterday in Nuoc Cave of Lung Cao Communes Kit Village, Nguyen Van Dung, chairman of the Peoples Committee of Ba Thuoc District, told the Dan Tri online newspaper.
Pockets of toxic gas are keeping the miners trapped in the cave, impeding rescue efforts, local authorities said.
Earlier on Sunday, the two miners, Kha Van Ngon, and Kha Van Huyen, from northern Hoa Binh Province, entered the cave to repair a gold digging machine.
After encountering the toxic gas, which suffocated Huyen, Ngon tried to crawl to the mouth of the cave to call for help.
Pham Van Dung, 54, a miner at the scene attempted to rescue him upon hearing his cries for help, but he too became trapped by the gas in the cave.
Yesterday, another miner, Bui Van Man, also failed to leave the cave while trying to rescue the others.
Chairman Dung said the committee had deployed rescue teams to join the local team to save the trapped miners.
However, the rescue effort was unsuccessful because they were not equipped with gas masks, and the cave is very deep, reaching some 300-400m, Dung said.
The rescue forces also had difficulty reaching the site as Kit Village is some 40km from the centre of Ba Thuoc District.
They had to walk to the area. The village itself has no access to the national grid or mobile phone system, creating even more difficulties for the rescuers, Dung said. VNS
LOS ANGELES Hillary Clinton stands poised to claim the Democratic mantle with Tuesdays primaries including California, overwhelming her rival Bernie Sanders and setting up a historic US presidential election showdown with Republican Donald Trump.
The frontrunner is all but assured of locking in her partys nomination, a monumental step towards fulfilling a dream of returning to the White House as commander in chief, 16 years after serving as first lady to president Bill Clinton.
The former secretary of state neared the brink of victory with a strong win Sunday in the island territory of Puerto Rico, one day after the US Virgin Islands voted overwhelmingly for her.
But a loss in California, the largest state in the nation, would blunt that momentum and potentially complicate Clintons efforts to unify the party.
Clinching the nomination will launch an unprecedented battle between a candidate seeking to break the glass ceiling and become the countrys first female commander in chief, and a provocative billionaire businessman and political neophyte who has changed the face of American campaigning.
Clinton, who like Sanders has stumped relentlessly in the Golden State in recent weeks, signalled the race has run its course and she will prevail as Democratic standard-bearer.
"I believe on Tuesday I will have decisively won the popular vote and I will have decisively won the pledged delegate majority," she told CNN from California.
"After Tuesday Im going to do everything I can to reach out to try to unify the Democratic Party and I expect Senator Sanders to do the same."
But Sanders contends Clintons lead is largely based on support from so-called super-delegates, party big-wigs who are not bound to vote for a specific candidate, and he proclaimed he will take his nomination fight all the way to the Democratic convention in July.
Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, argued Sunday he could persuade many of the more than 500 super-delegates who back Clinton to reverse course and vote for him, adding that it would be "not quite accurate" for
Clinton to claim victory by counting super-delegates before the convention.
Sanders has signalled he will use the time between the final Democratic primary -- June 14 in the US capital Washington -- and the July 25-28 convention to win over super-delegates.
Its about time
A strong Sanders night Tuesday, though, will not deny the inevitable mathematics of Clinton crossing the threshold.
She now stands at 2,354 total delegates, according to CNNs tally, just 29 shy of the number needed for victory.
More than 600 pledged delegates are at stake Tuesday, and Clinton is on a glide path to reach the magic number when results come in from New Jersey, where polling stations close earliest.
She has scheduled a primary night event in Brooklyn, New York.
On Sunday in California she addressed the magnitude of what she is trying to achieve.
"I know weve never done this before. Weve never had a woman president," she told supporters.
At a restaurant in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Inglewood, where Bill Clinton was campaigning for his wife, patron Martin Jones, 73, said he was "100 percent" behind Hillary.
"She would be coming from a laboratory of experience," Jones said. "Its about time we have a woman in charge of our government instead of our kitchen."
Clinton has recently focused like a laser on Trump.
She unleashed blistering attacks on the Republican in recent days, including a well-received foreign policy speech in which she declared the real estate tycoons ideas "dangerously incoherent" and warned he was "temperamentally unfit" to lead the worlds more powerful nation.
Trump blasted back on social media with similar language Sunday.
"Hillary Clinton is unfit to be president. She has bad judgement, poor leadership skills and a very bad and destructive track record. Change!" he posted on Twitter.
It has been a week of mis-steps for the Republican, however. He has assailed the Hispanic-American judge presiding over the fraud case against
Trump University, saying his Mexican heritage made him biased against Trump.
His comments have earned rebukes from Republican stalwarts including House Speaker Paul Ryan.
But he doubled down on the concept Sunday.
Asked whether he would feel that a Muslim judge would not be able to treat him fairly given his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, Trump told CBS News: "Yeah. That would be possible, absolutely." AFP
A decade after he got shunted aside at Facebook Inc, Eduardo Saverin's found another scrappy internet startup he's proud to put his name behind. The billionaire is reinventing himself as an Asian venture capitalist and thinks he's found a winner in little-known 99.co, a Singaporean house-hunting service founded by local wunderkind Darius Cheung. So much so that Saverin, who's flown under the radar since making the city-state his home in 2009, has gone to unusual lengths to grant the startup his imprimatur. The Brazilian-born entrepreneur, who rarely graces media events, put ...
CHARLES CITY Doug Lindaman will spend up to 10 years in prison for fondling a teenage boy in 2011.
A jury in April convicted the former lawyer and magistrate of third-degree sexual abuse, rejecting his claim touching the boys penis represented a therapeutic act meant to unblock an unpleasant sexual memory.
Lindamans 90-year-old mother, brother and other supporters attended the sentencing hearing Tuesday afternoon in Floyd County District Court. So, too, did Lindamans victim, now 22 years old, and some of his family.
The young mans mother offered a written victim impact statement, which a stand-in read into the record. In the short letter, the woman took on a few allegations Lindaman made during his trial.
Our boys have not and do not suffer a psycho-sexual disorder, the mother said.
The only pain theyve suffered, she said, was caused by Lindaman.
The woman accused Lindaman of fulfilling his sexual desires ... at any cost. The mother also challenged Lindamans notion she and her husband dislike Lindaman because he is gay.
We are not anti-gay. We are anti-anything that is going to harm our kids, the mother added.
Lindaman did have backers. Jeff Bergstrom provided a letter of support, and Dick Schultz name and about 30 others appear on a petition demanding a new trial for Lindaman. Bergstrom and Schultz were candidates for the Charles City School Board with Lindaman.
We felt that Mr. Lindaman would be a great asset to the school board team, because of his accounting, legal and building and mechanical background, Bergstrom wrote.
Lindaman claimed at trial the charges were politically motivated, filed to thwart his bid for the school board seat.
Lindaman was barred from practicing law following convictions in 1988 in Floyd County on two counts of committing lascivious acts with a child. He left the bench five years earlier because of an allegation he made an inappropriate advance on a young man.
Lindaman served as his own legal counsel throughout the most recent case. He was assisted Tuesday by defense attorney John Standafer of Cedar Falls, who helped Lindaman ask for an arrest of judgment and a second trial.
On the witness stand Tuesday, Lindaman conceded hiring a lawyer earlier might have been beneficial. But he said he approached several and nobody would touch it.
Lindaman also argued instructions provided to jurors needed some mention of legitimate, nonsexual contact allowed under Iowa law. As his examples, Lindaman cited diapering a child, caring for a dependent adult and performing a circumcision.
A bad rabbi with a history of sex abuse, Lindaman added, would likely be found guilty again for touching a boys foreskin during a circumcision.
Lindaman also offered a logic tree, a diagram he said illustrated how legitimate contact would lead to a not guilty verdict.
Missing that specific instruction is what sunk the defense, Lindaman told Judge Gregg Rosenbladt.
After Lindamans testimony, Rosenbladt ticked through about a dozen of Lindamans objections and motions and denied or overruled each in turn.
Before sentencing, Lindaman offered a final thought.
Im just sorry that its come this far, he said.
Besides serving up to 10 years in prison, Rosenbladt also ordered Lindaman to sign up for the sex offenders registry for life and imposed a $1,000 fine. Lindaman must also make restitution to the Crime Victims Program but the amount has not yet been determined.
WATERLOO Police are investigating a purse snatching that happened outside a day care on Monday morning.
A 29-year-old Waterloo woman had just left the Grin and Grow Child Care building at 608 W. Fourth St. at about 6:25 a.m. when a man ran up behind her, said Lt. Greg Fangman with the Waterloo Police Department.
The suspect grabbed her purse, ran to a nearby bicycle and peddled away. He is described as a black male in his 20s and was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and jeans, police said.
The woman wasn't injured, police said.
WATERLOO A Waterloo man who was convicted of robbery following two hung juries has been sentenced to prison.
Also sentenced Friday was a co-defendant who first testified as part of a plea deal and then opted to break the deal and proceed to trial.
During a Friday hearing, Jessie Mathews, 21, told Judge George Stigler he didnt think the verdict in his April trial in which he was found guilty of second-degree robbery for allegedly pointing a BB gun at a grocery store owner as she left the business at closing time was warranted.
I dont think I got a fair trial, Mathews said, citing contradictory testimony from the co-defendants.
Defense attorney James Moriarty called the case excessively prosecuted and accused the state of throwing it against the wall until it stuck. He said the first time trial ended in a mistrial after the prosecutor was unable to locate its core witness. That was followed by a trial that ended with a hung jury that was 11 to 1 to acquit Mathews in July 2015 and a second hung jury that voted 8 to 4 to acquit in September 2015.
Assistant County Attorney James Katcher said the evidence showed Mathews threatened the owner of Byron Avenue Supermarket with the BB gun Oct. 14, 2014, and took a bank bag and cell phone after an earlier plot to burglarize the business failed.
This defendant and the others placed the victim in great fear, Katcher said.
Mathews was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison with a mandatory seven years before he can be considered for parole.
Also sentenced Friday was 40-year-old Jimmy Dewayne Robinson Jr., whose wife, Tammy, had worked at the store but had been let go following a dispute over pay and allegations of theft, according to testimony at trial. Katcher said the Robinsons and Mathews, Trivansky Swington and Jutaveus Collett came up with a plan to break in after hours as was way to get back at the owner. When an employee spotted a propped-open back door and closed it, the group decided to go with a robbery, Katcher said.
Robinson had agreed to a plea deal and testified at one of Mathewss earlier trials but then withdrew his plea after that trial ended when jurors reached a deadlock. During the April trial where both were convicted the prosecutor was able to use Robinsons earlier testimony as part of the evidence.
He suffered the consequences of having his own testimony used against him, Katcher said.
When Judge Stigler asked why he changed his plea and went to trial, Robinson didnt comment, and his defense attorney, Ronald Langford, invoked attorney-client privilege.
Robinson also was sentenced to 10 years with a mandatory seven-year minimum.
Trivansky Swington and Jutaveus Collett pleaded to reduced charges of conspiracy to commit a felony in September. Tammy Robinsons case is still pending.
WATERLOO A federal grand jury has indicted a Waterloo man who was found with meth and scales during an April traffic stop.
Cory Lee Kleppe, 45, was charged with possession of meth with intent to distribute in a one-page indictment handed up May 26 in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids.
On Thursday, a magistrate ruled that Kleppe be detained pending trial because of missed court dates in prior cases and because he lost his job following his arrest and the fact that his mobile home may have been moved from its lot.
According to authorities, a state trooper stopped Kleppe on April 16 after other motorists complained of a gold Dodge Durango that was driving erratically. He was detained for driving without a license, and authorities found two bags totaling 70 grams of meth on the passenger seat and scale and a syringe with liquid meth, court records state.
INDEPENDENCE -- A defendant in Buchanan County has a private attorney but is seeking help fund her defense.
Rhonda Zieser, 50, of Independence, is facing one count of perjury linked to a recent criminal trial, a felony. Zieser is represented by Adam Junaid, a member of the Frerichs Law Office in Waterloo.
According to court documents, Junaid is asking the court to pay for some of Zieser's other "necessary expenses," including depositions, hiring a private investigator and preparing a transcript of defendant Fayla Cannon's trial.
Junaid in court documents suggests $1,000 will be necessary to hire Gratias Investigations in Des Moines for the case.
According to Buchanan County Attorney Shawn Harden's criminal complaint, Zieser knowingly provided a false statement of material facts or falsely denied knowledge of materials while under oath.
Zieser provided a deposition May 13 during Cannon's trial. Cannon was charged with three counts of disseminating obscene material to a minor and three counts of malicious prosecution. Jurors after an eight-day trial found Cannon not guilty on all counts.
Cannon, a former paraeducator with the Independence School District, in 2014 worked with a 16-year-old boy with profound mental and physical disabilities. Cannon alleged by using "hand over hand" writing where she held the pen, a kind of facilitated communication, the boy produced hundreds of pages comments, questions and answers.
At her deposition, Zieser, a paraeducator in the school district, claimed the boy in third grade, using "hand over hand" writing, called a teacher "a boring bitch."
Zieser further stated that this became a near daily occurrence that (the boy) ... wrote curse words also referencing either the teacher or Zieser, Harden wrote in his criminal complaint.
Zieser in her deposition claimed the teacher asked her husband, the Rev. William Black, to perform a "cleansing" on the boy at the school.
"Zieser stated this consisted of reading 'verses' that she believed were verses from the Bible," Harden wrote.
According to Zieser's deposition, the boy later made inappropriate comments about his parents and mother, added references to the devil and tagged a male music teacher as a "queer."
Harden claims while getting rebuttal evidence for Cannon's trial he discovered "Zieser made several false statements while under oath."
The teacher, Nancy Black in an interview May 14 said Zieser was not the boy's full-time paraeducator but only provided "short breaks" for that person.
William Black in an interview May 14 said he met a school district staff member but never performed a "cleansing" or exorcism.
"In fact, Mr. Black has never met (the boy,)" Harden wrote, and Nancy and William Black both denied ever reading Bible verses to the boy.
John Howard, the junior and senior high school principal, also denied Zieser revealed "everything" in her deposition to him when Cannon was arrested or at any other time.
Michelle Unwin, a former special education teacher in Independence, was also deposed in connection with Cannon's recent criminal trial. She said Zieser once brought the word "bitch" to her attention, but Unwin denied ever hearing about the other variations or profanities allegedly written by the boy.
"Mrs. Unwin also testified (the boy) never claimed to be the devil or Satan at any time in which she was hand-over-hand writing with (the boy,)" Harden added in the criminal complaint.
Unwin also denied inviting the Rev. Black to school, according to Harden.
CEDAR FALLS Area Education Agency 267s board of directors last week extended Chief Administrator Sam Millers contract as he nears the end of his first year on the job.
The board gave Miller a three-year contract starting July 1 during its monthly meeting Wednesday. When he began the job a year earlier, it was with a two-year contract.
Thats really pretty typical, said Beth Strike, spokeswoman for the agency. The extension was approved after the board held a professional growth conference with Miller during a closed session.
Board members praised his vision for the agency and customer-focused approach, according to Strike. I think the board is very satisfied with Sams performance.
Last month the board approved 3.26 percent raises for Miller and other agency administrators, bringing his salary to $196,510.
The board also approved setting a public hearing for its July 6 meeting on the sale of the Pinecrest buildings in Mason City. AEA 267 operates a behavioral disability school on the Pinecrest campus of Four Oaks residential treatment facility. The behavior disability school will be taken over next fall by Mason City Schools.
When were disposing of real property, we have to have a public hearing, said Dave Nicholson, the agencys chief financial officer. AEA 267 operates the school in three small buildings on the property. Although North Iowa Area Community College owns the land, the agency purchased the buildings some time ago when a lease was up.
Wed like to do a quit claim deed, said Nicholson, noting the buildings were purchased with tuition funds schools pay to send students there. All rights to the property will be given to NIACC for $1. The college can then work with Mason City Schools and Four Oaks on building usage for the program.
In other business, the board renewed and upgraded its data storage agreement with IT Savvy, which has a Davenport office. The three-year agreement will cost $141,190 and increase the agencys capacity to back up its data storage.
AEA 267, headquartered in Cedar Falls with additional area offices in Clear Lake and Marshalltown, provide special education and school improvement services for 53 districts across an 18-county area in northeast and north central Iowa.
CEDAR FALLS Members of the Cedar Falls American Legion post have doubled down on the Freedom Rock vandalism reward fund, but police so far are stymied in the case.
Tom Hagarty, president of Cedar Falls American Legion Post 237, said post members decided Monday to match the $1,000 reward posted by the Cedar Falls Eagles lodge for information leading to the apprehension of the party or parties responsible for vandalism early May 29 to the rock, painted in patriotic themes and adjacent to Veterans Park. It was vandalized with spray paint, as was an adjacent utility box and a nearby residence. The Legion donation puts the reward fund at $2,000.
The Freedom Rock was restored over the weekend, Hagarty noted. Freedom Rock artist Ray Bubba Sorensen II touched it up Saturday and resealed the artwork on the rock in about four hours of work.
Anyone with information about the vandalism may call the Cedar Falls Police Department at 268-5139.
We dont have any suspects, Public Safety Director Jeff Olson said. Were just hoping that the mention of a reward will get some people to give us some calls and give us some tips. Anyone that has information, wed certainly like to hear it whether its a rumor or something factual. We just need a little help with this one.
Mayor Jim Brown, speaking at Mondays City Council meeting, called the action a very offensive act of vandalism thats particularly disturbing since it occurred Memorial Day weekend. He noted the city has received an outpouring of support to repair, apprehend and prevent this event from happening again.
Eagles Club officer, veteran and retired Cedar Falls firefighter Gary Klodt said, I think every citizen in Cedar Falls, I know every veteran, is very proud to have that rock in Cedar Falls. We cannot believe someone could be so low to do something like this.
AFSCME Local 3576, which represents about 70 CFU workers, is donating a security camera to monitor the rock. CFU will provide the equipment for installation and maintenance of the camera and the electronic link between the camera and the police department.
The Black Hawk County Freedom Rock bears the likenesses of Waterloos five Sullivan brothers killed during World War II; quad-amputee Cedar Falls sailor Taylor Morris, wounded in Afghanistan in 2012; and Robert Hibbs, a U.S. Army officer killed in Vietnam in 1966 and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. It is one of a series of rocks Sorensen hopes to locate in each of Iowas 99 counties.
The rock was located there concurrent with a Veterans Park expansion to be dedicated July 9. Project donations are still being accepted through the Cedar Falls Civic Founcation, P.O. Box 546, Cedar Falls.
CEDAR FALLS The 2016 Iowa Trails Summit will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 17 at the University of Northern Iowas Center for Energy & Environmental Education, 1227 W. 27th St.
Featured speakers include John Edward Terrell, Ph.D., author and Regenstein Curator of Pacific anthropology at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, and Dr. Richard Deming, medical director of Mercy Cancer Center in Des Moines.
This years theme, Iowa Trails Inspired by a Talent for Friendship emphasizes the ideas and innovations driving healthy communities. The master of ceremonies is Chuck Offenburger.
The seventh annual Iowa Trails Summit brings together a diverse group of people to people that share a passion for outdoor recreation, our natural environment and community development.
The registration deadline is Tuesday. For more information, contact Peter Komendowski by email: pkomendowski@gmail.com, call 269-8493.
Court documents show how a record amount of lethal opioid and meth traveled from Mexico and ended up packed into the walls of a Waterloo home, where police found the drugs in 2021.
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 Councils 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. Were 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 lets 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 pro-life 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 churchs 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 Trumps supporters are attempting to devise their own guidelines on the theological fly. We dont 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 Trumps 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.
archives 11 Sep - 18 Sep (1) 14 Aug - 21 Aug (3) 7 Aug - 14 Aug (3) 17 Jul - 24 Jul (3) 10 Jul - 17 Jul (3) 19 Jun - 26 Jun (2) 12 Jun - 19 Jun (4) 22 May - 29 May (1) 15 May - 22 May (5) 1 May - 8 May (2) 17 Apr - 24 Apr (3) 27 Feb - 6 Mar (3) 13 Feb - 20 Feb (1) 30 Jan - 6 Feb (3) 2 Jan - 9 Jan (4) 26 Dec - 2 Jan (1) 5 Dec - 12 Dec (3) 28 Nov - 5 Dec (2) 14 Nov - 21 Nov (1) 7 Nov - 14 Nov (1) 10 Oct - 17 Oct (1) 22 Aug - 29 Aug (3) 15 Aug - 22 Aug (1) 8 Aug - 15 Aug (3) 1 Aug - 8 Aug (1) 25 Jul - 1 Aug (3) 18 Jul - 25 Jul (1) 11 Jul - 18 Jul (1) 27 Jun - 4 Jul (4) 20 Jun - 27 Jun (3) 13 Jun - 20 Jun (1) 30 May - 6 Jun (2) 23 May - 30 May (4) 2 May - 9 May (3) 25 Apr - 2 May (4) 4 Apr - 11 Apr (2) 28 Mar - 4 Apr (4) 28 Feb - 7 Mar (1) 7 Feb - 14 Feb (2) 10 Jan - 17 Jan (2) 27 Dec - 3 Jan (2) 13 Dec - 20 Dec (3) 6 Dec - 13 Dec (1) 29 Nov - 6 Dec (1) 15 Nov - 22 Nov (6) 8 Nov - 15 Nov (1) 25 Oct - 1 Nov (1) 18 Oct - 25 Oct (3) 4 Oct - 11 Oct (1) 27 Sep - 4 Oct (1) 20 Sep - 27 Sep (2) 13 Sep - 20 Sep (4) 6 Sep - 13 Sep (3) 30 Aug - 6 Sep (1) 23 Aug - 30 Aug (1) 16 Aug - 23 Aug (4) 9 Aug - 16 Aug (1) 2 Aug - 9 Aug (3) 26 Jul - 2 Aug (4) 19 Jul - 26 Jul (5) 12 Jul - 19 Jul (2) 5 Jul - 12 Jul (7) 28 Jun - 5 Jul (2) 21 Jun - 28 Jun (7) 14 Jun - 21 Jun (4) 7 Jun - 14 Jun (4) 31 May - 7 Jun (3) 24 May - 31 May (2) 17 May - 24 May (1) 10 May - 17 May (1) 19 Apr - 26 Apr (1) 12 Apr - 19 Apr (1) 15 Mar - 22 Mar (1) 8 Mar - 15 Mar (3) 1 Mar - 8 Mar (2) 23 Feb - 1 Mar (2) 9 Feb - 16 Feb (3) 26 Jan - 2 Feb (1) 19 Jan - 26 Jan (2) 12 Jan - 19 Jan (2) 5 Jan - 12 Jan (1) 29 Dec - 5 Jan (1) 8 Dec - 15 Dec (1) 24 Nov - 1 Dec (2) 17 Nov - 24 Nov (1) 27 Oct - 3 Nov (1) 6 Oct - 13 Oct (1) 1 Sep - 8 Sep (2) 25 Aug - 1 Sep (4) 18 Aug - 25 Aug (1) 11 Aug - 18 Aug (2) 4 Aug - 11 Aug (8) 28 Jul - 4 Aug (5) 14 Jul - 21 Jul (3) 7 Jul - 14 Jul (3) 30 Jun - 7 Jul (4) 23 Jun - 30 Jun (2) 16 Jun - 23 Jun (4) 9 Jun - 16 Jun (1) 2 Jun - 9 Jun (5) 26 May - 2 Jun (1) 19 May - 26 May (6) 12 May - 19 May (1) 21 Apr - 28 Apr (3) 14 Apr - 21 Apr (1) 31 Mar - 7 Apr (3) 24 Mar - 31 Mar (6) 17 Mar - 24 Mar (5) 10 Mar - 17 Mar (1) 3 Mar - 10 Mar (3) 24 Feb - 3 Mar (2) 17 Feb - 24 Feb (5) 10 Feb - 17 Feb (3) 3 Feb - 10 Feb (2) 20 Jan - 27 Jan (3) 13 Jan - 20 Jan (1) 23 Dec - 30 Dec (3) 2 Dec - 9 Dec (1) 25 Nov - 2 Dec (2) 18 Nov - 25 Nov (2) 11 Nov - 18 Nov (2) 4 Nov - 11 Nov (1) 21 Oct - 28 Oct (4) 14 Oct - 21 Oct (5) 7 Oct - 14 Oct (2) 30 Sep - 7 Oct (1) 23 Sep - 30 Sep (1) 9 Sep - 16 Sep (4) 2 Sep - 9 Sep (1) 19 Aug - 26 Aug (1) 12 Aug - 19 Aug (4) 5 Aug - 12 Aug (6) 29 Jul - 5 Aug (2) 22 Jul - 29 Jul (1) 15 Jul - 22 Jul (3) 8 Jul - 15 Jul (4) 1 Jul - 8 Jul (1) 24 Jun - 1 Jul (1) 17 Jun - 24 Jun (3) 10 Jun - 17 Jun (5) 3 Jun - 10 Jun (3) 27 May - 3 Jun (5) 20 May - 27 May (6) 13 May - 20 May (6) 6 May - 13 May (1) 29 Apr - 6 May (5) 22 Apr - 29 Apr (4) 15 Apr - 22 Apr (6) 8 Apr - 15 Apr (4) 1 Apr - 8 Apr (4) 25 Mar - 1 Apr (3) 18 Mar - 25 Mar (3) 11 Mar - 18 Mar (3) 4 Mar - 11 Mar (4) 25 Feb - 4 Mar (3) 18 Feb - 25 Feb (1) 11 Feb - 18 Feb (4) 4 Feb - 11 Feb (5) 28 Jan - 4 Feb (6) 21 Jan - 28 Jan (1) 14 Jan - 21 Jan (4) 7 Jan - 14 Jan (2) 31 Dec - 7 Jan (7) 24 Dec - 31 Dec (2) 17 Dec - 24 Dec (3) 10 Dec - 17 Dec (1) 3 Dec - 10 Dec (4) 26 Nov - 3 Dec (3) 19 Nov - 26 Nov (2) 12 Nov - 19 Nov (1) 5 Nov - 12 Nov (4) 22 Oct - 29 Oct (3) 15 Oct - 22 Oct (4) 8 Oct - 15 Oct (4) 1 Oct - 8 Oct (1) 10 Sep - 17 Sep (2) 3 Sep - 10 Sep (2) 27 Aug - 3 Sep (1) 20 Aug - 27 Aug (6) 6 Aug - 13 Aug (4) 30 Jul - 6 Aug (1) 23 Jul - 30 Jul (5) 16 Jul - 23 Jul (3) 9 Jul - 16 Jul (5) 25 Jun - 2 Jul (5) 18 Jun - 25 Jun (2) 11 Jun - 18 Jun (6) 4 Jun - 11 Jun (1) 28 May - 4 Jun (5) 21 May - 28 May (2) 14 May - 21 May (4) 7 May - 14 May (4) 30 Apr - 7 May (4) 23 Apr - 30 Apr (3) 16 Apr - 23 Apr (3) 9 Apr - 16 Apr (1) 2 Apr - 9 Apr (3) 26 Mar - 2 Apr (2) 19 Mar - 26 Mar (3) 12 Mar - 19 Mar (3) 5 Mar - 12 Mar (2) 26 Feb - 5 Mar (3) 19 Feb - 26 Feb (2) 12 Feb - 19 Feb (2) 5 Feb - 12 Feb (6) 29 Jan - 5 Feb (5) 22 Jan - 29 Jan (1) 15 Jan - 22 Jan (8) 8 Jan - 15 Jan (7) 1 Jan - 8 Jan (4) 25 Dec - 1 Jan (3) 11 Dec - 18 Dec (3) 13 Nov - 20 Nov (4) 6 Nov - 13 Nov (2) 30 Oct - 6 Nov (1) 23 Oct - 30 Oct (1) 16 Oct - 23 Oct (1) 9 Oct - 16 Oct (1) 2 Oct - 9 Oct (2) 25 Sep - 2 Oct (1) 18 Sep - 25 Sep (4) 11 Sep - 18 Sep (2) 4 Sep - 11 Sep (1) 28 Aug - 4 Sep (4) 21 Aug - 28 Aug (1) 14 Aug - 21 Aug (2) 7 Aug - 14 Aug (4) 31 Jul - 7 Aug (6) 24 Jul - 31 Jul (3) 17 Jul - 24 Jul (6) 10 Jul - 17 Jul (3) 3 Jul - 10 Jul (6) 26 Jun - 3 Jul (3) 19 Jun - 26 Jun (4) 5 Jun - 12 Jun (5) 29 May - 5 Jun (1) 22 May - 29 May (1) 15 May - 22 May (1) 8 May - 15 May (5) 1 May - 8 May (5) 24 Apr - 1 May (1) 17 Apr - 24 Apr (2) 10 Apr - 17 Apr (3) 3 Apr - 10 Apr (2) 20 Mar - 27 Mar (2) 13 Mar - 20 Mar (4) 6 Mar - 13 Mar (1) 28 Feb - 6 Mar (2) 21 Feb - 28 Feb (1) 14 Feb - 21 Feb (1) 7 Feb - 14 Feb (3) 24 Jan - 31 Jan (2) 17 Jan - 24 Jan (3) 10 Jan - 17 Jan (2) 3 Jan - 10 Jan (1) 27 Dec - 3 Jan (1) 20 Dec - 27 Dec (1) 13 Dec - 20 Dec (3) 6 Dec - 13 Dec (2) 29 Nov - 6 Dec (2) 22 Nov - 29 Nov (2) 15 Nov - 22 Nov (1) 8 Nov - 15 Nov (5) 1 Nov - 8 Nov (2) 25 Oct - 1 Nov (2) 18 Oct - 25 Oct (1) 11 Oct - 18 Oct (4) 4 Oct - 11 Oct (1) 27 Sep - 4 Oct (3) 20 Sep - 27 Sep (2) 13 Sep - 20 Sep (1) 6 Sep - 13 Sep (3) 30 Aug - 6 Sep (5) 23 Aug - 30 Aug (6) 16 Aug - 23 Aug (1) 9 Aug - 16 Aug (1) 2 Aug - 9 Aug (3) 26 Jul - 2 Aug (2) 19 Jul - 26 Jul (1) 12 Jul - 19 Jul (5) 5 Jul - 12 Jul (6) 28 Jun - 5 Jul (4) 21 Jun - 28 Jun (7) 14 Jun - 21 Jun (5) 7 Jun - 14 Jun (2) 31 May - 7 Jun (5) 24 May - 31 May (3) 17 May - 24 May (5) 10 May - 17 May (3) 3 May - 10 May (1) 26 Apr - 3 May (1) 19 Apr - 26 Apr (5) 12 Apr - 19 Apr (5) 5 Apr - 12 Apr (2) 29 Mar - 5 Apr (1) 22 Mar - 29 Mar (5) 15 Mar - 22 Mar (9) 8 Mar - 15 Mar (6) 1 Mar - 8 Mar (10) 22 Feb - 1 Mar (5) 15 Feb - 22 Feb (5) 1 Feb - 8 Feb (2) 25 Jan - 1 Feb (1) 18 Jan - 25 Jan (4) 11 Jan - 18 Jan (1) 4 Jan - 11 Jan (3) 28 Dec - 4 Jan (3) 21 Dec - 28 Dec (3) 14 Dec - 21 Dec (4) 7 Dec - 14 Dec (2) 30 Nov - 7 Dec (3) 23 Nov - 30 Nov (3) 9 Nov - 16 Nov (3) 2 Nov - 9 Nov (5) 26 Oct - 2 Nov (3) 19 Oct - 26 Oct (8) 12 Oct - 19 Oct (6) 5 Oct - 12 Oct (3) 28 Sep - 5 Oct (5) 21 Sep - 28 Sep (4) 14 Sep - 21 Sep (1) 7 Sep - 14 Sep (4) 31 Aug - 7 Sep (1) 24 Aug - 31 Aug (2) 17 Aug - 24 Aug (2) 10 Aug - 17 Aug (7) 3 Aug - 10 Aug (3) 27 Jul - 3 Aug (3) 20 Jul - 27 Jul (3) 13 Jul - 20 Jul (4) 6 Jul - 13 Jul (1) 29 Jun - 6 Jul (5) 22 Jun - 29 Jun (2) 15 Jun - 22 Jun (4) 8 Jun - 15 Jun (2) 1 Jun - 8 Jun (2) 25 May - 1 Jun (8) 18 May - 25 May (4) 11 May - 18 May (1) 4 May - 11 May (3) 27 Apr - 4 May (4) 20 Apr - 27 Apr (2) 13 Apr - 20 Apr (6) 6 Apr - 13 Apr (2) 23 Mar - 30 Mar (4) 16 Mar - 23 Mar (2) 9 Mar - 16 Mar (2) 2 Mar - 9 Mar (2) 23 Feb - 2 Mar (2) 16 Feb - 23 Feb (1) 9 Feb - 16 Feb (6) 2 Feb - 9 Feb (1) 26 Jan - 2 Feb (2) 19 Jan - 26 Jan (1) 12 Jan - 19 Jan (1) 29 Dec - 5 Jan (1) 22 Dec - 29 Dec (2) 8 Dec - 15 Dec (2) 1 Dec - 8 Dec (1) 24 Nov - 1 Dec (4) 17 Nov - 24 Nov (4) 10 Nov - 17 Nov (1) 3 Nov - 10 Nov (4) 20 Oct - 27 Oct (2) 13 Oct - 20 Oct (4) 29 Sep - 6 Oct (1) 22 Sep - 29 Sep (2) 15 Sep - 22 Sep (3) 8 Sep - 15 Sep (1) 1 Sep - 8 Sep (6) 25 Aug - 1 Sep (7) 18 Aug - 25 Aug (9) 11 Aug - 18 Aug (6) 4 Aug - 11 Aug (4) 28 Jul - 4 Aug (3) 21 Jul - 28 Jul (8) 14 Jul - 21 Jul (4) 7 Jul - 14 Jul (5) 30 Jun - 7 Jul (8) 23 Jun - 30 Jun (8) 16 Jun - 23 Jun (4) 9 Jun - 16 Jun (7) 2 Jun - 9 Jun (7) 26 May - 2 Jun (8) 19 May - 26 May (7) 12 May - 19 May (5) 5 May - 12 May (5) 28 Apr - 5 May (11) 21 Apr - 28 Apr (6) 14 Apr - 21 Apr (5) 7 Apr - 14 Apr (6) 31 Mar - 7 Apr (7) 24 Mar - 31 Mar (4) 17 Mar - 24 Mar (4) 3 Mar - 10 Mar (6) 24 Feb - 3 Mar (3) 17 Feb - 24 Feb (3) 10 Feb - 17 Feb (5) 3 Feb - 10 Feb (3) 27 Jan - 3 Feb (6) 20 Jan - 27 Jan (1) 13 Jan - 20 Jan (6) 6 Jan - 13 Jan (2) 30 Dec - 6 Jan (2) 23 Dec - 30 Dec (1) 16 Dec - 23 Dec (3) 9 Dec - 16 Dec (2) 2 Dec - 9 Dec (1) 25 Nov - 2 Dec (1) 18 Nov - 25 Nov (3) 11 Nov - 18 Nov (5) 4 Nov - 11 Nov (2) 28 Oct - 4 Nov (6) 21 Oct - 28 Oct (9) 14 Oct - 21 Oct (9) 30 Sep - 7 Oct (4) 23 Sep - 30 Sep (2) 16 Sep - 23 Sep (2) 9 Sep - 16 Sep (6) 2 Sep - 9 Sep (3) 26 Aug - 2 Sep (3) 19 Aug - 26 Aug (3) 12 Aug - 19 Aug (7) 5 Aug - 12 Aug (4) 29 Jul - 5 Aug (8) 22 Jul - 29 Jul (7) 15 Jul - 22 Jul (7) 8 Jul - 15 Jul (7) 1 Jul - 8 Jul (7) 24 Jun - 1 Jul (9) 17 Jun - 24 Jun (10) 10 Jun - 17 Jun (7) 3 Jun - 10 Jun (10) 27 May - 3 Jun (6) 20 May - 27 May (8) 13 May - 20 May (8) 6 May - 13 May (11) 29 Apr - 6 May (6) 22 Apr - 29 Apr (8) 15 Apr - 22 Apr (5) 8 Apr - 15 Apr (11) 1 Apr - 8 Apr (5) 25 Mar - 1 Apr (9) 18 Mar - 25 Mar (9) 11 Mar - 18 Mar (8) 4 Mar - 11 Mar (8) 19 Feb - 26 Feb (7) 12 Feb - 19 Feb (7) 5 Feb - 12 Feb (5) 29 Jan - 5 Feb (7) 22 Jan - 29 Jan (4) 15 Jan - 22 Jan (2) 8 Jan - 15 Jan (5) 1 Jan - 8 Jan (5) 25 Dec - 1 Jan (6) 18 Dec - 25 Dec (4) 11 Dec - 18 Dec (5) 4 Dec - 11 Dec (7) 27 Nov - 4 Dec (7) 20 Nov - 27 Nov (7) 13 Nov - 20 Nov (3) 6 Nov - 13 Nov (4) 30 Oct - 6 Nov (5) 23 Oct - 30 Oct (9) 16 Oct - 23 Oct (3) 9 Oct - 16 Oct (8) 2 Oct - 9 Oct (5) 25 Sep - 2 Oct (11) 18 Sep - 25 Sep (4) 11 Sep - 18 Sep (6) 4 Sep - 11 Sep (6) 28 Aug - 4 Sep (7) 21 Aug - 28 Aug (3) 14 Aug - 21 Aug (9) 7 Aug - 14 Aug (4) 31 Jul - 7 Aug (8) 24 Jul - 31 Jul (11) 17 Jul - 24 Jul (8) 10 Jul - 17 Jul (9) 3 Jul - 10 Jul (11) 26 Jun - 3 Jul (9) 19 Jun - 26 Jun (9) 12 Jun - 19 Jun (7) 5 Jun - 12 Jun (9) 29 May - 5 Jun (5) 22 May - 29 May (8) 15 May - 22 May (9) 8 May - 15 May (4) 1 May - 8 May (6) 24 Apr - 1 May (6) 17 Apr - 24 Apr (10) 10 Apr - 17 Apr (8) 3 Apr - 10 Apr (8) 27 Mar - 3 Apr (8) 20 Mar - 27 Mar (8) 13 Mar - 20 Mar (12) 6 Mar - 13 Mar (7) 27 Feb - 6 Mar (7) 20 Feb - 27 Feb (11) 13 Feb - 20 Feb (7) 6 Feb - 13 Feb (5) 30 Jan - 6 Feb (8) 23 Jan - 30 Jan (10) 16 Jan - 23 Jan (10) 9 Jan - 16 Jan (9) 2 Jan - 9 Jan (11) 26 Dec - 2 Jan (6) 19 Dec - 26 Dec (7) 12 Dec - 19 Dec (6) 5 Dec - 12 Dec (7) 28 Nov - 5 Dec (5) 21 Nov - 28 Nov (4) 14 Nov - 21 Nov (7) 7 Nov - 14 Nov (6) 31 Oct - 7 Nov (6) 24 Oct - 31 Oct (5) 17 Oct - 24 Oct (5) 10 Oct - 17 Oct (7) 3 Oct - 10 Oct (2) 26 Sep - 3 Oct (4) 19 Sep - 26 Sep (6) 12 Sep - 19 Sep (7) 5 Sep - 12 Sep (10) 29 Aug - 5 Sep (8) 22 Aug - 29 Aug (5) 15 Aug - 22 Aug (6) 8 Aug - 15 Aug (6) 1 Aug - 8 Aug (4) 25 Jul - 1 Aug (13) 18 Jul - 25 Jul (9) 11 Jul - 18 Jul (9) 4 Jul - 11 Jul (8) 27 Jun - 4 Jul (9) 20 Jun - 27 Jun (11) 13 Jun - 20 Jun (11) 6 Jun - 13 Jun (11) 30 May - 6 Jun (9) 23 May - 30 May (23) 16 May - 23 May (12) 9 May - 16 May (12) 2 May - 9 May (10) 25 Apr - 2 May (7) 18 Apr - 25 Apr (9) 11 Apr - 18 Apr (10) 4 Apr - 11 Apr (11) 28 Mar - 4 Apr (9) 21 Mar - 28 Mar (6) 14 Mar - 21 Mar (9) 7 Mar - 14 Mar (2) 28 Feb - 7 Mar (9) 21 Feb - 28 Feb (7) 14 Feb - 21 Feb (9) 7 Feb - 14 Feb (9) 31 Jan - 7 Feb (6) 24 Jan - 31 Jan (14) 17 Jan - 24 Jan (9) 10 Jan - 17 Jan (11) 3 Jan - 10 Jan (10) 27 Dec - 3 Jan (10) 20 Dec - 27 Dec (8) 13 Dec - 20 Dec (6) 6 Dec - 13 Dec (9) 29 Nov - 6 Dec (13) 22 Nov - 29 Nov (10) 15 Nov - 22 Nov (14) 8 Nov - 15 Nov (11) 1 Nov - 8 Nov (16) 25 Oct - 1 Nov (13) 18 Oct - 25 Oct (12) 11 Oct - 18 Oct (9) 4 Oct - 11 Oct (11) 27 Sep - 4 Oct (14) 20 Sep - 27 Sep (19) 13 Sep - 20 Sep (13) 6 Sep - 13 Sep (12) 30 Aug - 6 Sep (15) 23 Aug - 30 Aug (15) 16 Aug - 23 Aug (16) 9 Aug - 16 Aug (14) 2 Aug - 9 Aug (15) 26 Jul - 2 Aug (20) 19 Jul - 26 Jul (10) 12 Jul - 19 Jul (13) 5 Jul - 12 Jul (21) 28 Jun - 5 Jul (15) 21 Jun - 28 Jun (20) 14 Jun - 21 Jun (10) 7 Jun - 14 Jun (13) 31 May - 7 Jun (13) 24 May - 31 May (13) 17 May - 24 May (15) 10 May - 17 May (16) 3 May - 10 May (11) 26 Apr - 3 May (21) 19 Apr - 26 Apr (17) 12 Apr - 19 Apr (20) 5 Apr - 12 Apr (16) 29 Mar - 5 Apr (19) 22 Mar - 29 Mar (17) 15 Mar - 22 Mar (23) 8 Mar - 15 Mar (22) 1 Mar - 8 Mar (21) 22 Feb - 1 Mar (22) 15 Feb - 22 Feb (25) 8 Feb - 15 Feb (25) 1 Feb - 8 Feb (21) 25 Jan - 1 Feb (23) 18 Jan - 25 Jan (19) 11 Jan - 18 Jan (35) 4 Jan - 11 Jan (23) 28 Dec - 4 Jan (27) 21 Dec - 28 Dec (28) 14 Dec - 21 Dec (23) 7 Dec - 14 Dec (22) 30 Nov - 7 Dec (19) 23 Nov - 30 Nov (22) 16 Nov - 23 Nov (19) 9 Nov - 16 Nov (15) 2 Nov - 9 Nov (17) 26 Oct - 2 Nov (10) 19 Oct - 26 Oct (12) 12 Oct - 19 Oct (13) 5 Oct - 12 Oct (19) 28 Sep - 5 Oct (14) 21 Sep - 28 Sep (17) 14 Sep - 21 Sep (19) 7 Sep - 14 Sep (22) 31 Aug - 7 Sep (15) 24 Aug - 31 Aug (14) 17 Aug - 24 Aug (9) 10 Aug - 17 Aug (5)
past daily news Sep 13 (1) Sep 09 (15) Sep 06 (12) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (10) Aug 31 (17) Aug 29 (14) Aug 26 (13) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (12) Aug 19 (21) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (10) Aug 10 (10) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (10) Aug 06 (10) Aug 05 (8) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (14) Jul 29 (1) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (10) Jul 22 (11) Jul 19 (16) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (10) Jul 15 (13) Jul 12 (7) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (11) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (8) Jun 28 (7) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (8) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (9) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (9) Jun 18 (8) Jun 15 (9) Jun 13 (13) Jun 11 (11) Jun 09 (19) Jun 06 (10) Jun 04 (10) Jun 03 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (5) May 30 (5) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (7) May 26 (6) May 25 (4) May 23 (6) May 22 (6) May 21 (4) May 20 (7) May 19 (9) May 18 (4) May 17 (6) May 16 (5) May 15 (7) May 14 (3) May 13 (3) May 12 (9) May 10 (3) May 09 (7) May 08 (4) May 07 (3) May 06 (5) May 05 (8) May 03 (9) May 02 (1) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (5) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (7) Apr 26 (12) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (8) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (5) Apr 14 (2) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (2) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (10) Apr 04 (2) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (9) Apr 01 (7) Mar 31 (10) Mar 30 (6) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (10) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (10) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (11) Mar 19 (8) Mar 18 (5) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (7) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (8) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (12) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (8) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (8) Feb 28 (7) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (6) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (1) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (2) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (6) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (2) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (1) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (8) Jan 30 (2) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (1) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (4) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (2) Jan 20 (2) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (2) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (6) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (1) Dec 31 (5) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (5) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (2) Dec 17 (1) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (2) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (7) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (2) Dec 08 (2) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (1) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (5) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (10) Nov 28 (6) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (3) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (6) Nov 19 (2) Nov 18 (5) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (2) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (5) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (9) Oct 30 (9) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (6) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (6) Oct 22 (4) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (4) Oct 12 (7) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (10) Oct 07 (1) Oct 06 (10) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (8) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (1) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (5) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (6) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (5) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (6) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (8) Sep 05 (6) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (5) Aug 31 (8) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (6) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (1) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (7) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (7) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (8) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (8) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (10) Aug 02 (9) Aug 01 (8) Jul 31 (1) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (2) Jul 28 (11) Jul 27 (10) Jul 26 (10) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (2) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (8) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (1) Jul 16 (10) Jul 14 (7) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (7) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (8) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (6) Jul 03 (7) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (2) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (5) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (6) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (8) Jun 18 (2) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (7) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (8) Jun 08 (8) Jun 07 (8) Jun 06 (10) Jun 05 (14) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (6) Jun 02 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (7) May 30 (2) May 29 (7) May 28 (7) May 27 (2) May 26 (4) May 25 (5) May 24 (4) May 23 (5) May 22 (5) May 21 (5) May 20 (3) May 19 (10) May 18 (6) May 17 (3) May 16 (6) May 15 (2) May 14 (3) May 13 (5) May 11 (1) May 10 (5) May 09 (3) May 08 (4) May 07 (2) May 06 (4) May 05 (6) May 04 (5) May 03 (5) May 02 (1) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (7) Apr 28 (8) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (14) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (1) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (1) Apr 15 (8) Apr 14 (1) Apr 13 (7) Apr 12 (10) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (2) Apr 09 (2) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (6) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (9) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (11) Mar 23 (10) Mar 22 (9) Mar 21 (10) Mar 20 (11) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (3) Mar 16 (7) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (6) Mar 13 (9) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (13) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (6) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (9) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (8) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (7) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (9) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (10) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (2) Feb 03 (8) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (5) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (7) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (7) Jan 26 (8) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (6) Jan 23 (5) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (8) Jan 17 (12) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (8) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (6) Jan 10 (7) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (9) Jan 04 (9) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (8) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (1) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (4) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (12) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (7) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (5) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (1) Dec 15 (7) Dec 14 (10) Dec 13 (7) Dec 12 (12) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (6) Dec 08 (7) Dec 07 (12) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (13) Dec 04 (6) Dec 02 (8) Dec 01 (8) Nov 30 (6) Nov 29 (7) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (8) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (11) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (7) Nov 17 (6) Nov 16 (11) Nov 15 (10) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (5) Nov 11 (12) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (14) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (11) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (11) Nov 03 (9) Nov 02 (10) Nov 01 (8) Oct 31 (12) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (11) Oct 26 (13) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (10) Oct 23 (8) Oct 22 (5) Oct 21 (11) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (6) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (9) Oct 13 (10) Oct 12 (11) Oct 11 (9) Oct 10 (10) Oct 09 (7) Oct 08 (5) Oct 07 (10) Oct 06 (9) Oct 05 (14) Oct 04 (9) Oct 03 (12) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (9) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (7) Sep 28 (13) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (7) Sep 22 (10) Sep 21 (12) Sep 20 (12) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (11) Sep 15 (8) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (8) Sep 12 (8) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (10) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (9) Sep 07 (8) Sep 06 (11) Sep 05 (2) Sep 04 (8) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (9) Aug 31 (9) Aug 30 (7) Aug 29 (9) Aug 28 (4) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (5) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (2) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (6) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (6) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (7) Aug 06 (7) Aug 05 (7) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (11) Aug 02 (6) Aug 01 (9) Jul 31 (11) Jul 28 (7) Jul 27 (11) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (1) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (2) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (8) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (7) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (2) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (10) Jul 11 (11) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (5) Jul 06 (6) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (6) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (3) Jun 30 (8) Jun 29 (5) Jun 28 (6) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (1) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (11) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (7) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (6) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (8) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (8) Jun 06 (7) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (7) Jun 03 (1) Jun 02 (9) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (8) May 30 (7) May 29 (5) May 28 (5) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (3) May 23 (5) May 22 (2) May 21 (3) May 20 (7) May 19 (11) May 18 (1) May 17 (7) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (4) May 11 (11) May 10 (2) May 09 (6) May 08 (6) May 07 (2) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (5) May 03 (8) May 02 (4) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (13) Apr 28 (5) Apr 27 (7) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (2) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (9) Apr 21 (11) Apr 20 (2) Apr 19 (2) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (6) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (2) Apr 12 (9) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (6) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (10) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (7) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (9) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (6) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (8) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (10) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (6) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (6) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (9) Mar 08 (10) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (2) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (9) Feb 24 (11) Feb 23 (8) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (8) Feb 20 (7) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (6) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (11) Feb 13 (2) Feb 12 (5) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (10) Feb 08 (9) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (2) Feb 05 (9) Feb 03 (7) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (7) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (5) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (7) Jan 24 (8) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (14) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (10) Jan 18 (11) Jan 17 (9) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (10) Jan 06 (8) Jan 05 (7) Jan 04 (9) Jan 03 (8) Jan 02 (5) Jan 01 (14) Dec 30 (13) Dec 29 (13) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (5) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (7) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (5) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (9) Dec 16 (8) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (8) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (17) Dec 09 (8) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (10) Dec 06 (12) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (8) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (7) Nov 30 (9) Nov 29 (6) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (15) Nov 24 (7) Nov 23 (15) Nov 22 (9) Nov 21 (6) Nov 20 (11) Nov 18 (11) Nov 17 (13) Nov 16 (8) Nov 15 (13) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (7) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (13) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (6) Nov 06 (4) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (8) Nov 03 (9) Nov 02 (8) Nov 01 (6) Oct 31 (10) Oct 30 (8) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (8) Oct 27 (15) Oct 26 (10) Oct 25 (10) Oct 24 (13) Oct 23 (9) Oct 21 (8) Oct 20 (13) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (8) Oct 16 (14) Oct 14 (9) Oct 13 (11) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (13) Oct 10 (7) Oct 09 (15) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (11) Oct 05 (18) Oct 04 (14) Oct 03 (1) Oct 02 (10) Sep 30 (11) Sep 29 (11) Sep 28 (11) Sep 27 (15) Sep 26 (7) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (11) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (17) Sep 20 (20) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (11) Sep 16 (10) Sep 15 (12) Sep 14 (9) Sep 13 (12) Sep 12 (14) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (8) Sep 09 (9) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (13) Sep 06 (15) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (11) Sep 03 (10) Sep 02 (12) Sep 01 (12) Aug 31 (14) Aug 30 (14) Aug 29 (8) Aug 28 (8) Aug 27 (9) Aug 26 (12) Aug 25 (6) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (12) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (6) Aug 19 (9) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (7) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (12) Aug 12 (15) Aug 11 (11) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (7) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (7) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (5) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (9) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (8) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (6) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (6) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (15) Jul 15 (14) Jul 14 (5) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (12) Jul 11 (8) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (11) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (10) Jul 05 (4) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (10) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (2) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (7) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (7) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (11) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (14) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (8) Jun 09 (9) Jun 08 (11) Jun 07 (14) Jun 06 (16) Jun 03 (8) Jun 02 (12) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (7) May 30 (15) May 28 (7) May 27 (5) May 26 (21) May 25 (14) May 24 (10) May 23 (7) May 22 (8) May 21 (11) May 20 (5) May 19 (4) May 18 (10) May 17 (11) May 16 (5) May 15 (6) May 14 (7) May 13 (12) May 12 (10) May 11 (7) May 10 (13) May 09 (4) May 08 (7) May 07 (3) May 06 (6) May 05 (9) May 04 (14) May 03 (7) May 02 (10) May 01 (10) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (9) Apr 28 (5) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (8) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (14) Apr 22 (16) Apr 21 (11) Apr 20 (7) Apr 19 (16) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (10) Apr 15 (8) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (11) Apr 12 (10) Apr 11 (8) Apr 10 (12) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (13) Apr 07 (9) Apr 06 (11) Apr 05 (15) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (15) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (11) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (10) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (7) Mar 27 (12) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (8) Mar 24 (7) Mar 23 (15) Mar 22 (17) Mar 21 (9) Mar 20 (8) Mar 19 (4) Mar 18 (16) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (19) Mar 15 (13) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (20) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (11) Mar 09 (13) Mar 08 (13) Mar 07 (7) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (16) Mar 02 (16) Mar 01 (13) Feb 29 (8) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (16) Feb 26 (10) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (12) Feb 23 (14) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (8) Feb 19 (12) Feb 18 (12) Feb 17 (11) Feb 16 (8) Feb 15 (9) Feb 14 (7) Feb 13 (10) Feb 12 (11) Feb 11 (13) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (13) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (11) Feb 03 (7) Feb 02 (19) Jan 31 (21) Jan 29 (11) Jan 28 (10) Jan 27 (13) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (2) Jan 23 (8) Jan 22 (13) Jan 21 (11) Jan 20 (9) Jan 19 (13) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (11) Jan 15 (7) Jan 14 (13) Jan 13 (9) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (7) Jan 07 (6) Jan 06 (11) Jan 05 (7) Jan 04 (7) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (8) Jan 01 (5) Dec 31 (10) Dec 30 (9) Dec 29 (7) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (1) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (6) Dec 23 (6) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (6) Dec 20 (7) Dec 19 (13) Dec 18 (16) Dec 17 (10) Dec 16 (13) Dec 15 (11) Dec 14 (8) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (9) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (12) Dec 09 (10) Dec 08 (13) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (12) Dec 05 (8) Dec 04 (11) Dec 03 (12) Dec 02 (16) Dec 01 (14) Nov 30 (10) Nov 29 (11) Nov 28 (15) Nov 27 (16) Nov 26 (11) Nov 25 (9) Nov 24 (13) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (1) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (11) Nov 17 (11) Nov 16 (10) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (10) Nov 13 (14) Nov 12 (8) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (11) Nov 06 (12) Nov 05 (17) Nov 04 (12) Nov 03 (11) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (12) Oct 31 (11) Oct 30 (11) Oct 29 (10) Oct 28 (18) Oct 27 (16) Oct 26 (11) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (12) Oct 23 (11) Oct 22 (14) Oct 21 (12) Oct 20 (17) Oct 19 (12) Oct 18 (13) Oct 17 (15) Oct 16 (14) Oct 15 (10) Oct 14 (16) Oct 13 (12) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (8) Oct 10 (12) Oct 09 (21) Oct 08 (22) Oct 07 (19) Oct 06 (18) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (17) Oct 03 (13) Oct 02 (14) Oct 01 (13) Sep 30 (14) Sep 29 (15) Sep 28 (12) Sep 27 (11) Sep 26 (15) Sep 25 (13) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (10) Sep 22 (12) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (12) Sep 18 (12) Sep 17 (16) Sep 16 (21) Sep 15 (14) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (10) Sep 11 (16) Sep 10 (7) Sep 09 (8) Sep 08 (10) Sep 07 (7) Sep 06 (5) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (9) Sep 03 (8) Sep 02 (11) Sep 01 (10) Aug 31 (4) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (1) Aug 28 (10) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (8) Aug 25 (14) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (13) Aug 20 (9) Aug 19 (13) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (8) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (12) Aug 11 (9) Aug 10 (8) Aug 09 (14) Aug 08 (6) Aug 07 (1) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (8) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (2) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (6) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (6) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (5) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (9) Jul 14 (2) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (1) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (13) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (7) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (1) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (9) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (3) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (7) Jun 17 (7) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (11) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (10) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (2) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (8) Jun 03 (9) Jun 02 (6) Jun 01 (4) May 30 (7) May 29 (9) May 28 (13) May 26 (8) May 25 (5) May 24 (2) May 23 (8) May 22 (9) May 21 (7) May 20 (4) May 19 (6) May 18 (7) May 17 (8) May 15 (9) May 14 (5) May 13 (8) May 12 (6) May 11 (6) May 09 (7) May 08 (6) May 07 (11) May 06 (7) May 05 (4) May 04 (11) May 03 (5) May 02 (4) May 01 (9) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (9) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (10) Apr 22 (8) Apr 21 (9) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (4) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (6) Apr 10 (2) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (5) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (2) Apr 05 (2) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (7) Apr 02 (7) Apr 01 (12) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (2) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (2) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (4) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (6) Mar 20 (9) Mar 19 (9) Mar 18 (8) Mar 17 (9) Mar 16 (7) Mar 15 (11) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (12) Mar 11 (9) Mar 10 (12) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (5) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (11) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (8) Feb 27 (9) Feb 26 (9) Feb 25 (8) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (3) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (10) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (7) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (2) Feb 14 (8) Feb 13 (12) Feb 12 (8) Feb 11 (10) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (2) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (11) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (8) Jan 29 (12) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (8) Jan 26 (13) Jan 24 (8) Jan 23 (12) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (10) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (11) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (6) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (6) Jan 06 (4) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (3) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (5) Dec 18 (8) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (9) Dec 15 (7) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (10) Dec 11 (9) Dec 10 (10) Dec 09 (11) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (9) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (8) Dec 02 (10) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (1) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (9) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (7) Nov 25 (12) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (8) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (6) Nov 18 (10) Nov 17 (12) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (12) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (7) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (6) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (9) Nov 03 (6) Nov 02 (14) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (7) Oct 29 (9) Oct 28 (9) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (8) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (2) Oct 19 (11) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (7) Oct 15 (7) Oct 14 (8) Oct 13 (5) Oct 12 (8) Oct 11 (6) Oct 10 (5) Oct 09 (11) Oct 08 (10) Oct 07 (8) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (8) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (10) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (7) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (8) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (11) Sep 24 (15) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (9) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (9) Sep 18 (10) Sep 17 (10) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (8) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (7) Sep 04 (11) Sep 03 (7) Sep 02 (7) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (10) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (10) Aug 25 (6) Aug 24 (9) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (8) Aug 20 (12) Aug 19 (8) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (8) Aug 11 (7) Aug 10 (12) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (6) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (8) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (4) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (12) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (8) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (8) Jul 20 (6) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (8) Jul 17 (2) Jul 16 (7) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (9) Jul 13 (10) Jul 11 (9) Jul 10 (8) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (7) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (7) Jul 05 (10) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (5) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (1) Jun 27 (15) Jun 26 (10) Jun 25 (9) Jun 24 (16) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (12) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (8) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (6) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (13) Jun 12 (7) Jun 11 (14) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (2) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (7) Jun 06 (16) Jun 05 (7) Jun 04 (18) Jun 03 (12) Jun 02 (8) May 31 (3) May 30 (6) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (6) May 23 (4) May 22 (8) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (2) May 18 (9) May 17 (1) May 16 (5) May 15 (5) May 14 (7) May 13 (7) May 12 (7) May 11 (4) May 10 (4) May 09 (5) May 08 (10) May 07 (4) May 06 (13) May 05 (4) May 04 (10) May 02 (2) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (9) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (9) Apr 25 (9) Apr 24 (7) Apr 23 (11) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (10) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (7) Apr 14 (11) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (9) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (6) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (10) Apr 03 (9) Apr 02 (9) Apr 01 (12) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (10) Mar 28 (7) Mar 27 (8) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (15) Mar 24 (11) Mar 23 (8) Mar 22 (7) Mar 21 (14) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (11) Mar 18 (11) Mar 17 (12) Mar 16 (8) Mar 15 (8) Mar 14 (13) Mar 13 (8) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (8) Mar 10 (7) Mar 09 (3) Mar 08 (12) Mar 07 (15) Mar 06 (16) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (12) Mar 02 (20) Feb 28 (11) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (11) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (14) Feb 23 (5) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (8) Feb 20 (11) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (8) Feb 16 (11) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (10) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (10) Feb 11 (7) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (5) Jan 29 (2) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (2) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (7) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (5) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (7) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (4) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (3) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (1) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (2) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (1) Dec 29 (5) Dec 27 (1) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (8) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (1) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (4) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (7) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (2) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (10) Dec 04 (9) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (2) Dec 01 (8) Nov 29 (5) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (5) Nov 26 (9) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (5) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (12) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (8) Nov 15 (7) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (12) Nov 11 (6) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (9) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (10) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (11) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (7) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (7) Oct 23 (11) Oct 22 (2) Oct 21 (7) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (7) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (7) Oct 11 (20) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (21) Oct 07 (20) Oct 06 (34) Oct 04 (24) Oct 03 (21) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (7) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (5) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (5) Sep 26 (6) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (2) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (9) Sep 19 (11) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (6) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (8) Sep 12 (11) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (6) Sep 06 (10) Sep 05 (7) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (5) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (8) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (7) Aug 29 (10) Aug 28 (7) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (8) Aug 20 (8) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (2) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (7) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (4) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (6) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (12) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (10) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (6) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (7) Jul 23 (10) Jul 22 (8) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (7) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (10) Jul 16 (11) Jul 15 (5) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (9) Jul 11 (11) Jul 10 (12) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (8) Jul 06 (9) Jul 05 (10) Jul 04 (8) Jul 03 (10) Jul 02 (12) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (5) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (23) Jun 27 (18) Jun 26 (12) Jun 25 (14) Jun 24 (15) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (11) Jun 21 (15) Jun 20 (9) Jun 19 (8) Jun 18 (11) Jun 17 (7) Jun 16 (6) Jun 15 (6) Jun 14 (6) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (9) Jun 10 (10) Jun 09 (9) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (2) Jun 06 (6) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (3) May 30 (5) May 29 (8) May 28 (7) May 27 (2) May 26 (2) May 25 (8) May 24 (7) May 23 (6) May 22 (9) May 21 (6) May 20 (5) May 19 (6) May 18 (9) May 17 (10) May 16 (11) May 15 (5) May 14 (11) May 13 (6) May 12 (7) May 11 (7) May 10 (5) May 09 (3) May 08 (10) May 07 (8) May 06 (11) May 05 (5) May 04 (9) May 03 (3) May 02 (2) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (5) Apr 29 (8) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (9) Apr 25 (11) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (11) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (7) Apr 19 (10) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (10) Apr 16 (8) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (7) Apr 12 (11) Apr 11 (6) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (9) Apr 05 (10) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (2) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (3) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (10) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (9) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (9) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (8) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (10) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (2) Mar 10 (1) Mar 09 (6) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (9) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (2) Feb 17 (1) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (7) Feb 11 (2) Feb 10 (2) Feb 09 (5) Feb 08 (5) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (9) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (3) Feb 02 (10) Feb 01 (9) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (8) Jan 29 (5) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (8) Jan 15 (7) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (1) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (1) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (2) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (4) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (8) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (4) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (8) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (8) Dec 10 (5) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (4) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (7) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (6) Dec 03 (7) Dec 02 (1) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (2) Nov 29 (8) Nov 28 (16) Nov 27 (7) Nov 26 (5) Nov 25 (2) Nov 24 (6) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (15) Nov 19 (8) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (7) Nov 14 (6) Nov 13 (9) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (5) Nov 08 (8) Nov 07 (9) Nov 06 (9) Nov 05 (1) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (8) Nov 02 (6) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (7) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (8) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (1) Oct 22 (6) Oct 21 (1) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (10) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (15) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (7) Oct 10 (1) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (8) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (7) Oct 02 (6) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (8) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (13) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (8) Sep 25 (8) Sep 24 (8) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (9) Sep 20 (7) Sep 19 (8) Sep 18 (4) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (8) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (7) Sep 12 (7) Sep 11 (9) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (10) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (12) Sep 06 (13) Sep 05 (15) Sep 04 (5) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (9) Aug 31 (7) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (8) Aug 28 (11) Aug 27 (2) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (15) Aug 24 (6) Aug 23 (8) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (7) Aug 19 (2) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (9) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (5) Aug 08 (7) Aug 07 (9) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (9) Aug 01 (10) Jul 31 (11) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (11) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (5) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (6) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (7) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (7) Jul 12 (8) Jul 11 (6) Jul 10 (14) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (9) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (6) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (8) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (14) Jun 22 (11) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (8) Jun 19 (7) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (12) Jun 15 (12) Jun 14 (10) Jun 13 (10) Jun 12 (9) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (12) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (12) Jun 06 (6) Jun 05 (7) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (8) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (8) May 28 (7) May 27 (4) May 26 (3) May 25 (5) May 24 (9) May 23 (16) May 22 (12) May 21 (11) May 20 (7) May 19 (10) May 18 (8) May 17 (8) May 16 (10) May 15 (8) May 14 (5) May 13 (1) May 12 (6) May 11 (9) May 10 (9) May 09 (10) May 08 (9) May 07 (6) May 06 (5) May 05 (7) May 04 (10) May 03 (7) May 02 (9) May 01 (10) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (9) Apr 28 (12) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (9) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (9) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (2) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (10) Apr 14 (7) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (7) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (7) Apr 07 (10) Apr 06 (8) Apr 05 (8) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (4) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (11) Mar 30 (12) Mar 29 (16) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (10) Mar 26 (12) Mar 25 (6) Mar 24 (9) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (12) Mar 20 (14) Mar 19 (8) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (9) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (13) Mar 09 (8) Mar 08 (10) Mar 07 (12) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (2) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (12) Mar 01 (8) Feb 29 (11) Feb 28 (5) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (13) Feb 25 (10) Feb 24 (13) Feb 23 (10) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (18) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (5) Feb 16 (9) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (8) Feb 09 (5) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (10) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (12) Jan 30 (7) Jan 29 (7) Jan 28 (7) Jan 27 (12) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (11) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (6) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (12) Jan 20 (11) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (6) Jan 17 (11) Jan 16 (9) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (9) Jan 10 (10) Jan 09 (5) Jan 08 (10) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (8) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (8) Jan 02 (7) Jan 01 (7) Dec 31 (10) Dec 30 (11) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (10) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (7) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (9) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (8) Dec 19 (5) Dec 18 (1) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (6) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (13) Dec 13 (8) Dec 12 (7) Dec 11 (9) Dec 10 (12) Dec 09 (7) Dec 08 (11) Dec 07 (9) Dec 06 (11) Dec 05 (10) Dec 04 (6) Dec 03 (8) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (14) Nov 30 (7) Nov 29 (8) Nov 28 (8) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (9) Nov 25 (10) Nov 24 (12) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (10) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (8) Nov 17 (9) Nov 16 (9) Nov 15 (12) Nov 14 (6) Nov 13 (9) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (10) Nov 08 (7) Nov 07 (8) Nov 06 (10) Nov 05 (8) Nov 04 (7) Nov 03 (10) Nov 02 (11) Nov 01 (10) Oct 31 (5) Oct 30 (8) Oct 29 (8) Oct 28 (8) Oct 27 (11) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (10) Oct 23 (5) Oct 22 (14) Oct 21 (10) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (11) Oct 18 (13) Oct 17 (7) Oct 16 (6) Oct 15 (9) Oct 14 (7) Oct 13 (12) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (9) Oct 10 (8) Oct 09 (9) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (12) Oct 06 (8) Oct 05 (13) Oct 04 (11) Oct 03 (7) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (14) Sep 30 (12) Sep 29 (12) Sep 28 (11) Sep 27 (11) Sep 26 (7) Sep 25 (10) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (7) Sep 22 (8) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (7) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (14) Sep 16 (7) Sep 15 (11) Sep 14 (13) Sep 13 (11) Sep 12 (9) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (13) Sep 08 (11) Sep 07 (11) Sep 06 (16) Sep 05 (1) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (8) Sep 02 (8) Sep 01 (7) Aug 31 (1) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (8) Aug 25 (5) Aug 24 (5) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (7) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (9) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (7) Aug 16 (10) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (10) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (12) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (14) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (13) Jul 28 (10) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (12) Jul 22 (14) Jul 21 (6) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (12) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (6) Jul 15 (8) Jul 14 (15) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (10) Jul 11 (6) Jul 10 (6) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (9) Jul 06 (15) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (10) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (11) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (11) Jun 24 (9) Jun 23 (10) Jun 22 (8) Jun 21 (8) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (5) Jun 18 (15) Jun 17 (8) Jun 16 (13) Jun 15 (15) Jun 14 (11) Jun 13 (6) Jun 12 (15) Jun 11 (7) Jun 10 (7) Jun 09 (18) Jun 08 (20) Jun 07 (17) Jun 06 (9) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (12) Jun 03 (13) Jun 02 (14) Jun 01 (8) May 31 (13) May 30 (8) May 29 (6) May 28 (8) May 27 (17) May 26 (8) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (9) May 22 (4) May 21 (4) May 20 (11) May 19 (14) May 18 (6) May 17 (10) May 16 (4) May 15 (5) May 14 (28) May 12 (9) May 11 (17) May 10 (15) May 09 (12) May 08 (5) May 07 (4) May 06 (10) May 05 (8) May 04 (10) May 03 (5) May 02 (6) May 01 (8) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (12) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (11) Apr 26 (12) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (5) Apr 22 (10) Apr 21 (19) Apr 20 (13) Apr 19 (11) Apr 18 (11) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (12) Apr 15 (11) Apr 14 (17) Apr 13 (6) Apr 12 (16) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (1) Apr 09 (18) Apr 08 (14) Apr 07 (6) Apr 06 (10) Apr 05 (21) Apr 04 (12) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (13) Apr 01 (8) Mar 31 (10) Mar 30 (11) Mar 29 (10) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (12) Mar 25 (15) Mar 24 (10) Mar 23 (12) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (8) Mar 20 (4) Mar 19 (11) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (9) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (2) Mar 12 (14) Mar 11 (13) Mar 10 (7) Mar 09 (9) Mar 08 (17) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (7) Mar 05 (13) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (14) Mar 02 (12) Mar 01 (18) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (2) Feb 26 (9) Feb 25 (13) Feb 24 (17) Feb 23 (13) Feb 22 (12) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (11) Feb 19 (16) Feb 18 (17) Feb 17 (15) Feb 16 (15) Feb 15 (15) Feb 14 (10) Feb 13 (8) Feb 12 (10) Feb 11 (15) Feb 10 (11) Feb 09 (13) Feb 08 (10) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (15) Feb 04 (15) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (14) Feb 01 (15) Jan 31 (11) Jan 30 (9) Jan 29 (19) Jan 28 (9) Jan 27 (9) Jan 26 (16) Jan 25 (19) Jan 24 (17) Jan 23 (8) Jan 22 (15) Jan 21 (9) Jan 20 (11) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (12) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (14) Jan 12 (11) Jan 11 (13) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (20) Jan 07 (11) Jan 06 (11) Jan 05 (8) Jan 04 (14) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (7) Jan 01 (7) Dec 31 (14) Dec 30 (15) Dec 29 (7) Dec 28 (10) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (11) Dec 24 (9) Dec 23 (9) Dec 22 (15) Dec 21 (12) Dec 20 (11) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (16) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (12) Dec 15 (14) Dec 14 (11) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (17) Dec 09 (11) Dec 08 (12) Dec 07 (16) Dec 06 (11) Dec 05 (5) Dec 04 (12) Dec 03 (15) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (12) Nov 30 (16) Nov 29 (7) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (13) Nov 25 (16) Nov 24 (15) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (8) Nov 19 (9) Nov 18 (16) Nov 17 (11) Nov 16 (11) Nov 15 (10) Nov 14 (9) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (10) Nov 11 (12) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (6) Nov 06 (7) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (14) Nov 03 (10) Nov 02 (13) Nov 01 (9) Oct 31 (9) Oct 30 (11) Oct 29 (18) Oct 28 (13) Oct 27 (23) Oct 26 (12) Oct 25 (14) Oct 24 (20) Oct 22 (18) Oct 21 (18) Oct 20 (19) Oct 19 (12) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (18) Oct 15 (8) Oct 14 (11) Oct 13 (9) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (6) Oct 10 (7) Oct 09 (27) Oct 08 (14) Oct 07 (10) Oct 06 (9) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (10) Oct 03 (6) Oct 02 (9) Oct 01 (13) Sep 30 (12) Sep 29 (13) Sep 28 (8) Sep 27 (9) Sep 26 (8) Sep 25 (14) Sep 24 (4) Sep 23 (14) Sep 22 (20) Sep 21 (11) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (9) Sep 18 (14) Sep 17 (8) Sep 16 (17) Sep 15 (6) Sep 14 (11) Sep 13 (9) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (14) Sep 09 (12) Sep 08 (17) Sep 07 (12) Sep 06 (13) Sep 05 (9) Sep 04 (20) Sep 03 (16) Sep 02 (16) Sep 01 (10) Aug 31 (13) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (9) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (11) Aug 25 (10) Aug 24 (14) Aug 23 (12) Aug 22 (13) Aug 21 (10) Aug 20 (13) Aug 19 (15) Aug 18 (8) Aug 17 (10) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (11) Aug 13 (12) Aug 12 (15) Aug 11 (10) Aug 10 (17) Aug 09 (6) Aug 08 (13) Aug 07 (11) Aug 06 (13) Aug 05 (11) Aug 04 (11) Aug 03 (10) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (10) Jul 30 (21) Jul 29 (14) Jul 28 (13) Jul 27 (16) Jul 26 (10) Jul 25 (15) Jul 24 (17) Jul 23 (15) Jul 22 (15) Jul 21 (19) Jul 20 (17) Jul 19 (9) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (26) Jul 16 (18) Jul 15 (20) Jul 14 (16) Jul 13 (19) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (13) Jul 09 (11) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (12) Jul 06 (16) Jul 05 (9) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (15) Jul 02 (11) Jul 01 (14) Jun 30 (13) Jun 29 (19) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (9) Jun 26 (16) Jun 25 (22) Jun 24 (17) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (15) Jun 21 (14) Jun 20 (8) Jun 19 (17) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (10) Jun 16 (17) Jun 15 (13) Jun 14 (14) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (13) Jun 11 (15) Jun 10 (25) Jun 09 (10) Jun 08 (23) Jun 07 (14) Jun 06 (20) Jun 05 (10) Jun 04 (11) Jun 03 (12) Jun 02 (21) Jun 01 (14) May 31 (10) May 30 (14) May 29 (8) May 28 (23) May 27 (20) May 26 (16) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (10) May 22 (18) May 21 (14) May 20 (12) May 19 (18) May 18 (14) May 17 (13) May 16 (4) May 15 (7) May 14 (16) May 13 (13) May 12 (8) May 11 (18) May 10 (8) May 09 (7) May 08 (13) May 07 (11) May 06 (15) May 05 (18) May 04 (17) May 03 (7) May 02 (5) May 01 (11) Apr 30 (19) Apr 29 (21) Apr 28 (18) Apr 27 (16) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (11) Apr 24 (9) Apr 23 (20) Apr 22 (23) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (16) Apr 19 (13) Apr 18 (6) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (16) Apr 15 (18) Apr 14 (13) Apr 13 (14) Apr 12 (9) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (16) Apr 09 (14) Apr 08 (12) Apr 07 (18) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (11) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (19) Apr 02 (17) Apr 01 (16) Mar 31 (16) Mar 30 (22) Mar 29 (16) Mar 28 (16) Mar 27 (19) Mar 26 (31) Mar 25 (25) Mar 24 (26) Mar 23 (27) Mar 22 (22) Mar 21 (22) Mar 20 (13) Mar 19 (21) Mar 18 (20) Mar 17 (24) Mar 16 (18) Mar 15 (9) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (29) Mar 12 (15) Mar 11 (11) Mar 10 (11) Mar 09 (20) Mar 08 (12) Mar 07 (6) Mar 06 (21) Mar 05 (22) Mar 04 (19) Mar 03 (9) Mar 02 (20) Mar 01 (11) Feb 28 (11) Feb 27 (27) Feb 26 (15) Feb 25 (18) Feb 24 (17) Feb 23 (19) Feb 22 (24) Feb 21 (10) Feb 20 (14) Feb 19 (25) Feb 18 (16) Feb 17 (19) Feb 16 (23) Feb 15 (8) Feb 14 (11) Feb 13 (25) Feb 12 (16) Feb 11 (12) Feb 10 (18) Feb 09 (12) Feb 08 (14) Feb 07 (8) Feb 06 (27) Feb 05 (28) Feb 04 (24) Feb 03 (17) Feb 02 (20) Feb 01 (23) Jan 31 (16) Jan 30 (20) Jan 29 (26) Jan 28 (17) Jan 27 (21) Jan 26 (24) Jan 25 (16) Jan 24 (14) Jan 23 (16) Jan 22 (17) Jan 21 (19) Jan 20 (21) Jan 19 (17) Jan 18 (13) Jan 17 (14) Jan 16 (10) Jan 15 (21) Jan 14 (16) Jan 13 (19) Jan 12 (30) Jan 11 (14) Jan 10 (11) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (23) Jan 07 (13) Jan 06 (21) Jan 05 (15) Jan 04 (18) Jan 03 (9) Jan 02 (12) Jan 01 (15) Dec 31 (18) Dec 30 (7) Dec 29 (13) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (6) Dec 25 (8) Dec 24 (28) Dec 23 (12) Dec 22 (12) Dec 21 (17) Dec 20 (19) Dec 19 (19) Dec 18 (22) Dec 17 (24) Dec 16 (17) Dec 15 (29) Dec 14 (22) Dec 13 (12) Dec 12 (22) Dec 11 (24) Dec 10 (25) Dec 09 (18) Dec 08 (15) Dec 07 (21) Dec 06 (24) Dec 05 (30) Dec 04 (28) Dec 03 (26) Dec 02 (22) Dec 01 (33) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (9) Nov 28 (18) Nov 27 (25) Nov 26 (17) Nov 25 (23) Nov 24 (27) Nov 23 (12) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (15) Nov 20 (23) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (24) Nov 17 (21) Nov 16 (20) Nov 15 (13) Nov 14 (15) Nov 13 (27) Nov 12 (23) Nov 11 (19) Nov 10 (21) Nov 09 (13) Nov 08 (16) Nov 07 (16) Nov 06 (32) Nov 05 (24) Nov 04 (20) Nov 03 (29) Nov 02 (12) Nov 01 (15) Oct 31 (20) Oct 30 (22) Oct 29 (27) Oct 28 (20) Oct 27 (23) Oct 26 (21) Oct 25 (15) Oct 24 (23) Oct 23 (26) Oct 22 (27) Oct 21 (28) Oct 20 (24) Oct 19 (13) Oct 18 (9) Oct 17 (30) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (20) Oct 14 (14) Oct 13 (17) Oct 12 (16) Oct 11 (8) Oct 10 (19) Oct 09 (22) Oct 08 (16) Oct 07 (18) Oct 06 (23) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (15) Oct 03 (21) Oct 02 (17) Oct 01 (22) Sep 30 (25) Sep 29 (20) Sep 28 (17) Sep 27 (13) Sep 26 (20) Sep 25 (15) Sep 24 (24) Sep 23 (23) Sep 22 (18) Sep 21 (20) Sep 20 (11) Sep 19 (24) Sep 18 (25) Sep 17 (25) Sep 16 (19) Sep 15 (21) Sep 14 (15) Sep 13 (10) Sep 12 (23) Sep 11 (23) Sep 10 (25) Sep 09 (25) Sep 08 (17) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (17) Sep 05 (14) Sep 04 (24) Sep 03 (16) Sep 02 (11) Sep 01 (19) Aug 31 (20) Aug 30 (11) Aug 29 (24) Aug 28 (24) Aug 27 (16) Aug 26 (26) Aug 25 (21) Aug 24 (15) Aug 23 (19) Aug 22 (15) Aug 21 (25) Aug 20 (27) Aug 19 (19) Aug 18 (24) Aug 17 (14) Aug 16 (10) Aug 15 (15) Aug 14 (16) Aug 13 (21) Aug 12 (30) Aug 11 (19) Aug 10 (8) Aug 09 (12) Aug 08 (17) Aug 07 (21) Aug 06 (26) Aug 05 (23) Aug 04 (21) Aug 03 (12) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (19) Jul 31 (21) Jul 30 (25) Jul 29 (29) Jul 28 (23) Jul 27 (17) Jul 26 (11) Jul 25 (21) Jul 24 (14) Jul 23 (15) Jul 22 (19) Jul 21 (15) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (10) Jul 18 (15) Jul 17 (22) Jul 16 (18) Jul 15 (21) Jul 14 (20) Jul 13 (7) Jul 12 (9) Jul 11 (29) Jul 10 (19) Jul 09 (17) Jul 08 (26) Jul 07 (21) Jul 06 (18) Jul 05 (14) Jul 04 (20) Jul 03 (17) Jul 02 (24) Jul 01 (23) Jun 30 (23) Jun 29 (18) Jun 28 (16) Jun 27 (16) Jun 26 (17) Jun 25 (23) Jun 24 (32) Jun 23 (29) Jun 22 (8) Jun 21 (17) Jun 20 (25) Jun 19 (28) Jun 18 (19) Jun 17 (25) Jun 16 (23) Jun 15 (9) Jun 14 (11) Jun 13 (14) Jun 12 (22) Jun 11 (19) Jun 10 (17) Jun 09 (15) Jun 08 (16) Jun 07 (7) Jun 06 (29) Jun 05 (27) Jun 04 (24) Jun 03 (22) Jun 02 (22) Jun 01 (13) May 31 (9) May 30 (26) May 29 (19) May 28 (15) May 27 (15) May 26 (23) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (24) May 22 (13) May 21 (21) May 20 (18) May 19 (16) May 18 (7) May 17 (12) May 16 (25) May 15 (24) May 14 (23) May 13 (19) May 12 (17) May 11 (8) May 10 (6) May 09 (14) May 08 (21) May 07 (26) May 06 (14) May 05 (14) May 04 (3) May 03 (3) May 02 (24) May 01 (13) Apr 30 (15) Apr 29 (24) Apr 28 (24) Apr 27 (11) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (13) Apr 24 (27) Apr 23 (15) Apr 22 (21) Apr 21 (19) Apr 20 (17) Apr 19 (8) Apr 18 (20) Apr 17 (27) Apr 16 (27) Apr 15 (21) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (8) Apr 12 (7) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (22) Apr 09 (15) Apr 08 (15) Apr 07 (17) Apr 06 (14) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (12) Apr 03 (19) Apr 02 (17) Apr 01 (19) Mar 31 (25) Mar 30 (13) Mar 29 (9) Mar 28 (16) Mar 27 (23) Mar 26 (22) Mar 25 (17) Mar 24 (25) Mar 23 (16) Mar 22 (13) Mar 21 (24) Mar 20 (27) Mar 19 (20) Mar 18 (24) Mar 17 (17) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (20) Mar 13 (28) Mar 12 (30) Mar 11 (20) Mar 10 (21) Mar 09 (12) Mar 08 (8) Mar 07 (17) Mar 06 (20) Mar 05 (19) Mar 04 (15) Mar 03 (17) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (12) Feb 28 (16) Feb 27 (17) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (23) Feb 24 (15) Feb 23 (8) Feb 22 (10) Feb 21 (24) Feb 20 (14) Feb 19 (24) Feb 18 (19) Feb 17 (27) Feb 16 (13) Feb 15 (11) Feb 14 (15) Feb 13 (13) Feb 12 (13) Feb 11 (21) Feb 10 (16) Feb 09 (15) Feb 08 (10) Feb 07 (17) Feb 06 (21) Feb 05 (17) Feb 04 (14) Feb 03 (23) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (8) Jan 31 (17) Jan 30 (22) Jan 29 (23) Jan 28 (10) Jan 27 (24) Jan 26 (12) Jan 25 (9) Jan 24 (12) Jan 23 (19) Jan 22 (19) Jan 21 (14) Jan 20 (21) Jan 19 (12) Jan 18 (8) Jan 17 (20) Jan 16 (14) Jan 15 (23) Jan 14 (8) Jan 13 (20) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (18) Jan 09 (11) Jan 08 (18) Jan 07 (13) Jan 06 (12) Jan 05 (12) Jan 04 (11) Jan 03 (10) Jan 02 (9) Jan 01 (9) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (11) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (13) Dec 26 (15) Dec 25 (8) Dec 24 (6) Dec 23 (8) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (6) Dec 20 (14) Dec 19 (17) Dec 18 (14) Dec 17 (14) Dec 16 (13) Dec 15 (9) Dec 14 (9) Dec 13 (11) Dec 12 (16) Dec 11 (18) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (24) Dec 08 (11) Dec 07 (19) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (26) Dec 04 (15) Dec 03 (20) Dec 02 (17) Dec 01 (11) Nov 30 (10) Nov 29 (18) Nov 28 (21) Nov 27 (10) Nov 26 (22) Nov 25 (16) Nov 24 (12) Nov 23 (8) Nov 22 (18) Nov 21 (9) Nov 20 (17) Nov 19 (16) Nov 18 (16) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (9) Nov 15 (21) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (20) Nov 12 (16) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (9) Nov 09 (10) Nov 08 (16) Nov 07 (15) Nov 06 (18) Nov 05 (19) Nov 04 (16) Nov 03 (11) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (17) Oct 31 (17) Oct 30 (21) Oct 29 (9) Oct 28 (16) Oct 27 (6) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (16) Oct 24 (18) Oct 23 (14) Oct 22 (17) Oct 21 (10) Oct 20 (6) Oct 19 (8) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (12) Oct 16 (14) Oct 15 (19) Oct 14 (15) Oct 13 (11) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (10) Oct 10 (23) Oct 09 (13) Oct 08 (15) Oct 07 (20) Oct 06 (13) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (16) Oct 03 (17) Oct 02 (17) Oct 01 (20) Sep 30 (17) Sep 29 (9) Sep 28 (8) Sep 27 (14) Sep 26 (20) Sep 25 (19) Sep 24 (13) Sep 23 (11) Sep 22 (9) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (21) Sep 18 (12) Sep 17 (20) Sep 16 (16) Sep 15 (10) Sep 14 (6) Sep 13 (18) Sep 12 (14) Sep 11 (24) Sep 10 (17) Sep 09 (16) Sep 08 (16) Sep 07 (10) Sep 06 (20) Sep 05 (13) Sep 04 (23) Sep 03 (14) Sep 02 (12) Sep 01 (11) Aug 31 (11) Aug 30 (13) Aug 29 (18) Aug 28 (14) Aug 27 (21) Aug 26 (10) Aug 25 (8) Aug 24 (10) Aug 23 (17) Aug 22 (15) Aug 21 (14) Aug 20 (20) Aug 19 (20) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (9) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (12) Aug 14 (14) Aug 13 (19) Aug 12 (14) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (12) Aug 09 (7) Aug 08 (18) Aug 07 (16) Aug 06 (16) Aug 05 (20) Aug 04 (12) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (12) Aug 01 (14) Jul 31 (16) Jul 30 (16) Jul 29 (11) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (9) Jul 26 (17) Jul 25 (20) Jul 24 (17) Jul 23 (11) Jul 22 (18) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (14) Jul 18 (11) Jul 17 (15) Jul 16 (12) Jul 15 (10) Jul 14 (8) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (17) Jul 11 (18) Jul 10 (16) Jul 09 (13) Jul 08 (10) Jul 07 (12) Jul 06 (8) Jul 05 (16) Jul 04 (14) Jul 03 (17) Jul 02 (13) Jul 01 (16) Jun 30 (19) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (19) Jun 27 (21) Jun 26 (27) Jun 25 (23) Jun 24 (23) Jun 23 (12) Jun 22 (9) Jun 21 (18) Jun 20 (15) Jun 19 (24) Jun 18 (21) Jun 17 (13) Jun 16 (9) Jun 15 (9) Jun 14 (18) Jun 13 (24) Jun 12 (18) Jun 11 (23) Jun 10 (25) Jun 09 (24) Jun 08 (27) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (25) Jun 05 (30) Jun 04 (23) Jun 03 (22) Jun 02 (16) Jun 01 (17) May 31 (18) May 30 (19) May 29 (17) May 28 (23) May 27 (15) May 26 (10) May 25 (19) May 24 (16) May 23 (16) May 22 (27) May 21 (20) May 20 (26) May 19 (6) May 18 (8) May 17 (20) May 16 (8) May 15 (18) May 14 (5) May 13 (21) May 12 (9) May 11 (8) May 10 (12) May 09 (18) May 08 (11) May 07 (27) May 06 (12) May 05 (16) May 04 (19) May 03 (14) May 02 (18) May 01 (18) Apr 30 (25) Apr 29 (27) Apr 28 (11) Apr 27 (10) Apr 26 (18) Apr 25 (10) Apr 24 (29) Apr 23 (29) Apr 22 (14) Apr 21 (15) Apr 20 (20) Apr 19 (22) Apr 18 (16) Apr 17 (32) Apr 16 (12) Apr 15 (21) Apr 14 (21) Apr 13 (15) Apr 12 (13) Apr 11 (14) Apr 10 (16) Apr 09 (20) Apr 08 (36) Apr 07 (22) Apr 06 (11) Apr 05 (28) Apr 04 (20) Apr 03 (29) Apr 02 (32) Apr 01 (18) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (15) Mar 28 (22) Mar 27 (24) Mar 26 (17) Mar 25 (17) Mar 24 (13) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (15) Mar 20 (18) Mar 19 (19) Mar 18 (16) Mar 17 (10) Mar 16 (6) Mar 15 (18) Mar 14 (24) Mar 13 (18) Mar 12 (18) Mar 11 (17) Mar 10 (13) Mar 09 (12) Mar 08 (18) Mar 07 (25) Mar 06 (16) Mar 05 (16) Mar 04 (22) Mar 03 (17) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (23) Feb 29 (19) Feb 28 (25) Feb 27 (26) Feb 26 (23) Feb 25 (12) Feb 24 (13) Feb 23 (15) Feb 22 (26) Feb 21 (31) Feb 20 (12) Feb 19 (21) Feb 18 (15) Feb 17 (10) Feb 16 (15) Feb 15 (19) Feb 14 (15) Feb 13 (25) Feb 12 (20) Feb 11 (9) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (28) Feb 08 (20) Feb 07 (22) Feb 06 (20) Feb 05 (19) Feb 04 (14) Feb 03 (16) Feb 02 (28) Feb 01 (37) Jan 31 (27) Jan 30 (31) Jan 29 (18) Jan 28 (14) Jan 27 (10) Jan 26 (18) Jan 25 (26) Jan 24 (34) Jan 23 (21) Jan 22 (21) Jan 21 (18) Jan 20 (18) Jan 19 (18) Jan 18 (26) Jan 17 (24) Jan 16 (23) Jan 15 (30) Jan 14 (20) Jan 13 (18) Jan 12 (24) Jan 11 (11) Jan 10 (23) Jan 09 (22) Jan 08 (17) Jan 07 (17) Jan 06 (9) Jan 05 (18) Jan 04 (15) Jan 03 (19) Jan 02 (14) Jan 01 (6) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (15) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (7) Dec 26 (10) Dec 25 (16) Dec 24 (13) Dec 23 (16) Dec 22 (11) Dec 21 (26) Dec 20 (28) Dec 19 (14) Dec 18 (25) Dec 17 (23) Dec 16 (19) Dec 15 (22) Dec 14 (38) Dec 13 (26) Dec 12 (25) Dec 11 (27) Dec 10 (31) Dec 09 (15) Dec 08 (30) Dec 07 (31) Dec 06 (27) Dec 05 (38) Dec 04 (25) Dec 03 (27) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (36) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (17) Nov 28 (23) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (16) Nov 25 (14) Nov 24 (18) Nov 23 (21) Nov 22 (21) Nov 21 (24) Nov 20 (20) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (17) Nov 17 (17) Nov 16 (34) Nov 15 (25) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (21) Nov 12 (18) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (12) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (4) Oct 29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1)
If youre looking to try out an online casino, there are several things that will help you make a decision. Heres what you should look for when choosing an online casino
Are they regulated? A lot of the larger ones have licenses issued by the authorities in their respective regions, so its worth checking this first.
Do they offer games from different software providers? Some casinos just use one software provider and limit your selection. This is fine if you like playing those types of games but you may want to check other casinos as well.
What does their payout percentage look like? The payout rate refers to how much money you can expect to win after every bet. A high payout rate means youll be able to play more often without having to worry about losing all your money. Its also important to know the minimum and maximum bets allowed on each game. If youre going to play roulette, for example, then you probably dont want a casino with a minimum bet of less than $2.50 or even lower than that.
The players used to play the game slot online in the land based casinos in the past time. But now with time after the invention of the online casinos players play the game slot online. Online platform provide the players with the convenience in playing and even better winning. Even after keeping a good percentage of the profits, they distribute good funds to players.
How many games do they offer? There are lots of different types of games to choose from. Roulette, blackjack and poker are some of the most popular options, but you might find slots, video pokers, video bingo and others as well. You can usually filter these games down to only show the ones that interest you best, so make sure that your list isnt too long!
Is there a bonus offer? Many online casinos offer free bonuses as part of their welcome package which includes new players being awarded 100% up to $10 instantly, for example. These offers are great but not everyone has access to them all the time (and some require you to deposit real money). If youd prefer to avoid paying a fee, some casinos offer no-deposit bonuses where you can get a certain amount of funds before you need to put any actual money into the account. These are usually offered alongside welcome bonuses, so make sure you read both parts of the terms and conditions carefully before signing up.
Does it offer live dealer games? Live dealers are much preferred by many over regular virtual versions, so it pays to check this option out too. Most online casinos now offer live dealer games in addition to their regular offerings, allowing you to experience the thrill of the real thing without needing to leave home.
Now that youve got an idea of what to look for when choosing an online casino, heres some tips for making the right choice
It really comes down to personal preference. No two people are exactly alike, so everyone has an opinion on what they like and dislike about each casino. That said, here are some things to consider in order to narrow down your choices
Popularity. Check out reviews, forums and Facebook pages to see what other people think of the casino. Also, ask around at work or friends houses who they would recommend to you. You could always take a look at the casinos website too, to see what kind of information they provide about themselves.
Reputation. Find out what the general public thinks about the casino. Check out any customer reviews on sites like Trustpilot, Amazon and Google Play to find out more. As far as gaming goes, you can also check out the Better Business Bureau to see whether there have been any complaints against the casino.
Security. Make sure the casino uses SSL encryption to secure its transactions, meaning that your private data stays safe during transactions. Other than that, look for security seals on the site itself and verify that theyre legitimate. You can also check out the casinos privacy policy to see how they handle confidential information.
Payment methods. Its good to have multiple payment options available, especially if you plan to play frequently. Its also nice to find a casino that accepts cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. If youre worried about safety, you can always opt for a credit card or PayPal instead.
With all those criteria in mind, heres our top picks
Betway:
Betway is a relatively new UK casino offering online gambling to residents of the United Kingdom and European Union. They offer hundreds of games across both land based and digital platforms, with plenty of top software providers like Net Entertainment, Microgaming and Yggdrasil Gaming Network. With a generous welcome offer that gives players 100% up to 100, you really cant go wrong with Betway.
Coral Casino:
Coral Casino is operated by the same company that runs the famous Caribbean casino, Grand Reef. Like many casinos, Coral Casino offers a wide variety of games, including plenty of video slots and table games. New players can benefit from a huge 100% match bonus up to 1000, while existing customers enjoy 25% cash back on deposits made within 48 hours of opening an account.
Ladbrokes Casino:
Ladbrokes Casino is owned by the same company as the famous bookmaker that started life in 1921. With more than 500 games from leading software providers such as Amaya, NetEnt and Microgaming, you wont be disappointed by the quality of the games here. New players get a 200% match bonus up to 500, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits.
Paddy Power Casino:
Paddy Power is another Irish-owned casino that operates throughout Europe. Not only does Paddy Power Casino offer traditional casino games like blackjack, roulette and slots, but it also provides a full range of sports betting, including football, tennis, boxing and horse racing. New players can receive a massive 100% match bonus up to 200, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits.
William Hill Casino:
William Hill Casino is one of the biggest names in the industry, operating in Europe, Asia and North America. Founded in 1984, this online casino has more than 400 games to choose from, including slots and table games, with a wide array of software providers like WagerLogic, Big Time Gaming and Rival.
Bonus: 100% Match Bonus up to 100 Register Now
Betway: 100% Match Bonus up to 100 Claim Now
Coral Casino: 25% Cash Back on Deposits Claim Now
Ladbrokes Casino: 35% Cash Back on First 3 Deposits Claim Now
Paddy Power Casino: 100% Match Bonus up to 200 Claim Now
William Hill Casino: 100% Match Bonus up to 200 Claim Now
If youre interested in trying out an online casino but arent quite ready to commit to one, why not try out one of the many no deposit casinos weve reviewed? You can test drive various casinos completely risk-free, so you can feel confident about your choice before you make a single penny deposit.
CODY, WY, June 07, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Golden Shovel heads to Wyoming to attend the WEDA 2016 Summer Economic Development Conference.
John Marshall, Golden Shovel's Vice President of Sales will be attending and is looking forward to another great conference and is confident this is going to be an exciting event with great opportunities to network with other development professionals. Marshall is looking forward to networking with new people and getting back in touch with those that attended past conferences. "I am looking forward to digging more in depth about the items that are on the conference agenda, and of course, networking with new people and building up better relationships with those we already are in touch with." states Marshall. "WEDA put on an awesome conference. "
This two day conference will be held at the Holiday Inn Cody in Buffalo Bill Village on June 7th and 8th.
About Golden Shovel Agency:
Golden Shovel Agency views economic development as a creative endeavor, critical for a region or community to attract and retain businesses. They bring over 10 years of experience combining web technology and design expertise to present communities in their best light. At Golden Shovel, they employ the latest trends and keep their clients ahead of the curve.
http://www.goldenshovelagency.com/gsa
About the Wyoming Economic Development Association:
Established in 1985, WEDA is a non-profit 501 (c) 6 professional association representing nearly 200 economic development members and organizations, in addition to over 5000 affiliate members, who support economic development through their local economic development groups. WEDA is the only association of its kind in Wyoming.
http://www.wyomingeda.org/
# # #
Jun 7, 2016 | By Alec
The Eastern European nation of Hungary has just set an excellent example when it comes to educational 3D printing. The countrys 3DTECH in Schools program has taken a huge leap forward by welcoming Hungarian 3D printer manufacturer CrafUnique and 3D modeling software developers Leopoly to their team. Together, they are aiming to install 3D printers in every Hungarian educational institute within the next three years, and have just provided a further ten schools with 3D printers to take the total current number up to twenty-one.
Of course numerous nations are looking into educational 3D printing, and many are already implementing programs with the express goal of bringing 3D printers to children. Just last month, a British government report surfaced that called for 3D printers in all schools across Britain.
But Hungary can be found at the forefront of the educational 3D printing movement. The goal of the 3DTECH in Schools program is, they reveal, to create inspirational environments where students can develop the necessary making skills that will help them in their future careers. This program has already been pushed by Hungarian 3D printing specialist FreeDee Printing Solutions, who previously provided eleven schools with MakerBot 3D printers through a competition. With 413 entries, it showed just how keen schools are to integrate the technology into their curriculum.
The FreeDee initiative also showed just what 3D printing can offer to students. Over the past two months, hundreds of visual aids were 3D printed, as well as motivational assets such as prizes and school emblems. Numerous schools also took their 3D printers on tour, showing other schools just what the technology could do. The 3D printers also drew crowds during open days. Even in the primary schools where teachers had no prior 3D modeling experience, both students and teachers began using TinkerCAD, Blender and Thingiverse to customize and 3D print various objects. In various vocational schools, students even made jigs and multi-component prints.
The 3DTECH in Schools program further argued that 3D printings biggest opportunity is in creating a new level of interdisciplinarity in schools. It provides students with the technology to work on complex problems and coming up with their own, custom made solutions from design to an object. This requires numerous competencies, and can provide kids with an unprecedented amount of insight and skills.
According to the 3DTECH program, their early successes also show that their partners are convinced that it can add a whole new dimension to education. They are therefore very happy to add Leopoly and CraftUnique to their team, the latter being the developer of CraftBot 3D printers and the CraftWare slicer. By putting together these 3 companies, the program includes everything from the teachers training and a professional support system to the installation of infrastructure, says Diana Szabo of 3DTECH.
The three companies have already worked together to bring 3D printers to a further ten schools, and are even aiming to bring 3D printers to every school in the country. They will be initially focusing on vocational schools, where laboratories with multiple 3D printers can be set up and combined with 3D scanners and other hardware. The 3DTECH in Schools program puts no extra burden on the educators or the educational system. Our goal is to make Hungary realize an incomparable and fully comprehensive educational program in 3D technologies, said FreeDee CEO Gyorgy Simo.
The other two companies are equally dedicated to this initiative. Theres an indisputable need for raising technological awareness during the education of the next generations, said CraftUnique CEO Csaba Fazekas. Zoltan Karpati, the CEO of Leopoly, further argued that 3DTECH provides a unique opportunity to make 3D printing an integral part of student development. While it remains to be seen if three years is a realistic target, the 3DTECH in Schools program is definitely a fantastic initiative that should serve as an inspiration for educational programs in other countries around the world.
Posted in 3D Printer
Maybe you also like:
Jun 7, 2016 | By Andre
For a large part of my life, the term 3D had gimmick written all over it. From 3D movies, video games and VR, it was always something that was so cool until you actually realized it wasnt. The tide has definitely turned in the last few years thanks in-part to improving optics and processing power available on the consumer level. So when this years social media darling Snapchat announced the acquisition of 3D face scanning (and augmented reality) app Seene, I was by no means surprised (just a little bit excited).
The app - available on both the itunes store and google play for some time now - is a quick and easy way to experience augmented reality as well as the ability to create 3D scans (with a heavy focus on facial recognition) directly from your smartphone. And unlike offerings by the like's of Google with their project Tango or Microsofts HoloLens, it doesnt require special hardware to operate.
Considering Snapchat is still in the hyper-growth phase of its development, being compatible on just about every device available on the market today is paramount. Seenes product page stresses this by suggesting we enable these devices to locate themselves in space, map visual environments and recreate in 3D what is seen through the camera, turning a standard smartphone into a 3D scanner without the use of additional hardware or off-device processing.
As of this writing, Snapchat hasnt divulged how much it paid for the app, but since it is a privately held company well just have to be okay with that for now. What is known is that the developers of Seene are being relocated to Snapchats Los Angeles headquarters and that the service will almost certainly be integrated into the social media platform in some manner.
While still blurry on the details, it seems any short-term integration will have to do with either more realistic avatar creation, face-swapping capabilities or even just to gain access to the Seene's R&D assets still in progress.
Down the road, VR capabilities built in to the Seene app (theyve demonstrated the apps capabilities with the HTC Vive and Google Cardboard already) will likely be showcased more prominently within the Snapchat ecosystem but considering the limited adoption of VR tech (in part because of the expense associated with the technology) nothing is confirmed on that front either.
The app itself isnt necessarily unique or bleeding edge as others are doing similar things. But with the 3D space becoming more and more crowded, Snapchats early acquisition might end up being a steal as the technology develops (they already have some roots in the space after the 2014 purchase of smart glasses company Vergence Labs).
From a 3D print perspective, the app is capable of capturing high-enough resolution to 3D print selfies and larger objects in a similar way to what Autodesks 123D Catch or even ReconstructMe is capable of but nothing in the way of high-resolution scan to print due to the limited capture abilities of the modern day smartphone.
Considering Snapchat recently passed Twitter with daily users (150 million), the company might just be beefing up its assets for an eventual drive to an IPO. But as someone that has been following the development of 3D technology for some time, I dont see it as another gimmick in the making. The mix of 3D scanning and augmented reality capabilities sets Snapchat up as a player in the emerging space for years to come.
Posted in 3D Scanning
Maybe you also like:
Kathleen McAuliffe in Aeon:
The young man was having sex with his dog. In fact, hed lost his virginity to it. Their relationship was still very good; the dog didnt seem to mind at all. But the mans conscience was eating at him. Was he acting immorally?
In search of sage counsel, he sent an email to David Pizarro, who teaches a class on moral psychology at Cornell University in New York. I thought he was just pulling my leg, said Pizarro. He sent the man a link to an article about bestiality, and thought that would be the end of it. But the man responded with more questions. I realised this kid was pretty serious.
Although Pizarro is a leader in his field, he struggled to craft an answer. What I ended up responding was: I might not say this is a moral violation. But in our society youre going to have to deal with all manner of people believing that your behaviour is odd, because it is odd. Its not something anybody likes to hear about. And I said: Would you want your daughter to date someone who has been having sex with their dog? And the answer is no. And this is critical: you dont have animals writing essays about how theyve been mistreated because of their love of human beings. I would get help for this.
In essence, Pizarro was saying that the mans behaviour was weird, concerning and distressing, but he wasnt willing to condemn it. If that doesnt sit well with you, youre probably sickened by the very image of someone having sex with a dog. But was the man acting immorally? At least by the mans own account, the dog wasnt being harmed.
If youre struggling to put your finger on why exactly the mans behaviour seems wrong, psychologists have a term for your confused state of mind. Youre morally dumbfounded.
More here.
Naomi Klein in the LRB:
Edward Said was no tree-hugger. Descended from traders, artisans and professionals, he once described himself as an extreme case of an urban Palestinian whose relationship to the land is basically metaphorical. In After the Last Sky, his meditation on the photographs of Jean Mohr, he explored the most intimate aspects of Palestinian lives, from hospitality to sports to home decor. The tiniest detail the placing of a picture frame, the defiant posture of a child provoked a torrent of insight from Said. Yet when confronted with images of Palestinian farmers tending their flocks, working the fields the specificity suddenly evaporated. Which crops were being cultivated? What was the state of the soil? The availability of water? Nothing was forthcoming. I continue to perceive a population of poor, suffering, occasionally colourful peasants, unchanging and collective, Said confessed. This perception was mythic, he acknowledged yet it remained.
If farming was another world for Said, those who devoted their lives to matters like air and water pollution appear to have inhabited another planet. Speaking to his colleague Rob Nixon, he once described environmentalism as the indulgence of spoiled tree-huggers who lack a proper cause. But the environmental challenges of the Middle East are impossible to ignore for anyone immersed, as Said was, in its geopolitics. This is a region intensely vulnerable to heat and water stress, to sea-level rise and to desertification. A recent paper in Nature Climate Change predicts that, unless we radically lower emissions and lower them fast, large parts of the Middle East will likely experience temperature levels that are intolerable to humans by the end of this century. And thats about as blunt as climate scientists get. Yet environmental issues in the region still tend to be treated as afterthoughts, or luxury causes. The reason is not ignorance, or indifference. Its just bandwidth. Climate change is a grave threat but the most frightening impacts are in the medium term. And in the short term, there are always far more pressing threats to contend with: military occupation, air assault, systemic discrimination, embargo. Nothing can compete with that nor should it attempt to try.
There are other reasons why environmentalism might have looked like a bourgeois playground to Said. The Israeli state has long coated its nation-building project in a green veneer it was a key part of the Zionist back to the land pioneer ethos. And in this context trees, specifically, have been among the most potent weapons of land grabbing and occupation. Its not only the countless olive and pistachio trees that have been uprooted to make way for settlements and Israeli-only roads. Its also the sprawling pine and eucalyptus forests that have been planted over those orchards, as well as over Palestinian villages, most notoriously by the Jewish National Fund, which, under its slogan Turning the Desert Green, boasts of having planted 250 million trees in Israel since 1901, many of them non-native to the region. In publicity materials, the JNF bills itself as just another green NGO, concerned with forest and water management, parks and recreation. It also happens to be the largest private landowner in the state of Israel, and despite a number of complicated legal challenges, it still refuses to lease or sell land to non-Jews.
Christopher Jencks in the NY Review Books:
In $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, Kathryn Edin and Luke Shaefer argue that what they call extreme poverty roughly doubled between 1996 and 2012. If they are rightand I think they arethe reader might wonder how I can still claim that poor families living standards have risen. The answer is that inequality has risen even among the poor. Half of todays officially poor families are doing better than those we counted as poor in the 1960s, but as I learned from reading $2.00 a Day (and have spent many hours verifying), the poorest of the poor are also worse off today than they were in 1969. $2.00 a Day is a vivid account of how such families live. It also makes a strong case for blaming their misery on deliberate political choices at both the federal and state levels.
Kathryn Edin is a professor at Johns Hopkins University who has spent much of the past twenty-five years talking with low-income Americans about their lives. In 2010, when the national unemployment rate was over 9 percent, she began meeting parents who said they had no regular income whatever from work, from welfare, or from any other source. Their economic plight sounded worse than anything she had previously encountered, and she began pondering how to figure out what had happened, and why.
In 2011 Edin met Luke Shaefer, a young professor at the University of Michigan who had worked extensively with the Census Bureaus Survey of Income and Program Participation ( SIPP ). This survey was the best available source of data on poor families, and Edin persuaded Shaefer to investigate what it showed about households with little or no income.3 To do that, they had to decide what criteria to use.
A single mother with two children was officially poor in 2011 if she reported an annual income below $18,123. If she reported less than half that amount, the Census classified her and her children as living in deep poverty. However, the Census had never had a term for families as poor as those Edin and Shaefer wanted to count, so they chose their own term: extreme poverty.
They also chose a third-world definition of who belonged in their new category. The World Bank counted third-world families as poor if they lived on less than $1.90 a day per family member. Edin and Shaefer rounded that up to $2.00.4 This cutoff was between 9 and 13 percent of the official poverty threshold for most American families. For a single mother of two, for example, Edin and Shaefers extreme poverty threshold was $6 a day while the official 2011 threshold came to just under $50 a day. Neither measure included noncash benefits or EITC refunds.
When Shaefer analyzed the SIPP data, he found that 4.3 percent of American households with children reported living on less than $2 a day per person for at least one month during 2011.
More here.
A variety of new tap houses have appeared around the lake offering their own handcrafted brews and a range of California cuisine.
Alibi Ale Works
Alibi Ale Works has something for everyone. Located on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe, the space features an onsite brewery and taproom, a wide range of European and American style beers, and a friendly atmosphere to grab a brew and play a game of Connect Four. Known for their snappy Saison and crispy Kolsch, Alibi celebrates their brews with nightly special events and live music. It's a must-visit. // 204 E Enterprise St. (Incline Village, Nevada),alibialeworks.com
Old Town Tap
If you find yourself in Truckee this summer, head over to Old Town Tap for the perfect combination of beer and pizza. Old Town Tap is owned by former Bay Area residents turned mountain entrepreneurs, Marlena John and Luke Bill. In the kitchen Chef Adam Hinojosa, who was invited to compete on Food Network's Cutthroat Kitchen with Alton Brown, serves up contemporary cuisine made to satiate real hunger such as fried cheese curds, house-made charcuterie, and Neapolitan-style pizzas with local, organic ingredients. They have 16 beers on tap as well as signature cocktails, so drink up. // 10164 Donner Pass Rd. #1 (Truckee), facebook.com/oldtowntap
(photo via Facebook)
Cold Water Brewery & Grill
Cold Water Brewery in South Lake Tahoe features all-grain brews with cheeky names handcrafted on sitewe like the Citra-Ass Down and the Hall of the Gods Porter. The menu features hearty dishes and snacks such as cast iron nachos, south shore fish tacos with Mexican street corn, and a homemade ice cream sandwich with caramel stout ice cream. There for the weekend? The Sunday brunch features a build-your-own Bloody Mary bar. // 2544 Lake Tahoe Blvd. (South Lake Tahoe), tahoecoldwaterbrewery.com
Sidellis Lake Tahoe Brewery and Restaurant
Named after the surnames of the two owners (Chris Sidell and Ellwood Ellis), this brewery serves homemade beers such as the Red Tape IPA, Clockwork White Ale and Tahoe Moonshine Rum Barrel Stoutall delicious! If you're there for more than brews, the menu includes a variety of sandwiches, from the portabella French dip to the Peri-Peri pulled pork with barbecue sauce made from their OB Amber beer. Best of all? There's a sunny patio out back. // 3350 Sandy Way (South Lake Tahoe), sidellis.com
(photo via Facebook)
Virginia City Brewery and Tap House
If you're willing to travel for beer, consider a short road trip to Virginia City, Nevada. We know, it's not in Tahoe, but the Virginia City Brewery and Taphouse brings American craft style beers to this Wild West town which has not seen a brewery since 1995. Named after locations in VC, the handcrafted beers (made with water from Marlette Lake) include YellowJacket Honey Pale Ale, Steampunk Extra Pale Ale and Poltergeist Baltic Porter. They're worth the gas moneypromise! // 62 N C St. (Virginia City, Nevada), virginiacitybreweryandtaphouse.com
Having just read Scary Old Sex, I second the hosannas. And I celebrate the fact that an edgy and explicit book about sex among boomers (and beyond) has grabbed the mainstream-media spotlight. Heyman crafted the stories from her imagination, but when you encounter the rich inner voices here and the even richer fantasies you can't help wondering how much she may have drawn from her "day job," as well: Heyman has been a practicing psychiatrist for 40 years.
Marginally depressed but far from repressed, the older protagonists of these stories pursue and participate in sex, and their after-action pillow talk is anything but Hollywood precious: In one story, a sexually frustrated wife berates her husband for being too fastidious to give her anal sex. So although Scary Old Sex was written by a grandmother, it is most certainly not your grandmother's short-story collection.
When I contacted Heyman at her apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side, I discovered that the author of the most sexually adventurous book I've read in a long time is refreshingly unsentimental about her topic: "Fantasies are private, perverse and different for each person," Heyman observes. "They really have no deeper meaning the point is to help you come." And if people recognize themselves in her book, says Heyman, more power to them: "Perhaps they will say, 'Oh, this character has that fantasy; maybe my own fantasy is not so shameful.'" (Indeed, after one recent bookstore appearance, a satisfied reader approached the author to thank her for "striking a blow for women who want orgasms.")
Toyota Tsusho Corporation was established in 1948 and is the trading arm of the Toyota group. General trader of iron and steel. Operations are carried out through the following divisions: metals, machinery and information, industrial vehicles, industrial materials, lifestyle products and others. Metals accounted for 47% of 2000 revenues; machinery and information, 19%; industrial vehicles, 13%; industrial materials, 12%; lifestyle products 8% and others 1%.
Former two-term New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and ex-Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld were selected as the Libertarian Partys presidential and vice presidential nominees on Sunday at the partys national convention in Orlando, Fla. Johnson garnered a record 1.3 million votes in the 2012 general election as the partys presidential nominee and this is arguably the most politically seasoned Libertarian ticket in the partys four-decade history.
The Libertarian Party will likely be the only third party this cycle with ballot access in all 50 states and Johnson could emerge as the only viable alternative to presumptive presidential nominees Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Johnson has previously railed against the rigged nature of the general election debate process, as inclusion in the high-profile events would no doubt be accompanied by extensive media exposure and coverage.
Shortly after officially securing the Libertarian Partys presidential nomination, Johnson said in front of a raucous crowd, At a minimum, I think were in the presidential debates. While this certainly remains a distinct possibility, Johnson needs to consistently be polling above 15 percent to make it onto the debate stage with Trump and Clinton in the fall.
A tremendous amount of hard work and energy is still needed to reach this critical threshold, but this is the year where the political stars could align to ensure his inclusion in the main event.
The Commission on Presidential Debates has already scheduled three presidential and one vice-presidential debate for the fall at various universities across the country. The commission formed in 1987 and first adopted the 15 percent level of support criterion for inclusion in 2000. In order to participate, a candidate must receive at least 15 percent of the vote in five national polls chosen by the commission.
In 2012, the selected polls were: ABC News/The Washington Post, NBC News/The Wall Street Journal, CBS News/The New York Times, Fox News and Gallup.
While Johnson didnt participate in any of the 2012 debates, Ross Perot and James Stockdale were included in the 1992 debates and John Anderson had one debate against Ronald Reagan in 1980.
In general, third parties face an uphill battle to achieve notice and tangible political success.
Alabama Gov. George Wallace was the last such candidate to carry a state in 1968 and finished with 45 electoral votes. Ross Perot won 19 percent of the popular vote in 1992 and Teddy Roosevelt on the Bull Moose Party ticket got 27 percent of the popular vote and 88 electoral votes in 1912.
Despite these odds, 2016 could be the year for Gary Johnson to make some serious political headway given the unique set of circumstances that currently exist.
While the 15 percent threshold for inclusion in the debate slate is a high bar for Johnson, several recent polls provided some encouraging numbers.
A Fox News Poll released on May 18 shows Johnson receiving 10 percent support from registered voters, and hes especially strong among voters under 35 years old.
Johnson also received 10 percent support in a May 24 Morning Consult survey and 11 percent of voters in a Monmouth University poll from March 24.
These figures are near a personal best for Johnson as a presidential candidate, who is currently polling twice as well compared to 2012.
Even though this level of support is slightly below the magic number, Johnson clearly has room for growth during the coming months.
A Washington Post-ABC News Poll conducted on May 16-19 revealed that 44 percent of registered voters want a third party to run against Trump and Clinton.
The Wall Street Journal/NBC Poll from March 19 shows that 47 percent of Americans would consider voting for a third-party nominee, which is significantly greater than data from the 2012 and 2008 cycles.
There is currently no guarantee that Gary Johnson and Bill Weld will participate in the four major fall debates, but it would be a mistake to count them out. If they were permitted to participate, they could possibly determine the fate of an extremely close Trump-Clinton general election contest.
KABUL, Afghanistan The president of Afghanistan on Monday condemned the killings of David Gilkey, a veteran news photographer and video editor for National Public Radio, and Afghan journalist Zabihullah Tamanna in an insurgent ambush while on assignment.
Gilkey and Tamanna were traveling Sunday in the south with an Afghan army unit near Marjah in Helmand province when the convoy came under fire and their vehicle was struck, said network spokeswoman Isabel Lara in a statement. Two other NPR journalists, Tom Bowman and producer Monika Evstatieva, were traveling with them and were not hurt.
President Ashraf Ghani called the attack cowardly and completely against all the principles and values of Islam and humanity, and against all international laws.
In a statement, Ghani said the Taliban do not distinguish among the military, civilians and journalists, and that they killed Gilkey and Tamanna as the two were reporting on the war. He offered condolences to their families.
Ghani went to Helmand later Monday to assess the security situation in the opium-poppy field region, which gives the world most of its heroin, controlled by the Taliban.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul and U.S. Army Gen. John. W. Nicholson, commander of the U.S.-NATO Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan, also offered condolences.
David and Zabihullah, in particular, spent years in Afghanistan tirelessly endeavoring to tell the story of the Afghan people, Nicholson said in a statement. We have the utmost respect for their work as well as those others that endure the hardships that come with reporting from conflict zones.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the killings a grim reminder of the danger that continues to face the Afghan people, the dedication of Afghan national defense and security forces to securing their country, and of the courage of intrepid journalists and their interpreters who are trying to convey that important story to the rest of the world.
Gilkey and Tamanna were killed along with two other people while riding in a vehicle that came under sustained Taliban attack about 300-400 meters (yards) from the main army base in Marjah, said Maj. Abdul Qader, deputy spokesman for the 215 Army Corp in Helmand province.
The Humvee, which was was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, was carrying five people: Gilkey, Tamanna, a heavy machine gun operator who was on the roof, an Afghan army soldier and a driver, Qader told The Associated Press.
The driver and machine gunner were killed along with Gilkey and Tamanna in the attack, which lasted 30-40 minutes, he said, adding that army helicopters were called in to provide air support.
The bodies were taken to the army base immediately after the attack, and then transported by helicopter to the corps command, Qader said. The bodies of Gilkey and Tamanna were taken to Camp Bastion, the main army base in Helmand, formerly under the command of U.S. Marines.
Gilkey, 50, had covered Iraq and Afghanistan since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on Washington and New York, and was committed to helping the public see the wars and the people caught up in them, NPRs senior vice president of news and editorial director, Michael Oreskes, said in a statement.
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, Oreskes said.
Tamanna, 37, was a freelance journalist who often worked as a translator for NPR, Lara, the spokeswoman, said in an email. Known as Zabi, he had years of experience as a reporter, cameraman and photographer for local and international news organizations in Afghanistan.
He worked in Kabul as a photographer for Chinas Xinhua news agency and also reported for Turkeys Anadolu News Agency. He is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.
The Afghan Journalists Safety Committee described him as one of the countrys most experienced journalists. He had a degree in law and political science from Kabul University. Aside from his work in daily news, he was a legal adviser to a local media consultancy.
Veteran correspondent Phillip Reeves, who recruited Tamanna to the network, called him a great colleague.
He was a lovely man, with a great eye for a story and deep wisdom about his country, Reeves said in a statement. He clearly loved his family.
Gilkey covered both national and international news for the network and its website and had made numerous trips to Afghanistan and Iraq, according to NPRs website.
His work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the prestigious George Polk Award and a national Emmy. The White House News Photographers Association named Gilkey as Still Photographer of the Year in 2011. In 2015, he became the first multimedia journalist to receive the Edward R. Murrow Award for his coverage of international breaking news, military conflicts and natural disasters.
President Barack Obama had met Gilkey in the Oval Office after the journalist was honored by the White House News Photographers Association, said spokesman Josh Earnest, who passed along condolences from the president and first lady.
I know there are a number of people in this room who worked with Mr. Gilkey and deeply respected his professionalism and his commitment to going anywhere, even dangerous places like Afghanistan repeatedly, to get the story and to tell the story in photos and on video, Earnest said at Mondays White House press briefing.
Twenty-seven journalists have been killed in Afghanistan since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, not counting Gilkey and Tamanna. They include Anja Niedringhaus, a photographer for The Associated Press who was shot and killed in 2014 while covering the national elections for president and provincial councils. AP special correspondent for the region, Kathy Gannon, was wounded in the attack.
Worldwide, nearly 1,200 journalists have died since 1992, according to CPJs website.
In addition to Iraq and Afghanistan, Gilkey covered the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010, the fall of apartheid in South Africa, famine in Somalia, and wars in Rwanda and the Balkans.
The things to do were amazing and the places to see were epic, Gilkey once said of his work. But the people, the people are what made it all worth the effort.
Gilkeys 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 moving to NPR in 2007.
___
Salcedo reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Bradley Klapper in Beijing, Lynne ODonnell in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report.
___
Online:
David Gilkeys work: http://www.npr.org/people/136474931/david-gilkey
SANTA FE A proposed land donation to the federal Bureau of Land Management would provide the first legal public access to the scenic and remote Sabinoso Wilderness in northeastern New Mexico.
The BLM is proposing to accept a donation of most of the Rimrock Rose Ranch from The Wilderness Land Trust and purchase the rest of the ranch property. As part of its deal with the land trust, the BLM also would eliminate two federal grazing allotments in the area.
In a news release, the BLM said the transaction would provide for the first time public access to the Sabinoso Wilderness, a roughly 16,000-acre area currently landlocked by private land about 40 miles east of Las Vegas, N.M.
The wilderness area, a dramatic piece of the high plains bordering the Canadian River and with cliffs and 1,000-foot-deep canyons, was designated by Congress and with President Barack Obamas signature in 2009. But there is now no way for anyone who doesnt own or have federal grazing rights on adjacent land to legally access the area.
The BLM said, Access would allow one of the primary purposes of the Wilderness Act of 1964 to be fully realized at Sabinoso Wilderness the enjoyment of the area by present and future generations through hunting, hiking, horseback riding, and other recreational opportunities.
The benefits to the general public are unmistakable, said Sarah Schlanger, field manager of the BLMs Taos Field Office.
The Rimrock Rose Ranch property, recently acquired by The Wilderness Land Trust, consists of about 4,176 acres adjacent to the designated wilderness. Of the total acreage, about 3,576 acres are proposed for donation to the BLM, while the remaining acreage would be purchased by the federal agency at a fair market price determined by appraisal.
The BLM said, Access would allow one of the primary purposes of the Wilderness Act of 1964 to be fully realized at Sabinoso Wildernessthe enjoyment of the area by present and future generations through hunting, hiking, horseback riding, and other recreational opportunities.
As part of land deal, BLM livestock grazing allotments for which the ranch served as base property would be unavailable for grazing going forward, to protect riparian areas. This part of the proposal, involving two grazing allotments totaling 6,260 acres, is a condition placed on the donation by The Wilderness Land Trust. No one currently holds grazing permits on the two allotments. The remaining 16 (grazing) allotments in and around Sabinoso Wilderness would not be affected by this proposal, said the BLM.
Access to the wilderness area would be via San Miguel County Road C51A, off N.M. 419 between the communities of Trementina and Mosquero. The road entering the wildernesss Canyon Largo would remain closed to the public. A gate would be placed on the rim of the canyon, where trailhead parking would be located.
Public access to the Sabinoso Wilderness will come when the donation process is complete, said Schlanger in an e-mail response to Journal questions. We anticipate this may happen as early as November, 2016. Until that time, the lands remain in private hands. As is the case now, there is no public access to the Wilderness except through private lands, and with private landowner permission.
The Wilderness Land Trust is a national, nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to purchasing lands for the federal wilderness system to ensure their preservation.
The BLM is asking that any public comment on the proposed land deal be provided by July 6. Comment can be submitted by mail to BLM Taos Field Office, Attention: Brad Higdon, 226 Cruz Alta Road, Taos, NM 87571; by email to blm_nm_tafo_comments@blm.gov; or by fax to 575-758-1620.
Additional information is available online at the Taos field office website.
Microbiologist Patrick McGann knew he had identified a dangerous germ. He just didnt know how dangerous.
In mid-May, a colleague had found a strain of E. coli bacteria from a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman that tested positive for resistance to a drug called colistin. Thats the antibiotic used when all others fail.
McGann, whose job is to prevent outbreaks of new pathogens in the U.S. militarys sprawling health-care system, wasnt yet alarmed. Sometimes mutations occur spontaneously that make bacteria resistant to an antibiotic. It would be a completely different problem, though, if the bacteria turned out to carry a certain colistin-resistance gene called mcr-1.
But that required deeper molecular testing. McGann asked his research team at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Md., to do an initial test for the presence of the resistance gene. And on May 18, he got the result as he rode Metros Red Line back to the lab from a meeting.
Research technician Ana Ong texted him to say the strain of E. coli had tested positive for the mcr-1 gene.
Stunned, McGann texted back: Youre s- me?? And then, realizing what the discovery meant, he didnt wait for her reply.
Onto the sequencer ASAP, he wrote back, referring to the labor-intensive, round-the-clock effort required to read the entire genetic code of the bacteria and determine how easily the gene might spread.
We had to drop everything else to get this done, he explained later. When [the test] came back positive, all hell broke loose.
U.S. health officials and experts had been bracing for this moment since the genes discovery late last year in China. Theyd hunted for mcr-1 in tens of thousands of samples from meat sources, animals and people.
And now that its definitively here, officials expect to find more cases provoking even greater alarm. Immediately, the discovery in Pennsylvania gave new urgency to measures throughout the military and federal government to determine where else the gene might be lurking and how to control its spread.
For infectious-disease experts, the nightmare scenario is for the gene to spread to bacteria that are now susceptible only to colistin. That would make them invincible to any antibiotic, unstoppable by the most lifesaving drugs of modern medicine.
The gene mcr-1 was found first in pigs and people in China and then spread across Asia and Europe. By March, there were even more reports from France, Switzerland, Malaysia, Brazil and Argentina.
Still, the gene remains relatively rare. After the initial report from China, McGanns team tested more than 3,000 antibiotic-resistant bacteria that had been collected from military facilities around the world. None contained the mcr-1 gene.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that drug-resistant bacteria cause 2 million illnesses and 23,000 deaths each year in the United States. Many service members wounded during the Iraq War contracted a strain of bacteria that the media later dubbed Iraqibacter. The normally harmless bacteria, found in soil and on skin, got into wounds and caused stubborn bloodstream infections, many of them resistant to many types of antibiotics. After about 2007, colistin was often one of the most effective treatment options available, McGann said.
Thats one reason the Army created the Multidrug-resistant Organism Repository and Surveillance Network (MRSN) in 2009; McGann is its chief of molecular research and diagnostics. Researchers say the detection of colistin-resistant bacteria in the Pennsylvania woman was the result of this strong surveillance system but also sheer luck.
McGann got the initial call about a resistant E. coli sample from Kurt Schaecher, chief of the infectious diseases laboratory at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda. The Bethesda hospital has the reference lab for about 100 military facilities, which regularly send it drug-resistant organisms.
Schaecher, who had just started in the job, was troubled by the number of reports coming in from around the world about the mcr-1 gene. Testing for colistin resistance was not routinely done in the lab, but he thought it would be prudent to start.
On May 12, he pulled out six of the labs most recent samples to test for resistance to colistin. The next day, the results were back. And lo and behold, this one popped up, he recalled, referring to the Pennsylvania sample.
He immediately alerted McGann. Both men were very surprised, Schaecher said.
They didnt know why the bacteria werent killed by colistin it could have been a spontaneous mutation rather than the mcr-1 gene. McGanns team went straight to Bethesda to collect the sample for more testing.
Once McGanns lab detected the gene on May 18, he alerted Schaecher and began fully sequencing the bacterias genome.
Sequencing would tell everyone where the gene was located. Was it on the bacterias single chromosome? Or in a much more troubling spot, on something called a plasmid, a mobile piece of DNA that exists outside the chromosomes?
If the gene were on the chromosome, that wouldnt be so bad. The bacteria could only pass the resistance to its progeny, limiting the spread. But finding the gene on the plasmid would be much, much worse. Plasmids can transfer their genes to other bacteria, McGann said, even strains that arent closely related. The technical term for this ability is promiscuity.
The sequencing process took several days. The researchers had to extract the DNA from the bacteria and set up the sequencing machines that would read the entire genome and determine not only what genes were in the organism, but also if there were plasmids and what kind.
By 9 p.m. on May 20, they were ready to proceed. They ran the same test on two machines. One sequencer is less accurate but takes about eight hours. The other, larger sequencer is more accurate but takes 72 hours.
By the following day, early results confirmed the gene was fully present and was most likely on a plasmid. Barely 24 hours later, another researcher had confirmed that the mcr-1 gene was present on a promiscuous plasmid, McGann said. The final verification took until May 23.
It was like finding a needle in a stack of needles in another stack of needles, Schaecher recalled.
McGann likened plasmids to cars that can carry a gene and transport it to other bacteria. Some plasmids can transfer those genes more readily than others. This one moved pretty well, he said. Not quite a Fiat, more like a BMW.
Even as the patient was being treated her bacteria, while resistant to colistin, was sensitive to other drugs researchers began to notify colleagues in the Defense Department and other government agencies. They alerted the CDC as well as the Health and Human Services and Agriculture departments that a superbug capable of spreading colistin resistance far and wide had finally surfaced in a person in the United States.
Some officials have complained that they should have been informed sooner. McGann said it would have been imprudent to send an alert before results were completely confirmed. Around the same time, he, Schaecher and the research team submitted a paper about their findings to a medical journal. The editor, Yohei Doi, an infectious-disease doctor at the University of Pittsburgh, raced to get it reviewed.
The paper was published May 26, and the discovery made headlines around the world.
Meanwhile, another surveillance system that includes the CDC, the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration has also been searching for the gene in bacteria collected from food animals, meat sources and people. Scientists have scoured more than 44,000 samples of salmonella bacteria and 9,000 samples of E. coli and shigella bacteria.
That search is how the USDA scientists recently found the gene in a sample from a pig intestine. It also was in a strain of E. coli, and also on a plasmid. The USDA is working to determine the samples origin.
The strains and plasmids appear to be different, McGann said. That suggests that the gene is circulating through at least two and possibly more routes within the United States.
McGann said he learned about the mcr-1 gene in the pig sample only when his team notified government officials about its own finding. U.S. officials havent provided details about when the animal sample was found and why information about it wasnt disclosed earlier.
Public health officials are most worried about the colistin-resistance gene spreading to a family of superbugs known as CRE, for carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae, which the CDC has called one of the countrys most urgent public health threats. In some instances, CRE kills up to 50 percent of patients who become infected. Colistin is increasingly the last-resort drug to treat patients with such infections.
Already, doctors have been forced to rely on colistin as a last-line defense for many drug-resistant infections. Colistin, more than half a century old, is otherwise rarely used in human medicine because it can cause severe kidney damage.
The drug is not used in animals in the United States, but in Europe it has been widely used in veterinary medicine for decades to treat and prevent infection. In May, the European Medicines Agency recommended limiting its use in animals to halt the spread of resistance. Its also widely used in farm animals in China.
The Armys MRSN system receives between 400 to 500 samples of multidrug-resistant organisms each month, primarily from its facilities around the world. About half are MRSA, or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, a bacterium resistant to many antibiotics that can cause a variety of problems, including skin infections and bloodstream infections. Another third are E. coli, and less than 1 percent are CRE.
The new information about the Pennsylvania womans colistin-resistant bacteria means McGann and his team can do more targeted searching in the repository of organisms. Theyve already scoured an additional 6,000 samples without again finding the gene.
Later this summer, all military services will be expected to begin providing the repository system with multidrug-resistant organisms.
By contrast, the national antibiotic resistance surveillance system that the CDC, USDA and FDA operate collectively serves all civilian hospitals in the country. It covers a far larger patient population and collects thousands of pathogen samples for each of the 15 antibiotic-resistant bacteria the CDC has deemed to be urgent or serious threats.
Until now, the resistance testing has taken place at the CDC. But late last year, Congress approved $160 million in additional funding to boost the Obama administrations antibiotic-resistance detection efforts. As a result, the agency plans to start funding state health departments this fall to do improved testing for antimicrobial resistance. That will include colistin.
Heres how scientists discovered the antibiotic-resistant superbug:
http://wapo.st/28ffOSH
SANTA FE Today is Election Day in New Mexico, and voters across the state who are eligible to cast a ballot in this years primary election have plenty of options at least when it comes to where to vote.
In Bernalillo County, there are 69 different voting convenience centers that voters can choose from. Like other polling places around the state, the sites will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Races on this years primary election ballots include major political party nominations for president, New Mexicos members of Congress, judges, Public Regulation Commission, county-level offices and all 112 New Mexico legislative seats.
A total of 117,506 New Mexicans had voted early in person by the time the early voting period ended on Saturday, according to figures released Monday by Secretary of State Brad Winters office. Another 17,363 absentee ballots also had been returned as of that day, bringing the total to 134,869.
The early voting figure of 117,506 far outstripped the early voting totals for the two most recent presidential election years. In 2012, 66,661 voters went to polling sites before Election Day. In 2008, that figure was 49,709 although that year there were no Democratic presidential candidates on the primary ballot, because Democrats held caucuses in February instead.
Interest in the Democratic presidential primary contest between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton appears to have played a role in that, as Democrats accounted for more than 80,000 of this years early votes, or about 68 percent of the total.
Longtime New Mexico political analyst Brian Sanderoff said he expects the Clinton-Sanders race could also lead to higher final turnout levels than previous presidential primary elections.
It should rise some, given the fact our presidential race on the Democratic side is relevant, Sanderoff said.
In addition, of the 25,158 absentee ballots that were sent out to voters, 17,263 had been returned as of Saturday, according to the Secretary of States Office. To be counted, absentee ballots must arrive in the mail at clerks offices by today or be dropped off at clerks offices or voters polling places by the time they close.
New Mexico 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 Clinton enters the day having just secured enough commitments from delegates and superdelegates to become the Democratic Partys presidential nominee, according to The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, some New Mexico voters will have few choices to make on their ballots, as many candidates are running unopposed in the primary election. In fact, 65 current legislators seeking re-election have nobody running against them, either in the primary or the Nov. 8 general elections.
New York businessman Donald Trump has sewn up the GOP presidential nomination, but five Republican candidates who have suspended their campaigns Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson and John Kasich are still listed on the primary ballot.
Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, who is not up for re-election this year, has not said 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 Democrats Ben Ray Lujan and Michelle Lujan Grisham and Republican Steve Pearce faces a primary election challenge. All three will have general election opponents, however.
Unlike some other states, New Mexico has a closed primary system that does not allow independent voters to participate. Only registered Democrats and Republicans can cast ballots today.
However, 17-year-old voters who turn 18 before the November general election can vote in this years primary under a new law, and 1,955 17-year-olds had registered to vote as of late last month.
Attorney General Hector Balderas said Tuesday that his office will help the Secretary of States Office and the states 33 county clerks to ensure no voting laws are broken.
Our special agents and assistant attorneys general will work diligently with the Office of the Secretary of State to ensure proper conduct at polling locations across our state this primary election, Balderas said.
Journal staff writer Deborah Baker contributed to this report.
At a Glance
Prosecutors in the case against members of the prison gang Syndicato de Nuevo Mexico filed notice Monday in what was potentially a death penalty case that the United States will not seek a sentence of death.
The notice applies to one case indicted in 2015 and not the newer case indicted this year.
The indictment alleged that SNM, which formed after the bloody 1980 penitentiary riot, has expanded throughout the states prisons. Prison gang members and prospective gang members engaged in multiple murders, serious assaults, kidnapping and conspiracy to distribute drugs and firearms, according to the indictment.
The notification filed late Monday applies to defendants charged with capital-eligible offenses, including Joe Gallegos, Edward Huero Troup, Leonard Lujan, Billy Wild Bill Garcia, Eugene Little Guero Martinez, Allen Patterson, Christopher Critter Chavez, Javier Wineo Alonso, Arturo Arnulfo Shotgun Garcia, Benjamin Cyclone Clark, Ruben Hernandez, Jerry Creeper Armenta, Jerry Boxer Montoya, Mario Blue Rodriguez, Timothy Red Martinez, Mauricio Archie Varela, Daniel Dan Dan Sanchez, Anthony Ray Pup Baca, Carlos Lazy Herrera, Rudy Ru Dog Perez and Andrew Smiley Gallegos.
Mark Donatelli of the Death Penalty Resource Counsel Project said courts decide case by case whether to keep on learned counsel attorneys knowledgeable about death penalty cases once the death penalty is no longer on the table. They often are appointed from out-of-state to assist local lawyers.
It depends on the complexity of the case, said Donatelli, a Santa Fe attorney who is learned counsel in out-of-state cases.
The court will look at the qualifications of those appointed, because initially the assignments were random, and at the defendants alleged role in the offense, he said.
He predicted a meeting as soon as practical to reconsider a realistic trial schedule. There are three or four separate but related indictments, all of them assigned to U.S. District Judge James O. Browning.
A commercial space company could be one step closer to landing its spacecraft on the moon in a regulatory move that might help open space exploration beyond Earth orbit to private firms.
The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that U.S. regulators were set to give mission approval to Mountain View, Calif., company Moon Express to land its MX-1 lander on the moon and to conduct a two-week operation. Previously, only nations have launched missions beyond Earth orbit.
The Journal said official action coordinated through the Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses and approves all commercial rocket launches, could come in the next few weeks.
Moon Express issued a statement that it could not elaborate on the groundbreaking developments, but that the company was very optimistic about its proposal.
The MX-1 lander, which Moon Express said is capable of carrying scientific and commercial payloads, is set to blast off in 2017 on Los Angeles-based Rocket Labs Electron rocket. The rocket is awaiting its first flight.
In a video posted on its website, Moon Express said it would start by launching robotic landers with payloads to the surface of the moon and progress to exploring for resources, learning how to process the materials, and transporting them back to Earth.
Moon Express has said it is looking for platinum group metals, rare earth elements and Helium-3, which some believe could be a safer nuclear fuel and is present in larger quantities on the moon, according to the European Space Agency.
Other companies, such as Planetary Resources, are looking to asteroids as potential sources of platinum exceeding that which can be found on Earth. The Redmond, Wash., company is also looking to harvest water from asteroids and break it down to create rocket fuel.
While private companies such as SpaceX have already upended the traditional launch market by offering cheaper prices than longstanding aerospace firms, outer space, including celestial bodies like the moon and Mars, is a different and more difficult matter.
For one thing, a mission like that of Moon Express is subject to the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, an international regulatory agreement initiated by the U.S. and Russia.
The treaty mandates that the moon and other celestial bodies be used only for peaceful purposes and not for testing weapons of any kind. It also states that nongovernmental entities must get approval from a particular country for activities in outer space.
Since all prior commercial activity has been in Earth orbit, Moon Express plan presents a new challenge for licensing and regulatory processes, said Mariel Borowitz, assistant professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She said the potential approval for Moon Express could provide a framework for future licensing of private space activity such as SpaceXs plans to go to Mars in 2018.
Moon Express, I think, is paving the way for commercial activity outside of Earth orbit, Borowitz said.
In a statement, the FAA said it is working through the interagency process to ensure a mechanism is in place that permits emerging commercial space operations, such as the one that Moon Express has publicly commented on.
Though several companies dedicated to moon mining and asteroid mining have cropped up over the last five years, they have gained little traction in part because of the expense, said Marco Caceres, senior space analyst at the Teal Group, an aerospace and defense analysis company.
Its a huge undertaking, he said. And a normal private company really doesnt have the money to do that sort of thing.
But, he said, the activity surrounding Moon Express indicates the growth of the commercial space industry.
These are pioneers, Caceres said. It might jump-start an industry. It may do nothing because its so hard that only that company can do it. It really just takes that first company to be successful.
FARMINGTON Nine months after mining sludge from the Gold King Mine turned the Animas and San Juan rivers yellow, scientists and researchers gathered here recently to share what they have learned so far regarding the contamination of the rivers from the spill in August 2015.
Immediately during and after the Gold King Mine spill, different groups started monitoring the river water, shores and irrigation systems, said Sam Fernald, director of the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute at New Mexico State University.
As they have gathered data, they realized theres a lot of questions about the history of the watersheds, the natural state of the rivers, and the long-term impact. They immediately came up with all of these questions beyond the initial response, Fernald said.
The conference last month at San Juan College was a time for 150 scientists from state and federal agencies, New Mexico universities, Native American tribes and numerous cities and counties to exchange information from their early stages of research.
While the spill sparked fear among those whose livelihood depends on the water, it has proven to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the scientists.
This was a historic event, said Kevin Lombard, a horticulturalist stationed at NMSUs Agricultural Science Center at Farmington who is conducting two studies regarding the impact of the spill on the agricultural land. We have the opportunity to record the impact of the contaminants that were in the mining sludge.
Recording of the impact is proving to be a collaboration of researchers.
We have a common goal of figuring out what the questions are and figuring out how to address them and how to get the information out to the public, Fernald said.
Since the spill, the scientists have gathered data regarding river water quality before, during and after the spill; private wells accessing ground water; the impact of the water quality on the fish; and the impact of irrigated river water on the agricultural land.
The greatest challenge is the perception of health risks that the spill caused.
The early finding is that the levels of heavy metals being monitored are within federal standards. Only when rainwater increases the rivers water levels do the metal levels increase briefly from the riverbank contamination in Colorado.
Conference collaborators in the long-term monitoring include the state Environment Department, NMSU, UNM, New Mexico Tech, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, San Juan Soil and Water Conservation District, San Juan Watershed Group, San Juan County, the city of Aztec and the city of Farmington.
Its hot and its going to stay that way for a few days, with high temperatures hovering in the upper 90s, five to seven degrees above normal for the central and western parts of New Mexico.
But the highs are still shy of record territory, and the truth is that the weather was slower than usual heating up this year. The Albuquerque area got into the 90s, topping out at 94, for the first time this year Friday, nearly a week later than that normally occurs. According to the Albuquerque office of the National Weather Service, the mean date for the metro areas first 90-degree day of the year is May 27 and the last is Sept. 6.
This year was the latest we hit 90 since 2007 and the second-latest since 2000, said Kerry Jones, a meteorologist with the weather services Albuquerque office.
Todd Shoemake, also a meteorologist with the Albuquerque office, said the perception is that its a lot hotter than it should be because the heat wave came on so abruptly. On Thursday, it was 86 and the next day it was 94.
The high for today is expected to be 96 and Wednesdays high a toasty 98. The predicted high for Thursday is 96, and highs should be in the low 90s Friday through Sunday as chances for thunderstorms increase.
Rain rolled through the Albuquerque area on Sunday, dropping 0.36 inch in Sandia Park, 0.27 inch at Candelaria and Wyoming and Paseo Del Norte and Louisiana in Albuquerque, 0.64 inch at Enchanted Hills in Rio Rancho and 0.39 inch in Corrales.
There was three-quarters of an inch of hail in Raton over the weekend, and at 6:49 p.m. Monday, the weather service issued a tornado warning for east-central Torrance County based on information provided by a spotter. The warning was for an area 12 miles northwest of Encino and 22 miles east of Estancia until 8 p.m. The tornado was reported to be moving south at 15 mph.
Shoemake said that drier air moving into the state today means waning chances of rain through Wednesday, but that moisture will start to slowly work its way back into the region on Thursday.
There is a slow, subtle uptrend in moisture Thursday into Friday and the weekend, Shoemake said. There will be isolated and scattered storms over the higher ranges on Thursday. The chances of rain are increasing on Friday, and temperatures will be dropping a few degrees.
Theres a 10 percent chance of thunderstorms in Albuquerque on Thursday, increasing to 20 percent Thursday evening into Saturday.
Theres a beneficial rainfall pattern for New Mexico this weekend, especially in the eastern part of the state, Shoemake said.
WASHINGTON If you look at the polls, it is clear whos 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 Obamas 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 Obamas legacy.
According to Gallup, which has been charting the nations assessment of its presidents longer than anyone else, Obamas 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, Obamas 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 lashes out at anyone he perceives as having slighted him New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, for example, a potentially valuable ally whom Trump at one point seemed determined to make into an enemy until he suddenly became a fan.
Look at the news conference at which he lashed out at a reporter, calling him a sleaze, for having questioned Trumps 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.
Im 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 Obamas 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 administrations 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 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 Mideast, 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 Obamas harshest critics have to admit he was a steady hand in the White House. Reflection upon this fact can only increase Clintons chances against a man who prides himself on being combative, capricious and cocksure.
WASHINGTON Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of General Electric (2015 revenues: $117 billion), gave an interesting speech the other day that illuminates some pressing questions about the future of globalization. This involves politics as much as economics. It should be no surprise that the three remaining major presidential candidates (Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump) are no fans of globalization.
Most people consider globalization an economic phenomenon, signifying the spread of technology, the growth of trade, and the threats to American workers and firms from many sources low wages, manipulated exchange rates, government subsidies and pure competitive advantage. It is all of these things, but also much more. If there was an organizing principle to U.S. foreign policy after the Cold War, it was globalization.
The general idea was that as countries traded with each other, their populations would become richer, middle classes would emerge in poor countries and nations interests would become intertwined. The threat of major wars would recede, because middle-class societies prefer commerce to conflict. The new world order would have tensions and feuds but they would be manageable precisely because they occurred in a context of shared interests.
With hindsight, we know that this vision was simplistic and flawed. Expectations were unrealistic. Three defects stand out.
First, globalization overestimated its capacity to suppress ethnic, religious and nationalistic strife. For proof, see the Middle East ablaze.
Second, it optimistically presumed strong and steady economic growth. Markets were assumed to be self-correcting, so slumps and stock declines, while inevitable, would be short and mild. The devastating 2008-09 financial crisis and Great Recession punctured this premise.
Finally, the economic benefits of more trade and open financial markets were considered so obvious that globalization would enjoy strong political support. Not so. It represents a loss of national sovereignty. Countries accept this when the rewards prosperity and rising living standards seem high. When gains fade, the bargain becomes less tenable.
Enter GEs Immelt. Globalization is being attacked as never before, he told MBA graduates of the New York Universitys Stern School of Business. This is not just true for the U.S., but everywhere. At another point, he said, We are having a raucous [American] presidential election, one where every candidate is protectionist.
So GE must defend its interests. With globalization, it is time for a bold pivot, Immelt said. We will localize [production]. To the extent possible, production would occur where the company makes sales. With 420 factories worldwide, he said, GE has tremendous flexibility in locating production. For the United States: We will produce for the U.S. in the U.S., but our exports may decline.
Superficially, this seems reasonable. We produce where we consume; so do other countries. In fact, its a formula for U.S. economic stagnation, because most of GEs growth is happening in foreign markets.
When Immelt joined GE in 1982, 80 percent of the companys sales occurred in the United States. Now, 70 percent originate elsewhere. If other multinationals copy GE (which seems plausible), there will be a slow-motion shrinkage of their U.S. operations.
Similarly, policies backed by the presidential candidates, including opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, may backfire. They falsely promise to strengthen the economy by de-globalizing. In practice, just the opposite may be true. Consider Trumps proposed 45 percent tariff on Chinese imports. No one should think this would stimulate much added production in the United States.
U.S. companies would not start producing more apparel and footwear in the United States, nor would they start assembling consumer electronics domestically, writes economist Douglas Irwin of Dartmouth College in a forthcoming issue of Foreign Affairs. Instead, production would shift from China to other low-wage developing countries in Asia, such as Vietnam. Meanwhile, China would almost certainly retaliate against U.S. exports. The big loser would be the United States.
There would also be broader political repercussions. Trumps America First policies would reinforce the drift away from U.S. global leadership in ways that would benefit China, as my Washington Post colleague David Ignatius recently wrote. Clintons and Sanders trade policies merit a similar verdict.
Just because globalization is flawed doesnt mean that its nationalist substitute is superior. Its creeping protectionism reduces the efficiencies created by large international markets. This would limit the possibility of lowering prices of traded goods and services. It would also foster more trade conflicts as countries aided local firms with more subsidies and protectionism.
For all its shortcomings, globalization has contributed to a huge reduction in worldwide poverty over the past quarter-century. We ought to be more realistic about its limits and should police its vulnerabilities particularly the danger of financial breakdowns. But as an organizing principle for U.S. foreign policy, we shouldnt abandon it until we have something better. We dont.
Copyright, The Washington Post Writers Group.
While its not the twin brother of the 18-minute gap on President Richard Nixons Watergate tapes, the glitch-turned-deletion on a videotape of a State Department press briefing on Iran is nonetheless a close relation in duplicity to the American public.
Around three weeks ago, the State Department was insisting the missing chunk was due to a technical glitch. It contained a reporter asking a spokeswoman, Is it the policy of the State Department, where the preservation or the secrecy of secret negotiations is concerned, to lie in order to achieve that goal? The spokeswoman answered in government-ese affirmative with, I think there are times where diplomacy needs privacy in order to progress. This is a good example of that.
While the exchange was not scrubbed from the written transcripts, it was reduced to a white flash online. Caught with its finger on the delete button, State did an about-face last week, with a new spokesman admitting, This wasnt a technical glitch, this was a deliberate step to excise the video.
In non-government-ese, that boils down to someone almost told the truth, then someone tried to take it back, and then someone lied about trying to take it back. Just who remains a mystery, because State isnt coming clean about that. After all, the video segment disappeared three years ago and memories are murky, the delete request came through an underling over the phone, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, the dog ate my homework, you get the idea.
It is an all-too-familiar refrain from an administration that promised hope, change and transparency, yet on several fronts has delivered the least open and accountable government in recent history. It is one that has doubled the backlog of public records requests. One that exempted itself from the Freedom of Information Act. One that has played semantics with open meetings laws by scheduling Environmental Protection Agency staff meetings with lobbyists at off-site cafes and records laws by allowing EPA employees to use personal email accounts. One that wouldnt order an investigation of Secretary of State Hillary Clintons email account by a special prosecutor or appoint an inspector general to State during her tenure. One that suppressed evidence that fracking can contaminate well water. One that ordered government scientists not to share estimates of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. One that prompted a Congress that has trouble agreeing on anything to craft a bipartisan bill requiring federal agencies to acknowledge government records are presumed open unless there would be foreseeable harm in releasing them or there is a specific legal requirement to deny access to them. One that, according to the Washington Post, has prosecuted more leakers under the Espionage Act than all other administrations combined.
The State Department spokesman who admitted the deletion is now focused on the future, saying what happened was unacceptable and that new rules will prevent it from happening again.
Considering this administrations track record, Americans who have been kept in the dark and fed manure like mushrooms for eight years can only hope for real change.
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.
Dont stigmatize those who suffer pain
I WANTED TO take a moment to comment on the op-ed posted in the Saturday Journal titled The pain shame of genuine sufferers by Nicole Hussey of the Los Angeles Times.
Thank you so much for articulating what many of the silent majority of pain sufferers are feeling. It addresses much of what we deal with in the daily battle to overcome the debilitating pain that shortens our lives and makes everything so much harder to do.
It is a sad commentary on our society when those people that become addicted to narcotics, for whatever reason, become the focal point of our leaders at the expense of the majority of those responsible individuals who use pain medication as a tool to engage in life activities, not as a method to get high. Many of the silent majority are suffering with incurable diseases and can only hope that the medications prescribed by medical professionals can assist them to continue in life. I am most frustrated with our elected officials that see an opportunity to jump into the fray with no experience or knowledge of the issue at hand.
It is extremely devastating to learn about all of the wasted lives that have been taken because of the addictions to these medications and we, as a society, should do everything in our power to solve this most difficult problem. I beg you all not to solve it at the expense of the silent sufferers, the majority.
JAMES ROMERO
Albuquerque
Kudos to APS for adding ethnic studies
FAMILIES UNITED for Education is an organization comprised of families, educators and community members in Albuquerque who advocate for family and community engagement in Albuquerque Public Schools.
We are currently partnering with APS in order to craft and implement best practices in the much needed field of ethnic studies that will be incorporated into every APS high school starting in the 2017-18 school year. We would like to formally commend APS on their efforts to expand and diversify the available curriculum in response to appeals from the community for more culturally relevant education.
These efforts represent a grand leap forward in the history of public education not only for the people of Albuquerque, but also for the entire nation. At a time when some states are working to restrict the availability of knowledge from their students, APS is proudly stepping forward to join the chorus of school districts across the country to increase the wealth of knowledge and wisdom that we make available to our students.
The inclusion of ethnic studies in K-12 education is shown to improve students performance in school. According to a January 2016 article in the Stanford News, a recent Stanford study found that A high school ethnic studies course examining the roles of race, nationality and culture on identity and experience boosted attendance and academic performance of students at risk of dropping out. This type of encouraging progress can go a long way toward helping to boost APS graduation rates and students sense of self-esteem and motivation.
For all of these reasons and more, FUE would like to offer our sincere gratitude to APS for embarking with us on this historic venture. We especially applaud the efforts of Chief Academic Officer Katarina Sandoval for her inclusive approach to implementing ethnic studies in a positive and meaningful way. We extend special recognition for her focus on keeping the needs and futures of all students at the forefront of our minds as we move forward to make ethnic studies a resounding success at APS.
TONY PADILLA
Member, Families United for Education
Albuquerque
Keep up pressure for ethics commission
THANK YOU, Albuquerque Journal, for asking legislative candidates whether they support a transparent (state) ethics commission. Its an issue that is overwhelmingly supported by the public, but its repeatedly killed or watered down in the Roundhouse, usually in the Senate.
The issue is important to public trust, and voters need to hold candidates feet to the fire on this count. Of course, most candidates will say yes and then do what they want once in office. But we, as voters, need to hold them accountable for their votes both before and after the issue comes up in the Legislature.
DIANE GOLDFARB
Albuquerque
Examine issues of descanos on public land
THE FRONT PAGE article Family hopes memorials will stop being destroyed in the May 16 Journal describes how a Christian man builds roadside crosses descansos to memorialize the tragic death of loved ones, sometimes on government property.
While it is heartwarming to see that mans dedication to their memory, what purpose does a descanso on city, county or state property serve? Yes, I know, it is tradition to honor the dead. But with all due respect to those who have lost someone near and dear to them on a street or highway I am one of those should that be done at the site of the death?
The Journal would do well to find someone who will ask whether a graveyard or memorial park might be the best place for that. Is there really anything sacred about the spot where someone dies? How do believers justify that? Isnt this practice the very definition of superstition?
If you are honoring the blood that was spilled there, what about the blood that was left in the wreckage or clothes? Surely other things have happened or will happen in that area that might desecrate the site, or must it be restricted from use indefinitely? And who decides how that should be done?
If this is a legal practice, how long before some sites become piles of memorial articles? How will local businesses or residences feel if their property seems to be the site of frequent deaths? These are questions the Journal could at least ask, if not answer.
And allowing a descanso on government property violates the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which says that there can be no law respecting the establishment of religion. Individuals are free to practice their religion, but descansos on government property show government respect for religion.
The separation of church and state under the Constitution is certainly an issue that the Journal would do well to explain to its readers on a regular basis.
RON HERMAN
Albuquerque
Christian theology should fit with reality
I AM A heterosexual female family physician with a Christian background. Im tired of the ignorant, hostile anti-homosexual dogma coming from my faith.
The Bible was formed in a cultural context. Ancient Semitic people thought about reproductive physiology from an agricultural standpoint. The woman was the field and it was the quality of her soil that controlled fertility. The male contributed the seed, which was the entirety of the child, and was never flawed. The tribe needed all the children possible so to spread seed wastefully was a crime against the tribe.
There are few references against female/female sexual contact. It really didnt matter and was not wasteful. Male/male contact was equivalent to infanticide. The world was a different place, and the population was low.
Now we know about sperm and eggs, but will Christians ever accept an evolving understanding of the Bible and the spirit of Jesus, which included love and acceptance for all? The planet is so overpopulated people are starving and suffering and the environment now is in a crisis state. We dont need a lot more babies right now.
Male/male sexual relationships are no longer threatening to our future. What harm do they do? This discussion has become tiresome.
And as far a the pronoun issue, I suggest the terms he, she and tri. Its simple and clear and represents a third category.
The U.S. should have a separation of church and state. We need to protect the rights of everyone on the gender spectrum. If not this, it would be no different than Sharia law ruling the land.
JULIE RALLS, M.D.
Albuquerque
Paid sick leave would help the economy
IF GOVERNMENT should stay out of business, lets start with getting rid of (Gov. Susana) Martinezs corporate tax cuts. If we are going to keep government out of business, lets begin by ending the special considerations and corporate welfare that benefit the extremely wealthy.
Paid sick leave isnt the problem for small businesses; lets strengthen our workforce so we can strengthen our economy.
VICTORIA GOMEZ
Albuquerque
Appreciate what city, UNM are doing right
THE CLEANLINESS of the Sunport gives incoming visitors and returning residents the best possible opinion of New Mexico.
The entire facility even the bathrooms virtually sparkles from care and attention. When youre out there, thank a maintenance worker.
Thank goodness, courageous people through the years have protected UNMs architectural treasures. If you havent strolled through the campus to enjoy these gems, take the time to do so picnic by the duck pond, marvel at the interior of Zimmerman Library.
While other states are taking steps to make it harder to vote, New Mexico is making it easier for qualified voters to participate in all elections.
For all of these things, we should be proud.
LINDA NELSON MCCORMICK
Albuquerque
Atomic bombings were morally repugnant
WITH ALL DUE respect to the World War II veterans interviewed by the Journal about President Obamas visit to Hiroshima (It had to be done, May 28), the claim that it was necessary to incinerate 200,000 Japanese civilians to spare the lives of American soldiers is repugnant.
Soldiers are expected to give their lives if required, but civilians must be spared. And the fact that, after seeing the devastation caused by the Hiroshima bombing, the United States bombed a second Japanese city with an atomic weapon is inexcusable.
As a country which has, in recent decades, repeatedly caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians worldwide yet presumes to accuse other nations of war crimes, America is truly exceptional, but only in its hypocrisy.
PETER ROGERS
Albuquerque
Candidates should be righteous, ethical
AS WE APPROACH the election, I believe it is imperative that those who wish to serve our beloved state and country do what is proper and righteous. Leaders are in a position to impact peoples lives, in a good way or bad way depending on what they choose.
Too many people with wrong intentions influence the decision-makers with whatever they promise them. It is important to be a person of integrity, always speak the truth and stand up for justice.
Choose what is right and honorable, adhere to ethical and moral principles. Hold yourself accountable and be responsible our future leaders of tomorrow.
DORIS VIGIL MCBRIDE
Santa Fe
Ordinary citizens must be vigilant, involved
THE PROBLEM WITH the Libertarian every man for himself approach is that it just doesnt work. Our nation exists thanks to cooperation on many levels. Without joint communal planning and participation, our lives would suffer.
In our complex society, we need laws and regulations to prevent abuses by rich and powerful individuals and businesses. Its obvious that things are not ideal, but the ballot box gives us a way of correcting imbalances and injustices.
To keep democracy alive, its necessary for us to participate. The alternative is to lose our right to govern ourselves. Corporations and the uber-wealthy are ready to enhance their privilege if the 99 percent of us are too complacent or self-involved to care.
BILL SWIFT
Albuquerque
Let voters take back power in campaigns
MONEY AND POWER are overwhelming voter influence in America.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legal entities have rights equal to individual voters in political influence was the final blow to our voting franchise. We who still believe our vote is not only a right but our civic duty must step up in our own defense.
Federal and state election laws must be changed to reflect government of and by the people similar to the following: only a registered voter may contribute limited financial support to the campaign of a candidate the voter can legally vote on subject to public disclosure. Only a registered voter may contribute limited financial support to political parties, PACs, associations or lobbying entities subject to public disclosure.
WILLIAM CHRISTY
Socorro
BUJUMBURA, Burundi Eleven secondary school students are in jail in Burundi for scribbling on photos of President Pierre Nkurunziza, parents and a government official said Tuesday
The youths, aged 14 to 19, are charged with insulting the head of state, a crime punishable by imprisonment of between six months to five years, plus up to $32 in fines, the governor of Muramvya province Emmanuel Niyungeko said.
Justice must prevail,he said. After God came the king. Today we have no kings; it is the president who replaced them. So he is in the second position of honor after God. These children made a serious offense. We will keep consulting judicial authorities and parents in order to find a solution.
The teens were arrested Friday, according to Melanie Nijimbere, who said her daughter Darlene is one of those being held in Muramvyas main prison. The presidents photo was in a text book which is shared among three classes, she said.
Our children never come with books at home How can they know exactly those who made the squiggles? said Nijimbere. No witness has forward to say they have seen my daughter doing that They should all be released immediately.
Last year Nkurunziza won a third term in office that critics say is unconstitutional and has caused turmoil in Burundi that the U.N. says has resulted in more than 400 deaths. More than 260,000 people have fled the country fearing it could return to civil war. Hundreds have also fled fearing persecution or assassination for opposing Nkurunzizas third term.
The United States last week sanctioned two Burundian government officials and a rebel leader by freezing their accounts in the U.S. and prohibiting U.S. nationals doing business with them. The two government officials were accused attacking those opposed to Nkurunzizas third term.
BELTON, Texas A former Texas law enforcement officer has been convicted of capital murder in the 2014 fatal shooting of Little River-Academy police Chief Lee Dixon.
David Gene Risner faces the death penalty or life in prison without parole for the slaying as Dixon responded to a report of a man with a gun.
A Bell County jury on Monday convicted Risner in the June 2014 death of the only police officer in Little River-Academy, a town of about 2,000 located 60 miles northeast of Austin. The penalty phase was scheduled Tuesday in Belton.
Law enforcement records show Risner formerly was a police officer in Edgewood, Gun Barrel City and Grand Saline. He also worked for the Van Zandt County Sheriffs Office.
The error wasnt theirs, but more than 200 employees with the Central New Mexico Community College will have to pay for a mistake related to health and life insurance benefits.
In other instances, CNM owes employees money.
The news comes from CNM President Kathie Winograd, who laid out the error and what would be done to fix the issue in an email that went out Tuesday.
I deeply regret this unfortunate situation and want to share what were doing to address it, she said in a statement.
Some employees underpaid on their health and life insurance benefits while others overpaid.
About 229 employees so far owe CNM money and 112 will receive money from the college. The average amount owed to the college is about $367. In total, affected employees owe about $89,000 to the college, and the college owes about $9,000 to some employees.
Its not immediately clear how many employees will be affected by the error because CNM is still reviewing its file. Staff have reviewed about 40 percent, or 565, of the 1,382 employee files flagged for review.
Winograd also said shes aware of potential criticism given the affected employees were not responsible for the error, yet theyre being asked to repay the college. She said CNM is a public, taxpayer-funded institution and as such is subject to the state Constitutions anti-donation clause.
That clause requires CNM to collect debts owed to the college, even in this case, when the debts were caused by the colleges errors, Winograd said. As a result, CNM must collect repayments from those who underpaid for benefits and reimburse those employees who have overpaid.
CNM spokesman Brad Moore said the issue first came to light in October 2015, prompting a lengthy investigation. CNM is reviewing personnel records going back four years, which is the statute of limitations for the repayments, Moore said.
Nawana Salimbeni, the CNM Employees Union president, said the situation was regrettable, but she said she was happy that the administration was making efforts to remedy the errors.
Im pleased to see that CNM is acknowledging errors, communicating with employees and the CNM Employees Union, and committing to rectify errors that have occurred while putting systems in place to prevent a recurrence, Salimbeni said in an email Tuesday.
Those with questions or concerns should email benefits@cnm.edu or leave a message at the benefits line at 505-224-4622.
Summer is heating up for health care employment in downtown Albuquerque.
Just weeks after ABQ Health Partners announced that it would stake a claim Downtown with a new corporate headquarters employing 240, Molina Healthcare of New Mexico is also expanding its employment footprint.
The company on Tuesday said it is staffing up by 120 employees this summer to keep pace with its growing state insurance marketplace, as well as its Medicare and Medicaid lines of business.
Our contact center is expanding to become one of our four regional sites for our marketplace line of business, said Patty Kehoe, plan president of Molina Healthcare of New Mexico.
She said hiring already began in May with approximately 40 jobs added. The next wave of hiring will take place between this month and October for positions ranging from associate representative to manager.
The current workforce now stands at 1,066 employees, said Kehoe.
Molina has grown from the 800-strong workforce it recorded a year ago when the business moved to the seven-story Plaza Campana at 400 Tijeras, a stones throw from Civic Plaza.
Molina said the 137,000 square feet on three floors would help it meet its customer service requirements.
At that time, Mayor Richard Berry hailed Molina for taking a leap of faith in choosing to locate in Downtown Albuquerque, bringing some much needed daytime commerce to benefit local merchants. The urban core continues to have the highest commercial vacancy rate in the city about 34 percent.
Molina Healthcare of New Mexico was the most popular choice among the 55,000 people in the state who bought private health insurance this year through the states health exchange.
Since its arrival in New Mexico in 2004 with the acquisition of Health Care Horizons, the Long Beach, Calif.-based company has captured the biggest share of the health insurance exchange. Molina was the most popular choice among the 55,000 people in the state who bought private health insurance this year through the states health exchange.
About 37 percent of those who enrolled for 2016 coverage signed up with Molina, while 35 percent went with New Mexico Health Connections.
In the meantime, ABQ Health Partners will be taking over four floors at the former Bank of America building this fall after tenant improvements. The building is adjacent to a 1,000-vehicle parking garage.
The new headquarters will house the leadership team, revenue/operations, IT personnel and other support staff. The multi-specialty physician group had outgrown its current leased space at the Gibson Healthcare Center at 5400 Gibson SE, said a spokeswoman.
RIO RANCHO, N.M. Officials in a New Mexico city are reconsidering a red light camera and speed van program after discovering thousands of people who never paid fines from those tickets.
KOAT-TV reports (http://bit.ly/25KpemV ) that Rio Ranchos automated traffic system has sent out 90,000 tickets and brought in more than $1.4 million between 2011 and 2015.
The city says 35,000 people have ignored red light or speed van tickets over the last five years, however, costing the city around $3.7 million.
Rio Rancho leaders say they will take those numbers into account when deciding whether to keep the program when the contract runs out at the end of the year.
___
Information from: KOAT-TV, http://www.thenewmexicochannel.com/index.html
SANTA FE The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission has a new chief of staff.
Ernest Archuleta, who officially started in his new position Monday, was Operations Division director at the state Department of Transportation for the past 12 years,
according to a news release from the PRC. Archuleta has a bachelors of science in civil engineering and is a licensed engineer in New Mexico and Nevada.
Im hopeful that I can bring some value to a great organization, Archuleta stated during a meeting with agency staff Monday morning. My hopes are that, as an agency, while serving the interests of the public that we also meet the goals of the commission and provide acknowledgement for each employees contributions to the PRC.
After nine long months without a permanent chief of staff, Im glad that we now have a chief of staff to focus fully on all highly pertinent administrative, policy, budgetary and personnel matters, which require full attention, Commissioner Lynda Lovejoy stated. Now we are able to ensure a more stabilized staffing environment at the agency, and a more stabilized operation for the entities regulated by the PRC.
The NMPRC regulates public utilities, telecommunications companies and motor carriers. It also administers the State Fire Marshals Office, the New Mexico Firefighters Training Academy and the Pipeline Safety Bureau.
Johnson Matthey, a publicly traded specialty chemicals company headquartered in the United Kingdom, acquired the Albuquerque-based water purification firm MIOX Corp. in April for an undisclosed price.
MIOX, a venture-backed company that launched in Albuquerque in 1994, uses a proprietary, environmentally-friendly process for industrial-scale water purification. Its systems are used worldwide by municipalities and commercial businesses in everything from swimming pools and food and beverage operations to hotels and oil and gas operations.
Johnson Matthey, which reported over $3 billion in sales last year, is expanding its footprint in the water industry through a new water technologies business division that it formed in 2013. MIOX will join that division, which is developing and marketing advanced technologies to treat contaminants and bacteria in industrial water systems.
MIOX was one of two companies acquired recently by that division, said MIOX President and CEO Craig Beckman. MIOX has had good growth in recent years and Johnson Matthey views this industry as a strong growth area.
The new owners expect to maintain MIOX operations at its current 64,000-square-foot factory near Albuquerques Balloon Fiesta Park, Beckman said.
At this point, Johnson Matthey intends to keep its employees in New Mexico, he said. The plan is to remain here.
Beckman would not discuss current workforce totals. But the company had reported about 50 employees in Albuquerque as of 2013.
ACAs library of educational tools help members improve their business practices. ACA also holds the most popular industry conferences and offers credentialing for collectors, attorneys, and more. ACAs Training Zone subscription gives agencies access to almost all of our education for one low cost.
(Bloomberg) The two biggest political parties in Denmarks parliament say the country may need to tighten punishments for bankers on the wrong side of the law as the Panama leaks continue to reveal practices that politicians say are unacceptable.
The opposition Social Democrats, the largest party in Denmarks legislature, and the Danish Peoples Party, the biggest group in the ruling bloc of Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, say the current framework may be too weak to discipline an industry whose misdeeds have dominated headlines in recent months and even years.
Such revelations make us even more convinced that we need to look into raising the punishment for banks and other advisers counseling clients on evading tax payments and moving money offshore to avoid taxation, Benny Engelbrecht, the head of parliaments finance committee and a leading Social Democrat lawmaker, told Bloomberg.
Nordea Allegations
The comments follow media reports over the weekend alleging that employees at the Russian unit of Nordea Bank AB, Scandinavias largest lender, created offshore shell companies which can be used for evading taxes. The allegations follow earlier reports that Nordea had worked with Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca to help wealthy clients hide their assets from tax authorities. Nordea declined to comment on individual clients but said shell companies arent necessarily illegal constructions.
As weve mentioned earlier, we naturally include all new and relevant information that were made aware of in our internal investigation, Nordea said in a comment on its website. Should it emerge that Nordea hasnt complied with the rules, that would of course be unacceptable and would be reported to the relevant authorities.
Denmark is already preparing stricter rules to prevent tax evasion. The countrys highest administrative body overseeing tax laws has ruled that the ministry can force banks to hand over lists of clients with links to both Denmark and what it defines as tax havens, including places such as Liechtenstein, Singapore or Panama, according to a statement on Tuesday.
The Danish Peoples Party welcomes having tougher penalties put on the agenda, according to its finance spokesman Hans Kristian Skibby. Such a move would make good sense, he said.
In Denmark, where residents carry one of the worlds highest tax burdens measured in revenue as a percentage of gross domestic product, politicians have taken particular offense at the notion that some individuals have sought to circumvent its laws. Should it emerge that the government has lost revenue that can no longer be recovered as a consequence of tax evasion, demanding compensation from the responsible banks may be the next best thing, Engelbrecht said.
Mandatory Insurance
Were also contemplating making it mandatory for banks to be insured against fines and losses from being convicted in aiding tax evasion, he said. Insurance companies have proven themselves a very effective force for policing inappropriate behavior in other areas as they aim to avoid losses and would likely be a more effective supervisor than authorities can be.
Denmarks penal code currently makes it possible to put tax evaders in prison for as long as 18 months. In extreme and deliberate cases, people can face as much as eight years behind bars.
Advising clients to hide their wealth is a serious business, Skibby said. Theres a lot of money at stake.
By Melissa Dykes
If you like your healthcare provider you can keep your healthcare provider provided you pay a whopping 60% rate hike starting next year.
The Houston Chronicle is reporting that Blue Cross Blue Shield has requested a 60% rate increase in 2017 in Texas following complaints from the company that it is losing money in the federal health exchanges because some customers have proven more costly to cover than anticipated.
In other words, the cost of insuring people under the so-called Affordable Care Act is going to force prices to skyrocket to potentially unaffordable levels for everyone.
According to filings listed on healthcare.gov, Blue Cross and Blue Shield seeks increases between 57.33 percent and 59.35 percent for two of its Blue Advantage Plus plans. A Blue Advantage Health Maintenance Organization Plan is asking for a 58.6 percent hike
In a country where the cost of living is going up on virtually all fronts but wages and jobs are not increasing, exactly who is going to be able to afford this insane rate hike? And thats just to pay for the insurance in case you get sick
According to the report, it is unclear what will happen if the rate hike request is not granted. When the same company requested a 51% increase in rates in New Mexico last year and the request was denied, the company simply withdrew all healthcare plans from the entire state.
Its a domino effect. Obamacare is imploding the nations health care system.
Insurers across the nation, including Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, have complained vigorously that they are losing money in the federal exchanges as some customers have proven more costly to cover than anticipated.
Blue Cross Blue Shield isnt the only company that has been reporting large profit losses due to Obamacare. UnitedHealthcare has reported losses of $650 million. Humana reported a 46% loss in the first quarter of 2016 alone.
As more and more private health insurance companies complain of profit losses and pull out of states who refuse to hike rates to unaffordable levels, it is highly likely the situation will become unsustainable and ultimately used as an excuse for the government to take control over all healthcare, moving the US to a national system just like in the UK or Canada.
In fact, this is exactly what Senator Harry Reid said that Obamacare was a step towards when it was first rolled out: a single-payer national health care system. Now were watching it happen.
But look at the way our servicemen and women who go to the VA in this country are treated. They die waiting in two-year-long lines to receive care. Its so bad, one Navy vet recently set himself on fire in front of a VA in protest.
Considering our government cant even make a noodle salad efficiently, the crash and burn of Obamacare as a problem-reaction-solution forcing us onto a single-payer national system could be a nightmare for anyone who depends on Americas already broken health care system for their health.
Image Credit
Melissa Dykes is a writer, researcher, and analyst for The Daily Sheeple and a co-creator of Truthstream Media with Aaron Dykes, a site that offers teleprompter-free, unscripted analysis of The Matrix we find ourselves living in. Melissa also co-founded Nutritional Anarchy with Daisy Luther of The Organic Prepper, a site focused on resistance through food self-sufficiency. Wake the flock up!
By Derrick Broze
On Tuesday a federal appeals court with jurisdiction in Virginia and Maryland ruled that police do not need a search warrant to obtain cell tower location information using Stingray surveillance devices.
In a vote of 12 to 3 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit has ruled that police can legally gather cell site location information (CSLI) without judicial approval via a search warrant. The 4th Circuit made the ruling based on rules implemented before the growth of cellphones and computers which allow law enforcement to collect business or third party records without a court order. The rules were originally intended to govern banking transactions and phone calls made by a traditional landline.
Writing for the majority opinion, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz said the Supreme Court could eliminate the third-party doctrine at a future date and Congress could require a warrant for CSLI, but without a change in controlling law, we cannot conclude that the Government violated the Fourth Amendment in this case. Motz also stated that overturning the ruling would conflict with recent rulings by federal appellate courts in Florida and Cincinnati, New Orleans and Philadelphia.
The judgement relates to two Maryland men, Aaron Graham and Eric Jordan, who were convicted of armed robberies in Baltimore. Both men were under investigation for seven months. During that time period police investigators gathered evidence using cell site simulators, also known by the name Stingrays. Stingrays are the brand name of a popular cell-site simulator manufactured by the Harris Corporation.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation describes Stingrays as a brand name of an IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) Catcher targeted and sold to law enforcement. A Stingray works by masquerading as a cell phone tower to which your mobile phone sends signals to every 7 to 15 seconds whether you are on a call or not and tricks your phone into connecting to it. As a result, whoever is in possession of the Stingray can figure out who, when, and to where you are calling, the precise location of every device within the range, and with some devices, even capture the content of your conversations.
Graham and Jordans attorneys argued that the use of cell site simulators amounted to dragnet surveillance because police were able to gather sensitive data about their lives, thus violating the Fourth Amendment right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches.
The three dissenting judges called the majority decision a dangerous expansion of the third-party doctrine. Judge James A. Wynn stated that the Fourth Amendment, necessarily, is in retreat. The Washington Post reports that Wynn stated that CSLI is different from other types of data because phone users do not voluntarily convey the information and are likely unaware they are providing local cell towers with sensitive data that can be scooped up by law enforcement.
I suppose we can also expect no privacy in data transmitted by networked devices such as the Fitbit bracelet, which can track the steps you take in a day, calories burned, and minutes asleep, Wynn said in a footnote discussing the popular device that can track an individuals temperature, and heart and breathing rates.
The decision by the 4th Circuit overturns a ruling from August 2015 which found that accessing cell site information without a warrant was unconstitutional because law enforcement are able to gather sensitive data, including a persons daily routine in both public and private spaces.
Because months worth of cell phone location data can reveal extraordinarily private details of a persons life, the right way to protect peoples privacy interest in that information is to require a warrant, said Nathan Freed Wessler, a staff attorney with the ACLUs Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. The Fourth Circuits decision is not the last word on this issue. Other appellate courts will surely address these questions soon, and the Supreme Court may well need to weigh in.
The ruling is likely to make its way to the Supreme Court as local, state, and federal officials grapple with the rise of invasive technology that is slowly eroding the concept of privacy. On May 18, Illinois passed Senate Bill 2343 which forces police to obtain a court order based on probable cause that a person whose location information is sought has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime, is required for any permitted use before using a Stingray or similar surveillance device.
Both the Harris Corp. and the Federal Bureau of Investigations require police to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDA) related to the use of the devices. Through these NDAs local police departments have become subordinate to Harris, and even in court cases in front of a judge, are not allowed to speak on the details of their arrangements. This has created a dangerous precedent which allows law enforcement on the local, state, and federal level to operate the devices with impunity. Americans remain largely ignorant to the fact that numerous agencies are gathering their private information without a warrant.
Follow this link for more information on the Stingrays.
Image Credit: TheFreeThoughtProject.com
Derrick Broze is an investigative journalist and liberty activist. He is the Lead Investigative Reporter for ActivistPost.com and the founder of the TheConsciousResistance.com. Follow him on Twitter.
Derrick is available for interviews.
This article may be freely reposted in part or in full with author attribution and source link.
By Michael Snyder
We always knew that it was coming. All over the world, governments and big corporations are pushing us toward a fundamentally different way of doing things. They insist that this new way will be more safe, more secure and more efficient. They are telling us that we should embrace new technology and be open to new ways of buying and selling. And they assure us that new methods of identification will not be intrusive and will simply allow them to crack down on criminals such as identity thieves, tax evaders and terrorists. But could it be possible that there is more going on here than we are being told? Could it be possible that we should actually be highly alarmed by this huge push for Mark of the Beast technology?
This week, we learned that a new form of identification for the Internet is being proposed in the European Union. When I first came across this story, I was absolutely horrified
The European Union is proposing a government ID for using the Internet which will eradicate both on-line privacy and free speech. Spearheaded by former communist official Andrus Ansip, the European Commission published a draft document outlining its proposed electronic ID that would not only allow the EU to track what you say on-line, but also what you buy.
When it is initially introduced, this government-issued form of Internet identification may be purely voluntary, but once enough people have adopted it, then it will be quite easy for the European Union to make it mandatory for everyone else. The following is an excerpt from a page on the official EU website that describes this new program
issued or recognised by national public authorities, such as electronic or mobile IDs, national identity cards, or bank cards.
So what form would such identification take in the future?
Photo IDs are so easily lost or stolen. In order to make identification more safe and more secure, many advocates are now suggesting that we find ways to make identification a permanent part of a person.
One way that this could be done is by using microchips. If this sounds creepy, it is because it is very creepy.
But all over the world this is already being done to pets, and just recently a local NBC News report promoted the idea that we will all microchip our children someday.
I know that I will never allow anyone to microchip me or anyone in my family, but there are others out there who are enthusiastically embracing the concept of starting to merge humanity with technology.
In fact, Tesla CEO Elon Musk insists that we are all going to have to become cyborgs someday
Elon Musk, the billionaire boss of Tesla and SpaceX, has said that humans need to become cyborgs to avoid becoming house cats for vastly more intelligent robots. Musk said that as artificial intelligence advances, people will need to augment their brain power with digital technology to prevent them becoming irrelevant. He backed the idea of a neural lace a new electronic layer of the brain that would allow us to instantly access online information and greatly improve cognitive powers by tapping into artificial intelligence.
Could you imagine downloading an entire set of encyclopedias into your brain in just seconds?
Someday, technology may make this entirely possible.
And in the not too distant future, we may actually have mind reading machines that can understand what you are thinking. The following comes from a recent article in the Daily Mail
A mind-reaching machine that can translate thoughts into speech is coming closer to reality. The research has been ongoing for several years, and recently, scientists successfully managed to playback a word that someone is thinking by monitoring their brain activity. While there remains a long way to go, they say this could help victims of stroke and others with speech paralysis to communicate with their loved ones.
We will soon be living in a world that looks nothing like the world that our grandparents grew up in. Technology is increasing at an exponential rate, and even now it is hard to grasp just how rapidly our planet is being transformed.
As technology becomes even more important to our lives, there will be even more of a push to move all transactions online. That means phasing out the current system of physical cash and coins, and going to a system that will eventually be entirely cashless.
In fact, in some areas of the world this is already happening to a very large degree
In Spain, all cash transactions of more than 2,500 euros have been banned, and in France and Italy all cash transactions of more than 1,000 euros have been banned.
We dont have those kinds of caps on cash transactions in the United States just yet, but given enough time they would come eventually.
Right now, there are more than 400 billion cashless transactions conducted around the globe annually, and that number may hit 500 billion for 2016.
Of course in a fully cashless society the government would be able to serve as the gatekeeper for who is permitted to use the cashless system and who is not. It would be all too easy for a tyrannical government to mandate that everyone receive a government identification chip before being allowed to buy or sell or do anything else online. We are living at a time when the Book of Revelation is coming to life right in front of our eyes, and that is one of the reasons why I wrote my new book entitled The Rapture Verdict. As our world starts going crazy, Bible prophecy is going to be the number one thing that people are interested in as far as the Christian faith is concerned, and so it is imperative that we have solid answers ready.
The stage is being set for the Mark of the Beast, and the time is coming when we are all going to be faced with some very tough choices.
When you and your family dont have any food and you cant buy or sell without proper government-sponsored identification, will you give in and do whatever they tell you to do?
You may not have to make that decision right now, but if you are able to stay alive long enough someday you will.
Michael Snyder is a writer, speaker and activist who writes and edits his own blogs The American Dream and Economic Collapse Blog. Follow him on Twitter here.
College life beckons with its promises of independence, new friendships, all-nighters, and (depending on your meal plan) all-you-can-eat soft serve ice cream. Along with the perks come new responsibilities, expectations, and challenges that increase two-fold when you have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
The following three tools are a must-have to help ADHD brains make a smooth transition to college life.
College Life Wake-Up Call
When a traditional alarm clock fails to lure you out of your slumber, consider using an alarm clock with legs.
Clocky
(amazon.com; $39.99) (#CommissionsEarned)
Clocky is an alarm clock that runs away if you dont get out of bed. When the alarm sounds, Clocky will wait for you to get up. If you snooze, the clock will roll off of your nightstand, around the room, and even hide to make sure you get up on time. Invented by an MIT alum, Clocky is sure to get even the deepest sleepers to their 8 a.m. classes.
College Life Calm-Down Solution
When youre wired, tired, and cant turn down the volume on anxious thoughts at bedtime, heres an app to put your mind at peace.
White Noise
(iOS; itunes.apple.com; Android; play.google.com; $.99)
Well reviewed by users, the White Noise app features relaxing tracks from soothing beach waves crashing and chimes chiming to the louder thunderstorm and extreme rain pouring. With options ranging from the monotonous airplane travel to the ticking grandfather clock, college freshman with ADHD are sure to find a sound to their liking. You can download free sounds from the White Noise Market, create playlists, and mix tunes to maximize your relaxation.
College Life Distraction Blocker
Its a way of life in college: Whiling away an hour or three or all night online when you should be finishing your U.S. history paper or reading a chapter in The Norton Anthology of American Literature. College undergrads with ADHD might be prone to procrastination, but one application can help end that habit.
Freedom
(Windows, Mac; freedom.to; starts at $2.42/month)
The goal of Freedom is simple to free us from the biggest distraction in most college students lives: the internet. Freedom can block an online connection for up to eight hours. The timer runs via active computing minutes only, to prevent users from putting a computer to sleep in the hopes that the timer will run itself down. If social media is your Achilles heel, Freedom will also keep you honest by blocking connections to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other sites that take you away from your schoolwork. Use it and prosper.
College Life with ADHD: Next Steps
#CommissionsEarned As an Amazon Associate, ADDitude earns a commission from qualifying purchases made by ADDitude readers on the affiliate links we share. However, all products linked in the ADDitude Store have been independently selected by our editors and/or recommended by our readers. Please note that all names, models, prices, links, and specifications were accurate and items were in stock at the time of this articles last update on June 27, 2022.
SUPPORT ADDITUDE
Thank you for reading ADDitude. To support our mission of providing ADHD education and support, please consider subscribing. Your readership and support help make our content and outreach possible. Thank you.
KFC India recently launched initiative to fight hunger in the country Add Hope is now being amplified through KFCs digital and social media channels.
To help contribute towards fighting hunger in India, Blink Digital added another leg to KFCs Add Hope with the Plate of Hope digital campaign. Launching an exclusive website, www.plateofhope.in today, consumers will have a chance to contribute through an interactive online session. For every plate created on the website, KFC will feed a hungry child.
KFC is committed to supporting the hunger initiative and this may mark the start of many to follow in India. These statistics are of concern and we request people to spare their time to make a change. We are quite pleased with the way Blink Digital has created a simple yet call to action website that integrates what we stand for and for what they can do, said Lluis Ruiz Ribot, Chief Marketing Officer, KFC.
Speaking about the campaign, Dooj Ramchandani, Co-Founder & Creative Director, Blink Digital, said, KFC has been a great client to not only work with, but also a partner who understands and is willing to push the envelope with constructive action and thought. We wanted to make a differencebe bold and marry the brand ethos to actual consumer action. The entire initiative is very simple for a smartphone or desktop user to contribute to. We do hope people share this and create their own Plate of Hope for a better tomorrow in India.
Add Hope is KFCs global initiative and was launched in India in May. In India, KFCs Add Hope programme is committed to fighting hunger in the country whilst creating awareness for the cause. It aims to provide 20 million meals to underprivileged children by 2020 in association with World Food Program (WFP) and India FoodBanking Network (IFBN).
Ribot added, As a leading brand in the restaurant space with more than 14,000 restaurants in 120+ countries and territories, KFC feeds the world and is committed to leading the fight to end global hunger through add Hope, KFCs signature global programme. With WFP as their global partner, add Hope raises funds to feed hungry children and families around the world and encourages participation in local hunger programmes. Through the dedication of franchisees and team members, in 2015 KFC globally raised more than $11 million in cash and food donations for hunger organisations, enough to provide 44 million meals for women and children.
Speaking more on the genesis of this initiative, Ribot said that through Facebook, KFC invited consumers to join them in their fight against hunger. All they had to do was to simply create a Plate of Hope on KFCs exclusive website and share their plate on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to further spread the message. For every plate created by the consumer, KFC committed to feed a hungry child.
He further explained, One in four children in India is malnourished and consequently, facing greater obstacles in reaching their fullest potential. Hunger and malnutrition are particularly devastating to children. Not having enough food can have serious implications for a childs physical and mental health, academic achievement and future economic prosperity.
We are a food company and its our privilege and responsibility to address the issue of hunger where millions of children go days without a proper meal. Therefore, we are focusing on giving these children an opportunity to grow and thrive through Add Hope by providing them with meals with all the essential nutrients, he added.
On taking the digital route to amplify the programme instead of the more mass mediums like TV and radio, the KFC Chief Marketing Officer, said, In todays time and age it is critical for brands to be digital savvy and speak the language of its consumers. It is the fastest way to reach people from all walks of life within a few minutes both reach and impact is tremendous. KFCs aim through Add Hope is to spread awareness and get as many people as possible to support the cause and join us in our fight against hunger. Therefore, we decided to amplify our efforts through digital.
The campaign went live on May 11, 2016 and was amplified across all KFCs digital platforms. The official hashtag #KFCAddHope trended nationally at #3 on Twitter after receiving 511 Tweets with a total reach of 12.8 lakh and impressions of almost 40 lakh. Overall the campaign reached out to 2.4 lakh+ (LinkedIn) people.
The Plate of Hope campaign has produced meals for more than 13,000 children till now. Through the year, KFC will continue to drive both consumer and employee engagement initiatives to draw maximum participation for the cause.
Publicis One, today announced its partnership with MSLGROUP in the Philippines via its brand, Arc, one of the leading integrated communications agencies locally. As the flagship strategic communications and engagement consultancy of Publicis Groupe, MSLGROUP is the largest brand and reputation advisory network in Asia and Europe.
Effective immediately, Arc Philippiness PR discipline is now part of the MSLGROUP network and will operate under the MSLGROUP brand. In the Philippines, MSLGROUP is a part of Publicis One.
With a best-in-class team, expertise in public relations and in-depth digital capabilities, Arcs PR offering is known for its comprehensive integrated communication solutions for clients and brands in the Philippines. Since its establishment in 2006, Arcs PR work has been trusted and retained by many multinational and local companies in the Philippines. With forward-looking strategies and unbound creativity, Arcs joint work with the Leo Burnett Group in the Philippines has received extensive recognition from international, regional and local award programs. In 2015, P&G ArielAid Couture Campaign was the most awarded campaign in the AME Awards for Worlds Best Advertising & Marketing Effectiveness (New York).
The MSLGROUP Philippines team will be led by communication veteran Orly Ramas under the guidance of Glenn Osaki, President Asia, MSLGROUP. Ramas will continue to report to Raymond Arrastia, Chief Executive Officer at Publicis One in the Philippines.
"MSLGROUP is a transformative agency with a leading footprint in Asia. Joining forces with MSLGROUP will allow us to tap into the networks regional and global resources and groundbreaking planning methodology to help enhance Publicis Ones capabilities in the Philiipines. Together with MSLGROUP, we will continue to delight our clients with insight-driven, integrated campaigns that deliver accountable business results, said Raymond Arrastia, Chief Executive Officer, Publicis One Philippines.
"The Philippines is a fast-growing and important Asian market. Our best-in-class team, ability to deliver sharp local insights, and strong integrated communication offering allows MSLGROUP to serve regional and global clients in a powerful way. This is an important moment for MSLGROUP in Asia--not only have we achieved significant organic growth in every market since last year, we have rapidly expanded our network this year. With a comprehensive presence in the Philippines, we are now in a strong position to address our clients growing interests throughout the Asian continent, said Glenn Osaki, President, Asia, MSLGROUP.
Said Guillaume Herbette, CEO of MSLGROUP, MSLGROUP is committed to having one of the worlds most robust PR and engagement networks. Since January, we have acquired Venus Communications in Vietnam, rebranded the Arc PR offering in Sri Lanka as MSLGROUP and gained Quadrant MSLGROUP in Nigeria through an equity partnership that Publicis Groupe took in its parent company, the Trokya Group. All of these agencies are among the best in their market.
OptaSense and its partner Optilan, a telecommunications systems integrator, have been awarded the combined leak detection and security package from ABB, the Engineering, Procurement and Construction prime contractor for the delivery of the control infrastructure for the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP).
Above: OptaSense in action.
The contract, in excess of $30 million split evenly with Optilan, was awarded at the start of the year and now enters the equipment delivery phase, marks a significant milestone for OptaSense, the global leader in Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) and Optilan, an international communications and security systems provider. This will be the worlds largest fibre distributed sensing project, protecting and monitoring more than 1850km of pipeline, including perimeter security for all facilities.
The TANAP natural gas pipeline runs from Azerbaijan through Georgia and Turkey to Europe. The project is of strategic importance for the region, as it will enable the first Azerbaijani gas exports to Europe, while strengthening the role of Turkey as a regional energy hub. Construction of the pipeline began in 2015 and is scheduled to be completed in 2018, with expected costs in the region of $10-11 billion.
Magnus McEwen-King, Executive Director at OptaSense commented: This project marks a significant turning point in the adoption of fibre sensing globally with delivery of security and leak detection from a single fibre system. This approach will enable us to demonstrate superior technical performance and value for money. With our partners ABB and Optilan we look forward to helping TANAP use the OptaSense technology to deliver the highest levels of pipeline availability and reduce the cost of asset ownership.
Mr Bal Kler, Executive Director at Optilan said: We are pleased to be partnering once again with the worlds leading fibre sensing company to deliver the worlds largest pipeline monitoring project. Implementation of this project for TANAP will deliver total security and monitoring over the entire pipeline length and follows on from other successful security projects in Turkey.
OptaSenses award-winning integrated DAS solution works across multiple functions via a single fibre-optic cable that effectively listens to the pipeline in order to provide detailed data about its current status. Any changes to the condition of the pipe are fed back through an interrogator unit in real time, allowing users to identify and address issues early and maintain the highest level of pipeline integrity and product throughput.
Leak and intrusion detection are vital to maintaining pipeline integrity and production maximisation in the oil and gas industry. In 2015 an attack on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, which exports crude from Iraq to Turkey, halted operations resulting in significant repairs and thousands of barrels per day in lost deliverables.
Aerospace coatings by PPG (NYSE:PPG) are adding the distinctive silver sparkle to the Jetstar livery on five Q300 turboprops repainted for the airlines new regional service in New Zealand.
DESOTHANE HD/CA 9008 basecoat-clearcoat exterior topcoat system by PPG was selected for the Jetstar aircraft because it provides a colour-rich high-gloss finish that weighs less than traditional systems, for improved aircraft fuel economy, and is easier to apply. PPG coatings experts recommended that silver mica flakes be dispersed in a separate clear coating applied between the grey basecoat and final clearcoat layer for a brighter, more shimmering appearance and added protection.
"It was important to Jetstar to achieve the special-effect silvery shine on its livery because it is part of their branding and an important asset," said Selma Ljubuncic, PPG senior account manager for original equipment and commercial airlines at its Tullamarine, Victoria, Australia, application support centre.
Ljubuncic called on PPGs technical service representatives Ken Foo in Singapore and Craig Pedersen in Irvine, California, for their expertise during the repainting of the first aircraft by Flying Colours Aviation. Foo and Pedersen were on-site at Flying Colours Aviations Townsville Airport paint facility to make sure the PPG Desothane HD systems superior aesthetics were achieved along with ease of application.
Flying Colours Aviation was already acquainted with the painter-friendly benefits of the PPG system, including its environmental adaptability, high-quality gloss and fast-drying basecoat. "We have a very good relationship with Flying Colours Aviation, which has used the Desothane HD basecoat-clearcoat system by PPG and is very comfortable with it, so we knew we had a good team," Ljubuncic said.
"Using the PPG coatings enabled us to reduce the full strip-and-paint process to an industry-leading 11 days," said Linda Armstrong, managing director of Flying Colours Aviation. "We have used the PPG basecoat-clearcoat system on many aircraft, and as usual the paint system did not disappoint. The finish and gloss levels were of a high standard, and Jetstar are extremely happy with the end result."
Having the mica dispersed in a separate clearcoat instead of within the coloured basecoat gives the aircraft the brilliant shine Jetstar wanted while ensuring good application properties, according to Ljubuncic.
Jetstar had the five Q300 turboprops formerly used by QantasLink repainted as its first to fly under the Jetstar brand.
"This project brought PPG, QantasLink, Jetstar and Flying Colours Aviation together on Australias first basecoat-clearcoat system with mica effects," Ljubuncic said.
High-solids Desothane HD/CA 9008 basecoat-clearcoat systems have a heavily-pigmented basecoat that provides more colour coverage with less paint than traditional coatings, saving material, weight and application time. The clearcoat provides a high-gloss shine, extended service life, improved buffability and a smoother surface that is easier to clean.
Wheels up: Hill shop improves F-35 tire change process
For years, the wheel shop at Hill Air Force Base has disassembled, inspected, repaired, built, and delivered reliable tires and wheels for F-16 Fighting Falcons. That reliability and 24-hour turnaround service will remain intact as the base's operational mission transitions to the F-35A Lightning II.
Three active-duty Airmen and an air reserve technician work in the 388th Maintenance Squadron's wheel and tire shop, providing wheels for aircraft.
"We have been building tires for the F-16 for decades, which means that the tools and processes used to accomplish this task are proven," said Tech. Sgt. Astolfo Mercado Cruz, the shop's NCO in charge. "For the F-35, things are getting started, so we have to use our hands-on knowledge and experience to ensure the process is streamlined and efficient."
The F-35 tire change process has become more efficient thanks to an innovation devised by the shop's Airmen.
In conjunction with the first F-35s arriving to Hill AFB last year, the wheel shop received a new tire changing machine -- a hydraulic tool used to separate tires from rims -- for exclusive use with the F-35. Although the new tool is adequate, the shop's Airmen immediately recognized inefficiencies.
Four workers are required to lift an F-35 wheel onto the new machine, while only one worker is needed to roll a wheel into the shop's legacy tire changing machine and another to operate the tool. Additionally, the new machine employs a hand-operated pump as opposed to the automatic pump used on the legacy machine.
Drawing on years of experience changing F-16 tires, the shop's Airmen felt they could make the process of changing F-35 tires better if the legacy tire changing machine could be used. After studying the legacy machine, it was determined the tool would work with F-35 wheels if its bead breaker -- a compressing component which actually pushes on the tire, separating it from its rim via hydraulic pressure -- could be adapted for use.
After coming up with a solution, they provided their design modification proposal to the 388th MXS's metals technology shop. There, Airmen fabricated a ring-shaped compressing component and the braces necessary for adapting it to the legacy tire changing machine.
"Using the legacy machine means that we can load the F-35 tires by rolling them on instead of lifting them on as we have to do on the newer, manual machine," Mercado Cruz said. "This saves a lot of time because only two personnel are involved, not four. By using the automated process, it takes half the time, which allows us to provide assets to the warfighter a lot quicker."
Aircraft engineers recently verified the modified bead breaker for use on the legacy tire changing machine and joint technical data is being updated so that the setup can be used on all F-35 variants, benefiting not only Hills F-35s but those throughout the Defense Department as well as international partners.
This success will continue, according to Mercado Cruz, who noted that other tool modifications are in the works.
"The innovations keep on coming," he said. "As more F-35s arrive, we'll continue looking for ways to do things better."
Flying Jennies take part in D-Day 72nd anniversary events
C-130's were seen flying over many towns, villages, and historical sites near here Friday in honor of the 72nd Anniversary of D-Day today.
The U.S. Air Force Reserves 815th Airlift Squadron, along with 400 U.S. troops, participated in several ceremonial events Wednesday through Saturday to commemorate the anniversary of the largest multi-national amphibious landing and operational military airdrop in history.
U.S. European Command established Task Force D-Day 72 to lead U.S. forces participation, which included representation from eight historical units, to include the 815th AS, which participated in the June 6, 1944 campaign. In 1944, more than 160,000 allied troops landed on the French coast line to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy. The then 815th Bombardment Squadron, flew the B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber. More than 13,000 aircraft and 5,000 ships supported the invasion, according to the Army.mil website.
Seventy-two years later, from the sky looking down, 1st Lt. Will Garey, 815th AS pilot, said that he could see the flashes from the many cameras pointed upward taking photos as they flew over the town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise during the re-enactment ceremony Friday. This was one of many ceremonial events in honor of the 9,000 Allied soldiers who were killed and wounded during the invasion that allowed more than 100,000 soldiers to make their way across Europe to defeat Adolf Hitlers regime.
After completing the fly-overs, 815th AS aircrew members went into Sainte-Mere-Eglise to visit with the local community and other visiting service members.
John and Esther Van Vlaardingen, Netherland residents and D-Day role play actors, said that the fly-over was great and looked good. The D-Day re-enactors were given a tour of the 815th AS C-130J before the fly-overs began Friday.
"It was great to see our friends from the "Flying Jennies" again," said John. "We met Mark (Maj. Mark Suckow, 815th AS pilot) seven years ago and he gave me a coin. Never thought we would meet him again and to also get a tour."
The fly-overs are one part of the commemoration. The 815th AS provided transport for military airborne troops for the drop Sunday. The airborne troops' jump was in remembrance of the service members who served during World War II.
Pilots from the Air Force Reserve's 47th Fighter Squadron demonstrated their experience and expertise on the ground and in the air by winning the Hawgsmoke 2016 competition.
Thirteen teams competed in biennial A-10C Thunderbolt II competition June 1-3. This years event concentrated on two major areas: tactical massing of fires in minimum time in an opposed environment, and conventional weapons delivery.
The winning 47th FS team included the flight lead Capt. David Gnome Knighton, Capt. Tyler Mully Shipman, Capt. Keith Stool Madsen, and Capt. Simon Honey Badger Long. Capt. Knighton was selected as the overall Top Gun which is the first time in the history of Hawgsmoke the Flight Lead from the winning team was also the overall Top Gun. Together they proved the 47th FS is the best of the best in the Air Force.
The squadron also won the last competition in 2014 when it was hosted by the 355th Fighter Wing also at D-M. As the previous years winner it meant that the 47th FS was also the host of the event.
Lt. Col. Brett Zero Warings planning and execution of this competition surpassed all expectations putting together one of the finest and most well organized Hawgsmoke competitions I have ever seen, said Col. Thomas McNurlin, 924th Fighter Group commander. To showcase Total Force Integration, Lt. Col. Waring is assigned to the 47th FS, but is one of our regular Air Force active associate members leading the mission for AFRC.
The three day event kicked off with a solemn Fallen Hawg remembrance ceremony for fallen comrades. Following the reading of the names of all fallen A-10 pilots, a missing-man formation flew overhead. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the participants drank a shot of whiskey then smash the shot glasses, in honor and remembrance of old friends and colleagues.
This tradition amongst flyers dates back to World War I, when combat aviation first appeared in battle. After a mission, the survivors were given a shot of whiskey to calm their nerves, explained Lt. Col. Brett Waring, Hawgsmoke 2016 project lead.
The next day it was straight to business with four ships of A-10s from each of the 13 teams taking off and demonstrating their skills on the Barry M. Goldwater Range. This year each team had to drop bombs on target and then conduct strafing runs. The pilots were scored on accuracy and ability.
Waring explained that the groups were tasked to mass fires within a 10-minute window, with more than 60 individual targets and aim points. They had four tactical, overlapping threats to contend with that were appropriate for an opposed Close Air Support scenario that represented modern and legacy air defense systems (SA-15, 2S6, Roland II, and ZSU-23-4). Every unit successfully engaged approximately 20 targets within this window. The winners successfully targeted more than 30 while demonstrating an effective stand-off survivability with all manners of precision and accurate classes of weapons. The only restriction was, that they could not employ the gun.
All of the competitors found the scenario to be extremely challenging tactically, and they all walked away learning more about employment options in such an environment, said Waring.
Winning Hawgsmoke in 2014 was an incredibly proud moment for me, said McNurlin. Being the first new unit-equipped fighter organization in AFRC since the 944th Fighter Wing stood up in 1987, we were working hard just to keep operating and not fail at the mission. When our pilots and maintainers went out there and proved they were the best in the Air Force, it quite frankly surprised me but definitely shows the quality of our Airmen in the 924th Fighter Group. I never thought in a million years we would win it again much less almost sweep all categories of the competition. Our pilots, maintainers and their AFRC jets did an absolutely incredible job and definitely showcased the 924th, AFRC and TFI at D-M.
The first Hawgsmoke competition started in 2002, when A-10 units across the globe competed in ground attacks and target destruction.
I would like to recognize our maintainers as well as those from our sister AFRC A-10 unit assigned to the 442nd Maintenance Group at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, said McNurlin. They volunteered to help and sent a significant MX footprint here to lead operations from Snowbird which was the only way we were able to make this competition happen with our current 48 percent maintenance manning. I couldnt be more proud of what our Airmen have accomplished.
Hawgsmoke 2016 results:
45 High Altitude Dive Bomb:
1. Capt. David "Gnome" Knighton, 47th Fighter Squadron
2. 1st Lt. Christopher "STYFLR" Shelley, 76th Fighter Squadron
3. Maj. John "Atlas" Meyers, 25th Fighter Squadron
30 Dive Bomb, HARS (Heading and Altitude Reference System; degraded delivery):
1. Capt. Tyler "Mully" Shipman, 47th Fighter Squadron
2. Maj. Jeff "Z" Sliwoski, ANG AFRC Test Center
3. Capt. Ryan "Slinga" Yingling, 104th Fighter Squadron
10 Low Angle High Drag Pop-up:
1. Capt. Simon "Honey-Badger" Long, 47th Fighter Squadron
2. Lt. Col. Alan "Lick" McCracken, ANG AFRC Test Center
3. Capt. David "Gnome" Knighton, 47th Fighter Squadron
Long Range Strafe:
1. Lt. Col. John "Karl" Marks, 303rd Fighter Squadron
2. Capt. Ben Best, 107th Fighter Squadron
Low Angle Strafe:
1. Capt. Josh "Tono" Woodard, 354th Fighter Squadron
2. Capt. Max "EDDIE" Sery, 25th Fighter Squadron
Top Conventional Team (Maj. Jeff "Burger" Watterberg Trophy) 47th Fighter Squadron
Top Tactical Team (Capt. Steve "Syph" Phillis Trophy) 25th Fighter Squadron, Osan AB, Republic of Korea
Top Overall Pilot (Lt. Col. Robert "Muck" Brown Trophy) Capt David "Gnome" Knighton, 47th Fighter Squadron
Top Overall Team (Col. Al "Mud" Moore Trophy) 47th Fighter Squadron
The 315th Airlift Wing is representing Team Charleston during this years Berlin Air Show. To kick off this celebration, lets take a look back on the famed C-17 that is currently on display in Berlin, Germany.Every two years, the Berlin Air Show captivates hundreds of thousands of people, while representing a unique opportunity for the United States Air Force, along with its military allies, to showcase their leadership in aerospace technologies.When the time came for Joint Base Charleston to display the C-17 Globemaster III, one special aircraft in the inventory stood out: The Spirit of Berlin.During the summer of 1998, President Bill Clinton dedicated the Spirit of Berlin to mark the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. Then German Chancellor Helmet Kohl was by Clintons side during the early morning ceremony in Templehof airfield in Berlin, Germany.The Berlin airlift was the first large-scale, peacetime use of mobility airlift used while executing national policy. In June 1948, the first missions were flown airlifting more than 80 tons of milk, flour, medicine and other cargo (the payload was equal to the full capacity of one C-17 Globemaster III.)During this time, World War II was over and its aftermath had left the German city of Berlin in ruins. Allied bombings had reduced the city's once historical buildings to large piles of rubble. The streets, once filled with busy urban life, were left littered with debris. Its people, many were children and they were scared, homeless and hungry.Suddenly, through the darkness of clouds and smoke, a tiny parachute attached to a candy bar falls to the ground. The candy bar symbolizes hope and that somebody cared. That somebody was then, Lt. Gail Halvorsen, forever referred to as "The Candy Bomber" in Germany for his actions during the 1948 Berlin Airlift, known as "Operation Vittles." Halvorsen was also present during Clintons dedication in 1998.In 2012, Joint Base Charleston named the formerly known C-17 Aircrew Training Building to the Halvorsen Training Building, after the famed Candy Bomber. Along with the Spirit of Berlin, Team Charleston has a deep appreciation of Berlin.
On June 1, 2016, the 315th Airlift Wing returned to Germany for the Berlin Air Show, where theyre displaying The Spirit of Berlin and reinforcing a U.S. and European partnership built on a foundation of shared values, experiences and vision.
At least 25 Indian students in their first semester of computer sciences programme at Western Kentucky University have been asked to return to India or find placement in other schools because they did not meet the admission standards, according to a media report.
Some 60 Indian students were enrolled for the programme in January this year and the university was said to have used international recruiters to enrol them.
James Gary, the chairman of Western Kentuckys computer science programme, told the Times that almost 40 of the students did not meet the requirements for their admissions, even though they were offered remedial help by the university.
This meant that 35 students may be allowed to continue while 25 must leave.
Gary said permitting the students to continue in the programme would be throwing good money after bad because they were unable to write computer programmes, a necessary part of the curriculum and a skill that US schools teach to undergraduates.
If they come out of here without the ability to write programmes, thats embarrassing to my department, Gary said, explaining why the university could not permit them to continue.
The students had been admitted after a recruitment campaign in India where the recruiters had run advertisements offering spot admission to the university, as well as tuition discounts.
The university Senate has now endorsed a resolution expressing concern about the recruitment campaign which was part of the universitys efforts to lift enrolment and revenue in the face of deep state budget cuts, the newspaper said.
The university in a statement said it had altered its international recruitment efforts in India. The school will also send members of the computer science faculty to India to meet with students before offers of admission are made in the future.
The chairman of the Indian Student Association at Western Kentucky University, Aditya Sharma, has expressed concern for the students who have been asked to leave.
I definitely feel bad for these students, said Sharma, a graduate student in public health administration. Theyve come so far. Theyve invested money into it.
But he admitted that some of the students had adopted what he called a casual approach to their studies. They could not meet their GPA (grade point average), so the university had to take this decision.
Three suspected Islamists were killed on Tuesday in separate gunbattles with Bangladesh police which launched a massive crackdown on extremists as a Hindu priest became the latest casualty in a wave of attacks on secular activists and minorities in the Muslim-majority country.
The three were operatives of the outlawed Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) outfit which was targeted by superintendent of police Babul Aktar whose wife was brutally killed by the militants on Sunday.
Two operatives of JMB were killed in a shootout with police detectives here while another member of the same outfit was killed in a gunfight with police in the northwestern Rajshahi city, police said.
The two were killed in a predawn encounter at Kalshai area (in the capital) they first fired gunshots, prompting our detectives to retaliate as they raided the area on a secret tip-off, Dhaka polices spokesman Masudur Rahman said.
The two are said to be involved in several recent attacks including the bombing of a Shiite mosque and the murder of a liberal professor, police said.
The two militants succumbed to their bullet wounds as doctors declared them brought dead. The third operative was gunned down in a gunfight, hours after he was arrested from the outskirts of the northwestern Rajshahi city, police said.
We took Jamal Uddin (third operative) as our escort to a JMB den but his cohorts opened fire sensing our presence at their hideout Jamal was caught on the line of fire as we retaliated and died instantly, a police officer said.
He claimed that two policemen were also injured in the operations. A small cache of arms and ammunition was seized from the spot.
The developments came as suspected militants hacked to death a Hindu priest in western Jhinaidah district, the second priest to be killed this year, two days after they killed a Christian businessman and the wife of a police officer, who visibly earned the militants wraths by leading a clampdown against the extremists.
There have been systematic assaults in Bangladesh in recent months specially targeting minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and foreigners.
The ISIS and al-Qaeda in Indian Peninsula have claimed responsibility for some of the attacks although the government denies their presence in Bangladesh.
None of the party leaders have come forward to ask Kamat for reconsidering his decision.
Former Union Minister and Congress leader from Mumbai Gurudas Kamat has the tendency to blackmail high command by tendering his resignation. However, Kamats decision to step down from party has backfired as none of the party leaders came forward to ask him to reconsider his decision. Thus Kamat finds himself isolated at a time when Congress party is heading for overhaul after its dismal performance in the assembly polls. Kamat was unhappy with the functioning of the senior leaders as he was being sidelined by the party. By announcing his decision to resign Kamat was trying to impose pressure on the Congress party so that he can have better say in running the party affairs ahead of BMC election to be held in 2017.
One of the former Chief Minister of Maharashtra said, This is not the first time Kamats resignation stunt has flopped as neither the INTUC, NSUI or MRCC asked him to reconsider his decision. Most of them didnt him try to pacify him to rethink his decision to quit the party.
Another Congress leader spoke to AV on the condition of anonymity and said, Ego has resulted into the downfall of Gurudas Kamat. The young state leaders of Congress party have already sidelined Kamat since he had lobbied against some state leaders as they were shown the door from the party. If Rahul Gandhi becomes the president of Congress then he is likely to give more preference to youth leaders. This may have prompted Kamat to resign from the party.
Kamat was upset with Sanjay Nirupams elevation as Mumbai Congress Chief as internal strife was hurting the partys growth in the city. Often there were reports about clashes between Kamat camp and Nirupam camp. Even Nirupams close proximity to Rahul Gandhi had hurt Kamat. Kamat had also distanced himself from Rahuls recent trip to Deonar dumping ground. He was eyeing the Rajya Sabha seat but Congress party nominated P. Chidambaram from Maharashtra, said another leader.
I will continue to be available for people minus the party tag for whatever help or issues to be taken up with different agencies from this weekend, Kamat stated in a text message sent out the media and his followers on Tuesday morning. I would also like to emphasise that I have the highest respect and regard for Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi and my resignation is purely on personal grounds.
Kamat is a member of the Congress Working Committee and a general secretary of the All India Congress Committee. He was in-charge of party affairs of Rajasthan, where Congress lost the assembly elections badly in 2013.
When Former Union Minister and Congress leader from Mumbai, Gurudas Kamat, resigned from the party and announced his retirement from politics every newspaper covered this news. There was lot of debate and discussions, but none could explain what must have gone wrong. People say, this resignation will be a major blow to the Congress ahead of the next years Mumbai civic polls. However, actually speaking this is not the first time that Kamat has tendered his resignation; he has done this even before. Kamats ego is a setback for him. Actually, this time Congress is trying to get rid of old time leaders who was responsible for the partys defeat in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, they are looking out for young team and representation, in such conditions Kamats blackmailing is not worth noticing. Kamat is known for lobbying and spoiling career of his counterparts from Congress. Once upon a time, he was a part of Vilasrao Deshmukhs team and they hired some local journalist to sabotage Kripashankar Singh and Sanjay Nirupams political career. There are many leaders of state who were victimized by Kamat.
Though, one cannot deny that Kamat commands a sizeable clout among party cadre and youth workers but one needs to be glad that a younger team is now going to lead the Congress. May be, we will see some real positive change once Rahul Gandhi takes over. Kamats downfall is his self-esteem. He has tendered his resignation thrice intimidating Congress high command and blackmailing the party. Twice, he was lucky and got plum post but now he must be allowed to go for giving stern warning to others. Non-performers like him and Ajit Jogi prefer to quit before they are kicked out. Hence, they are resigning while blaming Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Their presence in Congress would not have helped the partys cause either. Hence, its good for Congress to let them go.
Kamat was known as a Gandhi family loyalist but he is an opportunist and has always lived with his own cravings. He is one of the state leaders who have differences with other members of the party. No one actually wants to react or say anything on his quitting politics, and rather everyone silently wished for his exit. He personally met Sonia Gandhi told her that he wants to quit and he also wrote them letter, but this time he was not entertained. While, the Congress top brass has been careful in its reaction to Kamats decision to quit the party, it now appears the reasons behind his discontent is more local than anything going on within the party at the top level.
Kamat was also upset with the party leadership over decisions related to the Mumbai Congress, of which he was president in the past, and the impression that his supporters are being sidelined from routine functioning. He was also unhappy over the choice of Sanjay Nirupam as city Congress chief and has publicly expressed his disapproval for the same. Party office-bearers from Kamats faction in the city unit complain that they were sidelined by Nirupam, leading to the widening of the rift between the warring groups.
Kamats discontent was visible during the two visits of Rahul Gandhi to Mumbai in the past five months. As an act of protest, Kamat skipped Gandhis padyatra between Bandra and Dharavi over rising electricity bills in January and then the rally in support of jewellers in April. Significantly, Kamat is known for sending his resignation to the party leadership when he is unhappy with certain decisions. He had quit as Youth Congress president and as a minister in the United Progressive Alliance government when he was not promoted as cabinet minister.
A day after he announced his decision to resign from the party as well as politics, Kamat, 61, wrote to the party leadership and messaged his followers, insisting that he will continue to do social work but will not hold a party tag.
Another group in Mumbai Congress, however, believes that his threat of resignation is a pressure tactic as he wants to have a say in the affairs of the city unit during the municipal elections. They also pointed out that Kamat always had problems with those heading the city unit of the party whether it was late Murli Deora or Kripashankar Singh. Now, Rahul Gandhis increasing affinity to Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam was hurting Kamat the most.
Kamat was even more upset with issues concerning the All India Congress Committee, he wasnt very happy with Rajya Sabha nominations. The Congress has nominated former home minister P Chidambaram for the Upper House from the state. Kamat is a former Mumbai Congress president for two terms, he has a deep knowledge of the city politics and his absence could prove detrimental for the party, which is hoping to capture next years critical elections to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Starting his political career as a student leader, he rose on to become the president of National Students Union of India, of the Maharashtra Pradesh Youth Congress, the Indian Youth Congress, as well as the vice president of the partys Maharashtra unit, besides serving in the union cabinet. Whatever the reasons might be behind his resignation, its time for him to leave and do some social work.
(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com)
The Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh has been blocking several central welfare schemes, the reason why the benefits are not reaching the intended beneficiaries, BJP president Amit Shah said in Lucknow on Tuesday.
The central government has launched several schemes for the welfare of farmers like the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. But the state government has been blocking the central schemes for petty political reasons, Shah said.
Accusing the ruling Samajwadi Party of shielding the corrupt and the goons, Shah asked why the Akhilesh Yadav government was not acting against those it had itself accused of corruption during the earlier Bahujan Samaj Party rule.
Shah said that Akhikesh government was not ashamed even after the Mathura incident.
We demanded for a detailed and fair inquiry in the matter. But they (government) are not agreeing for that. We demanded for inquiry against the person who gave patronage to Ramvriksh Yadav but they are not showing interest in that too, Shah said.
They came to power on the plank of ending corruption allegedly prevalent during the BSP government. Why have they not acted against any corrupt in the last four years and sent them to jail? the BJP chief said.
Shah promised to free encroached land once BJP comes to power in the state. Those illegally encroaching land will be identified, and action will be taken against those goons, he said.
Shah announced that BJPs UP unit will release an email address tomorrow to which an anyone could send them information to the party if a SP goon illegally encroaches any public land. On receiving information, BJP workers will get that land freed. We will force local DM and SP to get that property evacuated from encroachers, Shah said.
Targeting the Uttar Pradesh government for what he said was the deteriorating law and order situation in the state in the wake of the Mathura violence, Shah wondered aloud how could goons shoot at police officers with impunity.
By Wayne Rohde
One of the most discussed, debated, and obscene forms of injustice in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) -- the "Vaccine Court" --is the very restrictive statute of limitations. Plainly put, you have 3 years from the onset of symptoms for injuries after the administration of a vaccine. In the case of death, only 2 years. Other state and federal court systems have more generous statutes ranging from 6 to 10 years to the date the minor child reaches the age of 18.
The latest effect of this unfair requirement is to deny justice to girls who have been rendered infertile by the HPV vaccine, a growing problem that needs to be addressed.
The Statute
42 U.S.C. 300aa-16(a)(2).
Section 300aa-16(a)(2) of the Vaccine Act provides that, regarding a vaccine set forth in the Vaccine Injury Table which is administered after [October 1, 1998], if a vaccine-related injury occurred as a result of the administration of such vaccine, no petition may be filed for compensation under the Program for such injury after the expiration of 36 months after the date of the occurrence of the first symptom or manifestation of onset . . . of such injury.
Special Master Lisa Hamilton-Fieldman overseeing the HPV-POI Omnibus
This statute of limitations is not triggered by the administration of the vaccine, but begins to run on the date of occurrence of the first symptom or manifestation of onset of the vaccine-related injury for which compensation is sought. Cloer, 654 F.3d at 1335. [E]ither a symptom or a manifestation of onset can trigger the running of the statute [of limitations], whichever is first. Markovich v. Secy of HHS, 477 F.3d 1353, 1357 (Fed. Cir. 2007). [i]
[I]t is the first symptom or manifestation of an alleged vaccine injury, not first date when diagnosis would be possible, that triggers the statute of limitations. Carson ex rel. Carson v. Secy of HHS, 727 F.3d 1365, 1369 (Fed. Cir. 2013), rehg & rehg en banc denied, 2013 WL 4528833 at *1. A symptom may be indicative of a variety of conditions or ailments, and it may be difficult for lay persons to appreciate the medical significance of a symptom with regard to a particular injury. Markovich, 477 F.3d at 1357. While the symptom of an injury must be recognized as such by the medical profession at large, Cloer, 654 F.3d at 1335, even subtle symptoms that a petitioner would recognize only with the benefit of hindsight, after a doctor makes a definitive diagnosis of injury, trigger the running of the statute of limitations, whether or not the petitioner or even multiple medical providers understood their significance at the time. Carson, 727 F.3d at 1369-70 (quoting Markovich, 477 F.3d at 1358).[ii]
Markovich was the defining case for onset of symptoms. The little girl started to blink at a doctors office. The pediatrician interpreted that as a symptom of seizures and wrote a note in the file. A few years later, the parents filed a petition seeking compensation for their daughters injuries. The petition was later dismissed on the grounds that it was time barred, or exceeded the 3-year statute of limitation.
By a couple of weeks.
Or a mother, frantically trying to understand that her child was falling a little bit behind. The doctor wrote in the margins of the medical chart, speech delay. But did not tell the parents. Later, the parents would file a petition seeking compensation for vaccine injuries causing development delay and autism. Petition would not be adjudicated on the merits of the known injury. DOJ attorneys asked the special master to dismiss the petition because it was time barred. Just a doctor recording an observation without telling the parents.
And no fault of the parents.
June 6, 2016
CAIRO In what observers, human rights activists and politicians consider a setback for freedoms in Egypt and a prelude to a historic turning point toward stifling dissent and cracking down on the young opposition, the Egyptian parliament began work on a new cybercrime law on May 10.
The move came after the Suggestions and Complaints Committee accepted parliament member Tamer Shahawys motion calling for action against chaos and individual "violations" on the internet. Some Egyptians had gone online to express their strong opposition to government moves including the Egyptian governments decision to cede to Saudi Arabia the islands of Tiran and Sanafir. Shahawy considered the internet outcry a threat to national security.
A military man, Maj. Gen. Shahawy was nicknamed the intelligence falcon by his supporters for the 20 years he spent in the Egyptian military intelligence service before being elected to parliament.
On May 10, Shahawy announced that a number of government officials were present during the meeting to discuss the new bill, including representatives from the Defense and Interior Ministries. The bill was then reviewed by the defense and national security and communications committees before being put to a parliament vote.
In a petition submitted to parliament, Shahawy noted that the law aims to protect national security, saying, As a legislature, and given the constant threats to Egypts national security in all its national, regional and international bodies, and since in recent years, such threats have relied on modern technology and the digital space, it is now our duty to take strict and deterring measures to counter these threats in order to protect our oblivious citizens through legislation that ensures the Egyptian states safety.
The new law mandates a life sentence 25 years for anyone who creates or uses a website with the purpose of establishing a terrorist entity; promoting its ideology; exchanging its messages and assignments; or funding, owning, wiring and providing money, arms, ammunition or explosives to the benefit of such entities.
The law also calls for three years imprisonment and a fine of 2 million Egyptian pounds (about $225,000) for any service provider that fails to comply with the criminal court decision to block certain websites or links. If such a failure results in the death of a person or the destabilization of national security, the perpetrator shall be sentenced to life or death with a fine not exceeding 20 million Egyptian pounds ($2.25 million).
It calls for but does not define the safeguarding of society in the event of a violation or threat to the public order, obstruction or hindrance of the efforts of the authorities or damage to national unity and social stability.
Under the law, the armed forces, Interior Ministry and the General Intelligence Directorate shall be granted the power to suspend the services of any unregistered network user.
Shahawys proposition was strongly criticized by several human rights organizations, which considered the bill a new instrument by which the government is trying to crack down on dissenters expressing their views on social media outlets after these websites fueled the January 25 Revolution and facilitated its success. For instance, the Democratic Current alliance fears that the law aims to restrict freedoms.
On May 15, law professor and head of the Cairo Center for Political and Legal Studies Ahmed Mahran told the press that the cybercrime law contains many of the same clauses found in the counterterrorism law. Such clauses will lead to further restrictions on rights and freedoms, especially the freedom of expression. As per the new bill, users of social media could be jailed for any post the government deems dissent. As a result, any post could be considered a threat to national security, he argued.
Gamal Eid, human rights lawyer and head of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, told Al-Monitor, Five years after the January 25 Revolution, the Egyptian government has yet to learn the lesson and understand the Egyptian peoples mentality, especially the youths who feared neither imprisonment nor the oppressive regime before the great revolution that impressed the whole world. These youths tried to force the state to change its oppressive policy and implement new mechanisms that uphold democracy through the rule of law. However, the current government seems to have failed to learn the lesson and continued its crackdowns.
Unfortunately, the same police state is still in power. The man behind the new bill Maj. Gen. Tamer Shahawy has a military background and therefore cannot grasp the dialogue mentality, as he is used to issuing and executing orders. It is impossible for such a man to accept that the era of totalitarianism is over and that he can no longer silence the Egyptian people."
Eid scoffed at the clause mandating imprisonment for anyone who threatens national security through inciting violence and spreading hatred, arguing that its wording is too loose, giving the regime the power to arrest dissenters for whatever they consider national security considerations.
In Egypt, social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter have not only served as platforms for expression, but also helped further campaigns and rallied support for urgent social causes, while local and traditional media outlets have come up short.
On May 11, public pressure over social media was able to force former Justice Minister Mahfouz Saber to resign. A Facebook campaign called for his resignation after he made a controversial statement about how the son of a garbage collector cannot become a judge, because a judge has to grow up in a respectable environment.
On May 13, parliament member Sharif Ismail dismissed Justice Minister Ahmed el-Zend against the backdrop of social media outrage following derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad. Zend had said, If the Prophet Muhammad broke the law, I would imprison him.
In response, pro-government TV host Ahmed Moussa criticized such use of social media during his program on Sada el-Balad, saying, No government in the world can be run from Facebook.
June 4, 2016
Yet another controversial move by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has some citizens fearing a land grab of sorts by Saudi Arabia.
Just weeks ago, Sisi caused an uproar by ceding control of two Red Sea islands Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia. Before that controversy quieted, the president decided to grant Saudi citizen Hamoud bin Mohammed Saleh the right to buy land previously restricted to Egyptian ownership. The decision also paves the way for broader land deals, raising questions about its legality, safety and potential consequences.
Under the May 26 decision, Saleh will be treated as an Egyptian and allowed to own two parcels of desert land previously owned by Egyptian citizens in Giza. The land is along a highway between Cairo and Alexandria.
Under a 1996 law, non-Egyptians are entitled to own two properties in Egypt, provided those properties are owner-occupied. Also, the area of each property should not exceed 4,000 square meters (1 acre), and the area should not be considered a historical site. Under the new decision, Saleh is no longer confined by these requirements and already owns a 4,400-square-meter property.
In July 2014, the Council of Ministers issued the Real Estate Finance Law allowing foreign companies, even 100% foreign-owned firms, to own lands allocated by the Egyptian government for housing projects.
Fouad Abdel Nabi, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Menoufiya, challenged the constitutionality of the presidents recent decision and said it violates Article 4 of the constitution, which states that sovereignty belongs to the people alone, who shall exercise and protect it. Also, according to Articles 139 and 144, the president does not have the right to make an exception for anyone under the laws and conditions of land ownership, his mission being to defend the interests of the people and not to establish supremacy over them.
Abdel Nabi confirmed that state resources and lands, most importantly belong to the people and not the president. Sisi's decision allows Egyptian citizens to transfer land ownership to Saudi citizens, but it also keeps the door ajar for certain transactions between foreigners, especially Saudis, Abdel Nabi noted. This violates Article 32 of the constitution, which obliges the state to preserve such resources, prevent their depletion and take into consideration the rights of future generations to them.
The decision should have been submitted to parliament before being issued, according to the law professor, who stressed that the state will not be able to protect state resources from depletion or regulate the conduct of new landowners.
According to a 1981 law, non-Egyptians are not entitled to own agricultural, desert and agricultural reclamation land, but a 1988 law allows the president to treat Arab nationals as Egyptians if the Cabinet approves.
Abdel Nabi said it makes sense for Egyptians to be concerned over foreign ownership of land in strategically important border areas, especially the Sinai Peninsula.
Another professor, however, did not agree with that assessment. Yasser Hudaybi, a constitutional law professor at Ain Shams University, believes the law does not prevent non-Egyptians from owning agricultural lands or housing units or from establishing companies.
The law differentiates between Arabs and non-Arabs for national security reasons, Hudaybi told Al-Monitor. He said he doesn't worry about foreigners owning Egyptian land because the property remains subject to Egyptian sovereignty. The state can confiscate lands for any reason related to national security by compensating the foreign owners appropriately.
The Integrated Development Law of Sinai Peninsula, promulgated in August, prohibits foreign ownership of land and property in Sinai but allows non-Egyptians, and Egyptians with dual nationalities to obtain usufruct right to benefit from built-up units for 50 years, with a maximum of 75 years for owner-occupied property. Also, the law prohibits both Egyptians and foreigners from owning properties in areas of military interest.
The same law, however, enabled the president upon the approval of the Council of Ministers, the Ministries of Defense and Interior and the General Intelligence Service to treat foreign Arab nationals like Egyptians as far as owner-occupied property is concerned.
Egyptians have properties in several countries such as Greece, England and the United States, Hudaybi said, adding that the Egyptian Constitution, like other constitutions, does not prohibit land ownership to foreigners. He stressed that this decision encourages the presence of foreign investment, which in turn provides job opportunities to Egyptians.
Lawyer Ziad al-Alimi, a former member of Egypt's parliament, said the decision discriminates between Saudis, holders of other nationalities and Egyptians themselves, stressing that the Egyptian state is putting obstacles in the way of Egyptians ownership of territories, especially when Sinai Bedouin are involved. Alimi noted that the Security Council claims this is for reasons of national security.
Alimi told Al-Monitor that such decisions set the stage for legal exceptions, which in turn often pave the way for corruption.
Egyptians [legally] have the priority of investing in Egyptian territory, said Alimi. He added that while the state is being strict with some Egyptian citizens who seek to own land, either for their homes or investment, it is also lax with non-Egyptians, especially Saudis. This confirms that the Egyptian regime is serving foreign interests and making decisions on this basis, he said.
Alimi said it is naive to say that since the territories are Egyptian, the government can confiscate them at any time, since the state could face international fines and have its assets and accounts frozen abroad.
Alimi said the Committee on Human Rights in the 2012 parliament discussed ownership of some Sinai Bedouin lands, and the main objection came from the Ministry of Defense, given the potential threat to national security.
The Saudi government does not treat Egyptians similarly in this respect, international law expert Gen. Ibrahim Elias told Al-Monitor.
Elias added that the decision gives preference to Saudi citizens over their Egyptian counterparts. He stressed that Egyptian workers in Saudi Arabia still suffer under the sponsorship system.
The ownership law in Saudi Arabia allows legally residing foreigners to own properties for residential purposes upon the approval of the Ministry of Interior. The law also allows foreign investors to buy buildings, or land on which to develop, provided the cost of the project is at least 30 million riyals ($8 million) and the property is sold or rented within five years.
Elias said he expects some Saudi investors to buy desert land on the outskirts of Cairo and major cities, in anticipation of rising property values, to make huge gains. That could lead the Saudis to dominate the Egyptian real estate market.
June 6, 2016
An article on hard-line Iranian news website Jahan has confirmed for the first time that the recently killed Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour was in Iran before he was killed May 21. While Iranian media had previously confirmed meetings with Taliban officials, the article shows a deeper strategic shift in Iran toward a group it previously helped topple in order to counter the rising threat of the Islamic State (IS) on its eastern border.
According to the article, Mansour was in Iran one week before he was killed by a US drone strike in Pakistans Baluchistan province. Mansour had reportedly spent two months in Iran and conducted various negotiations with different organizations and institutions.
Jahan reported that one of the agreements between Iran and Mansour was the prevention of Taliban bodies from joining [IS]. Iran and Mansour had also reportedly agreed to prevent the spread of IS influence in northern Afghanistan and on the Afghan-Tajikistan border. There had also been agreements to counter drug smuggling. A large percentage of Afghanistans opium production is either consumed in Iran or travels through Iran to its final destination in Europe.
The article reported that there is no specific information on how Mansour was targeted and denied reports that Iran was somehow involved. The article rather speculated that Mansours semi-independence from Pakistan could have displeased some members of its spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, and they may have given Mansours location to the United States.
Jahans motivation for publishing the article and revealing previously unconfirmed information cannot be known. Political motivations or even disinformation should not be ruled out. However, it is a startling admission given the history between Iran and the Taliban.
Iran has historically been the main sponsor of the Talibans previous domestic rival, the Northern Alliance. In 1998, Iran nearly went to war against the Taliban government after their diplomats were killed in Mazar-i Sharif, Afghanistan. Iran had even offered assistance in the overthrow of the Taliban during the 2001 US invasion. Iran also has a positive relationship with Afghanistans central government, recently inking a trilateral transit route with the country.
But the rise of IS on both sides of Irans borders has turned a strategic rival into a tactical ally. A former official in the Barack Obama administration told Al-Monitor correspondent Barbara Slavin that Irans estimate of the threat of [IS] in Afghanistan is higher than that of the United States.
This tactical relationship is still far from being open or confirmed by Iranian officials. After Mansour was killed, anonymous US and European officials told the Western press that Mansour was in Iran possibly for medical reasons, to visit his family or to meet with Iranian officials. At that time, Irans Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari said, The officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran deny that such a person on such a date entered Pakistan from Irans borders. Either Ansari was not in the know or he was intentionally deceptive over the fact that Mansour was traveling under a forged Pakistani passport under the name of Mohammad Wali.
Iranian media had previously reported on meetings with Taliban officials, though revealed less information on the content of the meetings. In May 2015, it was reported that a Taliban delegation from the groups political office in Qatar had traveled to Tehran. Tayyeb Agha, who was the head of the Talibans political wing in Qatar when the visit took place, reportedly led the delegations meeting with Iranian security officials. Tasnim News Agency, which broke that story, wrote that Taliban officials had previously visited Iran on two occasions to meet with security officials and for an Islamic conference in Tehran.
June 6, 2016
MUTHANNA, Iraq Lake Sawa in Muthanna province is an unusual oasis in an arid desert, and a mysterious one at that, boasting religious significance and its own version of the Loch Ness Monster.
The salty lake is enclosed, an endorheic basin like the Great Salt Lake in Utah, with no obvious water inlet or outlet. Over time, the area was transformed into a religious site and eventually took on even greater importance to Shiites in the region who believe that when the lake dries out, Imam Mahdi will come to bring justice on Earth and signify that the end of days is near.
Cleric Issam al-Yasiri of Babil, one of Lake Sawa's frequent visitors, spoke to Al-Monitor about what he believes is its history. "This lake is sacred for Muslims who visit it to benefit from its blessings. Its water surfaced on the birthday of Prophet Muhammad in [the year] 571," he said. "Lake visitors should wash their faces with its water and submerge their bodies in it, because this water has been blessed by Allah."
According to Yasiri, this background can be found in Islamic historical tales. "This thousands-of-years-old lake has never dried out despite its desert location. It has no tributary and rainwater is rare," he said.
Geologist Hamza Hamid from Saladin University told Al-Monitor why the lake has not dried up. "The lake feeds water through a system of 6-meter-deep [20-feet-deep] underground joint cracks and fissures," he said. The lake is able to maintain a balance between water feed and evaporation, though levels can fall significantly during droughts, as it is happening now.
The lake stretches over a surface area of 12.5 square kilometers (almost 5 square miles) and stands at 11 meters (36 feet) above the level of the Euphrates River. During the summer season the average temperature hovers around 47 degrees Celsius (117 degrees Fahrenheit), which is a normal temperature in the hot and dry summers of Iraq.
The lake's shores are elevated as a result of gypsum formations and the water's high salinity. Villagers living close by consume the salt collected from the lake, which attracts various bird species which in turn attract hunters.
Al-Monitor met bird afficionado Hashim Hussein on the banks of the lake. "There's a diversity of migrant birds in the vicinity of the lake in the summer and spring seasons, such as the little grebe, the stork and the swallow," said Hussein, attributing the bird population to the "abundance of fish in the lake."
The area lacks facilities or services that encourage tourists to extend their stays. Mohammed al-Hashemi, who lives near the lake, confirmed this. "There is no tourist traffic at the lake; no more than a few dozen tourists per month make religious visits to be blessed with its waters. Also, some are bathing in the saline lake for therapeutic purposes, while others come for hunting or picnics," said Hussein.
In addition to the religious beliefs about the lake, Hashemi mentioned some other popular beliefs. "Some people speak of strange phenomena in the lake. They say that giant water creatures suddenly appear and disappear," he said.
A video posted on YouTube on April 16 shows a strange phenomenon and people speaking of a large, odd creature in the lake. Some believe it is a type of whale.
Despite such attractions, the lake was not turned into a tourist resort. Ali Hussein, a resident of Samawah in Muthanna province, told Al-Monitor, "I have visited the lake for years now, and I have never seen any attention or interest by the concerned authorities, whether the local government or the tourist authorities."
Still, there seems to be a glimmer of hope that the lake might be turned into a tourist facility. On Jan. 16, Muthanna University announced that a delegation from Germany's Free University of Berlin visited the lake to conduct surveys to identify the causes of receding waters and check the geological changes that have taken place over time. The school also plans to study the nature of the desert surrounding the lake.
In a bid to promote interest in the lake, the Central Committee of Ramsar International Convention acknowledged Sept. 15 that Lake Sawa will be considered an international wetland, having met all of the required environmental and hydrological standards.
Considering all this attention, Aamal al-Gharib, a member of the Muthanna provincial council, told Al-Monitor, "The local government has prepared a plan that [potentially] includes the establishment of tourism and service projects in the Sawa region." Funding is to come from the region's budget, including money for paving roads and walkways around the lake and providing electricity lines and water pipes. But because of the economic crisis plaguing the country, the province has not received its allocated budget for more than a year, he said.
"To this end, the local government called on the Muthanna Investment Authority to look for investors to set up projects and request the Ministry of Health and Environment to assist in the revival of the lake and prevent the depletion of its water," Gharib said. "The number of tourists who flock to the lake is estimated at 7,000 a year."
Neglect has taken its toll on the site, with no sign of a touristic recovery in the near term unless contingency plans are drawn up for turning the lake into a site suitable at least for exploratory tours.
June 7, 2016
RAMALLAH, West Bank The Israeli army will make improvements at military checkpoints in the West Bank and Jerusalem, Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Yoav Mordechai announced May 26. But not everyone sees that as good news.
On his Facebook page, titled The Coordinator, Mordechai posted in Arabic, It has been decided to renew and improve checkpoints in the West Bank, [to] increase the number of Palestinian workers allowed to pass through to their workplaces in Israel, improve waiting conditions and adopt advanced technology at all checkpoints. He said this plan which Israel estimates will cost 300 million shekels ($78 million) to implement will increase the amount of goods that pass through Israeli checkpoints by 30% and reduce wait times some 30% to 50%.
However, the Palestinian Ministry of Civil Affairs, which handles civil coordination with Israeli, said it was not aware of the proposed improvements. "We did not receive any information in this regard," Imad Qaraqreh, the director of public relations and information for the ministry, told Al-Monitor.
The Israeli army has erected dozens of checkpoints in the West Bank, and between the Green Line and the West Bank, since the occupation in 1967, but Israel tightened its security measures after the second intifada began in September 2000. In May 2015, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the occupied territories (B'Tselem) noted that the number of fixed checkpoints set up in the West Bank had reached 96 57 set up deep in the West Bank, and 39 that are considered final checkpoints before entering Israel.
On April 1, Robert Piper, United Nations coordinator for humanitarian aid and development activities, called on Israel to respect Palestinians freedom of movement, saying Israel's restrictions in the occupied territories affect all aspects of daily life and continue to separate Palestinians and divide their land. These restrictions are sometimes physical, such as walls, checkpoints and roadblocks; others are bureaucratic, such as denying permits and closing off areas under various pretexts, according to Piper.
Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported in its latest study, published in January, that during the last three months of 2015, Israeli security forces had deployed 91 new closure obstacles and measures including military checkpoints, shutting down roads and setting up barracks a 20% increase.
Regarding the reasons for the proposed improvements, Antoine Shalhat, an expert on Israeli affairs and director of the Israeli Scene unit at the Madar center (Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies), told Al-Monitor that these improvements are tied to the decline of the popular uprising that has been ongoing in the Palestinian territories since October.
Israel adopts the carrot-and-stick policy in the occupied territories; [Israel] seeks to contain the uprising by announcing [improvements], but also it [adopts a policy] against Palestinians of killing those who conducted stabbing and run-over operations, Shalhat added.
On Oct. 4, Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz had threatened to stop issuing permits for 100,000 Palestinian workers and dismiss them from their workplaces in Israel. Katz also threatened to prevent Palestinians from traveling on the same roads used by Jews in the West Bank, and to erect more checkpoints.
Shalhat noted that Israel needs Palestinian workers to carry out certain jobs, such as construction work, which they [Palestinians] master. This is not to mention that Israelis refuse to do such work, while foreign workers are not as skillful as Palestinians. Thus the issue of Palestinian employment in Israel is not only a political issue, but an economic one as well. This issue [of not granting permits] has raised concerns among contracting companies that the construction sector would be affected should Palestinians be denied of work permits.
The new Israeli defense minister, Avigdor Liberman, announced May 23 that the government would implement some improvements for Palestinian workers on the eve of Ramadan, which began June 5. He also ratified the recommendations of Gadi Eizenkot, chief of general staff of the Israel Defense Forces, to ease restrictions during Ramadan on Palestinians visiting Jerusalem and the lands along the borders of 1948.
But what Israel calls improvements are viewed by Palestinians as an entrenchment of the occupation.
Fatah official spokesman Osama al-Qawasmi told Al-Monitor, The real improvements Israel could provide for us [would be] for [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahus government to recognize Palestinian rights and remove every last soldier, camp and settlement from the West Bank.
Qawasmi said, If Israel thought that by providing some economic improvements and expanding checkpoints it could cover up its crimes, it would be dead wrong. We want freedom and independence, not fixing up some conditions here and there to improve the occupations image.
He added, The carrot-and-stick policy does not work for us. If Israel wants to play nice, it should fully recognize the Palestinian rights on the basis of international legitimacy and international law, and by establishing a [Palestinian] state based on the 1967 borders.
Israel's goal behind the announcement of the improvements, Qawasmi noted, is designed to send a message to the international community that it has serious and good intentions toward Palestinians, despite the settlements, the confiscation of land, arrests and incursions it is actually committing.
Author and political analyst Ahmed Rafiq Awad also told Al-Monitor that Israels proposals are merely an attempt to present itself as helping Palestinians economically and allowing them to move freely.
The Israeli improvements are tools of occupation. Israel makes the Palestinians lives complicated, then provides a few improvements to ease the conditions, Awad added.
June 7, 2016
The crowdfunding campaign by the My Israel movement to return soldier Yehuda Hayisraeli to his home in the Ofra settlement has moved and galvanized Israelis from across the political spectrum. At the same time, however, it has brought to the fore the issue of construction on the West Bank.
Hayisraeli, a member of the Givati Brigade, suffered a serious head wound while pursing the kidnappers of another Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier, Lt. Hadar Goldin, in Rafah during Operation Protective Edge in summer 2014. Hayisraeli has spent nearly two years in hospitals and rehabilitation centers, and in light of his condition, his family asked the Defense Ministry to allocate 1.5 million shekels ($193,000) to build a handicap-accessible annex adjacent to the familys home.
To their consternation, they were told that the ministry could not provide financial assistance without a construction permit first being obtained. The problem is that such a permit cannot be issued because the Ofra settlement has been ruled illegal, having been built on private Palestinian property. Most of the houses built since Ofras establishment are illegal. On June 6, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a letter to the recently appointed defense minister, Avigdor Liberman, requesting that he find a solution to allow Hayisraeli to leave the hospital and return home.
Established in 1975, the Ofra settlement is one of the oldest Jewish communities in the occupied territories, consisting of 650 families, most of whom hail from the religious kibbutz movement and are alumni of the Mercaz Harav Kook national-religious yeshiva in Jerusalem.
On May 25, when Channel 10 News broadcast Hayisraeli's story, the right-wing movement My Israel launched a fundraiser for his return home. Within 48 hours, the entire amount had been pledged. Among the donors was Isaac Herzog, leader of the center-left Zionist Camp. Regardless, raising the money has not resolved the problem, as a permit is still required for construction.
Michael Sfrad, an attorney representing the anti-occupation, human rights organizations Peace Now and Yesh Din, told Al-Monitor that in 2015, following a petition by Yesh Din, a judgment to demolish nine illegal houses in the settlement was issued. According to him, dozens of settlements in the territories were established on private Palestinian property, a situation made possible thanks to an erstwhile Israeli policy whereby Palestinian areas were seized for security purposes. In the process, Israel seized some 47,000 dunams (approximately 11,600 acres) between 1968 and 1979. This method was used until the Supreme Court, in the 1979 Elon Moreh judgment, ordered the IDF to return land to the residents of the Palestinian community of Rujib near Nablus. The ruling marked a watershed in terms of Israeli policy in the territories.
According to a 2008 BTselem report, Ofra sprawls over 670 dunams (166 acres), most of which is private Palestinian land. According to information the civil administration provided the organization, there is no state-owned land within the settlement. According to BTselem, 180 dunams of the area stem from an unlawful land expropriation order issued by the Israeli military commander in 1977.
Sfrad explained that prior to the 1967 Six-Day War, Jordan had expropriated a parcel of private land north of Ramallah to set up a military camp. After Israel captured the area, it established a small community there that later mushroomed into what is today Ofra. According to Sefarad, back then, the settlement and the military camp constituted only 10% of Ofras current size. In principle, 70% of Ofra can be evicted because it is built on private land, irrespective of the general issue of the legality of the settlements, said Sfrad.
The Defense Ministry finds itself between a rock and a hard place amid the legal complexities. On the one hand, it has a duty to help a hero soldier who was seriously wounded, but on the other hand it must abide by the law. Any construction in Ofra would be deemed a flagrant violation of the law.
Meanwhile, there is no controversy in Israel about the need to help Hayisraeli. Even left-wingers and other Israelis who in principle oppose the settlement enterprise say that the special nature of this situation should be considered. Even Yariv Oppenheimer, a former secretary-general of Peace Now, said in an interview with the right-leaning Channel 20 that if a ramp or even a special residential annex were built for the wounded Israeli soldier, no leftist organization would file a petition with the Supreme Court against it. There is also an issue of being human beings and not just blindly following ideological values, Oppenheimer asserted.
At the end of the day, there remains only one question: How can this issue be dealt with within the framework of the law? Ive always espoused the basic position that the State of Israel should compensate those eligible for compensation but not at the expense of a farmer who has lost his land, said Sfrad.
Given that areas of the West Bank have never been annexed by Israel and are not considered a sovereign part of the State of Israel, the status of the settlers is complicated. Over the years, Israel has tried to craft creative solutions, rendering the military commander the sovereign on the ground. This is only a partial solution, however. That said, applying Israeli law throughout the territories would also include the Palestinian residents, thereby awarding them a legal status as well as rights to benefits that are currently enjoyed solely by Israeli citizens.
On May 2, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, from HaBayit HaYehudi, said that she was working with the attorney general on a plan that would apply Israeli laws passed by the Knesset to Jewish settlements on the West Bank. According to that proposal, each law approved by the Knesset would be reviewed and a decision made on whether to apply it immediately in the settlements through an order issued by a major general (because Israel considers the West Bank to be under military jurisdiction, for the most part). What this means is that the senior officer who thus far has been considered the sovereign on the ground will become a rubber stamp for a plan whose entire purpose is to bypass the Palestinians.
June 6, 2016
JERICHO, West Bank Marah Khalil, a Christian woman from the northern West Bank town of Nablus, has always dreamed of baptizing her child where Jesus Christ was said to be baptized in the Jordan River. However, when she had her first and second son, the site was closed to the foreign and local Christian pilgrims for security reasons and she could not do so. By the time her third son Issa was born, she vowed to baptize him in al-Maghtas, or the Baptism Site in Jordan.
Al-Maghtas is a sacred Christian site situated along the Jordan River near the Palestinian city of Jericho, where Jesus Christ was baptized by St. John the Baptist, according to the various gospels.
Khalil, who follows the Latin Church, told Al-Monitor that she got used to baptizing her children at the early age of three months but that she would delay the baptism of Issa until Epiphany (Three Kings' Day) to get the blessing of the place, which is considered one of the holiest places for Christians.
"All Christians in the world wish to have their children baptized in this river. As citizens of this country, we are lucky to have access to this blessing and the spiritual joy of visiting this place. It is enough to imagine that Jesus Christ was here," she said.
Khalil intends to visit al-Maghtas on Epiphany on Jan. 6, 2017, which is considered a main Christian feast after Christmas and New Year.
All Christians in Palestine and the world value this place spiritually. Archbishop Atallah Hanna of Sebastia said that this is the holy water that existed when Jesus Christ was baptized and where Christianity spread to the entire world.
"All Christian pilgrims seek to visit this place and receive the blessings of its holy water. We can almost assert that all people who visit Palestine visit this place," he told Al-Monitor.
Hanna said that the area where the site is located was completely closed by Israel for visits after it occupied the area in 1967, and monks were expelled under the pretext that it was classified as a military area. The monastery remained empty from 1967 until 1985, when monks were allowed to enter once a year on Epiphany. In 2011, it was opened to tourists and pilgrims.
In addition to its religious significance, the site holds great historical importance. For that reason, and despite international agreements, Israel refuses to hand it over to the Palestinians.
Iyad Hamdan, the head of the Ministry of Tourism office in Jericho, underlined the value of the site, saying, "Al-Maghtas is situated along the Jordan River and it is where John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ. It is home to several churches and monasteries, including churches and other historical sites that are still being frequented and that are affiliated with the Greek Orthodox Church."
Hamdan noted that these churches and monasteries had been built in several spots in the late fourth and early fifth centuries near and around the Jordan River.
But they were initially built at the location where Jesus had been baptized. Hundreds of meters away, other churches, some of which were abandoned and others inhabited by clerics and hermits, were built during different times between the fifth and ninth centuries. Some were renovated during the Crusaders' occupation.
There are many churches along the borders to the east of Jerusalem Mountains in Hebron, all the way to Bani Na'im town in Hebron. Many desert monasteries were built in this region, and these monasteries served as shelters for hermits and monks who were escaping oppression and seeking protection for Christianity at the time.
Inhabited monasteries until now include Deir Hejleh, Mar Saba Monastery, St. Georges Monastery and the Monastery of the Temptation.
Hanna Issa, the head of the Islamic-Christian Commission for the Support of Jerusalem and Holy Sites, said that the western side (Palestinian side) is where Jesus was baptized, and it is closest to Jericho.
The Jordan River is the boundary between Jordan and the West Bank, specifically in Jericho. After the occupation of the West Bank in 1967, Israel controlled the Palestinian part of the river and considered it a military border zone. The accurate location where Jesus was said to be baptized is yet to be determined. Hanna says that the western bank of the river is most likely the baptism site since it is the closest to the Galilee.
Hanna told Al-Monitor, "Until 2000, the place was an archaeological site. But after the pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II to the Holy Land in March 2000 and his declaring it a sacred pilgrimage site for Christians, al-Maghtas became largely visited by Christian pilgrims from across the world. Over 300,000 people visit it every year."
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee agreed on July 3, 2015, to include the eastern part of the site, which Jordan oversees in the World Heritage List under the name "Baptism Site." The western side is still under the Israeli occupation, but the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism is trying to have it registered as a touristic site on the World Heritage List.
Ahmad al-Rajoub, the official in charge of the World Heritage List at the Ministry of Tourism and Archaeology, noted that the file is ready to be processed for the inscription of the western side of al-Maghtas on the World Heritage Tentative List. It has been submitted to the World Heritage Center to be included on Palestine's tentative list.
Rajoub told Al-Monitor, "In July, there will be a vote on including the site on the tentative list, thus increasing the number of Palestinian sites on the World Heritage Tentative List to 14."
Israel is trying to register the place on the World Heritage Tentative List under the name "Qasr el-Yahud," but Hanna refuses this naming because it holds inaccurate political insinuations, since Israel is trying to give the place a Jewish character and claim that it reverts to it. "The correct religious and historical name is 'John the Baptist Monastery,' where John the Baptist Church is located," he said.
Hanna said, "We don't just refuse this naming. We condemn it because it tarnishes the sanctity and status of this place, which is Christian. We refuse the use of any terms that distort the holiness of the site."
Despite the political complexity of this place, its spiritual and religious value has made it a dream destination for every Christian in the world to extract the blessings of its holy water that touched Christ's body and the land he walked on.
June 7, 2016
Turkey appears more like a concerned onlooker than an active participant in Iraq and Syria, as major US and Russian-supported offensives against the Islamic State (IS) continue to gather momentum, and key players jockey to gain spheres of influence in and around Fallujah, Mosul, Manbij and Raqqa once these cities are liberated from IS.
Turkey's only participation in these offensives has been to allow US-led anti-IS coalition jets to take off from Incirlik Air Base, and to engage in cross-border shelling of IS positions in northern Syria, mostly in response to IS shells lobbed into Turkey.
Meanwhile, predominantly Arab and Turkmen groups supported by Ankara, and operating under the broad umbrella of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), continue to perform poorly against IS. This contrasts sharply with the gains of the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the bulk of which are made up of fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).
Ankara considers this group to be a terrorist organization because of its links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party. Turkey is concerned that once the SDF ousts IS from the "Manbij pocket," one of the regions where the fighting is currently concentrated, this will enable the Kurds to gain the 98-kilometer (60-mile) stretch of land between Jarablus and Azez and establish an autonomous region for themselves along the Turkish border.
Turkish military observers believe there is an effort on the part of the United States for Kurds to hold this region, despite reassurances to the contrary given to Ankara. Retired Brig. Gen Naim Baburoglu points out that seeing Kurds move west of the Euphrates was once a "red line" for Turkey.
"The myth about a red line is finished as the YPG gradually settles itself in that region. The United States says the SDF is Arab-led, and that the area between Jarablus and Azez will not be left to the Kurds, but it is helping the Kurds increase the territory they hold and will eventually allow them to control these areas," Baburoglu told Al-Monitor.
To underline the Turkish government's confused policy, Baburoglu also pointed out how Ankara is allowing US jets taking off from Incirlik Air Base to provide help to YPG fighters against IS. He said any government with self-assurance and a coherent policy would not have allowed this to happen.
Former Chief of the Turkish General Staff Ilker Basbug repeated Turkey's big fear during a recent television interview and said the establishment of a "Kurdish corridor" along the Turkish border would pose a major threat to Turkey.
Basbug echoed another belief among military observers and said an offensive against Mosul in Iraq could start soon and indicated that Turkey's participation in this operation was also not wanted. Other military observers add that the majority of players in the region, with the possible exception of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, are strongly opposed to any Turkish military presence in Iraq and Syria.
Fearing a reprisal by Russia, Turkey has been unable to fly its jets in Syrian airspace or deploy troops in the region since it downed a Russian fighter jet in November. The jet was shot down after it strayed into Turkish airspace while on an operation against anti-Assad forces in northern Syria.
"Turkey's singularly pro-Sunni policies and support for the Muslim Brotherhood has long since been noted by the US which like Baghdad does not want any active Turkish participation in the push to liberate Mosul because of concerns that Turkish soldiers will refuse to leave the area when asked to do so," Baburoglu said.
Baghdad is still calling for Turkish troops deployed in the Bashiqa camp near Mosul against Iraq's wishes to be withdrawn. Washington has also called for these troops to be withdrawn but Turkey has refused to do so, thus fueling suspicions about Turkish intentions in Iraq.
A Western diplomatic source who wished to remain anonymous due to his sensitive position told Al-Monitor that mistrust of Ankara's aims has turned Turkey in the eyes of many of its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies into a complicating rather than supporting factor in the fight against IS in Iraq and Syria.
Ankara remains locked on Bashar al-Assad's ouster, on preventing Kurds from gaining territory or political clout in northern Syria and on bolstering the position of minority Sunnis in Iraq even as it is losing on all three fronts.
Retired Maj. Gen. Armagan Kuloglu underlined, however, that the government's current stand will only ensure that Turkey's strategic security interests remain in jeopardy.
"The mistake made at the start insisting for Assad to go is more apparent than ever. He was controlling things in his country. Turkey's problems started when he began to lose control. Ankara has to establish contacts with Damascus if its interests are not to be undermined further," Kuloglu told Al-Monitor.
Pointing to the fact that US-backed YPG fighters are advancing from the north toward the IS stronghold in Raqqa, while the Russian-supported Syrian army is advancing from the south toward the city, Kuloglu said this could not happen without some coordination between Washington and Moscow.
"Turkey has to also mend fences with Russia and cooperate with Iran if it wants to have a say in developments in Syria and Iraq," Kuloglu said, pointing to the common interest between Ankara and Tehran in keeping Kurdish aspirations in check.
The opposition in Turkey, however, believes that the government is not prepared to alter its policies, even if these are seen to be wrong. Ozturk Yilmaz, the deputy chairman of the main opposition Republican People's Party, for example, says the government is not demonstrating a willingness to work with the United States, Russia or Iran.
"The US changed its Syria policy. We failed to read this change and are now paying the price for it," Yilmaz told Hurriyet newspaper this week, arguing that the government remains obsessed with Assad.
Keeping in mind its continuing obsession with undermining Kurdish aspirations, it remains to be seen how much longer Ankara can sustain a policy, which may be gaining President Recep Tayyip Erdogan political points among his Islamist and nationalist supporters at home, but which is clearly undermining Turkey's interests and leaving it as the least influential player in a region where it once believed it was the most important actor.
June 7, 2016
Turkey's annual Efes military exercises featured many firsts this year and seemed particularly relevant to the country's current concerns.
Though the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) is dealing with developments in Syria, border security issues, and combating the Islamic State (IS) and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), it nevertheless proceeded with the event May 30-31. The live-fire exercise was designed to test the combined operations of TSKs land, naval, air and special forces. This year, for the first time, units from the United States, Germany, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Qatar, Pakistan and Poland participated in the exercise.
Another major issue that attracted attention this year was the radical change in exercise scenario observed by representatives of 79 countries. In previous years, the exercise was conducted with unlinked, small-scale scenarios such as amphibious landings, securing beachheads, close air support, long-distance artillery, and rocket and air-fire support. But this year the scenario was completely rewritten, and for the first time tested a hybrid operation that included combating terror, cyberwarfare and psychological warfare.
According to the scenario, an imaginary country called Torik had occupied the island of another imaginary country, Arnlad. The latter asked for United Nations assistance. At the request of the UN, all eight participating countries formed task forces. Friendly forces that fought off the occupying country also had to combat a terror organization. The exercise aimed at planning, coordinating and executing combined operations; training personnel; and testing and developing command-control procedures, electronic warfare tactics and air-space control. The exercise also briefed participants on each other's procedures and tactics, and the joint use of weapons, and aimed to elevate the training levels of participating forces and their headquarters personnel.
This year, the scenario also included a separatist terror organization active on the occupied island, and observers noted how the situation illustrated TSKs real-life practice of giving priority to combating an ethnically motivated terror organization, such as the PKK, before taking on a religiously motivated one like IS. When securing peace and combating terror were added to the agenda, for the first time civilian personnel from government ministries and other public bodies were incorporated into the exercise. It seems somewhat belated, but by including civilians, the TSK showed it is finally becoming aware of the need for civilian-military integration in future operations.
The exercises also employed several firsts in the use of military technology. For example, Atak helicopters participated in live-fire action. The helicopters just entered TSK service and are now being used in clashes with Kurdish armed groups in the southeast. Vestel Defense Industry Corp.'s Karayel assault drones, and Bayraktar TB2 tactical drones were used for the first time. The Turkish media has covered in detail the briefing of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar by the owner of the Bayraktar company, which has made substantial progress in producing armed drones. Bayraktars owner, Selcuk Bayraktar, is Erdogan's son-in-law.
Akar, referring to the United States in his speech ending the exercise, said, "The TSK has always preferred to solve problems through dialogue. But nobody should expect the TSK to disregard and not react to violations of peace and security of our country and the region. The TSK is supporting alliances set up to preserve peace and stability in our region and in the world. But it should not be forgotten that the promises made and agreements reached when setting up such alliances are mutually binding obligations."
Erdogan followed the exercises closely, which prompted exceptional interest in them by pro-Justice and Development Party media. For instance, the daily Aksam, under the headline Independence exercise," wrote, This exercise was a message to Turkeys allies who have not supported Turkey adequately in combating terror. Turkey once again showed that it can take care of its own needs. The chief of general staff who summed up the exercise emphasized Turkeys strength while hinting at his disappointment with its allies, led by the United States.
In a nutshell, the Efes military exercise was a display of the TSKs efforts toward an institutional turning point, to adapt to future operational environments and hybrid threats. Naturally, observers noted the relevance of the exercise scenario to the operational environment in northern Syria, and that the exercise was transformed into a multinational effort. Observers had a chance to see how the TSK is working tirelessly to improve its combat effectiveness with new tactics and operational methods.
Of course, it is not enough for the TSK to become an effective war machine if civilian decision-makers fail to make appropriate political choices or lack the skill to comprehend global security developments and future operational environments. Misjudgments at political-strategic levels in todays complex operational environments are not easy to overcome, no matter how successful soldiers can be.
Capture.JPG
(Courtesy photo)
Only one Alabama beer maker has taken the title of the most underrated brewery in the state in a new list from Paste Magazine.
Madison-based Blue Pants Brewery was featured this month in Paste's "50 Most Underrated Craft Breweries in the USA," by news editor and writer Jim Vorel, who was quick to explain what "underrated" means for his readers.
"When we say 'underrated' here, we're talking about breweries that are largely known commodities, but ones that perhaps don't get the respect they deserve from the beer geek segment," he said. "We're not trying to say 'unknown' when we say underrated, and we're not trying to say 'unsuccessful' when we say underrated. Some of these breweries may be smaller and relatively unknown on a national scale, but beloved locally."
Blue Pants, founded in 2009, served its first craft beer in 2010. The brewhouse, taproom and outdoor space operates on 500 Lanier Road and is one of three breweries in the city of Madison.
Vorel said Blue Pants' beer was "serviceable for the first few years, but well short of special" until brewer Derek "Weedy" Weidenthal earned his diploma in brewing technology at the Siebel Institute International Brewing Program in Chicago.
"When he returned, the entire Blue Pants lineup was revamped, and people immediately began to take notice of the night-and-day changes," he said. "They're now producing exceptional hop-forward beers in particular, such as the hop-bursted Weedy's DIPA, which, in the vein of Heady Topper, demands to be consumed fresh. That's in addition to other creative flavors such as a peanut butter stout and a 'Double Stuf' stout with vanilla and chocolate that is meant to evoke an Oreo."
Paste said it's "only a matter of time before they receive a national spotlight."
Blue Pants founder Mike Spratley said his brewers work hard to make the best craft beer they can possibly make for drinkers in Alabama and beyond.
"We really appreciate Paste's kind words regarding our brewery and all the hard work we've been putting into rich and unique beers," he said. "There's so much great craft beer that flies under the radar for one reason or another and we're honored to have attention put on us for what we are doing as a brewery."
Blue Pants recently took home a bronze award in the 2016 World Beer Cup, a global beer competition that delivers gold, silver and bronze awards in 96 beer-style categories. The honor was presented May 6 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.
The brewery's winning entry was its Dortmunder Adambier, the same beer that won a silver medal in the Great American Brew Festival.
"Our beers have become the most awarded in the history of Alabama and we are the first brewery in the state to win a medal at the World Beer Cup," Spratley said. "For a while we've been getting the national and even international attention that Paste says is coming our way. We plan to keep working to create awesome and unique beers as part of who we are and what we do."
Click here to read the full Paste article.
Several nationally known clergy led a discussion Monday night in Birmingham promoting a higher minimum wage, Medicaid expansion and expanding benefits and rights for the poor.
The religious service was broadcast nationally by live-stream video.
"People of faith, we can no longer be silent," said the Rev. William Barber II, pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, N.C., since 1993, president of Repairers of the Breach, and founder of the Moral Monday Movement in North Carolina.
"We believe that it's a moral crisis when we no longer talk about poverty," Barber said. "We think we need a refocusing on moral values."
People of faith should be working to lift up the poor, care for the sick and establish justice, Barber said.
"In a country of immigrants, we have persons running against immigration, against LGBT people," he said. "We're calling on people of conscience to be engaged."
The event held at New Pilgrim Baptist Church, 708 Goldwire Place S.W., was called The Revival, part of a series of meetings nationwide to discuss a moral approach to issues of political justice. It was the fourth stop on a 19-state national tour featuring Barber, Sister Simone Campbell of Nuns on the Bus, the Rev. James Forbes, and the Rev. Traci Blackmon of Black Lives Matter as speakers.
Blackmon grew up in Birmingham in the 1960s and has worked as a minister on the front lines of protests in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014 and 2015, since the Aug. 9, 2014 shooting of Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer. Police brutality and a criminal justice system that is unfair to minorities are also topics being discussed at the service, likely to last several hours.
People who suffer because of government policies that hurt the poor discussed their experiences. "The people who will testify are real people," Barber said in an interview before the event.
"Legislators in this state are averse to raising the living wage," Barber said. "You got 62 million working for less than a living wage. If people made a living wage, it would spur economic growth. People who work spend their money."
Structured as a revival, with preaching and civil rights-era music, the service started at 6:30 p.m., was broadcast live, and ended after 9:30 p.m.
A Leesburg man faces charges related to a child sexual abuse case.
Cherokee County Sheriff Jeff Shaver said James Howard Hancock, 23, was arrested Thursday following an investigation that began during the Memorial Day weekend.
Hancock has been charged with abuse of a child under the age of 12 years, Shaver said.
He is being held in the Cherokee County Detention Center on $40,000 bond.
The case is under investigation by the Cherokee Major Crimes Unit.
When a private accounting firm was hired in 2011 at Birmingham Health Care, the group was on the verge of having its lights turned off and vendors were calling non-stop seeking payments, a few accountants with the firm testified Monday in the fraud trial of former BHC CEO Jonathan Dunning.
"They were basically a train wreck," Raiford "Ray" Dyer Jr., owner of the accounting firm of Covenant Consulting Group, said of BHC's books.
Dyer testified that his company was hired by Dunning in the spring of 2011 for Dunning's companies and then later by BHC.
Dyer said one of the goals was to figure out how much BHC owed to Dunning for rent and under the contracts his companies had with BHC. The firm was not hired to perform audits but to organize the financial books based primarily on information provided by BHC.
Dyer said that Dunning told him he had loaned BHC $1 million. At one point Dunning and accountants had calculated that BHC owed Dunning $796,783. But when the accountants found $367,000 in repayments from BHC to Dunning's companies, both Dunning and then CEO Jimmy Lacey told them to disregard it, he said.
Kathryn Green, one of the accountants with Covenant, testified that she spent all of her time from November 2011 to March 2013 at BHC's offices. The first task was to get a handle on how much BHC owed to vendors, she said.
The phone rang "non-stop" with vendors seeking payments, Green said. BHC was behind three months on its utility payments, she said. "It was a mess," she said.
Dyer and Green also testified that Lacey had told them that despite being late on other bills, Synergy was the priority to get paid.
Dunning, the former nonprofit CEO of both BHC and Central Alabama Comprehensive Health Inc. (CACH) in Tuskegee, faces 112 fraud and conspiracy charges in connection with diverting to his own companies millions of dollars in federal grant money meant for treating the poor and homeless at BHC and CACH.
BHC and CACH, were among 1,400 federally-funded community health centers nationwide. BHC in January changed its name to Alabama Regional Medical Services.
Federal prosecutors allege Dunning diverted federal grant money for health care services into his own pockets by setting up companies, most of them with the name Synergy in them, to contract with BHC for services and for lease agreements with BHC on buildings.
"Did you believe that there was anything improper about Mr. Dunning's relationship with Birmingham Health Care?, one of Dunning's attorneys, Bill Athanas, asked Dyer.
"No sir," Dyer replied.
Jimmy Lacey
Several of the witnesses Monday testified about whether they believed Lacey, who died in December, was controlled by Dunning. A few earlier witnesses had testified that Lacey did take his directions from Dunning.
According to previous testimony, Birmingham Health Care's building on Southside appraised for $6 million in September 2007.
Days after that appraisal, on Sept. 28, 2007, Dunning gave a $25,000 check to Lacey, who at the time was chairman of BHC's volunteer board. Dunning's lawyer had said that the check was to help a friend - Lacey - who had lost his job. Lacey had been among those laid off from the Birmingham Housing Authority.
Then on Oct. 23, 2007 Lacey wrote an email to Dunning that stated: "Just a reminder our collaboration is a conspiracy that is essential to our success."
A few witnesses have said they didn't know what Lacey meant by that email.
Dunning created a real estate company, Synergy, and bought BHC's Plaza building near Vulcan Park and Museum for $2.8 million in a deal approved by the BHC board in February 2008 - five months after the payment to Lacey. Under the deal, Synergy then leased the building back to BHC for monthly rental payments.
The board had paid $2.75 million for the building about six years before the sale and Dunning's lawyers have disagreed with the $6 million appraisal.
Dunning left his CEO job at BHC in November 2008. Lacey was then hired to replace Dunning, who still remained on under a management contract to provide a transition period.
Harrison Jones, a former security guard at BHC, testified Monday that Dunning had asked him to keep an eye on Lacey after Dunning left and Lacey took over as CEO.
Dunning described Lacey as a "moron and an idiot," Jones said. Dunning also said that Lacey "didn't know what he was doing."
Jones also testified that after Dunning had taken over control of the building and security he and other security officers didn't get the same benefits as they had before.
There were also a few times the paychecks were late, Jones said. Dunning told them during those times that he couldn't pay them until BHC paid him, he said.
Dyer also testified one time he suggested Lacey move out of his offices and free up space in the BHC Plaza building so the monthly rent to Synergy could be reduced. But Lacey nixed that idea, he said.
But Dyer said he didn't believe Dunning was controlling Lacey.
"Did you ever think Mr. Lacey was a puppet for Mr. Dunning," Athanas asked Dyer.
"I don't believe he was a puppet," Dyer responded. "I believe he relied on Mr. Dunning for consultations ... He (Lacey) made the final decisions. I don't know if he was led or not."
AL.com reporter Mike Oliver contributed to this story
Suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has been given an extra two weeks to respond to judicial ethics charges leveled by the state's Judicial Inquiry Commission regarding an order he issued in opposition to gay marriage.
Moore did have 30 days - or until Tuesday June 7 - to respond to the Judicial Inquiry Commission's (JIC) charges, which were brought May 6. The charges center on Moore's alleged violation of judicial ethics when in January he advised probate judges in the state to ignore the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last year making same-sex marriage legal nationwide.
Michael Joiner, chief judge of the Court of the Judiciary, last Thursday agreed to a 14-day extension for Moore to file his response. The JIC had opposed the request.
Joiner in his order also denied a request by the JIC for a hearing on the issue "for the time being."
Moore last week had filed a motion for an indefinite extension of time to file his response. He asked that the process be held up until a federal judge rules on his request for a preliminary injunction against the Alabama Court of the Judiciary.
Alternatively, Moore asked for a 14-day extension.
In his request for a federal preliminary injunction Moore alleges that Alabama law allowing the automatic suspension of a judge, while pending the outcome of a charge leveled by JIC, violates the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Moore's request for an extension "unequivocally interferes with the prompt disposition of these proceedings," according to JIC's opposition filed by John L. Carroll and Rosa Davis, the two designated prosecutors for the JIC. "Any request for an extension of time to file an answer is merely dilatory, against the interests of all parties, and most importantly the interests of the state's judiciary."
The JIC states in its opposition that Moore "has been well aware of the nature of the allegations under investigation and the evidence regarding those allegations."
The commission has been required to serve Moore every 42 days throughout the investigation with materials that establishes the alleged conduct did or did not occur, according to the JIC filing.
JIC also states in its opposition to an extension that Moore's federal lawsuit claims JIC's filing "has caused him irreparable harm, disrupts the orderly functioning of the Alabama judiciary, and undermines judicial administration in the state. He also argues that the Commission and this Court (of the Judiciary) can have a judge suspended indefinitely."
"If his claims are taken at face value, it would therefore be in his best interests to resolve these present proceeding as soon as possible," the JIC states.
Besides asking the Court of the Judiciary to deny Moore's request for an extension, the JIC also asked the court to set a hearing "as expeditiously as possible."
"The commission is ready for trial," the JIC states.
Moore has said that the JIC has no business investigating or filing charges regarding his order. "The Judicial Inquiry Commission has no authority over the administrative orders of the chief justice of Alabama or the legal injunctions of the Alabama Supreme Court prohibiting probate judges from issuing same-sex marriage licenses," he told AL.com after the charges were filed.
The 59-year-old Huntsville man charged with murder in a predawn crash Monday that killed two young sisters is a well-known and highly-decorated retired NASA astronaut.
James Donald Halsell Jr., a five-flight veteran who was selected by NASA in 1991 to become an astronaut, was arrested Monday in the deaths of Niomi Deona James, 11, and Jayla Latrice Parler, 13. The family had just picked up the girls from Texas for summer vacation with their father and were almost home when the crash happened.
He was booked into the Tuscaloosa County Jail at 11 a.m. Monday and released at 6:30 p.m.after posting $150,000 bond. His mugshot was either never posted on the jail's website, or was removed before authorities announced his arrest. The Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office released the mugshot this morning.
Multiple attempts to reach Halsell or family members at his Huntsville home have been unsuccessful.
The accident happened at 2:50 a.m. Monday on U.S. 82 near the 65 mile marker, 10 miles east of Tuscaloosa, said Senior Trooper Reginal King. Niomi and Jayla, both of Brent, were passengers in a 2015 Ford Fiesta. The Fiesta was struck by a 2015 Chrysler 300 driven by Halsell.
King said neither of the girls were wearing seatbelts and were thrown from the vehicle. Niomi was pronounced dead on the scene. Jayla was taken to DCH Regional Medical Center where she was also pronounced dead.
The driver of the Ford, 37-year-old Pernell Deon James and another passenger, 25-year-old Shontel Latriva Cutts, were also taken to the hospital for their injuries. Authorities said James was the father of both girls, who were half-sisters.
King said Halsell was arrested and charged with murder after the preliminary investigation showed that alcohol and speed may have been factors in the crash.
Tuscaloosa County Chief Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Cross said a deposition in the case written by a trooper said Halsell was on his way to pick up his son in Louisiana. He crashed into the back of the James' family's Ford Fiesta, pushing it across the median and causing it to flip twice.
Troopers, according to the deposition, later searched Halsell's Motel 6 room, finding an empty bottle of wine and an empty 10-pack of sleeping pills. Halsell told investigators he didn't remember the crash and asked to see the victim's bodies.
One witness, according to the deposition, told troopers Halsell tried to the leave the scene of the crash. "Halsell's speech was slurred, eyes were dialated, clothes disheveled and he was unstable on his feet and smelled of alcohol,'' Cross confirmed the deposition reads.
Halsell, a West Monroe, Louisiana native, received a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from the United States Air Force Academy in 1978, a Master of Science degree in management from Troy University in 1983, and a Master of Science degree in space operations from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1985, according to his NASA biography.
While with NASA, he was the recipient of multiple awards. An F-4 pilot qualified in conventional and nuclear weapons deliveries, he served at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas from 1980 until 1981, and Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, from 1982 through 1984. In 1984-1985, he was a graduate student at the Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. He then attended the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and during the next four years he performed test flights in the F-4, the F-16, and the SR-71 aircraft.
Among his many assignments, Halsell served as manager of Shuttle Launch Integration at Kennedy Space Center. Following the Columbia accident, Halsell led NASA's Space Shuttle Return-to-Flight Planning Team. He then served as the Assistant Director for Aircraft Operations, Flight Crew Operations Directorate. Halsell retired from the Air Force in July 2004, and retired from NASA in November 2006 to accept a position with ATK Launch Systems.
Carden Collage.jpg
The Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force arrested Philip Loyd Carden on June 6, 2016 with more than $120,000 worth of marijuana.
(Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force)
A Georgia man is in custody after lawmen stopped him in Center Point Monday night and seized more than $100,000 worth of high-grade marijuana.
Authorities today identified the suspect as 41-year-old Philip Loyd Carden from Covington, Ga. The Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force was conducting a follow-up investigation to a recent methamphetamine case and identified Carden as a potential drug trafficker traveling from the west coast to the Jefferson and Shelby County areas, said task force Commander Lt. Clay Hammac.
Lawmen gathered intelligence, conducted surveillance and worked with neighboring law enforcement agencies to identify Carden, his vehicle and his potential director of travel. The task force, along with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and a Pelham Police Department drug-sniffing dog, intercepted Carden in an undisclosed part of Center Point.
Hammac said investigators found about 6.6 pounds of the marijuana concealed in Carden's vehicle. At roughly $40 per gram, the seized marijuana has a street value of more than $120,000.
Carden is being held in the Jefferson County Jail, and Hammac said the investigation is ongoing. "This operation was a perfect demonstration of the benefit of communication-sharing and teamwork among neighboring agencies,'' Hammac said. "I am proud of the hard work of our narcotics investigators and applaud their resolve."
David Davarius Nelson
One person is in custody and charged in a May shooting at a Birmingham apartment complex that killed one man and wounded another.
David Davarius Nelson, 25, is charged with murder and second-degree assault, according to court records made public on Monday. He is charged in the slaying of 44-year-old Damon Lee McCann and the of McCann's nephew.
The shooting happened May 5 on Gallant Drive at Valley Brook Apartments, where court records show Nelson lives. Jefferson County sheriff's deputies were working nearby, heard the gunfire and responded to the scene. Birmingham police joined them a short time later, and found a scene they described as "extremely chaotic."
The shooting started about noon that day when a group of men were standing in the breezeway of one of the buildings. "There must have been some type of argument, some kind of altercation took place, and witness said a lot of shooting started," said Birmingham police spokesman Lt. Sean Edwards.
The nephew was shot in the foot; McCann was shot multiple times in the body. Both were loaded into Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service rescue trucks to go to UAB Hospital. However, one of the rescue trucks, Rescue 28, which was carrying McCann was involved in a crash with an SUV on Center Point Parkway at Roebuck Drive.
Center Point Fire responded to the wreck site and transported McCann to UAB Hospital. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. Authorities believe he died from the shooting injuries, and not from anything to do with the wreck.
Witnesses and police said there were multiple witnesses to the shooting, and said it appeared more than 30 shots were fired. "They were shooting back and forth,'' Edwards said, "and multiple buildings were also struck."
"You ask the question, what's going on this time of the day, why do we have so many people up here discharging firearms in the middle of the day,'' Edwards said on the day of the shooting. "You know, most people are working then. It poses a problem."
"Our officers have responded to the this apartment complex on multiple occasions,'' he said. "This shooting incident is nothing new."
"Anytime you have people recklessly discharging firearms, the change of somebody getting injured is extremely great, extremely high,'' he said. "It's by the grace of God that more people weren't injured up here."
Court records show Nelson was arrested June 2. He remains in the Jefferson County Jail with bond set at $250,000. He is set for his first court appearance today.
For the third time in five weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court has told an Alabama appeals court to reconsider an Alabama death row inmate's appeal in light of the Supreme Court's ruling earlier this year striking down Florida's capital punishment scheme.
Two Alabama attorneys said Monday that the moves by the high court indicate justices may be looking at striking down Alabama's death sentencing scheme as unconstitutional.
"Personally, I think its crystal clear the Supreme Court has real concerns about the constitutionality of our current death penalty and is clearly putting us on notice of that fact," said Birmingham attorney John Lentine.
Bryan Stevenson, executive director and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, also stated in an email to AL.com on Monday that "we believe it's now very clear that the U.S. Supreme Court recognizes that Alabama's death penalty scheme is called into question following the Court's ruling in Hurst v. Florida earlier this year. There have been serious flaws in Alabama's process of imposing the death penalty for several years and state courts are going to have to now confront these problems."
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday remanded the case of Alabama Death Row inmate Ronnie Kirksey back to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals for reconsideration of his appeal in light of the Hurst v. Florida decision in January.
The U.S. Supreme Court last month had also ordered the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals to reconsider its decision in the appeals of Corey Wimbley and Bart Johnson in light of the Florida case.
Wimbley was convicted in Washington County and sentenced to death in the death of 55-year-old Connie Ray Wheat at a grocery store in Wagarville. Johnson was convicted and sentenced to death in Shelby County for the 2009 slaying of Pelham police officer Philip Davis.
Kirksey, of Gadsden, was convicted in the death of 23-month-old Cornell Norwood. The jury in 2010 found Kirksey guilty and unanimously recommended he be sentenced to death. The judge agreed and sentenced Kirksey to death.
At issue with Alabama's death penalty scheme is that Alabama permits judges to override a jury's recommendation for a life sentence and impose death. Alabama was one of only three states that allowed such an override. The others were Florida and Delaware.
Legislators in Florida's legislature re-wrote its capital punishment sentencing law this spring.
Jefferson County Circuit Judge Tracie Todd in March ruled in four of her capital murder cases that Alabama's capital punishment sentencing scheme is unconstitutional based on the Hurst case. The Alabama Attorney General's Office has appealed Todd's ruling.
A number of attorneys around the state have challenged on behalf of their clients the constitutionality of Alabama's capital murder sentencing scheme based on the Florida ruling. All but Todd, however, denied those requests.
District attorneys and Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange have said Alabama's law is not the same as Florida's.
First, Alabama's sentencing scheme was ruled constitutional in 1995 by the U.S. Supreme Court, state prosecutors say. They also have pointed out that the high court held in the Florida case that a jury must find the aggravating factor in order to make someone eligible for the death penalty. Alabama's system already requires the jury to do just that, according to an Alabama Attorney General's statement.
A Fairfield woman is behind bars in connection with last month's fatal shooting of a Birmingham man.
Shantea Rasha Blevins, 30, was arrested June 1, according to court records made public on Monday. She is charged with capital murder in the May 4 slaying of 31-year-old Martez Santoine Taylor.
Birmingham police officers with the city's West Precinct were dispatched to the 2900 block of 31st Street about 1:30 a.m. They arrived on the scene to find Taylor lying on the ground next to an orange and blue Oldsmobile. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
Witnesses told police they saw Taylor's car circling the block and heard arguing before they heard a gunshot. "It appears the victim and the shooter had a prior history,'' Lt. Sean Edwards said at the time of the shooting.
According the arrest affidavit in the case, authorities contend Blevins shot Taylor with a pistol in the course of a robbery. Records show cash and/or jewelry were taken. It wasn't immediately clear whether the two knew each other.
Martez Taylor
Blevins also is charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana. A Birmingham police detective said in court records that he was at a motel on Third Avenue West on May 16 investigating Taylor's homicide when Blevins drove through the parking lot.
Because she was a person of interest in the slaying, he stepped outside of the motel and asked Blevins if he could talk with her. She parked her car at which time the detective saw a pill bottle and half of a blunt in plain view through an open window. Marijuana was found in one pill bottle, and Xanax was found in another pill bottle during a subsequent search of Blevins' car. She said the Xanax was "for her nerves," but acknowledged she didn't have a prescription.
She was taken to jail that day on the drug charges, and later jailed on the capital murder charge. Blevins has prior convictions on bad check charges.
She remains held without bond in the Jefferson County Jail, and is set to have a court appearance today.
Alabama Water System-Chemicals
An employee stocks bottled water at a Foodvalu store in Courtland, Ala., Friday, June 3, 2016, after a local utility warned residents not to drink tap water because of chemical contamination. Store workers said they were struggling to keep water on the shelves after the alert. (AP Photo/Phillip Lucas)
(Phillip Lucas)
Officials are delaying plans to distribute bottled water in two north Alabama counties where a utility is warning residents not to drink tap water because of chemical contamination.
Fire departments will hand out bottled water in parts of Lawrence and Morgan counties beginning later this week. Plans to distribute water starting Monday were pushed back because of a delivery delay.
The West Morgan-East Limestone Water and Sewer Authority warned residents last week not to drink their tap water. The authority issued the warning about two chemicals in water from the Tennessee River.
The Environmental Protection Agency recently tightened its standards for the chemicals, resulting in the change. The authority's warning goes further than guidance from the EPA, and the state says there's no water crisis in the area.
Residents affected by the situation told WAFF they were angry about the possible contamination and the shortage of bottled water.
"It's been hell," Courtland resident Sheila Harvel told the station. "I want it fixed and I'd like to see truckloads of water come in here especially to get to these people who can't afford it and the ones that are home-bound and can't get up and go get it."
Lisa Davis, a cashier at a Foodvalu grocery store in rural north Alabama, spent Friday ringing up bottled water sales.
Some customers got a six-pack; others bought jugs or a whole case. The scene was the same across the street at a Dollar General store, where a big metal cart once full of bottled water stood empty.
Davis, 41, said she and her two children will be fine during a dry spell that officials said could last until fall. But she's worried about the less fortunate and elderly who may not have extra money to spend on bottled water.
"These older people who are on a fixed income can't just go out and buy water," she said. "They are paying water bills."
After five space shuttle missions, James "Jim" Halsell Jr. retired from NASA to enjoy a second career in the aerospace industry, but now finds himself facing the most serious charges ever lodged against an American astronaut.
Halsell, 59, faces murder charges after his car collided with another vehicle on an Alabama highway near Tuscaloosa early Monday morning.
Two young passengers in the second car, sisters Niomi Deona James, 11, and Jayla Latrice Parler, 13, were killed. State troopers cited alcohol and speed in charging Halsell on Monday. The town of Brent, Ala., where the sisters were headed with their father and stepmother, was in shock and mourning Tuesday.
How Halsell went from a leader willing to give his own life to advance humanity's future in space to a suspect in a crash that claimed two children's lives is still a story with many holes. Calls to his home outside Huntsville weren't returned Tuesday, and people who know Halsell were not talking.
For its part, NASA said in response to questions that it has no formal relationships with its former astronauts, does not have formal expectations for their post-retirement behavior, and does not track or facilitate their activities after they leave the space agency.
Halsell left the astronaut corps in 2006 with more than 1,200 hours of time in space. He flew five space shuttle missions as both pilot and commander and later held key management roles.
In 1998, he and his wife lived in Moscow where he worked as NASA director of operations at the Yuri Gargarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. NASA chose him to lead the Space Shuttle Return to Flight Planning team following the Columbia shuttle disaster in 2003.
At his retirement, NASA's director of flight crew operations called Halsell "a tremendously talented person."
Halsell followed a well-worn path from NASA to the aerospace industry after retiring by joining Alliant Techsystems (ATK) as a vice president and manager of ATK's Ares 1 rocket upper stage team in Huntsville.
The Ares program was scrapped by President Obama in 2009, and Halsell became vice president of Safety and Mission Assurance for ATK.
He left ATK and joined Dynetics Inc. in 2011 as technical director of Dynetic's space division shortly before the company began working with Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen and space pioneer Burt Rutan to launch rockets from a giant airplane in a company called Stratolaunch Inc.
But in 2013, Stratolaunch went a different direction and hired another rocket company to build its rocket. Dynetics is still involved, but its role was scaled back and Halsell left the company in 2014.
Where Halsell has worked since isn't immediately clear although there were suggestions he was following another well-trod path and starting a consulting business.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville confirmed Tuesday that Halsell is not working as a NASA contractor and does not have a badge granting access to Redstone Arsenal where Marshall is located.
That means it isn't likely Halsell was traveling to NASA's giant Michoud Assembly Center near New Orleans at the time of the accident. Marshall manages rocket work at Michoud. Where he was going isn't known.
Halsell, who is also a retired Air Force colonel and decorated former test pilot, was born in West Monroe, La., in 1956. He is married with two children.
Gov. Robert Bentley "would be foolish" to call the legislature into a special session later this year because of the looming threat of impeachment, a state lawmaker said Tuesday.
State Rep. Ed Henry, R-Hartselle, is leading a growing parade of bipartisan legislators backing impeachment after Bentley acknowledged an inappropriate relationship with former aide Rebekah Caldwell Mason.
Leftover initiatives from the legislative session earlier this year - primarily a push to build four new prisons - has Bentley saying repeatedly that he is considering a special session. No such session has yet been called - a reality likely affected by the ongoing ethics trial for House Speaker Mike Hubbard.
That trial is expected to be over before the end of the month.
"He would be foolish to call us back," Henry said of Bentley, who has repeatedly said he has done nothing to warrant being impeached. Henry made the comments in an interview Tuesday with AL.com.
Henry has introduced two resolutions of articles of impeachment - the second a more refined version of the first. The second version accuses Bentley of a "willful neglect of duty" while the second is for "corruption in office."
The resolutions did not come up for a vote in the House before the legislative session ended in May. That vote would most certainly take place in a special session, Henry said.
Without a special session, legislators can't vote on impeachment until the 2017 session.
The potential special session vote is a deterrent for Bentley to call the legislature back into session," Henry said.
"Oh, absolutely," Henry said. "There's a few things that are delaying the impeachment process and one of those is fatigue. The legislature has been in session since January this year and prior to that, we had three sessions last year. So as a part-time legislature, we're all trying to make our living right now. One of the major obstacles to the legislature moving on the impeachment articles is just fatigue and our inability to focus our full efforts on impeachment because we do have to make a living.
"If the governor calls a special session and forces us to come back to Montgomery, the impeachment will be No. 1 on our agenda to deal with. And I believe he knows that. He doesn't want that. And as much as he may want to raise taxes to build his prisons, he fully understands the nuances of what calling us back to Montgomery will do in regard to impeachment."
Voters want action on Bentley, Henry said.
"The people of Alabama would expect us to do something," he said. "Right now, everybody can have an excuse (because the legislative session for 2016 has ended). As soon as we go back to Montgomery, the people of Alabama are going to be ready for us to do something with Gov. Bentley."
However, Henry said he could also envision a scenario where Bentley calls a special session in anticipation of being impeached.
"The judiciary (committee, which has been authorized to investigate impeachment articles) should be releasing some guidelines in the next few days about how we're going to proceed with the impeachment process," Henry said.
"When that happens, if the governor sees that it's inevitable that we're going to be dealing with it, he may actually call a special session to deal with all the circumstances. But I know it's a thought in the back of his mind that 'I really don't want the legislature in session.'"
Either way, Henry said the issue isn't going to fade away.
"I was ready to do something three months ago when we started this process," he said. "The only reason that the establishment in Montgomery hasn't succeeded in laying it to rest is because there are enough individuals like myself who are standing up and saying, 'No, we're going to deal with it whether you like it or not.'"
Two weeks after an Oregon couple was told no charges would be filed against the babysitter they say beat their infant son black and blue, prosecutors have secured the arrest of the suspect.
Markell D. Hilaire, 27, of Tacoma, Washington, turned himself in on Friday. According to The Oregonian/Oregon Live, the charges against Hilaire came about through a grand jury indictment.
He is being held in lieu of $10,000 bond on charges of criminal mistreatment and third- and fourth-degree assault.
Joshua Marbury and Alicia Quinney told The Oregonian/Oregon Live last month they came home from a date night in March find their son, Jacob, screaming and Hilaire asleep on the couch. The next morning, the boy awoke with a black eye and bruises all over his face.
Doctors told Jacob's parents that they could detect a handprint among the bruising, the newspaper said, and police said the beating could have killed the little boy.
The couple took to social media when, initially, they were told that charges weren't likely based on Oregon state law, which requires prosecutors to prove that the victim suffered substantial pain and serious physical injury. That burden of proof becomes high when there is no witness to the abuse and the victim is too young to say he or she suffered pain.
Hilaire, who was a friend of the boy's father, was alone with him and his sister, who he was also babysitting.
The case made national headlines and has brought about an online petition on Change.org that asks the Oregon Supreme Court to overturn current state law. As of Tuesday, nearly 56,000 people had signed the petition.
Quinney said on Facebook Monday that the case is now in the hands of Oregon's justice system. She said her family will continue to fight to see the laws regarding violence against children change.
Dylann Roof
Dylann Roof appears via video before a judge, in Charleston, S.C., Friday, June 19, 2015. The (Centralized Bond Hearing Court via AP)
(Centralized Bond Hearing Court via AP)
The federal death penalty trial of a white man charged in the slayings of nine members of a historic black church will be held in November, a judge said Tuesday.
Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel set Nov. 7 as the day to begin selecting jurors for the federal trial of Dylann Roof, 22, who faces numerous federal counts, including hate crimes, in the June 17 shootings at Emanuel AME Church.
Handcuffed and clad in a gray striped jumpsuit, Roof attended Tuesday's hearing but did not address the court.
In court, Roof's federal attorneys reiterated previous comments that he would be willing to plead guilty if the death penalty were not on the table.
Defense attorneys and federal prosecutors told Gergel they felt they had enough time to prepare their case. The trial is estimated to last up to six weeks. Gergel said more than 1,000 summons could possibly be issued to potential jurors throughout the state.
Roof's state trial on murder charges is scheduled for January. State prosecutors are also seeking the death penalty.
The killings reignited discussions about race relations and led to the removal of a Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina Statehouse. Roof had previously posed for photos with a rebel flag.
Due in part to problems in obtaining lethal injection drugs, no one has been executed in South Carolina since 2011. The federal government hasn't put anyone to death since 2003.
Barack Obama
President Barack Obama answers questions during a news conference following the conclusion of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders summit at the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016.
(Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Associated Press)
Representatives from two federal agencies are set to visit Alabama "in the coming days" to determine if President Obama's plan to house illegal immigrant children in the Yellowhammer State is feasible.
The Obama administration is looking into whether the unaccompanied minors, who entered the country illegally, could be temporarily resettled at Naval Outlying Fields, including two such airfields in Foley and Summerdale in Baldwin County.
"In accordance with the Department of Defense's (DOD) approval of Health and Human Services (HHS) request for assistance, representatives from HHS will visit the Naval OutLying Fields in the coming days," an HHS spokeswoman told AL.com in an email.
"The site assessment will determine the feasibility of utilizing the property for semi-permanent shelters should the number of children referred to HHS exceed the shelter capacity currently available. DOD officials will join the HHS staff as they tour the property available for HHS's potential use, but HHS will make the final determination about whether the land is an appropriate site for the temporary shelter of Unaccompanied Children. DOD and HHS will continue to keep local and congressional officials informed during this assessment process, and will notify all interested stakeholders should the property be selected for use."
The potential plan has drawn the ire of Gov. Robert Bentley and Sen. Richard Shelby, who said the proposal is inappropriate.
"The Obama Administration has once again shown an interest in potentially using Alabama's military installations as temporary housing for illegal immigrants," Shelby said in a statement. "These Department of Defense properties should be used for those men and women working to keep our nation safe - not to house illegal immigrants."
Bentley, who sued the federal government over its refugee resettlement program in January, added that he believed states should have input in the process.
"The federal government is once again usurping the authority of Alabama in its effort to relocate unaccompanied minors," he said in a statement. "While I am extremely sympathetic to the needs of unaccompanied minors, as governor of Alabama, I feel strongly that states should play an active role in the decision making process."
An alligator was found with a human body in its mouth today in Florida, police told local television station WFLX today.
The incident happened in Lakeland, which is between Tampa and Orlando in Polk County.
WFLX said that the gator, and the body, were found in Lake Hunter.
NBC News reported that someone in a senior living community nearby called 911 after seeing the animal carrying the body. The caller said the animal was between eight and 10 feet long.
The body was male, but police said that they have not made an identification yet.
"It appears - prematurely, a little early - that maybe this body was in the lake more than a day from looking at the body...It doesn't appear to have just occurred," Sgt. Gary Gross of Lakeland police told WFLX.
The gator let go of the body and swam away from police. The body has since been pulled out of the water.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission told NBC that they are trying to capture the gator.
Prince Rogers Nelson - known the world as the rock legend Prince - would have been 58 years old today.
Prince was born June 7, 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota to musical parents. He died April 21 due to what officials said was an overdose of the painkiller Fentanyl.
Prince first broke into the music scene in the late 1970s, with his 1982 album "1999" propelling him to the national stage. In 1984, Prince starred in the hit film "Purple Rain," with the accompanying soundtrack becoming his signature album. The album sold more than 13 million copies and spent 24 consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 charts. Songs from the album included "When Dove's Cry," "Let's Go Crazy" and "Purple Rain."
The album was listed as number 72 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Prince continued to release popular music throughout the 1990s and 2000s, culminating in a show-stopping performance at Super Bowl XLI in Miami, Florida. The performance was watched by more than 140 million television viewers and has been ranked as the greatest Super Bowl performance ever.
Prince was discovered unconscious in an elevator in his compound on April 21. His death came less than a week after his plane made an emergency stop I Moline, Illinois for medical treatment as he returned from an Atlanta concert. The Associated Press and other media reported, based on anonymous sources, that Prince was found unconscious on the plane, and first responders gave him a shot of Narcan, an antidote used in suspected opioid overdoses.
Associates of the star said Prince had physical issues and pain, including hip and knee problems, from years of performing.
abortion rally
Anti-abortion supporters rally outside Huntsville City Hall in 2014. (Bob Gathany/bgathany@al.com)
The two bills passed by the state legislature, and subsequently challenged in court by the ACLU, simply represent Alabama exercise its rights as a state, lawmakers said Tuesday.
Gov. Robert Bentley signed the abortion bills in law and they will go into effect Aug. 1.
One bill prohibits the renewal of a health center license at a facility within 2,000 feet of a public K-8 school while the other prohibits an abortion procedure the lawsuit maintains is the "safest and most common" second-trimester procedure.
The very fact that there is a federal law does not make the federal law right or not allow any further adjustment at the state level," state Sen. Phil Williams, R-Rainbow City, said. "That's why we have a 10th Amendment to the constitution.
"The Roe court literally made its decision because there was an absence of state law to the contrary in Texas. States do have a right to say in the abortion argument because Roe was based on an absence of state law as opposed to a pre-emption of state law."
State Rep. Ed Henry, R-Hartselle, agreed.
"What the courts have ruled is that while we cannot completely ban abortions, we do have within our rights as a state to regulate and control clinics that perform abortions," Henry said. "And that's all there is. It's well within our rights."
Williams sponsored the bill that outlawed dismemberment of the fetus in the procedure. The medical term for the procedure is "dilation and evacuation," the lawsuit said.
"The vast majority of the people of Alabama support the right to life and this particular bill was passed in a bipartisan fashion," Williams said in an interview with AL.com. "Even some of the usual opponents recognizing how heinous a dismemberment abortion really is and wanted to see that particular practice stopped. It should not be an elective procedure.
"What it does is literally dismembers a child in the womb piece by piece well after the development has shown that there is a human life there. It's inconceivable to me that the ACLU would find this in some way in violation of civil liberties, which is what they are allegedly standing for."
Williams also took exception to the ACLU describing the procedure as the safest.
"Once again, the ACLU is only considering one life of the two involved," Williams said. "It's certainly not the safest for the baby. I think it's inconceivable that we literally should see ourselves not taking a stand for what is right because something is common."
State Rep. Ed Henry, R-Hartselle, carried the House version of the bill prohibiting abortion clinics to be near schools. Sen. Paul Sanford, R-Huntsville, sponsored the bill that Bentley eventually signed.
That bill is set to eventually close two of the state's five abortion clinics. Those clinics, located in Huntsville and Tuscaloosa, performed 72 percent of the state's abortions in 2014, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health.
"You have an abortion clinic in very near proximity to an elementary school in Huntsville and there are children who are subjected to the graphic nature that surround those abortion clinics because there are protesters and supporters constantly out there doing battle, exercising their free speech," Henry said. "I just don't feel like that should be in such close proximity to a school kindergarten through eighth grade."
Williams said the laws should not be viewed as roadblocks to women getting abortions.
"Every one of these discussions has to be given proper context," he said. "This is not intent to undermine federal law. It's an intent to preserve life."
The famous Playboy mansion has been sold, according to USA Today.
The mansion, home to the magazine founder Hugh Hefner, was reportedly sold to Daren Metropoulos of private equity firm Metropoulos & Co., which owns Hostess Brands.
An amount that the home sold for has not been released, but the mansion was listed for $200 million.
One of the conditions of the sale was that Hefner, 90, would live in the home for the rest of his life.
Metropoulos reportedly agreed to the condition, the newspaper said.
The new buyer is the son of C. Dean Metropoulos, a billionaire who once owned Pabst Brewing Co.
The younger Metropoulos bought the house next door to the Playboy mansion in 2009 for $18 million, USA Today said.
Hefner bought the mansion more than 45 years ago for $1 million.
The property is five acres and includes a cave-like grotto and a zoo license. The home has 29 rooms, a home theater, swimming pool, and a guesthouse.
The Obama administration's proposal to temporarily resettle illegal immigrant children in Baldwin County is "the very definition of insanity," U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Fairhope, told AL.com Tuesday.
Officials from two federal agencies are set to visit sites in Baldwin County to look into whether it's feasible to place the children at naval outlying fields.
The airfields have no housing or sewage, so the government would have to construct structures for the children, Byrne noted. He said it would also be more expensive for the government to pay for caring for the children -- including schooling -- than their families in their home countries.
"The fact that they're even considering putting teenagers and children in an airfield where there are no buildings .... makes no sense," the congressman told AL.com."This is the very definition of insanity."
Byrne suggested the children be housed in locations closer to a point on the southern border where they crossed illegally.
"It's just not feasible to put these children over there in south Baldwin County," he said. "These children are better off returned back to their homes because that's where their families are."
Bob Riley, Rob Riley
Former Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, left, and son Rob Riley walk to the Lee County Justice Center to testify for the second day in Alabama Speaker Mike Hubbard's trial on Monday, June 6, 2016 in Opelika, Ala. Hubbard faces 23 felony ethics charges accusing him of using his political positions to make money and seek financial favors, investments and employment from lobbyists and people with business before the Alabama Legislature. (Todd J. Van Emst/Opelika-Auburn News via AP, Pool)
(Todd J. Van Emst/Opelika-Auburn News/Pool)
Former Gov. Bob Riley testified today that he and others tried to help House Speaker Mike Hubbard find income to replace a job loss but that Hubbard was scrupulous about following the state ethics law.
Riley spent all day on the witness stand today and was taking questions from Hubbard attorney Bill Baxley when the trial recessed at about 5 p.m.
Testimony and emails have shown that Hubbard began reaching out to Riley and others for help after learning in 2011 that he was losing his job with IMG. The company gave him severance pay for a year.
"We had a year to figure out something," Riley testified in response to a question from Baxley. "And I think everyone who was Mike's friend was trying to give him some suggestions."
With Riley, Hubbard's longtime mentor on the stand, Baxley showed the jury a preclearance letter from the Ethics Commission for one of Hubbard's consulting contracts in an effort to show Hubbard took care to follow the law.
"He was extremely careful," Riley testified.
Prosecutors allege that Hubbard ignored the Ethics Commission advice.
The speaker is charged with 23 felony ethics violations accusing him of using his public offices for personal gain.
Prosecutors say it was a crime for Hubbard to seek and receive help from Riley, a lobbyist, and others they say had an interest in legislation.
On Friday and earlier today, lead prosecutor Matt Hart showed the jury a number of emails from Hubbard asking Riley for a job or help finding clients for his consulting work.
Baxley focused on other parts of some emails, including one in which Hubbard tells Riley that he loves him like a father and relies on his advice.
Hubbard named one of his sons after the former governor.
Hubbard's lawyers have claimed that it was not a crime for Hubbard to seek help from Riley and some others because of a friendship exception in the ethics law.
Four charges in the indictment allege that Hubbard used his position as state Republican Party chairman to steer campaign ad business to his companies, Craftmaster Printers and Auburn Network, in 2010.
Riley disputed that during cross examination. Riley said Hubbard reluctantly took the position as party chairman at his request.
Riley said he used Craftmaster Printers for his campaigns before Hubbard became chairman because of the quality and price.
"We knew Mike could do what he did for me cheaper than anyone else," Riley said.
Riley testified on cross examination that since becoming a lobbyist he had talked to Hubbard about three bills, and none passed.
After the jury was excused today, Walker sustained the state's objections to Baxley's requests to question Riley on several topics.
Baxley wanted to ask Riley about the economic development activities of former House Speaker Seth Hammett and his employment with a power company. Baxley argued that was similar to Hubbard's work for the Southeast Alabama Gas District.
Prosecutors said questions about Hammett as irrelevant, and Judge Walker agreed.
"I think it's apples and oranges so I will sustain the objection," Walker said.
Walker also disallowed questions to Riley about the intent of ethics reforms he signed into law in 2010.
And he disallowed questions to Riley about other legislators who have consulting contracts similar to Hubbard's.
Walker said case is not about whether it was legal for Hubbard to have the contracts but about whether he used the influence of his office on the consulting work.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., is steering clear of the controversy surrounding Donald Trump, who said the federal "Mexican" judge presiding over the Trump University fraud case has an "absolute conflict" because of the presumptive Republican nominee's stance on illegal immigration.
Sessions, who was the first senator to endorse Trump and doubles as Trump's national security adviser, had no comment when asked by CNN to weigh in on the controversy. A Sessions spokesman also hasn't returned an email from AL.com seeking comment as of late Tuesday afternoon.
Jeff Sessions, Trump's biggest Senate backer, won't comment on Trump/Curiel remarks. "I don't have any statement on that." Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 7, 2016
Trump has said that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel can't be impartial because he is "Mexican" and Trump wants to build a wall on the border with Mexico. Curiel was born in Indiana and is of Mexican heritage. Trump later doubled down on his comment, telling CBS that he also believed it was possible a Muslim judge wouldn't treat him fairly over his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country.
The real estate mogul's remarks were interpreted by some to be racist, with high-profile Republicans including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio disavowing Trump's comments.
Sessions has previously said that he doesn't believe Trump is racist and argued that The Donald's economic policies would benefit African Americans and Latinos.
Richard Shelby, Alabama's senior senator, also said he doesn't view Trump as racist, but also maintained that Curiel's race is irrelevant to how he would conduct himself in the case.
Trump accused the media of misinterpreting his statements on Curiel.
"It is unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage. I am friends with and employ thousands of people of Mexican and Hispanic descent. The American justice system relies on fair and impartial judges," he said Tuesday in a statement. "All judges should be held to that standard. I do not feel that one's heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial."
Trump, who argued that the case should be dismissed, is being sued by former Trump University students who claim the program used deceptive business tactics, even encouraging them to get into credit card debt to invest in real estate.
Update 8:42 a.m. CDT:
A Shelby spokeswoman clarified the senator's response to Trump's remarks on Curiel.
"Sen. Shelby was simply saying that he believes the race of the judge should be irrelevant," the spokeswoman said in an email to AL.com.
Original story:
Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby sided with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump when Trump said the federal judge presiding over the Trump University lawsuit couldn't be impartial because of Trump's stance on illegal immigration, according to ABC News.
Trump has stirred controversy for saying U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel has an "absolute conflict" in the fraud case because he is "Mexican" and Trump's platform includes building a wall on the border with Mexico and having Mexico pay for it. Curiel is of Mexican heritage and was born in Indiana.
Reached by ABC News in Washington, Shelby defended Trump's position, making the senior Alabama senator one of the few Republicans to back the real estate mogul's statements on Curiel. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., have been among the high-profile Republicans to condemn Trump's statements.
.@SenShelby defends Trump's Curiel rmks to @marykbruce: What if he was German? What if he was Polish or English? You know? Think about it" Ali Rogin (@AliABCNews) June 6, 2016
The senator could not immediately be reached for comment to clarify his remarks.
Tropical Storm Colin is expected to dump as much as five inches of rain over Florida in the coming hours, prompting flood warnings, closures and growing travel concerns.
As of 7 p.m. CDT, Tropical Storm Colin was located about 35 miles south-southwest of Apalachicola, Florida. The storm has maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and is headed north-northeast at 23 mph. It's expected to make landfall in Florida's Big Bend region later tonight. Fifty-nine counties remain under a flood watch and weather forecasters are warning of the potential for severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and isolated tornadoes.
Earlier Monday, Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency in 34 Florida counties and as many as 6,000 Florid National Guardsmen have been activated.
"As our state continues to feel the impact of Tropical Storm Colin and it makes landfall this evening, it is critical that all Floridians use caution and remain alert," Scott said. "It is important for all families to remain informed of the storm's movements and continue to exercise caution before leaving home as rain chances are expected to remain high throughout the week."
Florida schools in the affected areas have cancelled summer programs and day camps. Hillsborough Community College, Pasco-Hernando State College and St. Petersburg College have all closed ahead of the storm. Florida's Park Service has evacuated several of its facilities that are in the process of being closed. You can see a list of those facilities here.
Motorists are urged to use caution if they must drive in the storm.
"Standing water can be difficult to see and can obscure other hazards, such as the edges of canals and existing waterways - especially at night. Floodwaters pose significant health risks and everyone should avoid contact with storm water. Remember: Turn Around, Don't Drown," State Coordinating Officer Bryan Koon said.
Up-to-date travel information can be obtained at FL511.com. Florida Highway Patrol has deployed its 250-person response team to assist with road closures, directing traffic and responding to any calls for service.
All lanes of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge at I-275 mile marker 8 in St. Petersburg have been closed due to high winds. The Howard Frankland Bridge remains open.
6-7 Colin track 10 am 1.jpg
Colin lost its tropical storm characteristics on Tuesday morning but its winds went up to 60 mph as it raced out into the Atlantic. (National Hurricane Center)
Tropical Storm Colin has lost its title -- but got stronger in the process.
The National Hurricane Center said Colin, once the third named tropical storm of the year in the Atlantic, had become a post-tropical storm as it moved along the Atlantic coast after coming ashore on the Florida Gulf Coast early this morning.
It will bring some strong winds to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for the next few hours before heading out into the Atlantic, but the worst of the weather was located over water on the east side of the storm.
A tropical storm warning was still in effect for the North Carolina coast from Cape Lookout to Oregon Inlet, but the hurricane center said it would be discontinued later this afternoon.
As of 10 a.m. CDT the center of Post-Tropical Cyclone Colin was located about 120 miles southwest of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and was racing northeast at 36 mph.
Storms were flaring to the east of the center of Colin on Tuesday morning as it moved up the Atlantic Coast. (National Weather Service)
Though not a tropical storm anymore, Colin still is packing strong winds. The hurricane center said maximum sustained winds were up to 60 mph on Tuesday morning and could get a bit stronger before weakening later tonight.
Those winds were not near the center of circulation, however, but to the southeast and over the open ocean.
Colin's circulation center moved into Florida's Big Bend region around midnight Tuesday, according to NHC Public Affairs Officer Dennis Feltgen, although its worst weather had affected the area much earlier.
The storm was forecast to douse parts of Florida and North Carolina with 1-3 inches of rain during the day today. Other water-logged spots in north Florida, coastal Georgia and eastern South Carolina are expected to begin to dry out.
The hurricane center said that localized flooding and rough surf will also continue along the Atlantic coast from Florida to North Carolina.
The hurricane center said Colin had an elongated and hard-to-define center, which is why it is no longer considered a tropical storm.
Colin's center crossed north Florida overnight, but its biggest consequence was a lot of heavy rain:
Locally the main impact from Tropical Storm Colin was heavy rain. Here are some of the highest totals in the area. pic.twitter.com/0TgzwutxmN NWS Tallahassee (@NWSTallahassee) June 7, 2016
Some of its effects will linger today along Alabama's coastline.
The National Weather Service in Mobile said that a high risk of rip currents will persist through tonight. A high surf advisory will be in effect until 7 p.m.
How a women-only cultural festival in Peshawar offers a glimpse into a little-seen world free from the gaze of men.
Peshawar, Pakistan I had refused to believe that a cultural festival would be headline news. But Shafaq was insistent that we go.
What about the story of children being given drugs in the refugee camp? I asked again, hoping to join her on a report with more action. She shook her head: No.
I had been in Peshawar for just 24 hours and was shadowing Shafaq, a local radio reporter with the Tribal News Network. In my mind, a cultural festival was about as exciting as reporting on a school fete. But I was aware that I was cramping her style. My entourage included two armed guards with AK-47s, so we were hardly inconspicuous.
Shafaqs job is difficult enough. In traditional Pashtun society, women are generally not allowed to leave the home, let alone be reporters.
Shafaq has to seek permission from her parents each time she wants to cover a story. Even if her father agrees to it, her brother or uncles might try to stop her, and the neighbours always gossip that she works in an office with men and gets home too late at night.
Her colleague, Khalida, the most popular voice of the Tribal News Network, went on a hunger strike just to convince her father to allow her to study journalism.
I decide not to push the point. So we go along to the heavily fortified gate of the cultural festival at the Peshawar Planetarium, a disused, dome-shaped building in the suburb of Hyatabad. Beyond the police blockades and metal detectors, I spot a few lacklustre food stalls and a woman emitting a high-pitched shrieks into a microphone. Its raining. Men are not allowed inside. That includes my cameraman. Theres no point, I tell her. We cant even film it.
You take the camera, Shafaq insists. Come with me. The cameraman looks unimpressed. Ill be back in 10 minutes, I assure him.
Free from the gaze of men
Inside the concrete dome, women examine the brightly coloured fabrics and local jewellery that is for sale. Shafaq interviews a widow displaying her handicrafts, then barters for some earrings. Is this why she dragged me here, I wonder, to shop?
I wait patiently as Shafaq interviews the festival organiser. This is the first time in many years that theyve been able to hold a festival. Peshawar has experienced attacks by armed groups that operate in the border region with Afghanistan. While military operations were recently held to clear the area of these groups, some threats remain. The womens festival has received several, including one from a local policeman who objected to a women-only gathering.
The rain has stopped, and excitement begins to build around a marquee that has been set up outside. A line of small girls are dancing on stage, Bollywood-style. Shafaq pulls out a selfie stick and starts snapping pictures of us. You can take your headscarf off, she tells me. No men.
Other women have started to do the same, and soon the marquee is filled with hundreds of women. Please dont film us, they request, pointing at their uncovered heads.
If someone sees them on TV, they may be accused of besmirching family honour. They look to be having so much fun that I agree to put the camera down and join in.
I watch a fashion show and speeches by local women leaders who award prizes to girls elaborately dressed in traditional clothes. A band will soon begin playing and Shafaq promises to show me a local dance. But the sun is setting and my team is anxious to get me back to the hotel. I cant stay.
Outside the gates, I bubble with enthusiasm. That was so amazing, I tell the cameraman. If only I could have filmed it. The women were dancing Suddenly, our security guards rush to take up position on either side of me.
Aela, get in the car. You shouldnt stand out here in the open, says our local producer. I was attracting a crowd.
My dupatta (headscarf) was around my shoulders, and men had started pushing towards us to check out the foreigner.
I tried to catch one last look back over the fence, where just minutes before I had forgotten I was in Peshawar; where I had laughed and felt free. But I was swiftly bundled into a four-wheel drive and driven away.
I finally understood why Shafaq had brought me to the festival so that I could see this secret world of women, free from the gaze of men. It was a place where being a woman didnt mean always having to consider family honour. I didnt film a single frame of it, but it was by far the best image she could have given me.
Sculptures were taken 200 years ago from the Acropolis in Athens by an Englishman and then sold to a museum.
Two hundred years ago today, Britains House of Commons purchased a collection of marble sculptures that were removed from the Acropolis in Athens. The man who took them was the seventh Earl of Elgin, then British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
The British people paid Lord Elgin 35,000 for the collection a handsome sum at the time, but only about one-quarter of what Elgin said it cost him to remove and ship them over 15 years.
The decision was controversial at the time and remains so today. To remove slabs of the Parthenon frieze, Elgins workers had to destroy a row of marble cornice above them. The sculpted slabs themselves are half a metre deep. To lighten the load in shipping, Elgin had the backs of them sawn off.
Even before the parliamentary debate took place, negative publicity surrounded the removal. In the Curse of Minerva, first published in 1811, Lord Byron, a fellow Scot, predicted the demise of the British Empire on account of the raptorial instincts that led Elgin to the removal of the Marbles:
So let him stand, thro ages yet unborn,
Fixed statue on the pedestal of scorn!
Though not for him alone revenge shall wait,
But fits thy country for her coming fate:
Hers were the deeds that taught her lawless son
To do, what oft Britannias self had done.
The House of Commons formed a committee to investigate how Elgin obtained the marbles, and it is on the basis of that committees report that Parliament decided to purchase them from him. But the committee had no independent documentary evidence. It only had Elgins word to go on.
Did the permission specifically refer to the removing of statues, or was that left to discretion? the committee asks.
Elgin replies evasively: No, it was executed by the means of those general permissions granted; in point of fact, permission issuing from the Porte for any of the distant provinces, is little more than an authority to make the best bargain you can with the local authorities.
As British ambassador in Constantinople, Elgin apparently used his influence to study the Parthenon then stretched that permission.
What Elgin had, in fact, obtained, and pointedly failed to preserve a record of for the parliamentary committee, was a letter, rather than an official decree, or firman.
What this letter included was that the Ottomans in Athens should be helpful to Elgins team and allow them to draw and take casts and maybe from the debris all around the Parthenon few sculptures or pieces of marble with inscriptions could be removed some, says Eleni Korka, director general of antiquities at the Greek culture ministry. But there is a sentence in the middle of the text saying that in no possible way could there be harm to the monument.
The Greek campaign to reunite the marbles started in the 1980s. Greeks feel that Elgin removed the marbles both violently and illegally. But ownership is not the issue, they say.
I think that these sculptures, which form part of an international cultural heritage, these belong to themselves, they belong to the Parthenon, and the Parthenon is here, says Dimitris Pantermalis, president of the board of the New Parthenon Museum in Athens, where originals are displayed alongside plaster casts of marbles now removed to London. If you ask people what they prefer, to have these marbles together or divided, it is very difficult to justify wanting them divided.
New details emerged on Tuesday about the suspect accused in the deadly shooting of Jordanian intelligence agents near the Palestinian refugee camp al-Baqaa outside Jordans capital, Amman.
The suspect identified by local media as Mahmoud Masharfeh was arrested after a shooting on Monday night inside a mosque in el-Sleihi town in Ain el-Basha district. Thats 5km from the intelligence department offices where he allegedly committed the killings earlier in the day.
Arrest report
Masharfeh was captured by a Jordanian police captain, Faisal Fozan al-Odwan, who is from el-Sleihi. Al Jazeera obtained a copy of his hand-written police report, in which he described the events that led to the arrest:
Jordan takes more refugees with Aleppo onslaught
Around 9pm on Monday, I went to the local mosque along with my father, brothers and cousins for evening prayers. I noticed that worshippers were gathered around a man, asking him where he was from.
As a police officer, I went in and questioned him and he told me that he was from the Ain el-Basha area.
We proceeded to pray when the imam called for the prayer. After we finished the main prayer, the man proceeded to pray the Sunna when I noticed something protruding from his waist.
Suspecting it was a weapon, I immediately arrested him and demanded to search him. But he resisted arrest and refused to be searched. However, I managed to pull out a dagger that was hidden behind his back.
During the scuffle he fell to the ground and pulled a gun from his pants and fired at the worshippers as he was lying on the ground. Two bullets hit police corporal Ahmad al-Odwan, my cousin.
I managed to take the gun from his hand and tied him up until the anti-terrorism units arrived and arrested him. I seized a 7mm pistol, 20 live rounds and two spent shells.
The wounded policeman Odwan was brought to a hospital in critical condition, the police captain said.
No official statement about the arrest was released by publication time.
Wanted for attempts to join ISIL
Masharfeh is from the Baqaa camp but little is known about his motive. He was born in 1994.
Masharfeh spent two-and-half years in a Jordanian jail for attempting to enter Gaza to join the jihad against Hamas by joining a local Jihadist group in 2012, a source who spent time with him in prison told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity to protect his safety.
The source said that ever since he got out of jail in 2014, Masharfeh has been trying to join Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) in Syria, but he initially couldnt.
It is not known whether Masharfeh was able to join ISIL in Syria or has received any combat training there.
He has been wanted for questioning by Jordanian intelligence ever since.
Arrest made in killing of Jordan intelligence agents
Masharfeh is reportedly a nephew of Mustafa Yaghi, a well-known local politician and member of parliament. Yaghi denounced the incident in a statement published on his Facebook page on Monday calling it a terrorist act.
On behalf of myself and the people of al-Baqaa refugee camp and the district of Ain el-Basha, I condemn this heinous crime against the agents of the intelligence department, his statement said.
Even if the perpetrator who was arrested last night and mentioned on social media as being my nephew, it will not change our position of being against all forms of terrorism.
Member of Parliament Mohamad Hejuj told Al Jazeera: Extremism is a cancer that could be found not only in Baqaa, but also in many other places. We all have a mission to stop it and keep our countries safe.
Follow Ali Younes on Twitter: @ali_reports
The dream of building the United States of Europe will become an obsolete memory of the past.
The past weeks have demonstrated how many European voters are moving towards the far-right of the political spectrum and that the continent is in the middle of a nationalistic wave.
A hardline extreme right party entered the parliament of Cyprus while, most astonishingly, Norbert Hofer, the presidential candidate of Austrias Freedom Party, although narrowly defeated, gained an incredible 49.7 percent of the votes.
This immediately prompted Frances National Front an allied party in the Europe of Nations and Freedom group in the European Union parliament to release an enthusiastic statement.
The electoral performance was, in their view, promising for the successes all the patriotic movements, suggesting that the return of national sovereignty is now a matter of time.
Borrowing the far-right discourse
Worryingly enough, the focus of these parties especially on the issues of the EU, borders, immigrants, and refugees are, with various degrees and frequency, being borrowed by mainstream and moderate political forces.
This is, not surprisingly, leading to a sort of legitimisation of these modern-day, right-wing nationalists.
Austrias politics is a clear example. The government had implemented a strict stance on refugees and yet none of the candidates of main parties reached the second ballot, forcing the prime minister to resign.
As the Freedom Party is leading the polls for the 2018 legislative elections, the new centre-left chancellor, Christian Kern, did not fully ruled out cooperating with the far-right in the future.
Resentments among regional power might rise again, while privileges will be based on ethnic origins - and their alleged purity. by
Some years ago, when anti-fascism was still a feature in European politics, governing with the heir of fascism would have been almost unimaginable.
Does all this mean that Europes right of the mainstream right has become an acceptable political actor cutting all its ties with a shady past?
This is causing significant confusion in some media reports and among politicians, as some are willing to forge alliances with rising far-right forces.
But are the now-defeated presidential hopeful, Norbert Hofer, and his Freedom Party actually far-right?, a BBC News editorial asks.
In another, it is suggested how dissatisfaction, cynicism and outright rejection of traditional political parties [as well as business and banking elites] This, and not far-right fervour, is arguably driving voters to stage ballot-box protests or to seek alternative political homes to the delight of Europes populist parties.
Many faces of fascism
Unfortunately, the fact that mainstream parties employ an almost xenophobic language and gain votes through it does not necessarily mean a democratic and liberal normalisation of the far-right ideology.
The same Italian and German interwar fascisms had their relevant electoral moments, while anti-Semitism was not a taboo in a number of European countries at the time. We are all aware of what that led to.
Around a decade ago, Columbia University historian Robert Paxton rightly pointed out how a fascism of the future an emergency response to some still unimagined crisis need not resemble classical fascism perfectly in its outward signs and symbols the enemy would not necessarily be Jews.
An authentically popular fascism in America would be pious, anti-black, and, since September 11, 2001, anti-Islamic as well; in Western Europe it would be secular and, these days, more likely anti-Islamic than anti-Semitic; and in Russia and Eastern Europe it would be religious, anti-Semitic, Slavophile, and anti- Western. New fascisms would probably prefer the mainstream patriotic dress of their own place and time. Does any of this sound familiar across the Atlantic?
OPINION: Right-wing nationalism and scapegoating migrants
Moreover, the use of labels such as populist right are not really helping. Populism is not an ideology. The widespread use of the term by the majority of commentators distracts from the true nature of far-right parties.
Are we then really sure that these movements moderated their agenda? In fact, they promote a narrow concept of community, that excludes all the different and foreigners.
There is also a sense of decline and threat that was widely exploited by interwar fascism, and by these extreme-right parties, which after 1945 resisted immigration on the grounds of defending the so-called European civilisation.
The future of Europe?
The future of European societies could, however, follow these specific lines: Our European cultures, our values and our freedom are under attack. They are threatened by the crushing and dictatorial powers of the European Union. They are threatened by mass immigration, by open borders and by a single European currency, as Marcel de Graaff, co-president of the Europe of Nations and Freedom group in the European Parliament, declared.
Another fellow party, the Belgian Vlaams Belang, calls for an opposition to multiculturalism. It defends the interests of the Dutch-speaking people wherever this is necessary, and would dissolve Belgium and establish an independent Flemish state. This state will include Brussels, the current capital of the EU institutions.
OPINION: It is time to protect democracy and tolerance in Europe
The Austrian Freedom Party, on a similar line, supports the interests of all German native speakers from the territories of the former Habsburg monarchy and the right of self-determination of the German-speaking Italian bordering region of South Tyrol.
On the other hand, Marine Le Pen, president of the French National Front, promotes a principle of national priority for French citizens in many areas, from welfare to jobs in the public sector.
She also wants to renegotiate the European treaties and establish a pan-European Union including Russia.
At the end of these inward-looking changes, there will be no free movement of Europeans across Europe, and this will be replaced with a reconsolidation of the sovereignty of nation states.
Resentments among regional powers might rise again, while privileges will be based on ethnic origins and their alleged purity.
In sum, this is how Europe will probably look if one follows the moderate far-right policies.
The dream of building the United States of Europe will become an obsolete memory of the past.
And the old continent will be surely less similar to the post-national one which guaranteed peace and relative prosperity after the disaster of World War II.
Andrea Mammone is a historian of modern Europe at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is the author of Transnational Neofascism in France and Italy. He is currently writing a book on the recent nationalist turn in Europe.
The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Suspect held for attack on security office near al-Baqaa refugee camp in which five intelligence officers were killed.
A suspect has been arrested in the killing of five Jordanian intelligence agents at a security office outside a Palestinian refugee camp close to Amman, a government official told national media.
Government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani on Monday said the assault on the office near the al-Baqaa refugee camp on the outskirts of the Jordanian capital was a terrorist attack.
Jordanian media named the suspect as Mahmoud Masharfeh, who reportedly has been arrested and interrogated in the past at the same office where he allegedly committed the shooting.
He was arrested on Monday in al-Sleihi on the outskirts of the town of Ain el-Basha, not far from scene of the crime.
Before his arrest Masharqah was said to have drawn attention to himself when he entered the al-Anwar mosque and acted erratically. He eventually got into a fight with worshippers, who apprehended him. Pictures showed the man was bleeding and badly beaten.
ALSO READ: Jordan changes constitution to give King more power
As well as the three officers, a guard and a telephone exchange operator at the office were killed in the attack.
Baqaa camp is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan, where a large percentage of the countrys seven million-plus population are descendants of refugees who fled in the aftermath of the creation of Israel in 1948.
Husam Abdallat, a former senior government official, told Al Jazeera that the intelligence office is located on the main street leading up to the camp.
He added that its proximity to the Palestinian refugee camp might trigger discontent between Jordanians and Jordanians of Palestinian origin.
We hope this is not the case, because Jordanians must stay united, especially in times like this, Abdallat said.
Fight against ISIL
Earlier this year a large security operation was mounted in the northern city of Irbid in which several Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) sympathisers were killed.
Jordan has been carrying out air strikes against ISIL in both Iraq and Syria.
One of its pilots was captured by fighters when his plane went down in Syria in December 2014. ISIL later released gruesome footage of him being burned alive.
Jordan has also opened up the Prince Hassan airbase, northeast of the capital, to other members of the United States-led coalition taking part in the war against ISIL.
In March, Jordanian authorities announced that they had foiled an ISIL plot to carry out attacks in the kingdom in an operation that led to the deaths of seven fighters.
At least 32 killed and thousands flee in the wake of attack in Bosso town on Nigeria-Niger border.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has expressed concern for some 50,000 people, who have been forced to flee a town in Niger after a devastating attack from armed group Boko Haram.
Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that tens of thousands of people were forced to flee the town of Bosso, in southeastern Niger, after the armed group attacked a military outpost based over the weekend.
Edwards said that many of those fleeing the town were headed towards Toumour, some 30km west of Bosso, living in the open and in precarious conditions.
This is a desperately poor area where the general insecurity has destroyed the socioeconomic fabric. The self-reliance capacity of the displaced and their hosts is extremely limited.
Many people are reportedly traumatised and worried about their safety. People are sleeping in the open and urgently need shelter and other assistance, Edwards said.
Authorities said that at least 30 Nigerian civilians and two Nigerian soldiers were killed during that attack on Friday.
Quoting the mayor of Bosso and a Nigerian military source, Reuters reported on Monday that Boko Haram retook the town on Sunday night following clashes with soldiers from Niger and Nigeria. It was unclear on Tuesday who was in charge of the city.
Martin Ewi, a researcher on counterterrorism at the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria, South Africa, said that Boko Harams move to capture Bosso suggested that the group was searching for a new safe haven.
Ewi told Al Jazeera that the group was desperately searching for a city from which they could launch their attacks. He described Niger as the new frontline of the war.
Being in the forest is good for hiding, but having a safe haven in southern Niger is what they need for sustainability, Ewi said.
The UNHCR said in May that the security and humanitarian situation was worsening in the Diffa Region in Niger as the rebellion spread from Nigeria to Niger.
Nigeria is really cracking down hard on their operations. And Niger has until now been able to detect Boko Harams plans, so I am curious to know how they managed to get into Bosso this time, Ewi said.
We are greatly concerned for welfare of people forced to flee #BokoHaram violence in Niger https://t.co/yDJBJfLqvq pic.twitter.com/czyplBhNvM UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) June 7, 2016
Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Benin, have all contributed troops to a 9,000-strong regional task-force dedicated to fighting the group.
According to the UN, more than 20,000 people have been killed, and more than 2,000 women and girls have been abducted since the conflict began in 2009.
At least 2.5 million people have fled their homes, of whom 2.2 million are internally displaced. A further 177,000 are seeking refuge in the neighbouring countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Supreme Court asked to authorise arrests of the Senate president and other politicians for obstructing corruption probe.
Brazils political crisis heated up as authorities reportedly sought the arrests of senior figures in the push to impeach suspended president Dilma Rousseff, accusing them of obstructing a corruption probe.
If reports in the main Brazilian newspapers on Tuesday are confirmed, new doubts would be cast over the impeachment of Rousseff, pushing Latin Americas biggest economy into ever greater uncertainty with less than two months to go before Rio de Janeiro hosts the Summer Olympics.
Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot has asked the Supreme Court to authorise the arrests of Senate President Renan Calheiros, former Brazilian President Jose Sarney, Senator Romero Juca and powerful politician Eduardo Cunha, O Globo newspaper reported.
Cunha, who is the suspended speaker of Brazils lower house of Congress, said prosecutors request for his arrest on charges of obstructing a sweeping corruption investigation at state firms was absurd.
The report, which did not name its sources, was matched by two other newspapers shortly thereafter.
However, officials at the prosecutors office and Supreme Court refused to confirm the reports to AFP news agency.
READ MORE: Brazil suspends lower house speaker
The four are accused of participating in a huge embezzlement and bribery network centred around the state oil company Petrobras.
Al Jazeeras Adam Raney, reporting from Rio de Janeiro, said if the court does grant the arrests, it would be a huge deal for Brazil.
It is worth noting that Brazils general prosecutor refused to comment on whether these reports are true that he asked for the Supreme Court of Justice to issue those arrests for these four men.
If granted by the Supreme Court, this would be a huge deal for Brazil because these four are among the most powerful politicians, Raney said.
WATCH: Dilma Rousseff No legal grounds for this impeachment
According to the reports, Janot now accuses them of trying to obstruct the probe into the scheme, known as Operation Car Wash.
The alleged evidence against them came from secret recordings of conversations made by a former oil executive, Sergio Machado, who is cooperating with Car Wash prosecutors as part of a plea bargain.
Calheiros denied any wrongdoing, calling the request for his arrest irrational, disproportionate and abusive.
I did not practise any specific act that can be interpreted as a supposed attempt to obstruct justice, he said in a statement.
All four in the prosecutor generals crosshairs are from Temers PMDB party, which has been crucial to pushing impeachment through Congress.
Supreme Court decisions on such sensitive cases often take a long time.
But if confirmed, the scandal would be a huge blow against interim president Michel Temer, who took the reins after the suspension of Rousseff last month for her impeachment trial.
Speaking to Al Jazeera on the Talk to Al Jazeera Show, Rousseff said there were no legal grounds for her impeachment trial.
Because they are unable to find any corruption charges against me, they are trying to have me convicted of violating fiscal obligations.
When you believe justice is on your side, that gives you strength to withstand all odds, she said.
The UN human rights chief has said there are extremely distressing, credible reports that Iraqis fleeing the fighting in Fallujah are facing extreme abuse and even death at the hands of Shia armed groups allied with the government troops.
Zeid Raad al Hussein, citing witness testimonies, said on Tuesday that allegations of abuse included reports of multiple executions of men and boys, who were trying to escape the city held by fighters belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.
Eyewitnesses have described how armed groups operating in support of the Iraqi security forces are detaining the males for security screening, Zeid said.
[This] in some cases degenerates into physical violations and other forms of abuse, apparently in order to elicit forced confessions.
Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told Al Jazeera, that they have received reports that at least 21 males had been summarily executed.
We cant confirm the reports but they seem to be credible.
The Iraqi army is currently conducting a major military operation against fighters belonging to ISIL, also known as ISIS, outside Fallujah, close to the capital to Baghdad.
READ MORE: Will Fallujah put an end to ISIL in Iraq?
The UN human rights chief said that people escaping the town had suffered two and a half years of living hell under ISIL rule and faced not just enormous danger in escaping but also double jeopardy in the form of serious human rights violations.
Iraqi authorities have a legitimate interest in vetting anyone fleeing ISIL-held areas to be sure they were not a security risk or suspected of involvement in atrocities, but the process had to be carried out by legal organs, the UN rights chief said.
It is paramount that all individuals fleeing the violence around Fallujah must be assumed to be civilians without links to armed groups, unless there is clear and cogent evidence to the contrary, he said.
Zeid called on Iraqs government to immediately take concrete steps to ensure that it was putting into practice its pledges to protect civilians and bring people to justice for violating human rights.
Since January 2014, when Fallujah was captured by ISIL, at least 22,169 civilians have been killed and 43,435 wounded in Iraq, according to the Zeids office. These figures do not include Anbar Province, where Fallujah is located.
In a seperate development, a car bomb in Iraqi city of Karbala killed at least 10 civilians and wounded 26 others on Tuesday, officials said.
The bomb went off in a commercial area in the city, which is some 90km south of Baghdad.
ISIL has claimed responsibility for the attack.
In a speech to parliament, the Syrian president says his forces will recapture territory lost to rebels.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to liberate every inch of the country lost to rebel groups the same way his forces recaptured the historic town of Palmyra from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS).
In a televised speech on Tuesday before the countrys new parliament, Assad told politicians that the situation on the ground was much better than it was months ago and was improving by the day.
As we liberated [Palmyra] and before it many areas, we will liberate every inch of Syria from their hands. Our only option is victory, otherwise Syria will not continue.
In the speech, Assad also hardened his position on UN-sponsored peace talks, stressing that Syria would be ruled by a unity government not a transitional governing body as called for by the opposition.
We will not agree to any topic outside the statement of principles we presented to the UN. We just wont accept it, Assad defiantly told parliament.
Assads comments were a far cry from remarks he made last July when he conceded that his army was facing a series of setbacks on the battfield and was being forced to relinquish certain areas.
Palmyra is a major turning point in Syrias Civil War
However, the scales of war have tipped in Assads favour since Russia began an aerial campaign last September, helping the government troops to capture wide areas from rebel groups.
The Syrian army is currently advancing on Raqqa, ISILs de facto capital, and in March, Syrian forces evicted ISIL from Palmyra.
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 Shia militias on its stronghold of Fallujah.
Syrias war has proved the longest and bloodiest of the conflicts that arose out of popular uprisings in Arab countries over the past two years and led to the downfall of autocratic regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.
The conflict started in March 2011 as a largely unarmed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, but it quickly evolved into a full-on civil war between government forces and rebel groups.
United Nations Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura recently estimated that 400,000 people had been killed throughout the five years of violence
As the Iraqi army, backed by a coalition of militias and forces, makes slow advances toward Fallujah, one of the most circulating theories suggests that if the Islamic State group (Daesh) (ISIL, also known as ISIS) loses Fallujah to the army, then it is finished off in Iraq.
Al Jazeera talks to Iraqi scholar, Zaid al-Ali, author of the book (The Struggle for Iraqs Future), on why the battle for Fallujah matters in the larger context of the war on Daesh in Iraq, the human rights abuses committed by the militias accompanying the Iraq army and best approach to end Daeshs rule of terror in the country.
Al Jazeera: To what extent would you agree with the theory that if Daesh loses Fallujah to the Iraqi army, then it is finished in Iraq?
The only long-term solution to Iraqs ISIL and to the presence of groups like ISIL is to upend the political system by making its politicians more accountable, and that can only be achieved through major electoral reform.
Zaid al-Ali: Fallujah is certainly a major centre for ISIL. It has been holding territory there for more than two years now, far longer than any other part of the country, which means that it has had far longer to entrench itself in that city than anywhere else.
ISIL has also invested a significant amount of its own fighters in the citys defence. Finally, Fallujah is the symbolic centre of resistance to the post-2003 order and to the US occupation that brought it into existence.
ISIL will eventually lose control over Fallujah, probably some time over the next few weeks, and that will certainly represent yet another major blow to the organisations prestige.
It seems fairly obvious that while ISIL will continue to hold territory in Iraq in the short term, in the medium term it will almost certainly be pushed out of Iraqi territory. ISILs resources are under a significant amount of strain, and it is being pressured by a large number of actors in different places.The maths are simply not in its favour and so it is just a matter of time until it loses control over Fallujah, Mosul and all Iraqi territory.
Its also worth noting, however, that the long-term picture, however, remains fairly bleak for Iraq. A long-term solution to ISIL requires much, much more than recapturing territory. If the Iraqi state wants to prevent ISIL (or a different version of the organisation) from regaining a foothold in the country after it has been pushed out pursuant to the current effort, then it will have to implement a real and comprehensive counterinsurgency effort.
That will require major reform to the security sector, to the justice sector (including the courts), to prison facilities, etc. All of these things are needed not just to reassure local populations that the state will now be treating them more equitably, but also to ensure that criminals will be punished while the innocent will be protected, which has not been the case thus far.
Under current circumstances, however, there is no way that any of these things will take place. Iraqs political system is simply too decrepit and too dysfunctional for major reform to be carried out. Sectarianism, corruption and incompetence among the political class are too entrenched.
The vast majority of Iraqs politicians simply do not care about real reform; and even if they did, they wouldnt have the faintest idea of how to approach the problem because theyre so incompetent. The only long-term solution to Iraqs ISIL and to the presence of groups like ISIL is to upend the political system by making its politicians more accountable, and that can only be achieved through major electoral reform.
Al Jazeera: Is there some exaggeration to suggest that Fallujah is at the heart of Daeshs recruit network?
Al-Ali: It would be wrong to suggest that ISIL only has one source of recruits or that Fallujah is a major source of ISIL recruits. ISIL fighters come from a large number of places, and Fallujah is just one of them.
It is certainly true that there are far more people in Fallujah that are willing to fight against the ruling authorities in Baghdad than other areas. To take Tikrit as an obvious counterexample: Tikrit is not particularly tribal or religious, it is a middle-class town, it is a provincial capital, it is the seat of a large university and hospital, many of its inhabitants are employed by the state, and until 2014 it had been relatively peaceful. Thus, when ISIL took over the town, the organisation was not particularly surprised to see Tikritis flee to Erbil and Baghdad.
Almost no one stayed and almost no one fled to other areas under ISILs control. Since its liberation, 95 percent of the citys inhabitants have returned and it has been relatively peaceful.
Fallujah is practically Tikrits polar opposite. It is tribal, religious, its social structure was deeply affected by the US-led war in 2003, and it has been a major source of instability since then. The result is that there are far more people in Fallujah who are willing to bear arms against [central government] in Baghdad than in places like Tikrit.
The proportion, nonetheless, is still very low in comparison to the citys entire population, but it is high enough to make the battle for Fallujah a very difficult one for the Iraq army, and to ensure that post-liberation it will continue to be a very difficult place to govern in comparison with Tikrit.
Al Jazeera: Recent reports claimed that Fallujah civilians have been subject to torture at the hands of militia accompanying the Iraqi army. What do we know about such incidents? Do you think this is a reflection of a sectarian-oriented policy adopted mainly by militias such as al-Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation Forces)?
Al-Ali: Torture is extremely common in Iraq. Almost everyone who is accused of terrorist activities or of criminal activity is tortured as a matter of course.
Basic constitutional rights, including the right to be brought before a judge, to be charged with a crime within a specific period of time, to remain free of physical and psychological torture, are all simply ignored by the police, by the army, by public prosecutors and by judges.
So if the states official institutions dont respect these rules, what chance do irregular armed units whose legal status remains uncertain to this day have of respecting them?
Having said all that, I do not think that this is a reflection of sectarianism, given that Shia detainees who are arrested in other parts of the country are typically subjected to the same type of treatment by the security services.
This is more a reflection of a significant amount of laziness and stupidity by policymakers, and the consequence of Iraqs culture of impunity and lack of accountability. Stupidly, officials who are responsible for determining Iraqs security policy assume that torture will cause for criminals to confess, not giving any thought to the possibility that they may be torturing the wrong person who will confess to anything under a sufficient amount of duress.
This clearly needs to change as a matter of extreme urgency. This particular issue doesnt require any major reform, given that there are constitutional and legal rules that prohibit torture in all cases. All that would need to happen in this case is for the law to be applied in as public a way as possible, particularly to ensure that all security officials understand that torture will not be tolerated.
Al Jazeera: How would you view statements by the commander of the popular mobilisation forces, Hadi al-Amari, that his militia will not enter Fallujah unless all civilians have been evacuated from it?
Al-Ali: Its still unclear that al-Hashd al-Shaabi militia will be entering the city in any major way in any event. They are not playing a major role in the operation so far, and are unlikely to play an important role after the citys liberation either.
Fallujah will be a delicate and difficult environment for a long time, and Iraqi officials understand that. The same can be said of Tikrit, where al-Hashd did not play a particularly important role. The actions that they did take (including significant looting) were widely reported in the press, but in the end they did not carry out large-scale massacres as many people assumed would happen.
Regardless, there isnt a major distinction insofar as I can tell between the Hashd and the regular armed forces they are both susceptible to engage in criminal behaviour.
Al Jazeera: How would you rank the battle over Fallujah in the larger context of the war on Daesh?
Al-Ali: By all accounts, the battle for Fallujah is another important milestone, but it is part of an ongoing trend of ISIL being pushed out of Iraqi territory. I expect it to be over within a few weeks, but major challenges are expected over the next few years. I am generally optimistic about the short term military campaign, but very pessimistic about the long term prospects for democracy, the rule of law and justice in Iraq.
Rights body raises alarm over attacks against people with albinism, but government dubs Amnesty report as unfair.
The Malawian government has failed to protect people with albinism, leaving this group to the mercy of criminal gangs who hunt for their body parts, Amnesty International has said.
In a new report released on Tuesday, the rights body said the attacks on people with albinism over the past two years were unprecedented and that a lack of action on the part of authorities has created a climate of terror for those living with the condition.
According to the Malawi Police Services, at least 69 people with albinism have been attacked in Malawi since 2014. Amnesty said that at least 18 people have been killed, five others abducted since November 2014. At least four were killed in April 2016 alone.
Body parts belonging to people with albinism have become sought after in areas of southern and eastern Africa. Some believe they contain magical powers, leading to reports of them being sold on the black market.
While attacks have routinely taken place in Tanzania and Kenya and Burundi, albino hunters appeared to have moved on Malawi over the past 18 months in particular.
The report released by Amnesty, entitled We are not animals to be hunted or sold described the severity of the attacks, including mutilation and dismembering.
The report alleges that police lacked the adequate training and skills to investigate such crimes. It further raised concerns over the police officers ability to take human rights abuses endured by people with albinism seriously.
Some police officers carry the same prejudices against people with albinism that exists within the wider Malawian society, the report said.
Its a claim Patricia Kaliati, Malawis minister of information, vehemently denies. Kaliati said that her government was doing everything possible to protect this community.
For Amnesty to suggest we are doing nothing is not helpful and not fair, she told Al Jazeera.
Bonface Massah, the head of the Association of People with Albinism in Malawi, welcomed the report, calling it a very positive development for those with albinism.
It has highlighted the attacks and also has shed light on the deep-rooted social issues facing those with albinism in the country and gives us an opportunity to address it.
Living conditions have become so difficult for those with albinism in Malawi, that in April, United Nations expert Ikponwosa Ero, said if nothing was done, they risked systematic extinction.
There are an estimated 7,000-10,000 people living with albinism in Malawi out of a population of 16.5 million.
The situation is a potent mix of poverty, witchcraft beliefs and market forces which push people to do things for profit, Ero told Al Jazeera.
According to a report released by the Red Cross, witch doctors in neighbouring Tanzania were willing to pay as much as $75,000 for a complete set of albino body parts including all four limbs, genitals, ears, tongue and nose.
Simeon Mawanza, Amnestys researcher for southern Africa, who worked on the report, said that tracking down the buyers was still the most obscure piece of the puzzle. The source, we are still searching for the source of these attacks, he told Al Jazeera.
The report also found that people with albinism suffered widespread societal discrimination including verbal abuse and exclusion from accessing basic public services.
Experts say that people with albinism also endured discrimination at schools and hospitals.
Follow Azad Essa on Twitter: @azadessa
Arab-led coalition fighting in Yemen is taken off list of violators, pending joint review by the coalition and the UN.
The United Nations said on Tuesday that it had removed the Arab-led coalition fighting in Yemen from a child rights blacklist, pending a joint review by the world body and the coalition.
The UN report on children and armed conflict released last Thursday said the coalition was responsible for 60 percent of child deaths and injuries in Yemen last year, killing 510 and wounding 667, and half the attacks on schools and hospitals.
Following a complaint by Saudi Arabia, however, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon agreed to a joint review by the world body and the coalition of the cases cited in the annual report of states and armed groups that violate childrens rights in war.
Pending the conclusions of the joint review, the secretary-general removes the listing of the coalition in the reports annex, Bans spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
But Saudi Arabias UN ambassador, Abdallah al-Mouallimi, said the removal of the coalition from the blacklist was irreversible and unconditional.
IN PICTURES: Life on hold in war-shattered Sanaa
We were wrongly placed on the list, he told reporters. We know that this removal is final.
Mouallimi, who described the removal as a vindication, earlier on Monday said the figures in the UN report were wildly exaggerated and that the most up-to-date equipment in precision targeting is used.
Mouallimi met the UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson at UN headquarters to discuss the listing.
Saudi Arabia had not been consulted prior to the publication of this years report, Mouallimi added.
Ahmed al-Asiri, spokesman of the Arab-led coalition, said in a statement sent to Reuters news agency late on Sunday that the UN had not based enough of its report on information supplied by the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.
WATCH: Has the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen achieved its goal?
The Arab-led coalition began a military campaign in Yemen in March last year with the aim of preventing Iran-allied Houthi rebels and forces loyal to Yemens ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh from taking power.
Some 6,000 people, about half of them civilians, have been killed in Yemen since last March, according to the UN.
The Houthis, Yemen government forces and pro-government groups have been on the UN blacklist for at least five years and are considered persistent perpetrators. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula also reappeared on the list.
Amman When Jordanian journalist Osama Ramini was detained last October, it was hard to believe that a less than ordinary article, analysing why all students of one public school failed to pass the national exam, was the reason.
But thanks to a loophole in the amended Jordanian cyber crime law which came into effect in June 2015, Ramini, an editor-in-chief of a licensed local news website and a member of Jordanian Press Association, was detained.
In April 2015, the law was amended without much fanfare in the country. Not only did its controversial article (11) give the green light to detain citizens based on their online activities, but it also treated ordinary online users and journalists who published online on an equal footing.
READ MORE: More freedom of expression for the Middle East
Journalists are not infallible prophets, but this penalty has been long abolished in democratic countries for crimes related to freedom of expression. by Nidal Mansour, Director of CDFJ
I admit that I receive many letters from readers and articles that I am sure are correct, but I only publish one quarter of what we receive, fearing the possible consequences, Ramini, whose journalism experience spans two decades, told al Jazeera.
He was, however, not the only nor the first journalist to be detained in relation to their work. While describing a dysfunctional public school caused his detention, questioning the rejection of Italian gas cylinders had led in August 2015 to the detention of his colleague Atef Joulani, editor-in-chief of Assabeel daily newspaper.
Journalists who were detained had one thing in common: They all left traces of their opinions on an electronic platform. Since June 2015, more than six journalists and one activist have been detained, propelling groups that defend press freedoms to criticise the Jordanian government.
Last November, the International Press Institute called on the Jordanian government to reform article 11 of the Cyber Crimes Law in order to restore the Press and Publications Laws bar on imprisonment and ensure that it extends to journalists operating online.
However, journalist and researcher Sawsan Zaidah points out that print journalists are not necessarily immune. Speaking to al Jazeera, Zaidah said that the law can apply to any journalist whose work is published online. Is there a Jordanian newspaper that runs without a website today? In practical terms, this means detention can apply to everyone equally!
READ MORE: Jordans anti-terror law cracks down on journalists
While the Amman-based Center for Defending Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ) is primarily concerned with press freedoms, it has recently launched a campaign to repeal article 11 of the cyber crime law and defend the freedom of both journalists and ordinary online users.
Titled Talking is not a Crime, the campaign opposes penalties usurping freedom, according to the organisers. Director of CDFJ Nidal Mansour told al Jazeera that we are not against accountability, we are simply against detention Journalists are not infallible prophets, but this penalty has been long abolished in democratic countries for crimes related to freedom of expression.
While Jordans ranking in the Reporters without Borders report in 2015 has improved, Mansour still believes that violations that took place in 2015 were grave. A staggering 93.2 percent of journalists said in a poll that they practised self-censorship, and the list of taboos is only expected to grow in light of the amended Cyber Crime Law.
The Jordanian government clearly disagreed with the campaigns definition of a crime. Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammad Momani, who was in office when the law was passed, said during a meeting with Jordanian MPs that a word can have the same impact as a bullet.
Ex-MP Zakariah Shaikh echoed this statement, stressing that the cyber crime law was necessary to combat several crimes, including slander and defamation. Shaikh told al Jazeera that a journalists freedom is only safeguarded when he/she is publishing in print newspapers or licensed websites, but this does not extend to social media websites.
Although journalists were actually detained for publishing articles on licensed news websites, Shaikh insisted that these articles also appeared on their social media pages. When asked about the difference, Shaikh said that it was huge just like a medical doctor who is licensed to perform transplants in a hospital, but not in his private clinic.
Similarly, journalists take off their journalism hats when they publish on their Facebook pages and become just like any other user, according to Shaikh. However, the ex-MP admitted that the elasticity of the law could lead to misuse by the state in a manner that could jeopardise public and press freedoms.
READ MORE: Jordans women fight for political representation
In 2012, Jordanian Press and Publications Law was amended , requiring all news websites to obtain a licence from the government to operate online.
Fearing that a licence signalled the end of a relatively free online media sphere at the time, online journalists organised peaceful sit-ins against the amendments.
However, they were later encouraged to obtain a licence in exchange for the immunity that the law safeguards. Four years later, those promises have only proven to be deceptive, according to Zaidah.
Ramini seemed to agree with this conclusion too, as he believed the pressure for a genuine reform subsided, encouraging the Jordanian state to rescind all decisions that were taken during the Arab Spring.
In 2013, Anthony Waters nearly died while doing what he loves.
The 19-year-old UF microbiology sophomore said he was 16 when he turned his motorcycle on an Orlando road and a car slammed into him.
I got hit right in the perfect spot, because an inch higher would be punctured lung and broken rib territory, and then an inch lower would be crushed stomach and intestines, and I would probably be living on a machine for I dont know how long, he said.
Motorcycle deaths in Florida increased more than 23 percent between 2014 and 2015, according to a recent press release from the American Automobile Association.
Of the 554 deaths in 2015, only two happened in Alachua County, according to a preliminary report from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
Nineteen counties had zero deaths, and Miami-Dade has the highest number of deaths at 56. The next highest numbers are 48 (Hillsborough) and 39 (Broward).
Each motorcycle death costs society about $1.5 million, according to the release. The estimate calculates factors such as lost productivity, legal fees and the cost of emergency services.
Waters said distracted drivers, especially those who use a phone while behind the wheel, are the biggest danger.
I honestly see every single time I drive somebody on their phone or just plain out distracted, he said.
Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now
The former guitarist of a Gainesville band is scheduled to appear in court July 7 for charges of sexual assault against a minor.
Gainesville Police arrested 30-year-old Dennis Young, a past member of Former Planets, on May 19. He was released the same night on a $190,000 bond.
On Nov. 30, police recorded a statement from the survivor, who told a detective that Young assaulted her when she was about 6 or 7, according to the report. Young traveled to Tennessee when he heard about the girls statement.
Young first showed the girl a pornographic video on his phone, according to the report. He then talked about sex and rubbed the girls vagina over her clothing.
He now faces charges for sexual assault and obscene communication, along with two charges for lewd and lascivious behavior, according to Alachua County court records.
A current member of Former Planet, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was surprised to hear about the accusations against Young, who seemed kind and creative.
He called and said his ex-girlfriend was making these claims, he said. They had been together for many years.
The man said Young last played with Former Planets on Oct. 16, and nobody has seen or heard from him since.
I would say that we need to wait until all of the information is out there, he said.
Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now
Alan Alvarez Brooke Eliazar-Macke (left), 32, and Regan Garner (right), 41, both members of the National Women's Liberation, hold signs at the Rally and Speak Out against Rick Scott's Policies event in downtown Gainesville on Friday on the corner of University Avenue and Main Street. The Speak Out event organized by the National Women's Liberation gives women a political opportunity to share their personal experiences.
On the corner of University Avenue and Main Street, protesters gathered Friday to bring attention to Florida House Bill 1411, which they said restricts womens access to reproductive services by redirecting funding meant for Planned Parenthood to other clinics.
The rally featured local reproductive rights and services groups. It was followed by a benefit event at the Wooly, which hosted a silent auction and a dance party.
The protest gained momentum from a viral video of activist Cara Jennings yelling at Gov. Rick Scott in a downtown Gainesville Starbucks in April, Jennings said.
Jennings said she did not know her encounter with Scott was taped. The resulting video was viewed across the world and covered by more than 800 news outlets, she said.
Jennings said the video did not show the calm questions she asked, which were repeatedly deflected by Scott.
Lets be clear, the guy is scary, and hes part of a state legislature thats even scarier, she said. He wields power so brutally.
Jennings and a number of local and regional groups organized the rally to bring attention to the community and raise money for the organizations experiencing cuts to their funding from the governors restrictive new laws, she said.
The money raised by the event went to the Southern Birth Justice Network, which supplies reproductive services to women of color in the South, and to the local womens clinic Bread and Roses.
Alan Alvarez Cara Jennings, the 39-year-old known for her viral Starbucks encounter with Gov. Rick Scott, stands on the corner of Main Street and University Avenue during the Rally and Speak Out against Rick Scott's Policies event. She says she would like to "continue the momentum, in regards to reproductive choice issues.
Kendra Vincent, the chairwoman of the Gainesville chapter of National Womens Liberation, led the protest outside and asked participants to speak about their experiences trying to get birth control, abortions or basic reproductive health care.
Vincent said she used the rally to introduce a media campaign that brings attention to how the State Legislature redirects women to clinics for reproductive services that dont actually provide those services.
Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now
Vincent said she asked women to call those offices and ask for services traditionally offered by clinics such as Planned Parenthood and then share their experiences on social media with #NotMyClinic.
The offices listed for Alachua County are Azalea Dental and Palms Medical Group, neither of which provide birth control, pap smears or abortions, she said.
Abortion rights were not given to us, she said. We worked long and hard for them. We need complete and total access.
Alan Alvarez Protesters stand on the corner of Main Street and University Avenue in support of the Rally and Speak Out against Rick Scott's Policies event organized by the National Women's Liberation local chapter on Friday.
Speaker Emily Calvin talked about accessing reproductive health care as a student. Calvin said she went on and off student insurance during her time as a law school student, and because she never had a primary doctor and often couldnt afford to visit private clinics, she went to Planned Parenthood.
She said at Planned Parenthood, her questions were answered accurately and kindly, which didnt happen at her universitys womens clinic.
Everyone was patient and kind and caring, she said. I was practically showered in birth control.
Alan Alvarez In a surprise street performance, Van Tran, 27, advocates for women's reproductive rights at the Rally and Speak Out against Rick Scott's Policies event. The white paper symbolizes womens labored speech and words that are oppressed by society.
At the rally, four women participated in a performance art piece, dressing in white and wearing blindfolds while walking into the four intersections at University Avenue and Main Street. They did not speak, and right before the rally moved inside, the four performers removed more than 30 feet of white ribbon from their mouths.
Lorna Bouret, Van Tran, Veronica Robleto and Mary Doyle choreographed the outside performance and an inside dance routine. They said the act was meant to show the way women are meant to be seen as pure in society, and the ribbon was meant to show how women lose their voice in society.
The performers said their dance inside the Wooly contrasted their quieter performance, showing womens empowerment by dancing to Bad Girls by M.I.A.
We experimented with the idea of putting our bodies in the line of danger, which is what women do all the time, Doyle said.
Each weekend, members of the homeless community in Gainesville wait in line to receive free food from a group of diverse UF students.
Project Downtown Gainesville is a nonprofit organization that distributes free meals to homeless people in front of City Hall, located at 200 E. University Ave.
The group is mostly composed of UF students from different cultures, said Ikramamul Nibir, the outreach coordinator of the project.
He said the organization usually has 10 volunteers serving food for more than 100 homeless people every weekend.
Nibir said the group normally assigns a person to be the sponsor, who is in charge of cooking for one day each weekend.
On May 29, the menu included chicken, rice and pasta. Volunteers gave out all the food in about 20 minutes, said Jeena Kar, the sponsor for that day.
Nibir said the most important thing the organization needs is more promotion and recognition. He said he is upset with the way some politicians and news media manipulate the image of immigrants in America especially the Muslim community.
Nibir said he is tired of hearing people make comparisons between extremist groups and people like the volunteers, who are committed to helping others and making this country better on a weekly basis.
Bernice Darby said Project Downtown Gainesville has fed her several times.
Not too many people come down here and feed the homeless and think about the homeless and show love like they do, she said.
Where:
200 E. University Ave.
Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now
When:
1 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday
Contact Ikramamul Nibir: i.nibir1@ufl.edu
If you ask the average person on the street what the definition of democracy is, they will usually include answers such as one person, one vote and the rights of citizens. While these may be true, there is a lot more to successful democracy than just the basic definitions that are popular to the general public. Things such as rule of law and peaceful transition of power to an opponent are key in order for democracy to continue without slipping into authoritarianism.
Since Americas founding, democracy has been practiced, even if it was far from perfect i.e., prohibiting voting for minorities and women. But some of the most important institutions that kept democracy afloat were developed and maintained to prevent the rise of authoritarians.
Fast forward to today, and it seems democracy in the U.S. is facing obstruction from both sides of the political aisle. Donald Trump has begun to take shots at some of the fundamental building blocks that prevent authoritarianism from taking root.
This past week, for example, Trump took assault on Gonzalo Curiel, the federal district judge who is presiding over the Trump University case. As Trump claims, Curiels Mexican heritage is a conflict of interest with Trumps policy of building a wall on the border.
This is a direct challenge to the rule of law and the ability to be unbiased within the courtroom. Even if this is just a special case and Trump will not continue this kind of attack against other judges, it could set a precedent for the presidents to come.
Free press has also come under the assault of an angry Trump, with him calling certain reporters sleazy and all of them corrupt. When asked if the White House Press Corps. would have similar experiences during a Trump administration, the answer seemed to lean toward a yes. The press used to be one of the main barriers against corruption or perversion of rights by the government. This could change in a Trump presidency.
Finally, the protesters that have organized outside of Trump rallies and descended them into violence should be mentioned as well. While their actions are deplorable and should not be accepted as de facto behavior against any idea, these protests could shape up to be things to come as the general election gets closer and people become more polarized, especially along racial lines that have become the center of this years campaign.
These events do not singularly point to a collapse of democracy or a movement toward authoritarianism, but they are not positive signs of the movement in American democracy. While protesters who attack Trump supporters are a cause for concern and should be dealt with accordingly, the actions of Trump will have a longer impact on our political system than protestors outside of a rally.
Trumps attacks on judges and the media show a clear dislike for institutions that regularly keep checks on the executive powers of the U.S. and prevent it from becoming an authoritarians dream job.
There are other institutions we have yet to see Trump interact with, and we would not know how that would be unless he is elected president. Institutions such as Congress, where Trump has no experience getting legislation through, might be places where Trump wants to cut corners or lay down insults in order to get what he wants, but governing is about compromise, something he hasnt figured out yet.
Kevin Foster is a UF political science senior. His column appears on Tuesdays.
Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now
Advocates of free trade and fighting protectionism are more likely to focus on industries like steel and agriculture, but they should also pay attention to the payments sphere.
U.S. business leaders are increasingly speaking up about global protectionism. Speaking at the graduation for New York University's Stern business school, GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt lamented a "protectionist global environment." But this is not just a problem with locomotives and gas turbines. Retail electronic payments are the lifeblood of commerce.
Many countries persist in cultivating and protecting their locally-based payments networks as national champions, to those countries' detriment. They should instead let networks sink or swim in the market on their merits, making clear that foreign networks are welcome to compete and local schemes won't be favored.
An illustration of such protectionism is playing out in Turkey. In April, Turkish banks launched Troy, a national payment-network champion. In June, PayPal withdrew from the Turkish market. The U.S. company could not get a new license from regulators in the country over Turkey's insistence that processing infrastructure be housed locally. But the move was seen as favoring the Turkish competitor.
There are other examples. In December, Russia launched its long-anticipated national network Mir, which is run by the country's central bank. The network was created after economic sanctions over Russia's annexation of Crimea blocked access of Russian banks to the Visa and MasterCard networks.
The biggest national payments champion of them of allwith 5.4 billion badged cardsis China UnionPay. Established in 2002 by a decree from the People's Bank of China, the network is owned by 85 banks the largest of which are state-owned. Notwithstanding China's 2001 commitment upon joining the World Trade Organization to open up its payment-card market by 2006, CUP still enjoys a protected domestic monopoly. The PBOC makes the rules and establishes permissible merchant service charges. CUP's current and previous chairman and current vice chairman and president are PBOC alumni.
However, domestic e-commerce payments giants Alipay, with 450 million users, and Tenpay are starting to compete with CUP at the physical point of sale. But Chinese consumers, merchants and banks would be even better off if foreign networks were free to compete as well.
The Reserve Bank of India wanted a domestic general-purpose payment network. In 2012, the National Payment Corporation of India launched Rupay.
Brazil's central bank in 2010 pushed for a national payment network option. Lo and behold, in 2011, the state-controlled institutions Banco do Brasil SA and Caixa Economica Federal, and the privately-controlled Banco Bradesco, launched Elo, which vaulted to 7% market share.
Of course, not all national networks promoted by the state succeed. European Union regulators' efforts to spur continental champions Monnet and the Euro Alliance of Payment Schemes both failed. And the national-champion networks exposed to competition from the private sector are falling by the wayside. British banks sold Switch to MasterCard, which migrated the brand and processing to MasterCard. Banks in the Netherlands, Ireland, Finland and Poland shut down the PIN, Laser, Pankikkorti and Polcard debit networks, respectively.
The U.S. payment-networks market is wide open and (far and away) the world's most competitive. In the mid-eighties, there were 135 ATM and 35 debit regional bank-owned networks. Over several decades, the market consolidated to six national debit networks, with none owned by banks. Half a dozen regionals survived only because their bank owners or the armed forces have continued to use them. Today, open competition has given the market Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, PayPal, Star, NYCE and Accel. Foreign networks including Alipay, CUP and Japans' JCB also compete here. And there's nothing stopping Cartes Bancaires and Interac from establishing U.S beachheads other than their value propositions.
Nations aren't made more prosperous protecting uncompetitive sugar producers and solar-panel manufacturers. Similarly, while shareholders and employees of protected, uncompetitive national networks may be better off, society is deprived of the efficient and innovative payments services that result from competition.
The world would benefit from more network competition. Protectionist walls and sentiment in payments should be torn down and a dynamic free market left to determine winners and losers and the optimal number of networks.
Eric Grover is principal at Intrepid Ventures, a corporate development and strategy consultancy advising payment issuers, networks and processors, and other payments companies.
Brett Pitts has had enough of screen scraping, and he has a strategy to end the archaic method for accessing bank accounts at Wells Fargo and the industry at large.
On Tuesday, Wells was set to announce that it's created an API, or application programming interface, so small businesses can have their bank account data poured directly into the accounting software provided by Xero. Previously the data could be transferred one of two ways: either the small business would have to type it in manually or the customer could give its banking credentials to a third-party aggregator, which would "scrape" the data off Wells Fargo's site. The former practice is cumbersome, the latter insecure.
The partnership with Xero is just the first of many Wells Fargo plans to execute in its quest to eradicate screen scrapes.
"We are on a mission to help lead the financial industry beyond screen scraping," said Pitts, head of digital for Wells Fargo Virtual Channels at the $1.8 trillion-asset institution. "It's not as robust as what we need from a security perspective; it's brittle in terms of ongoing customer experience management, and it can be frustrating for all the parties involved. So it's time to move beyond that."
Wells Fargo is doing what Jamie Dimon, CEO of rival megabank JPMorgan Chase, said he hoped to do in a section of his annual shareholder letter that criticized data aggregators.
Such firms tend to take more consumer data than they need to, they often access data even if an account is inactive, and their activities can lead to fraud, Dimon wrote.
"In the future, instead of giving a third party unlimited access to information in any bank account, we hope to build systems that allow us to 'push' information and only that information agreed to by the customer to that third party," Dimon wrote. "Pushing specific information has another benefit: Customers do not need to provide their bank passcode. When customers give out their bank passcode, they may not realize that if a rogue employee at an aggregator uses this passcode to steal money from the customer's account, the customer, not the bank, is responsible for any loss."
Screen scraping refers to the process in which customers give third parties their online banking user names and passwords so that those third parties can log in on the customers' behalf and copy and paste their account information into other programs. It's not exactly an elegant or cutting-edge use of technology and at times it has caused spikes in traffic that have led to outages. Security-wise, encouraging consumers to give out their online banking user names and passwords to third parties is arguably a worst practice. And if banks implement two-factor authentication, as their regulators and basic security hygiene mandate they do, screen scraping doesn't work.
"Screen scraping is legacy technology," said Kristin Moyer, vice president at Gartner. "APIs are a much cleaner way of sharing data."
APIs connect servers in a way that avoids all the problems of screen scraping the sharing of user names and passwords, the overloading of banks' servers with high-volume requests, the inability to use two-factor authentication.
Europe's Payment Services Directive and the U.K.'s Open Banking Standard are pushing banks in those regions to open data and transactions to new market entrants through APIs, Moyer noted. "The U.S. doesn't have that same push, so things are progressing more slowly, but banks are testing and experimenting."
The Screen-Scraping Brouhaha
Screen scraping came under fire at the end of 2015, when banks were accused of stifling innovation by blocking personal finance app providers like Mint from accessing their customers' account information. Banks including Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Citi countered that the screen-scraping process many of these providers were using was not very effective and prone to a number of security issues.
"We didn't have any philosophical objection to [account aggregation tools] or a desire to stifle innovation," Pitts said. Wells Fargo was concerned about security and about giving customers visibility and control over the data they share, he said.
Banks like Wells Fargo, Capital One and Germany's Fidor Bank and the data aggregator Yodlee worked with the Financial Services-Information Sharing and Analysis Center's aggregation working group to reduce the risk of financial data aggregation, specifically by using OAuth, a token-based authentication technology.
Wells Fargo is using OAuth in its work with Xero. "We're doing this in as standard a way as possible, using technologies and approaches that are well understood, to make these sorts of integrations as straightforward as possible, and the model as consistent as possible," Pitts said. "Ultimately this is an approach that will be most effective if it's something that happens uniformly across industries."
OAuth-based data sharing creates a tokenized "handshake" between companies' servers similar to the way some websites let customers log in with social media accounts. The API removes the need for Xero customers to share their Wells Fargo usernames and passwords, and the need for Xero to store them in order to retrieve Wells Fargo account data.
"We routinely counsel our customers to never share their username or password," Pitts said.
The bank chose Xero as its first partnership in this area because the company was on board with the API concept and had innovative and customer friendly software, Pitts said.
"As we started discussions with them about screen scraping and the need to go into this more direct connection model, they understood instantly the benefits to all the players and they worked enthusiastically with us to create this first model," Pitts said. "It's a win for customers in terms of security and control and it's a win for them because they have a more direct, cleaner, more secure way of connecting with us to get the customer data in a way that's usable for them. It's a win for us in that it moves us away from the screen scraping practice we were less enthusiastic about and it helps maintain our place in the relationship with our customers."
Xero, which was founded in New Zealand but now has a U.S. headquarters in San Francisco, has more than 700,000 global customers, including banks in New Zealand, Australia and the U.K. and more than 20 U.S. banks. Most of its U.S. bank relationships go through the third party data aggregator Yodlee (which was acquired by Envestnet in November), which employs several methods of data sharing including OAuth and screen scraping.
"Rather than working through a third party, using a range of technologies that are less secure, we're seeing Wells Fargo understanding they should have this direct connection to their customers which allows us to do so much more," said Xero CEO Rod Drury. Xero also has a direct API set up with City National Bank.
"Wells Fargo serves one in three American households, so it's huge for us to be able to work with them," Drury said. The partnership should give Xero a leg up in its competition with its U.S. rival Intuit, maker of the popular QuickBooks small business accounting software. "Wells Fargo doing it is a major endorsement to what we're doing and is a real game changer. I think it will stimulate a whole lot of other projects inside major banks."
Unsurprisingly given the regulatory scrutiny around vendor risk management and third-party vendor security risk, Wells Fargo and Xero put each other through a stringent vetting process to understand their respective operations, technologies, customer experience commitment, scalability and security, Pitts said. Know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering rules were also part of the due diligence.
This is the first time Wells Fargo is opening an API to an entity other than a commercial client. Wells Fargo previously shared data via API with some corporate customers. In one example, it provided API access to retail complex developer Caruso Affiliated in December of 2014 that let the developer create apps for customers of The Grove shopping mall. The apps let them schedule pictures with Santa ahead of time, upload receipts and accumulate loyalty points. (Similarly, Silicon Valley Bank shares APIs with some of its large tech clients, so they can have the tools to create their own online banking interfaces.)
How It Will Work
When the integration is completed in the fourth quarter, small business customers that log into Wells Fargo online banking will be asked if they want to connect their accounts to Xero, and if so, which ones. The bank is building disclosures and explainers that will make plain to customers what they're agreeing to, what information they're agreeing to share, with whom and how it will be used.
"It's important that that's within the experience so that customers have that much better visibility and understanding than they have typically had in these arrangements," Pitts said. "That's something we and Xero have been spending a lot of time on."
Bank transactions and balances are automatically loaded into Xero, so the small business's accounting software is up to date each morning. (Prior to this, Xero clients would have to separately log in to online banking each day to see if they received any payments overnight.)
"That's one of the first important process changes to how small businesses work every day," Drury said. "The byproduct of that is they're completely up to date every morning, with real-time deal cash flow going on. Small businesses operate much better, they make more money, and they get paid faster when they are digitally connected with the bank."
One benefit to using the API as opposed to screen scraping is that when Wells Fargo redesigns its desktop software for small business clients later this year, there shouldn't be any interruptions in the way data is gathered for Xero. Under the old screen-scraping model, changes to the look and feel of online banking sessions could throw a monkey wrench in the works.
"It doesn't take anything as dramatic as a complete redesign. Even ongoing changes to customer experience, cosmetic things, routinely can break the scripts associated with screen scraping, which winds up manifesting itself in work on the data aggregator's side and interruption in customer experience not on the banking side, but on the sites that are relying on this method," Pitts said.
Editor at Large Penny Crosman welcomes feedback at penny.crosman@sourcemedia.com.
WASHINGTON A bipartisan group of lawmakers is urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to change how it calculates title insurance fees as part of the new integrated mortgage disclosures.
Seventy-four members of Congress signed a letter to CFPB Director Richard Cordray arguing that consumers are receiving "incorrect" title insurance premium disclosures.
At issue is how the Truth-in-Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act integrated disclosures, or TRID, define title insurance fees. The rule does not allow for the calculation of what's known as the "simultaneous issue," the rate title insurance companies provide to consumers when they purchase a lender's and owner's title insurance policy at the same time. In many cases, the consumer receives a discount on such transactions but would not see that reflected on the mortgage disclosure form.
The CFPB's recent proposal asking for feedback on TRID "is a great opportunity to fix this issue and ensure that your new forms serve as a credible source of accurate information about the true costs of buying a home for consumers," the lawmakers said in the letter, which was signed by Reps. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., and Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., among others.
The letter is being pushed by the American Land Title Association, which says the CFPB's calculation is confusing.
"We do not think that showing the consumer the actual number they will pay and putting a totally different number on the disclosure is accurate or fair to the homebuyer who already has questions about the transaction," said Wayne Stanley, a spokesman for the group.
The CFPB declined to comment on the title insurance issue. But the agency is working on a TRID mortgage disclosure rule that it expects to issue in July.
"We remain engaged with stakeholders on implementation of the 'know before you owe' mortgage disclosure rule and are conducting listening sessions with groups of stakeholders to gather additional insight into concerns," a spokesman said. "We look forward to receiving all comments on the matters discussed in the proposal once it has been issued."
Meanwhile, the ALTA has created a grassroots network of more than 12,000 title agents who are "prepared to send letters and emails to CFPB staff to let them know what they are seeing around closing tables across the country," Stanley said.
WASHINGTON House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling R-Texas, was set Tuesday to unveil an ambitious plan to revamp the Dodd-Frank Act and replace it with a capital-based alternative during a speech in New York.
"Our Republican plan rests on the belief that bank capital is the most basic element in making a financial system healthy, resilient and reliable for economic growth," Hensarling said in remarks prepared for the Economic Club of New York.
The Texas Republican signaled earlier this year that he was working on legislation that would create a separate regulatory framework that banks could choose to follow as an "off-ramp" from Dodd-Frank in return for higher capital requirements.
But the Financial CHOICE Act also includes other sweeping provisions that effectively constitute a wish list for Republicans, including measures to subject all federal regulators to the appropriations process, repeal the Volcker Rule and remove the deference courts traditionally give to the agencies.
As a result, the bill is not just dead on arrival this year, which is no surprise given that President Obama has already said he would oppose changes to Dodd-Frank. It would also face an uphill battle even if the election in November went entirely in the GOP's favor, including seizing the White House and maintaining control of the Senate. Some provisions are certain to anger progressive Democrats like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Democrats will undoubtedly maintain enough Senate seats to filibuster any similar bill in that chamber.
Following is a guide to what's in Hensarling's plan.
Capital Alternative
At the heart of Hensarling's proposal is a provision to allow banks to be exempt from a number of Dodd-Frank regulations as well as Basel III capital and liquidity rules if they meet certain requirements, including a simple leverage ratio of at least 10% and a Camels rating of 1 or 2.
"Any bank that chooses to qualify for regulatory relief under our plan will be significantly better capitalized than Dodd-Frank or any U.S. or global regulator currently requires them to be," Hensarling said.
He added that the plan would most likely help community banks in the near term who would have to raise "little to no additional capital" while larger banks would have to "raise significant additional equity capital."
Hensarling said he favors a non-risk-weighted leverage ratio, which differs from current capital requirements because "risk-weighting is simply not as effective."
Structural Changes
The bill would replace the single directors of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Housing Finance Agency with commissions for each agency.
It would also subject all federal regulators, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Federal Reserve Board, to the congressional appropriations process and require every regulation to pass a "rigorous cost-benefit test."
The Financial CHOICE Act would also rename the CFPB to the Consumer Financial Opportunity Commission put and put in place a Senate-confirmed inspector general for the agency.
"Too Big to Fail"
Hensarling's bill takes direct aim at Dodd-Frank provisions that were put in place to manage "too big to fail" institutions. It would repeal the Financial Stability Oversight Council's power to designate firms as systemically important and subject them to heightened supervision. It would also eliminate the Office of Financial Research.
"This amalgamation of many of the same Washington regulators who failed to do their jobs in the run-up to the last financial crisis is now charged by Dodd-Frank to manage our economy away from the next," Hensarling said.
The plan also includes legislation that would create a new bankruptcy chapter specifically designed to resolve an insolvent megabank and replace Dodd-Frank's Title II.
"Some large firms will likely become smaller, because the credit they now obtain will be priced according to their inherent risk of failure without implicit government guarantees backing firms that are 'too big to fail,' " Hensarling said.
However, he added that the goal of his legislation won't be to break up or shrink the largest financial firms, but rather to "rightsize" them.
"To promote economic growth, we will need both Citibank with an 'i' located a few blocks from here and City Bank with a "y" located in Forney, Texas, in my district. Both types of banks have a vital role to play in revitalizing economic growth," Hensarling said.
Tougher Penalties
While much of Hensarling's plan focuses on reining in regulators, he said it will give the Securities and Exchange Commission more power to crack down on financial crime and fraud.
"We will double the cap for the most serious securities law violations and will allow for triple monetary fines when penalties are tied to illegal profits," Hensarling said. "We will give the SEC new authority to impose sanctions more closely linked to investor losses and increase punishments even more for repeat offenders.
"Our plan toughens penalties not out of some ideological or poll-driven war against Wall Street, but simply to better protect consumers and strengthen their markets," he added.
However, he said also said the legislation will improve "due process rights" because "too many citizens have been 'shook down' or abused by their government."
That includes repealing the so-called Chevron deference that federal agencies receive from courts of law when their rules or decisions are taken to court.
There they go again. In San Jose last week, lefty demonstrators rioted against typical Americans leaving a Donald Trump rally, and the mayor of San Jose blamed Donald Trump for the violence. In the 21st century, in a democratic republic where the people rule, what is going on?
I had my come-to-Jesus moment about this when a liberal friend told me a few years ago that she had always wanted to get into activism. Then, while auditing philosophy courses at the University of Washington in Seattle, I heard two young women on two different occasions testified that politics, for them, meant a protest march to City Hall. Really?
This is the liberal activism culture and they are teaching it to good little girls in our schools and universities. It means that if you are a good little girl, you think that activism and peaceful protest are what every good little girl should want to do.
I want a president who can lance this boil on the fair skin of America, before it infects the whole nation.
The liberal apology for activism, paraphrased from an email to me from a humanities pr5ofessor, is that if you are a marginalized group, excluded from the mainstream of society, you need to look for help and you find it, probably, on the left. Then the left takes up your cause and uses its power to help you.
Only the left is not using its power to help you. It is using street intimidation to force everyone else to help you.
Let us ask the question: when is this activism justified? When is intimidation necessary? The answer is quite simple.
In the 19th century, the workers were migrating from the country to the factory jobs in the city, but they were outside the political system. The only way they could get the attention of the ruling class was with riots. But, relates Michael Mann in The Sources of Social Power, once the workers got the vote and got their representatives into the parliaments and the corridors of power, they didnt need to riot any more. So they didnt.
Street action and riot are justified only for people excluded from the political community. Indeed, the whole point of laws and elections and due process and representative assemblies and constitutions is to provide a spectrum of non-violent means to petition government for the redress of grievances. They remove the excuse for revolutionary action.
But the revolutionaries -- the Marxes, the Luxemburgs, the Saul Alinskys, the Bill Ayers -- they live for revolution and activism. If the patriarchy ups and gives the workers and then women the vote, and then civil rights for African Americans, because the patriarchal middle class is not that interested in power, what is to happen to the activists, poor things?
The answer is simple, and it was formulated in the 1920s by the Frankfurt School. There always must be oppressed and marginalized groups other than the workers for whom protest, threatening violence, is the only option. And we, the activists and the intellectuals, will know the reason why. So liberal activists are always insisting that it is 1848 and todays fully enfranchised voters are just as oppressed and marginalized as the workers of 1848.
Only they arent. Since 1800 per capita income has grown from $3 per day to $100 per day in the west. There has been nothing like it in human history, ever.
At $100 per day in a representative democracy with universal franchise how bad can things be to justify lefty activists ginning up their peaceful protests and making non-negotiable demands to their paymasters in the liberal ruling class or thugging after Trump supporters?
It is a good question, and here is how our lefty friends have solved it. They insist that their latest political clients are as helpless as the workers of 1848 or the southern blacks of Jim Crow. And so their street action is justified.
Obviously this cunning plan cannot work unless people are forbidden to object to leftist activist rhetoric and peaceful protest. Hence the necessity of political correctness, naming and shaming, racist/sexist/homophobe labeling, hate speech, and SJWs.
The last time the left went into the streets in full activism mode, back in the Sixties, America ended up with Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. Today, with the good little girls of America, like, educated to the lefty activism culture, OMG, it might, like, end up different this time around. Whatever.
If the United States is to lance the boil of the left-wing activism culture, and make America safe for people that are not that interested in power, it will need a president who can name and shame the rioters of San Jose, early and often, and anathematize the liberal intellectuals and activists that egg them on and divide us.
Christopher Chantrill @chrischantrill runs the go-to site on US government finances, usgovernmentspending.com. Also see his American Manifesto and get his Road to the Middle Class.
With Trump having a serious shot at becoming the next President of the United States, it is important for Americans of Middle Eastern descent to evaluate the impact his theoretical administration would have on their community just as they should with any serious candidate. And despite the alarmist warnings of those who profess otherwise, Donald Trump is a solid friend of Middle Eastern Americans.
This fact is understood by the American-Mideast Coalition for Trump. As its name implies, the AMCT is a group of Americans descended from Middle Eastern nations who have realized that Donald Trump is in fact the strongest candidate to strengthen the Mideast-American community. Such a conclusion by this particular demographic may seem strange to some, as Trump is commonly known as an anti-Muslim candidate. This popular view of him, however, is flawed.
To begin with, Trump is anti-terrorist and anti-extremist contrary to the opinions of some bigoted individuals, neither label describes the vast majority of Muslims, let alone the majority of Middle Eastern people and their descendants. His rhetoric and policy suggestions have always been aimed at protecting the United States from those who wish to do it harm -- a noble and important goal -- not at unfairly targeting people of certain religious affiliations. And where he has mentioned Muslims without specifically qualifying that he meant only the small fraction of that enormous group who are terrorists, such as his discussion of temporarily banning people of the Islamic faith from entering the U.S., he has later clarified that he was speaking in general suggestions and not advocating firm policy.
In a comment to The Hill, Walid Phares, a national security advisor for Trump, states this explicitly. Right now the ban is just a few sentences in a foreign policy announcement and a tweet, its not like hes written books or published articles or delivered lectures on this. Hell continue to add context and distinction to his position as he gets new information, he said. Phares is himself part of the effort of the Trump campaign to reach out to Muslim-American communities and court their vote, something which would not be possible if Trump were in fact anti-Muslim.
Even if his rhetoric on the ban issue does not soften over time -- which it almost certainly will -- it should be noted that not everyone in the Muslim-American community objects to it. America's enemy is not Islam, but it is radical Islam, and a temporary moratorium on Muslim entry into the nation would certainly go far in alleviating national security concerns. Speaking to the Straits Times, a Pakistani-American man named Sajid Tarar, concurred: Whatever is required to ensure safety for American people, I'll support that, he said. Any time something goes wrong here, if there is an incident, we start saying, 'I hope he is not Muslim.' We are living under threat. We want to see America strong, we want to see America safe because we are part of the American fabric.
Trump should also be compared to the alternative, namely the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. And when these two are held side by side from the perspective of addressing Middle East issues, Trump is clearly the superior candidate. First, unlike his opponent, Trump has said he will review the catastrophic deal reached with Iran's fundamentalist regime by U.S. President Barack Obama. Trump has pledged to at least hold the Iranian ayatollahs strictly accountable to the terms of the agreement, which he predicts will cause Iran to be found in violation and result in the treaty's dismissal.
Trump has also correctly criticized the Obama administration's foreign policy concerning the Middle East in other ways. He has pointed out Obama's preoccupation with unnecessary and counterproductive wars in the region, such as costly troop deployments in Afghanistan and gross mismanagement in Iraq that has led to the rise of ISIS. Libya, meanwhile, due largely to Obama's policies, has turned into a chaotic cesspit that is rife with terrorist encampments. On all of these issues, Clinton is weak, with her political need to support the decisions made by Obama.
Trump is a forward-thinking candidate who is more likely than Clinton to support technological and communications advances in Middle Eastern nations. This is crucial for virtually all countries that suffer under totalitarian regimes, but it is especially so in Iran, where the unbending fundamentalist government of the ayatollahs can best be undermined simply by empowering and uniting the Iranian citizenry -- most of whom are moderate Muslims and not in line with the religious extremism of their government.
It is fortunate that Trump is the better candidate for Mideast-Americans, because current conditions in the United States favor him over Clinton and make him more likely to prevail in the general election. The nation today tends towards an isolationist, security-first philosophy, which is far more in line with Trump's policies than with Clinton's. Trump values the security of the U.S. above all other concerns -- as an American president should -- and these priorities are evident in his proposals. This does not solely refer to the already-discussed ban on Muslim immigrants (though as noted, that was a crude suggestion that is likely to be revised over time). Trump also favors protectionist trade policies, an idea much in favor among the American people today.
Though counterintuitive to some who do not fully understand the man, the AMCT supports Donald Trump as the next President of the United States because it recognizes that he is, in fact, the strongest candidate to stand for the rights of real Mideast-Americans. His enemies, as those of that demographic group and of all Americans, is radical terrorism -- not the Islamic faith.
Slater Bakhtavar is an attorney, journalist, author and political commentator. He is author of Iran: The Green Movement
The six days between June 5th until June 10, 1967 are without parallel in the story of human warfare. These 6 days are also without parallel as far as modern day miracles are concerned as well. Prior to 1967, who had ever heard of a full-scale war measured in days? One which began at 07:45 Monday morning and was over dramatically on Saturday of the same week. This was a war in which one tiny country Israel- faced five hostile Arab countries: Egypt, Syria, Jordan, with assistance from Iraq and Lebanon and with a combined military might of twice the number of soldiers, three times the amount of tanks and four times the amount of fighter aircraft. Egypt and Syria military forces were trained by leading Soviet military advisors and armed with the most sophisticated weaponry in the Soviet arsenal. This was a war when, even in the event of victory, some experts assessed the expected Israeli death toll to be as high as 100, 000 causalities, yet somehow it ended with less than 800 Israeli killed in action. This week we celebrate the victory of the Six Day War in which Israel miraculously defeated the combined armies of all the Arab nations that surrounded her. It was in this war that Israel liberated and united the City of Jerusalem and returned to the heartland of her ancient homeland Judea and Samaria, all prophesized in the Holy Bible.
Ezer Weizman, who had built the Israeli Air Force and was Head of Operations during the war, was asked to explain the astounding success of the air force on the first day of the war. All he could think of was a verse from the Bible, in which Pharaohs greatest sorcerers and advisor submitted to a met-physical explanation of the plagues it is the Finger of G-d. The then Chief of Staff, Yitzchak Rabin, summed up the war with a message in a telegram sent to the post-war celebrations in Tel-Aviv, with the following quote from the Hallel prayer- This is the day that Hashem made; we shall exult and rejoice on it.
A new reality had been created. Something of Biblical proportions, redemptive realities and Messianic implications. Something in the human order had irrevocable changed. The core of this shift was not only the miraculous nature of the war but the fact that the Jewish people had returned for the first time in 2000 years, not only to their holiest site, but to a site held dear to billions of people, to all three major monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The implication is clear. The human saga began here and humanitys spiritual destiny is inextricably linked to Jerusalem. The sovereign return of the Jewish people to Jerusalem was therefore a spiritual and political seismic shift of epic proportions.
Salvation from the Sky Operation Moked
At 07:15 Monday morning (June 5th, 1967) almost all the planes (about 200) in the Israeli Air Force (IAF) set off to attack the Egyptian Air Force, its planes and airfields. Only 12 Fighter Jets stayed and patrolled the open skies of all of Israel to protect the center of the country. Operation Moked which launched the war, carried strategic and existential risks. Egypt had a well-developed, advanced anti-aircraft arsenal, boasting dozens of missiles and hundreds of cannons, generously supplied by the Soviet Union and her satellite states. In complete contrast, most of the Israeli planes were old French models, hardly fitting for the operational needs at hand. Had the Israeli attacking force been detected on their way, before the attack, they could have easily been knocked out of the air and Israel would have remained defenseless with a totally destroyed air force.
It was precisely then that the great miracle occurred. All of the aircraft reached the Egyptian airfields in Sinai, along the Suez Canal and the Nile River without even one being detected. The entire Egyptian anti-aircraft batteries lined all along the border perimeters of Egypt didnt function. Divine Providence linked arms with the brave Israeli pilots. They flew in total silence at an altitude of only 80 feet above the sea with precision and operation discipline. At exactly 07:45, the Israeli planes hovered over the Egyptian airfields and bombed the runways, effectively putting the Egyptian Air force out of action. Within one hour more than 200 Egyptian planes had been destroyed, all of Egypts military runways were bombed preventing any remaining Egyptian planes from taking off, turning these fighter aircraft into sitting ducks to be destroyed by the 2nd sweep of Israeli bombers. General Motti Hod, the head of the IAF at the time, was quoted as stating Even in my wildest dreams I could not have imagined such as achievement, adding Who can express the power of G-d, tell all His praise? (Psalms 106:2). Exactly three hours after the start of Operation Moked, at 10:45, the war had been won. Approximately 300 Egyptian planes had been destroyed and all airfields disabled.
The miracles were not over yet. Egypts allies - Jordan, Syria and Iraq - believed the Egyptians false announcements of great victories against Israel and rushed into the fray, eager to be part of the Great Victory. Arab planes attacked Israeli towns and army bases, but before they had a chance to cause any serious damage, Israels combat pilots and anti-aircraft batteries had shot them down. Following this attack, Israel decided to expand Operation Moked and destroy Syrian and Jordanian aerial power. So at 12:45, the third wave took form and by 3:45, more than 100 Jordanian and Syrian planes had been destroyed and all airfields paralyzed. Within 24 hours, all within the first day of the Six Day War, three major Arab nations threatening Israel had no more air power and the Israeli Air Force was the sole ruler of Middle Eastern skies, a reality that has persisted until today.
Within Six Days, the Israel Defense Forces were stationed along new borders that had expanded the country to three times its pre-war size. Despite the weeks and months of hostile actions prior to the Six Day War unilaterally taken by Israels Arab neighbors that were without a doubt declarations of war, no one in Israel or anywhere else for that matter expected
such an outcome. On the contrary, Israel had prepared for a long and painful war with thousands dead. What transpired was the exact opposite; the world was in awe. In those Six-Days we saw the bravery of the Jewish people march hand in hand with Divine Providence. G-ds outstretched Hand gave us our Land back, as he commanded us: I have given the land before you, come and inherit the land that God swore to your forefathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give to them and their future generations. (Deuteronomy 1:8)
*this article is based in its entirety on a booklet written by Dr. Hagi Ben-Artzi The Six-Day War Scroll, The Story of Yom Herushalayim and the Six Days of Deliverance
The writer, a 25-year veteran of the I.D.F., served as a field mental health officer and Commander of the Central Psychiatric Military Clinic for Reserve Soldiers at Tel-Hashomer. Since retiring from active duty, he provides consultancy services to NGOs implementing Psycho trauma and Psychoeducation programs to communities in the North and South of Israel and is a strategic advisor to the Chief Foreign Envoy of Judea and Samaria. Contact: medconf@netvision.net.il
Watch any cable new show panel discussing Donald Trump, including MSNBC this week, and quite predictably you will hear that Trump is a racist. The latest flap is over the judge overseeing the Trump University lawsuit. The judge is of Mexican heritage and Trump raised concerns as to whether the judge can be impartial based on Trumps hard line stance against illegal immigration from Mexico.
"I'm building a wall. I'm trying to keep business out of Mexico." Trump said. "He's of Mexican heritage, and he's very proud of it, as I am of where I come from."
Is this about race? Or judicial fairness?
Regarding race, Mexican is not a race. In actuality, the federal government maintains five racial groupings white, black, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian/Hawaiian, completely divorced from any anthropological or scientific understanding of race. Mexican is counted by the feds as part of the Hispanic racial group, as are most residents of Central and South America, even though Mexicans racially are 60% Mestizo (mixed Amerindian/Spanish), 30% Amerindian, and 9% European in racial makeup. Trump made no mention of the judge being Hispanic or of any of the racial groups making up Mexicos population, instead only of his Mexican ancestry. Perhaps a fine distinction, but a difference nonetheless.
Trumps concern is instead about judicial impartiality. The judge in question, Gonzalo Curiel, is a member of the La Raza Lawyers of San Diego, a group that claims it is not affiliated with the National Council of La Raza, but which lists that group, strongly opposed to the Trump candidacy, on its website as part of its community. Even the US Supreme Court acknowledges selective justice based on race. The recently upended the death sentence of a black Georgia man convicted by an all-white jury. Meaning that race or ethnicity might prevent judicial fairness.
To be sure, Donald Trump could have spoken more carefully and clearly, instead of initially referring to Judge Curiel, born in the USA, as Mexican, and relying on his affiliations and his serving on a scholarship selection committee that chose an illegal alien to receive funding to attend law school. So why wouldnt Donald Trump be concerned about the rule of law being applied fairly?
Because it often is not.
This past week at his San Jose rally, an unruly mob violently attacked Trump supporters. The mayor, while condemning violence against those exercising free speech and assembly, had his police force stand down for fear of further inciting the crowd. So much for enforcing the law. Any guess whether the response would have different if it had been a Hillary Clinton rally and Trumpsters were beating up her supporters?
Instead Trump supporters were blamed for the violence of Democrats and other anti-Trump forces. The rule of law was trumped over political concerns. Might the Trump University trial face similar selective justice and be of concern to Donald Trump as a defendant in the case?
Beyond Trump, the law is frequently applied selectively depending on politics. Compare the treatment of David Petraeus and Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified material. Or the consequences for Richard Nixon lying and covering up an office break-in versus Barack Obama lying and covering up a deadly attack on a US embassy, blaming it all on a video. Or IRS officials using the immense power and intimidation of their agency to stifle political opponents of the current administration with no one held to account or punished. Where is the rule of law?
What about illegal immigration? Opposition to illegal immigration is not about race, its about enforcing the law. Just like Trumps opposition to the judge. If anything, illegal immigration is a post-racial problem. Its already a model of diversity given the multitude of ethnic and racial groups migrating to America.
Asian women from China enter the US solely to give birth to anchor babies who are then American citizens. Hispanic adults and children illegally cross the Southern border. Refugee resettlement programs, via Obamas executive orders, are bring blacks from Somalia to Minnesota. Are all these immigrants coming to America legally, under laws passed by the peoples representatives in Congress?
What about sanctuary cities, over 300 in the US, where criminal aliens are protected from deportation by local officials flouting existing law? Will Hillary Clinton crack down on this lawlessness? She promises amnesty in her first 100 days, much to the delight of the #NeverTrump movement, the Wall Street Journal, Jeb and Marco, and the Republican donor class. Rule of law? The will of the people? Yet any opposition to such lawlessness is called racist.
Donald Trump is simply echoing the perception of millions of Americans that Lady Justice is no longer wearing a blindfold, dispensing justice fairly and impartially. She has replaced her scales of justice with an opinion poll, weighing popular opinion and political correctness, along with a political agenda, placing a finger on the scale, weighing one side down as political whims desire. Lastly she has replaced her sword with Al Sharptons megaphone, ready to agitate and disrupt.
With repetitive monotony, big media warns that, Donald Trumps hostile remarks about minorities and his unorthodox strategy have imperiled his campaign. Just as they have been warning us for the past year that each of his passing remarks is the final nail in his campaign coffin.
Trump is one of few politicians willing to stand up to and call out those who place politics above the law. Jake Tapper can ask Trump 23 times in one interview if his comments about the judge were racist. Each time Tapper asks, Trump will gain at least 23 new supporters who realize that this entire kerfuffle is not about race but instead about the rule of law.
Brian C Joondeph, MD, MPS, a Denver based retina surgeon, radio personality, and writer. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
On the pleasant summer evening of July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800 left JFK Airport in New York bound for Paris. Twelve minutes after takeoff, about ten miles south of the popular south shore of Long Island, at least two surface-to-air missiles blew the 747 out of the sky, killing all 230 people on board.
I write the above with 100 percent confidence. I owe that confidence to the efforts of a small corps of committed individuals -- eyewitnesses, independent researchers, whistleblowers from within the investigation, and family members who have turned their grief into action. In attempting to get at the truth, at least three of these people were arrested, several others were thrown off the TWA 800 investigation, and every one of them was ridiculed.
In TWA 800: The Crash, The Cover-Up, The Conspiracy (Regnery: July 5), I get to tell their story, an epic one. What makes the story so compelling is that these everyday citizens have struggled against a Goliath that could not have been more powerful. The opposition includes, among other powers, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the FBI, and the CIA.
In a totalitarian country, authorities can suppress information at will. In America, the media have to collaborate in that suppression, and this they did, closing their eyes to the obvious and accepting without evidence the governments unproven theory of a spontaneous fuel tank explosion.
The fact that TWA 800 went down during the reelection campaign of a popular Democrat contributed mightily to the ensuing psychosis. This was less a media conspiracy than a collective pathology, as unwitting as it was unhealthy. So locked were the media into their delusions they quickly came to mock those who did not share them.
Whatever its flaws, America is not the Soviet Union. Thanks to the various sunshine laws, the U.S. government proved surprisingly helpful to researchers. Once the NTSB wrapped up its case in August 2000, citizens had access to a wealth of data, much of it visual. This included an animation of the crash created by the CIA, NTSB animations, hours and hours of video from the NTSB hearing, all seven hundred or so of the FBI witness interviews, scores of eyewitness drawings, and a vast library of charts and photos and technical data.
Working through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), researchers have kept the pressure on ever since. This past year, either through indifference or carelessness, authorities released two distinct items that remove virtually all doubt as to what happened on that July night in 1996 and in the months that followed.
One is the video of a missile test in the waters south of Long Island shot five days before TWA 800 was destroyed. The second and more comprehensive is a mother lode of CIA documents. These memoranda spell out in detail how the CIA covertly assumed control of the investigation and corrupted it. They also point to a scandal within the scandal, one whose implications are no less than historic.
The reader might recall the testimony of George Tenet, then the Director of Central Intelligence, before the 9/11 Commission in March 2004. It was Tenet who first introduced America to the wall that was in place between the criminal side and the intelligence side. He was referring specifically to a memorandum issued by the Department of Justice in 1995.
Said Tenet for the ages, Whats in a criminal case doesnt cross over that line. Ironclad regulations, so that even people in the criminal division and the intelligence divisions of the FBI couldnt talk to each other, let alone talk to us or us talk to them.
In his testimony to the 9/11 Commission John Ashcroft explained the impact of this memorandum on national security. The single greatest structural cause for Sept. 11 was the wall, he noted, then added the kicker, Full disclosure compels me to inform you that its author is a member of the commission.
That commissioner, one of only five Democrats, was a Clinton-era deputy attorney general named Jamie Gorelick. As Hillarys go-to-person in the DOJ it was she who oversaw the TWA 800 investigation. On her watch, as the CIA documents show, the FBI and CIA regularly breached the allegedly ironclad wall to collaborate on the subversion of that investigation. Tenet himself was deeply involved.
Although authorities have tried to make TWA 800 a story of physical evidence, such as frayed wires and bent metal, it has always been a political story, one that the media have done their best to avoid, if not delete.
I got a good sense of their complicity three years ago. Following the release of Tom Stalcup and Kristina Borjessons excellent documentary, TWA Flight 800, I was invited to discuss the crash on CNNs New Day with host Allison Kosik. At the end of this short segment, Kosik asked me why there might have been a cover-up.
This was Bill Clintons Benghazi moment, I said. They [the Clintons] just wanted to kick this can down the road until after November so it would not affect the outcome of the [1996] election. When CNN released the transcript the next day, someone had edited out my answer.
The major media will do their best to ignore the evidence reported in my book, but American Thinker will make it a little more difficult. In the weeks that follow, readers will get to hear from some of the people who have fought in the front lines of this battle over the last twenty years.
Their story is so compelling that no dispassionate observer who reads these accounts or my book will be able to deny the unsettling truth of TWA 800s final flight.
This author was an Army Infantry Drill Sergeant in the 1980s. While the author was attending Drill Sergeant School at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, the Army changed the physical fitness standards. Deviating from the time-tested "Conditioning Drills," which included classics like the 4-Count Push-Up, Sit-Ups, the Side-Straddle-Hop (jumping jacks), etc., they adopted a routine they called "Aerobics."
All the students groaned. "Really? Aerobics?" At the time, aerobics was a routine you would watch women in spandex do on TV, including stretching exercises and breathing techniques. This is how you train professional killers?
Nevertheless, they teach drill sergeants a technique to monitor the physical exhaustion of their troops: you identify the weakest man in the outfit and scrutinize him. When it appears that he's about to die from exhaustion, you relent, giving everyone relief.
It doesn't matter what you call the regimen. Call it "Conditioning Drills," "Aerobics," or "Hooked on Phonics"; once you have 200 boys wallowing in puddles of sweat, sucking wind, with their eyeballs rolling back in their sockets, you have improved their physique. The measurement is the same.
That measurement push them to the brink of exhaustion was established generations ago. That's how it worked in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. It's the same today. Physiology hasn't changed, and neither have red-blooded American boys. Your troops of today are of the same stock as the veterans of Normandy and Khe Sanh. Don't let anyone fool you otherwise.
The past 3 administrations have dispatched our boys to fight in conflicts with their hands tied behind their backs: ridiculous rules of engagement, inadequate support, and nothing but blame when the outcome doesn't fit the narrative.
And yet these boys (they're not boys anymore), on a routine basis, hazard hails of withering small arms fire to kick in doors, lob grenades, and engage enemies in such close quarters that, if they survive, they wear the blood of their adversaries. Bayonets and machetes.
These are men.
These are tomorrow's leaders today. Don't let anyone convince you that today's young soldiers and Marines don't match the caliber of previous generations. Give these valiant young veterans a decade or so to fall back and regroup to sow their wild oats and acclimate themselves back to civilized society and they will rock your world.
The unintended consequence of the incompetent micro-managing of today's armed forces has been the smelting, refining, and tempering of the greatest generation of young leaders this country has yet to see.
The best is yet to come.
Mike VanOuse feels privileged to dwell among these heroic young volunteers.
Austrias anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPO) is likely to formally challenge the presidential election that took place last month and ask for a recount of the postal ballots by Wednesday, its leader said Monday. Speaking on radio station OE1, Heinz-Christian Strache said experts were examining several irregularities that had come to light involving the way postal ballots had been counted.
On 22 May, one of the most bitterly disputed elections in Austrian recent memory saw the two candidates for the office of Bundesprasident (President of the Republic) running neck and neck. They couldn't have been more dissimilar the first a former Communist turned Green, then Independent; the second a member of a populist party with suspected ideological ties to National Socialism. The razor edge that separated them (31,000 votes) pointed to a deeply divided electorate and, beyond, a fractured country.
Gone were the days where Austrians, and the Viennese, lined up the streets with festive banners to welcome the refugees. It gradually dawned on people that those presented to them as desperate creatures fleeing their war-torn countries were often single men vigorous enough to tear down fences and fight with the police. They should have been strong enough to stay and put up a fight. Videos appeared on the net showing migrants angrily refusing food handed out to them if they deemed it not halal, or if it was simply not to their liking. Others pulled stacks of banknotes from their pockets to show they did not want handouts, only passage to their preferred destination. One group leader was seen exhibiting a roadmap to a journalist, showing the specific countries where each had to go. In other words, they were on a mission, sent by an unnamed sponsor.
Such images had a sobering effect on people, but the tipping point was reached on New Year's Eve. The people in Vienna had been issued warnings to avoid public and crowded places, and friends invited me to celebrate at home.
We watched on TV the sexual assaults that had taken place in Germany, but they really hit home when it emerged that Salzburg and Vienna had witnessed incidents of their own, initially concealed by the authorities.
Yet safety concerns were not the only reason for the change of mood. Another was Vienna's deteriorating general appearance. On its once elegant, aristocratic streets, a veiled and bearded crowd had made its entrance, initially in the more commercial district of Mariahilferstrasse but gradually trickling down to the exclusive First District, home to the imperial palace and most monuments and landmarks. Groups of two or three couples walking together, with the women wrapped in all versions of the veil, from the tarha (headscarf) to the hijab and the burqa, were now a familiar sight. So were single men walking in groups of up to six, sometimes making lewd jokes when crossing Europeans of the opposite sex.
Some of the newcomers behaved as if they owned the place. Others were discreet, quietly sipping on drinks at outdoor cafes in the exclusive pedestrian zone not quite what youd expect from refugees. On one occasion, I spotted a group of four or five mature women, clad in veils from top to toe, walking into Forever 21. It was a surprising choice of store for women in their late fifties or sixties, let alone veiled and refugees. They had perhaps overlooked the miniskirts and hot pants in the store windows but, after realizing their mistake, would surely walk out. Not at all on my way back after running errands, I saw them exiting the store, carrying shopping bags.
In another instance, I was returning from dinner with friends, and we saw a lone woman walking up the main pedestrian avenue with her black veils blown by the wind. What was this Merry Widow doing there, un-chaperoned, at such an indecent hour? My friend Renata commented: They inflict the sight of their ugly veils on us, supposedly for religious reasons, but take liberties with all the rest. Why do we have to put up with that?
This remark summed up locals frustration with those whom they increasingly perceived as invaders destroying their way of life.
However, it would be wrong to believe that negative sentiments came only from xenophobic native Austrians. Aslan, a taxi driver, himself an immigrant of Asian origin, admitted to me he had voted for the FPO because too much is too much, and too many potential criminals have already been let into the country.
As for Ahmed, an Egyptian employee at my local grocery store, he did not volunteer details of his vote, but he showed he was none too pleased with the behavior of the newcomers. He described his personal experience with a compatriot who had sought employment at the store. The man kept hashing and rehashing that he had come here to show Austrian kuffar [infidels] the true path to Allah, and he would have none of Ahmeds calls to reason.
One day, Ahmed saw him stuffing his bag with goods stolen from the store. He confronted him, but the man replied: So what? They [the West] have robbed us long enough. Time for a payback!
As has often been pointed out, like attracts like. And in the case of spoiler Bernie Sanders, the pseudo-Democrat running for that party's nomination for president while serving as an independent who by necessity caucuses with the Democrats although he is really a Socialist, this is true. Bernie talks much hot air and has a track record of living off other people's money for instance, his wife, who also has a questionable background but accomplishing little.
Let's look at his Senate record. According to GovTrack.us:
From Jan 2007 to May 2016, Sanders missed 189 of 2,923 roll call votes, which is 6.5%. This is much worse than the median of 1.6% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving.
Granted, for part of this period he was a presidential candidate, but even prior to that, his record on a simple task was poor.
Meanwhile, according to Jeffrey Lazarus of the Washington Post:
Hillary Clinton was a more effective lawmaker than Bernie Sanders During her eight years in the Senate, Hillary Clinton sponsored 10 bills that passed the chamber. The mean senator passes 1.4 bills a year, so Clintons 1.25 bills per year is approximately in line with the chamber average. By contrast, Bernie Sanders has been in the Senate nine years and has sponsored only one bill that passed. (snip) Sanderss legislative effectiveness score was below the House median in seven of the eight Congresses in which he served. (snip) this particular evidence does suggest that Sanders has been less effective than Clinton, and the average member of Congress, at getting his legislation through Congress. Given his agenda, perhaps we should all be grateful for the small things. And so it should not come as a surprise to learn, from an extremely important and informative investigative article in the Los Angeles Times that those berning and yearning for Bernie are among the largest single group of Sanders donors those who dont have a job. Of the $209 million given to the Vermont senators campaign, about one out of every four dollars came from those not in the workforce, who include the unemployed or retired.
Caution: this is not to imply that they are necessarily on welfare they could be severely handicapped or retired or stay-at-home mothers. As Jerry Seinfeld of the show bearing his name and Larry David, the show's creator and Sanders's doppleganger, astutely observed, "[n]ot that there's anything wrong with that." (Full disclosure: As a devoted fan, I believe that that program was full of life's wisdom buried in its comedy.)
But separation from the day-to-day constraints, problems, joys, and realities of work and all it entails does alter one's perception of money and taxes and other people's money.
Sanders donors tend to live in the most liberal parts of the United States -- New England, the Pacific Northwest and California -- and in the ZIP Codes with a high proportion of college graduates. With the exception of urban areas such as Austin, Texas, and Santa Fe, N.M., he draws far fewer donations in the redder parts of the nation -- the South, the Sunbelt and the Midwest. Well that certainly is not a surprise. And neither are those who do work and still support him. After the jobless, people who work in the healthcare, education and technology fields are the next largest sources of Sanders funds. (snip) Not surprisingly, Sanders gets very little money 2% of his overall haul from Wall Street, which he frequently criticizes as corrupt and responsible for creating a rigged economy. Students, who are vocal Sanders supporters, gave even less.
"Wall Street," an overarching term for those who provide the financing and know-how for business and government to function, obviously returns the contempt to Sanders. And students, mostly young naifs with minimal real-life experience though knowing it all, who live off their parents or college money available from other people, are Sanders's supporters. Yeah, that fits.
But students grow up, and most of them get a job. And so their outlook evolves. Except, of course, Sanders, who is in his 70s but hasn't learned much and still retains his childish beliefs. So yes, like attracts like. And those who rely on other people's money are attracted to those who will provide other people's money.
The California presidential primary is getting all the attention today, but there are several House primaries that could go a long way to determining if the GOP can hold on to its majroity.
In North Carolina's Second District, Rep. Renee Ellmers the only House candidate endorsed by Donald Trump is facing off against another incumbent, Rep. George Holding. The two members were thrown into the same district as a result of a redrawn district map in North Carolina.
That race will be close, as will the contests in North Carolina 3, California 24, and Iowa 1.
The Hill:
Ellmers, a Tea Party favorite when she was elected in 2010, now faces a conservative backlash.
Conservative groups such as Americans for Prosperity, which is backed by GOP donors Charles and David Koch, and the Club for Growth are focusing their efforts on defeating her. To make matters worse for Ellmers, half of her new district was once Holding territory.
Ellmers came under fire from anti-abortion and conservative groups last year after she worked to temporarily halt a bill that banned abortion after 20 weeks. Multiple female House GOP lawmakers worried the original legislation treated rape victims unfairly.
Ellmers was among the first GOP lawmakers to endorse Donald Trump for president in an effort to boost her conservative bona fides ahead of the primary.
Yet that may not be enough to keep her in Congress. The most recent Federal Election Commission records showed that Holding had raised about $1.6 million through mid-May, compared to Ellmers $1.3 million.
North Carolinas 3rd District
Rep. Walter Jones faces a rematch against his 2014 Republican primary foe, former George W. Bush administration official Taylor Griffin.
While Jones enjoys widespread name recognition from serving in the House for more than 20 years, this could be his toughest primary challenge yet.
Jones has developed a reputation for frequently bucking his party on issues ranging from financial regulation, campaign finance reform, national security and federal spending. Jones argues it shows he isnt beholden to GOP leaders, but Griffin argues that Joness maverick ways have left him siding with Democrats too much of the time.
Griffin has seized on Joness votes in recent years against the annual defense authorization bill. Joness district includes multiple military bases, such as Camp Lejeune.
Perhaps sensing a vulnerability, Jones last month voted for this years version of the defense policy measure.
[...]
Californias 24th District
The race to succeed retiring Rep. Lois Capps in the Democrats Santa Barbara-area district is unpredictable.
GOP state Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian and Santa Barbara County Supervisor Salud Carbajal, whos backed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, are expected to advance to the general election.
Republican rancher Justin Fareed and Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider, a Democrat, are looking to pull off upsets.
Capps, who has served in the House since 1998, narrowly defeated her Republican general election challenger by a mere 4 points in 2014.
Republicans are hoping that the lack of a Democratic incumbent will heighten their chances of flipping the seat in their favor.
Still, nonpartisan political prognosticators such as the Cook Political Report and the University of Virginias Center for Politics rate the district as likely remaining in Democratic control.
[...]
Iowas 1st District
Freshman Rep. Rod Blum has been one of Democrats top targets since winning the seat previously under the partys control in 2014.
Blum, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, recently created national headlines after declaring that Washington, D.C., needs a recession.
Cedar Rapids City Councilwoman Monica Vernon, whos backed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is considered the favorite to win Tuesdays Democratic primary to face Blum in November.
Yet she will have to edge out former Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy, who lost to Blum two years ago amid the nationwide Republican wave.
Vernon is winning the money race, raking in $1.3 million, compared to $211,000 for Murphy.
Democrats see the race as one of the most critical to win in order to increase their House ranks. Political prognosticators rate the district as a toss up.
The public lost the battle in San Jose last Thursday. But the liberals lost the war.
The great and prolific writer of westerns, Louis LAmour (loo-ee la-moor) was being interviewed some time back and was asked about High Noon, the great western movie with Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly, where a bunch of bad guys just out of jail are coming to town to kill Cooper, the sheriff, who put them away. The movie focuses on a clock, which shows high noon getting closer and closer. Townsmen one by one stop by the sheriffs office, acting nervously, and say they have some urgent task to do, so they wont be able to help the sheriff. He is left all alone to face the bad guys.
LAmour practically spits when he is asked about the picture.
That is not America. That is some communists fantasy of America. That is exactly what America was not about. Let me explain it to you. Two-thirds of the men who settled the Old West (1865-1895) were Civil War veterans. They knew how to shoot and they taught their kids to shoot. They were homesteaders, worked the land themselves in most cases, and had nowhere else to go. That is where they were. The westerns that you see in films and on TV really took place on the wrong side of the tracks. There was also a respectable part of town where standards were maintained by the townsfolk. If some bunch of bad guys took it into their heads that they were going to take over a town, every citizen within miles would show up with a rifle, sometimes having elected and officer from one side or the other in the late war. They would simply mow down the bad guys. There is not a single instance of outlaws overrunning the citizens. That sheriff would never have been left out there alone.
In 1876, the Jesse James Gang, having worn out their welcome in Missouri, decided to take down the bank in Northfield, Minnesota. They traveled up there by train and rode into town on horses. After they got inside the bank and pulled out their guns, one of the clerks ran out of the bank onto the main street of town, shouting that the bank was being robbed. There was no Federal Reserve in those days, no deposit insurance. If the bank lost the money, it was gone.
Some minutes later, the James Gang started to exit the bank. They were met with a hail of bullets. Townsfolk were firing virtually from every window in every building. While the gang got away, they were cut to pieces and were caught, except for the Jameses themselves. (Jesse James was famously later killed at home by Bob Ford.)
The point is that the Northfield, Minnesota raid and the lesser known Dalton Gang raid on Coffeyville, Kansas was stopped cold by the citizenry.
The riotous opposition to Donald Trump's rally in San Jose last Thursday was Northfield, Minnesota. Not exactly. History never repeats, and Trump supporters the public minding their own business, got the worst of it. But that fracas, with some excellent video of citizens being assaulted and/or taken down, showed the public what is at stake. Are we a constitutional republic or not?
Prediction? The crowds at Trump rallies will grow, not diminish. And while we are not talking vigilante, they will be more prepared to cut a path through the paid thugs than they were this time.
The public is going to prevail. Liberals got away with this shinola in the past because it was on the fringe, because the public was not engaged.
It is now.
In view of the intense focus on the Trump University lawsuit by the MSM and lack of inquiry by the same MSM on Laureate Education, it seemed worthwhile to look at Laureate-affiliated schools of higher education located in the U.S., Latin America, and elsewhere. Bill Clinton served as honorary chancellor for Laureate from 2010 until 2015, and he was paid $16.5 million. (Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer points out a connection between Laureate chairman Douglas Becker and increased USAID funding to a non-profit Becker also chaired, the International Youth Federation, while Hillary was secretary of state.)
Walden University is an affiliate of for-profit Laureate Education, and it has a history of problems.
An audit by the Department of Education (DOE) shows that online Walden University gave over $300,000 in student loans to non-citizens (which is against the law) from 2005 to 2008. More recently, Walden ran afoul of the handling of student loan funds for students who had withdrawn, and the DOE is now taking a closer look at Walden. Any adverse decisions by the DOE against Walden could seriously damage Waldens funding model of relying heavily on student loans for revenue. Overall, Laureates U.S. institutions received $461 million in student loan revenue in calendar year 2014.
Walden University is also subject to a class action lawsuit according to SEC filings:
In January 2015, two students filed suit against us [Laureate] and Walden University, seeking class action status and alleging claims for breach of contract and unjust enrichment and violations of the Maryland and Illinois consumer protection laws and California unfair competition law related to the students' doctoral dissertation and master's thesis processes.
I dont recall seeing any MSM outrage over this lawsuit.
Walden offers a masters degree in science education, and a review by the Education Department concludes that it does not measure up:
The program, while a noble attempt at a completely online Master's degree, falls short in the scientific and academic rigor one would expect at the Master's level.
This lack of rigor will likely be part of the lawsuit.
The Laureate schools are heavily regulated by the U.S. government, since they receive millions of dollars in student loan funds. They are also regulated by other countries in which Laureate does business. In this context, it makes sense for Laureate to put Bill on the payroll as honorary chancellor to give Laureate some credibility both in the U.S. and globally.
Once again, an off-base incident in Okinawa, caused by an off-duty intoxicated sailor, has led the admiral who commands all U.S. naval forces throughout the islands to go overboard and punish the entire force for the transgressions of one person.
Petty Officer Aimee Mejia caused a three-car wreck by driving the wrong way on a freeway while apparently alcohol-impaired. For that offense by a single sailor, 18,600 of her shipmates have been restricted to their bases and forbidden from consuming alcohol, on or off base, for an indeterminate period. Rear Admiral Matthew Carter, chief of naval forces, Japan, issued that draconian edict on Monday as a sop to both his politically correct superiors and the government of Japan.
Let's call this overkill punishment what it is: a hastily issued form of apology to mitigate any demonstrations that are sure to be mounted by the leftist, anti-U.S. Japanese political factions that never miss an excuse to demand that all U.S. forces be withdrawn from their country. Rather than throw the book at the offending sailor in a very public court-martial while simultaneously generously compensating the Japanese parties involved in the incident for injuries and damages, no we punish nearly 20,000 innocent American citizens who did nothing, just to demonstrate our sincerity and determination.
Yeah, right, Admiral Carter as you and the rest of us all know full well, locking up thousands of sailors and denying them adult beverages for long enough to constitute what you consider a satisfactory penance is certain to prevent incidents like this in the future. It's not as though it were a fact of life that navies are made up of young people and young people have a proclivity to drink to excess and sometimes operate motor vehicles when they shouldn't. But you, instead of punishing the few who transgress, are going to make your entire command pay just so you can make the grand gesture. That gesture, by the way, is most assuredly soon to be criticized by the Japanese themselves as this grounding of our troops plays holy hell with their local economies.
Then there's the matter of troop morale and retention, Admiral Carter. How many first-time enlistees who have been subjected to your whimsical ability to make their lives suddenly miserable just to satisfy your own mea culpa are going think back on that experience when weighing the pros and cons of re-enlisting? Mass punishment is effective only as long as it is in effect. As soon as it's lifted, the irresponsible sailors in your force will go right back to being so, perhaps with even more zeal built up during their restraint. Your responsible sailors will go on being so, just as they always do, but with less respect for your leadership, because, unlike you, they know that mass punishment is damned well unfair and employed only by unimaginative leaders who, not knowing what else to do, resort to meaningless gestures.
In the matter of apologies and mass punishment, a commenter at another site suggested that every time an illegal Mexican national gets picked up in a drunk driving accident in this country, we arrest a thousand other illegal Mexican nationals and imprison them for an indeterminate period, only releasing them back to their native country when the Mexican president publicly apologizes to the people of America for the one drunk's bad behavior. At the rate Mexican illegals get arrested for drunk driving and causing accidents when driving impaired, it wouldn't be too long before millions of them were either in jail or back in Mexico. California alone would probably be incarcerating a million per week, with Texas not far behind. And unlike with sailors, if you locked up that many illegal Mexicans, the crime rates would drop dramatically.
See, Admiral Carter? That idea makes about as much sense as your mass punishment does. You know, if it's just a high-level apology you need, there's a guy in Washington who just loves....
Im not saying that this Liberal grandstanding would not have happened if Trump was still in charge of the event, but it was certainly front and center under the new regimes first run.
Thomas Lifson adds:
I am very familiar with the situation in Okinawa, which hosts half of the US forces stationed in Japan, and which is the poorest prefecture in Japan. There is a bubbling cauldron of resentment, much of it historically grounded, and every time local people suffer at the hands of misbehavior by US troops, there are strong calls to remove the bases.
I am certain that the commander is very worried about the continued viability of his forces location in Okinawa. From a public relations standpoint, this inexcusable incident requires some form of sacrifice on the part of the offending party not simply the individual but the collective. In the Japanese tradition, an artful act of seppuku on the commanders part might well be an effective symbol of responsibility taken. However, that is not consistent with our own traditions.
The analogy to Mexicans in the United States is completely flawed. Drunk drivers are not here as representatives of the Mexican government, enjoying special diplomatic status, and occupying bases on our soil.
Collective punishment is unpleasant and unfair to the innocent. But it also can create peer pressure to behave better. I am not familiar enough with the specifics of the situation to judge was the sailor out drinking alone, or were there peers with her? But I am certain that the commander had the big picture in mind: the continued ability of US forces to use the bases. It is not merely the left that is upset over the bases, though the left are the first to capitalize on any incidents.
Yes, I watched the Miss U.S.A. pageant with my daughters. Im man enough to admit it -- I hope without coming off as metro-sexual although my kids did buy me pajamas identical to Pajama Boys.
Not unexpectedly, given the new ownership, the Liberal agenda was on full display. Inconvenient for the pageant organizers though, a proud soldier from a family of soldiers walked away with the crown. Im certain Obama will take credit for her win somehow.
It was, as usual, incredibly boring for any adult male watching, but I enjoy the banter among my wife and kids throughout especially after the excitement of prom dresses and hairdos the day before. It did get interesting during the final 5 questions though. Keep in mind the contestants have only 30 seconds to complete their answers:
The first question was basically, what is Muhammad Alis greatest legacy. Now the young girls parents were likely in grade school when Cassias Clay was commenting, "Thank God my granddaddy got on that boat! So its quite possible from her answer that she had no idea who this guy was. She did move on to the final three but it was probably based on her grace under pressure and not her response.
Second question was a potentially loaded question about whether women should serve in combat roles in the armed services. Thing is, the question was addressed to a 26 year old Army commander in the reserves. Talk about a set up. Miss District of Columbia marched into the finals on the back of this question ultimately winning. From the beginning, she was my pick, but I have a big place in my heart for military women and what they do. I was disappointed that they didnt use any weapons drills in her background videos, just a lot of standing around in uniform stuff. Last year they had a firearms expert as a contestant who made the final three. Plenty of hunting photos of her which probably generated a lot of negative feedback from the anti-2nd Amendment folks.
Third question to Miss Georgia, a beautiful young black woman. It should have been a punt for her but she stumbled on the question of whether I.D. laws passed in 17 states were designed to make it too difficult for some (black?) people to vote. They should have walked her off the stage right there, she was so clueless. The thing is that even if youre black and from Georgia, you probably dont care much about this topic. About 80% of Americans, including a lot of blacks, think its okay to have to show I.D. Miss U.S.A. pageant took it on the chin with this one. Their attempt at a Liberal social statement fell flat.
Fourth, continuing the Liberal fishing trip, the next question had a British judge asking how she would solve the biggest challenge in America today social and economic inequality. I wasnt a fan of Miss California from the moment that she was on mic and yelled, Viva Ecuador! Hello, this is Miss U.S.A.! Anyway, she had no idea what they were talking about either. She did mumble that poor people should work harder. An honest but not PC answer. She likely comes from a hard working immigrant family that stressed hard work and the American dream but thats not the Liberal meme. I felt that something was up because she kept getting through each round even though her performances were lackluster. I imagined the back story that never happened was probably that she is a DREAM Act child and was supposed to win and show what DREAMers can do if just given a chance. Unfortunately for the Lefties, real or imagined, she tripped up so badly that they might have given her a one way ticket back to Ecuador on her way out the door.
The Fifth and final contestant from Hawaii got the zinger of all zingers. This one was totally inappropriate and was met with a long round of boos from the audience. There were still boos resonating when they came back from commercial requiring a follow up by the host explaining that the judges asking the questions did not make up the questions, they were just reading them. What was the question? Basically, Who will you vote for, Hillary or Trump? I was in Vegas last month while the Nevada Democratic Convention was in town and witnessed firsthand just how pro-Bernie Vegas is, so Im sure the loudest jeers were from his contingency in the audience. The young lady from Hawaii didnt flinch but she also didnt answer the question, which was the correct thing to do. Her non-response won her Miss Runner Up.
Im not saying that this Liberal grandstanding would not have happened if Trump were still in charge of the event, but it was certainly front and center under the new regimes first run.
This is not going to end well.
The Associated Press reports:
Philadelphia wants to avoid a repeat of 2000 when it arrested more than 400 protesters at the Republican National Convention, only to see most cases end in acquittals. Less than two months before the Democratic National Convention comes to town, a City Council committee has passed legislation letting police issue $100 civil fines rather than make criminal arrests for many nuisance crimes. The offenses include disorderly conduct, blocking a street and failing to heed a request to disperse.
These fines are far lower than what we in California must pay for a simple speeding ticket. Not taking people into custody means that those people will be free to continue demonstrating and making mischief.
I suppose this has something to do with the currently fashionable rhetoric denouncing mass incarceration, aka locking up bad guys.
President Obama delivered this years commencement address to the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. on June 2. It contained several insights into his own vision as to the why and wherefore of his foreign policy of smart diplomacy and engagement.
For starters, Obama claims that it is either engagement or isolationism. Either we engage in the festering problems over there or we retreat into isolationism and ignore all festering problems over there. We should not wash our hands of conflicts that seem intractable [and] let other countries fend for themselves. The Obama administration is proud that the U.S. is the 911 for the rest of the world:
When there is a problem around the world, they do not call Beijing or Moscow. They call us. And we lead, not by dictating to others, but by working with them as partners, by treating other countries and their peoples with respect. Not by lecturing them.
Seems he forgot to mention leading by drone strikes and covert operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen. Evidently, smart diplomacy is abetted by a little drone diplomacy. The real kicker is, of course, leading by money and blood diplomacy the Obama share of the 6 trillion dollars and three thousand military lives lost since 9/11.
As this article from American Thinker points out, even former heads of Obamas intelligence agencies admit that the Obama administrations foreign policy has been a flop. Indeed, not only has it been a flop, from Libya to Afghanistan to Iraq and now Syria, but our story over there has been a story of blood, money down the drain, and turning a blind eye to genocidal persecution of non-Islamic religions. But in the mind of our president it has been a story of America being asked to use the great diplomatic kills of his administration to resolve international conflicts a story of partnership and mutual respect:
When there is a problem around the world, they do not call Beijing or Moscow. They call us. And we lead, not by dictating to others, but by working with them as partners, by treating other countries and their peoples with respect. Not by lecturing them.
As Victor Davis Hansen concluded in his review of the Obama smart foreign policy, which he sees as little more than being in the disastrous appeasement mode, [a]ppeasement continues not because it works, but because it serves the pretensions of narcissists.
Back in 2008, Google was sued by a group of California advertisers over their ad placement practices. The group alleged that Google had misled them by failing to inform them fully of where their purchased AdWords ads would end up, resulting in wasted ad investment and even bad press, in some instances. The circle of ad firms fought to bring a class action lawsuit against Google over the issue, but eventually hit a wall because of a precedent set in the court system in 2011 with a case against Wal-Mart by its employees. In essence, a class action lawsuit can only happen if each member stands to be owed a roughly equivalent amount by the plaintiff, allowing equal distribution of winnings in court. When an appeals court overturned that notion and allowed the advertisers to band together against Google, the search giant took their plight to the U.S. Supreme Court. News broke on Monday that the court refused to hear their appeal.
The particular issue in question is that ads that Google sold wound up in two types of places where they would do advertisers little good and possibly drum up bad press. The ads could be seen on error pages on some sites, minimizing their chances of being seen at all and, for the most part, having users associate the advertised products with the annoyance of an error message. The ads also found themselves on parked domains, which are mirrored or non-functional domains that often have either no content and all or just ads, and are used to secure domain names for future use or keep them from being misused in a way that would tarnish the actual pages image.
Advertisement
Users typically reach these pages by following dead links or mistyping a URL, which, like error pages, minimizes a users chance of seeing an ad and makes it synonymous with annoyance. For the moment, Google has nothing to say about the issue, nor do any of the advertisers or law firms involved. The overturning of established precedent, essentially unwritten law, is quite significant and, whatever the outcome or implications of the case itself may be, will likely have far-reaching long-term effects.
We know that the next Galaxy Note is coming rather soon. In fact, we heard last week that we were about 2 months out from the Galaxy Note event. Which puts the event around early-August. That also means that the rumor mill is going to be working overtime in the next few weeks, leading up to the event. Many of us believed that this years Galaxy Note would be the Galaxy Note 6, given that last year we had the Galaxy Note 5. However recent leaks and reports have pointed at it being called the Galaxy Note 7, to bring the Galaxy Note in line with the Galaxy S lineup. Now we have another leak coming our way from Chinese micro-blogging website Weibo, that is giving more evidence to the fact that itll be the Galaxy Note 7.
The image you see above was posted on Weibo, and states The Next Note and has a 7 above it. Now theres no Samsung logo, or even a mention of Galaxy anywhere on this image. So it is very possible that this is a fake image, or one that someone put together in Photoshop or Paint. Which means well be taking it with a grain of salt, as we should with any leak these days. But given the other leaks and rumors weve seen lately, it doesnt appear to be that far off.
Advertisement
Samsung is looking to put out the Galaxy Note 7 ahead of the new iPhone release in September. Its something they did last year, and it worked out well for them. Many have wondered whether we might see two devices launch in August from Samsung. However, many of the famous leakers out there are saying that there is only one device that will be debuting in August. Which is the Galaxy Note 7. That means no Galaxy S7 Edge+ nor a Galaxy Note 7 Edge. Samsung dabbled in making a Edge version of the Galaxy Note 4 back in 2014, but since then they have kept that to the Galaxy S line. It looks like Samsung has cut back this year, whether that be due to saturating the market, or another reason, well likely never know. We should know more on the Galaxy Note 7 fairly soon though.
Huawei and Xiaomi are neck and neck in China as far as market share is concerned, but on a global scale, Huawei is way ahead. This China-based company has been selling their devices internationally for a long, long time now, and their Honor sub-brand is quite popular outside of China as well. The companys Honor 6, Honor 6 Plus, Honor 4A and Honor 5X devices have been immensely successful in the last couple of years, and it seems like Honor is planning to release yet another smartphone really soon, read on.
Honor has released a new teaser on their official Weibo (Chinese social network) page. As you can see, the company is teasing the Honor 5A (and quite possibly 5A Plus) announcement for June 12th. Anyhow, both the Honor 5A and 5A Plus have already been certified by TENAA (Chinas equivalent to the FCC), and thanks to those listings, we basically know what will these two devices look like, and what specs can we expect them to feature. The Honor 5A will sport a 5-inch 720p (1280 x 720) display, along with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The phone will be fueled by an unnamed quad-core processor running at 1.3GHz, and a 2,200mAh battery will also be a part of this package. The 13-megapixel camera will be Honor 5As main shooter, while the 2-megapixel snapper will be available up front. Android 5.1 Lollipop will ship out of the box on this handset, and on top of it, you can expect to see Huaweis Emotion UI (EMUI) skin. The Honor 5A will measure 143.8 x 72 x 8.9mm, while it will weigh 138 grams.
Advertisement
The Honor 5A Plus, on the other hand, will be a larger alternative to the Honor 5A. This device will feature a 5.5-inch 720p (1280 x 720) panel, and will also ship with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, just like its smaller sibling. This device, unlike the Honor 5A, will be fueled by an octa-core SoC running at 1.8Ghz. The 3,000mAh battery will be included here, and the device will ship with 13 and 8-megapixel cameras on its back and front, respectively. This smartphone will measure 154.3 x 77.1 x 8.45mm, while it will weigh 168 grams.It is expected to ship with more or less the same software as the Honor 5A, and both of these phones will offer 4G LTE connectivity, in case you were wondering.
Its about that time. Time for a new flagship from Motorola. Actually, that would be Lenovo now. You see, a lot has changed for Motorola since their last flagship announcement in July 2015. The company has been completely integrated into Lenovo, who bought the company from Google in 2014. Additionally, the name Motorola is now gone. But Moto is here to stay, and is serving as the brand for Motorolas products, at least for the foreseeable future. When Lenovo bought Motorola, a lot of people were worried that Lenovo might ruin the company. Although that might be strong wording there, many were afraid of what changes Lenovo may bring to Motorola. Especially on the software front. After Motorola had released a few devices with stock Android and some really neat software features on top. Meanwhile, Lenovo uses a heavy skin in their homeland of China. Something that many in the US wont be a fan of. The moment of truth may come this week when and if Lenovo unveils their new flagship under the Moto brand.
The company isnt all that has changed and will change. The first thing we need to address in this preview is the name. It has been rumored that Lenovo will rebrand the flagship line of smartphones to Moto Z from Moto X. This is essentially the opposite of what Sony did this year, going from Xperia Z to Xperia X. Its not a big deal, but hopefully well have a better naming scheme this time around. According to leaks, everything will be branded under the Moto Z moniker. This includes the Moto Z Play, Moto Z Style and even Moto Z Droid Edition. Which is definitely going to be a mouthful. The Moto Z is expected to debut at Lenovos Tech World event that is taking place on June 9th in San Francisco, along side a few other products.
Advertisement
Specifications
When talking about the Moto Z, there are two smartphones, at least. The rumor mill has spun us at least two distinct smartphones this time around. Likely continuing with the Moto X Play and Moto X Style monikers that we got last year. The codenames for these models are Vertex and Vector Thin. The Vector Thin is expected to be the higher-end Moto Z Style, and is slated to have a 5.5-inch Quad HD AMOLED display. Inside, were looking at the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor along with either 3GB or 4GB of RAM, depending on the model. The device will also sport 32GB of storage, although there is no word on a micro SD card slot, we will likely see that as a feature on the Moto Z Play as well. The camera is supposedly going to be a 13-megapixel camera with laser autofocus and optical image stabilization included. The Vector Thin is measuring in at just 5.2 millimeters thin and will boast a somewhat small 2600mAh battery.
Advertisement
The other device, which is the Vertex, is slated to be the Moto Z Play, which is a bit lower-end with a larger battery. Were looking at the same sized display, but instead of Quad HD, its a 1080p AMOLED panel this time around. Itll be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor which is overclocked from 2.0GHz to 2.4GHz. Lenovo is also slated to be selling this in a few different models, with a 16GB of storage and 2GB of RAM model and a 32GB storage and 3GB of RAM model. The camera on the Vertex is rumored to be a 16-megapixel shooter with laser-assisted and phase detection autofocus. The Vertex is a bit thicker than the Vector Thin, coming in at 7 millimeters thick. That is partially due to its larger 3500mAh battery inside.
Software
Advertisement
Its tough to say what we may see in terms of software for the Moto Z. With this being the first phone from Moto without the name Motorola under Lenovo, we could be in for some changes. However, where Lenovo has already unveiled the new Moto G4 (as well as Moto G4 Plus and Moto G4 Play), we can pretty much assume that the software well see on the Moto Z will be fairly similar. It appears that Lenovo did stick to stock Android on the Moto G4 series, which is a good thing, as that is what the majority of Motorolas fans loved seeing. Of course, there will be a few features added on top.
From the leaked images weve seen, it looks like the IR blasters are making a return to the Moto Z this year. And that likely means that Moto Display is sticking around. Now whether it sticks to that name or gets rebranded is another story. With Moto Display, you are able to wave your hand over the display when its asleep and see what notifications you have. This essentially takes the place of the notification LED. Moto Voice, Moto Assist and Moto Actions should also remain intact this time around. The big question here is what other features will we see on top of Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow? We dont expect to see it launching with Android N, seeing as were still a few months out from the final release of Android N. But as weve seen with Motorolas track record (which hopefully carries over to Lenovo), we should see Android N fairly soon on the Moto Z.
MotoMods
Advertisement
Specs arent the entire story here with the Moto Z family though. The big feature of these devices is going to be modularity. According to the rumor mill, Lenovo is also going the modular route with their flagship. Although, unlike LG, they are opting to place modules on the back of the device, instead of swapping out the bottom of the smartphone. There have been a few modules leaked already. Which include a back cover with a pico projector included, one with JBL speakers, and a third with a Hasselblad camera. Another leak showed the Style Mods for the Moto Z. Which are essentially the back-plates of the device, but in different materials and colors. Weve seen them in leather and wood, and another material that appears to be ballistic nylon. If it is indeed ballistic nylon, it would be a first for the Moto X line, as that material has only been used on the Droid lineup that is exclusive to Verizon.
The big question is how will these connect to the smartphone. Well there are pogo pins located on the back of the device which many thought was the speaker. These pogo pins will allow the MotoMods to connect to the device and do all sorts of things. Weve seen three different mods already, and there are likely plenty more that Lenovo is holding back from leaking out.
Advertisement
Weve heard rumors that while Lenovo will have a number of MotoMods available at launch, they are also going to be opening the platform up to developers to create their own MotoMods for the Moto Z. This is similar to what LG has done for the modules for the LG G5. Although many developers havent taken them up on that offer just yet.
With Lenovo also going the modular route, this leads many to wonder what happens with the next-generation Moto Z? Or even Lenovos other smartphones. If these modules only work with the Moto Z, and not the Moto Z2 (or whatever Lenovo calls next years model), then many customers arent going to see it as a selling point and likely wont want to buy any. This is something that Lenovo will need to address in their announcement of the Moto Z. This way potential customers are actually likely to buy these MotoMods that Lenovo has created.
Design
Advertisement
Each iteration of the Moto X has seen a slightly different design, and this year looks to be a huge change in design. First of all, it appears that we have a metal unibody design, and gone is the Motorola dimple that we all loved so much. However, the Motorola logo is remaining in that spot, but it appears to be flat. The back is fairly plain, with the camera up at the top of the device, and sporting a flat-tire look, like the Moto 360 smartwatch. The camera module is round, and the bottom of the module appears to house the flash. While the laser auto-focus and other sensors are on the left side of the camera. Then we have the pogo pins for the MotoMods near the bottom. It also looks like the volume rocker and power button are situated on the right side, with the charging port on the bottom. From the renders weve seen, its tough to say whether Lenovo is going USB Type-C on the Moto Z or sticking with Micro USB. Although the Moto G4 family that was recently announced does stick with Micro USB this time around.
The front of the device does look a whole lot like the Moto G4 family. With the fingerprint sensor on the bottom of the front of the device. And there also appears to be IR Blasters in each corner. These are used for Moto Display, so its no surprise that these are sticking around for another generation. The Moto Z, at least the renders weve seen so far, does look an awful lot like a typical Motorola smartphone. And thats not a surprise nor a bad thing. Seeing as Motorolas employees are still working on their smartphones, it makes a whole lot of sense. This means that Motorolas DNA is still alive and well and present in these new smartphones. From what weve seen of the Moto Z Style and Moto Z Play, they do look to be pretty nice smartphones.
Advertisement
Pricing & Availability
Obviously we dont have any confirmation on pricing or availability. But we can expect to see the Moto Z Style and Moto Z Play launching at some point this summer. It likely wont launch the same day as its announcement, however. If Lenovo follows last years pricing for these two devices, the Moto Z Play should be cheaper than the Moto Z Style, which will sell for around $400 USD. Its worth noting that last year the Moto Z Play was not available in the US. Hopefully that is not the case this year. As many users would love to have a device with a slightly lower resolution display, and a huge 3500mAh battery.
Last year, Motorola only sold the Moto X Style (as the Moto X Pure Edition) in the US and it was not available at any wireless carriers. Motorola only sold it unlocked. Which also meant that we saw one device work on four carriers. We will likely see that again this year. However its tough to say whether that plan worked out well for Motorola and Lenovo. So we may see it also be available at carriers, while sticking with the one SKU working on all four carriers. Similar to the Nexus 6 that Motorola did with Google in 2014.
The Wrap Up
Theres a lot of hype surrounding Lenovos June 9th announcement. This is the first mobile event that Lenovo has held in the US outside of a trade show like CES. Which makes it a pretty big deal. Were expecting to see their Project Tango phone, which is expected to be a 6.4-inch smartphone, along with the Moto Z lineup. Lenovo hasnt confirmed that we will see the Moto Z at this event, but it is fairly likely. Its going to be exciting to see what direction Lenovo is taking the Moto brand in, especially after many have been skeptical as to what Lenovo may do with Motorola since buying them in 2014. We wont have to wait long for Lenovo to show us exactly what they have planned for Moto, though.
After last years scare surrounding the Stagefright vulnerability in Android, Google vowed to make sure that this didnt happen again and since then the firm has been releasing monthly security updates to Nexus devices and Android as a whole. While Google can quite easily update their own Nexus devices with these patches, its a little more difficult to get other manufacturers onboard. One name that appears to be taking these monthly updates a little more seriously than others however, is Samsung. Following in Googles footsteps, the South Korean brand has issued their own security bulletin for the month of June, 2016.
The June 2016 bulletin details vulnerabilities that will be fixed in Samsungs Security Maintenance Release (SMR), and for the most part line up with Googles own, but also adds some very specific issues that relate only to Samsung devices. An example of a specific Samsung issue would be SVE-2015-5068 which could ultimately allow users to access a USB OTG drive even when a Galaxy device was in the setup process (before anyone has signed into any accounts etc) and then install whatever they wanted to. Elsewhere however, and the short list for June mostly lines up with what Google has fixed in their own June release, and this June 2016 bulletin from Samsung is more of a list of vulnerabilities and their fixes, rather than a changelog of a definitive update.
Advertisement
Rolling out an update to all of Samsungs currently-supported devices with these changes is probably a lot more difficult than wed imagine, but the June 2016 bulletin does disappoint when it says that Samsung Mobile is releasing a maintenance release for major flagship model. This pretty much suggests that only devices from the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note lines will be getting any sort of SMR OTA update in the near future, and even then its hard to tell just when Samsung will get round to updating all of these devices. Even so, it is good to see Samsung at least keep in step with Googles fixes, and if something urgent comes along, this new approach to staying on top of things could make it a lot easier for them to roll out updates quicker.
Over the past several years, Samsung Electronics made countless efforts to become less dependent on third-party component manufacturers and suppliers, partly in order to minimize the risks of supply shortages. Interestingly enough, some years ago the same company together with Intel also began working on its own mobile operating system called Tizen OS, yet Samsung Electronics and Intel were not the only ones involved in the platforms development. Initially, more than 10 companies became members of the Tizen Alliance board of directors, but as the years went by, more and more companies seem to have lost interest in the platform and abandoned the Tizen Alliance one after another. Today, according to a recent report, the Tizen Alliance is left with only four members, including Samsung Electronics.
Tizen OS was initially viewed as a response to Android OS and iOS, and its goals were to become a powerful mobile platform able to openly compete with its rivals. However, while Samsung Electronics currently uses Tizen OS for a number of products, including home appliances, smart TVs, and wearables, only a handful of low and mid-range smartphones including the rather unimpressive Samsung Z1 have been released with Tizen OS in tow. Needless to say, the operating system in question has yet to challenge Googles Android OS, and more Tizen Alliance members seem to lose interest in the platform. Reportedly, the Tizen Alliance now consists of only four members, namely Samsung Electronics, Intel, SK Telecom, and LG U+, with Intel now becoming the only board member whose headquarters are not located in South Korea. Meanwhile, Huawei, KT, NTT DoCoMo, and Orange Telecom have stepped down from the board of directors to become advisory board members, whereas Fujitsu left the board entirely. Japans NTT DoCoMo used to be one of the most enthusiastic partners in the platforms early days of development, but today the mobile operator in question shows little-to-no interest in Tizen OS. In the meantime, Huawei is not taking part in the Tizen OS at the moment according to a company official, largely due to the fact that Huawei changed its direction with its self-developed OS.
Advertisement
Needless to say, Tizen OS seems to be struggling and as more partners keep abandoning the platform, Samsung Electronics might find it increasingly difficult to keep the Tizen Alliance alive. Nevertheless, Samsung seems to continue and have faith in its platform at least in some areas and aside from Tizen OS 3.0 expected to launch this fall, the company also plans to push Tizen OS into the automotive market as a platform for infotainment systems. In any case, the OS future seems somewhat uncertain and only time will tell what will eventually become of the Tizen Alliance.
Verizon Wireless has long been believed to be one of the leading candidates to buy struggling internet giant, Yahoo Inc. Now, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the carrier plans to submit a $3 Billion second-round bid for the core internet business of the Sunnyvale, California-based internet company. The carrier is said to have roped in Bank of America as one of the investment banks to facilitate the proposed transaction. Verizon, however, is not the only suitor for the beleaguered Silicon Valley search giant. Private-equity firm TPG is also said to be one of the parties seriously interested in scooping up the internet assets of Yahoo, and is reportedly also expected to put in a bid of its own before the expiry of the deadline.
Of course, its not just Verizon and TPG whore interested in buying parts of Yahoos vast assets, which range from real estate to intellectual property. A number of other private equity and venture capital firms are also believed to have submitted their bids in the first round, but it isnt clear just as yet whether any of those companies have participated in the second-round of bidding until now. Those firms include the likes of Advent International and Vista Equity Partners. There was also a group led by the founder of Quicken Loans, Mr. Dan Gilbert that was said to be interested in acquiring Yahoos internet assets. Either way, Yahoo is apparently planning to hold a third-round of bids at some stage in the near future, so things may yet change after this latest round of bidding.
Advertisement
Coming to the all-important factor valuation. While Yahoo insiders had claimed in April that they expect Yahoos core business to draw bids of around $4 Billion $8 Billion, reports last month seemed to indicate that the business was only expected to draw bids in the region of $2 Billion to $3 Billion, which is substantially lower than what Yahoo executives and shareholders would have bargained for. Either way, it remains to be seen which way the cookie crumbles in the end and who ends up owning the web assets of Yahoo Inc. There have been no comments forthcoming from either Yahoo, Verizon or TPG on the matter.
No, John Oliver did not give away nearly $15 million of medical debt
John Oliver is the news king of talk telly. But unlike Oprah, hes not giving away free cars hes burning cash! The host of HBOs Last Week Tonight is a hero:
Any idiot can get into it, and I can prove that to you, because Im an idiot and I started a debt buying company and it was disturbingly easy, Oliver said. John Oliver forgave nearly $15 million of medical debt with a tap of a giant red button on Sunday night.
No. Wrong. It was cracking TV. But he did not do as CNN said he did. He purchased his lot on the secondary market at a huge discount.
Last Week Tonight spent about $50 to create a debt-acquisition company in Mississippi. The corporations name is Central Asset Recovery Professionals Inc also known as Carp. According to Oliver, soon after its creation, Carp was offered a portfolio of medical debt worth $14,922,261.76 at a cost of less than half a cent on a dollar, which is less than $60,000.
Not $15m, then. And at $60,000 it was a marketing and PR bargain.
Anorak
Posted: 7th, June 2016 | In: Celebrities, Money, Reviews, TV & Radio Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
(ANSA) - Brussels, June 7 - The European Union is planning to revise its Blue Card system which allows highly-skilled non-EU citizens to work and live in member states, by abolishing national programmes and creating one unified scheme. The Blue Card directive was adopted by member states in 2009, excluding Denmark, Ireland and Britain. The revised scheme, which will also open it to refugees, is expected to lead to a positive economic impact of between 1.4 billion and 6.2 billion euros per year.
Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos presented the revised initiative to the EU parliament on Tuesday.
It aims to promote a new EU policy on legal migration, to face skills shortages and attract talent to help cope with future demographic challenges. The proposal aims to extend the scheme, for example, to Syrian refugees who could work in the EU based on their skills and education, filling vacancies.
ITALAIR puts out fire in southern Lebanon Italian teams operating in mined area along Israeli border
(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, JUNE 7 - The helicopters of Task Force ITALAIR, an Italian aerial support unit operating with UNIFIL, have extinguished a fire in a mined area in southern Lebanon along the border with Israel. The five-hour operation in Maroun Al-Ras was made necessary due to dangers to firefighters in a heavily mined area. At least 24 explosions were heard during the fire. Founded in 1979, ITALAIR, which answers directly to UNIFIL commander and general Luciano Portolano, is the longest-serving unit of the UN mission as well as Italy's only joint air force unit deployed in an operating theater abroad. It has conducted over 40,000 flight hours over the past 37 years for peacekeeping activities in southern Lebanon. (ANSAmed)
(by Alessandra Baldini)
NEW YORK - Eight men and women use markers to trace their itinerary on a map while describing their journey of hope in Arabic, Italian and English as part of ''The Mapping Project''.
The brainchild of French-Moroccan artist Bouchra Khalili, the eight videos will appear on suspended screens filling the atrium at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) until October 10. The journeys zigzag across North Africa, the Middle East and Europe and sometimes the stories are incomplete - such as that of a woman who departed from Mogadishu and landed in Bari. She marks every step with an arrow and not a dot, and the Italian one still has an arrow pointing north.
''I have learned Italian but I am not happy here,'' she says, noting that her dream is to migrate to Norway. Made between 2008 and 2010, and thus prior to the migration crisis of the past few months, the video shows the marker moving across the map alongside subtitles: "After two months in Tripoli I took a boat to Italy". "I was sent to Palermo". "But Lampedusa was ok". "I am fine". "We saw a shark".
"But it turned bad". The protagonists remain anonymous. The installation, curated by Stuart Comer and Giampaolo Bianconi from the Department of Media and Performance Art, was purchased by MoMA in 2015 and is the only museum to have a complete collection of the eight videos. The migration crisis has inspired other artists and museum curators as well. Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei is currently working on a documentary filmed in Lesbos and other Greek islands, while on June 12 the Barbican Centre in London will be holding a festival to celebrate art, architecture and culture created in European refugee camps, at the crossroads between mass migration and politics. The refugee issue will be addressed at MoMA in October with an exhibition on how architecture and design have dealt with the contemporary notions of ''shelter'' through the lens of migrations and the new global emergency. "Insecurities: Tracing Displacement and Shelter" will bring together the work of architects, designers and artists and will include the ''Better Shelter'' created by IKEA alongside UNHCR for refugee camps in the Middle East, as well as the modules designed by Estudio Teddy Cruz, a California-based artist working alongside the border between Mexico in Tijuana, who ''reproduced'' the border wall at the 11th Venice Architecture Biennale.
(ANSAmed) - TUNIS - Every Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a large amount of food ends up in Tunisian rubbish bins. In an attempt to correct the situation, the environmental association Zero Waste Tunisia has launched a campaign against waste through photos accompanying such slogans as 'A Third of Our Plates Ends Up in the Rubbish' and 'Don't Buy Bulk: We Don't Eat in Bulk and Are Responsible'. The aim is to encourage Tunisians to consume moderate amounts and in a responsible manner. The Tunisian consumer institute reports that at least a third of food products purchased during the month of Ramadan end up in the trash, especially bread. It calculates that a 35% increase in bread consumption during this period of the year costs the state some 150,000 euros per day, since bread is subsidized. To give an idea of the increase in consumption during the period: sweets increase by 60%, mutton by 24% and white meat by 40%. Consumption of canned tuna and sardines rises by a whopping 420%.
This all has serious effects on consumers' health. (ANSAmed).
(ANSAmed) - Brussels - EU member states cannot imprison foreigners simply because they illegally entered the country, the European Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday.
The case involved a Ghanaian woman without proper documents who had been detained by French authorities on the border with Belgium. The Luxembourg judges ruled that taking into custody a non-EU national only for illegal entry violates the EU directives relating to repatriation.
The court added that detaining a non-EU citizen simply for illegally crossing a border would delay procedures to send the person back to their country of origin or a country of transit.
EU rules only allow imprisonment if a foreigner remains despite being the subject of a return procedure, breaches a ban on entering the country or commits other crimes.
(ANSAmed) - STRASBOURG - Helping African and Mideast countries of migrant origin and transit in exchange for processing and resettlement deals: this is the core of the European Commission Migration Plan unveiled on Tuesday to the EU parliament by European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans and Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos. The Plan takes up Italian proposals on helping African countries of migrant origin and transit in exchange for processing and resettlement deals. The first seven countries tapped to be involved are reportedly Ethiopia, Eritrea, Niger, Nigeria, Mali, Lebanon and Jordan. It would combine billions of euros in funds to build border, asylum and counter-smuggling capacities, as well as promote investment in African and Middle East countries.
EU Commission plans to allocate 8 million euro in five year and mobilize about 60 mln of private investments. The Plan was the idea of Italian Premier Matteo Renzi with his Migration Compact, Timmermans said Tuesday. "Let's be clear: it was his idea," he smiled.
Renzi's late-April proposal of a Migration Compact to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker "was an important contribution to the Plan presented today, Rome and Brussels saw eye to eye," Avramopoulos told ANSA after the Commission issued its Plan Tuesday.
"I worked very well with High Representative Federica Mogherini", he added.
Timmermans calls for EU states backing for migration plan, says Med situation unacceptable
>
PARIS - The first vice president of the European Commission Frans Timmermans on Tuesday called on the governments of the European Union's 28 member states to fully support a new partnership plan with third countries to tackle the region's migrant crisis. Presenting the plan alongside EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Federica Mogherini, Timmermans said that the EU could deploy 8 billion euros in five years for the partnership compact with third parties for controlling immigration. "But we need the commitment of all member states and institutions," he added.
Timmermans said in an interview with Le Monde that the situation in the Mediterranean Sea, in which thousands of migrants are dying in shipwrecks, is "absolutely unacceptable" and requires new solutions. He said the EU needed to control the situation in the countries of origin and transit, and new agreements were required with these countries. "The important thing in Libya is to relaunch the economy and above all to rebuild a state. Thousands of migrants present on the ground surely want to reach Europe, while fishermen without livelihoods turn into traffickers. We have to give some prospects to these people to stop the flows from the South," he told the paper. "We have to prevent all these deaths, which means preventing these people from taking to sea." (ANSAmed).
PARIS - The European Union must strengthen harmonization of migration policies among member states, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in a report published on Tuesday.
It underscored that the humanitarian crisis the continent is experiencing does not lessen the importance of dealing with challenges linked to the management of legal economic migration.
The report comes as the European Commission prepares to overhaul its rules on migration in a bid to attract more highly qualified workers. The OECD said EU nations need to work together on this issue.
Though member states have agreed on shared objectives and rules at the EU level, it said, instruments to achieve the objectives have not been applied uniformly at the national level. It noted that this was especially true of the ''Blue Card'', for highly-qualified and highly-paid non-EU migrants, and that only half of those eligible for one had received it.
The OECD called on the EU to simplify the complex administrative procedures required to obtain permissions. The arrival of so many asylum seekers, it said, had lead to policies being focused on the refugee crisis between 2015 and 2016, but the EU must also improve its framework for economic migration to deal with imminent challenges. Humanitarian migration, it said, cannot replace selective channels for professional migration necessary for employers to ensure future needs are met.
''The European Union is facing impending skills shortages in a number of areas and member states, but labor migration has only been a fraction of total migration, and the share of migrants with high levels of skills and qualifications is smaller than in many other OECD destinations, despite recent improvements,'' it stated. ''The European Union should be more active in origin countries, supporting member states to reach potential students, researchers and workers.''
Timmermans calls for EU states backing for migration plan Commission official says Med situation unacceptable
(ANSAmed) - PARIS, JUNE 7 - The first vice president of the European Commission Frans Timmermans on Tuesday called on the governments of the European Union's 28 member states to fully support a new partnership plan with third countries to tackle the region's migrant crisis.
Presenting the plan alongside EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Federica Mogherini, Timmermans said that the EU could deploy 8 billion euros in five years for the partnership compact with third parties for controlling immigration.
"But we need the commitment of all member states and institutions," he added.
Timmermans said in an interview with Le Monde that the situation in the Mediterranean Sea, in which thousands of migrants are dying in shipwrecks, is "absolutely unacceptable" and requires new solutions.
He said the EU needed to control the situation in the countries of origin and transit, and new agreements were required with these countries.
"The important thing in Libya is to relaunch the economy and above all to rebuild a state. Thousands of migrants present on the ground surely want to reach Europe, while fishermen without livelihoods turn into traffickers. We have to give some prospects to these people to stop the flows from the South," he told the paper.
"We have to prevent all these deaths, which means preventing these people from taking to sea." (ANSAmed).
Tunisian party Nidaa Tounes calls for new PM After president's initiative for new gov't coalition
(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, JUNE 7 - The executive committee of Tunisia's secularist party Nidaa Tounes, which holds a relative majority in the parliament, has reiterated its support for an initiative to bring in a new unity government as soon as possible. The initiative was launched by President Beji Caid Essebsi.
A party statement noted that the a new head of government with the broadest possible backing was needed. All the country's political parties have begun talks to implement the proposal as part of national dialogue efforts.
(ANSAmed).
Turkey: telephone tapping law passes Strasbourg Court test Judges condemn lack of means of recourse against violations
(ANSAmed) - STRASBOURG, 7 JUN - The text of the Turkish law that regulates telephone tapping passed a test at the European Court of Human Rights, but Strasbourg judges condemned Ankara for the unlawful use of information obtained and the lack of possibilities for intercepted citizens to appeal against potential violations.
The case concerns the tapping of a prosecutor's telephone line during a criminal investigation into the illegal organization Ergenekon, and the use of the information thus obtained in the context of a separate disciplinary investigation.
In his application to Strasbourg. the prosecutor alleged that the monitoring of his telephone calls had violated his right to privacy and had been arbitrary and illegal. He also complained about not having any means to appeal against the failure to comply with the conditions set out in the law on telephone tapping. The Strasbourg judges found that the legislation was "accessible and clear as to its effects, and contains rigid rules on putting the surveillance measures into action and on the use of information obtained, as well as defining with sufficient clarity the purpose and manner in which authorities can use their discretionary power".
Therefore, the Court of Strasbourg held, unanimously, that the prosecutor's right to privacy had not been violated during the criminal investigation, but the same does not apply to the disciplinary investigation, because contrary to what was prescribed by law the information gathered in the first investigation had been used in the second. The Court condemned Ankara for the lack of a means of recourse against possible abuses of the surveillance measures.
(ANSAmed)
Le CBD, cette molecule active du cannabis a aujourdhui le vent en poupe. Et cela est en grande partie du au fait quil permet...
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. The possibility for Nagorno Karabakh to participate in the negotiation process will be considered at some point of the settlement process, for example, after reaching a framework agreement, Armenpress reports OSCE Minsk Group Russian Co-chair Igor Popov told Interfax.
Indeed, in this stage Karabakh is not formally a negotiation party. But this issue is under constant focus of Co-chairs when they meet in Armenia, Azerbaijan or Nagorno Karabakh. I thing at some stage of the talks, for example after reaching a framework agreement, the possibility for Nagorno Karabakh to participate in the negotiation process will be considered, he said.
Referring to the issue of increasing the number of OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs, Popov stated that from time to time the issue appears in the focus of media and is pushed forward by the public. However, neither during the negotiations of the trio with the parties, nor during interactions with other mediators there have been no proposals for an initiative to increase the number of the Co-chairs. The settlement agreement does not depend on the number of Co-chairs but only the readiness of the parties to make compromises, the Russian Co-chair announced.
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. A senior diplomat of the Turkish embassy in Germany has been summoned to the German Foreign Ministry to discuss the recent vote of the Bundestag over the Armenian Genocide resolution and the Turkish reaction over that, Armenpress reports Ria Novosti was informed about that from a German MFA representative.
The discussion was focused on the traditionally close and reliable relations between Germany and Turkey and it was stated that the last announcements by Turkey over Bundestag MPs do not go in line with those relations, German MFA representative informed.
Earlier German Chancellor Angela Merkel had expressed surprise over Turkish accusations.
Best Shopping Products and Services
Would you like to submit an article in the Shopping category or any of the sub-category below? Click here to submit your article.
Would you like to have your product or service listed on this page? Contact us.
by Marta Allevato
After the Bulgarian and Georgian Churches and the Patriarchate of Antioch raised some issues, Moscow proposed a pre-Council meeting on 10 June, which in turn led to concerns that the Council in Crete might be postponed. For the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate, Moscow might now send a low-level delegation, headed by Hilarion, not Patriarch Kirill.
Moscow (AsiaNews) Despite a request by the Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate for a special Pan-Orthodox Pre-Council conference to discuss the opportunity of holding the Pan-Orthodox Council on the designated date, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople said that the Pan-Orthodox Council will go ahead as planned on 19 June, the day of Pentecost in the Julian calendar.
"The Sacred [. . .] Synod was informed with surprise and wonder of the positions and opinions expressed recently by some sister Orthodox Churches and, after evaluating these, ascertained that no institutional framework allows for the revision of the Synodal process already under way, said the Chief Secretariat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in a statement cited by the Tass news agency.
The threat of defection by some Orthodox Churches (i.e. the Bulgarian and Georgian Churches) had raised the possibilities that the Council might be postponed in order to change some aspects of the documents that the Council of Crete plans to promulgate after a lengthy and arduous process.
The points of contention are the documents on the sacrament of marriage, the Orthodox Churches in the contemporary world and the relationship with other Christian denominations, Interfax reported.
Critics have criticised the documents ecumenical approach, and insist that Catholics and Protestants are heretics, not Churches. The Patriarchate of Antioch also expressed its own grievances, mostly related to a jurisdictional dispute with the Patriarchate of Jerusalem over the Orthodox in Qatar.
In light of this, the Russian Orthodox Church had proposed to hold a special meeting to evaluate the amendments proposed by national churches to the documents to be promulgated at the Council. However, the Orthodox authorities in Constantinople decided against it.
The Ecumenical Council has sought to limit discussions of the documents prepared at the meeting of 14 heads of autocephalous Orthodox Churches in Chambesy, Switzerland, in January.
"Now the ball goes back into the Moscow Patriarchates court, said Archbishop Evstraty, spokesman for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate, on Facebook.
For him, the wisest" thing to do is to agree that all these issues must be decided at the Council in Crete, not at separate meetings, with the Bulgarian and Antioch Churches urged to come.
The second and "perhaps the most likely" option is "to continue to keep everyone on tenterhooks until the last moment, trying to get the most out of Constantinople in order to be present at the Council and share in the results. This option would see the Moscow Patriarchate send a less than full delegation led by Metropolitan Hilarion (the Patriarchates foreign minister) rather than Patriarch Kirill.
The third and "saddest" option would be to oppose and boycott the Council, and try to convince the other churches to do the same.
Ultimately, "Without the Russian Orthodox Church and three or four more Churches, the Council can go ahead, but it will no longer be a symbol of Orthodox unity, but rather of division, the Ukrainian archbishop said.
A Pan-Orthodox Council has not been convened for more than a thousand years. Preparations for this one have been going on for decades.
In 2014, Orthodox spiritual leaders decided to hold it at St. Irene, Constantinoples ancient cathedral, where the Second Ecumenical Council of the undivided Church (in 553) was held, unless unforeseen circumstances dictated otherwise.
For the Russian Orthodox Church, the Turkish city became "inconvenient after tensions broke out between Moscow and Ankara following Turkeys downing a Russian plane on its border with Syria.
This led to the decision to hold the Council on the Greek island of Crete, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Newsletter
Subscribe to Asia News updates or change your preferences
by card. Oswald Gracias
Monsoon rains shortfall in the past two years have hit Indias rural population and crops very hard. Water resources are at their lowest level in ten years. In Maharashtra, 28,000 villages are without water. The situation has led to desperate acts, such as suicide among farmers.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) At least 330 million people in India have been affected by severe drought. For months, the country has suffered from a dry spell. Agriculture, which employs most Indians, is in crisis. For those facing 40 centigrade and more the situation is tragic.
According to experts, the drought is caused by two years of poor monsoon rains, which usually compensated for periods of high temperatures. However, so far in 2016, there has been little rainfall and water resources have reached their lowest levels in a decade.
The impact on agriculture has been devastating, provoking a spate of suicides among farmers. In the State of Maharashtra, at least 116 farmers have taken their own life. Some 28,000 villages are without water.
The situation is such that the Bombay High Court has ordered that the Indian Premier League be shifted elsewhere because there is not enough water to prepare the playing fields.
What follows is a message from Card Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai, followed by a Prayer for rain, which the cardinal asked to be recited in the archdiocese after every Mass.
This year our country is facing an unprecedented drought. In our own State of Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidharba are going through darkness, with people, especially women having to trudge miles to get water for drinking, washing etc. Some dams in Marathwada have only 2% reserve.
The Western Region Social Service Forum is organising relief efforts. In our Archdiocese, this will be coordinated by the Centre for Social Action.
This crisis alerts us to the necessity of being aware of our need to care for creation. Pope Francis has made an urgent appeal for this in his Encyclical Laudato Si. A few years back we had a yearlong campaign for this in our Archdiocese.
We need to be reminded once again of our need to be careful in our use of water, to save energy and to protect nature. Our FABC Office for Climate Change now located in Mumbai will work on this.
The forecast from experts that the monsoons will be a bit delayed is a cause for great worry. Conscious of how much we depend on rains, I urge all our people to pray for a good monsoon.
The following prayer may be said every day after Mass, and added to the Prayer of the Faithful on Sundays:
O God in whom we live and move and have our being,
grant us sufficient rain so that being supplied with what sustains us in this present life,
we may seek more confidently what sustains us for eternity.
(For this we pray to the Lord or we make this prayer through Christ our Lord)
(Nirmala Carvalho contributed to this article)
by Fabrizio Meroni*
The Secretary General of the Pontifical Missionary Union comments on Pope Francis address to mark the body's centenary. The need for serious consideration of how to renew and reform the missionary structures of the Church, and to rediscover and apply the Second Vatican Council. Mission is not only the identity of the Church, but it is the ordinary way in which the Church is in the world. Wherever it encounters this world.
Rome (AsiaNews) - The mission of the universal Church flows through the Church-world relationship. The ancient north-south or east-west tracks, born in a very different historical and clerical context should not and cannot exist: we must instead return to the Second Vatican Council and apply it, making all baptized missionaries. Fr. Fabrizio Meroni, a missionary of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions and General Secretary of the Pontifical Missionary Union and Director of CIAM (International Center for Formation and Mission), is convinced of this. He spoke to AsiaNews commenting on the speech delivered by Pope Francis on the occasion of the centenary of the founding of the Union during the audience granted to the Pontifical Mission Societies on Saturday 4 June. Below Fr. Meronis analysis.
In his address to the Pontifical Mission Societies, the Pope told us that as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Pontifical Missionary Union - PUM, founded on October 31, 1916 by Blessed Paolo Manna, a PIME missionary we must first of all think seriously about how to reform it and how to radically renew it, so that in fact may be the soul of all the Pontifical Mission Societies, as Paul VI desired and conceived it in the Apostolic Letter of September 5, 1966 "Graves et Increscentes".
In order to be a soul we must give that ardent and thinking hear to all the Pontifical Mission Societies mentioned by Pope Francis, so they can renew their passion and zeal for the mission that - as we were reminded - is rooted in the mystic of saints and martyrs.
The Pope says that the best way in which to celebrate a centenary is to thank the Lord for what Fr. Manna did but at the same time to in act a three-year period and indeed we are thinking on it of radical rethinking and real reform of the nature of the mission and the role of the Pontifical Missionary Union with respect to the other three bodies: the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith the Pontifical Society for Holy Childhood and the Pontifical Society of St Peter Apostle, which serves the major seminaries and novitiates of Asia, Africa and Oceania.
This three year period is thus far structured in the following way: 2016 spent in listening and observation and the following two years (2017 and 2018) dedicated to the listening to local Churches and their missionary forces, but with formation activities and an attempt to resume the publication of our magazine which has been suspended for an experimental period. This period of time has as its sole purpose to apprehend - together with the local Churches in Asia, Africa and Oceania - how we in the center can help them in the permanent formation for mission, in a way which authentically corresponds to their real needs.
In order to do this the Pontifical Missionary Union needs to be able to invest people, time and money in the ongoing missionary formation required by these Churches. Young Churches are in a permanent state of mission because they are numerically - or culturally, or economically or because of their susceptibility to persecution - the "great minorities. So any pastoral work they do - from catechism to Caritas, preparation for First Communion to marriage or to the catechumenate - are all pastoral ordinary activities but within a clearly missionary socio-cultural structure. Even if these Churches did not want it to be so, the historical and geographical situation they find themselves in imposes on them mission as their identity.
The involvement of the universal Church
The "Old Churches of Europe and the Americas have a lot to learn from this reality. The PUM favors Asia, Africa and Oceania because they are the territories of Propaganda Fide, but does not exclude Europe and the Americas. On the contrary, we would like to become more involved with them. This involvement already exists in terms of donations: money that Christians in these countries have for many years offered to the Pope, putting him in a position as a universal shepherd to help all churches - especially the poorest - in their regular mission.
We also ask them to provide staff who can help the PMU and the local Churches of Asia, Africa and Oceania in their continuing formation. These Americans and these Europeans, returning to their home, will in turn make of their experience in ongoing formation for mission, one of missionary animation for their own churches. In reality, it is not a case of favoring anyone, but starting from these Churches which are by their very nature in a permanent state of mission.
The Church is always missionary
The Church is always, constantly, everywhere and always in a permanent state of mission. This concept involves everyone: religious, clergy and baptized. So in fact there is no north-south or east-west flow, nor an opposition one. Instead, there is a reality, a network that spans the world where mission requires a Church that knows how to evangelize even more. As Pope Francis recalled in his address to Card. Marc Ouellet March 19 last, no one is born bishop or priest, but we are all born baptized lay people as the People of God. To be born as baptized laity, means being placed by the Spirit of God in the world with the newness of Jesus Christ working in our lives.
Two considerations must be made: the first is that in fact Pope Francis never talks about new or old mission or evangelism, but always speaks of being missionary. And he never identifies mission territories to discrimination of others. So it is rather clear: mission is not only the identity of the Church, but it is the ordinary way in which the Church is in the world. Wherever it encounters this world.
Mission is for everyone
From the point of view of historical consideration, we must keep in mind that in fact the mission ad gentes, especially after the discovery of the Americas, is a reality that has greatly reduced the clerical state. So - although there were catechists with various Missionary Institutes, Congregations and Orders - in reality, priests and religious were sent. Being forced 50 years after Vatican II to once again ascertain that all baptized, the whole people of God, are called to mission means that we are lagging behind in an authentic understanding and reception of that Council. As Benedict XVI had already recalled.
So in fact, mission does not need to be de-clericalized. We certainly witnessed a period in which there was a strong clericalization of the mission ad gentes, but now with the declining number of priests available for this type of work, the Spirit - in a very provocative manner is demanding new ideas.
The fundamental question is this: are we 50 years behind the Council with regards mission because we have reduced mission to an ecclesiastical matter. Instead we have failed to really consider in the immediate aftermath of Vatican II - mission as the Church's ordinary relationship with the world.
If instead of concentrating all of our reflections of the renewal brought by the Council in Ad Gentes (with some small reference to Lumen Gentium) we placed Lumen Gentium at the center of our reflections followed by, Ad Gentes, Gaudium et Spes and Apostolicam Actuositatem, most likely we would not have to catch up almost 50 years . Years when in fact it was hard to think that the mission really was for everyone, even if we continuously repeated it.
The Spirits intuition
However, the Holy Spirit has greatly helped us, who has since given rise to experiences of proclaiming the Gospel ad gentes thanks to the new ecclesial movements. The universal ecclesial movements, known and supported by the last three popes, are the places where many lay people, many families, many spouses have experienced the missionary identity of their baptism. In what way? Having been highly educated in the faith in the Church-world relationship and through them being present as professionally active and competent spouses and consecrated. Not in the relationship of Church-continent X, or Church-continent Y. In this context, of course, the Holy Spirit through these ecclesial experiences have helped us to experience this Church-world relationship, with greater responsibility and ability.
Today the opportunity to seriously rethink mission is in this perspective, that of our relationship with the world. And the ordinary relationship between the Church and the world is called mission. For this reason the Pope says that there is no ordinary pastoral work that is not in and of itself missionary: certainly, if for ordinary pastoral work we mean the organization of the Curia, pastoral planning, formation of commissions and priests spend their time in these tasks, then it is the same Pope who pointed out that this is useless. These are only a waste of time, and in fact have caused us to lose a lot of time over the past 50 years.
Shrugging off clericalism
Mission is not a north-south dynamic but neither is it a south-north dynamic. We cannot say that a Church is missionary because it sends his priests abroad. A truly missionary church is a church that takes its relationship with the world seriously. So the fundamental issue is not priests: it is marriage, family, work, the economy, illness, suffering, death, ethnic or social discrimination amenities, education, the ability of a society - and therefore of a Church to counter the destruction of humanity where this happens.
Unfortunately today many local Churches are incapable of expressing a true missionary being because their ecclesiastical structure is exclusively concerned with self-administration. A wrong concern, the Pope says: a Church is not "functional" because it manages its diocesan or parish structures, thanks to a self-preserving ministry. The churches that act in this way do not know what they are or what their relationship with the world is: many bishops feel functional and satisfied because they have assigned a priest to each parish. This mentality tells us that evangelization is the least of their problems, and this can happen in a church of ancient date as in a younger church. Taking care of the parish reveals a missionary attitude if the concern of the Church is interested in the world to love and save it in Christ.
When there is a purely "hierological" mentality these problems occur: when a priest is happy with the full church, everything ends there. You can have dozens of meetings, but they will never be formative. It's like talking to mirrors, a schedule that totally ignores where the church is and what it is doing in real life. This is the reason why many churches today have become meaningless, even from a cultural point of view and despite the broad masses of Catholics they can boast. The future of the Church is not where we have a high percentage of Christians, but where there are martyrs.
Mission is witness
So mission cannot and must not be reduced to those priests who are sent overseas, because it is a clerical reduction of the Church. When the Pope says the Pontifical Mission Societies to put aside planning and fundraising and to dedicate more to our identity, spirituality, passion and love for mission, he says that mission is not proselytism that it is not carried out through strategies that intend to keep people in the churches, or attract them with techniques or tricks - but by attraction. Through witness, martyrdom, charity and commitment to show how faith enters into everyones life, how believing in Christ is reasonable and good for our life.
There seems to be little interest in mission today, because it no longer seems to imply life. The Pope reminded us that even the blessed Paolo Manna wanted the PUM to become a clerical reality called Missionary Union for the Clergy, but it was designed in an ecclesiastical context in which the Church was still reduced to bishops and priests. Manna in all his writings is very clear: the commitment is that through the ministry of the clergy all the faithful become missionaries. A vision that is not clerical, but that requires the attentive service of the shepherds.
The very clear direction, in rethinking and reforming the Pontifical Missionary Union, is to work on lifelong formation for mission in the young Churches. This is the task that we face in these next three years.
* PIME Missionary, Secretary General of the Pontifical Missionary Union and Director of CIAM
About nine million ethnic Uighur Muslims live in the northwestern province, targeted by authorities who use the fight against terrorism to curtail their activities. Party members, civil servants, students and minors "should not refrain from eating and cannot enter the mosque" during the holy month, which began yesterday across the Islamic world.
Urumqi (AsiaNews) - The Chinese government has restricted the practice of ritual fasting of Ramadan for Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. Public officials, members of the local Communist Party members, students and children of the north-western province "should not fast and should not take part in the religious activities". The decision was published on various government websites of the area, one of the most turbulent in the country.
There are about nine million Turkic-speaking ethnic Muslim Uighur in Xinjiang, who resent the Communist domination and invasion of Han Chinese sent by the government to try to make them a minority. Although always rejecting accusations of religious interference, Beijing has imposed many restrictions on religious practice in the area under the guise of the fight against Islamic terrorism.
Ahmatjian Tohti, an official of the municipality of Tiekeqi, made it clear in a public meeting that members of local government "should forcibly students, members of administrations and minors who want to enter the mosque" during the holy month. This began yesterday across the Muslim world, it is one of the "five pillars" of Islam and involves in various capacities around 1.6 billion people around the world.
The local executive is also targeting restaurants and grocery stores in areas with a Muslim majority which usually close during the fasting hours. On the website of the government of the autonomous county of Qapqal has stated that these "must however remain open, so that the great majority of the population can have normal access to places of refreshment."
by Melani Manel Perera
Roshen Shanaka was killed by police in 2011 during a protest against welfare reform. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa set up a special commission of inquiry, but the results of its investigation have never been made public. Relatives of those wounded in police repression want justice and compensation.
Colombo (AsiaNews) Roshen Shanaka, a young worker, was killed in a police charge in 2011 during a demonstration for the right to a pension. Five years late, I am still fighting to find out who is the murderer of my son, said his mother, Swarna Kanthi. I want to see justice done," the Catholic woman told AsiaNews.
Following the tragic incident, the government of then President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered an investigation. However, the report has not been release, Ms Kanthi said. Victims are still waiting for compensation.
On 1 June, the fifth anniversary of the death of her son, she demonstrated in front of the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo along with the relatives of other victims.
On 30 May 2011, police attacked 18,000 workers employed in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone (near Negombo, north of the capital), as they peacefully demonstrated against the new pension scheme.
During the clashes, Roshen Shanaka was killed and 13 other people were seriously injured, three of them still bedridden.
Relatives have denounced the fact that the report by the Mahanama Thilakarathne Commission into the police action has not yet been published.
"Those who took part in the protest were savagely beaten and eventually lost their jobs," said Fernando Brito, a member of the Free Trade Zone Solidarity (FTZS).
"In five years we gathered 56 times in front of the police station of Katunayake and in front of the Secretariat, asking for justice and compensation, the activist said. We never got any answers. We trust that this government will listen to our demands."
Yesterday afternoon, the religious priest of Italian origin was sworn in as the new Custos of the Holy Sites. The ceremony took place in Jerusalem, in the Old City. With him there were more than 100 priests, monks and nuns, and a crowd of faithful. Today the entrance into the Holy Sepulchre. The celebrations will conclude on June 18 with the entrance into the Basilica of the Annunciation, in Nazareth.
Jerusalem (AsiaNews) - The Catholic Church of the Holy Land has welcomed the new Custos, the 52 year old Francesco Patton, who yesterday afternoon was sworn in as the new Custos of the Holy Sites. He replaces Father Pierbattista Piazzaballa who has held the post for the past 12 years. The ceremony took place in Jerusalem, in the Old City, in the heart of Christianity, where Jesus was crucified, died and rose again.
Together with Patton were among more than 100 priests, monks and nuns, along with a crowd of faithful who followed the procession from the Jaffa Gate to St. Saviour Church. For the local community it was a "very important day ", in a difficult context for the many challenges facing Christians in the region.
Today the Custos of the Holy Land plays a significant role for the Church in the Middle East. In addition to being head of the first mission of the Friars Minor, and responsible for many of the places of worship of the life of Jesus, he is one of the main interlocutors of the Catholic Church with other Christian communities.
In addition, he closely follows the socio-political events that characterize the areas where the mission of the Custody extends to - Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Cyprus and Rhodes, in Cairo with the convent of the Muski - and supervises social, educational and cultural projects that have been promoted throughout history.
Francesco Patton was born in Vigo Meano, in the Diocese of Trento, December 23, 1963, and belongs to the Province of St. Anthony of the Friars Minor, in Italy. Besides Italian, he speaks English and Spanish. His appointment came on 20 May.
Interviewed by AsiaNews within hours after the official announcement, he spoke of having accepted the decision "with some trepidation, because it is a delicate service", but at the same time with a great "confidence." "The role of [Custos] - he added - always means being a man of dialogue, a bridge builder". One of the biggest challenges of the Holy Land, he concluded, is to keep "dialogue" among faiths and cultures alive.
The entrance of the new Guardian continues today and in the coming days with a full calendar of events: this afternoon at 15.30, to the sound of bells, there will be the solemn entry into the Holy Sepulchre. Tomorrow's visit to the Upper Room, to the tune of "Veni Creator Spiritu". On June 9, the entrance to the basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem; two days later, on June 11, the solemn entrance to Jaffa. Finally, Sunday, June 18, the new Custos will enter the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth.
Bigger Wine Glasses Encourage People To Drink More
Trending News: Don't Serve Wine In These Glasses Unless You Want Your Guests To Drink You Dry
Why Is This Important?
Because your willpower can be swayed by weird things.
Long Story Short
A team of scientists in the U.K. pulled a switcheroo on the wine glasses at a local pub and found that people drank more when the glasses were bigger even if it still had the same amount of wine it it.
Long Story
Hit the bar for a glass of wine and end up downing two or three? It might be your mind playing tricks on you.
A study performed by scientists at the prestigious University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom suggests that the glasses we drink from could cause us to imbibe more.
How the researchers came to this conclusion was by flipping the glasses at a local pub called The Pint Shop every two weeks for five months (the regulars must have been really confused). The pub switched between the restaurants standard size (300 ml), larger glasses (370 ml) and smaller ones (250 ml), but offered the same amount of wine.
It turned out that the glass switching was good for business, but much more so when the bigger ones were deployed. According to the research, wine sales at the bar shot up 14.4 percent when the larger glasses were served and 8.2 percent in the dining area, as reported by TIME.
Interestingly though, the researchers didnt see the opposite effect when they switched to the smaller wine glasses.
How could this be? One theory is that because the wine looks like so much less in the big glass even though it isn't they think they're not getting their fill. Theres some evidence to suggest that people consume more rapidly when they perceive that theres less, said lead author Professor Theresa Marteau to TIME.
You know that person at your dinner party who goes for a tiny sliver of cake, and then asks for another, which ends up totalling more than the original slice they were offered? Maybe a similar thing applies to drinking; people are prepared to go for a full-sized glass, but when it looks like there's less in the glass they feel ripped off.
This isn't the first study to show that bigger tableware leads us to consume more. This Cochrane Review study makes that point.
So maybe you should consider going out and grabbing smaller wine glasses before your next dinner party (those small stemless ones are always cool). Otherwise, your guests might end up drinking your wine cabinet dry.
Own The Conversation
Ask The Big Question
Are bars going to start serving wine in pitcher-sized glasses to boost sales?
Disrupt Your Feed
We're programmed to reject being ripped off.
Drop This Fact
Americans have been progressively drinking more and more wine every year since 1991. In 2014, 895 million gallons of wine were sipped down in the U.S., while in 1991 we drank just 466 million, according to The Wine Institute.
Free newsletter
Subscribe to our FREE newsletter service and well keep you up-to-date with the latest breaking news, cutting edge opinion, and expert analysis affecting both your business and the industry as whole.
Please enter your email address below and click on Sign Up for daily newsletters from Australasian Lawyer.
By Paul Loh, Lecturer in digital architecture design, University of Melbourne
Shutterstock/ChameleonsEye
The latest in our Computing turns 60 series, to mark the 60th anniversary of the first computer in an Australian university, looks at the technologys use to help architects design and build incredible structures.
In 1960, when the America computer scientist Ivan Sutherland developed Sketchpad, described as the first computer graphical user interface, it changed the course of architecture.
It was the first recorded tool enabling designers to interact with the computer graphically, using a light pen on the monitor.
This laid the foundation for computer aided design (CAD), which, over the next 60 years, replaced the drafting pen and tracing paper with the mouse and monitor in most architectural practices.
But while, for most, computing in architecture is a replacement technology, there are always rebels who want to experiment.
Architects think and draw at the same time, at the design stage as well as detailing the building for construction. And it quickly became apparent that no software can think or design as fast as a doodle on paper (or the infamous napkin). Nor could a program replace the lateral problem solving ability of a human.
All CAD software has limitations. Developers simply cannot program enough tools within the software environment to cater for all the possible applications, let alone to condition creative and lateral thinking.
The architect programmer
But why only work within the software written by others when you can write your own? Since the 1970s, a number of pioneering architects and designers have taken it on themselves to be both programmer and designer. In other words, they started to program design.
What emerges at first are the use of algorithms in design to develop forms and spatial organisation through programming logic. With advancement of software and interjection from other disciplines such as film, aerospace and product engineering, architects are now designing ever more complex geometries to explore unprecedented spatial conditions and relationships.
A built example is the Atrium at the Federation Square, in Melbourne, Victoria, by LAB architecture studio. This urban atrium not only constructs new relationships between the city and the river, it also creates a multi-layered space for social encounter and art installation. Structures like these are difficult to conceive in the human mind.
Shutterstock/Nils Versemann
This experimentation in programming design has surfaced as the main stream of architecture design in the past ten years. Computing in architecture is having a deeper impact than ever before: from complex analytical and design tools that allow us to understand the spatial syntax of cities to fully integrated three-dimensional models (commonly known as Building Information Modelling or BIM) and, eventually, linking design with structural analysis to name a few examples.
Programming materials
When an architect thinks through drawing and three-dimensional modelling, this is essentially stimulating what the real materials (brick, concrete, steel or timber) can or could be. Thats to say we design in a virtual environment before implementing it in the physical world.
With the recent availability of 3D printers and numeric control machinery, such as CNC routers and laser cutters, designing with computers is bringing architects closer to the material.
Not surprisingly, computer aided manufacturing (CAM) has a history as long as CAD. It was originally designed as a parallel workflow by computer scientist Patrick Hanratty in 1958.
The first known CAD/CAM software is called PRONTON (program for numerical tooling operations). CAM software translates drawing directly into machine code which can be used to cut, print or shape material.
Thanks to the pioneering work of Hanratty, designers can now talk directly from computer to machinery. This direct interface with the computer allows us to build very complex geometry.
Paul Loh, University of Melbourne
The Articulated Timber Ground pavilion is recent design research project at the Melbourne School of Design (MSD). Consisting of 1,752 unique components, the pavilion changes its form throughout the sections.
The geometry captures the various ergonomic positions from seating to lounge position. Here, computing allowed us to generate an integrated three-dimensional model for digital fabrication.
The model contained the geometric information, ergonomic data, structural analysis as well as fixing and joint detailing. The position of every single drill hole was defined using a custom algorithm.
The entire pavilion took two days to install with prefabricated parts. It also challenged the way we usually communicate building information through indexing and reading the data for assembly using a tablet.
In the same way as designers start to program design, we can now program how we build things. In other words, we can program material. If we understand its behaviour, we can start to manipulate this as well.
Research at the ETH Zurich, in Switzerland, has developed a number of research pavilions that explore precisely this method of designing using robotics.
At this level of computing using numeric control tools, materials can be stretched and transformed into shape. Our research is developing a new way of fabricating a uniquely curved wall system that can be used as a temporary meeting pod in a flexible working and learning environment.
From the straight line of early CAD software to free form geometry, computing has liberated the creativity of the profession in the past 60 years. The impact of computing in architecture is immense and this will continue to shape the future of our cities.
Imagine the day where our building materials are programmable to suit any design.
Paul Loh is partner at Power to Make/LLDS in addition to the above academic appointment.
Originally published in The Conversation.
By Tim O'Hara, Senior Curator of Marine Invertebrates, Museum Victoria
Hugh McIntosh/Museum Victoria, CC BY-NC
Its not often scientists suggest theyve found an entirely new group of animals, something so different that they cant be considered as belonging to one of the main groups, such as shellfish, insects, worms, jellyfish, sponges, animals with backbones (like us) and so on.
So there was a fair bit of excitement when researchers in reported, in 2014, on strange mushroom-shaped organisms living on the deep seafloor, a kilometre under the water surface, off south-eastern Australia.
These animals, called Dendrogramma, were certainly peculiar. There was a gelatinous stalk and cap shaped like a mushroom, an opening down the bottom of the stalk that looked like a mouth, and a canal that ran from there up into the cap, radiating into numerous branches. There were no appendages or special cells that would give away its relationship to other animals.
If that wasnt intriguing enough, the creatures bore some resemblance to 560 million-year-old fossils that have been found in Newfoundland, Russia and Namibia, as well as in the Flinders Ranges in South Australia.
This is from a time when the first multi-celled organisms were forming, back before animals and plants took on the shapes and functions that we see today. How amazing if these strange simple creatures had survived off Australia for hundreds of millions of years!
But a crucial bit of evidence was missing from this story; there was no DNA data.
Just like in police investigations and medicine, DNA has proved indispensable to the modern biologist. It can reveal relationships between organisms or plants that would not be guessed from their appearance.
Organs such as eyes have evolved multiple times and do not necessarily indicate a shared ancestry. But the Dendrogramma specimens had been collected in 1986 and preserved in DNA-busting formalin. More examples had to be found first.
A discovery in the deep
And so the matter rested until November last year when the sharp eyes of Hugh MacIntosh of Museum Victoria spotted the familiar mushroom shapes at the bottom of a seafloor sample hauled it up from 2,800 metres in the Great Australian Bight.
Hugh was on Australias new research vessel RV Investigator, participating in a CSIRO-led scientific program to study the marine environment off South Australia.
Hugh emailed us urgently from the ship: Guess what I have found.
Tim O'Hara/Museum, Victoria
Science is often a waiting game. So we had to wait for the RV Investigator to finish her voyage, wait for the specimens to arrive, wait until the DNA extraction and sequencing proceeded through various laboratories, and then wait for publication.
Not that we were idle during that time. Our evolution guru, Andrew Hugall, downloaded genomes from dozens of animals, setting up a system that could pigeonhole DNA-sequences originating from a single-celled protozoan to a whale.
And still we waited; the Christmas break didnt help. We even set up a betting sweep, each of us guessing where Dendrogramma would be placed in the tree of life (I didnt win).
Finally, at 4:30pm, one Tuesday afternoon in January, the DNA results came in. Andrews computer whirled and four hours later we had an answer. Dendrogramma was a type of siphonophore.
The whats-it-called?
A siphono-what? Well, that was almost our reaction, because even to a bunch of marine biologists, siphonophores are uncommon and strange creatures.
They are cnidarians related to jellyfish, corals and anemones. They have polyps like corals, but have long stinging tentacles like jellyfish and can move around.
Some polyps function as propulsion units, some are specialised to feed, and yet others are gonads. They also can have flattened defensive appendages called bracts.
These can also be mushroom-shaped! The evidence shows that the Dendrogramma specimens are not entire animals, but just siphonophore bracts, pieces detached from a larger creature.
Okeanos Explorer/NOAA
One mystery leads to another
Some commentators have criticised the original authors for publishing without DNA data.
I dont fully agree with this view. You need people to raise ideas and hypotheses that can be tested against subsequent data. We wouldnt have even looked for Dendrogramma if we had not been alerted.
David Paul and Rebecca McCauley/Museum Victoria
Okay, we were disappointed that Dendrogramma was not a completely new type of animal. But the hunt is important. Hundreds of millions of years of independent evolution could have resulted in the development of all sorts of biochemical novelties, from antibiotics to cancer drugs.
So we have solved one part of the mystery but others remain. We know what Dendrogramma bracts look like but not the whole animal.
Siphonophores come in a variety of shapes and sizes.
The deep sea is a big place. It took decades for us to get video footage of the giant squid; it may take decades again for us to see footage of Dendrogramma in all its living glory.
Tim O'Hara receives funding from the Marine Biodiversity Hub, funded through the National Environmental Research Program (NERP), and administered through the Australian Governments Department of the Environment.
Originally published in The Conversation.
By Peter C. Doherty, Laureate Professor, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
Shutterstock
There is a lot of talk about innovation these days, but are we really innovating in the areas where we could generate the most benefit for Australia and the world?
What is clear is that the decline in mining revenue, the elimination of manufacturing jobs and climate-dependent uncertainties in agricultural productivity mean Australias future prosperity cannot depend on endlessly repeating the past.
The decline of coal and, indeed, all fossil fuel exports is inevitable if nation states are to comply with the Paris agreement. That wont happen overnight, but the pace of change will inevitably accelerate as a more concerned and aware younger generation seizes political control.
Future prospects for our greatest single tourism asset, the Great Barrier Reef seem increasingly dim. The bleaching thats killing the corals is a direct consequence of ocean warming.
With 0.3% of the worlds population, we produce around 1.4% of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions (and thats excluding the emissions from our coal exports). But the fact remains that theres relatively little Australia can do to protect the long-term health of the reef.
We could act to limit agricultural runoff. And, thinking innovatively, we might research if its possible to engineer or transplant more heat resistant corals. But apart from the technical challenges, any long-term success will depend on how hot the seas eventually become.
If were thinking about places where a country like ours with a small population can hope to innovate in ways that generate new technologies and more jobs, the area with the greatest potential is renewable energy.
Playing to our strengths
We live on the worlds largest solar collector. How do we exploit that to serve our own energy needs and, beyond that to develop a clean energy export industry? One possibility is to produce an Asia-Pacific solar super grid, with Australia exporting solar energy to our neighbours.
Given that we have massive solar resources, and assuming a realistic global price for carbon (say A$100/ton levied on everything from energy generation to transport), Australia would become a highly desirable place to site activities that require a lot of energy. An obvious, immediate application is to host global data centres.
We also have a strong record of innovation in the medical area, with the new Medical Research Future Fund being tangible evidence that this is recognised at the political level.
Vaccines, such as Gardasil, and devices such as the ResMed sleep mask and the bionic ear have been major dollar earners, although each hasnt necessarily created many domestic jobs.
Given our increasing ethnic diversity and our centrally organised national health system, Australia is a great place to do clinical trials that will be acceptable to the emerging powerhouses, such as China, in drug discovery and development.
And we have established great models for networking university and research institute talent across the nation.
Sometimes, I fear our politicians take too narrow a view of medical research. They fail to grasp that the Australian Research Council and CSIRO-funded chemists, physicists, mathematicians and so forth are centrally important to this enterprise, although that is understood by those who administer the funding agencies. And cutting research support funds to universities is a major regressive step.
Willem van Aken/CSIRO, CC BY
Research prosperity
That said, a great deal of innovation has nothing to do with the formal research sector. Innovation in areas such as design, visual imagery, fashion, surfboards, bicycles and so forth is based on the insight and energy of inventors and entrepreneurs.
Thats also true, to some extent, for innovation in engineering and architecture, although developing novel solutions is likely to benefit from regulations and/or investment strategies that mandate, for instance, energy efficiency and greening.
Government definitely has a part to play here. If we look at Silicon Valley, for example, an enormous amount of support has been supplied by US Department of Defence and Department of Energy grants.
CSIRO chief Larry Marshalls strategy to take the institution down a more entrepreneurial road is understandable. What is regrettable, though, is that there has been no real political commitment to continuing the public good (and long-term economic good) science that has been a major focus for CSIRO and should, perhaps, find another home.
One option would be to establish a new National Institute for Earth Systems Science that incorporates some of the CSIRO activities that are slated for cuts.
If we dont understand what is happening with the climate, tides, soils, water, biodiversity and so forth, we limit our capacity to innovate in response to environmental stress. We also risk making very bad political decisions about where to invest for future development and to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Surely Australia should be the great laboratory for water conservation and dry land agriculture. That wont happen if we compromise the necessary science.
Finding the advantage
As a research scientist, the principle Ive always adopted is to align with selective advantage. That means collaborating with talented people (especially those at close range with different expertise) and tackling issues where there is real need.
The big questions are: what are our selective advantages as a nation? And how do we exploit them?
Although there are signs of erosion, one great advantage we still have is that we live in a socially progressive and generally tolerant society with a strong record in science, education and the arts.
So, although governments can help get the settings right and provide some resources, genuine innovation depends on the actions of smart, courageous and determined entrepreneurs.
Where the US prospers, its because it has outstanding tertiary educational institutions that produce such people, it invests in science and technology and it recruits talent from across the world.
Thats one place where we can take a lesson from their book. Although, when it comes to social policy, other centres of innovation such as Scandinavia and Germany seem to be more relevant to us.
Innovators want to live in places that are safe, decent, have affordable education, and value personal freedom, bold ideas and creativity. What we are as a culture is a major component of our selective advantage, and we need to preserve that distinctiveness.
Peter C. Doherty is at the University of Melbourne Medical School, where he is part of an NHMRC Program Grant investigating immunity to the influenza viruses. He serves as Board Chair for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Systems Science, and the ARC COE for on Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology. He is a founding member of the Board of TheConversation.
Originally published in The Conversation.
I will start with some background of the culture over here so the situation gets clear for you:
Here in Pakistan, there are two stages of marriage; one is where you get married by all the paper work but you dont move in togather and the second is where you move in togather after marriage. Here it's know as nikkah and rukhsati.
So we had out nikkah in oct'14, reason we had it so early was that its an arranged marriage, and it;s considered bad to talk to opposite gender without being married or without having a blood bond. so we got our nikkah done to know each other better. However we decided to move in togather after four years after i finish my degree. But since we got so close to each other that after almost a year we felt that we are ready to move in hence we launched the application.
My husband lives in Australia and I live here in Pakistan. The reason we cant live togather is that we are in separate countries. So, now even though it would be hard my husband would live with me after december for a couple of months and would go back after 2-3 months to continue his job. And that s how he would keep coming here and there to manage the relationship as well as the job.
The only reason we dont want to go for tribunal is that I heard if the tribunal case will get rejected, they will ask my husband to leave australia too. Also, we believe that we can get better proofs once we actually start living togather as we would be able to take millions of pictures togather, we would be able to show them our wedding pictures and videos, out spending through joint account, even the expense that we had on the wedding etc etc.
Hey all,
Basically I'd just like to run my situation past you to try get some feedback, as at the moment, I've had several different opinions from migration agents.
First of all - I cant complete my farm work due to a long, unfortunate series of events. Basically I had it planned to work with a local agricultural contractor. His wife died 2 weeks before I was meant to start - he insisted he could still take me on. Unfortunately, instead of him just being honest and telling me he couldn't do it; he strung me along until it became too late to find anything giving my circumstances. I had around 3 days to begin my farm work before I physically didn't have the time to do it when he told me. Maybe I was a little naive and optimistic; I've learnt from it.
I came over from Britain on a WHV in September 2015, I met my current partner (she is an Australian Citizen) in October, we became in January, we have evidence of sharing money. She doesn't officially live with me, but there is vast amount of evidence of her being at mine at least 5 days a week (eastlink bills from her travelling from work, local shop spending etc.). We also have evidence of various events, holidays we have shared together and can get statements from family, friends and co workers to confirm the legitimacy of our relationship.
We plan on moving in together if we know for certain that we can stay together for more than 3 months (before my first WHV runs out).
One migration agent has told us that we can do the following;
-Move in together ASAP, open joint account etc.
-Lodge our application in August and I will be put on a bridging visa.
-Apply for our relationship to be registered in September when I have lived in Victoria for a year.
-Add this to the application after this has been successful.
Now this makes sense to me, and I'm more than willing to do it. However another migration agent had told us that it wont work, even if we get the relationship registers as we simply dont have enough evidence due to the little amount of time we will have lived together. He has told us our only option is for me to return home and apply for a prospective marriage visa.
The first migration agent has offered us a No Visa: No Fee contract, hence why I'm so confused about the situation. To me this indicates that the first option must be possible?
Anyway, any help/experience would be massively appreciated.
Thanks.
Thanks to the work of both CarPix and SB-Medien, we can provide our readers with an extensive photo gallery of the prototype that will be turned into the next generation of the Ford Fiesta As you already know, Fords Fiesta is one of the best-selling cars in Europe and the leader of its segment, so this is a vital car for the Blue Oval.Ford has apparently increased the size of the Fiesta, as the model is attempting a more upmarket push. Meanwhile, the Blue Oval is also seeking the relaunch of the Ka, a model that could come to Europe as a cheaper and smaller alternative to the Fiesta.We must note that it is expected to be named Ka+ on the Old Continent, and that it will be a part of the smaller, A-Segment, but it is projected to become Fords cheapest car available in Europe.Now, back to the all-new Fiesta. The prototype being tested by Ford engineers somewhere in Europe (neither of our spy photographers disclosed where) was followed by a modified version based on the previous model.The compact group of old and new Fiesta models being tested is leading us to believe the company is benchmarking the new design against its predecessor, as well as for other purposes related to the testing process.When compared to the old Fiesta, the headlights are more horizontal, the nose has become more square, while the grille follows the evolution showcased by more recent models in the Ford range. The rear lights have also been significantly modified, as has the body of the Fiesta.We expect the all-new model to be bigger, lighter, more fuel efficient, safer, and with a nicer interior. The latter will be a major point on the drawing table, as Fords small hatchback was beginning to lag behind its opponents on this chapter.
The nicest thing about the entire concept is that the frame of this bike is 3D-printed , and this means that certain variations are not only possible but also highly productive.3BEE's pivotal attribute is customizability, and not only in terms of aesthetics. Of course, since we are talking about 3D printing, the sky is the limit when it comes to the graphic schemes that can be designed and implemented in the manufacturing process of these bikes, but there is so much more to the 3BEE than meets the eye.Turi designed the 3BEE as the ultimate ergonomic bicycle, as the dimensions of the frame can be altered in minute steps, thus providing the best fit to any rider. Now, nobody expects the frame of this bike to be as adjustable as the chassis of a MotoGP motorcycle, but we're positive that the 3BEE will feel closer to the ideal feeling than the several regular sizes bicycles usually come in.Height, pedal spacing, the bars and pretty much anything can be made to measure, and even adding an electric motor in the rear wheel could be a feasible option.We also estimate that using smaller wheels, 3BEE bicycles in kids' sizes could also be printed if necessary. One drawback could be represented by the seat, which is integrated into the frame, and which doesn't seem to have any height-adjustability, at least, not in the current project. A small modification to the design could see an adjustable seat as an option for the 3BEE, anyway.Thanks to the minimalist design, Tamas Turi's 3BEE could receive a lot of optional enhancements to meet various needs the customers might have, but we love its elegant primeval simplicity.
Oh, and by the way, we'll remind you Manhattan Motorcars doesn't only stick to finding homes for Lamborghinis . The dealer also handles Bentleys, Porsches and Rolls-Royces.The piece of video below shows a part of the Lambos that brought their owners to the event and the line-up is nothing short of impressive. From multiple Aventador Superveloce Coupes and Roadsters and matching Monterey Blue LP640-4 Coupes to a pair of twin-turbo Gallardos and a Super Trofeo Stradale , there were plenty of attention magnets that stood out, even among other Lamborghinis.Speaking of modified cars, most of the attending machines were stock - Italian exotics that usually get customised are between five and ten years old. While this might also have to do with the kind of customers keeping in touch with the dealer, it also comes to confirm another observation, namely that Ferrari owners seem to be more attracted to tuning than Lamborghini drivers.The gathering took place on Saturday, while Sunday saw the participants entering a rally that saw them heading to Monticello, where the local Motor Club was the holy ground for a track day session.Supercar meets, as well as rallies, are now more popular than ever - we're talking about the kind of events that sit in between street-level Cars and Coffee meetings and the big auto shows. Aside from the thrills participants enjoy, this means more and more car aficionados who aren't fortunate enough to own such go-fast beauties have the opportunity to come closer to their high-octane idols. Afte all, the sight and growl of such a Lambo group might be enough to turn a child playing in the park into a car afficionado, for instance.
For this exhibition, BMW prepared three models, the R1200RT, the F800GS, and the F700GS, alongside four car models, including an electric one. Honestly, we were surprised to see that BMW's authority fleet does not include the C Evolution electric maxi scooter.After all, the 62-mile (100 km) range advertised for it should be more than okay for urban missions, but it looks like neither the police nor the military police had an interest high enough for this model, at least, for now.On the tech side, the authority motorcycles BMW supplies to the forces are not too different, as the changes concern functional aspects more than technical ones. That is, the engines are not modified for extra power or torque, and are identical to the bikes sold to civilian customers.The passenger saddle is often removed and replaced with a special-design box that contains specific communication devices. These bikes are also equipped with crash bars that protect both engines and the hard side cases.Specific LED light modules are installed at both ends, including red panels that can display written messages to help road users understand more easily what the officers want to communicate to them.Sirens, fire extinguishers, and other equipment also go on these bikes, with the possibility to install even more gear, depending on the missions these machines are being used for. From urban to highway patrolling, providing official escort, or other missions, these BMW bikes can cover pretty much anything. Oh, and there's also an R1200RT for emergency physicians , too.And with the F800GS also ready to tackle rough terrain, even off-highway pursuits are now doable, so you'd better heed to the messages of the motorcycle cops...
According to the first official industry analysis of the British automotive aftermarket, each British driver spends 695.39 ($1,013.15 at current exchange rates) on average to look after his or her car. Based on an estimated 1.11 billion vehicles in operation across the world, the global spend per car is 621.62 ($905.85).Commissioned by the SMMT , The Importance of the Aftermarket to the UK Economy report also informs that there are fewer cars in a state disrepair in the United Kingdom compared to other countries around the world. Mike Hawes, the chief exec at the SMMT, had the following to declare:The UKs aftermarket is one of the most competitive in the world and plays a critical role in keeping Britains 30 million-plus cars roadworthy. Robust competition and a strong independent sector have helped reduce the cost of vehicle ownership in the UK and provided greater choice to consumers. For this growth to be sustained, however, the sector must stay abreast of evolving vehicle technologies and changing mobility patterns.Bearing in mind that the United Kingdom has the eight largest aftermarket sector in the world, staying abreast should be a priority, not a triviality. The need for more competent mechanics and more professional repair shops is mirrored by how the drivers use the Internet.As per the said study, the United Kingdom has the highest penetration of online retail for car parts and services (7 percent). By comparison, Germany and France settle for second and third place, respectively (5 and 4 percent, respectively).While were on the subject, how often do you get drop car in for repairs or scheduled service? It takes trust on the drivers part to hand over the keys to a mechanic who may or may not know what hes doing
HP
SUV
CVT
This time, we are writing about a new gearbox option in the Dacia range, the first two-pedal solution ever provided by this automaker on a European level. Dacia calls its product Easy-R. The unit is an automated manual gearbox available in pair with either diesel or gasoline engines.Dacia has been wise enough not to provide the gearbox with the entry-level powertrains, which only provide 75(even less, 73, for the gasoline option). Instead, the Romanian brand offers the new gearbox options with its 90 HP engine options for its Logan Sandero , and Logan MCV ranges.The same three models are responsible for Dacias current position today. We are talking about Romanias leading export, and a reputable automaker even when compared to large corporations.Dacia could not have even dreamed of this without the help of Renault, the French company that acquired it in 1999.After a long line of careful and wise cost-cutting decisions, Renault managed to make its Dacia arm into a brand that became famous in the mature markets of Western Europe, while still keeping it appealing to its domestic market and in other emergent countries.So far, no automaker has managed to replicate Dacias success in cost cutting that would bring civilized cars at an affordable price in Europe. Sure, the Skoda brand used to do this after it got under Volkswagens wealthy arms, but not even they could keep prices as low as Dacia managed to do.However, Dacia is reaching a slight turning point in its history, where it must cut free from the low-cost roots of its early Renault years and see what it can accomplish with its modern lineup, which features an extremely popularin Europe, the Dacia Duster. In some variants, the Duster is the most powerful production Dacia ever made, while still being one of the most capable off-roaders on the market.This upmarket strategy lacked an important point - an automatic/automated gearbox. The same request has been circling the Internet for years, and some claimed to have been interested in a Dacia, but eventually chose something else because of the lack of availability of a two-pedal transmission option.Dacia decided to name its first two-pedal solution Easy-R. While some Dacia-based models were sold in non-EU markets with an automatic transmission, the Romanian brand needed something new. So they commissioned an external supplier to take care of things on the technical and software side, while they kept an eye on the price.The solution was co-developed with specialists at ZF. Instead, the automaker prefers to focus on the fact that it only costs 500 euros more to get this automated manual gearbox instead of a regular row-your-own transmission.Furthermore, Dacia provides two versions of the same transmission - a five-speed for the gasoline engine, and a six-speed unit for the diesel engine. There are a few minor technical differences between them besides this fact, as the electronic actuator for the gasoline version, as opposed to an electro-hydraulic one for the diesel engine.Dacia is launching the Easy-R gearbox with three models, the Sandero (including the Sandero Stepway ), Logan, and Logan MCV. The three models share a technical platform and have the same front ends, as well as many other parts. As we mentioned above, only the 90 HP engines in these three ranges will get the optional gearbox. Fortunately, customers are not restricted to the top trim level to buy the transmission.What about the Duster, you ask? Well, Dacia representatives explained that their first SUV is considered for this gearbox option, but it has not been confirmed to get the green light too soon. Dacia has always been cautious about implementing expensive improvements and is all about the economies of scale, so they will first observe the sale of the Logan/Sandero/Logan MCV with the Easy-R gearbox, and then decide on the Duster. Some believe that the SUV in the Dacia range might get a conventional automatic instead.However, it is worth noting that the representative of the Easy-R department smiled when asked if it was possible to implement the new gearbox into the front-wheel-drive version of the SUV from Dacia. Regarding the four-wheel-drive variant, things might get tricky with development costs, but we will just have to wait and see.It is important to understand that this transmission is not a conventional automatic gearbox. Furthermore, the driver must remember that Dacia is a value brand, and has not configured the new transmission for maximum performance or some other extreme behavior. A hill start assist function is included, as well as support for the start-stop technology.Instead, the Easy-R gearbox is designed for comfortable driving. Fuel economy has also been considered, but transmissions like these do not affect standard figures when compared to their manual equivalents. You might even get a better result than with an identical car with a manual transmission, as the new gearbox shifts smoother than a regular human.In other words, the new transmission option from Dacia comes as the best-value replacement for a manual gearbox. Those that desired a two-pedal Dacia Sandero for urban driving, or whatever model available with this transmission, now have the possibility to order one and enjoy driving without ever having to press a clutch pedal.The first thing you notice is the smooth pull away from zero. The gearbox has a specifically designed function that allows drivers to move slowly (forward or in reverse) without touching the accelerator. Instead, all they have to do is release the brake pedal after a gear has been engaged.First gear is seamlessly available, while the shifts in second and third can be perceived. Dont get us wrong, shifting is not jerky or brutal, but you can sense it. Once you get a feel for the car, you will figure out when to lift your foot from the gas for near-seamless shifting. The shift process is pretty quick, but does not match a dual-clutch unit.At this point, we must note that Dacias automated manual gearbox behaves better hand its equivalents from Citroen and Volkswagen, even if we are not talking about cars comparable to the Dacia portfolio.On the other hand, most human drivers do not manage to shift gears as smoothly as Dacias Easy-R gearbox does, especially in the lower gears. The transition from first to second and even second to third using a conventional manual gearbox is well perceived in most cars operated by humans.Once the fourth gear is selected, you cannot feel the shift unless you are looking at the tachometer or the indicator on the gauge cluster. The manual mode of the gearbox is surprisingly fast, and you can shift your gears a bit smoother than the automated mode. In a way, the automated program is best for city driving, where you sit in a line of cars and slowly move once in a while. Once I got out of the Dacia models and went back to my car in city traffic, I started thinking about that automated manual transmission.In the case of a hard press of the gas pedal, the kick-down function is activated. It comes with the possibility of changing multiple gears without going through all found in between, and its response is adequate. In a way, this is better than an early twin-clutch unit, as it does not have to go from 6th gear to 5th and 4th to reach third gear. The jump from sixth to third is not lumpy or jerky either.As is the case with other automated manuals, the Easy-R transmission does not have a "Parking" mode, and you have to select "N" (Neutral) once stopped to shut off the engine. Handbrake must be engaged for securing the car once parked.So, hats off to Dacia on this one, as this new transmission is better than anyor conventional automatic you could buy within the price range of its models. It is even better than some automatics weve driven in the past, so good job!
While our friends at CarPix only spotted the two models being tested in Southern Europe, we expect the new facelift to also come to the Logan , their platform sibling. The ongoing Sandero and Logan models came to market in 2012, being launched in the fall of that year.By the end of 2015, all Dacia models had received Euro 6 engines as standard, as European norms compelled the manufacturer to do so.At the beginning of 2016, the lineup was improved with the addition of a semi-automatic gearbox as an option, as well as an extra trim level for the domestic market - Prestige, available only in Romania.The two cars you can see in the photo gallery of this article are evidently facelifted versions of the Sandero and Logan MCV. Naturally, Dacia is protecting its designs with a layer of camouflage, but we can still notice some of the changes.First of all, the front end of both models appears to receive a new grille. The headlights also have a slightly modified shape. Most likely, their interior graphic was changed accordingly. The front bumper has also been restyled to suit the new shape of the front end. In the case of the MCV, the rear bumper was not changed, but the model might get new taillights and a modified trunk lid.The sides of the two models do not seem to have received significant changes. However, the back end of the Sandero has a new bumper, a modified trunk lid, and possibly new rear lights. The rims of the Sandero have a trick up their sleeves, just like on the Sandero Stepway , where the wheel is a steel one that is cut out to resemble an alloy, and has a plastic hubcap on top of it to deceit the eye.The interior of the two cars does not look significantly changed, but it may have new materials or upholstery patterns. These prototypes feature several sensors taped to them, as well as modified exhausts and other elements used by engineers to monitor certain parameters. We expect these cars to come to market by the end of next year, if not sooner.
Photo of Ford Fusion Hybrid autonomous research vehicle courtesy of Ford.
Nearly 21 million autonomous vehicles will be sold globally by 2035, according to the latest forecast from industry research and consulting firm IHS Automotive.
This estimate, which represents a substantial increase from previous forecasts, reflects recent research and development investments by automotive OEMs, suppliers, and technology companies, the firm said.
Analysts predicted the U.S. will assume a leadership role in initial deployment and early adoption of autonomous vehicles, while Japan will simultaneously ramp up industry coordination and investment ahead of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.
Global sales of autonomous vehicles will reach nearly 600,000 units in 2025, said Egil Juliussen, director of research at IHS Automotive. Our new forecast reflects a 43% compound annual growth rate between 2025 and 2035 a decade of substantial growth, as driverless and self-driving cars alike are more widely adopted in all key global automotive markets.
IHS Automotive said its forecasts also take into account such key factors as regulatory action and new mobility solutions including ride sharing and car sharing programs.
Future mobility will connect and combine many different modes and technologies, and autonomous vehicles will play a central role, said Jeremy Carlson, principal analyst at IHS Automotive. IHS expects entirely new vehicle segments to be created, in addition to traditional vehicles adding autonomous capabilities. Consumers gain new choices in personal mobility to complement mass transit, and these new choices will increasingly use battery electric and other efficient means of propulsion.
Despite challenges posed by regulation, liability, and consumer acceptance, deployment in the U.S. is expected to begin with several thousand autonomous vehicles in 2020. That number will balloon to nearly 4.5 million vehicles by 2035, according to IHS Automotive analysis.
IHS Automotive forecasts that more than 5.7 million vehicles equipped with some level of autonomy will be sold in China in 2035. China represents the single largest market for the technology. The sheer volume of vehicles sold there, as well as consumer demand for new technologies, is expected to drive growth. Additionally, regulators may recognize the potential of autonomous mobility to address growing safety and environmental concerns.
Major markets in Western Europe will maintain industry technology leadership through the premium segment, with a little more than 3 million autonomous vehicles sold in 2035, according to forecasts. Another 1.2 million vehicles will be sold in Eastern Europe, analysts estimated.
The research firm also forecasts more than 1 million vehicles with some level of autonomy in the Middle East and Africa in 2035.
In Japan and South Korea collectively, IHS Automotive research indicates nearly 1.2 million vehicles will be enabled with some form of autonomous driving capability by 2035. Demographics and an affinity for technology help both markets.
Challenges to autonomous vehicle deployment include persistent concerns about software reliability and cybersecurity. Both of these issues, however, are showing improvements as technology evolves and the industry addresses the threats, according to analysts.
In addition, the implementation of local and federal guidelines and regulatory standards as well as development of a legal framework for self-driving cars continues to prove challenging. Various states and regions have begun to develop these frameworks, while others are still crafting their approach.
The future fleets of driverless vehicles will provide mobility services for anyone and anything, creating exciting and new opportunities for the automotive industry, said Juliussen. Increasing competition from the high-tech and other industries is accelerating the auto industrys autonomous software and cybersecurity development efforts.
Carlson added: Those who dont adjust to a changing world will unfortunately be left behind, or will at least face a very different industry.
With a $20 million X Prize in play, 16 private companies are vying to be the first to launch a mission to the Moon, and now one of the contenders, Moon Express, may be just weeks away from being the first to gain government approval for its plan. Until now, only governments have undertaken space missions beyond Earth orbit, so weve become a regulatory pathfinder out of necessity, Moon Express said in a statement. We are eagerly awaiting a determination. The FAA is leading a multi-agency review of the plan, and according to CNN, sources said a decision could come as early as this month.
Sixteen teams are vying for the Lunar X Prize, which requires the winner to successfully place a robot on the Moon that will travel at least 500 meters and transmit high-definition images and video back to Earth. The deadline is the end of 2017. Moon Express is based in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The companys plan, according to The Wall Street Journal, is to launch from a New Zealand site with a 52-foot Electron rocket built by Rocket Lab Ltd. Onboard thrusters then will propel the spacecraft to the Moon, a trip that could take up to several weeks.
Samvel Babayan, Nagorno-Karabakhs former top military commander, received a heros welcome from hundreds of supporters in Stepanakert on Sunday as he returned to Karabakh after years of self-imposed exile.
Babayan, who headed the Karabakh Armenian army from 1993-1999, travelled to Karabakh following a series of statements criticizing the Armenian military response to the April 2 Azerbaijani offensive.
The hardline general was greeted by about a thousand people when he laid flowers at a Stepanakert memorial to Karabakh Armenians killed during the 1991-1994 war with Azerbaijan. The crowd, quite large by Karabakh standards, then escorted him to his old apartment, applauding and chanting Samvel! The impromptu procession blocked traffic through major streets in the Karabakh capital.
I will do everything in my power to ensure that your security is properly protected, Babayan told the supporters at the war memorial. But he did not clarify how he will do that, again insisting that he has no political ambitions.
Speaking to journalists, Babayan said he is ready to hold discussions with Karabakhs political and military leaders. But he stressed that no meetings with them have been scheduled yet.
Babayan, 51, became the unrecognized republics most powerful man after a Russian-mediated truce stopped the Armenian-Azerbaijani war in 1994. He was arrested in 2000 and subsequently sentenced to 14 years in prison for allegedly masterminding a botched attempt on the life of Arkady Ghukasian, the then Karabakh president.
Immediately after being set free in 2004, the former Karabakh strongman relocated to Yerevan where he set up there his own political party called Dashink (Alliance). He emigrated to Russia in 2011 for still unclear reasons.
Babayan returned to Armenia late last month, citing the increased risk of renewed war with Azerbaijan. In ensuing interviews with media outlets sympathetic to Armenias Karabakh-born former President Robert Kocharian, he called for an urgent modernization of Armenias and Karabakhs armed forces. He also claimed that President Serzh Sarkisians administration failed to properly respond to Azerbaijans massive military buildup in the years leading up to the April 2-5 hostilities along the Karabakh line of contact.
Armenias ruling Republican Party and Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian dismissed Babayans criticism.
Babayans comeback fueled media speculation that he could join a new opposition party set up by former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian and other political figures widely regarded as Kocharian supporters. I do not intend to join any party, but I can see that there are people who share my ideas, the retired general said on May 26 without naming them.
Meanwhile, a Karabakh opposition parliamentarian and strong Babayan backer, Hayk Khanumian, was attacked and hospitalized on Monday. He suffered a broken nose and ribs as a result.
Speaking to RFE/RLs Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) from his hospital bed, Khanumian said that moments after he left the parliament building in Stepanakert several men wearing military uniforms forced him into their car and drove him to a nearby village where he was badly beaten up.
Derenik Malkhasian, a journalist with Civilnet.am online television, said he witnessed the incident in Stepanakert. He said some of the uniformed attackers confiscated his mobile phone after he started filming them.
A spokesman for the Karabakh police initially denied the beating. Nevertheless, several police officials visited the outspoken politician in a local hospital later in the day. The police did not launch a formal criminal investigation afterwards.
The four main factions of Karabakhs parliament were quick to condemn the attack in a joint statement. But they stopped short of alleging political motives behind it.
Khanumian wrote on Facebook on Monday evening that the attackers forced him to sign a statement and make a video confession to the effect that yesterdays events were wrong.
They beat up and forced him to write that I paid him to organize yesterdays gathering, Babayan said after visiting the oppositionist in the hospital.
Khanumian walked alongside Babayan during Sundays procession. He also announced that he and his associates will launch a campaign for Babayans re-appointment as commander of the Karabakh Defense Army.
Babayan disavowed that campaign on Monday, however. I dont want to become defense minister, he said.
7 June 2016 10:54 (UTC+04:00)
By Gunay Camal
The European Union is hopeful that the next meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents will become a concrete step in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, said Malena Mard, Head of the EU delegation to Baku.
Reminding that the OSCE Minsk Group is working on the conflict settlement, she stated that the EU supports this process and hopes that the next meeting, if it takes place in June, can become a concrete step towards the conflict's settlement."
The OSCE Minsk Group, established to solve the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, earlier announced that the Azerbaijani and Armenian ministers confirmed the Presidents agreement on the next round of talks to be held in June with an aim to resuming negotiations on a comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The Co-Chairs have already delivered to the ministers for the consideration of the sides draft documents on expanding the existing office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and establishing an OSCE investigative mechanism.
Although there is no exact date set for the next presidential meeting, the OSCE MG expects it to take place in June.
Maja Kocijancic, spokesperson for the EU high representative also confirmed that the EU supports the launch of negotiations on a comprehensive settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.
Noting that the Vienna meeting was a necessary step in order to advance a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Kocijancic told Trend that the reiterated commitments made by the two presidents to the ceasefire and to the peaceful settlement of the conflict are of utmost importance.
The May 16 meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan in Vienna was their first face-to-face encounter since the April hostilities.
The presidents agreed on following of ceasefire, as well as on a next round of talks, to be held in June at a place to be mutually agreed, with an aim to resuming negotiations on a comprehensive settlement.
The agreements reached on measures aimed at the reduction of violence, strengthening the ceasefire, humanitarian issues, and on the resumption of high-level negotiations on a comprehensive settlement in June are also encouraging, according to the EU spokesperson.
"Such a meeting should take further steps towards the commitments achieved in Vienna," added Kocijancic.
For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.
The bloody Nagorno-Karabakh war left 700,000 civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh and the regions adjoining it, as well as the regions bordering with Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh without homes.
Moreover, 250,000 Azerbaijanis were expelled from Armenia and became refugees due to Armenia's ethnic cleansing policy after the emergence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan.
Despite the official ceasefire, each year the conflict becomes a cause of the deaths of dozens of civilians and military. The latest outbreak of violence on the contact proved that it is impossible to resolve the conflict by keeping a status quo.
--
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 June 2016 13:52 (UTC+04:00)
By Laman Ismayilova
Every single exchange of fire, every injury and every human life claimed by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one too many, reads a statement released by the German-South-Caucasian All-Party-Parliamentary-Group in the Bundestag, Azertac reported.
Voicing a deep concern over the fact that the violent developments in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh has reached a new level of escalation some weeks ago, the All-Party-Parliamentary-Group urged to put an end to the current developments as quickly as possible.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan 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.
Long-simmering tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan flared again on April 2 when the Armenian side began to shell the Azerbaijani positions and settlements along the frontline. To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and repulsed the enemy forces back. On April 5, the two sides agreed on a ceasefire. However, the Armenian forces commit armistice breaches on the frontline almost every day targeting civilians and shelling villages.
Baku has already announced that the ceasefire does not mean that Azerbaijans occupied lands will remain under occupation. Azerbaijan has agreed to ceasefire but warned that it will not turn blind eye if Armenian side commits provocation. Baku is ready for peace and sits at the table of negations, but it will not tolerate the endless occupation of its historical lands.
The All-Party-Parliamentary-Group further demanded swift action within the scope of the OSCE and the attached Minsk Group to stop these unnecessary casualties.
This year, Germany holds the chair of the OSCE. Germany has the big opportunity this year to contribute productively to the de-escalation of the dramatic situation in the conflict region, the statement reads.
The UN General Assembly concluded in its resolutions (No. 822, 853, 874 and 884) that the current status, which violates international law, has to end. The current situation does not comply with international law and has to be condemned categorically. The All-Party-Parliamentary-Group supports the implementation of these resolutions in order to end the violence in the South Caucasian region. A serious cease-fire is a fundamental requirement to return to the negotiation table.
The All-Party-Parliamentary-Group also positively assed that Azerbaijan ended the military action unilaterally, voicing hope that this will contribute to a de-escalation of the current situation.
Reminding the Group engages in talks with both representatives of the conflict parties, as well as with international negotiators in order to encourage sustainable peace talks, the German-South-Caucasian All-Party-Parliamentary-Group emphasized that its seeks to strengthen the process of establishing peaceful conditions.
Clearly, this is of exceptional difficulty. However, especially in the light of the OSCE-chairmanship, it is our moral duty to find ways to end this unacceptable state swiftly, the statement concluded.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 June 2016 13:10 (UTC+04:00)
The OSCE mission will hold a monitoring on the contact line of troops in the east of the Kuropatkino village of Azerbaijan`s Khojavand region on June 8 in accordance with the mandate of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Azertac reported.
Azerbaijan`s Defense Ministry reported that the monitoring will be held on the Azerbaijani side by field assistants of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Hristo Hristov and Peter Svedberg.
On the opposite side, the monitoring will be conducted by field assistants of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Simon Tiller and Jiri Aberle.
Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions of Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly one million were displaced as a result of the war.
Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994, but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.
Peace talks mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. have produced no results so far.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 June 2016 12:10 (UTC+04:00)
One Azerbaijani was killed as a result of the explosion in Turkey's Istanbul city June 7, the TRT Haber news channel reported.
Azerbaijan's embassy in Turkey told Trend that currently, the information is being clarified.
Eleven people were killed and 36 more were injured as a result of the explosion in Turkey's Istanbul city June 7.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 June 2016 16:06 (UTC+04:00)
The Azerbaijan-Germany business forum kicked off in Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy June 7, Trend's correspondent reported.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who was participating at the event, delivered a speech.
In particular he spoke about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, noting that the United Nations Security Council adopted four resolutions demanding withdrawal of Armenian troops from Azerbaijan's territory, but these resolutions are not being implemented.
The president noted that Azerbaijan is facing double policy, since in some cases the resolutions are implemented within days, while in case with Azerbaijan they have not been implemented for more than 20 years.
Ilham Aliyev further noted that unfortunately sanctions are not imposed on Armenian government.
He went on to add that the resolution of the conflict should be based on territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
The president went on to say that despite this, Azerbaijan has managed to develop successfully, and the country will be celebrating 25 years of independence this year.
Noting that Azerbaijan has implemented political and economic reforms, President Aliyev said that all the fundamental freedoms are provided in the country, including freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.
The president reminded that with the support from 155 countries, Azerbaijan became a non-permanent member to the UN Security Council, and that is the appreciation and international support that the country received.
The president reminded that Azerbaijan declared the 2016 as the Year of Multiculturalism. He went on to add that Azerbaijan is a modern, self-sufficient country, with diversified economy.
The president noted that Azerbaijan's economy has been growing rapidly in recent years.
"Economic growth in Azerbaijan since 2004 was 300 percent," he said, adding that the country managed to lower the poverty and unemployment level, which are both now around 5 percent both.
The president went on to add that Azerbaijan is focusing on developing its non-oil sector. He reminded that since 1994 Azerbaijan is implementing mega energy projects, which, for the first time, are connecting Azerbaijan to Black and Mediterranean seas via Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Supsa oil pipelines.
Ilham Aliyev further noted that Azerbaijan's gas pipelines allow the country to export its gas to neighboring countries - Georgia, Russia, Turkey, Iran.
The president then spoke about the Southern Gas Corridor project, which started when Azerbaijan and Turkey signed an agreement on Trans anatolian pipeline construction.
Since then, many other project were initiated including Trans Adriatic pipeline construction, which is the part of the Southern Gas Corridor, said the president. He added that the Southern Gas Corridor for Azerbaijan is a chance to diversify its resources supply, for transit countries it is an opportunity to earn money.
The president said that the project's advantage is not only diversification of routes, but also diversification of sources.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 June 2016 15:20 (UTC+04:00)
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has sent a letter of condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the deaths of people during the terrorist attack on June 7, Azertac reported.
Dear Mr. President,
Dear brother,
We were deeply saddened by the news of a blast in Istanbul in which people were killed and wounded.
This merciless terrorist act reaffirms the importance of severely combating all manifestations of terrorism.
On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I extend my deep condolences to you, the bereaved families, the loved ones of those who died and the brotherly people of Turkey, and wish the injured the swiftest possible recovery.
May Allah rest the souls of the dead in peace! the letter reads.
An explosion hit Istanbul's Beyazt district at the Vezneciler metro station as a riot police shuttle bus was passing on Tuesday morning.
Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said that seven police officers and four civilians were killed in what appears to be a car bombing terror attack. Sahin added that 36 others were also injured in the blast, including three in critical condition.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 June 2016 19:30 (UTC+04:00)
Important issues of bilateral Azerbaijan-Germany relations were discussed at the meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said President Ilham Aliyev at the joint press conference with Merkel in Berlin, Trend's correspondent reported from the event.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan was one of the important parts of our discussion, said the president.
He went on to add that the resolution of the conflict must be based on implementation of international law norms and UN Security Council resolutions, which demand immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian Armed Forces from the territories of Azerbaijan.
Unfortunately, said the president, the sanctions have not been imposed on Armenia for brutal violation of international law, policy of ethnic cleansing and occupation of almost 20 percent of a sovereign state's territory.
Recent development in the region shows that in the land of conflict the ceasefire is not stable, it is fragile, and the status quo is not acceptable, said Ilham Aliyev.
He reminded that in April Armenia launched another military provocation against Azerbaijan.
"We had to defend ourselves, defend our civilians. By the way, six civilians were killed as a result of Armenian aggression," said Ilham Aliyev, adding that the status quo in the conflict must be changed.
The president said that issues of regional security and regional cooperation were also discussed in a meeting with Angela Merkel.
President Ilham Aliyev then said that earlier he attended the Azerbaijan-Germany business forum, adding that a big amount of leading German companies expressed interest in doing business with Azerbaijan.
According to the president, the German representatives at the forum said that 80 percent of Germany's trade with South Caucasus falls on Azerbaijan.
Speaking about Azerbaijan-initiated Southern Gas Corridor, Ilham Aliyev said that it was the project of energy diversification for Azerbaijan as a producer, and for consumers - an alternative source of gas from Azerbaijan, which will be delivered by brand new transportation infrastructure.
Energy security today cannot be separated from the national security of countries, which depend on energy supply, and these countries need to have diversified routes and sources, said Ilham Aliyev.
The president went on to say that the Southern Gas Corridor project, which is worth $45 billion, will be implemented on time.
Ilham Aliyev stated that other areas of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Germany are also of great importance.
"I also informed the chancellor about the transportation projects that Azerbaijan implements to create the reliable connection between Asia and Europe," said the president, adding that shortest route from Asia to Europe will be through Azerbaijan.
Speaking of political issues discussed at the meeting with Angela Merkel, President Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijan is strongly committed to democracy, protection of human rights.
"Many steps have been taken recently in order to address these issues," said the president, adding that today Azerbaijan provides all the fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of assembly, freedom of media.
The fact that Russia is selling weapons to Armenia doesn't create any allergy in Azerbaijan, said the country's president, Ilham Aliyev answering a question at the joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, Trend's correspondent reported from the event.
"We consider Russia as our strategic partner," he said. "We understand that Russia is a big producer of arms, and can sell weapons to any country. The allergy is in Armenia, for the fact that Russia sells weapons to Azerbaijan."
The president went on to add that unlike Armenia, Azerbaijan paid the full price for the weapons, and Russia is not the only country where Azerbaijan purchases weapons.
"It is not a secret that we purchase weapons from Turkey, Israel, Belarus, Iran and many other countries, because we are modernizing our armed forces," the president said.
Ilham Aliyev further said that Russia is also one of the members of the OSCE Minsk Group, which deals with the Nagorno Karabakh settlement, adding that Azerbaijan considers Russia's role to be very positive.
"We hope that Russia, along with the US and France will use all their potential to convince Armenia that it is time to leave the occupied territories."
Armenia, by force, occupied the territories of Azerbaijan, said Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev answering a question at the joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, Trend's correspondent reported from the event.
"It's enough to look at the map of the region to see who is the aggressor and who is the victim of the aggression," said President Aliyev, adding that Nagorno Karabakh is a historic part of Azerbaijan.
He went on to add that Armenia committed a war crime, genocide in Khodjaly, which is today recognized as genocide by ten countries.
The president reminded that during the Khodjaly genocide 613 people were killed, including 106 women and 63 children, and it all happened in front of international community.
Ilham Aliyev added that Armenia occupied not only Nagorno Karabakh but also seven other districts of Azerbaijan, destroyed Azerbaijan's historical monuments, mosques. The president said that the occupants ignore the calls of international mediators to resolve the conflict peacefully.
In order to prolong the endless negotiations, the Armenian side sometimes organizes provocations like the one in the beginning of April, in order to disrupt the negotiating process, said President Aliyev.
Only this time, according to the president, the Armenian side miscalculated the consequences, and as a result of Azerbaijani army's counter-attack, the country managed to restore parts of its occupied territories.
President Ilham Aliyev said that the Armenian government needs to comply with international law, illegal occupation of other countries is absolutely unacceptable.
"They should start the de-occupation. As as soon as it starts, we will open all the communications, we will restore transportation infrastructure, and eliminate every single possibility of a military scenario," he said.
He went on to repeat that Azerbaijan is committed to peaceful settlement of the conflict.
"We stopped the clashes because we do not want war, we need peace. We need our territories back," he said.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 June 2016 18:35 (UTC+04:00)
By Amina Nazarli
Five observers from the Council of Europe (CE) have appealed to the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan to monitor the re-run elections to the Azerbaijani Parliament on the 90th Agdash constituency.
CEC Chairman Mazahir Panahov announced about this at a seminar on transparency in political party financing, organized by the CEC and the CoE in Baku, within the project titled "Strengthening capacities to fight and prevent corruption in Azerbaijan" on June 7.
The parliamentary election in Azerbaijan was held on November 1, 2015. At a meeting on November 17, the CEC considered the appeal of candidates registered for the 90th Agdash constituency and annulled the voting results of the region.
On April 12, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on appointing repeated election to the Parliament on the constituency. The election on the 90th Agdash constituency is scheduled for June 18.
Speaking about the activities of the political parties in Azerbaijan, Panahov stressed that the country has created all the conditions for activities of political parties.
He further noted that the activities of the political parties in Azerbaijan, in particular their financial reports, should be transparent.
Speaking at the seminar, Malena Mard, Head of the EU delegation to Azerbaijan said that transparency in financing of the political parties in Azerbaijan is extremely important.
"The political parties play an important role in building a democratic society," noted Mard. "In some countries the political parties face problems, including the financial ones."
She added that the role of political parties is great in terms of formation of common political values, and in this area the EU can cooperate with Azerbaijan.
Currently, over 40 political parties operate in Azerbaijan. In order to get registered, a party needs at least the membership of 1,000 citizens of Azerbaijan.
The head of the EU delegation went on saying that Azerbaijan and the EU are working in all the spheres to expand the partnership.
"The EU's representatives are expected to visit Azerbaijan in connection with the energy projects in autumn 2016," she said, adding that a political level visit will be paid in the coming months as well.
The Azerbaijan-EU consultations on a new strategic agreement are still ongoing, according to Mard.
"The new agreement will basically cover all the areas of cooperation, so the consultations are taking much time," she said.
--
Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 June 2016 10:17 (UTC+04:00)
The office term of the World Bank (WB) country manager for Azerbaijan, Larisa Leshchenko, will expire in late June 2016, the WB Baku office told Trend June 6.
For the present, it is unknown who will lead the WB Baku office.
Currently, the WB management is selecting candidates for that position, said the WB office.
World Bank's country manager is usually appointed for three years, but this term can be extended for another year. Leshchenko was appointed the WB country manager for Azerbaijan in September 2012.
Azerbaijan became a WB member in 1992.
The World Bank has allocated nearly $3.786 billion worth loans to Azerbaijan as of Feb. 1, 2016. Those funds were directed to finance over 60 projects.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 June 2016 11:42 (UTC+04:00)
By Amina Nazarli
The third Donor Coordination Meeting was held in Baku on June 6 to consider the ongoing agricultural projects in Azerbaijan, discuss the current trends in the industry and define future cooperation priorities.
Agriculture Ministry Heydar Asadov, addressing the event, stated that the government will allocate significant funds for irrigation this year, mentioning that drastic measures would be taken in this field.
The minister further stated that agricultural producers in Azerbaijan saved more than 60 million manats (roughly $40 million) due to a 40 percent discount on the purchase of equipment.
In recent years the country purchased more than 7,400 kinds of agricultural machinery, the minister said.
Asadov noted that during the oil boom benefits provided in the agricultural sector were not used sufficiently, and agriculture was not a priority sphere. Recently, however, significant steps have been taken for the development of agriculture, he said.
The minister also touched upon the issue of artificial insemination, saying that starting this autumn the government will pay 100 manats ($66) for every calf, born through artificial insemination.
Last year, more than 5,000 calves were born by means of artificial insemination. I believe that this year's figures will be even more, the minister emphasized.
A center for artificial insemination will soon operate in the country to ensure the development of the agricultural sector. Some 12 branches of the center are expected to be operating in the regions.
Asadov further added that the Agriculture Ministry proposes to introduce subsidies in sericulture. An appropriate proposal for developing the silk production has already been submitted to the Cabinet, while proposals for seed sphere will be presented in the near future.
The Ministry proposes to provide a subsidy of 2 manats ($1.3) per kilogram of cocoons.
The government repeatedly applied various benefits and subsidies for the development of the agricultural sector. So, since 2002 farmers in Azerbaijan have been exempted from payment of all taxes (except land), and since 2007 farmers have received subsidies for preferential purchase of fertilizer and fuel.
In her speech to the event that brought together representatives of over 20 international organizations, French Ambassador to Azerbaijan Aurelia Boucher said that the French Development Agency (AFD) has already affected 112.5 million euros for transport.
She added that the agency could spend the same amount and even more for agriculture support in the framework of the program "Rural Development and Agro Industry Support" if projects in this field justify it.
This is the largest amount of funding allocated by the AFD in the South Caucasus, according to the French envoy.
The ambassador further added that the mission of the agency will visit Baku this autumn to discuss areas of cooperation in the agricultural sector.
Boucher emphasized that currently Azerbaijan and France are cooperating in animal husbandry, artificial insemination, wine-growing and others. France shares its experience with Azerbaijan in agricultural sector, in particular for the modernization of animal health and epidemiological service.
We continue to cooperate in this area and strengthen it thanks to the attention that the government gives to agriculture, she said.
The diplomat also noted the possibility of student exchange between the two countries.
Head of the EU delegation to Azerbaijan Malena Mard, talking to reporters on the sideline of the event, said that the EU is one of the largest creditors of Azerbaijan's agriculture sector.
She said the EU is implementing a number of projects in this sphere, in particular, a joint project worth 40 million euros with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Moreover, she noted, the EU works with Azerbaijan's Agriculture Ministry for the development of an electronic agriculture system and a land information system.
Calling education as one of the important issue, Mard noted that the EU works jointly with the Ministry and the ADA University to improve the training level of the agriculture specialists.
She went on to add that the EU is also implementing a twinning project aimed at developing the veterinary service in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan seeks to achieve an economy driven by the non-oil sector, but not petrodollars. That means putting more effort to develop local production and more support to agriculture, one of Azerbaijans best non-oil sector development options.
The country achieved 6.6-percent growth in the volume of agricultural production in 2015. The agricultural sector is important in Azerbaijan not only to increase export potential, but also to restore and protect the countrys food security.
Enjoying advantageous geographic location Azerbaijan has all possibilities to increase food security and production in the country.
--
Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 June 2016 18:08 (UTC+04:00)
By Fatma Babayeva
Baku hosts the 44th ministerial session of the Organization for Cooperation of Railways (OSJD) on June 7, Spokesperson for Azerbaijan Railways Nadir Azmemmedov told Trend.
Azmemmedov noted that during the first days of the session, meetings of the working groups will be held.
The ministerial meeting will take place on June 9 with the participation of heads of railway agencies of the OSJD countries, which is devoted to the 60th anniversary of the organization.
OSJD was established in 1956 in Sofia, Bulgaria by the ministers of the leading railways and covers rail transport routes between Asia and Europe.
Members of this organization are the ministries of transport and central agencies leading the railway transportation of 27 countries. Azerbaijan is a member of OSJD since 1993.
Azerbaijan aims to increase its role as a transit country between East and West, as well as North and South by providing alternatives to the existing transport routes.
Construction of new Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is underway.
In May 2016, Azerbaijan joined the international railway project Viking Train, which will further enable to up the countrys trade and transport potential.
In the meantime, Azerbaijan Railways agreed with railway agencies of Georgia and Kazakhstan to create the International Trans-Caspian Transport Consortium in April.
In addition, the country is a participant of the North South international transport corridor running from India to Helsinki as well.
---
Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 June 2016 16:25 (UTC+04:00)
By Laman Ismayilova
Azerbaijan joined the 11th edition of the Republican Festival of National Cultures in Grodno, Belarus on June 3-4, Azertac reported.
The festival that brought together about 40 nationalities aimed at preservation of national identity as well as understanding and mutual enrichment of cultures.
The event featured ancient rituals and games. The highlight of the cultural program was the performance of local ensembles. The artists performed folk songs of different nations, including Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan and Belarus established diplomatic relations in 1993. There is a vast potential for the development of investment cooperation between the two counties and for Azerbaijan's involvement in the projects implemented in Belarus.
Belarus is interested in increasing the capacity of Belarusian assembly plants operating in Azerbaijan, as well as implementation of new projects in construction, education, health, science and culture sectors.
Belarus opened embassy in Azerbaijan in February 2006, Azerbaijan opened embassy in Belarus in August 2006.
---
Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 June 2016 12:14 (UTC+04:00)
By Nigar Abbasova
Azerbaijans oil giant SOCAR will examine the issue of purchasing Turkey-based filling station network from Austria's OMV.
Zaur Gahramanov, General Manager of SOCAR Turkey Enerji Company talking to reporters mentioned that SOCAR displays a special interest in the assets of the company.
OMV has not yet provided any information about the state of the assets to the market. The information was expected to be provided in June, but then the issue was delayed till September. We will thoroughly consider the issue as soon as the information is provided as we have a huge deal of interest in these assets. We are interested in the creation of distribution network pegged to the Star Petroleum refinery, he said.
SOCAR president Rovnag Abdullayev previously confirmed the companys interest in the purchase of the filling station assets of Austrian OMV in Turkey.
OMV previously spread the information about the intention to put up its OMV Petrol Ofisi A.S. subsidiary in Turkey for sale.
OMV sequentially sells its filling station networks located in different countries. Within the scope of its strategy the company is intended to be focused on the extractive enterprises as well as on the oil processing activities. In this regard OMV has launched the selling process of 100 percent of OMV Petrol Ofisi A.S which possesses one of the largest refueling station networks in Turkey. The company operates 1,785 refueling station throughout Turkey and owns the countrys largest fuel storage and logistics business.
In 2015 the volume of fuel sale amounted to 10 million tons.
With its headquarters in Vienna OMV is one of Austrias largest industrial companies. The company is engaged in the upstream business which includes exploration and production as well as downstream which concerns refining, marketing as well as gas and power.
SOCAR is involved in exploring oil and gas fields, producing, processing, and transporting oil, gas, and gas condensate, as well as oil and chemical products in domestic and international markets, and supplying natural gas to the industry and the public in Azerbaijan.
--
Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 June 2016 18:20 (UTC+04:00)
By Nigar Abbasova
Azerbaijans oil giant SOCAR expanded the network of its filling stations in Romania. Currently the number of the companys facilities in Romania amounts to 34.
The new filling station was launched in the city of Pitesti. SOCAR operates filling stations under its brand in 17 regions of Romania.
Being the sole producer of oil products in Azerbaijan, SOCAR also operates its filling stations in Georgia, Ukraine and Switzerland. The company exported 1.23 million tons of oil products in 2015, as compared to 1.2 million tons in 2014.
The company established its first gas-filling station in Romania in 2011 when it was introduced in the country by the SOCAR Petroleum SA.
Romania and Azerbaijan also cooperate in the implementation of AGRI energy project which is aimed at diversifying the energy supply sources of the European Union and involves the transport of Azerbaijani natural gas to Romania and into Central Europe
SOCAR is involved in exploring oil and gas fields, producing, processing, and transporting oil, gas, and gas condensate, as well as oil and chemical products in domestic and international markets, and supplying natural gas to the industry and the public in Azerbaijan.
The company invests billions of dollars annually in transportations infrastructures and is involved in projects designed to increase Europe's energy security through diversification of natural gas.
--
Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 June 2016 12:28 (UTC+04:00)
By Fatma Babayeva
Intecsea, the offshore engineering company from the Netherlands has expressed interest in joining the construction of a seabed pipeline for supplying Iranian gas to Oman.
The company has officially submitted a proposal to participate in the project, said the project's manager Mohammad Akbarzadeh, Mehr news agency reported on June 5.
The construction of the Iran-Oman pipeline will make Irans ambition to become LNG exporter come true. With the realization of this pipeline, Iran will be able to use Qalhat LNG plant which has the capacity to liquefy 10.4 million tons of LNG per annum - in Oman as the Islamic Republic does not have one.
Intecsea has earlier undertaken construction of some offshore pipelines in Iran's South Pars gas field, Akbarzadeh noted, adding the company can cooperate with Iran by providing special engineering and technical services and studies.
The studies on the project have been completed by 22 percent, the projects manager added.
Previously, South Korea's state-run Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) and National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on constructing three major gas pipelines in the Islamic Republic including the Iran-Oman gas pipeline which experts say requires at least $1.5 billion-investment.
Iran will export 28 million cubic meters of gas to Oman per day via a sub-sea pipeline within 15 years, according to the agreement signed between Tehran and Muscat in 2013.
In September 2015, after bilateral negotiations in Tehran it was announced that the project will be operational by late 2017.
Almost a third of the gas exported by Iran to Oman will be liquefied, and the rest will be consumed domestically.
The Oman-Iran pipeline which will stretch 400 kilometers composed of two sections: onshore and offshore.
Onshore section of the pipeline extends for 200 kilometers from Rudan to Mobarak Mount in southern Hormozgan province, whilst the seabed section between Iran and Sohar Port in Oman will stretch for another 200 kilometers.
The groundwork for laying the subsea pipeline between Iran and Oman has began in April 2016.
After the sanctions imposed on Iran by the Western countries were lifted, Iran has been successfully ramping up its oil exports to the pre-sanctions level (2.2 million barrels per day). Moreover, the country is also ambitious to increase gas exports to the global market.
Nevertheless, Iran lacks necessary infrastructure to realize its gas export targets. It needs investment to expand its gas pipeline and build LNG facilities.
Currently, Iran exports gas to Turkey (7.8 billion cubic meters in 2015), and sends gas to Azerbaijans Nakhchivan on the basis of swap deal. In return, Azerbaijan provides equal amount of gas to Iran across the border.
Iran has gas export deals with Iraq, Pakistan and Oman around 100 million cubic meters per day.
In order to supply the north east part of the country with the natural gas, Iran buys gas from Turkmenistan as it is cheaper to import gas rather than build a pipeline infrastructure to ship natural gas from south to north of the country through Alborz mountains.
Irans estimated gas reserves amount to 33 trillion cubic meters.
---
Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 June 2016 14:30 (UTC+04:00)
By Fatma Babayeva
Iran, a country controlling the second largest oil refining capacity in the Middle East region after Saudi Arabia, plans to increase the export of the finished petroleum products in the near future.
The Islamic Republic inked a deal with South Korea SK E&C, which is the first ever agreement to develop and optimize Iranian oil refineries, reported Iranian Mehr News Agency on June 6.
SK E&C will carry out feasibility study for the development of Tabriz Oil Refinery in order to increase the production capacity for gasoline and diesel fuel. It also envisages promotion of desulfurization facilities.
The cost of the contract amounts to $20 million.
The implementation of the first phase of the project is anticipated to last six months, according to SK E&C official.
Relevant talks also have been held with Japanese JX Nippon Oil & Energy (JX NOE) and Japan Cooperation Center, Petroleum (JCCP) on the issue.
Earlier in May, South Korean contractor Daewoo Engineering and Construction (Daewoo E&C) concluded a MoU with Iranian engineering firm Bahman Geno to carry out construction of an oil refinery in Bandar Jask located in the southern coast of Iran, which will have the capacity of 300,000 barrels per day.
Moreover, Iran looks for a foreign partner to develop Kish refinery by establishing a joint venture with a domestic company as well.
Irans current crude oil refining capacity, including gas condensate, equals almost to 1.8 to 1.85 million barrels per day.
Moreover, Irans Persian Gulf Star gas condensate refinery located in the south of the country will fully come on stream by the end of the next year, which will make the country self-sufficient in meeting its domestic needs for gasoline.
Iran is also interested in buying shares of existing refineries or building new ones abroad, and holds talks with Spain, Indonesia, and Brazil etc.
The removal of anti-Iran sanctions following a nuke deal signed with the world powers has helped Tehran to pursue a rapid boom in its oil industry.
---
Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 June 2016 16:46 (UTC+04:00)
By Fatma Babayeva
Heads of CIS governments agreed on a package of documents in the spheres of economy, military and humanitarian cooperation following the Bishkek meeting of the council of heads of CIS governments on June 7.
Overall, the participants of the meeting signed 21 documents, reported Ria Novosti.
The agreements on information swapping regarding accidents on electricity generation facilities and on cooperation in education and energy area have been signed.
The heads of the CIS governments also inked the treaty on preservation of agricultural biodiversity and the protocol between the member-states of the free trade agreement from October 18, 2011 on rules and regulation of state procurements.
Also, the council of heads of CIS governments decided to hold 2020 population census in member-states of the union as well as to organize the international Art EXPO exhibition.
The meeting also saw decisions regarding the cooperation strategy in the chemical industry and the primary plan of actions to implement it as well as the cooperation strategy in the field of tackling cancer made.
The questions of optimization of the CIS and adaptation to the new realities were the key topics addressed during the meeting, Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbai Jeenbekov told reporters.
He added that the summit of CIS member-countries leaders due to be held in Bishkek on September 16 will be "the most important event" during Kyrgyzstans CIS chairmanship this year.
The Council comprised of heads of the CIS member states also confirmed a strategy "Health of the CIS member states population". The implementation of the interstate program on innovative cooperation till 2020 was agreed by the participants as well.
The Bishkek meeting was attended by the heads of the CIS member states including Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Kazakh PM Karim Massimov, Moldavan PM Pavel Filip, Belarusian PM Andrei Kobyakov, Tajik PM Kohir Rasulzoda and, as well as, Azerbaijani First Deputy PM Yagub Eyyubov, Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Vache Gabrielyan, Uzbek First Deputy PM Rustam Azimov and deputy chairman of Turkmenistans cabinet of Ministers Satlyk Satlykov.
Ukraine was represented by the Ambassador of the country to Kyrgyzstan, Nikolai Doroshenko.
The next meeting of the heads of CIS countries will be held in Minsk on October 28.
---
Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 June 2016 16:10 (UTC+04:00)
By Nigar Abbasova
Germany's SAP SE Corporation has put forward concrete proposals on providing Turkmenistan's Turkmenbashi International Sea port with the brand-new electronic systems.
The modern electronic systems have been presented during the joint forum "Turkmenistan - Germany: Day of innovative technologies" held in Germany's Walldorf city with participation of 30 largest German companies and a delegation from Turkmenistan. German companies have already expressed their interest in the expansion of cooperation with Turkmenistan. In the course of the forum German SAP has presented innovative solutions on the effective management of the port infrastructure.
Turkmenbashi port is the main passenger harbour and cargo port in Turkmenistan. Having a great geopolitical importance in Eurasia the port is capable of accommodating vessels throughout the year as well as carrying out loading and unloading operations.
Turkmenistan has launched a construction of a new port worth $2 billion in August 15, 2013. The project envisages the building of terminals, shipbuilding and ship-repairing plants as well as coast infrastructure facilities.
German Inros Lackner AG operates as consulting company within the framework of the project. The new port is considered to be an important step to form modern transport infrastructure which allows bringing economic and trade cooperation between Asia and Europe up to a new level, gives powerful stimulus to the long-term development of inter-regional relations and provides for strong possibilities to increase transport flows in the Eurasian area.
Turkmenbashi International Sea port provides transit of oil, petrochemicals, industrial and building equipment as well as other freights of big significance for the national economy.
SAP SE is a German is a multinational software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations.
--
Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 June 2016 16:33 (UTC+04:00)
By Nigar Abbasova
Turkmenistan and Hungary have signed an intergovernmental convention on the economic cooperation aimed at the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion, Turkmenistans Foreign Ministry reported.
The signing took place a day after the second meeting of the Hungarian-Turkmen Intergovernmental Committee on Economic Cooperation and a forum of business leaders from both countries held in Budapest.
The agreement provides for more favorable and transparent business doing, as well as legal foundation for investors from both countries. The convention is expected to foster economic ties between the two countries and increase the capital investments.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1992. Hungarian companies are currently active in Turkmenistan in such sphere as pharmaceutics, transport and logistics as well as the agriculture. The Hungarian products are in demand in Turkmenistan, especially agricultural products, textile and the transportation means.
Hungary is interested in the increase of import of products of chemical industry as well as oil and gas refining from Turkmenistan. Bilateral trade turnover rates exceeded the level of $37 million in 2015.
--
Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
7 June 2016 18:15 (UTC+04:00)
By Nigar Abbasova
Turkmenenergo State Corporation has signed a contract with Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) on the electric-power transmission over the route Atamurat (Turkmenistan) Andhoy (Afghanistan) starting from January 2018 to December 2027.
The sides have also come to an agreement on the extension of previously signed contracts on the electric-power transmission from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan.
The project is expected to provide opportunities for the export of Turkmen electric power to Pakistan and Tajikistan through Afghanistan. Turkmenistan currently provides electricity to Afghanistan's northern provinces on preferential terms.
President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov approved a new Concept of Electric Power Industry Development of Turkmenistan for 2013-2020 in 2012. The power industry development plan is expected to be implemented in two phases, 2013-2016 and 2017-2020.
Turkmenistans investment into its electricity industry is part of the countrys general policy of diversifying its energy export routes in the region. The concept is expected to provide opportunities for Turkmenistan to fully provide all of its provinces with uninterrupted power supply during all seasons of the year and to generate additional income through the growth of exports to other countries.
--
Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Floods and mudslides: BMS responds to Sri Lanka disaster
A thousand families severely affected by the heaviest rains in Sri Lanka for 25 years are to receive much-needed help from BMS World Mission
May 2016 will be a month many in Sri Lanka will want to forget as torrential rains hit the country, creating massive destruction and loss of life.
Three villages were buried by massive landslides due to the excessive rain which was triggered by Cyclone Roanu. Over 100 people have died from flooding across Sri Lanka and more than 400,000 have been badly affected. About 185,000 of those who have lost their homes and are being housed in temporary shelters.
The Sri Lankan Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake has estimated the cost of the damage at $2 billion (1.38 billion). Roads, telecommunications, irrigation systems, power supply lines and other infrastructure have been damaged as well.
Within Sri Lanka, these torrential rains and the mudslides they have caused are being seen as one of the biggest disasters to hit the country, surpassed only by the 2004 Tsunami and the civil war, says BMS Manager for Mission Steve Sanderson.
Over 1,000 badly affected families in the Colombo region (western Sri Lanka) are going to be helped by BMS through Sri Lankan partner LEADS. These families will receive much needed hygiene packs containing essentials like antibacterial soap, towels and bedsheets.
BMS has partnered with LEADS for many years and is proud to stand by the Sri Lankan people during this time of trouble, says Steve Sanderson. Please pray for Sri Lanka as it starts the substantial recovery that is required to return large parts of the country to how they were before this disaster.
Pray for the people of Sri Lanka as they recover from these awful floods and prayerfully consider donating to the work of BMS as we seek to provide for the needs of many vulnerable people throughout the world.
This article first appeared on the website of BMS World Mission and is used with permission.
BMS World Mission, 07/06/2016
On display at the Armed Forces History Museum in Largo is a very important piece of American history: the first pair of American boots to come ashore on D-Day.
The boots belonged to Col. Leonard Schroeder of Maryland. Then a captain, Schroeder joined his men in the first wave of landing craft headed for Utah beach on June 6th, 1944. The boat he was in arrived first, allowing Schroeder to jump out and be the first one to reach the beach.
Schroeders daughter said her father remained modest about his actions during the invasion, despite the attention he received later on in life.
That was always what he tried to instill in all of us too, Jane Schroeder said of her father and her siblings. You know, youve got a job to do. Youve got people to take care of. Thats what youve got to do.
While fighting, Schroeder was hit by machine gunfire in the arm. He survived and went on to serve a total of 31 years in the military, also fighting in the Korean War.
Schroeder donated his boots and other items to the museum, including his helmet, watch and an escape map he carried with him on D-Day.
They are all on display at the museum, which is open to the public. For more information visit http://armedforcesmuseum.com/.
The Associated Press reports Hillary Clinton has won enough pledged and superdelegates to be the Democratic Party's nominee for president.
But that does not mean the primaries are over. And what happens Tuesday will play a big role in what happens in the Democratic Party heading to July.
Tuesday's primaries: California, New Jersey, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota; North Dakota Democratic caucus
California has 475 pledged delegates up for grabs, distributed proportionally
Sanders win in California gives him case to push through to the DNC
California voters normally don't expect to get attention from presidential candidates during primary season. Over the last few cycles, the nominees have largely been decided before we get to June.
But on Tuesday, all eyes will be on the Golden State, which has the biggest prize of them all in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination one that could make a difference in what happens in July at the Democratic National Convention.
Here is the delegate breakdown by state:
California: 475
New Jersey: 126
Montana: 21
New Mexico: 34
South Dakota: 20
North Dakota: 18
That gives us a total of 694 pledged delegates up for grabs Tuesday all proportionally divvied up.
And here is the current pledged delegate count:
Bernie Sanders: 1,521
Hillary Clinton: 1,812
Candidates need 2,383 delegates to win the Democratic nomination, and that's a total made up of any combination of pledged delegates and superdelegates, which are party leaders, top lawmakers, former Democratic presidents, etc.
Major news outlets have identified and repeatedly surveyed these 714 superdelegates over the last few months. The Associated Press reported Monday that a burst of new pledges of support from superdelegates pushed Clinton over the top. All but 95 are committed, and the vast majority are going for Clinton.
If you look at the numbers, delegates aside, Clinton's pending win is fairly decisive. She leads Sanders in the popular vote by more than 3 million. She won 29 caucuses and primaries to Sanders' 21.
However, Sanders and his supporters say he will not back down if Clinton's victory is determined by superdelegates. He says he will take the outcome all the way to the convention.
Clinton's campaign, for her part, is not trumpeting AP's report. The campaign posted this Monday night:
What happens Tuesday?
As the latest polls stand right now, Clinton is beating Sanders in New Jersey, 61-34. She also has a razor-thin lead in California, 49-47.
But California, Montana and North Dakota have open primaries, which means independent voters can cast ballots. And there is some uncertainty in the polling.
Say Clinton and Sanders splits the 694 delegates evenly. That's 347 delegates. That gives Clinton 1,868 pledged delegates. She would need the superdelegates to put her over, no matter what.
The bigger a win for Clinton, the better it looks for her. It's icing on the cake. The bigger the win for Sanders, the easier he can try to make the case that superdelegates thwart the wishes of the American voter, even though the American voter seems to prefer Clinton -- by more than 3 million votes.
What does Sanders do next?
Sanders' next move will be to try to convince the remaining 95 uncommitted superdelegates, plus many of Clinton's superdelegates to change sides. Superdelegates can change their vote all the way to the Democratic National Convention.
"If I win tomorrow in California, if we do very well, and I don't know that we will we may and we do well in the other states, if there are superdelegates out there who say, 'you know what, looking at the objective evidence of polling, looking at the objective evidence of who has the strongest grassroots campaign and can bring out the larger voter turnout,' which I think is crucial for November, if some of those superdelegates begin to think that is Bernie Sanders, I think that is not an insignificant thing," said Sanders while campaigning in California.
However, Sanders will have an uphill climb. Many of the superdelegates say they are committed to Clinton because of long ties and relationships. They are loyal to her, and they are loyal to the party. Sanders was not a Democrat before he ran for president.
All of this could make for a difficult road to the DNC, and it could also make for a very interesting, contested convention.
Will Democrats move to make peace with Sanders?
The Democratic party has worked hard to make sure the national convention is a unifying event and a boost to the general election. Since the turbulent 60s and 70s, the party has taken steps (like superdelegates), to make sure the nomination is generally set before delegates hit the DNC floor.
The closest Democrats came to a contested convention recently was the 2008 Election. Democratic leaders held a meeting where an agreement was reached on delegates and superdelegates that put then-candidate Barack Obama over the top over Hillary Clinton.
While Sanders makes his case to the superdelegates, the party make its case to Sanders. Sources say Sanders and President Obama spoke by phone Sunday, while Sanders campaigned in California. Neither Sanders nor Obama would say what they spoke about.
AP sources inside the White House also say the president is preparing to endorse Hillary Clinton in the next week or so, after Tuesday's primaries.
Other Democratic leaders have also spoken to Sanders.
Clinton will need the support of Sanders voters against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in November. Some Sanders supporters have already declared they are #BernieorBust, but there is hope that if Sanders is guaranteed a moral victory, perhaps by adding his policies to the party platform or giving him a leadership role of some kind, that Sanders might come to Clinton's side in the end and bring some of his supporters.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Outside the home at 4330 32nd Street in Port Arthur is a metal placard erected by the Texas Historical Commission.
It indicates that music legend Janis Joplin lived in the house for the majority of her adolescence - years before she'd belt out hits like "Piece of My Heart" or "Me and Bobby McGee."
What passersby won't see in the front yard is a "for sale" sign.
But over the weekend, the white, five-bedroom, three-bathroom home hit the real estate market. The list price is $500,000.
An online post for the home was made on Saturday night by Diane Fernandez, Realtor with American Real Estate.
The owners of the home, who declined to be named in this article, have lived there for 19 years, according to Fernandez.
Sarah Bellian - curator for the Museum of the Gulf Coast, which includes a large Joplin exhibit - doubts the owners will get anything close to their asking price.
Joplin's Posche sold for $1.76 million at an auction in New York in December 2015. The idea that the home - which Joplin lived in from the age of 4 until she left for college - could sell for a comparable price is unrealistic, said Bellian.
"The problem is, unlike having a car or a piece of clothing or something that you can take with you, the house is where the house is," said Bellian. "So you have to look at the surrounding market for it."
Houses in the neighborhood surrounding Joplin's childhood home were for the most part built between 1920 and 1950, according to Bellian, who is also Jefferson County's historic preservation officer. Those houses generally sell from $70,000 to $80,000, according to Fernandez.
The home is valued at $52,500 - more than $445,000 under the asking price - according to public records obtained from the Jefferson County Appraisal District.
"You're obviously paying for the fame of the home," said Fernandez.
Fernandez's agency reached out to the Museum of the Gulf Coast's board to see if members were interested in acquiring the house before it went on the market. Fernandez said they declined.
Much of the home has likely changed in the decades since Joplin lived there, Bellian said.
On the floor of the home's garage, which has been converted into an efficiency apartment, the name "Janis" is carved next to the name of her sister, "Laura."
Besides the two carvings, Fernandez said only the doors and doorknobs are original to the house that the Joplin family once called home.
"The best thing that could happen is that someone will buy it and that they care for it," Bellian said.
Interested buyers must show proof of funds before they'll be given a private tour, Fernandez said.
The home where Joplin was born, formerly located at 4048 Procter St., Port Arthur, was demolished in 1980, according to previous Enterprise reporting. Bricks from the home are available for purchase at the Museum of the Gulf Coast.
ERobinson@BeaumontEnterprise.com
Twitter.com/eeelizzzabeth
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
The runner-up for the Democratic nomination for Jefferson County sheriff has indicated he will cross party lines this November and support Republican nominee Ray Beck, a surprising twist that could cut into Zena Stephens' vote count and fray the county's larger party in the general election.
Joe "QB" Stevenson on Monday confirmed he wrote a Facebook post in support of Beck, who said the pair have talked about a possible endorsement. Stevenson on Monday also said he has "some decisions to make," and that he couldn't comment further because he was working.
Stevenson, a former elected constable who ran for sheriff in each of the past two cycles, has built a faction of several thousand supporters whose party defection would add intrigue to the top local race on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Whether the move will impact the results depends on turnout, party loyalty and how willing and able Stevenson is to spend the next six months actively swaying the 7,400 voters who supported him March 1, or, at least, his 4,500 voters in a runoff with lighter turnout.
Such support would boost Beck, who has embarked on the difficult task of campaigning for county-wide office in what remains a Democratic stronghold in a presidential election year. Beck is the first Republican to run for the sheriff's office in 20 years.
Jefferson County Democratic Party Chair-elect Cade Bernsen said Stevenson's decision is "disappointing" but that he nonetheless expects the "overwhelming majority of Democrats" to vote for Stephens.
"Joe is a nice guy," Bernsen said. "I don't know what's going on with him as far as this goes, but he's entitled to support who he wants."
Stephens captured 53 percent of the runoff vote after taking 38 percent on March 1, when she and Stevenson squeezed presumed favorite Rod Carroll, a former sheriff's department spokesman, from the ballot. Stevenson took 34 percent of the vote in the three-person primary.
"Everyone ran really good campaigns," Bernsen said. "They ran hard. I didn't see mud-slinging. I believe they were clean campaigns."
In claiming the nomination, Stephens became the first black candidate and first woman to be nominated for sheriff by one of Jefferson County's major parties. Both she and Stevenson, who is also black, have roots in Beaumont's South End.
Stevenson recently called Beck to discuss supporting his campaign, Beck said.
"He and I have talked about his support and I sure welcome it," Beck said. "We surely want to talk. He represents and he's supported by many fine Beaumonters and many people around Jefferson County."
Stevenson, now a deputy constable, explained his support for Beck in a post midday Saturday to the Jefferson County Politics Facebook page. In it, he wrote that his inspiration to run for sheriff in 2012 and this year was drawn from what he saw as the mistreatment of employees and "continuous beat down on the constable offices."
"This is why during my recent run for sheriff, I continued to say that, 'THE SHERIFF NEEDS TO BE SOMEONE, WHO HASN'T BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION,'" Stevenson wrote. "Not one time, did anyone ever hear me say, that should only be 'A DEMOCRAT.' I said, AN OUTSIDE PERSON."
Beck, a retired Beaumont PD lieutenant, has never worked for the department.
Stephens, currently chief of police at Texas A&M Prairie View University, previously worked as chief deputy under Sheriff Mitch Woods, who is retiring at the end of the year to cap a 20-year tenure.
Stephens said Monday she had not talked with Stevenson since the runoff election and that she didn't want to "speculate" about Stevenson's post.
"People have the right to support whoever they want to," Stephens said. "I'm excited about the upcoming general election. We're gearing up for that. We've got support from all different parts of the community."
Stevenson's comment was part of a post by one of the group's administrators, who wrote that the runner-up's decision to support Beck was surprising.
On the day of the runoff, before the votes were counted, Stevenson indicated he would support Stephens if he wasn't nominated. He was asked whether the runner-up would be responsible for bringing together local Democrats after a several months of campaigning.
"It gives a person a chance to show who you really are as far as a true Democrat," Stevenson told The Enterprise then. "Let's win this seat. We are a blue county."
In Stevenson's lengthy Facebook post, he said the decision is nonetheless true to his principles.
"I may not ever get elected again, may never even seek another public office, one thing for certain is, at whatever cost, I am going to stand on what I've said and with whom I believe in," he wrote.
EBesson@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/EricBesson_news
This year's Senate spending bill allotted an additional $2 billion to the National Institute of Health, bringing the agency's total budget to nearly $34 billion, according to The Hill.
Here are five takeaways:
1. The additional NIH funding is due to negotiations between Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). Sen. Blunt leads the Senate subcommittee on health funding, and Sen. Murray is Washington's first female senator.
2. While many research advocates applaud the funding boost, others are concerned as to whether the funding will come from other health agencies such as the CDC.
3. Also included in the Senate's funding bill is nearly $300 million for President Obama's precision medicine initiative, a $100 million increase.
4. The bill also will add almost $126 million for the health department's opioid anti-abuse programs and nearly $53 million to fight antibiotic resistance.
5. On Monday, the Alzheimer's Association said the bill added $400 million more for Alzheimer's research.
More healthcare news:
Do patients want outpatient spine surgery? 5 things to know
AmSurg acquires Jandee Anesthesiology Partners & Karadan Anesthesiology and Pain Management; Surgery Partners adds former Tenet executive Sarath Degala 7 key notes on ASC companies
Northpointe Surgical Suites to open in Ohio: 5 notes
Here are the five most popular Becker's ASC Review gastroenterology and endoscopy stories for the week of May 30 to June 3, 2016.
1. Physicians accept blame for Joan Rivers' death: 8 key notes on the Yorkville Endoscopy settlement
Click here
2. Double reprocessing duodenoscopes reduces infection transmission risk: 4 insights from new research
Click here
3. 28 starting salaries for specialty physicians GI comes in 5th
Click here
4. Dr. Kenneth Chang performs 1st TIF procedure using new EsophyX Z device: 6 things to know
Click here
5. AGA names Dr. Timothy Wang president: 5 notes
Click here
A state budget crisis has created an extremely challenging operating environment for Illinois hospitals, and healthcare leaders are feeling an enormous amount of pressure to keep their facilities afloat in such a difficult market.
Hospital executives told Crain's Chicago Business that the reimbursement tap is unpredictable, and they're forced to make tough decisions. For instance, hospitals are forgoing patient care investments to pay for software and people to manage the mounting stacks of bills.
Illinois' managed care system is making matters worse for hospitals, as reimbursements must filter through one of the state's 13 managed care companies before flowing to hospitals. If the managed care companies don't get paid then neither do the hospitals. The state owes these insurers at least $570 million, according to Crain's.
University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System CFO Michael Zenn told Crain's that his system is waiting for $67 million in payments from managed care companies. The Chicago-based system has contracts with six of the 13 managed care companies in the state.
Unpaid bills from the state are also taking a toll on Chicago-based Norwegian American Hospital. About three-fourths of Norwegian's patients are on Medicaid, and the hospital is waiting on about $4.3 million in payments from managed care companies.
More articles on healthcare finance:
Hospitals have 60% overturn rate when appealing RAC claims
Novant Health sees operating income jump 115.2%
Pioneer Health issues notice to close hospital after filing for bankruptcy
At the annual Biotechnology Industry Organization's convention in San Francisco, Massachusetts officials reestablished the state's undisputed standing as a force in the national campaign to rein in soaring prescription drug prices, according to The Boston Globe.
The state is already well-recognized as a hub for drug innovation and discovery.
According to The Boston Globe, Massachusetts has inserted itself in the national discourse on prescription drug pricing in three important ways. State Senator Mark C. Montigny (D) has proposed far reaching provisions to control drug prices; Attorney General Maura Healey is pressing drugmaker Gilead Science to lower the prices of its hepatitis C treatments; and a Boston-based watchdog group is spearheading efforts to set "value-based" prices for new drugs.
Steven D. Pearson, MD, president of the watchdog group, called the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, said the commonwealth's focus on drug affordability "fits with the Massachusetts role historically" as a breeding ground for innovations that are later adopted nationally, such as universal healthcare. "Other states look to Massachusetts," he said, according to the report.
While the issue of drug pricing has largely remained in the background during the annual BIO event, this year, as medication affordability continues to gain traction as a principal issue, BIO has scheduled more than a half-dozen sessions on the topic.
University Medical Center New Orleans has named Bill Masterton president and CEO.
Here are four things to know about Mr. Masterton.
1. In his role as CEO, he will lead a staff of more than 2,200 and manage the continued growth of the $1.2 billion medical center that opened last August. UMC New Orleans is home to the Rev. Avery C. Alexander Academic Research Hospital.
2. Prior to joining UMC New Orleans, Mr. Masterton was CEO of Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill, S.C., a position he held since July 2012.
3. He was also previously CEO of Coastal Carolina Hospital in Bluffton, S.C., and COO and CFO of Atlanta Medical Center.
4. Mr. Masterton earned a bachelor's degree in accounting and master's degree in business administration from the University of South Florida, based in Tampa.
More articles on healthcare executive moves:
Advocate Good Samaritan hires new chief nurse executive: 5 things to know
HCA's cancer institute promotes 2 senior research investigators: 7 things to know
16 latest hospital, health system executive moves
The president of University of Louisville (Ky.) Hospital and James Graham Brown Cancer Center will vacate his position at the end of June, according to Insider Louisville.
Ken Marshall, president of both facilities since 2013, is leaving to "pursue a new opportunity," according to a KentuckyOne Health spokesperson.
Mr. Marshall was U of L Hospital's chief operating officer for 17 years prior to becoming president.
U of L Hospital will appoint an interim leader while it searches nationally for a new president.
Critics have been railing against direct-to-consumer ads for prescription drugs since the 1990s. Opponents of the ads, many of whom are medical providers, argue they contribute to unnecessary anxiety and self-diagnosis among patients, inflate demand for expensive brand name drugs that may not be medically necessary and contribute to a culture of over-utilization.
Supporters, on the other hand, say the ads help cultivate a new class of informed healthcare consumers who use the information the ads provide to hold meaningful conversations with their physicians. Money earned by drugmakers as a result of increased sales due to DTC ads also helps support the research and development required to produce new important drug therapies.
The debate surrounding DTC drug ads is contentious and has captured increased attention amid the current presidential race as candidates vying for both the Democratic and Republican nomination discuss the need to control the rising cost of prescription drugs.
One man's constipation embodies the problem
An ad that debuted during the 2016 Super Bowl perfectly epitomizes the problems fostered by DTC drug ads, according to critics.
The ad, called "Envy," features a middle-aged man walking around a crowded city, lamenting his constipation. He's visibly envious of those around him for their apparent ability to go to the bathroom, including a man coming out of a cafe bathroom flashing a thumbs up, a dog squatting beside a tree and a woman smiling, walking down the street with toilet paper stuck to her shoe.
Drugmakers Daiichi-Sankyo and AstraZeneca paid for the commercial to market Movantik, a drug that treats opioid-induced constipation, which is not actually named during the commercial.
Critics latched onto this ad in particular because it seems to represent everything that is wrong with America's culture of over-consumption of prescription drugs and illuminates DTC advertisements' role in it: The commercial is for a drug that is intended to relieve a negative side effect of other drugs that are not only widely over-prescribed but are also frequently abused, leading to tens of thousands of deaths per year. On top of that, the spot aired during the Super Bowl, meaning its financers spent nearly $5 million dollars getting it on TV, blasting the opioid-induced constipation man to millions of viewers.
The White House was quick to criticize the commercial, saying it could contribute to the national epidemic of opioid abuse, which is also a significant contributor to heroin addiction. "Next year, how about fewer ads that fuel opioid addiction and more on access to treatment," White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough tweeted Feb. 8.
The U.S. is one of just two countries that allow pharmaceutical companies to market drugs directly to consumers, the other being New Zealand. Around the rest of the world, drugmakers market their products to physicians. The FDA first legalized DTC drug ads in 1985, but their use only really became prevalent in 1997 when the FDA mollified some of its rules regarding the level of detail drug companies had to provide about side effects, according to the World Health Organization.
Since then, advertising prescription drugs to consumers has become a multibillion dollar industry. According to STAT, in the last four years alone, prescription drug ad spending soared by more than 60 percent, reaching $5.2 billion in 2015. This is a marked increase from the year prior, when the industry spent $4.5 billion on DTC ads, market research firm Kantar Media found.
Do DTC ads work for or against efforts to develop a "thrifty" healthcare consumer?
Many healthcare professionals say the ads are far from helpful. They argue DTC ads fuel demand for expensive brand name drugs among consumers, leading to a significant rise in national drug spending.
In 1999, the American Medical Association issued a statement that said, "Physicians must remain vigilant to assure that direct-to-consumer advertising does not promote false expectations." As the drug marketing industry continues to grow, the AMA has taken a more aggressive stance. In November, the association called to ban DTC ads outright, arguing the proliferation of the ads "drives demand for expensive treatments despite the clinical effectiveness of less costly alternatives."
"Today's vote in support of an advertising ban reflects concerns among physicians about the negative impact of commercially-driven promotions, and the role that marketing costs play in fueling escalating drug prices," AMA Board Chair-elect Patrice A. Harris, MD, said in a statement in November.
The concerns outlined by the AMA the promotion of false expectation among patients and increased demand for expensive medications directly oppose the broader goal spurred by the Affordable Care Act to develop thriftier healthcare shoppers and reduce utilization of unnecessary medical services and drugs.
Furthermore, the high cost of prescription drugs which is at least partially influenced by demand is also the public's top health priority, according to an October poll from Kaiser Family Foundation. These concerns are warranted, as the prices for both generic and brand name drugs have risen steadily over the past few years. In 2015, total drug prices experienced a 4.7 percent hike, according to the Altarum Institute for Sustainable Health Spending.
Drug pricing is multifactorial. While it's unfair to exclusively pin the increasing prices of prescription drugs on growing patient demand fueled by DTC ads, "if the ads didn't result in increased utilization of these drugs, [the pharmaceutical companies] wouldn't run them," says Mike Schatzlein, MD, senior vice president of St. Louis-based Ascension Health, and president and CEO of St. Vincent's HealthCare in Jacksonville, Fla.
In the same Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 28 percent of the public reported asking a physician about a drug they saw advertised, and 12 percent said their physician prescribed it. For some of these patients, the medication that was ultimately prescribed might have been the best option. But in other cases, physicians feel pressure to provide the desired medication when it is not medically necessary, lest they risk harming their relationship with the patient. What's more, Dr. Schatzlein says the ads create unnecessary anxiety among patients, who hear symptoms of a disease on TV and then believe themselves to have it.
"The ads put physicians in a position where they have to talk the patient out of something he or she wants," says Dr. Schatzlein. "That's more difficult than it might seem, and it's more time consuming."
The importance of providing patients with information so they can have meaningful conversations with their physicians is not overlooked by opponents of DTC drug ads. Most just believe 30-second TV commercials are not the way to do it.
"Our preferred way of educating patients is by healthcare providers doctors, pharmacists, mid-levels," says Dr. Schatzlein. "The main reason is because they are motivated by the best interest of the patients. The DTC pharma ads are run for the purpose of selling more drugs. So in no way can they be objective, and certainly they don't have access to the medical history or physical information on a patient because they are spraying these ads to the entire population."
Among supporters, DTC ads are seen as a viable information source for consumers
On the other hand, a lack of a physician's communication skills may have something to do with the uncomfortable tension that arises when patients arrive for an appointment and begin talking about drugs they saw on TV.
"The physician is still the one in charge, regardless of the information out in the public space," says Debbie Landers, senior vice president at Jarrard Phillips Cate & Hancock, a strategic communications and engagement firm for healthcare providers. "The physician is the one who ultimately decides whether or not to prescribe the medication," and if the drug is not necessary, the physician must know how to politely but effectively convey why he or she will not prescribe it.
Those who support the advertisement of prescription drugs on TV argue the ads do align with the push to arm consumers with healthcare information, as medication is an integral part of healthcare and consumers should know their options. The TV ads, like the internet, open the door to new opportunities to obtain information, whereas in the past patients were limited to the information their physicians gave them during visits.
"If you think back about the days when the only option you had was walking into to doctor's office, 100 percent of your health was in their hands to decide," says Ms. Landers. "Now you can walk in and have a smarter conversation about everything that is going on with your health that would affect the treatment option that the doctor picks for you. It's all about being more prepared and aware of what your options are."
Physicians aren't losing control to DTC drug ads, Ms. Landers says, they just need to adjust their communication approach to be supportive of patients who approach them with information gleaned from such ads.
Is the good of DTC drug ads lost in translation?
The relationship between physicians, their patients and pharmaceutical ads is nuanced and complex. The ads are so prevalent that even if consumers tried to avoid them, they probably couldn't. Their influence may be equally unavoidable, whether they spark more informed and meaningful conversations about healthcare options between patients and providers, or merely increase patients' desires for prescriptions for specific brand name drugs.
While the predominant sentiment among providers regarding DTC ads is negative, the reality is the ads are probably not going away, at least not any time soon. In fact, marketing for prescription drugs is undergoing increasing proliferation in other mediums, such as the internet and social media. So as the AMA and other organizations wage their fight against DTC ads, providers will benefit from preparing to talk to patients about the medications they showcase.
Presidential candidates receive plenty of support from various individuals, organizations and companies. But why don't many CEOs openly support the presidential frontrunners?
It's because it's too risky, according to The Washington Post.
"Most companies especially these big, publicly traded, heavily followed companies where there's a very public nature to their governance are really loathe to participate much in electoral politics, particularly presidential politics," said Doug Schuler, an associate professor of business and public policy at Houston-based Rice University, according to the report.
He added that it's fairly uncommon for CEOs to publicly pledge support for presidential candidates because it could upset consumers, anger employees or harm other political relationships if the opposing party wins the election.
Still, it does happen. Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, has pledged support for Hillary Clinton, while Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone has done the same for Donald Trump. Instead of speaking out about their support, other CEOs choose to donate funds to candidates' campaigns.
But caution is necessary, as endorsements can result in repercussions. After NASCAR CEO Brian France pledged his support for Mr. Trump, he's been facing heavy backlash from NASCAR sponsors, according to The Associated Press.
More articles on leadership and management:
Dartmouth-Hitchcock's CEO on what's wrong with healthcare and how to fix it
Wilson Health elects 4 new trustees: 12 things to know
Former NIH director joins International Biomedical Research Alliance board
The likelihood that physicians would prescribe Schedule II opioids which have high potential for abuse or addiction dropped by more than 30 percent when prescribers had access to a prescription drug monitoring database, according to a recent study.
Prescription drug monitoring programs are online databases that allow states to track pharmacy dispensing rates of high-risk prescriptions, like opioids. They allow physicians to flag patients who are at-risk of "doctor-shopping," or going to multiple physicians to get multiple pain prescriptions, or at-risk of "diversion," which includes sharing their prescriptions with friends and relatives. On the flipside, the databases also allow law enforcement and medical boards to monitor prescriber behavior and take action for any unusual prescribing practices.
These databases have been implemented, upgraded or legislation has been passed to do so in 49 states. The only state without a database is Missouri, according to the study, which was published in the June issue of Health Affairs.
Considering roughly 19,000 Americans died from prescription opioid overdoses in 2014 and more than 10 million Americans reported nonmedical use of opioids that same year, researchers decided to assess the effectiveness of prescription monitoring databases.
To do so, they examined 26,275 ambulatory care visits for pain in 24 states that implemented prescription drug monitoring programs between 2001 and 2010. They found a noted reduction in the probability physicians would prescribe Schedule II opioids was almost immediate in the first year after states implemented such programs, and was maintained in the second and third years afterward.
More articles on integration and physician issues:
This blind spot in medicine could cause some patients to give up on care
This physician is running across the country for uninsured kids
University of South Florida medical school sees 40% increase in 2 years
The following healthcare mergers, acquisitions and general partnerships took place or were announced in the past week.
1. Cascade Valley Hospital joins Skagit Regional Health's network
Mount Vernon, Wash.-based Skagit Regional Health began leasing and operating Cascade Valley Hospital and Clinics in Arlington, Wash.
2. TeamHealth acquires operations of Tri-City Emergency Medical Group
Knoxville, Tenn.-based TeamHealth, a physician services organization, acquired the operations of Oceanside, Calif.-based Tri-City Emergency Medical Group.
3. Emergency services providers Schumacher, ECI Healthcare close merger
Emergency and hospital medicine management companies Lafayette, La.-based Schumacher Clinical Partners and Traverse City, Mich.-based ECI Healthcare Partners finalized their previously announced merger.
4. Richland Memorial Hospital could join Carle system
Richland Memorial Hospital in Olney, Ill., signed a letter of intent to explore the possibility of bringing the 135-bed hospital into the Urbana, Ill.-based Carle health system.
5. Sale of Southern Winds Hospital closes: 4 things to know
Southern Winds Hospital in Hialeah, Fla., was sold to 4225, an affiliate of Millennium Management in Miami.
More articles on healthcare industry transactions:
37 hospital transactions and partnerships in May
HCA to buy bankrupt Dallas hospital for $135M
Kaleida continues aggressive growth strategy
Cuba (N.Y.) Memorial Hospital and Buffalo, N.Y.-based Kaleida Health entered into partnership Tuesday.
The affiliation aims to strengthen Kaleida's Southern Tier healthcare platform a three-county rural health network and expand use of Cuba's critical access facilities. The partnership also connects Cuba to Kaleida's larger health system programs and services while maintaining its community-based approaches.
"It's the right thing for this hospital and it's the right thing for this community," says Cuba Memorial CEO Andrew Boser. "This affiliation is historic and will help the hospital continue its legacy and serve the needs of the greater Cuba area and surrounding communities for years to come."
Established in 1923, Cuba Memorial Hospital operates a 20-bed medical acute care unit, an urgent care center and a 61-bed residential healthcare facility.
A $4.6 million grant through N.Y.'s Essential Healthcare Provider Support Program was secured to help Cuba financially reposition. The grant assuages debt retirement, capital projects, turnaround and transformations.
More articles about hospital transactions:
Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire to become Dartmouth-Hitchcock affiliate
MEDNAX acquires 2 medical practices
5 recent hospital transactions and partnerships
The following is a roundup of recent events pertaining to hospital-union relationships, including strikes, legal battles, rallies and new contract agreements. All events were reported in the last month, beginning with the most recent.
1. Massachusetts union: Steward Holy Family Hospital refuses to bargain new contract
The Massachusetts Nurses Association filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging Boston-based Steward Health Care has stonewalled labor negotiations with nurses at Steward Holy Family Hospital at Merrimack Valley in Haverhill, Mass., and Methuen, Mass., according to a State House News Service report. Steward plans to review the charge.
2. Allina nurses reject contract offer, authorize strike
Nurses at Minneapolis-based Allina Health voted overwhelmingly to reject the latest offer by the health system and authorize a strike. The contract offer rejected by the nurses would have eliminated union-backed health insurance and moved the workers to plans that other health system employees receive.
3. Indiana Regional Medical Center nurses to picket
Indiana (Pa.) Regional Medical Center nurses were scheduled to picket June 6 over contract negotiations, according to The Tribune-Democrat. The workers, represented by the Indiana Registered Nurses Association, want to retain "fair healthcare" options. They were slated to hold two informational picketing sessions at the hospital entrance.
4. Huntington Memorial Hospital, union reach agreement shortly before scheduled labor board hearing
Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, Calif., and the California Nurses Association reached a settlement agreement May 31, just days before a National Labor Relations Board trial was scheduled to begin, according to a Pasadena Now report. As part of the agreement, HMH has agreed to rescind the terminations of registered nurses Allysha Almada and Vicki Lin and pay them full back pay, the union said in a statement. HMH also agreed to set aside the results of the 2015 HMH RN union election, and move forward with a new election.
5. Brigham nurses union to vote on one-day strike
The Massachusetts Nurses Association, which represents 3,300 nurses at Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital, plans to vote June 13 on authorizing a one-day strike, The Boston Globe reports. The vote would follow months of contentious contract negotiations between the union and Brigham, which is part of Boston-based Partners HealthCare. Sticking points of negotiations have included wages, scheduling and health benefits.
6. 1,300 Inspira Health Network nurses plan picket
Roughly 1,300 nurses at Woodbury, N.J.-based Inspira Health Network hospitals planned to picket June 6, The Daily Journal reports. However, the planned picket was averted, and contract negotiations continue between the Health Professional and Allied Employees, which represent the workers, and the healthcare organization.
7. 263 Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare workers brace for strike
Salinas (Calif.) Valley Memorial Healthcare System union workers participated in a 24-hour strike that began May 17. The 263 workers went on strike after no negotiations were made between SVMH and the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents the employees.
8. Saint Louis University Hospital, SEIU workers reach agreement
Saint Louis University Hospital workers reached a new contract agreement with management, according to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report. The three-year contract covers 629 nonclinical workers represented by the Service Employees International Union. Under the contract, workers will receive a 2.5 percent annual raise through 2018, according to Kaitlin DeCero, spokeswoman for SEIU.
9. Stanford Health Care, Lucile Packard nurses ratify union contract: 4 things to know
The Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement, the union representing nurses at Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., voted May 11 to ratify the previously announced tentative agreement with the hospitals. Here are four things to know about the agreement. The agreement includes across-the-board increases of 4 percent annually, acceleration of raises for nurses early in their careers and new longevity raises, the union said.
10. Lewis County General Hospital workers approve union contract, ending hiring freeze: 5 things to know
Union workers at Lewis County General Hospital in Lowville, N.Y., approved a contract agreement with management, according to a Watertown Daily Times report. The two-year contract covers more than 500 workers, represented by Civil Service Employees Association.
11. Philadelphia nurses rally, demand better staffing
About 100 nurses, union organizers and supporters rallied outside City Hall in Philadelphia, demanding better staffing and nursing support jobs in local hospitals, according to a PhillyVoice report. Those at the rally were from Temple University Hospital, Hahnemann University Hospital and St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, all in Philadelphia, as well as Einstein Medical Center, with several Pennsylvania locations, Delaware County Memorial Hospital in Drexel Hill, Pa., Crozer-Chester (Pa.) Medical Center, Suburban Community Hospital in Norristown, Pa., and Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby, Pa.
Lawyers representing a physician accused of fraud filed court documents May 26 alleging that prosecutors secretly gained access to files assembled by the defense team, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The lawyers are representing Salo Schapiro, MD, a Broward County, Fla., physician charged with healthcare fraud.
They claim that an assistant U.S. attorney informed them in April that an FBI agent had received CDs containing duplicates of defense discovery files. The CDs contained files the defense team had put together from more than 200 boxes of seized government evidence made available to them. In their court filing, the lawyers argue the files of documents selected reveal their pre-trial strategy and are protected under the attorney work product doctrine.
The documents were provided to the FBI agent by a government-contracted service that makes copies of discovery documents defense lawyers want to inspect, according to WSJ. Dr. Schapiro's lawyers claim the owner of the service said he routinely provided duplicates of set-aside files to the FBI.
"It appears that this practice of surreptitiously duplicating the discovery work-product of defense counsel in the Southern District of Florida has been the norm for at least the last 10 years," the lawyers stated in court papers, according to WSJ.
The lawyers have requested the charges against Dr. Schapiro be dismissed. If the charges remain, the lawyers want the entire prosecution team disqualified.
The U.S. attorney's office fired back against the allegations in a brief fired Thursday.
"[T]to date it has found that there was simply no pervasive practice of receiving or recording defense discovery, and that it was not a widespread or institutionalized practice. Although a few matters have been identified where copy CDs were provided, it was either known and agreed to by the defense and the copy CD was maintained for record keeping purposes, or the prosecutors did not have a distinct memory of a copy CD being provided, and in any event, they never looked at any," prosecutors stated in their brief, according to WSJ.
More articles on healthcare industry lawsuits:
14 latest healthcare industry lawsuits, settlements
Lee Memorial wants to evict another patient
Cigna ordered to pay $13M to physician-owned hospital
Morristown, N.J.-based Atlantic Health System is funding $325,000 in community improvement projects aimed at promoting healthier lifestyles in several New Jersey communities, according to NJ.com.
As a part of The New Jersey Healthy Communities Network, a funding collaborative, the health system is providing support to 13 local organizations that support active living and healthy eating efforts in communities. Each organization will receive a two-year grant of $20,000 with an additional $5,000 for technical assistance and evaluation, according to the report.
Atlantic Health System is the only hospital system donor in The New Jersey Healthy Communities Network. Second to the New Jersey Department of Health, it provides funding to the largest number of communities in the state, according to the report.
"Working together with our communities and supporting them in efforts to keep active and stay healthy are vital to our mission as a healthcare organization," said Brian Gragnolati, CEO of Atlantic Health System, according to the report. "We want our communities to thrive. Through The New Jersey Healthy Communities Network, we are able to create meaningful partnerships with community groups and provide grants that range from creating access to affordable fruits and vegetables to providing opportunities for physical activity options at all ages."
Since its formation in 2013, the network has awarded more than $1.86 million in grants. In 2016, it has awarded $860,000 to 43 organizations, according to the report.
The Indiana State Department of Health is urging healthcare providers to be aggressive in the testing and treatment of syphilis after the state has seen a spike in infection rates regarding the sexually transmitted disease.
"Indiana experienced a 70 percent increase in syphilis cases between 2014 and 2015," said State Health Commissioner Jerome Adams, MD. "We are continuing to see an increase this year and we are working closely with local health officials and healthcare providers to make sure patients are getting tested and receive treatment."
In 2015, Indiana reported 285 cases of primary and secondary syphilis and 220 cases of early latent syphilis. In 2014, the state reported 168 cases of primary and secondary syphilis and 129 cases of early latent syphilis. According to information from CDC, the instances of syphilitic infection are increasing nationally.
Indiana health officials are also urging providers to educate patients about the risks of syphilis. Many people infected with the disease do not recognize the condition early on. The infection must be treated with an antibiotic otherwise serious health problems can arise and the condition can be fatal.
More articles on infection control:
Study: Hospital stewardship programs linked to lower antibiotic use, infections
4 essential elements of an OR environmental hygiene program
No link found between safety culture scores and infection rates
Finland pioneered the idea of a baby box in 1938, and afterward, the country experienced a large drop in infant mortality rates. Now, these boxes are popping up all over the world, with some U.S. hospitals providing the cardboard cribs to patients in need.
A typical baby box measures roughly 27.5 inches long, 17 inches wide and 10.5 inches tall. The cardboard box contains a foam mattress along with most of the supplies essential to a newborn's care including blankets, clothing, pacifiers and bibs.
Baby boxes provide a safe space for a newborn to sleep, reducing the health risks associated with makeshift cribs or a baby sleeping in the same bed as a parent or sibling.
U.S. pediatricians and advocacy groups are urging hospitals to provide baby boxes in an attempt to lower America's infant mortality rate of 5.87 death per 1,000 births the highest of any wealthy nation. For reference, Finland's infant death rate is 2.52 deaths per 1,000 births.
University Hospital in San Antonio introduced baby boxes in 2015 to address a rise in occurrences of sudden infant death syndrome. Initially, the hospital gave 100 boxes to new mothers. After they proved popular, the hospital ordered 500 more to keep up with demand.
More articles on supply chain:
Opioid restrictions create issues for chronic pain patients
This device can diagnose malaria in 5 seconds
Fentanyl: 7 things to know about the drug that killed Prince
The call for a transformation in the way healthcare is delivered has been brewing for years and reached new heights in 2012 when the National Academy of Sciences published its report on the state of the American Healthcare entitled Best Care at Lower Cost. The 437-page report notes, what is concerning, however, is the unsustainable rate of growth in health care costs. For 31 of the past 40 years, health care costs have increased at a greater rate than the economy as a whole (99). Dedicating a chapter to Unsustainable Costs, the report notes that 130 billion dollars is wasted each year on inefficiently delivered services (102) at healthcare sites.
When UCSF released its finding that Xenco Medicals disposable, plastic surgical instrument outperformed a metal counterpart in a comparative strength study last October, the news spread quickly in the spinal device industry. Whats been of equal interest to those watching the companys rise, however, is the rapid pace at which Xenco Medicals interbody systems have been adopted at major hospitals across the United States. It may be time to examine the market forces that continue to fuel the companys success.
The inefficiency of surgical trays, in particular, has become the subject of increased university research. In the 2015 paper Assessing the Magnitude and Costs of Intraoperative Inefficiencies Attributable to Surgical Instrument Trays, researchers at the University of Chicago argue that significant cost-cutting may be achieved by reducing the unnecessary sterilization, wear and tear, and processing of instruments that are opened and exposed in the operating room but not actually used during a procedure (2). The paper cites research from the Virginia Mason Medical Center by noting that it used data from neurosurgical procedures to estimate potential institutional savings up to $2.8 million a year through a 70% reduction in instrument processing through sterile supply (1). Could this be why Xenco Medical has gained so much traction? Ask the companys CEO and he will tell that it goes beyond that. Xenco Medical Founder and CEO Jason Haider proposes that the surgeon-centric design of the pre-loaded instruments and implants has been just as responsible for the companys success as the materials science behind them.
His point on functionality is well-taken, but its worth further considering the role materials science may be playing in Xenco Medicals growing popularity. As UCSF demonstrated their remarkable strength, the composite polymer instruments have allowed Xenco Medical to differentiate itself from all of its competitors. Its clear, from the outside, that the materials science has allowed a new kind of freedom for hospitals and surgeon-owned ASCs alike. Eliminating the time and costs of the autoclave process, the systems are simply disposed of after each surgery.
A study by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College entitled Management of Postoperative Spinal Infections, notes a relationship between Surgical Site Infections following posterior spinal interventions and the adherence of biofilm to metal implants (184). One could speculate that reducing infection rates may be adding to the companys allure. That said, addressing this issue is not unique to Xenco Medical. Though LDRs use of sterile-packaging is limited to implants, the company has, nonetheless, demonstrated that Xenco Medical is not without peers in addressing spinal infections. Rather, its worth examining the companys delivery of both sterile-packaged instruments and implants functioning at what it refers to as peak condition to fully explain its growing favorability among surgeons.
Its possible that what makes Xenco Medical particularly compelling is the new paradigm it has forged. Engineering breakthrough instruments to work with its own interbodies and pedicle screws, Xenco Medical has offered a new model of the spinal device company: one that operates at the nexus between safety, cost-savings, and performance. Though we can speculate as to the precise reason for Xenco Medicals success, the fact remains: the spine industry is changing quickly, and this new company just may take the lead.
Warsaw, Ind.-based Zimmer Biomet will acquire Austin, Texas-based LDR Holding for $1 billion.
Here are nine things to know:
1. Both companies' board of directors approved a definitive agreement for Zimmer Biomet to start a tender offer to acquire all LDR outstanding shares for $37 per share in cash.
2. Zimmer Biomet will use cash balances on hand to pay for the transaction, as well as availability under its revolving credit facility. The company will issue $750 million of senior unsecured notes, from which the proceeds will repay the credit facility.
3. Zimmer Biomet anticipates completing the acquisition in the third quarter of 2016.
4. Adam Johnson, Zimmer Biomet group president of spine, CMF and thoracic and dental, will head the new Spine & CMF category.
5. Christophe Lavigne, LDR chairman, president and CEO, and Patrick Richard, LDR executive vice president and LDR Medical general counsel manager, will remain in key global spine business leadership positions within the company.
6. Zimmer Biomet plans to keep a presence in LDR's technology hubs of Austin, Texas and Troyes, France.
7. LDR develops technologies to treat patients with spine disorders, including its Mobi-C cervical disc replacement device and MIVo portfolio for lumbar and cervical fusions.
8. With the acquisition, Zimmer Biomet will establish a global spine market footprint, especially in the cervical disc replacement and minimally invasive surgery segments.
9. Zimmer Biomet also plans to leverage cross-portfolio selling opportunities to its and LDR's customer bases.
"We are confident that the combination of Zimmer Biomet's Spine division and LDR will create a spine company with the scale, talent and technology portfolio to become a leader in the $10 billion global spine market," said David Dvorak, president and CEO, Zimmer Biomet.
Representatives from Berrien County's business community in America are visiting Northern Ireland on a mission led by Co Down veteran businessman Ronnie Foreman.
Mr Foreman said he hoped to help members of the delegation to sell their goods into Europe.
And he said there may be Northern Ireland products which could find their way to Berrien County - the region in Georgia where his high-powered delegation hails from.
He said: "This week we will be meeting between 30-40 organisations, all of whom fit somewhere into that category - there are businesses who want to go out and find work in the States and their companies want to go out and establish some sort of presence."
And he said UK membership of the EU was an important factor.
"All of the American companies that we are working with would be attracted to the fact that we are part of the EU. In other words, they'd want to come into an English speaking part and a low cost part and Northern Ireland is the perfect place for it."
Mr Foreman, a former Belfast Harbour Commissioner with a long track-record of helping US companies set up here - continued: "If the UK came out of the EU it does represent a big problem because a lot of those companies will divert their focus to go to the Republic.
"I have to say at the moment any company we are working with looking to come to Northern Ireland is really looking for a toehold into the EU and so from those companies' perspective leaving the EU would cause a rethink.
"If you build a base in Georgia, you don't just want to get your product into the local population, you want to get it to the US's 360 million population market.
"Similarly, they want to get into the 500 million European market but there are certain places which are the best places to enter. For an American company all those factors make Northern Ireland an interesting place."
The visitors include Ed Perry, the owner of Horse Creek Winery in Nashville, Georgia, as well as director of Berrien County economic development authority, Chrissy Staley, and Nick Lacey, chairman of the authority.
They're joined by Commissioner Robert Griner, president of Citizens Bank, and Norman Lovein III, chair of Berrien County Chamber of Commerce.
Ed Perry
The potential for business connections with Northern Ireland is ripe, says Georgian wine-maker and vineyard owner Ed Perry.
Mr Perry hopes he can establish a partnership with a Northern Ireland restaurant to stock his own wines, or a drinks company hoping to get their products to America. Mr Perry founded his business Horse Creek Winery in 2008 at his farm in Nashville, Georgia as a means of adding value to over-ripe grapes.
He brings in grapes from other parts of the state to make Cabernet and Merlot but also grows Muscadine grapes on the farm.
Chrissy Staley
She says: "A handshake is as good as a 50 page contract. There's some things you can only build face-to-face - and that trust and relationship with other business people is one of those things."
Chrissy Staley, executive director Berrien County Chamber of Commerce, said it was important for business leaders wanting to build trade links to meet in person. She added: "I know that we are in the day and age of technology but I still feel there is a certain appreciation for face-to-face relationships and that can't be done through an email or over Facetime."
Ms Staley said she hoped companies in Georgia could find a niche in the market in Northern Ireland, working with businesses here to develop new products and promote each other's wares on both sides of the Atlantic.
Robert B Griner
Robert B Griner, president of Citizens Bank, Nashville and elected county commissioner at Berrien, said he had been impressed at the transformation Northern Ireland had undergone.
He said: "We're seeking to do business and we see Belfast as a good place to do that."
Nick Lacey
Nick Lacey first visited Northern Ireland in 1986.
The chairman of Berrien County Chamber of Commerce said: "I see a vibrant agri-food industry here now, and a good retail sector. I can see a strong economy emerging - there's shops open on the weekends and a good night-life.
"What I see here is as good as any other city. It's world-class. We are trying to build a collaboration between ourselves and businesses in Northern Ireland -partnerships that is good for businesses in Northern Ireland and that are good for businesses and the economy in Berrien County."
Norman Lovein III
Norman Lovein III is chairman of Berrien County Chamber of Commerce.
He said he was "excited by the opportunities I'm already seeing to do business in Northern Ireland".
"We've only got here and I'm already very excited by what Northern Ireland has to offer. Our bond is our handshake and we will sure shake a lot of hands while we're here."
Mr Lovein said Georgia is the second largest pecan producing region of the USA and how many people he had met in Northern Ireland were not aware of the nut.
And he said he hoped to build a new market for the nut in Northern Ireland.
"I'm very excited by the natural opportunities which are coming up."
Asda boss Andy Clarke is preparing to step down from his role
The chief executive of Northern Ireland's number two supermarket Asda has said he is preparing to step down as UK sales at the Walmart-owned supermarket continue to sag.
But Asda sales in Northern Ireland have bucked the trend UK-wide, with the supermarket joining Sainsbury's in the number two spot.
Mr Clarke said that he will be succeeded by incoming chief operating officer Roger Burnley, who will join the company in October, adding that the pair will at first spend time together before he hands over the reins.
Mr Clarke told trade magazine Retail Week: "I said that I wanted to find somebody who had the ability to be my successor and it took us some time to find the right person, the right cultural fit, the right sort of character and leader that can run the business. He's a great leader and he's going to be a great colleague.
"I look forward to spending time with him and preparing him for what hopefully should be his next role."
In May, Asda revealed another hefty sales slump as it reported the seventh consecutive quarter of sliding sales.
The chain posted a 5.7% fall in like-for-like sales for the 13 weeks to March 30, showing little improvement on the 5.8% drop seen in its Christmas quarter, which was its biggest quarterly sales fall on record.
A recent report from Kantar Worldpanel said Asda had managed to grow its market share in the year to April 24 by 1.6%, leaving it with a 17.6% slice.
That brought it level with Sainsbury's market share, with the latter's performance slumping by just under 2%.
Figures from Kantar Worldpanel tomorrow are expected to show further growth in its market share here.
The ornate listed Cafe Vaudeville in Arthur Street, Belfast, boasts lavish art nouveau decor and features a central atrium and sweeping staircase
The ornate listed Cafe Vaudeville in Arthur Street, Belfast, boasts lavish art nouveau decor and features a central atrium and sweeping staircase
Top Belfast nightspot Cafe Vaudeville is on the market for 3.5m, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal.
The ornate Arthur Street venue, which used to be a bank, has been a magnet for Northern Ireland's most glamorous people since it opened in 2004.
But in 2007, it was in the headlines for refusing entry to David Healy, after the doormen failed to recognise the Northern Ireland legend.
It's understood the listed venue, which also includes a dining area and Champagne bar, is being sold by limited company Birchsilver - headed up by industry veteran Pat McCormack.
Mark Carron of Osborne King - joint selling agent with Michael Hopkins of McKibbins - said: "This is a unique licensed city centre opportunity.
"We'd expect pub operators from Northern Ireland, the Republic and Great Britain to show interest in it.
"This really is a big-ticket city centre pub."
He said he hopes to close the deal by the end of this month. The 3.5m guide price includes the building, goodwill of the business, liquor licence, fixtures and fittings and stock at valuation.
Mr Carron said the seller was simply ready to move on. According to the brochure for the venue, "the vendor has built up a successful business and is seeking to dispose of the opportunity".
Its sumptuous decor is summed up as 'art nouveau', with a feature central atrium and a sweeping staircase.
Colin Neill, head of industry group Hospitality Ulster, said he expected the venue would sell quickly.
"It's an extremely popular place and really has led the way. It's been very innovative with events like Viva Vaudeville, a dance night on Fridays.
"It will be snapped up quickly. It's a fantastic venue and location with huge potential.
"The existing owners have done amazing things with the building, and have really been ahead of the curve."
Cafe Vaudeville is the most expensive bar to go on the market in Belfast in recent years.
Horatio Group has spent a total of 3m on acquiring and revamping Cathedral Quarter pub the Northern Whig.
In 2013, Seamus and Henry Downey paid 4.4m for a portfolio of seven former Botanic Inns bars, including the Apartment bar in Donegall Square West.
Bombardier is relying on C Series orders to pick up
Bombardier in Belfast could be over the worst if C Series orders pick up after the ambitious jet programme cost the company nearly $340m, its been claimed.
A decade of profits at Short Brothers plc were wiped out in 2015, the companys annual accounts said summing up the year as one of its worst ever periods .
The Belfast company, which makes the wings of the C Series narrow-bodied passenger jet, had a pre-tax loss of $339m, which it said had wiped out any profits made over the last 10 years.
The company, which employs nearly 5,000 people in Belfast, said it was struggling with tough economic conditions around the world and a lack of new aircraft programmes.
It launched the C Series last year, around $2bn over-budget and following a two-year delay.
Its operating loss of $280m included an impairment of $357m, mainly relating to a write down on the C Series.
Orders have been disappointing though the outlook improved in April when US airline Delta put in an order for 75 jets, with options on another 50.
But economist John Simpson said the results held little surprise.
Bombardier in Northern Ireland, which trades as Short Brothers plc, was expected to reveal trading losses when the results for 2015 were released. Whilst still working to get commercial orders for the C Series but with no revenue yet from significant sales, the published accounts could not sensibly disguise the negative cash flow or cover the trading position by making realistic provision for the recovery of funds when aircraft are sold.
And he summed up the $340m loss as huge probably larger than the total annual wages and salaries bill.
But he said the losses of $340m are a product of normal trading results adjusted to allow for exceptional costs of $361m.
The losses incurred in 2015 do not necessarily mean that results could still be worrying in 2016 and beyond. If Bombardier can soon sign up for further orders for the now proven C Series and Global 7000 business jet, the losses in 2015 could be the worst before a recovery takes place.
The accounts record a workforce of 4,862 permanent staff. A spokeswoman confirmed no additional job losses were expected following 2015s performance, apart from those announced so far.
She added: Despite ongoing challenges, we continue to explore all opportunities to improve profitability and competitiveness throughout the business.
The annual report and financial statements said that the certification of the C Series in December the wings of which are made in Belfast had been the one bright spot in a very bad year.
Dr Esmond Birnie, chief economist at PwC NI, said: Even with high levels of assistance from government in Canada, UK and Northern Ireland, the investment in developing the C Series has told on Bombardiers bottom line including their operation here in Northern Ireland.
The court concluded a tax rise on alcoholic drinks 'is liable to be less restrictive of trade' than minimum pricing
Judges hearing a legal challenge to the Scottish Government's plan for a minimum alcohol price have been told of changes to drinking trends and alcohol-related death rates in the years since the legislation was passed at Holyrood.
Scotland's highest civil court heard the figures were declining in 2012 but a subsequent "upturn" has resulted in a flattening-out of those downward trends.
Judges were told it is too early to say if that marks the start of a longer-term trend but heard ministers fear it could be.
The points were aired at the Court of Session in Edinburgh as it considers an earlier opinion from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on legislation to introduce a minimum unit price of 50p in Scotland.
MSPs backed the move in 2012 but the measure has not yet been introduced because the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) and other European wine and spirits producers took legal action, arguing the move would breach European law.
Scottish judge Lord Doherty initially rejected the challenge in 2013 but it was later referred to the ECJ after an appeal hearing.
In December last year, the ECJ ruled the plan would breach European Union law if alternative tax measures could be introduced, and it referred the case back to the Edinburgh court.
As the latest round of hearings got under way on Tuesday, Gerry Moynihan QC, representing Scottish ministers, told the court the proceedings were "unique".
In his early submissions to the court, he urged the Lord President Lord Carloway, sitting with Lords Menzies and Brodie, to consider fresh figures put forward by his side on drink consumption, morbidity and mortality.
He said the statistics previously before the court stemmed from 2012 and were now "out of date".
The lawyer said: "At that stage the trend in consumption was down, a declining rate of consumption, and (there was) also a declining rate of mortality and morbidity."
He went on: "Since we were last before your lordships the data has shown that the trend has now flattened.
"There is no longer a decline in consumption or morbidity. Consumption has taken a turn up, as has morbidity ... The concern the government has is that it is, indeed, a trend."
Mr Moynihan argued the recession had an impact on people's drinking habits but spending began to rise when that ended "with an impact again on mortality".
He argued that by 2014, data pointed to an "upturn" in mortality rates.
Reading from a study, the QC said: "Mortality rates have not declined since 2012 for either men or women. However, it's too early to say if this marks the start of a long-term change in trend."
Aidan O'Neill QC, for the SWA, said the other side was "rehashing" submissions already made at an earlier stage in proceedings and argued they were not addressing the points raised by the European court.
The ECJ concluded a tax rise on alcoholic drinks ''is liable to be less restrictive of trade'' than minimum pricing.
It said it would be for the Court of Session to make a final decision after determining whether any alternative measure could equal the stated public health benefit while being less restrictive of trade.
Meanwhile, Alcohol Focus Scotland published figures showing shoppers can buy the weekly limit of 14 units of alcohol for just 2.52.
Research at supermarket and off-licences in Edinburgh and Glasgow found cider on sale at 18p per unit, vodka at 36p per unit, lager at 26p per unit and wine at 32p per unit.
Chief executive Alison Douglas said: "The more affordable alcohol is, the more we drink and this means more alcohol-related hospital admissions, crime and deaths.
"A 50p minimum unit price is the most effective way to raise the price of the cheapest, strongest drinks which cause the most harm in Scotland."
The hearing continues.
Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Northern Ireland have traditionally depended upon bank funding, through overdrafts and loans, to finance their business.
In Northern Ireland bank funding represents a significantly higher proportion of overall funding than other European countries and particularly the US, where it accounts for less than 30% of funding.
One emerging trend arising from the fall out of the credit crunch is that there has been a significant rise in the number of alternate funding providers. The alternative funders include asset based lenders (ABL), peer to peer lenders, private equity and venture capital funding. Thus far the uptake of alternate providers has been relatively modest, however, particularly among Northern Irelands SMEs.
There is arguably still a lack of awareness, with many Northern Irish businesses unfamiliar with alternate sources of finance. However, there are also indications that the demand for and supply of finance is slowly improving.
As the local economy continues to improve and business confidence is restored, we will see increases in the demand and supply of funding. It is a good time for quality businesses and projects to source finance. There is an appetite to lend. However, businesses may need to accept a cocktail of funding from various sources may be required rather than funding from a single source.
In the last 12 months Grant Thornton has undertaken over 100 meetings with different SMEs who have been discussing their growth plans with us, and seeking advice on securing the right type of funding. The meetings show the ambition of Northern Ireland businesses for growth but highlights that there is a need to secure appropriate advice to ensure that the business is investment ready and seeking funding from the most appropriate sources.
For further information Charlie Kerlin can be contacted at charlie.kerlin@ie.gt.com Grant Thornton (NI) LLP specialises in audit, tax and advisory services
New Look has outlined a 100 million investment plan that will see it expand into Germany and grow its presence in China following a surge in profits.
Speaking to the Press Association, chief executive Anders Kristiansen said: "We want to expand into the German market, we have one concession at the moment and we'll open our first store in October. We want 75 stores over the next five years."
Mr Kristiansen was speaking after New Look notched up increased sales and profits in its first full year of ownership under South African firm Brait.
Revenue rose 5.4% to 1.4 billion, driven by a 3.4% increase in like-for-like sales at its UK stores. Website sales were up 27.9% and in China, where it has 92 stores, like-for-like sales grew 8.8%.
Pre-tax profits grew 16.8% to 59.1 million and New Look said it would open 50 more Chinese stores, taking its total to 142.
Brait, which acquired New Look for 763.5 million in May last year, has given the green light to increase investment from 73 million to 100 million in order to fund the expansion drive.
However, Mr Kristiansen warned that retailing in the UK is "more challenging than it has been for some time", flagging poor weather and Brexit fears impacting on consumer sentiment.
He said: "There are a number of factors affecting consumer sentiment, they include spending in other areas, weather and the referendum.
"I don't know exactly how we're being affected by the referendum, but it is creating nervousness and uncertainty. We want to get past June 23 as quickly as possible.
"But it doesn't worry me because that's retail, that's what we have to deal with. We have a solid foundation, a good strategy and a new owner committed to that strategy."
The chief exec said that New Look is preparing for both scenarios, adding: "If it's remain, then it's business as usual. It's it out, then it will be a challenge, but we are well hedged [against currency fluctuations]."
A Northern Ireland bar owner has been fined 6,000 for selling counterfeit vodka after pleading guilty at Downpatrick Magistrates' Court.
In a case brought by the Trading Standards Service (TSS) of the Department for the Economy, Mr Patrick Robert Maginn (55) of Bryansford Avenue, Newcastle, trading as Quinns Bar and Off Sales, 62-64 Main Street, Newcastle, Co. Down, pleaded guilty to three charges under Section 92 of Trade Marks Act 1994.
The court also granted a forfeiture order in relation to the bottles of vodka seized by Trading Standards.
The investigation arose following an allegation that Quinns Bar and Off Sales, Newcastle was selling fake Smirnoff vodka on its premises.
On December, 18, 2014 Trading Standards Officers carried out a test purchase of a one litre bottle of Smirnoff Red No 21 from Quinns Off Sales which was immediately confirmed as counterfeit by a Diageo representative.
Officers then seized five bottles of Smirnoff Red No 21 that were also fake. Genuine Smirnoff product was mixed with the counterfeit product that was on display and offered for sale.
Officers then carried out an inspection of the adjoining bar premises.
Twenty-four 1.5 litre bottles of Smirnoff Red No 21 were identified as being counterfeit from the optics of the upstairs and downstairs bar areas.
An inspection by the Diageo representative revealed that all but one of the bottles had fake labels. A field test of the liquid established that none of the bottles contained genuine Smirnoff product.
All counterfeit products were seized by TSS officers. No genuine Smirnoff product was identified by officers carrying out the inspection of the bar areas.
Samples of the fake vodka were examined by the Public Analyst and found to have an alcohol content of 32.7%. The minimum alcoholic strength for a liquid described as Vodka is 37.5%. The analyst further confirmed that the sample liquid was not Smirnoff.
Alison Gilchrist, enforcement officer for the Trading Standards Service said: This is a very serious offence and the fine imposed by the court reflects its severity.
"Mr Maginn potentially put consumers at serious risk to boost his profit margins. He was knowingly selling this product in a very popular high street location in a popular seaside town in Northern Ireland and showed a blatant disregard for his customers.
Mr Maginn has given little thought to the consequences of his actions. It is lucky that, on this occasion, nothing of a harmful nature was found in the fake vodka being sold at his premises.
"However, Mr Maginn could not have known under what conditions this alcohol was made when he sold it for consumption. We are well aware of the dangers that fake alcoholic drinks pose to those that consume them.
Counterfeiting harms legitimate business and threatens jobs.
"The Trading Standards Service will continue to investigate sellers of counterfeit goods and we will not hesitate to take enforcement action against any trader found to be selling fakes. We would remind anyone involved in this type of activity that the courts can impose penalties of up to 5,000 or six months in prison per offence if trademarks or copyrights are infringed.
Anyone who believes they have been sold counterfeit goods should contact Consumerline on 0300 123 6262 or visit www.nidirect.gov.uk or via the Northern Ireland Trading Standards Service Facebook page.
Graham Keddie, managing director of Belfast International Airport with Claire Kelly from Passion Preserved
Produce from food companies in Northern Ireland has been shortlisted for major awards by a UK magazine.
Hens eggs from Cavanagh Free Range Eggs in Co Fermanagh join an Indian-inspired tomato relish from Passion Preserved in Co Armagh to make it into the Delicious Produce shortlist.
Cavanagh Eggs near Enniskillen is run by husband and wife Eileen and John Hall. The couple recently announced a major deal supplying eggs to Asda stores in Northern Ireland.
Passion Preserved was set up by former accountant Claire Kelly, who branched out into preserves after her home-made product sold out at a church fair.
Ms Kelly currently grows over 100 chilli plants and rhubarb in a commercial polytunnel at her home.
The regional judges of the Delicious Produce awards included Derek Creagh, co-owner of top restaurant Harry's Shack in Portstewart, recently named Best Newcomer in Food and Drink at The Observer Food Monthly Awards.
He was joined on the panel by Sophie Rasmussen, who helped set up the Folktown Market in Belfast, as well as chef and broadcaster Paula McIntyre.
Karen Barnes, the editor of Delicious, said: "Our team of expert regional judges assessed entries from some of the finest food producers in the UK.
"The standard was extraordinarily high and it was a tough job deciding who would go through to the finals.
"Our finalists are exceptional and I am looking forward to tasting their produce at the national judging."
The winning producers will feature in the October issue of the glossy food magazine, which is published by Eye to Eye Media.
The final of the Delicious Produce Awards is in London next month
A poster for Zoo, a story told through the eyes of 12-year-old Tom,aided by his friends, as he fights to save the animal
A poster for Zoo, a story told through the eyes of 12-year-old Tom,aided by his friends, as he fights to save the animal
A poster for Zoo, a story told through the eyes of 12-year-old Tom, aided by his friends, as he fights to save the animal
A poster for Zoo, a story told through the eyes of 12-year-old Tom,aided by his friends, as he fights to save the animal
Local people who fancy themselves as movie moguls are getting the chance to invest in a new film based on one of Northern Ireland's most famous wartime stories - about an elephant, that wasn't so much in the room as in the backyard of a north Belfast house.
Top British actors including Toby Jones, from The Hunger Games, and Penelope Wilton, from Downton Abbey, have been signed up to take part in Zoo. The film is due to start shooting next month in Belfast and Canada, where an elephant called Nellie - what else? - has been recruited to play the heavyweight starring role by the rather aptly named Wee Buns Films company.
Belfast's Ian McElhinney, and Irish actress Amy Huberman also have key roles in the film.
The locally based producers searched the world for almost three years to find the perfect pachyderm to double as Sheila, the baby elephant that was rescued from Belfast Zoo by one of her keepers, Denise Austin, after police officers shot dead 33 animals, fearing there would be chaos if they escaped during the Luftwaffe raids.
Ms Austin, who was one of the attraction's first female keepers, sheltered Sheila in the back yard of her home on the Whitewell Road. She survived the war, dying in 1960.
The hunt for an elephant to play the part of Sheila ended in Hamilton, Canada, where three-year-old Nellie is a popular resident at the African Lion Safari under the care of Charlie Gray, a world authority on elephants.
Zoo producer John Leslie said: "There was a whole debate over whether or not we should use computer-generated imagery to put an elephant on the screen, but we all felt if we could work with a real animal we should."
Writer and director Colin McIvor became interested in making a film about the elephant after reading a story in the Belfast Telegraph.
Initially, the woman who saved Sheila was only known as the Elephant Angel, but after appeals from Belfast Zoo it was established that her name was Denise Austin.
Colin immediately thought that the story could prove to be the basis of a hit movie. And in typical elephantine style, he never forgot.
Now, after nearly six years in development, the final draft of the script by McIvor and his Wee Buns colleague Katy Jackson is about to be turned into a film that has been backed by, among others, Northern Ireland Screen and the British Film Institute
The plot of Zoo, which is aimed at the family market, doesn't stick 100% to the original elephant's tale.
John said: "We have three children taking the elephant from the zoo, and in our film the father of one of the youngsters is the zookeeper who hears about the Government officials ordering the cull of what they consider to be dangerous animals.
"The children take the elephant to Ms Austin's yard for her to look after it, but for various reasons we have changed her name to Mrs Leonard."
The elephant in the film also has a different name - Buster, not Sheila.
Before filming can commence producers need to raise more money. John said his team were just a short way off their 3m target budget, and that's why they have set up an Enterprise Investment Scheme syndicate (EIS) for entrepreneur to put cash in.
"The main thing about the EIS is that it's a Government incentive, so there's a 30% tax break for investors and they also stand to get returns later on," John explained.
Smaller investors are being encouraged to get on board too through an Indiegogo crowdfunding project designed to attract money from the general public and friends and family members of people involved in the film. The producer said: "It's a kick-starter scheme where you get DVDs or T-shirts in return for putting in something as small as 10."
He also admitted that he was on a mission to persuade local business to get involved in Northern Ireland's rapidly expanding film industry.
"To really secure our local film industry, indigenous producers, writers, directors and so on need to encourage local investors to develop our own infrastructure that does not rely on Game of Thrones, Universal and HBO," John told this newspaper.
"That route makes us a service provider not a standalone indigenous industry. This is a debate that in my view needs to be aired and discussed in earnest here."
Filming on Zoo is due to start in Belfast on July 18. "Everything is ready," said John. "Most of the crew and cast members have their dates, but we just have to get this last piece of money in place by the end of June to hit our budget. It's a hyper-critical time.
"But that's the way it often is with films and we think our ducks are almost all lined up."
Global interest in the film, which is due to be released early next year, is already said to be high. At the Cannes Film Festival, the movie's sales agent Metro International pre-sold Zoo to a major worldwide distributor and in the process attracted interest from Poland, Turkey, the former Yugoslavia and Japan.
Writer Colin said: "Regardless of the fact that this true story played out on my hometown streets, my reaction to it was immediate - this is an inspiring cinematic story with universal appeal. The festival's reaction to the package has proved my instincts to be correct."
John said that people had long been fascinated by the story of the Angel Elephant, which was featured recently on The One Show on the BBC.
"With children now involved in the storyline we are confident that the film will appeal to families in a big way," he added. "But it will also have some gritty moments in it with the bombing raids and it is very realistic."
Downplayed in the film will be the cull in the zoo, in which marksmen from the RUC were asked to kill the 33 animals on orders from the Ministry of Public Security.
The directive came amid fears that if the animals escaped from the zoo and got onto the Antrim Road during the blitz, they could wreak havoc on the area and surrounding streets.
Among the animals killed on Saturday, April 21, 1941, were one hyena, two wolves, one puma, one tiger, one Barbary lion, one black bear, two polar bears and one lynx. There was even a giant rat, whose name was Hugo.
Zoo is also said to be funny with lots of Belfast humour in it. "It really has a bit of everything," explained John.
The creative team behind the film has an impressive track record, with previous efforts including The Survivalist, A Patch of Fog, Behold the Lamb and TV series The Truth Commissioner.
Zoo will be shot over five weeks in Belfast, including a number of days in the city's zoo, which will be adapted to look like it did in the wartime years.
There will also be two weeks of filming in Ontario, close to where Nellie lives and where a set replicating the back yard of Ms Austin's Whitewell Road house will be built.
According to the Africa Lion Safari's website, Nellie is an Asian elephant and she was born on Friday August 2, 2013, at 6am weighing in at 309lbs.
The site adds: "She was born to her 19-year-old mother, Natasha, after a 21-month pregnancy. Nellie is the third calf for Natasha and first for her father Johnson.
"Her birth is very significant as Nellie represents the first all-Canadian Asian elephant born at the park as both of her parents were also born here."
The fact that the production team behind Zoo are going to Canada to shoot her scenes means, of course, that Nellie the elephant won't have to pack her trunk to come here.
Broadcaster Kerry McLean made her return to the airwaves yesterday after six months away on maternity leave.
Settling back into her weekday afternoon slot on BBC Radio Ulster, she announced her arrival with Thin Lizzy classic The Boys Are Back In Town.
"I don't know about the boys, but I'm certainly back today," she said. "Thank you all so much for all the lovely messages that have come in. It's great to be back in the seat again."
Kerry, who is married to fellow Radio Ulster broadcaster Ralph McLean and has three children - Tara (9), Dan (7) and baby Eve, who is six months old - also admitted she was a little nervous.
"I just about remember how the studio desk works, so bear with me if you hear something weird or wonderful coming through - it's me hitting the wrong buttons," she joked.
Many of Kerry's fans went online to welcome their favourite broadcaster back.
Listener Maggie O'Turbett tweeted: "Normal service has been resumed, Kerry's back!"
Ursula Murphy added: "Looking forward to having Kerry McLean back on the airwaves to keep us company this sunny Monday afternoon - good luck!"
Throughout her absence Kerry kept up the close relationship she enjoys with her listeners on social media.
"It is really nice," she said in a recent interview with the Belfast Telegraph. "There is always that fear that if I'm away for too long people will forget about me. To know that people who we already know are loyal to Radio Ulster are also loyal to me is really touching.
"I'm lucky that I have been off during the era of social media as I have been able to stay in touch with listeners through Twitter and Facebook, and that has been really lovely."
While Kerry and her husband have been celebrating the arrival of Eve, recent months have also brought heartbreak for the family with the sudden death of Kerry's father Shaun Turner in March. Mr Turner, described as a fun man who loved playing with his grandchildren, died just six days after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Opening up about the loss, Kerry said: "I'm just taking it day by day.
"We have a very close family and you do feel it when you lose someone close so unexpectedly and so suddenly. Some days I am coping okay and then other days something daft will come up and it just hits me.
"Since dad's death so many people have been in touch, including so many other families who have lost loved ones to pancreatic cancer.
"Some of them have had a very rough ride, and I wasn't even aware of pancreatic cancer before or that it has touched so many lives."
With her father unaware of his illness until he was diagnosed, and enjoying a holiday just weeks beforehand, Kerry took some measure of comfort "that daddy didn't have to face that elongated, painful period".
"The child in me wants him to be here for ever, but the adult in me is pleased that it was so quick and he didn't suffer," she said.
And looking forward to her first week back at work, Kerry added: "I do get such a laugh in my job and there are days when I think: 'Surely I can't get paid for having this much fun'.
"It is just wonderful to think that the listeners are as excited as I am."
Better time: Shannon Thompson now works in a shop and can communicate easily
Selective mutism is an extremely rare illness which makes sufferers unable to communicate with people in certain situations. Ballymena woman Shannon Thompson, who was struck by this debilitating condition when she was in primary school, talks to Karen Ireland.
Imagine not being able to communicate with a work colleague or someone in a shop - anyone outside of your immediate family circle. This is what happened to Ballymena woman Shannon Thompson, now 21, when she returned to school one year after the summer break.
She was suffering from a very rare illness called selective mutism, an anxiety disorder which mainly affects children aged between three and five.
The frightening symptoms mean the sufferer freezes and is unable to communicate with people and surroundings which are unfamiliar to them.
It is estimated that this relatively unheard of condition affects one in 150 children, around the same as autism, but it isn't talked about as families do not know what it is - therefore it often remains undiagnosed.
While most children grow out of this isolating condition when they are about eight or nine, without the right intervention some cases can last into adulthood.
Lindsay Whittington, UK co-ordinator with Selective Mutism Information Research Association (SMIRA), who works with thousands of cases worldwide, says there is no known cure, just forms of treatment which can be used.
"This is an illness which affects one in 150 children, but there is very little awareness of it," she says.
"The condition prevents children from interacting and learning normally at school, which can be debilitating and detrimental to their lives and their family.
"Intervention is the best tactic and it must be faced in small manageable steps. The first step is referral to a speech therapist to rule out any underlying problem. Once that is done, the speech therapist and a child psychologist can start to work with the child and help them.
"We do have cases in Northern Ireland which we are working with, but because the child is vulnerable and the parent is very protective it is not something they openly want to discuss."
She adds: "SMIRA exists to support parents and to provide them with information so they know how best to handle the situation and their child.
"The most important factor is not to feel isolated and to know that they are not alone, but that others are going through the same thing.
"The organisation then signposts the best places to go for help and offers practical advice."
Shannon Thompson (21) is from Ballymena. She works in retail and lives at home with her mum Carol (56). She says:
When I was in primary two, I developed selective mutism at the end of the summer. During that period I only saw one friend, Megan, in two months.
When I went back to school it was as though I had forgotten how to talk to the other children. I hadn't spoken to them all summer and I couldn't find a way to speak to them when I returned.
Rather than answer the teacher, I would just whisper things to Megan which she would relay back to the teacher. During this time, Megan was my lifeline.
The teachers spoke to my mum and dad about my silence, but at the time everyone put it down to shyness.
I would speak when I went home from school and would talk to my parents and siblings, but that was it. I wouldn't speak to my cousins or other family members. I just couldn't talk. It was as though I would just freeze.
Despite this, mum said I was lively and chatty when it was just my immediate family.
It is hard to explain what this condition was like or how frustrated it made me feel. I remember trying to speak, especially in class, but nothing would come out and I would just end up miming the words.
The condition became more and more frustrating for my parents and my mum admits now that it really got her down as they didn't know what to do or where to turn.
My parents took me to the doctor who referred me to counsellors and therapists. I even had people coming to the house trying to get me to play, but I wouldn't speak.
This went on throughout primary school and Megan was the only person I could speak to in school.
Other people hadn't heard my voice and I couldn't get it to come out, which was very upsetting.
I can't recall if I was ever properly diagnosed with selective mutism - I think it was just something my family and I found out later as we read more into my symptoms.
In the end, it was Belfast hypnotherapist Alan Gilchrist who helped me. At the consultation I was hypnotised in a bid to find a solution to my silence.
He worked with me and gave me tapes which I would listen to at night to help me relax. I did this all summer after P7 to prepare for high school.
When I went to high school at the start it was very difficult. Some of the teachers didn't understand what I was going through and they would make me stand up to answer questions and then shout at me if I didn't say anything - but I couldn't. It was really embarrassing.
Then one day I just found myself able to speak to another girl and then slowly another one. It started out as a whisper and then I was able to speak to others.
Things changed then and completely turned around for me and I found myself able to speak to everyone - it just happened. I was able to start making friends and could talk to anyone.
It was like a switch had been flicked on inside me and I was able to communicate.
My mum and dad split up when I was in high school, but I was okay and was still able to talk. The upset didn't bring the mutism back.
I felt stronger and proud of myself and as I got more confident I talked more.
Now, I am able to speak to complete strangers everyday in my working life.
I work in a clothes shop and I have to talk to people when they come in. I love my job and don't have any problems with talking to customers.
Selective mustism is a misunderstood illness and there is very little support out there for people who have it.
I met Alan Gilchrist a few years ago and I was able to tell him how much he helped me, but not everyone might consider going to a hypnotist.
Now I know it wasn't my fault I ended up with the condition - it is something out of your control because it is an illness.
There definitely needs to be more support and more understanding. I am happy to share my story if it helps one young person.
Further information about SMIRA can be obtained at www.smira.org.uk
How to tell if you may have this rare illness
Characteristics of someone suffering from selective mutism:
Paul Coffey's family have been fishing the waters off Portavogie for 400 years, and he says his 90-hour week on the hunt for prawns is only being made more difficult by the European Union.
Walking towards Paul's boat the Asteria, where dozens of nets are sprawled, drying out and toasting in the sun, it's clear that fishing - something he's done for 25 years - isn't just a job.
The 44-year-old's day begins at 4am, and he doesn't see the welcoming lights of the village again until 8pm, some 16 hours later.
But he feels hampered by "EU meddling", which he says has made an already difficult and dangerous profession even harder.
"We want out of Europe to control our own seas, our own waters, and to make our own rules," he said.
His gripes include quotas, satellite monitoring, the number of days he can be at sea, and "red tape".
"Most of the differences are with quota and days at sea, and not being able to control our own waters and rules being made from Brussels," he said. "There are no young ones going to the fishing. I think it's to do with the hours, and there's not much money with the cost of fuel. The quota is the problem. You only worked a four-day week back then, where now you have to go out every day."
And days are key. Once the boat starts to move, and leaves the harbour, Paul has little choice but to stay out for 16 hours to ensure he makes the most of his EU-controlled time at sea. He's only allowed to fish for 200 days each year. He said: "We can catch our prawn quota - most of the quota is determined by Brussels in our own waters, and foreign vessels can come in and fish away. It costs about 1,000 a day (to run the boat). We've four staff on board, and they get a share of the catch."
Despite the downturn in the industry, it's an idyllic scene across the small Co Down port.
A fleet of boats, each with their own character and colour, sporting names such as Adventure and Green Brae, are bobbing on the water. But on this rare day of baking sunshine, there are only 40 of them. That number has fallen from 100 just a couple of decades ago.
Meandering around the tight twists and turns of Portavogie Harbour on the way out to the fishing waters of the Irish Sea, Paul says prices for his catch have remained stagnant over the years, while running costs and his workload have shot up. He also shows me another aspect of the EU's involvement in fishing on his boat.
It's a recording device, which monitors his location at sea, and is now a requirement.
Aside from the charming, wood-lined cabin, the Asteria is bulging with technology, such as radar and satellite. "I have to send a message on the log book - they can check where the boat is on satellite," he explained.
With Paul's catch landed, it's then processed, before the majority is exported to other parts of Europe.
He says he remembers days gone by "when there was no talk of quotas or days at sea".
Paul is also concerned that he could be the last generation of fishermen in Portavogie, and doesn't feel the EU has done enough to help.
Between 2007 and 2013 the EU contributed just 14m across the fishing industry as part of the European Fisheries Fund in Northern Ireland. "We are making a living. But it's a 90-hour week living. It's 4am until 8pm," he said. "I think we could manage ourselves better, and let fishermen do their jobs."
Chancellor George Osborne meets workers during a visit to Warrenpoint Harbour in Co Down yesterday
Northern Ireland farmers could face huge cuts to their subsidies if the public votes for a Brexit, George Osborne warned yesterday.
On a visit to Warrenpoint, the Chancellor said the Government would likely be unable to match the 2bn the EU gives the industry over a seven-year period.
"What would happen if we left?" he asked. "The country would have less money. A Chancellor of the Exchequer would have to make choices.
"The budget would shrink, and where are the cuts going to be felt? I cannot see why farming would be excluded from those cuts."
Mr Osborne also warned that border controls between Northern Ireland and the Republic could be reintroduced if the public voted for Leave.
Speaking to the Press ahead of a tour of Warrenpoint Harbour the Chancellor, who previously warned a Brexit would trigger a "profound economic shock", said pulling out would lead to an inevitable toughening of controls between North and South.
"I'm here at Warrenpoint, and this place is a very practical demonstration of the fact that Northern Ireland has the only land border with an EU country," he added.
"If we were to quit the EU, then jobs would be lost. I think that Northern Ireland would be particularly hard-hit. You would have a hardening of the border.
"You only have to listen to the businesses at the port here telling us that jobs would be lost and their futures would be uncertain."
Mr Osborne claimed that a Brexit would mean "fewer jobs in Northern Ireland, family incomes hit" and the value of properties falling.
He described it as "not a price worth paying".
"We've come a long way from the mess the country was in, economically, seven or eight years ago. We don't want to go back to square one," he said.
"If we quit the European Union, then this is going to be the border with the European Union.
"There would have to be a hardening of the border that would be imposed by the British Government or, indeed, by the Irish Government, and that would then have an impact on business."
Mr Osborne told how one of the drivers at Warrenpoint Harbour had described two-hour queues to enter the Republic when there were border controls, and said that no one wanted to see that again.
"Business wouldn't come here, jobs wouldn't come here and people would trade directly with the Republic," he added.
It was also claimed farmers and milk producers hoping to sell their goods in the Republic would be hit with tariffs.
"If you are trying to sell from outside of the EU into the EU, you have to pay tax," Mr Osborne said."That would hit farmers' incomes here.
"Farmers also get support from the Common Agriculture Policy. It's not clear that a British Government would be able to replicate that. I think agriculture would be particularly hard-hit."
Warrenpoint Harbour handles more than three million tonnes of cargo every year.
It deals with a range of industry imports and exports, with vast piles of wood stacked in and around the estate.
It also handles a huge volume of cement exports, and recently started building work on a 2.5m expansion with Quinn Cement.
On June 23 the UK will vote on whether to remain in or leave the European Union. It is a choice that will shape our country for a generation - bigger than any Assembly or general election.
Northern Ireland, which I have been visiting for the last two days, will perhaps be more profoundly affected than any other part of the UK by the outcome.
There's so much at stake. Working together, we have made enormous progress here in recent years.
It's among the best-performing regions of the UK when it comes to job creation and there are more opportunities than ever for the next generation.
It is now beyond any doubt that there would be a profound economic shock across the UK if we vote to leave.
No trading relationship we might negotiate could be better than membership of the single market - the world's biggest free trade area, allowing both consumers and traders to access a market of 500 million people. There would be less trade, less investment, fewer jobs, higher prices and lower wages. Frankly, that's just common sense.
Even people in the Leave campaign admit it. Some actually argue a hit to people's jobs and livelihoods is a price worth paying - something I profoundly disagree with. It's increasingly clear that the Leave campaign is making it up as they go along and has no plan.
In recent days they've admitted that they expect Britain would still be negotiating an EU exit in 2020 - meaning years of damaging uncertainty, all in order to end up with a worse deal than we have now. Northern Ireland relies more heavily on EU funding for agriculture than other parts of the UK, receives money from the EU as part of the peace process, and shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland, which, of course, would remain an EU member state.
As I explained on my visit to Warrenpoint yesterday, our analysis is that the shock of an exit would mean a hit to the economy in Northern Ireland of 1.3bn over two years, 14,000 job losses, a hit to wages of hundreds of pounds a year on average and a hit to the typical house price of 18,000.
Because of the hit to the public finances, which independent experts suggest would run into tens of billions of pounds a year, we'd have far less to spend on schools, hospitals, roads and support for farming and manufacturing.
If you don't want to listen to the Treasury, listen to the Governor of the Bank of England; the head of the International Monetary Fund; the independent OECD; the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies, the President of the United States, indeed every single one of our allies and trading partners - they all agree Britain would be poorer, and permanently so, if we vote to leave.
It's also inevitable that there would be changes to border arrangements. Several prominent Leave campaigners have admitted this, and those who don't are not being straight with people. If the border becomes the UK's frontier with the rest of Europe, there will have to be Customs checks, tariffs on goods - and if restrictions on the movement of people from the EU to the UK are imposed, too, as Leave campaigners suggest, then border controls as well. This will hit the economies of both Northern Ireland and the Republic. The OECD estimates that the documentation and delays involved in crossing a Customs border can increase the costs of trade by up to 24% of the value of traded goods.
Other studies have found evidence that border controls reduce trade and affect living standards, even when relations between nations on either side are entirely friendly. For instance, the border between the US and Canada is estimated to reduce trade by 44%. None of this is a price worth paying. If the polls are to be believed - including one recently for this newspaper - Northern Ireland is possibly the most pro-EU part of the UK. So, I urge people to turn out in force here and vote Remain on June 23.
And to those who are thinking of backing Leave, I say this: if there's any doubt in your mind, stop and think. Ask yourselves whether it's worth the risk for the next generation. There's no doubt in my mind: we are stronger, safer and better off inside a reformed EU.
Family doctors here are on "the edge of a full-blown crisis", it has been claimed.
Research carried out by the British Medical Association (BMA) showed that 74% of practices were struggling and 10% were "barely coping".
The BMA said the study showed the pressure GPs were under as regards growing waiting lists, with many practices struggling to cope despite the growing use of locums.
The organisation called on the Government to urgently address the problems faced by general practice here.
The GP federation model, developed by the Northern Ireland General Practitioners Committee went some way to addressing the situation, the BMA said, but it also called for additional long-term investment.
Chair of the committee Dr Tom Black said the problems could not continue.
"We knew the situation was bad, but the research showed clearly that primary care here is on the edge of a full-blown crisis," he added.
"GPs all across Northern Ireland reported problems, but the situation was particularly bad for smaller, single-handed and rural practices that have fewer GPs working in them and who are also struggling to fill vacancies.
"We must find ways of securing general practice in the short-term and evolve to a modern, sustainable model of general practice for the future to allow us to provide a service that meets the needs of patients."
His warning came as it emerged that proposals to open a second medical school here would be discussed at a BMA health conference at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast on June 20.
A petition will also be distributed to all surgeries in Northern Ireland, outlining the long list of difficulties faced by GPs and also encouraging patients to support their local doctors by signing the petition.
A north Belfast priest who spoke out against paramilitaries has refused to back down after being threatened by dissident republicans.
Father Gary Donegan said police had informed him in the past few days that posts were put on social media warning him and around a dozen others in the Ardoyne area.
More than 40 people under death threat have come to Fr Donegan in the past few weeks.
The priest from the Holy Cross church told this newspaper the threats to him came from a group with a dissident republican background.
Despite the messages, he refused to be intimidated and said that his door was always open if the culprits wanted to come and talk to him.
I have never cowered before anything before and this wont stop me, Fr Donegan said.
These people are saying that I shouldnt work with statutory bodies, but the role for anyone within the Catholic Church is to work with all agencies. We are not politicians we are there for the community.
In April Fr Donegan criticised paramilitaries at a rally for murdered north Belfast taxi driver Michael McGibbon, the 33-year-old father-of-four who bled to death after he was shot in the legs by dissidents.
The priest said he believed he had been targeted because he speaks out against things that are wrong and always advocates for things that are right.
I am 25 years ordained on the 16th of June, Fr Donegan added. During those 25 years, I have stood for peace and reconciliation whether its been walking the kids to school, or whether its been up in Twaddell at night, I have been there for both communities.
Earlier, when I was giving interviews, the reporters had to wait as I dealt with the 42nd threat to a family in the last six weeks.
What are those people bringing? They are doing it to their own community, and its a sad day for alleged Irish republicans when a priest would be put under threat.
SDLP North Belfast MLA Nichola Mallon said: No one in north Belfast or anywhere in our city should have to face the threat of violence because of the work theyre doing to support peace in our community.
Fr Gary Donegans compassion for all people, regardless of their faith or background, permeates all he does.
Those who have threatened him and others working positively in our community are cowards. They have nothing to offer and should withdraw their reckless threats immediately.
Last night a north Belfast dissident republican group suggested the threats had been fabricated by the authorities.
The Greater Ardoyne Residents Collective, which protests against Orange Order marches in the area, posted on Facebook: Any threat against a priest and/or community workers would be totally counter-productive in terms of highlighting ongoing PSNI human rights abuses, and it is perhaps for that very reason that the MI5-directed PSNI has fabricated them.
The inquiry is focusing on abuse at the Kincora Boys' Home
A former resident from Kincora Boys' Home has described being stripped naked and sexually assaulted on his first day at the Belfast facility.
The man, given the cipher HIA199/R3, broke down in tears, after telling the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry, how he was singled out and abused over four years.
He said: "When I came to Kincora was an an innocent 14-year-old boy.
"I never had a sex education and this is what I had to deal with for four years."
The witness, who spent his entire childhood in care, had three separate stints at Kincora during the 1960s and 1970s.
He left shortly after turning 18.
On the day he was admitted from Purdysburn Hospital, he recalled being taken into a bathroom and assaulted by warden Joseph Mains during what was supposed to be a medical examination, the HIA was told.
"The first thing he did to me was he took me into that bathroom, he stripped me naked, made a comment about my private parts and started to fondle me," he said.
"That was on my first day at 14."
There was systemic abuse with rewards and violent punishments such as being punched in the stomach or slapped in the face if he did not perform, it was claimed.
He added: "The punishment was cleverly worked out so that there would not be any bruising.
"It was done in private, in his office. It wouldn't happen very often but it would be often enough to remind me of the consequences if I did not perform."
The boy, who considered Kincora the only home he ever had, was threatened with borstal and feared speaking out because of Mains' influential friends, it emerged.
Mains later pleaded guilty to two counts of sex abuse against the boy.
It has long been alleged that a high ranking paedophile ring preyed on vulnerable boys at Kincora during the 1970s.
It is further claimed that the UK security services knew about the abuse but did nothing, instead using the information to blackmail the prominent people such as politicians, judges, civil servants and police officers who were the perpetrators.
In 1980, Mains and two other senior care workers Raymond Semple and William McGrath were convicted for abusing boys at Kincora during the 1970s.
It was widely believed McGrath, who had links to a shadowy Protestant paramilitary organisation, was working as an MI5 agent.
HIA199/R3 said he had no knowledge of any vice ring or of boys being taken elsewhere to be prostituted.
The witness said he was glad to have the opportunity to speak out.
"For 55 years I have had this hanging on my head," he said.
"No one believed me. I am just so glad for this committee, at last, to listen to the truth of what happened at Kincora."
The HIA was set up by the Northern Ireland Executive in 2013 and has been examining allegations of physical, emotional and sexual abuse at state and church-run residential institutions between 1922 and 1995.
It is chaired by retired High Court judge Sir Anthony Hart, sitting alongside Geraldine Doherty, a former head of the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work in Scotland, and David Lane, who was director of social services in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
Locations mentioned in the charges include: the Ulster Hospital in Belfast; Bessbrook Health Centre in County Armagh and Maynooth College.
A father and son stood side by side in court on Tuesday charged with a 300,000 fraud in which they allegedly passed off ordinary glass as fire-resistant glass to be fitted in dozens of buildings.
Seamus James Laverty (58) and James Laverty (26), both of the same address at Deerpark Road, Toomebridge, appeared at Antrim Magistrates Court jointly charged with 39 charges of fraud by false representation, one charge of converting criminal property and one of possessing criminal property.
Buildings involved in the alleged counterfeit fire glass scam were on both sides of the border in Ireland and also in GB and the offences are alleged to have occurred between 2010 and 2013.
Locations mentioned in the charges include: the Ulster Hospital in Belfast; Bessbrook Health Centre in County Armagh and Maynooth College.
There were also churches like Maghera Parish Church; schools including Royal School Armagh; leisure centres, apartments and universities.
They are both further charged with one count of converting criminal property in 2012, namely cash totalling 23,887.88 by purchasing items associated with a rally car and one charge of possessing criminal property - 10,000 cash - in 2013.
It is understood the alleged fraud is connected with a now dissolved firm called Glassworks Ireland Ltd which was based at Hillview Business Park in Randalstown.
On Tuesday both men appeared in court, wearing suits, for a Preliminary Enquiry and they stood outside the dock as their cases were returned for arraignment to Antrim Crown Court in September and they were each released on 500 bail by District Judge Alan White.
Aaron Thompson, defence barrister for Seamus Laverty said there are 1,000 pages of depositions and exhibits but although there were two sections of the papers which were incomplete he was not objecting to the holding of the Preliminary Enquiry.
He said other employees were interviewed and they were "not whistleblowers" because police had approached them for interview.
At a previous court, Mr Thompson said the police received a complaint and after employees were interviewed the PSNI "cherry-picked" the two Lavertys.
Also at the earlier hearing, as part of the investigation he said glass had to be cut and forensically examined.
At Tuesday's court, Mr Thompson said the case involved sums in excess of 300,000 and related to alleged delivery of non-fire resistant glass.
A prosecuting lawyer submitted there was a case to answer which defence Aaron Thompson and James Laverty's barrister Ben Thompson said they were making no contrary submissions to.
Both defendants replied "no" when asked if they wished to say anything in relation to the charges at this stage.
Fire resistant glass is made to withstand higher temperatures than ordinary glass in the event of an incident in a building.
Locations named in the charges include: Ulster Hospital; Maghera Parish Church; Royal School Armagh; Greenvale Leisure Centre.
Magherafelt High School; Almac laboratory; Downpatrick Civic Centre; Carrick Primary School; Bessbrook Health Centre; Queen's staff accommodation; Design Centre Omagh; Strathern School.
Granville Manor Assisted Living Residence; National University of Ireland Galway; Brooklands Care Home; Lisburn Road Methodist Church; Clanmill Housing Association; Gelvin Grange; Boojum, Galway;
Marks and Spencer, Bangor; Marks and Spencer, Sprucefield.
DW Sports, Leicester; Colliemore Apartments, Dublin; Urban Retail Outlet, Camden; DW Sports, Gainsborough; KFC, Milton Road, Edinburgh.
Hamleys, Cardiff; Welcome Centre, Belfast; Titanic Quarter, Belfast; The French Rooms, Bushmills, St James House, Dublin; St Mary's National School, County Meath; Scoil Oilibheir Naofa, Laytown; Renold Building at the University of Manchester; Maynooth College;
Tallaght Hospital, Dublin.
A man and two children aged five and seven have been taken to hospital following a lightning strike in Lisburn.
It happened on Tuesday afternoon at around 1.50pm on the Laurel Hill road. The man was collecting his children from Killowen Primary School.
Witnesses said he was on his mobile phone at the time of the strike. He was taken to Lagan Valley Hospital.
A spokesman for the South Eastern Health Trust said the man was "critically ill".
The two children, a boy (5) and seven-year-old girl, are in the Belfast Children's Hospital for treatment to burn injuries.
The Belfast Trust said the boy is in a critical condition. The girl who was seriously injured is now in a stable condition.
It is understood the 37-year-old man and his family had been making their way towards their jeep when the lightning struck.
Expand Close Lisburn lightning strike: Man was collecting children from school when lightning hit. Photo: Pacemaker Press / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp Lisburn lightning strike: Man was collecting children from school when lightning hit. Photo: Pacemaker Press
School staff gave emergency medical assistance, with the vice principal using a defibrillator on the critically ill father.
At the scene - a gravel sports pitch -- there was little sign of the tragedy which had unfolded just hours earlier.
The extensive police cordon was lifted just before 5pm.
Expand Close Lisburn lightning strike: Man was collecting children from school when lightning hit. Photo: Pacemaker Press / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp Lisburn lightning strike: Man was collecting children from school when lightning hit. Photo: Pacemaker Press
The principal of Killowen Primary School in Lisburn, Fiona Douglas, said: "I can confirm that a parent and two children were injured outside the schools main gate this afternoon.
"School staff and parents attended to the injured family until the arrival of the emergency services. Following this all other pupils, accompanied by staff, went safely to nearby Laurel Hill Community College where they were collected by parents.
"The thoughts of the entire school community are with the family at this time."
Community 'stunned by absolute tragedy'
SDLP Lisburn Councillor Pat Catney said that the local community is stunned following the incident.
Councillor Catney said: "This is an absolute tragedy. My thoughts are with the man and his son who have been taken to different hospitals in a critical condition. I also understand that the mans daughter has been taken to the Royal Hospital where she too is seriously ill.
"Theres no preparing for an incident of this nature. I want to put on the record my sincere appreciation for the speed with which the ambulance service responded as well as the great efforts of teachers and parents to make the area safe for other children at the school.
"My prayers and the prayers of this entire community are with the family at this very difficult time."
'You never imagine it's going to happen in your local town'
Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson said: "From what I'm hearing the situation is pretty grim and our thoughts and prayers are with the family. it must be devastating news to be told that three of your loved ones have been struck down in such a cruel way and we can only hope that there is a recovery from this in every sense of the word.
"I guess we often read about these things but you never imagine it's going to happen in your local town. I think it's a stark reminder that even the weather can have terrible consequences at a time when people are reasonably happy that we've had a good spell of weather and when something like this happens it reminds us that mother nature is a very powerful thing."
Mr Donaldson has spoken to some of the parents at Killowen primary school who were also picking their children up from the sports day.
"Some of the children witnessed the aftermath of the incident and I know that the paramedics did a really good job and the school community at Killowen is a very strong community and I know that the staff and the parents will rally around and support the children in what must be a very traumatic experience for them."
Speaking from Stormont, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has said his thoughts were with the affected family.
School staff and other parents must be commended
Former firefighter and Ulster Unionist Lagan Valley MLA Robbie Butler said: "Obviously all our thoughts are with the family who have been severely hurt in this freak accident. I hope and pray they make a full and speedy recovery. My deepest sympathies are with the three people that have been injured and I am sure they will be supported by the local community who will assist the wider family at this terrible time.
"Support for the family and school friends is also essential to ensure that all of those affected receive care and counselling. School staff and other parents must be commended for their actions in offering care until the emergency services could attend.
"As a former firefighter, I know it is important at these times to remind the general public of some important safety messages when an electrical storm occurs."
Ambulance service urges caution
The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service is urging caution following the incident.
It said in a statement: "As more thundery showers are forecast with the possibility of lightning we would ask people to remain very vigilant when they are out and about.
If there is a high chance of thunder storms lightning safety advice would suggest that you stay indoors but if you are outside you should avoid open fields and hilltops.
"You should also stay away from tall, isolated trees. If you are in a group, spread out to avoid the current travelling between group members. You should also stay away from water and wet items as well as metal objects, which are all excellent conductors of electricity."
The Belfast Trust said that anyone who feels they could have been hit by lightning should seek medical advice.
Northern Ireland has been basking in sunshine for the past week, but there were warnings of heavy rain and thunderstorms for parts of the region on Tuesday.
On Monday, thousands of homes were left without power following lightning strikes in the Republic.
Lightning safety advice
Before a thunderstorm
Unplug all non-essential appliances, including the television, as lightning can cause power surges.
Seek shelter if possible. When you hear thunder you are already within range of where the next ground flash may occur, lightning can strike as far as 10 miles away from the centre of a storm.
During the thunderstorm
Avoid using the phone - telephone lines can conduct electricity.
Avoid using taps and sinks - metal pipes can conduct electricity.
If outside avoid water and find a low-lying open place that is a safe distance from trees, poles or metal objects.
Avoid activities such as golf, rod fishing or boating on a lake.
If you find yourself in an exposed location it may be advisable to squat close to the ground, with hands on knees and with head tucked between them. Try to touch as little of the ground with your body as possible, do not lie down on the ground.
If you feel your hair stand on end, drop to the above position immediately.
After the thunderstorm
The new Presbyterian Moderator, the Rt Rev Dr Frank Sellar, has called on the Church to be "a community of global concern" as he criticised modern consumer society for its attitude that everything is disposable.
Speaking after his installation at the opening night of the general assembly in Belfast last night, the Moderator said Presbyterians should recognise "those issues of concern for our stewardship of the world's resources where together we must challenge injustice, poverty and oppression in Jesus' name".
A wide range of church figures and political and community leaders, as well as members of the Presbyterian Church and the public, attended last night's service, which is one of the highlights of the annual Church calendar.
Basing his address on the story of Jonah in the Bible, the new Moderator talked about issues arising from that story including bigotry, selfishness, the environment and people's eternal wellbeing.
Reverend Sellar urged his audience to "acknowledge and confess" their failures "not in order to beat ourselves up, but in order to seek Christ's forgiveness for and the Holy Spirit's empowering us to be a community of global concern".
"In this part of the world we have every reason to feel hurt, because many of us have been," he said.
"In this land of ours there are many good reasons why we may legitimately fear and hold grudges against those who wish us harm, but the Gospel tells us that perfect love casts out fear, and where Jesus is present, fear is driven away."
The Moderator also asked the large congregation if they had heard the charge that the Church is full of hypocrites.
"The Bible is not shy to agree," said Dr Sellar, who is minister of Bloomfield Presbyterian Church is east Belfast. "This may come as a surprise to some, but the church is not for those who think they are good. Church is for those who recognise that they are not good - but that there is one who is good."
Dr Sellar also said that people should show care and concern for the environment. "Contemporary society has so lost perspective and commodified things that almost everything seems to get thrown away," he added.
"If believers buy into this false god of rampant consumerism and disposability, that breeds a culture of the temporary, the faddish and the superficial."
In his final address to the general assembly, the outgoing Moderator, the Rt Rev Dr Ian McNie, minister of Ballymoney Presbyterian Church, talked of the importance of the freedom to disagree in a society of competing ideologies.
"However, we do not believe - as some within our society suggest - that we are required to endorse every opinion as equally correct," he said.
"Just as freedom of speech is a universal right, so freedom to disagree is equally a universal principle that should be respected."
Emphasising traditional Christian teaching, he added: "As a church, we believe that the scriptures point to a strong pro-life position with regard to the beginning and ending of life. Also in respect of marriage we are fully committed to the historic and Christian understanding of marriage - that it is exclusively between one man and one woman."
During this week up to 1,000 clerical and lay delegates will consider a wide range of issues affecting the Church and also discuss important social and political issues concerning society in general.
Kim Robin, whose brother Tony was stabbed to death by Angeline Mitchell after an argument
The family of a man stabbed to death by his girlfriend has denounced the criminal justice system as "failing victims" after his killer walked free having served just six years in jail.
They said that Angeline Mitchell, who killed 44-year-old Tony Robin in front of his teenage son, was "a very dangerous woman" who should be behind bars.
Last week she was sentenced to 10 years for her partner's manslaughter in 2009 - five years in jail with the other five on licence. Due to time served, she walked free after the hearing.
In an exclusive interview with the Belfast Telegraph, Mr Robin's sister Kim said: "My family is seeking an urgent meeting with the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) to voice our deep concern with aspects of this trial.
"We are devastated at the outcome. This vicious, violent woman belongs behind bars for a considerable period.
"I saw my brother in the coffin, and the horrific injuries she inflicted on him will be etched forever on my mind.
"From what we heard during two murder trials, my family believes she is a danger to society. We are not prepared to roll over and let Tony's brutal death now be swept under the carpet. We will take this to the highest levels we can."
Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Kim Robin, whose brother Tony was stabbed to death by Angeline Mitchell after an argument Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Tony Robin with his son Thomas Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Tony Robin as a young boy Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp Kim Robin, whose brother Tony was stabbed to death by Angeline Mitchell after an argument
A spokesman for the PPS last night said the body had agreed to meet the family.
Mitchell was unanimously convicted of her partner's murder by a jury in 2010.
However, her conviction was overturned for legal reasons and a retrial was ordered.
Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Tony Robin with his son Thomas Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Angeline Mitchell Photopress Belfast Kim Robin, whose brother Tony was stabbed to death by Angeline Mitchell after an argument Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Tony Robin as a young boy Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp Tony Robin with his son Thomas
At her second trial the 44-year-old mother pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, but denied murder.
A jury acquitted her of murder by unanimous verdict last month.
Medical experts agreed that at the time of the killing she had been suffering from "an abnormality of mind - alcohol dependence syndrome".
Expand Close Tony Robin as a young boy Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp Tony Robin as a young boy
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Treacy said this had impaired her mental responsibility.
Mitchell stabbed Mr Robin five times in his flat in Fitzroy Avenue in the university area of Belfast on May 11, 2009.
She knifed him in the back, chest, head and ear in what the court heard was a drunken, frenzied attack. The fatal thrust caused an eight-inch wound to his chest.
The couple had met at a party three years earlier. They had a turbulent and volatile relationship blighted by frequent misuse of alcohol, rows, verbal abuse and violence.
On the night of the killing the couple were in bed when Mr Robin received a phone call from his youngest son Thomas telling him about a dispute between his big brother, 17-year-old Tony jnr, and the boys' mother. The couple left the flat and returned with 16-year-old Thomas.
A row then erupted between Mitchell and Mr Robin over how he had handled the incident.
She claimed that she grabbed the knife from the kitchen in panic after her partner was verbally and physically abusive to her.
Thomas Robin witnessed the stabbing on the landing and shouted "she's stabbed my dad" and "stop, stop, no need to do that".
The court heard that the teenager, along with the victim's flatmate Michael McGeown, wrestled the knife from Mitchell.
Mr McGeown claimed that at one point she tried to leave but that he barred her way as he made a 999 call for help.
When paramedics arrived Mr Robin was not breathing and had no pulse. A PSNI sergeant told the court that as the victim was being taken away by ambulance Mitchell allegedly said: "He's only putting that on."
She told police that she "did nothing", and initially blamed the attack on a mystery Swedish blonde woman.
The court heard that during her time in jail Mitchell was a model prisoner who had completely turned around her life.
"Your rehabilitation has been remarkable," Mr Justice Treacy stated.
But Kim said that she was completely disillusioned with the criminal justice system.
"We are not an eye for an eye type of family," she added. "In the seven years since Tony was killed we haven't spoken to the media until now because we placed our faith in the courts. We feel very badly let down.
"Our lives have been devastated since this woman stabbed our brother to death.
"It is infuriating to see her being able to walk the streets as a free woman while our 74-year-old mother is heartbroken.
"Mummy went to the first trial but decided not to go to the second. She never lets us see her cry, but we know what she is going through inside.
"During the first trial we watched her physically shrink before our eyes every day as details emerged of what Angeline Mitchell did to her son.
"And I can't even begin to describe the effect that his father's killing had on Thomas. It has absolutely destroyed him."
Ms Robin said she "couldn't praise the PSNI murder detectives enough - they were absolutely brilliant".
But there were other aspects of the proceedings which she wanted to discuss urgently with the PPS.
She stated that if a man had been freed from jail after serving just six years for killing his girlfriend, there would be public outrage. "It should be no different when the victim is male and the perpetrator is female," Ms Robin added. "I regret the day that Tony ever got involved with Angeline Mitchell.
"He never should have brought that woman into his and, most importantly, his children's lives."
Tony Robin was known to the PSNI and had a criminal record.
"He had convictions for theft," his sister said.
"There are five in our family. My mother was a single parent and we didn't have much money growing up, but Tony was the only one of us ever in trouble with the police.
"As a law-abiding family, we did not condone what he did, but his past has no bearing on his right to life and he is as entitled to justice now as any other citizen.
"When I went to identify Tony, I couldn't see the extent of the injuries as he was zipped up in a body bag. But when he came home in the coffin we were able to see what she had done to him. The top of his head was swollen up like a big egg.
"It was a terrible way to see your wee brother. I feel utterly powerless that I haven't been able to do more to secure justice for him, but I'm determined to keep on fighting."
The widow of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe has revealed that she has never forgiven her husband's IRA killers.
The Irish policeman was shot dead 20 years ago today in Adare, Co Limerick, by an IRA gang that fired 15 rounds at his car. He was ambushed in a hail of bullets from AK47s brandished by two men in balaclavas. Three hit the officer.
"I haven't changed really in the last 20 years," said Ann McCabe. "I've learned to live with it, but I haven't changed and I don't think I ever will change. The pain is still there."
Ann believes her husband's death was no accident. "I didn't accept it from day one," she said. "If you walk up to a car and start shooting indiscriminately into a car, you stop, and then you start again. Murder is what I would call it."
The 1996 IRA ceasefire had broken down four months before the killing, and the group initially denied any involvement in the attack.
Sinn Fein leader Jerry Adams later confirmed the killing was not authorised by the IRA's so-called army council, but by a lower level authority within the terror group. "He knew from day one who they were," said Ann, "and he knew what operation they were on. It was sanctioned by the people he represents - the IRA, his comrades.
"He said, 'They weren't involved, it was somebody making mischief'. He rephrased that recently when there was another murder. He said 'a bit of mischief-making'. Somebody making mischief to Jerry. Sinn Fein knew who they were playing ducks and drakes with."
Pearse McAuley, from Strabane, and Jeremiah Sheehy, Michael O'Neill and Kevin Walsh, from Limerick, were jailed for manslaughter after appearing at Dublin's non-jury Special Criminal Court. All four men had originally been charged with Mr McCabe's murder, but the State was forced to accept the manslaughter plea when key witnesses refused to co-operate after IRA intimidation.
"I reckon they were spoken to before they got into the box, and that is why," said Ann.
"We had widespread intimidation of witnesses. That is what really got me angry and that was the start of my campaign."
McAuley had previously escaped from a prison in Brixton while awaiting prosecution over an IRA terror campaign in England and had also jumped bail two months before the shooting. Gardai believe it was Walsh who fired the fatal shots.
"It was plain murder," said Ann. "It wasn't manslaughter - so then when the sentencing came out we were shocked at that but we had to accept it.
"Behind the scenes I got myself very active in keeping them inside in jail, because I reckon there was a deal done between the Government and the IRA.
"They wanted to make them part of the peace process because I had confrontations with Mr Adams on a few occasions and he literally told me they were part of it."
Two South African students living in Dublin have spoken of their experience of racism at a city centre pub.
Anathi and Ezile were refused entry to an unnamed establishment in Temple Bar on Sunday evening and were shocked to hear a security guard say that there were no blacks allowed.
He was dead serious. We spoke to him to see if he was being serious or if maybe there was a language problem, but it was not a joke, not at all, Anathi told RTE Radio Ones Liveline.
I was denied access to a place because of my skin colour, said Ezile, who has lived in Ireland for five years and is currently studying for a Masters degree in International Development at UCD.
When she arrived at the pub with Anathi and another South African friend, she said the security guard stretched his arms out and said no black people allowed.
They asked to speak to the manager of the pub to challenge the door policy, but the security guard refused.
Ezile described how they had to ask an assistant in the shop next door to get the manager for them.
He came told us about the admissions policy, and said they have a right to not disclose the reasons why they deny access to people, she said.
It was my first time experiencing such racism.
The incident occurred just before 7pm, and Ezile said other patrons were permitted entry to the bar while they were speaking to the bouncer.
Outside of the bar, a group of five people were sitting at a table next to the door.
No one intervened. No one said anything, she said.
It was sad, I felt really let down. I thought someone would eventually get up and say something, but no one stood up, they just watched us. It was so humiliating.
Anathi added that a waiter had also passed by as they were being turned away.
There were people going in and out, and we had to keep moving to the side to let people go through, he said.
While he described Irish people as very nice and friendly, he was disappointed that no one spoke out.
They immediately headed to the Garda station, and were asked to return on Tuesday to make a statement.
Last night we got calls saying its pointless, theres nothing we can do because its not a criminal offence, Ezile said.
She added: Im never going back there again. This morning I passed the same area when going to work, and I wasnt at ease.
On the bus, I was thinking what if some people are thinking Im not going to sit next to her because shes black'? Thats whats been going through my mind since Sunday.
Irish Independent
The 1980s tartan coat, which drew the ire of a critical Press
Outfits worn by the Princess of Wales on show at Kerry Taylor Auctions in London before they are sold next week
Outfits worn by the Princess of Wales on show at Kerry Taylor Auctions in London before they are sold next week
A glamorous sequinned Catherine Walker evening gown and an Eighties tartan-check coat worn by Diana, Princess of Wales are to go under the hammer.
The two teal green outfits are being sold at auction, with the floor length dress - one of the princess's favourites - expected to fetch up to 100,000.
The shimmering gown, which is split to the knee and has accentuated shoulder pads, was commissioned for her in 1986 by Walker, who was her much loved go-to designer.
She wore it on a State visit to Austria the same year and many times after.
Auctioneer Kerry Taylor said: "It is unusually glitzy being entirely covered in shimmering sequins - more Hollywood glam than the sedate, elegant numbers she usually wore."
She added: "It was obviously something of a favourite as she wore it many times."
The Duchess of Cambridge has followed in Diana's footsteps by wearing Catherine Walker, last opting for the label when she chose a grass-green coat dress for her appearance at the Chelsea Flower Show last week.
The second outfit - a bold tartan-check wool coat with wide, padded shoulders, the princess's trademark sailor-collar and a matching skirt - was not a popular look.
It was likened to a horse blanket by the media after Diana wore it on a trip to Venice with the Prince of Wales in 1985.
Made by Elizabeth and David Emanuel, who designed Diana's wedding dress, it ended up in a resale clothes shop after being handed over by the mother of Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson.
Diana was also photographed wearing the coat while holding baby Prince Harry on board the Royal Yacht Britannia on the same trip to Italy.
Taylor said: "The Press at the time - always so keen to comment on everything Diana did and wore - unflatteringly likened the outfit to a horse blanket, which is maybe why it ended up in a high-end clothes resale shop in Hampshire some years later.
"The vendor purchased the ensemble from there in 1990 and was told by the shop keeper at the time that the clothes had come to her via Susan Barrantes, mother of Sarah Ferguson."
The outfit is expected to fetch between 10,000 and 15,000 when it goes under the hammer.
Kerry Taylor Auctions' Passion for Fashion sale will be held on June 14 in Bermondsey, south east London.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and China's President Xi Jinping during the joint opening ceremony of the 8th Strategic and Economic Dialogues (AP)
China has promised to rein in steel production flooding global markets and agreed to work with the US in enforcing anti-nuclear sanctions against North Korea in a meeting of Cabinet-level foreign affairs, trade and other officials.
But the two sides ended high-level talks reporting no progress on simmering disputes in the South China Sea.
Envoys from the two sides also failed to agree on what to do about China's aluminium sector, one of many bloated industries Washington and other trading partners complain are selling products too cheaply overseas, hurting foreign competitors and threatening jobs.
The two-day annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue ended with both sides acknowledging an array of significant issues, including human rights. But they repeatedly stressed their desire for friendly, productive relations between the world's two biggest economies.
"While efforts over the past several days cannot resolve our concerns, they do represent real progress," said US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew.
For its part, Washington promised to boost its savings rate and investment, especially in infrastructure. The American side also promised to pursue "fiscal sustainability," a reference to narrowing its yawning budget deficits.
The commitment to persist with reforms to make China's economy more balanced included specific steps for opening its financial sector wider to US companies, Mr Lew told reporters.
For the first time, China agreed to allow US banks to clear transactions denominated in Chinese currency.
Beijing also concurred there is no reason for a sustained weakening of its currency, the yuan, Mr Lew said. That included a commitment to not engage in "competitive devaluations and not target the exchange rate for competitive purposes," he said.
On the strategic side, US Secretary of State John Kerry pointed to scant concrete progress on sensitive issues ranging from maritime security to North Korea. "We didn't agree on everything," the top American diplomat said, stressing the importance of talking through differences.
"The US-China relationship is absolutely vital," said Mr Kerry, who met later Tuesday with Chinese President Xi Jinping. "It may well be the most consequential bilateral relationship of nations in the world."
In the South China Sea, where China and its neighbours have conflicting claims to territory and possible oil and gas resources, Mr Kerry said he "reiterated America's fundamental support for negotiations and a peaceful resolution based on the rule of law, as well as our concern about any unilateral steps by any party."
The governments reaffirmed their commitment to freedom of navigation and overflight, Mr Kerry said. While the US does not take a position in any of China's maritime disputes, Mr Kerry said "the US believes "all of the claimants should exercise restraint".
Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi said Beijing wants to solve disagreements over the seas through negotiation. But he said such talks should take place among "the countries involved", and by implication not involve the United States.
"China has every right to uphold its territorial sovereignty," Yang said.
Beijing said over the weekend that it would ignore an upcoming international arbitration decision in a dispute with the Philippines. China also has conflicting claims with Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. Further complicating matters are suggestions China could establish an air defence zone over part of the sea, which the US opposes.
On North Korea, Mr Kerry did not outline any new US-Chinese pressure on the government over its nuclear and missile programs. Instead, he said US and Chinese teams will study how to better implement already approved UN sanctions on Pyongyang.
Mr Kerry also raised the matter of human rights, in particular China's crackdown on lawyers and freedom of religion. He expressed concern about a new law on non-governmental organisations, urging China to let NGOs function across the country.
The law puts foreign advocacy groups under direct police supervision, forcing them to state the sources of their funding and explain how budgets are spent. Groups seen as subverting the state can be banned.
A woman who was attacked by a shark in California was all smiles in a photograph taken as she recovers from a large bite wound that stretches from her shoulder to her pelvis.
The photo provided by Orange County Global Medical Centre shows Maria Korcsmaros, 52, grinning in her hospital bed, wearing a gown with a cast covering nearly the entire length of her right arm.
Ms Korcsmaros - a mother and triathlete - is expected to recover from the bite she received on May 29 at Corona Del Mar State Beach, doctors said. The shark that attacked her was not found.
The large single bite she suffered suggests the shark was more than 10ft long and most likely a great white, said Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at California State University, Long Beach.
Authorities have reopened a two-mile stretch of Sunset Beach and Surfside Beach that shut down after several sharks were spotted on Sunday off the coast.
A sheriff's helicopter crew saw the sharks off Sunset Beach in the city of Huntington Beach. The animals were estimated to be at least 8ft long and 150 yards from shore.
Closures following a shark sighting typically last between 12 to 24 hours.
Paul Ryan endorsed Donald Trump only last week after a lengthy delay (AP)
Leading Republicans have united in an extraordinary denunciation of Donald Trump's attack on a US federal judge, with House Speaker Paul Ryan calling it "the textbook definition of a racist comment".
Mr Trump asserted that his comments are being "misconstrued", but did not back down or apologise for saying repeatedly that US district judge Gonzalo Curiel could not preside fairly over a case involving Trump University because of his Mexican heritage.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee said: "I do not feel that one's heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial."
Mr Trump's comments came in a lengthy statement in which he repeated claims that students at Trump University, far from being "fleeced" as some claim, and as evidence suggests, were overwhelmingly satisfied.
Moments before Mr Trump issued his defiant statement, a Republican senator who had previously indicated support for Trump withdrew his backing, as Republicans' attempts to unite behind the billionaire looked to be unravelling.
Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois, who is in a competitive re-election race, said: "While I oppose the Democratic nominee, Donald Trump's latest statements, in context with past attacks on Hispanics, women and the disabled like me, make it certain that I cannot and will not support my party's nominee for president regardless of the political impact on my candidacy or the Republican Party.
"I have concluded that Donald Trump has not demonstrated the temperament necessary to assume the greatest office in the world."
Mr Kirk was the first leading Republican to publicly disavow earlier support for Trump.
Most others, including Mr Ryan, reaffirmed their plans to support him, but the situation exposed the peril for Republicans with the volatile and unpredictable property mogul as their standard-bearer.
Time and again, they are forced to answer for Mr Trump's latest divisive comment, distracting from their own agendas as well as their goals of winning back the White House and retaining Senate control.
On Tuesday, Republicans squirmed over what might have been the billionaire's most incendiary stance to date - the claim that Judge Curiel could not preside fairly over the Trump University case because the US-born judge is of Mexican heritage.
Mr Trump wants to build a wall between the US and Mexico.
Mr Ryan - who continues to support Mr Trump's candidacy - said: "I regret those comments he made.
"Claiming a person can't do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment.
"I think that should be absolutely disavowed. It's absolutely unacceptable."
However, Mr Ryan added: "But do I believe Hillary Clinton is the answer? No, I do not."
Other Republicans avoided the word "racist", but made their disapproval crystal clear.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said: "My advice to our nominee would be to start talking about the issues the American people care about, and to start doing it now.
"In addition to that, it's time to quit attacking various people that you competed with, or various minority groups in the country, and get on-message."
Ron Weiser, one of the recently named top fundraisers for Trump and the Republican Party, said the nominee's comments on the judge are "obviously making it more difficult" to raise money.
Stanley Hubbard, a Minnesota broadcast company billionaire, recently gave 100,000 US dollars (69,000) to a pro-Trump group and describes himself as a reluctant Trump backer.
He said of Mr Trump's comments: "It's ridiculous. He's out of line.
"You don't attack a federal judge, and you certainly don't attack him on the heritage of his parents. It's totally off the wall, and I don't even have words to explain it."
Only his fear of Democrat Hillary Clinton picking Supreme Court justices is enough to keep him giving money to Trump, Mr Hubbard said.
Senator Tim Scott, the only black Republican senator, called mr Trump's comments on the judge "racially toxic", but added: "He needs to get on to the general election and we need to win."
"Let's face it: Meet the old Trump, just like the new Trump," said Senator Jeff Flake, who has long opposed the billionaire's candidacy.
"We've got what we've got. That's not somebody who can win the White House."
Democrats ridiculed Republicans for denouncing Mr Trump's comments yet continuing to back the mogul, in evidence of how much ammunition he is giving them as they try to boost their own deeply flawed presumptive nominee in Mrs Clinton.
"If Republicans believe that a man who believes in religious and ethnic tests for federal judges is fit to be president of the United States, they must explain why this is an acceptable position," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.
I AM politically a Conservative and love Europe, but detest the EU. However, all people will suffer if we stay in the EU.
Just like the blob in the horror movie The Blob, the EU blob will continue to expand eastwards, through fair means or foul, absorbing any country next to it.
It is the European Union's lust for expansion and active subversion of the democratically elected Government of Ukraine which has led to the present horrific bloodshed there.
On February 25, 2015, Michael Fallon, the Defence Minister, announced 70 Army advisers will be sent to Ukraine, not as peacekeepers but as war facilitators for the Ukraine army.
David Cameron said on July 1, 2013: "Our vision of the EU is that it should be a large trading and co-operating organisation that effectively stretches, as it were, from the Atlantic to the Urals."
The EU is not a democracy, the elected European Parliament in Strasbourg votes on policies put forward by the unelected European Commission in Brussels led by President Juncker; this set-up has more in common with North Korea.
The British parliament is elected by the people; its policies are not supplied by an unelected commission. A vote to stay in the EU will be a vote to end democracy in Britain.
I ask your readers to vote to leave the EU, a nest of dense, morally bankrupt, financial spivs and warmongers, so that you and your children have a future. The choice in the end will be yours.
ARTHUR JOHNSON
By email
A man accused of kidnapping and threatening a drug dealer over an alleged 3,000 worth of missing pills and cannabis has been refused a bail variation to holiday in Tenerife.
Newry man Stephen McEvoy, 22, and two co-accused are charged with the offences from January 17 to 18.
The charges relate to an alleged injured party who told police he had been kidnapped and threatened for not being able to deal 5,000 diazepam and an amount of cannabis, as well as being punished for taking a quantity of the drugs for his own consumption.
The co-accused were said to have also threatened to burn the mans house down.
High court bail conditions for McEvoy enforced a tagged curfew monitoring system to prevent him leaving the jurisdiction. He has been tagged since mid-January.
At Newry Magistrates Court last week McEvoys lawyer argued that other accused had already been successful in similar applications with one going to Disneyland Paris and the other to England, where he remains.
Counsel added that McEvoys girlfriends mother had already booked the one week holiday to the Canary Islands.
A PSNI constable outlined police objections.
The court heard McEvoy previously had his bail varied to allow him to work from 5am but police said he did not take a job.
He would not be a suitable candidate to have his tag taken off, added the officer.
District judge Eamonn King alluded to the cost of the tagging system being a factor in his judgement.
He has been tagged to his address at a cost of about 1,500 and for it to be taken off and put back on would probably cost another 1,500, a considerable cost to the public funds, said Mr King.
The holiday was booked when they knew he was tagged. Is the person who booked the holiday going to pay fore the tag to be removed?
The case was adjourned to June 15 for an update for all three co-accused.
This is the retired police officer ordered to stand trial accused of outraging public decency in a supermarket.
South East Belfast man John Douglas Stanfield has been released on bail with the condition that he does not enter any supermarket.
The 82-year-old ex-cop appeared in the dock at Newtownards Magistrates Court last week accused of string of charges relating to alleged creepy behaviour at Tesco and Sainsburys stores near his Rosetta Road home.
He is accused of touching his genitals in the presence of children in the shops.
Stanfield has claimed to police he was scratching his psoriasis.
He faces six charges of outraging public decency on various dates in February, March, November and December last year.
The first three counts allege that Stanfield touched himself while in the Tesco supermarket at Newtownbreda while the final three allege similar behaviour at Sainsburys at Forestside.
A detective told a previous hearing how cops were called to the Sainsburys store on December 10 last year following reports of Stanfield touching himself in front of children in an incident captured on CCTV footage.
Having seized and watched that footage, Stanfield was arrested at his home and the officer revealed that inquiries uncovered two similar incidents in the same shop on December 4 and November 28.
The court heard how police investigations led to further similar incidents in February and March last year. Arrested and interviewed Stanfield was shown footage from each incident but each time, his explanation was that he was scratching his psoriasis, the court heard.
Releasing Stanfield on continuing bail last Tuesday, Judge Mark Hamill ordered him to appear before Downpatrick Crown Court on June 30 for his arraignment.
As well as his own bail of 500, the alleged pervert pensioner is barred from entering any supermarket or its car park and from having contact with children.
Television journalists give their pieces to camera in front of opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Khaleda Zia's office in Dhaka during a nationwide strike called by the BNP, February 26, 2015.
Eighteen foreign NGOs have voiced collective concern about what they describe as a deterioration of free speech and a hostile atmosphere for the press in Bangladesh.
The South Asian country has been gripped by a series of killings of secular writers and bloggers by suspected Islamic militants since 2013. Prominent journalists have been charged for alleged criminal defamation.
Recent years have seen a serious decline in respect for freedom of expression and the associated rights of freedom of association, assembly and of religion or belief in Bangladesh, a member of the United Nations Human Rights, PEN International, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Committee to Protect Journalists and the other NGOs said in a joint statement issued late last week.
Deeply entrenched and widening political differences between the ruling Awami League, the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and their allies are contributing to a government crackdown on freedom of expression, with Bangladeshs vibrant civil society also under attack, they said.
The NGOs said they were submitting their five-page statement for the U.N. Human Rights Council to consider during its session in Geneva this month.
Legislative changes, poor law enforcement, lack of governmental support for the principle of freedom of expression, attempts to undermine independent media and a justice system ill-equipped to provide recourse to victims of rights violations have all contributed to the silencing of dissenting voices, through murder, imprisonment, self-censorship or exile, the NGOs added.
If they remain within their domain
The statement also criticized Bangladeshs Information and Communication Technology Act (ICT), which criminalizes online publication of content deemed as likely to harm religious sentiment or disrupt law and order.
And the NGOs voiced concern about the draft Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Act 2014, which would require all Bangladeshi NGOs benefiting from foreign aid to register with the government and seek its approval for projects using any of this money, they said.
Bangladeshi officials on Monday defended the government against the criticisms.
What I can assure is that the proposed Foreign Donations [Bill] will not muzzle the civil society if they remain within their domain, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, an organizing secretary of the ruling Awami League, told BenarNews.
Such a law was necessary because, when the Awami League was out of power and a military-backed caretaker government ruled the country in 2007-08, NGOs had strayed beyond the limits of their missions, he said.
Shah Alamgir Hossain, director general of the Press Institute of Bangladesh, which is overseen by the Ministry of Information, said the joint statement by PEN International, RSF and a host of other free speech advocacy groups was inaccurate.
The policies are not targeted at curtailing the freedom of speech or expression, Hossain told BenarNews.
I have led the government initiative to constitute the Broadcast Commission in line with National Broadcast Policy and the Online Policy, he said, responding to an allegation that Bangladeshs National Broadcasting Policy unduly restricts the dissemination of news, photos, or videos.
According to the head of the press institute, such policies were designed for bringing discipline to Bangladeshi media outlets.
[T]he managers of private television channels now lack necessary training and professional skills to decide what stuff should be aired and what should not. So, the government has initiated forming an independent Broadcast Commission that would suggest a code of ethics for journalists, he added.
The only outlets
The Awami League now has no real opposition in parliament because its main rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), boycotted the 2014 general election, protesting the Awami Leagues refusal to follow tradition by allowing a neutral caretaker government to run the country during the electoral season.
According to a Bangladeshi civil society leader, the absence of a formidable opposition bloc in parliament has led to a government crackdown on the media because local newspapers, news channels and websites are now the only outlets where the ruling blocs opponents can express themselves publically.
With a cornered opposition, the press and the civil society are the only dissenting voices left in Bangladesh. The opposition BNP is cornered now. So, if the civil society and media are checked, the government would have no trouble ahead, Badiul Alam Majumder, general secretary of SHUJAN, a Bangladeshi NGO that champions good governance, told BenarNews.
The existence of a strong opposition in parliament and outside would make the government think twice before initiating any move to curtail the freedom of expression and muzzle the civil society through different laws, Majumder added.
Islamic militants were suspected of killing a Hindu priest in southwestern Bangladesh on Tuesday just two days after a police officers wife and a Christian shopkeeper were killed in attacks elsewhere in the country.
The machete-killing of the cleric from Bangladeshs Hindu minority came as police killed three suspected members of the banned militant group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) during raids in Dhaka and northwestern Rajshahi district, officials said.
The two suspects who were killed in the Bangladeshi capital were involved in the April 23 machete-killing of a college professor in Rajshahi, and the third slain man was linked to a Dec. 25 suicide bombing at a mosque in the district belonging to the Ahmadiyya minority, police said. The bomber and three people were injured in that attack.
In Jhenaidah district, where the priest was hacked to death, police identified the victim as Anando Gopal Ganguly, 69.
The nature of the killing was similar to previous hacking incidents in Jhenaidah and other parts of the country, Azbahar Ali Shaikh, the additional superintendent of police in Jhenaidah district, told BenarNews.
We are not sure whether militants are involved until the investigation is over. But they are suspects, Shaikh said of Tuesdays killing.
Gangulys killing brought to 12 the number of people slain across Bangladesh by suspected militants since early April, or who were killed in attacks where police have not ruled out a religious motive.
Since February 2013 at least 35 people including secular writers, intellectuals, members of religious minority groups and gay rights activists have been killed across the predominantly Sunni Muslim country, mostly in machete attacks by militants, the home ministry said.
On Sunday in Chittagong, suspected JMB members shot and hacked to death Mahmuda Aktar, the wife of a senior counterterrorist police officer who had taken down JMB dens in the southeastern port city, police said.
Later that day, Christian shopkeeper Sunil Gomez was killed in the northern district of Natore. Police in that district have not ruled out that Islamic militants may have killed him.
Details of killing
The Hindu priest was killed around 9:30 a.m., witnesses and police said.
Three motorcyclists struck Ganguly on the head with bamboo sticks as he rode his bicycle to a local temple.
As he fell, they hacked him repeatedly, said Shaikh, adding that a Christian convert in the same district, Samir Ali, was killed in a similar way in January. Shaikh said police had not identified Alis killers.
Ganguly had no enemies, Noldanga resident Abul Kashem told BenarNews.
He used to make a living by worshiping. I cannot believe that an innocent person like him would die in such a way. People irrespective of faiths respected him, Kashem said.
They shot at us
Meanwhile at a news conference in Dhaka, the chief of the polices counterterrorist and transnational crimes unit revealed details of Tuesdays raids targeting the JMB.
Police launched the raids after receiving intelligence that JMB members were planning to enter the capital from the northern part of the country to conduct some type of sabotage.
As we tried to capture, they shot at us. We counter fired, and two of them died in the crossfire, Monirul Islam said of Tuesdays operation in Dhaka.
Islam identified the slain suspects as Tareq Hossain Milu (alias Osman) and Sultan Mahmud. Both men were involved in the killing of A.F.M. Rezaul Karim Siddique, an English professor at Rajshahi University.
The third JMB operative who was killed by police in Rajshahi was identified as 25-year-old Jamal.
He accompanied the suicide bomber, Tareq Aziz, during the attack on the Ahmadiyya mosque in Bagmara, S.M. Abu Farhad, the officer-in-charge of the Godagari police station in Rajshahi, told BenarNews. Jamal had been hiding since the attack.
Acting on a tip, police tried to arrest Jamal in Godagari.
As we proceeded, his accomplices shot at us to avoid arrest. He died during the gun fight between police and JMB members. The other members managed to flee, he said.
Southeast Asia is facing a gathering storm of terrorism as the Islamic State militant group has recruited sympathizers at a much faster pace than terror mastermind Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, a regional security conference was warned at the weekend.
The warning from Singapore at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual regional security forum hosted by the island state, was followed by a call from Malaysia for a comprehensive plan to defeat IS involving greater cooperation of all parties, including but not limited to the military.
"Destroying it could very well be the greatest challenge of our generation," Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told the meeting Asia's biggest security summit attended by defense ministers and military chiefs from 28 Asia-Pacific countries.
Singapore's Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen told the conference that in the past three years alone, IS has recruited more sympathizers and operatives in Southeast Asia than al-Qaeda did in the last decade, with more than 1,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria.
Terrorists have capitalized on existing smuggling routes to move people and arms in the region that include Southern Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. This gathering storm has the real potential to destabilize this region, if not tackled decisively and together, he said.
Some of the militants transit through Singapore in the hope of eluding authorities by taking multiple hops to their final destinations in the Middle East, he said.
Just three months ago, he said Singapore caught four Indonesian travelers linked to IS while they were on the island and handed them back to Indonesias counter-terrorism police.
Also in November last year, two other Indonesian men who planned to travel to Syria were held, he said.
Allegiances
Ng called for security forces, including militaries of individual countries, to combat terrorism "rigorously."
"The threat will grow if terrorist groups become more organized to mount sophisticated, large-scale attacks with deadlier weapons," he said. "Collectively, we must work closely together to build up joint responses, and strengthen intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance efforts."
About 30 terrorist groups in the region have publicly pledged allegiance to IS, including Abu Sayyaf in Southern Philippines and Jamaah Ansharud Daulah (JAD), which conducted the Jakarta bombing with IS funding.
In Malaysia, 14 suspected IS militants were recently arrested during a four-day operation across five states. Several personnel from the Malaysian Armed Forces, including two commandos, have also been found to have links with the group.
Hishammuddin cautioned that countries combating terrorism should realize that IS was not the usual terrorist group they had been used to dealing with.
"DAESH is not al-Qaeda," he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS. "They differ in their goals but are partly rooted in their histories."
Hishammuddin said that terror organizations like al-Qaeda had only hundreds of active cells, could not directly confront military forces, preyed on civilians and most importantly, did not claim control of territories.
"On the other hand, DAESH asserts control over vast amounts of oil-rich land which has allowed the group to build a self-sustaining financial model, unthinkable for most terrorist groups," he said.
At present, IS boasted more than 31,000 fighters with extensive military capabilities engaging in sophisticated operations while controlling lines of vital communication and commanding infrastructure, he said.
"This is why conventional counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency strategies have not and will never work against DAESH," the Malaysian minister said.
"We need to agree on a comprehensive plan to defeat DAESH and the plan needs to involve greater cooperation of all parties including, but not limited to the military," he said. "Destroying it could very well be the greatest challenge of our generation."
Rivalries
In a report released at the conference, organized by British think tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Singaporean government, IISS said there were growing fears of jihadist violence in Indonesia since IS's January 2016 deadly attack in Jakarta.
Analysts believe that further attacks could be driven by competition between pro-IS groups in the country or between Indonesian IS factions based in Syria, according to the Asia-Pacific Regional Security Assessment 2016: Key Developments and Trends.
"It is also possible that a rivalry will develop between jihadists in Indonesia and those in the southern Philippines, who may seek to curry favor with the central leadership in Syria and to showcase their territory as the potential site of an ISIS wilayat (province) in Southeast Asia," the report said.
It also raised the possibility of IS attacks in Malaysia.
"Activity by Malaysian jihadists has also increased steadily, resulting in speculation that they will soon stage an attack there," it said.
This concern, it said, prompted the Australian, New Zealand and British governments to issue travel warnings in February 2016, naming Kuala Lumpur and the east Malaysian state of Sabah as high-risk areas.
Updated at 10:57 a.m. ET on 2016-06-08
Thailand has effectively eliminated the danger of mothers transmitting HIV and syphilis to their newborns, the Thai Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international public health agencies announced Wednesday.
Thailand is officially certified as free of the transmission of HIV and syphilis from mothers to children, after Thailand became the first Asian country where the national rate of mother-to-child HIV transmission fell below 2 percent last year, officials from those agencies said in a joint news release.
Today, not only Thai children but also children of migrants eligible for healthcare coverage face almost no risk of acquiring the virus from their mothers because of their access to prevention of mother-to-child transmission services, said Thomas Davin, the representative of the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) in Thailand.
This remarkable achievement demonstrates Thailands extraordinary commitment and leadership in responding to the global pandemic, he said. Thailand has set an example that will inspire many other Asian countries in their efforts towards an AIDS and syphilis-free generation.
HIV, or the human immunodeficiency virus, can cause AIDS, a disease that has afflicted Thailand and many other countries for decades. According to WHO, 36.9 million people worldwide were living with HIV/AIDS in 2014, and 1.2 million people died of related illnesses that year.
In Thailand, some 450,000 people were living with HIV/AIDS in 2014, but the HIV infection rate has fallen from 140,000 new cases of infection in 1991 to 7,800 new cases two years ago, Saya Oka, an official with UNAIDS Regional Support Team in Bangkok, told BenarNews.
A WHO global guideline considers the threat of the mother infecting her child with HIV to be effectively eliminated when the rate falls below 2 percent. In Thailand, the rate fell from 10.3 percent in 2003 to 1.91 percent in 2015, said the release issued early Wednesday morning (Bangkok time).
Two decades ago, globally about one out of every three children whose mothers had HIV were born with the virus, said Tatiana Shoumilina, the country director for UNAIDS.
Thailand is the first country in Asia to achieve what was deemed an impossible milestone at that time of freeing infants of HIV as well as syphilis, she said.
Dr. Daniel Kertesz, WHOs representative in Thailand, praised the Government of Thailands exemplary efforts extend not only to Thai citizens, but also to migrant populations residing in Thailand.
Thailand is one of only a few countries that have broadened universal healthcare to include migrant women, making prevention of mother-to-child transmission affordable for everyone, he said.
In Thailand, where there is universal healthcare coverage, services for HIV-infected mothers are entirely integrated into maternal and pediatric programs at hospitals, the release noted.
A challenge remains
WHO, UNICEF, UNAIDS and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were among the international public health agencies that joined Thai health officials in announcing Thailands achievement of the milestone.
The certification was a two-year process in which WHO convened a team of regional and independent health experts to validate that Thailand had met all criteria for eliminating mother-to-child transmission of both HIV and congenital syphilis, the release said.
Thailands success in achieving global WHO targets in eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV and Syphilis belongs to everyone all involved organizations and partners, said Dr. Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn, Thailands Minister of Public Health. It is not only Thai mothers and children who benefit from this, but all who are residing in the Kingdom.
However, a challenge remains: how we make this success sustainable. Well be able to reach that dream through effective leadership and management, as well as strong cross-sectoral collaboration and policy advocacy by the government, Piysakol added.
Soldiers secure the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok before the arrival of bombing suspect Adem Karadag to take part in a reenactment, September 26, 2015.
The courtroom interpreter for two Uyghurs accused in the 2015 Bangkok bombing was released on bail Friday afternoon after being held two days for alleged possession of drugs, sources said Monday.
Police Captain Pongsak Nonthachote, the officer in charge of Srojiddin Bakhadirovs case, told BenarNews that he brought the Uzbek national to Bangkok South Court on Friday to seek an extension of custody pending a court review of the case.
He was given a bailout at 16:00 hours on June 3, an information official at Bangkok South Court told BenarNews by phone. The official did not disclose who had provided the bail money.
But Bakhadirov claimed he was still in police custody when he spoke to Radio Free Asia, a sister entity of BenarNews, at around 9 p.m. Friday.
I am innocent. Ive been jailed for translating for two Uyghurs who are Bangkok shrine bombing suspects, he said at the time, adding that he had been beaten around the waist by police.
A reporter heard him cry out in evident distress before the phone connection was abruptly cut. Repeated attempts to reach him again were not successful.
Police work with transparency
Pongsak denied that police had beaten Bakhadirov.
The police work with transparency and never beat him up. We do our best, he said.
The Uzbek man was arrested June 1 after he allegedly purchased a small amount of crystal meth and marijuana from a drug dealer near Bangkoks Sukhumvit area. He initially faced a charge of possession of narcotics, but Pongsak said the case had not yet been wrapped up.
I asked for custody and now I have 84 days to conclude the case and forward it to the attorney general. I cannot tell you which charges he is facing for now, he told BenarNews.
Bakhadirov could face charges of overstaying his visa as well because immigration clemency extended while he served as court translator would automatically be revoked, according to Chalida Tajaroensuk, director of the Peoples Empowerment Foundation, an NGO which has been assisting Uyghurs in Thailand since 2014.
Chuchart Kanpai, a lawyer for Adem Karadag and Yusufu Mieraili, the defendants in the Erawan Shrine bombing case, told BenarNews he could not locate Bakhadirov.
Police sought his custody on Friday and I heard he got bail, but after that, we dont know where he is, he said.
The two men say they are innocent in the Aug. 17, 2015 bombing that killed 20 people and injured 125 at the popular Hindu shrine. Their lawyer alleged at court in February that Karadag had been tortured into confessing.
The next court hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 23 and 24.
Uyghurs have fled unrest in northwestern Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where hundreds of people have been killed in spates of violence in recent years.
Uyghur exiles and rights groups have criticized Chinese authorities heavy-handed rule in the region including police raids on Uyghur households, restrictions on Islamic practices, and curbs on the culture and language of the Uyghur people which, they say, has forced many to flee overseas, often through Southeast Asia.
Thousands of Muslims conduct the first Tarawih, the night prayer to welcome the month of Ramadan in Istiqlal, Indonesias biggest mosque, in Jakarta, June 5, 2016 [Tia Asmara/BenarNews]
Officers on the roof top of the religious affairs office in Jakarta observe the position of the moon in the western horizon to decide the first day of Ramadan, June 5 2016. [Tia Asmara/BenarNews]
Thai Muslims wait for the moon to rise in southern Yala province, June 5, 2016. [Benar News]
People assemble at the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi, India, to offer prayers on the eve of Ramadan, June 5, 2016. [Kshitij Nagar/ Benar News]
A man washes in the Wudu tank of the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi, India, June 5, 2016. [Kshitij Nagar/ Benar News]
Indian men offer evening prayers inside the main complex of the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi, June 5, 2016. [Kshitij Nagar/ Benar News]
Tarabi prayers begin at the national mosque, Baitul Mukarram, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, June 6, 2016. [Focus Bangla]
A man picks out dates from a shop outside Delhis Jama Masjid as the city gets for Ramadan, June 5, 2016. [Kshitij Nagar/ Benar News]
Cucumbers, carrots and lemons are the most popular vegetables to serve after fasting ends being sold at Chowk Bazaar in Dhaka, Bangladesh, June 7, 2016. [Focus Bangla]
A man tries on a prayer cap at a shop outside the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi, June 5, 2016. [Kshitij Nagar/ Benar News]
A Malaysian family eats supper after Tarawih prayers, June 5, 2016. [Amir Hadi Azmi/BenarNews]
Muslims in Narathiwat, Thailand, shop for food to serve after fasting ends, June 5, 2016. [BenarNews]
A seller prepares roti boom at a Ramadhan bazaar in Kuala Lumpur, June 5, 2016. [Amir Hadi Azmi BenarNews]
ein Google-Unternehmen
Google-Dienste anzubieten und zu betreiben
Ausfalle zu prufen und Manahmen gegen Spam, Betrug und Missbrauch zu ergreifen
Daten zu Zielgruppeninteraktionen und Websitestatistiken zu erheben. Mit den gewonnenen Informationen mochten wir verstehen, wie unsere Dienste verwendet werden, und die Qualitat dieser Dienste verbessern.
neue Dienste zu entwickeln und zu verbessern
Werbung auszuliefern und ihre Wirkung zu messen
personalisierte Inhalte anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen
personalisierte Werbung anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen
Wenn Sie Alle ablehnen auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies nicht fur diese zusatzlichen Zwecke.
Nicht personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung werden u. a. von Inhalten, die Sie sich gerade ansehen, und Ihrem Standort beeinflusst (welche Werbung Sie sehen, basiert auf Ihrem ungefahren Standort). Personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung konnen auch Videoempfehlungen, eine individuelle YouTube-Startseite und individuelle Werbung enthalten, die auf fruheren Aktivitaten wie auf YouTube angesehenen Videos und Suchanfragen auf YouTube beruhen. Sofern relevant, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auerdem, um Inhalte und Werbung altersgerecht zu gestalten.
Wir verwenden Cookies und Daten, umWenn Sie Alle akzeptieren auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auch, umWahlen Sie Weitere Optionen aus, um sich zusatzliche Informationen anzusehen, einschlielich Details zum Verwalten Ihrer Datenschutzeinstellungen. Sie konnen auch jederzeit g.co/privacytools besuchen.
The Bible has been under attack in the western world for over 200 years but never more intensely than today. These attacks have taken different forms and have come from many different corners of the academic world, from philosophers, to scientists, to textual critics. In the specialized world of archaeology the attacks have increased dramatically in the past 50 years. Once a specialization filled with Bible believing individuals, the field of archaeology is now overrun with atheists and skeptics, agnostics and those committed to the destruction of the Bible as a source of true historical information.
These attacks on the Bible are a part of a sweeping movement in western culture. Spearheaded by academic elitists in the university and the public educational system, the news and popular media, and the entertainment industry, these revisionists cloak themselves with supposed objectivity, purity of motives, and the superiority of science over the "uninformed", "unscientific", religious community.
They regularly mock those who question their world-view and their conclusions by name-calling and the worst forms of anti-Bible and anti-Christian propaganda. They have powerfully infected the church by turning Bible believing Christians against the very Scripture which is the foundation of truth and life in this world. Instead of contending for the Bible, Christian academics, pastors, and lay-persons are making egregious accommodations to these destroyers of faith and truth.
In these days of intense spiritual battle, God has called ABR to step into the gap to contend for the truth and to assist the church in this critical hour. ABR is a non-profit ministry dedicated to demonstrating the historical reliability of the Bible and to give answers to questions being asked by believers and non-believers alike. We do this by using original archaeological fieldwork and research along with studies in other apologetic disciplines. We take on the bold claims of skeptics and critics. We challenge the bizarre anti-biblical propaganda that is purveyed upon the public as gospel through television and print media. We uphold the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is God's message for the salvation of all mankind!
First up, Joe Biden is thinking about dropping tariffs against China. But theres a spy in prison this morning that helps us understand why he shouldnt. Ill explain.
Your second brief, If youre looking for a good paying job, you might consider being a CEO for a health insurance company. One executive made $142M dollars last year. Let's talk about that.
And as always, Im keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put this one on your radar. Mexican cartels are grooming American kids online and paying them cash to traffic illegals or run drugs across the border. Ill share details.
If you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief, remember to subscribe and listen daily at podfollow.com/pdb.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For Immediate Release, June 7, 2016 Contact: Cheryl Ann Bishop, International Dark-Sky Association, (520) 293-3198 x408, cherylann@darksky.org
Katie Davis, Center for Biological Diversity, (801) 560-2414, kdavis@biologicaldiversity.org
Sarah Ponticello, Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument Coalition, (831) 998-2585, info@gcwatershed.org
Kelly Burke, Wildlands Network, (928) 606-7870, kburke@grandcanyonwildlands.org International Dark Sky Designation Illuminates Need for
Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument Preserving Public Land Around Americas Most Iconic National Park
Necessary to Protect Grand Canyons Night Skies and Wildlife TUCSON, Ariz. Sundays announcement designating Grand Canyon National Park an International Dark-Sky Park further highlights the urgent need to protect the public lands immediately adjacent to the park, a coalition supporting the Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument said today. Image of the night sky shows area of the proposed Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument relative to light pollution from cities such as Phoenix and Las Vegas. Map by Curtis Bradley, Center for Biological Diversity. This map is available for media use. The International Dark-Sky Association, which also pledged its support for the proposed national monument, announced the designation at a celebratory event during the annual Grand Canyon Star Party that attracts thousands to gaze at the world-renowned dark, starry skies. The designation comes after years of efforts by the Grand Canyon Association and the National Park Service, which has made a commitment to protect national dark sky resources that are increasingly threatened by light pollution within the continental United States. The IDA accreditation of Grand Canyon National Park is a game-changer for the management of public lands on the Colorado Plateau, said IDA Executive Director J. Scott Feierabend. Not only does Dark Sky Park status reflect the correct balance between visitation and conservation in the national park, it also clearly underscores the role of surrounding lands in preserving the Grand Canyons naturally dark nighttime environment. The proposed Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument includes 1.7 million acres in the North Kaibab and Tusayan Ranger Districts of the Kaibab National Forest and lands along the Arizona Strip. The proposal is supported by 80 percent of Arizona voters, tribal nations and communities of Arizona, numerous conservation organizations, the International Dark-Sky Association, local businesses and elected representatives. The public lands of the greater Grand Canyon region serve as a natural buffer to increasing human development, preventing light pollution from reaching the park, said Sarah Ponticello, Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument campaign representative. Through the designation of the Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument we can ensure that buffer is maintained and that visitors now and in the future have a chance to gaze in awe toward the canyons night skies. Due to the spread of light pollution, a majority of people around the world no longer experiences dark, starry skies. Both humans and animals evolved with Earths predictable rhythm of day and night. The widespread use of outdoor light at night, which has occurred relatively recently, has radically disrupted this cycle by lighting up the night. This significant and rapid change has detrimental effects on wildlife, disrupting key survival behaviors, such as breeding, navigation and foraging strategies. To protect wildlife, we must protect wild places and the dark skies that stretch above them, said Katie Davis of the Center for Biological Diversity. Given the increasing pace at which were losing our open spaces to human development and our night skies to light pollution, preserving the public lands and dark skies of the greater Grand Canyon region through the designation of a national monument is critically important for wildlife conservation. Light from cities stretches far beyond their limits and can adversely impact distant lands. For example, light over Las Vegas is visible from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, some 275 kilometers (170 miles) away. Limiting local development by establishing a buffer around the national park is the best way to reduce the impact of artificial light at night on the Grand Canyon, and to keep its night skies dark for the benefit of future visitors. It would also protect crucial habitat for endangered California condors, numerous bat species and keystone species such as mule deer and mountain lion that all evolved in a world with pristine dark skies. A historic wildlife corridor stretches across the greater Grand Canyon region and for centuries animals have moved across this landscape at night, said Greg Costello, executive director of Wildlands Network. To protect migration pathways and offer species the best chance to survive in the face of climate change, we must look beyond the borders of Grand Canyon National Park and preserve the surrounding dark skies and the unbroken landscapes through the designation of the Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument. In receiving IDA Dark Sky Park status, Grand Canyon National Park joins the adjacent Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, which was designated in 2014. Background
The Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument proposal is the culmination of more than a decade of efforts by local Arizona communities to protect the culture and environment of the greater Grand Canyon region. It represents a clear path toward more inclusive and ecologically sound management of Americas public lands surrounding Grand Canyon National Park. The designation will make the currently 20-year ban on new uranium mining permanent, protect important Native American cultural and architectural history and preserve the last old-growth forest in the region. In November Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), ranking member of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, introduced legislation that provides the framework for this national monument proposal. Support for the proposal also comes from local tribal nations and communities, local elected officials, and a broad range of recreation, business and conservation interests across the state. The legislation includes language instructing the new national monument to incorporate the conservation of dark skies and natural darkness into the monuments master management plan, a first for any national monument or park. In light of congressional inaction, these groups, along with people across the country, have called on President Obama use his authority under the Antiquities Act to designate this national monument. This action will protect the greater Grand Canyon region from light pollution, toxic uranium mining and to ensure a sustainable future for the people of northern Arizona. Read more about IDAs Grand Canyon National Park dark-sky designation. Download a fact sheet on why dark skies matter. Read more about the Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument campaign.
Curetis N.V., a developer of molecular diagnostic solutions, and Axon Lab AG, a service company focusing on medical diagnostics, life science and software solutions for the healthcare sector, announced the signing of an exclusive, three-year distribution agreement for Curetis' Unyvero products in Central and Eastern European countries, including Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. The agreement also includes contractual minimum purchase commitments by Axonlab. Through the partnership, Curetis expands its distribution network by four additional countries and transfers the commercialization responsibilities for one of its former direct selling territories (Austria) to Axonlab.
The agreement is part of Curetis' expanded commercial effort in Western Europe and allows the companies to leverage Curetis' existing installed base in Austria, with Axonlab acquiring multiple commercially installed Unyvero Systems for cash up-front. Axonlab will deploy a core team of several dedicated molecular diagnostics commercial representatives covering these markets. This deployment structure will ensure optimal resource allocation for Curetis in the region. Axonlab has dedicated microbiology and molecular diagnostics franchises and direct offices in each of the countries covered under the agreement, and it is well positioned to accelerate the commercial launch of Unyvero in the CEE markets.
Curetis will continue its direct sales programs in its home market of Germany, as well as in Switzerland, the UK, France and the Benelux region.
"We are excited to partner with Curetis for the commercial distribution of the Unyvero Platform with all of its current and future Application Cartridges in several of our core markets in Europe," said Guido Mueller, General Manager Austria of Axonlab. "We believe that Unyvero offers unique and differentiated syndromic panels to our customers in hospitals and microbiology laboratories. This collaboration is expected to be another driver for our future growth here at Axonlab in the years ahead." Dr. Achim Plum, Chief Commercial Officer of Curetis N.V., added, "This strategic commercial distribution agreement for multiple markets in Central and Eastern Europe makes perfect business sense for Curetis. We expect that the Axonlab partnership will allow us to accelerate the commercial roll-out of Unyvero products in smaller markets, such as Austria, while adding several new markets to our distribution portfolio. Moreover, the agreement allows us to focus our direct commercial efforts on the largest Western European markets, such as the UK, France, Benelux and Germany as well as Switzerland, to drive our growth. We currently have a presence in more than thirty countries, either directly or through our ten distribution partners. We plan to continue expanding this worldwide network through the addition of new commercial partners."
This week, the cabinet could approve policy recommendations that would lead to the disappearance of marketing of alcoholic beverages from primetime slots on TV.
The proposal, contained in the draft liquor policy paper, seeks to give Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies more power to set restrictions and parameters for the advertising and marketing of liquor on TV, such as a recommendation to shrink the time when ads may be flighted to between 10pm and 6am, after prime time.
Cabinet spokesman Donald Liphoko confirmed that the document would be discussed this week.
Liquor industry players such as SABMiller, Diageo and Distell stand to lose presence on some of South Africa's most watched shows, such as Generations on SABC.
Kurt Moore, CEO of the South African Liquor Brand Owners Association, said the association heard about the recommendation to cut the window for liquor ads "via the grapevine" after the Department of Trade and Industry failed to notify the liquor industry following a public consultation process last year.
Image via Pixabay
Moore said that while the government was not obligated to undertake further consultation after it had heard the industry's initial comments, "the real issue is, if the revised proposal is so fundamentally different from what was initially proposed, surely we should be afforded an opportunity to give some input on that".
Currently, broadcasters may air liquor ads from 5pm.
Liquor industry heavyweights SABMiller and Distell referred queries to Moore. Diageo did not respond.
For now it is unclear whether the recommendation will lead to revenue loss for the liquor industry.
Moore said the latest independent study, by Cochrane Collaboration in 2014, found no scientific evidence to back up a claim that marketing causes increased consumption of alcohol.
Advertising was used to win market share among different brands, he said. "The impact will therefore be to stifle competition among various brands and competitors as well as potentially disadvantage new entrants into the market," he said.
But broadcast stations could lose revenue.
Moore said research showed that shifting the time that liquor ads could be played to later would have the most serious impact on the SABC.
The public broadcaster's most appealing programmes are its soapies, aired between 6pm and 8pm. After this some viewers switch to pay-TV channels. "So, if you moved it to 8pm, never mind 10pm [liquor producers] would not get any alcohol advertising and by our estimates [the public broadcaster] would lose [a significant value] of advertising from the industry," he said.
He said the liquor industry had proposed a restriction on alcohol ads until 7pm.
No SABC spokesman could be reached and e.tv declined to comment.
The draft policy has shifted over time from initial calls by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi for an outright ban on alcohol advertising. Following an outcry, the Department of Trade and Industry tabled a milder version of the policy.
Motsoaledi's department was tasked with conducting an impact assessment. This was submitted to parliament but never made public.
A 2013 study by Econometrix found that an initial proposal by the health ministry to ban liquor advertising would have cost TV broadcasters R1.3bn and radio R150m according to industry adspend in 2012.
The latest version of the policy also proposes raising the minimum drinking age from 18 to 21 and that liquor companies may no longer use sport stars and models to make their products more appealing to youngsters.
It also makes provision for liquor manufacturers and suppliers to be held liable for damage resulting from sales to illegal traders if there is no proof that they tried to prevent the supply. Retailers would be liable if they sell to drunk patrons and the result is damage to property near the retail outlet.
Source: Business Times
Medical circumcision is on the rise as more men seek to minimise the risk of contracting HIV, STDs and other urinary infections.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says there is compelling evidence that male circumcision reduces the risk of heterosexually-acquired HIV infection by about 60% and recommends this procedure for HIV prevention.
In addition, 10m men sought voluntary medical circumcision in sub-Saharan Africa over the last five years.
The Urology Hospital in Pretoria, Africas only specialist urology institution, notes that the number of circumcisions there have increased by 42% since 2012. This is largely due to the fact that more people are becoming aware of the health advantages of circumcision, notably in HIV prevention, said the hospitals Dr Odion Aire.
In some African communities, circumcision at initiation schools is a rite of passage to manhood and is sometimes characterised by medical complications. In the Eastern Cape, for example, an average of 50 deaths were reported a year since 2012 due to botched circumcisions.
In SA where almost 18% of the population is living with HIV, the governments National Strategic Plan on HIV, STIs and TB includes promoting male circumcision to decrease HIV infections.
The Department of State Security had downplayed warnings of an increased likelihood of Islamic terrorist attacks in South Africa issued by the US, UK and Australian governments.
As a result of the warnings major malls in Johannesburg and Cape Town have upped their security and say they are consulting closely with the police and State Security.
The Muslim Judicial Council has warned that the increased security could strain relations between Muslims and others. It has urged US authorities to "back up" their claims.
Euro 2016 terror blitz 'thwarted'
On Saturday the US diplomatic mission to South Africa cautioned that Islamic State had called on its followers to carry out terror attacks during Ramadan. It warned that shopping malls in Cape Town and Johannesburg that were frequented by US citizens would be the likely targets.
The response of South Africans to the warnings has been mixed. A straw poll of Times Live readers yesterday found that 39.14% would avoid malls and tourist attractions. The rest said they were "not worried".
'Terror alerts must be taken seriously' - expert
Australia warns citizens in South Africa after US terror alert
No need to fear terror attack in South Africa: State Security Minister
Britain warns of possible terrorist attacks in South Africa
Travel and tourist industry representatives refused to comment, but one source said he was "aware of US tourists who had cancelled trips to South Africa".
Cynthia Harvey, a spokesman for the US embassy in Pretoria, would not divulge how Americans in South Africa had reacted to the terror alert.
"Protection of US citizens overseas is among our top priorities. When we receive specific, credible, non-counterable threat information, it is our worldwide policy for US embassies and consulates to share the information. We are co-operating with local authorities, as we do in any investigation into terrorist threats around the world," said Harvey.
UK high commission spokesman Isabel Potgieter said: "When we updated our travel advice for our citizens for South Africa on May20 we issued advice that there is a high threat of terrorism in the country."
But she said Britons had not been advised against travelling to South Africa.
"The issuing of travel advisories is done regularly. It is objective and is part of our consular responsibility towards British nationals, not only in South Africa but globally."
Australian officials issued a "high degree of caution" warning to their citizens on Saturday after the US's terror alert was issued.
State Security Minister David Mahlobo said: "We remain a strong and stable democratic country and there is no immediate danger posed by the alerts."
But some security experts have questioned South Africa's ability to deal with such a threat.
Unisa criminologist Rudolph Zinn said it was impossible to guarantee against a terror attack.
"The people who commit such offences are well-organised and set up in a country some time before such attacks take place.
"Unfortunately, because of the complete disarray of the police crime intelligence structures, our ability to detect and deal with such crime intelligence would most probably have been compromised," said Zinn.
Martin Ewi, senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, had the opposite view, saying South Africa had good co-operation with US authorities.
"Our security officials should be able to prevent any of the potential attacks," said Ewi.
"South Africa has some of the best-trained counter-terrorism officers."
Mahlobo's assurances came as cold comfort for the Muslim Judicial Council. The council's spokesman, Nabeweya Malick, said the alerts were an injustice to certain religious groups in South Africa and placed the Muslim community in a difficult position.
"Far too many times people have lost their lives because of such and other claims. The US needs to back up its claims with evidence," said Malick.
She said the council strongly condemned IS and its call for attacks during Ramadan, when millions of Muslims around the world fast from sunrise to sunset for a month.
"[IS] does not represent Islam or the global Muslim community," said Malick. Political analyst Keith Gottschalk said the announcements have triggered some public anxiety. "In a place like the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, tourists can't be subjected to the airport-type search of all their luggage and themselves. So there is always a level of risk," said Gottschalk.
In a departure from its usual security focus, Trellidor, which recently listed on the JSE, will also enter the home improvement market.
The group said on Monday it would be buying a 92.5% share in Taylor Blinds and Shutters, and NMC Decorative Mouldings for a total of R150m.
The company, which sells barrier security products in SA and elsewhere in Africa, says the deal with seller Odyssey House, advances its strategic objectives of diversifying and expanding its product range and distribution network. The purchase will be through a subsidiary, Subco.
Taylor Blinds specialises in designing, manufacturing, marketing, distributing and servicing a wide range of blinds, shutters and security doors in the South African market.
NMC distributes imported decorative mouldings.
"The Taylor Blinds product range including its Shutterguard range, enjoys strong market share, particularly in Gauteng and the Western Cape," Trellidor said.
The group said the new businesses provide Trellidor with strong brands, strong management and a strong distribution network for the development of home improvement markets that are distinct from Trellidors own markets.
The deal should be finalised by the end of June. It will be settled in two tranches. The first tranche involves an "effective cash payment" of R121m, as well as the assumption by Subco of certain liabilities.
The second tranche will involve an effective cash payment of up to nearly R28m. The second tranche will be paid in cash by no later than the 10th business day, following the finalisation or audit of Subcos financial statements for the 12 months ending April 2017.
It will be subject to the business achieving profit after tax of at least R33m for the 2017 financial period. Should the actual sustainable profit after tax and before cost of debt be less than this, the second tranche will effectively be reduced in proportion to Trellidors shareholding in Subco by R5.50 for each rand of shortfall.
KFC will shut its 12 outlets in Botswana next week as they are no longer viable, closing its doors after operating in the southern African nation for 20 years, its owners said on Friday.
Photographer: Michael EttershankImage source: BDlive
Botswanas economy has been hurt by a commodities downturn and a drought, which has put thousands of jobs at risk.
Proprietors of the Botswana KFC franchise, VPB Propco, said in a statement KFC Botswana will cease operating next week, with all stores closed by June 5.
KFC has restaurants in 14 countries in Africa.
Reuters
Large areas of tropical forest worldwide are used for selective logging which requires extensive road networks to access trees harvested for timber. It is well documented that building roads into intact forest can have consequences for forest ecosystems. This is because they lead to fragmentation and facilitate access for people which can lead to long-term forest degradation or deforestation.
Roads built for logging in the Congo Basin have implications for forest management. Fritz Kleinschroth
We conducted a study of roads in forests in Central Africa over a period of 30 years. We studied an area of 108 000 km2, which is larger than Sierra Leone. We made some startling findings. The main one is that the vast majority of roads are transient and in fact provide better habitats for the recovery of diverse species of trees than adjacent logged forests. But we also learnt that the recovery of biomass the total weight of the living trees, which contains their stocks of carbon on abandoned roads was slow.
These findings provide important evidence for the long-term management of logging road networks in tropical forests. They show that it is important to close roads from further vehicle use after the end of logging operations, but it is a good plan to re-open these same roads for use when the next phase of logging takes place in each area of forest. Our results also show the excellent potential to use the land cleared alongside roads to grow the next crop of timber trees.
Conversion of tropical forests to agricultural crops, like oil palm in Southeast Asia and soya bean in the Amazon, has been the main source of environmental concern elsewhere in the tropics but in the Congo Basin, the main focus has been on selective logging of forests for timber. Back in 2007 Nadine Laporte and colleagues reported that more than 600 000 km2 (30%) of forest in Central Africa had been allocated by governments as concessions for logging.
Recently there has been a trend towards the application of certification standards to improve the environmental performance of these operations. But there have still been many scientific reports about their negative effects on forest wildlife, including primates and birds, through habitat disturbance or increased poaching. The logging roads used to extract timber are often a major focus of this conservation concern.
Logging roads in the Congo Basin
Our recently published paper reports on the fate of roads built for selective logging in the Congo Basin and discusses the implications for forest management. A remote sensing analysis covering an area of more than 100 000 km2 over a time span of 30 years enabled long-term monitoring of roads from the time they were built until they disappeared.
These observations showed that only 12% of the road network has been permanently open. The remaining 88% was abandoned within a few years of timber harvesting. Changes in the satellite images over time clearly indicated the moment when the road surface was fully covered by vegetation.
But how is this vegetation characterised in terms of structure and diversity? How long do different groups of species dominate after road abandonment and how fast is the recovery of biomass?
To answer these questions, an extensive field study was carried out in eastern Cameroon and northern Republic of Congo, covering the full temporal sequence of roads abandoned over the last 30 years.
Fritz Kleinschroth
Fast recovery
The results show that less than 1% of the forest cover has been cleared for road construction to extract timber. Roads abandoned over the last 30 years showed a continuous trajectory of forest regeneration. Tree species diversity, canopy cover, the litter layer and herb composition converged with those in the surrounding logged forests. Trees of commercial species generally showed even higher rates of regeneration on road tracks and edges than in the forest, as they benefit from the high light levels due to a lack of canopy shade.
These results do not mean that there is no long-term negative impact of roads on forest vegetation. But in the study area, they are less than people would have expected. The slowest measured recovery was in the accumulation of tree biomass on road tracks. This is projected to take hundreds of years to reach the same level of carbon storage as old-growth forests, which means that building logging roads causes an increase in carbon emissions and their global warming potential that will take a very long time to recover.
After some time the understorey of vegetation regrowing on roads becomes dominated by herbs. This impedes further tree regeneration, just as in the adjacent logged forests in this part of the Congo Basin. Unregulated hunting also remains a problem. During the early years after abandonment poachers can hardly be stopped from using logging roads. But over time vegetation recovery makes it more difficult for motorised hunters to use abandoned logging roads.
Should abandoned logging roads be reopened?
Reducing the long-term impact of logging roads on forest ecosystems is an important element of sustainable forest management. Their demonstrated habitat potential could make road edges suitable places for growing a future crop of timber trees either by planting seedlings or tending those that regenerate naturally from seed what the foresters call silviculture. At the same time, the effective closure of roads after logging operations remains crucial to avoid threats to the forest ecosystem, especially through hunting.
But logging operations are typically repeated in the same area every 30 years, which leads to the question: what happens to old roads if the same forest area is logged more than once? Surprisingly, of all the roads in such areas, only one third have been reopened. All the other new roads were built next to the historic network. The first cut is the deepest - this remains true for roads built into intact forests.
Given the findings of slow biomass recovery, our studies conclude that more old logging roads should be reopened to avoid creating new ones.
The drought that hit different parts of South Africa might have left a lot of farmers devastated. But Macadamia farmers in Mpumalanga are looking forward to raking in huge profits this harvesting season, thanks to an increased demand from United States and China markets amid current economic conditions.
josephhill via pixabay
With the harvesting season in full swing, more nuts are being brought into factories for processing.
Products are exported to the US and China
Valley Macadamias Group's Alan Sutton says, This year, its been a difficult year agriculturally for the farmers because the drought has obviously reduced the yields and affected the size and proportions of the nuts. But market conditions are looking pretty good with regards to the exchange rate; the rand/dollar exchange is in favour of farmers and the market conditions overseas are very good because the demand for the produce is high.
A kilogram of macadamia nuts sold at about five dollars this year, thats over R75 in local currency. It was less than that the previous year. Buyers are, however, insisting on quality nuts.
Sutton says, "The emphasis is on the farmer to produce a better quality nut, which can be exported into the market, of which they will be prepared to pay for it. But obviously, they are not going to pay for rubbish. They want quality.
Read the full article on Agri Portal Africa.
Quality management can make all the difference to how well a company copes in tough times; after all, people do not leave bad companies, they leave bad managers.
Stephen Asbury, CEO of Frontera consultancy, says a manager's success depends on the team's success. "Your career will flourish as your team flourishes."
He has the following advice on how to be a better, or even a super, manager:
Know why you work. Of course you need to earn money, but many studies have shown that feeling that you are making a difference and getting some acknowledgement helps us to enjoy our work more. "Acknowledgement, autonomy, achievement and a sense of accomplishment are powerful satisfactions. Recognition builds confidence and self-esteem. Career advancement, personal growth and healthy relationships at work are all key ingredients to a fulfilling life at work."
Recognise that each member of your team thrives on their own mix of factors. "If you want your team to fly, you need to do whatever is in your power to satisfy each person's unique set of motivations."
Make sure everyone knows what they are required to do. Do not assume they do. Then hold them accountable for that job.
Provide fair, regular feedback. A daily "well done" or "a little more effort" can help keep employees engaged in their work.
Have regular meetings, but keep them short and productive.
Address disagreements between team members - or with you - as they happen so they are not able to fester. "Try to resolve conflicts in a straightforward way that doesn't demoralise."
Source: Business Times
A proposal to develop Pedi as an academic language, and the introduction of African studies as a major subject next year, are just two ways in which universities are tackling transformation.
Mike-Prins via Wikimedia Commons - Administrative building University of Pretoria
Transformation at universities came under the spotlight in March with the rise of the #RhodesMustFall movement, which called for the "decolonisation" of education.
Since last year's student uprisings, the University of Pretoria has set up an independent panel to focus on language policy, curriculum transformation and institutional and residential culture. Among the proposals being considered is that the University of Pretoria develop Pedi as an academic language.
Spokesman Anna-Retha Bouwer said recommendations would be submitted to the university's senate and council. "Transformation is a sensitive issue and the university has consulted all interested stakeholders throughout the process.
"We want to be as inclusive as possible, given the emotive nature of this issue," said Bouwer.
The university is also reviewing its sexual harassment and gender discrimination policies.
Renaming of buildings
Wits University has allocated R45-million to diversification through strategies that include curriculum reform and renaming buildings. Wits' naming committee, following several submissions, agreed to the renaming of Senate House to Solomon Mahlangu House. Other submissions have been made to rename another building after PAC leader Robert Sobukwe.
A team set up by the University of Cape Town completed its audit of building names and has turned its attention to Jameson Hall - a building that students have demanded be renamed - and four other buildings.
The University's humanities faculty will establish African studies as a major subject for undergraduates next year.
A team established by Stellenbosch University will soon present its recommendations on correcting "deep-seated attitudes and practices" and the "rape culture" said to exist on campus to management.
Source: The Times
Located on the Groot Constantia Wine Estate, the Constantia Valley Tourism office expects to meet and greet thousands of visitors every year. The opening of the office will help promote the region to all visitors while providing a central point to gather resources and information about local services and events.
MARIA LUISA LOPEZ ESTIVILL via 123RF
It is expected that the tourism centre will become a meeting place for all the businesses, services, and amenities in the region.
The Constantia Valley is a lush destination and popular with visitors throughout the whole year, and particularly in the summer months. Aside from boasting a magnificent award winning Wine Route consisting of Steenberg Vineyards, Constantia Uitsig, Klein Constantia, Buitenverwachting, Groot Constantia, Eagles Nest Vineyards, Constantia Glen, Beau Constantia and Silvermist Vineyards, the restaurants and accommodations are some of the best that Cape Town has to offer. The Constantia Valley is also home to two of the Eat Out Restaurant Awards top ten restaurants in South Africa; Chef Scot Kirtons world famous La Colombe and The Greenhouse at The Cellars Hohenort Hotel.
The news that a tourism office has opened has created a lot of enthusiasm amongst the locals in the industry, and it certainly is a great boost for the region. Located only 20 minutes from the city centre and central to the False Bay and Hout Bay coastline, the Constantia Valley is the ideal destination to be based whether you are in Cape Town for business or leisure.
Marketing manager of Groot Constantia Grant Newton explained that As one of Cape Towns Big 7 and being the most visited tourist attraction in Constantia, now welcoming close to 500,000 visitors annually, we just feel the timing couldnt be better. We are constantly striving to meet the demands of a new kind of traveler and the official Constantia Valley Tourism office opening on our Estate seemed like a natural progression. Constantia Valley Tourism is also a proud member of Cape Town Tourism.
SAN FRANCISCO: Amazon 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 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 sync 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.
Source: AFP
Uber is returning to its old pricing model on Monday after cutting prices by 20% earlier this year. In April, the ride-booking service cut its prices by 20% in SA in an attempt to mitigate expected lower demand from passengers in the winter months.
Source: IOL - Police block metered taxi drivers from protesting against Uber cab drivers outside Cape Town airport. Picture: Michael Walker/INLSA
The company confirmed that the price per kilometre was back at R7.50 from the reduced rate of R6 in Cape Town, Durban, and Gauteng (Johannesburg and Pretoria).
In April, Alon Lits, the general manager for Uber in Sub-Saharan Africa, said that during the winter months, riders tended to venture out less, which would affect drivers. The price cut was intended to stimulate demand from passengers. The company at the time said it was confident that the lower prices would not be negative for their revenue, stressing that this would increase the amount of rides as more people would be willing to use the service. The company added that lowering the price in other markets had resulted in increased demand in cities like Istanbul.
But drivers have been up in arms over the price cuts. Earlier this year at the company's headquarters in Cape Town about 200 Uber drivers protested against the plan to slash fares.
In a statement on Monday, Uber said that the system only worked when it was working well for riders and driver-partners. The company said that they had payment guarantees in place to ensure that the experiment would not affect driver-partner earnings.
"We promised that if reduced fares didn't make sense for driver-partners in the long term, we would go back to our original fares," Uber said. The company said that at 10am on Monday fares would return to their pre-experiment levels.
Uber has faced a number of hurdles since entering SA in 2013. Metered taxi drivers have protested in the Western Cape and Gauteng, claiming that Uber drivers have an unfair competitive advantage due to a lack of regulation for the service, which was dubbed a "market disrupter".
On Friday, meter taxi drivers closed the road to Cape Town International Airport and forced passengers out of Uber cars. Amid fears of violent attacks and the burning of their vehicles, Uber drivers reacted by going offline.
With Bekezela Phakathi
Source: BDpro
Siemens has embarked on a new brand campaign to illustrate how the company is making a sustainable difference to the world and in particular South African society in the fields of energy, manufacturing and infrastructure development.
It is opportune, as one of the reasons given by S&P last week to maintain South Africas investment grade rating was due to energy sector improvements.
Keshin Govender, head of communications and government affairs at Siemens, says, Ingenuity for Life is reflective of whats been part of our DNA since our first project in Cape Town in 1860. Summed up, it stands for engineering, genius and innovation. It is premised on four key brand elements: Know how, innovation, reliability and responsibility. In a nutshell, Ingenuity for Life will enable us to sharpen the Siemens brand and position and crystallize what we stand for.
The campaign is rolling out globally, but is firmly rooted in the local context.
What matters to South Africa now, is to step away from the inequality and uneven development of the past and to develop new infrastructure as a catalyst for industrial opportunities and for the development of a skilled workforce. We believe these challenges are an opportunity for progress and technology with a purpose can carry society forward.
Some of the key sectors the company has identified as part of its business strategy in South Africa are directly aligned to the governments National Development Plan (NDP). The campaign outlines Siemens' capability to transform industries and sectors, by providing innovative technology to harness the countrys natural and renewable energy resources that will result in improved power generation, reduce the environmental impact and protect the countrys aquaculture and maritime borders, ultimately improving quality of life and supporting South Africas economic diversification.
A key message of the campaign is that Siemens is not simply a business-to-business or business-to-consumer company. Rather, it is a business-to-society company that has a long term relationship with South Africa and is fully invested in the country and its people.
The timing of the campaign is opportune in that South Africa is on the brink of an energy renaissance brought about in large part by locally engineered solutions, which could catalyse the re-industrialisation of the economy and trigger growth on an unprecedented scale.
The campaign launched locally to staff earlier this year. Last week saw the launch of the campaign to South African external stakeholders through integrated communications activities comprising traditional and digital advertising, social media, OOH billboards, traditional and influencer public relations, customer events and tradeshows.
Siemens digital drive will be supported by a revamped website, which will showcase reference cases and stories illustrating how Siemens technology impacts traditional B2B vertical markets and its downstream impact on society in a more engaging manner. The online hub also plays a key role in supporting Siemens business impact activities in that it will enable the company to respond to the changes in information and orientation patterns of its target groups.
Ingenuity for Life represents the next chapter in Siemens South African story. Locally, Siemens has had a presence in the country for over 155 years and has been proudly involved with some of the most notable landmark projects that have affected countless lives.
BRUSSELS: European governments are turning a blind eye to over-polluting cars, an NGO report said on Monday, nine months after a scandal exposed emission test cheating by Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker.
Anti-air pollution lobby Transport & Environment released its scathing report one day before the EU's 28 transport ministers meet in Luxembourg to discuss the fallout from the Volkswagen crisis. Volkswagen in September admitted that it had illegally fitted special devices in 11 million diesel cars that allowed them to pass pollution tests they would have otherwise failed.
Subsequent tests on other European brands under real-driving conditions found pollution levels much higher than those turned up by national regulators in laboratories, indicating possible wrong-doing. Brussels-based T&E urged governments to act on the evidence and said that ongoing probes in France and Germany fell short.
The report, titled the 'dirty 30', identified the highest polluting cars on Europe's roads and pinpointed the national regulator that approved the vehicle. The report specifically accused national regulators of ignoring evidence of over-pollution to protect their domestic industry. "Carmakers are choosing to play at home with a biased referee, guaranteeing that they win but their cars pollute and people die," said Greg Archer, director of clean vehicles at T&E.
"What else than a 'dieselgate' do you expect when Germany approved Mercedes, France Renault, the UK Jaguar and Italy Fiat?," he added. As examples, the report said Britain approved for sale nine of the 'Dirty 30' vehicles, including a Jaguar, a Range Rover, and three British-made Nissan, Toyota and Honda models. The report said France and Germany each approved seven vehicles, all manufactured by their respective national industries.
Under current EU law, each car manufacturer wins approval through a national regulator that allows it to sell the vehicles Europe-wide. The accusation by T&E comes despite moves to take a closer look at Europe's auto giants. Germany in April said that 16 major car brands - ranging from France's Renault to Italy's Fiat to Japan's Nissan - showed up irregularities in their tests.
In France, the anti-fraud squad also in April raided the premises of French auto giant PSA Group, the maker of Peugeot and Citroen cars as part of a probe into emissions.
Source: AFP
Carat has announced that it will be sponsoring a bursary for an online digital course from Circus Street worth about R5,000 for the Media Owner Rising Star at the 2016 MOST Awards.
Carat believes in redefining media and for the second year we shall be partnering with the Most Awards, through the sponsorship of the Media Owner Rising Star, as he or she will also be redefining media and redefining our future talent for the media industry, says Celia Collins, MD: Carat Johannesburg South Africa.
This generous offer is not only a wonderful incentive to get potential media owner rising stars to really shine, but it equips the winner with invaluable skills to further enhance his or her position of leadership within the media industry. We are grateful to Carats ongoing support of the Most Awards, says Sandra Gordon, founder of the awards.
The Circus Street online digital marketing course is entertaining and engaging, including live professional presenters, high-end animation, interactive games and assessments. It offers simple achievable certification from a leading business school, without the need of having to leave ones place of work or engage in anything that is not directly related to ones job. It has 10,000 users across 34 countries and is endorsed by the IBSA, AOP, PPA, IPA and GSM London.
The eighth annual Most Awards ceremony is being held on 13 September 2016 at Wanderers Club. For more information, click here.
More and more organisations find themselves facing a social media storm that directly impacts their reputation - even when that storm is not of their own making.
Yash Gooly via Pixabay
Numerous questions arise around the handling of reputational issues - specifically on social media. The big question is always: what are the rules and are they different to real-time reputational or issues management?
The answer is that the principles of issues management remain constant. They do not fundamentally change. It is the level of responsiveness, nature and tone of engagement that must adapt to the channel. In this respect there are a few variables not all of them obvious and I will post some thoughts on those shortly.
But this post is simply about a few unexpected quirks that I have observed in social media audiences, based on the past few years of watching South Africans engage on popular channels. These observations are particularly true on issues of social impact such as the recent protests at universities or emotive issues such as the quality of food at fast food outlets.
Quirk One:
The nature of social media fuels conspiracy theories.
When Joe Social (including myself) reads a newspaper, we are inclined to apply a number of filters to judge the credibility of what we are reading i.e. which publication, who wrote the story, are they quoting official/expert sources, etc. When we read a story on social media, well share just because it seems interesting or because we think to ourselves, Hey, theres no smoke without firelet me share and see what other people think, etc.
It empowers us to share a story and feeds into the burgeoning Citizen Activist identity.
This means that for organisations experiencing reputational damage, when engaging with the amorphous Citizen Activist, old defence strategies such as questioning the credibility of the source doesnt work. Two issues management principles that do apply are:
Hear and engage with the emotion of what is being said and not just the fact. Acknowledging the emotion indicates responsiveness and authenticity. Dealing solely with facts where fact is not the primary driver only fuels conspiracy theories.
As with traditional issues, transparency is the best line of defence.
Quirk Two:
Relate-ability trumps credibility (for the most part)
Simply put - we follow people whose views and even identity we relate to. This usually means that we dont go out of our way to share/follow/like people whose views oppose our own. In general, our thinking is: I dont really know who this guy is, but hes saying things I like so Ill follow him. This creates a cycle of reinforcing our own viewpoint rather than actively seeking diverse or authoritative views unless we go out of our way to break the cycle.
What does this mean for managing reputation? Good issues management aims to offer depth of perspective. This is also true for social media. But relate-ability, especially on highly emotional issues, is a more critical factor than in traditional issues management. This was amply demonstrated by the social media outcry, many emotive posts and prayers offered for Harambe the gorilla who was shot when a child fell into its enclosure. At the point of being shot, Harambe had not tried to hurt the child and therefore was an innocent victim. Protestations by the zoo that they could not wait for a tranquiliser to work and even commentary from animal behaviour experts (whilst a sound basic strategy), did not gain half as much resonance against the social furore, as mothers who simply asked: if it were your child in the hands of a gorilla, notwithstanding that you should have been more careful, would you have wanted the zoo to wait? It is a dynamic that could only exist on social media i.e. one citizen speaking to another. It had more impact than any behavioural expert could achieve.
Quirk Three:
Virtual opinion is an amplification of real opinion.
Note: be cautious as this is issue-dependent and if the issue is close-to-home, the vitriol online could be an accurate reflection of how stakeholders feel.
However, the nature of social media means that we are often casual in our commentary and interaction. This is why the risk of reputational damage is so great. A throw-away comment becomes a firestorm. It also means that there is usually more passion, more aggression, more bias and more even skewing of views when people engage on an issue. Our online commentary is not always the most reflective input and what we project we will do, may not match our real-time behaviour. It is important to understand this dynamic in judging how the issue is escalating. But it is also important to understand that engaging with people offline may be critical to how we manage an issue online.
Revealed: How South Africans use Google
Crowdsourcing is proving its efficacy as a method of research, particularly in the realm of social media. Google SA recently put this to the test in the local market, to great success...
@KateKearney so did I win? ;-) today alone involved 'vit c pregnant', 'acc200 38 weeks', 'how much kiddies panado can I take' #MyGoogleZA Kim Hawkins (@KimHawk) May 17, 2016
Mich Atagana
Google SA communications and public affairs head Mich Atagana explains: The stories that South Africans submitted have given us insight into how real people use our products in their homes, businesses and communities. From the Twitter user who avoided going for a job interview at a sham company thanks to information she found via Google, to the many, many moms who use Google to find out how to help their children when theyre ill, or to do their homework. From saving time in traffic, or finding that dream bursary to study overseas South Africans use Google in more ways than we had ever imagined.
Watch Atagana further explain the competition in the tweet embedded below:
Our client Google chats about the #MyGoogleZA competition on the Expresso breakfast showhttps://t.co/axuWsoWBm1 pic.twitter.com/e2m8zjMjOX Irvine Bartlett (@IrvineBartlett) June 6, 2016
You can also do some secondary research by searching the #MyGoogleZA tag yourself and adding your own examples!
Africa 2063. You might not think that a vision so far into the future applies to you. After all, if you're a student or young professional, you'll be in your mid-sixties by then, ready to retire. Which means that we belong to the building generation. The ones who will spend our lives making this vision for Africa a reality for those who come after us.
Lets ask ourselves then, when we get to 2063 and look back, what are the things we will want to have achieved?
Sustainability isnt only important from the point of view of preserving our planet and its environment. Its also a crucial part of any development plans that we make for our own continent. With so many African economies either in early stages of economic development or extremely vulnerable to cost increases, its important that the products, processes and models we adopt can be sustained. In other words, that we can afford them in the long-term.
Of course we also need to start managing natural resources more carefully, and developing alternative sources of energy, if we are to leave a world that offers next generations a lifestyle that is at least comparable to ours ideally better. On a continent so blessed with daylight hours and other alternative energy production methods, we should hope to be world leaders in sustainability by 2063.
A common culture is one of the things that most strongly binds people together in large communities. If we think of some of the most successful countries in the world we find that a distinguishing feature is that they all have relatively homogenous cultural values. They have a shared culture that the vast majority of people are part of.
One of the big challenges we need to overcome in Africa is the tendency for cultural differences to be divisive. We only need to think of the many civil wars that occur to realise this. This places an exceptionally strong onus on us to work together towards a continent where we celebrate the vast majority of things that we share, rather than allowing our differences to divide us.
Its an unfortunate historical truth that centuries of patriarchy have shaped the world in ways that pose unique challenges for women to overcome. As the world thankfully becomes more egalitarian in gender terms, Africa has its own challenges to overcome, including removing the restrictions that women still face, both regulatory and psychologically.
There are many womens organisations and initiatives that are vitally committed to ensuring that gender inequality disappears from all strata of African society, from the most basic level of healthcare to the highest offices of the land. These organisations are having an increasingly powerful impact on our societies, which bodes well for a future where African men and women live on equal terms.
This is an area that Africa needs to focus on if it is to become a place that its inhabitants can really call a mother.
There are encouraging signs that a new generation of leadership is taking this very seriously. The so-called Millennials have a well-developed sense of social consciousness and, as they come to dominate the worlds of business and politics, they will hopefully transform these in ways that will serve the people of the continent more fruitfully.
What kind of Africa would you like to leave for your children one day?
We connect brands with the mass market where it matters most-close to home.
Subscribe to daily business and company news across 19 industries
SUBSCRIBE
Chief Minister and other government
officials presented at 100-Day project
meeting (Photo: MNA) Chief Minister and other governmentofficials presented at 100-Day projectmeeting (Photo: MNA)
The 30-year land grant project covers ten villages spread across respective townships throughout Mon State.
The 30-year land grant will be provided by the Home Affairs department at a ratio of one village per township. Those villages are on a list of village land records of the Home Affairs ministry and those villages are eligible for the grant as they have no negative land issues, said U Myint Thant Win, the chief director of Mon State General Adminstration Department, at the 100-day project meeting on May 31.
The 30-year land grant project for the 10 villages covers 415.268 acres of land and 699 land plots over 147.551 acres in the respective village, according to U Myint Thant Win.
The land grant project will only be provided to:
(1) those who are 18 years old or over, a citizen of Burma and living in the village tract,
(2) he/she must hold a current citizenship identification (ID),
(3) he/she must hold household form (66/6), and
(4) if he/she is a migrant holding Form (10) [settled from other villages], he/she will be only be eligible for the grant if he/she has lived there at least 12 years already.
It is not like providing a land rent grant for the whole village. In our village, there is land free from a ]custom] tax. Consequently, the land grant project will be on custom-free land. Before, there was a village on that land, said Nai Taung Hein, chief administrator of Village Custom [tax], in Mudon Township.
Nai Taung Hein added that the land grant for Ah Khon Village, Mudon Township, will cover 4 land acres in the village and be available for 18 household plots. However, the land record office has not yet measured the land. Another part of the land for the 100 households is currently grassland and that wont be covered by the land grant project.
The applicants of the land-grant project will follow 9 rules, including:
(1) He/she must fill out the application form,
(2) the application form must be over 15 days since the opposing announcement,
(3) recommendation letter from the village tract administrator,
(4) and he/she must submit the application at the meeting of Township/district/state management committee.
The 30-year land grant project covers 10 villages in respective townships across Mon State. Those villages are Than Thadar Village, in Kyaikhto Township, Ah-naing Pon Village in Belin Township, Chaungwa Village, in Thaton Township, Ye-zu Kwat Htit Village, in Paung Township, Kaw Kha Po Village, in Moulmein Township, Mu Rit Gyi Village, in Chaungzone Township, Paw Village, in Kyaikmayaw Township, Ah Khon Village, in Mudon Township, Pa-dar Ngan Village, Thanbyuzayat Township and Hnit Sone Village, Ye Township.
According to 2014s census record, Mon State has 2 districts, 10 townships, 16 towns, 100 wards, 368 village tracts and 1147 villages.
It looks like you have reached this page in error ...
The content you are looking for has either moved, or if you typed in the address there might have been a mistake.
If you believe there has been a technical error please let us know.
Most Popular Destinations
NEW DELHI (PTI): Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha is embarking on a five-day visit to Sweden, starting Tuesday, to take the existing defence cooperation between the armed forces of the two countries to the next level.
During his stay at Sweden, from June 7 to 11, the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) will be calling on the Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist and is scheduled to hold bilateral discussion with the Supreme Commander of Swedish Armed Forces and the Chiefs of Staff of Army, Navy and Air Force.
The challenges faced by the Defence Forces of both the countries in the current world scenario is expected to be discussed during these meetings.
The CAS will also be visiting a flying base of the Swedish Air Force and the production facilities of Swedish aerospace and defence company SAAB at Linkoping where the Gripen fighter aircraft are manufactured.
The visit assumes greater significance as it is taking place after the Swedish PM Stefan Lofven's February 2016 visit to India to attend the Def Expo-2016 held at Goa.
The Prime Ministers of both India and Sweden had also identified defence as one of the key areas of cooperation between the two countries during the visit.
NEW DELHI (PTI): Seeking to strengthen military ties, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday met Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, with whom he reviewed strategic partnership and new initiatives undertaken to further nourish cooperation in the military sector.
Parrikar also met Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his counterpart Gen Ngo Xuan Lich and held high level bilateral talks on key military issues including possible sale of supersonic missile BRAHMOS to the Southeast Asian country and reviewed the entire spectrum of defence cooperation initiatives.
During the interaction, Ngo emphasised on the significance of closer ties between Vietnam and India due to common threats and challenges.
The contentious South China Sea was also believed to have been discussed by the two Defence ministers, official sources said in New Delhi.
On the mechanism of exchange of information, Parrikar and Ngo emphasised the necessity for sharing of white shipping information to facilitate exchange of data in the maritime domain. The two sides also focused on enhancing hydrographic cooperation.
The meeting gained significance as both countries are celebrating 45 years of diplomatic relations and 10 years of strategic partnership, with defence sector being the major sector contributing towards this partnership.
Parrikar, who reached Hanoi on Sunday, attended a business roundtable meeting comprising defence industry delegates from the two countries.
The highlight of the meeting was the handing over of the bid document by Vietnam Border Guards to Larson & Toubro Limited. India has recently provided Vietnam with a US$100 million Line of Credit which is being utilised by Vietnam for procurement of Offshore Patrol Boats for their Border Guards.
Speaking on the occasion, Parrikar desired Indian private sector to lead the initiative and explore and actively participate in Vietnamese modernisation of defence forces.
This will not just strengthen the diplomatic and military bond between both the nations but also open the doors of strategic exports, he said.
Parrikar also assured the Indian private sector of full support of Ministry of Defence, DRDO and DPSU to realise the aspiration of exports of defence items to friendly nations at competitive price.
The major areas identified for working together are for upgrade of Soviet legacy systems, upgradation of Thermal Sights and Fire Control Systems for the BMP vehicles, T-54 and T-55 tanks, upgrade of MI-17/ Mi-8 helicopters, shipbuilding programmes, missile systems from India and software defined radios from Vietnam.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2016 (2331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
(Special) The tax deadline is over, youve filed your return and, if you were eligible for a refund, youve probably received it by now and done what you want with it.
So with the 2015 tax year over and done with theres no need to start thinking about your taxes till next year. Right!
Wrong.
Tax season really should be year-round, says John Waters, vice president and head of tax and estate planning with BMO Wealth Management. April is not the best time to start thinking about your taxes as the deadline approaches. Now is a good time to sit down with a tax specialist or your adviser to understand what deductions and/or credits are available to you and plan for the upcoming tax year.
Canadas tax rules can be a bit mind-boggling for many Canadians. BMO Bank of Montreal recently conducted a survey to find out the top tax questions that Canadians were asking themselves about the 2015 tax year recently passed.
Two of the five top questions related to the Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA).
A test conducted for Mackenzie Investments last year found that although the TFSA has been around since 2009 many Canadians still dont understand it and know the many applications it can have basic facts such as the range of investments you can hold in your account, TFSA contributions are not deducted from taxable income like contributions to a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) and if you dont contribute the full amount allowed each year you do not lose the remaining contribution room.
In the BMO study 46 per cent of Canadians were confused about whether they should contribute to their TFSA or RRSP and 39 per cent wondered how their TFSA contribution limit is calculated.
One key consideration on the question of whether to contribute to a TFSA or RRSP is your marginal tax rate today and your expected tax rate in retirement, including the possible clawback of government benefits.
Generally if you expect your marginal tax rate to be lower when you retire an RRSP is more beneficial, but if you expect the rate to be higher in retirement, then a TFSA may be the better option, Waters explains.
Your TFSA contribution room is made up of the annual TFSA dollar limit for the current year $5,500 for 2016 any unused contribution room carried forward from the previous year and any withdrawals you made from your TFSA in the previous year. It accumulates every year starting in 2009 for Canadian residents 18 years of age or older even if you dont file a tax return or open a TFSA, Waters says.
One of the oldest and most pervasive questions in the minds of tax payers is what to do with that refund if you get it.
The temptation is to use it for something fun like a trip or to buy a big ticket item, but Waters urges people to take the prudent approach.
Take some time to consider what would make the most financial sense for your individual situation, he says. Using the money to make a 2016 RRSP contribution now instead of waiting until the deadline will give you almost an extra year of tax-deferred growth.
Other options include paying off debt, particularly high-interest debt, making a TFSA contribution, investing in a Registered Education Savings Plan, making a mortgage payment or just creating an emergency savings fund.
Its important for people to remember that tax is a year-round activity that requires planning, understanding and record keeping, Water says. Consult your tax adviser to confirm the specific tax implications and any planning available in your particular situation.
Talbot Boggs is a Toronto-based business communications professional who has worked with national news organizations, magazines and corporations in the finance, retail, manufacturing and other industrial sectors.
Copyright 2016 Talbot Boggs
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2016 (2331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
TORONTO The University of Torontos downtown campus will cut ties with its food service provider, Aramark, later this summer and start running most of its on-campus dining options itself, the latest school to satisfy what appears to be a growing appetite for fresh meals.
The move will centralize most of the St. George campus food operations and see a main kitchen provide fresh food to some retail outlets that dont have kitchens and rely heavily on packaged food, said Anne Macdonald, the universitys director of ancillary services.
Chefs, for example, will cook soups and sauces from scratch instead of ordering from a production facility, Macdonald said.
Jaco Lokker, Executive Chef and Director of Culinary Operations at the University of Toronto, poses for a picture in Toronto, Monday, June 6, 2016. The University of Toronto's downtown campus will cut ties with its food service provider, Aramark, later this summer and start running most of its on-campus dining options itself, the latest school to satisfy what appears to be a growing appetite for fresh meals.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Eduardo Lima
Such changes were called for by students, faculty and staff in focus groups leading up to the decision not to renew Aramarks contract, she said.
This is the voice of the students, said chef Joshna Maharaj, who consults with universities and colleges on menu changes.
They are increasingly dissatisfied as they should be with really highly processed foods and a campus food service that is sort of an irritating afterthought.
Maharaj was once the assistant director of food services and an executive chef at Torontos Ryerson University. She helped the school revamp its menus several years ago.
In 2013, the university was nearing the end of its food service contract with Aramark. It asked food service providers for proposals on how to do things differently as students became increasingly displeased with expensive, low-quality eats, she said.
The university partnered with Chartwells and a greater emphasis was placed on purchasing local, seasonal produce, among other changes, she said.
Last year, the Canadian Federation of Students voiced concern over the quality of campus food across Canada after images surfaced of raw meat and mouldy food served at Memorial University in St. Johns, N.L.
In Lethbridge, Alta., students voiced their desire for healthier options and local ingredients when the University of Lethbridge debated whether to renew Sodexos contract in 2012, said James Booth, executive director of the universitys ancillary services.
Theyre much more astute consumers and they have more refined needs, he said.
Booth compared the evolution of menu offerings to that of residence amenities.
Twenty-five years ago, students lived in basic dormitories, he said.
Today they have granite countertops, and they have flat-screen TVs and Wi-Fi and Netflix, he said. You have to keep up.
The University of Lethbridge signed a contract with Aramark after their proposal fit the universitys vision for updated facilities and menus.
Its hard for schools to make such a dramatic shift from a system theyve relied on for a decade or longer, said Maharaj. But the major food service providers know that educational and other institutions, like hospitals, are starting to follow consumer demands, she said.
She said its important for food service providers to be open to working with their clients to figure out how to better serve their needs.
Aramark has started featuring more international flavours, as well as gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options at the several hundred schools it works with, said Karen Cutler, vice-president of the companys corporate communications.
The company stays competitive and retains about 95 per cent of its clients by surveying students and following market trends to suit students ever-changing needs, she said in an email.
Booth said the University of Lethbridge is happy with its partnership with Aramark so far.
Maharaj said the schools and food service providers can work together to overhaul menus so that they offer more sustainable and healthy options.
I think that they really could be allies and change agents, if we position them well and support them and ask them to do these different things.
Follow @AleksSagan on Twitter.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2016 (2331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
CALGARY Royal Dutch Shell says its shifting away from growing its liquefied natural gas business, a move that raises fresh doubts about the future of its proposed LNG Canada project in Kitimat, B.C.
The company said Tuesday the pace of new investment in LNG will slow as it moderates growth and prioritizes cash flow generation and returns on existing projects.
Shell said while its integrated gas business was previously a growth priority, it has now reached a critical mass after completing the acquisition of gas giant BG Group in February.
Oil and gas analyst Dirk Lever at Altacorp Capital said the announcement doesnt mean an end to the companys LNG Canada project, which could cost up to US$40 billion to build, but it could further delay development.
They may just kick the can down the road, but its not dead, said Lever.
In February, Shell postponed a final investment decision on the project until the end of the year, a timeline it maintained in its latest presentation Tuesday.
A spokesman for Shell Canada said LNG Canada is an attractive project but it will have to compete against other projects in the companys global portfolio.
The proposed Prince Rupert LNG project in B.C. that BG put on hold in 2014 does not appear on a list of projects with pending investment decisions in Shells presentation released Tuesday.
The LNG Canada project would export up to 24 million tonnes of LNG per year, while the Prince Rupert project was designed to export up to 21 million tonnes of LNG annually.
Shell owns a 50 per cent stake in the LNG Canada project it is developing with partners Korea Gas Corp., Mitsubishi Corp. and PetroChina Co. Ltd. Shell now fully owns the Prince Rupert project following the BG merger.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2016 (2331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA The federal governments proposed new law on medically assisted dying is entering uncharted parliamentary waters, where the only certainty seems to be that it will not come out in the same shape in which it goes in.
Final debate on Bill C-14 begins Wednesday in the Senate, where the government no longer has any control over independent-minded, less-partisan senators who appear determined to amend the controversial legislation.
Among other things, senators are likely to amend the bill to ensure that all grievously ill Canadians are entitled to an assisted death, not just those who are near death.
But no one knows what will happen if the government, which has rejected any substantive amendments thus far, refuses to accept Senate amendments. Will senators acquiesce? Will they insist and bounce the bill endlessly back to the House of Commons until they get what they want? Will they actually defeat the bill?
I dont know thats the simplest answer, said Sen. George Baker, who is sponsoring the bill in the Senate.
I dont know whats going to happen in the Senate. This is a new situation for the Parliament of Canada. Theres never been a situation similar to this before.
Conservative Senate leader Claude Carignan was blunt when asked if the bill will be passed by the Senate without amendments.
Without? Impossible, he said.
Carignan appeared confident theres enough support among Conservative, independent Liberal and independent senators to fix what he sees as the bills major flaw: the requirement that a person must be near death in order to qualify for medical help to end their suffering. That provision has been slammed by constitutional and legal experts who maintain it flies in the face of the Supreme Courts landmark ruling last year and will inevitably be struck down as unconstitutional.
Thats the type of amendment that we will insist (upon) if the House refuses, he predicted.
Carignan himself is proposing a compromise amendment that would allow those not near death to apply to a court for the right to an assisted death.
Sen. Jim Cowan, leader of the independent Liberals, is proposing to jettison the bills near-death provisions and replace them with the more permissive wording of the Supreme Courts ruling.
The court directed that medical assistance in dying should be available to clearly consenting, competent adults with grievous and irremediable medical conditions that are causing enduring suffering that they find intolerable.
C-14 takes a more restrictive approach, allowing assisted dying only for consenting adults in an advanced stage of irreversible decline from a serious and incurable disease, illness or disability and for whom natural death is reasonably foreseeable.
Could the Senate wind up killing the bill entirely, as it did decades ago with the last attempt to legislate abortion in Canada?
I dont know, Cowan said. I can only speak for what were going to do and I think were doing the right thing in the right way.
The uncertainty over the bill is in large part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus own making. As part of a bid to return the Senate to its intended role as an independent chamber of sober second thought, he kicked all senators out of the Liberal caucus several years ago and, since taking office last fall, has set up a new process to appoint only independent, non-partisan senators.
There is no longer any government caucus in the Senate and no levers for the government to try to control what goes on in the chamber.
We look forward to seeing what suggestions the more independent and less partisan Senate has to make on this important piece of legislation, Trudeau told the Commons on Tuesday.
Just how many amendments senators will propose is unclear. Baker predicted up to 70, Carignan said maybe 10 to 15.
Cowan predicted the amendments will cover a range of issues, including allowing people with competence-eroding conditions like dementia to make advance requests for an assisted death, more stringent safeguards to prevent abuse and more explicit protection for the conscience rights of health care providers who refuse to take part in medically assisted dying.
How long the process will take before the bill is finally put to a vote is unclear. Baker predicted it could go on for weeks; Carignan suggested it may wrap by the end of next week. Some senators hold out hope it could all be over by the end of this week.
While senators continue to deliberate on the bill, the country is now without a criminal law governing medical assistance in dying. In the absence of a law, the procedure will be governed by the eligibility criteria spelled out by the Supreme Court and by guidelines issued by medical regulators in each province.
When the top court struck down the ban on assisted dying, it gave Parliament a year, later extended by four months, to craft a new law. That deadline was Monday.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2016 (2331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA At least 400 Yazidi women raped and tortured by Islamic militants could have safe passage to Canada if the government would heed a proposal to rescue them, a religious freedoms organization says.
One Free World International says in their drive to resettle more than 25,000 Syrian refugees, the Liberals are turning their backs on the most vulnerable religious minorities who are often a direct target of warring factions in the ongoing conflicts in the region.
The group has identified 400 Yazidi women and their families, about 1,600 people in all, living in displaced persons camps in Kurdistan. It has a plan to bring them to Canada, but says the proposal is being ignored.
Yazidis, ethnic Kurds whose faith dates back to ancient Mesopotamia, gained global attention in 2014 when fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant captured the town of Sinjar in northern Iraq, forcing nearly 50,000 to flee to a mountain top where they were besieged for weeks.
Their situation is in part what prompted then-prime minister Stephen Harper to join international air strikes against ISIL.
But their fate is now forgotten, said Majed El Shafie, founder of the One Free World group.
Girls as young as nine are sold into sex slavery, tortured, forced to convert or be killed and yet the Canadian government is doing nothing to help, he told a House of Commons committee on Tuesday.
The government has failed big time in helping them, he said.
Even if the government brought only nine cases, what will this do to the community that is facing genocide?
The question of whether whats happening to the Yazidis amounts to genocide will get renewed attention in the House of Commons on Thursday. A Conservative motion will be debated calling for the House to condemn the atrocities perpetrated by ISIL against religious and sexual minorities and to declare the crimes a genocide.
The Tories already tried and failed to move a motion to that effect in April.
Three months earlier, El Shafie said hed met Immigration Minister John McCallum at a reception, chatted with him about the groups plan and followed up a few days later with his chief of staff.
The group never heard back and held a press conference on the Hill last month to apply further pressure, but theres been no action.
Initially Tuesday, neither McCallum nor his chief of staff could recall the meeting.
Later in the day after reviewing all their files, chief of staff Mathieu Belanger said he had discussed the issue with a consultant working with the group but the governments policy remains that they directly resettle only refugees selected by the UN.
Belanger said, however, that they will take another look at the groups proposal and discuss it with them in the next few days.
The government is already working with a group in Winnipeg sponsoring Yazidis through the private system but McCallum noted refugees in places like northern Iraq or Turkey are hard to reach and officials are doing what they can.
But NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said bureaucracy is no excuse for inaction when the reports of whats happening to the Yazidis continue to circulate.
Is it acceptable to just turn around and say, Im sorry, theres nothing we can do?, she said.
El Shafies plan would involve sending teams to Iraqi Kurdistan in conjunction with settlement workers poised in Canada to accept the women and their families.
Since the women are in their home country, they would have to come to Canada under special provisions within immigration law, not the existing refugee resettlement program.
Follow @StephanieLevitz on Twitter
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2016 (2331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
WOODSTOCK, Ont. Hundreds of students left their classrooms Tuesday morning in a mass walkout meant to show their frustration over how local schools have dealt with a number of suicides in their small southwestern Ontario city.
Students crowded Woodstocks town square for more than an hour Tuesday morning, scrawling positive messages on the sidewalk in chalk and singing.
Five people aged 19 and younger in the city of roughly 38,000 have killed themselves since the beginning of 2016, police have said, noting 36 more have expressed suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide in Oxford County, which includes Woodstock and seven neighbouring communities.
A woman is comforted during a rally in Woodstock, Ont. after hundreds of high school students in the town walked out of classes, Tuesday, June 7, 2016 to raise awareness of a suicide crisis which is gripping the small Ontario community. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Geoff Robins
Mike McMahon, executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association Oxford, said the city is experiencing suicide contagion, the theory that one suicide can trigger other suicides in a community.
Mental health professionals, school board officials and students seem to be at odds with how to handle the ongoing crisis.
Officials from Woodstocks school boards and the association agree that collaboration between their organizations is crucial. But some students have said their voices arent being heard.
Sixteen-year-old Mackenzie Gall, who helped organize the walkout, said she doesnt think the school boards are doing enough.
Theyve put up posters showing who our guidance counsellors are and whos able to be there for us, she said Monday. And thats really the extent of it.
Gall said she thinks there should be more dedicated crisis workers in schools to help combat the so-called contagion.
The superintendent of education at one of Woodstocks three school boards said he wasnt sure how many crisis workers there are at the citys five high schools.
All I know is that there is a lot of clinical supports that are available within the community, said Paul Levac of the French-language board Conseil scolaire catholique Providence.
Since we only have students in our care for a quarter of the day, we have to ensure there are other supports and services within the community, he said.
McMahon of CMHA Oxford said the association employs 38 trained clinicians who can help on a short-term basis, but he says that long-term solutions should be in place in schools.
I really believe that where we take attendance is the most important place to train students about mental health and being resilient to suicide, he said.
Gall also said she hopes schools introduce mental health into the curriculum.
The controversial new sex-ed and health curriculum, which was introduced at the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year, covers mental health, but does not necessarily cover suicide or suicide prevention.
Asked about the suicides in the legislature Tuesday, Ontarios education minister Liz Sandals said the province will continue to work with school boards to equip educators with the tools and knowledge that they need to address mental health.
By Nicole Thompson in Toronto. Follow @ColeyT on Twitter.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2016 (2331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Brandon University is considering an increase to international tuition rates that adminstration says are currently so low, recruiters report difficulty convincing prospective students that BU is up to par.
A memo penned by the universitys vice-president of finance and administration, Scott Lamont, notes the dramatic difference in the fees BU charges foreign students compared to other schools in Manitoba.
At the University of Winnipeg, an undergraduate degree costs 272 per cent more for a visa student than a Canadian student. At the University of Manitoba, the markup is 282 per cent. Across Canada, average tuition fees for international undergraduate students rose 6.5 per cent last year.
Tom Bateman / Brandon Sun Brandon University vice-president, administration and finance Scott Lamont presents during a board of governors meeting late last year.
Currently, BU charges international undergraduate students double the $3,336 it charges Canadians.
There is no difference in tuition for international graduate students at BU compared to their Canadian peers. The markups at the
U of W and U of M are 107 and 120 per cent, respectively.
Last year, Manitobas 11 per cent hike in average undergraduate tuition rates was the largest of any province.
While the province mandates the amount of tuition that can be raised for domestic students, there are no regulations for international rates. Universities rationalize the increases through the fact that domestic students and their families have paid taxes, which support educational institutions.
Lamont argues its time to raise the price on international students even more.
With continually constrained budgets, challenges to effectively support services for international students, scholarships for international students from
less-affluent circumstances, the need to further internationalize our campus, and budgets for services and teaching of students are becoming extremely strained, Lamont wrote.
In recent years, BU has developed relationships with several international schools and is focusing on attracting students from Africa, Asia, South America and the Caribbean.
About 160 of BUs3,073 students were considered visa students in the 2015-16 school year.
BUs vice-president academic, Steve Robinson, said sometimes the schools recruiters are actually hampered by BUs low tuition prices.
Some students will actually walk away when they hear what we are charging because they assume it means were a
low-quality, cut-rate institution, he said. If everybody else is charging 300 per cent above domestic and were charging 100, then theyre thinking you cant charge more than that because youre not very good and they dont even consider you.
Robinson said while BU isnt looking to jump to parity with other institutions, the increase may have to be significant.
An extra 100 per cent, moving from double to triple the domestic rate, for example. Can we convince the university committee thats a good idea? Well have to wait and see. Its actually something we want to spend time this coming year consulting with the community on, he said.
We dont want to be arbitrary, certainly, and we want to move forward in this direction only if we can be confident that the university community including the student union are convinced this is a beneficial thing for the university, he said.
Tuition increases would likely be phased in for existing international students, which is the main concern for Brandon University Students Union president Nick Brown.
We dont want to see our international students hit with an extra 50 per cent tuition, he said.
Brown said he hasnt looked at the concept enough to say what he thinks is an acceptable increase.
Lamonts memo proposes a 12-month review of current services, the goal being to have a plan be recommended to the schools board of governors by the winter of 2017.
tbateman@brandonsun.com
Twitter: @tombatemann
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2016 (2331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Three new cases of the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) discovered at Manitoba hog barns have reignited fears about the consequences of the deadly disease while shining a light on the Canadian Food Inspection Agencys truck wash policy.
Manitoba Pork general manager Andrew Dickson said the latest case of the virus, which causes severe dehydration and diarrhea in pigs and is usually fatal in young hogs, was confirmed in a sow barn in southeastern Manitoba on the weekend.
Its the third site to test positive for the virus since May 26, according to Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, with two sow barns and one finisher barn testing positive in the same general location.
Dickson said they havent been able to identify the source of the virus, but that it is suspicious the outbreak comes on the heels of the CFIAs decision to revert back to the policy requiring hog trailers be washed in the United States before crossing the border back into Canada.
Dickson believes a pilot protocol that required trailers to be sealed and washed at inspected wash sites in Canada should be reinstated, while legislation should be drafted to change the regulations to make it standard practice in Western Canada in the future.
We think that we had a perfectly straightforward way of managing for diseases by preserving the interiors of these trailers because they reflect the Canadian disease situation, he said. When they go to the U.S., the pigs are chased out. There is no introduction of disease and the doors are closed and that little piece of Canada is brought back across the border.
Under the former protocol, trailers were washed at a certified wash station in Canada which are inspected by veterinarians.
On May 1, federal regulations resumed a long-standing requirement that hog trailers be washed in the U.S. before crossing the border. Dickson said that creates unnecessary risk for contamination at a high-traffic site that washes trailers from the U.S. and Canada and may use recycled water.
Manitoba had gone 491 days without a confirmed on-farm case of PEDv when a finisher barn tested positive on Jan. 21, 2015 prior to the latest tests.
Brandon-Souris Conservative MP Larry Maguire said it doesnt make sense to wash U.S. and Canadian trucks at the same facility.
This is tremendously important to our industry and we all know the importance of Brandon and Neepawa with the largest slaughtering facilities in Canada in our area, Maguire said.
Maguire said hell press the Liberal government to change the regulations.
Western Canadian farmers expect that when they ask for help, the federal government will listen and act. However, the minister of agriculture has shown a total disregard by expressing that he will not intervene on their behalf, Maguire said.
A call to the CFIA was not returned by press time.
ctweed@brandonsun.com
Twitter: @CharlesTweed
Already have an account? Log in here
A 51-year-old man is facing a spate of criminal charges after Mounties found him in possession of weapons and ammunition over the weekend defying a court-ordered ban.
We need your support!
Local journalism needs your support!
As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed.
Now, more than ever, we need your support.
Starting at $4.99/month you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website.
or call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527.
Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community!
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2016 (2331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Melissa Carson was eight years old when the badly decomposed remains of her mother were found in a rural area of central California known as French Camp.
At the time, Carson was told her mother had simply disappeared.
When she was 18, her father told her the truth: Phyllis OBrien Carson a young woman originally from Newfoundland had been murdered in October 1970, and police had yet to solve the case.
Phyllis O'Brien Carson (top) and her daughter Melissa Carson are shown in an undated family handout photo. Melissa Carson was eight years old when the badly decomposed remains of her mother were found in a rural area of central California known as French Camp. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO
So began her 35-year quest for the truth, which attracted international attention earlier this week when California Gov. Jerry Brown offered a US$50,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the murderer.
The governors reward is the biggest thing yet, Carson said in an interview Tuesday. Im just hoping for the best. Hopefully, it will bring some peace to my soul.
Police in Californias San Joaquin County say Phyllis OBrien Carson, a 32-year-old mother of four, was last seen alive at a truck-stop bar in French Camp, where she was entertaining visiting relatives. Police say the relatives left her at the bar, and she was later spotted leaving with an unknown man.
Her body was found four weeks later on Nov. 22, 1970.
The cause of death was unclear, given the level of decomposition, and there was no DNA testing at the time. The police investigation turned up few clues.
Melissa Carson still lives in California, not far from the town west of San Francisco where her mother died.
She said her parents met in the late 1950s, when her father, U.S. Air Force serviceman Edward Carson, was stationed at Ernest Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, N.L.
The base was one of several sites in Newfoundland and Labrador used by the U.S. military between the early 1940s and the 1960s. Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador estimates that about 30,000 women from the province married American servicemen during that time.
Many of them, like Carsons mother, moved to the United States to raise their families.
Some came home and some didnt, she said. Some marriages lasted My aunts told me that a lot of the women met service members in (Stephenville).
When Carsons father died of leukemia in 1992, he told her to stop looking for her mothers killer.
He was just overwhelmed with hurt and pain, she said. He told me, Leave it alone. Its going to hurt.'
But she didnt give up. Her search for the truth continued off and on, and has ramped up in the past five years.
Her investigation has included going door to door in French Camp, seeking interviews with locals who may have seen something. A Facebook page dedicated to her mother is filled with photos and information.
I went on with my life, but its always been in the back of my head, said Carson, who at 55 is the mother of two adult children and works for the U.S. federal government.
She said her mother came from a large family in western Newfoundland, where relatives are well aware of her quest.
As for the governors decision to offer a reward, Carson said she is hoping someone will finally come forward to help police solve the case.
I was shocked because its such an old case, she said. Yet, there are people out there that I know are still alive and may know something Even if nobody comes forward, in my heart I know that Ive done everything I could.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/06/2016 (2332 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. Crews fought a large fire Monday night that ripped through an apartment building in downtown Fort McMurray.
Bob Couture, a spokesman for the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, said the flames have been contained.
The fire that our emergency regional services responded to downtown is under control and is presently under investigation for the cause, Couture said late Monday.
I can say that this fire is not related to wildfires. The situation is safe at this time.
There were no reports of injuries.
It was not clear how many people were forced from the neighbourhood when flames engulfed the four-story apartment complex.
There were unconfirmed reports that the apartment complex was empty at the time but that RCMP evacuated nearby buildings.
Residents of Fort McMurray who had to flee the area due to wildfires on May 3 have been returning to the community since last Wednesday. (The Canadian Press, CFFR)
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2016 (2331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
HALIFAX A decorated 94-year-old war veteran who was initially refused admission to a federally funded hospital is now being assessed for entry after a public outcry over his treatment.
But Petter Blindheims son says the family is still anxiously awaiting word on whether Veterans Affairs will fund his father who served on convoys for the Allies as a member of the Norwegian Royal Navy for care at the Camp Hill Veterans Memorial hospital in Halifax.
In initial refusal letters, the department said that because Blindheim went to England and signed up with the Norwegian navy after his homeland was occupied, he was classified as being in the resistance service rather than an Allied veteran.
Petter Blindheim, looks up towards his son, Peter Blendheim in his home in Halifax on Friday, June 3, 2016. The son of a 94-year-old Canadian who fought with the Royal Norwegian Navy in the Second World War says federal officials have removed at least one obstacle to his father being admitted to a federally funded nursing home. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tim Krochak
A regulation in the Veterans Health Care Regulations says resistance groups arent eligible for the benefits.
Peter Blendheim, whose last name is spelt differently from his fathers, says he learned Monday the department has shifted its stance and is declaring Petter Blindheim to be an Allied veteran.
However, he has received a followup email saying the department must assess whether Blindheims health care issues have increased and the elderly man requires specialized care that cannot adequately be provided in a community facility.
A nurse from Veterans Affairs was assessing Blindheim at his apartment on Tuesday afternoon, said the son.
A spokeswoman for federal Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr says she cannot comment on the specifics of the case.
For privacy reasons, we are not able to comment on a specific case, but rest assured my department works with veterans and their families to ensure they receive the services and benefits to which they are entitled, said Sarah McMaster in an email.
Alupa Clarke, the Conservative critic for Veterans Affairs, says that the departments initial argument that the Norwegian forces didnt form part of the Allies was incorrect and insulting.
The minister should review the policies to adjust to special circumstances. This man has done venerable action Hes 94 years old. We should be open minded to specific circumstances where we see a man in need, said Clarke in a telephone interview.
Take care of him. Bring him in Camp Hill hospital so he can be surrounded by his mates.
Blindheim was commended by the Royal Norwegian Navy for his courage when a torpedo sank a vessel he was serving on in November 1942.
After torpedoes struck the Montbretia, Blindheim ran to the deck and removed a primer from the depth charges he oversaw to help ensure they wouldnt go off and kill sailors in the water as the ship sank.
After the war, he emigrated to Canada.
Jens Inge Egeland, a veterans advocate in Norway, said in an email that the incident has drawn attention in Norwegian media outlets. Norwegians are very shocked by the unfair rules by the Canadian veterans affairs over who they consider Allied veterans, he said.
Egeland said a reference in the initial refusal letter to Norway having surrendered in 1940 is objectionable, as most Norwegians consider that the country continued to fight Hitlers forces through their exiled forces.
An official with the Nova Scotia Health Authority, which operates Veterans Memorial with federal funding, says there are 175 beds at the hospital.
Everton McLean said 13 beds are currently unoccupied.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2016 (2331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA Air Canada consistently flouts the Official Languages Act and Parliament must do more to pressure the company to comply with the rules, Canadas official languages commissioner said Tuesday.
As he tabled a special report on the airline in the Commons, Graham Fraser said his office doesnt have enough power to force it to offer more French-language services.
My predecessors and I have used all of the tools at our disposal in order to help Air Canada improve its compliance to the act, he told reporters. However, after 45 years, the same issues continue to repeat themselves.
Official languages commissioner Graham Fraser speaks at a press conference as he releases a special report to Parliament entitled Air Canada: On the road to increased compliance through an effective enforcement regime, in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 7, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
He said his office continues to receive complaints about unilingual anglophone employees on Air Canada flights between Montreal and northern Quebec and beefs regarding employees who refuse to get French-speaking agents to help francophone travellers.
Fraser said what turns an unhappy passenger into a complainant is the contempt the airlines employees allegedly show toward people who ask for service in French.
I think the first time I heard the phrase Sorry, I dont speak French was on an Air Canada flight, he said. Its often a question of attitude.
Frasers report is specifically about the airline, which under federal law is obligated to provide French-language services.
The report outlines four ways Parliament can help him pressure Air Canada, including giving him the power to levy fines for non-compliance.
Fraser said another option is to modify the law to allow a court to force the airline to pay damages and interest when it is found to have broken the rules.
He also said Parliament can penalize the airline with other financial sanctions or allow his office to enter into binding agreements with the company.
The commissioner asked MPs to study his report with urgency and as a priority.
Ottawa has not indicated it is ready to change any laws, but Heritage Minister Melanie Joly said Tuesday it is unacceptable that Air Canada doesnt respect its responsibilities with regard to the official languages.
She said she would work with Transport Minister Marc Garneau to ensure things change.
Air Canada said Frasers report was unjustified as the number of complaints against the company has remained stable at around 50 a year.
The commissioners contention that there is an exceptional, systemic problem of non-compliance by Air Canada has been rejected by both the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada, the airline said in a statement.
Punitive measures aimed at Air Canada as suggested by this report are without credible justification, misdirected and would not contribute to promoting bilingualism in Canada or improving the level of services in both official languages available to Canadian travellers.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/06/2016 (2332 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
TORONTO A veteran member of the Ontario legislature will become the first official candidate for leader of the federal New Democratic Party.
Cheri DiNovo told The Canadian Press on Monday night that she will declare her candidacy to replace Tom Mulcair as federal NDP leader in an announcement in her Toronto riding Tuesday morning.
DiNovo did not want to speak further about her candidacy in a brief phone conversation, saying she wants the media to attend her announcement at the Roncesvalles United Church so she can flesh it out for everyone. Its not clear if she will immediately resign her seat in the provincial legislature.
NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo is shown in an undated, handout photo. Multiple sources say Cheri DiNovo will declare her candidacy to replace Tom Mulcair as federal NDP leader in an announcement in her riding on Tuesday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ho
DiNovo, a United Church minister, was first elected in a 2006 byelection, taking Torontos inner-city Parkdale-High Park riding from the Liberals when Gerard Kennedy resigned to run federally.
She is a champion of social justice issues, campaigning successfully to amend the Ontario Human Rights Code to include gender identity and expression, and introducing a bill to give same sex couples the same parental rights as male-female couples.
DiNovo also convinced the Liberal government to amend the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act to recognize post-traumatic stress disorder as being work-related for police, firefighters and paramedics, after introducing four separate private members bills over seven years.
She was critical of the Ontario New Democrats for moving too far to the political centre in an attempt to get votes in the 2014 provincial election, and was one of the first to openly call for Mulcairs resignation following the NDPs third-place finish in the 2015 federal campaign.
There are no other declared candidates to replace Mulcair, who announced his resignation in May after 52 per cent of delegates at the New Democrats post-election convention in Edmonton voted for a leadership review.
The voting to select the new NDP leader will take place in the fall of 2017.
In order to run, would be candidates will be required to provide a registration fee of $30,000 while the spending cap has been set at $1.5 million.
Follow @CPnewsboy on Twitter
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2016 (2331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
QUEBEC The Quebec government will suspend the implementation of an anti-Uber bill for 90 days in order to have more time to negotiate with the ride-hailing company.
Transport Minister Jacques Daoust said Tuesday the suspension gives company representatives time to come up with a pilot project that satisfies the government and which would allow Uber to operate legally in the province.
The Quebec taxi industry lobby said it was a satisfactory compromise, but still demanded Uber stop all its operations in the province until an agreement on the pilot project can be reached with the government.
In response, taxi drivers said they were ready to cancel all planned protests during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend in Montreal.
Daoust said he still wanted his anti-Uber bill passed by Friday, but his amendment would delay the bills implementation by three months.
The bill would force Uber drivers to obtain taxi permits and licences in order to operate, something the company said would force it to leave Quebec.
Uber is maybe the way of the future, Daoust told reporters. But at the end of the day they have to be respectful of Quebec.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2016 (2331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
VANCOUVER Illegal police tactics during an undercover operation that led a couple to be found guilty of terrorism-related offences endanger public rights, shock the conscience of Canadians and must be strongly condemned, says a statement of defence filed in B.C. Supreme Court.
John Nuttall and his common-law wife Amanda Korody were found guilty last year, but their convictions are on hold while their lawyers argue the RCMP entrapped their clients into planting what they believed were pressure-cooker bombs at the B.C. legislature.
The Mounties used deceit and tricks throughout the elaborate sting, read the statement of defence.
John Nuttall and Amanda Korody are shown in a still image taken from RCMP undercover video. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-RCMP
Nuttalls lawyer, Marilyn Sandford, told the court Tuesday that police aided and abetted terrorist activity by helping the couple design, construct and transport the homemade explosives.
It matters not that the RCMP knew the devices would not explode, she said. The RCMP knowingly facilitated terrorist activity.
Nuttall and Korody were arrested in July 2013 after an undercover operation that began five months earlier.
Sandford criticized what she called a lack of oversight on the operation, suggesting it would not have continued for as long had operational plans been properly communicated to RCMP superiors in Ottawa.
Clearly, there is something inherently problematic about (police) setting up a pretend terrorist group, she said. All of this ought to have been carefully considered.
The sting went from gathering intelligence about Nuttall, whose outspoken views on radical Islam had already flagged him to police, to an operation designed to see whether undercover operators could induce him to commit terrorist acts, Sandford said.
Theres nothing inherently wrong with targeting (a suspect) based on these facts. But its the nature of the operation and the direction it took that became problematic, she said.
Once their investigations had not uncovered anything as far as evidence of actual criminal activity they couldnt then leapfrog into providing the opportunity. And thats exactly what happened.
The statement of defence said Nuttall and Korody were promised new lives, future work, care for their cat, payment of debt and assistance going through drug withdrawal.
The lonely and isolated pair were misled about basic tenets of their new faith and their fears were stoked by suggestions that powerful terrorist associates were keeping tabs on them, the statement read.
Korodys lawyer, Mark Jette, told court that the RCMP treated the case as a national priority and that transcripts from high-level police meetings indicate the investigative teams superiors were applying considerable pressure on officers.
Jette highlighted the RCMPs strategy of having undercover officers build the couples trust and further isolate them.
(Theirs) was a diminishing social circle that started small and got smaller until ultimately it became little more than (the primary undercover officer), Jette told the court.
Jette noted the loyalty and affection Nuttall expressed toward the principal officer, referring to him in Arabic as brother, a term of endearment. The pair even appeared to suffer from separation anxiety when the officer was away, he added.
Jette dismissed earlier police testimony that undercover officers did not suggest to Nuttall and Korody, either directly or indirectly, that they were members of some larger, powerful terrorist organization, likely al-Qaida.
The Crown has not yet delivered its closing address but has already argued that Nuttall and Korody aspired to kill and maim innocent people in retribution for what they saw as Canadas disrespectful behaviour towards Islam.
Closing arguments are scheduled to run until the end of next week.
Follow @gwomand on Twitter
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2016 (2331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA Rod Zimmer athlete, fundraiser, corporate executive and Manitoba senator died Tuesday at the age of 73, a party official confirmed.
Zimmer battled throat cancer and pneumonia in his later years and became gossip fodder when he married a woman 46 years his junior. He was also named by the auditor general as one of the members of the upper chamber who improperly claimed tens of thousands of dollars in expenses.
But his dedication to Liberal ideas and his hard work ethic were hallmarks of his career, says former Liberal member of Parliament Anita Neville.
Senator Rod Zimmer leaves provincial court in Saskatoon, Sask., Wednesday, August 29, 2012. A former Liberal senator from Manitoba has died. A party official confirms that Rod Zimmer died this morning at the age of 73. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Liam Richards
He was certainly a very committed Liberal, a very hard-working Liberal, said Neville, who held the Winnipeg South-Centre riding for the party between 2000 and 2011, and who first crossed paths with Zimmer in the 1990s.
What I remember is his tremendous willingness and energy that he put into mentoring young people within the Liberal party how to get active, helping them with fundraising.
As a young man, Zimmer was a champion swimmer, diver and water skier. He had a lengthy private-sector resume as well, including executive positions with the Manitoba Lotteries Foundation and CanWest Capital Corp.
He started his political career as an executive assistant to James Richardson, a cabinet minister under former prime minister Pierre Trudeau.
But it was as a fundraiser that Zimmer made his name. He developed a reputation as someone who could quickly fill tables at an event and get supporters donating money.
He had a wide network of people. People liked him, people trusted him and were anxious to support him and the effort that he put forward for the Liberal party, Neville said.
Zimmer raised eyebrows in 2011, when at the age of 68, he married 22-year-old aspiring actress Maygan Sensenberger. The following year, the couple were involved in a dispute on a flight to Saskatoon. Sensenberger pleaded guilty to causing a disturbance on an aircraft and received a suspended sentence with probation.
In 2013, Zimmer retired from the Senate, citing health troubles.
Last year, a review by the federal auditor general indicated that the former senator owed $176,000 in improperly claimed expenses largely because he declared Winnipeg as his primary residence, but spent the vast majority of his time in Ottawa.
Zimmers written response to the report was that he had to limit his returns to Winnipeg due to serious health concerns, including recurring throat cancer and pneumonia.
The internal economy committee that oversees Senate spending said earlier this year that it was eyeing legal action against Zimmer and six other retired senators who did not repay the expense claims that were questioned.
By Steve Lambert in Winnipeg
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2016 (2331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
VANCOUVER The University of British Columbia has unveiled its draft sexual assault policy, but a former student who filed a human-rights complaint over the issue says it has failed to address her concerns.
The university began working on the policy after Glynnis Kirchmeier and other women alleged in November that the school had delayed acting on numerous complaints about a male PhD candidate.
Currently, the school relies on two policies to respond to sexual assault reports: a general discrimination and harassment policy, and a non-academic misconduct process within the student code of conduct.
Former University of British Columbia students Glynnis Kirchmeier and Caitlin Cunningham, back, hold a news conference at the university in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday, November 22, 2015. The University of British Columbia has unveiled its draft sexual assault policy, but a former student who filed a human-rights complaint against the school says it fails to address her concerns. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
The draft policy sets out the universitys commitments and principles with regard to sexual assaults and outlines support services for survivors, but it does not include a new process for reporting and investigating assaults.
Instead, people who wish to report a sexual assault by a student are referred to the existing code-of-conduct process, while complaints about faculty or staff are to be reported to their administrative heads.
Kirchmeier said the current process is broken and the draft policy doesnt fix the problems raised in her complaint to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal. She said victims need a clear road map that outlines what will unfold after they report an attack.
Its one of the ways you can reduce trauma, she said. This policy does not tell a victim what is going to happen, and as a result it will not encourage people to report.
The draft policy was written by a 12-member committee of staff, faculty and students and presented at a meeting on Tuesday. It will be open for public comment after its submitted to the board of governors next week.
Sara-Jane Finlay, UBCs associate vice-president of equity and inclusion, said the policy could be amended to include a new stand-alone process for sexual assaults after the public consultation period wraps in the fall.
It wouldnt be appropriate for us to create a new process as part of the policy. That needs to happen separately and be dictated by operational need, she said. That may very well occur, and then the policy itself will be amended.
The committee expects to meet in October to redraw the policy based on public feedback, with the final version going to the board in December, she said.
B.C. recently passed a law requiring universities to have sexual assault policies, which comes into effect next May. UBCs draft policy acknowledges that some changes may be needed as a result of the legislation.
The dense, six-page document also details confidentiality and privacy obligations, citing B.C.s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
People who report sexual assaults have the right to know the outcome of the investigation, but not the details of any disciplinary action taken against their alleged assailant, unless sharing the information is necessary to protect the complainants health and safety, the document says.
Wayne MacKay, a Dalhousie University law professor who led a report on the 2013 rape chants at Saint Marys University in Halifax, said UBCs draft policy had some good elements.
He praised the university for noting that people of all gender identities and sexual orientations can experience assaults, and for carefully defining key terms, including sexual assault and consent.
But he said the amended version should either set out stand-alone reporting procedures for sexual assaults, or at least include the student code-of-conduct procedures as an appendix.
At a minimum they have to be included, but I think there should also be a consideration of whether those general student misconduct policies are appropriate to the relatively unique aspects of sexual assault.
Follow @ellekane on Twitter.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2016 (2331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
CALGARY The University of Calgary says it paid a ransom of $20,000 demanded after a recent cyberattack to preserve an option to restore critical research data.
The school said in a news release Tuesday that staff were able to isolate some of the attack and were working to ensure its computer systems are operational.
Linda Dalgetty, a university vice-president, said theres no indication that any personal data was released to the public.
Dalgetty said while its unfortunate to pay the ransom, the university could not risk losing critical data.
We are a research institution, we are conducting world-class research daily and we dont know what we dont know in terms of whos been impacted. The last thing we want to do is lose someones lifes work, she said.
This type of attack involves an unknown cyber-attacker locking or encrypting computers or computer networks until a ransom is paid. Once it is, keys, or methods of decryption, are provided.
The attacks started at the end of May and also locked staff, students and faculty out of their emails. The universitys IT department was able to restore those.
Now that a ransom has been paid, the university hopes it can regain control of its systems quickly.
Calgary police say they are investigating.
The Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre issued a joint alert with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security earlier this year warning about the proliferation of ransomware.
It estimates that there were more than 1,600 ransomware attacks per day in 2015 against Canadians.
This attack is part of a disturbing global trend of highly sophisticated and malicious malware attacks against organizations including NASA, law enforcement agencies and large health-care institutions, the university said.
The university is working with various experts in this field We thank students, faculty and staff for their tremendous patience and understanding as we continue to work through this very challenging issue.
(CTV Calgary, The Canadian Press)
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version said the ransom was paid to restore access to email.
Opinion
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2016 (2331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
TORONTO At the recent Conservative party policy convention, members gathered in Vancouver to say goodbye to former prime minister Stephen Harpers near-decade of strong leadership, and hello to a new, with-it political party.
That was the goal, anyway. Did it succeed?
During the convention, Tories tweaked several long-standing policy positions in different directions. The party now supports a peace officers right to issue a ticket for simple possession of small quantities of marijuana, for example. They backed conscience rights for doctors, nurses and other health-care professionals who refuse to perform medical procedures such as abortion and euthanasia due to their own beliefs. There was strong support for right-to-work legislation to reduce union control.
An important additional phrase a belief in the value and dignity of all human life was also added to the partys governing principles. While some Tory critics, and reportedly a party delegate, mumbled that it had social conservative connotations, it really doesnt. The statement should not be objectionable to anyone who treasures the basic principles of freedom, liberty and democracy.
The biggest issue that had some Tory supporters crowing, however, was the change in party policy on same-sex marriage.
Even though Canada legalized same-sex marriage in July 2005, the Conservative party constitution defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman. This policy was struck down in Vancouver by a vote of 1,036 to 462. All of the provinces and territories, except Saskatchewan, voted in favour of a neutral position on marriage.
The political left treated this decision in its usual mocking tone. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told delegates to the Liberal party conference in Winnipeg: Better late than never. Who knows? Ten years from now, they might finally be willing to admit that climate change is real. Or that tax cuts for rich people dont help the middle class. Or that government shouldnt legislate what women can wear on their heads.
Trudeaus derogatory remarks aside, its clear that Conservative party members missed a few things.
First, a significant number of Tories havent paid close attention to the partys traditional marriage policy since the Liberals forced our nation to accept same-sex marriage more than a decade ago. Second, younger Conservatives in particular, millennials are heavily supportive of gay couples getting married in Canada and beyond. Third, there are small-c conservatives who, like me, still oppose same-sex marriage but dont feel the need or desire to reopen these political war wounds again.
In other words, many Tories have either willingly or begrudgingly accepted the fact that the battle for marriage is over and they lost. There are other important battles that need to be fought, and the party must focus its time and energies on them.
Fred Litwin, a Conservative activist who runs the blog Gay and Right, told Daily Xtra on May 28, Its cleaning up a remnant that needed to be cleaned up. Litwin, who also organizes the biannual Fabulous Blue Tent Party with Roy Eappen and Jamie Ellerton, makes a very good point. What made sense as policy in the past no longer does in the present, which means its time to adjust things.
Hence, the main selling feature for the recent Tory policy convention was a success, for the most part.
It is unclear, however, whether some of the holdout social conservatives accept the Tories shift on same-sex marriage, and adjustments to other policy changes.
Theres an element of frustration over the watering down of social conservatism and traditional family values. Its true that their political options are limited, and a massive shift to smaller outfits such as the Christian Heritage Party is unlikely. However, social conservatives could sit at home in record numbers and cause damage to the party in several key ridings.
Well see what happens.
Columnist and political commentator Michael Taube was a speechwriter for former prime minister Stephen Harper. His column previously appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press.
Troy Media
Opinion
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2016 (2331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
This is life-and-death legislation, this isnt tax code or fisheries licences. Lets get it right the first time, as best we can.
Sen. David Wells
The former Conservative government under then-prime minister Stephen Harper was often pummelled by pundits, the press and those in opposition for championing poorly-crafted legislation that had no chance of surviving a challenge in the Supreme Court.
Unfortunately, the new Liberal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seems to be reading from the same playbook.
Today, members of the Canadian Senate will once again resume debate on Bill C-14, the federal governments contentious legislation on medically assisted dying that has come under fire from experts on the Constitution and from several senators.
The resumption of Senate deliberation today comes one day after the Supreme Court of Canadas deadline for the government to pass this legislation came and went, meaning that this country currently operates within a legal vacuum on the matter.
The top courts landmark ruling in 2015 known as the Carter decision struck down Canadas ban on assisted dying, reasoning that the ban was a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The court had initially given the federal government one year to enact new legislation while it suspended its decision. Once elected, the new Liberal government gained a four-month extension from the court to further study the legal ruling and to craft new legislation.
Bill C-14 was pushed through the House of Commons last month as Liberal MPs were not allowed a free vote on the legislation. Yet now as it sits before the Senate, there is no guarantee it will pass without significant alteration.
As constitutional authority Peter Hogg told The Canadian Press this month, Bill C-14 is inconsistent with the guidelines set out by the Carter decision, which directed that Canadians suffering from a broad range of conditions and illnesses should have access to medically-assisted death. The decision stated that consenting adults with grievous and irremediable conditions have the right to seek medical help to end their lives.
But, as The Canadian Press reports, Bill C-14 is far more restrictive in its eligibility criteria, and would only allow assisted dying for those suffering from an advanced stage of irreversible decline from an incurable disease, and for whom natural death is reasonably foreseeable.
People suffering from something other than an end-of-life condition, no matter how painful or difficult, would be excluded under the present form of the bill. And for that reason, Hogg says Bill C-14 is legally useless.
It is incredible to me that the court in Carter, when it called for legislation by Parliament consistent with the constitutional parameters set out in these reasons, was envisaging legislation that would narrow the class of entitled persons.
Essentially, the Carter decision made medically assisted death accessible to all Canadians, and made it legal for consenting physicians to aid their patients in administering the service, should they agree to. The federal government was only asked to create a framework that would protect the countrys most vulnerable citizens from coercion.
Curiously, its the Senate, not the House of Commons, that has given the bill its most thorough examination, with independent-minded senators expressing misgivings about rubber-stamping legislation that would restrict access to medically assisted death.
How ironic that Canadas much-derided upper chamber which Trudeau has called upon to act as the house of sober second thought that it was intended to be may yet save the Liberals from their own poor craftsmanship. Bill C-14 should be knocked back to the House of Commons with amendments that make it fall in line with the Supreme Courts dictum.
Last Friday, the Senate voted to send the bill to a committee on legal and constitutional affairs for further study. We suggest that Sen. Wells colleagues take his words to heart and show Canadians what the upper house can do when it has the will to do it.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/06/2016 (2331 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
ANTIOCH, Calif. A small-town crowd chuckled as Bill Clintons warmup act mused about the unique role hes poised to play in American history.
They were reminded that the man approaching the stage could inaugurate a new term in the countrys political vocabulary one for the husband of a U.S. president.
Barring a stunning, arithmetic-bending turn of events, Hillary Clinton has clinched the Democratic nomination to become the first female major-party candidate for president.
Bill Clinton speaks to the crowd at Democratic campaign a rally to support wife Hillary Clinton, in Antioch, Calif., on Monday, June 6, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Alex Panetta
On the eve of the last big primaries, her husband worked five rallies.
The world has never known the term the first gentleman of the United States, said Chris Williams, a pastor who spoke before him at one rally in a schoolyard.
Back in 93 Hillary had the opportunity to pick the paints and the colours and the floor patterns and the things that she wanted in the living quarters of the White House.
This time Bill will have the opportunity of picking the stripes and the solids of the things he wants.
The 42nd president then took the stage.
More precisely, he climbed atop a pickup truck. If his wife was approaching history, he rode toward it on a flatbed. Hundreds of kilometres away from Hillary Clintons campaign events in southern California, the ex-president spoke from vehicles at multiple stops Monday in the northern part of the state.
This man who once hosted international summits was making his closing pitch in small venues so intimate that people who wandered in got bottled water instead of a security pat-down.
I once had this job that shes running for, Clinton said, drawing cheers.
Heres what I want to say about that.
The inveterate campaigner proceeded to make the case for his spouse on three grounds: her better plan to help the middle class, her knowledge and experience, and a track record of working with Republicans in Congress.
His frame is thinner now, following a heart bypass and veganism. So is his voice. The occasional, toady staccato of yesteryear has given way to a more prolonged hoarseness.
But the ability to tell a story from a stage its still there.
Clinton delivered an extended riff on Donald Trumps campaign slogan, Make America Great Again, weaving personal anecdote with public policy to prosecute his case against the Republican nominee.
He suggested the opponents slogan was a racial dog-whistle: Thats a code word. Im a white southerner. I know.
What it really means is, Ill make America great like it was 50 years ago.'
The past economy wasnt so good for women, and many families, and African-Americans, he said. Instead of re-creating yesterdays economy, he said, why not embrace modern opportunity?
To illustrate that, he described meeting a brilliant young researcher from coal country whos working on nanosatellites and who predicts that within a few years 3D printers will produce dirt-cheap solar panels and provide far easier access to power than coal. He marvelled at the age of his young interlocutor: Nineeteen years old.
Trump, meanwhile, promises to restore lost coal jobs.
A few hundred people cheered him on, Bill! Bill! Bill! Outside the schoolyard, a couple of hecklers shouted. One hollered the nickname stuck upon him in past scandals: Slick Willie!
Spectators said theyd forgiven misdeeds like the myriad infidelities that had caused the likely 2016 nominee such pain and public humiliation.
I dont want to get biblical on you. But all have sinned and fallen short of Gods glory, said supporter Odesla Browning.
Hes awesome. He always has been. Hes never at a loss for words. He knows what to say.
Some in the audience winced when the introductory speaker stumbled a couple of times over one word: Rodham. The pastor pronounced it, Rodman.
Its the name the likely nominee gave up in Arkansas. Her refusal to take her husbands name had harmed his gubernatorial career. Some of her friends lamented the choice because they viewed her as the brighter political star.
Now shell be a presidential nominee.
In the audience Deb Tellier celebrated the moment. Shes a lawyer like Hillary Clinton, and recalls the sexism in their profession when they started out: I think its a seminal mark for our country the fact that a woman can aspire to, and actually be, president.
Up on the pickup truck, the would-be first first gentleman took another swipe at Trumps pining for the past.
Getting yesterdays economy is like trying to be young again, Clinton said.
Thats like me saying Id like to be 25 again. I would. Id rather be 25 again. Id like to see whats gonna happen. But its not gonna happen.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has revealed that 12 Closure Orders were issued on food businesses in May.
The Closure Orders were issued by environmental health officers in the Health Service Executive (HSE) for breaches of food safety legislation, pursuant to the FSAI Act, 1998 and the EC (Official Control of Foodstuffs) Regulations, 2010.
Six Closure Orders were served under the FSAI Act, 1998 on:
Syrian Foods (food stall), 14 Creagh Woods, Gorey, Wexford
Chens Chinese Take Away, Parnell Street, Mountmellick, Laois
Centra Lower William Street (supermarket), 9 William Street, Limerick
Mr Simms Old Sweet Shoppe (sweet shop), 59 Dame Street, Dublin 2
Lal Quila (restaurant), Tramway Terrace, Douglas Village, Douglas, Cork
China Kitchen (restaurant), Market Place, Clonmel, Tipperary
Six Closure Orders were served under the EC (Official Control of Foodstuffs) Regulations, 2010 on:
Paddy Jack food stall (Closed activity: cooking of raw meat), Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, Dublin 2
Kashmir Kebab House (take away), 15 Davis Street, Limerick
New Curry House (take away), 62 Newcastle Road Lower, Galway
The Nest (pre-school) (Closed activity: use of the main kitchen at the rear of the premises), Block C, Brabazon Hall, Ardee Street, Dublin 8
Caoch O'Leary (public house), Ballacolla, Laois
El Grito (restaurant), (Closed activity: preparation of raw kebabs), 3 Merchants Arch, Temple Bar, Dublin 2
It is particularly important during the summer months that all food businesses adhere to the strictest food safety measures, said FSAI chief executive Dr Pamela Byrne.
A rise in temperature during warm weather increases the potential for the bugs to multiply which can cause food poisoning.
It is vital that food is chilled and stored at the correct temperature in line with best food safety practices.
All food businesses must have robust food safety management systems in place to ensure the highest protection for their customers.
We advise all food businesses, to ensure they are prepared for the increase in temperature and that all staff are trained to ensure that best food safety procedures are understood and applied.
People are being urged to check if they are eligible to vote in the upcoming UK Brexit referendum.
Irish people born in Britain may be eligible to vote on June 23rd.
Five units of the Dublin Fire Brigade were called to a major fire at a 10-bedroom house last night thought to be owned by Nama.
The alarm was raised just after 7pm after a blaze broke out at the unoccupied home in Rathcoole.
A review of cardiology services at University Hospital Waterford will take place tomorrow and Thursday.
Junior Minister John Halligan confirmed that a consultant cardiologist will travel to the hospital from the Belfast HSC Trust.
The Waterford TD said there is a clear case for a second catheterization lab at the hospital.
A review of services at University Hospital Waterford was one of the conditions Minister Halligan wanted in exchange for his support of the government.
A 43-year-old woman, who is accused of withholding information from Gardai investigating last month's gang murder of Gareth Hutch in Dublin, has been further remanded in custody.
Father-of-one Gareth Hutch, aged 35, a nephew of Gerry the Monk Hutch, was shot dead as he was getting into his car outside Avondale House flats, where he lived, on North Cumberland Street in inner city Dublin, on the morning of May 24.
Mary McDonnell with an address at Avondale House, North Cumberland Street is charged with failing without reasonable excuse to disclose information to the Gardai, as soon as was practicable, information she knew or believed might be of material assistance in securing the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of any other person for a serious offence.
The charge is under Section 9 of the Offences Against the State Act and the offence is alleged to have happened at an address at Avondale House on May 24 last.
She faced her second hearing at Dublin District Court today when she was further remanded in custody to appear again next week. There was no bail application.
At her first hearing, on May 31, Garda Sgt Enda O'Sullivan told the woman, who has been granted legal aid, made no reply to the charge after caution
A second man is also before the court on a charge connected to Mr Hutch's death. Last week, Thomas Fox, who has an address at Rutland Court, in north inner city Dublin, was charged with unlawful possession of a Makarov 9mm handgun at Avondale House on May 23, a day before the shooting.
The charge is contrary to section 27A of the Firearms Act which can carry a sentence of up to 14 years. Neither defendant has indicated how they will plead.
Meryl Streep made use of a spray tan, fake belly and an oversized red tie to get in character for her latest role, Donald Trump.
The three-time Oscar winner took the stage in New York as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee during a gala benefit for the Public Theatre, the New York Times said.
Looking for something to get you through that mid week slump tomorrow?
Well, (if youre in Dublin) look no further - Riverdance are giving a free performance outside the Gaiety Theatre at midday.
A Japanese boy who was found nearly a week after he was abandoned in a forest by his parents as a punishment has been released from hospital.
Seven-year-old Yamato Tanooka was met with flashing cameras and cheers from dozens of people when he appeared at the hospital entrance in the city of Hakodate on the northern island of Hokkaido.
He responded by waving to the crowd.
When asked how he was feeling, he said: "I am fine."
Shunsuke Kudo, an assistant section chief for the Hokkaido police department public relations division, said the police were not intending to press charges against his parents for child neglect.
Kudo said the police were considering reporting the case to a children's welfare centre.
Yamato was found in a military training ground hut on Friday, six days after he was reported missing.
Japanese media said the boy had suffered only light dehydration and minor bruises on an arm and both of his legs, even though he had not eaten and drunk only water.
Several media reports said the police will not press charges against his parents for child neglect, but the Hokkaido police department would not confirm the reports.
His parents reported Yamato missing on May 29, initially telling police their son disappeared while they were collecting plants in the forest.
Later his father, Takayuki Tanooka, said he had planned to leave Yamato briefly in the forest as punishment because the boy had been throwing rocks at people and cars at a river earlier that day.
The punishment drew public scrutiny, generating debate in Japan over what is considered to be excessive in disciplining children.
Mr Tanooka told reporters after his son was found that he regretted his action.
MANILA: The use of LNG imports for power generation in the Philippines next year should not be a disincentive for...
LONDON: Rishi Sunak on Tuesday became Britains third prime minister this year and the first person of colour to...
LAGOS: More than 600 people are now known to have perished in the worst floods in a decade in Nigeria, according to...
KYIV, Ukraine: Seven civilians have been killed and three injured in the Ukraine city of Bakhmut in the eastern...
Chief Minister Andrew Barr has delivered an election-year rates breather to home owners in Tuesday's budget, but there is a sting in the tail for owners of units.
Rates will rise an average 4.5 per cent from July, a significant let-up on the 9 and 10 per cent rises of recent years. Rates rises resume an annual 7 per cent increase each year from 2017-18.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr: A festival of finance. Credit:Elesa Kurtz
But owners of units will be hit with a 20 per cent average increase in rates in 2017-18 and more still in the following year, after Mr Barr unveiled his new five-year tax plan.
All home owners will pay a "safer families levy" of $30 a household this year on their rates bills, used for domestic violence measures.
Monday's column's item about the colossal Burroughs 5500 computer installed at the Canberra College of Advanced Education in 1970 http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-life/ganggang-1927-teetotal-canberra-drives-visitors-to-drink-20160602-gpal0v.html has triggered reminiscences in mature-age listeners.
Our item made hay with the way in which today we have computers we carry around in our pockets that do all and more than the vaunted Burroughs 5500 was able to do in 1970. It was a Goliath of a thing with 20 contributing contraptions. It needed a (uniformed) staff of several to operate it. It was fabulously expensive. The CCAE, flinching at its purchase price, leased it from Burroughs for $250,000. Today even working-class citizens can afford a computer of their own, one that fits in a pocket or on a lap.
Canadian WW1 recruiting poster for Highlanders.
Fredrik Limacher reminisces that "Seeing your picture of a B5500 in Monday's paper sent my mind reeling back through the years to one of the first computers in the region, the Elliott 405 of the Snowy Mountains Authority. The genesis of that beast lingers in my memory".
"In 1957 I was fresh out of the services and had some computing experience ... I joined Elliott Bros [of London] to help build computers ..."
Lawyers for former deputy chief minister David Lamont have attempted to force journalists, opposing lawyers and opposition leader Jeremy Hanson to hand over any documents that show ex-Brumbies chief Michael Jones shared a suppressed report.
Mr Jones settled his dispute with the Brumbies over his dismissal last month.
Fight continues: Former Brumbies chief executive Michael Jones. Credit:Rohan Thomson
But he pushed ahead with his case against the University of Canberra and others, alleging they pressured the board to stand him down for blowing the whistle on financial irregularities with the sale of land in Griffith.
The KPMG report at the centre of the angst remains under a suppression order by Justice Richard Refshauge and part of an ongoing AFP investigation.
Weaker global economic conditions and political uncertainty are creating subdued conditions for investment banking, and 2016 will not be a "knock-out" year, says the local arm of Morgan Stanley.
Accounts filed with the corporate regulator by the US giant's Australian investment banking unit show it made a $26.1 million profit in 2015, after a $7 million loss in 2014.
Morgan Stanley says deals are taking longer to close than last year. Credit:Mark Lennihan
However, head of investment banking in Australia, Richard Wagner, said the rate at which deals were being executed so far this year was slower than last year, due mainly to the softer economic climate.
"There's a very healthy level of deal activity and execution, but completion rates are lower than what we've witnessed in 2015. There is a decent backlog of transactions which are proving slower to execute than last year," Mr Wagner said.
Property developer and funds manager Charter Hall has further cemented its relationship with supermarket giant Woolworths adding the retailer's new purpose-built $215 million distribution centre to its industrial portfolio.
Charter Hall will own the yet-to-be-built facility via a fund-through arrangement with Woolworths who will construct the distribution centre on land purchased from property developer Salta Properties in Dandenong, a key industrial area south-east of Melbourne.
An artist's impression of Woolworths new distribution centre in Dandenong South.
The deal came as the group announced it will list a new fund called Long WALE REIT on the Australian stock exchange.
The new REIT was aimed at investors seeking stable cash flow and would generate income from management fees, chief executive David Harrison said.
Fighting for a space in an Ikea carpark on the weekend and navigating its maze-like stores may soon become a thing of the past.
Ikea, one of the last major retailers to embrace e-commerce, will start testing an online retail store in Australia by the end of calendar 2016, ahead of the launch of a global online platform within the next two years.
Ikea Australia will establish on online portal within the next six months and start testing different fulfilment models in several urban locations, including a small format IKEA store and pickup point, an unbranded pick-up point and a third-party depot similar to one already operating in Tasmania.
Country managing director David Hood believes the online store could eventually become Ikea's largest outlet in Australia, where sales will rise around 20 per cent this year, passing the $1 billion mark for the first time.
Forget the romantic notion of a starving artist freezing in his or her garret (as if they could afford such an architectural feature these days).
If the Australian Greens have their way, the nation's creatives will be more likely to be able to afford food, rent and maybe even heating under its plan for a living wage for artists.
Vincent Van Gogh's 1888 painting Bedroom in Arles epitomises the spartan artist's garret. Credit: Musee d'Orsay
The election promise will be announced by Greens Arts spokesman Adam Bandt during a debate in Melbourne on Wednesday with Arts Minister Mitch Fifield and Labor arts spokesman Mark Dreyfus.
Conservative columnist Andrew Bolt knew Bronwyn Bishop was going to resign before she had spoken to Tony Abbott and accepted her fate, the former Speaker has claimed.
Mrs Bishop gave the rare insight into her removal as Speaker from her point of view during a heated appearance on Bolt's show on Sky News on Tuesday evening.
Bolt accused Mrs Bishop of "betraying" Mr Abbott and repeatedly demanded an explanation as to why she turned on the former prime minister to support Malcolm Turnbull in last year's leadership coup.
Labor's treasury spokesman Chris Bowen says a Labor government would return the budget to balance in the same year as the Coalition, but concedes the deficit would be worse off over the next four years.
Campaigning on Wednesday will be dominated by economic management, with Labor releasing a 10-year economic plan and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull attacking Bill Shorten as the "most left-wing, anti-business" Labor leader in a generation.
Revealing the opposition's budget timeline, Mr Bowen told ABC Radio: "Based on the government's figures, we would get back to budget balance in the same year as the government, 2020-2021.
Still cleaning up from the weekend's devastating storms, NSW communities were visited by the campaigns of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten on Tuesday, with both leaders praising the emergency services as well as the resilience and camaraderie of locals.
When a political circus rolls into a disaster zone you'd be forgiven for thinking it's the last thing victims want as they pick up the pieces of their lives.
But Picton, dealing with the aftermath of a storm that turned the main street into a waist-deep river, welcomed the Prime Minister and his entourage with open arms.
The union movement has launched a robocall campaign to undermine assistant treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer over superannuation changes, in a move that could help the Greens in their attempt to hijack the once blue-ribbon Liberal seat of Higgins.
Thousands of voters in Higgins on Monday night received a pre-recorded robocall message to their private mobile and home telephone numbers from "Trish, calling you on behalf of Australian unions".
The message was funded by the ACTU and urged voters to "put the Liberals last" at the federal election.
Bright, an Australian who was fighting with the Kurds, was therefore effectively shoulder-to-shoulder with troops from our closest ally, and yet he could have been jailed for life under Australia's foreign incursions laws, which prohibit entering a foreign country to engage in hostilities unless it is with the armed forces of the country's government.
US special operations forces have been in this area for months, helping local Kurds and Arab opposition fighters beat the jihadists back towards their de facto capital, al-Raqqa.
Jamie Bright was shot dead by an Islamic State fighter near the town of al-Shaddadi, in north-eastern Syria.
It is an contradiction that is coming under increasing scrutiny as the Syrian civil war grinds on and cases such as Bright's come to attention. The next Parliament should review these laws to see how they can better distinguish between armed groups that threat us and those that don't, and thereby better reflect Australia's values.
From left: Andrew Bright (Jamie Bright's brother, of Wanniassa), Faye-Marie Kenny (his mother, of NSW) and Leah Nadenbousch (sister, of WA), with a portrait of Bright. Credit:Karleen Minney
It is just wrong that someone like Bright could have faced the same prosecution as Islamic State supporters.
The painstaking agnosticism of foreign incursions stems from the preference in Canberra for the law not to take sides in its approach to foreign actors such as governments or non-state groups.
Why, this argument goes, should the vicissitudes of Australia's foreign policy mean that one group of people breaks the law while another doesn't? Our foreign policy often reflects our interests rather than our values, and while these would be the same in an ideal world, we all know this is not an ideal world.
A US lobby group has released a volley of attack ads targeting Australia's plain packaging laws complete with a dubious Australian accent and copious use of permanent markers that have left policy advisers and viewers in stitches.
"In life, not everything you hear is always true" is the very prescient opening line of a three-and-a-half minute Youtube clip posted by the Property Rights Alliance.
"Especially regarding Australia's plain packaging experiment," or rather "ploin pickaging ex-spearmint", warns the voice over that appears to be attempting an Australian accent.
National plain packaging laws introduced in 2011 are an attack on "liberty" and the "very core of free societies" according to the advocacy group for intellectual property rights, which accuses the Australian government of hood winking the public by touting the success of its anti-smoking policies.
The body of a woman has been pulled from the water in Sydney's east after it was discovered in a search for a separate person who was missing since Monday afternoon.
Police and emergency services began combing the water off South Bondi at 2.30pm yesterday after a man was seen jumping into the choppy waves at the closed beach.
Water police and surf life savers search off the coast near Bondi on Tuesday. Credit:Peter Rae
The search for the man, who is believed to be an American student studying in Sydney, was called off overnight but resumed at first light on Tuesday.
At around 2.15pm, rescuers became focused at Dover Heights, north of Bondi, after reports a body had been spotted floating in the water off the coast of Hunter Street.
The Sydney silk acting for Eddie Obeid in his criminal trial has told jurors it would be "stretching the evidence" to conclude the former NSW Labor minister engaged in criminal conduct.
Mr Obeid, 72, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of misconduct in public office stemming from his family's business dealings at Circular Quay.
Eddie Obeid at the Darlinghust Supreme Court on Monday. Credit:Edwina Pickles
On the second day of his three-week trial, Mr Obeid's barrister, Brad Hughes, SC, delivered an opening address to the jury challenging allegations the upper house MP used his office improperly for the benefit of his family.
Workplace Health and Safety officers have launched an investigation into how a crane toppled into a building in South Brisbane as efforts continue to move it off the road.
Traffic on busy Grey Street is being diverted around the crane, which is on its side with part of its boom still resting in Griffith University's Queensland College of Art where it crashed through the facade earlier on Tuesday.
Police have diversions in place around the scene with traffic being moved on to Vulture Street and Tribune Street with the extraction of the crane expected to continue until the early hours of Wednesday morning.
In the meantime, officers from Workplace Health and Safety, who visited the scene when the incident happened, have launched an investigation to ascertain how it occurred.
Gold Coast beaches will reopen after days of closures due to the wild weather which has lashed Australia's east coast.
All beaches on the tourist strip will open at 8am on Wednesday, although lifeguards will shut some beaches if conditions get rough.
Gold Coast beaches had been shut for four straight days amid wild weather. Credit:Jessica Hromas
"We do ask beachgoers to stay close to shore in the flagged areas," the Gold Coast City Council said in a statement.
"Lifeguards will continue to assess beach areas individually throughout the day and some beaches may be closed if conditions deteriorate."
A video of a man in dangerous sea foam at a Gold Coast beach on Sunday has reached worldwide audiences on day four of beach closures along Queensland's glitter strip.
Coolangatta local Greg Leyson's video of a man standing in dangerous surf foam at Froggys Beach, near surfing hotspot Snapper Rocks, on Sunday reached worldwide audiences on Tuesday.
The video, which has been viewed more than 32,000 times, shows just how dangerous conditions were over the weekend as mammoth 4.5 metre waves hit the Gold Coast.
Mr Leyson said he had just "thrown his camera in his pocket" and was walking along the walking trail at Coolangatta to check out the damage when he came across what he has dubbed "Foam man".
Queensland could look to creating more state parks or setting aside large tracts of vegetation from development as it looks to save the dwindling south-east koala population.
A University of Queensland report found the state had all but lost the battle to save koalas using existing protection measures which essentially worked on protecting small pockets of habitat within urban areas with populations continuing to decline.
Queensland could look to lock up more land as State Parks to save SEQ koala populations Credit:Mark Baker
In announcing $12.1 million in funding over four years to help protect koalas with the spending to be determined by an expert panel which will include Associate Professor Jonathan Rhodes who led the report detailing the failures Environment Minister Steven Miles said it was time for a change in thinking.
Part of that change is the set down of on-going funding, which means panel members can count on $2.6 million a year even once the $12.1 million over the next four years runs out at least until there is a change in government.
A year nine student at an exclusive Brisbane catholic school has been busted with a quantity of drugs.
Police raided the St Laurence's student's locker on Wednesday last week and discovered "small" amount of cannabis.
A year nine student at St Laurence's was busted with a quantity of cannabis. Credit:Rohan Thomson
Fairfax Media has been told the teen had enough drugs to share and received a one-day suspension after the cannabis was discovered in his locker.
But the school refused to respond to Fairfax Media's questions, including whether a one-day suspension was adequate in this case.
Tony Faddell's recent decision to step down from the helm of Nest came as a surprise, but not a big one. The problems specific to the smart appliance company - which is owned by Google - have been well-documented. But the questions that now loom over Nest aren't isolated to this one firm, but over the entire smart home industry in general. The fridge manager on a Samsung Electronics Family Hub fridge freezer. Credit:Bloomberg Nest, after all, was supposed to be the trailblazer that led us to the smart home revolution. When Google put down $US3.2 billion to buy it in 2014, it appeared to make sense - Google was already running our online lives, and this would give the company a way to run our offline lives as well. (Or, I suppose more accurately, make our offline lives become part of our online lives.) The charismatic Fadell seemed to be the right pioneer, given his product experience at Apple which he could apply to Google's more open computing vision. But Nest proved to be a less-than-ideal poster child.
It was slow to put out products. When it did, it wasn't always a success. The company's Nest Protect smoke alarm hit early problems that required the company to disable its most innovative feature - the ability to wave your hand under the detector to stop the alarm. (It was a particularly attractive feature for bad or at least smoke-heavy cooks.) The company also fielded very public complaints about faulty software that, as The New York Times reported, literally left people in the cold. Then, this year, Nest announced that it would stop supporting the Revolv, a smart home hub that it acquired along with a smart appliance firm of the same name in 2014. All of these announcements served, in some capacity, to highlight problems consumers are having with the smart home market. It sounds pretty great to have thermostats, light bulbs, ovens and security systems that anticipate our every move. The reality has been something less wonderful - a fractured market of occasionally buggy appliances that work with some, but not all, of the systems out there. And, perhaps most tellingly, despite the public problems Nest was facing, no single company has positioned itself as an alternative. So beyond the early adopters, consumers right now are having some trouble getting on-board the smart home express. For people who don't have the time to sort out whether their light bulb will talk to their smart speaker - and to come up with passwords for all those accounts - the smart home still seems to be part of a fictional "Jetsons"-esque future.
Associate professor Martin Hirst also tweeted a photo of his knitted "f--k it" beanie and said "You need this beanie. I've got mine on today, it's a subtle hint to your boss."
Deakin University has suspended a journalism lecturer after he tweeted that Sky News viewers were "masturbating chimps" and asked a commerce student whether he was happy to fail.
The outspoken academic was charged with serious misconduct on April 20, and is now fighting to get his job back. He has been on leave without pay for seven weeks.
He is the second Victorian academic who has recently come under fire due to allegedly inappropriate social media posts.
Safe Schools co-founder and La Trobe University academic Roz Ward returned to work on Monday after she was temporarily suspended for calling the Australian flag "racist" on her private Facebook page, and saying it should be replaced with a red flag.
It is understood that the university said three tweets published by Dr Hirst in March were offensive, insulting and potentially damaged the university's reputation.
A man, who may have been masturbating as he walked around a shopping centre, has sexually assaulted a teenage girl in Melbourne's north-east.
The man, aged in his mid-20s, followed the 16-year-old into one of the shops at the South Morang centre, where he attacked her about 4.30pm on Sunday.
CCTV image of a man police would like to speak to in relation to a sexual assault in South Morang on Sunday. Credit:Victoria Police
He then followed her out of the shop into the food court where she had gone to seek refuge.
The teen lost sight of the man near one of the food outlets.
Another controversial development in South PErth blocks light to a neighbour's balcony. Credit:Emma Young 'Serious conflicts' over high-profile developments have been the recent focus of public debate. Ms Matheson said developers' exclusive access to the tribunal meant DAPs had little clout. Planning expert Ian Macrae presents research to a public forum raising concerns about DAPs' efficiency. Credit:Emma Young "If they refuse it on council recommendations the developer appeals to the SAT which will then mediate, in secret, an outcome between the developer and the DAP," she said.
"Then the DAP will hold a meeting and approve the development. This South Perth apartment block will be boxed in by a zero-setback development after a contested decision by one of the DAP panels. Credit:Paul Ruthven "An unaccountable, unelected system is making decisions." She said Perth communities were not anti-development but many, such as South Perth, had suffered an "intense" loss of amenity. Ms Matheson will write to WA councillors to seek support before the August 3 WALGA meeting.
"Together we can prevail and get a good planning system in place, instead of one that takes control from the community and its elected members," she said. DAPs were introduced in imitation of the eastern states, to address a belief that "not-in-my-backyard" issues were slowing progress. They were also intended to improve efficiency, and the government says they have facilitated $30 billion in development. But developers appeal 14 per cent of DAP decisions to the SAT. Mayor Hipkins said WA was the last state to adopt the system and Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland had all now changed their systems to a ministerial call-in for projects of state significance.
"In New South Wales the threshold for a DAP to consider an application is $20 million in Perth it's the opposite, dropping from $7 million to allow any developer with a project of $2 million or more to opt-in," he said. WALGA research, presented by former Local Government Planning Association president Ian MacRae at a public forum, said average decision times had blown out from 76 days in 2011 to 95 in 2015. The research showed up to two-thirds of development applications, that would formerly have been dealt with by council staffers, were now going through full DAP. There has been a 20 per cent rise in development application fees to pay for the experts' time. Costs to the taxpayer, including establishment of a DAPs unit in the Department of Planning, had risen from $700,000 to more than $2 million. The SAT appeals also cost the state money.
Mr MacRae said the appeals stampede showed developers' disappointment that a hoped-for "open season" had not eventuated. He said what the state government had taken for time-wasting was actually necessary negotiation between council officers and applicants. DAPs systems did not allow for this, unless decisions were deferred and a new meeting arranged, which all meant more time and expense deferrals had also skyrocketed from a couple a year to 37 last year. "So DAPs have resulted in delays, greater costs, bureaucratic double handling and appeals. Hardly the model of good governance touted by the Government," he said. A spokeswoman for the Department of Planning said 40 per cent of DAP applications being 'opt-in' (developers spending between $2 and $7 million can choose whether they want a council or a DAP decision) showed developers' confidence in the system. More than 98 per cent of the appeals were resolved through mediation and did not require tribunal decisions.
She said decision times were largely under or close to the statutory timeframe, and changes a year ago included a "stop-the-clock" option, allowing timeframes to be 'paused' to accommodate council requests for extensions of time to submit their recommendations to DAPs. "The WALGA average approval timeframes before "stop-the-clock" did not take into consideration the number of extensions of time requested by the local government," she said. "DAPs fees are based on a cost recovery model that takes into account the estimated number of applications, travel costs and staff required to support the DAP process across a twelve-month period." Planning Minister Donna Faragher said there was no plan to abolish DAPs. She was aware of council concerns and would meet with councils, including Nedlands, to discuss them.
Australia's most senior Catholic cleric Cardinal George Pell will tender his resignation to Pope Francis on Wednesday.
But this does not mean the controversial churchman, who has given evidence three times at the child abuse royal commission, will leave his job as the Vatican's Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy - Vatican treasurer - any time soon.
Cardinal George Pell presents a cricket bat to Pope Francis after a friendly cricket match at the Vatican in October 2015. Credit:AP
Protocols introduced by the Pope in 2014 oblige cardinals to present their resignations at 75, and Dr Pell reaches this age on June 8.
However, the Pope does not have to accept Dr Pell's resignation.
Should Mrs Clinton do well enough in the primaries on Tuesday to claim the Democratic nomination, Mr Obama is likely to move swiftly to make a case for her. Hillary Clinton has fended off Bernie Sanders to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination. Credit:Bloomberg "He has indicated he wants to spend a lot of time on the campaign trail, so when it's time to do that, we'll go out guns ablazing," Jennifer Psaki, Mr Obama's communications director, said in an interview. "We are actively thinking through how to use the President on the campaign trail - what works for the nominee, what works for him, and how to utilise his strengths and his appeal." Jennifer Palmieri, Mrs Clinton's communications director, said that the former Secretary of State hoped to earn the President's endorsement and his active participation in the campaign during the northern summer and fall. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders with actress Susan Sarandon on the California State University Chico campus last week. Credit:Chico Enterprise-Record/AP
"There's no one better to lay out the two paths voters will face in the fall elections," Ms Palmieri said, "and he is particularly strong at making the economic argument for her". Obama and Clinton advisers believe that the President, who ran against Mrs Clinton in a sometimes nasty primary in 2008, can be a persuasive voice for voters who may find her difficult to relate to or who have supported the more liberal stances of Senator Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton greets supporters in Plaza Mexico, Lynwood, California, on Monday. Credit:Bloomberg "As former opponents, they have an amazing story," Ms Palmieri said, adding that it would be "hard to imagine a more convincing advocate for her". Some Democrats speculated on Monday that by discussing Mr Obama's plans to jump into the campaign fray, his team was hoping to nudge Senator Sanders from the race, signalling that the time was coming for him to abandon his bid.
Bernie Sanders at Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, California, on Sunday. Credit:AP If he is considering such a move, Senator Sanders refused to acknowledge it on Monday when reporters questioned him about what would happen should Mrs Clinton clinch the nomination this week. "Our focus right now is running and winning right here in California," he told reporters in Emeryville. Donald Trump. Credit:AP The White House argues that Mr Obama could help Mrs Clinton appeal to independent voters - particularly suburban independent women - in the Midwest, notably its northern stretch including Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Mr Obama won all three states in 2012 in part by painting Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee, as a corporate raider who would shut down factories and move jobs overseas.
Latest News Westpac joins Home Guarantee Scheme Help for home buyers starts mid-2023
CBA-owned stockbroker acknowledges court decision relating to systemic compliance failures A total remediation of $6.5 million has been paid to affected customers
New rules affecting foreign student visas, which go into effect from 1 July 2016, will be a boon for the property market, especially in Sydney and Melbourne.The Simplified Student Visa Framework (SSVF) aims to support the sustainable growth of Australias international education sector by reducing red tape. Key changes under the SSVF include reducing the number of student visa subclasses from eight to two and introducing a simplified single immigration risk framework for all international students.The head of Australia for Chinese property portal, Juwai.com, Gavin Norris , said the new framework is positive for the Australian housing market.Six out of every 10 Chinese property buying inquiries made in Australia last year were related to education, Norris said.Juwai.com sent about AU$1.6 billion of property buying inquiries to Australian vendors last year, and almost $1 billion of that value came from families who wanted to buy homes for their children to live in while studying here.Anything Australia does to increase the number of Chinese students will also increase investment in strategic areas of the real estate market that generates more construction jobs, more new housing being built and more economic growth.Last year, Chinese students made up 1 out of every four international students in Australia, and international students support about 130,000 jobs, according to research from Juwai. Norris said these statistics demonstrate the invaluable contribution foreign students have on the Australian economy.When Australia wins a foreign student, it gains tens of thousands in education fees, additional tens of thousands in retail and services spending, hundreds of thousands in a potential real estate investment and most important of all the possibility that highly educated individual will decide to stay and work here and contribute to our economy over the long term, he said.Every student who might have come here, but doesnt, could represent substantial lost benefits.The reverse is also true. Anything that discourages international property investment also risks causing adverse impacts the education industry.Norris has also praised other SSVF changes, which include trialling visa applications in Mandarin and trialling 10-year student visas.These visa changes are smart, and help Australia catch up to nations like the US, which offer similar visa terms.The most important elements are the Mandarin language applications, the 10 year validity pilot and the simplified paperwork.For the most part, these changes are about avoiding the loss of our privileged place as a destination of choice for overseas students, rather than beating the competition, Norris said.
Latest News Westpac joins Home Guarantee Scheme Help for home buyers starts mid-2023
CBA-owned stockbroker acknowledges court decision relating to systemic compliance failures A total remediation of $6.5 million has been paid to affected customers
Major mortgage and wealth franchise Yellow Brick Road (YBR) has dismissed another condemning report about mortgage brokers in the mainstream media.A column in the Herald Sun over the weekend again linked mortgage brokers to financial planners and the financial planning crisis which has rocked that industry and claimed brokers are up to their eyeballs in murky backhand commissions and sweetheart deals from the major banks.Mortgage broker, financial planner, financial planner, mortgage broker, hmmm, same same, the column read.However, the CEO of lending at YBR, Tim Brown has said it is an ignorant comparison.Comparing mortgage brokers to financial planners is like comparing apples to oranges. The system is transparent with all commissions declared in the credit proposal given to the clients, he told Australian Broker.The Yellow Brick Road Group currently has over 35 lenders on the panel and all are used at different times depending on rate or product feature, commission does not even come into play when making sure the client gets the right product.Brown also responded to claims in the Herald Sun that theres little chance of a broker recommending a loan from an independent lender outside of the big four.The big four have a pricing advantage over the smaller lenders because of scale. As an industry we have raised this with the Government and they have advised us they are happy with the competitive landscape of home loans.The Yellow Brick Road Group generally averages 25-30% of our loans written outside the big 4 banks providing increased competition to a variety of choice for consumers.According to data from YBR, home loans directed to the major banks and their subsidiaries by YBR mortgage brokers decreased in March, comprising 69% of all loans settled. Loans directed to independent lenders outside of the big four and their subsidiaries increased to 31%.Finally, Brown refuted claims by the Herald Sun columnist that loans organised through mortgage brokers have a higher default rate than other types of loans.We have yet to see any proof that substantiates the claim of higher arrears through mortgage brokers. The data we receive from lenders consistently shows us otherwise. Regardless, the banks make the credit decisions, not mortgage brokers, Brown told Australian Broker.This comes after the Australian Financial Review published a report claiming the standards in the mortgage broking industry continue to lag those in other sectors. This prompted both the MFAA and FBAA to correct these claims and defend brokers.
Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams
Board members of the semi-private organization that runs Brooklyn Bridge Park voted to approve two controversial towers at the Pier 6 end of the green space on Tuesday morning.
Members voted 124 to approve the new buildings at the end of Atlantic Avenue, with those in favor arguing the park needs the money the towers will bring to fund its upkeep especially to eliminate the tiny crustaceans slowly devouring the timber piles that hold it up.
Its our responsibility to make sure this park is funded and doesnt fall into the East River, said Henry Gutman, a board member who owns a condominium at a separate condo development in the park.
Those opposed sided with local residents, who have for years insisted that the park has plenty of cash to stay afloat, and that any extra development contravenes its pledge to only build the bare minimum needed to stay solvent.
Board members Councilman Steve Levin (DBrooklyn Heights), Zeeshan Ott a spokesman for state Sen. Daniel Squadron (DBrooklyn Heights) Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simons (DCobble Hill) appointee Michael Stinson, and Matthew Wing who is Gov. Cuomos former press secretary all voted against the towers.
Dozens of local residents showed up to the public meeting armed with placards, jeering throughout the proceedings, then slamming the board after it approved the plan.
You have permitted the greed of a few, and the arrogance of the several, to cause the loss of more precious parklands, at its most critical entrance, to the detriment of all, said Judi Francis, president of advocacy group the Brooklyn Bridge Park Defense Fund.
Influential civic group the Brooklyn Heights Association immediately vowed to sue to stop the towers.
Theres about to be a lawsuit in light of your voting today, said Heights resident Richard Ziegler, who is a partner at law firm Jenner and Block.
It wouldnt be the first suit in fact, Tuesdays vote was the culmination the last one, which was eventually settled in 2015 when city and park honchos agreed to go through a state approval process for changes they had made to the original plan for the Pier 6 development, including the addition of below-market housing.
But state officials last month refused to approve the changes amidst the ongoing spat between Mayor DeBlasio and Cuomo and a probe into Hizzoners campaign finances, leading City Hall honchos to declare they had satisfied the spirit of the law by seeking its okay and vowed to plow ahead.
On Monday, the head of the states economic development arm the Empire State Development Corporation sent a letter to the board saying he doesnt think the so-called affordable housing requires the states okay anyway.
But several pols, including Squadron and city Comptroller Scott Stringer, said they didnt agree the rules of the settlement had been satisfied, and warned it could open the whole thing up to additional legal challenges.
Todays decision by the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation to ignore the settlement agreement and push forward only increases the risk of additional litigation and is bound to escalate the animosity with the local community, said Stringers spokesman Eric Sumberg.
Reach reporter Lauren Gill at lgill @cngl ocal.com or by calling (718) 2602511. Follow her on Twitter @laurenk_gill
latest news
October 3, 2022
Dee Gambit
Hundreds if not thousands of new and returning TV shows and movies are released every month your options of what to watch are endless. Variety, they say is ...
Ben Higgins is still undecided whether hes running for a seat in the Colorado House of Representatives but all signs point to the former Bachelor star entering politics. The 28-year-old software consultant has already launched a website for supporters.
Summer 2016 Premiere Date Calendar>>>
Thank you for your support as Ben explores his opportunities to make a positive impact on his local community! reads the websites homepage in which people can sign up for updates on his campaign.
Local politics newspaper The Colorado Statesman first reported that the reality star is considering a run on the Republican ticket for the House District 4 seat. If Higgins does decide to enter politics, he would be going after the seat currently occupied by House Speaker Dan Pabon. Republicans have already nominated Willie Pinkston to run against Pabon, who was arrested for suspicion of DUI on St. Patricks Day. However, Pinkston plans to give way for Higgins nomination.
However, Higgins, who is engaged to season 20 winner Lauren Bushnell, says he hasnt made up his mind.
Whatever lies ahead, love, grace, and hope are ideals that guide my life. I will take them with me into my next adventure, Higgins said in a statement. Lauren and I arent sure yet what that will be, but in terms of representing House District 4, Willie Pinkston is an amazing person and any decision I make regarding entering the race will be based on what is best for Willie, his family and for Lauren and me.
My priority is giving back to my community and serving my neighbors, he added. Since the conclusion of The Bachelor, I have been exploring how I can best be of service. I am definitely not a politician, but I have a lot to offer through my years in the financial services industry and, more importantly, my work in charitable and humanitarian organizations.
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Vaccine watches bacteria, strikes only when trouble stirs
The new immunization approach may someday stamp out pneumonia, meningitis and other illnesses
These are very serious illnesses that we havent been able to completely suppress. The vaccine were developing could finally get that job done.
BUFFALO, N.Y. A new vaccine allows pneumonia-causing bacteria to colonize inside the body, springing into action only if the bacteria pose a threat.
The breakthrough approach, coupled with the protein-based vaccines potential to counteract more than 90 strains of the bacteria, has the makings to override how vaccines have worked (destroying bacteria before colonization) since the days of Louis Pasteur.
Moreover, it offers what could be the most direct and broad response to pneumonia the leading cause of death of children worldwide under the age of 5, according to the World Health Organization as well as meningitis, sepsis and other serious infections caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, a bacteria more commonly known as pneumococcus.
These are very serious illnesses that we havent been able to completely suppress. The vaccine were developing could finally get that job done, says Blaine A. Pfeifer, PhD, an associate professor of chemical and biological engineering at the University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
The work is described in a study, published today (June 6) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, led by Pfeifer and UB alumnus Charles H. Jones, PhD, who is leading efforts to commercialize the vaccine at Buffalo-based startup Abcombi Biosciences.
With conventional vaccines, the approach has been: What bacteria do we want to target and how, says Jones, CEO and founder of Abcombi, and a former student of Pfeifers. Our strategy is to shift the paradigm to which diseases do we want to prevent.
Bacteria is still deadly
To treat and prevent illnesses caused by pneumococcus, doctors almost exclusively relied on penicillin and other common antibiotics. While still used, the effectiveness of these drugs has been waning for decades due to bacteria developing antibiotic resistance.
The situation led pharmaceutical companies to develop preventative vaccines, which have reduced deaths and illnesses, especially in developed nations. But pneumococcus remains a serious problem.
Pneumonia killed 1.3 million people worldwide in 2011, with the majority of deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In the United States alone, pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis cause tens of thousands of deaths each year, according to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
One reason for this is that current vaccines target only a small percentage those known to cause the most severe infections of the more than 90 strains of pneumococcus. These vaccines, which identify pneumococcus by a sugar coating that surround the bacteria, are 56 to 88 percent effective.
A new type of vaccine
The UB and Abcombi-led team took a different approach. Its vaccine identifies strains by proteins attached to the surface of pneumococcus. Laboratory tests show the vaccine can defend against more than 12 strains and that its 100 percent effective at promoting the appropriate immune response.
Computer simulations indicate the vaccine would be effective against all strains but additional tests are needed to confirm that.
Its like the arcade game Whac-A-Mole. Think of the mallet as a traditional vaccine. It cant stop all the moles, or in our case, all the strains of bacteria at once, Jones says. But our vaccine does just that. Its like a mallet with 90 heads that strikes all the moles simultaneously.
The ability to fight numerous strains is important, Jones says, because developing new versions of existing vaccines is both costly and time-consuming.
The new vaccine also differs from whats on the market by its response to the bacteria.
Current vaccines teach the immune system to indiscriminately destroy bacteria and other pathogens, thus preventing colonization. The approach works, but there is growing concern that it can create space within the body for new and potentially more harmful alternatives to establish residence similar to antibiotic resistance resulting in new and more potent pathogens.
The new vaccine allows bacteria to exist as long as it causes no harm to body. It instructs the immune system to attack only when the surface proteins, mentioned above, break free of the bacterial coating.
Thats the signal that this bacteria is becoming a troublemaker, thats its threatening the body and that its necessary to fight back, Pfeifer says.
Having proved the vaccines effectiveness in animals, Abcombi is now leading efforts to conduct human trials.
Additional authors and support
Additional authors of the study from UB include: Jonathan F. Lovell, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, a joint program between UBs School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB; Bruce A. Davidson, PhD, research assistant professor of anesthesiology, and Paul R. Knight III, MD, PhD, UB Distinguished Professor of anesthesiology and microbiology, both in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; and Anders P. Hakansson, PhD, formerly of UB but now a professor of experimental infection medicine at Lund University, Sweden.
Co-first authors are Yi Li, a PhD candidate in chemical and biological engineering at UB, and Andrew Hill, chief science officer at Abcombi. Other authors include Marie Beitelshees, PhD candidate in chemical and biological engineering, and Shuai Shao, PhD candidate in biomedical engineering, both at UB.
The research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, Swedish Medical Research Council and the Arthur A. Schomburg Fellowship Program at UB.
Graham Plumbers Merchant has launched Turning Pro, a new rewards scheme specifically designed for students and apprentices.
Turning Pro offers students and apprentices rewards and benefits, free training and exclusive promotions, such as money off parts and MOTs at both Halfords Autocentres and National Tyres.
As those still in training rarely spend large sums of money in merchants, the scheme also includes voucher offers that in reality are achievable, such as 25 off when 50 or more is spent in a branch.
Once registered, students can also benefit from free introductory and manufacturer courses at the Saint-Gobain Greenworks academy. The sessions, hosted at the purpose built training facility in Birmingham, cover a wide variety of sustainable building and renewable energy products. Those that sign up to Turning Pro will receive regular emails with information on special offers and promotions, as well as industry news and updates.
Plumbing students and apprentices are a group that are frequently overlooked, but as the next generation of plumbers and heating engineers, they need support from the industry today, explained Ian Kenny, marketing director at Graham. We have launched Turning Pro to do precisely that, offering benefits that will help them get the best start to their careers. We also regularly work with local colleges to help students gain the work experience that is so important for that first step into the industry.
Simple to register and free to join, visit www.grahamturningpro.co.uk for more information, or to request a registration pack email turningpro@grahamplumbersmerchant.co.uk.
A team from Lecico Bathrooms took place in the challenging 12-mile Tough Mudder held at Belvoir Castle at the end of May to raise money for a childrens cancer charity.
The event is designed to drag entrants out of their comfort zones, testing physical strength, stamina and mental grit. Theres no podiums or winners, but a challenge that celebrates teamwork, camaraderie and accomplishment.
The team of 11 from Lecico completed the challenge raising nearly 500 for CLIC Sargent, a cancer charity for children, young people and their families.
CLIC Sargent provides clinical, practical and emotional support to help them cope with cancer and get the most out of life.
Travis Perkins has become an official event partner of the Americas Cup World Series Portsmouth for the second year running.
Supporting community events at the UK stage of the global regatta, the partnership reflects the distributors presence in the South of England and its commitment to supporting the local communities surrounding its branch and store locations.
As part of its commitment, Travis Perkins is funding the Portsmouth Sailing Project, which delivers sailing taster sessions to 1,000 local school children to inspire a new generation into sailing, while breaking down the potential barriers to young people from diverse backgrounds. The team is also working to construct a skate park for the community, further encouraging young people to try something new and prioritise their own well-being.
Carol Kavanagh, HR director at Travis Perkins, said: This is our second year as an official event partner and were excited to see more children from the local area out on the water and at the skate park, trying something new and learning new skills.
We are built on family values and this is what makes us different from many big businesses. Being a good member of the community is a key part of our vision and thats why we wanted to partner with the Americas Cup World Series Portsmouth. There are around 300 Travis Perkins businesses in a 50 mile radius of Portsmouth, so this sponsorship presents a great opportunity to support our employees and customers in this area.
An important part of our sponsorship is the joint-funding of the Portsmouth Sailing Project. This project reflects our on-going support of early career development and its role as a major employer in locations across the country.
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.
boss Vijay Shekhar Sharma sent out a message on Twitter last week, conveying to the world that hes a high-flyer. How do you know when you travel a lot? When air hostess at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) without seeing your boarding pass says: Mr Sharma, that was a short trip.
That tweet in a way captures the essence of the business under Sharma, founder and chief executive of One97Communications that runs a wallet-to-e-commerce firm with a potential transaction value or GMV (gross merchandise value) of Rs 1 lakh crore by April 2018. His jet-setting ways hints at the frenzied activity under way at his company. He plans to grow at least five-fold from the current GMV of Rs 20,000 crore and mark his entry into new business areas.
A consortium led by has bagged Rs 2,880 crore contract for developing a 221-kilometer stretch of the Eastern arm of the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) basis.
The World Bank-funded project is divided into two packages. The first package consists of a 175-km single line connecting Sahnewal and Pilkhani that passes through Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. The other package is a 46-km double line corridor in Uttar Pradesh connecting Dadri and Khurja.
Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app.
Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006.
Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more.
Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them.
26 years of website archives.
The market for financial technologies (fintech) software in this country is estimated to double to $2.4 billion by 2020 from around $1.2 bn at present. This would happen with growing smartphone penetration, an evolving e-commerce system and growing customer expectations, research entity KPMG and the software sectors apex business association, Nasscom, said in a new report on Tuesday.
has opened a Cyber Security Engagement Centre (CSEC) in India, one of the seven such centres the Redmond-headquartered technology major has globally.
Located out of Gurgaon, the centre aims to drive public-private partnerships to fight cybercrime, strengthen the cooperation with Indian businesses, government and academic organizations on cyber security. It will also help in increasing the company's contribution towards securing computers and internet users in India from cybercrime threats, said in a release.
The centre brings together experts from Microsoft's Digital Crime Unit comprising attorneys, investigators and security response experts.
The company also said that a dedicated India-based response team will also offer cyber monitoring, use machine learning based detection technology and ensure rapid response and resolution to cyber threats to enterprise customers in the country, as a part of Consultancy Services (MCS).
"India stands at an exciting threshold today as data becomes a key driver of growth across every sector and industry and cloud-based computing becomes more prevalent? A data driven economy can flourish only when governments, businesses and individuals have access to hyper scale and hyper flexible cloud computing with the confidence that their data is secure. Our Cyber Security Engagement Center in Gurgaon underlines our relentless commitment to security and partnering India in its digital transformation," said Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, Microsoft India.
The CSEC will leverage Microsoft's DCU Cyber Threat Intelligence Program that monitors and analyze malware infections. IT will provide malware threat assessment and actionable information and intelligence for select IP infrastructures shared by its customers on a non-commercial basis. The centre will also work with the National Cybersecurity Coordinator as well as the CERT-India and share information to help reduce malware and digital risk in the country, enabling a safe digital India.
has posted a growth of 46.37 per cent in Profit After Tax (PAT) at Rs 1,878 crore during FY16 as compared to the PAT of Rs 1,283 crore posted during the previous year, mainly owing to the one time income of Rs 883 crore on account of the stake sale in the insurance JV to the foreign partner.
The group is expected to grow at 20 per cent during the current financial year, said the Executive Chairman A Vellayan.
"Despite the challenges, we have posted a good growth during the FY16. We expect the business to grow better during this financial year," he said. He added that the central government has paid heed to the industry and introduced the ethanol policy, removed excise duty on molasses and such steps are expected to improve the growth of the sugar industry.
The group turnover grew by 9 per cent, to Rs 29,470 crore during FY16 compared to Rs 26,926 crore during the previous year. The PAT and extraordinary items that registered a growth of 6 per cent to Rs 1,880 crore as compared to the Rs 1,780 crore.
The group has earned a one-time income of Rs 883 crore on account of 14 per cent stake sale in Cholamandalam MS General Insurance company.
The financial sector subsidiaries Cholamandalam Investment and Cholamandalam MS General Insurance posted a sales of Rs 4,214 crore (13 per cent growth over previous year) and Rs 2,452 crore (30 per cent) respectively.
EID Parry (India) has registered a gross sales of Rs 3,897 crore, which is 46 per cent and Coromandel International Ltd revenue grew to Rs 11,614 crore, with two per cent growth. Coromandel Engineering Company has seen a drop of 47 per cent to Rs 122 crore.
In the financial sector, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company saw disbursement grew by 32 per cent and home equity disbursement grew by 14 per cent. The indurance JV posted a gross written premium recorded a strong growth of 30 per cent against an industry growth of 14 per cent.
Vellayan said that the financial service segment will continue the momentum and there is an opportunity in NBFC at a time, when the Banks are facing the NPA pressure. In other businesses, the large diameter tube business was lagging, and it has come out of trouble and the company will see growth in there too now, he said.
He added that overall industry growth is expected to improve and second half of this year more capital expenditure. In sugar industry there will be a swing.
Even a Rs 15 increase in sugar prices will result in the Sugar business making profit. The company has been posting around 10-15 per cent growth and with the improved environment, the target of 20 per cent growth during the year is possible, said N Srinivasan, director - finance, .
During the year, Polutech Ltd has entered into a 51:49 JV with Organo Group of Japan, a leading player in water treatment engineering services, targetin emerging needs of industrial water requirements of the grow in manufacturing sector in India.
Europe NV, which is developing a three-wheeled flying car, said it would launch the vehicle in India in two to three years and people in the country can reserve a vehicle from the limited edition now.
Hyderabad-based Energy Holdings today announced the signing of definitive agreements for a primary equity raising of $230 million (Rs 1,537 crore) from an affiliate of global investment firm GIC, Singapore, and an entity of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).
Fourteen years ago, Malabar Group, well-known for its jewellery business, set up a hotel in Calicut. The group has now decided to go for a brand, aiming for higher occupancy and visibility for the 70-room hotel.
Uber on Tuesday applied for a licence to operate in Karnataka under the new rules governing app-based taxi aggregators, indicating that it will comply with the policies on fare capping and no-surge pricing.
Ten doctors are likely to be questioned by the police in connection with the racket busted in Apollo Hospital in New Delhi last week, even as three more persons, including two women, were today nabbed while the kingpin remains at large.
With this, the total numbers of arrests in the case has gone up to eight.
All ten doctors in Apollo Hospital's internal assessment committee for transplant surgeries will be quizzed, a senior police official said.
The committee comprises senior doctors working at the hospital, independent doctors and a government doctor.
The three arrested have been identified as Umesh and Nilu, who are husband and wife residing in Kanpur, and Mamta alias Maumita, wife of one of the five accused arrested last week. All three of them are donors associated with the racket, the official said.
However, efforts to track down the kingpin, Rajukumar Rao, who is suspected to have links with similar rackets in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, have not yet yielded any results.
During interrogation, Umesh and Nilu told police that they had sold their kidneys for Rs 4 lakh and Rs 3 lakh respectively as they were in urgent need of money for their minor son's leg surgery.
They also told police that when they came to know about the actual price in which their kidneys were sold, they felt deceived, an official privy to the investigation said.
The third accused, Mamta, is the one who actually led police to the racket.
On the day it was busted, Mamta was spotted indulging in a heated exchange with her husband, Devashish Moulik, and when the police intervened, on receiving a call regarding the matter, they were stunned by what they heard. Mamta accused Devashish of cheating her with the amount he received after her kidney was sold.
During investigation, it came to light that Devashish had offered his own kidney first but on being declared unfit he convinced his wife to do so, the official said.
The Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) is expected to issue orders on Tuesday on how it would take up the 26 applications filed by a bank consortium led by State Bank of India against over unpaid loans taken to run the defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
India will become the 35th member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) this week. The development is not only be a diplomatic victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi but also burnish India's credentials for the membership of the Nuclear Suppliers (NSG).
According to Reuters, the members of the MTCR have agreed to admit India to the 34 member anti-proliferation grouping. Modi will be meeting US President Barack Obama in Washington later today and the two are set to discuss prospects of India's membership to the .
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister on Tuesday sparked a debate over the legitimacy of the judiciary intervening in the government matters, saying proceeding according to the Constitution will be good for both the country and the people.
Gadkari said there is a fair chance of failure in every field but to what extent a field can be allowed to intervene with the other is still debatable.
"If the executive fails, just like if our government fails in the legislative wing then the people have a right to change us. But as far as executive wing, judiciary and media are concerned, their rights and duties have been clearly mentioned in the Constitution," he told the media.
Gadkari, who was commenting on Chief Justice of India TS Thakur's assertion that the judiciary intervenes only when executive fails in its constitutional duties, said he respects him but added that the latter should hold a meeting and discuss the same with everyone.
"And if we proceed according to the Constitution then it will be beneficial for the country as well as for us," he added.
The Chief Justice of India on Monday said the judiciary is not interested in interfering in the works of others, adding the fact is that 85% of the citizens step to the doors of the courts only when they are disappointed by the governments.
"We only fulfill our positional duties as laid down by the Constitution. If the governments do their job better, any need of interference would not arise. The government should do their job instead of hurling the accusations and the people turn to the courts only after they are let down by the executive," he added.
The CJI also expressed strong objections on Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's comments on courts interfering in governments and indulging in judicial activism.
Doctors today conducted post-mortem of Ram Vriksh Yadav, who had led the encroachers of Jawahar Bag, and was among 29 killed in the clash with the police before he was cremated here.
Police did not hand over the body of Ram Vriksh to one of his council members Tarni Kumar Gautam, who had came to claim it, after conducting of post-mortem along with 18 others including two woman, police said.
The post-mortems were conducted by a team of five doctors led by Assistant CMO Brajesh Khanna, including Dr Bhudeo, Dr Anup Chaudhari, Dr Mahipal Singh and Dr Amit Agrawal.
Earlier, some saints in Vrindaban opposed the district administration's decision to cremate the bodies in Vrindaban, saying they were "terrorists" and had killed good police officers.
"We shall not allow the pious land of Vrindaban to become unpious," saints lead by Mahant Fuldol Maharaj and Mahamandaleshwar Naval Giri Maharaj told the police after which the last rites were performed in Mathura.
Meanwhile, bodies of two people have been identified by their family members.
"One of them has been identified as Finku Chauhan, resident of Ambapur in Azamgarh, the other as 40-year-old Mahesh Jaiswal of Gay Ghat in Siddhartha Nagar district," they said.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner Aligarh, who is heading the administrative probe, Chandra Kant, said he would resume his enquiry on Jawahar Bag next week.
"We shall hold next phase of enquiry next week. The exact date and timings would be communicated later," Commissioner Chandra Kant added.
Supreme Court will today have an urgent hearing on the plea for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the .
A vacation bench of justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy had yesterday listed the matter, filed by lawyer and Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Ashwini Upadhyay.
The petitioner's advocate sought an urgent hearing saying that the CBI probe is necessary, looking at the gravity of the violence. The petitioner said, the court may also take suo motu cognisance of the matter and direct the CBI enquiry, as it is necessary to find out the truth.
Speaking at a rally in Amroha on Sunday, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh dared the Uttar Pradesh government to call for a CBI investigation into the incident.
"It seems like there is more to it than meets the eye. And such things should be brought into the open," said Singh at the rally.
"If the Uttar Pradesh government wants to get to the bottom of this, they should ask for a CBI enquiry into the violence. If they ask, the Centre will surely agree. This is not a small incident," he added.
BJP president Amit Shah had earlier held Uttar Pradesh minister Shivpal Singh Yadav responsible for the and sought his resignation.
The Samajwadi Party, however, countered his assertion and dared the BJP president to either produce evidence in support of his allegations or tender a public apology.
A large amount of explosives were found during the search operation yesterday at the Jawahar Bagh where 25 people, including two cops, were killed following a clash between the police personnel and encroachers.
Facing flak from all corners for offering a compensation of only Rs 20 lakh to the kin of the policemen killed in Mathura violence, the state government reportedly swung into damage control and increased the amount of compensation to 50 lakh earlier on Saturday.
It also announced that that the kin of the deceased security men will also be provided with extraordinary pension.
Prime Minister today laid a wreath at the Tomb of Unknown Soldiers and paid homage to Indian-American astronaut late Kalpana Chawla at Arlington Cemetery here.
"Honouring sacrifice, saluting valour. Formal engagements begin with a solemn ceremony," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.
"In homage to heroism and indomitable courage," Swarup said in another tweet.
PM @narendramodi lays a wreath at Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial at @ArlingtonNatl pic.twitter.com/MtGs6JQV4v Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
He also had a brief interaction with the husband and family members of Chawla, senior officials from NASA, Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams and her father at Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial.
US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter accompanied the Prime Minister. Indian Ambassador to the US Arun K Singh, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, US Ambassador to India Richard Verma and Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal were also present on the occasion.
"All of us are very honored that he took time to come and acknowledge the shuttle catastrophe and the deep cooperation that we have with India in the space world," Williams told PTI after her brief interaction with Modi.
"Personally it is commemorating my friend (Kalpana Chawala)," Williams said.
Modi spoke to Sunita's father in Gujarati and invited them to visit India.
"With health permitting, I definitely look forward to visiting India," her father said.
"The Prime Minister said come to India. Please come and visit," she said.
Chawla's husband Jean-Pierre Harrison presented a set of books on the late astronaut, including a biography written by him, to the Prime Minister.
The Tomb of the Unknowns is a monument dedicated to American service members who have died without their remains being identified.
Prime Minister attended a meeting with heads of American think tanks at Blair House.
"Probing the minds of those who shape foreign policy.PM @narendramodi at an interaction with thinktanks in Washington," tweeted Ministry of External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup.
"After history & culture, it's current & strategic affairs. Think tanks meet PM, share perspective on various issues," tweeted the Prime Minister's Office.
Earlier, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch started process of returning more than 200 stolen cultural objects back to India.
President will receive the first copy of a book 'The Education President' on Wednesday at a function to be held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The President will receive the book from Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari who will formally release it.
The book 'The Education President' published by the International Institute for Higher Education Research & Capacity Building, OP Jindal Global University highlights President Mukherjee's contribution to the field of higher education as visitor to 116 institutions of higher learning in India.
In what could be the best push for the long-pending goods and services tax (GST), West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asked state finance minister and chairman of the empowered committee on GST, Amit Mitra, to arrive at a consensus on the issue soon.
The governments new intellectual property rights (IPR) policy offers no tax incentives for research and skips the proposal to have designated courts for patent cases. Also, it gives no clear implementation road map, policy experts said on Tuesday.
India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday signed a $120 million loan pact to improve irrigation and water management infrastructure in Odisha.
The soft loan is the second tranche of a $157.5 million financing facility under the Orissa Integrated Irrigated Agriculture and Water Management Investment Program.
"The financing will be used for modernising seven irrigation subprojects resulting in improved irrigation in over 1,00,000 hectares and strengthening of Water User Associations (WUAs) and the institutional capacity of Odisha's Department of Water Resources," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.
The selected areas for the investment program are the Baitarani, Brahmani, Budhabalanga and Subernarekha river basins and parts of Mahanadi delta.
Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary in Department of Economic Affairs and M Teresa Kho, Country Director, ADB's India Resident Mission signed the loan agreement.
The second tranche loan from ADB's ordinary capital resources has a 20-year term. Odisha, acting through its Department of Water Resources, is responsible for implementing the second tranche activities and overall program, which are both due for completion by September 2018.
Speaking on the occasion, Kho said the investment program has "already demonstrated" the value of participatory irrigation management and will continue to support the WUAs to manage the planning, construction, and operation and maintenance of irrigation systems as an equal partner.
Raj said the project aims to improve existing irrigation infrastructure, operation and maintenance and water use efficiency that will lead to higher agricultural productivity.
Soon, managements of companies will have to recognise a trade union that has the support of at least two-thirds or 66 per cent of workers, if the proposed Industrial Relations Code is enacted. Currently, there are no norms for recognising unions.
The Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) here advised State Bank of India (SBI) to consider the option of adjusting Rs 2,000 crore deposited by in the high court against loans taken to run the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
At a time when real estate across the country remain in doldrums, continuing healthy growth in the loan books of companies (HFCs) is surprising. What explains this divergent trend and will growth rates remain healthy for HFCs going ahead?
Online real estate advisor PropTigers India Realty Report FY16 reveals housing sales across the top nine cities fell as much as 33 per cent, even as prices saw a marginal increase of only two per cent during the year. Real estate in the Delhi national capital region (NCR) market was the most affected, with sales down 51 per cent in FY16.
National Health Editors Conference on the theme - Yoga for Holistic Health Recent Researches" will be inaugurated by Shri Shripad Yesso Naik, Minister of State for AYUSH (Independent Charge), at National Media Centre in New Delhi tomorrow. .
.
The Conference is being organised by Ministry of AYUSH in association with Press Information Bureau and is a part of the series of planned events leading to the International Day of Yoga 2016 that will be celebrated on 21st of June. The aim of the Conference is to ensure wider dissemination of benefits of Yoga to the public through the media. Over one hundred Health Editors from various national and regional media organizations are expected to attend the Conference. .
.
Six eminent experts in the field of Yoga and wellness will present various scientific and technical developments related to Yoga at the Conference. These are Dr. Shirley Telles, Director, Patanjali Research Foundation, Dr. Rajvi H. Mehta, Chief Scientist at Iyengar Yogashraya, Dr. S.C. Manchanda, Cardiologist at Sir Gangaram Hospital, Dr. Usha Kiran, Department of Cardiac Anaesthesia, AIIMS, Dr H.R. Nagendra, Chancellor SVYASA Yoga University and Dr. Ishwar V. Basavaraddi, Director, Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga. These experts will present highlights from recent research works from around the world on different aspects of Yoga and its utility in the promotion of health and prevention and management of various physical and mental disorders. .
.
A comprehensive presentation on various programmes and activities planned for celebration of International Day of Yoga, 2016 will also be made at the conference. .
.
India-US Joint Statement during the visit of Prime Minister to USA (The United States and India: Enduring Global Partners in the 21st Century) June 07, 2016.
.
The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and the President of the United States of America Barack Obama met today in the White House during an official working visit of Prime Minister Modi to the United States. Marking their third major bilateral summit, the leaders reviewed the deepening strategic partnership between the United States and India that is rooted in shared values of freedom, democracy, universal human rights, tolerance and pluralism, equal opportunities for all citizens, and rule of law. They pledged to pursue new opportunities to bolster economic growth and sustainable development, promote peace and security at home and around the world, strengthen inclusive, democratic governance and respect for universal human rights, and provide global leadership on issues of shared interest. .
.
The leaders welcomed the significant progress made in bilateral relations between India and the United States during their tenure, in accordance with the roadmaps set out in the Joint Statements issued during Prime Minister Modis visit to the United States in September 2014 and President Obamas visit to India in January 2015. The leaders affirmed the increasing convergence in their strategic perspectives and emphasized the need to remain closely invested in each others security and prosperity. .
.
Advancing U. S.-India Global Leadership on Climate and Clean Energy.
.
The steps that the two Governments have taken in the last two years through the U. S.-India Contact Group, including by addressing the nuclear liability issue, inter alia, through Indias ratification of the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage, have laid a strong foundation for a long-term partnership between U. S. and Indian companies for building nuclear power plants in India. Culminating a decade of partnership on civil nuclear issues, the leaders welcomed the start of preparatory work on site in India for six AP 1000 reactors to be built by Westinghouse and noted the intention of India and the U. S. Export-Import Bank to work together toward a competitive financing package for the project. Once completed, the project would be among the largest of its kind, fulfilling the promise of the U. S.-India civil nuclear agreement and demonstrating a shared commitment to meet Indias growing energy needs while reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Both sides welcomed the announcement by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd, and Westinghouse that engineering and site design work will begin immediately and the two sides will work toward finalizing the contractual arrangements by June 2017. .
.
The United States and India share common climate and clean energy interests and are close partners in the fight against climate change. Leadership from both countries helped galvanize global action to combat climate change and culminated in the historic Paris Agreement reached last December. Both countries are committed to working together and with others to promote full implementation of the Paris Agreement to address the urgent threats posed by climate change. India and the United States recognize the urgency of climate change and share the goal of enabling entry into force of the Paris Agreement as early as possible. The United States reaffirms its commitment to join the Agreement as soon as possible this year. India similarly has begun its processes to work toward this shared objective. The leaders reiterated their commitment to pursue low greenhouse gas emission development strategies in the pre-2020 period and to develop long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies. In addition, the two countries resolved to work to adopt an HFC amendment in 2016 with increased financial support from donor countries to the Multilateral Fund to help developing countries with implementation, and an ambitious phasedown schedule, under the Montreal Protocol pursuant to the Dubai Pathway. The leaders resolved to work together at the upcoming International Civil Aviation Organization Assembly to reach a successful outcome to address greenhouse gas emissions from international aviation. Further, the two countries will pursue under the leadership of the G20 strong outcomes to promote improved heavy-duty vehicle standards and efficiency in accordance with their national priorities and capabilities. .
.
The leaders welcomed the signing of an MOU to Enhance Cooperation on Energy Security, Clean Energy and Climate Change, and an MOU on Cooperation in Gas Hydrates..
.
Reflecting Prime Minister Modis call to embrace wildlife conservation as a development imperative, the leaders welcomed the signing of an MOU to enhance cooperation on Wildlife Conservation and Combating Wildlife Trafficking. .
.
Clean Energy Finance.
.
The United States supports the Government of Indias ambitious national goals to install 175 GW of renewable power which includes 100 GW from solar power. .
.
The United States welcomes the launch of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), recognizes the critical role it can play in the development and deployment of solar power, and intends pursuing membership in the ISA. To this end, and to strengthen ISA together, the United States and India will jointly launch the third Initiative of the ISA which will focus on off-grid solar for energy access at the Founding Conference of ISA in September, 2016 in India. The United States also remains committed, with other developed countries, to the goal of jointly mobilizing $100 billion per year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation and adaptation action. .
.
The United States is committed to bring to bear its technical capacity, resources and private sector, and is jointly launching with India new efforts, to spur greater investment in Indias renewable energy sector, including efforts that can serve as a model for other ISA Member Countries. In particular, the United States and India today are announcing: the creation of a $20 million U. S. - India Clean Energy Finance (USICEF) initiative, equally supported by the United States and India, which is expected to mobilize up to $400 million to provide clean and renewable electricity to up to 1 million households by 2020; a commitment to establish the U. S.-India Clean Energy Hub as the coordinating mechanism to focus United States Government efforts that, in partnership with leading Indian financial institutions, will increase renewable energy investment in India; a $40 million U. S.-India Catalytic Solar Finance Program, equally supported by the United States and India, that, by providing needed liquidity to smaller-scale renewable energy investments, particularly in poorer, rural villages that are not connected to the grid, could mobilize up to $1 billion of projects; the expansion of handholding support to Indian utilities that are scaling up rooftop solar and continuation of successful cooperation with USAID on "Greening the Grid". .
.
The United States and India also remain committed to the goals of Mission Innovation, which they jointly launched during COP-21 in Paris to double their respective clean energy research and development (R&D) investment in five years. Toward this end, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate on research and development, including through the announcement of an upcoming $30 million public-private research effort in smart grid and grid storage. .
.
Strengthening Global Nonproliferation.
.
The President thanked the Prime Minister for his substantive contribution to and active participation in 2016 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D. C., and welcomed his offer to host a Summit on Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Terrorism in 2018. The United States and India will work together to combat the threat of terrorists accessing and using chemical, biological, nuclear and radiological materials. .
.
Recalling their shared commitment to preventing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, the leaders looked forward to Indias imminent entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime. President Obama welcomed Indias application to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), and re-affirmed that India is ready for membership. The United States called on NSG Participating Governments to support Indias application when it comes up at the NSG Plenary later this month. The United States also re-affirmed its support for Indias early membership of the Australia Group and Wassenaar Arrangement. .
.
Securing the Domains: Land, Maritime, Air, Space, and Cyber.
.
The leaders applauded the completion of a roadmap for cooperation under the 2015 U. S.-India Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region, which will serve as a guide for collaboration in the years to come. They resolved that the United States and India should look to each other as priority partners in the Asia Pacific and the Indian Ocean region. .
.
They welcomed the inaugural meeting of the Maritime Security Dialogue. Owing to mutual interest in maritime security and maritime domain awareness, the leaders welcomed the conclusion of a technical arrangement for sharing of maritime "White Shipping" information. .
.
The leaders affirmed their support for U. S.-India cooperation in promoting maritime security. They reiterated the importance they attach to ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight and exploitation of resources as per international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and settlement of territorial disputes by peaceful means. .
.
The leaders applauded the enhanced military to military cooperation between the two countries especially in joint exercises, training and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR). They expressed their desire to explore agreements which would facilitate further expansion of bilateral defense cooperation in practical ways. In this regard, they welcomed the finalization of the text of the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA). .
.
Noting that the U. S.-India defense relationship can be an anchor of stability, and given the increasingly strengthened cooperation in defense, the United States hereby recognizes India as a Major Defense Partner. As such: .
.
The United States will continue to work toward facilitating technology sharing with India to a level commensurate with that of its closest allies and partners. The leaders reached an understanding under which India would receive license-free access to a wide range of dual-use technologies in conjunction with steps that India has committed to take to advance its export control objectives. .
.
In support of Indias Make In India initiative, and to support the development of robust defense industries and their integration into the global supply chain, the United States will continue to facilitate the export of goods and technologies, consistent with U. S. law, for projects, programs and joint ventures in support of official U. S.-India defense cooperation. .
.
The leaders also committed to enhance cooperation in support of the Government of Indias Make in India Initiative and expand the co-production and co-development of technologies under the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI).
They welcomed the establishment of new DTTI working groups to include agreed items covering Naval Systems, Air Systems, and other Weapons Systems. The leaders announced the finalization of the text of an Information Exchange Annex under the Joint Working Group on Aircraft Carrier Technology Cooperation. .
.
President Obama thanked Prime Minister Modi for his governments support for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) missions in India, including a recovery mission that resulted in the recent repatriation of remains of the United States Service Members missing since the Second World War. The leaders announced their commitment to future DPAA? missions. .
.
As space faring nations, India and the United States acknowledge that outer space should be an ever expanding frontier of human endeavour, and look forward to deepening their cooperation on earth observation, Mars exploration, space education and manned space flight. The leaders welcomed the progress toward establishment of an ISRO-NASA Heliophysics Working Group as well as toward finalization of a Memorandum of Understanding for exchange of earth observation satellite data. .
.
The leaders emphasized that cyberspace enables economic growth and development, and reaffirmed their commitment to an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable Internet, underpinned by the multistakeholder model of Internet governance. They committed to deepen cooperation on cybersecurity and welcomed the understanding reached to finalize the Framework for the U. S.-India Cyber Relationship in the near term. They committed to enhance cyber collaboration on critical infrastructure, cybercrime, and malicious cyber activity by state and non-state actors, capacity building, and cybersecurity research and development, and to continue discussions on all aspects of trade in technology and related services, including market access. They have committed to continue dialogue and engagement in Internet governance fora, including in ICANN, IGF and other venues, and to support active participation by all stakeholders of the two countries in these fora. The leaders committed to promote stability in cyberspace based on the applicability of international law including the United Nations Charter, the promotion of voluntary norms of responsible state behavior during peacetime, and the development and implementation of practical confidence building measures between states. .
.
In this context, they affirmed their commitment to the voluntary norms that no country should conduct or knowingly support online activity that intentionally damages critical infrastructure or otherwise impairs the use of it to provide services to the public; that no country should conduct or knowingly support activity intended to prevent national computer security incident response teams from responding to cyber incidents, or use its own teams to enable online activity that is intended to do harm; that every country should cooperate, consistent with its domestic law and international obligations, with requests for assistance from other states in mitigating malicious cyber activity emanating from its territory; and that no country should conduct or knowingly support ICT-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information, with the intent of providing competitive advantages to its companies or commercial sectors. .
.
Standing Together Against Terrorism and Violent Extremism.
.
The leaders acknowledged the continued threat posed to human civilization by terrorism and condemn the recent terrorist incidents from Paris to Pathankot, from Brussels to Kabul. They resolved to redouble their efforts, bilaterally and with other like-minded countries, to bring to justice the perpetrators of terrorism anywhere in the world and the infrastructure that supports them. .
.
Building on the January 2015 U. S.-India Joint Statement commitment to make the U. S.-India partnership a defining counterterrorism relationship for the 21st Century, as well as the September 2015 U. S.-India Joint Declaration on Combatting Terrorism, the leaders announced further steps to deepen collaboration against the full spectrum of terrorist threats. .
.
The leaders committed to strengthen cooperation against terrorist threats from extremist groups, such as Al-Qaida, Daesh/ISIL, Jaish-e Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, D Company and their affiliates, including through deepened collaboration on UN terrorist designations. In this context, they directed their officials to identify specific new areas of collaboration at the next meeting of U. S. India Counterterrorism Joint Working Group. .
.
Recognizing an important milestone in the U. S.-India counterterrorism partnership, the leaders applauded the finalization of an arrangement to facilitate the sharing of terrorist screening information. They also called for Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai and 2016 Pathankot terrorist attacks to justice. .
.
The leaders affirmed their support for a UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism that advances and strengthens the framework for global cooperation and reinforces that no cause or grievance justifies terrorism. .
.
Bolstering Economic and Trade Ties .
.
The leaders highlighted the strong and expanding economic relationship between the United States and India and committed to support sustainable, inclusive, and robust economic growth, and common efforts to stimulate consumer demand, job creation, skill development and innovation in their respective countries. .
.
In order to substantially increase bilateral trade, they pledged to explore new opportunities to break down barriers to the movement of goods and services, and support deeper integration into global supply chains, thereby creating jobs and generating prosperity in both economies. They look forward to the second annual Strategic and Commercial Dialogue in India later this year to identify concrete steps in this regard. They also commended the increased engagement on trade and investment issues under the Trade Policy Forum (TPF) and encouraged substantive results for the next TPF later this year. They welcomed the engagement of U. S. private sector companies in Indias Smart City program. .
.
The leaders applauded the strong bonds of friendship between the 1.5 billion peoples of India and the United States that have provided a solid foundation for a flourishing bilateral partnership, noting that two-way travel for tourism, business, and education has seen unprecedented growth, including more than one million travelers from India to the United States in 2015, and similar number from the United States to India. The leaders resolved to facilitate greater movement of professionals, investors and business travelers, students, and exchange visitors between their countries to enhance people-to-people contact as well as their economic and technological partnership. To this end, they welcomed the signing of an MOU for Development of an International Expedited Traveler Initiative (also known as the Global Entry Program) and resolved to complete within the next three months the procedures for Indias entry into the Global Entry Program. .
.
The leaders recognized the fruitful exchanges in August 2015 and June 2016 on the elements required in both countries to pursue a U. S.-India Totalization Agreement and resolved to continue discussions later this year. .
.
Recognizing the importance of fostering an enabling environment for innovation and empowering entrepreneurs, the United States welcomes Indias hosting of the 2017 Global Entrepreneurship Summit. .
.
The leaders welcomed the enhanced engagement on intellectual property rights under the High Level Working Group on Intellectual Property and reaffirmed their commitment to use this dialogue to continue to make concrete progress on IPR issues by working to enhance bilateral cooperation among the drivers of innovation and creativity in both countries. .
.
The United States welcomes Indias interest in joining the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, as India is a dynamic part of the Asian economy. .
.
Expanding Cooperation: Science & Technology and Health .
.
The leaders affirmed their nations mutual support in exploring the most fundamental principles of science as embodied in the arrangement reached to cooperate on building a Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) in India in the near future and welcomed the formation of the India-U. S. Joint Oversight Group to facilitate agency coordination of funding and oversight of the project. .
.
The leaders look forward to Indias participation at the September 2016 Our Ocean Conference in Washington, D. C. as well as holding of the first India-U. S. Oceans Dialogue later this year, to strengthen cooperation in marine science, ocean energy, managing and protecting ocean biodiversity, marine pollution, and sustainable use of ocean resources. .
.
The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the Global Health Security Agenda and the timely implementation of its objectives. The Prime Minister noted India's role on the Steering Group and its leadership in the areas of anti-microbial resistance and immunization. The President noted the United States commitment to support, undergo, and share a Joint External Evaluation in collaboration with the World Health Organization. .
.
The leaders recognized the global threat posed by multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and committed to continue collaboration in the area of tuberculosis and to share respective best practices. .
.
The leaders noted the growing threat of non-communicable diseases and the urgent need to address the risk factors by, inter alia, promoting healthy lifestyles, controlling sugar and salt intake, promoting physical activity especially among children and youth and strengthening efforts to curb tobacco use. The leaders also reiterated the importance of holistic approaches to health and wellness, and of promoting the potential benefits of holistic approaches by synergizing modern and traditional systems of medicine, including Yoga. .
.
The leaders strongly endorsed expansion of the Indo-U. S. Vaccine Action Program, which is fostering public-private research partnerships focused on the development and evaluation of vaccines to prevent tuberculosis, dengue, chikungunya and other globally important infectious diseases. .
.
Global Leadership .
.
The leaders reaffirmed their resolve to continue working together as well as with the wider international community to augment the capacity of the United Nations to more effectively address the global development and security challenges. With the historic adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in September 2015, and recognizing its universality, the leaders reaffirmed their commitment to implement this ambitious agenda domestically and internationally and work in a collaborative partnership for the effective achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. .
.
The leaders reaffirmed their support for a reformed UN Security Council with India as a permanent member. Both sides committed to ensuring that the Security Council continues to play an effective role in maintaining international peace and security as envisioned in the UN Charter. The leaders are committed to continued engagement on Security Council reform in the UN Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) on Security Council Reform. .
.
The leaders welcomed the successful convening of the Leaders Summit on UN Peacekeeping and committed to deepening engagement on UN peacekeeping capacity-building efforts in third countries, through co-organizing the first UN Peacekeeping Course for African Partners in New Delhi later this year for participants from ten countries in Africa. The leaders also reiterated their support for ongoing reform efforts to strengthen UN peacekeeping operations. .
.
Building on their respective bilateral engagements with Africa, such as the U. S.-Africa Leaders Summit and India-Africa Forum Summit, the leaders reflected that the United States and India share a common interest in working with partners in Africa to promote prosperity and security across the continent. The leaders welcomed trilateral cooperation with African partners, including in areas such as agriculture, health, energy, women's empowerment and sanitation under the Statement of Guiding Principles on Triangular Cooperation for Global Development. They looked forward to opportunities to deepen the U. S. - India global develop pment cooperation in Africa, as well as in Asia and beyond. .
.
Building People-to-People Ties .
.
Both sides committed to open additional consulates in each others country. India will be opening a new consulate in Seattle and the United States will open a new consulate at a mutually agreed location in India. .
.
The leaders announced that the United States and India will be Travel and Tourism Partner Countries for 2017, and committed to facilitate visas for each others nationals. .
.
Reflecting on the strong educational and cultural bonds between the two countries, the leaders welcomed the growing number of Indian students studying in the United States, which increased by 29 percent to nearly 133,000 students in 2014-2015, and looked forward to increased opportunities for American students to study in India. The leaders also appreciated their governments joint efforts through the Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship to develop a cohort of climate scientists to confront the shared challenge of global climate change. .
.
Recognizing its mutual goal of strengthening greater people-to-people ties, the leaders intend to renew efforts to intensify dialogue to address issues affecting the citizens of both countries that arise due to differences in the approaches of legal systems, including issues relating to cross-country marriage, divorce and child custody. .
.
Prime Minister Modi welcomed the United States repatriation of antiquities to India. The leaders also committed to redouble their efforts to combat the theft and trafficking of cultural objects. .
.
Prime Minister Modi thanked President Obama for his gracious invitation and warmth of hospitality. He extended an invitation for President Obama to visit India at his convenience. .
.
PMs engagements in Washington DC June 6th, 2016
.
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, arrived in Washington DC on Monday afternoon. He laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, at the Arlington Cemetery. .
.
He also laid a wreath at the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial. Mr. Jean Pierre Harrison, husband of Astronaut Kalpana Chawla - who perished in the Columbia tragedy - was present. Astronaut Sunita Williams was also among those who were present on the occasion. .
.
The Prime Minister attended a ceremony for the return of idols to India. The US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that the process had begun for returning as many as 200 artefacts to India, with 12 having been returned so far. Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that heritage can be a great binding force between nations. He said that for some, the value of these artefacts may be measured in monetary terms, but for us in India, their value is beyond that, because they are part of our culture and heritage. .
.
The Prime Minister had an interaction with thinktanks which included the Brookings Institution, the Atlantic Council, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, among others. .
.
President of India to receive first copy of book The Education President tomorrow .
The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee will receive the first copy of a book The Education President" tomorrow (May 8, 2016) at a function to be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The President will receive the book from Vice President, Shri Mohammad Hamid Ansari who will formally release it. .
.
The book The Education President" published by the International Institute for Higher Education Research & Capacity Building, OP Jindal Global University highlights President Mukherjees contribution to the field of higher education as Visitor to 116 institutions of higher learning in India. .
.
Over 250 journalists from 30 States/UTs across the country, representing 120 media organizations came together on a single platform at the first ever All India Women Journalists Workshop organized by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in association with Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in New Delhi today. The workshop was inaugurated by the Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi. Women journalists from print, electronic and online media across the country including small and regional media organizations participated in the conference. .
.
Addressing the journalists, Smt Maneka Gandhi said that we are all aware of the power and reach of the media and its ability act as agent of change. There is a need to empower the journalists with correct and timely information since journalists are a big social multiplier and can become agents of social change. She requested the journalists to act as a two-way communication channel, i.e. bring the voice from the grassroots to the government and vice versa. .
.
Smt Maneka Gandhi made a comprehensive presentation on the issues taken up by the WCD Ministry in the last two years. She explained how for the first time the Ministry has been examining the issue of safety of women in a holistic manner, i.e. from saving the girls from gender biased sex selection to constructing shelter homes for widows. Similarly, the Ministry has been looking at care and protection of children in a comprehensive manner. In both cases a large number of interventions have been taken by the Ministry, she explained. .
.
While making the presentation, Smt Gandhi highlighted the numerous firstsof the Ministry of Women and Child Development including Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme, setting up of One Stop Centres for women in distress, Mahila e-Haat, panic button on mobiles, guidelines for matrimonial websites, 33% reservation for women in police force, gender champion scheme, unique initiative with railways for missing children, comprehensive adoption reforms, junk food guidelines and many more such initiatives. .
.
The Minister also explained in detail the major initiatives and the success achieved in them over the last two years in these schemes/initiatives like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Adoption Reforms and CARINGS Portal, foster care, New initiatives in ICDS, One Stop Centres etc. .
.
Smt Maneka Gandhi encouraged the journalists to give feedback and suggestion on all issues concerning women and children. The journalists brought to her notice cases and problems related to adoption, child nutrition, womens safety, sexual harassment at the workplace and the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao programme and gave suggestions for the womens policy. .
.
Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Smt Nirmala Sitharaman made a presentation in the second half, covering the achievements and new initiatives of the government during the last two years. The women journalists highlighted various issues affecting the common man, during their interaction with the Commerce Minister. .
.
Secretary, WCD Ms Leena Nair briefed the journalists about the history of the WCD Ministry, the scope of work of the Ministry and some of the key initiatives taken up recently. .
.
An exhibition was also organized outside the venue showcasing the live monitoring system of Childline- Child Helpline 1098, and district level initiatives of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao. .
.
Israel's Prime Minister has arrived in Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin. The leaders reportedly plan to discuss the conflict in Syria and the prospects for settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Netanyahu, accompanied by his wife Sara, is on second visit to Moscow this year, which marks the 25th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic relations between Israel and Russia. The previous Israeli visit to the Russian capital took place in April.
Netanyahu, according to RT online, plans to discuss the implementation of positions agreed on during Netanyahu's last visit to Moscow, placing a particular focus on coordination between the Israeli military and Russian forces.
Both sides are eager to abide by a so-called deconflicting mechanism put in place to assure that Russian jets can freely operate in Syrian airspace near Israel's borders.
"They will also discuss various regional issues including the global fight against terrorism, the situation in and around Syria and the diplomatic horizon between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as bilateral economic and trade cooperation and the strengthening of cultural and humanitarian ties," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.
Israeli and Russian leaders will discuss efforts to maintain the Syrian ceasefire brokered by Washington and Moscow in February. The two leaders will also touch base on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, in addition to Israeli-Russian trade cooperation and cultural ties.
To mark the 25th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic relations, Israel's delegation will inaugurate a PR campaign titled "Open the door to Israel," designed to exhibit Israel's achievements in education, technology and culture, a large part of which can be attributable to Soviet or Russian Jews.
China's second aircraft carrier, the first such ship developed domestically, will take about three to five years before it becomes operational, top officials have said.
The construction of the aircraft carrier's hull has nearly been completed and the process of installing the flight deck is going on, official media reported.
"The experience has gained from the building and operations of the (first) aircraft carrier Liaoning help us avoid delays (in building one)," state-run 'Global Times' quoted Beijing-based naval expert Li Jie as saying.
Li noted that it could be three to five years before the new carrier becomes combat-ready.
Installing the flight deck means the building of the carrier hull is near completion, Lan Yun, deputy editor-in-chief of the Beijing-based Modern Ships magazine, told the paper.
"The flight deck covers up the carrier's hull, which means the interior facilities, including the main engine, boiler, propulsion drives and major compartments have been assembled," Lan added.
Equipment installation and testing, including in the aircraft hangar, operational command room, communication room and engine compartment will still need time, Li said, adding that the ship's command bridge will then be installed.
So, despite the achievement of installing the flight deck, it will take approximately a year before the carrier can be launched, and another one or two years of outfitting before it officially enters service, Li said.
Building aircraft carriers caters to China's increasing need for protection of both its territorial sovereignty and overseas interests, said Guo Xiaobing, deputy head of the Institute of Security and Arms Control Studies under the Institutes of Contemporary Internationals Relations.
China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, is a refitted Russian-made carrier delivered to the Chinese Navy in September 2012. It has a full displacement of over 50,000 tonnes.
Chinese officials say it is mainly an experimental and training ship. It is not clear when it will be deployed for operations.
" needs at least three aircraft carriers to truly form battle effectiveness," Guo said, adding that there should be one cruising, one for training and one under maintenance.
The new carrier will be larger than Liaoning, though it will still carry the J-15, China's first-generation multipurpose carrier-borne fighter jet, Yin Zhuo, a rear admiral and a senior researcher at the People's Liberation Army Navy Equipment Research Centre told 'China Radio International'.
Chinese Defence spokesman, Yang Yujin, said earlier that the second aircraft carrier will have a displacement of 50,000 tonnes and it will be conventionally powered and adopt the ski-jump takeoff method for fixed-wing fighters.
Hillary Clinton became the first woman to capture the presidential nomination of one of the country's major political parties on Monday night, according to an Associated Press survey of Democratic super delegates, securing enough of them to overcome a bruising challenge from Senator Bernie Sanders and turn to a brutal five-month campaign against Donald J Trump.
The European Union's foreign policy chief has urged the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution allowing the EU maritime force, charged with seizing migrant-smuggling vessels off Libya's coast, to help enforce an arms embargo on the North African nation.
Federica Mogherini, on Monday, told the council that EU ships have saved thousands of lives and seized over 100 vessels and many traffickers.
Now, she said, the ships in Operation Sophia should also help stop arms shipments on the high seas headed to .
Britain's UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said a British-drafted resolution authorising the boarding of vessels on the high seas off suspected of smuggling arms has been circulated to all 15 council members and he hopes for a vote soon.
Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Moscow is not opposed to the idea but had "some concerns," especially about the response of the rival factions in Libya, where a fledgling UN-backed government still faces opposition.
Since 2014, has been divided between two parliaments and governments with each backed by a loose set of militias and tribes. The eastern government and parliament were formed after the last parliament elections, but the Tripoli parliament refused to hand over power to them.
Following a UN brokered political deal between factions from each camp at the end of last year, a new unity government has tried to consolidate its grip in the capital, Tripoli, but has faced resistance from various political players and armed groups.
Islamic State extremists have exploited the turmoil, seizing territory and triggering fears in Europe at the prospects of an expanding extremist-run bastion on its doorstep, just across the Mediterranean Sea.
Churkin said "the highest priority" in Libya should be to make sure Parliament approves the new national unity government, which Russia expects to happen "soon."
The UN envoy for Libya, Martin Kobler, urged the speaker of the House of Representatives to convene a parliamentary session "free of intimidation and threat' for a vote on the unity government, but sidestepped a question on whether this would happen soon.
He expressed concern at the military situation in the country, saying uncoordinated military action has raised the spectre of direct clashes between different forces fighting Islamic State extremists in areas west of their stronghold in Sirte.
A bomb ripped through a Turkish police vehicle near Istanbul's historic centre today, killing seven officers and four civilians and adding to security concerns after a string of attacks in Turkey's biggest city.
The bomb targeted a service shuttle bus carrying officers from Istanbul's anti-riot police as it was passing through the central Beyazit district close to many of the city's top tourist sites, Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin said in a live statement on Turkish television.
Thirty six people were wounded, three of them seriously, he added.
Reports said the explosion took place close to the Vezneciler metro station, which is within walking distance of some of the city's main tourist sites including the famed Suleymaniye Mosque.
The metro station was closed as a security precaution.
Pictures showed the bomb had turned the police vehicle into mangled wreckage and that nearby shops had their front windows smashed out by the force of the blast.
Cars parked in the vicinity were also damaged.
Television pictures showed bomb disposal experts examining the scene in case of a second unexploded bomb and reports said at least one controlled explosion was carried out.
Scheduled examinations at Istanbul University -- which lies close to the scene of the blast -- have been cancelled.
Reports said that shots were heard and pictures showed police in bullet proof vests brandishing their weapons.
The blast took place opposite an upscale hotel favoured by foreign tourists, the Celal Aga Konagi Hotel, a converted Ottoman mansion.
There was no immediate indication of who had carried out the attack.
But since the start of the year, Turkey has been hit by a sequence of attacks that have rattled citizens and also caused tourism to plummet.
Two separate blasts in Ankara claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) -- a radical splinter group of the better-known outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) -- earlier this year claimed dozens of lives.
Last month, at least eight people including soldiers were wounded by a remotely detonated car bomb aimed at a military vehicle in Istanbul that was claimed by the PKK.
Meanwhile, a dozen German tourists were killed on January 12 in a bombing in the heart of Istanbul's tourist district blamed on Islamic State jihadists.
At least three Israelis and an Iranian were killed in a March 19 bombing on Istanbul's main Istiklal shopping street which was also blamed on ISIS jihadists.
The attacks have also come as Turkey is battling PKK militants, who have themselves killed hundreds of members of the security forces in the southeast.
Thousands of troops hit the ground in Poland in a massive show of force on Tuesday as the alliance launched its biggest war games in eastern Europe since the Cold War.
The 10-day Anaconda manoeuvres are intended to shore up regional security in the face of the West's standoff with an increasingly assertive Russia.
But the Kremlin reacted angrily.
"The exercises. Do not contribute to an atmosphere of trust and security," said President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
"Unfortunately we are still witnessing a deficit in mutual trust."
The exercises come a month ahead of a summit in Warsaw set to seal its largest revamp since the Cold War by deploying more troop rotations to eastern European members spooked by Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
Moscow fiercely opposes the moves, billed by the US-led alliance as part of its "deterrence and dialogue" strategy.
Anaconda, the latest in a string of NATO manoeuvres in the region, involves 31,000 soldiers from 24 states, including 14,000 from the US, 12,000 Poles and 1,000 from Britain, as well from former Soviet "Partnership for Peace" states like Ukraine.
Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz said on Monday that NATO was "checking the alliance's ability to defend its eastern flank".
The exercises are NATO's biggest since the Trident drills last year involving 36,000 troops in Italy, Spain and Portugal.
NATO has nevertheless sought to reassure Moscow, with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg insisting last week, "the Cold War is history and we want it to stay that way."
Russia has long protested at NATO's expansion in its Soviet-era backyard and in 1997 NATO formally agreed not to install permanent bases in former Warsaw Pact states.
But some analysts question whether NATO's current strategy, based on the deployment of rotational rather than permanent forces, can really secure its eastern flank.
"When push comes to shove, how long will it really take to mobilise at break-neck speed troops in the possibility of a threat of an attack?" Carnegie Group analyst Judy Dempsey told AFP.
"If it (NATO) is not going to permanently deploy troops, then it really should speed up infrastructure to move troops there (to eastern Europe) quickly."
Since the Ukraine conflict erupted in 2014, NATO has established a high-speed "spearhead" response force, complete with forward command and logistic centres in eastern states.
Pakistan Prime Minister was today discharged from hospital, a week after successfully undergoing an open-heart surgery here.
Sharif's wife Kulsum Nawaz and his two sons Hassan and Hussain accompanied the Premier from the Harley Street Clinic in London to his house in the British capital.
Sharif moved to his home in Park Lane this evening after undergoing the "successful" surgery last Tuesday.
"He is in good spirits with his family by his side," a source close to the family said.
The 66-year-old PML-N leader had gone to London on May 22 for a regular medical checkup but was diagnosed with a heart complication by doctors who suggested surgery.
Premier's daughter Maryam tweeted, "Dekho, dekho kon aaya (look, look, who has come)", along with a picture of Sharif coming out of the hospital.
Earlier in the day, Maryam said, "Doctors satisfied with PM's progress and latest reports. All being well, Insha'Allah PM will be discharged this afternoon."
"PM going back home," she wrote on twitter.
Yesterday, nearly a week after the Premier underwent surgery, Maryam had announced that his recovery was on track.
"PM's recovery on course. Was made to walk several times in the corridor during the day, and up and down a flight of stairs twice," Maryam tweeted.
This was Sharif's second cardiac procedure in five years.
The need for the surgery arose after the Premier went through a cardiac procedure called Atrial Fibrillation Ablation in 2011, "during which certain complications occurred resulting in perforation of heart", Maryam had told the media.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani were among several world leaders who had wished Sharif ahead of his surgery.
However, Sharif had only spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the surgery.
is locked in upper circuit of 20% at Rs 660 on the BSE after the company announced that it has received letters of award for contracts from Oil And Natural Gas Corporation of India (ONGC) for an estimated value of Rs 1,482 crore.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today raked up the Ram Temple issue ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections scheduled next year and urged all to wait for the Supreme Court's final verdict or achieve mutual consensus on the same.
BJP president Amit Shah said the Ram Janmabhoomi is a part of his party's election manifesto.
"We have specified it that the Ram temple should be made on the site either after a consensus or by the directions of court. This is our firm stand," he told the media here.
Shah further said the BJP will contest the polls in Uttar Pradesh on the issue of development.
"The BJP has never agreed with whatever Sadhvi Prachi has said. We do not endorse Sanjeev Balyan's remarks on Dadri controversy. Our agenda is only development," he added.
The BJP president also used the occasion to take potshots at the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) and alleged that Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav-led government has failed to curb corruption.
The comment from the BJP chief comes after Minister of State for Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, Kalraj Mishra said that his party would not make the Ram temple an election issue in Uttar Pradesh.
Mishra had said the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya is a issue but the BJP will not make it an issue in the Uttar Pradesh elections.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had recently in an interview said that his party would fight next year's assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh on the issue of development.
Singh said the issue of construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya is an important "cultural issue" and not political.
"The Ram Mandir issue is not political, but a cultural issue. The matter is also sub-judice. The matter is in the Supreme Court and we are only waiting for the judgment," he said.
The Home Minister also said that his party has never indulged in the politics of communal polarisation for votes.
The Congress party today joined several other political outfits in criticising Union Minister of State for Parliamentary and Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abas Naqvi for his comments linking Kashmiri youth with the ISIS.
"Youths in Kashmir earlier joined ISIS. They have now started joining the IAS (Indian Administrative Service). The second-ranker in this year's civil services examination is a Kashmiri," Naqvi had said at a public meeting in Noida on Sunday, while elaborating on the achievements of the Modi government over the past two years.
Salman Nizami, a leader of the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the party, said, "Not even a single Kashmiri youth has joined the ISIS till date. Those who have joined are from other parts of India. Such type of 'immature' statements from a Union Minister is highly regretful and hurts the sentiments of Kashmiri people."
Nizami further said that the government should not view every Kashmiri with suspicion.
"Every Kashmiri is not a terrorist. This mindset of the BJP leader is deeply hurtful and frustrating for young Kashmiris trying to fashion the best lives for themselves even as a low-intensity conflict plagues the Valley," he said.
Recalling the hard efforts of successive Congress governments in stabilising the 'much hyped' and 'disturbed' state of Jammu and Kashmir, both at the central and state levels, he said, "Muhammad Shafi Pandit is the first Kashmiri Muslim to have joined the civil service in 1968, securing the third rank. Shah Faesal, became the first Kashmiri to top the 2009 Civil Service Exam, and Ruveda Salam became the first woman from the Valley to become an IPS officer in 2013 and an IAS officer in 2015 after she took the exam again."
"The Congress governments of the past have launched several schemes for the Jammu and Kashmir youth in order to secure their livelihood and keep them engaged. Unfortunately, the BJP government during its two year tenure has miserably failed in handling the state and the work done by Congress has been thrown in air due to ill handling of the situations which could be fatal for the existence of peaceful state," he added.
"If the government wants to win the hearts of Kashmiri youth, they should not associate them with militant groups. It gives a wrong impression. Moreover, students studying outside the state are being harassed, which sends a bad signal," Nizami said.
He said that there was need for Naqvi to tender an unconditional apology for his controversial statement, and added that the Kashmiri people are anguished and angry about it.
Former state chief minister Omar Abdullah has also condemned Naqvi's statement. Using his Twitter handle, Omar Abdullah said, ""How disrespectful and disdainful of @naqvimukhtar to claim the success of Kashmiri youth as some sort of NDA achievement.#shame."
He added, "Actually Kashmiris joined the civil services LONG before the NDA existed & will join long after the NDA disappears!".
New Delhi, June 7 (ANI): Datsun India, an automobile brand owned by Japanese company Nissan, on Tuesday unveiled its most affordable car the 'redi-GO' at Rs. 2.38 lakh (all ex-showroom, Delhi) in the country.
The redi-GO is available in a total of five variants - D, A, T, T (O) and S. The price goes up to Rs. 3.34 lakh for the S variant.
Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd Managing Director Arun Malhotra told ANI in an exclusive interview that this new model is styled in Japan and developed and manufactured in India and has a superior mileage of 25.17 kmpl.
He added that the company has managed to undercut the competition in terms of pricing with the other automobile companies.
"We are redefining conventional expectations and notions associated with the entry level car segment in India with a modern, fresh, stylish and accessible product. The Datsun redi-GO comes at a compelling price point and reaffirms Datsun philosophy of Dream, Access and Trust," Malhotra said.
"Besides that the redi-GO embraces safety solutions like shortest braking distance, high strength body shell to absorb impacts, good visibility and wider view of the road, superior suspension system and driver airbag etc. The car achieves a top speed of 140 km/h and offers good balance between handling and ride comfort," he added.
The car will be available in five different body colours of white, silver, grey, ruby and lime.
The five different variants of the car are priced as follows:
D Variant: Rs. 2.39 lakh, A Variant: Rs. 2.82 lakh, T Variant: Rs. 3.09 lakh, T (O) Variant: Rs. 3.19 lakh, S Variant: Rs. 3.34 lakh.
Japan's Ambassador to India, Mr Kenji Hiramatsu, today said the Japan-India relations should be strengthened further to ensure peace and stability in the region.
Delivering a talk on "Challenges and Prospects of Japan's Diplomacy - In the Context of India-Japan Relationship" at Observer Research Foundation in Delhi, Ambassador Hiramatsu suggested that "the India-Japan strategic partnership should be upgraded to a higher level".
Ambassador Hiramatsu said security and protection is very important for his country, pointing out that the threat level has risen following the test launch of new nuclear missiles by China in February last.
He said there is also a need to further strengthen the trilateral between the Japan, US and India besides improving alliances with other like-minded countries to ensure peace and stability in the region and free sea-lanes.
Ambassador Hiramatsu said there is a danger to peace and stability in the region, especially in the South China Sea and Indian Ocean, and Japan and India should work together to ensure Rule of International Law.
"Japan and China should discuss further improving defence cooperation," he said hoping that agreements on civil nuclear cooperation and deals on US-2 Amphibious aircraft will come soon.
Ambassador Hiramatsu also promised to support India's entry into the APEC while pointing out that Japan is supporting India's entry into Nuclear Supplier's Group (NSG) and the UNSC.
Talking about the importance of economic cooperation, Ambassador Hiramatsu said Japan is working hard to meet the promise given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to double the Japanese investment in India in five years.
He said while Japan is facing the problem of dwindling and aging population, India has a talented young population, giving a perfect complementarity to the bilateral cooperation.
Welcoming Ambassador Hiramatsu, ORF Director Sunjoy Joshi pointed out that India and Japan shared a common interest in working toward a new regional order that can be open, inclusive, rule-based and free from any single country's dominance. Towards this end, he said, India and Japan participated in several regional and global forums - the East Asia Summit, the ASEAN Regional Forum, etc.
Japan having become a permanent partner in the Malabar Exercises, defence cooperation is going to figure more prominently in the coming years, he said.
Mr Joshi said both the countries are well positioned to leverage the advantages available to them. "The emerging contours of global geo-politics with the Indo-Pacific emerging as a frontal area for collaboration between our two nations have thrown open a whole host of subjects that will ensure India and Japan find ever more common ground," Mr Joshi said.
Scores of Muslims in Lucknow took to the streets on Tuesday, to protest against the Chinese government's ban on fasting during Ramadan in Muslim-majority Xinjiang province.
"If China doesn't remove the restrictions within one - two days, we will burn all Chinese items imported to India. I am sure our traders will support us and not sell any Chinese product here," said a protestor.
The protestors also burnt effigies of Chinese President Xi Jinping and raised slogans against the restriction.
"The Chinese government's decision to ban Roza is an injustice to all Muslims around the world. The government should revoke this order immediately," said another protestor.
The Chinese authorities had earlier on Monday imposed restrictions on the ten million Muslim community in Xinjiang, preventing them from practicing Roza, the
dawn-to- dusk fast observed for the entire holy month of Ramadan.
China has around 20 million Muslims spread throughout the country, only a portion of which are Uighur, a Turkic-language speaking group that calls Xinjiang home.
The ban on Roza came less than a week after the Chinese administration said there was no religious discrimination in Xinjiang and there would be no interference in Muslims observing Roza.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has started a meeting with heads of American think tanks at Blair House.
"Probing the minds of those who shape foreign policy.PM @narendramodi at an interaction with thinktanks in Washington," tweeted Ministry of External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup.
"After history & culture, it's current & strategic affairs. Think tanks meet PM, share perspective on various issues," tweeted the Prime Minister's Office.
Earlier, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch started process of returning more than 200 stolen cultural objects back to India.
Congress MLA Biswa Bandhu Sen has been expelled from the primary membership of the party for six years due to his anti-party activities, said Tripura PCC president Birajit Sinha.
"To maintain discipline in the Congress, Biswa Bandhu Sen ,one of the Congress MLA has been expelled from the Congress party for six years because of his anti-party activities since last one year. He was alerted several times and even after that he did not stop his activities, therefore, on June 6, he was expelled from the primary membership of the Indian Congress," said Sinha speaking to ANI.
Sen was one of the seven rebels Congress MLA, who in protest against the AICC's decision of Congress-Left alliance in West Bengal, was to officially join the TMC to form a opposition party here.
The TPCC president viewed that those leaving the Congress were not actually attached with the party's ideology.
It is reported that today six Congress MLA's, including expelled Sen, are going to join the TMC and for which TMC all-India vice-president Mukul Roy is coming here for the second time in less than a week time.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will today again question Uttarakhand Chief Minister today in connection with the ongoing preliminary enquiry into an alleged sting operation against him.
The CBI had earlier questioned Rawat on May 24 for over five hours in connection with the sting operation where he was shown offering bribe to rebel Congress MLAs to save his government.
The Uttarakhand chief minister had said that this was a conspiracy against him.
"I believe the entire nation is watching this. And very soon there will be a solution to this conspiracy," he said.
Continuing his tirade against the BJP-led Centre for handing over the matter to the CBI, Rawat this was done when Uttarakhand was under President's rule.
Meanwhile, Uttarakhand BJP president Ajay Bhatt said that Rawat should cooperate with the CBI rather than blaming anyone in this regard.
"He should cooperate with the CBI. Why is he blaming us? The CBI is an independent agency. He should better cooperate in this matter rather than blaming anyone," Bhatt said.
Earlier, the Uttarakhand High Court had refused to quash the ongoing CBI probe into the sting operation, following which the agency had summoned the Chief Minister.
The TV sting operation was done in March, when rebel Congress lawmakers voted against the state budget, triggering a political crisis.
Later, Rawat government was sacked by the Centre and the state was placed under President's rule.
However, Congress knocked the door of the Court and Rawat returned as Chief Minister after winning a trust vote ordered by the Supreme Court earlier this month.
In order to avert the repeat of carnage during the previous reservation agitation of February, 2016, the ASSOCHAM today made a strong plea with the Haryana Government along with the Central agencies to take effective pre-emptive steps to ensure that renewed Jat agitation does not disrupt normal life in the state and the neighbouring areas.
We hope the Haryana Government , having learnt from the previous violent agitation that cost the state thousands of crores of rupees and several precious lives, would make fool-proof arrangements to maintain the confidence of the common citizen and the investors, particularly in cities such as Gurgaon, Rohtak, Jhajjar, Sonepat, Panipat, Karnal, the ASSOCHAM Secretary General Mr D S Rawat said.
Besides, strict vigilance must be maintained on all the water channels and resources in the state which are not only the supply sources to Haryana but other neighbouring states like Delhi. Along with better coordination with the Railways and the Central agencies, all the highways and railway lines must be protected at any cost and no untoward incident should be allowed anywhere in the state, Mr Rawat said.
He said the state is still smarting under loss of property and lives during the previous agitation which had dent the investor confidence there.
The maximum damage was done to the trade and small industries and under no circumstances people's confidence should be affected again.
ASSOCHAM made an appeal to the Chief Minister Mr Manohar Lal to personally monitor the developments and Let the state administration be on top of the situation, rather than taking reactive steps.
The chamber said at a time when the country needs growth in a difficult economic environment, no state can afford any deterioration in the law and order situation. All the stakeholders and particularly those indulging in agitation should respect law of the land.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a $120 million loan agreement to improve irrigation and water management infrastructure in Odisha.
The loan is the second tranche of a $157.5 million financing facility under the Orissa Integrated Irrigated Agriculture and Water Management Investment Program. The financing will be used for modernizing seven irrigation subprojects resulting in improved irrigation in over 100,000 hectares, and strengthening of Water User Associations (WUAs) and the institutional capacity of Odisha's Department of Water Resources. The selected areas for the investment program are the Baitarani, Brahmani, Budhabalanga, and Subernarekha river basins and part of the Mahanadi delta.
Mr. Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions), Department of Economic Affairs and Ms. M. Teresa Kho, Country Director, ADB's India Resident Mission signed the loan agreement on behalf of Government of India and ADB respectively. A separate project agreement was signed by Sh.
P. K. Jena, Principal Secretary, Water Resource Department of Government of Odisha.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Raj Kumar said that agriculture is a priority sector for India and especially for Odisha because of its high potential to generate jobs and contribute to inclusive and sustainable economic growth. The project aims to improve existing irrigation infrastructure, operation and maintenance, and water use efficiency that will lead to higher agricultural productivity.
Ms. M. Teresa Kho, Country Director, ADB's India Resident Mission said that the investment program has already demonstrated the value of participatory irrigation management and will continue to support the WUAs to manage the planning, construction, and operation and maintenance of irrigation systems as an equal partner of the government.
The second tranche loan from ADB's ordinary capital resources has a 20-year term. The State of Odisha, acting through its Department of Water Resources is responsible for implementing the tranche 2 activities and overall program, which are both due for completion by September 2018.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
On 7 June 2016
Inditalia Refcon will hold a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company on 7 June 2016, to decide the place, time and venue for holding the 29th Annual General Meeting of the Company and also finalize the dates for Book Closure.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
With effect from 04 June 2016
Srikalahasthi Pipes announced that Shamsher Singh Rawat, IAS, Nominee Director of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation (APIDC) has resigned from the Board of Directors of the Company vide his letter dated 18 May 2016, which was received by the Company on 04 June 2016.
Shamsher Singh Rawat ceases to be Director of the Company w.e.f. 04 June 2016 and his resignation letter will be placed in the ensuing Board Meeting of the Company.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Veteran actor Anupam Kher says one of the highlights of his stay here has been attending a jazz concert by filmmaker Woody Allen.
Before attending the concert, Anupam tweeted that he was looking forward to the event by Woody Allen and the Eddy Davis New Orleans Jazz Band.
"Excited and looking forward to The Woody Allen concert. Cinema Genius New York. The Carlyl Hotel."
The 61-year-old actor then shared a video snippet from the concert and captioned it: "Watching Woody Allen live is one of d highlights of my stay in New York. Here is a clip of d concert for you all."
--IANS
dc/rb/vm
Administrators at an elementary school in Bristol, England, arrived in the morning to find acclaimed street artist Banksy had painted a mural on one of the facility's walls as a gift to students.
The mysterious artist, whose identity is unknown, took advantage of a school break last week to complete his work depicting a girl rolling a tyre in flames, EFE news reported.
Banksy left behind a letter that was found by the Bridge Valley School's principal.
The street artist expressed his gratitude for having one of the buildings in the school named after him in a vote by students.
Principal Geoff Mason said his intention was to preserve the mural where Banksy painted it, adding that "there are no plans to sell it".
"I got here and found this beautiful mural painted by Banksy. It's fantastic that Banksy, such a famous person, chose to do this in our school," Mason said.
The school had sent the artist a letter informing him about the use of his name on one of the facility's buildings, but Mason said they were not expecting such a response.
Many of Banksy's murals in London and other cities have been sold or auctioned off for hundreds of thousands of pounds.
A Banksy work, titled "Slave Labour", was removed from the wall in north London's Wood Green district, where it had been painted, and later sold for more than $1.1 million at an auction.
--IANS
ksk/dg
A Myanmarese reporter with BBC Myanmar has been jailed for three months after he was found guilty of assaulting a police officer, officials said on Tuesday.
Ko Nay Myo Lin was found guilty on Monday in the Chan Mya Tharsi township court in Mandalay of actions that took place during an altercation between protesting students and police in Mandalay on March 27, 2015, EFE news reported.
The Mandalay region police force claimed that the reporter punched an officer in the face, even though almost two dozen witnesses testified at the 15-month trial in Lin's defence, and said police disrupted the rally by knocking motorbikes onto the ground.
Though the reporter pleaded not guilty, he is not planning to contest the verdict in a higher court.
"Most people saw that the police pushed over the students' motorcycles at the protest. But the court ignored the evidence and sentenced me to three months' imprisonment with labour. It is not fair," the Myanmar Times quoted Lin as saying.
"There is no protection for the media. What I did was only report on people who were being treated unjustly."
The Yangon-based Foreign Correspondents Club of Myanmar said in a statementon Tuesday that the court's verdict reflects badly on the new civilian government which is trying to lead the country towards democracy.
--IANS
ksk/vt
A number of yoga federations, yoga teachers and yoga schools are coming together to organise the second edition of the grand Yoga session in Brussels on June 19, India's ambassador to Belgium and the EU Manjeev Singh Puri announced here on Tuesday.
"The second International Day of Yoga would not only carry forward the accomplishment of the First International Day of Yoga last year, but would be a manifestation of our strong will, positivity and undeterred unity to combat the global evil forces through the message of love and, above all, serenity contained in Yoga," he told a press conference at the Indian embassy.
"I am particularly delighted that we are going to have a large participation in Brussels which is the heart of Europe," he said.
Also on June 21, many Yoga events will be held around the EU institutions.
June 21, was designated as the International Day of Yoga by the UN General Assembly in December 2014. The resolution was driven by India and co-sponsored by a record of 177 Member-States of the UN, including Belgium.
Over 7,500 people participated in the large public Yoga sessions held across Belgium and Luxembourg last year.
--IANS
nawab/ahm//dg
The ruling Congress party in Manipur on Tuesday won 12 seats, while the BJP bagged 10 in the Imphal Municipal Corporation, for which elections were held on June 2.
Independent candidates managed to grab five seats in the 27-member council.
"Three independents have joined the Congress and it has been approved. Now the Congress shall form the IMC body. There is no anti-incumbency and the election results in Assam have not impacted Manipur's IMC polls," state president of Indian National Congress T.N. Haokip told IANS.
Stating that love and support of the people stood the party in good stead, Haokip claimed that people will support the party which has been in power for three consecutive terms in the February 2017 Assembly elections.
"Nobody can play the communal card in Manipur as the voters are matured," he added.
Meanwhile, Thounaojam Chaoba, election cell in charge of the BJP, said: "No party is in a position to form the IMC body. We are forming a democratic alliance with the non-Congress parties."
--IANS
il/lok/dg
Delhi Police has arrested three kidney donors, including two women, in its ongoing probe into organ trafficking at Indraprastha Apollo hospital here, said officials on Tuesday.
"We have arrested two women kidney donors from Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) and one person from Siliguri (West Bengal)," Deputy Commissioner of Police Mandeep Singh Randhawa told IANS.
The police busted the kidney racket on June 2 with the arrest of two Indraprastha Apollo hospital employees and three touts on the charge of persuading economically needy people to sell their kidneys.
A case was then registered at Sarita Vihar police station here.
The police had said that Shailesh Saxena, 31, and Aditya Singh, 24, who work as personal secretaries to two Apollo hospital doctors, were held for organising kidney trade.
The three arrested touts are Aseem Sikdar, 37, Satya Prakash, 30, and Devashish Moulik, 30.
Investigators said that the members of the gang persuaded economically needy people from various parts of the country to donate their kidney in exchange for money.
"They also prepared forged papers including the identity proofs to establish the relationship between the donors and the recipients."
The recipients were charged large sums while the donors were fobbed off with paltry amounts.
People falling prey to the gang come from various parts of the country like West Bengal, Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Chennai in Tamil Nadu.
Police sources said the hospital staff used to inform Sikdar, the mastermind of the racket, about the need for a kidney.
"Sikdar would then arrange the donors with the help of his associates Prakash and Moulik," the sources said.
The police have so far questioned several doctors and staff members of Apollo hospital regarding the case.
--IANS
rak/kb/dg
The alleged mastermind and three kidney donors, including two women, in the organ trafficking racket at Indraprastha Apollo hospital here have been arrested, Delhi Police said on Tuesday.
T. Rajkumar was arrested from Kolkata along with three donors -- two women from Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur and a man from West Bengal's Siliguri.
"We arrested the mastermind of the kidney racket T. Rajkumar alias Raju from Kolkata and three kidney donors, who include two women," Deputy Commissioner of Police Mandeep Singh Randhawa told IANS.
He, however, did not elaborate on Rajkumar's role in the racket
Police busted the kidney racket on June 2 with the arrest of two Indraprastha Apollo hospital employees and three touts on the charge of persuading economically-needy people to sell their kidneys.
A case was then registered at Sarita Vihar police station here.
Police had said Shailesh Saxena, 31, and Aditya Singh, 24, who work as personal secretaries to two Apollo hospital doctors, were held for organising the kidney trade.
The three arrested touts were identified as Aseem Sikdar, 37, Satya Prakash, 30, and Devashish Moulik, 30.
Investigators said the members of the gang persuaded poor people from various parts of the country to donate their kidney in exchange for money.
"They also prepared forged papers including the identity proofs to establish the relationship between the donors and the recipients."
The recipients were charged large sums while the donors were fobbed off with paltry amounts.
People falling prey to the gang come from various parts of the country like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Tamil Nadu.
Police sources said the hospital staff used to inform Sikdar about the need for a kidney, and he would then arrange the donors with the help of his associates Prakash and Moulik.
Police have so far questioned several doctors and staff members of Apollo hospital in the case.
--IANS
rak/vd/dg
The Central government should ban Nigerians from entering India, former Chief Minister Ravi Naik has demanded, adding that the state does not need Nigerian tourists.
Referring to Nigerians with the pejorative "negroes", the senior Congress leader also told reporters that Nigerians have been causing "problems" in as well other metros.
"The government of India should ban them. They should be probed. It should be checked whether they are here to study or for picnic or to sell drugs," said Naik, a former home minister in the erstwhile Congress-led coalition government.
"Nigerians come here and do 'dadagriri', in Delhi, Bengaluru and the entire country. We should chase the Nigerians out of here. Have they come here to study? Are they really studying? Are they really going to college, schools? Are they really going to bogus schools or bogus typing schools, this has to be probed. It is very important," Naik said, adding that even Aam Aami Party leaders had a fight with Nigerians in the past.
"They create problems everywhere. We do not want Nigerian tourists," Naik said, demanding a probe into the activities of Nigerians in Goa, who he alleged masquerade as students.
Naik's comments come a few days after Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on May 30 said that Goans were unhappy with the attitude and the lifestyle of Nigerians living in the coastal state.
On the same day, Goa's Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar also said that Nigerians create problems in Goa and sell drugs.
In 2014, during the monsoon session of the Goa assembly, the state home ministry referred to Africans as 'Negroes', an error for which then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had to tender an apology after an outcry.
The global threat emanating from Islamic State (ISIS) remains high, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said in a report.
The continued military pressure exerted in Iraq and Syria by coalition forces has led to serious military setbacks for ISIS, Xinhua quoted Ban as saying in the report issued on Monday.
"However, even though the territorial expansion of in both states (Syria and Iraq) has been halted and, in part reversed over recent months, many (UN) member states have noted that is not yet strategically and irreversibly weakened," he said.
"A worrying factor is that no member state has reported that is short on, or lacks, arms or ammunition," he added.
Over the past six months alone, "Islamic State has carried out, inspired, or claimed responsibility for, terrorist attacks in Bangladesh, Belgium, Egypt, France, Germany, Indonesia, Lebanon, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Turkey and the US," he said.
"The attacks have killed more than 500 individuals and injured hundreds more," he added.
National law enforcement agencies continue to investigate those attacks, but it is already clear that they were coordinated by foreign terrorist fighters who had returned to Europe from ISIS-held territory in Syria, Ban noted.
"This demonstrates the ability of IS returnees to quickly link up and draw on the support of established radical networks and supporters of Al-Qaeda and thereby enhance their newly acquired terrorism skills with local knowledge and support," he said.
The secretary-general also said, "Significant numbers of foreign terrorist fighters continue to travel from states around the world to join ISIS in Iraq and Syria."
He said this while citing a report from a member state saying that around 38,000 individuals may have attempted to travel to the region in the past few years.
"Countermeasures taken by states to detect and deter foreign terrorist fighters, and increased controls at the borders of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, may be affecting the numbers of such fighters able to join ISIS," he said.
The UN Security Council has maintained that ISIS, also known as Daesh, poses a threat to peace and security, calling upon all UN member states to fight the terrorist group, including making the joint efforts to cut off funds for it.
Ban called for strengthened cooperation to fight IS and other terrorist groups in the world.
Hillary Clinton has clinched the Democratic Party's presidential nomination on Monday, and is set to become the first woman in the America's 240-year history to lead the presidential ticket of a major political party.
A strong showing in Puerto Rico's Democratic primary on Sunday and additional support from superdelegates put Clinton, 68, over the top to become the presumptive nominee.
She has secured 1,812 pledged delegates and 572 superdelegates for a total of 2,384 delegates -- one more than needed for the nomination, CNN reported.
Clinton's delegate count will grow on Tuesday when six states, including delegate-rich California and New Jersey, hold contests.
Speaking in Long Beach, California, on Monday night, Clinton said she was still focused on the states where voters will cast their ballots on Tuesday.
"We are on the brink of a historic, historic unprecedented moment but we still have work to do, don't we?" she said, adding "We have six elections tomorrow (Tuesday) and are going to fight hard for every single vote, especially right here in California."
The former first lady, senator from New York and secretary of state will officially become the Democratic nominee at next month's convention and will face presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in a general election battle.
However, polls conducted recently showed Clinton, like Trump, is one of the most unpopular presumptive nominees in history.
The scandal over the private email server she used as secretary of state has renewed questions over her transparency and honesty.
Republicans believe her foreign policy record, tainted by her dealings with Libya and Russia while secretary of state, could turn into a huge benefit for their candidate.
--IANS
ksk/vm
An elderly Hindu priest was brutally killed on Tuesday by unidentified assailants in Bangladesh, police said.
Ananta Gopal Ganguly was attacked by a group of three people armed with knives while he was walking through a rice field to his temple in Khulna province's Jhenaidah district, according to the area's police chief, Ahsan Azizur Rahman.
"At least three attackers on a motorcycle approached him, stabbed him in the head and fled. We haven't found any witnesses," he told EFE, adding that "Ganguly was the priest of an ancient temple."
The priest had not received any death threats in the past, Rahman said.
"We don't want to point at any group yet, but this is the second such incident in the area this year. In January, a Christian convert was stabbed some 20 km from this place," the police chief said.
Eleven people have been killed in a similar manner in various parts of Bangladesh since April.
The victims include a secular activist, a professor accused of atheism, two gay activists, two Hindu merchants, a Sufi spiritual leader and a homeopathic doctor, accused of promoting Christianity.
Some of the attacks have been claimed by the Islamic State and others by an Al Qaeda branch in the Indian subcontinent.
Nearly 90 percent of the 160 million people of Bangladesh are Muslims, while Hindus are the main minority group, in addition to smaller communities of Christians and Buddhists.
--IANS
ksk/vm
A court here on Tuesday granted bail to suspended Home Ministry undersecretary Anand Joshi in a graft case, but warned him of bail cancellation if any of the conditions imposed by it was violated.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Vinod Kumar granted bail to Joshi on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of the like amount.
"I have considered all facts and circumstances. I agree with senior public prosecutor to the extent that the accusations, in the present matter, are very serious, but at the same time the applicant (Joshi) cannot be kept in jail for an indefinite period, especially in view of the fact that he appears to have roots in society and has a family to support," the court said.
The court imposed seven conditions for bail, warning Joshi that "violation of the conditions shall result in immediate cancellation of bail".
The conditions include the one that he cannot use any other mobile phone for communication during investigation in the case.
The court directed Joshi to give his and his family members' phone numbers to the case investigating officer and that he would not leave Delhi and Ghaziabad without the CBI's permission.
The court asked the accused to mark his presence with the investigating officer every Monday, join the probe whenever required and submit his passport to authorities.
The court directed him not to try to tamper with evidence, influence witnesses or contact any NGO under investigation.
Joshi, Undersecretary in the Home Ministry when he was suspended, was arrested by the CBI on May 15 here on the charge of "obtaining illegal gratification" from various non-governmental organisations after issuing notices to them under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
The CBI is reported to have found files relating to activist Teesta Setalvad's NGO Sabrang Trust in his possession.
Joshi went "missing" from his residence in Ghaziabad, Delhi's suburban town in Uttar Pradesh, after summons were issued to him by the CBI.
Earlier, home ministry sources said Joshi, posted in the Foreigners Division, had access to files related to the FCRA and was under the scanner for several months.
Joshi denied the charge of receiving bribes from the NGOs.
--IANS
akk/tsb/vt
The construction of an underground ice wall at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, meant to stop the volume of contaminated groundwater from increasing, has entered a new phase, the operating firm said on Tuesday.
Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said the first of three stages to build the wall has entered its second and final phase after getting the approval from the country's Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA), EFE news reported.
The wall is intended to block the flow of groundwater contained in the natural aquifer and to prevent its mixing with radioactive contaminated water by isolating the subsoil around the four reactor buildings, which were damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The NRA has certified that the pumping systems used to bifurcate aquifers are working properly and that the wall will not generate a hazardous back flow of groundwater.
The second phase of the first stage now covers 95 per cent of the wall around the reactors, which would reduce the volume of water entering daily into the building's basements by 50 per cent.
To build the wall, more than 1,500 pipes are inserted in the ground to a depth of about 30-35 metres around the four reactors.
The pipes will later be filled with a saline solution and the solution will be cooled to minus 30 degrees Celsius, freezing the surrounding soil and forming a frozen ground barrier around the reactor facilities.
However, the company has not set specific deadlines for completion of the project.
--IANS
ksk/vt
Terming Indo-Japan ties a "special strategic relationship", Japan on Tuesday said it is working very hard to increase investments in India.
"Japan is trying to increase its investment in India. We are working very hard to achieve this goal," said Japan's ambassador to India Kenji Hiramatsu while giving a talk here on 'Challenges and Prospects of Japan's in context of India-Japan Relationship'.
The ambassador supported India's bid to become a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
India on Monday managed to get Switzerland's support for its NSG membership bid following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann in Geneva.
Hiramatsu said India and Japan share a "special strategic relationship" which was also "action-oriented".
Talking about areas of cooperation in which the two nations could help each other, he said defence and technology were some of the areas where Japan would like to help India.
"Japan is in the process of identifying what (defence) technology could be transferred to India. This would strengthen our security cooperation," he said.
--IANS
sk/kb/dg
In a fresh salvo against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday urged Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to name consultants hired by the Modi government since 2014.
In a hard-hitting response after the home ministry sought information about officials and consultants with the Delhi government, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader hoped similar facts were also being sought from other states.
"You have sought to know the number of IAS posts now held by other officers. As per my knowledge, there won't be more than two or three such officers.
"I am confident that the central government would have also asked for this information from N. Chandrababu Naidu, Vasundhara Raje, Devendra Fadnavis and Shivraj Singh Chouhan as well," Kejriwal wrote in a letter.
The AAP leader said legal experts had told him the central government had no authority to seek this information from him.
Kejriwal remarked sarcastically that he was happy Modi was taking so much interest in the affairs of the Delhi government.
"The prime minister spends much of his time abroad. But when he is in India, much of his time is consumed on matters related to the Delhi government."
Kejriwal then sought information about the number of consultants hired by the Modi government in the last two years.
He asked Rajnath Singh to tell him how many officers not from the IAS held posts meant for IAS officers in Uttar Pradesh when he (Rajnath Singh) was its chief minister.
Kejriwal's letter came in response to a home ministry letter of May seeking details from the Delhi government about officers on deputation.
Kejriwal also asked Rajnath Singh to detail the steps taken by the central government to contain what he said was the deteriorating law and order situation in Delhi.
He said he was "worried" over rising incidents of crime in the capital.
"Day-by-day, incidents of rape are increasing. The law and order situation has been badly hit... There is jungle raj... As Chief Minister, I am worried.
"I request you to tell me what steps have been taken by the central government and the Lt. Governor to contain the situation."
He asked Rajnath Singh to dedicate at least an hour every day on issues related to law and order in Delhi -- till such time Delhi Police was made accountable to the elected government.
Earlier in the day, AAP leader Sanjay Singh accused Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung of "spying for the PMO" and alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wanted to destabilize the Delhi government.
Kejriwal also reiterated the claims made by Sanjay Singh.
"Shocking! LG snooping on CM (and) Ministers," Kejriwal tweeted.
The remarks by the AAP leaders came after a published report said that Jung had complained to Nripendra Misra, Principal Secretary to Modi, that a railway officer was found working with the Delhi government while on study leave from his department.
Sources at the LG office, however, refuted AAP's allegation of LG 'spying for PMO' and said that LG had not sought the information about the railway official.
"LG office in February received a document which stated that a railway official S.K. Nagarwal was found working with the Delhi government while on study leave," the source told IANS adding, "Since service matters are the domain of the LG and he (Nagarwal) being a central government employee, LG was bound to tell the central government about this."
Because of the national capital's unique status, Delhi Police reports to the central government, not to the government headed by Kejriwal.
Kejriwal and his government have been feuding with the central government since taking power in February 2015 over issues of governance.
Kejriwal is pushing for full statehood for Delhi.
--IANS
am/rn/dg
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday denounced human rights violations in China and expressed concern over the country's recently-approved law on foreign non-profits.
During his speech at the closing ceremony of the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing, Kerry said he had put forward "international concern" over the infringements of the freedoms of expression and religion in China and remonstrated against the persecution of lawyers, religious heads and civil society leaders, EFE news reported.
Kerry also criticised the Foreign NGO Management Law passed by the Chinese Legislature in April, set to enter into force in 2017, and which has triggered an international outcry due to the widespread perception it will make the work of such groups in the country more difficult.
Kerry stressed again the importance of allowing such organisations to continue functioning effectively, adding they are working to build understanding between the two countries.
Chinese State advisor Yang Jiechi responded to the criticisms on the same platform saying that the "progress" in human rights in China has been widely acknowledged and that the country's citizens enjoy freedom in matters of both expression and religion.
Yang indicated the law regulating foreign non-governmental organisations is part of China's reforms process.
Meanwhile, Kerry also noted that experts from both countries will coordinate the implementation of sanctions against North Korea as adopted by the UN Security Council, while Yang reiterated China's bid to find a peaceful solution to tensions in the peninsula.
--IANS
ksk/dg
Despite the holy month of Ramazan, terrorists in Syria continue indiscriminate intense fire on Syrian troops, Kurdish militia and residential quarters of the city of Aleppo, using everything in their vast arsenal of artillery, reports said.
"The number of victims among the civilians is only growing," reported the Russian Centre for Reconciliation of opposing sides in the Syrian Arab Republic.
"Terrorists of Al-Nusra Front have performed strikes with MLRS and mortars against Karasy and al-Hamra inhabited areas, Sheikh Maqsood, Hamdaniya, Meidan, al-Halidyah, al-Amriyah quarters and Al-Nayrab airport in the city of Aleppo," the centre reports.
According to the centre, Aleppo's district of Makanis al-Duvairi has suffered a massive artillery strike delivered from the village of Kafr Hamrah, northwest of Aleppo.
"Long-lasting shelling was conducted using MLRS systems, artillery, mortars and anti-aircraft guns," the centre said.
Although the holy month of has begun on Monday, terrorist groups continue violation of the ceasefire agreement that came into force on February 27.
Syrian government forces and the anti-terrorist coalition units have continued fighting Al-Nusra Front and IS fighters across the country, securing strategic points in Homs countryside.
The Syrian army, backed by Russian airstrikes, has carried out assault operations against IS positions as battle is now raging for the town of Tabqa, 40km west of the city of Raqqa.
Russian Air Force planes have destroyed four terrorist-controlled illegal oil production facilities located in the Raqqa and Homs provinces, the center reports.
Moscow will provide "the most active" air support for Syrian ground troops in and around Aleppo to prevent terrorists from seizing it, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on Monday.
"We will decide on how our air forces should act, depending on the situation," Lavrov said in a media conference following talks with his Finnish counterpart. "This will not be a surprise for the Americans."
The Russian side reports that three areas of Latakia province have been shelled by Al-Nusra Front fighters. The group has also been active in Idlib and Hama provinces.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended a function here during which Indian idols lying in the US have been returned to India.
"Restoring India's cultural heritage: PM @narendramodi attends ceremony for return of idols with US Attorney General," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted on Tuesday, as Modi attended the event.
"Today, we begin the process of returning more than 200 stolen cultural objects back to India," US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said, according to a tweet by Swarup.
Modi thanked US President Barack Obama for returning the Indian idols.
"I am grateful to President Obama for returning to us these treasures which join us to our past," the prime minister said.
"For some, these artefacts may be measured in monetary terms but for us this is beyond that. It's a part of our culture and heritage," Modi said.
--IANS
pgh/
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come in for praise from the White House over India's fight against climate change ahead of his meeting with US President Barack Obama on Tuesday.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, addressing a briefing on Monday, said that Modi has demonstrated a "lot of leadership" on the issue of fighting climate change.
"Obviously, this is a situation where Modi demonstrated a lot of leadership, even in the face of a difficult political climate back home. He committed India to standards that will be good for the Indian population... (and) will be good for the rest of the world, too," Earnest said ahead of Modi's meeting with Obama, who has been championing the fight against climate change.
Earnest said Obama acknowledges the important role India played in making commitments to climate change agreement in Paris.
The US President has a lot of respect for the way Modi has handled the issue, and both the leaders will discuss about what more the US and India can do to advance the climate agenda, Earnest told the reporters.
Earnest said that he expects Modi and Obama to discuss the economic ties between the US and India.
"The economic relationship between the US and India is an important one, and it is a relationship that benefits both our citizens," he said.
"We have seen, in recent years, greater and closer coordination between US and Indian national security officials. The President is certainly interested in trying to deepen and strengthen those ties because it would enhance the national security of both our countries."
When asked if Obama was going to work hard in convincing the Indian leader to ratify the agreement so that it goes into force, Earnest said: "I don't know whether or not the President will be making that specific request."
He said India has played a significant role in helping the international community come to an agreement, and the US expects New Delhi to continue playing an important role in the international community in making progress even beyond the agreement reached in December 2015.
India has set up a very ambitious renewable energy target of 175 GW operation capacity by March 2022.
--IANS
py/rn/vm
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday engaged in wide-ranging bilateral talks with US President Barack Obama after arriving at the White House here.
This is the seventh meeting between Modi and Obama in the past two years.
The talks are expected to cover issues like India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), inclusion in the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), climate change and bilateral investments and trade.
Modi arrived here on Monday from Switzerland on his second bilateral visit to the US after his trip in September, 2014.
He is visiting the US at the invitation of Obama, who in the last year of his presidency is inviting a few world leaders with whom he shared a "close and productive working relationship".
Following Tuesday's talks, Obama will host Modi for lunch.
Later in the day, the Prime Minister will attend a meeting of business leaders and then address the annual general meeting of the US-India Business Council (USIBC).
After arriving here on Monday, Modi visited the Arlington National Cemetery and laid wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Space Shuttle Colombia Memorial.
He also attended a meeting of heads of US think tanks and a function at which some rare Indian artifacts were repatriated.
The highlight of Modi's visit will be his address to a joint sitting of the US Congress on Wednesday.
He will be the fifth Indian Prime Minister to address the US Congress after Rajiv Gandhi, P.V. Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh.
Later on Wednesday, he will leave for Mexico on the fifth and final leg of his five-nation tour.
Prior to Switzerland, he visited Afghanistan and Qatar.
--IANS
ab/rn/dg
Nigerian nationals in India do display "bad behaviour" but calling for a ban on their entry into the country, as Congress leader Ravi Naik has done, is going too far, Kiran Kandolkar, BJP's spokesman in Goa, said on Tuesday.
Kandolkar also said that Naik should have banned Nigerians when he was home minister in the previous Congress-led coalition government.
"Goans do not want Nigerians, because they riot, are over the top, have a rough attitude and bad behaviour," said Kandolkar, when asked to respond to Naik's statement earlier in the day demanding a ban on Nigerians.
Earlier on Tuesday, Naik referred to Nigerians as "Negroes" and said: "The government of India should ban them. They should be probed. It should be checked whether they are here to study or for picnic or to sell drugs."
"Nigerians come here and do 'dadagiri', in Delhi, Bengaluru and the entire country. We should chase the Nigerians out of here," said Naik, a former chief minister of Goa.
Kandolkar, who represents Thivim in Goa assembly, seemed to agree with Naik -- albeit with reservations.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator said: "We know Nigerians are involved in crooked things here. We accept it. We have seen their behavior and their activities ... we have heard, read it in the papers."
"But that doesn't mean I can make a statement (about banning them) being a part of the government," Kandolkar said, adding that in a democracy it was wrong to ban specific communities or groups.
Kandolkar said Naik should apologise for referring to Nigerians as "Negroes".
"Obviously he should apologize. As a senior leader and a good politician, Ravi Naik should apologize to all black people who he has referred to as Negroes," Kandolkar said, adding that Naik should have banned Nigerians when he was a home minister between 2007-2012.
On May 30, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had said that Goans were unhappy with the attitude and the lifestyle of Nigerians living in the coastal state.
On the same day, Goa's Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar also said that Nigerians create problems in Goa and sell drugs.
In 2014, during the monsoon session of the Goa assembly, the state home ministry referred to Africans as 'Negroes', an error for which then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had to tender an apology after an outcry.
--IANS
maya/kb/dg
Vatican City, June 7 (IANS/AKI) Prayers are the "batteries" that power Christians and allow them to enlighten others, Pope Francis said on Tuesday.
"Prayers are always the batteries that give Christians light," Francis said in a sermon as he celebrated mass at the Vatican hotel, where he lives.
"But illuminate the lives of others rather than yourselves," he said.
Monuments can be erected to merciful Christians who do good works for the Church, for example by founding a Catholic university, a college or a hospital, Francis stated.
"But if you don't pray, such monuments will be a bit dark, a bit obscure.
"Many works become rather obscure due to a lack of light, of prayers. Because it is prayer that makes Christ's light sparkle, that illuminates," he said, adding Christians should also be "salt that gives flavour to everybody's lives".
"We must be the light that illuminates all the others and the salt that gives their lives flavour," he said.
--IANS
vd
President Pranab Mukherjee will visit the Republic of Namibia from June 15 to 17 at the invitation of its President Hage Gottfried Geingob, an announcement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said here on Tuesday.
The visit by an Indian President to Namibia will be the first at the highest level in over two decades, the ministry said in a statement, adding that the visit, apart from consolidating bilateral interaction, will carry forward the momentum generated in India-Africa ties post Third India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS-III).
The visit is part of a three-nation tour by the President, beginning with Ghana followed by Cote d'Ivoire and Namibia.
The President will be accompanied by a Minister of State, four Members of Parliament, senior officials, business and media delegations.
During the visit, discussions will be held on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest. The President will also address a joint session of Parliament of Namibia, an India-Namibia Business Event, and Namibian University of Science and Technology, the statement said.
"India and Namibia enjoy long-standing, excellent and time-tested ties that predate Namibia's independence," the statement said.
The MEA also announced that President will pay an official visit to the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire on June 14-15 at the invitation of its President Alassane Ouattara.
On Monday, MEA said President will be paying a state visit to the Republic of Ghana from June 12 to 14 at the invitation of its President John Dramani Mahama.
--IANS
nd/lok/dg
Israeli archaeologists on Tuesday said they have unearthed "rare" silver coins that a Jewish farmer stashed outside his home west of Jerusalem some 2,140 years ago.
The Israel Antiquities Authority said the coins were found in Modiin city during salvage excavation ahead of the construction of a new neighbourhood, Xinhua news agency reported.
A statement by the Antiquities Authority said the coins were dated back to 128 BC, or the Hasmonean period, during which the Jewish Hasmonean dynasty ruled Judea, an area that includes Jerusalem and its vicinity.
"The treasure was hidden in a rock crevice, up against a wall of an impressive agricultural estate that was discovered during the excavation there," the statement read.
Excavation director, Avraham Tendler, said the "rare cache" of ancient two-drachmas and four-drachmas coins bear the images of the king, Antiochus VII and his brother Demetrius II. They were minted in the ancient city of Tyre on Lebanon's Mediterranean coast.
"The cache may have belonged to a Jew who hid his money in the hope of coming back to collect it, but he was unlucky and never returned," Tendler said in a statement. He added that the cache equalled to "several months" income.
"It is exciting to think that the coin hoard was waiting here 2,140 years until we exposed it," he added.
--IANS
ksk/bg
has called for car giant Nissan to face criminal charges for allegedly manipulating emissions data on a popular sports utility vehicle, weeks after Seoul slapped the firm with a fine over the issue.
The environment ministry called on state prosecutors to probe Nissan Korea after saying tests had shown an emission defeat system on the Qashqai model that made it appear to be less polluting than it really was.
It also banned the sale of the vehicle in the country.
Senior environment ministry official Hong Dong-Kon, who handles transport-related regulations, told journalists: "Today, we're going to file a criminal complaint" against Nissan Korea's President Takehiko Kikuchi.
Last month, Japan's number-two carmaker was hit with a 330 million won ($280,000) fine and Seoul said it would recall hundreds of Qashqais after the tests.
In a statement, Nissan said: "Nissan Korea's priorities are our customers, dealers and working closely and transparently with the Korean government concerning real-world NOx emissions of the Nissan Qashqai."
"We maintain, as we have throughout the discussions, that we have complied with all existing regulations and did not use an 'unjustified arbitrary setup' or an illegal defeat device in the vehicle," the statement added.
"This vehicle was certified by the Korean government last year under regulations permitting the importation and sales of vehicles that comply with these emission standards," Nissan said further, adding, "We are now studying the conclusions reached by the (environment ministry) and are currently exploring our options. We will work to return the vehicle to sale as soon as possible, and will be in touch with our valued customers and dealers about next steps."
The decision follows an investigation into 20 diesel-powered cars that began last December after German carmaker Volkswagen admitted to having installed devices aimed at cheating emissions tests in 11 million diesel engines.
In April, another Japanese giant, Mitsubishi admitted it had been falsifying fuel-economy tests for years, manipulating data to make cars seem more efficient than they were in reality. Volkswagen's admission in September plunged the company into its deepest-ever crisis.
The automaker acknowledged 11 million vehicles are fitted with software that reduces pollution levels only when the car is being tested for emissions.
In late April, the company said it was setting aside 16.2 billion euros ($18.2 billion) in provisions to cover the anticipated costs of the scandal.
Last November Seoul ordered Volkswagen Korea to recall more than 125,000 diesel-powered cars sold in the Korean market and fined the firm 14.1 billion won.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a plea seeking a CBI probe into the violence at Mathura in which 29 people, including two police officers, died while members of the Swadheen Bharat Vidhik Satyagrahi outfit were being evicted from a public park.
The vacation bench of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Amitava Roy, while dismissing the plea, said it was entirely for Uttar Pradesh government to take a call whether to hand over the investigation into the incident of violence to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The violence took place on June 2 when police attempted to clear a massive encroachment of Jawahar Bagh public park by the members of the outfit on the direction of the Allahabad High Court.
Pointing out that the "direction for CBI investigation is not a matter of routine" and "primarily this is an issue to be decided by the state of Uttar Pradesh", said the bench, expressing its reservation in entertaining the PIL.
It noted that lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, who had moved the PIL seeking CBI probe, had not approached the Uttar Pradesh government for the CBI probe.
"Admittedly you have not approached the State government for this," the court told Upadhyay who is also the spokesman of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Delhi unit.
It also said the petitioner had not pointed out whether there was "inaction" or the state government had not taken any steps after the incident last week or if the investigation was deficient, so much so that it has resulted in lack of confidence among the people, stressing there were several steps that had to be taken before approaching the top court seeking direction for CBI probe.
"We don't intend to pass any order", the bench said as it dismissed the PIL which the lawyer then withdrew.
Permitting Upadhyay to withdraw his petition, the court said the matter in which Allahabad High Court had directed the eviction of Swadheen Bharat Vidhik Satyagrahi members from the public park was still pending before it and the petitioner could appear in that court.
In his PIL, he had alleged that Ram Vriksh Yadav, the leader of Swadhin Bharat Vidhik Satyagrah who used to be a follower of Jai Gurudev, was running a parallel government with the connivance of powerful people in the Uttar Pradesh government.
Tracing the background of the group, the PIL had said that in 2014 the Swadhin Bharat Vidhik Satyagrah launched a march from Sagar in Madhya Pradesh to Delhi in support of its demands that the existing political system be overhauled and the British-era administrative structure be abandoned.
In the course of their journey from Sagar to Delhi, in April 2014, 500 members organised a demonstration in Mathura. The local administration had given them permission to demonstrate at Jawahar Bagh public park for only two days.
But the demonstrators since then squatted in the park and gradually converted it into their headquarters.
By 2016, there were about 3,000 squatters and Jawahar Bagh was turned into a quasi-republic with its own constitution, penal code, judicial system, prison and army, the dismissed PIL had said.
--IANS
pk/py/vd
Astrophysicists from the University of Birmingham have captured the sounds of some of the oldest stars in our Milky Way galaxy, a study says.
The findings could help researchers understand how our galaxy formed and evolved.
"We were thrilled to be able to listen to some of the stellar relics of the early universe," said lead researcher Andrea Miglio.
The researchers reported the detection of resonant acoustic oscillations of stars in 'M4', one of the oldest known clusters of stars in the galaxy, some 13 billion years old.
"The stars we have studied really are living fossils from the time of the formation of our Galaxy, and we now hope be able to unlock the secrets of how spiral galaxies, like our own, formed and evolved," Miglio noted.
Using data from the NASA Kepler/K2 mission, the team studied the resonant oscillations of stars using a technique called asteroseismology.
These oscillations lead to miniscule changes or pulses in brightness, and are caused by sound trapped inside the stars. By measuring the tones in this 'stellar music', it is possible to determine the mass and age of individual stars.
The findings published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society open the door to using asteroseismology to study the very early history of our galaxy.
"Just as archaeologists can reveal the past by excavating the earth, so we can use sound inside the stars to perform Galactic archaeology," Professor Bill Chaplin said.
--IANS
gb/vm
Six Congress legislators on Tuesday joined the Trinamool Congress in Tripura, pushing the until now main opposition party in the state assembly to the third spot.
Assembly Speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath said he was given a letter by Congress legislator Sudip Roy Barman on behalf of all the six. Barman was accompanied by three of his colleagues.
"The letter is signed by six Congress MLAs, informing me they have joined the Trinamool Congress," Debnath told the media.
"I will call the six MLAs for individual hearing and verification of signature. And after consulting the rules and experts, I will take a final decision in a day or two."
Besides Roy Barman, other Congress MLAs who are said to have signed the letter include Ashish Saha, Biswabandhu Sen, Diba Chandra Hrangkhawl, Pranjit Singha Roy and Dilip Sarkar.
Pranjit Singha Roy is out of Tripura while an ailing Dilip Sarkar was not present when Roy Barman handed over the letter to the Speaker.
Meanwhile, Tripura Congress president Birajit Sinha urged the Speaker to act against the six legislators under the anti-defection law.
Sinha, in consultation with the Congress central leadership, suspended Biswabandhu Sen for six years for "anti-party activities".
The Congress is left with only three legislators in the 60-member assembly, its lowest in the Left-ruled state since Tripura became a full-fledged state in 1972 -- except once in 1978.
In 1978, when the Left Front led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) first came to power in Tripura, the Congress had no legislator while a tribal party -- Tripura Upajati Juba Samity -- an erstwhile ally of the Congress had four legislators.
Sudip Roy Barman recently resigned as Congress Legislative Party leader to protest against the Congress-Left alliance in West Bengal. Barman was the opposition leader in the Tripura assembly.
In the 60-seat house, the CPI-M has 49 members. The Communist Party of India (CPI) has one member.
If the Speaker recognises the six Congress lawmakers as TMC members, the West Bengal-based party will open its account in the Tripura assembly.
Trinamool Congress Vice President Mukul Roy visited the state on Tuesday, his second visit to the Left-ruled state in five days.
On Monday, another Congress legislator, Jitendra Sarkar, resigned from the Tripura assembly and said he would rejoin the ruling CPI-M.
A former two-term Tripura assembly Speaker, Sarkar joined the Congress in 2010.
AICC secretary Bhupen Bora, who was sent by the Congress leadership on Tuesday to deal with the latest crisis, held a series of meetings with the state leaders.
Trinamool leader Mukul Roy said at a public meeting here that his party would fight tooth and nail to dislodge the Left Front government in Tripura and take power in the state after the 2018 assembly polls.
Later, a Trinamool delegation led by Roy and Sudip Roy Barman met Governor Tathagata Roy and told him about "deteriorating law and order" in the state.
--IANS
sc/tsb/mr
West Bengal Chief Minister on Tuesday said the state government is supporting the Goods and Services Tax (GST) for rolling out of the one tax formula.
"We are fighting for the GST because one tax formula will work for the industries. It will be easier for industries so that they will be able to pay single tax instead of multiple taxes they pay," she said at a felicitation ceremony organised by all leading business chambers.
"People are fed up with multiple taxation. This (GST) is a positive proposal. We have been supporting it," she said, while stressing that she is against the BJP government at the centre but will support pro-people policies.
"I am opposing the BJP government politically. But I assure you, I will be the first to stand for pro-people policies like the GST," she said.
Banerjee also instructed West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra, who is chairman of the Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers on GST, to "sort it out in the next two meetings".
"GST is long-pending. Within the next two meetings, you (Mitra) sort it out, build a consensus and do it," she said.
Banerjee also said there is no point talking and it is time to deliver it now.
"I heard of more than 70,000 industries left India. They fear in investing in India.
"Industrialists are even harassed by multiple government agencies like income tax departments, enforcement directorate, CBI. They are afraid of expanding their businesses. It is not the way out," she claimed.
On the day six Congress legislators joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Tripura, the Left Front government here came under sharp attack of TMC Vice President Mukul Roy, who vowed to dislodge the ruling dispensation in the state.
"TMC is now the main opposition political force in Tripura. The party would fight tooth and nail to dislodge the Left Front government and establish a TMC-led government here in 2018 assembly polls," said Roy, who came here on Tuesday -- his second visit to the Left-ruled state in five days.
"The second innings have started today (Tuesday) to vote out the Left government in 2018 polls," he said while addressing the media.
Roy also asked Trinamool workers to retaliate against the Left Front cadres' attacks.
Later, a TMC delegation led by Roy and former Leader of Opposition Sudip Roy Barman met Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy and apprised him of the "deteriorating law-and-order situation" in the state.
Earlier on Tuesday, six Congress legislators led by Sudip Roy Barman joined the Trinamool Congress.
Another Congress legislator, Jitendra Sarkar, had resigned from the Tripura assembly and said he would rejoin the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). A five-term CPI-M legislator and a former Speaker of the Tripura assembly, Sarkar had joined the Congress in March 2010.
The Congress now has only three legislators in the 60-member house.
TMC Tripura unit Chairman Ratan Chakraborty in a letter to assembly Speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath said that party's Chairperson Mamata Banerjee has authorised him to communicate her decision on accepting the six Congress legislators into the TMC party fold.
Meanwhile, Tripura Congress President Birajit Sinha said the party is the only alternative political force in Tripura.
"With the exit of the six MLAs from the party, the Congress would be purified," Sinha said.
Congress leader Tapas Dey said that AICC Secretary Bhupen Bora, who was sent by the central leadership in Delhi to deal with the latest crisis, held a series of meetings with the state leadership.
--IANS
sc/bim/vt
Social media giant Facebook has appointed Umang Bedi as its managing director for India to build and maintain strategic relationships with top clients and regional agencies in the country.
Bedi will take over from Kirthiga Reddy, who will be returning to the US to take on a new role at the company's headquarters at Menlo Park, California.
"I am thrilled to join Facebook and am looking forward to working with the talented teams in India, to help brands and agencies grow their business on our platform. For me it's a promising opportunity to participate in India's digital growth," Bedi said in a statement.
Bedi comes to Facebook with close to two decades of leadership experience covering sales and marketing. Prior to joining Facebook, Umang was the managing director of the South Asia region at Adobe.
"India is known for its great talent pool and we are really pleased to have Umang Bedi, a proven business executive to lead our business in India. I also want to wish Kirthiga the very best in her new global role," Dan Neary, vice president, Asia Pacific, Facebook, said in a statement.
An engineering graduate from University of Pune and an alumni of Harvard Business School, Bedi will officially start at Facebook in July 2016.
--IANS
sku/ksk/vm
RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Tuesday blamed the "Brahmanical RSS" and its "child" the BJP for a UGC decision to exempt senior teaching posts from the OBC reservations, saying the move will invite a "countrywide protest".
"We will not sit silent. We will launch a countrywide protest to expose BJP-led government's bid to end reservations at the behest of the RSS," Lalu told reporters here.
Earlier, in a series of tweets, Lalu Prasad attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Singh (RSS) over what he alleged to be their "attempt to end reservations".
"The BJP is the child of Brahmanical RSS. We won't allow the anti-OBC, anti-Dalit BJP to take way the rights of the deprived. Let them not be in any misimpression," tweeted Lalu in Hindi.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) last week informed the central universities that their current practice of exempting senior faculty posts from the OBC quota would continue.
While the Scheduled Castes (15 per cent) and Scheduled Tribes (7.5 per cent) quotas will apply to all teaching posts at these universities, the 27 per cent Other Backward Class (OBC) quota will cover the recruitment of assistant professors but not associate professors and professors.
The UGC officials have reportedly said the department of personnel and training had earlier exempted senior faculty posts (associate professors and professors) in technical courses from the OBC quota.
The UGC, they said, had merely extended that exemption to all courses in central universities.
The UGC is a statutory body under the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development and is responsible for maintaining the standards of higher education.
--IANS
ik/kb/dg
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership is livid with Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts chief Ram Bahadur Rai. The former journalist, who was also the general secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad - affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) - has termed the role of B R Ambedkar in drafting the Constitution a myth.
Beijing's planners are sowing confusion in China's internet finance sector. Regulators have barred foreigners from investing in an online-only bank backed by web behemoth Tencent. It's not clear if the rule extends to other online finance groups like Alibaba's Ant Financial affiliate - or even who counts as a local investor. The uncertainty will curb valuations and initial public offering (IPO) options.
CBFC, led by filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani, has asked the makers of Hindi film Udta Punjab to remove the references to Punjab from the film and also suggested other cuts or changes in the film that talks about the issue of drug abuse in the north Indian state. Apparently the board does not want impressionable young (and not so young) minds to realise that drugs exist and Punjab has many users, lest they board the next Punjab Mail and land in the land of five rivers to get high.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's palpable aura of self-congratulation for persuading Maharashtra Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse to resign after revelations of multiple irregularities surfaced against him may be misplaced. The transparent objective of this drama - including the two senior party leaders who flanked Mr Khadse at the press conference - was to highlight to the public at large the contrast between the supposed high-mindedness of the BJP and the squalid reputation of corruption in the predecessor regime, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance. The party also expects to score some powerful political points because the minister in question was the state unit's Other Backward Caste (OBC) representative and, therefore, considered inviolable in the complex caste equations that inform traditional Indian politicking.
Sangh ideologue and Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) chief has questioned the role of BR Ambedkar in drafting of the Constitution, terming it a myth constructed to help identity based . Rais comments come at a worse possible time for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as it prepares for the elections to the Uttar Pradesh assembly in early 2017 and is making concerted efforts to reach out to the states significant Dalit population.
Castigating the Akhilesh Yadav government over Mathura incident, where about 25 persons, including two senior policemen were killed in violence, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President on Tuesday announced to corner the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) over its "tradition" of land grabbing.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday extended the interim protection from arrest granted to Pankaj Bhujbal, son of former Maharashtra deputy chief minister and over 10 others who are facing charges of money laundering in Maharashtra Sadan scam.
While Pankaj, businessman Asif Balwa, Vinod Goenka and four others had challenged the non-bailable warrants (NBW) issued by a special court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act cases, 11 others accused in the case had approached the HC seeking anticipatory bail following NBWs issued against them.
Justice Sadhana Jadhav, while hearing the petition of Pankaj and others challenging the NBW against them, said a single bench does not have jurisdiction to hear the petition and granted them liberty to move a division bench tomorrow.
While doing so, Justice Jadhav said she will extend the interim protection granted to the petitioners till June 10 by when they can approach a division bench.
Meanwhile, another single bench of Justice P N Deshmukh extended till July 1 the interim protection from arrest granted to 11 others accused in the case.
The accused are Pravin Jain, Sanjiv Jain, Chandrasekhar Sarda, Jagdish Prasad Purohit, Bimalkumar Jain, Sanjay Kakade, Kapil Puri, Rajesh Mistry, Vipul Kankaria, Sailesh Mehta and Suresh Jajodia.
The court on Tuesday also allowed Sanjay Kakade to visit Hyderabad for a business assignment tomorrow and return by evening.
According to ED, the accused allegedly conspired with Chhagan Bhujbal, former PWD minister, to divert or ''launder'' the "kickbacks" received by him through their firms.
The petitioners argued that the offences they are charged with are non-cognisable and warrants could not have been issued against them because they were not arrested during the interrogation which took place earlier.
On March 30 this year, ED had filed a 11,500-page charge-sheet naming Chhagan Bhujbal, Pankaj, Bhujbal's nephew Sameer and firms such as D B Realty, Balwa group, Neelkamal Realtors and Builders, Neelkamal Central Apartment LLP and Kakade Infrastructure in connection with the case.
The charges relate to alleged irregularities in the construction of the state guest house 'Maharashtra Sadan' in Delhi and the Kalina land-grabbing case in Mumbai.
Former Union minister and ex-Congress Mumbai chief Gurudas Kamat, who announced his retirement from on Tuesday, said his resignation is purely on personal grounds and that he isn't quitting social work.
"Retiring from does not mean retiring from social work. I will continue to be available for people minus the party tag for whatever help or issues to be taken up with different agencies from this weekend," Kamat said.
"I would also like to emphasise that I have the highest respect and regard for Congress President Sonia Gandhi and VP Rahul Gandhi and my resignation is purely on personal grounds," Kamat said in a statement.
The statement comes amid reports that he was quitting Congress after being sidelined by the party leadership, particularly by Rahul Gandhi.
The 61-year-old veteran made the announcement on Monday.
The move comes ahead of next year's Mumbai civic elections, where Congress would be seeking to dislodge the incumbent Shiv Sena-BJP combine.
Touching off a controversy, VHP leader Sadhvi Prachi said on Tuesday it is time to make India free of Muslims.
Known for courting controversies, the Sadhvi claimed the mission of a Congress-free India has already been "accomplished" and it is now time to rid the country of Muslims.
"Now that we have achieved the mission of making a Congress-free India, it is time to make India Muslim-free. We are working on that," she said in Roorkee where at least 32 people were injured last week in a clash between two communities over forcible evacuation of a scrap dealer's shop.
Khanpur MLA Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion's house was attacked by members of a community alleging their sacred book was also desecrated by his supporters.
The Sadhvi claimed that the attack on Champion's house was part of a "premeditated" conspiracy.
Champion, one of the nine Congress MLAs who revolted against Chief Minister Harish Rawat, recently joined BJP.
On the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, she said if BJP projects Yogi Adityananth as its chief ministerial candidate, it was bound to win 300 seats in the state.
Prachi had often been in the news for asking people to boycott films of Bollywood Khans and demanding a CBI probe into all educational institutions including Aligarh University and madrasas in Deoband to check anti- activities.
A bus crashed into a hillside in southwestern Bolivia, killing 17 people and injuring 18 others, police said today.
The bus was traveling from Villazon, on the border with Argentina, to the capital La Paz when it apparently ran off the road Monday night, said transit police for the southern region of Potosi.
The accident was the worst so far this year in Bolivia, whose steep mountain roads are a frequent scene of deadly crashes.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said India needs airports of global quality and 25 regional airstrips will be added this year.
"Logically there is no reason that airports and airlines in India should not do well. We have amongst largest number of people in the world, we have a large number of expatriate, we have economy which can legitimately claim the fasted growing economy of the world," he said.
Jaitley said there a very large section of people who uses airport as a hub for their activity and its "obvious that India need airport of global quality".
During this year alone, the Finance Minister said, the government has ambitious target of adding 25 regional airports to the already functional 70 airports.
"Time is not very far of when we look at country one of the few in the world which will have functional airports which will be literally in three digits," he said at a function organised by Delhi Airport.
The Public Private Partnership (PPP) of Delhi Airport has completed 10 years and it has been a learning experience, he said, adding that it also shows India's gradual progress story.
Citing examples of airports in Gulf countries, he said airports play a significant role in globalisation, connecting cities and countries encouraging international commerce and tourism.
Besides, Jaitley said the Railways is modernising 400 stations with participation of private players and make it hubs of commercial activity.
In seaports also private participation is helping government ports to turn around, he said.
The Minister also said people should get all kinds of modes for goods and passenger traffic. He said the government will exceed the target of constructing 10,000 km of road this year.
Jaitley said the most important event in Indian history
in the last 100 years has been India's independence and that changed the course of history.
"It (independence) was accompanied by pain, the largest migration of population for years as people were rehabilitated. When you are changing the mode of payment, of course this is a very small incident compared to that.
"And therefore when you see the long-term impact we must all assess that it is going to change the mode of doing business, it is going to change the mode of undertaking expenditure," he said.
Jaitley said there was a need to push digital transactions as of the 80 crore debit and credit cards in the banking system, only 45 crore is being actively used.
Jaitley said after years of witnessing policy paralysis, India has emerged as the fastest growing major economy in the world.
"For two years we have been continued to be fastest, I have no doubt that we will continue to be so this year. Few years from now we hope to evolve from a developing emerging economy to a developed economy," he said.
Jaitley further said that over the last 70 years, India has witnessed an extremely comfortable relationship between policy planners, business and trade and citizens and the normal Indian life saw two components of payments being discussed in real estate and few other sectors.
"This had almost become the normal and for a government to try and disturb this normal, obviously is disruptionist. For governments, Prime Ministers to just look the other way was also the normal. And therefore the situation which has continued for almost seven decades, would have continued indefinitely.
"But this so-called seven decade normal had to be disrupted. And it had to be disrupted because a normal for any society can't be this normal which existed," Jaitley said.
Three persons were arrested on charge of running a fake job racket and duping one person of several thousand rupees promising her with a job.
Acting on a complaint of Pritikana Biswas, a young woman and resident of Naya Gopalganj in the North 24 Parganas district, Kolkata Police arrested three persons - Amit Biswas, Kaushik Biswas and Raju Chowdhury for "cheating" the lady of around Rs 16,500 after promising her with a job at the Rural Development Organisation (RDO), a senior officer of Kolkata Police said.
One laptop, documents with RDO stamp generally issued for training purpose, and other documents of the organisation used for issuance appointment letters were seized from the trio, he said.
Pritikana alleged that she had received an application form from the accused trio which she had handed over to an unknown person.
"She then recieved a code on her mobile number from the RDO as her registration with the organisation... And that led to her having a sense of trust on them. She then paid them Rs 16,500 for medical tests and other processess for getting the appointment letter," the officer said.
As the trio reportedly started avoiding her, she had waited for a long time and not getting the job as she was promised, sought police help.
Three suspected Islamists were killed today in separate gunbattles with police which launched a massive crackdown on extremists as a Hindu priest became the latest casualty in a wave of attacks on secular activists and minorities in the Muslim-majority country.
The three were operatives of the outlawed Jamaatul Mujahideen (JMB) outfit which was targeted by Superintendent of Police Babul Aktar whose wife was brutally killed by the militants on Sunday.
Two operatives of JMB were killed in a shootout with police detectives here while another member of the same outfit was killed in a gunfight with police in the northwestern Rajshahi city, police said.
"The two were killed in a pre-dawn encounter at Kalshai area (in the capital)... They first fired gunshots, prompting our detectives to retaliate as they raided the area on a secret tip-off," Dhaka police's spokesman Masudur Rahman said.
The two are said to be involved in several recent attacks including the bombing of a Shiite mosque and the murder of a liberal professor, police said.
The two militants succumbed to their bullet wounds as doctors declared them brought dead. The third operative was gunned down in a "gunfight", hours after he was arrested from the outskirts of the northwestern Rajshahi city, police said.
"We took Jamal Uddin (third operative) as our escort to a JMB den but his cohorts opened fire sensing our presence at their hideout... Jamal was caught on the line of fire as we retaliated and died instantly," a police officer said.
He claimed that two policemen were also injured in the operations. A small cache of arms and ammunition was seized from the spot.
The developments came as suspected militants hacked to death a Hindu priest in western Jhinaidah district, the second priest to be killed this year, two days after they killed a Christian businessman and the wife of a police officer, who visibly earned the militants' wraths by leading a clampdown against the extremists.
There have been systematic assaults in in recent months specially targeting minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and foreigners.
The ISIS and al-Qaeda in Indian Peninsula have claimed responsibility for some of the attacks although the government denies their presence in Bangladesh.
Haryana government has decided to appoint around 3000 ex-servicemen as Special Police Officers in all 21 districts on contract basis for a period of one year.
"Ex-servicemen of Indian Army, between the age of 25 and 50 years, who have not been removed from service due to indiscipline, misconduct or medical illness, would be eligible," an official release said today.
Such eligible volunteer ex-servicemen would be engaged on a monthly honorarium of Rs 14,000 which would be credited directly to their bank accounts, it said.
These members of auxiliary force would be posted at police stations near to their residences, though those interested could be posted in other districts, it said.
These members would be eligible to get casual leave as applicable for constables of Haryana Police. They would also be eligible for ex-gratia amount of Rs 10 lakh in case of death while performing duty, Rs one lakh to three lakh in case of permanent disability and Rs one lakh in case of severe injury, the release added.
It also said that no written examination and physical test would be conducted for recruitment of these volunteers.
The 30th International Conference on VLSID (Very Large Scale Integration Design) will be held here from January 7 to 11 next year.
The upcoming conference theme 'Technologies for a Secure and Connected World' will highlight Cloud Computing and IoE (Internet of Things), VLSID General Chair Dasaradha Gude told reporters here today.
Over 2,000 experts from around the world including policy makers, influencers from the government, private and the academic sector will converge in Hyderabad for the five-day conference to debate, deliver key notes, present tutorials and papers to shape the future of VLSI Design industry in India, he said.
The conference will also host a session for over 5,000 students, he said.
"We believe Cloud Computing and IoT as the next big thing and that's our spotlight for the conference," Gude said.
Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister G Satheesh Reddy said, "I am glad the focus of VLSID 2017 is on design. The outlook of VLSI Design in India will have tremendous change if fabless foundries also establish their presence to manufacture chips in Hyderabad which has a strong infrastructure and talent pool of chip designers."
Telangana IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan said this is an opportunity to propel rapid growth of electronic market in the region like electronic products, electronic manufacturing services, and semiconductor design, electronic components (defence and strategic electronics, LED and mobile manufacturing).
The demand of electronic goods in the Indian market was to the tune of USD 100 billion in 2015-2016 and is expected to rise to USD 400 billion by the end of 2020.
The VLSID 2017 conference will help students graduating from local universities. Also, it will help to attract semiconductor and embedded software companies to setup their R&D operations here, Gude added.
A four-month old girl from Kenya, who suffered from a congenital heart disease and was on ventilator support, underwent surgery at a hospital in suburban Mumbai following which she is recovering, doctors said today.
Born at Mombasa in Kenya, the baby, Keliah weighed just about 600 gms, cried incessantly and never put on weight. She also contracted pneumonia and when she did not seem to be responding to any medication, her mother rushed her to a local hospital where a team of cardiologists diagnosed her condition as congenital Double Outlet Right Ventricle (DORV).
Later, her condition worsened and she was put on ventilator support.
Subsequently, on the advice of local doctors, the baby strapped to her ventilator box along with her Kenyan doctor and nurse were airlifted to India and rushed to Fortis Hospital in Mumbai.
According to the hospital, further tests revealed she had additionally developed blood stream sepsis which had to be treated with more antibiotics.
A complex surgery named the 'Atrial Switch', was performed on her last month.
According to the hospital, the surgery was complex as the child was tiny and had already undergone tremendous medical intervention in terms of ventilator support and treatment for pneumonia and blood sepsis.
"The complexities involved were numerous; the tiny baby had endured life support, long air travel, infection and a major surgery all at the tender age of 3.5 months. The fight for life at that point wasn't just for the baby but the team as well, who endeavoured to make sure that the damage was corrected, giving baby Keliah a second chance at life," Vijay Agarwal, Chief of Paediatric Cardiology at Fortis Mulund said.
The child was subsequently weaned off the ventilator and is now able to breathe on her own. She is healing satisfactorily and will soon be well enough to go back home, doctors attending her said.
Six dissident Congress MLAs in Tripura, led by former Leader of the Opposition Sudip Roy Burman, today submitted a letter to Assembly Speaker Ramendra Debnath saying they are quitting the party and joining the Trinamool Congress.
Of the six dissident MLAs, Burman, Biswabandhu Sen, Diba Chandra Hrankhawl and Asish Saha were present when the letter signed by the MLAs was handed over to the Speaker.
Two other MLAs -- Dilip Sarkar and Pranajit Sinha Roy -- were physically not present on the ground that they were unwell but spoke to the Speaker over phone, official sources said.
Burman said all the six MLAs would formally join Trinamool Congress and that TMC General Secretary Mukul Roy has arrived in the state today from Kolkata.
Burman has already been elected the leader of the TMC legislature group in Tripura and is expected to stake claim to the post of the Leader of the Opposition.
Meanwhile, another dissident Congress MLA Jiten Sarkar, who has resigned from the Assembly, has expressed willingness to join ruling CPI(M), according to CPI(M) state secretary Bijan Dhar.
Dhar said that Sarkar is a former member of CPI(M) who had won Assembly elections five times on CPI(M) ticket and was Speaker of the Assembly for nine years.
He would be taken back in CPI(M), he said.
In the 60-member House, the Left Front has 50 seats and of the 10 MLAs of Congress, six submitted the letter to the Speaker.
State Congress president Birajit Sinha and two other MLAs remain with Congress.
Burman had earlier resigned from the post of the Leader of the Opposition in protest against the Congress-Left tie-up before the West Bengal Assembly elections.
A seven-year-old boy today died after drowning into a water-filled pit dug to erect a pillar at an under-construction building site in Park Street area here.
The incident happened at around 11 AM when Mohammad Abdul Rehman Khan while playing went to the site of the under-construction on 12 Colin Lane under Park Street Police Station limits and fell into the pit, police said.
Not seeing him for a while the child's father Jakir Zamal went out looking for Abdul and found a pair of slippers floating on the water in the pit, a senior officer of Kolkata Police said.
"The father dived into the water and found a body into the water. He pulled it out only to find that it was that of his son," he said.
The father and locals rushed the boy to a nearby hospital were he was declared "brought dead", the officer said.
A complaint was lodged at the Park Street Police Station but nobody was arrested in connection with the incident.
However, locals alleged "absolute negligence" on part of the construction company as the site was kept "unmanned" by anybody which led to the mishap.
A complaint has been lodged against the construction company at the Park Street police station.
National carrier has barred pilots and cabin crew from operating flights where their immediate family members are also on duty.
There have been occasions when flight duties were performed by immediate family members on the same flight.
Citing "flight safety", the airline has now barred such a practice.
"In the interest of flight safety, the practice of immediate family members -- wife, husband, children, sisters and brothers -- performing flight duties on the same flight, is henceforth prohibited," said in a circular issued on Monday.
The airline noted that if such a duty is assigned, the crew member concerned should get it changed.
"In case such a duty is assigned, it would be the responsibility of the crew to bring the same to the notice of the scheduling section concerned for corrective action," the circular said.
According to Air India, it has been noticed that at times flight duties are being performed by immediate family members, on the same flight, either as pilot in command, co-pilot or cabin crew.
At Air India, there are many crew members whose relatives are also working at the airline.
The national airline has cleared an enhanced operational safety audit, carried out by global airlines body International Air Transport Association (IATA), with an extended validation of up to two years.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), in June 2013, mandated the enhanced IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) process for all registration renewal audits, taking place in or after September 2015.
In January this year, had said it became the first domestic airline to have cleared the E-IOSA programme with an extended validation till January 2018.
Congress today termed the exit of Ajit Jogi from the party as "good riddance", saying that he has saved it the trouble of expelling him and that he will not be able to harm it.
"Jogi ceases to be a Congress Working Committee member and Chairman of AICC's tribal cell after his announcement of floating a new party. He has saved us the trouble of expelling him," party General Secretary B K Hariprasad told reporters here.
"It is a good riddance that he has left," he said.
Still smarting from debacles in Assembly polls in four states, Congress received a setback with two CWC members--Ajit Jogi and Gurudas Kamat--quitting the party yesterday.
While Jogi, a former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, formally announced he would launch a new political outfit, Kamat said he was quitting politics altogether.
Hariprasad said that the party elevated Jogi from "DM to CM", and that he would not be able to harm it.
"A man who was made a Chief Minister from the post of District Magistrate by Congress, cannot undermine it," Hariprasad said.
He accused Jogi, who became the first Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh when the state was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000, of resorting to "politicking of a very negative kind" despite the party giving him "a very long rope" to "reform".
He said Jogi quit the party after his demand for a Rajya Sabha nomination was ignored.
Coming down hard on the expelled leader, Hariprasad dubbed Jogi as "de facto Chief Minister of Chhattigarh", stating that he consistently sabotaged the prospects of Congress to help BJP's Raman Singh retain power since 2003.
"Congress is not that weak in Chhattisgarh. Despite Jogi's negative performance, the party lost the last elections by just 0.77 per cent of the vote," Hariprasad said underlining the close tussle between the party and BJP in the tribal state.
Asked whether Jogi may join the saffron party, he said, "He (Jogi) is de facto Chief Minister there so it is immaterial whether he joins BJP or not".
Incidentally, Jogi had accused the state Congress of working as the "B Team" of BJP.
Jogi had been sulking for quite some time following the expulsion of his son Amit after some audio tapes purportedly indicated his involvement in fixing a by-poll in Chhattisgarh in favour of BJP. His wife, Renu Jogi, is a Congress MLA from Kota.
Hariprasad maintained that the party would not take any action against the MLAs, including Renu Jogi, who had participated in Jogi's meeting yesterday.
He said he would be visiting Chhattisgarh within a week to talk to state party leaders in the wake of Jogi's exit from the party.
"History is witness to the fact that many may have quit Congress but they have not been able to finish us," he said.
Drug firm Alkem Laboratories today said the UK health regulator has given a clean chit to its Taloja facility in Maharashtra after going through the corrective and preventive steps submitted by the company.
The company today announced the closure of the inspection by the UKMHRA for its its bio-equivalence facility in Taloja.
"The facility stands UKMHRA compliant," Alkem Labs said in a regulatory filing.
The health regulator has reviewed the corrective and preventive actions submitted by the company and has considered them acceptable, it added.
The UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulator Agency (UKMHRA) had inspected the facility at Taloja from March 14-18 and had notified eight observations in a report dated March 31, 2016.
Alkem shares were trading 0.73 per cent down at Rs 1,351.25 apiece on BSE.
Four days after the busting of the kidney racket in Apollo Hospital here, T Rajkumar Rao, the kingpin, and three others were today arrested, even as police said 10 doctors are likely to be questioned in connection with the case.
Rao, aged around 40 years, who is believed to be associated with similar rackets in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, was arrested in West Bengal today. He will be produced before a court there and brought to Delhi on transit remand, a senior police official said.
Rao, who was under police scanner for operating similar rackets in Jalandhar, Coimbatore and Hyderabad, was identified with the interrogation of the middlemen in the racket and teams were rushed to several states to track him down.
The official said all ten doctors in Apollo Hospital's internal assessment committee for transplant surgeries will be quizzed. The committee comprises senior doctors working at the hospital, independent doctors and a government doctor.
Earlier in the day, police arrested a married couple and a woman, all identified as kidney donors associated with the racket.
The three were identified as Umesh and Nilu, who are husband and wife residing in Kanpur, and Mamta alias Maumita, wife of one of the five accused arrested last week.
During interrogation, Umesh and Nilu told police that they had sold their kidneys for Rs 4 lakh and Rs 3 lakh respectively as they were in urgent need of money for their minor son's leg surgery.
They also told police that when they came to know about the actual price in which their kidneys were sold, they felt deceived, an official privy to the investigation said.
The third accused, Mamta, is the one who actually led police to the kidney racket.
On the day it was busted, Mamta was spotted indulging in a heated exchange with her husband, Devashish Moulik, and when the police intervened, on receiving a call regarding the matter, they were stunned by what they heard. Mamta accused Devashish of cheating her with the amount he received after her kidney was sold.
During investigation, it came to light that Devashish had offered his own kidney first but on being declared unfit he convinced his wife to do so, the official said.
It's more often likened to a circus than a gallery, but Britain's Parliament is full of art.
For the most part that means portraits of somber-looking men, but the latest addition is different a huge, vividly colored light sculpture commemorating the decades-long battle that won British women the vote.
The first abstract artwork created for permanent display in the 19th-century parliamentary complex, "New Dawn " was unveiled today on the 150th anniversary of the first mass petition to Parliament calling for women to have the right to vote.
It would be more than 60 years before the goal was achieved, and artist Mary Branson wants her work to pay tribute to the thousands of people who fought for women's voting rights over the decades.
A few are well known, especially the militant suffragettes who fought with protests, hunger strikes and even bombings.
But Branson, who spent six months exploring Parliament's archives, said she was moved by "all the women that I'd never heard about, ordinary people like ourselves."
"There were so many women coming in relentlessly day after day," she said. "Petitioning, protesting."
Branson calculated how many petitions calling for female suffrage were submitted to Parliament between 1866 and 1918, when women over 30 were granted the vote. (Full voting equality with men took another decade).
There were almost 16,500, featuring more than 3 million signatures.
"That said to me I needed to make something really big, and I needed to put it in a really powerful space," Branson said.
Branson found visual inspiration in Parliament's Act Room, where thousands of laws stretching back centuries are stored on parchment scrolls.
"New Dawn" consists of 168 circles of hand-blown glass inspired by the scrolls, mounted in a 4 meter-by-6 meter (13 foot-by-20 foot) ellipse.
The sculpture is lit from behind in a rainbow of colors to reflect the many strands of the votes-for-women movement. The lighting changes over a 12-hour period timed to the tides of the River Thames that winds through London, symbolizing the unstoppable tide of change.
Parliament may have been slow to grant women the vote, but it has paid for the 124,000 pound cost of the sculpture and is selling a range of mugs, earrings, chocolate bars and other "New Dawn" merchandise in its gift shop.
"It's a fitting tribute to the champions of liberty of the past, as well as an inspiration for future generations," Commons Speaker John Bercow said of the artwork.
A local court today directed Gujarat police to produce before it Kartik Haldar, the alleged henchmen of Asaram, in connection with the murder of Akhil Gupta, the prime witness in the Surat rape case against the self-styled godman.
Acting Chief Judicial Magistdate Arun Kumar ordered the Gujarat police to produce Haldaf before the court on July 2, the prosecution said.
Haldar was arrested from Raipur in Chhattisgarh by Anti- Terrorism Squad of Gujarat in March and is suspected to have shot dead three key witnesses in rape cases against Asaram.
Haldar had allegedly killed Asaram's personal doctor Amrut Prajapati in June 2014, his assistant-cum-cook Akhil Gupta in January last year and another key witness, Kripal Singh, in July last year.
During his interrogation, Haldar had told officials he had met the followers of Asaram in 2014, who instructed him to kill witnesses in a bid to weaken cases against the controversial preacher, ATS had said.
Congress leader and former Goa Chief Minister Ravi Naik today said the Centre should "ban" Nigerians from entering India as they "create trouble" in the country, the latest in controversial comments by politicians from the state on people from the African nation.
Allegedly using a racially insulting term, Naik said, "The government of India should ban them (Nigerians)."
"They should be probed and it should be checked whether many of them are here to study or for picnics or to sell drugs," Naik said, adding they "create trouble" in the country.
The Congress leader, during a press meet, alleged that Nigerian nationals stay in the country and "indulge in illegal activities".
"Nigerians come here and get involved in ruckus. Look at the cases in Bengaluru and Delhi (which reported incidents related to Nigerian nationals). Do they come here for studying?" he asked.
He also demanded that the "bogus" educational institutes, which give them admission, should be probed by the law enforcement agencies.
The Congress leader's controversial statements comes days after similar remarks about the Nigerian nationals made by Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and his Cabinet colleague Dilip Parulekar.
Parsekar had termed Nigerians as "annoying" and having "different attitude". He had later said that his statement was distorted and taken out of context by a section of media.
State Tourism Minister Parulekar had said, "the problems of Nigerians are not only in Goa, but across the country. They (Nigerians) come here to study but create problems. People were not happy with Nigerians."
The comments by Parsekar and Parulekar, both of BJP, were made in the wake of attacks on Africans in New Delhi last month.
A Banaras Hindu University (BHU) doctor was killed today when a truck knocked his motorcycle on its rear on Paali bridge on GT road under town police station area of Bihar's Rohtas district.
Dehri police SHO Ishwarchand Vidyasagar said the incident occurred when the doctor, who has been identified as Aantosh Kumar, was going to Varanasi on his motorcycle AND was hit by the truck on the bridge at its rear.
Kumar, who sustained serious injuries in the incident, was taken to Jamuhar Narayan Medical College and Hospital by the patrolling police. He died at the hsopital.
Police handed over the body to its family members after post mortem, SHO said adding the the truck driver fled the spot.
Bihar government today sanctioned a fund of Rs 40 crore from its Contingency Fund for effectively enforcing complete prohibition in Bihar.
"The Cabinet today sanctioned Rs 40 crore from Bihar Contingency Fund for purchasing various equipment and instruments to effectively enforce complete prohibition in the state," Cabinet Secretariat Department's Principal Secretary Brajesh Mehrotra told reporters here.
Registration, Excise and Prohibition Department would purchase 1,000 breath analysers, 1,000 CCTV cameras, 2,000 movable trolleys besides installing 600 checkposts, 700 barriers and 200 dropgates for effectively implementing the complete prohibition which came into enforce on April 5, Mehrotra said.
Earlier, the government had banned manufacture, trade, transportation, sale and consumption of country-made and spiced liquor from April 1.
The Cabinet also sanctioned Rs 112.85 crore for the construction of buildings for 'Skill Development Training Centres' in all the 534 blocks of the state, Mehrotra said.
As per the state government's 'saat nischay' (Seven Resolves) programme, youths have to be trained for enhancing their 'communication skill' besides imparting training to provide 'basic knowledge of computer' to them.
'Skill Development Training Centre' has to be set up in every block for imparting training to youths, he said.
The Cabinet also sanctioned Rs 234.52 crore for allotment of 125 acres of land identified at Mega Industrial Park for development of new campus for NIT, Patna, Mehrotra said.
It also gave its nod for hike in dearness allowance (DA) of those whose salary/pension/family pension have not been revised since 2006, the Principal Secretary said, adding that they would now be paid 245 per cent of DA instead of existing 234 per cent from January 1, 2016.
The number of such employees would be around 15-20 in the state, he added.
A total of 11 decisions were taken at today's Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
In a sharp attack on Rahul Gandhi for questioning the work done by Narendra Modi in last two years, BJP President Amit Shah today said the biggest thing that his party's government has done is to give the country a Prime Minister who speaks.
"Rahul baba has asked what Modiji and his government has done in the last two years. Rahul baba, what do you ask from us.The biggest thing we have done is to give the country a Prime Minister who talks.
"During your times, for ten years no one except you and your mother heard the Prime Minister speak. The people of the country craved to hear the Prime Minister for ten years," he said.
Attacking Congress for repeatedly questioning Modi's foreign trips, the BJP chief said in the past no one would even know about thePrime Minister's foreign trips but such visits were now being noticed because Modi received "massive receptions" during his tours overseas.
He took a dig at former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, claiming he only read out two typed pages during his trips abroad "sometimes even mixing up papers to be read in Thailand and Malaysia".
"No one in the world earlier knew of any foreign trip of the Prime Minister. Today they know because Modiji gets a rousing reception wherever he goes. This welcome is not for the Prime Minister. It is not even for BJP. It is for the people of UP who made Narendra Modi an MP and PM," Shah said.
He alleged the UPA rule, which wassupported by SP and BSP, was "full of scams" and scams to the tune of Rs 12 lakh crore tookplace during that time.
"They left no place whether it is the skies, water, earth and beneath the surfacewhere corruption and scams did not take place," Shah quipped while listing out various scams during UPA rule.
The BJP chief said, "There is not a single allegation of corruption against the present government" and added that Modi government has provided a corruption-free rule.
With Uttar Pradesh polls on its mind, the Mathura violence issue is likely to figure prominently in next week's BJP National Executive deliberations in Allahabad as it seeks to use law and order as a major political plank against the ruling Samajwadi Party.
The party will cite the Mathura incident as yet another example of poor law and order condition to target the Samajwadi Party, a source said, adding that "lawlessness" is the top plank against the ruling SP, which BJP chief Amit Shah has declared as its main rival.
"When the party's executive members are meeting in Allahabad, not far from a city which has seen such a case of violence, it is likely that the incident will be deliberated," the source said.
As the Mathura incident has come so close to the executive meeting, party sources said it will be a handy weapon against the Akhilesh Yadav government as the saffron party has long been targeting it over the law and order issue.
Wary that BSP supremo Mayawati is also using the clash to score over SP, more so as law and order is seen as her strength, BJP top brass led by Shah has launched a relentless attack on the government in an attempt to portray it as the main alternative.
In the executive, it will also paint BSP as an "ally" of Congress, citing its support to the latter in recent Rajya Sabha polls in some states and earlier in Uttarakhand during the floor test of the Harish Rawat government.
Sources said the party will also use SP's and BSP's support to the UPA government earlier to bracket them with Congress, hoping to project itself as the best alternative to replace the Yadav government.
BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju also hit out at the ruling Samajwadi Party today accusing it of not being serious about law and order in Uttar Pradesh, days after the Mathura clashes left 29 people dead.
"The UP government is not serious about law and order. It has to be strict, but its intentions were not right. The Ministry of Home Affairs cooperates with the state government and does not discriminate," Rijiju said.
BJP has been out of power from the country's largest state for the last 14 years during which SP and BSP have ruled it by turn.
Eleven BJP workers, including district president Dinesh Vashisht, have been booked here for protesting against the Uttar Pradesh government in connection with the Mathura clashes, police said today.
Vashisht and ten other BJP leaders had held a protest in the city on Sunday, where they raised slogans against the UP government and burnt an effigy of PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav, Sub-Inspector Manoj Kumar said.
Police said an FIR has been registered against them under sections 147 (Punishment for rioting) and 153 B (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) of the IPC.
The matter is under investigation. However, no arrests have been made so far, they said.
The BJP in UP has been protesting against the clashes in Mathura that have left 29 dead, including two policemen.
The 16th century Vrindavani Vastra of Assam now owned by British Museum London can be sent to the state for exhibition if the Assam government takes responsibility of its safety, security and insurance, said a curator of the Museum.
"If the Assam government takes the responsibility of safety and security and the insurance of the Vrindavani Vastra, the British Museum Authority would send it to Assam for exhibition here," Thomas Ricahrd Blurton, Head of the South Asian Section, Department of Asia, of British Museum told media today.
Blurton said this to a query at an interactive session following his power-point presentation on Vrindavani Vastra in Tezpur University this evening.
"The *Vrindavani Vastra* is a drape woven by Assamese weavers during the 16th century under the guidance of Vaishnavite saint and socio-religious reformer Srimanta Sankardeva. The large drape illustrates the childhood activities of Lord Krishna in Vrindavan", Blurton said.
Stating parts of the original *Vrindavani vastra* are presently owned by Victoria and Albert Museum in London and Musee Guimet (the Guimet Museum) in Paris, he said the piece of cloth demonstrates the skillful weaving methods developed during medieval times and such complexity is rarely seen in present day Assam.
"Assamese silk weavers depicted scenes from Bhagavata, Mahabharata, mainly of the childhood days of Lord Krishna on silk cloths under the supervision of Saint, scholar, and poet Srimanta Sankardeva and his disciple Srimanta Madhvadeva during 16th Century," said Richard who has conducted active programmes of contemporary collecting, most notably in eastern and north-eastern India.
A 20-year-old man was allegedly shot at by a youth for objecting to his live-in relationship with his minor sister in Vijay Vihar area of outer Delhi, police said today.
According to a senior police official, the accused had allegedly abducted the victim's sister and had been staying with her for the past one year.
The incident happened on Saturday when the couple got into a brawl and the minor girl ran away to her parents' house in Vijay Vihar.
"As per the family members of the girl, the accused reached their house with a gun and threatened them to accept their relationship failing which he will shoot everyone in the family. The girl's brother refused and got into an argument with him following which the accused shot him in his stomach," said the official.
While the brother was rushed to hospital, the accused fled from the spot. The brother is recuperating at a city hospital, police said.
"A case has been registered under relevant sections and we are searching the accused. Further probe in the case is on," the official added.
Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA) on Tuesday welcomed the announcement made by Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan that RBI will monitor rupee and dollar liquidity.
In a statement, TEA President A Shaktivel said: "RBI Governor's statement has raised the business confidence of the exporters since they would not face any extreme risk of volatility in prices and the exports would go smoothly," Shaktivel said.
RBI has announced the second bi-monthly monetary policy statement for 2016-17.
Months after her statement that "concept of marital rape cannot be applied in the Indian context" created some controversy, Union minister Maneka Gandhi today said even if there was a law against it, women are unlikely to complain about this kind of abuse.
The Minister for Women and Child Development said women could instead file complaint of marital rape under the existing Domestic Violence law.
"We have a law already on violence against women and that includes marital rape. The point is that there has never been a complaint under it, never...We can use domestic violence (law) and then build on it but at the moment there is not even one complaint," she told an All Women Journalists' Warkshop at Vigyan Bhawan.
"A lot of women who feel very angry with their husbands and hate them, would really want them to be finished and still have two children and they think about them and they take a decision appropriately...I can have a law on marital rape but it will make no difference because no one will complain," she said.
She had earlier courted controversy saying, "The concept of marital rape, as understood internationally, cannot be suitably applied in the Indian context due to...Mindset of the society to treat marriage as a sacrament, etc."
The workshop seen participation of over 250 journalists from 30 states and Union Territories across the country, representing 120 media organisations.
Maneka made a presentation on the issues taken up by the Women and Child Development Ministry in the past two years.
She highlighted the numerous 'firsts' of the Ministry like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme, setting up of One Stop Centres for women in distress, Mahila e-Haat, panic button on mobile phones, guidelines for matrimonial websites, 33 per cent reservation for women in police force among others.
Canadian Prime Minister has expressed doubts about the reliability of the US F-35 stealth fighter, as the government looks to replace its ageing fleet of jets.
"For 10 years, the Conservatives completely missed the mark when the time came to deliver to Canadians and to our military with the equipment they need," the Liberal prime minister said in parliament yesterday.
"They clung to a plane that does not work and is far from working."
Canada had joined the United States and its allies in 1997 to develop the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter, and later announced it would buy 65 of them.
But after coming under fire over its spiralling costs and an apparent lack of transparency and competition in the procurement process, the previous Conservative government widened its search for a new fighter jet.
Trudeau campaigned against the F-35 and after coming to power last November ordered a reopening of the bidding process, calling the F-35 buy a boondoggle.
This marked the second reboot in three years of the largest military procurement project in Canadian history.
On Monday, the National Post reported that Ottawa was looking to replace its F-18s, which have been flying since 1982, with Boeing's Super Hornet.
in the running included the Eurofighter Typhoon, the Dassault Rafale and the Saab Grippen.
Public broadcaster CBC, meanwhile, said the Canadian government had recently missed a 32 million Canadian dollar payment for its contribution to the development of the F-35.
As China and the US concluded their two-day key annual strategic talks here today, China insisted on consensus and full discussion within the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to admit India into the elite grouping.
"Members within the group still differ on the accession of countries which are not party states to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)," Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a written response to a PTI query.
The ministry was responding to a question on India securing Switzerland's support on the NSG and whether the issue figured in the Strategic and Economic Dialogue with US.
"China stands for continuous and full discussions within the group on this issue in order to forge consensus and make a decision based on agreement," the Ministry said, adding that it has been "explicitly" articulated Beijing's position to the Indian media in recent weeks.
The Ministry, however, did not respond to the question whether the issue was discussed with the US during the strategic talks which covers all aspects of the bilateral ties and multilateral issues of interest to China and the US.
While the US has backed India's inclusion in the 48- member NSG, China is reportedly supporting Pakistan though it maintains that Islamabad too is not a signatory to the NPT.
The issue was expected to figure in the plenary meeting of the NSG on June 9 in Vienna.
The US-China strategic talks was attended among others by Secretary of State John Kerry.
In his remarks after the conclusion of the talks, Kerry mostly touched differences relating to the South China Sea dispute as well as mutual position on the nuclear issues relating to North Korea.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry also reacted guardedly to the recent remarks by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at theShangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
"China holds a consistent and clear position on the South China Sea (SCS)issue," it said.
"While firmly upholding territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, China is committed to resolving disputes peacefully through consultation and negotiation, managing differences by establishing rules and mechanisms, achieving win-win results through development and cooperation, and safeguarding the freedom of navigation and overflight as well as peace and stability in the South China Sea," it said.
"China is poised to work alongside regional countries to maintain regional peace and stability, achieve economic prosperity and share development dividends," it said.
In his comments on the SCS, Parrikar had said, "we have traditional links with the countries in the South China Sea. More than half (of) our trade passes through its waters".
"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 overflight in accordance with international law, in particular the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea," he had said.
In a rare rebuke to its "all weather" ally Pakistan, China's state-run channels have aired a documentary naming Lashkar-e-Taiyaba for the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and even showed footage containing confessions of Ajmal Kasab, the lone Pakistani terrorist caught alive during the 26/11 carnage.
The footage was firstaired by the state-run Shanghai Television weeks ahead of President Pranab Mukherjee's visit last month and was subsequently shown by another state-run Chinese television channel as well, officials here said.
The documentary containing vivid details of planning and execution of the Mumbai attacks by LeT militants caught Indian officials here by surprise as Chinese state media shows extreme care and caution in airing negative news about the all weather ally Pakistan.
The state media largely refrained from allegations that militants of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) from Muslim-majority Xinjiang province had training bases in Pakistan's tribal areas.
"We have to wait and see what is the significance of the documentary on LeT on Chinese state television," an Indian diplomat, who has seen the programme, told PTI.
It was a surprise as China has earlier blocked India's bid to get a UN ban on LeT operational commander Zaki-ur- Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attack.
China had put a technical hold when India sought a ban on him after he was released from prison.
In March, China had put a technical hold again on attempt to get UN ban on Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar, accused of masterminding the January Pathankot terrorist attack.
China's attempts to block the UN listings against the two has cast a shadow on its relations with India and diplomatic efforts were on between the two sides to resolve the issue.
Officials say the airing of the footage against LeT's involvement in Mumbai attacks comes at a time when technical holds put in by China in the UN sanctions committee on some of the LeT leaders was set to expire in a few days.
It is to be seen whether there will be a change of stand in China's position in UN, officials said.
Raza Jaffrey and Bonnie Somerville will not return to "Code Black" as series regulars.
The CBS medical drama is undergoing big changes ahead of its second season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
That includes ditching Jaffrey as Dr Neal Hudson and Somerville as Dr Chris Lorenson.
In their absence, Boris Kodjoe - who appeared in four episodes of the first season as Will Campbell - will be promoted to regular.
"Code Black" creator Michael Seitzman has already taken to Twitter to respond to fan outcry over Jaffrey and Somerville's axings.
The 17-episode second season is also expected to add new regular characters to join Marcia Gay Harden as series lead Dr Leanne Rorish.
"Code Black" will return to CBS in the US and airs on W in the UK.
The US is "committed" to help India build its defence capabilities until it can be the "net provider of security" in the Asia-Pacific region, a senior Obama administration official has said.
"There is a recognition that as India grows and develops the capacity to protect its interests, not just in immediate region, but also broadly throughout Asia Pacific particularly in the Indian Ocean region. It is in the US interest to build India that capacity until it can truly be the net provider of security," the official told.
"Whether India decides to operate with us or not, we are committed to help India develop that capacity to protect its own interest and to ensure that the Indian Ocean region is free from the kind of threats to maritime transport, shipping, the way it is being in the South China Sea," he said.
Enhanced global co-operation with greater role for India, strengthening of defence and security relationship and initiating steps to boost bilateral trade are believed to be on top of the agenda for US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they meet at the White House on Tuesday.
The official said the India-US relationship has now "emerged at the world stage" and is no longer a "restricted to narrow" South Asia or subcontinental set of issues.
"This level of engagement between an American President and an Indian Prime Minister is absolutely unprecedented," the official said.
India recognises that it now has a tangible and active role to play in protecting its interest, the official said moments after Modi landed at the Andrews Air Force Base for his three-day visit to Washington.
So "it drifted away" from previous governments insisting on values and ideals like disarmament, non-discrimination to being "much more practical" in really reaching out protecting that interest.
The first manifestation of this was at the Paris Climate Change Summit last November.
The summit was successful largely because "Modi made a personal decision" to shift away from the integrated north- south narrative to one of really joining in with other world leaders to solving these problems, the official said.
"I think the President and the Prime Minister are likely to talk about how they continue their co-operation on world problems. That would come up in the meeting on different issues. And that would be reflected in the joint statement as well," said the official.
"Secondly the other major convergence that has taken place in recent years is in the realm of security. Again you have a country that historically was non-aligned, probably more closely aligned to the Soviets than with any other country. The US on the other hand was a major cold war protagonist and preferred operating with close alliances," the official said.
"What we have seen from the joint strategic vision from last year is that there is really a strong convergence of perspectives on security matters including regional security matters," the official added.
At the same time, the officials conceded that the convergence is not complete yet.
"There are areas where US still prefers to operate with partners and do operations together as we do elsewhere in the world. India is still hesitant to operate with any other country. It prefers to be autonomous and truly non-aligned," the official said.
"There was a statement made by one of our military commanders that created kind of push back, blow back inside India. But that is the kind of issue where we are on the edge where our co-operation is today. But I think in the years to come, we would look back at this period and say well we managed to get that through as well," observed the official, who is privy to the discussions between the two countries.
The official also conceded that America's security partnership with Pakistan over the years still poses challenge to India-US relationship.
"But even there you would see there is going to be a much greater convergence again that no country should allow territory to use to launch terrorist attack against neighbours. And I think that is a very strong point of convergence between these two," said the senior administration official.
Economic front is one area, where there is less convergence as compared to security and global issues, the official said.
"On economic front, historically we had a socialist command economy in India and US promoting global liberalised trade. This is an area where convergence is far from complete," the official said.
"I think, as US is working with other countries in the Asia Pacific region, trans-pacific partnership, we have envisioned of a liberalised high standard trade and investment system in the Asia Pacific region. And India is not yet comfortable with that," the official said.
"It (India) still has an approach that is more protectionist which is internally oriented to advance its own industry and make its own industry more competitive. Of course, we understand that. But we are working and we are intensifying discussions including in the Oval Office tomorrow between the President and the Prime Minister, how we can come on board and find areas to c-operate on in the trade investment area," said the official.
Congress today faced another crisis in the north east with six dissident MLAs in Tripura quitting the party and joining the Trinamool Congress, which will now become the main opposition party in the Left-ruled state.
Tripura is the fourth north eastern state after Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya where Congress has been hit by dissidence.
The six rebel Congress MLAs led by former Leader of the Opposition Sudip Roy Burman, submitted a letter to Tripura Assembly Speaker Ramendra Debnath saying they are quitting the party and joining the Trinamool Congress.
Of the six dissident MLAs, Burman, Biswabandhu Sen, Diba Chandra Hrankhawl and Asish Saha were present when the letter signed by the MLAs was handed over to the Speaker.
Two other MLAs -- Dilip Sarkar and Pranajit Sinha Roy -- were not present on the ground that they were unwell but spoke to the Speaker over phone, official sources said.
Confirming that he has received the letter, Tripura Assembly Speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath said, "It was signed by six Congress MLAs informing me that they have joined the Trinamool Congress." The Speaker that he would review their plea.
Burman has been elected leader of the TMC legislature group in Tripura and is expected to stake claim to the post of the Leader of the Opposition.
This brings the Congress' tally in the 60-member Tripura assembly to three from 10. State Congress president Birajit Sinha and two other MLAs remain with Congress. In the 60- member House, the Left Front has 50 seats. Assembly elections will be held in Tripura in 2018.
Another dissident Congress MLA Jiten Sarkar, who has resigned from the Assembly, has expressed willingness to join ruling CPI(M), according to CPI(M) state secretary Bijan Dhar.
Dhar said that Sarkar is a former member of CPI(M) who had won Assembly elections five times on CPI(M) ticket and was Speaker of the Assembly for nine years. He would be taken back in CPI(M), he said.
The Congress rebels said they have resigned over the party's decision to partner with the Left in the West Bengal elections, that saw Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Conference defeat the alliance with a big decisive win.
A combative Burman, who was the Congress' chief ministerial candidate in the last elections, said, "Our objective in joining the Trinamool is to defeat this corrupt, anti-people government of the Left."
Burman had earlier resigned from the post of the Leader of the Opposition in protest against the Congress-Left tie-up before the West Bengal Assembly elections.
Still reeling from the loss of Assam, a state it had ruled for 15 years under the stewardship of Tarun Gogoi, to the BJP last month, Congress faced rebellion in its ranks in Meghalaya, where it rules with a razor thin majority and the help of allies.
In Arunachal, Kalikho Pul became the Chief Minister with the support of BJP in February this year after quitting the Congress along with 19 rebel party MLAs in the 60-member house. BJP with 11 MLAs and two independents backeed him.
Pradyot Deb Barma, former Tripura Congress chief termed the resignations as "politics of opportunism," and is confident that the Trinamool will not benefit from his party's loss.
Controversy over contributions to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by a French tycoon on trial for fraud deepened today after the Frenchman disputed the premier's version of events.
With the issue receiving widespread coverage in Israel and the country's attorney general examining it, Netanyahu acknowledged on Monday that Arnaud Mimran, currently on trial in Paris, had given him $40,000.
Netanyahu said however that all had been done according to the law, and that the 2001 contribution was not political and occurred when he was not in public office.
The prime minister's office said the money was for a fund for Netanyahu's public activities, which included media appearances and travel abroad to promote Israel.
A political contribution of that size would exceed Israel's campaign finance limits.
Mimran told Israel's Channel 10 television late on Monday that the amount was actually some 170,000 euros ($193,000), transferred to Netanyahu's personal account.
He also said that previous reports that he had contributed one million euros were incorrect.
"First of all, I never said one million euros; I said one million," Mimran said in the interview.
"It was in 2001, so it was one million French francs -- 170,000 euros. I still have the bank statements, from Arnaud Mimran, my personal account, to Benjamin Netanyahu, his personal account."
Mimran also said he had financed trips to France for Netanyahu and his family, after the Israeli leader had already returned to politics.
Following the interview, Netanyahu's lawyer David Shimron dismissed Mimran's claims.
A Delhi court has extended by almost a month the judicial custody of three suspected members of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, arrested for allegedly planning an attack in the national capital.
Additional Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh allowed the prosecution's plea and sent the accused persons -- Mohd Sajid, Shakir and Sameer -- for further jail term till July 5 after they were produced before the court from their judicial custody.
The court had earlier sent the accused to custody on the police plea that their custodial interrogation was required to crack their Delhi module.
Delhi Police had detained around 10 more persons suspected to be linked with a terror outfit planning an attack in the city and allegedly recovered explosives from their possession after a series of overnight raids in the national capital and neighbouring states.
However, they were later let off after questioning.
Special Cell teams had conducted raids in Delhi and UP in a joint operation of Delhi Police and a central intelligence agency.
All the three accused were suspected to be members of a sleeper unit of a terror outfit, planning an attack in the national capital and other cities, police said.
A special court today granted bail to Home Ministry official Anand Joshi, who was arrested for allegedly issuing FCRA notices arbitrarily to several NGOs for financial gains, observing that the accused cannot be put in jail for an indefinite period.
Special CBI Judge Vinod Kumar gave the relief to Joshi, who was an under secretary in the Home Ministry, on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of the like amount.
"Accusations are serious but the accused cannot be put in jail for an indefinite period. Considering that he is not likely to abscond, bail is granted to the accused," the judge said.
The court imposed several bail conditions on the accused while cautioning him "if CBI makes any complaint that he is trying to contact/influence any NGO or witness, the court will cancel the bail."
The court directed Joshi not to leave Ghaziabad and Delhi till the time investigation is over and also asked him to deposit his passport with the investigating officer (IO).
It, however, said that in case of any emergency, he can leave for Ranchi, where his parents reside, after taking the court's prior permission.
"He will not try to influence any witness or to contact any of the NGOs being probed," the court said.
During the arguments on the bail plea, the court observed that Joshi's conduct was doubtful as he had earlier fled as per CBI's allegation.
The court also asked Joshi to make his presence before the IO every Monday.
Joshi sought bail, saying that he was not in a condition to influence any witness or NGO and that he has been transferred from the Home Ministry.
Opposing the plea, CBI said that if granted bail, Joshi could threaten witnesses as he was in an influential capacity.
It also submitted that a large number of NGOs were required to be investigated and there were apprehensions that he could abscond.
While seeking bail, Joshi said neither the files nor the NGOs were under his control and he could not even touch those documents. He added he will not flee if granted the relief.
Joshi, who was arrested from west Delhi on May 15, was presently under judicial custody.
CBI had earlier claimed that files relating to several NGOs had gone missing from the Home Ministry and they were recovered from his house although he was not supposed to take them away.
CBI had alleged that Joshi had been issuing notices
dishonestly to a large number of NGOs/societies registered under the FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) 2010, which have been receiving significant amount of foreign contributions, in an arbitrary manner.
CBI had said some of these organisations were Care India, Snehalya Charitable Trust, Indian HIV/AIDS Alliance and All India Primary Teachers Federation and alleged that representatives of some of these organisations were called and Joshi had demanded and obtained illegal gratification.
Joshi was arrested after he allegedly gave unconvincing answers to the questions posed by a team of Special Crime division of the CBI, including those related to disappearance of files on Sabrang Trust of activist Teesta Setalvad.
Joshi, who had disappeared from his home in Indirapuram in Ghaziabad, was picked up from Tilak Nagar area of West Delhi and taken to CBI headquarters for questioning. Subsequently, he was arrested by the agency.
Joshi has rejected the charge and instead accused his seniors of pressuring him to give clean chit to NGOs. In a note which he had left before leaving home, Joshi claimed he had been subjected to "mental harassment" in recent months.
A CRPF jawan today allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself from his service rifle in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh.
Officials said the incident occurred around 10 AM when constable Satish Kumar allegedly shot himself using his INSAS rifle at a force camp in Aranpur village of the district.
Kumar, who was taken to a hospital in Dantewada by his colleagues, was declared brought dead by doctors, they said.
"A court of Inquiry has been ordered to ascertain what led Kumar to take this extreme step," they said.
Kumar belonged to the 231st battalion of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) deployed in the area for anti-Naxal operations.
(REOPENS DES4)
A native of Dharwad in Karnataka, Satish was a dog
handler of the paramilitary squad.
A case has been registered in this connection, Dantewada Additional Superintendent of Police Ramkrishna Sahu said, adding that further probe is on.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today appealed the people of the state to participate in the International Yoga Divas on June 21.
In the context of receiving a letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister issued directions to the health department to prepare for the Yoga Day, an official release said here.
Asking to include students of schools/colleges and people from social organisations and business associations, he said Yoga got international fame due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision and has benefited people around the world.
District Congress presidents should be given responsibility in the government as a "reciprocal gesture" for what they did to foil the Centre's "conspiracy" to topple the democratically elected government in the state, Uttarakhand PCC president Kishore Upadhyay has said.
"Our workers are our backbone. They cannot be ignored. MLAs become MLAs because of the hard work of party workers at the grassroots. So the legislators must ensure that they don't become inaccessible to party workers at any point of time," said Upadhyay, who is said to be sulking after the Rajya Sabha ticket went to Pradeep Tamta.
Asked whether there was any instance of party workers being ignored in Uttarakhand recently, he evaded a direct reply sayingCongress can regain its past glory only by according proper respect to party workers.
On whether he was making a statement like this as he was upset with Chief Minister Harish Rawat after being denied a Rajya Sabha ticket, Upadhyay said he was not upset with anyone as he believed in doing the task assigned to him and he was happy heading the PCC.
"I am concerned only about the party. I feel its glory at the time of Indira Gandhi can be revived only by according respect to party workers which they deserve," he said.
At a meeting of district Congress presidents of Garhwal region here yesterday, Upadhyay thanked party workers for carrying out a "save democracy campaign" in the state by ensuring the Rawat government's reinstatement.
"District presidents should be given responsibility in the government as a reciprocal gesture for what they did to foil the Centre's conspiracy to topple a democratically elected government in the state," he said.
He said he would soon speak to the Chief Minister about it. Being honoured by the state government will be an incentive for the party workers and it help them brace for 2017 Assembly polls, hesaid.
Upadhyay had recently asked the Chief Minister to send the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) MD S S Yadav on forced leave till his name is cleared after a sting video purportedly showed him taking money, arguing that it has brought disrepute to the state.
District magistrates of the respective areas will be held responsible for poor progress under the Centre's 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign aimed at protecting and empowering the girl child, Union minister Maneka Gandhi today said.
"Wherever we have not done well, I will be talking to them (DMs) through video conferencing every day. Every DM will have to give me a report and anybody who has failed, it will go into his Annual Confidential Report (ACR) because I will be discussing it with the Chief Minister concerned," she said.
The Women and Child Development Minister was responding to a query at the All Women Journalists' workshop here on decline in the child sex-ratio at Meerut in Uttar Pradesh.
"District authorities need to tell all the village sarpanches about Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act and provide them counselling to ensure protection of women from violence," a senior ministry official said.
"They have to put the fear of PCPNDT Act as Haryana has done. It is the key to it. They need to map and register all the ultrasound machines in the districts and establish a web portal," he said.
The official said that 49 out of 100 districts selected under the programme had recorded significant improvement in child sex-ratio.
The scheme puts the onus on deputy commissioners and district magistrates for adopting a proactive approach by launching creative initiatives to change the attitude of the people on the issue of the girl child.
In order to deal with rain related problems, Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC) has prepared a Rs 660-crore drainage master plan for quick discharge of rain water in the silk city in south Odisha.
Officials said 380 km drains would ensure faster flow of rain water and tackle the problem of water logging during rainy season.
The five-year project, approved by the World Bank recently was presented at the corporation meeting on Monday. A private consultancy firm was entrusted with the task of preparing the plan as part of the ongoing World Bank aided Rs 200-crore Odisha Disaster Recovery Project (ODRP) for the city, they said.
Under the ODRP, Rs 25 crore has been earmarked for drainage system. Some drains would be constructed under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), the officials said.
The corporation would get around Rs 57 crore in the first year and spend them on ensuring proper water supply and drainage system in the town.
"Vulnerable areas will be identified for construction of drains in accordance with the master plan," said Commissioner of the Corporation, Sushant Mishra.
Waterlogging has been a perennial problem in the town in the absence of a proper drainage system. The residents have long been demanding for the same.
"The master plan for the storm water drain system will help expedite construction of roads and development of slum pockets in the town," said a senior engineer of ODRP unit.
Under ODRP, Rs 85-crore would be spent on developing 85 slum pockets, Rs 40-crore on repairing and widening major and interconnecting roads of around 7.6 km and Rs 30 crore on restoration of water supply.
The National Highways Authority of India and works department would follow the master plan while constructing drains, the enginner added.
An inebriated driver of a private bus carrying 32 passengers, including eight women, abandoned the vehicle by the roadside at nearby Tirumangalam after an argument with its passengers over consuming liquor, police said today.
Police said the incident took place last night when the Chennai bound bus from Tirunelveli approached Sattur.
The driver halted the vehicle and got down to consume liquor. Irate passengers berated him following which he stopped the vehicle by the roadside near Tirumangalam at around 11 PM and left along with the cleaner.
The passengers, including eight women, then informed police and the manager of the city-based travel agency. They reached the spot and pacified the angry passengers.
The bus left for its destination with another driver at about 4 AM this morning, police said.
A case has been registered against the driver and the cleaner and a search was on to nab them, police said.
Delhi University has set up dedicated centres to assist Persons with Disability (PwD) applicants in filling up the online registration forms for admission to undergraduate courses.
A team of trained volunteers, along with teachers and counsellors, will help the PwD applicants to ensure forms are filled correctly without any hassle and confusion.
The varsity has put up two centres at Equal Opportunity Cell in North Campus and Joint Dean Students' Welfare Office in South Campus till June 19 where officials will be available between 10 am and 5 pm to assist the applicants in filling online registration form, an official statement said.
The team of volunteers, however, is operating only in North Campus. A help desk will be set up in the South Campus on June 10 and 11 during DU's open days between 10 am and 1 pm, an official said.
This year, 423 applicants have registered under PwD category so far and more than 50 aspirants have taken assistance from the help desks put up by the varsity.
"We have anticipated every difficulty that might be faced by PwD applicants and have formed a team of volunteers to help them in filling their forms," Kishore Kumar Das, spokesperson of DU, said.
Along with the volunteers, an expert or a teacher has been assigned to these help desks.
"We are ready to provide any kind of assistance like pick-up and drop from the metro station if an aspirant requires it, depending on his/her condition," he added.
The centres are also providing wheel-chair facilities to the applicants in this category during the admission process.
The university has reserved three per cent of total seats in this category while declaring cut-offs for the same is under the jurisdiction of individual colleges.
The aspirants are required to submit a certificate of physical disability issued by the chief medical officer of a district/civil surgeon or any government hospital authorised to issue such certificates.
University colleges have also put up their own help desks in their campuses run by groups of volunteers and students' union members to address the queries of the applicants and to assist them in filling up the registration forms.
After more than ten years of its introduction and almost 17 states across the country having adopted it, the Odisha government today signed an agreement with Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd (SHCIL) to introduce e-stamping as another mode of collecting stamp duty.
The state Inspector General of Registration (IGR) Upendranath Mallick inked the agreement with SHCIL, represented by its regional manager Kaushik Bhattacharya here authorising the SHCIL as the central record keeping agency (CRA) for implementation of e-stamping in Odisha.
The e-stamping is an electronically generated stamp paper, which could be used by the registrant public as a safe and secured method of paying stamp duty for any purpose without physical purchase of stamp paper.
The e-stamping facility would not only benefit the public for a hassle-free payment of stamp duty, the state government would also benefit out of it as it would save the cost of printing, storage and transportation of stamp papers.
Officials pointed out that even with the introduction of e-stamping, the practice of using physical stamp paper and franking of stamp duty shall continue.
"The e-stamps shall be issued for payment of stamp duties for amount exceeding Rs 1,000 and it is an optional mode of payment of government revenue in shape of stamp duty," said a release issued by the Board of Revenue here.
The Education Poland fair here today offered various facilities to Indian students, who are willing to study in Poland.
"Education Poland is an unique initiative to spread awareness of high quality Polish education and facilitate the mobility of global students and research across Poland," Tomasz Lukaszuk, the country's ambassador to India, told reporters after the inauguration of the event.
'Education Poland' is an initiative to attract students from India who are willing to get quality education in Europe.
Programme official V S Agnihotri said the advantage of working in Poland is recognized worldwide- its a Schengen country, it has ECTC (European credit Transfer system). A student can take transfer to study in any EU country."
There are over 36,000 students came to Poland in 2014. "There are also settlement option for the students who will study in Poland," he added.
The Central Advisory Contract Labour Board (CACLB), an advisory body under the Labour Ministry, has recommended abolition of contractual workforce system for ticketing work in Delhi Metro and favoured regular employment.
The recommendation comes on the report of a three-member committee formed by it to study the working of contract labour system in the work of Ticket Office Machine (TOM) operators or ticket operators in Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).
The committee members unanimously suggested abolition of deployment of contractual workmen for ticket vending services as the work performed by TOM operators is perennial in nature and necessary to establishment, said its report.
As a large number of contractual workers have already been engaged in the last 13 years, the committee members are of considered opinion that the establishment of DMRC requires a sufficient number of regular employees for its business, it said in the report submitted to the government in February this year.
The further course of action on the report was discussed by CACLB in its meeting held on March 30, 31 this year in Kolkata.
The Board perused the recommendation submitted by the committee constituted for the purpose and unanimously accepted its recommendations and decided to recommend abolition of the contract labour system in the jobs of TOM operators in DMRC, as per the minutes of the meeting.
"It has been two months since the Board has made its recommendation. But the Labour Ministry is yet to issue a notification in this regard. Even I got the report of the committee after filing RTI application," said Rajni Saxena, who has been fighting for regular employment of TOM operators working on contract.
She had worked as TOM operator between 2009 and January 2012 before her contract was allegedly terminated by DMRC.
As per rules, the government can, after consultation with the central advisory board, prohibit by notification in the Official Gazette, employment of contract labour in any process, operation or other works in any establishment.
(REOPENS DES25)
Saxena has been meeting lawmakers and authorities
concerned in the national capital for the past two months to ensure early issuance of the notification.
There are at least 2,878 contractual workers deployed by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for ticket vending services, as per the information provided to the committee.
"The outsourcing of ticket vending system by deployment of TOM or Customer Care Centre operators through the contractors on the basis of agreement for four hours shift is also compelling the contractors to engage a very large number of workmen on their roll that in turn create scope for possible exploitation of workmen by denying them the wages and other welfare facilities available to regular or full time workmen," the committee has said in its report.
The outsourced employees deployed on TOM or CCC complained during the visit of the committee that they were not paid wages for weekly off days and Provident Fund statement and facilities under Employees' State Insurance (ESI) scheme, it said.
The Environment Ministry today released state-wise list of public utility projects which have been given forest and environmental clearances between May 2014 and April this year, highlighting the performance of Narendra Modi government in past two years.
As per the details, environment clearances have been given to various projects worth Rs 1,35,634.95 crore in Maharashtra having the potential of generating 11,030 jobs.
It was followed by Andhra Pradesh where projects worth Rs 93,738.82 crore having potential of creating 9758 jobs were given clearence while in Gujarat 19 projects worth Rs 42,373.1 crore having potential of 4540 jobs were sanctioned.
In Delhi, environment and forest approvals have been given to projects worth Rs 1518.89 crore having a potential of generating 3,330 jobs.
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar had earlier told PTI that over 2,000 projects involving Rs 10 lakh crore investment, which were stuck for years and some of them in key sectors, have been given environmental clearance in the last two years.
Javadekar had also said that in line with the government's policy of ease of doing business the average waiting period for approval of projects has been brought down to 190 days from 600 days during the UPA regime and the aim now is to slash it further to 100 days.
Some of the projects cleared by the Environment Ministry in the last two years were in important sectors such as roads, railway network, pipelines, irrigation canal and others.
"We have cleared over 2,000 projects. This has unlocked Rs 10 lakh crore investment and it has the potential of creating direct employment of millions of jobs. This is not a small thing. The projects were unnecessarily languishing. Now there is no pendency," Javadekar had told PTI in an interview.
Media mogul Simon Cowell has described how fatherhood has changed his judging style, because he now understands how it would feel if it was his son auditioning.
The 56-year-old returned to the judging panel of "America's Got Talent" last week and he's currently gearing up for the next season of the UK's "X Factor", reported Contactmusic.
"I'm very conscious that the kids who audition for AGT want to be there, they're not being pushed into it, and that they're having a great day out, otherwise we wouldn't see them," he continued. But Cowell also maintains that he was often edited to appear more nasty than he really was.
"I think X Factor and Idol were edited so that I was always seen as this bad-tempered, miserable whatever - which of course I am at times, but I'm not like that the whole day!" he said.
"But on AGT there are so many feel-good moments that they show those more than me ripping people to pieces because they are rubbish.
Amid a row over Bollywood film "Udta Punjab", Union minister Rajyavardhan Rathore today said filmmakers who are not satisfied with decisions of the censor board have an option of approaching the Appellate Tribunal for relief.
Speaking to reporters here, he said the decisions of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) are sometimes liked by the movie makers and sometimes not.
"Therefore, as per the process, there is a system of appeal as per which after an examining committee, the filmmaker can approach the revising committee. As per the process, the filmmaker may approach the revising committee a second time as well," the Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting said.
Referring to the Shahid Kapoor starrer "Udta Punjab", he said "the movie being discussed at present has gone to the revising committee."
Rathore said that if somebody is still not satisfied with the decisions of the revising committee, then they may appeal to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), which is altogether a separate body headed by a retired judge, the minister said.
"If you look at the past 4-5 months, there have been instances where those who were not satisfied with the decisions of the CBFC, were satisfied by the decisions of the FCAT," Rathore said.
His reaction was sought to filmmaker Anurag Kashyap's outburst against censor board chief Pahlaj Nihalani, calling him a "dictator" and that it was like living in North Korea.
The minister responded in lighter vein asking the reporter if he thought he was in North Korea.
"Okay, you don't think so, then its okay. We can have a vote here, it is a democracy," Rathore quipped.
"Udta Punjab", which looks into how the youth in Punjab have succumbed to drugs, has also unleashed political sparring in the state which goes to polls next year.
The last major primaries of the 2016 White House race kick off today in New Jersey and California, hours after US delegate counts showed Hillary Clinton clinching the Democratic nomination.
The first polls opened at 6 am (1000 GMT) in New Jersey, with voting to begin four hours later in California, the country's most populous state.
Passing the milestone of 2,383 delegates late Monday secured Clinton's status as the presumptive Democratic nominee, and she becomes the first female standard-bearer of a major US political party.
It's a dramatic political resurgence for a highly experienced but controversial candidate who lost to Barack Obama in their 2008 battle for the Democratic nomination.
This time the 68-year-old former secretary of state survived an extraordinarily strong grassroots campaign by her party rival Bernie Sanders and is set to go head-to-head with Republican real estate tycoon Donald Trump in an unprecedented showdown for the White House.
But Sanders was not ready to capitulate, insisting the Democratic nominee will not be chosen until delegates vote at the party's national convention in late July.
And while her campaign acknowledged the US network tallies that pushed her over the line were "an important milestone," Clinton said the Democratic race was not yet over.
"We are on the brink of a historic, historic, unprecedented moment," she told a rally in Long Beach, California.
"But we still have work to do, don't we?" she said, referring to Tuesday's primaries in California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota.
An FIR has been registered against four toppers of the Bihar school boards and three others on a complaint filed by the state education department for alleged irregularities in the exams, police today said.
"FIR has been registered against seven persons by Kotwali police station in connection with the controversy surrounding toppers of 10+2 candidates of the state board," Deputy Superintendent of Police (Law and Order) Shibli Nomani told PTI today.
The FIR was registered on the complaint by the Director, Secondary Education, late last night. It also includes unnamed officials of Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), Nomani said.
Those who have been named in the FIR are: management of Vishun Rai College, Hajipur; Centre Superintendent of G A Inter College, Hajipur, where the exam was conducted, Centre Superintendent of Balak High School, Rajendra Nagar, Patna, where copies were evaluated and marks alloted, the DSP said.
Besides, the names of Intermediate Arts topper Ruby Rai, Science toppers Shalini Rai, Saurav Shreshth and Rahul Kumar have also been included in the FIR.
They have been booked under relevant sections of IPC including section 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).
Bihar Education Minister Ashok Choudhary also confirmed the registration of the FIR against for allegedly committing irregularities in the 10+2 exam of Arts and Science streams.
"The government, prima facie, found there are some irregularities and hence, the FIR has been registered in the case. Follow up action will take place. DGP will tell about further action," Choudhary said.
Meanwhile, a team of state police and CID visited Bihar BSEB today and after perusing the results of the Intermediate examination.
Police sources said the probe team questioned BSEB chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh and impounded a computer.
Eighteen Indian fishermen, who were released by Pakistan on Sunday, will reach here tomorrow, a senior Gujarat fisheries department officer said today.
The fishermen, held for violating the territorial waters of the neighbouring country, were freed from Malir jail in Karachi as a goodwill gesture.
Fisheries Department Superintendent Ashok Patel said that one of the fishermen, identified as Ajit Bhagu who hails from Valsad district, was admitted in a Amritsar hospital tonight for treatment.
"Bhagu's condition is good. He was administered glucose. He will join 17 others who will leave Amritsar late tonight and reach Vadodara on Wednesday night," Patel said.
A team of Fisheries department from Gujarat had taken custody of the fishermen yesterday after they were released at Wagah border by the Pakistani authorities.
Five persons were arrested for allegedly threatening a local journalist from Bhiwandi here, police said today.
Scribe Siddharth Kamble, who works with a national channel, in his complaint alleged that a group of unidentified persons on Sunday night threatened him of dire consequences outisde his house, an official of Kongaon police station said.
According to Kamble's complaint, the incident happened after he did stories for his channel exposing illegal activities of land mafias in the city, and hence, they decided to threaten him.
A group of people carrying bamboo sticks went to Kamble house at around 10.30 PM and dared him to come out and intimidate him, the officer said.
"The miscreants also tried to break the main door but could not do so. They had smashed the CCTV camera installed outside Kamble's house," he said.
Five persons, including two women, were arrested yesterday in connection with the incident and a case was lodged against them under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 427 (mischief causing damage), 506-2 (criminal intimidation) and other relevant sections of the IPC and Atrocities Act.
(Inserting some paras)
(REOPENS DEL96)
Vice President Hamid Ansari also condoled Nikam's death saying he was a valued and respected member of Rajya Sabha Television.
Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venakaiah Naidu said he was saddened at the death of Nikam who had made great contribution to the profession of journalism.
He also visited the RML hospital, where 59-year-old Nikam had breathed his last.
Rajya Sabha TV CEO Gurdeep Singh Sappal said his passing away was a huge loss for RSTV.
"Girish was a voice of sobriety and compassion in the debates he conducted," he said.
A release by RSTV said Nikam anchored 'The Big Picture' programme ever since its inception.
His "understated style and rich content stood apart in the cacophony of prime time TV discussions", it said.
Police today arrested four persons and recovered 200 kg ganja worth over Rs 12 lakh from them.
Police also seized a Tavera car which they used for transporting the weed to Hyderabad.
The accused are identified as T Bharat (22), S Demullu (23), S Samudram (22) and A Srinu. However, the suspected kingpin, Pravin is absconding.
City Task Force Inspector Mallikarjuna Rao said that Praveen and Bharat had worked together for an event management company in Hyderabad earlier.
He CTF team caught them near Pinagadi junction under Pendurthy police station limits.
"The smugglers procured one kg of ganja for Rs 3,000 and will sell it for Rs 6,000 in Hyderabad. They were planning to sell the stuff in Nagpur at double price," Rao said. recovered by the police.
A case has been registered and investigation is on.
Taking objection to the information sought by the Union Home ministry relating to the officers and consultants hired by Delhi government, Chief Miniter Arvind Kejriwal asked for the details about the consultants appointed by the Centre in last two years.
In his letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Kejriwal claimed that he had consulted constitutional experts who said that the Centre has no right to seek the said information as per the law and Constitution.
The CM's letter after Union Home Minister, in May, asked the AAP government to provide information related to deputationists posted against cadre posts of IAS.
"You had asked me about the IAS cadre posts on which others officers are working, but as far as I understand, there are just two-four such officers working in Delhi...But the Delhi government also wants to know that in the last two years, how many consultants were appointed by the central government? If we share these details of consultants, both the governments will be benefitted," Kejriwal said.
He also asked whether such details of officers have been sought from Chief Ministers of other states including Shivraj Singh Chauhan, N Chandrababu Naidu, Vasundra Raje, Devendra Fadnavis.
Since the Aam Aadmi Party has come to power in Delhi, the Centre and the AAP government have been at loggerheads over a range of issues, including appointment of officers, formation of commissions.
To give relief to BSF jawans guarding the India-Pakistan border in scorching heat, 10,000 goggles, RO water plants besides ECG machines and a host of other items will be donated to them by diamond merchants of Mumbai and Surat.
The gesture of the diamond traders came following an initiative of Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary who himself is associated with diamond trade.
"The diamond merchants told me that they wanted to do something for the welfare of soldiers who are guarding our borders. So I suggested to them that they should contribute stuff which are useful for our jawans," said Chaudhary, an MP from Gujarat's Banaskantha, which touches the international border.
Among the stuff which the diamond merchants will donate to Border Security Force jawans include 10,000 sun-glasses worth Rs 650 each to give them relief from the scorching heat, a few ECG machines, X-Ray machines, medical laboratory equipments, one ambulance, 10 oxygen concentrators, 10 RO water plants of 500-litre capacity each and 7,000 mattresses.
Besides, three BSF hospitals will be upgraded with the contribution of the diamond traders at a cost of Rs 15 lakh each, three shooting ranges will be developed at a cost of Rs 25 lakh and residential blocks constructed for children of martyrs studying in Gandhinagar.
Director General of BSF K K Sharma said that the force was "overwhelmed" with the gesture of the diamond traders who will be present at a special function to be held on June 19 in Gujarat.
India shares 3,323-km long border (including Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir) with Pakistan, of which 508 km falls in Gujarat.
"The initiative is currently being taken for the BSF jawans posted in Gujarat and it will be gradually expanded to other borders," Chaudhary said.
India on Tuesday termed the recent launch of the solar policy by Delhi government as a "trailblazing" step towards fulfilling India's global climate commitments and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious national solar targets.
Noting that the step will help in fulfilling the overall goal of sustainable development, the NGO said the long overdue energy revolution in India will be achieved soon if the entire country moved in a similar direction.
"This is a great victory for our people powered campaign - Switch on the Sun. We were the first to put forward a 2GW vision for Delhi, through our report 'Rooftop Revolution'.
"This is a trailblazing step towards fulfilling India's global climate commitments, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious national solar targets and overall sustainable development.
"If the entire country moved in this direction, then the long overdue energy revolution in India will be achieved soon," said Pujarini Sen, Campaigner India.
Giving a major push to clean energy, the AAP government on Monday came out with an ambitious policy announcing incentives and tax breaks to promote solar power and making it mandatory for government and public institutions to install rooftop solar panels.
The solar policy, finalised at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, aims to make Delhi a "solar city" through generation of 1,000 MW of power by 2020 and taking it further to 2,000 MW by 2025.
The NGO claimed that along with thousands of its supporters, it played an active role in the adoption of the new solar policy by the Delhi government.
The NGO lobbied with the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission for the release of Net Metering guidelines and been closely involved with the Delhi Dialogue Commission alongside other stakeholders, in drafting the solar policy released on Monday.
"Thousands of our supporters have helped us convince the Delhi government's readiness to usher in a rooftop solar revolution. We engaged with multiple allies, partners and volunteers including resident welfare associations (RWAs) and other institutions such as hospitals, hotels and government establishments," Sen said.
India said it is a step in the right direction and with this announcement, Delhi can leave behind its previously embarrassing label of "worst" performance in meeting renewable purchase obligation targets.
It can truly be a leader by implementing the policy and contribute to meeting India's national renewable energy targets, the NGO said.
Greenpeace India said URJA, the apex body of RWA in Delhi, which is also an active partner in Greenpeace's 'Switch on the Sun' campaign has also welcomed the solar policy.
"With its high potential of solar incidence and massive power consumption, Delhi is well suited to take the lead among metropolises in this direction," Ashutosh Dikshit, CEO URJA, said.
Kejriwal on Monday had said making Delhi a solar city is one of their 70-point agenda and this policy, which is very progressive, will help in providing clean and green energy.
He had further said rooftop solar systems offer sustainable energy, environmental benefits, low gestation period and minimum transmission and distribution losses.
The policy has outlined a combination of regulations, mandates, incentives, and tax breaks for the growth of rooftop solar power in the capital.
has a "volcanic" temper and a loud fight she had with Bill Clinton in 1995 left the then US President with a black eye, an ex-Secret Service officer has claimed in a 'tell-all' book.
The forthcoming book - 'Crisis of Character' by former Secret Service officer Gary J Byrne who was assigned to the White House during Bill Clinton's presidency - alleges that 2016 Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary "lacks the integrity and temperament to serve in the office."
The book is due to be released June 28 - a month before Hillary is likely to take the stage to accept the Democratic presidential nomination in Philadelphia.
The 285-page book describes Hillary Clinton's "appalling leadership style" as being "volcanic, impulsive, enabled by sycophants and disdainful of the rules set for everyone else", Fox News reported citing excerpts from the book.
While most of the book's contents have remained under wraps so far, a preview on Amazon 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 says he "personally observed" President Clinton's 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 writes.
Byrne recalls an alleged fight between the first couple during the summer of 1995 in Chapter 1, 'The Vase'. Byrne is quoted as saying that 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".
Clinton's personal scheduler Nancy Hernreich allegedly told Byrne the eye condition was a result of Clinton's allergy to coffee.
The book, however, is not solely about the Clintons.
"While books about the Clintons written by supposed insiders are plentiful, Byrne's credibility is bolstered by reporting at the time of the Monica Lewinsky-Bill Clinton sex scandal," the media report said.
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 Lewinsky's visits to the West Wing of the White House.
Byrne says 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 writes.
A 70-year-old Hindu priest was today hacked to death in Bangladesh by three suspected Islamic State jihadists who nearly severed his head, the second priest from the community to be killed this year in the Muslim-majority nation which has seen a string of brutal attacks by Islamists on minorities and secular activists.
Ananda Gopal Ganguly was attacked at around 9:30 AM by three bike-borne men who slit his throat with sharp-edged weapons in the western Jhinaigah district's Noldanga village, Assistant Superintendent of Police Gopinath Kanjilal said, adding that suspected militants carried out the murder.
"As it appears Ganguly was killed by the militants as it matches the pattern they followed previously," Jhinaidah's police chief Altaf Hossain told PTI.
"He was an old ordinary man who was known little beyond the neighbourhood and we found no clue as well that he had enmity with anyone... The circumstances led us to point our figure to militants as we launched the investigation initially," he said.
Police said they have recovered the body and sent it for an autopsy. An investigation was launched into the incident.
The near-decapitated body of the priest was discovered by farmers at a farmland near his home.
Meanwhile, IS claimed responsibility for the killing of the Hindu priest. The terror group said it "assassinated" the priest while he was going for prayers, the SITE monitoring group quoted the terror group's Amaq agency.
Ganguly, who was a priest at the Noldanga temple in Sadar upazila, was on his way to the temple riding a bicycle to offer prayers when the unidentified assailants struck. They first shot him and then hacked him to death to make sure that he was dead.
Launching a massive crackdown on extremists after a spate of attacks, Bangladesh police today gunned down three suspected Islamists.
The three were operatives of the outlawed Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) outfit which was targeted by Superintendent of Police Babul Aktar whose wife was brutally killed by the militants on Sunday.
There have been systematic assaults in Bangladesh in recent months specially targeting minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and foreigners.
On Sunday, a Christian businessman was hacked to death by unidentified machete-wielding men near a church, hours after the wife of a top anti-terror police officer was shot dead by religious extremists.
In February, militants stabbed to death a Hindu priest at a temple in Bangladesh and shot and wounded a devotee who went to his aid.
A 70-year-old Hindu priest was today hacked to death in Bangladesh by three assailants who nearly severed his head, the second priest to be killed this year in the Muslim-majority nation which has seen a string of brutal attacks by Islamists on minorities and secular activists.
Ananda Gopal Ganguly was attacked at around 9:30 AM by three bike-borne men who slit his throat with sharp-edged weapons in the western Jhinaigah district's Noldanga village, Assistant Superintendent of Police Gopinath Kanjilal said, adding that suspected militants carried out the murder.
"As it appears Ganguly was killed by the militants as it matches the pattern they followed previously," Jhinaidah's police chief Altaf Hossain told PTI.
"He was an old ordinary man who was known little beyond the neighbourhood and we found no clue as well that he had enmity with anyone... The circumstances led us to point our figure to militants as we launched the investigation initially," he said.
Police said they have recovered the body and sent it for an autopsy. An investigation was launched into the incident.
The near-decapitated body of the priest was discovered by farmers at a farmland near his home.
Witnesses and the people in the neighbourhood said three assassins on a bike attacked and hacked to death Ganguly.
Ganguly, who was a priest at the Noldanga temple in Sadar upazila, was on his way to the temple riding a bicycle to offer prayers when the unidentified assailants struck. They first shot him and then hacked him to death to make sure that he was dead.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility and the cause behind the murder was not known.
There have been systematic assaults in Bangladesh in recent months specially targeting minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and foreigners.
On Sunday, a Christian businessman was hacked to death by unidentified machete-wielding men near a church, hours after the wife of a top anti-terror police officer was shot dead by religious extremists.
In February, militants stabbed to death a Hindu priest at a temple in Bangladesh and shot and wounded a devotee who went to his aid.
History already in hand, Hillary Clinton will celebrate becoming the first woman to lead a major American political party today following votes in California, New Jersey and four other states - contests Clinton hopes send her into the general election in strong standing.
Clinton reached the 2,383 delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee on the eve of today's voting, according to an Associated Press tally.
Her total is comprised of pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses, as well as superdelegates - the party officials and officeholders who can back a candidate of their choosing.
Clinton greeted of her achievement with a measured response, wary of depressing turnout and eager to save the revelry for a big victory party Tuesday night in Brooklyn. During a campaign stop in California, Clinton told a cheering crowd she was on the brink of a "historic, unprecedented moment," but said there was still work to do in her unexpectedly heated primary battle with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
"We're going to fight hard for every single vote," Clinton declared.
Heading into today's voting, Clinton has 1,812 pledged delegates and the support of 571 of the 714 superdelegates, according to the AP count.
The AP surveyed the superdelegates repeatedly in the past seven months. While they can change their minds, those counted in Clinton's tally have unequivocally told the AP they will support her at the party's summer convention.
During a rally yesterday evening in San Francisco, Sanders said a victory in California would give him "enormous momentum" in his bid to push the Democratic primary to a convention fight. Sanders is urging superdelegates to drop their support for Clinton before the gathering in Philadelphia, arguing he is a stronger candidate to take on presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
But Sanders has so far been unable to sway the superdelegates, and there were signs yesterday that he was taking stock of his standing in the race. Speaking to reporters, Sanders said he planned to return to Vermont tomorrow and "assess where we are" following the California results.
The senator's comments came on the heels of a weekend phone call with President Barack Obama, who has stayed out of the Democratic primary to date but is poised to endorse Clinton as early as this week.
"The president intends certainly through the fall, if not earlier, to engage in this campaign," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. "That's an opportunity the president relishes.
Notwithstanding the cloudy weather which arose expectation of rains, high temperatures along with intense humidity continued to batter citizens in Bihar today.
Patna witnessed a maximum temperature of 37.9 degrees Celsius and a minimum temperature of 28.6 degrees Celsius, the Met office said.
Gaya recorded a maximum temperature of 40.8 degrees Celsius and a minimum 30.3 degrees Celsius, while Bhagalpur recorded a maximum temperature of 38.4 degrees Celsius and a minimum of 24.8 degree Celsius, it said.
High levels humidity continued to make life difficult for the people in the state.
Patna recorded 72 per cent humidity in the morning, which slided to 49 per cent by the evening. In temple town of Gaya, humidity was 53 per cent in the morning and 41 per cent in the evening.
The state weather office said in its forecast that rain is expected in Patna only day after tomorrow.
However, parts of north-west Bihar including West and East Champaran, Saran and Gopalganj and North-Central parts, including Sitamarhi and Madhepura are expected to see rain in the next 24 hours, the forecast said.
The Information and Broadcasting ministry has asked TV and radio channels to carry special programmes to promote the second International Yoga Day on June 21.
In a letter to all broadcasters, the ministry said that on December 11, 2014 the UN General Assembly had declared celebrating June 21 as the International Yoga Day (IYD) every year.
Earlier Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a call for the adoption of 21 June as the IYD, it added.
"The forthcoming June 21 will be the second IYD and hence, it will hold special significance for India, particularly when the genesis of practice of Yoga is associated with our country and several initiatives have been taken by institutions, both public and private, to promote the cause," the ministry said.
To take the same forward, it asked all TV channels, FM stations and community radio stations to take all possible steps this year also to promote IYD carrying special features or in any other befitting manner during the period leading to the occasion.
Spain's foreign minister today revived the idea of sharing sovereignty over Gibraltar with Britain if Brexit happens, saying it would allow the Rock to maintain access to the European Union.
Nestled on the southern tip of Spain, the tiny British overseas territory is eyeing the upcoming June 23 referendum on whether Britain should leave the EU with alarm.
At stake is a thriving services-based economy that relies in large part on access to the EU's single market, and a sovereignty spat with Spain it believes threatens its only land access to the continent.
Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo told Spanish radio that if Britons voted to leave the EU, "it is obvious that Gibraltar also leaves the European Union, and won't therefore have access to the single market".
Margallo, who is a strident supporter of the Rock coming back under Spanish control centuries after it was ceded to Britain in 1713, said solutions would have to be found to "allow Gibraltar to have a link with the European Union."
He raised the possibility of "shared sovereignty during an extended period of time," reviving a joint-sovereignty proposal etched out between the two countries in 2001 and 2002.
The proposal was binned after Gibraltarians rejected it en masse in a November 2002 referendum.
Gibraltar's leader Fabian Picardo has warned that Britain leaving the EU would be a "disaster" for the tiny territory.
Earlier this year, he told AFP he was "concerned that it would mean that our current economic model would not be sustainable".
Picardo said he was also worried Spain may seize the opportunity to threaten the land border between the two -- a long-time flashpoint in the sovereignty row between London and Madrid.
Spain's dictator Francisco Franco went as far as closing the crossing in 1969, all but stranding inhabitants who had to rely on air and boat links until it was fully re-opened in 1985.
Relations have ebbed and flowed since, but the past four years have seen tension resurface under Spain's acting conservative government.
Apart from sovereignty claims, the ruling Popular Party also bristles at tobacco smuggling across the border and accuses Gibraltar of being a corporate tax haven.
In one particularly belligerent row over disputed waters, Spanish authorities upped border checks in 2013, creating hours-long logjams and forcing the European Commission to wade in and ease the crisis.
Recently appointed as chief of a premier government-funded art centre here, Ram Bahadur Rai today stoked a controversy by questioning Dr B R Ambedkar's role in framing of the Constitution and describing it as a "myth".
A former general secretary of the ABVP, RSS affiliated student organisation, Rai was quoted as saying in an interview to a weekly magazine that Ambedkar did not write the Constitution.
Rai, who was appointed as Chairman of Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) in April, was quoted by 'Outlook' as having said that Ambedkar's role was limited and that whatever material B N Rau, a civil servant, gave to him , Ambedkar would correct the language.
"So, Ambedkar did not write the Constitution. In fact, he said, if the Constitution is ever to be set afire, then 'I will be first to do so,'" Rai said.
Asked if Ambedkar's role was then a myth, Rai replied, "Yes, myth hai, myth hai, myth hai (yes, it is a myth, it is a myth, it is a myth). It is part of identity politics."
Rai immediately came under attack with BJP's Scheduled Caste Morcha chief Dushyant Kumar Gautam condemning the controversial comments, saying they amounted to insulting Ambedkar and are a hurdle in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Dalit outreach.
When contacted, Rai denied giving any such interview, claiming it was a "breach of journalistic ethics".
Attacking Rai, Gautam said, "Those who are saying so are doing it without any thinking and it seems they have some malice and enmity against the Scheduled Castes and the concept of social justice.
"This is the reason otherwise such statements would not have been made. If Ambedkar was from upper castes, then they would not made such comments," he added.
In view of the "growth" of the regional media, premier journalism school IIMC is considering offering courses in regional languages, including Malayalam and Marathi.
The insititute has also set up a 'New Media and IT' department at its Delhi campus considering the expansion of the digital media.
Director General of Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) K G Suresh today said the institute has begun consultations on offering journalism courses at IIMC centres in at least one regional language from the next academic session.
"We are keen to offer journalism courses in more regional languages at IIMC centres. We want that from the next session, a course in Marathi journalism should be started at IIMC, Amravati, and in Malayalam journalism at the Kottayam centre," he said.
He said, "The move was in line with the growth being witnessed in the regional media."
At present, IIMC's Dhenkanal centre offers a post-graduate diploma course in Odia journalism. Its Delhi centre offers journalism courses in English, Hindi and Urdu.
Suresh also said the New Media and IT department has been set up in Delhi, keeping in mind the importance of the digital medium.
The institute is also providing training in new media to various government departments including officials of the defence forces, he said.
Faced with rubber shortage, India is looking to import about three lakh tonnes (LT) of natural rubber from Thailand to meet its domestic requirement.
India's annual demand for natural rubber is more than 10 lakh tonnes, while the domestic production is stagnant at about 5 lakh tonnes.
"The rubber authority of Thailand is offering about 3 lakh tonnes of natural rubber to India. Negotiations have started between the domestic tyre, rubber industry and the Thai authority," All India Rubber Industries President Mohinder Gupta said.
A high-level delegation of Thailand, comprising governor of its rubber authority Titus Suksaard, is on a visit to India for negotiations.
"As of now we are in talks with Indian industry players to export about 3 lakh tonnes of natural rubber," Suksaard said adding that Thailand want to at least double its exports of natural rubber to India to 4 lakh tonnes.
Suksaard also invited Indian rubber and tyre industry to invest in the proposed rubber city which is being established in Thailand for rubber and tyre industry.
"In view of the rising gap in domestic production and demand of natural rubber, the visit of Thailand delegation has significance and it will yield good results for both the countries," All India Tyre Manufacturers Association Director General Rajiv Budhraja said.
The domestic rubber production declined 13 per cent to 5.63 lakh tonnes in 2015-16, while imports during the period rose by 3 per cent to 4.54 lakh tonnes.
In April last year, the government hiked the import duty on natural rubber to 25 per cent or Rs 30 per kg, whichever is lower, to protect the interest of domestic growers and curb imports.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama today committed themselves to join the Paris climate change deal this year, which would provide a "significant global momentum" towards implementation of the historic agreement, a top White House official said.
"The US reaffirms its commitment to join the agreement as soon as possible this year. India similarly has begun its processes to work toward this shared objective," the White House said.
Noting that the US and India share common climate and clean energy interests and are close partners in the fight against climate change, the White House said the leadership from both countries helped galvanise global action to combat climate change and culminated in the historic Paris Agreement reached last December.
"Both countries are committed to working together and with others to promote full implementation of the Paris Agreement to address the urgent threats posed by climate change," the White House said after the Oval Office meeting between Obama and Modi.
The Prime Minister is currently on a three-day US visit at the invitation of President Obama.
Climate change was one of the major topics of discussion between the two leaders.
During the meeting, Obama and Modi reiterated their commitment to pursue low greenhouse gas emission development strategies in the pre-2020 period and to develop long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies.
In addition, India and the US "resolved" to work to adopt an HFC amendment in 2016 with increased financial support from donor countries to the Multilateral Fund to help developing countries with implementation, and an ambitious phasedown schedule, under the Montreal Protocol pursuant to the Dubai Pathway, the White House said.
Modi and Obama resolved to work together at the upcoming International Civil Aviation Organisation Assembly to reach a successful outcome to address greenhouse gas emissions from international aviation.
"Further, the two countries will pursue under the leadership of the G20 strong outcomes to promote improved heavy-duty vehicle standards and efficiency in accordance with their national priorities and capabilities," the White House said.
Obama and Modi welcomed the signing of an MOU to Enhance Cooperation on Energy Security, Clean Energy and Climate Change, and an MOU on Cooperation in Gas Hydrates.
Reflecting Modi's call to embrace wildlife conservation as a development imperative, the two leaders also welcomed the signing of an MOU to enhance cooperation on Wildlife Conservation and Combating Wildlife Trafficking.
A UK court today dropped a case of "sexual grooming" against an Indian-origin British journalist and columnist Hasan Suroor for lack of evidence and declared him not guilty.
Suroor, who was arrested by British Transport Police (BTP) last November after an anti-paedophile sting operation in London, is now planning to sue the vigilante group, Unknown TV, behind the sting for damages.
"Following a further review of the case there is now no longer a realistic prospect of conviction," the UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told Blackfriars Crown Court in a written submission today.
The judge ruled that he had decided to return an "unequivocal verdict of not guilty".
A written order declaring Suroor innocent is to be issued on June 24 along with a ruling on his application for his legal costs to be reimbursed.
Suroor's lawyer Paul Mason said: "The robust stand we took has paid off."
The CPS is yet to officially comment on the case.
Suroor had been caught on camera as he was confronted by members of Unknown TV, organisers of the sting operation who alleged he was waiting for a 14-year-old girl.
A member of the anti-paedophile vigilante group had allegedly posed as a 14-year-old and allegedly solicited Surooron social media.
Groups such as Unknown TV pose as minors on dating and social networking sites in an attempt to catch adult men who solicit sex with minors.
Eminent Indian-origin professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya has been awarded the prestigious Regius Professorship in Manufacturing by Queen Elizabeth II for his outstanding contribution in manufacturing.
"WMG, at the University of Warwick, which was founded by eminent Indian Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, has been bestowed the prestigious Regius Professorship in Manufacturing by Her Majesty the Queen," a release said today.
Through his career, he has advised the UK government on manufacturing, innovation, and technology, including former Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.
Bhattacharyya, Chairman and founder of WMG, said: "Having founded WMG in 1980 to invigorate UK manufacturing, it is a wonderful honour to be bestowed upon the Group. This is recognition to every member of staff, over the last 35 years, who has contributed to our success.
"The University of Warwick was the first to have a Professor of Manufacturing, and I started with a desk, chair and a secretary. We are now internationally-acclaimed and the largest centre for manufacturing in the world. I am immensely delighted to have been granted this prestigious Regius Professorship in Manufacturing for WMG."
The creation of Regius Professorships falls under the Royal Prerogative, with each appointment being approved by the Queen upon Ministerial advice.
Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) has been granted the Regius Professorship for its academic research which has contributed to driving growth and improving productivity. Working with global companies on collaborative research and development, WMG has enabled those companies who want to innovate to develop ground breaking products which have had a real impact on society and the economy.
Bhattacharyya, who is an IIT-Kharagpur alumnus, said it was always his aim to bridge the gap between academia and industry, and to encourage companies to think long-term by investing in skills, and research and development. Over the last 35 years he has achieved this, but he isn't sitting back, he's looking to the future.
Bhattacharyya said: "We work with many international companies and SMEs all over the world on collaborative research to improve productivity, and in India with Tata Motors, TVS etc, as well as with many academic institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology, to improve the manufacturing skills base.
"We have also been very successful in attracting many inward investments in manufacturing in UK. We have ambitious plans for our future, especially with the National Automotive Innovation Centre, which will provide the next generation of skills and research for the automotive sector, and will formally open late 2017.
With US and India reaffirming their commitment to tackle climate change, a global research organization today said that the clean energy initiatives announced by President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will bring mutual benefits.
Modi, currently on a three-day US visit at the invitation of President Obama, met the US leader in the White House.
The new US-India joint announcement on Climate and Clean Energy includes announcements on a number of climate and energy related issues including the Paris Agreement, Montreal Protocol and clean energy.
World Resources Institute (WRI) President and CEO Andrew Steer said in a statement that Obama and Modi are delivering on their common understanding and resolve that long-term prosperity must be underpinned by a stable climate.
"Modi and Obama deserve credit for not shying away from historically contentious issues, like curbing dangerous hydrofluorocarbons," Steer said adding that the announcement signals that the US and India are overcoming the few remaining differences between them.
"The clean energy initiatives announced will bring mutual benefits and spur greater and faster uptake of renewable energy in India. Increased US investment from public and private sectors will help deliver more clean electricity to rural populations and communities that will promote their economic development," the institute said.
"India's support for the Montreal Protocol may well be the tipping point that leads the world to curb these fast-growing, potent greenhouse gases.
Limiting HFC emissions has greater potential for limiting warming in the short-term than any other approach, potentiallyavoiding as much as 1 degree Fahrenheit of global temperature rise by the end of the century," he said.
WRI said with India now on board, a growing chorus of countries are seeking to bring the Paris Agreement into full effect as soon as possible and early entry into force of the historic agreement will inspire leaders around the world to take action to reduce climate risks and enhance resilience.
"India's commitment to greatly expand clean, affordable electricity is beyond doubt. The country not only has one of the boldest renewable energy targets in the world, but also one of the largest markets for wind and solar technologies.
India's renewable energy goals make it clear that incremental change is insufficient to meet today's challenges," he said.
Obama, in his final months in office, continues to push for bold climate action by expanding partnerships with India, China, Vietnam, Brazil and more.
"President Obama can cement his climate legacy and ensure a brighter future for all people by continuing to rally the global community to bring the Paris Agreement into force as soon as possible," WRI said.
Extending help to children of drought-hit families in Maharashtra, an Indore-based NGO has joined hands with a crowdfunding platform to raise fund for their education.
NGO Suryoday Parivar, headed by spiritual leader Bhayyuji Maharaj, and Bangalore-based crowdfuding platform FuelADream have collaborate to raise Rs 2 lakh for 31 children of an orphanage, run by the NGO in Sangola in Solapur.
"The campaign is intended to take care of food, shelter, clothing and education of these 31 children at our orphanage Suryoday Balgraha," Sunil Patel of Suryoday Parivar said.
"Many of the children are from families where not only the father (farmer), but their mother also committed suicide out of distress," he said.
Founder of FuelADream, Ranganath Thota said, "We started the campaign on June 1 through online platforms to support these children. This is a 60-day campaign to raise Rs 2,00,000 which will help Suryoday take care of them. The campaign will run till July 30."
The NGO has Section 80G certificate and gets its accounts audited every year, Patil said.
He said Suryoday Parivar has working to help farmers in drought-stricken villages through building canals, providing them seeds.
Patil also apprsied that they intend to run similar campaigns for children in other states also.
A three-day-old baby girl died after she was allegedly administered a vaccine in the district hospital here with her family claiming that the body was kept in the mortuary for the entire day where it was bitten by ants.
The girl was born at the Indore District Hospital on June 3 and she died yesterday.
A state health department official said the Madhya Pradesh government today suspended four staffers of the hospital and ordered a magisterial inquiry into the episode after taking serious cognisance of the incident.
"A local resident Sangita Baghel had given birth to a baby girl in the district hospital on June 3. Two days later (on June 5), the new-born was administered a vaccine, following which she turned unwell with a high fever," MP Health Department Joint Director, Sharad Pandit said.
The girl died yesterday and her relatives alleged that it was due to the negligence of the hospital staffers they lost their child.
The infant's kin also alleged that the body was kept in the hospital's morgue from morning till evening yesterday, where ants bit it. In the evening, the body was sent to another government hospital for post-mortem.
Pandit said that in view of the allegations, a three-member committee was formed to probe the matter, which confirmed that there was negligence in the treatment of the new-born baby.
Following the findings of the committee, the state government was recommended to suspend four staffers of the hospital.
"Acting tough, the state government today suspended Indore District Hospital's Dr Anubha Shrivastava, nurse Shushila, female worker Choti Bai and sanitary worker Madhu Bai for being lax in performing their duties," MP Public Relations Department senior officer Ashok Manvani told PTI.
Pandit said a departmental inquiry has been ordered in the case.
Meanwhile, Indore District Collector P Narhari has ordered a magisterial inquiry that will be conducted by a Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) into the incident in a fortnight.
The incident comes in the wake of death of two children who were administered an anaesthetic agent instead of oxygen at the Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital here.
A programme to associate 30,000 odd students of all government colleges in the Union Territory with the celebration of 'International Yoga Day' on June 21 has been chalked out by the territorial administration here.
Lt Governor Kiran Bedi today held discussions with heads of colleges from all four regions of Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam at Raj Nivas to achieve the goal of 'prosperous Puducherry' through convergence of 'thinking minds to harness the potential of the students of all the colleges'.
A release from Bedi's office said the Secretary to Education, Vice Chancellor of Pondicherry Central University and also Vice Chancellor of Balaji Vidyapeeth were among the academics who participated in the deliberations.
All Principals and Heads of the institutions would be networked through Whatsapp group titled 'Academic Puducherry team' with Secretary to Education as the Administrator of the group, the release said.
The meeting also identified the International Yoga Day on June 21 and International Youth Day on August 12 as occasions to associate participation of studentsso that the spirit of nation building could be imbibed in them.
The release said International Yoga Day would be dedicated to the students and would be celebrated all over the Union Territory as 'Puducherry Students Beach Yoga.'
A record number of students would turn up at the celebrations on the 'beach promenade' here, it said.
The release said the International Youth Day on August 12 would focus on environmental education to achieve sustainable development.
Planting of saplings would be special feature of the celebration.
A collegiate education policy would be formulated by a core committee, comprising principals of eight colleges in the Union Territory for holistic skill development of students,the release added.
State-owned IOC, BPCL and HPCL have struck a temporary deal with Reliance Industries and Essar Oil to resume buying petrol and diesel from private refiners on revised terms.
Short of own production, state refiners Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) buy about 12 million tonnes of diesel annually from Jamnagar refineries of RIL and the Vadinar unit of Essar.
The arrangement, however, broke down earlier this year, with the private refiners seeking a better deal.
Sources said private refiners previously paid central sales tax as well as coastal freight for shipping the fuel from their plants in Gujarat to consumption points in southern and eastern India.
They wanted this cost to be borne by the buyers -- IOC, BPCL and HPCL.
As negotiations to work out a final arrangement continued, they resorted to imports as paying both central sales tax and freight would have made the fuel expensive.
Now, an ad-hoc deal has been reached wherein the private refiners will pay the central sales tax and state-run marketing firms will bear the cost of coastal shipping.
According to the sources, the state-owned firms are buying diesel from the two private refiners on a month-on-month basis.
For example, for July, they would indicate the tentative requirement by June 10 and a firm number by June 24.
A final deal is in the works and may take a few weeks to conclude, they added.
During April-May, the three oil marketing companies have bought about 1.2 million tonnes of diesel from RIL and Essar. They also bought a small quantity of petrol (about 0.15 million tonnes).
During 2015-16, the three state-owned firms had bought over 12 mt of diesel and 0.6 mt of petrol from RIL and Essar.
Of this, IOC bought 1.86 mt of diesel and 1,37,000 tonnes of petrol.
During April, India imported 0.5 mt of diesel, mostly on account of state-run oil firms not buying the fuel from RIL and Essar. Import during April 2015 was only 10,000 tonnes.
The sources said state-owned oil firms need diesel from RIL and Essar as domestic consumption is rising at 7.6 per cent, its fastest pace in four years.
Iran says it won't give visas to three US congressmen opposed to its recent nuclear deal with world powers.
The Foreign Ministry issued a statement late Tuesday saying it refused to issue visas to Reps. Frank LoBiondo, R-New Jersey; Mike Pompeo, R-Kansas; and Lee Zeldin, R-New York. It said the three wanted to monitor the nuclear agreement.
The ministry said in a statement that it refused the request over "the completely inappropriate way you have demanded to visit Iran and interfere in what is of no relevance to (your) official functions.'"
In a statement, LoBiondo said it was "deeply disappointing, though not surprising" that Iran denied "our legitimate request with insults and deflections." The other two congressmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Union Minister Smriti Irani today assured Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu that the Centre would take steps to establish a Central university and a tribal varsity in the state in accordance to the AP Reorganisation Act-2014.
The Central university is proposed to be set up in Anantapuramu district, while the tribal varsity is to be located in Vizianagaram district. The state government has already agreed to provide necessary land for the two universities.
"Naidu told Irani that the Union Cabinet's nod was required to establish the two universities and requested her to expedite the process. The Union HRD Minister responded positively to this," a release from the CMO said.
Irani, who was in the city to take part in the 'Vikas Parv' programme organised by BJP to celebrate the two-year rule of Modi Government at the Centre, met Naidu this afternoon and discussed issues related to education sector. Union MoS for Road Transport Pon Radhakrishnan also met the Chief Minister along with Irani.
When she told Naidu that universities like Stanford, Yale and Harvard are ready to establish their branches in India, he immediately asked her to arrange for their establishment in the state's new capital Amaravati, the release stated, adding she responded positively to this as well.
Irani also said the Centre is ready to extend all help to the state for improvement of educational sector. The Centre would particularly support the state in implementing the back-to-school programme for dropouts, it stated.
"The Centre has decided to provide conveyance facility to such students," she told the Chief Minister.
Naidu said the state government has asked engineering students to study the existing conditions in primary schools and suggest steps for improvements. The Union minister lauded this initiative, the release added.
State HRD minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas, MPs Kesineni Srinivas and K Narayana were also present at the meeting.
A television journalist walking with his grandson in a city street in eastern Guatemala was shot dead by two assailants on a motorbike, police and fellow local reporters said.
Victor Valdez, a 66-year-old Guatemalan journalist who led a cultural program on local cable network TL-COM for the past 29 years, was killed yesterday while walking with his teenaged relative in Chiquimula, a city near the border with Honduras where he lived.
The motive for the deadly attack was not immediately known, local police chief Abelino Lajuj said.
The two assailants went up to Valdez, shot him, then rode off, Lajuj said.
"We condemn this crime and express our solidarity with the family and with the journalistic trade. We demand a rapid investigation," said Ileana Alamilla, head of the Guatemalan Journalists' Association.
She called on President Jimmy Morales to speed the establishment of a special body to protect journalists provided for under a four-year-old decree.
Three murders of reporters have been recorded in Guatemala in 2015 and the first four months of 2016, along with 256 cases of threats, assaults and coercion against journalists, according to prosecutors.
Two judges of a division bench of the Calcutta High Court today argued with each other in open court today over granting bail to some accused persons in connection with the Vivekananda Road flyover collapse.
Justice C S Karnan, who had earlier been in for staying his transfer order from the Madras High Court to the Calcutta High Court by the Supreme Court, differed with brother judge Justice Ashim Kumar Roy over bail to ten accused persons after earlier holding concurrence in refusing bail to them.
The bench, comprising Justice Roy and Justice Karnan, had refused bail to the ten accused on May 20.
Justice Karnan, however, had a change of mind later and signed in favour of granting bail to the accused yesterday, 18 days after the bail prayers were refused by the division bench.
Justice Roy objected to Justice Karnan's decision as they sat in the court together as part of the division bench today.
While Justice Roy said such orders were always passed in open court room, Justice Karnan said after going through the papers relating to the case afresh in his chamber, he felt bail should be granted to the ten accused and as such decided in favour of granting of bail.
Following arguments over the legality of the order of Justice Karnan, the judges left the court room and retired to their respective chambers.
The bail prayers of the ten accused are likely to be referred to the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court on whether it should be sent to a third judge owing to the disagreement.
The Calcutta High Court Bar Association held an urgent general body meeting later in the day and decided not to attend the court of Justice Karnan.
"We held a general body meeting wherein a majority decision was taken not to participate in any judicial proceedings before the court of Justice Karnan," Bar Association General Secretary Suranjan Dasgupta said alleging "misbehaviour" by the judge.
Bowing to opposition demand, Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday ordered judicial probe into last week's in which 29 people, including two police officers, were killed.
The probe will be conducted by a retired judge of Allahabad High Court and the inquiry committee has been asked to submit its report within two months.
"A judicial probe has been ordered into . Retired Allahabad High Court judge Imtiyaz Murtaza will conduct inquiry," an official spokesman said.
The spokesman said the inquiry panel will go into the circumstances that led to the incident.
It has been asked to make suggestions that would help in ensuring that such incidents do not recur.
29 people, including two police officers, were killed during clashes between encroachers and police in Mathura last week. The violence had claimed the lives of Superintendent of Police (City) Mukul Dwivedi and SHO Santosh Kumar.
Political parties had been demanding a judicial inquiry into the violence.
BJP Member of Parliament from Mathura Hema Malini had demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident.
The Jammu and Kashmir government today told the Legislative Council that the process of setting up the Juvenile Justice Board would be completed within two months.
The state had enacted the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act in 2013 but the board is yet to be set up even after the passage of three years.
"The setting up of the Juvenile Justice Board is under process as it is closely linked with release of funds under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) and nominations of various government/non-governmental nominees," Social Welfare Minister Sajjad Gani Lone said in the Legislative Council.
The minister was replying to a question of National Conference (NC) MLC Shehnaz Ganai who asked the government to wake up from its "deep slumber" for the benefit of the children of the state.
"It is unfortunate that we do not have a juvenile justice board in the state. About 750 cases involving juveniles are pending. Till we do not constitute the board, we will deprive juveniles of their rights," the NC MLC said.
Lone assured Ganai that the process has been set in motion.
"Everything is not in our hands. The High Court has to nominate the head of the board. We have written to it and once it (HC nomination) comes, we will establish the board in 15-20 days," said the minister.
However, his reply could not satisfy the MLC who sought a time-frame for establishment of the board.
Lone then assured her that the board would be set up within a month or two.
Congress today virtually rejected Gurudas Kamat's plans to quit politics, insisting that the senior leader is an "integral part of the Congress family" and party leadership would discuss with him his future role and responsibility.
"Kamat is a very seasoned and experienced leader. He is integral part of the Congress family. I categorically and squarely reject reports that he has resigned from the party".
"He was, is and will always remain a part of the Congress family. I am certain Congress leadership will discuss with him his future role and responsibility in the party so that it can benefit from his experience", party's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told PTI.
The statement from the AICC has come a day after the 61-year-old Congress general secretary announced that he was quitting active politics.
The move had come ahead of next year's Mumbai civic elections, where Congress is hoping to dislodge the incumbent Shiv Sena-BJP combine.
Surjewala's remarks came hours after Kamat made it clear today that he has the "highest respect and regard" for Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi and "my resignation is purely on personal grounds."
Yesterday, there was no reaction from the AICC over Kamat's sudden decision to quit active politics which had come as a bolt from the blue for the party.
Kamat, AICC general secretary incharge of Gujarat and Rajasthan, who had been Mumbai PCC chief for a long time, was reportedly unhappy over the appointment of his known detractor Sanjay Nirupam as the head of the city unit of the party.
Under his charge, Congress had done well in the local bodies polls in Gujarat and Rajasthan.
Meanwhile, Surjewala said that Rahul Gandhi is
finalising plans for structural changes in the party and has talked to a large number of partymen at various levels on the road ahead.
Party leaders like Jairam Ramesh has already made a strong pitch for Rahul to take over the organisation.
A senior leader, however, remarked that changes in the organisation needed be carried out cautiously given the fact that those sitting in the AICC are "more powerful than the Syndicate" in the times of Indira Gandhi.
There has been no formal word on when the much talked about meeting of the Congress Working Committee will be held.
In a fresh confrontation, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today accused Lt Governor Najeeb Jung of snooping on him and his cabinet ministers and sending his government's "secret information" to the Prime Minister's Office, a charge rejected by the LG's secretariat.
Kejriwal's attack on Jung came after a letter written by the LG to the Prime Minister's Principal Secretary Nripendra Mishra in February on working of a bureaucrat in the office of Delhi's Home Minister found its way to media.
In the letter, Jung had said that an officer, S K Nagarwal, belonging to Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE), was found working with Delhi's Home Minister while on study leave from the Railways.
The LG, in the letter dated February 26 to Mishra, sought departmental action against Nagarwal saying he was found working with Delhi government on December 29 last year.
Rejecting LG's report, a Delhi government spokesperson said Nagarwal never worked with city administration as he was not released by the Railways.
"Shocking! LG snooping on CM and Ministers. Who visits CM and ministers- LG secretly collecting this info and informing PMO," the Delhi Chief Minister tweeted.
A senior official in the Lt Governor's secretariat termed Kejriwal's allegation as "baseless", saying that it had received a written complaint stating that Nagarwal was working in the Delhi government when he was on study-leave from Railways.
"Services matter is the domain of the LG. On written complaint, Lt Governor had written to Principal Secretary to Prime Minister and brought the breech of service rules to his notice," the official said.
The Delhi government is also furious over a directive by the Union Home Ministry which had asked it to furnish details of all officers on deputation to Delhi administration. The MHA, in its letter dated May 24, even asked the city government to provide details of all consultants appointed by the AAP dispensation.
In reply to the Home Ministry directive, Kejriwal today wrote a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh refusing to provide the details as sought by his ministry.
Instead, Kejriwal asked Singh for information relating to appointment of consultants by the NDA government in the last two years.
(REOPENS DES-55)
In a separate release, the Aam Aadmi Party alleged the LG's act "undermined" the basic functioning of the elected government.
"It is a matter of extreme seriousness that the Lt Governor of Delhi is spying on the ministers of the elected government of the National capital Territory of Delhi.
"Since the letter has been addressed to the PMO, it is clear that under directions from the very top in the central government, the Delhi LG Najeeb Jung is illegally interfering in the functioning of the elected government.
"This letter raises extremely serious questions about the kind of undesirable activities in which the Delhi LG appears to be indulging," the party alleged.
It also posed questions to the Centre and the LG asking them to reveal the source of his information about the presence of any individual in the office of a minister of Delhi government and what was the reason to write to the PMO about who visits the ministers of Delhi government.
"Under whose directions is the LG seeking information about the visitors to ministers of the Delhi government? Why is the LG interested in knowing about the work being done in the offices of ministers?" the party asked.
It also asked whether such instructions were being given to all governors/ LGs across India by the PMO or was it restricted only to Delhi.
"The acts of spying by no less than the Delhi LG on the ministers of the Delhi government is a serious assault on federalism and undermines the basic functioning of the elected government," it added.
is all set to become open defecation-free with the state-run Suchitwa Mission aiming to achieve the goal by November 1 this year.
State Chief Secretary S M Vijayanand convened a meeting of all stakeholders and higher officials recently to evaluate the progress of the mission.
The meeting was a follow-up of the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Delhi visit last month.
During the meeting, the Chief Secretary said could not go back from its target of declaring the state as open defecation-free by November 1 as the state should always remain as a model to other states, an official release said.
The meeting was attended by several officials including T K Jose, state Principal Secretary (Local Self Government), and Arun Baroka and Nipun Vinayak, the Joint secretary and deputy secretary respectively of the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, central government.
Officials observed that availability of funds will not stand as a hindrance in achieving the target but mobilisation of other resources may be a challenge, especially when it comes to tribal, hilly and coastal areas.
In those areas, adequacy of fund may be a challenge unless Scheduled Tribes and Fisheries departments came forward with their contributions, the release said.
Fisheries Principal Secretary James Varghese assured that wherever it is necessary among the coastal communities, they can top-up funds from their side.
Suchitwa Mission is the state nodal agency for sanitation. It is constituted under the state local self government department with the vision of creating a waste free with a pollution-free environment, public hygiene and cleanliness.
Under the scanner for a kidney racket busted by Delhi Police, Indraprastha Apollo hospital here has constituted a three-member inquiry committee to study the existing system for giving approval for transplant of an organ in the hospital.
The hospital has invited former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court and eminent jurist Justice Mukul Mudgal to head the committee. Others joining him will be forensic expert, N C Sood along with an eminent medical professional.
"The committee will study the existing system for authorisation in the hospital and give its recommendations to ensure that the current approval mechanisms are strengthened.
"In the interest of patient safety, it would also suggest safeguards to ensure that such an incident is not repeated in the future," a statement from the Hospital said.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation will henceforth grant water connection to building upt0 five-storied height even without completion certificate, Mayor Sovan Chatterjee said today.
He said the decision to make this effective in a month's time was taken at an Mayor-In-Council meeting this afternoon.
The meeting further resolved to undertake dredging of canals crisscrossing the city to decongest in the wake of onset of monsoon.
A meeting will take place in this connection with Irrigation minister and his department officials soon, the Mayor said.
After brands like Motorola, Xiaomi and Yu, Chinese Internet major LeEco is now taking the offline route and expects about 50 per cent of its sales to come from brick-and-mortar retail in the next one year.
The company, which forayed into the Indian market in January this year with ecommerce major Flipkart, plans to be present across about 10,000 retail points in the first phase of offline expansion.
"We have fast-tracked our growth trajectory in India. This is a step ahead in making our phones more accessible to users. In the first phase, we are looking at retail presence in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru as well as parts of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra," LeEco India Smart Electronics Business COO Atul Jain told PTI.
He added that the company would also look at setting up its wholly-owned retail stores across the country.
Brands like Xiaomi, Motorola and Yu, which had launched operations in India through the online route, have expanded their presence in the offline space to cater to the huge demand in the Indian market.
India is one of the fastest growing smartphone markets globally.
The Chinese internet and ecosystem conglomerate is also looking at launching its own ecommerce platform, LeMall in India to sell its devices in the country.
"We are looking at a presence across 5,000-10,000 retail points in the next three months. In the first year, we expect about 50 per cent of the sales coming from offline retail," Jain said.
LeEco will start selling its Le1s smartphone through offline retail and will add more devices in the coming weeks.
The company will launch two new devices on June 8.
"In the second phase, we plan to cover close to 70 per cent retail stores across India that contribute to mobile sales by the end of September 2016," Jain said.
Faraday Future became technical partner and title sponsor
of the renowned U.S. Racing team Dragon Racing in July this year, renaming the team to Faraday Future Dragon Racing.
The California-based electric vehicle start-up Faraday Future has reached a strategic partnership with LeEco and unveiled its first prototype FFZERO1 Concept at CES 2016 (Consumer Electronics Show). In April, Faraday Future laid the foundation of its first Internet-connected intelligent and environmentally friendly factory in the U.S.
In the future, the team will incorporate more Faraday Future technologies, including software, firmware, motors, gearbox and the FF Echelon Inverter to the racing vehicles.
About Faraday Future:
Headquartered in California, our global team of over 10,000 employees leverages the talents of leading thinkers and passionate creators from the technology, automotive, aerospace, and digital content industries. The company has a strategic partnership with global technology and Internet ecosystem giant LeEco. Faraday Future is developing clean, intuitive, seamlessly connected electric vehicles that will advance future mobility solutions for society by consistently challenging the status quo, reinventing our processes, and embracing new technologies.
About LeEco:
LeEco, formerly known as Letv, is a global pioneering Internet and technology company with multiple Internet ecosystems across content, devices, applications and platforms. Founded in November 2004 by Jia Yueting and Liu Hong, LeEco employs more than 14,000 people and is the world's first video company to go public with a market capitalization of more than $12 billion USD. Headquartered in Beijing, China, it has regional headquarters in Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Silicon Valley.
With 'Complete Ecosystem, Ground-breaking technologies, and Disruptive Pricing' as the guiding principle, LeEco is engaged in a myriad of businesses, spanning from Internet-based Super TV and Superphones, video production and distribution, smart devices/accessories and large-screen applications, to e-commerce and even connected super-electric cars. The company also features one of the world's largest content libraries, comprising of movies, TV dramas, entertainment shows, sports and music, which can be onveniently viewed on LeEco products,including the Superphones, Super TVs, and in the near future, Le Autos. Breaking the barriers of industries, LeEco provides personalized products and services for an enhanced user experience at disruptive prices.
Media Contact:
Nitin Kinger
Nitinkinger@le.Com
+91-9769988304
LeEco India
Source: Le Ecosystem Technology India Pvt. Ltd.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has hit out at Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, accusing him of "not paying attention to law and order in Delhi" and "creating hurdles" in the functioning of his government.
In a letter to Jung, Kejriwal claimed that Delhi has become "extremely unsafe" discouraging tourists to visit the national capital and expressed concern over law and order situation.
The Delhi Chief Minister's letter yesterday came in response to Jung's "two letters" seeking details about some officers and consultants appointed by the AAP government.
Alleging that incidents of rape were rising in Delhi and there was spurt in crime, Kejriwal said maintenance of law and order was the responsibility of the Lieutenant Governor.
It appeared that there was no law and police and "jungle raj" prevailed all over the city, he said.
"I want to know what steps you have taken and will take in future to prevent rapes and improve the law and order situation in Delhi," he asked.
He also sought to know from Jung whether he had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the law and order issue.
Noting that maintenance of law and order in Delhi is also the responsibility of the central government, Kejriwal asked the LG whether the PM and the Home Minister have ever expressed concern over "deteriorating law and order" in the capital.
"I hope that you will reply to my letter soon so that the people of Delhi could be informed about it (the law and order situation)," he said.
Yesterday, Kejriwal had accused Modi and Jung of "failing to control deteriorating law and order", saying that there was "complete jungle raj" in the city.
A controversy erupted today after authorities of a Surat-based Swaminarayan temple dressed up the idol of Lord Swaminarayan in the RSS uniform.
The issue came to light after a picture, in which Lord Swaminarayan can be seen donning the Sangh outfit--white shirt tucked into a baggy khaki shorts with black cap and black shoes on--went viral on various social media platforms.
The idol is also seen holding the national flag in one hand.
According to Swami Vishwaprakashji of the temple, which is situated in Laskana area of Surat, the dress was gifted by a local devotee a few days back.
"We have a common practice of presenting the God's idol in various dresses. This RSS uniform was given to us by a devotee. We do not have any other agenda. We did not know that it will create a controversy," Vishwaprakashji said.
Even as the temple authorities denied having any intention of endorsing the views of the right-wing organisation, Congress condemned the move.
Senior Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela said temple authorities must refrain from such activities.
"What do you want to prove by dressing up the god in khaki shorts? I pity those who have done that. Today, you have dressed the Lord in RSS uniform, tomorrow you will dress the idol in BJP's uniform. This is very unfortunate," Vaghela said.
When asked about the incident, Gujarat BJP president Vijay Rupani also said that it should not have been done.
"I am really surprised! If at all it was done, I don't approve of it," said Rupani.
BJP-led Maharashtra government today decided to rename the Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayee Arogya Yojana, a scheme for cashless treatment for the poor, after social reformer Mahatma Phule, drawing flak from Congress.
"Before being named after Rajiv Gandhi, the scheme was called Jeevandayee Yojana," state Public Health Minister Deepak Sawant told reporters at Mantralaya, after the weekly state cabinet meeting.
The meet, chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, was the first one after the exit of senior minister Eknath Khadse, who resigned in the wake of a string of allegations.
"The earlier scheme, whose tenure ended, has been modified and some new processes added to make it more comprehensive," Sawant said.
These include raising the insurance limit to Rs 2 lakh per family on floater basis and inclusion of new procedures like paediatric, geriatric care, he said.
The Shiv Sena minister also announced a new cashless accident insurance scheme, to cover 3 days of hospitalisation, named after late Sena chief Bal Thackeray.
Criticising the decision to rename the scheme, MPCC chief Ashok Chavan said, "Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayee scheme was a flagship programme of the Congress regime to provide health to the economically backward people. In the last few years, the scheme benefited large sections of the society. Renaming the scheme by making minor changes is inappropriate."
By initiating change of name of Rajiv Gandhi Yojana, this government has proved that it's just a name-changer and not a game-changer, Congress MLC Sanjay Dutt said.
"I strongly oppose this decision. It proves the BJP-led government's mental bankruptcy," he said.
Talking about the scheme, Fadnavis said,"the Cabinet has decided to implement Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jeevandayeeni Yojana in the state with some unique features."
Earlier, 971 ailments were covered in the old scheme. Now, this number got increased to 1,100, including old age issues, hip and knee replacement, sickle cell, anaemia treatment, he said.
Benefits under this scheme increased from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh and from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh in case of kidney transplantation, he tweeted.
"Ashramshala, orphanage, old age homes and journalists are also now included in this scheme along with farmers from 14 distressed districts," he said.
In October last year, former Agriculture Minister Eknath Khadse had said that the state government had no plans to rename the 'Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayi Arogya Yojana'.
(Reopens BOM18)
"I don't think the scheme will be renamed. It would smack of political bias. There are few instances in the state, where flagship schemes of previous governments have been renamed after a new dispensation took charge. New governments have continued with old schemes and started new ones in name of their own leaders," Khadse had said, referring to his government's new schemes like Deendayal Upadhyay Gharkul Yojana and Pramod Mahajan Skilled Development Scheme.
State unit Congress president Ashok Chavan, in a letter to Fadnavis, had then suggested that the government should focus on improving the quality and scope of the scheme, so that the maximum number of citizens get healthcare facilities.
The Maharashtra government is mulling to develop a state-wide water supply grid, on the lines of Gujarat, to tide over the problem of its scarcity and for equitable distribution of water.
"In the first phase, the parched Marathwada region will be supplied water through the grid network, to give an impetus to farming and industrial growth in the region," Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar told PTI.
"We had recently visited Gujarat to study their water grid network. Marathwada region of Maharashtra has been facing water scarcity since a long time. Now that affects farming and industries as well. Adding to the woes, rain water does not get accumulated underground and goes into the sea," he said.
There are five river basins in the state through which water will be supplied to different regions, the minister said.
"There are some places, like Konkan region, that receive good rainfall. But there are no measures in place to harvest rain water. Once we put the grid system in place, water will be evenly supplied across the state," he said.
Mungantiwar said that Marathwada region will be supplied water through Godavari river basin.
"Gujarat developed a water supply grid at a cost of Rs 7,000 crore. Ever since the system was put in place in the neighbouring state, 3.90 crore people have able to use water of the Narmada river. Earlier, there were places where 7,000 water tankers were required for sustenance. The number has come down to just 100 tankers," he added.
"We dream of having a Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. We have decreased the tariff of electricity for industries in Marathwada region and providing benefits to farmers. But there is simply no water! We will be able to put our development plan in place and provide water for farming once we have the grid system in place," Mungantiwar said.
He added that the first meeting with experts took place today in this regard and the intricacies would soon be discussed.
A three-year-old Malaysian boy was injured after his genitals were caught between the steps of an escalator at a shopping centre in Ipoh city today.
"When we reached the scene, we used a crowbar to open the escalator steps and free the boy,"Fire and Rescue Department spokesman said. He was then rushed to hospital for treatment.
It is still unclear how the boy's private parts became trapped between the steps. This is not the first time in recent months that a child was injured in a mishap involving an escalator.
Last month a toddler was injured after his hand got stuck in an escalator at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
In February, a three-year-old had part of his foot severed after a similar incident.
Authorities have advised parents to pay closer attention to their children while using the escalator.
The Debt Recovery Tribunal today advised SBI-led consortium of banks in Vijay Mallya case to make coordinated efforts among themselves to recover around Rs 2000 crore parked in courts in the country and reduce losses to the tune of over Rs 9000 core incurred by the banks.
DRT Presiding Officer Benakanahalli's suggestion came as the consortium of banks and Diageo (Holdings) Netherlands pleaded before the Tribunal to take up their respective interlocutory applications for hearing on a priority basis.
Benakanahalli said banks should sit and sort out the issue.
"I sincerely suggest consortium of banks led by SBI to make a coordinated effort to recover around Rs 2000 crore parked in various courts and reduce the losses to the tune of over Rs 9000 crore incurred by banks," Benakanahalli said.
As the Tribunal began the proceedings, defendants Diageo (Holdings) Netherlands and SBI-led consortium pleaded that their respective interlocutory applications be taken up for hearing on a priority basis.
In response, Benakanahalli said the banks should sit and sort out the issue. The consortium of banks could have earned Rs 200 to Rs 300 crore as interest from the recovered Rs 2,000 crore, he said.
Benakanahalli lamented that the lack of coordination among the banks has resulted in the DRT not getting USD 75 million attached in spite of its March 7 order.
The DRT had in its order barred Mallya from receiving USD 75 Million from Diageo Plc and its subsidiaries as per the sweetheart deal reached between them.
However, USD 40 million of the USD 75 million severance package deal had already been disbursed, following which the bankers' consortium had sought directions from the Tribunal to attach the amount before it.
Following a directive of the Tribunal, Diageo Plc and its two subsidiaries submitted the details of severance package deal, in which the bankers figured out that USD 40 million of the USD 75 million was parked in the account held by Vijay Mallya in New York-based J P Morgan Bank.
On May 17, DRT had directed J P Morgan Bank not to disburse to Mallya USD 40 million and asked it to "attach" (submit) before it statements of accounts held by Mallya in the bank.
Benakanahalli also suggested not to expand the scope of original application by filing too many interlocutory applications, for it would delay the process of justice, while he has to adhere to the Supreme Court deadline of the first week of July.
As of now, there are 27 interlocutory applications pending before the Tribunal.
Diageo Plc earlier today filed a memo seeking inclusion of an interlocutory which was not included earlier.
Diageo Netherlands argued that their interlocutory application must be heard first as it relates to pledging of 26 lakh equity shares of USL to the lenders who had sought proof of evidence from the banks incurring losses to the company by selling the shares at "cheaper" rate.
Vijay Mallya-controlled United Breweries (Holdings) Limited (UBHL) had sought time to submit evidence and substantiate their claim of Rs 594 crore from bankers for compensating the losses incurred by it due to the sale of USL equity shares by lenders at "cheaper" rate.
The bankers had sought DRT direction to ask UBHL to substantiate their claim of Rs 594 crore loss with documents of proof and evidence.
UBHL, in objections filed in the Tribunal on April 5, had contended that the lenders sold 26 lakh equity shares of United Spirits Limited (USL) pledged to them before maturity.
The company, in its objections, had also contended that the lenders' action of selling the equity shares for Rs 1,836.94 per share, instead of a "good" price, when the shares hit a high of Rs 4,080 per share in April last year, caused loss to it.
Subsequently, the SBI-led consortium had on April 13 filed counter objections to UBHL's claim of Rs 594 crore from them for compensating the losses incurred by it due to the sale of USL equity shares by lenders at 'cheaper rate'.
The bankers also had alleged that the Rs 594-crore claim at this point of time was a clear-cut tactic of UBHL to delay the process of justice, knowing fully well that the case is on the verge of disposal.
UBHL had filed the application for producing evidence pertaining to its claim of Rs 594 crore from bankers for compensating the losses incurred by it due to the sale of USL equity shares by lenders at 'cheaper rate'.
Kingfisher had filed application for submitting objections to all the facts pertaining to the case.
Mallya, whose now-defunct group company Kingfisher Airlines owes over Rs 9,000 crore (Rs 90 billion) to 17 banks, had left the country on March 2 and is in the UK.
After Britain recently declined India's request to deport him, government has approached Interpol for issuance of an arrest warrant against Mallya in connection with a money laundering case being probed by Enforcement Directorate.
The Presiding Officer adjourned the hearing for June 13 after Kingfisher and SBI sought time for furnishing details regarding the case.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in her first meeting with business chambers since assuming office for the second term urged business leaders to "act" instead of merely speaking and praising the government.
"Now let's stop talking and instead put things into action," Banerjee told Bengal Inc present at the felicitation event organised by Indian Chamber of Commerce, BNCCI, MCC, FICCI, Assocham, Calcutta Chamber, BCCI, Bharat Chamber along with the district chambers.
Her comment comes after business and chamber leaders showered praises on Banerjee for her thumping victory in the last assembly elections.
Banerjee said she would take the opportunity of her visit to Vatican City to attend canonisation of Mother Teresa on September 4 to attract investment for the state.
She said she will try to hold business meetings in the nearby countries, too, to attract investment in auto and manufacturing sector in the state.
Bengal, Banerjee said, is the best industry-friendly destination and is fast growing as its "achievements speaks for itself".
"Our gross value addition has grown in excess of 10 per cent, while in the country it grew by 7.5 per cent. Industry expanded by 8.3 per cent in the state, while India's comparable number is 5.3 per cent as Bengal had nil strike and mandays' loss and revenue generation doubled to Rs 40,000 crore in the last four years," she said, highlighting her government's achievements in her last term.
Bengal should not be compared with Maharastra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu as either they house finance capital or have huge numbers of ports or high revenue income.
"We (Bengal) have just two ports and even those have not been dredged. Despite that I have doubled the state's revenue to Rs 40,000 crore," she added.
Banerjee said she was in favour of short, mid and long term vision, adding, "We should work keeping those goals as targets.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is planning a business meet in Europe to attract investment primarily in automobile and manufacturing sector in the state.
"I am going to Rome in September for canonisation of Mother Teresa and I am trying to organise business meeting at a location close by. We can look at automobiles and manufacturing," Banerjee said at a felicitation programme organised by chambers of industries.
She asked state Finance Minister Amit Mitra to coordinate with the chambers to organise it.
Banerjee turning her focus to automobiles soon after beginning her second term at the helm of the state is significant.
Tata Group had shifted the Tata Nano project from Singur to Gujarat in 2008 in the face of stiff anti-acquisition of farmland movement by Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress.
Besides, Bengal at one time housed the country's oldest automotive plant of Hindustan Motors that produced the iconic Ambassador cars. Now the C K Birla owned company at Hind Motors in Hoogly district is closed.
"We have enough land bank for industry and Bengal is one of the best investment destinations," Banerjee said.
She said there should be vision plan for short, mid and long term like of 10,15 and 20 years. "We should work towards that.
An all-party delegation from Manipur, led by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, today met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and apprised him about the need for presidential assent to convert three Inner Line Permit System-related bills into acts.
The delegation conveyed to the Home Minister the necessity of getting presidential assent to the three bills, which were opposed by tribal groups of the state.
Singh gave a patience hearing to the delegation, official sources said.
The Chief Minister was joined by representatives of BJP, LJD, JD(U), CPI(M), among others.
The three bills were passed last year in August after months of mass movement to protect the indigenous populace from the illegal immigrants in the state, including those from neighbouring Myanmar.
The delegation sought presidential assent to have the three bills converted into acts.
The bills have been strongly opposed by tribals, particularly Nagas and Kukis, who mainly inhabit the hill districts of Manipur.
The Manipur Tribals Forum (MTF) has for many months been protesting in New Delhi against the three bills and the death of nine young protesters last September in Churachandpur district of the state.
Last month, four legislators of the Naga People's Front (NPF) also met the Home Minister here asking him not to take any action for ensuring presidential nod to the three bills.
The Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS), which spearheads the movement for legislation to protect the indigenous population from migrants, announced its own shutdown against the delay in enactment of the three bills.
The JCILPS demands an inner line permit (ILP) system for Manipur which has been encapsulated in the three anti-migrant bills passed by the Manipur assembly that now await the president's nod.
The ILP is a special permit required to enter certain restricted areas in the country. The system is already in force in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram.
It was first introduced by the British, restricting entry into these areas to protect their commercial interests.
Acceding to the demand of JCILPS, the Congress government in Manipur had last year passed three bills to protect the indigenous people inhabiting the valley districts of the state.
They were: The Protection of Manipur People Bill, 2015, The Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms (Seventh Amendment) Bill, 2015 and The Manipur Shops and Establishments (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015.
Max Healthcare today forayed into the standalone oncology care segment by launching the country's first daycare chemotherapy centre.
The healthcare major has opened the first centre at Lajpat Nagar here and plans to open more of such facilities after gauging the response for the just opened daycare centre.
The new clinical model, Max Institute of Cancer Care-Daycare offers an 'un-hospital' like architecture and environment to the cancer patients.
"The setup has been created keeping in mind the changing models of hospitals and the growing global trend of setting-up standalone facilities that do not require a traditional hospital-like set-up," Max Healthcare MD and CEO Rajit Mehta said in a statement.
The standalone chemotherapy centre will be spear headed by renowned physician Pramod Kumar Julka along with a 22 member team, he said, adding that "we plan to launch similar centres in the coming years."
Harit Chaturvedi, Chairman - Max Institute of Oncology, Max Super Specialty Hospital, Saket "I am confident that patient recovery will immensely benefit from the centre's exclusivity and its aesthetic setup," he added.
Max Healthcare has 14 facilities in North India, offering services in over 30 medical disciplines.
There has been a "meeting of mind" between India and Switzerland on the issue of and tax evasion, a top Indian official said today.
"Clearly there was a meeting of mind on the issue of and tax evasion," External Affairs Ministry Spokesman Vikas Swarup told reporters here, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Switzerland.
"As (Swiss) President (Johann) Schneider-Ammann said Switzerland is not a country that supports these practices. Switzerland is a country which wants to be part of the international mainstream on these matters. And of course there would be further co-operation between India and Switzerland," Swarup said.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Modi, in his talks with Swiss President Schneider-Amman, raised the issue of and tax evasion by Indians to which the latter offered to extend the level of cooperation.
Schneider-Amman said that his government will send a state secretary for international financial matters to India on June 14 to explore enhancing cooperation on the issue.
India's membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was the another major issue discussed in Switzerland, Swarup said, adding that New Delhi has received categorical assurance from the Swiss President himself saying that he would support India's membership to NSG.
More than 10,000 people have died attempting the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe since 2014, the United Nations said today.
"You've now had since the start of 2014 -- when this phenomenon of rising numbers across the Mediterranean happened -- 10,000 deaths. That threshold has been crossed just in the last few days," UN refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards told reporters.
UNHCR said the number of Mediterranean deaths had risen sharply in 2016, with 2,814 people dying since the start of the year, following a total of 3,771 in 2015 and 3,500 the year earlier.
That amounts to 10,085 deaths in less than two and a half years.
"This is clearly an appalling number of deaths that have occurred in the Mediterranean, just on Europe's borders just in the past couple of years," Edwards told AFP.
"It's an extremely worrying dynamic," he said, reiterating the agency's call for the world to find "viable alternative and regular means of dealing with these movements".
"They're happening, they're not stopping, they need a solution to prevent further lives being lost," he said.
The International Organisation for Migration meanwhile said the death toll so far this year was already nearly a thousand above the 1,838 deaths registered in the Mediterranean during the first half of 2015.
As of yesterday, a total of 206,400 refugees and migrants had arrived in Europe since the start of the year, mainly landing in Greece and Italy, the organisation said.
Following the latest shipwreck off the Greek island of Crete last Friday, the IOM said around 320 people remained missing, presumed drowned.
Rescuers pulled some 340 people to safety but there has been much uncertainty about how many people had been onboard the ship.
IOM said today that based on testimony from several survivors it was convinced there had been either 648 or 650 men, women and children onboard.
The survivors, spokesman Joel Millman said, "were sure of the number because smugglers counted them twice a day before departure".
He said survivors had provided harrowing accounts, including the story of a man travelling with his wife and three children who entrusted his three-year-old daughter to another migrant onboard saying he feared he would not live.
The girl survived, but the rest of her family perished.
Amid a debate over the contentious issue of dual citizenship in Goa, Transport Minister Sudin Dhavalikar today said that number of migrants settling in the coastal state is going up as the locals are moving abroad on Portuguese passports which is "not a good trend".
He also demanded that the Portuguese consulate, situated here, be shifted out of the state.
"Several Goans are taking the Portuguese passport and leaving the country due to which the number of original inhabitants is decreasing in the State.
"The migrant population has increased in Goa as the locals are shifting to other countries which is not a good trend," the minister told reporters here.
A large number of Goans, especially those born before 1961, are facing legal hurdles given that their birth was registered under the Portuguese rule in the coastal state, according them the status of Portuguese nationals.
Last month, Union minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had said that Centre will soon notify an authority in Goa to decide the dual citizenship issue.
"I have been always demanding that the Portuguese Consulate be shifted out from Goa. We don't require it. It should not exist in the State," Dhavalikar said.
The MGP leader had in the past objected to the felicitation of Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who has local roots, in Goa demanding that Portugal should first apologise for 450 years of oppressive rule.
Dozens of asylum seekers set fire to a migrants' centre on the Greek island of Chios, angry that they were being kept there, a police source said.
Some 40 asylum seekers yesterday set fire to two large tents set up by humanitarian groups as well as dustbins at the Souda centre, the source said, in protest at the slow progress of their applications.
Clashes have broken out several times in recent days in migrant accommodation on the Greek islands, where around 8,500 people are currently being held.
Hundreds of thousands of people -- many of them refugees fleeing conflict in Syria and Iraq -- crossed to Greece from Turkey last year hoping to start new lives in northern Europe.
But a controversial deal between Turkey and the EU, designed to stop the influx, has seen migrants arriving since March 20 barred from moving on from the islands.
Under the deal they can be sent back to Turkey, but most have filed for asylum in Greece in a bid to avoid this, overwhelming island authorities.
With tensions running high, six people were injured in clashes between different migrant groups in Samos on Thursday, while similar fighting left around a dozen people injured on Lesbos the night before.
One of the protesters on Chios threatened to kill his child and his wife, the police source said, without providing further details.
Police intervened and the situation was "under control" by the evening, with four people arrested.
Greek media reported that some of the 1,000 refugees and migrants who were being held at the centre have left to sleep elsewhere on Chios.
Leaders of a 13 major churches of Mizoram have appealed to the church members to refrain from practicing yoga.
Mizoram Kohhran Hruaitute Committee (MKHC) leader and senior executive secretary of Mizoram Synod of Presbyterian Church Rev Lalramliana Pachuau said the churches regarded yoga as something that can "dilute" the doctrine of Christianity and asked the constituent churches of MKHC to issue messages cautioning their members.
"MKHC looks at yoga as being against the teachings and beliefs of Christianity," he said.
Pachuau, however, did not have any objection to the government propagating yoga on the official level as the government is a secular institution.
He said the issue was raised during the meeting of MKHC at the Synod office on June 2.
It was decided in the meeting that yoga is based on Hindu philosophy and cannot be accepted as something that can be blended with Christianity, Pachuau said.
"Yoga exercises may be able to heal some illness, but Christians cannot use it to replace the eternal healing of Christ," he said, adding yoga might be used to "assimilate or convert Christians".
A mobile phone was found inside the cell where gangster Devendra Baburao Jagtap alias JD has been lodged in the Adharwadi prison in Kalyan in the district, police said today.
The cell phone was found yesterday from cell number 2 of circle 9 in the prison where JD is lodged, Thane Police PRO Deputy Superintendent of Police Parag Manere said.
Jail officials were inspecting the cell and found something suspicious on the tiles near the toilet, the officer said.
Thereafter, the officials broke the tiles and found a mobile concealed in it, he said.
A case under relevant sections of the Prison Rules and Maharashtra Prison Discipline Rules and section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the IPC has been registered at the Khadakpada police station, police said, adding investigations are underway.
JD is an accused in advocate Shahid Azmi's murder case. In 2003, he was booked for firing at extradited gangster Abu Salem in Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai.
JD had reportedly told the police that gangster Chhota Shakeel, a close aid of fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim, had ordered to kill Salem.
Prime Minister may visit Israel early next year as both countries prepare to celebrate the 25th anniversary of establishment of full diplomatic relations, an official of the Jewish state has hinted.
"Prime Minister Modi, that we know, wants to go and visit Israel. We don't have any specific dates. I can tell you that next year, we are celebrating 25 years of full diplomatic relations. It is a major milestone and it will be celebrated with high-level visits on both sides," the spokesperson of Embassy of Israel, Ohad Horsandi said.
The two countries established full diplomatic relations on January 29, 1992.
Modi's visit, if it happens, would be the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the Jewish state.
Horsandi also confirmed that Israeli President Reuven Rivlin proposed to visit India.
"We don't know when he (Rivlin) is going to visit. We are hoping to a find a suitable date that's good for India and for Israel because Modi is a busy man and (undertakes) lot of trips," he said.
"Our Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) is (also) very keen to visit India," Horsandi added.
The diplomat noted that recent years saw high-level bilateral visits, with President Pranab Mukherjee making a trip to Israel in 2015 and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in January this year, and (the then) Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon coming to India for the first time last year.
Since the establishment of full diplomatic relations in 1992, he said bilateral relations have gradually grown and improved in almost every field, whether it's defence, agriculture, trade or tourism.
On the proposed regional comprehensive economic agreement between India and Israel, he said both sides understood its benefits.
Seven rounds of discussions have already taken place in this regard.
"In many ways, Indian and Israeli economies are complementary. We are hoping to have further discussions in the next few months on this (proposed agreement) to see how it can go further," Horsandi added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today met representatives of several prominent US think-tanks to understand how they look at global trends and challenges and what India and the US can do together for the world.
"Had a wonderful interaction with leading think-tanks," the Prime Minister tweeted after his meeting with representatives of the think-tanks.
The thinks-tank that were represented at the meeting were Brookings Institute, Council on Foreign Relations, Center for American Progress, Atlantic Council, Hudson Institute, Center for National Interest, Global Energy Capital, Carnegie Endowment, Asia Group, Pew Research Center, the US Institute of Peace and Foundation for Defence of Democracies.
"The aim of the interaction was to understand from them, how they see global trends in the coming years, the challenges and what US and India could do together for the world, keeping in mind among the templates that the Prime Minister has articulated. What can US and India do together for the world...Was really the theme," Indian Ambassador to the US Arun K Singh told reporters.
"Current global issues were discussed in the medium and longer term perspective. And we looked at opportunities and ways to be able to work together...In a way that would meet India's national interest and of course would be of interest to the US," Singh said and denied that this exercise was undertaken as part of perception management drive.
The Ambassador said that Prime Minister shared his thoughts at the end of the meeting.
Based on the feedback he receives from people and think- tanks in the US, Singh said there is a very very positive assessment of the reforms that have taken place in the last two years.
"And you have to just look at the facts that US equity investment in India is USD 12 billion today and FDI flows into India went up by 50 per cent. So if you just look at facts, you can see that there is a recognition of the tremendous amount of progress that has taken place in India in the last two years," he said.
The aim of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's current US visit is to consolidate progress made by both the countries in diverse areas and to intensify cooperation for the future, BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav today said.
"The main objective of his visit is to consolidate the progress made (by India and US) in diverse areas such as economy, energy, environment, defence and security, and to intensify cooperation for the future," he said.
The BJP leader was talking to reporters during his brief halt at Harni airport here on way to Mehsana city in North Gujarat.
Important announcements will be made during the PM's three-day US visit, he said without providing details.
Madhav attached importance to Modi addressing a joint session of US Congress during the trip.
The US Congress has been a source of strength for the Indo-American strategic partnership, he maintained.
Realisation of the full potential of Indo-US economic partnership has been a key priority for both countries and the progress achieved in this regard is reflected in the increased investment flows, Madhav said.
The BJP leader later left for Mehsana, about 200km from here, where he will attend an event marking two years of the Modi Government.
A 43-year-old homemaker in Mumbai, who appeared for Class X examination along with her 16-year-old daughter this year, is elated after both managed to pass it together.
Sarita Zagade, mother of two girls, who appeared for her first ever Secondary School Certificate (Class X) examination in March, has scored 44 per cent marks, while her daughter Shrutika scored 69 per cent.
The results were declared yesterday.
A resident of Wageshwari Nagar in Sewri, Sarita had to drop out of school after Class 4 due to financial constraints.
"I was not able to complete my education. I was in Class 4 when my father died. We were four sisters and one brother. Sisters then got together to earn money to run the household," she said.
Sarita joined a night school in Class 8 after her husband Vishwanath, who works with the Tax Appellate Tribunal, motivated her to continue education.
"Initially, I was very scared to go back to school after almost 35 years, but my husband motivated me. I thought of giving it a shot and told him I would continue only if I liked it. Within just a few days, I began loving it," Sarita said.
Sarita's elder daughter Kshitija also appeared for the Higher Secondary Education (HSC) examination this year and scored 48 per cent marks.
All three of them studied together, juggling between studying and household chores according to their exam schedules. The three of them were assigned different examination centres.
"As I was the eldest one in the exam hall, everyone seemed to be looking at me and I realised that they weren't used to older people in the exam hall," Sarita added.
Diversified business conglomerate Murugappa Group registered a 9.44 per cent rise in its total revenues for 2015-16 to Rs 29,470 crore.
The city-based firm had registered total revenues of Rs 26,926 crore in the previous fiscal, the company said in a statement.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) stood at Rs 3,035 crore, up by 4 per cent for the year ended March 31, 2016 from Rs 2,921 crore in 2014-15.
The group earned a one-time income of Rs 883 crore on account of 14 per cent stake sale in Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company.
During 2015-16, Murugappa Group firm Tube Investments of India sold 14 per cent stake in Cholamandalam M S General Insurance Company to its Japanese joint venture partner Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, Japan. Following this, the JV partner's shareholding rose to 40 per cent from 26 per cent.
During the year, the company's financial services firm Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company's vehicle finance disbursements grew by 32 per cent and home equity by 14 per cent.
Cholamandalam MS General Insurance witnessed 25 per cent growth in EBITDA backed by "improved" performance of abrasives and electromineral divisions.
Shanthi Gears Ltd, a subsidiary of Tube Investments of India, said its EBITDA grew by 35 per cent during 2015-16.
A BBC reporter in Myanmar has been jailed for three months with hard labour after being convicted of assaulting a police officer while covering a student protest, his lawyer said today.
The ruling marks the first time a journalist has been convicted under Myanmar's new government, run by former political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi.
The reporter, Nay Myo Lin, who works for the BBC Myanmar language service, plans to appeal the decision.
His lawyer, Thein Than Oo, called the sentence "unfair," saying that his client had not intentionally hurt the policeman and was trying to help a fellow citizen.
"It is shameful that the court has issued this sentence," Thein Than Oo said. "The police should not treat journalists as their enemy."
The incident occurred in March 2015 when Nay Myo Lin was covering a protest near Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city, against an education bill that students said was aimed at stifling academic freedom.
A policeman knocked a protester off his motorbike and Nay Myo Lin tried to help the man, leading to a scuffle with the officer, Thein Than Oo said.
Nay Myo Lin was convicted of assaulting a public servant and sentenced yesterday by a court in the city of Mandalay, where he is based.
"The BBC will continue to work with his lawyer to support his appeal," the BBC said in a statement issued yesterday in London.
Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, won a landslide victory in November elections, ushering in the country's first civilian government after 54 years of direct and indirect military rule.
Both the police and the judiciary are overseen by Myanmar's Home Ministry, which remains under control of the military.
Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu today pitched for formation of "citizen councils" that can take the lead in maintaining cleanliness.
Inaugurating "Swachhta Pakhwada", a fortnight-long drive to ensure cleanliness in parks here, the Urban Development Minister said the citizen councils should have members nominated by resident welfare associations.
"Every area should have citizen councils which can have members nominated by resident welfare associations of the particular area and these councils will lead others in maintenance of cleanliness in those areas," he said at Hauz Khas district park here.
"There are 800 parks under DDA and all small parks have been handed over to municipal corporations and now work to maintain cleanliness is being undertaken seriously," he said.
The function was also attended by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi and BJP MLA Vijender Gupta.
"I went to Berlin recently and I was surprised to see that one-third of the area there is having forest cover and only 40 per cent of the population uses motor vehicles. I was sad that here we do not have such a scenario.
"When Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was launched, Prime Minister had told us that he doesn't want it to be a political initiative but a people's movement. Everybody has to be aware and everybody has to contribute," the minister said.
Miffed over the use of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's name by the sect involved in Mathura violence, his grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose today demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident.
"Netaji took up arms to fight against the British rule. But now the rule of law is supreme. We have a Constitution that does not allow anyone to take law into their own hands. They (the sect) were using the name of Netaji for their own vested interests. I feel there should be a CBI inquiry into the incident to bring out the truth," Bose told PTI.
"From where did they get so much of arms and ammunition?" he wondered.
Ram Vriksh Yadav, the chief of the violent encroachers at Jawahar Bagh who was among those killed in the clashes with police in Mathura last week, was the leader of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi - an outfit claiming allegiance to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
"I strongly object to the use of Netaji's name by this sect. They for their own benefit are resorting to violence and maligning the name of Netaji," Bose added.
People will get an opportunity to witness the vibrant night life of the walled city of Shahjahanabad during the holy month of Ramzan as an initiative aims at introducing them to the unique culture and cuisines of old Delhi.
Delhi Tourism minister Kapil Mishra who will launch the 'Nightwalk', an initiative by city-state's Tourism department and Delhi Walks, from the historic Jama Masjid gate, said this is an important milestone in reviving the "vibrant and beautiful" nightlife of the city.
The 'Nightwalk' will commence with an 'Iftar Experience' evening at Jama Masjid with people treated to a panoramic view of Shahjahanabad while feasting on traditional Iftar meal comprising fruits, local snacks and sweets, said a senior government official.
The event will be inaugurated on June 8 and a total of nine nightwalk events will be held from June 10 to 26, in the heritage city of Shahjahanabad indulging visitors to mouthwatering cuisines, story-telling sessions and other cultural and Ramzan experiences, he said.
A major attraction of the nightwalk event will be the opportunity to taste the local delicacies including Mutton Korma, Chicken Jahangiri and deserts in the narrow bylanes of Matia Mahal, Daryaganj and other parts of Shahjahanabad, he added.
Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said she will take up with the Finance Ministry the issue of relaxing mandatory sourcing norms for iPhone maker Apple, which wants to set up retail stores in the country.
The Finance Ministry has rejected the waiver of mandatory 30 per cent local sourcing for Apple Inc to set up single - brand stores in India.
"We are talking about it but nothing has been reached ...If it's a closed chapter I would not say I will go and talk to them...After that decision (rejection by the Finance Ministry) has come out in public, I am willing to go and speak to the finance," she told reporters here.
The US-based giant has sought exemption on the ground that it makes state-of-the-art and cutting-edge technology products for which local sourcing is not possible.
A Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) secretary headed panel had favoured waiving the mandatory local sourcing requirement for the US-based firm.
The company sells its products through Apple-owned retail stores in countries, including China, Germany, the US, the UK and France.
It has no wholly-owned store in India and sells its products through distributors such as Redington and Ingram Micro.
At present, 100 per cent FDI is permitted in the sector. But beyond 49 per cent, the FIPB permission is required.
Japanese auto major Nissan today launched its new small car redi-GO from Datsun's stable priced between Rs 2.38 lakh and Rs 3.34 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), kicking off a price war in the entry-level segment.
Datsun redi-GO will compete with the likes of Maruti Suzuki Alto and Hyundai's Eon, which are priced between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 4.42 lakh.
Redi-GO is the company's third vehicle under the Datsun brand in India and has come up on a new platform developed in the country.
The model will come in five variants priced between Rs 2.38 lakh and Rs 3.34 lakh.
"With Datsun redi-Go, we offer a unique urban crossover styled in Japan, developed and manufactured in India," Nissan India Managing Director Arun Malhotra told reporters here.
The company is redefining conventional expectations and notions associated with entry-level car segment in the country, he added.
The 800cc five-speed manual transmission comes with a fuel economy of 25.17 kmpl.
The company claimed that the vehicle could accelerate to 100 km/h in 15.9 seconds and can achieve a top speed of 140 km/h.
The car would be retailed through 274 Nissan and Datsun outlets starting today.
Last year, the automaker had launched a compact multi- purpose vehicle Go+ to add to the Go small car to expand its network in small towns to boost sales of its Datsun brand of vehicles.
In 2014, when Nissan launched the Datsun Go in India, marking the global comeback of the brand after nearly three decades, it had said it was aiming to garner 10 per cent share in the Indian passenger vehicles market by 2016.
However, last year, it had clarified that it would miss its target, but would advance the launch of a third vehicle from its Datsun brand in the country to propel growth.
Both, Nissan and Datsun, now aim to garner 5 per cent share in India by 2020.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today said the government has not issued any order asking officials and employees have to work beyond office hours, contrary to certain media reports.
In a statement here, the Chief Minister refuted media reports which suggested that government officials and employees have to work beyond office hours and clarified that no official order has been issued to this effect.
" report in a section of the media that government employees have to work beyond office hours is false and baseless. I have only appealed to the employees to work with more sincerity and commitment," Sonowal said.
Exhorting the employees to improve upon the work culture, Sonowal said he had appealed to the employees to work with more devotion, dedication and determination "as people have high expectations on our new dispensation and gave the massive mandate to usher in overall change."
Meanwhile, the state General Administration Department in a press release said "normal working hours for the offices under the government of Assam are 10 am to 5 pm for the months from March to September and from 10 am to 4.15 pm from October to February".
"These timings are made effective by way of notifications issued by the government from time to time. There has been no change in the above mentioned timings," the release said.
"Recently while reviewing the functioning of different departments, the chief minister had appealed to the senior officers of the government of Assam to work hard and to ensure zero-pendency of files and papers so that the general public did not suffer due to the pendency of files or papers in government offices", it said.
"The chief minister had appealed to the senior officers to set an example of public service by working at least 10 hours every day on voluntary basis. It is clarified that the official timings in the government offices have not been changed and they continue to be as mentioned above," the release added.
Reserve Bank of India Governor said, on Tuesday, he is not "overly perturbed" by surrender of Payments Bank licences by some companies but indicated that there could be a mechanism to ensure that entities apply for licences after due diligence as there is a cost involved in vetting them.
Three entities Tech Mahindra, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company and a consortium of Dilip Shanghvi, IDFC Bank and Telenor Financial Services have decided to back out of the Payments Bank licencing.
"We are not overly perturbed that some people decided after analysis that they would not go forward. In fact it suggests that licencing has been adequately liberal and that we have a variety of players coming in," he said at a press conference after announcing the second bi-monthly monetary policy for the current financial year.
Last August, RBI gave in-principle approval to 11 applicants including Department of Posts, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Airtel M Commerce Services, Fino PayTech, National Securities Depository, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra and Vodafone m-pesa for setting up payments banks.
Rajan said, "We gave out licences to anybody we thought have the appropriate qualifications to run a Payments Bank. We presume that they also analysed potential business prospects. After doing further analysis and seeing the other players who are coming in, some of them decided to back off.
"My sense is that the Payment Bank works particularly well for those who have base of operations and many contact points and therefore can built upon that and the classic example is somebody affiliated with mobile company with many kiosk through which you can do cash in cash out."
He said however that there is a cost in scrutinising licence applications as lot of information is sought and various government agencies are involved.
"People will decide they will come in or not. People should also acknowledge the fact that it imposes some cost on assessors to go through the application. We ask a lot of information from various government agencies," he said.
So, going forward, "we have to find some way that people devote adequate time to understanding whether in fact they should apply or not. The days where licences were rationed and therefore you had to get the licences otherwise you would not get down the line we hope is in the passe", he added.
He cautioned that people should not go in for licences just because it is a valuable property but must have intention of doing the business.
"Don't just go in for licence because it's a valuable property to have but instead do the due diligence on your own. And when you apply, it should be with the intent of fully carrying out...We not overly perturbed by some people decided to back out," he added.
An eight-member National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) team today concluded its three-day visit during which it reviewed security and management mechanism along the International Border (IB) in Jammu region.
"A high-level team of eight senior officers and professors under the aegis of NSCS, headed by former Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta, today concluded its three-day visit to Jammu frontier," a BSF spokesman said.
The visit aimed to study and analyse the existing border security and management mechanism undertaken, and the likely threats existing on borders with special reference to Indo-Pak border and suggest measures and recommendations for strengthening of International Border, he said.
The spokesman said during the first two days of the visit, the team was briefed in detail by Inspector General (IG) of BSF Frontier Jammu D K Upadhyaya regarding the prevailing security scenario on the IB in the region.
He said that the delegation later visited the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri District, border areas of R S Pura, Kathua and Samba sectors.
"The team took the first hand stock of the border security and management by BSF to strengthen border protection and domination of the existing gaps," the spokesman said.
The committee members also inspected the tunnel sites, river and Nalluh (rivulet) gaps and BOPs, he said.
"The delegation has left for Srinagar to meet Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra and after that it will leave for Punjab," he added.
Treating Pathankot attack at par with 26/11, President Barack Obama today sent out a clear message to Pakistan, asking it to punish its perpetrators amid the US vow to stand with India against terror threats from Pakistan-based groups like JeM, LeT and Dawood "company".
"They (Obama and Modi) called for Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai and 2016 Pathankot terrorist attacks to justice," a joint statement issued after the Obama-Modi meeting at the White House said.
During the meeting, Modi and Obama acknowledged the continued threat posed to human civilisation by terrorism and condemned the recent terrorist incidents from Paris to Pathankot, from Brussels to Kabul, the statement said.
"They resolved to redouble their efforts, bilaterally and with other like-minded countries, to bring to justice the perpetrators of terrorism anywhere in the world and the infrastructure that supports them," the statement said.
During the meeting, Obama and Modi committed to strengthen cooperation against terrorist threats from extremist groups, such as "al-Qaeda, Daesh/ISIL, Jaish-e Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, D Company and their affiliates, including through deepened collaboration on UN terrorist designations."
"In this context, they directed their officials to identify specific new areas of collaboration at the next meeting of US-India Counter-terrorism Joint Working Group," the statement said.
"Recognising an important milestone in the US-India counter-terrorism partnership, the leaders applauded the finalisation of an arrangement to facilitate the sharing of terrorist screening information," it said.
Modi and Obama also affirmed their support for a UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism that advances and strengthens the framework for global cooperation and reinforces that no cause or grievance justifies terrorism, the statement said.
Acknowledging that it is clear to all that many terrorist
groups operate in Pakistan, he said the US continues to work with the Pakistani government in this regard.
"It's clear to all that many terrorist groups operate in Pakistan. The Pakistani government and the Pakistani security apparatus confronts and fights and is trying to diminish terrorist strengths in Pakistan.
"But clearly Pakistani government has prioritised its fight against the groups that target Pakistan first and has placed less priority on the terrorist groups that target Pakistan's neighbours," Lavoy said.
"We have been clear to Pakistan and I believe has India and Afghanistan, Pakistan's other neighbour, that Pakistan cannot, should not, must not discriminate between terrorist groups. It must view all terrorist groups as its enemy and must fight all terrorism indiscriminately," he said.
"We continue to work with Pakistan, encourage them to do so, and have offered to help with our capacity and willingness to do so."
On India's NSG membership, he said: "I think that for the Nuclear Suppliers Group the prospect of admitting a new member that is not a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is a very, very big deal. One of the requirements for membership is to be a member of the NPT."
The NSG over the last year has been undertaking a very, very intensive process to continue procedures for many non-NPT members such as India, he added.
"The US government, President Obama has been very clear that India is ready for membership now and we believe that India's admission into NSG as a full regular member will be important and benefit the group and would also strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation regime," Lavoy said.
The top White House official saidthe US declaring India as a major defence partner is a sign of success of India US partnership over the course of this administration.
Referring to three visits of US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter to India, he said this underscores America's commitment to elevate the defence co-operation with India even at this time of transition.
"In 2016, US and India conducted six major military exercises and defence trade with India has grown to over USD 15 billion over the course of the Administration. No matter what indicator you identify, it truly has the feature of a major defence partnership," he said.
Having Major Defence Partner title what will be realised is that the efforts under the defence trade and technology initiatives (DTTI) much co-operation has begun, and efforts have been made on both sides in co-developing, in developing together new defence technologies including very advanced technologies, the applications of which will be evident in the years to come, he said.
"I think you will see that the seeds planted over the course of last eight years which has materialised in very noticeable ways also will continue to materialise in ways that will be apparent in the years to come," Lavoy observed.
The official refrained from responding to a question on India's request for armed drones from the US. "I do not want to speak about any particular defence deal that is being considered. That will be the purview of the next Administration," he said.
President Barack Obama today backed India's bid for membership of the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) amid a major push to the strategic ties between the two countries which finalised a "roadmap" to give India the status of US' close partner in the defence sector.
Obama, who held over hour-long talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi here, also promised to cooperate with India against terrorist threats from groups such as Pakistan-based Jaish-e Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba as well as 'D' Company, a reference to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
"In this context, they (the two leaders) directed their officials to identify specific new areas of collaboration at the next meeting of U.S.-India Counterterrorism Joint Working Group," said a Joint Statement issued after the talks.
Significantly, the American side also committed itself to treating Pathankot attack at par with 26/11 terror strike in terms of ensuring punishment to perpetrators based in Pakistan.
The two countries also decided to start work on construction of six American nuclear reactors in India amid affirmation that the Liability issue has been addressed.
Six pacts, including one on exchange of screening of terror information, besides two other documents were signed after the talks that mainly covered issues like terrorism, clean energy, climate change, defence, regional security, cyber security, economic ties and people-to-people contacts.
Addressing the media jointly with Modi at his Oval office, Obama said it was natural for India and the US, two biggest democracies, to "deepen and broaden" partnership.
Progress made in the Civil Nuclear agreement was among the issues discussed, Obama said.
"I indicated support to India being a part of NSG," the US President said in remarks which assume significance since China is opposing such a move.
Obama underlined that India needs technology, which is critical for its progress and prosperity.
The 50-point Joint Statement said, "President Obama welcomed India's application to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), and re-affirmed that India is ready for membership. The United States called on NSG Participating Governments to support India's application when it comes up at the NSG Plenary later this month.
"The United States also re-affirmed its support for India's early membership of the Australia Group and Wassenaar Arrangement."
Modi later said, "I am ever thankful for the help and support that my friend President Obama has extended with regard to membership in MTCR and NSG.
Banks are not "encouraging" farmers in West Bengal to use their Kisan Credit Cards to get cheaper loans as only 15-20 lakh peasants are "active users" of the total registered beneficiaries of 50-60 lakh, an official said today.
"Around 55 to 60 lakh cards have been issued, but only 15 to 20 lakh farmers in the state are using them and many have not renewed them," Principal Secretary of state agriculture department Sanjeev Chopra told reporters at the Nabanna today.
Most farmers are adopting "traditional ways" and the banks were also not "encouraging" them to continue using the cards, he said.
KCC was started in 1998-99 by the Centre, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to provide farmers with affordable credits in time.
According to an official, the agriculture department has asked the banks for a report in this connection.
Talking about the state's preparedness on in dealing with delayed monsoon, Chopra said, "We are ready to face any situation if there is a natural calamity. If there is 20 to 25 per cent less or excess rainfall this season, we are ready to provide replacement to farmers."
If such a situation arises, the state government would provide seeds to the farmers on a "no-profit-no-loss" distribution process, he added.
Pakistan today said "hostile" intelligence agencies and their facilitators will not be allowed to "foment trouble" inside its territory as a high- level meeting voiced concern that the US drone strike, which killed Taliban chief Mullah Mansour, "affected mutual trust".
A meeting of senior civil and military officials was held at General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi to discuss issues related to national security, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
"Reaffirming Pakistan's commitment to enduring regional peace, it was underlined that hostile intelligence agencies and their facilitators will not be allowed to foment trouble inside Pakistan," it said in a statement.
This comes amid Pakistan's allegations that an Indian spy was involved in "subversive activities" and was arrested. Yesterday, Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan said Pakistan has rejected India's request for consular access to the alleged spy Kulbushan Jadhav.
The meeting also expressed its concern on the May 21 US drone strike, which killed Mansour in Balochistan, saying "it was a clear violation of Pakistan's sovereignty affecting mutual trust and undermined the spirit" of Afghan Peace Process under mutually agreed Quadrilateral framework.
The leadership resolved to protect the core national interests and effectively countering "any negative outside influence", the statement added.
The meeting also took cognisance of ongoing regional developments and "inimical designs against our stability and prosperity", it said.
At the meeting, the officials dwelt at length on various issues related to external and internal security situation of the country including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Among those who attended the meeting were Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz, Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Chief of the Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif and Director-General Inter-Services Intelligence Maj Gen Rizwan Akhtar.
In a bid to regularise undeclared assets in offshore companies, Pakistan is working on a package which may propose 15 per cent tax with no penalty to allow whitening of wealth stashed abroad.
The package, to be announced in August, will be finalised and implemented by the Federal Board of Revenue, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and State Bank of Pakistan, officials told Dawn newspaper.
The Tax Reforms Commission has proposed 15 per cent tax with no penalty to allow whitening of undeclared foreign assets. The Commission had been developing the plan much before the Panama Papers leak hit the headlines.
"We have been asked to come up with a plan to regularise offshore and undeclared holdings of potential taxpayers," a tax official said.
The statutory period under the income tax law will only extend to five to six years back.
He said the proposed package included introduction of two laws for declaration of foreign assets and control of foreign exchange.
One law will provide legal cover to the people who have not declared their overseas income and assets.
At present, there is no law which binds a person to declare foreign assets.
Under the proposed law, assets of equivalent value in Pakistan would be forfeited if assets held outside the country were not declared in addition to other severe penalties.
The other law proposes an amendment to the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) to get hold of black money kept abroad.
Under a new section proposed to be inserted in FERA, equivalent of property in Pakistan can be seized by following a prescribed procedure if a person holds foreign exchange, foreign security or any immovable property outside the country.
The amendment was proposed to get hold of a person who is keeping assets in a tax haven in violation of FERA.
The power of seizure under FERA is in addition to the penal action under the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.
The FBR will take measures to arrest the outflow of untaxed money and assets from the country.
The measures will include a close coordination with the State Bank of Pakistan and monitoring of outflow.
The SECP has also proposed certain steps to improve the reporting mechanism for the companies while declaring their foreign assets.
Socialite Paris Hilton's brother Conrad Hilton is heading to jail after failing a series of drug tests.
A Los Angeles federal judge revoked the 22-year-old's probation and sentenced him to two months in prison after he was kicked out of a substance abuse programme, reported People magazine.
"The US Attorneys Office was satisfied with the sentencing and two months was the recommendation we made in court," US Assistant Attorney Alexander Schwab said.
"Conrad has 48 hours from noon to report to jail. He has to report to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons. The US Marshals Service will arrange exactly where he will report to for his time."
Conrad was given three years probation and 750 hours community service in 2014 after pleading guilty to attacking several flight attendants during a British Airways flight from London to Los Angeles.
He had to be restrained after becoming violent onboard after allegedly smoking marijuana and cigarettes in an airplane lavatory.
The Bombay High Court today sought a response of Maharashtra government to a PIL which alleged that jail authorities were misusing parole leave provision and allowing prisoners to avail this facility repeatedly in order to escape sentence.
"In 80 per cent cases in Maharashtra, male prisoners are released on parole leave on the ground that their wives have to undergo hysterectomy and many a times this ground is repeatedly cited by the same prisoner to get this facility again and again," lawyer N Gawankar argued on behalf of the petitioner.
A bench, headed by Justice Abhay Oka, asked Maharashtra government to file an affidavit within two weeks and warned it was granting last chance to the state to respond.
Earlier, the state had filed an affidavit but the HC was not satisfied and said it was inadequate. Today, the bench asked the government to file a fresh affidavit in two weeks.
The PIL, filed by Rajan Pandurang Parkar, an activist, demanded that a prisoner, who has been released on parole for a certain period, serve additional sentence equivalent to the number of days he has been given parole.
Earlier, Rule 20 of Prison Furlough and Parole Rules provided that the number of days for which parole is given to a prisoner is not inclusive in the sentence awarded to him.
However, government issued a notification in December last year, amending Rule 20 to the effect that the period of parole would be included in the sentence awarded to a prisoner.
The petition challenged the amendment and urged that if a prisoner has availed of the parole for a certain period, then additionally he should be asked to undergo the number of days he has remained out of prison.
According to the Rules, parole is given to a prisoner in case of sickness of a close relative while furlough is granted to a prisoner as a matter of right.
The PIL alleged the parole facility is misused by most prisoners who are financially well off and manage to get this leave while the poor and less privileged convicts continue to serve their sentence.
and its NATO partners have kicked off their largest-ever joint military exercises aimed at shoring up security on the alliance's eastern flank amid the West's worst standoff with Russia since the end of the Cold War.
The two-week long Anaconda manoeuvres are aimed at "checking the alliance's ability to defend its eastern flank," Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz said yesterday at formal opening ceremonies in Warsaw before troops hit the ground today.
More than 31,000 soldiers from 24 NATO and former-Soviet "Partnership for Peace" states including Ukraine are taking part in the manoeuvres, held biannually across since 2006.
Some 14,000 US troops will join 12,000 Polish soldiers and around 1,000 from Britain for the exercises involving some 3,000 vehicles, 105 planes and 12 naval vessels.
US Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley said the American presence "demonstrates that we are shoulder to shoulder with the Polish people" and that the exercises would "improve our collective readiness."
They come a month ahead of a "landmark" NATO summit in Warsaw set to seal its largest revamp since the Cold War by deploying more troop rotations in eastern European members spooked by Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
Russia is fiercely opposed to the move, billed by NATO as its "deter and dialogue" strategy.
While NATO cut all practical cooperation with Moscow following Russia's Ukraine intervention, the US-led alliance has said it will hold formal talks with the Russians before the July 8-9 summit.
But just last month Moscow and Washington accused each other of mounting an aggressive military presence in northern Europe as the United States broke ground on a missile shield in NATO allies and Romania.
Russia has vowed to "end threats" posed by the system, despite US assurances that it is intended to ward of potential attacks by so-called "rogue states" in the Middle East.
The Kremlin said it would set up three new divisions in the west and south of the country by the end of the year to counter NATO forces close to its border.
Macierewicz said yesterday that Polish paramilitary forces will take part in the Anaconda exercises for the first time, part of Warsaw's strategy to counter "hybrid warfare".
That tactic is based on deception rather than a formal declaration of war, NATO strategists say and suggest Russia used it to annex Crimea by covertly deploying unidentified troops.
Police today averted a possible clash between ABVP activists and JNU leaders who were demanding revocation of suspension ofover half a dozen of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) students here.
The tension between both the groups was triggered when BHU students, along with the students of JNU, held a 'Yuva Chatra Sammelan' in the varsity campus to press for several demands.
ABVP supporters, including some BHU students, shouted slogans against the JNU students' union leaders terming them 'deshdrohi' (anti-national) and asked them to go back.
Fearing a clash between them, police intervened and stopped their event midway.
A group of BHU students along with the suspended students had organised a small gathering to demand the cyber library be kept open round the clock and suspension of over half a dozen students, for sitting on a hunger strike demanding the same, be revoked.
JNU students' union leaders Shehla Rashid, Rama Naga, Pradeep Narwal among others were also present at the event and attacked the BHU Vice Chancellor, accusing him of "promoting the ideology of RSS and suppressing those who protested".
The JNU students' union leaders said that BHU students were protesting on a genuine issue and claimed they were wrongly suspended.
Shehla Rashid and Rama Naga said, "Were the BHU students too 'deshdrohi', whom the VC suspended for protesting on a genuine issue. We JNU students were termed as 'deshdrohi' as we were blamed of raising anti-national slogans but were these BHU students involved in any anti-national activities too?"
They alleged that ABVP was trying to suppress the voice of its rival students wings through violence and threats.
They alleged that as the VC himself has been an active RSS member, it was hard for the rival groups to speak on genuine issues.
One of the suspended students said, "The VC curtailed the timing of the library as students late at night surf porn websites, but we want to ask the VC that if we wanted to do that can't we have that access in our mobile phones?"
Students' union leaders from other universities across the country were also present at the event in support of these BHU students.
Police today began probe into the complaint against the family of Dadri lynch victim, a day after a 20-day ultimatum was given to the administration for registering a case against them for alleged cow slaughter and beef consumption.
The situation in Bishada village in Dadri was described by authorities as under control after tension returned yesterday nearly nine months after 50-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched following rumours that his family stored and ate beef at their house.
Rival parties also traded charges as the village became a political battleground ahead of next year's Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.
Circle Officer, Dadri, started the investigations into the complaint of the family of one of the accused and villagers about alleged cow slaughter by Ikhlaq's family, as he spoke to local residents and scanned previous probe documents.
"Situation in Bishada is normal. No untoward incident was reported," SDM Dadri RK Singh said, adding, "additional forces are keeping watch over the movement of persons. Today there was no political movement in the village."
Singh said villagers have decided to follow the legal battle in court and have promised that they will not resort to violence.
The ultimatum for registering an FIR given at a meeting of villagers at Shiv temple in Bishada last night came six days after a report from a forensic lab in Mathura said that the meat sample taken from outside Akhlaq's house belonged to a "cow or its progeny". Some members of BJP and Shiv Sena also attended the meeting.
After the report surfaced, a section of Bishada residents had also approached police, urging them to register an FIR against Akhlaq's family for allegedly killing a cow and consuming beef.
"Villagers gave 20 days to the administration to investigate and lodge the FIR against the Ikhlaq family members. However we are moving the court on Wednesday under section 156(3) requesting court to issue directions to police to lodge FIR against the Ikhlaq's family as forensic report has confirmed itwas beef," said Sanjay Rana, father of one of the accused Vishal Rana.
BJP President Amit Shah rejected allegations by rival parties that the party was raking up the Dadri issue to communalise the upcoming elections.
"If it is so they should expose it. Whose government is here, who controls lab and police. How can you blame BJP," he told reporters in Lucknow.
"We did not organise any panchayat in Dadri. BJP has nothing to do with it. If some persons sit together and hold a panchayat peacefully what is objectionable in that," he added.
BSP leader Satbir Singh alleged that BJP and SP are hand in glove and have secret understanding.
"Both are following appeasement policy. SP is trying to appease Muslims while BJP is trying to garner support of Hindus. They both want the communal tension till elections with hope of cashing it during assembly elections," he said.
Samajwadi Party leader Pratap Chauhan denied the allegations of BSP and said, "the situation in Bishada deteriorated due to BJP hate speeches... BJP is communalising the issue."
BJP leader Sanjay Aggarwal said, "Bishada situation got deteriorated due to improper handling and one-sided action of the state government.
The Mumbai Police chief has framed certain guidelines to be observed by the police force while conducting raids in hotels to ensure that the right of individuals to privacy should not be invaded, the Bombay High Court was told today.
The police raids have to be carried out only with the approval of Zonal Deputy Commissioners of Police, said an affidavit filed by Public Prosecutor J P Yagnik before a bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka.
The bench was hearing a PIL challenging the controversial police raids on hotels in suburban Malwani last year that had led to accusations of moral policing.
The petition was filed by Khar resident Sumeer Sabharwal who termed the raids as "illegal, intrusive and unconstitutional" and sought action against police officials involved in the case.
The affidavit was filed in response to an HC order issued on March 10 this year, in which the authorities were directed to frame guidelines for conducting raids on hotels. The bench took the affidavit on record.
"The guidelines strictly provide that police have to ensure that no person is deprived of his right to life or personal liberty, except in procedure established by law (Article 21 of the Constitution as Right to Privacy is part of article 21)," said the affidavit.
The guidelines further provide that questioning of a woman has to be done by a female officer only or by a male officer in the presence of a female officer. Police have to first go through the identification documents submitted by the guests who have checked into the hotel which is raided.
According to the guidelines, if the police suspect the identification documents or if they want to check any suspicious person, then they should take one hotel staff member along with them to the room of the guest.
"The policemen, while conducting raids, should wear their
badge with their names and rank so that people know who they are. The policemen should show identity cards on demand," say the guidelines.
The petitioner's lawyer, however, objected to the guidelines saying that they were violative of the right to privacy of individuals enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution.
The bench, while adjourning the matter to June 29, asked the petitioner to suggest measures that could be included by the police in the guidelines.
The judges also observed that if the police are tipped off about some indecent or illegal activity going on in a hotel, they would have to conduct a raid there to find out what was happening. However, they would have to ensure that the right to privacy of people was not violated.
The high court had earlier said that while there was a "laudable intention" behind the recent police raids on hotels in suburban Malwani following complaints of a prostitution racket operating there, innocent persons cannot be harassed and their privacy should not be invaded.
Justifying the raids, the police had pleaded that they had received complaints from local MLAs and residents that hotels in the area were being used to run prostitution racket.
Scotland's police is planning to introduce hijab as an optional uniform in an attempt to attract more women Muslim recruits to the force, which currently has less black and Asian representation.
Scotland Yard, Britain's largest police force, already has the option in place leading to Police Scotland studying various designs that would be suitable and cover the head and neck but not the face.
"Police Scotland is committed to working with communities to encourage under-represented groups to consider policing as a career. Part of this involves removing unnecessary barriers, which include considerations about the officers' uniform," said Peter Blair, head of resource management at Police Scotland.
"As a result, work has been undertaken to source a uniform hijab. Such a hijab is worn by many officers in police forces in England and across the world and Police Scotland is keen to replicate this good practice," he said.
According to the 'Scottish Daily Record', Police Scotland briefed the Scottish Police Authority this week on the need to recruit an additional 650 ethnic minority employees to reflect the number of those from black and Asian backgrounds in Scottish society as a whole.
Figures show there were just 127 applications from black and Asian candidates in 2015-16.
A suitable headscarf has been tested and will now be presented for consideration.
Until now, women officers wishing to wear headscarves had required to seek the permission of their line manager, seen as a hurdle that was proving off-putting.
The government today termed as "malicious" and "incorrect" a recent report which said that pollution levels in India were so high that they could shorten one's life span by a couple of years.
"The report is malicious and incorrect, especially coming as it does on the eve of the Prime Minister's visit to the US," Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters on the sidelines of an interactive session with industrialists here without naming the report.
"The report has been extrapolated and not based on exact data or ground study," he said, adding, both the print and television media were highlighting the "negative" report to put down the Narendra Modi government.
"The Central Pollution Control Board is issuing a detailed response to the accusation made regarding the high levels of pollution in the country," he said.
"Yes, there is pollution, including in many cities in Europe and the US as well. Targeting India in this fashion is incorrect," he said, adding that the government would respond appropriately.
A study conducted by IITM scientists in collaboration with the National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Colorado titled 'Premature Mortalities due to PM 2.5 (finer particulate matter) and Ozone Exposure in India', found that life expectancy in Delhi has reduced by six years because of air pollution while Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra are likely to account for the highest number of premature deaths.
Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
Earlier addressing a session organised by the local chapter of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Javadekar said there is a need to build up public opinion to usher in bold tax reforms.
"GST will be passed in this monsoon session and rolled out next year," Javadekar said.
Taking a dig at the Tamil Nadu government's "populist measures", he said in a democracy retaining public confidence was important.
"There is no dichotomy of interest between welfare and growth. We at the Centre though will not take to populist measures as in Tamil Nadu, but take a participatory approach," he said.
On the ease of doing business, Javadekar said it was ease of doing responsible business with due emphasis on compliance.
"While making compliance easier, we will make violation costly," he said.
"For violating norms, I plan to bring a New Civil Penalties Bill," he said, adding that the penalty that could be slapped for violation ranges from Rs 10,000 to Rs 10 crore, depending on the gravity of the offence.
The ruling BJD today called Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan an "intellectually bankrupt" person after he reportedly accused Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of running a "facist" government.
"Earlier we had doubts about Pradhan's intellectual ability. Today it is confirmed that he is an intellectually bankrupt person ... He is an escapist who ran away to Delhi after losing polls here," BJD spokesman Pratap Keshari Deb said.
Pradhan, the Union Petroleum and Natural gas minister was shown by local TV channels lambasting Patnaik at a press conference in New Delhi earlier in the day for not taking questions from the press at his hurriedly convened media conference here yesterday. The rare press conference by Patnaik was held following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "deep slumber" barb against the state government during his visit to Balasore on June 2.
Pradhan was also shown as saying Patnaik's government bore "imprints of fascist rule".
"He (Patnaik) used to make his media briefings near a podium at the ground floor of the secretariat. However, yesterday he read out a statement in the third floor auditorium. He didn't even bother to answer questions from a single reporter. It bears imprints of a fascist rule (Hitler's rule) where you need to write what he says," Pradhan reportedly said.
"To reply to questions put by the press is a practice in democracy. This is accountability. It should have been fair for him to answer the questions," Pradhan said.
The Union minister was also seen alleging that the Patnaik government lacked vision and depended on the central assistance. "The Chief minister blames others and sheds crocodile tears even after being in power for 16 years. This is a bankrupt, untrustworthy and incompetent government," he said and raised issues like rural electrification and housing schemes, NFSA irregularities and cess hike.
Referring to Pradhan's criticism on rural electrification, Deb said the Union Minister should know that there are 6,42,000 villages in India out of which about 6,22,000 villages had been electrified by the time the Ujjwala scheme was launched by the Modi government.
"The NDA shouldn't try to take mileage by electrifying 18,000 - 20,000 villages in five years. The people of this country are no fools," Deb added.
On Odisha government's housing scheme, Deb said Pradhan
should check with the additional secretary to Union Rural Development department who recently verified numbers given by it, appreciated it efforts and even promised to reward it.
The BJD spokesman pointed out that the Centre has been increasing cess instead of tax since past two years knowing well that states do not get any benefit from cess hike but have a share in tax.
Pradhan, he said, should know that NDA government has reduced the budget allocation in agriculture, health, education and women and child development.
"What right do they (Centre) have to talk of development?", Deb asked.
Meanwhile, opposition Congress also criticised the BJD government for not being able to provide basic requirements like drinking water and teachers in schools despite completing 16 years in the office.
Parents of television actor Pratyusha Banerjee, who died in April, today said they will launch a signature campaign in her home town Jamshedpur to garner support for a CBI probe into her "pre-planned cold-blooded murder".
Alleging tardy pace of investigation by Mumbai police into the actor's death, Shankar Banerjee and Soma Banerjee said, "We demand a CBI probe into Pratyusha's murder to unearth the truth. Who are behind Pratyusha's boyfriend, Rahul Raj, who was booked for abetment of suicide and criminal intimidation in connection with her death? How come he is roaming scot-free as if he is the son-in-law of the police despite being an accused in the Pratyusha's murder?".
We want justice and demand a capital punishment for Rahul, they said, announcing that they will launch a signature campaign to garner support for CBI probe into the matter.
The campaign will take place at Bata Chowk in Sakchi market from 5 pm to 8 PM, they said.
Tomorrow's campaign is preceded by an online campaign today where around 700 people have already shown their support for a CBI probe.
"We will also meet Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das and the Chairperson of Women Commission in Ranchi day after tomorrow in support of the demand," they said.
The parents alleged that Pratyusha was not allowed to maintain any relationship with her parents by the accused and was being administered drug by him and was under its influence.
Demanding for a custodial interrogation of Rahul by the police, they said while police have been arresting persons for committing lesser crimes against woman, Rahul was not yet arrested in the case of Pratyusha, who was "murdered" cruelly.
About Rahul's mother allegedly not facing media, they also charged that Rahul's parents particularly his mother was either totally involved in Pratyusha's death or else she was well aware about Rahul's character.
"He (Rahul) has cheated and looted nine girls," the actor's father said stating that they are gathering evidences against Rahul and succeeded to some extent.
On April 1, the 24-year-old actress, who shot to fame for her role of Anandi in the hit TV series "Balika Vadhu", allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself inside her flat at Goregoan area of western suburbs.
Police are trying to ascertain whether Pratyusha was in financial trouble or had any dispute with Rahul.
(REOPEN CAL 8)
Pratyusha's parents had recently written a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh seeking a probe by a premier central agency into the case.
The two-page letter had requested the minister to hand over the probe into Banerjee's death to the "most premier investigating agency" as the probe carried out by police so far appeared "suspicious".
Rahul had "trapped" Pratyusha Banerjee on the pretext of love and emptied her bank accounts worth Rs 1.5 crore, they told media today.
The parents also demanded probe into how much of money Rahul had generated in the name of Pratyusha from Jamshedpur on the alleged false promise of producing films.
Asked about their prayer move in the Supreme Court to cancel interim bail granted to Rahul, Shankar interpreted the apex court has given a patient hearing to their pray but refused to entertain it as the case was between the Government of Mahrashtra versus Rahul Raj.
President Pranab Mukherjee will be presented National Order of the Republic of Ivory Coast, the highest award of the West African country where he will be on a two day visit starting June 14.
It will be the first ever high level visit from India to Ivory Coast. Mukherjee has been invited by Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara.
Mukherjee will have one-to-one with Ouattara followed by delegation level talks.
The President would also be handed the key to the city of Abidjan, the economic capital of Ivory Coast, a statement from External Affairs Ministry said.
"India and Cote d'Ivoire enjoy warm and friendly relations sharing common values of democracy, development and secularism. The bilateral relations are marked by mutual respect and understanding on various bilateral and multilateral issues. India and Cote d'Ivoire bilateral trade grew from USD 344.99 million in 2010-11 to USD 841.85 million in 2014-15," it said.
With India trying to boost its relations with African countries, President Pranab Mukherjee will embark on a six-day visit to Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Namibia from June 12.
This will be first ever visit of the President to Cote d'Ivoire after both countries established diplomatic relations while it will be the first at the highest level in over two decades to Namibia.
During his trip, Mukherjee will be accompanied by a Minister of State, four Members of the Parliament, senior officials and a business delegation.
The President will have meetings with the respective Heads of three nations and a number of bilateral agreements are also likely to be signed during the visit.
Mukherjee will arrive in Ghana's capital Accra on June 12 on a two-day visit during which he will have meeting with President John Dramani Mahama. The two countries may sign agreements on a joint Commission and renewal of Cultural Exchange Programme.
The President will address a Joint Business Forum and the students and faculty of University of Ghana besides having an interaction with the Indian community at a reception organised at the Indian High Commission.
He will also unveil a statue of Mahatma Gandhi gifted by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.
The bilateral trade between the two countries has crossed bilateral trade crossed three billion USD in 2015-16, the Ministry said. He will also visit India-Ghana Kofi Annan Centre of ICT Excellence in Accra, set up with modest Indian assistance of USD 2.86 million.
Qatar today released 23 Indian prisoners, in a special gesture just after the visit of Prime Minister .
Modi, who had taken up the issue of welfare of Indians here with the leadership of Qatar, expressed gratitude to Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani for this gesture that coincided with the start of holy month of Ramadan.
"A special gesture to mark the start of a special month...The Government of Qatar releases 23 prisoners, who will return home to India," the Prime Minister tweeted.
A special gesture to mark the start of a special month...the Government of Qatar releases 23 prisoners, who will return home to India. (@narendramodi) June 6, 2016
"My deepest gratitude to the Emir of Qatar for the gesture," he said in another tweet.
The release comes close on the heels of Modi's two-day visit here.
According to officials, the Prime Minister had been assured by the Emir that Qatar will take care of Indian diaspora whose population is about 6.3 lakh.
Amid a raging controversy, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today made a strong pitch for release of film 'Udta Punjab', noting that the state has a "crippling drug problem" and censoring the movie would not fix it.
"Punjab has a crippling drug problem. Censoring #UdtaPunjab will not fix it. The government must accept the reality and find solutions," the Congress Vice President said on Twitter.
Anurag Kashyap, one of the producers of 'Udta Punjab', has compared the ongoing censorship regarding his upcoming film to the dictatorship in North Korea.
The "Bombay Velvet" director said there is no sense of freedom here.
"I always wondered what it felt like to live in North Korea... Ab to plane pakadney ki bhi zaroorat nahin...," he posted on Twitter.
The 43-year-old filmmaker's tweet came after Censor Board had purportedly raised certain objections regarding references to Punjab following which the movie may have to go through some changes.
'Udta Punjab', starring Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosanjh in a pivotal role, deals with the substance abuse in the state and its effect on the youth.
"There is no film more honest than UDTA PUNJAB... And any person or party opposing it is actually GUILTY of promoting drugs," Kashyap said.
Directed by Abhishek Chaubey, the film is slated for release on June 17.
With the government going ahead with the idea of creating a bad bank, Reserve Bank today made its concerns clear on the ownership of such a vehicle to tide over the bad loan menace, saying the lenders should hold a minority stake in any stressed assets fund.
"In our view, majority ownership by banks is probably not wise or warranted. Perhaps, some form of minority ownership with a number of other players coming in, in addition to the government, to provide capacity, especially in management of stressed assets would be appropriate," RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan told reporters.
The comments came amid a confirmation from the government that it was serious on setting up a stressed asset fund, which in the common parlance is called a bad bank, to take care of the bad assets. A bad bank, as is present in China for instance, buys up all bad loans from other banks.
Rajan has been critical of such an entity saying when banks themselves or government own such an entity it creates a moral hazard, enabling banks to continue with their reckless lending practices as they know that they will be bailed out one day by the system.
Unconfirmed reports said SBI will be leading to the USD 3-billion fund, which will also have investments from private equity funds and sovereign wealth funds, most probably from West Asia apart from the National Investment Fund.
Rajan today said the key issue for such a fund will be the issue of pricing, where both the bank selling a stressed asset and the fund buying into it find a common ground.
This is not the first time Rajan has expressed concerns over such an arrangement. In a previous episode when there were reports over the formation of a bad bank this February, he had raised question marks if a quasi-public entity will be able to solve the problems.
It can be noted that bad loans crossed 13 per cent as of March with reported NPAs alone being over Rs 5.9 lakh crore.
Rajan today explained there are a variety of stressed assets funds, which can include one giving debt support to stressed borrowers and also buying bad assets from banks. He said bulk of the work in this regard is being done by the government and RBI is only consulted on issues like its structure, ownership, etc.
The burgeoning bad assets in the system, coupled with the efficacy of the existing ARCs to deal with the situation either on capital constraints or lack of agreement on price, seem to be driving force for the formation of such a stressed asset fund by the government.
The overall bad assets including restructured assets and non-performing assets touched 13 per cent after an asset quality review by RBI, which asked banks to recognise 130 large corporate borrowers as bad loans. The apex bank is targeting to clean-up the bank balance sheets to represent their true nature by March.
A 45-year-old man from Rajasthan has been arrested in suburban Kandivli here today for allegedly murdering his ailing wife by burying her alive into a pit at his home in Rajasmandh district in April, police said today.
The accused, identified as Chandmal Jain, was picked by Samta Nagar police from Ashok Nagar area yesterday where he was hiding at his relative's place.
Jain, a resident of Majeragaon village, had allegedly murdered his wife, Sarita as he was fed up with her illness, according to police.
Police said that Jain had made labourers dig a pit for toilet at his home which he used to bury Sarita.
Apparently to mislead the police, he had lodged a missing complaint at Kelwada police station in Rajasthan alleging that Sarita had left their home without his knowledge and took cash worth Rs 5,000 with her.
However, investigations by Kelwada police led them to Sarita's body.
On information by their Rajasthan counterparts, local police traced Jain in Kandivli.
He is being handed over to Rajasthan police.
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today said the Ram temple in Ayodhya was never an election issue for BJP and would never be in any other poll.
"Ram temple was never an issue for BJP in any election campaign nor would it be in future polls. This is an issue related to religious faith and would be resolved amicable between Hindus and Muslims," he said when asked if the Ram temple would be an issue in the forthcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh.
He also said resolving the issue amicably would be a better option.
Prasad, who was here on a two-day visit to mark the completion of two years of the Narendra Modi government, released a brochure highlighting the achievements of the government.
Asked about the problem of call-drop, the Union minister for Information and Broadcasting assured that the problem would be resolved soon as the government is going to allocate new spectrum, worth Rs 2000 crore, very soon.
On the emission of radiation from mobile towers, Prasad said the fear of emission of radiation or hazardous waves from the mobile towers was unfounded.
"A recent study by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has proved that these towers have no perilous effect on the health or brain, per se, of a human being," Prasad said.
He called upon people not be scared of the mobile towers and cooperate in installation of the towers to enhance the network so that the telecommunication and internet services could be improved and expanded.
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh today slammed the Censor Board after the makers of the film 'Udta Punjab' are said to have been asked by the Revising Committee of the Board to remove all references to the state in the movie and make 89 cuts.
"It is like taking the soul out of the film's body," he said while pointing out that the whole theme of the movie revolved around Punjab and the "devastating" drug problem it faced.
Amarinder said that instead of trying to "suppress the harsh reality of drug scourge in Punjab", the state's SAD-BJP government should better spend its energies in solving the problem.
"Running away and shutting your eyes and ears and trying to gag those trying to present and portray the truth is certainly not going to help Punjab nor will it help you in anyway," he said.
Amarinder claimed that the whole world already knew the truth about drugs in Punjab as also those responsible for it.
The MP from Amritsar hoped that better sense prevails over the Censor Board and it acts in an impartial manner and allow the movie to be released "unscissored".
The row over drug-themed Bollywood film 'Udta Punjab', slated for release on June 17, escalated today with co-producer Anurag Kashyap hitting out at Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani, calling him "oligarch" and "dictator" and that it was like living in North Korea.
The Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Diljit Dosanjh starrer movie that delves into how the youth in Punjab have succumbed to drugs, also unleashed political sparring, prompting Kashyap to ask parties to stay away from the censorship row.
A revamp of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee is on the anvil in the wake of the party led UDF's debacle in the May 16 Assembly elections in the state.
Talking to reporters in New Delhi after meeting AICC Vice President Rahul Gandhi, KPCC President V M Sudheeran said he had been asked to reorganise the party, considering the 'efficiency' of individuals.
There would be changes at all levels for taking the party forward, he said.
Gandhi asked Congress leaders to strengthen the party in Kerala by learning lessons from the defeat, Sudheeran said.
All differences that had cropped in KPCC would be resolved through discussions, he said, adding the party would move forward unitedly.
Sudheeran alleged that attack against Congress offices in Kerala has increased after CPI-M led LDF government came to power. The government has not taken any strong steps to prevent such incidents, he added.
The row over drug-themed Bollywood film "Udta Punjab" slated for release on June 17 escalated today with co-producer Anurag Kashyap hitting out at Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani, calling him "oligarch" and "dictator" and that it was like living in North Korea.
The Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Diljit Dosanjh starrer movie that delves into how the youth in Punjab have succumbed to drugs, also unleashed political sparring, prompting Kashyap to ask parties to stay away from the censorship row. Punjab goes to polls next year.
The makers of the film are said to have been asked by the Revising Committee of the Censor Board to remove all references to Punjab and to make 89 cuts. Kashyap, however, said they are waiting for an "official letter" from the Board in this regard.
Kashyap got the support of several filmmakers including Karan Johar, Mahesh Bhatt, Ram Gopal Varma and Mukesh Bhatt. "It is a dark day for freedom of expression and creativity in the country," Mukesh Bhatt said, calling Nihalani a "stooge" of the government.
The "Bombay Velvet" director took to Twitter to vent his ire at the Censor Board and said there is no sense of freedom.
"I always wondered what it felt like to live in North Korea... Ab to plane pakadney ki bhi zaroorat nahin...," he posted on Twitter.
"I request Congress, AAP and other political parties to stay out of my battle. It's my Rights vs the Censorship. I speak only on my behalf."
The "Gangs of Wasseypur" helmer, who often faces the burnt of censorship, says his fight is not against the Censor Board.
"It's my fight Vs a dictatorial man sitting there operating like an oligarch in his constituency of censor board, that's my North Korea," he said.
"Rest of you go pick your own fights. I will fight mine. So please don't colour my fight with any political affiliation because there is none." The movie is produced by Kashyap's Phantom Films and Ekta Kapoor-led Balaji Films.
AAP and Congress accused Punjab's ruling SAD-BJP alliance of exercising its influence to "censor" the movie, a charge denied by the state government.
Punjab Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister Sohan Singh Thandal said, "any movie or film which is not in the interest of state and which tries to defame Punjab should always be opposed."
Punjab BJP Chief and Union Minister Vijay Sampla hailed the move of the Censor Board and any attempt to defame Punjab, which is a foodbowl of the country, should be dealt with sternly.
Attempts to reach Nihalani over phone were met without success.
When contacted, I&B ministry officials said the CBFC is independent when it comes to certification of films.
The ministry is, however, re-looking at the entire process of certification of films in the light of the Shyam Benegal committee report which had given its suggestions recently, they added.
(REOPEN DEL 45)
Vani Tripathi, a member of the Censor Board, said Kashyap can approach the Film Appellate Tribunal to redress his grievances over any censorship issue.
But Kashyap said nothing can be done till a formal communication is received from the Censor Board on any changes that needed to be incorporated.
He also said it is absolutely impossible to remove any references to Punjab in the film, saying it is a true reflection of the situation prevailing in the state.
Sources in the CBFC said the Revising Committee of which its chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani was a part had viewed the movie but did not disclose the decision of the panel.
"The movie was reviewed by the Revising Committee recently," a source said but emphasised that "no show cause notice has been given to the filmmakers."
"Udta Punjab" lead actor Shahid actor also reacted on Twitter and thanked everyone for their support.
"Overwhelmed with all the support #UdtaPunjab #freedomofexpression #drugsdimaadi," he wrote.
House Speaker Paul Ryan today proposed an overhaul of the nation's poverty programs, the first of several policy plans intended to unite the fractured Republican Party, but his agenda was immediately overshadowed by questions about Donald Trump.
The proposal, unveiled at the House of Help City of Hope, an alcohol and drug treatment program in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, would make changes to welfare, food and housing aid, among other programs, to increase work requirements, make the aid more efficient and allow states to make more decisions about how it is distributed.
As Ryan announced the plan with participants in the program by his side, he faced repeated questions about the presumptive Republican nominee's latest controversial comments.
In response, Ryan said Trump made the "textbook definition of a racist comment" in saying an American-born judge isn't qualified to preside over a case because of his Mexican heritage.
Ryan stood by his endorsement of Trump, saying he would be a better president to enact his agenda than Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Trump has said US District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel can't be impartial in lawsuits against Trump University because his parents were born in Mexico and Trump wants to build a wall along the border. Trump's legal team has not sought a recusal of the jurist.
Ryan endorsed Trump last week after a lengthy delay, making clear that his support is largely due to the fact that a Republican president could help him enact his longtime policy goals.
Overhauling the nation's welfare and nutrition programs has long been a priority for Ryan, who also plans to release a national security plan on Thursday.
Policy plans on regulations, the Constitution, health care and taxes will roll out in the coming weeks.
The Wisconsin Republican said he has discussed his agenda with Trump, who has similarly argued that Democrats have failed the poor.
Peeved at BJP president Amit Shah's stinging criticism of the Akhilesh Yadav government today, the ruling Samajwadi Party said instead of providing assistance to Uttar Pradesh, he was heaping charges in a "childish manner".
"It is a case of a pot calling a kettle black," SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said in a press release hours after Shah criticised the party over several issues including corruption, law and order and "non-implementation" of central schemes.
Chaudhary said it was for everyone to see to what extent corruption is prevailing in (BJP-ruled) Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
"The plight of farmers and poor in these states is known to all," he said.
He said the BJP and the RSS were "nervous" over welfare programmes of the SP government and diverting attention of the people by "spreading rumours".
He alleged they were indulging in character assassination and "fanning communal passion" with 2017 Assembly elections in mind.
Earlier in the day, addressing a rally of booth-level workers of the Braj region, Shah had attacked the state government for "not doing anything concrete" to fight corruption and over law and order situation, in the wake of the Mathura violence.
He had also accused the state government of creating roadblock in the implementation of Centre's welfare schemes.
The Saudi cabinet has approved a major plan to diversify the national economy away from oil and aiming to generate 450,000 non-government jobs by 2020.
The National Transformation Programme (NTP) 2020, endorsed by cabinet yesterday, also seeks to cut public expenditures by 40 per cent over the next five years and boost the contribution of the private sector.
NTP is one of several programmes designed to achieve the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030, an 84-page document released in April by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 30, who is leading the reform charge.
At the heart of Vision 2030 is a plan to float less than five per cent of state oil firm Saudi Aramco on the stock market.
The proceeds would become part of the world's largest state investment fund, with USD 2 trillion in assets.
Profits from the investment fund would help economic diversification and provide an alternative to oil revenues that have fallen by about half since 2014.
The collapse has accelerated Saudi efforts to move away from petroleum which still accounts for the bulk of government income in the kingdom, which projected a deficit of USD 87 billion this year.
At a press conference early today officials described the NTP as the first step in achieving the Vision. The 112-page NTP document is a five-year roadmap that lays out targets to be met by each government ministry, and their cost.
The NTP will be implemented through 543 initiatives across 24 government bodies at a cost of 270 billion riyals (USD 72 billion) over the next five years, Minister of State Mohammed al-Sheikh told the press conference in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.
"This is Phase One of addressing the challenges," he said, adding there will be "no substantial fiscal impact" on the state budget, partly because some savings have already been made.
Neither would income taxes be imposed, Sheikh said.
By publishing the extent to which government targets are met, the NTP says it will ensure the transparency crucial to its success.
Saudi Arabia does not allow political parties, and peaceful rights activists have been jailed. But Saudis are avid commentators on social media.
Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khaled al-Falih said that under the programme, Saudi Arabia will be "a very strong competitor in renewable energy," and will implement "massive" projects to produce more natural gas, while increasing non-oil exports.
Saudi oil production capacity would remain unchanged at 12.5 million barrels a day between now and 2020, the NTP says.
Under the programme, the ministry plans to build an international complex for marine industries that will provide 80,000 jobs and cut imports by USD 12 billion annually, the minister said.
A number of industrial cities are also planned and slated to generate 150,000 jobs, said Falih who last month replaced long-serving oil minister Ali al-Naimi.
The Supreme Court today modified a Jammu and Kashmir High Court order and asked a state traders' body to give an undertaking that if the food items supplied by them are found to be adulterated, then the authorities will take action as per law instead of sealing their units.
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court had earlier this year asked the traders' body to give an undertaking that if prima facie, the food items supplied by them were found to be adulterated, then their units would be liable to be sealed.
A vacation bench of Justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy directed the concerned authorities in the state not to seal the establishments and instead take action as per the provisions of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) Act if any adulteration is found.
"Instead of sealing, the concerned authority shall take necessary action as per provisions of the Act. We are modifying only this part of the order," the bench said, while clarifying that the traders will have to give an undertaking.
Senior advocate Jayant Bhushan, appearing for the J&K Traders and Manufacturers Federation, said the interim order of April 24 of Jammu and Kashmir High Court in a "suo motu PIL is illegal as petitions on similar facts are pending adjudication before the apex court."
He said the High Court order directed the owners/Managing Directors of food manufacturing/processing units to file an affidavit indicating as to how and in which manner the food manufacturing/processing units are following the provisions of the FSSAI Act.
Bhushan said it has been directed that food manufacturing units should file an undertaking before the Registrar of the High Court certifying that the units will supply food items fit for human consumption to the consumers, and if it is prima facie found that these items are adulterated, the units will be liable to be sealed.
The Federation had further said that the High Court judge had erred in not appreciating the fact that the petitioner, which is a group of petty food business operators, are already complying with the mandatory provisions of the Act and registered under the law for different business operations.
The Supreme Court today refused to to order a CBI probe into the recent violence in Mathura that left 29 people including two policemen dead, saying it was for the state government to decide.
"From your petition, there is no evidence to suggest there is any lapse on the part of state investigating agency or no steps are being taken for fair probe. Without any evidence that state investigating agencies are not working properly, courts cannot interfere," a vacation bench comprising Justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy said.
The bench said that petitioner Ashwini Upadhaya cannot approach the apex court through a PIL when a plea on similar issue is already pending before the Allahabad High Court.
"You approach the Allahabad High Court for the remedy," the bench said.
It further said it was not inclined to pass any order and courts cannot order a CBI probe as "a matter of routine as it is for the state government concerned to decide on the issue of handing over the probe to CBI".
It did not allow the submission of senior advocate Geeta Luthra, appearing for Upadhaya, that the petition before the High Court was limited on the issue of encroachment of the park and that has nothing to do with the subsequent violence.
The bench asked the petitioner to withdraw the petition and termed it as dismissed as withdrawn.
The apex court had yesterday agreed to hear the plea which had sought an urgent hearing saying CBI probe was necessary considering the gravity of the violence.
29 people, including Mathura SP Mukul Dwivedi and SHO Santosh Kumar Yadav, were killed in the clash between the police and encroachers that broke out in the city on June 2 when police tried to evict illegal occupants, believed to be of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, from Jawahar Bagh on Allahabad High Court orders.
Upadhyay, in his plea, had said the court may also take suo motu cognizance of the matter and direct the CBI enquiry, as "it is necessary to find out the truth, root cause of the incident and nexus among executive, legislature and the said group".
The petitioner had sought a direction to the state and the Centre for framing of a uniform policy for compensation for families of the deceased in such cases.
It had also claimed that while the union government was ready for a CBI inquiry into the incident, the state government was developing a cold feet in recommending it.
Supreme Court today refused to give an urgent hearing to a plea seeking direction to restrain the All India Muslim Personal Law Board from giving alleged "misleading messages" to the public till the hearing of a plea on Muslim women's rights on issues concerning marriage and divorce.
A vacation bench of Justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy while declining to give an urgent hearing asked petitioner advocate Farha Faiz, who is also party to the suo motu petition being heard by the apex court, to first respond to the writ petition and then mention the fresh plea for hearing.
Faiz said that direction should be passed to restrain media trial, which is being done on the contentious issue of Muslim women's rights and members of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) from issuing misleading statements.
"How can we stop media trial? Is their any mechanism in any part of the world to stop media trial," the bench observed.
The lawyer, who said she is the national president of the Rashtrawadi Muslim Mahila Sangh (RMS), an NGO which claims to be fighting for protection to Muslim women and their life, liberty, rights and education.
In her plea, she apprehended that during the month of Ramazan, Muslim people gather for Taraweeh (to listen to the holy Quran) and they could be easily misled by such statements, which could be a danger to the society.
The Supreme Court today reserved its verdict on a batch of appeals filed by Karnataka government and others against the High Court order acquitting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and others in a disproportionate assets case.
A vacation bench comprising justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy, which has been hearing the appeals of the state government and DMK leader K Anbazhagan against the acquittal, concluded hearing arguments.
Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Karnataka government, dealt with the alleged roles of six firms and the evidence regarding assets and funds held by each of them.
The firms, which found mention in the trial court records, are Lex Property Development, Meadow Agro Farms Ltd, Riverway Agro Products Pvt Ltd, Ramraj Agro Mills Ltd, Signora Business Enterprises Pvt Ltd and Indo Doha Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd.
"The issue of the matter is that these companies were purchased (takeover of shareholding) by introduction of the accused persons (other than A-1 Jayalalithaa) as directors and removal of existing directors. The control of these companies were taken by the accused persons, after which bank accounts were opened and as large amount of cash was deposited into these accounts," the written note submitted by Luthra said.
The note also gave a chart showing cash flow and purchase of property.
Dealing with the role of the firms, Luthra claimed that "in essence these companies were used as receptacles of ill- gotten cash for which no explanation was given during investigation nor during the trial. Such cash becomes the basis for large scale properties being purchased where all negotiations were done at the house of A1 (irrespective of where the property situated in Tamil Nadu)."
The senior lawyer also submitted an amended chart to give details of transaction of funds including the details of cash deposits.
Senior advocate Harin P Raval, appearing for the companies, opposed the submissions made by Karnataka government.
The senior lawyer further said "The trial court by order
dated September 27, 2014, in the absence of the present respondent companies being arraigned as accused persons, without notice and without hearing, purported to exercise powers under section 452 of CrPC and directed confiscation of properties registered in the name of six companies to the state government...".
The firms also disputed the locus of Karnataka government in filing the appeals in the apex court.
Dealing with the probable situations, the companies said that there was no question of "any attachment or disposal of their property" by the Karnataka government.
Earlier, the apex court had said that acquiring assets "per se" is not a crime unless the sources are found to be illegal.
The court had outlined the three options available to it and said it may either uphold the High court verdict or reverse it or re-appreciate the entire evidence which may lead to fresh re-trial or it can also remand the matter to the High court for fresh consideration.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, also appearing for Karnataka, had said, "The judgement of the High Court reflects violent miscarriage of justice and it is perverse beyond imagination. It is based on mere surmises and conjectures and none of the findings are based on evidence."
The Karnataka government is arguing its appeal in the case as the trial was shifted from Tamil Nadu and a Bangalore court had convicted the accused including Jayalalithaa who later succeeded in her challenge before the High Court there.
Besides Jayalalithaa, others acquitted by the High Court were her close aide Sasikala and her two relatives, V N Sudhakaran and Elavarasi.
On July 27, last year the apex court had issued notices on Karnataka government's appeal seeking stay of the high court judgement to Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and her relatives V N Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, asking them to file their replies within eight weeks.
The Karnataka HC had on May 11, 2015 ruled that AIADMK supremo's conviction by special court suffered from infirmity and was not sustainable in law, clearing decks for her return as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.
The special court had in 2014 held Jayalalithaa guilty of corruption and sentenced her to four years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore. Jayalalithaa and three others were accused of allegedly amassing disproportionate asserts to the tune of Rs. 66.65.Crores during her first term as Chief Minister from 1991 to 1996.
Clamping down on a front running case, on Tuesday barred three persons as well as a company from the capital market and directed one of the individuals to disgorge illegal gains worth over Rs 85 lakh.
The matter relates to Passport India Investment (Mauritius) Ltd, a sub-account of foreign institutional investor Passport Capital LLC, where it was found that one KB Patel was front running the trades of Passport India.
Dipak Patel, who managed the investment research process and took investment decisions for Passport India, had passed on information related to impending trade orders to KB Patel, who is his brother.
"On the basis of such information, KB Patel has placed orders through the internet. Thereafter, when Passport India had placed its orders through Dipak Patel, KB Patel's orders were squared off. Further, KB Patel had made profits caused due to the price fluctuation because of the large orders of Passport India," said.
In its 22-page order, barred KB Patel, Dipak Patel, Anandkumar Baldevbhai Patel and Bhoomi Industries from the capital market for five years.
The period of restraint undergone by the entities following interim orders in 2010 and 2011 would be taken into account while computing the five-year ban period.
Besides, Dipak Patel has been directed not to associate himself with any Sebi-registered entity for five years.
According to the regulator, KB Patel should disgorge Rs 85.18 lakh within 45 days and in case of failure, he would be banned from the securities market for another three years.
The amount would be in addition to Rs 1.13 crore unlawful gains made through trades executed in NSE that is already deposited with that stock exchange.
Investigations into the matter was done for the period from January 1, 2007 to March 31, 2009.
According to Sebi, AB Patel had received information from Dipak Patel and also received funds from KB Patel from the sale proceeds, which were then transferred through Bhoomi Industries.
Bhoomi Industries is a partnership firm between KB Patel and AB Patel.
Front-running refers to an unethical practice of someone trading in shares on the basis of advance information given by a broker, analyst or other executive at a market intermediary before the trades are conducted by that entity.
With an aim to make REITs more attractive to investors, markets regulator Sebi plans to relax its norms to allow these Trusts to invest more in under- construction assets and have a larger number of sponsors.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had put in place its regulations for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in September 2014, but these Trusts have not generated enough interest among investors and industry players who have been seeking further measures to make them attractive.
While the government has already announced various taxation related and other sops for REITs, Sebi has now decided to further amend its regulations by taking into account representations received from various quarters.
A proposal to amend REIT Regulations would be placed before Sebi's Board next week, after which a consultation paper would be floated for seeking further comments from various stakeholders before making the final changes to the norms, a senior official said.
A consultation process is already underway for making the InViT (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) Regulations.
Besides representations from the industry for making changes to REIT Regulations, Sebi has also held several meetings with market participants and industry bodies including about steps required to smoothen the process of seeking registration with Sebi and launching of an offer.
India's real estate sector has grown rapidly in recent years and the growing scale of operations of corporate sector has increased the demand for commercial buildings, office spaces, shopping centres, warehouses and conference centres. For such assets, REITs have been preferred investment vehicles globally and can be so in India too.
Among the proposed changes, Sebi plans to remove the restriction on the SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) to invest in other SPVs holding the assets, which in turn would allow REITs to invest in a holding company owning stake in SPVs.
It is being proposed that the REIT would hold controlling interest and at least 50 per cent equity in the Holding Company. The Holding Company can in turn hold controlling interest and at least 50 per cent equity in underlying SPV.
A large proportion of real estate projects in India are financed by financial institutions on project-finance basis where lenders require a pledge on shares of the SPV.
In such cases, if the SPV is held directly by the SPV, the lenders would want pledge of the SPV shares held by the REIT and this might not be attractive for REIT investors with the existing restriction. Currently, an SPV is required to hold at least 80 per cent of its assets directly and cannot invest in other SPVs.
Another proposed move is to allow the REITs to have up to five sponsors, as against the current norm for maximum three.
Besides, it is being proposed that holdings in REIT may be
held by a sponsor with its group companies or associates, all of whom would be counted as one.
It was felt that the current norm could be restrictive in case of a sponsor group holding interest through group firms or individuals.
Sebi also plans to rationalise the requirements under the Related Party Transactions, under which approval of 60 per cent unitholders apart from related parties, is required for passing a related party transaction.
Further, approval is required of 75 per cent unitholders, apart from related parties, for passing special resolutions such as change in investment manager, investment strategy and delisting of units.
Another current provision requires that units offered to the public should be at least 25 per cent. This would be aligned with Sebi regulations about the public offer size of 25 per cent, or 10 per cent initially with an eventual raising of public holding to 25 per cent.
In case of change in control of sponsor entity of account of a sale, if the number of unit holders, other than related parties, falls below 200 or the public float slips below 25 per cent, the trustees are required to seek a delisting.
It is now being proposed to relax this provision by allowing the new sponsor a one-year window to comply with the public holding requirements by secondary sale or dilution through a fresh issuance of units.
One of the major proposals relate to allowing REITs to invest up to 20 per cent in under-construction projects.
The existing regulations require at least 80 per cent of the value of REIT assets should be invested, in proportion to the holding of the REITs, in completed and rent-generating assets.
Of the remaining 20 per cent, not more than 10 per cent can be invested in under-construction properties and in 'not-completed and non-rent generating properties'.
It is being proposed now that the REITs can invest up to 20 per cent in under-construction assets, while at least 80 per cent should continue to be invested in completed and rent- generating properties.
The proposal would provide greater flexibility to the REIT manager in determining the composition of REIT and also help widen the portfolio and therefore the size of the REIT by adding projects that are at various stages of constructions.
Also, if some part of an under-construction property has got Occupancy Certificate, that portion would be considered 'completed property' and the remainder would be 'under-construction' property.
Most of the international REIT regulations in fact permit up to 25 per cent of investment in other than real estate.
Changes are being proposed in rules governing the trustees and associates as well, pursuant to which associates of the trustees would no longer form part of the parties to the REIT. Besides, associates of trustees would be allowed to invest in units of such REIT, subject to such transactions being conducted at an arm's length basis.
Also, the disclosure of litigations related to associates of trustee would not be required to be given.
Sebi has also received representations that the rules do not have an explicit provision with respect to the liability of unitholders and more clarity may be required for entities such as insurance companies (who invest on behalf of their investors) to invest in REITs.
Accordingly, Sebi has decided to clearly clarify that the unitholder would be an investor and its rights and obligations would be limited to the amount of its investment.
Also, a developer would be allowed to function as a sponsor if at least two projects of the sponsor, or its associates, have been completed. The current norms do not provide the leeway of associates' projects being considered.
Singapore's prestigious Institute of Technical Education will help set up vocational skill centres across India to train youths to fulfil the requirements of skilled manpower in selected industries.
ITE Education Services (ITEES), a subsidiary of the state- owned Institute of Technical Education (ITE) which offers consultancy and training services in skills development and vocational training to more than 25 countries, is already working on other projects in India, the first of which is slated to commence training from September 27 in Rajasthan, coinciding with the World Tourism Day.
"We note the strong interest of the Indian Government to engage ITEES for consultancy services in enhancing Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) across India and this was further emphasised during (Power) Minister Piyush Goyal's visit to the ITE College Central last month," said Lim Boon Tiong, Director, Asia Group at ITEES.
"We believe ITEES can contribute to 'Skill India' programme by playing a catalytic role in helping to set up a few model institutions in selected locations in India. These model institutions will allow for knowledge and technology transfer and eventually be replicated in other parts of India with ITEES continuing to play supportive role to ensure quality and international standards," Tiong said.
Goyal was briefed on ITE and ITEES programmes during his visit to in May. His delegation has held subsequent meetings with ITEES.
For a start, India has requested ITEES to conduct an on site analysis of skilled manpower requirement for a few selected industry sectors with the aim to help set up two model Skills Centre in Delhi and Varanasi. The programmes to be offered will be tailored to the needs of local industries and for training both urban and village youths, said ITEES.
A similar approach was taken in preparing an extensive programme for a Centre of Excellence Tourism Training (CETT) in Udaipur under an MoU signed by ITEES and the Rajasthan state government in 2014, Lim said.
ITEES will train the trainers for Udaipur CETT which will be launched by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on September 27. The trainers will deliver training programmes at CETT, mostly designed for training manpower for the state's tourism sector, the institute said.
ITEES has also signed a similar MoU with Madhya Pradesh government during Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's visit to in January, ground work for which is being done for another CETT-type campus.
In another project, ITEES' consultancy is in the midst of completing ground work for the development of a TVET campus in Kolkata under another MoU with businessman K K Bangur. This will be a private-sector-operated campus to offer skills training under a corporate social responsibility initiative.
"We have started working on these projects in various stages and hopes to contribute to the development of Indian skilled manpower," Lim said.
Established in 2003, ITEES is Singapore's response for helping its partners build skilled manpower globally, especially in developing economies.
Swati Mahadik, wife of Army commando Col Santosh Mahadik, who was killed during an anti-militancy operation in Jammu and Kashmir, is all set to follow her husband's footsteps into the Army.
Col Mahadik and his men were ambushed on November 17 last year when they were combing forests near the LoC for infiltrating militants. Mahadik was awarded Shaurya Chakra posthumously on the Republic Day.
Swati, a mother of two appeared for the Services Selection Board (SSB) and has cleared the written examination and interview. However, the merit list is not out yet, sources said.
She had decided to appear for the SSB exams following relaxation of age by the government.
"The final list should be out soon. Only then can we know the status of her application. If she clears, Swati Mahadik has to go to Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai where women officers are trained.
"It is after her training that she will be posted as per her request and requirement," said a senior official.
In a landmark decision, Sri Lankan cabinet today approved a draft legislation to enable issuing 'certificates of absence' for some 65,000 people, who went missing during the brutal three decade-long war with the LTTE, to settle long-pending issues of property for their kin.
"This measure will help tens-of-thousands of Sri Lankans whose family-members and loved ones are missing and who are unable to address practical issues relating to their disappearance", the foreign ministry said.
Sri Lanka has one of the largest case-loads of missing persons in the world.
In fact, since 1994 alone, the government commissions have received over 65,000 complaints of missing persons. These include people who went missing during the government's nearly three-decade-long war with Tamil separatists and a Marxist uprising.
The suffering and distress of the families of those missing is exacerbated as, at this point in time, the government does not recognise the status of missing persons, the ministry said.
"This means that the families of missing persons face a range of practical issues includinginability or difficulty in facilitation of property transfer and ownership, applying for compensation, qualifying for social welfare payments and pensions and accessing frozen assets," it said.
Jordanian authorities have arrested a suspect accused of gunning down five intelligence agents in their office at a Palestinian refugee camp.
"Investigations are under way but early indications are that this was an isolated and individual act," said government spokesman Mohammed Momani, announcing the arrest without identifying the suspect.
The gunman struck at Baqaa camp north of the capital early on Monday -- the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan -- in what Momani called a "terrorist attack".
The suspect fled the scene after the killings.
A security source told he was arrested later at a mosque in the Salt region north of Amman.
The suspect was armed and resisted arrest, the source said, adding that a police officer had been injured in the swoop.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Jordan is a leading member of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in neighbouring Iraq and Syria, and has been the target of jihadist attacks.
The five agents, who had been starting their shift, were buried later in the day in their home towns, with hundreds of members of the security services in attendance.
Security forces blocked road to the camp, 20 kilometres from central Amman, to keep journalists away, an AFP correspondent said.
The Baqaa camp is the largest of the kingdom's 10 official Palestinian refugee camps.
Home to about 220,000 people, including more than 100,000 of the two million Palestinian refugees who live in Jordan, its residents suffer chronic poverty and unemployment.
It was unclear whether the gunman was a resident of the camp or an outsider, a security source said earlier yesterday, adding that experts were examining CCTV footage for clues.
Jordan has seen spillover from the conflicts in Iraq and Syria in the past.
In December 2005, suicide attacks on three Amman hotels claimed by IS's predecessor, Al-Qaeda in Iraq, killed 60 people and wounded dozens.
Former member of parliament Mahmud al-Kharabsha said what happened at Baqaa had been "expected".
"This camp was chosen for an attack in order to sow sedition (between Palestinians and Jordanians) in the country," Kharabsha said.
"What happened was expected. Jordan is in the midst of a cyclone and shares long borders with Syria and Iraq," he told AFP.
After setting up India's largest technological incubation centre, T-Hub, Telangana government will soon launch two initiatives -- T Works and the country's first Very Large Scale Integration Design (VLSID) Academy -- in the city.
"We are ready to start various verticals of T-Hub focussed on different areas like hardware, particularly electronics and semi-conductors, which will be launched in Hyderabad before December end. We are going to call it 'T-Works'," Telangana IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan told reporters here today.
T-Works will be another feature in Hyderabad where prototyping lab, innovation opportunities in hardware, electronic manufacturing and semi-conductors will be made available to help innovators to work on, he added.
Ranjan, who along with Telangana's Information Technology Minister K T Rama Rao, was on a visit to the US recently, said: "We visited a prototyping lab in California and signed an MoU also. They will be sharing their technological know-how on establishing our T-works in Hyderabad."
Ranjan further said the Telangana government will also soon set up Very Large Scale Integration Design (VLSID) Academy and the first phase will come up in Gachibowli here, which will be the first one to be set up by a government in the country in collaboration with industry partners.
"Though there are some VLSI design institutions, but we want to make the best cutting-edge technology available to the manpower here and the government is in the process of setting up a VLSI Design Academy," he said adding that US-based chip maker AMD has agreed to partner with the proposed VLSID Academy.
Meanwhile, the 30th International Conference on VLSID will be held here from January 7 to 11.
Over 2,000 experts from around the world including policy makers, influencers from the government, private and the academic sector will converge in Hyderabad for the five-day conference to debate, deliver key notes, present tutorials and papers to shape the future of VLSI Design industry in India, he said.
The upcoming conference theme 'Technologies for a Secure and Connected World' will highlight Cloud Computing and IoE (Internet of Things), VLSID General Chair Dasaradha Gude told reporters here today.
In what could be good to mobile operators, the inter-ministerial panel Telecom Commission on Tuesday backed lowering of (SUC) to three per cent of their annual revenue.
The panel also decided that the payout for carriers in any case will not be lower than what they are currently paying at the existing rate to prevent loss of revenue to the government.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended SUC at a uniform rate of three per cent across the sector and gradually bringing it to one per cent.
Before 2010, there was only 2G spectrum and, hence, calculation of revenue was easy. But, the process became complex after new frequencies were allocated to companies for services like 3G and 4G.
A technical panel of the department of telecom has said it is difficult to segregate revenue of companies holding airwaves in multiple bands.
The SUC has been one of most contentious issues of late.
Reliance Jio has opposed levying of uniform SUC rates as suggested by Trai, as it pays only one per cent on its spectrum in 2,300-Mhz band (broadband wireless access) and the proposal to levy three per cent would put extra burden on the company.
The government in January 2014 decided to cap SUC at a flat five per cent for spectrum that was to be procured in future auctions.
At that point, telecom operators were asked to pay the weighted average of their existing SUC (on the old rate of three-eight per cent) based on the quantum of spectrum they hold and five per cent if they acquire new spectrum.
For broadband wireless access spectrum holders such as Reliance Jio, Airtel and Aircel, the same method was put in place, considering one per cent SUC on airwaves held by them in 2,300-Mhz band.
With the new formula, operators will have to pay the weighted average of the current rates and three per cent for spectrum to be procured in future.
The companies that do not procure spectrum in future auctions will continue to pay the existing rate.
"To prevent loss of revenue for the government, telecom operators will pay a minimum amount which they are paying according to 2015-16 rates," the source said. The annual SUC collection is at around Rs 7,000 crore.
The department of telecom will move a Cabinet note for inter-ministerial consultations on spectrum auction in a week and place it before the Cabinet for a final decision after feedback. The commission also suggested auction of all the spectrum bands simultaneously, the source added. The government is in the process of holding one of the biggest spectrum auctions in which airwaves worth at least Rs 5.7 crore will be put up for sale.
The sector has requested the government to defer auction of 700-Mhz frequency band which alone accounts for about Rs 4 lakh crore.
"The upcoming auction will resolve all spectrum related issues of the industry whether it is linked to quality of service or bandwidth shortage," the source said.
India will "shortly" move a proposal at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to start discussions on trade facilitation agreement in services, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today.
India is pushing for a trade agreement (TFA) on services as members of the global trade body WTO have concluded a similar pact for the goods sector.
Sitharaman raised the issue of TFA in services during an informal meeting with key members of WTO on the sidelines of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ministerial council meeting in Paris held recently.
WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo welcomed it and asked India to submit the proposal for discussion.
"We will do that at the earliest... This is a good breakthrough which we can achieve," she told reporters here.
On the proposal, she said like goods, there is a total absence of collective recognition of services sector as part of trade in the WTO.
"Trade is no longer just in finished goods. Trade is no longer in material goods. In fact world economy today depends more on trade in services...Services put under the definition of commodity. We are saying make that distinction obvious.
"Recognise that services is a tradeable item and if it is atradebale item, shouldn't there be a framework, shouldn't the WTO, which is the ultimate body for dealing with anything under trade, have a space for it, definition for it and have a procedure for arbitration for it," she said.
India is pitching for this agreement as the services sector contribute about 60 per cent in the GDP and 28 per cent in the total employment.
She also said that this proposal will not be treated as "new issues" being pushed in the WTO.
When asked whether it would propose deadlines for clearance of visas within time line among others as part of the proposal, Sitharaman said it could include such things but it all depends on the negotiations between the members.
The move assumes significance as about a dozen countries are already negotiating Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) in the WTO, she said the framework and contours of the TFA in services would be much broader and many things can be subsumed in this. India is not part of TISA.
Further she said that many member countries during the Paris meeting emphasised on the need to conclude the remaining agenda of the Doha Round.
About the pace of post-Nairobi meet, Sitharaman said: "nothing concrete is happening. From now onwards, we will closely watch how things are moving".
Police investigating Thailand's now infamous Tiger Temple found what they believe was a slaughterhouse and tiger holding facility used in a suspected animal trafficking network.
The discovery today is the latest in a growing scandal surrounding the Buddhist temple, which was a popular tourist attraction that charged admission for visitors to take photos with the tigers and walk them on leashes.
Last week, authorities removed more than 137 tigers from the temple grounds and also found 40 dead tiger cubs in a freezer and 20 more preserved in jars.
Acting on a tip, police raided a home today about 50 kilometers from the temple in Kanchanaburi province in western Thailand and found four live tigers and a dozen empty cages, said police Col.
Montri Pancharoen, deputy commander of the Crime Suppression Division, which oversaw the raid. Investigators believe the house, in an isolated area and surrounded by tall fences, served as "a holding facility and slaughterhouse," he said.
"We believe it was used by the Tiger Temple to hold live tigers before slaughtering them for their skins, meat and bones to be exported outside the country, or sent to restaurants in Thailand that serve tiger meat to tour groups," he said.
The house had a work area with a large chopping board and a variety of knives which authorities believe served as the slaughter area, he said.
Police detained two caretakers at the facility who claimed the tigers were the private property of the home's owner, said Montri. Police were searching for the owner who was not there during the raid.
"The Tiger Temple is just a starting point, or a supplier," he said. "We have information that the Tiger Temple is not the only place that supplies tigers to illegal smugglers."
Animal rights activists have long accused the temple of mistreating its tigers. The government suspects the monks have been involved in illegal breeding and trafficking of the animals.
The monks resisted previous efforts to take away the tigers, but relented last week after police obtained a court order.
The seizure of tigers started on May 30. Two days later authorities discovered the 40 dead tiger cubs in a temple freezer. A day later, police stopped a monk and two other men in a truck leaving the temple with two tiger skins, more than 700 vials containing tiger skin and a suitcase with tiger teeth, officials said.
Thailand authorities today barred people from entering the now infamous Tiger Temple, where carcasses of several tiger cubs and hundreds of other tiger parts were recently unearthed, saying the facility was built illegally.
Watcharin Wakamanon, Kanchanapuri district's chief land reform officer, put up a sign in front of the temple which said the sprawling plot belonged to the Land Reform Office and was meant for use by poor farmers.
Meanwhile, park officials, troops and police raided a house in Kanchanaburi earlier today and seized four live tigers, which were believed to have been brought from the Tiger Temple.
Authorities believe the house was a slaughterhouse and tiger holding facility used in a suspected animal trafficking network.
The officials found two male and two female tigers in four separate cages.
Police said the officials would check DNA of the four tigers to see if they matched with three tigers that disappeared from the Tiger Temple in 2015.
Police said thehouse might be a transit point for smuggled wildlife and tigers and the big cats could have been slaughtered.
Last week, authorities found 40 dead tiger cubs in a freezer and 20 more preserved in jars during a raid on the temple premises.
The temple, a popular tourist destination in Thailand that charged admission for visitors to take photos with the tigers, now faces allegations that it unlawfully bred tigers and encroached on public land.
Officials said they had found evidence that temple abbot Luang Ta Chan had signed an agreement with Laos to exchange tigers.
So far all137 tigers have been relocated, according to the temple's legal team.
The lawyers of the Tiger Temple said the 61-year-old abbot Luang Ta Chan, would return to the temple for a conference on Thursday to tell his side of the story.
The whereabouts of the abbot has been unknown since the eve of the official raid on his 22-year-old temple now suspected of illegal trade in wildlife and forest encroachment.
Earlier, it was reported that he was ill after returning from Indonesia.
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation earlier filed complaints against the abbot for abusing tigers by putting them on display and shows to entertain tourists.
About 2,000 animals remain at the temple, which is now suffering food shortages.
They include boars, horses, various kinds of deer, cattle, and a male lion which appeared depressed and did not eat.
The management of the temple has yet to present documents to prove the legal ownership of the animals.
Once a tourist attraction of Kanchanaburi, the Tiger Temple became quiet and now appeared more like a Buddhist temple with 15 monks and a novice on its premises.
Thousands of civilians today fled a stronghold of the Islamic State group in northern Syria almost surrounded by a US-backed fighters seeking to cut a key supply lifeline for the jihadists.
The Arab-Kurdish offensive on the town of Manbij is one of two major assaults on the route IS uses to send in more fighters, weapons and money from the Turkish border to its main Syrian bastion of Raqa.
"We have surrounded Manbij from three sides and operations are progressing well," said Sherfan Darwish, who is leading the offensive of the Syrian Democratic Forces launched just over a week ago.
"Every day, we are liberating villages and the only route open to IS now is towards Aleppo city" to the west, Darwish told AFP by phone.
The SDF is now within five kilometres (three miles) of Manbij from the north, two kilometres from the south and about seven kilometres from the east, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
"Daesh has begun allowing civilians to flee towards the west," some in cars but many carrying their belongings on foot, the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
About 20,000 people are still living in Manbij, which had a pre-war population of about 120,000 -- mostly Arabs, but about a quarter Syrian Kurds.
IS overran the town in early 2014, just months before declaring a cross-border "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria.
The "Manbij pocket" was the only remaining section of territory used by IS to smuggle recruits or funds from Turkey across the border.
Three snatchers have been arrested in connection with the murder of a youth who was suspected to be a police informer in Jaitpur area of south east Delhi.
Arrested trio Monu, Vikram and Deepak were also involved in over 60 cases of snatching of mobile phones and other valuables in south and south east Delhi. Twenty two mobile phones were recovered from them, said Mandeep Singh Randhawa, DCP (south east).
Police had received a call of quarrel between some persons near Gaushala Nala in Jaitpur area on June 2. The cops found a man, later identified as Dilip Kumar, a resident of J J colony in Madanpur Khadar, lying in a pool of blood with multiple gunshot injuries on chest and head.
Dilip was immediately rushed to AIIMS trauma centre where doctors declared him brought dead. A case of murder was registered in this connection at Jaitpur police station.
During investigation, police found that Dilip had received a phone call just before the incident and also that he had a minor dispute with a local identified as Monu.
The police also found out that Monu and his associates Deepak and Vikram had allegedly shot dead Dilip.
Later, the police carried out raids and arrested Vikram and Deepak from their houses although Monu was found absconding.
Finally, on the basis of information provided by the duo Monu was arrested from Sangam Vihar.
"The trio during interrogation admitted murdering Dilip claiming he passed information regarding their activities to the police," the officer added.
Police recovered a bike, the murder weapon, and the cell phone used by them to call the victim.
Opposition CPI(M)-Congress alliance today termed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's support to the Center's Goods and Services Tax (GST) as "proof of nexus" between ruling TMC and BJP.
"CM responds to BJP's gratitude! Reiterates her commitment of issue based support to Modi govt! Broad based unity against TMC-BJP nexus is the answer," CPI(M) secretary Surya Kanta Mishra tweeted.
Referring to a recent remark by Union minister Uma Bharati in which she had said regional satraps like Mamata Banerjee and Nitish Kumar had emerged on the political firmament with BJP and RSS support, he said, "It's now Uma Bharti. RSS has helped the CM to win. The Sangh is behind the victory of the TMC!!! The cat is out of the bag again!!"
Earlier in the day, Banerjee had told a gathering of business and industry chambers at a felicitation programme here about TMC's support to the GST bill, proposed by BJP-led central government.
"We are fighting for GST as it will help industry with single point tax instead of multiple layers of taxation. Our Finance Minister Amit Mitra is leading the committee on GST and I think in the next one or two meetings it will be resolved," she said.
"I am politically opposed to BJP government but we support programmes which are pro-people and industry," Banerjee had said elaborating her government's stand on GST.
Reacting on the development, senior state Congress leader Om Prakash Mishra said, "We all know that TMC and BJP have a tacit understanding, both inside and outside Parliament.
Japan today strongly supported India's bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and said it was working with the Indian government to garner support from other countries ahead of the bloc's crucial plenary meeting.
"I hope that India will be the part of the NSG. Japan is working with India to make sure that it becomes a member of the NSG. We are talking to Indian government on how India can get more support from other countries," Kenji Hiramatsu, Japan's envoy to India, said.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to pay a "reciprocal" visit to Japan this year, adding no date has been finalised. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had visited India in December last year.
On finalising the nitty-gritty relating to the broad agreement for cooperation in civil nuclear energy between India and Japan, inked in December last year, the envoy said both countries were working on it and that there was no "road blocks" or any "major pending issues", He, however, did not give any time line.
India has planned a major expansion of its nuclear energy sector and membership of the NSG, currently comprising 48 nations, will help it trade in and export nuclear technology.
Switzerland, a key member of the NSG had yesterday said it will support India's application after Modi held talks with Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann.
India's application is expected to be taken up for discussion by the NSG at its plenary meetings on June 9 in Vienna and June 24 in Seoul. China has been opposing India's bid arguing that it was not a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The NSG works under the principle of unanimity and even one country's vote against India will scuttle its bid.
On the Indo-Japan nuclear pact, the Japanese envoy said "I don't see any road block... It is a technical review. There is no major pending issues."
He was delivering a lecture on "Challenges and Prospects of Japan's Diplomacy in the context of India-Japan relationship", organised by the Observer Research Foundation.
Asked when Japanese Parliament will approve the nuclear agreement with India so that the final deal could be signed, he said, "We don't know when that will happen."
India and Japan had sealed a broad agreement for cooperation in civil nuclear energy during Abe's visit here last year. It was said the final deal would be signed after certain technical and legal issues are thrashed out.
Emphasising that the tri-lateral Malabar naval exercise among Japan, US and India is important for "strategic and safety reasons" in the Indo-Pacific region, Kenji hoped that cooperation among the three countries will more "meaningful".
Asked about implementation of the Indo-Japan pacts on transfer of defence equipment and technology, the envoy said the two sides are in the process of identifying projects for transfer of technology.
With the Censor Board reportedly raising objections to Shahid Kapoor-starrer Hindi film 'Udta Punjab' regarding references made in it to Punjab, opposition AAP and Congress today accused ruling SAD-BJP combine of exercising its influence to "censor" the film, a charge denied by the state government.
Leader of Opposition Charanjit Singh Channi of Congress said "people of Punjab will rather benefit from the movie which deals with the drug problem, a burning issue in the state. The youth will draw inspiration from it and stay away from drugs".
"Akalis are not concerned about the image of Punjab. Rather, they are scared because that with the release of the movie, the image of the state government will be hit," he added.
AAP MP Bhagwant Mann said "the Censor Board has acted against 'Udta Pinjab' at the behest of SAD-BJP-led state government. It is an attack on Freedom of speech and expression in highlighting the extent of drug problem in the state".
"By indulging in such acts, the state government cannot hide the reality of Punjab by pushing the state into a drug menace during its nine-year rule," Mann alleged.
"Movies are the mirror to the society and they project what is actually happening around us," he told PTI.
Referring to opposition attacks, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said in Ropar that "how could the state government be held responsible for it when CBFC is exclusively under the control of government of India."
Punjab BJP chief and Union Minister Vijay Sampla welcomed the Censor Board's move and said any attempt to "defame" Punjab should be dealt with sternly.
"Nobody should be allowed to defame Punjab...Why did the producers name the movie Udta Punjab? Why not Udta Bollywood...The drug problem is a global issue. Why is one state being singled out," he said.
Sampla asked opposition parties to rise above their "political interests" and not allow anybody to "defame" Punjab in any manner.
"Be it the ruling party or opposition, every effort should be made to protect the image of the state at any cost," Sampla said.
Punjab Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister Sohan Singh Thandal said "any film which is not in the interest of the state and which tries to defame Punjab should always be opposed."
Slated for release on June 17, 'Udta Punjab' also stars Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosanjh. It is co-produced by Anurag Kashyap's Phantom Films and Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Films.
The film deals with the drug menace in Punjab.
The matter assumes significance as Assembly elections are due in Punjab in 2017 and opposition Congress and Aam Aadmi Party are blaming the ruling Akalis for the growing drug menace.
The United Nations was forced to defend its decision to remove the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen from a blacklist of child rights violators after rights groups expressed dismay.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric insisted that no final decision had been taken, and that the coalition was taken off the list pending a review that is expected to be completed before August.
"I don't think it's a reversal of policy," Dujarric told reporters. "We will see what the review is and we will adjust the list as needed."
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International blasted Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon over the decision, accusing him of caving in to Saudi pressure and damaging the world body's credibility.
In its annual report on children in armed conflict published Thursday, the United Nations added the coalition to its list of shame after concluding it was responsible for 60 percent of the 785 children killed in Yemen last year.
Saudi Arabia reacted angrily and demanded that the report be "corrected."
Saudi Ambassador Abdullah al-Mouallimi said the number of child deaths blamed on the coalition was "wildly exaggerated," and later proclaimed that the decision to be taken off the list was "irreversible."
Dujarric said the United Nations stands by the content of the report, but was willing to review information that the coalition "insists is important for our analysis."
"We stand by everything -- every fact and figure that is in the report," said the spokesman.
The Centre today hit out at the ruling Samajwadi Party accusing it of not being serious about law and order in Uttar Pradesh, days after the Mathura clashes left 29 people dead.
"The UP government is not serious about law and order. It has to be strict, but its intentions were not right. The Ministry of Home Affairs cooperates with the state government and does not discriminate," Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju told reporters here.
He said the UP government should recommend a CBI probe into the violence in Jawahar Bagh in Mathura so that the truth comes out.
Rijiju said the Centre could order a CBI inquiry only on the recommendation of the state government, order of the court or on the recommendation of NIA in a special case.
To a query on terrorist acts in Uttar Pradesh and the connection of Al-Qaeda and ISIS with Sambhal and other districts, he said several terrorist activities have taken place in the country, which were connected with the state.
On Pakistani terrorist Hafeez Sayeed issuing a threat to India, he said only those persons who are weak make such statements and want publicity.
He said India is a strong nation and the government does not want to reply to such statements.
Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu will attend the 'Vikas Parv' convention here tomorrow as part of the mass outreach drive to commemorate the second anniversary of the Narendra Modi government.
"Naidu will arrive here in morning and during his day-long stay he would attend various functions and also address party workers," said BJP city unit president Kamlesh Mirani.
The Minister will dedicate around 1542 houses constructed under the "Mukhyamantri Awas Yojna" on Morbi road.
He will meet the party corporators of various civic bodies from Saurashtra region at Atal Bihari Vajpayee auditorium here before addressing a 'karyakarta sammelan (workers' meet) which will be held at a high school.
Naidu would be accompanied by Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha and party spokesperson Vijay Sanokar Shastri, Mirani said.
Naidu will also launch a mobile application 'Swacch Map', developed jointly by Rajkot Municipal Corporation with the US-based MNC Intel.
Public can use this app to register their complaints with the municipal corporation by sending photos of any area that needs to be cleaned, according to a release by the civic body.
Villagers in a remote part of the district today clashed with police personnel, after they were asked to disperse from the Allahabad-Jaunpur highway where they were staging a protest.
According to Senior Superintendent of Police Jogendra Kumar, 11 villagers have been arrested in connection with the attack on policemen and cases were being registered against them. Additional SP Ganesh Saha, who had received injury on his forehead, was in a stable condition, he said.
The trouble began this morning when residents of Sherdih village, about 40 kms from the city, squatted on the highway with the body of Gyan Chandra alias Vakeel who was among two persons killed in an attack outside the high-security Naini Central Jail on Sunday.
The villagers were demanding that the father of the deceased, Chandra Bhan, be released on parole to take part in the funeral of his son.
Chandra Bhan is in jail, serving a prison term for a murder case.
The convict was visited by his son and three others at the jail last Sunday.
The four visitors were attacked by unidentified gunmen just outside the prison, who fled the spot after spraying them with bullets.
While two persons were killed, two others received critical injuries and are undergoing treatment at a hospital in the city.
When senior officials, including District Magistrate Sanjay Kumar, the SSP and others reached the spot and urged the villagers to withdraw their agitation and allow the last rites of the deceased to take place, the agitators responded with pelting of stones.
The highway was cleared after an hour of pitched battle between the villagers and policemen during which the latter also fired a few shots in the air.
Meanwhile, police have taken the body into custody and the cremation will be held this evening in presence of close relatives who have decided to relent, the SSP said.
After receiving a shot in its arm with the joining of six dissident Congress MLAs in Tripura, the Trinamool Congress today said it will now organise a movement against CPI(M) to oust it from power.
"Now they are members of our family and will organise a movement against the ruling CPI(M) to oust them from the helm of affairs and free the people of Tripura from their tyranny," Roy said after reaching here from Kolkata to accept the MLAs into the party fold.
"Today is a historic day because from this day we have entered Tripura Assembly. Only Mamata Banerjee and her party can oust the CPI(M) from power, which was proved in West Bengal. It is our mission to oust the CPI(M) in the 2018 state election," he said.
Alleging that law and order has collapsed in the state and common people have no safety and security, Roy said that he along with the MLAs who have joined TMC, would meet Governor Tathagata Roy and submit a memorandum on the issue.
Sudip Roy Burman, who had resigned from the post of the Leader of Opposition in Tripura Assembly ahead of the polls in West Bengal, protesting the Congress-CPI(M) tie-up in that state, said the six MLAs would now openly work as TMC activists.
In the 60-member House, the Left Front has 50 seats and of the 10 MLAs of Congress, six submitted the letter to the Speaker.
"We are not under the purview of anti-defection act because two-third majority of Congress MLAs have joined TMC," he added.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today asserted that illegal mining of minor minerals would be dealt with severely and no one would be allowed to indulge in this unlawful practice.
On the sidelines of his Sangat Darshan programme in Ropar Assembly segment, he said he had already directed the SSP Ropar to take stock of the situation and all-out efforts should be made to put a stop to the menace.
He said severe of severest punishment would be meted out to those are involved in such illegal trade.
Badal said that by and large, mining activity was being carried out in a lawful manner in the region barring few incidents, which would also be checked closely in future.
On allegations levelled by Punjab Congress chief Amarinder
Singh of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley targeting him, his family and especially his son Raninder by investigating agencies like Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate (ED), which were directly under his domain, he said "It is a sheer frustration on the part of Capt Amarinder to accuse anyone blindly rather he should be considerate enough to repose faith in the administrative system because ultimately truth will prevail.
On the issue of clean chit given to Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, Badal said everybody "knew how the Congress leadership through its stalwarts in New Delhi perpetrated genocide in 1984 against innocent Sikhs by killing them".
Referring to objections raised by the Central Board of
Film Certification (CBFC) on the screening of Bollywood film 'Udta Punjab', Badal asked how the state government could be held responsible for it when the censor board was exclusively under the control of central government.
On accusations made by senior Congress leader Sunil Jakhar claiming Punjab government's misleading advertisements on central grants to the state, he said this was cheap politics. He added that if there was any crunch, the state would not have been able to give free power to the farmers worth Rs 5,000 crore annually besides launching several pro-farmer initiatives like free health insurance to provide free treatment to them up to Rs 50,000.
"The state government is disbursing development grants worth rupees several crores during the various Sangat Darshan programmes held across the state and if the state was cash strapped, then where this money is coming from?" Badal asked.
(Reopens DES 67)
Meanwhile, Amarinder accused Badal of playing "dirty and cheap" politics over the surgical strikes to "promote his political interests". He rejected Badal's allegations against him as ridiculous.
"No sane person would even think of taking these charges seriously for a minute," he said in a statement here this evening.
He was reacting to Badal's charges that he had endorsed Pakistan's stand on surgical strikes and the pre-emptive civil evacuation from the border areas.
"As a loyal ex-soldier of the Indian Army who has battled Pakistan at the borders, it is laughable to even think that I would ever contemplate favouring Pak stand over my own country," Amarinder said, adding he had stoutly backed the surgical strikes and stood by the Army's decision.
Amarinder asked Badal to show even single statement in which he had either opposed the army's action or favoured Pakistan's stand on the issue.
"I was among the first to advocate army action against Pakistan in the wake of the Uri terror attack," he declared.
"Either come out with some concrete evidence to support your charges or make a public apology," he demanded of Badal.
"It is people like Badal who are actually committing the unpardonable sin of dragging our armed forces into his own dirty political game for petty vested interests," he said.
However, he reiterated his view that the evacuation of residents from the border villages was "simply a tactic to whip up war hysteria and not at all necessary".
"No evacuation was undertaken during the 1965, 1971 and Kargil wars against Pakistan nor during the heightened tension at the time of Operations Brasstacks and Parakaram," he said.
SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung SDS Co Ltd <018260.KS> said on Tuesday it is considering spinning off its logistics process outsourcing business, and will consider acquisitions and new businesses to increase external customer sales.
Samsung SDS, which handles some of Samsung Electronics' <005930.KS> global logistics process outsourcing, said in a regulatory filing it had reported to its board of directors about the spinoff under consideration, but gave no details.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Stephen Coates)
With an aim to make REITs more attractive to investors, markets regulator Sebi plans to relax its norms to allow these Trusts to invest more in under- construction assets and have a larger number of sponsors.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had put in place its regulations for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in September 2014, but these Trusts have not generated enough interest among investors and industry players who have been seeking further measures to make them attractive.
While the government has already announced various taxation related and other sops for REITs, Sebi has now decided to further amend its regulations by taking into account representations received from various quarters.
A proposal to amend REIT Regulations would be placed before Sebi's Board next week, after which a consultation paper would be floated for seeking further comments from various stakeholders before making the final changes to the norms, a senior official said.
A consultation process is already underway for making the InViT (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) Regulations.
Besides representations from the industry for making changes to REIT Regulations, Sebi has also held several meetings with market participants and industry bodies including about steps required to smoothen the process of seeking registration with Sebi and launching of an offer.
India's real estate sector has grown rapidly in recent years and the growing scale of operations of corporate sector has increased the demand for commercial buildings, office spaces, shopping centres, warehouses and conference centres.
For such assets, REITs have been preferred investment vehicles globally and can be so in India too.
Among the proposed changes, Sebi plans to remove the restriction on the SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) to invest in other SPVs holding the assets, which in turn would allow REITs to invest in a holding company owning stake in SPVs.
It is being proposed that the REIT would hold controlling interest and at least 50 per cent equity in the Holding Company. The Holding Company can in turn hold controlling interest and at least 50 per cent equity in underlying SPV.
A large proportion of real estate projects in India are financed by financial institutions on project-finance basis where lenders require a pledge on shares of the SPV.
In such cases, if the SPV is held directly by the SPV, the lenders would want pledge of the SPV shares held by the REIT and this might not be attractive for REIT investors with the existing restriction. Currently, an SPV is required to hold at least 80 per cent of its assets directly and cannot invest in other SPVs.
Another proposed move is to allow the REITs to have up to five sponsors, as against the current norm for maximum three.
Besides, it is being proposed that holdings in REIT may be held by a sponsor with its group companies or associates, all of whom would be counted as one.
It was felt that the current norm could be restrictive in case of a sponsor group holding interest through group firms or individuals.
Sebi also plans to rationalise the requirements under the Related Party Transactions, under which approval of 60 per cent unitholders apart from related parties, is required for passing a related party transaction.
Further, approval is required of 75 per cent unitholders, apart from related parties, for passing special resolutions such as change in investment manager, investment strategy and delisting of units.
Another current provision requires that units offered to the public should be at least 25 per cent. This would be aligned with Sebi regulations about the public offer size of 25 per cent, or 10 per cent initially with an eventual raising of public holding to 25 per cent.
In case of change in control of sponsor entity of account of a sale, if the number of unit holders, other than related parties, falls below 200 or the public float slips below 25 per cent, the trustees are required to seek a delisting.
It is now being proposed to relax this provision by allowing the new sponsor a one-year window to comply with the public holding requirements by secondary sale or dilution through a fresh issuance of units.
One of the major proposals relate to allowing REITs to invest up to 20 per cent in under-construction projects.
The existing regulations require at least 80 per cent of the value of REIT assets should be invested, in proportion to the holding of the REITs, in completed and rent-generating assets.
Of the remaining 20 per cent, not more than 10 per cent can be invested in under-construction properties and in 'not-completed and non-rent generating properties'.
It is being proposed now that the REITs can invest up to 20 per cent in under-construction assets, while at least 80 per cent should continue to be invested in completed and rent- generating properties.
The proposal would provide greater flexibility to the REIT manager in determining the composition of REIT and also help widen the portfolio and therefore the size of the REIT by adding projects that are at various stages of constructions.
Also, if some part of an under-construction property has got Occupancy Certificate, that portion would be considered 'completed property' and the remainder would be 'under-construction' property.
Most of the international REIT regulations in fact permit up to 25 per cent of investment in other than real estate.
Changes are being proposed in rules governing the trustees and associates as well, pursuant to which associates of the trustees would no longer form part of the parties to the REIT.
Besides, associates of trustees would be allowed to invest in units of such REIT, subject to such transactions being conducted at an arm's length basis.
Also, the disclosure of litigations related to associates of trustee would not be required to be given.
Sebi has also received representations that the rules do not have an explicit provision with respect to the liability of unitholders and more clarity may be required for entities such as insurance companies (who invest on behalf of their investors) to invest in REITs.
Accordingly, Sebi has decided to clearly clarify that the unitholder would be an investor and its rights and obligations would be limited to the amount of its investment.
Also, a developer would be allowed to function as a sponsor if at least two projects of the sponsor, or its associates, have been completed. The current norms do not provide the leeway of associates' projects being considered.
With the issue over call drops refusing to die down, Telecom Secretary J S Deepak has called a meeting of CEOs of mobile service providers to discuss that and much more.
"The telecom secretary has called a meeting of CEOs of telecom companies on June 10 to discuss issues in the sector and call drops," a source told PTI.
In the latest test drive conducted by the Trai in Delhi, the state-owned telecom operator MTNL failed on all network-based quality of service parameters.
"Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance, Aircel and Idea need to further improve the call drop rate performance. The CDMA operators and MTNL need to improve across all parameters in order to offer acceptable levels of service," Trai said in the report.
As per the report for Delhi, Aircel and Vodafone have been using radio-link technology (RLT) beyond the levels their peers follow. RLT is one of the parameters which decides for how long the call should be sustained if the signal quality drops below a certain threshold. As per an official source, some telecom operators are using it for masking call drops, resulting in higher bills for subscribers.
Worried about the problem, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has sought more powers to penalise mobile operators as most of them have failed to meet the quality benchmark in this regard.
The Supreme Court recently quashed a rule that mandated telecom operators to compensate consumers Re 1 for each call drop with the upper limit at Rs 3 per day.
At present, disputes between consumers and telecom operators are not taken up by consumer courts as a Supreme Court judgement of 2009 had barred seeking any such relief under the Consumer Protection Act, saying a special remedy is provided under the Indian Telegraph Act.
The National Telecom Policy 2012 envisages to undertake legislative measures to bring disputes between telecom consumers and service providers within the jurisdiction of consumer forums established under the Consumer Protection Act.
However, it is yet to be executed by the government.
Telecom industry body COAI has questioned regulator Trai's call-drop test results as operators say the issue is limited to the areas where they face problems in installing towers.
The European Union executive proposed easing access on Tuesday to the EU job market for qualified foreigners to offer legal paths to Europe rather than irregular immigration and to fill skills gaps in the labour force.
The European Commission wants to reinvigorate its Blue Card scheme - akin to the U.S. Green Card - which has failed to gain widespread use over the past four years. Fewer than 14,000 were granted last year, nearly all of them by Germany.
At the same time, Germany took in most of the 1.3 million refugees and migrants who reached Europe, mostly via smuggling routes. The influx triggered bitter spats among EU states on how to handle the people and calls to promote legal ways to Europe.
As well as lowering the minimum salary that jobs must offer before being open to Blue Card applicants, the proposals would extend eligibility to some of those who have arrived irregularly in Europe and are now seeking asylum.
"Early and effective integration of third-country nationals is key to making migration a benefit for the economy and cohesion of our society," Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said.
"At the same time, we have to better equip our systems to deal with labour market and skills shortages in the future."
The scheme is aimed at highly qualified workers who get a job offer in the EU, with the minimum duration of the contract halved to 6 months from 12. Britain, which will hold a national referendum on June 23 on whether to leave the 28-nation bloc, does not take part in the system. Nor do Ireland and Denmark.
The Commission wants to lower the salary threshold for the scheme to make more jobs available. It could go as low as an EU member state's national average wage, or to just 80% of that for recent graduates or professionals in sectors suffering from labour shortages. At present, Blue Cards are only issued to skilled professionals earning 50% more than the average.
EU states would still be allowed to decide how many people they want allow under the scheme, which would also be extended to refugees if they can prove professional qualifications.
The scheme offers fast-track access to permanent residence and Brussels also wants to make travelling easier for holders.
The Commission said the scheme would benefit the bloc's economy. It said some 20 million foreigners were legally resident in the EU at present, some four percent of the bloc's population. But migrants - especially women - saw considerably lower employment rates compared to host country nationals.
"The short-term impact on growth is mainly driven by additional spending, while labour market participation is expected to be key in determining the impact in the medium to long term," the Commission said, estimating a revamped Blue Card could add 0.2% to the bloc's economic growth in 2017.
Brussels said in November the estimated arrival of some 3 million migrants in Europe in 2015-2017 would help economic growth if the people are well integrated into the workforce.
Austria's central bank on Monday has cut growth forecasts for the country for this year and next, partly because a decision to take in fewer asylum seekers means the stimulus from public spending on them will be smaller. (Reuters)
Source: www.businessworld.ie
Britons narrowly favor remaining in the European Union according to two polls published in Tuesday's newspapers, in contrast to surveys released on Monday which showed the campaign for Brexit ahead.
Support for remaining in the EU had a one-point lead in both an online YouGov survey published for The Times newspaper and an ORB telephone poll of those definite to vote conducted for The Daily Telegraph.
Britons will vote on June 23 on whether to remain part of the EU, a choice with far-reaching consequences for politics, the economy, defense and diplomacy but divergent polls have made it difficult to predict the outcome.
The 'Remain' campaign rose by 2 percentage points to 43% in the YouGov survey, overtaking the 'Leave' side which fell to 42% in a poll of 2,001 adults conducted on June 5 and 6.
In an ORB telephone poll released on Monday, support for remaining in the bloc fell but held a one-point lead over those wishing to leave the EU, smaller than the five-point difference in the pollster's previous survey published on May 30.
Telephone polls have generally shown "remain" ahead by a comfortable margin whilst online polls have pointed to a tighter race that "leave" could win making it difficult to predict the outcome of the referendum.
Two online polls published on Monday by pollsters YouGov and ICM showed a swing towards "Out" as both campaigns seek to win over undecided voters with warnings over the economy and immigration.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Lynton Crosby, the political strategist behind Prime Minister David Cameron's election victory, said that 'Remain' had improved its overall performance according to ORB but when the findings were weighted according to the likelihood to vote, 'Leave' was catching up.
"The clear trend over the course of ORB's polls for the Daily Telegraph shows that Leave campaign has a turnout advantage over the Remain campaign," he said. (Reuters)
Source: www.businessworld.ie
About us
It was announced today that two UCC researchers have received 115,000 funding for a project that will see them investigate the digital consent process for patients who provide their health data to a variety of websites and patient centric social media platforms.
The CHASM Project (Consenting HeAlth related data through Social Media) will investigate the digital consent process for patients using social media platforms (SMPs) in order to develop best practice design guidelines for the developers while placing the end-users, which are the patients, at the centre of the process.
Dr. Ciara Heavin and Dr. Yvonne OConnor from the Health Information Systems Research Centre (HISRC), Business Information Systems in UCC were successful in receiving funding for the CHASM Project from the Wellcome Trust.
The Wellcome Trust exists to improve health for everyone by helping great ideas to thrive by supporting scientists and researchers through funding.
The 12 month CHASM Project will commence in August with a team of three. The aims of the project are to enhance awareness regarding patient ownership of online health data/ information, identify best practice design guidelines targeted at software developers of social media technologies and strike a balance between data openness and data privacy and to propose new visual approaches for obtaining informed consent electronically which could be utilised in future electronic-health research.
Dr. Heavin commented, "In a world where we increasingly use online health resources to support our individual health needs, it has never been more important to help users understand how their personal health data is being used."
She added, "Through CHASM, we aim to move beyond the traditional text and jargon heavy online patient consent forms to support patients in their understanding of where and how their personal health data will be used in the future."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
About us
Irelands largest premium shopping destination, Dundrum Town Centre and the RDS have announced that Dundrum Town Centre will be the title sponsor of Ladies Day at the 2016 Dublin Horse Show for the second year running.
Ladies Day at the Dublin Horse Show is one of the longest running and most prestigious Ladies Day outings and the social highlight of the year for many.
This year, the Dundrum Town Centre Ladies Day will take place on Thursday, 21st July and will feature a number of categories including the Dundrum Town Centre Best Dressed Lady.
In line with last year, the winner of the Dundrum Town Centre Best Dressed Lady category will walk away with a 10,000 Dundrum Town Centre Voucher.
The show will take place earlier this year to accommodate the Rio Olympics and will run from July 20th 24th at the historic grounds of the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) in Ballsbridge, Dublin.
The Show is now in its 143rd year and is one of Irelands premier sporting and social events, attracting approx. 100,000 domestic and international visitors during its five days.
Judges on the day will be top model and blogger, Louise OReilly and fashion editor, Bairbre Power. TV3 presenter, Laura Woods will return as guest MC on the day.
Chief Executive of the RDS, Michael Duffy commented, "The RDS is delighted to have Dundrum Town Centre return as title sponsor for Ladies Day at the Dublin Horse Show this July. We believe this is a strong partnership that complements both parties and are looking forward to a day full of fashion, style and fun for all."
Dundrum Town Centre Director, Don Nugent added, "It is a great pleasure to be associated with the Ladies Day at the Dublin Horse Show for the second year and with the RDS located just 10 minutes drive from Dundrum, it is a natural fit. We were thrilled with the number of entrants last year and hope to top this on July 21st."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
A new campaign aimed at enticing Irish expats to come back to Ireland to take up roles in the IT, Engineering and Science sectors has been launched by recruitment company, Experis Ireland.
In recent months, Experis Ireland has seen a significantly increased demand for a wide range of IT roles across the country, particularly in Dublin, Kildare and Galway.
There has also been an upsurge in the requirement for professionals in the Life Sciences sector, particularly from pharmaceutical and medical devices companies across Muster and other regional locations.
Experis Ireland has teamed up with Borderless Talent, a community hub for global job seekers, to reach out to expats living overseas predominantly in Australia and New Zealand.
As a result, Experis Ireland have devised the No Craic Like Home campaign to communicate to Irish people living abroad that more roles in IT, Engineering and Science are now available in Ireland and given the bounce in the Irish economy, that its a good time to think about coming home.
The recruitment specialists are running a series of webinars where Andrew Crawford, Head of Experis Ireland, is linking up with those interested in returning home to discuss the opportunities available and the rapidly improving lifestyle back home.
Head of Experis Ireland, Andrew Crawford commented, "With the recent increase in investment and jobs comes the need for skilled workers, Experis Ireland and Borderless Talent saw an opportunity and as a result, the campaign 'No Craic Like Home was born."
He added, "We know that many Irish abroad would like to come home, but the state of the economy in the past meant it was better for them financially and professionally to stay away. However, this has changed and now there are significant opportunities here for career advancement and financial gain."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
It was announced today that a UK-based consultancy company today has launched their strategic operations centre in Dublin, creating 19 jobs.
Alien Technology Transfer specialises in project financing, project management, development of concepts and business models for innovative products. They are planning to support their Global growth from their new Irish hub in Dublin City Centre, creating 19 jobs over three years.
The company was introduced to Ireland through ConnectIreland, the company responsible for delivering the Governments Succeed in Ireland initiative, as part of the Action Plan for Jobs, in association with IDA Ireland.
Alien Technology Transfer works with small and medium-sized companies to help them secure grant funding under Horizon 2020.
The Irish operation will be in charge of project management activities and development of business plans for clients across Europe, in sectors including ICT, energy, health, manufacturing, transport and eco-innovation.
Horizon 2020 is an EU-wide Research and Innovation programme with nearly 80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020). The programme, aimed at securing Europe's global competitiveness, focuses on supporting new projects and getting them off the ground quickly.
Today's news has been welcomed by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mary Mitchell OConnor TD, who commented, "Alien Technology Transfer is among a rising number of companies who have decided to set up a European base in Ireland. Once again, this is a testament to our talented Irish workforce and also to Ireland as a great place to do business. I wish Paul and his team all the best for the future."
COO of Alien Technology Transfers Ireland operations, Paul Pietrangelo added, "We chose Dublin for our expansion as it is one of the best places in the world for start-ups to grow and do business. With the presence of both research focused universities and big tech companies, Dublin is a becoming a centre of excellence for innovation. We hope to work with many local start-ups in achieving their financial and commercial goals."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
About us
China is to allow foreign payment card companies to operate in the country, potentially giving groups like Visa Inc and MasterCard access to its 55-trillion-yuan card payment market.
Visa and MasterCard, the world's two largest credit and debit card companies, have been lobbying for more than a decade for direct access to China's cards market, which is projected to become the world's biggest by 2020.
Bank card consumer transactions reached 55 trillion yuan in 2015, accounting for 48% of total social consumption, the central bank said. Presently the market is dominated by state-run China UnionPay Co Ltd.
Rules issued on Tuesday by China's central bank and the China Banking Regulatory Commission include a requirement that applicants hold 1 billion yuan in registered capital in a local company.
The foreign bank card companies must also meet China's national security and cyber security standards and be locally based.
The payment card rules come more than a year after the State Council, China's cabinet, said China would allow foreign firms to operate bank card clearing businesses.
This aimed to address a 2012 ruling by the World Trade Organisation that found China was discriminating against U.S. credit card companies.
"In the future there will be more diverse participants in the domestic bank card market, with many bank card brands competing on a level field," the central bank said in a Q&A published after the release of the rules.
Qualified foreign companies can apply to set up bank card businesses by meeting the same standards and processes required by domestic companies, the central bank said in its statement.
Foreign investors are also allowed to acquire domestic card clearing firms after passing a security review, it said.
Once companies have submitted their applications, the central bank will have 90 days to decide whether to grant an approval. Companies that get a green light will have a year to set up their operations.
A Shanghai-based UnionPay spokesman said the company supported the rules and would compete with other firms fairly and by law under the same supervision.
Reuters could not reach Visa or MasterCard for comment after normal business hours. (Reuters)
Source: www.businessworld.ie
Andrew Lesky appears for a hearing in 1st District Court, Friday, Jan. 15, 2016, in Logan, Utah. Lesky claims that the Cache County Jail confiscated his legal documents, and mail to his attorney, which will hinder him from helping in his defense of attempted aggravated murder and aggravated kidnapping charges.
LOGAN A judge has postponed the three-week attempted murder trial for Andrew Lesky, the 45-year-old former Idaho man who is facing 10 felonies and 17 misdemeanors.
1st District Court Judge Brian Cannell ruled Tuesday morning to continue the trial until October, so that attorneys can prepare arguments on several motions Lesky has filed. They include requests to dismiss the charges, change the venue and relocate him to the Box Elder County jail.
Lesky was arrested in April 2014, after reportedly trying to shoot his ex-girlfriend outside her apartment. It is also alleged he threatened her and another man with a handgun and a knife.
Prosecutors later filed additional charges against him, accusing him of aggravated assault, burglary, stalking, criminal trespass and other counts that occurred prior to his arrest. He has also been charged with damaging his jail cell and spitting at deputies.
According to Lesky, jail staff are intercepting his mail and phone calls with his attorney. He has also said, he has been treated inhumanely while incarcerated. The most recent incident reportedly occurred last week, when deputies searched his cell.
During Tuesdays hearing, Judge Cannell rescheduled Leskys trial to begin October 11. He also set a hearing date for July 20 to consider the latest motions.
will@cvradio.com
Energy transition: missed opportunity for Belgium?
Published on June 6, 2016
en
fr
es
de
it
pl
The benefits of integrating more green energies in the EU global energy mix are constantly being praised by European policy-makers. The momentum is ready and member States are expected to deliver. But, Belgium seems to be lagging behind. Focus.
24 million. Thats how many jobs the production of renewables energies could create if they were doubled at a worldwide scale in the 15 years to come. According to a study by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) published in January 2016, if the production of these energies was doubled, worlds GDP would grow by 0.6% and up to 1.1% by 2030. But what is it like in Belgium? Cafebabel tells you why the country is still lagging behind.
Respecting European energy-related commitments to gain benefits
Every country uses in its own proportions and according to its needs the different energies it requires: this what we call the energy mix. Currently in Belgium, green energies such as solar energy, wind energy, or hydraulic energy amount to about 7.10% of its final energy consumption. It should reach 13% by 2020 to meet European requirements. But following the 2015 Federal Planning Bureaus forecast, it should only reach 10% instead of the 13% of renewables set for 2020, if there is not a single change in policies.
However, the benefits linked to a better integration of renewables in the global energy mix of each member States seem very real: reducing the bill for imported energies, growth in the number of jobs in this field and stabilisation, and even reducing the bill for consumers.
Some very interesting points, at least from an economic point of view. And we can add to that all the obvious environmental benefits we already know we could get out of them.
Reducing fossil energies imports and increasing our energy efficiency
It is important to note that Belgium relies at 94% on its energy imports, and mainly from non-European countries. This spending amounts to 18 billion euros yearly. Which is, by the way, a third of the Belgians trade balance deficit. In the mean time, the Federal Planning Bureaus forecast shows that in different scenarios in which the share of renewables is greatly increased (from 39% to 45% by 2050 depending on the scenario) energies import would decrease by over 40%.
Thanks to the decrease of fossil energies imports, as petroleum and coal, 12 billion euros would be saved in 2050. Which would reduce Belgiums trade balance deficit by a half. However, we need to keep in mind that even in the hypothetical case of 100% renewables by 2050, Belgium would still have to import biomass and electricity.
The reduction of fossil energies imports comes side by side with the reduction of energy consumption, or rather a better energy efficiency for example in public buildings. A rational use of energies comes de facto from a global reduction from users and from the system in general. This allows renewables to improve their profitability and to be better integrated within the electricity network.
But a better energy efficiency also would also come from deep changes in Belgian peoples consumption habits thanks to a greater involvement in their energy management, and their participation to the system in its whole. Well get back to that.
Towards an increase in jobs related to renewables
In 2011, in Belgium, around 16,650 people were working in the field of renewable energies, in all sectors. According to the Federal Planning Bureaus forecast, a transition towards 100% renewable energies in Belgium by 2050 would create up until 60,000 additional jobs.
And all of this would not cause a lot of job losses as fossil energies are currently imported from abroad and the nuclear sector directly employs around 8,000 people. Direct jobs in supplying, the network and transportation would be preserved and adapted to the needs of these new energies.
Moreover, necessary important investments will also be at the source of new jobs creation thanks to the increase of renewables and even before these green energies are actually implemented on the market thanks to research, major infrastructure work and market reorganisation.
What about my bill?
Belgium is one of European countries with the heftiest bills.
According to the Commission for the Regulation of Electricity and Gas (CREG), the end cost for electricity in Belgium rose by an average of 44% for domestic customers between 2007 and 2015. The result? Prices in Belgium are 9% higher in average than in its European neighbours.
However, we can hope for a medium term stabilisation of consumers bills: these forecasts show that with a similar scenario as right now, and without any special measures taken, the cost of electricity will keep increasing for consumers and will only level off by 2030 around 200 euros/MWh (Megawatt per hour), taxes included. And contrary to common beliefs, renewables can limit this increase, since investments linked to their deployment will be absorbed.
It is obvious that such an energy transition will represent a massive investment: 50 billion euros between 2001 and 2050. Being as much as Belgian subsidies for fossil energy between 1950 and 2025.
A new deal for energy consumers - European Parliament
It remains to be known whether Belgian energy policies will be ambitious enough to be able to tell about economic, social and environmental benefits advantages. And to know whether or not consumers will be taught with pedagogy, so that they can take part in the energy transition process as well and get full advantage of the situation.
___
This article within the framework of cafebabels partnership with the European Sustainable Energy Week.
Translated from Transition verte : occasion manquee en Belgique ?
Exit Left: A reluctant case for Brexit
Published on June 15, 2016
Story by James Whitehead
en
es
it
fr
de
pl
Dominant discourse surrounding the debate mostly centres on fear and wishful thinking. For a minority on the British left however, the referendum poses an uninspiring dilemma. Opinion piece.
The EU referendum is divided into three camps: the remainers, the Brexiteers, and those who are undecided. Across the British media landscape, the figureheads of the Remain and Leave campaigns, David Cameron and Boris Johnson respectively, have built faulty structural arguments, with both camps resorting to scaremongering and trading in personal criticisms.
For the most part, news media have simply held a microphone up to this Conservative conflict, allowing their screeches to pierce the ears of the public. It's no wonder people have constantly demanded that politicians give us some concrete facts.
The three categories of the dominant discourse
From Remain campaigners on the political right, the basis is predominantly economic. Trading with the rest of the EU member states benefits the British economy cheaper imported goods benefit customers, and British businesses benefit that depend on exports.
A video from Britain Stronger in Europe, the David Cameron backed Remain campaign
Those further to the right disagree, putting a stronger emphasis on immigration. Exiting the EU would enable Britain to pull up the drawbridge on European migration. They also point to the EU's democratic deficit; its unelected executive (the Commission) and powerless legislative body (Parliament), in which national turnouts often fail to get beyond 20%.
On the left, the majority wants to remain, pointing to the fact that the EU has guaranteed peace between its member countries for over half a century. What's more, progressive policies can be pushed through by the EU in more open and democratic ways to form a social Europe benefitting all of its citizens not just the large corporations at the top.
Blind optimism
Unfortunately, the dominant left wing case for remain is built on very shaky foundations of optimism. The EU is not a collective progressive force. While some of its founders envisaged a socially minded Europe one for citizens and workers this has never materialised.
In its original form, the EU consisted of the integration of certain elements of member states economies, with the aim of forging co-dependency and ensuring peace. This has been incredibly effective even though it fails to explain the role the EU plays when member states wage war outside the continent, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis due to its disunity and lack of concrete policy. Socially, the weaknesses of EU Parliament have shown themselves to be polarising by the day, with many states retreating into nationalistic tendencies.
Recent events have drawn the EU's fundamental setbacks into sharp focus. The economic crisis further demonstrated the power of an anti-democratic executive, alignment with the troika in their punishment of Greece. This consisted of imposing austerity, demolishing the Greek economy and public sector (privatisation and deregulation are common policies pushed by the EU), and demanding that banks (some of whom knowingly sold toxic assets) be paid back with the same money given to Greece to avoid bankruptcy.
A European Union for the people?
When asked what he thought of Western civilisation, Gandhi once replied, "I think it would be a good idea." Like many, I want an EU for the people, not for big business. I want pan-European solidarity, not a return to nationalism. A social, democratic Europe that offers economic and social benefits for all especially the most vulnerable people rather than the current dismantling of public sectors and social securities that many depend on.
Banners displayed at the European institutions in Strasbourg read: "Democracy, Human Rights, Rule of Law." However limited these may be across the EU, they should not be restriction to EU residents. These three fundamental rights are universal, and need to also be offered to those fleeing their homes in search for safety, who have come to Europe on the assumption that we really do defend human rights and the right to a dignified and peaceful life.
A spokesman for refugees and migrants recently said in Strasbourg: "There are two types of people fleeing: one is searching for a better life. The others are searching for life." The EU is failing both groups, to the point where I am ashamed to be a citizen of such a union.
Exit left?
A leftist exit would be a reluctant one. It's an uncomfortable group that is not pushing to leave if it means that a Conservative government could spend four years dismantling what rights and social protections British people do have thanks to the EU.
A campaign publicity video from Vote Leave
If there are no fundamental changes in the EU's architecture and if it continues its inhumane treatment of some of the world's most vulnerable people it would not be a huge disappointment to leave.
While we have witnessed a rise of a nationalistic, anti-immigration right in many European countries, the left has also been stretched further in Spain, Portugal, Greece, and the British Labour party under Corbyn. One hope is that these emerging left wing trends expand and interact. Yet for a pan-European who's critical of the EU, the referendum offers an uninspiring dilemma.
---
This article was published by our local team at cafebabel Aarhus.
Story by James Whitehead
Trans Journalist in Turkey: "This society is hypocritical"
Published on June 7, 2016
en
fr
pl
de
it
es
Michelle Demishevich is a woman born into a man's body. For the media, she became the "first trans woman journalist in Turkey" a label that she can't seem to shake. Michelle tells us the story of her ongoing battles: between marginalisation, physical and verbal violence, and the hypocrisy of the media and society.
On the terrace of a cafe a stone's throw from Taksim square, Michelle, a trans woman who was born into a man's body, explains how she chose her name from the Beatles' song she repeatedly heard in childhood.
She comes from a family of Macedonian origin, and in addition decided to recover her original surname. It had been modified by the Turkish State when her family arrived in the country after fleeing the Second World War. "It was important to recover my surname because it is part of who I am," Michelle explains, referring about how she was reborn in 1999 following her gender reassignment operation.
Even if she seems proud of being described as "a trans woman journalist", she also pokes fun at the identities it presumes. "Identity is nothing; I am a human being above all else. After that I'm a journalist, a woman, a trans person... I am Michelle who makes the best carrot cakes in the world, who likes flowers, who feeds animals"
"As if I had a gun pointed at my forehead"
With a cigarette in her hand, Michelle, beautiful with her long fair hair, discusses the verbal and physical stigmatisation she is victim to on a daily basis. "Living as a trans woman, I feel threatened every day as if I had a gun pointed at my forehead." This feeling of insecurity manifests as a limitation of her freedom. "At home, when I'm with trans friends, we are discrete. We dim the lights at night, our telephones are on silent, and we speak in a low voice for fear of being attacked..."
Dressed in a long green dress and denim jacket she adds: "I do everything I can to not stand out in the street, on the bus or anywhere when I'm outside. I don't wear lipstick and wear loose clothes, whereas I would like to wear make-up, show my legs, dress in heels, feel sexy and feminine."
Michelle discusses the daily remarks and glances she attracks in the street. Recently, while she was feeding some stray cats near her house, a child spat in her face. "I went home crying, washed my face, and returned to feed the animals. I don't want such experiences to prevent me from doing what I find important."
In Turkey, verbal and physical aggression against trans women is common currency. Michelle recounts her nightmare experience in 2006 when the police entered her home without apparent motive and took her to the station. There, she was tortured and raped before being thrown out onto the pavement.
In other cases, similar violence has led to murder. Our first scheduled meeting with Michelle was cancelled after the murder of one of her friends. If a suspect has been arrested, Michelle is still awaiting confirmation of a sentence. Discrimination against trans people is also present in the judicial system. Judges can apply the mitigating circumstance of "strong provocation" to violent crimes committed against the trans community, reducing the sentencing of the accused.
"This society is hypocritical," explains Michelle. She uses the example of Turkish judgement towards trans sexual workers, even though their services are highly coveted.
"We live in a society that refuses trans women," says Michelle, reasserting that above all, they are women. In Turkey, trans women are often discarded by society, perceived as perverse or disrespectable people. She explains that society sees their decision as a rejection of male identity; refusing to be a man by becoming a woman is viewed as treason towards masculinity.
She believes that James Brown's song It's a Man's World accurately describes the prevailing patriarchal system. "In Turkey, the state is male, justice is male and the media is male. The male identity has become a sacred institution."
A report by Michelle Demishevich for her former TV channel, IMC TV.
"I changed everything in my life, except my profession"
In what Michelle refers to as her "former life" she was also a journalist. "I changed everything in my life, except my profession," she explains. "I realigned my heart with my body, but my journalistic talents are still there."
When she left her birthplace of Izmir and arrived in Istanbul in 1999, she was not welcome in the newsroom. For seven years she worked as an artistic assistant in night clubs, later a manager and administrative employee.
After having worked for the Turkish chain IMC TV for nearly two years she was dismissed as a result of a "change of direction". The reason for her dismissal remains vague. Michelle works today as a freelance journalist. On Facebook and Twitter, she shares daily articles testifying to violence against women, the LGBT community, and Kurds. She fights for the rights of all marginalised and abused individuals.
The journalist criticises the over prevalence of men in media. "In Turkey, the media belongs to men. Have you seen a woman CEO in the mainstream media? That doesn't exist here." Although the situation has slightly progressed in Turkey, Michelle describes female journalists as too often confined to "women's" issues or working for less renowned papers.
With her characteristic outspokenness, she describes Turkish journalism as nationalist, racist, transphobic and sexist. According to Michelle, newspapers rarely report on the murders of trans women in the country, and when they do they do it badly. She often reads articles that mention the names of murdered trans women, while stressing that their chosen names are pseudonyms. In doing so, journalists deny their identity and, in Michelle's view, kill them a second time.
Michelle hopes to change the male-orientated language of the media. She doesn't hesitate to contact Turkish publications when she reads transphobic news reports in their pages, but her letters too often remain unanswered.
Today, she rarely dreams. She simply wants to live her life without being the object of daily verbal abuse, to be able to hold her girlfriend's hand in the street without feeling concerned or ashamed. Her will to fight society's hypocrisy is infallible: "I could die or fall victim to hate crime, there is always this possibility in my life. But I do what I do to pave the way for other Michelles."
---
Interview translated from Turkish by Muhsin Dogu Yuceil.
---
Mind the gap presents #Sheroes, a series of portraits about young people who advocate gender equality and campaign against discrimination.
---
Mind the gap: Changing the conversation about gender equality.
Story by claire corrion
Translated from Journaliste trans en Turquie : Cette societe est hypocrite
This is a key distressed market to follow since Las Vegas has seen the largest price decline of any of the Case-Shiller composite 20 cities.
The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported Southern Nevada Home Prices Heat Up Heading Into Summer, GLVAR Housing Statistics for May 2016
According to GLVAR, the total number of existing local homes, condominiums and townhomes sold in May was 3,349, down slightly from 3,363 total sales in May of 2015. Compared to the same month one year ago, 1.6 percent fewer homes, but 4.9 percent more condos and townhomes sold in May.
...
By the end of May, GLVAR reported 7,626 single-family homes listed without any sort of offer. Thats up 6.9 percent from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 2,237 properties listed without offers in May represented a 1.4 percent decrease from one year ago.
GLVAR continued to report declines in distressed sales and a corresponding increase in traditional home sales, where lenders are not controlling the transaction. In May, 4.5 percent of all local sales were short sales when lenders allow borrowers to sell a home for less than what they owe on the mortgage. Thats down from 7.3 percent of all sales one year ago. Another 6.1 percent of all May sales were bank-owned, down from 8.0 percent one year ago.
emphasis added
1) Overall sales were down 0.4% year-over-year.2) The percent of cash sales decreased year-over-year from 29.1% in May 2015 to 28.2% in May 2016. Cash buying peaked in February 2013 at 59.5%. This has been trending down.3) Non-contingent inventory for single-family homes was up 6.9% year-over-year. Inventory for condos was down 1.4%. Inventory is important to watch - and inventory is still tight, but increasing.
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.
AC Service Tech Commercial & Residential Full time with benefits Apply at 2521 Antelope St An EEO/AA Employer MF/Disability/Veteran
4535 SPID STE #1 between Everhart/Weber 14,000 sf, 29 ft. ceilings sprinkler sys, SPID signage www.owens-brothers.com 361-906-0033
$ The Price Is Right $ CASH$$ For Your HOME Richard Serna Real Estate,Inc 993-8288 or 765-7425
in one lot for sale. Great investment, need work. Asking $68,900 firm. Serious buyers only. Call 512-587-4168 or (210)445-5136 (in CC, TX area)
S. TX HUNTING/ RECREATIONAL LAND. KINNEY, LIVE OAK, JIM WELLS OR DUVAL CO. DEER, HOGS, TURKEY. STARTING AT $1,800 DOWN, $298/MO. 866-286-0199 ranchenterprisesltd.com
3 Bdrm, 2 Bath, 2 Car Gar. Up River Rd. Very large yard, $1500/mo. $750 dep. No pets. (361)756-1485
OCTOBER SPECIAL! Avail Now! Northwest Area. Gar. Apt. Fully furn, located at a private residence, all bills pd. $795/mo. $250 dep. Bkgrd check. No smoking. 779-7238
Spacious, Remodeled Town Home 2/2.5, living rm, kit & din, w/d conn., close to schools, good neighborhood. (361)549-4335
1226 HARBOR LIGHTS BEAUTIFUL 3/2/2 $1500/mo 3742 N. SAXET 3/2/2+ rear gar apt $1400/mo 361.888.8045
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Weezer will perform June 11 at Concrete Street Amphitheater with Panic! at the Disco.
SHARE
By Fares Sabawi of the Caller-Times
Tickets are nearly sold out for Weezer and Panic! at the Disco's Corpus Christi stop at Concrete Street Amphitheater on Saturday night during the bands' Summer Tour 2016.
Corpus Christi fans have been looking forward to the show since it was announced in mid-January.
Both rock groups will be performing tracks from their new albums.
Weezer's self titled album, which came out April, is referred to by fans as the "White Album." The concept album features singles like "Thank God for Girls" and "King of the World." It will be Weezer's first performance in Corpus Christi.
Panic! at the Disco's album "Death of a Bachelor" dropped in January, and features tracks like "Hallelujah" and "Victorious."
Twitter: @Caller_Fares
SHARE
By Beatriz Alvarado of the Caller-Times
H.M. King High School incoming freshman will be the first cohort to partake in the school's newest designation.
As of Wednesday, the school is not only an early college high school, it's also a Texas Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (T-STEM) Academy.
The school was among 23 designated as a T-STEM academy this month, a Texas Education Agency News release states.
Each campus will rigorously focus on improving instruction and academic performance in science and math-related subjects and increasing the number of students who study and enter science, math, technology and engineering careers. Once a campus is designated, professional development and technical assistance are provided to the academies.
Kingsville ISD spokesman Emilio B. Flores said because the campus is an early college high school, applying for the designation wasn't daunting.
"A lot of the (criteria) they were asking for we already had in place," Flores said of advanced courses and specialized classes, like robotics. "We have the focus and now we want to take it higher. The early college designation helped with the pathway."
Before the 2011-12 school year, the only path to becoming a T-STEM academy was through a TEA grant. Campuses can now use other sources of funding to become eligible for the designation.
"Overall we're excited," Flores said. "It's a great opportunity for students to learn to think outside the box."
Twitter: @CallerBetty
SHARE CALLER-TIMES FILE
The Federal Aviation Administration has said that 86 proposed wind turbines south of Corpus Christi don't pose a hazard to air navigation. That's not the same as saying they don't pose a hazard to military flight training, the transmission of broadcast signals, or the city's growth. Those issues are important to the future of Corpus Christi too important to remain unaddressed while the wind project moves forward.
Navy and city officials have raised these issues. Those officials do not have the authority to stop a wind farm. But at least their concerns should be investigated thoroughly enough to be put to rest or spelled out.
The FAA says it studied the 86 proposed turbines and decided that they don't pose a hazard to air navigation as long as they are marked properly with paint and lighting. The turbines were studied individually, according to the FAA. That sounds impressively thorough.
Still, it's one thing for experienced pilots to fly in and out of Corpus Christi International Airport safely and another for new pilots from Naval Air Station Corpus Christi to undergo primary training in the vicinity of wind farms. The Navy is awaiting a study that will look at the effects of multiple wind turbines rather than 86 turbines considered individually.
The Navy's top air training official has said not enough is known about wind farms' effect on training to say it's safe. If the Navy finds itself having to make compromises to accommodate multiple wind turbines, chances are it'll look for venues where fewer compromises need to be made. The Navy base has been in operation continuously since 1941. It is credited with doubling the city's size between 1940 and 1950 and remains a major source of income. Its departure would be devastating.
The FAA's declaration, reported last week, is great news for the wind energy developer, Apex Clean Energy, supporters of wind energy as one of the answers to climate change, and the owners of Chapman Ranch who would collect royalty income. It's a boost for the ranch owners' property rights an issue dear to Texans. But if a wind farm chases off the Navy or stymies the development of neighboring property, then those property rights will have come at huge expense to countless others' rights. Those rights deserve some respect, too.
A lack of oversight or recourse for local authorities has been a hallmark of wind energy development. The federal government's enthusiasm for emissions-free cleanliness has caused it to overlook wind turbines' huge construction footprint and its negative impacts on neighbors. The Legislature is studying the issue. On the one hand, it's about time the state asserted itself. On the other, we'd sure like to see this play out without it being a Texas tea party-vs.-Obama administration thing. The noise would be more deafening than aircraft engines.
The community deserves answers to too many unanswered questions, and needs to be able to hear them. The city has not withdrawn its objection to the wind farm project and shouldn't until satisfactory answers are forthcoming.
CAMEROUN :: 13 Million CFA a Month : Thats the Amount Cameroon Tax Payers Pay for Brenda Biyas California Mansion
It is essential that we make this distinction with utmost emphasis and clarity that though Brenda Biya, teenage daughter of Paul and Chantal Biya is the object of this story, she isnt by any stretch of imagination, the target of the story. Rather, President Biya and wife, Chantal, are the target that this story sets out to expose to the disenfranchised Cameroonian tax payer. The story is about the recklessness and callousness with which President Biya and wife spends Cameroons tax payers money on a kid who by virtue of the extravagance with which she spends the money, barely appreciates what moneys worth is.
Come to think about this for a moment! Were the Presidential Palace in Yaounde to be leased or rented would it be worth 13,000.000 (thirteen million) CFA FRS a month? How about the Cameroon Embassy in the US one of the biggest embassies that Cameroon maintains across the globe? How much rent does the Cameroon Embassy in the US pay on monthly basis? Thirteen million francs still? No one has the answers to these questions except the technocrat insiders. But The Cameroon Journal has learned on good authority that this is the amount of money that is paid for Brenda Biyas Los Angeles, California mansion on a monthly basis.
According to our informant who opted to remain anonymous, Brenda Biya moved into this house late 2014 after it was advertised for lease. She was looking to being a student at the University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA and needed a house and Chantal Biya the mother, we gathered, solely approved of this mansion for Brenda.
The gated mansion, sitting on number 505 N. Elm St. Beverly Hills, CA, isnt just a house or mansion, its the equivalent of a warehouse. The only difference is that whereas warehouses are typically used for storing large consignment of inventory, in this case, the only inventory is a teenager called Brenda, the dogs and the friends she invites occasionally.
In size, it measures up to 7,119Sq. Ft. Brenda, turning 19 this month of June lives in the 7,119 Sq. ft. house with no one else but three dogs. The Cameroon Journal gathered that Brenda doesnt trust her maids and security enough to have them live there full time.
The house is described as a 3-story gated modern estate with open space for the ultimate entertainer. Including three fire places.
The description of the mansion as published by its rental agent:
Newer 3-story gated modern estate. Super high clingstone & open space for the ultimate entertainer. Dramatic architectural 2-story entry leads to glorious public spaces. Amazing center-isle Kitchen, breakfast, & family rooms open to private yard with pool, spa, patio and lawn. Huge master suite with balcony. Fabulous patio, Mrbl Ba/walk-ins. 2 other suites + big office upstairs. Fabulous lower level with 2 extra suites, kitchen, gym, living room.
Brenda Biya lives here and attends UCLA where her tuition for a year is $60,000.00 not a big deal. President Biya, The Cameroon Journal gathered, has never been to this house. Hes said not to be fun of the US and Los Angeles though the daughter has been there since 2014. Worse still, Chantal, the First Lady and mother to Brenda has never spent a night at the mansion. You will think that for the amount they pay for it, many, if not all of her official and private stays in Los Angeles would be spent in this house not the case. Our sources revealed that often, when Chantal is in Los Angeles, she prefers to spend the nights at Four Season Hotel, located at 300 S. Doheny Dr, Los Angeles, CA. She would sometimes have Brenda and her buddy Mina Eyango, daughter of ace musician, Ndedi Eyango, joining her for a night or two at the hotel.
According to Zillow, a national Real Estate agency in the U.S, the appraised value of the house that is, if they wanted to buy it outright, stood at $10,199,522 (Ten million, one hundred ninety nine, five hundred and twenty two dollars). But since they were not interested in purchasing it outright, they chose to lease it.
The monthly lease or rent was $26,000.00 (twenty-six thousand dollars). Our source disclosed that because Brenda was new in the US at the time of the lease and had no credit history for pre-approval, the agents for the house demanded that she put down a years rents in a holding account to guarantee the landlord will always get his money in a timely manner. Of course Chantal, not Brenda, put down the money. It added up to $312,000.00 (three hundred, twelve thousand dollars). When you convert that amount into CFA FRS, youre talking about 156,000.000 MCFA FRS. (One hundred and fifty six million francs CFA). In the essence, that is the approximate amount of money that Cameroonian tax payers have to pay for only one of President Biyas many childrens housing every year.
a Juste un Clou bracelet. At the minimum, it sells between $5,000-$9,000. Thats approximately 2.5-4.5million FRS CFA. And the Rolex Sky Dweller Champagne wrists watch hes wearing? It sells for $37,843.00 (thirty seven thousand, eight hundred and forty three dollars). In CFA francs, that amounts to about 18million francs.
Also seen this cap (in the photo) that Brenda is wearing? It would normally be hand weaved in Africa and sold for peanuts money. That, plus the spectacles shes wearing sold for $750.00 and $500.00 respectively. And the Fendi burgundy white fur watch? That sold for $16,000.00 (Sixteen thousand dollars). That is about 8million francs CFA.
This amount doesnt include her feeding, nor does it include her Mercedes-Benz G-Class that would normally sell for over $100,000.00 (one hundred thousand dollars). In CFA FRS, thats a little over 50million FRS.
The recklessness with which the Biyas fiddle with Cameroonians tax payers hard earned money is further illustrated in the childrens penchant for ostentatious and luxurious shopping. Frank, Chantals son brought into her marriage with Biya pictured here carrying his latest baby, is wearing
This is only what we know. There is a lot that we do not know and may never know. But what we also know from our sources is that on May 7, Brenda got very bitter and upset with friends, accusing them of collaborating to steal $20,000.00 from her.
When The Cameroon Journal learned of these excesses for Brenda and others by President Biya, we reached out to her by email for a statement. We could have contacted her by phone (we have her number), but for the fact that shes been in Europe at a Geneva rehab facility receiving help for her recent breakdowns
The Journal asked Brenda; We found out that you live at number 505 N. Elm Dr. Beverly Hills, CA, and your monthly rent is $26,000.00 a month. We understand that you are the daughter of the President of Cameroon and you need all the peace and security necessary to do your studies at UCLA. But in your opinion, dont you think $26,000.00 a month for rent is quite outrageous considering that this is Cameroonians tax payers money? We will appreciate any comment/statement from you.
Brenda never replied. And of course, we were never expecting one from her knowing how much the Biyas treat the press with disdain. However, a reply sort of, came from an unusual source the daughter of Prince Ndedi Eyango, Mina Eyango, a very close friend of Brenda. Since Mina wrote to us using the same subject tag we had sent to Brenda, we knew that Brenda forwarded the email she received from us to Mina. In the characteristic ignorance of the teenager that Mina is, she picked up a quarrel with the Cameroon Journal, accusing us of trying to pervert Brendas right to enjoy the wealth of her parents.
Mina Eyango wrote demanding to know why were in the habit of constantly stalking an 18 year old girl? Do you think its normal to publish articles like this when there are bigger issues occurring in Cameroon every single day? She asked.
Then she arrogantly ranted in Brendas defense; Tax payers money? Every single day you guys say the same thing, shes using Cameroons money for taxis, she is using tax payers money on clothes, she is eating our tax payers money, please get over it- she is the president of Cameroons daughter and she was born into that position, her living a wealthy lifestyle was inevitable. Mina wrote.
She continued; What do you expect from a Presidents daughter? A small apartment in Compton? Everything she does is a problem to everyone. Why is everything she does always such huge attraction? Focus on yourselves, and your careers. Are you a journalist or paparazzi? She quarreled.
Mina was right, there are bigger issues in Cameroon to deal with than putting so much ink on paper or talking about little Brenda Biya and her follies. And thats why we stated from the onset that this piece isnt about her but about the recklessness and callousness of her parents who happen to be eternal leaders of Cameroon.
Issues like the horrible road network that President Biya has presided over for over three decades. Issues like the fraud and corruption that has become a characteristic feature of President Biyas 34 years regime. Issues like Biyas inability to provide jobs for the youth of Cameroon. Issues like the need to get rid of a regime that survives through clamping down on the opposition and discouraging dissent. Issues like the lack of affordable medical care for Cameroonians. In fact, if President Biya was sane and conscientious, taking care of these issues, there did be no way he spends such an amount of money every month on the teenager called Brenda Biya. And that is what Mina Eyango and all the others who see nothing wrong in that and who are surely benefiting from the extravaganza, never perceive there is absolutely something wrong with it.
A day after she voluntarily sent this email to us, Mina Eyango threatened The Cameroon Journal with a law suit should we dare quote or mention her name in this story. We note here that the $400 taxi fracas that Brenda had with a cap driver took place as Brenda was returning from Minas house. And the fact that Brenda would pass nights in the hotel with Mina at the invitation of Chantal and also forward her emails to Mina is indicative of how close they both are. So for Mina to come up with such a ferocious defense of the spending on her friend is understandable.
However, this story is about the recklessness of President Biya and the wife. Their children of course, deserve the best housing and education that money can afford. It isnt Brendas fault she was born the Presidents daughter. But there ought to be some form of restrain when it comes to spending for children of a leader of an impoverished country like Cameroon.
Consider that in Cameroon, civil servants, especially teachers graduating from Teachers Training colleges teach for three years without salary. Consider that here in Washington DC, Cameroon Embassy staff go for months without pay. Consider that the same Embassy has a structure of its own that the Cameroon govt has not been able to finance to completion for years running.
Consider the fact that in Cameroon, people die because of inaccessibility to doctors or medical care. Consider the Cameroon Army that has to literally stage revolts before they are paid for defending the country. Yet, $26,000.00 is being paid out at the same time every month for the house of the Presidents teenage daughter, and she lives in it with dogs. Doesnt this suggest that dogs deserve better than the hard working tax paying Cameroonian?
Just imagine for a moment if any cabinet minister in the country was caught spending such outrageous amounts of money for the house of his/her 19year old, wont an inquest be launched for him by the Special Criminal Court in Yaounde and perhaps get him ultimately landed in Kondengui?
The money that is spent on Brenda Biya isnt President Biyas money. He will not spend his own pocket money or pay check that recklessly hes not that stupid. That money is Cameroon tax payers money and that is the more reason why a regime change remains inevitable in Cameroon.
Brenda Biya deserves a $5,000.00 house and a $40,000.00 modest car, not a $26,000.00 warehouse and not a $100,000.00 car. Its an insult to the suffering Cameroonian youth who has no job and no future for no fault of his own.
| BY Ricki Green |
The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) has today announced that Marketing Dividends presented by AANA will return in June for a second series on SKY News Business,
Australias only 24-hour dedicated business channel.
The series was created to help elevate the profession of marketing and profile the value and contribution marketing brings to brand growth, shareholder value and the wider economy.
Says Sunita Gloster, CEO, AANA: Marketing Dividends was originally conceived to create a better understanding of the role and value of marketing in driving business growth, which is one of our core tasks. The first series of 12 episodes was very well received, indeed it won The Presidents Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Marketing Industry from the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA). Series Two, will deliver a further 10 episodes profiling the thoughts and experience of AANA members.
The new series will have a more interactive format, with two leading advertisers contributing to a panel discussion in a dedicated 13 minute program. The show will air live 3:30pm AEST on Thursday afternoons and then replay on SKY News Business throughout the next week. All episodes will also be featured on AANA content platforms, including the AANA YouTube Channel.
This initiative is a continued collaboration between the AANA, MEC, SKY NEWS and MCN.
Says Gloster: The fact that SKY News has encouraged us to produce the second series is testament to the strength of the content and the interest business leaders have in the stories Australias leading marketers have to tell.
The series kicks off with Vittoria Shortt, group executive, marketing and strategy, Commonwealth Bank and David Scribner, head of Virgin Mobile Australia. The returning host is James Hier, CEO MEC who will be joined by Nadine Blayney, deputy business editor at SKY News Business.
| BY Ricki Green |
Abe Forsythe has joined Goodoil Films ahead of the world premiere of his feature film Down Under.
Forsythe is an exception to the rule in the Australian film industry, directing a cult hit at the age of 18 and bucking the trend with his pitch-black sense of humour. This year has seen him direct a string of notable campaigns, including Toyota Camrys Real Superheroes with Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney and, most recently, a series of online films with BMF for Abbotts Village Bakery that went live last week.
Forsythe said the feature shot late last year was a chance to flex his filmmaking muscles: During the making of Down Under I was able to put a lot of filmmaking techniques into practice. Whatever the genre, Im most inspired by the pursuit of authentic storytelling. For me, comedy and drama only works when its coming from a place of truth. Ive long admired Goodoil and its roster of directors and feel privileged to have their backing at this stage of my career.
Down Under will premiere at the Sydney Film Festival as part of the Special Presentation selection in two weeks. But the good news keeps on coming with the Melbourne International Film Festival just revealing Down Under as the crowning glory of the 65th MIFF at its First Glance announcement last week. His black comedy set during the aftermath of the Cronulla Riots will be screening as the highly coveted red carpet Centrepiece Gala on 6 August at Melbournes Comedy Theatre.
Down Under takes a provocative look at the clashing of Anglo-Australian and Muslim-Australian cultures, toeing the line between tragedy and comedy. The cast is headlined by Damon Herriman, Lincoln Younes, Rahel Romahn and Justin Rosniak.
Goodoil will be organising a series of private screenings in the coming months.
Says Sam Long, EP, Goodoil: Abe has a knack for getting to the heart of an idea and I think Down Under is a great example of his cutting insight. Goodoil has come off the back of a very strong year and were excited to have Abe with us to step it up a notch.
Down Under will hit Australian theatres on 11 August, snapped up for distribution by Studio Canal.
Click here to see a sneak peek of Down Under.
| BY Ricki Green |
WPP AUNZ, the regions largest marketing services group, has today announced its partnership with the Australian Olympic Committee and its appointment as the official creative advertising agency for the Australian Olympic Team.
As part of the partnership, WPP AUNZ will develop a national creative campaign aimed at increasing fan engagement and broad awareness of the 2016 Australian Olympic Team both in the lead-up to and during the 2016 Rio Olympics through a variety of communications activities.
Says Mike Connaghan, CEO WPP AUNZ: The Olympics are the pinnacle of the sporting world and an event that Australians have long been passionate about. Were incredibly honoured to partner with the AOC to help drive more engagement with, and support for, our outstanding Olympic team.
Says Kitty Chiller, Chef de Mission, Australian Olympic Team: For the first time the AOC has brought together a variety of sponsorships to create a nationwide campaign to engage Australians with the 2016 Australian Olympic Team. We are very excited to have the expertise of WPP AUNZ to take the lead on the creative direction and even more excited to use it to rally the nation in support.
The campaign will be developed and executed through WPP AUNZs specialist agency 1 Kent St, and will include the development of strategy and creative across all touchpoints such as TV, OOH, print, social and digital.
Says Simon Collins, creative director, 1 Kent St: Getting Aussies to support their Olympic Team may sound a bit like teaching fish to swim, but the sheer breadth of the target audience basically, the entire population of the country is what makes the brief so challenging; how can you hope to engage with every single demographic without being boringly safe, or bland or cliched or all three.
Salty-sweet caramel and rich chocolate what more could a person need? Make the sauce while the ice cream is chilling and freezing, then swirl it into the ice cream just before the final freezing.
Ingredients Dark and Delicious Chocolate Ice Cream recipe Salted Caramel Sauce: 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup whipping cream (35%)
1/2 teaspoon salt Nutritional facts Per 1/2 cup: about Fibre 2 g
Sodium 192 mg
Sugars 36 g
Protein 5 g
Calories 406.0
Total fat 26 g
Potassium 327 mg
Cholesterol 82 mg
Saturated fat 16 g
Total carbohydrate 43 g %RDI Iron 12.0
Folate 2.0
Calcium 11.0
Vitamin A 22.0
Method Salted Caramel Sauce: In small deep saucepan over medium-high heat, stir sugar with water until dissolved, brushing down side of pan with pastry brush dipped in cold water. Bring to boil; boil vigorously, without stirring but brushing down side of pan often, until deep amber, about 6 minutes.
Averting face, add cream and salt; cook, stirring, until smooth and slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Transfer to heatproof bowl; let stand (not in refrigerator) until at room temperature, about 1-1/2 hours.
To swirl, alternate layers of pureed or soft ice cream and caramel sauce in freezer container, swirling with tip of knife or skewer. Cover and freeze until firm, about 4 hours.
"The decision to raise this as a levy, I think, is really indicative of where this government's head is at, and this is it's just trying to find money from wherever it can to pay for its tram," he said.
"At the moment you can get a seniors card if you are aged 60 and work less than 20 hours a week but there is no means test," he said. "If you end up going back to work then you are still able to use it.
[Your Business Name]
Contact Info
Phone:
Fax:
Email:
Web: CAPITOLHILLCUBANS.COM
Business Overview
Geographic Area
Line of Business
Brands We Carry
Products and Services
Discounts Offered
Additional Information
Business Hours
Timezone
We Accept
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.
Applications are invited by National Institute of Technology (NIT), Delhi for admission to Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) programmes.
Admissions are offered in the following programmes for the academic year 2016:
Electrical & Electronics Engineering
Electronics Communication and Engineering
Computer Science and Engineering and
Applied Sciences (Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics)
Eligibility Criteria:
Ph.D in Engineering Programme: Candidates must have completed master's degree in Engineering/Technology or equivalent in the relevant area of research. Candidates should have bachelor's degree in appropriate branch of Engineering/Technology or equivalent with a first class or equivalent grade point.
Ph.D in Sciences, Humanities, Management Programmes: Candidates must have master's degree in the relevant branch of Science/Humanities/Social Sciences/Management or its equivalent with first class or equivalent grade point. Candidate must also have a valid GATE score or NET certificate.
How to Apply?
Visit the official website to apply online
Application fee of Rs.1000/- (Rs.500/- for SC/ST candidates) has to be paid through a demand draft, drawn in favour of Director, National Institute of Technology Delhi payable at Delhi
Selection Procedure:
Candidates will be offered admissions at NIT Delhi based on their performance in the entrance test, conducted by the institute
Candidates, who qualify the written test are expected to attend the interview
Important Dates:
With the changes introduced in the admission and withdrawal procedure at Delhi University, students will not be allowed to block seats at different colleges simultaneously.
According to the new admission process, once the cut-offs are released students should not have to go directly to the college, which they have qualified for instead must log on to DU portal and select the course/college of their choice.
After selecting the required option on the portal, admission slip of the selected college gets generated. Students have to carry the admission slip and documents if they want to take admission for the selected college. Documents include original mark sheets and pass certificates.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, a senior university official said, "The college will retain the certificates of the approved candidate in order to avoid multiple admissions. The certificates will remain with the colleges during admission to make admission smooth for colleges. Earlier, students blocked multiple seats and withdrew their applications later."
Delhi University: 39,000 Students Register on First Day of Admissions
Students can take admission within three days after the cut-off is released. After submitting the admission slip, the college authorities will approve the admission on the UG portal.
If the candidate wants to take admission to different college he/she cannot approach the college directly but have to go to the college, where they got admitted and submit withdrawal application.
After receiving approval from the college to withdraw admission, the college mentions the same in the UG portal, which enables student to choose another college.
Delhi University: Admissions for UG courses to start from June 1
Like the new S90 sedan and V90 wagon, but wish it was a little sportier? Polestar is here to help.
The Swedish automakers recently acquired performance division is said to be working on a version of both the new flagship models with as much as 600 horsepower on tap. Until this happens, the company is offering a new Polestar Performance Optimization package.
The upgrades include sharper response on and off the throttle as well as a more precise and quicker-shifting transmission. Details of increased engine and vehicle performance were not released, but the package is launching first on the D5 diesel engine version, and starting in October, will be available for the turbocharged gasoline T6 engine as well.
The Polestar Performance Volvos may not be ready to take on BMW M and Mercedes-AMG models just yet, but ought to help sharpen them up a little for the driver who demands a bit more of a sporty character with the reassurance of the factory backing.
PHOTOS
Set to be revealed in full at the Paris Motor Show, Porsches new Panamera was caught undisguised doing some last-minute testing in Southern Europe.
The photos shows us the new Panamera being driven around with no camo at all on its body panels and Porsche trying to hide little details like the lighting signature front and rear with some photo-realistic stickers.
Based on the new MSB platform, Porsches new four-door model is expected to be around 200lbs (90kg) lighter than the current model thanks to the clever use of high strength steel, aluminium and composite materials.
Gernot Dollner, Porsches head of the Panamera range has already said that the new Panamera Turbo will lap the Nurburgring faster than the old Carrera GT which should give us a good idea of just how capable the new model will be.
Porsche has clearly chosen the evolutionary path for the design of Panameras second generation, giving their new model a much sleeker profile. The rear end looks so much more better now and is expected to feature a set of slim, 3D-like rear lights and a now-traditional electrically operated rear wing.
As for the engine range, Porsche is known to have been developing a new range of turbocharged V6 and V8 engines, although we are going to see a plug-in version as well.
PHOTO GALLERY
The intention, then, was always to feature the characters as comic relief despite their foreboding appearance and brutal actions. For example, after mutating, the creatures are incredibly excited about their new look and even check out whats changed inside their pants. At one point, Bebop and Rocksteady also ride a tank down a raging Brazilian jungle river while facing off against the turtlesjust one of the many outrageous sequences in which the warthog and rhino are involved.
Since Bebop and Rocksteadys original incarnations were in cartoon form, ILM had to re-interpret them for a photorealistic world and make sure the characters remained appealing. They needed to be goofy but also lovable, said Helman. While the actors playing the turtles wore full facial motion capture gear as part of ILMs Muse system, a system that included further advancements such as pupil tracking, this process was not followed for Bebop and Rocksteady, partly because the facial features of the warthog and rhino were so different from the actors.
However, Williams and Farrelly still performed Bebop and Rocksteady in animal form as stand-ins or as reference during filming. ILMs animators, overseen by animation supervisor Kevin Martel and associate animation supervisor Shawn Kelly, then infused the actors performances into the cg characters, along with additional keyframing. Gary and Sheamus were so good together and they had such a great time on set; you cant possibly ignore that, said Helman, commenting on how the actors performances remained part of ILMs interpretation of the characters.
The animators would, at times, use ILMs own motion capture stage to perform certain parts of the Bebop and Rocksteady scenes themselves. Theyd then take the resulting data into their animation. Both characters required hair and cloth simulation, too, with Bebop sporting a mohawk and each wearing an array of biker fatigues and equipment.
Another form of animation data was also available in the form of stunt motion capture for scenes involving Bebop and Rocksteady during choreographed fights. This was acquired using stunt performers wearing ILMs patented iMocap suits, effectively gray tracking suits with specialized markers. We also had these stunties wear a helmet with a wire holding a ping pong ball where their head needed to be at the right height, said Helman, who also noted this aided in camera framing and in interaction with the other actors.
Below is on-set B-roll footage that shows a stunt performer standing in for Bebop while wearing a special grey-markered tracking suit designed to aid in replacing him with a CG character in post-production.
The final result was a mix of techniques that was still informed by the original comedic actors, but that differed in assignment from the equally complicated work ILM delivered for the other characters in the film. Its actually a different kind of animation nuance, almost a different project, Helman concluded. It wasnt such a science project as we had to do for the facial and body capture for the turtles.
Photo: David Wylie
UPDATE: 1:20 p.m.
A man remains in police custody after a woman was struck and sent to hospital with serious injuries early Monday morning.
On June 6 at 6:18 a.m., the Kelowna RCMP responded to a report of a pedestrian-involved collision in the 800 block of Hollywood Road North.
Police have determined that a red Dodge Ram 1500 pick-up truck, which was pulling a utility trailer, had struck a pedestrian on Hollywood Road North between Leathead Road and McCurdy Road, explains Const. Jesse ODonaghey.
The pedestrian, a 42-year-old Kelowna woman, suffered what police describe as serious, however non-life threatening injuries as a result of being struck. She was transported to hospital by Emergency Health Services.
ODonaghey says the driver, a 56-year-old Kelowna man, initially left the scene of the collision, but eventually returned and was taken into police custody.
He remains in police custody at this time.
RCMP are asking anyone who witnessed the accident and have not yet spoken to police to contact Const. Lacey Browning of the Kelowna RCMP at 250-762-3300.
Or they can remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, leaving a tip online at www.crimestoppers.net or by texting your tip to CRIMES (274637) ktown.
ORIGINAL 9 a.m.
RCMP are on scene in Rutland this morning after a pedestrian was struck by a car shortly before 7 a.m.
According to an officer at the scene, the pedestrian was not in a crosswalk when the victim was hit on Hollywood Road between Leathead and McCurdy roads.
Police say the unidentified adult victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The road was reportedly closed for more than hour while police investigated, before it was opened to alternating traffic before 9 a.m.
A police analyst has been brought in to determine exactly what happened, and the incident remains under investigation.
with files from David Wylie
Photo: Contributed
UPDATE: 10 a.m.
Sapphire says its staff are doing their job to ensure a safe environment when confiscating ID.
"That's all I want people to know, that we did our job and created a safe environment," said a representative from the nightclub. "This is honestly something we were doing our job over."
He said there was a recent case when a young women used her ID to get into the club. That same ID was used again later the same night by another person, he said.
Sapphire uses similar technology used by other establishments in the city that scans the ID and takes a photo of the person using it to help ensure people who are underage aren't allowed inside. In the recent case, the ID was flagged and confiscated because of the second use.
"Underage drinking is big," he said. "We can lose our licence over it."
The club has two piles of IDs those that have been lost and those that have been confiscated. In the recent case, a woman called looking for ID that she'd "lost" on the dance floor. In fact, it was stored in the confiscated pile.
IDs that have been confiscated due to fraudulent activity are dealt with according to protocol.
ORIGINAL
A Kelowna resident is searching for her drivers licence after a nightclub confiscated it, believing it was fake.
Complaints similar to the 19-year-old woman's who does not wish to be named has prompted the B.C. government to make changes to its Liquor Control and Licensing laws when it comes to establishments confiscating identification.
The young woman says she was out on the town with some friends on May 28. She attended several local restaurants and bars using her B.C. drivers licence and her Care card as a second piece of identification.
She went to Sapphire night club and was allowed entry but left shortly after to find friends.
I went back to Sapphire and I had a stamp, but they wanted my ID. The bouncer said he didnt believe it was me and took my ID, she explained. I said I would bring my passport and other ID in the next day to prove it was me and get my ID back.
The bouncer told the woman he would keep the ID and she could retrieve it on the Monday.
I called on Monday morning and they said they didnt have my ID and they didnt know anything about it, she said. They told me the bouncer probably never turned it in.
She called ICBC to inquire about reporting her ID stolen, and was advised to call the police as ICBC did not believe the bouncer could take away the drivers licence. Police said there wasnt anything that could be done and that the best solution was to call the Better Business Bureau.
Some bouncer is running around with my ID," she said. "I have heard of this happening before; my friend had her ID taken away and she didnt get it back.
Chris Harbord with the Ministry of Small Business, Red Tape Reduction and Responsible for the Liquor Distribution Branch explained the current terms and conditions for liquor licencees state that establishments are encouraged, but not required, to retain identification that is clearly false and turn it over to the liquor inspector.
However, the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch is removing the suggestion that IDs should be confiscated, due to complaints from the public and concerns about security and privacy for the patron and the licencee.
This change is expected in the coming weeks.
ID is private property and the responsibility for confiscating false ID rests with the police, said Harbord, in a statement. The mandatory Serving It Right training program for people selling or serving liquor in B.C. explains the ID requirements and how to check for potentially fraudulent ID. Ultimately, the decision as to whether an ID is false rests with the establishment.
Anyone with questions or concerns about ID requirements should contact the Liquor Control and Licencing Branch directly, said Harbord.
Sapphire Night Club did not return requests for comment on this issue.
Photo: Getty Images
Police were seen with guns drawn Sunday evening near Inn From the Cold.
According to a witness, police were seen in the area at about 9:15 p.m. with their guns drawn.
Const. Jesse ODonaghey says officers were responding to a report that a man was being chased by suspects with guns.
Police had detained two individuals, who were later determined to not to be in possession of any firearms, explained ODonaghey.
The complainant, who was not fully co-operative with police, later clarified that the suspects were known to carry guns, and had not actually seen a weapon produced.
ODonaghey said the entire event turned out to be an "unfounded event" and all the individuals were released.
Harvey and Richter was the last place in Kelowna anyone wanted to be Monday afternoon.
The stench was nearly unbearable as city and fire crews worked together to clean up a rather gross mess.
Pedestrians downwind from the spill could be seen covering their faces and holding their noses as they crossed the highway.
RCMP Const. Paul Mlait says a city bus was pulling out from a bus stop when it clipped a truck carrying Porta Potties.
The bus was pulling out after picking up patrons at the bus stop," he said. "The driver is indicating the slow far-right-hand lane was clear at the time, and the Porta Potties truck was also headed in the same direction, eastbound, in the middle lane. He then wanted to merge right into the slow lane and switch lanes and at some point, the two collided.
As both drivers were merging into the same lane when the minor accident occurred, it's currently unclear who is to blame.
Mlait says the collision caused 200 litres of treated human waste to spill onto the street.
After the collision, the Porta Potties truck spilled its waste, approximately 200 litres, and some of it has gone down the storm sewer. The city is here for cleanup now, and in talking to the fire department, we know it is not hazardous or a risk.
The small crash knocked the mirror off the bus and caused the truck's sewage container to spill.
Both the drivers and the passengers on the bus were unharmed.
City of Kelowna workers are now working to vacuum up the excrement as firefighters spray it toward them.
The smelly scene caused a long traffic backup heading into Kelowna, with cars stuck at a standstill on the bridge.
Photo: Jennifer Zielinski
A tired driver had a nightmarish awakening when she dozed off at the wheel and flipped her vehicle.
RCMP Const. Paul Mlait said firefighters freed the woman from the overturned white sedan at about 3:30 p.m. after the crash on Glenmore Road near Watson Road elementary school.
"The driver indicated she was very tired and fell asleep," he said.
She was taken to hospital with what are believed to be non-life threatening injuries. There were no passengers in the vehicle.
A witness told police she was driving beside the white sedan when it veered suddenly to the right.
"When the witness looked in the mirror, she saw the car flipping behind her," said Mlait.
Police say the driver is in her 30s.
Neither drugs nor alcohol are suspected.
with files from Jen Zielinski
Photo: Spiritofremembrance.com
Most may not be around to recall the tales of landing on the beaches of Normandy, but 72 years later many others are taking the time to look back at June 6, 1944.
Howard Hisdal with the Okanagan Military Museum said at least two dozen veterans from the Kelowna area were part of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, that took Juno Beach.
In fact the commander of the 3rd Division graduated from Kelowna Secondary. General Rod Keller was fighting with his division and they were at a crossroad and were bombed by our own bombers; the American air force bombers took him out, wounded him, said Hisdal.
While General Keller did return home with a leg injury, it took ten years before he ended up dying from complications due to his wound.
Hisdal has been involved with the B.C. Dragoons for the last 25 years, and has had the opportunity to speak with many World War II veterans about D-Day.
I would say the most memorable story I have heard is about the landing because it was the most number of ships ever assembled for an amphibious landing. They had something like 600 supply ships alone. Our naval power was very good, he explained. I mean to look out to sea and see the entire horizon covered in ships and to know they were Canadian, American, Polish, Norwegian, the whole Allied effort was out there. The enemy would realize they were up against something powerful.
The Okanagan College professor explained Canadian troops were able to get 11 kilometres inland from Juno on the first day alone and were able to hold their position.
The intensity of the fighting on that beach is what the vets recalled often, said Hisdal. The question I always asked them was when did you get wounded? And there is only one vet Ive spoke to who wasnt wounded, but everybody else I talk to has either been wounded on the first day, the second day, at some point they were wounded.
He says many of the men from the Kelowna area claimed they had been prepared for some of the encounters they faced.
Our men were very well trained. Some of the training for Normandy was done at Coldstream Ranch, (and) in Cosens Bay, explained Hisdal. Cosens Bay was used to practice amphibious assaults and Coldstream valley was used for what was called a battle school.
Hisdal says the battle school used cow intestines to fill ditches where men would practice taking cover.
The veterans I spoke to said the experience in that battle school really helped, because when it came to Normandy they took cover in a ditch and it didnt matter what was in there. I did hear from one man that his training here in Canada at Coldstream Ranch carried him through.
Of the nearly 150,000 Allied troops who landed or parachuted into the invasion area, 14,000 were Canadians. The Royal Canadian Navy contributed 110 ships and 10,000 sailors in support of the landings while the Royal Canadian Air Force helped prepare the invasion by bombing inland targets.
Photo: pixabay.com File photo.
An upstate New York production company's recording of a man threatening people with a gun has sent people scurrying for cover at its office building.
Police say office workers in the City of Newburgh reported hearing the voice in their building on Monday afternoon.
Police SWAT teams quickly converged on the scene. The surrounding buildings were evacuated. Traffic was blocked.
Police searched the building and discovered one of the office suites housed a production company that was doing voiceovers by playing recordings of a man threatening people with a gun.
Police say the production company staff had left the building just before police arrived.
Photo: Contributed File photo.
The City of Kelowna is inviting residents to provide input on a draft agriculture plan vision statement.
The statement will focus on key issues to promote and protect Kelownas agriculture character, according to a city press release.
For those interested, city staff will be on hand to answer questions and facilitate the discussion:
Wednesday, June 8 at Mission Creek Regional Park, 2363 Springfield Road, 4-6:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 11 at Save-On-Foods, Orchard Plaza, 101-1876 Cooper Road, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
Residents are also encouraged to provide feedback online from May 30 June 30.
The goal of the plan is to incorporate the communitys identity and values for its agricultural future with implementable plans to achieve it, said the release.
Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer
An open house at one of the South Okanagan schools slated for closure will take place tonight.
McNicoll Park Middle School staff is inviting people to drop by for a barbecue and to buy memorabilia by donation.
"It's for students and ex-teachers just to come and celebrate their time here," said Lloyd Lindsay, the school's principal. "Maybe you are 30 years old and would like to have an old uniform."
The building housing the school opened in 1961 and it was an elementary school and junior high prior to becoming a middle school.
McNicoll Park is one of three schools that the School District 67 board has decided to close due to low enrolment and budgetary concerns.
Donations people make at the barbecue and sale of uniforms, trophies, pictures and more will go toward a high school school trip to Tanzania to help out an orphanage there.
Staff may also possibly send any leftover clothing to Tanzania.
"This is win-win for everyone involved," said Lindsay, in regards to the open house.
The open house is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday night at the school.
Holcim Westport land for sale
ICR Newsroom By 07 June 2016
Following the closure of Holcim's Cape Foulwind cement plant in Westport, New Zealand, the plant site and its 400ha of land are for sale. The 60-year old Holcim plant is due to close 30 June 2016 as the company plans to import cement to two new terminals at Auckland and Timaru.
The assets available as part of the sale include a quarry, packing plant site, water treatment plant, farm land, staff housing area and ground lease and wharf silos at the Westport harbour. Potential buyers are able to express interest in either part or all of the portfolio.
Holcim intends that the majority of the site be demolished to ground level, leaving five building for industrial or office use. For existing industrial activity all zoning and consents are in place.
The period for expression of interest ends 14 July.
Published under
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. In an interview to the Czech Parliamentni Listi online newspaper, Czech President Milos Zeman said he intends to urge the Parliament and the Government of the Czech Republic to follow Germanys lead and officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.
I have expressed my point of view back in 2014, when the Armenian President was visiting Prague at my invitation; I said that the 1915 massacres are Genocide. And because we will depart for Armenia next week, I will repeat this, he said.
But the next step needs to be done, and upon returning from Armenia I have to urge the Parliament and the Government to follow the German Bundestags example. But not only the example of Germany or France, where the Genocide recognition is even fixed by law, but also of Russia, Poland, Slovakia, Italy and other countries, because in my opinion, we fall behind on this issue, President Zeman said.
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. The NKR Foreign Ministry informs that on June 8, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the OSCE Mission will conduct a planned monitoring in the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijani line of contact in the eastern direction of Kuropatkino settlement of the NKR Martuni region.
From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring will be conducted by Field Assistant of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Jiri Aberle (Czech Republic) and Personal Assistant to the Personal Representative of the CiO Simon Tiller (Great Britain).
The NKR authorities have expressed their readiness to assist in conducting the monitoring and to ensure the security of the OSCE Mission members.
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. In an interview to ARMENPRESS, Member of the European Parliament Andrey Kovatchev from Bulgaria said the recent Bundestag vote acknowledged not only the Armenian Genocide, but also the Genocides of other Christian minorities, including Bulgarians.
According to Kovatchev, Germany accepted its share of responsibility of being an ally to the Ottoman Empire.
We hoped the 2009 Armenia-Turkey protocols would start a reconciliation process, and the sides would be able to start this process without external efforts, however, unfortunately Turkey was unable to ratify the protocols, and besides, you are very well aware of the Azerbaijani pressures. In some aspects this process is seized in Turkey, and in my opinion the Bundestag took this into consideration, in order to include the historical truth in the international agenda and restore justice for the Armenians who were murdered during those days in the Ottoman Empire, he said.
Currently Turkey and Germany indeed do not have good relations, because firstly Turkey is against the freedom of speech. It destroys many democratic values, by trying to build the leadership regime. We, the EU, including Germany, are concerned about this and we hope the Turkish civil society will be able to raise its voice against the formation of the regime, the MEP added.
Asked if other countries may follow Germanys lead in recognizing the Armenian Genocide, Kovatchev said: You know better that many countries are just saying that this is a parliamentary issue. I dont think Turkey will do anything if pressured. What needs to be done is assisting the Turkish civil society, which also includes academicians, the media, who are able to continue building relations with Armenians, and I hope this will have a positive result, and this very process may impact Turkeys leadership.
Missed Delivery?
If missed delivery or wet paper please call our office 909-628-5501 ext 110 Leave a detailed message with name, address, and phone number. Readers must call before 1 p.m. on Saturday. Re-deliveries are available for Chino residents until 1 p.m. Saturdays.
Click Here
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) issued a statement calling on the international community to take immediate measures to save the northern Syrian city of Aleppo from deliberate and complete destruction, reports Sputnik News.
According to the statement, Aleppo is the capital of Islamic culture, because of its historical value, as well as its scientific, cultural and archaeological heritage.
The world has not seen anything like what Aleppo has been exposed to, in particular, the mass destruction of humans and infrastructure, which is an unprecedented humanitarian, environmental and architectural disaster in modern history," ISESCO said in the statement published on its website on June 6.
Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups.
Over the recent weeks, the situation in Aleppo and its neighborhoods has deteriorated, as various militant groups, including the al-Nusra Front, which is outlawed in Russia and many other countries, have been shelling the city in an attempt to counter the Syrian army and the Kurdish militants.
Photo by TASS
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. Armenian MP in the Parliament of Iran Karen Khanlaryan says the establishment of visa-free regime between Iran and Armenia was a serious political step.
"In general, allied or friendly states establish such a regime. Thus, this decision was a serious political step by Iran and Armenia. Of course, the visa-free regime will contribute to the development of tourism and the cooperation on various sectors between the two states, Armenpress reports, Khanlaryan stated.
He said there are great prospects for further development of the bilateral cooperation.
There are huge prospects. There is an option for Armenia to become a transit country, there is a prospect of transporting the energy resources, Iran-Armenia railway project, tourism, trade. Today, declarative statements are issued on these, however, I am sure that this will create a base to practically implement all these steps in the future. Armenia is an EAEU member state, and the possibility of Armenia serving a link to other states is being discussed, Karen Khanlaryan said stating that the Armenian community of Iran, the Armenian officials in Iran will also contribute to the further development of the bilateral relations.
Referring to the Armenian FMs visit to Iran and his meetings there, Karen Khanlaryan said he was present at the meeting between the Foreign Minister of Armenia and the Parliament Speaker of Iran.
Mr. Minister presented in detail all the consequences of the four-day war from the military, as well as political point of view. They spoke also about the intervention of third, fourth countries in the Karabakh conflict. From this perspective, Iran has a principled stance which supports the solution of the conflict through negotiations. Iran is against the military solution of the conflict, Karen Khanlaryan stated.
He emphasized the fact that the Armenian FM discussed special issues of mutual interests with the Iranian Parliament Speaker, for instance, the fight against terrorism.
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. CIS Prime Ministers Council singed 21 documents on economic, armed forces and humanitarian cooperation during the Bishkek session on June 7.
In particular, they signed October 18, 2011 protocol of free trade agreement on state procurement regulations between the participating states, as well as they approved the Convention on the conservation of agro-biodiversity.
A number of decisions were made relating to the preparation of cadres of the Armed forces of the member states, energy, healthcare.
Moreover, the CIS Prime Ministers Council approved the strategy on Healthcare of the population of CIS member states.
They also signed an agreement over the implementation of interstate program of the innovation cooperation until 2020.
In addition, the CIS Prime Ministers Council signed documents related to conducting population census, works with the youth and developing youth entrepreneurship within the CIS member states until 2020, RIA Novosti reported.
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. Saudi Arabia plans to more than triple the government's non-oil revenues and clamp down on public-sector salaries over the next five years, ministers said on June 6 as they described reforms designed to reduce the economy's dependence on oil and build a sustainable future, reports Reuters.
The National Transformation Plan (NTP) aims to boost non-oil revenue to 530 billion riyals ($141 billion) by 2020, creating some 450,000 non-government jobs, according to comments by ministers and documents distributed to reporters in Jeddah.
The plan aims to "enhance the level and quality of services" provided by government and "achieve a prosperous future and sustainable development," it said.
The NTP, which includes over 500 projects and initiatives as well as performance indicators for ministries and other government agencies, will cost around 270 billion riyals to implement, the document showed.
Minister of State Mohammed Al al-Sheikh said the cost would have no impact on Saudi budget spending, and added that a further 300 billion riyals was expected to be contributed to NTP initiatives by the private sector.
The plan is part of a wider, long-term reform drive known as Vision 2030, which was announced by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in April. He aims to overhaul many aspects of Saudi Arabia's economy and society as the kingdom prepares for a future of shrunken oil revenues and a rising population.
The finances of the world's top oil exporter have been hit hard since the summer of 2014, when crude prices plunged, producing a state budget deficit of nearly $100 billion last year.
The plan aims to increase the percentage of government debt to gross domestic product to 30 percent from 7.7 percent now.
Under Vision 2030, new non-oil revenue is expected to come from the introduction of a value-added tax, "sin taxes" on sweet drinks and tobacco, and fees imposed on the private sector.
Al al-Sheikh said there were no plans to introduce income tax for citizens. The text of the plan proposed to spend 150 million riyals on preparing income tax for residents, a phrase normally applied to expatriates. Al al-Sheikh said the only tax commitment approved so far was for VAT and said that further questions on taxation should be addressed to the finance minister.
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on the occasion of the Europe Day visited the EU delegation to Armenia on June 7, press service of the Presidential Administration informed Armenpress.
The President congratulated head of the EU delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski, the entire staff of the EU delegation on the Europe Day and wished them peace and prosperity.
More than six decades have passed since one of the founding fathers of Europe Robert Schuman published the declaration establishing the process of the creation of todays European Union. During this short historical period, the idea of the European united family has passed an examination, proved its viability and the advantages of people living together. In fact, the EUs reputation is beyond its border.
I am happy to see that in recent years our relations, political contacts were intensified, the high-level mutual visits are more regularly being held. Last year we hosted President of the European Council Donald Tusk, Commissioner Johannes Hahn, this year EU High Representative Federica Mogherini visited Armenia. These visits involve a number of practical steps.
Our negotiations are successfully being held within the new comprehensive EU-Armenia legal framework, and we hope that the document will be singed timely which will further promote our cooperation, the President said.
On behalf of the EU delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Switalski thanked the President for the visit and warm greetings.
He said the EU always celebrates the Europe Day with Armenia and the large European family.
We are very grateful to the Armenian leadership for supporting us in organizing the Europe Day events throughout Armenia. We call European gates starting from Gyumri to Kapan, up until the Iranian border, and we take all possible efforts to develop relations with Armenia. We highly appreciate our relations, however, we think that we have a huge potential for further development, head of the EU delegation to Armenia said.
Issues related to the Armenia-EU cooperation agenda, the ongoing projects and reforms in Armenia were discussed.
The sides expressed hope that the bilateral efforts aimed at developing and deepening the Armenia-EU relations will enrich the bilateral agenda and will move the EU-Armenia relations to the new path.
This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact The Chanute Tribune office at 620-431-4100 if you have any questions
YEREVAN, JUEN 7, ARMENPRESS. Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan on June 7 held a meeting with newly appointed Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Armenia Timur Urazayev.
Yerevan Mayor expressed hope that the warm relations with the Embassy will be continuous, which in its turn will contribute to the formation and strengthening of cooperation between the capitals of the two states.
Taron Margaryan emphasized that Yerevan and Astana have already agreed to sign cooperation agreement and said this will promote the cooperation in various sectors between the two cities.
In his turn, Timur Urazayev stated that he will do everything possible to establish cooperation between Yerevan and cities of Kazakhstan.
Ambassador highlighted that the signing of the cooperation agreement is a great opportunity to make more practical the mutual cooperation.
At the end of the meeting, Mayor Taron Margaryan once again stated that the Yerevan Municipality is open and ready for further expansion of the mutual cooperation.
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. After the terror attack in the central Istanbul district of Vezneciler on June 7, Great Britain and Germany made warning statements to their citizens living in Turkey, reports Hurriyet.
The statement issued by the MFA of Great Britain says Vezneciler station adjacent roads are closed. They urged their citizens to follow the instructions of law enforcement agencies.
German Foreign Ministrys statement calls its citizens of Turkey to be careful while visiting Istanbul, to be cautious in cities of Istanbul and Ankara, not to visit crowded places. The statement also warns that the threat of terror attacks in Turkey remains high as a result of the political tensions in the country. Official Berlin urged not to visit especially Turkeys southeastern part.
The car bomb attack on a Turkish police bus killed 11 people, seven of them police officers, in the central Istanbul district of Vezneciler on June 7.
36 people were wounded in the attack and three of them were in a critical condition.
Nearby buildings sustained damages.
Gunfire was reportedly heard after the explosion.
Heavy police presence is reported at the scene.
Bryan College was named the #2 Best Online Program in the state of Tennessee by BestColleges.com. The college offers three undergraduate online programs with six options, three graduate online programs with eight specialization options and two graduate certificates. All online programs are accessible from anywhere in the world and taught from a Christian worldview.
Bryan College is more than just an online school. The Bryan College campus can be found in the hills of Dayton and was founded in 1930. As a result, students can have confidence in an online education backed up by a long history of excellence in on-campus Christian education. The college mission is Educating students to become servants of Christ to make a difference in todays world. This mission is emblazoned across campus and is central to every aspect of the college.
Students in the online program are able to attend all of their classes from the convenience of their own home or office, while still having access to resources traditionally offered to on-campus students. Resources include academic advisement and support, tutoring, library and more. In addition, online students have the opportunity of attending school plays, recitals, concerts, homecoming and sporting events, and walking across the stage in front of friends and family to receive their degree.
To celebrate this prestigious ranking, Bryan College is offering an application fee waiver to students who apply to an online program before Friday, June 10. Simply enter the code BestOnline when submitting an application.
Lets just suppose that somewhere in America, there was a crazed gunman who killed seven people and wounded another 32. I can guarantee you that we would have heard about what university, the movie theater or the amusement park where such carnage occurred. Lord have mercy, we would have all the TV networks bearing down, President Obama saying how he and his family are so terribly bereaved, and Donald Trump promising to put a six-shooter in every hand.
Amazingly, it just happened. The paradox is that you dont know it. As I peruse dozens of national websites every day in my morning reading, I had to search for such a massacre because today our news media is so callused it has developed an unforgivable blind eye. Between Friday evening and Monday morning seven Americans were killed and another 32 were wounded in the streets of Chicago last weekend.
From mid-morning Sunday until 10 a.m. yesterday, one was killed and seven more were wounded. Between May 29 and June 4 (thats last week), 13 were killed, another 85 wounded from a total of 98 well-directed bullets. How can the most civilized nation that ever existed allow 98 people to be shot in one of our most important cities in one week?
Are you getting this? Every two hours and 22 seconds somebody gets shot within the city limits of Chicago. Every 13 hours and 48 minutes a body goes to the morgue. According to a website called jackass.com, there have been 244 people killed in Chicago this year. Another 1,350 have been wounded since 2016 began and I cant get over the fact the front page of the Chicago newspaper is all about the arrest of some pervert who took pictures of kids in the restroom at Wrigley Field. My heavens, 41 Chicagoans were shot last weekend and seven of them are dead!
The on-going story line is that all the gunfire in Chicago is because the Mexican cartels are trying to horn in on organized crimes drug trade and that is why everybody is shooting everybody else. Statistics show that of those killed by gunfire this year, 75 percent were black (190) while 20.8 percent were Hispanic (53). White? 4.8 percent (12). Note: The disproportionate black-Hispanic numbers are due to black-on-black gang shootings.
Heres the worst statistic of all: There have been no arrests in a staggering 78.9 percent of the shootings this year and law enforcement believes that is why read this slowly shootings in Chicago this year have increased 54.6 percent. That over 900 of this years shooters are still on the streets is inconceivable to me.
But my shock is little compared to my disbelief that we, the American people, havent demanded the United States government to do something about it. Common sense decrees we cannot let this happen to the American people. If Chicago police cant stop it, send in the Marines. Declare martial law in our top ten deadliest cities because there is a strong belief by some that Obama has already filled out the paperwork.
[Martial law is the imposition of the highest-ranking military officer as the military governor or as the head of the government, thus removing all power from the previous executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.]
Black, Hispanic, white creed means nothing to me; these are American people. We have some mosquito that carries a treacherous germ and it is on every front page. We have nearly 500 die in Chicago in the first five months of this year and not a peep from our President, our Senate, nor our Congress. It is unfathomable not one American who loves our country and our people is screaming Stop! In the name of Christ, stop!
Just look at the cost of such stupidity an average shooting (and whats an average shooting, Einstein?) costs about $55,000 in the emergency room. An ambulance ride in Chicago is another $1,000 (20 percent of the victims are transported by private cars) and then there is that pesky $800 autopsy. Run that through Mayor Rahm Emanuels calculator and in just five months of this year there is a $2.5 billion (with a b) bill the taxpayers must absorb.
What could we do with $2.5 billion (with a b) in Chicago to better education, create jobs, combat the drugs that are the root of the shootings it makes you want to cry.
But what is gnawing at my soul is what kind of nation have we become? Who among our leaders, those who have tasted their own blood at Iwo Jima, freed Holocaust concentration camps, put a man on the moon, or wept during 9/11, would have ever thought seven would be killed and 32 wounded on one given weekend in one of our great cities and the rest of us would never hear or know anything about it?
Or, worse, done anything about it? This is no longer the land of the free and home of the brave. We must restore our sanctity before it is lost forever. May God bless America.
royexum@aol.com
The body of a man who has been missing for over a week after he was last seen on a motorcycle in the Tunnel Boulevard area has been found in woods near the Wilcox Tunnel.
Family and friends of 33-year-old Justin Trimble had organized large search parties trying to find him.
He had last been seen leaving a friend's house on a black 2007 Kawasaki motorcycle on May 30.
At 6:26 p.m., officers with the Chattanooga Police Department were called to the scene of a crash at 2500 Wilcox Blvd. concerning a body found.
A crashed motorcycle was located in the woods just west of the Wilcox tunnel by Wilcox Boulevard.
A deceased male was lying underneath the motorcycle in the woods.
The on scene investigation revealed that the motorcycle was traveling west through the Wilcox Tunnel. The road curves to the left after the tunnel. Police said it appeared that the driver/rider did not negotiate the turn and went over a curb and into the woods.
The Medical Examiners office was notified and responded for the deceased. At this point it appears that the death was a result of the crash, police said.
Chattanooga Police ask anyone with information regarding this incident to call 423-698-2525.
Tennessee Home Health will host an open house with a ribbon cutting on Wednesday, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at 7625 Hamilton Park Drive, Suite 16, Chattanooga.
The Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce will coordinate the event.
Tennessee Home Health is a Medicare certified home health agency that provides skilled nursing, physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, medical social worker, certified home health aides. It is a part of the LHC Group family.
Office hours are Monday - Friday from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. with an RN on call 24hrs a day/seven days a week. For more information about Tennessee Home Health, call the office at 423 510-1500 or visit LHC Group on the web www.lhcgroup.com.
First Tennessees Chattanooga Market President Jeff Jackson, and Community Development Manager Tracee Smith visited the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga Tuesday morning to present officers a check in the amount of $25,000.
The funds donated by First Tennessee will be used for the Urban Leagues NextLevel Chattanooga program.
NextLevel Chattanooga is a seven-month long nationally recognized entrepreneurship program offered by the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga in collaboration with the City of Chattanooga Office of Multicultural Affairs, BrightBridge, Inc., and the TN Small Business Development Center.
"Participants in the program gain knowledge, training, and leadership skills that will help propel
their growth plans into action. The program utilizes the award-winning StreetWise MBA curriculum, which covers various topics including marketing and sales, business and strategy
development, financial management and human resources tactics, all of which are vital to the success of a small business," officials said.
We are thrilled to be able to support the Urban League in its efforts to help small businesses in Chattanooga prosper. This program is one of many the Urban League has developed to invigorate the community and we are proud to be a part, said Mr. Jackson.
In a wide-ranging foreign policy discussion at the American Jewish Committees annual Global Forum in Washington on Tuesday, Senator Bob Corker stressed the importance of U.S. global leadership and reiterated his opposition to the nuclear deal.
Highlights of Senator Corkers remarks are below. For more information about the event click here.
On the importance of U.S. global leadership
There is no questionthat the world is not the place that we would wish for it to be without U.S. leadership. It makes a difference. And that doesn't mean that we have to have boots on the ground in every country in the world. It does mean that we're constantly using every tool that we have to advocate for good things.
On the Iran nuclear deal and the importance of reauthorizing the Iran Sanctions Act
I was concerned that the Iran deal would become [the administrations] de facto Middle East policy, and that is what is happening.
The Iran Sanctions Act, as you know, expires at the end of the year. We would like to extend more than just that. We want to extend sanctions against all of these other activities: [ballistic missile tests, human rights violations, etc.]So, if the Iran Sanctions Act has expired, what is there to snapback to? Of course, the administration will say we can easily implement them ourselves. We just think we're on stronger footing with Iran if they know the United States Congress has put this in place and those are the things that we will snapback to in the event the nuclear deal falls apart.
On approval of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding defense cooperation with Israel
In Congress, certainly there is bipartisan support for Israel and bipartisan support for the memorandum of understanding.
My sense is an agreement is going to be reached. I've had multiple conversations about that in the course of the last two or three weeks, and I think that is going to come to a satisfactory conclusion very soon. It'll be supported overwhelmingly by Congress.
On the administrations decision in 2013 not to take military action against the Assad regime in Syria after the use of chemical weapons
One of the worst months [in U.S. foreign policy], was at the end of August and the early part of September in 2013 when Bashar al Assad crossed the red line and we did not do what we said we were going to do.
The fact that we did not take action andfiguratively jumped in [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's lap, that was the turning point.
These are alloyed metals being poured from a furnace into a ladle, to be used to fill molds.
Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and partners Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Wisconsin-based Eck Industries have developed aluminum alloys that are both easier to work with and more heat tolerant than existing products.
What may be more important, however, is that the alloys--which contain cerium--have the potential to jump-start the United States' production of rare earth elements.
ORNL scientists Zach Sims, Michael McGuire and Orlando Rios, along with colleagues from Eck, LLNL and Ames Laboratory in Iowa, discuss the technical and economic possibilities for aluminum-cerium alloys.
The team is working as part of the Critical Materials Institute, an Energy Innovation Hub created by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and managed out of DOE's Advanced Manufacturing Office. Based at Ames, the institute works to increase the availability of rare earth metals and other materials critical for U.S. energy security.
Rare earths are a group of elements critical to electronics, alternative energy and other modern technologies. Modern windmills and hybrid autos, for example, rely on strong permanent magnets made with the rare earth elements neodymium and dysprosium. Yet there is no production occurring in North America at this time.
One problem is that cerium accounts for up to half of the rare earth content of many rare earth ores, including those in the United States, and it has been difficult for rare earth producers to find a market for all of the cerium mined. The United States' most common rare earth ore, in fact, contains three times more cerium than neodymium and 500 times more cerium than dysprosium.
Aluminum-cerium alloys promise to boost domestic rare earth mining by increasing the demand and, eventually, the value of cerium.
"We have these rare earths that we need for energy technologies," said Rios, "but when you go to extract rare earths, the majority is cerium and lanthanum, which have limited large-volume uses."
If, for example, the new alloys find a place in internal combustion engines, they could quickly transform cerium from an inconvenient byproduct of rare earth mining to a valuable product in itself.
"The aluminum industry is huge," Rios explained. "A lot of aluminum is used in the auto industry, so even a very small implementation into that market would use an enormous amount of cerium." A 1 percent penetration into the market for aluminum alloys would translate to 3,000 tons of cerium, he added.
Rios said components made with aluminum-cerium alloys offer several advantages over those made from existing aluminum alloys, including low cost, high castability, reduced heat-treatment requirements and exceptional high-temperature stability.
"Most alloys with exceptional properties are more difficult to cast," said David Weiss, vice president for engineering and research and development at Eck Industries, "but the aluminum-cerium system has equivalent casting characteristics to the aluminum-silicon alloys."
The key to the alloys' high-temperature performance is a specific aluminum-cerium compound, or intermetallic, which forms inside the alloys as they are melted and cast. This intermetallic melts only at temperatures above 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
That heat tolerance makes aluminum-cerium alloys very attractive for use in internal combustion engines, Rios noted. Tests have shown the new alloys to be stable at 300 degrees Celsius (572 degrees Fahrenheit), a temperature that would cause traditional alloys to begin disintegrating. In addition, the stability of this intermetallic sometimes eliminates the need for heat treatments typically needed for aluminum alloys.
Not only would aluminum-cerium alloys allow engines to increase fuel efficiency directly by running hotter, they may also increase fuel efficiency indirectly, by paving the way for lighter engines that use small aluminum-based components or use aluminum alloys to replace cast iron components such as cylinder blocks, transmission cases and cylinder heads.
The team has already cast prototype aircraft cylinder heads in conventional sand molds. The team also cast a fully functional cylinder head for a fossil fuel-powered electric generator in 3D-printed sand molds. This first-of-a-kind demonstration led to a successful engine test performed at ORNL's National Transportation Research Center. The engine was shown to handle exhaust temperatures of over 600 degrees Celsius.
"Three-dimensional printed molds are typically very hard to fill," said ORNL physicist Zachary Sims, "but aluminum-cerium alloys can completely fill the mold thanks to their exceptional castability."
The alloys were jointly invented by researchers at ORNL and Eck Industries. Colleagues at Eck Industries contributed expertise in aluminum casting, and LLNL researchers analyzed the aluminum-cerium castings using synchrotron source X-ray computed tomography.
Microorganisms can better withstand the heavy metal uranium when glutathione is present, a molecule composed of three amino acids. Scientists from the German based Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the University of Bern in Switzerland have now proven this resilience by closely examining cell heat balance. They discovered that glutathione is an effective decontamination agent. The studies provide important insights into bioremediation of mining waste piles and other contaminated areas with the help of bacteria or plants.
Living cells are small power stations in which various chemical reactions take place, releasing tiny amounts of heat. Metabolism is stimulated when the cells are exposed to uranium, without, however, leading to increased growth. This extra effort is detectable in the organisms as increased heat emission signaling their fight against the toxin. The four-person team from Dresden and Bern (Dr. Muhammad H. Obeid, Dr. Jana Oertel, Prof. Marc Solioz, Prof. Karim Fahmy) established a highly sensitive method, known as microcalorimetry, with which this power can be measured even if it lies only in the microwatt (a millionth of a watt) range.
Through their tests, the researchers furthermore determine the culture cell count and thus register how the cells divide and grow. Karim Fahmy summarizes the results: We have found out that the metabolism with uranium becomes less efficient. The cells produce more heat but not more cells. Theyre virtually running a temperature! The organisms clearly use their energy for defense mechanisms rather than for growth. A completely different picture emerges when glutathione is present. In this case, the cells continue to grow. Glutathione lowers uraniums chemical toxicity. The cells better withstand the contamination," says the biophysicist.
A bacterium from cheese production, Lactococcus lactis, was chosen for the studies. The researchers used a strain with an artificially introduced hereditary predisposition for glutathione production. The gene can be selectively switched on or off. This allows precise control of whether the cells produce glutathione or not. Karim Fahmy explains, We thereby have a clean model and do not need to add the glutathione from the outside. Disruptive factors are thus excluded.
These new insights on the protective effects of glutathione are important for innovative strategies in biological heavy metal decontamination in the environment. The process known as bioremediation attempts to harness plants or bacteria for the removal of toxins from contaminated sites. The organisms absorb the contaminants, which are removed from the site under controlled conditions through a subsequent harvest. The procedure also appears suitable for uranium decontamination. As is clear from the HZDR researchers findings, a preference should be given to organisms with their own glutathione biosynthesis.
Glutathione has already been discussed for quite a long time as a decontaminant because it is an antioxidant and, for example, renders free radicals harmless. Until now, however, strong proof of its protective effects against uranium has been lacking. The Dresden researchers have now made up for this lack. The results are particularly significant because they were obtained from living organisms.
An insoluble and therefore non-toxic complex
The researchers could also gain further insights on how the interaction between heavy metals and glutathione works. Karim Fahmy says, We see that uranium binds to the carboxyl group of glutathione. This results in an insoluble complex that is no longer toxic. This applies to the concentrations studied, 10 to 150 micromolar uranium a content which is typically found at contaminated sites in the Ore Mountains. Comparative measurements showed that for copper, entirely different reactions occur within the cells. Glutathione fails to deploy any protective effects here. Measuring metabolic warming for environmentally relevant risk evaluation of heavy metals is intensely promoted at the Institute of Resource Ecology at the HZDR. The unique opportunity to also work with radioactive materials at the institute results in entirely new insights on the effects of low concentrations of radionuclides in organisms, relevant in the fields of medicine and environmental biology.
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. The First Family of Azerbaijan and a close business partner made a series of financial transactions in the days and weeks before a crippling 2015 devaluation of the national currency that eventually earned them at least 100 million manat (US$ 64 million) in just two deals while additionally protecting their banks and companies, Armenpress reports, citing OCCRP.
Meanwhile, the rest of the countrys banking sector lost more than one billion dollars from that devaluation and a later Central Bank decision to scrap the manats peg to the US dollar and let it float freely. The turmoil caused by the sharply falling manat would cause four banks to lose their licenses. Average Azerbaijanis were the real losers, as up to half of their life savings evaporated in a single year.
On Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015 the Central Bank of Azerbaijan depreciated the countrys currency - the manat - by one-third against the US dollar. The surprise move came after months of interventions by the Central Bank designed to prop up the manat and government promises that it would maintain the stability of its currency.
President Ilham Aliyev reassured the concerned public: On the contrary, the manat is even stronger, he told media as devaluation planning was underway. The Central Bank also promised, up to two days before the devaluation, that the currency would remain strong.
The transactions raise questions about what the president knew and whether he or anyone in his administration told his family and business partner of the impending devaluation and whether together they moved to protect their businesses and earn a profit from the crisis.
At the center of the controversy are three banks: Caspian Development Bank, AtaBank and Pasha Bank. The three are owned by either the Aliyev family; their business partner, Ashraf Kamilov; or both.
All three banks also massively violated Azerbaijani banking regulations violations that led to almost no action by regulators.
When the Central Bank switched to a floating rate for the national currency on Dec. 21, 2015, the manat lost value again, ending up at half its original value. In both devaluations, the presidents family and Kamilov won.
Chicago-based software company SMS Assist has landed $150 million in new funding, valuing the company over $1 billion and making it the city's newest "unicorn."
SMS Assist's technology helps property owners manage maintenance across locations. The Series D funding round, an investment from Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, puts the company in the rare class of private tech companies valued at over $1 billion. Chicago's other unicorns include online lender Avant and wireless infrastructure provider ExteNet.
Advertisement
SMS Assist's clients which include Family Dollar and JPMorgan Chase currently use the software to manage services like snow removal or window washing at more than 120,000 total locations.
Chairman and CEO Michael Rothman hopes the new investment will increase the company's reach to more locations.
Advertisement
"This investment allows SMS Assist to continue developing our technology and capabilities as we move closer towards our goal of servicing 1 million unique locations," he said in a written statement.
The company employs more than 550 at its John Hancock Center headquarters.
mgraham@tribpub.com
Twitter @megancgraham
Customers are seen at an Intelligentsia Coffee shop in downtown Chicago in 2015. A Cook County judge has allowed a former co-CEO of the coffee company to proceed with a lawsuit against Intelligentsia. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)
A former Intelligentsia Coffee CEO's lawsuit against the Chicago-based coffee company will proceed after a Cook County circuit judge denied a motion to dismiss the suit late last week.
Now Robert Buono's suit appears headed for either trial or settlement. In November, Buono, former co-CEO of Intelligentsia, sued the coffee company and its co-founders Emily Mange and Doug Zell alleging breach of contract and a violation of state law governing wage payment and collection. Buono helped turn around the company and position it for its eventual sale to Peet's Coffee & Tea, which was announced in late October, and is owed some $15 million in vested interest in the company per his contract, according to his lawsuit.
Advertisement
In a motion to dismiss Buono's claims, William O'Neil, attorney for Mange and Zell, argued among other assertions that the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act does not apply to shared profits and that Buono's profit interest was not in Intelligentsia but in a new company that was never formed.
But in his opinion Friday, Cook County Circuit Judge John C. Griffin ruled that Buono had met the necessary standards in his allegations for the case to continue.
Advertisement
"This case is going to be decided on its merits. From our perspective, this is a very important ruling," said P. Andrew Fleming, Buono's attorney with the Novack and Macey law firm.
O'Neil couldn't be reached for comment.
Buono, who's also an attorney, was hired by Intelligentsia in 2010 "to improve the Company's floundering business," according to the lawsuit.
When he was invited to become co-CEO in 2010, he found a company with no online wholesale ordering, no good sales data, supplier data or marketing plans for different market segments, and with underperforming employees, the suit says.
As co-CEO, Buono was to be paid a "modest salary" of $125,000, plus an annual bonus and "equity-like profits interest," according to court documents. In July 2014, Buono was fired without cause and was not paid his profit share for 2012, 2013 and the pro-rated amount for 2014, the lawsuit said.
And the deal with Peet's should have triggered the full vesting of Buono's interest, the lawsuit said. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed at the time, but Buono's lawsuit said the deal was reported to be valued at about $100 million, which meant Buono was entitled to about $15 million.
Those numbers could change, though, as the lawsuit moves forward and the terms of the deal are disclosed in discovery, Fleming said Tuesday.
Peet's was acquired in 2012 by German holding company Joh. A. Benckiser, which has since changed its name to JAB Holding Co., with BDT Capital Partners as a minority investor. In an open letter Oct. 30, Zell told Intelligentsia employees that Zell, Mange and co-owner Geoff Watts would retain a minority stake in the company and continue to be involved in running the business.
Advertisement
A status hearing is scheduled for July 6.
gtrotter@tribpub.com
Twitter @GregTrotterTrib
Craig Breedlove appears in video from 1963 when he built his jet car "Spirit of America," which recorded a new land speed of 407.25 miles per hour on the salt flats of Bonneville, Utah. (National Archives) (Handout)
In 1965, after breaking land speed records and the 500-mph barrier, Craig Breedlove sent his famous Spirit of America jet car to the Museum of Science and Industry for display.
Fifty years and an untold number of field trips later, the museum returned the car to Breedlove last fall with more than a little wear and tear to show for it nearly $400,000 worth, according to Breedlove.
Advertisement
Hoping to get his car, and a piece of American history, restored to its former glory, Breedlove filed a federal lawsuit last week in Chicago, charging negligence and seeking to have the museum pick up the repair bill.
"The car is an American icon," Breedlove said Tuesday. "It about broke my heart to see the abuse. I didn't really know the full extent until I got it home."
Advertisement
The land speed record was an international quest, with a 1947 run by British driver John Cobb standing until Breedlove's homemade effort, which featured a surplus jet engine as the power plant.
Breedlove, now 79, designed, built and piloted the world's fastest car while still in his early 20s. A high school graduate and self-taught engineer, it took four years for Breedlove to construct the car in his father's Culver City, Calif., garage. Running out of funding, he pitched Shell Oil and Goodyear as sponsors, completing the sleek Spirit of America for about $150,000.
In 1963, Breedlove took his car to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah and became the first man to cross the 400-mph threshold. The accomplishment was immortalized by the Beach Boys, who recorded the tribute song "Spirit of America" for their 1963 album, Little Deuce Coupe.
In 1964, he set a new record, clocking in with a speed of more than 526 mph. The historic run ended with his parachutes failing to deploy, and he crashed into a saltwater pool far beyond the course. It was the last time he drove the car.
Breedlove went on to break the 600-mph barrier in a new car, the Sonic I. At the urging of his sponsors, the Spirit was cosmetically repaired and sent to the Museum of Science and Industry for exhibition minus the jet engine.
Craig Breedlove is photographed with Spirit of America around 1963. Breedlove set the land speed record in the vehicle, powered by a surplus jet engine, and hit 526 mph in 1964. (National Motor Museum / Heritage Images/Getty Images)
"At the time we loaned it to them, I thought maybe they'll have it for a year or two," Breedlove said. "I had no idea it would end up there for 50 years."
When Breedlove lent the car to the museum in August 1965, he entered into an "oral agreement" that the car would be returned in him in the event it was pulled from display, according to the lawsuit.
In July 2015, the museum notified Breedlove in writing that it intended to return the car, which it said was still in "mint condition" after 50 years on display, according to the suit. When the car arrived at his Rio Vista, Calif., home in October, Breedlove said he found it to be in far worse shape than promised.
Advertisement
Damage included exterior panels that no longer fit, stretched intake duct mountings for the jet engine and graffiti where schoolchildren carved their initials in the aluminum finish, the lawsuit said. Missing parts included the driver's seat.
In addition, Breedlove said the vehicle's frame had been cut and "unprofessionally" re-welded without his permission. The car was taken to a professional restoration shop, which estimated repair costs at $395,000.
Steven Young, a Los Angeles-based attorney representing Breedlove, said before filing the lawsuit, he and Breedlove approached the museum to make an insurance claim. Museum officials refused, claiming the car had actually been donated to the museum back in 1965.
"Due to active litigation, the Museum of Science and Industry is not able to comment on the legal case specifically," Renee Mailhiot, a museum spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement Tuesday. "However, we can assure our community that the museum goes to great lengths to take expert care of all of the artifacts in our collections and we are confident that this situation can and will be resolved satisfactorily."
Craig Breedlove shows a model of his jet-powered racer Spirit of America in October 1964 at Chicago's Water Tower Hotel. The actual car was put on display at the Museum of Science and Industry for 50 years but returned in a damaged state, according to a lawsuit filed by Breedlove. (Ray Gora / Chicago Tribune)
Breedlove said while he is disappointed in how his car has been treated by the museum, he knows the damage was not intentional. He said having the car displayed for 50 years remains "an honor" for him. But he believes the museum should be on the hook for the repairs.
"I just assumed that an institution as large as the Chicago museum was insured and they would take care of fixing the damage," Breedlove said "They had it 50 years and obviously charged admission for 50 years, and I didn't get anything for it. I thought it was reasonable to ask them to fix the damages done."
Advertisement
Once the car is restored, Breedlove said he will consider giving it to another museum for exhibition. Goodyear, which owned the Sonic I car, donated it to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, where it is on display.
Getting the Spirit back up to speed with or without an engine remains an important quest.
"That car was my whole life," Breedlove said. "Everything that I ever did was on the foundation of building that car and setting the records. That car really meant a lot to me."
rchannick@tribpub.com
Twitter @RobertChannick
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs that on June 7 the USD exchange rate was 478.82 AMD which is an increase of 0.52 drams compared to the previous day.
Armenpress reports that the Euro increased by 1.65 drams forming 544.23 drams. British pound rose by 9.32 drams forming 697.93 drams, Russian ruble increased by 0.07 drams reaching to 7.36 drams on June 7.
The prices for precious metals are as follows: the price for silver per gram is 252.47 AMD, gold-19,150.66 AMD, and platinum-15,225.08 AMD.
Some agents will agree to list homes at prices far above comparable properties just to land listings, but most agents say they don't condone that practice or engage in it themselves. (Frederic J. Brown / AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON It's one of those hush-hush practices that homeowners rarely hear about but real estate agents know only too well: It's called "buying the listing."
What it means is that some agents want the listing to sell your house so badly that they'll go along with whatever price you ask, even if it's outlandishly above what comparable houses are commanding.
Advertisement
They know that there's only a minuscule chance the house will sell at the inflated price you're proposing but they take the listing anyway. They fully expect that after a few weeks with no takers, you'll sober up and agree to what may have to be a series of price reductions.
"Buying the listing" works for some agents because they get cut into a commission payout that they would have missed had they lost the listing to competitors who counseled lower prices. Plus they reap immediate benefits: They've got their name plastered on a sign in front of your house, and they can hold open houses that could bring them new clients and other houses to sell.
Advertisement
But there are potentially big drawbacks for you as the seller. Overpricing a house can doom it to months of sitting unsold, even with price reductions. Serious buyers get turned off by new listings with inflated prices and they may not come back when the price inevitably gets reduced. At the end of the process, you could be left with a final price well below what you would have gotten had you priced it realistically earlier.
Buying the listing is a controversial issue in the real estate field. Most agents insist they don't condone it or engage in it themselves. It's also potentially an ethical violation for members of the National Association of Realtors, who are prohibited from "attempting to secure a listing" by "deliberately misleading" the owner as to the market value. Not advising overly optimistic sellers about the true value of their property solely to obtain the listing can be construed as misleading them.
How common is this? It depends on location and market segment. Some agents report that it rarely occurs in their areas. Others, such as Tony Marriott, an agent with Keller Williams Arizona Realty in Arizona, say it's so commonplace that "better than 50 percent of the listings" start out notably overpriced.
Agents elsewhere say that initial listings with inflated prices account for anywhere from 10 percent to more than 30 percent of all new properties put on the market. Diana Keeling, an agent with Coldwell Banker in Maryland, told me the practice is most common in the upper brackets, where "a lot of agents want the listing at all costs."
Dean Moss, a Keller Williams Realty Partners agent in Chicago, says "some agents have agendas of listing as many houses as they can" regardless of how off-base the initial pricing may be "as an advertising billboard for themselves." Passers-by see their signs frequently and figure, wow, that agent must be the best. Moss says when he confronts these agents and tells them their list price is off the charts, they sometimes reply, "I know. Make an offer!"
Some agents defend taking listings at elevated prices because they discuss pricing strategy in advance with the sellers. They draw the line: If the sellers of a house that should be priced around $400,000 are insisting on a listing at $495,000, they won't touch it. But if they see the sellers are trying to push a little say pricing at $415,000 or $420,000 they'll take the listing.
Alan May, a Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage agent in Evanston, says he's open to listing properties that are slightly overpriced, but only after showing the sellers comparable recent sales and agreeing to price adjustments downward if the house doesn't sell within specific time periods.
Bottom line: If you're planning to sell your house, arrange for multiple presentations by agents who specialize in your neighborhood. Study the market analyses they offer. Don't choose your agent mainly because he or she says your house is worth the most. Choose based on the key factors: proven sales record at or close to listing prices; strength of marketing strategies and resources; and outstanding references and reviews.
Advertisement
If you let an agent buy your listing at a price that's not supported by hard data, you may regret it months later when it still hasn't sold and your asking price is much lower.
kenharney@earthlink.net
Eddie Huang, author of "Fresh Off the Boat," will be in Chicago next week to talk about his new memoir, "Double Cup Love" (Emerson Jaco)
Eddie Huang did it again.
The success from Huang's first memoir "Fresh Off the Boat," which was adapted into an ABC hit sitcom starring Constance Wu and Randall Park, led to the author's second memoir "Double Cup Love." He will be in Chicago on Monday to speak at the Chicago Humanities Festival about the new book.
Advertisement
RELATED: TRENDING IN FOOD & DINING THIS HOUR
While "Fresh Off the Boat" paints a picture of Huang's childhood, "Double Cup Love" centers around his reverse migration from New York to China as an adult. Huang, a best-selling author, chef and eldest son of a Taiwanese-Chinese diaspora family from Orlando, was initially inspired to go on his quest to China when he was asked at a press event what's next after "Boat."
Advertisement
The owner of Baohaus restaurant, which serves Taiwanese steamed buns in New York's East Village, Huang traveled to Chengdu, China, to see if his Americanized Chinese dishes would be acceptable to the palates of Chinese people.
Eddie Huang's second memoir, "Double Cup Love" (Spiegel & Grau)
What started as a scrambled answer to find "the logical bookend" to his first memoir, "Double Cup Love" invites the readers to journey through his love story, new friendships, brotherhood, a whole lot of eating and more. Huang's honest recounting shouts and whispers on every page in all-caps dialogues and hilarious side-commentary. Huang pulls simple truths and humor out of his complex adventure to China. His forthright sharing of anecdotes is sincere and generates uncontrollable laughter.
Huang openly shares in "Double Cup Love" his search for identity reflected in his dating life, relationship with his family and interactions with food from different cultural settings. "Cooking has always been about ideas and techniques, not recipes Ideas can be bigger than all of us if we just let them grow," he writes.
"Food is language," Huang said in a recent interview with NPR. In that case, Huang fluently speaks multiple first-languages: English, Mandarin Chinese and food. His latest memoir affirms not only that the self-described "human panda" is an engaging storyteller but a great listener, especially in the language of food. The way he "listens" to food, translated through his bicultural taste buds and storytelling, allows the readers to appreciate dishes such as the smoked duck from Leshan and spicy cold chicken from Chengdu.
Huang will appear at the Chicago Humanities Festival, 7 to 8 p.m. Monday at Chop Shop, 2033 W. North Ave. Chicago-born comic Brian Babylon will mediate the conversation. A book signing event will follow. Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Chicago Humanities Festival's website.
"Double Cup Love"
By Eddie Huang
Spiegel & Grau, 240 pages, $27
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer John Mellencamp is slated to visit the Chicago Theatre on Oct. 25 as part of his "Plain Spoken Tour."
Mellencamp has performed at the venue before, including a two-night, sold-out run. Mellencamp's return will be part of the final leg of his tour.
Advertisement
The dates for the "Plain Spoken Tour" were announced April 22 on the musician's website. The fall leg of the tour begins Oct. 11 in Worcester, Mass. A separate announcement for the artist's return to Chicago was posted on his website Monday.
Tickets for the Chicago Theatre date go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday via Ticketmaster.
Novels in which contemporary authors adapt and respond to beloved classics are common enough. Just look at the recent explosion of books expanding upon the lives and oeuvres of Jane Austen ("Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice" by Curtis Sittenfeld), F. Scott Fitzgerald ("Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald" by Therese Anne Fowler) and Raymond Chandler ("The Black-Eyed Blonde: A Philip Marlowe Novel" by John Banville writing as Benjamin Black) to name a few.
Ted Hughes adaptations, though? That's relatively new territory. That famous poet and ex-spouse of Sylvia Plath and his 1970 book of poetry, "Crow" which draws on world mythologies and folklore depicting the bird as a trickster figure is an inspired choice on the part of Max Porter to provide the backbone of his brief, bizarre and brilliant debut, "Grief Is the Thing With Feathers."
Advertisement
DOWNLOAD THE PRINTERS ROW APP FOR YOUR COMPLETE GUIDE TO PRINTERS ROW LIT FEST
According to the Ted Hughes Society, "Crow" stands as the poet's risky departure from the work he'd done in the first phase of his career, "a stylistic experiment which abandoned many of the attractive features of his earlier work." This experimental approach seems especially apt considering that Porter's novel, too, is a significant departure from what most readers typically expect of a longer work of fiction.
Advertisement
Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes in 1959. (Tribune file photo)
Longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Dylan Thomas Prize, "Grief Is the Thing With Feathers" has been a hit in the UK, and the American publisher Graywolf published it in the States in June. Told from multiple and ever-shifting points of view alternating among the main characters "Dad," "Boys" and "Crow" the book is short and hybrid to the extent that parts of it are poems, lineated and in stanzas. But it's grounded in a very traditional and almost over-familiar story of family and loss, for at its center is a man whose wife has suddenly died, who is trying to deal both with his grief and his unexpected task of single-parenting his kids.
Known only as "Dad," this man misses even the troubled parts of his largely blissful marriage, realizing, "We will never fight again, our lovely, quick, template-ready arguments. Our delicate cross-stitch of bickers." What keeps the story from being excessively familiar, though, is Porter's sense of detail, as well as his imaginative and elegant approaches to structure and style.
Dad also happens to be a Hughes scholar, working on a book called "Ted Hughes' Crow on the Couch: A Wild Analysis" for "a scruffy Manchester-based publisher." So it seems both surprising and not surprising at all when this bereft little family is visited by Crow, a mysterious figure who arrives on their doorstep amid "a rich smell of decay, a sweet furry stink of just-beyond-edible food, and moss, and leather, and yeast" and of course "feathers," declaring "I won't leave until you don't need me any more."
Over the course of just 128 spare and highly compressed pages, Crow helps them get over their tragic loss, but not in a pat or easy way. If Dad ever gets too sentimental, as when he laments, "I missed her so much that I wanted to build a hundred-foot memorial to her with my bare hands .... The whole city is missing her," Crow promptly undercuts his excess saying, "Eugh ... you sound like a fridge magnet."
As an animal story, Porter's tale has qualities of a fable, but it also weaves in the traits and techniques of the essay and the novella, collaging in such forms as lists, tables of contents and even "Comprehension Questions."
Simultaneously straightforward and mysterious, the book illustrates the need for and calls into question "moving on, as a concept" with Dad insisting that "any sensible person knows that grief is a long-term project."
Why, if it's based on the work of Hughes, does the novel have a title that's one word away from Emily Dickinson's "'Hope' is the thing with feathers"? The second line of that poem is "That perches in the soul," and Porter seems to be saying that different emotions perch at different times and with different weights, and that even a book about a heavy subject can benefit greatly from a feather-light touch.
Kathleen Rooney is the co-editor of "Rene Magritte: Selected Writings," to be published in September by University of Minnesota Press.
Advertisement
"Grief Is the Thing With Feathers"
By Max Porter, Graywolf, 128 page, $14
With its brand-new exhibit, the Chicago Children's Museum is all about toy cars this summer. Hundreds of mini autos and more than 40 tracks at various heights and angles add up to one colossal racecourse. Best part? The spots deliberately designed for head-on crashes. Daily at CCM (at Navy Pier), 700 E. Grand Ave. $14, free for infants under one; free for everyone 5-8 p.m. Thursdays. http://www.chicagochildrensmuseum.org/index.php/experience/zoom-room - Original Credit: HANDOUT (Chicago Children's Museum)
This Father's Day, forget gifting dad nooselike neckties and tired old mugs, and give him the gift of fun with these events and treats.
For dads who like to fish
Advertisement
Schaumburg begins the Father's Day fun one day early with this intergenerational fishing fest. Bring your tackle kit, and cast your lines 9 a.m. till noon. The park district offers plenty of prizes (for shortest, longest and for quantity, plus most unique catch) in each age group: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 and 13-17. In true Father's Day fashion, the event also includes a hot dog, chips and soda for lunch.
Volkening Lake, 900 W. Schaumburg Road. $10-$20. www.parkfun.com/programs/special-events/father's-day-weekend-fishing-derby
Advertisement
For dads who like to bike
If you're not inclined to sleep in on your special day (or if the kids won't let you), get your morning going with Eli's Cheesecake's 12th annual Father's Day Bike Ride. First, enjoy a complimentary continental breakfast at Eli's HQ at 8:45 a.m., then hit the road on two wheels for a 10-mile course through the city's Far Northwest Side. Register online by Wednesday (June 15).
Meet at Eli's Cheesecake Bakery Cafe, 6701 W. Forest Preserve Drive. Free. www.elicheesecake.com/blog/event/12th-annual-fathers-day-bike-ride/?instance_id=4226
RELATED: TRENDING LIFE & STYLE NEWS THIS HOUR
For dads who like to brunch
Brunch is an even bigger thing than usual on this informal holiday, so the trick is finding a really special way to do it. A brunch cruise on Lake Michigan fits that bill. Head to Navy Pier, where you can hop aboard the Spirit of Chicago or the Odyssey for a two-hour cruise. Your eyes will feast on the unique view of the skyline from the west while your stomach fills up on a range of brunch faves. (Wendella Boats has a special, too the Beer & BBQ Cruise, departing from the Mag Mile but it's restricted to grown-up kids and dad.)
Navy Pier docks (south side of the pier), 700 E. Grand Ave. Spirit brunch, $55 adult, $33 kids 3-12; Odyssey brunch, $70 adults, $42 kids 12 and under. www.navypier.com/blog/fathers-day-coming-take-dad-out-on-lake-michigan/
Rainbow Cone is offering dad a free cone on Father's Day with a purchase. The signature cone is a giant five-scooper boasting layers of chocolate, strawberry, Palmer House (vanilla with cherries and walnuts), pistachio and orange sherbet. At Original Rainbow Cone, 9233 S. Western Ave. $3.80 (small)-$5 (large). www.rainbowcone.com (Chicago Tribune)
For dads who love cars
Advertisement
This new, homegrown exhibit celebrates toy cars and stunt tracks. Hundreds of Hot Wheels and more than 40 tracks at various heights, angles and loops add up to one colossal racecourse. The highlight: the head-on crashes we make no prediction about who loves that more, kids or dads.
Chicago Children's Museum (at Navy Pier), 700 E. Grand Ave. $14.www.chicagochildrensmuseum.org/index.php/experience/zoom-room
For dads who love ice cream
Looking for a sweet reward beyond your kids' adoring smiles, dad? Head to this classic South Side destination, and enjoy a rainbow cone on the house. For the uninitiated, that's a five-flavor ice cream cone: chocolate, strawberry, Palmer House (vanilla with cherries and walnuts), pistachio and orange sherbet. (Nut-free substitutions available.) Warning: Someone's gonna have to pay for the kids' cones.
Original Rainbow Cone, 9233 S. Western Ave. $2.28-$5.25 per rainbow cone; dad's cone free with purchase. www.rainbowcone.com/promotions
Web Behrens is a freelance writer.
Advertisement
RELATED STORIES:
Father's Day gifts with style
50 things to do with kids this summer
Dads who yell have more aggressive teenagers
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Agos journal of Istanbul published an open letter to Archbishop Aram Ateshyan, General Vicar of Armenian Patriarch in Turkey, who was severely criticized by the Armenian society because of his letter addressed to President Erdogan.
Agos editorial board stated that they read Ateshyans letter with irritation where the Archbishop says to Erdogan that the Armenian community of Turkey admitted the fact of the Bundestag resolution on the Armenian Genocide with pain.
Armenpress presents the entire letter:
Dear Mr. Archbishop,
We have read your letter about the Armenian Genocide resolution of Bundestag, which is addressed to the President and signed on behalf of "Turkish Armenians Society", with sorrow, anger and shame. Please regard this letter as the voice of those members of that society who disagree with the content and style of your letter.
You define the systematic and almost complete annihilation of a people by the decision of the state itself as the events happened during the tragic times of World War I; this is an affront to the ancestors, victims and the survivors in the eyes of the society to which you also belong.
The society that you defined as Christian-Armenian Turkish citizens who perform their obligations to the state perfectly, got over the delusion of seeing themselves different from the other citizens and know how to protect their rights when necessary doesn't have a homogeneous structure; rather, it consists of individuals who have their own independent feelings, opinions and firm acknowledgment of truth. The thing is, Armenians are not the ones who see themselves different from other citizens. After 1915, whenever the political atmosphere gets intense, Armenians become subjected to discriminatory, fascist and obviously threatening discourses and threats, especially in times of 1942 Wealth Tax and September 6-7 plunders. And on January 19, 2007, they witnessed the assassination of Hrant Dink, one of the most precious figures who devoted himself to the peace between and in two peoples.
You said, We, as the Patriarchate, will continue to pray for the fellowship of Turkey and Armenia;
How could you justify this statement of yours, given the fact that your addressee President Erdogan threatened the citizens of Armenia to send them back to Armenia two days ago? Doesn't it trouble your conscience? Let us remind you those statements of the president, in case you have forgotten: Currently, there are almost 100.000 Armenians in my country. Almost half of them are Turkish citizens. However, the other half are citizens of Armenia and we can send them back to Armenia, like Europe did."
You said that you are aware of the fact that "some people are not happy with your stable attitude that you maintain by abiding the traditional way. Honestly, we are having difficulty in understanding how forelock-tugging can be considered as an attitude.
The Armenian Genocide, as a crime against humanity, is a concern of the whole humanity. You said that you pray for the good of two peoples. The common future of those peoples would be possible only when an honorable reconciliation is achieved, because then, there won't be this kind of oppression that caused you to deny even your own history.
Dear Mr. Archbishop,
Since you said that the role of German Reich is slid over by a few sentences, we see that you have failed to comprehend the content of the resolution. Almost 80% of this resolution, which declares German Reich as the accomplice to the genocide, consists of Germany's confrontation with its own history.
Let us continue: you said, using this tragedy that traumatized the Armenian nation in international politics causes sorrow and pain. Indeed, the oppression that led you to write this letter causes sorrow and pain. Also, the sub- and supra-identities of the Armenian society in Turkey is not harmed by this resolution, but by your words. Above all, your words on abuse of Armenian nation by imperialist powers are recorded as an example to the denialist discourse; not by the ones who will take advantage of your usage of the official state discourse, but by your own people. In the near future, we will see who will appreciate your discourse with enthusiastic applause.
On this occasion, borrowing your style in your letter, we once again express our sorrow, uprising and anger and pray to God for you; may God bestow sense, intelligence and comprehension on you.
We also pray to God for giving you a dignified attitude, which you obviously lack, since you said that you pray to God for making the state dignitaries, who work for the good of people, succeed in their services in a time when tens of people are being killed every day in a civil war.
Michael G. Kulpin has been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated domestic battery and concealment of a homicide, authorities say. (DeKalb County sheriff's office)
A DeKalb man has been charged with murder in the death of his girlfriend, whose body was found concealed in a closet of the DeKalb apartment the couple shared.
Michael G. Kulpin, 20, was being held in DeKalb County Jail in lieu of $2 million bail on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated domestic battery and concealment of a homicide in the death of 19-year-old Moorea Desroches.
Advertisement
Kulpin was taken into custody Sunday night after Desroches' mother called police for a well-being check after Desroches had not shown up for work in two days.
Police went to the apartment in the 900 block of Kimberly Drive about 10:30 p.m. where they found Kulpin along with two other people. While checking the apartment, police discovered Desroches' body in a bedroom closet.
Advertisement
The couple had gotten into a fight late Friday or early Saturday, during which Kulpin beat Desroches and then stabbed her several times with a knife, police said. After Desroches died, Kulpin placed her body in the closet and tried to conceal it with items from the apartment, DeKalb police said.
Police say they collected several items from the closet as well as other evidence from a nearby trash bin. The two people who were with Kulpin when officers arrived were not involved in Desroches' death, police said.
According to police, Desroches was from the St. Charles area. On her Facebook page, Desroches said she was a graduate of St. Charles North High School, and that she and Kulpin had been in a relationship since 2013 and were engaged.
Kane County court records indicate St. Charles police filed charges against Kulpin in March 2015 for domestic battery involving Desroches. He was later sentenced to probation on the misdemeanor charge but was due back in court next month for a hearing on charges that he violated probation, court records said.
Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.
As 448 new apartments fill up, Deerfield officials are considering a special census to more accurately count a population that has increased since 2010 and has the potential to bring in additional state revenue.
The Village Board of Trustees and Mayor Harriet Rosenthal are considering a report by the village manager recommending that Deerfield ask the United States Census Bureau to conduct a special count.
Advertisement
Deerfield's portion of state income tax from the Local Government Distributive Fund, motor fuel tax and use tax is based on population, according to Assistant Village Manager Andrew Lichterman. Currently, Deerfield's share is based on a population of 18,420 determined by the 2010 census, he said.
Since that time, the 248-unit Woodview Apartments located at 15 Parkway North and another 240 units on Lake Cook Road built by Amli Residential have added 247 residents as of May, according to a memorandum prepared by the village.
Advertisement
Once fully leased, the two projects are expected to bring a total of 798 more people to Deerfield, according to the memo. Lichterman said the additional residents would mean a 4.3 percent population growth since the 2010 census.
As of June 3, Woodview is 85 percent leased, according to Greg Moyer, one of its owners. Amli is 46 percent occupied as of June 3 and full occupancy is expected by Sept. 30, according to Sue Bersh, the company's vice president of communications.
Should the village approve the special census, it will start in October, according to Barghi. He said only Woodview and Amli will be counted. The effort will not take into account people moving in or out of town in other places.
Barghi said the cost of the effort will be $65,023. If no more people move into the two developments, the increased revenue between August 2017 and the time when the 2020 census would be completed in 2021 is projected at $207,967. If 798 more people arrive, the village will realize an additional $453,064, he said.
Though the project could pay for itself many times over, counting on receiving money from the state has its drawbacks, according to Rosenthal.
"We're always concerned about money coming from the state," Rosenthal said. "We aren't sure what the legislature will do or if it will cut what comes to the communities."
Lichterman said the village staff is recommending the board approve the special census even with the uncertainty over the state's finances. If revenue from the state is cut in half and no one else moves into the two new projects, he said the village is still nearly $40,000 ahead.
"It's still a good return on investment," Lichterman said. "If it happens it will be a much bigger issue than the census," he added, referring to the prospect of a cut by the state in the local share of the distributive fund.
Advertisement
This would not be the first use of a special census in Deerfield, according to the memo. When three new developments opened in 1997, an off-year count of 1,511 residents added $136,000 a year to village revenues.
Along with additional revenue, Lichterman said the population growth will be a driver of new business to Deerfield as corporations look to relocate to a growing village.
"It will be good for new business marketing," Lichterman said.
Steve Sadin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
The Northbrook house of Art Wulf and Jan Morgan-Wulf, whose son Aaron, 36, killed his parents on June 1 at their Las Vegas home, according to Las Vegas police. (Irv Leavitt, Pioneer Press)
Police and school officials in Northbrook say they are reviewing documents containing allegations of abuse, sent by the son of a Northbrook couple before he killed them and then shot himself in Las Vegas last week.
However, neither police nor Glenbrook High School District 225 said they would launch formal investigations into the claims made by 36-year-old Aaron Wulf, which date back many years.
Advertisement
Aaron Wulf's manifesto is more than 500 pages long and alleges abuse at the hands of his parents and a Glenbrook North High School teacher, and contains complaints of wrongdoing by others. Las Vegas police confirmed last week that the manifesto was sent by Aaron Wulf to police, media outlets and others before the June 1 murder-suicide, and was received by Las Vegas police after his death.
"We always take allegations seriously," District 225 Supt. Michael Riggle said Monday. "We're reviewing things at this point, and this is a long manifesto."
Advertisement
Las Vegas police said Aaron Wulf's parents, Art Wulf, 69, and Jan Morgan-Wulf, 66, were found dead in their Talon Pointe neighborhood home with multiple gunshot and stab wounds following a call to police from family members asking for a well-being check. When police arrived, they found the three bodies, Las Vegas Police Sgt. Jeff Clark said.
Clark said police had classified Aaron Wulf as "mentally ill" based on input from family members. None of Aaron Wulf's siblings could be reached for comment.
In his manifesto, dated May 31, Aaron Wulf, an aspiring actor, said he had spent five "extremely painful and brutal" months writing it, apparently intending to be dead when it was finally read by others.
"One of the painful lessons of my life is that society cannot turn its back on abused children; it has dire, and lifelong consequences," it said.
Aaron Wulf claimed in the manifesto that a Glenbrook North High School teacher molested him while he was a student.
Riggle said that teacher resigned, but did not elaborate further on the circumstances.
"We're going to go through all of the material, and we'll review it with legal counsel," he said. District officials would also discuss the matter with the school board in a closed session, he said.
Aaron Wulf also claimed in his manifesto that he had been bullied severely at Glenbrook North High School. Riggle said disciplinary records are typically destroyed after five years, "so any actions taken by the deans will not be there."
Advertisement
In the manifesto, Aaron Wulf claimed he had been physically abused by his parents, and that he had brought the allegations to the attention of Northbrook police. He noted in the manifesto that police did not bring charges against them.
Northbrook village spokeswoman Cheryl Fayne-Depersio, who acts as a spokeswoman for the police department, said Monday that the village is "in the process of reviewing the documents attributed to Aaron Wulf." She said she had been given no timeline for that review, and on Tuesday said police would issue a statement by the end of the week.
Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >
Northbrook Police Chief Chuck Wernick and Investigations Commander Michael O'Malley did not immediately return calls Tuesday asking for comment.
Art Wulf was a semi-retired attorney and former District 225 school board member. Jan Morgan-Wulf was a former Chicago Public Schools speech pathologist who also had a long career as a real estate agent.
At the Wulfs' two-story house in Northbrook, where the couple had lived for years, there was no outward sign on Tuesday that anything was wrong. The lawn was moved and the bushes trimmed, though nobody responded to a knock on the door.
Neighbor Bonnie Miller described the couple as friendly, and said they planned to return to Northbrook from Las Vegas soon, and then travel to Australia and New Zealand.
Advertisement
"She was adorable," Miller said of Jan Morgan-Wulf. "Always had a big smile on her face. And I never had a problem with him (Art). I'm in complete disbelief."
ileavitt@pioneerlocal.com
Twitter @IrvLeavitt
A woman who flagged down a taxi and was taken to the Town Hall police district Sunday when she couldn't give an address where she wanted to be taken was reunited with her family, according to police.
Investigators had sought help identifying her. Police said in a release Tuesday morning that the woman had been reunited with her family.
Advertisement
The woman, believed to be between 60 and 70 years old, flagged down the cab somewhere on Fullerton Avenue on Sunday, but was taken to the district when she couldn't tell the driver where to go, according to an alert issued late Monday by Area North detectives. Police did not provide an exact address where she was picked up.
The woman appeared confused, told police her name was Irma Hernandez and was unable to say when she was born or give names of her family members.
Advertisement
Police did not release details on how the woman's family was identified, but a missing person flier from the River Grove area with a photograph of a woman who resembled the woman brought to the Town Hall District, and with a similar name, had been circulating since after that woman disappeared Saturday.
Former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds speaks to members of the media at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse after receiving a six month jail term on May 10, 2018, for failing to file tax returns for four years. Reynolds fought the misdemeanor tax charges against him until the eve of his sentencing hearing. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
Mel Reynolds' upcoming trial on misdemeanor tax charges has been put off as the twice-convicted former lawmaker continues to complain he's been unable to prepare his case while locked up for bond violations.
Making his first court appearance since filing a series of motions from the Kankakee County Jail, Reynolds, who is representing himself, said Tuesday he's been unable to research his case on the jail's lone antiquated computer and had little time in the law library because he's on 23-hour lockdown.
Advertisement
Dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit and shackled at the ankles, Reynolds also grumbled that he's only been able to meet with his court-appointed standby attorney whom he fired last month for an hour and a half in the 40 days he's been incarcerated.
"I'm just absolutely not prepared," Reynolds told U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman.
Advertisement
Feinerman who presided over the hearing because the trial judge, U.S. District Judge John Darrah is on vacation agreed to vacate the June 20 trial date but said Darrah would have to set a new schedule when he returns.
Reynolds, a former congressman, also has a pending motion asking Darrah to step down from overseeing the case, claiming a possible conflict of interest exists because Darrah was appointed in 2000 by U.S. President Bill Clinton, who a year later commuted Reynolds' sentence for a federal fraud conviction.
Reynolds wrote in a handwritten motion filed this week that the mutual connection to Clinton could cause Darrah "to overcompensate to avoid a possible perception that he is showing favor towards the defendant."
Reynolds, 64, has been at the jail since April 20 when Darrah ordered him taken into custody, saying he had "broken (his) word" on two occasions when he traveled from South Africa to Zambia without the court's permission and again when he returned to the U.S. two weeks after he'd told court officials he'd be back.
Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >
Last month, Reynolds wrote the first of a series of letters to Darrah complaining that since he was taken to the Kankakee lockup which houses federal prisoners because of overcrowding at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago's Loop he has been hospitalized for chest pains and high blood pressure, placed in protective custody because of potential threats from gang members and barred from preparing his defense because he's on 23-hour lockdown.
His latest motion also took another shot at Darrah by implying the judge was biased against him.
"Your honor's perception of the defendant as an irrational lier (sic) who is a flight risk from a misdemeanor tax prosecution that makes misrepresentations and deserves to be locked away indefinitely makes it impossible for defendant to get a fair trial," he wrote.
Reynolds was convicted in 1995 on charges of criminal sexual abuse, child pornography and obstruction of justice for having sex with a 16-year-old former campaign intern. While serving a state prison sentence for sexual abuse in 1997, Reynolds was convicted again in federal court on 15 fraud counts related to illegally raising campaign cash and defrauding banks out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Advertisement
He was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in federal prison, but in 2001, Clinton commuted Reynolds' federal sentence with two years left to serve.
jmeisner@tribpub.com
Twitter @jmetr22b
Jason Missak, 33, of the 5700 block of West Pensacola Avenue, is charged with reckless homicide in the death of Carmen Maria Vanegas. (Chicago police photo / )
A woman killed in a four-car pileup when the driver of a white Jaguar blew a red light in the Avondale neighborhood was on her way to church with her husband at the time of the crash, a family member said Tuesday after the driver appeared in court.
Jason Missak, 33, of the 5700 block of West Pensacola Avenue, was ordered held Tuesday in lieu of $250,000 bail in the death of Carmen Maria Vanegas and the injury of her 64-year-old husband. Prosecutors and court records gave Vanegas' age as 57, although the Cook County medical examiner's office said Vanegas, of the 3900 block of West 58th Place, was 62.
Advertisement
Just before 7:30 a.m. Sunday, Missak, driving a white Jaguar, disregarded a red light at Belmont and Kedzie avenues, hitting a black Chevrolet Cobalt that was going north on Kedzie, prosecutors said. The Jaguar, which had the license plate "DO R DI," pushed the Cobalt into a Volkswagen Jetta with three people in it, as well as into a Toyota Corolla with only a driver inside.
Missak, who had no one with him, stayed in his car for a short time, then got out and walked west on Belmont before hailing a cab, prosecutors said. After people from inside the Jetta told the cabbie about the crash, the cab driver would not allow Missak in the cab.
Advertisement
The Cobalt had burst into flames, and Missak started to walk toward the crash scene, then jumped a nearby barrier and ran west, prosecutors said. The two people from the Cobalt, Vanegas and her husband, were taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where Vanegas, who had been the passenger, was pronounced dead at 7:39 a.m. and her husband, the driver, was treated for broken ribs, bruised lungs and a head contusion, prosecutors said.
Three other people in the crash refused medical treatment at the scene, Fire Department spokesman Chief Juan Hernandez said Sunday.
A witness took a photograph of Missak and gave it to police, while the cab driver told police Missak smelled of alcohol and appeared drunk, prosecutor said.
Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >
Several witnesses identified Missak as the driver who ran from the scene, and red light camera footage showed the Jaguar running the red light while cars on Kedzie had a green light, prosecutors said.
The Jaguar is registered to Missak, who never reported the crash, and police arrested him as he left his house about 4:40 p.m. Sunday, prosecutors said. After his arrest, Missak admitted to detectives that he owned the Jaguar involved in the crash, that he was driving and that he left the scene without calling police.
On Tuesday, Missak's father was in court but declined to comment. Missak, who works two jobs, one at a university and another in real estate, has an 11-year-old daughter he has full custody of and lives in a 2-flat owned by his father, Missak's attorney said.
Vanegas' son Daniel Valdez said outside court that his mother was driving to church Sunday morning with her husband when they were hit by Missak's car. He and other family members held back tears after bond court and Valdez said they were hurt by the bail amount and by details from prosecutors about Missak trying to hail a cab to flee and then running from the accident scene.
"They said he was a good person, but a good person wouldn't do that," Valdez said.
Advertisement
An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the woman who was killed as Maria Carmen Vanegas; Vanegas was known as Maria, but it was her middle name.
The Chicago Tribune's Steve Schmadeke contributed.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, seen here June 6, 2016, was noncommittal when asked about the future of City Colleges Chancellor Cheryl Hyman. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
Welcome to Clout Street: Morning Spin, our weekday feature to catch you up with what's going on in government and politics from Chicago to Springfield.
Topspin
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is often effusive in his praise of City Colleges Chancellor Cheryl Hyman, and continued to laud her work at the community college system when they appeared together Monday at an event for an organization that works to improve relations between colleges and the cities in which they reside.
So it was noteworthy afterward when Emanuel declined to answer directly when asked whether Hyman would remain at the helm of City Colleges when her contract runs out at the end of the month.
"At the appropriate time the (City Colleges) board will make their statement and work through that issue," said Emanuel, who appoints the City Colleges board, with Hyman at his side. "But I think, let me also be clear about Cheryl Hyman, who is a tremendous leader."
After the news conference, reporters tried to get Hyman to talk about her future, but Emanuel cut them off as the two walked to waiting cars. "How about this, Cheryl's talking to the mayor, OK?" he said.
Advertisement
In February, the community college system's faculty issued a vote of no confidence in Hyman amid complaints she was enacting "sweeping changes" without any "meaningful demonstration of concern for faculty, student or community concerns," according to a resolution.
Last year, Hyman persuaded the board to raise tuition, an increase that was announced to students in an email two days before the vote and after many of them had started signing up for fall classes.
Advertisement
At the time, Hyman defended the hike, saying it would make costs for students more transparent by eliminating extra fees. Hyman said the aim was to get more students to take full-time course loads of 15 credits each semester by making it less expensive to do so on a per-credit basis.
City Colleges officials said 60 percent of students in the system took fewer than 12 credits each semester. Those part-time students in many cases will face the steepest increases under the new tuition setup. (John Byrne)
What's on tap
*Mayor Emanuel will address the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce this morning.
*Gov. Bruce Rauner will discuss educational and government operations funding in Bloomington.
*Former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar and Democratic U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly will discuss the future of Illinois in an event sponsored by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.
What we're writing
*Rauner, Emanuel and Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan continue the triangular blame game. Governor says mayor's failure to stand up to speaker "one major disappointment," while Emanuel says Rauner auditioning for Trump veep slot.
*U.S. Rep Tammy Duckworth blasts U.S. Sen Mark Kirk for silence on Trump's comments about judge.
*Annual pre-election rite at City Hall: Emanuel allies load up ballot with advisory referendums, blocking anti-Emanuel airport question.
*Chicago tourism board picks new CEO.
Advertisement
What we're reading
*Man from famous political family has name floated for statewide office in Illinois yet again.
*Bees swarm bike in Loop, (probably) terrorize this fine city.
*TV host pulls an Oprah, forgives debt instead of doling out cars.
From the notebook
*Look who's talking: Mayor Emanuel's operation tends to play things close to the vest, with the mayor frequently declining to discuss his private discussions with other politicians, citing professional courtesy. Gov. Rauner is a little more free with letting reporters know whom he's talking to.
"Over the weekend, I spoke with many members of the General Assembly in the Democratic caucus, talking about how we can work together to get some compromises and a balanced budget. I spoke with the mayor. I spoke for over an hour with Michael Sacks, who's one of the mayor's, maybe his most significant adviser and supporter, talking strategy, how can we work together, how can we get some bipartisan compromises and move forward," Rauner told reporters Monday.
Sacks, the head of GCM Grosvenor, a big-time money manager, is Emanuel's top campaign contributor. Sacks also generally prefers to keep his name out of the news.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, the Illinois House is scheduled to return on Wednesday. A spokesman for Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan said he was unaware of plans for Rauner and legislative leaders to meet in the near future but said working groups are meeting to discuss the governor's economic agenda items.
Following last week's meltdown that led to no budget or education funding bill being sent to Rauner, Madigan said he planned to call the House to work every Wednesday in June in what he calls "continuous session." Rauner said last week he didn't think that once-a-week session days were enough, and said he planned to negotiate with Madigan on bringing lawmakers back more often.
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said the speaker and governor have not discussed that. "The phone has not rung," he said.
*Please spend that cheddar: Mayor Emanuel has never been shy about talking up the importance to Chicago's economy of tourists lightening their wallets while in the city, but rarely is he as explicit about it as he was Monday.
The mayor took the mic at a meeting of the Town and Gown Association, an organization that tries to improve relationships between colleges and the cities in which they're located, and told the out-of-town attendees to start spending.
Emanuel gave the hard sell at Loyola University Chicago following 49th Ward Ald. Joe Moore, who introduced him and discussed a boat tour conference participants took.
Advertisement
"I know the alderman asked you to all show hands, who went on the boat tour, who walked around," Emanuel said, pausing. "Who spent money while you were in the city of Chicago? Now we're talkin'."
"I appreciate that you went on a boat tour and walked around the neighborhood," he continued as the crowd laughed. "I want you we got a budget to fill, OK? Just go out there and feel free to go spend, you know? Buy something for a loved one from another city." (John Byrne)
*Rats and Rauner: The governor's appearance in Ottawa on Monday drew a union-backed protest. And they brought a giant inflatable rat, the kind you see outside construction sites where nonunion labor is used. This one had a special sign affixed to it, to gain the governor's attention. Let's take a look.
Welcomed by angry union members and a giant rat with his name on it, Gov. Bruce wasn't so almighty in Ottawa Monday. pic.twitter.com/wQr20FxgSy Steve Stout (@TT_sstout) June 6, 2016
Follow the money
*Track campaign contribution reports in real time with this Tribune Twitter account: https://twitter.com/ILCampaignCash
Beyond Chicago
*Presidential race, Republican side: Trump urges surrogates to turn up criticism of judge, journalists.
*Presidential race, Democratic side: AP says its count means Clinton clinched nomination ahead of Tuesday's California primary.
Advertisement
*BuzzFeed pulls out of $1.3 million ad deal over Trump.
*Tropical Storm Colin leaves power outages, flooding in Florida.
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. More than 10,000 people have died attempting the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe since 2014, Armenpress reports, citing AFP, the United Nations said on June 7.
"You've now had since the start of 2014 -- when this phenomenon of rising numbers across the Mediterranean happened -- 10,000 deaths. That threshold has been crossed just in the last few days," UN refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards told reporters.
The UNHCR said the number of Mediterranean deaths had risen sharply in 2016, with 2,814 people dying since the start of the year, following a total of 3,771 in 2015 and 3,500 the year earlier.
That amounts to 10,085 deaths in less than two-and-a-half years.
"This is clearly an appalling number of deaths that have occurred in the Mediterranean, just on Europe's borders just in the past couple of years," Edwards told AFP.
"It's an extremely worrying dynamic," he said, reiterating the agency's call for the world to find "viable alternative and regular means of dealing with these movements".
"They're happening, they're not stopping, they need a solution to prevent further lives being lost," he said.
The International Organization for Migration said the death toll so far this year was already nearly a thousand above the 1,838 deaths registered in the Mediterranean during the first half of 2015.
As of Monday, a total of 206,400 refugees and migrants had arrived in Europe since the start of the year, mainly landing in Greece and Italy, the organization said.
Following the latest shipwreck off the Greek island of Crete last Friday, the IOM said around 320 people remained missing, presumed drowned.
Rescuers pulled some 340 people to safety but there has been much uncertainty about how many people had been onboard the ship.
IOM said Tuesday that based on testimony from several survivors it was convinced there had been either 648 or 650 men, women and children onboard.
The survivors, spokesman Joel Millman said, "were sure of the number because smugglers counted them twice a day before departure".
He said survivors had provided harrowing accounts, including the story of a man travelling with his wife and three children who entrusted his three-year-old daughter to another migrant onboard saying he feared he would not live.
The girl survived, but the rest of her family perished.
We're almost there, the end of the line. Voters in California and five other states -- New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana -- cast ballots Tuesday in the final big round of primaries in the battle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Here's what we're watching for:
History will be made.
In 57 U.S. presidential elections, no major party has nominated a woman for president. Clinton is on track to be the first, and the Associated Press reported Monday night that she had secured enough delegates to clinch the Democratic Party's nod. Clinton is expected to solidify her hold on the nomination once polls close in New Jersey at 8 p.m. Eastern.She's holding a rally in Brooklyn, N.Y., to mark the occasion.
Superdelegates, superdelegates, superdelegates.
Expect a lot of talk about Democratic superdelegates, elected officials and party leaders who can choose which candidate to support. Although the overwhelming majority of them plan to back Clinton, they don't vote until the convention in July, so Sanders has insisted Clinton should not be considered the presumptive nominee.
Such an argument ignores both recent history and the popular vote. Presidential candidates can ascend to presumptive-nominee status after securing a majority of pledged delegates, as Clinton is on track to do, not just when competing candidates have dropped out.
It's also unlikely that Sanders will be able to sway superdelegates to his side. Clinton has won more votes, more states and more pledged delegates, meaning superdelegates would have to be willing to override the preference of the majority of the electorate to support him. In addition, superdelegates are members of a Democratic establishment that has been solidly behind Clinton since the beginning of the race.
Can Sanders win California?
Although Clinton is widely expected to have claimed the nomination before polls even close in California, the state is still the single biggest delegate prize of the day. Sanders has been campaigning nonstop here, hoping a victory will strengthen his hand for influencing the party platform at the convention and show the staying power of his political coalition.
The reaction from Sanders in the coming days could signal how hard he's still willing to press his case.
During the 2008 campaign, Clinton dropped out in June after a hard-fought race and threw her support to Sen. Barack Obama. Sanders, however, has pledged to fight until the party convention in July in Philadelphia. But decisive outcomes have a way of changing candidates' behavior, even those who vowed just days or hours earlier to fight on until the end. See Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's about-face after the Indiana GOP primary last month or even former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's exit from the race after losing in South Carolina, despite having announced a schedule of campaign events in Nevada.
In recent days, Sanders has added new criticisms of Clinton to his standard attack lines. He has said she has a conflict of interest because of donations from foreign governments to the Clinton Foundation, which was set up by her husband. Democratic leaders will be watching to see if he keeps making a case against Clinton, or starts laying the groundwork for a unified front against Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
Does President Obama get the green light?
Obama was considered the presumptive nominee in 2008 once a mix of pledged delegates and superdelegates put him over the threshold, so he'll likely apply the same thinking to Clinton. He's been eager to hit the campaign trail against Trump, but has mostly stayed on the sidelines while waiting for the Democratic primary to play out.
Although he's hinted at his support for Clinton, this week might be his chance to make that explicit. Obama appears likely to only make a move once the after-effects of Tuesday's results have settled, including whether Sanders reiterates his vow to press on to Philadelphia or backs away from it.
Los Angeles Times
Donald Trump suggested this week that U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel can't give him a fair hearing. Curiel, who is presiding over a class-action suit against Trump over his former for-profit educational company, Trump University, is a U.S. citizen, born in Indiana to Mexican immigrants. "I'm building a wall" on the U.S.-Mexico border if elected, the presumptive Republican nominee for president told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday. "It's an inherent conflict of interest." Earlier in the week, he told a crowd at a rally in San Diego that Curiel was "a hater of Donald Trump, a hater."
As a private citizen, Trump has a right to his opinions, regardless of whether others agree with them, or whether others consider them wise, foolish or even dangerous. Trump, of course, is more than a private citizen; as the likely nominee for president of a major political party, he speaks with a voice that carries much weight and, if successful in November, will influence millions of people. Because of this, some commentators have condemned Trump's suggestion that Curiel step down from the case. These voices have, quite rightly, emphasized the importance of upholding our independent judiciary from baseless attacks by high-level persons from other branches of government.
Advertisement
An independent judiciary is extremely important. But that value is not the only one in play here. Equally important, if not more important from my perspective as a former judge and U.S. attorney general, is a litigant's right to a fair trial. The protection of that right is a primary reason why our Constitution provides for an independent judiciary. If judges and the trials over which they preside are not perceived as being impartial, the public will quickly lose confidence in the rule of law upon which our nation is based. For this reason, ethics codes for judges including the federal code of conduct governing Curiel require not only that judges actually be impartial, but that they avoid even the "appearance of impropriety." That appearance typically is measured from the standpoint of a reasonable litigant.
It is crucial to understand the real issue in this matter. I am not judging whether Curiel is actually biased against Trump. Only he knows the answer to that question. I am not saying that I would be concerned about him presiding over a case in which I was a litigant. And if I were a litigant who was concerned about the judge's impartiality, I certainly would not deal with it in a public manner as Trump has, because it demeans the integrity of the judicial office and thus potentially undermines the independence of the judiciary, especially coming from a man who could be president by this time next year. But none of these issues is the test. The test is whether there is an "appearance of impropriety" under the facts as they reasonably appear to a litigant in Trump's position.
Advertisement
Certainly, Curiel's Mexican heritage alone would not be enough to raise a question of bias (for all we know, the judge supports Trump's 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 Trump's concerns about getting an impartial trial are reasonable. Curiel is, reportedly, a member of a group called La Raza Lawyers of San Diego. Trump's 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 Trump's 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 Trump's 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 he's 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.
Finally, some have said that Trump's criticism of the judge reflects on his qualifications to be president. If the criticism is solely based on Curiel's race, that is something voters will take into account in deciding whether he is fit to be president. If, however, Trump is acting from a sincere motivation to protect his constitutional right to a fair trial, his willingness to exercise his rights as an American citizen and raising the issue even in the face of severe criticism is surely also something for voters to consider.
Washington Post
Alberto R. Gonzales, White House counsel and U.S. attorney general in the George W. Bush administration, is the dean and Doyle Rogers Distinguished Professor of Law at Belmont University College of Law in Nashville, Tenn.
WASHINGTON The Caligulan malice with which Donald Trump administered House Speaker Paul Ryan's degradation is an object lesson in the price of abject capitulation to power. This episode should be studied as a clinical case of a particular Washington myopia the ability of career politicians to convince themselves that they and their agendas are of supreme importance.
The pornographic politics of Trump's presidential campaign, which was preceded by decades of ignorant bile (about Barack Obama's birth certificate and much else), have not exhausted Trump's eagerness to plumb new depths of destructiveness. Here is the remarkably brief timeline of the breaking of Ryan to Trump's saddle.
Advertisement
On May 3, Trump won the Indiana primary, ending competition for the Republican nomination. On May 5, Ryan said he still was not prepared to endorse Trump. That day Trump responded that he was not ready to endorse Ryan's agenda. This was not news, considering that Trump has campaigned against every significant element of this agenda entitlement reform, the rule of law, revival of Congress as a counter to the executive overreach that President Obama has practiced and that Trump promises to enlarge upon.
On May 12, a Trump meeting with Ryan resulted in a cringe-worthy joint statement that had to be read to be properly disbelieved. The two spoke about the "great conversation" they had about "our shared principles." They celebrated their "many important areas of common ground" while offhandedly mentioning "our few differences." Those who know, or thought they knew, Ryan doubted that he could name a single shared principle, and he did not do so.
Advertisement
In spite of, and in conspicuous dissonance with, the May 12 happy talk, Ryan continued to withhold his endorsement. Perhaps he hoped that Trump, at age 69, was going to mend his manners.
Instead, Trump dragged a personal problem, his coming trial on fraud charges associated with Trump University, into the presidential campaign. Having first done so in February, on May 27 he again attacked the "Mexican" judge (born in Indiana, 1,332 miles from Mexico) who will preside at the trial, asserting that the Hoosier was unfit to preside because his ethnic heritage would incline him against Trump, the wall-building scourge of Mexican rapists. On May 30, Trump again attacked the judge, again embracing the identity politics that actually characterizes contemporary progressivism: An individual has, always and only, the interests and motivations of his race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.
By June 2, Ryan had heard enough. He endorsed Trump. He did so because President Trump would sign Ryan's House "agenda." Well.
Since May 5, the Hamlet of southeastern Wisconsin had indeed learned something. He had learned Trump's contemptuous response to his scruples. Trump's response was an insouciant intensification of his anti-institutional politics the judicial system, too, is "rigged." Ryan limply described Trump's attack on the judge as thinking "out of left field" that he could not "relate to."
All supposedly will be redeemed by the House agenda. So, assume, fancifully, that in 2017, this agenda emerges intact from a House not yet proven able to pass 12 appropriations bills. Assume, too, that Republicans still control the Senate and can persuade enough Democrats to push the House agenda over the 60-vote threshold. Now, for some really strenuous assuming: Assume that whatever semblance of the House agenda that reaches President Trump's desk is more important than keeping this impetuous, vicious, ignorant and anti-constitutional man from being at that desk.
Some say in extenuation of Ryan's behavior that if he could not embrace Trump, he could not continue as speaker. But is Ryan, who was reluctant to become speaker, now more indispensable to the nation's civic health than Trump is menacing to that health? Ryan could have enhanced that health by valuing it above his office.
In March, Trump said of Ryan: "I'm sure I'm going to get along great with him. And if I don't, he's going to have to pay a big price." Ryan has now paid a staggering price by getting along with Trump. And what did Ryan purchase with the coin of his reputation? Perhaps his agenda.
In Robert Bolt's play "A Man for All Seasons," Thomas More is betrayed by Richard Rich, who commits perjury to please the king, in exchange for being named attorney general for Wales. Says More: "Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world. But for Wales?" Or for the House agenda?
Advertisement
Washington Post Writers Group
George Will is a Washington Post columnist.
georgewill@washpost.com
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Ambassador to Bulgaria Armen Sargsyan on June 3 held a meeting with the members of Bulgaria-Armenia friendship group in the National Assembly of Bulgaria, press service of the MFA of Armenia informed Armenpress.
Head of Bulgaria-Armenia friendship group Atanas Zafirov stressed the importance of the working relations between the Parliamentarian group and the Embassy of Armenia to Bulgaria, and expressed hope that the newly appointed Ambassador will play a significant role in deepening and developing that cooperation.
Atanas Zafirov emphasized with satisfaction the expansion of the Parliamentarian group.
A wide range of issues related to the development of trade, economy and tourism between Armenia and Bulgaria were discussed.
The sides highlighted the role of the Parliamentarian group in the development of bilateral relations, and stressed the importance of organizing mutual visits at MP levels.
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Ministry of Armenia has released a footage urging citizens not to spread unchecked information about army. Armenpress reports the footage is about different citizens who tell each other unchecked information about army in public areas.
Dear people, do not spread unreliable information. You create unnecessary tension and give the enemy information by doing that causing troubles for me and my co-servicemen. Lets stand together, a border guard soldiers says at the end of the footage.
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. The graduation ceremony of the first university trainings in Armenia was organized at Yerevan State University in the framework of IBM Academic Initiative on June 6. As Armenpress was informed from the Enterprise Incubator Foundation, university trainings were organized by IBM Innovative Solutions and Technology Center and Enterprise Incubator Foundation aiming at developing and empowering capacities of Armenian higher educational establishments in the field of technologies as well as giving opportunities to universities to make use of IBMs wide range of resources.
In total 200 hours, more than 35 students and 60 lecturers gained modern knowledge in the following directions: Information Security, Cloud technologies and programming basics in BlueMix environment, Mobile programming in cloud environment, IBM Watson analytic application, Statistical data analysis, Data analysis and prediction through IBM SPSS program, Integrated e-marketing basics, Information system management, Business process management and automation.
The majority of graduate students are now employed and some have formed start-up companies. Up to today, more than 50 trainings and seminars have been implemented at IBM Innovation Solutions and Technologies Center involving more than 800 students and lecturers. More than 70 lecturers from different universities of Armenia have become members of IBM Academic Initiative.
Students and lecturers from 9 Armenian universities got the opportunity to take part in the trainings, including;
1. Yerevan State University
2. American University of Armenia
3. Armenian State University of Economics
4. French Higher Institution of Engineering in Armenia
5. French University of Armenia
6. Eurasia international university
7. State Engineering University of Armenia
8. National University of Architecture and Construction of Armenia
9. European Academy
The Center implements continuous modernization of subject lists at universities as well as discusses importing of new Masters Degree programs in some universities and improving existing programs. The main goal of the Center is to develop and strengthen the educational capabilities of Armenian higher educational institutions in IT/High-Tech, to enhance their research potential in educational context, as well as create a favorable environment for formation of sustainable businesses.
The Center for Innovative Solutions and Technologies will be situated in YSU premises, though all the universities of the Republic of Armenia and private sector may freely make use of all the resources including trainings of Academic Initiative, virtual library, software and equipment and Centers staff and IBM experts are ready to support in any issue. The opening of the Center is expected in the coming months.
Members of Lincoln-Way Area Taxpayers Unite will meet with their attorney to discuss their legal options including a possible appeal following a Will County associate judge's ruling Monday dismissing a lawsuit aimed at keeping Lincoln-Way North High School open.
Will County Associate Judge Roger Rickmon issued a four-paragraph ruling dismissing the group's lawsuit, which was filed in December.
Advertisement
"I'm left at a loss on what the judge specifically ruled on," said Stephen Eberhardt, an attorney representing LWATU. "It's just a conclusion. There's no legal analysis of how he came to that decision."
In his ruling, Rickmon said he considered all the allegations and facts laid out in the lawsuit in the best light possible for the plaintiffs. However, he still found that LWATU, "failed to allege any facts that this court could ever find that the decision to close Lincoln-Way North High School was arbitrary or capricious."
Advertisement
He also found the board's decision to close North did not violate any of the plaintiff's due-process rights.
The ruling did not provide any other insight into how Rickmon reached his decision.
Attorneys for LWATU and Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 are scheduled to appear before Rickmon again on June 20.
Eberhardt said he will meet with LWATU members to discuss their legal options. They have 30 days to appeal Rickmon's ruling to a higher court.
LWATU sued last year, arguing the school district's decision in August to close Lincoln-Way North at the end of the most recent school year was rushed and invalid. The board voted to close the school as a cost-saving measure after years of deficit spending.
In March, Rickmon tossed out much of the original lawsuit, but left the door open for an amended complaint to be filed focusing on the allegation that the school board voted to close North simply to keep Illinois State Board of Education officials from reviewing district finances.
At the time, Rickmon said that if the allegations were true, it would suggest "improper motive behind the decision." The amended complaint set out to show that the district's primary motive to close North was to keep ISBE from looking at the district's books.
Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >
When he issued his ruling in March, Rickmon said it was one of the most difficult decisions he has had to make. He added that many of the allegations in the lawsuit such as the district increasing salaries while running a deficit, funding a dog training facility and spending money that wasn't budgeted were causes for concern, but were not issues he could consider in reviewing the board's decision to close North.
Advertisement
Rickmon took the issue under consideration again after the amended complaint was filed and he heard oral arguments in May.
"We're grateful for the time and effort that Judge Rickmon put into this," William Gleason, an attorney representing the school district, said late Monday. "From the beginning, we didn't believe that the lawsuit had merit. Hopefully we can get back to the business of the school district."
He acknowledged the lawsuit has been difficult for all parties.
"This isn't a celebration that the school board won this lawsuit," he added. "This is not a situation that the school board wanted; it's not something that they're happy about."
Though the lawsuit has been dismissed, the district is still dealing with several of the issues raised in the lawsuit. Last month, federal prosecutors issued a subpoena for records relating to the Superdog training facility at North. Federal authorities also have requested records related to the district's spending and former Superintendent Lawrence Wyllie.
Alicia Fabbre is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. The adoption of the resolution recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide by the German Bundestag is a serious step towards the international condemnation of the Genocide and was a double slam to Turkish denialism, Vice Speaker of the Armenian parliament Edurad Sharmazanov said at the National Assembly.
Political summer kicked off with a historical move. The parliament of once ally of the Ottoman Empire, Germany, recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide. It was a serious step towards the international condemnation of the Armenian Genocide and a double slam to the Turkish denialism. The recognition was followed by Turkeys hysterical reaction, Armenpress reports Sharmazanov saying.
In his words, the reaction of the leader of another Turkic state, Aliyev Junior, was no less hysterical when he qualified the resolution as fraudulent and provocative. Moreover, Aliyev accused the Bundestag in adopting an anti-Azerbaijani resolution last year in July, upset for being considered an undemocratic state by Germany, Sharmazanov said, adding that it is ridiculous when a dictator gives lessons of democracy to Bundestag MPs.
Difficult jobs demand adequate compensation
The plight of police officers and teachers has been in the media spotlight lately. Both groups have been scrutinized, analyzed and critiqued from many quarters. Both occupations are demanding and require a certain set of skills, principally a certain temperament. That being said, everyone is not temperamentally suited for these jobs.
Advertisement
They both offer unique challenges. The job of the police officer is the most dangerous one can have. The job of teacher requires the patience of Job. They both require people skills because they are dealing with and managing people often in stressful situations.
The police officer's job is to maintain order in a disorderly society. In doing so, he faces danger on a daily basis.
Advertisement
We expect our police officers to perform their duty in a professional manner and interact with citizens in a polite and respectful way. This does not always occur because some police officers allow feelings toward certain groups to cloud their judgment in encounters, especially when orders are not immediately obeyed.
In these cases, the actions of a few officers have tarnished the reputation of the entire department.
Going forward, the department can regain its footing and trust from the public by requiring all officers and cars to be equipped with cameras and to require all encounters with the public to be videotaped.
A teacher, the noblest of jobs and the most valuable in our society, is charged with molding young minds to become our future citizens. Teachers do so by passing along the values, knowledge and traditions from one generation to the other.
Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >
Working with a group of 25 to 30 young people with its many distractions is an enormous task and responsibility. This is made more difficult by many of our students coming to school from home situations that have not adequately prepared them for school.
For doing this work, teachers are criticized and denounced for demanding that they be adequately compensated.
Those who think teachers are overpaid, try working with 30 antsy kids each and every day.
When we think of the millions of dollars paid to ballplayers and entertainers, our police officers and teachers are grossly underpaid and underappreciated.
Advertisement
Ned L. McCray, Tinley Park
What's on your mind?
The Daily Southtown welcomes letters to the editor. Email them to letters@southtownstar.com and include your name, address and phone number. Only your name and the town you reside in will appear with the letter. Please keep a letter to no more than about 200 words. The Southtown is not responsible for the accuracy of the opinions expressed in letters to the editor.
Bring on the UFOs: We rarely hear of UFO sightings. If they are out there, I wish they would openly journey in droves across the atmosphere worldwide just to give North Korean, Chinese, Russian and Islamic terrorists something else to think about for a long time.
Change in locker room rules: This is for Speak Out. I'm a 16-year-old boy in high school. I want to thank President Obama for letting me paint my nails so I can go in women's locker rooms.
Advertisement
Mistrust of Muslims: Politically correct Hillary Clinton said we would just hurt Muslim feelings if the United States banned Muslims from coming into our country. Are we going to bow to them and put their fragile feelings over the safety of Americans? Trump has it right. We need to ban Muslims at least until we can identify who is who.
Think before you speak: This is about Donald Trump. He is definitely not fit to be our president. Before he had any evidence, he ridiculed the president and said the Egyptian airplane that went down was an act of terrorism. We have to stop thinking like that. Get the facts first. Now it's been said that there is a good chance that the plane went down because of a malfunction. We run the risk of going into unnecessary wars because of incompetence in the White House. Vote for who you want, but don't cry afterward.
Advertisement
Beware of scams: I had two scam calls. The first one was before noon. They said they were the Internal Revenue Service, and they were going to sue us. Then there was another IRS scam call.
More than one person on trial: I believe Dennis Hastert should be punished and held accountable for everything he did, but the gentleman who was taking money broke the law, too. Two wrongs do not make a right.
Don't back lax approach: I've read a couple Speak Outs about Elgin's new code enforcement idea regarding block captains. Callers say it sounds like a lax approach. I totally agree. It seems they don't have enough code inspectors to do the job right. Why do you have to have a neighborhood block captain telling on people? I just think it's getting weaker around here all the time. You have a lot of properties being bought up by house flippers who rent them out and don't care. Less code, more garbage.
Infuriated about inferior imports: I would like to talk about aftermarket parts. I worked in a body shop for 28 years. The whole time I was working there, we got inferior parts. Don't blame the automakers. Blame it on the cheap body shops that use the inferior parts and the insurance companies that make the body shops use the inferior parts. As long as we have billionaires like Donald Trump doing business wherever they can make money, we will keep having inferior parts.
Language dilemma: I'm calling in regard to the beautiful article by Sarah Freishtat about District 308 and other districts in the Aurora area. If we have 80 languages spoken in this district and surrounding school districts, why do we only cater to Spanish-speaking people? What about the other people? They say 6,000 people left Chicago, and out of that number, 4,000 landed in Aurora. Could it be that we are a sanctioned city? In 10 years, 40 percent of the students are minorities. When the police and fire departments answer in Spanish, it's sad. You keep telling the Spanish-speaking people they are not smart enough to learn English. I don't believe that.
Feature all cuisines: Everybody talks about racial attitudes. I think I'll also get on the bandwagon. All these chefs on television and magazines only cook Asian and Mexican food. What happened to European foods? What about mashed potatoes, a good piece of meat and a plain vegetable?
Commendation on restoration: The new owners of Aurora's old St. Charles hospital building are doing an awesome job of restoring the facility. The outside bricks probably look better than they did in 1941 when I was born in that hospital. I wish I could say the same for myself.
Editor's note
Advertisement
Speak Out is a reader-generated column of opinions. If you see something you disagree with or think is incorrect, please tell us. Call us at 312-222-2460 or email couriernews@tribpub.com. Please include "speak out" in the subject line.
YEREVAN, JUNE 7, ARMENPRESS. Vice President of the National Assembly of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov responded to Azerbaijani presidents announcement that allegedly not only Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) but also most of the territory of the Republic of Armenia are historically Azerbaijani lands. Recently Aliyev made an announcement where he, to put mildly, distorting the history, challenged no more, no less ancient philosophers such as Strabo, Polibiosin, Dio Cassius, Plutarch, Ptolemy. He even tries to challenge the trustworthiness of the British encyclopedia and the "World history of the USSR Academic Edition by stating that not only Artsakh but the territory extending from Syunik to Yerevan is Azerbaijani land, Sharmazanov said, adding that there would be no necessity to refer to such a ridiculous statement if its author was not a leader of a state.
Sharmazanov quoted ancient writer Strabo as saying that the Aras River divided Armenia and Atropatene from the south.
Vice President of the Armenian parliament quoted a number of other ancient writers evidencing that Armenia existed at least thousands years ago and occupied a territory larger than the Republic of Armenia and Artsakh do it today.
He also referred to the scientific works of A. P. Novoseltsev, who, examining the works of aincient writers, told that not only Artsakh is an Armenian land, but also Utik (currently in Azerbaijan- edit.) and what do the Azerbaijanis do here?
Eduard Sharmazanov urged to turn to Wikipedia. Azerbaijanis Turkic speaking people. And where is the motherland of Turkic peoples? Sharmazanov asked a rhetorical question, steppes between the Altai Mountains and Central Asia.
Sharmazanov reminded that a state called Azerbaijan emerged on the map in 1918 as a result of Turkish conquers. He advised the Azerbaijani president to examine one of the oldest maps existing today in Rome when he travels there. There he will see the borders of the Roman Empire together with historical Armenia and Artsakh, as well as Iran, Sharmazanov said.
Concluding his speech, Sharmazanov stated that the history does not forgive those who try to distort it, throwing them to a dump.
The city of Evanston has refiled a lawsuit in federal court against Commonwealth Edison and Nicor Gas alleging the companies were responsible for and failed to mitigate the presence of hazardous substances in and around a city waterline and in the soil and groundwater of an area encompassing the city's senior center, a park and an elementary school, according to court documents.
"While the materials found pose no hazard today to drinking water or in any other way to the community, the city believes these materials were brought to the area by now abandoned gas lines used during the early to mid-20th century," according to a news release from the city.
Advertisement
Evanston initially filed a claim against ComEd and Nicor for improper disposal of solid waste in October 2014, according to court documents. The city's initial suit was dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge John Z. Lee without prejudice in February.
"This lawsuit is a refiling of a previous lawsuit that the federal court found insufficient and incorrect as a matter of law and dismissed. Nicor Gas fully cooperated with the city of Evanston and investigated its concerns. That investigation demonstrated that Nicor Gas is not the cause of the city's concerns," said Jae Miller, a spokesman for the gas company, in an email.
Advertisement
"We take our environmental responsibilities seriously, value our relationship with the city of Evanston and have committed significant funds to remediating sites in the area," wrote John Schoen, communications manager for ComEd, in an email. "While we are committed to this ongoing work, this is a refiling of a previously dismissed lawsuit and offers no sound environmental data to support the claim. We will continue to engage with the city of Evanston on these issues."
The city alleges that waste oil from the Skokie Manufactured Gas Plant Site leaked into the surrounding environment, including the soil and groundwater, from above ground tanks, gas pipelines and other infrastructure at the site of the former manufactured gas place, located at Oakton Street and McCormick Boulevard, according to court documents. Nicor and ComEd "are the corporate successors to Northwestern Gas Life & Coke Company, which operated manufactured gas plants, and associated pipelines, in the city of Evanston from approximately 1871 until 1950," according to a release from the city.
The city claims the waste oil in the soil lead to the creation of high concentrations of methane gas in the affected area, which includes James Park, Dawes Elementary School, the Levy Senior Center. The city also alleges that a black crust discovered last summer inside and on the exterior of a Dodge Avenue water line matches that of the coal tar found at the Skokie plant.
"The presence of any coal tar inside the city's water line is unacceptable. Therefore, the lawsuit is prudent to address Nicor and ComEd's inaction and to force the corporations to address the present subsurface conditions in and around the James Park neighborhood," the statement from the city reads.
The new suit includes results from an "independent testing laboratory" confirming the presence of materials associated with "coal tar" found on city water lines along Dodge Avenue near James Park, according to the statement from the city. The materials discovered "are well below measurements required for reporting to the U.S. and Illinois Environmental Protection Agencies and pose no hazards to the community," the statement reads.
Chemicals found in samples of drinking water collected from locations near where the black crust was discovered do not exceed maximum contaminant level standards for potable water set by the federal environmental agency, nor have they been found to be above levels that must be reported to the state and federal EPAs, according to the city.
According to the refiled claim, the city seeks to hold Nicor and ComEd responsible for the waste oil contamination in and around the James Park neighborhood and for the methane, "both of which threaten public health and safety." Specifically, the suit asks that Nicor and ComEd abate the contamination "they caused or contributed to, by their acts and omissions" in addition to providing compensatory damages and "punitive damages for the willful and wanton conduct of Nicor and ComEd that has threatened, and continues to threaten, the safety of the city's residents."
Miller wrote that the city's claim that materials traveled below ground from the former manufactured gas plant, which is located approximately half a mile away from James Park, "are without basis."
Advertisement
"Nicor Gas and ComEd fully remediated the former gas plant under (Illinois Environmental Protection Agency) supervision. Nicor Gas views the city's lawsuit as without merit and will again defend itself in court against these claims," Miller wrote.
Lee V. Gaines is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Ben Schwartz, owner of Schwartz's Intimate Apparel, says the family-owned business is closing after a century. (Karen Berkowitz / Pioneer Press)
For the past 100 years, three generations of Schwartz family members have helped women find the brassiere or corset that would enhance, rather than undermine, their self-image.
Ben Schwartz, the third-generation proprietor of Schwartz's Intimate Apparel, is now approaching retirement age himself. Rather than sell the business and the famliy's name along with it he and his sister Syndi Salat are closing down the Highland Park shop at 161 Skokie Valley Road this summer.
Advertisement
"It just wasn't worth it to sell the name without what went with the name, which was the service, the one-on-one attention, the customization," he said. "Those are the first things that would go."
Schwartz said that personal approach is what makes the shop special.
Advertisement
"Helping the woman who is a 46AA or a 58K bra size, that is what we are known for," he said.
Polish immigrants Molly and Ben Schwartz founded the Schwartz Corset Co. in 1915 on West Division Street in Chicago. At one point, they manufactured corsets in the back of a retrofitted movie theater and conducted fittings in the front.
Later, Schwartz's Intimate Apparel shops run by Florence and Milton Schwartz and their children carried on the tradition of providing personal service to women of all sizes.
"Business is changing and we either adapt again and change the way we do things," Schwartz said, "Or we can say, It's been a wonderful run. Thank you for 100 years."
They've chosen to go out on their own terms.
"We never wanted to be the store that becomes outdated, has no customers and is thread-barren by the time it closes," Schwartz said.
Ginny Glasner, president and chief executive officer of the Highland Park Chamber of Commerce, said the store's longevity is a testament to the personal service they provided.
"To have been in business for as long as Schwartz's has, through economic ups and owns, is quite an accomplishment," she noted.
Advertisement
Riverwoods resident Sheila Hollander has been shopping at Schwartz's Intimate Apparel since her mother took her to the Skokie store when she was around 11 or 12 years old to buy her first bra. That was 60 years ago.
"I've been following them around ever since," Hollander said.
When her mother, now 97, recently visited from California, a shopping trip to the Highland Park store was a priority.
"It's the personal service," Hollander said, of her loyalty to the store and its staff. "The department stores can't live up to that."
While the first two generations of owners brought in their children to energize the business with new ideas and direction, Schwartz said their children have chosen other careers and have no inclination to enter retailing.
The family's century-long run in the intimate apparel business was an outgrowth of grandmother Molly's entrepreneurial streak as a teenager. Upon arriving from Poland as a young teen, her first job in Chicago was working for a corset company, Schwartz said.
Advertisement
"By the time she was 16, she was sewing corsets on the side at home for her own clients," Schwartz said.
Over the years, new shops were opened and existing shops relocated to be closer to loyal customers. In the 1940s, a store was opened in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago, and in the 1960s, a shop was opened on Oakton Street in downtown Skokie, where they remained for more than 25 years.
From there, they moved into a Wilmette shopping center just north of Old Orchard, which served as their base for 22 years. In late 2010, they moved into the Crossroads Shopping Center in Highland Park.
In the 1960s, Schwartz Intimate Apparel launched its Positive Care division to provide custom-fitted bras to breast cancer patients after surgery.
"My parents were at the forefront of designing bras that could help these women," Schwartz said, noting their innovations occurred at a time when women who'd had mastectomies often kept it a secret.
The Positive Care division, which is run by Schwartz's sister Syndi Salat, also provides compression and wound-care garments for both male and female patients.
Advertisement
When the invention of pantyhose rendered stockings and girdles with garters obsolete, the business was stuck with a large inventory of stockings in its warehouse that father Milton insisted on keeping. Schwartz said it proved to be a fortuitous decision.
A stylist for Playboy dropped into a shop Schwartz ran near Rush and Oak streets in Chicago, and happened to mention how hard it was to find nylon stockings and other items.
"I had stockings and in colors," Schwartz said, of the serendipitous encounter that spawned a long relationship between the store and Playboy.
Since the store announced its closing sale to customers by mail and email, the reaction has been overwhelming, Schwartz said.
"We know most of our customers on a first name basis," he said. "It is a great loss to the community of women who needed special help."
Hollander was among those saddened to hear of the store's closing.
Advertisement
"Who are we going to go to now?," she asked. "What are we going to do?"
One customer told Schwartz that her grandmother had brought her mother to Schwartz's Intimate Apparel for a first fitting. Her mother brought her, and she in turn brought her daughter.
"She'd hoped her daughter would be bringing in her granddaughter," Schwartz said.
kberkowitz@pioneerlocal.com
@KarenABerkowitz.
Stay on top of the news all day with the Tribunes web notifications. Well let you know right in your web browser when theres big breaking news happening, and also share our editors top picks so you see the best of what the Tribune has to offer.
Joyce F. Jones, 68, of Bolingbrook, faces trial on a charge of misdemeanor battery, for allegedly slapping and hitting an 8-year-old Naperville-area boy with special needs while working as a bus monitor with First Student bus company. (Naperville Police Department / Handout)
Joyce F. Jones says she's never been in serious trouble once in her 68 years of living, "but I'm being thrown under the bus here."
Jones was a bus monitor for First Student bus company, one who finds herself accused of slapping and hitting an 8-year-old Naperville-area boy with special needs.
Advertisement
"This is probably the worst thing that has ever happened to me in my life," said Jones, of Bolingbrook. "Nobody's talking to me now. I'm a pariah."
Jones' troubles began about 4 p.m. April 6, according to records in DuPage County Circuit Court in Wheaton. A written complaint from Naperville police declared "she slapped (the boy) in the mouth and hit him in the left arm several times on the bus."
Advertisement
"This unfortunate incident was brought to our attention shortly after it occurred," Naperville police Cmdr. Jason Arres said Monday. "We thoroughly investigated this case in lockstep" with officials of Indian Prairie School District 204, he said.
"Based on the facts obtained in the investigation, including working with the DuPage County State's Attorney's Office, a decision was made to seek charges against Ms. Jones" for misdemeanor battery, Arres said.
The boy lives in an unincorporated area of DuPage County near Naperville's far northwest side. He is a third-grader at Patterson Elementary School in Naperville.
A message left early Monday afternoon at a telephone number provided for the boy's mother was not immediately returned.
Jones, during a telephone interview Monday, denied having slapped the boy, whom she described as being "combative" and "a screamer. He screams as loud as he can."
She said the boy is large for his age and can be "a fighter. When you've been hit by (him), you've been hit by Muhammad Ali."
"I did not slug him," Jones said. "I did not slap him. I took my hand and kind of rubbed it over his mouth (after he) spit deliberately in my face, and I barely touched his mouth."
Jones said District 204 and First Student officials "didn't give me any training for what to do about (the boy)" when she accepted the monitor's job, which she said paid $9 an hour.
Advertisement
"I did not hurt (the boy)," Jones insisted. "He told me he loved me. I told him I loved him."
School District 204 Superintendent Karen Sullivan posted a statement to the district's website concerning what she called "a serious incident."
"A parent notified district officials in April that she had concerns after her child's bus ride home," Sullivan's statement began. "The student was riding the bus with a First Student bus monitor and a First Student driver. No other students were on the bus."
"District administrators contacted First Student to investigate. Administrators discovered that the First Student bus monitor acted inappropriately, displaying aggressive behavior toward the student," she said in the statement.
"Administrators immediately requested that both the First Student monitor and driver be removed from all District 204 bus routes, and subsequently First Student terminated the employees. Administrators also immediately contacted" the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services "and the Naperville Police Department. District officials have been cooperating with law enforcement officials in their investigation since first learning of the incident."
"As a district, we contract with First Student with the obvious expectation that the company will safely transport all of our students to and from school each day," the statement said. "Anything that compromises the safety and well-being of our students is unacceptable."
Advertisement
Chris Kemper, spokesman for Cincinnati-based First Student, said late Monday "safe and reliable transportation of our student passengers is our top priority."
"We're disappointed by the actions of our former employee, Ms. Jones, who was terminated after we were made aware of (the incident) and investigated it," Kemper said.
Kemper added First Student has "a fantastic," 20-year-long relationship with District 204, "and we look forward to continuing that relationship with the school district and the community."
DCFS officials did not immediately return a telephone message Monday that sought comment on the matter.
An examination of court documents revealed Jones has received a handful of traffic tickets in DuPage County, but has no criminal record there or in Will County or Kane County. She is scheduled to appear June 21 in court.
wbird@tribpub.com
Ronald Vaickauski, left, of Northbrook presents wife Susan on behalf of her family during her ordination as a deacon in 2015 in St. Louis. (Susan Vaickauski / HANDOUT)
Despite the disapproval of some fellow Catholics and her likely excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church, Susan Vaickauski says she must answer the "call."
"For me, 'call' is this inner presence and movement that pushes me in a certain direction, and it is a presence and movement that I have no control over," Vaickauski said. "So when I say I am called to priesthood, I am saying there is this profound 'something' that is more than myself that says, 'Yes, this is what I am asking you to do.'"
Advertisement
Vaickauski, 69, a member of Northbrook's Our Lady of the Brook since shortly after moving to the village in 1974, is scheduled to be ordained on June 11 by Roman Catholic Womenpriests, a group that calls itself an "international movement within the Roman Catholic Church," according to the group's website.
Her ordination is scheduled for 2 p.m. at United Methodist Church, 1190 Western Ave. in Northbrook.
Advertisement
Roman Catholic Womenpriests first ordained seven women as priests in 2002, according to Vaickauski, a member. Male bishops whose names will not be revealed by the organization until they die ordained two of the women as bishops, and told them to ordain more women as priests, she said.
Pope Francis has shown some signs of allowing women to take more positions of authority within the church. Not only has the pope talked about appointing women to positions of Vatican leadership, he also has said the question of ordaining women as deacons is still an open question in the church. He, however, has ruled out ordaining women as priests.
The Catholic Church excommunicated Roman Catholic Womenpriests in 2008, according to the group's website.
Vaickauski said she also expects to be excommunicated.
The Archdiocese of Chicago did not directly respond to a question about whether Vaickauski would be excommunicated, or how it planned to respond to her ordination. In an email, an Archdiocesan spokesperson said that "this is a ceremony done in an entity apart from the Catholic Church. As such, as a rule, we make no comments on their activities."
The Rev. Bob Heinz, priest at Our Lady of the Brook, could not immediately be reached for comment.
'I can't remember a time it wasn't there'
Vaickauski said she has felt the call to be a priest her entire life, even while growing up in Lafayette, Ind.
Advertisement
"I can't remember a time when it wasn't there," she said. "When you're young, you don't know what it is. You just know something inside you is different. The people around me knew something was different, too."
Vaickauski said she first learned of Roman Catholic Womenpriests in 2005, while traveling with her husband, Ronald, in Quebec, and hearing that the group planned to ordain women as priests on a boat as the Vaickauskis were traveling on the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Despite a strong pull to answer the call then, Vaickauski returned to Northbrook and continued heading The Fred Outa Foundation, which she founded to "improve the lives of vulnerable children in Kenya through education," until stepping down last year.
In 2011, she retired after 13 years as a secretary at Westmoor Elementary School in Northbrook, and in July 2013 her desire to become a priest "got so bad I had to do something," Vaickauski said.
"I saw a picture of women prostrate being ordained. That's what moved me to action," she said. "I call it consumed, overpowered, overwhelming, intense. It was intense to the point that I couldn't sleep, eat or function. People said, 'What's wrong with you?' Until I pursued it, I wasn't at peace."
Roman Catholic Womenpriests requires priests over 55 years old to earn a master's degree in ministry, Vaickauski said. She also completed three years of study in "formation," or the preparation for a Catholic vocation, such as becoming a priest, she said.
Advertisement
The Rev. Elsie McGrath, a St. Louis priest who was ordained by the same group in November 2007, has guided Vaickauski through the process.
Vaickauski is an "exemplary" student who is very dynamic, animated and eager with a "wealth of background in ministry," said McGrath, who serves a congregation of about 20 in space rented from the First Unitarian Church of St. Louis and has led at least 16 other women through the process.
"Because she is a naturally pastoral person, she is extremely caring and sensitive," she said. "
Although ordained women priests are not officially permitted to practice in a Catholic church, their services are "absolutely Catholic," McGrath said.
"That is a part of why we are doing this, because even though they say we have been excommunicated, we do not accept excommunication," she said. "So that's what makes the excommunication null and void, because in a sense excommunication is kind of like a contract. We are legally ordained as Roman Catholic priests, and we are doing Roman Catholic liturgies."
The services do not resemble traditional Catholic Mass because they are conducted by women, welcome any participants, and do not engage in "all of the finery of the spectacle," McGrath said.
Advertisement
"It's not a spectacle," she said. "It's a prayer. And everyone in our community is equal. But it is definitely Roman Catholic. We follow the Roman Catholic rites for every sacrament. It is recognizable as Catholic, but it's extremely different because it is very warm and welcoming."
Ronald Vaickauski, a retired electrical engineer and lifelong Catholic, said he fully supports his wife's decision, even though he knows she will be excommunicated.
"This is one thing she's always wanted, and I think she deserves it," Vaickauski said. "All her life she's done God's work, taught religion classes. She puts on dinners at homeless shelters and things like that. For a while, she headed a foundation where she raised money to build a school in Kenya."
Vaickauski said he plans to attend his wife's services and continue to attend Mass at Our Lady of the Brook with his wife, even though she won't be permitted to take communion. He said he harbors no ill will toward the Catholic Church.
"Eventually the Catholic Church will catch up to the concept," he said. "From what I've seen Pope Francis doing, he's slowly working to change some of these rulesI think things will change. Whether it happens in our lifetime, I don't know."
Susan Vaickauski said she has not decided where she will practice as a priest, but potential plans include serving the homeless, addicted and mentally ill on the streets of Chicago.
Advertisement
Fellow parishioners at Our Lady and at the Vaickauskis' second church, Holy Family Catholic Community in Inverness, have expressed support and plan to attend the ordination, Ronald Vaickauski said.
Nonetheless, not all friends and family approve of Susan Vaickauski's decision, she said. And one of her closest friends, a fellow Catholic who presented her last year "on behalf of the people of God" at her required ordination as a deacon before becoming a priest, declined to comment for this story for fear of reproach.
"I'm not angry," Vaickauski said. "I'm not hurt. I'm just trying to be who God wants me to be. I love my church, and I don't want other people to be angry."
Tribune reporter Manya Brachear Pashman contributed.
Phil Rockrohr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
In the last year that he has served as president of the Park Ridge Public Library Board of Trustees, Joe Egan has attended five of the 12 regular meetings of the board in person.
For half of the year's meetings, he listened in and voted via speaker phone, a procedure permitted under the library's policy and procedure manual.
Advertisement
With the Mayor's Advisory Board recommending that Egan be reappointed to a second, three-year term on the library board, former library board Trustee Dick Van Metre addressed the City Council on Monday night with complaints about the board president's attendance.
"He seems to believe that calling in from third-world countries counts as attendance," Van Metre said of Egan. "There are some of us who disagree with this."
Advertisement
Fifth Ward Ald. Dan Knight, who chairs the Mayor's Advisory Board, said phone-in participation during a meeting does count as attending the meeting.
"It's allowed under the library bylaws, so why would it be an issue?" he told the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate.
The library's policy on electronic board participation by trustees says it is allowed in cases of illness, employment purposes or emergencies. Meeting minutes identify trustees who call in as "present via phone."
Trustees who are not physically present cannot participate in closed-session meetings and do not make up a quorum, according to the policy.
"In-person attendance is strongly encouraged," the policy says.
Egan, who is vice president of Kenrich Group, a business and litigation consulting firm in Chicago, has acknowledged that his job requires frequent travel, and if he is not on a plane or in a business meeting, he will participate in library board meetings by phone.
"I plan on attending every [board meeting] I'm in town for, and that's what I've done for the last three years," he said. "My travel is unpredictable. I can't predict more than a month out where I'll be on a given day. This past year, there was more travel than normal. Hopefully, it will be less going into the future, but I can't predict that."
When he is not able to physically be at the meetings, Egan's role of chairing the meetings has been undertaken by the board's vice president, Robert Trizna.
Advertisement
Egan said attendance is not defined when trustees agree to attend at least 75 percent of board meetings.
"In this day and age, attendance via phone and conference call is a pretty standard practice in the world," he said. "I disagree that it doesn't constitute attendance. I am participating, and I am voting."
Residents who interview to serve on Park Ridge boards and commissions are frequently told of a "requirement" that they attend at least 75 percent of all meetings, recent minutes from the Mayor's Advisory Board show. But Knight said there is not a city policy allowing removal of members who do not comply.
"It's not a requirement," he said of 75 percent attendance. "It's an expectation."
Attendance records of trustees currently serving on the library board were shared with the Mayor's Advisory Board and published on the city's website in April. They show two trustees with in-person attendance at regular board meetings under 75 percent during their entire tenure: Egan, with a 68 percent attendance rate, and Stevan Dobrilovic with a 67 percent attendance rate.
Egan attended meetings via phone 13 percent of the time during his tenure, according to the records.
Advertisement
At monthly committee meetings, Egan had a 70 percent in-person attendance rate (plus 14 percent of meetings attended via phone). Char Foss-Eggemann, the other incumbent who is recommended for reappointment to the board, had a 63 percent in-person attendance rate and 3 percent phone-attendance rate, according to the records.
In an email addressed to Knight and acting Mayor Marty Maloney, Foss-Eggemann said "previously scheduled work commitments" resulted in her missing some committee meetings near the start of her term in 2013. The library board has since moved to a committee of the whole structure, in which all trustees meet together on the second Tuesday of the month.
Former library board Trustees Van Metre, John Benka and Patricia Lofthouse, as well as former library business manager Kathy Rolsing, recently submitted a letter to all aldermen, asking they not reappoint any library trustees who attend fewer than 75 percent of board meetings.
Egan and Foss-Eggemann are the two incumbents recommended by the Mayor's Advisory Board for reappointment. Also recommended for appointment is newcomer Karen Burkum.
The City Council is expected to vote on the recommendations June 20.
jjohnson@pioneerlocal.com
Advertisement
Twitter: @Jen_Pioneer
A Park Ridge man was among three teens killed June 1 in violence on the streets of Chicago.
The 19-year-old was shot multiple times while sitting in a parked car in the 3000 block of Devon Avenue in the West Rogers Park neighborhood, Chicago Police News Affairs said.
Advertisement
The death of Kaysar Chako, of the 1900 block of Parkside Drive in Park Ridge, was ruled a homicide, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
The silver car in which Chako was seated was parked outside Devon Food & Liquor Party, 3044 W. Devon, when a gunman walked out of the store and fired shots at the 19-year-old, according to Officer Hector Alfaro, a police spokesman.
Advertisement
Chako suffered gunshot wounds to his chest and was taken to Presence St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he was pronounced dead, Alfaro said.
As of Tuesday, no suspects were in custody, police said.
Police described Chako as a documented gang member. A GoFundMe page was established to raise money for funeral expenses, but as of Tuesday it had been taken down.
Chako was among 11 people hit by gunfire as June began in Chicago.Two boys, 16 and 17, were also killed June 1, and another boy, 14, was wounded.
I watched him, hoping this is not the end of the interview as he shakily lit the tobacco, inhaled and let out a puff of smoke that swiftly vanished into the cool afternoon breeze.
He faced me again, pushing his hands into an dirty string bag strapped to his side from which he took a lighter and a half piece of rolled tobacco.
HEMBOKO Nemas unshaven cheeks crumpled beneath his wrinkled brow as the old man quickly turned away, attempting to conceal his teary eyes.
It was late on a Thursday afternoon and we were sitting quietly on the grassy lawn at the Bensbach Wildlife Lodge alongside the snaking Torasi River.
Its located in the remote Morehead area of South Fly District deep in the heart of Western Province.
I sat waiting for Hemboko, a retired Army Sergeant, to gather his thoughts. I stared out to the Torasi River as it slowly zigzagged downstream to the distant flat plains.
The rivers journey formed deep puddles along its banks with water lilies and shrubs creating a beautiful and breath-taking scene.
The setting sun hung like a red-hot gold disc casting yellow and orange stripes across the pale sky and flocks of pelicans, sea eagles and other birds searched below for their evening meal.
It is not like before, Hemboko said, catching my gaze again and shaking his head.
He pointed to the other side of the river. The plain was once filled with deer which came here to drink and wallabies grazed in those grasslands with their offspring.
He lit his tobacco again and smiled at me revealing betel nut and nicotine stained teeth before continuing his sad story of the continuous poaching and destruction of this hidden paradise.
The Tonda wildlife management region is a vast wetland of international importance and the largest protected area in Papua New Guinea.
It forms part of the Trans-Fly savanna, home to herds of deer, wallabies, monitor lizards, crocodiles, cassowaries, sea eagles, pygmy geese and other rare mammals and birds whilst barramundi and saratoga fish enrich the waters.
The Torasi River and Bensbach flood plains were a dynamic stopping point for assorted migratory birds on their seasonal journey to and from breeding grounds and feeding areas between the northern and southern hemispheres.
Hemboko talked of the more than 250 species of resident and migratory water birds and the mammals that were disappearing fast.
Many were killed by poachers and local people to sell at the PNG border post at Sota.
Some took the meat across the PNG-Indonesian border into Merauke city, less than an hours walk from the border.
The sun had completely set behind the trees and the place was getting dark as I sat there feeling the weight of Hembokos sad tale.
Western Province covers nearly 100,000 km and is the largest province by area in PNG. Its the home of several large rivers including the Fly and its tributaries the Strickland and Ok Tedi as well as Lake Murray, the largest lake in the country.
The terrain is flat, generally less than 45 meters above sea level and includes tidal river reaches, mangrove areas, swamps, grassland, savanna woodlands and patches of monsoon forest where most trees are gum trees - acacias and melaleucas.
Bensbach Wildlife Lodge itself was built in 1972 and nestles amongst wild bamboo and eucalypt and mango trees with its well-kept lawn flowing into the Torasis swampy banks.
For all those years it has provided comfort to tourists, bird watchers, fishermen, interested researchers and writers from around the globe who have travelled to see the stunning natural beauty and to have the captivating experience of being in a wild place.
Earlier that Thursday, at around 2pm, we had arrived at the kunai-roofed Bensbach Lodge after a six-hour flight from Kerema on a PNG Defence Force Bell helicopter.
The team included foreign affairs, mapping bureau, customs and police representatives who were investigating poaching allegations and other illegal activities along the border.
Thats when I met the old Army Sergeant Hemboko Nema and heard his tale of good times past.
On Friday morning we travelled downstream along the Torasi River to be greeted by curious wallabies, sharp-eyed sea eagles, iguanas swimming in the river and exotic water birds. I understood what Hemboko meant.
I never knew some of these creatures existed but one thing was for sure, they all seemed to be enjoying the warm morning sunshine in their grassy home.
Id like Hemboko to know that there are some places which are still something like they were before.
Owning a vehicle in Munster is about to get more expensive.
The Munster Town Council approved on first reading a wheel tax and surcharge on all types of motorized vehicles at its meeting Monday, with exceptions for state-owned vehicles, including school buses, or those operated by a religious or nonprofit youth organization.
Advertisement
"I'm not happy about this at all," Councilman David Nellans, R-4h, said. "We're backed into a corner."
Nellans said that with significant reductions from the state to fund road repairs, the town has struggled financially to maintain its streets over the past several years.
Advertisement
The town council voted 5-0 to pass the tax, which will be considered for adoption on second reading at its next meeting on June 20.
Munster is joining other Northwest Indiana communities, such as Portage, in enacting the tax to raise funds for local road maintenance. Crown Point, Valparaiso, Gary and Highland are also considering the tax.
Under a new state law, communities with a population greater than 10,000 in a county that does not levy a motor vehicle surtax and wheel tax can impose a tax at a local level.
The proposed tax works two ways, officials said. The surtax applies to passenger vehicles, motorcycles and trucks under a gross weight of 11,000 pounds. The maximum allowable tax is $25 per vehicle.
The wheel tax applies to buses, recreational vehicles, farm tractors, semitrailers and trucks, capped at $40 per vehicle.
Munster is seeking the maximum allowable tax under both vehicle classifications, which town officials estimate can raise more than $500,000 annually.
Town Manager Dustin Anderson presented an evaluation of Munster's roads based on the Indiana Department of Transportation's (INDOT) Technical Assistance Program Pavement Surface Evaluation Rating system. The report identifies more than $20 million in potential road maintenance work.
"The magnitude is great, but the roads in Munster are probably a little better than elsewhere," Anderson said, noting Munster's roads rank an average of 5 on a 10-point scale.
Advertisement
Councilman Joe Simonetto, R-3rd, added that he is concerned for senior citizens who may have difficultly affording the tax, which will be collected and disbursed through the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
INDOT will make additional road funding will be available next year through an $186 million fund from which eligible Indiana towns can apply for up to a 50 percent matching grant based on what they collect from the surtax and wheel tax annually.
I have always believed that our country works best when the middle class is strong it's good for families, businesses, and our local communities. For decades, the strength of the middle class has been rooted in a social contract between businesses and workers a mutual understanding that the success of one contributes to the success of the other.
Yet, in Indiana and across the country, we have seen a troubling decades-long trend of a shrinking middle class, due in part to a decline in manufacturing.
Advertisement
There is perhaps no better example of the threat to America's core than United Technologies Corporation's recent announcement that it intends to move 2,100 Hoosier jobs to Mexico to chase $3-an-hour wages in Mexico. This type of corporate decision-making by a highly profitable company, not only eliminates good-paying Hoosier jobs, but it fuels an economic anxiety that persists throughout our communities and our country.
It should be no surprise that this anxiety often turns to frustration, particularly when our federal policies do little to discourage this type of behavior. Today, corporations like United Technologies use the U.S. tax code and federal contracts to build their companies stronger, with no penalty for shipping jobs overseas. In fact, under current tax law, corporations like United Technologies can even write off their moving expenses for shipping jobs overseas.
Advertisement
Just as corporations feel an obligation to shareholders, as a U.S. senator, I have a responsibility to working families, taxpayers, and the American economy. That is why I recently proposed a series of policies that would penalize companies that ship jobs overseas and encourage investment in the U.S.
First, if a corporation decides to fire American workers and send those jobs overseas, that company should not be able to write off the moving costs. It is fundamentally unfair that when companies leave for a foreign country they get subsidized by American taxpayers on their way out the door.
Second, when corporations send American jobs overseas, federal policy should require that recent grants and tax breaks received by these companies be returned to taxpayers. Moving forward, tax breaks should be awarded to companies investing here in America.
Third, when the federal government makes contracting decisions about which goods and services to purchase with American tax dollars, it should consider whether bidding corporations have pursued cheaper foreign labor at the expense of American workers.
Lastly, we should encourage job growth in rural and low-income communities. Companies that bring jobs to these communities from foreign countries should receive tax incentives that help spur economic investments and growth.
There is no single solution to prevent corporations from moving jobs to low-wage countries, but hardworking taxpayers deserve to know that our policies are working to promote the American economy, invest in our workers, and strengthen the middle class. That's just Hoosier common sense.
Joe Donnelly is a U.S. senator from Indiana.
Salvador Curiel did not come 2,200 miles from the Mexican hamlet of Mascota to the grist of East Chicago's Indiana Harbor neighborhood on a free ride.
Nothing was ever free for Salvador Curiel.
Advertisement
He came for his four children yet unborn. He came for the promise, not of an easy life but for the promise of a better one.
He asked for a chance, and America gave him citizenship as it did grudgingly to thousands of Mexicans in the Great Migration of the 1920s.
Advertisement
As African-Americans arose from Mississippi's Delta to Gary and Chicago, the Mexican farmers and tradesmen followed the path north through Dallas to Austin to Memphis, St. Louis and eventually to the shores of Lake Michigan.
While the nation debates what the American Dream is and who is entitled to dream it, Salvador Curiel had already ratified the shape of that hope.
And when presumed GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump mocked a federal judge last week for being a "hater, a bad judge" and worst of all "Mexican," he was inadvertently mocking the American Dream.
When Trump scorned Salvador's son, Gonzalo, for the wrong bloodlines to be trusted with a federal gavel, he was smirking at the country he aspires to lead.
Trump was not only insulting Mexico; he was mocking America.
But here is the truth of Gonzalo Curiel, the third of Salvador and Francisca's four children, all graduates of Bishop Noll Academy in Hammond, all college graduates, all sturdy, civic patriots. They have always served higher goals. They have the credentials to prove it.
Gonzalo Curiel, 62, is one of Indiana University's most esteemed legal graduates, a path his older brother blazed.
So when Gonzalo went west to practice law, became a federal prosecutor, broke Tijuana cartel drug merchants while being hidden by FBI agents from gang hitmen and then was named a federal judge, he was only living the promise his father and mother earned for him.
Advertisement
Trump, as do all bullies eventually, picked on the wrong guy. The thought that Trump's bluster could intimidate Curiel where drug cartel killers could not seems ludicrous and silly.
Though Judge Curiel is prohibited by federal rules of judicial decorum from commenting on Trump's assaults related to the "Trump University" civil case, you can almost see him laughing behind his studied, calm, determined exterior.
His parents taught him that. They came to live in the Indiana Harbor neighborhood that lines the city's main waterway on the east side. Indiana Harbor was such an immigrant bastion for 50 years that many Hoosiers thought it a separate city from East Chicago.
Salvador first came to U.S. Steel in Gary and then to the forges of Youngstown Steel and Tube in East Chicago. There he toiled 50 or 60 hours a week.
The American Dream came bathed in sweat.
But his children rose, and then soared as did thousands of others.
Advertisement
Indiana Harbor was no falsely exalted American melting pot, but it was quintessential American stew. As Gonzalo's brother, Raul, told reporters: "It was blacks, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Greek, Polish, and Irish. We all kind of enjoyed each other's company."
East Chicago Washington High was founded in 1898, eight years before Gary even existed. EC Washington's graduating classes in the 1930s contained students of 100 nationalities.
Dad eventually ran the coke-making controls at Youngstown. He returned home from work one day in 1964 and suffered a massive fatal heart attack. Francisca Curiel immediate took factory jobs to keep the dream alive.
We are told often that America is running short of heroes, and especially smart heroes worthy of the Dream.
Post Tribune Twice-weekly News updates from Northwest Indiana delivered every Monday and Wednesday >
Donald Trump says so all the time.
But of all the bigotries oozing from his vocabulary, Trump is most wrong about that. The Curiel family needs no political sloganeering return to greatness. They were always great.
Advertisement
Their courage, fortitude, intelligence and the will to raise each other and their children prove what Trump apparently cannot see.
There are plenty of heroes. The Curiel family is not only heroic at Bishop Noll, Indiana University, Purdue University and the halls of federal crime-busting, they are heroes to thousands of other Mexican immigrants who came to Indiana's shoreline.
The sons and daughters of those heroes are spread from coast to coast now. Trump may not know exactly what the American Dream is. He revels in America's imperfections.
But if you need heroes to restate why America is great, it's not so hard to find them. Just look next door.
David.Rutter@live.com
What's Quickly? It's where readers sound off on the issues of the day. Have a quote, question or quip? Call Quickly at 312-222-2426 or email quickly@post-trib.com.
I don't get the gun lobby mentality that anyone wants to take away our right to bear arms. What is wrong with working for stemming gun violence through better background checks and safety? Also, why would a civilian need an assault rifle or machine gun? There are plenty of other gun choices that would protect and kill if absolutely necessary.
Advertisement
I'm a senior on Social Security, and this is about the wheel tax that they want to do in Valparaiso. Why are they doing a wheel tax since they just increased our taxes for school on our house property taxes? Also, why don't they take Porter County taxes out of our checks? I'd like to see something about that. I thank you for your time. I appreciate your Quickly feature. I enjoy it every day. Thank you.
I don't care much for U.S. Sen. John McCain's politics. With that being said, Sen. McCain was a Navy aviator whose jet fighter was blown out of the sky over North Vietnam. He spent five years being tortured in a prisoner of war camp. For those reasons, I can't see why any veterans would support Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after the way he disrespected Sen. McCain. By the way, where did Mr. Trump serve in the military?
Advertisement
After seeing what I saw on the 27th of May in California, I was not going to vote for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, but I think I am now. That's really sad. This is the United States of America and waving the Mexican flag during anti-Trump rallies does not belong on my street. So yeah, I'm going to vote for him.
Post Tribune Twice-weekly News updates from Northwest Indiana delivered every Monday and Wednesday >
Something really needs to be done to try to stop the senseless killings happening in Chicago and Gary. Many are gang-related and others are black-on-black crime. Either way, it is tragic for the victims and families and also for the families of criminals, who in many cases are young, stupid punks ruining their own lives as well as those of their victims. How very sad and repugnant to snuff out lives of people who are often innocent and caught in the crossfire. All lives are precious and matter.
Candidate Hillary Clinton is in big trouble now. Any bets that she won't be running on the Democratic ticket for president?
I hope you remembered on Memorial Day the Bataan Death March in the Philippines. They marched hundreds of soldiers. Some died on the way. Some were killed. Some were kicked and bruised. But, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, those were prisoners of war. You've got to be kidding with your criticism of POWs.
My heartfelt thanks to whoever on a recent Wednesday returned my purse from the Meijer store handicapped parking lot. May you always be blessed for your kindness.
The problem with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is that he is aligned to big business and can't be trusted to side much with the average working folks. Do you truly think that he will act against his big donors from wealthy corporations and the gun lobby? He certainly won't enforce stricter environmental oversight that will cost businesses more money.
I loved the Jerry Davich column about gratitude. It was profound in its simplicity. Whether one is religious or spiritual or not, expressing gratitude radiates positive energy and emotion. It keeps you grounded and humble. Even in adversity and during life's challenges, there is always much to be thankful for.
Read more at www.post-trib.com/quickly
China will continue to cut excess production capacity, but will rely on market forces, not government-set targets, to do so, Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said on Monday, as an annual high-level dialogue between China and United States kicked off.
Speaking at a press briefing, Lou said China has attached great importance to cutting industrial overcapacity, and that measures have been taken to eliminate 90 million tonnes of steel production capacity.
But he ruled out the possibility of working out a quantitative target initiated by the government.
"China has bid farewell to the planned economy, so the government can not dictate to industries on this. More than half of the country's steel makers are privately owned," Lou said.
While stressing market forces, the minister said the government will strengthen supervision on environmental protection and energy saving, and ensure high quality and security.
The government will also provide fiscal support to aid laid-off workers, he added.
The eighth China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue comes at a time when excess steel capacity has become an acute global challenge.
U.S. steel producers are increasingly resorting to trade remedies and tariff protection to ride out a sluggish steel market, a practice strongly opposed by Chinese exporters.
Structural reform crucial
As the global economy grapples with a weak recovery, macro-policy coordination is high on the dialogue's agenda.
Although the U.S. economy is seeing stronger recovery momentum, its investment engine remains weak and trade and fiscal deficits are high. Meanwhile, the Chinese economy is operating stably, but its fundamental problems have not been sorted out, Lou said, reaffirming the need for both countries to implement structural reforms.
He said China is willing to work alongside the international community to strengthen policy coordination and boost growth potential through structural reform and technology innovation.
"China will adhere to a proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy to provide a stable environment for structural reform," he added.
While the Chinese side pledged persistent policy making, the U.S. government vowed greater transparency and to make policy-setting more forward-looking to lessen the negative spillover to other countries.
The United States also agreed to take actions to boost productivity and investment, raise saving rates as well as labor participation rates, and achieve sustainable fiscal discipline in the medium-term.
ALBANY An investigation into the escape of two murderers from an upstate prison last year concluded Monday that chronic staff complacency, complicit employees and failures of basic security procedures were to blame.
State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott's report about the breakout of David Sweat and Richard Matt said security lapses at the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility at Dannemora, 25 miles south of the Canadian border, were longstanding.
"The extent of complacency and failure to adhere to the most basic security standards uncovered by my investigation was egregious and inexcusable," Scott said.
Correction authorities have implemented changes, and many Clinton employees have resigned or been fired, she said.
The lapses include failures to search entering employees' bags, negligent night counts of inmates, inadequate cell searches and poor supervision of inmates and civilian employees by security staff, she said.
The 154-page report includes a reference to an attempted escape at the maximum security prison in Auburn that the IG said motivated the state's deputy commissioner for correctional facilities to issue a memorandum eight weeks prior to the escape by Matt and Sweat. The memo urged prison superintendents to "eliminate the possiblity of escapes from our facilities," according to the IG report.
"The memorandum referenced 'recent events' an attempted escape from Auburn Correctional Facility by an inmate who planned to flee in a load of sawdust being removed from the prison, and an attempted suicide by an inmate who security staff improperly left in an Industry area at Eastern Correctional Facility," the report said.
Weeks after the escape from Clinton, Auburn Correctional Facility was placed on a lockdown after inmate escape plans were found.
"Since last June, DOCCS has instituted a number of reforms to strengthen operations at Clinton Correctional Facility, including installing new cameras and security gates, retraining staff, disciplining responsible employees, appointing a new superintendent and replacing other senior administrative personnel," DOCCS spokesman Thomas Mailey said in an emailed statement. "We are reviewing the Inspector Generals findings and will work with her office to implement her recommendations to improve operations at Clinton and throughout the entire system, and help ensure this incident is never repeated."
The New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Assocation, the union that represents state prison guards, also issued a statement Monday: "The Clinton escape was a disturbing incident that brings to light the broader inadequacies that affect the entire correctional system. Lessons can be learned from this system wide failure that shined a bright light on the need for a sustained investment in training, technology, and tools to keep up with the record high levels of violence in our prisons. We look forward to working with the Governor and state officials to better address the safety and security of these facilities, and of the inmates and Correction Officers who live and work there."
Matt, who had been serving 25 years to life for the killing of his former boss, and Sweat, who had been serving life without parole in the killing of a sheriff's deputy, cut holes in the backs of their cells during recreation periods with saws and other tools smuggled in by a civilian employee of the tailor shop where they worked. They cut their way through their cell walls, climbed down catwalks and through tunnels, cut into and out of a large steam pipe and then exited through a manhole. They left behind a taunting note containing a crude caricature of an Asian face and the words "Have a nice day."
The tailor shop employee, Joyce Mitchell, who's now in state prison for providing the escape tools, had improper sexual relationships with each man, the report said. She talked about leaving with them and killing her husband, a prison instructor, it said.
Over the course of about 85 nights, Sweat climbed down catwalks into the tunnels under the prison, explored for possible escape routes and cut through large steam pipes and the chain on the manhole cover where they got out. More than 400 inmate bed checks should have occurred in that period, and any one properly conducted would have detected Sweat's absence, according to the report.
Guard Gene Palmer, who took the men pliers and a screwdriver and frozen meat in which Mitchell hid saw blades, was convicted of promoting prison contraband and was sentenced to six months in jail.
Mitchell also smuggled a road atlas to Matt and placed telephone calls inquiring about rental cabins in Vermont, which Matt had suggested as a potential place to go after the escape. The cabins were too expensive, however, and Matt said they would head to Mexico, where he said he had ties to a drug cartel. The two inmates even chose aliases: Sweat picked James Tuttle, and Matt opted for Tony Goya.
A three-week manhunt followed the escape, with up to 1,300 state, federal and local law enforcement personnel that cost the state $22.8 million in overtime.
Matt was shot dead by searchers June 26 in a wooded area 30 miles west of the prison. Sweat was shot and captured two days later near the Canadian border. Sweat pleaded guilty to escape charges and was ordered to pay restitution for some of the $573,000 in repair costs.
Mitchell, the tailor shop employee, pleaded guilty to charges related to providing hacksaw blades and other tools to the inmates. Palmer, the guard, pleaded guilty to a felony count of promoting prison contraband for taking in needle-nose pliers and a screwdriver and a misdemeanor official misconduct count.
Baidu Inc, Tencent Holdings Ltd and JD.com Inc jointly announced on Monday that they have entered into definitive agreement to each invest US$50 million in Bitauto Holdings Ltd, a leading provider of internet content and marketing services for China's fast-growing automotive industry.
Baidu, Tencent and JD.com each agrees to purchase 2,471,577 newly issued ordinary shares of the New York-listed Bitauto at $20.23 per share, corresponding to $20.23 per American depositary share, each representing one ordinary share of Bitauto.
Bitauto also said that following an agreement with PA Grand Opportunity Ltd, Bitauto agrees to issue convertible bonds to PAG in an aggregate principal amount of up to US$150 million.
William Li, chief executive officer and chairman of Bitauto ,will indirectly purchase a portion of the CBs through PAG under a total return swap arrangement with PAG.
Upon the closing of both transactions, Baidu, Tencent, JD.com and holders of the CBs will hold 3.2 percent, 7.1 percent, 23.5 percent and 8.2 percent respectively, of Bitautos outstanding shares on a fully diluted basis, taking into effect the new issuance and the conversion of the CBs at the initial conversion price.
Tencent and JD.com jointly invested $1.55 billion yuan in Bitauto in January 2015 in a move to provide enhanced online automotive transaction services to car buyers across China.
"Through our cooperation over the past year with JD.com and Tencent, Chinas leaders in world-class e-commerce, social media and big data, we have gained tremendous momentum in making Bitauto the industry leader in online automobile transactions," said Li.
"Through our new partnership with Baidu, we expect to leverage its leadership in mobile and desktop online search, big data and transaction services platforms for additional strategic advantages as we continue to create the industry leading new and used car purchasing experience for customers in China," he said in a statement.
It was regarded as a game changer in mobile phone industry when Apple Inc launched its first iPhone in 2007.
But for Bertrand Schmitt, chief executive officer and co-founder of App Annie, a San Francisco-headquartered app analytics startup, it is the second iPhone that truly marked the beginning of smartphone era.
"The second version called iPhone 3G came with an App store, which makes it much more easier to discover, download and update apps," he said, adding it was the time he started to realize big changes were about to happen.
Now six years after he launched App Annie, a service that collects and deciphers data about the use of individual apps, as well as providing more complex metrics about user behavior and the impact to revenue growth, something big has happened and at the center of all these changes is China.
The latest statistics from App Annie show that for every hour users spend on their smartphones, 51 minutes are spent using apps while only 9 minutes are spent using browsers. And the number of app users is projected to reach 6.2 billion in 2020 from 2.6 billion in 2015.
Although the popularity of smartphones in China only really started to take off in 2012, China is catching up very quickly and is looking to overtake the United States, becoming the world's top spending nation on in-app consumption before 2020, said Schmitt.
He told China Daily in a recent exclusive interview that China accounts for about 20 percent of the world's gross app store revenue and it is expected to take about 30 percent of total revenue by 2020.
Gross app store revenue in China totaled $8.7 billion in 2015 and will reach $30.9 billion in 2020, according to App Annie.
The shift in user habit means that mobile apps have gradually become the predominant way for anyone who wants access to Chinese consumers, he said.
"It is very impressive that about 80 percent of Alibaba's e-commerce transactions are made on mobile devices. If you look at the United States, probably only 50 percent of the e-commerce transactions are made on mobile. China is pretty advanced in the era of mobile internet," he said.
According to Schmitt, the main reason that the Chinese have so willingly embraced the mobile internet era is that personal computers were very expensive and took up a lot of space compared with a smartphone.
"So once people can get a smartphone at a reasonable price, they move very fast. And also, in countries like the United States, people used personal computers for 20 years. The migration from PC to mobile takes more time," he said.
China is one of the largest markets for App Annie. About 15 percent of its 500,000 registered users are in China. According to Schmitt, the company will keep investing in China, especially in South China.
FedEx Express, one of the world's largest express transportation companies, will upgrade its domestic express services on the Chinese mainland by reducing transit times by one business day between more than 340 city pairs nationwide.
"China has been the focus of FedEx strategic development," said Jimmy Chen, vice-president of FedEx China.
"We launched domestic services in China in 2007 and have been expanding our network and operational capacities ever since," he said.
To better address Chinese customers' demand for professional and customized logistics services, FedEx will shorten the transit time by one business day between more than 340 city pairs, launch professional logistics solutions for vertical industries, including the healthcare, high-value, and high-fashion industries.
It will offer Sunday pick-up and delivery services in 36 cities for targeted customers as well as same-day delivery service in Shanghai and Beijing for selected customers based on the existing services within the same city, according to Chen.
Statistics from China's State Post Bureau show that between January and April this year the accumulated business volume of the country's express service providers amounted to 8.14 billion pieces, with a year-on-year growth of 56.4 percent.
With the rapid development of China's healthcare market, it is estimated that the annual expenditure for healthcare services will be more than 5.6 trillion yuan ($896.7 billion) by 2019. The development of the industry needs corresponding logistics solutions to ensure that healthcare shipments, which require temperature control, can be delivered to customers quickly and safely.
"As a leader in the logistics industry with rich experience and resources, FedEx can provide customers from industries with customized logistics needs with the professional solutions they require," Chen said.
You are here: Home
Authorities in South China's Guangdong province plan to invest more than 33 billion yuan ($5 billion dollars) to repair a peninsula facing environmental degradation.
The money will be used to steer 20 key projects on Leizhou Peninsula, in the areas of water resources, forests and agriculture, according to the provincial Department of Forestry.
The local government expects to repair the "tropical rain forest system" on the peninsula within 20 years.
Leizhou Peninsula, one of China's three major peninsulas, has faced an environmental crisis in recent decades, with disappearing forests, water shortages and deteriorating biodiversity posing challenges to local residents.
In 2015, the peninsula faced its most severe drought in 60 years, affecting more than 1.8 million people there.
Muslims around China have finished their first day of Ramadan after a long day without food and drink on Monday.
People at Rasta Mosque prepare to perform Tarawih prayers, in Kuqa county, northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, on June 5 - the eve of Ramadan. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com/Jessica Davis]
For many in Kashgar, China's westmost city in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, it is customary after a day's fasting to have a glass of "doc," a milk drink mixed with yogurt, honey and ice.
"Nothing is better than doc for breaking fast. Both thirst and fatigue disappear after a glass," said Abdokrim Ismail, a resident of Kashgar's old town.
This year's Ramadan, which lasts from Monday to July 6, coincides with the hottest part of the year in Kashgar. Going without drinking in temperatures consistently over 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) is quite a challenge.
"Ramadan is an occasion for us to experience starvation and learn endurance. No matter how hard it is, I will keep fasting for the holy month," Abdokrim said.
Muslims are not allowed to eat or drink between sunrise and dusk during the Islamic holy month of fasting and spiritual reflection. The practice is widely observed by ethnic minorities in China, including Uygur, Hui, Kazakh, Uzbek, Tajik and Kyrgyz.
China has about 20 million Muslims living in almost all provinces.
But for Mayis Hagei, a Muslim hotcake cook from Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu Province, work continues.
Mayis Hagei, his wife and daughter got up at about 4 a.m. as usual. After morning prayer, the family began a busy working day.
"Ramadan is good for us Muslims to purify the heart, strengthen the mind and contemplate over doctrine," he said. "But non-Muslim residents of the neighborhood also need our cakes and service."
"I have sworn to stick it out until the Eid al-Fitr (festival of breaking of the fast)," he added.
While Mayis Hagei was making cakes for his customers, Eprhan Abdokadhre, a housewife in Kashgar, was also busy preparing food before the sunrise: mutton, lamb pilaf, fruits, desserts, bread, milk, tea and honey -- plentiful enough for the whole family to endure the day.
"We believe in a light supper and a heavy breakfast," Eprhan said.
After grabbing a bite in the dusk, the men in her home went to a nearby mosque for the fourth prayer of the day, and women performed the ritual at home.
According to Hamit Aisha, assistant general manager of Xinjiang Arman halal food company, sales usually double during Ramadan, as demand for finished and semi-finished food soars.
Hermit Parati runs a carpet factory in Artux City of Xinjiang's Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture. He is thinking of shortening working hours by three to four hours per day for Muslim employees.
Police in central China's Hubei Province said yesterday they had busted a number of gangs involved in leaking exam papers used in the national postgraduate entrance examination.
They said it was their first such case since an amendment to the law specified imprisonment of up to seven years for organizing cheating in national exams.
On December 26 last year, the first day of the exam, police received reports from students that answers to the English exam had been leaked to online groups. Suspicions fell on a training school owner, surnamed Wang.
An investigation into Wang led police to a man named Chen who told police he got the answers from a group in neighboring Henan Province. The capture of a gang, led by a man surnamed Li, whose members carried exam papers and answers from Henan to Hubei, led police to another alleged accomplice, surnamed Luo.
Luo, who worked in a printing house, is alleged to have taken pictures of exam papers and smuggled them out to Li who is said to have set up a training school and later worked in conjunction with training schools elsewhere.
Police subsequently apprehended alleged accomplices in Zhengzhou, Hebi and Luoyang, all cities in Henan, and in Guangzhou in south Chinas Guangdong Province.
All 11 training schools involved in the case have been shut down and the exam scores of their students canceled.
Peng Liyuan, China's first lady and a UNESCO special envoy for advancing girls' and women's education, called on Monday for the promotion of gender equality in education and for better education for females.
Peng Liyuan, China's first lady and a UNESCO special envoy (second from right), and director-general of UNESCO Irina Bokova (second from left) present awards at a ceremony in Beijing on Monday to winners of the first UNESCO Prize for Girl's and Women's Education. [Photo/China Daily]
She made the appeal at an awards ceremony in Beijing for the first UNESCO Prize for Girl's and Women's Education.
Supported by China, the prize is given annually to two laureates. It consists of an award of $50,000 each to further their work in girls' and women's education.
This year's winners are Ella Yulaelawati, director of early childhood education at the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture, and Evernice Munando from Zimbabwe, founder of the Female Students Network.
Peng, who became a UNESCO special envoy in March 2014, said the world still faces great challenges in educating girls and women, with women accounting for more than 60 percent of illiterate adults worldwide.
Peng became the sixth person and the first Chinese to serve as a UNESCO special envoy.
The awards will play a key role in promoting efforts to ensure equality in education, Peng said, stressing that she is ready to make every effort to realize educational rights for girls and women.
Irina Bokova, UNESCO's director-general, thanked the Chinese government for its leadership.
She also thanked Peng for her lifelong commitment to advancing empowerment for girls and women embodied in her actions as a UNESCO special envoy.
Munando, the prize winner from Zimbabwe, thanked China and Peng for supporting the important prize for female education.
Pang Zhongying, dean of the School of International Relations at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, said Peng plays a crucial role in promoting women's and children's education.
Her work shows that China attaches great importance to human development, Pang said.
"The status of women in China in politics and in law has improved significantly since the founding of the People's Republic of China. But new challenges and problems for them have also arisen in China since its rapid development, like elsewhere in the world," Pang added.
"What Peng has done as a special envoy shows that China is willing to face these problems directly and to respond to these challenges actively.
"It demonstrates China's responsibility in acting as a leading example to promote women's development."
The Shangri-La Dialogue ended in Singapore with forceful voices from both the American and Chinese side. U.S. Senator John McCain hinted at terrible consequences on the eve of China's rejection of a UN ruling on the South China Sea dispute , as he called on Asian nations to back the United States. "America and the world are counting on the nations of Southeast Asia to recommit their power and resolve to uphold this system on which our shared security and prosperity depend," he said as he urged the South Asian nations to forcefully back the U.S., claiming this is the battle of rule based order in the South China Sea.
Admiral Sun Jianguo (L), deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China's Central Military Commission, meets with Singapore's Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen in Singapore, on June 3, 2016. [Xinhua/Then Chih Wey]
Admiral Sun Jianguo on the Chinese side said that China will not be bullied, either militarily or diplomatically over a UN tribunal ruling. "We do not make trouble, but we have no fear of trouble," Sun was quoted by Reuters, in front of 600 delegates in the dialogue which included heavyweights like the Indian and Australian foreign ministers. "China will not bear the consequences, nor will it allow any infringement on its sovereignty and security interests, or remain indifferent to a number of countries creating chaos in the South China Sea."
Sun also rejected the fact that China is getting isolated, saying China had 17 bilateral meetings compared to 13 a year ago, a sign that despite a number of big rival states, countries remain increasingly accommodating and friendly overall. "The Asia-Pacific countries should refuse a Cold War mentality, deepen and expand security cooperation featuring non-conflict, and embrace mutual benefits and a win-win mentality," Sun ended.
McCain's words echo Secretary Ash Carter in what could be termed bipartisan rhetoric concerning China. McCain however says that "no nation has done as much to contribute to what China calls its "peaceful rise" as the United States of America." But he continues, "Like Southeast Asia, China also faces a choice. No nation has benefited more from the rule-based order than China. In just a single generation, China has become an economic superpower and a major player in international affairs. No nation in history has risen so high, so fast, and in so many different dimensions. And no nation has been a greater advocate for China's success than America."
McCain then points out how Americans see Chinese behavior and what should be different. "The choice for China is how it uses its growing power and position. China could continue to coerce and intimidate its neighbors and unilaterally enforce its territorial claims. It could pursue mercantilist economic policies. And it could engage in a zero-sum game for regional power and influence." Clearly, not how the U.S. sees China should act. Or, China can manage its disputes peacefully, and enjoy the benefits of free trade.
Noble sentiments however they are, there's a small glitch.
By Senator McCain's standards, the U.S. is essentially acting or going to act as the U.S. sees China acting. For example, McCain's own party is now being led and headed by a presidential candidate who is proposing mercantilist policies, so much so that he wants to take money from countries under the U.S. nuclear umbrella as a matter of protection. Mr. Trump also views the world as an increasingly zero sum game, wherein he is threatening to start a trade war with not just China, but Japan as well, break down NATO and move out of Eastern Europe.
On the other side, Bernie Sanders is no different in his views that free trade has resulted in the manufacturing sector being destroyed in the U.S. and gives in to the heavily discredited rhetoric of China and India stealing American jobs. On the contrary, China has spearheaded the AIIB , which American allies including the U.K. and India have joined despite remarkable American opposition.
There are two questions here, without taking any sides, as I am not supposed to as a columnist. The first question is who is right or wrong in the matters of free trade and mercantilism, and can the traditional right or left rhetoric even be applied? In Western academia, there is an ongoing debate that traditional spectrums of geopolitics and economics have eroded altogether. It's not easy to distinguish who is left or right depending on their geopolitical and economic stance, when it comes to free trade and interventions. The rise of populism in the West, which in some strange and mellow ways echoes the 1930s, is coming on the heels of state ownership and economic protectionism, unilateralism and ultra-right wing social politics and race division. In the coming years I believe it can be safely concluded that these political spectrums will be even more muddied.
Secondly, the question of order is a mutating one. What is a liberal international order and who is the traditional safeguard of it? If it is hegemonic peace, then is there a chance of conflict? As I have repeatedly mentioned before, the standard hegemonic peace theory cannot be applied in this instance, as the economy of the major powers in Asia, as well as those of China and America are so heavily entwined, and since the definition of free trade and traditional supporters of the free trade are increasingly shifting poles, perhaps the debate should start again surrounding this issue. Overall, the only thing that can be understood from the Shangri-La Dialogue is that America and China, as well as India, Japan and Australia are all now busy measuring the depth of the waters, so to speak. No one will take a greater risk than that. The brink will not be crossed.
Sumantra Maitra is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SumantraMaitra.htm
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
Flash
At least 16 people were killed on Monday when airstrikes targeted a marketplace in the country's eastern province of Deir al-Zour, a monitor group reported.
The airstrikes targeted a marketplace in al-Shara, a town in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Right.
It said the bazaar is one of the busiest markets in that area, and that the death toll could likely rise due to the number of critically wounded people.
The London-based Observatory stopped short of identifying the warplanes that had carried out the strikes.
Meanwhile, the opposition group, Qasioun, alleged that the airstrikes were carried out by Russian warplanes on the Islamic State (IS)-held town. It put the death toll at 23.
Much of Deir al-Zour, an oil-rich province bordering Iraq, fell to the IS group, except the city center and some areas in the countryside, which remained under government control.
With three weeks to go until the Democratic primary, Eric Kingson has picked up a major endorsement in the 24th Congressional District race.
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders endorsed Kingson, D-Manlius, for the party's nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. John Katko. Sanders made the announcement in an email sent Tuesday to his campaign list.
Sanders not only announced his endorsement, he also urged supporters to donate to Kingson's campaign.
"I'm endorsing Eric Kingson for Congress in New York because he led the fight to protect Social Security," Sanders wrote.
Kingson, a Syracuse University professor, is a leading expert on aging issues and, in particular, Social Security. He has written books and founded Social Security Works to advocate for the preservation and expansion of the program.
In an interview Tuesday, Kingson said Sanders' endorsement highlights the differences between himself and the other two candidates vying for the Democratic nomination Colleen Deacon and Steve Williams.
"I respect Bernie. I share those core ideals," he said. "It's nice to be recognized by him and the campaign."
Prior to the New York presidential primary in April, Sanders campaigned in New York. He held a rally in Syracuse, which drew a crowd of more than 5,000 people.
Kingson said he was part of a small group of supporters who met with Sanders before the rally.
Sanders lost the New York primary to Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, but he came close to defeating the former U.S. senator from New York in the Syracuse area.
In the 24th Congressional District, Clinton edged Sanders by 1,549 votes 28,222 to 26,673. Clinton won Onondaga County, but Sanders won the district's remaining counties Cayuga, Wayne and part of Oswego.
With Sanders' endorsement, Kingson hopes it will bolster his campaign's fundraising. At the end of the first fundraising quarter of 2016, he had $43,729.19 in the bank more than $100,000 less than Deacon reported having in her campaign war chest.
The timing of the endorsement couldn't have been better for Kingson. He unveiled his first TV ad of the election Tuesday. The 30-second commercial will air on cable networks in the Syracuse media market.
"I am excited to be on the air," Kingson said in a statement. "We are bringing our message directly to the voters through ads, phone calls and showing up at their door to have conversations. And what we're hearing is clear, people are excited about my candidacy because I am the only candidate who has experience making change for the people of central New York on a national level. They know I'm fighting the right battles, and they know I can win them."
Along with Sanders, Kingson has been endorsed by Democracy for America, National Nurses United and Progressive Democrats for America.
Two Democratic members of Congress U.S. Reps. John Conyers and Raul Grijalva also support Kingson's campaign.
While Kingson has the support of several progressive leaders and groups, Deacon has collected endorsements from several establishment Democrats, including U.S. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer.
The Democratic primary will be held on Tuesday, June 28. The winner will face Katko, R-Camillus, in the general election.
You are here: Home
Flash
King Abdullah II of Jordan on Monday commended efforts by the Iraqi army to fight the terrorist group Islamic State (IS), the state-run Petra news agency reported.
The King made the remarks at a meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Jafari, in which he said Jordan supports Iraq's efforts in fighting terror.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Judeh also voiced support to Iraq and its efforts to restore stability and security when discussing ties with his Iraqi counterpart on Monday.
Judeh called for intensified international efforts to uproot terrorism, stressing that Jordan will continue to be at the forefront in fighting terrorism.
You are here: Home
Flash
The 5-day joint military exercise between the Philippines and the United States opened Monday in Subic Bay in northern part of the country.
Rear Admiral Charles Williams, Task Force 73 commander, said the 22nd Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercise enables U.S. Navy and Marine Corps to develop strong relationships with the Philippine Navy and Marine partners.
"Through persistent presence and relationships, we continue to make steady progress in increasing the complexity of our training and enhancing cooperation between our navies," he said in a statement.
Rear Admiral Ronald Joseph Mercado, Armed Forces of the Philippines Philippine Fleet commander, said they look forward to working along-side with their U.S. Navy partners during CARAT 2016.
"CARAT strengthens the strong and enduring relationships between the U.S. and Philippine navies," he said.
Aside from Subic Bay, the exercise would also take place in the waters off Palawan province in western Philippines and at the vicinity of Sulu Sea in southern part of the country.
CARAT Philippines is part of a broader exercise series the U.S. Navy conducts with nine partner nations in South and Southeast Asia to address shared maritime security priorities, strengthen maritime partnerships and enhance interoperability among participating forces.
The Philippines has participated in the exercises since the series began in 1995.
Flash
Russia is preparing an "adequate" response to the expansion of NATO toward its borders, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday.
"We do not hide that we have a negative attitude toward the NATO policy of expanding its military infrastructure toward our borders," Lavrov said at a press conference with his Finnish counterpart Timo Soini.
Russia has announced the deployment of three new divisions near its western borders as one of its measures in response to NATO's building missile defense systems in Romania and Poland and the signing of an accession protocol with Montenegro.
Lavrov said that NATO used the Ukraine crisis and Russia's reaction to Kiev's attempts to discriminate against ethnic Russians in the east of the country "to invent a new pretext for the existence of the alliance."
The diplomat ruled out the possibility of Russia's attacking any NATO member states, which he said was an excuse used by the United States to deploy more troops and weapons to maintain its control over Europe.
Russia also disapproved of the NATO policy of involving other states in its military activities, Lavrov said, commenting on NATO BALTOPS 2016 military exercises, which started in Finland earlier on Monday.
Soini, for his part, said the exercises, which Finland has participated in since 1993, have the goal of strengthening Finland's defense capacity and were not aimed against anybody.
Flash
The world's watchdog for nuclear security on Monday urged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to fully comply with its obligations under the United Nations (UN) resolutions.
Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said at a press meeting in Austria's capital of Vienna that the agency has been keeping a close eye on the DPRK, even though no IAEA inspectors have access to the country's nuclear facilities since the DPRK decided to end all cooperation with the agency in April 2009.
The IAEA now resorts to satellite images to observe some of the country's nuclear activities.
"It is deeply regrettable that the DPRK has shown no indication that it is willing to comply with the Security Council resolution adopted in response to its nuclear test earlier this year," Amano said.
"I call upon the DPRK to comply fully with its obligations under relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate promptly with the agency in implementing its NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) Safeguards Agreement, and to resolve all outstanding issues," he said.
However, the nuclear agency refuses to evaluate the DPRK's capability of producing nuclear weapons, saying that it is not its job.
"The agency remains ready to contribute to the peaceful resolution of the DPRK nuclear issue by resuming its verification activities once a political agreement is reached among countries concerned," Amano said.
The DPRK claimed it successfully carried out four nuclear weapon tests in the past 10 years or so.
Flash
China's special envoy for the Syrian issue Xie Xiaoyan said on Monday that Beijing is ready play an even greater role in helping end the Syrian crisis.
He made the remarks while attending a press conference at the headquarters of the Arab League (AL) following a meeting with Nabil al-Araby, the secretary general of AL.
Xie said the Syrian crisis has now arrived at a very critical stage, while all concerned parties and the international community should work even harder toward a political solution, and take effective steps.
"China believes that cease-fire must be implemented thoroughly and comprehensively," he said, adding that "urgent measures should be put in place to ensure that relief aid reach those affected."
The Chinese envoy arrived in Cairo on Sunday. It is his first visit to Egypt since he landed on the job in March.
Also on Monday, he held a meeting with senior Egyptian diplomats on the Syrian issue.
Flash
Deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China's Central Military Commission Sun Jianguo and Nepal's Defense Minister Bhim Rawal pledged to enhance defense cooperation between the two countries on Monday, a senior government official said.
"The two sides exchanged views on various matters relating to strengthen defense cooperation," Secretary at the ministry Mahesh Dahal told media.
During the meeting held at the Nepal's Defense Ministry in Kathmandu, Admiral Sun said that China wants to see political stability and economic prosperity in Nepal, according to Secretary Dahal. He also praised Nepal's adherence to the one-China policy.
Defense Minister Rawal expressed gratitude for China's incessant support to Nepal, stressing on the implementation of the agreements reached between the two governments during Prime Minister K.P Sharma Oli's visit to China in March.
"China has remained our friendly neighbor. Our relationship with China has remained trouble-free all the time. The minister reiterated Nepal's one-China policy and said we will not allow any anti-Chinese activities inside our territory," the defense secretary said.
Stating that Nepal has marched toward a new era after promulgation of the new Constitution in September last year, the minister expected China's continual support in the days to come, particularly in socio-economic development of the country.
On the occasion, the Nepalese defence minister thanked the Chinese People's Liberation Army's extensive support in rescue and relief operation in the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes that jolted Nepal on April 25 last year, which left around 9,000 people killed.
"We would like to express gratitude to the people and government of China for their enormous support and goodwill to us in the aftermath of the earthquake and the post-earthquake reconstruction process," the minister said.
Sun arrived here Monday for a four-day official visit. During his stay, he will also call on Nepalese Chief of the Army Staff Rajendra Chhetri.
Flash
Sudan's Liberation Movement (SLM), has renewed its rejection to join the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) as a base for negotiation, reported Sudan's Tribune.
The influential rebel group in Sudan's Darfur said "The movement's position is fixed, and it rejects signing the DDPD as a base for negotiation," Minni Arko Minnawi, SLM leader, was quoted as saying.
"The consultations, recently held in Doha with Qatari mediation, began with a question about the possibility of opening the DDPD for negotiations or not, and the sessions ended with this question unanswered," he noted.
He went on to say that "We explained that our conditions are merely procedural, represented in these questions: is the Doha deal subject to a reopening for negotiations or not? And can Doha become a member of the African Union mediation?"
According to the report, Minnawi considered continuing consultations with the Qatari mediator as impractical if mediators insisted on the DDPD as a base for negotiation.
"If this is their sole stance then consultations can no longer continue," said Minnawi.
Last May 30 and 31, Qatar's mediator consulted in Doha with the leader of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Jibril Ibrahim as well as SLM leader Minni Minnawi regarding joining the Darfur peace deal.
The rebel JEM, SLM/Abdul-Wahid Mohamed Nur faction as well as the SLM/Minni Minnawi faction all rejected the DDPD, claiming it did not meet the demands of Darfur's population.
The rebel JEM and SLM have previously asked Qatar to play a more prominent role with respect to mediation with the Sudanese government.
They wanted the Sudanese government to join the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel on Sudan (AUHIP), led by Thabo Mbeki, to bridge the differences between rivals.
However, the Sudanese government rejected the armed groups' proposal.
The DDPD was finally signed as a Darfur peace document in July 2011 in Qatar's capital city, Doha, between the Sudanese government and the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), led by Tijani Sese, following an entire year of negotiations.
Flash
The UN special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, and the UN special representative for children and armed conflict, Leila Zerrougui, have welcomed an agreement by the Yemeni parties to release all children who are prisoners, a UN spokesman told reporters Monday.
"The special envoy said that the unconditional release of children was agreed by the parties and the mechanics of the release of detainees in the coming days was addressed," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.
The Houthi group and Yemen's government in exile reached a peace agreement in negotiations aimed at ending the war that has killed at least 6,200 people and caused a humanitarian crisis in the war-torn country.
It remains unknown how many child prisoners are being held, but reports said that the Houthis and the government submitted in late May a list of almost 7,000 names of prisoners they say are being held by the other side.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that 900 children have been killed and 1,300 wounded during the conflict in 2015.
The fragile security situation in Yemen has deteriorated since March 2015, when a civil war broke between the Shiite Houthi group, supported by former President Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government backed by a Saudi-led coalition.
Flash
"The global threat emanating from ISIL (the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) remains high and continues to diversity," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report issued on Monday.
Members of the Shi'ite Badr organisation inspect the remains of Iraqi security forces who were killed by Islamic State militants in Saqlawiya, north of Falluja, Iraq, June 5, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]
The continued military pressure exerted in Iraq and Syria by international coalition forces has led to serious military setbacks for ISIL, Ban said in his 21-page report to the UN Security Council.
NOT YET WEAKENED
"However, even though the territorial expansion of ISIL in both States has been halted and, in part reversed over recent months, many (UN) member states have noted that ISIL is not yet strategically and irreversibly weakened."
"A worrying factor is that no member state has reported that ISIL is short on, or lacks, arms or ammunition," he said in the report, compiled on the basis of information from all the 193 UN member states.
Over the past six months alone, "ISIL has carried out, inspired, or claimed responsibility for, terrorist attacks in Bangladesh, Belgium, Egypt, France, Germany, Indonesia, Lebanon, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Turkey and the United States of America," he said. "The attacks have killed more than 500 individuals and injured hundreds more."
"The attacks in November 2015 and in Brussels in March 2016 demonstrate the ability of ISIL to mount complex, multi-wave attacks," said the secretary-general.
National law enforcement agencies continue to investigate those attacks, but it is already clear that they were coordinated by foreign terrorist fighters who had returned to Europe from ISIL-held territory in Syria, Ban noted.
"To some extent, these cells received directions from the ISIL leadership and were supported and facilitated by a range of individuals and groups with pre-existing records of involvement in criminality (including Al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist groups," he said.
"This demonstrates the ability of ISIL returnees to quickly link up and draw on the support of established radical networks and supporters of Al-Qaida and thereby enhance their newly acquired terrorism skills with local knowledge and support," he said.
"Continuing pressure on ISIL in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic also increases the likelihood that the terrorist group may try to move funds to affiliates outside the immediate current conflict zone," he said. "Initial reports received from member states indicate that this may already be occurring."
FOREIGN TERRORIST FIGHTERS
Meanwhile, the secretary-general said, "Significant numbers of foreign terrorist fighters continue to travel from States around the world to join ISIL in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic," he said, citing a report from a member state saying that around 38,000 individuals may have attempted to travel to the region in the past few years.
"Most foreign terrorist fighters currently with ISIL travel from North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia," Ban said. "Significant numbers have also travelled from Europe and South and Southeast Asia."
"Even though the increase in the number of new foreign terrorist fighters travelling from some regions has slowed, the travel and attempted travel of new foreign terrorist fighters from other regions has increased," he said.
"Countermeasures taken by States to detect and deter foreign terrorist fighters, and increased controls at the borders of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, may be affecting the numbers of such fighters able to join ISIL."
"Sexual violence continues to be used as a tactic of terrorism to increase the power, revenue and recruitment of ISIL, as well as to shred the social fabric of targeted communities," he said. "The trafficking of women and girls remains a critical component of the financial flows to ISIL and its affiliates."
"There is a need to ensure accountability for sexual violence as part of United Nations counter-terrorism strategies," he said. "Sexual violence must be prosecuted as vigorously as terrorist acts."
The UN Security Council has maintained ISIL, also known as Da'esh, poses a threat to international peace and security, calling upon all UN member states to fight the terrorist group, including making the joint efforts to cut off funds for it.
Therefore, the secretary-general called for strengthened international cooperation to fight ISIL and other terrorist groups in the world.
Flash
The British High Commission in Pretoria warned on Monday that there is a high threat from terrorism attacks in South Africa.
"There is a high threat from terrorism. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners such as shopping areas in Johannesburg and Cape Town," it said.
"There is considered to be a heightened threat of terrorist attack globally against UK interests and British nationals, from groups or individuals motivated by the conflict in Iraq and Syria. You should be vigilant at this time," said the Commission.
This followed a similar warning from the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria on Saturday.
The embassy said 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.
"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 embassy said without giving further details.
On Monday, the South African government called for calm, downplayed the terror alert.
State Security Minister David Mahlobo said the government has noted the terror alert and there is no need to panic.
He said South African security forces will ensure that all people within South Africa are secure.
"We remain a strong and stable democratic country and there is no immediate danger posed by the alert," he said in a statement.
"The security services will continue to work on matters of violent extremism and terrorism amongst others and ensure the safety of all citizens and residents," said the minister.
A longtime state trooper has been tapped to lead New York's top law enforcement agency.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo nominated Lt. Col. George Beach to serve as superintendent of the New York State Police. Beach will replace Joseph D'Amico, who announced his retirement in April.
A search committee led by former New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly recommended Beach, a 33-year state police veteran, for the post.
"Lt. Col. Beach is supremely qualified to serve as superintendent of the New York State Police," Cuomo said Tuesday.
Kelly echoed that sentiment.
"Having worked for more than two decades in leadership roles in the division, (Beach) has exhibited skill and judgment in a variety of demanding positions as an investigator, supervisor and commander," Kelly said.
Beach's career includes stints as a sergeant and lieutenant with Troop F from 1987 to 1997. He later became captain of Troops D and F and was commander of Troop T, the state police division that patrols the New York State Thruway.
From 2007 to 2013, Beach was a state police staff inspector and managed the internal affairs unit.
In 2013, he was elevated to lieutenant colonel. He supervised 3,200 troopers and was a member of the executive committee tasked with developing policy. He also was co-chair of the technology working group and worked with the state police superintendent and other officials to manage the agency's response to emergency situations.
Before becoming a state trooper, Beach worked as a firefighter in Irvington, New Jersey. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Idaho and earned a master's degree in criminal justice administration from the University at Albany.
"I am incredibly honored to be nominated to serve as superintendent of the New York State Police," Beach said. "I have spent my entire career serving the people of New York state, and there is no greater privilege than having the opportunity to continue that good work at the highest level."
Beach's nomination must be confirmed by the state Senate. If confirmed by the Senate, he will become the 15th state police superintendent since the agency formed in 1917 and the second during Cuomo's tenure as governor.
D'Amico has been one of the longest-serving agency heads in the Cuomo administration. He was named state police superintendent in 2011.
You are here: Home
Flash
Boko Haram has retaken the Nigerien city of Bosso, which is close to Nigeria, after a Sunday night attack, according to a military source.
Boko Haram retook the city less than 72 hours after the first attack on Friday when 30 Nigerien and two Nigerian soldiers were killed and 70 others were injured.
On Friday night, hundreds of Boko Haram fighters assaulted the military camp, forcing soldiers to retreat after hours of fighting.
A counterattack led Nigerien troops on Saturday morning succeeded in recapturing all lost positions.
But the troops lost control of Bosso city again on Sunday night, said a military source who did not wish to be named.
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.
Flash
The bombings of major oil installations by the Niger Delta Avengers, a militant group could worsen the operations of oil companies in Nigeria, a top official with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) said Monday.
The development would negatively affect the efforts of the government to increase power generation in the country, Azubuike Okafor, a regional chairman of the association told reporter in southern city of Awka.
He said that though manufacturers were pleased with efforts being made by the government to tackle the country's electricity challenges, such efforts were being hindered by the militants.
According to him, the actions of the militants has caused the closure of many industries because of the non-availability of diesel to power industries.
He told reporters that the militants were disrupting efforts being made by government to improve and sustain electricity generation and increase oil production.
Okafor advised the government to dialogue with the militants and persuade them to support its effort.
Niger Delta Avengers, a new militant group, has been claiming responsibility for a string of attacks on oil and gas installations in the Niger Delta.
The group has launched several attacks on oil and gas infrastructure since February 2016, demanding a sovereign nation of the Niger Delta people.
Recent attacks on oil and gas facilities have harmed Nigeria's oil production, bringing it down to 1.4 million barrels per day.
You are here: Home
Flash
Peruvian presidential candidate Pedro Pablo Kuczynski maintained a slight lead over his rival Keiko Fujimori, the country's electoral official said on Monday.
Head of the National Office for Electoral Processes Mariano Cucho delivers the first official advance of the results of presidential run-off election in Lima, Peru, on June 5, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]
Kuczynski had 50.32 percent of the vote against 49.68 percent for Fujimori, with 92.55 percent of votes counted, National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) director Mariano Cuchos said.
With less than one percentage point between the two candidates, the election is the tightest in Peru in 25 years, according to Peruvian daily El Comercio.
Both sides are anxious to get a final result. However, Cucho said, both candidates should remain calm until all votes are fully tallied.
The tight race was likely due to a lack of ideological differences between the two candidates. Kuczynski and Fujimori could name the same Minister of Economy and nobody would be surprised, political analyst Arturo Maldonado told local media.
The winner will assume presidency on July 28 with a mandate of five years.
Flash
Harvard Business School (HBS) inaugurated on Monday the Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center, the first ever building named after a Chinese American on Harvard campus in the Ivy League school's 380-year history.
Elaine Chao (center), former US Secretary of Labor, speaks on behalf of her sisters at the dedication ceremony of the Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center, which is named after their mother, on Monday at the Harvard Business School. [Photo/China Daily]
Built with a donation of 40 million U.S. dollars from the Dr. James Si-Cheng Chao family foundation back in 2012, the center honors the memory of Chao's late wife and recognizes her life-long dedication to education and female empowerment.
"We gather to celebrate a woman who understood the importance of education, and celebrate a family elevated by her commitment, and themselves," Harvard University President Drew Faust told a grand dedication ceremony that attracted heavyweight guests including U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker.
The three-story, 90,000-square-feet (some 8,300 square meters) center was designed mainly for the training of corporate executives at HBS. It features gathering spaces, academic classrooms and dining facilities, all open to the school's Executive Education participants and students in the MBA and Doctoral Programs.
With Monday's launch, the Chao Center, also the first on HBS campus ever named after a woman, joins other school facilities bearing the names of prominent donors, such as the Chase Building, the Bloomberg Center and the Baker Library.
Braving the early summer sun, Dr. Chao, a shipping industry magnate and philanthropist from New York who is now in his late 80s, sat through the outdoor ceremony along with his five daughters, among whom the eldest, Elaine Chao, was the 24th U.S. Secretary of Labor from 2001 to 2009 and the first Asian American woman to hold a cabinet position in history.
"When my parents relocated in America, a key element that helped them to not only survive but thrive was their education," said Elaine Chao. "That is why they devoted so much of their philanthropy to helping others access education."
And the Chaos had a very close connection with Harvard, as four of the six daughters in the family including Elaine attended HBS.
"Four daughters honoring their mother, four daughters went to Harvard Business School. To mark this moment reminded ourselves that only 50 years ago it was the first time that we admitted women into the Harvard Business School," said Nitin Nohria, the HBS dean.
Besides the Chao Center, the Chao family donation also includes 5 million dollars for a fellowship fund to provide financial assistance to students of Chinese heritage.
In an early interview with Xinhua, Dr. Chao said he hoped that the fellowship could help qualified Chinese students who couldn't afford the tuition to have a chance to study in a top university like Harvard, and that those beneficiaries could help promote U.S.-China relations in the future.
According to a Chao family statement, the five living presidents of the United States, from Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama, all sent in congratulatory messages for the Chao Center's inauguration.
You are here: Home
Flash
Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday condemned a deadly terrorist attack in the western Kazakh city of Aktobe on Sunday, promising to strengthen anti-terrorism work with the central Asian country.
Spokesperson Hong Lei, who was speaking at a routine press briefing, said that China supported action by Kazakhstan to combat terrorism and safeguard national stability.
China will work with Kazakhstan to maintain regional security and stability, he said.
Hong extended condolences to the victims, their families and the injured.
Flash
President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called on his country and the United States to promote the healthy and stable development of ties through increased exchanges and cooperation.
Xi made the remarks while meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, who attended the eighth round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogues and the seventh round of China-U.S. High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange.
Xi stressed that three years ago, he and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed to work together to build a new model of major-country relations between the two sides.
The development of bilateral ties over the following three years indicates that the path is in line with the fundamental interests of the two peoples and the world, he said.
The president called on both sides to focus on cooperation, manage their differences properly and promote the healthy and stable development of China-U.S. relations.
On macro-economic policies, Xi suggested the two countries strengthen policy coordination, strive for more positive outcomes at the G20 Hangzhou summit, and inject new impetus into the world economy.
He suggested that both countries make the most of cooperation potential in the areas of trade and investment, clean energy, and environmental protection, adding that they should strengthen communication and coordination on major global and regional issues.
Referring to divergence, Xi said the two countries should respect each other's core interests and major concerns, and settle problems through dialogue and consultation.
Kerry and Lew said the United States would like to work with China to ensure the G20 Hangzhou summit is a success, adding that Obama welcomes a stable and prosperous China.
Effective cooperation between the two nations on major issues such as climate change indicated the significance of the U.S.-China relationship, they said.
The two U.S. officials agreed the United States and China have extensive cooperation potential, and could solve differences properly.
On the same day Democratic voters in the 24th Congressional District will head to the polls to determine who will challenge him in November, U.S. Rep. John Katko will attend an Auburn Rotary Club meeting.
Katko, R-Camillus, will be the featured speaker at the club's meeting at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, June 28. The event will be held at the Holiday Inn, 75 North St., Auburn.
The meeting is open to the public. The cost for lunch is $20.
Reservations are required and must be submitted by Friday, June 24. To RSVP, call Paul Barrus at (315) 237-7859.
June 28 is also the day of the Democratic primary. Three candidates Colleen Deacon, Eric Kingson and Steve Williams are squaring off for the party's nomination to face Katko.
Two of the Democratic challengers Deacon and Williams have appeared at previous Auburn Rotary Club meetings.
AUBURN Joyce Ihrig grew up in Auburn on Bundy Avenue, Shirley Mullaly three blocks away on Evans Street. The two girls went to East High School, a year apart. They knew of each other, but weren't quite friends.
Joyce and Shirley did all of this going to the same ice cream shop and grocery store, attending the same church and walking the same streets not knowing that they were actually sisters.
Shirley never would know: She passed away from breast cancer in 1977.
Joyce found out in her 20s that she had a sister, but she didn't know anything more than that. It wasn't until her son, Mike Ihrig, of Chesapeake, Virginia, sent his spit in a vial for a DNA test through Ancestry.com that Joyce's entire past began coming to light.
Early this year, Jeannie Tucker, of Auburn, got a call from Mike.
"It popped up with Jeannie as a second cousin, amongst a couple of others," Mike said. "As I reached out to them, she responded back, 'Well, I don't see any names that are matched on my list.'"
It had to be a scam, thought Jeannie, who had sent away for her own Ancestry.com DNA test four years ago.
"The DNA test can tell you where you came from in the old-world countries," she said. "Then it starts putting you in with all the other people who have their DNA tested, and links you together. It will come back and say, '95-percent confident that these two people are second cousins.'"
Jeannie knew her mother's aunt, Germaine Lambert, had given up a daughter for adoption. Jeannie's mother had even met the little girl who'd later be known as Shirley Mullaly.
But there couldn't possibly have been two little girls given up by Germaine, Jeannie thought.
Joyce didn't believe the connection, either.
"He (Mike) says, 'Mom, I think you had relatives in your hometown the whole time you lived there!'" Joyce said, recalling when the DNA results came back. "I said, 'That's impossible!'"
But Joyce's birth name confirmed it Patricia Lambert. Another Lambert from Auburn.
"He says his mother is from Auburn, and her last name is Lambert, and she was adopted," Jeannie said about her first conversation with Mike.
So Mike and Joyce drove up to Auburn from Washington, Pennsylvania, where Joyce now lives, to meet their family for the first time May 27. Altogether, Jeannie hosted about 50 relatives that weekend.
"At 81, believe me, I never in the world expected this," Joyce said. "All the way up here I kept saying to myself, 'I don't know how this is going to turn out. I haven't the vaguest idea what to expect.'"
And although Shirley had passed away, her daughter, Diane Escobedo, was dumbfounded when she learned about Joyce.
"You know, I just couldn't believe that my mom had a sister," Diane said. "I mean, we knew who the birth family was, but she had a sister. That was a really big deal. I was really close to my mom, and I just had to meet her, and my son and my husband were right there with me."
Diane and family made the journey to Auburn from Arizona. They all met in Jeannie's house on James Street, sitting in a circle in the living room, seeing each others' faces and their resemblances, and making up for lost time.
"We all got along so well, and it kind of felt like we had known each other all of our lives," Diane said.
The following day, even more family came to see long-lost relatives. Lee Rohmer, of Texas, had been very close to Germaine, and made the trip north to see her newly found cousin for the first time.
"She stood in the doorway, and kind of evaluated me," Joyce said about meeting Lee. "And then she came across the doorway and gave me a big hug and said, 'Oh my God, you are definitely Gerrie's daughter.'"
Lee brought a few items for Joyce, including Germaine's death certificate, her eulogy, pictures from her 90th birthday and a few pieces of jewelry. One piece of jewelry, a necklace that Germaine wore in an old black-and-white photograph, was particularly special to the family because of the story behind it.
"My mother literally put the necklace on layaway, and paid 25 cents a week to pay for it," Joyce said, laughing. It's just one of the many stories shaping the mother she never knew.
"I'm just tickled to death," she said. "I can't believe any of this. And I have a granddaughter here getting married, and there's a very good possibility she'll wear the necklace."
The family is already discussing the next time they will gather, likely in October. Jeannie said her house is open, and Diane plans to bring her older sister to meet their Aunt Joyce sometime this summer. There's also two more cousins from California, who hope to make it.
"It's still kind of just overwhelming," Jeannie said. "It's like, 'Wow, did this really happen?' It's great. I feel like I got another whole family that I never knew."
There's still some unanswered questions like whom Joyce and Shirley's father or fathers are, and why they were adopted.
But it's the answer to a question that had never been asked a sister, an aunt, a niece, another family that means the most to the group of relatives brought together by Germaine Lambert.
"I just felt like we all really knew each other, and everybody felt that way," Diane said. "It was pretty special."
Nestle SA and Alibaba Group hold a ceremony on Sunday in Beijing to celebrate the establishment of their partnership. [Photo/Xinhua] Food giant hopes move will help revitalize performance in China
Nestle SA and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd have launched a digital commerce and marketing campaign, a move the Swiss food giant hopes will boost its disappointing business in China through innovation in products and digital distribution channels.
The six-month joint campaign will leverage Alibaba's online and mobile marketplaces, media platform and rural services.
According to Nestle, it will feature 154 products from 30 brands, 67 of which will be introduced to Chinese consumers for the first time.
Nestle's growth had been slowing in the past few years in China, as the company said it has not reacted quickly enough to trends like e-commerce and healthier eating.
Nestle said its Chinese Yinlu congee brand still faces challenges as consumers shift to more premium products.
"Consumers in China are very discerning and adapting to technology faster than almost anywhere else in the world," said Wan Ling Martello, executive vice-president responsible for Nestle's Asia, Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa regions who is also on Alibaba's board.
Martello said at an investment meeting in May that despite the slowdown in Chinese economy and the country's fast-moving consumer goods sector, the country remains a great consumer story thanks to its emerging middle class and their growing disposable income.
But she said its driving force is innovation and technology through building new competencydealing with new challenges in digital distributioninstead of traditional bricks-and-mortar stores. Nestle's research has found that more than 75 percent of consumers use the internet to browse or buy. It has also found that 80 percent of shoppers give reviews online, with more than 50 percent of purchase decisions being made online.
The company set up a standalone e-commerce unit in China a few years ago that is independent of its traditional business. The company's e-commerce business in China is expanding at triple-digit rates, and is on average more profitable than its bricks-and-mortar retail operations, according to Bloomberg.
According to Kantar Worldpanel, despite the overall fast-moving consumer goods market slowdown at 3.5 percent in 2015, the e-commerce sector remained a bright spot and grew by 36.5 percent.
China remains the world's biggest e-commerce market, and online penetration still reported double-digit growth, according to researches. While e-commerce has already become an established shopping channel in big cities in China, it still has vast potential to grow in smaller cities and rural areas, experts said.
Most multinational brands such as Nestle has been relying on previous growth through expanding their penetration in hypermarkets and supermarkets in the past decade. But Jason Yu, general manager of Kantar Worldpanel China, said they are relatively weaker in penetration in smaller cities because of the vast geographic complexity of China.
Leveraging powerful e-commerce platforms like Alibaba's Tmall will help the brands overcome barriers to building distribution, making their products immediately accessible to consumers in smaller cities, said Yu.
Pedestrians walk past a Jin Jiang Inn of Shanghai Jin Jiang International Holdings Co Ltd in Changzhou city, East China's Jiangsu province, Aug 21, 2011.[Photo/IC]
Shanghai-based hotel group Jin Jiang International Holdings Co Ltd is expected to boost its shareholding even higher, after it raised its stake in French hotel operator AccorHotels Group to 15.06 percent, according to a company source.
Jin Jiang became the biggest shareholder in AccorHotels, Europe's largest hotel operator, with a holding of about 15 percent as of May 27, according to a filing to the French stock market regulator AMF, Reuters reported.
"The purchase is still in progress by Jin Jiang and the information published from AMF is the latest update," said the source in Jin Jiang, who did not want to be identified.
Shares of AccorHotels rose as much as 6.73 percent in Paris to close at 40.45 euros ($45.95) on Friday, after newspaper Le Figaro reported that Jin Jiang planned to increase its stake in the French company to 29 percent.
Since January, Jin Jiang has gradually built up its stake in AccorHotels, from 5 percent to 10 percent by the end of February, according to public information.
AccorHotels' CEO has held talks with Chinese conglomerate HNA Group to try to thwart the attempt by fellow Chinese group Jin Jiang to increase its stake in the company, Reuters reported on Monday, citing a weekend report in French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.
HNA already has a 10 percent holding in holiday group Pierre et Vacances SA and is in exclusive talks to take over Servair, Air France's catering subsidiary.
The weekly French newspaper said AccorHotels' Chief Executive Sebastien Bazin hoped to prevent Jin Jiang from increasing its stake to 29 percent, which would trigger a full public offer for the group.
Meanwhile, there is another option that is being backed by several ministers in the French government, which would be for the state to take a 10 percent holding in AccorHotels, the newspaper added.
Jin Jiang refused to comment on the issue, but an insider close to the matter said it was understandable there would be concerns about well-known brands becoming an acquisition target of overseas buyers.
"This is a natural reflection, similar to what Japanese companies experienced when they were making acquisitions globally back in the 1980s," said the insider.
Jin Jiang has made ambitious moves to expand, both at home and internationally, over the past a few years.
In February last year it bought Starwood Capital Group's Louvre Hotel Group for $1.49 billion.
The move was followed by another in September, when Jin Jiang signed a strategic cooperation deal with domestic hotel chain operator Plateno.
According to the deal, Jin Jiang will acquire 81 percent in Plateno, enabling it expand its network to more than 6,000 hotels in 55 countries internationally.
Smoke rises from a chimneys of a steel mill on a hazy day in Fengnan district of Tangshan, Hebei province Feb 18, 2014.[Photo/Agencies]
China Social Welfare Foundation (CSWF), a national public welfare organization, launched a fund on June 5 to tackle environmental pollution in Beijing.
The fund, with a seed funding of 3 million yuan ($456,613), has been set up to assist vulnerable groups who suffer physical ailments, property losses or difficulties caused by pollution, said Miao Li, secretary general of CSWF.
As the first of its kind fund launched by a public welfare organization that targets environmental protection, the fund aims to take targeted measures to help people lift themselves out of poverty, Miao added.
And she promised that all funding would be used in an open and transparent way to assure donators and benefit recipients.
Dr Zhang Guofa, founder and directorof China Eco-civilization Think Tank, which sponsored the funds launch ceremony, said: "As the cause of both wealth and pollution, we have to make changes in production, living and customs to solve the critical problem of environmental pollution."
He has confidence in the fund's prospect and believes the fund can support the introduction and development of green science and technology and the development of ecological civilization in China,
Professor Liu Xiaoting, vice-president of China Natural Dialectics Research Association, described the establishment of the fund as an awakening of Chinese people towards environmental problems.
"The public's understanding on development should be strengthened from the position of ecology and China should avoid sliding off the ecological cliff," he said.
Professor Ye Pin, a member of the committee for China Eco-civilization Think Tanks, called on the whole society to donate "one yuan" to the fund to prevent environmental pollution.
Ye, who is also director of the Centre for Environmental and Social Studies of Harbin Institute of Technology, proposed that every company should undertake the responsibility of environmental pollution prevention without ignoring, delaying, or ignoring it.
"They should pay as much attention on 'public benefit' as they pay on economic benefit," he said.
More than 200 officials, scholars and environmentalists attended the launch ceremony, organized by CSWF and China Weekly, and sponsored by China Eco-civilization Think Tank and Beijing Chunzhilv Environmental Technology Institute.
Zhu Lingqing contributed to this story.
Zhang Ruimin (Left), chairman and CEO of Haier Group, shakes hands with Chip Blankenship (Right), president and CEO of GE Appliances. [PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY]
Haier Group, China's biggest maker of household appliances, has signed closing documents for the company's acquisition of General Electric (GE)'s home appliance business, according to an announcement made by the two sides.
The announcement said GE Appliances will continue to be headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky in the United States and operated independently under the day to day direction of the current management team.
A board of directors, with representatives from the senior leadership teams of Haier and GE Appliances, and two independent directors, will help guide the strategy and operations of the business.
Zhang Ruimin, chairman and CEO of Haier Group said, "Haier and GE Appliances have always sought to adapt to changing times and customer preferences. The two companies share the same vision of the future and, by acquiring GE Appliances, both companies will be able to achieve significant synergies.
"Haier is on an exciting journey as it transforms itself into a true 'internet enterprise', which fosters and cultivates innovation and customer choice, while GE Appliances has great employees and a strong global customer base."
Chip Blankenship, president and CEO of GE Appliances, said, "We are excited to become an important part of a global appliance company. Haier loves appliances as much as we do and shares our goal to be the most competitive, innovative and customer-focused company in the world. Together we will find new and better ways to help people improve their lives at home."
The announcement follows the previously announced memorandum of understanding between Haier Group and GE to cooperate globally and pursue joint growth projects in areas including advanced manufacturing, healthcare and the Industrial Internet.
BEIJING - Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang has called for joint efforts to address industrial overcapacity.
Addressing a joint press conference on Tuesday for the eighth round of China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogues, Wang said both countries recognized that excess capacity in many industries, such as steel, is a global challenge and addressing it needs joint efforts.
"It is the result of the fragile recovery of the world economy and weak demand," the vice premier said.
June 7, 1936
The statue in memory of the late Thomas Mott Osborne, erected on the grounds of the Auburn Senior High School, will be dedicated with impressive ceremonies and presented to the City of Auburn July 11.
The plan for this statue was conceived, initiated and put into operation by a group of former inmates of New York State prisons. They selected the design and engaged the sculptor. The cost has been met by members and former members of the Mutual Welfare League of Sing Sing and Auburn Prisons.
June 7, 1961
"The Gingerbread Boy," a musical play, was presented by Miss Kathryn Taylor's kindergarten at Herman Avenue School Friday to an audience of students and parents. Patricia Garuccio was the Gingerbread Boy and Linda Birch was the mother. Other members of the cast were: Linda Gephart, Susan Hislop, Lois Dove, Betsy Wagner, Deborah Kundert, Barbara Chadwich and Carol Quiggle.
June 7, 2006
Three Cayuga County farms are being honored by the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network for implementing operating practices that protect and conserve water resources. Fessenden Dairy, of King Ferry; Oakwood Dairy LLC, of Aurelius; and Patterson Farm, of Aurelius, were selected for the network's Lake-Friendly Farm Award.
They were selected for their progress in the state Agriculture and Environment Management program. All have reached Tier IV and begun implementing the recommended AEM practices. The farms will receive a sign stating they are lake-friendly farms.
June 7, 2011
City view of Guiyang, Guizhou province on Nov 19, 2015. [Photo/IC]
As we drove from Guiyang's airport to the countryside, we passed a skyline dotted with construction cranes.
Scores of high-rises are at various stages of completion. There was construction everywhere, as far as the eye can see.
So, what is going on in the capital of Guizhou province?
"Nothing special," a colleague who has been traveling with me explained. "It is just part of a construction boom across the nation."
That is a boom started at the turn of the century, and has continued unabated despite talks of "tough times".
The National Development and Reform Commission said in April that more than 56 percent of China's 1.38 billion people lived in cities in 2015. Compare that with just 26 percent in 1990!
The report from the country's top economic planning agency also noted that the number of cities leapt from 193 in 1978 to 653 in 2014.
Czech-Canadian environmental scientist Professor Vaclav Smil's 2013 book, Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization, provides an interesting insight into China's urbanization.
Smil reveals that China used more cement in three years (2011-13) than the United States in the entire 20th century! That is 6.6 gigatons vs 4.5 gigatons!
The staggering statistics show the breakneck pace of urbanization in China. It also reflects China's economic resilience.
As we arrived in the beautiful city of Renhuai, about four hours from Guiyang, the story was the same. Still more construction - in the city center, on the outskirts and in nearby towns.
Renhuai is also home to Moutai, the high-end spirit distilled by Kweichow Moutai Co Ltd in the town of Maotai. Its entire 2015 production of around 39,000 metric tons has been sold out, company executives said.
With each 500-ml bottle costing 900 yuan ($137) on average, that is not a sign of economic slowdown either!
Officials with the central government have been stressing that all the talk of doom and gloom is not based on facts, and the country's economic fundamentals are strong.
Chinese diplomats abroad have been driving home this point.
Earlier this year, China's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Liu Xiaoming, wrote in The Telegraph newspaper that China remains one of the fastest-growing major economies, and that it contributes more than one quarter of the global growth.
"It is true that the 6.9 percent growth in 2015 was the lowest for China in 25 years," Liu acknowledged.
"But this was achieved by an economy that is $10 trillion in size. The actual increment is equivalent to the yearly GDP of a medium-sized country and it is larger than the amount generated by double-digit growth years ago."
Officials argue that with a huge cash reserve and a budget deficit of just under 3 percent, China still has a lot of firepower in its economic arsenal.
As far as the government is concerned, there's no slowdown. Earlier this month, it announced plans to invest as much as 77 billion yuan ($11.73 billion) in the aviation sector this year alone.
State-owned airlines like Air China Ltd and China Eastern Airlines Corp Ltd have also announced plans to acquire new aircraft worth billions of dollars as they expand globally.
Foreign direct investment in the Chinese mainland rose by 4.8 percent year-on-year to 286.78 billion yuan in the January-April period.
On our way home, we stopped over in the historic city of Zunyi where freshly picked waxberries were being snapped up by tourists and locals alike.
It looks like the "economic slowdown" is in our minds, not in reality.
An Apple store is seen in Los Angeles, California, United States, April 22, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] Apple Inc's gaze is again shifting its focus eastwardnow to India.
Following meetings with Indian leaders last month, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it is increasingly apparent that Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple, has his eyes set upon expanding the company's operations in the developing country.
The foray comes after Apple announced it will be creating a center in Hyderabad that develops Apple Maps and is expected to eventually host as many as 4,000 employees. Furthermore, in a news release, the company pledged to open its first ever iOS app design and development center at Bengaluru in early 2017.
Meanwhile, the Economic Times of India reported that Apple supplier Foxconn Technology Group is nearing completion of a deal that would reportedly allow it to establish a $10 billion plant for Apple products in Maharashtra.
Foxconn announced in May that it was hoping to develop 10 to 12 facilitiesincluding data centers and factories-in India by 2020 that could employ up to 1 million people.
Tarun Pathak, a senior analyst of mobile devices and ecosystems at Counterpoint Technology Market Research, said at least in the short term, there is nothing for the Chinese to worry about in terms of competition for manufacturing jobs from Apple and Foxconn's expansion into India.
Pathak said there is currently little demand for Apple's relatively expensive products and noted that Apple's share of the smartphone market volume in India is only about 3 percent.
"India is still a small market compared with China, but it provides a long-term investment opportunity for Apple," said Pathak.
During Apple's 2016 second-quarter earnings call, Cook said he was encouraged by Apple's Indian growth, highlighting its promise. In the 2015 fiscal year, revenue topped $1 billion for the first time in India, while year-on-year second-quarter revenue increased 56 percent.
"But I view India as where China was maybe seven to 10 years ago from that point of view, and I think there's a really great opportunity there," said Cook.
Pathak disagreed with Cook's assessment, and said India more probably trails China closer than Cook admitted.
"Seven years is likely exaggerated. Historically, what happens in China only takes two to three years afterward to happen in India," said Pathak.
In contrast to its Indian growth, Apple sales in Chinathe Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Konghave been declining. January to March revenue fell 26 percent year-on-year to $12.5 billion.
Di Jin, research manager of International Data Corp China, said the decline in Chinese sales is representative of greater competition. That is unlikely to change.
Pathak said regulatory hurdles and other potential setbacks spell trouble for immediate expansion in India, where Apple needs a way of attracting more first-time users. Therefore, despite slumping sales, movement from China is all the more improbable.
Another concern for India is its relative underdevelopment. Annual per capita income in China and India stands at $7,990 and $1,617, respectively, according to reports from the International Monetary Fund.
With such an income gap, it should be unsurprising that in India, 80 percent of phones cost $150 or less, roughly a quarter the average cost of Apple's cheapest available device, the iPhoneSE. In an interview with NDTV, a leading Indian news broadcaster, Cook admitted Apple's prices were relatively high in India, clarifying that much of the cost was due to duties and taxes.
There are not enough Indians who can afford Apple devices at such high prices, while in China, there is both the demand and income necessary for a continuing fertile market.
Jin expressed skepticism at Apple's expansion into India having an impact on its Chinese strategy. She said at least for the next few years, even with rising Chinese labor costs and greater incentives to invest in a relatively untapped Indian market, any pivot at China's expense is unlikely and any impact on the market overall will be relatively small.
Pathak largely agreed, saying there are no grounds for immediate concern.
A staff of a China Mobile shop explains a function of the iPhone 5s to a customer in Beijing January 17, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]
It was regarded as a game changer in mobile phone industry when Apple Inc launched its first iPhone in 2007.
But for Bertrand Schmitt, chief executive officer and co-founder of App Annie, a San Francisco-headquartered app analytics startup, it is the second iPhone that truly marked the beginning of smartphone era.
"The second version called iPhone 3G came with an App store, which makes it much more easier to discover, download and update apps," he said, adding it was the time he started to realize big changes were about to happen.
Now six years after he launched App Annie, a service that collects and deciphers data about the use of individual apps, as well as providing more complex metrics about user behavior and the impact to revenue growth, something big has happened and at the center of all these changes is China.
The latest statistics from App Annie show that for every hour users spend on their smartphones, 51 minutes are spent using apps while only 9 minutes are spent using browsers. And the number of app users is projected to reach 6.2 billion in 2020 from 2.6 billion in 2015.
Although the popularity of smartphones in China only really started to take off in 2012, China is catching up very quickly and is looking to overtake the United States, becoming the world's top spending nation on in-app consumption before 2020, said Schmitt.
He told China Daily in a recent exclusive interview that China accounts for about 20 percent of the world's gross app store revenue and it is expected to take about 30 percent of total revenue by 2020.
Gross app store revenue in China totaled $8.7 billion in 2015 and will reach $30.9 billion in 2020, according to App Annie.
The shift in user habit means that mobile apps have gradually become the predominant way for anyone who wants access to Chinese consumers, he said.
"It is very impressive that about 80 percent of Alibaba's e-commerce transactions are made on mobile devices. If you look at the United States, probably only 50 percent of the e-commerce transactions are made on mobile. China is pretty advanced in the era of mobile internet," he said.
According to Schmitt, the main reason that the Chinese have so willingly embraced the mobile internet era is that personal computers were very expensive and took up a lot of space compared with a smartphone.
"So once people can get a smartphone at a reasonable price, they move very fast. And also, in countries like the United States, people used personal computers for 20 years. The migration from PC to mobile takes more time," he said.
China is one of the largest markets for App Annie. About 15 percent of its 500,000 registered users are in China. According to Schmitt, the company will keep investing in China, especially in South China.
XINING -- Hualong, a remote county in northwest China's Qinghai province, may be little known to outsiders, but its lamian, or hand-pulled noodles, enjoy nationwide fame.
Most people in Hualong, with a total population of 286,000, lived below the poverty line until the beginning of a wave of migrations to other Chinese cities to open lamian restaurants.
Now more than a third of Hualong's registered population are in the lamian business, working in hundreds of cities across China, said Ma Qianli, deputy head of the county government.
These restaurants' annual revenues totalled 6.2 billion yuan (about $950 million) last year, with profits of more than 1.8 billion yuan, he added.
Though flavors may vary according to location, Hualong lamian has common standards: The clear broth should be made from marinading cow bones for more than four hours, noodles should be served with thin slices of white radish, and the dish should use local hot pepper as its seasoning.
Lamian dishes have become a desirable fast food for city folk.
Hard work and honesty in doing business are the keys to success in running a lamian restaurant, said Ma Yong, a 40-year-old man from Hualong. He has made a fortune selling lamian noodles in Shenzhen since the 1990s.
"Poverty forced me to leave home and find a living," Ma said. "When I arrived in Shenzhen, I had nowhere to sleep but on the floor of the shop I rented, or I would sleep in cheap public bathhouses, five yuan a night."
"Now many of my friends own franchise stores selling the noodles in cities like Beijing and Shanghai," said Ma, who returned home in 2014 and opened an animal husbandry company.
Hualong lamian makers have taken their noodles abroad too. Lamian restaurants have been opened in countries including Malaysia, Bangladesh and Turkey.
"Pulling noodles has changed the lives of people in Hualong. It has freed them of the entrapment of the mountains, and helped them move out of poverty," said Ma Qianli.
Teachers and students of Hua Luogeng Middle School in Huizhou city of Guangdong province cheer up the gaokao candidates this year on May 31, 2016. [Photo/VCG]
South China's Guangdong province will see as many as 9,570 migrant students sitting for the gaokao, or the national college entrance exam which begins on Tuesday this year, according to New Express, a local newspaper of the provincial capital Guangzhou.
This year marks the first year migrant students, or those who have no hukou (or household registration) in Guangdong but have already attended three years of high school there, can sit for the gaokao in Guangdong.
According to Guangdong's policy, another requirement for those eligible to attend gaokao is that their parents should be legally employed and should have paid for three years of social insurance in Guangdong.
The measures are part of the final stage of Guangdong's three-step plan to promote equal access to education by easing restrictions on gaokao for migrant students, which started in 2013.
Guangdong boasts a large number of migrant workers, as well as many of their children, who have been educated there.
Before the policy was put in place, these children had to go back to where their household registration was to take the gaokao, which gave them academic problems and increased the pressure they faced in order to apply for college.
"The approval for migrant students to attend gaokao where they received their high school education rather than according to their hukou is definitely an improvement," said Zhang Minqiang, Director of Evaluation and Tests on Talents Institute, South China Normal University.
"It's a recognition of the contributions made by migrant workers, which will help them feel more integrated into society."
There will be 733,000 gaokao candidates in total in Guangdong this year, 21,000 less than last year even after including the migrant students.
Two Korean students learn to make dumplings at an elementary school in Hangzhou city, East China's Zhejiang province, Dec 29, 2012. [Photo/IC]
Chinese pupils from the age of six can apply for student visas to study in Australian schools from July, according to Australia's new student visa policy announced recently, xkb.com.cn reported on Tuesday.
From July 1, pupils can apply to study in Australia with a streamlined visa application, and their parents can apply to accompany them, according to the latest policy announced by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection in Australia.
The Streamlined Student Visa Framework permits students to apply for all elementary schools in Australia with a two-year valid term. Under the Framework, all international students, no matter what courses they choose, will apply for the same student visa and submit their applications online.
As for parents applying for student dependent visas, they should provide a certificate showing they have an annual income of more than $51,548 or a deposit certificate showing an annual living expense of $14,728, when they submit visa applications.
Besides, parents accompanying their children in Australia cannot work; however, they can apply for immigration if they meet certain requirements, said Pan Miaoxia, who is in charge of overseas study in EIC Education.
Pan said: "As the elementary schools just recently decided to enroll international students, many schools haven't announced tuition fees for international students. But if we go by the tuition fees in high school, the fees in public elementary schools will be between 50,000 yuan ($7,610) and 60,000 yuan. So if every child will be accompanied by one parent, then a family will spend around 240,000 yuan on tuition fees and living expenses in a year."
This is a new step from 2014 when Australia opened the application of overseas study for junior high school students.
"Nowadays, only a handful of countries are granting student visa application. Given that there are few Chinese students in New Zealand and Singapore as well as difficulty in getting Canadian visas, Australia with a suitable weather and mature international student market will be welcomed by parents in South China's Guangdong province," said Zou Zhaohuang, head of international student center at a Guangzhou-based travel agency GZL.
According to Australian Financial Review, there are nearly 50,000 Chinese students studying in Australia till now in 2016, up 23 percent compared to 2015.
Students hold up a banner to show their support for peers about to sit the National College Entrance Exam, commonly known as gaokao, at the High School Affiliated to Renmin University in Beijing, on June 7, 2016. About 9.4 million high school graduates registered for this year's exam, which will last two days, through to June 8. Wrapping up the high school days, the two-day test is considered the most important exam and a defining moment for most Chinese students. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]
Mongolian media guests visiting the Ordos EnGeBei desert science museum, Inner Mongolia. [Photo provided to China Daily]
A Mongolian press delegation, consisting of 47 members and led by a spokesman for Mongolia's foreign ministry, paid a week-long visit to China, May 31 to June 6, focusing on green development.
In August 2014, Chinese president Xi Jinping promised to "invite 250 Mongolian media people to China in the following five years" on his visit to Mongolia, which led to a Mongolian delegation's visit to China in 2015.
By invitation of the State Council Information Office, this is the Mongolian media's second tour to China. They visited research institutes, industrial parks, ecological zones and environmental protection companies in Beijing, Tianjin and Inner Mongolia, all representative of China's green development, to see the country's programs and achievements in resource conservation, environmental protection and low-carbon development.
During their stay in Inner Mongolia, the guests went to the Ordos EnGeBei ecological demonstration area, Xinxing Heavy Industries Inner Mongolia energy investment Co, the Baotou environment supervision dispatch and command center, the city plan exhibition hall, and the Hohhot Daqing mountain ecological treatment and protection site.
As Mongolia and Inner Mongolia share similarities of geography and climate, some of Inner Mongolia's experiences can be models and examples, said the delegation leader, adding that they will increase the Mongolian people's awareness of China's achievements in green development through public broadcasting.
Green development is one of the common objectives of China and Mongolia, which have being cooperating in clean energy, water resources management, air quality control and ecological conservation.
Jose Graziano da Silva (Second from left), Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, poses with farmers in Longxian village, Qingtian county, East China's Zhejiang province, on Sunday. He visited the symbiotic rice-fish aquaculture system, a farming practice of raising fish in rice paddies that has been preserved by local farmers for over 1,000 years. [Photo by Wu Yan/China Daily]
More than a thousand years old practice of raising fish in rice paddies by Chinese farmers not only preserves environment, but also benefits local community, said Jose Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, in Qingtian county, in East China's Zhejiang province, on Sunday.
Marking his first visit to an Asian site listed as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems in the mountainous area of East China's Zhejiang province, Da Silva praised China's work in protecting agricultural heritage and developing sustainable production.
The site has preserved more than 1,000 years old farming practice in which farmers raise fish in rice paddies. The unique symbiotic rice-fish aquaculture system sees rice plants providing fish shelter from the sun and predators such as egrets, while fish fertilize the rice and eat the larvae and weeds that harm rice.
In what Da Silva called a "win-win combination", more rice and fish are produced in less land than if they were farmed separately, while less fertilizers and pesticides are used and less cost and labor are invested in the farming.
The green and healthy rice and fish attract tourists from neighboring cities; this provides farmers a chance to earn extra money by running restaurants for visitors when they are not busy on the farm.
Praising the practice, Da Silva said: "Not only environment is preserved and used in a sustainable way, but also it generates benefits for the local community."
He said the system is "a good example of how we can use our natural resources without depleting and destroying them".
The symbiotic rice-fish aquaculture system was listed by the FAO among the first five Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems in 2005. So far, China tops the world by having 11 out of 36 agricultural heritage systems.
The FAO-initiated program aims to better acknowledge years of knowledge and management experience of nature and environment sustainability proven by generations of farmers worldwide, and use the information to address challenges that modern agriculture faces today, especially to revive sustainable agriculture.
"To inherit and carry forward farming culture is very important today when traditional agriculture has been transformed into a modern one," said Niu Dun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and former vice-minister at the Ministry of Agriculture.
In a communique issued at the 2016 G20 Agricultural Ministers Meeting, which concluded recently in Xi'an, further developing Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems were recognized as a suitable way for preserving good farm practices and promoting sustainable agriculture.
49-year-old Liang Shi prepares for his 20th gaokao in a high school in Mianyang, Sichuan province, on June 3, 2016. [Photo/VCG]
Liang Shi, perhaps China's most famous test-taker, sat the national college entrance exam, also known as "gaokao", for the 20th time this year, the Chengdu Economic Daily reported.
Liang, a native of Renshou county in Southwest China's Sichuan province, took the annual gaokao exam when he was 16, but he did so poorly he was not accepted into any college.
In a subsequent test, he managed to get admitted to a local technical school, but dropped out because he felt he could do better if he retook the test. He has been trying his luck ever since, and this year he sat alongside some 9.4 million other test-takers.
More than a month before the tests on June 7 and June 8, the 49-year-old took additional courses at Nanshan High School in Sichuan's Mianyang city.
He said he changed preparation tactics this year and focused on doing previous test papers, rather than just reading books as he had done in the past. He said he had no idea about how he might have scored this year, according to the report.
Liang scored 417 points last year, 28 points less than the admission benchmark score, with poor performances in mathematics and natural sciences.
Liang said his dream course of study was with the mathematics department of Sichuan University.
"This will be my last attempt. If I fail again, I will stop taking the exam," said Liang.
Peng Liyuan, China's first lady and a UNESCO special envoy for advancing girls' and women's education, called on Monday for the promotion of gender equality in education and for better education for females.
She made the appeal at an awards ceremony in Beijing for the first UNESCO Prize for Girl's and Women's Education.
Supported by China, the prize is given annually to two laureates. It consists of an award of $50,000 each to further their work in girls' and women's education.
This year's winners are Ella Yulaelawati, director of early childhood education at the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture, and Evernice Munando from Zimbabwe, founder of the Female Students Network.
Peng, who became a UNESCO special envoy in March 2014, said the world still faces great challenges in educating girls and women, with women accounting for more than 60 percent of illiterate adults worldwide.
Peng became the sixth person - and the first Chinese - to serve as a UNESCO special envoy.
The awards will play a key role in promoting efforts to ensure equality in education, Peng said, stressing that she is ready to make every effort to realize educational rights for girls and women.
Irina Bokova, UNESCO's director-general, thanked the Chinese government for its leadership.
She also thanked Peng for her lifelong commitment to advancing empowerment for girls and women - embodied in her actions as a UNESCO special envoy.
Munando, the prize winner from Zimbabwe, thanked China and Peng for supporting the important prize for female education.
Pang Zhongying, dean of the School of International Relations at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, said Peng plays a crucial role in promoting women's and children's education.
Her work shows that China attaches great importance to human development, Pang said.
"The status of women in China in politics and in law has improved significantly since the founding of the People's Republic of China. But new challenges and problems for them have also arisen in China since its rapid development, like elsewhere in the world," Pang added.
"What Peng has done as a special envoy shows that China is willing to face these problems directly and to respond to these challenges actively.
"It demonstrates China's responsibility in acting as a leading example to promote women's development."
wujiao@chinadaily.com.cn
China urged Japan not to interfere with a joint campaign to get "comfort women" documents listed on the UNESCO's Memory of the World Register on Tuesday.
More than 10 civil groups from countries including China and the Republic of Korea jointly filed an application to have documents related to "comfort women" listed on the Memory of the World Register.
Such efforts will "help people around the world understand fully the cruelty of aggressive war, bear in mind history, cherish peace and safeguard humans' dignity", said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei in a daily news conference on Tuesday
Hong urged Japan to deal correctly with the application and "not smear or interfere with it" after Kyodo News Agency reported on Monday that the Japanese government will "do all it can" to stop the documents from getting into the register.
He also urged Japan to, "effectively fulfill promises it made about historical issues, and take concrete measures to win the trust from the international community and its Asian neighbors."
In 2015, the Nanjing Massacre documents submitted by China were included into the UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. After occupying the city in 1937, Japanese troops committed atrocities in Nanjing including murdering civilians.
Beijing banker Zheng Hong has taken on a new role at a court in Beijing as a mediator in family disputes.
She has been working at Dongcheng District People's Court since the start of June helping judges to deal with domestic cases including divorce, child custody and property inheritance.
Her new role is part of plans to reform hearings into such cases that were put forward by China's top court in May.
The court where Zheng works is one of 118 nationwide taking part in a two-year pilot program to offer free mediation services, partly to reduce the burden on the legal system.
In addition to offering mediators, participating courts will provide social workers and psychologists, enabling potential litigants to solve conflicts without necessarily resorting to the courtroom.
The number of mediators working at Dongcheng District People's Court and the 117 others taking part in the pilot program is not known, and the numbers are likely to change as the program takes shape.
According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the national divorce rate has risen rapidly since 2002, with 3.64 million couples ending their marriages in 2014. Most of those getting divorced were born in the 1980s and 1990s.
Zheng, 46, said her role is to mediate between couples embroiled in domestic conflicts before their cases come before the courts.
"If my mediation contributes to alleviating family disputes and results in people deciding not to resort to the courts, this will be more harmonious for the family members and should also reduce the burden on legal resources," she said.
"Many domestic cases result from people acting on impulse, especially divorces. We should provide them with a period in which they can calm down."
Zhao Qing, chief judge at the Dongcheng court's family dispute tribunal, said a 66-item plan was put into operation after the Supreme People's Court called for the reforms.
Residents with mediation experience, such as seniors working on community committees, and people with knowledge of the law and psychology are being selected as mediators, Zhao said. Training will be offered.
Under the plan, family disputes will initially be handled by mediators within three days of being registered with a court.
Potential litigants will be allowed to choose the mediators they want to work with in line with their needs. The mediation process should last a maximum of three months.
"We did some mediation in the past," Zhao said. "But with divorce cases booming, we need to send more work to mediators and hope they can play a bigger role in family litigation.
"We judges will be free to spend more time studying legal problems in cases and dealing with marriages in which couples' conflicts cannot be mediated, such as those involving domestic violence."
While the pilot program is just starting in many areas, courts in Fujian province have relied on mediation for some time in connection with family disputes.
For example, Sanming Intermediate People's Court has used mediation in many cases involving young people and domestic disputes since last year. It also provides psychologists.
Guo Jie, a judge at that court, said, "The combination is inevitable, as many divorces involve children and child-raising disputes."
Last year, the court heard 1,001 divorce cases that involved minors. These comprised 68.2 percent of the total number of divorce cases heard by the court in 2015, Guo said.
"Psychologists can also help children to cope with their parents' divorces, and they offer psychological tests for adults," she said, adding that about 80 psychologists now support family case hearings in the city's courts.
Guo said the move toward increased mediation in such disputes and less time spent in courts stems from the experience in countries such as the United States.
HANGZHOU -- Thirty-two people in East China's Zhejiang province have been sentenced to up to 13 years in prison for trafficking endangered animals.
They were found guilty of trafficking 100 million yuan's ($15.2 million) worth of wildlife, including pangolins, bear claws and salamanders, in 10 provinces and cities, announced the Yongjia County People's Court on Tuesday.
At a court hearing, a main culprit surnamed Kan was given a prison term of 13 years and fined 130,000 yuan. Four were sentenced to over 10 years in prison and Kan's wife was given six years in prison.
The rest were sentenced to suspended prison terms of between four months and three years.
More than 10 of the defendants are owners of restaurants and clubs who bought the animal parts and processed them as food, the court said.
Local police uncovered the case last year as they seized more than 1,500 wild animals in a raid.
Pangolins, which are under second-class state protection in China, are often smuggled because their meat is considered a delicacy and their scales are believed to be effective in treating skin and other diseases.
A number of scams have surfaced as opening day for the Shanghai Disney Resort nears.
Media reports in the city said a fake website mimicking the resort hotel site had ranked among the top search results.
But when a reporter called the website number to reserve a room, she was asked for her credit card details, including the three-digit security number, and her mobile phone and ID numbers, according to kankannews.com.
Experts warned consumers not to reveal such key information as the security number.
The Shanghai park, the first Disney theme park on the Chinese mainland and the third in Asia after Tokyo and Hong Kong, is due to open on June 16.
In the past two months, at least 200 people claiming they could provide job opportunities at the park have been exposed by police.
In April, police arrested three suspected gang leaders alleged to have conned more than 3 million yuan ($460,000) out of 30-plus victims by promising them jobs at the Shanghai Disneyland park.
A taxi driver surnamed Li was the first to report the scam to police.
He said he saw a recruitment advertisement and dialed the number. He was promised a managerial position at the park, quit his job and paid 13,000 yuan as a fee, but the job turned out to be a cleaners position.
After discovering that his colleagues had found jobs at the park by sending their CVs direct to Disney and not paying any fees, he reported the case to police.
Mi Yangjun, a police information officer, said one of the suspects, surnamed Xu, who once worked for an employment agency, told police she believed she could make big money by pretending to offer job opportunities at Disneyland.
In May, a wealth investment product promising an annual yield of 10 percent was issued by Shanghai Guozhou Financial Information Service Co, which said the funds would be used to develop and operate the Shanghai Disney Resort.
However, the product was withdrawn by the local financial market watchdog due to false advertising.
A painting of the Forbidden City by Xu Shendong is part of one of the three series of his ongoing show. [Photo provided to China Daily]
The wild brushwork and bright colors give an unreal feeling to Xu Shendong's paintings. The expressiveness of his oil and ink works remind one of such Western master artists as Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, whose styles influence the creations of the 44-year-old painter from Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning province.
Through his pictures, in which reality and dreamlike scenes mingle, Xu persuades people to always seek the warmth of life even when going through bad times.
He stresses this in one of his recent poems, Warm Sun, in which he writes: "Doubts and anxieties of the past no longer exist. They've dissolved in the bright sky. The glass of the buildings reflect my face.
"I see a man who doesn't live in the past or a dream. He is bathed in the warmth of sunlight."
The poem is an introduction to Xu's ongoing Inner World exhibition in Beijing's Songzhuang art district.
On show are dozens of landscapes and paintings from his three series: Forbidden City, Countryside and Sketch Classes.
His drawings of the Forbidden City are based on a brief visit earlier this year.
A painting of the Forbidden City by Xu Shendong is part of one of the three series of his ongoing show. [Photo provided to China Daily]
In his works, he captures "inconspicuous corners that people simply overlook" or just have a quick look at for photosred walls, yellow tiled roofs and corner towers.
Through the paintings, he gives a sense of serenity to the Forbidden City, which is typically filled with the noise of tourists.
Further, he connects the grand architecture of the Forbidden City with China's modern history.
"It is, of course, a testament to our cultural legacy. But the longer I gazed at the palaces, the extensive walls and roofs, the more I felt that they were like solid barriers to keep the country from connecting with the world at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries," he says.
Xu's early exposure to painting came from his father, Xu Yong, a retired professor of Chinese painting at the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts in Shenyang.
During his childhood, he often traveled with his father who did a lot of sketching across the country.
Xu was impressed by the intricately painted frescoes at the Yongle Temple in Shanxi province.
Xu Shendong shows dozens of landscapes and paintings at an ongoing exhibition in Beijing. [Photo provided to China Daily]
A student of Chinese painting in college, Xu also learned oil painting and printing.
He moved to the United States in 1996 where he was nurtured by Western art over a period of six years.
Xu returned to Shenyang in 2002, believing that its "familiar soil" would let him devote himself to painting.
In the series Countryside and Sketch Classes, he demonstrates what it means to be restless and hopeful at the same time.
Commenting on his work, Zhang Hui, a professor of the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts, says: "Xu's works show his power of observation when it comes to changing surroundings and people's struggles. And the colors he applies reflect a confidence in his pursuit of art."
For Xu, poetry is another medium to enrich the themes expressed in his paintings.
In a new catalog of his paintings, Xu pairs each of his works with one of his poems.
He has written around 300 poems since 2006, when he produced his first work aboard a plane. He was then impressed by the grandeur of the Helan Mountain in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region.
Xu, who compares the process of writing and painting to walking on a beach, says: "The inspiration grabs me just like the appearance of a small stonebeautifully polished by the seawhen the tide recedes."
Related:
Children's toys in the Qing court
The painting by Song Dynasty court painter Xia Gui portrays a poetic snowy scene of late autumn and early winter, in southern China. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Rare classical paintings dated to Song (960-1279), Yuan (1271-1368) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties stood out at a Beijing auction by scooping up huge prices.
An ink painting album of 10 landscapes by early Ming painter Yun Shouping was sold for 81.6 million yuan ($12.4 million). He produced the paintings as a tribute to earlier master painters who greatly influenced him in techniques and styles.
Chinese retailer Suning Commerce Group made two big purchases in the sale staged by Beijing Poly International Auction on Sunday night.
A bamboo painting of Wu Zhen, one of the Four Masters of the Yuan Dynasty, fetched 77.6 million yuan. The work is considered a fine example of China's literati painting.
It used to be a collection of famed connoisseur Zhang Congyu. It was later acquired by antique dealer C.T. Loo who exported it abroad, and then transferred to the New York-based Chinese collector Chi-Chien Wang.
A landscape of court painter Xia Gui, hailed among the Four Masters of the Southern Song Dynasty, sold 27 million yuan. It portrays a poetic snowy scene of late autumn and early winter, in southern China.
Another big transaction of the auction was an album of 12 landscapes by Wang Hui, a master of late Ming and early Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. It went for 33 million yuan, and Wang executed the pictures in his 70s, copying previous works of precedent painters.
Users of social-networking app WeChat found their feeds full of blurred pictures, many accompanied by flirty captions. [Photo/IC]
A case related to a pornographic video shared in a social media chat group has been handed over to the People's Court of Yunhe county, Zhejiang province in East China. It is noteworthy that in this case both the group members and the administrator of the group are going on trial. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Monday:
The case has attracted so much attention due to the severe consequences of "just making some buzz" in a relatively closed social media chat group.
People are wondering whether or not the administrator should be punished as severely as the group member who first posted the video.
But the legal foundation for the case is solid.
In accordance with the regulation forbidding pornographic broadcasting in cyberspace, issued by the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate, the chat group administrator and main participants of any group of more than 30members spreading pornographic content should be prosecuted.
So for those that have the responsibility of managing online forums or social media chat groups, they have the responsibility to ensure the chat group abides by the law.
But for many cyber administrators it is not enough to know howto use their rights; they also need to shoulder their own obligations.
In fact, in accordance with national laws, WeChat and other social media groups should know and abide by the rules; and administrators have the responsibility to supervise the postings of group members.
This satellite image shows the Yongshu Jiao of China's Nansha Islands. [Photo/Xinhua]
China's clear-cut stance in response to the arbitration case unilaterally pushed forward by the Philippines on its dispute with China in the South China Sea can be generalized as "non-acceptance, non-participation, non-recognition and non-compliance".
The arbitration case submitted by the Philippines to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague is in essence about the territorial sovereignty of some islands and reefs in the South China Sea, a jurisdiction that is beyond the scope of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and also inapplicable to the Convention's explanations.
Given that land territorial ownership is the legal basis to demarcate the maritime rights of coastal states according to international law, a judgment about maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea can be made only after territorial sovereignty is determined.
In the arbitration case, Manila partitions China's Nansha Islands, and asks the arbitral tribunal to make a ruling on the maritime rights of the islands and reefs "occupied or controlled" by China. However, the maritime rights and interests of the South China Sea islands are inseparable from their sovereignty. According to international law and judicial practices only countries owning sovereignty over islands and reefs in a sea are privileged to claim such maritime rights as an exclusive economic zone or continental shelf in accordance with the Convention. Therefore, only after a country's ownership of islands and reefs is legally recognized, can the Convention or its explanations be applied to the settlement of disputes if other countries question whether that country's maritime claims conform to the Convention or raise their own claim to overlapping maritime rights.
It is also China's stance that the legitimacy of its activities in the waters of the Nansha Islands and Huangyan Island is based on its ownership over these islands and reefs and corresponding maritime rights. In its arbitration case, the Philippines says it enjoys indisputable jurisdiction over the waters where China's "law enforcement" activities are conducted. But the fact is that China and the Philippines have not concluded their maritime demarcation in the sea. So Manila's arbitration application should come after the sovereignty of relevant islands and reefs is confirmed and maritime demarcation is completed.
The Philippines' proposal that the Convention is first used to judge China's maritime rights in the South China Sea even if the ownership of some islands and reefs in the sea is not confirmed is in violation of the general principles of international law and international judicial practices. Any ruling made by the arbitral tribunal under Manila's arbitration request will directly or indirectly make a judgment on the ownership of relevant islands and reefs in the South China Sea, thus unavoidably causing de facto maritime demarcation in the sea.
The unilateral arbitration pushed by the Philippines is also in contravention of the agreements it reached with China, and regional agreements that it is party to such as the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.
Any ruling made by the court in The Hague, which is beyond the scope of its jurisdiction, will only add to the escalation of tensions in the South China Sea rather than calm disputes. It will also harm efforts to resolve disputes through talks and the implementation of confidence-building measures, thus making the South China Sea issue more difficult to resolve.
With its forced arbitration case, the Philippines is attempting to repudiate China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights in the South China Sea, cover up its illegal occupation of some islands and reefs in the sea that belong to China, and smear China's international image. China will not budge from its stance that it will neither agree to talks on the South China Sea issue based on so-called international arbitration nor accept any subsequent appeals or proposals.
The author is director of the Ocean Strategy Studies Center at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
An Aurelius gymnastics facility that opened in March is closed after running into insurance issues.
Kate Mazzola, owner of Oasis Gymnastics, which was located in the Fingerlakes Mall, closed her doors and put her equipment in storage last week. In a June 1 phone interview with The Citizen, Mazzola said she was closed temporarily due to her insurance being suspended.
"Some of the issues were the space," Mazzola said. "Ceiling height, I guess, was one of the issues that they had for safety because the ceilings are kind of low in there. I'm trying to see what the options are."
Mazzola also said officials at the mall told her she had to get the insurance situated before continuing to operate.
Rene Patterson, the general manager of the mall, said Mazzola was not asked to close, but he would not comment further about the situation, citing a policy to not discuss tenant relationships.
"We never asked her to cease operation," Patterson said.
Mazzola said she put her equipment in storage because she could not afford paying overhead in the meantime. She said she notified her clients of the temporary closure through an email, and would be refunding participants for the missed week of classes.
Mazzola later posted on the Oasis Gymnastics Facebook page, which has since been taken down, that those who did not receive her email notice entered their information incorrectly online. On June 3, Mazzola wrote that those who paid with credit cards should see refunds within three to five days, and those who paid with cash or check should receive their refunds in the mail.
In response to a Facebook message The Citizen posted seeking information about the situation from parents of Oasis students, some referred to the gym Mazzola had opened in Auburn a few years earlier, Ireland's Xtreme Gymnastics and Cheer. That gym also had closed abruptly.
Mazzola addressed that situation on the Oasis Facebook page:
"Remember that when I closed the first time it was largely in part due to the fact that between the two cheer teams I was owed $6,000 and everyone thought their kids could cheer for free ... last time I checked .. when you go to McDonald's you have to pay for those happy meals before they hand them over ... yet for some reason everyone thought their children needed to be cheerleading charity cases .. So keep talking and not paying," she wrote.
Mazzola also added on the social media site that she wasn't sure if she wants to reopen Oasis Gymnastics.
"It is unfortunate that people that aren't truly knowledgeable of any situation assert facts that are actually false," she wrote. "I had plans to try and get everything straightened out and get back opened quickly but not sure I care to deal with these types of people in this town. Spreading untrue ... lies actually. It only hurts the children."
In an interview in March about the opening of Oasis Gymnastics, Mazzola told The Citizen she had closed Ireland's Xtreme Gymnastics and Cheer due to her husband's travel in the military. She was glad to be back in her hometown to open a new gym, she said.
Family Oasis: Gymnastics studio opens in Fingerlakes Mall AURELIUS Kate Mazzola's couch may still be back in storage in Tennessee, but she has her g
As of Tuesday, Oasis Gymnastics was still closed, though Mazzola's website was online.
" Whether you aim to be a doctor, teacher, scientist, musician, engineer; or a writer-be fearless in the pusruit of your aspirations."
Stephen Hawking, an English theoretical physicist, encouraged Chinese students on Sina weibo, a popular Twitter-like service, on the eve of the national college entrance examination.
Many people around China are anticipating the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on Thursday this year, to chill out a bit by indulging in a short getaway. The three-day holiday is not long, but still, if you plan well and know exactly what you want from a trip, a fulfilling getaway is achievable. Since it is early summer, what you have in mind must be somewhere cool and special. Here we recommend a wide selection of destinations, hoping at least one of them will suit your discerning taste.
Beach resorts
Photo taken on June 1, 2016 shows the No 1 bathing beach of Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, June 1, 2016. To meet the needs of tourists, the No 1 bathing beach of Qingdao opened to the public one month earlier than previous years.[Photo/Xinhua]
As the country enters summer, beach tourism starts gaining momentum among tourists. Qingdao is one of many favorable coastal destinations in China. Although it can sometimes get foggy because of the hot weather, visitors still swarm to the seaside to seek some cool pleasure brought by the sea. There is just so much fun near the beach - sunbathing, swimming, snorkeling and diving, or you can just lie on the powdery white sand and enjoy doing nothing. Apart from Qingdao, there are a bunch of other beach resorts in China, such as Dalian, Sanya and Xiamen. They are all as good, just pick the nearest option.
German chancellor's meeting with premier to push ongoing consultation plan forward
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit China for the ninth time in her chancellorship from June 12 to 14 for the fourth round of China-Germany intergovernmental consultations, German Ambassador to China Michael Clauss told China Daily in an interview ahead of the visit.
Merkel will bring about 11 ministers and vice-ministers to China for a meeting with Premier Li Keqiang and continue discussions according to the action plan of Sino-German cooperation to push relations forward, Clauss said.
The plan, a wide-ranging guideline covering 110 cooperation agreements over the next five to 10 years, was signed during the last round of China-Germany intergovernmental consultations in 2014.
Issues including Sino-German cooperation in innovation, China's economic reform and opening-up, and mutual trade and investments are expected to be raised during the consultations, Clauss said. International issues concerning Syria and the global economy are also on the agenda.
In addition, China and Germany will probably reach an agreement on cybersecurity that focuses on fighting economic spying, said the ambassador, calling on German and Chinese governments to facilitate a framework to protect companies from cyberattacks.
"Data is extremely important in everything we do, and that means we should ensure that company data and company secrets are secure. That's very important for both Chinese and German companies. Concepts like Industry 4.0 and Internet Plus will not work without a high degree of data security," Clauss said.
Data security plays an essential role in modern manufacturing. In automobile manufacturing, for example, the process of producing a steel plate uses large amounts of data for adjustments so that the plate is accurately cut and welded.
China has long expressed opposition to hacking in any form and said the most effective way to cope with it is international cooperation.
Along with closer economic cooperation, Sino-German business exchanges have been even more dynamic recently, and more Chinese enterprises hope to invest in Germany or purchase German companies, Clauss said.
According to a report in May from the federal economic development agency Germany Trade & Invest, Germany attracted more than 2,300 foreign direct investment projects in 2015, and China was the top investor in projects with 260. That's a 37 percent increase from last year.
Clauss said there is still much more space for investment. The investment trend is just beginning in Germany, but it will be beneficial for both countries, he said.
He stressed that Germany is an open economy and welcomes investment from Chinese companies. At the same time, German companies expect to have better market access, fewer hurdles and more secure intellectual property rights.
"Germany is an open economy, so we are looking forward to China opening up more. Opening up will help China to accelerate its economic reform. Opening up and reform are two sides of one coin," Clauss said.
In Beijing, Merkel will also meet with President Xi Jinping and top legislator Zhang Dejiang. The chancellor will also travel to Shenyang, Liaoning province, to visit the Chinese-German industrial park there.
Industrial areas in Northeast China are facing problems of renovation, while Germany has managed to renovate its polluted Ruhr area. That will offer new cooperation opportunities for Chinese and Germany companies, Clauss said.
Beijing-Berlin ties have developed greatly in recent years. Mutual trust was deepened by German President Joachim Gauck's China-visit in March.
Chinese and Vietnamese coast guards conduct a joint patrolling mission on the waters of Beibu Gulf on April 29, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]
An e-mail that takes a dig at Uncle Sam for using freedom of navigation as a lame excuse to flex his muscles at China over its maritime claims in the South China Sea has somehow found its way into my mailbox.
Written by a certain Ms Oh Beigong from Taipei, it was addressed to Admiral Harry B. Harris, Commander of the United States Pacific Command, and copied to his bosses, US Secretary of Navy Ray Mabus and US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter, as well as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Now, I would like to make it clear that I have not the faintest idea who Ms Oh is but I do think she has a sharp elbow. From the little that I know, what she has written is accurate but just so readers can judge for themselves, I reproduce here the e-mail in its entirety:
"Dear Admiral Harris,
I write to congratulate you for standing up for mariners the world over to assert the right to freedom of navigation in international waters. You showed much daring when on May 10, you sent the USS William P. Lawrence, an Arleigh Burke class missile destroyer, to within 12 nautical miles of Fiery Cross Reef, over which Beijing has long claimed sovereignty and which it has occupied for years.
Sure, some of my friends said the destroyer made just a single pass, which would qualify the sail-through as innocent passage under Article 18 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos). In other words, they were telling me, the US had made a big deal out of it as there was no real risk of the Chinese responding and going ballistic, literally or metaphorically. They also said you didn't need guts, or even brains, to dispatch the destroyer as you were just carrying out the orders of your political masters!
That's quibbling. I think you deserve credit for risking the lives of your sailors as you couldn't know for sure the Chinese would steer clear of your destroyer. Remember the mid-air collision between one of your EP-3 spy planes and a Chinese J8 fighter on April 1, 2001? Nobody saw that coming and somebody did die - the Chinese pilot, Lieutenant Commander Wang Wei. The EP-3 was forced to land in Hainan and its 24 crew members detained and interrogated. Beijing, ruled by a more conciliatory Jiang Zemin then, set the 24 free eventually, compensated Wang's family and hailed him as a hero, a "Guardian of Territorial Space and Waters".
This time round, with a tougher Xi Jinping in charge and after so many provocations, no one could guarantee that the Chinese would not send a number of "fishing vessels" or even Coast Guard Cutters to sail right across the path of the USS William P. Lawrence and force a collision. Out of the question? Back in the 1980s, when the Cold War was still on, Soviet freighters did exactly that - they rammed American naval craft in the Mediterranean for encroaching on their waters. Chinese commentators have of late been talking publicly about emulating the Soviets. And hey, with all the nationalistic fervour whipped up on the mainland, the Chinese may need another hero!
Well, you got away again this time just as you did in January when the USS Curtis Wilbur skirted Triton in the Paracel group of islands claimed by Beijing and last October when the USS Larsen charged into contentious waters in the Spratlys. So, yes, you showed you had what it took to risk your men's lives without batting an eyelid. Bully for you!
But displaying testicular fortitude is one thing and pushing your luck too far is another. You have made whatever point you think you were making. But have the Chinese stopped building the airstrips and other structures on the disputed islands and reefs that the other claimants are said to be worried about?
Let me get serious. The US is playing with fire by repeatedly poking China in the eye. We in this region are going to be the collateral damage if this spins out of control. And why should we pay the price when the US does not really have right on its side? As a thinking man, did you not feel discomfort deep inside you when the US kept singling out the Chinese as the bad guys in the maritime disputes?
You must know better than most on this planet that the US has not been able to cite one instance when China actually denied anyone the freedom of navigation or point to any statement by Beijing threatening that right. Of course Washington will sidestep that - why let facts spoil a good excuse - and say instead that it cannot allow China's claim to waters bound by that famous or infamous nine-dash line that it has drawn in the South China Sea to go unchallenged.
Excuse me, but did you not know that it was the Republic of China government, now relocated to Taiwan, that first went to the United Nations in 1948 to lodge a claim using a map of the South China Sea showing 11 dashes? Yes, 11, not nine. Not one squeak about that in all this time, none from the US, Britain, Australia - till now.
You will say, no doubt, that the Chinese are going to militarise the airstrips and other facilities to project force, thus threatening all the countries in the region. Er, coming from a senior naval officer of a country that operates some 800 bases or military facilities in more than 60 countries around the world, several of them virtually at China's doorstep, that, sir, is a bit rich!
I may be just a fisherman's daughter from Kaohsiung but I have read enough to know that capability plus intention equals threat. Guess what? The US has 11 carrier battle groups circling the globe, each with enough firepower to send four-fifths of the world's countries back to the Stone Age, the largest and second-largest air force in the world (US Air Force and US Navy's Air Wing) and the openly declared intention of not allowing any other nation to challenge US power and supremacy. Talk about threats!
By the way, all the other claimants, except Brunei, are also building and expanding their presence in the disputed areas. In fact, Taiwan has troops stationed on Taiping Island, which is also claimed by the Philippines. But the US has looked the other way. I guess, to quote your former vice-president Al Gore, that is an inconvenient truth.
I know, I know, the US is not in the habit of admitting that it is or can be wrong. Thus not a word of apology for invading Iraq under the pretext of rooting out the non-existent weapons of mass destruction. Nor did Washington ever concede that it wrongly accused the Soviet Union of using biological weapons on the Hmong people in Indochina in 1981 when the yellowish substance that fell on them from the sky was found by an international panel of scientists to be just the faeces of huge swarms of bees!
Bottom line? Might is right. The US is out to stymie the rise of China and prevent it from challenging American dominance, if not hegemony. We get that. So do us a favour, please stop talking about high principles and international law.
However, if you wish to regain at least a modicum of respect from clear-sighted people in this region, here is something you, in particular, can do. In the name of asserting freedom of navigation and upholding international law, send your destroyer or whatever to an atoll in the Philippine Sea which the Japanese call Okinotorishima (Okinotori Island) and claim as their territory.
The atoll measures no more than 9 sq m at low tide, which is probably smaller than your office in Honolulu, and lies more than 1,700km south of Tokyo. But it is less than 500km from Taiwan itself.
Under Unclos, an atoll is not an island and thus cannot be used as the basis to claim the usual 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone or EEZ. But that has not stopped Tokyo from doing so, and it has proclaimed as its EEZ an area larger than the entire Japan. Taiwan is among the many that have refused to recognise this.
Last month, a Taiwanese fishing boat was seized by the Japanese Coast Guard for operating in the EEZ. It was set free only after the owners paid nearly US$55,000 (S$76,000) as a security bond. Fortunately, our government in Taipei took up the cudgels and said it would send naval vessels from now on to protect Taiwanese fishing boats.
So, please, dear admiral, send the William P. Lawrence there and have some of its crew go fishing near the atoll. All who look askance at your dubious freedom of navigation expeditions in the South China Sea thus far will applaud you.
Don't let the Chinese beat you to it!
Elaine Chao (center), former US Secretary of Labor, speaks on behalf of her sisters at the dedication ceremony of the Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center, which is named after their mother, on Monday at the Harvard Business School. [Photo by HEZI JIANG/China Daily]
Nearly four centuries after the university was founded, Harvard campus opened its first building named for a woman -- Chinese American Ruth Mulan Chu Chao (1930-2007).
In tribute to the life and legacy of the family matriarch, Dr James Si-Cheng Chao, a successful merchant mariner, business leader and philanthropist, and the Chao family foundation in 2012 made a $40 million gift to Harvard Business School (HBS), where four of the couple's six daughters graduated. The new Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center took two years to design and another two to build.
"[My mother] believed that men and women should be treated equally, and she and my father made sure her six daughters were equipped with the tools they needed to realize their dreams," said the oldest daughter Elaine Chao, former US secretary of labor, on behalf of her sisters at the dedication ceremony of the center on Monday.
Mounted above the front door of the three-story,90,000-square-foot building, the family name Chao now stands among some of the world's most notable names -- Baker, Bloomberg, Chase and Morgan.
Embracing both tradition and innovation, the exterior of the center is a combination of brick and soaring glass and steel. The interior is replete with social spaces, including a terraced-stairs sitting area, two dining rooms, three lounges and a wine bar. The center is design to function as an activity hub for the more than 10,000 executives who attend HBS' executive education programs.
The dedication ceremony was attended by family friends, some traveling all the way from China, and top government and university officials, including Harvard University President Drew Faust, HBS dean Nitin Nohria, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and Elaine Chao's husband Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. All five living US presidents sent letters of congratulation.
"Immigrants now launch more than one-quarter of all businesses in the US," said Markey. "Immigrants are the risk takers and job creators. The Chao family is the true, perfect example of the American dream come true."
"When I first came to the US in the 1950s, immigrants like us couldn't even think about going to top universities like Harvard," said Dr Chao during the press conference. "Now we want to provide everyone with that opportunity."
Of the $40 million donation, $35 million was used for the construction of the Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center, and $5 million allotted toward the Ruth Mulan Chu and James Si-Cheng Chao Family Fellowship Fund, which has supported six to eight outstanding students of Chinese heritage each year since 2013.
Contact the writer at hezijiang@chinadaily.com.cn.
BEIJING -- President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called on his country and the United States to promote the healthy and stable development of ties through increased exchanges and cooperation.
Xi made the remarks here while meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, who attended the eighth round of China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogues and the seventh round of China-US High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange.
Xi stressed that three years ago, he and US President Barack Obama agreed to work together to build a new model of major-country relations between the two sides.
The development of bilateral ties over the following three years indicates that the path is in line with the fundamental interests of the two peoples and the world, he said.
The president called on both sides to focus on cooperation, manage their differences properly and promote the healthy and stable development of China-US relations.
On macro-economic policies, Xi suggested the two countries strengthen policy coordination, strive for more positive outcomes at the G20 Hangzhou summit, and inject new impetus into the world economy.
He suggested that both countries make the most of cooperation potential in the areas of trade and investment, clean energy, and environmental protection, adding that they should strengthen communication and coordination on major global and regional issues.
Referring to divergence, Xi said the two countries should respect each other's core interests and major concerns, and settle problems through dialogue and consultation.
Kerry and Lew said the United States would like to work with China to ensure the G20 Hangzhou summit is a success, adding that Obama welcomes a stable and prosperous China.
Effective cooperation between the two nations on major issues such as climate change indicated the significance of the US-China relationship, they said.
The two US officials agreed the United States and China have extensive cooperation potential, and could solve differences properly.
Vice-Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang told reporters after the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue held in Beijing that the two sides reached 120 concrete achievements in nine areas in the strategic channel of the two-way dialogue.
State Councilor Yang Jiechi and US Secretary of State John Kerry co-chaired the strategic talks.
According to Zheng, the two militaries will carry out more policy dialogue and joint training. The two navies will have "substantial" joint exercises during mutual warship visits.
Anti-corruption cooperation will be strengthened, especially in refusing entry of corrupt officials, reparation of relevant criminals and illicit assets recovery.
China and the US will also join hands to face global terrorist threats - beef up information sharing, fight cross-border flow of foreign terrorist fighters and counter terrorism financing.
They will have a vice-minister level anti-terror consultation in Washington later this year.
In a strategic security dialogue, the two sides discussed security issues including the cross-Strait situation and maritime, and cyber and outer space security, Zheng said.
BEIJING -- Senior Chinese and US officials are eyeing more cooperation on low carbon development after the opening of a high-level meeting on Tuesday.
Green growth is high on China's development agenda, said State Councilor Yang Jiechi at the Second US- China Climate-Smart/ Low-Carbon Cities Summit, attended by senior representatives from over 50 Chinese and US cities.
Yang called for more concrete cooperation between Chinese provincial regions and cities and their US counterparts, the key practitioners of low-carbon growth, to benefit both countries and the rest of the world.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said US-China low-carbon cooperation will contribute to the sustainable growth of the two economies and the global fight against climate change.
BEIJING -- China welcomes US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter's visit this year, according to an outcome list of the annual China-US high-level dialogue.
"Defense Secretary Carter is expecting the China tour," said the document issued as the eighth China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) concluded here Tuesday.
The Chinese and US militaries agreed to hold a joint exercise focusing on humanitarian rescue and disaster relief in China this year. The Chinese side will take part in the RIMPAC-2016 joint exercise, the document said.
On the situation on the Korean Peninsula, the two sides called on all parties concerned to make joint efforts and take necessary actions to create conditions for the resumption of the Six-Party Talks at an early date.
MARCELLUS Health officials confirmed case of pertussis, or whooping cough, at Marcellus Senior High School Tuesday.
According to the district's website, the Onondaga County Health Department is closely monitoring the situation.
Assistant Superintendent of Pupil Services Patricia McCarron posted a letter to parents stating that most children at Marcellus Central Schools have been vaccinated against the highly contagious bacterial infection. However, that does not guarantee a student will be immune to the disease.
"If you have any reason to suspect that your child may have pertussis, please do not send them to school until you have discussed the matter with your private physician," McCarron said.
For more information on the disease, McCarron instructed parents to call the Onondaga County Communicable Disease Nurse at 435-3236 or visit www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable.
BEIJING - Senior Chinese and US officials on Tuesday encouraged business people to invest in both countries during the Eighth Round of China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogues.
China is committed to protecting intellectual property rights, expanding market entry and increasing the transparency of laws and regulations to create a fair, transparent and predictable business environment, said Vice Premier Wang Yang.
"One of the priorities now is negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty (BIT). We should try to reach a mutually beneficial and high-level agreement as an early date," said Wang.
State Councilor Yang Jiechi said he hoped enterprises in both countries would explore new cooperation areas and foster new growth drivers.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said they welcomed Chinese investment in the United States, and that they were ready to grasp opportunities created by China's supply-side structural reform and increase investment in the country.
Catherine Novelli, the US under secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment, delivers a speech. [Photo by Li Jing/China Daily]
Chinese and US delegates will discuss ways to combat the multi-billion dollar illegal wildlife trafficking trade, as the two countries continue their high-level diplomatic talks.
In the lead up to China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, Catherine Novelli, the US under secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment, hosted a reception about wildlife conservation.
At the "Art for Animals" reception in Beijing, on June 5, Novelli said the S&ED would this year have a fourth wildlife trafficking breakout session, "which underscores how important this issue has become to our (the China-US) relationship".
She said wildlife trafficking was a multi-billion dollar transnational criminal activity.
"It is through engagements like the S&ED that we can strengthen international agreements to protect wildlife, promote commitments to conservation and wildlife crime fighting, and work with partners ranging from governments, to non-profit conservation groups, to private industry and the media," she said.
At the S&ED last year, China and the US together laid the groundwork for one of the most important wildlife conservation achievements.
Last September, President Xi and President Obama announced that both the United States and China would "enact nearly complete bans" on ivory imports and exports, including significant and timely restrictions on importing ivory as hunting trophies, and also promised "to take significant and timely steps to halt the domestic commercial trade of ivory".
"This announcement was a game-changer. As a result, the price of elephant ivory in China has been cut in half," Novelli added.
The fruitful interaction between China and Russia in the past decade or so has generated a benign spillover effect on regional order and transnational cooperation, said a senior Chinese official during a recent Beijing-based seminar celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation.
Dai Bingguo, former state councilor, said the 2001 treaty will keep serving as the legal foundation of their bilateral relationship, which features "nonalignment", "non-confrontation", and is "not targeted at any third party", in this century.
"The signing of the treaty is not only exemplary but also inspiring as China reached similar agreements with a number of Shanghai Cooperation Organization members and Afghanistan afterwards", Dai added.
His comment were echoed by Su Ge, president of the China Institute of International Studies in Beijing, who also believed the Beijing-Moscow treaty would bolster the bilateral strategic cooperation as a fundamental guideline in years to come.
"The time-tested treaty is being implemented well by both countries to enhance mutual political trust," said EvgenyKozhokin, deputy director of the Russian Institute of Strategic Studies in Moscow.
"Apart from their closeness in the UN Security Council affairs, China and Russia, two of the five permanent members of the UNSC, also aim to prolong such interaction by showing full respect to the territorial integrity of each other," said Kozhokin.
"As for Russia, it has long acknowledged the fact that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China."
This is the second in a series of posts in response to emails and comments asking us to explain how Western companies can better negotiate with Chinese companies.
In part one, Negotiating With Chinese Companies: Be The Rabbit, I talked about using the Zen technique of being the rabbit, which in Western terms translates mostly into just being patient, hanging back and letting the Chinese side start negotiating with itself. In response to that post, I received the following email from a China business consultant I greatly respect who has been in China for at least twenty years:
I liked the post on negotiating with Chinese companies. I found the best trick is to lay out terms and when the Chinese side balks, be super polite and say when you can agree to these terms please, email, call or text me. Then give them your card and leave. I always tell people the mentality of bargaining in China is the same whether buying fruit on the street, clothing in a market or doing mega deals in the boardroom. A lot of people act like they are dealing with a Japanese company. They are not. You have to have a walking away point in place before you start so that you dont lose your cool.
Most of the negotiating techniques we are seeing Chinese companies employ are similar to those we have seen Chinese companies employ for decades. A classic example of an old tactic Chinese companies seem to constantly employ is to lure in Western companies to do a deal by promising the moon and then backing down from nearly every promise with each new contract draft. The best response to this tactic is usually a simple statement that you will not agree to the change and then to wait. In other words, be patient and be prepared to walk.
We are also seeing massive Chinese technology companies agreeing to a do deals with Western companies and then at some subsequent point in the negotiations substituting in some other related company as the signatory for the contract instead of the massive Chinese technology company. The company substituted in for the massive company is usually a brand new company created just for this one deal. When we explain that our client wants to do the deal with the massive and well-funded company and not the newly created one, we get pushback and excuses.
The Chinese technology company will claim it needs to do it this way for IPO purposes or for investor purposes or because it will be able to move quicker this way. They will sometimes mouth platitudes about how it doesnt matter because the big company will be behind it all anyway, but when we ask them to have the big company give its own guarantees on the deal, the big company balks. The only way to handle this sort of company switch is to be patient and 1) be willing to convey from day one that you are willing to walk and 2) actually be willing to walk.
The 2016 session calendar has precious few days left, and while the Assembly Majority appears content to meander through June passing one-house bills with no chance of becoming law, our Conference is demanding action on a number of items that have widespread support and will protect New Yorkers, improve their quality of life and give them a fair chance at prosperity.
New York is full of hard-working people and wonderful natural resources, yet the state is continually ranked at or near the bottom of poll after poll with respect to taxes and business climate, and leads the country in out-migration. Albanys dysfunction is a national embarrassment, yet we still do not have meaningful ethics reform. A statewide heroin epidemic is claiming the lives of New Yorkers on a daily basis, yet comprehensive proposals from the Assembly Minority Conference and Senate Majority are needlessly stalled. This is unacceptable. As we wind down the last few days of session, we must do what the people of New York sent us to Albany to do, enact laws that improve the lives of every New Yorker.
HEROIN CRISIS NEEDS ACTION NOW
People across this state are desperate for solutions to the heroin epidemic that is tearing apart families and uprooting communities. The state Department of Health has revealed that in 26 of the states 62 counties, the number of heroin-related deaths doubled between 2010 and 2014. Yet, the Assembly is more inclined to pass resolutions about cold breakfast cereal than it is to address this staggering public health emergency. Where is the logic in that? Heroin overdoses have eclipsed car crashes as the states leading cause of accidental death, but the Majority continues to fail to address the gravity of the situation.
The Assembly Minority has developed a thorough plan which includes critical legislation focused on prevention and treatment of opioid and heroin addiction, and cracking down on the drug dealers poisoning our neighborhoods. We have stood with parents, representatives from advocacy organizations and our colleagues in the state Senate and urged the Assembly to take up and pass heroin and opioid abuse legislation this session. There are seven session days remaining. Politics aside, we must take this first step down the very long road of prevention, treatment and recovery for the people of this state.
THE APPETITE FOR ETHICS REFORM IS REAL
For certain, the 2016 session has been historic, but for all the wrong reasons. This year we watched two of the states most powerful legislative leaders be tried and convicted of corruption. And yet, true ethics reform is at a literal standstill. Recently, public opinion polls showed that 97 percent of New Yorkers believe it is important to pass anti-corruption reforms before the end of session. The Assembly Minority couldnt agree more, except to say it believes 100 percent that ethics issues need to be addressed before the Legislature takes a final lap around the Capitol.
The Legislature and governor need to wake up and realize that the appetite to effect change in Albany and across this state is there and warranted. The Assembly Minority has been, and will continue to be, outspoken advocates for implementing dramatic changes to the broken system to which so many have grown accustomed.
BRITTANYS LAW WILL SAVE LIVES
Brittanys Law would create a registry of violent felony offenders similar to the sex offender registry established by Megans Law. It passed the Senate six times with bipartisan support and despite Majority sponsorship in the Assembly, Brittanys Law (A.1833, Gunther) has inexplicably not been given a chance on the floor. For no good reason, this important and potentially life-saving legislation has been blocked year after year. It would be a gross failure on the part of the Assembly Majority to let another session go by without giving this bill its due. The Majoritys pattern of inaction with respect to thoughtful legislation is evidence of its troubling habit of choosing politics over people. This must end.
The law is named after Brittany Passalacqua, a 12-year-old girl from Geneva who was murdered along with her mother, Helen Buchel, in 2009 by a man previously incarcerated for assaulting his infant daughter.
SMALL BUSINESSES ARE REELING
The states business climate is dismal and job growth is suffocated by crushing mandates, including a disastrous minimum wage hike. According to the Tax Foundation, New Yorkers have the worst state and local tax burden in the nation, paying 12.7 percent of their income toward those taxes. How are businesses expected to grow under these conditions? Eliminating regulatory burdens and enacting broad tax cuts as called for in my Small Business Full Employment Act are the only ways to get New Yorks economy back on track.
Gimmicks like START-UP NY have failed, and the blatant secrecy behind the programs resultsa report on the programs job creation was expected months ago is evidence its time to look elsewhere for real results. The Assembly Majority and governor dont seem to get it; headlines and press conferences do not drive the economy. It takes a concerted effort by the Legislature and governors office that includes meat-and-potato, holistic legislation aimed at sustained growth.
These last few days of session can go one of two ways; they can be filled with bills that truly get at the heart of all thats wrong with New York, or they can be forgettable filler that dances around change and achieves little. I urge my colleagues and the governor to ensure the former, rather than the latter, for the sake of all New Yorkers.
What do you think? I want to hear from you. Send me your feedback, suggestions and ideas regarding this or any other issue facing New York State. You can always contact my district office at (315) 781-2030, e-mail me at kolbb@assembly.state.ny.us, find me by searching for Assemblyman Brian Kolb on Facebook and follow me on Twitter.
I am humbled and overwhelmed by the outpouring of support I received after announcing I was entering the Republican primary race for the 54th New York State Senate district. That support has prompted me to write this message, so that I can clearly present what it is I stand for.
As a veteran, a farmer, a businessman, and a community leader, I have long cherished the idea of the American dream the idea that those who work hard and play by the rules can get ahead. Unfortunately, this election cycle has been dominated on both sides of the aisle by candidates that play into the insecurities of voters who feel they have been left behind. These are voters that have too long lost faith in that American dream.
It pains me say it, but central New Yorkers have no problem relating to that sentiment.
Too many of our neighbors feel that there is not enough opportunity to get ahead. Taxes are too high, our standard of living is too low, and jobs are moving away. Albany reacts by telling us to dissolve our local governments, consolidate our schools, and offer fewer services to our citizens; they treat the symptoms instead of addressing the real issues.
I am a Republican because I believe the answers to our problems can be found in traditional conservative values: free enterprise, reduced government, individual responsibility, and confidence in the goodwill of man. Our campaign we be focused on bringing opportunity back home.
Bringing opportunity to the citizens of the 54th district means pushing for policies that encourage industry to move into the region. It means cutting back the unfunded state mandates and high taxes that suffocate small business and discourage local entrepreneurs. I want to make our region a place where people want to move a place where people can get ahead.
I understand that our problems will not be solved overnight. Albany is full to the brim with politicians more focused on helping themselves than helping their constituents. That said, as your state senator, I will work every single day to see our causes addressed. I will work with whoever is willing to listen, do whatever needs to be done, for as long as it takes.
If you have any questions or concerns for me, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at ManktelowforStateSenate@gmail.com or (315) 945-7408. I hope I will earn your support.
Brian Manktelow
Lyons
After a weekend of record heat in northern Arizona, temperatures stayed just under record highs Monday, National Weather Service officials said.
And south of Flagstaff, operations on the Mormon Fire are ramping down and burnout operations have ceased, in response to public concerns about smoke impacts, according to a Forest Service spokesman.
The high temperature at the Flagstaff Pulliam Airport reached 85 degrees Monday afternoon, three degrees shy of the record set in 2010, National Weather Service meteorologist Darren McCollum said. Flagstaff set records for the dates on Friday and Sunday.
McCollum said a low pressure system moving in from California took some of the edge off the heat Monday, keeping temperatures a bit lower than over the weekend. He said a high pressure system was to blame for persistent hot and dry weather the past few days and into Tuesday.
Later in the week, however, McCollum said temperatures will fall slightly below normal throughout the weekend. McCollum said scattered thunderstorms are also predicted in the area as early as Wednesday and could last to the end of the week before a weather disturbance from the west will bring in more dry air.
Meanwhile, warm, dry weather conditions caused the lightning-caused Bert fire to grow to 2,175 acres on the Williams Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest. Fire crews are allowing it to burn naturally to benefit overall forest health. Crews continue worked Monday to strengthen containment lines.
The speed limit has been reduced to 45 mph along a portion of highway 180 and motorist are asked to drive with extreme caution when passing through the area where fire personnel are working.
On the Coconino National Forest, crews are managing a lightning-caused wildfire to clean up forest fuels and to protect powerlines and other assets. The Jack fire, located about 14 miles north of Clints Well on the east side of Lake Mary Road near Happy Jack, grew to at least 4,271 acres since it began May 21.
Operations on the Mormon fire continue to wind down. The lightning-caused blaze located six miles east of Munds Park near Mormon Mountain started May 15 and grew to about 7,892 acres. It is 75 percent contained. Full containment is expected by Wednesday.
A new wildfire is threatening homes near Blue Ridge.
According to information from the U.S. Forest Service, the Reservoir fire began Monday morning on the south side of the C.C. Cragin Reservoir also known as Blue Ridge Reservoir across from the boat ramp. It had grown to about 100 acres by 3:30 p.m.
The wildfire is threatening multiple private residences northeast of the reservoir.
There are local residents on private land north of there that have been asked (to be) evacuated, said Brady Smith, spokesperson with the Coconino National Forest.
The Forest Service said two buildings were occupied and self-evacuated. The Moqui Lookout Tower was also evacuated as a precaution.
Forest Road 751, which is the main road to the reservoir, will be closed to public motor vehicle traffic at Rock Crossing Campground for firefighting operations.
Approximately 90 firefighters have responded to the Reservoir fire. It began on unincorporated private land, which falls under the jurisdiction of the state. Coconino National Forest firefighting personnel are assisting Arizona state firefighting personnel. Among them are a fuels crew, five engines, one dozer and one helitanker.
We have a lot of resources responding to it right now, Smith said.
The cause of the wildfire is under investigation but Smith said it appeared to be human-caused.
The Forest Service stopped burnout operations in response to public concerns about the smoke over the weekend. The Mormon fire is now in monitor status with firefighters conducting mop-up, rehabilitation of dozer lines and removing hazardous trees. Fire managers expect less smoke impact over the next several days.
Smoke was light in Munds Park and Sedona Monday morning but was expected to increase in Winslow, Holbrook and Joseph City.
The Forest Service will be holding a public meeting in Sedona Wednesday in response to concerns about managed fires and smoke in the area.
The meeting will be held at the Yavapai College Sedona Center at 5 p.m. to discuss smoke impacts on communities around Sedona, including Munds Park and the Verde Valley.
Heavy smoke in the Sedona area caused concern and complaints from residents, including an editorial written by Red Rock News Managing Editor Christopher Fox Graham.
Permitting smoke to affect populated areas for weeks harms the health of residents, especially outdoor workers, recreationists and the elderly, Fox Graham wrote. It also turns public opinion against the U.S. Forest Service.
Grand Canyon National Park is now a Provisional IDA International Dark Sky Park. The National Park Service and the International Dark-Sky Association made the announcement at the June 5 Star Party at the park.
(The) announcement designating Grand Canyon National Park an International Dark Sky Park is an important step in ensuring the Colorado Plateau remains a protective harbor for some of the best night skies in the country, said IDA Executive Director Scott Feierabend.
IDA established the International Dark Sky Places conservation program in 2001 to encourage communities around the world to preserve and protect dark sites through responsible lighting policies and public education. Flagstaff was the first International Dark Sky City. Many of the best protected night skies in the country are found within national park boundaries. Grand Canyon joins eleven other national park sites certified by IDA. Including Grand Canyon, eight of the national park sites with IDA Dark Sky Park status are located on the Colorado Plateau.
According to a press release, of all applications from across the globe, Grand Canyons is one of the most complex IDA has seen, and includes an inventory of thousands of light fixtures on both rims and in the inner canyon. Having provisional status gives Grand Canyon three years from the date of the announcement to retrofit two-thirds of the parks lights to comply with IDAs stringent lighting guidelines. At the time Grand Canyon submitted its application, about 43 percent of the parks lights already met IDA criteria. Grand Canyon plans to complete the necessary lighting improvements to receive full IDA Dark Sky Park certification in 2019- the 100th anniversary of the national park.
With provisional status during the NPS Centennial year and full certification for the 100th anniversary of Grand Canyon National Park in 2019, the timing could not be any better for this announcement, said Jane Rodgers Deputy Chief of Science and Resource Management. Rodgers, who submitted the application, also added, Grand Canyon offers a spectacular night sky that visitors come from all over the world to experience. That experience would not be the same without the help of our staff, community, the NPS Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate, the generous support from Grand Canyon Association, and of course the IDA. Grand Canyon Association (GCA), the parks official not-for-profit sponsor, helps fund and sponsor events such as the ongoing Star Party, as well as park stewardship activities including the Night Sky Initiative.
Our mission to preserve and protect the canyon for future generations is important during the dayand also at night, said Susan Schroeder, Chief Executive Officer of GCA. We are so pleased to support this initiative. Our members and donors are very engaged in helping the park preserve our night sky. Weve funded the assessment work and now look forward to funding the retrofitting portion of the project so the night sky is protected for all, forever.
The Star Party will continue every night this week until June 11 on both the South and North rims. On the South Rim, stop by the Grand Canyon Visitor Center for slide shows, Constellation Tours, and free telescope viewing any time after dark. On the North Rim, astronomers will set up telescopes on the veranda of the Grand Canyon Lodge and offer slide shows in the lodge auditorium.
In addition to the Star Party, rangers offer night sky walks and talks throughout the year. A natural night sky is a resource integral to overall ecosystem health. Over 60 percent of all known species are nocturnal and those that are diurnal need naturally dark environments to recover from daily activity.
For more information about IDA, visit www.darksky.org. For more information about night skies in national parks, visit https://nps.gov/nsnsd. To learn how to help protect Grand Canyons night skies, visit www.grandcanyon.org.
(Photo : Getty Images) The new Taiwanese administration has vowed not to adhere to any air defense identification zone that China declares in the South China Sea.
Advertisement
Taiwan's new defense minister categorically said on Monday that Taiwan would not acknowledge any Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) declared by China over the disputed South China Sea region, adding that such a move will prove to be a deterrent for maintaining peace in the region.
"We will not recognize any ADIZ by China," Taiwan Defence Minister Feng Shih-kuan told the Taiwanese parliament.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
In a separate event, Taiwan's National Security Bureau tabled a security report to the country's parliament warning that China's ADIZ may unleash a new wave of tension in the region.
"In the future, we don't rule out China designating an ADIZ. If China is on track to announce this, it could usher in a new wave of tension in the region," the report said.
The controversy over ADIZ started after US officials expressed concerns that a judgment expected by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Hague in the coming weeks may compel China to declare an ADIZ over the South China Sea, just as it did over the East China Sea in 2013.
In response, China has neither confirmed nor rejected its plan to declare an air defense zone over the disputed maritime territory. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that Beijing's plan to declare ADIZ would depend on various factors including the existing threat level it faces in its aerial territory.
China's ADIZ plan may figure in the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, a high-profile bilateral annual summit that started in Beijing on Monday. US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is currently in Beijing to attend the summit, has described China's actions in the South China Sea as "provocative and destabilizing."
Advertisement
TagsTaiwan, South China Sea, air Defense zone, China ADIZ, china
(Photo : Reuters) Samsung Pay works with higher-end Samsung phones such as the Galaxy S7.
Advertisement
Comparing and contrasting the special features of the latest smartphone models of Samsung and Sony will provide consumers the necessary information to choose which one is best-suited for their needs and wants. Both the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the Sony Xperia X smartphones have similarities and uniqueness in them, but which should consumers buy?
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
The two smartphone models will be competing in the market without necessarily having radical advantages over the other. In most aspects, it will be just a matter of consumer preference that could be totally arbitrary and subjective.
Some consumers would be choosing solely on the basis of brand names; however, there are other more discerning consumers who will choose based on merits and according to their needs.
For starters, both smartphone models have high resolution cameras that standout from the rest.
Samsung Galaxy S7 front camera has a resolution of 5 megapixels and the back camera has a resolution of 12 megapixels. According to Samsung, the back camera of the Samsung S7 has dual pixel and autofocus features, allowing it to capture clear images even in low illuminations such as during night time.
On the other hand, the Sony Xperia X offers higher camera resolutions with 13 megapixels for its front camera and 23 megapixels for its back camera. Similar to the Galaxy S7, Xperia X's camera can also be used in low illumination conditions, but the main difference is that the low-light sensors are integrated with the front camera. It is the front camera that is ideal for low illumination situations.
In terms of battery life, both the Galaxy S7 and the Xperia X have batteries that have long-lasting power, but they can be recharged much quicker. The Samsung smartphone has a wireless charger while the Sony unit has Quick Charger UCH10.
Online shoppers and gamer benefit from both smartphone models in terms of convenience, as Galaxy S7 has the Samsung Pay that is useful to shoppers, while Xperia X has PS4 Remote Play that provides the means for players to continue playing even if TV is inaccessible.
Advertisement
TagsSamsung Galaxy S7 vs Sony Xperia X, Galaxy S7 vs Xperia X, Samsung, sony, Samsung vs Sony
(Photo : NASA) This is not what a black hole really is
Advertisement
A new study strongly suggests black holes are simply two-dimensional surfaces projected in 3D just like a hologram and aren't the ginormous bubble shaped monsters that suck-in everything, including light. Think of black holes as being as flat as a sheet of paper and you get the picture.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
The study by a team from the Max Planck Institute for Theoretical Physics in Germany led by physicist Dr. Daniele Pranzetti argues black holes are holograms based on a new calculation of their entropy (or the degree of disorder or uncertainty in a system). The team says their calculations support the possibility black holes are nothing but optical illusions.
The math of the "holograph hypothesis" holds the Universe needs just two dimensions for the laws of physics and gravity to work as indeed they do. For observers on the Earth, however, the physical Universe appears as a three-dimensional image of two dimensional processes projected across a huge cosmic horizon.
One of the great arguments in physics is what happens to matter sucked into a black hole. To say a black hole completely destroys matter violates the law of conservation of mass that implies mass can neither be created nor destroyed, only rearranged in space or changed in form. The problem is no one knows for certain what happens inside a black hole -- if a black hole has an "inside."
Physicists contend that the reason we can't figure out what happens to matter once it enters the event horizon and into a black hole is because there's really no inside in a black hole. Instead, everything that passes the event horizon or edge of the black hole is trapped in the gravitational fluctuations on the surface of the black hole.
Trapped matter just floats around on the surface of the black hole. It isn't swallowed-up and torn to pieces or hurtled into another Universe. In other words, a black hole is as flat as a sheet of paper.
"We were able to use a more complete and richer model compared with what's done in the past ... and obtain a far more realistic and robust result," said Dr. Pranzetti. "This allowed us to resolve several ambiguities afflicting previous calculations."
The researchers concentrated on the black hole's entropy. It's widely held by scientists that black holes must have entropy or their existence would violate the second law of thermodynamics. There has been no agreement, however, about the origin of this entropy or how to calculate its value.
To solve this, Dr. Pranzetti and his team used a theoretical approach called Loop Quantum Gravity to explain a concept known in theoretical physics as quantum gravity.
Quantum gravity describes the force of gravity according to the principles of quantum mechanics. It posits the fabric of spacetime consists of quanta, which are the atoms of spacetime. A photon, for example, is a single quantum of visible light. A collection of quanta are known as condensates.
What the Max Planck team found was that a black hole consisting of condensates would have all the same properties, and their collective behavior and gravitational impacts could be determined, by studying the properties of just one quanta.
"Just as fluids at our scale appear as continuous materials despite their consisting of a huge number of atoms, similarly, in quantum gravity, the fundamental constituent atoms of space form a sort of fluid, that is continuous spacetime," said the team.
"A continuous and homogenous geometry (like that of a spherically symmetric black hole) can ... be described as a condensate."
Dr. Pranzetti and his team now have a concrete model that proves the 3D nature of black holes might indeed be an illusion. All the information of a black hole can theoretically be contained on a two-dimensional surface with no need for an actual hole or an inside.
Advertisement
TagsBlack Holes, Max Planck Institute for Theoretical Physics, entropy, holograms, 3D, Dr. Daniele Pranzetti
(Photo : Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) Chinese Muslims of the Hui ethnic minority lstand under a banner referencing the holiday after Eid Al Fitr prayers marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan at the historic Niujie Mosque on July 18, 2015 in Beijing, China.
Advertisement
China has welcomed the start of Ramadan with the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region's top official wishing the area's Muslim residents a joyful celebration of the Islamic faith's holy season.
"Ramadan is about peace and self-reflection, as well as dedication and self-discipline," remarked Zhang Chunxian, the region's highest official during his visit to an Islamic center over the weekend.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
"It also makes people advocate good deeds and lend a helping hand to those less fortunate," he said, as China joined world's Islamic community in officially welcoming the Holy month or Ramadan last Monday.
Zhang made the statement during a meeting with teachers and students at the Xinjiang Islamic Institute, the only learning institution in China which uses the Uygur language as the main medium of instruction.
Xinjiang is home to about 51 percent of China's Muslim population.
According to Islamic beliefs, Ramadan is observed by Muslims around the world by fasting for a month to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to the prophet Muhammad.
For this year's celebrations, the holy month runs from Monday, June 6, to July 5.
While speaking to members of the academe at the institute, Zhang said that he hoped Muslims from Xinjiang will help promote their faith righteously, and spread the word that peace and tolerance among families, neighborhoods and society can lead to a harmonious way of life.
Moreover, he also called on the region's Islamic leaders to lead the fight against religious extremism by setting a good example among their people.
It was last year when Zhang shared a meal with Muslims in Urumqi, the regional capital, to celebrate the end of the Ramadan season.
As they fast from dawn until sunset, Muslims must refrain from eating and drinking.
"To accommodate fasting, the 300 students at the institute will only have classes in the mornings during Ramadan," Abudulrekep Tumniaz, the institute's director, said on Sunday.
On the other hand, a spokesman for Arman, a Halal food producer based in Urumqi, China, said that the company expects the sale of its ready-to-eat meals to double during the Ramadan season as people stock up on food items so they can eat at home as soon as fasting for the day is over.
Advertisement
TagsRamadan, china, Xinjiang
(Photo : Getty Images, Dondi Tawatao) Rodrigo Duterte during the presidential campaign at the labour day rally on may 1, 2016.
Advertisement
The coming of Philippines new president, Rodrigo Duterte, will cause an expected change of weather for China-Phillippines relations, according to political analysts.
Several analysts believe pleasant weather can be expected ahead and while territorial disputes in recent decades have seen the two nations take a bumpy ride, the two countries might finally sail smoothly towards cooperation and mutual progress aided by a new found willingness to work towards a solution peacefully.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
Duterte has recently come to limelight for abandoning the confrontational stance of his predecessor president Aquino, who took China to international court over the disputed waters of the South China Sea, a move that resulted in a steep decrease in Chinese investments in the country and a strained relationship between the two countries.
Despite having made some provocative statements earlier, Duterte has expressed willingness to adopt a more friendly approach and to drop the legal battle against their Southeast Asian neighbor. In fact, he went to the extent of offering to shelve all ongoing territorial disputes between the two countries as long as China would cooperate in improving economic conditions in Philippines.
Although it is too early to tell how the new regime would handle things with China, the scores of meetings between the highest officials of the two countries raise hopes for a better future. Shortly after being elected to office, the new president met with the Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines, and the outcome was a relaxation of restrictions on Philippines fishermen.
Further, on June 2, Duterte met with Chinese envoy, Zhang Jinhua, at Davao, Southern Philippines. Reportedly, such meetings have facilitated a shift of focus from regional disputes to mutual economic development and improvement of infrastructure.
Meanwhile China has been prompt in reciprocating such gestures of friendship, though with a pinch of salt. While no direct mention was made of specific nations, a statement coming from the defence top brass in China hinted at a willingness to work peacefully with Philippines, while ridiculing U.S. interference in regional matters.
Admiral Sun Jinguo recently reiterated that while China as a nation has displayed wisdom and patience in resolving disputes through peaceful negotiations, concerned countries would have to display "the same wisdom and patience to walk on this path of peace along with China."
At the same time, Duterte's attempts at striking a friendship with China seem to be part of his strategy to cut reliance on the U.S. and instead foster regional alliances for more sustainable development.
Advertisement
Tagschina philippines relations, china and philippines conflict, china philippines dispute latest news, China Philippines Dispute South China Sea, china philippines territorial dispute, china philippines dispute, Benigno Aquino III, Rodrigo Duterte
(Photo : Getty Images) Walsh is the first Boston mayor to visit China since Kevin White in 1982.
Advertisement
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh will visit China this week as a featured speaker at a climate summit of more than 60 American and Chinese leaders.
The Democrat will join a delegation that includes officials from 20 U.S. municipalities taking part in a low-carbon cities summit in Beijing. He will talk about the challenge that climate change poses to urban areas. Walsh said he hopes to get ideas from his Chinese counterparts.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
The goal of the summit is to put cities at the forefront of the battle against climate change by working together to reduce greenhouse gases. It aims that civic leaders can share strategies to limit carbon emissions, whether that be through a new fleet of electric buses in China or energy-efficient buildings in Boston.
Theres always an opportunity for learning. Theres some mayors here in China that are doing some interesting things that we could look [at] and see if we could implement some of that in Boston, he said upon arriving here in Beijing.
The climate summit is considered as an opportunity for officials to exchange best practices between U.S. and Chinese cities. The summit is organized by the United States and China in part to promote the U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change made by the countries' leaders in 2014.
As the worlds most populous nation, China must play a significant role in any serious effort to curb climate change. China accounts for roughly 20 percent of global emissions, giving its cities the potential to make a significant impact.
Walsh is the first Boston mayor to visit China since Kevin White in 1982. The summit will put Walsh on a global stage with urban leaders from Phoenix to Sichuan, Santa Fe to Guangyuan, and Dubuque to Beijing. The mayors trip is funded by the private foundation Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Advertisement
TagsBoston Mayor Walsh, Walsh, climate summit, U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change, US, china, Climate Change, Boston
(Photo : Reuters) Jack Ma's Alibaba plans to roll out it's latest service in two months. The new product is called TBO, a video streaming service which the company hopes will be the Chinese version of HBO or Netflix.
Advertisement
Alibaba chief Jack Ma has asked youths in Hong Kong to seriously consider the consequences of wanting to cut ties with China.
"Everybody has their own choice ... I think these young people should really think clearly what they want and what they will give up," Alibaba's executive chairman said.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
"Some years later they will understand," he pointed out after the rise of localist calls in Hong Kong.
Ma was recently in Macau where he spoke before university students in the autonomous city.
The seminar was attended by students at the University of Macau.
Ma mentioned that many students from Hong Kong and the former Portuguese colony were not interested to visit the mainland because of they have preconceived notions about the locals.
"You should really pay a visit to the mainland when there is chance," he urged the students because that would be their only opportunity to get "meaningful" understanding of "the real situation [of China]."
He also emphasized that the special administrative regions of Macau and Hong Kong are reaping the benefits of the "one country, two systems" policy.
He also reminded students that they have to do their share of preserving the unique culture that both Hong Kong and Macau boast of, especially their long history of openness to different people and ideas.
Ma aired his confidence in Macau's service sector, financial market and the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.
In another event, the e-commerce titan discussed his interest to enlist Ant Financial Services, Alibaba's affiliate, in Hong Kong.
The company was established in 2014 and runs Alipay, an online payment platform that also offers insurance and wealth management services in support Ma's other business interests.
Ma was also in the city to attend the inauguration of the Macau chapter of the General Association of Zhejiang Entrepreneurs, which he also chairs.
Advertisement
TagsJack Ma, Alibaba, Hong Kong, Macau
(Photo : Facebook) Cyber-security and activist Jacob Appelbaum recently announced his departure from the Tor Project.
Advertisement
Cyber-security and activist, Jacob Appelbaum, recently announced his departure from the Tor Project. Appelbaum's exit was confirmed in a statement posted on the non-profit's official blog.
Appelbaum, who along with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange co-authored the book Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet, officially left the Tor Project on May 25.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
On Sunday, the Tor Project confirmed that the reason for Appelbaum's departure stems from "allegations of sexual mistreatment," against him.
The Tor Project blog post reads, "We do not know exactly what happened here. We don't have all the facts, and we are undertaking several actions to determine them as best as possible. We're also not an investigatory body, and we are uncomfortable making judgments about people's private behaviors."
Following his exit from the Tor Project, Appelbaum only shared a single tweet on May 27 that read: "Changing of the guards."
Journalist Meredith Patterson accused Appelbaum of multiple allegations of sexual assault on Friday. However, the exact details of the allegations have yet to cross the public domain.
Additionally, Meredith said that the accusers could publicize their case within the next few days and due to the sensitivity of the accusations, the Tor Project decided to cut its connections with Appelbaum.
Following the announcement from the Tor Project, a website where people can post any allegations against Appelbaum went live on the Internet. The website collected and published about half a dozen anonymous stories vis-a-vis Appelbaum's sexual misconduct.
Appelbaum is considered a rockstar in the hacker community. Back in 2010, he publicly admitted that he was a collaborator on WikiLeaks, when the whistleblower website was pushing out massive quantities of leaks and confidential information from the United States State Department and the Pentagon. The Rolling Stone magazine later described Appelbaum as "the most dangerous man in cyberspace."
Advertisement
TagsJacob Appelbaum, Tor, The Tor Project, Tor project, The Onion Router, Jacob Appelbaum sexual abuse, Jacob Appelbaum sexual assault, Jacob Appelbaum sexual misconduct
(Photo : Al Seib-Pool/Getty Images) Lonnie David Franklin, Jr., 57, attends his arraignment, with Public Defender Regina A. Laughney in the courtroom of Judge Ray G. Jurado in Los Angeles Criminal Courts July 8, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. Franklin was arrested on suspicion of carrying out the Grim Sleeper serial killings over the past 25 years and has been linked to 11 killings.
Advertisement
The man dubbed as the "Grim Sleeper" for carrying out serial killings in Los Angeles more than two decades ago, was given the death sentence on Monday.
The man, whose real name is Lonnie David Franklin Jr., killed nine women and a 15-year-old girl before dumping their bodies in alleyways around Los Angeles between 1985 and 2007.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
The sentence against the 63-year-old was handed down by a jury after Franklin was convicted of the murder charges last month. The formal sentencing has been scheduled for August 10.
Prosecutors asked jurors to give Franklin the ultimate penalty before the decision was announced. One of the defense lawyers for Franklin asked jurors to sentence him to life in prison without parole arguing that it will speed the healing process for the families of the victims.
Franklin was a former city trash collector and a garage attendant for the Los Angeles police. Family members of the victims wept as the punishment was read out.
All of Franklin's killings followed a similar pattern as the women were often fatally shot or choked to death and their partially-dressed or sometimes naked bodies were dumped in alleys and trash bins. Some of the female victims were prostitutes and were using cocaine.
The victims were said to be "poor and black" and their families even complained that officials were not investigating the murders thoroughly due to their race and status in life.
Franklin was investigated after the final killing in 2007 when authorities found that DNA obtained from his son showed similarities to the genetic evidence found on some of the victims.
A detective later posed as a busboy at a pizza parlor and obtained Franklin's DNA from collected utensils and crusts after attending a birthday party. The DNA tied Franklin to the killings.
He was dubbed as the "Grim Sleeper" as the gap in the slayings was huge between the years 1988 and 2002. Also, a woman who survived Franklin's attack helped in the case. The woman, identified as Enietra Washington, described the modus operandi of Franklin. She recalled getting a lift from Franklin before being shot in the chest while she was seated in the passenger seat of Franklin's car.
Before losing consciousness, Washington said Franklin sexually assaulted her. She also remembered that there was a flash from a Polaroid camera. A photo of Washington was then retrieved behind a wall of Franklin's garage. The photos of his other victims were also recovered from his home.
Advertisement
Tagsgrim sleeper, Lonnie David Franklin Jr., Death Sentence, Los Angeles, Grim Sleeper serial killer, Grim Sleeper death sentence
(Photo : Reuters) Farming was considered as a new strategy of survival for Europeans 85,000 years ago.
Advertisement
A new study suggests that first European farmers migrated from modern-day Greece and Turkey and uses farming as a new strategy for survival.
The findings are based on genetic samples from ancient farming communities in Germany, Hungary and Spain. By comparing these with ancient genomes found at sites in Greece and northwest Turkey, where agriculture was practiced centuries earlier, researchers were able to draw a genetic line linking the European and Aegean populations.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
According to the study, the Neolithic settlers from northern Greece and the Marmara Sea region of western Turkey reached central Europe via a Balkan route and the Iberian Peninsula via a Mediterranean route. These colonists brought sedentary life, agriculture, and domestic animals and plants to Europe. During their expansion they will have met hunter-gatherers who lived in Europe since the Ice Age, but the two groups mixed initially only to a very limited extent.
One of the studys authors and an anthropologist and population geneticist at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, Joachim Burger said genetic analyses of the samples showed that the ancient farmers in central Europe and Spain were more closely related to the Aegean group than to each other. This suggests that farmers came in two separate waves northward into the continent and westward along the coastline to Spain.
There are still details to flesh out, and no doubt there will be surprises around the corner, but when it comes to the big picture on how farming spread into Europe, this debate is over. Thanks to ancient DNA, our understanding of the Neolithic revolution has fundamentally changed over the last seven years, said study co-author Mark Thomas, a researcher at the University College London.
By modelling ancient and modern genomes as mixtures of DNA from other ancient genomes, the authors could trace most of the ancestry of individuals from ancient farming societies in Germany and Hungary to the ancient Anatolian and Greek genomes. Ancient Greek and Anatolian genomes contributed to all modern day European populations, and are particularly similar to modern Mediterranean populations as well as to Otzi, the ice mummy from the Alps.
Scientists published their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Advertisement
TagsFarming, Europe, Aegean, Greece, Turkey, stone age, European migration, agriculture
The following editorial appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Monday, June 6:
It is a testament to the life of Muhammad Ali that no one could ever be indifferent about him or what he stood for in the 74 years he was with us. The three-time heavyweight champion of the world was so much more than the best exemplar of a sport he dominated by either force of personality or pugilistic skill for close to two decades.
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in Louisville, Ky., Muhammad Ali was a man of conscience who put his ambitions on the line by refusing to fight overseas on behalf of his country in an unjust war. He was a man of faith who stood up for his beliefs when identifying with the Nation of Islam was to invite being marginalized. He was an unrepentantly proud African-American at a time when blacks were just emerging from second-class citizenship sanctioned by American law and custom. Ali was a man of uncommon wit, undeniable charisma and principled action. He was a terror in the ring and a first-rate humanitarian outside of it.
Ali was so famous (and reviled in some circles) that he could walk down the street of any city or village on the planet and be recognized at the height of his fame. World leaders and celebrities were reduced to giddiness in his presence.
When he developed Parkinsons disease as the result of the many blows to the head he suffered in the ring, he didnt retreat from public view or feel sorry for himself. Much of the country fell in love with him again years after he left the ring when he carried the Olympic torch in advance of the Atlanta games in 1996. After all the doubt cast upon him for refusing to fight in Vietnam when he was drafted, it was clear that Ali truly loved his country.
Muhammad Ali once spelled out what he wanted as his legacy: I would like to be remembered as a man who won the heavyweight title three times, who was humorous, and who treated everyone right. As a man who never looked down on those who looked up to him, and who helped as many people as he could. As a man who stood up for his beliefs no matter what. As a man who tried to unite all humankind through faith and love. And if all thats too much, then I guess Id settle for being remembered only as a great boxer who became a leader and a champion of his people. And I wouldnt even mind if folks forgot how pretty I was.
Yes, Muhammad Ali will be remembered for this and so much more.
Freedom of foul speech is protected, too
The following editorial appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Tuesday, May 31:
In the seven volumes of Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling told millions of readers a story about the power and triumph of love. Earlier this month, accepting an award at the PEN American Center gala, she issued a reminder about dealing with hatred.
When Rowling mentioned the half-million online signatures a petition to ban Donald Trump from visiting Britain had gleaned in January, a few in the audience applauded. Rowling had referred to tides of populism and nationalism currently sweeping many developed countries accompanied by demands that unwelcome and inconvenient voices be removed from public discourse, and perhaps these audience members expected her to side with those who signed the petition to Parliament.
That would hardly have been a shock: Rowling has compared Trump to Voldemort, the murderous bigot who is Harry Potters nemesis.
But when the applause broke out, Rowling said, Just a moment.
Only when those who offend are free to speak, she said, are their opponents free to speak against them. If my offended feelings can justify a travel ban on Donald Trump, I have no moral grounds on which to argue that those offended by feminism or the fight for transgender rights or universal suffrage should not oppress campaigners for those causes.
There are, of course, those who would argue that there is a difference between silencing good causes and silencing bad ones.
But as Rowling concluded: If you seek the removal of freedoms from an opponent simply on the ground that they have offended you, you have crossed a line to stand alongside tyrants who imprison, torture and kill on exactly the same justification. This means that everyone and especially anyone who expects to be in the minority on any issue has a vital interest in a culture of free speech.
The key to expanding health coverage is in Louisiana
The following editorial was written by Bloomberg View editors:
Six years after Obamacare became law, some 30 million Americans still lack health insurance. Louisiana has found a trick to get a great number of them sign up for Medicaid.
The policy is based on a simple coincidence: Medicaid and the federal food stamp program have almost the same income threshold, at least in the 31 states that have expanded their Medicaid programs under Obamacare. The Bayou State has decided to automatically check to see whether the residents who receive food stamps also qualify for Medicaid and if so, to reach out and sign them up. This approach will at once lower the states uninsured rate (one of the highest in the country) and cut Medicaids administrative costs.
The strategy seems so obvious, its a wonder no other state has made it policy. Nationwide, some 8.8 million people who are eligible for Medicaid have not enrolled. To put that in perspective, its more than the number of people who are eligible for subsidized Obamacare insurance plans but havent signed up, more than the number who lack insurance because their states have refused to cooperate in the Medicaid expansion, and more than the number who cant get insurance because theyre in the country illegally.
Increasing the uptake rate for Medicaid is the single most promising way to reduce the number of uninsured Americans and it requires no action by Congress. Louisiana has already identified 105,000 potential new enrollees.
Its true that greater enrollment will increase Medicaid spending. But it will eliminate much of the public cost that arises when uninsured residents seek expensive care in emergency rooms.
Louisiana, whose budget shortfall is among the most severe in the country, demonstrates that enrolling more people in Medicaid doesnt undermine fiscal prudence or good government. Thats a message other states should hear.
(Photo : Andy Wong-Pool/Getty Images) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, and US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, second from left, attend the Climate Change issue joint conference with Chinese officials on July 9, 2014 at Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing, China.
Advertisement
The United States and China on Monday agreed to cooperate to address climate change. Meanwhile, Beijing also expressed its hopes that the U.S. would help poor countries to combat the issue.
Senior Chinese and U.S. officials shook hands during the Eighth Round of the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogues, which started on Monday.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang said in a statement that the cooperation between China and the U.S. on climate change demonstrates the possibility of the two countries working together to achieve major targets to benefit each other as well as the whole world.
Wang noted that both sides should follow the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" while working together to tackle climate change.
China has set a target to peak its carbon emissions by 2030. The country also pledged 20 billion yuan to establish a fund to help developing countries tackle climate change.
Wang pointed out that he hopes developed countries will honor their commitment to give $100 billion to developing countries before 2020, establish harmful emission reduction targets and transfer environmentally friendly technology to developing nations.
These hopes were echoed by Xie Zhenhua, the special representative of China on climate change.
"As the largest developed country in the world, the U.S. has done a lot in climate change and needs to be recognized. But at the same time, of course, there [is] a lot more work to do," Xie said during an interview with Bloomberg.
Back in 2010, China and the United States disagreed on how to handle climate change. At the time, Republican politicians opposed the environmental agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol, which was made to reduce fossil fuel pollution.
However, the signing of the Paris deal in April changed things. More than 190 countries (including the U.S. and China), who are signatories to the Paris agreement, have pledged to reduce fossil fuel emissions and take other steps to curb the effects of global warming. This will help the countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change and support efforts to build zero-carbon energy systems.
Advertisement
Tagschina, United States, global warming, Climate Change, Paris deal, the Eighth Round of the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogues, U.S., US China climate change, Climate Change
(Photo : Getty Images ) A bomb ripped through a Turkish police bus near Istanbul's historic centre, killing seven officers and four civilians in the latest of a string of attacks in Istanbul, Turkey on Tuesday.
Advertisement
A police bus carrying riot police was bombed today in central Istanbul, Turkey, killing at least 11 people and leaving 36 people injured, officials say.
The bomb on the bus was detonated remotely as it made its way through Istanbul's busy Vezneciler district. Governor Vasip Sahin told reporters on Tuesday that seven police officers and four citizens were among the victims of the explosion.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
The bomb blast occurred sometime during the morning rush hour, not far from the Istanbul University building and Istanbul's historic Beyazit Square. Gunfire was also reportedly heard immediately after the blast.
No group has come forward to claim responsibility for the bombings. However, there have been several reports of violence in Turkey over the past couple of weeks due to the increased tensions caused by the Kurds and the neighboring Syrian Civil War. It is speculated that this attack might also be related to the growing tension in the area.
Several bombings have occurred in the weeks leading up to Tuesday's blast, with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, as well as the Kurdistan Worker's Party rebels both playing a role in the attacks.
The Kurdistan Worker's Party, or the PKK, declared war against Turkey over autonomy in southeastern Turkey. This conflict, which has been going on for several decades, has claimed more than 40,000 lives.
The PKK and the Turkish government had agreed to a ceasefire two years prior to their agreement, which broke down last summer.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan believes that both the PKK and the Islamic State have switched to attacking citizens because they have been unsuccessful in battling the Turkish government directly.
Advertisement
TagsTurkey, ISIS, PKK, bombing, Istanbul bomb blast, Istanbul blast, Istanbul bombing, police bus, police shuttle
(Photo : Getty Images) France has called on the European navies to make their presence visible in the disputed South China Sea by conducting regular naval patrols as a way of 'containing the risk of conflict'
Advertisement
European countries have jumped into the South China Sea fray as France called for more European naval patrols in the international waterway, invoking the international principle of freedom of navigation and upholding the law of the seas.
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Sunday urged European navies to have a 'regular and visible' presence in the South China Sea region to "contain the risk of conflict."
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
"If we want to contain the risk of conflict, we must defend this right and defend it ourselves," he said on Sunday during a three-day security conference dubbed 'Shangri-La Dialogue,' which was held in Singapore.
Heavy criticisms
Although the French minister did not explicitly accuse China of initiating the South China Sea conflict, his remarks translated to heavy criticisms of Beijing's reclamation and construction work as well as the deployment of military assets to the disputed waters.
"If the law of the sea is not respected today in the China seas, it will be threatened tomorrow in the Arctic, in the Mediterranean, or elsewhere," Le Drian emphasized.
France's position on the South China Sea dispute is the latest negative comment from the international community against Beijing's growing assertiveness in the international waterway where more than $5 trillion of ship-borne trade passes through each year.
Shangri-La Dialogue
The Shangri-La Dialogue, a multinational security summit, brought together high-level defense officials and diplomats in the region and beyond to discuss security challenges facing Asia, specifically the bitter conflict between the US, China, and other South China Sea claimant nations.
Beijing defended its stance in the forum saying that it is exercising its sovereign rights to the islands and accused the US of interfering in China's internal affairs in the region.
During the conference, China received more criticisms from other countries for its aggressive actions in the South China Sea with US defense secretary Ashton Carter issuing a threat to Beijing.
Carter, in his speech, said any reclamation work by Beijing on the Philippine-claimed Scarborough Shoal would attract 'consequences' from the US military.
The US and the Philippines are signatories to the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty under which both countries are committed to defending one another when attacked by a third party.
Advertisement
TagsEuropean naval patrols, Freedom of Navigation, Shangri-La Dialogue, security summit, reclamation work, South China Sea, china
(Photo : NASA) An asteroid automata powered by rocks.
Advertisement
NASA has awarded a crazy project that will transform near Earth asteroids into robot spaceships run by analog computers to a company that describes itself as "the world's first space manufacturing company."
Founded in 2010, Made In Space, Inc. (MIS) was contracted by NASA to design, build and operate the 3D Printing In Zero-G Experiment (3D Print) on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2014. 3D Print became the first machine to manufacture off-Earth.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
The company's newest job for NASA is light years away from 3D Print, however. MIS is being tasked by NASA to study "the concept feasibility of using the age-old technique of analog computers and mechanisms to convert entire asteroids into enormous autonomous mechanical spacecraft."
This fantastic undertaking is called Project RAMA for Reconstituting Asteroids into Mechanical Automata.
It's been designed to exploit advancing trends of additive manufacturing or AM (which MIS is good at) and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) to enable asteroid rendezvous missions where a set of technically simple robotic processes convert asteroid elements into very basic versions of spacecraft subsystems such as guidance, navigation and control (GNC), propulsion and avionics.
Once outfitted, the asteroid will become a programmed mechanical automata carrying out specific mission objectives such as relocation to an Earth-Moon libration point for human rendezvous.
NASA said this technique will create an affordable and scalable way for it to achieve future roadmap items for both the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate and the Science Mission Directorate such as Asteroid Redirect Mission, New Frontiers Comet Surface Sample Return and other Near Earth Object (NEO) applications.
NASA estimates that an order of magnitude increase in NEO targets can be explored for the same mission cost with the RAMA approach compared to the Asteroid Redirect Mission architecture by removing the need to launch all spacecraft subsystems and instead converting the asteroid into spacecraft in-situ.
Project RAMA will create a space mission architecture capable of achieving NASA's goals within a 20 to 30 year time frame.
MIS co-founder Jason Dunn said the company will build robotic "Seed Craft" to rendezvous with near-Earth asteroids. These automata will harvest material from asteroids.
It will also use asteroid minerals to build the GNC, power systems and other essential equipment in-situ with the 3D printing and other technologies. Asteroid automata can be programmed to fly to any destination in near Earth space such as an asteroid mining operation.
Because they will be built from in-situ materials, the asteroid automata will be mechanical and quite primitive. Their computers will likely be analog machines with gears and springs.
Advertisement
TagsNASA, asteroids, Made In Space, Inc., Project RAMA, Reconstituting Asteroids into Mechanical Automata
(Photo : gettyimages) The number of Chinese students who studied abroad in 2014 was 459 800 - an 11% rise from 2013.
Advertisement
In China, innovative online tutors are raking in big bucks.
Take the case of Liu Jie, a high school physics teacher who earns almost $50,000 a month, thanks to the online videos he makes where he is seen discussing his lessons, reports Bangkok Post.
Like Us on Facebook
Advertisement
Liu is just one of the many educators who took to the internet their earning potentials while addressing the country's limitless needs for educational materials.
These online teachers have become more and more in demand thanks to the skyrocketing number of Internet users in China added by the mind wreaking university entrance exam, also known as gaokao, which has become a national obsession in the country. In events like this, students turn to online tutors to learn their previous and to boost their stock knowledge.
"Because the gaokao is such a huge deal in China... that's where the main demand is," Liu explained, just after recording a lecture on static electricity.
With his popularity as an online tutor, Liu now enjoys the following of his loyal students.
"Students will often pursue a teacher like they pursue celebrities," he said.
The figure for online teachers earning millions every year is increasing, Xiong Bingqi, vice president of independent think tank 21st Century Education in Shanghai, said.
"Teachers earning more than other online celebrities shows their abilities and the choices of consumers," he said.
Cao Wei, an online math teacher conducts live classes online every 11:00 pm to thousands of students. For his efforts, he earns around 80,000 yuan each month from students who are drawn to his straightforward approach.
But it is not only China where online tutors are popular. In South Korea, online cram school tutors can get as much as $8 million a year!
In Hong Kong, there are also TV celebrity "tutor kings" and "queens" who also earn mega sums.
The popularity of online tutors, though, are getting authorities worried that school teachers may soon retire from classroom and jump to online.
Liu, meanwhile, protects his credibility and image by keeping his materials fresh. That way, he maintains his following and ensures that he won't be victims of piracy.
"Online pressure is very big," he admitted.
"If you're not active for a couple of weeks, people will quickly forget you."
Just like a celebrity, indeed.
Advertisement
Tagsonline tutors, online chinese tutors, Gaokao, Liu Jie
The National Park Service Investigative Services Branch and US Park Rangers at Grand Canyon National Park are seeking information about two individuals who may have vandalized rocks near the Yavapai Geology Museum.
On May 22, a visitor at the South Rim of Grand Canyon observed a couple spray painting graffiti on rocks. The visitor was able to capture images of the individuals and the vandalism. The individuals painted Evans 16 on a rock feature and left the area before park rangers could contact them.
Anyone who was in the park that day and possibly saw these individuals near Yavapai Geology Museum; or anyone who recognizes them from the image, is asked to contact the NPS Investigative Services Branch anonymous Tip Line at 888-653-0009.
Christian grocer hacked to death in his store 07 June, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |
DHAKA, Bangladesh (Christian Examiner) A Christian grocer in Bangladesh is the latest victim of a growing number of deadly attacks on Christians, atheists, and other religious minorities in the predominately Muslim nation.
The man, Sunil Gomes, 65, "was hacked to death at his grocery store just near a church in Bonpara village," Deputy Police Chief of the Natore District, Shafiqul Islam, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) after the attack.
While no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, militants with either al-Qaeda or the Islamic State (ISIS), which has gained a larger foothold in recent days in the South Asian country, are suspected as having carried it out.
Bangladesh has seen a spike in violent attacks in recent years, and many times the violence is directed toward Christians or cultural liberals who advocate for free speech, gay rights or secular government. Police acknowledge that more than 40 people have been killed by militants in the past three years.
Last year, three bloggers who advocated secularism and challenged Islamic extremism in the country were killed. The attacks on the men match the pattern of the recent killing of the Christian grocer. Another attack does, as well.
In March, a Muslim convert to Christianity was also hacked to death by Islamic militants. The man, Hossain Ali, 68, was on a morning walk when he was attacked by several men around 7 a.m. The men were reportedly shouting "Allahu Akbar" or "God is great" as they killed the man.
The most recent murder that of the grocer took place just hours after the wife of the chief of the anti-terror squad in the town of Chittagong was stabbed to death.
That attack marked the first time an attack was carried out on a target other than a religious minority or an activist carrying out work considered antithetical to extremist Islam. Mahmuda Khanam Mitu, 30 and a Muslim, was stabbed nine times and shot in the head while walking her son to the bus stop in the southeastern Bangladeshi city.
In spite of claims of responsibilities for past attacks by both al-Qaeda and ISIS, the Bangladeshi government claims there is no problem with radical Islamic extremists in the country. It instead blames the strife on political rivalries. It even denies the two militant groups are operating in the country.
There are, however, at work. Last week, a Hindu trader was hacked to death, days after a homoeopathic doctor was also slaughtered along with a Buddhist monk. ISIS has claimed responsibility for some of the attacks.
The United Methodist Church members of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference voted down a married lesbian woman's ordination as Deacon on June 1.
Tara Morrow needed two-third of the conference to vote in favor for her to serve in the position, which she failed to get.
Rev. Charles Parker of the Board of Ordained Ministry (BoOM) had recommended commission of Morrow as a provisional deacon in a report that praised her work in the church to fight for social justice, and her commitment to UMC.
"At the provisional member examination in January, the BoOM voted to recommend Tara (T.C.) Morrow for provisional membership as a deacon in the Baltimore-Washington Conference. Ms. Morrow articulates a God-given call to ministry that has been affirmed by many people. She demonstrates faith, fire, and fruit in the area of social justice, as seen in her work on staff at the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. She has a deep passion for - and longstanding commitment to - The United Methodist Church," BoOM said in a statement.
Morrow is married to another woman, and the UMC's Book of Discipline says that "the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. Therefore self-avowed practising homosexuals are not to be certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in The United Methodist Church."
The decision about Morrow's ordination comes just weeks after the UMC General Conference held in Portland, Oregon.
"While I am saddened that the full clergy session did not affirm the BOOM's recommendation, I appreciate the BOOM's openness and transparency related to my candidacy," Morrow said. "I hope such openness may be an example as the Council of Bishops moves forward with a commission to study and possibly offer revision of the parts of the United Methodist Book of Discipline related to 'human sexuality.' As we know well, discussions of how to work with LGBTQ clergy and clergy candidates are not abstract discussions. We are talking about real lives, real people who are called by God to leadership in the church."
The annual conference delayed taking any stand on homosexuality and ordination of LGBT clergy. In May, delegates from all over the world voted 428-105 to form a commission that will examine the issue of homosexuality and decide on whether to change the Book of Discipline.
Bishop Bruce Ough, president of Council of Bishops, said that the commission would "develop a complete examination and possible revision of every paragraph in our Book of Discipline regarding human sexuality."
"We continue to hear from many people on the debate over sexuality that our current discipline contains language which is contradictory, unnecessarily hurtful, and inadequate for the variety of local, regional and global contexts," he said.
The committee will make the decision after investigating members' claim to the legitimacy of homosexuality.
"We recommend the General Conference defer all votes regarding human sexuality and refer this entire subject to a special commission named by the Council of Bishops," said Ough.
The Christian parents of five children will be reunited with them soon, after a separation of seven months.
Marius and Ruth Bodnariu's children were seized by Norwegian child services, called the Barnevernet, for "indoctrinating" their kids with Christianity, and for minor spanking.
Now, Naustdal Municipality in Norway has finally agreed to surrender the children to their parents, after a deal was reached between the parents and the child services department, which says that the municipality must cooperate in relief efforts for the parents and children.
"We thank you all for your love, support, prayers, and active participation in the reunification of this family. May God richly bless you and repay you for all you have done to bring this family back together. It is very important for all of us to respect the privacy and uninterrupted intimacy of this family in the following period as the children resettle and reintegrate themselves in their natural family home and environment," the family said in a statement.
The county board or the courts were not involved in the decision, but it was directly reached through negotiations between a private law firm Stiegler on behalf of the parents and the Naustdal Municipality.
The family was living in Norway for the last 10 years, but their lives took a near-tragic turn when the Barnevernet took their five children from them and placed them under foster care. The reason given for their seizure was that they wanted to prevent indoctrination of kids by Christian parents, and from occasional physical correction.
The Barnevernet said that family's faith was not one of the reasons for separating children from their parents. But a Texas-based lawyer said earlier this year that government records show Barnevernet were concerned that the family had "their own faith and way of upbringing when it comes to religion."
Ruth Bodnariu said that she and her husband spanked their kids occasionally, "when they do something bad."
"They didn't find any physical marks or anything like that when they had medical examination on them, they were, are, all fine," she told the BBC. "But the law in Norway, it is very clear until the smallest detail, it's not allowed of any physical correction, and we have never been aware that it was this strict."
The parents were given their infant son Ezekiel back in April, after a Norwegian judge partially ruled in support of Bodnariu family. Ezekiel was taken away from them when he was three months old. The judge also gave them right to visit their two older sons twice a week for two hours at a time, but did not rule on parent's visitation rights for girls.
In mid-February, the whole family was allowed to meet with each other for a brief time for the first time in months.
"It was joyous because for the first time in three months, Marius and Ruth were together with all five children at the same time, in the same place," Bodnariu's spokesman, Pastor Cristian Ionescu, wrote on the family website. "It was such a happy reunion, for everybody had so much to say."
The case sparked international outcry, and Christian activist groups and world leaders from around the world expressed their concern regarding the issue.
Some 2,500 people, including prominent leaders in both the Korean and American Christian communities, gathered at Azusa Pacific University on Monday to mark the start of the 8th Korean World Mission Conference.
The conference, which takes place once every four years, is usually attended by thousands of Korean missionaries from all over the world and is hosted by some of the largest Korean mission organizations, including Korean World Mission Council for Christ, Korean World Mission Fellowship, Korean World Missions Association, and World Missionary Kids. While it had always taken place at Wheaton College in Illinois, this year, the conference is taking place in Southern California for the first time.
Each conference starts with a procession of missionaries marching down the main session hall with their respective mission fields' national flags. This year, attendees of the conference celebrated a record of having over 27,000 Korean missionaries ministering in some 170 countries.
Jon R. Wallace, the president of Azusa Pacific University, and Mark Labberton, the president of Fuller Theological Seminary gave remarks during the ceremony, both calling it an "honor" that KWMC is taking place in Southern California this year.
Labberton in particular praised the Korean church community's leadership and mentioned Fuller's current search for a new director of its recently formed Korean Studies Center.
Un-Chan Chung, the former Prime Minister of South Korea, also gave remarks, and urged the attendees to "become brilliant missionaries, and take the gospel to the ends of the earth."
"I hope that through those efforts, you will help to lead this world into the right direction," Chung said.
While the conference is geared primarily towards Korean missionaries, it's also open to local church pastors and lay members. Many of the plenary and seminar speakers are English-speakers, and a separate English track is also taking place simultaneously.
Notable speakers include Loren Cunningham, the president and founder of Youth With a Mission; David E. Ross, the founder of YWAM Korea & Antioch Institute for International Ministries; Paul Eshleman, the founder of the JESUS Film Project; Todd Johnson, the director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary; Michael Oh, the executive director of the Lausanne Movement; Min Chung, the founding pastor of Covenant Fellowship Church; and Marilee Pierce Dunker of World Vision International, among others.
The conference will be taking place from June 6 to 10.
What color is the cover of the Bible?
How many books are in the Bible?
Who did Jesus raise from the dead, and which book can you find it in?
These questions, among the nearly 20 questions in CTs quiz below, have been asked of Christian converts from Islam who are applying for asylum in the United Kingdom. Wrong answers put them at a high risk of deportation. [Take the quiz yourself and see if youd face the same fate.]
Such questions are unfair, according to a new report released today from the UKs All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief and the Asylum Advocacy Group (which includes organizations such as the Evangelical Alliance UK, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Open Doors, and Release International).
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, Elizabeth Berridge, who chairs the group, told the BBC.
Another problem: the case workers determining whether a refugee deserves asylum dont necessarily understand Christianity, Mark Miller, a pastor of Iranian converts in a church in northern England, told CT.
Why did God send Jesus to earth? he said. The HO [Home Office] said the answer to wipe out the sins of all humans was wrong, and that Jesus came to teach us how to behave was the correct answer.
Image: All-Party Parliamentary Group on International Freedom of Religion or Belief
As refugees stream from the Middle East, countries of refugeincluding the United States, Canada, Germany, Sweden, and the Czech Republichave struggled with judging which converts are sincere.
Asylum seekers, especially from countries hostile to Christianity, know that a conversion may help them remain in their desired host country. But converting to Christianity doesnt solve everythingin addition to not guaranteeing asylum, for many, it means facing insults and violence in their resettlement areas.
In 2015, the UK updated its guidelines to clarify how to deal with religious refugees:
At interview, the claimant should have been able to describe the personal experiences in the faith of his or her origin and of the encounters or contacts with Christianity (for example, the people who inspired, or the readings which attracted, and which contributed to the decision to accept and follow it) and how far this occurred in the home country or in the UK.
A persons faith story likely includes baptism and worship at a church, state the guidelines. But asking anything beyond the basic knowledge questions isnt allowed:
Although the persons understanding of the faith and of the particular Christian tradition the claimant has joined (if any) is relevant, caseworkers are not qualified to assess the accuracy or relevance of answers to more than the most basic knowledge questions (another reason for not overdoing that line of questioning at interview). But statements of belief or answers to specific questions which are so clearly wrong that no reasonably well-informed person could be expected to take them seriously will call into question the credibility of the conversion.
These policy guidelines are sound, the report found. The problem is the way the guidelines have been put into practice.
[I]t is clear that a lack of understanding of religion and belief is a primary cause of the disparity between good policy guidelines and practices of decision-makers within the UK asylum system, the report stated. Less than half (44%) of adults in Britain identify as Christians.
That ignorance means decision makers are perusing (sometimes outdated) church websites or asking questions off crib sheets, according to the report.
Those cheat sheets can bring trouble for asylum seekers no matter how they answer, the Immigration Law Practitioners Association told the parliamentary group. If seekers answer the questions incorrectly, they can be rejected for not being true converts. But if they answer correctly, they can be rejected for simply memorizing the correct thing to say.
Christian convert asylum seekers are still being asked detailed factual Bible trivia questions, which is too simplistic a way to judge if an individual is, for example, a genuine convert, the report stated.
For example, Mohammed, a Christian convert from Iran, was asked what color the cover of the Bible was.
I knew there were different colors, he told the BBC. The one I had was red. They asked me questions I was not able to answerfor example, what are the Ten Commandments. I could not name them all from memory.
Mohammeds application for asylum was rejected. So was a convert who didnt know that Catholics abstained from meat on Friday. So was another convert who correctly named the last book of the Bible but did so in Farsi and was misunderstood.
It is better to ask how a convert feels about Jesus, what being a Christian means to that person, and how being a Christian had affected his or her daily life, Miller told CT.
The parliamentary group report advised the Home Office to track how many asylum claims were made on the basis of religious persecution (and how many were granted), to make sure case workers and interpreters were acting professionally, to work with faith communities to check applicants credibility, and to fast-track the asylum applications of dependents of any refugee who has been granted asylum for religious persecution reasons.
In the United States, only 60 percent of practicing Christians (those who identify as Christian, say their faith is important in their lives, and have been to church within the past month) can name the first five books of the Bible, according to an American Bible Society and Barna Group report released last month. Fewer could identify Solomon as King Davids son (58%), or Elizabeth as John the Baptists mother (46%). More knew that the 3 in John 3:16 was the chapter (77%), and could identify Esther as a book of the Bible named after a woman (75%).
CT has previously reported how questions about Thanksgiving and the apostle Paul almost got Chinese Christians deported from the United States. CT has also noted criticisms of the questions Canada asks asylum seekers, as well as how Swedens secularity has put Christian converts at risk of being sent back to Iran.
Can you answer these actual questions asked by UK immigration officers?
How many books are in the Bible? How many books are in the New Testament? How many chapters are in the book of John? What are the 10 Commandments? Which gospel relates the story of Jesus birth? Where was Jesus born? What were the names of Jesus earthly parents? What was his earthly fathers occupation? How many disciples did Jesus have? Name them. Where did Jesus become angry with the money lenders? Who did Jesus raise from the dead? Which book is this miracle in? Recite the Lords Prayer. What happened during the Last Supper? Who betrayed Jesus to the Romans? Where was Jesus arrested? What is Ash Wednesday? Is Easter celebrated on the same date every year? What is the date of Pentecost? What is the meaning of Lent?
Answers:
66 27 21 You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image and worship it. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord. Remember the Sabbath by keeping it holy. Honor your father and mother. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet.
Mother dear, may I go downtown
Instead of out to play,
And march the streets of Birmingham
In a Freedom March today? No, baby, no, you may not go,
For the dogs are fierce and wild,
And clubs and hoses, guns and jails
Arent good for a little child. - from Ballad of Birmingham by Dudley Randall
Some 60 years ago, the burning of black churches was a common form of racial violence; according to civil rights historian Taylor Branch, at the height of the civil rights movement, a black church was bombed or burned every week. Most historians agree that back then, opponents of black civil rights saw the burning of black churches as a way to reinforce pre-Civil War power structures, some of which had been legally dismantled with the abolition of slavery. The law may have granted black people their freedom, but racial violence reinforced the idea that white people still controlled where, how, and even whether they lived.
And yet, even in the ostensibly post-racial United States of the 21st century, the image of a burning black church was no less chilling to black Christians last June than it would have been in 1954. After a white shooter opened fire during a prayer meeting at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 17, five predominantly black churches across the South were set ablaze. Local law enforcement suspected arson in three of the fires.
That shouldnt be surprising, said the Reverend Sharon Ellis Davis, an affiliate professor of pastoral care at McCormick Theological Seminary. I think people dont understand that trauma is something that exists when you wake up in the morning, when you turn on the news, she said. Trauma is a living experience, and not a lived experienceespecially with people who know they are being targeted, and that any particular day and any particular hour, it could be them.
The trauma many black Americans experience after any instance of racial violencewhether they were attacked directly or notis real, psychologists say, and it can manifest itself as ongoing feelings of anger, depression, anxiety, or even guilt. In general, said Davis, the African American community is impacted when they hear about these crimes because they understand that collectively, it is an attack against African American people. Its a collective traumatic experience.
In addition to that collective trauma, racial violence against black Americans can also trigger intergenerational trauma, said Alex L. Pieterse, an associate professor of race psychology at the University at Albany. According to Pieterse, When a black American or a person of African descent responds to or experiences one incident of racismbecause of the cumulative history of racismthey are responding to that event, but also responding to the history associated with racist events.
In fact, Pieterse noted, stories of racial violence are even passed down from generation to generation. Thats why, for example, many black millennials are familiar with the lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955 and the bombing of a Birmingham church that killed four black girls in 1963, despite being born 30 years after these crimes occurred.
But, mother, I wont be alone.
Other children will go with me,
And march the streets of Birmingham
To make our country free. No, baby, no, you may not go,
For I fear those guns will fire.
But you may go to church instead
And sing in the childrens choir.
Attacks on black churches are unique among traumatic racial experiences because of the role such churches have traditionally played in black communities in America. After all, in the 19th centurywhen the first black churches emerged in the Jim Crow Southblack theologies and black self-identities were nearly inseparable. Eschewing the white God who (so theyd been taught) had ordained and orchestrated their enslavement, black Americans sought to forge a church that better articulated what it meant to be both black and made in the image of God.
Historically, the [black] church has always been a base of activism, even a form of resistance, Pieterse said. So acts of violence perpetrated at the church are more than symbolictheyre targeted.
Theres limited research on the specific effects of church arson as a form of racial violence, but anecdotally, most experts have come to the same conclusion: the burning of a church is often catastrophic for black communities.
In 1999, three years after 145 predominantly black churches were burned in the United States, Carolyn S. Carterthen an assistant professor of social work at Arizona State Universitywrote about the burning of black churches for the National Association of Social Workers academic journal. Because of the important functions associated with churches in African American communities, she noted, residents were often devastated by church burnings. According to Carter, members of an attacked church often felt immobilized and commonly expressed emotions ranging from sadness and embarrassment to shock and outrage.
A church arson can be particularly trying for pastors of attacked churches because, in addition to whatever personal trauma they may be experiencing, they must also meet their congregations dramatically increased need for leadership during the building reconstruction process. Larry Bates, a religion psychology professor at the University of North Alabama, is one of the few scholars who has attempted to study the psychological effects of church arson. His 2007 study of church arson survivors in Alabama was too small to be conclusive, but based on the interviews Bates and his research team conducted, the period after a church arson is full of unexpected stressors for pastors.
The pastors were just overwhelmed with interviews and trying to deal with building needs, he said.
He added that the rebuilding process often creates division among the church bodys members, which pastors then have to mediate. Some major plans have to be made about what the [new] building is going to be, and often, people have different ideas about the direction the church ought to go, Bates said. And at those times, youre kind of forced to make that decision right then.
She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair,
And bathed rose petal sweet,
And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands,
And white shoes on her feet. The mother smiled to know her child
Was in the sacred place,
But that smile was the last smile
To come upon her face.
All of thisthe direct or collective trauma and the vocational stress for pastorsis only exacerbated, Davis said, when racial violence takes place in a setting where crimes against people of color arent taken seriously. How do you begin to heal from something that people wont even name? she asked. People will find all kinds of words for an attack on a black church: a horrific event, a terrible thing that happened, an evil thats present. But the word that many people want to hearat least the one that I want to hearis terrorism. Because thats what it is.
The day after last springs church massacre in Charleston, Anthea Butler, an associate professor of religion and Africana studies at the University of Pennsylvania, penned a piece for TheWashington Post criticizing the language used in the news when white people commit violent crimes. The Dylann Roofs of the world, she argued, are almost always humanized after committing crimes, no matter how heinous. These killers actions are identified as the result of mental illnesses or past abusesa hastily crafted media narrative that downplays their crimes and the actual motivations behind them.
This language matters when talking about church arsons and other forms of racial violence, Pieterse said. To acknowledge a crime validates the victims pain and says that what happened to them was real, that it mattered. Ill give you an example, Pieterse said. I think part of what has been helpful for the Jews as a group of people has been the collective response to the trauma of the Holocaust. Its been validated. In some countries in Europe, to question the Holocaust is a criminal action. But in the case of black Americans, there hasnt been as rapid a response to acknowledge the trauma. And I think thats one way people can be helped.
Another way victims can be helped is by being given the space to feel what they need to feel in the aftermath of racial violence. People will find the appropriate emotional space they need in order to preserve their sanity, said Sharon Ellis Davis. To try and prematurely talk themor yourselfout of their feelings risks re-traumatization.
As pastors, sometimes were so busy wanting to pacify people with words about grace and loving your neighbors that we dont let people just be mad, she said. Sometimes people just need to be angry.
For when she heard the explosion,
Her eyes grew wet and wild.
She raced through the streets of Birmingham
Calling for her child. She clawed through bits of glass and brick,
Then lifted out a shoe.
O, heres the shoe my baby wore,
But, baby, where are you?
Not everyone responds to racism in the same way. Theres a lot of heterogeneity that exists within how people respond to race, how they make sense of their experience as a racial being, Pieterse said. You can talk to two black Americans, and one will say, Weve made so much progress! while the other will say, The progress is just symbolic. At our core, weve made very little progress. An important piece is not to treat people as a collective but to recognize that variation occurs even with people responding to the same event.
Bates saw that variation when he talked to survivors of Alabama church arsons. He told The Local Church that he was surprised to find that while many victims felt the expected devastation and despair, some saw an attack on their church as part of Gods plan, or even a sign of Gods favor. Several of them said, This must mean that my church is special, or we wouldnt be asked to undergo this test. Therefore, this must mean that something great is going to come out of this, he said. I wasnt really expecting that kind of response.
However victims respond, though, experts say its essential to realize that an attack on a black church in the United States is a loaded event with far-reaching effects within black America. Its not an attack on that particular church; its an attack on black Americans everywhere, shaking them at the very core of their identities.
Yet Ellis Davis believes such attacks also put church leaders in a prime position to dig into the ministries of reconciliation and justice that Christ has called them to, even as they put a spotlight on the racism that still exists in the United States.
My job as a pastor is to dispense hopeto turn people toward their faith and not away from it in these timesand to pray, she said. But not the kind of prayer where Im just going to pray about it. A prayer that calls us into action to do the kind of advocacy and justice-making that we need to do.
Nigeria: Fractured and Forgotten
Mother of Girl Kidnapped by Boko Haram to Speak in Washington
Contact: Lou Ann Sabatier, Communications Director, 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, 703-216-2941, Lsabatier@21wilberforce.org
WASHINGTON, June 7, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- Mary*, whose daughter was kidnapped along with 275 other girls two years ago when Boko Haram terrorists raided the Chibok Government Secondary School, will speak out for the first time on June 9 at an event, "Nigeria: Fractured and Forgotten."
Other speakers on the panel, co-hosted by the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative and the Heritage Foundation, include U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom David Saperstein, former Congressman Frank Wolf, Becky Gadzama, Co-Founder of Education Must Continue Initiative in Nigeria, Elijah Brown, Executive VP, 21stCentury Wilberforce Initiative, and Joshua Meservey, Africa and Middle East Policy Analyst at the Heritage Foundation.
In addition to Mary's riveting story, this timely discussion will focus on the 21stCentury Wilberforce Initiative's new, in-depth report detailing the urgent challenges to religious freedom in Nigeria. It also offers strategic policy guidance to help the United States stand with Nigeria at this critical hour.
Communities of faith in northern and central Nigeria face discrimination, deadly security threats from Boko Haram violence, and accelerating aggression by Fulani militants in the Middle Belt. With five million people indefinitely displaced, Nigeria faces one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
Nigeria: Fractured and Forgotten
June 9, 2016
10:00-11:30 am Panel; 11:30-12:00 noon Press Conference
The Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
The event will be live-streamed and this link will be active on June 9:
www.heritage.org/events/2016/06/nigeria#rsvpInPerson
The full report with recommendations can be accessed at www.standwithnigeria.org
*Name changed for security reasons
Archbishop of Canterbury slams Trump's Muslim ban as irrational and un-Christian
The Archbishop of Canterbury laid into Donald Trump as un-Christian and irrational in front MPs on Tuesday as he answered questions on migration and asylum seekers.
Justin Welby also attacked the "inexcusable" UKIP leader Nigel Farage for "legitimising racism" as he became the first Church of England head to give evidence before the home affairs select committee.
The Anglican primate was grilled on topics that ranged from his position on the European Union and whether he thought Britain was too full to accept any more migrants, to his thoughts on Sharia law and antisemitism.
But his most strident comments were directed at the presumptive Republican nominee and Farage. Welby said he agreed with Pope Francis when he said "anyone who only builds walls and not bridges is not a Christian".
On Trump's plans to ban Muslims from entering the United States, Welby added: "It is certainly not a Christian thing to do nor is it a rational thing to do. It does not respect the dignity of the human being."
The 90-minute questioning began with Keith Vaz, Labour MP and chair of the committee, asking Welby about Nigel Farage's comments to the Sunday Telegraph over the weekend. The UKIP leader warned attacks on women on a mass scale would happen if people from outside Europe gained access to EU passports and entered the UK.
Vaz said: "I would regard those comments as being racist and a lot of people would. What's your take on what he has said?"
The head of the C of E said he agreed and "utterly condemned" Farage.
"I think that is an inexcusable pandering to people's worries and prejudices.
"That's giving legitimisation to racism, which I've seen in parishes in which I've served and has led to attacks on people in those parishes. And we cannot legitimise that."
However the Archbishop stood by his comments in March that it was legitimate to fear mass migration.
"We never serve ourselves well when we neglect fear," Welby told MPs. "The answer to fear is not to say it is improper to fear but to recognise it and the causes of that fear."
He added: "I fully accept there is a burden on communities. The answer to that burden is one has to provide specific extra resources to communities affected."
But Welby denied that Britain was too full and said Britain could take more migrants.
"We can take more people in but have to think very, very hard about doing it," he cautioned. "You can do the right thing in such a wrong way it becomes the wrong thing."
Earlier on Tuesday the Bishop of Durham, who answered questions alongside the Archbishop, publically supported Britain remaining in the EU. However despite numerous attempts from the committee of MPs, Welby refused to give an indication of his views.
"You're quite good at this," Vaz joked as Welby ducked a series of questions attempting to establish his position on the EU.
The Archbishop was equally cautious on the topic of Sharia law. His predecessor Rowan Williams caused outrage in 2014 when he was reported as supporting the introduction of aspects of Sharia law in Britain.
Welby told MPs that Williams' remarks had been "widely misreported" but refused to comment any further on Williams' views. On the use of Sharia law in Britain, Welby said: "We have laws in this country that are drawn from international sources such as civil law and roman law... Whatever sources you draw from, the basic philosophy of English jurisprudence must always prevail under all circumstances."
The lively session concluded with Vaz promising to write to Welby to prize a fuller answer out of him on Sharia law.
Bangladesh: Elderly Hindu priest hacked to death by suspected Islamists
An elderly Hindu priest was hacked to death on Tuesday in Bangladesh, in what police suspect was the latest in a spate of attacks by Islamists on minority groups in the majority-Muslim country.
Three militants riding on a motorcycle killed Ananta Gopal Ganguly, 70, by slitting his throat when he was on his way to the temple he served in Jhenaidah district, about 100 miles west of Dhaka, police said.
"He left home this morning saying that he was going to a Hindu house to offer prayers," deputy police chief Gopinath Kanjilal told AFP.
"Later, farmers found his near-decapitated body in a rice field."
The attack bore the hallmarks of previous killings by Islamist militants.
A 60-year-old Christian grocer was hacked to death on Sunday in an attack claimed by Islamic State.
The wife of a prominent anti-terror security official was also killed on Sunday, shot dead by three suspected militants on a motorbike.
As many as 40 people have been killed over the last three years by Islamist extremists, either members of religious minorities or secularist activists. While responsibility for the killings has been claimed by Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, the government has denied that either group is active in the country, blaming home-grown extremists instead.
The government has launched a crackdown on militant groups who want to impose strict Islamic law in Bangladesh.
Hindus make up about nine per cent of Bangladesh's 160 million population of mainly Sunni Muslims.
Additional reporting by Reuters.
'Birthday ambassador' Jean Christy, who started Christian ministry at the age of 105, passes away at 111
Jean Christy was already 105 years old when she felt a calling to do more for the Andrews United Methodist Church, so she called her pastor Rev. Mike Macdonald to offer her services as the community's phone-based "birthday ambassador."
As "birthday ambassador," Christy would use her telephone skills to call up fellow Christians and give them extra cheer during their birthdays.
"I just call up and say, 'Your church wants you to have a very happy birthday, and Miss Christy wants you to have one also,'" she told United Methodist News Service in 2010. "And they seem really happy to hear it."
Christy estimated that she called at least one person a week. Almost everybody in the small town of Andrews, North Carolina knew and respected the "birthday ambassador." Her great-nephew Rev. David Christy even said that she had actually attained a "superstar status in town."
"You walk in with Aunt Jean, you might as well be walking in with the president," he said. "There was a table ready, and they knew what she wanted. It was just amazing to see the respect."
She passed away at the age of 111 on May 28, and the whole town was heartbroken over her loss. They would miss the yearly birthday calls she used to make, but more than that, they would miss the inspiring example she set as a Christian.
Rev. Mary Brown, the pastor of Andrews United Methodist since 2013, said Christy's faith in God was an amazing thing to behold. "I've heard her thank God countless times (literally, countless) in a prayer: 'Thank you, thank you, thank you....' How powerful to see someone in her stage of life filled with gratitude," she said.
"When I visited her I felt peaceful, just to be in her presence," added Brown. The light of Christ shone brightly in her."
Bishop of Durham backs pro-EU campaign
One of the Church of England's most senior bishops has waded into the referendum debate and called for Britain to remain in the EU.
Rt Rev Paul Butler, the Bishop of Durham, has signed a pro-EU letter compiled by business leaders in the north-east of England. Alongside the Archbishop of Wales and the Archbishop of York he is one of the most senior Anglican figure to officially announce support for the EU.
Butler said he understood why people found the decision difficult but added he had looked "carefully at a wide range of issues" and concluded he "very much" supports staying in the EU.
In a statement after he signed the letter Butler said the most important question was what sort of nation we wanted to be.
"I firmly believe that working together for the betterment of all our communities is best served by being part of a united EU, one where we are able to play our full part," he said.
"Here in the North East of England we have very strong ties with Europe across many sectors including manufacturing, education, farming and our service sector all of which positively benefit from us being part of the EU."
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the C of E in the UK, has pointedly refused to take a side in the debate and stated there is not "one correct Christian view". But that has not stopped other Anglican figures coming out for either side.
The Archbishop of York has said he has yet to hear a "cogent argument for why we should be out" and the Church of Scotland has publically supported Remain.
Dozens of faith leaders including a number of senior Christians signed a letter in late-May calling on the UK to stay part of the EU. The former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Baptist minister Steve Chalke were among the signatories to the letter which said faith was about "integration and building bridges, not about isolation and erecting barriers".
"As leaders and senior figures of faith communities, we urge our co-religionists and others to think about the implications of a Leave vote for the things about which we are most passionate," the letter said.
"The past 70 years have been the longest period of peace in Europe's history. Institutions that enable us to work together and understand both our differences and what we share in common contribute to our increased security and sense of collective endeavour."
Another former archbishop, Lord Carey of Clifton, is in the minority as a senior Anglican who has announced support for Brexit.
Carey argued the EU has now become a source of division, conflict and unhappiness.
In an article for the Daily Mail he wrote: "For the British in particular, it is the loss of sovereignty and the inability of Britain or indeed any member state to reform and restore the democratic freedom of the nation state which have made the impositions of the EU such a running sore for many people".
He added the EU had run an "unasked-for experiment in uncontrolled immigration" which left Brits with "no choice but to take back control of our borders".
China: Christians forbidden from holding prayer meeting deemed 'illegal' by authorities
Chinese Christians were forced to cancel a prayer meeting in Handan city yesterday after it was deemed "illegal" by the Religious Affair Bureau.
Last month three churches in Handan were vandalised, each having their tabernacle burgled and eucharist desecrated.
In response to the crimes, the bishop of the diocese organised a day of prayer and fasting in one of the churches in Di Xiao Di Ba village.
However, police and the Religious Affairs Bureau in Handan banned local Catholics from holding the meeting on June 6, claiming they did not have permission to gather Christians from different districts.
Christians were prevented from entering the village and some priests were placed on surveillance and forced to stay at home.
Bishop Stephen Yang Xiangtai was forced to cancel the meeting and instead asked Christians to pray at home.
"That the police and Public Safety are afraid of a gathering for prayer and penance is really laughable," a local Catholic told Asia News.
"It is true that we're in the period around 4 June, but the police neuroses always result in an attack against religious freedom."
June 4 marked the 27th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, during which hundreds of pro-democracy protesters were killed.
A report published by China Aid last month found that persecution against Christians in China has increased sevenfold since 2008.
Church leaders unite against persecution: 'This is a time for us to stand together'
It is more important than ever before for the Church to stand together, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK has said.
Bishop Angaelos made his remarks as he hosted the first ever meeting between Orthodox, Coptic and Pentecostal church leaders in Britain. Monday's "unprecedented" gathering was hailed as a "momentous and significant meeting point" in a wider move towards improving ecumenical relations.
"There is such value in collaboration, and this historic meeting is the first of its kind in England, the United Kingdom, and possibly worldwide," said Angaelos.
"While we all come from our particular backgrounds and theological understanding, today is a day to build bridges and to strengthen them."
The meeting of church leaders at the Coptic Orthodox Church Centre was organised by Angaelos alongside Bishop Dr Eric Brown from the New Testament Church of God and The Very Revd Archpriest Maxim Nikolsky of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Bishop Brown praised the "historic" day while another Pentecostal bishop, Dr Joe Aldred, hinted at further similar gatherings.
"Today marks a momentous and significant meeting point and a beginning I hope of a lasting fellowship and friendship between leaders. I hope that we can develop a better understanding of what Christians around the world are experiencing, and continue to dialogue and take action where possible together," he said.
Angaelos is a regular advocate for persecuted Christians and thousands of Copts have fled persecution in the Middle East in the last two years. He went on to say it was important to stand against injustice people are facing "regardless of their faith or ethnicity".
He said: "In seeing the persecution of our brothers and sisters around the world, and in speaking about mission, we must recognise that this is a time, more than ever, for us to stand together."
The three Churches agreed to work together to "tackle national and international issues of concern, including religious freedom in England, and the Middle East".
'Fast and Furious 8' release date, cast: cast and crew tease new photo; action in the arctic teased
The cast and crew of "Fast and Furious 8" have been updating fans on social media of the production. The filming has been going on for a while but it is only this time that the whole crew finally got together.
The original and new cast members of the upcoming film struck a pose in a glorious ensemble photo that fans will surely not get tired of looking at. The photo was shared by star Vin Diesel on Instagram.
Charlize Theron, who boards "Fast and Furious 8" as the main antagonist Cipher, is also in the photo, along with newcomers Scott Eastwood and Kristofer Hivju with returning stars Kurt Russell and Jason Statham.
"Fast and Furious 8" made history in Cuba by being the first American movie to film there. Now, the action is taken to Iceland, where the blanket of snow made for an amazing backdrop for ice-cold stunts and intense gun and car-heavy scenes.
In the latest Fast Fridays update showing the Iceland shoot, there will be a lot of exciting car chases and explosions, which looked really cool as it contrasted the whiteness of the background.
From what it looks like, the icy encounter in Iceland in "Fast and Furious 8" will be deadly and teeming with thrilling action that fans will certainly look forward to.
Meanwhile, director F. Gary Gray teased that there will also be filming done in the US. On his Instagram, he teased that they will be using "the biggest blue screen environment in Fast and Furious history."
"We shot for weeks in Iceland, but I wanted to shoot a few details here in the USA," the filmmaker captioned the video showing off the size of the blue screen they are using.
In another post, he praised Hivju, whom fans will know from "Game of Thrones" (the one who has a crush on Brienne), for putting a lot of work and their heart in "Fast and Furious 8"
"I love it when my actors are intensely focused! Hivju is killing it! This is that moment when you and your actor know you've got gold!" Gray said.
"Fast and Furious 8" hits the big screen on April 14, 2017.
Helping the helper: Institute aids military chaplains suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder
For soldiers coming home from conflict areas, the military chaplain is the person who is there to listen to all their troubles and help them cope with the trauma they are experiencing.
But after absorbing the woes of soldiers, ministering to them, and seeing the battlefield scene themselves, some of these chaplains also suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and need assistance themselves.
The St. Luke's Institute, a Roman Catholic Center based in Silver Spring in Maryland, has made it part of its mission to help these military chaplains.
One such chaplain is Pastor Matthew Williams, who has already been deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Williams said he initially thought that he could take in everything he saw in the battlefieldfrom corpses in body bags to his "friends' faces all blown apart"until he realised he could not take it anymore.
"I thought I had a handle on suffering. I thought I had a handle on understanding the sovereignty of God. I didn't know crap," Williams shared in a report by The Washington Post.
"At the end of the day, what I know now is: I'm alive, I believe in God, I have faith, and that's where it stops. It doesn't get much deeper than that," the pastor added.
Religious men like Williams are the ones that St. Luke's Institute tries to help, according to its president, psychologist and Monsignor Stephen Rosetti.
"The priests are helping others, and the question is who helps them?" Rosetti said, as quoted by the Catholic News Agency.
The priest and psychologist recognised the fact that "just about all" religious workers who come home from war-torn areas need "some sort of support."
He said some of the missionaries and priests have "almost too much for the human soul to bear."
"I think especially of missionaries who are in violent areas," Rosetti said, particularly those who have witnessed "mass murders" or "unbelievable poverty and disease."
He further said military chaplains need help in coping with PTSD to aid them in keeping their faith in God.
"Unspeakable sufferings do challenge our faith, and in times when our faith is a little bit too glib, it kind of bashes that and challenges it," Rosetti admitted. "So these kinds of events really challenge us to move deeper into the Lord's passion and eventually, hopefully, His resurrection."
"It can build up your faith in a new, deeper way, or sadly sometimes people lose their faith," he said.
Home Office interpreters accused of deliberately jeopardising asylum claims
Home Office interpreters have deliberately jeopardised asylum cases because they personally disagree with the claimant, it was alleged on Tuesday.
A report into asylum claims in the UK on religious freedom grounds pointed to a "lack of professionalism" from some interpreters hired by the Home Office, which could lead to people being sent to their deaths if returned to their country of origin.
Speaking after the launch of the report on Tuesday, Bishop Angaelos, general bishop of the Coptic Church in the UK, told Christian Today: "At best it is ignorance and at worst we have heard occasions where it has been intentional persecution and an intentional undermining of the case."
He said it was the exception rather than the rule but that it "needs to be investigated at once".
Angaelos said on at least one occasion a Muslim interpreter had condemned the claims of an individual who had left Islam. "While it is only a statistic and may only be one case, for this one case it is a matter of life and death," he said.
He was quick to praise the Home Office's "good intentions" with updates to the official guidance but said more training was needed for people handling asylum cases.
The report was compiled by the Asylum Advocacy Group (AAG), of which Angaelos is chair, and the All-Party Parliamentary Group (AAPG) on international freedom of religion and belief.
It clearly demonstrated a disparity between what the Home Office says in its official guidance and what actually happens in interview rooms and asylum assessment centres.
In one instance an Ahmadi Muslim who had fled persecution said he felt forced to answer the interviewer's questions in his broken English because he thought the interpreter had missed out things he had said or had not translated them properly. The applicant felt this may be because the interpreter "did not personally agree" with him.
Ahmadi Muslims are notoriously persecuted by other Muslim groups who consider them heretical. Many have fled India, Pakistan and Indonesia where Human Rights Watch has said they face systematic harassment and intimidation by government officials.
The report criticised the "ignorance" of caseworkers and interpreters who worked with asylum claimants and said more training was needed. A lack of religious knowledge meant Christian converts were asked "Bible trivia" questions from crib sheets which the report said was "too simplistic a way to judge if an individual is, for example, a genuine convert".
It read: "This report's findings signal a lack of understanding and misperceptions of religion and belief among deicison-makers working within the UK asylum system."
Baroness Berridge, chair of the AAPG, acknowledged the Home Office had to make decisions that are "some of the most difficult to make" and praised its efforts in updating the official guidance. But she told Christian Today the problems surrounded "the practises of the interviewers".
Asked about the case of the Muslim interpreter and the Ahmadi claimant she said these were "important difficulties" and added it was about creating the right environment for traumatised individuals to tell their stories.
"If you are someone who is claiming to be a victim of sexual violence, as a woman you have the right to ask for a caseworker and an interpreter who are female," she told Christian Today. "It is difficult with limited resources but we have to make sure the situation is such that we get the best version of the story out of the person first time around."
Christian Today contacted the Home Office for comment but had not received a response at the time of publishing.
Is the government's anti-extremism strategy targeting college Christian Unions?
Is the government's anti-terrorism programme being used to clamp down on ordinary Christianity as well as radical Islamism in Britain's colleges? The much-criticised 'Prevent' strategy, first introduced in 2011 and updated in March 2015, has certainly given rise to that fear. It requires teachers to rat out students they think might be leaning toward radical ideas so they can be deprogrammed.
It (rightly) doesn't specifically target Islamists as that would be to stigmatise a particular religion, though obviously that's what it's aimed at. But many argue that it's ineffective or counter-productive. The NUT called for it to be scrapped at its conference in March; in April a UN special rapporteur said it could actually "end up promoting extremism".
But there have been fears since its inception that it was an instrument far too blunt for its purpose, and that it could be used whether maliciously or not against entirely innocent religious people, including Christians. One area in which radicalisation is feared, and in which Prevent operates, is Further and Higher Education. Responses to a consultation on the guidelines originally quite draconian, envisaging outside speakers at religious events submitted drafts of their talks in advance were published at the end of 2014. One paragraph says a "very significant number" of respondents were worried about its impact on the expression of religious belief. It said: "Many of these respondents did not have sufficient confidence in front line staff to be knowledgeable or well trained enough to apply the duty in a manner that did not undermine their right to religious expression."
Now even after Prevent has been tweaked to make it less intrusive, there is at least anecdotal evidence to show that these fears were justified.
A Sunday Times article cites the case of an unnamed Further Education college where a Christian Union was barred from holding prayer and Bible study meetings as a result of the Prevent strategy.
Christians at another college have been told they can no longer use the premises and they have to meet at a nearby coffee shop.
Without further details and no one is saying where the colleges are it's impossible to be too definite about what has happened. But Toni Coulton, director of Festive, a charity that supports Christians in the UK's further education and sixth-form colleges, told Christian Today that while such cases were rare, it wasn't the first time she'd heard of it happening. Coulton puts it down to a number of factors, including publicity about the dangers of radicalisation and worries about what Ofsted might say if it inspects on-campus religious bodies. She suggests it all adds up to a "health and safety" culture, in which activities that look perfectly reasonable are banned on the grounds that somehow, if everything went wrong that could possibly go wrong, someone somewhere might just get hurt.
She does say that this is an approach that's rare, and that generally FE colleges have a "balanced" approach. But, she adds, "you do get these instances and there are colleges that say you can't set up a Christian group because there isn't a Muslim one, and you get secularists saying, 'We don't do God here.'"
Is there a widespread anti-Christian or anti-religious feeling in the UK's colleges and universities? No.
Many of them and certainly all universities have chaplaincies that are more or less embedded in their structures. In the case under consideration, a spokeswoman for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, which runs Prevent, told Christian Today the guidelines were designed to protect freedom of speech and that any action taken under it should be "proportionate" to the supposed risk. As the college in question is not known, she couldn't comment on that, but it's pretty clear that if it did cite Prevent to justify its actions it was simply wrong (and should be challenged).
But stories like this echo others where the problem is not so much hostility to religion as simple ignorance. Another is the case highlighted in Parliament today of Christian converts who are asked to prove their faith by answering questions about the date of Pentecost and the colour of Bibles; only people who haven't a clue about religion would think those were reasonable things to ask. In the case of these FE colleges, the same sort of thing is probably going on. They don't understand religion. They don't speak its language and consequently they're afraid of making mistakes, so they think the best thing to do is exclude it altogether. If there's no religion at all, no one can complain, surely?
The problem is not just that this privileges the secularist position over every other, though it does; it is a very long way from being a level playing field. It also means that a rich, vibrant part of human life and experience is denied a place at the table within the institution. It might only be a prayer meeting, but a college is poorer without it, whether it acknowledges it or not.
The Prevent strategy has many critics. In this case it's probably being used as a convenient tool rather than a real justification for freezing out religion. But until our society reaches a place where it can be comfortable about faith, this sort of thing will keep on happening.
Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods
Jesus healed 10 men from leprosy: Why only one came back to thank him
In Luke 17:11-19 there's a moving story about Jesus healing 10 lepers. Unlike many such stories, it isn't the healing that's the point of the story, but what happened around it. It's a multi-layered tale of an encounter with God's power and mercy that has much to say to us today.
The men with leprosy were social outcasts, as well as being ill. They did not necessarily have what we know as leprosy today, though they might well have done as it was endemic in the region. The term was also used for other kinds of skin conditions (the diagnosis is outlined in Leviticus 13). But socially, the effect was the same: they were outcasts from their communities who had gathered together for personal safety and to combat their isolation. Stigma is still a huge issue today, and there are Christian organisations like The Leprosy Mission working to overcome it. In the case of these 10 men, they didn't even dare to approach Jesus to ask for his help, but "stood at a distance" and called for him to have pity on them (verse 13).
Leprosy proper (Hansen's disease) did not get better, though today it can be cured through powerful drugs. However, other skin conditions did improve. When someone believed they were cured, they had to go to a priest, who would examine them and certify the healing. Jesus tells them to do so, and "as they went, they were cleansed".
In the story, there are three things that speak to us.
First, Jesus told the men to show themselves to a priest while they still had leprosy. It was as they went that they were cured. That meant believing against the evidence and trusting God even when they didn't really have grounds to do so. As they went, the evidence changed.
That's almost a definition of faith trusting in what we cannot prove. In Hebrews 11:1 it's described as "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". If we want everything plain and clear before we take a step of faith, it's not really faith. Faith is trust, even when we don't understand and even when the evidence is against us. It's trust that God will make it right. In the story, only one of the 10 comes back to thank Jesus. But all of them had a huge faith in God.
Second, the one who comes back is a Samaritan. Samaritans were hereditary enemies of Jews, for various reasons. So why was he the one to come back, rather than the Jews? Perhaps it was because he had a deeper sense of what had been done for him. If a Jewish miracle-worker healed Jews it was wonderful, but so he should. For him to heal a Samaritan was going above and beyond the call of duty. It was entirely unmerited grace and favour. If you don't believe you deserve to be saved and God saves you anyway, you will be deeply, deeply grateful.
Christians who've been going to church for years and years probably think of themselves as good people. We have probably put time, effort and money into being a Christian. We might well have given things up that we might have enjoyed doing. And with all of this comes a sense of entitlement: in some way we deserve to be blessed by God. But this story reminds us that it's those who are most conscious of what's been done for them that are closest to the heart of God.
Third, it speaks of God's grace to everyone. The men's healing doesn't depend on them coming back to say thanks. Jesus heals them anyway; it's not as if the healing of the other nine would be miraculously withdrawn because they didn't return.
God does lots of good things for everyone, whether they acknowledge it or not. He makes the sun shine on the righteous and unrighteous and the rain fall on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45). There are many people who are not Christians, but who are still blessed. At one level, Christians ought just to be the people who acknowledge what God's done for them, and turn back to say "Thank you." There is a "common grace" God gives to everyone. Whether we are Christians or not, we can take pleasure in beauty, in family, in creation and work, in love and in friendship. These gifts are unconditional; they don't depend on us acknowledging God as our saviour, though they may be enriched by it.
It's estimated that one in 10 of the UK population goes to church regularly. One leper in 10 returned to thank Jesus for saving him. That's what Christians do.
There's an old song that says, "Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done." Above all, this is a story that teaches us to be thankful.
Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods
Pan-Orthodox Council will go ahead, despite Bulgarian Church's withdrawal
The Pan-Orthodox Council will go ahead, despite the Bulgarian Church's refusal to attend, according to the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The Council, due to be held June 16-26, was intended to be an unprecedented meeting between all 14 Orthodox Churches, but the Bulgarian Orthodox Church pulled out last week.
The Russian Orthodox Church raised concerns that the Council would be impossible without all 14 in attendance as "decisions can only be adopted on the basis of consensus," a statement said.
It feared that "the absence of even one of the churches from the Council will amount to an insurmountable obstacle."
A spokesperson for the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the "first among equals" of Orthodox Churches, has now quashed those fears, however, saying the conference will go ahead.
"No procedural or organisational issues had changed," Fr John Chryssavgis, spokesman for the Patriarchate of Constantinople, told the Catholic Herald.
The Pan-Orthodox Council is a meeting of all the world's autocephalous (independent) Orthodox Churches. Preparations for it began in 1961 and it is being convened to address issues within Orthodox Christianity that have appeared since the beginning of the 20th century, including both ethical and territorial issues.
The meeting is meant to ratify six documents on various topics including marriage, fasting, the autonomy of the Churches and mission, which were finalised at the January meeting.
"It is unquestionably unfortunate and deeply painful that the Bulgarian Church decided not to attend," Chryssavgis said.
"But only weeks ago, it had officially decided and committed to attend; it had approved all of the documents of the council without exception; and it had signed every text and regulation without condition."
Philadelphia mayor bans city workers from travelling to states that have 'discriminatory laws' against LGBT people
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney has banned all city employees from travelling to North Carolina and Mississippi in response to the "discriminatory laws" against members of the LGBT community in the two states.
Mississippi earlier passed a religious freedom law that allows religious organisations to refuse service to gays in weddings, adoption and foster care.
North Carolina also passed a bathroom law that allows people to use public restrooms only according to their biological sex.
"Discriminatory legislation, like those signed into law in North Carolina and Mississippi, is antithetical to our country's core democratic values," the Democratic mayor said. "By issuing a non-essential travel ban to those states, we take a stand against bigotry and prejudice happening in those states, and in cities and states nationwide."
Kenney said he welcomes any people, business, organisation and events that "no longer feel welcome in their state because of these discriminatory laws."
Helen Fitzpatrick, the state's Office of LGBT Affairs director, described the travel ban as "a powerful way for Philadelphia to stand in solidarity with, and advocate for, the LGBT folks and their allies living in cities and states passing discriminatory and dangerous legislation."
Kenney directed all city departments to "prohibit all travel to the states of North Carolina and Mississippi by city employees for purposes of official business."
He said the ban includes publicly-funded travel by city employees to the two states unless it is deemed as essential to public health and safety.
Kenney said he will lift the "ban if and when North Carolina and Mississippi choose to repeal their discriminatory legislation."
He has joined the Mayors Against Discrimination coalition, a group that promises to use their influence to oppose discriminatory practices in the U.S.
Initiated by San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee, the coalition members also include New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
Kenney also issued travel bans to Tennessee and Oxford, Atlanta also because of LGBT laws in those placed.
Pope Francis on human trafficking: Church must fight 'the new slave hunters'
It is the Church's business to get involved in politics when it comes to human trafficking, according to Pope Francis.
The Pope addressed more than 100 officials and legal experts at a summit on human trafficking on June 3-4, sponsored by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.
The Church must "stick its nose into politics" in order to help serve survivors of human trafficking, he said. "Politics is one of the highest forms of love and charity," he added, quoting Pope Paul VI.
The conference attracted judges and prosecutors from around the globe, who discussed their experiences of tackling human trafficking and making proposals for better national and transnational action to combat the growing issue.
Francis urged judges to lead in the fight against human trafficking and keep vigilant against injustice.
"I know, too, that to be a judge today, to be a public prosecutor and state attorney means risking your life," he said.
The judicial authorities are crucial in the defence of "the dignity and freedom of men and women today," he said. In particular, "to eradicate human trafficking and smuggling and the new forms of slavery such as forced labour, prostitution, organ trafficking, the drug trade and organised crime."
He suggested that judges work together, creating a network to collaboratively fight "the new slave hunters".
He celebrated judges who managed to remain impartial, free from external pressures of government, private institutions and criminal organisations.
He said it was essential that judges remain free from these pressures as without impartial judicial authorities, judicial power is at risk of corruption.
He insisted that punishment of perpetrators "must not be an end in itself", but rather justice must offer a means of rehabilitation beause "there is no valid punishment without [offering] hope".
Pope Francis reiterated his call for the abolition of the death penalty, where "the only hope is left to go to the next world."
Judges should focus "on the needs of the victims", he said, as "the victims are the first who need to be rehabilitated and reintergrated into society".
It is "the greatest good we can do for them, for community and for social peace".
Pope Francis proclaims 2 new saints a Swedish nun and a Polish monk
Pope Francis canonised Swedish nun Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad and Polish monk Stanislaus Papczynski, the first to be proclaimed saints during the Jubilee of Mercy, in a ceremony attended by thousands of pilgrims at St. Peter's Square, on Sunday.
During the Mass, Francis said: "The Church today offers us two of her children who are exemplary witnesses to this mystery of Resurrection. Both can sing forever in the words of the Psalmist: 'You have changed my mourning into dancing, O Lord, my God, I will thank you forever,''' reports Newsmax.
Hesselblad, a nurse and Lutheran convert to Catholicism, is the second Swede to become a saint, following Saint Bridget who was canonised in 1391. During her time, she saved the lives of several Jewish families by hiding them in the Roman convent where she was superior. She died in Rome April 24, 1957 and was beatified April 9, 2000 by St. John Paul II.
In 2004, she was awarded the Righteous Among the Nations, an award given to non-Jews who helped Jews during the Holocaust.
Papczynski, a Polish priest born in 1631 and beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007, was the founder of the first men's religious order dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. He supported hospitals and shelters for the poor in the 17th century. His crowning achievement was founding the order of Marian Fathers, which preached the cult of Holy Mary.
Maria Pilar, a Bridgettine nun from Spain, said the canonisation of their foundress is not only a recognition of her sanctity, but also gives publicity to "the example of a person who lived for God and sought the truth since she was a child she was Lutheran and sought the truth as a young girl.''
"St. Maria Elizabeth was called to offer a lot in the ecumenism of the Church, so that all religions would be one in Christ, not just in Spain," Pilar told the Catholic News Agency (CNA).
Meanwhile, Ulf Silvering, a layman from Stockholm, said the canonisation of Hesselblad "means a lot to the local Catholic community in Sweden since normally the Catholic Church is described as some exotic experience from immigrants.''
However, he said "this is a Swedish saint, and it's the second Swedish saint officially in history. She's a follower of St. Bridgette, who was also Swedish, so it's a restoration of the Catholic history in Sweden, actually."
Silvering said Hesselblad's canonisation also "serves to strengthen the faith of immigrants, who live in one of the most secularised countries in the world."
St. Peter's Square was packed with thousands of people on Sunday, reports say.
The canonisation was announced last March 15 alongside that of Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who will be canonised on Sept. 4, and Bl. Jose Sanchez del Rio, who will be canonised on Oct. 16 alongside Argentine Bl. Jose Gabriel del Rosario Brochero.
Pope Francis suspends Archbishop of Guam over sex abuse allegations
Pope Francis has suspended the Archbishop of Guam following accusations of sexual abuse, two days after a papal decree said bishops who failed to respond to abuse allegations could be removed.
Pope Francis has named a Vatican official who will oversee the Catholic Church in Guam, a Pacific island territory, during the investigation into allegations against Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron.
It was announced on Monday that Apuron will rescind his position in the Agana Archdiocese, which he has led for 30 years, at least temporarily over allegations that he abused boys in the 1970s.
Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, currently second-in-command of the Vatican's Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, will take control of Agana in Apuron's absence.
The Pope's actions are the latest sign that he is acting to tackle the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.
Allegations against Apuron emerged last month when Roy Taitague Quintanilla, 52, claimed Apuron molested him when he was an altar boy.
"I cried then, and I've never stopped crying," he said, according to Pacific Daily News.
His statement prompted Dori Conepcion to come forward on behalf of her late son, Joseph A Quinata, who she claims was abused by Apuron in the 1970s.
Deacon Steve Martinez, the archdiocese's former sexual abuse response coordinator, said Apuron had promoted weak policies on abuse in order to protect himself from potential investigation.
"His effort of self-preservation has blinded his command to protect... I'm sad to say that today, my worst dreams have come true," Martinez said, according to The Guam Daily Post.
Apuron has denied the allegations and the archdiocese has hired a lawyer to defend him.
Pope Francis announced on Saturday that the Vatican will investigate bishops found guilty of "negligence" in tackling abuse cases.
The Pontiff has pledged zero tolerance for anyone in the Church who abuses children and likened such abuse to a "satanic mass". In 2014 he established a Vatican commission intended to set best practices to root out abuse in parishes.
With the decree, he puts into action what he promised last year when he approved a Vatican tribunal to judge bishops accused of covering up or failing to prevent abuse of minors.
Thousands of atheists gather at National Mall in D.C. in show of political strength
Although the turnout turned out to be fewer than what the organisers expected, thousands of professing atheists and agnostics from across America gathered at the National Mall in Washington D.C. on Saturday for their second "Reason Rally."
Lyz Liddell, executive director of the Reason Rally Coalition, said the gathering was meant to show that those who do not believe in a god should be considered a potent political force.
"We say to our families, our communities and ultimately our government, which meets just at the other end of this National Mall, that we exist, we are good without a god," Liddell said, as quoted by Religion News Service (RNS).
"We can bring about social change and we are a growing voter constituency," she added.
Wearing T-shirts and carrying signages containing messages which reject religion and support science, the participantsestimated to be between 15,000 and 20,000cheered as politicians, scientists and secular leaders delivered speeches calling for freedom of religion and the separation of Church and State.
One such politician was Democratic Maryland Sen. Jamie Raskin, who pointed how "progressive religious reformers of all faiths and secular humanists," by working together, have brought about change in American society.
"Pragmatists all, they were not interested in interrogating each other's private faith but in acting on a common public faith that America belongs to all of us and we should judge people not by their religious identities but by the character of their public actions," Raskin, who is seeking Maryland's congressional seat in the upcoming elections, said during the rally.
The senator further encouraged his fellow atheists to continue working together as they supposedly face "titanic forces of unreason and fanaticism blocking our path."
Other politicians who attended the "Reason Rally" include Democratic Representatives Bobby Scott from Virginia and Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii.
Former computer programmer Laura Duncan, 57, from Michigan said she is just happy to see other atheists like her come out and show their relevance during the event.
"It's just really nice seeing people who think the same way you do after being isolated for 50 years," Duncan told RNS.
US Christian college launches pro-life activism course
An evangelical Christian university has launched a summer course qualification in pro-life activism.
Oklahoma Wesleyan University (OKWU) will this year offer a new course, "Pro-Life Training and Applied Bioethics", which aims to equip students "to answer pro-choice arguments compellingly and winsomely in any setting," according to its website.
The course will train students in "pro-life advocacy" and pregnancy centre management and will be run in partnership with the Life Training Institute and Care Net.
OKWU, an evangelical Christian private university that describes itself as "unapologetic in our commitment to the truth of Christ and the truth of Scripture", has launched the programme in response to their belief that "too many people today aren't convinced abortion is unthinkable".
It asks its potential students, "can you persuade them?"
The president of the university defended the course and OKWU's unequivocal pro-life position in an email to the College Fix, writing: "We humbly acknowledge that God defines life and that men do not."
Jody Ward, a pro-life campaigner and project manager of the Women's Care Centre in Baltimore, endorsed the programme, calling it "the most important pro-life training you will ever receive."
Speaking to the Independent, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) the UK's largest abortion provider said: "Universities have the right to run these courses, and students have the right to attend. However, it is interesting they feel the need to do so.
"Abortion is a fact of life. That anti-abortion activists feel the need to receive such extensive and expensive training to present a 'compelling' argument against a woman's right to choose rather suggests they are struggling to make their case."
The program will run from July 11-22, will cost $3,000 and teach modules on the ethics of abortion and public speaking.
The university is looking into the "feasibility" of expanding the course into a full Bachelors degree, which would prepare students for "vocational work in pro-life apologetics, political consulting, or for an executive role" in pregnancy help centres, according to its website.
Introducing the masters of French mid-century design
From Prouve to Le Corbusier, a quick guide to the leading figures in French mid-century design, illustrated with covetable pieces offered at Christies
1
Jean Prouve
One of Frances best-known architects and designers, Jean Prouve might never have become so had it not been for his familys crippling bankruptcy, which forced him to abandon his studies at 15 and become a metalworkers apprentice. He founded his own workshop in 1924, at the age of 23, and established his factory in 1947. Prouves designs were notable for their revolutionary approach to material, drawing upon industrial technology without compromising on aesthetic. Classic pieces include works in lightweight, folded sheet metal such as a 1950s aluminium wardrobe originally created for hospitals and sanatoriums, balancing the needs of hygiene, strength and security with a sleek, modern style. Prouve is also known for his chairs with triangular back legs, constructed to bear the greatest portion of their users weight.
2
Charlotte Perriand
A frequent collaborator with Jean Prouve who produced the metallic elements of her furnishings in his Nancy ateliers Charlotte Perriand came to be recognised as one of the most significant French designers of the 20th century. Concentrating on the development of affordable, functional furniture, she was convinced of the power of good design, declaring, The extension of the art of dwelling is the art of living. Her ascent to popularity followed a stuttering start: in 1927, Le Corbusier rejected her application to work in his studio, famously retorting, We dont embroider cushions here. Undeterred, Perriand carried on, attracting the attention of Le Corbusiers partner Pierre Jeanneret, who persuaded the previously scathing designer to reconsider. Perriand was hired, and her collaborations with Le Corbusier resulted in some of the eras most iconic designs, including the LC4 chaise longue.
3
Alexandre Noll
Sculptor Alexandre Noll (1890-1970) worked almost exclusively in wood, and his creations often blurred the line between furniture and art. He first dabbled in the material through wood engravings in his twenties. In 1920, he left his job at a bank to pursue his craft, first creating small household objects and then larger furniture, eventually retailing his designs in 1943. While many of his contemporaries were embracing new industrial techniques and mass production, Noll personally selected his materials and handmade each unique piece. His favourite types of wood included ebony, beech, sycamore and pear. As a designer, Noll paid little attention to trends, preferring to let the material guide his designs it was the shape of the wood that inspired him, his daughter Odile Noll explains. Collectors of Nolls work include the renowned courtier Wolfgang Joop, as well as institutions like the Musee Nationale d'Art Moderne in Paris.
4
Georges Jouve
Open a larger version of this image Georges Jouve (1910-1964), Table basse, circa 1958. Painted metal, glazed ceramic and cement. H 41 x L 104 x P 43 cm / 16 x 41 x 17 in. Estimate: 35,000-50,000. This lot is offered in Design on 21 May 2019 at Christies in Paris
Georges Jouve (191064), one of the most important French ceramicists of the 20th century, had a background in sculpture, art history and theatre design. He encountered ceramics by chance, when he was hiding out World War II in a potters village in the south of France. There, he became so inspired by traditional ceramic crafts and techniques that he opened his own studio in 1944, after his return to Paris. Jouves creations range from functional furniture to decorative household objects and abstract sculpture. He made individual objects such as pitchers, vases and bowls, and also incorporated ceramics to other materials, such as for table tops, lamp bases and mirror frames. The designer favoured curving organic shapes over the angularm mass-produced aesthetic. His best-known pieces are in simple, bold colours such as matte black, white and bright orange, yellow or red.
5
Serge Mouille
Famed lighting designer Serge Mouille (1922-1988) had a passion for metal work since he was 13 years old, when he trained as a silversmith at the Ecole des Arts Appliques in Paris. After the Second World War, he opened his own studio making metal chandeliers, handrails and wall sconces. It was not until almost a decade later, in 1953, that Mouille began to design lighting fixtures, after receiving a commission from designer Jacques Adnet to create a floor lamp for the Compagnie des Arts Francais. The request sparked an interest in lighting design that lasted the rest of Mouilles life. It was during this decade that he created his most iconic series of minimalist, black metal lamps known collectively as Serie Noir. From 196264, he designed the short-lived Totem series, considered among his rarest works. Thereafter, Mouille abandoned design to concentrate on his teaching career.
6
Jean Royere
From 1931 to 1972, Jean Royere was one of the leading figures of French design. Countering the prevailing strict lines of the period with whimsy and colour, he developed a new and daring decorative grammar that emphasised sensuality and imagination over tradition. In 1947, Royere designed a coffee table for his mother's Paris apartment. The first of the biomorphic pieces for which he would become famous, the Flaque design evolved over time. While early versions featured opaline and marble tops supported by perforated shield-shaped legs, Royere exhibited a more mature example of the model at the Salon des Artistes Decorateurs in 1954, sheathed in straw marquetry with inlaid celestial stars. Today the table has become a signature piece in Royeres oeuvre, and his fresh design aesthetic continues to captivate.
7
Le Corbusier Swiss-born architect and painter Charles-Edouard Jeanneret adopted the pseudonym Le Corbusier in 1920, three years after moving to Paris from his hometown in northwest Switzerland. In 1922, he founded a studio with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret, later hiring designer Charlotte Perriand. Together, the trio championed industrial materials, mass production and new technology, with Le Corbusier at the helm declaring, a house is a machine for living in.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Candace Payne/Facebook Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Candace Payne/Facebook Show More Show Less 3 of 3
Dressing like Chewbacca, and laughing hysterically, pays off big for a Texas mom, according to reports.
You've probably seen it, or at least heard about it: North Texas' Candace Payne records herself trying on a mask of the "Star Wars" character, and then she posts it on Facebook Live. And for whatever reason, she bursts into a laughing fit that won't seem to stop.
After years of speculation that New Orleans superchef John Besh would open a restaurant in Houston, word from the James Beard Award winner's office is that it's finally happening.
But you'll have to wait a while.
Eunice, a restaurant described as a Cajun/Creole brasserie, won't open until fall 2017. The restaurant, under the direction of Drake Leonards, the current executive chef of Luke in New Orleans, will open at 3737 Buffalo Speedway in the Greenway Plaza area. The restaurant also will be helmed by managing partner Drew Mire, longtime operations director and general manager for Luke restaurants in New Orleans and San Antonio.
"We are thrilled to join the diverse culinary landscape of Houston and pay homage to the cuisine of both Eunice, my hometown, as well as New Orleans," Leonards stated. "We've been fans of Houston for a while, and honored to now have the opportunity to share our culture, which is as much about hospitality as it is about food."
The Besh Restaurant Group is thriving in the Crescent City. In addition to his signature restaurant August, Besh owns and operates Besh Steak, Luke, La Provence, Domenica, Pizza Domenica, Borgne, and Johnny Sanchez. Also under the Besh umbrella is the buzzy new Willa Jean bakery and restaurant as well as chef Alon Shaya's Shaya restaurant, which in May was named Best New Restaurant at the James Beard Awards, one of the nation's highest culinary honors. Outside of New Orleans the Besh group operates Johnny Sanchez in Baltimore and Luke San Antonio.
The Besh group recently launched a new division, too. Our House Hospitality will create three dining outlets at the Thompson Nashville Hotel in Nashville.
Last fall, according to Nola.com, Besh announced he would revive the Caribbean Room restaurant, the Bayou Bar and the Silver Whistle Cafe at New Orleans' Pontchartrain Hotel.
Besh, a television food star and the author of several well-regarded cookbooks, including "My New Orleans," has long been a friend to Houston. He has visited Houston often for book-signings, fundraiser and special chef functions.
The search continues for a suspect after two men and a woman were found dead Monday at an apartment in southeast Houston.
The bodies were found about 6:10 p.m. at the Park Houston Apartments in the 12000 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, according to the Houston Police Department.
A man is in custody in connection with a double shooting in north Houston early Tuesday that killed a woman and wounded a man.
Police said Darrell P. Mitchell, 28, surrendered about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the slaying of Lakiesha Lewis, 23, and the wounding of Johnel Francis, 24.
Graduates fresh out of college looking for their best chance to find jobs and affordable living arrangements: Head east. Looking to make some big bucks (if youre lucky enough to find work): Head west or to Texas.
Real estate site Trulia worked with LinkedIn to find the most grad friendly markets. The analysis looked at average wages, how much of your paycheck goes to rent and job opportunities for people between the ages of 22 and 30. The result: The East and Midwest might be the best places to start your career. But you might not live in the most exciting city.
If it takes a village to raise a child, Dickinson Independent School District believes it is making a move in the right direction.
Construction on the Lobit Education Village is nearing completion, and in the fall, hundreds of students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade will flock to the site for the first day of school.
Louis G. Lobit Elementary School and Elva C. Lobit Middle School are on FM 517 between Calder and Cemetery roads in League City, built on 40 acres donated to the district in 1974 by the Lobit family.
Construction costs for the two schools are $40.7 million, with $15 million for other costs such as furniture and technology.
More Information Louis G. and Elva C. Lobit The couple whose names are on a new elementary and middle school at the Lobit Education Village were Houston residents who spent time on their farm in the Dickinson and League City area. Their family donated 40 acres in 1974 to the district. Elva C. Lobit was one of three founding members of the Houston Grand Opera in 1955. The Lobits were also members and sponsors of the Houston Symphony. See More Collapse
Inspired by the couple who owned the land, the names for the new schools were approved by Dickinson ISD trustees following a May 2014 $56 million bond referendum.
'Everything migrates out'
The timing to open the education village is right, considering the rapid rate of population growth spurred by commercial and residential developments, said Tammy Dowdy, the district's communications director.
She cited the planned Lago Mar development and Tanger Outlets as examples of what is drawing families to the area.
"It keeps growing," she said. "As Houston, Clear Lake and Clear Creek get built out, everything migrates out. We're just right in line."
As retirees sell their homes to younger families in the area, more school-aged children enroll in the district, Dowdy said.
District enrollment has increased by 4,000 in 10 years to about 11,000. Enrollment grew by 1,000 in the last two years.
"That growth is not stopping," Dowdy said. "Everything our demographers are telling us is that it will continue."
Lobit Education Village will help the district accommodate additional students, she said. The idea behind the village is to provide a multischool site that gives students and teachers at various grade levels access to common resources.
While the two schools will be separate campuses with separate entrances, administrative and school staff, they will share a kitchen, library, nurses' office and mechanical systems.
The cafeterias may be joined if needed for large events, and parking can also be shared for special events.
Enrollment is projected to be 550 for the elementary and 400 for the middle school.
Principals for both schools were named early in the year and spent the past few months organizing their campuses.
"They've been working with our facility department in different processes from design to hiring teachers to selecting furniture and supplies and building curriculum," Dowdy said.
"There are lots of little things that go into starting a school. People don't realize all the work involved," she added.
Principals prepare
Stephanie Williams is the new principal for Lobit Elementary, while Terri Bruce will serve at the helm of Lobit Middle School.
Williams graduated from Dickinson High School and returned to work in the district for the past 19 years, starting as a paraprofessional and then serving as a pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teacher before becoming assistant principal and principal.
She helped open San Leon Elementary nine years ago as the assistant principal and was promoted to principal seven years ago.
"Opening a new campus presents different challenges," Williams said. "I like the change. I like to see the growth taking place in the district, and I'm honored to be part of it."
Bruce has 26 years of experience in education, teaching for 10 years and then serving as an assistant principal and principal for schools in the Alvin and Friendswood school districts.
"I wanted to be part of this new adventure," Bruce said.
The two principals have worked as a team to establish the campus.
"This partnership is invaluable," Bruce said. "It's a big puzzle, and being able to share and do that with someone else has been great."
She is confident that teachers from both schools will collaborate and create programs allowing students of all ages to interact.
"Stephanie will build the foundation - and we get to polish them," Bruce said.
Said Williams: "Our first year is really about creating a community and saying this is what the Lobit Village stands for. We're a family and we have a specific job, to serve these kids really well."
Bruce added that fostering nurturing relationships between students and teachers at each campus will be a priority for both principals.
"The beauty of working together is that we're pretty much right in line with our goals," she said. "We want to create an environment where students want to come to school. Having really engaging lessons - that's what keeps students excited. They look forward to what's going to happen next."
Classrooms will be equipped with interactive whiteboards and teachers will have portable tablets. Students will have access to Chromebook laptop carts.
"It's basically all about being very mobile," Williams said. "It all will be wireless so kids and teachers can move around."
The campus will also have a spaces for collaborative learning and group projects, including a courtyard that will double as an outdoor classroom.
The principals believe they can plot an easy transition for their students from elementary to middle school.
"There won't be as much anxiety for students or parents," Williams said.
Middle school children will be able to act as mentors to the younger children, Bruce said.
"We want our sixth-graders to interact with the younger students and be role models," she said. "We want them to be ambassadors. A lot of our school programs and service projects will be for everybody. That builds responsibility, and it builds leadership."
In the months ahead, Williams and Bruce will have a wide range of final details to handle.
Later, Williams said, "We'll look back, reflect and see what we did right and what we can do better."
For more information about Dickinson ISD, visit www.dickinsonisd.org.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
The first phase of residential development is underway at Lago Mar, a community being developed by Land Tejas in Texas City.
The 2,033 acres reserved for Lago Mar are expected to accommodate 4,400 home sites.
Westin Homes and Gehan Homes are the featured builders, and a grand opening with model homes is slated for September.
"A tract this size takes years of planning," said Jennifer Keller, president of Land Tejas, which also owns adjacent acreage that has been marketed for commercial development.
More Information Lago Mar What: Land Tejas' planned residential development to accommodate 4,400 homes on more than 2,000 acres Where: Texas City Builders for first phase: Westin Homes and Gehan Homes. For more information: visit www.lagomarintexascity.com. See More Collapse
In 2012, Tanger Outlets Mall was built on the property. After that, Buc-ee's Travel Center was added to the site.
Adventure Pointe - an event space and ice-skating rink - broke ground last year on the property.
The various projects add up to residential property next to commercial development, Keller said.
"People want accessibility and walkability," she said.
Trail system planned
The company projects that 162 home sites will be ready for occupancy in September and 74 more in October. In 2017, 152 additional lots will open for construction.
Keller said that the lots range from 45 to 65 feet wide and prices will range from the high $100,000s to the high $300,000s.
"We'll have grand openings as each village is developed," she said. "There will be about four between this summer and next spring."
The residential development will feature amenities including parks, resort-style pools and a trail system.
The first phase of development for amenities will begin in the summer of 2017.
The community will be served by two planned schools in the Dickinson Independent School District. Louis G. Lobit Elementary School and Elva C. Lobit Middle School, located together on FM 517 between Calder and Cemetery roads, are scheduled to open in August.
The Lago Mar website is under development with a preliminary site up for interested homebuyers, Keller said.
Lago Mar project manager Collin Campbell said he has been working with Texas City officials on inspections and utility-line testing for the first series of lots.
"We're initiating and helping facilitate sales to builders," he said.
Hampered by weather
The first section is gated. Campbell said that wet weather has slowed progress substantially. "It made us about a year late with the project," he said.
Crews are also working on roads for the community.
"We're working on Lago Mar Boulevard now and that will tie in with the (Interstate 45) feeder," Campbell said. "In about two weeks, we'll start working on electrical, cable and gas connections. We're getting close."
The community's amenities are in the design phase, he said.
"We've initiated construction plans with our architects and landscape architects," he said. "As soon as we finish with the infrastructure and paving, we'll get started on the amenities, as well as our entry monument."
Hope Allday, director of builder relations for Land Tejas, said a number of builders have expressed interest in the project.
"It's close to all the major freeways," she said. "And a lot of builders called us when they heard about the new schools. That's a really big deal."
David Jarvis, senior vice president of John Burns Real Estate Consulting, is convinced that Lago Mar will be popular, providing a new supply of housing amidst build out of other communities and rising home prices.
The local economy is booming, fueled by the Houston Ship Channel, medical jobs and industrial business, he said.
"It's all good for the southeast housing market," Jarvis said.
Established in 1997, Land Tejas has developed 10,000 acres of master-planned communities in the greater Houston area, Keller said.
"We've built our brand and a number of communities," she said.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Students from Ulrich Intermediate School have been bringing the past to life this year at the Historic Wunderlich Farm and Klein, Texas Museum.
Members of the campus' history club have made it their mission to serve as costumed docents at the museum - a homestead, now surrounded by suburban housing developments, that stands as a reminder of the way of life in Klein when northwest Harris County was a rural area farmed by German immigrants.
The Peter Wunderlich farmhouse, first built in 1891 by Peter Wunderlich II, now stands as a living history center, open to the public on the last Saturday of every month.
Steven Baird serves as living history educator and district historian for Klein Independent School District, which manages the property.
More Information Want to go? What: Historic Wunderlich Farm and Klein, Texas Museum Hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. the last Saturday of the month Address: 18218 Theiss Mail Road, Klein For more information: call 832-249-5800 or visit www.kleinhistorical.org. Follow on Facebook, www.facebook.com/WunderlichFarm/ Want to go? What: Historic Wunderlich Farm and Klein, Texas Museum Hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. the last Saturday of the month Address: 18218 Theiss Mail Road, Klein For more information: call 832-249-5800 or visit www.kleinhistorical.org. Follow on Facebook, www.facebook.com/WunderlichFarm/ See More Collapse
The home was transformed into a museum by the Klein Historical Foundation in 1995 with exhibits meant to capture life in Klein from 1890 to 1920. The walls have never been sheet-rocked, wallpapered or painted. Outside, a chicken house, smokehouse and barn remain.
Unlike most museums, Wunderlich Farm was designed to be interactive, a place where guests can see and touch history, Baird said.
However, until recently, he felt something was missing - a cast of characters on the farm. On a trip to the Dallas Heritage Village, he had been impressed by the center's Junior Historian Program.
Baird learned that the Dallas Heritage Village had created a chapter of the Texas State Historical Association Junior Historian Program and members of the group were serving as docents on the property.
"I thought it was such a great project, and I wondered if we had a group near here," Baird said. "I started looking around and found that Ulrich had one."
John Wilson, sixth-grade social studies teacher, had started a chapter of the Texas State Historical Association Junior Historian Program at Ulrich when the school opened.
"Steve Baird contacted me two years ago and said would you guys be interested in coming out to help out on the farm," Wilson recalled. "We said that we would love to.
"I told Mr. Baird that I could not guarantee how many would show up, but the first time, eight came," Wilson said.
He said that Baird provides the training and the students come in costume on the Saturdays the museum is open to the public. There are usually five to 10 club members who volunteer each time.
"They dress the part," Wilson said. "The boys look like Henry Fonda from 'The Grapes of Wrath,' and the girls look like Laura Ingalls Wilder from 'Little House on the Prairie.' "
Wilson has created a shopping guide, telling students where they can readily buy garb that will work for period costumes.
The first time students come out to the property, Baird gives them a tour and allows them to pick a house or building to be based at.
"They learn all about the history of the house," Wilson said. "After a year or so of doing it, they are able to talk to visitors in first person as if they lived in the house."
The students also provide demonstrations of life on the farm - from grinding corn to branding animals.
"We teach them and then they turn around and teach the public," Wilson said.
Wilson said the history club is a service organization and helping out with Wunderlich fits its mission. On Veterans Day, members give teachers poppies to wear in honor of fallen service members. For winter break, the club gives cookies and cider to faculty members.
"They do things to help out around campus," Wilson said.
Club members also attend the General Sam Houston Folk Festival in Huntsville and provide demonstrations on how to make cornhusk dolls and dip candles. They have served as docents at the Rosenberg Railroad Museum and other historic sites.
"We're getting out there to help preserve history," Wilson said. "When they get older, they can share their love of history and help preserve the memories of what happened."
He said that the club members are serious about living history. A few of them are even starting to sew their own costumes.
Michelle Jordy, seventh-grade social studies teacher, serves as the club sponsor.
"History gets pushed aside," she said. "But I'm a big proponent of: 'If you don't learn your history then you're doomed to repeat it.' "
Jordy said the history club members have taken to their parts at Wunderlich Farm.
"For a general junior high student, going into re-enactment is not necessarily something they'd want to do," she said. "But they get out on a Saturday morning and they're dressed in their 1900s farm-wear, teaching people how they used to wash clothes and shuck corn. There are lots of things they get to do there, and they just think it's really cool."
Jordy is convinced that the experience will stick with the students for life.
"It means more when it's not just words on a page and they really get to experience the story," she said. "History is the story of us and we work hard to make sure the kids understand that."
Baird hopes that students learn that there are careers in living history.
"It's a big field, with a lot of options," he said. "They also learn that history can be fun. It's not just a bunch of boring facts."
He plans to grow the program over time.
"Just having the kids walk around in period outfits adds realism for the visitors coming through," he said. "We're continuously hearing how impressed they are with the kids and how engaging the kids are."
Baird also wants to inspire others to start history clubs and to get more students involved in volunteering with historic groups.
"This gives them a chance to find something they are interested in and passionate about, and it gives them a chance to develop it," he said. "As teachers, that's what we want to do."
Laura Mullis joined the history club in seventh grade and took over as docent of the schoolhouse at Wunderlich Farm. She still returns even though she is now in ninth grade and has graduated from Ulrich.
"I always liked social studies, and I thought this would be a good way to meet people," she said. "I had visited Wunderlich Farm in elementary school and just loved it. I thought it would be really cool to teach other people in the community about it."
Mullis enjoys dressing up in costume, setting up the schoolhouse and demonstrating how to write with old-fashioned ink pens.
"I talk to people about how school was run back then," she said. "I like learning from experience instead of a textbook or something like that. This has really motivated me to learn more about history."
Mullis recommends volunteering at Wunderlich and joining the history club at Ulrich to other students. "It's a really good learning experience," she said. "If you're interest ed in history, it's a lot more hands-on. It's more real and relatable. And it's a lot of fun."
In the coming weeks, decals with the phrase "In God We Trust" will be placed on all of Rosenberg's public safety vehicles.
Rosenberg police chaplain Bruce Gilbert donated the decals, breaking into tears at a May 17 City Council meeting as he said the stickers will remind the city's police officers and firefighters of their faith while in life-threatening situations.
"These decals can serve as a testimony to our community that these men and women understand that their lives and their trust - whenever they hop on the back of that truck, whenever they get in that police vehicle, whatever call they're going to make - they understand that their lives are in the hands of God," he said.
Gilbert added that the decals will also demonstrate that Rosenberg citizens' support law enforcement.
Gilbert's donation is part of a wider conversation across Texas about whether "In God We Trust" has a place on cities' public-safety vehicles.
Attorney General Ken Paxton released an official opinion in November that such decals are permissible by law.
His opinion came after the police department in Childress, located about 250 miles northwest of Dallas, put "In God We Trust" stickers on its police cars.
The decision sparked pushback from the Wisconsin-based watchdog organization, the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
"In God We Trust" has been the U.S. national motto since 1956.
Rosenberg's council unanimously authorized the decals at a May 17 meeting.
The only hesitation came from At Large, Position 1 Councilor Bill Benton, who did ultimately vote for the decals.
"I don't know what we're going to do if you get other religions that want to do the same thing," he said. "I guess we'll have to cross that when we get to it."
Mayor Cynthia McConathy, who is a licensed minister and a teacher at the First Assembly of God in Rosenberg, said that because of Paxton's opinion, she had no qualms about voting in favor of the decals.
"Being a fellow minister, it is a no brainer for me," she said. "My direction is obviously based on the foundation of God's word, and so I am fully behind it."
Terri Burke, executive director of the Houston-based American Civil Liberties Union of Texas spoke against the decals.
"The intrusion of government into religion like this excludes vast swaths of the population who do not share the same religious convictions," Burke said. "Blurring the lines between church and state - particularly the enforcement arm of the state - sets a dangerous precedent that in effect treats some groups as second-class citizens. Officer morale is important, but law enforcement agencies across the country would do well to implement policies that focus on transparency, accountability and community trust."
Rosenberg's police officers have given him positive feedback, Gilbert said.
Gilbert said he will order a total of 150 decals, 75 for the police department and the fire department each, which he estimates will cost him about $600.
He hasn't finalized the design for the decals, they will likely be slightly larger than the average bumper sticker, Gilbert said.
The decals will be in the bottom left corner of the back windows of the police cars. They will be on other law enforcement and emergency response vehicles, including fire trucks, as well, Gilbert said.
This isn't the first time Rosenberg has blurred the lines between church and state.
In January, McConathy invited employees, council members and local pastors to join her in prayer for the coming year, through a message sent from her official city email account.
It was worth the risk of offending someone because it was how she expressed her Christian beliefs, McConathy later said.
Rosenberg is the second city in Fort Bend County to put decals on public safety vehicles.
Katy did in the fall.
Representatives for nearby Missouri City, Richmond and Sugar Land said their cities have not considered adding "In God We Trust" decals to public safety vehicles.
Though Gilbert is a pastor at New Hope Fellowship in Rosenberg, the decals did not result from a coordinated effort by the city's churches, said Daniel Haas, the pastor of St. John's United Church of Christ in Rosenberg and an army reserve chaplain.
"He knows what's best to conduct religious support for his police officers," Haas said. "And if he feels the stickers are best for that, let it be so."
When Joe Adams attended his first school groundbreaking as a Katy ISD trustee about 27 years ago, nothing but prairie lay west of the site for Edna Mae Fielder Elementary, which is east of Texas 99 on Greenway Village Drive.
When Adams, 63, left office recently, development had transformed the area into a busy suburban district.
That's not all that has changed during Adam's tenure on the board.
The district's enrollment has grown by more than 53,000 to about 73,000. Three superintendents have served and 41 out of the district's 60 schools have opened.
But life will now begin on the board without Adams, who was ousted from Position 1 by longtime district critic George Scott, who won by 6 votes after a recount from the May 7 election. The loss came after Scott criticized Adams during the campaign of having become complacent on the board and lacking leadership.
Adams will now begin life without the board.
"We have great people working for us in the district. I'll miss the day-to-day contact with the administration - with the things that are going on in our district," Adams said. "It's an era that has passed. (I) just have to move on."
The biggest change Adams has seen through the years, he said, relates to technology. Hardly anyone owned laptops when Adams started as a trustee in 1989, and the dawn of social media was years away.
Adams is proudest of the several bond referendums he helped pass, which he said helped keep KISD financially stable. His fondest memories are of standing on stages as a trustee and congratulating outgoing KISD seniors at numerous graduation ceremonies.
Thanked for service
At a board meeting last week, trustees thanked him for his service.
"There's no other person that I have served with in my many years of leadership that has been such a gentleman and so far-thinking," a tearful trustee Ashley Vann told Adams.
Vann graduated from the district's James E. Taylor High School when Adams started as a trustee.
"You've helped me figure this job out," Vann said. "I appreciate you. I honor you. I value you. I will miss you."
"The sign on the (board chamber) back wall, 'Be the Legacy,' has your name written all over it," new board president Rebecca Fox told Adams. "You have been a vital part of the success of Katy ISD. You have served us with integrity and honor, and you've mentored all of us."
But Adams also has had his share of critics, with residents such as Scott questioning his leadership. Over years, KISD's board has been criticized as not being transparent enough to the public and being influenced too much by Superintendent Alton Frailey, who is retiring this summer after nine years at the helm.
Symbol of issues
As the longest tenured board member by far, Adams became a symbol of those perceived issues to some.
"I think that we are in a public office; so we are subject to criticism," Adams said. "No matter what board you're in, you're always going to have people that will criticize you for whatever reason."
Adams, who owns Bluebonnet Painting Renovations and Remodeling and Budget Blinds in Katy, said he will continue to pursue volunteering opportunities at the district. Adams was a founding member of the KISD Education Foundation, which provides teaching curriculums for children that allow a more hands-on approach to learning.
Focus on foundation
Adams plans to be more involved in the foundation as well as programs such as Keep Encouraging Youth Toward Success, a district mentoring program.
Adams served as a member of the board of directors for the Texas Association of School Boards, a position he conceded when he lost the KISD election because members of the TASB board must also serve on their local boards. He was also KISD board president four times during his tenure.
Adams has lived in Katy for decades, and both of his children were district graduates.
"I think different people will have different remembrances of me," Adams said. "Those that were with the district will remember what we built on the board, and the people not on the board will remember that I was on the board for 27 years. I hope that former board members and current board members and community members will look at me and say, 'He did a job well-done."
When Rhonda Pohlman tells potential homebuyers about Willow Creek Farms, she tells them the Brookshire-based community provides the benefits of living near one of the fastest-growing communities in the nation, Katy, while providing some breathing space.
"This is a smaller community that's tucked away from all of the mayhem, and at the same time, you have access to everything you would need," said Pohlman, a Realtor-partner at Keller Williams Realty.
Willow Creek Farms is a Johnson Development Corp. master-planned community that is south of Interstate 10 and west of Pederson Road. The community is less than a five-minute drive from the Grand Parkway and will have easy access to the Katy-Fulshear Parkway when that road is completed, Pohlman said.
Willow Creek Farms has more than 1,100 home sites, of which about two-thirds of them are complete. The development started in 2012.
Home prices range from about $200,000 to the $400,000s, and the community has a robust re-sell market.
"Many of the people who move decide to move within the community," said Pohlman, who lives in nearby Cross Creek Ranch. "The thing that stands out to me is Willow Creek Farms has a strong sense of community."
The builders in the community are Pulte Homes and Westin Homes.
Like many master-planned communities, Willow Creek Farms offers amenities such as an Olympic-size swimming pool, splash pads, walking paths and a recreation center.
Katy Mills Mall, and the commercial development that surrounds it, are about 15 minutes away.
But with pre-sales under way at Johnson Development Corp.'s nearby Jordan Ranch, a 1,350-acre development one mile south of I-10, Pohlman expects more commercial development to locate nearby.
H-E-B already has announced plans to build a new store on FM 1463 at Fulshear Bend Drive.
A Memorial-Hermann Urgent Care clinic is coming to the same location, and there are plans for strip center projects along FM 1463 from FM 1093 to I-10.
Willow Creek Farms also benefits from its location within the Katy Independent School District, Pohlman said. The community is served by Wolman Elementary, WoodCreek Junior High and Katy High School, and KISD plans to build a new elementary school in Willow Creek Farms in 2017.
Area colleges include the University of Houston System at Cinco Ranch and the Katy campus of Houston Community College.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
With summer here, the Klein Independent School District remains a popular choice for families moving to the area.
District spokeswoman Judy Rimato said Klein is still considered a fast-growth district.
"The far northwest area of Harris County is desirable for many reasons," she said.
She counts the proximity to major thoroughfares, and the variety of local businesses, restaurants and churches among the draws for families looking to relocate to the northern suburbs of Houston.
Robert Robertson, associate superintendent of facility and school services, said that while the rate of growth has slowed a bit due to last year's economic downturn, the district continues to have a rising student population.
"We anticipate having an additional 1,100 to 1,200 students for the next school year," Robertson said. "That's about a 2.2 percent growth rate."
He explained that the recent completion of the Grand Parkway and the relocation of a number of large companies to the area are main draws for families contemplating a move.
"There's still stuff coming in, and it definitely has an impact," he said. "I think we'll also see a lot of commercial development in the years ahead - and we haven't seen a marked slow-down in home construction."
Robertson said there are a number of new multi-family housing developments opening in the area as well. He said generally families with younger children will rent apartments and the district will keep a close eye on changes in demographics to gauge when a new elementary school will be needed.
The last demographic study was completed in the fall. Results of the next study will be presented next October.
In the meantime, crews are hard at work completing Mahaffey Elementary School which is slated to open in time for the next school year
"Everything is on track for the district to occupy the school on or near July 17 and to open the school for students in August," Robertson said.
Students are also busy on the site for High School 5, which will be completed for fall 2017.
"It's progressing nicely," Robertson said. "We were far enough ahead in construction that we weren't affected by the wet weather, and we didn't sustain any damage from the severe floods in the area."
"We're right on schedule for our August opening," he said.
Robertson said that the school was designed with a focus on creating small learning communities with spaces outside the classroom for groups to gather and work collaboratively.
"It's going to be technology-rich," Robertson said. "And the library is going to have a variety of recesses for group work. It will be more open to encourage more students to come to the library."
Another unusual feature of the design is the career and technical education classrooms will be integrated with core curriculum instead of having a separate wing.
"Being adjacent has advantages," Robertson said.
He explained that the CTE classes will be able to work alongside relevant core courses.
When High School 5 opens, only freshmen and sophomores will attend the first year, allowing students who are sophomores and juniors at the end of the 2016-17 school year to finish at their current high schools.
Robertson said that current forecasting models indicate that High School No. 6 will need to open sometime between 2022 and 2025.
The next construction projects for the district include Intermediate School 10 and Early Childhood Pre-Kindergarten Center North, both slated to open in 2018. Another elementary school is scheduled to open the following year.
Robertson said that architects are also working on the design of the early childhood center, which will serve the north part of the district.
The design process of Intermediate School 10 is in the final stages. "We'll be breaking ground later this summer," Robertson said.
Rimato said that there are schools in the district that are over-capacity. Temporary buildings are used to accommodate students until common spaces, including cafeterias, restrooms and libraries become crowded.
"A good rule of thumb is when a school reaches 120 percent of capacity, we want to have a new school open that year or the very next year," Rimato said. "The district keeps a keen eye on growth to ensure that we build schools at the right time and in the most prudent location."
In addition to building new schools, Robertson said plans call for the addition of a gym and career and technical education facility at Klein Forrest High School.
"We're just starting our design effort," he said. "We're looking at multiple options and will see if it's going to be a stand alone building or connected to the school."
He said crews are preparing for needed maintenance, upgrades and repair projects, most of which will take place over the summer. The effort will include work on the roof of Klein Collins High School, which was the only campus to sustain damage from recent storms.
"We have multiple schools that will get a new air conditioning system or have major electrical work," Robertson said. "Multiple campuses will have window and door replacements or new carpet and elevators. There are about 15 to 20 schools that will get a little here, a little there."
He said working in the summer allows the district to undertake projects with a minimum effect on the students.
"It's the best time to do things especially when we have to cut power or the water on a campus," he said. "The principals work with us to allow us to get in there early and then we're all ready to go when the students get back. We try to get done as much as we can over the summer."
With the realization that the price of oil will remain lower for longer, businesses are trying to cut rents, consolidate workforces and downsize to balance the books.
In The Woodlands, the high-end office market is hovering below a 10 percent vacancy rate or 1.1 million square feet of space, which is in contrast to the area's five-year vacancy rate average of 6.9 percent. There are 48 Class A buildings with 11.8 million square feet of existing office space and nearly half-a-million square feet currently under construction, according to the North Houston Regional Center for Economic Development 2016 first quarter report. Class A office spaces are the newest, have high-quality infrastructure, are well-located with good access and command the highest rates.
"That vacancy number is so fluid; it changes so frequently, I throw it out there with caution. It can change overnight almost. But is it a concerning number? Sure. It's one that we haven't seen in quite a while," said Gil Staley, CEO of The Woodlands Area Economic Development Partnership.
Although that may sound like The Woodlands is losing steam, the area is faring well in comparison to other markets around Houston as the price per barrel of oil has started to inch back up. The price per barrel has fluctuated from the low to upper $40s since April after making a comeback from the steep decline to below $30 a barrel near the start of the first quarter.
Suburban slump
The overall suburban market is at 15.5 percent vacancy by in the first quarter, according to CBRE, an international commercial real estate company. That position is slightly more than the close of 2015, where the suburbs had a 15.4 percent vacancy rate. The greater Houston area vacancy rate is 14.3 percent, a slight uptick from the close of 2015.
While suburban markets and Houston as a whole are struggling with increased office vacancies, The Woodlands has managed to maintain inventory, keep tenants and stay competitive. "In respect to the entire Houston region, we're in good shape," Staley said.
The Woodlands vacancy rate during the first quarter was 10.3 percent overall, with a 9.8 percent vacancy rate in its Class A office market, according to CBRE.
One of the newest vacancies in The Woodlands is in the Hughes Landing development, which sits on Lake Woodlands and has lots of luxury retail amenities. Exxon Mobil Corp. moved some employees into two buildings there, but instead of fully occupying both buildings, half of 1725 Hughes Landing is now up for grabs.
The construction of mixed-use development Hughes Landing, which comprises multi-family, retail and restaurant, hotel and office space developments on 66-acres around a walkable, urban center, started four to five years ago, when the region was booming and oil prices stayed between $80 and $110.
Now, Hughes Landing is about to get another office building. Three Hughes Landing put another 321,000 square feet of office space on the market in March. Its sister buildings - One and Two Hughes Landing - managed to fill pre-lease space prior to opening. But the younger Three Hughes Landing was only at five to 10 percent pre-leased in early March. Updated figures weren't released.
"This is no different than anywhere else in Houston. The velocity of leasing has slowed with the cautious nature of the current economic environment," Layne said. "I've been through since the 1980s several of these oil and gas economic cycles and the cautious nature of the office tenants; it's the same as any other cycle we've lived through."
With the additional space, The Woodlands Development Co. - not to be confused with The Woodlands submarket - will have a Class A office space vacancy rate of 24 percent, and The Woodlands market as a whole will be flooded with even more space. That may seem like a lot of office space, but take out the two newly available spaces from Hughes Landing from the equation, and vacancy rates drop to 2 percent for the company, Layne said.
"A lot of companies want to renew where they are. We think we're a great landlord. It's just been a little slower for companies to move to newer office spaces," Layne said.
New opportunities
Although the office market might look somber in The Woodlands, especially for high-end spaces, Layne sees the increase in inventory as an "abundance of opportunity." When the market was white hot just a few years ago, businesses were clamoring to get in and were paying top dollar. Now, companies that want to move to the area have lots of opportunity to find the right spot at a better price point.
Aside from Class A offices, businesses can lease Class B office space since there's a 12.8 percent vacancy rate.
With companies cutting their payroll and shaving off excesses in the budget, subleasing space has become a way to both save money while not being forced to break a lease and pay moving expenses.
The Woodlands has about 607,000 square feet of Class A and B sublet space in The Woodlands, according to the North Houston Regional Center for Economic Development 2016 first quarter report. CBRE puts that figure at about 294,000 square feet available to sublet, which brings the office market from 10.3 percent vacancy to 14.5 percent of total available space, according to the CBRE report.
"Sublease is very tough on these buildings that are sitting out there vacant. They can come in at a lower price point than those that are vacant on the market as we speak. It's an interesting dynamic," Staley said.
The Woodlands office market includes major energy players like Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Exxon Mobil, Huntsman Company LLC, Repsol USA, with the energy sector making up 32 percent of major employers in the area, according to The Woodlands Area Economic Development Partnership.
In early March, Anadarko, which is The Woodlands No. 1 employer, cut 17 percent of its global workforce, which included an undisclosed number of jobs at its headquarters.
That doesn't include the number of ancillary businesses that moved in to service and support the big energy players. Some of the smaller players have been squeezed with spending cuts from big energy companies, forcing them to freeze hiring, cut jobs and scrimp.
"Until we see smaller oil service vendors hire and grow, I think it's going to be a challenge," said Josh Feinberg, a broker at J. Beard Real Estate Company LP.
Although The Woodlands thrives on the energy industry booms, many are optimistic that the area has bottomed without feeling the cuts like in other parts of the greater Houston area. "We don't live and die by energy pricing. Our market as a whole I wouldn't consider to be in a recession at all," Feinberg said. "We feel good from a bottoming out standpoint. We hope that's already occurred over the next 6 months. We are cautiously optimistic about the market."
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
A 16-year-old golden retriever believed to be the last surviving search-and-rescue dog that helped scan the wreckage of the World Trade Center for victims of the 9/11 attacks was euthanized Monday at a Houston-area veterinarian's office.
The dog, named Bretagne, was retired and had slowed down considerably because of her age. Her handler, Denise Corliss of Cypress, told NBC's "Today" show on Monday that Bretagne hadn't eaten for three days and had became "really anxious" the previous night. She slept alongside her dog Sunday night to settle her down.
Bretagne's death late Monday afternoon led to an outpouring of tributes, including from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who tweeted, "Texas & America are forever grateful for Bretagne's service."
The shaggy golden retriever was a beloved fixture at firehouses and classrooms in the Cypress area, as well as an important symbol to the wider search-and-rescue community.
"Some may say that the most a dog could be is a pet. However, to the over 400 members of the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department, Bretagne was a civil servant, a hero and is family," the department said in a statement. "We will remember her fondly, and continue serving the community with her as inspiration."
The canine and her handler, Corliss, were deployed at Ground Zero by Texas Task Force 1. Bretagne was part of the Texas search-and-rescue contingent and one of about 300 dogs to comb the wreckage in the harrowing aftermath of the attacks that killed 2,750 people in New York City alone.
Corliss recalled to NBC's Tom Brokaw a few years ago how searchers and rescuers "would come by to pet her and thank her," adding, "And so it became the unexpected role of therapy dog."
Bretagne (pronounced Brittany) also responded to disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. After her retirement at age 10, Bretagne aided other search dogs in training and volunteered at a reading program at a local elementary school.
BRETAGNE, REMEMBERED: 9/11 rescue dog returns to New York City on 16th birthday
She had lived with Corliss and her husband Randy, a Cy-Fair volunteer firefighter, for all of her 16 years. Denise Corliss was described Monday as "inconsolable."
Amy Ramon, fire chief of the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department, said Bretagne "touched every station" in the agency. "She's a part of the Cy-Fair family," a tearful Ramon said Monday before Bretagne took her final walk.
Late Monday afternoon, Ramon was among about two-dozen firefighters and members of the search-and-rescue community who lined the sidewalk to the Fairfield Animal Hospital in Cypress.
At 4:35 p.m., the Corlisses drove up in their tan pickup with Bretagne in the back seat. Denise Corliss opened the door for Bretagne, then Randy picked her up gingerly and placed her on the ground.
Bretagne didn't look around much as the solemn firefighters stood with arms raised in salute. She walked trustingly on a leash with her handler past the line of firefighters, her tail swinging limply. Then she stopped, turned toward a low bush beside the sidewalk and took a sniff.
She crossed the threshold of the vet's office. Through the window, she looked back outside toward the gathering of firefighters and friends, with a friendly look that seemed like a smile.
About 30 minutes later, the line of firefighters once again snapped to attention, resuming their salute. This time, they had thin black bands stretched across their gleaming silver badges.
Bretagne was brought out in a casket covered with a Texas flag, carried by pallbearers from the search-and-rescue unit. Denise and Randy Corliss followed close behind - their final walk with their "once-in-a-lifetime" dog.
Reporter Andrew Kragie talks with a few people touched by the heroic golden retriever on houstonchronicle.com.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
State officials are offering a reward of up to $20,000 for help solving the attempted murder of a deputy Harris County constable who was shot several times in the back two months ago.
So far there have been no arrests in the attack on Deputy Constable Alden Clopton, who continues to recover from his injuries. A suspect fled on foot, according to authorities.
"The attack on Deputy Alden Clopton is an unconscionable crime that will not be tolerated in Texas. I know local authorities are working tirelessly to ensure justice in this case, and hopefully this reward offering will assist in those efforts," said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement released by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
OTHER CRIME NEWS: Suspect sought after 3 people found dead in apartment
"This crime reminds us that law enforcement officers risk their lives every day to serve and protect our communities, and they deserve our utmost gratitude and respect," Abbott said.
DPS Director Steven McCraw joined the call for help.
"We are appalled by the cowardly shooting of Deputy Clopton and consider this an attack on all Texans," McCraw said. "Our thoughts and prayers remain with Deputy Clopton and his family as he continues to recover, and we urge anyone with information related to this ongoing investigation to come forward to help us as we seek justice in this case."
Officials asked asked the public call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-252-8477 or text the DPS directly from a cellular phone to 274637.
DEVELOPING STORY: Suspect in 11-year-old Josue Flores' stabbing death breaks down in court
Clopton was shot after a Precinct 7 reserve deputy constable, who had pulled a driver over for a traffic violation, called for backup. Clopton, an 11-year department veteran, was on patrol nearby.
The reserve deputy, Ann Glasgow, noticed her dash camera's audio wasn't working and asked Clopton to help her fix it.
"He was facing her, leaning in, giving her instruction how to fix it," constable spokeswoman Pamela Greenwood said. "That's when the suspect came up from behind and shot Deputy Clopton multiple times."
Harris County medical examiners ruled that a teenager whose body was found in Shoreacres in April died by suicide from hanging, authorities said.
Abigail English, 15, was last seen March 22 when she left home to walk the family's dog. Her family reported her missing the next day.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
A civil lawsuit that initially would have permanently banned 92 accused gang members from a court-ordered "safety zone" in southeast Houston was dropped by the Harris County Attorney and District Attorney's Office.
The decision came after settlement negotiations that resulted in proposals for programs to help gang members who wanted to "become law abiding citizens."
"The lawsuit is being dismissed to allow time to develop and implement programs that create job-training and educational opportunities," Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan and District Attorney Devon Anderson said in a joint statement.
RELATED: Half of defendants removed from gang injunction suit
In September 2015, officials began a legal process in civil court to bar 92 people accused of being associated with the Bloods, Crips and other street gangs from a 2-square-mile section of the Southlawn neighborhood near the University of Houston and Texas Southern University. The number of named individuals was later dropped to 46.
Lawyers for some of the people on the list complained that the effort was discriminatory and was done without the knowledge and input from the community itself. Critics also complained the action unfairly targeted black men.
Houston attorneys Gemayel Haynes and Monique Sparks represented several of those on the banned list.
ALLEGATIONS: Suspected gang members unfairly targeted in Southlawn lawsuit, lawyers say
"I'm glad they decided to take a different approach to solving some of the issues in the community instead of going forward with the gang injunction," Haynes said after learning of the dismissal.
Sparks said lawyers and community leaders met with city and county officials on a regular basis in the weeks leading up to Monday's dismissal.
"It shows what can happen when we work together. They realized there's so much more that we can do outside this gang injunction," Sparks said.
The problem, Sparks said, was that the officials immediately opted for the civil lawsuit rather than searching for a measure to address the underlying symptoms that can result in problems such as criminal activity in a neighborhood.
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 New Haven, Connecticut, a group of undergraduates have just come up with a groundbreaking proposal. Their petition calls on Yale Universitys English department to abolish a course on major writers and poets. The curriculum includes such figures as Geoffrey Chaucer, John Milton, and William Shakespeare. It is unacceptable, the screed declares, that a Yale student considering studying English literature might read only white male authors.
The trouble with the demand is not its petulance but its timidity. If the canonical English bards, novelists, and playwrights are to be minimizedor banished entirelywhy stop there? If the protestors want to decolonize the course, and focus the curriculum to deliberately include literatures relating to gender, race, sexuality, ableism and ethnicity, why not decolonize the entire university catalogue?
Manifestly, this purification of Western culture would have to include music. Out goes J.S. Bach, who was not only Caucasian but German, deeply religious, and straight (two wives, 20 children). The Teutonic Franz Josef Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Johannes Brahms would join him on the proscribed list, along with the Austrian Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and such Italians as Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, and, it goes without saying, Antonio Vivaldi, the redheaded priest.
The dominant figures in painting and sculpture must also be scrubbed from the picture, just as Josef Stalin ordered counter-revolutionaries airbrushed from photographs. Arrivederci signors Michelangelo and Da Vinci; adieu messieurs Cezanne, Renoir, and Toulouse-Lautrec (though the latter might be squeezed in under the ableism statute). Bon soir Monet, Manet, Picasso et. al.
Inventors must also be purged. Benjamin Franklinwho discovered electricity when he was not part of a government that employed slavesThomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Nikola Tesla, the Wright Brothers, Henry Ford, and all other heirs of white privilege, no matter how impoverished their beginnings, will vanish from the textbooks, available only to antiquarians.
But the statues that throw the longest shadows are those of scientists. These icons must be smashed head to toe. The Catholic Church couldnt make Galileo disappear, but the petitioners are proudlymajesticallyuninformed about history. Surely the statue of the astronomer can be knocked off its pedestal, and the entire pantheon spray-painted with progressive graffiti. Archimedes, who founded the study of physics; Rene Descartes and his mathematical formulae; Louis Pasteur and his germ theory; Charles Darwin and his writings on evolution; Isaac Newton; Albert Einstein; Enrico Fermi; Sigmund Freud, and so many others who built Western civilizationpale males from the colonizing nations, every last one.
But wait! Marie Curie could still be taught, not because of her work on radium of course, but because of her sex. Alan Turing, inventor of the computer, was gay. He can qualify as well; so can Stephen Hawking, who is differently abled indeed. But these are the exceptions. The others must join Shakespeare & Co. in the dustbin of history. What counts is not knowledgethat went out with the phone booth and the Polaroid camera. All that matters now are feelings of righteousness and a curriculum of inclusion.
Derek Bok, former president of Harvard, is credited with the aphorism, If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. But that was decades ago. Today, thanks to the Eli agitators, ignorance has become synonymous with Yale.
Photo by UygarGeographic/iStock
John J. Flanagan of Long Island used to chair the New York State senates education committee. He appears not to have learned much in the job. Flanagan became senate majority leader last winter, after fellow Republican Dean Skelos was convicted on federal corruption charges. He immediately set about doing what Albany does best these days. That would be tormenting New York City mayor Bill de Blasioa fellow who, in purely political terms, has earned an occasional thumb in the eye, and more. But sometimes even Albany needs to set aside politics in favor of sound policy, especially when the politics threatens to do substantial damage to the 1.1 million children enrolled in New York Citys public schools.
At issue is a Flanagan bill extending mayoral control of the citys public schools for another year. Mayoral control is set to expire on June 30. Flanagans bill requires the creation of a gubernatorially appointed district inspector meant to oversee the nuts-and-bolts operation of the schools. The position would be located not in Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Queensor any of the five boroughsbut in Albany. Imagine that: a system already paralyzed by bureaucratic oversight, political boondoggling, and self-serving teachers-union intrigue stands to get more bureaucrats, more boondogglers, and more intriguers. How does that help the kids? It doesnt, of courseor it wont, if Flanagan gets his way.
The senator was highly regarded when he led the education committee. Hes smart, resourceful, and open both to innovation and compromise. No doubt he knows very well what a ludicrous notion hes peddling. If he doesnt, he should consider this question: Would he support an Albany-based inspector for his hometown district of Smithtown, Long Island? Of course he wouldnt.
The questionsand doubtsraised by de Blasios stewardship of the citys schools are profound. Given his selection of a hidebound, pre-mayoral-control retread as schools chancellor, his rolling back of proven Bloomberg administration reforms, and his unrelenting opposition to innovative winners like charter schools, it seems clear that he will hand over a severely diminished school system to his successorwhomever and whenever that may be. And it doesnt help that a huge teachers union donation to one of his political slush funds appears to be a major part of a federal investigation.
But this does not add up to a reason to deny the elected mayor, ex officio, control of the schools. Or to hobble the system with a political commissar, which is what a gubernatorially designated inspector effectively would be. Yes, de Blasio did his level best two years ago to help the Democratic Party take control of the senate. He lost, and he should expect to pay a price for losing. And yes, Governor Andrew Cuomos ongoing feud with de Blasio appears to be at issue here. The governor is playing no direct role in the drama, but few in Albany doubt that hes encouraging Flanagan.
New York governors and mayors never get along, and it would be naive to demand that they do. But sometimes the price of politics as usual is too high, and the potential for long-term policy damage is too steep, to indulge old traditions. This is such a time. Flanagan needs to come to his senses, now, and if he doesnt, Cuomo needs unequivocally to put an end to the scheme.
Photo by Mario Tama/iStock
Women in Online Work program pentru femeile care isi doresc sa munceasca in companii internationale, de la biroul de acasa
Applying New York law, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that there was no advertising injury indemnity insurance coverage for nearly $35 million in judgments against an off-price luxury goods vendor, insured Ashley Reed Trading, Inc., for selling handbags bearing counterfeit Fendi trademarks.
The crux of the decision was that Ashley Reeds liability under the judgments was based on the sale not the advertising of counterfeit Fendi products. Fendi did not even allege it suffered injury because of advertising conducted by Ashley Reed. Instead, damages were awarded based on sales of counterfeit products. As a matter of common sense, the court said, there is a difference between placement of a counterfeit brand label on a handbag and the act of soliciting customers through printed advertisements or other media. Here, the Fendi brand and logo were used for product misidentification, not as an advertisement.
The decision, United States Fidelity And Guarantee Company v. Fendi North America, Inc. et al., was filed May 17, 2016 and is reported at 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 8973. It affirmed a published decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, reported at 43 F. Supp. 3d 271, denying insurance coverage to Ashley Reed and depriving its judgment creditors of a money source to satisfy their judgments.
The operative facts were that Fendi, through its several companies, manufactured luxury handbags, shoulder bags, purses, wallets and other items and owned associated federally-registered trademarks. Ashley Reed sold off price branded handbags and other luxury goods in New York and elsewhere. Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation and its subsidiary purchased clothing and merchandise at wholesale and resold them to the public at discounted prices. Burlington regularly purchased merchandise from Ashley Reed. During the relevant time period, Ashley Reed sold counterfeit Fendi goods fashion accessories that were not Fendi products, but which displayed Fendi trademarks and otherwise had the appearance of genuine Fendi products to Burlington and others.
Insurer USF&G issued liability insurance policies to Ashley Reed between 2003 and 2006. The policies included coverage for advertising injury as defined by the policies. Advertising was defined in the policies as attracting the attention of others by any means for the purpose of seeking customers or supporters or increasing sales or business. The policies defined advertising injury as injury resulting from four specified offenses, including the use of anothers advertising idea in Ashley Reeds advertising, and infringement of anothers copyright, trade dress or slogan again in Ashley Reeds advertising.
The insurance coverage dispute decided by the court arose when Fendi sued Ashley Reed for trademark counterfeiting, false designation of origin, trademark dilution and unfair competition. Fendi asked for treble damages, alleging that Ashley Reed intentionally used the Fendi trademarks with knowledge that they were counterfeit. The United States District Court entered a permanent injunction and awarded Fendi treble damages, pre judgment interest fees and costs, all of which totaled $34,650,885.91.
Separately, Fendi also sued Burlington, alleging its resale of counterfeit Fendi-branded merchandise that Burlington had purchased from Ashley Reed. Burlington, in turn, brought its own third party claims against Ashley Reed to pay damages in the sum of $248,257.14, consisting of profits from the sale of counterfeit goods it purchased from Ashley Reed, as well as attorneys fees, costs and interest.
The outcome of the case turned on whether or not Fendi complained that it suffered injury because of advertising, or whether it alleged only the sale of counterfeit goods, without more. The court concluded that the policies did not insure Ashley Reeds infliction of Fendis injuries, because as stated above, the offenses covered require the use of anothers advertising idea in Ashley Reeds advertising or infringement of anothers copyright, trade dress or slogan in such advertising, and no advertising of the counterfeit goods by Ashley Reed whatsoever was alleged or proved by Fendi or Burlington. Relief was awarded to Fendi and Burlington based not on any advertising activities by Ashley Reed, but solely on its sale of counterfeit Fendi goods.
Going further, the Court of Appeals denied insurance coverage for two more reasons. First, Ashley Reed could not have reasonably expected it would be indemnified for loss it suffered by disgorging the profits it improperly derived from selling goods it knew bore a false designation of origin. In this regard, the court cited cases standing for the well established rule that one cannot purchase insurance to indemnify it for resulting loss when it is forced to disgorge money or property it acquired wrongfully.
Second and finally, the USF&G policies issued to Ashley Reed all included a falsity exclusion, providing that there was no coverage for an advertising injury arising out of oral or written publication of material, if done by or at the direction of the insured with knowledge of its falsity. To the extent that Ashley Reeds use of the Fendi logo on its handbags might arguably have constituted advertising which the court emphasized was not so the falsity exclusion would be triggered because the record was clear, according the court, that Ashley Reed intentionally placed the Fendi logo on its handbags with knowledge that it would be selling goods bearing a false designation of origin.
The Court of Appeals therefore upheld the District Courts decision denying coverage.
Richard B. Wolf is a partner in the Los Angeles office of the nationwide law firm of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP. Since 1970 Mr. Wolf has specialized in insurance coverage advice and litigation. He is a member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).
Legislation before state lawmakers in New York would significantly change medical malpractice law by allowing patients to sue years after an alleged misdiagnosis or mistreatment.
Patients currently must file lawsuits within 21/2 years after the alleged malpractice.
The bill would amend the statute of limitations on such cases to start the clock when a patient first realizes they were possibly misdiagnosed or harmed by a medical professional as long as the lawsuit is filed within 10 years of the original incident.
The Medical Society of the State of New York opposes the change, saying it would make medical malpractice insurance far more expensive and lead to disastrous increases in health care costs.
Supporters of the change say that when it comes to complex conditions such as cancer, it can take several years for a patient to realize they were misdiagnosed or otherwise mistreated by a physician or other medical professional.
Elissa McMahon was treated for what doctors told her were benign uterine fibroids in 2012 at a New York City hospital. In 2014, however, she learned she had advanced uterine cancer that already had spread to her liver and spine. She said her new doctors told her the disease should have been caught in 2012 but since it had been almost three years it was too late to file a malpractice suit.
Shes now a leading supporter of the effort to pass the bill.
The window was closed before I even knew, said the 46-year-old single mother, who lives in the Boston suburbs. I may not live to see this law passed, but if I dont, and I helped pass it, then Im glad I did it.
Many states allow lawsuits for one to three years following the discovery of an alleged injury, though most require them to be filed within five years of the incident, regardless of when it was discovered. Supporters of the bill argue New York has one of the strictest windows in the nation, preventing many patients from having legal recourse.
The Medical Society, however, contends the New York bill would go too far by allowing date-of-discovery cases to be filed as long as 10 years far longer than most other states. The state already has among the highest rates for medical malpractice insurance, said Elizabeth Dears, senior vice president and chief legislative counsel at the Society.
She said many states with more liberal statutes of limitations on malpractice claims also have caps on damages for pain and suffering something New York does not have.
Given that many hospitals and physicians all across New York State are barely able to keep their door open now any increases of this nature would prompt a very serious access-to-care problem, she wrote in the Societys formal response to the bill.
The bill has broad support with the state Assemblys Democratic majority and passed that chamber last year. But it faces obstacles in the Republican-led Senate. No vote is scheduled, but lawmakers intend to adjourn their session for the year later this month.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
During my first decade of practicing law in Texas, I enjoyed a good professional relationship with Texas Governor Greg Abbott. In those days, Abbott, who is my age and earned his law degree one year after me, was a young defense attorney with the Houston law firm of Butler Binion, and was opposite me in many a subrogation case. He was a great track and field athlete during college and enjoyed running. He might also be the unluckiest man on earth. On July 14, 1984, while running along a sidewalk in the upscale Houston suburb of River Oaks, a 75-foot Post Oak tree fell on him, crushing his lower spine and instantly rendering him a paraplegic. He has been in a wheelchair ever since.
Abbott sued the homeowner (prominent divorce attorney, Roy Moore) whose tree fell on him, along with a tree service company (Davey Tree Expert Company). Moore testified that he was surprised to learn that the big tree had rotted from the inside. Abbotts lawyer, Don Riddle, alleged that Moore and the tree company were negligent for failing to warn people about the dangerous tree or to take action to prevent it from falling. Basal decay in a Post Oak tree cannot be corrected by fertilization, but that is what Davey had recommended. According to news reports from 2002, Abbott won a confidential settlement of more than $10 million. Ironically, Abbott sat on the Texas Supreme Court during the years that the Court implemented significant tort reform measures in Texas.
I never forgot Abbotts experience, and today, our clients send us at least one or two of these types of insurance claims (property and bodily injury) weekly to evaluate for subrogation potential. Damage resulting from falling limbs or trees remains one of the most overlooked areas of third-party liability and subrogation. They are also the most poorly investigated. Whether the owner of a tree that has fallen is a private citizen or a municipality, subrogation professionals must be aware of available tort remedies and be prepared to properly and promptly investigate and dispatch the appropriate expert to document the condition of a fallen tree before the critical evidence reaches the chipper.
Private Owner
While the law of premises liability varies from state-to-state, the law generally is that in order to hold a property owner liable for damage caused by falling limbs or trees located on an owners property, the owner must have actual or constructive notice of the risk. This can be actual notice (e.g., they are advised by local tree company to cut it down or portions of the tree have already fallen) or constructive notice (dangerous condition is obvious and existed for such a length of time that the owner should have known). In finding negligence, courts and juries will look at a variety of factors including the amount of time the condition existed, the size of the premises, the type of condition and when a reasonable person would have discovered the condition. It would be prudent for landowners to conduct periodic inspections of trees located on their property to ensure the safety of others and surrounding property. While the early common law was generally that owners were not liable for physical harm caused to persons not on their property, even if the conditions may be highly dangerous or inconvenient to neighbors, things have evolved. Today, most owners have a duty to exercise reasonable care regarding natural conditions on their land which lies adjacent to a highway or waterway.
Public/Government Owner
Trees on public property also rot. State and local government enjoy sovereign immunity, except when waived by state law. For many municipalities, there is a duty to make periodic visual inspections of trees on public property. The inspections should be done by qualified people (e.g., certified tree inspectors). They usually have a duty to remove obvious dangers and do preventive maintenance, and may be held liable for foreseeable harm that could have been prevented. While the laws governing governmental liability for falling trees also varies, some states (e.g., Illinois) provide that a municipality does not enjoy absolute immunity from liability, but is liable only for willful and wanton conduct. This burden can be met by showing that the municipality was informed about a dangerous condition and knew that other persons had previously been damaged because of the dangerous condition.
In other jurisdictions, such as Minnesota, only conduct of a policy-making (discretionary) nature is entitled to immunity. A citys policy to trim trees along high-traffic roads before trimming trees on low-traffic roads is an example of an action that gives the city immunity. In determining where or how to trim trees along roadways, the city has to make choices based on its budget and other factors. At the same time, a city employee who negligently trims or an inspector who doesnt recognize an obviously-rotten tree that poses a hazard, may subject the municipality to liability.
Investigating Tree Damage Subrogation
Unsafe trees often give little indication of decay or instability. Rot tends to grow from the inside out, and trees can easily become unstable long before there are any visible indications of trouble. In investigating these losses, we must focus on showing that the defendant should have discovered the trees condition and the extent of the defendants duty to inspect trees for rot and other signs of interior decay. This includes both objective evidence such as warnings from neighbors or tree services, as well as more subjective evidence such as the obvious nature of the trees deterioration. Photographs of the tree should be taken and portions of it preserved for later review and use at trial.
Engage the services of an inexpensive arborist and ask him or her to document the trees condition. Warn the property owner immediately after the loss not to dispose of or move the evidence until an investigation can be conducted. Engage subrogation counsel to advise you on the burden of proof you face in the particular jurisdiction you are dealing with.
Last fall, the top of a London Plane tree fell on to a group of chess players in New Yorks Bryant Park, injuring five people, including one child, and leading to a host of subrogation opportunities. The same day, a tree fell in Charleston, South Carolina, destroying a section of a home. These are not rare or unusual instances.
When a tree falls in the woods, it does make a loud sound. When it falls in populated areas, it can be heard throughout the claims department and should be aggressively pursued for any and all subrogation potential.
Egypt said Wednesday that a French ship has picked up signals from deep under the Mediterranean Sea, presumed to be from one of the black boxes of the EgyptAir plane that crashed last month, killing all 66 passengers and crew on board.
The development raised hopes the planes flight data and cockpit voice recorders, known as the black boxes, could be retrieved and shed light on the aircrafts tragic crash.
In Cairo, the Civil Aviation Ministry cited a statement from the committee investigating the crash as saying the vessel Laplace received the signals. The French Navy confirmed the Laplace arrived on Tuesday in the search area and picked up the signals overnight.
The signals frequencies could match with the frequencies of data recorders, a French Navy spokesman told The Associated Press. The location and identification of the source of the signals have not been determined yet, he said, adding that he searches are still at an early stage. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasnt allowed to speak publicly on the issue.
Laplaces equipment picked up the signals from the seabed of the wreckage search area, assumed to be from one of the data recorders, the Egyptian statement read. It added that a second ship, John Lethbridge affiliated with the Deep Ocean Search firm, will join the search team later this week.
Locator pings emitted by flight data and cockpit voice recorders, known as the black boxes, can be picked up from deep underwater. The Laplace is equipped with three detectors made by the Alseamar company designed to detect and localize signals from the flight recorders, which are believed to be at a depth of about 3,000 meters (9,842 feet) underwater. By comparison, the wreck of the RMS Titanic is lying at a depth of about 3,800 meters (12,500 feet).
Shaker Kelada, an EgyptAir official who has led other crash investigations for the carrier, told the AP that half the job has been done now and that the next step would be to determine the black boxers exact location and extract them from the sea.
We have to find where the boxes are exactly and decide on how to pull them out, he said, adding that search teams might need to send in robots or submarines and be extremely careful to avoid any possible damage.
Kelada said he was confident the boxes will be retrieved. He had investigated the Flash Airlines Flight 604 crash in 2004, when the aircraft hit the Red Sea shortly after takeoff from the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 148 passengers, most of them French tourists, and crew on board.
In the May 19 crash, EgyptAir Airbus A320 had been cruising normally in clear skies on a nighttime flight to from Paris to Cairo when it suddenly lurched left, then right, spinning all the way around and plummeting 38,000 feet (11,582.4 meters) into the sea, Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos has said shortly after the crash. However, the Egyptians refuted this, saying that the plane didnt swerve or lose altitude before it disappeared off radar. A distress signal was never issued, EgyptAir has said.
Since the crash, small pieces of the wreckage and human remains have been recovered while the bulk of the plane and the bodies of the passengers are believed to be deep under the sea. A Cairo forensic team has received the human remains and is carrying DNA tests to identify the victims. The search has narrowed down to a 5-kilometer (3-mile) area in the Mediterranean.
David Learmount, a consulting editor at the aviation news website Flightglobal, said the black boxes batteries can transmit signals up to 30 days after the crash. But even if the batteries expire, locating the boxes remains a possibility.
Its terribly important to find the black boxes, because if they dont find them, they will know nothing about the aircraft, he said, citing the 2009 Air France Flight 447 crash in the Atlantic Ocean, when black boxes were found two years later.
Nearly two weeks after the crash off Egypts northern coast, the cause of the tragedy still has not been determined. Egypts civil aviation minister, Sherif Fathi, has said he believes terrorism is a more likely explanation than equipment failure or some other catastrophic event.
But no hard evidence has emerged on the cause, and no militant group has claimed to have downed the jet. Earlier, leaked flight data indicated a sensor had detected smoke in a lavatory and a fault in two of the planes cockpit windows in the final moments of the flight.
In France, Sebastien Barthe, spokesman for the countrys air accident investigation agency or the BEA, told the AP that the signal picked up is specific enough combined with the localization in the search area to indicate that it comes from one of the data recorders of the EgyptAir flight. Some BEA investigators are on board of the Laplace.
Safety onboard Egyptian aircraft and at the countrys airports have been under close international scrutiny since a Russian airliner crashed in the Sinai Peninsula last October, killing all 224 people on board, shortly after taking off from an Egyptian resort.
That crash claimed by the Islamic States affiliate in Sinai and blamed by Moscow on an explosive device planted on board decimated Egypts lucrative tourism industry, which had already been battered by years of turmoil in the country.
Also Wednesday, Egyptian authorities reported that they had evacuated all passengers from the EgyptAir Flight 960 from Cairo to Bangkok scheduled late the previous night after receiving security threats of a bomb on board.
Tarek Zaki, head of security at Cairo airport, said the warning claimed an unidentified assailant had planted a bomb on the plane. A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the plane and the bags were searched but no bomb was found. The threat caused a delay and eventually led to the flight being cancelled.
(Corbet reported from Paris.)
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
BP Plc said it agreed to pay $175 million to settle claims by U.S. investors that its managers lied about the size of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill to prop up its stock price, removing the companys last major overhang from the disaster.
The investors, who blamed BP for massive losses when the true scope of the spill was revealed, had sought as much as $2.5 billion. The settlement averts a trial that was set for July in Houston federal court.
The settlement announcement Thursday came shortly after a ruling by U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison to narrow the evidence that could have been presented to a jury. The decision, which would have benefited BP at trial, limited the management statements that investors could claim affected the stock price.
BP shares plunged by more than 40 percent in the weeks after the April 2010 disaster, as it became clear the company couldnt immediately contain the spill. More than 4 million barrels of oil escaped into the Gulf of Mexico during the 87 days London-based BP took to control the well.
The investors lawsuit, led by the public employee pension funds of New York and Ohio, revolved around statements made shortly after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig blew up in April 2010. Those statements also were central to BPs agreement in 2012 to pay $525 million to resolve claims by the Securities and Exchange Commission that the London-based company underestimated the size of the spill to bolster stock prices. BP also pleaded guilty to a felony count of obstruction of Congress related to spill estimates.
Investors saw their stock prices plummet after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, said Jennifer Freeman, a spokeswoman for the New York Comptrollers Office. This settlement helps compensate investors for their losses.
Spill Costs
BP has set aside $56.4 billion so far for the disaster, according to an April regulatory filing. The companys cumulative pre-tax charge to earnings doesnt show a complete picture of the companys financial hit from the spill. As part of funds paid out to stop and clean up the spill and compensate victims, BP has agreed to a series of deals with different groups harmed by the disaster. It isnt clear how much remains to be paid under all of these agreements.
In 2012, BP agreed to pay $4 billion to resolve criminal charges tied to pollution violations, misleading Congress and manslaughter for the deaths of 11 rig workers killed in the initial explosion. In a separate deal that year, BP agreed to pay private property and economic-loss claims by hundreds of thousands of individuals and businesses in the five Gulf states, although it excluded whole categories of business claims by casinos, real estate developers and financial institutions. As many of these claims remain unevaluated and unpaid, BP said in April its estimate of $12.9 billion will likely be significantly higher once all private claims are processed and paid.
Last year, BP settled the most expensive slice of its spill litigation by agreeing to pay $20.8 billion over the next 17 years to cover additional pollution violations, financial losses and natural resources damages suffered by state, local and national government entities.
Ellison said in Thursdays ruling that investors could sue to recover for losses caused by low-ball flow rate estimates BP managers made public during the first two weeks of the spill. Company officials repeatedly estimated that 1,000 to 5,000 barrels of oil were gushing from the well daily, when internal calculations pegged the flow rate at more than 10 times higher.
Ellison rejected investors theory that BP kept propping up the share price with other statements that downplayed the financial impact a longer, wider spill would have on the company, saying thats not the same thing as misrepresenting the flow rate.
Class Action
Ellison previously allowed investors who bought ADR shares immediately after the disaster to sue as a group or class action, while spurning investors who bought before the incident.
The $175 million settlement doesnt cover other securities-related claims, BP said Thursday.
The case is In Re BP Plc Securities Litigation, 10-md-2185, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas (Houston).
Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
The push by U.S. auto safety regulators to replace potentially dangerous Takata air bag inflators in millions of vehicles is running into resistance from General Motors Co, documents released on Thursday show.
GMs response highlights the challenges that the Takata airbag scandal, which has led to the largest-ever auto safety recall, presents to automakers and regulators.
The largest U.S. automaker issued a preliminary recall for 1.9 million 2007-2011 trucks and sport utility vehicles equipped with Takata Corp passenger-side airbag inflators that use ammonium nitrate as a propellant.
Its action was the latest in a series of recalls announced by major automakers since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) declared that all Takata airbag inflators made with ammonium nitrate should be replaced.
But GM told U.S. regulators it may not be necessary to recall many of the Takata-equipped 2007-2011 full-size trucks and SUVs, according to documents filed with the NHTSA. GM said its Takata inflators have a unique design that does not pose a safety risk.
The company said its data shows no cases of an airbag rupturing among 44,000 deployments in large pickups and SUVs that contain Takata inflators.
The Takata inflators used in GM trucks and large SUVs are designed with different venting for hot gases released when the airbag deploys, and they are installed in the vehicle in a way that minimizes exposure to moisture, the company said.
GM believes that the vehicles it manufactured with these inflators do not contain a present defect which poses an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety, the automaker stated in a document filed with the NHTSA.
GM said it plans additional testing to make the case that its vehicles are safe.
Takata and other airbag suppliers lack the production capacity to quickly produce replacement parts, officials have said.
Michigan-based air bag maker Key Safety Systems and new Chinese parent Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corp are discussing a potential investment in Takata with the Japanese companys investment banker Lazard, Key Chief Executive Jason Luo said on Thursday.
Luo said he could not provide further details on whether Joyson and Key were interested in acquiring Takata or its air bag and seat belt operations.
AT ODDS WITH REGULATORS
GMs stance is at odds with the position regulators took last month when they said all frontal Takata airbag inflators without a drying agent must be recalled.
The science clearly shows that these inflators become unsafe over time, faster when exposed to humidity and variations of temperature, NHTSA spokesman Bryan Thomas said Thursday.
Upward of 100 million vehicles worldwide with Takata airbag inflators have been recalled and are linked to 13 deaths and more than 100 injuries. Inflators can explode with too much force and spray metal shrapnel into vehicle passenger compartments.
NHTSA confirmed in April that about 85 million Takata airbag inflators eventually will have to be recalled and replaced unless automakers can prove they are safe. Federal officials have agreed to give Takata and automakers until December 2019 to either recall ammonium nitrate inflators, or prove they are safe.
NHTSA is staggering recalls over time and directing replacement inflators first to states with extended high heat and humidity, linked to inflator failures.
However, NHTSAs handling of the situation has come under fire from Capitol Hill. On Wednesday, a U.S. Senate report said four automakers were continuing to sell some new vehicles with defective Takata airbag inflators that will eventually need to be recalled.
Ruptures have occurred without warning. In December, a driver of a 2006 Ford Ranger was killed in South Carolina when the inflator ruptured in a crash. NHTSA said 1,900 tests of the Ranger inflator type did not result in any ruptures. Ford on Wednesday recalled 1.9 million additional vehicles for Takata inflators.
GMs large pickups and SUVs are its most profitable and highest-volume models. GM declined to say how many trucks it has sold in the U.S. with ammonium nitrate Takata inflators that could be subject to recall. Data provided by LMC Automotive indicate GM built 4.9 million large pickups and large SUVs in the years 2007-2011. About 300,000 of those vehicles, heavy duty pickups, already were recalled.
GMs action Thursday was the largest of six separate recalls made public by the NHTSA. Volkswagen AG recalled 217,000 vehicles; Daimler AGs Mercedes-Benz USA unit recalled 200,000 vehicles, and the German automakers U.S. van unit recalled 5,100 vehicles. Another 92,000 vehicles were recalled by BMW AG, while Jaguar Land Rover, a Tata Motors Ltd brand, recalled 54,000 vehicles.
In total, 15 automakers have recalled nearly 16.4 million vehicles in the United States since last week, stemming from Takatas decision in May to declare another 35 million to 40 million inflators with ammonium nitrate defective by 2019.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Adrian Croft, Nick Zieminski and Bill Rigby)
The swollen Seine River kept rising Friday, spilling into Paris streets and forcing one landmark after another to shut down as it surged to its highest levels in nearly 35 years. Across the city, museums, parks and cemeteries were being closed as the city braced for possible evacuations.
The Seine was expected to peak in Paris sometime later Friday at about 5 meters (16 feet, 3 inches) above normal. Authorities shut the Louvre museum, the national library, the Orsay museum and the Grand Palais, Paris striking glass-and-steel topped exhibition center.
We evaluate the situation for all the (cultural) buildings nearly hour-by-hour, said Culture Minister Audrey Azouley, speaking to journalists outside the world-famous Louvre. We dont know yet the evolution of the level of the Seine River in Paris.
At the Louvre, home to Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa, curators were scrambling to move some 250,000 artworks from basement storage areas at risk of flooding to safer areas upstairs.
Nearly a week of heavy rain has led to serious flooding across a swathe of Europe, leaving 16 people dead and others missing.
Although the rain has tapered off in some areas, floodwaters are still climbing and could take weeks to clear. Traffic in the French capital was snarled as flooding choked roads and several Paris railway stations shut down.
Basements and apartments in the capitals well-to-do 16th district began to flood Friday afternoon as the river crept higher, and authorities were preparing possible evacuations in a park and islands on Paris western edge.
French authorities activated preliminary plans to transfer the French presidency, ministries and other sensitive sites to secure places in case of flooding. The SGDSN security agency says the French presidency and the prime ministers office are not immediately threatened but the National Assembly and the Foreign Ministry were at greater risk.
In addition to the Louvre, the Orsay museum, home to a renowned collection of impressionist art on the left bank of the Seine, was also closed Friday as was the Grand Palais, which draws 2.5 million visitors a year.
The Louvre said the museum had not taken such precautions in its modern history since its 1993 renovation at the very least. Disappointed tourists were being turned away but most were understanding.
Its good that they are evacuating the paintings. Its a shame that we couldnt see them today, but its right that they do these things, said Carlos Santiago, visiting from Mexico.
Elsewhere in Europe, authorities were counting the cost of the floods as they waded through muddy streets and waterlogged homes.
German authorities said the body of a 65-year-old man was found in the town of Simbach am Inn and a 72-year-old man died of a heart attack after being rescued from a raging stream in the village of Triftern, bringing the countrys death toll from recent flooding to 11.
Frances Interior Ministry also reported the death of a 74-year-old man who fell from his horse and drowned in a river in the Seine-et-Marne region east of Paris, the second death in France.
In eastern Romania, two people died and 200 people were evacuated from their homes as floods swept the area, including one man ripped from his bicycle by a torrent of water in the eastern village of Ruginesti.
In Belgium, rescue workers found the body of a beekeeper swept away by rising waters while trying to protect his hives in the village of Harsin.
The German Insurance Association estimates this weeks flooding has caused some 450 million euros ($500 million) in damage in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg alone.
The foul weather has added to the major travel disruptions France is already experiencing after weeks of strikes and protests by workers upset over the governments proposed labor reforms. French rail company SNCF said the strikes had led to the cancellation of 40 percent of the countrys high-speed trains.
French energy company Enedis said more than 20,000 customers were without power to the east and south of Paris.
Paris measures Seine water levels using an unusual method called the Austerlitz scale, which compares the surface level with an underwater sensor at the Austerlitz Bridge, said regional environment director Jerome Goellner.
In normal times, the river level is between 1 meter and 2 meters (3 feet, 3 inches to 6 1/2 feet) on the Austerlitz scale, he said, a historical system used out so one flood can be compared to another. But a piece of trash trapped in the sensor led authorities to undercount the rise of the Seine this week, he said.
The Seine so far has risen about 4.5 meters (15 feet) from its typical position following days of heavy rain. Goellner says its not possible to put a precise time on the peak expected Friday but were near the maximum.
Extreme rainfall, such as that hitting France, has increased worldwide and especially in Europe because of man-made climate change, four different scientists told The Associated Press on Friday. They said downpours like this are one of the clearest signals of global warming.
Record-breaking rainfall in Europe has increased 31 percent from 1980 to 2010, when compared to the previous 80 years, according to a 2015 Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research study.
These increasing trends have already been measured and are now affecting every storm that forms, including recent storms in France, said Gerald Meehl, a climate scientist at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research,
With leading Paris museums closed, the surging currents were a tourist attraction in themselves. Prakash Amritraj of India, a 42-year-old visiting with his wife and two children, took selfies on the Mirabeau Bridge in western Paris.
I had never thought of possible floods in Paris city center. In India, we have the monsoon, but here! Its not supposed to happen! he said.
While he sympathized with all those affected, he appreciated the flooding from a different perspective.
Its kind of beautiful, in a way, he said.
(Mstyslav Chernov and Sylvie Corbet in Paris, John-Thor Dahlburg in Brussels, David Rising in Berlin, Seth Borenstein from Washington, D.C. and Alison Mutler in Bucharest, Romania, contributed.)
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
In 2011, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was hanging on to the Missouri River like an experienced horseman reining in a wild stallion.
Through the spring and a long wet summer, the corps used every mechanism and feature it had to prevent the Missouri River from causing the most severe flood in modern history. Garrison Dam and its upstream Montana sister, Fort Peck Dam, were built decades ago to control flooding on the longest river in the country. If nothing else, the U.S. taxpayers had the chance to see if they were getting their moneys worth.
The dam reservoirs filled to the brim with heavy mountain snowmelt and spring rain, but they held. Emergency spillway gates were opened for the first time for flood control, and they worked exactly as envisioned.
The river still ran too fast and too high to prevent downstream erosion and flooding; but without the dams, experts say, the situation could have become catastrophic rather than critical.
The dams allowed the corps to rein in the Missouri River flow to a peak flow of 150,000 cubic feet per second; unchecked, the river would have galloped toward Bismarck at the rate of 260,000 cfs, about 10 times the flow of a normal high-release rate.
Jody Farhat, chief of the corps Missouri Basin division, said at that rate the flood stage would have reached 24.2 feet at Bismarck, rather than 19.2 feet. With another 5 feet of water at that rate of flow, its hard to know where and how emergency dikes and levees might have failed.
It was really something to experience, according to Farhat. It was just amazing to see the spillway, built so many years ago. We opened it in a crisis, and it operated as it was designed.
Even as the corps worked with state and local officials to help understand and mitigate the high water heading south, it had its hands full at the dam works.
Turned out, people were absolutely fascinated by the historic use of the spillway, normally a dry concrete expanse with 28 massive gates out of sight beneath the causeway. Thousands gathered to watch June 1 as the gates started creaking upward and water roared down the structure, out into a spillway pond, through a 2-mile pilot channel and into the Missouri River.
Todd Lindquist, Garrison Dams project manager, remembers that time as a series of 18-hour days, coordinating emergency levee works in Bismarck-Mandan with one hand and managing emergency dam operations with the other.
I do remember telling my wife there had to be easier ways to make a living. It was very stressful, said Lindquist, pointing out that Garrison Dam also neared capacity in 1997, so he had no doubt the embankment would hold.
As prepared as he and the staff tried to be, he said, they were caught off-guard by the sheer number of onlookers who came to observe the historic flood release.
To control the flood of people arriving at the dam from all corners of the region and the state, the corps contracted with the McLean County Sheriffs Department to set up parking and crosswalks.
The corps closed all of its downstream camping and boat ramp facilities during the release, partly because there was no way of knowing where the water would go.
Turned out, the pilot channel was too narrow and water backed up into the catchment pond and pushed west, damaging the popular day-use recreation facilities. The force of the water blasted the narrow channel into the much wider opening it is today.
Lindquist said money intended to repair the spillway pond and swimming beach had to be diverted to the spillway gates, which held strong but got beaten up in the process. Work on the spillway gates continues. When its done next year, it will have taken every summer construction season since the flood.
The swimming beach is the feature that we regret losing the most. We hope to restore that day use at some point, he told The Bismarck Tribune.
Farhat said the main lesson learned from the event was that the corps needs to have a better handle on the amount of snowpack in the plains, not just in the mountains, as well as the soil moisture level prior to the freeze.
The state was collecting that information that we were not aware of. We now have much better systems in place, and are coordinating more on runoff forecasts, she said.
The corps spent $20 million on temporary levees during the flood event. Since then, the corps has spent $580 million on repairs to the dams and dam works.
The Missouri River wasnt the only one in trouble in 2011. Every river basin in North Dakota was impacted, and 21 peak records were set. Its estimated the public cost for the 2011 flood fight and mitigation exceeded $1.4 billion, according to a Department of Emergency Services report from November that year.
Lindquist said it was difficult being in the position of opening the spillway gates when everyone knew the heartache that water would cause downstream; but there was no easy compromise between creating a flow of faster, higher water that would last a short time, and allowing a slower, lower level of water that would last longer.
I hope we never have to go through that again, he said.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Legislature is close to repealing an annual tax break worth tens of millions of dollars that was inadvertently given to auto insurers four years ago, a move agreed to as part of a state budget deal.
The Republican-led House late Thursday gave initial approval to two bills to ensure the industry is no longer eligible for the tax credit, effective this tax year.
This is the biggest and worst example of corporate welfare I have ever seen, said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Al Pscholka, R-Stevensville. The companies got the tax credit, and the citizens of Michigan got diddly in return, he said.
Industry leaders have conceded that the credit was awarded by mistake, but they warn premiums will go up.
This legislation results in a $40 per car increase in auto insurance premiums, which are already some of the highest prices in the nation, with no real effort to reform a system with skyrocketing costs, said Mark Fisk, spokesman for the Michigan Insurance Coalition.
Michigan has what is called an assigned claims plan to cover medical care for people injured in accidents who do not have auto insurance. It initially largely covered pedestrians and bicyclists. But the benefits increasingly also help passengers injured while riding in uninsured vehicles.
The secretary of state managed the program from the 1970s until 2012, when a law transferred the plan to the Michigan Automobile Insurance Placement Facility, which sells insurance to people unable to buy it from insurance companies. The move was intended to gain efficiencies and get a better handle on claims the cost of which are borne by insurers and passed along to motorists.
But the switch meant insurers, who receive a tax credit against payments to the group, were credited for a quarter of $239 million in assigned claims paid out in 2015, about $60 million. The break is now estimated to be worth $80 million a year, according to the House Fiscal Agency.
Republican Gov. Rick Snyder proposed ending the credit in his budget proposal for the fiscal year that will start in October, and legislative leaders agreed. The legislation, which was approved 78-30 and 79-29, is expected to be taken up by the GOP-controlled Senate before lawmakers begin their summer break in two weeks.
Rep. Jim Townsend, D-Royal Oak, said he was hopeful that Republicans are listening to our message of tax fairness and may address other business tax breaks.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Illinois lawmakers have convened a task force to investigate a spike in the theft of recyclable metals.
There was a spike in thefts a few years ago when the price of copper and other recyclable metals rose. Copper wiring and pipes have been ripped from homes, signs and air conditioners have been stolen, and even metal grates over storm drains have been taken.
As a result, the Recyclable Metal Theft Task Force formed, in an effort to look into what can be done about all recyclable metals. Bartonville Police Chief Brian Fengel, who sits on the task force, told the (Peoria) Journal Star that its working with law enforcement, utilities, the scrapping industry and insurance associations to determine how the thefts can be reduced.
Potential ideas are enforcing tougher prosecution and establishing better lines of connection between scrap yards and police. Fengel said a report is due in the fall.
Detective Dave Hoyle of the Peoria County Sheriffs Office supports an approach similar to the one used to combat methamphetamine manufacturers. He believes scrap metal can be monitored in the same way authorities track the purchase of cold medicine, which can be used by meth makers for ingredients.
Chad Batterham of the Peoria Police Department said law enforcement officials often have a sense of whos stealing recyclable metals. He says its a specialized and hard way to make a living.
The law enforcement official said a small 2-pound coil of copper wire from a truck usually goes for about $10 to $12 and an air conditioner thats been completely stripped can yield about $100.
The theft of copper alone has amounted to a loss of as much as $500,000 per year across Illinois.
Both of the U.S. militarys high-drama, high-dollar flying teams suffered crashes on the same day this week, but supporters say the Air Force Thunderbirds and the Navy Blue Angels are worth the money and the risk because theyre vital to recruitment and help citizens feel good about their military.
Its our No. 1 recruiting tool, said retired Air Force Col. Pete McCaffrey, a pilot with the Thunderbirds from 1992 to 1995.
Most people dont get to see the military up close, but when they see the elite air squadrons perform, it gives them a sense of pride in their military and their country, and I think now we need that more than ever, McCaffrey said Friday.
A Blue Angels F/A-18 crashed Thursday near Nashville, Tennessee, while taking off for a practice session ahead of a weekend air show. The pilot, Marine Capt. Jeff Kuss, was killed.
Also Thursday, a Thunderbirds F-16 crashed outside Colorado Springs, Colorado, but that pilot, Maj. Alex Turner, ejected safely. The Thunderbirds had just performed over the open-air graduation ceremony at the nearby Air Force Academy, where President Barack Obama spoke.
The military hasnt publicly discussed the cause of either crash. Both are under investigation.
The Blue Angels and Thunderbirds have had dozens of crashes in their long histories, and a total of at least nine pilots been killed during performances or practices since 1985.
The teams are pricey, too. The Thunderbirds have an annual operating budget of $35 million, said Air Force Staff Sgt. Katie Maricle, a spokeswoman for the Air Combat Command. A Navy spokesman couldnt immediately provide the Blue Angels budget.
But the military insists the teams are important to the services and the nation.
The Thunderbirds are a huge part of U.S. Air Force history and they are such a vital element of connecting our nation to our Air Force, Maricle said.
Michael Kennedy, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, said the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels help servicemen and women share their pride with the public.
Kennedy, who now flies in air shows, said the demonstration teams let the military say, Were here to defend you and we just want to show you. We want to demonstrate to you so you can appreciate what were doing for you.
Kuss himself once said the Blue Angels were his inspiration to become a pilot.
Two months ago, when the squadron arrived at the Smoky Mountain Air Show in Alcoa, Tennessee, Kuss told a reporter from WATE-TV that he remembered looking up at the Blue Angels as a little boy. He said his goal was to inspire all the kids now looking up at him.
Were just pumped to be able to interact with the community and tell them a little bit about what we do, he said. But we really just try to invoke that fire in their belly to go out and do what they want to do that makes them happy and successful in life.
Tom Meyvis, a professor of marketing at New York Universitys Stern School of Business, said the recruitment argument has merit, especially when potential servicemen and women see the teams at air shows.
People who are interested in the Air Force are more likely to attend these events and witness these teams and be excited by them, he said. The idea of investing in the future brand of the Air Force or the military, that is a positive investment.
But Meyvis cautioned hes not a military expert and said he couldnt evaluate whether the militarys investment pays off.
Is it worth the money? I dont know, he said.
He also questioned the value of the flying teams in building goodwill with the public.
I dont know that the U.S. military necessarily needs to sell itself to the general population, he said.
(Associated Press writer Kristin M. Hall in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.)
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Stormy weather swept across much of Texas over this past week, and a new weather app is designed to help with flash flooding.
University of Texas at Arlington associate professor D.J. Seo has launching the crowdsourcing app, iSeeFlood, that will allow real-time flooding to be reported. Initially, it will only be available on Android phones, but Seo hopes to raise enough funding to develop an Apple version of the app.
The free app adds another layer to existing flood gauges and will work with the network of CASA (Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere) radars stationed across the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
We want to gather as many observations as possible through crowdsourcing to improve model prediction accuracy, Seo told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
At the same, UTA is also adding weather sensors across Fort Worth to provide more detailed flooding information. On Thursday, one was placed above Sycamore Creek and it will provide data the next time the creek starts rising.
For small urban areas we need to have additional observations to make sure that the models are realistic or reasonable, Seo said. We are using these observations to assimilate all available data to make the model predictions more accurate.
Ten sites are being monitored around the Fort Worth area. There are plans to add more in Grand Prairie, Dallas, Arlington and Kennedale.
One National Weather Service official said the sensors and crowdsourcing app can help forecasters predict flooding.
Greg Waller, senior coordination hydrologist with the National Weather Service West Gulf River Forecast Center, said flash flooding can be highly localized. In the April 30 flash flood that killed 6 people in Palestine, one creek rose rapidly while another nearby tributary stayed in its banks.
Anytime you give data to a scientist, it is going to be a good thing, Waller said. A rain gauge adds the verification. It adds the validation so that when we say theres flash flooding because this sensor in this creek says its flooding, it adds more meaning to the warning.
With several rounds of storms expected over the Memorial Day weekend, Waller said drivers will need to pay attention not only in North Texas but if theyre traveling to Central and East Texas.
If youre along the river, you should expect the rivers to rise, Waller said. Right now, rainfall intensity may matter as much as the actual rainfall total.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Broad Museum Launches Summer Sound and Art Series, 'Nonobject(ive)'
Los Angeles' The Broad museum celebrates the summer with an avant-garde helping of sound, art and performance. "Nonobject(ive): Summer Happenings at the Broad" presents a series of art showings steeped in a progressive movement of creativity.
The intention for the string of events is to enliven various artworks stationed at the Broad with an invigorating combination of unique music and and dance recitals, forward-thinking original installations and an otherworld artistic ambience.
"Nonobject(ive)" runs all summer long, wrapping up in September. In addition to indoor exhibitions, many of the nighttime events will occur in the Broad's outdoor courtyard, incorporating the dusky Los Angeles twilight into the artistic theme.
The Los Angeles Times reports on the Broad's upcoming summer shenanigans:
"A monthly string of summer happenings at the downtown institution pairs young sonic innovators with creators working in dance, video and performance art. The newly announced series is a prominent addition to summer music offerings coming out of the region's art museums."
The series begins on June 25. One unique highlight of the various showings will be former pianist and guitarist of indie rock band Vampire Weekend, Rostam Batmanglij, in an Aug. 20 performance with electronic musician Jerrilynn Patton. Batmanglij recently quit Vampire Weekend and relocated to LA. Musicians Preston Wendel and William Basinski present their Sparkle Division suite the same night.
Time Out LA champions the string of art occurrences as an imaginative festivity:
"Spend a late night at the Broad during its first after-hours programming series, which finds musicians, dancers and poets collaborating in the museum's outdoor plaza as well as in gallery spaces."
The art series takes its title from 1960s American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein's like-wised named, Mondrian-esque painting, Non-Objective I.
For more information on "Nonobject(ive)," visit www.thebroad.org.
Below, get a taste of sound artist Tim Hecker's 2011 experimental noise mix as an installation at the Broad, Really Eternal Music.
We want to hear from you. Let us know if you plan on attending one of the Broads Nonobject(ive) performances in the comments section.
2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
TagsThe Broad, The Broad museum, Rostam Batmanglij, Vampire Weekend
AKRON, Ohio -- Police are searching for an Akron man accused of shooting a dog to death.
Kenneth P. Walker, 26, of West Waterloo Road is charged with discharging firearms, having weapons under disability and cruelty to animals, according to police records.
He should be considered armed and dangerous, police said.
A 35-year-old Akron man told police that he was walking his Golden Retriever mix in the 400 block of West Waterloo Road around 11 a.m. Sunday when a man standing in a driveway pulled a handgun from his car and shot the dog, police reports said.
The man then got in his car and sped away.
The shooter was later identified as Walker, according to a police report.
Walker pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine in 2008 and 2011, and possession of heroin and permitting drug abuse in two separate cases in 2013, Summit County court records show.
Anyone with information about Walker's whereabouts is asked to contact Akron police at (330) 375-2490.
If you wish to discuss or comment on this story, please visit our crime and courts comments section.
Like Chanda Neely on Facebook.
Follow me on Twitter:
BEACHWOOD, Ohio -- Beachwood finance director David Pfaff will retire from his current position, which he has held since 1999, to work in the same role for Shaker Heights.
David Pfaff
The news comes less than two weeks after Beachwood Law Director Brian Reali was placed on paid administrative leave. Pfaff, in a press release, thanked Mayor Merle Gorden for the opportunity to serve the city.
"My decision in no way is a reflection of my relationship with the Mayor, which is outstanding as always, but was based upon the opportunity that was presented to me by the City of Shaker Heights," he said.
Last year, two top bond-rating agencies gave Beachwood their highest ratings. The city has held a AAA rating since 2000 with Fitch's, a New-York based financial information company.
The city has also been under scrutiny from the Ohio auditor's office, with findings for the city's 2014 fiscal year audit showing one act of noncompliance out of nine complaints. Last year, Gorden repaid the city for money he collected to perform weddings and some travel and vacation benefits that the auditor's office, in a audit for the fiscal year 2013, determined he shouldn't have received.
Also during Pfaff's tenure came controversy about the city's policy for vacation time, which allowed the mayor to cash out unused vacation time at the end of the year. City Council voted to end this practice in 2015.
Gorden praised Pfaff for his service to the city in the press release.
Pfaff will retire from the position July 11. His salary in his current position with Beachwood is $129,843.86. He will make $133,424 with Shaker Heights.
Michelle Kaplan, currently the city's assistant finance director, will fill the position until a replacement is found.
Matt Rubino, Shaker Heights' finance director, announced in March he accepted an offer from Solon.
Pfaff, a graduate of the University of Akron who lives in Copley, said in a statement from Shaker: "I look forward to working to provide the highest level of service to the residents of the City of Shaker Heights."
This story has been updated to clarify auditor's findings and to include salary information.
Airbnb screen shot
Airbnb will begin collecting and remitting Cleveland's 3 percent transient-occupancy tax in July, just in time for the GOP convention.
(Website screenshot)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland will soon legalize and regulate short-term residential rentals, under a law that also allows home-sharing services, starting with Airbnb, to collect city hotel taxes from visitors who eschew more traditional lodging.
On Monday evening, Cleveland City Council approved short-term rental legislation that took six months to make it through committee hearings.
The body narrowly met a deadline to implement a tax-collection deal with Airbnb before the GOP convention hits town in mid-July. Airbnb needed council's sign-off by June 15 in order to notify local hosts and start collecting taxes from guests on July 1.
The city levies a 3 percent transient-occupancy tax on hotel rooms and short-term stays - contracts of 30 or fewer days.
But Cleveland had to rely on an honor system, of sorts, when it came to house rentals. The city previously defined a hotel as a facility with at least five rooms, based on zoning code that never imagined the modern sharing economy. So the application of the tax to residential rentals was murky, at best.
Now the city has tweaked that definition and clarified that short-term hosts must collect the local lodging tax from their guests and turn the money over to the city. Airbnb, the largest player in the industry, will act as a middle man on bookings though its website and mobile app, handling taxes so its local hosts don't have to.
The legislation isn't specific to Airbnb. Any such booking agent can collect the taxes and pass the money to the city. But Cleveland still needs to negotiate terms with Airbnb's competitors.
Airbnb started collecting and remitting Cuyahoga County's 5.5 percent hotel tax in April. The local tax-collection agreements are similar to deals Airbnb has struck with cities including Philadelphia, which drew crowds for a visit from the pope last year and which is hosting the Democratic National Convention in July.
"Cleveland has developed smart, fair rules for home-sharing [that] will ensure middle-class families can share their space while contributing to the city's economy," Michael O'Neil, Airbnb's regional policy director, said in a written statement. "With this proposal, Cleveland joins a growing list of cities that recognize the positive impact of home sharing on neighborhoods, small businesses and taxpayers."
Though city residents and property owners have been renting out spare rooms, entire houses and portions of duplexes to short-term guests for years, that sort of activity wasn't being taxed -- and technically wasn't allowed in some locations.
Under the language approved Monday, homeowners or apartment-dwellers can rent out part or all of their primary residence to short-term guests all year long, if they want to. Hosts who accept more than 91 days of bookings in a single year must add their properties to the city's rental registry, which costs $35 a year.
"Passing clear, simple rules for home-sharing is a win-win for Cleveland," Kerry McCormack, a city councilman who represents much of downtown and near-West Side neighborhoods, said in a written statement. "A win for Clevelanders who use the money they make sharing their homes to make ends meet. A win for neighborhood businesses that benefit from an influx of visitor spending. And a win for the city by allowing us to harness the economic impact of home-sharing through additional tax revenues."
When it first cropped up, though, the city's proposed legislation seemed anything but clear and simple to local hosts. The language became the subject of lengthy public hearings where attorneys, council members and hosts expressed their frustration and confusion.
After amendments and clarifications, the legislation alludes to a few scenarios for people who rent out homes on a short-term basis.
* If you rent out your primary residence for up to three months, to guests who each stay for less than 30 days, then you don't have to do anything. If you're using Airbnb for bookings, the website will collect local lodging taxes from your guests under an agreement between the city and the company. If you're not using Airbnb, you're still obligated to collect the transient-lodging tax and turn the money over to the city.
* If you rent out your primary residence for longer than three months, to guests who each stay for less than 30 days, you need to place your home on the city's rental registry. Airbnb will apply and remit local lodging taxes on bookings through that site. You're still responsible for collecting and turning over taxes on other bookings.
* If you have a rental contract that lasts longer than 30 days, the transient-lodging tax does not apply.
* If you're renting out a house, apartment or condominium that's not your primary residence, this legislation allows Airbnb and other booking agents to collect and turn over the city's lodging tax in your stead.
But the short-term rental policy is friendly toward owner-occupants - people who live in the residences for at least 51 percent of the year. It doesn't make things easier for investors.
People who operate homes in Cleveland as businesses still must comply with various state and local rules that govern rentals. Those rules include local rental registration; potential change-of-use approvals from the city, neighborhood block clubs and council members; and other requirements outlined by the state's residential and commercial building codes and the local building code.
Such regulations aren't new, city officials stressed during several council committee hearings and in subsequent interviews.
Flats.jpg
The Flats East Bank could be home to Cleveland's first "outdoor refreshment area," under legislation passed Monday by City Council.
(John Petkovic, The Plain Dealer)
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Flats East Bank is one step closer to becoming Cleveland's first "outdoor refreshment area" - a designated district where bar and restaurant patrons can drink alcoholic beverages outside, without running afoul of the city's open-container laws.
Cleveland City Council on Monday passed legislation establishing an application process for areas of the city that wish to get the designation and are home to at least four venues with liquor licenses.
Within the designated area, the city's open-container laws will not apply, as long as someone is carrying an alcoholic beverage sold in a plastic bottle or cup by one of the district's licensed sellers. An earlier draft of the legislation contained a provision allowing someone to drink inside a car as well, provided the vehicle is stationary. But that provision was struck Monday.
Under the recently passed state law allowing for the outdoor refreshment areas, Cleveland can only set up a maximum of two such areas within the city. And city officials indicated during a Council of the Whole meeting Monday that, so far, only the developers behind the Flats East Bank project have indicated an interest in acquiring the designation.
City Council will have final say over which applications are approved and will be required to review each outdoor refreshment area on an annual basis to determine whether it continues operating as such.
Some council members said the legislation seemed rushed, and they wondered if city officials were trying to pass the piece in time for the Republican National Convention in late July.
Cleveland Economic Development Director Tracey Nichols said the only rush is that summer is nearly here, and postponing a vote on the piece until the next council meeting in July would further prolong the application process and limit Clevelanders' enjoyment of the new outdoor refreshment areas.
Other council members questioned whether the Flats would be an ideal location for an open-container zone, given the ordinance's requirement that the zones not include features deemed potential hazards to pedestrians, such as a waterfront, railroad tracks or steeply graded hills.
Nichols said the city would have to wait and see what area the Flats' application includes.
City Councilman Mike Polensek said he is concerned about safety and security in the outdoor refreshment areas and their perimeters. He suggested that each of the designated zones hire its own off-duty police officers to patrol, rather than tap city resources and distract the city's officers from their routes.
"This is not an entitlement," Polensek said. "This is a privilege. ... And with that privilege there should be some stipulations with regard to safety and security. If not, this will come back to bite us."
Public Square.JPG
Downtown's Public Square will be home to Cleveland's first police mini-station in years, since the program was shut down under former Mayor Jane Campbell. Council members, who have been asking for the return of the stations to their neighborhoods, are upset that newly remodeled Public Square seems to have jumped to the top of the list.
(Thomas Ondrey, The Plain Dealer)
CLEVELAND, Ohio - In a heated discussion Monday, members of Cleveland City Council demanded to know why police are setting up what amounts to a mini-station on downtown's Public Square without restoring the beloved satellite offices to the neighborhoods, too.
Council passed legislation Monday night giving the city permission to accept free office-retail space from Cleveland Skyline Renaissance LLC, beside the entrance to the Renaissance hotel, to serve as staging grounds for police during the Republican National Convention next month. The office then would serve for the next five years as a home base for officers assigned to downtown patrols.
During a Committee of the Whole meeting Monday afternoon, Council's Public Safety Committee Chairman Matt Zone likened the office space to the mini-stations that were established in the 1990s under then-Mayor Michael R. White's administration as a way to connect officers with residents and get a better read on crime in the neighborhoods.
The city assigned officers to work out of special offices at recreation and other neighborhood centers. But the mini stations closed in 2005 under then-Mayor Jane Campbell. The police chief at the time was Michael McGrath, the city's current safety director.
Zone said Monday that the Public Square mini-station, "in the heart of the city's central business district," might be the first step toward strategically re-establishing mini-stations throughout the city.
But the mere mention of the phrase "mini-station" seemed to hit a nerve with some council members, irritated that the first mini-station the city has seen in years will serve visitors to the newly remodeled Public Square - not residents in the neighborhoods.
"Well you used the magic word 'mini-station,'" said Councilwoman Dona Brady. "For the last 10 years everything has changed in my ward, and I can attribute at least 90 percent to the fact that I don't have mini-station officers. Those officers knew where the drugs were, where the kids lived, where the gangs were, who was doing the graffiti - and they knew them by name."
Councilman Kevin Conwell became so enraged by the notion that downtown, the site of "billions and billions of dollars" in investment, would receive a mini-station before the downtrodden and impoverished neighborhoods, that he began yelling and was ruled out of order.
Councilman TJ Dow also said it appears the city is giving preferential treatment to downtown by setting up a mini-station there.
"For that reason I won't support this," Dow said. "I think it gives the wrong impression to the folks who don't live downtown and are suffering."
Councilman Brian Kazy asked McGrath if police would open a mini-station in his West Side ward if he could find donated space to house it.
McGrath said such a proposal "would be worth a conversation." The comment further fueled the frustration of council members, who pointed out that most of the long-shuttered mini-stations were housed in city-owned facilities and wouldn't have required rent.
Zone promised his colleagues that the Public Safety Committee will take up the issues of community policing strategies and deployment during a series of summer meetings.
The Latest: Clinton has delegates for Democratic nomination
BY HOPE YEN, STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, LISA LERERAND CATHERINE LUCEY
JUN. 6, 2016 8:21 PM EDT
Clinton, the former secretary of state, New York senator and first lady, reached the 2,383 delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee on Monday with a decisive weekend victory in Puerto Rico and a burst of last-minute support from superdelegates. Those are party officials and officeholders, many of them eager to wrap up the primary amid preference polls showing her in a tightening race with presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.
Clinton has 1,812 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses. She also has the support of 571 superdelegates, according to an Associated Press count.
The AP surveyed all 714 superdelegates repeatedly in the past seven months, and only 95 remain publicly uncommitted.
While superdelegates will not formally cast their votes for Clinton until the party's July convention in Philadelphia, all those counted in her tally have unequivocally told the AP they will do so.
"We really need to bring a close to this primary process and get on to defeating Donald Trump," said Nancy Worley, a superdelegate who chairs Alabama's Democratic Party and provided one of the last endorsements to put Clinton over the top.
Clinton outpaced Sanders in winning new superdelegate endorsements even after his string of primary and caucus wins in May. Following the results in Puerto Rico, it is no longer possible for Sanders to reach the 2,383 needed to win the nomination based on the remaining available pledged delegates and uncommitted superdelegates.
Sanders said this past weekend he plans to fight on until the convention, promising to make the case to superdelegates that he is better positioned to beat Trump in November. Superdelegates can change their minds. But since the start of the AP's survey in late 2015, no superdelegates have switched from supporting Clinton to backing Sanders.
Indeed, Clinton's victory is broadly decisive. She leads Sanders by more than 3 million cast votes, by 291 pledged delegates and by 523 superdelegates. She won 29 caucuses and primaries to his 21 victories.
That's a far bigger margin than Obama had in 2008, when he led Clinton by 131 pledged delegates and 105 superdelegates at the point he clinched the nomination.
Echoing the sentiments of California Gov. Jerry Brown, who overcame a decades-long rivalry with the Clinton family to endorse her last week, many superdelegates expressed a desire to close ranks around a nominee who could defeat Trump in November.
"It's time to stand behind our presumptive candidate," said Michael Brown, one of two superdelegates from the District of Columbia who came forward in the past week to back Clinton before the city's June 14 primary. "We shouldn't be acting like we are undecided when the people of America have spoken."
Though she marched into her second presidential primary campaign as an overwhelming favorite, Clinton could not shake Sanders until its final days. He campaigned aggressively in California ahead of the state's Tuesday election, unwilling to exit a race Clinton stood on the cusp of winning.
Beyond winning over millions of Sanders supporters who vow to remain loyal to the self-described democratic socialist, Clinton faces challenges as she turns toward November, including criticism of her decision to use a private email server run from her New York home while serving as secretary of state. Her deep unpopularity among Republicans has pushed many leery of Trump to nevertheless embrace his campaign.
"This to me is about saving the country and preventing a third progressive, liberal term, which is what a Clinton presidency would do," House Speaker Paul Ryan told the AP last week after he finally endorsed Trump, weeks after the New Yorker clinched the GOP nomination.
Yet Clinton showed no signs of limping into the general election as she approached the milestone, leaving Sanders behind and focusing on lacerating Trump. She said electing the billionaire businessman, who has spent months hitting her and her husband with bitingly personal attacks, would be a "historic mistake."
"He is not just unprepared. He is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility," Clinton said last week in a speech that was striking in its forcefulness, previewing a brutal five-month general election campaign to come.
Even without the nomination, Sanders can claim ideological victory. His liberal positions pushed the issue of income inequality into the spotlight and drove Clinton to the left on issues such as trade, Wall Street and campaign finance reform.
But she prevailed, in part, by claiming much of the coalition that boosted Obama. She won overwhelming support from women and minorities, catapulting her to decisive victories in diverse, delegate-rich states such as New York and Texas.
When Clinton launched her campaign last April, she did so largely unopposed, having scared off more formidable challengers by locking down much of the party's organizational and fundraising infrastructure. Vice President Joe Biden, seen as her most threatening rival, opted not to run in October.
Of the four opponents who did take her on, Sanders was the only one who emerged to provide a serious challenge. He caught fire among young voters and independents, his campaign gaining momentum from a narrow loss in Iowa in February and a commanding victory in New Hampshire. His ability to raise vast sums of money online gave him the resources to continue into the spring.
But Clinton vowed not to repeat the failings of her 2008 campaign and focused early on winning delegates, hiring help from Obama's old team before launching her campaign. They pushed superdelegates into making early commitments and held campaign appearances in areas where they could win the most pledged delegates.
Her victory in Nevada in late February diminished concerns from allies about her campaign operation. Decisive wins in Southern states on Super Tuesday and a sweep of March 15 contests gave her a significant delegate lead, which became insurmountable by the end of April after big victories in New York and in the Northeast.
She now moves on to face Trump, whose ascent to the top of the Republican Party few expected. The brash real estate mogul and reality TV star has long since turned his attention from primary foes to Clinton, debuting a nickname "Crooked Hillary" and arguing she belongs in jail for her email setup.
After a long primary campaign, Clinton said this past weekend in California she was ready to accept his challenge.
"We're judged by our words and our deeds, not our race, not our ethnicity, not our religion," she said Saturday in Oxnard, California. "So it is time to judge Donald Trump by his words and his deeds. And I believe that his words and his deeds disqualify him from being president of the United States."
___
Associated Press writers Julie Bykowicz in Washington and Ken Thomas in San Francisco contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP) The Latest on the presidential campaign a day before voters choose their candidates in six states (all times Eastern Daylight Time):
8:19 p.m.
Hillary Clinton will be the first woman to top the presidential ticket of a major U.S. political party, having captured commitments from the number of delegates needed to become the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee.
It was a victory that arrived Monday nearly eight years to the day after she conceded her first White House campaign to Barack Obama and famously noted her inability to "shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling."
The music streaming business is anything but mellow. Just ask Deezer, the Paris-based online music streaming company. In October it canceled a $343 million initial public offering citing "market conditions." Aside from tumult in the stock market, Deezer is facing stiff competition from the likes of competitors Spotify, Pandora, Google Play Music and music-streaming newcomer Apple Music.
Read MoreFULL LIST: 2016 DISRUPTOR 50
Still, the company launched in 2006 is hardly a newbie. It claims 6.3 million customers across 180 countries, with 1.5 million of them classified as paying customers. The remaining 4.8 million customers are what the company calls bundled subscribers, who pay a blended fee to Deezer's partners (such as telecommunications carriers), meaning that Deezer gets a much smaller cut of the fees.
The canceled IPO doesn't mean the company is standing still. In January it raised $109 million, led by Warner Music Group's owner, Access Industries. The company's total funding now stands at a little more than $287 million. Deezer CEO Hans-Holger Albrecht said the company is using the money to increase the number of podcasts and audiobooks that it offers, as well as to redesign its iOS and Android apps.
The CEO won't rule out another run at an IPO, telling CNBC, "It's one of the options we have in the future."
watch now
On July 27, 2015, five men appeared on the Mexican side of the sprawling Laredo port of entry at the United States border in Texas. They were all from Homs, Syria, which had seen ferocious fighting between ISIS and Syrian government forces over the previous months. All were in their early to mid-20s, except one, who was in his early 40s. And all five requested asylum in the United States. This presented an immediate dilemma for U.S. officials. Who were these men? What did they want? And most pressingly, exactly how did five military-age males from one of the most gruesome battlefields in the world make their way to the U.S. border with Mexico?
Answers to many of those questions were spelled out in a detailed memo written by the Laredo field office of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Department of Homeland Security investigators. The document, which was obtained by CNBC, details the operations of a previously unreported entity the U.S. government calls the "Barakat Alien Smuggling Organization."
The leader of that group, the report found, specializes in smuggling Syrian men from Homs to the United States thought the southern U.S. border and St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The memo identifies many of the key players: A naturalized Syrian woman in California, an Iraqi man in Turkey and smugglers and phony passport providers on four continents.
The report is stamped "Unclassified//Law Enforcement Sensitive," and CNBC, for potential personal security risks, is withholding certain details from it, including dates of birth and numerical identification information of the Syrian refugees themselves as well as names and contact information for U.S. government officials involved in the investigation. Details in this account come from the report, as well as interviews with U.S. government officials and an attorney for one of the men.
The U.S.-Mexico border, outside Laredo, Texas. Rick Wilking | Reuters
The events laid out in the report came at a time the U.S. government was grappling with a rapidly unfolding Syrian refugee crisis worldwide. Ultimately, President Barack Obama would pledge to admit as many as 10,000 refugees to the United States. But critics said allowing any influx of immigrants from the war zone risked allowing ISIS infiltrators to come into the United States in the guise of refugees. They said that risk was highlighted by the ISIS inspired or coordinated attacks in Paris, Brussels, and San Bernardino, California. Controversy swirled over the vetting process for immigrants, and the difficulty for U.S. officials in determining who was coming to the United States in pursuit of a better life, and who may have darker motives. Meanwhile, Donald Trump was storming toward the Republican presidential nomination on the strength of his call to build a massive wall on the southern border with Mexico.
Even as that campaign rhetoric was reaching a crescendo in 2015, officials privately noted they were seeing a rise in Syrian immigrants trying to cross the border. "Over the past eighteen months there has been an increase of Syrian and Lebanese Nationals attempting to enter the United States along the southwest international border via Mexico," the report found. "A majority of these individuals have arrived at major land ports of entry in the U.S. claiming credible fear of returning to their home countries."
The Barakat Alien Smuggling Organization, the report found, was active along the Texas and California borders. The organization specialized in smuggling people who said they were Orthodox Syrian Christians.
The Barakat group, the report found, "is sophisticated enough to exploit the entire southern border."
'God be with you brother'
For the five Syrian men, the journey halfway around the world began on the internet, where they first made contact with the Barakat organization on Facebook. Elias was 25 years old. The other men were Albeer, 21, Rawad, 21, George, 26, and Alkhateb, the oldest of the group at 42.
Each of the men had a reason to leave Syria immediately. Elias, for example, said Syrian rebel forces had threatened him and demanded money. To show they were serious, they killed his dog.
It's not clear whether the men traveled together for the entire trip. But U.S. officials pieced together the story step by step: From the Facebook page, the men were referred to the Baremoon Travel Agency in Homs, Syria. They paid $350 to $400 to a woman named Lucy for travel from Syria to Beirut, Lebanon, by taxi.
On May 28, 2015, a post on the Facebook page of a man whose full name and biographical details match those of Elias shows a selfie of a young man with close cropped-hair and trim beard posing at the modern, sky-lighted departure lounge of the Beirut International Airport. The man identified as Elias is wearing a purple shirt and black vest, posing with a young woman in a leopard-print top. The caption says, "Traveling to Istanbul, Turkey." Alongside the picture, friends posted more than 80 encouraging messages in Arabic, including "Good luck guys," and "God be with you brother."
The flight from Beirut to Istanbul is less than two hours. But once in Turkey, the men hit some kind of delay. In Istanbul, two of the men waited for more than 30 days before making contact at a coffee shop in the Aksaray neighborhood a Syrian expat district in Istanbul crowded with refugees escaping the war and known as a major hub for sex trafficking.
At the coffee shop, the men met with a smuggler, Abu, who would arrange travel from Istanbul to the United States. They described Abu as in his 30s, thin, balding, and about 5-feet-10. Abu's services did not come cheap. Two of the Syrian men said they paid him $15,000 for travel to the United States, a package deal including phony passports, airline tickets, guides in each country, food and transportation. It was a surprisingly businesslike operation: Abu even offered a grace period for the Syrians to obtain a refund if they didn't make it to the United States within a certain time.
It's not clear how the Syrians were able to afford such steep fees. One man said he had saved the money over three years. Another said his family sold land and property to raise funds. He also received $3,000 in a wire transfer initiated by a person in Burbank, California.
Wherever it came from, the money was good enough for Abu. He gave the travelling Syrians their documents: airline tickets and phony passports from Israel. The travel papers would now identify two of the men under the false Israeli names "Miller Idan" and "Halam Rotem."
Abu also gave the men airline tickets from Turkey to Mozambique, with a layover in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. But they never intended to go to Mozambique. Instead, the men switched destinations in Ethiopia, and used their new, phony Israeli passports to board a flight to either Rio de Janerio or Sao Paulo, Brazil. Instead of the African coast, the men took off for South America.
The men had no idea whom they would meet in Brazil. They didn't have a name or phone number to call. But when they landed in South America, the smuggling organization had someone on the ground to meet them, identifying the Syrians using photos sent by Abu directly to the smugglers' cellphones in South America. The men turned over their real Syrian passports to the smugglers from here on out, they would be posing full time as Israelis. The smugglers, in turn, put the passports in packages and mailed them to final destination addresses in the United States. The passports would cross the U.S. border without their bearers.
From Brazil, the men boarded flights to Bogota, Colombia, still posing as Israelis. Then they caught yet another flight, this time to Guatemala City, Guatemala. There, the Syrians said they met a 30-year-old man they describe as tall and slender, with blond hair. The man spoke no Arabic and very little English. To the Syrians, the mysterious smuggler did not appear to be Guatemalan. The tall blond man drove them to the Guatemala-Mexico border, where the Syrians were transferred into the custody of yet another smuggler. The men said they crossed the border into Mexico without being approached at all by Mexican immigration officials.
It was a long drive north through Mexico: Five days in a late-model white four-door Toyota sedan. The Syrians say their latest smuggler was in contact with Abu in Turkey throughout the trip, which ended in the brutally hot border town of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
The border city is a far cry from the chaos of their hometown of Homs, but Nuevo Laredo is also wracked with violence: the rampages of the brutal Los Zetas drug cartel have prompted the State Department to warn Americans to defer travel to the region because of the prevalence of murder, robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, extortion and sexual assault.
But the Syrians didn't intend to stay long. On July 27, they requested asylum at the Laredo point of entry to the United States. American Customs and Border Protection Agents processed them and sent them to a detention center in Pearsall, Texas, where they were interviewed by officials.
One of the men, Rawad, gave his destination as an address in Fall River, Massachusetts. But officials discovered that the telephone number he provided was linked to visa denials for three other Syrians. The oldest Syrian, Alkhateb, listed a friend named "Amnar" as a contact in the United States and provided a phone number for him with a California area code. U.S. officials found that number was linked to five other rejected visas from Syrian immigrants.
The Americans asked Elias the refugee who said his dog had been killed if he had ever volunteered or been paid to carry a weapon for any political or religious organization in Syria. Elias said he had not been part of any group or received weapons training. Instead, he told American officials, "God would provide protection."
Any underground smuggling operation is dangerous and even more so when you get to falsifications and people moving through many different countries. It's a dangerous world. Lauren Mack spokeswoman, Immigration and Customs Enforcement
The U.S. government intercepted the package the Syrians had mailed from Brazil when it arrived in Miami. Inside, they found military ID in Elias' Syrian passport. The document indicates Elias was exempt from military service due to the death of his father. Still, the American interviewer thought Elias showed "nervous behavior" when asked about his military service.
It's not entirely clear what happened to the five men after that. According to the report, Customs and Border Protection officers conducted what's called a "credible fear" interview to determine their status. They were remanded to the South Texas Detention Center in Pearsall, Texas.
According to Facebook pages that appear to match the names and life histories of three of the men, they are still in the United States, either currently or formerly in California. U.S. officials would not comment to CNBC on the report or the status of the five men. "Due to the sensitivity and nature of this report we are not going to be able to discuss anything about this case," said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego, who requested that CNBC not identify the five men. "One of our top priorities is to investigate international human smuggling worldwide," she said. "Our goal is to get ringleaders and people who are at the top levels of criminal networks who prey on individuals and put them at risk."
Asked if the Barakat organization itself posed any danger to the United States, Mack said, "Any underground smuggling operation is dangerous and even more so when you get to falsifications and people moving through many different countries. It's a dangerous world."
A spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the agency has added 300 officers to its transnational criminal investigation units to work with foreign governments to target and dismantle human smuggling networks.
An attorney for one of the Syrian men, who also requested his name not be used, said that his client's asylum case was still pending before an immigration judge while he lives and works in the United States. The attorney said he represents several Syrians who applied for asylum at the U.S. border. "A lot of these people have never left Syria before, and suddenly they're traveling through countries around the world. They come from a police state, they're not very trusting. Back in Syria, their political beliefs are imputed to them because they're Christians. People say, oh, you're a Christian, so you're fair game. They're in a really bad situation."
'I always tell the truth, even when I lie'
The government document lists several "intelligence gaps" that investigators were left with after their interviews and research. Among the loose ends, the officials wanted to know how the Barakat organization got the Israeli passports, and whether they were forged or legitimately issued. They want to identify the specific smugglers in Guatemala and Mexico. They want to figure out just how the passport scheme worked in Addis Ababa, and why Ethiopian customs didn't spot it.
And at the end the report asks one more question: "Are there more Syrian nationals destined for South Texas?"
Nearly four months later, the U.S. officials may have gotten their answer. In November, authorities in Honduras detained five Syrian men trying to reach the United States, this time on stolen Greek passports. Reuters reported that Honduran officials found the men had passed through Turkey, Brazil, Argentina and Costa Rica.
A Honduran police spokesman told reporters those men had nothing to do with terrorism. "They are normal Syrians," he said.
John Moore | Getty Images
If a picture is indeed worth a thousand words, then Blippar is betting an image chock-full of information is worth even more.
The London-based company that launched in 2011 is an augmented reality (AR) firm that allows users to point their smartphone at an object and through the Blippar app, unlock additional information, photos and interactive content about whatever it is they are looking at. So, for instance, when cosmetic brand Maybelline was promoting a new line of nail polish in print magazines, shoppers could scan the ad and virtually try on the different colors of polish through the Blipp app.
Read MoreFULL LIST: 2016 DISRUPTOR 50
The company claims more than 65 million people in 170 countries use the app, and it counts Nestle, Procter & Gamble, Nike and General Mills among its clients. As AR technology evolves, the company has been able to go beyond brands and provide users with rich content on everyday objects. Point your phone and scan an orange, for example, and the Blipp app can tell you nearby grocers where you can purchase them, nutritional value and even give recipes.
"We believe that anyone, anywhere should have the opportunity to transform his or her life via access to an amazing education."
But as the company has evolved, it is now offering new products that address different types of learners. For instance, Coursera now offers a series of curated online courses called "Specializations" for folks that want to gain a specific skill set to enhance their career. These offerings typically consist of four required courses in the specialty, and unlike most of Coursera's offerings, they carry a fee anywhere from $79 to $99 for each courseand a project at the end to prove proficiency. Once completed, the learner has a certificate in that particular specialization.
Research by the company completed in September show that nearly three-quarters of Coursera's learners are from outside the United States, with half from developing countries. And those that are receiving the most direct benefits are from lower socioeconomic brackets. Removing barriers like cost, location, and time things that have traditionally prevented individuals from improving their lives through education is Coursera's mission and the model is attracting investors.
New Enterprise Associates, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and International Finance have together invested close to $150 million in the company.
Imagine being able to get rose oil for perfume from something other than a flower petal. That's what the team of MIT scientists who started Ginkgo Bioworks is betting on. The Boston-based company has developed a technology that uses yeast as a base for all kinds of substances, including perfumes, cosmetics and even sweeteners. French fragrance company Robertet has partnered with the company to recreate the smell of a rose from single-cell organisms rather than expensive flower petals. The fragrance company is now selling the resulting rose oil as a perfume.
Read MoreFULL LIST: 2016 DISRUPTOR 50
Investors, such as Viking Capital and Felicis Ventures, are bullish on the potential applications for this technology across a whole spectrum of consumer and industrial products and have poured more than $60 million into the eight-year-old company. And one day after CNBC revealed its 2016 Disruptor 50 list, the company announced an additional $100M Series C funding round.
Among the investors: Cascade Investment, Bill Gates' asset management firm.
The new funds will be used to help fuel the company's growth into new markets, such as commodity chemicals, industrial enzymes and human health markets, as well as to build its next-generation automated foundry Bioworks2.
Hillary Clinton has secured a majority of delegates to the Democratic National Convention, NBC News projected on Monday evening making the former secretary of state the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party.
Clinton, whose first quest for the Democratic nomination ended in a concession speech almost exactly eight years ago to the day, now becomes the first woman ever to win the nomination of a major political party in the United States.
Clinton reached the majority of 2,383 delegates with a combination of pledged and unpledged "super delegates." The new tally includes pledges from over a dozen new superdelegates as well as her accumulation of 36 pledged delegates in Sunday's Puerto Rico primary.
Clinton was widely expected to reach the 2,383 threshold on Tuesday, when six states hold their nominating contests on one of the final primary nights of the race.
In a statement, Hillary Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook nodded to the upcoming contests in an attempt to mute an announcement the campaign would have preferred to come after voters headed to the polls in those primaries.
"This is an important milestone, but there are six states that are voting Tuesday, with millions of people heading to the polls, and Hillary Clinton is working to earn every vote," Mook said. "We look forward to Tuesday night, when Hillary Clinton will clinch not only a win in the popular vote, but also the majority of pledged delegates."
Founders: Adi Tatarko, Alon Cohen
Launched: 2009
Funding: $213.8 million
Valuation: $2.3 billion
Disrupting: DIY and professional home remodeling and design
Rival: Porch, HGTV, DIY Network, Dwell, Remodelaholic
Ever watch HGTV and wish some of their designers could swoop in and magically transform your home into the perfect living space? Well, Houzz is the next best thing. The platform for home remodeling and design was started in 2009 when husband-and-wife team Alon Cohen and Adi Tatarko Cohen was an eBay engineer and Tatarko worked at a boutique investment firm ran into problems remodeling their own house and figured other homeowners were dealing with the same issues.
Read MoreFULL LIST: 2016 DISRUPTOR 50
Today, homeowners can turn to Houzz and click on more than 10 million remodeling and renovating photos for any room in their house. Trying to make a small bedroom seem bigger? Hoping to maximize space in your closet? There are scores of ideas on how to do that. The company's online marketplace lets customers buy the furniture and home accessories they see on Houzz.com directly from the site rather than having to toggle over to the manufacturer's or retailer's site. (The company collects a 15 percent commission on these sales, making it another revenue stream, and features products from such leading brands as GE, Keurig and Cuisinart.)
LINCOLN -- Starting Tuesday, nine women and three men will hear a civil rights trial against Gage County, its former sheriff and two deputies behind a 1989 cold-case investigation that put six people, later cleared by DNA, behind bars for a woman's brutal killing.
The Beatrice 6 case is believed to be one of the largest false confession cases in the country.
Their attorneys say investigators manipulated mentally ill co-defendants, fed them details of the crime scene and threatened them with the death penalty in an effort to secure the convictions and build a case against Joseph White, all while knowing none of the six had the same blood type as that left at the scene of Helen Wilson's Feb. 5, 1985, rape and murder in Beatrice.
Attorneys for Gage County and the deputies say the investigators were working with the information they had at the time and can't be held responsible for people lying to them.
White, the only one of the six to go to trial, maintained his innocence, but the jury found him guilty.
From his prison cell, serving a life sentence, he fought to get the DNA testing that ultimately pointed to a drifter who died in an Oklahoma prison.
In 2008, the Nebraska Supreme Court overturned White's conviction and five others -- Ada JoAnn Taylor, Tom Winslow, James Dean, Debra Shelden and Kathy Gonzalez -- earned pardons.
By the time they got out, White, Taylor and Winslow each had served nearly 20 years in prison.
All six later sued Gage County, the late Sheriff Jerry DeWitt and deputies Burdette Searcey and Wayne Price, calling their investigation so reckless it "shocked the conscience" and violated their constitutional rights.
Except for White, they all confessed to or entered pleas in the case.
About 2 years after he got out, White died in a workplace accident in Alabama in March 2011, years before the federal civil case went to trial the first time in January 2014. It ended in a mistrial when the jury deadlocked.
That time around, U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf dismissed the case against Gage County and the officers in their official capacity at the midpoint of trial. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals later reinstated the case against them, saying it was for a jury to decide.
On Monday, Kopf and attorneys on either side spent the day questioning a group of about four dozen Nebraskans called as potential jurors to hear the trial, which is scheduled to go the rest of the month.
They were asked if they'd seen the popular Netflix documentary "Making a Murderer," and about their opinions on whether law enforcement should be allowed to interview mentally ill people or to lie during interrogations (by law, they can).
"They stand for truth and justice," one man said of why he had a problem with police lying to suspects. "I'm not going to say they don't make mistakes, but a lie is intentional. They shouldn't go down that road."
Asked if incidents in places like Ferguson, Missouri, had changed how he sees police, another man, a teacher who ended up on the jury, said he was brought up to believe all police were good.
But, he said, he has come to believe the world is more complicated than that. When people get emotional, they make mistakes, including cops, he said.
By 3:15 p.m., the attorneys had cut the group to 12.
Humacyte is a medical research and regenerative medicine company that claims to have created the world's first bioengineered blood vessel. The product is called Humacyl, and if approved by the Food and Drug Administration, it could potentially eliminate the surgeries needed to resection a patient's existing blood vessels in procedures such as coronary artery bypass surgeries. The Humacyl bioengineered blood vessel can be used instead.
Read MoreFULL LIST: 2016 DISRUPTOR 50
The company, based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, was started in 2004 by Dr. Laura Nikalson, a Yale professor and one of the world's leading experts in cellular therapies and regenerative medicine.
watch now
It's been a lackluster year for tech IPOS, with rising regulation and an inundation of venture capital money. But the lull in new stock offerings is no indication of success for young Silicon Valley companies, according to Guy Kawasaki, former Apple chief evangelist. "The purpose of a company is to create a great product or service or to create a customer," Kawasaki told CNBC's "Squawk Alley" Monday. "Going public should be a natural outcome of success but it is not the definition of success." So-called "unicorns" have grabbed the attention of venture capitalists but individual investors are far less involved. So far this year, 31 companies have gone public in the U.S., down from 69 in the first five months of 2015 and 115 in the same period in 2014, Barron's reported, citing Renaissance Capital.
Nick Ray | ABC | Getty Images
Terry Kawaja, LUMA Partners' founder and CEO, said it's a change in private financing that has crushed new stock offerings. "Venture capital used to finance high beta companies at relatively early stages, now there's money available at the growth and later stages so that companies can stay private," Kawaja said, calling it a de-democratization of investment. "The public can't participate in the beta of these companies." Kawasaki, meanwhile, quelled worries that private companies may have a harder time recruiting or retaining employees if they don't go public. He warned against temptation to flee to the more established Googles and Apples of the world. "You're not going to have the wild upside that you had when you got into those companies in the early public period," Kawasaki said. "It's more about career opportunity where you want to work and the kind of intellectual challenge that a company provides. It's not about just doing a spreadsheet to see which company will I make the most money at." The few technology companies that have gone public have not been that well received by the market, said M.G. Siegler, a general partner at Google Ventures who focuses on early-stage investments. "I do think there is some reticence on going public when they do see some of their peers just getting slammed for what they might view in ways that are sort of unfair," Siegler told CNBC Monday.
watch now
Among the many hurdles small businesses face in ramping up their companies is access to capital. That's where Kabbage comes in. This Atlanta-based start-up founded during the financial crisis by Rob Frohwein and Kathryn Petralia, friends who had experience with technology and start-ups, developed a financial services data and technology platform to provide fully automated funding to small business in just minutes.
Read MoreFULL LIST: 2016 DISRUPTOR 50
Kabbage's big data know-how lets it make loans ranging anywhere from $2,000 to $100,000 to small- and medium-sized businesses more quickly (the company claims in as little as seven minutes) and with less complexity than many traditional lenders. It's able to do this by pulling data from social networks, online sales, accounting information, shipping documents and dozens of other private and public sources to gauge the risk and creditworthiness of the business seeking the loan.
watch now
Forget what you learned about Kazakhstan from Borat. The Central Asian country once lampooned by Sacha Baron Cohen's bumbling TV journalist character, offers great potential for international retailers, according to research from management consulting firm A.T. Kearney. Kazakhstan ranked as the fourth best developing country for retail investments, scoring 56.5 out of 100 on A.T. Kearney's 2016 Global Retail Development Index, after Malaysia which placed third on the index scoring 59.6. China topped the retail index, with a score of 72.6, followed closely by India at 71. The index measured countries based on four variables: Country and business risk, market attractiveness, market saturation and time pressure timeframe, which measures how rapidly the retail sector is advancing and thus the pressure for retailers to enter the market and capture the growth opportunity.
The A.T. Kearney study did not just consider markets that are the most attractive currently, but also countries with future potential. "Kazakhstan's future growth will be rapid, and it's not as developed as other retail markets so that's the attractiveness for international retailers," said Chua Soon Ghee, partner and head of Southeast Asia at A.T. Kearney in a CNBC interview. Big international retailers have already started honing in on the country with its population of 18 million, the consultancy firm reported. French supermarket chain Carrefour opened its first Kazakhstan store earlier in February and French home improvement chain Leroy Merlin has already opened three stores, according to the report.
Grocers at the Zelgony Bazaar, Almaty City in Kazakhstan. Anthony Plummer | Getty Images
LISNR is connecting devices using audio rather than Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The company's data-over-audio technology basically creates a high-frequency, inaudible "smart tone" that can be played by any speaker and picked up by any microphone. This effectively turns any speakera stadium PA system or even the TV in your living roominto a beacon that can then deliver relevant information and messages to the user. And unlike Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, LISNR is not dependent on hardware or connectivity; it just needs sound to make a connection.
Read MoreFULL LIST: 2016 DISRUPTOR 50
Rodney Williams started LISNR in 2012 after a career working in brand management at Procter & Gamble. He saw firsthand the constant struggle brands have connecting with consumers, and figured that by lowering the barrier for proximity-based marketing on mobile devices, he could help solve that problem.
watch now
With U.S. President Barack Obama's tenure coming to an end, India's Narenda Modi is on a mission to cement his country's relationship with the world's largest economy. But he may meet a less-friendly America than on previous visits. Modi arrived in the U.S. on Tuesday for a two-day summit, marking his fourth official visita remarkable turnaround for the former Gujarat minister who was banned from entering the country for a nearly a decade before his presidential victory in May 2014.
US President Barack Obama confers with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a working dinner on March 31, 2016 in Washington, DC. OLIVIER DOULIERY | AFP | Getty Images
Since then, he's developed a close relationship with Obama, who has referred to Modi as "my partner and friend." But Obama is set to depart the White House in early 2017 and amid uncertainty regarding his successorgiven the tight race between candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trumpthis tour differs from past ones, experts said. "This visit is critical since it will prepare the foundation of Indo-U.S. engagement when the new president takes over," explained Nazia Hussain, research analyst at Singapore's Nanyang Technnological University. The U.S. is one of India's largest trading partners, not to mention a major source of capital and military equipment so Modi will seek to consolidate those ties regardless of who becomes President, she continued. While a Clinton presidency is widely expected to maintain or improve relations, a Trump victory has more worrisome consequences. For one, it could upset the amount of remittances New Delhi receives from the U.S. after the Republican candidate proposed cracking down on the H1B non-immigrant visa that employs numerous Indians in the U.S.
On the agenda
Modi may increase engagement with Republican and Democratic legislators, as well the private sector, which will help determine the pace of progress in a post-Obama U.S.-India relationship, Tanvi Madan, director of The India Project and a fellow in the foreign policy program at the Brookings Institution, said in a note last week.
"Importantly, in an election year, Modi will likely note the bipartisan nature of the [U.S.-India] relationship - there's no indication yet that he will or wants to meet any of the presidential candidates on this visit," Madan said.
Of particular note will be the 65-year-old's address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, which will see him become the fifth Indian prime minister to have had that honor. Ahead of that are meetings with business leaders and an address to the U.S.-India Business Council on Tuesday. "Expect to see Modi highlight and defend his government's two-year record on the economy and make a pitch for U.S. businesses to increase their involvement in Indiaparticularly some of Modi's flagship initiatives such as 'Make in India' and 'Digital India'," Madan noted. Given the unpredictability of the American election, Modi may also try to ink as many deals as possible before the end of Obama's term. "Several good bills and amendments offered by India-friendly senators and congressmen are currently in the legislative process that recognize India as a special defense partner and enshrine in law what the Obama administration has been doing through the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative. The hope is to pass at least one bill or amendment in both houses in time for Modi's visit or shortly after," Mumbai-based think tank Gateway House said in a recent report. Specifically, the visit could see India enter the Missile Technology Control Regime, a partnership among 34 countries aimed at missile non-proliferation, Hussain said.
watch now
Challenges ahead
Oscar Health Insurance vowed to use technology to change and improve the way customers find health care, and it seems they're making good on their word. The company, started in 2013 by co-founder Josh Kushner in part because he was frustrated when he couldn't make sense of a bill from his health insurance company, has grown quickly over the past few years. It started on the New York State health-plan marketplace and has since expanded to California, New Jersey and Texas.
Read MoreFULL LIST: 2016 DISRUPTOR 50
The company now has 145,000 customers, up from 40,000 a year ago. They can toggle right over to the Oscar home page and find simple language and good search functions to find any general doctor or specialist.
In February the company raised $400 million in a round led by mutual fund giant Fidelity. That deal now values Oscar at $2.7 billion, more than $1 billion higher than last year at this time. And Fidelity is in good company. Other investors include PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, General Catalyst Partners, Goldman Sachs and Khosla Ventures. The company says it plans to enter three to four new states each year, with each new territory costing about $20 million to get up and running. With the amount of cash Oscar has been able to raise, that shouldn't cause any headaches.
For a company as secretive as Palantir Techhologies, there's certainly been enough talk of its recent doings. The 12-year-old Silicon Valley firm, started by Stanford Law School graduate Alexander Karp in 2004, sells software to the U.S. government, Wall Street firms and others to mine massive data sets for intelligence and law-enforcement applications. This software can take wildly disparate mounds of data and transform it into maps, charts and other forms of intelligence. Palantir's engineers can then go through a client's data and report back to them news of potential trouble, whether that be terrorism, financial fraud or human trafficking.
Read MoreFULL LIST: 2016 DISRUPTOR 50
The company apparently has been making its footprint even bigger by taking up more office space in downtown Palo Alto, where it already has workers in about two dozen buildings. In February it bought the web-scraping firm Kimono for an undisclosed amount. That company helps developers grab information from websites without having to spend the time and money to create their own scrapers.
Palantir's biggest clients the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, among them don't talk about their relationship with the company. But in March, Credit Suisse Group AG revealed that it started a venture with Palantir that aims to catch rogue employees before they can harm the bank. The 50-50 joint venture, called Signac, will focus initially on detecting unauthorized trading, but the Zurich-based lender has said it plans to expand Signac to monitor all employee behavior, catch breaches of conduct rules, and eventually offer the service to other banks.
Though Palantir doesn't release financials, analysts at PrivCo estimate its 2015 revenues doubled to $1.5 billion. To date, the company has raised an astounding $2.7 billion, from venture firms such as Tiger Global and Founders Fund. That's leading many to wonder if Palantir ever needs to go public. CEO Alex Karp may have given a huge hint when he said of his secretive company back in 2013: "[An initial public offering] would make running a company like ours very difficult."
SpaceX, the company started by Elon Musk (founder of electric-car company Tesla) designs, manufacturers and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. It is working hard at making its rockets reusable to drastically reduce the costs of sending things or people to space.
Read MoreFULL LIST: 2016 DISRUPTOR 50
So far this year, the company is responsible for five launches, including a resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS), as well as placing communications satellites into orbit on behalf of customers. The 4,000-employee company based in Hawthorne, California, has been flying cargo resupply missions to the ISS under contract with NASA since 2012.
Now, under a $440 million contract with NASA, SpaceX is in the midst of making refinements to its Dragon spacecraft so that in the next two to three years, it can fly manned missions as well.
The company has nearly 70 satellite launches booked for commercial customers as well as additional NASA missions, representing close to $10 billion in contracts. But Musk's real vision for the rocket is to eventually take humans to Mars.
After Amazon hit a new intraday all-time high of $731.50 on Monday, the "Fast Money" traders debated whether or not it was worth holding the stock and whether it could cross $1,000 before Alphabet .
Trader Pete Najarian said that Amazon is a good bet because of CEO Jeff Bezos, despite the shares trading at a very high multiple.
"When you look at where they are dominating, it's in e-commerce. Well, that's a monster for them," he said. Najarian added that Amazon is also doing well in other products like cloud computing and its Prime membership services.
"This is a monster growing company that dumps money into themselves time and time again. And the market, for whatever reason, over the years has been able to embrace that and say that they're going to give them a pass," he said.
"Because of that I think this stock can get over $1,000. By the way, the last thing you need to keep an eye on is shipping logistics. That is the next part of the business that's going to push them over $1,000," Najarian added.
Trader Dan Nathan agreed.
"If you're going to place your chips on something, you'd say Amazon has a much better shot to get there," he said.
Karen Finerman said she still likes Alphabet and that even though Amazon may be more likely to hit $1,000 first, she said it's not enough for her to want to own the stock here. Finerman added, however, that she absolutely wouldn't short Amazon at the moment.
Amazon's domination of e-commerce and retail is only enhanced by the struggles of big box retailers. Shares of electronics retailer Best Buy fell 3 percent Monday after CEO Hubert Joly sold $12.8 million of his shares in the company, according to a Friday regulatory filing.
Trader Guy Adami said the sale isn't a good sign for the company and that its future "just doesn't look good."
"Best Buy to me still has problems, still has issues. Despite the valuation, which is reasonable, there's a short interest that continues to grow. People are betting against it," he said, adding that Amazon's success is not a small part of that pessimism in Best Buy.
"I'd rather own Amazon, crazy as it might sound, at that multiple than Best Buy at ten-times forward earnings," Adami said.
Nathan piled on and said it made sense for Joly to cut his stake in his own company. He added that Best Buy's sales have declined dramatically in the last few years.
"It's a structural short. Obviously you can talk about Amazon, whichever you want, but listen, good for him. Why not get out when there's still something to sell?," he said.
Twilio believes that communication is at the heart of every business, and at the heart of every business is a developer. That's why this San Francisco-based company has spent the past nine years convincing developers close to 1 million of them are registered to use its application programming interface to add call, voice, text and picture messaging to any app by adding just a few lines of code.
Read MoreFULL LIST: 2016 DISRUPTOR 50
Now the company is taking the next step in its development. In late May, Twilio filed for a $100 million initial public offering, making it just one of a handful of tech IPOs in 2016. In its registration statement, it revealed that it has 28,000 active customer accounts, 15 percent of which are located outside the United States and that, at the end of 2015, it brought in nearly $167 million in revenue but had a net loss of $35 million.
Companies such as The Home Depot, Uber, Coca-Cola, Airbnb and Nordstrom are customers, using Twilio's API in their apps to enhance their communications functions. The company earns money by charging their customers a fee based on the pay-for-what-you-use model and by providing communication services, such as setting up VoIPs, IP infrastructure and connectivity.
In May it launched Twilio Notify, an API for orchestrating notifications across SMS, push notifications and messaging apps. Developers and businesses no longer need to integrate their software with messaging channels; developers can simply use Notify to indicate which customers get a particular message and Twilio will reach them using their preferred channel. Twilio also launched a new platform that uses wireless bandwidth. The concept is called Twilio Programmable Wireless, and the company is partnering with telecom giant T-Mobile for the launch. The plan is to develop the next generation of communication software by using the SIM card found in every mobile device. With this new platform, developers can build their apps using cellular data without having to rely on things like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
Former StubHub executive Jeff Lawson started Twilio in 2008. So far, the company has raised close to $240 million from investors such as Bessemer Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson, giving it close to a $1 billion valuation. Twilio employs 567 people and has offices around the world, including Hong Kong, London, Singapore and China.
By now, most people have heard of the Internet of Things the notion that everyday objects can have network connectivity and are able to send and receive data. Well, how about the Internet of Moving Things? That's Veniam's proposal.
Read MoreFULL LIST: 2016 DISRUPTOR 50
This Mountainview, California-based company whose founders include two of the people that helped to start Zipcar turns moving vehicles such as cars and buses into live networks that allow people to be online without being dependent on a cellular network. The company can also take the data it collects to keep track of buses and other municipal vehicles and even better manage traffic flows and alternate routes.
Veniam's technology can best be seen right now in Porto, Portugal, where its hardware has been installed onto the public bus system. The company claims that about 73 percent of the city's bus riders with mobile devices are using Veniam's free Wi-Fi. The next market for the company this year is Singapore, with plans to eventually launch its network within U.S. cities.
Funding, totaling $27 million so far, comes from True Ventures, Verizon Ventures, Cisco Investments and Union Square Ventures.
Ron Baron told CNBC on Tuesday that investors can learn as much, if not more, from their mistakes than their successes.
The billionaire buy-and-hold stock specialist talked about his lessons from two stocks: Under Armour , which he got really right, and Netflix , which he got really wrong.
Starting with Under Armour, Baron told "Squawk Box" he's made at least 10 times his money. "We recently bought, in the past week, 1.5 million [additional] shares, when the stock has come down a couple points because they lost a customer."
He started buying UA shares in 2005.
Instead of doing $5.1 billion in sales this year, Baron expects Under Armour to have $4.9 billion. But his message to investors who want to be in stocks for the long haul is: "Nobody is going to think about this in a few years."
"What I think about is the company is going to go from $5 billion to $20 billion in 10 years or eight years," he said. "When they get there, they'll make a 15 percent profit margin."
"I think we're going to make three or four times, probably four times [our money] in the next 10 years in Under Armour," said the chairman and CEO of Baron Capital, which has $21 billion in assets under management.
Patience is proving profitable for Baron with Under Armour.
Political commentators and experts are calling on Hillary Clinton to pivot her campaign to focus on unifying the Democratic Party, after NBC News projected Monday that she has secured a majority of delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
Jared Bernstein, former economic advisor to Vice President Joe Biden, told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" on Tuesday that the former secretary of state should do more to bring in supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
"I think that Hillary Clinton's best move at this point would be to think about ways to try to pull those Sanders supporters, at least the ones who are open to unifying, into the fold, and not to harangue Bernie Sanders to get out of the way," said Bernstein, now senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Sara Fagen, former senior aide to President George W. Bush, agreed but said the presumptive Democratic nominee's campaign is already making a strong effort.
"They're very cognizant of the fact that Bernie Sanders has a wide swath of the Democratic Party very loyal to him and very energized by him," she said.
Fagen added, however, that the campaign needs to continue its unification efforts.
"The Clinton campaign, while they're going to win regardless of the results tonight, she's clearly going to be the nominee, they do need to bring the party together," said Fagen, now a partner at public affairs firm DDC.
Fagen and Bernstein made their comments ahead of Tuesday's primary contests in California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North and South Dakota.
If you've ever thought "this meal would taste better naked," then London's newest pop-up restaurant will certainly interest you. But sign up fast, as there are already over 40,000 people on the waiting list.
Bunyadi opening Saturday at a 'secret' location in south London for the better part of three months, calls itself "London's first naked food experience," and operates a clothing-optional policy. For obvious reasons, diners are banned from bringing in mobile phones or cameras, and are promised discreet candle lighting instead of electric lights. The restaurant will host 46 diners at a time.
"We believe people should get the chance to enjoy and experience a night out without any impurities: no chemicals, no artificial colors, no electricity, no gas, no phone and even no clothes if they wish to. The idea is to experience true liberation," said founder Seb Lyall, in a press release on the restaurant's website.
The cloud-based file-sharing company, Dropbox, is continuing its expansion outside the United States. In late May, it announced the opening of its first office in Hamburg, Germany. This new location is part of a bigger push into Europe, which also includes a recent office opening in Amsterdam. Dropbox already has offices in Dublin, London and Paris and says that more than 75 percent of its 500 million users are outside the United States. In fact, the company has users in about 200 countries, and its product is available in 20 languages.
Read MoreFULL LIST: 2016 DISRUPTOR 50
Dropbox was started in 2007 by MIT graduate Drew Houston, who soon brought on fellow classmate Arash Ferdowsi to help develop its early plans. The New York City-based firm claims it has 150,000 business customers who pay about $150 per employee each year. (Consumers can use up to 2GB of data for free.)
Dropbox says it is adding about 25,000 new business customers each quarter. They'll be in good company: Current customers include Under Armour, National Geographic, Hyatt Hotels, MIT, Hearst and Yahoo.
As a private company, it's already raised more than $1 billion in venture financing from Benchmark, Greylock Partners and BlackRock, and at press time it was valued at around $10 billion. The company doesn't release revenue figures, but the last time it raised money in 2014, reports pegged its top line at $400 million, nearly double the amount the year before.
Take a look at some of Tuesday's early movers:
Ralph Lauren The company holds its investor day Tuesday and said it expects to incur restructuring charges of up to $400 million in the 2017 fiscal year. For the fiscal first quarter, the firm expected net revenue to decline at a mid-single-digit rate, with operating margin about 110 to 160 basis points below the same period last year. For the full year, Ralph Lauren said it expects a decline in sales due to store closures, weak retail traffic in the U.S., and other factors.
Axiall South Korean firm Lotte Chemical is bidding for U.S. chemicals maker Axiall in a deal the Financial Times estimates to be worth $3.1 billion.
Tribune Publishing Gannett said in a statement Tuesday it continues to believe the Tribune board should engage constructively with Gannett in negotiating a merger agreement. The USA Today publisher has offered to acquire Tribune for $15.00 a share.
Hertz Activist investor Carl Icahn increased his stake in the firm to 15.24 percent from 14.34 percent, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing dated Monday.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals The heavily scrutinized pharmaceutical company posted a net loss of $1.08 a share in the first quarter and adjusted earnings of $1.27 a share, 11 cents a share below estimates. Revenue was a touch below forecasts at $2.37 billion, while Valeant gave full-year guidance that fell well below expectations. Shares plunged nearly 17 percent in premarket trading.
Sarepta Therapeutics The company said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has requested additional data for an ongoing study of a muscle-wasting treatment, whose official approval is still pending. After the announcement, analysts at Wedbush Securities upgraded the stock to "outperform" from "neutral," and raised its price target to $36 from $14. Shares of Sarepta soared more than 35 percent in premarket trading.
United Natural Foods The food distributor reported fiscal third-quarter earnings of 76 cents a share, 10 cents a share above Reuters estimates. Revenue of $2.13 billion slightly missed estimates. Full-year guidance on earnings and revenue both topped expectations, however. Shares were up about 10 percent in premarket trading.
Zillow Barclays upgraded the stock to "equal weight" from "underweight" after the online real estate database announced it settled its lawsuit with Move for just $130 million versus Barclays' expected $500 million and well below the $2 billion Move originally sought. Barclays also raised its price target to $32 a share from $20, citing improvement in fundamentals.
GoDaddy Citi downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy" citing valuation, citing expectations of near-term slowdown in margin expansion and growth.
Biogen The biotech company reported disappointing results in its mid-stage study for an experimental multiple sclerosis drug treatment.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Societe Generale fired former trader Jerome Kerviel without real and serious cause, a French labour court ruled on Tuesday, ordering the bank to pay him 450,000 euros ($510,255), according to his lawyer and a court official.
A SocGen spokesman said the bank would appeal the decision.
watch now
watch now
Increasing numbers of asset managers are combining robo-advice with human interaction to help retail customers become more comfortable with investing their hard-earned money through robots, according to a European fund manager. Jamie Hammond, European CEO of AllianceBernstein told CNBC on the sidelines of FundForum in Berlin that the latest trend is asset managers using robo-advice technology to cut down on costs as well as deliver products to those who don't want to pay for financial advice. "What we are seeing is reluctance for people to part with their hard-earned money without actually speaking to somebody. So the model seems to be a combination of robo-advice and technology to reduce the cost of delivery coupled with human interaction to give people the confidence to part with their hard-earned money."
The robo-advice market is becoming popular by the day. According to financial research firm MyPrivateBanking, the robo-advice market will grow to 168 billion ($115.2 billion) by the year 2020. While the market is a lot more established in the U.S. with over $19 billion managed by robo-advisers according to another financial research firm, Corporate Insight, AllianceBernstein's Hammond told CNBC a growing number of asset managers in Europe have started looking at their digital strategy on how to use robo-advice. This is not just to deliver guidance to investors who don't want to see advisers but also to help the financial adviser community be more efficient on how they can service their clients better. "You will see two types of robo-advice play out: end investor product delivery and more digital efficiency to the adviser." Robo-advice platforms are very similar to a traditional adviser model, the only difference is an online interaction as opposed to a face-to-face one. However, they are still a very small proportion of the market when compared to the traditional adviser model. They aim to provide a hand-holding approach to investors with guidance and advice on financial goals and a new range of products. They started to gain popularity in the U.K. after the pensions freedom reforms were announced in April last year that gave retirees the freedom to access their entire pension pot.
iLexx | Getty Images
A number of asset management firms launched various platforms to help investors invest their money better. Another area that received a boost was multi-asset funds, portfolios with exposure to various asset classes in order to minimize risk and maximize profits. AllianceBernstein's Hammond told CNBC that multi-asset funds are seeing large inflows in Italy, U.K and Spain. "If you look at it in the last three years, it is only growing I think year on year. Major markets that have taken multi-asset in a big way, I think Italy was the largest in terms of flows and I think U.K. and Spain (is) also very large in terms of multi-asset investing as people seek that combination of acceptable level of income and acceptable level of risk."
watch now
They studied non-stop for a year, sat in class from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., plowed through "tons of homework." Then it all came down to one big series of tests for 9.4 million stressed-out Chinese students. Tuesday was the start of the "Gaokao," the two-day National College Entrance Examinations that dictate what Chinese university, and increasingly, as more international institutions recognize the exam, what overseas university, the students would attend. And although there were now other avenues for young Chinese to pursue further study, the exam remained "a make-or-break challenge" for many high school students, particularly those from poor families, official news agency Xinhua reported on Monday.
A student waves to her family as she prepares to enter a Beijing exam center to take part in the Gaokao on June 7, 2016. Barry Huang | CNBC
So make-or-break, Xinhua said, that while the students were examined on subjects including mathematics, Chinese and English, police would prevent drivers around the exam sites from blowing their horns, while hotels within easy reach of the Beijing exam centers were completely booked-out by parents who hoped to buy extra rest, or cram, time for their children. Some parents even reportedly hired "Gaokao nannies" to offer their child company and advice while the teenager studied. At the weekend, Beijing's Confucius Temple and the neighboring Guozijian - also known as the Imperial Academy, a higher-learning institute during Ming and Qing Dynasties in imperial China - were crowded with students and parents keen to pray to Confucius, the most revered name in the history of Chinese education.
Students queue outside a school in Beijing on June 7, 2016, to take the first exam of their National College Entrance Examinations. Barry Huang | CNBC
Lin Ye, an 18-year-old student who told CNBC that she hoped to study education and become a teacher, said she had been preparing for the Gaokao for six months. "It's non-stop, 24-7," Lin said. "If you take a sick day off and come back to the classroom, you will find a stack of new papers to be done." Li Cong, also 18, said her preparation started even earlier. "We started intensively study for the exam a year ago, mostly following the reviewing process from the teacher and finishing tons of homework everyday," she said, adding that her family had tried not to heap additional pressure on her. "But I can feel that they are all very nervous and it's affecting me a little," she added.
Li Cong, right, and her classmate An Meng walk past a statue of Confucius at the Confucius Temple in central Beijing on June 4, 2016. Barry Huang | CNBC
But Zhao, a father in his 30s, who declined to give his first name, said that the pressure on young Chinese doing the Gaokao was actually lower than in the past. "It's much better than 10 or 20 years ago, when it was like a Chinese old saying 'tens of thousands of people crossing a single-log bridge'," Zhao recalled. "Right now, the students have more options, some of the students from my daughter's school have already gone studying abroad. But Gaokao still remains as the most important chance for most Chinese students, so us parents get very nervous when the date approaches."
Rollins Follow Rollins 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
Much of our time in Congress is spent fighting overreach by the executive branch. In fact, a study just released by the Heritage Foundation found 20,642 new regulations have been added throughout the Obama presidency.
Growing regulatory burdens harm producers and consumers, individuals and families, and the overall health of our economy.
As summer begins, fuel demand will rise as more Nebraskans hit the road for vacations and activities. Consumers can enjoy greater savings at the pump when retailers have the opportunity to market more fuel options.
May is Renewable Fuels Month in Nebraska, an opportunity to celebrate and renew our commitment to expanding consumer choice, diversifying our fuel supply, and promoting American energy independence.
Ethanol provides consumers with a competitive alternative. Unfortunately, arbitrary regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently prevent the sale of E15 during summer months. The EPA granted E10 a waiver from its volatility standards in 1990, but this waiver has not yet been extended to E15 despite the fact E15 is cheaper and less volatile than E10.
For many retailers, the steps required to comply with EPA regulations makes E15 uncompetitive. I have introduced legislation to extend the waiver to E15, allowing it to be sold year-round.
To encourage further investment in renewable fuels, I also co-sponsored the Biodiesel Tax Incentive Reform and Extension Act introduced by Rep. Kristi Noem of South Dakota. The bill would reform the biodiesel tax credit so it is only used for U.S.-produced fuel.
In addition to stifling energy innovation, regulations also threaten the affordability and accessibility of agriculture products. Many Nebraska farmers and ranchers have expressed deep concerns to me about the Occupational Safety and Health Administrations (OSHA) regulations on anhydrous ammonia.
OSHA bypassed the rulemaking process and issued an interpretive memo in July 2015 redefining regulations on anhydrous ammonia. This change impacts approximately 3,800 agriculture retailers and would cost the industry in excess of $100 million to comply, likely forcing small retailers to stop selling anhydrous ammonia and restricting producers access to this important input.
When issuing the memo, OSHA ignored federal statute requiring major regulatory actions to be published for public comment. Retailers and producers should be given the opportunity to voice their concerns through the formal rulemaking process rather than having yet another unilateral regulation forced upon them by this administration.
In response to outcry from Nebraskans on OSHAs actions, I introduced the Fertilizer Access and Responsible Management (FARM) Act in the U.S. House to block this misguided regulation. Senator Deb Fischer has also been an active leader on the issue in the U.S. Senate.
When it comes to finding ways to cut red tape, your feedback is crucial. If you are willing to join me in this effort and share your story about how regulations have impacted you, your family or your livelihood, please visit my website at AdrianSmith.house.gov to send me a note. You can also learn more about my ongoing efforts to provide regulatory relief to Nebraskans.
U.S. investigators are examining whether Goldman Sachs violated the Bank Secrecy Act when it didn't inform regulators about a potentially suspicious transaction involving Malaysia's embattled state fund 1MDB, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
After raising $3 billion via a bond issue for the troubled fund, Goldman sent the proceeds to a Swiss bank account controlled by 1MDB, with much of that amount then disappearing offshore and some reappearing in the prime minister's bank account, the WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter and bank-transfer information.
At issue is whether Goldman should have viewed the transfer to the Singapore branch of Swiss private bank BSI instead of a large global bank as suspicious and a potential sign the funds weren't being used for their intended purpose, the WSJ said.
Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The funds were meant to finance a major real-estate project in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital, the WSJ said.
The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee told CNBC on Tuesday the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act has stifled economic growth and institutionalized "too big to fail" banks. That's why Rep. Jeb Hensarling said he is seeking to wipe out or remake large parts of the Democrats' signature financial industry regulatory achievement.
Hensarling, R-Texas, made his comments ahead of an appearance at the Economic Club of New York, where he plans to outline legislation that would undo key parts of Dodd-Frank and overhaul and rename the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The Financial Choice Act would repeal the Volcker Rule, which bans banks from making speculative bets with their own accounts, according to details of the plan released before Hensarling's speech. It would remove the Financial Stability Oversight Council's authority to deem financial institutions systemically important and give banks the option of holding high levels of capital instead of complying with liquidity standards enshrined in Dodd-Frank and Basel III.
"We believe that we need a banking system that has a federal safety net that has a whole lot more capital and a whole lot less federal control," Hensarling told CNBC's "Squawk Box."
Under Hensarling's legislation, the CFPB would become the Consumer Financial Opportunity Commission, replace the single director with a five-member bipartisan commission, and be tasked with a dual mandate to protect consumers and competitive markets.
Extending the commission's mandate is necessary because "part of consumer protection is protecting the economic choices and vibrant competitive markets," Hensarling said.
No matter how sophisticated technology gets, one challenge remains for nearly every business: figuring out the best ways to connect with customers. That's where InsideSales.com can help. The Provo, Utah-based company is a provider of predictive analytics services for salespeople that helps them source and close deals.
Read MoreFULL LIST: 2016 DISRUPTOR 50
The company claims that what sets it apart from other big data analytics companies is the sheer size of the data pool that it taps into to give suggestions to customers. InsideSales' sales platform called Neuralytics uses more than 14 billion sales interactions to not only identify the best leads and prospects but also how best to get in touch with them and even what words to use to close more deals.
The company counts about 2,000 customers that use its service, including ADP, Sprint, Fidelity, Groupon and Microsoft.
InsideSales' investors, including Salesforce Ventures and Microsoft, have poured in close to $300 million in funding to date. The company says the money is being used to expand its presence outside the United States. It recently opened an office in London.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has commended Moscow's efforts in Syria ahead of his third visit to Russia in less than a year, saying closer ties are a boon to national security and sparking speculation over the depth of countries' relationship. Netanyahu is making his third visit since September, when Russia launched its military intervention in Syria.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) during their meeting at the Kremlin on April 21,2016 in Moscow, Russia. Mikhail Svetlov | Getty Images
"Russia is a global power and our relations are getting closer," Netanyahu said Sunday, according to Russian press service RIA Novosti. "I worked on this rapprochement and today it is serving us, our national security, preventing unneeded and dangerous clashes at our northern border," the Israeli prime minister added. According to the Kremlin website, Netanyahu will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to discuss bilateral trade and cultural ties, alongside big ticket items like international terrorism, Israeli-Palestinian relations, and the ongoing Syrian civil war. "The Russia-Israel security relationship has been quietly developing for some time now," Daragh McDowell, principal analyst for Europe and Central Asia with Verisk Maplecroft, told CNBC by email. Israel hopes it can use Russia to influence the behavior of some of its less friendly regional foes, including neighboring Syria and Iran, McDowell said. For Russia's part, the country is interested in gaining and maintaining a stronger foothold in the Middle East while puncturing the regional sway of the U.S.
watch now
Russia's relationship with Israel is likely to be a thorn in Washington's side. The U.S. and European Union have so far maintained sanctions against Moscow over the annexation of Crimea and backing of separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.
But Crispin Hawes, a Middle East specialist and managing director at Teneo Intelligence, told CNBC that the move is characteristic of Netanyahu's antagonistic relationship with the Obama administration. "It's no secret that relations with Obama are very poor, and it's an absolute bonus for Netanyahu to be able to scratch that scar," Hawes told CNBC in a phone interview. Any economic or trade relationships announced out of Netanyahu's Moscow visit, meanwhile, will be a bigger win for Russia's economy, which has struggled amid Western sanctions and low commodity prices, Hawes said. Imports from Russia "grew significantly" in 2014, according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to total $1.3 billion, up 54 percent from 2013.
watch now
Ask any online shopper the one thing they'd love to change about the experience, and chances are they'll tell you the onerous check-out process. Well, the founders of Klarna were listening. This 11-year-old Swedish e-commerce company has separated the process of buying from purchasing with its payment solution called Klarna Checkout. (Klarna roughly translates to "clear" in Swedish.)
Read MoreFULL LIST: 2016 DISRUPTOR 50
The company is already one of Europe's most highly valued tech start-ups, and now since moving into the United States late last year, it is gunning straight for its biggest stateside rival, PayPal. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski believes his company's password-free service and one-click shopping will help it compete in the crowded and highly-competitive U.S. market. And it's a market worth fighting for: Forrester Research says online retail sales are growing 10 percent annually and are projected to reach $480 billion by 2019.
Here's how Klarna's service works: A customer making an online purchase enters only their email address and Zip code to buy an item. Klarna pays the retailer immediately and then collects the amount due from the consumer within 14 days. The company makes its money predominately through the fees it charges merchants for its service. The company says that by using proprietary data analytics and modeling it can give approved consumers a seamless buying experience.
The company disclosed financials for the first time last year and reported that revenues increased to $331 million in 2015, from $260 million the year before. Investors like the company's chances in the U.S. market. So far, companies such as Sequoia Capital, General Atlantic and DST Global have invested more than $300 million.
Californians have a long list of colorful candidates for the U.S. Senate as voters go to the polls. Lucy Nicholson | Reuters
Nearly 39 million people live in California, and looking at Tuesday's primary ballot, you'd think every one of them is running for U.S. Senate. Senate seats don't often come up for grabs, but with the retirement of Democrat Barbara Boxer, who has held the seat for 24 years, seemingly every resident over age 30 who can cough up the $3,480 filing fee or 10,000 signatures is taking a shot.
The front-runner is Democratic state Attorney General Kamala Harris, who will probably face Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez in the general election. In California, it's an open primary for Senate and the top two finishers face off on November regardless of party affiliation. But enough about that. It's the other contenders running for Senate who blow the mind. Of the 34 on the ballot, 20 have submitted statements.
Sure, there are a few serious candidates, along with some longshots who seem like nice people.
Then there are the dozen or so who bring a certain political je ne sais quoi that you can only find in the land of fruits and nuts.
Here are a few of the people running for the United States Senate from the great state of California.
Pamela Elizondo, Green Party
Elizondo said this is her 13th campaign for office. It's not clear she's ever won. Elizondo lays out her views in an hour long video on Vimeo, where she said she wants to stop all spending on everything from defense to highways. Her primary economic goal is to legalize marijuana to "save our Earth financially." She spoke specifically of a type of cannabis toilet that doesn't require water "or no hole-in-the-ground septic system." The sales of such a toilet could bring in "many billions of dollars, probably much more."
Massie Munroe, Democrat
Like many candidates Munroe wants to get rid of the Federal Reserve. She'd like to replace it with a Citizens Bank subjected to regular audits "and will be charged with creating Government Created Money." Some of that created money will pay down the debt, (which was created by the original "created money").
But Munroe's platform doesn't end there. She's also making it a priority to end "directed, targeted and extremely painful directed electromagnetic radiation for the purpose of human behavior modification, cognitive mind control, and nonconsensual human experimentation."
Ling Ling Shi, no party preference
"Run for God's Heart and America's Freedom, challenge 10 giant chaos in economy and economy-related sectors," reads Ling Ling Shi's voter statement. She also provides a link to something called the Wells Ark center, which appears to be a career training and religious site. On the site she sells an e-book called "Build an American ARK, the Strategy and Method for U.S. Economic Revival," which "will bring you on a tour from spiritual realm to physical realm to reveal the hope of revival in the U.S.A., to explore the new era's economic strategy and method to overcome the crises, to turn the economic chaos to cosmos!" She has also posted videos performing religious songs she composed.
Von Hougo, Republican
Hougo is a teacher with tech in mind. He's running what he calls a "donation free campaign" to take you to Washington with him. "As your U.S. Senator, I will work with California-based tech companies to develop a voter-driven platform that allows you to voice your opinion on every Bill before the Senate," Hougo writes. "I will vote in the Senate based on the majority vote of Californians-every single time." That way, you decide for him. Along similar lines ...
Jason Hanania, no party preference
Hanania is running as an "Evoting Candidate" bent on "Re-Engineering Democracy." Hanania said Evoting Candidates represent no political party, do not accept donations, and agree to use the Evoting Service.
"The Evoting Service is an electronic voting software system-owned and controlled by the American People. If an Evoting Candidate gets elected, they become an Evoting Congressman. Through the Evoting Service, Evoting Congressmen do exactly what the American People tell them to do."
Mike Beitiks, no party preference
Beitiks sees a world of trouble. "ISIS. Immigration reform. The NSA. Gun control. The end of the two-party system as we know it," he writes on his campaign site. "What do all of these terrifying issues for the 2016 election have in common? None of them matter because we're all going to die." Climate change is killing us, says Beitiks, who adds, "I swear on the graves of future Californians that I will not sacrifice our actual climate to our political climate." Beitiks doesn't say how he pays the bills, but he did list some of his qualifications for office: "I am willing to make mistakes. Huge Mistakes," and, "I am ready to risk assassination attempts from corporate henchmen, misguided populists, shortsighted libertarians, cult leaders, and lobbyists of every industry modern society was built upon as I implement wildly unpopular policies."
Tim Gildersleeve, no party preference
Gildersleeve said he's running for Senate because, as a Christian, he wants to follow the Golden Rule to love thy neighbor as thyself. Gildersleeve admits in a campaign video that "the odds are against me," but said his ulterior motive is to gain name recognition. "I intend to run for other offices as they become open and available."
President Cristina Grappo, Democrat
How do you get the attention of serial entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban? For 27-year old Breeze CEO Ned Ryan, there were two main factors: He built an innovative company and avoided the common mistakes many young entrepreneurs make.
At age 24, Ryan co-founded Breeze, a service that gives prospective Uber and Lyft drivers access to flexible, short-term car leases. The company leases Toyota Priuses, which it choose for the vehicle's fuel mileage economy, and charges drivers a weekly fee of around $195 that varies by city, plus a one-time fee of $99.
Breeze has raised $16 million in funds to date and counts "Shark Tank" judge Mark Cuban as an investor. While Ryan declined to disclose how much Cuban has invested, he said Mark Cuban's team approached Breeze.
"It's tremendously helpful to be able to bounce ideas off a successful entrepreneur like Mark," Ryan said. "I think he absolutely appreciates rethinking the infrastructure required to power new forms of transportation."
So what's this young entrepreneur's key to success? He credits avoiding (and learning from) these five mistakes that some young entrepreneurs make:
When it comes the election of 2016, Wellesley College is Hillary country. Mostly, anyway. Much has been made about the big number of young Bernie Sanders' supporters who attend Hillary Clinton's alma mater, but when it comes to the alumnae, the vast majority are supporters of Clinton, one of the revered institution's most celebrated graduates. And they very much want to be able to say that the first female president of the United States was a Wellesley graduate.
Wellesley College Source: Wellesley College | Facebook
More than 3,000 graduates of the women's college descended on the campus last weekend for the annual reunion. It's three days of ritual and traditions, all designed to inspire nostalgia, emotion and ultimately donations.
And not surprisingly, this year much of the talk was about the election and "Hillary." Almost no one refers to her as Clinton. Generally speaking, Wellesley graduates call Clinton, Class of 1969, by her first name. "I'm voting for her, and all my close friends are voting for her," said Mary Russel Oleson, Class of 1956. She arrived early for one of the most cherished Wellesley traditions: step-singing. All the women of the college gather on the steps of the chapel to sing songs written by Wellesley women. (One is dedicated to the theory of evolution.) As the first song, "America the Beautiful," gets underway lyrics by Katharine Lee Bates, Class of 1880 many of the attendees can be seen crying. But Russel Oleson was surprised to learn earlier that evening that one of her classmates was not voting for Hillary. "I just assumed that all Wellesley women would vote for her." "Why?" "Because she's Wellesley!" Wellesley has many famous graduates the first female secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, "Sleepless in Seattle" writer Nora Ephron, BlackRock co-founder and Apple board member Susan Wagner. And yet, Clinton's image looms largest. She figures prominently in marketing materials. At the college bookstore there is an entire table dedicated to Hillary items. Books, mugs, action figures and a coloring book grace a table right at the entrance.
Hillary Clinton memorabilia on display at Wellesley College bookstore. Michelle Caruso-Cabrera | CNBC
Indeed, there is an ever-present undercurrent at Wellesley that whispers, occasionally screams, that one should support Hillary because she is part of the sisterhood. Amy Yamashiro, Class of 1991, said "It would be very hard to say you don't support her here." Classmate Angie Garling added it would "feel like you are going against your tribe." More than one alumna used the word "betrayal" when asked about those who might not vote for Hillary.
And it's not just the alumnae who support her. Her thesis adviser, Professor Alan Schechter, is campaigning on her behalf. Sgt. William Bowman of the campus police showed off a photo of himself with Hillary when she visited the campus in 1992 and said he will vote for her. There were a number of alums who would admit they don't like her, but would support her regardless, either because they don't like Donald Trump, or because ultimately it would be good for the Wellesley brand to say it graduated the first woman president of the United States. "I will not admit publicly that I don't like her, that I don't think she's trustworthy," said a member of the Class of 1986, who added that she will ultimately vote for Clinton over Trump. To say you don't like Hillary in front of other Wellesley alums is "like stabbing a baby in front of everyone." And even she is going to vote for her. No surprise perhaps that finding alumnae willing to state on the record that they will not vote for Hillary was strikingly difficult. Among dozens upon dozens of attendees asked, a total of four women said they would not vote for her "under any circumstances": three lawyers and one economist, all of whom describe her as "corrupt" or "criminal." All of them added it was a lonely position to take during reunion.
Hillary Clinton memorabilia on display at Wellesley town bookstore. Michelle Caruso-Cabrera | CNBC
Let me rewrite the opening paragraph to represent the true Trump strategy here, one I don't endorse but still recognize for what it is:
Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump has done it again. His attacks on the Mexican heritage of federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel clearly show that Trump's campaign is still following its uncharted but calculated path. The proof is that even prominent Republican leaders like House Speaker Paul Ryan and former Speaker Newt Gingrich have disavowed themselves from Trump's attacks on the judge. Surely this is the continuation of the Trump campaign's brash efforts to separate itself from the Republican Party not so much in reality, but in voter perception.
Trump not only doesn't need the supposed Republican ideological base, he needs to run away from it regularly to distance himself from a losing and shrinking brand. Trump needs to run this campaign almost as if he's a third-party candidate. I say "almost," because he still needs the Republican National Committee money and ground game and whatever percentage of the population that will vote for the GOP nominee no matter who he or she is.
There are also a lot of people in America who feel that they've lost a case in court because they were treated unfairly by a judge or someone else in the legal system. Almost every person I know who is going through a divorce and involved in a child-custody cases feels that way. And as Dilbert creator and blogger Scott Adams pointed out, it's more likely that Trump knows he's going to lose the Trump University case before Judge Curiel and he's simply building a persuasive case in many of our minds that perhaps he will lose unfairly. Lots of Americans will identify with that.
OK, OK, but that still doesn't answer the less polite question of who out there would actually be swayed to vote for Trump, not just based on his distance from the establishment Republican Party, but on perceived racism or racist comments? Here's the impolite, but true answer: There's no denying that Trump has racist supporters. Anyone who's criticized him publicly finds that out the hard way either in person or on social media. Trump is trying to court and greatly expand the white vote, which has been shrinking in the last few elections. Clearly and sadly, this is one way to do it.
But Trump's comments also speak to those non-racists who don't like supposedly harmless liberal identity politics, like Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor calling herself a "wise Latina," or Hillary Clinton talking about how men are often stupid. Those kinds of comments and strategies can produce not-so-harmless responses and reactions. Are there enough potential voters out there who react that way to help Trump? The primary-election results say "yes."
If you don't condone the divisive and racially-charged comments by Donald Trump about Judge Curiel, it probably speaks well of your soul. But it won't speak well of your observational skills if you don't see how it's really all part of what's been a winning strategy for Trump so far. Don't expect this Judge Curiel controversy to hurt Trump in the polls for more than a week or two, if that. It's really all part of the plan.
Commentary by Jake Novak, supervising producer of "Power Lunch." Follow him on Twitter @jakejakeny.
For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
Bob Dunning in the 101st Airborne
Bob Dunning in Toccoa, 2003: Above.
At Mr. Dunning's house in Hartwell, Georgia, 2003 (from left to right: Bucky, Joel, Bill, Marty, Mr. Dunning with the peachmaker): Above.
This is what I call making a difference. If you are or have ever had a teacher like this, say a private or public thank you if they are still around.One of my greatest regrets about the old Grammar days at Mary Lin was that I never went back to look up Mr. Dunning (He will never be Bob to me). It is amazing to me that after 58 years or so this one teacher could have made such an impression on us all. He was a WWII veteran and member of the 101st Airborne Division. He made the jump into Normandy and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. I started doing research on Mr. Dunning in early 2014. I found quite a few sites on the jump in 1994 as well as some mentions in various books. He was an active veteran and spoke to many classes and groups about his wartime experiences. Many people do not know that he jumped again in Normandy on D-Day plus 50 years in 1994.He was 73 years old. If there was ever a poster boy for the Greatest Generation, it was Robert C. Dunning. But there seems to have been millions of these young guys who also fit that bill. I wonder if there are that many from my "ME" generation.When I came across Marty's (an old classmate from school) story which was forwarded to me from a mutual friend, I choked back a tear or too. If I had maintained contact with my old classmates, I would have been one of the ones who went back to visit my old 7th Grade Teacher & Hero. During my entire adult life, I would have flashes of memories of Mr. Dunning and his strict no nonsense way of handling us rambunctious kids. As Marty says in the article below, he would take every opportunity to counsel us about life. Some of us at the time took it to be war stories told to enhance his importance, but later came to realize that his passion was to teach us things that could not be found in books.During some of my worst moments during my tour of Vietnam, Mr. Dunning memory always popped into my head and somehow helped me to endure.Here is the Email from Marty, used with permission:In the early morning darkness of June 6, 1944, Bob and many others of America's finest took off in C47 transports with special D-Day black strips on their wings indicating the invasion, termed project "Overlord". The plan was to drop men behind German lines to disrupt enemy reinforcements among other things. The Germans had purposely flooded the low lands fearing an invasion, although they didn't know exactly when or where. His plane was hit by enemy fire and they had to jump earlier than planned. Bob said that several of the guys were assigned to carry mortar shells, which added considerable weight to a rather short guy. Needless to say, he landed in water over his head and that made for a great story on its own.Bob went on the jump again in Holland. Another historic event He told us he ended the war outside Berlin. These guys were all concerned that they would be reassigned to the Pacific theater rather than going home. Thankfully, that war front ended, too. He had many stories, which were told to us as kids. When we became adults, he relayed stories that wouldn't have been appropriate for a young audience. Although many were intense, a few were down right hilarious.We went to see Bob and Myra Dunning several times prior to his death. I have a 8x10 picture down in my "Man Cave" of the five of us guys bent over with Bob Dunning standing behind us in the famous "Ready Position" and...........you guessed it, he's got the Peace Maker in his hands. Yep, he kept it all those years. On one of our trips up to his house in Hartwell, Ga. from out of the blue, he asked us to leave our correct contact information because he wanted us to be Pall Bearers at his funeral. Kind of a surprise considering he could have a full military service. We really thought he was kidding. However, several years and visits later we got the call that this American Hero had died. And sure enough four of us served as Pall Bearers, an honor none of us will ever forget. He treasured the many young people he taught and their parents, as well. That was his life, teaching young people to become good citizens.We could write a book about Pfc. Robert C. Dunning and the experiences he relayed, before, during and after the war. One thing is for certain he was the real MAN that John Wayne portrayed. He was a true American Hero, both as a soldier and as an educator. And we loved him and the influence he had on our lives.As I said, we could write a book about him. If anyone finds errors in the above, please speak up. But, in closing I have to say visiting with Bob and Myra Dunning in later life was a hoot! I thank God that we had the opportunities to do so.While he always made us walk the line, we all respected him and he taught us some great values to live by!! Thanks Marty Price!!Here is link to this amazing man's obituary I contacted Marty and asked if I could publish his email. Marty responded with the following. "Good to hear from you. Yes, of course you can use what I wrote about Bob Dunning. Unfortunately, Myra Dunning passed away just a short time ago. There was a short obituary in the Atlanta paper. Myra told us that at around age eighty Bob was experiencing some heart issues. His doctor told them that he would be OK if he would just quiet jumping out of airplanes.Seeing that Bob Dunning received the Good Conduct Metal brings a smile to my face after hearing of some of his "adventures" while stationed in England preparing for Operation Overlord. Very funny, indeed. He was young, full of piss and vinegar and obviously high-spirited. I can only imagine what he would have done to us if we had done some of the stuff he did. Yes, we had a lot of laughs listening to Bob tell his "other" wartime stories to us adult students."
The U.K.'s referendum on whether it remains part of the European Union may just be over two weeks away, but if citizens want to have their say on the nation's future EU membership, they have until tonight to register. Hundreds of thousands of voters are heading online to register for the referendum vote as Tuesday's midnight deadline looms, with some 226,000 signing up to register on Monday alone, The Electoral Commission confirmed.
A European Union referendum postal voting form waiting to be signed Christopher Furlong | Getty Images News | Getty Images
"There has been a really big surge in the last couple of days, and our history does tell us that people do tend to leave their registration to the last minute," Lisa Camps, communications officer at The Electoral Commission, told CNBC over the phone. "So we do expect that today is going to be another really big day for applications, as people get their applications in before the deadline at midnight," Camps added. A similar rush was seen at the 2015 General Elections, when over 485,000 people waited until the registration deadline day to submit their application via paper form or online. However, around 23,000 lost their opportunity to vote when they submitted their application the day after the deadline. Over the course of the official 10-week EU Referendum campaign, both the "Stronger In" and "Vote Leave" groups have ramped up their campaigns to persuade voters to see the benefits or disadvantages of staying in the 28-country political-economic bloc. In April, Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne told CNBC that leaving the EU would cause "an economic shock and a long-term economic cost for the U.K.", while former British foreign secretary Lord David Owen said late April, that it was in Britain's interest to "get out now before there's a collapse (in the EU)."
watch now
watch now
watch now
watch now
Despite all this campaigning, there's still no clear winner in sight. One of YouGov's latest polls with The Times showed late Monday that 43 percent wanted to remain, 42 percent wanted to leave and the rest had either yet to decide or wouldn't vote. One age group that organizations really want to encourage to vote is the younger generation; especially as a new BMG Research poll last week revealed that only 47 percent of 18-24 year olds said they'd definitely vote in the debate, compared to the 80 percent of those aged 65 and above. "The referendum's decision is going to affect all of us, particularly if you're a young (UK) citizen, as it will affect you for much longer," Kenny Imafidon, partnerships and research coordinator at Bite The Ballot, a party-neutral movement encouraging young people to become active change-makers, told CNBC over the phone.
To encourage more people to register and vote, The Electoral Commission has teamed up with Twitter to launch its #EURefReady campaign, which includes hashtags and neon emojis. Previous campaigns with Facebook and Twitter have triggered "a really big surge in applications to register", Camps said, highlighting how these platforms are becoming increasingly useful in communicating with younger age groups, especially on politics. This is a debate that all U.K. citizens "need to be involved and engaged in," as if people don't register or don't vote they can't complain about the outcome, Imafidon said, quoting Channel 4 News anchor, Jon Snow. "Whatever happens after June 23, we are going to have to live with those consequences, (however U.K. citizens) all need to vote and have their say," Imafidon added, saying "every vote counts."
A delay in hiking the sales tax could hurt Japan's finances, the country's state minister of finance said Tuesday.
Manubu Sakai told the Nomura Investment Forum in Singapore that the aim was to boost tax revenues through sustainable economic revitalization but admitted that the country must put the brakes on borrowing. "If government debt is not stopped from increasing, Japan will lose credibility," he said.
Getty Images
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week announced another delay to a planned tax hike and detailed a new stimulus package for the economy this fall. Sakai said Japan had exited deflation and Abenomics was evolving to meet to goal of increasing gross domestic product (GDP) to 600 trillion yen ($5.56 trillion) by fiscal 2021, from 500 trillion yen in fiscal 2015. Among initiatives to boost the economy, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pursuing a 3 percent increase to the minimum wage and "same job, same wage" policies, Sakai said, according to translated remarks.
watch now
Although the Dow topped 18,000 on Tuesday for the first time since April 28, some stocks have been left out of the recent rally. About 6 percent of the stocks have posted negative returns from the February lows, including Chipotle Mexican Grill , Nike , American Airlines and Hormel Foods .
The "Fast Money" traders debated which of these unloved stocks they would rather own. Trader David Seaburg said that he likes the airlines in general. "They're underowned. I believe that they're on their lows."
"Selectively, I'd be in [the airlines] and American Airlines being one of them, I'd buy it here," he said, adding that he also likes Nike.
Trader Guy Adami said that Hormel Foods looks interesting, especially when you look at its "absolutely parabolic" price action around the beginning of the year.
Trader Pete Najarian agreed and added that the "valuation got so stretched that it became very, very difficult, even with the great numbers, great results to take it down."
"I think you have to wait for the stock to get around 18 times forward earnings and then take a look, meaning it probably trades another $2 or $3 lower from here," Adami said.
Trader Steve Grasso said he prefers Under Armour over Nike, based on past seasonality. He also prefers Tyson Foods over Hormel, saying that they are "mirror images of each other." The former is up 14 percent this year, while the latter is down 13 percent.
In the airline sector, Grasso said he prefers Spirit Airlines to American Airlines, saying that "that one's up, American's under water."
Najarian said he is also a fan of the airlines. He said, however, that he thinks "it's a very difficult trade because it reminds me of the auto trade."
A car bomb ripped through a police bus in central Istanbul during the morning rush hour on Tuesday, killing 11 people and wounding 36 near the main tourist district, a major university and the mayor's office.
The car was detonated as police buses passed, Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin told reporters, in the fourth major bombing in Turkey's biggest city this year.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Kurdish militants have staged similar attacks before, including one last month in Istanbul.
Security concerns were already hitting tourism and investor confidence. Wars in neighbouring Syria and Iraq have fostered a home-grown Islamic State network blamed for a series of suicide bombings, while militants from the largely Kurdish southeast have increasingly struck in cities further afield.
President Tayyip Erdogan visited the wounded in a nearby hospital. Sources in his office said he had condemned the attack and had been briefed by Sahin and the interior minister.
"A car-bomb attack was made against vehicles carrying our rapid-response police and passing by on the road, resulting in seven police and four civilians losing their lives," Sahin said, adding three of the 36 wounded were in critical condition.
The blast hit the Vezneciler district, between the headquarters of the local municipality and the campus of Istanbul University, not far from the city's historic heart. It shattered windows in shops and a mosque and scattered debris over nearby streets.
"There was a loud bang, we thought it was lightning but right at that second the windows of the shop came down. It was extremely scary," said Cevher, a shopkeeper who declined to give his surname. The blast was strong enough to topple all the goods from the shelves of his store.
The police bus that appeared to have borne the brunt of the explosion was tipped onto its roof on the side of the road. A second police bus was also damaged. The charred wreckage of several other vehicles lined the street.
As it approaches its sixth birthday, Uber is finding itself in the news as much for its size and growth as for its tangles with unions and city politicians.
Read MoreFULL LIST: 2016 DISRUPTOR 50
In mid-May the San Francisco-based company that lets users hail a car with a few taps on its mobile app abruptly pulled out of Austin, Texas, after the city passed legislation that would have required the company to fingerprint its drivers. Around the same time, Uber also signed an agreement with the International Association of Machinists that puts in place a series of protections for Uber drivers in New York City, where most choose to work 35 hours or more a week. That's more than anywhere else in the country, and for that reason, New York City drivers are now going to get regular meetings with management, discounted life and disability insurance, as well as a pilot program that will require passengers pay if they keep an Uber driver waiting for more than two minutes.
Even with all these public stumbles and concessions, the company, launched by serial entrepreneurs Travis Kalanick also CEO and Garrett Camp is growing quickly. Before starting Uber, Kalanick had just sold his content-delivery company Red Swoosh to Akamai Technologies. Camp had sold StumbleUpon, his web discovery engine to eBay.
Since its founding in 2010, Uber has expanded to more than 440 cities across nearly 60 countries. It has raised a whopping $12.5 billion in equity financing from such venture heavyweights as Google Ventures and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers. Uber is private and doesn't release financials, but industry experts have projected that its 2016 net revenues could be close to $2.5 billion.
Of course, the question on the minds of most investors is when the company will go public. CEO Kalanick has told reporters an IPO "will happen as late as possible." And why wouldn't it? He's on track to raise $10 billion in private funding without having to withstand the glare of Wall Street and the pressure-cooker of quarterly earnings reports. Maybe the better question is: Does Uber even have to go public?
watch now
When was the last time California mattered in a presidential primary? "Probably Bobby Kennedy," said Kip Cassino, executive vice president of research at Borrell Associates, which tracks and consults on media spending. For decades, the Golden State has been the 800-pound irrelevant gorilla on the West Coast, a place where the primary was an afterthought in the race for the White House. Until Hillary Clinton was named the Democrats' presumptive nominee on Monday night, the potentially close contest between the former secretary of state and Bernie Sanders forced both candidates to start spending money in a state where no one expected much campaigning, especially this early. Just ahead of Tuesday's primary, both Democratic candidates started running TV ads in California. Clinton even bought radio spots and did local radio interviews.
Gabrielle Lurie | AFP | Getty Images
But her spending lags her rival. NBC News reports Sanders has spent about $1.3 million on ads in California, with most of that money nearly $1 million buying time in the Los Angeles market, where he is outspending Clinton by 2 to 1. Clinton has spent around $900,000 in California, outspending Sanders in upscale markets like Santa Barbara and Monterey. Then there's the divide in the money coming into the campaigns, especially from Hollywood, where celebrities are facing off in a far more public battle than the split during the 2008 Clinton-Obama contest. The Los Angeles Times has been tracking each candidate's celebrity endorsers. Team Clinton includes everyone from Katy Perry to Tony Bennett to Brian Cranston to Viola Davis. The Sanders camp includes Spike Lee, Rosario Dawson, Patton Oswalt and Dick Van Dyke. Actress Shailene Woodley even organized a star-studded RV trip around the state to campaign for Sanders, while Christina Aguilera headlined a Clinton benefit election eve called, "She's with Us." Then there's the strange surprise of seeing presidential candidates appear at key events and iconic venues in the state. Sanders popped up at a Golden State Warriors game, and made headlines visiting the state's most beloved burger chain, In-N-Out (former President Bill Clinton visited another In-N-Out the same day). Californians are not used to being cajoled and courted like voters in Iowa or New Hampshire. They'd better get used to it, because it won't end Tuesday.
We are already seeing buying activity happen for the fall, given our reach of almost 10 million monthly voting-age listeners in California. Sean Duggan head of advertising sales, Pandora
U.S. stock futures were higher this morning after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit their highest levels of the year Monday. Meanwhile, oil prices hit nearly eight-month highs, after U.S. crude increased 2.2 percent Monday at its highest settle back to July 2015. (CNBC & Reuters)
If Fed Chair Janet Yellen has her way, there likely would be two interest rate hikes this year, contrary to current market expectations and despite Friday's terrible jobs report. Yellen didn't overtly say so in her Monday speech but signaled the possibility. Policymakers meet next week. (CNBC)
Ahead of today's primary contests in California and five other states, Hillary Clinton has reached the majority of the 2,383 delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee, with a combination of pledged and unpledged superdelegates. (NBC News)
Bernie Sanders is arguing superdelegates can change their minds at any time and should not be counted until they vote at the July convention. He's hoping to bolster his case for the nomination by winning California, where he's locked in a dead-heat with Clinton. (CNBC)
House Speaker Paul Ryan plans today to unveil recommendations of a GOP task force on how to combat poverty and drive upward mobility. Ryan wants to show Americans what Republicans stand for, rather than what they're against. (USA Today)
WeWork, the New York City-based company that provides shared workspaces for entrepreneurs, freelancers and small start-ups, is now bringing its communal vision of work to Asia. In March the company raised an additional $430 million of financing from Chinese investors to launch WeWork in China, South Korea and India in the coming year.
Read MoreFULL LIST: 2016 DISRUPTOR 50
Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey got the idea for WeWork back in 2010 when they were both working in a partially vacant office building in Brooklyn. Neumann was selling baby clothing, and McKelvey was an architect. They convinced the landlord to let them rent out the empty space as shared workspaces, and the idea for WeWork was hatched.
watch now
If you want a snapshot of the state of the tech bubble in Silicon Valley, take a look at the 2016 CNBC Disruptor 50 list. The fourth annual ranking profiles the most innovative private companies in the world that are shaking up industries and causing major paradigm shifts that affect every corner of society (see methodology here). This year 28 of the total are Silicon Valley upstarts. The rest are from other U.S. cities, and five are found abroad. The list reveals that private top-tier companies in a wide variety of sectors including cloud computing, biotech, transportation and aerospace are still raising huge sums of cash that are boosting valuations to the stratosphere. Despite a cooling off in the venture capital industry and IPO market, they are a magnet for investors.
How big these private companies are, and the exponential pace of their growth, is staggering. "The median age of the Disruptors is just seven years," revealed Adley Bowden, vice president of PitchBook. "Yet they have made such an impact so fast, considering many have become household names." Numbers tell the story. They have raised a stunning $41 billion in venture capital at a combined valuation of $242 billion, according to PitchBook. And a dozen of these companies snared $1 billion or more. The median amount of venture capital raised: $276 million.
Uber, perched atop the list, raised $12.5 billion from venture heavyweights and others, pushing its valuation to $66 billion. Airbnb, No. 2, garnered $2.5 billion, while Palantir Technologies, No. 4, raised $2.7 billion. For these disruptive ventures that now have a median valuation of $2 billion, the surge in capital pouring in has been rocket fuel for growth. Besides traditional venture capitalists like Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers and Andreessen Horowitz, mutual fund investors entered the fray. Fidelity invested in 13 of the Disruptors including Snapchat, the popular teen app, Uber, Airbnb, Twilio, Oscar and SpaceX. And once again Google Ventures was a dominant player that invested in a dozen of this year's tech companies.
Foreign investors also placed their bets on Disruptors. Last week Uber raised $3.5 billion from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, aligning the company with a major market in the Middle East it plans to target for expansion. Snapchat, No. 16, raised $200 million from the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba as part of a $1.8 billion round of financing in May.
This comes at a time when venture funding has cooled. Over the last two quarters, venture capital funding rounds in the United States has fallen, according to PitchBook. In the first quarter of this year, the number of deals dropped 12 percent, to 1,810 totaling $17.7 billion. The most robust sector of the market is in late-stage financing, where companies with well-established business models are raising expansion capital to build far-flung empires before they hit the trigger to go public. During the first quarter of 2016, 388 companies raised $9.43 billion, PitchBook data revealed.
Siegfried Layda | Getty Images
"There is no curb in enthusiasm by investors in emerging tech start-ups with high growth potential," said Matt Glickman, a lecturer in entrepreneurship at Stanford Business School who served on this year's CNBC Disruptor Advisory Council. "VCs and entrepreneurs in the Valley are more cautious, but I do not see a slowdown in the flow of funds chasing promising deals. I actually see more start-ups emerging." "We're trying to find long-term winners," said Andrew Boyd, head of global equity capital markets who oversees private investment for Fidelity. He believes that never before have private companies disrupted as much as they are doing now, impacting the global economy in ways never imaginable.
$22.2 billion General Fund package heads to conference committee so House and Senate can resolve differences
State Senate leader Phil Berger (foreground) and Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, earlier this week (CJ file photo)
Technology: The House added $9.4 million for a digital learning plan; the Senate added nothing. The Senate unilaterally cut $10 million from school connectivity.
Class size: The House cut $26.9 million aimed at reducing first-grade class sizes. The Senate added $27.1 million to reduce class sizes in second grade.
Reading instruction: The House had a net cut of $10 million for Read to Achieve camps for first- and second-graders. The Senate made no change.
Personnel: The House appropriated $25 million for literacy coaches. The Senate funded a $10 million pilot program for third-grade reading teacher bonuses. The plans also differ in administrator salaries and bonuses, with the House putting an emphasis on salary increases and the Senate favoring bonuses.
School choice: The House funded $5.8 million for special education scholarships. The Senate added $632,500 to that line item. The Senate also allotted $34.8 million in reserves for the Opportunity Scholarship Program, with the House not adding to that program.
RALEIGH Early Friday morning, the state Senate approved its version of the $22.2 billion General Fund budget, setting the stage for negotiations with the House on a spending plan that legislative leaders hope will be completed before the new fiscal year begins on July 1.The final 26-13 vote, taken just after midnight, occurred after minimal debate. The budget initially was approved Thursday afternoon by a 33-15 party-line vote Thursday afternoon.The budget provides middle-class tax breaks, boosts teacher pay, expands the Opportunity Scholarship Program, and puts restrictions on tuition increases in the UNC system.Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said at the close of Thursday's debate.The chamber's minority leader, Sen. Dan Blue, D-Wake, took issue with some of the budget provisions.Blue said. He thought state employees should get a larger raise.State employeesBlue said.The Senate budget does not provide across-the-board raises for state employees. Instead, it offers merit raises averaging 1 percent and one-time merit bonuses averaging 1 percent.Blue also chided the GOP leadership for the Opportunity Scholarship Program expansion in the budget, which he said could mean $1 billion of tax funding to private schools over the next 10 years in the form of vouchers. Blue said that money would be better spent providing broadband connectivity, supplies, and learning tools in the public schools.Berger countered that the voucher program actually saves the state money in addition to providing lower-income families the means to send their children to a private school. The program provides up to $4,200 per year for vouchers to private schools.Berger said.The Senate pared back one of the more controversial parts of its budget when it trimmed from five to two the number of UNC campuses that would fall under a $500 per-semester limit on in-state tuition. The change, proposed by Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson, removed three historically black campuses - Elizabeth City State University, Fayetteville State University, and Winston-Salem State University - from the requirement. That left Western Carolina University and UNC Pembroke under the new plan.Apodaca said he'd received a death threat related to the provision. Sen. Don Davis, D-Greene, said he didn't like the original proposal, but that no public official should be threatened for offering a change in public policy.Sen. Floyd McKissick, D-Durham, said he didn't believe there wasas some had claimed. But he said that Senate leaders should have built a consensus on the proposal before making such a dramatic proposal.When the measure goes to a conference committee to work out differences between the House and Senate budgets, public schools will be the focus of many points of contention.Teacher salaries will be one of the differences to be negotiated. The Senate proposed boosting average teacher pay from $47,783 to $54,224 over the next two years, an increase of more than 13 percent. The House proposal would increase teacher pay by an average of 4.1 percent during the next fiscal year.Terry Stoops, director of research and education studies at the John Locke Foundation, noted a number of other differences in the House and Senate K-12 budgets. Among the larger ones:The Senate plan would increase the standard deduction for married couples filing jointly from $15,500 to $17,500 over two years. The House plan phases in the breaks over four years. The Senate also included a "market-based sourcing" tax on multistate corporations, taxing corporations based on the percentage of their services consumed in North Carolina.The Senate plan also would place $583 million into the state's rainy day fund, compared to the House's $300 million appropriation.
Photo credit: Cornells Johnson School website
ITHACA, N.Y. Cornell University announced it has named Mark Nelson, a professor of accounting, as the 12th dean of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management.
Nelson will begin his five-year term as Johnson School dean on July 1. He will succeed Soumitra Dutta, who will step down from the post June 30, the school said in a news release posted to its website. Dutta will continue on as dean of the Cornell College of Business, a position to which he was appointed March 22.
Mark is an internationally recognized scholar and an award-winning teacher of Johnson MBA students, Cornell Provost Michael Kotlikoff said in the release. The selection committee and I have been extraordinarily impressed by the depth, sophistication and comprehensiveness of his thinking regarding all aspects of the deanship, Johnson and the College of Business.
Nelson will report to Dutta.
A member of the Johnson faculty since 1990, Nelson served as associate dean for academic affairs from 2007 to 2010, overseeing the schools tenure-track faculty and research, the release stated.
Nelson earned his Ph.D. in accounting in 1990 and a masters degree in accounting in 1989, both from Ohio State University. In 1985, he earned a bachelor degree in business administration from Iowa State University.
Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com
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."
I am a summer term reporter at the University of Missouri. My area of study is Magazine Writing, and my hometown is Scottsboro, Alabama. You can reach me by email at acmwx7@mail.missouri.edu or on Twitter @annamapletree
Follow this search 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
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.
Every semester during my thirteen years of teaching at a liberal arts college, several senior year students would approach me and ask if I "knew of any jobs out there."The issue went deeper than the angst of seniors about their employment prospects, however. I found that the school often failed to thoroughly inform students about the choices awaiting them after college. Faculty advisors guided them in selecting coursework that would fulfill their degree requirements, but many were unable to guide them in making selections that would best prepare them for their professional lives.I recall teaching an international marketing course to seven business majors. One morning I asked them on what basis they chose their electives.Their answers pertained to schedules, instructor reputations, etc. But not one mentioned specific, career-oriented reasons.Another time, a senior chemistry major took my international business course as an elective. He told me that he planned on going to graduate school, since he assumed that a Ph.D. was the only real way to leverage his undergraduate degree for a career in the chemical industry.Prior to taking my course and meeting with guest executives who sometimes addressed the class, he had no idea that many alternate career paths were available to him, including the full range of commercial functions like sales, marketing, supply chain and general business management.Each time something like this happened, I saw it as shared failure on the part of the student, the career services department, and the faculty.Typically, a college's career services department provides a lot of useful tools for students: help with resume writing, conducting job fairs on campus, maintaining bulletin boards of available jobs and internships, linking students with alumni who are willing to help in the networking process, etc.But those are only transactional tools. They do nothing to help a student make the fundamental choice of an appropriate career path.The first two years of college are often wasted in terms of developing career strategy. Faculty advisors are assigned on a random basis at orientation, and they pretty much just help the students figure out how to register for their first semester classes. Sometimes they meet with students to troubleshoot their study habits.Many colleges seem to celebrate students who enter "undecided" and delight in telling them how they can sample the fruits of many interesting options. The problem with this sampling is that electives get frittered away. Many students end up overloading their later semesters (or even taking a fifth year) to satisfy the requirements for their major.Most schools don't require students to declare a major until they've completed their sophomore year; only then is an advisor in that major assigned.Colleges should handle this process differently.For starters, every incoming student should be required to declare a tentative major upon enrollment and an advisor from that department would be assigned immediately. I understand that many students change their minds during that first year, so they should be limited to taking required general education courses. Hence, no wasted coursework during the first year.At the end of the first year, the student meets with the faculty advisor and a career services staff member to finalize the choice of major. If the student wants to change, two faculty advisors need to be involved in this discussion.Now the hard work begins.Assuming that the advisor and career service counselor are both familiar with most or all of the career options for the major, an informed discussion takes place. What types of business functions are available to a person with a given major? What is a typical career progression? Does the future include graduate work, or moving right into a job after graduation? Which organizations are leaders in their fields? The list of issues is lengthy.From this conversation, the three individuals begin mapping out a program of study for the following three years, including the numbers and sequence of the electives that support the student's career goal. A research-oriented student will plan on more technical courses, while a commercially oriented student will take selected business courses.During sophomore year, the student works with career services to identify companies likely to offer opportunities that he desires, both for internships and full time positions.I always advised my students to scan the Fortune 500 and similar lists as a thought provoking exercise, and to make a list of industries in which they thought they'd enjoy working over the course of a career.With that list in hand, I encouraged them to then take an in-depth look at the leading companies in each, and to examine their employment openings to get a further sense of the types of jobs available in those industries.A large multinational corporation is not for everybody, but this matrix-like examination of industries and job functions will help a student think more clearly about life after graduation.If the student decides that he would first like to obtain an advanced degree, the search focuses on graduate schools that best align their research with the industries the student favors. This offers the flexibility of launching a career in research, teaching, or commercial functions as the student nears his terminal degree.The end of the second and third years are crucial, in terms of obtaining internships that fit the career plan and offer both student and employer an opportunity to audition each other.From my own business experience, I know the value we placed on the identification and recruitment of bright students because human capital is an essential ingredient for organizational success. The involvement of career services is crucial at this stage of the process.With this due diligence, the student will be interviewing for employment or graduate school positions at the beginning of the senior year. Everything can be tied up by the start of the spring semester.This is demanding work for all parties involved, but I am certain it's the only way to develop a curriculum plan that supports the student's career goals.A problem is that colleges often don't have faculty who know the state of industry today. Furthermore, their career services staff members seldom have more than a general background in counseling. The engagement of retired industry executives can help schools fill in the gaps.This can be done, and at least one college seems to understand the importance of this. At the University of Delaware, the Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics connects qualified students to industry mentors through its Executive Mentors Scholars Program As the college describes the program,Students apply at the end of their sophomore year and begin the mentorship in their junior year.Positive as this program appears to be, I would advocate that the mentorships begin in the sophomore year for students who qualify based on academic performance and seriousness of purpose."Do you know of any jobs out there?" That question is the mark of shared failure. Colleges need to make sure that they devote as many resources to "launching" students as they do to attracting them in the first place.
Best of Business 2022: Learn Who Won Our 15th Annual Reader Poll
Local professionals chose their favorite business and professional services, products, healthcare, dining and more. Find out who their top picks are.
On Tuesday, voters also will choose nominees in 11 congressional districts and a series of other contests
RALEIGH The ideological balance of the state Supreme Court could ride on the results of Tuesday's primary election, as incumbent Justice Bob Edmunds, the only Republican on the ballot, faces Democratic attorneys Mike Morgan and Daniel Robertson and unaffiliated attorney Sabra Faires, who has the endorsement of the state's chapter of the AFL-CIO.The top two finishers in the primary will advance to the Nov. 8 general election, so Edmunds could be eliminated from contention on Tuesday, guaranteeing the court will shift next year from its current 4-3 conservative Republican majority to a 4-3 liberal split.Along with runoff elections from the top two finishers in several races from the March 15 primary, voters also will choose major-party nominees in a host of congressional primary elections, necessitated by a February federal court decision that tossed the congressional districts drawn in 2011 by the General Assembly. After the court decision, the legislature convened for a special session and drew new maps , which late last week - as early voting for the primary was drawing to a close - were upheld by a three-judge federal panel. (The State Board of Elections' list of candidate is here (Excel spreadsheet).Voters in 11 of the state's 13 congressional districts will choose party nominees for the general election; only the 1st and 7th Congressional Districts will not hold primaries.The two highest-profile races have unfolded in the 2nd and 13th districts. In the GOP's 2nd District primary , three-term incumbent Rep. Renee Ellmers faces off against two-term 13th District Rep. George Holding and Cary obstetrician Greg Brannon. Ellmers and Holding are the only two incumbents in the nation facing each other in a primary this election cycle. Holding chose to challenge Ellmers after legislative map-drawers moved the 13th District roughly 100 miles west from its current location. Holding lives about five miles from the 2nd District's boundaries.Meanwhile, in the 13th District, where Holding chose not to seek a third term, 17 Republicans and five Democrats are seeking nominations to run in November against independent Nicholas Tolerton. Expert political analysts say the number of candidates, the likelihood of a small turnout, and the truncated primary schedule have made the race nearly impossible to predict Carolina Journal will provide full primary election results Wednesday.
Donna James Leads a Bold Plan to Revive Victorias Secret
James has a proven record as a C-suite executive and adviser. Now, shes guiding the lingerie giant toward a more inclusive, financially sound future.
By Yolanda Jones of The Commercial Appeal
The car belonging to a woman fatally stabbed by her boyfriend last weekend in Memphis was found in Atlanta, but the suspect remains on the run.
Zeneatrice Crawford, 40, was found dead behind an abandoned home in Frayser Saturday.
Memphis police issued an arrest warrant for Raymond Clark, 40, charging him with first-degree murder, especially aggravated kidnapping and two counts of aggravated kidnapping.
Police said Crawford and her two children were abducted by Clark. The children were found about 1 p.m. Saturday on Alta Vista in Frayser.
Hours later after searching the city, Memphis police found Crawford behind a house in the 700 block of Whitney Avenue. She was pronounced dead on the scene.
Police said Clark fled in Crawford's blue 2013 Buick Verano.
The car was found Monday southeast of downtown Atlanta, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Atlanta police said the driver of the car whom they didn't identify left the scene on foot.
SHARE
By Daniel Connolly of The Commercial Appeal
One person was injured in a shooting near Trezevant High School in Frayser on Monday evening, Memphis police spokesman Louis Brownlee wrote in an e-mail.
The shooting happened in the 3300 block of Trezevant. The male victim was taken to the hospital in critical condition, but no other details were available.
June 5, 2016 Westy's following a Saturday evening shooting spree. The vehicle fleeing the shootings then allegedly went to Bass Pro Shops at The Pyramid and shot Chris Dickens. Moments later, the vehicle struck MPD officer Verdell Smith, 46, while he was working Beale Street detail. Smith died at Regional Medical Center. (Nikki Boertman/The Commercial Appeal)
By Daniel Connolly of The Commercial Appeal
One of the things Chris Dickens remembers about being shot a few nights ago is the gun sounding very, very loud. He says perhaps it was because it was a large-caliber gun or maybe because the gun was so close.
Dickens, 21, attends Northwest Mississippi Community College and sells archery equipment at Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid. On Saturday night, he was one of the staffers sent into the megastore's parking lot to collect shopping carts. He found himself in the middle of a downtown crime spree.
"I'd been out there for about 10 minutes, and I'd gotten all the carts all together, about 14 of them, and a silver Camaro pulls up," Dickens said.
"My first instinct was he was going to ask a question, because he was rolling his window down. So it was really before I could take a step or two, and I could see the barrel of, you know, the gun."
"And he fired about five or six shots at me."
Police said the suspect in the shooting, Justin Welch, shot and wounded two people moments earlier at Westy's restaurant. A short time after Dickens was wounded, the suspect would drive into Memphis Police Officer Verdell Smith, fatally injuring him.
Dickens said at that point, he had no idea who the shooter was. "Now I know what he looks like never seen that guy in my whole entire life. I think it was just a random act of violence, really."
Dickens recalled what happened when the shooting started: "And I put my arm up and it hit me in the arm. And I jumped behind shopping carts for safety."
"I really honestly didn't think it was real, like when it happened. 'Cause it was kind of when I was sitting behind the shopping cart, after I jumped behind there, was just kind of really thinking, Did I really just get shot, you know? ... I was thinking I could have died right now."
He said later that he was in shock. He didn't know how many times he had been shot, or how seriously he was hurt.
"There was just blood all over my pants and blood leaking from my arm and everything. And so I waited for a second and I just took off to the front of The Pyramid on the south side, and screamed for someone to call 911."
One bullet hit his left arm near the wrist. "They had to cut the bullet out ... I think it was only half of it left. It was pretty big." He should know in addition to selling archery equipment, he sometimes sells firearms. "If I had to guess I would say it was like a .40 caliber, but I could be wrong."
He said another bullet grazed his left leg, and a third bullet deflected off an iPhone in his right pocket.
Reached by phone another phone he was recovering at home in Olive Branch.
"Today is actually the first day that I've felt a lot better than before," he said Monday afternoon. "My arm is still kind of numb and everything."
He said he doesn't know if he'll have nerve damage.
"It's really man it's just like some things you don't think could ever really happen to you. That's just one of the things I thought. I never really pictured myself ever getting shot, you know. Really just be thankful for what you have, or what you have right now. I could have just lost my life and that could happen at any time."
He said people have been saying the shooter was mentally ill, or as Dickens put it. "This guy was just a little basically crazy, I guess."
"It makes me feel a lot better that they have the guy," Dickens said.
Vehicles line the driveway of a property in North Shelby County, where officials say two women were found dead. (photo by Daniel Connolly/The Commercial Appeal)
By Daniel Connolly of The Commercial Appeal
Two women were found dead near Millington on Monday afternoon, and the Shelby County Sheriff's Department is investigating the case as a double homicide, agency spokesman Earle Farrell said.
The women were found in the 9400 block of Matthews Road, which is just off Highway 51, near the line between Shelby County and Tipton County.
Authorities got the first call about 3:30 p.m.
At the scene, the modest house sat far back from a country road, down a driveway and behind a large, overgrown lawn.
Farrell said the mother of one of the deceased women had been taking care of the woman's children, but came to the house Monday afternoon because she had not heard from her daughter in a while. There, she found her daughter and another woman dead, Farrell said.
"We get here, take a look at it and determined very quickly this was not a natural cause of death," Farrell said. He said he didn't know the relationship between the two deceased women.
"It doesn't appear it happened today. Maybe it happened over the weekend," he said.
The grandmother had brought her daughter's children with her when she checked the house, Farrell said, adding that she did not bring the children into the house and they didn't see the bodies.
Two small children a bare-chested boy and a little girl could be seen on the property Monday afternoon, near where the investigators were working. Farrell said they were the children of one of the deceased women and were at the scene because the grandmother was still there.
The children and other people left about 6:15 in an unmarked government vehicle.
Several people at the scene, apparently friends or relatives of the deceased, declined to talk with a reporter.
Farrell said he couldn't release the names of the victims and said deputies were looking for at least two persons of interest.
Willie Herenton
SHARE
By Linda A. Moore of The Commercial Appeal
Former Memphis mayor and school superintendent Willie Herenton received support Monday from the Shelby County Commission in his next venture to rehabilitate the county's juvenile offenders by keeping them in the county.
The resolution, which had seven sponsors and passed 8-2, supports Herenton as he asks the Tennessee Department of Children's Services to send children adjudicated in Shelby County to his proposed NewPath Restorative Campuses.
In May, Herenton presented to the commission his plan for NewPath: two 200-bed facilities on 40 acres in Frayser and Millington that would provide wraparound services that include medical and mental health care and educational and vocational training.
There is nothing like it in existence in Tennessee and it "will be an exemplary model for the nation," Herenton told the commission.
Juvenile offenders from Shelby County are being sent to facilities outside the county, taking with them $17 million in funding spent to care for them, Herenton told the commission in his May presentation.
NewPath, a nonprofit, would hire hundreds of people at each facility.
Herenton said studies have found that when juveniles are housed close to home, they are less likely to offend again.
Commissioners Mark Billingsley and Walter Bailey abstained from the vote.
Bailey noted his opposition to facilities for juveniles and said he didn't know enough about the proposal.
"On other hand I must say parenthetically, I don't subscribe to privatizing penal facilities as a rule. You have to do a lot of selling to convince me otherwise," Bailey said.
A miffed Herenton told Bailey that 85 percent of the young people in juvenile custody "look like you and me."
"They're not getting a good education. They're not getting appropriate wraparound services and you have the audacity to pontificate for whatever your reasons," Herenton said.
Others gave the proposal more praise.
The juvenile facility in Fayette County is "a dump," said Commission Chairman Terry Roland, a resolution sponsor. Herenton is creating jobs, has not asked the county "for a dime" and the children aren't getting what they need now, he said.
"This is unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. This is the step up I have been looking for," said Commissioner Reginald Milton, also a resolution sponsor.
Herenton is now executive director of W.E.B. Du Bois Charter Consortium and was the former superintendent of Memphis City Schools.
Voting no were commissioners George Chism and David Reaves.
The vote led to a dustup in the commissioners' office behind the chambers.
Reaves confirmed that Roland shoved him in the chest "fairly hard" with both hands after Reaves challenged Roland for being the only Republican sponsor of the resolution. Roland claimed that Reaves put his finger on his nose and told Roland he was "selling out his race," an accusation Reaves denied.
Reaves said he does not intend to file a complaint with police and has decided to forgive Roland and move on.
Memphis City Hall
By Ryan Poe of The Commercial Appeal
The Memphis City Council on Tuesday confirmed Maria Munoz-Blanco as the citys next director of Parks & Neighborhoods.
Munoz-Blanco, the former director of Cultural Affairs in Dallas, was appointed by Mayor Jim Strickland following a national search that netted more than 100 applicants and 16 finalists, only eight of whom were interviewed, Chief Operations Officer Doug McGowen told council members in a committee meeting Tuesday.
We did an extensive search for a Parks director and we had many good applicants, said Strickland, who also attended the committee meeting, along with Munoz-Blanco.
She will be making $126,000 per year, which is the standard salary Strickland has awarded to directors and is up from the $124,638 previous director Janet Hooks made. Deputy Director Larry Smith has been serving as interim director.
Responding to a question from council member Martavius Jones, Munoz-Blanco said the three biggest challenges to the department are deferred maintenance, unbalanced area services and programs citizens dont want.
SHARE Sam Melhorn/The Commercial Appeal files June 7, 1968 Gary Albertine Jr. bagged two titles in the City Open Tennis Tournament at John Rogers Tennis Center on June 7, 1968, when he won the 14- and the 16-year-old boys singles divisions. The top seed won the 14 boys title by beating Mac McCorkle 6-3, 6-0 and going on to win the 16 boys title by beating Linton Weeks 9-7, 6-2.
June 7
25 years ago: 1991
NEW YORK Heeeeeere's Jay. NBC officially announced Thursday that comedian Jay Leno will take over as host of The Tonight Show when Johnny retires next year. "We are happy to have Jay Leno, one of the most talented comedians in the business, as Johnny's successor," Warren Littlefield, president of NBC Enterprises and executive vice president of NBC Productions, said in a statement. Leno, 41, has been exclusive guest host of The Tonight Show for the past three years. Carson, whose last show will be May 22, said through an NBC spokesman: "I wish Jay all the success in the world. He's a bright young performer and I think along with David Letterman who has proven his staying power for the last 10 years NBC will have a great late-night lineup."
50 years ago: 1966
James Meredith's march through Mississippi was halted yesterday afternoon when a sniper wounded him as he walked down tree-lined Highway 51 about two miles south of Hernando, Miss. A Shelby Countian, identified as Aubrey James Norvell, 40, was being questioned in the shooting early today at the DeSoto County Jail. Witnesses to the shooting viewed him in a line-up about midnight. No charges have been filed. Meredith was reported to be in good condition at William F. Bowld Hospital with shotgun pellet wounds in the shoulder, back and back of the neck.
75 years ago: 1941
An interested spectator during a recent review of troops of Camp Forrest, Tenn., was Mrs. Mary Forrest Bradley of Memphis, granddaughter of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Confederate leader for whom the camp was named.
100 years ago: 1916
The annual faculty banquet of the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry was held last night at the Gayoso. Dr. J.A. Gardner was toastmaster. Bolton Smith, president of the Tennessee League to Enforce Peace, was the principal speaker.
125 years ago: 1891
Some weeks ago a few choice spirits of the Higbee school put their wise heads together and said "we must have an alumnae association." The idea materialized at once, and as organization was accomplished to be led by Mrs. Emma Stratton Cole, Miss Hattie White, Mrs. Laura Randolph Morton and Miss Annie Jones.
June 6, 2016- State Rep. G.A. Hardaway Sr., center, speaks with other elected officials and concerned members of the community during a press conference called to advocate for the Shelby County Commission to fully fund Shelby County Schools this year. The district needs $27 million to close its gap, which would mean more than $40 million that the county would have to find to give money to the Achievement School District and municipal districts as well. That could require a tax increase, commissioners have stated. (Nikki Boertman/The Commercial Appeal)
SHARE
By Jennifer Pignolet of The Commercial Appeal
State and local government representatives along with leaders of several community organizations gathered Monday to call for the Shelby County Commission to fork over an additional $43 million to fully fund county schools.
"We're here to encourage the county commissioners to do the right thing," Sen. Lee Harris, D-Memphis, said in a press conference at the county administration building an hour before the commissioners were set to meet. The school budget issue was not on the agenda, however, and was pushed to June 20 for a vote.
State leaders acknowledged they don't think the legislature has done its full job, either, declining to fully fund all schools across the state.
"We're outnumbered," Rep. Larry Miller, D-Memphis, said. "The votes are not there to fully fund."
But Rep. Joe Towns Jr., D-Memphis, said that doesn't excuse the county from not contributing more money, as all school districts across the state face the same issue.
"Some communities are stepping up to the plate," Towns said.
Shelby County Schools has a pending lawsuit against the state alleging it underfunds the school district by as much as $100 million a year.
Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, said he applauds the school district's decision to sue, and suggested the county should involve itself in the suit.
Hardaway said education funding should be a top priority because of its trickle-down effect through society, from violence to economics and health care.
"All of these issues are rooted in successful educational opportunities," he said.
Some county commissioners have expressed reluctance to meet SCS's full funding request. Education committee chairman David Reaves has criticized the district for not closing enough schools to shrink its footprint to an efficient size.
The SCS budget gap has been whittled down to $27 million. If the county were to cover it fully, it also would have to give money to the state-run Achievement School District, charter schools and the municipal school districts. That would put the county's total closer to $44 million.
Commissioners have said it would require a tax increase.
The Democrats at Monday's press conference also had support from groups such as Black Lives Matter, Stand for Children and Students First.
County Commissioner Eddie Jones said he, too, believes the state isn't doing enough for education, but he wants to see the county to stop that trend.
"I do not want this legislative body to fall within that same scope of not funding education," he said.
SHARE
In todays installment of Outside the Loop, we are making a stop at St. Georges to remind folks about the great work on our story about the independent schools infusion of African-American students 15 years ago.
Meanwhile, in Arlington, the town took on a lot of water during last Fridays downpour. And Monday night, officials picked a replacement for a resigning alderman.
We also will touch on a couple of law enforcement-related items from Bartlett, including one where someone decided to pop off some shots at a Tennessee Highway Patrol office.
EDGE OF COLLIERVILLE
GRYPHONS GRADUATE: Let me start by directing you to last Sundays in-depth story about the graduating class at St. Georges Independent School in Collierville.
Reporter Jane Roberts spent weeks studying the interaction between students from Memphis who entered the St. Georges system as kindergartners 15 years ago. The trials of the intermingling and the successes of the program all the way through the African-American students who reached senior year with scholarship offers are outlined in her work called First Class. The St. Georges Experiment.
Rather than try and capture Roberts work in a few graphs here, I encourage you to take the time and not only read the story, but check on photographer Mike Browns gallery from the project, along with a podcast.
CRIMINAL COURT DIVISION 10
DETAILS EMERGE: In testimony last Friday, we learned details of the deadly wreck involving a Bartlett police officer from October, 2014.
And, as was suspected all along, speed was a factor in the collision between Officer Lucas Hines squad car and the vehicle carrying Danny Floyd and Michelle Sloyan.
Hines, who faces two counts of vehicular homicide in the case, was going almost double the posted 40 mph speed limit on Stage at Bartlett Boulevard.
Trooper Shane Moore with the Tennessee Highway Patrols Critical Incident Response Team said his accident reconstruction study showed Hines was traveling 77 mph approaching the intersection. At that point, the officer applied the brakes to his squad car as Floyd turned left in front of him trying to go south on Bartlett Boulevard.
At impact, Hines braking slowed the car to 71 mph. The two cars collided almost head on in the intersection. Floyd and Sloyan, both of whom were not wearing seat belts, were thrown from the car.
Moore said computer data from the squad car doesnt reflect whether the lights and siren were operating, but officials indicated at the time of the accident that neither were on as Hines approached the intersection
The trooper made it clear the officers speed was a contributor to the accident as was Floyd turning left in front of the squad car.
Defense attorney Arthur Quinn in his cross examination of Moore shed some light on his strategy asking the trooper about the two victims not wearing seat belts and whether that contributed to them being ejected from the car. He also hinted that he has questions about whether the impact from the collision of the couple striking the pavement after they were thrown from the car caused their deaths.
Theres also little doubt he will lean on Moores second contributing factor -- that Floyd turned into the path of the oncoming car.
The trial is scheduled for August.
ON THE EDGE OF BARTLETT
SCARY NIGHT: Speaking of the THP, someone decided Sunday night to rattle off about 20 shots into the front of the agencys location on Summer near Elmore Road.
A trooper and two dispatchers in the building at the time of the shooting about 8:45 p.m. were not injured.
Lt. Cary Hopkins, the THP public information officer, said: The rounds were in a tight group as if the suspect(s) stopped their vehicle in the middle of the road, stepped out of the vehicle, and intentionally fired the rounds into the police station,
Out on the eastbound lanes of Summer in front of the headquarters, investigators found 14 AK-47 shell casings.
Bartlett police were called because the station is just inside the suburbs city limits. In fact, the border is so close, the firing of the gun from the eastbound lanes wasactually in Memphis. But the building struck was in Bartlett.
ARLINGTON NO. 1
NOW SERVING. HUGH LAMAR: Hugh Lamar, a former alderman who lost a mayoral bid in 2011, will serve the remainder of Alderman Gerald McGees term.
The towns Board of Mayor and Aldermen appointed Lamar at a Monday night meeting. He will serve the remainder of McGees term, which runs into 2017.
McGee announced last month he was stepping down because he is moving out to East Tennessee.
Lamar served as an alderman from 2002 until 2011 when he vacated the position on the town board to run for mayor, finishing second to Mayor Mike Wissman.
There was no commitment whether Lamar would run for the post next year, Wissman said.
Cheryl Pardue also was nominated and received one vote, the mayor said.
ARLINGTON NO. 2
RISING WATERS: Last Fridays heavy rains across the area caused significant flooding in Arlington. And for evidence of the rising waters, we turn to a time lapse video posted by resident Joe Patty II.
Patty lives on a hill and had never seen anything like that in his 17 years living there. Pattys first move was to get the car out of the street -- his daughters recently-purchased car for college. Patty said the water was almost to the bottom of the vehicles door.
But moving it into the driveway wasnt enough. Patty eventually moved the car into the garage.
Pay particular attention to efforts to corral his sanitation cart as other containers and debris flow along the rising waters.
Patty said among the items were vehicle tires, old and new wood from a neighbors fence replacement and even a propane tank.
It was very scary, Patty said, who at one point opened the double gates to his back yard to release the water from back there.
MILLINGTON
DOUBLE HOMICIDE: We are continuing to pursue information on Mondays double homicide in North Shelby County. The bodies of two women were found inside a residence on Matthews Road just outside Millingtons eastern border and a short distance south of the Tipton County line.
Check back @commercialappeal.com throughout the afternoon.
SHARE
By Alberto Gonzales
Donald Trump suggested last week that U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel can't give him a fair hearing. Curiel, who is presiding over a class-action suit against Trump over his former for-profit educational company, Trump University, is a U.S. citizen, born in Indiana to Mexican immigrants.
"I'm building a wall" on the U.S.-Mexico border if elected, the presumptive Republican nominee for president told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday. "It's an inherent conflict of interest." Earlier in the week, he told a crowd at a rally in San Diego that Curiel was "a hater of Donald Trump, a hater."
As a private citizen, Trump has a right to his opinions, regardless of whether others agree with them, or whether others consider them wise, foolish or even dangerous. Trump, of course, is more than a private citizen; as the likely nominee for president of a major political party, he speaks with a voice that carries much weight and, if successful in November, will influence millions of people. Because of this, some commentators have condemned Trump's suggestion that Curiel step down from the case. These voices have, quite rightly, emphasized the importance of upholding our independent judiciary from baseless attacks by high-level persons from other branches of government.
An independent judiciary is extremely important. But that value is not the only one in play here. Equally important, if not more important from my perspective as a former judge and U.S. attorney general, is a litigant's right to a fair trial. The protection of that right is a primary reason our Constitution provides for an independent judiciary. If judges and the trials over which they preside are not perceived as being impartial, the public will quickly lose confidence in the rule of law upon which our nation is based. For this reason, ethics codes for judges including the federal code of conduct governing Curiel require not only that judges actually be impartial, but that they avoid even the "appearance of impropriety." That appearance typically is measured from the standpoint of a reasonable litigant.
It is crucial to understand the real issue in this matter. I am not judging whether Curiel is actually biased against Trump. Only he knows the answer to that question. I am not saying that I would be concerned about him presiding over a case in which I was a litigant. And if I were a litigant who was concerned about the judge's impartiality, I certainly would not deal with it in a public manner as Trump has, because it demeans the integrity of the judicial office and thus potentially undermines the independence of the judiciary, especially coming from a man who could be president by this time next year. But none of these issues is the test. The test is whether there is an "appearance of impropriety" under the facts as they reasonably appear to a litigant in Trump's position.
Certainly, Curiel's Mexican heritage alone would not be enough to raise a question of bias (for all we know, the judge supports Trump's 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 Trump's concerns about getting an impartial trial are reasonable. Curiel is, reportedly, a member of a group called La Raza Lawyers of San Diego. Trump's 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 Trump's 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 Trump's 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 he's 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.
Finally, some have said that Trump's criticism of the judge reflects on his qualifications to be president. If the criticism is solely based on Curiel's race, that is something voters will take into account in deciding whether he is fit to be president. If, however, Trump is acting from a sincere motivation to protect his constitutional right to a fair trial, his willingness to exercise his rights as an American citizen and raising the issue even in the face of severe criticism is surely also something for voters to consider.
Alberto Gonzales, White House counsel and U.S. attorney general in the George W. Bush administration, is the dean and Doyle Rogers Distinguished Professor of Law at Belmont University College of Law in Nashville, Tennessee. He wrote this for the Washington Post.
On June 2 and 3, 2016, the NC Senate passed the Sixth Edition of House Bill #1030, which is its version of the 2016 Appropriations Act. The two versions of the Budget bill have several important differences. We are concerned that the Senate chose to retain ferry tolls. The Senate version provides no separate funding for the purchase of ferry vessels. We support the House version of the Budget.As we reported to you, the NC House of Representatives passed its version of House Bill #1030, the 2016 Budget bill, with language to delete ferry tolls on all ferries and provide for a separate income stream to purchase ferry vessels. We appreciate the faithfulness of visionary members of the House of Representatives who have not forgotten ferries are integral parts of coastal highways.Now that both chambers have passed their respective versions of the 2016 Budget, they will enter into a period of negotiation. A group of Senators will negotiate with a group of Representatives on the various portions of the Budget on which they disagree.It is very important that we immediately communicate with all Senators about the importance of including the House provisions for the funding of ferry vessels.First, please call or email your own state Senator and ask him or her to support the House approach to ferry funding. For contact information for Senators, visit www.ncleg.net. Click on "Senate", and then "Senate Member List". If you are not sure which Senator represents you in Raleigh, click on "Who Represents Me".Second, please call or email President Pro Tem Phil Berger's office and ask him to include the House provisions for the funding of ferry vessels and the deletion of ferry tolls: Senator Phil Berger, President Pro Tem of the NC Senate 919-733-5708, phil.berger@ncleg.net. Thank him for his leadership in North Carolina.Third, please call or email the following Senators who are members of the Senate Transportation Committee, at least some of whom will negotiate the Senate's position in Budget negotiations:Sen. Wesley Meredith 919-733-5776, wesley.meredith@ncleg.netSen. Bill Rabon 919-733-5963, bill.rabon@ncleg.netSen. Kathy Harrington 919-733-5734, kathy.harrington@ncleg.netSen. Warren Daniel 919-715-7823, warren.daniel@ncleg.netSen. Jim Davis 919-733-5875, jim.davis@ncleg.netSen. Tommy Tucker 919-733-7659, tommy.tucker@ncleg.netSen. Ralph Hise 919-733-3460, ralph.hise@ncleg.netSen. Stan Bingham 919-733-5665, stan.bingham@ncleg.netSen. Rick Gunn 919-301-1446, rick.gunn@ncleg.netSen. Joyce Krawiec 919-733-7850, joyce.krawiec@ncleg.netWith all these Senators, ask them to adopt the House approach to ferry funding. Thank them for their service to North Carolina. (Call or write a fresh email to these Senators. Click on the name of the Senator for contact information. However, you may freely forward this message to other people who are interested in maintaining ferries without oppressive tolls. Thank you for your cooperation and support.)We continue to work to persuade Senators, but they need to hear from many interested North Carolina citizens. The House transportation Budget contains the most progressive and innovative approach to long-term ferry funding. Healthy economic development in eastern and coastal NC is the best answer to funding ferries as well as paying for all transportation needs. Our ferries are part of our highway system, and the House Budget recognizes this reality. Please help us communicate these truths quickly. Thank you for your continuing help and support. Best regards, Henri and Joe McCleesJoe McClees & Henri McCleesMcClees Consulting, Inc.Post Office Box 430Oriental, NC 28571OfficeFaxJoe McClees's mobileHenri's mobile
Ah, Google Now On Tap. Has there ever been another Android feature that went from "magical" to "meh" with such a spectacular thud?
When we first heard about Now On Tap last summer, it sounded downright transformational. Google revealed the feature during its 2015 I/O developers' conference and left most of us positively dazzled by its prospect.
Now On Tap seemed poised to change the way we interacted with our Android devices -- promising to turn Google Now into "a connective tissue that ties everything on your device together with potent Google intelligence," as I wrote at the time.
Boy, did it ever fail to deliver.
When Now On Tap came into the world last fall, it didn't take long to realize it wasn't going to live up to the expectations early demos had created. The feature did feel magical on occasion, but the scope of its power was limited and unpredictable -- and that made it far too inconsistent to be useful. Unlike the carefully controlled version we'd seen on stage months earlier, the real-world product felt like more a novelty than a necessity.
I summed it up in an analysis that October:
There are enough instances when Now On Tap struggles to deliver that I suspect it'll end up being quicker and simpler for most people to rely on good old-fashioned searches in the long run. Once the novelty's worn off, a feature like this has to nail it almost flawlessly to be worth using. If it fails to get you the info you need even a quarter of the time, it gets frustrating fast and starts to become more of a time-consumer than a time-saver.
And that, as we all now know, is pretty much what ended up happening. I've rarely encountered anyone who actually uses Now On Tap with any regularity; most everyone I talk to either ignores it or went out of their way to actively disable it so they could make the long-press-on-Home shortcut useful again.
Google was clearly aware of this. And with a Now On Tap update announced last week, the company has finally found the key to tapping into Now On Tap's potential -- in a way that's far more significant than it initially appears.
Now On Tap still isn't always magical, but it is now always useful
The Now On Tap update, if you haven't yet heard, adds a new element to the Now On Tap experience: In addition to just blindly tapping and holding your Home button and seeing what contextual info Now On Tap might provide, you can now activate Now On Tap and then select specific text on your screen for the system to analyze.
You might select a word in an email to get a quick definition, for instance -- or you might select a word within an image to access additional info.
Now On Tap will now even let you select words that appear on-screen within videos, which is a pretty wild thing to experience.
The specifics of the results do still vary: With certain types of terms, Now On Tap gives you advanced information -- like directions and reviews for a restaurant, showtimes and reviews for a movie, or biographical info and relevant links for a famous person. With other terms, it provides only the ability to view basic search results.
But here's what's important: While Now On Tap still isn't always magical, it is now always useful. That's a critical change from the feature's initial form, in which you'd get either magic or nothing -- with the latter happening often enough that it just wasn't worth rolling the dice after a while.
Now On Tap didn't just gain a new trick, in other words; it gained an actual purpose -- a reason for existing that justifies its prominent placement in the Android software.
In the bigger picture, Now On Tap is effectively turning into a versatile and universal system-wide search function for Android -- a fast and easy way to get extra info about anything on your screen. This month's update even allows you to use Now On Tap to get contextual info about text-free images, whether they're photos in your gallery, pictures from the internet, or even just objects you're looking at live through your device's camera.
In any of those scenarios, Now On Tap can analyze the image and provide context -- about famous structures and landmarks, works of art, or even everyday objects like books and movie posters. See something you want to learn more about? Just fire up your camera, aim the lens at it, and tap and hold your device's Home button. Doesn't get much easier than that.
Practical value aside, these changes represent some significant shifts in Android's evolution -- in two different but equally interesting ways.
First, as I noted on social media the other day, what we're seeing with Now On Tap's new contextual image-search ability is essentially the core function of the old Google Goggles app becoming a native part of Android itself. Goggles was a once-groundbreaking image identification program, but it was never quite developed into something convenient or mainstream. As a fully integrated and always-on-tap (so to speak) part of the operating system, Goggles' intelligence finally has the capacity to shine.
Second -- and going back even further into the platform's history -- Now On Tap on the whole has basically become an expanded version of Android's old system-level Search button. If you've used Android for long, you probably remember that all early phones had a dedicated button for search alongside the Home and Back keys (and yes, that blasted old physical Menu key, too -- but that's another story).
The Search button is back, baby
The main idea behind the Search button was to make it easy to search for info anytime, regardless of where you were in the system. With its newly expanded abilities, Now On Tap serves that same function -- only with a lot of added context and smarts that make it even easier and more effective to use.
Think about it: Instead of tapping the Search button and then manually typing in what you want, you now tap and hold your Home key and let Now On Tap take its best stab at giving you what you're trying to find. If the software doesn't get it automatically, you then simply touch words on the screen and use those as a query.
Just a second ago, I said Now On Tap was turning into "a versatile and universal system-wide search function for Android." See the connection? Years of software advancements add a lot of sophistication into the process, but the basic goal is still the same. The Search button is back, baby -- just in a different place, with a different name, and with some fancy new tricks under its belt. We've come full circle.
Last October, I wrote that Google needed to find a way to take Now On Tap from being a neat and sometimes-useful trick to being a consistent, reliable, and indispensable part of the Android experience. With this new expansion, the company finally seems to have figured out the recipe to accomplish that.
And craziest of all? All it was missing were a few simple ingredients -- and they were right there in Android's deep freezer all along, just waiting to be brought back into the mix.
Making sense of data can involve a wide variety of tools, and IBM is hoping to make data scientists' lives easier by putting them all in one place.
The company on Tuesday released what it calls Data Science Experience, a new development environment in the cloud for real-time, high-performance analytics.
Based on data-processing framework Apache Spark, Data Science Experience is designed to speed and simplify the process of embedding data and machine learning into cloud applications. Included in the new offering are tools such as RStudio and Jupyter Notebooks.
Developers can tap Python, R and Scala; they can also view sample notebooks and watch tutorials while they code. Additional tools focus on data preparation and cleaning, visualization, prescriptive analytics, data connections, and scheduling jobs. Users can collaborate with others and share their code.
Data Science Experience is now available on the IBM Cloud Bluemix platform.
"Computer science went mainstream with the introduction of the PC, said Bob Picciano, senior vice president of IBM Analytics. With data science, the major roadblock is having access to large data sets and having the ability to work with so much data.
IBM has invested US $300 million in Apache Spark, including contributing to SparkR, SparkSQL, and Apache SparkML.
The Data Science Experience combines the best of three worlds, said Mike Gualtieri, a principal analyst with Forrester.
First, "it is cloud-based, so it will be easily accessible to all comers," including seasoned data scientists, citizen data scientists, and application developers, Gualtieri said.
Second, the platform offers multiple open-source tools, including the Jupyter data-science notebook, he added.
Finally, "the power of Apache Spark is behind these tools," Gualtieri said, allowing users to analyze data with machine-learning tools at in-memory speeds in the cloud.
Companies are increasingly recognizing the potential of artificial intelligence in business software.
"Adding intelligence to applications, whether you call it AI, machine learning, or cognitive computing, is now top of mind for enterprises," Gualtieri said.
Four Cisco Systems executives who led spin-in ventures that became important parts of the company have resigned.
The longtime leaders have decided to leave the company on June 17 because of a disconnect regarding roles, responsibilities and charter after a new Cisco business unit was announced, according to an internal memo posted Monday by CEO Chuck Robbins and seen by IDG News Service. The move was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Engineers Mario Mazzola, Prem Jain and Luca Cafiero, and marketer Soni Jiandani, nicknamed MPLS after their first initials, started several companies with Ciscos backing that later were absorbed back into the networking giant. The companies included Andiamo Networks in storage, Nuova Systems in data-center switching and Insieme Networks in SDN (software-defined networking).
The four resigned after Cisco announced the formation of the Networking & Security Business Group, which will handle engineering for routing, switching and security products, the memo said. David Goeckeler, a 16-year Cisco veteran, leads the group. Starting June 17, the Insieme business unit will also become part of it.
Cisco brought the four on board when it bought LAN switching vendor Crescendo Communications in 1993, the companys first major acquisition. More than once, Cisco invested in startups spearheaded by MPLS and then acquired those companies.
That was under former CEO John Chambers, who stepped down last year after 20 years leading the company. He is still Ciscos chairman, and MPLS continued to report to Chambers after Robbins succeeded him, sources told Network World last August.
In a statement on Monday, Robbins praised the outgoing executives.
I want to recognize Mario, Prem, Luca, and Soni for the countless contributions they have made to Cisco. I have personally learned so much from them, and they will always be an important part of Ciscos engineering story, he said. Their legacy will live on through our ongoing innovation and the talented engineering leaders they have mentored.
Robbins has made major changes in Ciscos leadership as he puts his own mark on the 32-year-old company. Kelly Ahuja, leader of the service-provider business, resigned in March.
Apples Apple Pay plans reach far beyond what we know today. Apple will expand in multiple directions as it attempts to boost adoption of its service. Apple claims it is adding one million Apple Pay users per week, while Juniper Research says 148 million global consumers will uses contactless services like Apple Pay this year.
On Payments
Apple is pushing hard to introduce the service in more territories (particularly in Europe and Asia). Were working rapidly in Asia and also in Europe, our goal is to have Apple Pay in every significant market Apple is in, Jennifer Bailey, VP of Apple Pay, recently told TechCrunch. Apples recent launch in China will be seen as especially significant and India is also a key market, Apple CEO, Tim Cook, recently disclosed. Beyond the (inevitable) soon introduction of Apple Pay for online payments (and the potential then for in-app payments, enabling, for example, secure online shopping via an Apple TV), there are many other key opportunities the company can explore.
Peer-to-peer payments
Mary Meekers Internet Trends Report last week looked closely at mobile payment services. Page 105 noted that messaging services like WeChat, and social networks like Facebook and Instagram are growing popular payment services, particularly in the APAC, where WeChat is already more popular than some debit cards. Alibabas AliPay generated over $1 trillion in payments in 2015. This integration between messaging and payment services makes it an utter no-brainer to predict Apple Pay support for payments through Messages is on the way. A classic OTT move into traditional carrier markets. This is of wider strategic consequence, given the move dovetails so well with Apples recent Didi investment and Apple Car plans. The Wall Street Journal confirmed these plans last year and an Apple patent shows its potential as a Messages feature.
Cash machines
Banks are developing cash machines with NFC support. I imagine these will demand both a biometric element and passcode in order to protect against theft, but one day you will inevitably be able to withdraw cash from any ATM anywhere just by waggling your Apple Watch above the machine.
Bank replacement
Operator billing is popular in some countries. Its a system in which your carrier allows you to pay bills and services via your mobile phone, recouping costs from your bill. Such services are highly popular in developing economies where smartphone users may lack conventional bank accounts. Apple Pay may in future offer something similar,: In India, that is something we are looking at. Operator billing is something, we dont need in the US. But in India it is something the customer would want and help us move faster, Cook recently said. Apple Pay may help support emerging economies.
Retail
Theres huge potential for Apple Pay and Wallet in retail. Forrester recently found 57% of US online adult smartphone users are interested in access to loyalty schemes and rewards within mobile wallets, prompting this interesting article from Veeio VP, Gillian Hughes. Apple Pay will soon offer:
Loyalty and discount schemes (Apple has a patent for this).
To replace under-utilized retail apps
To help deliver personalized shopping experiences
You should be able to use Apple Pay to purchase things in shops, but you should also see those transactions automatically added to your existing loyalty schemes, and receive deals and coupons personalized to you as you enter the shop. I do think we may have to wait for retailers to come round to ceding control of their apps (EasyJet recently did just that).
AI
Finally Apple Pay may work with Apples developing AI solutions (eg. Proactive). In this model your device would learn your habits and proactively suggest things it knows fit those habits, such as pre-reserving a favorite restaurant at a specific time, or calling up your Apple Car ride-sharing scheme.
Google+? If you use social media and happen to be a Google+ user, why not join AppleHolic's Kool Aid Corner community and join the conversation as we pursue the spirit of the New Model Apple?
Want Apple TV tips? If you want to learn how to get the very best out of your Apple TV, please visit my Apple TV website.
Got a story? Drop me a line via Twitter or in comments below and let me know. I'd like it if you chose to follow me on Twitter so I can let you know when fresh items are published here first on Computerworld.
Several weeks ago my wife came fuming into my office.
Windows 10 just hijacked my computer, she complained. Without asking, Microsoft upgraded me from Windows 7, even though I didnt want Windows 10, and I had to wait for the installation to finish before I could get any work done.
I asked her whether she had accidentally clicked OK on any upgrade notifications, ignored any warnings that she had received or gotten any other notices about the upgrade. No on all counts, she answered before leaving to wrestle with her new operating system.
I admit to having been skeptical. Would Microsoft really take over someones computer without warning and install a significant chunk of software without explicit permission? Thats what malware does, I thought, not software from one of the biggest tech firms on the planet with the largest operating system installed base on desktop and laptops PCs.
Turns out, she was right. And I wasnt the only tech writer whose spouse had this experience: The same thing happened to the wife of PC Worlds Brad Chacos.
All this made me wonder: If software from any other company behaved the way the Windows 10 upgrade does, would it be considered malware?
To find out, I delved into how the controversial upgrade works. Microsoft has been aggressive in its attempts to get as many people as possible to upgrade to Windows 10 in advance of the companys self-imposed July 29 deadline for free upgrades from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.
Last year Microsoft installed its Get Windows 10 app on millions of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 PCs. It alerted people that they could reserve the free upgrade if they wanted. When the app popped up on peoples PCs, they could close its window and block any action it might take in the time-honored way of clicking on the X in the upper right of the dialog box.
Since then Microsoft has gotten increasingly aggressive in getting people to upgrade to Windows 10. It began stealthily downloading the bits required for the upgrade to PCs automatically without telling people. And then this spring Microsoft sprung a trap. When the upgrade app appeared, if someone clicked the X in its dialog box in order to close it and cancel an upgrade, Windows did the exact opposite of what the person intended to do: It upgraded that persons PC to Windows 10. Microsoft did that even though the app always behaved in the opposite way before then, which is pretty much the way any legitimate app behaves closing a dialog box and canceling any actions.
When Microsoft made that change, it violated its own recommended design guidelines, notes Computerworlds Gregg Keizer. Microsoft tells developers that clicking an X to close a dialog box and halt any action the box might take is the right way to do things. The company writes on a website devoted to design guidelines, "The Close button on the title bar should have the same effect as the Cancel or Close button within the dialog box. Never give it the same effect as OK.
In this case, thats exactly what clicking X did: gave it the same effect as OK.
So is the Windows 10 upgrade malware? One place to look for clues is in Microsofts document, How to prevent and remove viruses and other malware. That document warns, Never click 'Agree' or 'OK' to close a window that you suspect might be spyware. Instead, click the red 'x' in the corner of the window or press Alt + F4 on your keyboard to close a window." And it defines spyware, in part, this way: Spyware can install on your computer without your knowledge. These programs can change your computers configuration or collect advertising data and personal information.
So lets see: The Windows 10 upgrade downloads its bits to your PC without your knowledge. It changes your computers configuration. By default, Windows 10 collects advertising data and personal information. And if you try to stop the upgrade by doing what Microsoft tells you to do with every other application click the X on its dialog box it installs anyway.
Sounds like malware to me, malware that forces a Windows 10 upgrade. Sure, it isn't malware that's designed with a malicious purpose. It's not being installed on your computer with the aim of stealing your data or locking up your files until you pay Microsoft a ransom. But getting upgraded to a new operating system against your will can have drastic consequences, such as programs that won't work with the newer OS. If you unexpectedly find your PC upgraded to Windows 10, you might have to shell out for upgrades to other programs just to accomplish what you could do before the upgrade.
Microsoft should immediately reverse course and let people decide for themselves whether they want to upgrade to Windows 10, rather than to use malware tricks to get them to upgrade.
The Labour Party is in a state of electoral fright. All those who arent Corbynites are afraid of what their leader will do to the Party. Those who are pro-EU are afraid of what he might do to the Remain campaign. Corbyns advisers are afraid of the reaction from Corbynites if he appears on a platform with Tories. And others are afraid of the reaction from traditional, Eurosceptic Labour voters if the Party allies with the Conservatives, remembering with a shudder what happened to traditional Labour voters when Miliband campaigned with Cameron in the Scottish referendum.
As if that wasnt complex enough, the Leader is only grudgingly supporting staying in the EU in the first place. His whole career has been spent criticising the unaccountable, undemocratic Brussels club, but his Shadow Cabinet appear to have convinced him that there is a tiny strip of political territory on which they can all crowd in order to agree about the referendum.
Unfortunately, fear and political discomfort arent particularly conducive to good politics. As a result, the Labour Partys EU line is an especially troubled one.
Witness two pieces of evidence. First, Harriet Harman appeared with Cameron, Farron and Bennett yesterday, lined up in front of their red, blue and yellow Minis (and a green bicycle) like the cast of a Top Gear reboot even more disappointing than the actual Top Gear reboot. Her pitch, as agreed with Corbyn, was that leaving the EU would lead to the destruction of workers rights.
Lets ignore the fact that Britain has chosen democratically to implement stronger rights than the EU requires in numerous areas, and often did so before joining. Lets even ignore the fact that voters are hardly likely to vote away rights that they want and which they believe to be beneficial. What lies at the heart of Harmans argument is the implicit assumption that she, and the Labour Party, would be incapable of persuading voters in a democratically self-governing Britain to vote for their preferred policies. In short, her case is that the EU delivers policies which Labour could never win elections with in the UK presumably either because those policies arent very good, or that the electorate is incapable of appreciating their wisdom, or that the Labour Party is incompetent at political campaigning, I dont know which.
The second piece of evidence came from Corbyn himself, unveiling a new Labour (not New Labour) poster this morning in London:
Split down the middle, the left-hand side of the poster lists workers rights such as paid holiday and maternity leave under an In Europe heading. On the right, the list is crumpled up a dire warning of what Labour believes could happen to these rights if Britain leaves the EU.
Again theres that implicit rubbishing of Labours chance of ever winning an election again. But theres also a reallocation going on now we are supposed to believe that it is Brussels that we have to thank for these rights. These are, in a normal Labour worldview, the crowing achievements of the Labour Party, evidence that a century of fighting at the ballot box has delivered positive change to British workers. And yet now, no less a figure than the Labour leader is saying Nope, not us. Youve got Brussels to thank for all that.
Has no-one in the Labour Party paused to imagine what might happen to it if voters hear the message that Labour is incapable of winning and has never delivered anything of its own accord, and judge the Party accordingly?
Cllr Roy Perry is Leader of Hampshire County Council and a former MEP.
Harold Macmillan made Britains first application in 1961 to join what was then known as the Common Market. Since then every Conservative Prime Minister has supported British membership of the European Economic Community (EEC), later the EU. David Cameron is the latest in a long line to believe Britain is stronger in Europe.
Mrs Thatcher was key in Britain signing up to the Single Market in 1986, which took the Common Market far beyond free trade. In her renowned Bruges Speech in 1988, she made it crystal clear she believed that Britains place was inside Europe.
And let me be quite clear. Britain does not dream of some cosy, isolated existence on the fringes of the European Community. Our destiny is in Europe, as part of the Community.
Eurosceptic Conservative MPs have long tried to hijack the Party but no Conservative Prime Minister, nor leader when in office, has sought to take us out. Like John Major, his predecessor as Conservative PM, Cameron has faced carping and sniping from the back benches and even in his own Government from Eurosceptic Conservatives. This constant bickering over our EU membership needs resolving if the PM is to be free to concentrate on the real problems we face in the world today such as:
Unrest in the Middle East fuelling international terrorism and mass movements of asylum seekers
A fragile world economy China losing momentum, American recovery modest, Japan stagnating, Brazil in recession
A resurgent and expansionist Russia
Global warming, sea levels rising and health scares such as Ebola and Zika Virus.
None of those problems are caused by the EU, nor will they be resolved by Britain quitting the EU.
Geographically Britain is clearly a European nation. Our history tells us if we turn our back on Europe and ignore our neighbours then problems emerge that impact on us. Who can argue that the decision of European nations post World War II to combine into the Common Market and then the EU have not had a better outcome than our post World War I stance?
This is why Churchill recognised the Common Market was good and Macmillan applied to join. The experiment of an alternative European Free Trade Area (EFTA) proved to be no answer. Conservatives more than any other party believe in promoting trade to help the economy prosper. Almost half our trade is with the EU member states. We sell more to Ireland alone than we do to China.
Whilst we rely on Europe to take almost 50 per cent of our exports, EU countries sell only ten per cent of their exports into UK. They dont need us as much as we need them. Margaret Thatcher signed Britain up in 1986 to the Single European Act. That one act, more than any other, took the EEC well beyond being a customs union, and removed non-tariff barriers to trade. A single market requires issues like safety compatibility to be addressed, so goods can be easily traded across the whole market. The argument about noise limits on lawn mowers highlights that point. If the rules of a country limit noise emissions on a lawn mower, unless you meet those limits you cannot sell it. So it is with almost every product sold across national frontiers. One EU standard is simpler than 28 different standards. Equally it is better to have a voice on the inside influencing those standards than absenting yourself from the discussion.
It was Conservative MEPs, led by my predecessor as an MEP for Hampshire, Basil de Ferranti who formed the Kangaroo Club to get those artificial barriers removed. The single market is a great Conservative success story. There is still more to be done in this respect so that the single market includes the service industries like insurance and finance.
Defence is a Conservative priority. We are staunch supporters of NATO but peace and security depend not just on military force but also on economic and social factors. NATO undoubtedly deterred the USSR militarily but the fall of the iron curtain was achieved as much by the juxtaposition of the wealthy EU countries alongside poverty stricken eastern Europe.
From the late 1950s onwards, when I joined the Young Conservatives, the Conservative Party has been consistent in support of links with Europe. The very first Conservative rally I attended with my grandmother back in 1959 was addressed by Harold Macmillan. I recall he was heckled by supporters of the League of Empire Loyalists who hankered after their cosy idea of Empire. They were wrong then and their heirs are just as wrong now. We achieve more working with our neighbours than turning our back on them.
Chris Grayling is Leader of the House of Commons, and MP for Epsom and Ewell.
Talk about Conservative politics these days and its hard to escape a discussion about the EU debate and the need to reunite afterwards. But in the midst of the referendum arguments the lie of the political land for the next four years has also started to take shape, with lessons for every Conservative.
This years local elections have given us some particularly strong signposts as to where we are right now and what we will need to do to keep winning. If political history was functioning according to the textbooks of recent years, by virtue of being the governing Party we would have taken a fair beating. Labour would have taken hundreds of seats from us in our marginal areas and the Liberal Democrats would have had us on the retreat in the South. In London we would have fallen back sharply and we would still be on the fringes in Scotland. In the end it wasnt like that at all.
These elections were Labours to lose, and they did. Although we had some disappointing battles in places we hoped to squeak a handful of seats to take control like Plymouth we held our ground almost everywhere. Even in London where Zac Goldsmith fought a hard battle the result reflected very closely that at the General Election. And of course in Scotland Ruth Davidson performed wonders, taking us into a comfortable second place in the Edinburgh parliament, leaving Labour languishing in third.
We are now pressing ahead with the programme the British people elected us on a year ago. Twenty-three pieces of legislation received their Royal Assent in the first session, becoming law. We have outlined in the Queens Speech plans for a further 21 Bills in the coming twelve months. In this we have met our commitments in education (bringing in powers to intervene in failing schools), in planning and housing (where we have paved the way for a big increase in the number of starter homes), we have introduced measures to tighten the immigration system and we have introduced the National Living wage.
In my role as Leader of the House I will soon begin work with departments on shaping the programme that we will deliver in our third session, keeping up the priorities that we were elected on a year ago.
This is important because delivering on our promises and making a positive difference in the lives of people in this country is ultimately what the British people elected us to do. And it is this record that we will stand against Labour on at the next election.
The local elections reinforced to me that we cannot be complacent about the Lib Dems or UKIP. And even with Jeremy Corbyn at the helm, we should not underestimate Labour. Similarly to Bernie Sanders in the United States, amongst younger voters he has tapped into something of the anti-politics mood amongst some of the new generation who have no direct experience of left-wing government and its failings. And the core Labour vote remains remarkably tribal. So we have to remain focused on the threat and not take anything for granted.
I think we have three big priorities.
The first is to focus relentlessly on the idea and language of One Nation and to continue to explain why our mainstream, centre-ground solutions deliver better lives for everyone than left-wing ones. I remain immensely proud as the Employment Minister in 2010 who had to deal with the immediate aftermath of Labours recession that today, six years later, we have the lowest claimant count unemployment since 1974 and that there has been a massive drop in the number of children growing up in workless households.
The second is to redouble our efforts to reach out to minority groups. This was undoubtedly a reason why there was a swing to Labour last year. Some really good work has been done in recent years, but even within those ethnic groups where Conservative values are obviously strong we have still got a lot of ground to catch up. These are people who believe in the importance of family, hard work and enterprise and are proud of the nation they have made their own. We need to explain clearly why the opportunity, freedom and empowerment central to a Conservative approach to governing will most benefit their communities as opposed to the centralised, bureaucratic Labour model.
Thirdly we must keep the pressure up on Labour. Their distress at the performance of their leader in the Commons is palpable. Most Labour MPs are in despair but the path to removing Corbyn would not be straightforward. Most voters see none of this and will pay little attention until much nearer 2020. We must keep up relentless pressure on Labour exposing just how damaging their policies would be for Britain.
When the referendum ends we must return to politics as normal. The shape of the task ahead of us is already becoming clear.
Ruth Davidson is leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, and MSP for Edinburgh Central.
I doubt there is much that surprises David Dimbleby. But during a filming of Question Time in Aberdeen the other week, he appeared momentarily flummoxed. The topic was the Scottish Governments proposed Named Persons scheme, due to come in across Scotland from this August. Attempting to explain the plans, he simply muttered: It gets stranger and stranger.
In the Scottish Parliament tomorrow, we will try to shed some light. The Scottish Conservative opposition has decided to bring forward a new debate on the policy. And we will attempt to press pause on the plans before they are implemented in two months time. It is a test for the new minority SNP Government: is it prepared to listen to genuine concerns about its proposals, or will it insist on pushing it through?
To explain to ConservativeHome readers and to Mr Dimbleby the Named Persons scheme is a new child protection measure which will apply to every child in Scotland from the age of 0 to 18. Typically, a named person will be a health visitor or a senior teacher whose job will be a new point of contact responsible for assessing a childs wellbeing. It will be their job to decide whether to reach out to any other services if they believe it is necessary. Proponents argue that this interventionist approach mean that cases of abuse can be prevented from taking place. Get in early, the theory goes.
I do not, for a minute, doubt the motives of those who proposed the scheme. It is borne of an entirely laudable aim to try and tackle the dreadful cases of abuse that we see all too frequently, right across the United Kingdom. Good motivations, however, are no guarantee of good law-making. And it is here where the Named Persons scheme falls down. When we are talking about one of the most sensitive areas of public life the right to family life it is right to ask serious and fundamental questions.
Those questions are now being asked not just by the Scottish Conservatives who have consistently been opposed to the principle of the scheme but now by the very people who are supposed to implement it; health professionals, social workers and teachers. The core problem lies in the very effort to take a universal, interventionist approach. As part of their assessment of a childs wellbeing, named persons will consider whether a child is safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included. Indeed, there is a bewildering array of risk indicators they will also have to examine. Potentially, this dragnet approach takes child protection into every home. And, as social workers who will be involved in the scheme have put it themselves, it is easy to imagine named persons covering their backs by passing everything up the chain. Who could blame them? Passing it on means covering your back against the potential, however remote, of missing a tell-tell sign.
This has a corrosive effect. One health visitor recently told a Unison survey: The role of health visiting is based on a relationship with the family. That is the skill we develop. I am worried that, because of the legislation, that relationship will change and parents will become resentful and refuse the service, resulting in conflict. It also has an impact on workload. Teachers have warned about the increasing demands it may make on their time. And worse as senior police officers warned in evidence to Holyrood it could take attention away from those children and cases that truly need targeted support. I have repeatedly raised this latter issue with the SNP Government and have been rewarded with the usual complaint that I am scaremongering.
Tomorrows debate will be a chance for the new Parliament to have its say. The Scottish Conservative position is to scrap the new scheme entirely. However, in an effort to find consensus, our motion will propose that the scheme be paused to ensure further debate. An option may be for it to return to the Scottish Parliaments Education Committee for fresh scrutiny.
Behind this row lies a salutary lesson. The proposals were pushed through by a majority Scottish Government which was convinced of its own case, and didnt need to heed warnings about unintended consequences. Now, just weeks away from it coming into force, the result is that we are left with a scheme which is racked in controversy and mistrusted by the very people who are supposed to carry it out. As former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars wrote yesterday, its passage into law raises serious questions about the Scottish Parliaments legislative system, including the role of its committees.
The chaos over the implementation of the Named Persons scheme is a direct result of a lack of scrutiny and challenge. Tomorrow we will try to put that right.
SUBSCRIBE
Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates straight in your inbox.
Close
Some girls develop earlier than others. Teenage girls who hit puberty earlier than their peers have a higher risk of getting adolescent depression later. This is particularly true for girls who have more visible breast development than others.
Early Puberty & Depression Only Tied to Girls, Not Boys
A Chinese study found that that earlier that girls through puberty and develop their breasts, the more they are at risk for adolescent depression. The researchers analyzed more than 5,000 teenagers born in Hong Kong. For girls that don't develop early, another increment in age means a 17 percent reduced chance of depression. However, their findings did not apply to boys and this has something to do with girls developing breasts.
Study author Mary Schooling of the University of Hong Kong explained that breast development is much more visible than genitalia development in boys. Girls exhibiting developing breasts are looked up to as more mature and therefore given mature social roles that they may have difficulties in coping with, Schooling said in an email, Fox News reported.
The researchers of the study found that boys develop their genitalia around the age of 11 and their pubic hair by age 12. For girls, breast development starts by age 9 and pubic hair around age 11.The study was posted online in the journal Pediatrics.
New Study Correlates with Earlier Study of Early Developed Girls Having Depression
Dr Carolyn McCarty from the University of Washington said that the findings of the new research correlate with previous findings about early puberty in girls and them having adolescent depression. McCarty, who wasn't involved in the new study, adds that while girls are given more responsible roles with regards to their mature-like appearance, boys aren't expected to be given the same, The Globe and Mail noted.
Do you think teenage girls who are having earlier puberty have it more difficult than teenage boys? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
SHARE
In 1992, Youth Resources' first High School TEENPOWER leadership conference was hosted at the University of Evansville by a group of visionary high school students and adults. That group changed the trajectory of the youth leadership movement in the Tri-State area.
As you read this, 220 high school participants, 35 high school Youth Staff volunteers, 16 YR alumni and college staff volunteers and 24 adult staff volunteers have converged again at UE for the 25th High School TEENPOWER conference and are having a blast together. Both the High School and Middle School TEENPOWER conferences are at capacity with waiting lists of hopeful attendees.
Twenty-five years of TEENPOWER is a big deal, and all of us at Youth Resources know we stand on the shoulders of giants as we continue a legacy of youth empowerment started before some of us were even born!
TEENPOWER brings together hundreds of students of diverse backgrounds from different schools with wildly varied life experience each summer. They convene with each other on issues they face as young people; train with peers, college students and adults to learn how to be stronger, more effective leaders; plan substance abuse awareness and prevention service projects to implement in their home communities and learn positive skills for succeeding in high school and beyond.
What makes up YR's TEENPOWER conferences? Large and small group teambuilding, workshops with expert presenters from our community, a national keynote (this year, Heather Schultz), prevention project planning with participants' school advisers, small group debrief sessions and lots and lots of fun!
Since 1992, TEENPOWER has created a network of over 3,000 empowered leaders who start to change our community and world as youth and continue to catalyze positive change as adults.
TEENPOWER is not possible without the college and adult volunteers who give their vacation and time with their families to support our community's young people. We would also be remiss if we didn't thank the University of Evansville and the University of Southern Indiana for their continued partnership in hosting the conferences and allowing our participants to learn to navigate and feel comfortable on a college campus.
During the school year, the TEENPOWER program continues through the hard work of teachers at local middle and high schools who help students lead TEENPOWER Clubs and implement the prevention service projects they planned at the conferences. Those teachers, as we well know, give more than we can thank them for and make sure the lifestyle that young people learn at TEENPOWER is encouraged throughout the year.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@YouthResources) to see what 25 years of TEENPOWER looks like in 2016.
If you would like more information on how to get your student involved in Middle School or High School TEENPOWER at school or at YR's powerful conferences in 2017, visit our website: youth-resources.org or contact Jeremy Brown at jeremy@youth-resources.org or 812-421-0030.
Laura Ferguson is the executive director at Youth Resources of Southwestern Indiana. Since 1987, Youth Resources has engaged over 148,000 youth in leadership development and community service through its youth-led TEENPOWER, Teen Advisory Council, Teen Court and Make A Difference Grant Programs. For more information, please call 812-421-0030 or visit youth-resources.org.
SHARE
By Mark Wilson of the Courier and Press
Prosecutors called on a DNA analysis technique never before admitted for use in an Indiana courtroom to help convict an Evansville man of possessing crack cocaine in his jail cell.
Despite the DNA testimony, however, prosecutors were unable to prove Dugniqio Deshay Forest guilty of a more serious charge of dealing cocaine.
"This evidence was crucial in securing a conviction" of Forest, a Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Office press release touted Monday.
Deputy Prosecutor Javier Lugo said Judge Richard D'Amour's ruling allowing the DNA computer analysis testimony was the first time an Indiana judge had ruled it scientifically reliable enough to be admitted in court. The DNA analysis was not enough, however, to overcome the presence of multiple other people's DNA on the evidence, although Forest's cell mate was excluded.
Forest, 21, was convicted of a lesser charge of cocaine possession late Friday after a three-day trial in Vanderburgh Superior Court. The jury acquitted him of dealing cocaine and trafficking with an inmate charges that could have resulted in up to a 30-year sentence.
Instead, Forest now faces a 2-to-12-year sentence. He currently is serving a 3 1/2 year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a handgun in January.
Lugo said Dr. Mark Perlin charged a flat rate $500 an hour, plus other fees, to analyze evidence in the case and testify. He said the prosecutor's office has not received a final bill.
Perlin's Pittsburgh-based CyberGentics Inc. uses its patented TrueAllele software to perform computer analysis of DNA samples a process that can be used to separate and identify DNA of multiple people on an item.
"That's the reason he was brought in," Lugo said.
He said the Indiana State Police lab has difficulty making decisions about who DNA belongs too in cases with numerous contributors.
Perlin testified that the DNA of 4-to-5 people was detected on baggies of crack cocaine found inside a cracker box in Forest's jail cell, said attorney Jake Warrum, who defended Forest. He said a similar diversity of DNA was found on the outside of the cracker box and its inside packaging.
"He was able to say that Forest's DNA was on it but obviously there was multiple people's DNA present," Warrum said.
As a result, he said, the prosecution had no physical evidence to prove the drug dealing charge.
Warrum initially objected to Perlin testifying because his analysis was not disclosed to the defense until just four days before trial. However, he withdrew the objection after prosecutors presented Perlin's qualifications.
In April, the same technology was used to help free a man who had served 24 years in prison for a wrongful rape conviction in Lake County, Indiana.
Warrum said prosecutors had argued Forest was selling the crack in exchange for jail commissary items. Jail personnel testified the cracker box was found next to a bag of commissary items.
However, Warrum said jail personnel had not photographed any of the evidence, and one jail employee even put the crack in his pocket for safe-keeping until a detective arrived.
"It would have been very difficult for them to make a conviction," he said.
Lugo said Forest's history of drug and gun-related convictions warranted going the extra step with the DNA analysis. Now that the door has been opened for its use in court, it may be useful again, he said.
Forest will be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. July 7. A hearing on a separate felon in possession of a firearm charge, also in Vanderburgh Superior Court, will take place on the same date and time, Warrum said.
SHARE Phillip Dzienciol, the son of Phil Dzienciol and Diane Dzienciol of Princeton, Indiana, plans to study actuarial science at the University of Evansville. Lindsey Cameron, the daughter of Richard and Johnna Cameron of Newburgh, plans to study creative writing at the University of Evansville. Kunal Mukherjee, the son of Kingsuk and Sharmistha Mukherjee of Evansville, plans to study computer engineering at the University of Evansville. Jayde Kimberee Wilkerson, the daughter Karen Shearer and Chris Wilkerson of Princeton, Indiana, plans to study nursing at Indiana University.
By Andrew Vailliencourt, Andrew.vailliencourt@courierpress.com @abbeyrd99
As the calendar turns to June, it means school's out for the summer. For some students, they'll be back in high school in the fall, but for others it's on to the next level.
This year's area high school valedictorians stood atop their classes and have their achievements to back it up.
Stanford University, Duke University, the University of Michigan, New York University and the University of Notre Dame highlight the list of schools some will attend.
A majority are opting to stay in the Hoosier state with Indiana University, Purdue University, University of Southern Indiana and University of Evansville as the four most popular choices. Others will go out of state and head to Auburn University, University of Alabama, University of Kentucky, University of Texas at Dallas and more one even out the country.
"From high school, I will take forth a mind that is so much more open to a world of possibilities than when I began my journey as a freshman," Jake Ellsworth from Castle High School said. "Knowledge from successes and failures alike provided for an opportunity to grow not only as a student, but as an individual. To be named valedictorian is wonderful. However, to leave high school with nothing more than a handful of book smarts is a waste. It is crucial that individuals today find meaning in the world beyond a handful of vocabulary terms that they can memorize from a textbook. Individuals need to explore what makes them unique."
Some students learned the value of time management, like Natalie Cox from Gibson Southern.
"High school has taught me to never get involved in something just to build a resume or to look good for a scholarship but to get involved in the things for which I am passionate," Cox said. "Time is always of the essence, so do not waste it on the unmemorable things."
Donald Fuerstenau from Castle, said high school taught him the importance of hard work and the value of making the most of every opportunity he's given.
"Someone once told me that, 'Life's too short, make the most of it.' These past four years of high school have shown me just how fast time goes by," Fuerstenau said. "In the grand scheme of things, the late nights studying, the tedious math assignments and the extensive English papers are nothing compared to the lifelong friends and memories I've made along the way. Ten years from now I won't remember what grade I got on my research paper or in my trigonometry class, but I will remember the people who helped me and made me laugh, even on my worst days."
High school allows new friendships to form, personalities to blossom and helps people find out what truly interests them.
"High school has turned me into an extrovert," Abigail Plump of Signature School said. "Thriving on camaraderie with others, I've learned to combine the strengths of many to achieve what is impossible alone. I'll always enjoy discovering what other people are really passionate about, and I hope to never stop meeting new and interesting people."
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump spoke May 27, 2016, during a rally in San Diego. (Photo: Chris Carlson/AP 2016 file photo)
SHARE
By Tony Cook / USA Today Netowrk/ The Indianapolis Star
Donald Trump's ethnicity-based attacks on a federal judge have earned condemnation from a growing number of national Republican figures, but party leaders in the judge's home state of Indiana have remained largely silent.
Trump, meanwhile, continued to repeat and defend his comments Monday.
Indiana Democrats held a news conference Monday to criticize Gov. Mike Pence, U.S. Senate nominee Todd Young and other top Republicans in the state for failing to defend Indiana-born U.S. District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel.
"The silence is deafening, and it should be a wake-up call for Hoosiers," Indiana Democratic Party Chairman John Zody said.
Curiel, who was born in East Chicago to immigrant parents, is presiding over class-action lawsuits against Trump's now-inactive real estate school, Trump University. Before moving to California, Curiel attended law school at Indiana University and worked as an attorney in Dyer.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has repeatedly criticized the judge, calling him a "hater" and suggesting he is biased because of his Mexican heritage. When asked by CNN's Jake Tapper on Friday whether his comments were racist, Trump said: "We're building a wall. Hes a Mexican."
"Hes not from Mexico," Tapper responded. "Hes from Indiana."
"Hes of Mexican heritage," Trump said, "and hes very proud of it."
Trump's focus on Curiel's ethnicity has earned rebukes from several prominent Republicans, including U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
But Trump continued to defend his comments Monday, saying it was "inappropriate" for Gingrich to demand he drop the subject of Curiel's ethnicity and start acting like "a potential leader of the United States."
"You have to respond," Trump said on Fox News. "All I'm trying to do is figure out why I'm being treated so unfairly by a judge."
Despite the scolding from national GOP officials, Republicans in Curiel's home state of Indiana have been largely silent, with only a few exceptions.
Questioning a judges impartiality based on his ethnicity is not only inappropriate, it has no place in American society," U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Jimtown, told the Elkhart Truth on Monday.
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, a Republican who is not seeking a third term, also spoke out Monday, calling Trump's comments "way out of bounds."
"Without the rule of law, you've got chaos, a point that needs to be remembered," he told the Times of Northwest Indiana. "If there's a legitimate question of bias, there is a professional way to raise that without showing disrespect for a judge and the system generally. This is nowhere close."
Other leading Indiana Republicans, including Pence and Young, have stayed silent. Young's campaign could not immediately be reached for comment. Pence's campaign referred reporters to the Indiana Republican Party.
"This is just another typical stunt from Democrat Party to distract Hoosiers from real issues that impact their lives," Indiana Republican Party Chairman Jeff Cardwell said in a statement that did not mention Trump.
One reason for the silence from Indiana Republicans might be that many are in the middle of competitive races, said Bernard Fraga, a political scientist at Indiana University who studies politics, race and ethnicity.
The individuals who are actually up for election are hesitating to make a strong stand because they dont want to alienate Trumps voters," he said, "but they also dont want to alienate broader groups such as moderates, Hispanics or Democrats who might support them in the fall.
Indiana played a key role in Trump's rise. It was his victory in the state's May 3 primary that sealed his status as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. It's also a state with a relatively small Hispanic population about 6.1 percent, which ranks Indiana 29th among the 50 states, according to the Pew Research Center.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
SHARE
By Zach Osowski, zach.osowski@courierpress.com
INDIANAPOLIS Saying Hoosier voters want more access than ever before, U.S. Senate hopeful Baron Hill challenged Republican Todd Young and Libertarian Lucy Brenton to a series of debates and town hall meetings.
Hill, the Democrat nominee to replace Sen. Dan Coats, proposed four televised debates and five town halls, one in each of Indiana's nine congressional districts, between now and the November election.
"Hoosiers deserve access to the candidates and they deserve answers," Hill said. "We as candidates owe voters the opportunity to answer their questions face to face where we can't behind the podium or talking points."
Hill said he has reached out to the Indiana Debate Commission, which handled the debate between Young and his primary opponent, Marlin Stutzman. He has not heard back from them yet.
Trevor Foughty, Young's campaign manager, said Young looks forward to debating with Hill on the campaign trail and doing so with the Indiana Debate Commission.
"We are fortunate in Indiana to have a debate commission with a track record of producing excellent debates that are available to millions of Hoosiers through media outlets around the state," Foughty said. "We have already committed to working with the Indiana Debate Commission again."
Young beat Hill in 2010 in a race of U.S. Representative.
SHARE ALEX SLITZ / COURIER & PRESS Brooke Dedmond, 16, of Evansville, and other campers participate in a team-building game during the 2016 Youth Resources TEENPOWER high school camp at the University of Evansville on Monday, June 6, 2016. TEENPOWER camp runs through Thursday. ALEX SLITZ / COURIER & PRESS Motivational speaker Heather Schultz talks with camp attendees during the 2016 Youth Resources TEENPOWER high school camp at the University of Evansville on Monday, June 6, 2016. TEENPOWER camp runs through Thursday.
By Megan Erbacher of the Courier and Press
Don't underestimate the power to follow, Heather Schultz told more than 200 Tri-State high school students Monday afternoon.
It's important to know when to follow and when to lead, the motivational speaker said during her interactive workshop "Live. Laugh. Lead." at the 25th annual Youth Resources high school TEENPOWER camp.
"I think we automatically attach something negative to being a follower," Schultz said. "And I don't think that's the truth. ... I think you have to understand it takes someone really strong to be a really good follower."
This year, a record 220 high school students representing 12 area high schools are participating in the high school camp. About 75 people make up the staff, including more than 30 high school students and 16 college staff members.
TEENPOWER is a peer-led camp that focuses on leadership development, character and confidence building. For five days and four nights on UE's campus, teens attend leadership trainings and workshops.
Schultz, a widely known youth motivational speaker, has delivered her message in 49 states and seven countries. She is the keynote speaker for both high school and middle school TEENPOWER.
The 15th annual middle school TEENPOWER camp will take place on the University of Southern Indiana's campus from June 20-22.
"Fail well," Schultz said. "Recover well. Don't be afraid to take a risk."
TEENPOWER isn't simply Sarah Reitz's favorite part of summer it's her favorite part of life, according to the incoming Memorial High School senior. Reitz, 17, is in her second year as youth staff but her sixth year of being a part of TEENPOWER. She enjoys the positive, safe environment the camp provides.
"If you can't be kind, be quiet," Reitz said is a lesson she learned from Schultz's speech. "I really like that because you shouldn't say mean things. I think we need to be reminded of that in this day and age."
First-time camper Joe Kiesel wanted to try TEENPOWER after hearing about the fun his friends had in previous years. Kiesel, 14, is an incoming freshman at Memorial.
"It's a lot of fun," Kiesel said. "Everybody is happy."
Something Schultz said that stuck with Kiesel is there are people in this world who do good and people who do bad.
"It's important to make sure you leave a good, positive legacy," Kiesel said.
Speaking from personal experience, Jeremy Brown, TEENPOWER special events and communications coordinator, said everybody likes to be a part of something positive. Brown was a camper in 2006 and served on youth, college and adult staff for many years.
"'Life-changing' is a word that's thrown around a lot from participants. ... I've seen life after life impacted through this organization," he said.
Students can start attending TEENPOWER in the seventh grade and continue through being a senior in high school. Once a student reaches sophomore year of high school, they can sign up to be on staff.
SHARE Screen grab from video deposition of former BMV Chief of Staff Shawn Walters (Photo: Provided photo)
By Tony Cook, IndyStar / USA TODAY Network
A former top official at the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles has reached a proposed settlement with state authorities over allegations that he violated state ethics laws when he took a job with a company to whom he had awarded a state contract.
The Indiana Ethics Commission is scheduled to consider the settlement between former BMV Chief of Staff Shawn Walters and Indiana Inspector General Cynthia Carrasco at its meeting Thursday.
The possible disciplinary action follows an IndyStar investigation last year in July that found Walters helped negotiate a state contract with a company called Express MVA, then later left state employment to take a newly created executive position with the company.
The contract provided Express MVA with BMV workstations and allowed it to charge a lucrative "convenience fee" that effectively doubled the cost of services typically available only at state license branches. Those fees amounted to about $6 million a year for the company.
Walters then left the BMV in 2013 amid a scandal over tens of millions of dollars in customer overcharges at the agency. Another IndyStar investigation published last year in March found that Walters and other BMV executives knew about some of those fee problems for years, but chose to ignore or cover up the overcharges rather than refund the extra money to motorists and adjust to significant budget losses.
About $30 million was later refunded, but only after a class action lawsuit. A second lawsuit involving additional fees is ongoing.
After working briefly for another state agency, the Family and Social Services Administration, Walters took the job with Express MVA in 2014.
Gov. Mike Pence canceled the state's contract with Express MVA in August after the IndyStar story about Walters' relationship with the company. The governor also asked Carrasco, the state's top ethics watchdog, to conduct an investigation.
She filed a formal complaint against Walters in April. It accuses him of violating a state law that puts restrictions on state employees who want to take a job with a company that does business with the state.
Those restrictions are intended to prevent private companies from using lucrative jobs to entice or reward state officials who have the power to regulate or award contracts to them. The ethics commission has wide discretion when it comes to penalties, which can include fines, restitution and prohibition against future state employment.
Carrasco said the terms of the settlement agreement between her office and Walters would not be released until Thursday's ethics commission meeting.
Walters is being represented in the case by Debra Minott, who hired Walters to work at FSSA at an increased salary of $125,000 after he left the BMV. She was later asked to leave the Pence administration for unspecified reasons.
Attempts to reach Walters and Minott were unsuccessful.
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump spoke May 27, 2016, during a rally in San Diego. (Photo: Chris Carlson/AP 2016 file photo)
SHARE
By Tony Cook, IndyStar / USA TODAY Network
Gov. Mike Pence and other top Indiana Republicans joined a chorus of national GOP figures on Tuesday in condemning Donald Trumps ethnicity-based attacks on an Indiana-born judge.
The responses came a day after Indiana Democrats criticized the state's GOP leaders for their silence on the issue, even as other prominent Republicans outside the state slammed Trump for what U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday called the textbook definition of a racist comment.
Pence chimed in later Tuesday.
Every American is entitled to a fair trial and an impartial judge, but of course I think those comments were inappropriate, he said after an unrelated event at the Statehouse. I dont think its ever appropriate to question the partiality of the judge based on their ethnic background.
U.S. Sen. Dan Coats, meanwhile, criticized Trump on Twitter.
Judge Gonzalo Curiel and I have a few things in common were both IU Law grads and both sons of first generation immigrants to the US, Coats wrote. Donald Trumps comments about the ethnicity of Judge Curiel, who was born in Indiana, were totally inappropriate.
U.S. Rep. Todd Youngs campaign for Indianas open U.S. senate seat also issued a statement opposing the Republican presidential candidates comments.
"Our campaign is focused on economic and national security solutions that will move our country forward, and Mr. Trump should do likewise, instead of making highly inappropriate remarks about a judge's ethnicity, said Youngs campaign manager, Trevor Foughty.
U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks, a former U.S. attorney, said she too has "deep concerns about Mr. Trump's rhetoric."
"When a legal outcome doesn't suit you, personal attacks against the presiding judge are not the answer," Brooks said in a tweet.
At issue are Trumps repeated criticisms of U.S. District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, who was born in East Chicago to immigrant parents. Curiel is presiding over class-action lawsuits against Trump's now-inactive real estate school, Trump University.
Trump has called Curiel a "hater" and suggested he is biased because of his Mexican heritage. When asked by CNN's Jake Tapper on Friday whether his comments were racist, Trump said: "We're building a wall. Hes a Mexican."
"Hes not from Mexico," Tapper responded. "Hes from Indiana."
"Hes of Mexican heritage," Trump said, "and hes very proud of it."
Trump continued to defend his comments on Tuesday before saying he would no longer discuss the matter.
"Due to what I believe are unfair and mistaken rulings in this case and the Judges reported associations with certain professional organizations, questions were raised regarding the Obama appointed Judges impartiality. It is a fair question. I hope it is not the case," he said in a lengthy emailed statement late Tuesday afternoon. "While this lawsuit should have been dismissed, it is now scheduled for trial in November. I do not intend to comment on this matter any further. With all of the thousands of people who have given the courses such high marks and accolades, we will win this case!"
Trump's focus on Curiel's ethnicity has earned rebukes from prominent Republicans, including Ryan, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
But top Indiana Republicans had declined to comment until Tuesday.
"The silence is deafening, and it should be a wake-up call for Hoosiers," Indiana Democratic Party Chairman John Zody said during a press conference on Monday.
Pence, who has endorsed Trump, addressed that criticism in his brief remarks to reporters on Tuesday.
If I wanted to comment on everything being said in a presidential campaign I would have run for president, he said. Im focused on a growing Indiana economy.
But the campaign of his Democratic challenger, John Gregg, said Pence's response to Trump's attacks on a native Hoosier was too weak.
Its interesting that Mike Pence has commented on every single national issue over the last four years, but now has developed a case of lockjaw," Gregg campaign spokesman Jeff Harris said. "Donald Trumps comments were not just inappropriate, they were blatantly racist.
Bernard Fraga, a political scientist at Indiana University who studies politics, race and ethnicity, has suggested that one reason for the slow response from Indiana Republicans might be that many are in the middle of competitive races.
The individuals who are actually up for election are hesitating to make a strong stand because they dont want to alienate Trumps voters," he said Monday, "but they also dont want to alienate broader groups such as moderates, Hispanics or Democrats who might support them in the fall.
Indiana played a key role in Trump's rise. It was his victory in the state's May 3 primary that sealed his status as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. It's also a state with a relatively small Hispanic population about 6.1 percent, which ranks Indiana 29th among the 50 states, according to the Pew Research Center.
Donald Trumps comments about the ethnicity of Judge Curiel, who was born in Indiana, were totally inappropriate Senator Dan Coats (@SenDanCoats) June 7, 2016
I continue to have deep concerns about Mr. Trump's rhetoric. His comments about Judge Curiel are completely inappropriate. (1/4) Susan W. Brooks (@SusanWBrooks) June 7, 2016
___
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Continue Reading Below Advertisement
This actually does have something to do with Stephanie's living situation, so stay with us: When you go through 20 homes in six years, it's basically impossible to discipline you. After all, if you were a teenager and you knew that after a few months you'd probably never see this particular set of substitute parents again, would you strictly observe your bedtime? Of course not, which means that most of Stephanie's free time was spent smoking weed and partying. When you get a bunch of troubled kids partying together, they don't always sing campfire songs and teach each other to break dance.
KatarzynaBialasiewicz / iStock
No campfires, but something was getting lit.
Continue Reading Below Advertisement
Once Stephanie found herself in a rougher group home, it only got worse, much like how locking a bunch of drug dealers up together for long stretches of time mostly just makes them better at dealing drugs. "There were two incidents in juvenile ," she says. "I got an extra six months for cutting a girl's hair off during arts and crafts. ... I got another 12 months because this girl verbally invited to fight her, and we took her up on it. It was pretty bad. Charges were pressed. So it was three assault charges. I'm definitely not proud of that."
Thanks to the impossibility of discipline, Stephanie went from a terrified 12-year-old abandoned by her mother, to a 15-year-old with three assault charges on her record. The system works!
Sussex News
Story Saved
You can find this story in My Bookmarks.
Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.
Channel programs News
Ciber To Sell Netherlands Business For $25M, Stock Skyrockets
Michael Novinson
Share this
Ciber continues along the path toward divesting itself of nonstrategic operations, saying Monday that it plans to sell its 400-employee Dutch business, and sending the channel partner's stock skyrocketing.
The Greenwood Village, Colo.-based company -- No. 43 on the CRN 2016 Solution Provider 500 -- said offloading Ciber Netherlands to Milwaukee-based ManpowerGroup is part of a broader plan to focus on its core business in the IT staffing, implementation, app modernization, consulting and managed services spaces.
"We feel there are great opportunities in the IT services space, but we can't be everything to everyone," Scott Kozak, Ciber's senior director of investor relations, told CRN. "The company wants to invest in growth areas for business."
[Related: Ciber Cutting Staff, Will Propose Divesting Some Business After Sales Plummet]
Kozak said Ciber, in the past year, has gone from more than 500 "option buckets" to just 50, to become leaner and more focused, and hopes to get down to just 15 buckets in the coming months.
The company is looking to exit businesses with poor-quality revenue -- such as those offering low margins, those that are heavily reliant on subcontractors or those that are more susceptible to litigation, Kozak said, as well as some ancillary businesses associated with the 66 acquisitions Ciber made between 1995 and 2010.
Wall Street appeared to be ecstatic about the announcement, sending Ciber's stock soaring 30.6 percent, to $1.56 per share, during trading Monday. The deal was announced before the market opened.
ManpowerGroup will pay $25 million for Ciber's Dutch operations, subject to the retention of certain Netherlands customers six months after closing. The deal is expected to close in mid-June after regulatory approval.
ManpowerGroup was impressed by Ciber's portfolio of Dutch IT projects, particularly as it relates to SAP deployments. The deal should significantly bolster the company's IT capabilities in the Netherlands, according to Jilko Andringa, president of ManpowerGroup Northern Europe.
"A lot of skills are needed and scarcity is happening," Andringa told CRN. "We see the client need to find partners to fix the skill gap."
ManpowerGroup plans to retain the Ciber brand, cross-sell its existing brand to Ciber's customers in the country (and vice versa) and expand IT services in the Netherlands, Andringa said. ManpowerGroup has collaborated with Ciber on previous projects in the country, according to Andringa.
Kozak said Ciber has long struggled with issues around bonus structures for its employees in Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia, which are still tied to legacy formulas used before operations in those countries were acquired by Ciber.
Specifically, Kozak said, bonuses for Netherlands employees are correlated with utilization rates rather than project performance as is the standard in the United States, meaning that business units with lots of activity would be eligible for high bonuses even if the specific engagements were losing money.
Ciber began working in early 2015 to better align its global compensation payout system with company performance, though CEO Michael Boustridge said last month that it has resulted in many billable consultants in the Netherlands and other countries leaving the company.
"Change in labor structure in Europe is hard and takes time," Kozak said.
Andringa said compensation is not a concern to ManpowerGroup, and the company will take over Ciber's existing obligations.
This sale comes a month after Ciber announced plans to sell its Australian business -- which has annual sales approaching $10 million, but is losing money -- to local management.
Ciber has struggled in recent months, with sales falling 11 percent in the most recent quarter as Boustridge criticized prior management for eliminating the recruiting arm of Ciber's talent services organization, preventing the company from building a pipeline of prospective customers. Ciber's stock bottomed out at 93 cents per share, its lowest-ever price since the company went public in 1994.
The stock began rebounding after Ciber announced that Mark Floyd -- one of three new independent directors added to the board in 2015 as part of an agreement between the company and activist investor Lone Star Value -- would become its chairman, replacing company founder and former Chairman Bobby Stevenson. The company will be holding its annual shareholders meeting Wednesday.
Most of the major European brands are reducing their European deployment in 2016 from 2015.
According to the 2016-2017 Cruise Industry News Annual Report, MSC Cruises will have 52.8 percent of its capacity sailing in European waters in 2016, down from 62.7 percent last year, while the Caribbean will be 17.3 percent up from 9.0 percent. Other sailing regions will also be up for MSC, except South America.
Costa Cruises will have 46 percent of its cruise capacity deployed in Europe, down from 57.5 percent last year. Meanwhile, its Asia/China capacity will be up 39.9 percent year over year. South America will see a significant drop.
P&O Cruises will see a smaller drop in Europe from 69.6 percent last year to 67.7 percent this year, and TUI will drop from 53.7 percent to 52.9 percent. P&O will see an increase in the Caribbean and the Canary Islands. TUI is maintaining most of its sailing regions, but cutting back in the Canary Islands.
Among the major brands only AIDA Cruises will have more capacity in Europe this year, thanks to the AIDAprima. Even so, the increase will be slight at 61.4 percent up from 60.2 percent last year.
The AIDAprima is sailing year-round cruises in Northern Europe, embarking passengers in Hamburg and Rotterdam, while calling in Southampton, Le Havre and Zebrugge. The Rotterdam embarkation is to facilitate access for passengers from Western Germany and also to tap into the Be-Ne-Lux market, according to AIDA.
About the Annual Report:
The Cruise Industry News Annual Report is the only book of its kind, presenting the worldwide cruise industry through 2025 in 350+ pages. Statistics are independently researched. Learn more by clicking here.
The report covers everything from new ships on order to supply-and-demand scenarios from 1987 through 2021+. Plus there is a future outlook, complete growth projections for each cruise line, regional market reports, and detailed ship deployment by region and market, covering all the cruise lines.
Order the 2016-2017 edition today.
Dublin on May 24 was a blast (or as they say in Ireland, craic). For those of you who missed it, this was the opening day of the 2016 SecureCloud conference hosted by the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) and the European Network Information Security Agency (ENISA). Normally when I discuss the direction that cloud computing is taking, I state it will be used more for what we can describe as critical services. Admittedly there are many use cases in which this already happens, but it is not yet ubiquitous.
The host for SecureCloud was Brian Honan, my co-author for the CSA Guide to Cloud Computing. Brian had previously illuminated the fundamental challenge that we face with cloud computing. It was a couple of years ago, and I was presenting on the role of cloud computing within critical infrastructure. My co-author then sent an email to me with a link to a company that advertises a cloud SCADA control system. At the time, their website had a link to the security provided by their solution:
Security - Unlike PC-based SCADA systems that are vulnerable to virus and malware attacks, our system is housed on cloud based servers. These servers are overseen by highly skilled technicians negating the need for anti-virus updates and continuous security vulnerability patches required by PC-based solutions.
Having providers address security in such a way is simply unacceptable. We are moving toward more ubiquitous use of cloud computing in enterprises, and in particular critical services. Along the way, there have been some misconceptions such as the example above around cloud that somehow it was beyond requiring security. Truthfully, cloud is only someone elses data center one with less transparency for enterprises. This has resulted in a distrust of cloud by enterprise to keep their data safe. In fact, 82% of CISOs say they dont trust the public cloud to keep their organizations data secure.
As a result of the rising adoption rates of cloud combined with this inherent distrust, we will witness the advent of new technologies to meet the security appetite of enterprises. For example, I have been a big supporter of the advent of CASB (Cloud Access Security Brokers) and in particular the availability of a third-party key server. These technologies could truly be enablers for businesses to leverage the cloud to support critical operations, while ensuring the required security is in place for data protection and compliance.
My key takeaway from the conference is this: As the cloud becomes a critical component of every part of our lives in the workplace and at home we need to ensure that it is a trustworthy platform. Hence, the work that the CSA and ENISA are doing is critical to develop tools and advice so that we can have a platform that everyone in the enterprise trusts to securely deliver the services required in our digitally connected age.
BRIDGEPORT A city under siege from drug trafficking and gang violence struck back Tuesday, with SWAT teams rounding up what police said were seven major heroin dealers in a dawn raid as part of an ongoing sting operation with the FBI and State Police.
Bridgeport Police Chief Armando Perez announced the arrests Tuesday night during a meeting of the City Councils Public Safety Committee at Blackham School in the North End.
We kicked in their doors, Perez said. We dragged them out of their houses.
All seven suspects are Bridgeport residents and were charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin. They were identified by the Justice Department as: Kareem Roseboro, 41; Harry Blake, 33; Michael Bennett, 28; Jonathan Zayas, 22; Marcus Milton, 50; Glen Porter, 30, and Roy Trotter, 33.
Addresses and photos of the suspects were not provided by law enforcement.
Perez said the suspects have enriched themselves with heroin money, including one who just returned from the plush Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach.
We took his house, Perez said. We took all of his money. We took all of his cars.
Another 13 indictments are imminent, said Perez, who drew applause from about 75 city residents during the emotionally charged meeting. The city has been beset by crime, including the May 13 fatal shooting of 18-year-old KahLil Sloan-Diaz, a student at Harding High School.
Drugs are flowing freely, along with guns and weapons, said David Gordon, a former drug counselor for the school district who was laid off in 2011. We need solutions.
North End residents called for stepped-up police patrols and a crackdown on loitering, which they said has been allowed to go unchecked. Don Puleo, 66, told Perez he was hit with paint balls while walking his dog. When a friend recounted another incident of local teens smoking marijuana and dealing drugs, Puleo questioned the priorities of police.
If these things happen on Eames Boulevard down in Black Rock, Im sure the cops would be down there in five minutes, said Puleo, who said he did not report the paintball incident.
Police officer Nick Ortiz urged residents to help be their eyes and ears.
You need to call us and complain, Ortiz said.
City Councilwoman Michelle Lyons, who represents the North End and heads the Public Safety Committee, said the sound of gunshots and theft of UPS packages have become commonplace.
I think its increased, Lyons said.
City Council President Thomas McCarthy, who also represents the North End, said a proactive approach is needed.
The key for the council members in the North End is, we dont want this to get away from us, McCarthy said.
Perez, who was promoted by Mayor Joe Ganim to Bridgeports top cop in March, vowed to heighten the police presence.
We will do what it takes to keep you safe and keep the North End safe, Perez said.
neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
If the Election Day was held today, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal would easily defeat his GOP challengers and Hillary Clinton would win over Donald Trump, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday.
State voters also gave President Barack Obama his highest approval rating in six years.
While Clinton has the lead, its not a big one; 45 - 38 percent over Trump. Bernie Sanders, would do better over Trump with 54 - 35 percent.
While Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump, her single digit lead is smaller than might be expected from true-blue Connecticut, and her negative favorability rating is almost as bad as his, said Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz.
Maybe Connecticut will matter again in the general election, just as it did in the primaries. Trump won the primary overwhelmingly. Could he win here again in November? Unlikely, but there already have been so many surprises, who knows?
When third-party candidates are added to the mix, Clinton gets 41 percent, with 36 percent for Trump, 6 percent for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson and 3 percent for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, the poll found.
Connecticut voters say 61 - 37 percent that Clinton is prepared for the job as president, and say 69 - 30 percent that Trump is not prepared.
Voters say 55 - 42 percent that if Trump is president, he will bring about "real change in the way things are done in Washington."
If Clinton is president, it will be "business as usual," voters say 82 - 16 percent.
Clinton has the right "personality and temperament" to be president, voters say 60 - 39 percent, but Trump does not, voters say 68 - 29 percent.
"It's pretty amazing that Trump is within single digits of Clinton, given how poorly he scores on having the temperament and being prepared for the presidency," Schwartz said. "What Trump has going for him is the desire for change, and the weakness of Hillary Clinton."
U.S. Senate race
Blumenthal tops either of two possible Republican challengers by margins of 2-1:
60 - 30 percent over state Rep. Dan Carter
62 - 27 percent over businessman August Wolf.
Blumenthal gets a 60 - 31 percent job approval rating.
A total of 59 percent of Connecticut voters have a "strongly favorable" or "somewhat favorable" opinion of him, with 27 percent "somewhat unfavorable" or "very unfavorable."
For Carter, 84 percent haven't heard enough to form an opinion of him and 83 percent haven't heard enough about Wolf.
Voters approve 53 - 31 percent of the job U.S. Sen. Christopher Murphy is doing.
President Obama's approval
Connecticut voters approve 54 - 43 percent of the job Obama is doing, his best score since a 54 - 42 percent approval in a March 17, 2010, Quinnipiac University poll.
Democrats approve 91 - 9 percent, while Republicans disapprove 84 - 14 percent. Independent voters are divided as 48 percent approve and 49 percent disapprove.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
STRATFORD Registrar of voters has always been one of those underticket seats that voters check off on their ballots, sometimes without so much as a second thought.
In Stratford, thats all changed.
Theres a battle royal brewing in town over the Republican registrars seat, with Mark Scheck, the upstart, challenging Lou DeCilio, whos held the post for 12 years and is arguably the most powerful Republican in Stratford.
As Town Hall opened up for business Tuesday, Scheck and his entourage were among the first to enter, and they were armed with 386 petition signatures that, if certified, would force a special election on Aug. 9. Scheck needed 313 signatures, all from town Republicans, to qualify.
This would be the first time in modern times that theres been a serious challenge to a registrar seat. DeCilio is also the chairman of the Republican Town Committee and Scheck isnt even a member of that group.
I dont think Id even be allowed in as a member, he said.
Free offer
Scheck said that hell do the job for a dollar a year, something that DeCilio has said demeans the office and shows little regard for the most important right that we have in a democracy.
Quite the contrary, Scheck said. I absolutely respect the registrars office and I think that its an important job I just dont that that it should be a salaried position. The elderly in Stratford are having a hard time now.
The position pays $68,000. Scheck said that if elected, hed donate $53,000 of that to the Visiting Nurse Association and the remainder to the local YMCA.
The VNA gift would be for about the same amount that the town cut from the organizations 2016-17 budget. In recent years, Town Hall has supported the VNA because the organization provides services to the elderly. But the VNA stipend has been chopped by the Town Council to save money.
Registrar became a full-time position in the 2015-16 fiscal year, something that both DeCilio and Rick Marcone, the Democratic rigistrars of voters, have said was badly needed owing to the increasing complexity of staging elections, the number of primaries and special elections in town and the more involved legal responsibilities of the position.
The primary would cost that town about $17,000, DeCilio said, noting that it would be a townwide affair with all 10 polling places open. The winner would become the endorsed Republican candidate for the Republican registrars seat, and barring any unforeseen events, will become the next GOP registrar for the town.
A different job now
DeCilio said that hes going to stage a full campaign this summer to retain his seat. And he bristles at Schecks assertion that its a part-time job.
There are far more responsibilities now, he said. In the old, mechanical-machine era, the town clerks would do most of the work, but now thats switched to our office. And lets not forget that many cities and towns have had problems with their elections not enough ballots, bad check-off lists, absentee problems and so forth.
DeCilio also noted that Scheck has a full-time job, and simply wont have the time to run the numerous elections and primaries that take place in town.
Meanwhile Scheck, who works as an IT specialist in Milford, said that his move to unseat DeCilio is part of a more overreaching effort to rewire Town Hall.
We need good government, and I dont think that Lou or (Mayor John) Harkins have governed in the right way, Scheck said. Too many cushy jobs in Town Hall.
Harkins is also a Republican.
As with just about every city and town in Connecticut, in Stratford there are two registrars one a Democrat and the other a Republican. Its a two-year term and the office-holder is charged with nearly 35 specific duties, such as making sure all elections and primaries take place legally and properly, that voters are properly registered, that absentee ballots are sent out to those requesting them, that party affiliations are recorded and so forth.
Elections for the seat occur on even years. Although the November ballot lists a Republican candidate and a Democratic candidate for the position, both will win their seats.
Thumbs up to fast-thinking, fast-acting Anthony Ciprano, the off-duty police officer who subdued a disturbed, knife-wielding man Friday afternoon on a Metro-North train in Norwalk. As is customary for our men and women trained as first responders, when men and women began running away from the man, Ciprano, a retired State Trooper and a part-time officer in Prospect, headed toward the commotion. By this time, the man had ripped off his shirt and was slashing at his own chest. Ciprano drew his gun and got the man to lie down on the train car floor. Because of his valor, the frightening episode ended quietly, with the man being transported to Norwalk Hospital.
Thumbs up to the hundreds of volunteers and participants who put together and pulled off the inaugural Emsway Walk for Safety at Greenwich Point honoring Emily Fedorko, the Old Greenwich teenager who was killed in a a boating accident almost two years ago. The event was organized by Emilys parents, Joe and Pam, to promote safe-boating education. Emilys death in August 2014 led to passage of a law that bans anyone under age 16 from operating a boat towing a rafter or water skier, and requires a boat operator to complete a safety course on towing.
Western Union pioneers digital money transfer to Cuba
The Western Union Company (WU), a leader in global payments, today pioneered mobile and online money transfers to Cuba via the WU app and wu.com in the US, paving the way for a new generation of tech-savvy customers to move money into Cuba in minutes.
The move solidifies WUs more than 15 years of serving Cuba and reflects its commitment to bring access to its global omni-channel strategy to the Cuban diaspora in the US.
Consumers using wu.com or the mobile app in the US can select the new Send to Cuba option to send and track their money transfers, until they are paid out in minutes in local currency (Cuban convertible pesos) at WUs extensive network of 420 Agent locations in Cuba. WU is represented across every one of Cubas 16 provinces and 168 municipalities through its principal Agent, Fincimex.
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.
The power suit has moved out of the office and onto the street in a variety of colours with the celebrity support of Julia Roberts and Cate Blanchett.
by Damien Woolnough
According to David Cameron, we are sitting on top of an unexploded bomb.
This was the menacing image at the heart of the latest desperate scare story the Prime Minister has dreamed up as he struggles to revive his faltering campaign to keep Britain inside the EU.
Deploying ludicrous hyperbole, Mr Cameron outlined the devastation which he claims will ensue if voters spurn his doom-laden warnings and vote Leave.
According to David Cameron, we are sitting on top of an unexploded bomb
The pound would fall, prices rise and mortgage rates soar as house values plunged. And for good measure, he warned that businesses would go bust and jobs disappear.
This, he said, would be like putting a bomb under our economy, and the worst thing is wed have lit the fuse ourselves.
If all this was true, surely it would have been utterly reckless to have called this referendum in the first place.
A little later, he had the mind-blowing gall to declare, I genuinely dont believe theres any scaremongering on my side.
Really, Mr Prime Minister? If these remarks dont amount to scaremongering, heaven help us when Project Fear really gets under way.
This country is still waiting to hear a positive and intellectually coherent case for remaining in the EU.
It is bad enough to refuse to engage in face-to-face debate with your principal Conservative opponents on TV, and instead choose to appear yesterday with a bunch of superannuated Lefties.
What makes matters worse is that day after day, the Prime Minister demeans his office by peddling hysteria, inviting the accusation that hes talking the country down.
Is there the remotest chance that in the last 16 days of the campaign, the leaders of the Remain side might stop insulting voters intelligence and simply stick to the facts?
Freedom for criminals
The real price of the free movement of people, insisted upon by the EU as one of its most sacred principles, today stands confirmed.
The Vote Leave campaign has released a dossier of 50 EU criminals, including murderers and rapists, who cannot be deported from the UK because our courts must uphold Brussels regulations which enshrine the right of these offenders to choose where to live.
Nor is it possible to stop them entering Britain in the first place. This kind of case is scandalously common, and the only way to stop it happening over and over again is to take control of our borders a point made in these columns as recently as last Friday.
Open door to greed
The revolving door which whirls ministers and officials into lucrative private sector jobs in the very areas for which they were responsible in government continues to turn at high speed.
The latest likely beneficiary of this unseemly practice is John Kingman, one of the Treasurys top civil servants, who is being lined up to become chairman of Legal & General, Britains largest savings institution a three day a week job on a salary of 340,000.
Nice work if you can get it, and as this newspaper recently reported, Acoba, the appointments watchdog which is supposed to vet applicants for such plums, has never yet been known to turn anyone down.
Since 2008, no fewer than 17 of the Treasurys most senior officials have moved to jobs in banking or big business.
Ever since heart transplant surgery was developed in South Africa by Christiaan Barnard in 1967, the difficulty has always been: how do the doctors get their hands on enough spare parts?
The spare parts surgery industry and it is quite literally an industry today has taken a great step forward. Ever since heart transplant surgery was developed in South Africa by Christiaan Barnard in 1967, the difficulty has always been: how do the doctors get their hands on enough spare parts?
In the cruel world of South Africa during the Apartheid regime, the answer was easy. Black lives were easily expendable and there were plenty of dead black people whose organs could be taken out by hospital surgeons with few questions asked.
White patients paid hefty fees to benefit from such procedures.
Today, China, which executes petty criminals in huge numbers, does a roaring trade selling their body parts to foreigners who need transplant operations.
Now, in response to what is seen as a body parts shortage, scientists in California have found a way of growing human organs inside pigs. No one can doubt their ingenuity or their technical skills. It is the morality of the exercise which we must question.
Indeed, this is surely one of the most nauseating developments of our time.
The procedure is possible thanks to the truly prodigious advance made by science in the field of genetics and in our ability to read the code of our own and the natural worlds genetic make-up.
Scientists at the University of California are making use of a gene-editing technique known as Crispr, which allows them to alter DNA with remarkable precision.
They cut out the specific section of a pigs DNA responsible for making a pancreas from a tiny porcine embryo and left a vacuum, a sort of hole, in its place.
They then injected the embryo with human stem cells special cells that can develop into any tissue type. The plan is that these human cells will fill the gap in the embryo left by the removal of the pigs pancreas gene and develop into a human pancreas, which can be harvested when the animal is fully grown.
So far, these hybrid or chimera embryos have been allowed to grow only to 28 days before being tested and destroyed, and it is too early to say whether the technique will work. But the exercise is fraught with danger.
Experts worry that human stem cells which, remember, can develop into any form of tissue could migrate to the pigs brain and start developing there, imparting the animal with human characteristics.
Indeed, so concerned is the National Institutes of Health the main agency for medical research in the U.S. that last year it imposed a moratorium on providing funds for research using chimeric embryos.
Professor Pablo Ross, the scientist leading the California research programme, has found other funding, however, and insists that the injection of the stem cells has a very low potential for a human brain to form.
But any possibility of this happening is surely too awful to contemplate.
By failing categorically to dismiss it, Professor Ross is effectively admitting that injecting the very stuff of a human being into a pig could cause not merely a human pancreas to develop inside the animal, but a human brain, and with it a consciousness as well!
In a BBC Panorama programme on the subject this week, stem cell expert Robin Lovel-Badge, of Londons Francis Crick Institute, said: What we dont know, and what they need to look at, is whether the human cells can also contribute substantially to other tissue, and particularly they are worried about the brain.
Scientists at the University of California are making use of a gene-editing technique known as Crispr, which allows them to alter DNA with remarkable precision. They cut out the specific section of a pigs DNA responsible for making a pancreas from a tiny porcine embryo and left a vacuum, a sort of hole, in its place
This is not a horror film scenario, though it is certainly horrific. This is not science fiction. It is reality. These are actual scientists having a realistic conversation about the possibility of implanting cells in a pig and producing a cognisant human brain inside that animal.
Soviet scientists attempted, in an infinitely cruder fashion, to transplant the heads of dogs in the Fifties for the purposes of medical research. Dr Vladimir Demikhov created a grotesque two-headed dog that lived for a short while an experiment which was well on the way to producing the three-headed Cerberus of Greek legend.
Our ancestors fashioned legends and stories about hybrid creatures. We have borrowed their word Chimera to describe the Californian pig-human foetuses and, indeed, genetics uses the term for any of its artificial hybrids. When the Greeks dreamed up the Chimera, it was a monster perhaps a lion, mingled with a snake and a goat.
Other hybrids of their mythology included the harpies, dreadful shrieking birds of prey with the heads and voices of women.
The centaurs were men with horses bodies, the satyrs were men with the legs of goats.
Almost all human mythologies, as far as we can tell, have invented hybrid monsters. Think of our own Cornish mermaids fish-tailed beauties who lure sailors to their deaths in the briny.
In response to what is seen as a body parts shortage, scientists in California have found a way of growing human organs inside pigs. No one can doubt their ingenuity or their technical skills. It is the morality of the exercise which we must question
Societies throughout history have fantasised about hybrids because they have regarded their creation as the ultimate horror. Our distinctness from the rest of the animal kingdom is one of the most basic of human concepts which is why Charles Darwin caused such a brouhaha in 1859 by his implication, in the theory of evolution, that we were cousins of the apes.
Whatever you make of the sacred beliefs of Victorian science, the distinctness of human beings from their animal cousins is not really in doubt. I do not advance this as some kind of esoteric religious doctrine, but as a simple matter of fact.
Animals do not laugh or blush. They have no music, no art, no uselessly decorative crafts, as all humans (and even the dear old Neanderthals) have had.
They do not possess language in all its complexity. Attempts to show that animals have very basic versions of these human characteristics only serve to show how vastly different we are, even from animals that seem to have some little bit of a human characteristic.
A dog may seem to smile, but it does not have anything like what we would call humour. The solemn elephants very movingly mourn their dead and arrange their bones in a ceremonial fashion, but this is miles away from the variety of human practices concerning the dead.
It is a terrifying prospect that by injecting human stem cells into an animal, some appalling Moreau-style hybrid could be created. A human consciousness trapped inside a pigs body
If we fail to keep a distinction between humankind and the animals, we demean ourselves and those animals.
In producing hybrids, we have entered The Island Of Dr Moreau. This was the dystopian fantasy of the young H. G. Wells in 1896 subsequently made into at least two gripping science-fiction films.
A ship-wrecked traveller, Edward Prendick, finds himself ashore on an island where a mad scientist, Dr Moreau, has created human-animal hybrids. There, among other monsters, he comes across the swine-folk people who seem human, but resemble pigs.
Wells was an anti-Christian and he wrote his novel partly in order to shock religious minds. But in so doing he could not hide his certain knowledge that creating these hybrids was a blasphemy, not so much against the God in whom he did not believe, but against humanity and against the animals.
The scientists admit they do not know where these latest experiments could lead.
It is a terrifying prospect that by injecting human stem cells into an animal, some appalling Moreau-style hybrid could be created. A human consciousness trapped inside a pigs body.
All kinds of horrible questions then arise. Cannibalism is the ultimate taboo. But just think of eating the bacon of a pig with a human brain! Of course, thousands of patients owe their lives and good health to tissue taken from pigs in the form of heart valves, for example. But these Californian experiments are of a completely different order.
We face some very stark ethical questions. Science is advancing so rapidly that we are capable of doing things which in previous generations were regarded as science fiction. The scientists and medics have, indeed, become like gods, toying with the stuff of life.
There is such a thing as decency. The creation of pig-human chimeras is a horror from which all decent people should recoil
Do we really want this? If we place a value on human life, and the precious distinctiveness of being human, do we equate this with the fundamentally base idea that we want to continue for ever at whatever cost?
Would we happily prolong our own life by buying the heart, liver or pancreas of some executed criminal in China? Most of us would say No.
Would we be prepared to enter the amoral science-fiction world of California, where pigs and humans have begun to be indistinguishable? Again, we should surely say NO!
There are activities in the laboratory from which decent people recoil. Think of the horrors perpetrated by Nazi and Soviet medics in the past.
In California, they have strayed into this kind of murky territory. We should not follow them. We should urge our legislators to make sure that such gruesome experiments are never allowed in Britain.
They might reply they are attempting to save human lives. We should reply that a life is not always saved by being preserved.
There is such a thing as decency. The creation of pig-human chimeras is a horror from which all decent people should recoil.
This weekend the largest street party EVER will be held in The Mall to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday.
But while it may be the biggest, it definitely won't be the first. Up and down the land, people across the British Isles have been getting their trestle tables out for street parties for years. In fact, the earliest available photographs date back to the 'Peace Teas' thrown in 1919 to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Versailles at the end of the First World War.
Take a look at these astonishing parties to see how we've been having right royals knees-ups over the years - you may even remember some of them!
Women and children in Liverpool dressed up in their finest frocks for a Peace Tea party on July 19, 1919
Bunting stretched across the East End street as young Londoners enjoyed a tea party to celebrate the Treaty of Versailles at the end of the First World War in 1919
Neighbours pooled food, kids ate around trestle tables in the street, everyone wore fancy dress and decorated the streets with bunting, like the Victorians had.
These peace teas set the trend for our modern-day street parties with one long table, bunting and party food.
Sixteen years later, Britain spontaneously took to the streets again, this time to celebrate King George V's Silver Jubilee in May 1935.
Smart white tablecloths and bunches of fresh flowers helped children in Orville Road, Battersea, south London celebrate the Silver Jubilee of King George V in May 1935
On a rainy day in late spring, sandwiches, cold meats and soda pop drinks adorned the tables, goody bags of sweet and fruit were given out to grateful children, and egg and spoon races run.
For the first time residents had to be careful of cars fewer than 10,000 existed in Britain in 1919 but that had leapt to 2,500,000 by 1935.
Men, women and children took to the London streets in May 1937 to celebrate the coronation of King George VI
Bunting fluttered across the street in Grays, Thurrock, Essex, at a party for George VI's coronation in 1937
Two years later, the coronation of King George VI in May 1937 was also an excuse for street parties - known as Albert until his coronation, he was the second son of George V and had not been expected to take the throne, but his older brother Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 in order to marry the divorced American socialite, Wallis Simpson.
War blighted the land until 1945, when the trestle tables came out again to celebrate VE and VJ Days in 1945.To celebrate the end of the war, they feasted on dripping sandwiches, corned beef hash and egg-less fruit cake because eggs were rationed.
The sun shone on Tilloch Street in Islington, north London, as residents held a street party to celebrate VE (Victory in Europe) Day in May 1945
In 1951 there were more street parties, this time to celebrate the Festival of Britain, held by the government to give Britain a sense of recovery and to mark the centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1951.
Street dance: Their hair done for the occasion, London ladies linked arms and danced in the street during a street party to celebrate the Festival of Britain in 1951
Rationing was still in force for the Queen's coronation in 1953, but families were given an extra pound of sugar and half a pound of margarine to help bake cakes to go with the salmon paste and cucumber sandwiches.
There was another big difference in 1953 television had arrived and whole streets crammed into the few houses of those who could afford a set to watch Her Majesty being crowned.
Coronation capers: Residents in Morpeth Street in London's East End enjoyed a street party on June 2 1953
Making merry! Londoners of all ages donned hats to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953
By her silver jubilee in 1977, convenience foods like crisps and orange squash had made it onto the tables for the first time although prepacked sandwiches weren't available.
A staggering ten million Brits joined in with parties across the land to celebrate!
Street parties, Seventies style: Britons across the land got out their trestle tables and bunting for the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977 - this was a street party in Seaham, Co Durham, on June 7 1977
Paper plates and party hats: The residents of Stowell Street in Salford, Greater Manchester, enjoyed biscuits, sandwiches and buns at their street party to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1977
Similar numbers partied for Charles and Diana's 1981 wedding but, perhaps because of the chilly April date, just 4,000 parties were held to mark his son's marriage in 2011.
More are expected this year and maybe one will finally break the Guinness World Record for the 'world's longest street party'. The honour, set during the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002, belongs to Combe Martin in Devon and stands at a staggering 1.5miles long.
From red, white and blue cocktails to pork pies with CROWNS on top (and not forgetting the Sex Pistols) - how to host your own right Royal street party!
This Sunday, 10,000 revellers will make up this country's largest ever street party in The Mall to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday.
But don't worry if you haven't managed to snaffle one of the 10,000 tickets to The Patron's Lunch on Sunday, June 12, you can still throw a fantastically fun party in your own street.
Here's how to make sure it goes with a right royal bang!
Get ready to celebrate! The Mall is soon to host the Patron's Lunch, the largest street party ever in honour of the Queen's 90th birthday - here's our guide to help your party turn it into a day you'll never forget!
1) SIGN OF THE TIMES
Ask your council if you can close off the road. If they say yes, get to work making your own street signs. Use your imagination!
2) CROWNING GLORY
What's more British than a pork pie? A pork pie with a crown on top, that's what. Get yours from M&S, 4, or choose their piccalilli-topped mini pork pies (2.40).
Who needs an invitation to The Mall? With our hints and suggestions, you can throw a fabulous party yourself!
Patriotic pork pies: These mini pork pies from Leicestershire are topped with pastry crowns and piccalilli
3) BARE-FACED BUNTING
Jazz up your bunting by printing out pictures of guests on A4 paper, cutting them into a pennant shape and stapling over a piece of string.
Union flags: We're used to lovely traditional bunting, but why not jazz it up a bit and make your own?
4) BRITAIN'S IN BLOOM
Pictures of street parties from days gone by show vases of real flowers adorning the trestle tables, so take a leaf out of our predecessors' books and use the Birthday Carnation Bouquet from M&S (15), packed with roses, carnations, freesias and eucalyptus, as a street party centrepiece.
The M&S Birthday Carnation Bouquet (15) features roses, carnations, freesias, and eucalyptus
5) PLAYLIST PERFECTION
Play anything else by Queen, Queens of the Stone Age, Prince, Kings of Leon and plenty of royal-themed numbers (not forgetting the Sex Pistols!) Adam and the Ants' Prince Charming, anyone?
6) PACK A PATRIOTIC PUNCH
Serve red, white and blue cocktails. Try rum-based strawberry daiquiris, vodka-based White Cosmopolitans and Curacao-based Blue Lagoons (recipes available online).
7) STAGE SOMETHING SPECIAL
Got mates in a band? Invite them to play! You don't need a music licence provided it's just for locals and isn't advertised or to make money.
8) FANCY THAT
Nothing breaks the ice like fancy dress so get everyone to come as a royal for a laugh. Just check they really are 'Prince Charles' before you laugh at their stick-out ears
9) HOT STUFF
If it gets chilly, try warming some Pressed British Windsor Apple Juice (1.50 for 300ml at M&S) with some cloves and a cinnamon stick. And if the sun comes out, it's just as good cold
As well as wine why not try offering a few themed cocktails like red strawberry daiquiris or Curacao Blue Lagoons?
Cheers! Why not toast the Queen with suitably patriotic cocktails at your own street party in her honour?
10) ROYAL WALKABOUT
Don't put all the food and drink together at the party space it out so guests have to walk around and chat to people.
11) SANDWICH SALUTE
Honour all the UK's food with M&S's Best of British sandwich selection (3.30). It contains Northern Irish beef, Scottish trout, Wiltshire ham and Welsh cheese.
12) GOOD CAUSES
Hold a cake sale to raise money for charity or to pay for the party. You don't need a licence to sell food at a street party until 11pm.
If you're not one of the lucky ones going to the Patron's Lunch, why not buy a smart wicker hamper from M&S?
13) PATRON'S PICNIC
Still peeved you're not meeting Her Maj in the Mall? Buy a wicker hamper from M&S (20), pack it with hamper inspired treats, and tell everyone you went.
14) SALAD DAYS
Make chocolate lovers feel guilty by chowing down on M&S's Egg and Herby New Potato Salad (3.50). Saintlyyet scrumptious.
Don't put all the food and drink together at the party space it out so guests have to walk around and chat to people
15) SHARE YOUR SNAPS
Set up a social media page to upload photos to and keep a laptop logged on or set up a screen so everyone can see the fun.
16) IT'S A STICK UP
Proper British cupcakes are the order of the day
Invest in loads of cheap photo-booth props such as moustaches, glasses, lips and tiaras on sticks for fabulous photos.
17) MINI MARVELS
Forget American-style cupcakes, butterfly cakes are truly British! Try M&S's nine minis (right) for 4 with chocolate, lemon and strawberry frosting.
18) KARAOKE QUEEN
Nothing warms up a party like a sing-a-long so get someone to bring a karaoke machine or use the videos available on YouTube.
19) HAPPY BIRTHDAY MA'AM!
Ok, so you've never seen Buckingham Palace, let alone the Queen. But you can get closer to royalty with M&S's Sandringham Oak Smoked Salmon Slices (5.50), smoked with wood from Her Maj's own Norfolk home.
20) MAPPED OUT
Celebrate your street's diversity by pinning up a large map-of-the-world and getting people to pin a picture of themselves where they were born.
Cuppy, 23, wants to be a DJ while Temi is an
They're heiresses to a billion dollar fortune and currently lead a jet-set lifestyle enjoying all the trappings of wealth.
But the daughters of one of Africa's richest men say they are not content being rich and famous in his shadow, and instead want to work hard to make names for themselves in their own right.
Cuppy Otedola, 23, and her sister Temi, 19, are well-known in their home country of Nigeria because their father is energy tycoon Femi Otedola, worth an estimated 650million.
Cuppy Otedola, 23, right, and her sister Temi, 19, will one day inherit their father's fortune but first Cuppy wants to be a successful DJ while Temi is a fashion blogger
Cuppy, pictured on her graduation day with her energy tycoon Femi Otedola said she is scared of spending her whole life in his shadow
He was listed as the 16th richest man in Africa by Forbes in 2015 and has million pound properties in New York, Dubai, London, Abuja and Lagos.
His wealth has enabled his daughters to attend expensive private schools in England, have designer wardrobes and be waited on by ten members of staff.
As well as jet-setting between the opulent family properties around the world, they also enjoy spending time on their father's 7million yacht, have designer wardrobes and throw birthday parties that cost more than a fleet of supercars.
But the sisters say their privileged upbringing does not make their lives easy and they feel under pressure to match up to their father's success.
'I am scared of always been his daughter and not getting past that, for me that means not being successful enough,' Cuppy reveals on Channel 4 documentary Lagos To London, Britain's New Super-Rich.
'I am still masked by my dad's success. If I didn't try and make it outside Nigeria I would be unhappy.'
Nigerian sisters Temi, left, and Cuppy love London because they are shop at Harrods and spend time in private members clubs
Cuppy is trying to establish a career as a DJ and she takes to the decks wearing 1,000 headphones covered in Swarovski crystals (of which she owns 15 pairs)
Cuppy pictured in New York. Her parents have a property there worth millions as well as lavish homes in London, Lagos, Dubai and Abuja
Cuppy is keen to be famous in her own right as a DJ and has been securing gigs around the world at venues including Prive, Jalouse, District and Funky Buddha.
While Cuppy admits her father's fortune has opened doors and helped her network, she then has to prove her talent behind the decks to secure more work.
She said: 'I think I am a great DJ. Network comes into it but if I don't do well I won't get asked back no matter whose daughter I am.'
Cuppy, who recently graduated from Kings College, University of London, with a degree in business and French, said she wants to become renowned around the world as a DJ and make it into Forbes 30 under 30 Rich List.
She said she does have to deal with criticism from those who think she has only had the opportunities in her career she has had so far due to her father's connections and purse strings, but she said this doesn't concern her anymore.
'People saying "this DJ is his so and so's daughter" it doesn't bother me anymore as I love what I do.
'I only worry I am not going to make the impact I want to make,'' she said as her gigs have included DJing at the inauguration of Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari.
Cuppy wants to become renowned around the world as a DJ and make it into Forbes 30 under 30 Rich List
Cuppy takes to the deck as a charity fundraiser at the Gladstone Gallery in New York. She said she doesn't always want to be known as her father's daughter but famous in her own right
Her younger sister feels the same and she is busy trying to establish a name for herself in the fashion world.
Temi has set up her own style blog JTO Fashion and has 22,000 followers on Instagram.
She shares news on the latest style must-haves with her fans - many of whom are Nigerian - as she travels between the fashion capitals of Europe and shops in Dubai and London.
She said she feels her blog is 'acting as the medium between Nigeria and the rest of the world'.
Temi has been running her blog for the last year and said it has helped her establish a number of contacts with key fashion houses including Valentino.
Temi wants to have success on her terms and has started a fashion blog. She has 22k followers on Instagram
Temi has hired professional photographers to help her with her blog but said any money her father has given to help her is a loan she will repay
She said she works hard on her blog because 'my sisters and I were taught from a young age you can't live your life in someone else's shadow. Anything your family has done for you, you have to go and do for yourself as well.
'I think that is why my sisters and I go out and try to do our own thing because we want to be respected in our own rights.'
Temi admits she wouldn't have been able to establish her blog without her father's financial support - but she sees the help he has given her so far as a loan she intends to repay.
She has a team of professionals to help her on her photoshoots taking pictures and filming her vlogs and has even hired top fashion photographer Kate Davis MaCleod to take some of her pictures.
Kate admitted Temi's wealthy family has given her a leg up in the world of high-end fashion blogging but she said the teenager is so tenacious she is sure she would have succeeded regardless.
She said: 'Temi saw one of my fashion stories in Tatler and got in touch with me and asked if I could shoot some content for her website.
'She has the facilities to do what she wants. If she wasn't from this background I still think she would be successful in whatever she does.'
Cuppy, who DJs wearing 1,000 headphones covered in Swarovski crystals (of which she owns 15 pairs), adds that being the daughter of a billionaire also brings with it additional problems.
When she is working in Nigeria she needs to travel with a security team in a bullet proof car due to the risk of robbery and kidnapping.
Cuppy celebrated her recent graduation with a lavish Marie Antionette themed bash. She loves the French queen as they have both had 'responsibilities at a young age'
Cuppy dressed as Marie Antoinette (left) for the lavish bash in the ballroom of the five star Mandarin Oriental. Guests were served food on gold plates and enjoyed a Champagne fountain
Cuppy said her party would have cost the same price as more than one Lamborghini
She said for this reason she feels much happier in London, where she has recently moved into her own apartment.
She said: 'London is bliss as I can walk down Brompton Road without a worry in the world. In Lagos I can't say "I am going out for two hours", I have to go with people, take security, my dad needs to know where I am.
'None of my other DJ friends need security, it is kind of his fault so he has to pay for it.'
Both of the sisters love staying in London which is why they were filmed for the Channel 4 documentary airing Tuesday evening which lifts the lid on the spending habits of Nigerian billionaires.
They have become the third largest foreign consumers in Britain behind the wealthy from the Middle East and China.
Speaking of why they love London so much, Cuppy said: 'We go to Harrods a lot because it is convenient, they sell cars in there it is crazy.
'We love The Arts Club, a super, amazing private members club, good food, good atmosphere.'
Temi, who is studying for a degree in art history at University College London, added: 'We have done Dubai and Paris but always come back to London. You have the luxury shops, luxury cars, luxury houses, you can spend the money you have worked hard making.'
The girls certainly know how to spend money on throwing a good party.
On a trip to Rome for the Valentino Haute Couture show Temi was treated to a private tour of the Vatican and met Valentino himself. She describes him as being 'extremely elegant' in his manner
Temi, who attended the 26,800 a year American School in St John's Wood London, has also managed to hone her fashion credentials with an internship at Oscar de la Renta on Mount Street in London
Cuppy recently had Marie Antoinette graduation bash at the lavish Mandarin Oriental hotel in London where her guests were served Michelin starred food on gold plates and enjoyed Champagne fountains and indoor fireworks.
Cuppy said she chose the theme because: 'I feel like I am this young woman with just so much responsibility and Marie Antoinette was Queen Of France at a young age, plus we both love dogs.'
She said the party would have costs around the same amount as 'a few Lamborghinis' but she will have to top it on her wedding day.
Meanwhile, Temi had a similarly extravagant 18th party which was Moulin Rouge themed and attended by 200 guests.
The sister say they don't play hard in this way too often, preferring to be role models to young women in their home country and inspire them to work hard to achieve their goals.
Cuppy said: 'We are setting the pace for young women who are trying to get out of a generational trend of just going to school, be good, get a job, get married and sit there looking pretty.'
As previously reported in FEMAIL, Temi insists that despite her family's wealth, her father and mother Nana have never spoiled her or Cuppy or their other siblings.
Style blogger Temi says that her biggest indulgence is shoes and beauty products and counts her mother Nana as one of her biggest style inspirations
'We were brought up knowing all the success and money my father has made is his and we have to work for ourselves,' Temi told FEMAIL. 'We've definitely had that instilled in us.
'He might be bluffing but we certainly take him at face value. Anyway, we would not feel very good about ourselves just living off him.'
She said she is currently enjoying trying to establish herself as a fashion blogger.
'My favourite fashion moment was probably last summer when I attended the Valentino Haute Couture show in Rome for three days,' she recalled. 'My sister Florence and I were invited.
'It was an unforgettable trip including a private tour of the Vatican and meeting Mr Valentino himself at dinner the night before the Haute Couture show.
'It was a completely surreal moment because I've absolutely adored his line even before the creative directors Maria Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli were at the helm.
'We were just talking about the whole experience and the upcoming show and he struck me as being extremely elegant and kind in his manner. He was really, really lovely.'
Temi with her mother Nana Otdeola (right) said her parents have taught her not to live in anyone's shadow
Femi lives in Lagos but comes to London regularly to see his family. The self-made business man is Africa's 16th richest according to Forbes
Another social highlight of recent months was attending the opening night of the opera in Milan as a guest of Bottega Veneta.
'It was the first time I'd been to the opera and it was incredible, really impressive,' Temi said.
The teenager was invited with her mother Nana, who cuts an equally stylish figure.
'I would almost say she's the reason I got into fashion,' Temi said. 'She's so eccentric and eclectic in her dress sense and she's even more daring than me.'
Temi's greatest extravagance is shoes, although not the Louboutins her sister Florence adores. She's a fan of boots, with one recent indulgence being a pair of 998 Chloe Susanna ankle boots.
Temi was born in London, but her family moved back to Nigeria shortly afterwards. Then, when she was seven, her mother sent Temi and her sister Florence to the King's School Canterbury where fees are 11,480 for boarders.
She went on to attended the 26,800 a year American School in St John's Wood London as she wanted to have an American college experience.
Temi is studying art history at University College London and hopes to progress her career in fashion. She says that the family name has helped, but is determined to make it on her own merits
Temi is focused on her studies and style blog and prefers to go to Paris for fashion shows than to party in London, although her favourite bars when she does go out are Cirque and Libertine
Nana now lives full time in Knightsbridge and while Temi has moved to private halls in Bloomsbury to be closer to campus, she returns to her mother's home every weekend. Their father Femi divides his time between Lagos and London, coming to the UK about once a month.
'He's very modest,' Temi explained. 'He's self made and he's always been very careful with money.
'He loves his yachts but that's his only indulgence. He still uses an old pay-as-you-go Nokia phone and he only recently learned how to use an iPad.'
She's had to face something of a backlash from commentators in the Nigerian media who've said she's managed to get where she is because of her father's name.
'There has been negativity,' Temi admitted. 'There always will be. My sister was DJing before I got started with my blog so I was prepared for it.
'But it just gives me the passion that I have lots more to prove. People will say my blog is only a success because of who my father is, but there is weight behind it. If there's no substance the name would only get you so far.'
Balenciaga, Marni and Valentino are Temi's favourite runway shows at Milan and Paris fashion weeks
Temi has launched a new initiative called Afternoon Tea in Ankara to encourage emerging ethnic talent to get ahead in the fashion industry
Temi and her mother Nana recently attended the opening night of the opera in Milan as guests of the design house Bottega Veneta
Meanwhile, Temi said that nowadays she's so focused on her fashion blog and her studies that she doesn't have much time for partying.
'From a very young age I knew I wanted to work in the fashion or art industry,' she explained.
'I grew up reading personal style blogs but could never fully relate to any of the bloggers, and thought there would be other Nigerians, and even Africans in general who felt the same.
'So I decided to start my own blog to bridge the gap between Western and Nigerian fashion and hopefully become a worldwide voice for Nigeria.'
Temi blogs about her favourite beauty products and outfits, with clothes from her favourite brands including Emilia Wickstead, a favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge, Rag & Bone and All Saints.
She also likes to shop at boutiques such as One Vintage and Feathers near her family home in Knightsbridge where she returns every weekend, as well as Browns Focus, and Alara Lagos, which stocks brands such as Valentino, Dries Van Noten, Marni.
Temi has also managed to hone her fashion credentials with an internship at Oscar de la Renta on Mount Street two summers ago.
'It was an amazing experience being able to be so hands-on,' she said. 'I dealt with private shopping and bridal appointments, organised the boutique floor, and helped styling incoming collections.
'It was fascinating to see the ins and outs of their Mount Street flagship. I definitely plan to start doing more brand collaborations that could lead to capsule collections and ambassadorships.'
For now, however she's working on an new initiative called Afternoon Tea in Ankara to encourage emerging ethnic talent to get ahead in the fashion industry.
Lagos to London: Britain's New Super Rich is on Channel 4 Tuesday at 10pm
They have only just returned from their honeymoon but already one of the young couples in new reality show Teenage Newlyweds are starting to encounter problems.
In the latest episode, to be aired tonight on FYI, Emma and Joey, from Dallas, Oregon, are already demonstrating their differences in ambition and work ethic -fresh from their honeymoon in Canada.
In tonight's show, in which they discuss home ownership, Emma, 19, who works and studies, suggests she and Joey, 21, who works full-time at a store, both put in more hours so they can afford to buy a house instead of renting.
Scroll down for video
Lovers: Emma and Joey, 19 and 21, pictured on their wedding day, are one of three young married couples featured on FYI reality show Teenage Newlyweds, to be aired tonight
Bumpy road: But the couple, from Dallas, Oregon, show early signs of friction in the latest episode of Teenage Newlyweds, to be aired tonight, soon after returning from honeymoon in Canada
While Emma is happy to drop credits to work more, Joey seems reluctant to change anything or take up any of his new wife's suggestions.
In episode two, the couple is seen lying in bed talking about their plans for the future. When Emma asks Joey 'so now what?' he thinks she is referring to cleaning the fan.
She finally suggests: 'What do you think about like a house? I mean we are kind of just throwing our money into this rental. At least if we have a house, it will be, that money's going somewhere.'
But Joey does not sound keen, saying: 'But we're comfortable here. If that's going to put us in a rough position then I wouldn't want to do it.'
When she suggests taking on a second job, Joey says he does not want to work longer than the 40-45 hours a week he currently works at a food store.
Contrasts: The couple, pictured on their wedding day, demonstrate different ambitions and work ethic
Warning: When Emma suggests buying a house and working more hours to pay for it, Joey tells her, 'I enjoy where I'm at,' but she says that is not good enough
Joey tells her, 'I enjoy where I'm at,' but she says that is not good enough.
'If you're serious about having kids or having a house you should apply yourself. It's part of being an adult,' she tells him. He replies: 'I don't know what to tell you hun, honestly. [sic]'
Later in a piece to camera, Emma says: 'It's stressful, coming back from the honeymoon and then like 'boom' here's life again, thrown back at you.'
Joey adds: 'I would say I'm more indifferent on buying a house. I really don't like moving...It's a lot of responsibility, I don't know if I'm ready to own my own house yet...
'Emma wants to go to school, she can do that. That's not what I want to do in life.'
The couple, who met in high school, got engaged after Joey proposed to Emma on her 18th birthday.
Smile! University of California students Brenda, 19, and Travis, 20, pictured on their wedding day, also featured on the show, also showed early signs of friction in terms of their politics and religious views
Serene: Mormon couple Halie, 18, from Mesa, Arizona, and George, 21, from Riverton, Utah, pictured on their wedding day, decided to get married after knowing each other for only two days
In the first episode, Emma said she wanted to marry him because 'he always makes me laugh' and she has 'always wanted to have a husband'. She added: 'I'm an only child and not a person that likes to be alone.'
Joey, who said they were both virgins when they met, said: 'I want to marry Emma because I don't really like anybody else.'
They come close to not being able to get legally married after they forgot their marriage license, but the drama was resolved when it was finally found in Joey's car just before the ceremony was due to take place.
Episode two also follows the other two couples, George and Halie and Brenda and Travis through their honeymoons and the first few weeks of their marriages.
Mormon couple Halie, 18, from Mesa, Arizona, and George, 21, from Riverton, Utah, decided to marry after just two weeks together.
While many newly weds are told their relationships will change significantly over time, few think it will truly happen.
Sydney-based blogger, Mel Watts, laughed when she was told this years ago, but on Monday, the mother-of-three admitted she was wrong.
'Husband. Wife. Roommates ? If someone told me years ago that my relationship would one day change, I would have laughed and said no way,' Ms Watts wrote on her Facebook page, The Modern Mumma.
Times have changed: Sydney-based blogger, Mel Watts, laughed when she was told her relationship would change over time, but on Monday, the mother-of-three admitted she was wrong
Early days: 'Husband. Wife. Roommates ? If someone told me years ago that my relationship would one day change, I would have laughed and said no way,' Ms Watts wrote on her Facebook page
'The sleep-ins are non existent': The rest of Ms Watt's post can be read here
Ms Watts said she was lying in bed and crying, thinking about the way her relationship with her husband used to be as he snored next to her.
'How different we use to be. I was mad at him for changing. I was mad at myself for changing. It is no ones fault. Its just a moment in our life where I can say - it's not all roses and handcuffs [sic],' she wrote.
'The long date nights have gone. The sleep-ins are non existent. The surprise weekends away, we can no longer afford them. The long hot showers, are now luke warm and were tag teaming kids in between [sic].
All about the kids: 'The surprise weekends away, we can no longer afford them. The long hot showers, are now luke warm and were tag teaming kids in between [sic],' she wrote
Different priorities: 'The late nights are now laying there silently with our backs to each other hoping the other one will get up for the crying baby [sic],' Ms Watts wrote
'The late nights are now laying there silently with our backs to each other hoping the other one will get up for the crying baby [sic].'
Ms Watts said text messages changed from 'how much they love you' to 'Babes got my period'.
'The spray tans and shaved beaver are now for birthdays, nights out and possibly [I mean possibly] because I just simply feel bad for him,' she wrote.
Kids first: 'The spray tans and shaved beaver are now for birthdays, nights out and possibly [I mean possibly] because I just simply feel bad for him,' she wrote
Not all bad: But despite the nature of their relationship changing, Ms Watts said things haven't changed for the worse, children have simply become a the 'number one priority'
But despite the nature of their relationship changing, Ms Watts said things haven't changed for the worse, children have simply become the 'number one priority.'
'I think in time it will become that way again. You have to make it past these difficult times to get there. It's not that its even difficult, its just different. And sometimes different is really hard,' she wrote.
'I am still very very much in love with my husband. Its just a different kind of relationship now.'
Brief moment: Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Ms Watts said she wrote the post because, at that moment, she felt as though she was 'failing her husband'
Honest: 'The last thing anyone wants to feel is they are failing at something they cherish so much. Then I learnt that I'm not failing anything and what I'm going through is normal stages of relationships,' she said
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Ms Watts said she wrote the post because, at that moment, she felt as though she was 'failing her husband.'
'I felt like my relationship was not as good as it once was,' she said.
'The last thing anyone wants to feel is they are failing at something they cherish so much. Then I learnt that I'm not failing anything and what I'm going through is normal stages of relationships.
'The "honeymoon" period doesn't last forever.'
'Relationships change': Ms Watts concluded her post by explaining that while her relationship had changed over time, it is important to stop comparing the current relationship to how it used to be
Ms Watts concluded her post by explaining that while her relationship had changed over time, it is important to stop comparing the current relationship to how it used to be.
'No one likes change, and no one expects change. But just like everything else in life - relationships change,' she wrote.
The 44-year-old Royal donned head-to-toe camouflage, a beret and five commemorative medals for the occasion
Princess Mary took part in a Danish Home Guard Parade, alongside more than 4,600 other volunteers
Advertisement
Is there anything Princess Mary can't do?
After showing off her impeccable gun shot during a Land Exercise with more than 5,000 members of the Danish Home Guard in Denmark, Crown Princess Mary showed that she wasn't done in khaki just yet.
Instead, the stylish 44-year-old pinned an impressive array of five medals on to her camouflage military gear, even adding a sword tucked under her belt, before she took part in a Danish Home Guard Parade, alongside more than 4,600 volunteers.
Despite high heat and blazing sun, the stylish Royal seemingly couldn't get enough of her experience on the front line.
Scroll down for video
Military pride: Mary wore her country's full camaflague army uniform, complete with five gleaming medals pinned over her left pocket and even a sword tucked under her belt
Regular occurrence: As the Princess's finery shows, she is well versed in military procedure
But what did all of Mary's many medals mean?
First up, as the Princess's gold and finery shows, she is celebrated, decorated and well versed in military procedure.
After joining the Home Guard in 2008, the Australian-born Royal was promoted to First Lieutenant last September.
For her services to the Home Guard, she has received the Home Guard Medal of Merit, which she wore on the far right during the recent Parade - it was awarded to Mary and other personnel who have made a special contribution to the organisation.
Celebrated and decorated: After joining the Home Guard in 2008, the Australian-born Royal was promoted to First Lieutenant last September; her medal on the far right is for her services to the Home Guard
MARY'S MEDALS * Order of the Elephant * Dame of the Royal Family Order of Queen Margrethe II * Homeguard Medal of Merit * 70th Birthday Medal of Prince Henrik * 350th Anniversary Medal of Royal Danish Life Guards * 70th Birthday Medal of Queen Margrethe II * Ruby Jubilee Medal of Queen Margrethe II * 75th Birthday Medal of Queen Margrethe II Advertisement
And while we might be more used to seeing Mary bedecked in gold, diamonds and glamorous dresses, she has been the recipient of a total of eight commemorative and birthday medals in her time.
She wears them to various events.
During the parade, which was the largest in the Home Guard, the mother of four chose to wear her Home Guard decoration (on the far right), as well as four other medals.
These were the Commemorative Medal on the Occasion of the 75th birthday of Queen Margrethe, the Commemorative Medal for the Ruby Jubilee of Queen Margrethe, the Order of the Elephant (also represented by the star-shaped medal worn underneath the other medals) and the 70th birthday medal of Prince Henrik (left to right accordingly).
The Princess strode through the streets, meeting and greeting the well-wishers gathered in the Danish torn of Fredericia.
She later allowed herself a quick time out, where she drunk from the water box like the other troops.
Of course, this isn't the first time Mary has been on parade.
Military regalia: Mary took time to meet well-wishers gathered in the Danish town of Fredericia, wearing five of the eight commemorative medals that have been awarded to her since she married Prince Frederik
A common approach: Just like the other troops, the princess sipped from an issue water box - wearing a green beret as she did so
She has been made a sergeant and then lieutenant for her endless dedication to the military.
The Princess is also following in the footsteps of other Royal military aficionados.
Queen Margrethe trained with the equivalent of the Home Guard in her time, as did her sister, Princess Benedikte.
Quite a spectacle: Mary's arrival at the parade drew crowds of Danish royalty fans - who Mary was more than pleased to meet and greet despite the heat and blazing sun
Dressing up day: Mary adjusted her beret as she listened attentively to the drill (left) - she then pulled on a black army issue glove as she prepared to partake in army duties (right)
that people try to use lasers on their hair themselves
Forget your GHDs and hair dryers, the newest way to straighten your hair is using lasers.
It sounds like something from a sci-fi film, but it's real, and more and more hairdressers are using laser products to semi-permanently straighten hair.
According to one product, the space-age gadgets use 'Photonic Ray Emission' technology and are used in conjunction with Keratin hair straightening treatments.
Sci-fi technology: Hairdressers are now using new gadgets that straighten hair using lasers
Before: The device can turn frizzy, wavy hair (above) into sleek, straight, manageable locks
The device in question is small and handheld, with a blue light that emits from the end when on. After a product is applied to the hair, the laser is run over the hair piece by piece to make it work.
The manufacturer of the 'Photon Lizzie' brand of laser straighteners also claims the device strengthens hair, as well as enhancing the effects of the Keratin treatment.
Photon Lizzie refers to the product as a 'miracle technology' and says that it makes a Keratin straightening treatment last longer.
Feeling blue: The device uses 'Photonic Ray Emission' technology and LED to make prolong Keratin hair straightening
Magic: Brazilian hairdressers Douglas Lasmar has posted videos to his Instagram account (above) demonstrating the laser hair straightening
In videos posted to his Instagram account, Brazilian hairdresser Douglas Lasmar demonstrates the laser hair straightening on two different clients.
In the first video, a woman with long wavy and frizzy hair is shown. Mr Lasmar then uses the laser on her, the blue light being shone up and down over the hair as it is combed through.
Afterwards, the woman's hair is straight and sleek, looking much healthier and nourished than previously.
Before and after: In the video, Mr Lasmar shows the incredible results that can be achieved with lasers
Space age: Although the product 'will never damage hair or skin' it's recommended you don't try it at home
In another video, Mr Lasmar demonstrates the product on another client - this time one with a shorter, asymmetric bob.
The woman, once again, has messy and frizzy hair. Mr Lasmar used the product on her, and afterwards her hair becomes straight and sleek with plenty of movement.
But maintains the couple are not keen on public displays of affection
As his 95th birthday approaches, a royal biographer has given a unique glimpse into what the Duke of Edinburgh is really like, and his relationships with his family.
Speaking to the Radio Times, Gyles Brandreth revealed comments the Duke made to him about reported differences with his eldest son Prince Charles.
Recalling the conversation, which took place some years ago before Charles married Camilla, he revealed: '"He's a romantic," he said, "and I'm a pragmatist. That means we do see things differently".
Scroll down for video
Royal biographer Gyles Brandreth has revealed how the Duke of Edinburgh admitted the differences between himself and his eldest son Prince Charles, saying that he's 'unfeeling' while Charles is a 'romantic'
'He paused before adding, with a shrug, "And because I don't see things as a romantic would, I'm unfeeling".'
However, Mr Brandreth noted that the relationship between father and son appears to have grown closer in recent years.
He noted that the Duke seemed particularly grateful to Charles for arranging a family party at Windsor Castle to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday and made a point of congratulating him for how successfully it went.
Mr Brandreth also opened up about the secrets of the Queen's enduring partnership with the Duke of Edinburgh, saying that the key to their lasting union is the fact he makes her laugh.
The Queen and Prince Philip have been married since 1947, but they aren't known for their public displays of affection due to the 'stoic values' of their generation
However, the writer who has been following the couple for more than 40 years revealed that their personalities are very different.
The Duke is more outgoing than his wife, while she is the more patient one in the partnership.
Their marriage has certainly stood the test of time, since their wedding day in 1947, considering the family track record.
Only one of the Queen's children, Prince Edward, has managed to maintain a successful marriage that hasn't ended in divorce.
Last year the Duke gave the Queen his arm as she navigated the steep steps at St Paul's Cathedral, after attending a service to mark 13 years of UK military operations in Afghanistan
The Duke is said to be more outgoing than his wife, while she is the more patient one in the partnership
The Queen and Prince Philip during their honeymoon in Malta in 1947
Prince Charles divorced his wife Lady Diana in 1996, four years after they separated.
Prince Andrew's union with Sarah Ferguson ended in 1996 after a decade of marriage and Princess Anne split from her first husband Captain Mark Phillips when their daughter Zara was 11-years-old.
Despite this, Mr Brandreth said the couple are not noted for displays of affection and will never be seen holding hands in public.
He puts it down to the 'stoic values' of their generation.
However, in recent years the Duke has been spotted giving a helping hand to his wife on public occasions.
Royal biographer Gyles Brandreth spoke to the Radio Times ahead of the Duke of Edinburgh's 95th birthday
Last year he gave the Queen his arm as she navigated the steep steps at St Paul's Cathedral, after attending a service to mark 13 years of UK military operations in Afghanistan.
Further insights into the Duke's personality have been revealed by his grandson Peter Phillips, son of Princess Anne, who has opened up about the Prince's youthful mindset.
Speaking about Prince Philip's recent health scare Peter, 38, said: 'He's nearly 95 years old but his head thinks he's 55 years old, he's as determined as ever to plough on and to keep things as normal as possible.'
And he admitted that concern for his ageing grandparents is often at the forefront of his mind.
'They're your grandparents, you worry.You worry about your grandparents every day,' he revealed. 'Just the same as everyone else does.'
The business man admitted that the Queen and Prince Philip are scaling back somewhat on their royal duties, but said he wouldn't describe it as 'slowing down'.
'I don't think it's a secret that they are both looking to reduce their workload rather than increase it and, you know, the younger members of the family are definitely taking on a lot more of the workload,' he said.
A bride-to-be has hit back at body shamers who made cruel remarks about a photo of her fiance lifting her in his arms as they celebrated their engagement.
Mzznaki Tetteh, a nurse from Ghana, celebrated her engagement to construction worker Kojo Amoah by sharing a series of photos on Instagram.
But alongside messages of congratulations, trolls left comments making cruel jabs about Mzznaki's size.
Scroll down for video
Mzznaki Tetteh, a nurse from Ghana, was body shamed after she shared photos celebrating her engagement to construction worker Kojo Amoah on Instagram
The defiant bride-to-be responded by sharing a photo of herself, striking a self-assured hands-on-hips pose saying that 'rubbish comments' wouldn't drag her down
But the defiant bride-to-be responded by sharing a photo of herself, striking a self-assured hands-on-hips pose, saying: 'Still confident...your rubbish comments ain't ruining my happiness...thanks to all for the compliments and best wishes...am honoured.'
One cruel troll commented on Mzznaki's photo, saying: 'How is that beautiful?'
Another added: 'He just caught himself a 400 pounder right there.'
Sarkodie_1738 added the jibe: 'You fat'.
Body shamers left cruel remarks about Mzznaki's weight on her engagement photos
Laedyjess commented, claiming her remarks were out of concern for Mzznaki's health.
'You beautiful hun, but a lil weight loss will help. #healthiswealth. Congrats and God bless.'
Others said they had hope after seeing the photos, but received a backlash from Mzznaki's supporters.
Pink.melathe explainaed: 'Attention for this picture bothers me so much, why are you so impressed?
Supporters hit back at comments that seemed to be suggesting that the nurse from Ghana doesn't deserve love because she is plus size
'This is normal, they are in love like a lot of others couples.
'She posted a serie of beautiful pictures with her man (especially one where they get a hug) on the page, but when you see this one, you need to comment something "cute" or "this is true love"?
'Why? 'Cause she's curvy and he can lift her?'
The happy couple took to Instagram to share their happiness at getting engaged
Kojo Amoah says he's always been proud of his fiance and doesn't care what the trolls say
Jumping for joy: As well as negative remarks, the couple were flooded with messages of congratulations
Mzznaki has won more than 10,000 new followers on Instagram since the furore
The happy couple are now finalising plans for their big day, which will take place on 25 June
Justpeprah agreed, saying: 'My sentiments exactly. Comments like "I have hope now" and "this is real love" - seriously? Come on. So because she's plus size she can't be in love or be loved..or marry for that matter. It's just outrageous.'
Shopvarsboutique added: 'Big girls DESERVE to be loved too and be shown such intimacy. You go girl. I pray your fiance will continue to do such things!'
Her loyal fiance also stood up for his partner, telling Ghana Today: 'I normally post pictures of me and my girlfriend all the time and I wasnt expecting this at all. I just posted it, we did a photo shoot and I thought it was nice so I posted it.
To me, I have always been a fan of plus-size women, and I am so proud of my woman and I dont care about what anybody says out there.
The furore has won body confident Mzznaki a legion of new fans on Instagram where she now has more than 26,000 followers, an increase of more than 10,000.
When one woman set up her own foodie Instagram account it was simply a way of showing off her cooking skills.
However Heather Adamson, 23, from West Kilbride, North Ayrshire, has turned her hobby into a flourishing business after amassing more than 126,000 followers.
The Fresh Heather account has seen her work with companies including Graze and Nutella, and she even boast a few celebrity fans - including Made in Chelsea's Caggie Dunlop.
Scroll down for video
Heather Adamson, left, 23, from West Kilbride, North Ayrshire, with her business partner Hannah Darvas, 21, from Bicester, Oxfordshire. The pair started the Instagram account to document their love of cooking but it soon took off
Heather has built up a profit-making business that is followed by more than 126,000 people online and is the most followed Instagram account in Scotland
The pair have tapped into the so-called food porn culture and have been busy creating food tutorials, images and videos for businesses around the world
Hannah first got started four years ago as a way to share videos and photographs of her recipes.
As the amount of followers increased, Heather teamed up with her friend Hannah Darvas, 21, from Bicester, Oxfordshire, to form their business.
They have tapped into the so-called food porn culture and have been busy creating cooking tutorials, images and videos for businesses around the world.
Heather and Hannah now use the account for social media content creation, working with companies such as Graze and Nutella to show how their food can be used
Nutella on toast is turned into a work of art: Heather started the account four years ago when she started university and began posting recipes of tasty-looking food
The food their make is incredibly intricate and detailed, and based around themes such as cartoon or animals, such as this robot, pictured
Heather, whose account is now one of the most followed in Scotland, said: 'We use our account now for social media content creation.
'We work with different companies and post the content we create on their accounts and on ours.
'I started my account four years ago when I first started university and started posting recipe videos.
'Over the last few years my following has really built up. The account has been featured by different news websites and Instagram itself.
'I also started asking people what their favourite internet emoji was and then tried to make the most popular ones out of food.
Heather, right, and Hannah, left, teamed up when the account started amassing followers and now earn more than they would in a graduate job
Heather can even turn breakfast into a masterpiece like this colourful porridge with museli and sliced nectarine
Yummy yoghurt pots and indulgent desserts: The pair say they are earning a good wage from the blog
'It was then that I started noticing the amount of followers of the account increasing.
'There have even been a couple of celebrities who have used our recipes in their own cooking and that's really cool for us.'
As well as Made In Chelsea stars, Neighbours actress Ariel Kaplan is also a fan.
Heather said: 'It feels really weird that the videos have become this popular. When I finished studying graphic design at uni, I thought I'd take a year off to see how this would go.
Ariel Kaplan, one of the actresses in Neighbours, has used their recipes before and the account is followed by people from Made in Chelsea such as Caggie Dunlop
Heather's videos are now used by companies to show how their products can be used in recipes
'My friend Hannah had been working as a graphic designer for a year but she quit her job to do this with me and we've been doing it full time ever since.'
Heather's videos are now used by companies to show how their products can be used in recipes.
She created images for Graze as part of their Good to Go range to show how they could be used in travel situations.
She was also approached by Nutella last December to make three recipe videos as part of their '12 Days of Christmas' campaign.
A fresh halloumi salad: The pair say that it feels that that their recipes have become so popular and is surprised by their success
And in August Heather will be travelling to Thailand to work with different hotels in promoting their food online.
HEATHER'S TOP FIVE RECIPES Vegan chocolate chip cookies Almond milk and chocolate almond meal brownies Collard wraps Avocado kale pesto Nutty millionaire's shortbread Advertisement
She added: 'This job is really amazing. It's a dream come true and it's the best thing I could do.
'We are going to Thailand in August to work with different hotels. We will be taking pictures of their food and promoting it online.
'We both make enough for a comfortable living, certainly more than we would be earning in a graduate job.'
Heather had a summer job working in the kitchen at the RAF base in Cyprus while she was still at university and is now earning four times as much doing what she loves.
Heather recreated followers favourite emojis with food, above. She will be travelling to Thailand in August to work with different hotels in promoting their food online and thinks that her job is a dream come true
All of the pair's food is healthy, even their indulgent looking desserts and treats
Heather thinks the increasing popularity of the food porn culture on Instagram is just the start of cookery's impact on social media
She said: 'We absolutely love travelling and this job allows us to do that. We wouldn't have got to do that without our Instagram account.'
Heather thinks the increasing popularity of the food porn culture on Instagram is just the start of cookery's impact on social media.
She added: 'Cookery is already a big thing on Instagram but I definitely think it will have an even bigger impact on social media in the future.
Ivanka published her first book, The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life, in 2009
Women Who Work: Rewriting the Rules of Success, which will be published next spring
Ivanka enjoyed a coffee while she gave Theodore his bottle, but the image shows the little boy fast asleep
The 34-year-old took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a picture of herself holding the two-month-old in his nursery
With the announcement of her second book on the way, Ivanka Trump is busier than ever, but that didn't stop the mother-of-three from enjoying some precious moments with her two-month-old son Theodore.
The 34-year-old took to Instagram on Tuesday to share an adorable photo of baby Theo asleep in her arms as she relaxed on a gray chair in his nursery.
'[Bottle] for Theodore and [coffee] for me... Starting the day off right,' she captioned the image using two emoji to represent her and her youngest son's morning beverages of choice.
Scroll down for video
Happy mom: Ivanka Trump took to Instagram on Tuesday morning to share a precious photo of herself holding her sleeping son Theodore
Big news: Ivanka announced in a video on Monday that she has a new book deal. Women Who Work: Rewriting the Rules of Success will be published in spring 2017
Cool shades: The mother of three wore funky sunglases while out and about on Tuesday
Good mood: Ivanka Trump is all smiles in a pink, floral print dress as she leaves her apartment in New York City
Floral print: The daughter of Donald Trump wore a pretty floral print dress as she left her apartment
Showing support: Ivanka has publicly supported her father's bid for the White House after donating to Hillary Clinton in 2007
Catching some Zs: The proud mom shared this sweet photo of her sleeping son Theodore on Sunday
In the candid image, Ivanka is fresh-faced and smiling as she holds her third child to her chest. Theodore's bottle and her to-go coffee cup are placed on the table to next to her chair as the little boy sleeps in her arms.
Although he is only two months old, Theo's bedroom is also already filled with children's books, stuffed animals, and framed photos of him posed with his father James Kushner, 35, and his siblings, Arabella, four, and Joseph, two.
The executive vice president of the Trump Organization appeared to be in the midst of getting ready for the day when the sweet photo was taken.
She is wearing a floral dress from her eponymous clothing line, and her blond hair is loose around her shoulders and her face is bare.
Having a laugh: The mother-of-three first joked that she was pregnant with her fourth child before she revealed her actual news
Ivanka often shares candid snaps and videos of her children social media, and since Theodore was born on March 27, the proud mom has been posting plenty of snapshots of them spending their mornings together.
On Monday, Ivanka joked that she had another baby on the way her new book. The working mom posted a video to her website and Instagram page to announce the upcoming publication, but not before playing a quick prank on her fans.
After revealing she had some 'amazing news' to share, Ivanka held up a cardboard cutout featuring the number four.
And while Ivanka announced her third pregnancy in a similar fashion last September, she couldn't keep up the misleading ruse for long.
Talented child: Ivanka shared a video of her four-year-old daughter Arabella playing the piano on Sunday
'Okay, so I am not pregnant with baby number four,' she admitted in the clip. 'But I do have another very exciting project in the works, and it is also a labor of love. It is a book called Women Who Work.'
Ivanka, who published The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life in 2009, went on to say that her second book is slated to come out in the spring of 2017.
The executive vice president of the Trump Organization noted that she launched her eponymous lifestyle website two years ago because she was 'really convinced that we needed to change the dialogue around women and work'.
'Every day we are seeking to inspire and empower this next generation of women and there is nothing more powerful than that,' she added.
Portfolio, a business imprint of Penguin Random House, told the Associated Press on Monday that Women Who Work: Rewriting the Rules of Success will advocate for an 'inclusive and celebratory' vision for working women and help them 'create the lives they want to live'.
'Today's generation of working women is the first to be able to unabashedly embrace the fact that our lives are multidimensional,' Ivanka said in a statement.
'We're deeply invested in our careers, but they don't solely define us. For us, it's about working smarter, not harder; integrating our personal passions and priorities with our professional goals in order to architect lives we love.'
And while Ivanka undoubtedly couldn't wait to share her news, she spent the weekend sharing photos and videos of her darling children on Instagram.
On Sunday evening the proud mom posted a video of her four-year-old daughter Arabella playing the Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star on the piano.
'Piano practice!' she captioned the image, which sees the little girl playing inside the family's Park Avenue apartment. Arabella's hair is pulled back in a French braid as she focuses on the music notes in front of her.
Happy days: The 34-year-old also enjoyed some family time last this week with a picnic in Central Park, as she showed with a photo of herself cuddling four-year-old daughter Arabella
Earlier in the day, she shared a picture of Theo swaddled in a white blanket. In the caption for the photo, which shows the tiny tyke snoozing away, Ivanka simply wrote a series of 'Zzz's'.
It's just the latest in the masses of family-focused photos that are all over the entrepreneur's Instagram page.
Just last week, Ivanka shared a heartwarming family moment from New York's Central Park, where she frolicked in the sun with her daughter Arabella.
Loving mom: Ivanka took to Instagram last Tuesday morning to share this sweet photo of her giving Theodore a kiss on the cheek in his nursery
The photo was likely taken last Tuesday, the same day that Ivanka appeared alongside her father Donald Trump, 69, at Trump Tower, looking somber with her older brother Donald Trump Jr.
The executive vice president of the Trump Organization has been tirelessly campaigning for her father since he announced his presidential bid last June, and last Tuesday was no exception.
Earlier in the day, she posted a photo of herself holding Theodore in his nursery before she headed to the event, proving that they most definitely have a morning tradition.
Queen Mathilde certainly seemed to have summer in mind this morning as she visited the town of Sint-Amands in Belgium.
The 43-year-old royal did away with her coat and stepped out in a bright spring green dress for today's engagement.
Appearing to take advantage of the warmer weather, the Belgian queen opted for three-quarter length sleeves and bare legs this morning.
Queen Mathilde seemed to be appreciating the warmer weather as she stepped out in a summery ensemble during her engagement today
The royal, who kept her accessories to a minimum, was pictured carrying a gold clutch bag and wore earrings embellished with semi-precious stones.
She also kept her beauty look natural showcasing minimal makeup and a slick of berry lipstick.
The mother-of-four accompanied her husband King Philippe, 56, who matched his wife's colour scheme with a charcoal grey suit and an olive green tie.
The queen accompanied husband King Philippe during a visit to pay tribute to poet Emile Verhaeren in the town of Sint-Amands
They met with the mayor of the town Peter Van Hoeymisse (pictured right) outside the museum, which plays host to Emile Verhaeren, een dichter voor Europa exhibition
The couple were also met by an enormous figurine depicting the late poet that stood outside the museum
The pair spent their engagement in the town of Sint-Amands today where they paid tribute to the life of poet Emile Verhaeren, who died 100 years ago.
The royals were greeted by a crowd of well-wishers who lined the street with their Belgian flags hoping to catch a glimpse of the king and queen.
Dozens of local school children came out in force with their very own homemade flags, much to the delight of the royals.
The royals were greeted by plenty of well wishers who lined the street of the town with their Belgian flags poised in a hope to catch a glimpse of the king and queen
Queen Mathilde appeared delighted as she met with young children from the surrounding area
Dozens of local school children came out in force with their very own homemade flags, much to the delight of the royals
However, the crowd wasn't the only thing awaiting the royal's arrival with an enormous and colourful statue of Verhaeren taking pride of place outside his namesake museum.
The Belgian royals met with the mayor of the town Peter Van Hoeymisse outside the building, which is hosting the Emile Verhaeren, een dichter voor Europa exhibition on the late 19th - early 20th century poet.
The husband and wife then went to see the tomb of the poet overlooking a lake where he is buried with his wife Marthe Massin.
The queen kept her accessories to a minimum. She carried a gold clutch bag and wore earrings embellished with semi-precious stones
After their visit to the museum, the couple enjoyed a stroll around the local area accompanied by their guide
She was shocked again when after complaining about the incident she received a letter asking her to 'find a
A mother-of-three said she was left 'embarrassed and mortified' after she was asked to stop breastfeeding her one-year-old during her eldest son's Boy Scout meeting.
Jasmine Millar, from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was observing her 11-year-old autistic son's meeting because he is still getting used to it after moving up from Cub Scouts.
The motivational speaker was shocked when a female volunteer asked her to refrain from breastfeeding and told her she was being 'inappropriate', she told Forbes.com.
Devasated: Mother-of-three Jasmine Millar, 35, pictured nursing, was left humiliated and in tears after she was asked to stop breastfeeding her one-year-old during her older son's Boy Scout meeting
Observing: The motivational speaker from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, pictured, was at her 11-year-old autistic son's Boy Scout meeting when her baby needed to feed
Jasmine said: 'I was embarrassed and mortified. She was the one being inappropriate, not me. She said anything she could to shame me or make me feel bad about what I was doing.'
She said she always wears two shirts to ensure she is as discreet as possible and that her son did not do anything to cause a disruption.
'He didnt cry or anything, just started to pull at my shirt, and I know all the cues. Its my third kid. I discreetly nursed him, he was done and afterwards everything just ended,' she said.
She was shocked when a female volunteer in uniform approached her and asked Jasmine either not to nurse during meetings, to bring a blanket or to leave the room.
'She told me I was being inappropriate,' said Jasmine. 'When I asked how feeding a baby was inappropriate, she just talked over me.'
Jasmine said the woman's body language became 'hostile' and she told her that other parents would find it 'inappropriate' that she was breastfeeding near their children.
She told me I was being inappropriate. When I asked how feeding a baby was inappropriate, she just talked over me
Jasmine, who is a survivor of sexual abuse, said she had to overcome numerous difficulties to be able to breastfeed her three children.
She said her first son struggled to nurse initially because of issues with muscle tone and her daughter and second son both had tongue tie which made it harder.
'I worked really, really hard to breastfeed, and Ive overcome so much, and when someone does that to you, they dont know your history, they dont the things youve overcome,' she said.
Jasmine went home in tears after the incident which she said brought up feelings from her past.
She said she felt 'dirty and body shamed' and claims that if she had been a first-time mother it would have stopped her nursing.
When, the following day, she formally complained to the Boy Scouts about the incident, she was told she was within her rights to breastfeed.
But later she was 'shocked' when she received a letter from Director of Field Services Vance Lackey asking her to 'help us find a compromise which will help all feel more comfortable'.
They suggested that she wear a cover or go into another room to breastfeed because 'some young boys do not fully understand breastfeeding and have families who may not be ready to have this discussion'. Other families, it said, are 'simply uncomfortable with public breast-feeding'.
Shocked: She said she was approached by a volunteer at the meeting who asked her not to nurse and told her it was 'inappropriate'. She subsequently complained and received the letter pictured
Emotional: Jasmine said the incident left her upset and brought up memories from her past
In response, she replied in writing telling him it was not what she had discussed with his colleague Middle Tennessee Council Scout Executive Larry Brown, and wrote a letter to Boy Scouts of America.
Since then she said she has been told by Larry that they want to have a meeting with her and that they planned to speak to troop leaders.
Boy Scouts of America today said Larry sent Jasmine another letter in which they apologized for her ordeal.
In the letter, seen by Daily Mail Online, he wrote: 'On behalf of the Middle Tennessee Council, Boy Scouts of America, I sincerely apologize for your experience at a recent Scout meeting and the manner in which we responded.
'There is no question, Boy Scouts of America understand and support your right to breastfeed your child.
'Scouting members are always encouraged to treat all people with dignity and respect. Moving forward, we will reinforce to our adult volunteers they need to accommodate breastfeeding mothers.'
Jasmine's negative experience has shocked people across the US.
A post sharing Jasmine's story on the Facebook group Breastfeeding Mama Talk has been shared and liked thousands of times and has attracted hundreds of comments.
Fellow mother Stephanie Ickes, from Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, wrote: 'So Boy Scouts of America can provide programs to teach these children to survive in the most difficult of situations, but can't explain to them that a nursing mom is simply feeding her child for survival...?
'As a nursing mother myself, this absolutely breaks my heart. Prayers to this brave mother and thank you for speaking out for all of us and telling your story.'
A new blood test could be a first step towards personalised treatment for depression, scientists claim.
The test accurately predicts whether or not patients will respond to common antidepressant drugs.
Around half of people with depression are not helped by 'first-line' antidepressants and a third are resistant to all available drug treatments.
Until now there has been no way of knowing in advance which patients will need more aggressive treatment, which might involve a combination of different drugs.
Instead, most treatment for depression is conducted on a trial and error basis.
Scientists have developed a blood test which can help doctors choose the best drug for patients with depression. 'Biomarkers' in patients' blood reveal who will respond well to antidepressants
Depression is one of the most common forms of mental illness, affecting more than 350 million people worldwide.
It is ranked by the World Health Organization as the leading cause of disability globally.
The new test measures two inflammation biomarkers in the blood shown in previous studies to be linked to a poor response to antidepressants.
Scientists found that patients with levels of both biomarkers above a certain threshold were 100 per cent certain not to respond to conventional, commonly prescribed drugs.
Those with inflammation markers below the threshold could be expected to respond to first-line antidepressants.
Study author Professor Carmine Pariante from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London, said identifying biomarkers that predict whether patients will respond well to treatment is 'crucial'.
Depression is one of the most common forms of mental illness, affecting more than 350 million people worldwide. It is ranked by the World Health Organization as the leading cause of disability globally
It could reduce 'the social and economic burden of depression, and 'improve patients' quality of life,' she added.
She continued: 'This study provides a suitable approach for personalising antidepressant therapy - patients who have blood inflammation above a certain threshold could be directed toward earlier access to more assertive antidepressant strategies, including the addition of other antidepressants or anti-inflammatory drugs.'
This new approach to antidepressants has the potential to be a real game changer Brian Dow, from the charity Rethink Mental Illness
Brian Dow, from the charity Rethink Mental Illness, said: 'This new approach to antidepressants has the potential to be a real game changer, and these findings are a promising start.
'Anti-depressants can be a lifeline if you have a mental illness like depression, OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) or anxiety, but it's not much of a lifeline if it takes years of trial and error to get to the right kind.
'In the meantime, changing from one kind of medication to the next can mean having to deal with different side effects every time, not to mention withdrawal symptoms from coming off one to go on another.
'We hope this new research creates a much needed short cut to a future where it's no longer luck of the draw when it comes to vital medication.'
Growing human organs in pigs is ethically no worse than eating bacon, a leading geneticist has claimed.
Professor Sir John Burn of Newcastle University backed US scientists who have created hybrid pig-human embryos and said the project was a vital way of tackling the shortage of transplant organs.
But opponents reacted with fury at news of the project yesterday, describing it as gruesome and an assault on the integrity of humanity itself.
Growing human organs in pigs is ethically no worse than eating bacon, a leading geneticist has claimed. Professor Sir John Burn of Newcastle University backed US scientists who have created hybrid pig-human embryos and said the project was a vital way of tackling the shortage of transplant organs
Scientists at the University of California, Davis, have combined human stem cells with pig DNA, with the aim of creating a human pancreas inside a pig.
Strict rules mean that no birth of a hybrid animal can be allowed, and any pregnancy must be terminated after 28 days. But eventually they hope to allow the birth of chimera pigs, which can then be kept on huge farms until their organs are needed for a human patient.
Sir John said: The idea that we actually produce tissues that are safe and effective from domestic animals clearly opens up a new area for treating patients. It is important work.
However, he did concede on Radio 4s Today programme: I think all of us recoil slightly at the first thought of this.
Scientists at the University of California, Davis, have combined human stem cells with pig DNA, with the aim of creating a human pancreas inside a pig. Eventually they hope to allow the birth of chimera pigs, which can then be kept on huge farms until their organs are needed for a human patient
But he added: Is it reasonable to use mammals as a source of tissue? Of course we use it as a source of our breakfast bacon and I think that is a more questionable behaviour than using animals for this purpose.
Injecting overweight people with hormones replicating those in thin people could end obesity within ten years, researchers say.
The triple jab mimics gastric bypass surgery by tricking subjects into feeling full and initial tests show it reduced hunger by a third.
While the surgery is an effective method of weight loss, it is expensive and carries a one-in-200 risk of death.
Injecting overweight people with hormones replicating those in thin people could end obesity within ten years, researchers say (file photo)
Obese people have lower levels of hormones telling the brain to stop eating typically found in slimmer people and those with stomach infections leading to a loss of appetite.
But Sir Steve Bloom, Professor of Medicine at Imperial College, London, reports in BBC2s Horizon tonight: Fast forward ten years, obesity wont be a problem.
'Theyll have the injections, they will be painless, no side-effects and actually really inexpensive and freely available so I think this is going to make an enormous difference.
In tests, two obese men injected with the hormones were given an huge bowl containing three supermarket chicken curry ready meals. They each ate around 280 fewer calories than after a placebo jab.
The two men told Horizon that they felt not hungry at all and comfortably full. Sir Steves fellow researcher Patricia Tan said: With the injections of the hormones, the patients are eating up to 30 per cent less.
So far, the three hormones OXM, PYY and GLP1, have been administered with a jab before each meal, but the scientists hope to develop an injection lasting a week.
Obese people have lower levels of hormones telling the brain to stop eating typically found in slimmer people and those with stomach infections leading to a loss of appetite (file photo)
Sir Steve told the Daily Mail: The hormones are telling the brain to switch off the supply of food.
Meanwhile US experts from the Alpert School of Medicine are investigating the effects of transplanting gut bacteria on weight.
It comes after a slim patient treated for a stomach infection was injected with gut bacteria from her overweight but otherwise healthy daughter a standard treatment. She gained more than four stone in around two years.
Anorexia is a devastating eating disorder that can prove life-threatening.
Plagued by their illness, sufferers starve themselves causing excessive and often rapid weight loss.
Traditionally, a key symptom of the disorder is an intense fear of gaining weight.
But, a new study challenges this view, suggesting rather that anorexia is driven by the pleasure of losing weight.
The findings also add weight to the theory that the condition may be genetically influenced.
Professor Philip Gorwood, head of the Clinic for Mental and Brain Diseases at the Sainte Anne Hospital in Paris, said his team's research challenges the notion of fear of weight gain in anorexia patients.
Traditionally, a key symptom of anorexia is an intense fear of gaining weight. But, a new study challenges this view, suggesting rather that anorexia is driven by the pleasure of losing weight (file image)
Often associated with major psychological distress, anorexia nervosa is a condition that typically affects girls and young women, though boys and young men are affected.
Diagnosis is based on three international criteria - restriction of food intake resulting in weight loss, a distorted perception of weight and body and an intense fear of becoming fat.
Although there is no pharmacological treatment, Professor Gorwood's team, working with colleagues from Inserm and Paris Descartes University, focused on these clinical criteria.
Professor Gorwood said: 'When research is going nowhere, it is important to call into question the criteria at the very root of the disorder.
'We have therefore re-evaluated the last criterion, although it is quite prominent in patient discourse, by assuming that it is a mirror image of what is really involved, i.e. a reward for losing weight.
'We established the postulate that patients felt pleasure at becoming thin rather than fear of becoming fat.'
The findings suggest sufferers are driven by their pleasure at losing weight rather than a fear of gaining weight and becoming fat (file image)
So as not to be influenced by patient's discourse and analysis of their eating disorders, the researchers used a 'skin conductance test', which measures a person's sweating rate when they are exposed to various images.
The emotion caused by certain images actually leads to a rapid and automatic increase in sweating.
The researchers showed images of people of normal weight, as well as people who were overweight.
The photos were shown to 70 female patients at Sainte Anne Hospital.
For these patients, of varying weight and with different degrees of disease severity, viewing these images caused much the same reaction as in healthy subjects.
However, when they were shown images of thin bodies, the patients showed positively evaluated emotions, whereas healthy subjects had no particular reaction.
Furthermore, the researchers also investigated the heritable nature of the disorder.
One of the genes most often associated with anorexia nervosa codes for BDNF, a factor involved in neuron survival and neuroplasticity.
In patients with anorexia nervosa, the study indicates that the increase in sweating experienced when viewing images of thin bodies is explained by the presence of a specific form (allele) of the gene in question.
This result was confirmed after examining potential confounding variables such as weight, type of anorexia or duration of the disorder.
Professor Gorwood and his team conclude that future research should be geared towards reward systems rather than phobic avoidance.
And they suggest that certain therapeutic approaches, such as cognitive remediation and mindfullness therapy, may have clear beneficial effects on patients suffering anorexia.
Tom Hiddleston has tried to distance himself again from talk of him becoming the next James Bond, despite being one of the favourites to take the role.
While Poldarks Aidan Turner took over as the bookies favourite over the weekend, Hiddleston has also had his fair share of money placed on his name, even though he has continually denied all rumours.
Appearing at the Wizard World event in Philadelphia over the weekend, Hiddleston was asked by a fan in the audience about the Bond rumours.
Tom Hiddleston told a fan he didn't think he was likely to be the next James Bond, despite rumours linking him to the franchise
Im sorry to disappoint you, everybody. I dont think that announcement is coming, he said.
But Im very gratified to hear the enthusiasm. Theres not much that I can say that I havent already said, but I know Your guess is as good as mine to be honest.
Hiddleston became the Bond frontrunner last month when it was reported he had met up with director Sam Mendes and producer Barbara Broccoli in London.
However, he later told Graham Norton there was no truth to the rumours.
I think the rumours have all come about because in the Night Manager I play a spy and people have made the link. contactmusic.com
JK Rowling's request to fans
Author JK Rowling has sent out a plea to fans to keep the plot of the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child a secret.
Previews of the production begin at the Palace Theatre in Londons West End, before it officially opens on June 30.
On Twitter, Rowling shared a video which she captioned: Potter fans have always had each others backs. Today Im asking you to #KeepTheSecrets of #CursedChild.
Youve been amazing for years at keeping Harry Potter secrets so you didnt spoil the books for readers who came after you, Rowling said in the video message. -contactmusic.com
Pluto is like a cosmic lava lamp
Like a cosmic lava lamp, a large section of Plutos icy surface is renewed by a process called convection that replace older ices with fresher material.
Combining computer models with topographic and compositional data gathered by NASAs New Horizons spacecraft last summer, New Horizons team members have been able to determine the depth of this layer of solid nitrogen ice within Plutos distinctive heart feature a large plain informally known as Sputnik Planum and how fast that ice is flowing.
Birds of a feather flock together. That this innocent adage now extends to anti-national activities is worrisome.
More alarming is the unabashed display of Pakistani flags at rallies in Kashmir, along with those of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and other Islamic militant groups.
Dangerous
Normally unveiled during the Friday prayers, these flags are being brandished together at the so-called soft separatist Mirwaiz Omar Farooqs congregations. This is a dangerous pointer which the Indian establishment ignores at its own peril.
Incidents of stone pelting have been on the rise in J&K, prompting condemnation from the Chief Minister
The once unthinkable coalition government of the BJP and the PDP in Jammu & Kashmir, intended to give the restive state a semblance of peace and economic growth, is by all means a unique experiment - and whether it succeeds will be seen in the future.
Either way, the security of Indias strategic state cannot be sacrificed at the altar of political expediency. The state government and the Centre need to stem the rot rising in Jammu & Kashmir before the state is pushed back to the unstable political environment of the late 1980s and the early 1990s.
As Pakistan persists with its rabid anti-India policies and continues to foment terrorism in J&K, India is displaying a lackadaisical attitude towards efforts to bring lasting peace and economic resurgence to the hapless state.
Bitter experiences of the past should have taught the Indian state that Pakistan will never change its spots in dealing with India. It is a fact indelibly engraved in stone. Accordingly, India must adopt a consistent, humane and yet no-nonsense policy vis-a-vis J&K, transcending periodic situational variations and petty political considerations.
The laid-back strategy of hoping for the best and twiddling ones thumbs will not work in the state.
ISIS will endeavour to make inroads into the Valley, as it is doing in the Middle East. It should be factored in as a foregone conclusion.
All shades of the separatist leadership are fanning anti-India sentiments in the Valley, and this calls for a fresh look at the Indian states appeasement policies towards the anti-national conglomerate.
Those indulging in anti-national slogans and stone-pelting are teenagers - but, alarmingly, their numbers are growing.
Further, there has been a marked increase in terror-related incidents in the Valley over the past three months in particular.
Tolerance
J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti deserves good wishes in her mission to administer the state
Both the Centre and the state government must declare to all and sundry in the state that as dissent is permissible in Indian democracy, no secessionist or anti-national activities will be tolerated. All grievances of the Kashmiris, genuine or imagined, will be addressed under the purview of the Constitution.
Indian intelligence agencies have reportedly wasted enough money on some Kashmiri separatist leaders who are also liberally funded by Pakistans ISI.
It is time for a midnight knock at the doors of these double-dealing individuals, who are political unworthies. It must be conveyed to them that they must desist from their Pakistani-backed machinations or be prepared for strict legal action.
This bunch of rootless politicians are fence-sitters, bereft of any spine, and soon will be chastened if the Indian state takes appropriate action against them.
The major problem in J&K is largely economic, and the Centre must visibly and speedily act to create adequate employment opportunities for the growing number of agitated youths.
If private industries are not very forthcoming to set up businesses in the state, let the government give opportunities to the public sector to set up suitable employment-generating industries.
Measures
The Indian state has to take multifaceted measures to fully and emotionally integrate the people of J&K with the country. A firm message must go out to Pakistan that if it does not stop its perennial mischief in J&K, India has a few aces up its sleeve.
Pakistans sinister designs in J&K have to be defeated as the state is not only the symbol of Indias secularism, but also the guarantee of it.
In the ultimate analysis, the states sufism or Kashmiriyat or whatever is left of it is far closer to the idea of India than the extremism and sectarianism of a terror-driven Pakistan.
Meanwhile, J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti deserves good wishes in her onerous mission to administer the state. Encouragingly, she has just admonished the separatists, telling them not to mix their anti-national agenda with the Friday gatherings in the Valley.
Colonel Purohit, who has been in jail for seven years, insists he was not involved with the Samjhauta Express blasts
Vikas Narain Rai, head of the SIT that probed the Samjhauta Express blasts, has accused the government of trying to give Colonel Purohit and the other accused in the case a clean chit.
There is nothing in the records to show that he was a part of a covert operation by the military Intelligence, the Director of Intelligence (DIB) personally shared all the evidence we had with the then Army chief.
Do you think the Army would give up one of its serving officers if there wasn't anything in it? Rai told India Today.
The former SIT chief claimed that a concerted attempt was being made to give the accused a clean chit by destroying evidence, cooking up alibis and coercing witnesses.
Evidence is being erased, witnesses are being forced to turn hostile, documents are being fabricated to help people due to their Right wing linkages," Rai alleged.
Purohit has been in jail for the past seven years, and his version of events differs from that of the SIT and the ATS. He maintains that he was assigned by the military intelligence to infiltrate terror outfits and had always kept his superiors in the loop.
Some time back he wrote to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, complaining that he had been wrongly implicated in the Samjhauta Express blasts case.
The former SIT chief has been subjected to a barrage of criticism for arresting those accused of involvement in the blasts. The allegations against him range from acting at the behest of the UPA government to being on Dawood Ibrahims payroll.
Its preposterous. I live on the pension that I receive from the government. I have never sought any favours from the government. If we were on their payrolls, would Karkare have been martyred at the hands of terrorists? he questioned.
According to Rai, the UPA government was also looking for a Pakistani hand behind the blasts, and the SIT suspected the involvement of SIMI and other organisations.
The SIT interrogated the usual suspects. However, the discovery of the suitcase at the site of the Samjhauta blast and sustained investigation over several months led them to Col Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, and others.
Mehbooba Mufti recently condemned J&K separatists for turning Friday prayers into "stone-throwing events".
With the Mehbooba Mufti-led government arresting separatists in J&K to keep them out of action, the BJP wants the state government to do more.
BJP state spokesperson Professor Virender Gupta asked the government - in which the saffron party is a partner - to withdraw security given to separatist leaders.
Gupta also wants them behind bars under the Public Safety Act, the preventive detention law which allows the government to detain anyone for up to one year without trial.
Gupta said the separatists should be booked for indulging in anti-social activities and disturbing the peace - and they should be tried under Section 151 of the RPC for spreading hatred among various communities.
He also wants sedition cases to be imposed on them for alleged anti-India activities.
The BJP spokesman said that if strong action is not taken against the separatists, the situation in the Valley could worsen and become difficult for the government to tackle.
A soft policy towards separatists is encouraging anti-India forces and anti-social elements. It also demoralises common masses of J&K and security forces, who are fighting to curb the militancy and are sacrificing their lives. These leaders are continuously disturbing the peace in the Valley, affecting the business and tourist industry adversely, the BJP leader said.
Recently, the government booked pro-independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik in a 29-year-old case.
The government has also kept other separatist leaders, including Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, under house arrest.
The police arrested Malik for allegedly participating in a rally of the separatist Muslim United Front in 1987.
Separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani (right) and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq have been put under house arrest by the J&K government
The Muslim United Front was an amalgam of several groups that had contested the 1987 election. However, the MUF lost and alleged widespread rigging by the NC-led government, triggering militancy.
Malik was the commander of the JKLF until 1994. In 1994, Malik choose Gandhian means of non-violent struggle. Malik has been shifted to the Srinagar Central jail.
The JKLF chairman had started efforts to unite various separatist factions to evolve a joint strategy against establishing a Sainik Colony in Srinagar. The government has said that no Sainik Colony is being constructed in Kashmir.
I want to make it clear that the Army is not constructing any Sainik Colony in Kashmir. They have and may be constructing accommodation at the land already under their use, the chief minister said.
She added that these constructions are in no way linked to the Sainik Colony as is being projected by certain quarters.
The controversy over this years Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) Class XII 'toppers' should not come as a surprise to those who have witnessed the gradual decline of the state's government-run academic institutions over the last few years.
The remarks of an Arts topper, who referred to Political Science as Prodigal Science - a subject that teaches cookery in a television interview bears testimony to the depths to which the education system has sunk.
At the same time, the controversy gives Nitish Kumar an opportunity to clean the Augean stables in the education department, and the BSEB in particular.
The controversy over this years Bihar School Examination Board Class XII 'toppers' should not come as a surprise, as the state's education system is in poor shape
The BSEB has already suspended the results of the two toppers after they failed to prove their mettle in a re-test last week, but a thorough probe by a competent investigating agency is required to restore the credibility of the school examinations in Bihar.
Anyone found guilty of running a racket to influence the results must be sternly dealt with.
The sooner it is done, the better it will be for the honest and hardworking students who are suffering for no fault of their own.
The BSEB does not conduct the examinations of the elite schools in Bihar. Almost all affiliated schools are government-run institutions set up to provide free education.
Their students are mostly from poor families, but many are talented enough to excel in examinations without cheating.
Any lingering stigma over the legitimacy of results would be a gross injustice.
Students are vertically divided into two categories in Bihar: those who are enrolled in private institutions and those who have to study in the government schools.
The schools of the first category are affiliated either to the Central Board of School Education (CBSE) or Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE).
Their students generally have access to better facilities; classes are held regularly and the merit of their toppers is never suspected.
The second category schools, affiliated to the BSEB, are from a diametrically different world.
These schools are run by the government with the best of intentions. Students of these institutions are provided scholarships, mid-day meals, free books and uniforms, and even free bicycles as incentives to pursue their studies.
The Nitish Kumar government has spent most of its budget on education for many years now.
Its efforts have helped bring down the dropout rate from 12.5 per cent to 0.86 per cent in the past ten years - but as the recent fiasco over the intermediate toppers suggests, the entire system remains in a big mess.
Even after the herculean efforts of the government, anybody able to afford the cost of education at private institutions shies away from enrolling in government schools, which have come to symbolise the very worst of India's education system.
There are three main reasons for the alarming decline in the overall standard of government schools.
Firstly, the majority of them are devoid of the infrastructure required to run a good academic institution. Hundreds of schools do not even have proper buildings, let alone computers and science labs.
Secondly, the large-scale appointment of teachers on a contractual basis on poor salaries in the past few years has hardly benefited the students.
Thirdly, there is no sense of commitment and professionalism on the part of authorities manning the mammoth education department.
The Nitish Kumar government has spent most of its budget on education for many years now
However, this is not a new phenomenon. The degeneration in the primary and secondary education system had set in much before Nitish - or for that matter, Lalu Prasad - took over the reins of the government.
Widespread use of unfair means in examinations, suspension of classes for prolonged periods, and the absolute lack of political will to improve the scenario have gradually forced guardians to enroll their wards in private institutions.
This gave rise to the mushrooming growth of private schools all over the state.
Many experts believe that government schools were willfully allowed to crumble by vested interests over the years, to pave the way for the emergence of the so-called education mafia in the state.
Whatever the reason, the private and the government-run institutions subsequently came to be identified as the schools for the haves and the have-nots respectively in Bihar.
What is a matter of concern is that a large number of students are still dependent on government schools, regardless of their shortcomings.
This year, more than 16 lakh students appeared in the Class X (Matriculation) examinations alone.
Needless to say, a majority of them belong to the poor families who are left with no option but to study at the sarkari (government-run) schools.
This is why the state government needs to take urgent steps to restore the credibility and punish those who are playing with the future of thousands of students.
Lalu Prasad's dynastic agenda
Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad has been busy making sure his party is adequately represented in Houses of Parliament and state legislature, despite being debarred in 2013 for his part in the infamous 2013 fodder scam.
Prasad has nominated his eldest daughter Misa Bharti to the Rajya Sabha, hoping she will be the face of his party in the Upper House.
Misa lost the parliamentary election from Patliputra constituency to BJPs Ram Kripal Yadav two years ago.
Prasad has nominated his eldest daughter Misa Bharti to the Rajya Sabha, hoping she will be the face of his party in the Upper House
Prasads wife Rabri Devi is already a member of the Bihar Legislative Council. His sons - Tejashwi Prasad and Tej Pratap - are members of Bihar assembly, and also happen to be the two senior-most ministers in the Nitish Kumar government.
Prasad himself has held the distinction of being a member of all four Houses of Parliament and the state legislature at different times in his long political career.
He was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1977 from the erstwhile Chapra constituency.
Since then, he has been instrumental in getting not only his family members elected to different Houses, but also his aides.
One of Prasads assistants was once made an MLC, reportedly because he made delicious kebabs.
Plans for Sushil Kumar Modi
When the Bharatiya Janata Party chose to nominate former state president Gopal Narayan Singh to the Rajya Sabha ahead of Sushil Kumar Modi in the polls recently, a majority of the party were very surprised.
Sushil was considered to be the front-runner for the lone seat that the BJP was sure of getting.
Speculation was rife that Sushil would join the Narendra Modi government in the next reshuffle. But the party chose to keep him back in Bihar.
This promoted the ruling Janata Dal-United leaders to extol Sushils competence and shed tears over his rejection by the BJP.
A section of Bihar BJP leaders still believes that Sushil deserves to be a Union minister.
Bihar-born envoys return home
It was a homecoming for the six Indian ambassadors and high commissioners posted to different countries across the world.
They arrived in Bihar recently to hold an interactive session with local entrepreneurs and explore the possibility of giving a boost to trade and commerce between their home state and the countries where they are currently posted.
The team of Bihar-born envoys consisting of Manoj Kumar Bharti (posted in Ukraine), Sanjeev Ranjan (Argentina), Kumar Tuhin (Namibia), Rajiv Kumar (Senegal), Alok Kumar Sinha (Bahrain), and Prabhat Kumar (Columbia) met Governor Ramnath Kovind and Chief minister Nitish Kumar and discussed boosting bilateral ties.
It was a homecoming for the six Indian ambassadors and high commissioners posted to different countries across the world
The Governor also suggested the adoption of a village each, taking steps for the branding of Bihar in foreign countries.
The envoys believed that Bihar had immense potential in the fields of agriculture, art and culture and tourism.
The envoys trip was part of the mission of the Union ministry for External Affairs which wants all ambassadors and high commissioners to explore ways to establish or cement ties of their native states with countries where they are posted.
The BJPs stunning victory in Assam, and the ground gained in Kerala, have something in common.
Assam has completely dumped the Marxist-Congress narrative. A solitary maiden seat victory and the NDAs 15 per cent vote share demonstrate that the BJPs paradigm has found traction in Kerala as well.
Why is the Congress in decline? Well, vibrant democracies and dynasty-centred politics seldom co-exist for long.
Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi wielded real power when the UPA was in Government
Moreover, like any other working mechanism, politics needs honesty and idealism to sustain itself - twin values that a party bereft of ideology finds difficult to uphold.
Following the split in 1969, the Grand Old Party ceased to have an ideology of its own, and has since outsourced the job to the Left.
By 1991, archaic socialist policies pursued during the preceding four decades of Congress misrule, coupled with crony capitalism and corruption at the top, had brought the Indian economy to the brink of bankruptcy.
The situation was saved by the arrival of PV Narasimha Rao as Prime Minister, and Manmohan Singh - a technocrat without ideological baggage - as his finance minister.
The Nehruvian path was given up, and reforms followed.
During the UPA's 10-year rule, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi wielded the real power, with Manmohan Singh as their front.
An extra constitutional centre of authority, National Advisory Council (NAC), dominated by the Leftists of various hues, laid the policies for the government to follow. The rest is history.
For the Left and the Congress, secularism means pandering to fundamentalist elements among the minorities. This comes naturally to communists, who along with the British and the Muslim League, had worked for the creation of a theocratic Pakistan.
Ironically, the Congress-Lefts criticism of the BJP is a replay of what the Muslim league-communists said about the Congress in pre-Independence India.
Over the years, the Congress has internalised the League and Lefts divisive mindset.
No wonder Rajiv Gandhi did a U-turn on the Shah Bano case.
The last three decades saw the Congress blame the victims for the Godhra carnage, side with terrorists whether in Batla House or Gujarat encounters, demonise Narendra Modi for taking on jihadis, and create the myth of Hindu terror.
The Left has nothing to offer to an aspirational India and the Congress has no conviction, even in the outdated socialist paradigm it has borrowed from the Left.
Poverty tourism (the occasional visits to Dalit houses by the dynasty) are photo-opportunities.
Today, the Congress is a machine converting power into money and vice versa.
As and when this auto-mechanism break down, the machines comes to a halt and refuses to restart.
In whichever state the party loses two successive elections, it fails to reclaim power.
The Congress today is a deadly mix of corruption and communalism. This is best illustrated in the case of Kerala.
The Congress was not only accused of shady deals but was also seen pandering to minority irredentism, both Muslim and Christian. Prohibition and the exploitation of the fragile Western Ghats environment figured prominently in the campaign.
Prohibition was enforced under pressure of the Christian clergy. Then came the Madhav Gadgil report about the systematic denudation of the forestland around the Western Ghats, mostly by Christian communities.
The state government, which was under pressure from the Christian Bishops, who were unhappy with the Gadgil report, persuaded the UPA government to appoint another commission of inquiry headed by Kasturi Rangan.
That too confirmed the continuing denudation of the area.
The Congress's brand of secularism played havoc with the demographics and security of this resource-rich state.
The question naturally arises about the repeated victory of Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and Jayaraman Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu.
The simple answer is that the discernible alternatives are no angels either. In both the states, the BJP has miles to go to become an alternative.
Of course, the party is now a reality across India with power at the Centre and in most major states north of the Vindhyas.
What about the Congress? In its mindless chase of minority votes, it lost its nationalist plank to the BJP.
And it cannot compete with the likes of the SP and the RJD in pandering to minority vote-banks and with the Left, in glorifying poverty and irresponsible adventurism.
Today, its touch is toxic - look what it did to the DMK and the CPI(M) in the recent elections.
Can it recover? It all depends on how fast it frees itself from the dynasty, and the obsolete plagiarised Leftist paradigm.
The RSS-affiliated students body Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) is not satisfied with the way the Jawaharlal Nehru University administration and the Centre handled the Afzal Guru commemoration row.
The ABVP has demanded that Indias spiritual knowledge should be made part of the university curriculum and the National Flag should be flown.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad is not satisfied with the way the JNU administration and the Centre handled the Afzal Guru commemoration row. (File picture)
We deplore the anti-national activities that have taken place in the recent past in JNU, Hyderabad University and Jadhavpur University. It is necessary that action be taken against the intellectual mentors who are standing behind such deplorable activities.
"These white-collared Naxals, who are sitting in educational institutions and subverting young minds to turn them against the nation, are a serious threat, the resolution said.
The statement was targeting the teachers and professors of JNU, who had at least stood firmly against JNU Students Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar, who was charged with sedition over the Guru memorial row.
The ABVP also tried to stoke controversy when it called for the implementation of reservations for SC/ST students in the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
Figurehead: JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar was charged with sedition and briefly jailed after the Afzal Guru commemoration event
The organisation said society and the government must "take anti-national activities seriously".
At its national executive meeting in Jammu, the ABVP passed a resolution which said: In the incident of February 9, despite having all the proof against the culprits, only three were arrested; the rest are roaming free.
Sparsh Paul, 18, has decided against applying to Delhi University - but he remains a happy aspirant.
Similarly, Paul, who scored 94 per cent in his 12th board examinations, has cracked Christ University in Bangalore and will soon be pursuing B.Com (Hons).
I had planned my career much before Delhi University announced their admission guidelines. I had applied to various other universities like Christ University, Symbiosis in Pune, IIM Bangalore and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, said Paul, who is presently in Bangalore for his orientation session.
Only the best need apply: Students arrive at the Delhi University to fill their admission forms
He is not alone. The high cut-offs and shortage of seats at Delhi University have forced many aspirants to search for other options.
As DU goes on with the online registration process, these early birds have already taken flight to their new career destinations.
As he got through Christ University, he refused to sit for any other entrance examinations. He was satisfied with the universitys profile and the curriculum of the course. Many people questioned us on why we are not trying for DU and were even surprised by our decision, said his mother Pooja Paul.
Greener pastures
The number of applications received by Delhi University for the 60,000 seats being offered in various undergraduate courses passed 1.71 lakh on Monday, with more female candidates than men.
The total number of registrations till 6pm on Monday was 1,71,191, of which 80,522 have already paid the fee, DU Registrar Tarun Das said.
The number of female applicants is 41,014, while the number of male applicants is 39,505.
Sparsh Paul, 18, remains a happy candidate despite not applying to Delhi University
This is the first time DU has introduced online-only admissions for UG admissions. In previous years it has been both online and offline.
The online registration process began on June 1 and will continue till June 19.
A few students are complaining about the admissions portal being slow, but the varsity authorities maintain that they have arranged servers keeping in mind the expected traffic on the website, and that students should check from time to time in case of any problem.
The first cut-off list will be announced on June 27, and unlike previous years the varsity will release only five cut-off lists.
Robert, 18, is among the students who have decided not to wait for admission to Delhi University.
Having heard and read about the high cut-offs in DU, Robert decided to look for alternatives and try his luck at other varsities.
I have not scored over 90. I have scored 80 per cent and thus have decided to pursue BBA from the IP University, he told Mail Today.
There are other options as well for those who have not scored over 90 in class 12.
Christ University in Bengaluru and Amity University are top destinations for students coming from Arts and Commerce streams.
Sidharth Sharma, another candidate, has taken such a route.
I might not be waiting for Delhi University admissions now. I had applied to various other universities and have got through Azim Premji University in Bangalore, said Sharma.
Sharma scored 88 per cent in his boards, and will be pursuing a combined humanities course comprising elements of literature, history and philosophy.
St. Stephens interview process under expert scanner
Education experts in Delhi University have raised serious doubts over the interview criteria of one of their most prestigious colleges, St. Stephens.
St. Stephens, being a religious minority college, conducts its own undergraduate admissions.
According to officials, every year the college adopts a 1:4 ratio, interviewing four applicants for every seat.
Education experts in Delhi University have raised serious doubts over the interview criteria of one of their most prestigious colleges, St. Stephens
But, last years records suggest that fewer aspirants had appeared for interviews, thereby limiting the selection base.
Last year, in courses like BA and BA (Hons) in History, we did not get the exact number of students for the interview. The college should increase the number of aspirants to be called for the interview. As our process continues till late, students get opportunities in other colleges and then we are left with less number of students, a senior official from the college told Mail Today.
St. Stephens College offers 10 undergraduate courses - including Bachelor of Arts degrees in Economics, History, Philosophy, English, Sanskrit, and pass courses.
Bachelor of Science degrees are offered in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and BSc (pass).
Being a religious minority institution, the college reserves 50 per cent of its seats in each course for Christian candidates.
The 1:4 criteria is ridiculous and defies the purpose of an interview. The only course which receives a good number of applicants for the interview is Economics, for which the criteria is 1:6, said another official, requesting anonymity.
The college will come out with its cut-off list on June 19. Those who qualify for the cut-off will be called for an aptitude test and an interview.
We might invite more applicants for the interview this year as the ratio is not sufficient, a senior admissions official told Mail Today.
St. Stephens College will also conduct a written test for admission to undergraduate courses this year, despite opposition from teachers.
The written test was introduced by former principal Valson Thampu in 2015.
The college allots 85 per cent weight to class 12 results. The remaining 15 per cent is divided between the test and the interview.
People with disabilities are exempted from the aptitude test.
Aspirants applying in this category need to upload a scanned copy of the physical disability certificate.
Delhi Police have arrested T Rajkumar Rao from Kolkata after chasing the alleged kingpin of the Delhi kidney racket across four states and six cities.
Rao is accused of spearheading the syndicate for almost a decade.
The accused had been evading arrest over the last four days after the Delhi Police exposed a kidney transplant racket at a leading private hospital.
Delhi Police busted a kidney trade racket in South Delhi with the arrest of 5 persons, including two personal staff of a Doctor at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in New Delhi
Police also arrested three others in the case, including a couple who allegedly donated their organs after taking money from touts.
Police will also be questioning 10 doctors in connection with the case.
Rao, aged around 40 years, is believed to be associated with organ rackets in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
Police are also hunting a woman and her aide who allegedly introduced Rao to the organ racket in Kolkata eight years ago.
Teams had conducted raids in six cities, but Rao managed to escape each time. Finally, after four days of being on the run, he has been arrested and will be produced in a Delhi court on Wednesday. He is being brought here on transit remands, a senior officer said.
The alleged kidney racket kingpin was under the police scanner for operating similar rackets since 2007, and was connected to two similar rackets in Coimbatore in 2013, and Jalandhar in 2015.
Rao was named as the ringleader after the middlemen in the racket were interrogated, and teams were rushed to several states to track him down.
Delhi Police have also arrested three people from Delhi, taking the total number of arrests in this high-profile case to nine.
Those arrested have been identified as Umesh and Nilu, who are a married couple based in Kanpur, and Mamta alias Maumita, the wife of one of the five men arrested last week.
Their names emerged after Umesh and Nilu divulged to the police that they had both sold their kidneys to repay the loan which they had taken for their sons leg surgery.
The officer further stated that Neelu received a meagre Rs four lakh, while her husband Umesh ended up with just Rs three lakh.
All 10 doctors in Apollo Hospitals internal assessment committee for transplant surgeries will be quizzed.
The committee comprises senior doctors working at the hospital and independent doctors, as well as a government doctor.
Taking serious action over the matter, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals has constituted an independent inquiry committee to investigate the racket.
Ten doctors from Apollo Hospitals internal assessment committee for transplant surgeries will be quizzed
The hospital has invited eminent jurist Justice Mukul Mudgal, former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, to head the committee.
The committee will study the existing system for authorisation in the hospital and give its recommendations to ensure that current approval mechanisms are strengthened.
'Here's the key to the Dacia...' the delivery driver says as she hands it over. And, almost to my surprise, it is a key.
After driving a host of new cars back-to-back for the best part of a decade I've become more accustomed to keyfobs the size of smartphones that magically open the boot at the flex of a thumb joint and start cars without being inserted. So this feels like a novelty. Old school. Nostalgic, even.
And that's the ongoing theme when running the cheapest new SUV on the market, the Duster. At 11,000, this is a no-frills hark back to times when wing mirrors had to be hand-adjusted and driverless cars were the figment of the imagination. At first, I absolutely loathed it...
Sports Utility Value: The Dacia Duster is priced from 9,945 (not this model pictured) - not bad for a family-size SUV. But with quality materials and modern amenities missing, could you live with this super-basic motor?
What do I need to know about the Dacia Duster?
The one we tested is the mid-spec Ambiance with the 1.6-litre petrol engine and front wheel drive, priced at 10,495 - ramped-up to 11,140 when you factor in the metallic paint (495) and spare wheel (150) fitted to our car.
And that's not the cheapest version they sell - the 'Access' model, fitted with the same engine, costs an astounding 9,495.
That's almost half the price of the entry version of the UK's best-selling compact SUV, the Nissan Qashqai, which coincidentally uses the same four-pot 115bhp motor.
So, how does Dacia (well, Renault actually, which now owns the Romanian brand name) offer it for such a bargain basement fee? Well, there's little in terms of creature comforts.
From the cheap plastic door handles to the 16-inch steel wheels, there's no mention of the words 'premium' or 'luxury' on the spec sheet, which barely manages to fill a single side of A4.
Instead of reams of paper detailing a magnitude of features, the print out reveals that you don't even get a radio on the sub-10k model.
It really is a bare-essentials bruiser - a powertrain and four wheels with little else thrown into the deal.
ON TEST FACTS & FIGURES: DACIA DUSTER AMBIANCE TCE 115 4X2 On sale: Now Price (standard): 10,495 Test car with options: 11,140 Options include: Metallic paint (495) and Emergency spare wheel (150) Engine: 4 cylinder, 1598cc, petrol Power: 115hp at 5500rpm Torque: 152Nm at 4000rpm Transmission: 5-spd manual Kerb weight: 1147kg 0-62mph: 11 seconds Top speed: 105mph Fuel economy: 44.1mpg (combined) CO2: 145g/km
But at least the parts used are fairly well proven. Okay, it might be a mishmash of unused Renault bits bolted onto an extended version of an old Clio platform, but it's so utilitarian there's barely anything of note to go wrong.
Reliability worries certainly aren't putting prospective buyers off. Since the brand relaunched just over three years ago, 3.5 million Dacias have sold worldwide, with well over 50,000 models gracing the driveways of UK homes.
And they've received their plaudits, too. Most of the range has picked up awards in the motoring industry, while owners have given the Romanian marque rapturous reviews, voting it the fourth best car brand in the 2016 Auto Express Awards.
It even topped Porsche for customer satisfaction in the latest Which? Car Survey.
But as I reach across the cabin to toggle the nearside manual wing mirror adjuster and gaze upon the wall of grey, scratchy hard plastics that is the dashboard, I have to wonder if 50,000 UK buyers have completely lost the plot.
Models are proving reliable so far and the four-wheel drive versions have proved capable when tested off-road
Brick design: The shape is far from aerodynamic, resulting in plenty of wind bluster on the motorway. But the squared-off proportions does mean loads of interior and luggage space
So, what's not to like?
A week doesn't give a car much time to change your opinion. To keep everything in perspective, I decided every mental critique of the cut-price Dacia had to be concluded with: '...but it costs eleven thousand pounds'.
However, there are times prodding around the Duster when this statement offers little solace for what eleven grand buys you.
For instance, very rarely will you step foot into a 2016 vehicle and wonder if you can adjust the height of the driver's seat - that feature is omitted from the Access' specification but not this one, thankfully (says the height-impaired 5ft 7in driver).
But it's not just the bare-bones model of the bunch that showcases disappointing corner-cutting to stay on budget.
It starts before you're even seated. Tug on the door handle and you'll notice they're that low-grade plastic - you know the type, that looks like it'll fade to a tarnished grey colour after prolonged periods in the sun. You get the same on the mirror covers and upper sections of the bumpers, too.
Get in and fold the sun visors down and you spot there are no vanity mirrors. Standing at the petrol station, pump in hard, you realise you need the key to unlock the fuel cap (it's not lockable at all on the Access model).
The unashamed modesty continues. Want to adjust the nearside wing mirror? Forget about fine-tuning the angle using a button on the arm rest - you have to stretch over the passenger to manually make the modifications.
Need to cool down? Even that's not straight forward, with air conditioning not available on this model or the cheaper Access version. Passengers in the back even have to wind the windows down by hand - that swift wrist movement required to lower the glass at pace we thought had become redundant decades ago might need to make a comeback, it seems.
Not for the vain: How much does a vanity mirror and light cost in a sun visor? Too much to make it into mid-spec Dusters, it seems
When you fill up with fuel you have to unlock the filler cap with the ignition key (left), though entry-spec models don't have a lockable cover at all. As you can see from the picture on the right, there's no air conditioning button in our test car
High spec models have power mirrors. Ours didn't. That means a lean over the passenger seat to adjust
Redeemed by being brutally honest about what it is
Dacia is unapologetically blunt about what its cars are about - they're marketed resolutely as fit-for-purpose affordable tools. Not exactly the thing to set hearts racing but you have to applaud them for cutting through the advertising hogwash that has compounded the car industry for years.
There should be no quibbles about it, the Duster isn't a car you expect to enjoy owning. In fact, it's so agricultural that it's difficult to form a tangible bond with it at first, even after some time behind the wheel.
The 115bhp petrol version we drove isn't the most refined engine. You need to rev it fairly enthusiastically to get the best performance out of it, meaning most journeys are backed by a chorus of hard-worked components. As a direct result, you're unlikely to match the 44.1mpg fuel economy claims. The cave-like impact of the rock-solid plastics probably don't help the booming acoustics either.
With little in terms of sound proofing (come on, that stuff is expensive), the 1.5-litre dCi diesel is the more muted choice. The lazy grunt provided by the torquier 110 horses results in a more sedate soundtrack in comparison and it won't be as fuel thirsty.
The fact it's shaped like a brick doesn't make it the most aerodynamic, so be prepared for a bit of wind bluster on the motorway no matter which engine you opt for.
In fact, dynamically, don't expect to be blown away by the Duster in any department. Rather than expecting it to do something new, be prepared for it to be adequate at all the major requirements.
It steers. Not with much feeling or excitement, but the turning circle is small enough to circumnavigate a mini-roundabout without panic.
It rides fluidly enough, helped by the coaster-size steel wheels and tyres with plenty of sidewall, which collaborate with the suspension to offer decent cushioning. The gear change is robust - not what we'd call slick, but it has a workman-like sturdiness to it.
Brutally honest: Dacia hasn't talked up the attributes of the Duster, it simply shouts about the budget price
The boot is an extremely usable space. The square shape, high roof and flat floor makes it ideal for carrying bulky items
Even the all-wheel drive versions (which ours wasn't) are said to be capable off-tarmac, if you're looking for a rural runaround.
In terms of family credentials, it's more than up to the task of coping with carting the kids around. The interior is spacious, the boot is a simple square compartment and the hard plastics we once ridiculed are now a godsend as they can withstand a barrage of kung-fu kicks from under-entertained toddlers.
The only thing that might deter a parent from purchasing one is the three-star Euro NCAP crash test rating it received back in 2011.
However, this was issued when Dusters weren't available with stability control and the model was further marked down for not having any modern-day passive systems the safety body renders a requirement to get full marks.
But some might argue that features like lane departure warning and autonomous city braking systems offer as much distraction as they do assistance.
There's nothing evolutionary or exciting like this in the Dacia to steal your attention. Actually, the most interesting thing to do in the Duster is drive it - surely being so dull that you don't want to take your eyes off the road is an overlooked safety feature, is it not?
A question of affordability: Don't think of the Duster as a car you would buy because you can't afford anything else - it's much more than that
The Cars & motoring verdict
The lack of equipment and quality finish will be a hurdle of varying heights for buyers dependent on what they're used to. But once you're over it, you begin to appreciate how focused the Dacia is.
That word is overused to describe cars: they're 'focused' because it has the interior stripped out so it can lap the Nurburgring in under ten minutes, for instance.
But what the Duster is focused on is being a car for a fraction of the cost of a similarly-sized car.
It's that level of simplicity that helps you gel with the Dacia after a bit of time. It's so uncomplicated that it makes you feel more integral to the package than just about any other model you can buy new today, and in that way it can even be rewarding for those who want to enjoy their driving.
So, think of the Duster not as a car you buy because you can't afford anything else - consider it a car that you should buy if you can afford to live without luxuries.
Holidaymakers who buy travel insurance from price comparison websites are being pushed towards policies that are full of holes, a Money Mail investigation reveals today.
Our tests show that three in five of the cheapest deals listed on comparison sites leave holidaymakers exposed to huge bills if they suffer the most common travel mishaps.
Policies promoted as the 'best deals' typically contain stinging catches in the small print. Some pay out only a tiny amount if you suffer a serious injury abroad or if your bag is missing.
Caution: Holidaymakers who buy travel insurance from price comparison websites are being pushed towards policies that are full of holes
And holidaymakers who lose a ring on the beach or have their mobile phone stolen will find the cover almost worthless.
The findings raise concerns that vast numbers of people who shop around for cheap insurance this summer risk being stranded abroad with huge bills.
Our investigation found policies that will:
Make you pay the first 500 of medical bills yourself.
Offer just 150 to replace a stolen 2,000 engagement ring.
Leave a family of four facing a 1,200 bill for a ruined trip to Florida.
Refuse to help elderly couples if they suffer a nasty accident in Spain.
Block claims for injuries caused by common activities such as snorkelling.
Pay just 10 to compensate for a 12-hour flight delay.
Some 18 million travel insurance policies are sold every year and around 50,000 claims are rejected, industry figures obtained by Money Mail show. This is often because the policy failed to live up to expectations, say experts.
James Daley, founder of consumer website Fairer Finance, says: 'Comparison sites need to work harder to help customers make their decision. Insurers have whittled down the prices, but there is enormous variation in the level of cover offered.'
We searched all the major comparison websites - moneysupermarket.com, gocompare.com, comparethemarket.com and confused.com - for cover for four holidays this summer: a family of four visiting Florida or Tuscany and an older couple travelling to Spain or New York for two weeks.
Pathetic payouts for lost jewellery
With some cheap policies, making a claim is hardly worth it because there is an enormous excess - and a tiny payout.
AVOID CAR COVER RIP-OFFS Buying hire car insurance at the last minute is nearly always a ripoff. You can pay ten times more than if youd bought it before the holiday. Standard car insurance comes with excesses of around 2,000 if you crash. Many car hire companies offer insurance at the pick-up desk, which they say covers any excess above the 2,000. But these deals can be hugely over-priced, costing up to 25 a day. The same cover can cost as little as 2 a day from a UK insurer if you buy before you go. Thats a saving of more than 300 over a two-week holiday. Companies that offer excess insurance at reasonable prices include icarhireinsurance.com, carhireexcess.co.uk and the AA.
You need to pay the excess fee before your insurer will step in to cover the claim.
When we searched gocompare.com for a family of four going to Tuscany for two weeks, Big Blue Cover's economy policy was ranked fifth cheapest, costing 11.10.
It pays out a maximum of 100 for lost or stolen valuables and 100 if you miss your flight.
But to see either of these paltry payouts you have to first stump up 175. So, you can forget claiming for valuables worth less than this.
If you are claiming for a laptop computer worth 1,000, the first 175 of this is your responsibility.
The insurer will pay the next 100, but it won't offer a penny towards the remaining 725 cost.
Cheaper.travel insurance.co.uk seems to live up to its name - its bronze policy costs 29.61 for a family of four spending a fortnight in Florida and is ranked the second cheapest on the website moneysupermarket.com.
But a closer look throws up some nasty surprises. Lose a wedding ring or another piece of jewellery on the beach and the most you will receive is 150. There is also a 250 excess.
So, if you claim for a 2,000 engagement ring, you have to pay the first 250. The insurer will pay 150 of the remaining cost, taking the total to 400. But you'd be on the hook for the remaining 1,600.
The insurer is paying only 7.5 per cent of your bill
Puffin Insurance consistently tops the charts of many comparison sites, offering bargain deals such as 35.10 for a couple heading to New York.
Its cheapest bronze policy will pay out 150 if you lose your passport - but there is a 200 excess.
InsureandGo's popular Light Economy policy, fourth cheapest on gocompare.com, is a snip at 41.09 for the same holiday.
It pays 300 for lost or stolen personal money and a maximum of 750 for lost or stolen baggage. But there is a 200 excess for each of these claims - meaning in reality the amount you get back is far less.
Lose every penny if you miss your flight
Hours of hanging around in an airport for a delayed flight is a miserable start to any holiday.
Many travellers take some small comfort in knowing their insurance policy will compensate them.
But many of the cheaper deals promoted by price comparison sites offer nothing. And others use sneaky small print to deny payouts.
Standard cover with insuratrip.com costs 33.66 for a couple in their 70s travelling to Spain. It shows up first on moneysupermarket.com, but does not cover delays or an airline going bust. Flexicover's 41.80 economy policy won't pay out anything at all if your trip is delayed or you miss your departure.
The policy was offered to a family of four on a trip of a lifetime to Disney World in Florida - meaning they would lose every penny of the cost of the trip, likely to be thousands of pounds, if they missed their flight.
If a holiday is cancelled or curtailed, customers can claim 1,000 each, but there is a 250 excess per person.
Other firms just pay paltry amounts: alphatravelinsurance.co.uk offers a deal at 29.68 and comes up second on moneysupermarket.com.
It pays 10 for every 12 hours you are delayed up to a maximum of 150. And there are catches: if you wait 11 hours or the delay is caused by your flight being diverted after its departure, you won't get a penny.
If you are forced to cancel a holiday due to illness, some policies offer small amounts that will cover only a fraction of the trip.
Thomas Cook's 32.15 policy pays up to 500 per person for a cancelled holiday and there is a 190 excess on top. The policy was being offered as one of the top deals for a family of four heading to Florida on travelsupermarket.com.
A 14-night trip to the Crowne Plaza hotel in Orlando, including flights, is 813 per person on lastminute.com. So, the payout will not cover the full 3,252 cost of a ruined family holiday.
Stranded abroad on a hospital bed
Most people's biggest fear when going abroad is falling ill or suffering an accident and being stranded
Most people's biggest fear when going abroad is falling ill or suffering an accident and being stranded.
All the policies we saw covered at least 10 million of medical bills.
However, the small print of all goodtogoinsurance.com's silver deals state that you must cover the first 500 of costs yourself.
Some firms force you to pay the first 250 of a claim even if you have a European Health Insurance Card, which is supposed to reduce the cost to the insurer of your treatment.
Other deals, including InsureandGo's Light deal, refuse to cover you if you've been diagnosed with high blood pressure and haven't declared it and then suffer an illness believed to be linked to your condition.
No one likes to think about it, but every year thousands of holiday- makers are seriously injured or killed in terrible accidents while abroad.
Good policies pay out tens of thousands of pounds under their personal accident clause if someone is badly injured, disabled or killed.
But some cheaper deals pushed by price comparison websites offer nothing - or at best a paltry sum.
Travelinsurance.co.uk's Super Saver policy costs 34.58 for a family of four heading to Florida. But there's no cover for serious injury, deemed to be loss of sight or an accident that causes permanent disability.
Insuratrip.com's standard policy, which costs 36.80 for a couple in their 60s heading to Spain, has the same exclusion.
Other policies pay out relatively low amounts - typically 5,000 for adults who are made totally disabled and just 1,000 for a child under 18.
In some cases, insurers also pay out less to adults over the age of 75. And if your loved one's body needs to be flown home, some insurers give only a set amount.
Sneaky catches if you lose your cash
If your items are lost or stolen on holiday or your baggage is delayed, recouping the cost from a travel insurer should be straightforward.
But many of the cheaper deals cover only a fraction of the value of an item. They offer headline-grabbing payouts but often anything classed as a valuable - for instance, smartphones, jewellery or laptops - is limited to a tiny amount nowhere near the value of the item.
Insuratrip.com's standard cover offered to a couple in their 70s heading to Spain will pay 100. Claims for valuables under Big Blue Cover's economy policy are also limited to this sum. But a new smartphone can cost around 600, while an iPad is 499.
If your items are lost or stolen on holiday or your baggage is delayed, recouping the cost from a travel insurer should be straightforward. But many of the cheaper deals cover only a fraction of the value of an item
Cheaper.travelinsurance.co.uk's bronze policy will pay out 250 in total per person for lost and stolen money. But just 150 of this can be cash - not cards - and if your money goes missing on a beach, you are limited to 50.
Puffin Insurance will pay out 250 for personal money with its bronze policy, but there's a 200 excess.
CUT YOUR TRAVEL MONEY COSTS Most credit and debit cards will charge hefty fees of around 3 per cent for foreign transactions, with extra charges for withdrawing cash abroad. There are several current accounts and credit cards which offer reduced fees or waive overseas charges altogether. If you would rather not change banks, currency cards offer holidaymakers the chance to load up a card with money to spend while they are away and potentially benefit from lower rates. Travellers should make sure these rates are better than their bank and check all the small print but typically these cards offer highly competitive exchange rates plus zero exchange rate fees. You can find out more about how these cards can help you save money and where to find the best deals in our roundup here. FairFX is also offering This is Money and MailOnline readers a free MasterCard prepaid card, which usually costs 9.95. By Emma Gunn
This means there's no point claiming for anything less than 200. If you've taken a lot of cash - as many did during the height of the Greek debt crisis last year, when cash machines closed - you may find only a small portion of it is covered.
Claiming a payout poses a further challenge. Some firms add sneaky loopholes - for instance, alpha travelinsurance.co.uk will pay a maximum of just 50 for items stolen next to a lido.
Items are considered unattended and are therefore not covered if they are not on your person or kept in a locked car boot in daylight hours.
When snorkelling voids your cover
All sorts of companies, from airlines to ferries and credit card providers, flog cheap travel insurance.
But industry analysis covering the whole insurance market reveals that there are vast differences in what policies cover.
Most deals insure travellers up to the age of 75 or even 80. But we discovered 64 policies with an upper age limit of 60.
And hidden in the small print are lists of common holiday activities for which you don't have any protection at all - even if they are not that adventurous.
Hidden in the small print of many deals are lists of common holiday activities such as snorkelling for which you don't have any protection at all
We discovered four policies that won't pay out if you're injured snorkelling and another 153 won't give you any cash for claims involving banana boating - where you ride on an inflatable raft pulled by a speedboat.
And if you fancy topping off your trip with a sedate flight in a hot air balloon - beware. We found 31 policies - largely sold by airlines and credit card providers - that won't cover you if something goes wrong.
Other deals have tough restrictions around cancelling your trip.
The majority will give you a refund if you are made redundant and can no longer afford to go. But 13 of the budget options will not.
Most firms will also refund members of the Armed Forces who have to cancel their trip because they have been called into action.
But we discovered that 148 travel insurance policies refuse to pay out in these circumstances.
Here's what the insurers had to say
A Flexicover spokesman says: 'Policy wordings are clearly laid out so a customer can make an informed choice before purchase.'
Alphatravelinsurance.co. uk says: 'We use excesses to reduce the premium that a customer pays.'
An insuratrip.com spokesman says: 'We would always strongly recommend that customers read the policy wording before purchase to ensure an insurance policy meets their needs.'
Puffin Insurance managing director James Clarke says: 'If you buy products with more comprehensive coverage at a higher premium, then the excesses are far lower.'
InsureandGo insurance services, the firm behind cheaper.travel insurance.co.uk, travelinsurance.co.uk and InsureandGo Light, declined to comment.
Kevin Pratt, consumer affairs expert at moneysupermarket.com, says: 'If you want a higher level of insurance for your belongings, including gadgets, you need to shop around for the right cover, and it might cost a bit more.'
A gocompare.com spokesman says: 'Along with the premium, we clearly display medical, cancellation and baggage cover levels and excesses, as well as star ratings from independent financial researcher Defaqto.'
A comparethemarket.com spokesman says: 'While products are initially ranked by price, we also highlight the quality of each policy in order to help our customers make the most suitable choice for them.
'Customers can filter products by their Defaqto star rating as well as limits and excesses.'
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.
When young Finnish backpackers Lina and Stephie arrived in Australia for their 'trip of a lifetime', a dose of misfortune meant they ended up working as barmaids in a rough pub in the outback town of Coolgardie in Western Australia.
The young women were prepared to make a go of it to recoup their depleted travelling funds. But they could not have predicted the sexual onslaught and abuse by drunken 'bogan' patrons that followed, or that their own boss taunting them for being 'stupid and 'reindeer, dolphin and seal' eaters.
In the film, Lina and Stephanie were just the latest female foreign backpackers which the Denver City Hotel replaced every three months, and the town's male population saw them as part of a game to see who could sleep with them first.
The current manager Debbie Ovens told Daily Mail Australia that the film was made several years ago and the practice was no longer happening at the Denver City Hotel, which had changed under her management.
But the drama of the Finnnish girls' experience was caught on film in a documentary which is now screening at the Sydney Film Festival this Friday called 'Hotel Coolgardie'.
Young Finnish backpackers Lina and Stephie (pictured) arrived in Australia for their 'trip of a lifetime', but a dose of misfortune meant they ended up working as barmaids in a rough pub in the outback town of Coolgardie
Lina and Stephie had always regarded Australia as 'on the top list of places to visit', but after being robbed in Bali they needed to find jobs to fund the remainder of their trip.
The two answered an advertisement for bar work at the last remaining hotel in Coolgardie, a dot on the map 560km east of Perth, Australia's most isolated city.
Once the third largest town in Western Australia during the gold rush in the 1890s with 700 mining companies, today Coolgardie is a virtual ghost town with a small population dependent on tourism.
Under the former management, the Denver City Hotel on Coolgardie's main street had a policy of hiring two new female bar staff four times a year.
Current manager Debbie Ovens, told Daily Mail Australia that the pub no longer hired new barmaids every three months.
The girls didn't realise that the Denver City Hotel in Coolgardie turned over foreign barmaids every three months and to locals the sign put up on their arrival (above) meant local men regarded them as 'fresh meat'
Stephie serves a beer in the early days of their stint at the hotel, but they were constantly berated for their poor bar skills and understanding of local bar slang
The Denver City Hotel is the only remaining pub in the former gold mining town of Coolgardie, 560km west of Perth, where a misogynist culture meant that the new female bar staff every three months were hot property
'We don't do that. I've been here about two-and-a-half years and yeah that's old.' She said the former owner was no longer at the Denver City and that the customers who featured in the film who still frequent the hotel 'look much older now, so it might have been made eight or nine years ago, I don't know.'
At the time of making the film the arrival every three months of a new pair of foreign backpackers to work at the only bar in town was a hotly anticipated event, and film producer Pete Gleeson was lured by the premise as a great story for a fly-on-the-wall documentary.
He captured Lina and Stephie on the train to Coolgardie admitting they had 'no idea' where they were going, and the bar's former owner placing a blackboard outside the hotel announcing 'New Girls Tonite!!'.
The arrival of two young strangers in town was described by one local as a delivery of 'fresh meat'.
On the train to Coolgardie the two Finnish backpackers Lina (left) and Stephie don't know what to expect but they are looking forward to eraning some money after being robbed in Bali
In the first days Lina (pictured) said they were really excited to have jobs and they introduced themselves to all the locals who seemed welcoming
After an initial welcome (pictured), the hotel becomes something of a madhouse as the night wore on
What unfolds before Pete Gleeson's camera is far from the working holiday the two young woman expected to top up their travel funds to get home
As they glimpse the edges of town when the train draws into Coolgardie 560km west of Perth the girls say 'okay now we are in the middle of nowhere' but they have no idea how isolated they really are
What unfolds before Pete Gleeson's camera is far from the working holiday the two young woman expected to top up their travel funds to get home.
The two Finns are replacing Becky and Clio who are wrapping up their three month contract. The film maker interviews male patrons who make it obvious how they see the girls as just their next sexual conquest.
Men ask for sexual favours over the bar, customers get drunk and as the night wears on they dance on the bar or roll around the pub.
The girls' boss calls them 'dumb as dog s**t' when they get mixed up about what particular draught of beer a patron has ordered.
The two girls set out to walk to their new workplace, unaware that they will be regarded as 'fresh meat' and fair game for any man in town who wants to sleep with them
The ladies have a drink together while in the bar of the Denver City Hotel in Coolgardie
It's a very male dominated environment, but the women townsfolk seemed to hold their own in the bar
At first, the girls were welcomed, offered drinks and shown how to pulls a beer, but as the night wore on the pub became something of a madhouse.
'Everyone was helping and it was really nice to meet people,' Lina said. 'We were really excited. We were in a new place and we had a new job.'
But after a few beers, things take a turn. Men constantly hit on them, like one patron who shouts to Stephie over the bar 'we'd like sex. It'll be bad but it'll be very quick, so I hope that not too much of a problem.'
Lina said the locals objectified the girls because 'It was like people were making us "the others" so they could feel "normal" ... identifying who is not in the gang by picking differences such as race, gender or language'
One drinker showed the girls a photo album full of pictures of naked barmaids.
At one point when Lina (above) miscues a particular beer order, her boss Pete says 'maybe she's a as dumb as dog s**t. I mean you can take a horse to water, but you can't make it drink'
Some of the previous barmaids loved the culture at the Denver City Hotel and stuck around even after their three month stint had ended
The two Finns are replacing Becky and Clio who are wrapping up their three month contract. The film maker interviews male patrons who make it obvious how they see the girls as just their next sexual conquest
Men hang around outside the door of the rooms, hoping to be allowed in. Lina comes home one night after her shift to find a passed out patron on her couch, hopeful of an invitation into her bed.
'We were in need of money and had to suck it up. When we were working, we tried to just keep face so that we could keep our job . . . It was just terrible,' Lina said later.
Their boss harangues them for any mistake with the drinks they serve, infuriated by their poor bar skills, ignorance of the local culture and bar slang.
At one point when Lina miscues a particular beer order, he says 'maybe she's a as dumb as dog s**t. I mean you can take a horse to water, but you can't make it drink'.
Lina, pictured at the pub soon after arrival was captured on film by documentary film producer Pete Gleeson was lured by the premise as a great story for a fly-on-the-wall documentary
Stephie said that as a tourist location Coolgardie in Western Australia 'doesn't get any stars from me.'
Sitting at the bar, he and a woman start asking what people eat in Finland, saying 'Now listen, what do ya eat in Finland. Ya eat seals and s**t don't ya? Reindeer? Dolphins, seals?'
The person who shows them the most respect is John, a toothless old man the locals nickname 'the Canman' who is the town recycler.
John steps in among the relentless barrage of abuse and sexual aggression to offer a kinder side to the foreigners.
Lina and Stephie do befriend some of the town's young men and go away with them on a camping trip, which does not end as expected.
'Hotel Coolgardie' premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in May. Director Gleeson told the Canadian Broadcast Company that he was interested in exploring the misogynistic attitudes among the outback Australian men in the town, as well as themes of how outsiders fit in.
Men hang around outside the door of the rooms, hoping to be allowed in. Lina comes home one night after her shift to find a passed out patron on her couch, hopeful of an invitation into her bed
The person who shows them the most respect is John, a toothless old man the locals nickname 'the Canman' who is the town recycler
Lina (pictured) and Stephie did make some friends among some of the men who were patrons of the hotel in the West Australian outback
But he said not everyone in town was like that and that there was 'a lot of humanity in some of the guys there'.
Lina said that if the girls had had more money they would have left the town.
'If we had been in a better economic situation, we would have left the same day we arrived in Coolgardie,' she told Brag magazine.
'Every day we got [told] that we were stupid or dumb as a horse. I have a master's degree in economics.
'Racism got a whole new meaning for me in Coolgardie.
The drama is caught on film in a documentary, said by the hotels current manager to have been shot several years ago, which screens at the Sydney Film Festival this Friday called 'Hotel Coolgardie' which depicts the trials of Lina (above) and her friend Stephie
'It was like people were making us "the others" so they could feel "normal" ... identifying who is not in the gang by picking differences such as race, gender or language.'
She considered that maybe some of the locals reactions to them was 'showing off' or because 'maybe they are scared of being hurt ... or don't even know they are sexist.'
Lina hoped that the film was 'an eye opener. It was difficult to be in a foreign country with no money, no family and without any support system.
'The people we were supposed to rely on were the ones who treated us the worst.'
Stephie said that as a tourist location Coolgardie in Western Australia 'doesn't get any stars from me.'
A federal judge ruled Monday that the police chief of a small Cajun town violated the civil rights of a woman who says he tied her up with a belt and forced her into sex acts in his office while she was drunk and he was on duty.
Earl Theriot, 68, resigned as Sorrento police chief in 2014 after admitting lying to the FBI about his 'sexual encounter' with the woman, 44, in a plea deal. That criminal case saw him getting two years' probation.
Now, in a civil lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick has ruled that the woman was legally incapable of consenting to sex with Theriot given how drunk she was at the time of their November 1, 2013, encounter.
Resigned: Earl Theriot (pictured in 2010) resigned as police chief of Sorrento in 2014 after admitting to lying to the FBI about having a sexual encounter with a drunk woman. Now she's filed a lawsuit saying he assaulted her
In court: A judge ruled that the Theriot (pictured Monday) had violated the woman's civil rights in their 2013 encounter by engaging in sex acts with her when she was too drunk to properly give consent
On the night before she crossed paths with Theriot, the woman went out drinking with friends. One of them dropped her off at a gas station, where she fell asleep.
The next day, Theriot, who is married, responded to a 911 call and found the intoxicated woman in the gas station's parking lot.
He placed her in the front seat of his police vehicle - without handcuffs - and briefly stopped in front of her home before driving her to the police station. That's where their accounts diverge.
The woman claims Theriot used the threat of jail to coerce her into having sex. She also accused Theriot of taking off her belt and restraining her with it.
Theriot's lawyers deny that he restrained the woman. In a court filing, they claim the woman has 'inexplicably' changed her story after originally telling the FBI that she initiated the 'sexual contact.'
Theriot received the two years of probation in 2014; the plea deal for the criminal case required him to resign from his post in Sorrento.
At the end of the daylong trial for the woman's civil lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick put off a decision on whether Theriot owes the woman any monetary damages.
And she didn't immediately rule from the bench on whether the town is liable for the woman's claims against it.
Troubled: Theriot (pictured with his wife) was Sorrento's police chief for 12 years, during which his department was barraged with complaints against his officers. Locals voted to disband the department last year
Theriot received the two years of probation in 2014; the plea deal for the criminal case required him to resign from his post in Sorrento.
Theriot, the town's police chief for 12 years, 'knew or should have known' of the woman's inability to consent and failed to meet his obligation to 'protect and serve,' Dick said after hearing testimony without a jury.
She didn't say when she would issue a written ruling on damages and the town's liability.
The woman said her encounter with Theriot left her her 'in a state of shock and fear.'
'Did you do it because you wanted to?' asked her attorney, Tregg Wilson.
'No,' she said, reaching for a tissue to wipe away her tears. 'I did what he told me to.'
She added that the encounter made her feel ashamed and suicidal.
Theriot's attorneys claimed the woman initiated the 'unconsummated' sexual encounter to save herself from jail.
'I thought we presented a good case and the question was the credibility of the plaintiff versus the case we put on,' Sally Fleming, Theriot's attorney, said to KSLA 12.
'I was surprised the judge found the plaintiff to be sufficiently credible to find liability on Mr. Theriot.'
Surprised: Theriot's attorney said she was 'surprised' the judge sided with the woman in her civil suit. Theriot had previously received two years' probation after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI
Theriot himself took the stand but refused to answer questions from the woman's attorney. He asserted his right against self-incrimination in response to all ten questions posed by the lawyer.
Sorrento's police force was plagued by other allegations of officer misconduct before residents voted in November 2014 to abolish the department.
Sheriff's deputies now patrol the town of roughly 1,500 people.
The town fired an officer who shocked a college student with a stun gun in 2009 to demonstrate how the device worked.
It also fired an officer whose patrol car's tracking device showed it exceeding 75mph more than 700 times in two months, The Advocate newspaper reported.
Mayor Mike Lambert, who took office in 2013, said the town's six-officer police department spiraled out of control under Theriot and became 'one hell of a mess,' dogged by so many lawsuits and other problems that an insurance company dropped its coverage.
'The people of Sorrento were scared of the police department,' Lambert said in an interview. 'We had to make some drastic changes.'
Theriot and his accuser both declined to comment on the judge's decision Monday.
A ruling is expected some time next month.
Magistrate Belinda Wallington declared he did not need mother's support
His lawyer requested his mother remain in court during witness evidence
He appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court with two co-accused brothers
A man accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl was denied a request for his mother be present in court while a witness gave evidence at his hearing.
Allan Wild, 29, faced Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday charged with the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl in Geelong in November last year.
He was accompanied by brothers and co-accused Kevin Wild, 28, and Brodie Wild, 20, who each face the same charges.
Allan Wild (pictured), 29, faced Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday charged with the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl in Geelong in November last year
Mr Wild's lawyer requested his mother (pictured leaving court in November) be present in the courtroom as a young witness gave evidence. The request was rejected by Magistrate Belinda Wallington
An application to close the court to allow a young witness to provide evidence via video-link was protested by Allan's lawyer Theo Kassimatis, according to Herald Sun.
Mr Kassimatis then requested Mr Wild's mother be present in the courtroom as the boy gave evidence.
The request was rejected by Magistrate Belinda Wallington stating he did not need to be supported by his mother, according to the news report.
The boy's witness statement was reportedly not made available to media by prosecutors, despite media access being granted by Ms Wallington.
It is alleged the girl was approached while walking with a male friend in St Alban's Park, a Geelong suburb, and was physically carried by the men to a nearby home where she was allegedly sexually assaulted during the morning of November 1.
The three brothers were reportedly each charged with two other sex offences.
The pre-trial committal hearing continues.
The court was told during an earlier hearing that Allan's brother and co-accused, Kevin, (pictured) bragged about the assault to friends
Multimillionaire tobacco tycoon Travers Beynon has won a legal battle against a news program amid a string of segments about The Candyman's controversial lifestyle.
Nine Network's A Current Affair ran several stories about Mr Beynon's extravagant events, wild parties and bikini-clad models at his Gold Coast mansion on its program in May and June of last year.
However, Mr Beynon hit back at ACA by staging a 'mock execution' of a blonde woman with a striking resemblance to reporter Leisa Goddard during his $500,000 'party of a lifetime'.
Scroll down for video
Tobacco tycoon Travers Beynon (pictured center), or The Candyman, has reportedly won a legal battle against Nine Network's A Current Affair after the program aired a string of segments about his controversial lifestyle
The Candyman lodged a formal complaint to the Australian Communications and Media Authority over ACA's portrayal of his family and claims that his children were exposed to his raunchy parties
His lawyer Chris Nyst lodged a formal complaint in July 2015 to the Australian Communications and Media Authority over the program's portrayal of The Candyman and his family.
The media watchdog has now ruled that Nine breached the Commercial Television Code of Practice by allowing the segments to go to air about how his children were exposed to his raunchy lifestyle.
'The ACMA considers that these interviews which included specific allegations concerning identifiable children and a reference to the prognosis of one child by a psychologist, disclosed information about the childrens family relationships, health and welfare, that was highly sensitive personal information,' according to the ACMA investigation report obtained by Daily Mail Australia.
Since the information was aired in multiple segments, the 'material therefore invaded the privacy of Mr Beynon's children,' ACMA ruled.
Last year, Mr Beynon hit back at ACA by staging a 'mock execution' (right) of a blonde woman with a striking resemblance to reporter Leisa Goddard (left) during his $500,000 'party of a lifetime'
Mr Beynon posted a video of himself taking aim and shooting a boat out of the water that carried two stunt people one a blonde woman with a striking resemblance to the A Current Affair reporter
The Nine Network submitted a response to Mr Beynon's complaint, claiming they did not breach the privacy of Mr Beynon or his children because of his expansive social media presence and public persona The Candyman.
'In connection with his Candyman persona, [Mr Beynons] has elected to disclose, publicise and disseminate both the names and images of his four children (including the three who were under 16) widely and publicly on the internet,' representatives for the Nine Network said.
The Nine Network declined to comment on the findings because the report was not publicly disclosed by ACMA.
'The ACMA decided not to publish the report out of concern that there be no further impact on the children's privacy,' an ACMA spokeswoman said.
'In response to the breach finding, Nine has agreed to notify relevant staff and provide guidance and training on how to better comply with the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice.'
Nine has also agreed to remove the material from its website, the spokeswoman said.
Journalist Leisa Goddard, who was the lead reporter on several of the ACA segments featuring Mr Beynon, has since left her position with the Nine Network.
'We mutually agreed for Leisa not to renew her contract to allow her to concentrate on her PR business based in Brisbane,' the spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman said Ms Goddard's decision to leave the network is not related to Mr Beynon or the ACMA ruling.
This isn't the first time Mr Beynon has sought legal actions against his critics and won.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has reportedly ruled that Nine breached the Commercial Television Code of Practice by allowing the segments about The Candyman's family to go on air
The Nine Network submitted a response to Mr Beynon's complaint, claiming they did not breach the privacy of Mr Beynon or his children because of his expansive social media presence and public persona The Candyman
Last October, he won $25,000 in defamation damages from his former nanny Michelle Manthey who alleged that Mr Beynon's daughters were watching as a nude photoshoot of his wife was taken.
The District Court heard Manthey alleged in a tearful interview with ACA that the party king's daughters were watching as pictures were taken of his wife covered in raw seafood.
But in awarding the damages, Judge Paul Smith said Mr Beynon - who sought $100,000 - would receive 'far less' damages than a person without a reputation of posting pictures of 'bare-breasted' and 'barely clad' women at his home online.
Mr Beynon rose to prominence in 2014 after social media pictures of his party lifestyle - which closely resembles that of Los Angeles Instagram personality Dan Bilzerian - went viral.
Last year, Mr Beynon won $25,000 in defamation damages from his former nanny Michelle Manthey (pictured) who alleged that his daughters were watching as a nude photoshoot of his wife was taken
Not a stranger to controversy, Mr Beynon was labelled 'degrading' and 'chauvinistic' with critics comparing his mansion to a zoo, in which he went out and adopted a pet pig and three peacocks.
He named the pig Chauvinistic, in which no doubt was a dig at his many critics who have used that word to describe him, including one of his ex-girlfriends.
The former AFL player turned playboy lives with his wife Taesha and four children at the $3.7 million six-bedroom luxury pad in an exclusive riverside residence.
In June last year, his former blonde girlfriend Kirsty Engelmann dropped a bombshell on what life was really like beyond the gates of the extravagant property.
Mr Beynon (center) rose to prominence in 2014 after social media pictures of his party lifestyle - which closely resembles that of Los Angeles Instagram personality Dan Bilzerian - went viral
The former AFL player turned playboy lives with his wife Taesha (right) and four children at the $3.7 million six-bedroom luxury pad in an exclusive riverside residence
She grabbed global attention after a controversial image emerged of her being led around on all fours by her bikini strap - alongside her best friend and the mother of Mr Beynon's two kids, Taesha.
Appearing on ACA last November, she claimed Mr Beynon's 16-year-old son took the 'degrading' photo of her and his step mum crawling on the driveway.
The blonde beauty, who stormed out of the party pad last year, admitted she didn't feel comfortable being photographed on her hands and knees but she 'had to do it'.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told some of his most high-profile campaign supporters in a conference call on Monday that they should help him escalate his attacks on a Hispanic judge presiding over a fraud lawsuit against him and criticize reporters who question the tactic.
Bloomberg reported that Trump was quick to distance himself from a memo a junior campaign aide sent Sunday to 'surrogates' a political catch-all term referring to public figures who help candidates amplify their messages which urged them to to stop speaking publicly about Judge Gonzalo Curiel.
'Take that order and throw it the hell out!' Trump said, according to people on the call who spoke with Bloomberg.
'Are there any other stupid letters that were sent to you folks? ... That's one of the reasons I want to have this call, because you guys are getting sometimes stupid information from people that aren't so smart.'
Donald Trump (left) told his high-profile supporters to help him bash Judge Gonzalo Curiel (right), a Mexican-American jurist whom Trump believes is biased against him because of his immigration and border policies
Trump said Sunday on CNN that the judge should recuse himself from hearing a fraud lawsuit centered on Trump University, a now-defunct series of real estate business seminars
The emailed memo had cautioned that the 'Trump University' fraud case should be 'tried in the courtroom in front of a jury not in the media.'
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks told Reuters that Monday's Trump-venting 'was a very positive call to discuss overall messaging.'
But much of what Bloomberg reported about the call consisted of snipes from the Republican presidential candidate and warning shots to reporters who would get in his way.
'I should have won this thing years ago,' an irritated Trump said of the lawsuit, according to Bloomberg.
And the billionaire told his supporters they should be attacking journalists who lodge uncomfortable questions about how he has pilloried the American-born Judge Curiel as a 'Mexican' who harbors a deep-seated bias against him on the bench because he plans to erect a wall between the U.S. and Mexico if he's elected.
'The people asking the questions those are the racists,' Trump said. 'I would go at em.'
There is some support for the idea that judges' nationality can have an outsize impact on judicial decisions.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said as much during a 2001 speech, published by the Berkeley La Raza Law Journal.
Jurists' sex & ethnicity 'may and will make a difference in our judging,' she said then.
Trump supporters Tana Goertz told CNN on Monday that Trump had told his supporters on the conference call not to be afraid to 'call out the media' when TV reporters suggest that Trump is racist.
Goertz and fellow Trump-backer Scottie Nell Hughes said former Arizona Governor Jan Brewer told participants that she wanted the campaign to go on offense against Democratic nominee-in-waiting Hillary Clinton.
Trump, meanwhile, rejected a barrage of criticism from some in his own party over his allegations of unfair treatment by Curiel.
'All I want to do is figure out why I'm being treated unfairly by a judge. And a lot of people agree with it,' Trump said on Fox News.
He has been on the defensive since his comments on May 27 about Curiel, who is overseeing the class-action lawsuit against Trump University, the New York businessman's defunct real estate school.
Clinton has also come forward to castigate him.
'I don't know what else you could call these attacks other than racist, other than prejudiced, other than bigoted,' she said in an interview with MSNBC on Monday.
'It's just plain wrong, and certainly wrong coming from someone who is vying to become President of the United States.'
Trump has suggested that Curiel's heritage is influencing the judge's opinion about the case because of Trump's campaign rhetoric about illegal immigration.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the Nov. 8 presidential election, has pledged to seal the U.S.-Mexico border with a wall, and has said Mexico is sending rapists and drug dealers to the United States.
Former Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, joined the chorus of criticism. In an interview with Orlando's WFTV, Rubio called Trump's comments wrong and said he had to stop.
'I ran for president and I warned this was going to happen,' Rubio said.
Trump has regularly stirred up controversy on the campaign trail and has frequently dismayed Republican establishment leaders. His view of an ethnically biased judiciary has drawn a fresh wave of criticism, including concern in his own party.
On Sunday he was asked if by the same token he believed a Muslim judge would be biased against him based on Trump's call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country. 'It's possible. Yes,' Trump said on CBS' 'Face the Nation.'
Republican leaders including House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell have distanced themselves from Trump's comments, saying they are worried the tone of his presidential campaign could enrage Latinos, who are a growing U.S. voting bloc.
'If this doesn't change we're in for big trouble,' Senator Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, said on MSNBC on Monday. 'I hope to be able to support the nominee. I certainly can't now,' said Flake, whose state has a large percentage of Hispanics.
A former rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Ohio Governor John Kasich, called on Trump to apologize to Curiel, who was born in Indiana to Mexican immigrant parents.
Martin Shkreli, the 'Pharma bro' who jacked up the price of life-saving medication meant to help cancer and HIV sufferers by 5,000 per cent, has pleaded not guilty to new charges in his security fraud case.
Shkreli, 32, appeared Monday in federal court in New York City and declined to speak to reporters as he left the courthouse.
Shkreli was hit with additional charges on Friday alongside his former lawyer Evan Greebel over their time at Retrophin Inc. based in San Diego.
Martin Shkreli, 32, (pictured) appeared Monday in federal court in New York City to plead not guilty to additional fraud charges
Shkreli and his former lawyer Evan Greebe are accused of handing stock to seven employees of the company
The pair are now accused of handing stock to seven employees of the company in order to hide Shkreli's ownership of it, which amounts to conspiracy to commit fraud.
Greebel also pleaded not guilty on Monday.
Shkreli's attorney has said the securities fraud prosecution is based on a 'flawed theory'.
A trial is expected early next year.
Shkreli, who was the CEO of Retrophin until he was ousted by the board in 2014, has already pleaded not guilty to charges of plundering the company's assets in order to pay down debts from his hedge funds.
Prosecutors say Shkreli lost his investors' money and then tried to use the assets from Retrophin in order to pay them back, which would be considered an $11million Ponzi scheme.
Shkreli rose to public attention after Turing Pharmaceuticals, the company he founded in 2014 shortly after leaving Retrophin, bought an old medication called Daraprim.
The employees were given stock in order to hide Shkreli's ownership of it, which amounts to an $11million ponzi scheme
The firm then hiked the cost of the drug, used to treat a potentially lethal parasitic infection in cancer and HIV-positive patients, by 50 times overnight.
Shkreli publicly defended the move, saying the revenue was needed to fund Turing's research efforts, and protested that the inflated price was still below market rate.
Most motorists spotting a group of wild bears during a drive with their family would insist on looking on from afar with the windows tightly shut.
But when Alexander Belonovich drove past two brown bear cubs in Belomorsky District, north-west Russia, he decided offer them food, including wafers and low-calorie cream cheese.
In footage posted online, one of the animals puts his claws over the car window to have a look inside, as a young boy plays on a tablet computer on the back seat.
Most motorists spotting a group of wild bears during a drive with their family would insist on looking on from afar with the windows tightly shut
But when Alexander Belonovich drove past two brown bear cubs in Belomorsky District, north-west Russia, he decided to feed them treats, including wafers and low-calorie cream cheese
Although brown bears rarely attack humans, they can be dangerous, particularly if someone gets between a mother and her cubs.
Mr Belonovich saw the cubs by the side of the road between the villages of Pushnoy and Lekhta.
He wound down the window and offered them food, which they ate greedily like household pets.
As the animals munched through the food - which included two loaves of black bread, four packs of cream cheese and two wafers - Mr Belonovich even got out of the car to have a closer look.
At one point, one of the animals is seen putting his claws over the car window to have a look inside, as a young boy (pictured) plays on a tablet computer on the back seat
Although brown bears rarely attack humans, they can be dangerous, particularly if someone gets between a mother and her cubs
As the animals munched through the food - which included two loaves of black bread, four packs of cream cheese and two wafers - Mr Belonovich even got out of the car to have a closer look
Brown bears are the world's largest terrestrial carnivores. They are distributed widely across much of northern Eurasia, as well as North America
'During filming, no one was hurt,' he reassured viewers on a video-sharing website.
Nadezhda Myagchikhina commented: 'Oh wow. What kind of bears are these? Didnt you feel scared feeding them like that?'
A paraglider was left fearing he could drop out of the sky after an eagle tore two holes in his chute with its talons.
Ozgur Cicek was paragliding over Bademagaci village in the north of Turkeys Antalya Province, near the Mediterranean coast, when the bird swooped down towards him.
The Turkish thrill-seeker screamed at the eagle to scare it away, but the beast continued taking swipes at the nylon.
Ozgur Cicek was paragliding over Bademagaci village in the north of Turkeys Antalya Province, near the Mediterranean coast, when the bird swooped down towards him
The Turkish thrill-seeker screamed at the eagle to scare it away, but the beast tore two holes in the fabric of his parachute with its talons
Footage of the incident was caught on Mr Cicek's helmet-mounted camera.
The eagle attacked several times for more than a minute, forcing him to make an emergency landing in a field.
As Mr Cicek touched the ground, he said: 'Now Im a paraglider whos survived an eagle attack.'
When he later inspected the parachute, he realised the damage the eagle had done.
Writing on a video-sharing website, he commented: 'He pierced a hole in the parachute in two different places!'
The eagle attacked him several times from high above for over a minute before Mr Cicek eventually managed to land safely in a field
An investigation into the escape of two murderers from an upstate prison last year concluded Monday that the men should have been caught 400 times before their widely publicized prison break.
The report from State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott says that chronic staff complacency, complicit employees and failures of basic security procedures were to blame for the breakout of David Sweat and Richard Matt from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York.
Scott's report said security lapses at the maximum-security facility located 25 miles south of the Canadian border were longstanding.
More than dozen photos included in the report show the tools the men used to escape along with notes that they left for authorities to find after they left.
Security lapses: An investigation into the prison escape of David Sweat (left) and his former cohort Richard Matt (right) concluded that failures of basic security procedures were to blame
Pictured above are notes left by Matt inside his cell at maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility at the time of the escape. The one on the right shows Tony Soprano with the message 'Time To Go Kid! 6-5-15'
The morning of their escape, authorities found a dummy (above) inside Sweat's cell at the prison
The two convicted murderers used power tools to cut through steel pipes at maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York. Pictured above is one of the holes they cut along with the note
Sweat also left notes inside the prison, as the photo on the left shows a sticky note left on a steam pipe and the image on the right was left under B-Block
A photograph taken inside the prison at the facility shows Corrections Officers left to right Eugene Palmer, Marcy Lamar, Theodore Sweet and Scott Giguere. Cell phones were not allowed inside the prison
'The extent of complacency and failure to adhere to the most basic security standards uncovered by my investigation was egregious and inexcusable,' Scott said
Correction authorities have implemented changes, and many Clinton employees have resigned or been fired, she said.
The lapses include failures to search entering employees' bags, negligent night counts of inmates, inadequate cell searches and poor supervision of inmates and civilian employees by security staff, she said.
Prison officials didn't immediately comment Monday on the inspector general's report.
Matt, who had been serving 25 years to life for the killing of his former boss, and Sweat, who had been serving life without parole in the killing of a sheriff's deputy, cut holes in the backs of their cells during recreation periods with saws and other tools smuggled in by a civilian employee of the tailor shop where they worked.
CLINTON CORRECTIONAL FACILITY SECURITY LAPSES State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott's report about the breakout of David Sweat and Richard Matt said security lapses at the maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility at Dannemora, 25 miles south of the Canadian border, were longstanding. 'The extent of complacency and failure to adhere to the most basic security standards uncovered by my investigation was egregious and inexcusable,' Scott said. Correction authorities have implemented changes, and many Clinton employees have resigned or been fired, she said. The lapses found at the facility include the following: Failures to search employees' bags entering the prison
Negligent night counts of inmates
Inadequate cell searches
Poor supervision of inmates
Poor supervision of civilian employees by security staff Advertisement
Pictured above is the contractor's gang box in which Sweat found tools inside to use in the escape
Pictured above chisels, punch, hacksaw blade pieces and unused drill bits were found left by Sweat inside the tunnel
Pictured above are remnants of painted tape that was used to conceal cuts in Matt's and Sweat's cell walls
Pictured above is a cut-out piece of wall and attached air duct that was found in Sweat's cell at the prison
Pictured above is the first major obstacle in the tunnels - pipe chase between B-Block and C-Block
They cut their way through their cell walls, climbed down catwalks and through tunnels, cut into and out of a large steam pipe and then exited through a manhole.
They left behind a taunting note containing a crude caricature of an Asian face and the words 'Have a nice day.'
The tailor shop employee, Joyce Mitchell, who's now in state prison for providing the escape tools, had improper sexual relationships with each man, the report said.
She talked about leaving with them and killing her husband, also a prison instructor, it said. Her husband was unharmed.
The report also showed photographs of the tools they used, the dummy found in Sweats cell on the morning of the escape and a Sopranos-themed note left for guards.
Pictured above is a hole in the rear wall of Matt's cell that accessed a catwalk as the bed frame is in the foreground
The catwalk area behind Sweat's and Matt's cells with holes visible is pictured above
Pictured above is a breach in the wall between C-Block and Industry Building tunnel with removed bricks placed on pipes
Just inside C-Block a plate on the tunnel floor was found inside the facility
Over the course of about 85 nights, Sweat climbed down catwalks into the tunnels under the prison, explored for possible escape routes and cut through large steam pipes and the chain on the manhole cover where they got out.
More than 400 inmate bed checks should have occurred in that period, and any one properly conducted would have detected Sweat's absence, according to the report.
Guard Gene Palmer, who took the men pliers and a screwdriver and frozen meat in which Mitchell hid saw blades, was convicted of promoting prison contraband and was sentenced to six months in jail.
Mitchell also smuggled a road atlas to Matt and placed telephone calls inquiring about rental cabins in Vermont, which Matt had suggested as a potential place to go after the escape.
The cabins were too expensive, however, and Matt said they would head to Mexico, where he said he had ties to a drug cartel.
A light from the tailor shop's sewing machine was found inside Sweat's cell. The light was attached to the arm of broken eyeglasses that were smuggled into the prison by Mitchell
Sweat also made some sort of cooling apparatus (left) and pictured right is a rust-stained t-shirt
Pictured above is an eight-pound sledge hammer that Sweat found next to the 'gang box' inside the tunnel
Pictured above left is the open gate in the tunnel at the entrance to the generating plant and on the right is the manhole cover just outside of the plant
The two inmates even chose aliases: Sweat picked James Tuttle, and Matt opted for Tony Goya.
A three-week manhunt followed the escape, with up to 1,300 state, federal and local law enforcement personnel that cost the state $22.8million in overtime.
Matt was shot dead by searchers June 26 in a wooded area 30 miles west of the prison. Sweat was shot and captured two days later near the Canadian border.
Sweat pleaded guilty to escape charges and was ordered to pay restitution for some of the $573,000 in repair costs.
Mitchell, the tailor shop employee, pleaded guilty to charges related to providing hacksaw blades and other tools to the inmates.
Palmer, the guard, pleaded guilty to a felony count of promoting prison contraband for taking in needle-nose pliers and a screwdriver and a misdemeanor official misconduct count.
In exchange for workout gloves, Matt painted a portrait of Joyce Mitchell's pet dogs (above)
A body of a 75-year-old woman has been found inside her Tasmania home after it was inundated with flood waters.
Police recovered the body of Mary Kathleen Allford on Tuesday inside her home on Shale Road in Latrobe, in northern Tasmania, as two people remain missing amid the worst floods the state has seen in almost 90 years.
Search and rescue officers had to wait until flood waters receded to go into the property to be safely searched.
Scroll down for video
A stand up paddle boarder explores the flooded Bells Parade area, in the state's north, after the Mersey River broke its banks
Ms Allford's husband was airlifted by a Westpac Rescue Helicopter from the roof of the property on Monday.
A second woman was also plucked to safety near Evansdale, south of Launceston, after she was heard calling out to people in the dark.
One crewman on-board a helicopter was winched down to rescue her in the early hours of Tuesday morning in rainy and foggy conditions.
But the man she was travelling with remains missing after their car was swept away early overnight as they were delivering newspapers.
Police also hold fears for an 81-year-old man was carried off by floodwaters at his Ouse property.
He has been named by the ABC as Trevor Foster.
Jet skiiers jump waves as large swells roll into the Mersey River in Devonport
The Mersey River breaks its banks and floods several small towns cutting of road access across the coast
Volunteers in kayaks help rescue the surviving cows and bulls which were washed downstream when the Mersey River flooded
Footage from rescuers on board the Westpac Rescue Helicopter in Tasmania as they searched for a woman who has since been rescued
The woman was plucked to safety near Evansdale, south of Launceston, after she was heard calling out to people in the dark. Another photo from rescuers
Mr Foster was swept away in flood waters from his property in Ouse about 8am on Monday.
The search and rescue operation to locate the missing man re-commenced on Tuesday about 8am at Ouse.
Police are utilising police search and rescue specialists, marine police, and SES staff and volunteers.
The flood waters surrounding the property where Mr Foster was swept away have started to abate, but the area was still significantly affected by flood waters.
Historic Sherwood Hall at Bells Parade is swamped by flood waters as Tasmania experiences its worst flooding event in almost 90 years
Major flood warnings are current for five Tasmanian river systems. Above are two men helping a cow out of flood waters after the Mersey River broke banks
The floods gripping Tasmania are said to be the worst since 1929.
More than 100 people have been rescued by helicopter in the island state, and at least 100 homes have been inundated.
The Spirit of Tasmania ferry service, between Melbourne and Devonport, has been suspended until further notice.
Major flood warnings are current for five Tasmanian river systems.
Tasmania Police later on Tuesday morning said six men had been found safe near Schouten Island after taking shelter in their boat overnight.
Police are searching for a man smelling heavily of cigarettes over the sexual assault of a woman last month.
The unidentified woman had run out of petrol and was parked on the side of Wedderburn-Logan Road, near Doggets Lane in Wedderburn, a rural town north-west of Melbourne.
A dark coloured station wagon pulled ahead of her and the woman got out of her car, intending to use the drivers mobile phone to call for help.
But the man, aged in his mid-40s, grabbed the victim and sexually assaulted her, Victoria Police said in a statement on Tuesday.
Victoria Police have released a FACE image of a man that smelt heavily of cigarettes over the sexual assault of a woman last month
Investigators from the Sexual Crime Squad have now released a FACE image of the man wanted in relation to the sexual assault which occurred between 11.50pm on 13 May and 1.30am on 14 May.
The man is described as Caucasian, about 185cm tall, approximately 45-years-old, thickset and light coloured eyes.
At the time of the sexual assault the assailant had short hair, an unshaven two day growth and was wearing a coat, jeans and a cap.
He also smelt heavily of cigarettes.
Anyone with any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au
The woman had run out of petrol and was parked on the side of Wedderburn-Logan Road, near Doggets Lane in the rural town of Wedderburn
Motorists have been urged to fill up their petrol tanks now, as petrol prices are set to soar ahead of the long weekend.
Prices are expected to jump from a Sydney average of $1.14 per litre today to as much as $1.31 per litre by the end of the week, the NRMA predicts.
It comes as consumer watchdog ACCC's quarterly fuel report found that average prices for the first quarter of the 2016 calendar year reached a 17-year low.
Motorists are urged to fill up their petrol tanks now, as petrol prices are set to soar ahead of the long weekend
The cheapest price for regular unleaded is currently $1.094 per litre across a number of Caltex and 7-eleven service stations in Sydney's inner-west.
But the Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday found that prices last week jumped from $0.28 to an average $1.219 per litre for unleaded.
NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury warned that the low prices enjoyed by Australian motorists early this year have come to an end, as Singapore Mogas prices (Australia's international benchmark) had risen by almost $18US a barrel since January this year.
'Get in and fill up now is our message to families in the lead-up to this long weekend, as prices are about as low as we expect them to get before spiking throughout the week,' Mr Khoury said.
Prices are expected to jump from a Sydney average of $1.14 per litre today to as much as $1.31 per litre by the end of the week, the NRMA predicts
'While we expect the independents to remain largely competitive in the coming days, we are also bracing ourselves for an increase in average prices so if families can get in a fill up now, they should.'
Mr Khoury said it was not all bad news for motorists with the NSW Government's fuel reforms to be rolled out across NSW in the coming weeks expected to raise competition in the state's petrol market and potentially put downward pressure on prices.
'The NRMA believes the NSW Government's fuel reforms will impact the market where it matters most, at a grass-roots local level,' Mr Khoury said.
It comes as consumer watchdog ACCC's quarterly fuel report found that average prices for the first quarter of the 2016 calendar year reached a 17-year low
'By making real-time prices for all service stations across the state available to motorists, local service stations will have no choice but to compete for every litre sold.
'It's what the NRMA has been fighting to achieve for years, so as global factors that determine price movements may be working against us right now, sensible reforms are being put in place to give more power to motorists.'
Average prices in Sydney for diesel are $1.166 per litre with the cheapest at $1.059 per litre in Bass Hill.
Mr Khoury said he was unable to predict average prices beyond the end of this week, as factors surrounding petrol prices are 'volatile and unpredictable.'
NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury warned that the low prices enjoyed by Australian motorists early this year has come to an end
Passengers were trapped on Monday night on the Spirit of Tasmania ferry as the continuing atrocious weather saw all the sailings from Melbourne to Devonport in Tasmania cancelled.
The Herald Sun reports that the storms and debris left in the Mersey River on the northwest coast of Tasmania forced officials at the Port of Devonport to close down the port to all commercial traffic.
It meant that the ferry had to stay put in Melbourne on Monday night with all the passengers on board having to remain on the ship.
Scroll down for video
Passengers were trapped on Monday night on the Spirit of Tasmania ferry in Melbourne
'The Spirit of Tasmania will not be departing from Devonport or Melbourne until further notice,' a company statement said.
All passengers were accommodated on board the vessel last night, the announcement confirmed. The company is expected to provide more updates later on Tuesday.
There are currently flood warnings for five Tasmanian river systems as the huge storm that ravaged the New South Wales coastline moved south, with Victoria's weather bureau also keeping a close eye on the low pressure system that has caused havoc so far.
In January the weather was also to blame when the Spirit of Tasmania smashed into a busy pier after breaking free from its mooring during a freak storm.
The Mersey River breaks its banks and floods several small towns cutting of road access in Latrobe, Tasmania
A stand up paddle boarder explores the flooded Bells Parade area after the Mersey River broke its banks in Latrobe
Volunteers helped to rescue the surviving cows and bulls which were washed down river after the Mersey River flooded in Devonport
The historic Sherwood Hall at Bells Parade was swamped after the Mersey River broke its banks in Latrobe, Tasmania
Volunteers in kayaks help rescue the surviving cows and bulls from the Mersey River in Tasmania
Storms ravaged the New South Wales coastline and is now moving to Tasmania
Victoria's weather bureau also keeping a close eye on the low pressure system that has caused havoc so far
Bondi beach in Sydney was still feeling the after effects of the huge storm
People could only look on as the huge waves at Dee Why Point on Sydney crashed ashore
The likes of the The Beach Club at Collaroy in Sydney was left with extensive damage in the aftermath of the storm
Passengers will have had to spend an extra night sleeping in the Spirit of Tasmania's cabins (pictured) which were renovated last August
It was knocked loose when a massive thunderstorm and wild winds rolled across Melbourne and it whacked into a pier.
In this case, the passengers on board also had to spend a night stranded on the ship.
The MS Spirit of Tasmania is a superfast ropax ferry owned by TT-Line Pty. Ltd, and operates on the route between Melbourne and Devonport in Tasmania. It has 11 decks, with 222 cabins.
Advertisement
It has been almost 400 years since the famed Mayflower ship carried the Pilgrims to Massachusetts in 1620.
Now, just four years short of that historic landmark, a replica of the ship, called the Mayflower II, returned to its home port on Plymouth Bay Monday.
The Mayflower II had been undergoing an extensive restoration in the run-up to Plymouth's 400th anniversary in 2020.
The replica ship spent the last few winters being refurbished at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut.
Scroll down for video
People on a wharf, bottom, watch as the Mayflower II arrives in Plymouth Harbor, Monday, in Plymouth, Massachusetts
The 1957 replica of the famed ship that carried the Pilgrims to Massachusetts in 1620 has been undergoing an extensive restoration at the Henry B. DuPont Preservation Shipyard, at Mystic Seaport, in Mystic, Connectictut, in the run-up to Plymouth's 400th anniversary in 2020
People on a tour vessel, left, watch as the Mayflower II arrives in Plymouth Harbor. The Mayflower II is a major tourist attraction and an educational resource that annually draws thousands of student visitors
The Mayflower II passed through the Cape Cod Canal before docking back home on the Plymouth waterfront.
The Mayflower II is a major tourist attraction and an educational resource that annually draws thousands of student visitors.
Nonprofit museum Plimoth Plantation says on its blog: 'Mayflower II was built from 1955-57 in the town of Brixham, in Devon, England by the skilled shipwrights at the Upham Shipyard.
'A square-rigged vessel that is about 25 feet wide and 106 feet long, Mayflower II displaces 236 tons of water.
'She has four masts, including a mainmast, foremast, mizzen and sprit, with a total of six sails.'
The Mayflower II passes two fishermen while arriving in Plymouth Harbor on Monday
The replica ship is seen in this October 2015 file photograph. Plimouth Plantation says the Mayflower II was a gift from England to the US for its World War II help
Nonprofit museum Plimoth Plantation says on its blog: 'Mayflower II was built from 1955-57 in the town of Brixham, in Devon, England by the skilled shipwrights at the Upham Shipyard' (file photos)
Pilgrims reached Massachusetts in 1620, having traveled on the original Mayflower ship
The blog says that 'One of the most notable differences between a 17th-century ship and Mayflower II is the large modern staircase between the main deck and the lower decks.'
Electric lights and 'other minor modifications' are also part of the replica ship, it says.
Plimoth Plantation said in a piece published by The Patriot Ledger that the ship was built 'between 1955 and 1957.'
The museum wrote that the Mayflower II was a gift from England to the US for its World War II help.
$12million in fundraising is being sought to restore the ship - with $4million of that already raised, according to The Boston Globe.
Nonprofit museum Plimoth Plantation says 'One of the most notable differences between a 17th-century ship and Mayflower II is the large modern staircase between the main deck and the lower decks'
Electric lights and 'other minor modifications' are also part of the replica ship, it says (file photo)
Free movement rules have left Britain powerless to kick out some of the EUs worst killers, rapists and drug dealers, an explosive dossier reveals today.
The rights the criminals enjoy as EU citizens means we cannot deport them despite their despicable crimes.
British courts bound by Brussels regulations have ruled their right to live where they like trumps our elected Governments desire to boot them out.
The Vote Leave campaign today releases a list of 50 EU convicts we cannot send home, many of whom are out of jail. They include six killers, five sex attackers and 13 drug dealers.
Learco Chindamo, left, stabbed headmaster Philip Lawrence, right, to death in 1995 but cannot be deported due to EU regulations drawn up in 2006
All but two were sentenced in the UK to terms of imprisonment exceeding a year. Had it not been for EU law, they would have been automatically deported.
Last week Westminsters home affairs committee said the number of foreign criminals the Government had failed to deport was enough to fill a small town.
The devastating report focused on the failure to transfer EU prisoners to serve their sentences in their home nations. MPs said the failures were so dire they cast doubt on the point of remaining in the EU.
Justice Minister Dominic Raab, pictured, said the EU restrictions make Britain 'less safe'
Todays dossier focuses on convicts the UK wants to deport after serving their sentence but cannot, leaving us stuck with some of Europes worst criminals.
Justice minister Dominic Raab said: This is yet more evidence of how EU membership makes us less safe.
Free movement of people allows unelected judges in the rogue European Court to decide who we can and cant deport.
This puts British families at risk. It squanders UK taxpayers money on keeping them in prison.
'Outside the EU, we can take back control of our borders, deport more dangerous criminals, and strengthen public protection.
The Home Secretary has the power to deport foreign nationals if it would be conducive to the public good.
UK law says a person who is sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment should be deported automatically.
However, Vote Leave said this has no application where deportation would breach rights of the foreign criminal under the EU treaties. The EU Treaties give every EU citizen the right to enter the UK and reside freely.
The treaties say convicts must pose a present threat to be deported something that has had a devastating impact on our ability to deport anybody whose release is subject to a Parole Board decision.
As the Parole Board will release someone only if they believe they are not likely to re-offend, convicts can cite the boards decision to say they are not a present threat and should be allowed to stay.
And EU citizens who have lived in the UK for more than five years may be removed only on serious grounds of public policy and public security. More than ten years of residency requires imperative grounds of public security.
THE CRIMINALS ON OUR STREETS THAT WE CAN'T GET RID OF BOY WHO STABBED HEADMASTER TO DEATH Italian Learco Chindamo came to the UK aged six with his mother and two brothers. In 1995 he murdered headmaster Philip Lawrence, who was stabbed to death in 1995 after going to help one of his pupils. Chindamo cannot be deported because, under the 2006 Immigration (EEA) regulations, criminals can be removed only if they present a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society. The High Court said Chindamo did not meet the criteria. Article 8 of the Human Rights Act the right to a private and family life was also considered in his favour. David Cameron said the decision was complete madness and flies in the face of common sense and demanded Chindamo should be deported back to his country. KICKED HER HUSBAND TO DEATH Theresa Rafacz, from Poland, arrived in 2007 and found a job in a restaurant. She killed her husband, Piotr Rafacz, by repeatedly kicking him in the face but cannot be deported because judges ruled she did not meet EU criteria of posing a serious threat to the public, despite the judge ruling the offence was one of gratuitous violence. Italian national Chindamo, left, murdered his headmaster Philip Lawrence in 1995 while Theresa Rafacz, from Poland, right, killed husband Piotr by kicking him in the face KILLED CYCLIST WHILE OVER DRINK-DRIVE LIMIT Andrzej Stankiewicz, from Poland, came in June 2006 to work as a tailor. He mowed down a cyclist in West Lothian, Scotland, in June 2010, driving out of control and at high speed while three times the drink-drive limit. But he cant be deported because a tribunal said there was no likelihood of him drink-driving again so he did not meet EU criteria. RAN DOWN AND KILLED 97-YEAR-OLD Joao Pedro Correia Lopes, of Portugal, came in August 2001 and found work driving a lorry. He was sentenced to four years in jail for causing the death of Nora Gutmann, 97, by dangerous driving in June 2011. But he cannot be deported because judges gave him credit for his ten years of residence in the UK. Crucially, they said if it had been UK rather than EU law they may well have concluded his deportation was lawful and proportionate. Joao Pedro Correia Lopes, of Portugal, right, caused the death of a pensioner by dangerous driving while Andrzej Stankiewicz, from Poland, mowed down a cyclist in Scotland while drink-driving WIELDED SHOTGUN AT HOME OF GIRL, 7 Jordan Epee-Homb, of France, moved to the UK when he was 16 years old with his parents. He has several convictions including drug possession, criminal damage and assault. He was jailed for four-and-a-half years for possessing a shotgun with intent to cause fear of violence, after going to a targets home in Waltham Abbey, Essex, which was occupied by his mother and a seven-year-old girl. But judge said deporting would be inconsistent with EU law. They pointed to a young son and relationship with a woman. STRING OF ROBBERIES Lukasz Tomasz Wozniak, of Poland, has convictions for careless driving, theft, fraud and driving without insurance. He was jailed for 32 months in 2011 for two robberies in a park in Banbury, Oxfordshire, described as completely terrifying. But a tribunal ruled he didnt pose a serious threat especially after two years without re-offending. Jordan Epee-Homb, of France, left, was jailed for possession of a shotgun while Lukasz Tomasz Wozniak, right, of Poland, has convictions for careless driving, theft and fraud GANG WHO BEAT UP MARINE Arqr Wazny, of Poland, was part of a gang that beat up Royal Marine Nigel Leppington, who stepped in to protect a neighbour under attack, in Dorset. He was jailed for two years for violent disorder. A tribunal said it was his first conviction and gave him credit for his family life because of a young son living in the UK. RAPIST CONVICTED OF DRINK-DRIVING Mircea Gheorghiu, of Romania, entered illegally in August 2002 to work as a builder. He only became legal in January 2007 after Romania joined the EU. In November 2007 he was convicted of drink-driving and disqualified. Checks revealed a previous rape conviction in Romania. He was deported by the Home Office in March 2015 because of his rape history but allowed back in after tribunal ruled he did not meet the EU requirement of posing a serious threat and must be reunited with his family as quickly as possible. Arqr Wazny, left, of Poland was part of a gang who beat up a Royal Marine while Mircea Gheorghiu, of Romania, right, had a rape conviction in his home land that was flagged up after a driving ban HID DRUGS IN A JET SKI Lithuanian Mantas Baibokas applied to remain as a self-employed businessman in 2001 but was refused. He became legal here in May 2004 after Lithuania joined the EU. Baibokas was caught driving under the influence in 2008 and in 2012 was convicted of possession with intent to supply over 7kg of amphetamine found in a jet ski in his garage. His tribunal ruled he did not pose a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to the interests of society and expulsion would be in breach of the EEA Regulations. SWALLOWED COCAINE TO SMUGGLE THROUGH PORT German Kingsley Chukwudinma Nwanekwu arrived in the UK legally in March 2003. He was caught after he swallowed 101 packets of cocaine worth 250,000 and tried to enter the UK through Dover. He was jailed for eight-and-a-half years but the Upper Tribunal said removal would be disproportionate and inconsistent with EU law. Lithuanian Mantas Baibokas, left, was convicted of drugs trafficking while German Kingsley Chukwudinma Nwanekwu, right, swallowed 101 packets of cocaine while truing to enter the UK Advertisement
Ministers claim David Camerons renegotiation means it will be able to prevent dangerous EU nationals coming to the UK and make it easier to deport.
But Vote Leave said: This is false. The renegotiation does not in any way relax the onerous requirements of EU law which prevent the UK deporting dangerous criminals.
Brussels rules also make it harder to keep EU criminals out of Britain in the first place demanding a serious, credible and present threat a far higher threshold which binds the hands of officials.
Yesterday, Home Secretary Theresa May said deportations to EU countries have tripled to 3,451 in 2015/16.
But she admitted that the Government needed to do more.
And it emerged only 73 EU prisoners have been deported from UK jails under a transfer deal despite David Cameron pledging to intervene to end the scandal of EU convicts filling up our packed prisons.
Ministers claim David Camerons (pictured) renegotiation means it will be able to prevent dangerous EU nationals coming to the UK
Home Secretary Theresa May, pictured, has claimed deportations to EU countries have tripled this year
Since the deal was introduced in December 2011, only 73 have been returned under the agreement around one every three weeks, according to figures published by the Ministry of Justice.
But immigration minister James Brokenshire said: The UK sought greater control over the deportation of foreign criminals in its EU renegotiation and thats precisely what the Prime Ministers deal delivered.
Our access to the European Arrest Warrant has allowed us to deport 6,500 European criminals since 2010.
'Thats 130 times the number of criminals Vote Leave have identified.
A family holiday could be 120 cheaper if ministers give the green light to Gatwicks expansion instead of Heathrows, the airports boss claims.
Gatwick chief executive Stewart Wingate said passenger fees at Gatwick which boost the cost of a ticket would be around 15 per person per flight after expansion.
But the Airports Commission, set up to look at the competing schemes, estimated that Heathrows fees would be up to 30 if it gained a third runway.
A family holiday could be 120 cheaper if ministers give the green light to Gatwicks expansion instead of Heathrows, the airports boss claims (pictured terminal five at Heathrow Airport)
That means for a family of four the saving on four return flights could be as high as 120.
Heathrow disputed the figures, saying their charge would be no more than 24.
Mr Wingate said David Cameron should act quickly to approve a second runway at the West Sussex airport. He added: This would be a great legacy for the Prime Minister.
He would be able to break ground on a new runway before the next general election, and whoever is prime minister after him would be able to open the runway before the following election in 2025.
In its report, the Airports Commission backed expansion at Heathrow rather than a second runway at Gatwick, or building a new airport in the South East.
Mr Cameron is expected to announce a decision within weeks after it was delayed repeatedly, leading to accusations that ministers are dithering. He gave MPs a guarantee last July that ministers would rule on expansion by the end of the year.
But ministers announced further delays in December in an attempt to win the mayoral election in London last month.
They blamed the need to assess further the impact on air pollution. In a letter to Mr Cameron yesterday, Gatwick chairman Roy McNulty said there were insurmountable problems with expansion at Heathrow. He argued that a second runway at Gatwick would give Britain two world-class airports, boost economic growth and provide dozens of long-haul services.
Gatwick chief executive Stewart Wingate said passenger fees at Gatwick (pictured) which boost the cost of a ticket would be around 15 per person per flight after expansion. But the Airports Commission, set up to look at the competing schemes, estimated that Heathrows fees would be up to 30 if it gained a third runway
Mr McNulty also guaranteed that Gatwick would not need a taxpayer subsidy, compared with a need for billions at Heathrow.
Gatwick would not breach air quality limits, and would give 1,000 annually to 15,000 residents affected by noise. Those affected most would also get a 25 per cent premium when selling their home.
Mr Cameron will face opposition from MPs in the Gatwick area, including Crispin Blunt, the Tory MP for Reigate and chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Sir Nicholas Soames, MP for Mid Sussex.
A Heathrow spokesman said: Gatwicks figures are not true and have no grounding in reality.
We expect the passenger charge to be no more than 24 by 2030 and in return they will get one of the best value-for-money infrastructure projects in the UK, an airport Britain can continue to be proud of and over 40 new long-haul routes to new destinations.
They may claim to be expanding their cultural horizons but it seems middle-aged Britons have something else on their minds when taking a foreign holiday.
The growing army of older sun-seekers seem to view trips abroad as a chance to improve their love lives, experts have discovered.
The study, led by academics at University College London, suggests that enjoying sun, sea and sex on holiday is not just for 20-somethings.
The growing army of older sun-seekers seem to view trips abroad as a chance to improve their love lives, experts have discovered (file photo)
One in 20 men and one in 40 women aged 35 to 74 met a new sexual partner while overseas in the past five years, according to interviews with 15,000 people.
The authors, writing in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections, said: These proportions are likely to increase as older people maintain good health, have the financial means to travel and are now more likely to experience partnership breakdown, and so older age groups should also be considered for health promotion messages by health professionals when consulting for travel advice.
The research team including experts from Glasgow University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found one in ten men and one in 20 women of all ages have had a sexual relationship with a new partner while travelling overseas, based on the British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles.
More than 12,500 of the 16 to 74-year-olds polled said they had at least one sexual partner within the past five years. Of these, 9.2 per cent of men and 5.3 per cent of women reported new sexual partners while overseas.
One in 20 men and one in 40 women aged 35 to 74 met a new sexual partner while overseas in the past five years, according to interviews with 15,000 people (file photo)
The authors found those who reported new partners while abroad were also more likely to engage in sexually risky behaviour such as unprotected sex.
A study by the University of Illinois last year found single women were much more likely to take sexual risks on holiday, with alcohol giving them Dutch courage and a psychological excuse to transcend their usual sexual boundaries.
John Kingman, who is acting permanent secretary at Number 11 and masterminded the bank bailouts during the financial crisis, is said to be the favourite to become chairman of insurance giant Legal & General
The Treasurys most senior mandarin has emerged as a contender for one of the most powerful jobs in the City, reigniting concerns about the revolving door between Whitehall and the private sector.
John Kingman, who is acting permanent secretary at Number 11 and masterminded the bank bailouts during the financial crisis, is said to be the favourite to become chairman of insurance giant Legal & General.
The job carries huge influence as L&G runs around 750billion of investments and pensions, making it the biggest investor in the UK. The three-day-a-week job comes with a 340,000 salary more than doubling his 160,000 pay package at the Treasury.
The Bank of Englands Prudential Regulation Authority has been asked to approve the appointment, but insiders stressed the selection process is still ongoing with several other candidates still in the running.
L&Gs swoop for Mr Kingman is particularly controversial because the Treasury is responsible for regulating the financial services industry, including insurance.
Last night MPs voiced concern that Whitehall officials are being targeted by blue chip companies because of their inside knowledge of government and high level contacts giving the corporate sector even more power in the corridors of Westminster.
Other high profile figures in the Treasury who have sealed lucrative jobs in the City recently include Sir Danny Alexander, the former Liberal Democrat Treasury chief, and Rupert Harrison, George Osbornes chief of staff.
An investigation by the Daily Mail last month revealed that scores of ministers and officials are cashing in on their time in office by picking up lucrative jobs in the private sector. Since 2008, 371 ex-ministers and civil servants have applied to the appointments watchdog Acoba the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments about taking jobs in the private sector. Two thirds chose posts in fields they used to regulate.
Despite rules against the use of insider information, not one application for clearance was turned down by Acoba.
US technology giant Google has been particularly enthusiastic about hiring Whitehall staff, raising concerns over the scale of its political influence. A study by campaign group the Google Transparency Project this week revealed that 28 officials have crossed over between Google and Whitehall or political parties over the last decade.
Responding to Mr Kingmans potential move to L&G, Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP and former chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said: The revolving door between Whitehall and the private sector is worrying.
The Treasurys most senior mandarin has emerged as the leading contender for one of the most powerful jobs in the City, reigniting concerns about the revolving door between Whitehall and the private sector
One suspects one of the reasons Mr Kingman is being offered this job is because of his contacts and inside knowledge of how government works. There need to be tougher rules when people move from the public sector to the private sector.
MPs, including Tory David Davies, have suggested that it should be mandatory for senior public sector servants to spend two years in purdah before taking a top job in a related field in the private sector.
This idea was backed last night by Mrs Hodge and John Mann, a Labour member of the Treasury Committee. Mr Mann said: This is becoming all too common, particularly in the financial sector. Mr Kingman is a very talented man and it is no surprise that a big company wants him. But a culture has emerged of people moving between jobs too quickly. This is affecting peoples judgement and means senior civil servants have an eye out for future career possibilities.
Mr Kingmans arrival at L&G would certainly boost the insurance giants close relations with the Treasury. The 47-year-old said in April he would leave the Treasury at the end of July after he failed to secure the top job of permanent secretary losing out to his colleague Tom Scholar.
A man who went missing in London after failing to board a flight home a week ago has been found in hospital.
Riley Commins, 23, had not been seen or heard from since he attempted to make a withdrawal from an ATM at Heathrow Airport on May 30, a day before he was meant to board a plane home to Brisbane.
His family set up a Facebook page - Help Find Riley Commins - to coordinate a search for the university graduate where they reported on Tuesday that he had been found safe and well in a London hospital.
Riley Commins who went missing in London after failing to board a flight home has been found in hospital
His family set up a Facebook page - Help Find Riley Commins - to coordinate a search for the university graduate where they reported on Tuesday that he had been found safe and well in a London hospital
'Guys we just got a call from the high commission to say that Riley has been found! He is in hospital but apparently he is okay. We don't have the details but his Dad is on his way to see him.'
'We had given up on him being in hospital since it had been a week, we are still in shock. We are obviously still worried about Riley but we are just so happy that he is alive,' a post on the Facebook page read.
Mr Commins' father Tony is travelling to London to be with him, while friends and loved ones have taken to social media to thank the global community for their overwhelming support.
The 23-year-old's condition is not yet known, however his father's partner Debbie Grier said he is 'doing well'.
The 23-year-old's condition is not yet known, however his father's partner Debbie Grier said he is 'doing well'
He had recently been on a Contiki tour through Europe and spent a night at the Royal National Hotel on May 29
There was a mix up with his booking and Mr Commins was understood to have travelled to the airport a day before his flight was due out but never boarded
He had recently been on a Contiki tour through Europe and spent a night at the Royal National Hotel on May 29.
There was a mix up with his booking and Mr Commins was understood to have travelled to the airport a day before his flight was due out but never boarded.
His family reported him missing to English authorities when he did not show up at the airport.
Interpol and London Police then commenced a search for the Australian man.
The Department of Foreign Affairs were unable to verify reports that Mr Commins had been found but said they were providing consular assistance to an Australian in the United Kingdom.
Research comes after new guidelines said there was 'no safe alcohol level'
It means using smaller wine glasses could reduce the amount people drink
If you are worried about your drinking, try buying a new set of wine glasses, experts say.
They have found that bigger glasses make people drink more even if the volume of alcohol in them is the same.
The Cambridge University scientists suspect that the size of the goblet fools the brain into thinking there is more to drink, encouraging you to down it more quickly.
Staff served the same amounts of wine in different size glasses in an experiment conducted in a bar.
They found that sales went up by nearly 10 per cent when larger glasses were used.
Scientists believe people drink more quickly if given a bigger glass because the brain is fooled into thinking there is more to consume (file picture)
The study by scientists at Cambridge University, pictured, suggested wine glasses could be regulated so they are all below a certain size
The wine was sold in regular 125ml and large 175ml servings but the glasses used were switched at fortnightly intervals, varying between the standard empty size of 300ml, a larger 370ml glass and a smaller 250ml glass.
The Government-funded research team, which included scientists from Bristol University, found that the volume of wine purchased daily was 9.4 per cent higher when put in larger glasses than when it was served in standard glasses.
However, sales did not change when the team switched to the smaller glasses.
Dr Rachel Pechey, of the Behaviour and Health Research Unit at Cambridge, said: We found that increasing the size of wine glasses, even without increasing the amount of wine, leads people to drink more.
'Its not obvious why this should be the case, but one reason may be that larger glasses change our perceptions of the amount of wine, leading us to drink faster and order more.
But its interesting that we didnt see the opposite effect when we switched to smaller wine glasses.
Study author Professor Theresa Marteau, whose work is published in the journal BMC Public Health, said the Government should consider implementing maximum glass sizes.
She said: This study suggests that avoiding the use of larger wine glasses could reduce the amount that people drink.
We need more research to confirm this effect, but if it is the case, then we will need to think how this might be implemented.
'For example, could it be an alcohol licensing requirements that all wine glasses have to be below a certain size?
Growing evidence suggest that drinking even moderately is a major risk factor for diseases including obesity, heart problems and cancer.
Health experts are desperate to reduce the amount we drink. Earlier this year the Governments chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, published tough new guidelines warning there is no safe level of drinking.
She recommended that men reduce their maximum drinking levels to that recommended for women just 14 units a week, the equivalent of about six pints of beer or seven standard glasses of wine.
Amanda McLean, director of World Cancer Research Fund, said: This is an interesting study and reflects evidence that already exists around food portions, where bigger plates tend to lead to people eating more.
'Alcohol increases the risk of a number of different cancers including breast, stomach and liver.
In fact, around 24,000 cancer cases could be prevented every year in the UK if no one drank alcohol.
A sea bird has made the longest ever recorded annual migration.
The Arctic tern flew 59,650 miles more than twice the Earths circumference travelling from Britain to Antarctica and back.
The bird, which weighs just 100g, left its breeding grounds, the Farne Islands off the coast of Northumberland, in July last year, flying down to the west coast of Africa.
This Arctic tern flew 59,650 miles more than twice the Earths circumference travelling from Britain to Antarctica and back
It then crossed into the Indian Ocean before arriving in Antarctica in November. Its journey was monitored by a tiny device attached to its leg too light to affect its flight.
The study was carried out by scientists at Newcastle University for BBCs Springwatch, which mapped for the first time the annual migration of the terns.
The previous record had been held by an Arctic tern that covered 56,545 miles on its polar flight from the Netherlands.
Richard Bevan, of the universitys school of biology, said: Its really quite humbling to see these tiny birds return when you consider the huge distances theyve had to travel and how theyve battled to survive.
So far weve managed to catch 16 of our tagged birds from last year and weve seen at least another four birds with our geolocators attached.
Further analysis of the data from these trackers will allow us to get a better understanding of how the Arctic terns organise their migration and how global climate change may affect their routes.
Last year, 29 birds were fitted with tags and now 20 are known to have returned to the British islands where they breed.
Pro-Remain MPs are plotting to ignore the will of the people by voting to keep Britain in the single market even if the referendum results in a Brexit victory.
This would mean continued freedom of movement and would ignore public concern about mass migration.
Anti-Brexit MPs on all benches Tory, Labour, Lib Dem and SNP could use their overwhelming majority in the Commons to force a Norway-style relationship with the EU.
Anti-Brexit MPs on all benches Tory, Labour, Lib Dem and SNP could use their overwhelming majority in the Commons to force a Norway-style relationship with the EU (pictured: David Cameron shares a 'Remain' platform with Labour's Harriet Harman, Tim Farron, leader of the Lib Dems and Natalie Bennet)
Out campaigners warned last night that such a move would spark a constitutional crisis as it would counter the spirit of a pro-Brexit referendum.
But MPs on the Remain side said such a move dubbed guerrilla tactics by one source would be justified because the Leave side have not set out the nature of Britains trading relationship with the EU if we left.
Some campaigners on the Leave side have even spoken in favour of the Norway model although others have put forward a weaker relationship as enjoyed by Canada, which gets access to the single market but does not have to submit to free movement.
The Commons is overwhelmingly pro-EU, with just over 70 per cent of its present members campaigning for Remain on June 23.
One Leave source told the Guardian that MPs may even seek to reverse a pro-Brexit decision altogether if the negotiations with the EU on the UKs exit terms produce a disastrous deal.
Sir Gerald Howarth, the former Tory defence minister, said he was astonished that MPs would consider rejecting the will of the people.
Pro-Remain MPs believe the single market brings huge economic benefits, giving the UK access to 500million consumers. But staying inside the single market would mean Britain would have to keep its borders open to EU workers and continue paying into EU coffers
But one pro-European MP said: We would have to respect the mandate of the referendum, but there is still plenty of scope on how and when we quit the EU.
Labours Stephen Kinnock told the BBC he was afraid that a post-Brexit government might negotiate a limited free trade deal with the EU, which they say would damage the UKs economy.
If the British people voted to leave the EU thats one thing, he said. But can we really say that they voted for the devastation and destruction of the entire exporting sector of our economy?
I dont think you can necessarily say that theres a democratic mandate for that. Parliament may say Well, we feel more comfortable supporting the Norway model because at least that wont destroy the entire British economy.
Parliament will have a key role to play in any post-Brexit arrangements not least because of the volume of existing legislation that will have to be amended.
A general election which could usher in a more Eurosceptic set of MPs is not due until 2020.
Pro-Remain MPs believe the single market brings huge economic benefits, giving the UK access to 500million consumers.
But staying inside the single market would mean Britain would have to keep its borders open to EU workers and continue paying into EU coffers.
Sir Gerald, who will be voting to Leave, said: I was astonished when I heard this proposal.
The key thing about this referendum is that people will be able for the first time to express a view over the issue of Europe or immigration.
In a general election you are voting for a bundle of policies. If we vote to leave that will be the decisive will of the people.
The former minister added: For parliamentarians to be suggesting that they will ignore it I think will cause great anger among the public and potentially a constitutional crisis.
New Acts of Parliament would be needed to implement the withdrawal agreement. Acts that implement EU directives would need to be repealed or amended.
Charles Grant, director of the pro-EU Centre for European Reform think tank, said: It is quite possible that Parliament would vote to impose the Norway model on a post-Brexit Tory government.
Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are free marketers down to their finger tips and might be quite happy to be beaten up by Parliament and have this model imposed on them.
Without the fanfare of an election night victory Hillary Clinton was declared the winner of the Democratic nomination this on Monday as she campaigned in Los Angeles.
The Associated Press, which runs the premiere delegate-tracking service, first made the call and was quickly followed by NBC News, CNN and CBS.
Almost eight years from the day that she bowed out of a tight race against Barack Obama, Clinton made history with the announcements, becoming the first woman to top a major political party's ticket in the United States.
AP determined tonight that Clinton had enough superdelegates in her corner to win the nomination at this summer's convention without the votes that will be cast in Tuesday's elections in six states and one final contest next week in the District of Columbia.
'According to the news we are on the brink of a historic, historic, unprecedented moment,' Clinton said at a rally in Long Beach, California.
An hour later a defiant Bernie Sanders took the stage in San Francisco and swatted down the projections, telling supporters that if he wins in California, 'we're going to go into that convention with enormous momentum.'
Scroll down for video
Victory: Hillary Clinton (pictured on Monday afternoon in Los Angeles) has reached the number of delegates needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, the Associated Press said on Monday
Happy: The assessment makes her the first woman to head a major U.S. party ticket in history
Hillary Clinton, pictured has secured enough delaeaes to win the race for the democrat nomination
Yes! Clinton, a former secretary of state, reached the 2,383 delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee with a decisive weekend victory in Puerto Rico and a burst of last-minute support from superdelegates, the AP reported
The Democratic Party holds its convention in Philadelphia in July to formally choose its nominee for the Nov. 8 election against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. On Saturday Sanders warned media outlets, like the Associated Press to hold off from calling the race for that very reason
After the AP's announcement was made, Hillary Clinton dashed off this tweet, likely because she's concerned that voter turnout will be depressed if supporters think the race is over
An hour after Clinton spoke a defiant Sanders took the stage in San Francisco and tried not to look too defeated, telling supporters that if he wins in California, 'we're going to go into that convention with enormous momentum'
Worried about a depressed turnout in California, a state she won in 2008, Clinton urged her supporters not to be complacent and stay at home on Tuesday.
'We still have work to do, don't we. We have six elections tomorrow, and we're gonna fight hard for every single vote, especially right here in California,' she said.
Sanders trails her by just two points in the giant state with 39 million residents and could grab headlines late Tuesday with a victory after Clinton has claimed the Democratic nomination.
Clinton needed 2,383 delegates total to become the nominee.
Eva Longoria, left, met with Hillary Clinton, right following the fund raiser last night in Los Angeles
AP determined she had exactly that much support this evening, when the superdelegates party insiders who get to cast a vote at the convention are included in the tally.
Clinton had an advantage over her rival of 291 pledged delegates at the time. Pledged delegates are appropriated proportionally to the candidates after each contest.
Sanders had hoped to make gains tomorrow in California, where 475 pledged delegates are on the table,.
He spent 18 days straight on the trail in the state and boasted Monday that he'd stood before 217,000 of the state's voters.
On Saturday, he warned media outlets, like the Associated Press, to hold off from calling the race before the polls in California had closed.
'It simply is not accurate,' to report that Clinton has secured the nomination until the superdelegates vote at the July convention, he said.
Sanders committed then to staying in the race until the convention even if he didn't win by his projected margin this Tuesday.
Hillary Clinton arrived at her Long Beach, California rally after the news had broken that she - with the support of Democratic superdelegates - had enough votes to secure the nomination at this summer's convention
Hillary Clinton asked her California supporters to please still show up at the polls tomorrow so she retains a healthy pledged delegate lead
Long before tonight, Clinton's campaign determined that she would be the Democratic nominee because she had an 'insurmountable' lead in pledged delegates. She's seen here in Long Beach at her final rally in California
Long before tonight, Clinton's campaign determined that she would be the Democratic nominee because she had an 'insurmountable' lead in pledged delegates.
She told CNN's Chris Cuomo on May 19 that the primary was all but over.
'I will be the nominee for my party, Chris. That is already done in effect,' she told him. 'There is no way that I won't be.'
Sanders rebuffed her for the remark, calling it 'presumptuous' in a statement and 'arrogance' on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live.'
By that point, Clinton had moved on from the primary. Her next swing on the trail she dedicated all of her time to whacking her assumed general election Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Clinton dedicated a San Diego foreign policy speech to taking down Trump last week, throwing her hardest punches at him yet.
For his part, Sanders wavered between tepid language about Clinton and full blow attacks on the Democratic Party establishment as he drove up and down the state.
Sen. Bernie Sanders arrived to his rally in San Francisco tonight having just learned the news that Hillary Clinton had passed the delegate threshold needed to win the Democratic nomination
Knowing this news and talking to his supporters, Sen. Bernie Sanders gave his basic stump speech - again telling his crowd that winning California would give him momentum going into the convention
Bernie Sanders spoke to more than 10,000 fans at a San Francisco park that gazed upon the Golden Gate Bridge
Bernie Sanders used some of his favorite lines in tonight's speech, which didn't touch the Hillary Clinton news - instead talking about $27 donations and public opinion polls, that still show him stronger against Donald Trump
After a promise not to back down on Saturday at a news conference, Sanders struck a more conciliatory tone on Monday morning as he addressed his political future.
Sanders said after California votes were tallied he would 'assess' the situation and fly home to Vermont before returning to Washington, D.C., for the last Democratic primary.
Clinton was expected to stroll over the 2,383 line after polls closed in New Jersey on Tuesday, a state polls say she leads in by large margins.
Sucking much of the drama out of election night, AP made its declaration early, sending the Sanders campaign into a tizzy.
'It is unfortunate that the media, in a rush to judgement, are ignoring the Democratic National Committee's clear statement that it is wrong to count the votes of superdelegates before they actually vote at the convention this summer,' Sanders' spokesman Michael Briggs said.
Continuing, he said, 'Secretary Clinton does not have and will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to secure the nomination.'
'She will be dependent on superdelegates who do not vote until July 25 and who can change their minds between now and then,' he added.
Clinton speaks at a campaign fundraiser at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, California, tonight after she was named her party's nomineee
The Associated Press is naming Hillary Clinton the winner of the Democratic nomination based on her superdelegate support
Hillary Clinton's press secretary Brian Fallon also tweeted out a message to supporters to please vote tomorrow
Briggs also pointed out, like his boss on many occasions has, that 400 of those superdelegates pledged their support to Clinton as the Vermont senator was getting his campaign off the ground.
They never gave Sanders a chance.
'Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump,' Briggs said.
Briggs was referring to a quote from DNC Communications Director Luis Miranda earlier this year in which he said, 'The superdelegates should not be included in any count on a primary or caucus night.'
Miranda modified that statement when he spoke to Fox News on Sunday, though.
He argued that news organizations should tally the pledged delegates and the superdelegates separately so that readers don't get confused.
The party official said he was concerned that voters would look at the delegate totals, especially ones that didn't match the vote totals, and think the will of the people had been thwarted.
For weeks Clinton had been waiting for the moment when she could safely say she'd won the nomination and had a big party planned in New York on Tuesday down the road from her campaign's Brooklyn headquarters.
When the good news finally came on Monday she said in a tweet that said she was 'flattered about the call' while also noting there were still votes in the Democratic primary to be cast.
Clinton wants to keep her voter turnout as high as possible in the event that Sanders stays in and tries to fight her for the nomination on the floor of the convention.
'We're flattered @AP, but we've got primaries to win,' Clinton wrote. 'CA, MT, ND, NJ, SD vote tomorrow!'
Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook echoed the sentiment in a statement.
'This is an important milestone, but there are six states that are voting Tuesday, with millions of people heading to the polls, and Hillary Clinton is working to earn every vote,' Mook said.
'We look forward to Tuesday night, when Hillary Clinton will clinch not only a win in the popular vote, but also the majority of pledged delegates,' he added.
Clinton's national and travelling press secretaries likewise tweeted out messages asking voters to please show their support for Clinton tomorrow at the polls.
Not wanting to let the moment go to waste, the Clinton campaign also sent out a message to supporters touting the AP's big call and asking for money.
Bernie Sanders spent his afternoon walking around San Francisco, shaking hands and taking selfies with supporters, before the news broke that Hillary Clinton had enough delegates to clinch
Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke at a canvassing event this afternoon, encouraging supporters to go door to door to get Californians to get out and vote
Supporters for Sen. Bernie Sanders lined up to briefly see the Vermont senator as he campaigned through San Francisco today on the eve of the California primary
Actor Danny Glover, a San Francisco resident, accompanied Bernie Sanders through much of his tour of the city today
'It's a pretty big night, and it's all thanks to you,' it boasted. 'This primary isn't (quite) over. Before tomorrow chip in $10 to show Hillary you have her back.'
Sanders was in San Francisco today and spent much of his afternoon in and around the the bayside city shaking hands and speaking to supporters on the street in a last ditch effort to gin up votes.
At his rally later in San Francisco, surrogate Nina Turner of Ohio refused to give the race to Clinton and vowed to fight alongside Sanders all the way to the Democratic National Convention.
'He doesn't change his speech depending on what audience he's talking to,' the former state senator said of Sanders as she knocked Clinton. 'He doesn't put hot sauce in his purse when talking to African-Americans.'
Many of Sanders' fans also remained undeterred.
'Can't wait to vote,' 52-year-old Mara Young of Menlo Park, California told Dailymail.com.
'I'm just shocked,' she said of new organizations' call for Clinton today. 'I don't know how they can do that. The primary's tomorrow.'
Aiming her ire at the supredelegates, Young said, 'So I think the reason why they did that was to discourage Bernie Sanders voters and they will stay home.'
Another Sanders fan, 47-year-old Sara Fighter, blamed the media for Clinton's win.
'The purchased media is not going to convince me that Hillary Clinton has this nomination,' she said.
Fighter, a retired chiropractor from Nevada City, California, also suggested that the 'public liberal media who want Hillary in office are wrong.'
Yet when Sanders came onstage, it was business-as-usual. The senator delivered a downtrodden stump speech chalked full of his greatest hits as he tried to pretend nothing had happened.
He talked about his differences with Clinton on the minimum wage and touted his campaign's average donation of $27.
Sanders never once acknowledged the grim news that his rival, the former secretary of state, officially had enough delegates to clinch the nomination.
'This campaign is going to win because we're doing something unusual in contemporary American politics,' Sanders said at one point. 'We tell the truth.'
What comes next for the senator is entirely up to him and his campaign. He can stay in the convention until July, as supporters say he should, or he can heed the calls of Democratic officials and move out of Clinton's way so can fully focus her fire on Donald Trump.
President Barack Obama has kept his opinions to himself so far but could make a move soon, the White House suggested today, now that the primary season is almost over.
Sanders is looking for leverage at the convention so he can remake the party's platform in his image.
As long as he is in the race against Clinton, he holds some power, as she'll ultimately need his backing and the votes of his supporters to beat Trump in the fall. At the same time, he risks eroding goodwill within the party if his actions weaken Clinton in the short-term.
In any case, Sanders must now determine how to proceed and whether he cares about the impact his actions could have on Clinton.
A crazed hatchet-wielding man is facing charges after his violent stand-off with police was caught on camera.
In the footage the Royal Canadian Mounted Police even taser and pepper spray the man, but he will not be stopped.
In shocking scenes in a car park in Kamloops, Canada, the 29-year-old suspect flails the weapon at the officers.
A shocked witness by a bus stop captured a violent man flailing around a hatchet in Kamloops, Canada
Shocking scenes: Police are forced into tasering and even pepper spraying the man, who refuses to go quietly
He yells: 'put your f****** gun away or I'll throw this at you.'
Witnesses film him from a bus stop just metres away as the RCMP plead with him to give up.
They are forced into tasering and even pepper spraying the man, who refuses to go quietly.
The officers had reportedly approached two men who were drinking last Friday and asked them to stop.
Cpl. Jodi Shelkie of the Kamloops RCMP said: 'One of the men was cooperative, however one became belligerent with the officers and started aggressively yelling at them.
'It is alleged that the man then removed a hatchet from his backpack and began swinging it at the uniformed officers.'
The officers had reportedly approached two men who were drinking last Friday and asked them to stop, before this man became 'belligerent with the officers and started aggressively yelling at them'
At a later stage in the dramatic confrontation the man pulls off his shirt before walking off.
He dropped the hatchet after being pepper sprayed, before running into the Northills Mall nearby.
After the video cuts out he was finally subdued when a third officer fired yet another Taser at him.
He was taken into custody and is now facing multiple charges.
The man dropped the hatchet after being pepper sprayed, before running into the Northills Mall nearby
Cpl Shelkie said: 'Any time a police officer must arrest a violent person it is a potentially dangerous situation.
'But in this case, where the violent person is in a very public place and other citizens could be injured, it is especially dangerous.
Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson has hit 10 per cent in another presidential poll, raising the possibility that the Libertarian candidate could have an important impact on the expected battle between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Clinton leads Trump 37 to 35 per cent in the new Morning Consult poll out Tuesday, with Johnson trailing far behind at 10 percent.
It's not all about a love of Johnson or his policies. Just a quarter of respondents said they backed Johnson because of his own views.
Seventy two per cent of respondents said they back Johnson because they don't like the other candidates, a reflection of the low approval ratings and poor trustworthiness scores that both Clinton and Trump receive.
Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson hopes to reach 15 per cent to make it onto the presidential debate stage
Libertarian party candidate Gary Johnson has scored 10 per cent of the vote in several national polls
Johnson, who got the libertarian party's nomination, has a different effect when he's identified as an independent than when he's called a libertarian. When he's identified as independent, he
He has room to grow: 61 per cent of voters don't even know who he is.
For Johnson to make it onto the presidential debate stage, he needs to score 15 per cent in five national polls. Getting on stage would certainly be a boon to his fundraising and would end legitimacy.
He also got 10 per cent in a similar Morning Consult poll in May, and got 10 per cent in a Fox News poll when his name was included. The Fox poll had Trump leading Clinton 42 to 39 per cent with Johnson in the race.
Johnson affects the race slightly differently depending on how he is identified. When he's called an independent, Clinton beats Trump 37 to 35. When he's called a Libertarian, Trump beats Clinton by 37 to 36.
One possibility is that Johnson, a former GOP governor, would pull from Republican Trump if his campaign gains steaem
Hillary Clinton will may get a reprieve from a rough spring when she likely wraps up her party's nomination Tuesday
The former New Mexico governor and 2012 Libertarian candidate was the top choice for 10 percent of registered voters polled June 1 through June 4. When asked what their main reason was for backing Johnson, 72 percent of his supporters said it was because they dont like either of the other likely candidates, GOP nominee Donald Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
One-fourth of the small cadre of people supporting Johnson said they support him because they share his political views. He advocates for, among other things, legalizing marijuana, eliminating the current tax code, and making it easier for Mexican citizens to obtain temporary work visas in the United States.
Johnson's running mate is former Massachusetts GOP Governor William Weld.
The poll also found that Speaker Paul Ryan's endorsement of Trump helped with Republicans, but hurt among independents, 43 per cent of whom were less likely to back Trump because of Ryan's endorsement.
The Queensland teen made it to the top after two
A teenager who recently became the youngest Australian to conquer Mount Everest has revealed she crossed paths with Maria Strydom before the university lecturer died on the mountain.
Alyssa Azar, 19, from Toowoomba, was hailed as 'an inspiration' after she reached Everest's treacherous peak, 8,848 metres above sea level, on her third attempt in May.
The young mountaineer said she had a similar summit schedule to Maria Strydom, from Melbourne, who she briefly met between Camp 3 and 4 in the days before the 34-year-old perished from altitude sickness on her way back down the mountain.
'You always think in hindsight - although at that point it wasn't too much of an issue - could we have done something, given her oxygen or tried to get her down to camp two for a rescue,' Ms Azar said.
Scroll down for video
Alyssa Azar, 19, from Toowoomba, was hailed as 'an inspiration' after she reached Everest's treacherous peak, some 8,850 metres above sea level, on her third attempt on May 21
Upon her return to Australia, she revealed that she met Maria Strydom (pictured) from Melbourne in the days before the Monash University lecturer perished on the mountain from altitude sickness
'You do have those thoughts, definitely,' she added.
Dr Strydom, a lecturer at Monash University, started battling with fatigue at around 8,000 metres and decided to turn around as her condition was rapidly deteriorating.
Sherpas delivered her medication and more oxygen which helped her condition improve as she descended but she suddenly collapsed and could not be revived.
Ms Azar said it wasn't until later that she realised who Dr Strydom was and felt great sadness knowing she was one of the many climbers who have attempted to scale Everest that would never make it back home.
'It was difficult, particularly because she was coming down and that's when it happened,' she said adding that Dr Strydom did not appear to be sick at the time.
Ms Azar, accompanied by her father Glenn, touched down at the Wellcamp Airport, west of Toowoomba, on Tuesday morning where she was welcomed by family and a crowd of supporters.
'It feels good to be home and can't wait to see my brother, sisters and mum,' she said.
The mountaineer, accompanied by her father Glenn, touched down at the Wellcamp Airport, west of Toowoomba, on Tuesday morning where she was welcomed by family and a crowd of supporters
She said she spent 20 minutes taking in the breathtaking view atop the mountain as it slowly sunk in she had finally achieved her dream after two unsuccessful attempts.
'It was a pretty surreal moment when I reached the top it's something I've dreamt about since I was eight,' she said.
'All the years of hard work makes it all the more special.'
The modest teenager also told reporters she will consider tackling the perilous north face of Everest at some point, but for now she was just happy to have made it down the mountain safely.
'I don't like to say that I conquered Everest one of my favourite quotes by Sir Edmund Hilary is 'it's not the mountain we conquer by ourselves' and I think that describes the expedition pretty well,' she said.
Ms Azar touches down on the tarmac following her gruelling expedition to the top of Mount Everest
Ms Azar was welcomed by a crowd of supporters, some of which gifted her a colourful bunch of flowers
'It feels good to be home and can't wait to see my brother, sisters and mum,' she said. (Pictured: Alyssa Azar, centre, her mother Therese, left, father Glenn, top, and sister Samantha, right.)
Ms Azar successfully scaled Everest on her third attempt after two others were thwarted by extreme weather conditions.
She was forced to abandon her first attempt in 2014 after an avalanche killed 16 Sherpas.
In her second attempt the following year, she was at the Mount Everest base camp when Nepal was hit by an earthquake which killed over 3,000 people.
Her trainer Chase Tucker, of Big Mountain Training said the 19-year-old was well prepared for the climb and likened her gruelling training regime to that of an Olympic athlete, praising her 'incredible discipline'.
Ms Azar started climbing when she was five, with her father - a Kokoda Track instructor - her main inspiration.
Alyssa Azar, 19, from Toowoomba, conquered Everest on Saturday. But her trainer said Ms Azar's expedition wasn't over and the most dangerous part of climbing Everest was the days-long ordeal to climb back down
'Getting back through the icefall is where most of the deaths happen, that's the part I'm most concerned about and Alyssa would be too,' the 19-year-old's trainer said
When she was eight years old, she successfully completed the iconic trail in Papua New Guinea with his help.
She has gone on to climb Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro, the 10 highest peaks in Australia, South America's Mount Aconcagua in the Andes, and Nepal's Ama Dablam and Manaslu.
'I started doing training when I was five or six,' Ms Azar told Daily Mail Australia prior to her 2015 campaign.
'As I got older I got onto the higher altitudes.'
'After Kilimanjaro in 2011, I decided I wanted to be a professional mountaineer... and put myself against the best.'
The the 19-year-old reached the peak of the world's highest mountain after being denied the opportunity by extreme weather in two previous attempts
One of Ms Azar's biggest hurdles as she makes her descent down the mountain was getting past the notoriously dangerous Khumbu Icefall, which is located between Base Camp and Camp 1.
'Getting back through the icefall is where most of the deaths happen, that's the part I'm most concerned about and Alyssa would be too,' her trainer said.
'It's basically a glacier consistently moving down the south face of the mountain ... you've got gigantic ice blocks, the size of houses, that can move at any moment and cause avalanches or simply crush people,' he added.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk congratulated Alyssa on reaching 'the top of the world'.
'Queenslanders are on top of world in sport, business and the arts, but Alyssa is literally there,' she said.
'We wish Alyssa a successful and a safe return to Queensland. She's an inspiration.'
Mr Tucker said the 19-year-old was well prepared for the climb and likened her gruelling training regime to that of an Olympic athlete, praising her 'incredible discipline'
In her second attempt in 2015, she was at the Mount Everest base camp when Nepal was hit by an earthquake which killed over 3000 people
Ms Azar has been climbing since she was five, mainly because her father is a Kokoda Track instructor
She has gone on to climb Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro, the 10 highest peaks in Australia, South America's Mount Aconcagua in the Andes, and Nepal's Ama Dablam and Manaslu
Veteran mountaineer Alan Arnette paid tribute to Ms Azar's determination, particularly after her past two attempts were cancelled due to extreme weather.
'She should be rightfully proud of herself and the entire country should be celebrating,' he said.
'You have to take your hat off to her because she had the determination to go back. Climbing that mountain is not easy, there's a lot of suffering that goes on.'
Gilreath's mom said she had already undergone five surgeries and was scheduled for another one on Monday
During press conference in Nebraska on Friday, she smiled and giggled
She was in critical condition after her scalp was ripped off in freak accident
Despite undergoing numerous surgeries, a young girl who was scalped on a carnival ride in Nebraska last month showed she was in high spirits during her first public appearance.
Elizabeth Gilreath, 11, giggled during a press conference at the University of Nebraska Medical Center on Friday, where her mother said she was making significant progress.
Gilreath, also known as Lulu, was on a spinning ride called the King's Crown at a Cinco de Mayo festival in Omaha when her hair was ripped from her head in a horrific freak accident.
Scroll down for video
Elizabeth Gilreath, 11, (right) giggled during a press conference at the University of Nebraska Medical Center on Friday, where her mother Virginia Cooksey (left) said she was making significant progress
Cooksey credited her daughter's laughter as a source of strength, and said: 'It's what keeps me going. It's what keeps me strong'
Gilreath, also known as Lulu, (pictured) was on a spinning ride called the King's Crown at a Cinco de Mayo festival in Omaha when her hair was ripped from her head in a horrific freak accident
The young girl (pictuerd), who was in critical condition with a fractured skull, has been in the hospital since the accident on May 7
A mother who stopped the ride says that Elizabeth (pictured) asked 'Where's my pretty hair?' before she fell unconscious on the ride
Gilreath made a surprise appearance at the press conference in a wheelchair with bandages covering her head.
She said she was fine before smiling and laughing as her mother Virginia Cooksey detailed her recovery.
The young girl, who was in critical condition with a fractured skull, has been in the hospital since the accident on May 7.
Cooksey credited her daughter's laughter as a source of strength, and said: 'She can get through anything. It's what keeps me going. It's what keeps me strong.'
Since the freak accident, Gilreath has received several skin grafts and was due for another surgery on Monday, Inside Edition reported
Doctors had also worried Gilreath would never regain her eyesight, but Cooksey said she could see out of both eyes, although the 11-year-old struggled to open her left eyelid, which was still swollen shut.
Cooksey also said: 'We have our good days and we have our bad days. It's been very stressful, really stressful. It's going to be a long road,' WOWT reported.
While Cooksey said the support they have received, from stuffed animals to cash donations, has been 'amazing,' the girl called it 'weird' and said she was not ready to talk about the accident.
Gilreath said on Friday she was going to be released from the hospital early this week, but her mom updated her Facebook followers saying she was scheduled for additional skin grafts and due to return home at a later date.
Gilreath (pictured) was videotaped by her friend right before the accident in Omaha, Nebraska. The friend said she stood up and screamed, 'Stop the ride' after the 11-year-old's hair got caught in the spinning mechanism
The ride (above) spins around. It's unclear how the girl's hair could have been caught in it but the ride is now shut down
The King's Crown ride had just started on May 7 when Gilreath's red curls were caught in a spinning mechanism and witnesses said she began screaming.
'There's nothing we could do and so I stood up and I was like yelling, I was like, "Stop the ride. Stop the freaking ride," said Elizabeth's friend, Aushanay Allen, who took video of her pal just before her horrifying ordeal.
Surveillance video of the park show's the ride's conductor running off to get help, but one mom who was standing nearby says the ride was still moving despite the girl's screams.
'It was still spinning,' Jolene Cisneros told the WOWT. 'I had to stop it with my hands and turn it to the point where it was to the platform. I was like, "you're going to be okay" and she's just like, "Where's my pretty hair?'''
A crowd gathered at the horrific scene as the little girl lay bleeding and unconscious on the floor of the ride
Cisneros says that Elizabeth was bleeding and then lost consciousness. The horrified mom said she thought the little girl might die right in front of her.
'It went on for 5-10 minutes everybody told me, while it ripped and pulled my daughter around,' her father, Timothy Gilreath, told WOWT. 'She was tortured.'
The Nebraska Department of Labor launched an investigation and released a statement saying they found nothing to indicate that 'any portion of the ride' failed or malfunctioned, or that the operator wasn't paying attention.
But Cooksey says she's not satisfied with the current laws in Nebraska, which call for carnival rides to be checked for safety only once a year.
Newly declassified documents show that Edward Snowden was a CIA asset and shine a light on the steps made by the government to discredit his claims that he had raised concerns with the NSA, prior to his leak.
Documents obtained by VICE via an Freedom of Information Act request, although inconclusive, reveal that the extent of internal process that led to the eventual release of an April 2013 email that asked whether an Obama executive order allowing the snooping program could supersede federal statute.
Before he leaked the documents, Snowden said he had repeatedly attempted to raise his concerns inside the NSA about its surveillance of US citizens but claimed the agency had done nothing.
Newly declassified documents show that Edward Snowden was a CIA asset and shine a light on the steps made by the government to discredit his claims that he had raised concerns with the NSA, prior to his leak
Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Robert Litt (pictured) told VICE that the 2013 email was clearly not an example of him raising concerns, but more a question about training
The declassified emails do however provide the first official confirmation that Snowden worked with the CIA
He made these claims during a March 2014 European Parliament testimony, an April Vanity Fair feature, interview with NBC's Brian Williams in May.
But following an internal investigation, the NSA recovered only one email that could potentially substantiate his claim - the one sent in April 2013 that was raised as part of a training test.
Indeed, Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Robert Litt told VICE that this was clearly not an example of him raising concerns, but more a question about training.
Prior to the publication of the Vanity Fair article, the NSA conducted an internal review to double check that there was nothing to substantiate Snowden's claims but concluded there wasn't.
The NBC News interview also raised questions and sent a FOIA, which was actioned due to the imminent broadcast of the interview, despite other pubs including VICE having already sent FOIAs with same request.
While the NSA were unable to give 100 per cent assurance that there wasn't any correspondence, a official said they felt staff had done 'responsible, reasonable and thoughtful searches.'
The NSA decided to release of the 2013 email to employees May 2014.
Snowden's enquiry in the email read: 'I'm not entirely certain, but this does not seem correct, as it seems to imply Executive Orders have the same precedence as law.
'My understanding is that EOs may be superseded by federal statute, but EOs may not override statute. Am I incorrect in this? Between EOs and laws, which have precedence?'
Snowden made claims that he raised issues during a March 2014 European Parliament testimony, an April Vanity Fair feature and an interview with NBC's Brian Williams in May (pictured)
Following what could be perceived as a fairly innocuous email, Snowden fled to Hong Kong with thousands of classified government documents six weeks later. Pictured: Snowden speaks to European officials via videoconference during a parliamentary hearing on mass surveillance at the European Council in Strasbourg, eastern France, on April 8, 2014.
After some back and forth, a lawyer responded saying the EO's have the 'force and effect of law' but cannot override a statute.'
Following what could be perceived as a fairly innocuous email, Snowden fled to Hong Kong with thousands of classified government documents six weeks later.
But hundreds of internal NSA documents - declassified and released to VICE under FOIA lawsuit - reveals the 'single email' situation is far more complex.
Several months after the release, Snowdon claimed the release of the single email was incomplete, saying in a Washington Post interview: 'It does not include my correspondence with the Signals Intelligence Directorate's Office of Compliance, which believed that a classified executive order could take precedence over an act of Congress, contradicting what was just published.
It also did not include concerns about how indefensible collection activities such as breaking into the back-haul communications of major US internet companies are sometimes concealed under E.O. 12333 to avoid Congressional reporting requirements and regulations.'
Prior to VICE's June publication, the NSA released a cover letter that accompanied the release of the declassified documents: 'The documents illustrate that, as the Agency reported in May 2014, NSA conducted a thorough search of e-mail and has no records of any e-mail from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden to Agency officials raising concerns about NSA programs.'
While the documents released contain no further written correspondence with Snowden regarding his claims, they do show the back-and-forth debate over the merits of releasing the April 2013 email.
Snowden's attorney Ben Wizner told VICE his client was 'ambilvent' about the release because he doesn't trust the NSA's motives for releasing them.
The emails do however provide the first official confirmation that Snowden worked with the CIA, attributed to an email from the NSA to all agency employees sent on June 10, 2013, that identified Snowden as a 'current NSA contractor and former CIA affiliate.'
Snowden is now living in Russia.
The New York woman accused of murdering her fiance by sabotaging his kayak told an investigator that she took the plug out of the boat that later capsized, a pre-trial hearing has heard.
Angelika Graswald, 36, of Poughkeepsie, was charged with second-degree murder after her fiance Vincent Viafore disappeared on a trip to scenic Bannerman Island on April 19 last year.
Graswald said she was unable to save Viafore, 46, when he capsized without a life jacket. She was rescued from the water by another boater and treated for hypothermia.
But prosecutors say she killed her husband-to-be by removing the drain plug from the kayak and pushing a floating paddle away from him as he struggled in the cold and choppy Hudson River.
Scroll down for video
Angelika Graswald (pictured on Monday arriving at Orange County Court) is accused of murdering her fiance by sabotaging his kayak and told an investigator that she took the plug out of the boat
Graswald was charged with second-degree murder after her fiance Vincent Viafore (pictured together) disappeared on a trip to scenic Bannerman Island on April 19 last year.
During the hearing on Monday, a senior investigator with the New York State Police revealed that Graswald had appeared happy go lucky when he and two other officers arrived at Bannerman Island to retrace her steps on the day her fiance disappeared.
Aniello Moscato said Graswald spoke to investigator Don DeQuarto alone, ABC News reports, on April 29 and told him that she had taken out a plug on the kayak.
Later, as the investigators took Graswald back to state police barracks on a boat, they had engine trouble, he said. Moscato said Graswald had joked about jumping overboard.
The hearing also heard from Officer Stephen Pedetti, who said that Graswald was emotionless as she was rescued.
He said that she did not appear concerned and was calm, ABC reports.
During the hearing on Monday, a senior investigator with the New York State Police revealed that Graswald had appeared happy go lucky days after her fiance death
Angelika Graswald stands in court with her attorneys Jeffrey Chartier and Richard Portale at her arraignment in Goshen, New York, in May last year
Graswald said she was unable to save Viafore when his kayak capsized but prosecutors say she killed him by removing the drain plug from the kayak and pushing a floating paddle away from him as he struggled
Viafores body was found three weeks after he disappeared by a fisherman near the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
But before that, Graswald was charged with murder, with prosecutors saying that she wanted out of her relationship with Viafore and to get her hands on $250,000 in life insurance.
Graswald has pleaded not guilty to murder and manslaughter charges.
In September last year, footage emerged of an interrogation of Graswald which showed her admitting to a detective that she wanted him dead.
I wanted him dead, Graswald told a state police investigator during an interview in footage that was obtained by CBS 48 Hours. And now hes gone.
Her attorney Richard Portale has said that his clients statements were coerced.
Graswald did not call 911 for 20 minutes after Viafores kayak overturned and witnesses said she intentionally capsized her own craft, authorities say
Graswald's attorney says Viafore (pictured with Graswald) died accidentally after having a few beers and falling into the water
Portale has disputed the prosecutions theories, saying that Viafore died accidentally after having a few beers and falling into the water.
His death by drowning was ruled a homicide by a medical examiner, who wrote in an autopsy report that it was the result of kayak drain plug intentionally removed by other.
At Graswald's arraignment in May last year, Orange County Assistant District Attorney Julie Mohl said: She felt trapped, and it was her only way out.
Mohl added that Graswald had admitted tampering with Viafores kayak and later confessed that it felt good knowing he would die.
She also did not call 911 for 20 minutes after Viafores kayak overturned and witnesses said she intentionally capsized her own craft, Mohl added.
A set of twins who rose to fame on YouTube caused a crowd of teen girls to go wild in New Jersey, leading to nearly 30 injuries.
Grayson and Ethan Dolan, stars on Vine and YouTube with nearly two million subscribers, held an event on Saturday night.
The concert - called iPlay America in Freehold, New Jersey - was attended by mostly 11-to-15-year-old girls.
Scroll down for video
Grayson (right) and Ethan Dolan (left), stars on Vine and YouTube with nearly two million subscribers, held an event on Saturday night
When the twin 16-year-olds took the stage the group of girls rushed towards them, causing injuries, some so severe, they required hospitalizations.
In a video posted to Twitter, girls can be heard shrieking as one of the twins removes his shirt and flashes his abs.
The other twin then puts the shirt into a T-shirt cannon and threatens to launch it into the crowd.
It is unclear if this is the moment the girls were trampled.
Seven girls were transported while the rest were treated on scene.
In a video posted to Twitter, girls can be heard shrieking as one of the twins removes his shirt and flashes his abs
During the show the girls rushed the stage and 28 people were injured, suffering bloody noses and ankle injuries
Girls hyperventilated, suffered ankle injuries and bloody noses, the Asbury Park Press reported.
The show began at 7pm and police were called out by 7.15pm.
'Everyone settled down once we got on stage and told everyone "please settle down",' Freehold Township police Officer Daniel Rehberg said.
Then the twins then finished their performance, a par of their 4OU tour.
Advertisement
A block of units damaged by storms which battered the east coast of Australia is bracing for more destruction when another king high tide hits Sydney's northern beaches on Tuesday night.
The multi-million dollar apartment complex, located on Pittwater Road in Collaroy were evacuated on Sunday evening as a super storm threatened the buildings along the waterfront.
On Tuesday afternoon SES volunteers began a huge sandbagging operation to try and protect the property from any further damage.
Scroll down for video
A block of units on Pittwater Road in Collaroy is bracing for more destruction when another king high tide hits on Tuesday night
Although the storms have subsided another king high tide is likely to bring more destruction
A gaping hole is seen here below some buildings in the area
'Our strategy for today is to use sandbags in an attempt to stabilise the sand erosion in front of three houses and prevent further damage to the block of units shown in these photos,' NSW SES Northern district wrote on their Facebook page.
'All emergency services are working together with Council to do everything they can to fight natures fury.'
Shay and Paul Hurst were among residents of the unit block on Pittwater Road briefly allowed back into their apartment of five years by police on Tuesday to retrieve some more personal belongings.
They fear the worst after learning sand around and behind the apartment's rock wall had been washed away by the king tide overnight.
Residents of the block Shay and Paul Hurst were allowed inside briefly on Tuesday to collect some personal belongings
On Tuesday afternoon SES volunteers began a huge sandbagging operation to try and protect the property from any further damage
Over 100 SES and Fire and Rescue NSW crew will be working through the day
They plan to place 7000 sandbags around the apartment block and surrounding area to prevent further destruction
Waterfront properties on Sydney's northern beaches have been devastated by a huge storm that hit Australia's east coast
'We don't know a lot, haven't really been told much just to pack up our gear,' Shay Hurst said.
They were evacuated on Sunday night.
'It happens all the time we get huge surfs, and we were watching what was going on and then come Sunday morning there wasn't any beach.
'Last year it wasn't as bad as this but the beach never really recovered after that.'
'We don't know a lot, haven't really been told much just to pack up our gear,' Shay Hurst said
Collaroy Beach Club is pictured here after part of it was knocked into the sea
Their neighbour, who didn't want to be identified, said they didn't think the situation would become so dire.
'We survived last year's storm and we thought nothing different of this one but they never replaced the sand [washed away] out the front so there was nothing stopping the water coming,' she said.
A seven-year-old boy was playing with two other kids when he was mauled to death by a pit bull, police said.
Hunter Bragg, 7, was attacked in Gary Merchant Jr.'s yard in Corinna, Maine, while his father Jason Bragg, 35, was inside the house.
The dog was later euthanized at Merchant's request after Hunter was found dead on Saturday.
Hunter Bragg, 7, was playing with two other kids when he was mauled to death by a pit bull in Gary Merchant Jr.'s yard in Corinna, Maine on Saturday
Officers were called to the property around 5.15pm on Saturday, but they arrived to find the boy was already dead (pictured, Hunter with a different dog in September 2015)
Hunter was playing in the yard with two other children while his father was inside the house on Moodys Mills Road, the sheriff said.
Officers were called to the property around 5.15pm on Saturday, but they arrived to find the boy was already dead.
Merchant owned the unregistered male pit bull, and had the dog euthanized after Hunter's death.
He owns seven other dogs, four of which were found unregistered in 2015 after a noise complaint was made, CentralMaine.com reported.
'My understanding is that [Merchant] took the dog in for someone else just within the last couple of months,' Town Manager Serena Bemis-Goodall said.
She added Merchant followed the rules and registered the four dogs after the noise complaint.
Merchant's wife Stacey, who is reportedly a relative of the seven-year-old, wrote on Facebook, 'My sweet little Hunter there is nothing we can say right now that will make this alright,' CentralMaine.com reported.
Penobscot County Sheriff Troy Morton called it a 'sensitive, complicated investigation'.
No charges have been filed and no other injuries were reported, the sheriff said.
Hunter's aunt Jennifer McClure, wrote a tribute to the boy on Facebook saying: 'God has his times to call everyone home, we may not always agree to the timing and especially so young.
'The pain and emptiness will never stop or go away, but hopefully the love will be felt from up above. Hunter was very close to a lot of people, but especially his nana.'
Merchant's wife Stacey is reportedly a relative of the seven-year-old. Hunter's father, Jason Bragg, 35, was inside the home when his son was mauled in the yard
Stacey Merchant wrote on Facebook, 'My sweet little Hunter there is nothing we can say right now that will make this alright,' CentralMaine.com reported. (pictured, Hunter with father Jason Bragg)
On a GoFundMe page for Hunter's funeral expenses, McClure wrote: 'Hunter was loved by so many people. He always had a huge smile on his face and brought joy to [people] everywhere he went.
'He had a bubbly personality and was always a riot. He has so many people that are devastated that he is gone and so many people that loved him dearly.'
Hunter's mother had died in 2012, according to McClure, who also wrote: 'He was taken from everyone at such a young age, but we all know that his mom is now with him and looking after him up in Heaven.'
Hunter attended the Down East Community School in Bangor, and Superintendent Betsy Webb described the boy as a kind, respectful student with a mathematical mind.
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.
People are being warned to stay out of sea foam piling up on beaches after the weekend storms along Australia's east coast they could be toxic, loaded with pollutants and sewage.
Large storms which battered the East Coast of Australia left swathes of white-brown foam along shorelines and photographs and videos of people playing in the frothy mess have flooded social media.
But University of Queensland Associate Professor Barry Noller told the ABC people should be avoiding it.
Scroll down for video
People play in some of the sea foam that has been piling up on Australia's East Coast beaches after storms during the weekend
A professor from the University of Queensland has warned people shouldn't enter the foam, as it could be contaminated with sewage
Masses of thick, white foam appear like dirty brown clouds as it piles up along a shoreline
The masses of foam have been whipped up after the large storms which hit Australia's east over the weekend
'If foam is in contact with any sewerage discharge, including overflows because of the heavy rain, people really shouldn't swim or have contact with their skin with foam as there is a chance of microbial infections,' he said.
'When sea foam is from natural sources it is not dangerous, but it is difficult to tell when there is contamination from sewage so it's best to err on the side of caution.'
During storms, drains could direct sewage or other dangerous substances into the water and therefore become part of the foam.
The warning comes as a Queensland swimmer who decided to take a dip in the froth was dubbed 'foam man'.
Social media has been flooded with images of the foam, from locations in New South Wales and Queensland
The man, pictured at Froggy's Beach in Queensland, is seen filming the swirling, foamy ocean as a small wave approaches him from behind
The man was swimming in the surf at Froggy's Beach, a bay south of Snapper Rocks, on Saturday on the Gold Coast.
He was captured by Cooly News standing in the water which resembled a sea of thick clouds.
As he turns towards the shore while filming, a thick, white wave is seen washing over the top of him.
The man is completely lost from view for a few seconds, while submerged under the swirling foamy water.
He is then seen coming to the surface, completely covered head to toe in thick, white suds, resembling a human marshmallow.
During storms, drains can direct sewage or other dangerous substances into the water and it become part of the foam
Your Honor, if it is all right, for the majority of this statement I would like to address the defendant directly.
You dont know me, but youve been inside me, and thats why were here today.
On January 17th, 2015, it was a quiet Saturday night at home. My dad made some dinner and I sat at the table with my younger sister who was visiting for the weekend. I was working full time and it was approaching my bed time. I planned to stay at home by myself, watch some TV and read, while she went to a party with her friends. Then, I decided it was my only night with her, I had nothing better to do, so why not, theres a dumb party ten minutes from my house, I would go, dance like a fool, and embarrass my younger sister. On the way there, I joked that undergrad guys would have braces. My sister teased me for wearing a beige cardigan to a frat party like a librarian. I called myself big mama, because I knew Id be the oldest one there. I made silly faces, let my guard down, and drank liquor too fast not factoring in that my tolerance had significantly lowered since college.
You don't know me, but you've been inside me, and that's why we're here today Excerpt from Stanford rape victim statement
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.
You dont know me, but youve been inside me, and thats why were here today.
Then, I felt pine needles scratching the back of my neck and started pulling them out my hair. I thought maybe, the pine needles had fallen from a tree onto my head. My brain was talking my gut into not collapsing. Because my gut was saying, help me, help me.
I shuffled from room to room with a blanket wrapped around me, pine needles trailing behind me, I left a little pile in every room I sat in. I was asked to sign papers that said Rape Victim and I thought something has really happened. My clothes were confiscated and I stood naked while the nurses held a ruler to various abrasions on my body and photographed them. The three of us worked to comb the pine needles out of my hair, six hands to fill one paper bag. To calm me down, they said its just the flora and fauna, flora and fauna. I had multiple swabs inserted into my vagina and anus, needles for shots, pills, had a Nikon pointed right into my spread legs. I had long, pointed beaks inside me and had my vagina smeared with cold, blue paint to check for abrasions.
After a few hours of this, they let me shower. 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.
On that morning, all that I was told was that I had been found behind a dumpster, potentially penetrated by a stranger, and that 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. Imagine stepping back into the world with only that information. They gave me huge hugs and I walked out of the hospital into the parking lot wearing the new sweatshirt and sweatpants they provided me, as they had only allowed me to keep my necklace and shoes.
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.
My sister picked me up, face wet from tears and contorted in anguish. Instinctively and immediately, I wanted to take away her pain. I smiled at her, I told her to look at me, Im right here, Im okay, everythings okay, Im right here. My hair is washed and clean, they gave me the strangest shampoo, calm down, and look at me. Look at these funny new sweatpants and sweatshirt, I look like a P.E. teacher, lets go home, lets eat something. She did not know that beneath my sweatsuit, I had scratches and bandages on my skin, my vagina was sore and had become a strange, dark color from all the prodding, my underwear was missing, and I felt too empty to continue to speak. That I was also afraid, that I was also devastated. That day we drove home and for hours in silence my younger sister held me.
My boyfriend did not know what happened, but called that day and said, I was really worried about you last night, you scared me, did you make it home okay? I was horrified. Thats when I learned I had called him that night in my blackout, left an incomprehensible voicemail, that we had also spoken on the phone, but I was slurring so heavily he was scared for me, that he repeatedly told me to go find [my sister]. Again, he asked me, What happened last night? Did you make it home okay? I said yes, and hung up to cry.
I was not ready to tell my boyfriend or parents that actually, 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.
I tried to push it out of my mind, but it was so heavy I didnt talk, I didnt eat, I didnt sleep, I didnt interact with anyone. After work, I would drive to a secluded place to scream. I didnt talk, I didnt eat, I didnt sleep, I didnt interact with anyone, and I became isolated from the ones I loved most. For over a week after the incident, I didnt get any calls or updates about that night or what happened to me. The only symbol that proved that it hadnt just been a bad dream, was the sweatshirt from the hospital in my drawer.
One day, I was at work, scrolling through the news on my phone, and came across an article. In it, I read and learned for the first time about how I was found unconscious, with my hair disheveled, long necklace wrapped around my neck, bra pulled out of my dress, dress pulled off over my shoulders and pulled up above my waist, that I was butt naked all the way down to my boots, legs spread apart, and had been penetrated by a foreign object by someone I did not recognize. 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. Thats when the pine needles in my hair made sense, they didnt fall from a tree. He had taken off my underwear, his fingers had been inside of me. I dont even know this person. I still dont know this person. When I read about me like this, I said, this cant be me, this cant be me. I could not digest or accept any of this information. I could not imagine my family having to read about this online. I kept reading. In the next paragraph, 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.
And then, at the bottom of the article, after I learned about the graphic details of my own sexual assault, the article listed his swimming times.
The night the news came out I sat my parents down and told them that I had been assaulted, to not look at the news because its upsetting, just know that Im okay, Im right here, and Im okay. But halfway through telling them, my mom had to hold me because I could no longer stand up.
Its like if you were to read an article where a car was hit, and found dented, in a ditch. But maybe the car enjoyed being hit. Maybe the other car didnt mean to hit it, just bump it up a little bit. Cars get in accidents all the time, people arent always paying attention, can we really say whos at fault.
And then, at the bottom of the article, after I learned about the graphic details of my own sexual assault, the article listed his swimming times. She was found breathing, unresponsive with her underwear six inches away from her bare stomach curled in fetal position. By the way, hes really good at swimming. Throw in my mile time if thats what were doing. Im good at cooking, put that in there, I think the end is where you list your extracurriculars to cancel out all the sickening things thatve happened.
The night the news came out I sat my parents down and told them that I had been assaulted, to not look at the news because its upsetting, just know that Im okay, Im right here, and Im okay. But halfway through telling them, my mom had to hold me because I could no longer stand up.
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. Dancing is a cute term; was it snapping fingers and twirling dancing, or just bodies grinding up against each other in a crowded room? I wonder if kissing was just faces sloppily pressed up against each other? 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. You were about to enter four years of access to drunk girls and parties, and if this is the foot you started off on, then it is right you did not continue. The night after it happened, he said he thought I liked it because I rubbed his back. A back rub.
Never mentioned me voicing consent, never mentioned us even speaking, a back rub. One more time, in public news, I learned that my ass and vagina were completely exposed outside, my breasts had been groped, fingers had been jabbed inside me along with pine needles and debris, my bare skin and head had been rubbing against the ground behind a dumpster, while an erect freshman was humping my half naked, unconscious body. But I dont remember, so how do I prove I didnt like it.
I thought theres no way this is going to trial; there were witnesses, there was dirt in my body, he ran but was caught. Hes going to settle, formally apologize, and we will both move on. Instead, I was told he hired a powerful attorney, expert witnesses, private investigators who were going to try and find details about my personal life to use against me, find loopholes in my story to invalidate me and my sister, in order to show that this sexual assault was in fact a misunderstanding. That he was going to go to any length to convince the world he had simply been confused.
I was not only told that I was assaulted, I was told that because I couldnt remember, I technically could not prove it was unwanted. And that distorted me, damaged me, almost broke me. It is the saddest type of confusion to be told I was assaulted and nearly raped, blatantly out in the open, but we dont know if it counts as assault yet. I had to fight for an entire year to make it clear that there was something wrong with this situation.
I was pummeled with narrowed, pointed questions that dissected my personal life, love life, past life, family life, inane questions, accumulating trivial details to try and find an excuse for this guy who had me half naked before even bothering to ask for my name.
His attorney constantly reminded the jury, the only one we can believe is Brock, because she doesnt remember. That helplessness was traumatizing.
When I was told to be prepared in case we didnt win, I said, I cant prepare for that. He was guilty the minute I woke up. No one can talk me out of the hurt he caused me. Worst of all, I was warned, because he now knows you dont remember, he is going to get to write the script. He can say whatever he wants and no one can contest it. I had no power, I had no voice, I was defenseless. My memory loss would be used against me. My testimony was weak, was incomplete, and I was made to believe that perhaps, I am not enough to win this. His attorney constantly reminded the jury, the only one we can believe is Brock, because she doesnt remember. That helplessness was traumatizing.
Instead of taking time to heal, I was taking time to recall the night in excruciating detail, in order to prepare for the attorneys questions that would be invasive, aggressive, and designed to steer me off course, to contradict myself, my sister, phrased in ways to manipulate my answers. Instead of his attorney saying, Did you notice any abrasions? He said, You didnt notice any abrasions, right? This was a game of strategy, as if I could be tricked out of my own worth. The sexual assault had been so clear, but instead, here I was at the trial, answering questions like:
How old are you? How much do you weigh? What did you eat that day? Well what did you have for dinner? Who made dinner? Did you drink with dinner? No, not even water? When did you drink? How much did you drink? What container did you drink out of? Who gave you the drink? How much do you usually drink? Who dropped you off at this party? At what time? But where exactly? What were you wearing? Why were you going to this party? What d you do when you got there? Are you sure you did that? But what time did you do that? What does this text mean? Who were you texting? When did you urinate? Where did you urinate? With whom did you urinate outside? Was your phone on silent when your sister called? Do you remember silencing it? Really because on page 53 Id like to point out that you said it was set to ring. Did you drink in college? You said you were a party animal? How many times did you black out? Did you party at frats? Are you serious with your boyfriend? Are you sexually active with him? When did you start dating? Would you ever cheat? Do you have a history of cheating? What do you mean when you said you wanted to reward him? Do you remember what time you woke up? Were you wearing your cardigan? What color was your cardigan? Do you remember any more from that night? No? Okay, well, well let Brock fill it in.
I was pummeled with narrowed, pointed questions that dissected my personal life, love life, past life, family life, inane questions, accumulating trivial details to try and find an excuse for this guy who had me half naked before even bothering to ask for my name. After a physical assault, I was assaulted with questions designed to attack me, to say see, her facts dont line up, shes out of her mind, shes practically an alcoholic, she probably wanted to hook up, hes like an athlete right, they were both drunk, whatever, the hospital stuff she remembers is after the fact, why take it into account, Brock has a lot at stake so hes having a really hard time right now.
And then it came time for him to testify and I learned what it meant to be revictimized. I want to remind you, the night after it happened he said he never planned to take me back to his dorm. He said he didnt know why we were behind a dumpster. He got up to leave because he wasnt feeling well when he was suddenly chased and attacked. Then he learned I could not remember.
So one year later, as predicted, a new dialogue emerged. Brock had a strange new story, almost sounded like a poorly written young adult novel with kissing and dancing and hand holding and lovingly tumbling onto the ground, and most importantly in this new story, there was suddenly consent. One year after the incident, he remembered, oh yeah, by the way she actually said yes, to everything, so.
He said he had asked if I wanted to dance. Apparently I said yes. Hed asked if I wanted to go to his dorm, I said yes. Then he asked if he could finger me and I said yes. Most guys dont ask, can I finger you? Usually theres a natural progression of things, unfolding consensually, not a Q and A. But apparently I granted full permission. Hes in the clear. Even in his story, I only said a total of three words, yes yes yes, before he had me half naked on the ground. Future reference, if you are confused about whether a girl can consent, see if she can speak an entire sentence. You couldnt even do that. Just one coherent string of words. Where was the confusion? This is common sense, human decency.
According to him, the only reason we were on the ground was because I fell down. Note; if a girl falls down help her get back up. If she is too drunk to even walk and falls down, do not mount her, hump her, take off her underwear, and insert your hand inside her vagina. If a girl falls down help her up. If she is wearing a cardigan over her dress dont take it off so that you can touch her breasts. Maybe she is cold, maybe thats why she wore the cardigan.
According to him, the only reason we were on the ground was because I fell down. Note; if a girl falls down help her get back up. If she is too drunk to even walk and falls down, do not mount her, hump her, take off her underwear, and insert your hand inside her vagina.
Next in the story, two Swedes on bicycles approached you and you ran. When they tackled you why didnt say, Stop! Everythings okay, go ask her, shes right over there, shell tell you. I mean you had just asked for my consent, right? I was awake, right? When the policeman arrived and interviewed the evil Swede who tackled you, he was crying so hard he couldnt speak because of what hed seen.
Your attorney has repeatedly pointed out, well we dont know exactly when she became unconscious. And youre right, maybe I was still fluttering my eyes and wasnt completely limp yet. That was never the point. I was too drunk to speak English, too drunk to consent way before I was on the ground. I should have never been touched in the first place. Brock stated, At no time did I see that she was not responding. If at any time I thought she was not responding, I would have stopped immediately. Heres the thing; if your plan was to stop only when I became unresponsive, then you still do not understand. You didnt even stop when I was unconscious anyway! Someone else stopped you. Two guys on bikes noticed I wasnt moving in the dark and had to tackle you. How did you not notice while on top of me?
You said, you would have stopped and gotten help. You say that, but I want you to explain how you wouldve helped me, step by step, walk me through this. I want to know, if those evil Swedes had not found me, how the night would have played out. I am asking you; Would you have pulled my underwear back on over my boots? Untangled the necklace wrapped around my neck? Closed my legs, covered me? Pick the pine needles from my hair? Asked if the abrasions on my neck and bottom hurt? Would you then go find a friend and say, Will you help me get her somewhere warm and soft? I dont sleep when I think about the way it could have gone if the two guys had never come. What would have happened to me? Thats what youll never have a good answer for, thats what you cant explain even after a year.
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 or after I came?
To sit under oath and inform all of us, that yes I wanted it, yes I permitted it, and that you are the true victim attacked by Swedes for reasons unknown to you is appalling, is demented, is selfish, is damaging. It is enough to be suffering. It is another thing to have someone ruthlessly working to diminish the gravity of validity of this suffering.
My family had to see pictures of my head strapped to a gurney full of pine needles, of my body in the dirt with my eyes closed, hair messed up, limbs bent, and dress hiked up. And even after that, my family had to listen to your attorney say the pictures were after the fact, we can dismiss them. To say, yes her nurse confirmed there was redness and abrasions inside her, significant trauma to her genitalia, but thats what happens when you finger someone, and hes already admitted to that. To listen to your attorney attempt to paint a picture of me, the face of girls gone wild, as if somehow that would make it so that I had this coming for me. To listen to him say I sounded drunk on the phone because Im silly and thats my goofy way of speaking. To point out that in the voicemail, I said I would reward my boyfriend and we all know what I was thinking. I assure you my rewards program is non transferable, especially to any nameless man that approaches me.
This is not a story of another drunk college hookup with poor decision making. Assault is not an accident.
He has done irreversible damage to me and my family during the trial and we have sat silently, listening to him shape the evening. But in the end, his unsupported statements and his attorneys twisted logic fooled no one. The truth won, the truth spoke for itself.
Alcohol is not an excuse. Is it a factor? Yes. But alcohol was not the one who stripped me, fingered me, had my head dragging against the ground, with me almost fully naked. Having too much to drink was an amateur mistake that I admit to, but it is not criminal.
You are guilty. Twelve jurors convicted you guilty of three felony counts beyond reasonable doubt, thats twelve votes per count, thirty six yeses confirming guilt, thats one hundred percent, unanimous guilt. And I thought finally it is over, finally he will own up to what he did, truly apologize, we will both move on and get better. Then I read your statement.
If you are hoping that one of my organs will implode from anger and I will die, Im almost there. You are very close. This is not a story of another drunk college hookup with poor decision making. Assault is not an accident. Somehow, you still dont get it. Somehow, you still sound confused. I will now read portions of the defendants statement and respond to them.
You said, Being drunk I just couldnt make the best decisions and neither could she.
Alcohol is not an excuse. Is it a factor? Yes. But alcohol was not the one who stripped me, fingered me, had my head dragging against the ground, with me almost fully naked. Having too much to drink was an amateur mistake that I admit to, but it is not criminal. Everyone in this room has had a night where they have regretted drinking too much, or knows someone close to them who has had a night where they have regretted drinking too much. Regretting drinking is not the same as regretting sexual assault. We were both drunk, the difference is I did not take off your pants and underwear, touch you inappropriately, and run away. Thats the difference.
You said, If I wanted to get to know her, I should have asked for her number, rather than asking her to go back to my room.
Im not mad because you didnt ask for my number. Even if you did know me, I would not want to be in this situation. My own boyfriend knows me, but if he asked to finger me behind a dumpster, I would slap him. No girl wants to be in this situation. Nobody. I dont care if you know their phone number or not.
You said, I stupidly thought it was okay for me to do what everyone around me was doing, which was drinking. I was wrong.
Again, you were not wrong for drinking. Everyone around you was not sexually assaulting me. You were wrong for doing what nobody else was doing, which was pushing your erect dick in your pants against my naked, defenseless body concealed in a dark area, where partygoers could no longer see or protect me, and my own sister could not find me. Sipping fireball is not your crime. Peeling off and discarding my underwear like a candy wrapper to insert your finger into my body, is where you went wrong. Why am I still explaining this.
You said, During the trial I didnt want to victimize her at all. That was just my attorney and his way of approaching the case.
Your attorney is not your scapegoat, he represents you. Did your attorney say some incredulously infuriating, degrading things? Absolutely. He said you had an erection, because it was cold.
You said, you are in the process of establishing a program for high school and college students in which you speak about your experience to speak out against the college campus drinking culture and the sexual promiscuity that goes along with that.
Your damage was concrete; stripped of titles, degrees, enrollment. My damage was internal, unseen, I carry it with me. You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today.
Campus drinking culture. Thats what were speaking out against? You think thats what Ive spent the past year fighting for? Not awareness about campus sexual assault, or rape, or learning to recognize consent. Campus drinking culture. Down with Jack Daniels. Down with Skyy Vodka. If you want talk to people about drinking go to an AA meeting. You realize, having a drinking problem is different than drinking and then forcefully trying to have sex with someone? Show men how to respect women, not how to drink less.
Drinking culture and the sexual promiscuity that goes along with that. Goes along with that, like a side effect, like fries on the side of your order. Where does promiscuity even come into play? I dont see headlines that read, Brock Turner, Guilty of drinking too much and the sexual promiscuity that goes along with that. Campus Sexual Assault. Theres your first powerpoint slide. Rest assured, if you fail to fix the topic of your talk, I will follow you to every school you go to and give a follow up presentation.
Lastly you said, I want to show people that one night of drinking can ruin a life.
A life, one life, yours, you forgot about mine. Let me rephrase for you, I want to show people that one night of drinking can ruin two lives. You and me. You are the cause, I am the effect. You have dragged me through this hell with you, dipped me back into that night again and again. You knocked down both our towers, I collapsed at the same time you did. If you think I was spared, came out unscathed, that today I ride off into sunset, while you suffer the greatest blow, you are mistaken. Nobody wins. We have all been devastated, we have all been trying to find some meaning in all of this suffering. Your damage was concrete; stripped of titles, degrees, enrollment. My damage was internal, unseen, I carry it with me. You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today.
See one thing we have in common is that we were both unable to get up in the morning. I am no stranger to suffering. You made me a victim. In newspapers my name was unconscious intoxicated woman, ten syllables, and nothing more than that. For a while, I believed that that was all I was. I had to force myself to relearn my real name, my identity. To relearn that this is not all that I am. That I am not just a drunk victim at a frat party found behind a dumpster, while you are the All American swimmer at a top university, innocent until proven guilty, with so much at stake. I am a human being who has been irreversibly hurt, my life was put on hold for over a year, waiting to figure out if I was worth something.
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. The isolation at times was unbearable. You cannot give me back the life I had before that night either. While you worry about your shattered reputation, I refrigerated spoons every night so when I woke up, and my eyes were puffy from crying, I would hold the spoons to my eyes to lessen the swelling so that I could see. I showed up an hour late to work every morning, excused myself to cry in the stairwells, I can tell you all the best places in that building to cry where no one can hear you. The pain became so bad that I had to explain the private details to my boss to let her know why I was leaving. I needed time because continuing day to day was not possible. I used my savings to go as far away as I could possibly be. I did not return to work full time as I knew Id have to take weeks off in the future for the hearing and trial, that were constantly being rescheduled. My life was put on hold for over a year, my structure had collapsed.
I cant sleep alone at night without having a light on, like a five year old, because I have nightmares of being touched where I cannot wake up, I did this thing where I waited until the sun came up and I felt safe enough to sleep. For three months, I went to bed at six oclock in the morning.
I cant sleep alone at night without having a light on, like a five year old, because I have nightmares of being touched where I cannot wake up, I did this thing where I waited until the sun came up and I felt safe enough to sleep. For three months, I went to bed at six oclock in the morning.
I used to pride myself on my independence, now I am afraid to go on walks in the evening, to attend social events with drinking among friends where I should be comfortable being. I have become a little barnacle always needing to be at someones side, to have my boyfriend standing next to me, sleeping beside me, protecting me. It is embarrassing how feeble I feel, how timidly I move through life, always guarded, ready to defend myself, ready to be angry.
You have no idea how hard I have worked to rebuild parts of me that are still weak. It took me eight months to even talk about what happened. I could no longer connect with friends, with everyone around me. I would scream at my boyfriend, my own family whenever they brought this up. You never let me forget what happened to me. At the of end of the hearing, the trial, I was too tired to speak. I would leave drained, silent. I would go home turn off my phone and for days I would not speak. You bought me a ticket to a planet where I lived by myself. Every time a new article come out, I lived with the paranoia that my entire hometown would find out and know me as the girl who got assaulted. I didnt want anyones pity and am still learning to accept victim as part of my identity. You made my own hometown an uncomfortable place to be.
You cannot give me back my sleepless nights. The way I have broken down sobbing uncontrollably if Im watching a movie and a woman is harmed, to say it lightly, this experience has expanded my empathy for other victims. I have lost weight from stress, when people would comment I told them Ive been running a lot lately. There are times I did not want to be touched. I have to relearn that I am not fragile, I am capable, I am wholesome, not just livid and weak.
When I see my younger sister hurting, when she is unable to keep up in school, when she is deprived of joy, when she is not sleeping, when she is crying so hard on the phone she is barely breathing, telling me over and over again she is sorry for leaving me alone that night, sorry sorry sorry, when she feels more guilt than you, then I do not forgive you. That night I had called her to try and find her, but you found me first. Your attorneys closing statement began, [Her sister] said she was fine and who knows her better than her sister. You tried to use my own sister against me? Your points of attack were so weak, so low, it was almost embarrassing. You do not touch her.
You should have never done this to me. Secondly, you should have never made me fight so long to tell you, you should have never done this to me. But here we are. The damage is done, no one can undo it. And now we both have a choice. We can let this destroy us, I can remain angry and hurt and you can be in denial, or we can face it head on, I accept the pain, you accept the punishment, and we move on.
Your life is not over, you have decades of years ahead to rewrite your story. The world is huge, it is so much bigger than Palo Alto and Stanford, and you will make a space for yourself in it where you can be useful and happy. But right now, you do not get to shrug your shoulders and be confused anymore. You do not get to pretend that there were no red flags. You have been convicted of violating me, intentionally, forcibly, sexually, with malicious intent, and all you can admit to is consuming alcohol. Do not talk about the sad way your life was upturned because alcohol made you do bad things. Figure out how to take responsibility for your own conduct.
I am severely disappointed and feel that he has failed to exhibit sincere remorse or responsibility for his conduct. I fully respected his right to a trial, but even after twelve jurors unanimously convicted him guilty of three felonies, all he has admitted to doing is ingesting alcohol. Someone who cannot take full accountability for his actions does not deserve a mitigating sentence.
Now to address the sentencing. When I read the probation officers report, I was in disbelief, consumed by anger which eventually quieted down to profound sadness. My statements have been slimmed down to distortion and taken out of context. I fought hard during this trial and will not have the outcome minimized by a probation officer who attempted to evaluate my current state and my wishes in a fifteen minute conversation, the majority of which was spent answering questions I had about the legal system. The context is also important. Brock had yet to issue a statement, and I had not read his remarks.
My life has been on hold for over a year, a year of anger, anguish and uncertainty, until a jury of my peers rendered a judgment that validated the injustices I had endured. Had Brock admitted guilt and remorse and offered to settle early on, I would have considered a lighter sentence, respecting his honesty, grateful to be able to move our lives forward. Instead he took the risk of going to trial, added insult to injury and forced me to relive the hurt as details about my personal life and sexual assault were brutally dissected before the public. He pushed me and my family through a year of inexplicable, unnecessary suffering, and should face the consequences of challenging his crime, of putting my pain into question, of making us wait so long for justice.
I told the probation officer I do not want Brock to rot away in prison. I did not say he does not deserve to be behind bars. The probation officers recommendation of a year or less in county jail is a soft timeout, a mockery of the seriousness of his assaults, an insult to me and all women. It gives the message that a stranger can be inside you without proper consent and he will receive less than what has been defined as the minimum sentence. Probation should be denied. I also told the probation officer that what I truly wanted was for Brock to get it, to understand and admit to his wrongdoing.
Unfortunately, after reading the defendants report, I am severely disappointed and feel that he has failed to exhibit sincere remorse or responsibility for his conduct. I fully respected his right to a trial, but even after twelve jurors unanimously convicted him guilty of three felonies, all he has admitted to doing is ingesting alcohol. Someone who cannot take full accountability for his actions does not deserve a mitigating sentence. It is deeply offensive that he would try and dilute rape with a suggestion of promiscuity. By definition rape is not the absence of promiscuity, rape is the absence of consent, and it perturbs me deeply that he cant even see that distinction.
The probation officer factored in that the defendant is youthful and has no prior convictions. In my opinion, he is old enough to know what he did was wrong. When you are eighteen in this country you can go to war. When you are nineteen, you are old enough to pay the consequences for attempting to rape someone. He is young, but he is old enough to know better.
As this is a first offence I can see where leniency would beckon. On the other hand, as a society, we cannot forgive everyones first sexual assault or digital rape. It doesnt make sense. The seriousness of rape has to be communicated clearly, we should not create a culture that suggests we learn that rape is wrong through trial and error. The consequences of sexual assault needs to be severe enough that people feel enough fear to exercise good judgment even if they are drunk, severe enough to be preventative.
The probation officer weighed the fact that he has surrendered a hard earned swimming scholarship. How fast Brock swims does not lessen the severity of what happened to me, and should not lessen the severity of his punishment. If a first time offender from an underprivileged background was accused of three felonies and displayed no accountability for his actions other than drinking, what would his sentence be? The fact that Brock was an athlete at a private university should not be seen as an entitlement to leniency, but as an opportunity to send a message that sexual assault is against the law regardless of social class.
The Probation Officer has stated that this case, when compared to other crimes of similar nature, may be considered less serious due to the defendants level of intoxication. It felt serious. Thats all Im going to say.
The probation officer factored in that the defendant is youthful and has no prior convictions. In my opinion, he is old enough to know what he did was wrong. When you are eighteen in this country you can go to war. When you are nineteen, you are old enough to pay the consequences for attempting to rape someone. He is young, but he is old enough to know better.
What has he done to demonstrate that he deserves a break? He has only apologized for drinking and has yet to define what he did to me as sexual assault, he has revictimized me continually, relentlessly. He has been found guilty of three serious felonies and it is time for him to accept the consequences of his actions. He will not be quietly excused.
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.
To conclude, I want to say thank you. To everyone from the intern who made me oatmeal when I woke up at the hospital that morning, to the deputy who waited beside me, to the nurses who calmed me, to the detective who listened to me and never judged me, to my advocates who stood unwaveringly beside me, to my therapist who taught me to find courage in vulnerability, to my boss for being kind and understanding, to my incredible parents who teach me how to turn pain into strength, to my grandma who snuck chocolate into the courtroom throughout this to give to me, my friends who remind me how to be happy, to my boyfriend who is patient and loving, to my unconquerable sister who is the other half of my heart, to Alaleh, my idol, who fought tirelessly and never doubted me. Thank you to everyone involved in the trial for their time and attention. Thank you to girls across the nation that wrote cards to my DA to give to me, so many strangers who cared for me.
Most importantly, thank you to the two men who saved me, who I have yet to meet. I sleep with two bicycles that I drew taped above my bed to remind myself there are heroes in this story. That we are looking out for one another. To have known all of these people, to have felt their protection and love, is something I will never forget.
Tanisha Robinson was arrested after her son called 911 and told him: 'My mom's really drunk'
A 12-year-old Ohio boy called 911 as his mother drove him and his two younger siblings and told the cops: 'My mom's really drunk'.
He said she had been drinking a lot of 'clear liquids' and also described the car as white.
Police stopped the car around 1.30am in Lakewood, near Cleveand, and arrested Tanisha Robinson, 39, on May 28.
Paramedics were called because the cops feared Ms Robinson was having a diabetic emergency.
She was found to have a high blood-glucose level, but also crucially her blood-alcohol level was also above the legal limit.
Robinson told doctors she drank vodka at a graduation party before being pulled over. The three children in the Ford Escorcar were unharmed.
Robinson pleaded no contest and was found guilty by a judge of child endangerment and driving offences.
She will be sentenced later this summer.
Her attorney declined to comment.
The babysitter accused of abusing a one-year-old boy has been arrested and charged in Oregon after social media users demanded action to be taken by authorities and officials.
Markell Hilaire, 27, is facing charges of criminal mistreatment and assault for an incident parents Joshua Marbury and Alicia Quinney claimed left their son, Jacob, with a bruise shaped like a hand print on his face.
Hilaire - who is a friend of the child's father - was arrested Friday after thousands of people shared the heartbreaking photos of Jacob across social media when his parents said authorities would not arrest him over the alleged abuse.
The couple, from Sherwood, say they returned home in March to find their son screaming and the babysitter fast asleep.
Scroll down for video
An Oregon couple claim their baby (pictured) was left with horror injuries at the hands of their babysitter including a bruise shaped like a hand print
Markell Hilaire (above) is facing charges of criminal mistreatment and assault for an incident parents Joshua Marbury and Alicia Quinney claimed left their son, Jacob, with a bruise shaped like a hand print on his face
Hilaire (above) was arrested Friday after thousands of people shared the heartbreaking photos of Jacob across social media after his parents say authorities would not first arrest him over the alleged abuse
They say Jacob was covered in bruises the next morning and they reported the incident to police.
However, two months later with no criminal charges being filed, they felt the authorities had let them down.
Jacob's father Joshua Marbury took to Facebook to vent about what he believed to be a previous court ruling from stopping his son's alleged abuser from being charged and posted pictures of Jacob in the bath with extensive bruising on his face.
Marbury was referring to a 2012 ruling in the Oregon Court of Appeals which prosecutors say make it harder to file charges in cases of abuse where the victims can't speak, according to OregonLive.
In order to convict a child abuser of felony assault or criminal mistreatment, according to the website, prosecutors have to prove the victim suffered a 'physical injury' and suffered 'substantial pain'.
This is difficult to prove if victims are unable to explain their suffering, according to an an earlier article on the ruling.
The couple, from Sherwood, say they returned home in March to find their son screaming and the babysitter, now identified as Hilaire (above), fast asleep
The 27-year-old turned himself in Friday following a grand jury indictment. Hilaire (above) remains in the Washington County Jail with bail set at $10,000
Prosecutors have said that children under five are often unable to articulate 'substantial pain' and this is also true of older children with developmental issues or those afraid to speak out against their abusers, KATU2 reported.
The ruling means that adults are able to get away with hurting children as long as the injuries are not too bad as the ruling says bruises, welts and shallow cuts are not enough to prosecute.
'Something needs to be done. NOBODY can just hit a child and more to just get away with it because the child can't verbally tell you.'
His post quickly went viral and has since attracted more than 150,000 shares, Marbury said multiple doctors told them that the bruising on Jacob showed a hand print.
He also added that a detective informed them at the time that the injuries could have killed Jacob.
Jacob's mother said that when she came home that night more than two months ago and saw Jacob's black eye, she assumed he had somehow drawn on his face.
Jacob's mother Alice Quinney (pictured together above) says that she noticed Jacob's black eye immediately but thought he had somehow got marker on his face
'I thought maybe marker got on his face or something. When he turned over, his whole right side of his face -- black and blue,' she told OregonLive.
But then she also found marks on his ear, arm and back.
And although his bruises have now healed, she says the incident has changed her son and left her terrified of leaving him alone with anyone.
'He's always been a mama's boy, very much but since this happened he's been a mama's boy times 100,' she said.
'This isn't something we can move on from.'
She wants the law to change, she said at the time.
Hilaire's aunt told The Oregonian that her nephew was drinking the night of the alleged abuse and she criticized the parents for leaving the boy in his care.
Hilaire remains in the Washington County Jail with bail set at $10,000.
The last surviving search dog who helped to find survivors after the Twin Towers came crashing down on September 11 has died.
Bretagne, a 16-year-old golden retriever, was euthanized on Monday in a Texas veterinary hospital.
With a host of honors to her name and countless searches behind her, Bretagne was honored - as any human would be - one final time before her death.
A row of firefighters stood at attention as Bretagne walked with her owner, Denise Corliss, into the Fairfield Animal Hospital in Cypress, Texas.
Scroll down for video
Respect: Bretagne, a 16-year-old golden retriever who was part of the search team during 9/11, was euthanized on Monday in a Texas veterinary hospital
Salute: A row of firefighters stood at attention as Bretagne walked with her owner, Denise Corliss, into the Fairfield Animal Hospital
Final goodbye: With a host of honors to her name and countless searches behind her, Bretagne was honored as any human would be
Bretagne began suffering from kidney failure and when she stopped eating, Corliss knew it was time to say goodbye.
'She was really anxious last night and she just wanted to be with me.
'So I laid down with her, right next to her. When she could feel me, she could settle down and go to sleep. I slept with her like that all night,' Corliss told TODAY.
Leading up to her death, Corliss and her husband wrote out a bucket list for Bretagne and completed the items on it before Monday.
One of them included visiting local Robert Road Elementary School where the pooch had become a story time pal and had also helped work with autistic children.
The dog was also a volunteer firefighter and - in addition to 9/11 - had aided in searches during Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Ivan and Hurricane Rita.
'She had lived longer and accomplished more than anybody,' Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department spokesman Capt. David Padovan told the New York Daily News.
Thank you: Corliss said that at first, the scale of the disaster overwhelmed her, but Bretagne just looked eager to work
Taking a nap: Worn out and taking a breather
Deserved rest: Bretagne began suffering from kidney failure and when she stopped eating, which indicated it was time to say goodbye
Following her death, Bretange's body was draped in an American flag and driven to Texas A&M University.
There veterinarians will study the effect of Ground Zero on her body. .
'She was one of a kind,' Padovan added. 'She was always eager to do searchers, even after she "retired",' Padovan said.
Corliss bought Bretagne in 1999 after she was asked to take part in a training exercise for search and rescue dogs.
She said workers buried her underneath rubble for an hour before sending the dogs to find her, and she will always remember the relief she felt when she heard one of them barking above her.
After that, she decided to buy Bretagne and began training her to do the job. Within a couple of years they were deemed good enough to be assigned to Texas Task Force 1.
Fateful day: Bretagne was among the first 300 dogs to respond to Ground Zero in Manhattan following the terrorist attack
Support: She and her owner Denise Corliss (pictured) worked 12 hour shifts digging through rubble, sometimes sleeping for as few as 4 hours
At 13 Bretagne's joints began to stiffen and she could no longer climb the stairs in her home.
Corliss installed a pool and the two swam for ten minutes every day.
She said it made a world of difference and allowed the dog to regain flexibility in her limbs.
Bretagne celebrated her birthday last year in New York City, where she began her search career at two years old, searching through the rubble of 9/11.
She was one of 300 first responder search dogs who heroically braved the site of the largest terrorist attack on American soil.
During her 16th birthday celebration last year Bretagne and Corliss were treated to a hero's welcome at LaGuardia Airport in New York, before being taken to 1 Hotel Central Park courtesy of BarkPost.
Tired: The 9/11 mission was Bretagne's first deployment, but Corliss said she took to it perfectly despite the exhausting hours
Heroic: Bretagne worked tirelessly throughout the aftermath of 9/11 to try and rescue those hurt in the terror attack
There, Bretagne was given treats and a birthday cake to help her celebrate her 16th birthday, before the pair made their way back to Ground zero.
Corliss explained how she and Bretagne were sent on their first-ever search from the Texas Task Force to relieve the first responders at the World Trade Center.
The mission was Bretagne's first deployment, but Corliss said she took to it perfectly, despite working 12 hours days in some of the most difficult conditions imaginable.
For the birthday girl: During her 16th birthday celebration last year Bretagne and Corliss were treated to a hero's welcome at LaGuardia Airport in New York before having cake
Tasty: They also got to stay in the luxurious 1 Hotel Central Park courtesy of BarkPost and tour Ground Zero, where they had helped in the search efforts so many years earlier
A very sad day for the men & women with the Cy Fair FD. Today they said good bye to Bretagne (pronounced "Brittany") she's the last known surviving 9/11 search and rescue dog. She would have turned 17 in Aug. This video shows her walking into the vet's office one last time - getting a hero's salute. She was put down at 5pm. STORY-->http://bit.ly/1XB5dhM Posted by Jennifer Bauer on Monday, June 6, 2016
THE HERO DOGS OF SEPTEMBER 11 During the chaos of the 9/11 attacks, where almost 3,000 people died, hundreds of loyal search and rescue dogs and their brave owners scoured Ground Zero for survivors. Some estimate there were 300 dogs - others say 900. It is unknown exatly how many dogs in total searched the rubble of 9/11. In 2011 a book called 'Retrieved' documented the last living dogs of September 11. Most of the search and rescue dogs were Labradors or golden retrievers. A study of the dogs after the search revealed that no only did the dogs fair well, but they also helped prevent Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in their handlers. It was revealed many of the dogs suffered cancer, however it was not inconsistent with the type of disease an elderly dog would typically encounter. The study also found the dogs lived a long time - a median 12 years. Source: Dogtime.com Advertisement
Corliss said that at first, the scale of the disaster overwhelmed her, but Bretagne just looked eager to work, and so helped her get on with what needed to be done.
Cindy Otto, a vet who works for Penn Vet Working Dog Center and cared for more than 100 dogs who worked at Ground Zero and tracked their health after, said:
'You'd see firefighters sitting there, unanimated, stone-faced, no emotion, and then they'd see a dog and break out into a smile.
'Those dogs brought the power of hope. They removed the gloom for just an instant.
'Bretagne's partnership with Denise Corliss was magical.'
But Bretagne's legacy will live on, not just through Corliss, but through another dog bearing her name.
Penn Vet Working Dog Center not only tracked the dogs of 9/11 but also trained new sniffer dogs who can find, people, drugs or disease.
A puppy named for Bretange - Bretange 2 - whon lives with a man who has Type 1 diabetes.
Controversial former speaker Bronwyn Bishop says Malcolm Turnbull should have called the Federal Election for March this year when the Prime Minister was more popular.
Ms Bishop, who made her Sky News debut last week after being dumped from parliament, described Mr Turnbull's decision to hold an eight-week double dissolution election as risky.
The former MP outlined how the Government could have called an election in January, after the MYEFO review in December, meaning Australians would have gone to the polls in late March, she told Sky News.
Scroll down for video
Controversial former speaker Bronwyn Bishop has said Malcolm Turnbull should have called an election for March this year when the Prime Minister was more popular
But despite her criticisms of Mr Turnbull's timing, Ms Bishop said she still believed the Coalition will win next month.
The former Member for Mackellar also detailed her relationship with ousted prime minister Tony Abbott, saying the two were 'close'.
'I worked very hard to make sure Tony got pre-selected - I made sure that I stayed talking with him when he became a minister,' Ms Bishop said.
'I'd talk to him about what he might think in his head, if he wanted to be prime minister... we were close.'
Ms Bishop went on to criticise the Safe Schools program, and the decision to allow its co-founder Roz Ward to return to work with La Trobe University after she called the Australian flag 'racist'.
'Look at this Safe Schools program, that's not one that cannot be reformed that's one that has to be abolished,' the former speaker said on Sky News.
Ms Bishop, who made her Sky News debut last week after being dumped from parliament, described Mr Turnbull's decision to call an eight-week double dissolution election as risky
The former MP outlined how the Government could have called an election in January, after the MYFEO review in December, meaning Australians would have gone to the polls in late March
'You can't reform something that's fundamentally bad.
Ms Ward was allowed to go back to work after the National Tertiary Education Union threatened it would take legal action against the university if the suspension wasn't ended.
NSW Police's top negotiator was working on other high-risk incidents across the state as his team tried to resolve the Sydney siege.
It has been revealed the chief police negotiator for NSW was actively engaged in at least four other incidents even as gunman Man Haron Monis was holding 18 hostages inside the Lindt Cafe.
The detective chief inspector, identified by the codename 'Graeme', and who has effectively written the negotiator's manual for NSW Police, on Tuesday told the inquest into the December 2014 siege it was simply 'protocol'.
Scroll down for video
NSW Police's top negotiator was working on other high-risk incidents across the state as his team tried to resolve the Sydney siege
He has previously told the inquest he began work at 5am on the day of the siege, and worked through until 2pm the following day.
'Was it the case that there was no one else in the entire NSW Police Force who could deal with these issues other than you?' counsel assisting the inquest Jeremy Gormly SC asked the officer on Tuesday.
'That's the case, that's the protocols,' Graeme replied.
Mr Gormly then asked: 'Contain and negotiate is the principal working strategy of the NSW police and in the midst of the largest siege event in NSW history, you're dealing with three or four other negotiations in the middle of the night. Is that right?'
On Monday, the inquest heard Police Assistant Commissioner Mick Fuller (pictured) approved a deal for Monis to speak on ABC radio in return for the release of half of the hostages
It has been revealed the chief police negotiator for NSW was actively engaged in at least four other incidents even as gunman Man Haron Monis (pictured) was holding 18 hostages inside the Lindt Cafe
'Yes' was Graeme's response.
The inquest has already painted a picture of an overworked negotiation unit, which despite dealing with highly stressful and dangerous situations, at the time of the siege consisted of just two full-time employees, including Graeme and another negotiator identified at the inquiry as 'Reg'.
A third person was added to the full-time roster in 2016.
As the siege continued on December 15 at 10.12pm, Graeme was dealing with an attempted armed robbery.
Later about 2.37am, and minutes after police stormed the cafe, he became engaged in an incident on the mid-north coast involving a man wielding a machete.
There were two other incidents he was involved in during the Sydney siege.
The inquest has also already heard the primary negotiator during the siege had just five hours sleep before resuming work and taking the lead in direct talks with hostages inside the cafe.
Other part-time members of the negotiation team have previously detailed how as the siege unfolded, they initially had to work out of a 4WD and later in cramped conditions at a leagues club near the Lindt Cafe where they had just a single phone line.
Two hostages were killed during the 16 hour siege, Katrina Dawson (left) and Tori Johnson (right)
The inquest has also heard that a purpose-built negotiation truck had been out of action since 2011.
'I don't anticipate that you're going to criticise the NSW police terribly much chief inspector, but correct if me if I'm wrong. One rather has the impression that the negotiation side of things doesn't get the same support as other areas of police activity. Would that be a fair comment?' Mr Gormly asked Graeme on Tuesday.
'I think we do what we can with the available resources, finances, we do what we can,' Graeme said.
'But there's only you, a truck in the garage and Reg. Is that right?' Mr Gormly pressed on.
'Yes,' Graeme said.
Police stormed the cafe shortly after 2am on December 16, almost 18 hours after Monis took control of the building.
Victims of the lengthy siege were remembered by Sydneysiders, who left flowers at Martin Place
The gunman, who killed cafe manager Tori Johnson, was shot dead by police. Hostage Katrina Dawson died after being hit by fragments of a bullet fired by police.
On Monday, the inquest heard Police Assistant Commissioner Mick Fuller approved a deal for Monis to speak on ABC radio in return for the release of half of the hostages.
Graeme said he had discussed the proposal with Mr Fuller at 11.07am and about 40 minutes later with another negotiator.
A four-line entry in the detective chief inspector's log, read to the inquest on Monday, states: 'Mr Fuller happy for POI to talk to ABC. Release half of the 18 hostages first. Look for concessions/reciprocity.'
But the deal was never put to Monis as Graeme decided not to go through with the deal.
He was showing signs of paranoia, anxiety and fear before he went missing
e took MDMA but now think he took
The Hobart man is believed to have been taking
Missing Australian backpacker Rye Hunt may have taken a highly potent hallucinogen before he disappeared in Brazil more than a fortnight ago, his family said.
Mr Hunt's uncle and girlfriend, who are in Rio searching for the 25-year-old, now believe he may have inadvertently taken the highly potent hallucinogen NBOMe - rather than MDMA as previously thought.
'Reports from those around Rye in the lead up to his disappearance [described] irregular and out-of-character behaviours, such as extreme paranoia, anxiety and fear,' the family said in a statement on Tuesday.
Scroll down for video
Rye Hunt's family believe the Australian backpacker may have unknowingly taken a highly potent hallucinogen before he disappeared in Brazil more than a fortnight ago
'Based on these effects we believe Rye may have unknowingly consumed a different illicit substance while thinking he was consuming MDMA.'
'We now believe the illicit substance to be a highly potent hallucinogen and psychedelic often referred to as NBOMe.'
The intoxicating psychedelic, also referred to as New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), is a synthetic drug designed to produce a similar effect to LSD, according to the Australian Drug Foundation.
The powerful drug can be taken in the form of blotting paper, clear liquid, white powder or a pill.
The dangerous synthetic drug is known to cause side effects such as paranoia, hallucination, memory lapses, difficulty in communicating, aggression and even death.
Mr Hunt, from Hobart, has been missing since May 21 when he left Galeao International Airport in a taxi after an argument with his travelling companion, Mitchell Sheppard, and booked into a Copacabana apartment.
'We believe Rye may have unknowingly consumed a different illicit substance while thinking he was consuming MDMA,' his family said in a statement
Mr Hunt left the airport after getting into an argument with his travelling companion Mitchell Sheppard (right)
Mr Hunt has been missing since May 21 when he left Galeao International Airport in a taxi (Pictured: at airport)
His belongings were found inside an apartment Mr Hunt rented in Copacabana shortly after leaving the airport
It's believed the two Australian backpackers had earlier taken drugs at a party in Lapa.
WHAT IS NBOMe? N-methoxybenzy or NBOMe are series of drugs that have hallucinogenic effects. There are a number of versions of NBOMe available which can cause different reactions. The hallucinogen, also known as a psychedelic' can affect all the senses and is capable of altering a person's thinking, sense of time and emotions. While some may feel happy and relaxed after taking the synthetic drug others have reported feeling confused, paranoid, panicked, agitated and prone to aggression. Advertisement
Dr Monica Barratt from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at UNSW told Hack the new drug has come out of China and is linked to several recent deaths in Australia.
'NBOMe is a class of strong hallucinogenic substances that have been newly created in the last five years,' she said.
Dr Barratt said it should be taken in far lower doses than party drug MDMA, with the strength being difficult to determine if it has been mixed with other powers or drugs.
Mr Hunt is understood to have been 'snorting lines' before his disappearance.
Mr Hunt's partner, Bonnie Cuthbert, and uncle, Michael Wholohan, are in Rio de Janeiro working with local and Australian authorities to find the missing man.
They revealed on Monday that Brazilian authorities had called off a 72-hour sea search after a fishermen spotted a body floating off Rio's coast in clothes similar to those worn by Mr Hunt when he vanished.
His girlfriend Bonnie Cuthbert travelled to Rio de Janeiro in a bid to find the missing man
Mr Hunt is understood to have been 'snorting lines' before his disappearance
Authorities had previously scoured Cotunduba Island after another fisherman reported seeing Mr Hunt there - scratched and asking for water - the day after he disappeared.
Mr Hunt's family on Tuesday appealed for police and locals in Rio to continue their efforts.
'[We] determinedly continue to search for Rye,' they said.
The one person arrested in the chaos after Kanye West announced a surprise pop-up show in New York says she endured '16 hours of hell' and the rapper was not worth it.
Lauren Epstein, 26, had been out drinking with friends when she saw the huge crowd in Manhattan's East Village and heard someone say that the rapper was coming in the early hours of Monday morning.
She decided to check it out, but told the New York Daily News that she did not hear police order the crowd to disperse.
The 26-year-old restaurant manager took a conditional dismissal at her arraignment at Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday evening.
Scroll down for video
The one person arrested in the chaos (above) after Kanye West announced a surprise pop-up show in New York says she endured '16 hours of hell' and the rapper was not worth it
Lauren Epstein said Kanye West was not worth spending a night in jail for, but Beyonce (right) would be
But she was held overnight and has a summons for an open container, the Daily News reports.
'It wasn't worth 16 hours in jail,' she told the newspaper, adding that at the time, she didn't even know why she was arrested.
'Maybe Beyonce would be, but not this. All for f******* Kanye West. I don't even like, love him,' she added.
Thousands of fans clogged the streets after West announced a last-minute show at Webster Hall at 2am.
West had been due to headline New York's Governors Ball festival on Sunday, but the final day was canceled on fears of heavy thunderstorms.
West appeared out of the sunroof of his car to acknowledge the crowd, but ultimately did not perform
West and Travis Scott stand out of the sunroof of a car near the venue, sending the crowd into a frenzy
Then, after West wrote vaguely on Twitter about a show at 2am, a sea of fans converged around Webster Hall, a historic venue in the city's East Village and favorite spot for unannounced gigs.
Police were forced for more than an hour to close the area to traffic, with authorities sending out a traffic notice to residents, after thousands swarmed onto the streets including on parked cars, some chanting 'Kanye' and 'Pablo'.
As a black car neared the venue, fans surrounded it and forced the vehicle to slow, with a smiling
West appeared out of the sunroof to acknowledge the crowd, footage posted on social media showed, but ultimately did not perform.
Webster Hall, whose main floor has a capacity of 1,500, informed fans that there would be no late surprise show and asked those outside the venue to go home.
Chaos erupted outside Kanye's secret New York concert after thousands of fans descended on the venue
West's appearance at the Governors Ball festival, which takes place on Randall's Island in the city's East River, would have been one of his first shows since he released his latest album 'The Life of Pablo' in February.
A younger rapper who had been due to play Sunday at Governors Ball, Vic Mensa, played Sunday evening at Webster Hall in a last-minute but announced show.
The Internal Revenue Service has finally admitted that officials did indeed single out roughly 426 conservative groups for extra scrutiny.
The list released roughly three years later shows a total of 426 organizations, which is significantly higher than what the Treasury Department's inspector general first thought there to be in May 2013. At the time he identified 298 groups to be involved in the scandal.
Names on the list include high-profile groups like the Tea Party Patriots all the way down to lower-profile organizations like the Patriots of Charleston or the Ashville Tea Party Inc., according to The Washington Times.
The IRS filed the list in May after being prompted to by federal judges. In addition, it was produced as part of a Tea Party groups led class-action lawsuit.
The Internal Revenue Service has finally admitted that officials did indeed single out roughly 426 conservative groups for extra scrutiny. File photo above
The list released roughly three years later shows a total of 426 organizations, which is significantly higher than what the Treasury Department's inspector general first thought there to be in May 2013. File photo above
Roughly 60 groups of names on the list contained the word 'tea,' 33 have the word 'patriot,' 26 others had the word 'liberty' in the title and eight used the word 'Constitution.'
As part of the lawsuit, a lawyer for the NorCal Tea Party Patriots said the list by the IRS may have grown since 2013 as the IRS targeted more liberal groups after the start of the investigation to try and lower the perception of bias.
'Based on these changes, which to date remain unexplained, a very real possibility if not probability exists that the IRS modified its targeting in light of the investigations, packing its own internal lists of targeted groups to support its preferred narrative, including by adding ideologically diverse groups,' Edward D. Greim told The Times.
The IRS was hit hard by a federal judge earlier this year for allegedly delaying requests for information.
'The lawsuit has progressed as slowly as the underlying applications themselves: at every turn the IRS has resisted the plaintiffs' requests for information regarding the IRS's treatment of the plaintiff class, eventually to the open frustration of the district court,' Circuit Court Judge Raymond Kethledge said in a March ruling.
In May, House Republicans increased pressure on the IRS and introduced a measure to 'censure' IRS Commissioner John Koskinen (pictured in 2015), plus remove him from office without his pension
'Among the most serious allegations a federal court can address are that an Executive agency has targeted citizens for mistreatment based on their political views.
'No citizenRepublican or Democrat, socialist or libertarianshould be targeted or even have to fear being targeted on those grounds.'
In May, House Republicans increased pressure on the IRS and introduced a measure to 'censure' IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, plus remove him from office without his pension.
On Monday, Tea Party Patriots continued their demand to have him impeached.
'The IRS has once again admitted to targeting Americans for their political views, including Tea Party Patriots and over 70 groups that include the word 'tea' in their name,' Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin said in a statement, according to Fox News.
'Under President Obama, the IRS has attacked the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans and it is well beyond time that someone is held accountable.
'This latest development is another reason the House of Representatives should vote to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen for misconduct, including betraying the public trust by disregarding Congressional subpoenas and lying to Congress.'
A marine scientist has warned that houses in the coastal 'hot spots' identified by every council in Australia with ocean frontage could collapse into the sea in escalating storms in coming years.
In NSW, there are 15 of the hot spots, while South Australia and Queensland have hundreds.
Professor Andrew Short, a coastal expert from Sydney University said each of the coastal councils has drawn hazard lines beyond which existing houses are in danger of subsiding into the ocean.
The hot spots in NSW include the two northern Sydney beach suburbs which experienced serious coastal subsidence in this week's storms, Collaroy and Narrabeen, as well as Mona Vale and Bilgola.
The hot spots in other states include the entire Gold Coast in Queensland, Noosa, Maroochydore and Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast, Port Adelaide in South Australia and beachside suburbs of Perth.
Scroll down for video
A marine scientist has identified 'hot spots' which every coastal council warns may suffer the sort of collapse into the sea that happened at Collaroy in Sydney this week, the areas including Noosa and Maroochydore in Queensland, Belongil Beach in NSW and Narrabeen, Bilgola and Mona Vale in Sydney
This is not Sydney this week, but the aftermath of a severe storm which battered south east Queensland with heavy rainfall, strong winds, and dangerously high tides, a taste of what's to come over the next 50 years
The chaotic scenes at Collaroy beach this week could happen at 15 'hot spots' in NSW and hundreds of other locations throughout Australia idenfitied by councils who have drawn up 'hazard' areas at risk
This picture was taken off Western Australia after a severe weather warning was issued for people in Perth, Geraldton, Dalwallinu, Jurien Bay, York, and Mandurah in May
A marine expert has warned that 'hot spots' for future collapse of coastal house like these in Collaror (pictured) hot spots in other states include the entire Gold Coast in Queensland, Noosa, Maroochydore and Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast, Port Adelaide in South Australia and beach side suburbs of Perth.
'If these lows along the Eastern Seaboard get more intense, or tropical cyclones as they are in Queensland, we will see more damage,' Professor Short told Daily Mail Australia.
'The lows get their energy from hot water down the East Coast which provides the energy to drive these cyclones and lows.
'The air temperature is rising, the sea temperature in the current along the east coast is getting warmer. It's like turning up the gas on a stove.
Is you house at risk? Coastal 'hot spots' where houses could flal into the sea in the next 50 years NSW: Bilgola, Mona Vale and Collaroy/Narrabeen in Sydney. Belongil Beach at Byron Bay, Lennox Head near Ballina, Brooms Head, Wooli, Lake Cathie, Old Bar Beach near Taree, Jimmys Beach in the Great Lakes area, The Entrance North, Noraville and Norah Head at Wyong, Wamberal/Terrigal near Gosford and Batemans Bay. Queensland: The Gold Coast, Nossa, Caloundra and Mroochydore on the Sunshien Coast, Bribie Island, Moreton Bay suburbs in Brisbane, Cairns foreshore,Mackay, Rockhampton, Bundaberg and Yeppoon. Perth: Beachside suburbs. South Australia: Port Adelaide, the York and Eyre peninsulas. Advertisement
'Every beach in NSW has a hazard line and on the council coastal management plan as the sea level rises, there are hazard lines for what it will be in 2050 and in 2100.
'The existing properties that were built in the past before our knowledge of coastal processes are at risk.
'Today you would not be bale to built that close to the coast. There are houses, and the majority of older surf clubs which are at most risk.'
Profess or Short said a combination of three factors put these houses at risk, and there were only four solutions to save them in advance.
He said the houses at Collaroy experiencing 'cracking and groaning' after the onslaught of the rain, the king tide and the high winds would have to be examined by structural engineers once the weather pattern subsided.
'The triple whammy is big seas,a king tide and the high winds and rain and unless these houses are built on concrete piles which go down to the bedrock and can stand up when the sand subsides then they are not secure.'
The sea in South Australia is rising at 4mm each year and at only a slightly smaller rate in NSW.
Professor Short said the rising seas were 'not all bad news' for those houses in the hazard areas.
'There are solutions, although they are all expensive and councils cannot usually afford them so they have taken the fourth options - do nothing.
South Australia: "The three things you can do is sand nourishment, in which you pump sand onto the beach. They have been doing this on the Gold Coast for years, but it is expensive.
'There is also the option of building sea walls, not just made out of old car wrecks and tyres like some on the past and they must be properly engineered sea walls and have no gap.'
At Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast a 'king' tide brought swells of up to four metres crashing through the windows of Rick Shores restaurant
In May this year, a petrol station in Adelaide was left worse for wear after the ceiling caved in, leaving a enormous sheet of metal dangling above the petrol pumps
Scenes like this at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast will become more likely in the sort of hot spots that councils around Australia have identified as at risk while seas rise up to 4mm a year
Professor Short said the third option was 'buy back' as in the former council at Collaroy's policy of buying properties in the hazardous clifftop locations and turning them into small parks.
He said the council had abandoned the scheme because if was prohibitively expensive.
Like this scene at Collaroy in Sydney, at risk for collapsing into the sea are areas like the Cairns foreshore was another hot spot for storm surges, as were the Moreton Bay suburbs in Brisbane, and the Brisbane River was prone to flooding
'The 1.5km section of that beach at Collaroy, to buy the whole lot back you would be looking at $100m,' he said.
In Queensland, many areas suffered the fatal combination of river flooding, big seas and storm surge, which had affected cities like Mackay, Rockhampton, Bundaberg and Yeppoon.
The Cairns foreshore was another hot spot for storm surges, as were the Moreton Bay suburbs in Brisbane, and the Brisbane River was prone to flooding.
On the Gold Coast, Palm Beach, Surfers Paradise and the Tweed had been affected.
In South Australia, storms generated in the St Vincents Gulf affected parts of Adelaide, Port Adelaide and the York and Eyre peninsulas.
South Australians who owned luxury houses known as 'shacks' along the coastline has been quite resistant to having levy banks or sea walls built to obstruct their view or access to beaches.
Professor Roger Tomlinson of the Griffith Centre for Coastal Management in Queensland said that in the conditions of the intense low that had hit Sydney this week, the whole of the Gold Coast would have to be regarded as a hot spot.
Professor Short said the warming waters was already pushing tropical marine ecosystems southward and that tropical fish had been discovered in Sydney Harbour.
A school has partly blamed a student for her own rape at a university-leased building because she had consumed one drink before being attacked by a security guard.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts made the controversial claim in new legal papers filed on Tuesday.
It was a response to the student, who last year filed a civil suit against the college claiming they failed to provide a sage environment for students, the Boston Globe reports.
The student, who has not been named publicly for legal reasons, was raped by a security guard in San Juan, Puerto Rico, during a university-run research project in April 2012.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (pictured) is fighting a student's claims that the school failed to protect her after she was raped on a research trip in Puerto Rico by a guard who had been suspended for corruption
She had drunk one watermelon cocktail that contained about three measures of liquor in it, before walking onto the roof of the student housing complex.
Her rapist William Rodriguez, a former Puerto Rico state officer, is now serving a 20-year jail term in Puerto Rico after being convicted of the rape four years ago.
In her civil suit, the student accuses the school of failing to background check Rodriguez, who had been suspended from his state role in 2011 for selling bullets to an undercover cop.
William Rodriguez, a former Puerto Rico state officer, is now serving a 20-year jail term in Puerto Rico after being convicted of the rape four years ago
Worcester Polytechnic directors have hit back, claiming the woman was partially responsible because she was drinking that night and chose to follow a stranger onto a dark rooftop.
The school's attorneys argue the victim engaged in risky behavior including excessive drinking and disregarded training about how to protect herself from harm.
They insist the argument is not an attempt to blame the student, rather to reject her claim the school was culpable.
According to the Globe, the school's attorney's interrogated the student about her drinking in a deposition last year.
They asked the student if her parents had taught her not to 'take candy from strangers', the Globe reports.
In response, she reportedly said she assumed the security guard would protect rather than attack her.
The woman's lawyers say the school's argument is an attempt to harass and intimidate her.
Colby Bruno, a victims' rights law expert advising the woman's legal team, told the Globe: 'When you are saying a victim of rape caused her own rape, it is so offensive.'
He added: 'No one can contribute to their own rape, no matter what, because everyone has the right to be free from rape.'
And Bruno also directed criticism at the judge, for failing to rule out victim-blaming as an acceptable argument.
The woman, named Jane Doe in the legal papers, was not given another option for her accommodation during the trip.
Advertisement
Florida has been declared a state of emergency as Tropical Storm Colin hurtles east.
Heavy rain is knocking out power and flooding roads across the Southeast on Tuesday, with 50mph winds hammering homes and businesses and 10 inches of rain around Tampa.
The weather system already brought crippling tornadoes to Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Florida over the weekend.
But its final blast is set to have a devastating effect on the Georgia coast early this week.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency as the storm churned its way across the state into southeast Georgia.
Not letting up: Torrential downpour pummels the Universal Orlando theme park on Monday - and Tuesday looks no better
Strong winds and high tide from Tropical Storm Colin floods Bayshore Boulevard in south Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday
A teen driver was sent hurling into this ditch in Panama City, Florida, on Monday after the rain turned dirt roads into sludge
A motorist drives down a flooded street in St Petersburg, Florida, on Tuesday
Protection: Kelly Spiliotis carries a sandbag across a flooded Athens Street on Monday in Tarpon Springs, Florida, en route to her Ambrosia gift shop as Tropical Storm Colin barreled up the west coast of Florida
This map shows the storm's final blast over Florida on Tuesday morning as the tail end of it is dragged into the Georgia coast
The high winds and rain knocked out power to about 10,000 Floridians on Monday evening from the Tampa Bay area to Jacksonville
Colin produced rainfall amounts of 3 to 6 inches, and forecasters said up to 8 inches were possible across north Florida, southeastern Georgia and coastal areas of the Carolinas (pictured) through Tuesday
Tornadoes were also a possibility across parts of the coastal Carolinas on Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center said
The National Hurricane Center said Colin marked the earliest that a third named storm has ever formed in the Atlantic basin.
Residents may soon expect some relief though. As of 5am on Tuesday, the storm was moving into the Atlantic, away from the Georgia coast.
Scott said in an interview that there were no reports of major damage, but the state will be tracking flooding from the sudden deluge of rain, much of which fell during high tides Monday.
He said Florida has seen severe flooding in unlikely places after previous storms.
'We'll just see how well it runs off,' Scott said. 'I always remember back to (Tropical Storm) Isaac in 2012, it went west but we had unbelievable flooding in Palm Beach County.'
Colin's maximum sustained winds Tuesday morning were near 50 mph (85 kph) with some strengthening forecast after the storm moved into the Atlantic. But National Hurricane Center said Colin was expected to lose its tropical cyclone status by Tuesday night.
The storm disrupted schools and summer programs.
Schools in Wilmington were opening two hours later than usual on Tuesday.
Many were dismissed early Monday, and two high school graduations in the Tampa Bay area were postponed due to the storms, with both ceremonies being moved to Wednesday night and Thursday. Winds from Colin also closed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, right, thanks first responders for their help assisting the public during Tropical Storm Colin during a meeting at the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday
Ominous: Storm clouds from Colin flank The Orlando Eye Ferris wheel in Florida as severe weather moves into central Florida on Monday
Tropical Storm Colin kicks up the waters around Davis Island with the Tampa, Fla., skyline in the background on Monday. Heavy rain is knocking out power and flooding roads across the Southeast on Tuesday, with 50mph winds hammering homes and businesses
Storm clouds move through the area in Onslow County, North Carolina, ahead of Tropical Storm Colin on Monday. It is heading Northeast
Kayakers paddle south down Palm Street in Madeira Beach, Florida on Monday as heavy rain continues to batter the region on Tuesday
Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency in Florida (Tampa pictured) as the storm churned its way across into southeast Georgia
At Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge roads were flooded and businesses sent people home early.
The high winds and rain also knocked out power to about 10,000 Floridians heading into Monday evening from the Tampa Bay area to Jacksonville.
Colin produced rainfall amounts of 3 to 6 inches, and forecasters said up to 8 inches were possible across north Florida, southeastern Georgia and coastal areas of the Carolinas through Tuesday.
Tornadoes were also a possibility across parts of the coastal Carolinas on Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center said.
Not everyone in Florida was hunkering down.
About 50 people were in the water with surfboards off Treasure Island to take advantage of the rare 2-3-foot swells breaking in the Gulf's warm waters.
A woman's body has been found off the Sydney coast close to where witnesses said a person went missing in rough seas.
Police said the body of a woman believed to be aged in her 20s was recovered about 100 metres off Dover Heights in Sydney's eastern suburbs on Tuesday afternoon.
Emergency services were called to the area about 2.15pm after reports of a body in the water.
A police vessel in the water near Dover Heights, Sydney, recovered what's thought to be the body of a woman aged in her 20s
The body of a woman believed to be aged in her 20s has been recovered from water off the coast of Sydney's eastern suburbs
Emergency services were called to the area about 2.15pm after reports of a body in the water, and it was located shortly before 3pm
Emergency services including a police helicopter, Marine Rescue and Surf Life Saving NSW began searching the area at first light on Tuesday after reports a man had disappeared into waves at the south end of Bondi Beach about 2.30pm on Monday.
Police say the body they recovered is yet to be formally identified.
A police spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia they had not received any missing persons reports that could be related to body found, or relating to the witness reports that a man had disappeared into the surf on Monday.
A witness who saw the man disappear into the waves said: 'He just jumped in when the waves were going out and when the waves came in again he went under and couldn't keep up'.
Dover Heights line the cliffs of Sydney's eastern seaboard, near where a woman's body was found on Tuesday afternoon (stock image)
Dover Heights, where a woman's body was spotted floating about 100m from the shore on Tuesday (stock image)
'Then he just disappeared.'
Westpac Rescue Helicopter's Stephen Leahy told the ABC a 000 call was made about 2.30pm.
The man was only visible in the water for a 'short period of time' before becoming submerged, he said.
The discovery of the woman's body and the missing man follows deaths and disappearances in the wake of the weekend's large storm which battered the east of Australia.
A rescue helicopter searches for a man who witnesses said plunged into rough surf at Bondi Beach on Monday
The lawyer of a British businessman accused of murdering his 'mistress' at his luxury home in Kenya has protested his innocence claiming the woman accidentally shot herself while taking a selfie with a gun.
Richard Alden, 53, appeared in court yesterday after being arrested on suspicion of murdering Grace Wangechi Kinyanjui, 42, at his home in a wealthy suburb of Nairobi.
When police arrived at the hospital, the victim who had suffered gunshot and stab wounds as well as broken fingers had been pronounced dead.
British businessman Richard Alden (pictured) has appeared in court accused of murdering his 'mistress' at his luxury home in Kenya after police dismissed his claim that she killed herself
Richard Alden (left), 53, had taken Grace Wangechi Kinyanjui (right), 42, to hospital on Saturday claiming she shot herself at his house in a wealthy suburb of Nairobi
Officers dismissed married Aldens story, saying she had actually been shot from behind and stabbed in the back.
But his lawyer Evans Monari said Ms Kinyanjui had been helping Alden move house and claimed she shot herself.
He said: From what I hear, she was taking pictures, 'selfies', with a gun and it went off.
'Richard says he is not responsible. The girl shot herself by accident.'
Alden's wife Martine was out of the country at the time of the incident but has since returned to Kenya. He will next appear in court on Friday.
The father-of-three, a former executive for financial services company Deloitte, has been in police custody since Saturday and appeared at Kibera law court in Nairobi yesterday.
Officers dismissed Aldens story, saying she had actually been shot from behind and stabbed in the back
Married Alden (left) and Miss Kinyanjui (right) are understood to have been having an affair after meeting through a local hiking group
According to Nairobi News , Alden will be held for five more working days while police investigate the death.
Married Alden and Miss Kinyanjui are understood to have been having an affair after meeting through a local hiking group.
Nairobi County Police Commander Japheth Koome said the couple were in a relationship and living together.
However conflicting reports claimed Alden still lived with his wife in the upmarket Nairobi suburb of Karen.
The married couple who have three grown up children together are believed to have lived in Twickenham, London before leaving to live abroad.
One report claimed Miss Kinyanjui, who ran a security firm, was at the house helping Alden and his wife pack for an upcoming move.
Police raided Aldens home and recovered a spent cartridge and a pistol with 34 live bullets. He is pictured at court this morning
Richard Alden (left), 53, arrested on suspicion of the murder of Grace Kinyanjui at his house in Karen, stands inside the dock at the Kibera Law Courts
According to reports, Alden (right) was CEO of ONO, the largest cable television and telecommunications operator in Spain, from 1998 to 2009
Yesterday police told local media sources that Miss Kinyanjuis injuries were consistent with murder.
They said there was a bullet wound in the back of her head and she had three open wounds on the left side of her neck. She also had a fractured left thumb and ring finger and had been stabbed in the back.
Mr Koome said: They were the only people in the house and when crime officers went there they also found a blood-stained towel in the dressing room where the murder took place. It is murder and he is in custody for that.
The Police Commander said they were alerted to the incident by Aldens guards who said they saw him drag a lifeless body to his car which he then took to hospital.
Police raided Aldens home and recovered a spent cartridge and a pistol with 34 live bullets.
Alden allegedly told officers that he and the victim were to travel to Nanyuki where he planned to settle on a farm he had bought.
A guard and the familys maid have also been brought in for questioning by police.
Grief-stricken parents have described the horrific moment 250 migrants - including their son - were killed when the packed ship they were on capsized during a desperate scramble for life jackets.
Rashid and Fatma Jaqali and their three children, from northern Syria, were among 700 refugees crammed on to the boat having paid smugglers 825 for the crossing from Libya to Italy.
Six hours into the voyage, the engine stopped and Italian rescuers reached the vessel before tossing life vests into the water.
But panic set in as migrants desperately tried to reach the jackets - causing the packed metal fishing boat to lurch from side to side before finally capsizing.
Rashid, a 45-year-old Kurd, described how he pleaded with people to remain calm as the rescuers came nearer - but despite being rescued himself, his son Mohammed, 17, was killed in the tragedy.
Rashid Jaqali (second from left), hugs his daughter Yehia, (left), his wife Fatma (second from right) and his son Suranne as they mourn the death of Mohammed, 17, who died when the migrant ship they were on capsized
Death estimates from the boat carrying Jaqalis on May 25 are up to 250. The coffins of some of the victims of the shipwreck are pictured being carried off a boat in the Sicilian harbour town of Porto Empedocle, Italy
Grief-stricken: Fatma Jaqali, who lost her 17-year-old son Mohammed in the May 25 shipwreck, shows a picture of him during an interview
Describing the chaos on board, he told the Associated Press: 'We would say, calm down, kids. You will all get one. No one waited....Instead of rescue, there was death with those vests.'
The disaster happened in the last week in May when more than a thousand migrants are believed to have died trying to make the same journey.
Death estimates from the boat carrying Jaqalis on May 25 are up to 250.
Shocking accounts of the tragedy have started to emerge based on interviews with survivors and aid groups.
Rashid Jaqali, a 45-year-old Kurd, had moved his family to Libya so that the Kurdish militia couldn't recruit his sons.
He and his younger son, Yehia, went in 2013, and the rest of the family joined them a year later.
Their refuge in the northwestern city of Zawiya didn't last long. None of the children went to school.
The girl, Suzanne, was taken out after a couple of months because they didn't have official documents.
And the boys worked; Mohammed handled aluminium for interior decoration, his father marble.
As lawlessness spread in Libya, so did the rumours of kidnappings. The son of a family friend from Syria was mugged and thrown out of his car.
Other friends told them about a man held hostage until his wife gave her jewelry to the criminals. The road to Tripoli was cut because of militia infighting.
Rashid Jaqali, a 45-year-old Kurd from northern Syria, is helped off a rescue boat after surviving the May 25 shipwreck
Rashid and Fatma Jaqali and their three children, from northern Syria, were among 700 refugees crammed on to the boat having paid smugglers 825 for the crossing from Libya to Italy
Rashid's boss stopped paying him, but he was too afraid to quit. There was no going out of the house after dark. Life in Libya had become even worse than in Syria.
'We got out of one whirlpool into a larger one,' Rashid said.
The family decided to move to Germany, where his wife's relatives lived. They waited seven months for the waves to calm down. Rashid paid off his debts, tied up loose ends and forked out about $1,200 (825) to a smuggler, a special discount for families.
Mohammed, 17, prepared his own backpack; he liked to dress well. He took a selfie with his new haircut, and promised his sister a camera when they got to Germany. He had no friends in Libya to say goodbye to.
His mother, Fatma, stuffed another backpack, keeping her jewellery well protected. When the time came, the smuggler sent a car to get them.
'The enemy is behind you, and the sea is in front of you. Where is the escape?' asked Rashid. 'The sea is the escape.'
Samia Leila was another Syrian who fled to Libya, only to find herself trapped there.
Fatma breaks down in tears as she mourns her son's death
She joined her husband, a chef, in Tripoli in 2013, but then the country's capital descended into open war. Leila's husband and his two children left for Germany. Her husband's daughter, Mirna, is almost 16, and it was no longer safe for her in Libya.
Leila was afraid of the sea, so she planned to eventually join them through a reunification program. But her husband's residency papers in Germany were delayed and her Syrian passport expired.
With no other options, Leila called the same Libyan smuggler her husband had used. She paid $450, a hefty sum for a single traveller from Tripoli.
She sold her car, quit her job in a medical supplies company and sat at home for a few weeks waiting. To prepare, she took anti-sea sickness pills.
On May 2, she shipped her clothes to her husband in Mannheim, in Germany. 'For $100, imagine!'
On May 24, the smuggler told Leila her journey would begin that evening. She fasted to ask for God's blessing. Just after sundown, the smuggler picked her up from his girlfriend's house.
It was her chance to escape once again.
'I was dying,' said Leila, a determined 29-year-old with a lively giggle. 'Not physically. I was dying bit by bit inside....We died a hundred deaths every day, like the saying goes.'
Just after midnight, hundreds of migrants crammed into a warehouse with metal gates, where each smuggler had brought his clients for the scheduled journey.
Leila was shocked by the number of single, mostly African men. The Jaqalis had also thought - wrongly - that the group would be small and mostly of Syrians.
Leila asked for a life jacket, thinking it could give her an hour more to live if they sank. The smuggler promised one but never delivered it.
After making sure the coast was clear of any security, the smugglers took the migrants to the beach. There they shoved 60 or 70 people at a time into a small inflatable boat meant for 20, and headed toward a larger fishing boat moored a few kilometers offshore.
'I prayed to God before I got on board,' Leila said. 'I said, God, make it easy, or if I die, make it fast.'
People were lifted up into the fishing boat. The Africans were housed in the bottom, near the engine, with no windows and access to above only through a well-guarded ladder.
Young men and women went in the upper deck, some under an umbrella-like tarp, and in the middle deck, with metal bars surrounding it. The few families on board sat in front.
Fatma wants to stay close to her son's body where his burial is likely to be, while Rashid is unsure what is best for the other children. Mohammed is shown in the photographs
Some of the coffins containing the bodies of migrants who died in the shipwreck are shown at the Sicilian harbour town of Porto Empedocle
Despite protests from the passengers, the smugglers continued to fill the boat until it was overloaded. When one woman complained, a smuggler told her, 'May you all die.'
The Jaqalis couldn't sit together. Mohammed sat on one side near Leila, and 15-year-old Yehia on the other.
Rashid could see the children and gestured occasionally, but no movement was allowed. On the uppermost level, designated organisers smacked anyone who stood, out of fear of tipping the boat.
It was calm in front. But where Leila squatted, the swings were so extreme that at times her back almost touched the water. She read the Quran in silence in the middle of a North African crowd she had vowed to read a short verse 1,000 times. She ended up reading it nearly 2,000 times.
She could hardly breathe from the hash smoked by the young men around her, and their curses disturbed her. Every five minutes, she looked at her watch.
'You are in the middle of the sea, you don't know anything, you don't know if you will make it or not,' she said. 'You feel like time is not moving.'
Six hours later, at 10 am, the engine finally stopped. The boat driver announced that help from the Italians would arrive in 40 minutes.
Leila saw a small inflatable boat appear in the horizon, ahead of a larger military rescue vessel.
'We were alive,' she said. 'Everyone was alive. We got through the hard part.'
Fatma Jaqali, (centre), her son Suranne (left), and her daughter Yehia (right), disembark from the Italian Navy ship Bettica
But the worst was still to come. The Italian rescuers threw life vests in the water, and the young men on board swarmed to the same spot to grab them and get off. The commotion started the boat rocking.
'We would say, calm down, kids. You will all get one,' Rashid Jaqali said. 'No one waited... Instead of rescue, there was death with those vests.'
The rescue workers first saved the women, the children and the families. They spotted Leila among the young men, possibly because of her green headscarf, and carried her into the inflatable.
No one waited... Instead of rescue, there was death with those vests Rashid Jaqali
At that moment, with all the tension lifted, she couldn't speak. It was as if her memory had stopped.
'No language was registering,' she said. 'There was no English. No Arabic, no language whatsoever. Nothing. Not a word.'
She finally pulled herself together and helped the rescue workers with translation, working side by side with the doctors in a sterilised white suit.
In the meantime, Rashid Jaqali was fighting to get his wife and daughter clear of the young men. Yehia slid along the metal bars in the middle of the boat to reach his parents, terrified.
Rashid squeezed him between two women and pushed them up front for the rescuers.
Yehia pointed out Mohammed on the other side of the bow, squatting on the floor and holding the metal window next to him. When Rashid looked over, there were 20 people ahead of him.
Now migrants were climbing up from the engine level, making the boat rock even more. Rashid recited the Fatiha, the Quranic verse Muslims say when in trouble, as he stepped off the boat into the inflatable.
Fatma was one of the last women off the boat. As she left, she spotted Mohammed.
Samia Majed Leila, from Syria, was another Syrian who fled to Libya, only to find herself trapped there. She later survived the same terrifying boat crossing
Rescuers spotted Leila among the young men, possibly because of her green headscarf, and carried her into an inflatable boat. She is pictured holding her wedding certificate
Leila is thankful that she was travelling alone, and not waiting for male relatives who might have ended up like Mohammed
'He waved at me and said go, and they will come and get me. He said that with his hands,' she said in tears. 'He wanted to save me. But my heart was burning, not saved.'
The boat was rocking wildly. When Rashid took one more look back, it had tilted over.
'What the hell? I didn't see anyone any more, it was that upside down,' he said. 'An Italian pushed me into the ship. I said to him, "My son! My son!"'
Five days later, the Jaqalis were still waiting to hear word about Mohammed.
'I am going nuts,' said Rashid, pulling on a cigarette, with black circles around his eyes and stubble on his face.
His wife held out pictures of her son.
'I dreamt of him,' she said. 'He was smiling at me. Only his leg was injured. I saw him three times. He was alive.'
I don't want anything to do with Libya. I don't want to remember it Fatma Jaqali
But Leila knew the young man seated near her on the boat must have died.
'We all know, and we are pretending,' she said.
On the sixth day, the news finally reached the Jaqalis: Mohammed was dead. Suzanne put flowers in the window sill to mark the loss of her brother. Fatma said her son hit his head and died on the spot.
'Didn't I tell you I dreamt of him wounded? He was smiling at me from afar,' she said, sitting on her bed with glazed eyes. Minutes later, she asked if it was possible to erase her Libyan number from her phone. 'I don't want anything to do with Libya. I don't want to remember it.'
A day later, Fatma was hospitalised. She passed out and had the shivers.
A week and a half later, the Jaqalis have yet to bury their son. Their plans are all but shattered. Fatma wants to stay close to her son's body where his burial is likely to be, while Rashid is unsure what is best for the other children.
Fatma watches video of the capsizing, trying to locate her son and imagine how he might have fallen. She mutters that he didn't want to go to Germany, as if he knew he would not make it.
Leila is thankful that she was travelling alone, and not waiting for male relatives who might have ended up like Mohammed.
She is on her way to Germany to meet her husband. She leaves Siculiana fully made up, with new clothes and her marriage certificate in hand. She does not wear a veil, and her blonde hair flutters in the wind.
Coral skeletons infested with algae have taken the place of once-vivid coral surrounding an island besieged by bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef.
Alarming images from Lizard Island on far north Queensland's coast show coral skeletons turned a ghastly shade of brown, a testament to the damage algae has wreaked on the natural wonder.
WWF Australia says the photos were taken last month off the granite island, which was the 'ground zero' of a mass bleaching event that's killed an estimated 22 per cent of the reef's corals.
Alarming images from Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef show the devastating impact of bleaching
Once-vivid coral surrounding an island has turned a ghastly shade of brown as a result of a recent bleaching catastrophe
The reef, which last year narrowly avoided being put on the World Heritage endangered list, is currently in the throes of its worst bleaching in recorded history.
About 93 per cent of the reefs along the 2,300 kilometre site have suffered bleaching, which occurs when changes in water temperatures make the coral expel algae, turning a different shade
'Some people see coral bleached white and think it looks pretty. But this is what follows - it's literally an attack of the slime,' WWF Australia spokesman Richard Leck said.
James Cook University PHD candidate Laura Richardson said many of the corals near Lizard Island were a ghastly sight when she surveyed the area in April and May.
'So many corals were already dead with turf-algae growing over the skeletons that remain,' she said.
'Just a few months ago, these reefs were characterised by live, healthy, colourful corals and fish.'
The reef is currently in the throes of its worst bleaching in recorded history, with an estimated 22 per cent of the corals killed
Bleaching occurs when changes in water temperatures make the coral expel algae, turning a different shade
'Some people see coral bleached white and think it looks pretty. But this is what follows - it's literally an attack of the slime,' WWF Australia spokesman Richard Leck said
The hard corals look like they had been dead for years and the flesh of animals was decomposing and dripping off the reef structure
Richard Vevers, the executive director of the XL Catlin Seaview Survey which shot the photos, said the reefs normally looked stunning, although dying, at the height of bleaching.
However a few weeks after the bleaching the hard corals looked like they had been dead for years and the flesh of animals was decomposing and dripping off the reef structure, he said.
Last week the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said overall mortality of the reef was 22 per cent, with about 85 per cent of the die-off occurring on the far north between the tip of Cape York and just north of Lizard Island.
Scientists say many of the corals near Lizard Island were a ghastly sight when she surveyed the area
Last week the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said overall mortality of the reef was 22 per cent
About 85 per cent of the die-off occurring on the far north between the tip of Cape York and just north of Lizard Island
Chairman Dr Russell Reichelt said the Great Barrier Reef was still resilient with the ability to recover from major events
It comes just weeks after references to the reef were scrapped from a UN report on climate change and World Heritage sites after objections from Canberra.
A petition calling for a judge who sentenced a student to just six months in the Stanford University rape case to be fired has reached almost 100,000 signatures.
Judge Aaron Persky was criticized for saying jail time would have a 'severe impact' on Brock Turner, 20, who was convicted of raping an unconscious 23-year-old woman.
Outrage has been growing since Turner's rape victim read a powerful letter to her attacker as she came face-to-face with him in court.
She made an emotional speech at last week's sentencing hearing, explaining the devastating effect the rape has had on her life. The letter has been viewed more than six million times since it was published on BuzzFeed.
Scroll down for video
Brock Allen Turner's mugshot (pictured left, from the night of his arrest) was only reluctantly released by the authorities. He was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault in March and sentenced to just six months in county jail last week.
In it she told Turner: 'You don't know me, but you've been inside me, and that's why we're here today.'
She added: 'He is a lifetime sex registrant. That doesn't expire. Just like what he did to me doesn't expire, doesn't just go away after a set number of years.
'It stays with me, it's 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, from Dayton, Ohio, was convicted of three felony counts of assault and attempted rape and will have to register as a sex offender for life when he comes out of jail later this year.
As soon as I heard about it I jumped on the computer and I was like, ''I have to do something" Maria Ruiz, Petition organizer
A petition calling for Judge Persky's removal from the bench was launched on the Change.org website on Saturday and had already reached 95,000 signatures by Monday evening.
Maria Ruiz, a nurse from Miami who organized the petition, said she was 'outraged' when she heard about Turner's sentence: 'I was terribly upset. As soon as I heard about it I jumped on the computer and I was like, ''I have to do something".'
The League of Women Voters claimed Persky had also attended Stanford.
But in a statement Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said he did not believe Judge Persky should be recalled from office and added: 'While I strongly disagree with the sentence that Judge Persky issued in the Brock Turner case, I do not believe he should be removed from his judgeship.'
Persky was also backed by several California lawyers.
Santa Clara County deputy public defender Gary Goodman told AP: 'He is an absolutely solid and respected judge. Persky made the right decision.'
Barbara Muller, a criminal defense attorney, said he was 'is definitely one of the fairest judges' in the county and added: 'He considers all facts and is very thorough. He plays it right down the middle.'
Before the high profile case gained national attention, he largely portrayed as a well-dressed college athlete through his yearbook photo (pictured)
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen, pictured reacting to the sentencing at Santa Clara Superior Courthouse in Palo Alto, California, said he did not believe the judge should lose his job
There was anger at the way the case was initially reported in the media.
Turner was initially portrayed as a well-dressed Division I college athlete through his yearbook photo.
Both the Stanford Department of Public Safety and the Santa Clara Sheriff's Department resisted releasing Turner's mugshot until public outcry, pressure from the media and the letter written by the unnamed victim gained national attention.
Turner's case was first handled by the Stanford Department of Public Safety, before the Santa Clara Sheriff's Department took over.
Both organizations shirked the responsibility to release Turner's mugshot, until the sheriff's department emailed the photograph to New York Magazine on Monday afternoon following mounting public pressure.
Initial reports of the case relied on Turner's yearbook photo and images from court, which many criticized for painting the 20-year-old former Division I swimmer as a respectable student with a bright future.
Both the Stanford Department of Public Safety and the Santa Clara Sheriff's Department shirked the responsibility to release Turner's mugshot until Monday
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.
Turner voluntarily withdrew from the university shortly after being charged. After his arrest he was released on $150,000 bail.
The former first year student is not allowed to re-register for classes and is barred from setting foot on campus.
Turner was convicted in Santa Clara County Superior Court of assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object.
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, remorse, and lack of criminal history to bypass a heavier penalty.
During the sentencing hearing, Persky explained his concern that jail would 'have a severe impact' on Turner, a point of contention that has fueled a firestorm of criticism.
His victim told BuzzFeed News she was disappointed with the 'gentle' sentence and angry Turner still denied the attack.
Brock Turner, 20, right, makes his way into the Santa Clara Superior Courthouse in Palo Alto, California, on June 2
'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.'
In court the victim asked the judge if she could address Turner directly.
She said how she had planned to stay at home on January 17, 2015, but decided to go to the party with her younger sister after their father made dinner.
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.
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
'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 don't have words for that feeling. In order to keep breathing, I thought maybe the policemen used scissors to cut them off for evidence.'
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 don't want my body anymore.
'I was terrified of it, I didn't 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 don't 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 don't 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 wasn't real.'
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 news 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 didn't know my name, said he wouldn't be able to identify my face in a lineup, didn't 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 didn't 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 hadn't gone, then this never would've 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.
Turner's father, Dan A. Turner, penned an open letter about the verdict of the rape case, arguing his son's jail sentence 'isn't an appropriate punishment' while referring to the assault as '20 minutes of action'.
On Sunday, Turner's father, Dan A. Turner, penned an open letter (pictured) about the verdict of the rape case, arguing his son's jail sentence 'isn't an appropriate punishment'
'As it stands now, Brock's life has been deeply altered forever by the events of January 17 and 18,' the letter begins.
'He will never be his happy go lucky (sic) self with that easy-going personality and welcoming smile.
'His every waking moment is consumed with worry, anxiety, fear and depression,' the father began the letter.
He goes on to say how much Turner likes to eat - especially Ribeye steaks - and how he's a 'very good cook' but now can hardly eat and only consumes food 'to exist'.
'His life will never be the one he dream about and worked so hard to achieve.
'That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 years of life,' Dan A. Turner continued.
He wrote that his son should not be subjected to incarceration because he 'has no prior criminal history and has never been violent with anyone including on the night of January 17'.
Dan A. Turner added that his son can be a positive force in the community by promoting the 'dangers of alcohol and sexual promiscuity'.
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.
A teenager from Madagascar has spoken of how she was kidnapped, drugged and raped for two months after meeting a man she had spoken to online.
'Jenny', 17, from Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, had been talking to the 28-year-old on Facebook for six months, and when he asked, she agreed to meet him.
She spent the first two weeks in captivity unconscious, after which she remembers being repeatedly raped, abused and fed drugs to force her into submission and stop her escaping.
Scroll down for video
Horrifying: Seventeen-year-old 'Jenny', pictured with her mother, was kidnapped and raped by a 28-year-old man she had befriended on Facebook
'I had more than 310 friends on Facebook. I didn't know over a hundred of them. I just wanted to have many friends on Facebook,' Jenny, which is not her real name, said.
She accepted a friend request from a 28-year-old man she did not know, and the pair began chatting on the social network.
'My parents didn't know that I was talking to strangers on Facebook. The 28-year-old guy came and told me to follow him.'
Over the following six months, Jenny talked to her new Facebook friend a lot, and when she needed help she reached out to him.
She had failed an exam at school, and her teacher had told her he wanted more than 200 in exchange for giving her a pass - money Jenny simply did not have.
Vile: Jenny, pictured left with her sister, was drugged and held captive by the man for two months, during which he repeatedly raped and abused her
Helped: Jenny talks to Dr Julia Rabenantoandro at a UNICEF clinic for abused children in a hospital in Antananarivo, Madagascar
So she turned to her Facebook friend, and he agreed to help her.
'He kidnapped me and kept me locked in his house for two months. I was unconscious for two weeks.
'I dreamt that my mother died so I tried to escape but I couldn't. I could never go out and he abused me.
Jenny revealed she tried to escape, but couldn't, and was freed when a neighbour spotted her at the house
'He raped me during these two months. I used to cry a lot after what he did to me.
'I could not expect that the man whom I spoke to on Facebook for six months could have done such bad things to me.
'I really believed what he said when we spoke on Facebook, I did not realize that he might harm me when we met. I thought he was very kind.'
Jenny was finally freed when a neighbour saw her at the abuser's house, and reported it to the police.
The police referred Jenny to a UNICEF supported help centre where Jenny received medical and psychosocial support and counseling.
She has been able to return to school, but complains of 'memory problems', and struggles to retain information.
'I am now more or less doing more or less ok now', she says.
'Going back to school was ok but I have memory problems with the lessons I learn.
'I really don't know why it happened but when I learn the lessons, I remember nothing,'
The man was arrested and has since been charged with child abduction and sexual abuse and is awaiting trial.
Jenny's teacher who demanded payment for a passed exam has also been arrested.
While Jenny's is an extreme case, hundreds of thousands of teenagers around the world risk putting themselves in harms way by participating in risky behaviour online, a new UNICEF study has found.
The new report finds that adolescents appear confident with their own ability to stay safe, with nearly 90 per cent of interviewees believing they can avoid online dangers.
The report is based on an international poll of more than 10,000 18-year-olds from 25 countries, of which half said they believe their friends are taking risks with the way they behave on social networks.
New life: The teenager is now back in school, but struggles with retaining information and focusing in class
More than half said meeting new people online is either somewhat or very important to them, but only 36 per cent strongly believe they can tell when people are lying about who they are online.
'Globally, one in three internet users is a child,' said UNICEF's Associate Director of Child Protection, Cornelius Williams.
'The internet and mobile phones have revolutionized young people's access to information, but the poll findings show just how real the risk of online abuse is for girls and boys.'
To engage children and adolescents in ending violence online, UNICEF is launching #ReplyforAll, which is part of its global End Violence Against Children initiative.
UNICEF, together with the WePROTECT Global Alliance, is calling on national governments to establish coordinated responses between criminal justice systems including law enforcement, and child welfare, education, health and the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sectors, as well as civil society, to better protect children from online sexual abuse and exploitation.
An Australian child actress who was abused by a TV sitcom star has slammed the father of the Stanford University rapist as a 'piece of s***' who failed to teach his son right from wrong.
Champion swimmer Brock Allen Turner, 20, was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault in March and sentenced to six months jail last Thursday.
The 'light' sentence sparked outrage in the United States after his victim delivered a powerful victim impact statement to the court.
But the rapist's father Dan A. Turner said jail time wasn't an 'appropriate' punishment, describing it as a 'steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action'.
In a fiery online essay, Sarah Monahan - who was abused by Hey Dad! star and convicted paedophile Robert Hughes - expressed anger at the father's defence of his 'poor baby rapist son'.
Abuse victim Sarah Monahan (pictured) has penned a fiery blog post about Brock Turner's sentencing
Speaking up: A young Sarah (centre, front) pictured with Robert Hughes (second left) and the Hey Dad! cast
Stanford University student Brock Turner (pictured) was found guilty of sexually assaulting a young woman behind a dumpster. His six month jail sentence was heavily criticised
'Now, if you weren't already seething at the leniency of the sentence, this guy's father comes out and tries to say that it's still too much for his poor baby rapist son,' Ms Monahan wrote.
'He says his boy lost his smile, and hardly eats anymore.
'He then goes on to say that instead of jail, poor Brock should just be given probation, and he should be used as a type of educator, teaching people about the consequences of drinking and promiscuity.
'So, never mind that the girl he raped may never smile again, or have trouble eating.
'Light' sentence: Turner is pictured making his way into a Californian courthouse for sentencing last Thursday
Dan A. Turner, the father of Brock Turner, made this statement (pictured) about his son, arguing jail was not an appropriate sentence
'His kid who did the raping is having a hard time being happy, now that he was going to court, because everyone knew what he did.'
The idea Brock Turner could teach others about promiscuity and alcohol was a 'total slap in the face to victims everywhere', Ms Monahan said.
'I know that a parent is supposed to defend their children, but they should also teach their children right from wrong, and this guy obviously never did'.
In 2014, Robert Hughes was convicted of 10 child sex offences relating to four young girls dating back to the 1980s. He was jailed for at least six years
The actress played Jenny Kelly in the top-rating Australian show through the 1980s and early 90s, with Hughes, her on-screen father.
In 2014, Hughes was convicted of 10 child sex offences relating to four young girls. The offences dated back to the 1980s.
He was jailed for a minimum of six years.
On January 18, it was reported Hughes was seeking special leave to appeal to the High Court. The court is considering whether to grant leave.
Ms Monahan now lives in the United States with her husband.
She recently published a tell-all memoir, 'Allegedly', an account of the abuse she suffered.
The Oscar winning screenwriter behind Gladiator has revealed he is planning to write a new film about the life of a Persian 13th century poet.
David Franzoni said he wants to challenge Muslim stereotypes in film with his new piece on Jalaluddin al-Rumi, who is one of the most popular international poets of all time.
And he revealed that Leonardo DiCaprio is his and producer Stephen Joel Brown's first choice to play Rumi, with Robert Downey Jr in the running to play Rumi's close friend and spiritual mentor, Shams.
A new film is being planned that will explore the life of thirteenth century Persian poet Jalaluddin al-Rumi
The film's writer David Franzoni has placed Robert Downey Jr and Leonardo DiCaprio on his wishlist of actors for the new biopic
Mr Franzoni said of Rumi: 'Hes like a Shakespeare. Hes a character who has enormous talent and worth to his society and his people, and obviously resonates today. Those people are always worth exploring.'
Filming for the biopic is set to begin next year, reported The Guardian.
Mr Franzoni said: 'There are a lot of reasons were making a product like this right now. I think its a world that needs to be spoken to; Rumi is hugely popular in the United States. I think it gives him a face and a story.'
Rumi is often described as the Eastern Shakespeare, and writer David Franzoni said that his work still resonates today
Rumi's poems are some of the bestselling of all time, and include his renowned love poetry that is widely regarded to have been inspired by Shams.
The Sufi mystic fled from his birth place in Afghanistan due to the Mongol invasion and travelled through Baghdad, Mecca and Damascus teaching, preaching and writing his poetry.
His most famous work, Matnawiye Ma'nawi, is regarded by some as the Persian Koran.
EU migrants living in Britain are more likely to have a job than British citizens, an alarming new Brussels report has revealed.
It also shows EU migrants are far more likely to be in work in the UK than those from outside of Europe - giving a boost to the Brexit campaign's argument that our current immigration system is 'racist' because it favours people from the continent over others.
The EU report, published yesterday, shows 85.9 per cent of EU migrants in the UK have a job - 5 per cent more than British adults.
The EU report shows 85.9 per cent of EU migrants in the UK have a job - 5 per cent more than British adults
But in rival countries - such as Germany, France and Sweden - the reverse is true, with more domestic people in work than EU migrants.
Just 69.2 per cent of non-EU migrants are employed in Britain.
Brexit campaigners said the report was proof that the poorest are the most affected by the EU's open borders immigration system and said leaving would also boost wages for the lowest paid.
Theresa Villiers, the Northern Ireland Secretary who is backing Brexit, told the Telegraph: 'It is people in lower paid work who face the most direct consequences of EU migration in terms of ever increasing competition for jobs.
'These figures are further evidence that wages are being squeezed as a result of high levels of EU migration. We can't go on as we are.
'We need to take back democratic control over immigration policy, so we can have a fairer system and one which controls overall numbers.
226,000 SIGN UP FOR EU VOTE AS DEADLINE LOOMS - BUT THERE ARE STILL 7.5 MILLION 'MISSING VOTERS' But the elections watchdog said there are an estimated 7.5 million 'missing voters' who are not on the electoral register and have just hours to apply for a vote in the June 23 referendum A massive 226,000 people registered to vote in the EU referendum yesterday ahead of the midnight deadline tonight. It is the second largest number of sign-ups in a single day since online voter registration was launched, the Electoral Commission said. But the elections watchdog said there are an estimated 7.5 million 'missing voters' who are not on the electoral register and have just hours to apply. Around 150,000 under-35s registered to vote after a number of campaigns targeted younger voters on Facebook. Over the past week more than 400,000 under-35s have registered to vote in the June 23 referendum on Britain's membership of the EU. And over the last three weeks, about 1.3 million people have registered overall, with more than half of them under the age of 34. But there are signs that some people are being deterred from signing up for a vote because they don't want to supply their National Insurance number. The elections watchdog is confident that today will break the record for the number of sign-ups in one day as people rush to register for the historic vote on EU membership. The current record was on deadline day ahead of last year's General Election, when 485,000 people applied for a vote. In total, it is estimated that around 46 million people will have a vote in the referendum later this month. Advertisement
'Even the head of the In Campaign, Lord Rose, has admitted that wages would rise if we leave the EU.'
The report came as it was revealed that a record 226,000 people registered to vote in the EU referendum yesterday ahead of the midnight deadline tonight.
It is the second largest number of sign-ups in a single day since online voter registration was launched two years ago.
Around 150,000 under-35s registered to vote after a number of campaigns targeted younger voters on Facebook.
But the elections watchdog said there are an estimated 7.5 million 'missing voters' who are not on the electoral register and have just hours to apply.
Over the past week more than 400,000 under-35s have registered to vote in the June 23 referendum on Britain's membership of the EU.
And over the last three weeks, about 1.3 million people have registered overall, with more than half of them under the age of 34.
But there are signs that some people are being deterred from signing up for a vote because they don't want to supply their National Insurance number.
The elections watchdog is confident that today will break the record for the number of sign-ups in one day as people rush to register for the historic vote on EU membership.
The current record was on deadline day ahead of last year's General Election, when 485,000 people applied for a vote.
In total, it is estimated that around 46 million people will have a vote in the referendum later this month.
Tonight David Cameron takes on Ukip leader Nigel Farage in the second major showdown on TV.
Mr Farage has vowed to challenge the Prime Minister's patriotism and 'integrity' in the debate, which will see the pair face separate half an hour grillings by an audience at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.
He revealed he had been teetotal for a week in order to prepare for the debate tonight, which will be chaired by ITV presenter Julie Etchingham.
It will be Mr Farage's biggest moment in the spotlight during the EU referendum campaign.
But today he faced calls to apologise for suggesting women could be at risk from sex attacks by migrants if Britain stays in the EU.
Peers Sayeeda Warsi and Doreen Lawrence, along with Shami Chakrabarti, who chairs Labour's anti-semitism inquiry, have written a letter to the Guardian attacking the Ukip leader.
Condemning his comments, the letter reads: 'Spreading fear in this way is an age-old racist tool designed to stoke division about the latest group of immigrants arriving in Britain.'
Referencing allegations that hundreds of women were groped and intimidated at Cologne central station on New Year's Eve, over the weekend Mr Farage claimed there were some 'very big cultural issues'.
Asked by the Sunday Telegraph if mass sex attacks like those in Cologne could occur in the UK, he said: 'It depends if they get EU passports. It depends if we vote Brexit or not. It is an issue.'
The trio say in the letter that his warning of 'mass sex attacks' on the country's streets took Mr Farage's leave the EU campaign to a 'new low' - and that his use of the term 'nuclear bomb' was 'deeply disturbing'.
'We are on both sides of the referendum debate and come together because at the weekend, Mr Farage went too far,' the letter adds.
'Veiled threats of sexual assault by a new immigrant community stray too close for comfort to the race hate laws, and certainly cross the line of civilised discourse and rational debate.
'This makes even some pro-Brexit advocates feel profoundly uncomfortable.'
Anti-racism campaigner Baroness Lawrence, former Tory foreign office minister Baroness Warsi and human rights advocate Ms Chakrabarti have demanded an apology, and called on Mr Farage to retract his comments when he appears on ITV's live EU referendum debate on Tuesday.
The true cost of the EU's free movement rules: They prevent us from kicking out killers and drug dealers
Free movement rules have left Britain powerless to kick out some of the EU's worst killers, rapists and drug dealers, an explosive dossier reveals today.
The 'rights' the criminals enjoy as EU citizens means we cannot deport them despite their despicable crimes.
British courts bound by Brussels regulations have ruled their right to live where they like trumps our elected Government's desire to boot them out.
The Vote Leave campaign today releases a list of 50 EU convicts we cannot send home, many of whom are out of jail. They include six killers, five sex attackers and 13 drug dealers.
Learco Chindamo, left, stabbed his headmaster Philip Lawrence, right, to death in 1995 but cannot be deported due to EU regulations drawn up in 2006
All but two were sentenced in the UK to terms of imprisonment exceeding a year. Had it not been for EU law, they would have been automatically deported.
Last week Westminster's home affairs committee said the number of foreign criminals the Government had failed to deport was enough to fill a 'small town'.
The devastating report focused on the failure to transfer EU prisoners to serve their sentences in their home nations. MPs said the failures were so dire they cast doubt on the point of remaining in the EU.
Justice Minister Dominic Raab, pictured, said the EU restrictions make Britain 'less safe'
Today's dossier focuses on convicts the UK wants to deport after serving their sentence but cannot, leaving us stuck with some of Europe's worst criminals.
Justice minister Dominic Raab said: 'This is yet more evidence of how EU membership makes us less safe.
Free movement of people allows unelected judges in the rogue European Court to decide who we can and can't deport.
'This puts British families at risk. It squanders UK taxpayers' money on keeping them in prison.
'Outside the EU, we can take back control of our borders, deport more dangerous criminals, and strengthen public protection.'
The Home Secretary has the power to deport foreign nationals if it would 'be conducive to the public good'.
UK law says a person who is sentenced to more than 12 months' imprisonment should be deported automatically.
However, Vote Leave said this has no application where deportation 'would breach rights of the foreign criminal under the EU treaties'. The EU Treaties give every EU citizen the right to enter the UK and 'reside freely'.
The treaties say convicts must pose a 'present' threat to be deported something that has had a devastating impact on our ability to deport anybody whose release is subject to a Parole Board decision.
As the Parole Board will release someone only if they believe they are not likely to re-offend, convicts can cite the board's decision to say they are not a 'present threat' and should be allowed to stay.
And EU citizens who have lived in the UK for more than five years may be removed only on 'serious grounds of public policy and public security'. More than ten years of residency requires 'imperative grounds of public security'.
Ministers claim David Cameron's renegotiation means it will be able to prevent dangerous EU nationals coming to the UK and make it easier to deport.
But Vote Leave said: 'This is false. The renegotiation does not in any way relax the onerous requirements of EU law which prevent the UK deporting dangerous criminals.'
Brussels rules also make it harder to keep EU criminals out of Britain in the first place demanding a 'serious, credible and present threat' a far higher threshold which binds the hands of officials.
Yesterday, Home Secretary Theresa May said deportations to EU countries have tripled to 3,451 in 2015/16.
But she admitted that the Government needed to do more.
And it emerged only 73 EU prisoners have been deported from UK jails under a transfer deal despite David Cameron pledging to intervene to end the scandal of EU convicts filling up our packed prisons.
Ministers claim David Cameron's (pictured) renegotiation means it will be able to prevent dangerous EU nationals coming to the UK
Home Secretary Theresa May, pictured, has claimed deportations to EU countries have tripled this year
Since the deal was introduced in December 2011, only 73 have been returned under the agreement around one every three weeks, according to figures published by the Ministry of Justice.
But immigration minister James Brokenshire said: 'The UK sought greater control over the deportation of foreign criminals in its EU renegotiation and that's precisely what the Prime Minister's deal delivered.
'Our access to the European Arrest Warrant has allowed us to deport 6,500 European criminals since 2010.
'That's 130 times the number of criminals Vote Leave have identified.
'That's just one of the reasons we are safer inside the EU, where we can cooperate to deal far more effectively with crime and security.'
THE CRIMINALS ON OUR STREETS THAT WE CAN'T GET RID OF BOY WHO STABBED HEADMASTER TO DEATH Italian Learco Chindamo came to the UK aged six with his mother and two brothers. In 1995 he murdered headmaster Philip Lawrence, who was stabbed to death in 1995 after going to help one of his pupils. Chindamo cannot be deported because, under the 2006 Immigration (EEA) regulations, criminals can be removed only if they present a 'genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society'. The High Court said Chindamo did not meet the criteria. Article 8 of the Human Rights Act the right to a private and family life was also considered in his favour. David Cameron said the decision was 'complete madness' and 'flies in the face of common sense' and demanded Chindamo 'should be deported back to his country'. KICKED HER HUSBAND TO DEATH Theresa Rafacz, from Poland, arrived in 2007 and found a job in a restaurant. She killed her husband, Piotr Rafacz, by repeatedly kicking him in the face but cannot be deported because judges ruled she did not meet EU criteria of posing a serious threat to the public, despite the judge ruling the offence was one of 'gratuitous violence'. Italian national Chindamo, left, murdered his headmaster Philip Lawrence in 1995 while Theresa Rafacz, from Poland, right, killed husband Piotr by kicking him in the face KILLED CYCLIST WHILE OVER DRINK-DRIVE LIMIT Andrzej Stankiewicz, from Poland, came in June 2006 to work as a tailor. He mowed down a cyclist in West Lothian, Scotland, in June 2010, driving 'out of control' and 'at high speed' while three times the drink-drive limit. But he can't be deported because a tribunal said there was 'no likelihood' of him drink-driving again so he did not meet EU criteria. RAN DOWN AND KILLED 97-YEAR-OLD Joao Pedro Correia Lopes, of Portugal, came in August 2001 and found work driving a lorry. He was sentenced to four years in jail for causing the death of Nora Gutmann, 97, by dangerous driving in June 2011. But he cannot be deported because judges gave him credit for his ten years' of residence in the UK. Crucially, they said if it had been UK rather than EU law they 'may well have concluded' his deportation was lawful and proportionate. Joao Pedro Correia Lopes, of Portugal, right, caused the death of a pensioner by dangerous driving while Andrzej Stankiewicz, from Poland, mowed down a cyclist in Scotland while drink-driving WIELDED SHOTGUN AT HOME OF GIRL, 7 Jordan Epee-Homb, of France, moved to the UK when he was 16 years old with his parents. He has several convictions including drug possession, criminal damage and assault. He was jailed for four-and-a-half years for possessing a shotgun with intent to cause fear of violence, after going to a target's home in Waltham Abbey, Essex, which was occupied by his mother and a seven-year-old girl. But judge said deporting would be inconsistent with EU law. They pointed to a young son and relationship with a woman. STRING OF ROBBERIES Lukasz Tomasz Wozniak, of Poland, has convictions for careless driving, theft, fraud and driving without insurance. He was jailed for 32 months in 2011 for two robberies in a park in Banbury, Oxfordshire, described as 'completely terrifying'. But a tribunal ruled he didn't pose a serious threat especially after two years without re-offending. Jordan Epee-Homb, of France, left, was jailed for possession of a shotgun while Lukasz Tomasz Wozniak, right, of Poland, has convictions for careless driving, theft and fraud GANG WHO BEAT UP MARINE Arqr Wazny, of Poland, was part of a gang that beat up Royal Marine Nigel Leppington, who stepped in to protect a neighbour under attack, in Dorset. He was jailed for two years for violent disorder. A tribunal said it was his first conviction and gave him credit for his 'family life' because of a young son living in the UK. RAPIST CONVICTED OF DRINK-DRIVING Mircea Gheorghiu, of Romania, entered illegally in August 2002 to work as a builder. He only became legal in January 2007 after Romania joined the EU. In November 2007 he was convicted of drink-driving and disqualified. Checks revealed a previous rape conviction in Romania. He was deported by the Home Office in March 2015 because of his rape history but allowed back in after tribunal ruled he did not meet the EU requirement of posing a serious threat and must be 'reunited with his family as quickly as possible'. Arqr Wazny, left, of Poland was part of a gang who beat up a Royal Marine while Mircea Gheorghiu, of Romania, right, had a rape conviction in his home land that was flagged up after a driving ban HID DRUGS IN A JET SKI Lithuanian Mantas Baibokas applied to remain as a self-employed businessman in 2001 but was refused. He became legal here in May 2004 after Lithuania joined the EU. Baibokas was caught driving under the influence in 2008 and in 2012 was convicted of possession with intent to supply over 7kg of amphetamine found in a jet ski in his garage. His tribunal ruled he did not pose a 'genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to the interests of society' and expulsion would be 'in breach of the EEA Regulations'. SWALLOWED COCAINE TO SMUGGLE THROUGH PORT German Kingsley Chukwudinma Nwanekwu arrived in the UK legally in March 2003. He was caught after he swallowed 101 packets of cocaine worth 250,000 and tried to enter the UK through Dover. He was jailed for eight-and-a-half years but the Upper Tribunal said removal would be 'disproportionate' and inconsistent with EU law. Lithuanian Mantas Baibokas, left, was convicted of drugs trafficking while German Kingsley Chukwudinma Nwanekwu, right, swallowed 101 packets of cocaine while truing to enter the UK Advertisement
EU to blame for death of my fisherman husband, says Tory MP
By John Stevens, Brussels Correspondent for the Daily Mail
A Tory MP whose fisherman husband died at sea has accused the EU of being partly to blame for his death.
Sheryll Murray's husband Neil, 57, was crushed when he became entangled in his net while fishing alone near Looe in Cornwall.
The MP for South East Cornwall yesterday told how EU fishing quotas had devastated the family business and put him under 'massive pressure' that led him to fishing without a crew.
Mrs Murray said the common fisheries policy had 'made a very big contribution' to her late husband's death.
Tory MP Sheryll Murray (right) whose fisherman husband Neil (left) died at sea has accused the EU of being partly to blame for his death
'Neil was a real example of somebody who was a good fisherman, a very responsible fisherman, who was forced to basically work in one of the most dangerous jobs in the world by himself and ultimately paid the price with his life,' she said.
Mr Murray, who had been fishing since age 11, got caught in the hydraulic net drum on his boat as he was winching in his catch in March 2011.
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch told the inquest into his death that a second crewman may have been able to stop the machinery.
Mrs Murray said: 'When my husband started fishing, he was fishing with his brother and then he took on a boat with a crew.
'When we saw the introduction of the quota system in 1983 under the EU common fisheries policy at first it did not really affect us that badly.
'We had a nice way of life, we were able to afford fairly newish cars, a nice house and holidays, but by the mid 1990s we were finding the quotas were being cut back and back.
Tragic accident: Fisherman Neil Murray was on board his boat alone when her suffered appalling injuries
'Neil eventually had to take the economic decision to work on his own. When you are an owner skipper and have a crew, you have the added pressure of providing for two families, not just your own.
'We sat down and talked about it. I wasn't too happy, but he promised he would take all the safety precautions and we decided ok, he would go to sea on his own.
'In 2011, despite the fact that he was very safety cautious, he got caught in the net drum, was pulled into the heavy machinery and sadly died.
'I know that there are so many fishermen who are operating under massive pressure. Here in the South West at the moment they are seeing their nets full of haddock, but because of the EU regulations they are not allowed to land it.
Sad coincidence: Neil Murray died on the same day his wife Sheryll (pictured) made a House of Commons speech on safety at sea
'They basically have to throw much of their livelihood over the side into the sea. It's putting them under the same sort of pressure as my late husband was brought under. I worry we're going to see more fisherman forced to go out and work singlehanded.'
Mrs Murray, a mother-of-two, said the death of her husband had led to her decision to back Brexit. She added: 'I just feel that the only way is for us to leave the European Union, get rid of this wasteful and completely foolish policy and take back national and local control so that the experts in the industry the fishermen themselves who actually see what it is like on the fishing grounds on a day to day basis, actually have a say in how the regulations that apply to their industry are enforced and apply to them.'
Mr Murray tragically died on the same day his wife made an impassioned speech in the House of Commons condemning the proposed closure of coastguard stations and safety at sea.
Former environment secretary Owen Paterson yesterday said the common fisheries policy was 'the EU's worst ever idea' and a policy with 'no redeeming features'.
In a speech at the fish market in Looe, he added: 'The Common Fisheries Policy is a biological, environmental, economic and social disaster; it is beyond reform.
'It is a system that forces fishermen to throw back more fish dead into the sea than they land, it has caused substantial degradation of the marine environment, it has destroyed much of the fishing industry, with compulsory scrapping of modern vessels and has devastated fishing communities.'
Television presenter Noel Edmonds sparked fury today when he told a cancer patient his disease could have been caused by his 'negative attitude'
Television presenter Noel Edmonds sparked fury today when he told a cancer patient his disease could have been caused by his 'negative attitude'.
The Deal Or No Deal host was promoting a 2,000 yoga mat with a USB port on Twitter, claiming the gadget 'slows ageing, reduces pain, lifts depression and stress and tackles cancer. Yep tackles cancer!'
When one Twitter user, kidney cancer patient Vaun Earl, described the EMPpad as 'quackery', Edmonds, 67, responded by asking if he had tried the machine, which claims to readjust the electro-magnetism in the body.
The former Noel's House Party host then told his critic: 'Scientific fact-disease is caused by negative energy. Is it possible your ill health is caused by your negative attitude? #explore.'
The tweet prompted a flurry of anger and ridicule aimed towards Edmonds, with Vaun, whose Twitter bio says he is ill with kidney cancer, lymph node metastases and psoriatic arthritis, responding: 'Wow! How do you know I have a negative attitude. You have no idea who I am. #patronising #cancer.'
He added: 'Amazing. I'm the most positive person I know despite my disabilities and long term ill health. Weird.'
Vaun's full name appears to be Vaun Earl Norman, and he also runs a blog titled My Adventures in Cancerland.
Later he wrote: 'My biggest worry is that some, desperate,very ill person will take on board what Noel Edmonds says and doesn't go to see a qualified doctor.'
Other Twitter users spotted the interaction, with many stunned to see that Edmonds had appeared to blame 'negative energy' for Vaun's disease.
Comedian Al Murray said it was a 'horrible thing' for Edmonds to say, mocking the presenter by posting a photograph of a box from Deal Or No Deal and writing: 'A simple box that slows ageing, reduces pain, lifts depression and stress and tackles cancer . Yep tackles cancer!'
Fellow Twitter users also attacked Edmonds over his tweets, with many of them posting pictures of alternatives to the device.
Edmonds suggested to a cancer patient that his poor health could have been caused by his 'negative attitude'
The Deal Or No Deal host was promoting a 2,000 yoga mat with a USB port on Twitter, claiming the gadget 'slows ageing, reduces pain, lifts depression and stress and tackles cancer'
One Twitter user, kidney cancer patient Vaun Earl, described the EMPpad as 'quackery'
One user posted an image of a bottle of magic beans in response to the post, another asked 'Can it stream Sky Sports as well?', and one more labelled it the 'The Edmonds Beard Dryer 2000.'
Another told the TV personality: 'The only "simple box" here is your brainmate.'
And one more posted an image of Edmonds with a picture of Mr Blobby, captioning it: 'And if you don't believe Noel, here he is with the scientist behind this miracle.'
Many who were upset by the his claims about the machine questioned whether the original post violated the 1939 Cancer Act, which bans the advertisement of any cancer cure, proven or not, to the public.
This could explain why Edmonds used the phrase 'tackle cancer', rather than suggesting it was a cure.
He had also written: 'Just looked at latest stats showing very soon 50% of us will get cancer. @EMP_Pad is one way of reducing your risk #selfhealth'
Advertising watchdogs are now looking into the matter, and a spokesman for the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) described the claims made against Edmonds as 'severe'.
She added: 'We're looking into it. It's a matter of urgency.'
But she added that because his claims were made on social media, rather than TV or in print, the case was more complex.
Edmonds often tweets about the EMPpad, recommending it to his followers, and has previously credited using it for eight minutes a day with helping to eliminate pain, reducing stress and making him appear younger than his years.
Edmonds, 67, responded by asking if he had tried the machine, which claims to readjust the electro-magnetism in the body
The TV presenter, who described the device as a 'miracle pad' also claimed on Twitter that since he has started using the EMPpad he has been forced to cut his hair once a week.
Last year Edmonds declared that 'electro smog', caused by WiFi, phone signals and electricity was endangering humanity and is a bigger world problem than climate change or Aids.
He has also said he believes in angels, and has credited his success to 'cosmic ordering', or positive thinking.
The gadget, which plugs into a tablet computer, was created by osteopaths Samuel Maddock and Steven Harper using Nasa-based research.
The mat is attached to a tablet and when switched on emits Pulsed Electro Magnetic Fields (PEMFs). Over time these are said to lead to a number of benefits including improved joint and muscle pain and better sleep.
According to the website, the technology achieves this through a mat which users must lie on for two sessions of eight minutes every day.
The pad apparently emits a 'low frequency pulsed electrometric field' that 'mimics the earth's magnetic field in frequencies and intensities to optimize cell function.'
Vaun responded by saying he had no plans to use the machine, and suggested Edmonds 'stick to what he's good at. Presenting quiz shows and beard trimming'
Vaun was stunned when Edmonds suggested his illness could have been caused by 'negative attitude'
The makers claim it can help people 'transform their health', but there are no claims regarding cancer on its website .
EMPpad Limited said it does not pay Edmonds to advertise the product.
However, company director, Maria Robertson, has previously worked as an assistant to Edmonds.
In the acknowledgements section of his book Positively Happy, he wrote: 'To Maria Robertson - heartfelt thanks and enduring gratitude for your support, commitment and love beyond the call of duty.'
In a statement, fellow director Stephen Maddock said: 'The EMPpad Omnium1 and EMPpad iMRS use very low intensity and frequency pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) which target the cells within the body and help to improve the way they function.
Edmonds had also written: 'Just looked at latest stats showing very soon 50% of us will get cancer. @EMP_Pad is one way of reducing your risk #selfhealth'
'Research has demonstrated that this can lead to widespread health benefits, including supporting an effective immune response and a healthy overall body. Although research using very low frequency and intensity PEMF to help address cancer has produced some promising early results, it is currently in the very early stages and EMPpad does not make the claim that PEMF therapy can prevent cancer.'
In a statement on their website, the company distanced themselves from Edmonds, writing: 'The opinions of Mr Noel Edmonds are his alone and do not reflect in any way with the opinions of us at EMPpad. We had no discussion, input or prior knowledge of the content of Mr Edmondss statement and we do not agree with it in any way, shape or form.'
EMPpad Limited posted this statement on its website, distancing the firm from Edmonds's comment
MailOnline has contacted a representative for Edmonds for comment.
Top oncologist Professor Karol Sikora told MailOnline that there was no evidence to suggest that a gadget such as the EMPpad could help to treat the disease.
'There's no evidence that it would have any effect on cancer whatsoever,' he said.
'It may make people feel better, lots of things can make people feel better, but there's no evidence it can destroy cancer cells. The makers aren't making any claims about this.'
Professor Sikora added: 'There's no relevance of negative energy to whether you get cancer, or how your cancer develops. You can't disprove it of course but there's no data to prove it.'
Other Twitter users spotted the interaction, with many stunned to see that Edmonds had appeared to blame 'negative energy' for Vaun's disease. Comedian Al Murray said it was a 'horrible thing' for Edmonds to say
Murray mocked the presenter by posting a photograph of a box from Deal Or No Deal and writing: 'A simple box that slows ageing, reduces pain, lifts depression and stress and tackles cancer . Yep tackles cancer!'
Professor Jane Maher, joint chief medical officer of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: 'Cancer and its treatment can be a very scary experience, making some people feel helpless and too tired to be positive, but that does not mean they can't also survive their disease.
'Some patients tell us that having a positive attitude helps them when coping but we also know that a positive attitude means different things to different people and there should be no pressure on anyone to feel or act in a certain way.
'If you are feeling anxious or depressed, you don't have to go through it alone. It's really important that you do talk to your doctor, nurse or someone close to you about your feelings.
'There's also an army of people within the cancer community, including Macmillan, who can help with emotional support. We're available to talk on the phone or online when you need us.'
A school recruited a 6,000 hawk to scare off 'nuisance' seagulls that dive-bomb pupils and steal their lunch.
Spiney the Harris Hawk was drafted in at the 1,100-pupil Perth Grammar School, Tayside, after complaints from staff and pupils.
The raptor was part of a 7,000 pest control plan to patrol playing fields and car parks after reports that gulls had been dive-bombing pupils and stealing their lunch.
Spiney the Harris Hawk (pictured) has been drafted in at the 1,100-pupil Perth Grammar School, Tayside, after complaints from staff and pupils
Spiney was brought in to patrol from the rooftop (pictured, at the school), scaring away the gulls, which had been a longstanding problem at the school
The school released a series of pictures of the bird, which was joined by another hawk called Jean briefly, and the students got the chance to handle them and learn about their hunting techniques
Teachers brought the children out to meet the bird and then Tweeted pictures taken outside the school
The raptor is part of a 7,000 pest control plan to patrol playing fields and car parks at Perth Grammar (pictured) after reports that gulls have been dive-bombing pupils and stealing their lunch
A 1,000 'nest disruption plan' in place after specialists were brought in to find ways of making the environment as unwelcoming for the birds as possible.
A Perth and Kinross Council spokesman said: 'The council arranged for hawking activity to take place at Perth Grammar School as a pest control measure to deter seagulls which had been nesting on site and causing a nuisance to pupils, staff and visitors.
'The total cost for all the hawking services was 6,000, with an additional cost of 1,000 for seagull programmed nest disruption.'
He added: 'This stage of pest control action has now concluded, however we will continue with other measures to discourage gulls from the school premises, such as disruption to nesting and making sure the school environment and pupils do not encourage the gulls to return.'
Spiney spent a few weeks at the school but has now left and 1,000 'nest disruption plan' in place after specialists were brought in to find ways of making the environment as unwelcoming for the birds as possible
The council described the plan at Perth Grammar (pictured) as ' a pest control measure to deter seagulls'
Staff at the school also handled the hawk, which was part of a wider plan to 'make sure the school environment and pupils do not encourage the gulls to return,' the council said
The project at Perth (pictured) is not unique. Hawks were successfully used to scare off gulls in Arbroath in 2012 after residents complained they were building nests on their rooftops
Two years ago, Aberdeenshire Council introduced a falconer to chase off menacing gulls in Peterhead town centre on the north-east coast. Pictured is a pupil at Perth
Spiney was joined briefly by another hawk, Jean, during his patrols, and pupils were also given the chance to handle the birds of prey and learn about their hunting skills.
Seagulls had been nesting on site and causing a nuisance to pupils, staff and visitors Perth and Kinross Council
Hawks were successfully used to scare off gulls in Arbroath in 2012 after residents complained they were building nests on their rooftops.
Two years ago, Aberdeenshire Council introduced a falconer to chase off menacing gulls in Peterhead town centre on the north-east coast.
The plan worked well for the first few days, but by the end of the week-long trial the gulls had returned and appeared to be intimidating the hawk by swooping and diving above it.
However, it was more successful than the two robotic birds of prey which were installed at Fraserburgh. The mechanical 'Robops' were placed on rooftops in the fishing port in 2003.
A pensioner is involved in a bitter planning row after one neighbour complained she had painted her pink house a slightly darker shade.
Su Rose, of Belsize Park in Camden, north-west London, first painted her town house light pink in 1991 after moving into the street in 1975.
But last year after she changed to a 'sombre, earthy and mature' pink, just two shades darker, the retired 70-year-old unintentionally broke planning rules because she lives in a conservation area.
When the local council received one letter of objection, she was forced to apply for retrospective planning permission in what she has dubbed a 'storm in a pink teacup'.
Now: Su Rose's house in the welathy Belsize Park neighbiourhood of London, which is flouting planning rules because of its colour
Then: Ms Rose's house has always been pink, but was acceptable because it was this, lighter shade until last year
If the planning permission is denied then she faces the costly prospect of having to repaint the property, and try to find thee previous shade.
She said: 'Pink is not even my favourite colour, I prefer blue, but I had about five minutes to pick what colour I wanted my house and I walked down the street for inspiration and thought pink would fit nicely.
'And a lot of people say that is a very nice colour and makes the building stand out but I live inside the house, not outside so I am not particularly bothered what colour it is.
'But I'm not an ignorant person and I am very aware of the conservation area and when I have done work on the house in the past, I am have been very careful not affect the original mouldings.
Angry: Su Rose says she only had five minutes to pick a colour, which has now sparked a major planning row
'If I have to repaint the building then that is very costly and I am not a cash rich person despite living here as I have been here since 1975.'
Su now faces an anxious wait to see if the retrospective planning application she lodged with Camden Council at the end of April is ruled in her favour.
And she admits that the wrangle, which has rumbled on since she first received notice of the complaint October 27 last year, has affected her - especially as she is no closer to finding out who made the initial complaint.
Su said: 'The planning issue has been a hassle to be honest. I wish that the person who made a complaint would make themselves known to me.
'It has made me quite paranoid because I don't know if someone has a grudge against me - the whole thing has been like a storm in a pink teacup I suppose.
'It is not like it is a garish colour at all and the shade of pink that is on the house now is really sombre, earthy and mature.
'I think it is very subtle and fits well with the area but I understand that people have different views on things.
'But most of my neighbours have been very supportive and quite charming about it and many said that they would write letters in support, which they have gone on to do.
'In fact, I've even met people in the street that I never knew before so it hasn't all been bad.'
Camden Council's planning department were due to make a decision on the alterations to the property late last month at the earliest.
Councillor Phil Jones, cabinet Member for regeneration, transport and planning at Camden Council, said: 'Planning permission is not normally required to paint your property.
'However, in this case the property is located in the Belsize Park conservation area, where this development right has been removed.
'This matter was brought to the Council's attention and an enforcement investigation was opened.
'A retrospective planning application has since been submitted to retain the pink colour which is currently being considered.
Eerie photographs show the destruction caused by flood water in Tasmania's north
Advertisement
An eerie image of a much-loved childrens doll sitting hunched over in a dark, mud-lined hallway shows the devastating reality many Australians will face after this weeks deadly floods.
The image was captured in Latrobe, Tasmania as the people who were forced from their homes by the rising water returned to assess the damage.
Other images show just how much cleaning up some families have to do.
Scroll down for video
This eerie image of a slumped-over doll in the hallway of a flooded family home in Latrobe shows how badly the deadly floods have impacted on people in Tasmania
Toys and mud everywhere. This room will need a lot of work before the children can move back in. The bottom mattress and bed covers are soaked
The mud lines on these kitchen cupboards show how high the water rose inside this home. Most of the water has receded leaving mud behind
The images show mud, water and grass spread through entire homes as the clean-up in northern Tasmania begins
SES workers on the job assisting in clean up operations after the Mersey River floods. The floods are the worst to hit Tasmania in 90 years
A line of mud stretched up the walls and cupboards of a home in the town show just how high the flood water got.
The photographs show a kitchen floor covered in inches of mud.
One photo shows a bedroom with childrens toys and belongings spread across the floor.
Toy bins are knocked over and the mattress on the bottom bunk soaked through.
Broken glass, mud-soaked hallways and doors of their hinges and on the ground. This photo shows what people will return home to after the horrific floods
Excavators were used to clear driveways in Latrobe so people could get back into their homes and start cleaning up
Those affected by the flood have a huge job ahead of them, this photo shows a devastating reality for many following the flood of the Mersey river
Business owners have also returned to their shops to assess the damage caused by flooding. This shot was taken in Latrobe's main street and shows sandbags used to keep the water out
This bee keeper was photographed checking the condition of his bees and hives after the devastating flood in Latrobe
Heavy excavating machinery was used in the town to clear drive ways so people could return to their homes and begin cleaning up.
One breath taking image shows an excavator next to flood water.
Other photos show people returning to their businesses.
A bee keeper checks on his hives and someone wearing a pair of black gumboots works to clean up a business.
This cafe may still have a lot of water on the floor but appeared to escape from being coated in mud like many neighbouring homes and businesses
The clean up has begun in northern Tasmania following the worst flood the island state has seen in 90 years. People returned to their homes on Tuesday to asses the damage caused by the flood water
This family returned to their home on Tuesday to see just how much work they had to do before they could move back into their property
More images captured in Devonport, Tasmania show boats washed ashore by the devastating floods.
One of the once proud vessels lay on its side in the sand. Another perched on the side of a pebbly beach.
Four people are still missing following the record flooding in Tasmania over the weekend. Three are dead, including a 75-year-old woman who was found in her home by police
Crushed remains of boats, like the one pictured, have been washed up on the beaches in Devonport following the super storm
Some of the boats are more damaged than others. This one was found laying in the sand snapped into pieces at some point during the wild weather
Other boats appeared to have escaped too much damage, this one was found on a pebbly beach, the boat's owners
Boat owners salvage what they can from the wreckagesof their boats which were washed ashore during the storm
This boat was washed ashore during the storm over the weekend. The super storm reaked havoc across the east coast of Australia and in Tasmania
The coastline appeared to be littered with debris washed ashore by the storm. Pieces of boats, personal belongings and drift wood litter the beach
Police recovered the body of Mary Kathleen Allford on Tuesday inside her home on Shale Road in Latrobe, in northern Tasmania.
Search and rescue officers had to wait until flood waters receded to go into the property to be safely searched.
Ms Allford's husband was airlifted by a Westpac Rescue Helicopter from the roof of the property on Monday.
A stand up paddle boarder explores the flooded Bells Parade area, in the state's north, after the Mersey River broke its banks
A second woman was also plucked to safety near Evansdale, south of Launceston, after she was heard calling out to people in the dark.
One crewman on-board a helicopter was winched down to rescue her in the early hours of Tuesday morning in rainy and foggy conditions.
But the man she was travelling with remains missing after their car was swept away early overnight as they were delivering newspapers.
Police also hold fears for an 81-year-old man was carried off by floodwaters at his Ouse property.
He has been named by the ABC as Trevor Foster.
Jet skiiers jump waves as large swells roll into the Mersey River in Devonport, making the most of conditions whipped up by the freak storm
The Mersey River breaks its banks and floods several small towns cutting of road access across the coast
Volunteers in kayaks help rescue the surviving cows and bulls which were washed downstream when the Mersey River flooded
Footage from rescuers on board the Westpac Rescue Helicopter in Tasmania as they searched for a woman who has since been rescued
The woman was plucked to safety near Evansdale, south of Launceston, after she was heard calling out to people in the dark. Another photo from rescuers
Mr Foster was swept away in flood waters from his property in Ouse about 8am on Monday.
The search and rescue operation to locate the missing man re-commenced on Tuesday about 8am at Ouse.
Police are utilising police search and rescue specialists, marine police, and SES staff and volunteers.
The flood waters surrounding the property where Mr Foster was swept away have started to abate, but the area was still significantly affected by flood waters.
Historic Sherwood Hall at Bells Parade is swamped by flood waters as Tasmania experiences its worst flooding event in almost 90 years
Major flood warnings are current for five Tasmanian river systems. Above are two men helping a cow out of flood waters after the Mersey River broke banks
The floods gripping Tasmania are said to be the worst since 1929.
More than 100 people have been rescued by helicopter in the island state, and at least 100 homes have been inundated.
The Spirit of Tasmania ferry service, between Melbourne and Devonport, has been suspended until further notice.
Major flood warnings are current for five Tasmanian river systems.
Tasmania Police later on Tuesday morning said six men had been found safe near Schouten Island after taking shelter in their boat overnight.
A man who allegedly dropped his critically injured wife outside a hospital posted a series of emotional tributes on social media just hours before he was arrested over her death.
Steve Samaras, 47, is being questioned over the brutal death of a 49-year-old woman after she was allegedly dropped off at Mildura Base Hospital about 7am on Monday.
He was arrested in the inner Melbourne suburb of Preston on Tuesday morning after a member of the public recognised the vehicle he was driving.
According to The Age, the woman was already dead when she was found dumped on a bench outside the hospital after suffering severe injuries from a violent assault.
Steve Samaras (left) has been arrested over the brutal death of his 49-year-old partner, who he claims is Tamara Turner on Facebook
Following the woman's death, the 47-year-old man took to social media to pay tribute to his 'gorgeous wife'
He shared several photographs of the two as he paid an emotional tribute to his partner on social media
Police had earlier released images of a four-wheel-drive with a trailer attached in a bid to locate Mr Samaras, who is also known as Steven Kallouf.
Mr Samaras took Facebook to mourn the death of his 'gorgeous wife' Tamara Turner, who he claims died in his arms.
'Why God didn't you look after my Tamara, she was a one in a million, need more people like her, why take her away from me and leave me in sadness,' he posted.
'Fly high with the angels, your [sic] taken from me in this life gorgeous, but I will be with you in the next life. U [sic] didn't want to lose me and I lost you.
'I can't stop crying baby girl, I miss you so much. Passing away in my arms hurt me, I don't know what to say to the kids either.
Victoria Police had released a CCTV image of the white four-wheel-drive Mr Samaras was travelling in
Mr Samaras paid tribute on Facebook to his 'gorgeous wife' Tamara Turner, who he claims died in his arms
The 49-year-old woman was allegedly dropped off outside Mildura Base Hospital where she later died
Mr Samaras took to Facebook to share a series of emotional tributes following the death of his 'gorgeous wife'
His Facebook page features several photographs of Ms Turner, loved-up photos of the pair, and a video posted in October professing his love for her.
The social media posts suggest Ms Turner had moved to Australia from the United States to be with Mr Samaras and they married in February.
Homicide detectives remain in Mildura and will continue to investigated the death of the woman
Police have not confirmed the name of the woman.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Amber Heard was allegedly arrested for domestic violence against her then girlfriend Tasya Van Ree in 2009, it has emerged.
TMZ reports that Heard and van Ree got into an argument on September 14, 2009 at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Heard allegedly grabbed van Ree's arm, was arrested and booked for misdemeanor domestic violence.
New documents have revealed Amber Heard (pictured, left) was arrested for misdemeanor domestic violence towards her then partner Van Ree (right) in 2009
Her mugshot was taken and she appeared in court the following day.
Heard is currently suing Johnny Depp for divorce claiming, amid other things, that he was violent towards her and threw his iPhone at her, bruising her face.
But the prosecutor declined to take the case further but warned Heard she could reconsider and refile within the two-year statute of limitation period.
It was previously revealed that Heard considered herself married to her Van Ree, before she ever tied the knot with Depp.
While gay marriage was not legal at the time, the couple did everything that would make them as legally close to married as possible.
The two women viewed themselves as a married couple even if on paper the word was not available to them eight years ago.
The now 30-year-old actress went as far as changing her last name to match her photographer love's name.
On March in 2008 in California, the star legally changed her name to Amber Van Ree and stated the reason to do so as they were in a 'domestic partnership'.
Three months later, California started issuing marriage licences to gay couples but that was halted later that year, with gay marriage not legal in California again until 2013 and across the US until 2015.
Covered all bases: While gay marriage was not legal at the time, former couple (pictured 2010) did everything that would make them as legally close to married legally changed her name to Amber Van Ree and stated the reason to do so as they were in a 'domestic partnership'
Secret wedding: A source said the two women held a private ceremony three years after Amber changed her name to celebrate their love
A source told the Mirror that the couple went on to have a private ceremony in 2011 in New York, when same-sex marriage was legalized there but did not make it legally official.
The couple asked the special few who attended the wedding to keep the wedding a secret, the source said.
Amber, The Mirror reports, did not need to divorce her partner because of their legal status but did petition to change her name back in 2013 and it was granted the following year three months after she and Johnny got engaged.
Bruises: Amber claims the 52-year-old actor attacked her while drunk and high over last weekend - and it was not the first time that he had done so
It was Amber's continued friendship with her former wife that reportedly led to Johnny's alleged explosive anger at the star.
Amber claims the 52-year-old actor attacked her while drunk and high over last weekend - and it was not the first time that he had done so.
Amber said in documents submitted to a Los Angeles court on Friday that she 'truly feared my life was in danger' more than once during the couple's 15-month marriage.
The star successfully argued she need restraining order against her estrange husband, who she says smashed up there home and threw a phone at her leaving her battered and bruised.
The Rum Diaries actress also begged the judge for protection for her Yorkshire terrier, Pistol, who was a gift from wife Tasya.
While Amber claimed she feared what the actor would do to the pooch, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carl H. Moor determined there was 'an insufficient showing of need to protect the pet dog.'
In her declaration of petition for a restraining order, seen by DailyMail.com, Amber said she this was not the first time Johnny had been abusive.
Amber, who has filed for divorce, said: 'Johnny has a long-held and widely acknowledged public and private history of drug and alcohol abuse. He has a short fuse.
'He is often paranoid and his temper is exceptionally scary for me as it has proven many times to be physically dangerous and/or life threatening to me.'
She also said: 'During the entirety of our relationship, Johnny has been verbally and physically abusive to me.
Asked for protection: The star (pictured Janurary) successfully argued she need restraining order against her estrange husband, but failed to get the same for her dog Pistol, who was a present from ex Tasya
'I endured excessive emotional, verbal and physical abuse from Johnny, which has included angry, hostile, humiliating and threatening assaults to me whenever I questioned his authority or disagreed with him. I live in fear that Johnny will return to (our house) unannounced to terrorise me, physically and emotionally.'
Giving credibility to reports that Johnny has had an issue with Amber's continued relationship with her ex, Amber said of Friday's alleged attack was started over 'something that was untrue' that he was obsessed about and his 'demeanor changed dramatically' and 'became extremely angry'.
Johnny did not appear in court but his legal team have dismissed the domestic violence claims as nothing more than a cash grab - the couple have no pre-nup.
A large number of Syrian refugees have arrived in Lebanon impoverished and with no money or
Advertisement
They have fled their war-torn country of Syria to cross over the border to Lebannon for a more peaceful life.
But for these refugees, who are as young as eight, they are now forced to carry out back-breaking work to support their relatives after becoming the 'man of the family'.
Syrian families in the neighbouring country are becoming increasing desperate after arriving in Lebanon impoverished and destitute.
Brothers Nasrallah, 14, and Mohammad, eight, rise in the early hours every morning to make bricks inside a cement plant in Lebanon to support their families
Nasrallah and Mohammed, pictured, fled Homs in Syria three years ago and have to work at the plant to support their struggling parents
Ahmad, aged 14, is the only 'man' in his family in Lebanon as his father is still in Syria and he has been forced to work 11 hour days in a stone cutting workshop
Ahmad working on a mosaic. He said: 'Before the crisis I went to school and I was free to play with my friends, now I have to work and help my family'
Three young boys walk into the quarry and cement factory in Rait, eastern Lebanon ready to start work after fleeing from Syria
Women and children make up 80 per cent of the refugees with many of the men remaining in Syria.
This means young boys, some who should still be at school, have gained jobs in the construction industry to support their families.
One of those is eight-year-old Mohammad, who wakes everyday at 3am to start work producing bricks at a nearby quarry.
He is joined by his brother Nasrallah, who starts work at midnight as they try to earn money for their mother and sisters.
A yougn Syrian refugee in the cement factory in Lebanon struggles as he attempts to carry heavy bricks to a cutting machine
Saddam is just 13 years old but has been forced to take a job as a mechanic as his family have a lack of a traditional male breadwinner
At the end of his shift, 120-year-old Maher gets paid for his work in a garage. He was forced to flee Aleppo and travelled to Lebanon with his family
Their family left Homs in Syria three years ago and they sought refuge in Lebanon, which declines to class them as refugees.
Mohammad says his family spent all of their money and sold their possession to migrate within Syria and Lebanon so he has to work in the quarry to support his relatives.
Meanwhile, Bader, a 13 year-old boy, lives with his mother and sisters while his father is still in Syria, in a village under siege.
Bader is the only man in the family and he was working as a mechanic, but after only two days of illness he was fired.
In the Bekaa Valley, large numbers of children have to work and the experts warn could be a lost generation with minimal prospects as they miss out on years of education because of the war in Syria.
Abdullah, aged 12, has been working as a mechanic to support his family ever since they left Syria and fled to safety in Lebanon
Ahmad a 13 year-old boy, proudly displays his shoulder that he injured by carrying bags of cement. He says he feels like a man in spite of his young age
Eleven-year-old Mohammad works in the construction industry seven days a week. He doesn't attend school but wants to study to become an architect
Many working children are deprived of an education, as they have neither the time, nor the energy to attend school, due to the demands of their work.
Child labour was a problem even before the war, but the current situation is forcing children to do heavy work and it has increased the number of working children.
Abdallah, another 11 year-old boy, remembers when he went at school and he misses his friends.
He said that two of his friends are in Lebanon, but they go to school while he works about 12 hours a day at a restaurant for 6$ per day.
He said: 'I want to go to school but my family survives thanks to my work.'
Bader with his mother and sisters in their stark accommodation in Lebanon. Bader is the only man in the family but was fired from his mechanic's job after two days of illness
More than 80 per cent of the workers in the cement fatory are Syrians and many of them work and live in a small concrete room, paying a rent of $200 for a room of few square meters
The children who work and live in the quarries or in the cement factory are subject to many risk. These risks include emissions of airborne pollution in the form of dust and gases
Elsewhere, Ahmad is 10 years old and he works in the cement plant although he hasnt enough strength to make bricks like his brothers and so he carries sand.
He lives with his family in the cement factory and he shares a small room with nine other children.
The children who work in the quarries or in the cement factory are subject to many risks. These risks include emissions of airborne pollution in the form of dust and gases.
Advertisement
The ruin peaks out from amid the creeping vines and long grass like some long-forgotten treasure slowly crumbling into the ground.
Yet this is no ancient temple, but a once-glamorous palace where, just 40 years ago, hordes of journalists from across the world would descend every day, to watch Mohammad Ali train for the fight of his life.
For five weeks, a compound in the grounds of this crumbling ruin on the edge of the jungle was Alis home supposedly where he lived a monastic lifestyle up until he stepped into the ring in front of 50,000 cheering fans in the heart of Africa.
The reality was far from it for this was the place where he rubbed shoulders with one of the world's most despotic dictators, a man with a penchant for torture, murder and deflowering virgins, and where the boxer secretly wed his third wife - while still married to the second.
Abandoned: The palace at Nsele, once home to one of Africa's most despotic dictators and, briefly, the world's greatest box, Muhhamad Ali
Grand: Mubuto Sese Seko, who had grabbed power in a coup in the mid-60s, was famed for his extravagant tastes - and so it was only right that when he invited Ali and his opponent George Foreman to Zaire to compete in the famed Rumble in the Jungle, they stayed here
Terrifying: But behind the glamour was a dark truth - that Sese Seko, who had renamed the country Zaire, was ruling through fear
Theft: Sese Seko, born Joseph-Desire Mubuto, was also mining the country's great wealth for himself - eventaully leaving it to starve
Grand: By the time he fled the country, 23 years after the fight, he had stolen billions of dollars to fund his international lifestyle
Future: He paid $10million to host the fight, giving each boxer half, hoping it would give the world the 'right' impression of his country
Nsele, some 40kms outside Kinshasa, the capital of what today is known as the Democratic Republic of Congo, but then was Zaire, was once one of ruler Mobutu Sese Sekos most glittering palaces.
Ali, by now 32, should have only been here a matter of weeks after he arrived in September 1974. His fight against George Foreman was supposed to take place on the 25th. But it was delayed after Foremans eye was injured, and the men stayed on at Nsele for another five weeks, waiting for their moment in the ring.
The wait was something both men would have liked to avoid: journalists have since revealed how neither liked Zaire. There was talk of food being poisoned, fears over the water, and even female demons.
In reality, the most evil thing either man would come across was their host the man who had paid $10million to host the fight - $5million to Ali, and $5million to Foreman.
Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga, which translates as the all-powerful warrior who because of his endurance and inflexible will to win will go from conquest to conquest leaving fire in his wake, had been in power for almost a decade by the time the two fighters landed from France.
Home: This is where Ali stayed during his time in Zaire, which should have only been a few weeks, but ended up over a month
Holding court: Every day, Ali invited the press from across the world to make the journey to the compound to watch him train
Fearful: But those who followed the match later revealed neither fighter was particularly happy about being in Zaire so long
Legends: It is said Foreman worried about being posioned, while Ali was warned an evil female spirit might attack him
The dictator, born plain-old Joseph-Desire Mobuto, was an instantly recognisable figure with his leopard-skin hat and ebony cane.
But behind his somewhat jovial appearance was a man who would stop at nothing for power. A climate of fear had started to linger over Zaire, Sese Seko's chosen name for his new kingdom, long before Ali and Foreman arrived.
The despot had developed a reputation for torturing his foes, while happily executing former friends and colleagues in front of huge crowds, in case anyone else should dare challenge his role as Zaires chef.
It is said there were walls in the Stade du 20 Mai where the clash eventually took place at 4am on October 29, 1974 littered with bullet holes from where people had been lined up and shot.
Sese Seko was also known to invoke the ancient tradition of droit de cuissage - or deflowering virgins - as he travelled across the country. According to David Van Reybrouck's Congo: The Epic History of a People, chiefs readily offered up young girls to their leader, believing it to be an honour.
But, Van Reybrouck claims, it went further than that: Sese Seko used it to sleep with the wives of his cabinet ministers in order to humiliate them - and ensure he knew their secrets.
Friendship: But they appeared to strike up a bond of sorts with their host, famed for his love of leopard-skin hats and his walking stick
Cleaning up: Ahead of the fight, Sese Seko is said to have had 1,000 known criminals rounded up in Kinshasa and thrown into jail - and executed 100, so no one dared step into their shoes while the world's press were in the capital
Executions: It is also said there were still bullet holes littering some walls in the stadium where the fight took place on October 29, 1974 - left there after people were lined up and shot
Assault: Sese Seko was also said to invoke his right, as chief of Zaire, to sleep with virgins across the country - believed to be a great honour. It is unlikely Ali, pictued training in Zaire, who had converted to Islam, knew anything of his host's sinister ways
Closeness: In fact, they were seen embracing on several occasions - much to the surprise of those who knew the dictator better
Winner: Ali would go on to knock out his rival in the eighth round, having withstood Foreman's blows for round after round
Yet despite this interest in ancient traditions, Sese Seko was desperate to be seen as modern and forward-looking by the wider world - and $10million was a small price to pay to portray the country as just this.
No mention, then, of the 1,000 criminals he is said to have locked up in cells to ensure the streets of Kinshasa were crime-free. And especially no mention of the 100 he executed for good measure, just in case anyone hadnt got the message.
As Ian Woodridge, the Daily Mail journalist sent to cover the fight, revealed at the time: We knew we would be safe from muggings in the streets. At a British High Commission cocktail party a government official casually informed us that a few notorious pickpockets had been rounded up and hanged from trees in Kinshasa's main square.
However, it seems Ali may have not quite been on message. He is said to have angered Sese Seko after suggesting the locals were cannibals.
All you who think George Foreman is gonna whup me; when you get to Africa, Mobutus people are gonna put you in a pot, cook you, and eat you, Ali boasted.
Well behaved: Ali was supposed to be living a monastic lifestyle while staying at Nsele, preparing for the fight of his life
Concentration: His wife wasn't even staying with him, but at a hotel a little way outside the compound, in theory so he could focus
New interest: In fact, Ali had taken up with another woman - an 18-year-old called Veronica Porsche, one of the poster girls for the Rumble
Infiltrator: Ali's camp feared she might be a spy sent in by Foreman, and said he needed to be careful as they became closer
Secret: But it seems love won out: the two had a secret wedding in Ali's villa a week before the fight took place
In fact, cannibalism is one charge which cannot be levelled at Mobutu: it was his neighbour, Jean-Bedel Bokassa of the Central African Republic, who was accused of eating his enemies. As former CNN reporter Robert Wiener noted, the closest Mobutu ever came to cannibalism was simply downing the occasional beaker of human blood.
Sese Sekos evil apart from the torture and executions was focused on money: by the time he was chased from the country in 1997, after 32 years of absolute rule, he had acquired vast properties across Europe, and a Swiss bank account containing several billion dollars.
Meanwhile, the country he fled was slowly being swallowed by the jungle crumbling infrastructure, hospitals without medicine and law enforcers turning to crime to survive.
Not that Ali had time to notice the start of the decline: while supposed to be focusing on the fight, he had fallen head over heels for one of Rumble in the Jungles poster girls, Veronica Porsche.
Happy: But the marriage - conducted by a Muslim preacher with just the boxer and his young bride in attendance - technically made Ali a bigamist, so it was kept top secret. Pictured: Ali and Veronica in 1978
Legality: The pair eventually married again in 1977, after Ali divorced his second wife, who was mother to four of his children
Family: Veronica, pictured with the couple's daughters Laila and Hana Yasmeen, was married to Ali until 1986, after the onset of Parkinsons
Just 18, Veronica had been plucked from obscurity and flown half-way across the world. She had already met Ali, then married to Khaliliah Camacho-Ali, in Salt Lake City.
The two began an affair - one which Khaliliah, who was staying in a hotel a little way from the compound, says she was fully aware of her husband's extra-marital activities.
What she did not know until later was that the philandering Ali had decided to marry his new mistress in a secret Islamic ceremony, a week before the fight - despite concerns from his camp that she may be a spy, sent by Foreman.
'It was quiet, nobody was there,' Porche revealed to USA Today in 2014. 'Something inside me made it OK because I loved him. That's how I felt.'
Their 'marriage' was kept quiet for the next three years, however, until his divorce from Khaliliah was finalised in 1977 - long after they had left Zaire behind them.
Riches: Sese Seko was known for his love of the high life - even having a runway built at one palace to accommodate concrode
Extravagance: It is said he put billions into a Swiss bank account over the years, and enjoyed shopping trips to Paris - by concorde
Ego: Druign his 32 year rule, he appeared on television every night, descending from the sky like a god
Overthrown: He was eventually forced out in 1997 by Laurent-Desire Kabila, and fled to Morocco - the only country willing to take him
Sick: All the stolen riches in the world were not enough to save him in his final months, as he battled prostate cancer
Death: Sese Seko died three months after going into exile, at the age of 66, thosuands of miles away from his beloved palaces
Rumours: There are many tales about him, among them that he drank the occasional cup of human blood - but he was not a cannibal, a charge levied at neighbouring tyrant, Jean-Bedel Bokassa of the Central African Republic
Destroyed: Sese Seko's palaces were raided after his fall, and have slowly fallen into disrepair as the country struggles with finance
Recovering: The country, now named the Democratic Republic of Congo, is still trying to rebuild itself after the war, which started in 1996
One of Britain's most popular 'green' cars has been exposed as having a security flaw which means it can be unlocked by hackers.
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, a plug-in hybrid SUV, can be operated by its environment-conscious owners using a mobile phone app.
But experts in car security have shown how hackers can tap into the system to turn the alarms off before breaking into the 40,000 vehicles.
The hybrid Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is one of the most popular 'green' SUVs in Britain
Experts say they have worked out how the cars can be hacked into by thieves using the mobile app system
Specialists at Pen Test Partners released a video showing how hackers can 'listen in' to communications between phones and the car's computer.
They can then use the information to take over the car's controls, turning on lights, stopping the plug-in battery charging and switching off alarms.
Ken Munro said: 'We noticed that the mobile app had an unusual method of connecting to the vehicle so we bought one to investigate.
'Most remote control apps for locating the car work using a web service. The web service is hosted by the car manufacturer or their service provider.
'The Outlander PHEV does it differently. Instead of a GSM module, there is a Wi-Fi access point on the vehicle.
'Unfortunately, we found that this system had not been implemented securely.'
In video he made showing how easy it is to hack the car, he added: 'We found we can take control of the car with nothing more than a computer.'
Mr Munro said owners of the car can switch the mobile setting off to prevent theives being able to break in.
Ken Munro, of security specialists Pen Test Partners, released a video showing how the car can be hacked
He showed how the vehicle's computer even showed the theft alarm being turned off after it was hijacked
Last year, hackers showed how they could hack into and take control of a Jeep Cherokee before applying its brakes and sending it into a spin.
And police in wealthy parts of London have previously warned the owners of expensive cars to return to old-fashioned steering wheel locks after high-tech thieves learned how the bypass alarm systems.
A Mitsubishi spokesman said: 'This hacking is a first for us as none other has been reported anywhere else in the world
'We take this matter very seriously and are very much willing to initiate a dialogue between Mr. Munro's team and our own specialists in Japan to better understand & solve the issue
'Whilst obviously disturbing, this hacking only affects the car's app, therefore with limited effect to the vehicle (alarm, charging, heating) - it should be noted that without the remote control device, the car cannot be started and driven away.
'At this early stage, until further technical investigation, we would recommend our customers to deactivate the WiFi using the "Cancel VIN Registration" option on the app, or by using the remote app cancellation procedure.'
Thai police probing the infamous Tiger Temple have discovered a slaughterhouse and cages used in a suspected animal trafficking network.
Acting on a tip, officers raided a home Tuesday about 30 miles from the Buddhist temple in Kanchanaburi province in western Thailand and found four live tigers and a dozen empty cages.
It is the latest development in a growing scandal surrounding the Tiger Temple where wildlife officials found around 20 jars containing the preserved dead bodies of tiger cubs.
Thai police probing the infamous Tiger Temple have discovered a slaughterhouse and cages used in a suspected animal trafficking network
As well as a suspected slaughter house, police found cages where the tigers were being held
Investigators believe the house, in an isolated area and surrounded by tall fences, served as 'a holding facility and slaughterhouse'
Investigators believe the house, in an isolated area and surrounded by tall fences, served as 'a holding facility and slaughterhouse'.
Colonel Montri Pancharoen, deputy commander of the Crime Suppression Division, which oversaw the raid, said: 'We believe it was used by the Tiger Temple to hold live tigers before slaughtering them for their skins, meat and bones to be exported outside the country, or sent to restaurants in Thailand that serve tiger meat to tour groups.'
The house had a work area with a large chopping board and a variety of knives which authorities believe served as the slaughter area, he said.
Police detained two caretakers at the facility who claimed the tigers were the private property of the home's owner, said Montri. Police were searching for the owner who was not there during the raid.
'The Tiger Temple is just a starting point, or a supplier,' he said. 'We have information that the Tiger Temple is not the only place that supplies tigers to illegal smugglers.'
Grim discovery: Police found freezers containing bags of flesh and bones at the suspected slaughterhouse
The house had a work area with a large chopping board and a variety of knives which authorities believe served as the slaughter area
The government suspects the monks have been involved in illegal breeding and trafficking of the animals
Acting on a tip, officers raided a home Tuesday about 30 miles from the Buddhist temple in Kanchanaburi province in western Thailand and found four live tigers and a dozen empty cages
Police officers were called to the scene and conducted a search of the facility earlier today
Animal rights activists have long accused the temple of mistreating its tigers. It had been a popular tourist attraction that charged admission for visitors to take photos with the tigers and walk them on leashes.
The government suspects the monks have been involved in illegal breeding and trafficking of the animals.
The monks resisted previous efforts to take away the tigers, but relented last week after police obtained a court order.
The seizure of tigers started on May 30. Two days later authorities discovered the 40 dead tiger cubs in a temple freezer.
A day later, police stopped a monk and two other men in a truck leaving the temple with two tiger skins, more than 700 vials containing tiger skin and a suitcase with tiger teeth, officials said.
Police detained two caretakers at the facility who claimed the tigers were the private property of the home's owner, said Mr Montri. Police were searching for the owner who was not there during the raid.
The man who allegedly killed two mothers by speeding through a red light in an unregistered Mercedes was seen laughing on the phone after he was questioned by police, a court has heard.
Mohamad Hassan, 20, was granted bail on Tuesday after the Sunday night deaths of best friends Subha Deumic and Bozica Nikolic in Attwood, north-west Melbourne.
Ms Deumic's daughters were driving in the car behind and witnessed the fatal crash when their mother's red Toyota sedan was flung across the road when it was allegedly t-boned by Mr Hassan's black 1999 Mercedes Benz.
Detective Senior Constable Alexander Osmelak argued he should not be granted bail, because he was a flight risk, had 'no respect for the Australian justice system', and was allegedly seen laughing on the phone to his mother after he was questioned by police on Monday night, the Melbourne Magistrate Court heard, The Age reported.
Mohamad Hassan, 20, was granted bail on Tuesday after the Sunday night deaths of best friends Subha Deumic (right) and Bozica Nikolic (left) in Attwood, north-west Melbourne
Mr Hassan's defence lawyer rejected that claim and said it was impossible to know what had been said on the phone.
His lawyer also said he was not a flight risk because all of his family is now in Australia.
Magistrate Kay Robertson granted bail on a $40,000 surety, and ordered he surrender passports and travel documents, live at home and does not drive or sit in the front seat of a motor vehicle.
Mr Hassan was also ordered not to attend airports or ports with international shipping lines.
The 20-year-old Lebanese national has used an Arabic translator in court.
He is charged with two counts each of culpable driving causing death and dangerous driving causing death.
57-year-old Ms Nikolic died after the crash on Sunday night in Attwood, north-west Melbourne
Mother Subha Deumic, who tragically died at the scene following a horrific car crash in front of her daughters (pictured with her son Ermin, 32)
It's alleged he had been driving the Mercedes with number plates from his uncle's Nissan Triton at the time of the crash.
Det Sen Const Osmelak said dashcam footage showed the Mercedes speeding past another car before the crash, and afterwards the speedometer in the Mercedes was frozen at 130km/h.
He told the court Mr Hassan was given a speeding ticket in April.
The lawyer for the accused said Mr Hassan was driving on an international licence at the time of the crash, about 10pm Sunday.
He received minor injuries.
Mr Hassan came to Australia about a year ago from Lebanon on a provisional visa with his mother and six siblings to be reunited with their father, the court was told.
The family live together in Tullamarine, the court heard.
He works as a labourer for his uncle's demolition company, Det Sen Const Osmelak said.
The 1999 black Mercedes Benz Mr Hassan, 20, was driving on Sunday night when he allegedly sped through a red light
Emergency services were called to the scene just after 10pm (pictured: the red Toyota sedan the two victims were travelling in)
The red Toyota sedan Ms Deumic and Ms Nikolic had been travelling was flung across the road after Mr Hassan allegedly t-boned it
Mr Hassan's lawyer said there were no applications for a new passport, and a family friend could pay a $20,000 surety.
He will remain in custody until the family can pay the $40,000 surety.
On Monday night Ms Nikolic's daughter Marina told 7 News of her heartache.
'Now I've lost my mum. She's not going to be there for when I get married, she's not going to be there to watch my sister grow up.
'[I'm] just not going to have a mum and that's going to be really hard.'
Sergeant Mark Amos of Victoria Police said the 'true tragedy' of the incident was that the second woman's daughters 'watched her die'.
'The true tragedy last night is the car immediately behind the Yaris at that intersection in Alanbrae had two occupants in it, and those occupants were the daughters of the passenger in the Yaris' he told the Herald Sun.
'They've essentially sat in the car and watched their mother die. To try and fathom the harm and that's going to leave those young ladies is beyond belief,' he added.
Armina Deumic (left) and her sister Edina (right) with their mother Subha (centre), who died in a horrific car crash on Sunday night
Armina Deumic (pictured) had been travelling in the car behind and witnessed the crash which killed her mother and friend
Two daughters watch in horror as their mother dies in front of them (Armina Deumic, daughter of Subha Deumic, pictured at scene on Sunday night)
Ms Nikolic and Ms Deumic had been best friends for 30 years and were returning home after catching up over dinner.
Ms Nikolic's daughters, Marina and Andrijana, paid tribute to their 'beautiful' mother on social media, also breaking the news of her death to their family abroad.
'The shock it has brought to family and friends can not be described through words... we are all grieving through this terrible misfortune,' Marina wrote on Monday.
'I always see this happen to other people but you never truly know the pain it causes unless you experience it,' she said, adding that the driver of the Mercedes will be burdened with guilt for the 'rest of his life'.
She thanked Ms Nikovic for her unwavering support and said her positive attitude had always brought her so much joy.
'Thank you for being the best version of you and being the best mum in the world. Thank you for raising me to become who I am today.'
'Thank you for supporting me through life and always helping me stay positive. You have taught me how to love, care and most of all be happy. Rest in paradise my beautiful mother.'
She posted it on Facebook with the caption 'most retarded teacher ever'
A 64-year-old teacher in Germany has taken one of his special needs pupils to court after the student mocked him on social media.
The 14-year-old female student had taken a picture of the teacher during class, and posted it on Facebook with the caption: 'most retarded teacher ever'.
The male teacher said the post was insulting and violated his privacy as the photo was taken without his knowledge or permission.
Joke too far: A 64-year-old teacher in Dusseldorf, west Germany is suing a 14-year-old special needs pupil, 14, over a Facebook post which 'mocked' him
The incident took place in November last year at a school in Dusseldorf, west Germany.
After being informed of the Facebook post by a third party, the teacher filed a criminal complaint for libel against the teenage girl.
Court proceedings are being held behind closed doors as the student is under 18. The age of criminal responsibility in Germany is 14.
A spokesperson of Dusseldorf District Court told The Local that it had never before dealt with a case of this kind, as most such cases are dealt with by the school in question.
A verdict is expected later on Tuesday.
Police were today warning of a new identity theft scam after fake letterboxes were glued onto people's homes in an attempt to steal bank details.
Several households in Chorlton, Manchester, have reported new boxes mysteriously appearing against their doorways and porches - with no idea how they got there.
In some cases, the numbers of the houses had been crudely painted on.
Police were today warning of a new identity theft scam after fake letterboxes, such as this one, were glued onto people's homes in Chorlton, Manchester, in an attempt to steal bank details
Police are now investigating whether the boxes are being placed by con artists to get hold of bank statements and personal information, enabling them to hack accounts or to open new ones in their victim's name.
Worried Linda Dunn issued a warning on Facebook after she was targeted, and opened up the box to find a letter addressed to her husband from TSB bank confirming a 1,000 overdraft agreement, despite the couple never having banked with them.
Mrs Dunn, who immediately reported the box to police, posted: 'Look out for post boxes like this suddenly appearing in your porch, probably with your house number Tippexed on - or a mess indicating where they have been stuck on.
'This is an attempt at identity fraud. The postman was fooled by ours and put letters in it including two from TSB bank giving online verification codes and confirming a 1,000 overdraft in my partner's name.
'A postman was just leaving our street as my daughter returned home and found a young man in porch who said he'd got the wrong street. We think he was there to retrieve letters or box or both.'
Mrs Dunn said her neighbours have also had TSB accounts opened in their names in the past few weeks, and one with another bank.
Another resident, Harry Somers, who lives near to Mrs Dunn, was also left puzzled after a letter box was glued onto his home - again with a poorly applied house number on it.
He removed it as soon as possible.
Mathew Holker said he had been targeted by fraudsters last year.
He said: 'One of these post boxes appeared at our house about six months ago with a note on the door telling the postman to use it. The postman knows not to use such a box now.'
He added: 'We still don't know who was stealing our post, though we had a couple of visits from young men who were 'lost' or at the wrong address. I wonder if it might be the same person/persons?'
Greater Manchester Police said they were now looking into the bogus boxes and were urging residents to be vigilant.
A spokesman said: 'We are investigating an incident that was reported to us where postboxes are potentially being used to intercept bank mail and other personal information.
Advertisement
Twelve foot waves and wiping out on a shallow reef weren't the only dangers big wave surfers faced on the final day of Red Bull Cape Fear surf competition, amid concerns sewage could have contaminated the sea foam that plagued the waters on Tuesday.
While the aftermath of a wild storm left Sydney's coastline in disarray the big names of big wave surfing took to the waters at Cape Solander - a secret break off Kamay Botany Bay National Park, known for hosting one of the heaviest and most dangerous waves in the world.
The storms left swathes of white-brown foam along shorelines and photographs and videos of people playing in the frothy mess have flooded social media. But University of Queensland Associate Professor Barry Noller told the ABC people should be avoiding it.
'If foam is in contact with any sewerage discharge, including overflows because of the heavy rain, people really shouldn't swim or have contact with their skin with foam as there is a chance of microbial infections,' he said.
'When sea foam is from natural sources it is not dangerous, but it is difficult to tell when there is contamination from sewage so it's best to err on the side of caution.'
Scroll down for video
A surfer is seen riding through a foamy barrel, which could be contaminated with sewage, during the Redbull Cape Fear competition on Tuesday
Maroubra's infamous son Kobi Abberton (pictured) styles his way through a barrel during Cape Fear
Jay 'Rooster' Adams (pictured) competed in the final heat, but was outperformed by 18-year-old Russell Bierke from NSW South Coast who clinched the title
'These guys are maniacs, and the result couldnt have been more mental' - Jay Adams is pictured wiping out on a massive wave
Kirk Flintoff from Cronulla in Sydney's South, wipes out on a ferocious wave at Cape Fear on June 7
The inaugural competition was clinched by 18-year-old Russell Bierke from NSW South Coast, who scored a perfect 10 on his final wave - outperforming Ryan Hipwood, Jay Adams and Koby Abberton in the final heat.
After a number of heavy wipeouts, a statement released on Tuesday stated there was just one injury during the competition.
'It was a degree of sheer guts, courage and talent that surfing has never seen before,' the statement read.
'These guys are maniacs, and the result couldnt have been more mental.'
The competition was put on hold Monday after Australian big-wave surfer Justin Allport was sucked over the falls of a monster set wave, before being urgently picked up by a jet-ski as others brace his injured neck.
Allport was knocked out underwater and suffered a huge gash to his forehead after the stack.
Returning to the site on Tuesday to watch the competition play out, Allport reportedly said he was 'feeling fine, just a little bit sore', according to the Redbull Cape Fear website.
Said to be one of the most dangerous waves, surfers insanely paddle into surf just metres from a cliff edge and shallow reef. Cronulla's Kirk Flintoff wipes out just metres from the rocks
After a number of heavy wipeouts, a statement released on Tuesday stated there was just one injury during the competition. Here Kirk Flintoff is pictured coming off his board
Surfer Kirk Flintoff (pictured) continued to put his body on the line during the competition, takes on huge waves and being wiped out several times
Maroubra big wave surfer Richie 'Vas' Vaculik is seen checking the conditions from the rocks at Cape Fear on Tuesday
Renowned Australian big-wave surfer Justin Allport wipes out on a set wave during the Cape Fear competition in Sydney's Cape Solander
As a wild storm whipped Sydney's coastline into a heaving mess of whitewash, a last-minute surfing event was organised to take place at Cape Solander - a secret break off Kamay Botany Bay National Park
Rescue swimmers brace the neck of Australian surfer Justin 'Jughead' Allport with their hands after he wiped out during competition
NSW surfer Russel Bierke, 18, gets caught too deep in a tube and wipes out on a huge wave
Only a brave few had the courage to surf in the Cape Fear event, which took place at Sydney's Cape Solander break
Evan Faulks, from Maroubra in Sydney's eastern suburbs, slaps face-first into the water at Cape Fear, with rocks looming in the foreground
Big-wave surfer Richie Vaculik hangs on for his life at Cape Fear - moments before he is taken to the ground
Sixteen world-class surfers competed in two hour-long heats, but the event was called off shortly after 2pm
Riley Lain wipes out on one of the smaller waves that came through the isolated break off Sydney
Surfers watch on from nearby rocks as Russel Bierke tucks in to a huge overhead barrel
Justin Allport is helped onto a ski after taking a huge set wave on the head, which knocked him out under water
Beaches across NSW and Queensland remain closed and the The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning on Monday morning and said 'abnormally high tides' and 'damaging surf' was expected.
The high tides will remain throughout Monday and the NSW State Emergency Service also warned 'it is not safe to be down at the beach'.
But local surfing fraternities along the coast have ignored the warnings and taken on 12-foot waves, some surfing just metres from where parts of coastal houses fell into the sea over the weekend.
Surfers take off on 12 foot waves just metres from where residents' houses were destroyed at Narrabeen and Collaroy beaches over the weekend
Beaches across NSW and Queensland remain closed and the The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning on Monday morning for 'abnormally high tides' and 'damaging surf'. Above, a man gets towed by a jet ski into massive waves at Narrabeen Beach in Sydney's north
Sydney's local surfing fraternities have ignored the warnings and taken on the monster waves. Pictured, professional surfer and Narrabeen local Riley Cadman paddles into a massive wave at Narrabeen Beach
A surfer rides a monster wave at Narrabeen Beach on Monday. Narrabeen, in Sydney's north, felt the full force of the storm over the weekend, with parts of coastal houses falling into the sea and local lakes breaking their banks
The high tides will remain throughout Monday and the NSW State Emergency Service also warned 'it is not safe to be down at the beach
Professional surfer Riley Cadman was spotted paddling into huge barrels at Narrabeen beach, where some waves reached nearly five metres.
Narrabeen, in Sydney's north, felt the full force of the storm over the weekend, with parts of coastal houses falling into the sea and local lakes breaking their banks.
The surfers are pictured just metres from where houses and shops were destroyed.
Dozens of surfers at Cronulla Beach in Sydney's south were spotted being towed into monster waves by jet-skis on Monday.
Waves were estimated to reach in between eight and 12ft in exposed areas, but were easing by the afternoon.
Dozens of surfers at Cronulla Beach (pictured) in Sydney's south were spotted being towed into monster waves by jet-skis on Monday
Waves were estimated to reach in between eight and 12ft in exposed areas at Cronulla Beach, but were easing by the afternoon
Pictured, a man rides a wave at Narrabeen Beach. The Bureau of Meteorology warned on Monday that further heavy surf and persisting high tides my lead to further erosion of the coast
Surfers ignored Bureau of Meteorology and SES warnings to steer clear of the beach to take on the monster waves whipped up by the weekend's super storm. Above, huge swell at Cronulla Beach
Surfers queue up at Cronulla beach to catch a wave. 'Very heavy surf may lead to localised damage and coastal erosion, particularly on southern parts of the coast,' a Bureau spokesperson said
'Beach conditions in these areas will be dangerous and people should stay well away from the surf and surf exposed areas,' said the spokesperson. Pictured, Cronulla Beach
The Bureau of Meteorology warned on Monday that further heavy surf and persisting high tides my lead to further erosion of the coast.
'Very heavy surf may lead to localised damage and coastal erosion, particularly on southern parts of the coast,' a Bureau spokesperson said.
'Beach conditions in these areas will be dangerous and people should stay well away from the surf and surf exposed areas.'
The low pressure system has now cleared from Queensland and New South Wales and is expected to gradually move away to the southeast.
The system moved on to Tasmania on Monday evening.
The Bureau warned that that although the clouds had lifted, dangerous conditions persisted in coastal areas.
The Bureau of Meteorology and emergency services are warning people to stay away from the beaches stretches along most of the NSW coast
Above, jet-ski riders watch on at Cronulla Beach. 'Very heavy surf may lead to localised damage and coastal erosion, particularly on southern parts of the coast,' a Bureau spokesperson said.
'Beach conditions in these areas will be dangerous and people should stay well away from the surf and surf exposed areas,' warned the BoM. Above, big swells on a beach near the NSW and Queensland border
The Bureau warned that that although the clouds had lifted, dangerous conditions persisted in coastal areas. Large crowds gathered to watch surfers ride monster waves on the NSW north coast
Bobby Brown has admitted he and his late ex-wife Whitney Houston failed their daughter Bobbi Kristina who died in July 2015, six months after she was found unconscious in a bathtub.
During a highly emotional interview with ABC's Robin Roberts, he admitted his daughter's death was eerily similar to that of his ex-wife's.
He told a special edition of 20/20: 'We should have been better. We could have been better.'
Bobby Brown, left, admitted he and his ex-wife had failed their daughter Kristina Bobbi who died in July 2015
Whitney Houston died in the bath in February 2011 while her daughter Bobbi Kristina, right was found unconscious in the bath and died six months later on July 26, 2015 in an eerily similar death to her mothers
Brown, pictured, said he blamed his daughter's boyfriend Nick Gordon for his daughter's wedding
Houston died on February 11, 2012, after being found facedown in a water-filled bathtub with drug paraphernalia nearby. The Los Angeles County coroner ruled her death an accidental drowning.
Bobbi Kristina Brown's death, on July 26, 2015, was ruled to be from lobar pneumonia and lack of oxygen, resulting in brain damage. The 22-year-old was also found in a water-filled bathtub with a mix of drugs and alcohol in her system. She spent six months in a coma before she died.
The Brown family thought she was being manipulated by her friend Nick Gordon, who was rumored to be Houston's adopted son. Bobbi Kristina Brown called him her brother.
'It's not a mystery to me,' Bobby Brown told Roberts. 'The same thing that happened to my daughter is what happened to Whitney ... There's only one person that was around both occasions, only one person who says they were there to protect them ... and he didn't.'
Last month Bobby Brown joined the conservator of his daughter's estate in a $10 million wrongful death civil suit against Gordon. Gordon strongly denies he had anything to do with Bobbi Kristina Brown's death, and his attorneys told ABC News in a statement that the lawsuit is 'slanderous and meritless.' No criminal charges have been filed against Gordon.
After Houston's death, Bobbi Kristina Brown and Gordon's relationship became murky and questions arose over whether they were involved romantically.
In 2013, Bobbi Kristina Brown claimed in social media postings that she and Gordon were married.
'I'm tired of hearing people say, "Eww you're engaged to your brother or If Whitney was still alive, would we be together or would she approve of this". Let me clear up something. We aren't even real brother and sister, nor is he my adoptive brother,' Bobbi Kristina Brown wrote on Facebook before she said they had tied the knot.
She also tweeted a picture of her hand on top of his, with both sporting rings on their ring fingers.
'@nickdgordon! #HappilyMarried SO#Inlove if you didn't get it the first time that is,' she captioned the photo, which had a thumbs-up symbol at the top left reading 'Yerp,' slang for yes.
But her father's lawyer Christopher Brown of Brown & Rosen told ABC News in February 2015 that 'Bobbi Kristina is not and has never been married to Nick Gordon.' There has been no legal documentation to prove the couple was ever married.
Lawyers for Gordon have strongly denied all allegations made by Brown,
When Bobbi Kristina Brown was in a coma, the Browns and the Houstons were at times at odds over her care, but they came together to try to protect her privacy.
Bobby Brown raised some controversy among family members when he told fans during a April 2015 concert that his daughter was 'awake.' His wife and manager, Alicia Etheredge-Brown, and his attorney later clarified the statement to say Bobbi Kristina Brown had been moved to a rehabilitation center and her level of awareness at that time was unknown.
But Bobby Brown stood by what he said.
'She was definitely following me when I walked around the room, when I talked to her, when her siblings talk to her,' Brown told Roberts. 'She was definitely following us.'
'It was reassuring,' he continued. 'For me, at that time, it reassured me that she knew and she was in a hospital and something had happened. She wasn't able to tell me what happened, but she definitely was awake and aware.'
Bobbi Kristina Brown died three months later. She was buried beside her mother in a Westfield, New Jersey, cemetery.
'The last thing I told her, I just said, 'Let go.' I said, 'It's OK, you can go with your mom. Daddy'll be all right. I love you. You can rest now,' he said. 'Hardest thing I had to do in my life was tell my daughter to let go ... I don't wish that on my worst enemy or any enemy. That is the worst pain in the world.'
A 17-year-old boy killed his mother after strangling her with a piece of rope - and then watched TV and took a shower.
Jacob Taliaferro, from Pennsylvania, called 911 just after 5am to say he had stabbed his mother with a kitchen knife and wanted to turn himself in.
Officers searched the house and found the bloodied body of his mother - Lorrie Ann Demko - in one of the bedrooms.
Taliaferro, whose Facebook page identified him as Jacob 'Feelthepain' Taliaferro, told investigators he stabbed his mother in the chest and strangled her with a rope until she died, according to the documents.
He then watched TV 'for some time' and had a shower before eventually handing himself in to police.
Taliaferro (pictured) told investigators that he stabbed his mother, then strangled her with a rope until she died
Prosecutors charged Taliaferro as an adult with murder and a judge at his arraignment ordered him to be held without bail at the Lebanon County jail.
County District Attorney David Arnold said no one else had been home at the time of the 'brutal' killing.
He declined to speculate on any possible motives but said investigators did not believe drugs were involved in the murder.
'I don't believe mental health played a substantial role,' Arnold said. 'When you do something like this, obviously something has gone a little wrong in your life.'
Boris Johnson and Michael Gove have laid down the gauntlet to David Cameron after he accused them of peddling 'untruths' during the referendum battle.
At a hastily arranged press conference, the Prime Minister tried to stem an apparent surge in support for Brexit by pleading with the public not to believe 'con tricks'.
But he was forced to deny being rattled by the prospect of losing the referendum after a series of polls showed momentum slipping away from the Remain side.
The Justice Secretary and former London mayor also hit back by insisting that Brexit was the 'safer choice' and challenging him to a head-to-head debate on the facts.
Scroll down for video
Prime Minister David Cameron called a press conference with just 90 minutes' notice this morning amid signs the Remain side is losing momentum
The row came ahead of a key television showdown tonight, during which Mr Cameron and Nigel Farage will be grilled by a live audience on ITV.
The Prime Minister has refused to face off directly with the Ukip leader or any other Brexit campaigner, so the two will appear consecutively.
But Mr Cameron decided he could not wait until this evening to try and counter claims from the Leave campaign, summoning journalists to a roof terrace in Westminster with just 90 minutes' notice.
He listed six 'untruths', including that we could be liable for billions of pounds in bailouts for eurozone countries in the future and the UK would not be able to veto moves towards an EU army.
In a clear swipe at Justice Secretary Michael Gove, his long-standing friend, Mr Cameron insisted voters should listen to 'experts' warning about the economic consequences of leaving.
Mr Gove last week urged the public to listen to their hearts instead of warnings from international bodies like the IMF.
CAMERON CLAIMS VOTE LEAVE HAS MADE SIX LIES - BUT THEY BLAST HIM AS 'UNREAL' David Cameron today used a sudden press conference to insist Vote Leave's leaders had made six 'untrue' claims Cameron says: 'They said we are liable to bail out eurozone countries. Not true. My renegotiation means we are categorically not liable for eurozone bailouts. It is there in black and white in the legally binding and irreversible negotiation deal.' Vote Leave says: 'The Eurozone has broken its promises before, as Osborne has admitted.' Cameron says: 'They said that our rebate, the money that we get back from the EU, is at risk. Again, not true. The British prime minister has a veto on changes to our rebate. Only a British prime minister could decide to give it up.' Vote Leave says: 'Osborne disagrees with him.' Cameron says: 'They said we've given up our ability to veto EU treaties. Again, not true. There's absolutely nothing in the renegotiation that gives up our veto as a full member of the European Union.' Vote Leave says: 'His own renegotiation agreement and Chancellor have contradicted this.' Cameron says: 'They said we had no ability to stop overall EU spending from going up. Again, not true. The budget for the current period, 2014 to 2020, is set in stone and can only be changed with the consent of all countries, including the British prime minister. Again, it's wrong to claim anything different, and by the way, the spending for this period is lower than in the last period because I negotiated a cut in the EU budget.' Vote Leave says: 'This is unreal.' Cameron says: 'They said we were powerless to stop Britain being forced in to an EU army. Again, not true. We have a rock solid veto on EU foreign and defence policy initiatives. Even if it was proposed, we would veto it. Just like William Hague did when he vetoed the idea of a European HQ on defence policy.' Vote Leave says: 'We cannot block EU permanent structured cooperation in defence and Cameron may have promised support for the proposal to Germany as part of his renegotiation.' Cameron says: 'They said we'd save 8bn if we left the EU. Again, not true almost every credible economic organisation who's looked at this has said that the economic shock of leaving Europe would cause a black hole in the public finances, and this would wipe out any saving that might be made. This black hole is estimated at between 20bn and 40bn.' Vote Leave says: 'There would be 10.6 billion. Not even David Cameron believes there will be an economic shock.' Advertisement
Mr Cameron said the consensus was that Brexit would cause 'instability, jobs and investment lost' and a 'decade of uncertainty'.
'That is the very clear message from today, and this is an economic reality check for our country,' the PM said.
'And it doesn't come for people with an axe to grind, but from credible independent experts.
'People who either have real skin in the game in terms of jobs and investment, or whose job it is to warn about risks to the world economy or global trade.
'That is who you have on this side of the debate.
'And what have we heard from those who want us to leave? Complacency and nonchalance.
'A casual wave of the hand. They say people have had enough of hearing from experts.
'Had enough of experts. Would you say that if you were building a bridge? Or if you were buying a house?
'Of course not. Why would you say it about one of the most important and complex decisions that this country will have to take in our lifetime?
'On the value of our currency they say the pound will go where it will. And because they don't have any credible experts on their side, what are they reduced to? Telling complete untruths to the British people.'
Asked whether he was worried the Remain side was losing, Mr Cameron said: 'Not at all. What I'm worried about, what I'm concerned about, is that people are being told things that aren't correct.'
But Mr Johnson and Mr Gove hit back in a joint statement:'The real risk for Britain in this referendum is voting to remain in the EU with a broken single currency and a rogue European Court.
'The safer choice is voting to leave, so we can take back control of our money, borders, security, trade and taxes.
If we needed a reminder of just how risky it is to remain in the EU, the European Court has today issued extraordinary judgments that undermine our ability to deal effectively with asylum.
We think that the public deserve the chance to hear these issues debated face-to-face between the Prime Minister and a spokesman for Vote Leave so they can judge for themselves which is the safer choice on June 23.
'The Prime Minister was absolutely right to hold this vote and allow Ministers the chance to disagree with him. We hope that in the same spirit he will accept this invitation.'
Ukip MP Douglas Carswell said the Remain campaign was in a 'blind panic'.
'David Cameron's renegotiation was a failure - no-one believes he got a deal worth the paper it was written on.
'Now people are rejecting his campaign of fear.
'The Prime Minister says we need a proper debate about the facts but he is too chicken to take on anyone from the Vote Leave campaign head-to-head.
'David Cameron and George Osborne have both admitted that they have given up our right to veto future EU treaties, that the EU has ignored us in the past over bailouts and they know their guarantees on the renegotiation are about as trustworthy as their mate Nick Clegg's pledges on tuition fees.'
Mr Farage unveiled a poster in Westminster ahead of his appearance on the ITV referendum special tonight, and complained that Mr Cameron was not willing to take him on directly.
But he seemed to be feeling the pace of the campaign, yawning heavily - despite insisting that he had been cutting back on alcohol to keep his energy levels up.
The developments came as it was revealed that a record 226,000 people registered to vote in the EU referendum yesterday ahead of the midnight deadline tonight.
It is the second largest number of sign-ups in a single day since online voter registration was launched two years ago.
Ukip leader Nigel Farage unveiled a poster ahead of his appearance on the ITV referendum special tonight
The pace of the campaign appeared to be catching up with Mr Farage as he was photographed yawning heavily during the event
Around 150,000 under-35s registered to vote after a number of campaigns targeted younger voters on Facebook.
But the elections watchdog said there are an estimated 7.5 million 'missing voters' who are not on the electoral register and have just hours to apply.
Over the past week more than 400,000 under-35s have registered to vote in the June 23 referendum on Britain's membership of the EU.
And over the last three weeks, about 1.3 million people have registered overall, with more than half of them under the age of 34.
Vote Leave pointed out that the PM had refused to debate directly with any senior figures
But there are signs that some people are being deterred from signing up for a vote because they don't want to supply their National Insurance number.
The elections watchdog is confident that today will break the record for the number of sign-ups in one day as people rush to register for the historic vote on EU membership.
The current record was on deadline day ahead of last year's General Election, when 485,000 people applied for a vote.
In total, it is estimated that around 46 million people will have a vote in the referendum later this month.
SO DO CAMERON'S CLAIMS STAND UP? 1. UK could be made to fund more bailouts What Cameron says: My renegotiation means we are categorically not liable for eurozone bailouts. What Vote Leave says: Under the treaties of the EU, the Council of Ministers can decide by qualified majority to grant financial assistance to a eurozone country. This will remain the case until the treaties are amended which the PMs deal did not fix a date to achieve. Britain secured a commitment in 2011 that the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism should not be used to bail out the eurozone. In 2015, the Mechanism was used to grant 7.16 billion in bridging finance to Greece anyway. 2. Britains EU rebate is being put at risk Cameron: The British Prime Minister has a veto on changes to our rebate. So only a British Prime Minister could decide to give it up. Vote Leave: Our rebate cannot be counted on. It could be abolished altogether in five years time. In 2005, Tony Blair agreed to a sharp reduction in the value of the UKs rebate and there is nothing to stop another PM from doing the same again. George Osborne has previously said it could be a subject for renegotiation, adding: 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. 3. Weve given up ability to veto EU treaties Cameron: There is absolutely nothing in the renegotiation that gives up our veto as a full member of the European Union. Vote Leave: As part of his deal to exclude Britain from the commitment to ever-closer union, the PM agreed to give up his veto on further centralisation by other member states. This amounts to the loss of one of our strongest cards. 4. We cant stop overall EU spending rising Cameron: The budget for the current period 2014-2020 is set in stone and can only be changed with the consent of all countries. Its wrong to claim anything different. Vote Leave: The European Commission has delayed publishing its updated version of the Budget until after our referendum suggesting it will go up. The European Union also wants to spend more on measures to cope with the immigration crisis. 5. Wed have to join a European Army Cameron: We have a rock-solid veto on EU foreign and defence policy initiatives. Even if it was proposed, we would veto it. Vote Leave: The EU Treaties allow other member states to establish permanent structured co-operation in defence. European leaders are due to meet to discuss a new global strategy drawn up by the EUs foreign policy chief shortly after the referendum. 6. Wed save billions if we left the EU Cameron: Almost every credible economic organisation that has looked at this has said the shock of leaving the EU would cause a black hole in the public finances and wipe out any saving that might be made. This black hole is estimated at 20-40 billion. Vote Leave: The UK would be better off to the tune of around 8 billion a year if voters back a Brexit because we would no longer send money to Brussels. This money could instead be spent on public services. Advertisement
Mr Cameron made his frustration clear as he pleaded for voters to ignore the 'untruths' coming out of the Brexit campaign
The true cost of the EU's free movement rules: They prevent us from kicking out killers and drug dealers
Free movement rules have left Britain powerless to kick out some of the EU's worst killers, rapists and drug dealers, an explosive dossier reveals today.
The 'rights' the criminals enjoy as EU citizens means we cannot deport them despite their despicable crimes.
British courts bound by Brussels regulations have ruled their right to live where they like trumps our elected Government's desire to boot them out.
The Vote Leave campaign today releases a list of 50 EU convicts we cannot send home, many of whom are out of jail. They include six killers, five sex attackers and 13 drug dealers.
Learco Chindamo, left, stabbed headmaster Philip Lawrence, right, to death in 1995 but cannot be deported due to EU regulations drawn up in 2006
All but two were sentenced in the UK to terms of imprisonment exceeding a year. Had it not been for EU law, they would have been automatically deported.
Last week Westminster's home affairs committee said the number of foreign criminals the Government had failed to deport was enough to fill a 'small town'.
The devastating report focused on the failure to transfer EU prisoners to serve their sentences in their home nations. MPs said the failures were so dire they cast doubt on the point of remaining in the EU.
Today's dossier focuses on convicts the UK wants to deport after serving their sentence but cannot, leaving us stuck with some of Europe's worst criminals.
Justice minister Dominic Raab said: 'This is yet more evidence of how EU membership makes us less safe.
Free movement of people allows unelected judges in the rogue European Court to decide who we can and can't deport.
'This puts British families at risk. It squanders UK taxpayers' money on keeping them in prison.
'Outside the EU, we can take back control of our borders, deport more dangerous criminals, and strengthen public protection.'
Brexiteers accuse Sajid Javid of 'selective amnesia' after he claims Margaret Thatcher would back staying in the EU
Sajid Javid was today accused of 'selective amnesia' after he attempted to invoke the spirit of Margaret Thatcher while on a pro-EU platform alongside Peter Mandelson.
The Business Secretary claimed the former prime minister was 'no fan of the European superstate' but understood the Single Market 'could only be good news for Britain'.
However, Tory Brexit supporters last night said Mr Javid, who used to call himself a 'Brexit basher', was speaking 'nonsense'.
Sajid Javid today claimed Margaret Thatcher would have supported continued EU membership after she put through laws for the single market
Appearing alongside Labour grandee Lord Mandelson for a joint speech halfway up Canary Wharf, Mr Javid said: 'Lady Thatcher, like me, was no fan of the European superstate, yet she fought for the creation of the single market and she passed the legislation that was needed to put it into place.
'She understood that for all of Europe's faults, it could only be good news for Britain to be part of the world's biggest market.
Tory grandee Sir Bill Cash previously revealed a letter from Mrs Thatcher which he said indicated she supported Brexit
'And as a member of the EU we help set the rules, 90 per cent of the time we get the rules that we want. Yes, one in ten times we don't get exactly what we want, we have to compromise but the reward for that is immense.
'British businesses only have to deal with one rule book in 28 countries. That is important for all businesses.'
He said leaving the EU and still expecting unfettered access to the Single Market would be like 'quitting your golf club and turning up the next day expecting to play for free'.
Tory MP Sir Bill Cash said Mr Javid was 'sadly very mistaken' in his claims about Lady Thatcher. 'She believed that she was taken for a ride on it (the Single Market),' he said.
'She came to repudiate it later. She understood that it was not in Britain's national interest. And that the voting system works significantly against us.
'I would suggest that he would care to look at what she wrote about it after she left office. She definitely would not have bought into it now. Nor would she for one second have voted to remain part of the EU.
'By the time she saw it in action, she was absolutely sure that it was not working in our interests,'
Sir Bill said that pro-EU Tories suffered from 'selective amnesia'. He added: 'They admire Margaret Thatcher but they're trapped by the fact they're arguing a case that is unsustainable and certainly not one she would have backed.'
Archbishop slams Farage for 'legitimising racism' by warning of Cologne-style sex attacks in Britain unless we leave the EU
The Archbishop of Canterbury has launched a furious attack on Nigel Farage for 'legitimising racism'.
Justin Welby said the Ukip leader's claim that there could be Cologne-style sex attacks if we stay in the EU was 'inexcusable'.
The intervention, hours before Mr Farage is due to take part in a televised EU referendum special with David Cameron, came as the Archbishop gave evidence to MPs.
Nigel Farage on the Brexit campaign trail on London today. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has accused him of 'legitimising racism'
Mr Welby told the Home Affairs Committee that such comments had resulted in violence in the past.
'I think that is an inexcusable pandering to people's worries and prejudices,' he said.
'That is giving legitimisation to racism which I've seen in parishes in which I've served, and has led to attacks on people in those parishes. We cannot legitimise that.
'What that is, is accentuating fear for political gain and that is absolutely inexcusable.'
Mr Farage was heavily criticised at the weekend for describing the threat of mass sex attacks - such as occurred in Cologne at New Year - as the 'nuclear bomb' of the EU referendum campaign.
Rosemary Howlett died after she was struck by a Ford Focus
A shortsighted banker who caused a grandmothers death when he was distracted by his Sat Nav and vibrating mobile phone has been jailed.
Adebowale Adeyemi was driving his silver Vauxhall Meriva in Barking, Essex when he became distracted by the Sat Nav stuck to his windscreen and his vibrating phone on the dashboard.
He mounted the curb which caused pedestrian Rosemary 'Cissy' Howlett to tumble into the road - where she was hit by a Ford Focus just a second later.
Adeyemi, 38, got out to inspect his vehicle before driving off, leaving Mrs Howlett lying dying in the road.
The JP Morgan auditor had no driving licence or insurance when he drove straight into a traffic island in Barking, Essex.
Adeyemi had cataracts and his retinal degeneration was such that he should not have been driving.
Snaresbrook Crown Court heard Mrs Howlett, 56, and her husband Raymond had popped out for a curry at the Bengal Lancer in Longbridge Road on the night of Sunday 1 February last year.
After parking on the opposite side of the road Mrs Howlett walked on ahead of her husband, pausing at the traffic island as she crossed - which is where Adeyemi mounted the curb.
Mrs Howlett was taken to the Royal London Hospital following being hit but was pronounced dead at 9.21pm.
Adeyemi was due to be tried for causing death by dangerous driving but the prosecution accepted his pleas to causing death by careless driving and causing death whilst uninsured and unlicensed last month.
He was jailed for three years and seven months but Judge Ian Darling said he was fortunate not to stand trial for causing death by dangerous driving as a jury would have convicted him.
Prosecutor Danny Robinson said: He should not have been driving - he did not hold a full driving licence or a valid insurance policy and his sight was impaired by short sightedness and cataracts.
On his way home that evening he was avoidably distracted by both a Sat Nav and a vibrating mobile phone, and as a result he drove into an illuminated pedestrian island where Rosemary Howlett was standing.
The island was situated in the middle for the road.
Mrs Howlett fell into the other carriageway to avoid being struck by his car.
She was hit and fatally injured by the driver of a car travelling in the opposite direction.
The driver of that vehicle had no time to avoid the collision.
Police attended Adeyemis home on 3 February 2015 where his wife put him on the phone to officers.
He claimed he failed to report the accident because he thought he did not have to, the court heard.
After an initial interview, Adeyemi was ordered to undertake a sight test in which he had to read a number plate from 20 metres away - the minimum DVLA requirement.
Mr Adeyemi had two attempts, and failed both times, said Mr Robinson.
He was also found to have cataracts and retinal degeneration while a DVLA check revealed he only held a provisional licence and his insurance policy was void.
Daniel Darnbrough, defending, said Adeyemi was well aware that no mitigation on his part could lessen the pain that his actions have brought to Mrs Howletts family.
He should not have been in the car that day - it is as simple as that, he said.
The court heard Adeyemi moved to the UK from Nigeria in 2007 after marrying his wife the year before.
Mrs Howlett was killed when Adeyemi's car hit a traffic island, causing her to tumble into the road
He worked in banking and gained a masters degree in international banking and finance from the University of Greenwich.
Since 2013 he has been working for JP Morgan on their audit team and as a volunteer both for a consulting firm and his church.
Adeyemi has since confessed he was 100 per cent in the wrong and said in an interview with a probation officer: I wish I knew I had done that at the time because I could have helped her.
I am so ashamed of what I have done to that family. I cannot even sleep.
Judge Darling told him: In an horrendous case such as this there are no winners - only losers.
What you did that night can never be undone.
Through your extreme carelessness, only fractionally short - if at all - from dangerous, you have been responsible for taking a life.
Someone you did not know but who was much-loved by her friends and family.
They now have to live with the fact that a wife, a mother, a grandmother and friend is no longer with them.
They each have had someone they loved ripped away from them - and for that you have to be punished.
You can consider yourself extremely fortunate because I have no doubt that a jury would have convicted you of causing death by dangerous driving.
Adeyemi, of Barking, Essex, was jailed for three years and seven months for causing death by careless driving.
He was also headed a concurrent sentence of 12 months imprisonment for causing death while unlicensed and uninsured and banned from driving for five years.
A mother whose baby boy was stillborn has said her grief was worsened when retailers refused to give her a refund on an unused cot and gift voucher.
Melbourne mother Belinda Ainley has spoken out about the lack of support for grieving parents after her son, Ash, was stillborn on Easter Sunday this year, Sydney Morning Herald reports.
She was repeatedly met with obstacles when returning baby items to stores, she said, and even when she was discharged from hospital and applied for Centrelink bereavement payments.
Melbourne mother Belinda Ainley has spoken out about the lack of support for grieving parents after her son, Ash, was stillborn on Easter Sunday (Ms Ainley pictured with Ash after the stillbirth)
Ms Ainley said these practical barriers compounded her trauma when she needed support most.
'There was no compassion from the people that work in industries that are supposed to be all about babies,' Ms Ainley told Sydney Morning Herald.
An independent Melbourne store only offered a partial refund to a cot and accessories, valued at $611, because it was not in its original packaging, she said.
Ms Ainley was also told she could not return a $100 gift card at a major retailer.
She said her and her partner Aaron had also spent thousands on funeral and cremation costs as well as medical tests.
Ms Ainley said an independent Melbourne store only offered a partial refund for the cot she purchased and accessories, valued at $611 (crowdfunding page for cot pictured)
However, Ms Ainley said Baby Bunting had allowed her to return $2000 of stock including a pram, car seat and baby clothes whenever she was ready.
Her difficulties were again eased by the kindness of a complete stranger, who has set up a GoFundMe page to assist the grieving mother after seeing the cot advertised in a buy-and-sell Facebook group.
By Tuesday evening, more than $1,600 had been crowdfunded.
'I'm a mother myself trying to raise money for another mother whose baby didn't make it home from the hospital,' the fellow Melbourne mother wrote.
'We are trying to raise enough money to cover the cost of the cot. Hopefully we can gather enough money so the brand new cot can be donated to St Kilda mums and offer any extra raised money to the family or also to St Kilda mums.'
'There was no compassion from the people that work in industries that are supposed to be all about babies,' Ms Ainley said (pictured with son Ash after his stillbirth)
However, Ms Ainley and her partner Aaron 'decided they don't want any of the money and will donate the full amount to SANDS and Heartfelt' - charities which support families who suffering miscarriage and stillbirth.
The cot will be donated to a mother in St Kilda.
'Taking it [the cot] back to that shop was going to be so hard for me, but instead parting with it is turning into something that's going to be a really good moment,' Ms Ainley told Sydney Morning Herald.
Ms Ainley was also critical of her private hospital after she was initially told she did not qualify for an early discharge package despite a two-day stay because the package was 'geared towards babies'.
She also said she was required to apply for a bereavement or stillborn welfare payment by going into a Centrelink office, which she couldn't face so soon after losing Ash.
A BBC reporter has been jailed with three months hard labour after being convicted of assaulting a police officer in Burma.
Nay Myo Lin, who works for the BBC Myanmar language service had been covering a student protest in the country when he was accused of assault.
It is believed that the police officer, standing in the middle of a moving motorcade, knocked a protester off a motorbike and leading to a scuffle between him and the reporter.
Nay Myo Lin, who works for the BBC Myanmar language service, who has been jailed to three months hard labour in Burma
The ruling marks the first time a journalist has been convicted under Burma's new government, run by former political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi.
The reporter, Myo Lin has announced he plans to appeal the decision.
He told local media after the verdict: 'It's not fair at all to charge me under Section 332 after ignoring the policeman's unjust act of pulling down the motorcycle of a protesting student.
'I didn't mean to hurt that policeman. I just tried to give protection to a citizen who was being treated unjustly in my presence.
But police Colonel Zaw Khin Aung from the Naypyitaw-based Myanmar Police Headquarters rejected the allegations.
Linhad been covering a student protest in the country when he was accused of assaulting a police officer
He added: 'It's quite impossible for the police to influence the court. It's just up to the judge to lead the hearing and to make the final decision on the judgement.
The reporter's lawyer, Thein Than Oo, called the sentence 'unfair', saying that his client had not intentionally hurt the policeman and was trying to help a fellow citizen.
He said: 'It is shameful that the court has issued this sentence. The police should not treat journalists as their enemy.'
The incident occurred in March 2015 when Myo Lin was covering a protest near Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city, against an education bill that students said was aimed at stifling academic freedom.
The protest in March last year near Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city came after students demonstrated against an education bill they said was aimed at stifling academic freedom
A policeman knocked a protester off his motorbike and Nay Myo Lin tried to help the man, leading to a scuffle with the officer.
Myo Lin was convicted of assaulting a public servant and sentenced on Monday by a court in the city of Mandalay, where he is based.
The BBC issued a statement in London after the sentencing saying: 'The BBC will continue to work with his lawyer to support his appeal.
Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, won a landslide victory in November elections, ushering in the country's first civilian government after 54 years of direct and indirect military rule.
Bobby Brown is opening up about his ex-wife Whitney Houston's battle with drugs, revealing that he watched her do cocaine on their wedding day.
In a preview of his interview with Robin Roberts that will air Tuesday night of ABC's 20/20, Bobby said that just before the two were married in 1992 he walked in to see his bride and found her hunched over a bureau snorting a line of cocaine.
'That was the first time I had actually saw her do drugs,' Bobby told Roberts.
Scroll down for videos
Shocking revealtion: Bobby Brown (above) reveals in a new interview that the first time he saw Whitney Houston do cocaine was on their wedding day
Quick high: Bobby says he went in to see his bride and she was hunched over a bureau doing a line of cocaine in her wedding dress (couple above in 1992)
Roberts also showed Bobby a photo from his wedding of him and his wife dancing and asked Bobby what he saw when he looked at the smiling couple.
'Happiness. I think we're both happy,' said Bobby.
'I was deeply in love with her and, you know, for the rest of my life I think I will have that feeling towards her because she was that one person who knew me. That one person who had no judgment.'
When asked what he thought about Whitney doing drugs on their wedding day Bobby said he did not have much concern for his future wife.
'She wasn't that. The drugs wasn't her,' said Bobby.
'She did drugs but drugs didn't do her. She knew how to handle herself. It only made me want to love and protect her more.'
Bobby was also asked by Roberts what it was like to have many people believe for years, and even know, that it was him who introduced Whitney to drugs, which would ultimately claim her life.
'It wasn't me that started her,' explained Bobby.
'I take my part and I take it hard for me even being a part of it. But we all have our own minds and some of us are stronger than others.'
In a preview of the interview that was shown last week, Bobby breaks down as he talks about the death of his daughter Bobbi Kristina and tells Roberts just how agonizing it was to spend six months watching her lay helpless and lifeless in a coma after she was discovered face down in her bathtub in January of last year.
Bobbi Kristina was immediately placed on life support and stayed in a medically induced coma until she died at the age of 22 in July.
'The hardest thing I had to do in my life was to tell my daughter to let go,' Bobby told Roberts while fighting back tears.
He then became unable to control himself, saying as tears streamed down his face: 'My baby's gone.'
Bobbi Kristina was found in her bathtub almost three years to the date that her mother was pronounced dead after suffering a similar fate while staying at the Beverly Hilton for the 2012 Grammy Awards.
Houston was pronounced dead on the scene after being discovered in the bathtub of her suite at the hotel, with accidental drowning, heart disease and cocaine use later cited as the causes of death.
The Fulton County Medical Examiner's report for Bobbi Kristina revealed that her death was caused by 'immersion of face in water complicating mixed drug intoxication.'
He later said of his life after divorcing Whitney in 2007: 'I came into the marriage with money, and I left the marriage with nothing.'
Emotional: 'She did drugs but drugs didn't do her. She knew how to handle herself,' Bobby said of his ex-wife's drug use
Daughter: Whitney was discovered dead in her hotel suite in 2012, with accidental drowning, heart disease and cocaine use later cited as the causes of death Bobby and Whitney's daughter Bobbi Kristina (above with ex Nick Gordon in 2012) died last July after being found in a circumstance very similar to her mother
Bobbi Kristina was just 14 at the time of her parents divorce, and five years later she became the sole beneficiary of her mother's multi-million fortune after Houston's death.
It was eight months after her mother's tragic passing that Bobbi Kristina announced she was engaged to Nick Gordon, who was raised at times during his childhood by Whitney and who many considered to be a brother-like figure to Bobbi Kristina.
The pair later claimed they had been married in early 2014, but Bobby shot down those statements, saying the two had yet to wed.
It was Gordon who found Bobbi Kristina passed out in the bathtub at their Georgia townhouse, and in the months that followed some accused him of playing a role in his fiancee's death.
The chances of Gordon ever going to trial however decreased drastically following the release of Bobbi Kristina's autopsy report, in which the medical examiner said they could not tell for certain exactly how she died and if it was an accident or possible murder.
Gordon's lawyers have called on Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard to publicly declare that Bobbi Kristina's death was not a murder, but so far he has refused to make this statement.
It was also Gordon who tried to resuscitate Whitney when she was found unresponsive in her bath-tub just hours before she was due to attend Clive Davis' annual Grammy party.
Bobby also spoke about this in his interview when asked about the death of his ex-wife and daughter.
'It's not a mystery to me,' Bobby told Roberts.
'The same thing that happened to my daughter is what happened to Whitney. There's only one person that was around both occasions, only one person who says they were there to protect them.
Neighbours have teamed up and sold three adjoining properties, including a preschool, for a record price of $40million.
Located in Castle Hill, north-west of Sydney, the two suburban properties at 42 and 44 Ashford Avenue and 36 Carrington Road Carrington Preschool were snapped up by a mystery local developer last week.
Rumours have emerged that the developer plans to knock the houses down to make way for 16-storey apartment blocks under proposed planning by the State Government, Hills Shire Times reported.
Scroll down for video
Carrington Preschool (pictured) located on 36 Carrington Road is one of three properties sold in a record-breaking deal
The four-bedroom property at 44 Ashford Avenue was last sold in April 2008 for a cool $1.39 million
42 Ashford Avenue was last sold for $722,000 - and was one of three adjoining properties sold last week
Three adjoining properties are said to be sold in a record-breaking deal for an eye watering $40 million
The prime 10,600 sqm site is set just less than 50 metres from the future Showground Train Station a new driverless train system for the North West Rail Link expected to operate mid 2019.
Agent Stephen Giacomelli from Guardian Realty Projects could not disclose the sale price but said the homes were listed on the market by three 'lucky homeowners' not investors.
'Sites of around this size create a lot of interest as opposed to when the whole street is involved I think they are eliminating their market because they are too big,' Mr Giacomelli said.
'There are more people in the market looking for sites around 10,000sqm to 15,000sqm.'
According to CoreLogic RP Data, the four-bedroom property with two bathrooms at 44 Ashford Avenue was last sold in April 2008 for a cool $1.39 million.
The neighbouring property at 42 Ashford Avenue was last sold for $722,000 while 36 Carrington Road was last sold for $500,000 in January 1980.
The owner of the preschool is said to continue business for several years until construction commences.
The final sale price has been kept under wraps but the trio transaction could be worth $40 million - making it the most expensive residential deal recorded in Castle Hill.
The prime 10,600 sqm site is set just less than 50 metres from the future Showground Train Station (left)
Advertisement
Twisted metal flooring, the remains of a parking garage and a smashed up police car - these are some of the last artifacts from the 9/11 terror attack, stored in a hangar at JFK airport.
Hangar 17 - an 80,000 square-foot warehouse at the New York airport - once held around 2,500 items but there are only 18 pieces remaining for collection.
The Port Authority, which manages Hangar 17, said it is confident homes will be found for all the final remnants over the new few weeks and the storage unit will then be destroyed.
Other items include a motor from one of the elevators, debris from Ground Zero and an old office pass.
A Port Authority Police car that was damaged on 9/11. It was recovered from the parking garage at the World Trade Center
Pieces of mangled steel recovered from Ground Zero, one of only a handful of artifacts left that has not been claimed for a memorial
A piece of wall from the parking garage in the north tower of the World Trade Center - it is one of the last remaining pieces available
Since 2002, the items have been distributed to all states and 10 countries to be used for memorials and tributes.
Organisations that want to obtain artifacts must be a non-profit or government entity and the pieces must go on display in a site with public access.
Amy Passiak, the archivist in charge of cataloging and distributing the pieces, said: 'By receiving a piece or requesting a piece they were able to then connect themselves to this larger fabric of what it is to be American, to all be affected together, to come together.'
Elsewhere, the last known living 9/11 search dog - Bretagne - has died aged 16.
A statement from the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service said the Golden Retriever was put to sleep on Monday at a veterinary clinic in the Houston suburb of Cypress.
Bretagne was two years old when she and her handler, Denise Corliss, took part in the 9/11 search operation in New York.
Almost 3,000 people died in a series of attacks on America in September 2001. Four planes were hijacked with two crashed into the World Trade Centre towers in New York.
Another plane hit the Pentagon in Virginia and a fourth was forced to ditch in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, by passengers on board.
A beam from the World Trade Center stored at a hangar at JFK airport since 2002 that is yet to be claimed
An old office pass from the World Trade Center is one of the last remnants from 9/11 that is available for collection
Britain's cutting-edge 1billion warships are breaking down in the Persian Gulf because they are not designed for the heat.
Contractors claim the Ministry of Defence did not tell them the 8,000-ton Type 45 Destroyers would be spending a long time in warm waters.
As a result, the six warships have an engine which keeps cutting out in the middle of the sea, leaving servicemen stranded for hours in total darkness.
Britain six Type-45 Destroyers, including HMS Daring (file picture), and all six need to have back up diesel generators fitted as back ups in case of main engine failure in warm water
The revelation yesterday raised fears that Britains key naval assets designed to shield the rest of the fleet from air or missile attacks have become sitting ducks.
There were also warnings that troops could be killed as the ships are deployed near combat zones in the Middle East.
Four of the guided-missile ships are currently at sea, with one outside Europe and the others in UK waters. Described as the backbone of the Royal Navy, they are fitted with a pioneering new system designed to cut costs and be more fuel efficient.
Two turbines on each ship, made by Rolls-Royce, have intercooler units which recover heat from the exhaust and recycle it into the engine. But a design flaw means the turbines slow down in warm waters and the engine cannot generate enough power. The system does not recognise this and keeps demanding more power, causing the ships generators to trip out leading to total electrical failure.
The warships work in the North Sea because the engine can generate more power in colder temperatures.
They are now set to undergo a refit costing tens of millions of pounds to put in extra diesel generators. This could involve cutting a giant hole in the side of each ship.
MPs yesterday said they were stunned by the fault, which they feared had put British troops at risk. Their anger came as two former heads of the Navy claimed the service had run out of money and that the costs associated with fixing the Destroyers had delayed another warship programme.
The warships work in the North Sea because the engine can generate more power in colder temperatures. They are now set to undergo a refit costing tens of millions of pounds to put in extra diesel generators. This could involve cutting a giant hole in the side of each ship
Admiral Lord West said putting off replacing the Navys ageing Frigates was bloody dangerous. And he warned that further delays would leave the UK fleet grossly inadequate for the tasks it faces.
Cross-party MPs lambasted the firms responsible for the Type 45 Destroyers design flaw.
Tomas Leahy of Rolls-Royce, which made the engine, said his company had been given a specification by the MoD detailing its requirements.
He told the defence select committee: Are the conditions experienced in the Gulf in line with that specification? No, theyre not. So the equipment is having to operate in far more arduous conditions than were initially required.
He described how the heat had led to total electrical failure and the ships plunging into darkness.
Tory MP Julian Lewis, the committee chairman, asked: How many years do you think that the Royal Navy has had a naval presence in the Gulf, would it be measured in decades, scores of years, a century?
Why should it come as such a surprise that there would be these sorts of climatic demands and obstacles?
John Hudson of BAE Systems, which built the Type 45, replied: I think the Navy have operated in the Gulf for many, many years and we are aware of that.
I think the operating profile that was considered at the time was there would not be repeated and continuous operations in the Gulf ... and therefore it wasnt designed explicitly and uniquely for operations in the Gulf.
SNP MP Douglas Chapman responded: Im absolutely stunned, to have a billion-pound asset that youre putting into a warzone and we dont know if these people will go in there and come back alive because there might be a problem with the power system. Im stunned.
Lord West, pictured at today's defence committee, said it was a 'bad position' for the Navy to be in to have to refit the six Type-45 Destroyers
He added: Weve got a battle-ready ship in the Gulf, it is sitting there as a sitting duck basically because if you have a lack of power ... thats an amazing level of risk that the MoD were prepared to accept.
In an excoriating attack, Labour MP Madeleine Moon added: What I find difficult is that here we have a critical defence capability that basically doesnt work, is not reliable, and places the country and the people who serve at risk and none of you seem to be saying, Im really sorry about this.
But Dr Andrew Tyler of Northrop Grumman, which provided one of the systems for the ships, said: It is very difficult to fully simulate a lifetimes worth of conditions. Theres always a risk of some discovery once a system enters service. Also at the inquiry were former Navy bosses Lord West and Sir Mark Stanhope, who raised serious concerns about the state of the services 19 main warships.
Along with the six Type 45 Destroyers, there are expected to be 13 anti-submarine Type 26 Frigates being brought into service to replace older vessels although there are fears this will be reduced to eight.
Referring to the Type 45 problems, Lord West said: Our 19 Destroyers and Frigates are effectively 13 and if there was a major war we might well have air defence units that arent able to do air defence.
I think it is a terrible error that our nation is making in allowing this to happen.
Sir Mark added: It needs to be resolved ... weve got to do this quickly because of the risks involved in total power failures at the wrong time.
A conservative journalist who briefly considered running for president as a third-party candidate said Tuesday morning that Donald Trump's legions of online fans threatened his multi-racial family.
And a Trump campaign operative, David French told MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' program, fired a 'ham-handed' warning shot across his bow as he was weighing his options.
French ultimately decided against running, but not before his wife's family in Tennessee got a phone call that suggested a tough road ahead.
'An individual calls, he says: "I'm sorry but I've been asked by the Trump campaign to make sure that David knows that this will be really, really bad for him",' French recalled.
Conservative writer David French hit the airwaves on Tuesday to discuss some of the threats against his family during the months he wrote critically about Donald Trump
French, shown with wife Nancy (left) and children Camille and Austin, looked on in disappointment as Mitt Romney lost the 2012 presidential election
Six years ago the Frenches adopted Naomi (center) from an orphanage in Ethiopia, a child who has become the target of online racists who David French says were whipped up by Donald Trump's rhetoric
'You know, I actually learned about this after I made the decision' not to run, he added, unwilling to give Trumpworld the satisfaction of steering him away.
'It was probably one of the more ham-handed attempts at intimidation,' he said, claiming that 'out of the Trump organization you can expect things to be done in the most incompetent way possible.'
The call was first reported by National Review, the right-wing publication where French's essays appear.
French, whose quixotic would-be shot at the White House transfixed conservative bloggers for 24 hours last week, also said Tuesday that some of Trump's more obnoxious and aggressive supporters had made his life miserable months before his name ever surfaced as a potential candidate.
'I have been against Trump for some time, and the assaults on my family have been overwhelming,' he said, 'just as a writer.'
'I mean, as everyone knows Trump has an online racist mob that he often stokes by retweeting some of these horrible white supremacists. As that online racist mob is very fond of pointing out, I have a multi-racial family. And so they have gone after my youngest daughter in the worst way imaginable. The worst way.'
The French family sent this pbeautiful hoto to the remote Ethiopian village where Naomi's 'birth grandmother' lives
Nancy French and adopted daughter Naomi get silly on Instagram, but David French said Monday that Naomi has been the subject of threats from pro-Trump online trolls
French and his wife Nancy, a best-selling author, adopted the child six years ago from an Ethiopian orphanage.
He mentioned 'threats' but didn't specify what they consisted of.
'I've had neighbors who this is months ago, before I ever considered this neighbors who were nervous that there were going to be attacks in our neighborhood.'
French said Trump 'unlocked something terrible in this country and it's one of the reasons why I was so motivated to look at this.
He claimed in a parting shot that it's still not too late for another challenger to prevent Trumphttps://twitter.com/dmartosko/status/740045886626107392 from capturing the presidency.
'Sometimes, you know, this reasoning that somebody's better than nobody? It's not always the case,' he said.
Lester Townsend grew up the grandson of a slave, in a racist America where drinking fountains were segregated and inter-racial marriage was outlawed.
The 108-year-old witnessed the violence of the civil rights movement as a middle-aged man, but he also saw the country change for the better, with schools desegregated and black Americans' right to vote insured.
Perhaps the most meaningful change he saw was the election of the first black president in 2008. So Townsend was obviously 'thrilled' when he got the opportunity to meet President Obama last week.
Scroll down for video
Lester Townsend, 108, met President Obama last week, before a speech at an Indiana high school
The meeting was a big deal for Townsend, of South Bend, Indiana, since he grew up the grandson of a slave
In video of the meeting released by the White House, Townsend tells Obama about his ancestry and says he can't believe lived to meet the president
'We've come from a long way,' Townsend told WNDU. 'My grandfather, he and his brother were given to his old master for his daughter's wedding present. They were young men but they were given to him. I tell you, to think how far we have been behind and come this far, we're not there yet, but we're on our way.'
When Townsend heard that President Obama was going to give a speech at Concord High School in Elkhart, Indiana, he called upon his friend Lynn Coleman, a Democratic nominee for Indiana's 2nd District, and asked for his help getting him into the speech.
Coleman did him one better and even helped Townsend get a private meeting with the president.
Obama teases Townsend about his youthful looks, asking what his secret to long living is
When the president asks what Townsend is eating to keep him so health, he responds 'Whatever they bring me'
As the two parted ways, the president turned serious again and said that it was an honor to meet Townsend
Before Mr Obama took the stage on Wednesday, he met briefly with Townsend back stage, and the White House recently released video of the heartwarming meeting.
In the video, Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly escorts Townsend into the room, telling the president that he is 108 years old.
'No he's not! You're lying about your age,' Obama responds.
The two then shake hands, as Townsend beams.
'The grandson of a slave, shaking hands with the president of the United States,' Townsend says in disbelief.
'That's something right there,' Obama says.
After the meeting, Townsend (pictured above at the speech) spoke about the meeting and said it felt too good to be true
Above, Townsend is led through the crowds at the speech to meet President Obama by a friend
The president then asks what Townsend's secret is to looking so young.
'What are you eating?' Obama asks.
'Whatever they give me,' Townsend responds, making the president burst out laughing.
'I'd never thought I'd live to see this,' Townsend continues.
'What an honor to see you here,' the president replies.
After the meeting, Townsend spoke about the meeting and said it felt too good to be true.
She fled her home country to seek safety after being targeted and shot at by the Taliban.
But for Afghan journalist Shirin, living in a squalid Greek migrant camp is just as bad as her old life as she constantly fears sexual harassment and violence.
And according to Amnesty International, Shirin is just one of many women living in Greek migrant camps who have revealed they fear sex attacks against them or their children.
Women in the migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos hold up a sign saying 'We are not animals'. Many have revealed how they live in constant fear of sex attacks in the camp
A migrant holds up a sign asking for freedom on the island of Lesbos, where many complain about the squalid conditions
Camps on the Greek islands were initially set up as refugee processing facilities, but Amnesty International say that following the EU-Turkey deal they were turned into prison-like detention centres
Men protest against camp conditions. The lack of food, facilities and tensions due to the conditions and lack of information have led to outbreaks of violence
More than a fifth of refugees and asylum-seeker arrivals in Greece have been women and well over a third have been children.
They cant leave until they get appointments with asylum-seeker services in Athens, a process that can be painfully long, meaning stays in the Kara Tepe camp in Lesbos, where Shirin lives can be lengthy.
And despite having fled conflict in Afghanistan, Shirin said: 'We are treated like animals. Id rather be shot again than endure these conditions.'
It was 18 months ago that the Taliban shot at Shirins car. Initially, she fled to Kabul, where she found another journalism job, this time behind the camera.
Shirin, an Afghan journalist, who fled Afghanistan after being targeted by the Taliban said: 'We are treated like animals. Id rather be shot again than endure these conditions'
Women have told Amnesty International that they don't feel safe in the camps, as fights break out in the food queues and police do little to offer protection
But she continued to receive threats over the phone and eventually she was forced to flee and left Afghanistan for Europe.
Her room in the camp is a container, where dozens of women have to sleep on hard floors.
'But I dont feel safe here either. Im so scared, I never leave my room at night', she said, adding that many of her friends had spoken of cases of sexual harassment in Lesbos.
Camps on the Greek islands were initially set up as refugee processing facilities, but Amnesty International say that following the EU-Turkey deal they were turned into prison-like detention centres.
The lack of food, facilities and tensions due to the conditions and lack of information have led to outbreaks of violence.
Both men and women have told the charity that they don't feel safe in the camps, as fights break out in the food queues and police do little to offer protection.
One of the makeshift shelters at the camp in Lesbos, where women say they live in constant fear of sex attacks
One of the rooms where women are forced to sleep. Some have said that they are too scared to use the toilet at night
A refugee child holds on to the food given out by aid workers. Fighting and violence often breaks out over food
One 23-year-old Syrian mother with three children said: 'Men get drunk and there is no safety.
'Police will never protect us or intervene. We are also scared that something may happen to our children.'
While another woman with a six-month-old baby said they were too scared to even use the toilet at night.
She explained: 'We stay in groups and only go to sleep when we are really tired. In the night, we dont leave our tents and our children are forced to go to the toilet inside.'
One of the most notorious camps in Greece is known as VIAL, on the island of Chios.
One woman living at the camp told Amnesty International: 'Men fight and we run and hide. The police just laugh and refuse to help.'
And it is often the women and girls who feel responsible for caring for others.
A mother has spoken of the struggles she has faced after she moved away from her two young sons when she gave her ex-husband custody.
Melissa Collins, 48, moved to Brisbane from country Queensland and away from her two sons, then-aged six and seven, in 2010 when she divorced her husband of 12 years.
She raised her eldest son, who lived in boarding school at the time and now lives out of home, as a single mother.
Ms Collins, who works as a freelance writer, said she never thought about leaving without her two youngest children until her ex-husband begged her not to take them, she told SBS program Insight on Tuesday night for an episode on 'Women Who Leave'.
Scroll down for video
Melissa Collins, 48, moved to Brisbane from country Queensland and away from her two sons, then aged six and seven, in 2010 when she divorced her husband of 12 years
Ms Collins (second from right) with her three sons. Her eldest (second from left) lived in boarding school at the time of the divorce and now lives out of home. The two youngest (far left and far right) were aged six and seven at the time
'When I told him that I was leaving he begged me not to take them,' she told Insight. 'It had never occurred to me that I would ever go without them. And yet in that moment I thought, I could do this.'
Ms Collins said their father was a lawyer with his own business who had the financial stability to support and provide structure for the boys, who would be 'better off' with him.
In the end she chose to leave, which gave her a feeling of 'freedom and trauma all wrapped into one'.
Despite feeling she 'could do this' and leave her sons with her ex-husband she described as 'a good man', Ms Collins said she wishes she'd known 'how utterly debilitating it would be sometimes' before making the decision to leave.
Ms Collins, who works as a freelance writer, said she never thought about leaving without her two youngest children until her ex-husband begged her not to take them
'It's hell,' Ms Collins said. 'I've lost friends, I've had family members question my sanity, my ability to do it.'
She often thought about moving back to the country town after 'yearning for the everydayness of them', but would sit on her hands until that pain passed and instead tries to make up for her absence when she sees them.
Regardless, Ms Collins said she stands by her decision.
'It was absolutely the right thing to do.
'They're happy, they're really happy,' she said of her children.
However, Ms Collins told News.com.au it hadn't been so easy for the youngest two boys to begin with.
'We tried to find ways to make them understand, which was impossible,' she said.
'They're happy, they're really happy,' Ms Collins said of her three sons (pictured)
They would ask for her to 'come home', but she said 'it was impossible to stay married for the sake of the kids' after an 'on-again-off-again' marriage which left her resentful and unhappy and which ultimately made for a 'disruptive' family life for the children.
'As a woman and a mother, you're damned no matter what you do,' she told News.com.au.
Ms Collins said she stopped telling people after receiving so much judgement from strangers, particularly from women.
'The questions like "what kind of mother does that" and "what kind of woman does that" is really hurtful,' she said.
At least one of her sons has no such judgement for her, with the eldest writing on Facebook he was a 'proud son' on Tuesday.
'There are a lot of opinions regarding divorce and child custody. But if you haven't walked in the shoes of someone in this situation, you can't fully understand.'
Ms Collins said their father was a lawyer with his own business who had the financial stability to support the boys, who would be 'better off' with him
Three police officers and a pilot are set to go on trial accused of using an official helicopter to spy on people naked or having sex.
The four men allegedly filmed a woman sunbathing naked and couples having sex using the aircraft's thermal imaging camera.
They all currently work or previously worked at scandal-hit South Yorkshire Police, although the serving officers have been suspended from duty.
Accused: Police officers Lee Walls, left, and Matthew Lucas, right, are accused of spying on the public
Serving officers Matthew Lucas, 41, and Lee Walls, 46, appeared at Sheffield Crown Court today along with former South Yorkshire officer Adrian Pogmore, 50.
Alongside them in the dock was Matthew Loosemore, 44, who was a South Yorkshire Police pilot before transferring to the National Police Air Service in 2013.
All four men pleaded not guilty to charges of misconduct in a public office.
They were told they will go on trial on July 17, 2017.
Charges: Pilot Matthew Loosemore, left, and retired officer Adrian Pogmore, right, are also standing trial
Malcolm Reeves, 63, who was a pilot at South Yorkshire Police before retiring in 2013, is also charged in relation to the same case but was not at court today.
The charges relate to four alleged incidents between 2007 and 2012 - one incident on August 23, 2007, two incidents on July 28, 2008, and one incident on July 22, 2012.
Pogmore, from Rotherham, denies four charges. One alleges misconduct which was 'namely to observe and record a naked person without her knowledge and consent'.
Another alleges misconduct amounting to 'misusing police resources for purposes that were not connected to your employment, namely to observe and record persons performing sexual acts'.
Trial: Malcolm Reeves, a retired former pilot, is also involved in the same case
Walls, from Sheffield, and Loosemore, from Doncaster, deny one charge each, while Lucas from Sheffield has pleaded guilty to three charges.
The defendants were all granted bail and told to return to court for a further hearing next month.
Migrants cannot be imprisoned just because they try to sneak across the Channel from France, the European Court of Justice has declared.
The ruling against French authorities raises the prospect that people could be free to attempt to gain access to Britain again.
It comes with Home Secretary Theresa May under intense pressure to tackle the problem of migrants entering the UK illegally via lorries and ports
Migrants walk on the railway tracks leading to the entrance of the Channel Tunnel.
Judges in Luxembourg were considering the case of a Ghanaian woman, Selina Affum, who was caught by police on a bus at the Channel Tunnel.
After she tried to use a Belgian passport in someone else's name, French police placed her in custody for illegal entry into the country and asked Belgium to readmit her.
However, after Ms Affum appealed the ECJ decided that detaining her was against the EU's 'return directive' that covers deporting migrants.
Those rules say illegal migrants who have committed no other offence should be invited to go home voluntarily first, and can only be locked up if they fail to comply or there is a risk they will flee.
The judges said: 'The return directive prevents a national of a non-EU country who has not yet been subject to the return procedure being imprisoned solely because he or she has entered the territory of a Member State illegally across an internal border of the Schengen area.
'That is also the case where that national, who is merely in transit on the territory of the Member State concerned, is intercepted when leaving the Schengen area and is the subject of a procedure for readmission into the Member State from which he or she has come.'
The judgement added: 'The Court thus holds that the Member States cannot permit nationals of non-EU countries in respect of whom the return procedure established by the directive has not yet been completed to be imprisoned merely on account of illegal entry, resulting in an illegal stay, as such imprisonment is liable to thwart the application of that procedure and delay return, and thereby to undermine the directive's effectiveness.'
Justice minister Dominic Raab, a Brexit campaigner, said: 'These rulings by the European Court of Justice threaten the integrity of our borders, and create serious risks for our security.
'It's also a stark illustration of our loss of proper democratic control to the EU over a sensitive area of policy.
'The ruling increases the risk that illegal immigrants will be able to enter the UK, because it weakens the ability of other EU governments to put in place proper checks.
'The EU is simply not fit for purpose, and the only way to take back control is to Vote Leave on June 23.'
But Labour MP Emma Reynolds, a Remain supporter, said: 'The Leave campaign is misleading people yet again. They know perfectly well that this court ruling does not apply to the UK because we are exempt from this directive. 'Leaving the EU will make it harder to work with other countries to keep our border secure. That's why law enforcement professionals say we will be safer in Europe than out on our own.'
Britain is not a member of the 26-state Schengen passport free area, and is not covered by the return directive.
But many migrants who reach the continent fleeing from conflict and poverty hope to reach the UK.
Thousands gathered at the so-called 'Jungle' camp near Calais before it was torn down earlier this year.
A site near the Eurostar terminal in Paris has now turned into a staging post for more than 2,500 mainly African and Asian migrants, many of whom aim to reach the UK.
Paris's socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo announced plans to build the first international refugee camp in the capital, a decision that is thought to have attracted many to the city.
Most in the current camp are young men, many using the rubbish-strewn shanty town as a base to plan their passage to Britain.
Almost all who spoke to the Daily Mail this week said they had entered Europe by paying smugglers to take them across the Mediterranean in fishing boats from northern Africa or Turkey.
Once in Europe, they hitched lifts in lorries or took trains and buses to reach the French capital. They said they selected the Jardins d'Eole because it is close to Gare du Nord, where high-speed trains travel to and from London.
Trains also go to ports on the coast of Normandy and Brittany, where many will try to sneak on to lorries or find people smugglers to take them to Britain by boat.
The Jardins d'Eole near the Eurostar terminal in Paris has been turned into a squalid camp for over 2,500 mainly African and Asian migrants
Boris and Gove challenge rattled PM to showdown after he accuses them of peddling 'untruths'
Boris Johnson and Michael Gove have laid down the gauntlet to David Cameron after he accused them of peddling 'untruths' during the referendum battle.
At a hastily arranged press conference, the Prime Minister tried to stem an apparent surge in support for Brexit by pleading with the public not to believe 'con tricks'.
But he was forced to deny being rattled by the prospect of losing the referendum after a series of polls showed momentum slipping away from the Remain side.
The Justice Secretary and former London mayor also hit back by insisting that Brexit was the 'safer choice' and challenging him to a head-to-head debate on the facts.
Scroll down for video
Prime Minister David Cameron called a press conference with just 90 minutes' notice this morning amid signs the Remain side is losing momentum
The row came ahead of a key television showdown tonight which saw Mr Cameron and Nigel Farage grilled by a live audience on ITV.
The Prime Minister has refused to face off directly with the Ukip leader or any other Brexit campaigner, so the two will appear consecutively.
Mr Cameron said the consensus was that Brexit would cause 'instability, jobs and investment lost' and a 'decade of uncertainty'.
'What have we heard from those who want us to leave? Complacency and nonchalance,' he said.
'A casual wave of the hand. They say people have had enough of hearing from experts.
'Had enough of experts. Would you say that if you were building a bridge? Or if you were buying a house?
'Of course not. Why would you say it about one of the most important and complex decisions that this country will have to take in our lifetime?'
But Mr Johnson and Mr Gove hit back in a joint statement:'The real risk for Britain in this referendum is voting to remain in the EU with a broken single currency and a rogue European Court.
'The safer choice is voting to leave, so we can take back control of our money, borders, security, trade and taxes.
Archbishop slams Farage for 'legitimising racism' by warning of Cologne-style sex attacks in Britain unless we leave the EU
The Archbishop of Canterbury has launched a furious attack on Nigel Farage for 'legitimising racism'.
Justin Welby said the Ukip leader's claim that there could be Cologne-style sex attacks if we stay in the EU was 'inexcusable'.
The intervention, hours before Mr Farage is due to take part in a televised EU referendum special with David Cameron, came as the Archbishop gave evidence to MPs.
Nigel Farage on the Brexit campaign trail on London today. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has accused him of 'legitimising racism'
Mr Welby told the Home Affairs Committee that such comments had resulted in violence in the past.
'I think that is an inexcusable pandering to people's worries and prejudices,' he said.
'That is giving legitimisation to racism which I've seen in parishes in which I've served, and has led to attacks on people in those parishes. We cannot legitimise that.
'What that is, is accentuating fear for political gain and that is absolutely inexcusable.'
Mr Farage was heavily criticised at the weekend for describing the threat of mass sex attacks - such as occurred in Cologne at New Year - as the 'nuclear bomb' of the EU referendum campaign.
Her husband called up a radio station to complain about the conduct
A woman was home at the time and had no idea the postie had arrived
CCTV footage shows the postie arrive at the house and not bother to knock
A lazy postie has been caught red-handed dropping off a collection slip without knocking on the door of a home - despite someone being home at the time.
Disgruntled resident Aziz Bas called Melbourne radio station 3AW after his home CCTV system filmed a postman arrive at his home, walk to his mail box and drop in a collection slip before returning to a delivery van.
Mr Bas said that his wife was home at the time and she was not aware the postman had attended the house until Mr Bas came home from work to find the collection slip in the mailbox.
Scroll down for video
A lazy postie (pictured) has been caught red-handed dropping off a collection slip without knocking on the door of a home - despite someone being home at the time
Disgruntled resident Aziz Bas called Melbourne radio station 3AW after his home CCTV system filmed the postman arrive at his home, walk to his mail box and drop in a collection slip before returning to a delivery van
Mr Bas said that his wife was home at the time and she was not aware the postman had attended the house until Mr Bas came home from work to find the collection slip in the mailbox
'When I got home and went to the letterbox, the slip was there,' he told host Neil Mitchell.
'I was definitely annoyed...when it happens to you and there's someone home, you gotta make time to go to the post office before five o'clock.'
Earlier on 3AW, an Australia Post spokeswoman explained the policy for delivery drivers.
Drivers must knock on the door three times, yell out, then repeat the process three times, she said.
Mr Bas has reportedly been contacted by Australia Post since complaining about the postman's conduct, and had his package delivered.
In November last year, another lazy postie was caught on CCTV failing to knock on a door two days in a row.
Australia Post policy determines that delivery drivers must knock on the door three times, yell out, then repeat the process three times
The driver got back into his delivery van and left without bothering to knock on the front door
Mr Bas has reportedly been contacted by Australia Post since complaining about the postman's conduct, and had his package delivered
Julie Salama was eagerly awaiting a parcel at her business in Sydney's west after paying for express delivery.
She was infuriated to learn the delivery man had not even bothered to knock on her door - two days in a row, despite her being home.
Happily browsing in a farm shop, these are the last known movements of a murdered line dancing enthusiast and his missing wife - as police reveal the prime suspect in the case has fled abroad.
Officers now 'strongly believe' gun-obsessed Albanian fugitive Ali Qazimaj, at the centre of an international manhunt, boarded a passenger ferry unaccompanied to Calais in France on Saturday.
It had been feared Qazimaj may have kidnapped 69-year-old Sylvia Stuart - whose husband Peter, 75, was found dead with multiple stab wounds - but the latest development would appear to dispel that theory.
Seen on CCTV: Happily browsing in a farm shop, these are the last known movements of a murdered line dancing enthusiast and his missing wife - as police reveal the prime suspect in the case has fled abroad
Suffolk Police have released CCTV of the couple entering Goodies Farm Shop on Wood Lane in Pulham Market at 10.18am on Sunday May 29
Plea for help: Officers are appealing for anyone who may have seen them or who has information regarding their whereabouts from this time until June 3 to get in touch
The pair were reported on missing on June 3 having last been seen at a family gathering on May 28
These are the last known movements of murdered line dancing enthusiast Peter Stuart and his missing wife
Mrs Stuart disappeared shortly before the body of her husband was found last Friday in woodland just 50ft from the couple's isolated home in Weybread, Suffolk.
Yesterday police named Qazimaj, 42, as the key suspect in Mr Stuart's murder and the disappearance of his wife.
The pair were reported on missing on June 3, having last been seen by relatives at a family gathering on May 28.
Now Suffolk Police have released CCTV of the last time the couple were seen alive. The pair are seen going into Goodies Farm Shop in Pulham Market at 10.18am on Sunday May 29.
Officers are appealing for anyone who may have seen them or who has information regarding their whereabouts from this time until June 3 to get in touch.
Police say hopes of finding missing Sylvia Stuart (left) alive are fading. The body of her husband Peter (second from left) was found in an area of woodland on Friday evening only 50ft away from the isolated house the couple shared. The couple's son-in-law Steve Paxman (right), 61, is being questioned
Sylvia Stuart (pictured left), the missing wife of murdered pensioner Peter Stuart could be alive and with Ali Qazimaj (right), the man wanted on suspicion of stabbing her husband to death, police have revealed
Mr Stuart was found in woodland around 50ft from their isolated home. Pictured, forensic officers at the scene
Detectives said today they believe Qazimaj who is linked to the couple's son-in-law Steve Paxman, 61 has now fled the country after his car was discovered dumped in the Channel port of Dover.
Suffolk Police has 'reliable information' that places Qazimaj at the Port of Dover ferry terminal at around 6.30pm on Saturday, the force said. It is strongly believed that he then boarded a passenger ferry unaccompanied to Calais in France soon after 7pm.
TIMELINE OF THE MURDER INQUIRY Thursday, May 28: Peter and Sylvia Stuart are last seen alive by relatives at a family gathering at their home in Weybread, Suffolk. Morning of Friday, June 3: The couple are reported missing. Friday night: Mr Stuart's body is found in an area of woodland on Friday evening only 50ft away from the isolated house he shared with his wife. It later emerges he died from multiple stab wounds. Sunday morning: A 61-year-old man from Leicester is arrested on suspicion of murder on Sunday. It later emerged he is believed to be the couple's son-in-law, Steve Paxman, who remains in police custody. Early hours of Monday: A silver Citroen C3 belonging to Ali Qazimaj, 42, is discovered in a residential area in Dover. Monday morning: Suffolk Police issue an appeal, saying Qazimaj, of Tilbury, Essex, is wanted in connection with the murder investigation. Monday lunchtime: Officers reveal that Mrs Stuart could be alive and with Qazimaj - the man wanted on suspicion of stabbing her husband to death. However, they say hopes of finding the 69-year-old unharmed are fading with every passing minute. Advertisement
Officers are continuing the hunt for the fugitive.
Detective Chief Superintendent Simon Parkes said: 'The primary focus of our investigation remains on locating Sylvia. We are releasing this further information today in the hope that it may trigger someones memory and help us piece together their movements.
'We know that family members were with the couple at their home address on Saturday 28th May and CCTV now places them in Pulham Market the next day. If you remember seeing Peter and Sylvia in Pulham Market or if you spoke with them or saw them around this time we are urging you to get in touch.
'It is also essential that we learn more about the whereabouts of Ali Qazimaj as we strongly believe that finding him will lead us to the location of Sylvia.
'Based on this new evidence it is highly likely that he has left the country, so our officers are working with colleagues within the UK and internationally in an effort to trace him. Necessary legal proceedings are being undertaken to assist this part of the investigation.'
Police had said yesterday there was a 'remote' possibility that Qazimaj may have taken Mrs Stuart with him, but there was 'only a glimmer of hope that she was still alive'.
Detectives have warned the public not to approach the murder suspect, who neighbours described last night as a gun-obsessed loner who has previously bragged that he could kill someone and dispose of them in a barrel.
His whereabouts were unclear as police said he could be in France or elsewhere in Europe, as he is known to speak Polish and is said to have lived in the former Yugoslavia and Prague.
It has emerged a 61-year-old man from Leicester arrested on suspicion of murder on Sunday, is believed to be the couple's son-in-law, Steve Paxman. He is still in police custody (police are pictured searching his home)
Investigation: Police and forensic teams have been searching the home of Ali Qazimaj in Tilbury, Essex today
Detectives have also been quizzing a man from Leicester arrested on suspicion of murder on Sunday morning, who has now been named as the couple's son-in-law, Steve Paxman, who is married to their daughter, Christy, 41.
But he was released on police bail this morning. Mr Paxman is due to return to Martlesham Police Investigation Centre on August 3.
It followed a search yesterday by teams of forensic officers of the couple's 300,000 house, where weapons including shotguns and cartridges were seen being removed from the property.
The two suspects are believed to have known each other as Qazimaj dated Mr Paxman's late stepmother, Helen Paxman. More recently Qazimaj moved to Tilbury in Essex from where he vanished on the same day the elderly couple went missing.
Discovery: The body of Mr Stuart (pictured) was found in an area of woodland on Friday evening only 50ft away from the house he shared with his wife
Yesterday neighbours said the Albanian, who previously worked for Thurrock Council, had bragged that he could kill someone. One 23-year-old woman said Qazimaj had once threatened to kill a neighbour during a row and boasted that he could pick locks and 'sort people out'.
She said: 'He would say stuff like he has got people in his country and if anyone did anything to him they would be gone.'
She added: 'He told a group of boys he would make them disappear. He said: "I'll stick them in a barrel and then no one would find them again".'
The woman, who said she was pestered by Qazimaj, added: 'He used to freak me out a bit. He would come home from work late. He would knock on my door and always said he could make my partner disappear if I wanted.
'He was always talking about making people disappear, he said he had made people disappear before with barrels.'
Another woman who lives nearby said: 'He said about two years ago he could get hold of guns and could kill someone. He had an argument with someone downstairs and he said after, 'I would kill someone.' I think his dad is from Prague and his mum is from Albania. He is a weird, horrible man.'
She claimed Mr Qazimaj had been agitated at work before he disappeared. The mother of two also said she thought firearms had been recovered from his property.
Last night a local hairdresser said Qazimaj, who is divorced and has a child with an ex-wife, had struck up a relationship with Steve Paxman's stepmother despite a 30-year age gap. She also claimed that Qazimaj, who was a regular in betting shops, had committed an offence in a betting shop in Basildon in 2009.
Suffolk Police confirmed that Qazimaj had 'a connection' with the family of Mr and Mrs Stuart.
Abroad? There are fears Qazimaj may have fled to France, possibly with Mrs Stuart, after police discovered his car in Athol Terrace, Dover (main). Mr Stuart's body was found near his home in Webread, Suffolk (inset)
Family: The couple's daughter Christy with her husband, dog breeder Steve Paxman. It has emerged he is the 61-year-old man from Leicester who was arrested on suspicion of murder on Sunday. He has now been bailed
Search: Police outside the home of Christy and Steve Paxman in Loughborough, Leicestershire, this afternoon
Last night forensics officers from Norfolk and Suffolk police were seen searching the home of the Stuarts' son-in-law Steve Paxman. Two cars, including at least one 4x4 vehicle, were seized.
Yesterday a resident said she had spoken to Mr Paxman on Saturday morning. She said he had appeared 'normal' and had not discussed the fact that his missing father-in-law had been discovered dead in woodland on Friday night.
The resident said: 'It was just a perfectly normal conversation there was no indication that he was under any stress at all. He was just so normal, he was his usual friendly self.'
Yesterday Detective Chief Superintendent Simon Parkes said: 'While hopes for Sylvia's safety are reducing with the passage of time, there remains the possibility she is still alive. We are actively working to find Ali Qazimaj and determine his movements. The man arrested yesterday is still in custody.'
A keen gambler, gun-obsessed loner and former council worker: What is known about the fugitive wanted over the murder of a Suffolk pensioner and his missing wife... as it's revealed the stepmother of the couple's son-in-law was the suspect's lover
By Sam Tonkin for MailOnline
Neighbours have described him as a gun-obsessed loner and keen gambler, but much about Ali Qazimaj's background and his links to the Stuart family remain shrouded in mystery
Neighbours have described him as a gun-obsessed loner and keen gambler, but much about Ali Qazimaj's background and his links to the Stuart family remain shrouded in mystery today.
What has been revealed is that the fork-lift truck driver was once the lover of previously arrested Steve Paxman's stepmother.
Mr Paxman, who this morning was released on bail, is the son-in-law of murdered Suffolk pensioner Peter Stuart and wife Sylvia. She is still missing but feared dead.
Qazimaj, 42, and Helen Paxman are believed to have struck up a relationship in 2005 when he was 33 and she was 69.
Mrs Paxman is said to have taken the now fugitive into her home after the pair met through her brother, who ran a car dealership.
A neighbour at the flat in Thurrock, Essex, which the pair once shared told The Times: 'Ali was sleeping rough on the benches.'
David Skipper, 85, said of Mrs Paxman and Qazimaj: 'He was here about five or six years. She fed and clothed him and she bought him a car.
'I think they started a relationship from almost the beginning.
'She told me one day that "all he ever thinks about is sex". She took to wearing trousers with him but previously she had worn short dresses.'
Mrs Paxman is thought to have died two or three years ago.
Qazimaj's whereabouts are unclear as police said he could be in France or elsewhere in Europe, as he is known to speak Polish and is said to have lived in the former Yugoslavia and Prague.
Yesterday neighbours said the Albanian, who previously worked for Thurrock Council, had bragged that he could kill someone. One 23-year-old woman said Qazimaj had once threatened to kill a neighbour during a row and boasted that he could pick locks and 'sort people out'.
She said: 'He would say stuff like he has got people in his country and if anyone did anything to him they would be gone.'
She added: 'He told a group of boys he would make them disappear. He said: "I'll stick them in a barrel and then no one would find them again".'
It is believed that Qazimaj, who is divorced and has a child with an ex-wife, used to work for Thurrock Council's cleaning services department but had taken time off after a 'meltdown'.
Forensic teams and police officers were seen at the Essex home of Qazimaj, who may have fled to France
Yesterday, one neighbour who lives close to Qazimaj's flat in Tilbury, Essex, described him as 'a weirdo'.
'His behaviour has always been very odd whenever I have seen him,' the unnamed neighbour said.
'I thought he was a drug dealer to be honest.
'I can speak Polish so he would speak to me in Polish but he never gave anything away.
'I only ever saw him on his own - I am not aware that he lived there with anyone.'
Police arrived at the property on Sunday night and sealed off the communal bins and placed an officer at the entrance to the flat.
Another neighbour said: 'He would pass my window and smile at me but then he would stand there waiting for a response.
'I found it really creepy.
'I didnt know him at all as Ive not been here very long but he gave me the creeps.'
Qazimaj is described as white, around 5ft 6ins tall, with brown eyes and dark brown greying hair. He was last seen on Friday in Essex.
His car, a silver Citroen C3, was found in a residential area of Dover at around midnight on Sunday.
The vehicle has been searched and will be forensically examined.
Teams of forensic specialists and officers with dogs were yesterday searching the couple's home
A journalism lecturer has been suspended without pay from a university following an alleged series of inappropriate posts on social media.
Associate professor Martin Hirst, who goes under the Twitter handle @ethicalmartini, was charged with serious misconduct on April 20, The Age reported.
Melbourne's Deakin University has accused professor Hirst of breaching the academic code after he allegedly posted three offensive tweets in March.
In one of the posts, he described Sky News viewers as 'masturbating chimps' in response to a tweet by ABC presenter Mark Colvin about the low audience ratings on the news channel.
Journalism lecturer Martin Hirst (pictured) was charged with serious misconduct following a series of tweets
Professor Hirst, who goes under the Twitter handle @ethicalmartini, called Sky News viewers 'masturbating chimps' in response to a tweet about the low audience ratings on the news channel
He also shared a photograph of a knitted beanie, embroidered with the words 'f**k it'.
The tweet that accompanied the photo read: 'Back to work after the Easter break? You need this beanie. I've got mine on today, it's a subtle hint to your boss.'
The professor was also accused of threatening Deakin university student Lachlan McDougall who claimed he was relieved he was not being taught by the academic.
'So are you happy to fail commerce?' Professor Hirst tweeted in a third post.
Melbourne's Deakin University has accused professor Hirst of breaching the academic code
He also shared a photograph of a knitted beanie, embroidered with the words 'f**k it' after returning to work
The professor allegedly threatened Deakin university student Lachlan McDougall who he claimed he was relieved he was not being taught by the academic
The professor told Guardian Australia he was shocked that the university had deemed his tweets offensive and he was not aware the student attended Deakin.
'To say that those tweets are offensive is just ridiculous. I can't believe that Deakin would accuse me of threatening a student. I've been there for five years, I've been an academic for 20 years and I've never had a student complaint,' he said.
'I love teaching, I love researching I'm good at it. I haven't been paid for seven weeks and I haven't heard from them for a month.'
Professor Hirst has since apologised to anyone who was offended by his tweets and is believed to be fighting for his job back.
A Deakin spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: 'It is the University's practice not to comment on individual staffing matters. All staff are expected to comply with their employment obligations and the University's code of conduct.
The top Democrat in the House of Representatives endorsed Hillary Clinton today as California voters prepared to head to the polls.
Nancy Pelosi, the first female speaker of the House, said on Good Morning America that she didn't back Clinton sooner because she didn't want to be perceived as tipping the scales given her role as a party leader.
The California lawmaker seemingly changed her mind following the Associated Press' definitive declaration on Monday evening that Clinton would be the Democratic nominee.
'I'm a voter in California, and I have voted for Hillary Clinton for President of the United States and proud to endorse her for that position,' Pelosi said. 'But I hasten to say, that it's not over until it's over.'
The top Democrat in the House of Representatives endorsed Hillary Clinton today as California voters prepared to head to the polls.
Nancy Pelosi, the first female speaker of the House, said on Good Morning America that she didn't back Clinton sooner because she didn't want to be perceived as tipping the scales in her favor given her role as a party leader
However, the California lawmaker said this morning, following the Associated Press' declaration on Monday evening that Clinton would definitively be the Democratic nominee, 'I'm a voter in California and I have voted for Hillary Clinton for president of the United States and proud to endorse her for that position
Californians have not finished voting, she said, nor have five other states with contests today: New Jersey, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and New Mexico.
So while the numbers add up to a Clinton victory in terms superdelegates, Pelosi noted that the presidential race is still ongoing,
As the House minority leader, Pelosi automatically gets a vote at the convention. She told GMA that she held off on announcing her support for Clinton because she believes the voters should decide the nominee, not party officials.
'I didn't endorse yet because I am a superdelegate,' she said.
In keeping with that, Pelosi did not call on Senator Bernie Sanders to drop his challenge to Clinton this morning. She implied that he may do it on his own once voting is complete.
'Let's see what happens. I think he's also said, "Let's see what happens tonight, and we'll go from there." ' she said. 'Bernie knows better than anyone what's on the line in the election and that we at some point have to unify as we go forward,' she said.
Sanders, an independent senator who became a Democrat last year to run for president, can't win unless a majority of the 712 superdelegates change their minds about supporting Clinton, a former first lady with strong ties to the Democratic Party.
There's no evidence to suggest that is going to happen.
For weeks Sanders has argued on the trail that the Democratic establishment ought to make way for him to become the nominee because he is the strongest candidate. And yet, only a trickle of superdelegates have come his way.
Clinton's support from those party leaders who vote at the July convention became strong enough on Monday for AP and several news networks to name her the nominee before today's elections.
The final primary will be held in Washington, D.C. next Tuesday on July 14. Democratic officials have been content to let him stay in until then, but have grown impatient with his pledges to stay in the race until the Philadelphia convention.
'He wants to influence the platform. I think thats fine,' Pelosi said today as she gave him her blessing to stay in until every American has had a chance to vote. 'I think he'll go forward in a way that is constructive to the party.'
She suggested that 'constructive' way forward would include conceding to Clinton after that so that the party can begin its quest to defeat Donald Trump in November.
'I've never seen such a polarized situation with the Republican Party,' she reflected.
As the first female speaker of the House, Pelosi said Clinton's candidacy is 'exciting.'
She meanwhile emphasized to George Stephanopoulos there's more to her support for the ex-secretary of state than that.
'It's wonderful that she's a woman,' she said. 'However it's because she's the best. not because she's a woman.'
Pelosi said it would be 'fabulous' if Clinton should pick a woman as her running mate such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren while leaving the decision up to Clinton.
The Chicago Police Department fulfilled their promise to take care of the son of their fellow officer, who was killed in the line of duty, by making the six-year-old's kindergarten graduation one to remember.
Alex Valadez Jr graduated kindergarten at Annunciata School in Englewood Friday morning with several officers from the police department waiting to congratulate him.
Officers pulled out all the stops for Alex's graduation, which featured an honor guard, police horses, a Chicago fire engine and a helicopter flyover for Alex and his classmates, according to CBS Chicago.
The Chicago Police Department (pictured) fulfilled their promise to take care of the son of their fellow officer, who was killed in the line of duty, by making the six-year-old's kindergarten graduation one to remember
Alex Valadez Jr (left) graduated kindergarten at Annunciata School in Englewood Friday morning. Alex never got to meet his father, Officer Alejandro 'Alex' Valadez Sr (right), who was killed while responding to a call in 2009, three months before he was born. Fellow officers decided to stand in his place for his son's graduation
Police Supt Eddie Johnson (right) was one of many who stood in for Alex's father. Also present at the ceremony was Thomas Vargas, Alex's godfather and his dad's former partner
Alex never got to meet his father, Officer Alejandro 'Alex' Valadez Sr, who was killed while responding to a call in 2009, three months before he was born.
But his his fellow officers stood in for him at his son's kindergarten graduation.
Police Supt Eddie Johnson told CBS that Valadez Sr was part of 'CPD family then, he's a part of the CPD family now, and will be a part of the CPD family forever'.
The 27-year-old was shot and killed in Englewood, where he and his partner Thomas Vargas, responded to a report of gunfire in the area.
Three gang members, Shawn Gaston, Christopher Harris and Kevin Walker, were convicted of murder and sentenced to more than 100 years in prison each.
Valadez had joined the CPD in December 2005 and earned a Department Commendation and 22 Honorable Mentions during his three-year career, according to a release from police.
Officers pulled out all the stops for Alex's graduation ceremony, which featured an honor guard, police horses (pictured), a Chicago fire engine and a helicopter flyover for Alex and his classmates
The officers also brought out a fire engine to the ceremony. Alex is pictured inside the truck
The police department surprised Alex (right) with a new bike. He said: 'It was so cool; the best day ever'
After Alex received his diploma his mother put him in his father's uniform.
'It was bittersweet. Glad to be able to be here for the family,' Valadez's former partner, Office Thomas Vargas told CBS.
Vargas, who's also Alex's godfather added that the police department is a big family and 'we are here for them'.
The police department also surprised Alex with a new bike.
Tony Blair plans to claim the Middle East would be even more unstable today if Britain and its allies had not removed Saddam Hussein when he responds to the Chilcot report.
The former prime minister plans to vigorously defend himself when the Chilcot Inquiry finally publishes its huge report on July 6.
It emerged at the weekend Mr Blair and his team are most concerned the report will accuse him of lying in the build up to the war.
Tony Blair plans to ask the public to imagine what would have happened if Saddam Hussein had not been removed from power by the 2003 invasion of Iraq
The Guardian today said Mr Blair will come out fighting and urge people to imagine what would have happened if Saddam had still been in power in Baghdad.
He plans to argue the regime retained the expertise and capacity to build weapons of mass destructions even though none were found by inspectors after the invasion.
Mr Blair is also expected to repeat apologies made in the past for failures in post-invasion planning.
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.'
Speaking at a public event last month, Mr Blair refused to be drawn on the findings but admitted: 'We underestimated profoundly the forces that were at work in the region and that would take advantage of the change once you topple the regime.
'That's the lesson. The lesson is not actually complicated, the lesson is simple - it's that.
'It's that when you remove a dictator, out come these forces of destabilisation - whether al Qaida on the Sunni side or Iran and its militia on the other side.'
Sir John Chilcot will finally publish his 2.6million word report after almost seven years on July 6
Sources close to Mr Blair on Sunday 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.'
Last week, the government abandoned plans to charge families of British troops killed in Iraq 767 for copies of the long-awaited Chilcot report after a furious backlash.
Despite Sir John Chilcot being paid 790 a day for chairing the seven-year inquiry into the Iraq War, it had emerged that relatives would not be given free copies of the two million word report.
They were only due to receive an executive summary - which will be charged at 30 for others - and had been told to access the full report for free online.
The approach was branded 'scandalous' and an 'insult' by relatives of those who gave their lives in the conflict.
The ex-girlfriend of an EastEnders star has today been spared jail for revenge porn after posting a sexual video of him online when they split.
Emilia Marcou, 40, and her friend Sarah McKenna, also 40, shared the explicit footage on Facebook in a bid to shame the soap actor, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
They earlier pleaded guilty to a 'revenge porn' offence for publishing the video, which the actor had asked her to delete after they broke up.
But today, neither were jailed at Hammersmith Magistrates' Court after what prosecutor Edward Aydin called 'a case of sex, lies and video'.
Emilia Marcou, 40, (pictured left outside court today) and her friend Sarah McKenna, also 40, (pictured right) shared explicit images of Marcou's Eastenders actor ex-boyfriend on Facebook after the pair split up
Handing Marcou an 18 week sentence suspended for 18 months and McKenna a 12 week term suspended for 18 months, District Judge Timothy King said: 'This is a serious offence.
'There has been remorse from both of you, but that will be of little comfort to the complainant.'
Marcou and McKenna were handed a 12-month community orders, a restraining order and told to pay an 85 victim surcharge and an 80 government surcharge.
Marcou was ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work and her friend told to complete 100.
The court heard that the star had met Marcou through social media.
They dated for a while but split up when the actor found out that his lover was seeing another man.
The couple had previously filmed a video of themselves having sex at a hotel, and Marcou refused to delete the clip after breaking up with the actor.
Marcou and McKenna were handed a 12-month community orders, a restraining order and told to pay an 85 victim surcharge and an 80 government surcharge
Edward Aydin, prosecuting, told the court that she sent her ex-boyfriend 'several abusive messages calling him a b****** and a c***'.
Marcou, from Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, also sent a message to the actor's new girlfriend, saying: 'He's a c*** when it comes to girls.'
McKenna, 40, from Essex, used a fake name to post still images from the explicit video on the star's Facebook page.
In the pictures, the man could be clearly identified while Marcou's face was obscured by a purple devil emoji.
Mr Aydin said: 'This was specifically to humiliate and degrade the victim.'
He told the court: 'There were three picture messages of Ms Marcou and the victim having sex, with the words 'Can I be in your next porn film?'
Star: An EastEnders actor has been the victim of revenge porn from his ex-girlfriend, a court heard
'Her face was covered by a purple devil emoji, his face body and private parts were clearly on display.
'The pictures all appeared on the victim's Facebook page.'
'The victim then noticed the pictures, removed them, and reported the incident to the police.'
Mr Aydin then read aloud messages sent between the pair.
They wrote 'I'm going to f****** destroy him,' and 'he's picked on the wrong bitch'.
Mr Aydin said the pair had shown little remorse and it was a deliberate attempt to humiliate the victim.
He added: 'Revenge porn is the new rape of social media. The actions were low and trashy and they were like two rats in a gutter.'
Ian Fisher, representing Marcou, said: 'The account wasn't a fake one set up for this express purpose. It was an old account that was reactivated.
'This wasn't a post on the Facebook page, it was a comment underneath other comments. It was burrowed down on the page.
'The complainant realised and deleted them after a minute, there is no evidence anyone saw them.'
Myles Jackman, representing McKenna, said: 'Given the coup de theatre of this prosecuting I would say this is more a dangerous liason.
'Comparing this to rape, that's contributing to rape culture.'
Mr Jackman then handed the judge a doctor note detailing his clients health problems.
Parents arrested after police raid six years ago, and the
A Filipina teenager has revealed how she was forced to perform sex acts for paedophiles all over the world via live stream video by her own parents.
Rosalyn was just 11 years old when she was rescued in a police raid along with her six siblings, after a cyber crimes unit had traced online child porn back to her parents in the Philippines.
Now 17, Rosalyn has spoken of how extreme poverty led to her parents selling their children online to the highest bidders.
Abused: Rosalyn, 17, pictured centre with tho of her siblings, was forced to perform sexual acts on camera which were streamed to paedophiles online, from their family home in the Philippines
The teenager says she has fond memories of her early childhood, but that was before her parents lost their jobs in a local factory in the Philippines.
Her mother and father were unable to find work and as they struggled to feed their seven children, the family sank into extreme poverty.
A neighbour told the family how the children could earn easy money by performing sexual acts on the Internet.
Rosalyn and her sister, the eldest children, were forced to perform sexual acts for the camera, which were streamed to paedophiles online.
Rosalyn and her siblings were finally saved during a cyber-crimes police raid six years ago, and her parents arrested.
Rosalyn's youngest sibling, aged eight, draws on the floor of the home which they have shared since being rescued from their parents in a cyber crimes raid six years ago
The Philippines is the number one global source of child pornography, which sees children as young as five are forced to perform several times a day in front of a webcam as buyers in different time zones come online
Online paedophilia: Rosalyn has spoken of how extreme poverty led to her parents selling their children online to the highest bidders
They are now in prison, but have still not been tried for their crimes.
The Philippines is the number one global source of child pornography and the 'epicentre of the live-stream sexual abuse trade', UNICEF reports.
'There's no limits to how cruel and gross this business is - and it's a billion, billion-dollar business,' said Lotta Sylwander, head of the U.N. children's agency UNICEF in the Philippines.
Sylwander described how children as young as five or six are forced to perform several times a day in front of a webcam, for an hour at a time, as buyers in different time zones come online.
'It's facilitated by mothers and fathers or close relatives. It may even happen in their home,' she added. 'It's definitely child slavery because the child has no choice.'
The paedophiles transfer money and then give instructions of what they want to see. In many cases the child is abused by someone outside the family but there have been cases of parents abusing their own children or children abusing each other.
Sylwander said the Philippines received 7,000 reports of cybercrime a month, half of which related to child sex abuse.
Some of Rosalyn's siblings kneel before an altar ion their home in an SOS child village where they now live
Sylwander said the live-streaming of child sex had boomed in the Philippines because of the high level of English, good internet access and well-established money transfer systems that Filipinos working overseas use to send earnings home.
Poverty is a driver with many parents expecting their children to contribute financially. One group of young children rescued in Manila said they were paid 150 pesos ($3) to take part in shows.
UNICEF, which works with centres that have rescued children, says they were often left severely disturbed.
Sylwander described how one very young boy living in a safe house started undressing and making sexual movements when he saw a staff member pick up a mobile phone because the boy automatically thought he wanted to film him.
'Their minds have been so traumatised and so destroyed and so focussed on anything sexual that they can't play or communicate like kids any more. It's a very difficult rescue process,' Sylwander added.
Sylwander said UNICEF was working closely with police from Britain, Australia and the Netherlands to tackle the crime.
It is also hoping to develop training programmes for lawyers, prosecutors, police and judges to help bring abusers to justice.
Utah lawmakers received a surprise in their mail this week: copies of Hustler, courtesy of founder Larry Flynt, who objects to them labeling porn a 'public health crisis'.
On April 19, the state declared pornography 'evil, degrading, addictive, harmful' and a 'public health hazard'.
The next day Flynt, 73, declared that he would send legislators copies of his magazine to show them it was 'no danger to the public, only to the repressed' - but the move has, maybe predictably, backfired, The Salt-Lake Tribune reported.
Hustlers: Larry Flynt (left), 73, is sending copies of his magazine to Utah legislators after the passed a bill in April declaring porn to be a public health hazard. He says they're just bowing to 'zealots'
Lawmakers: In this April 19 photos, Utah Governor Gary Herbert (center) signs in the bill. It doesn't enact any laws, but some are now working on new legislation. Flynt said he wants to show that porn is not harmful
The self-described 'smut peddler' told The Washington Times in April that a 1969 report by President Lyndon Johnson found no evidence of a link between explicit material and criminal behavior.
'This report has been gathering dust for over 40 years, and Utah is only dragging out this issue now to satisfy religious zealots,' he added.
But his attempts to prove the harmlessness of his product - the latest issue of which promises 'porn's sexiest siblings' have further annoyed his targets.
Sponsor: Senator Todd Weiler, who sponsored the bill, says Flint's efforts help his anti-porn cause
'I'm not sure what it's designed to accomplish, other than it probably helps my efforts more than it hurts them,' Senator Todd Weiler (R-Woods Cross), who sponsored the anti-porn resolution, told The Salt-Lake Tribune.
'I do think it will rile up some of my colleagues, and not in the way Larry Flynt is hoping.'
Representative Kay Christofferson (R-Lehi), said Flynt's offering went unopened. 'I got a package that I put in the garbage here. I haven't opened it,' he explained.
'I think it's a pretty ineffective method of convincing us that we made the wrong choice on our vote. If anything, it makes me realize how desperate they are in trying to protect their turf.'
And Representative Jake Anderegg (R-Lehi) was angry that at least some of the magazines arrived at the lawmakers' homes. 'It's highly inappropriate to send to our homes where our families and kids can see it,' he said.
Evan Roosevelt, spokesman for the Flynt Management Group, said 'Our intention was not to send it to anybody's home, but rather to send it to their office.'
He added: 'Utah, in our eyes and (Flynt's) eyes, is only dragging this out to satisfy religious zealots in the state, so we wanted to remind everyone that this is not a crisis, but a political opportunity for legislators,'
Utah's legislators were overwhelmingly in support of Senate Concurrent Resolution 9, which says that pornography has caused a series of societal problems that require study.
It did not enact any legal measures against porn, but Weiler is now putting together proposals for legislation on pornography.
When Hillary Clinton won the New York primary in April, she called for 'raising wages and reducing inequality' and building 'ladders of opportunity' while sporting a $12,495 Georgio Armani jacket.
It was just one small part of a major wardrobe overhaul that one fashion expert pegged as a six-figure operation, the New York Post reported.
It wasn't just in New York, where Clinton was photographed recently leaving a Ralph Lauren store on 5th Avenue accompanied by longtime aide Huma Abedin, where Clinton sported fancy fashions.
She also wore a $4,000 white jacket by Susanna Beverly Hills on the campaign trail in rural Iowa.
'She's had to have spent in the six figures on this wardrobe overhaul,' Los Angeles-based image consultant Patsy Cisneros told the paper.
Dressed for success: Clinton wore an Armani jacket the night she won the New York primary
For her campaign kickoff on Roosevelt Island, Clinton wore a custom blue silk Lauren suit that cost upwards of $2,200, according to the paper.
For a New York funder, she opted for a beaded coat by Andrew Gn comparable to a $3,000 selling at Bergdorf Goodman.
Her counterpart, real estate mogul Donald Trump, has been reported to favor Brioni suits that can cost more than $7,000.
Clinton's fashion choices have been getting an upgrade from her 2008 run and her service as secretary of state, when Clinton made jokes about her penchant for pants suits part of her repertoire.
Separating wheat from chaff: Clinton showed off her upgraded wardrobe in Iowa in August in a $4,000 jacket
Her outfits have outclassed her Democratic rivals, but at an upgrade price estimated at up to $200,000. The Armani Collezioni outfit she wore at the Las Vegas debate has been pegged at $1,200
Clinton kicked off her Instagram account with a rack of red, white and blue pantsuits and a joke about 'hard choices'
'She's moved away from those monochromatic pantsuits,' says Washington, DC style blogger Christina Logothetis told the paper. 'And she is just generally looking much more pulled-together . It was a really necessary refresh.'
The elegant below-the-waist jacket Clinton sported for her New York primary speech may have clashed with her rhetoric although she did call for Americans to be able to move up the ladder of success.
'In this campaign, we are setting bold progressive goals backed up by real plans that will improve lives, creating more good jobs that provide dignity and pride in a middle class life, raising wages and reducing inequality,' Clinton said, and 'making sure all our kids get a good education no matter what zip code they live in.'
She called for 'building ladders of opportunity and empowerment so all of our people can go as far as their hard work and talent will take them. Let's revitalize places that have been left out and left behind, from inner cities to coal country to Indian country.'
There is no doubt that Clinton can afford her wardrobe expenses. She and her husband Bill Clinton have earned more than $230 million since leaving the White House through speaking fees, investments, and other income.
Helping with the image makeover is Kristina Schake, a former aide to first lady Michelle Obama, who has dazzled crowds at state dinners and other events with her designer choices.
Clinton waves to the crowd at the Democratic National Convention in Denver
Fashion assist: Clinton was spotted leaving Ralph Lauren Women's and Home Flagship store in Manhattan last month
Clinton attends the wedding of Andrea Catsimatidis and Christopher Nixon Cox at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral Of The Holy Trinity in 2011
Clinton danced with her husband at the Arkansas inaugural ball in 1993
Clinton, who on Monday became the first woman in U.S. history to get enough delegates to be a party nominee, has criticized the press and public for dwelling on her fashion choices and appearance.
In her book 'Living History,' she wrote about the unwanted attention, and getting offered fashion advice from within her husband's presidential campaign.
'Everything I said or did--and even what I wore--became a hot button for debate. Hair and fashion were my first clues,' she wrote.
'For most of my life I had paid little attention to my clothes. I liked headbands. They were easy, and I couldn't imagine that they suggested anything good, bad or indifferent about me to the American public. But during the campaign, some of my friends began a mission to spruce up my appearance. They brought me racks of clothes to try on, and they told me the headband had to go.'
'What they understood, and I didn't, was that a First Lady's appearance matters,' Clinton continued. 'I was no longer representing only myself. I was asking the American people to let me represent them in a role that has conveyed everything from glamour to other comfort.'
The Archbishop of Canterbury has launched a furious attack on Nigel Farage for 'legitimising racism'.
Justin Welby said the Ukip leader's claim that there could be Cologne-style sex attacks if we stay in the EU was 'inexcusable'.
The intervention, hours before Mr Farage is due to take part in a televised EU referendum special with David Cameron, came as the Archbishop gave evidence to MPs.
Nigel Farage on the Brexit campaign trail on London today. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has accused him of 'legitimising racism'
Mr Welby told the Home Affairs Committee that such comments had resulted in violence in the past.
'I think that is an inexcusable pandering to people's worries and prejudices,' he said.
'That is giving legitimisation to racism which I've seen in parishes in which I've served, and has led to attacks on people in those parishes. We cannot legitimise that.
'What that is, is accentuating fear for political gain and that is absolutely inexcusable.'
Mr Farage was heavily criticised at the weekend for describing the threat of mass sex attacks - such as occurred in Cologne at New Year - as the 'nuclear bomb' of the EU referendum campaign.
Justin Welby delivers his attack on the Ukip leader at the Commons Home Affairs Committee today
7.5MILLION 'MISSING VOTERS' WHO ARE YET TO REGISTER AHEAD OF TONIGHT'S DEADLINE The number of people registering to vote has soared in the run-up to the deadline A massive 226,000 people registered to vote in the EU referendum yesterday ahead of the midnight deadline tonight. It is the second largest number of sign-ups in a single day since online voter registration was launched, the Electoral Commission said. But the elections watchdog said there are an estimated 7.5 million 'missing voters' who are not on the electoral register and have just hours to apply. Around 150,000 under-35s registered to vote after a number of campaigns targeted younger voters on Facebook. Over the past week more than 400,000 under-35s have registered to vote in the June 23 referendum on Britain's membership of the EU. And over the last three weeks, about 1.3 million people have registered overall, with more than half of them under the age of 34. But there are signs that some people are being deterred from signing up for a vote because they don't want to supply their National Insurance number. The elections watchdog is confident that today will break the record for the number of sign-ups in one day as people rush to register for the historic vote on EU membership. Advertisement
The archbishop - who refused to be drawn on whether he was for Leave of Remain - accepted people had genuine fears about the impact of mass migration, and that did not make them racists.
However, he said that the way to deal with such concerns was in ensure the communities affected had the resources they needed to cope.
'The answer to fear is not to say it's improper to fear. But it is to recognise fear and to address the causes of the fear,' he said.
'I fully accept that there is a burden. I think that the answer to the burden is that one has to provide significant extra resources to the communities affected from central government - because it's a national issue not a local issue - not only for the direct cost of those who are coming in as immigrants, but to strengthen the stability and infrastructure around particularly education, health and housing of those communities that are accepting people.
'That actually, in my experience, liberates the natural generosity of people to welcome once the causes or the reasons for fear have been dispelled - and they are quite easily dispelled.'
Mr Farage unveiled a poster in Westminster earlier ahead of his appearance on the ITV's referendum special tonight, and complained that Mr Cameron was not willing to take him on directly.
But he seemed to be feeling the pace of the campaign, yawning heavily - despite insisting that he has been cutting back on alcohol to keep his energy levels up.
A massive 226,000 people registered to vote in the EU referendum yesterday ahead of the midnight deadline tonight.
It is the second largest number of sign-ups in a single day since online voter registration was launched, the Electoral Commission said.
But the elections watchdog said there are an estimated 7.5 million 'missing voters' who are not on the electoral register and have just hours to apply.
Around 150,000 under-35s registered to vote after a number of campaigns targeted younger voters on Facebook.
Over the past week more than 400,000 under-35s have registered to vote in the June 23 referendum on Britain's membership of the EU.
And over the last three weeks, about 1.3 million people have registered overall, with more than half of them under the age of 34.
But there are signs that some people are being deterred from signing up for a vote because they don't want to supply their National Insurance number.
Mr Farage unveiled a poster earlier ahead of his showdown with David Cameron during an ITV referendum special tonight
Cardinal George Pell, pictured in October, will resign from the Roman Curia today - but the Pope may not accept his resignation
Cardinal George Pell will resign from the Roman Curia today - but the Pope may not accept his resignation.
The termination does not mean the controversial churchman will have to leave his post as the Vatican's Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy - Vatican treasurer.
Protocols introduced by the Pope in 2014 oblige cardinals to present their resignations at 75, and Dr Pell reaches this age on June 8.
However, the Pope does not have to accept Dr Pell's resignation.
Observers say it is a high probability the Australian cardinal will stay on for another few years, given his crucial role in reforming the Vatican's medieval financial structure.
The Pope has already backed him twice when his reform methods drew complaints from some powerful figures in Rome.
The resignation of a cardinal can be a drawn-out process. While the pope can accept or reject it immediately, an immediate announcement one way or the other is unlikely.
That may come when a successor is appointed.
In Australia there have been numerous calls for Dr Pell's resignation.
Many of the calls came following his evidence from Rome earlier this year about his knowledge of child sex abuse complaints when he was a priest and later auxiliary bishop with responsibility for Ballarat.
He says he did not know the extent of the abuse by pedophile priests Gerald Ridsdale and Peter Searson and had been kept in the dark by the then bishop, archbishop and the Catholic Education Office.
Dr Pell met with Pope Francis after this first day of evidence from Rome in March and said then he had the pontiff's full confidence.
A massive swarm of bees threatened to disrupt the royal squadron after the flying insects decided to set up camp on an RAF base.
Pilots with 45 Squadron were forced to divert parking their aircraft at RAF Cranwell, which is based between Lincoln and Sleaford, to avoid disturbing the swarm.
The squadron, which is responsible for training future RAF pilots, took to Twitter after the honey bees were eventually removed from the parking slot at the airbase.
Invasion: The RAF said reasonable precautions were taken to protect both bees and personnel after the swarm took over part of RAF Cranwell
Writing alongside a picture, the squadron said: 'Yesterday we had a visit from a #QueenBee and her 2,000 troops to see the King Air and @OC32Sqn. It caused havoc!'
The Twitter handle being referenced in the Tweet belongs to Wing Commander Steve Courtnadge, Officer Commanding 32 (The Royal) Squadron.
But fortunately the squadron, which amalgamated with the Queens Flight in 1995, was able to leave the airbase without any problems.
The 45 Squadron Twitter page later posted a video of the invaders along with a caption reading: 'There were a LOT of bees. We had to divert parking aircraft to avoid disturbing them.'
The RAF said: 'We can confirm that RAF College Cranwell flight line was visited by a swarm of bees on Monday.
Queens Flight: The Twitter handle being referenced in the caption belongs to Wing Commander Steve Courtnadge, Officer Commanding 32 (The Royal) Squadron
Buzz off! Pilots with 45 Squadron were forced to divert parking their aircraft at RAF Cranwell to avoid disturbing the swarm of bees
'Reasonable precautions were taken to protect both the bees and our personnel. No one was injured during the visit.'
A spokesman added: 'There was a real buzz about the station during the visit of the bees but fortunately no sting in the tail of this story.'
The RAF also confirmed that the temporary invasion had no effect on the day's operations.
Speaking to MailOnline, Diane Roberts of the British Beekeepers Association, explained why the honey bees took to the airbase.
She said: 'It's normal at this time of year for vigorous colonies to run out of space and then the old Queen with a retinue of several thousand will set off to find a new home.
'Swarms come to rest in all sorts of places while the scout bees try to find a suitable dark hole.'
No. 32 (The Royal) Squadron is based at RAF Northolt in West London and uses a BAE 146 aircraft (file photo)
have been followed hundreds of times by accounts featuring porn
Online ISIS supporters have been bombarded with thousands of graphic sexual images after being followed by hundreds of 'pornbots'.
The accounts do not tweet but feature sexual images and they are automatically generated profiles known as bots.
The images they post are deemed highly offensive to ISIS supporters as they follow a strict version of Islam.
Online ISIS supporters have been bombarded with thousands of graphic sexual images after being followed by hundreds of 'pornbots'
It is unclear who has carried out the hacking of the ISIS accounts by the porn profiles, which has forced some militants to make their social media private
And according to the Mirror, the pornbot hackers have targeted Twitter accounts, who use known ISIS hashtags, with some receiving follows from several hundred graphic accounts in minutes.
Among the accounts to be targeted were the Amaq, ISIS media agency, who were bombarded by pornbots before their account was disabled.
Another account that was hounded was one run by a French fighter, who has praised the deaths of journalists in Syria and Iraq who had 800 new porn followers in an few hours.
It is unclear who has carried out the hacking of the ISIS accounts by the porn profiles, which has forced some militants to make their social media private.
Another ISIS supporting account, which has been hounded by pornbots after it was hacked
However, in the wake of the Brussels attacks hacking group Anonymous issued a declaration that it would target ISIS online.
In the days after the attacks in March, the group unveiled its so-called 'Op Brussels' in which it vowed to continue 'hacking their websites, shutting down their Twitter accounts and stealing their Bitcoins'.
In the video released online, a member of the group appeared in Guy Fawkes/V for Vendetta mask and vowed to continue the online campaign against the Syria-based terrorists.
The speaker states: 'We have silenced thousands of Twitter accounts directly linked to ISIS.
In the wake of the Brussels attacks hacking group Anonymous issued a declaration that it would target ISIS online
'We severely punish Daesh on the dark net, hacked their electronic portfolio and stolen money from the terrorists.'
'We have laid siege to your propaganda websites, tested them with our cyber attacks, however we will not rest as long as terrorists continue their actions around the world.
'We will strike back against them... we will defend the rights of freedom and tolerance.'
He's known for regularly putting his foot in it.
And Prince Philip added yet another gaffe to his ever-growing list today on a royal visit to Cardiff when he informed a group of schoolchildren: 'You must have really good brains to speak Welsh.'
The Duke made the gaffe as he met the children on a walkabout prior to opening a new brain research centre in the Welsh capital, according to BBC Royal Correspondent Peter Hunt.
Scroll down for video
And Prince Philip added yet another gaffe to his ever-growing list today on a royal visit to Cardiff when he informed a group of schoolchildren: 'You must have really good brains to speak Welsh'
BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt witnessed the gaffe in Cardiff today
He looked to be back in fine spirits following a recent minor scare when it was revealed that he would have to drop out of the Battle of Jutland commemorations on medical advice.
The royal couple were joined on the official visit by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.
Stepping off the Royal Train at Cardiff Central Station with the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen looked delightfully summery in a double breasted coat with silver buttons.
Stepping off the Royal Train at Cardiff Central Station with the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen looked delightfully summery in a double breasted coat with silver buttons
The Duchess of Cornwall matched her mother-in-law as they arrived for a day of engagements in Cardiff, accessorising with cream gloves and a pearl necklace
The Duchess of Cornwall wore an A-line knee-length coat in a very similar shade to the Queen with pearl detailing on the lapels and cuffs
She teamed her coat with a hat in a matching shade with a silver corsage and a double string of pearls.
And she pinned the Flower Basket Brooch, set with diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds to her lapel.
It was given to her as a gift from her parents to mark the birth of Prince Charles in 1948, and she has worn it at significant family events including Prince George's christening.
Meanwhile, the Duchess of Cornwall wore an A-line knee-length coat in a very similar shade with pearl detailing on the lapels and cuffs.
Prince Charles shook hands with school children who had turned out to greet the royal party
Camilla wore an A-line coat in pale green with pearl detailing on the sleeves and lapel
Enthusiastic youngsters were keen to greet the royal visitors
Camilla looked delighted to receive bouquets from members of the public
She too accessorised with a pearl necklace and wore a pale green hat.
Like the Queen she also wore a broach on the lapel of her coat and even matched the monarch with a pair of cream gloves.
However, the two women diverged when it came to footwear with the Camilla opting for nude court shoes and the Queen relying on her on her trusty favourite black patent slip-ons.
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh wave to well wishers as they depart from Cardiff Central Station ahead of a visit to the city
Local school children with Union Jacks and Welsh flags lined the streets to great the royals
The Queen was presented with a beautiful bunch of colourful flowers
The Queen arrived for the opening of the Fifth Session of the National Assembly for Wales at the Senedd
The Queen teamed her coat with white gloves and a matching hat with a grey corsage
Prince Charles and the Duke of Edinburgh were also similarly dressed in smart dark blue suits.
A 21-gun salute was fired at Cardiff Pierhead to welcome the party when the Royal Train arrived at Cardiff Central Station.
Following the welcome, the party moved on to attend the Opening of the Fifth Session of the National Assembly for Wales at the Senedd.
The Welsh and National anthems were played and a royal salute given as the Queen reached the main entrance to the Senedd.
The Welsh and National anthems were played and a royal salute given as the Queen reached the main entrance to the Senedd
The Queen speaking at the opening session of the National Assembly in Cardiff, which she first opened in 1999
The Duke of Edinburgh looked slightly puzzled as he attended the opening session of the National Assembly at the Senedd in Cardiff
They were welcomed by well wishers, including local schoolchildren waving flags and the Queen was presented with a beautiful bunch of flowers which added an extra splash of colour to her already vibrant look.
The Queen has had a long association with the National Assembly, speaking at its opening in 1999 along with Prince Charles.
She also opened the Senedd, the permanent home for The Assembly at the Senedd in Cardiff in 2006.
The Queen speaks to Phd student Gemma Williams (right) after unveiling her artwork A Penny for your Thoughts
The Queen arrives to open the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre
In a speech given to the Siambr, the Queen said the opening of the Fifth Session marked 'a further significant development in the history of devolution in Wales'.
'I have continued to follow the Assembly's progress with close interest, and to note the remarkable record of achievement over the first four terms,' the Queen said.
'Though a relatively young parliamentary institution, you have established a reputation as a strong, accessible and forward-looking legislature, serving all the diverse communities of Wales.
Dr Grace Xia dremonstrates a brain activity scanner to the Queen
The Queen uses an intercom to speak to a patient in a neuroscanner
The Queen and Prince Philip attend the opening of the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre
'The Assembly can be proud of the way it has engaged with a broad audience across Wales and beyond, to create a better understanding of the important work that is undertaken here; and I am sure that you will continue to show innovation and leadership in the way that you communicate with all those you serve, and to involve them in your work.'
The Queen, sat next to Prince Philip, told the chamber that during her visit in 2011 she noted that Assembly Acts would soon be passed for the first time.
'So I am pleased now to see the Assembly serving the people of Wales as a modern legislature, with full law-making powers,' she said.
'It is an achievement in which all who care about Wales can take pride.
The Queen gave a speech saying she had been following the progress of the Welsh Assembly with close interest
The monarch signing the visitors book at the opening session of the National Assembly
Following the speech, the Queen signed a commemorative parchment accompanied by Anne Denholm, the official harpist for the Prince of Wales.
A specially commissioned poem written by Ifor ap Glyn - the National Poet of Wales - was read by Maeve Tonkin-Wells, a third year student from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
First Minister Carwyn Jones responded to the Queen's speech, highlighting the need for Assembly Members to work together to serve the country.
'The beginning of the new parliamentary term is a special moment,' he said.
The royal said that the Welsh assembly should be proud of its engagement with a broad audience
Prince Phillip payed close attention as his wife gave a speech
Charles and Camilla listening to the Queen's speech to the National Assembly in Cardiff
'A new assembly has been elected, a new government has been sworn in and a new agenda for Wales is being developed.
'But more than this the beginning of the new term marks a pivotal moment in the life of Welsh devolution itself.
'In the coming months and years, further powers will be granted to this Assembly marking its maturity into a more powerful parliament.'
The Queen and her daughter-in-law Camilla chose remarkably similar shades when picking their outfits for a day of engagements in Wales
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh set off to visit the National Assembly, which was first opened by the monarch in 1999
The Duke of Edinburgh looked in great spirits after concerns were raised surrounding his health last week
Prince Charles and his wife Camilla were welcomed on arrival at Cardiff Central Station
The party arrived on the Royal Train and were greeted by a 21-gun salute
Camilla wore a pale green hat to match her coat and dress and carried a gold clutch bag
She met one mother and her baby who had turned out to see the royals in the Welsh capital
One boy looked very pleased as he presented Camilla with a bunch of flowers
Following the official opening, the Queen and Duke left for Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre.
They were given a tour of the 44 million research equipment that is unique in Europe.
The Queen spoke to Phd student Gemma Williams (right) after unveiling her seahorse-shaped artwork A Penny for your Thoughts.
And she officially opened the new Brain Research Centre and received a demonstration of equipment, such as a brain activity scanner.
Meanwhile, the Prince and Duchess attended a reception for Assembly Members at The Wales Millennium Centre.
Outside the centre the will view an installation of a field of poppies, commemorating Welsh soldiers killed in the First World War.
An egg shortage has left shelves across Australia bare as producers crack under pressure to meet new free-range regulations and rising demand.
The shortage has been blamed on uncertainty over the laws, introduced in March, with some details yet to be finalised - leaving the industry too chicken to invest in new infrastructure despite an increase in demand.
It means free-range options have been poached from shelves, leaving shoppers with little choice but to opt for caged eggs with Melbourne and Sydney the worst hit, Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Scroll down for video
An egg shortage has left shelves across Australia bare as producers crack under pressure to meet new free-range regulations and rising demands (pictured: egg shelves empty at Coles store)
The shortage is expected to last for two or three months, spokesman for Egg Farmers Australia John Coward said
The shortage is expected to last for two or three months, spokesman for Egg Farmers Australia John Coward said.
The demand could see the price in eggs surge, Mr Coward told ABC.
Customer notices have apologised to shoppers in Coles stores, who said they were 'endeavouring to provide an alternative product'.
'Due to unexpected events in the industry, Eggs are in short supply,' the notices explain.
The legal definition of 'free-range' was limited to one chicken per square metre in March, and now requires chickens to have 'meaningful and regular access to the outside'.
Customer notices have apologised to shoppers in Coles stores, who said they were 'endeavouring to provide an alternative product'
Some regulations, including the yet-to-be enforced size of barns, are still being worked out. The uncertainty has kept farmers from building more barns to meet demand.
High meat prices have also encouraged shoppers to eat more eggs, with consumption up between 3.5 to 4 per cent annually.
Meanwhile, Australians are increasingly opting for free-range, Egg Farmers Australia told Sydney Morning Herald. Hens which spend time outdoors are more affected by seasonal changes, meaning they lay less frequently in the cooler months.
Shoppers have noticed the shortage, complaining to both Coles and Woolworths on social media.
'Unfortunately there is an industry-wide shortage,' Coles replied to a customer on Twitter. 'We're working hard with our Suppliers to have this fixed asap. Sorry!'
Shoppers have noticed the shortage, complaining to both Coles and Woolworths on social media
The Tory establishment put aside their differences over the EU to commemorate the life of grandee Cecil Parkinson at a memorial service today.
The former party chairman, a favourite of Margaret Thatcher who died this year aged 84, was remembered by a large crowd of heavyweights at the official church of the House of Commons.
Despite Conservative splits over the forthcoming Brexit referendum, the attendees included major figures on both sides of the debate.
Heavyweights: Nigel Lawson, left, and Michael Howard, right, were among the mourners at Cecil Parkinson's memorial service today
Couple: William Hague was accompanied by his wife Ffion for the service at St Margaret's in Westminster
Family: Parkinson's widow Ann led the mourners along with the couple's daughters
Ex-Chancellor Nigel Lawson sported a 'Vote Leave' badge at the service in Westminster, and was joined by fellow Eurosceptic Michael Howard, the former Tory leader.
William Hague - another ex-leader - and his wife Ffion were also in attendance along with other pro-EU politicians such as Defence Secretary Michael Fallon and party chair Andrew Feldman.
Many current politicians including David Cameron, Boris Johnson and George Osborne, who are all tied up in the referendum campaign, did not attend the event.
The mourners were led by Parkinson's wife and their daughters, with other attendees including novelist and peer Jeffrey Archer.
However, the former Minister's lovechild Flora Keays was not believed to be in attendance at the service at St Margaret's Church in the shadow of Westminster Abbey.
Ministers: Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, left, and party chairman Andrew Feldman, right, who both support the EU, were among the mourners
Support: Lord Lawson was wearing a 'Vote Leave' badge at the ceremony
Friend: Jeffrey Archer, the peer and novelist, paid tribute to his former colleague Cecil Parkinson
Colleagues: Norman Fowler, left, and Kenneth Baker, right, served with Parkinson in Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet during the 1980s
The choice of venue was appropriate for a man who spent 22 years in the House of Commons as MP for various constituencies, before being elevated to the Lords when he stood down in 1992.
Parkinson died in January and was laid to rest at a private family funeral, meaning that today's service was the first chance for other friends and colleagues to pay tribute to him.
The grandee had been tipped for the highest office, but his career was wrecked when his affair with secretary Sarah Keays was exposed.
Parkinson had been widely seen as the architect of Thatcher's 1983 election victory, and was thought to be in line for one of the most senior jobs in politics.
He was made Trade Secretary after the election, but was forced to resign a few months later when news of his affair with Ms Keays became public.
Comfort: An emotional Lady Parkinson embraces one of the vicars at St Margaret's
Widow: The couple, who were married for 58 years, pictured together during the 1990s
Affair: Parkinson also had a daughter Rosa, left, with his secretary Flora Keays, right
The MP was able to return to the front benches in 1987 as Energy Secretary and then Transport Secretary, later moving to the House of Lords and serving under William Hague as chairman of the Tory party.
From 1993 to 2001, it was illegal for the media to make any reference to Flora's existence because of a court order sought by Parkinson.
His family announced his passing with a newspaper notice paying tribute to him as a father - but again Flora was omitted.
The notice included his three daughters by Lady Parkinson and even mentioned his two step-grandsons.
Police have described the amateur distillery at his Queensland property
A father is on trial for killing his son and two friends and permanently injuring another son after he accidentally provided them with a fatal home-brew of spirits.
William Neil Claren Lynam, 71, allegedly fatally poisoned his 21-year-old son, Joel, and friends Vincent Summers, 21, and Bryan Wilmot, 30, after providing them with moonshine at a Ballandean property, 250km southwest of Brisbane near the Queensland - New South Wales border, according to Daily Telegraph.
A second son, Josh Lynam, survived after drinking the fatal brew with the men in June 2013 but now reportedly has permanent organ damage.
William Neil Claren Lynam (pictured), 71, allegedly fatally poisoned his 21-year-old son, Joel, and friends Vincent Summers, 21, and Bryan Wilmot, 30, after providing them with moonshine
Mr Lynam's 21-year-old son, Joel, died after consuming the home brewed spirit in June 2013
Mr Lynam has reportedly pleaded not guilty to three charges of manslaughter and one of grievous bodily harm.
During his trial in a Toowoomba court on Tuesday, police described arriving at the property to see a dead body and a severely ill man who was rocking back and forth after being affected by methanol toxicity, according to the news report.
A third man, Bryan Wilmot, was taken to hospital where he later died.
Police photos of the distillery plant shown to the court allegedly depict Mr Lynam's operation that would reportedly produce 'substandard' wine and extract alcohol from it, a portion of which contained deadly methanol, according to the report.
Coke bottles and unlabeled containers were reportedly used in the distillery process.
The trial continues.
Arnold Schwarzenegger made a bold statement this week when he voted for John Kasich over presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in the California Primary.
'I can confirm he voted for Kasich,' Daniel Ketchell, Schwarzeneggers spokesman, told Variety Monday.
But questions remain over what the former California governor will do in the presidential election in November, which will see Trump going up against the Democrats.
Vote: Schwarzenegger has long supported Kasich (both pictured here in March). His vote for the politician - and against presumptive nominee Donald Trump - is a strong political statement
Kasich suspended his campaign on May 4, one day after Ted Cruz did the same, saying there was no 'viable path to victory' against Trump.
So it's hard to see Arnie's futile vote against the presumptive Republican nominee as anything less than a statement against The Donald.
A long-time Republican who represented the party during his time as governor, Schwarzenegger has disagreed with Trump on a number of issues, and supported Kasich during his run.
Most notably, Schwarzenegger put man-made climate change at the core of his election campaign, whereas Trump has said he doubts whether it actually exists.
More strikingly, yesterday night the star Tweeted support for Judge Golanzo P. Curiel, the Mexican-American judge who is presiding over a lawsuit against Trump University, and who has come under repeated attacks by Trump of late.
'Judge Curiel is an American hero who stood up to the Mexican cartels,' he Tweeted. 'I was proud to appoint him when I was Gov.'
Proud: The star said he was proud to have appointed Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, who is overseeing a lawsuit against Trump University, and who has come under attack from Trump in recent months
And an article by The Wall Street Journal last month pointed out that the action star was fanatical about making educated decisions as governor, even performing policy briefings while exercising on a treadmill.
That puts him at odds with Trump, who says he likes to make instinctive decisions, and has made remarks that critics say are inaccurate or exaggerated.
But whether Arnie will back the Democrat nominee - almost certainly Hillary Clinton at this point - in November, stick by his party and endorse Trump, or terminate his endorsement altogether, remains to be seen.
Ketchell said he didn't know whether Schwarzenegger would back a contender.
Neither did Schwarzenegger's pal and predecessor as governor of California Gray Davis. 'Hes a friend of mine,' said Davis, who supports Clinton.
'Hell make up his own mind. But he is far more moderate than Trump.'
And the man himself has been coy with his remarks. On May 29, in an interview with 'Meet the Press' he told host Chuck Todd he would 'make an announcement before the election.'
'You can be sure of that,' he said. 'But I will do it my way. Which is always an unusual way.'
Schwarzenegger will take over from Trump as he host of the Celebrity Apprentice when it returns for its latest season this year.
A grandmother and her partner used a dog chain and padlocks to bind her 16-year-old grandson to his bed in their home.
Shirley Sherwood and George Colton used a 15-foot-long dog chain and three padlocks to restrain the boy at night and at other times in his bedroom at their home in Middlebury, New York.
He was discovered on Monday, after Sherwood called police complaining that the boy was uncontrollable.
When officers arrived at the home, midway between Rochester and Buffalo, they turned their attention from the teen to the adults.
Charged: Shirley Sherwood (left) and George Colton (right) used a 15-foot-long dog chain and three padlocks to restrain her teen grandson at night and at other times in his bedroom at their home in Middlebury, New York
Both Sherwood, 50, and Colton, 56, were charged on Monday with unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child.
They were released from the Wyoming County Jail after posting bail.
The town court where they were arraigned didn't have lawyer information for them.
Kurdish commander claims they will use teens as deadly m
ISIS terrorists are planning on using chemical weapons in future suicide bombings, a commander of the Kurdish Peshmerga has said.
Peshmerga General Akram Mohammed Abdulrahman said that while ISIS has previously used both chemical weapons and suicide bombings separately, they are now looking to combine them.
ISIS's tactic involves training brainwashed teenage insurgents to carry out suicide bombings using munitions containing harmful chemicals, he told Russian media.
Terror attacks: Iraqi soldiers show a flag that they seized from ISIS, as it is reported that the terrorist group's new tactic involves combining suicide bombings with chemical weapons attacks
There have been previous reports of ISIS militants using mustard gas in their attacks on civilians in Iraq.
'Recently, the militants have been using chemical weapons and suicide bombers, and before it was adults, now - teenagers,' General Akram Mohammed Abdulrahman told Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
'From our intelligence, there is evidence that they are prepared, so to speak, to combine these two tactics and develop a method to supply chemical weapons to suicide bombers to use on the front.
Earlier on Tuesday, a bombing believed to have been facilitated by ISIS killed seven people and wounded nearly two dozen in Iraq's Shiite holy city of Karbala.
Frontline: A bombed out truck is seen near the city of Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, where Iraqi government troops are fighting ISIS terrorists
Iraqi government forces are shown near the city of Fallujah, Iraq, during an operation to regain control of the area from ISIS terrorists
The car bomb went off in a commercial area in the city, located some 55 miles south of Baghdad, a police official said. Karbala is home to the Imam Hussein Shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but ISIS, who are Sunni muslim, often targets Iraq's Shiite majority.
Baghdad has seen a string of near-daily attacks in recent weeks, but mainly Shiite southern Iraq has largely been spared from the violence.
Separate bombings in and around Baghdad killed another seven civilians on Tuesday, police said.
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.
Eleven special forces were hanging out in the restaurant when the robbers came in. STOCK IMAGE
Of all the McDonald's restaurants in Europe to choose to rob, two men had the bad luck to pick on a place where 11 elite special forces soldiers were having their lunch.
The armed men burst into the diner in Ecole-Valentin, near Besancon in eastern France on Sunday night.
One of the raiders fired a warning shot which terrified most of the 40 customers.
But the soldiers, who had their weapons with them but out of sight, played it cool until they had the chance to strike and could minimise the danger to other customers.
After robbing cash from the till the robbers made their way towards the exit.
One of them was carrying 2,000 euros (1,372) in cash but he stumbled as he prepared to flee.
The elite soldiers pounced.
Besancon public prosecutor Edwige Roux-Morizot said the first man was captured easily.
The second man was shot in the abdomen by one of the elite forces and arrested.
The two men are in hospital and will appear before a judge on charges of armed robbery and violence.
The former owner of Loaded magazine has lost the latest round of a legal battle against his ex-girlfriend's parents after he tried to claw back the 300,000 'gift' they used to buy their home.
Lawyer turned porn baron Paul Baxendale-Walker has been accused of conducting a 'vendetta' against Nicholas and Susan Hall, the parents of his former partner Natasha Eustace.
The couple had used 310,000 given to them by Mr Baxendale-Walker to buy their home in Freshwater, Isle of Wight. They thought the money was a gift but a debt recovery firm was called in to reclaim the cash.
Paul Baxendale-Walker, the former owner of Loaded magazine has lost the latest round of a legal battle against the parents of his ex-girlfriend Natasha Eustace (pictured with Baxendale-Walker in 2012) after he tried to claw back the 300,000 'gift' they used to buy their home
The firm, Hawk Recovery, had asked High Court judge, Master Paul Matthews, to direct the Halls' home be sold so that 310,000 they are alleged to owe could be repaid.
Mr and Mrs Hall could have been forced to leave their home if they had lost the case, but Master Matthews has ruled in their favour after a High Court hearing in London and dismissed Hawk Recovery's application.
The Halls had used the 310,000 to buy their home four years ago, the judge said, thinking the money was a gift from Mr Baxendale-Walker.
Master Matthews said the Halls had complained of Mr Baxendale-Walker conducting a 'vendetta' and 'campaign of harassment' against them and their daughter - a former model who a previous case heard was one of a number of women Mr Baxendale-Walker had casual relationships with and called the 'hunny bunnies'.
Detail of the case emerged in a written ruling by Master Matthews, who analysed evidence at a hearing in March.
'The claimant (Hawk Recovery) seeks a direction that the property in which the defendants (the Halls) live be sold to pay a debt due from them,' said the judge in his ruling.
Baxendale-Walker (pictured) has been accused of conducting a 'vendetta' against Nicholas and Susan Hall, the parents of his former partner
'This application is another stage in long-running and complex litigation, played out in many different actions in various courts, of which the defendants complain as a vendetta conducted against them and their daughter Natasha Eustace, and said even by judges to be orchestrated by Paul Baxendale-Walker, her former lover.'
He said the Halls had described the application as 'simply part of a campaign of harassment'.
Master Matthews said further hearings were due in the litigation.
Mr Baxendale-Walker (pictured) hit the headlines nearly three years ago when another judge published a ruling on a previous High Court dispute involving Miss Eustace
The judge said those hearings relate to appeals by the Halls against decisions made at earlier stages.
He said Hawk Recovery wanted to recover a debt before those appeal hearings, but 'greater justice' would be achieved by allowing the couple to keep Sandpipers Lodge until appeals had been analysed.
Mr Baxendale-Walker hit the headlines nearly three years ago when another judge published a ruling on a previous High Court dispute involving Miss Eustace.
Mr Justice Males said Mr Baxendale-Walker was a lawyer, businessman and former owner of Loaded magazine, who had set up the 'hunny bunnies' club, of which Miss Eustace was a member.
He said the pair were embroiled in a dispute over the ownership of a 300,000 flat and a Range Rover.
Mr Baxendale-Walker had said Miss Eustace was not the owner of the flat in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, or the Range Rover. However, Miss Eustace, then 25, disagreed.
Mr Justice Males said Mr Baxendale-Walker had specialised in tax law before starting to run a company making pornographic films - in which he also starred.
The judge said Mr Baxendale-Walker's 'playboy' lifestyle involved 'essentially casual relationships' with a 'club of women' known as 'his hunny bunnies'.
He said in return for sexual favours, Mr Baxendale-Walker gave 'lavish gifts' - as well as providing flats and cars for the use of the 'hunny bunnies'.
Mr Justice Males said Miss Eustace was the registered legal owner of the flat and Range Rover.
But a company of which Mr Baxendale-Walker was a director and shareholder maintained that it provided the funds for the purchase of the flat 'on terms that the legal title would be held by Miss Eustace as a bare trustee'.
Nicholas and Susan Hall could have been forced to leave their home if they had lost the case, but a judge has ruled in their favour after a High Court (pictured) hearing in London
The company claimed that it was 'beneficially entitled' to the flat and had a right to possession'.
And it claimed that the Range Rover was 'merely loaned' to Miss Eustace.
Miss Eustace claimed to be entitled to both the flat and the Range Rover.
The judge refused to grant 'summary judgment' to the company which they were seeking on the basis that Miss Eustace had no chance of success.
He said there was likely to be 'fertile ground for cross-examination on both sides'.
The judge said Mr Baxendale-Walker had described Miss Eustace as 'never anything more than a TV stripper and glamour model who provided sex and occasional companionship in exchange for a comfortable and conditional standard of living'.
But Miss Eustace said the relationship had been 'loving and close' and intended to 'eventually lead to marriage'.
The nurse has played down her heroism saying she was 'in nurse mode'
The man has now paid tribute to the nurse and thanked her for saving him
He was saved when off-duty nurse came to his aid and resuscitated him
Father was stabbed in shocking street attack in Bristol last month
A stabbing victim who was saved by an off-duty nurse has said he owes his life to the quick-thinking medic.
Edmund Sinanaj was repeatedly knifed during a day out with his fiancee Mimoza Doda and four-month-old daughter Ayra in Bristol city centre last month.
He was saved by Abigail Bamber, a hospital nurse who had been shopping at the time, and footage of his resuscitation has since been viewed around the world.
The stabbing victim who was saved by an off-duty nurse in footage which was viewed around the world has paid tribute to his 'guardian angel' after he was released from hospital
Mr Sinanaj has paid tribute to Miss Bamber and said that he hopes to meet the 26-year-old to thank her for her actions.
He told The Sun Online: 'It's difficult to describe in words how thankful I am to her. Without her I wouldn't be here, it's as simple as that.'
The 41-year-old said he remembered being forced against a wall by his attacker and repeatedly stabbed, before he came to when Miss Bamber revived him.
He said he believes he died before she resuscitated him and it was looking at his fiancee and four-month-old daughter which made him determined to stay alive.
Miss Bamber was driving back from a day out shopping when she saw Mr Sinanaj stumbling across the road.
After getting her friend to pull over and discovering Mr Sinanaj wasn't breathing, she immediately began CPR.
Miss Bamber was driving back from a day out shopping when she saw Mr Sinanaj stumbling across the road
Mr Sinanaj, an Albanian plumber who came to Britain 16 months ago, then started breathing and paramedics arrived five minutes later to take him to hospital.
After days in a critical condition in an induced coma, he has now returned home with scars to his chest.
Miss Bamber, a nurse on a surgical ward at Bristol's Southmead Hospital, previously dismissed suggestions she was a hero - insisting she 'just went into nurse mode'.
Speaking from the ward where she works, she said: 'When things like that happen, you immediately go into nurse mode.
'I can't speak for everyone, but I think you are a nurse, or you are not. I like to think it just comes a bit naturally in a way.
'I didn't look at it as I was being a hero. I just saw a man needed my help. If he was on my ward I would do the exact same thing for him.
'I was in nurse mode. I don't think you ever shut that off. I think most nurses go into nursing because it is a vocation - not a job.
Her selfless actions paid off and, after days in an induced coma, Mr Sinanaj has now returned to his family
The short clip of her saving Mr Sinanaj's life has since been shared thousands of times online.
Albanian national Kozma Dhaskali, 32, previously appeared at Bristol Magistrates Court charged with attempted murder.
Using a translator, he admitted the attack but denied trying to kill.
Dhaskali's defence solicitor, Nicola Hutchinson, made no application for bail.
A deaf woman was killed after walking toward an oncoming freight train in the western Maryland town of Smithsburg because she was looking down as she wandered down the tracks, police say.
Washington County Sheriff's Detective Howard Ward said Tuesday that 51-year-old Kathy Lynn Williams of Smithsburg apparently didn't see the CSX train or hear several warning blasts from its horn.
Washington County Sheriff's Detective Howard Ward said 51-year-old Kathy Lynn Williams of Smithsburg apparently didn't see the CSX train or hear several warning blasts from its horn. Pictured is the scene where the incident took place
He says Williams was struck about 1pm Monday while walking down the middle of the tracks toward the northbound train.
Ward says a video recording from the CSX locomotive shows the woman looking straight down as she walked.
She was declared dead at the scene, the Herald Mail-Media reported.
A 25-year-old man in Laurel, Maryland, was fatally struck by a CSX train early Monday morning, according to a report from ABC2.
A sheriff's office spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment from DailyMail.com.
MPs will block Brexit even if we vote to leave the EU in the referendum, according to David Cameron's father-in-law.
Lord Astor said he did not believe there would be a majority in the House of Commons to repeal the legislation that underpins our membership of the bloc.
The bizarre scenario is possible because the national ballot is only advisory - and most politicians support staying inside the EU.
There has already been speculation that MPs could prevent us quitting the European single market, as Brexit campaigners have suggested should happen if there is an Out vote on June 23.
David Cameron with Lord Astor and his wife Lady Astor, Samantha Cameron's mother
Lord Astor - a Tory peer and Samantha Cameron's stepfather - made the prediction as he set out his support for keeping ties with Brussels, despite delivering a devastating critique of the way it functions.
Writing on the Spectator website, Lord Astor said it was 'difficult not to be Eurosceptic' with the eurozone in turmoil and the Schengen open borders agreement was collapsing.
He also lamented the 'democratic deficit' that was making the EU 'so unaccountable' and causing the 'rise of extreme nationalist political parties all over Europe'.
Lord Astor is Samantha Cameron's stepfather
The peer also raised the prospect that the Brussels club could collapse altogether unless it 'undertakes serious reform', dismissing many eastern members as 'subsidy junkies'.
He wrote: 'We Conservatives made a mistake when we thought that the inclusion of the Eastern bloc countries in the EU, after they were freed from the shackles of centralised rule, would be a beneficial influence,
'Sadly most, with a couple of exceptions, have remained subsidy junkies beholden to Brussels in the same way they were once beholden to Moscow.'
But Lord Astor argued that a Brexit vote now was 'not the answer'.
He said the Prime Minister had achieved 'modest, hard fought but important reforms' in his renegotiation.
'If we the British are now the ones who remove the final plank of the support scaffold that is holding up the leaning tower of the EU we will not be forgiven by our EU partners,' he wrote.
'We will lose what influence we have to negotiate to persuade the other 27 countries to undertake meaningful reform.'
A vote to leave would also lead to the break-up of the UK, he warned, giving the SNP an 'excuse' to hold another independence referendum.
Spelling out how MPs might end up blocking us from leaving even if voters endorse the idea on June 23, the peer wrote: 'Perhaps most important of all, if the Brexiteers win, an exit from the EU is actually not deliverable.
'The EU referendum is merely advisory; it has no legal standing to force an exit. Parliament is still sovereign.
'We will need an Act of Parliament to revoke the European Communities Act 1972, by which Britain joined the EEC or Common Market, or perhaps a paving bill enabling the Government to start the Leave negotiations. But whatever, a vote will be required.
The Government, whether still led by David Cameron or not, would probably not win the vote in the House of Commons. Labour could claim the referendum was too close and did not include a majority to leave in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Therefore the Labour Party, the SNP and the few Lib Dems would claim to have the mandate to vote against the bill.
It would then only take a few fiercely europhile Tories to consult their constituents and their consciences, and decide that after all their campaigning to stay in the EU they cannot vote to leave either. Can one imagine Ken Clarke voting to leave even on a three-line whip?
Mr Cameron lashed out at 'lies' from the Brexit campaign as the referendum battle raged today
Boris and Gove challenge rattled PM to showdown after he accuses them of peddling untruths
Boris Johnson and Michael Gove have laid down the gauntlet to David Cameron after he accused them of peddling 'untruths' during the referendum battle.
At a hastily arranged press conference, the Prime Minister tried to stem an apparent surge in support for Brexit by pleading with the public not to believe 'con tricks'.
But he was forced to deny being rattled by the prospect of losing the referendum after a series of polls showed momentum slipping away from the Remain side.
The Justice Secretary and former London mayor also hit back by insisting that Brexit was the 'safer choice' and challenging him to a head-to-head debate on the facts.
The row came ahead of a key television showdown tonight which saw Mr Cameron and Nigel Farage grilled by a live audience on ITV.
The Prime Minister has refused to face off directly with the Ukip leader or any other Brexit campaigner, so the two will appear consecutively.
Mr Cameron made his frustration clear as he pleaded for voters to ignore the 'untruths' coming out of the Brexit campaign
Mr Cameron said the consensus was that Brexit would cause 'instability, jobs and investment lost' and a 'decade of uncertainty'.
'What have we heard from those who want us to leave? Complacency and nonchalance,' he said.
'A casual wave of the hand. They say people have had enough of hearing from experts.
'Had enough of experts. Would you say that if you were building a bridge? Or if you were buying a house?
'Of course not. Why would you say it about one of the most important and complex decisions that this country will have to take in our lifetime?'
But Mr Johnson and Mr Gove hit back in a joint statement:'The real risk for Britain in this referendum is voting to remain in the EU with a broken single currency and a rogue European Court.
'The safer choice is voting to leave, so we can take back control of our money, borders, security, trade and taxes.
Archbishop slams Farage for 'legitimising racism' by warning of Cologne-style sex attacks in Britain unless we leave the EU
The Archbishop of Canterbury has launched a furious attack on Nigel Farage for 'legitimising racism'.
Justin Welby said the Ukip leader's claim that there could be Cologne-style sex attacks if we stay in the EU was 'inexcusable'.
The intervention, hours before Mr Farage is due to take part in a televised EU referendum special with David Cameron, came as the Archbishop gave evidence to MPs.
Nigel Farage on the Brexit campaign trail on London today. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has accused him of 'legitimising racism'
Mr Welby told the Home Affairs Committee that such comments had resulted in violence in the past.
'I think that is an inexcusable pandering to people's worries and prejudices,' he said.
'That is giving legitimisation to racism which I've seen in parishes in which I've served, and has led to attacks on people in those parishes. We cannot legitimise that.
'What that is, is accentuating fear for political gain and that is absolutely inexcusable.'
Mr Farage was heavily criticised at the weekend for describing the threat of mass sex attacks - such as occurred in Cologne at New Year - as the 'nuclear bomb' of the EU referendum campaign.
7.5MILLION 'MISSING VOTERS' WHO ARE YET TO REGISTER AHEAD OF TONIGHT'S DEADLINE But the elections watchdog said there are an estimated 7.5 million 'missing voters' who are not on the electoral register and have just hours to apply for a vote in the June 23 referendum A massive 226,000 people registered to vote in the EU referendum yesterday ahead of the midnight deadline tonight. It is the second largest number of sign-ups in a single day since online voter registration was launched, the Electoral Commission said. But the elections watchdog said there are an estimated 7.5 million 'missing voters' who are not on the electoral register and have just hours to apply. Around 150,000 under-35s registered to vote after a number of campaigns targeted younger voters on Facebook. Over the past week more than 400,000 under-35s have registered to vote in the June 23 referendum on Britain's membership of the EU. And over the last three weeks, about 1.3 million people have registered overall, with more than half of them under the age of 34. But there are signs that some people are being deterred from signing up for a vote because they don't want to supply their National Insurance number. The elections watchdog is confident that today will break the record for the number of sign-ups in one day as people rush to register for the historic vote on EU membership. The current record was on deadline day ahead of last year's General Election, when 485,000 people applied for a vote. In total, it is estimated that around 46 million people will have a vote in the referendum later this month. Advertisement
A New Jersey man fell to his death while trying to photograph the sunset at Acadia National Park in Maine, according to park rangers.
Rangers said Tuesday that Mark Simon, of Glen Ridge, fell 40 feet from a bluff between Sand Beach and Thunder Hole.
The 68-year-old Simon and his wife Linda had parked their car around 7pm Monday, the Mount Desert Islander reported.
A New Jersey man fell to his death while trying to photograph the sunset at Acadia National Park in Maine, according to park rangers (stock image)
Rangers say his wife flagged down a ranger Monday evening around 9:30pm when Simon failed to return after leaving her inside the car to take a photograph.
Park spokesman John Kelly, the newspaper reported, said: 'Park rangers located Mr. Simons backpack at the top of a bluff and discovered that he had fallen approximately 40 feet to the edge of the water.'
Searchers located Simon but were unable to reach him before he was carried away by a rising tide.
Rangers said Tuesday that Mark Simon, of Glen Ridge, fell 40 feet from a bluff between Sand Beach and Thunder Hole. Thunder Hole is seen in this stock image
He was unresponsive when the Coast Guard found him.
The National Park Service says Simon's death appears to be an accident, but it remains under investigation.
Simon was a summer resident of Southwest Harbor.
Stephen Woodhouse, 65, admitted harassment. A court heard an eyewitness described the victim as looking 'pale and shocked and visibly shaken'
The husband of one of Britain's leading private school headmistresses has admitted pinning a woman against a table and groping her while she did up his bow tie.
Stephen Woodhouse, 65, who is the headmistress' husband at 36,000-a-year Malvern St James Girls' School in Worcestershire, ran his hands down his victim's back during a boozy meal.
A court heard an eyewitness described the victim as looking 'pale and shocked and visibly shaken' after the incident.
Woodhouse 'engineered' his way to sit next to her at a formal dinner then rubbed his hand on her leg 'on a number of occasions' under the table in June 2014.
Earlier in the evening he had grabbed the woman and tried to kiss her outside the front door of his 500,000 home where he lived with wife Patricia, 57.
When he was arrested last July, Woodhouse was barred from entering the school grounds without 'prior arrangement.'
Alumni of the prestigious 430-pupil school - once ranked in the top five in the country - include novelist Barbara Cartland and the Duke of Gloucester's mother Princess Alice.
Today, Woodhouse, of Malvern, Worcestershire, admitted one charge of harassment when he appeared at Hereford Crown Court.
He denied one charge of sexual assault against the same woman which was ordered to lie on file along with four other sexual assault charges he had previously denied.
The court heard Woodhouse showered the woman with compliments for months before the four incidents on the same evening in June 2014.
Prosecutor Martin Butterworth said: 'Over a period of time it's clear that Mr Woodhouse became quite familiar in the way he would speak to the victim, complimenting her generously and making her in a number of ways uncomfortable with the way he was approaching their relationship.'
Woodhouse 'engineered' his way to sit next to her at a formal dinner then rubbed his hand on her leg 'on a number of occasions' under the table in June 2014. Pictured is the school
Earlier in the evening he had grabbed the woman and tried to kiss her outside the front door of his 500,000 home where he lived with wife Patricia (pictured), 57
The court heard matters came to a head on June 28, 2014, when he tried to kiss the victim outside his home after he told her she looked 'lovely'.
Mr Butterworth added: 'When they arrived at his house he told her to go straight to the front door saying it was open but when she got there it was closed and locked.
'His response was to grab her by the arms, her back was to the door, and he moved his face towards hers to kiss her.
'She turned away from him avoiding the kiss. The defendant she describes as being an imposing man of large build and height. The victim is a slight lady in stature.
'Some time afterwards the victim and the defendant were in the house and he was struggling to do up a bow tie.
The court heard matters came to a head on June 28, 2014, when he tried to kiss the victim outside his home after he told her she looked 'lovely'
'His wife said the victim would do it for him and went to the kitchen.
'The defendant put his hands over her hips on her bottom and leg over her silk dress.
'She jumped away as Mrs Woodhouse was coming back in to the room. Mr Woodhouse said something like 'feel how silky her dress is'.'
The court heard later that evening Woodhouse 'engineered it' so he would have to sit next to the victim when they attended the same function.
Mr Butterworth said: 'On a number of occasions he rubbed his hand on her leg during the meal.
'She moved away from him to make conversation with others.'
Mr Butterworth said Woodhouse then 'appeared from nowhere' next to the victim when she was standing next to a table later in the evening.
Mr Butterworth, prosecuting, said: 'On a number of occasions he rubbed his hand on her leg during the meal'
He added: 'He grabbed her upper arm, trapping her there, he kept speaking to her, she was telling him to get off and at some point his hands moved towards her back.
'The victim managed to extricate herself, she was composed but obviously pale and shaken and left visibly shocked.'
The court heard Woodhouse phoned the woman the next day to apologise and wrote her a short letter of apology dated July 2, 2014.
Reading the letter out in full, Mr Butterworth said: 'I'm so so sorry for my behaviour and I regret the situation ever having developed.
'Please will you accept my personal apology for the hurt and humiliation I have caused, I hope you will forgive it in your hear and forgive me.'
Mr Butterworth added: 'There was a telephone call from Mr Woodhouse the next day to apologise saying words to the effect he couldn't remember anything.
'If he had cause any offence he was sorry but he'd had quite a bit to drink.'
The court heard Woodhouse, who was wearing his wedding ring, was currently staying at the holiday home he and his wife own abroad.
Rex Tedd QC, defending, said: 'I wish to make it quite plan the defendant apologises for the conduct to which he has pleaded guilty to.
'He lives largely abroad and he does not come to the Malvern area.'
Judge Nicolas Cartwright adjourned sentencing until a later date for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.
Addressing Woodhouse, who listened to the proceedings through a hearing aid, the judge said: 'I can't deal with the case today without the benefit of a pre-sentence report so I'm going to adjourn for that purpose.
'The case will be listed before me on a future occasion if possible. If that's not possible it will be before another judge.
'You can have unconditional bail.'
A spokesman for Malvern St James Girls' School said: 'It is with regret that the Governors of Malvern St James Girls' School confirm that Mr Stephen Woodhouse has pleaded guilty to a charge under section 2 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
'Following notice of some allegations during the summer of 2014, the Governors took immediate action and Mr Woodhouse has since not been on school premises without prior arrangement; he has been resident abroad.
'The relevant authorities confirmed that there were no safeguarding issues and that no pupil was at risk at any time.
'The Governors have cooperated fully with the appropriate authorities throughout this long and protracted period and Mrs Woodhouse has continued to have their full confidence and support.'
Mrs Woodhouse, who is considered one of Britain's leading private school headmistresses, was appointed at the Malvern School in 2010 after moving from Abbots Bromley School in Staffordshire.
An ex-Little Rock Catholic high school teacher who was accused of first-degree sexual assault against a male pupil, has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of exposing her breast to him.
Erica Suskie, 44, who was a substitute teacher at Catholic High School for Boys, in North Little Rock, appeared in court alongside her husband, Paul, 45, Thursday.
She had originally been accused of having sex with the boy when she was supposed to be homeschooling him in algebra, but instead pleaded guilty to indecent exposure, ArkansasMatters.com reported.
Guilty: Catholic high school teacher Erica Suskie, 44, and husband Paul, 45, are seen in court in Feb. She was originally charged with felony sexual assault but pleaded guilty to misdemeanor indecent exposure Thursday
Sentenced: Suskie admitted exposing her breast to a 16-year-old boy she was supposed to be tutoring at her home last year. She was fined $2,500, given a year's probation and put on the sex offender's register
The boy in question was 16 at the time of the alleged incidents, ArkansasOnline reported.
Suskie's original charge was a felony with a maximum sentence of 30 years; her new one is a misdemeanor.
The teacher was given a year's probation and a $2,500 fine, and ordered to put herself on the sex offenders' register for 15 years by the judge at Pulaski County Circuit Court.
She must keep probation officers updated if she moves house, and that she must attend counseling throughout her probation period.
She was also told she could not talk to media about her case.
Suskie's husband, a former Arkansas Public Service Commission chairman, has accompanied her to court proceedings throughout her trial. They have been married for 21 years and have two children.
Sentence: Had she been found guilty of the original charges, Suskie would have faced up to 30 years in prison
An investigation into Suskie's behavior began in October 2015, after allegations emerged that she had begun a sexual relationship with the boy in August.
The alleged victim was a family friend of Suskie's, according to an affidavit obtained by KATV in February.
In a police interview, the boy claimed that the teacher asked his parents if she could teach him algebra from her home, and that she subsequently sexually assaulted him.
He would run errands for her at her house and have sex with her there, as well as at her parents' home in Sherwood, the affidavit said.
The incidents are alleged to have taken place between April and October 2015.
Catholic High's principal, Steve Straessle, said in February that Suskie was a volunteer substitute teacher for about a year until the allegations emerged in October last year.
Mr Straessle said the accused teacher passed a background check and was approved by the Catholic diocese.
'Catholic High addressed this issue three months ago and took all appropriate and necessary actions then to ensure the safety and security of our students,' the principal said.
A judge slammed the drinking culture in the armed forces after a Royal Navy officer was cleared of raping a female colleague after a military ball.
Sub Lieutenant Samuel Mitchell was cleared of raping a fellow cadet in her cabin following a VE ball at the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, Devon, in May last year.
Mitchell, 27, showed no emotion as a panel of senior officers cleared him of two counts of rape following a four-day trial at Portsmouth Naval Base's court martial centre.
Cleared: Sub Lieutenant Samuel Mitchell, pictured left arriving at the court martial centre last week. Pictured right, judge Jeff Blackett, who criticised the drinking culture in the Armed Forces at today's hearing
The woman claimed that she was too drunk to consent to sex, and that she asked him to fetch a condom as a means to get him out of her room. She admitted she had experienced an orgasm, but that it was an 'involuntary reaction'.
Mitchell told the court she had made 'pleasure noises' and told him he was 'amazing' and told him he was 'really good' at what he was doing.
Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces Jeff Blackett criticised Mitchell for taking advantage of the complainant's drunken state.
He said: 'Whatever happened to her on that evening, between you and her, she didn't invite you into her cabin, you took advantage of her when she was in an inebriated state and you were looking for sex.
'I make no criticism of her for coming forward to make a complaint against you, the panel has given you the benefit of the doubt.
'You should be absolutely clear that your behaviour on that evening was disgraceful and so was the way you conducted yourself afterwards.
Sub Lieutenant Samuel Mitchell was cleared of raping a fellow cadet in her cabin following a VE ball at the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, Devon, pictured, in May last year
'It's not the conduct one expects of a naval officer, I hope you have learnt a lesson to respect your fellow officers of either sex.'
Judge Blackett, who rose to the rank of commodore in his former career in the Royal Navy, went on to criticise the effect of alcohol on behaviour within the services.
He said: 'This is yet another case I have sat on where excessive alcohol has been consumed by service personnel which has led to disgraceful behaviour. I hope the Service Prosecuting Authority takes action.'
The defendant told the court that he believed the complainant, described as 'highly ambitious', had accused him of rape because she had panicked and was worried about getting into trouble for having sex in her room which was against the rules.
The woman admitted getting back into bed with the defendant after the sex and falling asleep next to him.
Advertisement
As if not eating or drinking from sunrise to sunset wasn't hard enough, the world's 1.6 billion Muslims are facing their hardest Ramadan for a 30 years, as their month of fasting falls during the summer solstice.
Muslims in Britain will arguably face a harder time than those in the Middle East - and those in northern Scotland will have it the worst as June days can last as long as 20 hours - although the weather will be undoubtedly cooler.
The holy month is celebrated for 33 days for the whole ninth month of the Muslim calendar and moves forward 11 days each year meaning this year followers will only sometimes on be able to celebrate Iftar - the evening that meal breaks the fast - after 10pm.
Bangladeshi street vendors sell Iftar food under a polythene cover as rain falls during the first day of Ramadan, the holy fasting month of Islam, at a traditional bazaar in the old part of Dhaka on June 7
Drummers wearing traditional Ottoman clothes, perform through the neighborhoods of Istanbul to wake people for the 'sahour', the traditional breakfast of Ramadan. More than 2000 drummers wander Istanbul's neighborhoods playing their drums in the early hours to wake up the residents as part of the holiday tradition
Pakistani Muslims offering first Taraweeh prayer at Data Darbar mosque Taraweeh prayer on the eve of Ramadan in Lahore
Kenyan Muslim school children offer Zohar prayers at a mosque during Islam's holy month of Ramadan, in Nairobi
The fast is intended to bring the faithful closer to God and to remind them of the suffering of those less fortunate.
As with fasting in other religious traditions, it's seen as a way to physically and spiritually purify oneself. Muslims often donate to charities and feed the hungry during Ramadan. Many spend more time at mosques and use their downtime to recite the Quran.
London's new Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, wrote in the Guardian that he plans to use Ramadan to 'build bridges' and break bread with Muslims and non-Muslims at synagogues, churches and mosques, though he acknowledged that 19-hour fasts during the longer summer days in Europe and forgoing coffee will be challenging.
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.
Observant Muslims abstain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk for the entire month of Ramadan. A single sip of water or a puff of a cigarette is enough to invalidate the fast.
However, Muslim scholars say it's not enough to just avoid food and drinks during the day. Muslims are encouraged to avoid gossip and arguments. Sexual intercourse is also forbidden during the daytime fast.
Indonesian Muslims read Al Quran before the evening prayer session on the night of the holy month of Ramadan in Jakarta
People offer Taravih, special prayers at a mosque during the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Karachi
Afghan migrants stranded in Greece, pray on a dock at the port of Piraeus, near Athens today
Devout Muslims throughout the world began to celebrate Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar, refraining from eating, drinking, smoking and sex from sunrise to sunset
Just before the fast, Muslims have a pre-dawn meal of power foods to get them through the day, the 'suhoor.' Egyptians eat mashed fava beans spiced with cumin and olive oil, while in Lebanon and Syria, popular suhoor food is flatbread with thyme, cheese or yogurt. In Afghanistan, people eat dates and dumplings stuffed with potato and leeks.
In the northernmost parts of Europe, where the sun does not set or rise for many weeks in peak summer, Muslims observe Ramadan according to the daylight hours of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, or nearby Muslim countries.
Muslims traditionally break their fast like the Prophet Muhammad did some 1,400 years ago, with a sip of water and some dates at sunset.
After sunset prayers, a large feast known as 'iftar' is shared with family and friends. Across the Arab world, apricot juice is an iftar staple. In South Asia and Turkey, yogurt-based drinks are popular.
Every night of Ramadan, mosques and aid organizations set up tents and tables where they offer free iftar meals.
But large crowds at mosques can also be targets for extremists. Afghan and U.S. military officials have said they expect Taliban attacks to increase during Ramadan. Nigerian officials say the extremist Boko Haram group plans to attack Muslims during morning and evening prayers.
There are exceptions for children, the elderly, those who are ill, women who are pregnant, nursing or menstruating, and people traveling, which can include athletes during tournaments.
Many Muslims, particularly in the United States and Europe, are accepting and welcoming of others around them who aren't observing Ramadan.
As with fasting in other religious traditions, it's seen as a way to physically and spiritually purify oneself. Muslims often donate to charities and feed the hungry during Ramadan
After Iftar, Muslims across the Middle East often stay up all night celebrating, eating and socialising while the weather is cooler
In many predominantly Muslim countries like Indonesia, karaoke bars and nightclubs close down for the month. Restaurants there use curtains to conceal customers who eat during the day. Above, a man prays at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta
However, non-Muslims or adult Muslims who eat in public during the day can be fined or even jailed in some Mideast countries, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which is home to a large Western expat population.
In many predominantly Muslim countries like Indonesia, karaoke bars and nightclubs close down for the month. Restaurants there use curtains to conceal customers who eat during the day.
Egypt's Dar al-Ifta, which issues religious edits, on Monday warned against eating in public, saying it is not an act of personal freedom but an 'assault on Islam.'
People serve food for Iftar, the time to break the fast, at a Mosque during the first day of Ramadan, in Karachi, Pakistan
Muslims traditionally break their fast like the Prophet Muhammad did some 1,400 years ago, with a sip of water and some dates at sunset
People wait in line to pay for specially-priced foodstuff for the upcoming Muslim month of Ramadan, at a government-run supermarket in Islamabad, Pakistan
On the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Selami Aykut, 38, center, surrounded family observe the 'sahour', traditional breakfast of Ramadan, in Istanbul, after being woken by street drummers early Monday. More than 2000 drummers wander Istanbul's neighborhoods playing their drums in the early hours to wake up the residents as part of the holiday tradition
Iraqi counterterrorism forces take their lunch on their front line position during an operation to oust Islamic State militants from Fallujah
An Egyptian policeman patrols El-Moez Street in historical Fatimid Cairo, as people mark the first day of Ramadan in Cairo, Egypt
Egyptians celebrate the announcement of the holy month of Ramadan in Cairo, Egypt.The end of Ramadan is celebrated by a three-day holiday called Eid al-Fitr where children often receive new clothes, gifts and cash
In China, minority Uighur Muslims complain of restrictions by the Communist Party, such as bans on fasting by party members, civil servants, teachers and students, as well as generally enforced bans on children attending mosques, women wearing veils and young men growing beards.
Typically, the start of the month is welcomed with the greeting of 'Ramadan kareem!' Another hallmark of Ramadan is nightly prayer at the mosque among Sunni Muslims called 'taraweeh.'
Egyptians have the tradition of Ramadan lanterns called the 'fanoos,' often the centerpiece at an iftar table or seen hanging in window shops and from balconies. In the Gulf, wealthy families hold 'majlises' where they open their doors for people to pass by at all hours of the night for food, tea, coffee and conversation.
Increasingly common are Ramadan tents in five-star hotels that offer lavish and pricey meals from sunset to sunrise. While Ramadan is a boon for retailers in the Middle East and South Asia, critics say the holy month is increasingly becoming commercialized.
Scholars have also been disturbed by the proliferation of evening television shows during Ramadan. In Pakistan, live game shows give away gifts promoting their sponsors. In the Arab world, monthlong soap operas rake in millions of dollars in advertising.
The end of Ramadan is marked by intense worship as Muslims seek to have their prayers answered during 'Laylat al-Qadr' or the 'Night of Destiny.' It is on this night, which falls during the last 10 nights of Ramadan, that Muslims believe God sent the Angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad and revealed the first verses of the Quran.
A new police report claims migrants in Germany committed or tried to commit some 69,000 crimes in the first quarter of 2016.
The report could raise unease, especially among anti-immigrant groups, about Chancellor Angela Merkel's liberal migrant policy.
The report from the BKA federal police showed that migrants from northern Africa, Georgia and Serbia were disproportionately represented among the suspects.
The report from Germany's BKA federal police showed that migrants from northern Africa, Georgia and Serbia were disproportionately represented among the suspects (file image)
But the number of crimes committed by Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis - the three biggest groups of asylum seekers in Germany - were high but given the proportion of migrants that they account for, their involvement in crimes was 'clearly disproportionately low', the report said.
There was a record influx of more than a million migrants into Germany last year and concerns are now widespread about how Europe's largest economy will manage to integrate them and ensure security.
The report gave no breakdown of the number of actual crimes and of would-be crimes, nor did it state what percentage the 69,000 figure represented with respect to the total number of crimes and would-be crimes committed in the first three months of 2016.
The report stated that the vast majority of migrants did not commit any crimes.
It is the first time the BKA has published a report on crimes committed by migrants containing data from all of Germany's 16 states, so there is no comparable data.
The report showed that 29.2 percent of the crimes migrants committed or tried to commit in the first quarter were thefts, 28.3 percent were property or forgery offences and 23 percent offences such as bodily harm, robbery and unlawful detention.
Drug-related offences accounted for 6.6 percent and sex crimes accounted for 1.1 percent.
In Cologne at New Year, hundreds of women said they were groped, assaulted and robbed, with police saying the suspects were mainly of North African and Arab appearance.
Prosecutors said last week three Pakistani men seeking asylum in Germany were under investigation after dozens of women said they were sexually harassed at a music festival.
A Yazidi woman has told how she and her children were tied down and beaten in the searing sun by her ISIS 'owner' during months of abuse.
The 49-year-old woman named Sevi, whose story was reported by Iranian newsagency Ahlul Bayt was enslaved by ISIS for 'several months' after she her Iraqi village was overrun by the militant Islamists in August 2014. 'I was later sold to Abu Saif, an IS militant from Tunisia who treated me and my children just like livestock, and kept us for almost two months.
A Yazidi woman has told how she and her children were tied down and beaten by her ISIS 'owner' during months of abuse (file picture)
'During our stay with Abu Saif and his original family, he and his wife and mother-in-law tortured us countless times both physically and psychologically.'
Sevi then said she and her children were sold to a Tunisian insurgent who 'tied them under the searing sun and beat them for no reason' according to Ahlul Bayt.
Her previous 'owners' didn't give Sevi or her children enough food and encouraged her son to join ISIS and become a 'lion of the Caliphate.'
After they were taken from her village of Telbanat, near Sinjar, Sevi said they did not know what had happened to the men in her village.
Sevi then said she and her children were sold to a Tunisian insurgent who 'tied them under the searing sun and beat them for no reason' according to Ahlul Bayt (file photo of Yazidi women)
'They [IS militants] later separated women and children and took them inside the village, while men were kept out; no one knows what happened to men after that day,' Sevi said.
'We were later transported to Sinjar, where the terrorists had rounded up thousands of Yazidi women, young girls and children,' she said.
She was then moved to a prison where they stayed for 40 days. She said ISIS militants tried to separate the young girls from their families - including her 11-year-old daughter who she was able to keep by her side by saying she was ill.
Europe's plans to deal with the migration crisis include increasing the limits for legal immigration from Africa with easier visa access for certain countries.
Five African states - Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Niger and Ethiopia - will be targeted to curtail migration and incentives may also include preferential trade terms.
The European Commission today proposed a revamp of its Blue Card work permit scheme to expand legal immigration options for skilled workers and support for EU governments to give migrants training and other help to integrate in Europe.
Europe's plans to deal with the migration crisis include increasing the limits for legal immigration from Africa with easier visa access for certain countries. Pictured: African migrants on a boat
The aim is to reduce the incentive for people to try to smuggle themselves into the continent illegally on flimsy boats and put their lives at risk.
'If we ever want to compete with the US Green Card, we need an EU Blue Card that deserves the same merit,' Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said.
The proposals will require detailed discussion and approval by EU governments and the parliament.
Speaking in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Manfred Weber, conservative leader of the biggest party in the EU legislature, welcomed a move to 'speak clearly' to Africa and warned of 'trade consequences' for states that do not cooperate.
But he cautioned on expanding the Blue Card scheme, saying the priority must be jobs for Europeans before immigrants.
One focus of EU pressure will be the reluctance of some African governments to take back their own citizens deported from Europe.
The Commission said some eight billion euros was on offer over five years for aid targeted at giving Africans more incentive to stay at home, though much of that must come from EU states and much is money already promised.
'We propose to use a mix of positive and negative incentives to reward those third countries willing to cooperate effectively with us and to ensure that there are consequences for those who do not,' Frans Timmermans, the deputy head of the European Commission, told the chamber.
Timmermans noted the deal he has negotiated with Turkey to staunch flows of Syrian refugees and other migrants to Greek islands - a deal achieved by offering Ankara financial and diplomatic concessions and criticised by human rights groups - and said there was a need to curb renewed crossings from North Africa to Italy, which have claimed nearly 3,000 lives.
Five African states - Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Niger and Ethiopia - will be targeted to curtail migration and incentives may include preferential trade terms and easier visa access to the EU. Pictured: A sinking migrants' boat near Libya
'We must do the same that we have done on the route through the Aegean also in the southern Mediterranean to find solutions, sustainable solutions,' the former Dutch foreign minister said.
His Commission colleague, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, dismissed a suggestion from Libya's fragile, U.N.-backed government that Brussels might pressure Libyans to take back migrants who set sail from its coast, as Turkey now does.
Europe's plan was to get irregular migrants from Africa who do not qualify for asylum back to their home countries, she said, noting that few Libyans themselves make the crossing.
Jordan and Lebanon in the Middle East, the main hosts along with Turkey of Syrian refugees, would be priority recipients of help under the EU's new migration 'compacts', which the Commission said aimed to leverage EU funding with private investments that could reach tens of billions of euros.
This is believed to be part of a missile that blasted doomed flight MH17 out of the sky.
The part was recovered from the crash site by prosecutors conducting the criminal investigation into the downing of the aircraft in July 2014.
The finding adds further weight to the Dutch inquiry that said the Malaysia Airlines jet was shot down by a BUK missile fired from rebel-held Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.
Scroll down for video
More evidence: Part of a BUK missile that was recovered from the crash site of MH17 in Ukraine
Destruction: Experts believe the Malaysian Airlines flight was blasted out of the air by a BUK missile. Pictured, the scene of the crash in July 2014
The image published in a report by the international Joint Investigation Team (JIT) shows a venturi tube, which is located on the underside of the missile and emits gases similar to a car exhaust.
While a report published by the Dutch Safety Board last October concluded a BUK missile was definitely responsible, prosecutors said they need more evidence.
In the extensive prosecution report, team leader Gerrit Thiry highlights a range of problems, specifically highlighting the conflicting version of events being presented by Russia and Ukraine.
He writes: 'Everything we investigate is a point of discussion. We have nothing of which we know for sure whether it is true and genuine.
'After all, we are dealing with a conflict involving several parties. These parties may have an interest in manipulating or contaminating material.
'Therefore, we continuously ask ourselves what could be the interest of a source to distribute certain information.'
Probe: A Buk missile reference model is examined by prosecutors conducting the criminal investigation
Sensitive: Prosecutors are struggling to find accurate information surrounding the missiles, model pictured
Mr Thiry said one of the primary questions being considered is whether the missile was launched intentionally, or whether it was possible it could have been fired by accident.
This is a difficult task for several reasons, namely because it is almost impossible for investigators to examine a BUK missile, or an impartial operating guide.
Mr Thiry continues: 'Ever since the seventies, missiles have been manufactured for war purposes and have been exported to numerous countries.
'These were the hey-days of the Cold War. Specific technical details are strictly confidential. In addition, the corresponding manuals are not freely available.'
The report comes just weeks after new satellite images emerged that placed the air missile system used to down MH17 near to Donetsk just hours before the jet was shot down.
One of Donald Trump's former bitter rivals in the Republican party blasted him for 'playing the race card' in his feud with a Hispanic federal judge and declared that while he would like to line up behind his party's presidential nominee, 'I just can't.'
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham told The New York Times on Monday that Trump's accusation of race-based bias against Judge Gonzalo Curiel 'is the most un-American thing from a politician since Joe McCarthy.'
He said that his fellow standard-bearers in the GOP who are looking for a way off the Trump train may have found it in Trump's strident, unapologetic criticism of Curiel as a partisan who refuses to be fair to him because he has advocated for a wall between the U.S. and Mexico
'If anybody was looking for an off-ramp, this is probably it,' Graham said. 'There'll come a time when the love of country will trump hatred of Hillary.'
Scroll down for video
SHOVING BACK: Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called Donald Trump's complaints with federal judge Gonzalo Curiel 'the most un-American thing from a politician since Joe McCarthy'
FAR APART: Graham (left) and Trump (right) have sparred for months on the billionaire's way to the Republican presidential nomination
Trump has hammered the diminutive Republican as a 'disgrace,' a 'nut job' and 'one of the dumbest human beings' in politics. He said last month that the South Carolinian was 'beyond rehabilitation' for refusing to get behind him.
Judge Gonzalo Curiel is overseeing a fraud lawsuit against a Trump real estate seminar company
Now Graham has his sights set on persuading other Republicans to rescind their endorsements.
'There are a lot of people who want to be loyal to the Republican party including me,' he told NBC News on Tuesday.
'But there'll come a point in time where we're gonna have to understand that it's not just about the 2016 race, it's about the future of the party.'
'And I would like to support our nominee,' he said. 'I just can't.'
Graham struck a posture nearly identical to the one House Speaker Paul Ryan adopted earlier in the day, threading the needle between criticizing a sin and condemning the sinner.
'I don't think that Donald Trump personally is a racist person ... but he is playing the race card,' he told NBC.
'TEXTBOOK DEFINITION OF A RACIST COMMENT': House Speaker Paul Ryan clobbered Trump on Tuesday morning but insisted he wasn't judging him personally only his words
And while 'every person in the Republican Party's got to make their own decision,' Graham added, 'I am going to focus on the House and Senate.'
'I am going to focus on helping my colleagues in the House and Senate 'cause I can do that enthusiastically.'
Ryan called Trump's complaints that Curiel isn't an objective judge because his Mexican heritage precludes it 'the textbook definition of a racist comment' on Tuesday morning.
But he said hours later that 'Im not saying whats in his heart because I dont know what is in his heart, and I dont think he feels that in his heart.'
It was business as usual for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders as he greeted supporters outside the San Francisco breakfast spot, the Butler and the Chef, as voters in California headed to the polls.
'I think we've got a shot,' he yelled toward reporters, who asked him about his California fate.
So far, Sanders has only signaled that the show will go on, after last night's news sparked by the Associated Press' revised delegate count that Hillary Clinton had enough pledged delegates and superdelegates to be the Democratic nominee.
Today, in a sitdown with NBC's Lester Holt, Sanders said his campaign was trying to sway the minds of the superdelegates, party insiders who get to cast a vote at this summer's Democratic National Convention.
'Yeah, we are, we're on the phone right now,' Sanders replied to Holt, who asked about the campaign's strategy.
The NBC newsman followed up with asking the Vermont senator if this plan wouldn't thwart the will of the people, as Clinton has earned more pledged delegates from all of the contests she has won.
'Defying history is what this campaign is about,' Sanders said.
Scroll down for video
It was business as usual this morning for Sen. Bernie Sanders who had a quick breakfast with supporters including former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner at San Francisco's Butler and the Chef
Outside his breakfast stop, Bernie Sanders greeted supporters and fans and hollered at the press, 'I think we've got a shot,' when asked about his fortunes in California today
Sen. Bernie Sanders has made no indication he plans to drop off - though said yesterday in a press conference that he couldn't speculate and would 'assess' the situation after today's vote totals are in
At his evening San Francisco rally, where he spoke onstage for 48 minutes after the delegate tally story broke, the Democratic hopeful never once mentioned the news.
'In case you haven't noticed there are a lot of people here tonight,' he said to the 10,484 supporters gathered there, as fog hugged the Golden Gate Bridge behind Sanders' head.
He gave his stump speech like many times before, promising the crowd Republican Donald Trump would never become president with Bernie Sanders as the Democratic nominee.
Earlier this morning, Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver went on CNN and pointed fingers at the media, suggesting that last night's projection would suppress voter turnout for his candidate today.
'Let those people vote and decide before the media tells them that the race is over,' Weaver said.
'What's the point of suppressing voter turnout in six states across the country to have a quick news hit that could have easily been done tonight?'
Weaver said that there was 'zero chance' the campaign would not continue after Wednesday.
Sanders will fly back to Burlington, Vermont tomorrow morning.
Bernie Sanders got a little campaigning in this morning in San Francisco before jetting off to Los Angeles for a rally in Santa Monica tonight
Fans of Sen. Bernie Sanders - many of whom said he should stay in the race until the convention - caught wind that he was breakfasting nearby and came out to see him
'Bernie Sanders said he's going to be in this until all the voting is done,' Weaver continued. 'We already have a rally tentatively scheduled for Sunday in Washington, D.C., so the senator will be going and campaigning down in the District of Columbia.'
'Why should the people of the District of Columbia be deprived of voting?' Weaver asked. 'It's a little ironic given they've been deprived of voting for a member of Congress.'
Democrats in Washington, D.C., are voting in a closed primary on June 14 and because the city is not a state only have a non-voting member of congress.
'So he intends to campaign in the District of Columbia and obviously, you know, we are always assessing the campaign and what's the best way to advance the campaign and secure the nomination,' Weaver said.
Advertisement
As NATO carried out its biggest exercise in Poland since the end of communism in 1989 - complete with a display of thousands of paratroopers - it emerged that Russian troops have been deployed to the Ukrainian border.
Scores of U.S. troops and then military vehicles parachuted into a spacious, grassy training area on the outskirts of the central city of Torun.
The force's mission was to secure a bridge on the Vistula River as part of the Polish-led Anakonda-16 exercise that involves about 31,000 troops and runs through mid-June.
Nineteen NATO member nations and five partner nations are contributing troops to the exercise that will train and test their swift joint reaction to threats on land, sea and in the air.
Scroll down for video
Scores of U.S. troops and military vehicles parachuted into a spacious, grassy training area on the outskirts of the central city of Torun
Camouflage: Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division General Richard D. Clarke, left, runs after jumping during a multi-national jump
M3 Amphibious Rigs from 23 Amphibious Engineer Troop and Pionierbattalion 130 of the German Bundeswehr ferried some of the US 2nd Cavalry Regiment across the River Vistula in Poland as part of the biggest exercise in Poland since the end of communism in 1989
But 750 miles due east in the Russian town of Klintzy on the northern Ukrainian border, President Putin is building a new army base, the latest in a chain of new military sites along what the Kremlin sees as its frontline in a growing confrontation with NATO.
The defence ministry has not acknowledged the deployment of troops to Klintsy, which usually serves as a stop for truck drivers travelling between Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
However, a town council official said Klintsy had been chosen as the site of a newly-formed division, and that so far about 240 soldiers had arrived. 'What's to hide? That they've come? They've arrived,' said council deputy chairman Oleg Kletny. 'They're going to be garrisoned here.'
When completed, the base will be the latest component in a build-up of forces along a line running from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south.
In a complex operation that was precisely planned and timed, troops of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division flew directly from their U.S. base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina - their Boeing C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft were refueled in midair
The Western alliance, which says it's responding to Russian military intervention in Ukraine, was this week staging one of its biggest exercises in eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War
On the western side of the line, NATO has been rotating troops and equipment in greater numbers to members states that were part of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact during the Cold War.
The Western alliance, which says it's responding to Russian military intervention in Ukraine, was this week staging one of its biggest exercises in eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War.
In a complex operation that was precisely planned and timed, troops of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division flew directly from their U.S. base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Their Boeing C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft were refueled in midair. The British troops flew from a NATO base in Ramstein, Germany, while the Poles arrived from their base in Krakow, in southern Poland.
The exercise 'confirmed that we can count on our friends who are capable of flying over the Atlantic to be here with us in a matter of hours,' said Polish Gen. Miroslaw Rozanski, deputy commander of the exercise. 'We can look into the future with calm. We have good allies and good partners.'
The British troops flew from a NATO base in Ramstein, Germany, while the Poles arrived from their base in Krakow, in southern Poland
British Airborne forces joined NATO counterparts in mass parachute jumps and air assault operations as part of a simulated mission to restore stability to a troubled region as part in Exercise Swift Response
Russia considers NATO troops' presence close to its border as a security threat. President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Tuesday in Moscow that the military exercise in Poland 'does not contribute to the atmosphere of trust and security on the continent.'
Poland and other nations in the region, as well as NATO leaders, say that any military presence or exercises are purely defensive and deterrent measures.
The drill is being held just weeks before NATO holds a crucial summit in Warsaw expected to decide that significant numbers of NATO troops and equipment will be based in Poland and in the Baltic states.
US troop's heavy equipment lands with parachutes at the military compound near Torun, central Poland
But 750 miles due east in the Russian town of Klintzy on the northern Ukrainian border, President Putin is building a new army base, the latest in a chain of new military sites along what the Kremlin sees as its frontline in a growing confrontation with NATO
Russia considers NATO troops' presence close to its border as a security threat. President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Tuesday in Moscow that the military exercise in Poland 'does not contribute to the atmosphere of trust and security on the continent'
Donald Trump tried dramatically on Tuesday to push back against claims that his objection to a Hispanic federal judge overseeing a lawsuit against him hasn't treated him fairly.
'It is unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage,' the billionaire said. 'I am friends with and employ thousands of people of Mexican and Hispanic descent.'
'The American justice system relies on fair and impartial judges. All judges should be held to that standard,' he said.
'I do not feel that ones heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial.'
SCROLL DOWN FOR TRUMP'S COMPLETE STATEMENT
NO APOLOGIES: Donald Trump doubled down on his fight with Mexican-American judge Gonzalo Curiel on Tuesday, saying he was 'misconstrued' as a racist for saying the jurist's ethnicity drove him to issue unfair rulings in an anti-Trump fraud lawsuit that he supervises
DOUBLE-WHAMMY: As Trump found himself painted into a corner on Tuesday, Illinois Sen. mark Kirk issued a blistering statement distancing himself from the GOP's presumptive presidential nominee
'Due to what I believe are unfair and mistaken rulings in this case and the Judges reported associations with certain professional organizations,' Trump insisted, 'questions were raised regarding the Obama appointed Judges impartiality.'
'It is a fair question. I hope it is not the case.'
On June 2 Trump told The Wall Street Journal that the judge had an 'absolute conflict' in hearing his case because of his own views on topics that affected Hispanics.
'I'm building a wall. It's an inherent conflict of interest,' Trump said then.
Trump's Hail Mary pass on Tuesday came as Californians, New Jerseyans and other Americans were voting in Republican primaries, and just minutes after a U.S. senator became the most high-profile Republican to rescind his endorsement.
'It is absolutely essential that we are guided by a commander-in-chief with a responsible and proper temperament, discretion and judgment,' Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk said in a statement of his own.
Kirk is running for re-election in a blue state where claims of enabling a racist politician could be politically toxic.
'Our President must be fit to command the most powerful military the world has ever seen, including an arsenal of thousands of nuclear weapons. After much consideration, I have concluded that Donald Trump has not demonstrated the temperament necessary to assume the greatest office in the world.'
UNFAIR? Trump has said for the last ten days, beginning at a May 27 rally in San Diego, that the judge in his civil case has been unfairly targeting him
WHAT ENDORSEMENT? Kirk yanked his support for Trump just minutes before the billionaire tried to reposition himself in the national outrage over Judge Curiel and the 'Trump University' case
An interview with NBC-TV5 in Chicago asked Kirk in March if he would support Trump, should he emerge as the Republican Party's presidential standard bearer.
'If he was the nominee, I certainly would,' Kirk said then.
Trump's statement did not include an apology or an attempt to distance himself from his remarks, which began with a 12-minute diatribe against Judge Gonzalo Curiel during a May 27 speech in San Diego.
His comments then included claims that the Mexican-American Curie, a Barack Obama appointee, has issued a series of rulings against him because of the GOP candidate's positions on illegal immigration and border security.
The case concerns Trump University, a defunct series of real estate business seminars Trump owns. Thousands of former students are suing him in a class-action that Curiel green-lighted this year despite the lead plaintiff's request to abandon the case.
Your Honor, if it is all right, for the majority of this statement I would like to address the defendant directly.
You don't know me, but you've been inside me, and that's why we're here today.
On January 17th, 2015, it was a quiet Saturday night at home. My dad made some dinner and I sat at the table with my younger sister who was visiting for the weekend. I was working full time and it was approaching my bed time. I planned to stay at home by myself, watch some TV and read, while she went to a party with her friends. Then, I decided it was my only night with her, I had nothing better to do, so why not, there's a dumb party ten minutes from my house, I would go, dance like a fool, and embarrass my younger sister. On the way there, I joked that undergrad guys would have braces. My sister teased me for wearing a beige cardigan to a frat party like a librarian. I called myself 'big mama', because I knew I'd be the oldest one there. I made silly faces, let my guard down, and drank liquor too fast not factoring in that my tolerance had significantly lowered since college.
You don't know me, but you've been inside me, and that's why we're here today Excerpt from Stanford rape victim statement
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 don't have words for that feeling. In order to keep breathing, I thought maybe the policemen used scissors to cut them off for evidence.
'You don't know me, but you've been inside me, and that's why we're here today.'
Then, I felt pine needles scratching the back of my neck and started pulling them out my hair. I thought maybe, the pine needles had fallen from a tree onto my head. My brain was talking my gut into not collapsing. Because my gut was saying, help me, help me.
I shuffled from room to room with a blanket wrapped around me, pine needles trailing behind me, I left a little pile in every room I sat in. I was asked to sign papers that said 'Rape Victim' and I thought something has really happened. My clothes were confiscated and I stood naked while the nurses held a ruler to various abrasions on my body and photographed them. The three of us worked to comb the pine needles out of my hair, six hands to fill one paper bag. To calm me down, they said it's just the flora and fauna, flora and fauna. I had multiple swabs inserted into my vagina and anus, needles for shots, pills, had a Nikon pointed right into my spread legs. I had long, pointed beaks inside me and had my vagina smeared with cold, blue paint to check for abrasions.
After a few hours of this, they let me shower. 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, I didn't 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.
On that morning, all that I was told was that I had been found behind a dumpster, potentially penetrated by a stranger, and that I should get retested for HIV because results don't always show up immediately. But for now, I should go home and get back to my normal life. Imagine stepping back into the world with only that information. They gave me huge hugs and I walked out of the hospital into the parking lot wearing the new sweatshirt and sweatpants they provided me, as they had only allowed me to keep my necklace and shoes.
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, I didn't know what had been in it, if it had been contaminated, who had touched it.
My sister picked me up, face wet from tears and contorted in anguish. Instinctively and immediately, I wanted to take away her pain. I smiled at her, I told her to look at me, I'm right here, I'm okay, everything's okay, I'm right here. My hair is washed and clean, they gave me the strangest shampoo, calm down, and look at me. Look at these funny new sweatpants and sweatshirt, I look like a P.E. teacher, let's go home, let's eat something. She did not know that beneath my sweatsuit, I had scratches and bandages on my skin, my vagina was sore and had become a strange, dark color from all the prodding, my underwear was missing, and I felt too empty to continue to speak. That I was also afraid, that I was also devastated. That day we drove home and for hours in silence my younger sister held me.
My boyfriend did not know what happened, but called that day and said, 'I was really worried about you last night, you scared me, did you make it home okay?' I was horrified. That's when I learned I had called him that night in my blackout, left an incomprehensible voicemail, that we had also spoken on the phone, but I was slurring so heavily he was scared for me, that he repeatedly told me to go find [my sister]. Again, he asked me, 'What happened last night? Did you make it home okay?' I said yes, and hung up to cry.
I was not ready to tell my boyfriend or parents that actually, I may have been raped behind a dumpster, but I don't 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 wasn't real.
I tried to push it out of my mind, but it was so heavy I didn't talk, I didn't eat, I didn't sleep, I didn't interact with anyone. After work, I would drive to a secluded place to scream. I didn't talk, I didn't eat, I didn't sleep, I didn't interact with anyone, and I became isolated from the ones I loved most. For over a week after the incident, I didn't get any calls or updates about that night or what happened to me. The only symbol that proved that it hadn't just been a bad dream, was the sweatshirt from the hospital in my drawer.
One day, I was at work, scrolling through the news on my phone, and came across an article. In it, I read and learned for the first time about how I was found unconscious, with my hair disheveled, long necklace wrapped around my neck, bra pulled out of my dress, dress pulled off over my shoulders and pulled up above my waist, that I was butt naked all the way down to my boots, legs spread apart, and had been penetrated by a foreign object by someone I did not recognize. 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. That's when the pine needles in my hair made sense, they didn't fall from a tree. He had taken off my underwear, his fingers had been inside of me. I don't even know this person. I still don't know this person. When I read about me like this, I said, this can't be me, this can't be me. I could not digest or accept any of this information. I could not imagine my family having to read about this online. I kept reading. In the next paragraph, 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.
'And then, at the bottom of the article, after I learned about the graphic details of my own sexual assault, the article listed his swimming times.'
The night the news came out I sat my parents down and told them that I had been assaulted, to not look at the news because it's upsetting, just know that I'm okay, I'm right here, and I'm okay. But halfway through telling them, my mom had to hold me because I could no longer stand up.
It's like if you were to read an article where a car was hit, and found dented, in a ditch. But maybe the car enjoyed being hit. Maybe the other car didn't mean to hit it, just bump it up a little bit. Cars get in accidents all the time, people aren't always paying attention, can we really say who's at fault.
And then, at the bottom of the article, after I learned about the graphic details of my own sexual assault, the article listed his swimming times. She was found breathing, unresponsive with her underwear six inches away from her bare stomach curled in fetal position. By the way, he's really good at swimming. Throw in my mile time if that's what we're doing. I'm good at cooking, put that in there, I think the end is where you list your extracurriculars to cancel out all the sickening things that've happened.
The night the news came out I sat my parents down and told them that I had been assaulted, to not look at the news because it's upsetting, just know that I'm okay, I'm right here, and I'm okay. But halfway through telling them, my mom had to hold me because I could no longer stand up.
The night after it happened, he said he didn't know my name, said he wouldn't be able to identify my face in a lineup, didn't mention any dialogue between us, no words, only dancing and kissing. Dancing is a cute term; was it snapping fingers and twirling dancing, or just bodies grinding up against each other in a crowded room? I wonder if kissing was just faces sloppily pressed up against each other? 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 didn't 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 hadn't gone, then this never would've happened. But then I realized, it would have happened, just to somebody else. You were about to enter four years of access to drunk girls and parties, and if this is the foot you started off on, then it is right you did not continue. The night after it happened, he said he thought I liked it because I rubbed his back. A back rub.
Never mentioned me voicing consent, never mentioned us even speaking, a back rub. One more time, in public news, I learned that my ass and vagina were completely exposed outside, my breasts had been groped, fingers had been jabbed inside me along with pine needles and debris, my bare skin and head had been rubbing against the ground behind a dumpster, while an erect freshman was humping my half naked, unconscious body. But I don't remember, so how do I prove I didn't like it.
I thought there's no way this is going to trial; there were witnesses, there was dirt in my body, he ran but was caught. He's going to settle, formally apologize, and we will both move on. Instead, I was told he hired a powerful attorney, expert witnesses, private investigators who were going to try and find details about my personal life to use against me, find loopholes in my story to invalidate me and my sister, in order to show that this sexual assault was in fact a misunderstanding. That he was going to go to any length to convince the world he had simply been confused.
I was not only told that I was assaulted, I was told that because I couldn't remember, I technically could not prove it was unwanted. And that distorted me, damaged me, almost broke me. It is the saddest type of confusion to be told I was assaulted and nearly raped, blatantly out in the open, but we don't know if it counts as assault yet. I had to fight for an entire year to make it clear that there was something wrong with this situation.
'I was pummeled with narrowed, pointed questions that dissected my personal life, love life, past life, family life, inane questions, accumulating trivial details to try and find an excuse for this guy who had me half naked before even bothering to ask for my name. '
His attorney constantly reminded the jury, the only one we can believe is Brock, because she doesn't remember. That helplessness was traumatizing.
When I was told to be prepared in case we didn't win, I said, I can't prepare for that. He was guilty the minute I woke up. No one can talk me out of the hurt he caused me. Worst of all, I was warned, because he now knows you don't remember, he is going to get to write the script. He can say whatever he wants and no one can contest it. I had no power, I had no voice, I was defenseless. My memory loss would be used against me. My testimony was weak, was incomplete, and I was made to believe that perhaps, I am not enough to win this. His attorney constantly reminded the jury, the only one we can believe is Brock, because she doesn't remember. That helplessness was traumatizing.
Instead of taking time to heal, I was taking time to recall the night in excruciating detail, in order to prepare for the attorney's questions that would be invasive, aggressive, and designed to steer me off course, to contradict myself, my sister, phrased in ways to manipulate my answers. Instead of his attorney saying, Did you notice any abrasions? He said, You didn't notice any abrasions, right? This was a game of strategy, as if I could be tricked out of my own worth. The sexual assault had been so clear, but instead, here I was at the trial, answering questions like:
How old are you? How much do you weigh? What did you eat that day? Well what did you have for dinner? Who made dinner? Did you drink with dinner? No, not even water? When did you drink? How much did you drink? What container did you drink out of? Who gave you the drink? How much do you usually drink? Who dropped you off at this party? At what time? But where exactly? What were you wearing? Why were you going to this party? What' d you do when you got there? Are you sure you did that? But what time did you do that? What does this text mean? Who were you texting? When did you urinate? Where did you urinate? With whom did you urinate outside? Was your phone on silent when your sister called? Do you remember silencing it? Really because on page 53 I'd like to point out that you said it was set to ring. Did you drink in college? You said you were a party animal? How many times did you black out? Did you party at frats? Are you serious with your boyfriend? Are you sexually active with him? When did you start dating? Would you ever cheat? Do you have a history of cheating? What do you mean when you said you wanted to reward him? Do you remember what time you woke up? Were you wearing your cardigan? What color was your cardigan? Do you remember any more from that night? No? Okay, well, we'll let Brock fill it in.
I was pummeled with narrowed, pointed questions that dissected my personal life, love life, past life, family life, inane questions, accumulating trivial details to try and find an excuse for this guy who had me half naked before even bothering to ask for my name. After a physical assault, I was assaulted with questions designed to attack me, to say see, her facts don't line up, she's out of her mind, she's practically an alcoholic, she probably wanted to hook up, he's like an athlete right, they were both drunk, whatever, the hospital stuff she remembers is after the fact, why take it into account, Brock has a lot at stake so he's having a really hard time right now.
And then it came time for him to testify and I learned what it meant to be revictimized. I want to remind you, the night after it happened he said he never planned to take me back to his dorm. He said he didn't know why we were behind a dumpster. He got up to leave because he wasn't feeling well when he was suddenly chased and attacked. Then he learned I could not remember.
So one year later, as predicted, a new dialogue emerged. Brock had a strange new story, almost sounded like a poorly written young adult novel with kissing and dancing and hand holding and lovingly tumbling onto the ground, and most importantly in this new story, there was suddenly consent. One year after the incident, he remembered, oh yeah, by the way she actually said yes, to everything, so.
He said he had asked if I wanted to dance. Apparently I said yes. He'd asked if I wanted to go to his dorm, I said yes. Then he asked if he could finger me and I said yes. Most guys don't ask, can I finger you? Usually there's a natural progression of things, unfolding consensually, not a Q and A. But apparently I granted full permission. He's in the clear. Even in his story, I only said a total of three words, yes yes yes, before he had me half naked on the ground. Future reference, if you are confused about whether a girl can consent, see if she can speak an entire sentence. You couldn't even do that. Just one coherent string of words. Where was the confusion? This is common sense, human decency.
According to him, the only reason we were on the ground was because I fell down. Note; if a girl falls down help her get back up. If she is too drunk to even walk and falls down, do not mount her, hump her, take off her underwear, and insert your hand inside her vagina. If a girl falls down help her up. If she is wearing a cardigan over her dress don't take it off so that you can touch her breasts. Maybe she is cold, maybe that's why she wore the cardigan.
According to him, the only reason we were on the ground was because I fell down. Note; if a girl falls down help her get back up. If she is too drunk to even walk and falls down, do not mount her, hump her, take off her underwear, and insert your hand inside her vagina.
Next in the story, two Swedes on bicycles approached you and you ran. When they tackled you why didn't say, 'Stop! Everything's okay, go ask her, she's right over there, she'll tell you.' I mean you had just asked for my consent, right? I was awake, right? When the policeman arrived and interviewed the evil Swede who tackled you, he was crying so hard he couldn't speak because of what he'd seen.
Your attorney has repeatedly pointed out, well we don't know exactly when she became unconscious. And you're right, maybe I was still fluttering my eyes and wasn't completely limp yet. That was never the point. I was too drunk to speak English, too drunk to consent way before I was on the ground. I should have never been touched in the first place. Brock stated, 'At no time did I see that she was not responding. If at any time I thought she was not responding, I would have stopped immediately.' Here's the thing; if your plan was to stop only when I became unresponsive, then you still do not understand. You didn't even stop when I was unconscious anyway! Someone else stopped you. Two guys on bikes noticed I wasn't moving in the dark and had to tackle you. How did you not notice while on top of me?
You said, you would have stopped and gotten help. You say that, but I want you to explain how you would've helped me, step by step, walk me through this. I want to know, if those evil Swedes had not found me, how the night would have played out. I am asking you; Would you have pulled my underwear back on over my boots? Untangled the necklace wrapped around my neck? Closed my legs, covered me? Pick the pine needles from my hair? Asked if the abrasions on my neck and bottom hurt? Would you then go find a friend and say, Will you help me get her somewhere warm and soft? I don't sleep when I think about the way it could have gone if the two guys had never come. What would have happened to me? That's what you'll never have a good answer for, that's what you can't explain even after a year.
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 or after I came?
To sit under oath and inform all of us, that yes I wanted it, yes I permitted it, and that you are the true victim attacked by Swedes for reasons unknown to you is appalling, is demented, is selfish, is damaging. It is enough to be suffering. It is another thing to have someone ruthlessly working to diminish the gravity of validity of this suffering.
My family had to see pictures of my head strapped to a gurney full of pine needles, of my body in the dirt with my eyes closed, hair messed up, limbs bent, and dress hiked up. And even after that, my family had to listen to your attorney say the pictures were after the fact, we can dismiss them. To say, yes her nurse confirmed there was redness and abrasions inside her, significant trauma to her genitalia, but that's what happens when you finger someone, and he's already admitted to that. To listen to your attorney attempt to paint a picture of me, the face of girls gone wild, as if somehow that would make it so that I had this coming for me. To listen to him say I sounded drunk on the phone because I'm silly and that's my goofy way of speaking. To point out that in the voicemail, I said I would reward my boyfriend and we all know what I was thinking. I assure you my rewards program is non transferable, especially to any nameless man that approaches me.
'This is not a story of another drunk college hookup with poor decision making. Assault is not an accident.'
He has done irreversible damage to me and my family during the trial and we have sat silently, listening to him shape the evening. But in the end, his unsupported statements and his attorney's twisted logic fooled no one. The truth won, the truth spoke for itself.
Alcohol is not an excuse. Is it a factor? Yes. But alcohol was not the one who stripped me, fingered me, had my head dragging against the ground, with me almost fully naked. Having too much to drink was an amateur mistake that I admit to, but it is not criminal.
You are guilty. Twelve jurors convicted you guilty of three felony counts beyond reasonable doubt, that's twelve votes per count, thirty six yeses confirming guilt, that's one hundred percent, unanimous guilt. And I thought finally it is over, finally he will own up to what he did, truly apologize, we will both move on and get better. Then I read your statement.
If you are hoping that one of my organs will implode from anger and I will die, I'm almost there. You are very close. This is not a story of another drunk college hookup with poor decision making. Assault is not an accident. Somehow, you still don't get it. Somehow, you still sound confused. I will now read portions of the defendant's statement and respond to them.
You said, Being drunk I just couldn't make the best decisions and neither could she.
Alcohol is not an excuse. Is it a factor? Yes. But alcohol was not the one who stripped me, fingered me, had my head dragging against the ground, with me almost fully naked. Having too much to drink was an amateur mistake that I admit to, but it is not criminal. Everyone in this room has had a night where they have regretted drinking too much, or knows someone close to them who has had a night where they have regretted drinking too much. Regretting drinking is not the same as regretting sexual assault. We were both drunk, the difference is I did not take off your pants and underwear, touch you inappropriately, and run away. That's the difference.
You said, If I wanted to get to know her, I should have asked for her number, rather than asking her to go back to my room.
I'm not mad because you didn't ask for my number. Even if you did know me, I would not want to be in this situation. My own boyfriend knows me, but if he asked to finger me behind a dumpster, I would slap him. No girl wants to be in this situation. Nobody. I don't care if you know their phone number or not.
You said, I stupidly thought it was okay for me to do what everyone around me was doing, which was drinking. I was wrong.
Again, you were not wrong for drinking. Everyone around you was not sexually assaulting me. You were wrong for doing what nobody else was doing, which was pushing your erect dick in your pants against my naked, defenseless body concealed in a dark area, where partygoers could no longer see or protect me, and my own sister could not find me. Sipping fireball is not your crime. Peeling off and discarding my underwear like a candy wrapper to insert your finger into my body, is where you went wrong. Why am I still explaining this.
You said, During the trial I didn't want to victimize her at all. That was just my attorney and his way of approaching the case.
Your attorney is not your scapegoat, he represents you. Did your attorney say some incredulously infuriating, degrading things? Absolutely. He said you had an erection, because it was cold.
You said, you are in the process of establishing a program for high school and college students in which you speak about your experience to 'speak out against the college campus drinking culture and the sexual promiscuity that goes along with that.'
Your damage was concrete; stripped of titles, degrees, enrollment. My damage was internal, unseen, I carry it with me. You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today.
Campus drinking culture. That's what we're speaking out against? You think that's what I've spent the past year fighting for? Not awareness about campus sexual assault, or rape, or learning to recognize consent. Campus drinking culture. Down with Jack Daniels. Down with Skyy Vodka. If you want talk to people about drinking go to an AA meeting. You realize, having a drinking problem is different than drinking and then forcefully trying to have sex with someone? Show men how to respect women, not how to drink less.
Drinking culture and the sexual promiscuity that goes along with that. Goes along with that, like a side effect, like fries on the side of your order. Where does promiscuity even come into play? I don't see headlines that read, Brock Turner, Guilty of drinking too much and the sexual promiscuity that goes along with that. Campus Sexual Assault. There's your first powerpoint slide. Rest assured, if you fail to fix the topic of your talk, I will follow you to every school you go to and give a follow up presentation.
Lastly you said, I want to show people that one night of drinking can ruin a life.
A life, one life, yours, you forgot about mine. Let me rephrase for you, I want to show people that one night of drinking can ruin two lives. You and me. You are the cause, I am the effect. You have dragged me through this hell with you, dipped me back into that night again and again. You knocked down both our towers, I collapsed at the same time you did. If you think I was spared, came out unscathed, that today I ride off into sunset, while you suffer the greatest blow, you are mistaken. Nobody wins. We have all been devastated, we have all been trying to find some meaning in all of this suffering. Your damage was concrete; stripped of titles, degrees, enrollment. My damage was internal, unseen, I carry it with me. You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today.
See one thing we have in common is that we were both unable to get up in the morning. I am no stranger to suffering. You made me a victim. In newspapers my name was 'unconscious intoxicated woman', ten syllables, and nothing more than that. For a while, I believed that that was all I was. I had to force myself to relearn my real name, my identity. To relearn that this is not all that I am. That I am not just a drunk victim at a frat party found behind a dumpster, while you are the All American swimmer at a top university, innocent until proven guilty, with so much at stake. I am a human being who has been irreversibly hurt, my life was put on hold for over a year, waiting to figure out if I was worth something.
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. The isolation at times was unbearable. You cannot give me back the life I had before that night either. While you worry about your shattered reputation, I refrigerated spoons every night so when I woke up, and my eyes were puffy from crying, I would hold the spoons to my eyes to lessen the swelling so that I could see. I showed up an hour late to work every morning, excused myself to cry in the stairwells, I can tell you all the best places in that building to cry where no one can hear you. The pain became so bad that I had to explain the private details to my boss to let her know why I was leaving. I needed time because continuing day to day was not possible. I used my savings to go as far away as I could possibly be. I did not return to work full time as I knew I'd have to take weeks off in the future for the hearing and trial, that were constantly being rescheduled. My life was put on hold for over a year, my structure had collapsed.
I can't sleep alone at night without having a light on, like a five year old, because I have nightmares of being touched where I cannot wake up, I did this thing where I waited until the sun came up and I felt safe enough to sleep. For three months, I went to bed at six o'clock in the morning.
I can't sleep alone at night without having a light on, like a five year old, because I have nightmares of being touched where I cannot wake up, I did this thing where I waited until the sun came up and I felt safe enough to sleep. For three months, I went to bed at six o'clock in the morning.
I used to pride myself on my independence, now I am afraid to go on walks in the evening, to attend social events with drinking among friends where I should be comfortable being. I have become a little barnacle always needing to be at someone's side, to have my boyfriend standing next to me, sleeping beside me, protecting me. It is embarrassing how feeble I feel, how timidly I move through life, always guarded, ready to defend myself, ready to be angry.
You have no idea how hard I have worked to rebuild parts of me that are still weak. It took me eight months to even talk about what happened. I could no longer connect with friends, with everyone around me. I would scream at my boyfriend, my own family whenever they brought this up. You never let me forget what happened to me. At the of end of the hearing, the trial, I was too tired to speak. I would leave drained, silent. I would go home turn off my phone and for days I would not speak. You bought me a ticket to a planet where I lived by myself. Every time a new article come out, I lived with the paranoia that my entire hometown would find out and know me as the girl who got assaulted. I didn't want anyone's pity and am still learning to accept victim as part of my identity. You made my own hometown an uncomfortable place to be.
You cannot give me back my sleepless nights. The way I have broken down sobbing uncontrollably if I'm watching a movie and a woman is harmed, to say it lightly, this experience has expanded my empathy for other victims. I have lost weight from stress, when people would comment I told them I've been running a lot lately. There are times I did not want to be touched. I have to relearn that I am not fragile, I am capable, I am wholesome, not just livid and weak.
When I see my younger sister hurting, when she is unable to keep up in school, when she is deprived of joy, when she is not sleeping, when she is crying so hard on the phone she is barely breathing, telling me over and over again she is sorry for leaving me alone that night, sorry sorry sorry, when she feels more guilt than you, then I do not forgive you. That night I had called her to try and find her, but you found me first. Your attorney's closing statement began, '[Her sister] said she was fine and who knows her better than her sister.' You tried to use my own sister against me? Your points of attack were so weak, so low, it was almost embarrassing. You do not touch her.
You should have never done this to me. Secondly, you should have never made me fight so long to tell you, you should have never done this to me. But here we are. The damage is done, no one can undo it. And now we both have a choice. We can let this destroy us, I can remain angry and hurt and you can be in denial, or we can face it head on, I accept the pain, you accept the punishment, and we move on.
Your life is not over, you have decades of years ahead to rewrite your story. The world is huge, it is so much bigger than Palo Alto and Stanford, and you will make a space for yourself in it where you can be useful and happy. But right now, you do not get to shrug your shoulders and be confused anymore. You do not get to pretend that there were no red flags. You have been convicted of violating me, intentionally, forcibly, sexually, with malicious intent, and all you can admit to is consuming alcohol. Do not talk about the sad way your life was upturned because alcohol made you do bad things. Figure out how to take responsibility for your own conduct.
I am severely disappointed and feel that he has failed to exhibit sincere remorse or responsibility for his conduct. I fully respected his right to a trial, but even after twelve jurors unanimously convicted him guilty of three felonies, all he has admitted to doing is ingesting alcohol. Someone who cannot take full accountability for his actions does not deserve a mitigating sentence.
Now to address the sentencing. When I read the probation officer's report, I was in disbelief, consumed by anger which eventually quieted down to profound sadness. My statements have been slimmed down to distortion and taken out of context. I fought hard during this trial and will not have the outcome minimized by a probation officer who attempted to evaluate my current state and my wishes in a fifteen minute conversation, the majority of which was spent answering questions I had about the legal system. The context is also important. Brock had yet to issue a statement, and I had not read his remarks.
My life has been on hold for over a year, a year of anger, anguish and uncertainty, until a jury of my peers rendered a judgment that validated the injustices I had endured. Had Brock admitted guilt and remorse and offered to settle early on, I would have considered a lighter sentence, respecting his honesty, grateful to be able to move our lives forward. Instead he took the risk of going to trial, added insult to injury and forced me to relive the hurt as details about my personal life and sexual assault were brutally dissected before the public. He pushed me and my family through a year of inexplicable, unnecessary suffering, and should face the consequences of challenging his crime, of putting my pain into question, of making us wait so long for justice.
I told the probation officer I do not want Brock to rot away in prison. I did not say he does not deserve to be behind bars. The probation officer's recommendation of a year or less in county jail is a soft timeout, a mockery of the seriousness of his assaults, an insult to me and all women. It gives the message that a stranger can be inside you without proper consent and he will receive less than what has been defined as the minimum sentence. Probation should be denied. I also told the probation officer that what I truly wanted was for Brock to get it, to understand and admit to his wrongdoing.
Unfortunately, after reading the defendant's report, I am severely disappointed and feel that he has failed to exhibit sincere remorse or responsibility for his conduct. I fully respected his right to a trial, but even after twelve jurors unanimously convicted him guilty of three felonies, all he has admitted to doing is ingesting alcohol. Someone who cannot take full accountability for his actions does not deserve a mitigating sentence. It is deeply offensive that he would try and dilute rape with a suggestion of 'promiscuity'. By definition rape is not the absence of promiscuity, rape is the absence of consent, and it perturbs me deeply that he can't even see that distinction.
The probation officer factored in that the defendant is youthful and has no prior convictions. In my opinion, he is old enough to know what he did was wrong. When you are eighteen in this country you can go to war. When you are nineteen, you are old enough to pay the consequences for attempting to rape someone. He is young, but he is old enough to know better.
As this is a first offence I can see where leniency would beckon. On the other hand, as a society, we cannot forgive everyone's first sexual assault or digital rape. It doesn't make sense. The seriousness of rape has to be communicated clearly, we should not create a culture that suggests we learn that rape is wrong through trial and error. The consequences of sexual assault needs to be severe enough that people feel enough fear to exercise good judgment even if they are drunk, severe enough to be preventative.
The probation officer weighed the fact that he has surrendered a hard earned swimming scholarship. How fast Brock swims does not lessen the severity of what happened to me, and should not lessen the severity of his punishment. If a first time offender from an underprivileged background was accused of three felonies and displayed no accountability for his actions other than drinking, what would his sentence be? The fact that Brock was an athlete at a private university should not be seen as an entitlement to leniency, but as an opportunity to send a message that sexual assault is against the law regardless of social class.
The Probation Officer has stated that this case, when compared to other crimes of similar nature, may be considered less serious due to the defendant's level of intoxication. It felt serious. That's all I'm going to say.
The probation officer factored in that the defendant is youthful and has no prior convictions. In my opinion, he is old enough to know what he did was wrong. When you are eighteen in this country you can go to war. When you are nineteen, you are old enough to pay the consequences for attempting to rape someone. He is young, but he is old enough to know better.
What has he done to demonstrate that he deserves a break? He has only apologized for drinking and has yet to define what he did to me as sexual assault, he has revictimized me continually, relentlessly. He has been found guilty of three serious felonies and it is time for him to accept the consequences of his actions. He will not be quietly excused.
He is a lifetime sex registrant. That doesn't expire. Just like what he did to me doesn't expire, doesn't just go away after a set number of years. It stays with me, it's part of my identity, it has forever changed the way I carry myself, the way I live the rest of my life.
To conclude, I want to say thank you. To everyone from the intern who made me oatmeal when I woke up at the hospital that morning, to the deputy who waited beside me, to the nurses who calmed me, to the detective who listened to me and never judged me, to my advocates who stood unwaveringly beside me, to my therapist who taught me to find courage in vulnerability, to my boss for being kind and understanding, to my incredible parents who teach me how to turn pain into strength, to my grandma who snuck chocolate into the courtroom throughout this to give to me, my friends who remind me how to be happy, to my boyfriend who is patient and loving, to my unconquerable sister who is the other half of my heart, to Alaleh, my idol, who fought tirelessly and never doubted me. Thank you to everyone involved in the trial for their time and attention. Thank you to girls across the nation that wrote cards to my DA to give to me, so many strangers who cared for me.
Most importantly, thank you to the two men who saved me, who I have yet to meet. I sleep with two bicycles that I drew taped above my bed to remind myself there are heroes in this story. That we are looking out for one another. To have known all of these people, to have felt their protection and love, is something I will never forget.
New York City's Mayor Bill de Blasio has poured more $250,000 dollars into an ad campaign urging people to use whichever bathroom reflects their gender identity.
The controversial commercials come as dozens of states, most in the South, fight the federal government's order that all Americans are free to use any bathroom.
According to the New York Post, the campaign cost $265,000.
De Blasio announced the move on Monday, describing it as the nation's first government-sponsored citywide campaign of its kind.
The posters will appear in subway cars, at bus stops, on phone booths and in both online and traditional publications.
First ad campaign of its kind: This is one of the new posters which will appear in subway cars, at bus stops, on phone booths and in both online and traditional publications in New York City. The campaign cost $265,000
'Use the restroom consistent with who you are,' one of the commercials reads. Most will appear in English and Spanish, though others will also be produced in languages including Korean, Chinese, Russian and Bengali
They feature transgender New Yorkers and encourage residents to 'look past pink and blue,' among other messages.
'Use the restroom consistent with who you are,' one reads. It will appear in English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Russian and Bengali.
In March, de Blasio signed an executive order ensuring that transgender people can use the bathroom of their choice in any city-owned building without being asked for identification by employees.
City law already allows transgender individuals to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.
'While other cities and states are legislating intolerance and taking away individuals' right to use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity, we are proudly standing with our transgender and gender non-conforming New Yorkers,' de Blasio, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Passion project: In March, de Blasio signed an executive order ensuring that transgender people can use the bathroom of their choice in any city-owned building without being asked for identification by employees
President Barack Obama's administration in May released guidance telling public schools across the United States that they must allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice.
The letter, which offered the U.S. government's interpretation of anti-discrimination law, contained the implicit threat of cutting off federal funding for schools that do not comply.
Officials from more than a dozen states have either sued or plan to sue the Obama administration, challenging the directive as unconstitutional.
If Bernie Sanders loses California tonight he'll face immediate pressure from the Democratic brass to get out of Hillary Clinton's way so she can begin her general election campaign.
The progressive senator's most ardent supporters says he shouldn't back down, though.
Sanders voters say he should take his case all the way to the convention regardless of what happens in today's election, which polling indicates is a dead heat between the Vermont senator and Hillary Clinton.
'He would be betraying his supporters if he doesn't go out swinging,' Johnny Khuu, a 20-year-old San Francisco State student said.
Scroll down for video
If Bernie Sanders loses California tonight he'll face immediate pressure from the Democratic brass to get out of Hillary Clinton's way so she can begin her general election campaign. The progressive senator's most ardent supporters are asking him not to back down, though. They believe he should take his case all the way to the convention
Sanders greets fans outside the restaurant following a breakfast with family and supporters at the Butler & the Chef bistro this morning in San Francisco. The California primary is today, where most polls have Sanders and Hillary Clinton in an even race
Dozens of Sanders supporters who told DailyMail.com over the last week that the independent senator should stay in the race until it officially ends this summer at the Democratic National Convention
'All those people who gave him $27 in donations, they didn't just give to him because they had some spare change,' Khuu said Friday he stood in line for Sanders' Fairfield, California, rally.
The college student said, 'They gave it to him because they want him to really take on these guys who have been playing the same game for 30-something years.
'I feel like he should respect those supporters who are that servant about him.'
Standing next to him, fellow rally attendee Vanessa Windish said of Sanders' chances at the convention, 'You never know.'
'It's not over until it's over, over, until the nomination is done,' Windish said.
Khuu and his friends are among dozens of Sanders supporters who told DailyMail.com over the last week that the independent senator should stay in the race until it officially ends this summer at the Democratic National Convention.
The Associated Press and national cable news networks abruptly called the race for Clinton on Monday evening based on the number of superdelegates she has in her column.
Those party officials won't make their formal recommendations until the national nominating convention at the end of July, however.
Clinton is only partway to the 2,383 delegates she needs to win as things currently stand.
Even if she beats Sanders in every one of the six states that vote today and the District of Columbia next week, she's unlikely to earn the number of pledged delegates that are apportioned to the candidates based on the popular vote that she'd need to claim the nomination outright.
Sanders is nearly three hundred pledged delegates behind the Democratic frontrunner and needs a sizable win in California, which is tied to 475 pledged delegates, to catch up.
He said Monday that he'll return to his home state of Vermont on Wednesday win or lose and 'assess' the results.
His campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, said today on CNN, that Sanders will campaign in D.C. in any case.
'We are always assessing the campaign and what's the best way to advance the campaign and secure the nomination,' he said. 'So that will be a continuing conversation among the senator and his senior staff as we go forward this week and next week.'
Sanders' supporters that spoke to DailyMail.com in California over the last week ubiquitously wanted him to go on.
'People thought he wouldn't make it this far and he has. He's doing a great job,' said Shayla Persaid, a student who waited in line with her friends beginning at 4 am last Thursday to see Sanders in Modesto.
Sanders is nearly three hundred pledged delegates behind the Democratic frontrunner and needs a sizable win in California, which is tied to 475 pledged delegates, to catch up. He said Monday that he'll return to his home state of Vermont on Wednesday win or lose and 'assess' the results
Anne Adams, a small business owner from Santa Cruz, said Sanders should absolutely keep fighting until the convention 'because it's the only way political change is going to happen.'
In Davis, Chuck Hollis, who sported a '99% love Bernie Sanders' shirt, said, 'Yes, I think he should make the pitch to the superdelegates.'
Henry Padilla, a supporter at Sanders' Santa Cruz, likewise said, 'He should struggle for it.'
Sanders spends his rallies deriding the Democratic establishment and the superdelegate process, yet those party officials are now his only route to the nomination, even if he wildly exceed expectations tonight.
Aside from the pledged delegates, 712 party elites also have a vote at the convention. Fewer than 50 are openly backing Sanders compared to the 571 AP says are in favor of Clinton.
More than 400 of them have been with Clinton since at least August, months before the first ballots were cast.
Still, Sanders wants to spend the next six weeks after the end of the primary trying to turn them.
'There's always a chance. I think he should keep going,' Paula Calzado, another student attendee of the Modesto rally said.
Moe Perez, a friend of Calzado, said if Sanders gives up on his convention plan, it 'would just give off the wrong message.'
Sitting on the ground after Sanders' early afternoon rally at the Modesto Centre Plaza with his friends, Tristen Hallam agreed.
The White House continued its endorsement dance Tuesday by signaling that President Obama could weigh in on the contentious Democratic primary as soon as the results are in from California and New Jersey.
Hillary Clinton is expected to convincingly wrap up the nomination Tuesday night with her expected delegate haul in New Jersey.
Even if she suffers the humiliation of losing to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in California, she should easily pick up enough pledged delegates to put her over the top, since California awards its delegates proportionally.
'Out of respect for their role in this process were going to withhold comment until they get the opportunity to participate and well try again tomorrow, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday.
He said Obama wanted to remain 'fair and neutral' until then, but called the president an 'important validator.'
Big news? Obama appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in 2012, but makes his first Tonight Show appearance Thursday
Obama has avoided jumping into the angry primary so far, and has gotten kudos from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for his public neutrality.
Obama reportedly phoned Sanders Sunday, though the White House wouldn't confirm anything about the call or its substance.
The White House has indicated Obama is eager to jump back on the campaign trail. Democrats are seeking the contentious primary behind them, though Sanders' camp continues to publicly make the case that unelected super delegates don't actually cast their votes until the convention, meaning the election isn't really over yet.
Clinton could soon find herself finally getting the full force of the White House behind her, with first lady Michelle Obama also entering the fray.
Bye bye Bernie: President Obama is eager to get back on the campaign trail but is waiting until voters in New Jersey and California go to the polls
First lady Michelle Obama also may be getting in on the campaign action soon
'There are Democrats and some independents and some Republicans who deeply respect the first lady and I certainly wouldnt rule out that at some point she may express a preference in the election as well,' Earnest said Tuesday when asked whether Michelle Obama would join her husband in getting into the action.
The White House is being deliberately coy about when Obama will get in on the campaign action.
'The president believes its important for the Democrats to come together at the close of the nominating process to strongly support the Democratic nominee because the stakes in the general election are very high,' Earnest said.
Asked what he meant by the end of the nominating process which is very much in dispute Earnest quipped, 'Im being intentionally vague.'
Voters in the District of Columbia apparently aren't getting the same consideration. Asked about the D.C. primary on June 14, Earnest said the president encouraged residents to 'participate' and 'make their voices heard as well,' but didn't insist the president hold off out of 'respect.'
Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon plugged the appearance Monday
On Monday, Earnest sang a similar tune. 'I don't have any news to make in terms of the timing of an endorsement, but we're going to learn more and we're going to let those voters make their voice heard before we make any additional decisions,' he said.
'After the Democratic voters and New Jersey and California weigh in tomorrow, we may have a better sense of where the race is headed,' Earnest added.
NBC News reported today that Obama had talked to Sanders over the weekend, which the Vermont senator's campaign wouldn't confirm or deny.
'I'm saying that he's spoken with the president on a number of occasions at the White House and on the telephone,' Sanders' spokesman Michael Briggs said. 'He doesn't discuss the nature of his private conversations.'
After the alleged conversation occurred, Sanders struck a slightly more conciliatory tone at his press conference Monday morning.
''Let's assess where we are after tomorrow, before we make statements based on speculation,' Sanders said.
He made a similar statement when asked about the pending endorsement.
'Again, we're speculating,' Sanders said.
Obama is set to attend a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in New York on Wednesday in Manhattan, which would make it easy to meet up with Clinton for a splashy endorsement on her home turf.
He's also expected to tape an appearance on the 'Tonight Show' with Jimmy Fallon for Thursday's show.
The show has a huge viewership among young Americans giving Obama the chance to begin the process of bringing disgruntled Sanders supporters back into the party fold.
Sanders vowed over the weekend to carry on through a 'contested convention,' even as top Democratic powerbrokers are becoming increasingly concerned that the contentious primary might continue.
Hillary Clinton would have two presidents out campaigning for her: for husband Bill and President Obama
And he opened up a new attack by bringing up donations that undemocratic foreign governments like Saudi Arabia made to the Clinton Foundation charity.
'It is extremely unlikely that Secretary Clinton will have the requisite number of pledged delegates to claim victory on Tuesday night,' Sanders said Sunday.
'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,' he said
Sanders is now arguing that even if Clinton wins the most pledged delegates, she can't get the nomination until unelected super delegates cast their ballots at the convention in July.
'Certainly somebody who claims a majority of pledged and super delegates has a strong case to make,' said Earnest.
Bernie Sanders was helped by Obama's decision to stay officially on the sidelines, though he has complained that the Democratic National Committee hasn't given him a fair shake
Obama wants to get back on the campaign trail to start making the case for the Democratic nominee, whoever she is
After weekend primary wins in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, Clinton is just 19 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to win the nomination.
That total includes Clinton's lead over Sanders of 798 super delegates, who don't technically vote until the convention.
'Having a woman president will make a great statement, a historic statement about what kind of country we are, about what we stand for,' Clinton said campaigning in California Sunday.
The New York Times reported that Obama is already in touch with Clinton's camp about where he could be useful for her. Clinton's campaign spokesman, Brian Fallon, told CNN Monday the campaign would hope to make ample use of the president on the stump.
Obama spoke about the electoral landscape at a Florida fundraiser on Friday, saying, 'I want us to run scared the whole time.'
'We have to take this election seriously,' he said. He said he spoke to his staff about how much air time Donald Trump soaks up. 'It's just constant. And celebrity and fame is such a driver in this culture that -- and everything is so contested, because people, if they want to believe something, they can go to this TV station or this website, and block everything out -- that strange things can happen in an election like this if we're not working hard, if we're not engaged, if we're not participating.'
Advertisement
Thousands of residents and volunteers flocked to Sydney's northern beaches on Tuesday evening in an attempt to save what was left of waterfront properties ravaged by storms at the weekend.
They laid over 12,000 sandbags in a huge operation that the NSW SES described as 'humbling' and one of the largest efforts they had ever seen.
It comes as it's been revealed a possible $20 million worth of property may need to be demolished along Pittwater Road in Collaroy after the homes were damaged by the wild weather.
Scroll down for video
Hundreds of volunteers laid 12,000 sandbags along the waterfront in Collaroy on Tuesday night
The sandbags were still in place after the kind high tide in Collaroy on Tuesday night
SES and rural fire service volunteers along with surf lifesavers joined forces in a last-ditch effort to save the properties
On Wednesday morning the sun was shining in the beachside suburb as remnants of the overnight effort remained
Collaroy was one of the hardest hit areas when storms ravaged the NSW east coast a the weekend
The sandbagging was an attempt to prevent and further damage to properties on the shoreline in Collaroy, many of which may need to be demolished due to the wild weather.
On Tuesday evening rural fire service and SES workers along with local lifesaving volunteers put in a last-ditch attempt to stop the kind high tide reaching the waterfront properties once again.
'If we can do everything we possibly can before the high tide tonight, this is our chance to save these properties. Just give it the best shot before the tide comes up,' SES spokeswoman Heidi Groom told the ABC.
'Basically they've packed the sandbags in along what was the exposed sand in an attempt to stabilise that sand, and as these waves come in, what we're hoping is that they will just hit the sandbags and that will prevent the sand behind from washing away.'
About $20 million worth of property was so badly devastated by the storms that battered the east coast bringing winds of 120 kilometres per hour, may have to be completely demolished, Manly Daily reported.
Other homes may only have to be partly renovated but still have hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to them.
There have also been discussions with council to build a break wall to prevent any similar destruction in the future.
The appartment foundations were damaged by the king tide and large swells from the recent storms
'If we can do everything we possibly can before the high tide tonight, this is our chance to save these properties,' SES spokeswoman Heidi Groom said
The expensive waterfront apartments were evacuated at the weekend when storms hit
About $20 million worth of property was so badly devastated by the storms it may have to be demolished
Other homes may only have to be partly renovated but still have hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to them
Earth moving equipment was brought in to help sure up the shore just down the road from the apartment
There have also been discussions with council to build a break wall to prevent any similar destruction in the future
Meanwhile Launceston in Tasmania is still on high alert as the flood emergency which has claimed the life of one woman and left another two men missing continues.
Although less than 5mm of rainfall is forecast for Tasmania's northeast on Wednesday, the flood danger is still present. The flood peak around low-lying areas of Launceston is expected at 8am on Wednesday.
The low-lying suburb of Invermay was evacuated on Tuesday, but the SES says there has been no further inundation. Residents, however, are urged to continue take care.
The Launceston Flood Authority is confident new flood levees will protect the city.
Meanwhile Launceston in Tasmania is still on high alert as the flood emergency continues
The low-lying suburb of Invermay was evacuated on Tuesday, but the SES says there has been no further inundation
Shops, homes and businesses have begun the long clean-up as police hold grave concerns for two men swept away by floodwater
'We have constructed them to a one-in-200-year flood level; the predicted level from this flood is somewhere between the one-in-50, or one-in-100,' general manager Andrew Fullard told the ABC.
Police hold grave concerns for two men who went missing during floods at Ouse and Evandale, with a search set to resume at first light on Wednesday.
An 81-year-old man was swept into the rising Ouse River while feeding sheep in his backyard on Monday, while a second man, 63, is missing after his car was swept away in Evandale near Launceston on Tuesday.
His wife was plucked to safety but rescue crews and an aerial search have been unable to find her husband.
Three suspected illegal immigrants trying to reach Britain have been stopped in the English Channel by Border Force officers.
The three migrants, all thought to be Iranian were on a small boat when they were spotted by the crew of a passing cross Channel ferry at 5.23am today.
UK Border Force officials were alerted by HM Coastguard.
A Border Force cutter was deployed and picked up the people on board who are believed to be Iranian nationals (file picture)
A Border Force cutter was deployed and picked up the people on board who are believed to be Iranian nationals.
All three were wearing life jackets.
Home Office officials confirmed the incident last night and said all three have since been transported to Dover where processing of the group is underway.
A second vessel, believed to be linked to the inflatable that got into trouble, was discovered on the beach on Sunday at Dymchurch and was seized by the authorities
The incident comes just over a week after 18 Albanians were rescued after their rigid hulled inflatable boat got into difficulties a mile off the Kent coast at Dymchurch.
Two British men rescued with them were arrested and charged with trying to bring them into the country illegally.
The financial guru accused of stabbing his prominent pediatrician wife 22 times joked around with police just hours after he called 911 to report her murder, court documents show.
Julius Reich, 62, is alleged to have stabbed Dr. Robin Goldman, 58, while she showered on January 20, in an attack likened by prosecutors to the movie 'Psycho.'
And soon after the death of his wife - whom he was divorcing - he was chatting playfully with police, telling them he was 'grieving, but in a joking mood,' according to CBS New York.
Scroll down for video
Accused: Julius Reich (center), pictured in court on Tuesday, pleaded not guilty to stabbing his wife, Dr Robin Goldman, 22 times on January 20 inside their $2.5million home in Scarsdale, New York
Joker: Reich (left) allegedly joked with officers just hours after calling 911 to report the death of Goldman (right), saying 'you're not my boyfriend' to one cop and asking if he could go to her funeral
According to the documents, Reich, a partner in a financial services company, told the officers who responded to his 911 call that his wife's death was probably a homicide.
Police found a bloody knife hidden in newspaper in the house.
The financial expert, who has denied killing his wife, later told them: 'I would like to take some of my prescription medicine for anxiety.'
Other bizarre behavior included asking whether he would be able to join the mourners at his wife's funeral and asking a cop at the police HQ, 'What do you think of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton?'
He also joked with another officer, saying 'Youre not my boyfriend, you know,' although the context for that remark was not clear.
Troy Smith, a former prosecution attorney, told CBS that he thought the prosecution's case was strong, but that Reich could mount an insanity defense.
'(Reich) has this affirmative defense, a lack of mental responsibility - essentially, that he didnt understand right from wrong,' Smith said.
Insanity: An expert told CBS that Reich - pictured in booking photos after his arrest - could mount an insanity defense by saying he doesn't know right from wrong
The prosecution alleged in January that Reich had smoked a cigarette in-between stabbing his wife and calling 911.
The documents also say a police search warrant for Reich's Upper East Side apartment focused on looking for knives of the same make as the murder weapon.
Reich was arraigned in January in White Plains on a second-degree murder indictment in what acting Westchester County District Attorney James McCarty described as an ambush attack on his wife, Goldman.
The prosecutor said she was stabbed 22 times with an 8-inch kitchen knife, suffering a punctured lung, heart, diaphragm, liver and kidney.
The couple were in the middle of a contentious divorce but still lived together in their $2.5million home in Scarsdale.
Funeral: Mourners react at Goldman's funeral in January. She and Reich had been going through divorce when she was murdered
Dr Robin Goldman was home alone on the morning of January 20 and was getting ready for work when her husband made his way into the residence.
Though Goldman had recently changed the locks of the 6,400 sq ft house, prosecutors say Reich managed to get inside and 'ambushed' her in the shower in a knife attack reminiscent of the 1960 Hitchcock film 'Psycho,' according to the New York Daily News.
'He grabbed her from behind in the shower and stabbed her,' said Assistant District Attorney John O'Rourke.
Reich then allegedly walked into the kitchen, 'leaving a trail of blood,' and smoked a cigarette before dialing 911 to alert emergency services that his wife lay dying, prosecutors said.
When first responders arrived at the sprawling residence, they found Reich with bruises on his face and injuries to both hands.
He was arrested on a second-degree murder charge.
Dr Goldman worked as a pediatrician at the Comprehensive Family Care Center in The Bronx, was also affiliated with Montefiore Medical Center and was an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
'Robin was a dedicated physician cherished by her colleagues as a positive and compassionate presence,' Montefiore hospital said.
'Her passion for medicine was an inspiration to those who worked with her. Her passing is a great loss for all of us, and we extend our heartfelt sympathy to her family, friends, patients, colleagues and students.'
Court records show that after their daughter's wedding, Reich filed for a divorce from Goldman, according to CBS New York.
The couple's five-bedroom, four-bath home, on Lincoln Road, was built in 1947 and includes a bath house, swimming pool and greenhouse on 1.3 acres of land.
Records show that Reich, a financial consultant at the firm WeiserMazars, and Goldman lived on the property.
Search: Investigators were searching the house hours after Goldman's body was found. Court documents say they later looked for the same brand of knife in Reich's Upper East Side apartment
According to Reich's biography on WeiserMazars' website, the 62-year-old is a partner at the firm, 'advising corporations, startups, venture capital and private-equity firms in a broad range of industries on critical topics including mergers and acquisitions'.
Reich received his law degree from Benjamin N. Cordozo School and Law and his Master of Law degree from New York University Law School.
Over the course of his 20-year career in the financial industry, he has been involved in transactions totaling more than $45million, according to his bio.
The couple are believed to have four children who are all in their 20s.
The last recorded homicide in Scarsdale was in 1977, when 23-year-old Yale graduate Richard Herrin killed 20-year-old ex-girlfriend Bonnie Garland by smashing her head with a hammer as she slept in her parents' home, according to officials.
Herrin served 17 years in prison after he was convicted of manslaughter, according to court documents. He was released in 1995.
Police are on the hunt for a potential killer alligator in Florida after the reptile was spotted with a human body in its mouth.
Officers from Lakeland Police Department were called to Hunter Lake at around 1.40pm on Tuesday after a member of a retirement community spotted the creature.
Detectives were able to recover the body, believed to be that of an adult male, but the eight-foot alligator managed to escape and is still being hunted by trappers.
Police in Florida are hunting for an alligator, believed to be the one pictured, after it was found on Hunter Lake with a human body in its mouth
Detectives say the remains, which likely belong to an adult male, had been in the water for at least a day and they are unsure whether the reptile killed the person, or simply found the corpse
Cops are unsure whether the alligator killed the person and was found devouring the body, or whether the animal just happened upon the corpse.
Sergeant Gary Gross told WFLA: 'The officers got here and the alligator still had the person. He let the individual go, he is deceased, looks like this person may have been dead more than a day.
'We dont want to speculate but I will tell when the officer got here the alligator did a roll and had the person in contact with him.
'The officers immediately got their firearms out in case the gator comes up. Once he left they didnt want him coming back and pull the body back out, that did not happen.'
Once the alligator has been captured, tests will be carried out to determine whether or not the creature killed the victim.
Tests are also being carried out on the body in an attempt to identify the body and discover how the person died, police said.
An alligator trapper (right, in camouflage) is now hunting for the 8ft animal after it managed to evade police
Authorities are carrying out tests while trying to establish the identity of the victim and how they died
This is not the first time in recent weeks that alligators have been found eating a body in Florida.
Two fishermen discovered at least two alligators eating a body in a South Florida canal on Monday last week.
Police were able to recover the remains, but said they were unable to identify whether the victim was a man or a woman or determine their race.
Axl Rose is demanding that an image he claims was released without his consent or approval be removed from the internet by Google.
The image in question was taken of the Guns N Roses frontman at a 2010 concert in Canada by Boris Minkevich and published in the Winnipeg Free Press.
That photo was quickly stolen of the newspaper's website and used to male memes mocking Rose's weight.
Rose has now hired Web Sheriff to get the photo taken offline.
Mad: Axl Rose (above on Saturday) is demanding that a photo taken of him at a 2010 concert be removed from the internet
The image ran in the Winnipeg Free Press and had led to countless memes mocking his weight in the years since 9above)
Even if the image is removed however, the memes will still exist of the image on social media
Rose hired Web Sheriff, who said the photographer never had any right to publish or post his photograph since he signed a waiver before the concert.
Torrent Freak reports that late last month a notice was sent to some sites that hosted the photo reading: 'Copyright image of Axl Rose. Please be advised that no permission has been granted to publish the copyright image so we cannot direct you to an authorized example of it.'
Web Sheriff also said that Minkevich never had any right to publish or post his photograph since he signed a waiver before the concert.
When asked about this Minkevich told TF that he could not remember if he had signed a waiver at the time as the event took place over six years ago.
He also said that he was completely unaware that Rose was trying to have the image removed from the internet.
'Either way the photo was stolen off our website with no permission granted by the Winnipeg Free Press,' said Minkevich.
Even if Web Sheriff does succeed however, it will not be able to erase the countless memes that have popped up of the image over the years.
Being married increases your chances of beating cancer, experts have revealed.
An analysis of 60,000 patients over ten years found single or unmarried patients with the disease were a fifth more likely to die.
Researchers say having a spouse or family gives sufferers something to live for and makes them far more determined to beat the illness.
Patients other halves particularly wives are more likely to hassle them to see a doctor about any worrying symptoms or remind them to go to chemotherapy appointments.
Being married increases the risk of beating cancer. Researchers said having a spouse or family gives sufferers something to live for and makes them far more determined to beat the illness
Researchers from the University of California in San Diego presented their findings at the American Society for Clinical Oncology conference this week. They looked at the records of 60,000 men and women with leukaemia and other types of blood cancer between 2000 and 2009.
On average, patients who were not married were 21 per cent more likely to die than their married counterparts.
But among those with follicular lymphoma a rare blood cancer the unmarried had a 43 per cent higher chance of dying. And the figure was 37 per cent for Hodgkin lymphoma sufferers.
Dr Matthew Wieduwilt, assistant clinical professor at the university, said: Single patients often present at a later stage and are sicker.
If you are single you dont have someone at home nagging at you to get checked out.
This is particularly true with men. Women tend to have more support even if they are single.
He added: Married people and people with families are more likely to stick to treatment. They have a support system making them go to chemo, reminding them to take their medication.
They are also more motivated to seek out healthcare. To put it bluntly, they have something to live for. These results show that health services need to take more care of single patients they need to be the surrogate for a spouse.
MARRIED PEOPLE ARE ALSO MORE LIKELY TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK Married people are more likely to survive a heart attack, according to British research. Having a spouse to care for them in sickness and in health improves patients survival chances by 14 per cent, experts found. They were also, on average, likely to spend two fewer days in hospital after an attack. Scientists studied more than 25,000 people with a heart attack diagnosis over a 13-year period, drawn from a database of more than one million hospital patients. Married people are more likely to survive a heart attack, a study has found. Having a spouse to care for them in sickness and in health improves patients survival chances by 14 per cent The researchers, from Aston Medical School and the University of East Anglia, suggested marital partners may offer the kind of physical and emotional support that bolsters patients determination to live. Presenting results at the British Cardiovascular Society conference in Manchester yesterday, the UEAs Dr Nicholas Gollop said: Our results should not be a cause for concern for single people who have had a heart attack. But they should certainly be a reminder to the medical community of the importance of considering the support a heart attack survivor will get once they are discharged. There could be financial implications for the NHS as the average cost per day for patients on a surgical ward is 400. Reducing length of stays could save 10 million. A recent British Heart Foundation study found one in three heart attack survivors has suffered anxiety or depression. Dr Mike Knapton, BHF associate medical director, said: A heart attack can have both devastating physical and psychological effects These findings suggest the support offered by a spouse can have a beneficial effect on heart attack survivors, perhaps helping to minimise the impact of a heart attack. But when you have your heart attack, whether youre married or not, its important to remember that you are not alone a cardiac rehabilitation course, for example, will help you to recover physically, psychologically, and also help you to meet people who know what youve been through. About 188,000 people a year are admitted to UK hospitals as a result of a heart attack. Advertisement
Single people often dont look after themselves.
The universitys Professor Maria Elena Martinez, who was also involved in the study, said: Being single should be a red flag for doctors. If a cancer patient comes in without a family member or spouse it should be a warning sign.
Medical staff need to ask the patient about the support at home. Doctors need to go that little bit extra with single patients.
Patients other halves particularly wives are more likely to hassle them to see a doctor, researchers said
Previous research has shown that married couples are more likely to survive heart attacks, overcome high-risk surgery and also tend to live longer.
Adrienne Betteley, interim head of health and social care at the charity Macmillan Cancer Support, said: We know that a cancer diagnosis can leave people feeling very lonely and that this can have a detrimental effect on their lives, with many forced to skip meals or attend vital appointments alone. At worst it can result in patients refusing treatment altogether.
Cancer Research UKs senior clinical adviser, Professor Arnie Purushotham, said it is unclear why married people in this study seem to have better outcomes.
Advertisement
More than 40 per cent of Britons do not know that the Battle of the Somme took place during the First World War, research shows.
Meanwhile nearly half of those surveyed did not know the offensive, the bloodiest in the history of the British Army, was launched in 1916, or that it was conducted in France. The baby boomer generation performed worst, with 88 per cent of those aged between 55 and 64 saying they knew little or nothing about the battle.
The National Army Museum polled more than 2,000 people ahead of the centenary of the battle, in which more than a million soldiers lost their lives. Some 20,000 British troops were killed and 57,470 were injured on the first day of the conflict alone.
Tristan Langlois, of learning at the National Army Museum, said: 'This year marks the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, arguably one of the most significant battles of the First World War, and it's important that the sacrifices that were made both in battle and at home aren't forgotten.'
The centenary of the 141-day battle is being marked with a series of formal events, including a national commemoration in Manchester, and vigils at Westminster Abbey, and in Edinburgh, Cardiff, and County Down, in Northern Ireland.
Organisers also hope Britons will hold vigils in their homes at sunset on June 30 or July 1, lighting candles, reading poems and sharing stories of relatives and loved ones who fought in the battle.
Beginning on July 1, 1916, the Somme was intended to achieve a decisive victory for the Allied forces. But the offensive became a bloody stalemate on battlegrounds that turned into a muddy quagmire after torrential rains in October of that year.
The research was conducted to mark the launch of the National Army Museum's Somme centenary learning package.
Heading home: British soldiers negotiate a shell-cratered, landscape along the River Somme in late 1916 after the end of the offensive
Advance: Troops of the British XIV Corps, near Ginchy, during the Battle of Morval, part of the Battle of the Somme in the First World War
National effort: A recruiting poster, and French soldiers warmly dressed in sheepskins play cards while manning a trench
Devastating: Soldiers prepare to move with their tank. The Battle of the Somme is the bloodiest in the history of the British Army
Walking wounded: An injured German prisoner of war helps support wounded British soldiers on the front line of the Battle of the Somme
Died in battle: Upturned rifles and blank planks mark the grave of an unknown British soldier near Ginchy, northern France
Dame Helen Mirren has urged lawmakers to help recover more art stolen by the Nazis during the Second World War.
The Academy Award-winning actress testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
The Act would reset the statute of limitations so once a family finds a piece of art that was stolen from them, they have a six-year window to finish the process of claiming it.
It is a terribly sad fact that more than 70 years later, victims of the Holocaust and their families are still contemplating whether to seek restitution for what was stolen from them and lost under the most horrible of circumstances, Mirren told the hearing.
Scroll down for video
Dame Helen Mirren has urged lawmakers to help recover more art stolen by the Nazis during the Second World War during a Senate Hearing on Tuesday
'Greed, cruelty, self-interest and domination will always be with us,' Mirren said. 'Justice is much more difficult, so much more complex but we all dream of justice.'
Mirren says she has teamed up with lawmakers to help ensure works are returned to their rightful owners after playing an elderly Jewish woman who spent decades fighting to recover her familys stolen art in 2015s Woman in Gold.
The film is named for the most famous of the looted work, a portrait by Gustav Klimt of Altmanns aunt.
Mirren added: Im a child of the Second World War. I was born in 1945 and the memory of the Second World War was very much a part of my history.
The Academy Award-winning actress testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act on Capitol Hill on Tuesday
Mirren listens to Ronald Lauder, chairman of the council for the World Jewish Restitution Organization, speak during a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill
I never truly confronted the absolute reality of what had happened in those days and in playing Maria Altmann, I had to put her memories into my mind.
To do that, I had to read a lot of research material and really relive those moment and that is why honestly I am here now.
It was the jourmey of playing Maria that made the absolute reality of those days so relevant to me today at this moment in time.
Art historians believe that tens of thousands of artwork were stolen when the Nazis looted art owned by the victims of the Holocaust and seven decades later, experts say many of these are still unclaimed and hanging in museums and private collections all over the world.
Ronald Lauder, chairman of the council for the World Jewish Restitution Organization, told the hearing on Tuesday that the greatest art theft in history was continued by governments, museums and many knowing collectors in the decades since the war,NBC News reports.
This was the dirty secret of the post-war art world, and people who should have known better, were part of it, he said.
Mirren plays elderly Jewish refugee Maria Altmann in 2015's Woman in Gold alongside Ryan Reynolds (above, with Mirren) about her battle with the Austrian government to regain paintings stolen by the Nazis
In many cases, legal barriers like arbitrary statutes of limitations were imposed on families that had not been aware that their father's painting was hanging in a private home or state museum.
The United States did agree to the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art to help families resolve issues linked to recovering stolen art but there are still difficulties when it comes to reclaiming the works.
The Senate hearing also heard from Simon Goodman, who told of how he spent the last 20 years trying to recover his grandfather Fritz Gutmanns art collection.
Gutmann was killed by the Nazis in 1944 and his collection vanished.
Goodman decided to continue his fathers quest to recover their familys art which includes works by Degas, Renoir and Botticelli - after finding out about it when he died in 1994.
But he said that the buyers of some of these works had claimed the statute of limitations had passed and told the hearing that removing these obstacles would make the descendants of Holocaust victims able to recover the familys legacies with more ease.
I think we could all agree that the right thing to do in every instance is to return the art to its rightful owners.
The very act of Nazi expropriation was not only unjust but it was unconscionably inhumane.
Luckily, incident took place on a Sunday when children had the day off
pass through the area on a usual day
Residents had a lucky escape after a 16-foot-wide sinkhole appeared outside the gate of a primary school in south-west China on June 5.
Fortunately it was a Sunday and the school in Nanning, Guangxi province was closed, reports the People's Daily Online.
An investigation found that the sinkhole had been caused by heavy rain that had recently battered the city.
Giant hole: The sinkhole collapsed outside the primary school in Nanning, China's Guangxi province
Authorities clear the sinkhole in order to repair the broken road which has been closed since the incident
Narrow escape: Fortunately the incident took place on a Sunday when the school was closed to pupils
The incident occurred at 8am outside Xiuling Primary School. There were reports of some cracks appearing on the ground right before it caved in.
Some witnesses saw the sinkhole open up. The hole measured 16 feet wide and ten feet deep.
Mr Ma Wei told reporters that he saw the incident unfold. He says he heard a loud bang and saw a lot of smoke followed by ground caving in three times.
Soon after the sinkhole opened up, urban management staff were dispatched to the site and carried out related work.
There were no casualties reported.
On a normal school day, around 2,000 schoolchildren take this route to school to Xiuling Primary School and another school close by.
The schools are set to hold the Gaokao or college entrance examination this week.
Roads surrounding the school have been closed temporarily. While repair work is taking place students will have to enter the school via another entrance.
An initial investigation confirmed that the sinkhole was the result of heavy rainfall that had battered the region and lead to flooding of underground basement.
Sinkholes are a common occurrence in China due to the poor quality of infrastructure projects.
In May, four cars were swallowed up after a 100-feet wide sinkhole opened up in a city centre in the east of the country.
While in March, a Chinese farmer lost more than 25 tonnes of fish after a sinkhole appeared in the pond where they were reared.
Unsafe: Authorities have sealed off the area amid concerns that a second hole could open up
The cleanup operation begins: The hole measured 16 feet wide and ten feet deep
Police have launched an investigation after a mother in China posted videos of herself eating odd items such as live goldfish, eels, worms and even a light bulb.
The woman live streams her stunts on a new video app under the name 'Chihuo Fengjie', which translates as 'Sister Feng eats everything', reports the People's Daily Online.
However, some people have accused the woman of deception by using props to attract clicks to her online account.
Bit tough: The woman has eaten various foods and other objects including a light bulb on a video platform
Live worms: On her social media account she says her main hobby is eating things other people don't
Interesting choice of hobby: Her profile photo shows the 45-year-old biting the head of a live eel
Sister Feng broadcast her shocking performance on a new video-streaming app called Kuaishou, or 'quick hand'.
Her stunts had quickly attracted nearly 300,000 followers to her account.
On Weibo, a popular China's social media site, Sister Feng has 110,000 followers and has posted over 30 videos of her eating various objects, according to People's Daily Online.
She has since become a trending topic on the site with over 170 million hits.
According to her account, she is 48 years old and her main hobby is eating things normal people cannot.
The woman's profile picture depicts her holding a live eel and biting the head off it.
She appears to have become increasingly daring in her challenges including streaming herself with over a dozen lit cigarettes stuffed in her nose and allegedly smashing a watermelon with her head.
She moved away from food and ventured to other dangerous objects, shoving over 10 cigarettes up her nose
Ginger anyone? Police have accused the woman of attention grabbing and trying to get followers
As her videos became more and more popular and her stunts more and more incredulous, the police authority of Handan, where Sister Feng lives, have launched an investigation into the woman's actions.
Cao Yuyang, who is responsible for investigating the incident, said the video was filmed by the woman's own son - despite the fact that she claimed it was filmed by her nephew - according to another report on People's Daily Online.
The police said that the son is 24 year sold and Sister Feng is 45 years old - not 48 years old as she had claimed.
The real name of the woman has not been revealed.
Police also told reporters that the woman could be using props to make the videos.
Officer Yang said: 'Before recording the eating cactus video, the cactus thorns were cut with scissors before she started recording the video.
'She then chewed the cactus and put it under her tongue pretending to swallow which made it look like she had eaten the object.'
The officer added: 'It was also the case for the raw meat. She secretly placed it under the tongue, pretending to swallow.'
Police say that the firecracker video which shows the objects lit while hanging around the woman's body and the smashing watermelon video appear to be real.
They said that the woman wanted to attract users' attention.
The city's police department has warned against people trying to copy the woman's actions and being a bad influence to others.
A couple from China were amazed to discover their paths had crossed without them knowing 15 years before they met and fell in love.
Lu Yiqin, 25, realised her mother had appeared in one of her husband's holiday pictures taken 16 years ago as the couple organised their childhood photos for their wedding in the city of Jiaxing, reported People's Daily Online.
Lu and her husband, Zhang Hedong, 30, were introduced to each other by friends in 2015 and got married on May 29.
Destiny: A Chinese bride has found her mum (circled) and her husband (in blue jacket) had appeared in the same picture in the year 2000
Happy couple: Lu Yiqin (left) and Zhang Hedong (right) made the incredible discovery while they were preparing for their wedding
According to the report, the couple were organising their family photo albums when they made the romantic discovery a week before their nuptials.
They had planned to project their childhood pictures onto a big screen for guests to see during the ceremony.
When broom Zhang Hedong found the picture, the couple didn't notice anything special at the beginning.
They had it scanned into the computer as a part of their digital presentation.
Zhang told a reporter from Hangzhou.com that he was boasting to his bride-to-be how handsome he was as a teenager in the picture.
He said he told Lu: 'I was 14 years old at the time and it was the year 2000.
'My family followed the trend to pray to the Giant Buddha on Ling Mountain in Wuxi to celebrate the millennium.
'Look how handsome I was.'
However, a stunned Lu suddenly screamed at the picture.
She told the same reporter: 'I shouted once I zoomed in. I said: "That's my mum!"
'My husband thought I was over-reacting. Then I said again, this is really my mum.'
The other picture: Lu's mother has kept the holiday photo (pictured) taken in the same venue at the same time
Could it be fate? The newlyweds said they were introduced to each other by mutual friends in March 2015 - 15 years after the picture was taken - and quickly fell in love
The couple said Lu's mother happened to be in their new flat at the time.
She took a look at the picture and marvelled: 'How is it possible? That's too coincidental.'
Lu's mother quickly confirmed it was really her in the picture as her family had been to the same tourist spot on the same year and she had the same picture too.
She said they went there on the fifth day of Chinese New Year.
More incredibly, the two families have both kept the tickets to the Buddha and the date matched.
The newlyweds said they were introduced to each other by mutual friends in March 2015.
They quickly fell in love and started planning the wedding after a year of dating.
Lu spoke to the reporter: 'When I first met him, I thought he was geeky and he was a very nice man.
'I felt very familiar towards him and I believed this is the man I want to marry.'
Horrifying images show a toddler in China being saved by a heroic neighbour after she was spotted hanging between the bars of windows by her neck on June 4.
The child had been left alone at her home in Hechi City, Guangxi province by her parents, reports Huanqiu, affiliated with the People's Daily Online.
The neighbour saw the child crying and hanging from the metal bars from the second floor and immediately went to hold her up while asking someone to call emergency services.
Heroic: A neighbour heard the girl's screams and came to her aid, holding her up until fire crews arrived
Rescuers: Emergency team used hydraulics to widen the gap between the bars and release the child
Finally free: The girl was rescued by fire teams after hanging from the bars for around 20 minutes
According to reports, the young girl had been left along for some time and was playing when she climbed onto the balcony and slipped.
Her head then became stuck in the metal bars leaving her hanging in the air from her neck.
Neighbours heard the little girl crying and one woman climbed up and held the girl while others called for emergency services.
The woman held the girl for around twenty minutes while they waited for fire services to arrive.
Officers used hydraulic rescue tools to expand the bars and free the young girl.
The girl suffered some minor jaw abrasions and was taken to hospital by her father.
It was revealed that both of her parents work and often leave her at home alone.
Fire officers have appealed to the general public not to leave their children at home alone and to raise awareness of security if they do happen to go out.
According to reports, she was playing while left alone and fell through the bars of the window
An association of lawyers in China have requested an investigation after a local lawyer was allegedly assaulted in a courtroom by police officers.
The lawyer, Wu Liangshu claims that he was beaten by court policemen on June 3 after his request to file a case in a district court in Nanning, Guangxi province was rejected, reports the People's Daily Online.
Wu was pictured with his shirt ripped open, trousers completely torn and his underwear showing.
Ripped clothing: Wu Liangshu was pictured outside of the court house in Nanning after the alleged scuffle
Broken phone: Wu refused to hand over his mobile after officers wanted to inspect it
Wu claims that the violence broke out when he refused to hand over his mobile phone for inspection at Qingxiu District Court.
He said that he used his phone to record a conversation with court officials in the petition office.
Wu says he was beaten by three court policemen while the judge was watching.
The head of Qingxiu District Court apologised to Wu who then filed a complaint with the lawyers associations of Nanning and Guangxi.
The All China Lawyers Association released a statement demanding the truth to be revealed.
They said that without the relevant paperwork the police officers did not have the power to demand Wu to turn over his phone for inspection.
They also said that there was no law stopping Wu from recording in a petition office.
Qingxiu District Court have also released a statement saying that Wu was making recordings on his phone while he filed complaints to the court's petition office.
They say that Wu refused to hand over his phone and a brawl broke out between him and court police.
According to the court, the fight was so intense that the stitching in Wu's clothes gave way.
The court also claims that a court policeman offered Wu a new pair but he refused.
They say that they are investigating the issue.
Almost 1,000 lawyers have signed a letter which was later posted online calling for the court to release surveillance footage from the court room.
Damaged clothes: The court says that a scuffle did break out however they did not beat Wu
A Chinese mother of two claimed she had been sliced in the face dozens of time during a horrific attack organised by her husband and his alleged mistress.
The woman, known by her surname Jing, said her husband of 14 years abandoned her in 2014 for another woman, known by her surname Wang, with whom he is now living.
Jing said she was assaulted her by husband, her alleged mistress and around a dozen people they hired when she went to ask for child support from him, reported People's Daily Online.
Heart-broken: A mother said she had been slashed in the face by her husband and his alleged mistress
Horrific attack: The mother of two, from Dengzhou, China, said the couple came with a dozen men to attack her
Betrayal: The 39-year-old also shared pictures of her husband and his alleged mistress (above) in a post on social media
According to the article, 39-year-old Jing, from Jiuchong town in Dengzhou city married her husband, who comes from a nearby town, in 2000.
The couple had two children: a 16-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son.
Jing claimed that she and her husband, who remained unidentified, had enjoyed a stable marriage.
She said though they were poor they built their life together.
They worked in big cities together to earn money in order to pay off the debts for their wedding ceremony.
And gradually they were even able to buy two cars and build their own house.
Their marriage started to break down in 2013 when her husband met his alleged mistress, Wang, online, according to Jing.
She said her husband started turning violent against her.
Jing also claimed that her husband moved in with Wang in early 2014 and last July he had a daughter with Wang.
Unknown future: The woman, Jing, said her husband abandoned her in 2014 and moved in with the woman
Once a happy family: Jing and her husband pictured with their child before he moved out. They have one daughter and one son
Bitterness: Jing has posted her story onto social media pleading for help from the public
In the morning of February 29, Jing went to a petrol station in Jiuzhong town to find his husband and demand child support.
Jing allegedly bumped into Wang and the two started quarrelling.
Yelling soon turned into a physical fight during which Jing reportedly scratched Wang's face.
After Jing returned home, her husband and Wang brought more than 10 men to attack Jing in her house.
Jing claimed they brutally beat her and used knives to slash her face for dozen of times.
The heart-broken woman also said the local police station had detained Wang and the men she had hired to beat up Jing.
But when Jing was deemed to have 'minor injuries' by the hospital all of them were later released.
A desperate Jing posted her shocking stories, together with pictures of her wounded face, to the Chinese social media. And the story was widely shared.
According to the latest report on Hinews.cn, a plastic surgery clinic offered to treat Jing's scars for free on June 2.
A cross-dressing man in China managed to trick eleven men into dating him before running away and taking cash gifts.
The 27-year-old, known as Miao Songtao, dressed as a woman and met men online before defrauding them in various means, reports the People's Daily Online.
The man's deception was brought to light after another man claimed he was dating the same woman who later disappeared with a large chunk of his cash.
In disguise: In one extreme case, Miao married his boyfriend that he had met in online in a chat room
Truth revealed: Police searched the man's house and located women's clothing and underwear
According to the report, the conman managed to trick 11 men into believing he was their girlfriend in an attempt to defraud them in just the space of one year.
In one extreme case, he even married his unsuspecting boyfriend who me met in an online chat room in 2015 under the alias Miao Xiaomin.
Miao dated a man surnamed Wang for several months until Wang's family arranged a wedding in October last year involving a costly ceremony and grand feast.
But to his shock, Wang's new wife disappeared just three days later taking wedding gifts and other items from the family home.
His family were concerned that she had left following a minor accident between the couple and so never informed police.
However suspicion was aroused when a man from a nearby city reported to police that he met a girl online claiming to be Miao Xiaomin. He said that the girl had used various methods to get around 31,000 yuan (3,237) out of him.
Police arrested who they thought was Miao Xiaomin and discovered the man's secrets.
He was possessing an identity card for 27-year-old Miao Songtao.
They searched Miao's house and discovered skirts, wigs, high heeled shoes and even women's underwear.
For years Neanderthals were depicted as thuggish cavemen that scraped an existence on the cold barren plains of ice age Europe.
But a series of discoveries are now revealing Neanderthals in new light, suggesting they were skilled tool makers with adept hand eye coordination and a well developed culture.
A new study claims that Neanderthals may have been misunderstood.
Scroll down for video
Neanderthals were once depicted as thuggish cavemen that scraped an existence on the cold lands of ice age Europe. But a series of discoveries are now putting Neanderthals into a new light, suggesting they were skilled tool makers with adept hand eye coordination
It claims they regularly used fire, and were capable of making weapons using pyrotechnics.
'Both recently obtained genetic evidence and archeological data show that the biological and cultural gaps between these populations were probably smaller than previously thought,' Wil Roebroeks and Marie Soressia of Leiden University wrote in the journal PNAS.
'These data, reviewed here, falsify inferences to the effect that, compared with their near-modern contemporaries in Africa, Neandertals were outliers in terms of behavioral complexity.'
The latest research claims they used fire more than expected.
'Most Neandertal sites yielded traces of fire use, at some sites in the form of stacked fireplacessimple lenses of ash and charcoaltestifying to repetitive occurrences of fires over longer periods of time, as at Roc de Marsal (France) and Kebara (Israel), features comparable to the fire places of the Klasies River Mouth caves in South Africa,' they wrote.
The heat treatment of silcrete in the African MSA has been presented as 'the earliest known pyrotechnology'
A 'remarkable' discovery of a ring-like stone structures in a cave in France suggests Neanderthals worked in teams to build complex structures.
In 1992, a cave in south west France was discovered with around 400 structures made from broken stalagmites, about 1100 feet (336 metres) from the cave's entrance (pictured). A team of researchers at the University of Bordeaux have dated the structures to 176,000 years ago
Stone buildings are thought to have only emerged in modern humans with the development of farming around 10,000 years ago.
But the new study, which is published in the journal Nature, suggest that 176,000 years ago, Neanderthals were already constructing stone structures in a cave in south west France.
THE BRUNIQUEL CAVE In 1992, a cave in south west France was discovered with around 400 structures made from broken stalagmites, about 1100 feet (336 metres) from the cave's entrance. Until recently, the structures in the Bruniquel cave had remained unstudied. Now a team of researchers at the University of Bordeaux have dated the structures to 176,000 years ago. The presence of the mysterious structures so deep in the cave, along with marks caused by fire, shows the Neanderthals must have mastered how to work underground and use their own artificial light. Advertisement
Archaeologists first discovered the ring of 400 broken pieces of stalagmites about 1,100 feet (336 metres) from the entrance of the Bruniquel cave in 1992.
They formed several rings - one of which was nearly 22 feet wide.
However, they remained unstudied until a team of researchers at the University of Bordeaux decided to look at them.
They have now dated the structures to 176,000 years ago.
They say the structures could have formed part of a refuge or had a symbolic meaning to the Neanderthals who built them.
'We did not expect a Neanderthal attendance in the deep underground cave, so far from the entrance,' Professor Jacques Jaubert, lead author of the study, told MailOnline.
He said the structures suggest the Neanderthals must have moved up to 2.5 tons (2.3 tonnes) of material to build them.
The structures in the Bruniquel cave (3D reconstruction of structures after deleting more recent stalagmite growth pictured) were dated to be 176,500-years-old. There were 400 of these broken staligmites that had been arranged into rings that totalled 367 feet (112 metres) in length
The presence of the mysterious structures so deep in the cave (pictured) along with marks caused by fire, shows the Neanderthals must have mastered how to work underground and use their own artificial light
This, he said, would have required a remarkable amount of cooperation as the group worked together with a preconceived plan with leaders, advisers and manufacturers.
HOW WERE THE STRUCTURES BUILT The Neanderthals must have moved 400 pieces, weighing up to 2.5 tons (2.3 tonnes). It would have required the group to work together with a preconceived plan with leaders, advisers and manufacturers. 'All this indicates a structured society,' lead author Professor Jacques Jaubert told MailOnline. Previous examples of human habitation reach 98 or 130 feet (30 or 40 metres) into the dark zones of caves from sites of this or even greater age in Africa. 'But the Bruniquel occupation is around ten times deeper into the cave, and shows constructions as complex as some made by modern humans only 20 or 30,000 years ago,' Professor Stringer said. This means they must have had some form of artificial light. Advertisement
He said: 'All this indicates a structured society - having a project, then to find the raw material, then tear [the] stalagmites. Then fragmenting, knapping [them] into regular elements.'
The researchers also found the remains of marks left by fire, which suggests the Neanderthals used artificial light to help them work so far underground.
The findings 'would be significant for any period of time, but at around 175,000 years, these must have been made by early Neanderthals, the only known human inhabitants of Europe at this time,' Professor Chris Stringer, anthropologist at the Natural History Museum, who was not involved in the research, told MailOnline.
Neanderthals lived in Eurasia from around 400,000 to 40,000 years ago, at which point anatomically modern humans settled in.
Previous examples of human habitation reach 98 or 130 feet (30 or 40 metres) into the dark zones of caves from sites of this or even greater age in Africa.
Neanderthals were once depicted as thuggish cavemen that scraped an existence on the cold lands of ice age Europe. But a series of discoveries are now putting Neanderthals into a new light, suggesting they were skilled tool makers with adept hand eye coordination
'But the Bruniquel occupation is around ten times deeper into the cave, and shows constructions as complex as some made by modern humans only 20 or 30,000 years ago,' Professor Stringer said.
'This discovery provides clear evidence that Neanderthals had fully human capabilities in the planning and the construction of 'stone' structures, and that some of them penetrated deep into caves where artificial lighting would have been essential.'.
The Neanderthals must have moved 400 pieces, weighing up to 2.5 tons (2.3 tonnes). It would have required the group to work together with a preconceived plan with leaders, advisers and manufacturers. 'All this indicates a structured society'
In 1992, a cave in south west France was discovered with around 400 structures made from broken stalagmites, about 1,100 feet (336 metres) from the cave's entrance. Location of the cave in France pictured
The Bruniquel occupation (pictured) is around ten times deeper into the cave than any other construction found from this time, and shows constructions as complex as some made by modern humans only 20 or 30,000 years ago
SMART, SOPHISTICATED AND ARTISTIC: THE NEW VIEW OF NEANDERTHALS Neanderthals first emerged around 280,000 years ago, spreading to inhabit much of Europe and parts of Asia, but they eventually died out 40,000 years ago. The reason for their demise was often put down to being a more primative species of human that was unable to compete against the more sophisticated Homo sapiens. They were depicted as thuggish cavemen that scraped an existence on the cold lands of ice age Europe. However, a series of discoveries are now putting Neanderthals into a new light. Stone tools discovered at sites they inhabited suggest they were skilled tool makers with adept hand eye coordination. A 60,000-year-old multi-purpose bone tool unearthed in France also suggests Neanderthals understood how to use bones to make useful devices A recent discovery by researchers at the Museum National d'Histories Naturelle in Paris suggests that Neanderthals may have built homes using the materials they found around them. They discovered a 26 feet wide building created 44,000 years ago from mammoth bones. Many of the bones had also been decorated carvings and ochre pigments. Cross-hatched engravings found inside Gorham's Cave in Gibraltar are also thought to be the first known examples of Neanderthal rock art. DNA analysis has also shown that Neanderthals carried the same genes that are thought to have enabled modern humans to speak. Eight talons found at a 130,000 year old Neanderthal site in Krapina in Croatia are also thought to be the world's first jewellery, and may have been worn as a necklace. Now the latest evidence mounting in favour of a more sophisticated view of the ancient humans is the structures found 1100 feet (330 metres) deep into a cave in France. Neanderthals may have used the powdered rocks to lower the temperatures needed to light wood shavings. If they controlled fire in this way, then it has wide ranging implications for their cognitive abilities, society and culture. A stock image illustrating Neanderthals around a fire is pictured Advertisement
The complex Bruniquel structures have been dated to within a long cold glacial stage, and at that time the cave might have provided a temporary refuge from the cold. The location of the cave in south west France pictured
ARE NEANDERTHALS TO BLAME FOR OUR MODERN DISEASES? Neanderthals and modern humans are thought to have co-existed for thousands of years and interbred, meaning Europeans now have roughly two per cent Neanderthal DNA. These 'legacy' genes have been linked to an increased risk from cancer and diabetes by new studies looking at our evolutionary history. However, some genes we inherited could have also improved our immunity to other diseases. Scientists have found that part of our HLA system, which helps white blood cells to identify and destroy foreign material in the body, could have come from Neanderthals. Other researchers have suggested that humans outside Africa are more vulnerable to Type 2 Diabetes because they interbred with Neanderthals. Researchers from Oxford and Plymouth universities have also found that genes thought to be risk factors in cancer were present in the Neanderthal genome. A gene that can cause diabetes in Latin Americans is also thought to have come from Neanderthals, long before their ancestors colonised the New World. Another recent genetic study by scientists at the University at Buffalo has suggested that Neanderthals may have suffered from psoriasis and Crohn's disease, a condition that affects the digestive system. Advertisement
'If the dates are correct then this is a hugely exciting development in our understanding of the lives of the Neanderthals,' Dr Simon Underdown, senior lecturer in Biological Anthropology from Oxford Brookes University told MailOnline.
'The considerable time and effort needed to build such a structure clearly indicates a shared plan and extensive cooperation.'
The complex Bruniquel structures have been dated to within a long cold glacial stage, and at that time the cave might have provided a temporary refuge from the cold.
'It's finally time to put away the old image of the Neanderthals as stupid and embrace them as a fully human species,' added Dr Underdown.
But why the Neanderthals built the structures remains a mystery.
'The purpose of the structures and concentrated combustion zones which are mostly on the broken stalagmites rather than on the ground remain enigmatic, but they demonstrate that some Neanderthals, at least, were as much 'at home' deep within the cave as at its entrance' Professor Stringer said.
The researchers hope to excavate the site to find remains of the humans that may have constructed the structures.
'The project this year [is] to make a test-pit inside the great structure, to survey the archaeological soil and, if it's possible, to find some remains' Professor Jaubert said.
If there is still-buried debris from occupation, it would help to determine whether this was a functional refuge or shelter, perhaps roofed using wood and skins, or something which had more symbolic or ritual significance.
The fossilised remains of Neanderthals, like the skull above, are revealing more details about the human cousins' lifestyles. DNA analysis has also shown that Neanderthals carried the same genes that are thought to have enabled modern humans to speak
'It's finally time to put away the old image of the Neanderthals as stupid and embrace them as a fully human species,' Dr Simon Underdown senior lecturer in Biological Anthropology from Oxford Brookes University told MailOnline
A solar-powered aircraft attempting to make a record breaking trip around the world using only the energy supplied by the sun has had the fourteenth leg of its journey postponed.
Solar Impulse 2 was scheduled to take off from Allentown, Pennsylvania, late last night but the flight was delayed due to weather conditions.
The latest leg, heading for New York, will be the final stop before the plane will cross the Atlantic Ocean.
Scroll down for video
A solar-powered aircraft attempting to make a record breaking trip around the world using only the energy supplied by the sun has had the fourteenth leg of its journey postponed
HOW DOES SOLAR IMPULSE WORK? Solar Impulse 2 is powered by 17,000 solar cells and on-board rechargeable lithium batteries, allowing it to fly through the night. Its wingspan is longer than a jumbo jet but its light construction keeps its weight to about as much as a car. Solar Impulse 2 relies on getting enough solar power during the day to survive the night. It is also extremely light - about the weight of a car - and as wide as a passenger jet. Both of these combined means it is extremely susceptible to the weather. In high winds it can struggle to stay aloft at the altitudes necessary to gather sunlight. Advertisement
It follows a delay last month after a its flight from Ohio to Pennsylvania was delayed after 'hanger incident'
The Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2 was scheduled to take off from Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown and head to New York City around midnight local time on Monday (05:00 BST Tuesday).
But project officials announced around 00:30 local time on Tuesday (05:30 Tuesday) the flight had been postponed because of showers and thunderstorms moving through the area.
'Another difficult night as we had to cancel the flight from Lehigh Valley to Kennedy,' pilot Andre Borschberg said in a video update.
Mr Borschberg said it had been difficult to find their way back to the airport during a test flight, because they had underestimated the risk caused by the weather.
Mr Borschberg and his colleague, adventurer Bertrand Piccard, have been taking turns piloting the plane on each leg of the journey.
Both have trained to stay alert for long stretches of time by practicing meditation and hypnosis.
The Swiss team's ultimate goal is to achieve the first round-the-world solar-powered flight, part of its campaign to bolster support for clean-energy technologies.
'After several days of hard work on this potential flight, the Mission Control Center decided to prioritize pilot and airplane safety in their decision to postpone it,' a post on the Solar Impulse 2 blog said.
Mr Piccard took the controls for the latest let, the 466 mile journey from Ohio to Pennsylvania, pausing briefly to take selfies during the flight (pictured) and 20 minute catnaps
Solar Impulse 2, the sun-powered aircraft making a record breaking trip around the world, landed at Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania on 25 May (pictured) after a 17 hour flight from Dayton, Ohio. The aircraft will next make a flight to New York before attempting to cross the Atlantic Ocean
The Solar Impulse 2 is built from a range of lightweight materials and high storage batteries (illustrated) to help keep the experimental aircraft in the air for long periods using just the power from sunlight
The plane was scheduled to fly over the Statue of Liberty before landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport, its last stop in the United States before crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
'The weather analysis prior to the takeoff indicated a change in our predictions, with showers marking the flight path to New York,' the blog said.
'Prior to our decision to give the green light to fly to JFK, we were aware of potential showers closing in behind the Si2 flight path, however they came faster and have intensified beyond what we could have anticipated.'
It was not immediately clear when the flight would take place.
Andre Borchberg and Bertrand Piccard have been taking it in turns to fly the aircraft on each leg of its round the world journey. Mr Piccard (pictured right celebrating with Mr Borchberg in Pennyslvania just after landing) took the controls for the flight to LeHigh Valley, Pennsylvania
After the next leg of the journey, the pilots, including Andre Borschberg (pictured) are set to make a transatlantic flight from New York to Europe
The plane can climb to 28,000 feet (8,500 meters), but generally flies at lower altitudes at night to conserve energy.
With a wingspan exceeding that of a Boeing 747 but an ultra-light carbon-fiber skin and overall weight of a car, the Solar Impulse cruises at speeds ranging from only 34 to 62 miles per hour (55 to 100 km/h).
The four engines of the propeller-driven aircraft are powered exclusively by energy collected from more than 17,000 solar cells built into its wings.
Excess energy is stored in four batteries during daylight hours to keep the plane flying after dark.
The globe-circling voyage began in March 2015 from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and made stops in Oman, Myanmar, China and Japan.
An earlier delay was caused when Solar Impulse 2 was briefly grounded after the inflatable hangar it was kept in on the tarmac at Dayton, Ohio partially collapsed. Part of the hangar fabric touched the aircraft meaning it needed to be checked for safety before it was able to continue on its thirteenth leg of its round the world journey
SOLAR IMPULSE 2'S ROUND THE WORLD JOURNEY The globe-circling voyage began in March 2015 from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and made stops in Oman, Myanmar, China and Japan. Piccard and Andre Borschberg have been taking turns piloting the plane on each leg of the journey. Both have trained to stay alert for long stretches of time by practicing meditation and hypnosis. Borschberg set a new endurance record for the longest non-stop solo flight last July during a 118-hour trans-Pacific crossing, over five days and five nights, from Japan to Hawaii. A world map shows the path of the solar powered-plane so far, as it continues to cross the United States. Today's stage will take Solar Impulse across the mid US, heading towards New York for its next major challenge - crossing the Atlantic Ocean Advertisement
It might seem like people are are updating their Facebook status more than ever.
But the world is not about to be overtaken by 'Likes' and Tweets, according to a recent study.
The social media frenzy is dying down, new research suggests, as people are starting to spend less time on social media apps.
The social media frenzy is dying down and people are starting to spend less time on social media apps (pictured). London-based data collection company SimilarWeb studied the habits of Android users across the world, to monitor the changing popularity of social media apps
SOCIAL MEDIA DECLINE IN NUMBERS In almost all countries, time spent on the four leading social media apps, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter had fallen. In some cases, the drop in usage was minimal, with Snapchat usage in Brazil dropping from 11.23 minutes to 11.10 minutes. Other cases saw a more substantial drop, like time spent on Twitter in France. Over Q1 2015, the average in France was 19.80 minutes and in Q1 2016, that number dropped to 13.12, a drop of 34 per cent. In very few cases, such as Facebooks usage in Spain, time spent within an app did rise. Advertisement
London-based data collection company SimilarWeb studied the habits of Android users across the world, to monitor the changing popularity of social media apps.
The study looked at data from nine countries, comparing app data from the first three months of this year compared to the same time last year.
'Across the board, people are spending less time on their Social Media apps,' said Pavel Tuchinsky,a marketing analyst at SimilarWeb.
In almost all countries, time spent on the four leading social media apps, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter had fallen.
Most countries spent less time on Facebook compared to last year, with the exception of Germany where the time was roughly the same last year compared to this.
A spokesman from SimilarWeb said the company was looking into why time spent on the biggest apps had fallen in this time.
They are 'currently looking at some smaller social media apps which appear to have taken some market share from the Big Four social media apps during this time,' the spokesman told MailOnline.
In very few cases, such as Facebooks usage in Spain, time spent within an app did rise.
Most countries spent less time on Facebook compared to last year, with the exception of Germany where the time was roughly the same last year compared to this.
The data was taken form user in the US, UK, Germany, Spain, Australia, India, South Africa, Brazil and Spain.
In some cases, the drop in usage was minimal, with Snapchat usage in Brazil dropping from 11.23 minutes to 11.10 minutes.
Other cases saw a more substantial drop, like time spent on Twitter in France. Over Q1 2015, the average in France was 19.80 minutes and in Q1 2016, that number dropped to 13.12, a decline of 34 per cent.
On all four social apps in the nine countries examined, installs were down an average of 9 per cent. The most prominent drop was with Snapchat users in South Africa, which fell 56 per cent from March to March
The data was taken form user in the US, UK, Germany, Spain, Australia, India, South Africa, Brazil and Spain. In some cases, the drop in usage was minimal, with Snapchat usage in Brazil dropping from 11.23 minutes to 11.10 minutes
On top of the time spent on the apps, the number of people installing them also fell.
On all four social apps in the nine countries examined, installs were down an average of 9 per cent.
The most prominent drop was with Snapchat users in South Africa, which fell 56 per cent from March to March.
The highest increase on installs was also for Snapchat, this time in Brazil. Installs on snapchat rose 22 per cent from March to March. Snapchat installs also increased in Germany, Spain, and India, with India showing a growth of 18 per cent.
Other cases saw a more substantial drop, like time spent on Twitter in France. Over Q1 2015, the average in France was 19.80 minutes and in Q1 2016, that number dropped to 13.12, a drop of 34 per cent
Instagram also saw a rise in installs in several countries including France, Germany, and the US. Instagrams biggest loss, however, came in India where the app dropped from being installed on 32% of Android devices to 19 per cent.
In contrast, some messaging apps have shown an increase in Android installs.
In the US, for example, Facebooks Messenger app rose 2 per cent March to March, while WhatsApp rose from being installed on 15 per cent of Android devices in March 2015 to 20 per cent in March 2016.
Reports of UFO sightings have been circling the internet for years, with accounts ranging from floating blue lights to strange clouds that look like spaceships.
However, one former Nasa employee has taken it upon himself to explain what is really going on.
An article posted on Atlas Obscura, explains some of James Oberg's rationales behind the sightings, after he spent decades looking through footage of supposed UFO sightings.
Scroll down for video
UFO hunters often jump on the back of strange sightings, such as this black 'cube' which appeared in a photograph of the sun taken by Nasa
Mr Oberg worked at Nasa in the late 1990s, before becoming a space journalist and historian.
Unlike other UFO debunkers, he is less interested in dismissing theories, and more interested in working out exactly why people react so strongly to outer space images and footage.
James Oberg worked at Nasa in the late 1990s, before becoming a space journalist and historian
To do this, he has spent decades trawling through supposed UFO sightings, reading eyewitness testimony and cross-referencing it with mission logs.
Speaking to Atlas Obscura, Mr Oberg said: 'Our sensory system is functioning absolutely perfectly for Earth conditions. But we're still a local civilization. Moving beyond our neighborhood has been visually confusing.'
Mr Oberg thinks that human senses are designed to understand slow-moving objects, certain light conditions and an atmosphere.
When those conditions change, we are thrown off guard and react strongly.
Space 'dandruff' around a shuttle
In 1996, the Nasa STS-75 shuttle blasted off on a 15 day mission, the aim of which was to carry a tether with a satellite at the end which could conduct electricity.
Unfortunately, the tether broke, leading to the loss of the satellite.
However, the strangest sequence was a cloud of ice crystals floating ahead of and around the tether, almost like dandruff, that many believed were UFOs.
The strangest sequence was a cloud of ice crystals floating ahead of and around the shuttle, almost like dandruff, that many believed were UFOs
Writing on his website, Mr Oberg explains: 'The first principle of space travel is that objects coming off a vehicle tend to fly along with it.
'They appear to move in straight lines unless they encounter some force, such as the atmosphere or an exhaust plume from a rocket thruster.'
WHAT IS 'SPACE DANDRUFF'? Footage shows that sometimes, mysterious white spots will pop up and 'dance' in front of the camera. The particular dots can't be precisely identified but they are almost certainly ice crystals, fragments of insulation, or other bits and pieces that have peeled off the shuttle itself and are now floating alongside it. Mr Oberg explains: 'The first principle of space travel is that objects coming off a vehicle tend to fly along with it.' Advertisement
He goes on to explain that ice is often a common culprit. He added: 'Some vehicles discard waste heat by evaporating water against coolant panels, resulting in blizzards of ice crystals.'
The particular dots cannot be precisely identified but they are almost certainly ice crystals or other fragments that have peeled off the shuttle itself and are now floating alongside it.
Beams of blue light
In November 2015, people in California spotted a strange object shooting across the sky, drawing mass attention.
The object then appeared to erupt, growing what looked like a huge, bright tail of blue flame.
The sight sent the whole state into a frenzy, with stars like the Kardashians even Tweeting about the sighting.
In November 2015, people in California spotted a strange object shooting across the sky, drawing mass attention. The object then appeared to erupt, growing what looked like a huge, bright tail of blue flame
While we are used to seeing faint white lines in the sky left my airplanes, rocket plumes look and act much differently
However, Mr Oberg explained that the huge blue tail was actually a plume - a swarm of particles emitted by a rocket thruster as it shoots through space.
While we are used to seeing faint white lines in the sky left my airplanes, rocket plumes look and act much differently.
Because they do not rely on air, they spread out into wide-angled cones. Some of the particles even bounce off the rocket itself, and end up in front of or alongside it, expanding the plume further.
Most importantly, if the rocket is high enough above us, it might be in full sunlight, even if we are still in the dark.
This effect is most pronounced at twilight. From Earth the object looks like it is shooting fire, but it is really just a plume, being backlit by the sun.
This particular plume was from a Navy test missile. Other sightings have been in Russia, Australia, and the Canary Islands, and have had similar responses.
Mr Oberg said: 'There were thousands of people who were absolutely processing their visual stimuli correctly if [the plume] was a mile away or ten miles away.'
'But it was 300 miles away, up in space and sunlit, which never occurred to them, because this is not something within the normal range of human experience.'
Twilight shadowing
In 1996, the Space Shuttle Columbia was sent on a mission carrying two orbit satellites around Earth.
Footage from the mission showed a very strange array of flashing lights appear in a circle formation. This can be seen at around 5 minutes in the video.
Mr Oberg explains that the objects aren't actually jumping through a wormhole, or rising suddenly over the horizon, they're just moving in and out of the shuttle's shadow.
Footage from the mission showed a very strange array of flashing lights appear in a circle formation
He said: 'They tend to occur at a very special time every orbit, when the shuttle has just come up out of the Earth's shadow and is now bathed in sunlight.'
'The camera is pointed back toward the receding horizon, and stuff suddenly appears, like it's coming up from behind the horizon, or behind a cloud.'
On Earth, when an object blocks sunlight from reaching something, it casts a shadow on its surface.
Since space lacks such a surface, the Shuttle's shadow is invisible until, suddenly, it swallows up some dandruff - debris or ice - and then spits it back out.
Mr Oberg calls this 'twilight shadowing.'
He added: 'You can see things floating out of it and floating into sunlight. They look like stuff that's coming up from beneath the clouds, or from beyond the edge of the Earth.'
The phenomenon of UFOs and how the public react to them, is endlessly fascinating to Mr Oberg.
Orbiting more than a million miles from Earth, a van-sized spacecraft searching for tiny ripples in the fabric of space time has set a new record by creating the quietest place known to mankind.
The European Space Agency's Laser Interferometre Space Antenna (Lisa) Pathfinder mission has set two small cubes of precious metal into the truest 'freefall' ever achieved, where they are protected from all outside forces apart from gravity.
Scientists behind the project said the mission had already 'exceeded expectations' of what they had hoped to achieve.
Scroll down for video
Lisa Pathfinder (artist's impression pictured) has begun conducting experiments that promise to usher in a new era of astronomy by making it possible to detect gravitational waves in space
WHAT ARE GRAVITATIONAL WAVES Scientists view the the universe as being made up of a 'fabric of space-time'. This corresponds to Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, published in 1916. Objects in the universe bend this fabric, and more massive objects bend it more. Gravitational waves are considered ripples in this fabric. They can be produced, for instance, when black holes orbit each other or by the merging of galaxies. Gravitational waves are also thought to have been produced during the Big Bang. Last month researchers detected a signal created when two black holes one around 35 times more massive than our Sun and the other 30 times more massive spun towards each other 1.3 billion light years from Earth. This collision caused the black holes to radiate energy in the form of gravitational waves that ripple out across the universe. The faint ripples were picked up by the Ligo detectors in Livingston, California and Hanford, Washington. Advertisement
Professor Karsten Danzmann, director at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics and co-principal investigator of the Lisa Technology Package, said: 'With LISA Pathfinder we have created the quietest place known to humankind.
'Its performance is spectacular and exceeds all our expectations by far.
'Only by reducing and eliminating all other sources of disturbance we could observe the most perfect free fall ever created.
'And this has shown us that we can build LISA, a space-based gravitational-wave observatory.'
The probe is designed to prove that it will be possible to measure the minute perturbations in space and time caused by gravitational waves as they billow out from colliding black holes.
It promises to usher in an entirely new era of astronomy by allowing scientists to use these weak signals to see previously invisible objects, such as black holes and dark matter, in deep space.
Lisa Pathfinder will blaze the trail for a far more ambitious project to build a space observatory that will search for gravitational waves over huge distances.
The mission comes just four months since scientists announced the first detection of gravitational waves, predicted by Albert Einstein 100 years ago, using two massive detectors based on Earth.
These picked up the faint disturbances in space time caused by two enormous black holes colliding with each other more than 1.3 billion light years away.
But physicists are hoping that by building a gravitational waves observatory in space that will be able to detect these signals with far more sensitivity.
Lisa Pathfinder, which launched in December last year, will spend six months testing an approach they hope will allow them to do this.
At the heart of the Lisa Pathfinder spacecraft are a pair of goldplatinum cubes in a vacuum (illustrated). They have been isolated from all forces acting on them except gravity. Mission say they have now put these cubes in the purest free-fall ever produced so they can monitor their relative positions with a system of lasers
The spacecraft is carrying two gold and platinum alloy cubes at its heart which have been released into a vacuum to float freely inside its experimental chamber.
Here they are isolated from all external and internal forces a state known as freefall.
It means the cubes each weighting 4.4lbs (2kg) and measuring 1.8 inches (4.6cm) wide - will only move in relation to one another when they experience changes in gravity.
Protected from the almost imperceptable forces genearted by the solar wind and radiation, the space occupied by the cubes is now the quietest place ever created by mankind.
By bouncing a complex system of laser beams between the two cubes, scientists hope to be able to detect tiny fluctuations in their movement as gravitational waves pass over them.
A paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters has reveal that the mission has already achieved a crucial step, by setting the cubes into the best freefall ever achieved.
The Lisa Pathfinder spacecraft (illustrated) will demonstrate the technology for one of the most ambitious scientific experiments ever undertaken to build a gravitational wave observatory in space
The Lisa Pathfinder spacecraft (pictured above before being placed inside its assemblage faring) will be kept stationary in orbit more than 900,000 miles from Earth. Tiny thrusters delicate enough to keep a snowflake from landing on the ground will help keep it in position during its six month mission
A series of tests, have subjected the cubes to magnetic and electrical forces to assess what will divert them from freefall.
In order to maintain them in this isolated state, tiny microthrusters manoeuvre the spacecraft around the cubes to counteract the constant blast of radiation and solar wind from the sun.
THE CHALLENGE OF DETECTING GRAVITATIONAL WAVES While gravitational waves are created by some of the most cataclysmic events in the universe, their signal is extremely hard to detect. Indeed, the variation in distance caused by a passing gravitational wave is so small that a full-scale space observatory will need test masses separated by roughly a million kilometres yet would need to be able to detect changes in that separation of about one millionth of a millionth of a metre. This is the equivalent of seeing a ruler 621,000 miles long stretching by less than the size of an atom. Advertisement
The spacecraft is positioned at a point known as Lagrange Point 1 (L1), a point between the Earth and the Sun where their gravitational pull cancels each other out.
Dr Martin Hewitson, Lisa pathfinder senior scientist at the Albert Einstein Institute and Leibniz Universitat Hannover, said: 'We were absolutely thrilled when within just one day we reached our self-set goal.
'And now we know that the performance of the laser interferometer has surpassed the level of precision required by a future gravitational-wave observatory by a factor of more than one hundred.'
Yet even with the intricate system to protect the test mass from external forces, the Lisa Pathfinder spacecraft is not able to shield it perfectly.
However, scientists say the cube is effectively protected tens of thousands of times better than has been achieved in any previous experiment in free fall.
If successful, the 311 million ($441 million) mission will act as a forerunner of a much more ambitious mission called the Laser Interferometre Space Antenna (Lisa).
Lisa Pathfinder was a launched in December (pictured) and is now sitting more than one million miles from the Earth at a stable orbit known as a Lagrange point. It will act as a forerunner for a much more ambitious mission that could be the first gravitational wave observatory in space
Cubes made from a gold and platinum alloy weighing nearly 4.4lbs (pictured) are flying aboard the Lisa Pathfinder spacecraft. The tests being conducted by the probe will pave the way for a more ambitious project to use three spacecraft to search for ripples in space time created by gravitational waves
Three spacecraft, each flying three million miles apart, will be launched to fire laser beams at each other across the emptiness of space.
This will then look for minute movements in the free-falling masses contained at the heart of each spacecraft.
Due to the huge distances between the spacecraft, it will allow scientists to detect very low frequency gravitational waves.
Gravitational waves are through to be generated by massive objects orbiting each other to create ripples in the fabric of space time (illustrated). By studying gravitational waves, scientists hope to gain insight into the nature of the very early universe, which has remained mysterious
A statement released by the European Space Agency said: 'Placing the test masses in a motion subject only to gravity is the challenging condition needed to build and operate a future space mission to observe gravitational waves.
'Predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago, gravitational waves are fluctuations in the fabric of space time, which were recently detected directly for the first time by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (Ligo).
'Over the first two months of scientific operations, the Lisa Pathfinder team has performed a number of experiments on the test masses to prove the feasibility of gravitational wave observation from space.'
Lisa Pathfinder (pictured before launch) is orbiting at a point in space where the gravity of the Earth and sun cancel each other out. Microthrusters on the spacecraft will help to cancel out all outside forces to keep the cubes inside isolated
If you are ever trapped in a black hole, don't worry, because the destructive chasms may in fact let things out of their grasps.
Last year, world-renowned physicist Professor Stephen Hawking suggested black holes were not the 'eternal prisons' many think them to be, and it is possible for data to escape from the abyss.
Now, in a peer-reviewed paper, the 74-year-old has expanded this theory, and confirmed the answer lies in the zero-energy particles, or 'soft hair', that sit on the black hole's horizon.
Just when you thought the world of black holes couldn't get any more bizarre, Professor Stephen Hawking has claimed the destructive chasms may contain coatings. Last year, the physicist has revealed black holes were not the 'eternal prisons' many think them to be, and it is possible for data to escape from the abyss
GREY 'BLACK' HOLES The information paradox has fascinated Stephen Hawking and others for decades. In the 1970s, he proposed black holes are capable of radiating particles and he energy lost through this process would cause the black holes to shrink and eventually disappear. Last year, he revised his theory by declaring black holes were in fact 'grey'. The grey hole theory allows matter and energy to be held for a period of time before being released back into space. He said the idea of an event horizon, from which light can't escape, is flawed and suggested instead that light rays attempting to rush away from the black hole's core are held as though stuck on a treadmill and that they could slowly shrink by spewing out radiation. He has now built-on and tweaked the idea with his latest theory, with physicists Malcolm Perry and Andrew Strominger. Professor Strominger compared the 'soft hair' - zero energy particles on the black hole's horizon - to a recording device, which captures and stores the information stripped from particles as they fall into a black hole. Advertisement
The paper challenges the assumption that anything sucked into the massive objects is lost forever, and brings us a step closer to understanding black holes, some of the most enigmatic objects in our universe.
In particular, the theoretical physicist has discovered a mechanism 'by which information is returned out of the black hole.'
Professor Hawking made headlines back in January when he told the world he had found a possible solution to his black hole 'information paradox'.
He had come up with a potential explanation for how black holes can simultaneously erase information and retain it.
The paper was published on the preprint server arXiv, so the physics community could scrutinise his work.
The hypothesis has now been peer-reviewed and published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
'They are not the eternal prisons they were once thought,' Professor Hawking said at a lecture at Harvard University in Massachusetts, according to the New York Times.
'If you feel you are trapped in a black hole, don't give up. There is a way out.'
In the 1970s, he proposed black holes are capable of radiating particles, and the energy lost through this process would cause the black holes to shrink and eventually disappear.
Last year, he revised this theory by declaring black holes were in fact 'grey'.
The grey hole theory allows matter and energy to be held for a period of time before being released back into space.
The laws of quantum mechanics demand that any information that falls into a black hole should be retrievable, but our knowledge of how the holes behave suggests it would be lost forever. This creates what's known as the 'information paradox' - a mystery that has baffled physicists for 40 years
THE 'SOFT ELECTRIC HAIR' The latest paper suggests that particles that sit on the event horizon, the boundary of the black hole, would consist of photons and gravitons, which are subatomic packets of light and gravitational energy. These very low, or even zero-energy, quantum particles deposited on the edge of the black hole, can capture and store information stripped from the particles falling into the black hole. This effectively means that while the particles falling into the black hole may be gone, their information continues to linger at the edge of oblivion in this 'soft hair' of quantum particles. Advertisement
But the mechanism by which this information was released had previously not been understood.
This latest paper expands on this theory - providing an explanation.
It suggests that particles that sit on the event horizon, the boundary of the black hole, would consist of photons and gravitons, which are subatomic packets of light and gravitational energy.
These very low, or even zero-energy, quantum particles deposited on the edge of the black hole, can capture and store information stripped from the particles falling into the black hole.
This effectively means that while the particles falling into the black hole may be gone, their information continues to linger at the edge of oblivion in this 'soft hair' of quantum particles.
The theoretical physicist likened the return of information to a burned encyclopedia, where information would not technically be lost, but would be incredibly hard to decipher.
The researchers are claiming that, while there's more work to be done, it is a promising step towards solving the 'information paradox' - a problem that has fascinated Professor Hawking and others for decades.
Professor Stephen Hawking, speaking in Massachusetts, explained a theory suggesting black holes may not be so black after all. The theory has now been published in a peer-reviewed paper
In an interview with Scientific American earlier this year, one of the co-authors and a theoretical physicist at Harvard University, Professor Andrew Strominger said: 'We show that when a particle goes in, it adds a soft photon to the black hole. So it adds hair to the black hole.
'And more generally if particle goes in - because all particles carry mass and are coupled to gravity- they always add a soft graviton. So theres a kind of recording device.
'These soft photons and gravitons record information about what went into the black hole - infinitely more information than we previously believed is recorded by this mechanism.'
'It is important to note that this paper does not solve the black hole information problem,' writes physicist Gary Horowitz from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in a commentary article.
'First, the analysis must be repeated for gravity, rather than just electromagnetic fields. The authors are currently pursuing this task, and their preliminary calculations indicate that the purely gravitational case will be similar,' he adds. 'More importantly, the soft hair they introduce is probably not enough to capture all the information about what falls into a black hole.'
He said it is still not certain whether all the information swallowed up by a black hole really can be transferred to the 'soft hair', of it is just an energy signature of everything that has been lost.
But he admits: 'It is certainly possible that, following the path indicated by this work, further investigation will uncover more hair of this type, and perhaps eventually lead to a resolution of the black hole information problem.'
Advertisement
Archaeologists and doctors in Spain are have used 3D-scanning technology to peer beneath the bandages of four ancient mummies.
The specimens of three Egyptians and one Guanche the aboriginal people who lived in the Canary Islands were taken from the National Archaeological Museum, in Madrid.
By using the scanning technology, the experts hope to be able to find out more about how the individuals lived, what killed them and the funeral rituals they underwent when they were buried.
Archaeologists in Spain have used 3D-scanning technology to analyse four sets of mummified remains. The specialist team hope to be able to find out more about how the individuals lived, what killed them and the funeral rituals they underwent when they were buried. Pictured is of the mummy of Nespamedu, an Egyptian priest of Imhotep
The mummies were carefully transported to the University Hospital Quironsalud Madrid (HUQSM), the only facility with the latest scanning technology.
As part of the process the mummies were scanned, ready for studied by a team of doctors including Vicente Martinez de Vega, Javier Carrascoso and Silvia Badillo Rodriguez-Portugal, with help from Egyptologist Carmen Perez Die, Teresa Gomez Espinosa and Esther Pons.
The team were accompanied during the mummies' outing by a TV crew from national channel RTVE, who will air a documentary about them next year.
The scanner, which has low levels of radiation but a very high resolution, allows the X-rays to penetrate their subject and in just one take extract an enormous amount of information and contrasts.
Researchers hope that 3D scans of the mummies will enable them to peer beneath the bandages like never before, and could help to provide new insight into how they lived, died and their funeral rites. Pictured are the team looking at the initial scan results (left) from Nespamedu and a close up (right)
Throughout the scanning and analysis the team was accompanied by a TV crew from national channel RTVE, who will air a documentary about them next year
More than 2,000 cross-sectional images are obtained, which are then used to construct a volumetric and three-dimensional representation which can be studied by the team.
Egyptologist Carmen Perez Die said: 'I have spent all my life with these mummies, they are very important pieces and I am looking forward to beginning this new way of studying them with which we will learn many new things about them that until now we could not access.'
The most recent images that the team have of the mummies are from radiographies taken in 1976.
The excited team now have their work cut out to meticulously process all the new information supplied by technological advances that will allow them to discover more about the lives and deaths of the mummies and their civilisations.
Archaeologists hope the scans will provide new insight into the lives, deaths and burial rites of the mummies. Pictured is a 3D reconstruction of the Guanche mummy, one of a cave-dwelling culture of the Canary Islands which communicated over long distances using a system of intricate whistles
A team of technicians carefully transferred the mummies from the National Archaeological Museum, in Madrid. The specimens included three Egyptian mummies and one Guanche, from the Canary Islands
Once the mummified remains had been carefully transferred from the museum in Madrid, they underwent scans at University Hospital Quironsalud Madrid (HUQSM)
Archaeological teams around the world are increasingly turning to technology to breath new life into long-dead bodies of the past.
In the last few years researchers in the UK, Germany and the US have all used CT (computerised tomography) scans to observe ancient mummies in even greater detail.
The approach has also been used to bring museum artefacts to life, enabling virtual visitors to look at the pieces in unprecedented detail without even being in the same room as the object.
The ancient mummified human remains were scanned using 3D technology in order to generate computer models which could be virtually manipulated and analysed, without fear of damaging them. Pictured is the Guanche mummy, from the Canary Islands
Pit contains five adult male skeletons, one adolescent and four arms
A circular pit containing the skeletons of ten people placed on a bed of severed arms is shedding new light on violent conflicts thousands of years ago.
At a site outside Strasbourg, the remains of ten individuals were found in one of 300 ancient 'silos' used to store grain and other food.
Experts claim the gruesome discovery tells the tale of a devastating massacre where arms were taken as trophies by 'furious ritualised warriors'.
At a site outside Strasbourg, the corpses of ten individuals (pictured) were found in one of 300 ancient 'silos' used to store grain and other food. Experts claim the gruesome discovery tells the tale of a devastating massacre that was likely carried out by 'furious ritualised warriors'
'FURIOUS RITUALISED WARRIORS' Thousands of years ago it was common for bodies to be buried in circular pits among farming communities across central and Western Europe. But the discovery at Pit 124 adds suggests people butchered in raids were buried in the same way. Evidence suggests these people were brutally executed, almost certainly using a stone axe. The arms are thought to have been hacked off as 'war trophies'. The mutilations showed the society was one of 'furious ritualised warriors', according to Philippe Lefranc, a specialist on the period for Inrap. Advertisement
A team from France's National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) discovered the remains of a 6,000-year-old massacre that took place in Alsace in eastern France.
The pit, named Pit 124, contained body parts from ten individuals, including five adult skeletons, one adolescent and four arms from unrelated individuals.
The arms are thought to have been hacked off as 'war trophies'.
'In the pit 124 of Achenheim, six male skeletons were discovered with many fractures on skulls, legs, arms, ribs and pelvis,' Dr Fanny Chenal, archaeologist from Inrap working on the discovery told MailOnline.
The way the bodies were piled on top of each other suggests they had been killed together and dumped in the silo.
The Neolithic group appeared to have died violent deaths, with multiple injuries to their legs, hands and skulls.
Researchers at the site believe that the grave may tell a gruesome tale of an encounter of raiders from the Parisian basin who may have been scouting the area, looking for easy pickings.
One theory from the group is that this raiding party may have been caught out by the Alsatians, paying for the incursion with their lives.
At this time, it was common for bodies to be buried in circular pits among farming communities across central and Western Europe.
The silos were stored within a defence wall that pointed towards 'a troubled time, a period of insecurity', Lefranc added. A general view of the site of an archaeological dig, pictured
Six male skeletons - five adults and one adolescent were discovered with many fractures on skulls, legs, arms, ribs and pelvis. Pictured is the shattered hip bone of one of the men butchered in the raid
THE GRUESOME PIT 124 Location: Achenheim, east France Age: 6,000 years old Contents: The skeletons of five adults and one adolescent were found, as well as four arms from different individuals. Advertisement
But the grave adds to evidence that those butchered in raids were buried in the same way.
'They were very brutally executed and received violent blows, almost certainly from a stone axe,' said Philippe Lefranc, a specialist on the period for Inrap.
The skeletons of five adults and one adolescent were found, as well as four arms from different individuals.
He said the mutilations showed the society was one of 'furious ritualised warriors'.
The silos were stored within a defence wall that pointed towards 'a troubled time, a period of insecurity', he added.
The arms were likely 'war trophies' like those found at a nearby burial site, named Pit 157, in Bergheim in 2012, said Lefranc.
The way the bodies were piled on top of each other suggested they had been killed together and dumped in the silo. At this time, it was common for bodies to be buried in circular pits among farming communities across central and Western Europe. Fossilized skeletons of two men with numerous fractured bones, pictured
Experts said the mutilations showed the society was one of 'furious ritualised warriosr'. The arms were likely 'war trophies' like those found at a nearby burial site, named Pit 157, in Bergheim in 2012, said Lefranc. A left arm bones displaying multiple fractures, pictured
'A lot of things are similar [between the two pits]' Dr Chenal told MailOnline.
'These two pits are contemporary and in Achenheim, four left arms were deposited among the skeletons.'
'This amazing discovery confirms the hypothesis of war trophies proposed for Bergheim and sign very violent acts ("overkilling"), probably in relation with neolithic wars.'
In a paper published last year about the Bergheim burial, experts claimed the gruesome discovery tells the tale of a devastating raid on a settlement in eastern France that may have wiped out an entire family.
'This amazing discovery confirms the hypothesis of war trophies proposed for Bergheim and sign very violent acts ("overkilling"), probably in relation with neolithic wars.' Dr Chenal told MailOnline. A member of the team looking at fossilized skeletons, shown
The left arm bones of a person between the ages of 12-16 discovered in the pit, shown left. The fossilized skeleton of a man with multiple fractured bones, shown right
The skeletons of five adults and one adolescent were found in the pit, as well as four arms from different individuals. A member of the team working to uncover fossilized skeletons pictured
The 6.5ft (two metres) deep circular pit was found in Bergheim by archaeologists from Antea Archeologie in Habsheim and the universities of Strasbourg and Bordeaux.
It contained seven human skeletons and part of a child's skull on top of the remains of seven amputated human arms.
Study author Dr Fanny Chenal of Inrap, told Gizmodo: 'For a long time, Neolithic societies were considered relatively egalitarian and peaceful.
'But since several years a lot of research has shown that it was not the case.'
She thinks war was common in Neolithic times and, while there is no clear evidence of this in France, there is evidence in Germany from the same time.
Dr Fanny Chenal thinks war was common in Neolithic times and, while there is no clear evidence of this in France, there is evidence in Germany from the same time. The fossilized skeletons in the pit, shown
Inrap archaeologists working to uncover fossilized skeletons. The bones are thought to be 6,000 years old
THE VIOLENT TALE OF PIT 157 The arms found in the site were likely 'war trophies' like those found at a nearby burial site, named Pit 157, in Bergheim in 2012, said Lefranc. Lead author Dr Fanny Chanal said the arms were buried with the remains, but thinks they are from the same social group. She said Pit 157 represents 'clear evidence' of what was likely an act of inter-group armed violence. Carbon dating showed the bones are between 5,500 and 6,000 years old. At this time, it was common for bodies to be buried in circular pits among farming communities across central and Western Europe. But the unusual Bergheim grave was the first evidence that those butchered in raids were buried in the same way. There is already debate about whether such circular pits were remnants of storage pits and repurposed for people not deemed worthy of a grander burial, or were used for high-ranking people. Some pits containing the remains of several people suggest slaves or relatives were killed to be buried with an important person, and there are even theories saying circular pits were used for human sacrifices. A circular pit, bearing the skeletons of seven people placed on a bed of severed arms (pictured), is shedding new light on violent conflicts of 6,000 years ago. The 6.5ft (two metres) deep circular pit was found in Bergheim by archaeologists from Antea Archeologie in Habsheim and the universities of Strasbourg and Bordeaux Advertisement
Advertisement
It has travelled more than 2.6 billion miles and circled the Earth more than 100,000 times since it launched into space 17 years ago.
During their time on board the International Space Station, the crews living there have enjoyed some of the best views of our planet imaginable.
So it is hardly surprising that they have now taken more than three million images on board as they orbit 249 miles above the Earth.
Scroll down for video
The current expedition of astronauts on board the International Space Station has seen some extraordinary images beamed back from orbit. These include this picture of an aurora lighting up the atmosphere of Earth as the ISS passes overhead
Yet despite this, the images beamed back by the current group of astronauts on the space station are widely considered to be among the best.
From this distance, the landscape racing past below at 17,150 miles per hour can look frighteningly fragile.
ORBITAL MILESTONE REACHED On Monday 16 May, the International Space station embarked on its 100,000th orbit of Earth. Since the first module of the ISS launched 17 years ago, the station has racked up more than 2.6 billion miles - equivalent to 10 round trips to Mars, or almost one way to Neptune. Each orbit of the planet takes roughly 90 minutes, with 16 orbits making up one day for the crew aboard the station. Advertisement
But the pictures taken by astronauts Tim Peake, Tim Kopra and Jeffrey Williams capture the remarkable beauty and majesty of planet Earth.
Stunning sunsets over the vast oceans, towering mountain ranges dominating landscapes, and
They have also captured the footprint that human activity has now placed on our planet, from swathes of glowing lights of cities at night, geometric patterns left by agriculture and patches of grey concrete that mark the places we call home.
The images also provide a glimpse of the fragility of our world. From the last tendril of ice melting on the Bering Sea to the ever shifting chaos created by sand dunes as they spread from the desert to envelope neighbouring landscapes.
British astronaut Tim Peake has particularly built a name for himself by taking stunning pictures of planet Earth.
Some of his most recent pictures include a remarkable picture of the Manicouagan impact crater in Canada, a ring shaped structure left by an asteroid strike around 210 million years ago.
Major Peake, who is due to return to Earth later this month, is nearing the end of his six month mission on board the ISS.
Despite taking pictures almost every day from his unrivaled room with a view, Major Peake has selected two of his favourite images to mark the launch of the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016 competition.
He said if he was to enter the competition, he would chose a spectacular picture of a sunrise that reveals the colourful layers of the Earth's thin atmosphere.
This picture of New York shows the huge urban sprawl that dominates this part of the east coast of the US. The five boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island are all in view
A lightning flash illuminates the a storm on the Earth while the Milky Way illuminates the sky above in this stunning picture
The chaotic encroachment of sand dunes from the desert in central Algeria onto the surrounding landscape are among the images captured by the astronauts that can prove invaluable to scientists studying the environmental changes taking place on Earth
Nasa astronaut on the ISS captured this oblique view of the towering snow-caped peaks of the Himalaya Mountains last month
This astonishing picture shows a a dramatic thunderstorm as lightning discharges in the clouds on 17 May above Arkansas
Astronaut Scott Kelly, who returned to Earth in March after spending a year in orbit, captured this stunning sunrise on the 1 March as he prepared to depart the space station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft
WHAT ASTRONOMERS THINK OF TIM PEAKES SPACE PHOTOGRAPHS Dr Marek Kukula, Public Astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich and judge in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year, has examined the photographs astronaut Tim Peake said he would like to enter in the competition. He said: 'Tim's images give us a unique view of the cosmos, thanks to his perch on the ISS, which essentially acts as a very tall camera tripod. 'He's captured inspiring shots of our planet and the wider Universe, which I'm sure, will spur on a whole new generation of astronauts and space industry workers. 'And who knows, as living and working in space becomes a reality for more and more people, perhaps we'll see amazing photos like this actually being entered in the not so distant future.' British astronaut Tim Peake has selected two of his own pictures taken during his past five months on board the International Space Station that he would enter into the International Astronomy Photographer of the Year. His picture of a sunset above is one Another of Major Peake's images he picked out for the competition shows the stars of the Milky Way glistening through the thin atmosphere of Earth while the ISS soars above the planet (pictured) Advertisement
Astronauts onboard the ISS experience 16 sunrises and sunsets every day as the space station races around the planet.
Major Peake also selected a picture of the Milky Way glistening over the curved horizon of planet Earth as the ISS soared above it.
The crew on board the ISS have a range of Nikon digital cameras and lenses to help them capture their pictures. They also use a Red Epic Dragon to film 4K footage from orbit.
While in orbit, one of the astronauts jobs on the current expedition has been to launch tiny satellites known as CubeSats from the space station (pictured left). Footage of one of these launches led UFO enthusiasts to claim they had spotted an alien object. The composite picture on the right, taken by Flight engineer Jeff Williams, captures the sun glinting off the central Pacific Ocean between low clouds
The astronauts do not just spend their time looking down at the Earth, as this picture of the Moon captured by Tim Peake shows
More than three million images have been taken on board the ISS. This portrait of the current crew, Expedition 47, taken on 12 May, is the 3 millionth image. It shows ESA astronaut Timothy Peake, NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra and Roscosmos cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko (left to right front row), Russian cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin along with NASA astronaut Jeff Williams in the back row
Nasa astronaut and space station commander Tim Kopra captured this nightscape of Chicago , which shows the city's distinctive grid shaped layout of its streets
Not all of the pictures taken on board the ISS are out of the window. This picture taken by Tim Kopra shows his breakfast taco of shredded port, cheese, eggs, salsa and refried beans floating inside the Unity module
Depending on the angle of the sunlight, the astronauts can see some dramatic cloud formations, like this cumulonimbus cloud captured by Major Peake on 3 April
This picture shows the last finger of sea ice on the Bering Sea melting along the Russian coastline
A romantic holiday destination for many, this image captured by Jeff Williams shows how Venice in Italy runs the risk of being consumed by the rising tides of the Adriatic Sea
This image is a composite together at the Johnson space Centre in Houston using photographs taken by crew members on the ISS. It shows Mount Brandberg Nature Reserve in Namibia, Africa
Tim Peake captured this rare, high-altitude noctilucent, or night-shining, clouds that form between 47 and 53 miles above the Earth's surface near the boundary of the mesosphere and the thermosphere
Many of the pictures taken by the astronauts are used by scientists at Nasa's Earth Obeservatory to study the impacts of the changing environment.
In a recent interview with reporters from the International Space Station, Major Peake said that when he returns to Earth on 18 June, it would be the view from the window he would miss the most.
He said: 'I thought that after a few months, you would be used to Planet Earth. But I'm enjoying it more and more.
British astronaut Tim Peake has built a reputation for capturing some stunning night time photography, like this one as he passed over Italy, the Mediterranean and the Alps
This image may look more like an abstract painting but actually shows the enormous dunes on the outskirts of the Namib Desert in southeset Africa. As one of the oldest deserts in the world, it covers large swathes of Namibia, Angola and South Africa
Before Scott Kelly left the space station, ESA astronaut Tim Peake got some tips off him on how to capture the stunning lights of the aurora as the solar wind smashes into the Earth's atmosphere. The picture above is one of his first attempts
One of Tim Peake's most recent pictures shows the Manicouagan impact crater in Canada (pictured), a ring shaped structure left by an asteroid strike around 210 million years ago
Our orbit is giving us a very low sun angle right now great for cloud pics! https://t.co/xx4XnVezwt pic.twitter.com/GIgP6xMxwJ Tim Peake (@astro_timpeake) May 31, 2016
This picture shows the geometric design etched into the desert of central Saudi Arabia by agricultural irrigation
This striking photograph of South Africa was taken using a special camera mounted on the outside of the space station
Tim Peake captured the jade coloured water flowing off a Patagonian ice field. This glacial river eventually flows into the Lago Argentina
'The longer you spend up here the more you discover about our own planet - the different times of day, the different phases, the different seasons.
'I'm seeing the Northern Hemisphere from space changing from winter to spring to summer, and it's the most incredible thing to see.
'The different weather systems, the ice melting in the Hudson Bay.
'The Earth reveals its secrets slowly over time, and the more you look out the window the more there is to see.'
Jeff Willimas captured this colourful picture of the coastline of northwest Australian, revealing its unique terrain
Some of the pictures reveal that it is not just Earth's landscapes that can appear stunning from orbit. In this case it is life - a swirling bloom of plankton off the coast of Patagonia, that has produced this striking image
While the astronauts do not currently launch from the Kennedy Space Centre since the end of the shuttle programme, they still have soft spot for it in their heart. This image by Scott Kelly shows the Kennedy Space Centre from orbit
In this picture, dramatic cloud formations and the sun reflecting off the ocean below gives the clouds the appearance of islands in the sky
This picture captured by Tim Kopra shows San Francisco with the Golden Gate Bridge on the left
The towering mountains of Patagonia peak out from a sea of cloud cover in the picture above taken on 18 May
This enormous ice field in southern Patagonia runs into Lake Viedma. This is located at the Southern Patagonic Andes between Argentina and Chile. The picture was taken by Tim Peake
This strange shaped piece of land jutting out into the ocean is how Cape Cod in Massachusetts looks from 241 miles above the Earth
A large extinct volcano in the southwest African Brukkaros Mountains in Namibia is pictured above. It measures 1,590 metres at its peak
Looking more like fireflies, these green specks are atually the lights of fishing boats scattered across the Gulf of Thailand
Looking down on the northern coast of Mallorca, in the Mediterranean Sea
This picture by Tim Kopra of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada, shows the wakes of boats and other vessels left in English Bay
Tim Peake took this photograph from the window of the ISS showing the Soyuz space capsule in front of the island of Madagascar
Tim Kopra took this photograph showing how water has etched patterns into the sands of western Mexico
This picture shows the impact that mankind is having on the landscape, with the vast holes created by mining operations near Green Valley in Arizona gaping
Aurora Australis captured on April 17. This is the southern counterpart of the Aurora Borealis and can include rarer red and blue lights
Pictured is an unknown Brazilian lake taken by Tim Kopra, who is serving as commander of the ISS
Expedition 47 flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko from Roscosmos is photographed in the International Space Station's Cupola module preparing to take Earth pictures using a 400 mm lens. The Cupola's 360 degree viewing platform provides optimal views of the Earth below and also contains the control mechanisms for the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm
Moon horizon above Korea is seen in this stunning image. Atmospheric distortion are behind the ripples in this image
March 31, Progress 63P flying over a city in western Asia. Esa astronaut Tim Peake spotted the spacecraft exit our atmosphere and enter Earth orbit, leaving a characteristic contrail
Movie night on the ISS. This image was taken by British astronaut, Tim Peak, who is nearing the end of his 6-month stint on the space station
CubeSats fly free after leaving the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer on the International Space Station. Seen here are two LEMUR-2 satellites
Soyuz 46S arriving at the International Space Station Saturday 20 March 2016
Astronaut Tim Peake practicing a Cygnus capture ahead of Orbital launch and rendezvous in this image
The secret to success - from the boardroom to the bedroom - could be in our genes.
A study found that men and women who had certain combinations of genes were high achievers from an early age.
Even coming from an impoverished family didnt halt their rise.
However, despite their seemingly perfect lives, they were no happier or healthier than other people.
The secret to success - from the boardroom to the bedroom - could be in our genes. A study found that men and women who had certain combinations of genes were high achievers from an early age. Even coming from an impoverished family didnt halt their rise
The right genes have been linked to exam success before but the latest research suggests they have much wider benefits.
Researcher Daniel Belsky at Duke University analysed detailed information on almost 1,000 New Zealand men and women in their 40s who have been part of a health study since birth.
Data available ranged from the age at which they said their first words to how much money they earn as adults.
Dr Belsky also studied their DNA, looking for thousands of tiny changes in the genetic code that previous studies have linked with success at school.
Not surprisingly, he found that the men and women with these genes for education did better academically.
But they also excelled in life in general.
As babies they started to speak earlier, as children they learned to read more quickly and by the age of 38, they had more prestigious jobs, earned more and travelled more.
They were also more friendly and likeable and had wealthier spouses.
Dr Belsky said: Its a nice guys finish first story that I didnt expect to find.
Previous research found that a child's genes had a larger impact on their school attainment and whether or not they graduate at college or university in the future
The same genes also helped make someone upwardly mobile, meaning that even children from poor backgrounds did well, if they had the right DNA.
However, despite their achievements, those with the genes for education were no happier or healthier than other adults.
Writing in the journal Psychological Science, Dr Belsky said the results couldnt simply be explained by good exam results setting people on the path to success.
Instead, he believes that genes that help youngsters do well in school also influence personality traits integral to success.
Dr Belsky said that the effect of the genes for education on any one childs life is small.
However, boosting their impact could have a huge impact on the population overall.
Future possibilities include tailoring childrens education to their genes.
Another, more controversial possibility, involves genetic screening of embryos, to give IVF patients babies with the greatest odds of growing up to be a success.
However, Dr Belsky told New Scientist magazine that so many genes are involved that it is impossible to do this safely.
Over the past few years, a troubling truth about rape kits has been brought to light after victims go through an invasive procedure to preserve any evidence, they often go untested, collecting dust in storage rooms by the thousands.
Not only can these kits help to bring justice to the victims, researchers argue, but they can also serve as a 'gold mine of information' on how rapists operate.
In a new study, an Ohio task force has tested nearly 5,000 backlogged rape kits from as far back as 1993, leading them to discover that serial rapists are far more common than it's been thought.
Scroll down for video
In a recent effort, an Ohio task force has tested nearly 5,000 backlogged rape kits from as far back as 1993, leading to the discovery that serial rapists are far more common than it's believed to be
WHAT THE STUDY FOUND Examining 243 sexual assaults, they found that more than half 51 percent were tied to serial offenders, who often had a more violent and extensive criminal history than one-time offenders. Among serial offenders, 26 percent had been arrested for sexual assault before that particular crime, while 60 percent were arrested for an unrelated sexual assault later on. And, they found that 'an overwhelming majority' of rapists have a history of felonies. Of all serial rapists in the study, 74 percent had at least one prior felony arrest, and 95 percent had at least one felony after. For one-time offenders, they found 51 percent had prior felony arrests, and 78 percent had at least one subsequently. Advertisement
The testing by the Cuyahoga County Sexual Assault Kit Task Force has already led to more than 250 convictions, and this number could climb to as many as a thousand, they say.
Along with this, the findings could help to change the way sexual assaults are investigated and the way society views these cases, the researchers explain.
Researchers from the Task Force partnered with the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education at Case Western Reserve University's Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences to analyse evidence from hundreds of sexual assaults committed in and around Cleveland between 1993 and 2010.
In the cases studied, all but three victims were female, and ranged in age from two to 70, with the average age of 26.
Nearly 70 percent of the victims were black, the researchers say, a reflection the neighbourhood where the incidents occurred.
Examining 243 sexual assaults, they found that more than half 51 percent were tied to serial offenders, who often had a more violent and extensive criminal history than one-time offenders.
'Our findings suggest it is very likely that a sexual offender has either previously sexually assaulted or will offend again in the future,' said Rachel Lovell, a senior research associate at the Begun Center and co-leader of the Cuyahoga County Sexual Assault Kit Pilot Research Project.
'Investigating each sexual assault as possibly perpetrated by a serial offender has the potential to reduce the number of sexual assaults if investigations focus more on the offender than on single incidents.'
The investigation revealed that 'an overwhelming majority' of rapists have a history of felonies.
Of all serial rapists in the study, 74 percent had at least one prior felony arrest, and 95 percent had at least one felony after.
For one-time offenders, they found 51 percent had prior felony arrests, and 78 percent had at least one subsequently.
And among serial offenders, 26 percent had been arrested for sexual assault before that particular crime, while 60 percent were arrested for an unrelated sexual assault later on.
The testing by the Cuyahoga County Sexual Assault Kit Task Force has already led to more than 250 convictions, and this number could climb to as many as a thousand, they say
NEW INSIGHT ON THE BEHAVIOURS OF RAPISTS The researchers also found that serial and one-time rapists behave differently. Crimes committed by a serial offender often involve kidnapping, along with verbally and physically threatening the victims. In these cases, weapons are often involved. But, they found that serial offenders were less likely to restrain and injure victims during the attack. One-time offenders, however, were more likely to punch, slap, or hold down/restrain a victim. They also found that serial offenders were more likely to commit an assault outside, in a vehicle, or in a garage, while a one-time offender would attack in a house, whether it be their own, the victim's or that of a third party. And, 58 percent of serial offenders commit all of their crimes in the same type of setting. The study also revealed that one-time offenders are more likely to commit sexual assaults with other people, like in gang rapes, while serial offenders were more likely to be strangers to their victims. Advertisement
'These are one-man crime waves,' said Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy. J. McGinty.
'And now that we realize this, we cannot allow these kits to sit on shelves untested in the future. They hold the keys to identifying and convicting dangerous criminals.'
McGinty organized the Task Force in 2013 to investigate the DNA evidence generated by Attorney General Mike DeWine's Sexual Assault Kit Testing Initiative.
So far, the collaborative work has led to the indictment of 462 defendants responsible for over 500 sexual assaults.
According to McGinty, the backlogged rape kits are a 'gold mine of information,' and will likely lead to the prosecution of a thousand criminals.
They hope that the task force will lead to more effective investigations and help to prevent new attacks, as many criminals will be in prison.
'Law enforcement greatly underestimated the positive result that would come out of investigating these rape kits,' Prosecutor McGinty
According to McGinty, the backlogged rape kits are a 'gold mine of information,' and will likely lead to the prosecution of a thousand criminals. The researchers plan to delve further into these cases to understand the different types of serial and one-time offenders
'We are identifying, prosecuting and punishing some of the most dangerous violent repeat offenders in our communities.
'The research now coming out of the Begun Center is reinforcing the importance of this work, not only in Cuyahoga County, but nationally.'
As the researchers continue their work, they plan to delve further into these cases to understand the different types of serial and one-time offenders, and how the dynamics of the investigation affect the victim's cooperation.
In their study, they found that victims largely cooperate with police in the beginning. But after the first reporting encounter, 69 percent did not respond to attempts to be contacted by the police.
'The experience of collecting a rape kit is invasive, and especially so right after a victim has been traumatically assaulted,' said Lovell.
Advertisement
It took the technology world by storm when it was announced at CES in Las Vegas.
Now a Chinese firm that has build a self flying 'passenger drone' says it could soon begin testing in Nevada.
The Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems, a state nonprofit group sponsored by the Governor's Office of Economic Development, will work to help EHang test and develop its system, officials said Monday.
Scroll down for video
EHang and Lung Biotechnology hope to use 1,000 drones to deliver artificial human organs to hospitals around the US.
THE PASSENGER CARRYING 184 The all-electric vehicle has four arms with a total of eight propellers at the end. The company says the 184 is autonomous, so all the passenger has to do is enter in their destination in the smartphone app, sit back, and let the drone take over. There's no option to take control of the 184 remotely. The cockpit is empty, apart from a stand to place a smartphone or tablet and a cup holder. EHang said the vehicle is primarily designed for traveling short-to-medium distances around 10 miles and will fly at around 60 miles per hour. Advertisement
'We first met them at the (International) Consumer Electronics Show in 2016,' Mark Barker, the institute's business development director, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal
'Tom Wilczek (the defense aerospace industry representative at the governor's economic development office) and I were there and we went into their booth and we saw this EHang 184 it caught everybody's attention.
The institute will develop test criteria to help EHang Inc. prove aircraft worthiness to the Federal Aviation Administration.
'We will help them submit necessary test results and reports to the FAA and all that kind of stuff,' Barker said.
'It's a big deal for EHang and it's a big deal for NIAS and the state of Nevada because we will be helping them to test and validate their system.'
This partnership will advance the state's commercial drone industry, Wilczek said in a statement.
'I personally look forward to the day when drone taxis are part of Nevada's transportation system,' he said.
EHang expects to begin testing in Nevada later this year.
It is also working to 'revolutionize the way organs are transported in the U.S' by ferrying them by drone.
The firm has revealed a collaboration with Lung Biotechnology PBC to develop and purchase up to 1,000 units of an evolved version of the 184, the world's first autonomous drone for humans, to automate organ transplant delivery.
The two companies have agreed to work together over the course of the next fifteen years to optimize the 184 for organ deliveries, a program which they are calling the Manufactured Organ Transport Helicopter (MOTH) system.
Lung Biotechnology specializes in manufacturing lungs and other organs for transplant using a variety of technologies, including pig-to-human xenotransplantation, as well as regenerating them from stem cells.
It plans to station the MOTH rotorcrafts outside of its organ manufacturing facilities, and use preprogrammed flight plans to hospitals and re-charging pads within the MOTH radius so that the manufactured organs can be delivered within their post-production window of viability.
This huge shift in organ production and delivery has the potential to save tens of thousands of lives.
'We anticipate delivering hundreds of organs a day, which means that the system will help save not only tens of thousands of lives, but also many millions of gallons of aviation transport gasoline annually,' said Martine Rothblatt, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of Lung Biotechnology.
'The well-known locations of transplant hospitals and future organ manufacturing facilities makes the EHang technology ideal for Highway-In-The-Sky (HITS) and Low-Level IFR Route (LLIR) programs.'
Currently, organ transplants are limited by the number of brain-dead donors, which results in thousands of deaths on organ transplant waiting lists each year.
In the case of lung transplants, only about 2,000 lung procedures are performed annually, whereas over 200,000 people in the U.S. die of end-stage lung disease each year.
'I think in all of us there is that little kid in all of us that says I want to fly,' said founder George Yan. 'I don't want to get a pilot license after five or 10 hours of flying, I want to do it right away. We're making that dream happen'
However, the firms admit they still face regulatory hurdles - Federal Aviation Administration approval of the MOTH rotorcraft, as well as approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of Lung Biotechnology's xenotransplantation organ products.
The 184, which is an autonomous drone capable of carrying a passenger more than 10 miles through the air at speeds up to 65 miles per hour simply by entering a destination into its accompanying smartphone app, is perfected suited for a variety of medical emergency transport.
After several years of development, EHang unveiled the world's first autonomous aerial vehicle at CES 2016 to great acclaim.
'This is exactly the kind of global impact we envisioned when building the 184,' explained Huazhi Hu, CEO of EHang. 'Partnering with Martine and Lung Biotechnology is an incredible opportunity to bring the 184 to the emergency medical space, and specifically help to revolutionize the organ delivery system in the U.S. It's also representative of our broader dedication to making the EHang 184 and its commercial drones readily available to a number of different industries today.'
The all-electric vehicle has four arms with a total of eight propellers at the end.
'You know how it feels to sit in a Ferrari? This is 10 times better,' George Yan, co-founder of Ehang said in an interview with DailyMail.com at its unveiling.
The company says the 184 is autonomous, so all the passenger has to do is enter in their destination in the smartphone app, sit back, and let the drone take over.
There's no option to take control of the 184 remotely. The cockpit is empty, apart from a stand to place a smartphone or tablet and a cup holder.
'I think in all of us there is that little kid in all of us that says I want to fly,' said Yan. 'I don't want to get a pilot license after five or 10 hours of flying, I want to do it right away. We're making that dream happen.'
'Everything is calculated in the backend to pick the most optimal route for you, so there is no collision with the other drones flying,' said Yan.
'On the drone itself we have built pretty sophisticated back up services so if another system fails then another will take over.'
In the event of an emergency, passengers can also elect to halt flight and simply hover in the air.
The EHang 184, which was named for 'one' passenger, 'eight' propellers, and 'four' arms. When it's not in use, it can be folded up so that it can be stored away more easily.
EHang said the vehicle is primarily designed for traveling short-to-medium distances around 10 miles and will fly at around 60 miles per hour.
EHang claims to be building the world's first 'Autonomous Aerial Vehicle' for transporting people. 'You know how it feels to sit in a Ferrari? This is 10 times better,' said George Yan, co-founder of Ehang in an interview with DailyMail.com
EHang said the vehicle is primarily designed for traveling short-to-medium distances around 10 miles and will fly at 60 miles per hour
It takes off and lands vertically, subsequently eliminating the need for runways.
'Mass-adoption of the 184 has the potential to streamline congested traffic and dramatically reduce the kinds of accidents associated with any human-operated vehicle,' the firm claims.
'It's been a lifetime goal of mine to make flight faster, easier and more convenient than ever. The 184 provides a viable solution to the many challenges the transportation industry faces in a safe and energy efficient way,' said EHang CEO Huazhi Hu.
'I truly believe that EHang will make a global impact across dozens of industries beyond personal travel.
'The 184 is evocative of a future we've always dreamed of and is primed to alter the very fundamentals of the way we get around.'
The 184 has been in development for 2 and a half years, and the company is aiming to release a commercial version later this year, depending on safety tests and future drone regulations.
As well as having to work in the confines of UAV laws, there is also the issue of trust. Would anyone ever trust a drone to fly them to a destination?
'If you roll the timeline back to 100 years you will see that when we went from horse and carriage to vehicles people had the same concerns of whether you could trust it to take you from A to B,' said Yan.
'If you look out the cars out there and unmanned vehicles, you can understand that we can make these technology breakthrough.
You just have to start somewhere.'
THE DRONE TAXI: WHAT FLYING IN THE 184 WIL BE LIKE The fully ready-to-fly 184 is a manned drone capable of automatically carrying a passenger through the air, simply by entering a destination into its accompanying smartphone app. The 184 uses multiple independent flight control systems to automatically navigate passengers from point A to point B. These systems combine real-time data collected from sensors throughout the flight and automatically plot the fastest and safest route to carry passengers to their destinations. The EHang 184 has built in reinforcements for all flight systems, so that in the unlikely event that a component does fail, multiple backups are already in place to seamlessly take over. The fully ready-to-fly 184 is a manned drone capable of automatically carrying a passenger through the air, simply by entering a destination into its accompanying smartphone app The 184 uses multiple independent flight control systems to automatically navigate passengers from point A to point B. EHang's independently developed Fail-Safe System ensures that if any components malfunction, or if there's damage while the AAV is in-flight (i.e. from a bird), the aircraft will immediately begin taking the necessary precautions to ensure safety. The 184's Fail-Safe System automatically evaluates the damage and determines whether the AAV will need to land to ensure its passenger's safety. The EHang 184 AAV flight control systems have multiple sets of sensors that provide the drone a constant stream of real-time data. The 184's communication system was also designed with a safety guarantee: every system is encrypted, and each AAV comes with an independent key. In the event of an emergency, passengers can elect to halt flight and simply hover in the air with just one click. 'The fully ready-to-fly 184 is a manned drone capable of automatically carrying a passenger through the air, simply by entering a destination into its accompanying smartphone app,' the firm says Advertisement
EHang will also have a command center that employs people to make sure everything is safe sort of like an air traffic controller at an airport.
The command center will monitor every 184 in the air 24/7 and the company plans integrate with existing air traffic controller operations.
The command center would, for example, make sure that a 184 doesn't take off in extreme weather conditions.
No official launch date has been set, but the company said commercialization will begin in a few months. EHang will first launch in the China and set up a command center there, where it will employ around 300 people, but the US isn't far behind.
The company will begin working on getting a certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration soon.
No official launch date has been set, but the company said commercialization will begin in a few months. EHang will first launch in the China and set up a command center there, where it will employ around 300 people, but the US isn't far behind
Samsung is set to introduce two phones with bendable screen next year, it has been claimed.
The firm has already shown off the folding OLED screen technology several times - but it is believed it has now finalised products that will use it.
Bloomberg claims 'Samsung is considering introducing two new smartphone models that will feature bendable screens, including a version that folds in half like a cosmetic compact, people familiar with the matter said.'
Scroll down for video
The newly uncovered patent, filed in 2015, reveals Samsung is planning a handset that simply folds in half when not in use.
A recent patent reveals Samsung is planning a handset that simply folds in half when not in use.
According to Patently Mobile, the device is set to be part of Samsung's Galaxy range.
Previous reports have claimed it has the codename 'foldable valley' and is already being tested.
It recently shows off the screen that could power the device - a 5.7inch flexible OLED screen.
'This product could be a game-changer if Samsung successfully comes up with a user interface suitable for bendable screens,' Lee Seung Woo, an analyst at IBK Securities in Seoul told Bloomberg.
'Next year is a probable scenario.
'Their biggest obstacle was related to making transparent plastics and making them durable, which seems resolved by now.'
Samsung recently showed off the screen that could power the new handset at a San Francisco event
Now the company has shown off that very display at the SID 2016 event in San Francisco, where Slashgear saw it in action.
While Samsung uses a flexible OLED in its edge handsets, the Galaxy X is rumoured to be bendable.
The screen shown off here can be rolled up thanks to its 0.3mm thin build and 10R rolling radius. While the handset could work this way, like a scroll, it's rumoured to fold up.
The display, despite its size and flexibility, is able to pump out a 1080p resolution on a 5.7-inch screen.
This is without a touch control layer though so how that part will be added, and made flexible, is still unclear.
Samsung is expected to release a new handset that folds in two like a notebook as early as January next year. A screenshot from a conceptual video showing what the device may look like is pictured
Also any glass cover presumably won't be bendable so that's another hurdle to jump between now and release.
According to Korean news site ETNews, the product is known internally as a 'smartlet' and has a 7inch screen when unfolded, which becomes a 5inch device when folded.
Samsung will apparently start mass producing the 'smartlet' this year for a 2017 release, and has spent three years developing the technology.
Dubbed 'Foldable Valley', the device is expected to take advantage of bendy plastic screens being developed by Samsung's display division.
In a call with investors in January, director of Samsung's Display division Lee Chang-hoon said 'Development of Foldable OLED is taking place according to our plan...We are planning on mass-production and release this product by discussing with out partners.'
The South Korean tech giant previously said it will launch foldable devices in 2016 and trusted rumour blog SamMobile reported earlier this year that anonymous sources claim the device is already being tested in China.
The source, who claims to have in-depth knowledge of the device, said it is being developed under the codename Project Valley.
And they added that two versions of the phone are being tested - one with a Snapdragon 620 processor and another with a Snapdragon 820.
Elsewhere, the device is rumoured to have 3GB of RAM, a microSD card slot and a non-removable battery.
Samsung told MailOnline it doesn't comment on rumour or speculation.
Samsung is not the only firm working on highly flexible screens. In 2014, LG showed off a working 18-inch Ultra HD screen (pictured) that uses a special film instead of plastic as backing to allow screen to be rolled into a tight tube for transport. At the time, it said it could make its debut in 2017
Samsung has been teasing bendable screens for years and at CES in 2013 revealed a flexible Oled screen called Youm.
The firm said at the time it could make high-resolution screens on extremely thin plastic, instead of glass, so it could be bent without shattering.
However, a notebook style phone would need to bend at a very sharp angle and would need to withstand considerable wear and tear, leading some commentators to suggest the rumour should be taken with a pinch of salt.
LG is similarly developing incredibly bendy screens.
In 2014, it showed off a working 18-inch Ultra HD screen that uses a special film instead of plastic as backing.
This allowed the screen to be rolled into a tight tube for transport.
At the time, the company said it could make its debut in 2017.
In May, it debuted a a concept ultra thin 'wallpaper TV' less than 1mm thick, and at four lbs (1.9kg) it is so light it can be attached to the wall using just magnets.
At IFA, a demonstration showed an LG employee pulling the screen away from the wall and bending it, to prove it carries on working.
A British tourist is in critical condition after reportedly jumping into a hotel pool from a balcony in Ibiza on Friday.
The 34-year-old man was admitted to the intensive care unit at Nuestra Senora del Rosario.
He has not been identified and is suffering from a serious spine injury, according to local press.
The 34-year-old man reportedly threw himself from the balcony of a hotel in Ibiza (pictured) on Friday night
El Mundo reported that the man threw himself into the pool from a balcony at Hotel Marco Polo in Sant Antoni de Portmany.
He was admitted to the local hospital at 10.12pm on Friday.
The Spanish newspaper did not specify how high the balcony was but it described his injuries as a 'cervical trauma paraplegia', a spinal cord injury that could lead to paralysis.
British tourists have been involved in a number of incident involving hotel swimming pools in recent weeks.
Local Spanish press said he suffered from a serious spinal cord injury as a result of the fall on the popular Balearic island. Street view of the hotel is pictured
Last week, MailOnline reported that a man lathered himself with sunscreen before sliding along the concrete floor into a pool in a Benidorm resort.
Unfortunately the painful prank saw him getting bruised and bloodied before entering the pool.
Last year, another British tourist suffered serious injuries after plunging from the balcony of a Magaluf hotel.
He suffered a serious arm injury as a result of the fall.
Seventeen passengers boarded a plane at Paris Charles de Gaulle and flew to Canada reportedly without being screened by security officers after they were 'misdirected' by ground staff.
The security lapse meant that the Air Canada flight, with 325 passengers and 12 crew on board, was met by police and mobile screening units when it landed. It was a scenario described by one passenger as 'chilling'.
Astonishing photographs show the passengers, who were marched off in rows of 10, being checked by security officials and police officers on the tarmac at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Friday.
Passengers are checked by security and police on the tarmac at Toronto Pearson International Airport after it emerged that 17 people on a packed plane from Paris did not pass through security screening points
Canadian police standby following the security lapse on a Paris to Toronto Air Canada flight
According to CBC News, the Air Canada passengers had arrived in Paris on a flight from Sri Lanka, but some were then directed to the connecting flight via a route that had no security measures.
One passenger on the flight, Anthony Germain, told of the moment an Air Canada worker boarded the plane once it had landed to tell the passengers of the security error.
He told MailOnline: 'A guys gets on and then announces to the cabin that while we were half-way across the Atlantic, the pilots were contacted by Paris Charles de Gaulle to be told some passengers were not properly screened, said the 51-year-old.
'When someone comes onto the plane and announces that, you immediately start looking at everybody, eyes shifting left and right, it really was quite chilling.
'Especially in light of the terror attacks in France recently, and all the money the West is throwing into security, how can this kind of thing happen?'
Mr Germain, who hosts the St John's Morning Show for CBC Radio, said that all the passengers were checked by security and police after being taken onto the tarmac. They were taken out in rows of 10.
He also says the pilots and cabin crew were screened.
He said: 'I realised that something was wrong as the plane was not moving towards the gate, but had just stopped on the tarmac.
'It is staggering how officials couldn't tell who had been screened and who hadn't.'
A police officer in Toronto gets ready to carry out a search on passengers who had landed in Canada from France
Passengers were taken out in rows of 10 to be searched by Canadian police once they had landed in Toronto
Canadian radio host Anthony Germain tweeted about his experience on board the Air Canada flight and told MailOnline Travel that the experience had been 'chilling'
A spokesperson for Air Canada told CBC that the passengers did not leave the security zone at Paris Charles de Gaulle and that their 'bags were checked'. It added that it was Transport Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) who wanted the extra screening on landing.
However, a spokesperson for the CBSA told MailOnline Travel: 'Protecting Canadians is a priority for the CBSA and we work closely with our domestic and international security partners to ensure the safety and security of Canada's border;
'The Canada Border Services Agency can confirm that a flight arriving at Toronto Pearson International Airport from Charles de Gaulle International Airport had passengers on board that had not completed pre-board security screening in Paris.
'The CBSA was made aware of this incident and immediately put measures in place for the arrival of the flight at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
'Whenever CBSA has information indicating that additional measures are necessary to protect its borders, appropriate action is taken.'
Advertisement
This incredible drone footage of the Flying Scotsman steaming across a picturesque viaduct is an impressive sight - and not just for trainspotters.
A cloudy, grey day was brightened up by the iconic locomotive chugging along the tracks of the Harringworth viaduct in Northamptonshire - the longest masonry viaduct in Britain.
Hundreds of amazed onlookers gathered in the field below as the magnificent train sped down the railway on its journey from London to York.
Hundreds of amazed onlookers gathered in the field below as the train sped along the viaduct on its journey from London to York
The cloudy, grey day was brightened up by the iconic locomotive chugging along the tracks of the Harringworth viaduct in Northamptonshire - the longest masonry viaduct in Britain
Built in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, in 1923, the Flying Scotsman pulled the first train to break the 100mph barrier
After steaming through Wellingborough station, the train stopped at Kettering to pick up passengers and fill up with water before thundering on over the viaduct.
The amazing journey was caught on camera by hobby drone operator Neil Fedorowycz, who watched the live action footage through his iPad as he controlled the drone with his wife, Marnie.
Neil, a 47-year-old company director, said: 'I cycle through this countryside very often, and the viaduct is a spectacular piece of engineering, it's a work of art.
After steaming through Wellingborough station, the train stopped at Kettering to pick up passengers and fill up with water
The amazing journey was caught on camera by hobby drone operator Neil Fedorowycz, who watched the live action footage through his iPad as he controlled the drone
Fedorowycz said he was 'pretty tense' as the train was 20 minutes late and he could only fly his drone for 20 minutes
ROLLING INTO THE HISTORY BOOKS Built in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, in 1923, the Flying Scotsman in 1934 pulled the first train to break the 100mph barrier. The National Railway Museum in York bought the locomotive for 2.3million in 2004 before work got under way on its decade-long restoration two years later. Network Rail was forced to pay out almost 60,000 in compensation when dozens of train services were delayed by people encroaching on the track during the refurbished train's inaugural run from London to York on February 2 this year. Advertisement
'So to see something like the Flying Scotsman steaming across the top of it was too good an opportunity to miss.
'It was pretty tense, as the drone was up in the air and the train was running about 20 minutes late - the drone battery only lasts 20 minutes.
'So I had to bring the drone down and frantically change the batteries before the locomotive arrived.
'It was a heart-stopping moment, thinking the train might fly across just as I was changing the battery and I might miss it.
'But luckily I got back up in the air in the nick of time and managed to capture the whole thing.
'When we actually saw the locomotive crossing the viaduct it was just breath-taking.
'There was a massive crowd gathered to watch - the atmosphere was amazing. Everybody was loving it - it was great fun.
'It was like watching two perfect pieces of engineering coming together - and getting such a good shot of it was the icing on the cake.
'It made my entire week, let alone day.'
Built in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, in 1923, the Flying Scotsman in 1934 pulled the first train to break the 100mph barrier.
He was recently spotted on horseback with co-star Rachel Weisz, while filming in Devon.
But Sam Claflin appeared to be going it alone in Italy as he continued to shoot scenes for new film, My Cousin Rachel, on Saturday.
The 29-year-old looked every inch the part for the period drama, as he dressed up in a long beige trench coat and matching straw hat.
Scroll down for video
Dressed the part: Sam Claflin continued to shoot scenes for new film, My Cousin Rachel, on Saturday
Maintaining his theme of cream and brown, the Hollywood hunk looked dapper in a smart checked waistcoat with flashy gold button detailing.
However, he looked as though his character may have been through a bit of a rough time as he exposed a hint of his dirty shirt underneath.
Nevertheless, Sam was perfectly accessorized for his day of filming as he toted a large brown leather travel bag over his shoulder and wore a stylish patterned cravat.
Hat's alright! The 29-year-old looked every inch the part for the period drama, as he dressed up in a long beige trench coat and matching straw hat
Golden boy: Maintaining his theme of cream and brown, the Hollywood hunk looked dapper in a smart checked waistcoat with flashy gold button detailing
Finer details: Sam was perfectly accessorized for his day of filming as he toted a large brown leather travel bag over his shoulder and wore a stylish patterned cravat
He also stuck to the trends of the time as he kept an eye on the clock with a golden pocket watch and opted for an adventurous style in the footwear department as he wore a pair of taupe knee-high boots.
But despite the hard work, Sam still looked to be having a whale of a time on set as he laughed in front of the camera and enjoyed a horse and carriage ride with co-star, Pierfrancesco Favino.
Italian actor, Pierfrancesco, 46, looked equally eye-catching in his costume as he wore a large top hat and flowing cream overcoat.
Just the tick-et: He stuck to the trends of the time as he kept an eye on the clock with a golden pocket watch
Best foot forward: Sam opted for an adventurous style in the footwear department as he wore a pair of taupe knee-high boots
Hot to trot! Sam looked to be having a whale of a time on set as he laughed in front of the camera and enjoyed a horse and carriage ride with co-star, Pierfrancesco Favino
However, looking rather more smart than Sam, he also opted for a pair of slim fitting tailored trousers, white gloves and a cane.
He also pulled off a large but perfectly preened handlebar moustache.
But Sam couldn't help but steal a little bit of his character's style even when he was done filming, as he carried his tan overnight bag through the streets.
Met his match: Italian actor, Pierfrancesco, 46, looked equally eye-catching in his outfit as he wore a large top hat and flowing cream overcoat
Suave: Looking rather more smart than Sam, the Italian actor opted for a pair of slim fitting tailored trousers, white gloves and a cane
Taking a break: Sam strolled around the square in Arezzo, Italy, as he took in the local sights
Standing out from the crowd: Sam looked out of place in his period costume compared to other cast and crew members
Sporting tousled hair, the actor wore a striped T-shirt, which he combined with a pair of tailored navy shorts.
And he rounded off his nautical look with a pair of trendy, white boat shoes that he laced up into a bow.
The film is an adaptation of the classic novel by Daphne du Maurier - who also wrote the acclaimed novella Rebecca - and centres around the character of the beautiful and mysterious Rachel, played by Weisz.
Sam takes on the role of Philip, a brooding Englishman who becomes increasingly infatuated with his cousin only to discover that she will not reciprocate his feelings as she cares only for herself.
The novel was initially adapted in a film in 1952, starring Richard Burton, John Sutton and Olivia de Havilland, and earned a Golden Globe for Richard, as well as four Academy Award nominations.
Topping it off! The Italian actor added an extra few inches to his height with an extremely large top hat
Seeking inspiration: Sam couldn't help but steal a little bit of his character's style even when he was done filming, as he carried his tan overnight bag through the streets
Ready for sun: Sporting tousled hair, the actor wore a striped T-shirt, which he combined with a pair of tailored navy shorts
Shia LaBeouf's hitchhiking adventure is still going strong.
Since May 23 the actor - who has a passion for performance art - has been on his #TakeMeAnywhere roadtrip from Boulder, Colorado, to wherever anyone who picks him up wants to take him.
The 29-year-old is documenting his adventures on social media and on a real time map along with collaborators Nastja Ronkko and Luke Turner.
Florida bound! Shia LaBeouf has now landed in Florida with his #TakeMeAnywhere roadtrip, which he started in Boulder, Colorado
It seems the Transformers actor has now landed in Florida.
He took several selfies with fans as they tagged the pictures at the Kool Beanz Cafe in Tallahassee.
Fans seem to be loving all the selfies he is taking with people.
New project: He is documenting his adventures on social media and on a real time map along with collaborators Nastja Ronkko and Luke Turner
One user commented: 'I just bloody love him', whilst another said: 'I love Shia he is so down to earth most humble celeb.'
One fan commented: 'if you come across Shia labeouf in Jacksonville, please give him a kiss from me.'
Before Florida Shia stopped off in New Orleans.
Making friends: He took several selfies with fans as they tagged the pictures at the Kool Beanz Cafe in Tallahassee, Florida
On Saturday he was spotted in the Louisiana area waiting for his next ride.
He wore a blue T-shirt, a pair of grey jogging bottoms and a black hat as he was seen waiting on the side of the road.
The actor looked chilled and relaxed as he puffed on a cigarette.
Shia will be harnessing the power of the Twitter tag #TAKEMEANYWHERE - and inviting followers to take him wherever they are going.
The power of Twitter! Shia is using the hashtag #TAKEMEANYWHERE - and inviting followers to take him wherever they are going
Collaboration! The project has been commissioned by the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art and The Finnish Institute in London, which will both feature a film of the experience upon its completion
The project has been commissioned by the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art and The Finnish Institute in London, which will both feature a film of the experience upon its completion.
Vice are also involved and will be posting the group's progress on a map.
While talking to Vice about the aim of the trip, LaBeouf said it is all about making friends, and elaborated: 'Hitchhiking is really the ultimate collab.'
He's on the map: Vice are also involved and will be posting the group's progress on a map
Due to her globetrotter status, Paris Hilton must have earned more frequent flyer miles and rewards then any super busy CEO in the US.
The world famous socialite looked as glamorous as ever as she arrived at Los Angeles International airport on Monday, sporting a head-to toe black gypsy outfit that showcased her lithe figure.
The 35-year old jet-setter wore a sweet embroidered sheer lace maxi dress, paired with a matching black leather bolero jacket.
Scroll down for video
Gypsy style: Paris Hilton looked as glamorous as ever as she arrived at Los Angeles International airport on Monday, sporting a head-to toe black gypsy outfit that showcased her lithe figure
The former reality star was flashing smiles at all the spectators, welcoming all the looks she got from behind her over-sized diamond-framed tinted shades.
The stunning TV personality rounded off her look with a black leather satchel hand bag from her namesake Paris Hilton fashion and accessories collection, for which she was named Billion Dollar Entrepreneur in 2011.
The blonde model wore her trademark blonde tresses parted to one side and slicked into two no-fuss low ponytails with side braids.
Head-to-toe black: The 35-year old jet-setter wore a sweet embroidered sheer lace maxi dress paired with a matching black leather bolero jacket
Look at me, please: The former reality star was flashing smiles at all the spectators, welcoming all the looks she got from behind her over-sized tinted shades
I have my own brand: The stunning TV personality rounded off her look with a black leather satchel hand bag from her namesake Paris Hilton fashion and accessories collection, for which she was named Billion Dollar Entrepreneur in 2011
The A-lister sported a natural dewy complexion, keeping her make-up minimal with a dab of light foundation and a slick of pink lip gloss.
The heiress had just landed in la-la land from New York, where last week she threw a baby shower for her younger sister Nicky at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
The New York born starlet shared a video from the bash on Snapchat with the two wearing virtual flower crowns, despite rumors of tensions between the sisters got a rare outing on social media.
Sister time: Last week Paris Hilton threw a baby shower for her younger sister Nicky at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York
Baby shower with tension: The New York born starlet shared a video from the bash on Snapchat, with the two wearing virtual flower crowns, despite rumors of tensions between the sisters got a rare outing on social media
Pregnant Nicky called out Paris for talking in a sultry whisper in her constant stream of Snapchat updates, captioning her snap, 'Stop with that f***ing voice', while an unconcerned Paris included a further sweet shot of her sisters growing baby bum, and of course managed to stay in the picture by taking the snap facing a large lighted mirror.
Perhaps Nicky doesn't seem to realize that aunt Paris' agenda is far broader then just a simple snapchat of a baby shower.
With more than 45 Paris Hilton stores in more than 40 countries and with her fragrance collection approaching a $2 billion industry, Hilton has proven to be wanting to move on from her celebutante status.
John Krasinski and Emily Blunt's two-year-old daughter Hazel might be a big sister very soon.
The actor recently hinted at the status of his wife's pregnancy, revealing the couple's second child together is coming 'soon-ish.'
'We're very excited' the actor told E! News at the premiere of his new movie The Hollars on Friday.
Baby on board: John Krasinski recently gushed to E! News at the premiere of his new movie The Hollars on the status of wife Emily Blunt's pregnancy, revealing the couple's second child together is coming 'soon-ish.'
Dapper dad: The Office actor looked handsome in a black button down, grey slacks and stylish black and white saddle shoes while at the premiere of his new movie The Hollars
The Office star also said that although Emily was absent that night, she will be back on the red carpet for some of the other events.
Emily, 33, and her beau, 36, first announced they were expecting another bundle of joy back in January but have not confirmed how far along the Devil Wears Prada beauty is.
Since then, the British beauty has not been shy in showing off her growing belly in quite a multitude of chic maternity looks.
In late May, close pal Charlize Theron threw a festive baby shower for the mom-to-be, where she donned a flowing blue and pink flowered maxi dress and summery sandals.
Blunt and her gal pals posed around a blue fondant cake with yellow rubber duckies, perhaps signaling she might be expecting a little boy.
Party time: In late May, close pal Charlize Theron threw a festive baby shower for the mom-to-be, where she donned a flowing blue and pink flowered maxi dress and summery sandals
Blue means boy? Blunt and her gal pals posed around a blue fondant cake with yellow rubber duckies, perhaps signaling the Devil Wears Prada starlet might be expecting ason
As for how Emily and John's daughter is accepting the fact that she's to have a sibling, the actress told Jimmy Kimmel in April: ''Is [Hazel] excited about a new baby? Um, she quite likes being top dog at the moment, I think.
'I broached it with her and the first response when I said, 'You know, Hazel, there's a baby in there! You're going to be a big sister!
'She looked at me and she went, 'Nope.' And I went, Yes. That was the first talk. And we bought her every I'm a big sister book out there.'
Soon to be four: The trio looked adorable in coordinating hats while out and about at a Los Angeles farmer's market in May
It's known as the Oscars of the fashion world.
And some of the biggest names in the industry were getting glammed up for the CFDA Fashion Awards in New York on Monday, putting the finishing touches to their red carpet looks.
Model Coco Rocha enlisted her fans to help her choose which little black dress she should wear for the big night.
Scroll down for video
Decisions decisions! Coco Rocha asked her fans to help her choose which little black dress she should wear to the CFDA Fashion Awards on Monday night
Posting a split of three different frocks, the 27-year-old star wrote: 'Kay here's a regular shot, keep in mind I have no hair and makeup done yet! 1, 2 or 3? #allblackeverything #coandco #CFDAAwards #crowdsource
Victoria's Secret beauty Doutzen Kroes also asked her followers for some makeup advice alongside a barefaced Instagram photo.
The 31-year-old beauty wrote: 'Almost there...still need to finished my lips... what are you guys thinking? Maybe red?'
Natural beauty: Victoria's Secret model Doutzen Kroes also asked her followers for some makeup advice
Strike a pose: Designer Vera Wang looked striking in her black two piece outfit
Golden girl: Model Elsa Hosk shimmered in gold as she was fitted into her jumpsuit for the event
Girls star Lena Dunham snapped a photo of her pal and HBO writer Jenni Konner sporting a face mask as she prepped for the glitzy event.
The TV star wrote: '@jennikonner is 100% ready for the CFDAs'
Actress Michelle Monaghan had a little helping hand from Snapchat using a glam filter to give her bright red lips and thick eyeliner.
In a short video clip she said: 'Wow, I'm already hair and makeup ready. That was quick. Well, I'll see you at the CFDAs tonight. I am so excited.'
Designer Michael Kors sent both his guests, Julianne Hough and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, a beautiful flower arrangement along with a sweet note.
Sneak peek: Model Hilary Rhoda gave fans a little glimpse of her Monique Lhuillier dress
Facial: Girls star Lena Dunham shared a snap of pal and HBO producer Jenni Konner having a beauty treatment before the awards show
All made up: Actress Michelle Monaghan had a little help from a Snapchat filter
Actor and TV personality Joel McHale hosts the awards show which is held at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.
Having few connections to the fashion industry the 44-year-old said guests should be ready for him to poke fun at proceedings.
He told New York Times: 'If you dont have a sense of humor about yourself, youre not going to enjoy it. Its a pretty short monologue, so it has to be packed. Im not going to be like, "Now I will take this person out for the next two minutes."
'On the other hand, it would be very strange for me to do a lot of jokes complimenting my subject.'
Treat: Michael Kors sent both his guests, Julianne Hough and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley a beautiful flower arrangement along with a sweet note
Special: Michael Kors sent both his guests, Julianne Hough and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley a beautiful flower arrangement along with a sweet note
He's famous for his 1987 smash-hit Never Gonna Give You Up.
But, nearly thirty years on, Rick Astley has still got it - as he proved when he returned to the stage in central London on Monday.
The popular star cut a dapper figure as he performed at the 100 Club to mark the release of his new album, 50.
Scroll down for video
Back! Rick Astley has still got it - as he proved when he returned to the stage in central London on Monday
The Newton-le-Willows native looked age-defying in his choice of attire which consisted of a black, satin-effect suit and crisp, white shirt.
He matched the look with a black tie and some patent leather brogues, which gave him a dapper edge.
But his thick, trendy hair and fresh-faced complexion were the best elements of his look - making him look a good fifteen years younger than his milestone age.
The popular star cut a dapper figure as he performed at the 100 Club to mark the release of his new album, 50
Handsome man: The Newton-le-Willows native looked age-defying in his choice of attire which consisted of a black, satin-effect suit and crisp, white shirt
Performing a variety of tracks, including his most recent track Keep Singing and the soulful smash Cry For Help, he also sang songs from his PWL hey-day.
Naturally, this included Never Gonna Give You Up, which instantly caused a profusion of love and excitement from the live crowd.
'I hope we haven't bored you,' he told attendees. 'But I really enjoyed making this album and hope you like it as much as I do.'
Crowd-pleaser: Rick and his live band certainly impressed fans at the central London venue
Backstage: Rick took to Twitter before the show to say that he would be live-streaming the concert
Not that this is the only opportunity for enduring fans to see the handsome star in the flesh.
He is about to embark on a small UK your to help promote his new compositions, which will include Powderhan Castle on 2 July and Chelmsford Racecourse on 22 July.
It culminates with a sold-out show at Basingstoke's Laverstoke Park Farm on 27 August.
Back in the day: Rick Astley posed in London in 1989 during the height of his PWL fame
Handsome man: The fifty year-old has hardly aged a day since he first burst onto the pop scene
She's famous for showing off her bikini body to the world on her Instagram page.
But Australian model Natasha Oakley insists that she maintains her fabulous figure by eating healthily and working out rather than using waist-trainers.
Speaking to Women's Health, the Bikini A Day blogger slammed the devices, which are often worn by celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, as she called them 'extremely unhealthy'.
Scroll down for video
Natural beauty: Natasha Oakley insists that she maintains her fabulous figure by eating healthily and working out rather than using waist-trainers
And she highlighted her belief that it is important to be a good role model to her 1.8million Instagram followers.
Speaking to the magazine, she said: 'I would never in a million years endorse something like waist-trainers.
'It's extremely unhealthy. These women [the Kardashians] have so many young girls following them - they are supposed to be role models.'
Morals: The Bikini A Day blogger slammed waist-trainers, which are often worn by celebrities such as Kim Kardashian
Practicing what she preached, the Australian added that she was also a strong believer in the power of women.
She said: 'People ask me: "Are you a feminist?" And I will say, "I don't know what you mean by that - I didn't ever know another way... I've never experienced anything other than my mother being this strong, powerful businesswoman."'
But despite her enviable looks and holistic approach to modelling, the social media stunner also admitted that she used to be rejected by modelling agencies.
She said: 'We had both been to meet modelling agencies at different times in the past and we were always rejected.
Proving them wrong: Despite her enviable looks and world-wide following, the Australian blogger admitted that she used to be turned down by modelling agencies
'Now, any agency in the world would take us.'
And it appears that they would be foolish not to, as not only is Natasha now a household Instagram name, but she is also a natural beauty and she even credits her washboard abs to her mother.
She told the magazine: 'I got my stomach from my mum, and both my sisters have it as well - we all have great stomachs.'
However, she accepted that she couldn't take her good fortune for granted, as she added: 'As much as it is hereditary, I could easily lose it.'
So to make sure that she stays in the best possible shape, Natasha makes sure to squeeze in a work out every day.
And as far as possible, she even chooses to shun the alcohol in favour of her figure.
She said: 'On days that I am really busy, I'll do a 20 minute HIIT workout. [My boyfriend] Gilles introduced me to it, and I was like, 'So I can burn as many calories in this 20 minutes as I would in the gym for an hour?
'I'll have a glass of wine, maybe two, but alcohol is the one thing that really makes me gain weight.'
Advertisement
It's fashion's grandest night where the stars do their best to look as chic as possible.
The annual CFDA Fashion Awards kicked off on Monday with some of the biggest names in fashion showing off their sartorial savvy on the red carpet.
Leading the way was models Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Irina Shayk, Naomi Campbell and Shanina Shaik who arrived at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York in a variety of slinky and sexy gowns.
Causing quite a stir was British beauty Rosie, 29, who flaunted her back in a pastel green fishtail gown with spaghetti straps.
Scroll down for video
Model mania: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Irina Shayk, Naomi Campbell and Shanina Shaik wowed on the red carpet at the CFDA fashion Awards in New York on Monday night
Bringing some sparkle: British beauty Rosie, 29, flaunted her back in a pastel green fishtail gown by Michael Kors Collection
Irina stood out in a scarlet jumper which flattered her bronzed skin-tone and offered a peek at her cleavage with a keyhole front.
The 30-year-old Russian beauty wore her brunette locks up in a slightly messy bun.
Naomi, 46, looked sensational in a black dress with sexy cut-outs at the waist.
The gown also featured a low-cut neckline which flashed her taut abs and she wore her black locks in a long braid.
Australian model Shanina simply glowed in an amber frock with plunging neckline and pleated skirt.
Lady in red: Irina stood out in a scarlet Misha Nonoo jumper with a keyhole front and halter tie
Designer date: Irina arrived hand in hand with her dress' designer Misha Nonoo
Taking the plunge: Naomi, 46, looked sensational in a sexy cut-out gown and her locks in a long braid
Stunning: Shanina, 25, positively glowed in a plunging amber gown with pleated skirt
Give us a twirl! The Australian-born beauty teamed the look with a fluffy burnt orange purse
Popping in purple: Alessandra Ambrosio wore a bold asymmetric Michael Kors Collection dress with shimmery detail
So pretty: Statuesque beauty Karlie Kloss wore a white Rosie Assoulin gown encrusted with Swarovski crystals
Cut-outs just below the waist flashed some extra skin and she accessorised with a fluffy burnt orange clutch.
Statuesque beauty Karlie Kloss wore a white Rosie Assoulin gown encrusted with Swarovski crystals.
The 6ft 2in stunner teamed it with sparkling pink pumps and wore her locks in a messy bun.
Julianne Hough arrived in a metallic Michael Kors number.
Shapes and textures: TV personality Heidi opted for asymmetric elegance in a unique Roland Mouret dress
Hot metal! Julianne Hough shimmered in a metallic Michael Kors Collection dress
Dramatic look: Laverne Cox wore a skin-tone gown with long caped sleeves
Shabby chic: Ciara looked pretty in a soft pink tiered dress which flashed her legs
Silver siren: Actress Kirsten Dunst went for a vintage feel wearing Rodarte FW16 with floral accessories
Brunette beauties: Ashley Graham and Emily Ratajkowski looked sultry in black gowns
Work it! Ashley posed up a storm in her simple but chic dress on the pink carpet
The actress and dance pro wore her blonde tresses in an understated low ponytail to offset the glam shimmery look.
She sported towering silver stilettos to add a few inches to her frame.
Making a rare appearance together was the Olsen sisters.
Actress Elizabeth, 27 and her twin siblings Mary-Kate and Ashley arrived in coordinating black.
Mary-Kate and Ashley, 29, founded clothing brand The Row together after making a departure from acting.
Androgynous edge: Doutzen Kroes, Tilda Swinton and Sophie Kennedy Clark oozed cool in trousers
Individuality: Olivia Palermo and Lena Dunham opted for quirky colourblocking looks
Chic in colour! Martha Hunt rocked a leggy look in a blue lace DVF romper with patent black heels while Gillian Jacobs stood out in flattering pink and black
Pump up the volume: Gabrielle Union and Josephine Skriver opted for ballgown sillhouettes
Shades of pale: Models Joan Smalls, Jessica Hart and Jourdan Dunn wore revealing red carpet ensembles
Mixing it up! Selma Blair opted for a unique half gown-half tuxedo look
Maternity chic: Olivia Wilde wore a figure hugging green gown with cut-outs on the side
Gothic glam: Adriana Lima brought some vampy glam to proceedings
Demure: Actresses Claire Danes and Zosia Mamet were sophisticated in dark hues
Evening look: Model Sara Sampaio looked fantastic in a simple lace-trimmed little black dress
Golden girl: Elsa Hosk wowed in an embellished Naeem Khan jumpsuit
Ravishing in red: Alicia Silverstone, Jamie Chung and designer Rachel Roy opted for bold colour
Betsey Johnson showed up looking zany as ever.
The 73-year-old fashion designer was one of the first to arrive and wore a bright pink dress.
She mugged it up with kooky poses at the event held in NYC.
The Council of Fashion Designers of America awards is held at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.
The host is Joel McHale, formerly the host of The Soup on E!
Belle of the ball: Jennifer Hudson made a statement in a red and black Prabal Gurung gown
Fashion forward: Michelle Monaghan looked gorgeous in a mix of materials including beige and metallics
Designer date: Michelle was dressed and accompanied by designer Monique Pean
Perfect in pastel: Lauren Conrad arrived in a blush pink gown with black blazer
Mid-length mavens: Sarah Paulson, Alexa Chung and Jasmine Tookes were super chic in over-the-knee frocks
Talented trio: Sisters Mary-Kate Olsen, Elizabeth Olsen and Ashley Olsen kept it coordinated in black
Classic: Actress Christina Ricci and model Coco Rocha kept it simple in little black dresses
On announcing the choice, Steven Kolb, chief executive of the CFDA, specifically identified Mr. McHale as 'someone who comes from outside the fashion industry' and noted that it would 'keep the night lively, topical and unexpected.'
The 44-year-old said himself that guests should be ready for him to poke fun at proceedings.
He told New York Times: 'If you dont have a sense of humor about yourself, youre not going to enjoy it. Its a pretty short monologue, so it has to be packed. Im not going to be like, "Now I will take this person out for the next two minutes."
'On the other hand, it would be very strange for me to do a lot of jokes complimenting my subject.'
While the show is not televised, guests will still enjoy a sit-down dinner.
Red carpet glam: Jessica Chastain, Constance Jablonski, La La Anthony and Samira Wiley rocked stylish prints and patterns
Dark beauties: Olivia Culpo added texture with a feather skirt while Soko opted for frilly details
Girls' night: Olivia posed with America Ferrera, Deborah Lloyd, and Nicolette Mason on the pink carpet
All dressed up: America Ferrera looked sensational in her full length black gown with jewel detail
Say cheese! The actress snapped a selfie with some pals on the crowded pink carpet
Sheer style: Michele Hicks, Hilary Rhoda, Georgina Chapman and Tory Burch were all on the same style page
Bold prints: Zanna Roberts Rassi wore a pretty plunging gown with leopards and birds on it while Nicole Miller and model Taylor Hill opted for floral designs
Not afraid to be herself: Betsey Johnson kicked off the red carpet with her zany style
A fun gal: The 73-year-old fashion designer arrived first. And she did not disappoint. The blonde wore a bright pink dress and mugged it up with kooky poses at the event held in NYC
Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and her daughter Bee Shaffer channeled a nature theme with their frocks
Their night: Designers Diane von Furstenberg, Vera Wang and singer Lion Babe were among the elite invited guests
He made the scene: Keeping Up With The Kardashians star Jonathan Cheban posed with model Coco Rocha
Smart look: Kim Kardashian's best friend wore a blue shirt black jeans while the model wore a black dress and heels
He's proud of his work! Paul Andrew won the award for Accessory Designer. He is pictured with Nadja Swarovski
Happy Camper: 2016 CFDA International Award winner Alessandro Michele celebratest his win with Anna Wintour
Well-deserved! Donna Karan wins the CFDA Founders Award
Making a statement: Actress Nari Hef donned a sheer dress lined with a nude underlayer
Ultimate beautys: Adriana and Gabrielle were the perfect pair at the event
In full colour: Selma and Alicia each wore a head-to-toe monochromatic look
Dazzling duo: Ansel Elgort helped Karlie present the award for Accessory Design
True winners: Alex, Samantha and Matthew Orley took home the Menswear award
Great honour: Beyonce was the winner of the Fashion Icon Award
Commanding attention: The singer wore an over-the-top, dazzling suit and extra-large hat
Calling him out: Claire Danes present the Womenswear Designer of the Year award
Very thankful: Marc Jacobs won the award for Womenswear Designer of the Year
Her turf: Blue Ivy called the shots with dad Jay-Z
She'll have none of it! The darling daughter of Beyonce appeared to have some choice words for those around her
She's in charge! The four-year-old waved her finger in what appeared to be a firm, 'no'
Making their exit: Julianne Hough and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley were still looking flawless as they left the do together
Her words: Tilda Swinton speaks onstage during a tribute for the late David Bowie
Who knew he could sing? Actor Michael C. Hall performed a David Bowie tribute
In rememberance: The models performing behind the singer emulated David's red hair
True performer: Jennifer Hudson dazzled in a sparkling jumpsuit as she belted out one of her hits
Her crew: The singer was joined onstage by dancers in white
He split from his long-term partner Jessica Marais in May last year.
And despite being spotted kissing another woman in public since, James Stewart says he hasn't been intimate with anyone for 'a couple of years.'
Chatting to KIIS FM's Kyle And Jackie O show on Tuesday morning, the Home And Away actor said it had 'been a while,' since he 'banged someone.'
Scroll down for video
'It's been a while': Chatting to KIIS FM's Kyle And Jackie O show on Tuesday morning, Home And Away actor James Stewart said it had been 'a couple of years,' since he had sex
During the interview, the 40-year-old actor was probed by hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson about his sex life.
After the father-of-one confirmed he wasn't 'hooking up' with anyone, Kyle then asked how long his dry spell had run.
The Channel Seven star admitted: 'Oh it's been a while mate, it's been a couple of years.'
Stewart then went on to explain that being a father is the number one priority for him, adding: 'But I tell you - I've got a little girl in my life - 'I just don't have enough time at the moment.
'That's got to become boring sooner or later?' Kyle asked, with Stewart admitting: 'I think it will.'
'We're all good': The Home And Away star split from partner Jessica Marais in May last year
'I just don't have enough time at the moment': The 40-year-old actor said that being a father to his four-year-old daughter Scout is the number one priority for him
During the chat, Stewart also opened up about his relationship with ex Marais, as he explained the pair are continuing to co-parent their four-year-old daughter Scout.
'Jessica and I are a parenting couple - it's all about Scout - we're all good,' he said.
Last month, James was spotted kissing reported new love Jessica Nock.
The pair were seen putting on an affectionate display, kissing and cuddling each other on a balcony.
They were also seen together in a social media snap, seated next to each other while enjoying a meal with fellow actors Ryan Corr and George Mason.
Amicable: The Australian star said he and Marais are continuing to co-parent their daughter
Public display of affection: Last month, James was spotted kissing reported new love Jessica Nock
Splitsville? They were also seen together in a social media snap, seated next to each other while enjoying a meal with Kyla Bartholomeusz, Ryan Corr, Manon Buchalet and George Mason
However, just weeks after the passionate tryst, New Idea magazine reported that Nock had confirmed the pair's split.
Furthermore the publication reported that Stewart's decision to call time on the relationship was due to the romantic feelings he still has for Marais.
A source told the magazine: 'He sees her as his soulmate and that's never going to change. As much as he has tried, he can't move on'.
Stunning: Both Jessica Marais (L) and Jessica Nock (R) have blonde hair and blue eyes
Rekindling that romance? Reports also suggest that Stewart is still interested in his ex Jessica Marais
Stewart and Marias, who called time on their relationship in May last year, reunited last week to celebrate their daughter Scout's fourth birthday.
Marais, 31, was pictured alongside Stewart and little Scout in an Instagram photo, uploaded to the actor's social media account.
'Happy Birthday my sweet little Scout... you are all my reasons. Love Dad,' read the caption next to the image in which Scout was positioned in between her famous parents.
Birthday celebrations: Last month, Marais and Stewart put on a united front, reuniting for daughter Scout's fourth birthday
In May last year the couple's management released a statement revealing the news of their split, saying that the two actors were focusing on their daughter Scout.
'Jessica Marais and James Stewart have amicably separated. Their main focus at this time is the co-parenting of their daughter and they ask that media respect their privacy,' it read.
The couple met on set of Channel 7 family drama Packed To The Rafters in 2009, and made their first public appearance as a couple at the Logies nomination breakfast in March 2010.
Calling time on the relationship: In May last year the pair announced they had split
As romance blossomed between their characters - Stewart played cheeky electrician Jake Barton opposite Marais' career girl, Rachel Rafter - it seems sparks also flew off screen.
They got engaged in October that year and announced they were expecting their first child in November 2011, with Scout born in May 2012.
Stewart has been busy filming scenes for Channel Seven soap Home And Away, while Jessica is next set to star in Channel Ten drama The Wrong Girl.
Award winner: Marais won the TV Week Silver Logie for Best Actress in Love Child earlier this month
They've been together for eight years and welcomed their first child together in September 2014.
And now it looks like Emmerdale star Adam Thomas is set to make his romance with Caroline Daly official following their recent engagement.
The actor, 27, proposed to Caroline on the beach during a family holiday to Dubai at the end of April.
Happy news: Emmerdale actor Adam Thomas and his fiancee Caroline Daly, pictured with their son Teddy, have announced their engagement
Read the full story in this week's OK! Magazine - out today
Announcing their engagement for the first time in the new issue of OK! magazine, Adam revealed the details of his proposal.
The couple were joined in the United Arab Emirates by their son Teddy, 18 months, who will serve as the ring bearer when the pair tie the knot.
Adam, who plays Adam Barton in the Yorkshire-based soap, recalled: 'On the day I was going to propose, Caroline described her perfect engagement ring and it was exactly the same as the one I had bought. I thought shed seen the ring I was absolutely gutted.'
The actor, whose older brother Ryan plays Jason Grimshaw in Coronation Street, admitted he put on a suit and convinced his fiancee-to-be they were going out for a posh dinner.
He explained: 'I was dressed up in a suit! But I couldnt say anything as I didnt want to spoil the surprise.'
Caroline added: 'I was gobsmacked I cried. For a while I couldnt even speak as I was so choked up.
'It felt like we had been in this bubble. I looked around and Ted was covered head to toe in tomato ketchup.'
With a role in one of Britain's most popular soaps, a bride-to-be and their son, Adam admits he is happier than ever: 'Were perfect together. My life is perfect. Ive got everything I want right now.'
Read the full story in this week's OK! Magazine - out today.
Family fun: The couple shared an Instagram photo at the airport before their flight to Dubai
'My life is perfect': Adam is a doting father to his 18-month-old son Teddy
Beware all green-eyed monsters.
Victoria's Secret model Martha Hunt stunned in a blue, flower-laced jumpsuit Monday evening as she attended The Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards in New York City.
Her slim and trim arms as well as toned legs were on display at the Hammerstein Ballroom while she posed for photographers on the red carpet.
Work it! The Victoria's Secret model turned heads in her blue DVF jumpsuit on Monday evening at the CFDA Fashion Awards in New York. The periwinkle blue, flower-laced romper matched her piercing blue eyes
The 27-year-old model rocked the carpet with Diane von Furstenberg's summer look.
Her periwinkle blue romper was laced all over with flowers. The top of the romper was sheer, allowing for some skin to show through. The outfit had a finished, classy look with a high neck, elongating her body.
She paired the outfit with black, patent leather Christian Louboutin pumps and a matching handbag.
Hunt's hair was on point with the rest of her outfit in a sleek, straight halfway ponytail. Her long earrings fell down to her neck and were symmetrical with her lean body.
She topped off the outfit with a pair of classic Christian Louboutin black, patent-leather pumps and a matching color purse
The CFDA Fashion Awards is known to be America's biggest fashion event of the year where they honor the top talent and innovators of the fashion industry.
This year, Joel McHale is hosting the Fashion Oscars, preceding James Corden and Seth Meyers from previous years.
The chief executive of the CFDA commented on the announcement of McHale and said he's 'someone who comes from outside the fashion industry and noted that he would 'keep the night lively, topical and unexpected.'
Other stars who walked down the carpet were Lena Dunham, Ciara, Laverne Cox, Olivia Culpo, Karlie Kloss, Julianne Hough, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen among many others.
Sleek and slim: The 27-year-old model was flaunting her slim pins in her short romper outfit.
Hair on point: Hunt kept her hair straight and slicked to the back in a halfway, low ponytail. She matched her look with a pair of long earrings
USA TODAY reported that this year the awards will pay a special tribute to David Bowie, as presented by Michael C. Hall. Jennifer Hudson will also close out the show with her performance.
The Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement award is going to Norma Kamali and will be presented by Michael Kors. Donna Karan will be given the Founder's Award, presented by Calvin Klein.
The awards will not be broadcast on television, however, viewers can keep up to date with the happenings via social media.
Star-studded! The Fashion Oscars saw the likes of many top fashion designers, models and actors
Sister, Sister! Mary-Kate, Ashley, and Elizabeth Olsen made a public appearance in all-black for the first time in a while at the CFDA Awards. The twins were being honored for their fashion label, The Row
Silly selfie: The model captioned her Instagram photo saying, 'Coming for ya @CFDAs @saritablonde says we need champagne in the car @constantinos1 @DVF #CFDA'
Acting runs through the veins of the fox family.
But the whole gang are usually so busy with their own individual projects that they are rarely seen together in one place.
However, all that changed as Laurence, Emilia and Jack Fox came together to celebrate Freddie's performance at the press night of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Southwark Playhouse on Monday.
Scroll down for video
Reunited: Laurence, Emilia and Jack Fox came together to celebrate Freddie's performance at the press night of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Southwark Playhouse
The family put on an animated display at the show's after party as they surrounded Freddie and payed homage to the star's magnificent performance by clasping their chests and reaching their arms out to touch his face.
Meanwhile, Freddie, who doubles up as Demetrius and Bottom in the play, looked coy as he tilted his head to one side and smiled.
Nevertheless the beautiful blonde foursome looked incredibly close as they wrapped their arms around each other and posed for the camera in coordinating shades of black, white and blue.
Proud: The family put on an animated display at the show's after party as they surrounded Freddie and payed homage to the star's magnificent performance
Runs in the family: The group clasped their chests and reached their arms out to touch Freddie's face
Emilia cut a ladylike figure at the party in a pretty blue tea-dress, which demurely drew attention to her fabulous figure as it cinched in at the waist.
And the boys all looked casual in short sleeved T-shirts and dark jeans - including Freddie, who had earlier been acting in the Shakespearean classic.
Freddie, 27, is known for his high profile roles in movies such as The Riot Club and Pride.
Humble: Freddie, who doubles up as Demetrius and Bottom in the play, looked coy as he tilted his head to one side and smiled
Matching! The group wore coordinating shades of black, blue and white
Family portrait: The beautiful blonde family looked incredibly close as they wrapped their arms around each other and posed for the camera
And his talent shone through on the stage too as he stepped under the spotlight with leading lady, Maddy Hill.
But not to be outdone by her younger brother, Emilia, 41, has also featured in a range of TV programmes and is perhaps best known for her role as Dr. Nikki Alexander in BBC crime drama Silent Witness.
However, their cousins, Laurence and Jack - who are also siblings - have also made their names in the showbiz world after starring in hit shows such as Lewis and Fresh Meat.
Moving on: Laurence, who is famous for his role in TV drama, Lewis, recently split from his wife, Billie Piper
Siblings: Not to be outdone by her younger brother, Emilia, 41, has also featured in a range of TV programmes
Laurence's personal life is also well documented as the star recently split from wife, Billie Piper, who he shares two children with.
The couple got married in 2007 and their divorce came as a shock to everyone as Laurence announced their separation on his Facebook page.
The post read: Laurence Fox and Billie Piper have separated. No third parties are involved.
The boys are back in town! Freddie, Laurence and Jack all looked casual in short sleeved T-shirts and dark jeans
Having a tipple: The boys enjoyed a glass of wine to celebrate Freddie's performance
Stars of the show: Freddie starred alongside former Eastenders actress, Maddy Hill
However, a number of other celebrities, were also present at the show's after party, including Maddy Hill.
The former Eastenders actress also features in the unique play, which sees each actor playing more than one character.
And the blonde beauty couldn't have looked further from her soap alias as she sported a flirty floral pencil dress that cut off modestly just below the kneww.
Ladylike: The blonde beauty couldn't have looked further from her soap alias as she sported a flirty floral pencil dress
And she added some extra height to her never ending legs with a pair of sling back wedges.
Although she let her hair fall in natural waves around her shoulders, the star also couldn't hide her love of 50s fashion as she slicked on an eye-catching red lipstick.
Another former Eastender, Nigel Harman also made an appearance in a crisp blue shirt and black jeans.
While George MacKay and Cressida Bonas also enjoyed the show.
Effortless beauty: Cressida Bonas cut a simple but effective figure in chic monochrome shades
Suiting themselves: Both Charles Dance and George MacKay opted to wear smart blazers for the theatre
It's the illustrious event which celebrates contributions made to American fashion.
And Shanina Shaik made sure to put her most fashionable foot forward as she attended the CFDA Fashion Awards in New York on Monday night.
The Victoria's Secret model turned heads as she flashed an ample amount of sideboob in a deep-plunging orange Givenchy dress whilst twirling around on the red carpet.
Scroll down for video
Daring: Shanina Shaik put her fashionable foot forward as she attended the CFDA Fashion Awards on Monday night in New York, flashing an ample amount of sideboob in a plunging orange frock
The radiant 25-year-old Australian beauty showed her sartorial savyy as she showcased her slender physique in the elegant dress that was nipped in at the waist.
Shanina had no qualms parading her assets in the revealing number, which boasted an intricately woven back and cut-out panels that dipped below her waist.
Sashaying about on the red carpet, the Melbourne-born beauty playfully swirled the pleated skirt of the floor-sweeping garment outwards.
Playful: The Victoria's Secret model turned heads as she flashed an ample amount of side boob in a deep-plunging orange dress whilst she twirled about on the red carpet
Revealing: Shanina had no qualms parading her assets in the revealing number, which boasted an intricately woven back and cut out panels that dipped below her waist
Having a Marilyn moment! Sashaying about on the red carpet, the Melbourne-born beauty playfully twirled the pleated skirt of the floor-sweeping garment
The natural beauty, whose mother is of Lithuanian, Pakistani and Saudi Arabian heritage, wore her raven locks in a sleek low-bun and stuck to a natural application of makeup to highlight her distinctive features.
Beaming for the cameras, the New York-based glamour carried a matching fur clutch and teetered around in silver high-heeled sandals.
Shanina added more glamour to her stylish ensemble with a dainty gold choker and a collection of silver rings, most notably her Lorraine Schwartz engagement ring from her fiance DJ Ruckus.
Radiant: The New York-based glamour carried a matching fur clutch and teetered around in silver high-heeled sandals
On Saturday, Shanina attended the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic in New Jersey, and while her fiance DJ Ruckus didn't appear to be at the event, her ex, fellow model Tyson Beckford, was.
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.
The pair parted ways last year and soon after Shanina revealed she had moved on with the DJ.
Pretty: On Saturday, Shanina attended the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic in New Jersey
Soul mate: Shanina is currently engaged to DJ Ruckus
More recently, Tyson, a former Ralph Lauren model, reportedly got into a late night fight with Ruckus over her on 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.
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'
Australian model Nicole Trunfio was seen cuddling her son Zion in her first outing since her father Joe lost his battle with appendix cancer last week.
The mother-of-one looked a little downcast as she kissed her 16-month-old son's cheek outside The Bowery Hotel in New York on Monday.
Wearing a floral mini dress and boots, the 30-year-old could be seen pushing the toddler's pram before snuggling him in her arms.
Scroll down for video
Doting mother: Australian model Nicole Trunfio was seen cuddling her son Zion in New York on Monday in her first outing since her father Joe lost his battle with appendix cancer last week
The leggy star showed off her trim pins and wore a black choker around her neck.
She also donned a pair of round vintage-style sunglasses and had her black Valentino bag swung over her shoulders.
Her long brunette locks were straightened and styled over her shoulders.
'Heartbroken': The mother-of-one looked a little downcast as she kissed her 16-month-old son's cheek outside The Bowery Hotel in New York on Monday
Family moment: Nicole could be seen carrying Zion on her shoulders while out in Downtown Manhattan
Helping hand: Nicole was seen holding hands with Zion during the outing in New York
Zion was dressed in a blue T-shirt and jeans while he soothed himself with his pacifier.
There was no sign of her new husband, musician Gary Clark Jnr, who she married in the US in April.
The outing comes after her father Joe lost his cancer battle last Wednesday.
On Friday, Nicole took to Instagram to share a touching tribute to her father, sharing a black and white image of him as a child.
Tragic loss: The outing comes after her father Joe (left) lost his cancer battle last Wednesday
Sweet: On Friday, Nicole took to Instagram to share a touching tribute to her father, sharing a black and white image of him as a child
Downcast: Nicole emerged for the first time in New York on Monday after her father lost his battle with appendix cancer
In the post, she described herself as being 'more heartbroken than I could have ever imagined possible'.
She wrote: '#thegreatest soul I have ever known, so blessed and humbled you are my father.
'I love you more than words can describe, you taught me everything I know, with your grace, honesty and loyalty'.
She continued: 'You touched everyone in your path, so deeply, so vividly. A character so wild, so true'.
'Heartbroken': The outing comes after her father Joe lost his cancer battle on Wednesday
Tough times: The 30-year-old went make-up free, wearing a floral mini dress and boots for the outing
'I am more heartbroken than I could have ever imagined possible, to know I cannot feel your warmth and call you for wisdom and love, or even just a laugh anymore.
'No words can describe the fact you're not here with me, but your legacy and strength will live on, always. I know you live in my heart and will guide me always through this life, I will see you in another.
She added how much she loved her father, calling him her 'soulmate' and an 'angel.'
'I love you dad. #mysoulmate #mybestfriend #thisangelismyfather Giuseppe Antonio Trunfio #RIP 01.06.2016 #letuspray.'
Last month Nicole jetted to Australia to visit her ill father, who was too sick to make it to her nuptials in Palm Springs in April.
Nicole's father was diagnosed with appendix cancer five years ago when he was told he only had 11 months to live.
Best actress in a play nominee Lupita Nyong'o went strapless for the Tony Honors Cocktail Party in Manhattan on Monday evening.
Stylist Micaela Erlanger put the 32-year-old Oscar winner in a strapless maroon top, landscape-style shirt, and bronzed court shoes.
As always, the Jungle Book actress looked luminous with copper lipstick and her cropped natural hair in a headband.
Scroll down for video
Gorgeous: Best actress in a play nominee Lupita Nyong'o went strapless for the Tony Honors Cocktail Party in Manhattan on Monday evening
Yale School of Drama grad: Stylist Micaela Erlanger put the 32-year-old Oscar winner in a strapless maroon top, landscape-style shirt, and bronzed court shoes
Lancome spokesmodel: As always, the Jungle Book actress looked luminous with copper lipstick and her cropped natural hair in a headband
Lupita will compete against Jessica Lange, Laurie Metcalf, Michelle Williams, and Sophie Okonedo in her role as the unnamed fourth wife of a Liberian warlord in Eclipsed.
The Danai Gurira-penned drama - closing June 19 - made history as the first play on Broadway to be written, directed, and performed entirely by women.
Following its 17-week run at the Golden Theatre, Eclipsed will restage a limited engagement next spring at San Francisco's Curran Theatre.
On Sunday, Nyong'o was surprised backstage by Sarah Paulson, who debuted a brand new platinum pixie cut.
Scored six nominations total! Lupita will compete against Jessica Lange, Laurie Metcalf, Michelle Williams, and Sophie Okonedo in her role as the unnamed fourth wife of a Liberian warlord in Eclipsed
Groundbreaking: The Danai Gurira-penned drama - closing June 19 - made history as the first play on Broadway to be written, directed, and performed entirely by women (pictured March 6)
Heading West: Following its 17-week run at the Golden Theatre, Eclipsed will restage a limited engagement next spring at San Francisco's Curran Theatre
'Can you tell how much I ADORE her?!' the Star Wars stunner - who boasts 5.7M followers - captioned the snap.
It's hard to believe considering how authentically the 12 Years a Slave co-stars loathed each other onscreen as their characters Mistress Epps and Patsey, respectively.
The Mexican-born, Kenyan-raised beauty will next play Harriet Mutesi in Mira Nair's Queen of Katwe about a Ugandan chess prodigy, which hits US theaters September 23.
Also at the Paramount Hotel's Diamond Horseshoe was the man of the hour, Pulitzer Prize winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, and his wife, litigation associate Vanessa Adriana Nadal.
'Can you tell how much I ADORE her?!' On Sunday, Nyong'o was surprised backstage by Sarah Paulson, who debuted a brand new platinum pixie cut
Slave owner's wife and slave: It's hard to believe considering how authentically the 12 Years a Slave co-stars loathed each other onscreen as their characters Mistress Epps and Patsey, respectively
Not hidden behind CG! The Mexican-born, Kenyan-raised beauty will next play Harriet Mutesi in Mira Nair's Queen of Katwe about a Ugandan chess prodigy, which hits US theaters September 23
The Hamilton creator was joined on the red carpet by his co-star Renee Elise Goldsberry, who scored a Tony nod for her role as Angelica Schuyler Church.
Fans are eager to see if the Founding Fathers rap-musical smash will win most of its 16 total Tony nominations.
The Puerto Rican 36-year-old - who leaves Hamilton on July 9 - also spent his Monday recording music for Disney's Hawaiian animated flick Moana with Zootopia co-director Jared Bush.
Lupita's best actress rival Jessica Lange - who will soon join Susan Sarandon in FX's Feud - suited up in all-black attire.
High school sweethearts: Also at the Paramount Hotel's Diamond Horseshoe was the man of the hour, Pulitzer Prize winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, and his wife, litigation associate Vanessa Adriana Nadal
Hey guys it's less than a week until you get to see a big chunk of my skit on your tv Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) June 6, 2016
Best featured musical actress? The Hamilton creator was joined on the red carpet by his co-star Renee Elise Goldsberry, who scored a Tony nod for her role as Angelica Schuyler Church
Best musical? Fans are eager to see if the Founding Fathers rap-musical smash will win most of its 16 total Tony nominations
Leaving Hamilton on July 9! The Puerto Rican 36-year-old also spent his Monday recording music for Disney's Hawaiian animated flick Moana with Zootopia Co-Director Jared Bush
The 67-year-old powerhouse skipped the jewelry and kept her make-up and blonde bob minimally done for the theatrical festivities.
The two-time Oscar winner scored her first-ever Tony nod as Mary Cavan Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's 1912 drama Long Day's Journey Into Night, which closes June 26 at the American Airlines Theatre.
Best featured musical actress nominee Danielle Brooks - best known for Orange Is the New Black - looked fierce in a blue Fuzzi pencil dress and silver stilettos.
HBIC: Lupita's best actress rival Jessica Lange - who will soon join Susan Sarandon in FX's Feud - suited up in all-black attire
Minimalist: The 67-year-old powerhouse skipped the jewelry and kept her make-up and blonde bob minimally done for the theatrical festivities
Closes June 26 at the American Airlines Theatre: The two-time Oscar winner scored her first-ever Tony nod as Mary Cavan Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's 1912 drama Long Day's Journey Into Night
Denim dame: Best featured musical actress nominee Danielle Brooks - best known for Orange Is the New Black - looked fierce in a blue Fuzzi pencil dress and silver stilettos
I feel like somebody's sexy auntie. Lol Rocking my @fuzzibrand dress and my dimples. pic.twitter.com/n01sxYIs4t Danielle Brooks (@thedanieb) June 6, 2016
'Backstage with the beautiful ladies!' On May 11, the 26-year-old actress and her Color Purple castmates got a backstage visit from the original Sofia, Oprah Winfrey (2-L)
On May 11, the 26-year-old actress and her Color Purple castmates got a backstage visit from the original Sofia, Oprah Winfrey.
Danielle's featured musical actress rival Jane Krakowski flaunted a hint of cleavage in her cut-out pencil dress and nude stilettos.
The 47-year-old triple-threat is up for her role as the seductive and flexible Ilona Ritter in She Loves Me, which closes July 10 at Studio 54.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt funnywoman: Danielle's featured musical actress rival Jane Krakowski flaunted a hint of cleavage in her cut-out pencil dress and nude stilettos
Set in 1963: The 47-year-old triple-threat is up for her role as the seductive and flexible Ilona Ritter in She Loves Me, which closes July 10 at Studio 54
Hedwig Tony champ: And Kinky Boots belter Lena Hall - who took over the Tony Awards Snapchat account - went for Chinoiserie in gher red pencil dress and chunky heels
And Kinky Boots belter Lena Hall - who took over the Tony Awards Snapchat account - went for Chinoiserie in gher red pencil dress and chunky heels.
Tony champ James Corden will host the 70th annual ceremony airing on CBS this Sunday live from Manhattan's Beacon Theatre.
The 37-year-old Englishman had Krakowski, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Audra McDonald, and Miranda on Monday night's The Late Late Show for a Broadway-themed carpool karaoke.
Six more days! Tony champ James Corden will host the 70th annual ceremony airing on CBS this Sunday live from Manhattan's Beacon Theatre
The Oscars for fashion have arrived, and this Victoria's Secret angel knows how to make a statement.
Alessandra Ambrosio wore a jaw-dropping purple gown at the CFDA Fashion Awards Monday evening, which accentuated her tall, lean, and sexy body.
The model donned a form-fitting sequined Michael Kors dress, which was one-shoulder, flaunting her toned arms.
Purple rain: Alessandra turned heads in this curve-hugging purple Michael Kors dress that shined with silver sequins at Monday evening's CFDA Fashion Awards
The Brazilian beauty, who is known for wowing on the carpet, opted for another Michael Kors dress. It appears the designer knows how to make her stand out as the model stunned at the Cannes Film Festival last month in another one of his gowns.
Ambrosio popped a bit of leg out of her thigh-high dress, which flaunted her toned calf and slender foot.
Her hair fit perfectly with the look as she opted for straight and slick, pulled back over her shoulders, and parted down the middle. Her jewelry was kept minimal as she wore a simple silver ring with a thick band and matching-colored teardrop-shaped earrings that framed her face.
That calf, though! The Victoria's Secret model had quite the toned leg to show off at the CFDA Fashion awards
She's bringing sexy back: Ambrosio flaunted her toned back as she made a bold statement with her one-shouldered Michael Kors glitzy dress
Sleek and straight: Alessandra opted for a straight-hair look as she parted it in the middle and kept it behind her shoulders
The Brazilian model went with bronzed makeup, glowing as she made her way on to the carpet.
Alessandra was joined by other high-profile models and actors at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.
Hosted by Joel McHale, the CFDA Awards honored the top innovators and designers in the fashion industry.
On point: Her jewelry matched the silver sequins on her gown as she wore a silver thick band on her right hand, dangling, tear-shaped earrings, and strapped sandal heels
Work it! Alessandra gave a perfect pose on the carpet, showing off her curvy and toned body
Turn to the side! The Brazilian model displayed her toned legs and back as she profiled her dress on the carpet
Alessandra joined other stars on the carpet including Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Kirsten Dunst, Ciara, Coco Rocha, Lena Dunham, Heidi Klum, Vera Wang, and many more.
USA TODAY reported that this year the awards will pay a special tribute to David Bowie, as presented by Michael C. Hall. Jennifer Hudson will also close out the show with her performance.
The awards will not be broadcast on television, however, viewers can keep up to date with the happenings via social media.
Fashionista! Ambrosio posed for photographers at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York ahead of the fashion awards
So angelic: Alessandra knows how to turn heads on the carpet
She is one of the most in-demand Australian models in the business.
And Jessica Hart, 30, displayed her famous frame in a hard-to-wear silk ensemble as she attended the CFDA Fashion Awards in New York on Monday.
The five-foot-nine glamazon flaunted her washboard abs and decolletage as she modelled a silk bralette on the red carpet, which she teamed with a pair of silk palazzo trousers and a silk shirt worn open.
Scroll down for video
Daring to bare! Jessica Hart, 30, displayed her famous frame in a hard-to-wear silk ensemble and Alexandre Birman heels as she attended the CFDA Fashion Awards in New York on Monday
Embellishing her outfit with an assortment of well-chosen accessories, the bronzed blonde looked as chic as ever.
Her look was completed with a pair of velvet bow-tied sandals shoes by Alexandre Birman.
She took to Instagram to flaunt her fancy footwear ahead of the swanky event, sharing a photo of her feet in what appears to be the foot-space of a car.
Chic: The five-foot-nine glamazon flaunted her washboard abs and decolletage as she modelled a silk bralette on the red carpet, which she teamed with a pair of silk palazzo trousers and a silk shirt worn open
Pared back makeup look: he lithe beauty wore an application of bright pink blush and a simple application of mascara
'@cfda here we come ...' she wrote in the caption, to the delight of her 234K Instagram fans.
The former Victoria's Secret model recently reunited with her model sister Ashley as the pair attended an exclusive bash during the Cannes Film Festival.
The supermodel sisters turned heads in their floor-length gowns, with Jessica leading the way in her plunging cream and gold Miu Miu gown.
Elegant: She accessorised her look with a gold-framed wrist watch and a chian necklace
The finer details: She took to Instagram to flaunt her Alexandre Birman 'Clarita' suede ankle-tie sandals ahead of the swanky event, sharing a photo of her feet in what appears to be the foot-space of a car
Jessica drew attention to her decolletage by adding with a dazzling diamond necklace placed squarely in her cleavage.
Meanwhile, sister Ashley also showed some some skin in a sheer red gown with strategically placed beading to cover her modesty.
The 27-year-old, who has modelled for the likes of Mambo and Just Jeans, slicked her hair back into a half-up, half-down 'do, and wore simple accessories, including her gold wedding band from husband Buck Palmer.
She has had a stressful couple of weeks, to say the least.
But Roxy Jacenko reminded fans of her innate ability to shake off the bad times on Tuesday when she gushed about her upcoming PR and social media seminar.
Taking to Instagram, the 34-year-old uploaded a photo of her designer handbag, which featured her name embossed in gold on its front, as well as what appears to be a book emblazoned with the Gucci logo.
Scroll down for video
Not a bad vibe in sight! Roxy Jacenko, 34, reminded fans of her innate ability to shake off the bad times on Tuesday when she gushed about her upcoming PR and social media seminar
The screen of her phone was also on display in the picture, baring the mantra: 'No bad vibes'.
In the caption, she wrote: 'Ensemble prep ahead of my PR and Social Media seminar next Friday 17th June - getting seriously excited to see and speak with you all, limited tickets left via eventbrite. Thanks @thedailyedited'.
It comes after Roxy's investment banker husband Oliver Curtis was found guilty of conspiracy to commit insider trading following a three-week trial.
Courtroom chic: Mother-of-two Roxy remained dutifully by her husband's side during the trial, while always making sure to document her courtroom-chic outfits on Instagram
Head-to-toe designer: On one day of her husband's trial, Roxy opted for an outfit by French designer Celine, with an AU$3,000 leather skirt, AU$2,675 knit, AU$1100 YSL suede lace up pointed-toe heels, and AU$280 Ray Ban aviators
Mother-of-two Roxy remained dutifully by her husband's side during the trial, while always making sure to document her courtroom-chic outfits on Instagram.
The fashion maven was even seen carrying a Crocodile leather Hermes Birkin Bag, reportedly worth $162,000.
Roxy's husband could face up to five years imprisonment and/or a $220,000 fine over the charge, while the successful businesswoman's outfits worn throughout the past three weeks appear to total a similar figure.
Supportive: Mother-of-two Roxy remained dutifully by her husband's side during the trial, which ran for three weeks
Flashy: On an apparent day off from court, during the trial, the 34-year-old showed off a large Hermes Birkin bag, which is reportedly worth AU$162,000, which was paired with a Balmain blazer, costing AU$3,000
The jury delivered its verdict on Thursday following a tense three weeks, where Oliver's former best friend and schoolmate John Hartman was pitted against him.
Oliver had vigorously denied the charge, pleading not guilty.
But following two days of deliberations, the eight men and four women of the jury disavowed his plea.
Over the course of the trial, the New South Wales Supreme Court heard Oliver traded using inside information from Hartman on 45 occasions between May 2007 and June 2008.
She dominates as the female lead in the movie Now You See Me 2. And on the carpet, it is no different.
Lizzy Caplan looked perfect at the U.S. premiere of the Now You See Me sequel in an Erdem dress, part of the designer's fall 2016 collection.
She gracefully made her way on to the carpet at AMC Loews Lincoln Square on Monday evening in New York.
So graceful! Lizzy Caplan wore a beautifully-designed Erdem gown, part of the 2016 fall collection, at the NYC premiere of Now You See Me 2 on Monday evening
The design of her gown made quite the statement on the carpet as her white, laced dress was adorned with flowers with just the right amount of color.
Yellow, blue, and burgundy popped right off of her white gown, matching the complexion of her bronzed skin and brunette hair.
The Masters of Sex actress is known for keeping it classy and humble on the carpet, and that she did. Her short, layered hair was styled wavy, framing her face, as she wore minimal jewelry, allowing her dress do the talking.
Masters of Fashion: The actress paired her white-laced, ruffled gown with a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes
All smiles! The cast of Now You See Me 2 were having some fun at the NYC premiere
Kodak moment! (From left) Dave Franco, Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, Lizzy Caplan, and Daniel Radcliffe posed for photographers on the carpet
The dress featured a high neck that elongated the actress' look, paired with ruffles. Caplan opted for Jimmy Choo shoes along with her gown.
Caplan was joined by her fellow star-studded cast of the film as they posed together in excitement.
Mark Ruffalo, Daniel Radcliffe, Jesse Eisenberg, and Dave Franco looked dapper in their suits and ties. The 'Four Horsemen' were missing their partner Woody Harrelson, as he was not present at the premiere.
Ruffalo went for an all-grey look as he wore matching a jacket and pants. He broke it up by wearing a white button-up shirt and a silver tie.
Pretty! Dancing With the Stars Karina Smirnoff was present at the red carpet premiere. She dressed in all grey and black
Keeping it Real: Housewife Kelly Bensimon showed off her toned, sexy legs at the premiere as she opted for a beige-pink romper, adorned with ruffles
Both Franco and Eisenberg opted for all black. Dashing Dave paired it with a white collared shirt while Eisenberg chose a blue-and-black checkered collared shirt. The Harry Potter Star donned a black jacket and pants, pairing his suit with a periwinkle blue collared shirt and a black-and-blue patterned tie.
Directed by Jon M. Chu, the follow-up to the 2013 Now You See Me film, the first reeling in 351.7 million dollars worldwide, is back with a similar cast, adding Lizzy Caplan's character. She replaced Isla Fisher as the female member of illusionists.
Caplan plays hot magician Lula in the film. She said in an interview, 'One thing that I really wanted to do was make the character not your standard-issue, girl-in-the-movie-with-a-bunch-of-guys thing.'
Magic! David Copperfield made a statement on the carpet, as partner Chloe Grosselin accompanied the magician on his arm
The voice of God: Morgan Freeman is back again in the sequel as he plays Thaddeus Bradley
'I wanted to make her more interesting than thatand kind of annoying,' she added.
Others who attended the New York red carpet were Morgan Freeman, Kelly Bensimon, Karina Smirnoff, and the illusionist himself, David Copperfield.
The sequel features The Four Horsemen once again (Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Jesse Eisenberg, and Lizzy Caplan) and their leader played by Ruffalo. In the movie, the group tries to conquer a corrupt tech tycoon, but their plan backfires as Radcliffe's character exposes the magic group to the FBI, forcing them to steal a powerful computer chip. The group also faces opponents from Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman's character.
Silly actors! Daniel Radcliffe, Mark Ruffalo, and director Jon M. Chu showed their enthusiasm on the carpet
Gather up! The cast posed together with their director, Jon M. Chu
Magical smile! The Harry Potter star plays villain Walter Mabry in the sequel
In an interview with Chicago Sun Times, Harrelson, who plays dual characters in the sequel, noted that 'its rare you get a sequel thats better than the first one. This just happens to be one of them.'
Ruffalo, known for speaking up about political and environmental issues, called out the underlying social themes in the film.
People are dying for justice in this world. They dont feel theyre going to get it anywhere else in the real world, so they have to rely on a bunch of magicians in a film to provide them that kind of feeling, the actor said.
Adding: 'The Horsemen are actually stealing from the super rich and giving it to everyone below the .01 percent.'
Announced at a Lionsgate company conference, Variety reported that talks of a third installment of the movie is in the works; before the sequel has even been released.
The U.S. release is slated for Friday, June 10th.
The U.K. release is set for July 4. 2016.
Dashing Dave! Franco looked sleek in black-and-white at the film's premiere
Serious but sexy! Eisenberg is back at it in Now You See Me 2
Hilary Rhoda knows how to make a one-of-a-kind entrance
And the supermodel looked every inch a Grecian goddess, even going as far to sport a gold laurel wreath on the crown of her head on the CFDA Fashion Awards red carpet in New York City on Monday evening.
Hilary left little to the imagination in her ethereal gown, which featured intricate gold beading in expertly-placed locations across the 29-year-old's slender frame.
It's all Greek to me: The supermodel looked every inch a Grecian goddess, even going as far to sport a gold laurel wreath on the crown of her head
All in the details: The blue-eyed beauty swept her brunette tresses into an elegant updo, and the entire ensemble was completed by a matching gold clutch and sparkling t-strap heels
Hilary's slim pins and cleavage were left nearly exposed underneath the nude chiffon draped across her body.
The blue-eyed beauty swept her brunette tresses into an elegant updo, and the entire ensemble was completed by a matching gold clutch and sparkling t-strap heels.
Rhoda arrived to the CFDAs with designer Monique Lhuillier, who looked equally as stunning in a silver, gold and blue beaded number of her own.
Partners in fashion: Rhoda arrived to the CFDAs with designer Monique Lhuillier, who looked equally as stunning in a silver, gold and blue beaded number of her own
Actor and TV personality Joel McHale hosts the awards show which is held at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.
Having few connections to the fashion industry the 44-year-old said guests should be ready for him to poke fun at proceedings.
He told the New York Times: 'If you dont have a sense of humor about yourself, youre not going to enjoy it. Its a pretty short monologue, so it has to be packed. Im not going to be like, "Now I will take this person out for the next two minutes."
'On the other hand, it would be very strange for me to do a lot of jokes complimenting my subject.'
Stunning: Hilary's slim pins and cleavage were left nearly exposed underneath the nude chiffon draped across her body
Ansel Elgort, Adriana Lima, and Selma Blair lead the worst dressed at the CFDA Fashion Awards in Manhattan's Hammerstein Ballroom on Monday.
Designer Christian Siriano was behind 43-year-old Selma's single-sleeved plunging black pantsuit featuring a dramatic train.
34-year-old Adriana's billowy, unhemmed velvet trousers swallowed her footwear and were in desperate need of a tailor.
Scroll down for video and list of winners
Risky or revolting? Ansel Elgort, Adriana Lima, and Selma Blair lead the worst dressed at the CFDA Fashion Awards in Manhattan's Hammerstein Ballroom on Monday
Same went for the Brazilian beauty's fellow VS Angel Doutzen Kroes, whose footwear disappeared beneath her unremarkable Calvin Klein zip-up jumpsuit.
The Danish Girl's Sophie Kennedy Clark also suffered from the drastic misproportions of a boxy grey woolen pantsuit.
And 22-year-old Ansel - whose DJ name is 'Anslo' - was worst-dressed male celebrity in his knee-length tuxedo jacket, capri trousers, and sheer socks.
Nope: Designer Christian Siriano was behind 43-year-old Selma's single-sleeved plunging black pantsuit featuring a dramatic train
On our way #cfda . Loves @csiriano @aliciasilverstone A photo posted by Selma Blair (@therealselmablair) on Jun 6, 2016 at 3:43pm PDT
The scroll down: 34-year-old Adriana's billowy, unhemmed velvet trousers swallowed her footwear and were in desperate need of a tailor
Underwhelming: Same went for the Brazilian beauty's fellow VS Angel Doutzen Kroes, whose footwear disappeared beneath her unremarkable Calvin Klein zip-up jumpsuit
On my way wearing @calvinklein and @tiffanyandco to the #cfda A photo posted by Doutzen Kroes (@doutzen) on Jun 6, 2016 at 3:13pm PDT
Luckily, the Allegiant actor's high school sweetheart Violetta Komyshan was there (in chrome court shoes) to love him unconditionally.
Other unfortunately-styled gentlemen included designer Thom Browne, designer David Meister, and socialite Di Mondo in a bedazzled, wide-legged Gareth Pugh suit.
Girls creator Lena Dunham perpetuated the nineties throwback trend of wearing a white top beneath a dress/tank with her monogrammed purse.
Comic: The Danish Girl's Sophie Kennedy Clark also suffered from the drastic misproportions of a boxy grey woolen pantsuit
Hilarious: And 22-year-old Ansel - whose DJ name is 'Anslo' - was worst-dressed male celebrity in his knee-length tuxedo jacket, capri trousers, and sheer socks
Amanda Uprichard spokesmodels: Luckily, the Allegiant actor's high school sweetheart Violetta Komyshan was there (in chrome court shoes) to love him unconditionally
My eyes! Other unfortunately-styled gentlemen included designer Thom Browne, designer David Meister, and socialite Di Mondo in a bedazzled, wide-legged Gareth Pugh suit
But it was the 30-year-old Golden Globe winner's pink fuzzy bunny cha-cha heels that inspired serious side-eye on the red carpet.
Not to be outdone, Lena's co-star Zosia Mamet displayed her signature eccentric flair with a red beaded bandana to go with her underwhelming black Maiyet gown.
The Row designing duo Ashley & Mary-Kate Olsen coordinated goth gowns with their younger sister Elizabeth, while French songstress Soko brooded in a similar Gucci creation.
Whimsical as always: Girls creator Lena Dunham perpetuated the nineties throwback trend of wearing a white top beneath a dress/tank with her monogrammed purse
Boudoir slippers: But it was the 30-year-old Golden Globe winner's pink fuzzy bunny cha-cha heels that inspired serious side-eye on the red carpet
classic panties stuck on bunny slipper situation A photo posted by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on Jun 6, 2016 at 9:18pm PDT
Say what? Not to be outdone, Lena's co-star Zosia Mamet displayed her signature eccentric flair with a red beaded bandana to go with her underwhelming black Maiyet gown
A night to remember @cfda @gigiburris @maiyet @williamgoldbergdiamonds @tommy_buckett @kemal_harris @onestopjosh A photo posted by @zosiamamet on Jun 6, 2016 at 8:02pm PDT
Goth girls for life! The Row designing duo Ashley & Mary-Kate Olsen coordinated goth gowns with their younger sister Elizabeth, while French songstress Soko brooded in a similar Gucci creation
These beauties at the #CFDAAwards. // #elizabetholsen #marykateolsen #ashleyolsen A photo posted by Elizabeth Olsen (@elizabetholsenig) on Jun 6, 2016 at 5:49pm PDT
The Lizzie Borden Chronicles' Christina Ricci looked decidedly norm-core in her simpe black blouse tucked into a silver-piped mini-skirt.
Since Mickey Rourke's silver toupee was nowhere to be found, worst hair honours went to Betsey Johnson's ever-present extensions.
To her credit, the 73-year-old designer was her usual vibrant, effervescent self in a witchy, Stevie Knicks-style fuschia frock.
Plain: The Lizzie Borden Chronicles' Christina Ricci looked decidedly norm-core in her simpe black blouse tucked into a silver-piped mini-skirt
Off to sit with my favorite @stuartvevers at the @coach table! #cfda #fashion! A photo posted by Christina Ricci (@riccigrams) on Jun 6, 2016 at 3:22pm PDT
Even the fringe! Since Mickey Rourke's silver toupee was nowhere to be found, worst hair honours went to Betsey Johnson's ever-present extensions
Giving me life! To her credit, the 73-year-old designer was her usual vibrant, effervescent self in a witchy, Stevie Knicks-style fuschia frock
Gettin' all dolled up for tonight! Can't believe just a year ago today, I won the Lifetime Achievement Award! @cfda #CFDAAWARDS A photo posted by Betsey Johnson (@xobetseyjohnson) on Jun 6, 2016 at 2:51pm PDT
Three ladies making the glitterati wince with their loud ensembles included designer Tory Burch, Marchesa co-founder Georgina Chapman, and VS Angel Elsa Hosk in a garishly gold Naeem Khan jumpsuit.
The Girlfriend Experience's Riley Keough donned a droopy Proenza Schouler FW/16 frock that looked like it was saved from the shredder.
VS Angel Martha Hunt looked worryingly thin in a blue-lace playsuit, Public Morals' Michele Hicks opted for sheer Nicole Miller, and Love's Gillian Jacobs rocked a baggy hot-pink Tanya Taylor dress.
Busybodies: Three ladies making the glitterati wince with their loud ensembles included designer Tory Burch, Marchesa co-founder Georgina Chapman, and VS Angel Elsa Hosk in a garishly gold Naeem Khan jumpsuit
Off to the @cfda Awards with my favorite girl @kerencraigmarchesa!! Thank you @moroccanoil and @ashleeglazer for our glam!! #marchesa #marchesagirls #marchesajewelry A photo posted by Georgina Chapman (@georginachapmanmarchesa) on Jun 6, 2016 at 4:51pm PDT
Elvis Presley's granddaughter: The Girlfriend Experience's Riley Keough donned a droopy Proenza Schouler FW/16 frock that looked like it was saved from the shredder
What better way to end the #CFDA awards than a @proenzaschouler sandwich of pure love A photo posted by Riley Keough (@rileykeough) on Jun 6, 2016 at 9:20pm PDT
Yikes: VS Angel Martha Hunt looked worryingly thin in a blue-lace playsuit, Public Morals' Michele Hicks opted for sheer Nicole Miller, and Love's Gillian Jacobs rocked a baggy hot-pink Tanya Taylor dress
Pixels' Michelle Monaghan donned a poorly-cupped partly silver-pleated frock, and just as many heads were scratched over the Roland Mouret dress America's Got Talent judge Heidi Klum had on.
French model Constance Jablonski wore an unfortunate J. Mendel resort 2017 gown, Lion Babes' Jillian Hervey went for loud floral, and socialite Olivia Palermo made a misstep in white cuffs.
And while everyone worships CDFA Fashion Icon Beyonce, the pop diva's sparkly-striped pantsuit and massive hat owed more to Pharrell Williams and Erykah Badu than her stylist Ty Hunter.
Ummm: Pixels' Michelle Monaghan donned a poorly-cupped partly silver-pleated frock, and just as many heads were scratched over the Roland Mouret dress America's Got Talent judge Heidi Klum had on
CFDA 2016 with my girl @desireegruber wearing @roland_mouret @lorraineschwartz A photo posted by Heidi Klum (@heidiklum) on Jun 6, 2016 at 4:21pm PDT
I mean...: French model Constance Jablonski wore an unfortunate J. Mendel resort 2017 gown, Lion Babes' Jillian Hervey went for loud floral, and socialite Olivia Palermo made a misstep in white cuffs
Hat is weariing her: And while everyone worships CDFA Fashion Icon Beyonce, the pop diva's sparkly-striped pantsuit and massive hat owed more to Pharrell Williams and Erykah Badu than her stylist Ty Hunter
A video posted by Beyonce (@beyonce) on Jun 6, 2016 at 9:26pm PDT
She went from medical sales representative to Bachelor beauty in a matter of months.
And it looks like Snezana Markoski, 35, is set to add another feather to her cap as she releases her brand new fashion blog.
Taking to Instagram to announce the exciting news on Tuesday, Snezana uploaded a pouty selfie modelling a T-shirt emblazoned with the word 'Bogan' in graphic lettering.
Scroll down for video
Bogan chic? Snezana Markoski, 35, announced the news of her brand new blog by sharing this selfie-going snap to Instagram on Tuesday
'Selfie break while working on my new Fashion, Beauty & Lifestyle Blog', wrote the brunette beauty as she posed casually in a pair of skintight leather trousers and matching leather boots.
She completed her look with a set of pincher-sharp manicured nails in an inky hue, while leaving her hair to fall naturally by her shoulder.
Her impending blog won't be the first instance Snezana has fraternised with the world of fashion- she was announced as the ambassador for Hagar Australia's Style for Life Day on Monday.
A stylish new gig: Snezana Markosk announced her involvement with the Style For Life campaign on Monday
The former reality star will be joined by the likes of Elyse Knowles, Rachel Griffiths and AFL player Travis Cloke to promote the campaign.
Taking to Instagram on Monday to announce her involvement,s he shared a photo of herself draped in a Style For Life branded shirt, captioned: 'I'm so proud to be an ambassador for Hagar Australia's Style for Life Day.
'Where every dollar raised will go to supporting survivors of slavery in Cambodia and Vietnam. Book in at participating hairdressing salons on #styleforlifeday July 31.'
Happy couple: Snezana, won the heart of Sam Wood on The Bachelor last year with the pair quickly becoming in engaged afterwards
Earlier in the day for the former reality starlet affectionately poked fun at fiance Sam's age on social media, dubbing the 36-year-old hunk her 'silver fox.'
'I'm being annoying and taking pics of my silver fox while he's driving in his new @tomford sunnies I got him for his birthday,' Snezana cheekily captioned the snap.
In the image posted, Sam's greying hair could clearly be seen as he drove with Snezana in the passenger seat.
Ferocious storms battled Sydney's east over the weekend eroding much of the coastline and causing extensive damage.
But despite the dreary outlook over the past few days, Elisabeth Moss appeared to be in high spirits as she was seen on set filming for the television series Top Of The Lake in the Sydney beachside suburb of Maroubra, which was hit hard during the storm.
The 33-year-old actress was spotted in character as tenacious cop Robin Griffin, on set for a day of tense filming for season two of the revived crime thriller.
Scroll down for video
Nothing can rain on her parade: Elisabeth Moss appeared to be in high spirits as she was seen on set filming for Top Of The Lake in Sydney's beachside suburb of Maroubra, which was hit hard during the Sydney storm
Wearing dark trouser suit and flat boots, the actress was seen teetering around on set, clutching two water bottles in one hand.
The American beauty was then seen standing beside a police car as she had her microphone fitted to the back of her jacket by a sound technician.
At one point, another assistant was seen holding an umbrella up over her head to protect the star from the elements.
No damp moods here: The 33-year-old actress was spotted in character as tenacious cop Robin Griffin, on set for a day of tense filming
Sydney's eastern beaches were yesterday still being slammed by dangerously strong waves and high tides after an east coast low buffeted the NSW coast, causing extensive damage.
Randwick City Council reported damage at Maroubra Beach and Mayor Noel D'Souza urged residents in a statement to remain patient while the damage is assessed and the clean-up process begins.
He also warned high tides could still cause more damage, and urged people to stay out of the water until conditions subside.
Ferocious: Sydney's eastern beaches are still being slammed by dangerously strong waves and high tides (pictured) after an east coast low buffeted the NSW coast
The Mad Men star has been Down Under shooting scenes for the crime series.
The plot revolves around the case of an unidentified body of an Asian girl washed up on the beach.
The second season picks up four years after the first one which Elisabeth win a Golden Globe for her performance.
Damage: Randwick City Council reported damage at Maroubra Beach and Mayor Noel D'Souza urged residents in a statement to remain patient while the damage is assessed and the clean-up process begins
Meanwhile, in an interview with Confidential, acclaimed director Jane Campion revealed she never expected the popular BBC miniseries to return for another run.
It was never going to be more than one (series), she explained. It was like a novel, each one being a novel. They are not episodics so they have to have a whole shape and form and end to them.
For me to be honest I was surprised at how successful it was and that was the reason everyone wanted to see more so then the idea came to me and I thought, Ive got to do it, she added.
Robin Griffin is supposed to be originally from Australia so she has come home in not really a terrific state and she is hoping to build her life back again by going back to work,' she added.
Game Of Thrones actress Gwendoline Christie has also been cast in the second series.
Australian actors Ewen Leslie and Alice Engler will also appear in Top Of The Lake, which is set for a 2017 release.
It's play-time, and Emily Blunt's first-born will soon have a sibling for company.
The actress showed off her baby bump while taking her daughter Hazel to the playground in Sherman Oaks, California on Monday.
Blunt and her adorable husband John Krasinski are expecting a second child on the way.
Oh baby! Emily Blunt was all motherly love with her two-year-old daughter Hazel at the playground on Monday
The 33-year-old was seen playing with Hazel at the park in a cool and casual look.
The Devil Wears Prada beauty wore a white, loose tank-top with the words 'Laurel Canyon' plastered across the top. She paired it with black leggings that had cut-outs at the bottom, and beige Ipanema flip-flops.
She had that pregnancy glow with a make-up free look, wearing brown Steven Alan Optical sunglasses to cover her up from the sun.
Mother-of-two! Blunt showed off her adorable baby bump while swinging Hazel. She opted for a white, tank top with the words 'Laurel Canyon' written on it, along with black leggings and Ipanema flip-flops
Like mother, like daughter: The Sicario actress glowed as she donned a make-up free look, paired with brown Steven Alan Optical sunglasses
Her precious two-year-old daughter looked stylish in a white top with blue, patterned shorts. Hazel had a pink necklace to add a pop of color and a matching pink hair bow that decorated her blonde, silky hair.
Blunt had no intention of covering up her baby bump, instead, she showed it off as a proud, mother-of-two.
The Sicario actress has a lot on her plate recently, yet she doesn't let her role of being a loving and dedicated mother get in the way.
Family at the Farmer's Market! Blunt was seen with husband John Krasinski while taking their daughter on a walk at the market
Husband and father Krasinski recently revealed in an interview with E! News that their second newborn is coming 'soon-ish.' He told the outlet on Friday night at the premiere of his latest film, The Hollars.
In other news, Blunt will follow the legendary Julie Andrews in the 1964 sequel, Mary Poppins, which is scheduled to release 2018 on Christmas Day.
The 'Hamilton' creator Lin-Manuel Miranda will join as a new character, Jack the street lamplighter.
The Huntsman actress also has Girl On The Train to heavily promote in the upcoming months.
However, recent reports show that Blunt will not appear in the follow-up to Sicario as the film boots the actress from her own film. Given her hectic schedule, it appeared to have worked out for the best.
Such love: Blunt looks adoringly at her husband at the Alice Through The Looking Glass premiere
Opening up to C Magazine, Blunt noticed the differences on her two pregnancies.
The first pregnancy is the most self-indulgent thing in the world because you get massages and prenatal yoga and hypnotherapy CDs,' said the actress. 'During this one I forget that Im even pregnant. Im hoisting my 2-year-old around!
As for Hazel expecting to have a new sibling? Emily told E! News earlier that she is slow to accept the fact saying 'she sort of dismissed the idea initially and she just responded with, "Nope.'"
Kourtney Kardashian looked ready to take the city by storm on Monday evening as she stepped out in a racy outfit and attended comedian Jimmy Carr's star-studded house party.
The 37-year-old seemed in fine form as she was spotted leaving her hotel while wearing a black form-fitting embellished jumpsuit which flashed a hint of her lacy bra.
Arriving in the capital ahead of the Glamour Awards, she was in good company on the night.
Hot mama! Kourtney Kardashian looked ready to take London by storm on Monday evening as she stepped out in a racy outfi
She's got some front! The 37-year-old seemed in fine form as she was spotted leaving her hotel while wearing black top that revealed her lacy bra
Completing the reality star's attire was a pair of skinny black trousers and open toe stilettos as she looked ready for a night on the town.
She's been teasing a possible reconciliation with Scott Disick after a series of jovial family trips.
But the mother-of-three put her relationship dramas behind her as she took to London this week ahead of the upcoming Glamour Women Of The Year Awards.
Ready for fun! Completing the reality star's attire was a pair of skinny black trousers and open toe stilettos as she looked ready for the fun night out
So stunning: She looked naturally beautiful as she prepared to let her hair down in style
Gorgeous: Her raven tresses were styled in a tousled fashion as she stepped out of her car earlier that evening
Making her entrance: The US star arrived at comedian Jimmy Carr's house for a star-studded bash
Curve appeal: The reality star looked sensational in her chic party ensemble
Time for bed: She later shared a snap of herself lying in bed with her sexy bra on
Putting on a united front: Vernon Kay and Tess Daly glammed up and held hands to attend the North London bash
Keeping a low profile: Game Of Thrones star Natalie Dormer kept things casual in ripped jeans and trainers
Fancy seeing you here: Nick Candy caught up with Robbie Williams' wife and Loose WOmen panellist, Ayda Field (left)
A host of stars joined Kourtney on the night, including Hugh Grant and his girlfriend Anna. His ex, Jemima Khan was also there, as they have remained good friends.
Princess Beatrice was also there and looked ethereal in a red dress, as well as Vernon Kay and Tess Daly, who glammed up and held hands to attend the North London bash.
Nick Candy caught up with Robbie Williams' wife and Loose Women panellist, Ayda Field, while Louise Redknapp looked trendy in a green bomber jacket as she arrived with her footballer husband Jamie.
Strictly going strong: Countdown star Rachel Riley held hands with her professional dancer lover Pasha Kovalev
Sweet: Singer Elton John was pictured leaving the venue with his dashing husband David Furnish (left)
Friends in high places: Princess Beatrice, who has been gold pals with Jimmy for years, looked ethereal in a floaty red dress
Having a laugh: Comedian David Walliams looked smart in a grey suit worn over a blue shirt
Going to Notting Hill? Hugh Grant attended with his Swedish girlfriend Anna Elisabet Eberstein
That could have been awkward: His ex girlfriend Jemima Khan was also there, but they remain firm friends
Earlier in the day Keeping Up With The Kardashians star, Kourtney, showcased her slim legs in a pair of heavily-ripped blue jeans, which she teamed with a classic grey T-shirt and a black suede jacket.
Adding an element of edginess to her attire, the mother-of-three sported a thick black choker around her neck as she arrived in the UK for the ceremony, which will be held on Tuesday night.
Complementing her large black handbag were a pair of oversized black sunnies which hid most of her make-up free face as she prepared to jet off.
A musical duo: Andrew Lloyd Webber and his wife Madeleine Gurdon were also present
Long-term loves:Louise Redknapp looked trendy in a green bomber jacket as she arrived with her footballer husband Jamie
Cute couple: Former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq arrived with husband Charlie Brooker
Lads! Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal (left) also partied with the stars as did television presenter Jeremy Clarkson (right)
Kourtney allowed her long brunette tresses to run free and despite the long-haul flight, opted for a spot of glamour in black stiletto heels.
Earlier on Sunday, Kourtney made up for her upcoming time away by heading out for a meal in Los Angeles with former flame of nine years Scott and their three children - Mason, six, Penelope, three, and one-year-old son Reign.
Their latest happy outing together is sure to gear up speculation they could be about to make a sensational reconciliation, despite the fact the self-proclaimed Lord is said to be dating Australian professional clotheshorse Megan Blake.
See Kourtney Kardashian news as she jets to Glamour Women Of The Year Awards
Back in Blighty: Kourtney seen here arriving at her London hotel following an overnight flight from London ahead of the Glamour Women Of The Year Awards on Tuesday
Time to chill: No doubt the mother-of-three was looking forward to freshening up at her hotel suite following her long journey
Jet-setter lifestyle: Kourtney Kardashian was spotted at Los Angeles' LAX airport on Sunday as she headed to her long-haul flight
Punk rock princess: The 37-year-old reality star opted for a cool rock chick vibe as she arrived at Los Angeles' LAX Airport on Sunday evening
It will certainly be quite the development, given 33-year-old Scott split from Kourtney after being caught canoodling with stylist Chloe Bartoli in Monaco last summer.
It would certainly be a story line ripe for exploiting on the family's hit show Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
It had previously looked like the Kardashian sisters' patience with Scott had finally run out after Khloe confessed she would like to punch him 'in the f***ing jugular' in the latest thrilling teaser for their show.
Khloe ranted about the fun-loving dad-of-three's bad attitude, particularly during a family dinner held in remembrance of their late father Robert, in the KUWTK clip.
London's calling: The on/off girlfriend of Scott Disick revealed her destination in a Snapchat video prior to her airport arrival
The 31-year-old blonde said: 'He acts like he tries real hard to actually play it straight for even a month.'
'How are you trying? I was like, "Scott I want to punch you in your f***ing jugular because of your depressed, negative energy.'
Kourtney, who is rumoured to have enjoyed a spell as pop pixie Justin Bieber's plaything, initially defended the father of her children, but then conceded: 'He's like, "I lost my whole family, I don't have any siblings."
'I go, you do, you have all my family members. Nobody's ditching you. They just get frustrated with you.'
Happy families? Earlier on Sunday, Kourtney headed out for a meal in Los Angeles with ex beau of nine years Scott and their three children, Mason, six, Penelope, three, and one-year-old son Reign
Rosario Dawson injected some 1970s flair to the premiere of Puerto Ricans In Paris in New York on Monday.
The 37-year-old wore a floor length and bright blue tie dye maxi dress that was buttoned at the front and had a collared neckline.
Rosario wore her jet black tresses down in loose and relaxed ringlets, her hair stylishly swept across her head in a slight side part.
Tie-dye for! Rosario Dawson injected some 1970s flair to the premiere of Puerto Ricans In Paris in New York on Monday
Picture perfect: Wearing a winged slick of eyeliner round her brown eyes, Rosario looked radiant with minimal makeup swept across her face
Wearing a winged slick of eyeliner round her brown eyes, Rosario looked radiant with minimal makeup swept across her face.
The Daredevil actress played with the fabric of her short-sleeved dress, while giving a dazzling touch with her silver peep toe heels.
Rosario stars as Vanessa in the upcoming comedy Puerto Ricans In Paris, which is due out in theatres on June 10.
All good! The actress grinned brightly as she clapped her hands together
Her best accessory: She wore a big smile on her face as she flashed a glimpse of her golden metallic wedges
Flashing the V: She caught up with basketball player Jayson Williams on the night
All stars: (L-R) Jayson, Rosario and American professional boxer and former WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin
Friends in high places: Actor Frederic Anscombre also caught up with Rosario for a snap on the night
The movie is about two Puerto Rican NYPD detectives (Luis Guzman and Edgar Garcia) who search for a stolen purse in Paris.
Rosario has a full plate of projects to look forward to.
The actress, who has been busy campaigning for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as of late, is currently working on projects that include The Lego Batman Movie, Krystal, and Luke Cage.
She will also return to her role as Becky in the upcoming Clerks 3 movie.
The comedy will also star returning favourites Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith as Jay and Silent Bob.
It is slated for a January 1, 2018 release.
Teamwork: Puerto Ricans In Paris director Ian Edelman posed with stars Rosie Perez and Luis Guzman
Big night: Rosie Perez and Luis Guzman were no doubt thrilled to be celebrating the project
Arms around one another: (L-R) Eddie Garcia, Ian Edelman, Rosie Perez, Luis Guzman and Frederic
She is synonymous with all things pin-up thanks to her old-Hollywood aesthetic and sex-kitten appeal.
And Dita Von Teese, 43, certainly lived up to her reputation as she sauntered through Sydney Airport on Monday in yet another striking ensemble.
The burlesque queen was clad in a military-inspired coat, which featured unusual cape detailing and a high neckline.
Scroll down for video
Strutting in style! Dita Von Teese, 43, certainly lived up to her glamour puss reputation as she sauntered through Sydney airport on Monday an a striking ensemble
She cinched in her petite waist with leather belt and added to her height with a pair of black suede boots, before completing her look with a quilted Chanel handbag and a pair of cat-eye sunglasses.
Wearing lashings of her trademark red lipstick, the raven-haired beauty had coiffed her mane into perfectly-sculpted victory rolls which hung loosely by her shoulders.
Dita's departure came after the glamorous show-woman performed in her stage production, Strip, Strip Hooray! to a sold-out audience in Sydney.
Cloaked and chic! The burlesque queen was clad in a military-inspired coat, which featured unusual cape detailing and a high neckline
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph on Monday, Dita spoke of her aspiration to be remembered for inspiring confidence in her audience.
'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.
'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,' she went on.
'I want my legacy to be about promoting glamour': Speaking to The Daily Telegraph on Monday, Dita spoke of her aspiration to be remembered for inspiring confidence in her audience
'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 started 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.
She lent her good looks to a women's clothing brand for a photoshoot on Monday, however the photoshoot shoot took a turn for the worse for Sophie Monk.
The 36-year-old radio and television personality was thrown off a horse during the outback-themed shoot for Buffalo Girl Life clothing and was almost squashed by the animal.
Wearing a long white dress, Sophie was modelling the garment on the back of the horse, as she held onto a handsome male model who was manoeuvring the animal with reigns.
Here we go: She lent her good looks to a women's clothing brand for a photoshoot on Monday, however the photoshoot shoot took a turn for the worse for Sophie Monk
An onlooker joked that she was falling off the horse, to which Sophie replied saying: 'I'm really good with horses.'
However almost as soon as she finished the sentence, the horse became restless and as it kicked its front legs up into the air it threw both Sophie and her male counterpart off.
The pair tumbled backwards onto the dirt ground and the hooves of the horse almost squashed them both.
Steady on:The 36-year-old radio and television personality was thrown off a horse during the outback-themed shoot for Buffalo Girl Life clothing and was almost squashed by the animal
I've got you: But the anxious horse appeared to get the better of Sophie and her male pal
He's off: The horse became restless and as it kicked its front legs up into the air it threw both Sophie and her male counterpart off
Despite screams from onlookers, it appeared the pair laughed off the incident, seeing the humour in the situation.
The Australia's Got Talent judge is set to make a return to the radio airwaves.
The Australian media personality will be hosting The Fling breakfast show across the Australian Radio Network (ARN)'s Sydney and Melbourne stations alongside fellow radio star Matty Acton.
The announcement of the pair's collaboration comes after they worked together from December to January, hosting The Summer Fling on the KIIS FM stations.
Over and out: The pair landed in a dusty heap on the grass after being thrown from the horse
That's better: Wearing a long white dress, Sophie was modelling the garment on the back of the horse, as she held onto a handsome male model who was manoeuvring the animal with reigns
Kicking off on June 27, the pair will be entertaining audiences in the top breakfast time-slot while regular hosts, such as Sydney's Kyle and Jackie O, and Melbourne's Matt and Meshel, enjoy some time off.
In a press statement released on Thursday, ARNs National Content Director Duncan Campbell said: 'After the success of The Summer Fling, were pleased to be welcoming back Sophie and Matty to continue to deliver great content on KIIS, while our breakfast shows take a well-deserved mid-year break'.
Sophie was also delighted to be preparing for her on-air return, saying: 'Im super excited to be back on air waking up Sydney and Melbourne with Matty on KIIS.
They're back! Sophie will be hosting The Fling breakfast show across the Australian Radio Network (ARN)'s Sydney and Melbourne stations alongside fellow radio star Matty Acton from June 27 to July 8
Making a return: The Australian star is delighted to be preparing for her on-air return, saying 'Im super excited to be back on air waking up Sydney and Melbourne with Matty on KIIS'
'We had such a great time with the summer show, and I know its only going to be bigger and better for The Fling But I still wish breakfast radio started at 10am. And the early starts gives me a real excuse for my ugg boots right?'
Back in March this year some news had emerged, hinting at her return to the airwaves.
The bubbly blonde said in a statement at the time: 'Anyone who knows me realises that Im very happy to bring the laughs - even when theyre usually all at my expense.
'Im just glad I get to keep bringing the crazy.'
She added: 'Stay tuned, its going to be quite the ride.'
Usual hosts: Kicking off on June 27, the pair will be entertaining audiences in the top breakfast time-slot while regular hosts, such as Sydney's Kyle and Jackie O (pictured), and Melbourne's Matt and Meshel, enjoy some time off
Intriguingly, the British-born Australian, who has been finding her feet in the past two years since returning from Los Angeles after ten years, quit 2DayFM with Jules Lund and Merrick Watts citing gruelling hours.
She shocked radio bosses by handing in her notice in October 2014 revealing it was time for pastures new.
At the time she told Daily Mail Australia: 'When I leave the show, it will give me my evenings back,' she said, adding, 'now if I want to date someone, I have to say to them "Wanna meet up for dinner and drinks at 2pm?"
'I'm looking forward to going on dates. My love life is non existent.'
They have been keeping a low profile since their marriage was rocked in April by another sexting scandal.
But on Monday night Tess Daly and husband Vernon Kay looked very much a united couple as they held hands while leaving their friend Jimmy Carr's house party in London.
The Strictly Come Dancing host and her TV presenter husband smiled and looked close, weeks after it was revealed Vernon was still in contact with glamour model Rhian Sugden, who he sent a string of lewd texts to in 2010.
Scroll down for video
Going strong: Tess Daly and husband Vernon Kay looked very much a united couple as they held hands while leaving their friend Jimmy Carr's house party in London on Monday night
Smiling: The pair looked extremely happy as they stayed close to one another
Tess, 47, showed off her tanned and toned figure in a chic little black dress with white trim for the party.
She coordinated with a pair of block heel white sandals, while her long blonde locks were styled into glam waves.
Vernon, 42, was looking smart in a shirt and jeans as he led the way out of the party, smiling while holding his wife's hand.
Party time: Tess, 47, showed off her tanned and toned figure in a chic little black dress with white trim for the party, and flashed a smile as she left the party with her husband of 13 years
The couple jetted off for a 'make or break' holiday to the Bahamas last month, after it was revealed TV star Vernon was still in contact with Rhian, who he was first caught sending lewd texts to six years ago.
Vernon was forced to make a public apology to his wife on Radio 1 back in 2010 and promised he would no longer contact Rhian or four other women he had been caught messaging at the time.
But the busty blonde, 29, recently revealed she was still speaking with the star, and claimed he had asked her to meet up.
Heading home: The couple have recently returned from a 'make or break' holiday to the Bahamas after it was revealed Vernon was still in contact with Rhian Sugden, who he was first caught sending lewd texts to six years ago
Vernon claimed at the time of the allegations that the Whatsapp messages he sent to Rhian asking to meet had been taken out of context, that he had done 'nothing wrong' and that his wife was completely aware of all contact.
The Radio X DJ released a candid statement, explaining: 'I recognise how it may look when messages are pulled out of context but there was never any inappropriate intent to our communication. I was merely trying to find answers to questions Ive had since 2010.'
Speaking about their relationship, Rhian claimed the pair had got back in touch in December, after a break of six years, which felt like an 'old friendship coming back'.
Date night: Vernon, 42, was looking smart in a shirt and jeans as he led the way out of the party, smiling while holding his wife's hand
She said the messages were not like the explicit texts they had exchanged in 2010, until it emerged that Vernon had 'stalked' her Instagram and labelled one of her photographs a '10/10'.
Giving her side of the story, Rhian wrote on Instagram: 'I am NOT a home wrecker, Porn star, escort, gold digger OR Stripper!
'I get paid to model and have done for 10 years. I own two cats and live a two up two down, minding my own business!'
Another apology: Vernon claimed in a statement about his contact with Rhian that he had done 'nothing wrong' and that his wife was completely aware of all contact
Last week it was reported that Rhian had been rushed to hospital after suffering panic attacks stemmed from the abuse she received from the sexting scandal.
The 29-year-old glamour model was allegedly taken to Manchester's A&E department after telling the doctor she was suffering from chest pains.
A source told The Daily Star: 'With all the stress from the death threats and people threatening to harm her family, Rhian has been finding it difficult to cope and it's taking its toll on her.'
Model: Vernon was forced to make a public apology to his wife on Radio 1 back in 2010 and promised he would no longer contact Rhian or four other women he had been caught messaging at the time
The insider added: 'She hasn't been eating properly and is struggling to power on through all the abuse.'
A spokesperson for the star told The Mirror: 'Rhian has had tests done and has been suffering anxiety and panic attacks. It was all a routine check up, she is ok, she has just been told to take it easy.'
The Celebrity Big Brother star - who is engaged to partner Oliver Mellor - will reportedly open up about the her contact with Vernon during an upcoming appearance on Loose Women.
He's melted the hearts of female viewers around Australia.
And it seems Matt Le Nevez can even make the ladies weak at the knees on his days off, as the handsome actor cut a relaxed figure while out in Sydney's inner-city suburb of Surry Hills on Tuesday.
The 37-year-old was seen leaving the Rapha Cycle Club after enjoying a leisurely breakfast before jumping into a waiting car.
Scroll down for video
Looking good: It seems Matt Le Nevez can even make the ladies weak at the knees on his days off, as the handsome actor cut a relaxed figure while out in Sydney's inner-city suburb of Surry Hills on Tuesday
Matt sported a white T-shirt and fitted jeans for his morning outing, finishing is look with a pair of brown leather shoes and a dark sunglasses tucked into his collar.
The actor, who played the dreamy Dr. Patrick Reid in Offspring, looked stylish with his hair slicked back as he carried items including a suitcase to his transportation.
Fans of the popular Channel Ten drama were left heartbroken when Matt's character Patrick was killed in an accident on the last season of Offspring.
However it wasn't long before he graced our screens again, joining the cast of Love Child in 2015.
Going somewhere? The 37-year-old was seen leaving the Rapha Cycle Club after enjoying a leisurely breakfast before jumping into a waiting car
Matt plays Jim Marsh, the love interest of Dr. Joan Millar, played by Logie Award winner Jessica Marais.
In a trailer for the upcoming season, Matt and Jessica share a passionate kiss after being reunited.
Joan is seen running over to her beau, who is cradling their on-screen baby, and gives him an intense smooch, signalling they are kept apart for some time in the series.
Bags packed: Matt sported a white T-shirt and fitted jeans for his morning outing, finishing is look with a pair of brown leather shoes and a dark sunglasses tucked into his collar and looked stylish with his hair slicked back
In an earlier teaser for the show Jessica is seen walking along a quiet Kings Cross street with Matt's baby.
Upon reuniting, the pair's lips meet for a loving kiss, with Jim overjoyed at the sight of his child and lifts baby James high up into the air.
But it seems the fairytale ends there.
Back on TV: Matt joined the cast of Love Child in 2015
Later in the clip, Jim is seen holding some bags, as he and his little treasure sit in a taxi and drive off, leaving a devastated Joan behind to simply watch on in despair.
Matt's activist character Jim was introduced in season two of the Australian drama after his one-time fling became a patient of Joan's, at the hospital.
Love Child is set to air later this month on Channel Nine.
Passionate embrace: He plays Jim Marsh, the love interest of Dr. Joan Millar, played by Logie Award winner Jessica Marais
Season three: Love Child is set to air later this month on Channel Nine
She has been helping the people of western Sydney clean up after the worst storm cell in 42 years ravaged the east coast of Australia two days earlier.
And Sunrise co-host Samantha Arymtage ditched her Wellingtons and showed off her sexy side in a pair of knee-length boots as she exited Sunrise studios in Sydney on Tuesday.
The 38-year-old's pins were clearly on display as she carefully manoeuvred her way down the staircase and onto the footpath to speak with fans outside the Channel Seven office block.
Scroll down for video
Putting her best foot forward: Samantha Armytage revealed her sexy side in daring thigh-high boots and a caramel coat as she left Sunrise studios in Sydney on Tuesday
She topped off her chic winter look with a trench-like design caramel coat which revealed a glimpse of her charcoal grey shirt underneath.
Her natural beauty was on show as the Channel Seven journalist opted for a natural palette of make-up to highlight her striking features, while styling her blonde tresses out and straight.
Samantha looked to be in good spirits as she smiled and chatted to a group of women outside the set of Sunrise, based in Martin Place.
All smiles: The 38-year-old's pins were clearly on display as she carefully manoeuvred her way down the staircase and onto the footpath to talk to a group of women
A day earlier the presenter was spotted helping residents in the New South Wales suburb of Picton clean up after widespread flooding damaged homes and destroyed the quaint shopping village.
Samantha took to Instagram to upload a picture of herself posing with a broom and showing off her curves in denim trousers and black gumboots.
The TV personality was joined by four other women who were also holding brooms within their hands and preparing to brush away the water and mud left behind from the waist deep water.
Clean-up: The Channel Seven presenter posed with four other women holding brooms and wearing gumboots
'When in Rome, do as the Romans do. So when in #Picton, help with the clean- up. See my story on the flood aftermath tomorrow on @sunriseon7,' she wrote alongside the snap of the women beaming.
Samantha again took to the photo sharing site hours earlier and uploaded a picture of herself looking remarkably fresh faced despite the rain and the 120 kilometre winds pounding Sydney.
The breakfast show host showed off her complexion, going make-up free as she used a play on words with her own surname when describing the stormy weather surrounding her.
'Army-geddon,' the Sunrise host amusingly captioned the picture, adding: 'Hope you're all staying dry today.'
Ajay Rochester is not one to shy away from the realities of her life.
And on Monday, the former Biggest Loser host shared a close up shot of her hairy leg - the result of a new film pitch that she hopes will attract Hollywood star Rebel Wilson.
But while she has good reason to give up shaving, Ajay told Instagram followers that it also kept her from sleeping with Jim Carey - in a steamy dream.
Scroll down for video
Sexy selfie? The former Biggest Loser host shared a close up shot of her leg, along with the explanation that she is currently growing out her hair to film a leg waxing scene for a movie she hopes to pitch to Rebel Wilson
The 47-year-old wrote a lengthy post detailing the dream, which screeched to a halt when the Dumb And Dumber actor saw Ajay's hairy legs.
'Last night I dreamt I was in a jacuzzi with #jimcarey and we were about to do the wild thing! Then he saw my hairy legs and stopped! In the worst way stopped! Trying to be PG!,' the mother-of-one wrote.
'I tried to explain that it was because we were about to shoot a proof of concept for a film we want @rebelwilson for but no....... No dream sex for me!' she continued.
The TV personality went on to reveal that she is growing her mane for an upcoming film she hopes Australian star Rebel will be a part of.
A hair-raising experience! Ajay Rochester took to Instagram on Monday to detail a sexy dream she had with comedian Jim Carey, which ground to a halt because of her hair legs
'We were about to do the wild thing!' The 47-year-old detailed her steamy dream before explaining the reality of her situation
Ajay explained she will be getting her legs waxed on camera for a particular scene and it seems she will be playing the part of Rebel's character.
It appears filming will be part of their pitch to the Bridesmaids starlet.
Later in the post, the TV personality told Rebel: '@rebelwilson you are worth missing out on dream sex with the pet detective to get you to play my glorious villain I know!'
'Rebel Wilson you are worth missing out on dream sex': Ajay said working with Rebel would be worth missing out on sexy time with the Pet Detective
Enjoying it: The doctor pulled her skin tight and pricked her with the needle as she sat back in the chair and exclaimed 'Doesn't hurt, happy birthday to me!'
Ajay relocated to Hollywood from Australia a number of years ago, and has since been producing and presenting on a number of projects.
And it seems the bubbly blonde has succumbed to some of the LA lifestyle, getting Birthday Botox in May to celebrate her 47th year.
Sharing photo and videos of the procedure with fans across her social media platforms, Ajay said: 'I say, do whatever makes you happy and if a wrinkle-free forehead does that then so be it!'
She's never fails to make jaws drop when she prowls down the catwalk.
And it seems that even when she's enjoying her downtime Doutzen Kroes is a natural fashionista, as the Dutch beauty showed in New York, on Monday.
Heading out for a romantic stroll in SoHo with her husband Sunnery James, the 31-year-old Victoria's Secret Angel cut an arresting figure as she flaunted her lithe legs in a pair of denim shorts.
Scroll down for video
Married bliss: It seems that even when she's enjoying her downtime Doutzen Kroes is a natural fashionista, as the Dutch beauty showed in New York, on Monday
Obviously enjoying some quality time her DJ husband, 37, the model - who has worked on campaigns for the likes of L'Oreal and Miu Miu - cut a laid-back but seriously stylish figure.
Strolling hand-in-hand through the streets of Manhattan, the couple looked the epitome of married bliss as they laughed and chatted away.
Rocking a stripped back Boho look, Doutzen appeared to be embracing the warm summer weather.
Teaming a white boyfriend shirt with a low-cut black vest, the Dutch catwalk queen flashed a tantalizing amount of flesh.
His angel: Heading out for a romantic stroll in SoHo with her husband Sunnery James, the 31-year-old Victoria's Secret Angel cut an arresting figure as she flaunted her lithe legs in a pair of denim shorts
She teamed her baggy white shirt with a pair of tiny frayed denim shorts, which allowed the model to showcase her long, lithe legs.
Doutzen rounded her look off with a pair of black loafers, which added a smart-casual edge to her wardrobe whilst keeping to her relaxed sartorial theme.
Rocking a black fedora and a pair of oversized sunglasses, she looked the epitome of trendy boho chic.
Laid-back couple: Obviously enjoying some quality time her DJ husband, 37, the model - who has worked on campaigns for the likes of L'Oreal and Miu Miu - cut a laid-back but seriously stylish figure
Boho beauty: Teaming a white boyfriend shirt with a low-cut black vest, the Dutch catwalk queen flashed a tantalizing amount of flesh
Pins on parade: She teamed her baggy white shirt with a pair of tiny frayed denim shorts, which allowed the model to showcase her long, lithe legs
Doutzen kept the rest of her look in keeping with her laid-back theme, only adding a black handbag to the mix.
Sunnery - who married the model in 2010 - rocked an equally relaxed and laid-back summery look, teaming a black longline vest with grey speckled shorts and flyknit trainers.
With his collection of tattoos on display, the Dutch DJ kept his look uncluttered and free of faff; only wearing some sunglasses, and a few cursory items of jewellery.
Vamping it up: Later on in the evening, Doutzen headed out on her own to the star-studded CFDA Fashion Awards, which was held at Manhattan's Hammerstein Ballroom
Later on in the evening, Doutzen headed out on her own to the star-studded CFDA Fashion Awards, which was held at Manhattan's Hammerstein Ballroom.
Opting for low-key chic, the model slicked her blonde mane back and slipped into a figure-hugging Calvin Klein jumpsuit.
Sunnery and Doutzen tied the knot in 2010 in Amsterdam, with the couple's son, Phyllon Joy Gorre, now five, being born in 2011.
Doutzen gave birth to the couple's second child, 23-month-old Myllena Mae Gorre, in July 2014 in Amsterdam.
She tied the knot with Jose 'Pepe' Baston in Mexico last month and it seems as though Eva Longoria can't shake the nuptials from her mind.
The 41-year-old continued to wear a white bridal-inspired number as she showed her support for Hillary Clinton's She's With Us fundraiser at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on Monday night.
Her outfit was a sleeved white mini dress complete with black collar, which she teamed with a pair of fresh white heels by Christian Louboutin, highlighting her golden skin tone.
Scroll down for video
All white on the night: Eva Longoria wore a bridal-inspired number to attend Hillary Clinton's She's With Us fundraiser at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on Monday night
Happy time: She tied the knot with Jose 'Pepe' Baston in Mexico last month and it seems as though Eva Longoria can't shake the nuptials from her mind
The concert included a star-studded lineup including Christina Aguilera, John Legend, Stevie Wonder, Ricky Martin and Andra Day.
Clear to show where her support lies, Eva gave a wave to the crowds outside the venue as she revelled in her new status as wife.
She took to the stage at the event and made a dig at Hillary's rival Donald Trump, according to the Los Angeles Times.
All -stars: The concert included a star-studded lineup including Christina Aguilera, John Legend, Stevie Wonder, Ricky Martin and Andra Day
She took to the stage at the event and made a dig at Hillary's rival Donald Trump, saying: 'I'm a ninth-generation American. But I'm sure Trump will tell you otherwise'
She said: 'I'm a ninth-generation American. But I'm sure Trump will tell you otherwise.'
She was referring to the entrepreneur's recent attacks on a Mexican American judge.
Taking to Twitter after the event, she shared a picture of herself with a host of stars including Chrissy Teigen, Cher and John Legend, who were also in attendance.
What a line-up: Taking to Twitter and Snapchat after the event, she shared a picture of herself with a host of stars including Chrissy Teigen, Cher and John Legend, who were also in attendance
Big time: The outing comes at a time when things are seriously heating up for Clinton who is the presumptive Democrat candidate for president, according to the delegate tally from the Associated Press
Hillary's campaign spokeswoman Kristina Schake in a statement: 'Music brings us together. Hillary Clinton has built a campaign around the idea that we are stronger together as a country if we work to break down the barriers that hold Americans back'
According to Heavy, Clinton created a playlist on Spotify featuring the artists who performed.
Hillary's campaign spokeswoman Kristina Schake in a statement:
'Music brings us together. Hillary Clinton has built a campaign around the idea that we are stronger together as a country if we work to break down the barriers that hold Americans back.
'In this effort, we're proud to have the support of these talented artists who have a track record of using their platform to make positive change in their communities.
Double trouble: Singers Alisan Porter (L) and redhead Christina Aguilera performed onstage during the event
Beautiful: Christina looked absolutely stunning as she showed off her recently dyed locks
Hitting the mic: Robin Thicke also put on quite a performance as he gave it his all
'These artists are helping us put a spotlight on some of the issues Hillary Clinton is focusing on in her campaign including creating economic opportunity, protecting and expanding LGBT and women's rights, as well as tackling climate change.
'There is too much at stake in this election and we are lucky to have these creative partners in this effort.'
The outing comes at a time when things are seriously heating up for Clinton who is the presumptive Democrat candidate for president, according to the delegate tally from the Associated Press.
Almost eight years from the day that she bowed out of a tight race against Barack Obama, Clinton made history with the announcements, becoming the first woman to top a major political party's ticket in the United States on Monday night.
Iconic: Stevie Wonder also made quite an impression as he worked his magic to the audience
Semi-sheer: Singer Andra Day wore a beautiful red lace dress and velvet slippers
We're just ordinary people: New father John Legend took to the piano too
Royal wave: John's wife Chrissy Teigen walked onstage with fellow supporter Jamie Foxx
She's Kick-Ass: Chloe Moretz wore a cute mini skirt as she showed up to the venue
Summer chic: Zoey Deutch opted for a gothic twist to her summery look, wearing a floaty schoolgirl dress
For more than a year, she's only had eyes for her Hollywood heart-throb beau, Bradley Cooper.
But on Monday night, all eyes were on Irina Shayk as she stepped out in a daring red Misha Nonoo jumpsuit - boasting a cleavage-level cut-out - at New York City's CFDA Fashion Awards.
The stunning Russian model, 30, turned heads as she arrived at the Big Apple's Hammerstein Ballroom in her backless halterneck outfit, which included wide-legged flowing trousers.
Scroll down for video
Scarlet lady: Irina Shayk turned heads as she attended the CFDA Fashion Awards at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom on Monday night
Standing tall in a pair of red open-toed heels, the star accessorized with a matching clutch bag, while she wore her brunette tresses in a slightly messy bun.
She was joined at the event by the likes of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Naomi Campbell and Shanina Shaik, who all proved to be showstoppers in their own daring outfits.
Over the course of the night, the well-heeled crowd saw awards handed out to some of fashion's biggest names, including Marc Jacobs, who was named Womenswear Designer of the Year.
She's got some front! The Russian model donned a red cut-out jumpsuit, which displayed her ample cleavage
She made it! The brunette stunner was seen posing with her eye-catching outfit's designer, Misha Nonoo
Attendees - including Alessandra Ambrosio, Karlie Kloss and Heidi Klum - were also treated to a dazzling performance from Jennifer Hudson, while Michael C. Hall paid tribute to David Bowie.
Beyonce, who received the Fashion Icon Award, made the night a family affair, attending with her rapper-turned-mogul husband Jay Z and their four-year-old daughter Blue Ivy.
Just a day before the event, Irina and her boyfriend Bradley, 41, were spotted walking hand-in-hand as they enjoyed a romantic meander through the vibrant city's Tribeca area.
Cut it out! Blonde beauty Misha opted for a cut-out feature over her taut abs as she walked the red carpet
Lady in red: Irina stood tall in a pair of red open-toed heels, while she accessorized with a matching clutch bag
The photogenic pair have now been dating for over a year, having first been linked back in April of 2015.
And though neither has spoken publicly about their relationship, it appears to have gotten pretty serious, as Irina met Bradley's mother, with whom he is very close, in September.
The Joy actor then took Irina's mother, Olga, along as the couple attended Beyonce's concert in Pasadena, California, last month, where he was spotted holding onto both Olga and Irina's hands.
Hair apparent: Irina wore her heair up in a messy bun, while she kept her makeup natural and simple
So in love: Irina and Hollywood heart-throb Bradley Cooper have been dating for a little over a year
Her boyfriend Brooklyn Beckham has been spending quality time with his family on holiday in Greece.
And Chloe Moretz has been painting the town red in his absence, showing her support for US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton by attending the politician's She's With Us event on Monday night.
The 19-year-old actress was spotted leaving The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles solo, flashing a coy smile as she headed home for the evening.
Scroll down for video
Show of support: Chloe Moretz was showing her support for US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton by attending the politician's She's With Us event at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on Monday night
Chloe looked lovely in her concert-going ensemble, donning a denim miniskirt with a poppy and butterfly pattern running along the hem.
She accentuated her toned legs thanks to a pair of purple strap platform sandals.
The Dark Shadows star opted for a rock chic style on her top half, pairing a fitted crop top with a silver necklace and leather jacket.
Flower power: Chloe looked lovely in her concert-going ensemble, donning a denim miniskirt with a poppy and butterfly pattern running along the hem
Happy couple: Chloe, 19, and Brooklyn Beckham, 17, made their public debut as a couple at the Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising premiere in LA last month
The blonde beauty styled her golden locks in loose waves and plumped for natural, rosy toned make-up.
Chloe joined a host of stars including Eva Longoria to show her support for the would be Democrat candidate.
The concert boasted a star-studded lineup including Christina Aguilera, John Legend, Stevie Wonder, Ricky Martin and Andra Day.
Hillary's campaign spokeswoman Kristina Schake in a statement:
'Music brings us together. Hillary Clinton has built a campaign around the idea that we are stronger together as a country if we work to break down the barriers that hold Americans back.
Making a statement: Chloe joined a host of stars including Eva Longoria to show her support for the would be Democrat candidate at the concert, which boasted a star-studded lineup including Christina Aguilera, John Legend, Stevie Wonder, Ricky Martin and Andra Day
'In this effort, we're proud to have the support of these talented artists who have a track record of using their platform to make positive change in their communities.
These artists are helping us put a spotlight on some of the issues Hillary Clinton is focusing on in her campaign including creating economic opportunity, protecting and expanding LGBT and women's rights, as well as tackling climate change.
'There is too much at stake in this election and we are lucky to have these creative partners in this effort.'
Meanwhile, Brooklyn was seen lapping up the sun on his beach holiday in Greece alongside his famous family.
The son of Victoria and David Beckham looked blissfully happy as he caught some rays on the beach.
Chloe, 19, and Brooklyn, 17, made their public debut as a couple at the Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising premiere in LA last month
The MasterChef kitchen was braced for a historic night on Tuesday.
Chloe Bowles, a 24-year-old nanny from Queensland was up to win another immunity pin - her second in just as many weeks.
However, the record second immunity pin wasn't to be for the brunette beauty after the pressure got to her during the blind tasting challenge.
Scroll down for video
Not making the MasterChef record books: Chloe Bowles missed out on scoring a historic second immunity pin on Tuesday night's episode of MasterChef Australia after messing up her meringue on her second attempt
Attempting to play to her strengths, Chloe picked a core ingredient of coffee and played to her strengths by making a dessert.
However, her Coffee Bomb with Chocolate Sauce and Brandy to Flambe was set back by a bad batch of Swiss meringues.
With mentor Shannon Bennett refusing to let her serve up the over-whipped meringues, which was the centrepiece of her dessert, Chloe had just minutes on the clock to start again.
Despite getting the dish done in time, the 24-year-old wasn't confident in her offering, noting: 'It doesn't look right. But I have to use this meringue because I don't have time to make another one. And I'm just hoping that it hasn't split.'
Bombed out! The meringue, a centrepiece of her dessert, didn't quite come together for the nanny to win the blind tasting challenge
With those scores it means that no history is going to be made today': Matt Preston was upfront in the verdict as he joined the other judges in awarding Chloe six out of 10 for her dessert
Messing up the meringues: The 24-year-old had two attempts as Swiss Meringues after over-whipping the first lot, which mentor Shannon Bennett would not let Chloe serve up
Unfortunately for Chloe, the judges - Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston - all noticed the meringues weren't as they should be.
'A really good idea conceptually,' George began, before pointing out to his counterparts: 'But for me the big standout issue is the meringue.You can see that graininess in the meringue.'
And they reflected this in their judging.
After scoring a six out of 10 from both Gary and George for her efforts, Matt Preston also gave her the same marks and decreed: 'Chloe, with those scores it means that no history is going to be made today.'
In the blind tasting, Chloe went up against professional chef Morgan McGlone, who played to his own strengths of Southern American style cooking.
The challenger: Chloe went up against professional chef Morgan McGlone, who played to his own strengths of Southern American style cooking
Playing to his strengths: Known for his fried chicken, Morgan opted for a savoury coffee dish of Butter-Roasted Cauliflower and Coffee-Crusted Quail with a Red Eye Gravy
Serving up Butter-Roasted Cauliflower and Coffee-Crusted Quail with a Red Eye Gravy, Morgan's dish divided the judges but narrowly won him the challenge.
'To be completely honest, I thought I was very lucky today. Chloe's definitely an incredible talent and I think on any given day, anyone can lose in the MasterChef kitchen,' Morgan noted after scoring 21 out of 30 from the judging trio.
Chloe got herself through to the final round of the immunity pin challenge after beating both Trent and Brett in the first round - creating their own eclairs.
Opting to create a Cream Cheese and Dulce De Leche Eclairs with a Toasted Pecan Praline, Chloe admitted she was trying to give the judges what they liked.
Dividing the judges: Morgan's dish divided judges (L-R) Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston but narrowly won him the challenge
'I know that the judges really liked my caramel sauce in previous cooks, so I really want to nail it again today,' Chloe said.
In her element of desserts, the 24-year-old hit the ground running during the eclair challenge and kept a good pace against the boys, in a battle to get to round two.
However, it still came down to the last minutes of the challenge.
'This is literally down to the wire in this challenge. I've got to hurry, and I want these to all look the same,' Chloe told the camera, her hand shaking as she filled her eclair.
'I'm actually shocked': Chloe was surprised to beat out Brett (left) and Trent (right) to win the first round of the immunity pin challenge
'This challenge was hectic. It just shows you how crazy the kitchen is. You do something as simple as an eclair, but simple is so hard to get right,' Chloe noted after finishing the challenge and plating up.
'I'm actually shocked. I honestly did not think that I was going to go through, and I definitely can't believe that I'm one cook away from a second immunity pin. I'm feeling SO nervous,' Chloe admitted.
Adding: 'It definitely feels really good putting the chef whites on for a second time. but it's really nerve-racking, because you could be someone who makes history, and that's a lot of pressure.'
MasterChef Australia continues Wednesday June 8, 7:30pm, Network Ten.
After weathering a storm of controversy over her comments that the recent Oscars boycott was 'racist against whites', Charlotte Rampling is speaking out again to insist she's 'anything but racist'.
The actress, 70, made the remarks during a French radio interview, after a number of prominent African-American stars proposed a boycott of the ceremony over lacking diversity in nominations.
But, after months of staying silent on the matter, Charlotte - who received a Best Actress nod for her efforts in 45 years - told the Daily Express: 'I probably think it was misinterpreted at the time.'
Scroll down for video
Misunderstanding: Charlotte Rampling has insisted that she was 'misinterpreted' when she was quoted as saying that the recent Academy Awards boycott was 'racist to whites'
Speaking to the newspaper at Sunday's South Bank Sky Arts Awards, she added: 'I thought, "Oh my God, what have I said. It was in no way what people thought.'
And she decided to avoid reading about the resulting backlash, explaining, 'After, I just didnt listen to anything, so I dont know who said what about it. I cant really say too much now. I could have easily had a dialogue, but I wasnt going to do that after what I said. Im anything but racist.'
Charlotte whipped up controversy after reportedly telling Europe 1: 'You cant vote for an actor because hes black. You cant say, Im going to vote for him, hes not very good but hes black, Ill vote for him.'
Opening up: Speaking to the Daily Express at Sunday's South Bank Sky Arts Awards, the actress insisted she was 'anything but racist'
At the South Bank Sky Arts Awards, Charlotte was seen celebrating with Jeremy Irons as 45 Years won the film award.
The star, who appeared opposite Sir Tom Courtenay, apologised to Jeremy, who joked that he would have been available to play the role of her husband as he presented her with the first trophy of the ceremony.
She called her experience of working on the film 'absolutely exceptional', adding that it had been two years in the making.
She's a winner: At the South Bank Sky Arts Awards, her drama 45 Years won the coveted film award
'We shot it as if we were living and breathing this film,' she said, crediting that with its success.
Hangmen, a play by Martin McDonagh about the 'second best hangman in England' and which starred Reece Shearsmith, won the theatre award.
Banksy's Dismaland lost in the visual arts category to Lynette Yiadom-Boakye's Verses After Dark, which explores imaginary figures and the mechanics of painting.
She's famed for her curvy figure and model proportions.
And Casey Batchelor was showcasing her incredible physique in all its glory as she bronzed by the pool in Marbella on Monday.
The 31-year-old glamour girl was looking in fantastic shape during her Spanish getaway, displaying her ample assets in a low-cut blue swimsuit.
Scroll down for video
Living it up: Casey Batchelor was sunning herself by the pool in Marbella, Spain on Monday, showcasing her fantastic figure in a bright blue swimsuit
The electric blue one-piece, from her pal Imogen Thomas' Chasing Summer range, flattered her hourglass curves.
Casey cut a busty figure in the eye-catching swimwear, which featured a white tie at the bust to draw attention to her cleavage.
The high-rise costume also boasted a teardrop cut-out on the stomach for added glamour.
Feeling blue: The sexy one-piece, from her pal Imogen Thomas' Chasing Summer range, flattered her hourglass curves
Looking good: The high-rise costume also boasted a teardrop cut-out on the stomach for added glamour
Poolside antics: Casey cut a busty figure in the eye-catching swimwear, which featured a white tie at the bust to draw attention to her cleavage
Casey completed her poolside look with natural make-up and styled her brunette locks in beachy waves.
In terms of her personal life, Casey has had a hectic time in recent months, including a short-lived romance with Union J's JJ Hamblett, 27, while he was on a break from girlfriend Caterina Lopez.
However, Casey was reportedly left 'shocked' when JJ reunited with his model girlfriend Caterina Lopez - the mother of his son, Princeton, two - without telling her.
Cooling off: The former CBB star enjoyed an al fresco shower following a dip in the pool
What a body: Lee Ryan's one-time love interest showed off her toned legs and shapely figure to its best advantage
Single lady: In terms of her personal life, Casey has had a hectic time in recent months, including a short-lived romance with Union J's JJ Hamblett, 27, while he was on a break from girlfriend Caterina Lopez
A source told The Sun at the time: 'They decided to take it slow and really enjoyed each other's company. Casey was raving about him and thought he was a great guy.
'She has been treated badly in the past and is a sucker for love, so it was shocking for her to all of a sudden see that he and Caterina had reunited. He didn't tell her they were getting back together.'
A spokesperson for Casey told MailOnline: 'I can confirm that Casey was dating JJ Hamblett when he was single. Casey has now moved on.'
Sunning herself: Casey was the picture of relaxation as she enjoyed a solo sunbathing session
Splash: Casey put her sunbathing on pause to dive into the crystal clear waters
Acrobatic: The brunette beauty performed an impressive series of moves
Minimal make-up: Unlike many of her peers, Casey ditched the heavy make-up for her pool trip
Casey previously claimed she felt 'gutted and used' after she slept with England rugby ace Jonathan Joseph and later discovered that he had a girlfriend.
The brunette alleged she and Jonathan were intimate twice in one night after messaging one another for months, although he was reportedly in a seven-year relationship.
Talking for the first time about the alleged betrayal she told The Sun: 'Im gutted. He just used me for fun. There was never any mention of a girlfriend.
'Even after we slept together he continued to treat me really well.'
Bronzed beauty: Casey completed her poolside look with natural make-up and styled her brunette locks in beachy waves
Moving on: Casey previously claimed she felt 'gutted and used' after she slept with England rugby ace Jonathan Joseph and later discovered that he had a girlfriend
Life of luxury: Casey was using a Louis Vuitton tote as her beach bag of choice
Their two worlds were never really destined to collide.
While Will Mellor is a TV star from the likes of Casualty and Hollyoaks, Prince William's career trajectory is headed toward the throne.
But actor Will has revealed he did once have a close run-in with royalty, after the prince stepped into save him from a bar fight.
Royal connection: Will Mellor has revealed Prince William once stepped into save him from a bar fight
Will, 40, was on the This Morning sofa on Tuesday to talk about his BBC1 parenting drama In The Club, when talk turned to the bizarre incident.
The actor explained that he had sneaked into 'a posh party' in an exclusive bar in west London some years ago.
Will, who was on crutches because of a knee injury at the time, explained that he was talking to Prince William inside the bar, when 'as the night goes on, I had a few drinks and this idiot just barges me off my crutches and finds it hilarious.'
Party pals: The actor explained that he had sneaked into 'a posh party' in an exclusive bar in west London some years ago when he started chatting to the future King of England
'I lost my temper had a scuffle,' he told This Morning hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, before Prince William stepped in.
As he was fighting Will said 'the next thing I know, someone is pulling me up and saying, hes not worth it - and it was Prince William!'
'Ill never forget the future King of England having his hands on my shoulders saying Will, hes not worth it and Im going, he knocked me off my crutches... and then security come piling in because then it looks like me and him [are fighting] and I get thrown out! And Im like Will, tell em!...'
Phil exclaimed: 'So you got saved by the future King of England.'
What a story! Will, who was on crutches because of a knee injury, explained that he was talking to Prince William inside the bar, when 'some idiot barged me off my crutches,' with the prince stepping in to stop the fight
Entertainer: The story prompted host Phil to exclaim: so you got saved by the future King of England'
Will was on This Morning with his In The Club co-star Jill Halfpenny who had a revelation of her own.
The actress revealed she used to date television presenter Ant McPartlin, revealing she asked out the Geordie lad when she was a teenager after taking a shine to him when they both starred on Byker Grove.
'I asked him out to go and see The Commitments with me at the cinema,' she said. 'We went, but it fizzled out. We weren't right for each other,' she said with a coy expression on her face.'
Ant played PJ who got blinded due to a tragic game of paintballing and Jill played a character called Nicola for 29 episodes from 1989-1992.
A cook-off for the coveted MasterChef immunity pin is never without it's challenges.
But Trent Harvey has proved cool, calm and collected under pressure on Tuesday night's episode, despite almost failing to deliver his eclair creation.
With just five minutes left on the clock, the 29-year-old electrician used some quick thinking to allow his dish a chance.
Down to the wire! Trent Harvey was almost left with no eclair to serve in the immunity pin challenge on Tuesday night's episode of MasterChef Austrlia
After leaving his choux pastry (the cake-like base of an eclair) in the oven to cook longer and 'dry out', Trent needed his pasty to cool before he could assemble them for the judges and decided to cut them open and put them in the blast chiller to cool.
'I really need to make sure that these eclairs have cooled down before I fill them. If they don't cool in time, I'll have nothing to put on the plate,' he noted.
But it was a risk that pair off for the electrician, who completed plating up his White Chocolate with Fresh Raspberries and a Vanilla Creme Pat with Toasted Macadamias just in the nick of time.
'You've got a nice little crust. It looks spectacular,' George Calombaris told him before tucking in.
Quick thinking: The 29-year-old used some quick thinking to allow his dish a chance by popping his choux pastry in the blast chiller with less than five minutes on the clock to allow him to plate up
Success: The tactic worked and the contestant was able to complete the challenge just in the nick of time
'It looks spectacular': The judges were in awe that the dish was not only finished but to a mouth-watering standard
'A good eclair. And do you know what? With a couple of minutes to go, I'm going, "Oh, God. They're gonna be little dough balls," but you fixed that problem, so, well done, Trent,' Matt Preston told him.
However, while acknowledging his achievement, wasn't as impressed as the other judges.
'It's a great effort. But...for me, it's very one-dimensional,' Gary said.
While Shannon Bennett was a little more encouraging, telling Trent: 'I just think it's missing some lemon. But I like the memory it brings back to me, when I was a child, of the cream. It's got that sort of messiness to it'.
'I like the memories': George Calombaris (left) enjoyed the sweet treat, while Shannon Bennett (pictured) said while the dish was lacking in some ways, it brought back happy memories of his childhood
Meanwhile, Brett Carter also impressed the judges with his Jaffa Eclair, which surprised everyone.
'I don't think they expected this from me. I don't think I expected it from me,' the airline captain said.
'Love that combination of the chocolate, the cardamom and the orange. It works brilliantly together. Love the gloss of the chocolate on the top. Well done, Brett,' Matt told him.
But it wasn't enough for the boys to claim a win.
'I don't think I expected this from me': Airline captain Brett Carter was impressed himself with his creation
'It works brilliantly together': The 43-year-old paired the tried and tested flavours of chocolate and orange
Chloe Bowles won over the panel with her Cream Cheese and Dulce De Leche Eclairs with a Toasted Pecan Praline.
However, it was a fight to the finish for Chloe as well, whose nerves almost got the better of her with the 24-year-old's hand shaking as she plated up her pastry.
'I really want to do well. It's nerve-racking,' the nanny told Gary as he watched on.
Winner: Chloe Bowles was shocked to hear she had taken out the first round of the immunity pin challenge
Flavoursome: The 24-year-old won over the judges with her Cream Cheese and Dulce De Leche Eclairs with a Toasted Pecan Praline
In the end Chloe went into the blind tasting challenge round, up against professional chef Morgan McGlone.
However, this time she lost the challenge, with her Swiss Meringues not up to the judges expectations and therefore the Queensland contestant missed out on winning a historic second immunity pin.
MasterChef Australia continues Wednesday June 8, 7:30pm, Network Ten.
Tim Robards and Anna Heinrich know how to holiday in style.
As the couple jetted off on yet another trip this year, they each took to their Instagram accounts to share shots as they went from the airport lounge to First Class seats on the plane.
The couple are en-route to Italy for a holiday of a different kind - catching up with Anna's family for a 60th birthday celebration for her mum, Jude.
'Couldn't be any more EXCITED': Anna Heinrich posted a shot to Instagram on Tuesday as she left Etihad Airways lounge at Sydney Airport before jetting off to Italy with Tim Robards for her mum's 60th birthday
'Couldn't be any more EXCITED. We're coming for you EUROPE,' Anna captioned her shot leaving the Etihad Airways lounge at Sydney Airport.
The 29-year-old added the hash-tags 'Jude's 60th' and 'family holiday', along with details of her outfit.
Meanwhile, Tim excitedly shared a shot of him in his plush leather seat on-board the aircraft, believed to be in First Class given the lounge opposite his reclining chair.
With a champagne flute beside him and his laptop across his legs, Tim captioned the shot: 'Can't complain...Smashing out my #oten marketing assignment before take off!'
'Can't complain': Tim also excitedly shared a shot of him in his plush leather seat on-board the aircraft, believed to be in First Class given the lounge opposite his reclining chair
'Italy here we come!! Anna's Mums 60th yeeeeew! Oh and not to forget @simonjayh turning 30,' he told fans, adding the hash-tag 'young pup' for Simon.
While the couple will not be filming this European holiday for their You Tube show, they will still be sharing plenty of envy-inducing photos across social media.
However, don't expect one of those to be an engagement announcement.
Tim recently admitted that he is not set to get down on one knee during the romantic break, telling OK! Australia magazine last Thursday, 'it would be too cliched'.
Holiday time! The couple are looking forward to a romantic European getaway without cameras following them about, as the couple reveal they won't be recording the trip for their You Tube channel
Last October, Tim spoke about not wanting to propose on holiday when it's most expected and explained he wanted to be able to surprise his girlfriend.
Chatting on The Daily Edition, the reality TV star appeared nervous as he told Sally Obermeder and Tom Williams on the topic of marriage: 'we're definitely getting closer'.
'I've gotta make something that's very left of centre, where she's not expecting it,' he said.
Still going strong: The couple of almost three years have been dogged by break up rumours over the past 12 months but say they are still solid
There was also plenty of speculation early in 2015 that the pair may get engaged after appearing together on the first series of I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here.
While joking on social media that if Anna won the series after getting down to the final week, he would propose on-air, the couple later revealed they had never plan to get engaged on the show.
'Anna said do not propose in the jungle,'Tim told OK! Australia last March.
'I think that would have been the most horrible proposal ever,' Heinrich added.
He is hosting the Tony Awards this Sunday.
So it was no wonder James Corden had to get himself a bit more acquainted with Broadway.
The 37-year-old chat show host was joined by big stars of the stage for the latest edition of his now signature Carpool Karaoke series.
Scroll down for video
In sync: James Corden was joined by Broadway stars Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jane Krakowski, Audra McDonald and Jesse Tyler Ferguson for his latest edition of Carpool Karaoke released on Monday
James was joined by Broadway heavy-hitters Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jane Krakowski, Audra McDonald and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
The fun clip posted on YouTube on Monday began with 36-year-old Miranda seated on the passenger side as he is the creator and star of smash-hit Hamilton.
It begins with Corden telling the talented star: 'Thank you so much for helping me get to the Beacon Theater. I just don't know my way around New York at all.'
Miranda tells the chat show host that it's his pleasure and he is at Corden's service before the comedian asks if it is okay to play some music.
Dynamic duo: The fun clip posted on YouTube on Monday began with 36-year-old Miranda seated on the passenger side as he is the creator and star of smash-hit Hamilton
Spitting hot fire: The 37-year-old chat show host showed off his impressive rapping skills to Alexander Hamilton, which is the opening number of the highly-successful play
Moving up: The two men talked about Miranda's first play In The Heights which won the Tony for Best Musical in 2008 before Miranda opened up about the success of Hamilton
The British star puts on Alexander Hamilton, which is the opening number for the highly-successful play, much to the glee of Miranda.
The American composer and rapper begins the hit song before Corden joins him doing the harmony.
Then Miranda even lets the Into The Woods star have his own verse to perform as he does a very impressive job rapping and keeping up rhythm with the established rhymer.
Tremendous trio: The pair were later joined by Broadway veterans McDonald, Ferguson and Krakowski, as they are pictured from left to right
In the spirit: The singing got so intense that Miranda let his hair down while crooning
Altogether now: Corden then queues up another song as everyone in the car lets out a simultaneous 'aww' when the first few chords of Rent's Seasons Of Love comes on
After the energetic rendition, the two men talked about Miranda's first play In The Heights which won the Tony for Best Musical in 2008.
Miranda moved on to talk about the success of Hamilton and the anticipation of the upcoming award show as he said: 'With this it's just like "oh we get to be in the same building as all our friends from all the other shows." That's the great thing about Broadway is we all work within the same eight blocks.'
They then spot Jane Krakowski, Audra McDonald and Jesse Tyler Ferguson on the side of the road before picking them up.
Shining stars: The fivesome also performed Take My Eyes Off Of You from Jersey Boys
Fin: They hit an emotional and performance high closing out with One Day More from Les Miserables
Corden then queues up another song as everyone in the car lets out a simultaneous 'aww' when the first few chords of Rent's Seasons Of Love comes on.
The funnyman laughs, pauses the music and jokes: 'Hang on, that was the most Broadway response to hearing an opening of a song. Two chords and everyone is just like "aww, you guys!"'
Then then went on to perform Take My Eyes Off Of You from Jersey Boys before hitting an emotional and performance high closing out with One Day More from Les Miserables.
Corden is set to host the Tony Awards this Sunday, June 12 as it airs at 8pm on CBS.
On the red carpet she stunned but in the back alley puffing away she shined for all the wrong reasons.
Kirsten Dunst's need for a cheeky cigarette meant her night of glamour and fashion at the CFDA Awards had to be put in hold on Monday night.
The 34-year-old was spotted skipping some of the awards and nipping into a back alley in New York.
Smoke break: Kirsten Dunst's need for a cheeky cigarette meant her night of glamour and fashion at the CFDA Awards had to be put in hold in New York on Monday night
It was impossible to miss the Virgin Suicides star, as her designer gown glistened against the not-so-red-carpet-like backdrop of the Hammerstein Ballroom's back entrance.
While her Rodarte silver dress and fresh orchid earrings had won top awards for glamour at the front of the venue, her look was certainly tarnished somewhat as she decided to puff away out back.
The blonde sucked back on her cigarette as she chatted away with some male friends in the ballroom's back doorway.
Not with the star was her rumoured new beau, Jesse Plemons, who is also her on-screen husband in Fargo.
Stood out: It was impossible to miss the Virgin Suicides star, as her designer gown glistened against the not-so-red-carpet-like backdrop of the Hammerstein Ballroom's back entrance
Shined bright: The 34-year-old glistened on the red carpet in her custom silver gown and fresh floral earrings
Not the same: While her Rodarte silver dress and fresh orchid earrings had won top awards for glamour at the front of the venue, her look was certainly tarnished somewhat as she decided to puff away out back
It was revealed last month that the pair were more than just co-stars after they were spotted getting very close and cozy around Los Angeles.
The 28-year-old actor was nowhere to be seen at the awards, with Kirsten taking to the carpet solo and heading to her smoke break without him either.
Their romance comes after the actress split with partner of four years, Garrett Headland, in April.
Inhale: The blonde sucked back on her cigarette as she chatted away with some male friends in the ballroom's back doorway
Nothing is forever: Her orchids, which were flown in from Los Angeles that day, were looking a little worse for wear by the end of the night
The actress and the 31-year-old actor shared a home in Los Angeles and Garrett was reportedly close to popping the question.
Kirsten previously dated and lived with Jake Gyllenhaal, but the couple broke up in 2004.
It seems Kirsten's younger co-star was already pretty blown away by the star before things got romantic.
Going solo: Not with the star was her rumoured new beau, Jesse Plemons, who is also her on-screen husband in Fargo
Life imitating art: It was revealed last month that the pair (pictured October) were more than just co-stars after they were spotted getting very close and cozy around Los Angeles
Jesse gushed about starring alongside the actress during a panel interview for the TV series at the 2015 PaleyFest New York in October.
'It was a gift,' he said of working with the Melancholia star.
'I loved Kirstens work for a long time, and I was really excited once I'd met her, and she's a great person, and we're both actors that just have fun with the material.'
She's at the mercy of an early morning alarm to host a breakfast show.
So Sam Frost is easily forgiven for wanting to try and hide the dark circles underneath her eyes when taking a selfie.
But the 26-year-old went against the tide to share a completely natural and make-up free snap to Instagram, saying she was 'just being me.'
Scroll down for video
Natural beauty: Sam Frost took to social media on Tuesday night to share a completely make-up free snap of herself, telling followers she was 'just being me'
With her brunette tresses tied back, except for a few strands framing her face, the former reality star gives a slight smile as she stares into the camera.
Known for her honesty, Sam was open with her followers about how she originally intended to share a more made-up snap.
'I'm not going to lie.. I spent 10 minutes fiddling around, more contrast, more highlight, less shadow, to try and make the dark circles under my eyes not look so harsh,' Sam captioned the picture.
'Then I had the realisation.. that it completely defeats the purpose of posting photos of me, just being me.. So I reverted everything & here's the raw pic.'
Positive body image: It's not the first time Sam has been an advocate for sharing an au naturale selfie, taking to social media less than 12 months ago to encourage fans to 'love yourself.
After recently spending time with her family in Sydney, the beauty added: 'Anddd I'm currently feeling so homesick. Missing my friends & family in Melbourne big time #noplacelikehome.'
It's not the first time Sam has been an advocate for sharing an au naturale selfie, taking to social media less than 12 months ago to encourage fans to 'love yourself.'
'I feel very flattered when young girls comment on my photos or send me DM's about how much they look up to me & they want to be as pretty as me,' the radio star wrote at the time.
'I feel very flattered when young girls comment on my photos or send me DM's about how much they look up to me & they want to be as pretty as me,' the radio star wrote at the time
'What you see in magazines & on TV is the result of hours in the makeup chair with very talented H&MU Artist,' she continued referring to her glamourous red carpet looks
'Which is so lovely and adorable, but this is the every day me... no filter, no edits, dark circles, messy hair, break outs, uneven skin tone. And I wouldn't change anything about myself!
'What you see in magazines & on TV is the result of hours in the makeup chair with very talented H&MU Artist,' she continued.
'I've said it before, but it's what I live by... love yourself, be yourself, exactly the way you are xo,' Sam finished the lengthy post.
It's been an interesting week for the starlet who had to convince her 2DayFM Hit104.1 co-host Rove McManus she was 'not pregnant' after he questioned her about a magazine cover reporting her 'baby shock'.
When the radio host asked why she didn't tell him she was expecting a baby with her boyfriend Sasha Mielczarek, Sam said: 'I'm not bloody pregnant'.
TOWIE stars Georgia Kousoulou and her boyfriend Tommy Mallet appear to be having a wonderful time as they top up their tans in Cancun, Mexico.
Georgia, 24, struggled to contain her curves in a dark green bandeau bikini top as she showed off her impressive figure while walking around the swimming pool.
Her high-waisted briefs gave just a glimpse of her toned tummy as her co-star and handsome beau stayed close by.
Scroll down for video
From TOWIE to Wowee: Reality star Georgia Kousoulou looked incredible as she showed off her figure in a green bikini while in Cancun, Mexico
So much love: Her high-waisted briefs gave just a glimpse of her toned tummy as her co-star and handsome beau Tommy Mallet stayed close to her side
With her blonde locks slicked back with water, Georgia completed her look with a pair of designer shades as she held her face up towards the sun.
Both she and Tommy sipped on colourful cocktails as they sat around in the sunshine, making the most of their time away together.
The couple are staying at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya after Georgia surprised her beau by whisking him away ahead of his 24th birthday this weekend.
Poolside chic: With her blonde locks slicked back with water, Georgia completed her look with a pair of designer shades
Chest enough: The reality star looked incredibly sexy as she swathed her cleavage in the strapless number
Glug! Georgia showed off her perfect pink talons as she cooled down in the pool with her man
It's working well for her: Georgia has been singing the praises of bread in a recent promotional campaign - saying that she eats it as part of a healthy eating regime
A quick adjustment: She grappled with her bikini bottoms as she made sure everything as it should be
This is the life: Georgia appeared to be deep in thought as she dipped her feet in the pool for a solo moment
Well prepared: Her mani and pedi matched perfectly as she was perfectly groomed for the trip
Georgia has been singing the praises of bread in a recent promotional campaign - saying that she eats it as part of a healthy eating regime.
Both the bubbly blonde and her man have defied the odds by making their relationship work and avoiding the 'TOWIE curse'.
And they have vowed to continue their love affair both on and off the screen as they hope to say their vows in a big Greek and Irish-themed wedding.
Thank goodness: Both the bubbly blonde and her man have defied the odds by making their relationship work and avoiding the 'TOWIE curse'
Why not? They have vowed to continue their love affair both on and off the screen as they hope to say their vows in a big Greek and Irish-themed wedding
Cheers to us! The couple treated themselves to a couple of colourful cocktails as they let their hair down
Quick dip: She appeared a little tentative as she lowered herself into the water
Golden girl: The beautiful blonde showed off her long and lean legs and Tommy didn't seem to mind a bit
Shine on me: Georgia held her face up to the sun as she made sure to get a few rays
Despite the fact the pair haven't got engaged yet, they have already begun planning their big day, with Tommy telling OK! all about their ideas.
Well have a big Greek and Irish-themed wedding,' he told the magazine. 'You get to smash plates, do some mad Greek dancing and pin 50 notes on each other!
He added that they'd be involving their TOWIE co-stars in the ceremony, explaining that James Argent had already agreed to sing on the big day.
Wedding ahoy! Despite the fact the pair haven't got engaged yet, they have already begun planning their big day
Tommy previously said: Well have a big Greek and Irish-themed wedding. You get to smash plates, do some mad Greek dancing and pin 50 notes on each other'
Don't look down: The lovely lady checked on her assets as she made her way to her next destination
Sean Astin grew up in Hollywood with the late Patty Duke, his actress mother.
Now, the 45-year-old has reflected on his time as a child star, amid claims of child abuse in Hollywood from his friend and former Goonies co-star, Corey Feldman.
The actor spoke to The Daily Telegraph, in an interview published on Wednesday, and admitted his family were quite protective of him in his younger years and sensed Corey was unhappy but wasn't aware of his issues.
'It has to be a lonely painful experience going through that': Sean Astin (pictured) has spoken about his time as a child star, amid claims of child abuse in Hollywood from his friend and former co-star, Corey Feldman
'I didn't know about sexual abuse with him but you could see that he was suffering and it is a helpless feeling not knowing what one can do to help.
'It has to be a lonely painful experience going through that,' Sean told the publication about his now 44-year-old friend.
Sean made the comments in an interview while promoting his upcoming appearance at Supernova Pop Culture Expo at Sydney Showground next week.
The actor, who played Samwise Gamgee in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, also defended his former co-star Elijah Wood - another child star who spoke out recently on the issue.
'You could see that he was suffering': The former Goonies star said he didn't know what was going on in his friend's life but could tell something wasn't quite right
'It is a helpless feeling': The now 45-year-old actor (right) said he felt helpless not knowing how to help his friend (left), now 44 years of age
The 35-year-old, who played Frodo Baggins in the Peter Jackson directed series, sent shockwaves through the world last month when he was quoted by UK's The Sunday Times saying that child abuse is rife in Tinseltown - and is 'probably still happening'.
However, the actors later took to social media to express he had been miss-quoted in an interview with the publication and was just talking about a documentary he had seen on the issue.
But Sean still praises his former co-star for weighing into the debate, saying:'It is really important to remember that human beings need support so I appreciate that Elijah with such force shared his opinion,
'I am proud of my friend': Sean also referenced his former Lord Of The Rings co-star Elijah Woods for speaking out in support of Corey and other child stars claiming to have suffered abuse
'It kick started a conversation': Even though Elijah claims his comments were taken out of context, Sean says he is happy it got people thinking and talking about the issue
'It kick started a conversation so I am proud of my friend,' he added.
Elijah took to Twitter two weeks ago, posting a statement insisting his words were off-the-cuff comments taken out of context.
Across five tweets, he wrote: 'The Sunday Times interviewed me about my latest film but the story became about something else entirely.
'It prompted a number of false and misleading headlines.
'It prompted misleading headlines': Elijah, best known for playing Frodo Baggins in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, to to Twitter to clarify his comments about child abuse in Hollywood, which were printed in an interview with The Sunday Times last month
'I had just seen a powerful documentary and I briefly spoke with the reporter about the subject which had consequences I did not intend or expect. Lesson learned.
'Let me be clear: This subject of child abuse is an important one that should be discussed and properly investigated.
'But as I made absolutely clear to the writer, I have no first hand experience or observation of the topic, so I cannot speak with any authority beyond articles I have read and films I have seen.'
She has been leaving her social media followers envy of her latest Balinese holiday since touching down at the destination two weeks ago.
And on Tuesday Nikki Phillips was again sharing never-ending snaps from her picture-perfect wedding anniversary getaway.
In one image shared on her official account, the 31-year-old lazed back on a lounge chair while dressed in a black triangle bikini set.
All eyes on her! Model Nikki Phillips lazed back on a lounge chair while dressed in a black triangle bikini set on Tuesday as she continued to share images from her Bali holiday
As she glared out to the waters, she showed off her bikini-ready body as her top tied tightly around her neck.
The model allowed her blonde hair to fall freely beside her face before covering her head with an oversized back hat.
Earlier in the day Nikki uploaded a photo of herself wearing her underwear while she jumped up and down on her hotel bed.
Revealing: Earlier in the day Nikki uploaded a photo of herself wearing her underwear while she jumped up and down on her hotel bed
Classy: Before she stripped down to her bed-wear, Nikki posed up a storm as she dressed in a stunning navy blue off-the-shoulder top which featured white vertical strips
With a large smile displayed across her face, the Myer ambassador flaunted her tanned skin as she dressed in a black and white striped singlet, which she tied up to the side, and a pair of matching hipster undies.
While posing for the camera, she clutched tightly onto a green pillow which she rested over her right shoulder.
She cheekily captioned the photo: 'Happiness is holidays...of and pillow fights'.
Before she stripped down to her bed-wear, Nikki posed up a storm as she dressed in a stunning navy blue off-the-shoulder top which featured white vertical strips.
Perfect match: She paired the stylish garment with a pair of white high waisted flared pants
Summer loving: The day earlier she slipped into a floral mini-dress and sandals as she explored the picture-perfect resort
She paired the stylish garment with a pair of white high waisted flared pants.
Nikki wore her short blonde hair out and parted to the right while she styled the ends with a curl.
She kept her makeup looking natural while adding a touch of colour with a bold red lipstick.
Days earlier she covered her runway ready figure as she slipped into a green floral one-piece swimsuit while chilling by the pool.
In one of the shots she laid flat on the ground while rising her cream hat to the air in a bid to cover her stunning eyes.
Hey there! Days earlier she covered her runway ready figure as she slipped into a green floral one-piece swimsuit while chilling by the pool
Happy times: In the frame she showed off her cleavage through the swimmer's plunging neckline which featured a criss-cross lace up
In the frame she showed off her cleavage through the swimmer's plunging neckline which featured a criss-cross lace up.
She displayed her manicured red nails, which matched her red lips, as she formed the peace sign for camera.
On Friday to add to her growing collection of photos, she shared another one which showed herself relaxing poolside in a black and white bikini.
Flaunt it! On Friday to add to her growing collection of photos, she shared another one which showed herself relaxing poolside in a black and white bikini
Romantic: She and her husband have returned to Bali to celebrate their second anniversary, after getting married in Indonesia in 2014
In one snap, the blonde beauty is posing in the shade of a palm tree, putting her incredible body on display in a skimpy two-piece.
She has a full face of make-up for the poolside photo shoot, sporting a bold red lip and her flawless complexion is on show.
Completing her stylish look, the blonde beauty flashes a bright red manicure as her sun-kissed skin is simply glowing.
Her short blonde locks have been swept to the side in a casual, beachy vibe and she has added the caption: 'You smile, I smile, we all smile'.
'Happiness is being with you': The 31-year-old has been a ball of love since heading to Bali for the romantic getaway
So much love! The loved-up couple have enjoyed being spoiled by their hotel during their getaway together
The surrounding villa and pool appears to be extremely luxurious, presumably being enjoyed by the loved-up couple.
In a second snap shared by the model, she can be seen perched on the edge of a sun lounger, looking out over the picturesque emerald water in the surrounding plunge pool.
And the model seems to be liking her look, sporting the same black and white bikini for the post.
Nikki captioned the photo: 'Villa life continues.. Today's motto: pool, eat, swim and repeat.'
Think pink: Nikki has been flaunting her gym-honed figure in an array of bikinis, including this pink and light blue two-piece
'Every hour is cocktail hour when you're on holiday': The model is clearly enjoying kicking back, donning yet another bikini
The couple have returned to Bali, where they were married two years ago, to celebrate their wedding anniversary in style.
The beauty has kept a busy schedule so far this year, with the blogger and television personality a regular on the social scene as well as keeping up with her runway commitments for Myer.
She also unveiled the official schedule for the upcoming Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia, where she was joined by fellow models Bambi Northwood-Blyth and Megan Irwin, and TV host Carissa Walford, among others.
Floral: Nikki showed off her svelte frame in this red and blue floral bikini, as she posed beneath some cliffs
It appears that Jessica Gomes is always one step ahead of the style stakes.
The 31-year-old model turned actress sported a pair of highly-coveted Gucci kangaroo fur loafers as she enjoyed a stroll through Erewhon Natural Foods market in Los Angeles on Monday.
The David Jones ambassador flaunted her svelte figure in a pair of distressed denim shorts teamed with a white T-shirt as she exited the centre with a coffee and glass bottles filled with a green liquid.
Scroll down for video
Not fur everyone! Jessica Gomes was spotted wearing sold out $995 kangaroo hair Gucci loafers as she stepped out to run errands in Los Angeles on Monday
She added a blue bomber jacket with a white stripe down either arm and a a pair of reflective shades to her off-duty look.
The brunette beauty styled her tresses out and in a centre parting, while opting to go makeup free for the spring time outing.
Jessica's laid back look was completed with the very expensive and highly-coveted kangaroo loafers, which retail at $955.
Other stylish celebrities who've been spotted wearing the cult-status shoe include Sienna Miller and Alexa Chung.
Off duty chic: The David Jones ambassador flaunted her svelte figure in a pair of distressed denim shorts teamed with a simple white T-shirt
Popular shoes: Fellow Australian model Lara Bingle was spotted getting around in the designer shoes on a stroll through New York with her husband Sam Worthington and son Rocket Zot recently
Fellow Australian model Lara Bingle was also seen getting around in the designer must-haves on a stroll through New York with her husband Sam Worthington and son Rocket Zot in April.
More recently, the Perth native has been sharing every moment of her new found acting fame with her 189,000 Instagram followers.
Her most recent upload comes from the set of her film Bastards, and includes the catwalk star fully clothed in a pool with her co-stars Owen Wilson, 47, and Ed Helms, 42, as well their director Lawrence Sher.
Finally it's Friday! Jessica embraces her co-stars Owen Wilson and Ed Helms, and her director Lawrence Sher in a group hug while enjoying a dip in a pool
'You guys are the best': The Perth-born model continued to chase her Hollywood pictured with her co-stars in a post to Instagram
Cheekily embracing each other in a group hug, the water drenched actors showed off their big grins for the camera.
'T G I F// #bastards,' Jessica captioned the picture which she uploaded to her social media.
The Perth native also shared a black-and-white snap of herself alongside her A-list co-stars, while dressed in a white bathroom robe and sandals.
'Thank you': The 31-year-old thanked her director for making her acting dreams a reality
Owen and Ed also looked fresh from the ocean, wrapped up in towels as they celebrated the end of shooting.
She captioned the image: 'Owen & Ed sandwich! You guys are the best. Lots of love to you both'.
Jessica has been modelling for David Jones since early 2013, taking over the Style Ambassador gig from Miranda Kerr.
She made her acting debut earlier this year.
Emilia Clarke is used to playing the sensual - and often naked - Daenerys Targaryen in HBO's hit series Game Of Thrones.
So unleashing her inner temptress for a provocative and very revealing spread in Violet Grey was no huge stretch for the 29-year-old English actress.
Emilia doffed the clothes and posed topless in one sultry black-and-white snap that shows her with arms crossed to protect her modesty while giving the viewer a smoky-eyed gaze over bare shoulder.
Naked ambition: Emilia Clarke doffs the clothes and poses topless for a sultry Violet Grey photo shoot
The ends of her dampened dark hair reached the middle of her shoulder blades, the contours of her back exposed.
Another photo saw Emilia sprawled on the floor in a relaxed, post-party slump, and clad in a Disaya dress with embellished detailing and matching coat tossed upon a nearby chair.
One elbow rested on the plushly upholstered chair cushion as her manicured hand rested on the crown of her head in a sort of luxurious after-party glow.
After-party glow: The 29-year-old Game Of Thrones star unleashes her inner temptress in a gold dress with embellished details while portraying the lady of the manor following what looks like some party
Violet and grey: Emilia dons a plunging J. Mendel gown with sequins for another sultry shot
Subdued beauty: The English actress is pictured leaning against a pillar in the shimmery gown featuring a deep-cut neckline and thigh-high split
A close-up photo displayed Emilia at her most sultry with heavily made-up eyes, darkened brows and a natural pout.
And peeking from beneath an elaborate ring, a small and very real tattoo could be detected.
'Its a bumblebee, which is symbolic to my character in Me Before You. I had the best time working on the film and I wanted to remember it forever,' Emilia said of the distinctive inking.
Buzz off: Emilia levels the viewer with an 'if looks could kill' glance while displaying her distinctive bumble bee tattoo on her finger
Time for a snooze: The 29-year-old exudes glamour even while taking a nap in an inner tube beside the pool
Brunette beauty: Emilia reveals that she once dyed her hair at age 14, saying, 'I thought I would add in some redder highlights... Instead of getting a richer brown I just turned my hair red. I wouldnt do that again'
Emilia delves into her inner vixen for a shot that sees her wearing a plunging J. Mendel midnight-blue sequin gown, her cleavage accessorised with pendant necklaces.
She wore the dress while posing for a black-and-white photo that showed her leaning somewhat forlornly against the post on the front porch.
If the surroundings looked at all familiar it's because the shoot took place at the Beverly Hills estate belonging to Robert Evans, the now larger-than-life producer of such iconic films as Love Story and The Godfather.
At home with a legend: The photo shoot took place at the Beverly Hills home of legendary Hollywood film producer Robert Evans, 85, pictured right
Thinking about... a bath? Emilia gushed about one thing that makes her go weak in the knees, telling Violet Grey, 'Bathtime is a ritual'
Emilia got to meet the now 85-year-old legendary lothario, telling Violet Grey: 'He was quite the charmer. He assured me it wasnt the last time I would be in that house.'
One monochrome frame shows the actress relaxing on the couch with Evans, who is wearing his customary white bathrobe, while another kindly gentleman in waistcoat and tie sits between them holding a bowl of white roses.
The remaining pictures allow Emilia to exude high levels of glamour mixed with sensual undercurrents.
Khaleesi: On HBO's Game Of Thrones, Emilia plays the ultimate Mother Of Dragons, Daenerys Targaryen
In the accompanying interview, the naturally brunette star - who wears a long white-blonde wig in Game Of Thrones - discussed the 'interesting episode at age 14' and only time she ever dyed her locks.
'I thought I would add in some redder highlights and make it richer,' Emilia said, adding: 'Instead of getting a richer brown I just turned my hair red. I wouldnt do that again.'
Like her character on Game Of Thrones, she does enjoy a steamy warm bath from time to time.
'Bathtime is a ritual,' Emilia gushed. 'Youve got to get the right temperature, you must have good bath salts or Epsom salts and dissolve them properly, and you need bath oils to get some scents going. I dont do bubble bath - it makes me feel too much like a kid. I have to soak for at least half an hour.
'If I had time I could be in that bath for three hours, although me having three hours to take a bath is like finding a leprechaun at the end of the rainbow.'
He enjoyed a stratospheric rise to fame with the original Trainspotting.
So it's no huge surprise that Ewan McGregor has reprised his famous role for a sequel to the smash-hit indie film.
The Perth-born star joined by director Danny Boyle, 59, in the Scottish city of Edinburgh where they're busy shooting Trainspotting II in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire.
Scroll down for video
He's back! Ewan McGregor has reprised his famous role for a sequel to the smash-hit indie film Trainspotting
The 45 year-old - who plays Mark 'Rent Boy' Renton in the production - could be seen in the driving seat of a car for his latest scene.
Dressed in costume, which consisted of a long-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of jeans, he sported the trademark shaved head.
Looking intensely as he recited his lines for the cameras, the corresponding story arc was surely a dramatic one.
Action shot: The 45 year-old - who plays Mark 'Rent Boy' Renton in the production - could be seen in the driving seat of a car for his latest scene
Dressed in costume, which consisted of a long-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of jeans, he sported the trademark shaved head
The Perth-born star joined by director Danny Boyle, 59, in the Scottish city of Edinburgh where they're busy shooting Trainspotting II
Moments later Danny, 59, could be seen chatting in front of the car as he discussed technical matters with a member of the production team.
Smiling broadly as he clutched a selection of pages from the script, the stress of the shoot clearly wasn't getting to him.
Then again, perhaps that's because the following scenes revolved around a local pub.
Director Danny takes a break from filming Trainspotting 2 in the Orb pub in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire
Caffeine hit: The veteran director was spotted enjoying a coffee break during the production
Sugar rush: Danny seemed to take all the pressure in his stride as he navigated the set
A selection of extras were drafted in for what appears to be a royal-themed party at a dilapidated boozer called The Orb.
Numerous women were dressed in Union Jack dressed, while others wore corresponding paraphernalia.
Looking seriously tacky, they were clearly designed to look rough for the new film, which is based based on novelist Welsh's follow-up book, Porno.
The more the merrier! Many extras have been seen in party outfits for the scene being filmed inside
Centre of the action: The Orb pub in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, is the current set location for the movie
Numerous women were dressed in Union Jack dressed, while others wore corresponding paraphernalia
Adapted by screenwriter John Hodge,the sequel is set ten years after Trainspotting and sees the characters cross paths again, but with an alternative gritty backdrop of the pornography business, rather than heroin use.
In Porno, Renton owns a nightclub in Amsterdam, Begbie is being released from prison, and Spud is actually trying to kick his drug habit.
Spud also has love woes as his relationship with his partner Alison is strained and he feels like he has become a burden on her.
Creator Welsh is set to appear in the role of Mikey Forrester in the follow-up.
Dressed to impress Ewan? Professional extras were dressed for some serious partying in the new film
Looking seriously tacky, they were clearly designed to look rough for the new film, which is based based on novelist Welsh's follow-up book, Porno
Johnny Depp's daughter Lily-Rose looked happy to be attending her high school prom.
The 17-year-old actress posed with her Yoga Hosers co-star Harley Quinn Smith in an Instagram snap shared on Tuesday by Harley's father, director Kevin Smith.
This comes after a rough month for her family as her father has been accused by his estranged wife Amber Heard of abuse.
A time to celebrate: Johnny Depp's daughter Lily-Rose looked happy to be attending her high school prom
The daughter of Vanessa Paradis looked elegant in a long sleeveless velvet peach dress that looked to have a cobra print in the material.
The star wore her hair parted in the middle and held onto a white iPhone. On her wrist was a flower corsage.
Her friend Harley had on a black sleeveless dress and had in her hand a gold clutch.
With her friends: The daughter of Vanessa Paradis looked elegant in a long sleeveless velvet peach dress that looked to have a cobra print in the material; here she is seen with three pals
Harley's father Kevin said they each had dates.
'Last night, the @yogahosers went to Prom! @harleyquinnnn_ & @lilyrose_depp had dates of course but (ever on guard for thee) they were there strictly to chew bubble gum and squish Bratzis!'
He added: 'And from all reports, they were all out of bubble gum.'
More pals: The Dancer actress was also seen here posing with two friends; she showed off a pretty white flower on her wrist
In late May Lily-Rose posted comments from an LAPD sergeant on her Instagram, who said that police had found 'no evidence of any crime' at the scene of the alleged assault from Heard.
Those comments from LAPD Sgt. Marlon Marrache read: 'A crime did not occur so the officers left the scene and left a business card.'
Johnny and Amber split in May after a brief marriage. Shortly after the Rumy Diary beauty alleged that Depp had hit her.
Her Pa: The teen with her father Johnny at Narita International airport in Japan in July 2013
Lily-Rose had posted another message of support, saying: 'My dad is the sweetest most loving person I know, he's been nothing but a wonderful father to my little brother and I, and everyone who knows him would say the same.'
To accompany her message, she posted a touching photograph of herself as a toddler holding hands with a youthful-looking Johnny.
The Chanel model is the eldest of Depp's two children with French actress Paradis.
Mama: Lily posing with mom Vanessa Paradis at the Chanel show as part of the Paris Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2016 in October
Her mother Vanessa also defended Johnny in a note, obtained by TMZ, where she insisted the actor is 'sensitive and loving' and dismissed the domestic violence claims.
The French actress, who is also mother to Depp's 14-year-old son Jack, 14, branded Heard's claims 'outrageous'.
She continued: 'In all the years I have known Johnny, he has never been physically abusive with me and this looks nothing like the man I lived with for 14 wonderful years.'
They've been close to getting thrown out of nightclubs for bad behaviour - but the cast of Geordie Shore were banned from a whole municipality this week for insufficient licensing.
The debauched cast of Newcastle lads and lasses have reportedly been forced to move on from filming in Calvia, Mallorca because MTV have failed to provide paperwork to continue.
Without the documentation, producers could be forced to abandon hours of existing content for the Series 13 overseas special - including a dramatic meltdown from veteran star Holly Hagan.
Scroll down for video
On your way: The cast of Geordie Shore (picture here in Magaluf, Spain) on Monday morning have reportedly been asked to move on because they do not have the correct license to film
According to Cronica Balear, The City Council of Calvia has denied Lime Pictures the license to film in the city the British show and they have informed them of the refusal but also reiterated that they do not have the proper authorisations.
The council considers the filming to be 'an illegal activity' and will therefore prohibit both production and broadcast of the program.
In the statement, the council 'will be very vigilant with requests for records that do not comply with the established rules.'
This program in particular has been deemed a program that 'promote(s) a skewed image of the municipality.'
Calvia council says it has not given permission because of the image of Magaluf that might be portrayed in the reality show.
The council pledges to continue its vigilance against anything not in the public or economic interest of the area.
See more Geordie Shore news as the cast is thrown out of Mallorca town
Breakdown: Included in the content at risk is Holly Hagan's dramatic meltdown over 'the love of her life'
Kicking off: The blonde went into a vicious attack with her co-stars over her love life
MailOnline has contacted a representative for MTV for comment.
The gang - which includes noteworthy stars Chloe Ferry, Holly Hagan and Gaz Beadle - arrived in Spain for filming on Sunday.
They captured their first night out in Magaluf on Monday night, which continued into the early hours of Tuesday and featured a predictably high level of drama.
Fans of the show may never get to see the moment that Holly has a melt down over a Geordie Shore co-star 's****ing her ex' on the night out.
Pictures of the stunner looking distressed and intoxicated emerged on Tuesday morning, though the restrictions, which have only just come to light, could prohibit the content from ever being making screens the UK.
Calvia council says it won't be changing its mind and intends to hold a press conference on Wednesday to fully explain its reasons.
Skewed image: The council is concerned that filming will skew an image of the municipality
In the meantime, it has issued a statement which says: 'Calvia council informs it has REFUSED permission for filming in the municipality of Calvia to Lime Pictures.'
'Calvia council has learned through reports in some British media about the arrival of a team to record a programme (Geordie Shore) that does not have the authorisation of the council.'
'On May 25th, the council was presented with two filming permits by the producer Lime Pictures for shooting a television programme on MTV whose content is based on the interaction of a group of contestants.
'After analysing the petition, the authorisation was refused. That refusal has been notified to the petitioner and given to him on June 3rd.'
Tourism chiefs, business leaders and the Mayor, Alfonso Rodriguez Bada say they will explain in more detail on Wednesday.
An update on Wednesday found that council chiefs in Magaluf won the support of business owners to stop the Geordie Shore cast filming in private venues including bars and nightclubs.
Town hall bosses said they would use police to make sure a public filming ban in the party resort was obeyed.
But they also said they had secured the backing of local entrepreneurs who were being used so the producers of the show could get round the knock back.
Calvia mayor Alfonso Rodriguez spoke out after calling an emergency meeting between representatives of Calvia town hall which covers Magaluf, the regional Balearic Islands government and the Magaluf Hotels Association as well as nightclub, bar and cafe owners in the area.
He said afterwards: 'We are all saying the same thing which is 'no' to these types of shows which damage the image of our resort.
'Our resort is a resort of quality which caters for families, adults and young people, but young people acting in a controlled way.
'It's quite clear that the handbrake we put on certain types of excessive behaviour last year is not going to be released.
'The agreement today/yesterday (WED) has been unanimous. The resort is saying 'no.' That's why we held today's meeting.
'We have tools at our disposal to make sure they don't film in public spaces and what we needed was the resort to say 'no' to filming taking place in private spaces.
'That's the compromise we obtained today/yesterday (WED), that they're not going to let them film in private spaces.
'It's no good these people telling the places where they want to film, 'You're going to gain fame out of this.'
'The final objective has to be very clear which is that we want a quality resort. The possibility that this or that place is going to be used for filming is going to be prevented.
'The police are going to be on top of them. We are going to be in constant contact with the different places where they're aiming to film.'
She acquired her own fan base during her failed relationship with Geordie Shore star Gaz Beadle earlier this year.
And Lillie Lexie Gregg will no doubt send her male admirers swooning after posing for a series of sexy snaps as part of her upcoming calendar.
The 25-year-old fashion designer shows off her incredible physique as she strips down to a number of sultry swimsuits for the steamy shoot.
Scroll down for video
Sizzling! She acquired her own fan base during her failed relationship with Geordie Shore star Gaz Beadle earlier this year and Lillie Lexie Gregg will no doubt send her male admirers swooning after posing for a series of sexy snaps as part of her upcoming calendar
The model puts her lean legs on full display as she poses in a green swimsuit, her arms stretched out seductively against the doorway of a run-down hut.
The neon hue is perfect for showcasing Lillie's bronzed skin, as are her blonde locks which cascade down one side of her face in soft, beach-style waves.
Another snap sees Lillie flaunt her peachy posterior as she leans against a branch and exposes her pert derriere in a white thong, though she keeps things a little demure by pairing the briefs with a denim jacket.
Toned: The 25-year-old fashion designer shows off her incredible physique as she strips down to a number of sultry swimsuits for the steamy shoot
Sultry: Another racy look sees Lillie flaunt her toned torso in a cut-out beige bikini that is adorned with contrasting pink straps across the stomach
Another racy look sees Lillie flaunt her toned torso in a cut-out beige bikini that is adorned with contrasting pink straps across the stomach.
But while the looks are revealing, they are no match for the sheer white beachwear she sizzles in, which, despite their delicate lace fabric, are without doubt the raciest styles of all as she shuns her bikini top in favour of showing her bare breasts.
Proving there is no beach-ready look she can't own, one provocative look sees Lillie go for a more androgynous style in acid wash denim cut-offs and a red bralet by Calvin Klein.
Peek a boo! Lillie shuns her bikini top in favour of showing her bare breasts in one sheer look
Meanwhile, it's believed that Lillie has found love with Ex On The Beach star Stephen Bear.
While rumours that the two are dating have been swirling around since early May, the duo appeared to confirm they were an item at Amy Child's clothing launch on Monday evening, where they were pictured holding hands on the red carpet.
It's been claimed Lillie and Bear - whose ex-girlfriend is Vicky Pattison - met while filming the fifth series of EOTB in Thailand.
One of the boys: Proving there is no beach-ready look she can't own, one provocative look sees Lillie go for a more androgynous style in acid wash denim cut-offs and a red bralet by Calvin Klein
Hollywood actress Theresa Saldana has died at the age of 61.
The star, who had a role opposite Robert De Niro in Raging Bull, passed away at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Monday after suffering an 'unknown illness,' according to TMZ.
The dark-haired New York native also starred on TV's The Commish and had a promising career before she was nearly stabbed to death by a deranged fan in 1982. The encounter was the plot for the TV movie Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story.
Gone too soon: Hollywood actress Theresa Saldana has died at the age of 61, according to TMZ; here she is seen in 1984
On the 1990s police show The Commish Theresa played Rachel Scali, the commissioner's wife.
She received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, in 1994 for her part.
Major film roles include the part of Lenore La Motta, the wife of Joe Pesci's character, in the 1980 feature film Raging Bull.
A classic: Major film roles include the part of Lenore La Motta, the wife of Joe Pesci's character, in the 1980 feature film Raging Bull
On set: The actress with Robert De Niro in Raging Bull
And she also stood out in Robert Zemeckis's Beatle-mania ensemble I Wanna Hold Your Hand.
She also appeared in Home Movies with Kirk Douglas and Nancy Allen for director Brian De Palma in 1980.
On March 15, 1982, Saldana was the stalking victim of Arthur Richard Jackson, a 46-year-old drifter from Aberdeen, Scotland.
A TV hit: On the 1990s police show The Commish Theresa played Rachel Scali, the commissioner's wife; here she is seen with Michael Chiklis
Early years: The New York native with Jan-Michael Vincent in 1980's Defiance
A kiss: The star with David Proval in a scene from the film Nunzio in 1978
He became obsessed with her after seeing the star in the 1980 films Defiance and Raging Bull.
Jackson went to her West Hollywood house and stabbed her in the torso 10 times with a 5-inch (14 cm) knife, nearly killing her.
His attack was so fierce that the blade bent.
On the town: Theresa and Peter Outerbridge at the Time Shifters premiere in Los Angeles in 1999
Many onlookers watched and only a delivery man stepped in.
The star was in the hospital for four months and went on to make Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story.
Jackson served almost 14 years in prison for the assault and making subsequent threats against Saldana and her rescuer while in prison. He died of heart failure in 2004 at age 68.
She stopped acting in 2004.
Big Brother is back and it's more sinister and more beautiful than ever before.
This year's series, which host Emma Willis describes as a 'new game, with new rules,' opened its doors to quirky twins Emma and Victoria Jensen, 30, and former The Valley's star Lateysha Grace.
Second in, were identical siblings Emma and Victoria who hail from Essex and describe themselves as 'really enthusiastic and positive energy bringers' who 'love colour and nature and animals'.
Scroll down for video
This year's series, which host Emma Willis describes as a 'new game, with new rules,' opened its doors to quirky twins Emma and Victoria Jensen, 30, and former The Valley's star Lateysha Grace
And the girls' free-spirits were certainly evident through their choice of attire as they made their way into the house in leopard print catsuits that boasted love hearts on the derriere.
But they weren't the only girls guaranteed to raise eyebrows as Welsh beauty Lateysha also made sure her entrance was one to remember.
Describing herself as a 'stunning, b***h, diva, stunning,' the outspoken star warned that she is scared of 'no one apart from my mum' before adding: 'Everyone fancies me.'
The first to enter the famous compound was Marco Pierre White Jr., son of celebrity British chef of the same name.
Second in, were identical siblings Emma and Victoria who hail from Essex and describe themselves as 'really enthusiastic and positive energy bringers' who 'love colour and nature and animals'
Welsh beauty Lateysha also made sure her entrance was one to remember
In his opening VT, 20-year-old party boy boasted that there is 'no sleeping when I'm around' as he went on to describe his his 'crazy life' that comprises of 'hotel parties' and finding people in his house four weeks after they have ended.
But it isn't all fun and games as Marco goes on to warn that he can get 'pretty f**king angry' and even promises host Emma that it'll 'kick off' at some point during his time in the house.
Third in was journalist Andy West, best known for speaking out against Tyson Fury's controversial remarks on gay relationships.
And the girls' free-spirits were certainly evident through their choice of attire as they made their way into the house in leopard print catsuits that boasted love hearts on the derriere
The girls work as international DJS, dancers and models
The first to enter the famous compound was Marco Pierre White Jr., son of celebrity British chef of the same name
In his opening VT, 20-year-old party boy boasted that there is 'no sleeping when I'm around' as he went on to describe his his 'crazy life' that comprises of endless 'hotel parties'
But it isn't all fun and games as Marco goes on to warn that he can get 'pretty f**king angry' and even promises host Emma that it'll 'kick off' at some point during his time in the house
The youngster quickly became acquainted with DJ twins Emma and Victoria
Laura Carter, 30, who has enjoyed trysts with big names including Calum Best, Craig David and Justin Bieber, described herself as a 'housewife turned absolute baller'
Her comments didn't go down too well with the crowd however, who boo the red-head before chanting 'Off, off, off'
Speaking about his decision to go into the house, he said: 'I stopped being a journalist a short while ago in weird circumstances and I thought this was a nice chance to show that journalists have personalities and are nice people. We get a lot of stick sometimes.'
Beautiful people certainly aren't in short supply in the new series, especially when 20-year-old nightclub hostess Evelyn Ellis enters the compound.
'Ever since I was three years old Ive been in trouble," said the Sydney native, who suffers from 'chronic b**** face'.
Third in was journalist Andy West, best known for speaking out against Tyson Fury's controversial remarks on gay relationships
Speaking about his decision to enter the house, he said: 'I thought this was a nice chance to show that journalists have personalities and are nice people'
Beautiful people certainly aren't in short supply in the new series, especially when 20-year-old nightclub hostess Evelyn Ellis enters the compound
'Ever since I was three years old Ive been in trouble," said the Sydney native, who suffers from 'chronic b**** face'
Laura Carter, 30, who has enjoyed trysts with big names including Calum Best, Craig David and Justin Bieber, described herself as a 'housewife turned absolute baller' and added that if she weere to walk into a room she 'knows she could have absolutely any guy in there'.
Her comments didn't go down too well with the crowd however, who boo the red-head before chanting 'Off, off, off'.
Housemate Georgina Leigh Cantwell, 26, who hails from Kent and has been known to rely on her parents for financial support, enjoyed a life in New York before returning to the UK because she missed 'show-jumping'.
While some housemates remained coy about the possibility of finding love in the house, 45-year-old property developer and part-time stunt double Jason Burrill isn't one of them.
Despite his tough exterior, the salon owner insisted he was a soft really and even owned up to having a pet shitzu before revealing that he would be open to romance in the famous compound.
Other housemates bound to get female viewers a little hot under the collar included Alex Cannon, who is best known for being close friends with Geordie Shore's Vicky Pattison.
Describing his lifestyle, Alex boasted: 'I only really go out twice a week - one's for three days and one's for four days'.
Housemate Georgina Leigh Cantwell, 26, who hails from Kent and has been known to rely on her parents for financial support, enjoyed a life in New York before returning to the UK because she missed 'show-jumping'
Georgina pulled out all of the stops in a peacock printed gown that showcased her incredibly taut waist
On his love life, the model, who even has host Emma gush that she is 'blushing' added: 'As far as ex girlfriends go I've only ever had one and we ended amicably and she's hanging out with a poor man's version of me.'
Self-professed 'anti-man' Jackson Blyton is sure to send the ladies swooning with his dashing good looks and irresistible charm.
Describing himself in his VT, he revealed: 'I'm a proper council kid. Cuppa tea and a fag in the morning.'
But don't confuse his smooth nature with that of a lothario as he claims he 'puts women on a pedestal'.
But his modesty wasn't matched by Sam Giffen, who says he is often referred to as the 'hottest man in Blackburn'.
Other housemates bound to get female viewers a little hot under the collar included Alex Cannon, who is best known for being close friends with Geordie Shore's Vicky Pattison
Describing his lifestyle, Alex boasted: 'I only really go out twice a week - one's for three days and one's for four days'
On his love life, the model, who even has host Emma gush that she is 'blushing' added: 'As far as ex girlfriends go I've only ever had one and we ended amicably and she's hanging out with a poor man's version of me'
Last in was Chelsea Singh, 48, who described himself says he 'loves to party and have a sexy girl with him'.
Meanwhile, Tuesday night's launch saw Emma reveal that for the first time in Big Brother's 16-year history, there will be two houses located only a few meters away.
In The Other House, The Others will be conspiring to target the housemates as they attempt to steal their place in the Big Brother House; and secure a chance of winning the 100,000 prize fund, whilst the housemates will have no knowledge of their neighbours.
However, neither group will be aware that some of the housemates and the others are connected in ways that Big Brother will use to manipulate the houses.
Self-professed 'anti-man' Jackson Blyton is sure to send the ladies swooning with his dashing good looks and irresistible charm
While some housemates remained coy about the possibility of finding love in the house, 45-year-old property developer and part-time stunt double Jason Burrill isn't one of them
Despite his tough exterior, the salon owner insisted he was a soft really and even owned up to having a pet shitzu before revealing that he would be open to romance in the famous compound
Last in was Chelsea Singh, 48, who described himself says he 'loves to party and have a sexy girl with him'
Speaking about the new series previously, Emma gushed: 'There are going to be some quite game changing twists and changes to the series this summer that we have never seen before
'As a massive Big Brother fan that really makes me feel excited for whats about to come.'
And it wasn't long before the twists started to unravel as wannabe housemates, who consist of American kickboxing champion Andrew Tate, 29, stripper Charlie Doherty, 31, bi-sexual traveller Hughie Maughan, 21, private investigator Jayne Connery, 49, former high-class dominatrix Natalie Rowe, 53, and former X Factor contestant Ryan Ruckledge, 24, exerted their power.
Forced to target their first housemate, the unsuspecting contestants were asked to stand behind one of 12 podiums that was brandished with a trait that best suited them, with options ranging from game-player to sexy, and it was bad news for model Laura who chose the latter.
But it wasn't long before The Others exerted their power and manipulated the housemates in the hopes of stealing a spot for themselves
Forced to target their first housemate, the unsuspecting contestants were asked to stand behind one of 12 podiums that was brandished with a trait that best suited them
It was bad news for model Laura who was the first to be targeted after describing herself as 'sexy'
When The Others are asked to to select a housemate behind a podium, keeping mind they have no clue who stands behind each, they opt to choose the contestant occupying sex with their logic being that they are 'stupid' to be vain enough to label themselves that in the first place.
Laura was then ordered to stand on the target in the middle of the garden, where she was told she was up for nomination on Friday and things only got worse when she was asked to choose a housemate to join her.
'I'm really sorry but I'm gonna say Lateysha because I haven't spoken to you as much as I've spoken to everybody else,' she told the former Valleys star, who, despite her fiery temper, took it surprisingly well.
Laura was then ordered to stand on the target in the middle of the garden, where she was told she was up for nomination on Friday and things only got worse when she was asked to choose a housemate to join her
'I'm really sorry but I'm gonna say Lateysha because I haven't spoken to you as much as I've spoken to everybody else,' she told the former Valleys star
'It's fine,' she responded with a smile.
But in a house where twists and turns are aplenty, it's possible not all is as it seems as Emma cryptically told the public that there may be time for another twist before the contestants face the public vote.
Closing the show, she pronounced somewhat enigmatically: 'Brand new Big Brother is back on,' before revealing that The Others would be in for a shock of their own during tomorrow's episode as they encounter the housemates for the first time, some of whom will be blasts from the pasts - where it appears they would rather leave them.
Despite being famed for her fiery temper, Lateysha took it surprisingly well and smiled: 'It's fine'
LATEYSHA GRACE HOUSEMATE: Age: 23 Job: Not known Location: Wales Relationship status: Single Lateysha is a former reality TV star who starred on MTV series The Valleys. The outspoken brunette became a mother in September to seven-month-old daughter Wynter. Her daughter already has her own Instagram account. Advertisement
EMMA & VICTORIA JENSEN HOUSEMATE: Age: 30 Job: International DJs, models and dancers Location: Essex Relationship status: Emma has Rekindled her relationship with her ex-boyfriend and Victoria is in a relationship Together, Emma and her twin sister Victoria form one Housemate Victoria (on the left) is single and has a degree in Fashion. She is teetotal, and a strict vegan Advertisement
EVELYN ELLIS HOUSEMATE: Age: 20 Job: Nightcub hostess Location: London Relationship status: Single Evelyn is from Sydney, Australia. She describes herself as the most indecisive person you would have ever met. Evelyn has admitted that she suffers from 'chronic bitch face' and so comes across as intimidating and stuck up Advertisement
SAM GIFFEN HOUSEMATE: Age: 23 Job: Hairstylist and model Location: Lytham Relationship status: Single Sam got into college however he left after three months and started modelling and working Sam states that he had always been single until January 2015 when he met his first boyfriend. They split after a year due to the long-distance involved Advertisement
LAURA CARTER HOUSEMATE: Age: 30 Job: Model, dancer and club hostess Location: London Relationship status: Single Laura claims to have had liaisons with a string of celebrities including Craig David, Calum Best and Justin Bieber. Laura states she comes across as butter wouldnt melt but in reality she is a hot, sultry, red head who would use her sex appeal to get her own way. Advertisement
JACKSON BLYTON HOUSEMATE: Age: 24 Job: Model and works for his stepdads company Location: Nottingham Relationship status: Single Jackson modelled since he was 17 after being discovered by a scout on the high street. Jackson was a gifted athlete at school. Advertisement
MARCO PIERRE WHITE JR. HOUSEMATE: Age: 21 Job: Model Location: London Relationship status: Engaged Marco is the son and middle child of celebrity chef Marco Pierre White. The party boy states that he has grown up with an extravagant Champagne life style filled with 'hotel parties'. Advertisement
GEORGINA LEIGH CANTWELL HOUSEMATE: Age: 26 Job: Unemployed Location: Kent Relationship status: Single Georgina attended the prestigious Parsons School of Design in New York City. Georgina prides herself on her brutal honesty and says she has a fiery attitude towards others. Advertisement
ALEX CANNON HOUSEMATE: Age: 27 Job: Model and personal trainer Location: Liverpool Relationship status: Single Alex is a commercial model and has featured in campaigns for Mens Health, Mens Fitness & Adidas. You may also recognise him from MTV series Judge Geordie, in which he was Vicky Pattisons driver and sidekick. Advertisement
CHELSEA SINGH HOUSEMATE: Age: 48 Job: Self-made millionaire entrepreneur Location: Chelsea, London Relationship status: Single Chelsea lives a lavish lifestyle. He owns a Bentley and has installed a cinema room in his house. Chelsea owns properties in Chelsea, Windsor, Erith, Sweden & Tenerife. He keeps himself extremely busy with a range of different business ventures. Advertisement
JASON BURRILL HOUSEMATE: Age: 45 Job: Property developer and salon owner Location: Brighton Relationship status: Single Jason is currently single and and is not opposed to the idea of finding it in the house. Jason has dabbled in the movie business, acting as a body double in a few films. He body doubled for Dave Bautista in Spectre and Guardians of the Galaxy. Advertisement
ANDY WEST HOUSEMATE: Age: 34 Job: Outspoken ex-BBC journalist Location: Milton Keynes Relationship status: In a relationship Andy gained public attention in 2015 when he made a YouTube video and tweeted about being 'ashamed to work for the BBC' for nominating 'homophobic and misogynistic' Tyson Fury for Sports Personality of the Year award Advertisement
NATALIE ROWE THE OTHERS: Age: 53 Job: Not known Location: London Relationship status: Single Natalie claims to have supplied prostitutes to wealthy clients. She states she operated the Black Beauties escort agency and worked under the name 'Miss Whiplash' or 'Mistress Pain.' Claims her clients included 'high-flying Tory politicians, City bankers, judges and A-listers.' Advertisement
ANDREW TATE THE OTHERS: Age: 29 Job: Four time world kickboxing champion Location: USA/London Relationship status: Girlfriend of 3 years Andrew is a member of Mensa. Andrew is a four time World Class Kickboxing Champion. His brother - who Andrew claims - is his only true friend, trains him. Andrew believes that a man should be able to sleep with as many women as he wants to but that does not apply to women. Advertisement
JAYNE CONNERY THE OTHERS: Age: 49 Job: Private investigator, own business Location: Buckinghamshire Relationship status: Single Jayne worked as a journalist and interviewed many celebrities including Dustin Hoffman, Joan Collins and Dolly Parton. Jayne is a former glamour girl who claims to have had a fair share of flings with celebrities. Advertisement
CHARLIE DOHERTY THE OTHERS: Age: 31 Job: Dancer and entertainer Location: Folkestone Relationship status: Single Charlie is a stripper who attended a strict Catholic school. Charlie has admitted that she is a bit of a serial cheat and has been unfaithful in the majority of her past relationships. Advertisement
RYAN RUCKLEDGE THE OTHERS: Age: 24 Job: Energy broker Location: Blackpool Relationship status: Single Ryan admits he loves to get tanning injections, he has them three times a week and sunbeds six times a week. Ryan was described by Simon Cowell as a horror of a human being after appearing on The X Factor in 2015. Advertisement
Her baby is having a baby so it is no wonder this grandmother-to-be has made the trip over to New York.
Candice Swanepoel and mom Eileen enjoyed a ladies' lunch in Manhattan on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old model was pregnancy perfection in a spring-inspired floral maxi dress, which celebrated her blooming physique.
Mother daughter time: Candice Swanepoel and mom Eileen enjoyed a ladies' lunch in Manhattan on Tuesday
For her lunch with her mom, the blonde beauty showed off her growing bump in a long cream dress with delicate blue leaves and flowers over it.
While she may be expecting, Candice is not afraid to be a little sexy at the same time, showing off side boob in the low cut spaghetti-strapped dress.
Going with her spring has sprung theme, the catwalk star wore a pair of nude plastic T-bar sandals with butterflies on them.
Candice further accessorized her look with a pair of aviator sunglasses and a green alligator hide purse.
Seasonally stylish: For her lunch with her mom, the blonde beauty showed off her growing bump in a long cream dress with delicate blue leaves and flowers over it
Perfect addition: Going with her spring has sprung theme, the catwalk star wore a pair of nude plastic T-bar sandals with butterflies on them
Her mom also embraced the warmer weather and floral patterns wearing a blue and fawn flower print dress.
While the Victoria's Secret star's mother is from South Africa, with her daughter expecting her first child, looks like Eileen plans to spend as much time in the US as possible.
Eileen still has some time to wait until her grandbaby arrives, with the model not due until late autumn.
Mother like daughter: Her mom also embraced the warmer weather and floral patterns wearing a blue and fawn flower print dress
Eileen can start stockpiling presents and cute clothing for the little baby, as they already know what the model is expecting.
The model revealed previously that she is expecting a little boy with her fiance, Brazilian male model, Hermann Nicoli, 33.
The supermodel and Hermann met in Paris when she was only 17 and the couple got engaged last August.
Clinton said to clinch Democratic nomination, but won't cry victory
Hillary Clinton captured the Democratic White House nomination hours before Tuesday's last major primaries of 2016, according to US delegate counts, taking a monumental step toward becoming America's first female commander-in-chief.
Passing the milestone of 2,383 delegates secures Clinton's status as the presumptive nominee, and marks a dramatic political resurgence for a highly experienced but controversial candidate who lost to Barack Obama in their 2008 battle to be the Democratic standard-bearer.
This time the 68-year-old former secretary of state survived an extraordinarily strong grassroots campaign by her party rival Bernie Sanders and is set to go head-to-head with Republican real estate tycoon Donald Trump in an unprecedented showdown for the White House.
Hillary Clinton speaks to supporters on the last day of campaigning in California on June 6, 2016 in Lynwood Frederic J Brown (AFP)
But Sanders was not ready to capitulate, insisting the Democratic nominee will not be chosen until delegates vote at the party's national convention in late July.
And while her campaign acknowledged as "an important milestone" the US network tallies that pushed her beyond the magic number, Clinton said the Democratic race was not yet over.
"We are on the brink of a historic, historic, unprecedented moment," she told a rally in Long Beach, California.
"But we still have work to do, don't we?" she said, referring to Tuesday's primaries in California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota.
"We have six elections tomorrow and are going to fight hard for every single vote, especially right here in California."
The capital Washington rounds out the nominating contests when it votes on June 14.
Clinton mounted a hectic campaign push in California, keen to finish strong and end any argument for Sanders to remain in the race, as he has pledged to do until the Democratic convention.
"It's not over until it's over," Clinton told reporters at a community center in Compton, near Los Angeles, as she pleaded for supporters to vote Tuesday.
- Rush to judgment? -
Nancy Worley, chair of Alabama's Democratic Party, is one of the so-called super-delegates -- current and former elected officials and political activists who are not bound to vote for a specific candidate -- who in a last-minute flurry pushed Clinton over the threshold.
She explained how she had yet to commit to a candidate until Monday, when she received phone calls from three US news outlets.
"If the popular vote is overwhelming and the delegates are very much in her camp, in my opinion, it's kind of crazy not to unify the party and move forward to defeat Donald Trump," Worley told AFP, noting how Democrats in her state chose Clinton by a wide margin.
Clinton edged to the brink of the nomination Sunday when she won the US territory of Puerto Rico.
She reportedly surpassed the threshold Monday after a number of super-delegates committed to back her candidacy.
The Sanders campaign called it "a rush to judgment."
Clinton will be dependent on super-delegates "who do not vote until July 25 and who can change their minds between now and then," Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said in a statement.
Clinton noted Monday that she has earned three million more votes than Sanders and is well ahead in the pledged delegate count.
But Sanders has long argued the system is tilted against him, with hundreds of super-delegates aligning with Clinton before he even entered the race last year.
Sanders, looking for big victories Tuesday, contends he will use the coming weeks to try and flip many of Clinton's super-delegates in his favor.
- 'Have to be unified' -
Clinton has been a polarizing figure over her three decades in the public eye, and lingering scandals include her use of a private email account while serving as secretary of state.
Questions about her transparency and honesty have pushed up her unfavorability numbers, which rival Trump's.
On Monday she vowed to "do everything I can to unify the Democratic Party," saying she would reach out to Sanders.
"We have to be unified going into and out of the convention to take on Donald Trump and to repudiate the kind of campaign he's running."
Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee last month.
But the provocative billionaire has stirred controversy since then, including belligerent attacks on a judge presiding over a case against the Trump University real estate program.
Trump has claimed the judge, Gonzalo Curiel, is a "Mexican" who is biased against him because of Trump's call to build a wall on the border with Mexico.
Curiel was born in the US state of Indiana to Mexican parents.
Trump's position triggered stinging criticism from fellow Republicans accusing him of racism, highlighting the potential challenge in unifying Republicans behind such a polarizing figure in the general election.
Clinton joined in the Trump-bashing, telling supporters at a rally in southern Los Angeles that "we need to stop this divisiveness, this bullying and bigotry."
At a family-owned burger joint in Watts, a man praised Clinton for her recent denunciation of Trump as "temperamentally unfit" to be commander in chief.
"I'm gonna go after him all the time," she told the man. "All the time."
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders addresses a rally on June 5, 2016 in San Diego, California Bill Wechter (AFP)
Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders cheer during a rally on June 5, 2016 in San Diego, California Bill Wechter (AFP)
Story of Sydney Opera House to hit the big screen
The story behind the Sydney Opera House and its Danish architect Jorn Utzon is to be made into a movie, with the Swedish producer behind "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" on board.
The Danish/Swedish/Australian production will tell the story of how Utzon upset the conservative Australian architectural establishment by winning an international competition to design the building and his battles to push through his radical ideas.
"Utzon was a great Danish architect and the story of how he created the Sydney Opera is both fascinating and scary. This story has to be told," said executive producer Ole Sondberg in a statement late Monday.
Danish architect Jorn Utzon never returned to see his revolutionary concept for the Sydney Opera House completed as a finished building, and he died in 2008 William West (AFP)
Sondberg is best known for producing "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and the "Millennium-trilogy" based on Stieg Larsson's novels. He was also behind the popular "Wallander" television series.
Utzon arrived in Sydney as a celebrity in 1957 but his ambitious design, with the building's distinctive white sails drawn from his childhood in the Aalborg shipyards, was hit by domestic politics, petty jealousies and budget constraints.
The controversies that dogged him and the project for years saw him quit in 1966.
He never returned to see his revolutionary concept as a finished building, which was opened in 1973 by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, and he died in 2008.
A year before his death, the harbourside building was added to the World Heritage List, with the committee saying the structure "stands by itself as one of the indisputable masterpieces of human creativity, not only in the 20th century but in the history of humankind."
"We have a world wonder. We have its creator who wasn't allowed to see his dream fulfilled," said Swedish-Australian producer Jan Marnell.
"We have creativity versus bureaucracy and political manoeuvring ranging from friend to foe. We have an outstanding architect with streaks of megalomania and genius, and his vengeful opponents who plot to get him out of the country.
"It has all it takes for the big screen."
No details were given on when "Utzon: The Man Behind the Opera House" would begin filming.
Sanders campaign: No Democratic nominee until July convention
Bernie Sanders has insisted that his rival Hillary Clinton has not yet clinched the Democratic nomination as US media has projected, saying unbound superdelegates cannot vote until the party's national convention in July.
"It is unfortunate that the media, in a rush to judgement, are ignoring the Democratic National Committee's clear statement that it is wrong to count the votes of superdelegates before they actually vote at the convention this summer," Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said in a statement.
Clinton "does not have and will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to secure the nomination," he added, saying that Sanders will seek to "convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump."
Playboy Mansion sold to Twinkies chief
The Playboy Mansion, the legendary party house where Hollywood's elite cavorted with scantily-clad "bunnies," is being sold to the billionaire Twinkies owner who lives next door, a spokesman said Monday.
Hugh Hefner, the 90-year-old owner of the Holmby Hills estate in southern California and founder of Playboy Magazine, will be permitted to continue living there for the rest of his life.
The buyer is Daren Metropoulos, a 32-year-old business tycoon who lives on the property next door to the mansion, which he bought from Hefner in 2009 for $18 million.
Despite the sale of the Playboy Mansion to billionaire Twinkies owner Daren Metropoulos, Hugh Hefner, 90, will continue living in the Holmby Hills estate for the rest of his life Frederic J Brown (AFP/File)
"We can confirm that the Playboy Mansion is in escrow with Daren Metropoulos as the buyer," a Playboy spokesman told AFP.
"Due to confidentiality restrictions, we are not able to comment on any specifics, including what contingencies need to be cleared to close the sale."
Metropoulos is a principal at private-equity firm Metropoulos and Co., which co-owns Hostess Brands, the maker of Twinkies, an iconic American snack.
He intends to connect the two estates into a combined 7.3-acre compound once Hefner dies, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The paper quoted Metropoulos as saying the mansion's heritage "transcends its celebrity" and that "to have the opportunity to serve as its steward would be a true privilege."
He declined to disclose the purchase price, although the estate was valued at $200 million when Playboy Enterprises put it up for sale earlier this year.
Built in 1927 and bought by Hefner for $1 million in 1971, the property was emblematic of Hollywood's excess, hosting its infamous pool parties with a lingerie-only dress code for the female guests who cavorted in the caved grotto.
Elvis reportedly slept with eight Playmates at once at the 12-bedroom stately home, while John Lennon once burned a Matisse original with a cigarette.
The sale comes soon after the magazine's recent relaunch as a mainstream publication with no full-frontal nudity, and with the parent company on sale for an estimated $500 million.
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner poses with the 2016 Playmate of the Year Eugena Washington at the Playboy Mansion on May 11, 2016 in Los Angeles, California Charley Gallay (Getty/AFP/File)
Japanese boy leaves hospital after forest ordeal
A seven-year-old boy who survived for nearly a week after being abandoned by his parents in a forest left hospital on Tuesday, capping a drama that captivated Japan and sparked a debate about child discipline.
Police said the parents would not face charges for leaving Yamato Tanooka as a punishment for throwing stones despite widespread public anger at their action.
Yamato was cheerful when he emerged from Hakodate Municipal Hospital on the northern island of Hokkaido.
Yamato Tanooka (front) waves to photographers as he leaves hospital in Hokkaido, on June 7, 2016
Wearing a black baseball cap, he stopped to smile and wave to a throng of journalists and onlookers.
He held a baseball crafted out of paper that appeared to carry written messages of support.
Asked by a journalist what he wanted to do, he shouted, "Baseball!" Queried about returning to school, he replied enthusiastically, "I want to go!"
After a few minutes, which included applause, his father ushered him into a van and they drove off.
The boy survived for six nights alone after his parents left him on a mountain road on May 28 in woods which are home to brown bears.
- 'I walked alone' -
Many in Japan were angry at the couple, who said they had forced their son out of the car to teach him a lesson after he had thrown stones at cars and people.
The father said they went back five minutes later to retrieve him but their son was nowhere to be seen.
The case sparked debate in Japan about parental discipline, with some calling for understanding of their frustration though most condemned their excessive response.
And though some have called for them to be prosecuted, police said they will not face charges, according to a local officer Tuesday.
"We plan not to regard it as a criminal case," a Hokkaido police spokesman told AFP, indicating it would be referred to social services.
Toru Numata, a lawyer who handles abuse and domestic violence cases, told AFP: "Considering the factors behind the case, the chances of making it a prosecutable one are extremely slim."
Numata said the focus was likely to shift to the boy's mental health, and on possible trauma from the ordeal.
After Yamato left the hospital, people took to social media to celebrate his recovery, with one person tweeting: "Good he was safe... Please give him lots of love."
But some expressed fatigue with the heated press coverage.
"Do media need to chase him this much?" a user tweeted. "It'd be better to leave him alone."
Rescue workers and soldiers spent days scouring the mountainous forest after Yamato went missing.
He was finally discovered last Friday by a soldier, sheltering in a hut on a military drill field around five kilometres (three miles) from where he was abandoned.
The boy was suffering from mild dehydration and was taken to hospital.
Police questioned him for about an hour in hospital on Monday accompanied by his mother and doctors, the Tokyo Shimbun reported.
He was quoted by the daily as telling police: "I walked alone and met no one", adding that he sometimes stopped to rest and arrived at the hut in the dark.
Yamato kept himself warm there during the chilly northern nights by sleeping between two mattresses and drank water from an outside tap, though he had nothing solid to eat.
His father, 44-year-old Takayuki Tanooka, said in comments broadcast Monday that he apologised to his son and that the boy had forgiven him.
"I said to him, 'Dad made you go though such a hard time. I am sorry'," the elder Tanooka told broadcaster TBS in footage aired Monday.
"And then, my son said, 'You are a good dad. I forgive you'," Tanooka added, choking up.
Yamato Tanooka -- seen here in a school photo -- survived for six nights alone in bear-inhabited woods
Takayuki Tanooka told Japanese reporters that his seven-year-old son has forgiven him for leaving him on a mountain road on May 28, 2016
The case has sparked fierce debate in Japan about parental discipline John Saeki (AFP)
Popular MMA fighter Kimbo Slice dies at 42: promoter
Kimbo Slice, the mixed-martial artist who rose to fame after videos of his backyard brawls went viral, has died at the age of 42, MMA promoters Bellator confirmed.
"We are all shocked and saddened by the devastating and untimely loss of Kimbo Slice, a beloved member of the Bellator family," Bellator president Scott Coker said in a statement.
Slice, whose birth name was Kevin Ferguson, had been transported to a hospital earlier Monday near his home in south Florida, a Coral Springs Police Department sergeant told ESPN.
Kimbo Slice punches Matt Mitrione in their heavyweight bout at UFC 113 in Montreal, Canada, in 2010 Richard Wolowicz (Getty/AFP/File)
The reason for his hospitalization was unclear and the cause of death was not immediately known.
The initial announcement of his death by the American Top Team MMA academy sparked a wave of reaction on social media.
"Kimbo was a charismatic, larger-than-life personality that transcended the sport," Coker said. "Outside of the cage he was a friendly, gentle giant and a devoted family man. His loss leaves us all with extremely heavy hearts."
Born in the Bahamas on February 8, 1974, the heavyweight had a 5-2 professional record with four technical knockouts.
He last fought at Bellator 149 on February 19 in Houston.
Crackdown on Bangladesh Islamists as Hindu priest murdered
Bangladesh police on Tuesday launched a deadly crackdown on Islamist militants as a 70-year-old Hindu priest became the latest victim in a series of gruesome killings by suspected jihadists.
As a government minister tried to portray the recent attacks as part of a conspiracy involving Israel's Mossad spy agency, security forces waged deadly gunbattles with members of a homegrown jihadist group.
Two "high-ranking" members of the Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were shot dead in a battle in Dhaka and another was killed in a northwestern district, police told AFP.
Two "high-ranking" members of the Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) have been shot dead in a battle in Dhaka and another was killed in a northwestern district, police have told AFP Munir Uz Zaman (AFP/File)
The two JMB members killed in the capital had roles "in most of the recent attacks" including the bombing of a Shiite mosque and the murder of a liberal professor, said deputy commissioner of police M.R Khaled.
The third victim was killed in another gunfight in the town of Godagari in the northwestern district of Rajshahi, said local police chief Abu Forhad.
Bangladeshi authorities have been coming under mounting international pressure to end the string of attacks on religious minorities and secular activists that have left more than 40 people dead in the last three years.
Authorities have blamed homegrown Islamists for the attacks, which have surged in recent weeks, rejecting claims of responsibility from the Islamic State (IS) group and a South Asia branch of Al-Qaeda.
- Priest slaughtered -
IS claimed the latest victim, Hindu priest Ananda Gopal Ganguly, whose head was nearly severed. The group, through its Amaq news agency, said it "assassinated" the priest, according to the SITE monitoring group, as he was walking to prayers.
Farmers discovered Ganguly's body in a rice field near his home in the village of Noldanga in the western district of Jhenidah.
Investigators said the murder bore the hallmarks of recent attacks by local Islamist extremists who have carried out 10 other similar killings in the last 10 weeks.
Witnesses saw three unidentified men on a motorcycle attack him with a bamboo stick before "they slit his throat", the district's deputy police chief Gopinath Kanjilal said.
"He left home this morning saying that he was going to a Hindu house to offer prayers," Kanjilal told AFP.
"Later, farmers found his near-decapitated body in a rice field."
Although most of the recent attacks have been claimed by IS or the local offshoot of Al-Qaeda, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government has blamed its domestic opponents for the attacks.
Speaking to AFP on Tuesday, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan again linked the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to the attacks, saying they were part of a wider conspiracy that also involved Mossad.
"These killings are part of a national and international conspiracy. Those who are carrying out these incidents are communicating with Mossad," Khan told AFP.
Israeli officials had no comment on the minister's remarks.
A senior BNP official was charged with sedition last month for allegedly plotting against the state when he met an Israeli government adviser.
Aslam Chowdhury, a joint secretary of the party, was arrested after local media reported he had met the adviser, Mendi Safadi, in India in March.
Experts say a government ban on Bangladesh's largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami following a protracted political crisis has pushed many towards extremism.
Jamaat is a traditional ally of the BNP whose leader, two-time former prime minister Khaleda Zia, is facing a series of charges in connection with deadly firebombings.
Victims of the recent murders by suspected Islamists have included secular bloggers, gay rights activists and followers of minority religions.
Amnesty International on Tuesday demanded "a prompt, thorough, impartial and transparent investigation" of the recent killings, adding that the government must "protect those still under threat".
"In the current climate of impunity, increasing numbers of people have reported facing threats that the authorities have repeatedly failed to address," the group's statement said.
Although it is officially secular, around 90 percent of Bangladesh's 160 million-strong population is Muslim.
Protesters demonstrate against the killing of a university professor in Dhaka on April 29, 2016 -- there has been a wave of murders of liberals, secular activists and religious minorities by suspected Islamist militants in Bangladesh
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 Munir Uz Zaman (AFP)
Cash Kao: China's tutors earn fortunes online
With a following of several million teenage fans, China's Liu Jie says he can earn nearly $50,000 a month from his online videos and is often recognised on the street. But he is no pop star.
A high school physics tutor, Liu belongs to a growing cohort of educators feeding the country's insatiable demand for after school online study.
The industry is fuelled by the vast number of Internet users in China -- the most in the world -- combined with the annual university entrance exam, a national obsession that decides the fate of millions.
Chinese high school physics tutor Liu Jie gives an online lesson from a recording studio in Beijing Fred Dufour (AFP)
The gruelling two-day "gaokao" begins Tuesday, with police set to cordon off streets to ensure silence for students.
"Because the gaokao is such a huge deal in China... that's where the main demand is," said Liu, fresh from recording a lecture on static electricity.
Wiry and bespectacled, Liu was a private tutor before he began filming lessons for an online platform that sells them to hungry students.
His page on the platform shows a graduation certificate from China's top science university, while adverts of him appearing pensive appear elsewhere online.
"Often people recognise me on the street, a parent recognised me just now," said Liu.
"Students will often pursue a teacher like they pursue celebrities."
When he reached the limit of 5,000 friends on social media platform Wechat, he added another account which quickly gained 3,000 more, mostly parents and students.
- 'Totally unexpected' -
The almost unlimited size of an online classroom means that top teachers can earn a fortune.
He whips out his iPhone, using the calculator to show how even relatively low fees of around 250 yuan ($38) per class generate massive revenues from paying audiences that can reach tens of thousands.
He can earn up to 300,000 yuan each month ahead of the exam, he said, generating an annual income of about 2.8 million yuan -- more than thirty times the standard wage of a high school teacher in Beijing.
"I didn't think I could make so much money, it's totally unexpected," he said. "Teaching has always been seen as a poor profession."
China has long had the world's largest number of Internet users -- now more than 650 million -- but the rise of smartphones has pushed online courses into the mainstream.
Reports of teachers making millions each year from such courses showed online teaching was "in the ascendent" said Xiong Bingqi, vice president of independent think tank 21st Century Education in Shanghai.
"Teachers earning more than other online celebrities shows their abilities and the choices of consumers," he said.
- Loyal fan -
Ahead of the gaokao, high-school students study from soon after dawn to well beyond sunset.
In 2012, the nation was shocked when it emerged that one school had provided students with intravenous drips of amino acids to give them strength to continue working.
Cao Wei, an online mathematics tutor begins live-streaming his classes at 11:00 pm, often to an audience of several thousand.
"I've shed more than seven pounds in the last two months," he said of his late-night schedule.
But he can earn some 80,000 yuan each month catering to teenagers drawn to his straightforward approach.
"He's different than teachers at school. They are often long-winded, Cao is more simple," 17-year-old high school student Li Jiayao said.
"I am his loyal fan."
Celebrity teachers are not unique to mainland China. In South Korea, online cram school tutors can earn as much as $8 million each year.
Hong Kong is home to television celebrity "tutor kings" and "queens" who also rake in huge sums.
But as the popularity of online tutoring soars in China, authorities seem concerned that school teachers may abandon the classroom for greener pastures online.
An education ministry official told state media in March that school teachers moving to Internet education might "affect their ordinary classes", but added such moves would not be banned.
In the face of rampant online piracy, Liu said he must keep his material fresh to maintain his following.
"Online pressure is very big. If you're not active for a couple of weeks, people will quickly forget you."
"It's very similar to being a celebrity."
A Chinese high school physics tutor, Liu Jie belongs to a growing cohort of educators feeding the country's insatiable demand for after school online study Fred Dufour (AFP)
Hong Kong student leader Wong acquitted over anti-China protest
Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong was acquitted Tuesday over an anti-China protest in the first of a series of cases against him to reach a verdict.
Wong, 19, was the teenage face of the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement, which brought parts of Hong Kong to a standstill for more than two months in late 2014 with street rallies calling on Beijing to allow fully free leadership elections.
Tensions remain high in the semi-autonomous Chinese city, with fears growing that Beijing is tightening its grip.
Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong speaks to the media outside court after being acquitted over an anti-China protest in the first of a raft of cases against him to reach a verdict, on June 7 Anthony Wallace (AFP)
Around 20 supporters gathered outside court chanting and carrying yellow umbrellas, the symbol of the democracy movement.
"The result of this trial proves that it was a political prosecution," Wong said after the verdict.
"I think it proves that the core values of Hong Kong are eroding."
The teenager was in court over a small protest in June 2014 -- before the mass rallies -- which saw dozens gather outside Beijing's representative office in the city.
They were opposing a "white paper" from China that asserted its control over Hong Kong, and burned a reproduction of the document.
Wong, student leader Nathan Law, and activists Raphael Wong and Albert Chan were all charged with obstructing police, which carries a possible two-year jail term.
They pleaded not guilty and all were acquitted.
Magistrate Lee Siu-ho said Wong could not be held accountable for the fact that police were unable to control the crowd.
One officer said Wong had obstructed him from carrying out his duty by knocking an empty water bottle from his hand -- thereby preventing him from recycling it.
In his judgement Lee dismissed that argument, saying that was a mere "inconvenience".
Student leader Law criticised the justice department for allowing the case to go ahead on weak evidence.
"The most important goal was to harass us," he told reporters.
Wong recently stood trial over another demonstration that saw students climb into the Hong Kong government complex on September 26, 2014, triggering wider rallies that exploded two days later when police fired tear gas to disperse crowds.
That verdict will be given later this month.
Wong said Tuesday he was more worried about the second case, which carries a heavier sentence.
However, he added: "I still think Hong Kong... has rule of law and judicial independence."
The university student also faces a charge relating to a protest in Mong Kok, where the most violent clashes happened during the pro-democracy rallies.
Hong Kong is semi-autonomous after being returned to China by Britain in 1997, with much greater freedoms than seen on the mainland.
But there are fears those freedoms are being eroded by increasing interference from Beijing.
Joshua Wong, seen here before the verdict, was in court over a small protest in June 2014 -- before the mass rallies -- which saw dozens gather outside Beijing's representative office in the city Anthony Wallace (AFP)
Make Afghan lapis lazuli a 'conflict' mineral: watchdog
Afghan lapis lazuli must be classified a "conflict mineral", an international watchdog says, warning the Taliban and other insurgents are earning $20 million a year illegally mining the semi-precious stone.
Violent competition between local strongmen for control over 6,500-year-old lapis mines in the far northeastern province of Badakhshan is a key driver of conflict in the country, London-based Global Witness said in a report Monday.
"With the Taliban on the outskirts of the mines themselves, as well as controlling key roads into the mining areas, there is now a real risk that the mines could fall into their hands," it said.
An Afghan student works on a lapis lazuli ring during a jewellery class in Kabul Johannes Eisele (AFP/File)
The report warned that due to similar situations nationwide, mining was already "the Taliban's second biggest source of income."
"Unless the Afghan government acts rapidly to regain control, the battle for the lapis mines is set to intensify and further destabilise the country, as well as fund extremism."
The mines could also be a "strategic priority" for the so-called Islamic State, a group making inroads in Afghanistan, winning over sympathisers and recruiting followers mostly in the country's east, according to the report.
"The Afghan lapis lazuli stone should now be classified as a conflict mineral," it said.
Calling it a conflict mineral will compel Afghanistan to regulate its mines, many of which are located in troubled insurgency prone areas.
The deep-blue stone is frequently used for jewellery and ornaments, with the bulk of Afghanistan's mined lapis exported to China, according to the report.
Afghanistan's vast untapped natural resources, valued at more than $1 trillion, are seen as the war-battered country's ticket to a self-reliant future, a possible trump card that could jumpstart the lagging economy as foreign aid ebbs.
But the lucrative sector -- already plagued by rampant corruption, insurgent violence and a lack of regulation which are all deterring international miners - also threatens to fuel conflict and push Afghanistan deeper into turmoil.
Malawi albinos face 'unprecedented' killings: Amnesty
Albinos in Malawi are being targeted in an "unprecedented wave of brutal attacks", Amnesty International said Tuesday, blaming police for failing to tackle a scourge fuelled by ritual practices.
At least 18 albinos -- who have white skin because of a hereditary condition that causes an absence of pigmentation -- have been killed across Malawi since November 2014.
Five others are still missing after being abducted, the London-based rights group said in a report.
Up to 10,000 Malawians live with albinism, a hereditary condition that causes an absence of pigmentation in the skin Gianluigi Guercia (AFP/File)
The report titled "We are not animals to be hunted or sold" painted a chilling picture, with the body parts of victims, including children, routinely hacked off for use in witchcraft.
"The unprecedented wave of brutal attacks against people with albinism has created a climate of terror," said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty's director for Southern Africa.
The actual number of people killed may be much higher, Amnesty noted, as many cases go unreported due to the secretive nature of ritual practices in rural areas.
"Malawian authorities have dismally failed them, leaving this population group at the mercy of criminal gangs who hunt them down for their body parts," said Muchena.
- 'A macabre trade' -
"Talking will not end these attacks. Concrete action is urgently required."
The Amnesty report said the body parts were used as "charms and magical potions in the belief that they bring wealth and good luck."
"The macabre trade is also fuelled by a belief that bones of people with albinism contain gold."
Malawi police said they had recorded at least 69 crimes against people with albinism since November 2014, and some 39 cases of illegal exhumation of the bodies of people with the condition.
Police spokesman Nicholas Gondwa was unable to give earlier statistics for albino killings but confirmed that 18 albinos had been killed since November 2014.
He told AFP that the police "were doing all they can to educate people about the need for communities to provide security to albinos."
The Machinga district in the south of the impoverished country has been identified by police as the area where most attacks take place.
- 'Systematic extinction'
Amnesty documented several cases, including that of a 17-year-old boy, who was abducted and trafficked to Mozambique in April where he was killed.
Both his arms and legs were chopped off and his bones removed.
The attacks and discrimination have sown terror among the 7,000-10,000 Malawians living with albinism.
Amnesty called on the government to improve protection, including better policing in rural areas.
In April, Malawi's police chief Lexen Kachama issued an order for the police to shoot those who attack albinos, calling them "dangerous criminals."
The killing of albinos is also prevalent in Tanzania and Mozambique.
The UN in April warned that Malawi faces "systematic extinction" of people living with albinism if they continue to be murdered for their body parts.
"People tell me in my face that they will sell me," a 37-year-old man told Amnesty.
"One time someone said I was worth 6 million Malawian Kwacha ($10,000)."
Amnesty International says albino victims' body parts are often used for "charms" and "potions" in traditional local practices Gianluigi Guercia (AFP/File)
Amnesty says Malawian authorities have "dismally failed" albinos living with the hereditary condition Gianluigi Guercia (AFP/File)
Australian storm death toll rises to four
The death toll from a powerful storm that lashed Australia's east coast and left homes hanging over the edge of the sea rose to four Tuesday, with three people still missing.
Torrential rains caused flooding across New South Wales over the weekend, with three people dying after their vehicles were swept away in rising waters.
In Sydney, high winds and huge seas caused coastal erosion which washed away beachfront lawns and damaged homes.
Ferocious storms pounded Australia's east coast over the weekend William West (AFP)
The storm then swept south to Victoria and the island state of Tasmania, where one woman died after her house was inundated and where two other people are still missing after being swept away by floodwaters.
A third person, a swimmer who reportedly jumped into the huge swell at Sydney's Bondi Beach on Monday before getting into difficulty, is also missing.
"It's certainly disastrous, this is an extreme weather event, the worst flooding we've experienced in this state in 40 years and it's likely to get worse," Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman said.
In New South Wales, where the rain has eased, waves which on the weekend punched holes into surfside buildings and in one case swept an in-ground swimming pool onto the beach, caused further damage.
In the northern Sydney suburb of Collaroy, up to 50 metres of the beach had been lost, coastal engineer Ian Turner told AFP, with officials concerned about the safety of seven waterfront homes.
"You could audibly hear some creaking and cracking sounds coming from a couple of the homes," Turner said after spending much of Monday evening monitoring the area.
Collaroy resident Tony Cargorski told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he had lost another two metres from the back of his home overnight, with his verandah falling into the ocean.
"I want to come back and with all my heart, with all my soul, see that house intact. And we can resume our lives," he said, but admitted there would be "tough times ahead".
The Insurance Council of Australia said as of early Tuesday, insurers had received 14,500 claims across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, with estimated insured losses of Aus$56 million (US$41.6 million).
Upstart Nepali cinema challenges Bollywood domination
Set against the backdrop of Nepal's deadly Maoist insurgency, "Kalo Pothi" (The Black Hen) opened to packed cinemas in Kathmandu at the weekend, signalling a growing fondness for gritty domestic films over Bollywood extravaganzas.
For decades, Nepali filmmakers churned out copies of India's famously glamorous movies, blending chaste love songs with action sequences in a bid to grab eyeballs.
But after years of losing ground to Hindi films, Nepali cinema is casting off the song-and-dance format with storylines that seek to capture the reality of life in the Himalayan nation.
Dwarfed by Bollywood budgets, Nepali films rarely struck gold until 2012, when a fast-paced flick about a bank robbery in Kathmandu captivated viewers with its streetwise dialogue and realism Prakash Mathema (AFP)
"Kalo Pothi" follows two boys living in a remote, impoverished hamlet and is based on debut filmmaker Min Bahadur Bam's own experiences growing up during the country's decade-long civil war.
"We often underestimate the Nepali audience, but they are very intelligent. As filmmakers, it is about time we respect them and take risks," said Bam.
Bam is the latest young Nepali director to win awards overseas -- including at the Venice Film Festival -- and find fans at home, with viewers lining up for 8:00 am screenings in Kathmandu.
Dwarfed by Bollywood budgets, local films rarely struck gold until 2012, when a fast-paced flick about a bank robbery in Kathmandu captivated viewers with its streetwise dialogue and realism.
Made on a shoestring budget, "Loot" became a cult film and spawned a sequel, scheduled for release this year.
Its commercial success opened doors for a new generation of filmmakers, armed with access to digital technology which allowed them to experiment with fresh storylines at low cost.
Recent releases include "Highway", which follows passengers stranded on an ill-fated bus trying to get past illegal road blockades, and "Talakjung vs Tulke", about the ten-year insurgency, which became Nepal's entry to the 2016 Oscars.
"There's a recognition among newer filmmakers... that there is a demand, albeit limited, for concepts that go beyond the kind of contrived action or romance formula," said film critic Preena Shrestha of the Kathmandu Post.
Nepali actor Dayahang Rai, who shot to stardom after playing a burglar in "Loot", told AFP young viewers raised on world cinema are setting the agenda.
"If we want to catch their attention we have to tell our native stories, stories that are unique to Nepal," he said.
Controversy deepens over French tycoon's payments to Netanyahu
Controversy over contributions to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by a French tycoon on trial for fraud deepened on Tuesday after the Frenchman disputed the premier's version of events.
With the issue receiving widespread coverage in Israel and the country's attorney general examining it, Netanyahu acknowledged on Monday that Arnaud Mimran, currently on trial in Paris, had given him $40,000.
Netanyahu said however that all had been done according to the law, and that the 2001 contribution was not political and occurred when he was not in public office.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a controversial 2001 contribution from a French tycoon was not political and occurred when he was not in public office Abir Sultan (Pool/AFP/File)
The prime minister's office said the money was for a fund for Netanyahu's public activities, which included media appearances and travel abroad to promote Israel.
A political contribution of that size would exceed Israel's campaign finance limits.
Mimran told Israel's Channel 10 television late on Monday that the amount was actually some 170,000 euros ($193,000), transferred to Netanyahu's personal account.
He also said that previous reports that he had contributed one million euros were incorrect.
"First of all, I never said one million euros; I said one million," Mimran said in the interview.
"It was in 2001, so it was one million French francs - 170,000 euros. I still have the bank statements, from Arnauld Mimran, my personal account, to Benjamin Netanyahu, his personal account."
Mimran also said in the interview that he had financed trips to France for Netanyahu and his family, after the Israeli leader had already returned to politics.
Following the interview, Netanyahu's lawyer David Shimron dismissed Mimran's claims.
"The exact sum transferred by Mr Arnaud Mimran is $40,000," Shimron said via a spokesman for Netanyahu's Likud party. "The money was wired via a bank transfer to the fund's account on 24.8.2001.
"All the claims being levelled at Mr Netanyahu and inflated by the media will be shown to be unfounded and baseless," Shimron said.
Netanyahu left the prime minister's office in 1999 after being defeated by Labour's Ehud Barak. In 2002, he became foreign minister in then-prime minister Ariel Sharon's government.
He also lost the Likud primary to Sharon in 2002.
Mimran is one of the main defendants in a trial in Paris over an alleged scam amounting to 283 million euros involving the trade of carbon emissions permits and the taxes on them.
The tycoon's allegations against Netanyahu are the latest focused on his spending.
Last month, the Israeli state comptroller issued a critical report on Netanyahu's foreign trips, some with his wife and children, in 2003-05 when he was finance minister.
Hundreds left homeless after Sri Lanka depot blast
Hundreds of Sri Lankans have been left homeless after explosions at an ammunition depot on the edge of Colombo flattened houses and killed a soldier, an official said Tuesday.
Thousands of residents are yet to return to their homes after a huge fire on Sunday night at the military store triggered the blasts and forced them to flee.
The area's top official, D.S. Bandara, said surveys of the affected zone estimate 300 homes have been destroyed and another 600 damaged after shrapnel and unexploded bombs fell on villages.
Residents wait at a relief camp after being evacuated from their homes near an ammunition depot in Salawa, on the edge of the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, on June 7, 2016 Lakruwan Wanniarachchi (AFP)
"This is the initial estimate we have, but the numbers could rise as people go back to their properties and assess the damage," Bandara told reporters.
"Our figures show 18,620 people were living within this area and they are (currently) now homeless," Bandara said, adding they will be allowed to return to their villages in coming days to check their homes after the military declares the area safe.
Residents were in the meantime sheltering at schools and temples in the area, with disaster officials providing food.
The military is not allowing journalists inside the sprawling Salawa army complex, 36 kilometres (22.5 miles) east of Colombo, but aerial photos show buildings destroyed and only a water tower intact.
At least one soldier burnt to death while about 50 people were treated for minor injuries in the explosions and fire that was only extinguished on Monday.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe pledged to rebuild the destroyed homes after visiting the area, his office said.
Police have launched a criminal investigation into the cause of the fire, which has caused the worst destruction since the end of Sri Lanka's decades-long separatist war in 2009.
It was the second time in less than a month that residents had been forced to leave their homes after floods hit the capital in May when the rain-swollen Kelani river burst its banks.
Sri Lankan troops watch from a distance as smoke and flames rise from the army ammunition dump at the Salawa military camp outside Colombo, on June 5, 2016 Ishara S.Kodikara (AFP)
Syria's Assad hardens position in address to parliament
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hardened his position on UN-sponsored peace talks in his first address to the newly elected parliament broadcast on state television on Tuesday.
"We will not agree to any topic outside the statement of principles we presented to the UN. We just won't accept it," Assad told lawmakers.
The document submitted by the government delegation stresses that Syria will be ruled by a "unity government" -- not a "transitional governing body" without Assad as called for by the opposition.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been in power since 2000 Handout (SANA/AFP/File)
Assad said he had received no response from the UN regarding this paper and that in the government's eyes, "the negotiations have not actually started".
He was addressing lawmakers for the first time since an April general election in government-controlled areas that was dismissed internationally as a sham.
"The Syrian people surprised the world yet again with an unprecedented voter turnout... and an unprecedented number of candidates," Assad said.
Syria's conflict began in 2011 with protests calling for Assad to step down, and several rounds of UN-backed peace talks have failed to bring an end to what has become a complex civil war.
In February, the United States and regime ally Russia brokered a ceasefire between government forces and non-jihadist rebels in an effort to bolster the peace negotiations.
The ceasefire has allowed Syria's armed forces to focus on key fronts, Assad said, including the historic city of Palmyra -- where regime forces backed by Russia defeated the Islamic State jihadist group in March.
"As we liberated Palmyra, so shall we liberate every inch of Syria... we have no choice but victory," he said to applause from lawmakers.
It was unclear if the speech was broadcast live or pre-recorded earlier this week.
Rebel fighters roll back IS in northern Syria
Syrian rebels reopened a vital supply line by capturing two villages Wednesday from the Islamic State jihadist group as it came under pressure on a range of fronts in Syria and Iraq.
IS has controlled large areas of both countries since declaring its self-styled "caliphate" in 2014 but is losing territory in the face of separate assaults.
In Syria, pro-government forces, rebels and a US-backed Arab-Kurdish alliance are all engaged in offensives to squeeze the extremists' supply lines, while Iraqi forces are advancing on the IS-held city of Fallujah.
A Syrian woman who fled the assault launched by Arab and Kurdish forces against Islamic State group fighters in Manbij, talks to a Kurdish fighter at a camp on the outskirts of the town Delil Souleiman (AFP)
The Damascus regime has also kept up its assaults on opposition areas, particularly in second city Aleppo, where at least 15 civilians were killed on Wednesday in bombing by pro-government forces.
North of the city, rebel fighters re-opened a key supply route linking their two main bastions in Aleppo province: Marea and Azaz.
In late May, IS captured several villages between the two towns, cutting off access to the Turkish border for Marea's opposition forces.
But early Wednesday, rebels backed by Islamist groups launched simultaneous attacks from both Marea and Azaz, squeezing IS jihadists out of the villages of Kafr Kalbin and Kaljibrin and reopening the road, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman said IS fighters even pulled back from towns and villages east of the supply route, including Dudyan near the border.
In Aleppo, barrel bombs dropped from government helicopters killed 10 people near Al-Bayan hospital in Shaar neighbourhood, said the Observatory.
"We have three operation rooms and all the equipment inside them was damaged because of the force of the explosion from the barrel bomb," Dr Marwan al-Radwan told AFP.
- 'Life' back in Marea -
+An AFP photographer saw bodies wrapped in bloodied white bags outside the hospital, while inside, the force of the blast had knocked supplies and parts of drywall onto the floor.
Al-Bayan hospital said a staff member was wounded in the bombardment and the building had been evacuated.
The UN children's agency, UNICEF, said two other medical facilities were also hit, Al-Hakim hospital and Abdulhadi Fares clinic, like Al-Bayan in the rebel-held eastern part of the city.
"Al-Hakim hospital, a UNICEF supported facility, is one of the few that still provide paediatric services," it said.
The Observatory said five other civilians -- including two children -- were killed in attacks on the Al-Marja and Al-Maadi districts.
It later reported seven rebel fighters killed in bombardment of Aleppo's eastern Al-Sakhur neighbourhood.
"I was expecting the regime to respect this holy month (of Ramadan) and to hold off on shelling," said Abu Mohammad, 65.
"We're afraid to go out into the streets in the morning or at night when we break our fast."
IS forces had long coveted Marea and battered the town for over a year with deadly car bombs and suicide attacks.
Its advance last month forced thousands to flee Marea and sparked fears the rebels would lose one of their last major northern hubs to the jihadists.
"Life is gradually returning to Marea," journalist Mamoun Khateeb told AFP from the flashpoint town.
Khateeb himself was in Azaz when the IS offensive began and was only able to return to his hometown of Marea on Wednesday.
"After the road was re-opened, some people have come back and we've even seen trucks selling vegetables enter the town," he said.
Those who had fled to nearby villages were too afraid to return to Marea because of landmines left behind by IS as its fighters withdrew.
- Advance in Fallujah -
IS's supply line leads from Jarabulus on the Turkish-Syrian border south through the town of Manbij and winds southeast along the Euphrates through the town of Tabqa and on to Raqa city.
The Arab-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, which receives air support by a US-led coalition, reached the northern edges of Manbij overnight, said the Observatory.
And regime fighters with Russian air cover are slowly edging towards Tabqa, where IS has sent fighters and weapons ahead of a potential battle.
In Iraq, government forces backed by paramilitary groups and air support from the US-led coalition are advancing within IS-held Fallujah.
On Wednesday, the Iraqi fighters seized a southern neighbourhood in Fallujah city, said Sabah al-Nuaman, the spokesman for the elite counter-terrorism service fighting in the city.
"Counter-terrorism forces liberated Hay Al-Shuhada Al-Thaniya entirely from (IS) control and raised the Iraqi flag over buildings in the district," he said.
Jasim Al-Halbous, a member of the Anbar provincial council, said IS fighters "were hiding in fortified tunnels and scattered houses in the district."
Held by IS since January 2014, Fallujah is one of the most important bases of the jihadist organisation and the second-largest city in Iraq still under its control.
A Syrian boy who fled the assault against Islamic State (IS) fighters in the town of Manbij, stands next to his family's belongings at an encampment outside of the town Delil Souleiman (AFP)
A man sits on the rubble of a destroyed building following reported air strikes by Syrian government forces in the rebel-held Shaar neighbourhood of the northern city Aleppo on June 8, 2016 Karam al-Masri (AFP)
Syria conflict Omar Kamal, Kun Tian (AFP)
Syrian Kurds march during the funeral of fighters, who died during an assault launched by Arab and Kurdish forces against Islamic State (IS) group fighters in the town of Manbij Delil Souleiman (AFP/File)
Ailing Thai king undergoes heart operation
Thailand's hospital-bound monarch Bhumibol Adulyadej underwent an operation to widen arteries in his heart on Tuesday, the palace said, the latest in a series of medical procedures for the 88-year-old.
Bhumibol is the object of an intense personality cult and his frail health is a matter of significant public concern.
The king is confined to a wheelchair and rarely seen in public. He has spent most of the past two years hospitalised for a series of ailments, including bacterial infections, breathing difficulties and hydrocephalus (water on the brain).
Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej is the world's longest-reigning monarch Christophe Archambault (AFP/File)
In a statement released on Tuesday the Royal Household Bureau said recent tests had discovered that multiple arteries on the right side of the king's heart and one on the left had become narrowed.
On Tuesday morning doctors performed a series of angioplasty procedures without anaesthetic, widening the arteries using balloons and stents to bring back normal blood flow.
"The result was satisfactory and the medical team are closely monitoring him," the statement said.
Tuesday's announcement was unusual because it came on the day a medical procedure had taken place -- usually they are released days afterwards.
Bhumibol is the world's longest-reigning monarch and most Thais have never known life under another king.
Anxiety over what will happen after his reign ends is considered an aggravating factor in the country's past decade of tumultuous politics, as competing elites jostle for power and influence before the transition.
Information on the monarchy is tightly controlled by the palace.
Throughout much of the last two years of Bhumibol's hospitalisation, updates have been rare.
But in recent weeks the palace has issued a string of health updates.
Last month doctors announced that he had been successfully treated for hydrocephalus as well as a lung and knee infection.
Bhumibol has not been seen by the public since September when the palace released a video of him being taken in his wheelchair to visit a shop inside Bangkok's Siriraj hospital.
Shoppers and attendants knelt and bowed as he passed by.
An official photograph of him attending a ceremony was released by the palace in December, while officials said he left the hospital in January for an hour-long trip by car to visit his palace and other royal projects.
Jordan king pledges action after intelligence officers killed
Jordan's King Abdullah II vowed on Tuesday to act decisively against anyone who threatens the kingdom's security, a day after a lone gunman shot dead five intelligence officers.
"Jordan will act with all firmness and force against anyone seeking to undermine its security," he said on a visit to the headquarters of the intelligence services, according to a statement from the royal palace.
"National unity is the weapon we will use to thwart all plans that aim to disrupt stability and cohesion," the king said, adding that the country would not be weakened by "the terrorist acts of traitors".
Jordanian mourners lower the body of an intelligence officer killed during a gun attack at the Palestinian refugee camp of Baqaa, north of Amman, on June 6, 2016 Khalil Mazraawi (AFP)
Earlier, the authorities imposed a media blackout on information about Monday's attack that killed the five security officers, the official Petra news agency reported.
It said the sweeping ban covered not only traditional media such as newspapers and broadcasters, but also Internet sites and social media networks.
The blackout came just hours after the government spokesman said a suspect had been arrested following the shooting at the Palestinian refugee camp of Baqaa, north of Amman.
The five officers had been starting their shift when a gunman struck at their office in the largest of the kingdom's 10 official Palestinian refugee camps.
"Investigations are under way but early indications are that this was an isolated and individual act," government spokesman Mohammed Momani said, announcing the arrest but without identifying the suspect, a Jordanian in his 20s.
Presenting his condolences to intelligence chief Faisal al-Shubaki, the king welcomed the swift arrest of a suspect.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the shooting, which came on the first day of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Jordan is a leading member of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in neighbouring Iraq and Syria, and has been the target of jihadist attacks in the past.
Over 50,000 flee Boko Haram attacks in Niger: UN
About 50,000 people have fled a town in Niger's troubled southeast after deadly attacks by Boko Haram insurgents, the United Nations said Tuesday.
The attacks began Friday against a military post in Bosso in Niger's Diffa region, killing 26 soldiers including two from neighbouring Nigeria.
"An estimated 50,000 people or so fled," UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesman Adrian Edwards told reporters in Geneva.
Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria have launched a joint offensive to end Boko Haram's seven-year insurgency in western Africa Issouf Sanogo (AFP/File)
A total of 55 insurgents from the Nigeria-based Islamist group were killed and "many" injured, according to authorities.
Edwards said most of those fleeing the violence walked westwards to Toumour, some 30 kilometres west of Bosso.
"Many people are reportedly traumatised and worried about their safety. People are sleeping in the open and urgently need shelter and other assistance," he said.
A local journalist working with Radio Anfani told AFP he was sheltering in Toumour with no food, along with many others who fled the violence.
"The Boko Haram gunmen stayed in Bosso from 6:30 pm (1730 GMT) on Friday to 3:00 am on Saturday, burning the military barracks, police facilities and local administration office before looting shops and carting away food supplies," he said.
"Everybody started leaving the town and surrounding villages at dawn after the gunmen had left."
He said that the gunmen used heavy artillery which allowed them to overrun the town's garrison.
- 'Boko Haram in control' -
"They came in large numbers shouting 'Allahu Akbar' (God is Greatest)," he said.
The journalist, who declined to be named, said that he subsequently learned that the fighters returned later on Sunday and "engaged troops redeployed to the town in fierce battle".
"The troops retreated, leaving Boko Haram militants in control of the town," he said, although the claims could not immediately be verified.
However, Niger's defence minister Assoumana Malam Issa has said that the military had regained control of the town.
Edwards said some of those displaced had moved on from Toumour and were heading to the town of Diffa, around 140 kilometres west of Bosso, and northwards towards a camp for internally displaced people that is already nearing its maximum capacity of 10,000.
"The welfare of these people and others forced to flee the violence in Bosso is of great concern," he said.
The latest attack was among the deadliest by the jihadist group in Niger since it began launching raids in the country in February 2015 from its stronghold in neighbouring Nigeria.
At least 240,000 people have been displaced in the Diffa region since then.
UNHCR, which has not had a presence in Bosso since the Boko Haram raids began nearly a year and a half ago, said it was working with the authorities and local partners to coordinate the response to the mass exodus.
"A team will be en route to the Diffa region this week," Edwards said.
Boko Haram's seven-year insurgency has devastated infrastructure in Nigeria's impoverished northeast and forced around 2.1 million people in the country to flee their homes, according to UNHCR.
The unrest has left at least 20,000 people dead in Nigeria and made more than 2.6 million homeless.
Boko Haram launched military raids in 2009 to create an Islamic state in western Africa Stephane Yas (AFP)
The unrest caused by Boko Haram has left at least 20,000 people dead in Nigeria and made more than 2.6 million homeless Issouf Sanogo (AFP/File)
Myanmar eyes closure of wildlife trade hub on Chinese border
Myanmar authorities plan to shut down a notorious border town where exotic animal parts are sold openly, an official said Tuesday, as Southeast Asia struggles to stem a billion-dollar wildlife trade fuelled by Chinese demand.
Mong La, a lawless border town located in rebel-held territory in Myanmar's Shan state, is a market for endangered species and products -- such as elephant tusks and tiger wine -- which are freely traded, largely to Chinese tourists.
It is part of the "golden triangle," a hotbed of illegal activity, including drug, wildlife and people trafficking, that straddles Myanmar, Laos and Thailand.
Mong La, a lawless border town located in rebel-held territory in Myanmar's Shan state, is a market for endangered species and products -- such as elephant tusks and tiger wine Christophe Archambault (AFP/File)
"We are planning to close the market. But without local people and local police, we won't be successful," Kyaw San Naing, the director of Myanmar's conservation ministry, told AFP.
He said previous governments -- for decades run by the military -- had allowed the trade to flourish making it hard to quickly shutter the lucrative zone.
The ministry plans an education campaign to teach people about the value of protecting Myanmar's wildlife and natural resources.
"It concerns (locals') livelihoods, so it will be difficult to close the market urgently. But to kill an elephant for two tusks is not the right way," he added.
Southeast Asia is a biodiversity hotspot, but weak governance, endemic corruption and porous borders across the region have allowed an illegal wildlife trade to boom.
Many of the products are funnelled to China, where there is a high demand for exotic pets, traditional medicines and luxury fashion products.
Last week Thai authorities raided a temple run by Buddhist monks temple that charged tourists to pet with scores of tigers kept on the compound.
But the discovery of tiger skins, fangs and hundreds of talismans with tiger skin appeared to back long-running accusations that the temple has been raking in huge sums selling animal parts on the black market.
On Tuesday Thailand's park department director said police were also looking into the disappearance of 78 rare Madagascan tortoises from a Thai wildlife centre.
Saudi Arabia unveils first targets in sweeping reform plan
Saudi Arabia has unveiled the first concrete targets in its ambitious effort to move its crude-dependent economy away from oil.
In a press conference in the early hours of Tuesday in Jeddah, officials revealed sweeping plans to create some 450,000 non-government jobs by 2020, boost non-oil revenues and cut the cost of public wages.
The National Transformation Programme (NTP), endorsed by the Saudi cabinet late on Monday, is part of Saudi Vision 2030, a reform drive led by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 30-year-old son of King Salman.
Saudi Arabia is investing $22.5 billion to build a metro system in Riyadh Fayez Nureldine (AFP/File)
It aims to transform the state-dominated economy of the world's largest oil exporter into a private-sector powerhouse with diverse industrial interests and major international investments.
Saudi authorities have for years discussed plans to diversify the economy, but this effort has been given fresh urgency by the collapse in oil prices by more than half since mid-2014, which has led to a dramatic drop in state revenues.
Minister of State Mohammed al-Sheikh described the NTP to reporters as a five-year roadmap laying out targets to be met by government ministries and departments.
"This is phase one of addressing the challenges," he said, adding there will be "no substantial fiscal impact" on the state budget, partly because some savings have already been made.
At the heart of the reform effort is a previously announced plan to float less than five percent of oil giant Saudi Aramco on the stock market, with the proceeds to help form what will become the world's largest state investment fund, with some $2 trillion in assets.
- 'Transparency crucial' -
Sheikh said the NTP will be implemented through more than 500 initiatives at a cost of 270 billion riyals ($72 billion) over the next five years, with 40 percent of the funding coming from the private sector.
A plan to cut the share of public wages in the budget from 45 percent to 40 percent will decrease the total cost of state salaries from 480 billion to 456 billion riyals by 2020.
The plan also foresees a huge increase in non-oil revenues from 163.5 billion to 530 billion riyals by 2020, in a major shift in how state coffers are filled.
Officials said no income taxes are planned, but the plan does envisage measures including increases in government fees and taxes on "harmful products".
Further cuts to water and electricity subsidies -- already imposed last year after the country posted a record budget deficit -- will lead to an additional 200 billion riyals in savings, the plan says.
The creation of non-government jobs will focus on developing Saudi industry in a range of sectors, from renewable energy to car manufacturing to tourism.
Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Minister Khaled al-Falih said that under the plan Saudi Arabia will be "a very strong competitor in renewable energy," and will implement "massive" projects to produce more natural gas.
He said the ministry plans to build an international complex for marine industries that will provide 80,000 jobs and cut imports by $12 billion annually.
A number of industrial cities are also planned and slated to generate 150,000 jobs, Falih said.
Unemployment is to fall from 11.6 to 9.0 percent by 2020 under the plan, with the proportion of women in the workforce rising from 23 to 28 percent.
Education reforms will aim to push more Saudis into the private sector, with the number of students in technical and vocational training programmes rising from about 104,000 to 950,000.
Noting that "transparency is crucial to the success" of the plan, it calls for regular updates on progress in reaching the targets -- an unusual display of openness from Saudi authorities.
Local and foreign reporters were invited to Jeddah for the unveiling of the targets and government ministers were to be available for three days to answer questions.
Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih attends an OPEC meeting in Vienna, on June 2, 2016
Saudi officials predict unemployment will fall from 11.6 to 9.0 percent by 2020, as part of its "Vision 2030" programme to diversify the economy beyond the oil sector Fayez Nureldine (AFP/File)
Beijing refuses to move on sea disputes as US meet ends
Beijing will not budge on its claims of ownership over a vast tranche of the South China Sea, a top official insisted Tuesday, as a key annual meeting with the US ended with no movement on the issue.
During a two-day confab in the Chinese capital, US Secretary of State John Kerry urged China to settle its territorial rows peacefully and based on the "rule of law".
But Beijing's top diplomat Yang Jiechi said the US should butt out of disputes that were a long way from its shores, including an international arbitration case brought by the Philippines.
Chinese warships conducted naval exercises near the Paracel Islands in May 2016
China's stance on the case is "in line with international law", Yang said, insisting that Beijing's position "has not and will not change".
The case, he said, should be settled directly between the parties involved and called on Washington to "honour its promise of not taking a position in territorial disputes".
The South China Sea had been China's territory since ancient times and China had every right to uphold its territorial sovereignty and lawful and legitimate maritime entitlements, Yang said.
China claims nearly all of the strategically vital sea despite competing claims by several of its Southeast Asian neighbours, and has rapidly built artificial islands suitable for military use.
Washington has responded by sending warships close to Chinese-claimed reefs, angering Beijing.
The sour ending to the annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue came despite efforts by both sides to smooth out the differences dividing the world's top two economies.
Speaking to reporters, the two sides seemed to talk past each other on the thorny question of how to settle a conflict in the region kicked off by the Chinese construction.
Both called for peaceful settlement of the issue and pledged to support freedom of navigation through the region's airspace and waters, but their remarks suggested very different visions for achieving those goals.
The US will continue its "fundamental support for negotiations and a peaceful resolution based on the rule of law", Kerry said.
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.
- 'Growing restrictions' -
Manila accuses China of effectively taking 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.
The meeting was also overshadowed by US views on an unfavourable business climate, steel overcapacity, and a restricted environment for foreign non-governmental organisations.
On Monday US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Chinese oversupply of steel was "damaging and distorting global markets", joining a chorus of criticism that blames Beijing for plant closures and job losses in the industry worldwide.
Washington also shared its concerns that a new law would hamper the ability of a wide range of American groups to operate in China, Kerry said, and over the "growing restrictions of freedom of expression and religion" in China, which has seen a crackdown on human rights lawyers and tightening controls on media.
But President Xi Jinping assured him that China "intends to remain open" and does not believe the restrictive law will impair its ability to do so, Kerry said.
A US official said the Americans brought up the law repeatedly during intense talks and considered it a major sticking point between the countries.
Foreign businesses also feel that the environment in China has become increasingly hostile, Lew said at an earlier meeting of CEOs on the sidelines of the dialogue.
But in closing statements top ministers from both countries stressed areas of agreement, and affirmed support for the denuclearisation of North Korea, cooperation on global health and ocean conservation, and joint efforts to combat bribery.
China and the US must "shelve" their differences and respect each others core interests, President Xi said in a top-level meeting that followed the dialogue.
Disputed claims in the South China Sea
US Secretary of State John Kerry delivers a speech during a roundtable with CEOs at the US - China Strategic and Economic Dialogues in Beijing on June 7, 2016 Nicolas Asfouri (POOL/AFP)
GM wants to keep steering wheels, pedals in self-drive cars
General Motors chief executive Mary Barra came out strongly Tuesday for regulations requiring the retention of steering wheels and foot pedals in self-driving cars.
As the largest US automaker pushes into developing autonomous cars and trucks, Barra said keeping the vestigial appendages of traditional human-piloted vehicles is crucial for safety.
"We do think we have a leadership position in autonomous," Barra said.
GM, the largest US automaker, recently made a billion-dollar acquisition of a San Francisco start-up focused on developing autonomous vehicles Stan Honda (AFP/File)
"It is very important we demonstrate safety. We think having the steering wheel and pedals in the cars is a way to demonstrate safety."
GM has made sizeable investments in future technology, including the billion-dollar acquisition of Cruise, a San Francisco start-up focused on the development of the autonomous vehicles.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the company's annual shareholders meeting, Barra expressed confidence in sales this year despite an 18 percent plunge in May.
She blamed that largely on having been forced to close a key assembly plant in Ohio because of a parts shortage caused by the mid-April earthquakes in Japan.
"That was a very unique situation," she said.
Barra said 2015 was a good year for the largest US automaker on many fronts, including record earnings and record global sales.
"We have continued this strong record in 2016," she said, noting the company has produced record profits and boosted its quarterly dividend.
"We continue to be focused on producing sustained long-term growth... Our goal is earning customers for life."
GM is also concentrating on improving efficiency, she said.
"That will position us well when the cycle turns... We are focused on market share, but we are focused on profitable market share."
GM still expects the US industry will sell about 17.5 million units this year, about the same as 2015, the best year on record.
During the shareholders meeting, GM passed something of a milestone with the election of Jane Mendillo, the former head of Harvard University's investment fund, to the board of directors
Now for the first time, half of the board members of GM, long a cornerstone of American business, are women.
Clinton, Trump kick off their White House war
The protagonists are set: Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump. The battleground? Fifty states. Voters are set for a historic, bruising spectacle as two of America's most polarizing figures wage war for the White House.
On the Democratic side is a candidate with more than three decades of political experience, a pioneering if controversial stateswoman determined to shatter the ultimate glass ceiling and become the nation's first woman commander-in-chief.
The Republican standing in her way is the brash billionaire and political neophyte who rewrote the campaign playbook as he vanquished his many rivals for the nomination with a mudslinging unparalleled in modern American politics.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's nomination triumph came almost eight years to the day since her first bid for the Oval Office was spectacularly thwarted by Barack Obama Timothy A. Clary (AFP)
The ferocity of the primaries -- few people around the world have seen a modern US presidential race characterized by such insulting and denigrating attacks -- promises to be just a preview of what is in store for the general election.
Clinton, the former secretary of state, euphorically seized the Democratic Party mantle Tuesday, seizing the nomination in dramatic fashion with primary wins in four of six states including the grand prize, California.
On perhaps the biggest night of her political career, as she declared a historic milestone for women, she assailed Trump for his divisiveness and his trademark slogan, "Make America Great Again."
"That's code for let's take America backward," she said, "back to a time when opportunity and dignity were reserved for some, not all."
"Don't let anyone tell you that great things can't happen in America," she said.
Trump laid into Clinton in his own victory speech after more primary wins, accusing her and her husband, former president Bill, of enriching themselves by "selling access, selling favors, selling government contracts."
And he signaled there would be no honeymoon, announcing a "major speech" for early next week in which he will address "all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons."
- No mud-wrestling with Trump -
The trajectory of the race is unlikely to soar into loftier issues.
Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, fears the race will be less a battle over substance like the economy or foreign policy than a clash of two outsized personalities.
"Clinton has deep knowledge and detailed platforms, but because Trump doesn't have any, nobody focuses on the differences," Ornstein told AFP in an interview.
"And because we have two candidates who are more distrusted than trusted, more disliked than liked, this becomes a race to the bottom."
Clinton will be looking to exploit the various controversies ensnaring Trump -- most recently his criticism of a Mexican-American federal judge, which sparked uproar within his own party -- as a way to enhance her own resume.
"Getting down in a mud-wrestling fight with him is going to be a loser," said Tim Miller, a former communications adviser to Republican Jeb Bush, one of the many candidates defeated by Trump in the primaries.
"She has to focus on the issues that drive her base" of minorities and women and inspire young voters, Miller said.
- 'Truly historic moment' -
She will appeal to moderate Republicans turned off by Trump and yet make a compelling case for supporters of her more left-leaning Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders, to embrace her campaign for victory in November.
Trump, beating Clinton to the punch, has extended an olive branch to Sanders' anti-establishment supporters, saying Tuesday: "We welcome you with open arms."
For now, Sanders has refused to capitulate, vowing to "continue the fight" to the final Democratic primary in the capital Washington next week, and then on to the Democratic convention in July.
But the Vermont senator meets Thursday with Barack Obama -- perhaps a sign that the US president will play a significant role in uniting a deeply divided Democratic party to battle the 69-year-old real estate mogul.
Obama is soon expected to offer a formal endorsement of the 68-year-old Clinton, perhaps serving to coax hardline "Bernie or bust" fans back into the party tent.
Secretary of State John Kerry, whose bid to unseat George W. Bush in 2004 ended in defeat, extended his congratulations to Clinton Wednesday, saying she "will make a terrific president" and hailing her achievement as "a truly historic moment."
Clinton won plaudits from Democrats last week in San Diego when for her blistering critique of Trump as "temperamentally unfit" to be president, a line of attack she repeated Tuesday night.
Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination against Kerry in 2004, said he was impressed with Clinton's historic achievement.
"If Hillary Clinton continues to campaign the way she did last week in San Diego, I think Trump is toast," he told AFP.
Hillary Clinton claims Democratic nomination
A woman looks at political campaign merchandise on June 2, 2016 at Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia Karen Bleier (AFP/File)
Donald Trump has faltered badly since he won the Republican presidential nomination, with violence-marred rallies, run-ins with the press and a widely condemned racial attack on a federal judge Josh Edelson (AFP/File)
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, a self-declared democratic socialist, insists the nominee will not be chosen until the party convention in July Bill Wechter (AFP/File)
Fallujah liberation 'days' away: commander
The commander of Iraq's operation to retake Fallujah from the Islamic State group said Tuesday victory was days away, but progress had been slowed by huge numbers of bombs and traps.
"The security forces are advancing towards central Fallujah from the southern side but doing so cautiously, to preserve civilian lives," Lieutenant-General Abdelwahab al-Saadi told AFP.
"In the coming days, we will declare the liberation of Fallujah," said Saadi, overall commander of the operation launched on May 22-23 to retake the jihadist bastion west of Baghdad.
Shiite fighters from the Popular Mobilisation units hold an Islamic State group flag upside down in the village of al-Azraqiyah as they advance northwest of Fallujah Ahmad al-Rubaye (AFP)
The Joint Operations Command admitted that progress was being slowed by the astounding number of improvised explosive devices laid by IS in the city.
"There are tunnels and between 150 and 200 bombs are defused every 100 metres (yards)," it said in a statement.
"Our information is that IS has prepared car bombs, which they are hiding in homes with the intention of attacking us when we enter," the operations command said.
The Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force, which is dominated by Shiite militias that have so far operated on the periphery of the city, warned they would move in if the operation dragged on.
A spokesman for the group put the number of Hashed al-Shaabi fighters involved at the beginning of the Fallujah operation at 30,000.
Some militias have been accused of sectarian violence against Sunni civilians during previous operations, and their involvement in an offensive against one of IS's most emblematic strongholds in the Sunni province of Anbar is seen as potentially explosive.
Elite forces have struggled to push deep into Fallujah over the past week, citing both tough resistance from IS and concern for the plight of an estimated 50,000 trapped civilians.
Close to 20,000 people have fled outlying areas but very few have been able to slip out of the centre, where IS is using them as human shields.
Residents trying to reach the safety of displacement camps set up south of Fallujah were taking massive risks to cross the Euphrates River.
"I saw three children being put in an open refrigerator so they could cross the river, but it sank and one of the children, a little girl, couldn't be saved so she died," a 45-year-old survivor told the Norwegian Refugee Council.
The International Rescue Committee said at least four people, three of them children, have drowned in the Euphrates trying to flee the conflict over the past few days.
In the holy Shiite city of Karbala, 100 kilometres (60 miles) to the south of Fallujah, a jihadist-claimed car bombing killed at least three people on Tuesday in the first such attack in more than two years.
Permits approved for 82 settler homes in east Jerusalem: NGO
Building permits have been approved for 82 settler homes in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem under a plan that previously drew strong criticism from the United States, an NGO said Tuesday.
The 82 units in two buildings are part of plans announced in 2010 to build 1,600 settler homes in Ramat Shlomo, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood in east Jerusalem.
The 2010 announcement came as US Vice President Joe Biden was visiting Israel, provoking fierce American opposition and souring relations with Washington for months.
A general view shows buildings under construction in the Israeli settlement of Har Homa in annexed east Jerusalem, on March 7, 2016 Thomas Coex (AFP/File)
Israeli NGO Ir Amim, which opposes settlement construction, announced on Tuesday that permits had been approved for part of the plans.
"On Monday, June 6, the Jerusalem Local Planning and Building Committee approved two building permits for 82 housing units in Ramat Shlomo," it said in a statement.
Jerusalem city officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Settlements are considered illegal under international law and a major stumbling block to peace efforts since they are built on land Palestinians see as part of their future state.
Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future independent state, while Israelis see all of Jerusalem as their capital.
Last week in Paris, representatives from 28 countries, the Arab League, European Union and United Nations met to discuss ways of restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.
The participants agreed that "the status quo is unsustainable" and voiced "alarm" at the situation on the ground, citing continuing acts of violence and Jewish settlement building.
"This is Israel's response to the Paris peace summit," Palestine Liberation Organisation secretary-general Saeb Erekat said in a statement.
He said the approvals serve "as yet another reminder to the international community to hold Israel liable for the crimes it continues to commit against the land and people of Palestine."
Carrier spearheads US show of strength in eastern Mediterranean
US planes operating from an aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean have mounted at least 35 air strikes on Islamic State jihadists since relocating last week from the Gulf, officers on board told AFP Tuesday.
In an operation commanders said was aimed at demonstrating the strength and flexibility of US forces in the region, F-18 fighter jets and support aircraft deployed on the USS Harry S. Truman made 50 combat sorties between Friday and midnight on Monday (2300 GMT).
In 35 of them, ordnance was dropped with the strikes split evenly across Syria and Iraq, the carrier's spokesman, Lieutenant Tim Pietrack, told reporters on board the ship.
This June 6, 2016 US Navy photo shows an F/A-18C Hornet as it launches from the flight deck of aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Mediterranean Sea MC3 Bobby J. Siens (Navy Office of Information/AFP)
All of the strikes were carried out while providing air support to fighters on the ground rather than the kind of direct attack that blew up a bank used by IS in the Iraqi city of Mosul in January.
They also scattered pamphlets aimed at bolstering morale among forces fighting IS or warning civilians of imminent attacks in their area.
Since the Truman passed through the Suez Canal on Thursday, all of the destructive ordnance used has been 500-pound laser- or GPS-guided missiles, said the Truman's Weapons Officer Jim McDonald.
"The difference is that with a 500-pound smart bomb, you can put it in a living room if you want to, rather than take out a whole house," added McDonald, known onboard as "Gun Boss".
In contrast, the operation that took out the Mosul bank and sent millions of dollar up in smoke involved multiple drops of 2,000-pound munitions, he said.
"Since we started combat operations in the Gulf on December 29, we have been only been doing maybe one direct strike a week," he said.
"Most of it has been about close air support and targets of opportunity. We have not used a single 'dumb' weapon on this deployment."
- Mission extended -
The latest attacks take to more than 1,450 the total number of bombs dropped by planes operating off the Truman since it left Norfolk, Virginia for the Gulf in mid-November.
The giant, nuclear-powered carrier, its 70-plus aircraft and its 5,500-strong crew had been due home in the middle of this month.
But President Barack Obama extended its mission by an additional 30 days as part of efforts to intensify the campaign to hit IS directly, destroy its revenue streams and embolden its enemies.
The extension has been billed as a reflection of the success Carrier Strike Group Eight (CSG 8 - the battle group centred on the carrier) has had in helping weaken IS to the point that it has now been pushed out of almost half the territory it once occupied in Iraq.
But the reasons for moving the Truman to waters off Syria's western coast are unclear.
Analysts suggest Washington may be sending a signal to Turkey that it does not need to use airbases there to influence events in Iraq and Syria. Or the show of strength could be intended for the eyes of Russia, whose warplanes are also engaged in Syria, in support of the Damascus regime.
- More action in Syria -
Operating out of the Mediterranean could provide valuable experience if the US is drawn into more active involvement in combatting IS-linked forces gaining a foothold in Libya.
"That could happen but that is not why we are here right now," said CSG 8's commander, Rear Admiral Bret Batchelder.
"The significance (of switching to the Mediterranean) is the illustration that we can operate anywhere in the world that we want to, to enforce strategic objectives."
Asked how he assessed the state of the campaign as his involvement nears an end, the Iraq and Afghanistan veteran said: "Yes, I feel like we are getting the job done, which is not just us, it is all of the 65 countries participating in the coalition."
As well as making life more comfortable aboard, out of the searing heat of the Gulf, the admiral says the move to the Mediterranean has led to his pilots undertaking more missions to Syria than previously.
Libya intercepts 117 Europe-bound migrants
Libya's coast guard on Tuesday intercepted 117 migrants on a boat bound for Europe, including six pregnant women, before taking them back ashore, an official said.
The group had set out from a beach near Garabulli, a town about 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the east of Tripoli, said Colonel Ashraf al-Badri.
More than 10,000 people have died crossing the Mediterranean to Europe since 2014, the United Nations said on Tuesday, as the European Union unveiled fresh plans to stem the migrant flow from Africa.
Illegal migrants sit on the dock at the Tripoli port after 117 migrants of African origins, including six pregnant women, were rescued by two coast guard boats off the coast of Libya on June 7, 2016 Mahmud Turkia (AFP)
Those intercepted on Tuesday were received by medics in Tripoli, before they were taken to accommodation in the centre of the Libyan capital.
"The 117 migrants, including six pregnant women, were intercepted off Garabulli and brought to a port in Tripoli by the coast guard's speedboats," Badri told AFP.
Badri did not disclose their nationality, but an AFP photographer said most were of African origin.
Following a rash of deadly shipwrecks in recent weeks which claimed the lives of hundreds of people, the UN refugee agency said the number of deaths at sea had risen sharply this year, with a record 2,814 people drowning since January.
Republican Ryan calls Trump remarks 'racist'
House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday described Donald Trump's criticism of a Mexican-American judge as "racist", but reiterated his support for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Trump claims that federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is handling a lawsuit against the now-defunct Trump University, is biased against him because of his Mexican heritage.
Trump has come under criticism by fellow Republicans for his remarks against Curiel, who was born in the United States of Mexican parents.
US House Speaker Paul Ryan, pictured in May 2016 in Washington, DC, says claiming a person cannot do the job because of their race is the textbook definition of a racist comment Nicholas Kamm (AFP/File)
"Claiming a person cannot do the job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment," Ryan told reporters.
"I think that should be absolutely disavowed. It's absolutely unacceptable."
Ryan however quickly pivoted to attack the likely Democratic presidential candidate and offer support for Trump.
"But do I believe that Hillary Clinton is the answer? No, I do not. Do I believe that Hillary Clinton is going to be the answer to solving these problems? I do not."
"I believe that we have more common ground on the policy issues of the day, and we have more likelihood of getting our policies enacted with him than we do with her," Ryan said of Trump.
Trump, who says he wants to build a wall on the border with Mexico, asserted in a interview published Thursday that Curiel has "an absolute conflict" of interest because of his "Mexican heritage" and because he is a member of a Mexican-American lawyers association.
UN under fire for removing Saudi-led coalition from blacklist
The United Nations was forced Tuesday to defend its decision to remove the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen from a blacklist of child rights violators after rights groups expressed dismay.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric insisted that no final decision had been taken, and that the coalition was taken off the list pending a review that is expected to be completed before August.
"I don't think it's a reversal of policy," Dujarric told reporters. "We will see what the review is and we will adjust the list as needed."
Yemeni loyalist forces and onlookers gather at the scene of a suicide attack targeting the police chief in the base of the Saudi-backed government on April 28, 2016 in Aden Saleh al-Obeidi (AFP/File)
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International blasted Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon over the decision, accusing him of caving in to Saudi pressure and damaging the world body's credibility.
In its annual report on children in armed conflict published Thursday, the United Nations added the coalition to its list of shame after concluding it was responsible for 60 percent of the 785 children killed in Yemen last year.
Saudi Arabia reacted angrily and demanded that the report be "corrected."
Saudi Ambassador Abdullah al-Mouallimi said the number of child deaths blamed on the coalition was "wildly exaggerated," and later proclaimed that the decision to be taken off the list was "irreversible."
Dujarric said the United Nations stands by the content of the report, but was willing to review information that the coalition "insists is important for our analysis."
"We stand by everything -- every fact and figure that is in the report," said the spokesman.
Human Rights Watch charged that Ban had capitulated to Saudi pressure after the United Nations itself had extensively documented the coalition's airstrikes on schools and hospitals in Yemen.
"As this list gives way to political manipulation, it loses its credibility and taints the secretary-general's legacy on human rights," HRW's deputy director Philippe Bolopion said.
Amnesty International slammed what it called the "shameful pandering" to the Saudi-led coalition.
"It is unprecedented for the UN to bow to pressure to alter its own published report on children in armed conflict," the head of Amnesty's UN office Richard Bennett said in a statement.
"Blatant pandering such as this undermines all of the UN's work to protect children caught up in war."
In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States "respected" the UN decision to review the report and had not lobbied on behalf of its Saudi ally.
While insisting Washington takes the safety of children on the battlefield seriously, he said that Riyadh should conduct its own review.
"Saudi Arabia has pledged to establish a commission to investigate credible reports of civilian casualties and deaths resulting from Saudi-led coalition airstrikes," he said.
"And they promised to clear a full and objective report on their findings. We're encouraging them to move forward with that as quickly as possible."
The coalition launched an air campaign in support of Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in March 2015 to push back Huthi rebels after they seized the capital Sanaa and many parts of the country.
The war has left some 6,400 people dead, with more than 80 percent of the population in desperate need of humanitarian aid, according to the UN.
The controversy over adding the Saudi-led coalition to the blacklist followed a similar uproar last year over the decision to exclude Israel over the deaths of 500 children in the war in Gaza.
US, India boost security alliance
Barack Obama and Narendra Modi vowed to transform skeletal US-India security relations into an "anchor of stability" at the White House.
Obama offered his guest a warm embrace, arguing it was "natural" that two of the world's largest democracies should cooperate.
The visit was another symbolic marker on India -- and Modi's -- long walk in from the cold.
US President Barack Obama shakes hands with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on June 7, 2016 Mandel Ngan (AFP)
Obama notably put his shoulder behind Modi's bid for access to missile technology and nuclear commerce.
The two leaders also finalized agreements on military logistics and sharing "terrorist screening information."
"The US-India defense relationship can be an anchor of stability," a joint statement declared.
There was also a step toward better cybersecurity cooperation, which experts say is crucial to protect outsourced US information technology.
For decades, US-India relations had been beset by lingering Cold War enmity and India's controversial development of a nuclear bomb.
In 2005, president George W. Bush begun the thaw by lifting a three-decade long moratorium on nuclear cooperation with India.
Obama went one step further, urging nuclear powers to readmit India to a group of countries permitted to trade sensitive nuclear materials.
"We discussed the progress that we have made around civil nuclear energy and I indicated our support for India becoming part of the nuclear suppliers group," Obama said.
That public display of support is likely to be noted in Beijing, which has been skeptical about India's readmission.
Beijing sees India as a potential regional rival and closer India-US relations as a potential check on its power.
Obama also hailed an agreement for US firm Westinghouse to build six nuclear reactors in India.
- Strange bedfellows -
When Obama entered the White House in 2009, Modi was effectively banned from visiting the United States for his role in anti-Muslim riots that killed hundreds.
Obama's leaves office with Modi transformed from persona non grata to celebrated guest.
This was his fourth visit to the United States.
On Wednesday Modi will address a prestigious joint meeting of Congress for the first time.
The speech will be the fifth such address by an Indian premier, and the first in more than a decade.
It comes at pivotal time, when the body is blocking the sale of F-16 fighters to India's arch rival Pakistan.
But turning warm words into concrete agreement has proven difficult.
"There is always a lot of happy talk," said Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center.
"The happy talk sometimes detracts from the fact that things do move along quite slowly."
A proposed bilateral investment treaty has languished for years, as New Delhi has taken a tough negotiating line.
Modi, who faces reelection in 2019, has pegged his political future on a reform agenda and boosting the economy.
He has also made nuclear energy a priority, in part to offset horrendous levels of air pollution.
Coal-fired power plants are a dominant power source.
But Modi has also been a reluctant backer of measures to tackle climate change.
India fears carbon reduction could entail a price tag that harms growth.
Obama said the two men had "discussed how we can as quickly as possible bring the Paris (climate) agreement into force."
But there appeared to be no firm agreement on when that would happen.
Tributes for Chinese peacekeeper killed in UN Mali mission
The chief of the UN mission in Mali promised extra support for personnel at a tribute ceremony Tuesday for the first Chinese peacekeeper killed among dozens who have died trying to stabilise the Sahel nation.
At least 65 peacekeepers have been killed since the mission's launch three years ago, the latest by jihadists targeting a UN camp with rockets and mortars in the northern city of Gao on May 31.
It is the deadliest active deployment for UN peacekeepers.
United Nations peacekeepers stand in front of Chinese UN peacekeeping forces camp on June 1, 2016 in Gao after Al-Qaeda's North African affiliate AQIM claimed responsibility for May 31 attacks
Mahamat Saleh Annadif paid his final respects to First Sergeant Shen Liangliang in Bamako, and underlined the "courage and commitment" of the nearly 400 Chinese peacekeepers serving in Mali.
China began sending troops to support the Mali mission, known as MINUSMA in 2013, carrying out security, engineering and medical work, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
Annadif said in a statement released by the mission he would "reinforce security measures and give our brave soldiers for peace the necessary equipment to allow them to better take on the challenges they face".
Also present were China's ambassador to Mali Lu Huiying, Danish commander of the Major-General Michael Lollesgaard, and Chinese general Su Guanghui.
Two other Chinese soldiers were flown to Dakar for medical treatment, Xinhua said, as their wounds were considered severe.
Al-Qaeda's North African affiliate AQIM and Islamist group Ansar Dine have both claimed attacks against MINUSMA, while protests have erupted against the force for what are viewed as unwarranted arrests.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Thursday the MINUSMA mission needed to add 2,500 troops to the 12,000-strong force along with more air assets and quick-reaction forces.
MINUSMA is already making use of drones and other technology to protect its bases.
Northern Mali has been the scene of repeated attacks since it fell under the control of three radical Islamist groups in 2012.
The rebels were largely ousted by an ongoing French-led military operation launched in January 2013, but they have continued to mount attacks on security forces from desert hideouts.
Who are the Democratic superdelegates?
Hillary Clinton on Monday hit the magic number of delegates needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination thanks to her wide support from the so-called superdelegates.
But who are they?
Answer: party heavyweights and elected officials who have the right to vote at the party's nominating convention in Philadelphia on July 25-28.
Hillary Clinton greets supporters during a rally at Long Beach City College on the final day of California campaigning, June 6, 2016 in Long Beach Jonathan Alcorn (AFP)
- How many superdelegates are there? -
Superdelegates represent about 15 percent of the total number of delegates to the convention. That means there are about 714 of them, according to the delegate count compiled by the Associated Press.
The Democratic Party does not release an official list of superdelegates.
The party's top elected officials are automatically given superdelegate status: 20 governors of states and territories; the mayor of Washington, DC; 45 senators and 193 members of the House of Representatives affiliated with the party.
To this group are added the more than 400 members of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
Lastly, there is a VIP list of about 20 "distinguished" Democrats who are superdelegates: President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and former DNC leaders.
- What is their role? -
The votes of the superdelegates are not official until they make their choice known at the convention in July. In order to know how they will vote, US media outlets have called each one of them during the presidential primary season.
By calling the last few superdelegates who had not committed to a candidate, the Associated Press on Monday said 571 of them were supporting Clinton, and only 48 were in the camp of her rival Bernie Sanders. Some remain undecided.
CNN offers a slightly different count: 572 for Clinton and 47 for Sanders.
But, as opposed to the pledged delegates whose votes are decided in the primaries and caucuses, superdelegates can change their minds.
Nancy Worley, the chair of the Democratic Party of Alabama and a superdelegate, on Monday confirmed her support for Clinton.
She said she had waited to commit herself as she sees the role of the superdelegates as a "broker at the end of a race if something goes wrong or if there's no clear nominee."
Only an extraordinary change in the status quo would make her change her mind, Worley told AFP.
- Controversy-
Sanders has contested the fact that superdelegates have been counted in pushing Clinton past the threshold for the nomination.
The Vermont senator says only the pledged delegates can be counted so far, as their commitment cannot be changed, and that the superdelegates can only be counted at the convention.
US says Assad vow to reconquer Syria 'discouraging'
The United States said Tuesday that Bashar al-Assad's vow to recapture "every inch" of Syria was discouraging and urged Russia and Iran to pressure their ally into respecting a ceasefire.
The Syrian leader made the threat in his first address to a newly-installed parliament in Damascus, calling into question his commitment to a UN-led peace process and a truce between government and opposition forces.
"We have no choice but victory," he said, to applause from a parliament elected under civil war conditions in a vote that Washington and Assad's other international critics have not recognized as legitimate.
A handout picture on June 7, 2016 shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad addressing the new parliament in Damascus
US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the belligerent speech was unsurprising and dubbed it "vintage Assad," adding that Washington would call on Russia, its co-chair of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), to restrain its ally.
"We still believe that Russia and Iran can at least appeal to those in the regime who still have influence on him to refrain from letting this political process, this cessation of hostilities, fall completely apart," Toner said.
"Again, there is nothing surprising in what he said today but, you know, it was discouraging."
President Barack Obama's spokesman Josh Earnest said Assad's determination to cling to power "only exacerbates the chaos and turmoil" and said Russia's President Vladimir Putin has the power to change his calculus.
"President Putin made a commitment to use that influence to get the Assad regime to abide by the cessation of hostilities," he said.
The ISSG, a 21-nation contact group that includes Assad foes like Saudi Arabia and friends like Iran as well as Washington and Moscow, supported a UN-led process to end Syria's five-year civil war through a negotiated deal.
Trump backs down under Republican fire in race row
Donald Trump on Tuesday climbed down under fire from Republican grandees in an explosive race row, insisting that days of belligerent attacks on a Mexican-American judge had been misconstrued.
The tycoon, who trails likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in national polls ahead of a November general election, has repeatedly claimed that Federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is handling a lawsuit against the now-defunct Trump University, is biased against him because his parents were born in Mexico.
"It is unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage," the presumptive Republican nominee for president said in a carefully worded but lengthy statement.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the San Jose Convention Center on June 2, 2016 Josh Edelson (AFP/File)
"I do not feel that one's heritage makes them incapable of being impartial," the 69-year-old billionaire backtracked.
Trump's statement came hours after House Speaker Paul Ryan, the most senior elected Republican in the country who endorsed his candidacy only last week, described his criticism of the judge as "racist."
"Claiming a person cannot do the job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment," Ryan told reporters. "I think that should be absolutely disavowed. It's absolutely unacceptable."
Mark Kirk, a Republican senator from Illinois, broke ranks and said he was un-endorsing Trump, calling his remarks "dead wrong" and "un-American."
"I cannot and will not support my party's nominee for president," Kirk said. "I have concluded that Donald Trump has not demonstrated the temperament necessary to assume the greatest office in the world."
- 'No place for racism' -
Trump inflamed the US political establishment but emerged victorious in the Republican race to run for president with an controversial campaign denouncing illegal immigration, promising to build a wall along the southern US border and branding Mexicans criminals, as well as insulting women and the media.
He asserted in an interview published last week that Curiel has "an absolute conflict" of interest because of his "Mexican heritage" and because he is a member of a Mexican-American lawyers association.
With Clinton poised to make history as the first woman nominee for president of a major US party, Republicans rounded on Trump in public for questioning the bedrock of American democracy -- an impartial judiciary.
Despite his climb down, Trump insisted he was justified in asking whether he will receive a fair trial, currently slated to start weeks after the November general election.
Trump said "unfair and mistaken rulings," the judge's "reported" associations and his status as an Obama appointee, meant it was fair to raise questions regarding his impartiality given his "unique circumstances as a nominee of the Republican party" and given the issues on which he has campaigned.
He lashed out at the media for reporting "one inaccuracy after another" in the Trump University litigation, insisted that the students were given a "valuable education" and claimed he would win the case.
- 'Get on message' -
Other top Republicans came forward to rebuke the businessman, whose campaign has been stuffed with insults against women, Muslims, the disabled, the press and replete with provocative foreign policy proclamations.
The tycoon's former White House rival Jeb Bush fired back after his attempt at damage control, tweeting: "Donald Trump should retract his comments, not defend them. There is no place for racism in the GOP, or this country."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whom Trump recently boasted of being able to rally round his candidacy, urged him to "get on message" immediately.
"My advice to our nominee would be to start talking about the issues that the American people care about and to start doing it now," he told reporters.
"In addition to that, it's time to quit attacking various people that you competed with or various minority groups in the country and get on message."
Even New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who was the first high-profile Republican to endorse Trump -- while denying his "friend" was a racist -- suggested he needed to take stock.
"But whether he can learn anything or not, only time will tell about that."
Christie followed Ryan's lead in pivoting to attack Clinton -- accusing her of acting unjustifiably "high and mighty" towards her Republican rival.
"Do I believe that Hillary Clinton is the answer? No, I do not," Ryan said.
"I believe that we have more common ground on the policy issues of the day, and we have more likelihood of getting our policies enacted with him than we do with her," the speaker said of Trump.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan on June 7, 2016 in Washington, DC Mark Wilson (Getty/AFP)
US jury convicts five jail staff in inmate beating
A New York jury convicted five correction officers Tuesday of savagely beating an inmate after a more than two-month trial that spotlighted abuse at one of the largest municipal jails in America.
Five of six officers were found guilty on all counts relating to the beating of Jahmal Lightfoot, then a 27-year-old inmate convicted of armed robbery, and the coverup of his assault on July 11, 2012.
A sixth defendant, who was charged over the coverup at Rikers Island was acquitted, said a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office in the Bronx borough.
Eliseo Perez (C), assistant chief for security at Rikers Island correctional facility, arrives with his lawyer Robert J Feldman (L) for the trial in New York on March 23, 2016
The jury returned the verdicts after nine officers went on trial in March. Judge Steven Barrett is yet to rule on a verdict for the three other defendants who opted for a bench trial.
The convicted defendants, all former or current correction officers, face up to 15 years in prison when sentenced on September 6.
They were found guilty on charges that included first-degree attempted gang assault, first-degree attempted assault, first-degree falsifying business records and official misconduct.
The verdicts may strengthen calls from elected Democratic officials to close the complex, which houses thousands of inmates, amid a national campaign urging criminal justice reform.
"Anyone who commits a crime of violence or corruption on Rikers Island will be brought to justice," said Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark.
The verdict "sent a clear message that a uniform and a badge does not absolve anyone from committing a crime and that even a criminal behind bars deserves to be treated like a human being," Clark added.
Correction officers beat and kicked Lightfoot in the head "like an animal," prosecutors told the jury last week, summing up their case.
"They never thought in a million years that they would be here when they schemed and planned this cover-up," assistant Bronx district attorney Lawrence Piergrossi told the Bronx Supreme Court.
Lawyers for the defendants declined to present any witnesses, arguing that the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
Prosecutors say Eliseo Perez, an assistant chief of security, wanted to make an example out of Lightfoot, ordering officers to "kick his fucking teeth in" in response to yet another inmate slashing at a time of record violence at Rikers Island that made officers look bad.
Perez colluded with Gerald Vaughn, a captain, and subordinate officers carried out the assault, Piergrossi said.
They allegedly threw Lightfoot to the ground in a search pen shielded from surveillance cameras and where no one could witness the assault.
By the time Lightfoot saw a doctor, his eyes were swollen shut, he had trouble breathing and blood was coming out of his nose and mouth, said Piergrossi.
One of the defendants claimed he was grazed in the assault.
US obesity epidemic grows in all ages
The US obesity epidemic has worsened across the board to include 40 percent of women, 35 percent of men and 17 percent of children and teens, studies released Tuesday found.
Efforts to encourage Americans to lose weight have achieved precious little, the research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.
Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, one study examined data for 2,638 adult men and 2,817 women with average ages of 47 and 48, respectively.
Overall, 38 percent of adults and 17 percent of teens in the United States are obese
Another study looked at 40,780 children and teens aged two to 17.
Overall, 38 percent of adults and 17 percent of teens in the United States are obese.
Obesity has been linked to cardiovascular problems, diabetes and some kinds of cancer. It was defined as having a BMI (body mass index) of 30 or more for adults.
Another third of Americans are considered overweight, with a BMI of 25-29.
The research also indicated that in 2013-2014, more than five percent of men and almost 10 percent of women were morbidly obese, with a BMI over 40.
Morbid obesity affected 5.8 percent of children.
The research also found that although obesity decreased among children aged two to five over the past 25 years, it surged among teens.
Men who smoked tended to be thinner, the study found. But there was no apparent link between smoking and weight for women.
In general, three decades of fighting obesity in the United States have not been successful, the authors wrote.
The black man Donald Trump pointed out at a campaign rally as 'my African-American' claims he is now the target of harsh criticism
Gregory Cheadle believes the comments he has been receiving are more racist than the remark by the Republican presidential nominee during a campaign rally in California last Friday.
Cheadle insisted he wasn't at the event to show his support for Trump and that he is considering other possibilities as well, including Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Scroll down for video
Donald Trump pointed out Gregory Cheadle as 'my African-American' during a campaign event in California last Friday. He know claims he is the target of criticism and comments more racist than that made by the presumptive Republican nominee
But he didn't take offense over Trump's remark. In fact, he had Trump autograph two campaign placards at the rally in Redding, California.
'You would not believe the hate-filled messages that I get. Those messages, by those people claiming that Trump is a racist, are infinitely far more damning and racist than Trump's statement ever could have been misconstrued to portray,' Cheadle said in a telephone interview.
Trump pointed Cheadle out while he was in the midst of describing a past campaign event in which Trump said a black supporter punched a protester wearing a 'Ku Klux Klan outfit.'
He interrupted himself to point to Cheadle, who was holding a Veterans for Trump poster.
'Oh, 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, 59, a Republican who is running a long-shot campaign for Congress, said he originally stopped by to hand out his own campaign literature but went in after a friend gave him credentials to get near the front of the crowd.
Someone else gave him the Trump campaign sign to shade his bald head from a blazing sun in triple-digit temperatures that caused several people to collapse.
It wasn't until hours later that Cheadle realized Trump's remark had gone viral. He said much of the criticism has come from fellow blacks who don't know him personally.
'Social media is ripping me apart,' he said Monday. 'I think it's this mindset of, if you're a black man, you can't do certain things.
Cheadle, 59, a Republican who is running a long-shot campaign for Congress, said he originally stopped by to hand out his own campaign literature but went in after a friend gave him credentials to get in the crowd
'You shouldn't be at a Trump rally. You shouldn't do it. And I'm not that way. ... I tend to think for myself and not have someone think for me.
'But as a consequence that takes me out of the black, quote-unquote, arena and places me in a white arena and so oftentimes blacks take offense at that.'
Cheadle said he considers actions by Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to be racist because they supported get-tough crime measures in the 1990s that led to the mass incarceration of black men.
Cheadle said he is not upset with his critics. 'I understand their anger because they don't know the whole story,' he said.
Cheadle said he considers actions by Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to be racist because they supported get-tough crime measures in the 1990s that led to the mass incarceration of black men
The Latest: Judge in Stanford sex assault case called fair
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) The Latest on a six-month jail sentence for a former Stanford University swimmer convicted of sex assault (all times local):
4:10 p.m.
A judge who sentenced a former Stanford University swimmer to six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman used to play lacrosse at the school a few miles down the road from his courtroom, where attorneys say he's respected and fair.
This June 27, 2011, photo shows Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky, who drew criticism for sentencing former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner to only six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. The swimmer's father, Dan Turner, ignited more outrage by writing in a letter to the judge that his son already has paid a steep price for "20 minutes of action." Dan Turner wrote that his son's conviction on three felony sexual assault charges has shattered the 20-year-old, who has lost his appetite. The letter was made public over the weekend by a Stanford law professor who wants Persky removed from office because of the sentence. (Jason Doiy/The Recorder via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
But Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky has been vilified on social media as too lenient on a privileged athlete from a top-tier swimming program. Some are urging he be removed from the bench.
Persky said in court that he was following the recommendation of the county's probation department in sentencing 20-year-old Brock Turner.
County deputy public defender Gary Goodman says Persky is "an absolutely solid and respected judge."
Court spokesman Joe Macaluso says the judge is barred from commenting because Turner is appealing his conviction.
___
1 p.m.
The father of a former Stanford University swimmer who received six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman has drawn outrage by saying his son has already paid a steep price for "20 minutes of action."
Dan Turner said in a letter to the judge that the conviction has shattered 20-year-old Brock Turner, who has lost his appetite.
The letter was made public over the weekend by a Stanford law professor who wants Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky removed from office over the sentence.
Persky, a Stanford graduate, sentenced Brock Turner to six months in county jail and three years' probation after the victim read an emotional statement in court that got widespread attention.
Two petitions on Change.org also push for a recall of Persky, who's running unopposed for re-election Tuesday.
This undated booking photo provided by Santa Clara County Sheriff shows Brock Turner a former Stanford University swimmer who received six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. Dan Turner, Brock's father has ignited more outrage over the case by saying his son already has paid a steep price for "20 minutes of action" and said in a letter to the judge that the conviction of his son, on three felony sexual assault charges has shattered the 20-year-old, who has lost his appetite. (Santa Clara County Sheriff via AP)
This June 27, 2011, photo shows Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky, who drew criticism for sentencing former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner to only six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. The swimmer's father, Dan Turner, ignited more outrage by writing in a letter to the judge that his son already has paid a steep price for "20 minutes of action." Dan Turner wrote that his son's conviction on three felony sexual assault charges has shattered the 20-year-old, who has lost his appetite. The letter was made public over the weekend by a Stanford law professor who wants Persky removed from office because of the sentence. (Jason Doiy/The Recorder via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Italian consulate employee in Venezuela killed
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Authorities say an Italian national who arrived in Venezuela just three months ago to work in the European nation's consulate has been violently murdered.
Mauro Monciatti's body was found in his apartment in an upscale Caracas neighborhood by a co-worker who became concerned when he didn't show up for work. There are no details about how he was killed but Italy's Consul General Mauro Lorenzini said Monday that he suffered from violent trauma.
He said that Monciatti arrived three months ago to work as the consulate's administrator. It's not clear if he's a career diplomat.
Equipment arrives to aid search of men trapped in landslide
CRYSTAL SPRINGS, Miss. (AP) Officials trying to recover the bodies of two men buried when a gravel pit caved in Friday say they hope heavier pumps will help dig out the men, who were buried under 10 to 12 feet of mud along with their equipment.
That's after earlier attempts Saturday and Sunday with a crane failed to lift out the dump truck and track hoe that James "Dee" Hemphill and Emmitt Shorter were driving when a quicksand-like slurry engulfed their vehicles while they were working at the Green Brothers Gravel Co. pit near Crystal Springs.
"I can only again stress our sympathy and prayers to those dear family members who have kept this vigil, how heartbreaking it must be," Gov. Phil Bryant told reporters during a Monday afternoon briefing after meeting with family members at the gravel pit in rural Copiah County.
The heavier pumps arrived Monday evening from Alabama, escorted by Mississippi State Troopers. U.S Mine Safety and Health Administration spokeswoman Amy Louviere said that pumping would begin once the system is installed and checked.
William O'Dell, MSHA assistant district manager, told reporters Monday that the agency is working to recover the bodies without further injuries and will investigate the incident later. The agency is supervising about 25 people working on recovery efforts.
"As far as Green Brothers' violation history, at this point we haven't really focused on the history of that," O'Dell said. "We're solely focused on our recovery operations."
MSHA has cited the particular mine for 26 "significant & substantial" violations since 1993, according to online records. Green Brothers, based in Crystal Springs, also operates other gravel mines.
Norman Ford, an assistant vice president of Green Brothers, read a statement Monday but took no questions.
"Please continue to ask for comfort for these families and strength for us to press on for the only mission that matters, the recovery of our guys and their loved ones," Ford said, his voice breaking.
The landslide happened around noon Friday, and some family members initially questioned why it took so long for recovery efforts to begin. Copiah County Emergency Management Director Randle Drane said that local personnel tried to rescue the men.
"We responded, we came, we did the best effort with the equipment and manpower we had," Drane said. "But under the situation we had there was really nothing we could do."
Mine workers built a road to the buried men's location and were sucking out water with other pumps Monday while they awaited more equipment, including an excavator that can reach longer distances. O'Dell said 24-hour work is planned until Hemphill and Shorter are recovered.
Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Director Lee Smithson described the wet mud that entombed the men as "unprecedented."
"It had the consistency, essentially of quicksand. And so there hadn't been, that we could go and find, any kind of rescue operation involving a track hoe and an articulated dump truck in that kind of consistency of slurry."
___
Japanese plutonium arrives in SC, despite Haley's objections
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) A shipment of plutonium from Japan arrived Monday at a South Carolina nuclear site, despite objections from Gov. Nikki Haley to her state being used as storage for such materials.
In a news release, the National Nuclear Security Administration confirmed that 331 kilograms of plutonium had arrived at the Savannah River Site near Aiken. Federal officials also said that a shipment of highly enriched uranium has also been transferred to the Y-12 National Security Complex near Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Savannah River Site Watch, a watchdog group that monitors activity related to the site, had estimated the plutonium would arrive in South Carolina last month. The shipment consists of plutonium supplied to Japan in the 1960s and 1970s for nuclear reactor research purposes.
Haley, whose office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday, has a long-running dispute with the federal government over the long-term storage of nuclear materials. Earlier this year, she demanded that U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz stop or reroute the shipment, writing, "It is imperative to the safety of our citizens and our environment that South Carolina not allow this to happen. ... God bless."
About a week after that letter, Haley claimed victory when Moniz told her that 6 metric tons of plutonium stored at the site would ultimately be permanently stored at a New Mexico facility that is slated to be up and running later this year. The shipment that arrived Monday is part of that amount.
Tons of plutonium have accumulated over the years at the former nuclear weapons complex, where a facility to process such materials into commercial nuclear reactor fuel, as part of a nonproliferation agreement with Russia, remains incomplete. South Carolina is already suing the federal government over what the governor has called its broken promise to the state to finish the mixed-oxide fuel facility, which is billions over budget and behind schedule.
Because the facility wasn't operational by a Jan. 1 deadline, the federal government was supposed to remove 1 metric ton of plutonium from South Carolina or pay fines of $1 million a day for "economic and impact assistance" up to $100 million yearly until either the facility meets production goals or the plutonium is taken elsewhere for storage or disposal.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in February, seeks the daily fines and removal of the plutonium.
___
Last known living 9/11 search dog dies in Texas at age 16
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) The last known living 9/11 search dog has died in a Houston suburb at age 16.
Bretagne (BRIHT'-nee), a golden retriever, was euthanized Monday at a veterinary clinic in the Houston suburb of Cypress, according to a statement from the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service.
Bretagne was 2 years old when she and her handler, Denise Corliss, were part of the Texas Task Force 1 sent to the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan after the terrorist attack brought down the buildings on Sept. 11, 2001. They spent 10 days at the scene searching rubble for human remains.
This Sept. 11, 2002, photo shows, K9 Search Specialist Denise Corliss and her search dog Bretagne in Houston, Texas. Bretagne the last known living 9/11 search dog has died in a Houston suburb at age 16. Bretagne was 2 years old when she and her handler, Corliss, were part of the Texas Task Force 1 sent to the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan after the terrorist attack brought down the buildings on Sept. 11, 2001. (D Fahleson/Houston Chronicle via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
About two-dozen first responders lined the sidewalk leading to the veterinarian's office and saluted Bretagne as she walked by for the final time Monday, The Houston Chronicle reported. An American flag was draped over her body as she was carried out of the facility.
Bretagne retired from active duty at age 9. At 15, she was taken by Corliss to the 9/11 memorial and participated in an interview with Tom Brokaw of NBC News. Corliss told NBC's "Today" that in recent weeks Bretagne began experiencing kidney failure and slowing down.
Bretagne was nominated for a Hero Dog Award from the American Humane Association in 2014. An online biography posted by the organization says that Bretagne served as an ambassador for search and rescue dogs in retirement, often visiting elementary schools.
Bretagne and Corliss met with former President George H.W. Bush at his presidential library late last year.
A post on the Texas Task Force 1 Facebook page remembers "the valiant effort and dedication to finding a victim trapped in a destroyed building that Bretagne showed us on a regular basis."
Denise Corliss, handler for Bretagne, the last surviving search and rescue dog from 9/11, wipes tears as Bretagne's body was loaded into Texas Task Force 1 vehicle, as members of the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department salute, after Bretagne was brought into the Fairfield Animal Hospital, Monday, June 6, 2016, in Cypress, Texas, to be euthanized. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Bretagne the last surviving search and rescue dog from 9/11 is walked by her handler Denise Corliss past a flank of members of the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department, as she was brought into the Fairfield Animal Hospital, Monday, June 6, 2016, in Cypress, Texas to be euthanized. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
lots of absent kids, but fewer school suspensions
WASHINGTON (AP) New government numbers offer a mixed snapshot of progress for the nation's schoolchildren with worrisome figures on how many students miss school, stubborn disparities on discipline, but encouraging strides in cutting the overall number of suspensions.
The Education Department report found 6.5 million students nationwide were chronically absent in the 2013-14 school year. That's more than one out of every ten students missing at least three full weeks of school. It's the first time the department has collected student absenteeism data.
On a positive note, the survey found a significant drop in school suspensions for K-12 students, down nearly 20 percent from the previous reporting period. But, the report also suggests sharp disparities between how black and white students are disciplined in school as well as the types of advanced coursework offered in high school to black and Latino children.
"A systemic failure to educate some groups of children as well as others tears at the moral fabric of the nation," Education Secretary John B. King Jr., said in a phone call with reporters. "What sets the U.S. apart from any other country is the idea that opportunity is universal. These data show that we still fall far short of that ideal."
Here's a look at the numbers released Tuesday from a biannual survey of all public schools and districts in the country.
_____
CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM
"One of the very worrying data points is that 13 percent of all students are chronically absent," King said in an interview with The AP. "Even the best teacher can't be successful with a student who's not in school."
The rates were higher for high school students. More than 3 million were chronically absent nearly one in five high school students.
The department defines chronically absent as missing 15 or more days during the school year, increasing their chances of falling behind and dropping out of school.
Black and Latino high school students had about the same rate of absenteeism, 22 percent and 20 percent, respectively. Rates for white students were not provided in the initial release of numbers from the department's Civil Rights Data Collection.
The Obama administration began a program last fall, called Every Student, Every Day, It partners with states and local groups in 30 communities around the country to identify mentors to help students who have been chronically absent get back on track.
_____
SCHOOL DISCIPLINE-THE GOOD NEWS
Across the country, 2.8 million K-12 students received one or more out-of-school suspensions. That's a nearly 20 percent drop from the number reported two years ago.
"A 20 percent reduction, overall, in suspensions is breathtaking," said Catherine E. Lhamon, assistant secretary for civil rights. That's a "tremendous testament to our educators' commitment to making sure the students are in school and can learn."
_____
SCHOOL DISCIPLINE-THE BAD NEWS
Black preschool children are 3.6 times as likely to get one or more out-of-school suspensions as their white counterparts, the report said. Black children represent 19 percent of preschoolers, yet they account for 47 percent of pre-school kids getting one or more suspensions. The comparison to white students: they make up 41 percent of preschoolers, but represent only 28 percent of pre-school children receiving one or more suspensions.
"These disparities beg for more districts to follow the lead of places like Baltimore and Chicago, which are dramatically limiting the use of suspensions in early grades," Lhamon said.
The report also found that 1.6 million students attend a school with a sworn law enforcement officer, but not a school counselor.
_____
COLLEGE-READY COURSEWORK
Nationwide, almost half of high schools offered classes in calculus, and more than three-quarters offered Algebra II. But black and Latino students didn't have the same access to high-level math and science as other students.
According to the report, 33 percent of high schools with substantial black and Latino enrollment offered calculus. That compares to 56 percent of high schools with low numbers black and Latino children that offered calculus. Similar gaps were seen for physics, chemistry and Algebra II.
Inequities were seen in Advanced Placement courses, too. While black and Latino students made up 38 percent of students in schools that offer AP courses, only 29 percent of them were enrolled in at least one AP course.
_____
Hong Kong teen activist acquitted over 2014 China protest
HONG KONG (AP) A Hong Kong court on Tuesday acquitted teen pro-democracy leader Joshua Wong of obstructing police at a protest two years ago against China's tightening hold on the city.
Wong tweeted that he and three others were found not guilty. It's the first verdict in a number of court trials Wong is facing.
The 19-year-old activist captured world headlines when he led pro-democracy street protests in late 2014 against Beijing's decision to restrict elections in Hong Kong, a semiautonomous Chinese region.
Pro-democracy leader Joshua Wong, second right, speaks to media outside a district court in Hong Kong, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A Hong Kong court has acquitted teen pro-democracy leader Joshua Wong of obstructing police at a protest two years ago against China's tightening hold on the city. A magistrate on Tuesday found Wong and three others not guilty, according to a post on the Facebook page of his political party, Demosisto. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
The obstruction charges, which carried a maximum two-year sentence, stemmed from a separate protest months earlier in which Wong and the others set fire to an oversized cardboard prop representing a "white paper" policy document issued by China's communist leaders.
"The result of this trial is already proof that it's just a political prosecution," Wong tweeted after the verdict.
The document angered many in Hong Kong because it asserted Beijing has "comprehensive" authority over Hong Kong. It also said that many Hong Kongers had a "lopsided" view of the "one country, two systems" principle that outlines the former British colony's relationship with Beijing.
Prosecutors said police officers moved in to try to douse the flames with bottles of water but were blocked by Wong and another student protest leader, Nathan Law, according to local media reports. However, the defense team argued that they were pushed from behind by the crowd and couldn't hear police, the reports said.
Two other activists who appeared alongside Law and Wong were also cleared.
Wong is also accused in a separate trial of inciting student demonstrators to storm a courtyard at Hong Kong government headquarters in September 2014, leading to a standoff between thousands of supporters and police, who responded with tear gas. The verdict in that case is expected at the end of the month.
He also faces trial on contempt charges for allegedly blocking police trying to clear a protest zone in Hong Kong's Mong Kok district in November 2014.
___
Online:
Joshua Wong: twitter.com/joshuawongcf
___
Follow Kelvin Chan at twitter.com/chanman
Abandoned Japanese boy leaves hospital; no charges planned
TOKYO (AP) A Japanese boy who was found nearly a week after he was abandoned in a forest by his parents as punishment was released from a hospital Tuesday and said he was feeling fine.
Seven-year-old Yamato Tanooka was met with camera flashes and cheers from dozens of people when he appeared outside the hospital in the city of Hakodate on the northern island of Hokkaido.
"I am fine," Yamato said when a reporter asked how he was feeling.
Yamato Tanooka, who was found after being abandoned by his parents as punishment in a forest, waves as he leaves a hospital in Hakodate on the northern island of Hokkaido Tuesday, June 7, 2016. The seven-year-old boy was discharged Tuesday afternoon. (Daisuke Suzuki/Kyodo News via AP) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT
Police don't intend to press child neglect charges against his parents, police spokesman Shunsuke Kudo said.
Yamato was found in a military training ground hut last Friday, six days after he was reported missing.
His parents initially told police their son had disappeared while they were collecting plants in the forest, but his father, Takayuki Tanooka (Tah-noh-oh-kah), later admitted he had made Yamato get out of the car and planned to leave him briefly in the forest as punishment for throwing rocks at people and cars earlier that day.
When Tanooka returned, his son was gone. Kyodo News service reported that the boy said he meant to follow the car but walked in the wrong direction, eventually reaching the training ground hut.
The punishment drew public scrutiny, generating debate in Japan over what is considered excessive in disciplining children.
Kudo said police are considering referring the case to a children's welfare center. Miki Kurotatsu with the Hakodate Children's Welfare Center declined to comment on whether the center had received a report from police, saying it was a private matter.
Though he had no food and just drank water during the ordeal, doctors said Yamato only had mild dehydration and minor bruises on an arm and his legs, Japanese media reported.
Wearing a baseball cap and a gray jacket over a T-shirt, Yamato waved at the hospital crowd while holding a greeting card in the shape of an oversized baseball.
Asked what he would like to do, he said he wants to play baseball. He added he would like to go back to school soon and is looking forward to participating in a school sports day.
Before leaving the hospital, his father bowed to the cameras and said, "Thank you." He had told reporters after his son was found that he regretted his action.
Yamato Tanooka, who was found after being abandoned by his parents as punishment in a forest, waves as he leaves a hospital in Hakodate on the northern island of Hokkaido Tuesday, June 7, 2016. The seven-year-old boy was discharged Tuesday afternoon. (Daisuke Suzuki/Kyodo News via AP) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT
Adviser's serial firings show 'big problem' at brokerages
SCOTRUN, Pa. (AP) He was fired from one company, then another, then another. And still Anthony Diaz continued handling other people's money.
The smooth-talking securities salesman affiliated with 11 investment firms in 15 years, getting booted from five of them and resigning from another amid customer complaints and rules infractions. Yet his checkered employment history never seemed to slow him down on his way to earning millions by pushing high-fee, high-risk "alternative investments."
Now under federal criminal indictment for fraud he has pleaded not guilty and with dozens of former clients lodging complaints, Diaz illustrates what can go wrong when investment firms hire problem brokers.
In this May 26, 2016 photo, Bruce and Gail Kilby pose for a photo outside their home in Scotrun, Pa. The couple won a $220,000 arbitration award against their former financial adviser, Anthony Diaz. (AP Photo/Michael Rubinkam)
It happens with alarming frequency. An academic study from March found that 15 to 20 percent of the brokers at some of the largest financial services firms in the country, including one that employed Diaz, have disciplinary records. Moreover, nearly half of financial advisers fired for misconduct find a new job in the industry within a year and are at greater risk of reoffending, according to researchers at the universities of Chicago and Minnesota.
The researchers also found that brokers with a propensity for ripping off their customers tend to migrate to certain firms, suggesting the firms "specialize" in misconduct and "cater to unsophisticated consumers."
"A lot of these guys are real hustlers," said Jacob Zamansky, a securities lawyer who represents investors, explaining why firms would take a chance on an unethical broker. "It's all about the money, and it's a risk-reward. ... This is a big problem, perhaps one of the biggest."
The issue has caught the attention of federal lawmakers and regulators.
"It's disappointing that some of these hiring practices continue to take place within the industry," said Nancy Condon, spokeswoman for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Wall Street's self-policing body.
___
'A TOTAL, TOTAL RIP-OFF'
Pennsylvania retiree Vincent Sylvester, 69, said he invested nearly all of his $500,000 nest egg with Diaz after the financial adviser guaranteed him returns of 8 percent and more. Sylvester said Diaz inflated his net worth to qualify him for the investments, didn't explain the risk and failed to tell him his money would be tied up for years.
Now he and his wife are making barely $400 a month on their savings a return of less than 1 percent and their retirement is less comfortable than it might have been. Sylvester is dealing with bladder cancer on top of his financial stress.
"The whole thing was a total, total rip-off," said Sylvester, who worked in the real estate department of a homebuilder. "It took me a lot of years to save this money, and a lot of hard work, and unfortunately you've got guys like him who don't really care."
Federal prosecutors allege Diaz advised his clients to put their money in real estate investment trusts and equipment leasing partnerships, types of higher-risk, illiquid "alternative investments" geared to wealthier, more sophisticated investors.
He had them sign blank documents, then he falsified their net worth, income and risk tolerance to make it appear they met the suitability requirements of the products, according to a grand jury indictment.
"I had no idea they were super high-risk," said Bruce Kilby, 67, of Scotrun, a retired pharmaceutical company worker who invested about $350,000 with Diaz. The financial adviser, Kilby said, "was a very fast talker, and when you asked questions that he didn't want to answer, he more or less talked down to you."
Kilby won a $220,000 arbitration award against Diaz, who has challenged it in state court.
Diaz's attorney, Darren Gelber, said his client rejects the allegations.
"It is his very, very strong and fervent belief that everything he did was proper and legal," Gelber said.
___
SEEKING ANSWERS
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas have asked Wall Street regulators to address what they're doing about firms that routinely employ brokers with a history of fleecing clients.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has until June 15 to respond, but agency chief Richard Ketchum has already warned investment firms that routinely employ high-risk advisers to expect "searching questions" about "the special supervisory steps they have taken to ensure no further bad actions."
New federal regulations, meanwhile, would require brokers to put their clients' interest ahead of their own when giving retirement investment advice. Wall Street lobbying groups sued last week to block the rules, arguing they're too burdensome and subject brokers to too much liability.
Even with so many rule-breaking brokers still in business, Diaz's serial firings stand out. He's the only one of the nation's 650,000 licensed brokers to have been fired more than three times, according to an analysis conducted for The Associated Press by Securities Litigation and Consulting Group Inc.
Why was he able to land on his feet so many times?
"It's about greed," said attorney Albert Murray Jr., who represents about 30 former clients of Diaz. "Here's a guy who's making lots of money and has a big portfolio of clients all over the country. That's why they did it."
First Allied Securities Inc., the firm with which Diaz was affiliated when prosecutors say he began committing fraud a decade ago, said in a statement that it thoroughly vets prospective hires and expects them to be ethical and professional.
But the company routinely employs advisers who have been disciplined for misconduct nearly one in five, according to the Chicago and Minnesota researchers. First Allied called the study flawed.
___
WHY HIRE HIM?
After First Allied permitted Diaz to resign in 2009, Diaz was fired from several other firms before his last stop at IBN Financial Services, a brokerage in Liverpool, New York. Its CEO, Richard Carlesco, said in an interview that Diaz's big roster of clients made him an attractive hire.
Given his employment history, "it was a stretch for me," said Carlesco, whose small brokerage had a squeaky-clean record. "I'd not had a rep like this before."
But Carlesco said he thought Diaz had been terminated by his earlier firms for "stupid reasons" that largely related to issues of customer service, not because he was selling clients on bad investments. At the time of his 2012 hire by IBN, Diaz had no open consumer complaints against him, Carlesco said.
He said he called FINRA, the industry regulator, about Diaz, and FINRA officials advised Carlesco to put Diaz on "heightened supervision." Carlesco installed a staffer in Diaz's office in the Pocono Mountains and sent his compliance officer there every week.
"Trust me, I just didn't jump into this blind," he said.
In retrospect, Carlesco said, he regrets getting involved. The financial adviser cost the firm more in legal and compliance fees than it earned from his clientele, Carlesco said.
Most of the other companies that affiliated with Diaz after he resigned from First Allied did not return messages from the AP.
With Diaz now barred from giving investment advice, he has entered another sales profession real estate. He was licensed in November and works for a commercial real estate firm.
His staff biography touts his "solid background" in finance.
"Anthony has his (clients') best interest at heart," the biography says.
In this May 26, 2016 photo, Bruce Kilby points to an exhibit in an arbitration case against his former financial adviser, Anthony Diaz, at Kilbys home in Scotrun, Pa. Kilby and his wife, Gail, won a $220,000 arbitration award against Diaz. (AP Photo/Michael Rubinkam)
In this May 26, 2016 photo, Bruce Kilby points to an exhibit in an arbitration case against his former financial adviser, Anthony Diaz, at Kilbys home in Scotrun, Pa. Kilby and his wife, Gail, won a $220,000 arbitration award against Diaz. (AP Photo/Michael Rubinkam)
Palestinian plane bomber seeks release pending deportation
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) The United States has a "concrete plan" to deport a Jordanian-born Palestinian who put a bomb on a passenger flight in 1982, a government lawyer said Tuesday, arguing he should stay in custody until then because he remains a terrorist threat.
An attorney for Mohammed Rashed called the claim "another in a long line of delay tactics" by the government and argued for Rashed's immediate release from immigration custody, where he has been since finishing a prison sentence in early 2013.
Both sides want Rashed removed from the United States, the lawyers told U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara, who did not immediately rule on whether Rashed should remain locked up in the meantime. Rashed is being held at a federal detention facility outside Buffalo.
FILE - In this Dec. 12, 1991 file photo Mohammed Rashed, center, convicted of the 1982 PanAm jetliner bombing, listens to his interpreter, left, during his appeals court hearing in Athens, Greece. Rashed, the Jordanian-born Palestinian whos been in immigration custody since he finished a prison sentence for putting a bomb on a plane in 1982 is expected to appear in a Buffalo courtroom in his bid for release. Rashed has been held at a facility outside Buffalo while the government has explored options to deport him. A federal court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, June 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Aris Saris, File)
U.S. Department of Justice lawyer Christopher Dempsey said in court the Rashed case is "absolutely a front-burner case."
"The government is really prioritizing this case and has a concrete plan in place," he said.
He said a Department of State working group would focus for the next 30 days on long-running efforts to have Rashed sent to his stated destination of choice, the West Bank. If that falls through, officials would move to a Plan B with hopes of identifying five other options by the end of June, he said.
Rashed pleaded guilty in 2002 to setting off a bomb on Hawaii-bound Pan Am Flight 830, killing a Japanese teenager and injuring 15 other people. As part of the plea agreement, the government said it would work to deport Rashed to the country of his choice after he finished serving his sentence on murder and conspiracy charges.
But efforts to deport Rashed have stalled amid diplomatic complications. Dempsey said a Department of State official plans to raise the case during an upcoming visit to Israel, which controls access into and out of the territory.
Rashed's attorney Robert Tucker called the prolonged post-prison detention unconstitutional and said a Washington, D.C., halfway house where Rashed has support would be "the perfect place for him."
"He's entitled to be released today," Tucker said. "He's been entitled to be released for a long, long time."
Rashed was not in court for the hearing.
Tucker asked the judge to require government updates on removal efforts every one or two months to ensure things move forward. He said freeing Rashed in the meantime would speed the process.
Dempsey said the directors of the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have weighed in and, "There's just no way the government is comfortable with Mr. Rashed being out on the streets under any conditions."
Rashed was a top lieutenant to Abu Ibrahim, a Palestinian bomb maker who formed 15 May, a terrorist faction that took responsibility for several attacks in the 1980s. In 1982, Rashed, on a flight to Japan, tucked a bomb beneath a seat cushion, pulled the pin, engaged a timer and then disembarked when his flight landed in Tokyo. The device exploded as the plane continued on to Honolulu, killing the 16-year-old boy who sat in Rashed's seat on the flight's next leg.
Rashed was arrested in Greece in 1988 and was prosecuted there. He was released in 1996 but was arrested in 1998 by U.S. authorities in another country and was sent to Washington for prosecution.
Besides the Pan Am bombing, Rashed has admitted involvement in four other bombings or attempted bombings, Dempsey said.
___
Malawi sees surge in attacks on albinos; victims speak out
LILONGWE, Malawi (AP) She is haunted daily by the image of the decapitated head of her 9-year-old son. Police asked Edna Cedrick to identify it after the boy, who had albinism, was snatched from her arms in a violent struggle.
The death in February was one in a recent surge in killings and abductions of people with albinism in this southern African country. They are targeted for their body parts, which are sold to be used in potions made by witch doctors who claim they bring wealth and good luck.
At least 18 albino people have been killed in Malawi in a "steep upsurge in killings" since November 2014, and five others have been abducted and remain missing, according to a new Amnesty International report released Tuesday. The toll is likely much higher because many killings in rural areas are never reported, according to the report. Malawi police also have recorded cases where the bodies of people with albinism have been illegally exhumed.
Edna Cedrick,26,left, holds her surviving albino son after his twin brother who had albinism was snatched from her arms in a violent struggle in this Tuesday, May, 24, 2016 photo in Machinga about 200 kilometres north east of Blantyre Malawi. Cedrick says she is haunted daily by images of the decapitated head of her 9 year old son.At least 18 Albino people have been killed in Malawi in a "steep upsurge in killings" since November 2014, and five others have been abducted and remain missing, a new Amnesty International report released Tuesday says. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
Malawian police say the growing violence comes after neighboring Tanzania imposed tough measures against such trade in January 2015. The United Nations has reported several killings of albinos in Burundi in recent years as well.
Cedrick, the mother of the murdered boy, recounted his abduction to The Associated Press last month while holding the murdered boy's surviving twin brother, who also has albinism. In the middle of the night, she said, she woke to the sound of people kicking down the door of the house. Her husband was away.
"Before I could understand what was happening, they sliced the mosquito net and grabbed one of the twins," the 26-year-old said, tears in her eyes. "I held on to him by holding his waist, at the same time shielding the other with my back."
When they could not overpower her, one assailant hacked her in the forehead with a machete, she said. "This dazed me, and I lost hold of my son and he was gone. I shouted for help, but when my relatives rushed to our house, they were gone."
The boy's twin keeps asking where his brother is, she said. She lies, saying he will return.
On the same day of the interview, a deadly attack was carried out in another part of Malawi on 38 year-old Fletcher Masina, an albino father of four. When his body was found, the limbs were missing.
"The macabre trade is also fueled by a belief that bones of people with albinism contain gold," the rights group says, noting another mistaken belief is that sex with a person with albinism can cure HIV. The report also points out widespread discrimination against people with albinism, including by family members.
Activists in Malawi recently took to the streets to protest, marching to parliament to present a petition calling for strict penalties for people who attack or kill people with albinism. President Peter Mutharika has since established a committee to look into the issue, which he called disgusting.
"That anybody could think that you can be rich by using bones or something like that because some witch doctors have said so. ... That's stupidity," he told a political rally on June 1.
Police concede that a lack of security has caused persons with albinism, and their parents, to live in fear of attack.
"In rural areas where these attacks are rampant, we do not have enough police officers," the officer in charge in Machinga district, Isaac Maluwa, said.
When an AP crew in Machinga district stopped to talk to a man riding a bicycle and carrying a 3-year-old albino boy, he charged at the crew with a knife.
The man, 31-year-old Razik Jaffalie, later explained that he is in dire straits after giving up his work as a bicycle taxi operator to protect his son.
"My life has come to a standstill," Jaffalie said, then declared: "Anyone who will come to try to snatch my child from me will have to kill me first."
Amid the fears, there are stories of optimism. Mina Godfrey, a 13-year-old girl with albinism in Machinga district, said she placed first in her latest school exams and hopes to become a lawyer. But this comes after she survived being abducted from her bed at night by her uncle.
"I was deep in sleep when next thing I realized was that I was outside the house, naked, while heavy rains pouring down on me," she said. "When I screamed, my uncle grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and I choked."
She tried to flee but was tied to a bicycle that her attackers used to transport her.
"But when we went to the next stop, they untied me to negotiate with the buyer and started discussing before moving away a little bit, giving me an opportunity to run away again," she said. She escaped to a nearby house, where she squatted until the owner found her in the morning.
Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's director for southern Africa, concluded: "The time has come for the government of Malawi to stop burying its head in the sand and pretending that this problem will just go away."
Mina Godfrey, 13, is seen in class at her school in this Tuesday, May, 24, 2016 photo in Machinga about 200 kilometres north east of Blantyre Malawi. Godfrey says she was placed first in her recent school exams and hopes one day to become a lawyer.But this comes after she survived been abuducted from her bed at night by her uncle. At least 18 Albino people have been killed in Malawi in a "steep upsurge in killings" since November 2014, and five others have been abducted and remain missing, a new Amnesty International report released Tuesday says. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
Razik Jaffalie transports his two sons from school in this Monday, May, 23, 2016 photo in Machinga about 200 kilometres north east of Blantyre Malawi. Jaffalie gave up his work as a bicycle taxi operator to protect his 3 year old albino son,Cassim, in a country where there has been an increase in albinism attacks. At least 18 Albino people have been killed in Malawi in a "steep upsurge in killings" since November 2014, and five others have been abducted and remain missing, a new Amnesty International report released Tuesday says. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
Cassim Jaffalie,3, stands with his friends at their family home in this Monday, May, 23, 2016 photo in Machinga about 200 kilometres north east of Blantyre Malawi.His father Razik Jaffalie gave up his work as a bicycle taxi operator to protect his son in a country where there has been an increase in albinism attacks. At least 18 Albino people have been killed in Malawi in a "steep upsurge in killings" since November 2014, and five others have been abducted and remain missing, a new Amnesty International report released Tuesday, June 7, 2016 says. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
Edna Cedrick,26, holds her surviving albino son after his twin brother who had albinism was snatched from her arms in a violent struggle in this Tuesday, May, 24, 2016 photo in Machinga about 200 kilometres north east of Blantyre Malawi. Cedrick says she is haunted daily by images of the decapitated head of her 9 year old son.At least 18 Albino people have been killed in Malawi in a "steep upsurge in killings" since November 2014, and five others have been abducted and remain missing, a new Amnesty International report released Tuesday says. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
Mina Godfrey, 13,right ,holds hands with her best friend Charity Kamwendo at her school in this Tuesday, May, 24, 2016 photo in Machinga about 200 kilometres north east of Blantyre Malawi. Godfrey says she was placed first in her recent school exams and hopes one day to become a lawyer.But this comes after she survived been abuducted from her bed at night by her uncle. At least 18 Albino people have been killed in Malawi in a "steep upsurge in killings" since November 2014, and five others have been abducted and remain missing, a new Amnesty International report released Tuesday says. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
Edna Cedrick,26, holds her surviving albino son after his twin brother who had albinism was snatched from her arms in a violent struggle in this Tuesday, May, 24, 2016 photo in Machinga about 200 kilometres north east of Blantyre Malawi. Cedrick says she is haunted daily by images of the decapitated head of her 9 year old son.At least 18 Albino people have been killed in Malawi in a "steep upsurge in killings" since November 2014, and five others have been abducted and remain missing, a new Amnesty International report released Tuesday, June 7 2016 says. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
Cassim Jaffalie,3, is seen with his friends at their family home in this Monday, May, 23, 2016 photo in Machinga about 200 kilometres north east of Blantyre Malawi.His father Razik Jaffalie gave up his work as a bicycle taxi operator to protect his son in a country where there has been an increase in albinism attacks. At least 18 Albino people have been killed in Malawi in a "steep upsurge in killings" since November 2014, and five others have been abducted and remain missing, a new Amnesty International report released Tuesday, June 7, 2016 says. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
Razik Jaffalie carrys his two sons in this Monday, May, 23, 2016 photo in Machinga about 200 kilometres north east of Blantyre Malawi. Jaffalie gave up his work as a bicycle taxi operator to protect his 3 year old albino son,Cassim,left, in a country where there has been an increase in albinism attacks. At least 18 Albino people have been killed in Malawi in a "steep upsurge in killings" since November 2014, and five others have been abducted and remain missing, a new Amnesty International report released Tuesday June 7, 2016 says. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
Mina Godfrey, 13, plays with her friends at her school in this Tuesday, May, 24, 2016 photo in Machinga about 200 kilometres north east of Blantyre Malawi. Godfrey says she was placed first in her recent school exams and hopes one day to become a lawyer.But this comes after she survived been abuducted from her bed at night by her uncle. At least 18 Albino people have been killed in Malawi in a "steep upsurge in killings" since November 2014, and five others have been abducted and remain missing, a new Amnesty International report released Tuesday says. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
London's powerful financial hub: EU exit would be nightmare
LONDON (AP) Gina Miller needs to look no further than her own small investment firm to decide that leaving the European Union would be bad for Britain.
She has an analyst who is Italian: would he need a visa? She has customers who are British retirees living in Spain: will they return home to keep health care and liquidate their euro investments? Her firm, SCM Direct, works closely with a French bank: would that relationship continue?
"It would be a nightmare," she said suggesting the impact could be similar to the 2008 financial crisis. "Why would we do this to our country again? And this time it would be of our own making."
FILE - In this file photo dated Friday, Feb. 1, 2013, Tower Bridge, centre, and the Canary Wharf business district in the distance as the River Thames flows through London, are seen through a window during the official opening of "The View" viewing platform at the 95-storey Shard skyscraper in London, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. From the international banks in the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf to the traditional home of Britains financial industry in the City of London, bankers and money managers across the capital are watching the upcoming June 23 referendum on EU membership with trepidation. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, FILE)
From the international banks in the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf to the traditional home of Britain's financial industry in the City of London and the hedge funds of Mayfair, bankers and money managers across the capital await the June 23 referendum on EU membership with trepidation. Many fear a vote to leave would undermine London's position as the world's pre-eminent financial center and damage an industry that underpins the British economy.
Jamie Dimon, chief executive of U.S. banking giant JPMorgan Chase, underscored those concerns last week when he appeared alongside U.K. Treasury chief George Osborne to make the case for remaining part of the EU single market, which with 500 million people is the world's biggest economy. In case of a British exit, or Brexit, from the EU, JPMorgan would have to move staff to the continent to ensure it could continue to serve clients who want to invest there, Dimon said. Other global banks with customers in the rest of the EU would be in a similar situation.
"A vote to leave would be a terrible deal for the British economy," he said. "At a minimum, a Brexit will result in years of uncertainty, and I believe that this uncertainty will hurt the economies of both Britain and the European Union."
Britain has been the gateway to the EU for many banks, brokerages and fund managers for decades. In addition to having a trusted legal system and institutions that operate in English, the language of international finance, London is in the right time zone to access most of the Earth during its working day and has a reputation for delivering top-notch financial services. The industry is also surrounded by an ecosystem of expertise lawyers, accountants and consultants to support it.
Some 60 percent of all European headquarters of non-EU firms are based in the U.K., according to TheCityUK, which lobbies on behalf of the financial industry. The U.K. hosts more headquarters of non-EU firms than Germany, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands put together.
London's advantages are such that people in favor of leaving the EU, such as Peter Hargreaves, co-founder of brokerage firm Hargreaves Lansdown, think it will retain its luster no matter what. He poured scorn on the notion that it could be easily replicated.
"In addition to the cost of building the infrastructure for a rival to the City of London one has also got to work out whether people will want to live in another financial center," he said. "They certainly wouldn't want to live in Paris although Paris is a pretty city purely because of the tax rates, and in all honesty they wouldn't want to live in Frankfurt because actually there isn't even the housing there to house them. People want to live in London."
London's financial sector has complained about a number of EU rules, such as limits on bankers' bonuses and an attempt to impose a tax on financial transactions.
Those considerations, however, are largely trumped by concerns that leaving the EU would make access to the other 27 EU countries more difficult, many analysts say.
The principle of "passporting" currently allows any firm registered in one EU country to operate in any other member state without facing another layer of regulation. It's the same principle that allows exporters to ship their goods to any EU country free of tariffs. Losing that freedom is a particular concern for the many foreign firms who use London not only as a financial hub but as an entry point into the EU.
"I can treat a customer in France or Germany or Italy exactly the same way I can treat a customer in Birmingham. That is extremely rare," said Phillip Souta, head of U.K. public policy at the global law firm of Clifford Chance.
While the U.K. could probably negotiate a new arrangement for trade in goods, it would be much more complicated to hammer out a deal on services, said Angus Armstrong, chief of macroeconomics at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. The situation has no precedent no country the size of the U.K. has ever left such an integrated economic union so the outcome of any talks can't be predicted.
And anything that curtails Britain's financial industry has implications for the U.K. economy as a whole, not just the bankers who were pilloried for taking home million-pound bonuses while they fueled the global financial crisis.
TheCityUK notes that the sector supports the economy by providing financing for businesses, overseeing retirement savings, providing mortgages and making insurance payments. Related professional services include legal, accounting and management consulting firms.
The financial sector accounts for 11.8 percent of economic output and employs 2.2 million people, or 7 percent of the nation's workforce, according to TheCityUK.
The industry's importance is even more obvious in Britain's trade figures. While the country posted an overall trade deficit of 34.4 billion pounds ($50 billion) in 2014, it generated a 72 billion pound surplus from exporting financial and related services.
"I don't think people quite understand what goes on in the City," said Vicky Pryce, an economist and former joint head of the U.K. government economic service. "A strong financial sector employs a lot of people and is vital for the health of the economy."
The City of London the square mile roughly bounded by the walls of the original Roman city has been the financial heart of Britain since the 17th century, when merchants meeting at local coffee houses formed Lloyd's of London and the London Stock Exchange. It has survived wars, famines and fires and would likely survive any outcome from the EU vote. The question is in what form.
Jeffrey Evans, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, whose office has promoted The City as place to do business since the Magna Carta was signed in 1215, says leaving the EU in not a risk worth taking.
Speaking in an opulent drawing room that feels more like a museum, with Dutch masters lining the walls, Evans noted that leaving the EU would be irreversible.
"It's a very important matter," he said. "This is a decision that will affect future generations."
FILE - In this file photo dated Friday, Feb. 1, 2013, London mayor Boris Johnson poses as he looks out over London, during an event to officially open the "The View" viewing platform at the 95-storey Shard skyscraper in London, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. From the international banks in the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf to the traditional home of Britains financial industry in the City of London, bankers and money managers across the capital are watching the upcoming June 23 referendum on EU membership with trepidation.(AP Photo/Matt Dunham, FILE)
Gina Miller, founding partner and head of sales & marketing of the financial company SCM Driect, in London, Monday June 6, 2016. Miller's investment firm is based in London but predicts turmoil with her own staff if Britain votes to leave the European Union. From the international banks in the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf to the traditional home of Britains financial industry in the City of London, bankers and money managers across the capital are watching the upcoming June 23 referendum on EU membership with trepidation. (AP Photo / Jonathan Shenfield)
Peter Hargreaves, co-founder of financial brokerage firm Hargreaves Lansdown, poses in Bristol, England, Monday June 6, 2016. Hargreaves says if Britain votes to leave the EU, London will retain its luster no matter what, and he pours scorn on the notion that it could be easily replicated elsewhere. From the international banks in the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf to the traditional home of Britains financial industry in the City of London, bankers and money managers across the capital are watching the upcoming June 23 referendum on EU membership with trepidation. (AP Photo/jo Kearney)
The Lord Mayor of London Jeffrey Evans poses for a portrait in his office at Mansion House in the City of London, Thursday, June 2, 2016. Evans says leaving the EU in not a risk worth taking. From the international banks in the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf to the traditional home of Britains financial industry in the City of London, bankers and money managers across the capital are watching the upcoming June 23 referendum on EU membership with trepidation. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
The Lord Mayor of London Jeffrey Evans poses for a portrait in his office at Mansion House in the City of London, Thursday, June 2, 2016. Evans says leaving the EU in not a risk worth taking. From the international banks in the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf to the traditional home of Britains financial industry in the City of London, bankers and money managers across the capital are watching the upcoming June 23 referendum on EU membership with trepidation. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Gina Miller, founding partner and head of sales & marketing of the financial company SCM Private, reacts during an interview with The Associated Press in London, Monday June 6, 2016. Miller's investment firm is based in London but predicts turmoil with her own staff if Britain votes to leave the European Union. From the international banks in the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf to the traditional home of Britains financial industry in the City of London, bankers and money managers across the capital are watching the upcoming June 23 referendum on EU membership with trepidation. (AP Photo / Rhodri Davies)
Woman breaks silence among Fukushima thyroid cancer patients
KORIYAMA, Japan (AP) She's 21, has thyroid cancer, and wants people in her prefecture in northeastern Japan to get screened for it. That statement might not seem provocative, but her prefecture is Fukushima, and of the 173 young people with confirmed or suspected cases since the 2011 nuclear meltdowns there, she is the first to speak out.
That near-silence highlights the fear Fukushima thyroid-cancer patients have about being the "nail that sticks out," and thus gets hammered.
The thyroid-cancer rate in the northern Japanese prefecture is many times higher than what is generally found, particularly among children, but the Japanese government says more cases are popping up because of rigorous screening, not the radiation that spewed from Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant.
In this Saturday, May 28, 2016 photo, a young woman, who requested anonymity because of fears about harassment, speaks to The Associated Press in a town in Fukushima prefecture, northeast of Tokyo. She is among 173 people diagnosed with thyroid cancer in Japans Fukushima, but shes the first to speak to media more than five years after the nuclear disaster there. That near-silence highlights the fear Fukushima thyroid-cancer patients have about being the nail that sticks out, and thus gets hammered. (AP Photo/Yuri Kageyama)
To be seen as challenging that view carries consequences in this rigidly harmony-oriented society. Even just having cancer that might be related to radiation carries a stigma in the only country to be hit with atomic bombs.
"There aren't many people like me who will openly speak out," said the young woman, who requested anonymity because of fears about harassment. "That's why I'm speaking out so others can feel the same. I can speak out because I'm the kind of person who believes things will be OK."
She has a quick disarming smile and silky black hair. She wears flip-flops. She speaks passionately about her new job as a nursery school teacher. But she also has deep fears: Will she be able to get married? Will her children be healthy?
She suffers from the only disease that the medical community, including the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, has acknowledged is clearly related to the radioactive iodine that spewed into the surrounding areas after the only nuclear disaster worse than Fukushima's, the 1986 explosion and fire at Chernobyl, Ukraine.
Though international reviews of Fukushima have predicted that cancer rates will not rise as a result of the meltdowns there, some researchers believe the prefecture's high thyroid-cancer rate is related to the accident.
The government has ordered medical testing of the 380,000 people who were 18 years or under and in Fukushima prefecture at the time of the March 2011 tsunami and quake that sank three reactors into meltdowns. About 38 percent have yet to be screened, and the number is a whopping 75 percent for those who are now between the ages of 18 and 21.
The young woman said she came forward because she wants to help other patients, especially children, who may be afraid and confused. She doesn't know whether her sickness was caused by the nuclear accident, but plans to get checked for other possible sicknesses, such as uterine cancer, just to be safe.
"I want everyone, all the children, to go to the hospital and get screened. They think it's too much trouble, and there are no risks, and they don't go," the woman said in a recent interview in Fukushima. "My cancer was detected early, and I learned that was important."
Thyroid cancer is among the most curable cancers, though some patients need medication for the rest of their lives, and all need regular checkups.
The young woman had one cancerous thyroid removed, and does not need medication except for painkillers. But she has become prone to hormonal imbalance and gets tired more easily. She used to be a star athlete, and snowboarding remains a hobby.
A barely discernible tiny scar is on her neck, like a pale kiss mark or scratch. She was hospitalized for nearly two weeks, but she was itching to get out. It really hurt then, but there is no pain now, she said with a smile.
"My ability to bounce right back is my trademark," she said. "I'm always able to keep going."
She was mainly worried about her parents, especially her mother, who cried when she found out her daughter had cancer. Her two older siblings also were screened but were fine.
Many Japanese have deep fears about genetic abnormalities caused by radiation. Many, especially older people, assume all cancers are fatal, and even the young woman did herself until her doctors explained her sickness to her.
The young woman said her former boyfriend's family had expressed reservations about their relationship because of her sickness. She has a new boyfriend now, a member of Japan's military, and he understands about her sickness, she said happily.
A support group for thyroid cancer patients was set up earlier this year. The group, which includes lawyers and medical doctors, has refused all media requests for interviews with the handful of families that have joined, saying that kind of attention may be dangerous.
When the group held a news conference in Tokyo in March, it connected by live video feed with two fathers with children with thyroid cancer, but their faces were not shown, to disguise their identities. They criticized the treatment their children received and said they're not certain the government is right in saying the cancer and the nuclear meltdowns are unrelated.
Hiroyuki Kawai, a lawyer who also advises the group, believes patients should file Japan's equivalent of a class-action lawsuit, demanding compensation, but he acknowledged more time will be needed for any legal action.
"The patients are divided. They need to unite, and they need to talk with each other," he told AP in a recent interview.
The committee of doctors and other experts carrying out the screening of youngsters in Fukushima for thyroid cancer periodically update the numbers of cases found, and they have been steadily climbing.
In a news conference this week, they stuck to the view the cases weren't related to radiation. Most disturbing was a cancer found in a child who was just 5 years old in 2011, the youngest case found so far. But the experts brushed it off, saying one wasn't a significant number.
"It is hard to think there is any relationship," with radiation, said Hokuto Hoshi, a medical doctor who heads the committee.
Shinsyuu Hida, a photographer from Fukushima and an adviser to the patients' group, said fears are great not only about speaking out but also about cancer and radiation.
He said that when a little girl who lives in Fukushima once asked him if she would ever be able to get married, because of the stigma attached to radiation, he was lost for an answer and wept afterward.
"They feel alone. They can't even tell their relatives," Hida said of the patients. "They feel they can't tell anyone. They felt they were not allowed to ask questions."
The woman who spoke to AP also expressed her views on video for a film in the works by independent American filmmaker Ian Thomas Ash.
She counts herself lucky. About 18,000 people were killed in the tsunami, and many more lost their homes to the natural disaster and the subsequent nuclear accident, but her family's home was unscathed.
When asked how she feels about nuclear power, she replied quietly that Japan doesn't need nuclear plants. Without them, she added, maybe she would not have gotten sick.
___
Ash's video interview:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpmdZYCRIZfvTtTE1sbY3ynaGsfDYmNWn
___
Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/yuri-kageyama
In this Saturday, May 28, 2016 photo, a young woman, who requested anonymity because of fears about harassment, speaks to The Associated Press in a town in Fukushima prefecture, northeast of Tokyo. She is among 173 people diagnosed with thyroid cancer in Japans Fukushima, but shes the first to speak to media more than five years after the nuclear disaster there. That near-silence highlights the fear Fukushima thyroid-cancer patients have about being the nail that sticks out, and thus gets hammered. (AP Photo/Yuri Kageyama)
In this Saturday, May 28, 2016 photo, a young woman, who requested anonymity because of fears about harassment, smiles as she speaks to The Associated Press in a town in Fukushima prefecture, northeast of Tokyo. She is among 173 people diagnosed with thyroid cancer in Japans Fukushima, but shes the first to speak to media more than five years after the nuclear disaster there. There arent many people like me who will openly speak out, said the woman. Thats why Im speaking out so others can feel the same. I can speak out because Im the kind of person who believes things will be OK. (AP Photo/Yuri Kageyama)
FILE - In this March 24, 2011 file photo, a young evacuee is screened at a shelter for leaked radiation from the tsunami-ravaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima, northeast of Tokyo. The thyroid-cancer rate in the northern Japanese prefecture is many times higher than what is generally found, particularly among children, but the Japanese government says more cases are popping up because of rigorous screening, not the radiation that spewed from the power plant. (AP Photo/Wally Santana, File)
7 decades later, Nevada WWII vet awarded Purple Heart
GARDNERVILLE, Nev. (AP) More than seven decades after he fought in the Battle of the Bulge, a 92-year-old World War II veteran from northern Nevada has been awarded the Purple Heart.
Russell Rodgers of Gardnerville served as a private first class in the Army's 101st Airborne's 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment.
The long wait for his medal caused in part by the loss of his records in a fire in Chicago came to an end over the weekend at a family celebration at the senior living center where he lives about 45 miles south of Reno.
In this Saturday, June 4, 2016 photo, U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Russell Rodgers pins a Purple Heart on his 92-year-old grandfather PFC Russell S. Rodgers, more than 70 years after the World War II veteran fought in the Battle of the Bulge, at Brookdale Senior Living in Gardnerville about 45 miles south of Reno. (Brad Coman/The Record Courier via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
"I joined the Airborne to see if they were crazy or brave, and I've learned that they are both," Rodgers told The (Gardnerville) Record Courier http://tinyurl.com/hk6vazt ).
"Being a part of them is a dream come true for me when I thought I wouldn't even get into the military," he said. "This is just icing on the cake, to be awarded this."
One of the perks of waiting so long was that his own grandson got to pin the medal on his grandfather's jump jacket. His namesake, Army Sgt. First Class Russ Rodgers, is a Green Beret.
"I told him that I was going to be crying all day. Having him pin me was so awesome," the senior Rodgers said. "I am still having trouble sleeping. Every time I try to sleep, I see all of the people there. I never expected any of this. It is so overwhelming."
Fighting the Germans in the frozen forests of Belgium, Rodgers received severe frostbite, earning him nearly three months in an English hospital and almost costing him both of his feet.
Rodgers' daughter, Debbie Prioiello, started arranging for family to fly in from across the country, including Tennessee and Colorado, to attend the ceremony when she first got word it had been approved about two months ago. His granddaughter, Kelsey Sedell, is a staff sergeant in the 101st as a flight paramedic, and her husband is also with the 101st in the infantry in pilot training.
"This was something we didn't want to just hand to him. We wanted to make it special. We are very proud of him," Prioiello said.
"It was such an emotional day," she said. "This was a long time coming."
___
Information from: Gardnerville Record-Courier, http://www.recordcourier.com
In this Saturday, June 4, 2016 photo, U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Russell Rodgers, standing, shakes hands with his 92-year-old grandfather PFC Russell S. Rodgers after pinning a Purple Heart on him more than 70 years after the World War II veteran fought in the Battle of the Bulge, at Brookdale Senior Living in Gardnerville about 45 miles south of Reno. (Brad Coman/The Record Courier via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
China pledges to cut steel glut, avoid race to devalue yuan
BEIJING (AP) China promised to rein in production of steel that is flooding global markets and work with Washington to enforce North Korea nuclear sanctions, as high-level talks between the superpowers ended Tuesday with no announcements of progress on simmering disputes in the South China Sea.
Envoys from the two sides also didn't agree on what to do about China's aluminum producers, among the bloated industries Washington and other trading partners complain are dumping exports too cheaply, hurting foreign competitors and threatening jobs.
The two-day annual Strategic & Economic Dialogue concluded with both sides acknowledging disagreements on significant issues including human rights. But the world's biggest economic powers repeatedly stressed their desire for friendly, productive relations.
Chinese President Xi Jingping, right, greets U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry prior to a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Tuesday, June 7, 2016. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)
"While efforts over the past several days cannot resolve our concerns, they do represent real progress," U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said.
For its part, Washington vowed to boost its savings rate and investment, especially in infrastructure. The American side said it would pursue "fiscal sustainability," a reference to narrowing its yawning budget deficits.
China's commitment to persist with reforms to make its economy more balanced included shrinking its vast steel industry and opening its financial sector wider to U.S. companies, Lew told reporters.
Commercial tensions are growing. The U.S. and other countries feel Beijing has responded to a glut of unneeded supply by encouraging low-priced exports.
China's government announced plans this year to shrink state-owned steel and coal producers at a cost of millions of jobs. But that will take time, and the flood of low-cost steel has prompted protests by European steelworkers and was cited by Tata in its decision to sell money-losing British operations that employ 20,000 people.
Washington has imposed anti-dumping tariffs and is investigating if Chinese mills are using stolen U.S. technology. The European Union has launched its own probe into possible dumping.
Lew cited some action from Beijing to address the concerns. Beijing, he said, promised to avoid policies that might encourage steel production growth and to wind down financially moribund "zombie companies. He said Chinese officials also agreed to cooperate in a possible global steel forum to discuss industry issues.
There was no indication, however, that Beijing would change the pace of its overhaul, highlighting the limited impact of U.S. pressure on basic Chinese policies.
On Monday, the Chinese finance minister, Lou Jiwei, said expectations that Beijing could abruptly transform its industry were unrealistic.
"To some extent, the worst is over," said Tian Yuan, an economist for the China Institute for Strategy, a Beijing research center. He predicted continued progress by Beijing to reduce excessive capacity.
Beijing also agreed for the first time to allow U.S. banks to join the growing number of institutions outside China that are allowed to clear transactions denominated in the country's tightly controlled currency, the yuan.
And Chinese officials indicated no push for a sustained weakening of the yuan against the dollar, Lew said, adding that they also indicated they wouldn't engage in "competitive devaluations" or use the exchange rate to help China's exporters.
On the strategic side, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pointed to scant concrete progress on sensitive issues ranging from maritime security to North Korea.
A joint statement didn't even mention the South China Sea, where China and its neighbors have conflicting claims to territory and possible oil and gas resources.
"We didn't agree on everything," Kerry said. Still, the top American diplomat emphasized the importance of cooperation, saying the U.S. and China had probably "the most consequential bilateral relationship of nations in the world."
Chinese President Xi Jinping echoed that theme.
"Our common interests outnumber our differences," Xi told Kerry, Lew and other U.S. officials. "We need to respect each other's core interest and major concerns, and on that basis try to work together to seek solutions."
On North Korea, Kerry said U.S. and Chinese experts would study how to enforce U.N. anti-nuclear sanctions approved in response to the North's development of nuclear weapons and missile technology.
In the South China Sea, Kerry appealed for negotiations and "a peaceful resolution based on the rule of law." Just last weekend, Beijing said it would ignore an upcoming international arbitration decision in a dispute with the Philippines. China also has conflicting claims with Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
State Councilor Yang Jiechi said Beijing wants to solve disagreements through negotiation among "the countries involved." That would exclude the United States.
"China has every right to uphold its territorial sovereignty," Yang said.
Human rights also were a focus.
American officials said significant time was devoted to a new law on nongovernmental organizations, which could severely limit the operations of foreign business chambers and groups helping lawyers and activists in China.
It puts foreign NGOs under direct police supervision and requires them to state where their money comes from and how it is spent. Those deemed to be subverting the state would be banned.
Kerry said he received assurances from Xi that China would remain open for business, and would continue opening itself up to the outside world. "We have to sort of show some patience," the secretary said.
Yang said the law would protect the "legal rights and interests" of nongovernment groups.
"As long as they abide by Chinese laws, the activity of foreign NGOs in China will not be affected," he said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gestures as he speaks during the plenary session of the 7th annual U.S.-China High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange at the National Museum in Beijing, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during the US - China High Level Consultation on People to People Exchange at the National Museum in Beijing, China, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. (Saul Loeb, Pool Photo via AP)
Chinese President Xi Jingping, right, talks to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Tuesday, June 7, 2016. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)
Chinese President Xi Jingping, right, greets U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry prior to a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Tuesday, June 7, 2016. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)
Chinese President Xi Jingping, right, greets U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry prior to a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Tuesday, June 7, 2016. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)
Germany sees 55,000 asylum applications in May
BERLIN (AP) Germany's interior ministry says 55,259 asylum applications mostly by Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis were filed in the country in May.
The figure represents an increase of 113 percent compared with the same month in 2015.
The high number is partly due to the lag between migrants' arriving in Germany and formally applying for asylum.
Last year German authorities registered almost 1.1 million arrivals of people who claimed to be fleeing war or persecution.
Toward the end of 2015 hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers were arriving monthly.
The number of new arrivals has decreased in recent months due to the closure of borders in southeastern Europe and Turkey.
Migrants stuck in Greece grow to 57,458, on a technicality
ATHENS, Greece (AP) The number of refugees and other migrants trapped in Greece has grown in a day by about 5,000 to 57,458 after officials started counting people in a U.N. housing program.
Most have been stuck in the financially struggling country since a series of Balkan border closures stopped migratory flows from Turkey to Europe's prosperous heartland.
Greek immigration officials said Tuesday that they started including in their daily reports 5,700 people in rented accommodation arranged by the U.N. refugee agency for greater accuracy.
Afghan migrants stranded in Greece, pray in front of a docked ferry at the port of Piraeus , near Athens on the first day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan on Monday, June 6, 2016. During Ramadan, the holiest month in Islamic calendar, Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex from dawn to dusk. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
The Balkan border controls, and an agreement between the European Union and Turkey to return migrants reaching Greece illegally from the Turkish coast, have radically reduced migrant arrivals in Greece.
More than 1 million people entered the country from Turkey in just over a year before the deal.
Migrant family loses son at sea in trip from Libya to Italy
SICULIANA, Italy (AP) The Jaqali family was crammed into the metal fishing boat, packed with more than 700 migrants on their way from Libya to Italy. Father, mother and daughter squeezed together at the front of the bow, while the two sons were split up on either side.
When help finally came, they all got off the boat except for the oldest son, Mohammed. He couldn't move and waved to the others, motioning: I will follow you.
That was the last they saw of him. As people scrambled to get off, the boat lurched violently from side to side. Then it tipped over. The Jaqalis watched helplessly from afar as those left behind, like crawling ants, fell straight into the water.
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)
The Jaqalis are among more than 20,000 people who have made the perilous sea journey from North Africa to Europe in overcrowded boats so far this year. Some 2,500 died or went missing at sea up from 1,800 in the same period last year, according to the United Nations refugee agency. Estimates for those dead from the Jaqalis' boat alone go up to 250.
Rashid Jaqali, a 45-year-old Kurd from northern Syria, had moved his family to Libya so that the Kurdish militia couldn't recruit his sons. But Libya's chaos quickly spread, and Islamic State militants inched closer to the family's refuge in the city of Zawiya. With none of the children schooled and the father not getting paid for his work, life in Libya became even worse than in Syria.
The family decided to move to Germany, where they had relatives. Jaqali paid off his debts, tied up loose ends and forked out about $1,200 to a smuggler.
Mohammed, 17, prepared his own backpack; he liked to dress well. He took a selfie with his new haircut, and promised his sister a camera when they got to Germany. He had no friends in Libya to say goodbye to.
His mother, Fatma, stuffed another backpack, keeping her jewelry well protected.
"The enemy is behind you, and the sea is in front of you. Where is the escape?" asked Rashid. "The sea is the escape."
Just after midnight, hundreds of migrants gathered in a warehouse with metal gates, where their smugglers had brought them. The smugglers took the migrants to the beach and shoved 60 or 70 people at a time into a small inflatable boat meant for 20.
The inflatable ferried them to a larger fishing boat moored a few kilometers offshore. The Africans were housed in the bottom, near the engine, with no windows and access to above only through a well-guarded ladder. Other young men and women went in the upper and middle decks, and the few families on board sat in front.
Despite protests from the passengers, the smugglers overloaded the boat. When one woman complained, a smuggler told her, May you all die.
The Jaqalis couldn't sit together. Rashid could see Mohammed and 15-year-old Yehia and gestured occasionally, but no movement was allowed so as not to tip the boat.
By 10 a.m., after six hours, the engine finally stopped. When help from the Italians arrived, relief turned to mayhem. The rescuers threw life vests into the water, and the young men on board swarmed to the same spot to grab them. The commotion started the boat rocking.
"We would say, calm down, kids. You will all get one," Rashid Jaqali said. "No one waited....Instead of rescue, there was death with those vests."
The rescuers first saved the women, the children and the families. Yehia slid along the metal bars in the middle of the boat to reach his parents, terrified. Rashid squeezed him between two women and pushed them upfront for the rescuers.
When Rashid looked over, there were 20 people ahead of Mohammed.
Now migrants were climbing up from the engine level, making the boat sway even more. Rashid recited the Fatiha, the Quranic verse Muslims say when in trouble, as he got into the inflatable.
When Fatma stepped off, she spotted Mohammed, still sitting down close to the metal bars.
"He waved at me and said go, and they will come and get me. He said that with his hands," she said in tears. "He wanted to save me. But my heart was burning, not saved."
The boat was rocking wildly. When Rashid took one more look back, it had tilted over.
Five days later, Fatma was still waiting to hear word about Mohammed. Holding out pictures of her son, Fatma said: "I dreamt of him. He was smiling at me. Only his leg was injured. I saw him three times. He was alive."
On the sixth day, the news finally reached the Jaqalis: Mohammed was dead. Suzanne put flowers in the window sill to mark the loss of her brother. Fatma said her son hit his head and died on the spot.
"Didn't I tell you I dreamt of him wounded? He was smiling at me from afar," she said, sitting on her bed with glazed eyes.
A day later, Fatma was hospitalized. She passed out and had the shivers.
A week and a half since, the Jaqalis have yet to bury their son. Their plans are all but shattered. Fatma mutters that Mohammed didn't want to go to Germany, as if he knew he would not make it.
"I wish I went and he was spared," Rashid said.
A Red Cross worker holds a girl as she helps a migrant and his daughter to walk down the stairs of the ship Clipper Hebe that rescued him 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)
Japanese banks raise guard after $16 million taken from ATMs
TOKYO (AP) Japanese banks that lost some 1.8 billion yen ($16.5 million) when fake overseas cards were used at convenience store ATMs are scrambling to combat such fraud.
Seven Bank, which operates ATMs in the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, halved its withdrawal limit to 50,000 yen from 100,000 yen for customers using non-Japanese cards. E-net, a joint-banking service whose members include national and regional banks, reduced its withdrawal limit to 40,000 yen from the previous 200,000 yen for non-Japanese cards.
The illegal withdrawals were made using fake cards of a South African bank in just a few hours on May 15 at more than 1,000 ATMs in 17 prefectures (states), according to Japanese media reports.
A woman uses a copy machine placed next to an ATM at a convenience store in Tokyo, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Japanese banks that lost some 1.8 billion yen ($16.5 million) when fake overseas cards were used at convenience store ATMs are scrambling to combat such fraud. The illegal withdrawals were made in just a few hours on May 15 at more than 1,000 ATMs in 17 prefectures (states), according to Japanese media reports. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
Police have arrested three suspects so far, one in Tokyo and two in Aichi prefecture in central Japan. In the latest development, police found a manual with detailed instructions on how to use fake cards to withdraw money from ATMs, national broadcaster NHK reported Tuesday.
Masatoshi Ogihara, a Seven Bank spokesman, said the bank is strengthening monitoring and cooperation with police but declined to provide specifics for security reasons.
China Union Pay cardholders used to be able to withdraw up to 200,000 yen at Seven Bank, Ogihara said, but are also now limited to 50,000 yen.
Money was also taken at Japan Post Bank ATMs. Hayato Kayanuma, a spokesman for the postal bank, said it is working on plans to deal with the fraud but has not lowered the withdrawal limit. He added that the plans would not affect cards issued in Japan.
People use ATMs at a railway station in Tokyo, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Japanese banks that lost some 1.8 billion yen ($16.5 million) when fake overseas cards were used at convenience store ATMs are scrambling to combat such fraud. The illegal withdrawals were made in just a few hours on May 15 at more than 1,000 ATMs in 17 prefectures (states), according to Japanese media reports. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
Prosecutors want Neymar on trial over Barcelona transfer
MADRID (AP) Spanish prosecutors want Neymar to stand trial for fraud because of alleged irregularities involving his transfer to Barcelona three years ago.
Neymar and his father, who is also his agent, committed fraud by trying to hide the real amount of his transfer in order to pay a lower commission to the investment group which owned part of his rights at the time, prosecutors said Tuesday.
A judge will analyze the prosecutors' demand and decide whether to have a trial. Neymar and his father could face a prison sentence of up to two years.
They maintained their innocence when they appeared before a judge in Madrid in February.
Prosecutors also cited Barcelona and its former president Sandro Rosell, as well as the former president of Brazilian club Santos. They have denied any wrongdoing.
The accusations came a few days after Lionel Messi went on trial for tax fraud in Barcelona, where he and his father were accused of defrauding Spain's tax authority of 4.1 million euros ($4.6 million) from 2007-09. A ruling is expected in the coming weeks.
Also this year, Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano was handed a suspended one-year prison sentence for not paying nearly 1.5 million euros ($1.7 million) in taxes for 2011-12.
Brazilian investment group DIS claims it was financially damaged because Barcelona and Neymar allegedly withheld the real amount of the player's transfer fee from Santos in 2013, receiving a smaller compensation than it was entitled to.
Santos officially received 17.1 million euros for Neymar's transfer to Barcelona, but prosecutors said the total amount paid by the Spanish club was 25.1 million euros, meaning DIS would be entitled to an additional 3.2 million euros.
Prosecutors said the difference comes from payments made by Barcelona for the future acquisitions of other players, as well as partnerships for friendly matches between the clubs.
According to court documents, DIS paid 5 million reals (1.25 million euros; $1.3 million) for 40 percent of Neymar's rights in 2009.
Barcelona said the Neymar transfer cost the club a total of 57.1 million euros, with 17 million euros going to the club and 40 million euros going to a company owned by Neymar's parents. Investigations in Spain have claimed that Barcelona spent more than 80 million euros to acquire the Brazilian.
Court documents said Neymar's contract with Santos, which was valid until July 2014, had a buy-out clause of 65 million euros, but the club authorized Neymar's father to begin negotiating with other clubs before the contract ended.
They reached a deal with Barcelona, and the club paid 10 million euros in advance to a company owned by Neymar's parents in 2011 to guarantee the player's signing.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the companies owned by Neymar's parents said no one had been officially notified by Spanish authorities, but reiterated they would fully cooperate if asked to do so. They said DIS was entitled to a percentage of the contract with Santos only, which was fully paid.
___
Police ID man accused of attacking girl before being shot
WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) Police in Florida have identified a man shot by police officers after he was accused of attacking a teenage girl who was walking her dog.
News outlets report Winter Springs police say 24-year-old Jeffrey A. Worley was in critical but stable condition Monday after an officer opened fire, hitting him during Sunday's confrontation.
Police had responded to Worley's home after the girl's mother reported the attack. Police Chief Kevin Brunelle says the girl was walking her dog when the suspect tried to rip off her pants. She escaped.
Brunelle says Worley brandished a knife and advanced toward officers, who shot him.
The officer who shot Worley has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
The Latest: Man with fake Swiss documents arrested in Kosovo
STOCKHOLM (AP) The Latest on Europe's response to the influx of asylum seekers and migrants (all times local):
6:05 p.m.
Kosovo police say they have arrested a Swiss citizen of Albanian origin who illegally sent citizens with false documents to Western Europe.
Afghan migrants stranded in Greece, pray on a dock at the port of Piraeus, near Athens on the first day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, Monday, June 6, 2016. During Ramadan, the holiest month in Islamic calendar, Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex from dawn to dusk. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A statement Tuesday said that the 25-year old man was arrested at the Adem Jashari International Airport.
The arrest came after an investigation had proved the suspect supplied false Swiss documents to Kosovo citizens to be trafficked to EU member countries, for which he received 2,500 euros per person. False documentation was found with him.
Thousands of Kosovo citizens have tried to immigrate to western European countries, mainly Germany, but most asylum requests are refused because Kosovo is considered a "safe country."
Following a proposal from the European Commission, Kosovo citizens are expected to be allowed to travel to the EU without a visa from later this year if some conditions are met.
___
3:40 p.m.
The European Union aims to seal deals with African and Middle East countries to ensure that refugees to stay close to home and to discourage migrants seeking jobs from heading to Europe.
The EU Commission on Tuesday unveiled plans for the tailor-made agreements with countries that migrants leave, travel through or stay in.
It's part of the EU's longer-term strategy to tackle the root causes of migration as the 28-nation bloc struggles manage its biggest refugee emergency since World War II.
The deals would combine billions of euros in funds to build border, asylum and counter-smuggling capacities, as well as develop infrastructure and promote investment. Development and trade incentives will also be offered.
Those targeted include Syria's neighbors Jordan and Lebanon, plus Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Mali and Ethiopia.
___
3:20 p.m.
German authorities say 25 people are receiving medical attention after a large fire broke out at a refugee accommodation in the western city of Duesseldorf.
A spokesman for Duesseldorf's fire department says about 70 firefighters rushed to the grounds of the city's convention center after being alerted to the fire shortly after noon on Tuesday.
Joerg Schmitter told The Associated Press that 282 refugees were living at the site. He says 24 refugees were treated for smoke inhalation and one firefighter suffered exhaustion.
Schmitter says police are investigating the cause of the fire.
___
3:05 p.m.
Police in Sicily have arrested a middle-school janitor who is accused of sexual violence against a recently arrived, 16-year-old migrant.
Police say the 53-year-old janitor was caught on hidden camera trying to induce the girl to come to the bathroom with him, promising her chewing gum if she agreed. The janitor is accused of sexual violence and induction to underage prostitution.
Police in Ragusa said in a statement they were tipped off by a worker at the shelter where the girl had been staying since arriving in Sicily. The teen, an unaccompanied minor, was refusing to go to school.
Police said Tuesday that their investigation, which included seizing the janitor's computer, showed "serious indications of guilt."
___
12:35 p.m.
German authorities say a large fire has broken at a refugee accommodation on the grounds of the convention center in the western city of Duesseldorf.
A spokesman for Duesseldorf's fire department says that about 70 firefighters are at the scene.
Joerg Schmitter told The Associated Press that the fire started shortly after noon on Tuesday. He says that all people who had been in the hall appeared to have made it out
___
12:50 p.m.
Turkey's top diplomat has reaffirmed that the EU-Turkey deal on migrants depends on Turkish citizens being granted visa-free travel to the bloc.
Mehmet Cavusoglu said Tuesday "this is not a threat or blackmail. If one doesn't come into effect, the other won't come into effect either."
He added: "If Europe doesn't apply the visa-free travel then we will be forced to suspend the agreement on the return of refugees."
Turkey must meet five outstanding criteria, including narrowing its definition of terrorism, for its citizens to travel without visas to the EU.
The bloc is leaning on Turkey, which hosts 3 million refugees, to curb the flow of irregular migrants from its territory to Europe.
In exchange, it has offered Turkey several political and financial incentives, including 6 billion euros ($6.8 billion) in refugee aid.
___
12:45 p.m.
The International Organization for Migration says it fears that some 320 people remain missing and are presumed drowned following a shipwreck off Crete last week.
The IOM says accounts from survivors who were taken to Augusta, Italy after Friday's shipwreck indicated that about 650 people were on board. The organization said rescue crews had also recovered nearly a dozen corpses.
There have been conflicting reports about the numbers. The Greek coast guard Monday that survivor accounts indicated that about 350 people were on board.
At a U.N. briefing Tuesday in Geneva, IOM spokesman Joel Millman said: "Greek authorities apparently told our office in Athens that they had not a chance to talk to survivors," none of whom were taken to Greece.
___
12:40 p.m.
Sweden has launched a commission to analyze government agencies' response to last year's record influx of 163,000 asylum-seekers.
Interior Minister Anders Ygeman on Tuesday said the purpose is to "learn from what happened" and improve the ability of authorities to deal with a similar situation.
After Germany, Sweden was the top destination for asylum-seekers entering Europe last year, with almost 80,000 arriving in October and November alone.
The government took measures to stem the flow in late 2015 and early 2016, including by introducing border checks designed to stop undocumented migrants from entering Sweden from Denmark and Germany.
Since then the number of new arrivals has dropped sharply.
NATO troops in massive airborne exercise in Poland
TORUN, Poland (AP) About 2,000 NATO troops from the U.S., Britain, Portugal and Poland conducted an airborne training operation on Tuesday as part of the biggest exercise performed in Poland since the 1989 end of communism and amid concerns over Russia.
Scores of U.S. troops and then military vehicles parachuted into a spacious, grassy training area on the outskirts of the central city of Torun. The force's mission was to secure a bridge on the Vistula River as part of the Polish-led Anakonda-16 exercise that involves about 31,000 troops and runs through mid-June.
Nineteen NATO member nations and five partner nations are contributing troops to the exercise that will train and test their swift joint reaction to threats on land, sea and in the air.
Airborne forces from the U.S., Great Britain and Poland conduct a a multi-national jump on to a designated drop zone near Torun, Poland, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. The exercise, Swift Response-16, sets the stage in Poland for the multi-national land force training event Anakonda-16. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
In a complex operation that was precisely planned and timed, troops of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division flew directly from their U.S. base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Their Boeing C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft were refueled in midair. The British troops flew from a NATO base in Ramstein, Germany, while the Poles arrived from their base in Krakow, in southern Poland.
The coalition's head of the exercise, U.S. Lt. Gen. Benjamin Hodges, said the exercise represented the commitment of the participating countries to "stability and security in Europe."
"We want as many to see what we are doing as possible so that they won't be nervous," Hodges said, to stress the exercise's transparency.
Russia considers the presence of NATO troops close to its border as a security threat. President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Tuesday in Moscow that the military exercise in Poland "does not contribute to the atmosphere of trust and security on the continent."
Poland and other nations in the region, as well as NATO leaders, say that any military presence or exercises are purely defensive and deterrent measures.
The drill is being held just weeks before NATO holds a crucial summit in Warsaw expected to decide that significant numbers of NATO troops and equipment will be based in Poland and in the Baltic states.
The exercise "confirmed that we can count on our friends who are capable of flying over the Atlantic to be here with us in a matter of hours," said Polish Gen. Miroslaw Rozanski, deputy commander of the exercise. "We can look into the future with calm. We have good allies and good partners."
___
Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this report.
A C-130 plane drops paratroopers from the Polish 6th Airborne Division during a multi-national jump with soldiers and equipment from the U.S., Great Britain and Poland on to a designated drop zone near Torun, Poland, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. The exercise, Swift Response-16, sets the stage in Poland for the multi-national land force training event Anakonda-16. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division jump during a multi-national jump with soldiers and equipment from the U.S., Great Britain and Poland on to a designated drop zone near Torun, Poland, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. The exercise, Swift Response-16, sets the stage in Poland for the multi-national land force training event Anakonda-16. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
U.S. C-17 planes from the 82nd Airborne Division drop paratroopers during a multi-national jump with soldiers and equipment from the U.S., Great Britain and Poland on to a designated drop zone near Torun, Poland, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. The exercise, Swift Response-16, sets the stage in Poland for the multi-national land force training event Anakonda-16. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division General Richard D. Clarke, left, runs after jumping during a multi-national jump conducted by forces from the U.S., Great Britain and Poland on to a designated drop zone near Torun, Poland, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. The exercise, Swift Response-16, sets the stage in Poland for the multi-national land force training event Anakonda-16. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
Paratroopers from the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division walk to their positions after conducting a multi-national jump with British and Polish soldiers to a designated drop zone near Torun, Poland, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. The exercise, Swift Response-16, sets the stage in Poland for the multi-national land force training event Anakonda-16. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
A British C-130J plane from the 16th Air Assault Brigade drops paratroopers during a multi-national jump with soldiers and equipment from the U.S., Great Britain and Poland on to a designated drop zone near Torun, Poland, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. The exercise, Swift Response-16, sets the stage in Poland for the multi-national land force training event Anakonda-16. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
A U.S. C-17 plane from the 82nd Airborne Division drops paratroopers during a multi-national jump with soldiers and equipment from the U.S., Great Britain and Poland on to a designated drop zone near Torun, Poland, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. The exercise, Swift Response-16, sets the stage in Poland for the multi-national land force training event Anakonda-16. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
Paratroopers from the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division walk to their positions after conducting a a multi-national jump with British and Polish soldiers to a designated drop zone near Torun, Poland, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. The exercise, Swift Response-16, sets the stage in Poland for the multi-national land force training event Anakonda-16. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
Paratroopers from the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division and the Polish 6th Airborne Division walk together after conducting a a multi-national jump on to a designated drop zone near Torun, Poland, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. The exercise, Swift Response-16, sets the stage in Poland for the multi-national land force training event Anakonda-16. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
Police ID shooter in rampage that left 3 dead in Florida
CAPE CORAL, Fla. (AP) Police in southwest Florida have identified the man officers fatally shot following a rampage that left two other people dead and three others injured.
Cape Coral police said in a news release that they're still trying to figure out what led 31-year-old Christopher Michael Moran to fatally shoot a motorcyclist along a roadway near Fort Myers before gunning down someone in a convenience store Sunday night. Another person was wounded in the convenience store shooting.
Officers stopped Moran's vehicle shortly after the shootings. Police said that when Moran "violently" resisted arrest, several officers shot him. Two passengers in the vehicle were also injured.
The Latest: US Condemns Turkey car bombing
ISTANBUL (AP) The Latest on a car bomb attack Tuesday in Istanbul all times local):
0:30 a.m.
The United States is condemning as "horrific" a car bomb attack in Turkey that killed 11 people in central Istanbul.
Turkish police officers work at the scene of a blast just after an explosion in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A car bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed number of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said.(IHA via AP) TURKEY OUT
White House spokesman Mark Stroh says the U.S. government sends thoughts and prayers to all who lost their lives or were injured in the attack, and to their loved ones.
Stroh says the U.S. stands with Turkey as both countries confront challenges in the region.
Tuesday morning's attack targeted a police vehicle. Seven police officers and four civilians were killed.
___
4:20 p.m.
Turkey's state-run news agency says police have detained four people in connection with the car bomb attack in Istanbul that killed 11 people.
The Anadolu Agency said the four suspects were being questioned at Istanbul's main police headquarters.
The attack on Tuesday morning targeted a police vehicle and killed seven police officers and four civilians.
The private Dogan news agency said the four suspects had hired the car used in the bombing attack.
___
2:20 p.m.
The European Union says it stands by Turkey after a rush-hour explosion killed 11 people and wounded 36 others in an attack on a bus carrying riot police.
The EU and Turkey have been quarreling over the conditions of a landmark agreement that has eased the migration crisis for the 28-nation bloc while giving Ankara several concessions, including the promise of visa-free travel for Turks.
The EU says Tuesday that "we reiterate our continuing solidarity to Turkey, its government and its people and reaffirm our commitment to work closely together to fight the global threat of terrorism."
___
9:05 p.m.
A rush-hour car bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police killed 11 people and wounded 36 others Tuesday, Istanbul's governor said.
Speaking at the scene of the blast in the district of Beyazit, Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said the dead included seven police officers and four civilians. At least three of the wounded were in serious condition.
The explosion was caused by a bomb placed inside a car and was detonated as the police vehicle was passing by, Sahin said.
The police bus was overturned from the force of the blast which also damaged nearby buildings, including a closed hotel whose entrance appeared gutted and windows were blown out. The blast also shattered windows at a famous 16th-century Ottoman mosque, Sehzadebasi, wrecked several cars and forced cancellation of exams at nearby building of Istanbul University.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited some of the wounded at Istanbul's Haseki hospital, where two people were undergoing surgery, and said " These cannot be pardoned or forgiven. We shall continue our fight against terrorists tirelessly until the end."
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu condemned the attack, which occurred on the second day of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
Turkish security officials and firefighters work at the explosion site after a bus carrying riot police official was struck by a bomb in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. At least five police officers were wounded. The blast occurred at a busy intersection near an Istanbul University building in the city's Beyazit district during the morning rush hour. (DHA via AP) TURKEY OUT
Turkish security officials and firefighters work at the explosion site after a bus carrying riot police official was struck by a bomb in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. At least five police officers were wounded. The blast occurred at a busy intersection near an Istanbul University building in the city's Beyazit district during the morning rush hour. (DHA via AP) TURKEY OUT
Turkish security officials and firefighters work at the explosion site after a bus carrying riot police official was struck by a bomb in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. At least five police officers were wounded. The blast occurred at a busy intersection near an Istanbul University building in the city's Beyazit district during the morning rush hour. (DHA via AP) TURKEY OUT
A Turkish medic rushes in to work at the explosion site after a bus carrying riot police official was struck by a bomb in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. At least five police officers were wounded. The blast occurred at a busy intersection near an Istanbul University building in the city's Beyazit district during the morning rush hour. (DHA via AP) TURKEY OUT
Turkish police and ambulances gather at the scene of a blast after an explosion in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A car bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed numbers of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
People are restricted behind police lines at the scene after an explosion in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed number of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Turkish police gather at the scene of an explosion in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed number of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Turkish police and emergency workers gather at the scene of an explosion in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed numbers of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
A police officer speaks with onlookers near a damaged shop from an explosion in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed numbers of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
A man removes shards of glass from his damaged storefront caused by an explosion in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed numbers of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Special police arrive at the scene of an explosion in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed numbers of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Turkish police work at the scene of an explosion in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A car bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed numbers of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Turkish police work at the scene of an explosion in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A car bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed numbers of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Turkish police work at the scene of an explosion in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A car bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed numbers of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Turkish police officers work near the scene of a blast after an explosion in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A rush-hour car bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police killed a number of people and wounded many others Tuesday, Istanbul's governor said. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Turkish police officers stand near the scene of a blast after an explosion in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A rush-hour car bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police killed a number of people and wounded many others Tuesday, Istanbul's governor said. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Turkish police work near the scene of an explosion in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A car bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed numbers of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Turkish police forensic officers work near the scene of an explosion in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A car bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed numbers of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Turkish police forensic officers work the scene after an explosion in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A car bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed numbers of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Turkish police work investigate the scene after an explosion in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A car bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed numbers of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
A Turkish police officer stands near the scene of a blast after an explosion in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A car bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed number of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
People stand outside their shops near the scene of a blast after an explosion in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A car bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed number of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
A Turkish police officer walks near the scene of a blast after an explosion in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A car bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed number of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Turkish police officers work at the scene of a blast just after an explosion in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A car bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed number of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said.(IHA via AP) TURKEY OUT
The Latest: Assad vows to 'liberate' every inch of Syria
BEIRUT (AP) The Latest on the developments in the Syrian civil war (all times local):
2:20 p.m.
Syrian President Bashar Assad has vowed to "liberate" every inch of the country in the same way his troops recaptured the historic town of Palmyra from the Islamic State group.
FILE - In this file photo taken on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016, a Syrian government soldier takes his position with an anti-tank rocket launcher, preparing to fire against Islamic State group positions in the province of Raqqa, Syria. A two-pronged advance to capture key urban strongholds of the Islamic State, and the extremist group's self-styled capital of Raqqa has underlined a convergence of strategy between Washington and Moscow to defeat the extremist group, with Syria's Kurds emerging as the common denominator (Alexander Kots/Komsomolskaya Pravda via AP, File)
Assad says the situation on the ground is much better than it was months ago. He spoke on Tuesday to the newly-elected parliament.
The scales of war in Syria have tipped in Assad's favor since Russia began an aerial campaign last September helping the government troops capture wide areas from insurgents.
The biggest victory came in March, when Syrian forces evicted the Islamic State group from Palmyra.
Assad says his government "has no alternative but to be victorious."
___
1 p.m.
U.S.-backed Syrian rebel forces are closing in on the town of Manbij, a stronghold of the Islamic State group in northern Syria.
Sherfan Darwish of the Syria Democratic Forces says that as of Tuesday, his fighters now control two new villages.
The alliance last week launched a wide offensive, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, in a push capture Manbij, which lies on a key supply route linking the Turkish border with the city of Raqqa, the Islamic State's de-facto capital.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syrian civil war, says SDF fighters are now about two kilometers, or just over a mile, south of Manbij.
The Observatory said SDF has captured 52 villages and farms since the offensive started.
South Africa: More resources sought in probe of president
JOHANNESBURG (AP) One of South Africa's top corruption fighters said Tuesday she has asked the government for more resources to investigate allegations that a wealthy Indian business family influenced President Jacob Zuma's choices of Cabinet ministers.
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela told reporters that her office has been asked to probe "whether or not the government of South Africa, in this particular case the president, unlawfully helped the Gupta family to choose ministers and other occupants of higher offices."
The Gupta family has been in the spotlight for years because of its closeness to Zuma amid accusations it received preferential treatment. South Africa's deputy finance minister has said the family directly offered him the finance minister job in December.
Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, addresses journalists in Johannesburg, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Madonsela, whose term ends in October, said that she has asked the government for more resources to investigate allegations that a wealthy Indian business family influenced President Jacob Zuma's choice of Cabinet ministers. (AP Photo/Stuart Graham)
Madonsela, whose term ends in October, said she expects her successor to continue the investigation.
In April, South Africa's highest court ruled that Madonsela was right to order Zuma to pay back some of the estimated $23 million in state funds used to improve his private residence. That issue fueled concerns about alleged corruption at the highest levels of government and led to opposition calls for the president to resign.
The Latest: California has 2 minority women in fall faceoff
WASHINGTON (AP) The Latest on campaign 2016 as California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota vote. (all times Eastern):
2:56 a.m.
California voters have sent two minority women, both Democrats, to a November runoff for the state's open U.S. Senate seat.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton reacts to cheers from supporters during a presidential primary election night rally, Tuesday, June 7, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
State Attorney General Kamala Harris and 10-term Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez will face each other in the general election.
They were among 34 candidates seeking the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer.
Under California election rules only two candidates the top vote-getters advance to the November election.
The 56-year-old Sanchez could become one of the first Latinas to hold a Senate seat.
The 51-year-old Harris the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica could become the first Indian woman to hold a Senate seat and the second black woman elected to the Senate.
2:08 a.m.
Bernie Sanders has won the Democratic presidential primary in Montana, claiming a late victory over rival Hillary Clinton on the night she claimed victory in the race for their party's nomination.
Sanders won Montana as he was speaking to a rally in Santa Monica, California, where he vowed to press on to next week's final Democratic primary of the 2016 campaign in Washington, D.C.
___
2:02 a.m.
Bernie Sanders is vowing to continue his quest for the White House, telling supporters in California that he will fight on to compete in next week's primary in Washington, D.C.
Sanders says at a rollicking rally in Santa Monica, California, that after that election, "we take our fight for social, economic, racial and environmental justice to Philadelphia."
The Democratic National Convention takes place in Philadelphia next month.
That's where Hillary Clinton will accept the Democratic nomination for president. She has the delegates needed to claim the nomination, and declared victory on Tuesday night in New York.
Sanders says, "I am pretty good at arithmetic. I know that the fight in front of us is a very, very steep fight, but we will continue to fight for every vote and every delegate."
___
12:25 a.m.
Republican Warren Davidson is assured of being western Ohio's congressman for the next seven months, and is likely to be serving for years after that.
Davidson handily won Tuesday's special election to succeed former House Speaker John Boehner in the 8th House District. Speaker Paul Ryan is preparing to swear him later this week in Washington.
According to unofficial returns, Davidson had 77 percent of the vote with 94 percent of precincts reporting from the six western Ohio counties. Democrat Corey Foister had 21 percent, and Green Party candidate Jim Condit Jr. had about 2 percent after a day of light voter turnout.
Davidson will complete Boehner's term and be odds-on favorite to win the general election for a full term in the next Congress. Ohio's districts are incumbent-friendly.
___
12:05 a.m.
California U.S. Senate candidate Kamala Harris has claimed one of two spots in the November runoff, moving the state attorney general into a potentially historic election.
Harris, a Democrat, had a wide lead in early returns Tuesday.
If elected this fall, the 51-year-old daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica would set historic marks. She would become the first Indian woman to hold a Senate seat and the second black woman elected to the Senate. Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun was elected in 1992 and served one term.
Thirty-four candidates are seeking the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer. Under California's unusual election rules, only two the top vote-getters advance to November.
A series of polls have suggested Harris and another Democrat, U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez of Orange County, will face off in the fall.
___
12:00 a.m.
President Barack Obama called Hillary Clinton on Tuesday night to congratulate her for securing "the delegates necessary to clinch" the Democratic nomination for president.
But the president did not formally endorse Clinton. The White House says the president also called Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to praise him for shining a spotlight on economic inequality and energizing millions of voters.
The statement said that Sanders requested a meeting with Obama. The meeting is scheduled for Thursday at the White House.
___
11:48 p.m.
Hillary Clinton has won the Democratic presidential primary in South Dakota.
Earlier Tuesday, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president won the state primaries in New Mexico and New Jersey. Her rival, Bernie Sanders, won the Democratic caucuses in North Dakota.
The Associated Press declared Clinton the presumptive nominee ahead of Tuesday's contests, but her rival Bernie Sanders has vowed to fight through to next week's primary in Washington, DC.
___
11:20 p.m.
Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential primary in California, the biggest prize in his triumphant run to become the GOP nominee.
Trump will now go on to the national convention in July with more than enough delegates to become the official nominee, but his candidacy remains a source of controversy, with many in the GOP struggling to rally behind the brash billionaire.
Earlier Tuesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan said that comments Trump made accusing a district court judge of passing a racially-motivated judgment against him were the "textbook definition of a racist comment," and Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois withdrew his support from the presumptive nominee.
___
10:55 p.m.
Hillary Clinton has won the Democratic presidential primary in New Mexico.
Clinton walks away with her second win in Tuesday's half dozen contests against rival Bernie Sanders, who won the caucuses in North Dakota.
Earlier Tuesday, Clinton declared herself the winner of the Democratic nomination, thanking her supporters for helping her to reach the historic milestone.
The Associated Press declared Clinton the presumptive nominee, but her rival Bernie Sanders has vowed to fight on until all the superdelegates are allocated. Clinton leads Sanders both in pledged delegates and superdelegates.
___
10:35 p.m.
Hillary Clinton took direct aim at Donald Trump on Tuesday night as she claimed the Democratic nomination for president, calling out the billionaire for divisive rhetoric and casting his "Make America Great Again" slogan as "code for let's take America backward."
Clinton told supporters in Brooklyn, New York, that Trump was "temperamentally unfit" to be president, citing Trump's attacks on a federal judge, reporters and women.
"He wants to win by stoking fear and rubbing salt in wounds and reminding us daily just how great he is," Clinton said. "Well, we believe we should lift each other up, not tear each other down."
___
10:30 p.m.
Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential primary in Montana.
Trump will now go on to the national convention in July with more than enough delegates to become the official nominee, but his candidacy remains a source of controversy, with many in the GOP struggling to rally behind the brash billionaire.
Prior to his win in Montana Tuesday, Trump earned at least 1,239 bound delegates who are required by party rules to vote for him at the convention. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the GOP nomination.
Trump also has public support from 95 unbound delegates, but they could possibly change their minds and switch to another candidate.
___
10:20 p.m.
Hillary Clinton laid claim to the Democratic Party's presidential nomination and with it, a piece of history Tuesday night, as she became the first woman to lead a major party's bid for the White House.
Speaking in Brooklyn, New York, on a night where she won the New Jersey primary, Clinton told supporters that they were witnessing a historical moment.
"Thanks to you we've reached a milestone. First time in our nation's history that a woman will be a major party's nominee," she said, adding that the victory "belongs to generations of women and men who struggled and sacrificed and made this moment possible."
___
10:10 p.m.
Hillary Clinton continues to add to her delegate lead for the night, even after losing North Dakota.
Bernie Sanders won that state's caucus, but Clinton's victory in New Jersey is more than canceling out his gains.
For the evening, Clinton so far has won 58 pledged delegates from primaries and caucuses to Sanders' 47.
That means based on primaries and caucuses to date, she has now won 1,870 to Sanders' 1,568.
Her lead is bigger when including superdelegates.
She has 2,441 to Sanders' 1,616.
___
10:00 p.m.
You can forget about a contested Republican convention this summer, regardless of how many GOP politicians come out against Donald Trump.
With his victories Tuesday, Trump now has at least 1,239 bound delegates who are required by party rules to vote for him at the convention. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the GOP nomination.
Trump also has public support from 95 unbound delegates, but they could possibly change their minds and switch to another candidate.
Several Republicans in Congress are criticizing Trump for saying that a federal judge could not preside fairly over a case involving Trump University because of his Mexican heritage.
GOP Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona said Trump's comments could spur talk of a challenge at the convention.
___
9:55 p.m.
Even before taking the stage to thank her supporters Tuesday, Hillary Clinton is on Twitter celebrating a milestone as she comes closer than any woman has ever come to being the presidential nominee of a major political party.
"We made history tonight," Clinton said in one Tweet, promoting a free magnet bearing her image which reads, "June 7, 2016: History made."
Another Tweet touts, "Tonight, we can say with pride that, in America, there is no barrier too great and no ceiling too high to break."
The Associated Press declared Clinton the presumptive nominee on the eve of Tuesday's election in half a dozen states, but her rival Bernie Sanders has vowed to fight on until all the superdelegates are allocated. Clinton leads Sanders both in pledged delegates and superdelegates.
___
9:42 p.m.
Bernie Sanders has won the Democratic presidential caucuses in North Dakota.
The senator from Vermont and his rival Hillary Clinton now each claim a win for the night, with four contests yet to be determined.
The Associated Press declared Clinton the presumptive nominee on the eve of Tuesday's election in half a dozen states, but Sanders has vowed to fight on until all the superdelegates are allocated. Clinton leads Sanders both in pledged delegates and superdelegates.
___
9:30 p.m.
U.S. Rep. George Holding of North Carolina says he still supports Donald Trump, although the presumptive GOP presidential nominee is not in his "good books" at the moment.
At a victory party Tuesday at a Raleigh, N.C. restaurant and bar, Holding reiterated that he still supports Trump even though he endorsed Renee Ellmers in the year's only congressional primary between incumbents.
Holding ousted Ellmers from a redrawn district that includes much of the area that has elected him previously. He also defeated a third GOP challenger, Greg Brannon.
Holding, a former federal prosecutor, also said Trump's comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel were inappropriate. Trump has said Curiel can't be impartial in a case involving Trump because the judge's parents were born in Mexico and Trump wants to build a wall along the border.
___
9:20 p.m.
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is claiming that his likely general election opponent Hillary Clinton "turned the State Department into her own private hedge fund."
Trump said Tuesday that the ex-Secretary of State and her husband "had turned the politics of personal enrichment into an art form for themselves." He accused them of "selling access" and government contracts in order to enrich themselves and suggested Clinton used a private homebrew email server to hide it.
Speaking at a victory rally Tuesday at one of his golf courses in suburban New York City, Trump also said he would be giving a major speech about the Clintons "probably Monday."
Trump spoke a short time before Clinton, now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, was expected to declare victory in her parties' primaries.
___
9:20 p.m.
Having already clinched the nomination, Hillary Clinton is padding her delegate lead after a win in New Jersey.
With 126 delegates at stake, Clinton will win at least 50. Bernie Sanders will pick up at least 37. Many delegates remain outstanding as votes continue to be counted.
That means based on primaries and caucuses to date, Clinton has 1,862 and Sanders has 1,558.
Her lead is even bigger when including superdelegates, or party officials who can back any candidate.
Clinton has 2,433 to 1,606.
It takes 2,383 to win. Clinton reached that number Monday night, following big wins in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands as well as a batch of support from superdelegates.
New Jersey is among the last six states voting on Tuesday.
___
9:15 p.m.
Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential primary in New Mexico.
The state marks his third win of the night as he concludes his primary run and look ahead toward the national convention.
His rallies in Albuquerque were marked by violent protests that included local gangs, as well as some pro- and anti-Trump groups.
Some of the anti-Trump protesters waved Mexican flags outside his rally last month, prompting Trump to call them "thugs who were flying the Mexican flag" on Twitter.
___
9:05 p.m.
Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential primary in South Dakota, scoring a second victory on the final night of the GOP primary season.
Trump claimed a win in New Jersey earlier, walking away with all 51 delegates in the Garden State.
In a speech from his Westchester, N.Y. golf course Tuesday, Trump said he understands he bears "the responsibility of carrying the mantle and I will never ever let you down."
Trump is the only remaining candidate in the race for the Republican nomination.
___
9:05 p.m.
Voters eager to find out who won the Democratic presidential primary in California could be in for a long wait.
Historically, election officials in California don't count between 25 percent and 30 percent of the vote until days after the election. That could make it tough to determine a winner if Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are locked in a tight contest.
More than half of California's voters vote by mail. In previous elections, ballots had to be returned by Election Day. But a 2014 law says ballots can now be returned as late as Friday, as long as they have a Tuesday postmark.
That could delay the vote count even more.
___
9:05 p.m.
Hillary Clinton has won the Democratic presidential primary in New Jersey, further extending her lead against rival Bernie Sanders on one of the last days of voting.
The Associated Press declared Clinton the presumptive nominee on the eve of Tuesday's election in half a dozen states, but Sanders has vowed to fight on until all the superdelegates are allocated. Clinton leads Sanders both in pledged delegates and superdelegates.
However, according to an AP count, it is no longer possible for Sanders to reach the 2,383 needed to win the nomination based on the remaining available pledged delegates and uncommitted superdelegates.
___
8:45 p.m.
Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump has picked up 51 delegates by winning New Jersey's Republican primary.
Trump already has the support of enough delegates to win the Republican nomination for president. With no one else left in the race, he is on track to substantially pad his lead in Tuesday's contests.
There are 303 delegates at stake in five Republican primaries Tuesday.
Trump has 1,290 delegates. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the GOP nomination for president.
___
8:35 p.m.
Donald Trump is preparing to address his supporters on the night of the final contests of the Republican primaries.
Trump is expected to speak Tuesday night from one of his own golf courses, the Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County, north of New York City.
Two teleprompters are flanking Trump's podium, which would be a departure for the presumptive Republican nominee; Trump rarely uses the devices and often mocks his rivals, including Hillary Clinton, who do.
Several dozen supporters have filled the ballroom, which boasts glass chandeliers and views of the course's greens.
___
8:30 p.m.
Donald Trump says that Republicans who are angry over his comments that a district court judge made a racially-motivated ruling against him should "get over it."
In an interview with Fox News Tuesday, Trump said that he doesn't care where the judge comes from, reversing his position he took in a CNN interview last week that Judge Gonzalo Curiel could not preside fairly over the case because he's of "Mexican heritage."
In a statement earlier Tuesday, Trump said that his comments were "misconstrued," but added that based on the ruling he received, he is "justified in questioning" whether he's received a fair trial.
Asked about those in the Republican Party who refuse to endorse him, Trump said: "it's okay if they don't. but they have to get over it, they shouldn't be so angry for so long."
___
8:25 p.m.
Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential primary in New Jersey, one of half a dozen states heading to the polls on the final day of voting for Republicans.
The presumptive Republican nominee gains the support of New Jersey's 51 delegates, as he looks ahead to the party's national convention in July.
___
8:05 p.m.
The new super political action committee organized by Donald Trump's friend Tom Barrack plans to spend about $1.2 million in the next two weeks on television advertising.
That's according to data from political advertising tracker Kantar Media's CMAG. The group, Rebuilding America Now PAC, has raised $32 million in its few days of existence, says Barrack, who has known Trump for decades and is a real estate investor in Los Angeles.
Rebuilding America Now previewed its ad on news programs Sunday and Monday. The 30-second spot cuts between Bill Clinton denying his affair with a White House intern while he was president and Hillary Clinton explaining her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. The ad concludes, "Same old typical politician."
The ad is to air on cable stations across the country and marks the first major pro-Trump super PAC effort aimed at persuading general election voters.
___
7:30 p.m.
Bernie Sanders is making a brief stop on California's iconic Hollywood Boulevard and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Campaigning in California on the day of its state primary, Sanders shook hands with people near the Hard Rock Cafe and TCL Chinese Theatre.
"Did you guys vote today," Sanders asked as people swarmed around him, taking pictures with their phones.
The Associated Press declared rival Hillary Clinton the presumptive nominee on the eve of Tuesday's election in California, but Sanders has vowed to fight on until all the superdelegates are allocated.
___
7:10 p.m.
Sen. Bernie Sanders says he's "disappointed" and "upset" that The Associated Press declared rival Hillary Clinton the presumptive nominee on the eve of Tuesday's election in California.
In an interview with NBC News, Sanders expressed concern that the news came the night before "the largest primary" and that it was based on what he described as "anonymous" commitments from party insiders and Democratic officials.
The AP's count is based on pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses as well as a survey of the party insiders known as superdelegates who can cast a ballot for the candidates of their choice at the party's summer convention.
AP spoke directly to all of the superdelegates included in its tally, and only included them if they said they would unequivocally vote for a candidate at the convention.
___
6:50 p.m.
Bernie Sanders' senior adviser says the Vermont senator plans to campaign in Washington, DC ahead of the capital's Democratic primary, hinting that his battle for the Democratic nomination will continue beyond Tuesday's contests.
Tad Devine said Tuesday that the Washington primary is "very important" and Sanders intends "to let every voter cast their vote."
Asked if Sanders' strategy to convince superdelegates to support him hinges on winning California, Devine said the campaign will "have to have a very compelling argument with them."
___
6:45 p.m.
A Republican state senator from Iowa has dropped his affiliation as a Republican in light of presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump's comments about a federal court judge's ethnicity.
David Johnson, from staunchly Republican northwest Iowa, said Tuesday that "somebody had to make a statement," about what the 18-year state legislator called Trump's "bigotry."
Johnson is referring to the billionaire's allegation that U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel was biased in his decision against the now-defunct Trump University because he disagrees with Trump's position on immigration. Gonzalo's is of Mexican descent but was born in Indiana.
Johnson, 65, says he is unsure whether he will caucus with Republicans in the Iowa Senate in the 2017 legislative session. Johnson supported former Texas Gov. Rick Perry in the Iowa caucus campaign, and then former tech CEO Carly Fiorina after Perry quit the race last year.
___
6:00 p.m.
Hillary Clinton is embracing her historic mantel as the first female nominee of a major political party.
Her campaign created a video featuring footage of pivotal moments in women's history interspersed with images of Clinton.
The video will play before she takes the stage tonight in Brooklyn at a rally organized to celebrate her claiming the nomination.
"Let's keep making history," reads a caption at the end of the tape.
An alphabet soup guide to confusing restaurant menu terms
NEW YORK (AP) Okonomiyaki, anyone?
A survey released Tuesday for the restaurant reservation site OpenTable showed that style of savory Japanese pancake is the No. 1 most befuddling term among 2,035 diners, with one in five saying they won't order something they don't understand on a menu.
Foodies, stand down. Many of the Top 10 most confusing terms you're likely familiar with. For the rest of us, as chefs in America have expanded their horizons, we bring you gochujang, piri piri, yuzu and bibimbap, following okonomiyaki in that order.
This undated photo provided by Scott Mitchell and Open Table shows kabosha squash okonomiyaki with Benton's ham, shrimp and bonito flakes, prepared by chef Kirstyn Brewer of the Victor Tangos restaurant in Dallas, Texas. The term okonomiyaki, a type of Japanese pancake, is the No. 1 most befuddling menu item among 2,035 regular diners surveyed recently for the restaurant reservation service Open Table. (Scott Mitchell/Open Table via AP)
Nearly one in three diners in the Harris Poll conducted online for OpenTable said some menus are more confusing than they need to be. More than half surveyed in March felt ordering an unfamiliar item ruins their restaurant experience.
Okonomiyaki was a challenge for 69 percent of the diners ages 18 and over, about half of whom said they eat out at least once a month. But there's rarely shame. The survey of diners around the country showed two-thirds aren't embarrassed by their cluelessness, saying they are usually fine asking a server for guidance, said Caroline Potter, OpenTable's chief dining officer.
The fact that some of the rubs, ingredients and completed dishes are a problem at all shows just how far many mainstream restaurants have come, she said. For instance, the 2014 edition of "The Foodspotting Field Guide," featuring 75 dishes chosen by a gaggle of recreational foodies, posed this question: "Ever heard of Okonomiyaki?"
Now, at least among those who don't know classic Japanese cuisine, "It's much more prevalent on American menus," Potter said. "It's interesting that there still remains this confusion on the diner side, whereas chefs and restaurateurs have latched onto it."
The menu issue doesn't mean some components aren't easily identifiable.
"While you may recognize, you know, carrots, you might not recognize when it says on a menu they're rubbed with harissa," Potter said, noting that particular North African spice mixture of chili, cumin, garlic, coriander and olive oil occupies the No. 11 spot on the list of confusing menu terms.
In addition to roaming the globe looking for inspiration or to expand their repertoires, the farm-to-table movement has chefs reconsidering heritage techniques that might not be widely known by name.
Ballotine, for example, is a piece of roasted, braised or poached meat, poultry or fish that has been boned, stuffed, rolled and either tied or stitched. Think turducken. It's a classic French way of cooking a chicken thigh, intended to be reshaped to look like one, but the word was unknown to 61 percent of diners surveyed, capturing the 10th spot on the list.
It's clear, Potter said, that diners are trying to catch up with the ambitions of chefs.
"Chefs are reaching back, they're reaching to all corners of the globe. When you talk to chefs, the way they're spending their downtime, they're saying I'm going to Thailand for two weeks and I'm going to eat my way through street food and all these restaurants and come back with inspiration," Potter said.
Potter thinks yuzu, which 64 percent of those surveyed found confusing on menus, is a good example of an ingredient enjoying big love from chefs in the U.S.
Dallas restaurant Victor Tangos, for example, has used the aromatic Asian citrus fruit known mostly as a flavoring in everything from tempura-fried Brussels sprouts to an infusion for a cocktail made of gin, shiso (No. 8), French wild cherry liqueur, lemon, honey and orange flower water.
"Restaurants are doing everything from serving yuzu miso brown butter on their lobster to yuzu marmalade or yuzu vinaigrette," Potter said.
Recently, at a Manhattan restaurant, she ran across a yuzu pound cake and a yuzu jelly.
"That, in particular, is really sweeping the nation, and I have to admit I was kind of, like, what is yuzu exactly?" she said.
There is, of course, a segment of diners in search of familiarity and comfort in restaurant food, Potter said.
"We do know that diners want to see more descriptors on menus, and they also like to see pictures. That plays to our food photo culture. Instagram is filled with food pictures. That desire is a by-product of how visual our food culture has become," Potter said.
So what is gochujang, the second most confusing term? It's a savory, spicy, pungent fermented Korean condiment made from red chili, glutinous rice, fermented soybeans and salt. It was deemed confusing by 67 percent of diners surveyed.
And No. 3 piri piri, which was misunderstood by 64 percent? It's a Portuguese term for hot chilies or a hot sauce made from them. No. 5 bibimbap is a Korean dish of rice topped with sauteed vegetables served with chili paste, beef or other meat, sometimes with a raw or fried egg.
Gougere, a puff pastry flavored with cheese (usually Gruyere) and often stuffed with a savory filling, showed up at No. 6, followed by guanciale (a type of Italian cured pork made from the cheeks of a pig); shiso, which is an Asian plant in the mint family used as an herb in cooking; and en brodo, a beef or vegetable stock often used on its own as a broth or as the base for sauces and stews.
___
OpenTable menu jargon decoder:
Colin heads out sea after drenching Florida with rain
Colin headed out to sea Tuesday after dumping as much as 9 inches of rain on parts of Florida, forcing at least one city to pump partially treated sewage into the Gulf of Mexico ocean because the system was overloaded with rainwater.
Colin flooded roads and caused thousands of power outages in Florida and a team investigated a possible tornado related to the storm that damaged homes and toppled trees in Jacksonville. The city of St. Petersburg said it was pumping sewage into Tampa Bay because its sewer system has been overloaded with rainwater infiltrating leaky sewer pipes.
Although the storm was out to sea, forecasters said Colin is expected to produce additional rainfall of up to 2 inches across far eastern North Carolina, and as much as 5 inches across central Florida through Tuesday evening.
A resident of Shore Acres in St. Petersburg, Fla., has a sign urging motorists to slow down on flooded streets Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Remnants of Tropical Storm Colin continued to dump rain along Florida's gulf coast Tuesday. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
The U.S. Hurricane Center said Colin, which formed Sunday, was the earliest a third named storm had developed during the Atlantic hurricane season, which officially began June 1.
In Dare County, North Carolina, which includes pencil-thin territories from Kitty Hawk down to Hatteras Island, Emergency Management Director Drew Pearson said rain had been falling nearly continuously since Tropical Storm Bonnie, which formed May 28. So far, there had been no major flooding.
"We're really just seeing large amounts of water," Pearson said, noting that many roads in the Outer Banks are at sea level, meaning that they can be quickly impacted by heavy rains. Traffic may be slow but hadn't been stopped anywhere, he said.
Tropical storm warnings were discontinued on Tuesday as the remnants of Colin sped away from the mid-Atlantic coast and out to sea.
Although maximum sustained winds are at 68 mph with higher gusts, the system's strongest winds and heaviest rains were over water and southeast of the center. The hurricane center said some slight strengthening was possible Tuesday night, but gradual weakening was expected to begin on Wednesday.
Pearson said he expected skies to clear along the Outer Banks, good news for tourists who have flocked there for early summer vacations.
"We anticipate conditions to improve over the day," he said. "Don't let it ruin your day."
Schools in Wilmington, North Carolina, opened two hours later than usual because of the weather.
On Georgia's Tybee Island, lifeguards posted red flags on the beach to warn swimmers of rip currents and 2- to 3-foot breakers.
The marshes did their job and acted as "a big sponge system" as Colin passed over, said Tim Cutting, who runs fishing charters from his base on St. Simons Island.
"The marsh does what it's supposed to do naturally - it drains and floods like it has done for a million years," Cutting said.
The National Weather Service reported that about 2.7 of rain fell at McKinnon St. Simons Island Airport as the storm passed over the area. About 4 inches of rain fell at the Liberty County airport near Hinesville.
Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency as Colin moved across the state, dumping 9 inches of rain in parts of Pinellas County along Florida's Gulf Coast.
Flood warnings were issued in many parts of the Tampa Bay area and Tuesday's commute was a difficult one with some roads underwater.
No significant problems were reported in South Carolina, with a handful of roads closed in Charleston and near the Georgia-South Carolina state line.
The high winds and rain knocked out power to about 10,000 people from Tampa Bay to Jacksonville.
___
Associated Press reporters Jeff Martin in Atlanta; Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina; Bruce Smith in Charleston, South Carolina; Tamara Lush in Tampa, Florida; and Jason Dearen in Gainesville, Florida, contributed to this report.
A woman takes a photo of flooded streets in the Shore Acres in St. Petersburg, Fla., Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Remnants of Tropical Storm Colin was continued to dump rain along Florida's gulf coast Tuesday. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, right, shakes hands with first responders at the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office that assisted the public during Tropical Storm Colin Tuesday, June 7, 2016, in Tampa, Fla. Colin made landfall overnight in the panhandle dumping heavy rain on the state. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, right, thanks first responders for their help assisting the public during Tropical Storm Colin during a meeting at the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office Tuesday, June 7, 2016, in Tampa, Fla. Colin made landfall overnight in the panhandle dumping heavy rain on the state. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
A motorist drives down a flooded street in St. Petersburg, Fla., after Tropical Storm Colin dumped heavy rains over the Tampa Bay area Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Tropical storm warnings have been dropped for most of the southeast coast, with the only area still affected ranging from Cape Lookout to near Nags Head. The National Hurricane Center said that warning was likely to be dropped early Tuesday afternoon. (James Borchuck/The Tampa Bay Times via AP) TAMPA OUT; CITRUS COUNTY OUT; PORT CHARLOTTE OUT; BROOKSVILLE HERNANDO TODAY OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT
A motorist drives down a flooded street in St. Petersburg, Fla., after Tropical Storm Colin dumped heavy rains over the Tampa Bay area Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Forecasters said up to another 1 inch to 2 inches of rain could fall along the Outer Banks, with up to 3 more inches of rain in central Florida. (Loren Elliott/The Tampa Bay Times via AP) TAMPA OUT; CITRUS COUNTY OUT; PORT CHARLOTTE OUT; BROOKSVILLE HERNANDO TODAY OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT
Strong winds and high tide from Tropical Storm Colin floods Bayshore Boulevard in south Tampa, Fla., Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Forecasters said up to another 1 inch to 2 inches of rain could fall along the Outer Banks, with up to 3 more inches of rain in central Florida. (Octavio Jones/The Tampa Bay Times via AP) TAMPA OUT; CITRUS COUNTY OUT; PORT CHARLOTTE OUT; BROOKSVILLE HERNANDO TODAY OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT
Obama calls commander after Fort Hood flood deaths
WASHINGTON (AP) President Barack Obama is offering condolences and praise to the community of Fort Hood, Texas, following the death of nine soldiers in a flood during a training exercise.
Obama spoke by phone on Monday with Maj. Gen. John Thomson of the 1st Cavalry Division. The White House says Obama sent his sympathies to the families of those killed and thanked the general and first responders for the search and recovery operation.
The White House says the incident is a reminder of the "tremendous risks" related to military operations and that the U.S. owes a debt to its troops for their sacrifices.
Merkel: Statements from Turkey's leader "incomprehensible"
BERLIN (AP) German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday she finds "incomprehensible" comments that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made following the German Parliament's resolution labeling the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago "genocide."
Erdogan said Germany should revisit its own history, invoking the Nazi Holocaust.
He also derided German lawmakers of Turkish origin who voted for the resolution, saying they should be given blood tests to prove whether they are really Turkish. Several have subsequently reported receiving threats.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses the media during a joint news conference with the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, as part of a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
Merkel on Tuesday responded that Parliament had included references to the Nazi Holocaust in its resolution, and that Germany has not only dealt with its Nazi past but feels "duty-bound" to continue to do so.
"I simply find the accusations, or rather the statements the Turkish side made, incomprehensible," she said.
Turkey recalled its ambassador following the resolution in Parliament and has said it intends to take further measures.
The German Foreign Ministry in Berlin on Tuesday called in the Turkish charge d'affaires, saying in a statement that officials "highlighted the traditionally close and trusting relationship between Germany and Turkey, and made clear that the recent statements about German members of Parliament are not in harmony with that."
'Today' host Savannah Guthrie pregnant, skips Rio Olympics
NEW YORK (AP) "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie says she's pregnant and will be skipping the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro because of the Zika virus.
Guthrie made the announcement on the NBC program Tuesday morning. She cited doctors' advice in deciding to skip the Olympics. NBC had announced in April that Guthrie would co-host the opening ceremony of the Rio Games on Aug. 5.
Zika is known to cause birth defects, including microcephaly, in which the baby's head is smaller than expected because the brain hasn't developed properly. The virus is now in 60 countries, with Olympic host Brazil the hardest-hit nation.
FILE - In this April 14, 2016, file photo, Savannah Guthrie attends the 2016 Room To Grow Benefit in New York. The "Today" show co-host announced June 7, 2016, on the NBC program that she is pregnant and skipping the upcoming Rio Olympics due to concerns over the Zika virus. (Photo by Christopher Smith/Invision/AP, File)
Army's new civilian leader on first visit to Fort Jackson
FORT JACKSON, S.C. (AP) Newly minted Army Secretary Eric Fanning lauded trainers at Fort Jackson on Tuesday for their skill in integrating female soldiers into basic combat training, saying the Army has become a model for other military services as women take on more combat jobs.
"It's been going on for years, and in my opinion, very successfully," Fanning told reporters at the end of his seven-hour tour of Fort Jackson, the Army's largest training installation.
Fort Jackson trains about 54 percent of all male soldiers and about 65 percent of all its female soldiers, Fanning said. Fort Jackson began integrating women into training in the 1980s, fort spokesman Christopher Fletcher said.
U.S. Army Secretary Eric Fanning, left, receives a briefing from Army Col. Benjamin DiMaggio about his battalions basic combat training course for new soldiers at Fort Jackson, South Carolina on Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Fanning is the new civilian leader of the Army and the first opening gay individual to lead one of the nations military services. Fanning visited Fort Jackson and is making the first stop on a number of visits he intends to make to U.S. military installations in the United States and overseas in the coming months. (AP Photo/Susanne M. Schafer)
Defense Secretary Ash Carter has ordered all service branches to allow women to compete for combat jobs, including the most demanding and difficult, such as the Army Delta units and Navy SEALs.
Three female West Point graduates last year became the first to pass the Army's highly demanding Ranger School, located at Fort Benning in Georgia. The course is a requirement for leading combat infantry or armor units into combat.
Fanning, 47, was sworn in as the Army's civilian leader on May 18 and is the first openly gay individual to lead one of the nation's military service branches. Fort Jackson is one of many Army installations he intends to visit in the coming months in the United States, Europe and the Pacific, said his spokesman, Lt. Col. S. Justin Platt.
Fanning said it is important for the Army to have female leaders and role models who have had experience in the field to help other women who join the service.
"Our biggest challenge is just making sure we have the leadership cadre in place. It will take us awhile to build that," he said.
Fanning told reporters he had a chance to see the installation's drill sergeant school, where the service's tough-as-nails instructors are taught, and to talk over lunch with soldiers. Earlier in the day, he wished some brand-new Army soldiers well Tuesday before he watched them plow through an obstacle course as part of their basic combat training.
The secretary chatted and shook hands with several young soldiers while they stood in line waiting to clamber over five wooden obstacle walls.
At a firing range under the blazing sun, Fanning donned metal ear protectors and received instructions on how to shoot the M-4 rifle all soldiers must learn to use.
Fort Jackson is expected to train more than 45,000 men and women in basic combat this year. Another 26,000 come to the post for advanced schooling as drill sergeants, chaplains, and other support forces.
Fanning is a native of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Over the past 20 years, he has held a number of senior leadership positions in the Army, Air Force and Navy and has worked closely with Defense Secretary Carter.
___
Follow Susanne M. Schafer on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/susannemarieap
French bank ordered to pay $510,000 to former trader Kerviel
PARIS (AP) French bank Societe Generale has been ordered to pay about 450,000 euros ($510,000) to former trader Jerome Kerviel for unfair dismissal, after he was accused of one of the biggest trading frauds in history.
Kerviel has become an icon for critics of the banking world, and his supporters hailed Tuesday's decision in his favor by a labor arbitration court. A stunned Societe Generale called it "incomprehensible" and vowed to appeal.
It's part of a web of ongoing legal cases involving Kerviel since his trades spiraled into losses so big they nearly caused the collapse of one of Europe's biggest banks in 2008.
FILE - This Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016 file photo shows former trader Jerome Kerviel smoking a cigarette outside the Versailles appeal court, near Paris, France. French bank Societe Generale has been ordered to pay 450,000 euros ($510,000) to Jerome Kerviel for unfair dismissal, after he was accused of unauthorized trades that caused the bank billions in losses. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)
Kerviel argues that his superiors knew about his questionable financial operations and permitted them as long as he was earning money for the bank. Societe Generale insists it wasn't aware and says Kerviel intentionally concealed unauthorized trading.
Kerviel was fired after the trades came to light, and later sued for wrongful dismissal. The labor court ruled Tuesday that he was fired "without real and serious cause."
"VICTORY!" Kerviel's lawyer David Koubbi wrote on his Facebook page.
Societe Generale said in a statement the decision is "counter to the facts that have been judged" in other courts.
Kerviel served time in prison over the trades after a criminal conviction, and a civil court ordered him to pay the bank back all 4.9 billion euros in losses he generated ($7 billion at the time).
France's highest court annulled the financial damages, however, saying the bank shared responsibility, and a new trial will be held next week in Versailles to determine how much Kerviel should pay.
Thai king undergoes operation to clear artery
BANGKOK (AP) Royal officials say Thailand's 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who on Thursday marks the 70th anniversary of taking the throne, has had an operation to clear an artery.
The Royal Household Bureau said the procedure to insert a stent was conducted Tuesday with satisfactory results after tests determined that there was an inadequate supply of blood to the muscles of his heart.
The announcement also said there had been a decrease in cerebrospinal fluid putting pressure on his brain, a condition for which he began receiving treatment last month.
The king's health is a matter of intense national concern because of uneasiness about political stability during the succession.
The king, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has been hospitalized for much of the past decade. Another announcement last week said the king was suffering from an inability to eat, causing him to be fed intravenously. Tuesday's announcement did not say if that was still the case.
___
Rights group calls on Egypt to drop charges against lawyer
CAIRO (AP) Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called on Egypt to drop charges against a rights lawyer and halt the investigation of two senior judges who jointly drafted an anti-torture law.
Lawyer Negad Borai has been questioned several times by an investigating judge since he and the judges sent a copy of the draft law to the president's office in April 2015.
Borai faces charges that include the creation of an illegal organization, preventing state institutions from carrying out their duties and illegally receiving funds. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison.
"In today's Egypt, not even members of the judiciary are safe and independent from the security-minded arms of the state," Nadim Houry, HRW's regional deputy director, said in a statement. "The authorities should be investigating those who torture, not those who are trying to improve Egypt's laws and bring them in compliance with international norms."
The two judges, Hesham Raouf and Assem Abdel-Gabbar, were summoned for questioning earlier this month and are scheduled to return for more.
"Looks like they will jail me anyway," Borai told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "I just hope they don't do it until after Ramadan," he said, referring to the Islamic holy month of dawn-to-dusk fasting, which began Monday.
Rights activists say that police under President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi are acting with near total impunity, torturing suspects, abusing detainees and making random arrests. The Interior Ministry says any excesses are perpetrated by a small minority who are held accountable.
Chelsea apologizes to ex-doctor in settlement to halt case
LONDON (AP) Chelsea's former doctor received a public apology from the Premier League club Tuesday after reaching a settlement at the start of an employment tribunal where she was claiming victimization and discrimination by former manager Jose Mourinho.
Chelsea's contrition, which prevents further damaging allegations about the club's treatment of a senior female employee being aired in public, came 10 months after the incident that led to Eva Carneiro's exit.
In last season's Premier League opener in August, Mourinho accused the medical staff of being "naive" for treating Eden Hazard on the field with Chelsea already down to 10 men. Carneiro, who was dropped from first-team duties, accused Mourinho of shouting an insult and subjecting her to sexual discrimination.
Former Chelsea team doctor Eva Carneiro arrives at the Croydon Employment Tribunal in Croydon, south London, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Carneiro is claiming constructive dismissal against the Premier League club FC Chelsea. Jose Mourinho will be expected to testify at an employment tribunal about his public clash with Chelsea's club doctor after she rejected more than $1.5 million to settle the case. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Carneiro had previously rejected a settlement of 1.2 million pounds ($1.7 million) offered by Chelsea, which fired Mourinho four months after the incident citing a "palpable discord" with the squad. Mourinho has since been hired to coach Manchester United.
The Carneiro tribunal was due to start in earnest on Tuesday, a day after both sides in the case published their key lines of legal arguments. But the attorney for Chelsea and Mourinho instead announced a settlement had been agreed to at the Croydon Employment Tribunal in south London.
"We are pleased to be able to tell the tribunal that the parties agreed a settlement on confidential terms," Chelsea lawyer Daniel Stilitz told the tribunal.
Chelsea issued a statement praising the professionalism of Carneiro, backtracking on allegations the previous day that the doctor was "preoccupied with developing her profile" by associating herself with the first team and questioning her willingness to develop her medical skills.
"The club regrets the circumstances which led to Dr. Carneiro leaving the club and apologizes unreservedly to her and her family for the distress caused," Chelsea said. "We wish to place on record that in running onto the pitch Dr. Carneiro was following both the rules of the game and fulfilling her responsibility to the players as a doctor, putting their safety first.
"Dr. Carneiro has always put the interests of the club's players first. Dr. Carneiro is a highly competent and professional sports doctor. She was a valued member of the club's medical team and we wish her every success in her future career."
Chelsea said Mourinho "thanks Dr. Carneiro for the excellent and dedicated support she provided as first team doctor and he wishes her a successful career."
Carneiro said she was "relieved" that the case was over after enduring an "extremely difficult and distressing time."
"My priority," Carneiro said, "has always been the health and safety of the players and fulfilling my duty of care as a doctor."
Romania: anti-graft chief says corruption fight threatened
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) Moves to decriminalize corruption could lead to public officials defrauding the state without retribution, Romania's chief anti-corruption prosecutor warned Tuesday.
The Constitutional Court will rule on June 15 whether to decriminalize abuse of office, currently a criminal offense.
Last year, the agency investigated or charged high-ranking officials in 661 cases on suspicion of abuse of office, worth millions of dollars, about one third of all the cases they pursued in 2015.
Romania's chief anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Kovesi, who has been praised by EU countries and the U.S. for her anti-corruption fight received one of France's highest honors, the Legion of Honor in recognition of her work from French Ambassador Francois Saint-Paul. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
"If this ... is decriminalized we will no longer be able to investigate," chief anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi told The Associated Press. "Every public servant will be sanctioned according to whim and will be able to do what they want to the detriment of the state and citizens."
Kovesi, who has been praised by EU countries and the U.S. for her anti-corruption fight received one of France's highest honors, the Legion of Honor, on Tuesday from French Ambassador Francois Saint-Paul, in recognition of her work. She has held the post as anti-corruption chief prosecutor since 2013.
While the agency remains popular with many Romanians for tackling widespread graft, it is less popular with politicians who face investigation, and they are pushing to limit the agency's powers.
However, Kovesi vowed to continue to the fight despite obstructions saying "we do not guide our activity according to political campaigns or events that appear in the public arena."
She addressed corruption in the health system, which has become a priority for the agency.
"(Health) budgets are big and we have noticed that the value of bribes is high, 20 percent of a contract," she said in an interview, hours before receiving her award. "This does not intimidate us and doesn't change the way we approach cases."
In 2015, the agency prosecuted 1,250 cases, including a former prime minister and five former ministers. It had a conviction rate of 92 percent.
"We deal with very powerful people who have important positions and impressive wealth ... but colleagues have the necessary courage and maturity to deal with these cases," Kovesi said.
Romania's chief anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Kovesi, who has been praised by EU countries and the U.S. for her anti-corruption fight received one of France's highest honors, the Legion of Honor in recognition of her work from French Ambassador Francois Saint-Paul. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Romania's chief anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi, right, receives the French Legion of honor from French Ambassador Francois Saint-Paul as her parents Ileana and Ioan Lascu, right, watch, during a ceremony in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Kovesi, who has been praised by EU countries and the U.S. for her anti-corruption fight received one of France's highest honors, the Legion of Honor in recognition of her work . (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Romania's chief anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi, right, receives the French Legion of honor from French Ambassador Francois Saint-Paul during a ceremony in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Kovesi, who has been praised by EU countries and the U.S. for her anti-corruption fight received one of France's highest honors, the Legion of Honor in recognition of her work . (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Romania's chief anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi, left, speaks to her mother Ileana Lascu after receiving the French Legion of honor during a ceremony in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Kovesi, who has been praised by EU countries and the U.S. for her anti-corruption fight received one of France's highest honors, the Legion of Honor in recognition of her work from French Ambassador Francois Saint-Paul. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Romania's chief anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi, right, receives the French Legion of honor from French Ambassador Francois Saint-Paul during a ceremony in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Kovesi, who has been praised by EU countries and the U.S. for her anti-corruption fight, received one of France's highest honors, the Legion of Honor in recognition of her work . (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
Puerto Rico left without air ambulance service over debt
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) Puerto Rico's only active air ambulance company announced Tuesday that it has suspended its services, blaming a multimillion-dollar government debt amid a deepening economic crisis that has affected basic services in the U.S. territory.
Aeromed said in a statement that it has been negotiating with Puerto Rico's government for nearly three years, but that health officials last week rejected a deal to make a minimum payment of $4.4 million, a portion of a much larger overall debt.
"We acknowledge the government's fiscal situation ... but there is no way we can continue to offer our services with inconsistent payments and fees that are unsustainable," said Aeromed director Jose Hernandez. "This decision is a heavy burden on us because for the past 22 years our mission has been to save lives, but this is also a complex commercial operation and requires income to continue operating."
He noted that the fees paid per flight have remained the same for more than a decade.
A growing number of companies in Puerto Rico are suspending services because of mounting government debt amid a 10-year economic slump. The government has warned it is running out of money as Puerto Rico seeks to restructure $70 billion in public debt that the governor has said is unpayable.
A Medicaid funding contract between the U.S. government and Puerto Rico requires that the island operate an air ambulance system.
Health Secretary Ana Rius said her department is boosting ambulance services by land, while other medical authorities warned that some lives are being put at risk.
Rius criticized Aeromed for not accepting a government payment offer that she said was made in a serious, responsible and good faith manner.
"It is extremely important that we restart this service," she said, adding that officials are still negotiating with Aeromed and other similar companies. "Puerto Rico is going through an economic crisis like no other. As health secretary, my focus is on protecting the health of all Puerto Ricans."
___
Brussels urges Albania pass a decisive judicial reform
TIRANA, Albania (AP) The European Union is calling Albanian politicians' failure to agree on judicial reforms "a missed opportunity" that will hurt the country's steps toward integration with the bloc.
Albania's main political leaders did not agree Monday on reforms seen as key to fighting corruption at all levels, especially in the judiciary.
Speaking Tuesday in Brussels, Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, said "yesterday's meeting was a missed opportunity but our position has not changed: This reform needs to be adopted."
She said the draft bill "is in line with the international standards" and urged the Albanians to resume talks on it.
Pigs can make great pets but are not for everyone
Pigs don't have the greatest reputation. The word is probably used more as an insult than as a reference to a real animal.
If you meet a pig, though, you might feel differently.
"People will come and volunteer with us and most of them have never been around pigs," says Jen Reid, manager of Marshall's Piggy Paradise at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah. "They go away smitten."
In this undated photo Esther The Wonder Pig stands for a family portrait with her owners Steve Jenkins, left, and Derek Walter along with other pets that live in her household in Georgetown, Ontario. Pigs don't have the greatest reputation. Most of us probably use the word more often as an insult than to talk about a real animal. If you meet one, though, you might feel differently. Their fans say pigs are funny, smart, and full of personality. (Steve Jenkins via AP)
Their fans say pigs are funny, smart and full of personality.
So then why do they end up in a sanctuary?
Time and again it's the same story: "People say, 'We bought a pig a year and a half or two years ago, and the breeder told us it would not get larger than 40 pounds,'" Reid says. Then the animal grows to 150 or 250 pounds or more.
That's what happened to Steve Jenkins and Derek Walter, whose Esther the Wonder Pig is now famous online. They've written a book ("Esther the Wonder Pig: Changing the World One Heart at a Time," with Caprice Crane, Grand Central Publishing, 2016) about the tiny piglet who grew up to weigh 650 pounds.
Pigs are curious and strong. That became clear long before Esther was her full size.
"When Esther was about 250 or 300 pounds, she stuck her nose under the couch and lifted the whole thing in the air with us sitting on it," Jenkins says.
Their jaw strength is just as impressive. When she was only about 100 pounds, Esther got into a cupboard full of canned goods. "She crushed those cans like they were butter," he says.
Pigs can be housetrained, but Walter calls their experience "memorable."
"We were going through a rainforest worth of paper towels," he says. "Imagine throwing 3 gallons of water on the floor how many towels you'd need." They tried to train her to use a litter box indoors, but eventually even a kiddie pool wasn't big enough. When they switched to outdoors, she tried to train them: She'd ask to go out constantly, pretend to pee, and then come running for her treat.
Having a pig in the house changed everything and not just in the house.
Before Esther, "the house was immaculate, the yard was immaculate," says Jenkins.
But one of a pig's fundamental needs is to root around in the dirt. "She didn't want to just eat the grass, she wanted to flip it over because she likes the roots," he says.
If none of that puts you off and you're still passionate about having a pig, first check zoning regulations. If they define pigs as livestock and you're not zoned for livestock, your pet is illegal as Esther was, in their first home.
Then, be very careful about what you're getting. Candace Croney, associate professor of animal sciences at Purdue University, says it is possible to breed pigs in the 40- or 50-pound range that some breeders claim to offer, but you should ask about the parents' size and the average adult size of their previous litters.
Be prepared to maintain a healthy weight for a pet pig. Many of those that come to Best Friends Sanctuary are grossly overweight. Remember, says Croney, that pigs are both very smart and genetically programmed to spend most of their day looking for food.
"The ones that are really good pet pigs, that are offering us cute behaviors, will learn very quickly that that's how you get extra food out of people," she says. And because pigs were domesticated and bred to be meat animals, they tend to put on weight quickly.
Having pigs with other pets can also be a challenge. Pigs are social animals, but their interactions are particular to their species.
"They have little posturing, challenging matches it's part of their innate behavior," says Reid. "And what we see is that only other pigs can relate with them in the same way. When they start doing that with people it turns into aggression, and when they try it with dogs, either the dog can get hurt, or it prompts an attack from the dog."
Jenkins and Walter agree that caution is essential.
"We've seen some sad and scary situations of pigs and dogs getting into fights," says Walter. Esther is used to the dogs she was raised with, but she's not allowed to play with them. When she wants to, the humans intervene and redirect her to play with them instead.
To meet pigs' social needs, Best Friends only adopts them out in pairs, or to homes where there is already a pig companion.
"From what we've seen and experienced here, pigs do best when they have the opportunity to live with other pigs," says Reid.
An apartment isn't a suitable home for a pig, she says, but you don't need a farm either. Pigs need the opportunity to go outside and root, but otherwise the match depends on the individual, as with any other pet.
"We have pigs that enjoy being around people, and prefer to be in the house around the family as long as they can go outside as well," she says. "We also have others that are perfectly content to have separate areas where they live outside, as long as they have warm housing and shelter."
For Jenkins and Walter, it was worth it to turn their lives upside down for Esther. They moved and started a pig sanctuary, and their online network has helped find new homes for pigs all over the world.
But their experience shows, as Reid says, "not just anyone is set up or prepared for what it means to take on a pig."
In this March 28, 2014 photo, Brooke Alexander lies on the ground while petting one-year-old, 80-pound Boris the pig, wile resting her head on Tobias, a young adult pig who weighs about 200 pounds, at Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah. Oliver, the white pig behind her is a fully mature adult pig and he weighs about 250 pounds. Pigs don't have the greatest reputation. Most of us probably use the word more often as an insult than to talk about a real animal. If you meet one, though, you might feel differently. Their fans say pigs are funny, smart, and full of personality. (Molly Wald/Best Friends Animal Society via AP)
In this undated photo Esther The Wonder Pig is shown with her owners Derek Walter, left, and Steve Jenkins in Campbellville, Ontario. Walter is holding a book titled "Esther The Wonder Pig: Changing the World One Heart at a Time," which the two wrote about their pet pig. Pigs don't have the greatest reputation. Most of us probably use the word more often as an insult than to talk about a real animal. If you meet one, though, you might feel differently. Their fans say pigs are funny, smart, and full of personality. (Steve Jenkins via AP)
In this May 27, 2015 photo, a volunteer with Best Friends Animal Society bends down to greet RB, a magnificent potbellied pig who weighs a stately 340 pounds, at Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah. Pigs don't have the greatest reputation. Most of us probably use the word more often as an insult than to talk about a real animal. If you meet one, though, you might feel differently. Their fans say pigs are funny, smart, and full of personality. (Molly Wald/Best Friends Animal Society via AP)
This Sept. 11, 2015 photo shows volunteer Dominique and a few baby pigs at Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah. Pigs don't have the greatest reputation. Most of us probably use the word more often as an insult than to talk about a real animal. If you meet one, though, you might feel differently. Their fans say pigs are funny, smart, and full of personality. (Molly Wald/Best Friends Animal Society via AP)
In this undated photo Esther The Wonder Pig is shown resting with other pets that live in her household in Campbellville, Ontario. Pigs don't have the greatest reputation. Most of us probably use the word more often as an insult than to talk about a real animal. If you meet one, though, you might feel differently. Their fans say pigs are funny, smart, and full of personality. (Steve Jenkins via AP)
In this undated photo Esther The Wonder Pig is shown resting in her home in Campbellville, Ontario. Pigs don't have the greatest reputation. Most of us probably use the word more often as an insult than to talk about a real animal. If you meet one, though, you might feel differently. Their fans say pigs are funny, smart, and full of personality. (Steve Jenkins via AP)
Top prosecutor's twin files complaint about sister's office
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) Pennsylvania's embattled attorney general's administration is facing yet another employee complaint this time from her twin sister.
Attorney General Kathleen Kane's twin has filed a wage and gender discrimination complaint against her sister's office, The Morning Call of Allentown reported (http://bit.ly/1teyEtf).
Ellen Granahan works as a chief deputy attorney general and says her $88,509 salary is 17 to 37 percent lower than what male and female agency lawyers with similar titles earn. She filed the complaint Dec. 30 with the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission.
FILE - In this Aug. 24, 2015, file photo, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, center, and her twin sister Ellen Granahan, left, leave Kane's preliminary hearing at the Montgomery County courthouse in Norristown, Pa. Granahan, who works as a chief deputy attorney general under Kane, filed a wage and gender discrimination complaint against her sister's office with the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission on Dec. 30, 2015, saying her $88,000 salary is 17 to 37 percent lower than what male and female agency lawyers with similar titles earn. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
The agency gave Kane's administration until May 12 to respond. It wasn't clear if that happened, and neither Granahan nor Kane's office would comment on it.
Granahan has worked as a state prosecutor since 2008. After Kane was sworn in as attorney general in 2013, Granahan was promoted to chief deputy attorney general of the office's child predator section. Granahan's promotion came with a 20 percent raise, the newspaper reported.
The state Ethics Commission investigated Kane's promotion of her sister, acting on a request by state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler. It found that Granahan's hiring broke no rules, according to records obtained by The Morning Call.
However, the Ethic Commission's chairman, John J. Bolger, wrote to Kane in January 2014 and told her that Granahan's selection created suspicion because Kane's office had not established criteria to fill the vacancy.
Four months after Granahan's promotion, the state Supreme Court threatened to suspend Granahan's law license unless she completed mandated education classes within 30 days, The Morning Call reported. Granahan complied.
Kane, a Democrat who is not running for re-election, faces an August trial on charges that she leaked secret grand jury material, allegations she denies.
___
Information from: The Morning Call, http://www.mcall.com
Shenandoah River mishap leaves 1 dead; 1 rescued by copter
HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. (AP) A woman drowned and a 13-year-old girl was rescued by helicopter after they capsized close to rapids in the Shenandoah River near the West Virginia-Maryland border, authorities said Tuesday.
The two had been kayaking and tubing near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia on Monday, said Bakerton Fire Department Chief Josh Smith. He said they capsized near the Bull Falls rapids. Four other family members who were with them were rescued, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.
The body of Katrina Anne Meeks, 40, of Purcellville, Virginia, was discovered about 9 p.m. Monday, the news release said.
Meeks went underwater when the tube she was floating in got caught on something, the sheriff's office said. She didn't come back up and police believe she drowned. Her brother, one of the family members on the trip, called authorities to tell them Meeks had drowned and that her body was floating down the river.
The tube and other belongings were taken into evidence.
The Maryland State Police sent out a helicopter at 7:15 p.m. Monday to rescue the teenage girl, who was stranded on a rock surrounded by rapids, state police said in a news release. Because her location was impossible to reach by boat, rescuers had to lower a basket with an officer to retrieve her, the release said.
Hungary: suspended prison term in graft case tied to US bans
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) A Hungarian court has given a two-year suspended prison sentence to a man found guilty of being an accessory to corruption in a case that surfaced after the U.S. banned several Hungarian officials from entering the country because of suspected corruption.
The man, identified only as Viktor Andras T., allegedly offered tax breaks and other competitive benefits to an adviser of American food company Bunge in exchange for 2 billion forints ($7.3 million). The company, best known in Hungary for its cooking oil, rejected the offer and reported the case to U.S. authorities.
The court disagreed with prosecutors that the convicted man was the scheme's mastermind, saying that person has yet to be identified.
Boko Haram attacks force 50,000 to flee homes in Niger
NIAMEY, Niger (AP) More than 50,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in southeastern Niger after a series of attacks by Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, the United Nations refugee agency said Tuesday.
Attacks by the Nigeria-based fighters on Friday, Sunday and Monday on the town of Bosso and its military post forced people to flee to Toumour, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) to the west, the agency said.
The U.N. also said the security and humanitarian situation in the Diffa region has worsened. A May 31 attack in the town of Yebi killed nine people and forced 15,000 to flee.
Hundreds of Boko Haram extremists overnight Friday looted stores and burned houses in Bosso before fleeing with weapons and ammunition as the military pushed them out, officials said.
Niger's National Defense Minister Hassoumi Massoudou said the death toll from that fighting has been revised. He said 24 soldiers from Niger were killed, along with two soldiers from Nigeria. The defense ministry earlier reported that 30 soldiers from Niger and two Nigerian soldiers were killed. At least 112 people were wounded, he said Monday.
The fighting also left 55 Boko Haram insurgents dead, Massoudou said.
"The town of Bosso is totally under control," he said.
Niger contributes to a multi-national force set up to fight Boko Haram in the region, where attacks in recent years have killed at least 20,000 people and displaced 2.7 million, according to Amnesty International and the U.N.
Israel says con men stole millions from global companies
RISHON LEZION, Israel (AP) The scam had all the trappings of a major con. Working from a dingy office building just a short drive from the glittering Mediterranean Sea, eight immigrants from Europe formed an unlikely team that allegedly conspired to dupe major multinational companies out of millions of dollars.
Most of them spoke French, the others Italian. Using their language skills and familiarity with European business practices, they telephoned employees at some of Europe's biggest companies, identified themselves as top executives and tricked workers into transferring large sums of money to bank accounts in their control, police said. Among the companies targeted, according to police and suspects' lawyers: Kia Motors, Hugo Boss and Chanel.
It was a classic "fake CEO" or "fake president" scam, a scheme used by various criminals worldwide that has robbed companies of some $1.8 billion in just over two years, according to the FBI. Most of the eight suspects in the latest case are either jailed or under house arrest.
Israeli police say this building served as the headquarters of an international scam operation that duped global companies out of more than $10 million, in the coastal city of Netanya, Israel, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. The police said they have busted a new crime ring in which French and Italian immigrants posed as company executives to bilk millions of dollars from dozens of multinational giants, including Kia Motors, Hugo Boss and Chanel. The case suggests that the so-called fake CEO scam is still thriving in Israel, where Gilbert Chikli, the man widely credited with inventing it continues to evade French attempts to arrest him. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
But not the man who boasts of pioneering the scam years ago, inspiring copycats like these around the globe: French-Israeli con artist Gilbert Chikli. He mysteriously remains a free man, living in luxury in his villa in a seaside Israeli city as French authorities try to bring him to justice over a massive con for which he was previously convicted.
"If they have a problem, they can come see me. They know my address. I am not fleeing," Chikli told The Associated Press by telephone. "Send them my regards."
The case illustrates how financial crime has globalized faster and more efficiently than the law enforcement that is trying to fight it.
Israel extradited Chikli to France to stand trial in 2008 for defrauding HSBC, Thomson, Accenture and other companies out of 6.1 million euros, and attempting to extract over 70 million euros from at least 33 others. But in 2009, Chikli says he chartered a private plane and flew back to Israel.
A French court in May 2015 sentenced him in absentia to seven years in prison. Instead, he's been sipping coffee at a portside cafe in Israel and hanging out at his private swimming pool.
France issued two requests to Israel for Chikli's arrest, the French Justice Ministry said. The first request came the year after he escaped prosecution in France.
The second came this January, according to a copy of the Interpol notice obtained by The Associated Press. It was issued just two weeks after the release of a new heist-thriller film based on Chikli's life story, starring Julie Gayet, the companion of French President Francois Hollande. Chikli's wife, Shirly, attended the Paris premiere.
Still, Israeli officials show no signs of going after Chikli, even as they prosecute his alleged copycats for similar crimes. Israel's police and Justice Ministry declined to explain why, saying they do not discuss individual cases.
France's Justice Ministry said the Interpol notice issued against Chikli, called a "diffusion," is the equivalent of a provisional arrest warrant, with an aim to extradite a criminal to France. Interpol cannot force a country to comply with arrest notices and some countries routinely ignore them. Israeli Justice Ministry spokesman Noam Sharvit said Israel adheres to extradition requests when warranted.
French Justice Ministry spokesman Olivier Pedro-Jose said Israeli-French cooperation on such cases comes with delays. "The execution of requests for help from French officials by their Israeli counterparts often relate to extremely complex financial affairs, which demand long and considerable investigations," he said.
Irit Kohn, a former director of the Israeli Justice Ministry's international department, said the countries' differing legal systems has held up cooperation on criminal cases.
Criminals, in contrast, have been far more nimble at running their cross-border activities, keeping a step ahead of the law.
In the case of the eight immigrants in Israel, police began tracking them in November, secretly videotaping them from inside their office in an old building housing a car-repair shop in Netanya, a Mediterranean city north of Tel Aviv that is home to a large French immigrant community.
On May 2, police raided the suspects' office. Suspects tried to destroy computers and telephones, police say, in an effort to get rid of evidence.
Defense lawyer Liya Felus said indictments in the case are set to be issued Wednesday, though she did not know how many would be charged. Police investigated the case together with Belgian authorities, requesting legal assistance from France, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia, according to court documents.
In the meantime, police are keeping most of the details secret.
In court hearings over the past month in the Israeli city of Rishon Lezion, a police investigator repeatedly handed thick binders of classified evidence to a judge, as suspects wearing leg cuffs sat behind a glass panel and the suspects' relatives and lawyers looked on.
Posing as company executives, the suspects telephoned employees in charge of finances, presented themselves as the CEO, sought information about vendors owed money, and convinced the company representatives to send money to bank accounts in Europe, according to police.
They are suspected of defrauding or attempting to defraud companies in France, Belgium, Italy and elsewhere in Europe out of 10.5 million euros ($12 million). A police investigator said in court that between January and April, they'd managed to persuade an employee of Kia Motors in France to transfer 462,000 euros ($520,000) to a bank account they controlled.
A lawyer for one of the suspects said police confronted his client with documents pertaining to luxury fashion companies Hugo Boss and Chanel. Police would not comment on the companies involved, or say how they linked the suspects to the accounts.
A representative for Chanel declined comment. Repeated messages to Hugo Boss went unreturned.
A spokesman for Kia Motors France, Xavier Domenech-Cabaud, would not comment on the case. "Like all big companies, we're confronted with cybercrime," he said in an email. "Our processes are constantly analyzed and reinforced."
According to police, each suspect played a unique role in the scam. Two Italian speakers were allegedly in charge of telephoning Italian companies and persuading them to transfer hundreds of thousands of euros to their bank account. Others allegedly did the same to companies in France and Belgium.
Two French speakers formed the "creative team," police said, faking documents, signatures, emails, company logos and bank statements. An additional French speaker handled bank accounts and money transfers, police say.
Police also offered few details on how the con artists laundered their stolen money. They are investigating the source of 20,000 euros found in a safe deposit box in a synagogue which one suspect claimed were merely donations.
Another suspect was found with Chinese bank account information written on a piece of paper tucked away in his passport cover, a police investigator said in court, without offering further details.
Western intelligence documents obtained by the AP describe scam artists based in Israel who target European companies and use underground Chinese money transfer systems to launder their stolen funds.
Chikli, who is not suspected of involvement in the latest alleged con, told the AP he laundered most of the money he stole in his scam through bank accounts in China, which is emerging as an international hub for money laundering.
One suspect's lawyer says his client has confessed to his role in the scam, while others say their clients are innocent or invoking the right to silence. One lawyer said his client told him from jail that it was unfair that he, who professes innocence, was in Israeli custody while Chikli, who had confessed to his scam, lived free. The lawyer spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a private conversation with his client.
Chikli's first victim, the manager of a bank whom he convinced to hand over a cash-stuffed bag in the bathroom of a Paris cafe in 2005, is shocked that Chikli has escaped his prison sentence, according to her lawyer.
"She is absolutely scandalized by the fact that this decision is not enforceable, that he is still at large," said Sylvie Noachovitch, a lawyer for Madame G., whose name cannot be printed due to French privacy laws. "For France, this seems not to be a priority issue."
Israeli police said they work with law enforcement from around the world to clamp down on the phenomenon.
"The Israeli police regard with severity the criminal involvement of Israelis in scam cases," police said in a statement.
Israel's proximity to Europe, its educated, tech savvy population and large numbers of immigrants fluent in so many languages would seem to provide some of the tools necessary to carry out such schemes. Some scammers, including Chikli, seem to believe that Israel provides a safe haven from prosecutors overseas.
It touches a sensitive nerve in Israel: Police are concerned about such fraud tarnishing the reputation of Israel and Jews living abroad.
"Due to the seriousness of the crime, it has led to displays of anti-Semitism, also in local French press," a police investigator said during a recent hearing, citing previous examples of French Jews convicted of fraud.
One suspect's lawyer cited anti-Semitism in France as the reason his client moved his wife and three children from France to Israel in the first place.
Chikli told the AP he believed French Jewish copycats use the scam to rebuild their lives in Israel after fleeing anti-Semitism in France.
Most of the suspects and their families are devout Jews. In successive hearings over the past month in a courtroom in the central Israeli city of Rishon Lezion, many suspects wore skullcaps and some murmured prayers as their lawyers pleaded their case.
The suspects' wives one of them eight months pregnant and relatives sat in the courtroom, mouthing words of encouragement. Some recited prayers. A woman wailed and ran out of the courtroom. A man in a dark V-neck shirt clasped a mezuzah the small case holding a parchment prayer that is affixed to the doorposts of Jewish homes like an amulet.
Sammy Ghozlan, a former French police commissioner and founder of France's National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, who now lives in Israel, said scams carried out by French Jewish immigrants give French Jews and Israel a bad reputation in France.
He said fraudsters believe they can get away with scamming French companies while in Israel, and claimed Israel was not doing enough to fight the phenomenon.
"These people feel protected in Israel," he said.
__
Associated Press writer Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem and Raphael Satter and Philippe Sotto in Paris contributed to this report. Kinetz reported from Shanghai.
FILE -- In this March 28, 2016 file photo, Gilbert Chikli, 50, poses for a photo at his home in Ashdod, Israel. Israeli police said they have busted a new crime ring in which French and Italian immigrants posed as company executives to bilk millions of dollars from dozens of multinational giants, including Kia Motors, Hugo Boss and Chanel. The case suggests that the so-called fake CEO scam is still thriving in Israel, where Chikli, the man widely credited with inventing it continues to evade French attempts to arrest him. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, File)
FILE- in this March 28, 2016 file photo, Gilbert Chikli, 50, poses for a photo at his home in Ashdod, Israel. Israeli police said they have busted a new crime ring in which French and Italian immigrants posed as company executives to bilk millions of dollars from dozens of multinational giants, including Kia Motors, Hugo Boss and Chanel. The case suggests that the so-called fake CEO scam is still thriving in Israel, where Chikli, the man widely credited with inventing it continues to evade French attempts to arrest him. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, File)
Colorado students build drone for Rwandan national park
DENVER (AP) Rangers protecting the lions, elephants and leopards of Rwanda's Akagera National Park often patrol on foot, and venture only with difficulty into its swamps to keep an eye on rare birds.
A Denver teen who visited the park in northeast Rwanda last summer had an idea he thought would make the rangers' job easier. He and a friend would build a drone to donate to Akagera.
Akagera's rangers "deal with a lot more difficult problems than we do, and with very limited resources," Max Alger-Meyer said, speaking in a robotics lab at the Denver School of Science and Technology in the northeast neighborhood of Stapleton.
In this photo taken Friday, April 22, 2016, Nathan Lapore, right, and Max Alger-Meyer work on their drone at DSST Stapleton in Denver. Alger-Meyer, a Denver teen who visited Rwanda's Akagera National Park last summer, had an idea he thought would make the rangers' job easier: a drone. He and a friend have built one to donate to the park. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Once home from his trip organized by a Denver-based international development nonprofit, Alger-Meyer applied the lessons he had learned in frugality and ingenuity. He and Nathan Lepore, both 18, made the drone themselves because that was cheaper than simply buying one, and the exercise was a hands-on learning experience. Lepore has been accepted into Stanford's mechanical engineering program. Alger-Meyer will enter the aeronautical engineering at the University of Colorado next year.
In a telephone interview from his park, Akagera manager Jes Gruner said he was surprised when got an email from Denver. He'd heard before from people who wanted to sell him a drone, but never from anyone who wanted to give him one. Gruner said the donation will be useful for spotting brushfires. In addition, the drone will allow Akagera to do surveys more often of such animals as shoebill storks, endangered birds that inhabit swamps that are difficult for rangers to navigate.
The park now brings in a helicopter for animal counts, "but it's incredibly expensive. We only do that every two years," Gruner said. "We don't have the luxury of playing with money."
Alger-Meyer, who would like to go into business himself one day, values the experience of putting in hours of research to be sure drone parts ordered were right. He and Lepore didn't want to waste donor money. Most of the just over $1,000 they spent on the drone came from friends and family.
Alger-Meyer and Lepore were putting the finishing touches on the drone as their school year ended. They hope to go to Rwanda this summer to deliver it and train rangers to use it.
The Denver teens knew as they designed their drone that park rangers would have to improvise fixes if anything goes wrong. The frame is assembled from standard-issue aluminum tubing anyone with a drill and some screws could easily replace.
Colby Loucks, senior director of the wildlife conservation program at World Wildlife Fund in the United States, applauded the teens' thinking.
"In the conservation space, people have a bad habit of getting really excited about technology solutions and then trying to find problems that fit those solutions. You can end up with a bunch of expensive equipment that no one knows how to use, that's broken and no one knows how to repair, or that sits around because no one asked for it in the first place."
Cathy Dean, director of London-based Save the Rhino International, said she often hears suggestions that drones be deployed for hunting poachers. That would require expensive night-vision equipment and assumes park security would be able to deploy before the intruders slipped away. Instead, rangers around the world have told Dean drones are more appropriate for the uses Rwanda park manager Gruner envisions.
Neither Dean's nor Loucks's organizations are involved with the drone project for Akegera.
In 2010, the Rwandan government entered into a joint-venture with Gruner's African Parks, a non-profit working across Africa. Since then, tourist visits to Akagera have doubled to more than 32,000, Gruner said. Lions were re-introduced last year. Gruner, who plans to soon bring back black rhinos as well, said security has improved because of new fencing, a larger and better trained ranger force and improved cooperation with nearby communities.
Bas Huijbregts, an African species expert with WWF, said African Parks got Akagera "back on its feet."
Rebel and government forces sometimes fought in national parks during Rwanda's civil war a generation ago, and refugees competed with animals for habitat. Poaching also took a toll. Despite concerns about their commitment to democracy that have implications for long-term stability, Rwanda's leaders have been credited with fostering economic growth since 1994, when a rebel movement ended a genocide by Hutu extremists in which an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.
Alger-Meyer visited Rwanda on a trip organized by the Global Livingston Institute, founded in 2009 by Jamie Van Leeuwen, whose day job is senior adviser to Colorado's governor. Van Leeuwen wants the Americans, Rwandans and Ugandans he brings together to consider the problems they share and what they can learn from each other about finding solutions.
Alger-Meyer said he had not been particularly interested in conservation before meeting the Rwandans. He returned with a new perspective.
"Seeing how (rangers) operated such a vast park with limited resources, that kind of problem solving they do intrigues me."
In this photo taken Friday, April 22, 2016, Max Alger-Meyer, left, and Nathan Lapore work on their drone at DSST Stapleton in Denver. Alger-Meyer, a Denver teen who visited Rwanda's Akagera National Park last summer, had an idea he thought would make the rangers' job easier: a drone. He and a friend have built one to donate to the park. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
In this photo taken Friday, April 22, 2016, Nathan Lapore, right, and Max Alger-Meyer work on a drone at DSST Stapleton in Denver. Alger-Meyer, a Denver teen who visited Rwanda's Akagera National Park last summer, had an idea he thought would make the rangers' job easier: a drone. He and a friend have built one to donate to the park. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Germany: 25 treated after fire at refugee shelter
BERLIN (AP) Two people were detained Tuesday after a large fire at refugee accommodation in the western German city of Duesseldorf, police said.
City police spokeswoman Anja Kynast said the two men, both residents at the shelter, were taken in for questioning but not formally arrested.
Duesseldorf's fire department said about 70 firefighters rushed to the grounds of the city's convention center after being alerted to the fire shortly after midday.
Rescue cars stand near a refugee accommodation on the grounds of the convention center where a fire has broken in the western city of Duesseldorf, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Joerg Schmitter, spokesman of the local fire department told The Associated Press that the fire started shortly after noon on Tuesday. He said that all people who had been in the hall appeared to have made it out. (Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa via AP)
It said 24 of the 282 refugees living at the site were treated for smoke inhalation and one firefighter was treated for exhaustion.
Kynast said authorities had been called to a previous fire at the shelter last month, but that the cause hadn't been determined.
Tuesday's fire created a large column of smoke over Duesseldorf that could be seen for dozens of kilometers (miles).
Traffic at the city's nearby airport wasn't affected.
Firefighters try to extinguish a fire that has broken at a refugee accommodation on the grounds of the convention center in the western city of Duesseldorf, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Joerg Schmitter, spokesman of the local firedepartment told The Associated Press that the fire started shortly after noon on Tuesday. He said that all people who had been in the hall appeared to have made it out. (Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa via AP)
Significant progress has been made on shortening screening lines since earlier this spring, the head of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has said.
Peter Neffenger said 99 per cent of passengers waited less than 30 minutes over a busy Memorial Day weekend and 93 per cent waited less than 15 minutes in regular security lines.
The agency said it is reducing lines by adding more lanes and increasing staffing at peak periods, especially at the nation's busiest airports.
Significant progress has been made on shortening screening lines since earlier this spring when airlines said thousands of passengers were missing flights, chief of the Transportation Security Administration said
Mr Neffenger said: 'When you get stories of long wait times it has primarily been those airports. If you can prevent problems from happening there, you don't have problems that cascade throughout the system.'
TSA also is exploring the possibility of adding automated screening technology at more than a dozen airports that can speed up lines by as much as 30 per cent, he said.
After TSA viewed the technology in operation at Heathrow Airport in London [the busiest in Europe], Delta Air Lines helped pay for its installation in two screening lanes in Atlanta.
The new system, which went into operation in late May, has been such a success that TSA has created a special team to talk to other airlines and airports about installing the systems and going even further to add more automation, he said.
TSA also won praise from one of its fiercest critics, John Roth, the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general.
TSA screeners overwhelmingly missed banned items in secret tests carried out by the inspector general's office, according to a highly critical report by Mr Roth last year.
He said: 'I believe we are in a different place than we were last June.
'We are generally satisfied with the progress they are making, which is by no means complete.'
Among his continuing concerns are that not enough is being done to protect against the 'insider threat' of an airport worker or other persons who have access to airport restricted areas.
There is 'no holistic look at an airport worker who has unrestricted access to aircraft,' Roth said.
Judge approves $50M settlement to Northeast dairy farmers
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) A federal judge on Tuesday approved a $50 million settlement to be paid by a national dairy marketing cooperative to thousands of Northeast dairy farmers.
Dairy Farmers of America will pay an average of $4,000 to about 8,860 farms to settle a lawsuit that accused the marketing group of trying to drive down milk prices.
The 2009 class-action lawsuit charged Dairy Farmers of America; its marketing arm, Dairy Marketing Services; and Dallas-based Dean Foods with working together to monopolize the market for raw milk in the Northeast.
Dean Foods agreed to a separate $30 million settlement in 2011.
The deals cover farmers in Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
The settlement approved Tuesday offers farmers "a modest recovery," but the $80 million total for the two deals "is not insubstantial when viewed against the backdrop of the risks of continued litigation," U.S. District Court Judge Christina Reiss wrote.
She had rejected a previous settlement proposal primarily due to some farmers' opposition to it.
The amended settlement creates and funds an independent advisory council member for four years to review the financial records of the Dairy Farmers of America and Dairy Marketing Services. The council member also will serve as an advocate within the farmers' group for higher pay prices and farmer equity, Reiss wrote.
It also establishes and funds a farmer ombudsperson for five years to investigate any complaints as well as creates an audit committee to monitor DFA's compliance with the settlement, the judge wrote.
Dairy Farmers of America also has agreed to non-retaliation safeguards for dairy farmers and protocols to help them leave the group without penalty, the judge said.
The settlement is an excellent result for the farmers in terms of monetary relief and efforts to address anti-competitive concerns, said Kit Pierson, a Washington-based attorney for the plaintiffs.
"We think it's a very positive step forward," he said.
DFA spokeswoman Monica Massey said the group believed the allegations were without merit, but was pleased the judge approved the settlement because litigation is both costly and distracting.
Man indicted in Ohio cop's slaying, could face death penalty
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) A man who showed signs of mental illness in the days before the fatal shooting of a police officer was indicted Tuesday on aggravated murder charges that could carry the death penalty upon conviction.
Authorities say Lincoln Rutledge shot Columbus SWAT officer Steven Smith in the head April 10 while officers were trying to arrest Rutledge on an arson warrant. Smith, 54, died two days later.
Ohio law includes killing a police officer as a factor prosecutors can use in seeking a death sentence.
FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Franklin County Sheriff's Office in Columbus, Ohio, shows Lincoln Rutledge. A grand jury handed down an indictment Tuesday, June 7, 2016, against the 44-year-old Rutledge that includes charges of aggravated murder, attempted murder, felonious assault and aggravated arson, in connection with an April 10, 2016, standoff and shooting of 54-year-old Columbus SWAT officer Steven M. Smith, who died April 12, 2016. (Franklin County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)
"Smith was an extremely dedicated officer and his death is a tremendous loss to our community," Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said in announcing the charges.
Messages seeking comment were left with the public defenders who have been representing Rutledge.
Even if Rutledge was convicted and sentenced to death, an execution could be decades off because of lengthy appeals and the state's current lack of lethal injection drugs.
Smith was in the turret area of a SWAT vehicle when he was shot, part of a team of officers trying to arrest Rutledge on an aggravated arson charge alleging he tried to set his estranged wife's home on fire the day before.
Police records show the 44-year-old Rutledge, a computer network engineer at Ohio State University, was having mental health problems before the shooting, something that could affect whether he receives a death sentence if convicted.
Mental illness is often raised as a defense in capital cases. State lawmakers are also debating a bill that would spare defendants from execution if they're judged to have suffered from severe mental illness at the time of a killing.
Ohio State said Rutledge had not been at work since Feb. 1 when he requested and was granted a leave of absence. His access to buildings was revoked March 23 "when he began to behave erratically while on leave," the university said.
Rutledge told a co-worker visiting his home in March that he was not taking his medication, made a comment about "eating a Glock" and accused his co-worker of being a federal agent, according to a March 22 report from the OSU police department.
During the co-worker's visit, "it became apparent that Rutledge may have been in the midst of a mental breakdown," the report said.
On March 28, Rutledge's wife told Columbus police he had been diagnosed with depression and "lately has been 'increasingly detached from reality,'" according to a Columbus police report.
A Franklin County judge had ordered that Rutledge receive mental health treatment, the report said.
Smith was the 54th Columbus police officer killed in the line of duty.
___
Andrew Welsh-Huggins can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/awhcolumbus. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/andrew-welsh-huggins
FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Columbus Division of Police shows police SWAT officer Steven M. Smith. A grand jury handed down an indictment Tuesday, June 7, 2016, against 44-year-old Lincoln Rutledge that includes charges of aggravated murder, attempted murder, felonious assault and aggravated arson, in connection with an April 10, 2016, standoff and shooting of the 54-year-old Smith, who died April 12, 2016. (Columbus Division of Police via AP, File)
Things To Know: Judge Trump slammed as 'Mexican' born in US
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The federal judge who has been criticized by presumed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for a ruling in a lawsuit involving Trump University is not a "Mexican" as Trump once suggested, but a native-born American whose immigrant father worked in a Northwest Indiana steel mill.
U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel was born in East Chicago, Indiana, and graduated from Indiana University before moving to California, where he was a federal prosecutor before his elevation to the bench.
Here are some things to know about Curiel:
___
BORN IN THE USA
Curiel is the youngest of four children born in the U.S. to Mexican immigrants who relocated to East Chicago for work in the steel mills.
Curiel graduated in 1971 from a Catholic high school in Hammond and completed his Indiana University law degree in 1979. He practiced law for several years in Dyer, a city in the northwest corner of Indiana about 30 miles south of Chicago, before leaving the state.
"My parents were not wealthy, or well connected, or even educated," Curiel said during a 2014 commencement address at his alma mater, Indiana University's Maurer School of Law. "My parents came to Indiana from Mexico 70 years ago with little more than a fourth-grade education and a belief that they could build a life for their family."
___
FEDERAL PROSECUTOR
As an assistant U.S. attorney in southern California, Curiel helped negotiate the extradition of Mexican drug traffickers to the U.S. and oversaw the prosecution that brought down the Arellano Felix drug cartel. At the time, Curiel received a death threat and was placed under protection of the U.S. marshals for about a year, his friend Gregory Vega, a former U.S. attorney in the Southern District of California, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Curiel was appointed to the federal bench in 2012 by President Barack Obama. In 2006, then-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, appointed Curiel to the Superior Court of San Diego.
___
CONTINUING TIES
Curiel is a decorated alumnus of IU's Maurer School of Law in Bloomington. In April, he was named an Academy of Law Alumni Fellow the school's highest award recognizing graduates who have "distinguished themselves in their careers through personal achievements and dedication," according to the school.
Curiel also helped start a scholarship program named for his deceased brother Antonio, who also was a Maurer graduate.
During the 2014 commencement address, Curiel urged Maurer graduates to have "civility and respect for those working with you and those opposing you."
Nigeria suspends army attacks for talks with oil militants
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) Nigerian officials Tuesday ordered the military to suspend attacks in the oil-producing south to allow dialogue with militants whose assaults have slashed oil production, Delta State Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa announced.
The decision came at a meeting of military chiefs, state governors and Petroleum Minister Ibe Kachikwu.
Kachikwu on Monday called for the Niger Delta Avengers group to "sheath their weapons and embrace dialogue." He said the military would continue to patrol waterways but halt other operations. Community leaders have criticized the military campaign in the southern Niger Delta, saying soldiers are brutalizing innocent civilians. Thousands of people have fled the fallout.
The suspension comes days after a new group calling itself the Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force threatened attacks on government and oil company offices in Abuja and Lagos, the commercial capital, to destroy infrastructure "built with our oil and gas monies."
President Muhammadu Buhari canceled a much-publicized visit to the region last week after the Avengers threatened to assassinate him. Buhari, who is in London for treatment for an ear infection, was supposed to launch a decades-delayed cleanup operation. Pollution of agricultural and fishing grounds from careless oil production has destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of residents and impoverished the region that provides 80 percent of government revenue.
Attacks in recent months ended years of relative peace in the delta and halved Nigeria's oil production to about 1.2 million barrels a day and closed some of the country's biggest oil-exporting terminals. Nigeria has lost its place as Africa's biggest oil producer to Angola.
Voters in 6 states speak out on their picks for president
Voters in six states cast ballots in presidential primary contests Tuesday, but many were looking ahead to the general election.
Democratic and Republican voters told The Associated Press they have long been weighing and comparing candidates with an eye toward who could come out on top in November.
Elections in New Jersey, California, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota featured a contest between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Sanders is urging superdelegates to drop their support for Clinton, arguing he is a stronger candidate to take on Donald Trump.
Karen Fleshman looks over a ballot while voting at City Hall in San Francisco, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Voter turnout is expected to be higher then normal in the nation's most populous state for Tuesday's presidential primary. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Clinton reached the 2,383 delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Monday, according to an AP tally.
On the Republican side, Trump has had the nomination locked up for weeks.
Here are some voters' thoughts:
___
In San Diego, 82-year-old Harry Backer strolled past cyclists, skateboarders and kayakers on the way to vote for Clinton. The retired teacher, who also worked in construction, said America needs a level-headed, grounded woman with world experience.
"I'm left of Bernie Sanders, but I know that she's the candidate that can possibly get something done," Backer said.
He also wanted to be part of history in making Clinton the first woman to top the ticket of a major U.S. political party.
___
Izabela Biel voted for Trump in Closter, New Jersey, an upscale suburb across the Hudson River from Manhattan. Biel said Trump's success as a businessman symbolizes the American dream for her.
Biel came to the U.S. from Poland about 25 years ago, and she offered that even though he isn't the perfect candidate, she prefers him to the Democratic candidates who "want to make everybody equal."
"I grew up in communism," said Biel, 46. "I've lived it, and I absolutely know that it's proven that it doesn't work. You can't make everybody equal. That just doesn't exist in the real world."
___
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, 72-year-old retiree Thomas Ocken biked to the University of New Mexico to vote for Sanders. Ocken said didn't think it mattered after news of Clinton's delegate count, but he wanted to cast a ballot anyway.
"I think Democratic Socialism is much more fair. I'm not afraid of socialism," Ocken said. "I don't think he'll win. At least he'll put more pressure on Hillary."
___
Paul Westendorf, a 53-year-old resident of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, who works in financial services, voted for Trump, though he wished he had other viable options. He said it was more about "finding what I dislike the least."
"It's hard to get a read on what he really stands for, and I think that some of that is intentional," Westendorf said.
Westendorf is strongly anti-abortion, and he said he's uncomfortable because he doesn't have a good sense of Trump's true stance on that issue. But he said Trump can surround himself with competent people and build a great team.
___
In Montana, Sanders supporter Sonya Goes Ahead held out hope that he could still get the delegates needed before the primary.
"The other candidates are not very truthful. They are in it for money," said Goes Ahead, who grew up on Montana's Crow Reservation and is studying education at Montana State University in Billings.
Sanders was the first presidential candidate to campaign in Montana, in early May, when he also met privately with American Indian leaders from the state's reservations
"He wants to help communities, help bring jobs to the reservation," the 24-year-old Goes Ahead said. "There's not many jobs in my home just the schools."
___
In Helena, Montana, decorative painter Carmela Linguista had no hesitation about whom she was voting for: "Hillary, Hillary, Hillary."
"Hillary has pretty much devoted her life to the needs of women and children," Linguista said. "I think her forte is on the world stage."
She also pulled few punches about Trump.
"The man is insane. He's a danger," she said. "He's not presidential material."
---
Claudia Scott, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, voted for Trump who is "very brash" at times but speaks the truth.
"He's saying to America what people don't want to say out loud, but the way the feel," she said after casting her vote at a middle school.
One of the issues she agrees most with Trump on is immigration, she said.
"I hope he doesn't change his stand on the way that he feels," Scott said.
___
Steve Mays, 60, a warehouse worker from Bismarck, North Dakota, said he was supporting Clinton.
"I think she will be the same as the old Clinton, Bill and that's good," he said. "The economy was good when he was president and he knew how to balance a budget."
Mays said it makes no difference to him that she would be the first woman president.
"She's got experience and I trust her," he said. "It doesn't bother me at all whether someone is male or female or black or white," he said.
___
In Kearney, New Jersey, a blue-collar community, Antonio Cunha voted for Sanders, saying the candidate focuses on issues important to regular people.
"I like the idea of helping people afford college, whether it's totally free or not," said Cunha, 32, who works for a civil engineering firm. "Back in the day everybody got around with a high school education, but now I can see how much more people make in their careers if they have college degrees. And everybody's saddled with that debt, so that would be a big help."
___
Contributing to this report were: Associated Press writers Wayne Parry in Atlantic City, New Jersey; David Porter in Closter, New Jersey; Bruce Shipkowski in Toms River, New Jersey; Ellen Knickmeyer in Sonoma, California; Mary Hudetz and Russell Contreras in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Julie Watson in San Diego; Dirk Lammers in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, James MacPherson in Bismarck, North Dakota; Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana; and Matt Volz in Helena, Montana.
Rebecca Klauber casts her vote at the Venice Beach Lifeguard Headquarters polling station in Los Angeles, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Voter turnout is expected to be higher then normal in the nation's most populous state for Tuesday's presidential primary. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
Erica Roberts' dog Tyson wears a sticker after she voted in San Francisco, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Voter turnout is expected to be higher then normal in the nation's most populous state for Tuesday's presidential primary. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
People wait at a polling station during the primary elections in Clifton, N.J., Tuesday, June 7, 2016. (Chris Pedota/The Record of Bergen County via AP) ONLINE OUT; MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET OUT; NO ARCHIVING; MANDATORY CREDIT
Voters line up to cast ballots in East Helena, Mont., on Tuesday, June 7, 2016, during the primary election. Primary voters undeterred by many races that already have been decided cast their ballots across Montana on Tuesday, as the real fights took place in down-ticket contests for the state Legislature. (AP Photo/Bobby Caina Calvan)
Tom, left, and Pat Garry, of Sioux Falls, look over a sample ballot during the South Dakota Primary Election, Tuesday, June 7, 2016, at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls, S.D. (Joe Ahlquist/Argus Leader via AP)
Darby Bramble casts her primary elections ballot with Max Zipfel in her arms at the Helena Civic Center in Helena, Mont., Tuesday, June 7, 2016. (Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Prosecutor: Gang leader ordered henchmen to kidnap, kill
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) From a prison cell, a gang leader known as "Godfather" ordered his henchmen to kill the father of an assistant district attorney by stuffing a sock in his mouth and putting a plastic bag over his head, a federal prosecutor said Tuesday.
Prosecutors told jurors at the opening of Kelvin Melton's trial that they wiretapped a cellphone he used inside a North Carolina prison. They say the recording catches Melton ordering gangsters to kill the father of a North Carolina assistant DA in 2014. That state prosecutor had helped convict Melton in a 2012 case that sent him to life in prison.
Quoting the wiretap, federal prosecutor Leslie Katherine Cooley told jurors that the conversation captures Melton ordering someone to put a plastic bag over Frank Janssen's head, cinched tight, and wait until the lack of air "do what it do."
FILE - In this April 10, 2014, file photo taken from video, FBI agents collect evidence at an apartment complex in Atlanta, where federal agents rescued kidnap victim Frank Janssen, of Wake Forest, N.C. Kelvin Melton, a violent criminal described as a high-ranking member of the Bloods street gang goes on trial Monday, June 6, 2016, in North Carolina on a federal kidnapping charge after authorities say he helped orchestrate the abduction of Janssen, a prosecutor's father, from his prison cell. (AP Photo/Johnny Clark, File)
"You don't need an interpreter to understand the words of this man, 'Dizzy,' 'Old Man,'" Cooley said, pointing at Melton and using his nicknames.
Melton watched the jurors, his lips pulled tightly over his gold-encased front teeth.
Defense attorney Gerald Beaver urged jurors not to believe Melton's gang crew when they testify against him, including the four who kidnapped, pistol-whipped and tortured Janssen with a stun gun during his four-day ordeal in April 2014.
All nine of Melton's co-defendants struck plea deals to avoid the death penalty or life prison sentences for earlier shootings and aborted kidnapping plots, Beaver said.
"Simply because somebody told someone a story, it doesn't mean it is true," Beaver told jurors. "Look at the witnesses' motivations to try and please the government. ... Every one of those witnesses have received a plea agreement."
Melton founded United Bloods Nation, an East Coast offshoot of the street gang originally formed in Southern California, during a 1980s stint in a New York state prison.
Melton is accused of commanding gang members to abduct the prosecutor but his underlings botched the plan and snatched the prosecutor's father instead, prosecutors said.
Janssen's captors were finalizing details to kill Janssen and dispose of his body when a SWAT team stormed an Atlanta apartment and rescued him, authorities said.
Prosecutors said Melton used smuggled cellphones to direct gangsters to carry out crimes including the killing of a rival gang member in Warner Robins, Georgia; the home invasion, robbery and shooting of a gun collector in Covington, Georgia; and plans to kidnap people in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and High Point, North Carolina.
The kidnappings would have been of people related to the defense attorney who lost the North Carolina trial that led to Melton's current life sentence.
The federal trial is expected to last three weeks. If he is convicted, Melton could be sentenced to another life sentence, this time in federal prisons from which there is no early release opportunity.
___
The Latest: Redstone's mental competency at center of battle
CANTON, Mass. (AP) The Latest on Sumner Redstone-Viacom CEO (all times local):
12:40 p.m.
A battery of lawyers has argued before a judge about whether media mogul Sumner Redstone is mentally competent.
FILE - In this Oct. 1, 2012 file photo, Sumner Redstone attends the premiere of "Seven Psychopaths" in Los Angeles. The mental competency of media mogul Redstone is at the center of a battle to be heard in a Massachusetts courtroom. Viacom chief executive Philippe Dauman and board member George Abrams sued Redstone in May 2015, after both men were stripped of their roles as trustees of entities that control Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP, File)
Redstone's competency was the focus of a hearing Tuesday in Norfolk Probate and Family Court in Canton, Massachusetts.
Viacom's embattled chief executive Philippe Dauman and board member George Abrams are suing Redstone to be restored as a director and trustee to entities that control Viacom and CBS Corp.
They allege that the 93-year-old Redstone didn't have the mental capacity to remove them and that he is being manipulated by his daughter, Shari Redstone.
In court Tuesday, a lawyer for Sumner Redstone said Redstone made the decision himself because he thought Dauman was doing a "poor job" running Viacom and objected to Dauman's plan to sell a stake in Viacom subsidiary Paramount Pictures.
___
1:45 a.m.:
Media mogul Sumner Redstone's mental competency is at the center of a court battle in Massachusetts.
The first hearing in the case is scheduled for Tuesday.
In court papers, lawyers for Viacom chief executive Philippe Dauman asked a judge to order an immediate medical evaluation of Redstone. They also asked for a quick trial, arguing that Redstone is suffering from "overwhelming physical ailments" and has a progressive neurological disease characterized by dementia.
Last week, Redstone's attorneys filed court papers saying he has been examined twice recently by a geriatric psychiatrist, who said Redstone is "clearly communicating" his business decisions, which "reflect his own authentic wishes and preferences."
Kenya's government bans all protests against electoral body
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) Kenya's government has banned all opposition protests against the country's electoral body, a day after witnesses said police killed two demonstrators, the internal security minister said Tuesday.
A 6-year-old boy was also hit in the back by a police bullet Monday during protests in the opposition stronghold of Kisumu, witnesses said. He was among 21 people hospitalized with bullet wounds, according to hospital sources who insisted on anonymity for fear of reprisals.
The security minister, Joseph Nkaissery, said the chaos does not fall within the parameters set by the constitutional court, which had called the demonstrations a constitutionally guaranteed right and ordered the police to protect protesters.
Protesters carrying sticks and rocks stand behind a barricade of burning tyres, as they call for the disbandment of the national electoral commission over allegations of bias and corruption, in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya Monday, June 6, 2016. While demonstrations led by opposition leaders in the capital were largely peaceful, police in the western town of Kisumu tear-gassed demonstrators who responded by throwing stones and witnesses say some people were killed by police. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
"It is extremely dangerous for anybody to challenge the government decision. The consequences are grave," Nkaissery said, without giving details.
The opposition has been holding protests nearly every Monday for the last six weeks to push for the disbanding of the electoral commission, which they say is biased and corrupt.
The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy said the right to demonstrate is not a privilege granted by the state but rather a right guaranteed by the constitution.
"Clearly ... Nkaissery is living in the past. His utterances smack of an old colonial order that is laden with the impunity of the past," Norman Magaya, the chief executive officer at the CORD secretariat, said in a statement.
Magaya said the demonstrations will be held on Monday and Thursday next week.
"Unlawful orders must be treated with contempt," he said.
Some electoral commission members have been named in a case in which two executives of British printing firm Smith and Ouzman Ltd. were convicted in the U.K. for making corrupt payments to individuals in various countries, including Kenya, to win business for the company.
Delta's new CEO: consider service and reliability over price
ATLANTA (AP) Delta Air Lines is posting record profits and is generally envied by the rest of the industry, due largely to its success in catering to high-paying business passengers.
While other carriers try to copy that model, Delta's new CEO, Ed Bastian, has turned his attention to the rest of the plane.
Bastian wants to convince leisure travelers to choose Delta not based on price, but on the experience. That could be a hard sell in a culture where most fliers look for the cheapest flight that fits their schedule.
In this Thursday, May 12, 2016, photo, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian poses for a portrait in his office at the company's headquarters in Atlanta. Delta Air Lines is posting record profits and is generally envied by the rest of the industry, due largely to its success in catering to high-paying business passengers. Bastian is trying to improve the airlines regional carriers and get coach passengers to think about service before price. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
"The company has invested over the last five years heavily in the business cabin and business customer," Bastian says. "We've got to make certain that we turn a higher focus than we've had on the main cabin."
Bastian proudly notes that a decade ago, Delta was getting 90 cents for every dollar charged by its competitors. Today, it gets 110 cents. Some passengers still book based on price and that's why Delta is offering a "Basic Economy" fare that doesn't come with an advance seat assignment.
"But that isn't the bulk of who we are," Bastian says.
Bastian, a longtime Delta executive, is also turning his attention to millennials, those born from the early 1980s to the late 1990s.
"That's our next generation of customers and by 2020 that will be half of our employees," he said in a recent interview at the airline's Atlanta headquarters.
Millennials want easy access to technology and a personalized experience. And, he says, they'll initially have less money than preceding generations. But, as the father of three millennials and a fourth, younger child Bastian acknowledges that he isn't yet sure how the airline will best cater to the group.
Delta has refurbished the interiors of its mainline jets and currently has one of the best on-time performance records. But its regional jets aren't up to the same standards.
"That's been the single biggest change, candidly," Bastian says.
For instance, as of last week, the airline's mainline operations has had 95 days without a single cancellation so far this year, but that figure falls to 29 days when you include the regionals. That might annoy fliers, but that figure Delta boasts is more than all of its major competitors combined.
Delta is working with the regional carriers it hires to improve their maintenance organizations and to improve hiring. But there is also a threat of loss of business. When Delta didn't like how things were going with one airline, it took it to court.
"We pay for performance," Bastian notes. "There are financial penalties when they can't deliver."
The airline is quickly eliminating its unpopular 50-seat jets. Five years ago it had more than 500; by the end of next year, it will be down to 100. Delta has switched many flights once flown on regional jets to its mainline planes, with its own pilots and flight attendants.
"I don't envision not having the regional element but we're going to continue bringing more and more flying to the mainline," Bastian says.
Although some smaller cities will continue to lose flights, Bastian says "I think the bulk of that is behind us."
The biggest risks to the airline industry today are the possible return of high jet fuel prices and the possibility of recession.
Delta has one of the oldest fleets but is quickly replacing jets with newer, fuel efficient models that also come with lower maintenance costs. And in most cases it is paying cash, helping to keep its debt load lower than competitors.
That's one reason that Wall Street still loves the airline. While American Airlines, Delta and United Airlines fly roughly the same amount of passengers each year, the market capitalization of Delta is almost equal to that of American and United combined.
Oil has risen from $26 a barrel earlier this year to around $50. If oil prices were to stabilize at $70 a barrel, Bastian says, "That's not a bad place to be for the airline."
"It will require the airlines to think about how they will cover that cost, through pricing, through segmentation, merchandizing, ancillaries," he adds. "There are a lot of tools that we have."
__
Follow Scott Mayerowitz at twitter.com/GlobeTrotScott. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/scott-mayerowitz
A South Texas police officer is accused of leaving his police dog to die in a hot vehicle as temperatures outside rose into the 90s.
San Juan police officer Juan Cerrillo Jr. was charged with cruelty to non-livestock animals in the death of Rex, a Belgian Malinois. The 37-year-old officer is free on $4,000 bond.
Cerrillo called 911 from his McAllen home Thursday after finding Rex unresponsive in the unmarked vehicle.
Tragic error: Juan Luis Cerrillo Jr., 37, a three-year veteran of the San Juan Police Department, left his K-9 partner in his patrol vehicle. When he returned to the car, his dog was dead
Loyal to the end: Rex, a Belgian Malinois who was also a three-year-veteran of the department, was assigned to the SWAT special assignment unit, the chief said
San Juan police Chief Juan Gonzalez suspended Cerrillo without pay. Gonzalez says Cerrillo is an experienced K9 handler but that the dog's death is an 'unacceptable loss for the department.'
'The officer got home and he did not retrieve Rex from the back of the unit,' Gonzalez said. 'Within hours he remembered he left the K-9 in the back seat of the car and found him unresponsive.'
Gonzalez said the K-9's death is heat-related but did not have any other specifics to provide.
'This is a tragic loss of a beloved dog,' Gonzalez said. 'This is totally unacceptable and there are no excuses officers are responsible for their dogs 24/7.'
'It was an unfortunate accident,' said San Juan City Manager Ben Arjona.
Amanda A. Taylor, executive assistant at the Laurie P. Andrews PAWS Center in Edinburg, said owners of pets should be aware of the dangers of leaving them inside vehicles, especially with the onset of summer.
Taylor said it only takes about eight minutes for a pet to start feeling the effects of more than 100 degree temperatures inside a locked vehicle.
'If it's already 100 degrees outside, it takes about 15 minutes for the temperature inside a car to get to 140 degrees, even with the windows cracked,' Taylor said to The Monitor.
'Heat exhaustion will start to set in at 104 degree-temperatures; heat stroke occurs when a dog is exposed to temperatures above that. Signs of heat stroke include heavy panting, drooling, vomiting and lethargy.'
Internal and criminal investigations are underway.
If Cerrillo is convicted he could face a year in jail, a $4,000 fine and would no longer be able to be a cop.
The Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, which represents police officers, did not return a call for comment Tuesday morning.
Man arrested in boy's abduction, death due back in Detroit
DETROIT (AP) Police say a 45-year-old man arrested in the abduction and killing of a 13-year-old Detroit boy is expected to be extradited from Ohio.
Gregory Walker was arrested Thursday in Toledo, Ohio, and held on a probation violation.
Walker has waived extradition. Detroit Police Officer Dan Donakowski says Walker will be sent back to Detroit on Tuesday.
This image made from a surveillance video provided by the City of Detroit Police Department shows a man police are looking to question about the kidnapping of 13-year-old Deontae Mitchell. Police say the surveillance video from a neighborhood market shows a man abducting Deontae. An Amber Alert was issued earlier Wednesday, June 1, 2016. (City of Detroit Police Department via AP)
A cousin told police that Deontae Mitchell picked up some money dropped by a man outside an eastside market late May 31. Surveillance video shows Deontae then being pursued by a man, who grabbed the boy by his arm and forced him into a car.
Deontae's body was found Thursday in a vacant lot in Detroit. A cause of death is being investigated.
Two other men also have been arrested.
Medical aid group urges better HIV treatment in West Africa
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) Governments need to improve access to HIV treatment in West and Central Africa, where critical medicines reach less than one-third of those in need, Doctors Without Borders said Tuesday.
The call by the group, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, came a day before a United Nations high-level meeting on ending AIDS.
The group praised a global goal to curb the HIV epidemic by 2020 by providing life-saving treatment to 30 million people, but said countries in regions with a lower prevalence of HIV are being overlooked.
"U.N. member states need to use this opportunity to recommit to people living with HIV in regions of the world that have been essentially neglected despite the tremendous advances in the last decade globally," said Dr. Cecilia Ferreyra, the group's HIV medical adviser. "While the number of people on life-saving HIV treatment worldwide doubled over the last five years to nearly 17 million people, those living in West and Central Africa are missing out and in desperate need of treatment."
The report said 4.5 million of the 6.5 million people living with HIV in West and Central Africa don't get treatment.
The goal should be to triple the number of people who start antiretroviral therapy in the next three years, the group said.
U.N. member states must donate to help such regions implement catch-up plans to increase access to treatment, it said.
Brazil's top prosecutor requests arrests of key politicians
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) Brazil's top prosecutor has asked the country's highest court to arrest senior political allies of acting President Michel Temer for allegedly obstructing a corruption probe into state oil company Petrobras, a leading media outlet reported on Tuesday.
TV Globo said that Attorney General Rodrigo Janot is seeking the arrests of former president Jose Sarney, former planning minister and current Sen. Romero Juca, lower house Speaker Eduardo Cunha and Senate head Renan Calheiros. All four politicians belong to Temer's centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, or PMDB, and performed key roles in suspending President Dilma Rousseff from office in early May.
The Supreme Federal Tribunal Justice Teori Zavascki will decide on the request. Only the high court can arrest or try elected officials.
Lower House President of the Ethics Council Jose Carlos Araujo, left, speaks alongside Council Vice President Sandro Alex, center, and Council Rapporteur Marcos Rogerio as they meet to vote on proceedings against former House Speaker Eduardo Cunha in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Cunha is facing allegations of lying to congress by denying holding overseas bank accounts, and has been charged with corruption and obstruction of justice. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
Janot and the high court's press office declined to comment on the media report.
The case is based on audio recordings in which the politicians allegedly discuss legislation that would limit the impact of the ongoing Petrobras investigation. That probe has already ensnared many of their colleagues across the ideological spectrum.
"It's impossible to stop the Car Wash probe" at this point, said Sergio Praca, a political science professor at Fundacao Getulio Vargas, a university in Rio, referring to formal name of the Petrobras investigation. "Brazilians have come to expect it will continue."
Calheiros said the reported requests for him and the others to be arrested were "disproportional and abusive." Speaking at the start of a Tuesday Senate session, he told colleagues that the body "will not be dragged into this crisis, it will be the solution."
Sarney said in a statement that he has been left "stunned, outraged and upset." Because of his age, the 86-year-old would be placed under house arrest with an ankle monitoring device if Zavascki decides the charges are valid. The other three would be jailed.
Both Cunha and Juca have labeled the report as "absurd."
Cunha was earlier suspended from his duties for obstruction of justice in the same case.
Juca was forced two weeks ago to take a leave of absence because of the audios recorded in the case by an executive of another state owned oil company, Transpetro. The senator allegedly suggested in the recordings that Rousseff's impeachment could help block the corruption probe at Petrobras.
Temer could struggle to hold on to power if Zavascki decides to arrest his allies.
At least 54 of 81 senators will have to vote in favor for Rousseff to be permanently removed from the presidency on the accusation that she broke fiscal laws.
Rousseff has repeatedly argued she did nothing wrong, insisting that the push to remove her was to tamp down the Petrobras investigation, which she had refused to do while in office.
The Senate impeachment commission says her trial could end in mid-August while Brazil is hosting the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Chief Justice Ricardo Lewandowski will make the final decision.
____
Associated Press writer Peter Prengaman contributed reporting from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
A demonstrator from the Avaaz organization wears a mask photograph of the former Lower House Speaker Eduardo Cunha, as he holds up a briefcase stuffed with fake money outside Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Cunha is facing allegations of lying to congress by denying holding overseas bank accounts, and has been charged with corruption and obstruction of justice. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
A demonstrator from the Avaaz organization wears a mask photograph of the former Lower House Speaker Eduardo Cunha, as he holds up fake money outside Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Cunha is facing allegations of lying to congress by denying holding overseas bank accounts, and has been charged with corruption and obstruction of justice. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
Venezuelan protesters clash with police, demand recall
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Police in Venezuela's capital clashed Tuesday with thousands of protesters demanding that election authorities allow to move forward a recall referendum on cutting short President Nicolas Maduro's term.
Demonstrators tried to march to the electoral board's downtown Caracas headquarters but were turned back by long lines of police in riot gear.
Tuesday's protest is at least the fourth in as many weeks. Each time, police have stopped protesters from reaching downtown.
A Bolivarian National Police officer aims pepper spray at opposition leader Henrique Capriles during a protest in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Capriles was repulsed by police who threw tear gas when opposition leader and hundreds of demonstrators were trying to enter the main Caracas Highway to march towards the headquarters of the National Electoral Council or CNE to demand the government allow it to pursue a recall referendum against President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
The government began a tentative dialogue process with the opposition last month, an effort mediated by former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and the former presidents of Panama and the Dominican Republic.
On Tuesday, the Union of South American Nations, which is backing that mediation effort, said the opposition had not shown up to the most recent meeting in the Dominican Republic. They called on Maduro's critics to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible, calling it the "only way to reaffirm peace, coexistence and dialogue as a tool for mutual understanding among Venezuelans."
Many in the opposition are convinced the government is trying to buy time amid growing international pressure and has no intention of meeting its demands to set a date this year for the referendum or to free dozens of jailed opponents it considers political prisoners. The Secretary General of the Organization of American States has called for special proceedings to evaluate Venezuela's commitment to democracy and the rule of law, a process that could end with the country's suspension from the hemispheric group.
"What we're seeing today, this deployment of troops, is an example of the government's dialogue," said opposition leader Henrique Capriles after a group he led was turned back with tear gas.
But some say the street pressure may be bearing fruit.
Late Tuesday, the head of the opposition alliance announced that electoral authorities had validated 1.3 million signatures on petitions demanding a recall referendum be held. After a meeting with electoral authorities Jesus Torrealba said that details of the next phase of the petition drive, demanding the collection of more than 4 million signatures, would be announced on Wednesday.
Opposition protesters argue with Bolivarian National Police blocking their path on the Francisco Fajando highway in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Protesters were turned back from the headquarters of Venezuela's electoral body where the group attempted to march to demand the government allow it to pursue a recall referendum against President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Opposition protesters shout slogans against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in front of a line of police blocking them on Francisco Fajardo highway in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Protesters were turned back from the headquarters of Venezuela's electoral body where the group attempted to march to demand the government allow it to pursue a recall referendum against Maduro. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Bolivarian National Police ride away from angry opposition demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Protesters were turned back from the headquarters of Venezuela's electoral body where the group attempted to march to demand the government allow it to pursue a recall referendum against President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Prosecutor backs off Detroit man's 4 murder convictions
DETROIT (AP) A judge on Tuesday threw out the murder convictions of a young Detroit man who pleaded guilty to killing four people when he was 14, a remarkable turnaround in a case that has been in doubt for years after a professional hit man stepped forward and took responsibility for the slayings at a drug den.
Judge Brian Sullivan acted at the request of the Wayne County prosecutor's office and lawyers for Davontae Sanford. Prosecutor Kym Worthy had long resisted efforts to revisit the convictions until law schools at the University of Michigan and Northwestern University and other pro bono lawyers got involved in 2015.
Sanford, now 23, will be released Wednesday from a prison in western Michigan. In a separate step, Worthy will ask the judge to drop all charges due to the findings of state police in an investigation that was requested last year by the prosecutor's office.
FILE - In this June 30, 2010 file photo, Davontae Sanford sits in a Detroit courtroom. On Tuesday, June 7, 2016, a judge ordered the release of Sanford, who is in prison after pleading guilty to killing four people at age 14, a crime for which a professional hit man later took responsibility. The Wayne County prosecutor's office agreed Davontae Sanford's second-degree murder conviction should be vacated after state police took another look at the case. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
State police learned that Detroit police drew a diagram of the scene of the 2007 killings not Sanford as had been previously reported by investigators. The conflict "seriously undermines" his confession and subsequent guilty plea, prosecutors said.
"No one can give Davontae Sanford and his family back the nine years he has spent in jail for a crime he did not commit, but the court's decision corrects a grave injustice," said Heidi Naasko, an attorney for Sanford.
David Moran, director of the Innocence Clinic at the University of Michigan's law school, said Sanford's time in prison reflected a "complete breakdown" in the criminal justice system.
Worthy spokeswoman Maria Miller said there would be no additional comment about the case by prosecutors until Thursday.
Sanford has been locked up for the fatal shootings of four people at a Detroit house. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder at age 15, but he's been trying to undo that plea for years, especially after hit man Vincent Smothers confessed to the so-called Runyon Street homicides.
Smothers insists Sanford had no role. Sanford's mother said the teen, who is blind in one eye, could barely read or write in 2007 and confessed to please police.
The agreement presented to the judge makes no mention of Smothers. Instead, it said state police found major problems with who created a diagram of the slaying scene after interviewing a former high-ranking Detroit officer, James Tolbert, who was involved in the original investigation.
Tolbert could not be reached for comment Tuesday. No home phone number was listed for him.
Smothers, meanwhile, is in prison for 52 years after pleading guilty in 2010 to eight other killings. He has said he was regularly hired by drug dealers to kill others in the trade but would never take on a kid like Sanford as a sidekick.
In an affidavit filed in court last year, Smothers, 35, described in great detail how he and another man carried out the Runyon Street slayings. He said he scouted the house for weeks, even playing catch one day with a buddy so he could get a feel for the neighborhood.
"I hope to have the opportunity to testify in court to provide details and drawings of the crime scene that could only be known by the person who committed the crime: me," Smothers said in the affidavit.
He told The Associated Press during a prison interview in 2012 that he wanted to help Sanford.
"I understand what prison life is like; it's miserable. To be here and be innocent I don't know what it's like," Smothers said. "He's a kid, and I hate for him to do the kind of time they're giving him."
___
Follow Ed White at http://twitter.com/edwhiteap
Freed pilot Savchenko wants talks with Ukraine rebel leaders
MOSCOW (AP) Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko says she is willing to talk with rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine.
Savchenko was freed in a prisoner exchange with Russia last month after nearly two years in custody and was sworn in as a lawmaker in Ukraine's parliament last week.
She was captured in eastern Ukraine by Russia-backed rebels in June 2014 and then surfaced in Russia, where she was convicted of providing coordinates for a mortar attack that killed two Russian journalists.
Savchenko was quoted Tuesday by Ukrainian media as saying she believes direct talks with rebel leaders would be more effective than the current talks that include Russia.
South Texas police dog dies in hot vehicle, officer charged
SAN JUAN, Texas (AP) A South Texas officer is accused of leaving his police dog to die in a hot vehicle as temperatures outside rose into the 90s.
San Juan police Officer Juan Cerrillo Jr. was charged Friday with cruelty to non-livestock animals in the death of Rex, a Belgian Malinois (MAL'-ihn-wah). Cerrillo is free on $4,000 bond.
Cerrillo called 911 from his McAllen home Thursday after finding Rex unresponsive in the unmarked vehicle.
San Juan police Chief Juan Gonzalez suspended Cerrillo without pay. Gonzalez says Cerrillo is an experienced K9 handler but the dog's death is an "unacceptable loss for the department."
Internal and criminal investigations are underway.
Turkey's president lifts lawmakers' immunity
ISTANBUL (AP) Turkey's president has approved amendments to the constitution that pave the way for the trials of some 138 legislators, including several pro-Kurdish lawmakers who face terror-related charges.
The state-run Anadolu Agency said Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday ratified the changes which were put forward by the ruling party and finally approved by parliament last month after heated debates that devolved into outright fights.
The changes have been criticized by officials in the European Union and Germany and condemned by Turkish opposition lawmakers. Lasts week, Turkey's highest court rejected a petition by opposition legislators to strike down the legislation.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan walks outside a hospital after visiting wounded people, near an explosion site in Istanbul, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. A car bomb attack targeting a bus carrying riot police during rush hour traffic in Istanbul on Tuesday has killed number of people and wounded dozens others, the city's governor said. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Erdogan has accused the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, or HDP, of being an arm of the outlawed Kurdish PKK rebel group.
The parliamentarians at risk of prosecution fall roughly into three categories: those who are accused of insulting the president, and those under investigation for corruption or other criminal offenses, and those who like HDP members are accused of supporting the PKK.
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.
The HDP, which backs Kurdish and other minority rights, denies accusations that it is the political front of the PKK. The party has urged the government to end security operations in the southeast and to resume peace efforts.
Woman who died in Alaska fire was Indonesian national
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) A woman who died in a fire at a remote Alaska fishing lodge was a 59-year-old Indonesian national, Alaska State Troopers said Tuesday.
Three other foreign nationals were injured in the blaze Thursday at the lodge at Uyak Bay on Alaska's Kodiak Island.
Troopers identified the woman who died as Silvana Sutanto. The injured are identified as Indonesian nationals, 30-year-old Shaun Gozali and 22-year-old Danielle Gozali, and 33-year-old Taeri Kim, a South Korean national.
Shaun Gozali was listed in satisfactory condition Tuesday at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center, where Danielle Gozali was in serious condition, hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg said. Kim was treated at Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center, and released Friday, according to hospital spokeswoman Carlie Franz. The Coast Guard said all the survivors sustained burns.
The Straits Times says Sutanto was a businesswoman living in Singapore who had been visiting the lodge. The Singapore newspaper says those injured in the fire are Sutanto's children.
Gregg said the two people being treated at Harborview are brother and sister.
Sutanto and the other three were sleeping when the fire broke out in a main guest cabin during the early morning hours, according to troopers. According to troopers, Shaun Gozali and Kim managed to escape through a window, and Danielle Gozali was pulled out of the building by the lodge owner.
The weather initially hampered the troopers' initial response, but they were able to reach the site late that night in a patrol boat used by wildlife troopers.
The injured were initially taken by a fishing boat to the nearby village of Larsen Bay, where a Coast Guard helicopter flew them to the Kodiak hospital.
The lodge, a former fish cannery, is operated as the Spirit of Alaska Wilderness Adventures Lodge. Lodge representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
The investigation of the fire continues.
Authorities have notified the Indonesian and Korean consulates, troopers said.
___
The Latest: Victim named in Shenandoah tubing River accident
HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. (AP) The Latest on the Shenandoah River tubing accident (all times local):
___
4:40 p.m.
Officials have released the name of a woman who died while tubing in the Shenandoah River near the West Virginia-Maryland border.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office says in a news release that 40-year-old Katrina Anne Meeks died in the accident Monday evening. She was from Purcellville, Virginia.
The release says Meeks went underwater after the tube in which she was floating got caught on something. She didn't come back up, and police believe she drowned.
The tube and other belongings were taken into evidence.
The release says five members of the woman's family who were also on the trip were rescued.
They included a 13-year-old girl whom Maryland State Police rescued by helicopter from a rock surrounded by rapids.
__
12:50 p.m.
An emergency official says one person drowned and another was rescued by helicopter after they capsized close to rapids in the Shenandoah River near the West Virginia-Maryland border.
Bakerton Fire Department Chief Josh Smith said the adult female who drowned and the 13-year-old girl who was rescued were kayaking and tubing with three family members Monday near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. He said they capsized near the Bull Falls rapids.
Smith did not have the name or age of the woman.
In a news release, the Maryland State Police said an officer was lowered in a rescue basket from a helicopter to rescue the girl, who was stranded on a rock surrounded by rapids.
Artist Christo walks on water with "Floating Piers"
ISEO, Italy (AP) It's taken nearly 2,000 years, but regular folks will soon get to feel what it is like to walk on water thanks to a project by the artist Christo, who may or may not have had his namesake in mind when envisioning his latest project: "The Floating Piers."
"Any interpretation is legitimate," Christo, 80, allowed graciously in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press at the picturesque Lake Iseo in northern Italy where his 23rd large-scale installation is just a week and a half from opening.
Since November, Christo and his team have been overseeing the assembly and anchoring of 220,000 floating poly-ethylene cubes to create a 3-kilometer (nearly 2-mile) undulating runway connecting the mainland with a pair of islands, one inhabited and towering above the lake.
An aerial view of the in progress installation 'The Floating Piers' by Bulgarian-born artist Christo Vladimirov Yavachev known as Christo, on the Lake Iseo, northern Italy, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Some 200,000 floating cubes create a 3-kilometers runway to be clad in bright yellow fabric and connecting the town of Sulzano to the small island of Monte Isola on the Iseo Lake for a 16-day outdoor installation opening on June 18 through July 3. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
"For the first time, for 16 days, from the 18th of June to July 3, they will walk on the water," Christo said of the 2,000 residents of Monte Isolo, which is normally only accessible by boat.
"The Floating Piers" is expected to draw half a million visitors during the longest days of the year to northern Italy's least-known big lake. That is considerably fewer than the 5 million who visited Christo's and his late wife Jeanne-Claude's famous "Wrapped Reichstag" in Berlin in 1995 and the 2 million who walked through their work "The Gates" in New York City's Central Park in 2005, due largely to the relatively rural location.
The project still awaits a final touch: The application of deep yellow fabric that the artist promises will dramatically shift from nearly red to brilliant gold under the effects of light and humidity.
"You will need sunscreen," from the reflection, he says with conviction.
The project awakens many metaphors: Yellow brick road, for the fantastical journey it beckons. Runway, for the attention it commands. Beach for the lapping waves along the sloping edges of the 16-meter (more than 50-foot) wide boulevard. The fabric, which will be sewn into place by German seamstresses with specially made sewing machines, to create natural ruching. This effect prompts Christo to warn that visitors will have to step carefully along the oscillating platform.
The artist describes the sensation as "walking on the back of a whale."
Once the installation opens on June 18, 150 volunteers, among them lifeguards, will be posted on the piers and on boats around the clock to ensure safety. Swimming is forbidden -- but expected, despite the cold water temperatures. Entrance is free, with the entire cost of the 15 million euro ($17 million) project financed by the artist himself.
Christo's projects are as much feats of engineering as they are works of art. He has brought in a team of athletes from his native Bulgaria to assemble the specially made, recently invented cubes and divers to anchor them to concrete slabs on the lake-floor, employing oil-rig-inspired two-week rotations. The 190 anchors were moved into place by air balloons.
Like many of his previous installations, "The Floating Piers," had its own destiny. Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who died in 2009, originally envisioned it for the delta of Rio de la Plata, Argentina, in 1970 but they failed to get permissions. They then considered Tokyo Bay, but again failed to get the permits.
"The project is done for ourselves. And if other people like it, it's almost a bonus, very much like a painter who (has) huge big canvases they like to fill it with color. You don't fill the canvas with color to please Mr. Smith, Mr. Jones, you fill it with color because you like to have the joy to see this color," Christo said.
When his 80th birthday was bearing down on him and his "Over the River" proposal to drape fabric over the Arkansas River in southern Colorado was still embroiled in court battles, Christo decided to make another run at "The Floating Piers."
He chose Lake Iseo for its calm waters and simple shoreline against the majestic Alpine foothills that some believe may have inspired the background of Leonardo's "Mona Lisa." Christo suggests the hypothesis is made believable by the misty effect created by the lake climate, softening the mountain contours. In a painterly gesture, he said he made sure that the project offered vistas not only of the mountains, but also of the lake's medieval towns and verdant flora.
The installation physically draws in visitors, demanding their participation to get the full experience. That's by the artist's design.
"I don't like to talk on the telephone, I like to see the real people. And of course I don't understand anything of computers. I like to have the real things, the real water, the real sun, the real kilometer, the real wind, the real fear, the real joy," he said.
Christo delighted in the gentle movement of the nearly finished project. He instructed a boat driver to circle past the runway to create waves and smiled gleefully at the gentile oscillation of the platform. Had the original project gone through, it would have been built with stodgier pontoons, lacking the kinetic grace allowed by the recently invented cubes.
"Each project finds his right place," he said.
An aerial view of the in progress installation 'The Floating Piers' by Bulgarian-born artist Christo Vladimirov Yavachev known as Christo, on the Lake Iseo, northern Italy, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Some 200,000 floating cubes create a 3-kilometers runway to be clad in bright yellow fabric and connecting the town of Sulzano to the small island of Monte Isola on the Iseo Lake for a 16-day outdoor installation opening on June 18 through July 3. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Bulgarian-born artist Christo Vladimirov Yavachev known as Christo gestures during an interview with the Associated Press on his installation 'The Floating Piers' on the Lake Iseo, northern Italy, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Some 200,000 floating cubes create a 3-kilometers runway to be clad in bright yellow fabric and connecting the town of Sulzano to the small island of Monte Isola on the Iseo Lake for a 16-day outdoor installation opening on June 18 through July 3. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Workers walk on the installation 'The Floating Piers' by Bulgarian-born artist Christo Vladimirov Yavachev known as Christo, on the Lake Iseo, northern Italy, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Some 200,000 floating cubes create a 3-kilometers runway to be clad in bright yellow fabric and connecting the town of Sulzano to the small island of Monte Isola on the Iseo Lake for a 16-day outdoor installation opening on June 18 through July 3. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
An aerial view of the in progress installation 'The Floating Piers' by Bulgarian-born artist Christo Vladimirov Yavachev known as Christo, on the Lake Iseo, northern Italy, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Some 200,000 floating cubes create a 3-kilometers runway to be clad in bright yellow fabric and connecting the town of Sulzano to the small island of Monte Isola on the Iseo Lake for a 16-day outdoor installation opening on June 18 through July 3. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Bulgarian-born artist Christo Vladimirov Yavachev known as Christo walks on his installation 'The Floating Piers' on the Lake Iseo, northern Italy, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Some 200,000 floating cubes create a 3-kilometers runway to be clad in bright yellow fabric and connecting the town of Sulzano to the small island of Monte Isola on the Iseo Lake for a 16-day outdoor installation opening on June 18 through July 3. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
An aerial view of the in progress installation 'The Floating Piers' by Bulgarian-born artist Christo Vladimirov Yavachev known as Christo, on the Lake Iseo, northern Italy, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Some 200,000 floating cubes create a 3-kilometers runway to be clad in bright yellow fabric and connecting the town of Sulzano to the small island of Monte Isola on the Iseo Lake for a 16-day outdoor installation opening on June 18 through July 3. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
An aerial view of the in progress installation 'The Floating Piers' by Bulgarian-born artist Christo Vladimirov Yavachev known as Christo, on the Lake Iseo, northern Italy, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Some 200,000 floating cubes create a 3-kilometers runway to be clad in bright yellow fabric and connecting the town of Sulzano to the small island of Monte Isola on the Iseo Lake for a 16-day outdoor installation opening on June 18 through July 3. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
An aerial view of the in progress installation 'The Floating Piers' by Bulgarian-born artist Christo Vladimirov Yavachev known as Christo, on the Lake Iseo, northern Italy, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Some 200,000 floating cubes create a 3-kilometers runway to be clad in bright yellow fabric and connecting the town of Sulzano to the small island of Monte Isola on the Iseo Lake for a 16-day outdoor installation opening on June 18 through July 3. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
A scuba divers swims near the installation 'The Floating Piers' by Bulgarian-born artist Christo Vladimirov Yavachev known as Christo, on the Lake Iseo, northern Italy, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. Some 200,000 floating cubes create a 3-kilometers runway to be clad in bright yellow fabric and connecting the town of Sulzano to the small island of Monte Isola on the Iseo Lake for a 16-day outdoor installation opening on June 18 through July 3. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
The Latest: Person hurt in Alaska fire out of hospital
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) The Latest on Alaska Fishing lodge fire (all times local):
2:20 p.m.
One of three foreign nationals injured in a deadly fire at a remote fishing lodge on an Alaska's Kodiak Island has been released from a hospital.
A hospital spokeswoman said Tuesday that 33-year-old South Korean national Taeri Kim was treated at Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center following the Thursday fire. Hospital spokeswoman Carlie Franz says Kim was released Friday.
Also on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers identified a woman who died in the blaze at the Uyak Bay lodge as 59-year-old Silvana Sutanto, an Indonesian national. The others injured are identified as Indonesian nationals 30-year-old Shaun Gozali and 22-year-old Danielle Gozali.
Shaun Gozali was listed in satisfactory condition Tuesday at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center, where Danielle Gozali was in serious condition.
___
12:40 p.m.
Authorities have identified a woman who died in a fire at a remote Alaska fishing lodge as a 59-year-old Indonesian national.
Three other foreign nationals were injured in the blaze Thursday at the lodge at Uyak Bay on Alaska's Kodiak Island.
Troopers identified the woman who died as Silvana Sutanto. The injured are identified as Indonesian nationals, 30-year-old Shaun Gozali and 22-year-old Danielle Gozali, and 33-year-old Taeri Kim, a South Korean national.
Shaun Gozali was listed in satisfactory condition Tuesday at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center, where Danielle Gozali was in serious condition. Kim, whose condition was not immediately available, was treated at a Kodiak hospital.
The Straits Times says Sutanto was a businesswoman living in Singapore who had been visiting the lodge. The Singapore newspaper says those injured in the fire are Sutanto's children.
Documents: School alleges victim partly responsible for rape
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) Court documents show a Massachusetts college is alleging a student who was raped is partly responsible because she was drinking and chose to follow a stranger onto a rooftop.
The Boston Globe reports (http://bit.ly/25JPPnw ) Worcester (WUS'-tur) Polytechnic Institute made the arguments in a response to a civil lawsuit filed last year in which the victim alleges the college failed to provide a safe environment for students.
The college's president says the legal document was prepared by an insurance carrier and wasn't approved by the college. President Laurie Leshin says the college would never blame a victim for being raped.
The woman in the case says she was assaulted by a security guard in 2012 at a college-leased apartment building in Puerto Rico.
___
Investigators did not find enough evidence to prove whether oil chief and NBA businessman Aubrey McClendon committed suicide by crashing his car the day after he was indicted by a grand jury.
McClendon, the former Chesapeake Energy CEO and part owner of Oklahoma City Thunder, was driving 78 mph on March 2 when his SUV hit a bridge support and burst into flames.
His death came a day after a federal grand jury indicted McClendon for conspiring to rig the bidding process for natural gas leases in Oklahoma from 2007 to 2012, when he led Chesapeake Energy.
The Oklahoma City Police Department said on Tuesday that investigators have ruled out homicide.
However, the question of suicide remains unclear.
There was no evidence suggesting he tried to avoid the crash. Though could not rule out the possibility that McClendon took his own life or had a medical emergency in the crash, they could not confirm it.
The medical examiner's report is still pending.
Lack of evidence: Police could not confirm whether Aubrey McClendon, the former Chesapeake Energy CEO and part owner of Oklahoma City Thunder, deliberately drove his car into a fatal crash after he was indicted
McClendon was driving 78 mph on March 2 when his SUV hit a bridge support and burst into flames (pictured)
'We don't know if he meant to do it,' Police spokesman Capt. Paco Balderrama told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
'We could not rule out suicide with 100 percent certainty, but we just were not able to find any evidence which directly pointed to it.'
The vehicle's data recorder showed McClendon was driving 88 mph and then tapped his brakes before impact, police had said previously.
McClendon had his gas pedal floored until 1.5 seconds before impact, when he reduced it from 99 to 25 per cent depressed, they said.
Investigators found tire tracks but no skid marks.
The state medical examiner's office said previously that McClendon died from multiple blunt force trauma, but has yet to reveal the official manner of death or toxicology test results.
The medical examiner's report is expected to be completed soon, perhaps as early as this week, said spokeswoman Amy Elliott with the state medical examiner's office.
McClendon did not leave a note or message that would indicate he planned to kill himself, Balderrama said.
In the charging document, prosecutors alleged that McClendon, two unnamed companies and an unnamed co-conspirator would decide who would win the bid to certain drilling rights and then give the 'loser' a share in the lease.
He said shortly after being indicted that he was the first person in the oil and gas industry to be accused of improprieties involving the joint bidding on leases, in which companies work together to solicit work. He had vowed to fight the allegations.
McClendon, who was dubbed 'America's Most Reckless Billionaire' by Forbes, is survived by his wife Katie - a Whirlpool heiress and relative of the model Kate Upton - and their three adult children Jack, Callie and Will.
He could frequently be seen court-side during Oklahoma City Thunder games. He was also the great-nephew of former Oklahoma governor and U.S. Senator Robert Kerr.
McClendon founded Chesapeake Energy with business partner Tom Ward in 1989 when he was 29 years old turning it from a tiny company into the second-biggest gas producer in the US behind only Exxon Mobil.
The Oklahoma City Police Department said on Tuesday that investigators have ruled out homicide. However, the question of suicide remains unclear. There is no evidence McClendon tried to avoid the crash (pictured)
McClendon is survived by his wife Katie (pictured) - a Whirlpool heiress and relative of the model Kate Upton
He was forced to leave the company under a cloud in 2013 however amid a shareholder revolt over concerns he mixed personal dealings with company operations.
The indictment follows a nearly four-year federal antitrustprobe that began after a 2012 Reuters investigation found thatChesapeake had discussed with a rival how to suppress land leaseprices in Michigan during a shale-drilling boom.
Although theMichigan case was subsequently closed, investigators uncoveredevidence of alleged bid-rigging in Oklahoma.
In addition to the federal probe, the Michigan attorneygeneral brought criminal charges against Chesapeake, which thecompany settled in 2015 by agreeing to pay $25 million into acompensation fund for land owners.
McClendon was a shale drilling evangelist whowas once among the highest paid U.S. CEOs. He co-foundedChesapeake with fellow Oklahoma oilman Tom Ward in 1989. In2013, McClendon stepped down from the helm of Chesapeake amid aliquidity crunch and corporate governance concerns. Ward leftChesapeake in 2006 and founded competitor SandRidge Energy Inc the same year.
McClendon, who was with American Energy Partners (AEP) at the time of his death,was charged with one count of conspiracy to rig bids, aviolation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Justice Departmentsaid.
Brexit could cost 34.4bn in 'export tax', warn Javid and Mandelson
British firms could face a 34.4 billion "export tax" on trade with the European Union if the country votes to Leave, Business Secretary Sajid Javid has warned.
The Cabinet minister and former EU trade commissioner Lord Mandelson challenged Brexit campaigners to set out their plans for the UK's trading relationship, claiming that leaving the single market without an alternative would be an "act of economic sabotage".
Senior Tory Mr Javid and Labour grandee Lord Mandelson highlighted analysis by the Remain camp suggesting non-tariff barriers, such as complying with customs rules and regulations in destination countries, will cost exporters an average of 80,000 each.
Sajid Javid challenged Brexit campaigners to set out their plans for the UK's trading relationship
In the letter to Vote Leave, Mr Javid and Lord Mandelson said: "After repeatedly claiming that Britain will be better off outside of the EU it is now incumbent on you to provide a detailed plan for Britain's future outside Europe.
"If you want to secure the trust of the British people important economic questions must be answered."
They added: "The economic damage of leaving is now clear. UK businesses could face a 34 billion export tax if we leave, which would hit jobs and growth, with each exporting business facing on average 80,000 in additional costs.
"This follows evidence which shows our trade could fall by 200 billion and up to 820,000 jobs could be lost."
The pair challenged the Brexit camp to spell out the future trade relation the UK would have: "The British people deserve answers to these questions, so they make a choice with their eyes open with clear facts, so they know exactly what they're getting.
"A campaign to leave the EU's single market without a plan for an alternative is an act of economic sabotage which would risk thousands of jobs, billions of trade and investment and the future economic stability of our country."
The new Britain Stronger In Europe analysis found that leaving the EU's single market would create a 34.4 billion "export tax" from the erection of non-tariff barriers on UK businesses that export to the EU. This is equivalent to an average 79,500 for each of the 430,000 British businesses that export to the EU.
The analysis was peer-reviewed by Tony Dolphin, independent economic consultant and formerly senior economist at the Institute for Public Policy Research. It has also been supported by Vicky Pryce, former head of the Government Economic Service.
Brexit-backing Tory MP James Cleverly said: " The Remain campaign are failing to make the positive case for the EU because there isn't one. With momentum shifting in favour of leaving the EU we are seeing yet more random numbers from the Remain camp.
Ryan Bertrand misses England training in Chantilly
Ryan Bertrand was again absent as England held an open training session at their Chantilly base.
Bertrand has been receiving treatment on an unspecified knock since playing in the 2-1 win over Australia at the Stadium of Light on May 27.
The Southampton left-back was present at the Stade de Bourgognes facility but while the rest of his team-mates took part in a full session, he went for a rehabilitation session with medical staff.
Ryan Bertrand is struggling with an unspecified knock
England are being cautious with the 26-year-old but believe he may be fully fit by the end of the week.
But with their opening Euro 2016 group game against Russia in Marseille on Saturday, he is highly unlikely to nudge ahead of Danny Rose.
England were welcomed with a speech from the mayor of Chantilly, Eric Woerth, and a rendition of God Save the Queen by representatives of the area's Anglophone Parents' Association.
Joe Ledley to begin Euro 2016 on the bench for Wales following broken leg
Joe Ledley is set to begin Euro 2016 on the bench after W ales manager Chris Coleman admitted it would be "reckless" to start against Slovakia with three players who have been injured.
Ledley, Joe Allen and Hal Robson-Kanu have eased Wales' injury problems by returning to training ahead of Saturday's Group B opener in Bordeaux.
The recovery of midfielder L edley is remarkable considering he broke his left leg on May 7 playing for Crystal Palace.
Joe Ledley is ready to make Wales' Euro 2016 opener just five weeks after breaking his leg
But Coleman will resist the temptation to name all three first-team regulars, with Liverpool midfielder Allen the most likely to start.
Robson-Kanu must continue to step up his fitness over the next few days to feature, while Ledley is set to be named among the substitutes.
"We can't start with all three, it would be reckless really," said Coleman.
"They have done really well, but we don't have to do that.
"Joe Ledley has done so well to get back to where he is, but I think it is fair to say you can't really see him playing 90 (minutes).
"But can he play a part? Yes. He is integrated with the rest of the team and done what the rest have done in training."
Robson-Kanu suffered an ankle injury during Wales' pre-Euros training camp in Portugal two weeks ago and his fitness has been a concern to Coleman and his management staff.
Allen was a late substitute in Liverpool's Europa League final defeat to Sevilla on May 18, but has since been troubled by a knee problem.
But Allen is set to hand Wales a huge boost by being declared fit to play against Slovakia.
"Between now and the end of the season Joe has had more football, albeit on the training pitch," said Coleman.
"He played a small part in the final. You would have to say Joe is further down the line in terms of being ready to start a game.
"And he is integral to how we want to play. He plays in that pivot role for us."
The Wales squad arrived at their Brittany base late on Sunday night following the 3-0 friendly defeat to Sweden.
Dinard is a sleepy coastal resort near the port of St Malo and Coleman has allowed his players to stroll into town after training.
"I don't want them locked up," said Coleman.
"I know what our group are like and locking them up is not for them, they are not used to it.
"For teams who have been in tournament football every time, it's different for them.
"But if our guys want to go out and have a walk, have a coffee to escape the hotel environment, we haven't got a problem with that.
"It's not like a lockdown every day. It's not like a prison camp."
But Coleman did stress that the whereabouts of the players are known at all times.
"If a player leaves the hotel, we need to tell UEFA doping where they are within one hour," said Coleman.
No apology from Mourinho as Chelsea settle with ex-team doctor Eva Carneiro
Chelsea Football Club has apologised "unreservedly" to ex-first team doctor Eva Carneiro as it reached a settlement with her over constructive dismissal claims, but Jose Mourinho failed to follow the club's lead, instead thanking her for her services.
Dr Carneiro brought the claim at an employment tribunal, accusing Mourinho of victimisation and discrimination.
She was due to begin giving evidence on Tuesday but a settlement was agreed after Mourinho made a surprise appearance at the hearing at the London South Employment Tribunal centre in Croydon.
Jose Mourinho leaves Croydon employment tribunal
Addressing the tribunal, Daniel Stilitz QC, for Chelsea and Mourinho, said: "We are pleased to be able to tell the tribunal that the parties agreed a settlement on confidential terms."
Chelsea said in a statement: "The club regrets the circumstances which led to Dr Carneiro leaving the club and apologises unreservedly to her and her family for the distress caused.
"We wish to place on record that in running on to the pitch Dr Carneiro was following both the rules of the game and fulfilling her responsibility to the players as a doctor, putting their safety first.
"Dr Carneiro has always put the interests of the club's players first. Dr Carneiro is a highly competent and professional sports doctor. She was a valued member of the club's medical team and we wish her every success in her future career."
It added: "Jose Mourinho also thanks Dr Carneiro for the excellent and dedicated support she provided as first team doctor and he wishes her a successful career."
Mourinho remained tight-lipped as he left. He was escorted by security guards through crowds of the media as well as excited schoolchildren chanting "Jose, Jose".
He was bundled into a waiting black BMW and refused to answer when asked: "Are you sorry? Why didn't you apologise?"
In a statement Dr Carneiro said she was "relieved" the tribunal had ended, adding that it had been "an extremely difficult and distressing time" for her and her family.
She said her priority had always been the health and safety of the players.
The case was expected to last seven to 10 days and could have led to potentially embarrassing witness statements and documents - including texts and emails - being made public.
On Monday, it was revealed that Dr Carneiro had refused 1.2 million to settle her claims with Mourinho and Chelsea before the hearing on Monday. Details of the final deal between the parties were not released.
Also in attendance were Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia, chairman Bruce Buck, head physio Jason Palmer, and head of communications and PR, Steve Atkins.
Dr Carneiro had alleged she was sexually discriminated against after she went on to the pitch to treat Eden Hazard during the opening day of the Premier League season last August.
She claimed that, as she ran on to the pitch during the game with Swansea, Mourinho shouted "filha da puta" at her.
In a statement to the tribunal, Mourinho conceded that he used the term "filho da puta", meaning "son of a whore", but insisted he had been using it throughout the match.
He said: "Filho da puta is a phrase I often use, all of the players know it. There is no sexist connotation in the use of the phrase - it is just like saying 'f*** off'.
"In the world of football, a lot of swear words are used."
He added that Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas had used the Spanish equivalent of the term when a Chelsea player was fouled during the game.
In his statement, Mourinho said: "Cesc and I both speak English well, but in the heat of the game we both swear in our mother language.
"Eva was not on the pitch at that point in time."
Mary O'Rourke QC, representing Dr Carneiro, said: "He uses the word 'filha' because he is abusing a woman."
A spokesman for the Football Medical Association said: "We are pleased to see a resolution of what has been a lengthy and protracted case involving Dr Carneiro.
"Dr Carneiro has now been completely exonerated by Chelsea Football Club with this unreserved apology. Importantly, Chelsea Football Club has also put on record that in running onto the pitch,'Dr Carneiro was following both the rules of the game and fulfilling her responsibility to the players as a doctor'.
"This is an important message for all football clubs stating clearly that the responsibility of the medical team is, first and foremost, for the safety and wellbeing of the players.
"This settlement will now enable Dr Carneiro to put events of the past year behind and look forward to resuming her medical career."
A spokesman for the Women in Football (WIF) network said: "Women in Football are delighted that Eva's name has been rightly cleared and her professional reputation as a doctor upheld.
"Eva has been courageous in her fight for a public apology from Chelsea and acknowledgement that on the day in question she was simply doing her job.
"We completely deplore and condemn her treatment by the club since and welcome their unreserved apology.
"We believe that every female employee in the football industry has the right to go about their working lives without being targeted for or subjected to discriminatory abuse.
"In addition it also disappointing that Dr Carneiro's understanding of football was called into question when she was acting with professionalism and integrity and doing her duty as club doctor.
"Jose Mourinho's post-match comments and the club's subsequent actions questioned and put at risk her professional reputation and a career which so far has been immaculate. No-one should be prevented from doing their job in this way.
"WIF hope that by working with football authorities and clubs we can bring about a greater understanding of the barriers in the industry that women routinely face and that more women will follow Eva's example by standing up for equality."
Former Chelsea FC team doctor Eva Carneiro arriving at the Croydon employment tribunal
Former Chelsea FC team doctor Eva Carneiro arriving at the employment tribunal in Croydon
Lightning strikes and flash floods cause chaos
A man and his two children were taken to hospital after being struck by lightning and several motorists were rescued from submerged cars as the UK was battered by torrential rain and thunderstorms.
The 37-year-old man and his five-year-old son were left critically ill after being hit outside Killowen Primary School in Lisburn, Co Antrim.
The man's seven-year-old daughter was also seriously injured in the incident which happened shortly after 2pm on Tuesday as he collected his children from school.
Darlington Imoh, 60, in front of his damaged Vauxhall Zafira which became immersed in water during a flash flood in Manor Road in Wallington, Surrey following torrential rain.
Thunderstorms and lightning ripped across the UK throughout Tuesday afternoon, flooding roads, causing a temporary loss of power at Luton Airport, and setting alight trees, hoardings and telegraph poles.
In south London, 35mm of rain fell in the space of an hour causing three cars to become submerged in two metres (6.5ft) of water .
Darlington Imoh was one of three drivers rescued from the flash flood Wallington, Sutton, and said he feared he would drown before escaping through the window of his vehicle with the help of firefighters.
The 60-year-old told the Press Association he "hugged and thanked" firefighters after they saved him.
He said: "I couldn't open the door because of the force of the water. I unwound the window and struggled out and then I was rescued by the fire brigade - that's why I am alive standing here now.
"It is the closest I got to death. Survival was my biggest concern, to survive."
Mr Imoh's Vauxhall Zafira, a Mercedes and an Alfa Romeo got caught in the water on Manor Road, outside Wallington train station and underneath a railway bridge where the road dips.
London Fire Brigade said it had received more than 100 flood-related calls.
The Home Office said border security was not compromised after the loss of power at Luton Airport.
A spokesman said: "Luton Airport experienced a temporary loss of power as a result of thunderstorms in the area earlier this afternoon. Owing to this power interruption, security checks at passport control may take longer than normal.
"However, to be absolutely clear, border security has not been compromised in any way and we are able to carry out exactly the same security checks as we would normally."
An airport spokesman said queues were longer than expected but terminal staff were helping passengers, fast-tracking anyone in special need and handing out drinking water.
"It's not ideal but we have coped with it relatively well," he said, adding that the main computer system was back up within about two hours.
Grahame Madge, forecaster for the Met Office, said the downpours could continue to cause localised flooding, surface water flooding and travel disruption.
He added: "What we have is a situation where we have warm, very moist air coming in from the continent and the heat added to the warm air causes it to rise and sees the development of these showers.
"The intensity of those can be very severe in localised areas - as we have seen in some places like London and Brighton there has been very heavy rainfall. And that has led to flooding in some areas - which is exactly why we issued the warnings."
The Environment Agency said 35mm fell in an hour in south London, which Mr Madge said was an "exceptional" amount.
"We would have expected in an average June 49mm of rain to have fallen in London on average across the month - it is significant," he added.
The flooding in Manor Road, Wallington, Surrey following torrential rain.
The aftermath of a flash flood in Manor Road in Wallington, Surrey following torrential rain.
Stranded passengers at at West Croydon train station after trains were cancelled because of flooding in Sutton
The aftermath of a flash flood in Manor Road in Wallington, Surrey following torrential rain.
The aftermath of a flash flood in Manor Road in Wallington, Surrey following torrential rain.
A car submerged in floodwater in Wallington, Greater London, as heavy rain hit parts of the UK (Twitter/@a_secker/PA)
More than 1,200 FGM cases recorded across England in just three months
Midwives have called for renewed efforts to tackle female genital mutilation (FGM) after more than 1,200 cases were recorded across England in just three months.
This includes 11 Britons who were identified as being subject to FGM.
Between January and March there were 1,242 newly recorded cases of FGM reported across English healthcare providers, according to d ata from the Health and Social Care Information Centre.
Health professionals have been urged to be vigilant
Two percent of all new cases were girls under the age of 18.
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) professional policy adviser Janet Fyle called on health workers to be "vigilant".
She said: "These figures show that we need renewed and focused efforts to tackle FGM. This has to be backed by a national action plan so that all sectors and all professionals see FGM as their business, and protecting girls from such abuses becomes a normal part of their practice.
"Every one of these numbers is a girl or young woman who has been subjected to abuse.
"It's shocking that 29 of the new recorded cases (2%) are girls under 18. It is even more of a concern that 11 of those were girls born in the UK.
"This is why all healthcare professionals need to be vigilant in identifying women and girls at risk. They can then provide them with support and appropriate care and referral, and collaborate in the collection of data.
"Health professionals must report all cases of known FGM in girls under eighteen to the police. It is important that regulated professionals comply with their mandatory duty and legal obligation to report FGM cases.
"These statistics help us to determine where resources are needed, and where more concerted action needs to focus. London in particular needs to make even greater efforts to tackle this issue."
A spokesman for the Local Government Association, which runs the National FGM Centre in partnership with Barnardo's, said: "While these figures show new cases of FGM recorded, the FGM Centre's pioneering pilot project is also providing a more detailed picture of how many women and girls are at risk, adding to the information on total numbers available from the NHS, so support can be better targeted going forward.
Nigel Farage claims 'confected outrage' after Archbishop's criticism of speech
Nigel Farage accused the Archbishop of Canterbury of "confected outrage" about suggestions staying in the EU could leave the UK vulnerable to mass sex attacks by migrants,
The Most Rev Justin Welby told MPs the Ukip leader was giving "legitimisation to racism" for political ends by using events on New Year's Eve in Cologne to back the case for Brexit.
But Mr Farage denied charges of racism and said the head of the Church of England appeared guilty of making ill-informed knee-jerk reactions to newspaper headlines.
Nigel Farage has denied allegations of racism
"If ever I saw a case of confected outrage it is this," he told the BBC.
"Clearly the Archbishop read a headline on a newspaper and not what it actually said.
"What I said was that what happened in Cologne on New Year's Eve and subsequent attacks were a real issue in Germany and in Sweden and could become an issue in this referendum. That is all."
Giving evidence to the Commons Home Affairs Committee, the archbishop said that in the past, comments like those by Mr Farage - who described the threat to British women of Cologne-style attacks as the "nuclear bomb" in the referendum campaign - had themselves led to violence.
"I think that is an inexcusable pandering to people's worries and prejudices," he said.
"That is giving legitimisation to racism which I've seen in parishes in which I've served, and has led to attacks on people in those parishes. We cannot legitimise that.
"What that is is accentuating fear for political gain and that is absolutely inexcusable."
Lord Green of Deddington, chairman of Migration Watch UK, which campaigns for tighter immigration controls, told the committee Mr Farage's comments had been a "very mistaken thing to say".
"I think it risks generating suspicions that may not be there. If such incidents do take place, then we will have to react to them but I don't think we should in any way encourage that line of thinking," he said.
Mr Welby - who refused to be drawn on whether he was for Leave or Remain - said claims by the Leave campaign that a vote to Remain could result in large numbers of Turkish immigrants coming to Europe were leading to a "very high level of prejudice" against Muslims in the UK.
"Once you ask a number of questions, you realise it's just fear and there is no evidence of any kind backing up what they are saying, but somehow it all feels very threatening and that results in a high level of prejudice against Muslims, and particularly observant Muslims."
The archbishop reiterated his view that many people had genuine concerns about the impact of mass migration without being racist.
He said it was up to the Government to ensure that the communities affected had the resources they needed to cope - particularly in terms of health, housing and education.
U.S. top court rejects Ecuador challenge to Chevron arbitration award
By Lawrence Hurley
WASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand a $96 million international arbitration award issued in 2011 in favor of energy company Chevron Corp in a dispute over the development of oil fields in Ecuador.
The justices declined to hear the South American country's challenge to an August 2015 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upholding the award in Chevron's favor issued by The Hague's Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Netherlands.
With interest, the arbitration award stands at approximately $106 million, Chevron said. Chevron spokesman Morgan Crinklaw said in a statement the company was pleased that the Supreme Court rejected the appeal and that Ecuador "will be held accountable."
The dispute stems from a 1973 deal that called for Texaco Petroleum Co, later acquired by Chevron, to develop oil fields in exchange for selling oil to Ecuador's government at below-market rates. Texaco filed several lawsuits in the 1990s accusing Ecuador of violating the contract.
Chevron initiated an arbitration proceeding at The Hague in 2006, claiming Ecuador's courts failed to resolve the lawsuits in a timely manner, violating a treaty between Ecuador and the United States. A panel awarded Chevron $96 million plus interest, which was subsequently upheld by the Dutch court system.
Chevron then filed a federal lawsuit in Washington, seeking a judgment confirming the panel's decision in order to collect the award. After a federal judge affirmed the award in 2013, Ecuador appealed to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Ecuador said the arbitration tribunal has no jurisdiction in the case because the bilateral trade agreement took effect five years after Texaco ended operations in Ecuador in 1992.
The case is not part of a separate legal battle brought by a group of Ecuadorean villagers who claim Texaco caused billions of dollars in pollution damage when it began exploring oil deposits in the 1960s.
Chevron continues to fight claims from the villagers, who have filed lawsuits in Canada, Brazil and Argentina seeking to enforce a $9 billion judgment rendered in Ecuador against Chevron.
Jordan arrests suspect after deadly attack at Palestinian camp
AMMAN, June 6 (Reuters) - Jordanian authorities arrested a suspect after an attack on Monday at a Palestinian refugee camp that killed three security officers and two others, state television and an official said.
Initial investigations suggested the attack at the intelligence department's office at the Baqaa camp was an "individual and isolated act", Jordanian government spokesman, Mohammad al-Momani, said. He gave no further details.
The kingdom, a U.S. ally for decades and with close security ties with Israel, has long been a target of radical Sunni Muslim fundamentalist groups including al Qaeda and Islamic State.
King Abdullah has repeatedly warned that the threat from ultra-hardline Sunni groups poses the biggest threat to Jordan's long-term stability.
U.S. fighter jets bomb 16 more IS targets in Syria, Iraq -U.S. admiral
ABOARD USS HARRY S. TRUMAN, June 6 (Reuters) - U.S. Navy fighter jets flying from an aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean Sea bombed 16 new Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria on Monday.
Now in their fourth day, the strikes from the Mediterranean have opened a new front in the U.S. air campaign against the militant group.
"We're getting the job done," Rear Admiral Bret Batchelder, commander of the USS Harry S. Truman strike group, told reporters on the ship as the strikes were being conducted.
He said carrier-based F/A-18 fighter jets had released 10 to 20 naval munitions on targets in Iraq and Syria since Friday, when the Truman moved to the Mediterranean from the Persian Gulf to resume bombing militant targets in both countries.
Navy officials gave no details about what targets were hit and destroyed, but said they were largely the same as in previous strikes from the Gulf, with a focus on destroying and eroding Islamic State's financial base.
Shifting the Truman to the Mediterranean was intended to demonstrate that the U.S. Navy is ready to respond to threats and hit targets from anywhere in the world, Batchelder said.
If needed, the ship's 72 fighter jets and other aircraft also could be used to hit targets in Libya, where Islamic State militants are making big inroads, but that is not why the ship was redeployed to the Mediterranean, Batchelder said.
Batchelder said the fight against Islamic State is starting to bear fruit, with estimates showing the U.S. military and coalition partners in 64 countries have retaken about 45 percent of the land formerly controlled by the militant group.
Islamic State's oil and gas revenues have fallen to $250 million, he said. In February, State Department spokesman John Kirby used the same estimate to describe the decline in the group's oil income since last summer, before the U.S. began targeting its oilfields and supply routes in Syria.
Mexico minister rues "intolerance" in US, urges more integration
WASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) - Mexico's foreign minister mounted a robust defense of her nation's economic importance to the United States on Monday and condemned anti-migrant rhetoric and a "climate of intolerance" in its neighbor -- a thinly-veiled critique of Donald Trump.
Without naming the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu rebutted many of his arguments in a detailed explanation of how integration of the U.S. and Mexican economies has benefited both nations.
Trump has raised hackles in Mexico with a string of proposals, including threats to build a border wall to keep out migrants, blocking remittances sent home by Mexican workers, and unpicking the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement between Mexico, Canada and the United States to protect U.S. jobs.
Many Mexicans feel their government has not done enough to counter Trump's arguments, particularly in the United States, and Ruiz Massieu's speech to the American Jewish Committee in Washington was an appeal to both solidarity and self-interest.
"We live in a world in which no country can face the big economic challenges of the 21st century alone," she said according to the Spanish text of the speech.
"This is why we believe one of the best ways for the United States to maintain and increase its global competitiveness is by consolidating and expanding trade, investment, cooperation and its integrated value chains with Mexico," she added.
U.S.-Mexico trade is worth some $500 billion every year and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says roughly 6 million American jobs depend on it. Moreover, an estimated 35 million people in the United States are Mexican or of Mexican background.
Underlining economic integration, Ruiz Massieu said about 40 percent of the content of Mexican export goods is of U.S. origin, and that Mexican outward investment in the U.S. had jumped 35 percent in the last five years to reach $17.6 billion.
"So we're definitely not part of the problem, we're part of the solution," she added.
Ruiz Massieu said Mexico "did not steal jobs" from U.S. companies and decried the "climate of intolerance" in the United States that was sending out a message of "Mexicans go home".
"Those who attempt to make political gains by stigmatizing these people, be they Mexicans, Jews, Muslims, people of color, (or) Asians, are wrong," she said.
Romania - Factors to watch on June 7
Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Romanian financial markets on Tuesday.
GDP DATA
Romania's statistics board will release preliminary gross domestic product data for Q1 at 0600 GMT.
BOND TENDER
Romania sold a planned 500 million lei ($125.61 million) worth of Feb. 2020 treasury bonds on Monday, with the average accepted yield at 2.25 percent, central bank data showed. Debt managers last tendered the issue in May at an average yield of 2.26 percent.
LEFTISTS WIN ELECTION
Romania's leftist Social Democrats (PSD) have emerged as the leading party in local elections, partial official results showed on Monday, bolstering their chances of returning to government after a national ballot due in December.
CEE MARKETS
Central European currencies rose on Monday but Polish government bonds retreated as domestic worries offset the positive impact of Friday's weak U.S. data.
For the long-term Romanian diary, click on
For emerging markets economic events, click on
For an index of all diaries, click on
Pengxin eyes purchase of Brazil bank BI&P, sources say
By Tatiana Bautzer
SAO PAULO, June 7 (Reuters) - Shanghai Pengxin Group Co is in talks to buy control of Brazilian mid-sized lender Banco Indusval & Partners SA, as the Chinese conglomerate wants to expand beyond commodities in Latin America's largest economy, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Representatives of Pengxin and partners of BI&P, as the specialist in agricultural lending is known, have discussed tie-up scenarios, two of the sources said. The sources requested anonymity to discuss the issue.
Talks are preliminary and may not result in a deal, said the three sources, who spoke in recent days.
Pengxin's search for financial, logistics and commodities firms in Brazil is gaining steam following the $200 million purchase in April of a controlling stake in grain processor Fiagril Participacoes SA. The Chinese group could spend up to $3 billion in Brazilian targets, sources told Reuters recently.
Sao Paulo-based BI&P and Pengxin did not respond to requests for comment.
Pengxin has not hired an investment bank as adviser for the BI&P deal, one of the sources said, adding that an internal team handling mergers and acquisitions was looking for targets.
Under terms of the Fiagril deal, Pengxin agreed to supply credit to the grain trader and processor. Acquiring a lender in Brazil with knowledge of agricultural markets and clients could facilitate Pengxin's goals for other agribusiness deals, two of the sources said.
Chinese interest in smaller Brazilian banks has waned as rising defaults and a two-year recession eroded their capital buffer. While some of China's top lenders have planted flags in Brazil in recent years, return on investment has fallen short of expectations amid rising legal and accounting problems.
Pengxin is treading carefully in its efforts to buy a bank, following reports that Chinese purchases of financial companies in Brazil have faced legal and regulatory roadblocks, two sources said.
China Construction Bank Corp is injecting $217 million into CCB Brasil, formerly Banco Industrial & Comercial SA, which it bought two years ago, but has struggled with soaring loan-loss provisions.
Asia's stubborn naphtha glut seen lasting months
By Seng Li Peng
SINGAPORE, June 7 (Reuters) - A stubborn supply glut and tepid demand from gasoline producers have cut the profit from making naphtha in Asia by almost two-thirds this year, with faltering appetite from China keeping the outlook dim for the next few months, analysts said.
Chinese demand for naphtha looks set to slow, albeit from very high levels, with just over 20 independent refiners in the country switching from using the light fuel after they were given licences to import crude to churn out gasoline.
Naphtha is mainly used to make plastics, but it can also be reformed into gasoline.
The supply overhang has cut Asia's naphtha crack, the profit-margin when it is produced from Brent crude, to around $50 a tonne from January highs of almost $150.
"Given the ... expected weaker gasoline market, and with increases in crude oil processing capacity, Chinese imports are expected to be lower," said Premasish Das, director for Asia and Middle East downstream oil markets at IHS.
He estimated Chinese imports averaging around 130,000 to 135,000 barrels per day (around 450,000 tonnes a month) in 2016. That compares to a record of about 950,000 set last December.
Das added that Asia's average net monthly naphtha imports, which were up 11.5 percent at 5.8 million tonnes in 2015 from 2014, were likely to drop to 5.5 million tonnes this year.
Import volumes will also be dented by tapering demand from Japan, Asia's No.2 fuel consumer. Its monthly totals averaged 1.16 million tonnes from January to April, down 13.4 percent from the same period last year, as the country adjusts to a declining population and a push towards more fuel-efficient vehicles.
The Middle East and India supply 4 million tonnes a month of naphtha to Asia, with the rest coming from the West - including Europe, the Mediterranean and the United States - which sent an average of 1.62 million tonnes to Asia each month in the first five months of the year.
But with at least 300,000 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) expected to replace naphtha in the crackers that are used to make olefins, the building blocks for plastics, in June and July respectively, Asia needs no more than 1.0 to 1.1 million tonnes of Western cargoes a month, said a Singapore-based naphtha trader.
Traders hope markets will improve towards year-end, with petrochemical makers likely to use less LPG as prices become more expensive due to winter-heating demand for that fuel.
Cuts in refinery runs could also lift markets later this year.
"It would probably happen in the third quarter," said Nevyn Nah, an analyst at Energy Aspects.
Poland - Factors to Watch June 7
Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Tuesday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 2 hours):
FX LOANS
A voluntary conversion mechanism for the Swiss-franc denominated loans must be prepared, which involves debt reduction, a Polish presidential advisor Zbigniew Krysiak told daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. The mechanism must take both the loan-to-value (LTV)and debt-to-income (DTI) ratios, he said.
Should the Swiss franc's exchange rate rise to 5 zlotys per franc, the Polish banking sector's loss would reach around 40 billion zlotys ($10.4 billion), Krysiak said.
Separately, the daily reported that Poland's finance ministry has prepared a new bill which bans foreign exchange loans unless the borrower's income or most of their assets are in the currency of the loan.
RETAIL TAX
According to the European Union's executive Commission, Poland's new proposed retail tax discriminates against large retailers, daily Rzeczpospolita reported quoting an unnamed Commission source.
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Poland's wind farm industry may shed up to 4,000 jobs because of new renewable energy regulations, nearly a half of all of its employees, daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna reported.
BOGDANKA
Coal miner Bogdanka wants to remain a dividend paying company in the long term, its Chief Executive Krzysztof Szlaga told daily Parkiet.
In 2016, the miner plans to sell between 8.5-9 million tonnes of coal, with sales at a similar level next year, he said.
TAX-FREE ALLOWANCE
Poland's government may link the size of tax-free allowance to the size of the family, tabloid Fakt reported.
****Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.****
S. Africa's NUM union says members will not return to Northam mine until safety assured
JOHANNESBURG, June 7 (Reuters) - Members of South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will not return to work at Northam Platinum's Zondereinde mine until their safety is assured after a spate of murders, a spokesman for the union said on Tuesday.
Northam suspended production at the mine on Monday after a worker was fatally stabbed during a clash between members of NUM and its arch rival, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU).
Attacks on albinos in Malawi surge, body parts sold for witchcraft - Amnesty
LONDON, June 7 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - An increase in the number of attacks on people with albinism in Malawi since late 2014 by people seeking their body parts for witchcraft prompted Amnesty International to call on Tuesday for authorities to do more to punish those responsible.
The human rights group said April was the bloodiest month for attacks on albinos in the southern African nation, with four people murdered including a child aged under two. The child's father and four others have been arrested.
In the past 19 months authorities in Malawi have recorded the murders of 18 albinos and abduction of five others although Amnesty fears the real number is likely to be higher as many attacks in secretive rituals in rural areas are never reported.
The body parts of albinos - who lack pigment in their skin, hair and eyes - are believed to bring wealth and good luck and are prized in witchcraft for use in charms and magical potions.
"The unprecedented wave of brutal attacks against people with albinism has created a climate of terror for this vulnerable group and their families," Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's director for southern Africa, said in a statement.
Senior government officials, including President Peter Mutharika, have publicly condemned the attacks and announced several measures, including the appointment of a legal counsel to assist with investigations, and a national response plan.
"However, these measures have failed to stop the violence," Amnesty said in its report published on Tuesday.
"Some perpetrators have been arrested, charged and convicted, but the majority of crimes remain unresolved. Charges and penalties often have not been commensurate with the gravity of the crimes, creating a sense of impunity," the report said.
At least 69 crimes against people with albinism have been documented in Malawi since November 2014, according to police reports.
Amnesty did not have figures for the number of attacks prior to November 2014, but campaigners, police authorities, families and community leaders all said the number of attacks had risen.
It is unclear what has triggered the surge, but mass unemployment and drought could be part of the reason, Simeon Mawanza, lead researcher of the Amnesty report, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
There is no systematic documentation of crimes against people with albinism in Malawi, where people with albinism number around 10,000 out of a population of around 16.5 million.
People with albinism face discrimination and threats, both at school and in their communities. Myths about albinism abound, including the belief that having sex with an albino is a cure for HIV.
"The images that you see, where they hack off their hands, their feet, it's so difficult to understand what goes on in such a mind to commit such a heinous crime against an innocent human being, merely because they look different," Mawanza said.
He added that children have been sold by their parents, and some of the attackers were close family members.
One woman told Amnesty researchers in Malawi: "Most people who attack (people with albinism) are close relatives ... I met one mother in Chitipa who was hiding her children out of fear. As a result, the children were not going to school."
Attacks against people with albinism have occurred elsewhere in southern and eastern Africa, including in Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Burundi.
Last year, the United Nations warned of a surge in violence against albinos in Tanzania, Malawi and Burundi.
Hindu priest in Bangladesh hacked to death by suspected Islamists
DHAKA, June 7 (Reuters) - Suspected militants in Bangladesh hacked an elderly Hindu priest to death on Tuesday, in what police suspected was the latest in a spate of attacks by Islamists on members of minority groups in the majority-Muslim country.
Three attackers riding on a motorcycle killed Ananta Gopal Ganguly, 70, when he was on his way to the temple he served in Jhenaidah district, about 100 miles (161 km) west of Dhaka, the capital, police said.
The attack bore the hallmarks of previous killings by Islamist militants, police official Hasan Hafizur Rahman told Reuters by telephone from the scene of the attack.
"They slit his throat so he died instantly," Rahman said.
The attack came just a day after the government banned more than one person riding pillion on a motorcycle after the wife of a prominent anti-terror security official was shot dead by three suspected militants on a motorbike on Sunday.
Also on Sunday, machete-wielding assailants killed a Christian grocer in a separate incident.
Bangladesh has not seen the sort of Islamist violence that has rocked Muslim Pakistan, or even the number of attacks that India has seen over the past decade or so.
But since February last year, militants in Bangladesh have killed more than 30 people, including members of religious minorities, liberal bloggers and academics.
PRESS DIGEST - Bulgaria - June 7
SOFIA, June 7 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
-- Bulgaria's salaries will reach the average level of salaries in the European Union in 2030 if their growth keeps the current speed, a new report by the Bulgarian Academy of Science said. (24 Chasa, Duma, Capital Daily, Sega, Standart)
-- Some 70 migrants from Afghanistan tried to cross into Bulgaria from Greece, but after an alert from Bulgarian border officers the Greek border police took them back, officials said. (Monitor, Telegraph, Standart)
Northam Platinum workers say will not return to work due to safety concerns
By Ed Stoddard
JOHANNESBURG, June 7 (Reuters) - Workers at Northam Platinum's South African mine said on Tuesday they would not return to work until management and police provided them with safety guarantees after a spate of murders, despite appeals from the company that it was safe.
Northam suspended production at Zondereinde mine on Monday after a worker was fatally stabbed during a clash between members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the rival Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU). The company on Tuesday urged workers to return to the mine.
The clashes heightened concern over a potential repeat of outbreaks of union violence that resulted in deaths and operational stoppages across the sector.
South Africa is the world's top producer of the precious metal used for catalytic converters in automobiles, but the industry is battling with labour unrest, soaring costs and depressed prices.
AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa told Reuters members of his union will not return to work as they still felt unsafe.
Mathunjwa said Northam had sent text messages to its members asking them to resume work but they would not heed the call.
"How are workers going to go back when they are being attacked and stabbed?," he said.
NUM has said that one of its members was the victim of a fatal shooting on Sunday and that five other workers have been murdered at Northam.
A spokeswoman for the company said that five employees have died over the past year in what she described as separate isolated incidents that occurred off the mine site and were being investigated by the police.
The Zondereinde mine produces about 300,000 ounces of platinum a year, according to Northam's website, and accounts for about 70 percent of the company's revenue.
Northam, the world's third largest platinum miner by market value, reported a first-half loss in February partly due to low platinum prices and impairments.
NUM spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu said the union, which is the majority union at Northam, planned to hold a mass meeting at the mine later on Tuesday and wanted the police and management to address the workers and assure them about the steps being taken to quell the violence.
A wildcat strike at Lonmin's Marikana mine in 2012 erupted in similar circumstances and ended with the police shooting 34 miners dead.
The AMCU has unseated NUM as the main union in the platinum belt in recent years in often-violent circumstances.
"This is not about union rivalry to us, it is about our members being killed," Mammburu said of the situation at Northam.
Istanbul bomb blast kills two people, wounds eight - Haberturk
ISTANBUL, June 7 (Reuters) - Two people were killed and eight others wounded on Tuesday when a car bomb struck a police vehicle in central Istanbul, news channel Haberturk reported on its website.
The blast, set off by remote control, occurred during the morning rush hour in the densely populated Vezneciler district, media reported.
Kenya's earnings from tourism fall 3 pct in 2015
NAIROBI, June 7 (Reuters) - Kenya's revenue from its tourism sector dropped 2.87 percent last year to 84.6 billion shillings ($837.21 million), its tourism minister said.
Visitor numbers and earnings have plunged in the past four years as al Shabaab militants from neighbouring Somalia launched attacks on Kenyan soil in retaliation for Kenya's military intervention.
Showing the depth of the fall, tourist arrivals fell from 1.8 million in 2011 to 1.18 million last year. The country earned 98.9 billion shillings in 2011 compared with the 84.6 billion shillings last year.
Najib Balala said the sector was on course for a recovery in 2018, in line with government plans, but cautioned that violent protests against the country's electoral body could curb arrivals.
"A lot of people I meet are saying Kenya is maturing but when they see the incidents of the last weeks, they say we are going backwards," he told Reuters on Monday.
"My concern is that, the efforts and the road map is working very well, I don't want the political noise to interrupt that programme."
Tourism is one of the main hard currency earners for Kenya.
President Uhuru Kenyatta's government wants to bring in 3 million visitors a year according to its manifesto when it was elected in early 2013.
Efforts to revive the sector include boosting security, opening new source markets such as Nigeria and Poland and increased budgetary allocations to the sector.
WIDER IMAGE-In Indonesia, 'national defence' training against perceived threats
By Eveline Danubrata and Johan Purnomo
BOGOR, Indonesia, June 7 (Reuters) - Yakobus Mebri stepped in front of his classmates at a training centre in Indonesia's West Java province and, at the top of his voice, demanded if their hearts burned to defend the nation.
"It does! It does! It does!" the recruits thundered back, breaking into what appeared like a war dance.
Their instructor, Major General Hartind Asrin, then asked them to sit down: the Bela Negara - "defend the nation" - class was starting.
"We have to be more vigilant of potential threats in their infancy," he said as students diligently took notes.
The sprawling training centre in Bogor, about 60 km (35 miles) south of the capital, Jakarta, is at the heart of a movement spearheaded by officials from the ministry of defence and military against perceived threats such as communism, drugs and homosexuality.
The concept of defending the nation in this way has existed since before Indonesia's independence in 1945, officials say, but they now see a need to shore up protection against "influences" that deviate from the founding principles and norms of the country with the world's largest Muslim population.
Over the last few months, the movement has gained momentum, partly in a reaction to support from President Joko Widodo for an investigation into an anti-communist purge in 1965.
Historians say at least 500,000 people died in the violence that followed when suspected communists killed six generals in an attempted coup against then-president Sukarno.
Successive governments have refused to apologise or accept that death toll, and Widodo's move has outraged many among the military's elite.
"THEY DESERVED TO DIE"
Defence minister and retired general Ryamizard Ryacudu, who told Reuters recently that communists may now be seeking revenge, last week drew a comparison with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 to justify the massacre of half a century ago.
"This was an uprising, they deserved to die," he told a conference of retired officers and nationalist groups from which a reporter said she was ejected because some there accused her of being a lackey of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI).
More than 2,000 members of "Bela Negara" and Islamic groups marched from a mosque to the presidential palace in Jakarta on Friday to protest against what they see as a resurgence of communism, burning hammer-and-sickle flags in the streets.
Many in the march said they feared a revival of the PKI, which was one of the largest communist parties in the world before it was outlawed in 1966.
Like other protesters Reuters asked, 40-year-old Ilyas from Jakarta had never met a communist. But he had seen signs of their return: "Many features of communism have appeared, from the perspective of culture and clothing and other areas," he said.
Under the authoritarian General Suharto who took over from Sukarno, the PKI was dissolved and leftist symbols were banned.
Critics believe the recent whipping-up of a "red scare" - along with condemnations of gays and other "foreign influences" - is an attempt by the army to re-militarise Indonesian society following its loss of influence in civil and political affairs with Suharto's fall from power in 1998.
JOGGING, SONGS AND LECTURES
"Bela Negara" official Major General Asrin told Reuters the programme was necessary to strengthen nationalistic values and said about 1.8 million people had signed up for it.
Officials aim to have almost 900 training centres across the country by early 2018, with lesson materials and funding being provided by the government and trainers coming from the military or police, Asrin said.
At the training centre, a typical day starts at 5 a.m. with a jog, songs and marches, followed by lectures and practical sessions. Officials insist the aim is to make people better citizens, not soldiers, though Reuters saw some participants learning how to assemble a gun.
The spirit of "Bela Negara" can be implemented in various forms, such as reporting a misbehaving peer to the authorities, said Gianto, one of 10 trainers at the centre, who teaches a session on leadership skills.
Gianto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said he tried to instil a "one for all, all for one" mindset in his students and said a practical example of this would be punishing an entire group of students for the mistake of an individual.
The programme stemmed from the concerns of the authorities that some trends in society were not in line with nationalistic values, said political analyst Djayadi Hanan.
"But it became controversial because the military and the defence ministry are involved in this programme, prompting suspicion that this is militarisation," he said.
For "Bela Negara" student Mebri, however, it will cultivate in Indonesians a love for their country from a young age.
South Korea courts isolated North's old friends in push for change
By Jack Kim
SEOUL, June 7 (Reuters) - South Korea's foreign minister will visit Moscow next week after touring Cuba, Uganda and Iran as part of a push to enlist North Korea's old allies to press for change in the isolated state, Seoul said on Tuesday.
North Korea has come under growing diplomatic pressure since its January nuclear test and a space rocket launch in February, which led to a new U.N. Security Council resolution in March tightening sanctions against Pyongyang.
"The minister's visit to Russia following Iran, Uganda and Cuba is part of diplomatic efforts to enlist the international community to the effort to bring about change in North Korea on all fronts," South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck told a briefing.
South Korea said last week that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has pledged to halt security and military cooperation with North Korea following a summit in Kampala with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se visited Cuba, a first for the country's top diplomat, and held talks with his counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez, at the weekend. South Korean media said Yun conveyed Seoul's hope for establishing diplomatic ties with Havana.
In May, Park made the first visit to Iran by a South Korean leader in the hope of broadening political and commercial ties after Iran emerged from years of economic sanctions in January.
Cho also said Poland had stopped issuing visas for North Korean workers amid concern that Pyongyang may be subjecting them to conditions that violated their human rights. The Polish embassy in Seoul did not have immediate comment.
North and South Korea are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
North Korea has 53 embassies and overseas missions, according to South Korean government data, some of which have been notorious for engaging in business, including illicit activities.
Much of North Korea's support at the United Nations is from fellow members of the Cold War-era Non-Aligned Movement. It has enjoyed consistent backing in U.N. General Assembly votes on human rights from a core group including Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Syria, Vietnam, Zimbabwe and Venezuela.
China tells U.S. to play constructive South China Sea role
By Yeganeh Torbati and Michael Martina
BEIJING, June 7 (Reuters) - China told the United States on Tuesday that it should play a constructive role in safeguarding peace in the disputed South China Sea, as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called for talks and a peaceful resolution.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims, as well as close military ties with the United States.
China has been angered by what it views as provocative U.S. military patrols close to islands China controls in the South China Sea. The United States says the patrols are to protect freedom of navigation.
Speaking at the end of high-level Sino-U.S. talks in Beijing, State Councillor Yang Jiechi, China's top diplomat who outranks the foreign minister, said China had the right to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights.
"China respects and protects the right that all countries enjoy under international law to freedom of navigation and overflight," Yang told reporters.
Disputes should be resolved by the parties involved through consultation, he said.
"China hopes the U.S. will scrupulously abide by its promise to not take sides in relevant territorial disputes and play a constructive role in safeguarding peace and stability in the South China Sea," Yang said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Saturday the U.S. approach to the Asia-Pacific remained "one of commitment, strength and inclusion", but he also warned China against provocative behaviour in the South China Sea.
Kerry said the United States did not take a position on the sovereignty of any land features in the South China Sea but thought all claimants should exercise restraint.
"We reiterated America's fundamental support for negotiations and a peaceful resolution based on the rule of law as well as our concern about any unilateral steps by any party ... to alter the status quo," Kerry said.
Kerry added that he and Yang reaffirmed their governments' commitment to upholding the freedom of navigation and overflight.
The Philippines is hoping for a favourable ruling from a tribunal in The Hague this month after it went to court in 2013 seeking clarification on its economic entitlements in the South China Sea.
China has said it will not respect the court's decision and there are fears in Manila that China may retaliate by declaring an air defence identification zone in the disputed waters or by reclaiming disputed Scarborough Shoal.
Gregory Poling, director of Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies, said China would not risk an escalation if it knew the United States would try to deter its actions on Scarborough Shoal.
"What we've seen over and over in the last years, China is unwilling to risk activities that threaten deadly force," Poling told diplomats and military officials at the main army base in Manila.
Hindu priest in Bangladesh hacked to death by suspected Islamists
By Ruma Paul
DHAKA, June 7 (Reuters) - Suspected militants in Bangladesh hacked an elderly Hindu priest to death on Tuesday, in what police suspected was the latest in a spate of attacks by Islamists on minority groups in the majority-Muslim country.
Three motorcycle-borne attackers slit the throat of Ananta Gopal Ganguly, 70, while he was en route to the temple he served in the district of Jhenaidah, about 100 miles (161 km) west of Dhaka, the capital, police said.
"They almost beheaded him before they fled the scene," said police official Hasan Hafizur Rahman.
The attack bore the hallmarks of previous killings by Islamist militants. The government banned more than one person riding pillion on a motorcycle on Monday a day after the wife of a prominent anti-terror security official was shot dead by three suspected militants on a motorbike.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for killing Ganguly, the U.S.-based monitoring service SITE said, quoting the militant group's Amaq news agency.
Rahman dismissed the group's claim as "baseless", saying it had no organisational base in Bangladesh and domestic militants were responsible.
A 60-year-old Christian grocer was also hacked to death after Sunday prayers in an attack claimed by Islamic State.
Bangladesh has not seen the sort of Islamist violence that has rocked Muslim Pakistan, or even the number of attacks that India has seen over the past decade or so.
Since February last year, militants have killed more than 30 people in Bangladesh, including members of religious minorities, liberal bloggers and academics.
Islamic State and al Qaeda have claimed responsibility for most of the killings, but the government denies either group has a presence in Bangladesh.
Last month, junior foreign minister Shahriar Alam told Reuters 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.
The government has launched a crackdown on militant groups who want to impose strict Islamic law in Bangladesh. At least eight militants have been killed in shootouts since November, including three on Tuesday, police said.
Analysts say a climate of intolerance in Bangladeshi politics has both motivated and provided cover for perpetrators of crimes of religious hatred.
The government blamed the growing violence on its political opponents linked to Islamist parties aiming to create chaos and prevent war crimes trials from going ahead.
Tension has risen since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordered Islamist leaders suspected of atrocities during the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan to be put on trial for war crimes.
Hasina's rivals accuse her of settling political scores by hunting down members of the Jamaat-e-Islami, an ally of the main opposition group headed by former prime minister Khaleda Zia. The government denies these assertions.
Turkey to suspend EU migration deal if no visa-free travel for Turks -minister
ISTANBUL, June 7 (Reuters) - Turkey would have to suspend its agreement with the European Union to stem the flow of migrants into the bloc if there is no deal to grant visa-free travel to Turks, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told state broadcaster TRT Haber on Tuesday.
Nigeria to scale down army campaign in Delta, talk to Avengers -officials
By Felix Onuah and Ulf Laessing
ABUJA, Nigeria, June 7 (Reuters) - Nigeria will scale down a military campaign in the oil-producing Niger Delta and talk to the Niger Delta Avengers militant group which has claimed a string of attacks there that sharply cut crude output, officials said.
But the militant group said in a statement, without mentioning the government initiative, its mandate was "to liberate the Niger Delta people."
The government has also decided that the military presence in the region, which had been increased in the last few weeks, should be scaled down, a statement issued by the vice president's office said on Tuesday.
The southern Delta swamps, where many complain of poverty and oil spills, have been hit by militant attacks on oil and gas pipelines which have brought Nigeria's oil output to a 20-year low, and helped push oil prices to 2016 highs on Tuesday.
President Muhammadu Buhari had appointed a team led by the national security adviser "to begin the process of a very intensive dialogue with those caught in the middle of this," Oil Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said late on Monday.
"I want to call on the militants to sheath their weapons and embrace dialogue with government," he said. "We are making contacts with everybody who is involved, the ones that we can identify, through them, the ones that we can't identify so that there is a lot more inclusiveness in this dialogue."
"Probably we will suspend the operations of the military in the region for a week or two for individuals in the creeks to converge for the dialogue," he said.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who had been expected to travel to London to meet investors on Tuesday, instead met Niger Delta state governors and military chiefs to discuss ways to end the militancy.
A statement from Osinbajo's office said it had been decided at the meeting that the military presence in the region should be "de-escalated," although forces would be kept to provide security for the talks.
Adding to the problems of authorities trying to stem the violence, a group in the southeast calling for secession declared support for the Avengers.
"We support the Niger Delta Avengers," said Uche Madu, a spokesman for the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (Massob) which wants secession for the region which fought a civil war from 1967-70.
A former militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which laid down arms in 2009 under a government amnesty, accused the army of a "disproportionate use of force."
MEND, which was one of the largest militant groups, also said the Delta Avengers had attracted some of its former fighters. So far it has been unclear who is behind the Avengers.
There was no immediate direct response from the Avengers on the dialogue initiative. On its Twitter account it only issued a statement framing MEND leaders as criminals.
"Our struggle is focussed on the liberation of the People of Niger Delta from decades of divisive rule and exclusion," it said.
Kachikwu also said Nigeria's oil output was between 1.5 million and 1.6 million barrels a day, down from 2.2 million barrels at the start of the year.
Turkey will strongly support possible operation in Mosul - foreign minister
ANKARA, June 7 (Reuters) - Turkey will strongly support a possible operation to retake the northern Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State militants, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told state broadcaster TRT Haber on Tuesday.
Iraqi forces, with help from a U.S.-led coalition, are expected to try and retake Mosul later this year. The Iraqi army is currently attacking the Islamic State bastion of Falluja near Baghdad.
Polish president to present FX loan proposal at 1500 GMT
WARSAW, June 7 (Reuters) - The Polish president's office will announce an amended proposal for tackling the country's Swiss franc loan problem at 1500 GMT on Tuesday, the president's spokesman Marek Magierowski said.
The president's team has been working on the new plan after its proposal in January spooked investors. Poland's financial regulator estimated that proposal could cost banks 67 billion zlotys ($17.5 billion).
Poland's banking sector is 60 percent owned by foreign lenders, with Santander, Commerzbank, BCP , BNP Paribas, and Raiffeisen running local units with Swiss franc mortgage portfolios.
BHP Billiton sells Indonesian coal assets to Adaro
MELBOURNE, June 7 (Reuters) - BHP Billiton said on Tuesday it has agreed to sell its coal assets in Indonesia to its partner, Adaro Energy, following a slump in prices for metallurgical coal.
BHP did not disclose the price for its 75 percent stake in IndoMet Coal, which it first flagged was up for sale in April.
"After a detailed review of IndoMet Coal, we concluded that although the project could support a larger scale development, BHP Billiton has a range of other growth options in the portfolio that are more attractive for future investment," IndoMet Coal asset president James Palmer said in a statement.
Analysts said in April BHP would be lucky to fetch $200 million for the stake, well below the $335 million Adaro paid for a 25 percent stake in IndoMet in 2010, due to regulatory uncertainty in Indonesia and the sharp slump in coal prices.
IndoMet holds seven coal contracts of work in Central and Eastern Kalimantan, including the 1 million tonnes a year Haju mine, which started producing last year.
Oman's April oil production down 1.4 percent from March - statistics centre
DUBAI, June 7 (Reuters) - Oman's oil production stood at 29.8 million barrels in April, the National Centre for Statistics and Information said on Tuesday, down 1.4 percent from March.
The drop was attributed to the decline in crude oil by 2.5 percent to reach 26.9 million barrels from 27.6 million barrels in March 2016, the National Centre for Statistics and Information said in a statement.
The sultanate also recorded a 16.4 percent month-on-month drop in gasoline production in April.
S.African watchdog wants more resources to probe family with Zuma links
By Zandi Shabalala
JOHANNESBURG, June 7 (Reuters) - South African Public Protector Thuli Madonsela said on Tuesday she wants more resources to investigate whether President Jacob Zuma allowed a wealthy business family to decide on cabinet appointments.
The scandal surrounding the Gupta family took a dramatic turn earlier this year after deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas said they had offered him his boss's job, an allegation that led to calls for Zuma to resign.
Madonsela told reporters she was looking at "specifically whether or not the government of South Africa and specifically the president unlawfully allowed the Gupta family to choose ministers and other occupants of high office."
Zuma has denied Jonas' claims, saying only the president appointed ministers, in line with the constitution. The Guptas have denied influencing Zuma, saying they were pawns in a political plot against the president.
When it first broke, the affair threatened to shake Zuma's hold on his ruling African National Congress party. But the president won the backing of its top decision-making group, which is stacked with his loyalists, and the party has since set aside the Gupta issue.
Madonsela, the country's anti-corruption watchdog, did not say what additional resources she required to carry out the investigation, which she said she hoped to complete before her term ends in October.
The Public Protector's office was also investigating whether there was "unlawful awarding of government contracts and licenses to the Gupta businesses", she said.
The Guptas, who moved to South Africa from India after apartheid fell in 1994, run businesses ranging from uranium and coal mining to media and information technology.
DEATH THREATS
Madonsela has received public support in South Africa for taking Zuma to task over the 240 million rand ($16 million) of state money spent upgrading his private home.
She was vindicated in March when the Constitutional Court, the highest court in the land, said Zuma had breached the constitution by ignoring her recommendation that he repay some money that was spent on non-security upgrades. Zuma has since then agreed to hand back some of the funds.
Madonsela said she was also investigating whether a surveillance unit set up at the national revenue service was above board. The revenue agency was led at the time by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.
Police have said they are not investigating Gordhan as part of their probe into the activities of the spy unit. Madonsela said her office was "wrapping up" its investigation of the unit, but gave no details.
She said although she had faced death threats, smear campaigns by targets of her investigative work and claims by some politicians that she was a CIA spy, she had no regrets about taking on the job.
"There are a few deviants who decide to play the person as opposed to the ball. They know we don't make the rules - we enforce them," she said.
"More recently it has been a case of setting a fire behind the guardians of democracy or the watchdogs. so then you are distracted by the fire behind your back."
Croatia's HDZ party wants PM Oreskovic to step down
By Igor Ilic
ZAGREB, June 7 (Reuters) - Croatia's conservative HDZ party, the biggest in the ruling centre-right coalition, filed a no-confidence motion against technocrat Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic on Tuesday.
HDZ helped install Oreskovic less than five months ago, but has since fallen out with him in dispute over an alleged conflict of interest related to business ties of the wife of the HDZ leader and Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Karamarko.
"This government is not functional. We can pursue reforms only with new people. There is still time for new, homogenous and reshuffled government," Karamarko said.
The vote on HDZ's motion, signed by 42 deputies, is expected to take place late next week. HDZ said in the motion that Oreskovic "had failed to tackle economic issues, which are a priority for Croatia".
"Instead, he has been keeping political tension in the country with the aim of boosting his own political power," the HDZ said.
The move follows Oreskovic's demand from last week for Karamarko to step down over a row with coalition partner, the small reformist party Most (Bridge).
Most wants Karamarko to leave the government because of an alleged conflict of interest due to his wife's business ties with a lobbyist for Hungary's energy group MOL with which the Zagreb government is in dispute over management rights and investment strategy in Croatia's energy firm INA.
Oreskovic dismissed HDZ's call. "Karamarko is a huge burden for the government, and the HDZ and I hope the HDZ will make right decisions," he told reporters.
It was due to Most's insistence on a technocrat prime minister that the HDZ brought Oreskovic in as a financial expert to help get the newest European Union member out of the economic crisis.
The government in the meantime adopted reforms aimed at boosting the investment climate and growth, and cutting public debt that is at 87 percent of gross domestic product.
The main opposition party, the Social Democrats (SDP), which had earlier filed a no-confidence motion against Karamarko, said they wanted the government's removal and a snap election.
"The election is a last solution as it would mean losing time, although I'm optimist even in the case of new election," Karamarko said.
Many analysts believe Karamarko's intention of forming a new parliamentary majority is likely to fail.
A new prime minister-designate would have to prove support from at least 76 deputies in the 151-seat parliament and would get 30 days to form a cabinet. In case of failure, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic would have to call snap election.
Hong Kong culls thousands of birds after positive test for H7N9 virus
HONG KONG, June 7 (Reuters) - Hong Kong authorities culled 4,500 birds at a wholesale market on Tuesday, two days after a suspension in trade of live poultry following a positive test for the H7N9 virus.
Staff in full-body protective gear killed chickens, pigeons and other birds at a temporary wholesale poultry market by stuffing them into a bin filled with carbon dioxide.
Chicken vendor Chan Shun-kuen said it was too early to estimate losses as the government had yet to announce when trade will resume, but she supported the move.
"Safety comes first," Chan said. "Now we are starting from scratch and making sure everything is clean and hygienic. I support the government's decision."
Bank of Spain predicts economic growth of 2.1 pct in 2018
MADRID, June 7 (Reuters) - The Bank of Spain forecast economic growth of 2.1 percent in 2018 and reiterated recent predictions of a gradual slowdown in medium-term growth rates on Tuesday.
The Spanish central bank stuck to its forecast for 2.7 percent growth this year and 2.3 percent in 2017, after last year's 3.2 percent expansion. It said growth rates would ease as the effects of the depreciation of the euro and low oil prices wear off.
It is the first time it has issued a forecast for 2018.
Last Friday, the Bank of Spain warned that political uncertainty in the wake of December's inconclusive election could hurt economic growth due to stalled policymaking.
German Bund yield hits record low as political risks mount
By Dhara Ranasinghe and Nigel Stephenson
LONDON, June 7 (Reuters) - Germany's 10-year Bund yield fell to a new record low on Tuesday, against a backdrop of nervousness about Britain's referendum on EU membership and unprecedented monetary stimulus from the European Central Bank.
The Bund yield, the benchmark for euro zone borrowing costs, fell as low as 0.045 percent, according to Tradeweb data. This took it below the previous record low of 0.05 percent hit on April 17, 2015.
Yields on the ultra-low risk Bund are expected to stay close to current levels as Britain's June 23 vote on whether to stay in the European Union approaches.
"Everyone knows no dealer wants to be short Bunds into the referendum," said Commerzbank rates strategist Christoph Rieger.
Uncertainty about the outcome of the referendum and its implications for the euro zone are boosting demand for German bonds - deemed one of the safest assets in the world.
"There are a number of reasons why you can't be short Bunds right now," said Mizuho strategist Peter Chatwell. "Number 1 is the UK referendum and political risks in the euro zone."
In addition, Spain votes on June 26 in a re-run of an inconclusive December election. And last weekend, the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement made headway in local elections in Italy - piling pressure on Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
Brexit jitters, while boosting demand for German bonds, are weighing on peripheral bonds that are seen as especially vulnerable.
"We could see talk of more countries leaving the euro zone, so Europe could suffer more than the UK," said Patrick Zweifel, chief economist at Pictet Asset Management.
Italian yields notched up their biggest one-day rise in six weeks and Portuguese yields hit a three-week high on Monday on Brexit fears and Italy's election results.
But peripheral bonds were on a firmer footing on Tuesday after dovish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.
Italian, Spanish and Portuguese 10-year yields fell around 4-6 basis points.
In addition to political risks, the European Central Bank's 1.74 trillion euro asset-purchase programme has helped depress bond yields. The average yield of German bonds in circulation dipped to minus 0.02 percent on Monday, falling below zero for the first time, according to data from the German Bundesbank. The average yield stood at minus 0.01 percent on Tuesday.
Data on Monday showed the ECB, faced with a scarcity of eligible bonds, bought more German, French and Italian government debt than its rules dictate in May.
UN says Syria blocking food aid; seeks airlift approval
GENEVA/UNITED NATIONS, June 7 (Reuters) - The United Nations is still waiting for Syrian government agreement for an aid convoy to enter the besieged town of Daraya and has requested approval to airlift food into four locations if land routes are unavailable, U.N. officials said on Tuesday.
Rebel-held Daraya got its first U.N. aid convoy since 2012 on June 1, but the shipment did not include food. The United Nations has said malnourished children in the Damascus suburb will die without outside help, a claim President Bashar al-Assad's government has denied.
"The blockage of aid is a political issue," U.N. spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told a regular U.N. briefing in Geneva. "Daraya is 12 km (7.5 miles) from Damascus, so it can be done but we need the political go-ahead from the government."
Daraya is one of four besieged areas for which the U.N. presented the Syrian foreign ministry on Sunday a backup plan to airlift food if land access is not approved, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York. It is awaiting approval.
"The written request included a plan for airlifts - not airdrops - as a last resort, to Daraya, Douma and Mouadamiya in rural Damascus Governorate, and Al Waer in Homs Governorate," Dujarric said.
So far Damascus has only authorized the delivery of medical assistance, school supplies and children's milk to Douma, Daraya and Mouadamiya during June, not food.
Al Waer was not among the areas approved for June. The Syrian government noted in a statement that the Syrian Arab Red Crescent had delivered seven trucks of medical supplies, food and children's milk to the area on June 1.
The U.N. convoy got through to Daraya on the day the Syrian government faced a deadline to admit aid by road or risk having air drops imposed by the countries of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), which includes Syria's ally Russia.
The convoy brought baby milk and medical supplies to support an estimated 4,000 civilians in the town besieged by government forces. U.N. officials had hoped food would arrive in a second convoy on Friday, but that was delayed with no government approval.
Syria's opposition said the government approved the first convoy in a cynical ploy to alleviate international pressure.
Amnesty says Malawi albino killings reflect police failures
LILONGWE, June 7 (Reuters) - Amnesty International accused Malawian police on Tuesday of failing to protect people with albinism who are targeted for their body parts which are used in magical potions and other ritual practices.
Police said they were doing all in their power to end the surge in the killing of albinos in the southern African country. Albinos have also been targeted in Malawi's neighbour Tanzania and elsewhere in Africa.
Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's Director for Southern Africa, said in a statement that Malawian authorities had failed to protect the albinos, leaving them at the mercy of criminal gangs who hunt them down for their body parts.
The report says at least 18 people with albinism have been killed in Malawi since November of 2014 while at least five others are known to have been abducted and remain missing. Four were murdered in April 2016, including a baby.
"Their bones are believed to be sold to practitioners of traditional medicine in Malawi and Mozambique for use in charms and magical potions in the belief that they bring wealth and good luck," Amnesty said.
"The macabre trade is also fuelled by a belief that bones of people with albinism contain gold."
Malawi government spokesperson and Minister of Information Patricia Kaliati dismissed the claims by Amnesty.
"We are doing everything within the law to stop this carnage," Kaliati told Reuters.
Malawi Police spokesman Nikolasi Gondwa said gangs in neighbouring Tanzania and Mozambique were fuelling the trade.
Syrian army, U.S.-backed forces advance separately against IS
BEIRUT, June 7 (Reuters) - Syrian government troops backed by Russian air power moved to within 25 km (15 miles) of an Islamic State-held town in Raqqa province on Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, as state media reported air strikes against the jihadists in the area.
In a separate simultaneous campaign against Islamic State in Syria, U.S.-backed militias captured more territory from the group near the city of Manbij in Aleppo province, a spokesman for the forces told Reuters. The Observatory said they were now 2 km from the Islamic State-held city.
The offensives both got underway last week and are targeting Islamic State in areas of major strategic importance to its foothold in Syria, where it controls swathes of land up to the Iraqi border.
They are taking place at the same time as an assault by the Iraqi army against Falluja, an Islamic State bastion close to Baghdad. The simultaneous assaults by a myriad of enemies on farflung fronts amount to some of the greatest pressure Islamic State has faced since declaring its caliphate to rule over all Muslims from Iraq and Syria two years ago.
The Syrian army's advance into Raqqa province, which has not been announced by the military, is initially targeting the Islamic State-held town of Tabqa, according to the Observatory and pro-Damascus media sources.
Raqqa province is a major base of operations for Islamic State and home to its de facto capital, Raqqa city.
Syrian state-run TV station Ikhbariya said on Tuesday the Syrian air force had targeted Islamic State positions south of Tabqa in the Rasafa area, destroying vehicles equipped with machine guns.
The Syrian military could not immediately be reached for comment. A military source told Reuters on Monday the army had advanced to the edge of Raqqa province, from where it could move in several directions against Islamic State.
The Observatory, citing its activists on the ground, said Islamic State had sent weapons and fighters from Raqqa city to Tabqa.
The separate U.S.-backed campaign that got underway last week aims to dislodge Islamic State from its last foothold at the Syrian-Turkish frontier and shut off its main access route to the outside world for material and manpower.
It is being fought on the ground by militias including the Kurdish YPG and allied Arab groups, which together formed an alliance last year known as the Syria Democratic Forces. It has proven to be the first effective fighting force allied to Washington during five years of multi-sided civil war in Syria.
Sharfan Darwish, spokesman for the Manbij Military Council that is part of the U.S.-backed force, said: "We are advancing on all fronts of our assault."
Syria's Assad vows to fight on in "war against terrorism"
BEIRUT, June 7 (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad vowed on Tuesday to fight on in what he called Syria's war against terrorism, after more than five years of conflict with insurgents that has splintered the country.
"Our war against terrorism is continuing," Assad said in a speech to parliament broadcast by state TV. "As we liberated Tadmur (Palmyra) and before it many areas, we will liberate every inch of Syria from their hands. Our only option is victory, otherwise Syria will not continue."
Tunisia's ruling party demands new PM to speed up reforms
By Tarek Amara
TUNIS, June 7 (Reuters) - Tunisia's ruling party Nidaa Tounes said on Tuesday the prime minister should be replaced in a new unity government proposed by President Beji Caid Essebsi as a way to overcome political inertia and speed up economic reforms.
Essebsi, who was one of the founders of Nidaa Tounes, called last week for negotiations among political parties, unions and independents to form a new government to help advance economic restructuring that has lagged behind political liberalisation.
Tunisia's politics are often dominated by back-and-forth consensus-building among its parties since the 2011 uprising that ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali. This has improved stability, but also impeded a process of economic overhaul demanding by international supporters like the IMF.
Prime Minister Habib Essid, a technocrat, has struggled to push through any major reforms, like a rise in the pension age, and his term has been marked recently by political infighting inside Nidaa Tounes and among members of the ruling coalition.
Nidaa Tounes's call for a new premier came after two days of negotiations by the four ruling parties. Nidaa Tounes shares power with Islamist party Ennahda and two smaller parties.
"The country needs a unity government in as short a time as possible because the situation does not allow for any more delays and the unity government should be led by a new person," Nidaa Tounes said in statement.
The powerful UGTT union, a joint winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize, has already rejected a call from Essebsi to join the unity government, because the labour movement is opposed to some of the government's austerity plans.
Political infighting almost blocked a central bank reform earlier this year, forcing parties to negotiate to pass a banking law a month later. But pension reforms and other cost-cutting measures have already met resistance from labour groups.
Any new government would need the current cabinet to resign and approval from parliament. But it would also take time to reach agreement among secular, Islamist and left-wing parties and the powerful UGTT.
Essid declined to announce any position after a meeting with the president on Monday. But Ennahda also called on Monday for the premier to step aside.
"Habib Essid should resign in this current political context," Lotfi Zitoun, a senior Ennahda official, said.
Essebsi plans more meetings on Wednesday with Ennahda and Nidaa Tounes to discuss the new government.
Essebsi's call for a more agile government came with the current coalition is struggling to create more growth and jobs after a series of Islamist militant attacks that battered the North African state's tourism industry and wider economy.
Brazil prosecutor seeks arrest of Senate president, ruling party leaders -report
BRASILIA, June 7 (Reuters) - Brazilian chief prosecutor Rodrigo Janot asked the Supreme Court to authorize the arrest of the presidents of the Senate and the ruling PMDB party and former president Jose Sarney for allegedly trying to obstruct police investigations, newspaper O Globo said on Tuesday.
The decision to move ahead was in the hands of Supreme Court Justice Teori Zavascki, O Globo said.
Senate President Renan Calheiros, PMDB acting president and Senator Romero Juca and former president Sarney are some of the most powerful Brazilian political leaders. Their arrests could have unpredictable consequences for the newly installed administration of interim President Michel Temer.
Media representatives for the chief prosecutor's office, Calheiros, Juca, Sarney and the Supreme Court did not immediately respond to e-mailed requests for comment on the O Globo story.
BHP Billiton sells Indonesian coal assets to Adaro
MELBOURNE, June 7 (Reuters) - BHP Billiton said on Tuesday it has agreed to sell its coal assets in Indonesia to its partner, Adaro Energy, following a slump in prices for metallurgical coal.
BHP did not disclose the price for its 75 percent stake in IndoMet Coal, which it first flagged was up for sale in April.
Adaro, however, Indonesia's second largest thermal coal producer, said in a statement the deal was worth $120 million and would "become effective upon the fulfilment of requirements in the share sale agreement, including necessary approvals from the Government of the Republic of Indonesia."
The amount is well below the $335 million Adaro paid for a 25 percent stake in IndoMet in 2010. Analyst had said in April that BHP would be lucky to get $200 million for its stake due to regulatory uncertainty in Indonesia and the sharp slump in coal prices.
"After a detailed review of IndoMet Coal, we concluded that although the project could support a larger scale development, BHP Billiton has a range of other growth options in the portfolio that are more attractive for future investment," IndoMet Coal asset president James Palmer had said in a statement earlier in the day.
IndoMet holds seven coal contracts of work in Central and Eastern Kalimantan, including the 1 million tonnes a year Haju mine, which started producing last year.
Growing pressure on Malaysian authorities over handling of paedophile case
By Joseph Sipalan
KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 (Reuters) - Malaysian authorities faced increasing pressure on Tuesday to explain how they handled the case of the convicted paedophile Richard Huckle after British officials said they told their counterparts in Kuala Lumpur about his suspected behavior more than 18 months ago.
Huckle, 30, was detained when he arrived at London's Gatwick airport from Malaysia in December 2014, and was charged with sexually abusing dozens of children for at least nine years, mostly in Kuala Lumpur, the nation's capital. He was sentenced to life in prison on Monday.
"I believe if indeed the Malaysian authorities failed to take reparatory steps since 2014 then an immediate investigation must be launched...," said Nurul Izzah Anwar, a member of parliament for the opposition PKR and also the daughter of jailed leader Anwar Ibrahim.
Nurul Izzah said results of the investigation must be presented to parliament.
"A serious breach of security of our borders, religious institutions and havens for underprivileged children have taken placed and we must never allow this breach to repeat in future," she said.
The Malaysian police have said they were only told about Huckle by Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) in April this year.
Huckle, dubbed the U.K's worst paedophile by the British media, was sentenced for abusing 23 Malaysian and Cambodian children and babies, including one aged just six months.
He is believed to have targeted nearly 200 children over a span of nine years, posing as a photographer, English teacher and western philanthropist to gain access to impoverished families, mostly in Malaysia.
Sharmila Sekaran, chairman of the welfare group Voice of the Children (VoC), said if the Malaysian authorities had been informed in 2014 and there had been no response then they delayed providing help and counseling to the abused children.
That, though, was much less significant than the failure to detect Huckle's behavior over nine years.
"The fact is that from 2006 to 2014 he was here abusing our children. Why did we not know? Why did we not pick him up? We need to do some serious, honest soul-searching," she said.
"This was systematic rampant abuse in our own backyard - how could it have gone undetected until someone else informed us?"
Asked why the authorities may not have responded after first being informed, she said: "Why they didn't do anything - I don't know. Maybe they didn't know what they could do."
INFORMATION SHARED
NCA deputy director, Andrew Brennan, told reporters after Huckle's sentencing on Monday that the British had informed the Malaysian authorities of Huckle's case in November 2014 and shared "all the information and all of the intelligence" that they had on Huckle at that time.
"Let me assure you we have met Malaysian authorities on a number of occasions throughout autumn of 2014," Brennan said.
"When it became clear they (Malaysia) didn't have sufficient evidence to arrest him, we made the decision that we would arrest him in December 2014," Brennan said outside of London's Old Bailey court.
The British High Commission also told Reuters in a statement on Tuesday that it had been engaged with the Malaysians since 2014.
"Where British nationals commit such offences, anywhere in the world, we will work to bring offenders to justice and ensure victims get the right protection and treatment," said a spokesman for the British High Commission.
"International cooperation is critical for that. Our engagement with the Malaysian authorities on the Richard Huckle case, since 2014, reflects that."
The Malaysian police did not immediately respond to a request for comments on the British High Commission's statement.
Ong Chin Lan, a senior officer in the police's Sexual, Women and Child Investigation Division, told state news agency Bernama that the NCA did not provide any information on Huckle's case because he had been on trial.
Huckle, who awarded himself points for his crimes, had boasted on the dark web that those from poor communities made easier victims than well-to-do westerners. He filmed and photographed the rape and abuse of children, and shared it online with paedophiles worldwide.
According to a leader from an Indian community that Huckle frequented, the Malaysian police only visited them for the first time on Monday.
PRESS DIGEST- Canada-June 7
June 7 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
** Commodities from oil to gold have ended their epic swoon - and, in the process, turned Canadian stocks into some of the world's hottest offerings. The Bloomberg Commodity Index, which tracks 22 raw materials, finished Monday more than 20 percent above its low on Jan. 20, meeting the most common definition of a bull market. (http://bit.ly/1TTc5jY)
** The legalization of assisted death enters a new era Tuesday, marked by conflicting approaches by provinces and uncertainty for patients and doctors after the Supreme Court deadline to create frameworks for assisted dying expired on June 6. (http://bit.ly/1Ob88ds)
** Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi on Monday accused his Vancouver counterpart, Gregor Robertson, of fear-mongering over the latter's high-profile campaign to block an oil pipeline project that many in Alberta see as crucial to the province's economic well-being. (http://bit.ly/1PDl9Nr)
NATIONAL POST
** Two senior editors have left the Toronto Star newsroom in the last few days. Spokesman Bob Hepburn said Monday that managing editor Jane Davenport has transferred to a different role at her own request. He said Davenport will remain an employee of parent company Torstar Corp and that details on her new job will be announced soon. The move comes after the departure last week of Jon Filson, the head of the paper's StarTouch tablet project. (http://bit.ly/1UaKCho)
** In Canada, the federal Liberals, along with governments in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta have expressed interest in the concept of a guaranteed minimum income - also known as a guaranteed annual income. While basic income guarantee, or basic income, is often said to enjoy support across the political spectrum, it's clear that left and right have very different ideas of what it would mean. (http://bit.ly/1Y5GoZN)
Falluja refugees say Islamic State uses food to enlist fighters
By Saif Hameed
GARMA, Iraq, June 7 (Reuters) - Iraqis who fled Islamic State-held Falluja as government and allied forces advanced on the city said they had survived on stale dates and the militants were using food to enlist fighters whose relatives were going hungry.
The ultra-hardline Sunni fighters have kept a close guard on food storage in the besieged city near Baghdad that they captured in January 2014, six months before they declared a caliphate across large parts of Iraq and Syria.
The militants visited families regularly after food ran short with offers of supplies for those who enlisted, said 23-year-old Hanaa Mahdi Fayadh from Sijir on the northeastern outskirts of Falluja.
"They told our neighbour they would give him a sack of flour if his son joined them; he refused and when they had gone, he fled with his family," she said.
"We left because there was no food or wood to make fires, besides, the shelling was very close to our house."
She and others interviewed in a school transformed into a refugee centre in Garma, a town under government control east of Falluja, said they had no money to buy food from the group.
The Iraqi government stopped paying the salaries of employees there and in other cities under Islamic State control a year ago to stop the group seizing the funds.
Fayadh escaped Sijir on May 27, four days after the government offensive on Falluja began, with a group of 15 relatives and neighbours, walking through farmland brandishing white flags.
Most of the 1,500 displaced people who found refuge in the school in Garma were women and children, because the army takes men for screening over possible ties with Islamic State. Fayadh said she was waiting for news of her two brothers who were being investigated.
HUMAN SHIELDS
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said last week the offensive had slowed to protect tens of thousands of civilians trapped in Falluja with limited access to water, food and electricity.
Fayadh said the situation in the city was very difficult. "The only thing remaining in the few shops open was dates, old, stale dates and even those were very expensive," she said.
Azhar Nazar Hadi, 45, said the militants had asked her family to move from Sijir into Falluja itself, a clear attempt to use them as human shields.
"We hid," she said. "There was shooting, mortars and clashes, we stayed hidden until the forces came in" and escorted them out to the refugee center.
The militants took hundreds of people, along with their cattle, with them into Falluja, Hadi said.
"Life was difficult, very hard, especially when we stopped receiving salaries and retirement pensions.
"The last seven months we ran out of everything and had to survive on dates, and water," she said. "Flour, rice and cooking oil were no longer available at an affordable price."
A 50 kg (110 lb) sack of flour cost 500,000 dinars ($428.45), almost half an average Iraqi employee's month salary.
Abadi ordered the offensive on Falluja, which lies 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, after a series of bombings claimed by Islamic State hit Shi'ite districts of the capital, causing the worst death toll this year.
Between 500 and 700 militants are in Falluja, according to a U.S. military estimate. The Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia coalition that is supporting the Iraqi army offensive on the city says the number of IS fighters there is closer to 2,500.
The United Nations says about 50,000 civilians remain trapped in Falluja, which has been under siege since December, when the Iraqi army recaptured Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province to the west.
Focus on jobs at heart of Saudi reforms
By Angus McDowall
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, June 7 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia plans to spend billions of riyals on technical training and other initiatives to boost the number of its citizens in private sector jobs, an economic reform plan released on Monday showed.
The world's top oil exporter has been pushing labour reforms for years aimed at reducing the burden of employment on the state, but Monday's plans spelled out new details of how this might be achieved in a range of economic sectors.
The National Transformation Plan (NTP), announced by government ministers late on Monday, is part of the Vision 2030 reform scheme launched in April by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to prepare for a future with lower oil revenue.
It aimed to increase the number of private-sector jobs by 450,000 by 2020 and to reduce public-sector salaries as a proportion of the state budget to 40 percent from 45 percent by the same date. Unemployment among Saudis is targeted to fall to 9 percent from 11.6 percent in the next five years.
"The average public sector employee is paid about 70 percent more than the private sector average. This wage gap is one of the highest in the world and goes a long way to explaining why so few Saudis are employed in the private sector," said James Reeve, deputy chief economist at Samba Financial Group in London.
Previous labour reforms have focused on pushing companies to hire more Saudis instead of expatriates, with some effort also devoted to technical training schemes and other social tools to prompt young people to look for non-government jobs.
The new reforms aim to increase enrolment in technical and vocational training colleges to 950,000 students a year from 104,000 now, spending 1.5 billion riyals (about $400 million) to increase capacity, the NTP document showed.
The government will also spend 1.7 billion riyals on technical training facilities in schools and says it will target improvements in maths and science exam grades by 2020.
At the same time, the Civil Service Ministry has targets to decrease its payroll and spending on employee benefits by 20 percent by 2020, and to ensure that only 1 percent of new jobs by that date are in government service instead of 5 percent now.
Those reforms also carry a price tag. Restructuring civil service jobs will cost 52 million riyals by 2020 and a programme to encourage government employees to become private sector entrepreneurs will cost 35 million riyals, the plan said.
WAGE GAP
Previous labour reform efforts have stumbled on social obstacles, such as the comparatively high benefits, wages, job security and social status associated with state employment and the lower cost to companies of hiring expatriates.
In the NTP, the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry has a target of reducing the cost of hiring a Saudi compared to a foreigner from being four times more expensive to only 2.8 times more expensive. Recent reforms have imposed some fees on companies that hire expatriates.
It will also aim for half of all Saudis to want a private sector job by 2020, but it provided no details on how this might be achieved.
Meanwhile, proposed reforms in other sectors aimed at boosting the private sector are also intended to create jobs for Saudis. New opportunities in mining are supposed to lead to an extra 25,000 jobs, while investment in tourism is aimed at raising hiring by 400,000 people in the private sector.
The government will also spend 117 million riyals on training more nurses and 720 million riyals on training doctors and other health practitioners to move more Saudis into public sector jobs now dominated by foreigners.
The reforms aim to increase the number of women as a proportion of the work force to 28 percent from 23 percent, and to quadruple the number of women in senior civil service roles to 5 percent, the plan said.
However, it gave few details on how this might be achieved. One figure it did give - with no further explanation - was a spending target of 2.78 billion riyals to improve transport options for working women.
Saudi Arabia is the only country where women are forbidden from driving and that figure shows how its strict social rules are obstructing key economic goals. ($1 = 3.7503 riyals)
Assad vows to fight on, says Aleppo to be Erdogan's graveyard
BEIRUT, June 7 (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad vowed on Tuesday to fight on in what he called Syria's war against terrorism, showing no sign of compromise in his first major address since peace talks broke down in April.
Assad said he would win back "every inch" of Syria and said Aleppo would be a graveyard for the hopes and dreams of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, a major sponsor of the insurgents battling to topple him.
"Our war against terrorism is continuing," Assad said in a speech to parliament broadcast by state TV. "As we liberated Tadmur (Palmyra) and before it many areas, we will liberate every inch of Syria from their hands. Our only option is victory, otherwise Syria will not continue."
The Syrian army and allied militia, aided by Russian air strikes, recovered control of Palmyra from Islamic State insurgents in March. In addition to the war with Islamic State, Assad is fighting rebels who include groups that have received support from his foreign enemies, Turkey included.
The war has greatly diminished Assad's control of Syria, with Islamic State, an array of rebel groups, and a powerful Kurdish militia establishing authority over wide parts of the country.
Aleppo, Syria's largest city and pre-war commercial hub, and the surrounding area at the border with Turkey have comprised a major theatre in the war, divided between areas of government and rebel control. Escalating fighting there helped ruin the cessation of hostilities agreement agreed in February.
Assad accused Erdogan of recently sending thousands of militants to Aleppo. Russia, which has been bombing in support of Assad since September, said on Saturday more that 2,000 militants had mobilised in the Aleppo area.
Russia said on Monday its air forces would provide "the most active" support to Syrian government troops so as not to let Aleppo and the surrounding area fall into the hands of fighters it called terrorists.
The United States and Russia brokered the cessation of hostilities as part of an effort to get U.N.-backed peace talks moving earlier this year. The talks broke down in April when the main opposition alliance withdrew over what it described as a worsening situation on the ground.
Assad said there had been no real talks in Geneva.
He thanked Russia, Iran, China and the Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah for the support they had provided.
Alluding to suggestions of divisions in the alliance, particularly between Iran and Russia, Assad said people should not listen to reports about "differences, struggles and divisions". He said the alliance was stronger than ever.
He was speaking at the parliament that convened this week for the first time since it was elected in April. The election was held in government-controlled parts of Syria.
Swiss and UK watchdogs quiz Credit Suisse over Mozambique debt
By Joshua Franklin and Wendell Roelf
ZURICH/CAPE TOWN, June 7 (Reuters) - Financial watchdogs from Switzerland and Britain are looking into Credit Suisse's involvement in Mozambique, where heavy undisclosed sovereign borrowing has pushed the country close to default.
Swiss regulator FINMA said it was in touch with the Zurich-based bank over the Mozambique issue, while the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is looking at the role of Credit Suisse and Russian lender VTB, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Credit Suisse and VTB have both been active in the southern African country, arranging loans for state-owned firms as well as helping with a eurobond issue.
Credit Suisse declined comment. VTB said it had been open and transparent with the regulator on the Mozambique transaction and was not aware of any investigations.
In April, the Mozambique government belatedly disclosed as much as $1.35 billion of sovereign borrowing arranged without parliamentary approval, as required by law.
This followed a rescheduling deal on an $850 million eurobond launched in 2013 that Mozambique was struggling to repay. Since then, a state-owned company has missed a repayment due last month on a $535 million loan arranged by VTB.
As this loan carries a sovereign guarantee, Mozambique risks being declared in default unless it can negotiate another rescheduling agreement.
A spokesman for FINMA told Reuters on Tuesday it had contacted Credit Suisse over its engagement with Mozambique. "We are aware of the issue and are in contact with the bank over this matter," he said on Tuesday, declining to give any further details.
Mozambique's problems are casting a shadow over investment in the country, one of the world's poorest, which had been picking up as banks were attracted to energy projects following recent gas discoveries.
South Africa's Standard Bank said on Tuesday that it is to pause work on power sector projects in Mozambique because of its sovereign debt problems.
"At the moment we are all cautious when we do new projects in Mozambique," Rentia van Tonder, Standard Bank's head of renewable energy, power and infrastructure told Reuters on the sidelines of an African oil conference. "We do have sovereign limits and certain guidelines we look at, and our country risk team is currently reviewing our approach to Mozambique."
Standard Bank, which was considering coal projects as well as an expansion to the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric scheme in Mozambique, was the lead arranger on the 100 megawatt Gigawatt independent power producer project.
Separately, a source told Reuters on Monday that the British FCA was looking into the role played by both Credit Suisse and VTB in Mozambique.
VTB said debt figures had been published when the eurobond was launched. "As we previously said, the total public debt number disclosed in the prospectus of the issued sovereign eurobond was inclusive of all outstanding direct and publicly guaranteed government debt, as confirmed to us by Ministry of Finance of Mozambique," the Russian bank said.
VTB has held talks with Mozambique on the $535 million loan it arranged in 2014 for state-owned Mozambique Asset Management after a $178 million repayment due on May 23 was missed.
Mozambique's foreign debt has ballooned in the last four years, largely due to expectations it was set to become a major natural gas producer.
Kenya hit by nationwide blackouts, restoration efforts underway
NAIROBI, June 7 (Reuters) - Kenya was hit by a nationwide blackout on Tuesday, but efforts to restore power were underway, the country's sole electricity distributor said.
Kenya Power said on Twitter some parts of the grid were already back online. It did not say what had caused the blackout.
Blackouts occur regularly in Kenya, partly because of an ageing energy network and insufficient generation capacity. Many businesses in Nairobi and other big towns own generators as backups. On Tuesday, a deafening drone of generators could be heard in parts of Nairobi.
"We are having a national blackout," Kenya Power said on Twitter. "Restoration is in progress and we have managed to restore Western parts of the country."
Areas where power was restored included West Kenya, North and South Rift and Nairobi South, the company said.
WTO chief warns of Brexit risk to UK's competitiveness
GENEVA, June 7 (Reuters) - British business competitiveness will suffer if Britons vote to leave the Europe Union, the head of the World Trade Organization warned during a visit to London on Tuesday.
WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo joins a chorus of international figures, including Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde, who have said that a British exit from the EU would have damaging economic consequences.
Two polls published on Tuesday show Britons narrowly favour remaining in the EU, in contrast to surveys released on Monday which showed the campaign for Brexit ahead.
Such divergent polls have made it difficult to predict the outcome of the vote on June 23 on whether Britain should remain part of the EU, a choice with far-reaching consequences for politics, the economy, defence, diplomacy and trade.
"While trade would continue, it could be on worse terms," Azevedo said of a vote to leave the EU.
"Most likely, it would cost more for the UK to trade with the same markets - therefore damaging the competitiveness of UK companies," Azevedo said in a prepared text of his speech.
Britain gets preferential export terms for 60 percent of the goods it sells abroad -- including the 47 percent of its exports that go to the EU and the 13 percent that go to other countries with EU trade deals.
"The implication is that UK exporters would risk having to pay up to 5.6 billion pounds ($8.2 billion) each year in duty on their exports."
Azevedo has already said that Britain would have to renegotiate its relationship with the rest of the World Trade Organization, which could take years or decades, and he reiterated that it would not be a simple job.
"Key aspects of the EU's terms of trade could not simply be cut and pasted for the UK," he said.
Britain might also need to negotiate at the WTO to keep other rights that are currently bound up with its EU membership, such as free movement of people and the right to run public utilities as monopolies, he said.
Azevedo, who was a Brazilian trade negotiator and ambassador before taking over at the WTO, said he wanted to offer insight as someone with a lifelong career of brokering trade deals.
Trade negotiations were highly complex and required partners who were willing and able to put a competent negotiating team in place. But running several negotiations at once would make things even more challenging.
"Moreover, if you need to complete a deal quickly when the other side can wait, you are negotiating from a very weak position," he said.
Israel's Netanyahu frequents Russia as US influence in Mideast recedes
By Dan Williams and Denis Dyomkin
JERUSALEM/MOSCOW, June 7 (Reuters) - With the Obama administration in its final months, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been a more frequent and feted visitor to Moscow than Washington, his eye on shifting big-power influence in the Middle East.
No one expects Netanyahu, who was hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday for the third time in the last year, to break up Israel's bedrock alliance with the United States. But he is mindful of Putin's sway in the Syrian civil war and other Middle East crises as the U.S. footprint in the region wanes.
"Netanyahu's not defecting, but what we see here is a bid to manoeuvre independently to promote Israel's interests," said Zvi Magen, a former Israeli ambassador to Russia now with Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies.
With Russian forces fighting alongside Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas to keep Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power, Putin is the closest thing to a guarantor that Israel's three most potent enemies will not attack it from the north.
He is also the first port of call for Netanyahu's argument that Assad's loss of central control vindicates Israel's de facto annexation of the Golan Heights in 1981, a move never recognised internationally. Israel took the area in a 1967 war.
Netanyahu can offer Putin reciprocal Israeli restraint in Syria, where Russia maintains a strategic Mediterranean base, and a chance to play a greater role in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking that has long been dominated by the United States.
With the Obama administration and France hinting they might back a future U.N. Security Council resolution against Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land, Netanyahu also has an interest in sounding out the views of veto-wielding Russia.
Moscow's guest-list suggests mediation may be under way.
When Netanyahu last came, in April, it was three days after a visit by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. On Wednesday, when Netanyahu departs, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is scheduled to host Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki.
FRIENDLY FIRE
Yaakov Amidror, one of Netanyahu's former national security advisers, played down the scope of Israeli-Russian relations. He said they focused on preventing the sides accidentally trading fire over Syria and were underpinned by Netanyahu's personal rapport with Putin - hence their meetings every few months.
By contrast, while Netanyahu and Obama have feuded on Iran and the Palestinians and are wrangling over a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) for future U.S. defence aid to Israel, their countries' partnership ticks over thanks to a network of military, diplomatic and parliamentary channels, Amidror said.
"In Syria, there is liable to be a clash tomorrow morning that neither we nor the Russians want," said Amidror, now with the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Israel's Bar-Ilan University and the U.S. think-tank JINSA, alluding to the risk of a friendly-fire incident.
"It's not like the MOU, which we can spend months discussing with the Americans and be assured a resolution will be found."
Russia has been closed-lipped about any wider statecraft initiatives it may have in store for Israel. The two countries "each express their positions in a pretty constructive manner, and all of this contributes to this rather frequent and intensive communication", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"But of course, there cannot be any talk of the intensity of these contacts reflecting any kind of rivalry with anyone," he added, alluding to Washington, where Netanyahu was last hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama in November. A trip expected in March was cancelled given the difficult MOU talks.
Hungary central bank fines FHB Bank for market manipulation
BUDAPEST, June 7 (Reuters) - The National Bank of Hungary has fined FHB Bank 105 million forints ($384,000) for market manipulation over a 2012 euro-denominated bond issue, the central bank said on its web site on Tuesday.
FHB misled market participants about the bond issue in December 2012, and a subsequent issue in May 2013, by saying it was directed at "investors outside Hungary".
The central bank did not say how big the bond issue was. An FHB spokesman declined to comment on the fine.
The Budapest Stock Exchange suspended trading in FHB's shares at 1152 GMT.
India clears final hurdle to join missile control group, diplomats say
By Douglas Busvine
NEW DELHI, June 7 (Reuters) - The members of the Missile Technology Control Regime, an international anti-proliferation grouping, have agreed to admit India, diplomats said, in a win for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he met President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday.
Diplomats with direct knowledge of the matter said a deadline for members of the 34-nation group to object to India's admission had expired on Monday without any members raising objections.
Under this 'silent procedure,' India's admission follows automatically, diplomats from four MTCR member nations told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
A senior official of the U.S. State Department told Reuters this step would allow India to become a formal member of the missile regime "in the near future."
Admission to the MTCR would open the way for India to buy high-end missile technology, making more realistic its aspiration to buy surveillance drones such as the U.S. Predator, made by privately held General Atomics.
India also makes a supersonic cruise missile, the Brahmos, in a joint venture with Russia, that both countries hope to sell to third countries, a development that would make India a significant arms exporter for the first time.
Membership of the MTCR would require India to comply with rules such as a maximum missile range of 300 km (186 miles) that seek to prevent arms races from developing.
Italy had objected to admitting India, but after an unrelated bilateral dispute was resolved, did not object this time within a 10-day deadline after the group's chair, the Netherlands, wrote to members suggesting India be welcomed.
An Italian marine, held for four years at the country's embassy in New Delhi over the killing of two Indian fishermen in an anti-piracy operation in 2012, was recently allowed to return home.
PATH TO NSG MORE DIFFICULT
The MTCR is one of four international non-proliferation regimes that India, which in recent decades has gone from being a non-aligned outsider to a rising nuclear-weapons power, has been excluded from.
No formal meeting is required for India to complete its entry into the group, set up in 1987 to limit the spread of unmanned systems capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction.
New Delhi has also applied to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a 48-nation club that governs trade in commercial nuclear technology and was originally set up in response to India's first atomic weapons test in 1974.
Joining the NSG will be much more difficult because China is a member and has backed the membership aspirations of Pakistan, its ally and India's arch-rival.
The senior State Department official said Washington backed India's NSG membership, which would be discussed at a meeting in Vienna on Thursday and at a NSG plenary in Seoul two weeks later.
"It would be a good thing for the NSG to act positively on India's application," he said, but added: "I don't know exactly what will come out."
The official said the United States has just received the Pakistani application and was "prepared to look at it according to the same criteria that we looked at in the case of India.
"There is no good reason for the two applications to be linked," he added.
The breakthrough on the MTCR will be welcomed in the U.S. Congress, which Modi will address on Wednesday. Congress ratified a civilian nuclear agreement with India in 2008 that seeks to build commercial ties, while at the same time binding New Delhi into the global security order.
Human Rights Watch accuses Congo Republic peacekeepers of killings
By Joe Bavier
ABIDJAN, June 7 (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch on Tuesday accused soldiers from the Republic of Congo of killing 18 people, including women and children, while serving as United Nations and African Union peacekeepers in Central African Republic.
A Congolese defence ministry official, contacted in Brazzaville, said an investigation was underway and rejected claims it had ignored the allegations.
Central African Republic descended into chaos in March 2013 when predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power, triggering reprisals by "anti-balaka" Christian militias.
The New York-based rights group said Congolese soldiers tortured two anti-balaka leaders to death in December 2013, publically executed another two suspected anti-balaka in February 2014, and beat two civilians to death in June 2015.
HRW also said a mass grave found near a base once occupied by Congolese troops in the town of Boali was found to contain the remains of 12 people identified as having been detained by the peacekeepers on March 24, 2014.
"The discovery of 12 bodies is damning evidence of an appalling crime by Congolese peacekeepers, who had been sent to protect people, not prey on them," said HRW Africa researcher Lewis Mudge.
The United Nations took over peacekeeping responsibilities from the A.U. in Central African Republic in September 2014 and has since come under fire for rights violations alleged to have been committed by its soldiers. The HRW said the U.N. force had insisted the Congolese troops implicated in the alleged killings in Boali be sent home and replaced by new units.
"Simply rotating troops out of the Central African Republic with no further consequences sends the message that peacekeepers can get away with murder," Mudge said.
U.N. spokeman Stephane Dujarric said U.N. human rights officials investigated the allegations and handed their findings over to local authorities.
ALLEGED ABUSES
At least 13 people, including five women, one of whom was six months pregnant, and two children, were arrested at the home of a local anti-balaka leader after a clash that resulted in the death of a Congolese soldier, HRW said.
That night witnesses interviewed by HRW heard screams and two rounds of gunfire from the Congolese base. The peacekeepers later warned local residents to avoid a nearby area, claiming it had been mined, HRW said.
A local charity excavated the site in February and the victims were identified by their clothing.
Human Rights Watch said it had over the past two years repeatedly contacted Congolese authorities, including President Denis Sassou Nguesso, calling upon them to launch credible investigations and punish those responsible for the abuse.
However, it said no action had been taken.
"Congo is cooperating with the United Nations to verify the allegations against its troops," Congo Defence Ministry spokesman Romain Oba said, rejecting the accusation it had failed to act. "We are waiting for the results."
Dujarric said the United Nations would "continue to follow up ... with the African Union and Republic of Congo authorities, as it has been doing over the course of the last two years."
He added that it was the duty of local authorities to secure the mass grave site. African Union and Central African officials were not immediately available for comment.
Neither the U.N. nor countries hosting U.N. missions have the authority to prosecute foreign peacekeepers. Punishment is the responsibility of troop contributing countries, but critics claim they often fail to pursue allegations.
EU aims to make Africa aid conditional on curbing migration
By Francesco Guarascio
STRASBOURG, June 7 (Reuters) - The European Union executive proposed on Tuesday making EU development aid and trade ties with African and other poor countries conditional on their cooperation in curbing migration to Europe.
"Those countries who ... work with us will get certain treatment," an EU official said of the package of measures put forward by the European Commission. "Those who don't want to or are incapable will get different treatment and that will be translated via our development, trade policies."
A deal with Turkey, much criticised by human rights groups, has cut the arrivals in Greece to a trickle after some 1.3 million reached Europe last year. But people smugglers have become more active again in recent weeks on the even more dangerous Mediterranean routes from North Africa to Italy.
Last year, much of the irregular migration to Europe was by Syrians, Iraqis and others fleeing war or conflict in the Middle East. But EU leaders are concerned about a long-term prospect of massive migration from Africa, the world's poorest continent.
"We must find solutions, sustainable solutions. We cannot tolerate the loss of human lives at this scale and we must do everything we can to stop it," the Commission's deputy head, Frans Timmermans, said in a statement.
The plan envisages spending 8 billion euros ($9 billion) in development aid and other assistance over the next five years.
Some of that money has already been pledged but Brussels now wants to add more funds and make disbursements under deals it would seal with each country individually to ensure the recipients keep a lid on migration in exchange for EU money.
Gabon election to be held Aug 27
LIBREVILLE, June 7 (Reuters) - Gabon will hold an election for president on Aug. 27, election authorities said on Tuesday, in which President Ali Bongo, whose Gabonese Democratic Party has a firm grip on power, was expected to secure a second seven-year term in power.
Bongo has sought to diversify the oil producer's economy and boost public investment, but some of his programmes have been hampered by the slump in commodities prices and he has faced opposition from many quarters.
Some critics say Bongo is ineligible to run, arguing he was adopted and born in a different country. After he was declared winner in 2009, opposition supporters clashed with security forces. His supporters say the allegations about his nationality are spurious.
Guy Nzouba Ndama, a former parliament speaker, and Casimir Oye Mba, who has served as prime minister, have both announced they will run for the presidency, as well as Jean Ping, a one-time head of the commission of the African Union.
Bongo is expected to win although some analysts have cationed that frustration over wealth inequalities and political rivalries could spill over into unrest.
Bongo's father ruled the country from 1967 until his death in 2009 when his son took over.
Candidates are required to submit dossiers by July 12 and the campaign will start on Aug. 13, electoral commission secretary Judith Koumba Pemba Mombo said.
Merkel rejects Turkish comments after Armenia genocide resolution
BERLIN, June 7 (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel dismissed as "incomprehensible" accusations levied by Turkey against German lawmakers of Turkish origin after Germany's parliament passed a resolution declaring the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces a genocide.
Last week's symbolic parliamentary resolution in the Bundestag lower house infuriated Turkey, which rejects the idea that the killings of Christian Armenians during World War One was a genocide.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, a crucial ally for Merkel and her European partners in tackling the continent's migrant crisis, has accused Germans of hypocrisy, given their own history in the 20th century.
He also said the blood of German lawmakers of Turkish origin who voted for the resolution should be tested.
"The lawmakers in Germany's lower house of parliament are freely elected without exception and the accusations and statements which have been made by the Turkish side are incomprehensible," Merkel told a news conference on Tuesday.
"It was clear with the passing of the resolution that there is a difference of views between the majority of the Bundestag and the Turkish side," said Merkel, stressing she would push for direct talks between Turkey and Armenia.
Germany invited a senior Turkish diplomat to the foreign ministry to discuss Ankara's reaction. An official said the latest comments on German lawmakers were not in line with traditionally close ties between the countries.
Earlier on Tuesday Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the German government should make clear that it did not share parliament's view on the Armenian issue.
He also said Turkey would have to suspend its deal with the EU to stem the flow of migrants to Europe if there was no agreement on granting visa-free travel to Turks. The collapse of the pact would be a major blow for Merkel who has championed it.
Addressing the charge of hypocrisy, Merkel said Germany would continue to deal with its legacy of the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were murdered, and she would push for the creation of a historical commission to help Turkey and Armenia.
While Turkey accepts that many Armenians died in partisan fighting beginning in 1915, it denies that up to 1.5 million were killed and that this constituted an act of genocide, a term used by many Western historians and foreign parliaments.
Merkel also said she would try to help end the conflict between Armenian-backed separatists and Azeri forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. That could improve Turkey-Armenia ties, she told the news conference, also attended by the visiting president of Azerbaijan.
The Armenian Patriarchate in Turkey, representing an estimated 60,000 Armenian Christians in the mostly Muslim country, issued a statement condemning the German resolution.
Under fire from Republicans, Trump says he'll stop talking about judge
By Richard Cowan and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON, June 7 (Reuters) - Bowing to pressure from fellow Republicans, Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would no longer talk about a Mexican-American judge after U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan denounced the presidential candidate's criticism of the jurist as textbook racism.
But Trump refused entreaties from party leaders to disavow his charge that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel was showing bias because of his Mexican heritage and should recuse himself from a lawsuit alleging fraud at Trump's defunct Trump University real estate training school.
Trump said in a statement that his previous remarks about Curiel had been misconstrued.
"I do not feel that one's heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial," the presumptive Republican nominee said. Trump added that he did not plan to comment further on the matter.
Trump had been suggesting that Curiel's heritage was influencing the judge's opinion about the case because of Trump's campaign rhetoric about illegal immigration. Trump has pledged to seal the U.S.-Mexico border with a wall, and has said Mexico is sending rapists and drug dealers to the United States.
Ryan, the country's top elected Republican, blasted Trump's comments, which have threatened to disrupt Republicans' already rocky efforts to unite behind the candidate.
"I regret those comments that he made. Claiming a person can't do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment. I think that should be absolutely disavowed," Ryan told reporters.
The controversy over Trump's attacks on the judge has set back his efforts to try to unify the Republican party behind him ahead of the Nov. 8 general election when he will face off against presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Speaking to supporters at the golf club he owns in the hilly suburbs of New York later on Tuesday, Trump laid out his vision for the meaning of his campaign slogan "America First," talking about its implications for trade, energy, financial regulation and tax policies.
Breaking with his usual practice of speaking off the cuff, Trump read from a teleprompter and left without taking questions from reporters.
Ryan, who endorsed Trump last week after initial misgivings, said he still supported his candidacy, saying Trump would be preferable to Clinton.
Behind the scenes, Trump has been pressured from friends and family to back down, fearful of the damage that may be done to his prospects in the general election, a source close to the Trump campaign said.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a potential Trump vice presidential running mate, was spotted at Trump Tower in New York before Trump's statement was issued. Christie earlier in the day defended Trump as "not a racist."
"Some of his friends and family have talked to him and asked him to drop it and so far he won't do it," the source said, speaking before Trump's statement was issued. "Everybody is mystified about why he would keep doing it."
HIGH ANXIETY
Ryan's emphatic rejection of Trump's comments showed anxiety among party leaders about their ability to hang on to control of the U.S. Congress in November if voters trounce Trump and also punish candidates for other offices on the Republican ticket.
Ryan's counterpart in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, said Trump should stop attacking minority groups.
"My advice to our nominee is to start talking about the issues that the American people care about, and to start doing it now," the Senate Republican leader told reporters.
"In addition to that, it's time to quit attacking various people that you competed with or various minority groups in the country and get on message."
Senator Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican who said back in March he would support whoever turned out to be the Republican nominee, said on Tuesday he could not support Trump because he did not have the "temperament necessary" for the White House.
Kirk condemned Trump's comments on Curiel as "dead wrong" and "un-American." Kirk is seeking re-election in November.
During the Republican primary campaigns, in which Trump vanquished 16 opponents with a stream of insults to rivals and inflammatory comments about Muslims, immigrants and women, establishment Republicans squirmed over the prospect of the former reality television host becoming their standard-bearer.
But many, seeing no alternative, have reconciled themselves to a Trump run for the White House.
'UNFAIR POSITION'
Trump's continuing practice of making explosive remarks about racial, religious and gender issues is making Republicans, including those who have embraced him, uncomfortable.
With greater scrutiny of Trump now that he is set to formally win the Republican presidential nomination at the party's July convention in Cleveland, there are concerns about the party's ability to maintain control of the House of Representatives and Senate.
"Trump's continuing missteps, punctuated by his outrageous and indefensible comments about Judge Curiel, make that goal much more difficult to achieve," said Lanhee Chen, a senior adviser to former presidential candidate Marco Rubio and a senior fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution.
EU regulators raid Romania's Romgaz, Transgaz, OMV Petrom
By Foo Yun Chee and Luiza Ilie
BRUSSELS/BUCHAREST, June 7 (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators have raided Romanian state-owned gas producer Romgaz , gas pipeline operator Transgaz and top oil and gas firm OMV Petrom over suspected blocking of gas exports to other EU countries.
The European Commission said the raids took place on Monday but did not name the companies, in line with its usual policy.
Romgaz, Transgaz and OMV Petrom, controlled by Austria's OMV , said on Tuesday they were raided.
The EU competition enforcer charged Gazprom last year with a similar offence, a case which the Russian gas company is trying to settle with concessions to avoid a possible billion-euro fine.
Allowing cross-border gas sales is a cornerstone of the Commission's strategy to create a single energy market in the 28-country bloc.
"The Commission is investigating potential anticompetitive practices in the transmission and supply of natural gas in Romania, in particular relating to suspected anticompetitive behaviour aimed at hindering natural gas exports from Romania to other member states," the EU executive said in a statement on Tuesday.
Romgaz, one of two major gas producers in Romania, said it was a target of the raids.
"We confirm the inspection. It is ongoing and as a result we cannot comment over the motives," the company said.
State-owned Transgaz also confirmed the EU raid.
"OMV Petrom is cooperating with the European Commission within an inspection related to potential practices on the gas market in Romania, which could envisage restrictions of gas exports," the third company said, declining further comment.
Romania is one of the EU's least energy-dependent states. It produces the bulk of its gas locally and imports up to 8 percent of its needs from Russia.
Canada weighs options as farmers spar over U.S. milk proteins
By Rod Nickel
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, June 7 (Reuters) - Canada is working on a plan to shore up its sheltered dairy industry, including measures to counter fast-rising imports of milk proteins from the United States, according to the country's agriculture minister.
Any new support risks widening a trade dispute among North America's dairy farmers over $150 million worth of U.S. milk protein isolates used to make cheese and yogurt.
President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have become fast friends since the Canadian leader won an election late last year, but the milk spat is one of several commodity-related arguments to flare up, along with wheat and softwood lumber.
"The Americans are quite good at taking care of themselves and in the end we'll be taking care of ourselves too," Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay, said in an interview.
The imports' value pales next to the $663-billion in total annual trade between the countries, but the proteins, sometimes called diafiltered or ultrafiltered milk, spurred protests by Canadian farmers last Thursday because they have reduced demand for domestic milk.
MacAulay plans to make recommendations to cabinet this month to deal with the imports and compensation for farmers for a free-trade deal with Europe.
"What we're trying to do is come to an end result to deal with the diafiltered milk," MacAulay said. "It is a problem, but hopefully we'll end up with as good or better results in the end."
Canadian imports of U.S. milk protein isolates have jumped 10 times by volume over five years to 2,700 tonnes in January 2016, according to Farm Credit Canada. The proteins are a cheap alternative to skim milk for Canadian processors such as Saputo Inc and Parmalat Canada Inc, who must meet federal standards for milk and protein content in cheese.
A move toward consuming more butterfat, through butter and cheese, and less milk, is partly behind Canada's problem. The trend has already generated a surplus of domestic skim milk.
It's also a bureaucratic problem since Canada's border agency treats the proteins differently than its food inspection agency, resulting in tariff-free access. Canada's supply-managed system tightly controls production and imports to support prices.
"Without the government standing strong on (border measures), the sustainability of supply management comes into question," said Wally Smith, president of the Dairy Farmers of Canada. "Put your money where your mouth is."
An industry solution may also be possible.
Ontario's dairy farmers set a new price for certain milk ingredients in April to compete with U.S. proteins. As a result, Canadian dairy co-operative Agropur has stopped importing U.S. proteins and uses Canadian milk to make cheese, said senior vice-president Dominique Benoit.
Saputo still imports proteins, but is talking with dairy farmer groups in Canada about alternatives, said Chief Executive Lino Saputo Jr.
"All we need is an ability to source milk at competitive prices," he said in an interview. "We don't need government interference."
U.S. PROCESSORS WORRIED
The U.S. dairy industry has noticed a drop in demand from Canada since the Ontario farmers' move, and is also wary of government action, according to Wisconsin-based Grassland Dairy Products Inc, which exports the proteins.
"This is not just about us, it's about thousands of family farms that will lose money over this" if sales to Canada dry up, said Goedhart Westers, Grassland's vice-president of business development.
If Canada stymies U.S. sales, Washington should complain to the World Trade Organization, said Jaime Castaneda, the U.S. Dairy Export Council's senior vice-president of trade policy.
Panama wins WTO judgment on Colombian "money laundering" tariff
GENEVA, June 7 (Reuters) - Panama won a judgment on Tuesday against Colombia's use of high import tariffs on textiles, clothes and shoes to tackle alleged money laundering.
The Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization WTO upheld an earlier ruling, saying Colombia's tariff was higher than allowed by WTO rules and was not necessary to combat money laundering.
Colombia had argued that the imported goods constituted "illicit trade" because they were imported at artificially low prices in order to launder money and that should vindicate its use of a higher tariff than permitted under its WTO agreement.
Panama brought the case to the WTO in 2013, having previously lodged two complaints against its neighbour. Colombia settled the first dispute out of court in 2006, and Panama won the second dispute in 2009.
Colombia launched the appeal in November 2015 when a panel of three adjudicators dismissed the money-laundering pretext and backed Panama's complaint that the tariff, consisting of a fixed 10 percent plus a variable component, breached the maximum of 35-40 percent allowed for those goods.
The WTO appeal ruling, which is final, was the second this year concerning Panama, which is under global scrutiny because of a huge leak of secretive offshore accounts data from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca.
EU countries urge action against French, German minimum wage laws
By Julia Fioretti
BRUSSELS, June 7 (Reuters) - Eleven countries have urged European Commission to take action against laws in France and Germany that require foreign drivers be paid the French or German minimum wages when they drive through those countries.
The transport ministers of Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia claim that such "protectionist practices" restrict the free movement of goods and services across the 28-nation European Union.
"We urge you and your services to take action against protectionist measures which are lately emerging across the EU," the ministers wrote in a letter to EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc and Employment Commissioner Marianne Thyssen on Tuesday.
"National minimum wage restrictions and other national requirements, such as establishing permanent agencies in the operating market and providing employment documents in a local language, represent a unilateral barrier to cross-border road transport," the letter said.
Social issues in road transport have become politically sensitive in Europe since the expansion of Eastern European operators, who have taken advantage of low costs to take a big share of the trans-European road freight business.
The Commission has already begun a legal challenge to the application of Germany's minimum wage law to all transport operations, on the grounds that it runs counter to the EU principle of freedom to provide services.
Germany introduced a minimum wage of 8.50 euros ($9.64) an hour in January last year. It would apply that to any employee working within German borders, whether or not the worker or the employer is based in Germany.
The German minimum wage is higher than many earn in the Polish trucking industry.
Similar rules will soon come into force in France, requiring foreign-based drivers to receive the French minimum wage and foreign transport operators to designate a representative in France.
"The practicality of these measures remains questionable as they bring about an increase of the administrative burden, transport costs and the number of empty runs," the ministers wrote.
Bulc welcomed the letter, saying the EU supports minimum wages as long as they are proportionate and fair.
"I promise to follow up on their letter and continue open discussions on how future social arrangements on road transport should look," she told a news conference after a meeting of the EU's transport ministers in Brussels.
Yemen government says to free 54 children captured in fighting with Houthis
DUBAI, June 7 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has handed over to Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's government 54 child prisoners who were captured during fighting with the Iran-allied Houthi militia, Yemen's foreign minister said on Tuesday.
Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi, who heads Hadi's peace negotiating team, said the children were aged between 8 and 17 years and their release showed the government and its Saudi-led coalition ally "reject the Houthi crime of using children in war".
The Houthis have not commented on such accusations. But Houthi fighters often bring in their sons to volunteer for service.
Human Rights Watch said this month that both sides in Yemen's conflict had deployed child soldiers and UNICEF reported that 900 children were killed and 1,300 wounded during the conflict in 2015.
"They (child prisoners) will be freed in addition to those who had been freed in Marib," Mekhlafi said on his Twitter account, referring to a previous prisoner release in a province east of the capital Sanaa.
A coalition of Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia intervened in the Yemen conflict in March 2015 when the Houthis advanced on the southern port city of Aden and forced Hadi and his government into exile in Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis, who hail from the Zaydi branch of Shi'ite Islam, and Yemen's Saudi-backed government began U.N.-sponsored peace talks since April to try to end a war that has killed at least 6,200 people and caused a humanitarian crisis in the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country.
The U.N. special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said earlier this week that the parties attending peace talks in Kuwait had agreed to unconditionally free all child prisoners they are holding.
It was not clear how many child prisoners are being held in all, but Yemeni political sources say that the Houthis and the government submitted in late May a list of nearly 7,000 names of prisoners they say are being held by the other side.
The U.N. has struggled to encourage a prisoner release in Yemen coinciding with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began on Monday, and over a month of negotiations have produced few concrete results.
Kenya bans anti Electoral Commission protests as violence escalates
June 7 (Reuters) - Kenya's government has banned all protests against the Electoral Commission, the interior ministry said on Tuesday, after an escalation of violence at the rallies held every Monday since early April.
"To avert further violence, destruction of property and loss of life, from today, the government prohibits all unlawful demonstrations in the country," a ministry statement said.
Brazil watchdog to rule on HSBC unit sale seen key to dividend
By Lawrence White and Guillermo Parra-Bernal
LONDON/SAO PAULO, June 7 (Reuters) - Brazil's antitrust watchdog Cade is due to reveal on Wednesday whether HSBC Holdings Plc can sell its Brazilian unit to Banco Bradesco SA, a decision with big implications for the British bank's Chief Executive Officer Stuart Gulliver and shareholders.
Gulliver is counting on the $5.2 billion sale of HSBC Bank Brasil Banco Multiplo SA to boost HSBC's main capital ratio and ensure the bank remains the biggest dividend payer among European banks. Some analysts fear the bank may fail to maintain its payout if the unit's sale is delayed.
"This deal is important because it adds 60 basis points to HSBC's capital strength which gets them to their target and means they can maintain the dividend in a weak year for earnings," said Ian Gordon, an analyst at Investec.
Brazil's central bank has already approved the deal, HSBC's biggest single asset sale since pledging to shrink its sprawling global business to cut costs and boost profits.
Yet, watchdog Cade has clashed with the central bank in the past over their roles in supervising M&A in banking. Both said they have jurisdiction over the financial sector based on their interpretation of the law. The issue is currently being analyzed by Brazil's Supreme Federal Court.
Cade has been reviewing Bradesco's purchase since February and has so far failed to reach a consensus among its directors that competition will not be affected, a source familiar with the discussions told Reuters. The watchdog's scrutiny of the deal is taking place as Brazil wrestles with the impact of a harsh recession and a sweeping political crisis.
The source, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said some Cade directors wanted Bradesco and HSBC to provide more detail on how customers will benefit from the combination. Cade has blocked at least four major non-financial industry tie-ups since Brazil's new antitrust law came into effect in 2012.
In finance, the regulator last month imposed restrictions on lender Itau Unibanco Holding SA's joint venture with Mastercard Inc, after a 233-day review into whether the deal would reduce competition in the credit card sector.
The source said some Cade directors believe the central bank favours deals that improve the financial strength of the banks being acquired at the expense of customers.
In a statement to Reuters, Brasilia-based Cade said that it will continue to analyze antitrust cases until a Supreme Court ruling determines otherwise and pledged to "dialogue with any agency regarding the construction of the best possible antitrust arrangement for the country."
In a separate statement, the central bank said banking and financial industry competition issues should remain exclusively within its jurisdiction.
STEADY DIVIDEND
Cade's board in April said it should grant approval for the deal, although the recommendation is not binding and is subject to approval by a separate Cade court.
The regulator also recommended the two banks agree on measures to minimise market concentration, in view of evidence of low competitiveness in Brazil's banking industry.
A spokeswoman for HSBC in London declined to comment. A Bradesco spokeswoman also declined to comment.
Shares of HSBC have fallen by nearly a third in the last five years, as restructuring costs and dwindling trading revenues have eaten into profits. Yet, steady dividend payouts, which are set to yield 8.6 percent this year, have lured investors into HSBC's stock.
Gulliver said in May the disposal would add just over half a percentage point to its key capital ratio, taking it from 11.9 percent to 12.5 percent, the mid-point of HSBC's targeted range.
Walker will support rival Clyne if he wins England spot
June 7 (Reuters) - Tottenham Hotspur's Kyle Walker says Nathaniel Clyne will receive his full support if the Liverpool right back is picked ahead of him for England's opening Euro 2016 Group B match against Russia in Marseille on Saturday.
Walker, who made 33 Premier League appearances as Spurs finished third this season, started ahead of Clyne in two of England's three warm-up games in the build-up to the Euros in France.
"You're always coming out trying to impress, you want that shirt come Russia," the 25-year-old told British media.
"It's difficult, you don't know who he's going to pick but that's not up to me to decide," added Walker in reference to manager Roy Hodgson.
"Nathaniel is a great player so whoever gets the nod for the Russia game I'm sure they'll do well. He'll get my full support if he is starting."
Walker says he will handle whatever is thrown his way at his first major international tournament.
"I don't feel any pressure whatsoever," he explained. "I feel comfortable, I look around and I've got some fantastic players around me.
"I think we can go on and win, there's nothing saying we can't do that ... we had that question all year at Tottenham 'could we handle the pressure?' and I think we did."
EU offers carrot, stick to Africa to help curb migration
By Francesco Guarascio and Gabriela Baczynska
STRASBOURG/BRUSSELS, June 7 (Reuters) - Europe plans to coax as well as pressure African governments to help curb migration northward using a mixture of aid and trade levers under proposals put forward on Tuesday by the EU executive.
As Africa's biggest donors, divided from the world's poorest continent by a sea that is failing to deter many from attempting risky crossings, EU leaders want to see their trade-and-aid euros used to help solve their migration crisis, though that has brought criticism from African governments and rights groups.
"We propose to use a mix of positive and negative incentives to reward those third countries willing to cooperate effectively with us and to ensure that there are consequences for those who do not," Frans Timmermans, the deputy head of the European Commission, told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
One focus of EU pressure will be the reluctance of some African governments to take back their own citizens deported from Europe. The Commission said some 8 billion euros ($9 billion) was on offer over five years for aid targeted at giving Africans more incentive to stay at home, though much of that must come from EU states and much is money already promised.
Timmermans noted the deal he has negotiated with Turkey to staunch flows of Syrian refugees and other migrants to Greek islands - a deal achieved by offering Ankara financial and diplomatic concessions and criticised by human rights groups - and said there was a need to curb renewed crossings from North Africa to Italy, which have claimed nearly 3,000 lives.
"We must do the same that we have done on the route through the Aegean also in the southern Mediterranean to find solutions, sustainable solutions," the former Dutch foreign minister said.
His Commission colleague, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, dismissed a suggestion from Libya's fragile, U.N.-backed government that Brussels might pressure Libyans to take back migrants who set sail from its coast, as Turkey now does.
Europe's plan was to get irregular migrants from Africa who do not qualify for asylum back to their home countries, she said, noting that few Libyans themselves make the crossing.
MIDEAST, AFRICAN PRIORITIES
Jordan and Lebanon in the Middle East, the main hosts along with Turkey of Syrian refugees, would be priority recipients of help under the EU's new migration "compacts", which the Commission said aimed to leverage EU funding with private investments that could reach tens of billions of euros.
Five African states - Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Niger and Ethiopia - will also be targeted to curtail migration to Europe.
Aid could be focused on easing conflicts or economic difficulties that prompt people to emigrate as well as on border security, EU officials said, while other incentives may include preferential trade terms and easier visa access to the EU.
The plan is part of a strategy responding to a surge in arrivals in the past year that has divided EU governments and posed a serious threat to the Union's cohesion and credibility.
On Tuesday, the Commission also proposed a revamp of its Blue Card work permit scheme to expand legal immigration options for skilled workers and support for EU governments to give migrants training and other help to integrate in Europe.
The proposals will require detailed discussion and approval by EU governments and the parliament. Speaking in the chamber, Manfred Weber, conservative leader of the biggest party in the EU legislature welcomed a move to "speak clearly" to Africa and warned of "trade consequences" for states that do not cooperate.
Renamo gunmen attack train in central Mozambique - state news agency
JOHANNESBURG, June 7 (Reuters) - Gunmen from rebel group Renamo attacked a train in central Mozambique on its way to a coal mine, injuring the driver's assistant, the southern African nation's state news agency reported on Tuesday.
The train of 42 wagons was empty as it travelled to the mine operated by Brazil's Vale SA at Moatize in the northern Tete province, when gunmen fired on the lead locomotive, shattering its windscreen.
Renamo, which is also the official opposition in Mozambique, never completely disarmed after a civil war with the governing Frelimo party and launched a low-level guerrilla campaign in late 2012.
Vale, which owns the train according to the news agency, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
More than 2,000 Mozambicans fled to neighbouring Malawi in January as fighting flared up between government forces and rebels in the Tete province.
Synthetic drugs pose alarming U.S. overdose risk -DEA chief
By Julia Harte
WASHINGTON, June 7 (Reuters) - Synthetic designer drugs, especially synthetic opioids like fentanyl implicated in the death of pop star Prince, pose an "unprecedented" threat for U.S. overdoses and deaths, especially among youth, the country's top anti-drug official said on Tuesday.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has been cracking down on synthetic drugs since they began gaining popularity in 2010. But because each newly designed drug needs to be separately banned through a "clunky and cumbersome" process, the problem continues to spiral, DEA head Chuck Rosenberg told a U.S. Senate committee.
"For every one substance we've controlled, legislatively or administratively, there are 11 more out there that are uncontrolled," Rosenberg said.
"We're playing catch-up, and we need your help."
Among commonly used designer drugs in the United States are synthetic cannabinoids that mimic marijuana, so-called bath salts that have effects similar to cocaine and methamphetamine and synthetic opioids including counterfeit painkillers.
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein suggested creating a committee to decide how to classify new synthetic drugs as they appear on the market.
"To me, it's like Zika, and there's a lot of effort going on now to speed up research. Here, we've got to speed up the ability to enforce," Feinstein said at Tuesday's hearing.
Rosenberg testified that the DEA has seen a particularly alarming rise in illicit use of the fentanyl, which a medical examiner recently identified as the drug that killed Prince.
More than 11 million people illegally consume prescription painkillers for non-medical purposes each year, and overdoses are likely to increase as fentanyl is introduced to that market, according to Rosenberg.
U.S. President Barack Obama earlier this year asked Congress for $1.1 billion in new funding over two years to expand treatment for users of heroin and prescription pain killers.
Fentanyl users typically first develop an addiction to prescription drugs, and then turn to fentanyl because it is cheaper, although fentanyl has a much higher potential for abuse and overdose.
Some illicit fentanyl distributors disguise the opiate as a prescription drug, said Michael Botticelli, the Obama administration's top drug policy adviser, at Tuesday's hearing.
Trump, Clinton play the 'China card' against North Korea
June 7 (Reuters) - As North Korea's testing of its nuclear weapons picks up speed, both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton recently outlined strategies for addressing the growing threat from Pyongyang. To the horror of Washington's foreign policy establishment, Trump expressed a willingness to meet directly with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un. (Kim later praised Trump as a "prescient presidential candidate.") Trump also alluded to North Korea's economic and political dependence on Beijing, arguing that "China can solve that problem for us with one phone call."
Clinton shares Trump's view on using China to pressure North Korea, with the Clinton campaign's top foreign policy adviser Jake Sullivan arguing that China will have to be part of the strategy to increase pressure on North Korea. Sullivan further implied that a Clinton administration might use "secondary sanctions" against Chinese companies doing business with North Korea to force Beijing to pressure Pyongyang.
In theory the idea of using the "China card" has merit. North Korea remains almost entirely dependent on its powerful neighbor for food, fuel, aid and connections to the outside world. Pyongyang needs Beijing so badly that withdrawal of that support could result in North Korea's collapse. Clearly, then, China possesses enormous leverage over North Korea - and the United States naturally implores China to use this leverage to force the North to abandon its nuclear program. In an ideal world, Washington would like Beijing to tell Pyongyang "end your nuclear program or face an end to Chinese aid and support."
Washington's focus on the "China card," though, overlooks one key question: Why would China help the United States pressure North Korea? No matter how much the United States pushes China to get tough with the North, Beijing demonstrates no willingness to play the role Washington assigns it in the effort to rein in Pyongyang's nuclear program.
The reason for this lack of success is clear: Despite its own disquiet regarding Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, China has a strong interest in continuing to support North Korea. To change Beijing's calculus, Washington must therefore understand China's geopolitical calculus regarding North Korea - and then make China an offer sufficiently attractive to abandon its troublesome ally.
To start, the United States must understand that the Beijing-Pyongyang relationship goes back to the very creation of North Korea. China's Mao Zedong once famously described the China-North Korean relationship as being "close as lips and teeth," and in 1951 during the Korean War - as American troops crossed into North Korea and approached the Yalu River demarcation line between China and the North - Chinese troops entered the war on North Korea's side to push American troops back from its frontier.
Since then, China has continued to see North Korea as a critical buffer between its own border and the American troops stationed in South Korea. From China's perspective, if it precipitated North Korea's collapse by ending aid to Pyongyang, Beijing could face the possibility of a powerful united Korea with American troops now stationed on the northern side of the former border - a strategic nightmare for the Chinese. Many obstacles to reunification exist - and even many in South Korea question its desirability - but Beijing nevertheless fears the degradation to its strategic position reunification might produce.
Luckily for the United States, though, China understands that North Korea's increasingly threatening nuclear posture significantly undermines China's geopolitical interests. First, it increases the likelihood that Japan might consider revising Article 9 of its constitution, which bans Tokyo from using war as a means to settle international disputes involving Japan. Tokyo already reinterpreted Article 9 once to allow Japan to engage in "collective self-defense" if an ally were attacked. If Japan completely eliminated Article 9, it would likely be a precursor to a Japanese military buildup - the last thing China wants to see.
North Korean nuclear belligerence also justifies the United States' decision to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Air Defense system (THAAD) - to be operated by American forces - in South Korea. While targeted to shoot down North Korean missiles, Beijing believes the system also weakens its own nuclear deterrent, a fear that could contain some substance.
Finally, Trump already suggested Japan and South Korea could develop their own arsenal to counter North Korea. "Would I rather have North Korea have [nuclear weapons] with Japan sitting there having them also? You may very well be better off if that's the case," noted Trump. China already worries Japan possesses a so-called "bomb in the basement" due to its huge plutonium stockpile from its civilian nuclear energy program, and Beijing demanded that Tokyo eliminate this stockpile and refrain from opening a new plutonium reactor. Beijing's "no first use" policy on nuclear weapons was partially designed to preempt any decision by Tokyo to go nuclear, so even the slightest possibility of a nuclear Japan arguably constitutes China's "ultimate nightmare."
Given the damage Pyongyang's nuclear program inflicts on China's interests, Washington should offer Beijing the following three-part deal if China agrees to pressure - and if necessary abandon - its North Korean ally if Pyongyang doesn't end its nuclear program.
First, the United States should commit that in the event of a North Korean collapse and reunification with the South, the United States would withdraw all of its forces - including its THAAD anti-missile system - from a newly united Korea. The primary reason American troops remain in South Korea is to protect it from the North, but if North Korea collapsed without Beijing's support, then by definition the primary raison d'etre for American forces on the Korean peninsula would disappear.
Many in the Washington foreign policy establishment would no doubt prefer a post-unification arrangement that allows American troops to remain south of the original border - something that would keep a reunited Korea within the United States' Asian alliance network. This would be analogous to the arrangement offered to former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev when Western leaders promised not to deploy NATO troops in the former East Germany in exchange for Gorbachev permitting German reunification. However, it's unlikely China would agree to such an arrangement, since American troops could still rapidly deploy north to China's borders in a crisis.
Second, Washington and Seoul would need to promise Beijing that in the event that Chinese pressure resulted in a North Korean collapse and reunification with the South - however unlikely to occur in the near future - Seoul would destroy any nuclear weapons it acquired when it absorbed the North.
Finally, the United States should propose that a reunited Korea would become officially neutral, and agree to end the Washington-Seoul military alliance. Finland and Austria agreed to a similar arrangement with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and as a result, the Soviets withdrew all their troops from Austria, while also respecting Finland's sovereignty during the duration of the Cold War. A similar arrangement for Korea vis-a-vis China could surely work as well.
Burundi frees some students accused of defacing president's photo
BUJUMBURA, June 7 (Reuters) - Burundi said on Tuesday it had released six juveniles who were part of a group of 11 students jailed last week for allegedly defacing a photograph of President Pierre Nkurunziza in a school text book.
Authorities in the central African country have been cracking down on critics and the opposition against a backdrop of tension and violence sparked by Nkurunziza's decision to run for a third term last year.
Last Friday, police shot and wounded a student and a taxi driver during a protest by schoolchildren against the arrest of their colleagues a day earlier.
Agnes Bangiricenge, spokeswoman for the ministry of justice said in a statement six of the students had been dealt with under proceedings for juvenile offenders. "After a hearing...the juvenile judge provisionally released them," she said.
Prosecution of the other five students, aged between 18 and 21, would proceed "normally".
In another incident last month, more than 300 students of a school in the capital's Ruziba neighbourhood were sent home after being accused of defacing Nkurunziza's image.
Violence broke out in Burundi last year after Nkurunziza announced he would seek re-election for a third term.
Opponents accused him of violating the constitution, which they said limited him to two five-year terms. The government cited a court ruling which they said cleared him to stand again, and Nkurunziza subsequently won re-election last July.
In boost to Paris climate pact, India says it aims to join this year
By Jeff Mason and David Brunnstrom
WASHINGTON, June 7 (Reuters) - India has agreed to work toward joining the Paris Agreement on climate change this year, India and the United States said on Tuesday, giving a jolt of momentum to the international fight to curb global warming.
At a time of heightened tensions in Asia over China's assertive pursuit of territory, the two countries also pledged to expand military cooperation and outlined principles for cooperation on cyber issues.
President Barack Obama welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the White House for their seventh meeting since Modi took office in 2014, underscoring the warm relationship between the leaders and the world's two largest democracies. Modi is to address the U.S. Congress on Wednesday.
"We discussed how we can, as quickly as possible, bring the Paris Agreement into force," Obama told reporters. Climate change is a legacy issue for the U.S. president who leaves office in January.
India's potential entrance into the agreement this year would help accelerate its enactment, perhaps years ahead of schedule. India is the world's third-largest greenhouse gas emitter after China and the United States.
The two countries also welcomed preparations that could lead to the building of six nuclear reactors in India by U.S.-based Westinghouse, in what would be the culmination of some 10 years of work to resolve civil-nuclear issues.
The joint statement said India and the U.S. Export-Import Bank were working to complete a financing package for the project and that the Nuclear Power Corporation of India and Westinghouse had confirmed engineering and site design work would begin immediately.
It said Westinghouse and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India would work toward finalizing the contract by June 2017 - a year later than Westinghouse's chief executive, Daniel Roderick, said he hoped for in an interview with Reuters in late March.
Modi told an event organized by the U.S. India Business Council that relations between India and the United States were "closer than ever." He said the planned reactor purchases would mark new era in nuclear and scientific cooperation.
Modi's address to a joint session of Congress will be a significant personal step. Although this has become an tradition for Indian prime ministers, he was once banned from the United States over massacres of Muslims.
More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in sectarian riots in Gujarat in 2002 when Modi had just become the state's chief minister. Modi has denied any wrongdoing, and India's Supreme Court in 2010 ruled there was no case.
In the joint statement, the United States said it now recognized India as a "Major Defense Partner" and would work on technology sharing "to a level commensurate with that of its closest allies and partners."
The text of a logistics agreement, which will allow the countries' militaries to use each other's land, air and naval bases, would be signed soon, a U.S. official said.
Tensions between the United States and Pakistan as well as regional concerns about China have served as a backdrop to increased security cooperation.
Senator John McCain, chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, said the address to Congress was "entirely appropriate" given the new partnership.
"There's no doubt there are significant tensions and challenges in the region, which argues for closer coordination between our militaries," he said.
While Modi is generally popular with U.S. lawmakers, they criticize what they see as lingering unfriendliness to U.S. firms and a stifling bureaucracy, in spite of Modi's pro-business image. They also question New Delhi's record on human rights.
Modi got a boost on Tuesday when Amazon Inc AMZN.O Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said his company would invest an additional $3 billion in India, boosting its committed investment in the country to over $5 billion.
CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRESS
Obama and Modi agreed to work together on an "ambitious" amendment to an international pact known as the Montreal Protocol to reduce hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, a particularly potent greenhouse gas.
The two countries said India would take steps to join the Paris agreement this year.
"India and the United States recognize the urgency of climate change and share the goal of enabling entry into force of the Paris Agreement as early as possible," the joint statement said.
"The United States reaffirms its commitment to join the agreement as soon as possible this year. India similarly has begun its processes to work toward this shared objective."
The agreement, forged in 2015, will take effect when at least 55 countries representing 55 percent of global emissions ratify it. By late last month 17 small countries had ratified it, according to the United Nations, and many others including the United States and China have pledged to do so in 2016.
Environmental groups had hoped Modi would say that India was ready to ratify the agreement during his Washington trip.
U.S. lawmakers want more Iran sanctions, but can't agree
By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON, June 7 (Reuters) - A senior U.S. senator said on Tuesday he would like to pass legislation to extend expiring sanctions on Iran and enable Congress to quickly enact new ones if necessary over the country's ballistic missile tests.
The Iran Sanctions Act, which imposed nuclear, missile and terrorism sanctions on Iran, expires at the end of 2016, and both Democrats and Republicans in Congress support extending it.
But Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, acknowledged that lawmakers have not yet unified behind a proposal that would attract enough votes to pass and become law.
"Members have different views," he said at a roundtable discussion with reporters.
The Obama administration has warned Congress that it would oppose new sanctions that interfere with the international nuclear pact, laying the groundwork for a potential fight over any legislation.
Senator Bob Corker, the committee's Republican chairman, has said he is working on legislation with Cardin that he hopes will attract strong bipartisan support. That measure has not yet been unveiled and aides said they had no more information about when it might be introduced.
Cardin was one of several Democrats who joined every Republican in Congress in opposing the nuclear agreement with Iran announced last July. But he has urged lawmakers to accept it since a Republican-led effort to block the pact failed in September.
After the deal went ahead, Cardin filed legislation meant to increase U.S. oversight of it. That bill never came up for a vote in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Cardin said he still felt that bill was valid and wants to amend it to extend the Iran Sanctions Act and create a "legislative framework" so sanctions could be imposed quickly if Iran pursues its ballistic missile program.
Late last month, two Democratic senators who supported the Iran nuclear agreement, Tim Kaine and Chris Murphy, introduced a separate bill to extend the Iran Sanctions Act until Obama can guarantee Iran's nuclear program is purely peaceful.
And Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte, with 18 other senators form her party, introduced a separate bill that would extend the Iran Sanctions Act through 2031 and require new sanctions over Iran's ballistic missile efforts.
Tesco set to sell Kipa, Giraffe businesses - Sky News
June 7 (Reuters) - Britain's biggest retailer Tesco Plc is likely to announce this week a sale of its Turkish unit Kipa and British restaurant chain Giraffe, Sky News reported on Tuesday.
Tesco is selling Kipa to Turkish rival Migros Ticaret , while Giraffe is being sold to an unidentified buyer which already has restaurant assets in Britain, Sky reported, citing sources. (http://bit.ly/25KCtrg)
Kipa said in May there had been confidential talks between Tesco and Migros but the parties had not been able to reach an agreement.
Tesco declined to comment. Migros could not be reached for comment outside regular business hours.
Sky reported in April that Tesco was planing to sell some of its businesses, including Giraffe, to focus on reviving its main grocery business.
Tesco, under Chief Executive Dave Lewis, has been seeking to cut debt and shed its loss-making businesses after its profits were battered by an accounting scandal and British market share losses to rivals.
North Korea restarts plutonium production for nuclear bombs -U.S. official
By Jonathan Landay, David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick
WASHINGTON, June 7 (Reuters) - North Korea has restarted production of plutonium fuel, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday, showing that it plans to pursue its nuclear weapons program in defiance of international sanctions.
The U.S. assessment came a day after the U.N. nuclear watchdog said it had "indications" that Pyongyang has reactivated a plant to recover plutonium from spent reactor fuel at Yongbyon, its main nuclear complex.
The latest developments suggest North Korea's reclusive communist government is working to ensure a steady supply of materials for its drive to build warheads, despite tightened international sanctions after its fourth nuclear test in January.
The U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Washington is worried by the new plutonium reprocessing effort, but he offered no explicit word on any U.S. response.
"Everything in North Korea is a cause for concern," the official told Reuters.
"They take the spent fuel from the 5 megawatt reactor at Yongbyon and let it cool and then take it to the reprocessing facility, and that's where they've obtained the plutonium for their previous nuclear tests. So they are repeating that process," the official said. "That's what they're doing."
Pyongyang vowed in 2013 to restart all nuclear facilities, including the main reactor and the smaller plant at Yongbyon, which was shut down in 2007 as part of an international disarmament-for-aid deal that later collapsed.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has no access to North Korea and mainly monitors its activities by satellite, said last year it had seen signs of a resumption of activity at Yongbyon.
IAEA chief Yukiya Amano told a news conference in Vienna on Monday that there have been indications of renewed plutonium reprocessing activities at Yongbyon. Reprocessing involves extracting plutonium from spent reactor fuel, one route to obtaining bomb fuel other than uranium enrichment.
"I would agree that there are indications," the U.S. official said.
The official declined to confirm whether this determination was made from satellite imagery or intelligence sources, or to say how much plutonium North Korea could produce by this method.
NUCLEAR PROGRAM SHROUDED IN SECRECY
While North Korea in the past has often obtained key components for its nuclear program from other countries despite international sanctions, there was no sign of any recent outside procurement involved in reactivating its plutonium reprocessing, the official said.
There is little proven knowledge about the quantities of weapons-grade uranium or plutonium that North Korea possesses, or its ability to produce either, though plutonium from spent fuel at Yongbyon is widely believed to have been used in its nuclear bombs.
Experts at the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington predicted last year that North Korea's nuclear weapons stockpile could grow to 20, 50 or 100 bombs within five years, from an estimated 10 to 16 weapons at that time.
North Korea has come under tightening international pressure over its nuclear weapons program, including tougher U.N. sanctions adopted in March backed by its lone major ally China, following its most recent nuclear blast and ballistic missile tests.
The website 38 North reported last week, based on commercial satellite imagery, that exhaust plumes had been detected twice in May from the thermal plant at Yongbyon's Radiochemical Laboratory, the site's main reprocessing installation.
Virginia school board to seek review of transgender ruling
June 7 (Reuters) - A Virginia school board will ask the Supreme Court to review a court ruling that gave a transgender high school student access to the bathroom of his gender identity, the panel said on Tuesday.
The case has been closely-watched in the national bathroom wars between transgender rights activists and social conservatives.
The Gloucester County School Board's decision came after the full U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals last month refused to review an April decision by a three-judge panel in favor of the transgender student, Gavin Grimm.
The school board said in a statement that its solution of single-stall unisex bathrooms was a practical answer to the issue.
"As such, the School Board intends to file a petition with the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari," it said.
Grimm filed suit after being barred from using the boys' bathroom at his school. Grimm was born a female but identifies as a male.
The April ruling sent the case back to a lower court to re-evaluate Grimm's request for a court order.
The ruling was the first by an appeals court finding protections for transgender students under the 1972 Title IX Act, which bars sex-based discrimination by schools receiving federal funding.
President Barack Obama's administration had filed a brief in support of Grimm.
The Obama administration on May 13 told U.S. public schools that transgender students must be able to use the bathroom of their choice, upsetting Republicans and paving the way for fights over federal funding and legal authority.
First in Asia, Thailand eliminates mother-to child transmission of HIV
By Alisa Tang
BANGKOK, June 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When Anya Nopalit became pregnant with her first son, 16 years ago, she learned she had HIV and worried she would pass the virus on to him.
Fortunately, Thailand had launched a programme that year to provide antiretroviral (ARV) treatment and counselling for pregnant women with HIV, and her son was born free of the virus.
A decade later, she had a second son - this time, armed with knowledge about how to monitor the amount of HIV in her blood - her viral load - and the CD4 cells protecting her from infection. She was confident that he would not get sick.
"With my first child, I was scared, but with my second, I was not scared at all because I knew what my viral load and CD4 levels were, and he wouldn't contract it," Anya said by telephone while at sea fishing in eastern Chanthaburi province.
The World Health Organization announced on Wednesday that Thailand has become the first Asian country to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.
Elimination of transmission is defined as a reduction of transmission to such a low level that it no longer constitutes a public health problem.
Last year, Cuba was the world's first country to receive WHO validation for eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
But Thailand, which is home to about 450,000 people living with HIV, is "the first with a large HIV epidemic to ensure an AIDS-free generation," the WHO said in a statement.
"This is a remarkable achievement for a country where thousands of people live with HIV," Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, the head of WHO for Southeast Asia, said in a statement.
"Thailand has demonstrated to the world that HIV can be defeated," she added.
UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe called the achievement an important milestone in efforts to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
BETTER COVERAGE
In the 1980s and 1990s, Thailand struggled with a huge HIV epidemic, with an estimated 143,000 new infections in 1991.
Over the decades, it has conducted awareness and condom use campaigns, and provided free antiretroviral (ARV) treatment for all Thais, cutting the estimated number of new infections to 8,100 in 2013.
Thailand's decision to provide all pregnant women - including undocumented migrant workers - free antenatal care, delivery and services for HIV and syphilis, pushed treatment coverage rates up, culminating in the validation of elimination of mother-to-child transmission, WHO said.
Mother-to-child transmission has dropped to 85 children infected with HIV in 2015, from about 1,000 children infected in 2000, it said.
According to Thai health authorities, the number of women newly infected with HIV fell to 1,900 in 2014, from 15,000 in 2000.
Untreated, women living with HIV have a 15 percent to 45 percent chance of transmitting the virus to their children during pregnancy, labour, delivery or breastfeeding, WHO said.
That risk drops to just over 1 percent if ARVs are given to mothers and children throughout the stages when infection can occur.
According to the Thai Ministry of Public Health, 98 percent of all pregnant women living with HIV have access to ARVs, and the rate of mother-to-child transmission of HIV has been reduced to less than 2 percent.
Kenya charges six men over building collapse that killed 51
NAIROBI, June 7 (Reuters) - A Kenyan court charged six men with manslaughter on Tuesday over the collapse of a multi-storey building in Nairobi's Huruma district in April which left at least 51 people dead.
The six-storey structure had been built near a river and collapsed after heavy rain. People were living in the building despite authorities having condemned it as unsafe.
Edward Oonge, one of the defence lawyers, told Reuters that five of the six men had been summoned to appear in court on June 15. The sixth was present in court as the charges were read.
In May, Kenyan authorities started evicting people from poorly built buildings and demolishing those declared unsafe.
Nairobi is struggling to find homes for its fast-growing population, and developers often put up buildings to cater for the soaring demand in violation of construction codes. Analysts say widespread corruption means few are ever prosecuted.
U.S. Navy jets hit more Islamic State targets in Iraq, Syria
By Andrea Shalal
ABOARD USS HARRY S. TRUMAN, June 7 (Reuters) - U.S. fighter jets have dropped 35 smart bombs and pamphlet bombs on Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria in strikes launched from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier since it moved from the Gulf to the Mediterranean last Friday, Navy officials said.
The officials said further raids were launched on Tuesday, but not yet tallied.
The Truman, which is due to hand off to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier in several weeks, has deployed more than 1,460 smart bombs and pamphlets against the militant group since last December, when it first arrived in the Gulf, they said.
U.S. officials have said the attacks, which are being closely coordinated with U.S-backed ground forces, are starting to have results, eroding the amount of territory held by Islamic State in Iraq and reducing the group's oil revenues.
U.S. Navy Lieutenant Peter Shultis, who flies one of the ship's Boeing Co EA-18G electronic attack planes, told reporters aboard the Truman that his team was also intercepting fewer voice communications by Islamic State militants.
The Truman carrier strike group includes the cruiser Anzio, and the destroyers Gravely, Bulkeley, Gonzalez and Ramage.
The carrier, which has a crew of nearly 5,500, has been at the center of the U.S. Navy's war strikes against Islamic State, but it will return to its homeport in Norfolk, Virginia, around mid-July.
Talent shortage stymies Indonesia's tech scene
By Aradhana Aravindan and Fransiska Nangoy
SINGAPORE/JAKARTA, June 8 (Reuters) - Indonesian online retailer Bilna spent two years looking for a chief technology officer before it finally discovered Ridy Lie, who had returned home after eight years with Amazon in the United States.
Until Lie, the company had struggled to find someone who could "take us to the next level," said Eka Himawan, group chief financial officer at the company, which was renamed Orami after a merger this year.
"He is the one who is guiding (the engineers) and telling them: this is how the things are done in Amazon and this is how we should do it," Himawan said.
Even as internet giants like Alibaba and SoftBank are making major investments in startups heavily exposed to Indonesia, recruitment of talented executives is proving to be a huge drag on the country's technology sector.
Indonesia is the most populous country in a region where 3.8 million internet users are coming online every month. A recent report by Google and Singaporean state fund Temasek estimated that Southeast Asia needed to attract investment worth $40-50 billion in sectors such as ecommerce over the next decade to potentially become a $200 billion internet economy, with Indonesia poised to receive a big chunk.
But the tech talent needed to drive such growth is scarce, the result mainly of shortcomings in Indonesia's education system, a lack of experience and the low salaries on offer compared with those available in the United States.
Highly skilled workers account for only about 10 percent of total employment in the archipelago of 250 million people, the lowest ratio of any major Southeast Asian nation, according to the World Economic Forum.
"I would say it definitely means things grow slower. If I compare a startup in Indonesia with startups in some other places, they will tend to be less on the cutting edge of technology, less efficient," said Vinnie Lauria, a founding partner at Singapore-based Golden Gate Ventures.
Some investors are offshoring tech work to fill the talent gap as they seek to grow startups. So far, however, no private Indonesian tech firm has reached a valuation of more than $1 billion, compared with more than 20 in China.
"The solution of last resort is to solve the problem out of the country," Adrian Vanzyl, CEO of Thailand-based Ardent Capital, told Reuters in April.
Ardent has invested in Thai logistics firm aCommerce, which has engineers in Indonesia but leaves "a lot of the core platform development" to staff in Thailand, he said.
Another creative work-around is a fly-in-fly-out approach to get people with specialised knowledge to advise local startups on a temporary basis.
"Spend three or six months ... to help the company scale," Chua Kee Lock, chief executive at Vertex Venture Holdings, part of Temasek, told Reuters.
HURDLES AHEAD
Skills shortages are only one of many challenges startups and technology investors face in Indonesia. Others range from difficulties in finding materials for training engineers to poor logistics and frequent policy flipflops.
When Jakarta's taxi drivers protested violently against ride-hailing apps like Grab and Uber in April, the government bowed to pressure and forced the tech firms to partner with local transportation companies.
The government is also trying to pursue back-taxes from Yahoo and Twitter, and has ordered companies that deliver content over the internet to establish Indonesian offices and pay Indonesian taxes.
Indonesia ranks 109 out of 189 countries in terms of ease of doing business, according to a World Bank Study, below neighbours such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
But for startups and their investors, the talent shortage is the biggest headache.
"Getting good people is tough. The education system is mismatched - what's taught in university isn't much in use at work," said Lie, who worked in a development engineering team at Amazon before joining Orami.
The government plans to tackle the skills shortage by putting coding on the public school curriculum and through knowledge transfers from foreign investors.
"There is plenty of capital available ... and Indonesia is exploding on every possible level," said Vanzyl at Ardent.
A movie about an important social evil, starring acclaimed actors of the world's largest film industry, should have been heartily embraced by the Indian government that rules the world largest democracy.
Instead, Udta Punjab, starring Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, has run into fresh trouble with India's censor board, which has, on last count ordered 89 cuts in the film.
The censor board's revising committee has outdone the CBFC by demanding that not only should Punjab be dropped from the title, but the movie's portrayal of reality should be replaced by placing it in a fictional land instead of Punjab.
By depicting the out-of-control drug crisis of Punjab, the film is bound to further discredit an already struggling government.
The decision came after the Akali Dal, which is part of the NDA both at the Centre and the Punjab government, vehemently criticised the movie for maligning Punjab (or the Akalis?) by depicting Punjab's drug problem.
Udta Punjab is scheduled to be released on June 17, but the fate of the film now hangs in balance. It may yet sail through if the courts intervene, but the shoddy manner in which a politically inconvenient film is being suppressed reveals the many problems that accompany censorship:
Potential for political abuse that undermines democracy
If we put aside all the excuses the government is presenting for the censor board's latest move, the brutal truth is that the film is being censored as it doesn't suit the ruling party and its allies.
By depicting the out-of-control drug crisis of Punjab, the film is bound to further discredit an already struggling government.
That Punjab suffers from the worst drug crisis in India is no secret, yet this being an election year in Punjab and drug abuse being a leading election issue, the film would have haunted Akalis who have used every trick in the book (like controlling the cable network, bringing in defamation cases, et al) to prevent the truth from being told.
Given Akalis' propensity to suppress freedom of speech and the availability of censorship powers in the hands of a board controlled by its allies, they find it easy to abuse their political power to bury a politically inconvenient subject.
This potential for high-handed abuse that accompanies censorship powers is ill at ease with democratic ethos. Since when is speaking truth to power forbidden in a democracy?
This blatant political use of censorship is something that regimes of Kim Jong-un and Xi Jinping are known for and this control over voices of opposition is exactly what defines anti-democratic regimes.
Why are we trying to compete with the likes of North Korea to suppress the truth? If, in a democracy, ruling governments can't be criticised or their bad aspects be depicted, then slowly the democracy will turn into a dictatorship of a single party.
Bidding adieu to minimum government, maximum governance
Modi, after riding to power by promising to reducing the government's unnecessary involvement in the economy and society has repeatedly defied the promise - from retaining the control of sick PSUs and wasting public money over them to keeping intact the entitlement scheme he once criticised.
Yet, this tendency of maximum government and minimum governance reaches peaks when the Centre, through its censor board, decides to get into the business of naming movies or deciding their location.
Why should taxpayers' money and the time of the government be wasted on preventing the release of a movie on drug abuse rather than using it as a tool to arrest the crisis?
Exercising the censorship power is another case of the government overstepping its brief and distracts it from its essential responsibilities.
Who are censor babus and party acolytes to decide what a director should direct and what a viewer should watch?
If the viewer watching the film makes a informed choice, why should the government have any problem? Who is government to decide the place where a film is set?
It's high time the government stopped poking its nose where it has no business to - censorship is definitely one such issue.
Colonial hangover - distrust and disrespect of the population
Behind this whole concept of censorship and the absurd notion of protecting its citizens from cuss words lies a colonial mentality on part of our government.
It believes that citizens are fools who cannot be trusted and respected to rely upon their own judgment. Somehow its judgment, the government believes, is better than that of its citizens.
There is a condescending paternalism that underpins such censorship: this paternalism is a colonial hangover devoid of substance and harmful to the evolution of a more responsible and mature society.
Why scuttle creativity?
The government's censorship powers are the foremost threat to creativity. It exacts a price from the creative minds that speak truth to power.
Since those in the government have to incur no personal cost while the filmmakers have to bear the legal fees, any possibility of a litigation against the censor board has a detrimental effect on the filmmakers, apart from crowding our already overcrowded courts.
It creates filmmakers who are less likely to depict the harsh realities of the society. The possibility of recognising our faults and correcting them is also diminished.
Obsession with a false image
Often, censorship is exercised when films expose the society's apathy towards some of its evils, certain disconcerting realities around which there is collective conspiracy of silence.
By deploying censorship, the powers-that-be seek to maintain a fake image that is out of sync with the reality that a creative mind seeks to expose.
But why should any forward-looking society be so obsessed with its image?
Shouldn't making the reality better be our prime concern?
But since every society has an inclination to retain a false, comforting image, censorship becomes a tool for sustaining it.
The Sheriff's deputies named in the lawsuit are Donald Lee Moran and investigator Mike Roane. Gene R. Ergenbright is the part-time commissioner of the revenue employee, and the bail bondsman is David Bourne. Unnamed "John Doe'' defendants are also listed as defendants in the federal lawsuit.
The latest litigation against the Augusta County constitutional officers and the other defendants alleges constitutional rights violations including free speech under the First Amendment, unreasonable search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment, civil conspiracy and charges of defamation and insulting words.
The suit seeks compensatory damages, attorneys' fees and cost of litigation, treble damages and punitive damages as well as injunctive relief against the defendants of not less than $1.26 million.
A previous suit filed last month by Nexus in Augusta County Circuit Court alleging ethnic and racial harassment, conspiracy and defamation is being moved to federal court, said Nexus Services CEO Mike Donovan.
Augusta County Clerk of Circuit Court Carol Brydge said a motion for a nonsuit in circuit court has been received from Nexus, and awaits the signature of a judge.
The federal suit charges that Bourne, a former Augusta Sheriff's employee, conspired with others to halt the work of Nexus, which has corporate headquarters in Verona, and provides GPS tracking and bond securing to immigrant detainees, and pro bono legal services to detainees.
A series of emails from Bourne detailed in the suit reveal his concern that he and others in bail bonding cannot compete with a free bail service. The suit also details emails sent to the Augusta County Commonwealth's Attorney alleging "a scam'' by Nexus, and asking for a criminal history of Donovan, who has admitted to previous felonies years ago for bad checks, forgery and grand larceny. Bourne is cited in both the defamation and insulting words counts of the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs say public service programs and commercial radio and television advertising regarding Nexus' free bonding programs have suffered First Amendment free speech violations through campaigns to discredit Nexus and plaintiffs Donavan and Richard Moore.
The Fourth Amendment violation happened over Memorial Day Weekend, according to the suit. The suit alleges that two Sheriff's deputies came to Donovan and Moore's residence on May 28 in marked government cars, and made a tactical formation to block the "ingress and egress'' to the Fishersville residence.
The suit also charges that after the original suit was filed in Augusta Circuit Court May 18, deputies continued to drive by the home of Donovan and Moore in an effort "to harass and intimidate'' the plaintiff.
And further, the suit says deputies visited the Donovan/Moore residence on several occasions in April. The deputies asked about the private security at the residence, asked for identification of the private security and demanded an explanation of the private security from Donovan.
"There are multiple incidents of Sheriff's deputies coming to my house. This is not a one-time situation,'' Donovan said during a telephone interview on Tuesday.
Allegations against Shrewsbury stem from a series of emails exchanged between Ergenbright and tax auditor Joy Mauzy after a March 7 visit to the Nexus corporate headquarters. The emails included attached Hitler emojis.
Smith, reached by telephone Tuesday, said he had not been served with the federal lawsuit and had no comment. Shrewsbury has issued several no comments when questioned about the lawsuit and a separate recall from office effort.
Donovan said he sees a pattern in Augusta County that he hopes the lawsuit will change. "We want to get to a point where these types of abuses do not occur in the future,'' he said.
The Nexus executive said he is willing to let the case go to trial. "You don't make change quietly,'' Donovan said. "You don't run from problems when you think people are not doing the right thing."
You may call Bob Stuart at (540) 932-3562 or bstuart@newsvirginian.com.
Oops.
McAuliffe brushes this off as mere data entry problems.
Republicans, of course, have a very different view. Overall, this is just a stunning level of incompetence and recklessness, said Speaker of the House Bill Howell, R-Stafford County.
Since the governor says the full list of those whose rights were restored wont be released until next year, its impossible to say just how many data entry problems are involved.
Lets not politicize this, McAuliffe says. Umm, too late for that.
Who compiled this list? Was it the governors office or some high school intern? asked Del. Rob Bell, R-Charlottesville, who hopes to be his partys nominee for attorney general next year. They take more care when they take an order at McDonalds than he did when he put these felons on juries.
Good point, but a little overblown. As an attorney, Bell knows hes skipping over several key steps there the prospect of felons winding up on a jury isnt impossible, but not very likely.
Still, the embarrassing details of just who made the governors list obviously give Republicans a second political argument to make the governor wasnt just wrong, he was incompetent.
Before things get too far along, lets do something that the governors office apparently didnt do pay attention to the details, because some of the arguments being advanced on both sides are, well, um, sort of wrong.
Did the governor have the authority to restore rights to this many convicted felons at once? Previous governors have read Virginias constitution to mean they had to act on a case-by-case basis. When Tim Kaine was governor, he looked into doing an en masse restoration, and concluded he couldnt. You have to think that if Kaine could have found a way to do it, he would have. Interestingly, some of the legal advice Kaine got focused on the very problems McAuliffe now faces the practical details of figuring out just whom the order would apply to. In any case, this isnt a question worth arguing over. We may have an opinion. You may have an opinion. In the end, though, the only opinions that really matter are those of the seven justices of the Virginia Supreme Court who will adjudicate the matter. (Hmm, wonder how Jane Roush would have voted?)
Did the governor do this simply to gain some political advantage in this falls presidential election? This is a favorite Republican argument on the theory that most of these felons will vote Democratic. As weve shown before, there is some truth to this argument, but not as much as Republicans think. Two different analysts, using different methods, have arrived at the same conclusion: The net advantage for Democrats here is probably between 28,000 and 30,000 extra voters not 206,000. Most convicted felons simply wont register to vote (so far, just under 6,000 have). And studies show not all of them will vote Democratic. McAuliffe says he was simply doing this for political advantage, hed have done this earlier to have those votes in last years legislative elections. Those 30,000 extra Democratic voters wouldnt have made a difference in any of the recent presidential elections in Virginia although obviously could in in an extraordinarily tight race.
Didnt the governors action simply undo a Jim Crow-era rule aimed at disenfranchising African-American voters? No. Its true that most of those who will have their rights restored may be African-American about 54 percent of Virginias current prison population is black, for instance. However, Virginias constitutional prohibition on felons voting actually dates back to 1830 when African-Americans couldnt have voted anyway. Then the provision was squarely aimed at white men. So its incorrect to say the intent of the rule was aimed at disenfranchising black voters, although that may have been the modern-day impact. Thats one reason why the trend in recent administrations Democrat and Republican alike has been to be more liberal in restoring rights.
Ultimately, the focus on the disputed constitutionality of the governors action and the undisputed incompetence in which it was carried out distract from the real question Virginians should be considering.
That is this: When should a convicted felons civil rights be restored?
Most states wouldnt have the debate Virginia is currently having because most states automatically restore civil rights once a sentence has been completed.
Virginia is one of only ten states that dont.
If someone has paid their debt to society, why are they still barred from fully returning to full participation in civil society? On the other hand, are some crimes so odious that the person who committed them should be forever barred from some aspects of society?
This is a debate that Bob McDonnell, of all people, tried to initiate when he was governor. McDonnell a Republican and, ironically, a future felon restored more civil rights than any of his Democratic predecessors.
He used his 2013 State of the Commonwealth address to urge the automatic restoration of rights for non-violent offenders only. (McAuliffe could have restricted his order to non-violent offenders; he did not.)
Heres a useful bracketing point: We dont think of Texas as a soft-on-crime state. Yet Texas Texas! automatically restores voting rights after a sentence is completed. Should Virginia be to the right of Texas?
That night in 2013, McDonnell made this case for automatic restoration: As a nation that believes in redemption and second chances, we must provide a clear path for willing individuals to be productive members of society once they have served their sentences and paid their fines and restitution."
The real question here is not do we agree with McAuliffe, but do we agree with McDonnell?
The Roanoke Times
STUARTS DRAFT -- Coalition members who worked to defeat the Keystone XL Pipeline came to Augusta County on Monday to team with others in the symbolic planting of corn to oppose the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
The sacred corn -- described as "seeds of resistance'' -- was planted on Stuarts Draft property belonging to Virginia Davis and Kenneth Harris. The property is in the path of the proposed 600-mile natural gas pipeline, which would start in West Virginia, come through Virginia and flow to North Carolina. The pipeline path cuts a 55-mile swath through Augusta County.
Nancy Sorrells, co-chair of the Augusta County Alliance, said Bold Alliance President Jane Kleeb spoke to area pipeline opponents earlier this year about stopping the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Sorrells said Kleeb "told us what was done in Nebraska'' to oppose the Keystone. Kleeb is also executive director of Bold Nebraska.
A coalition known as the Cowboy and Indian Alliance composed of farmers, ranchers and Native Americans in Nebraska and Oklahoma worked to defeat the Keystone. Kleeb and others involved in the effort came to Stuarts Draft on Monday to kick off three days of stops at counties in Virginia and West Virginia that are in the path of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
Kleeb told the crowd in Stuarts Draft that several things must happen to defeat the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. She said the point must be made that eminent domain cannot be used for private benefit. In addition, Kleeb said climate change must be emphasized. She said President Obama had looked at the climate science regarding the Keystone, and ultimately vetoed the pipeline.
Kleeb said it is a matter of joining forces. She said by everyone working together toward a goal "there is a sense of trust and solidarity.''
"We are together. And there is nothing you can do to tear us apart,'' Kleeb told the audience of Augusta County residents who oppose the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
Participants in Monday's corn planting placed seeds of corn on a small part of land. The recent rains mitigated against a full planting of corn.
Later Monday, corn was planted on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline route in Nelson County. Sorrells said the corn planted Monday would be harvested in the fall.
The application of Dominion Resources for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is currently before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. FERC last month opened a new comment period for changes to the pipeline route that include impact to additional landowners in Augusta, Bath and Highland counties. The comment period is set to expire on Friday, according to Dominion Spokesman Aaron Ruby.
You may contact Bob Stuart at (540) 932-3562 or bstuart@newsvirginian.com.
LONDON - England - Vote Leave is today publishing a dossier of 50 criminals which the European Court prevented us from deporting. These cases include offenders convicted of murder, rape, robbery and drug trafficking.
EU free movement rules prioritise the rights of criminals over public safety and mean we cannot deport dangerous EU criminals. If we vote to stay in the EU, this lack of control will only increase as the European Court uses the Charter of Fundamental Rights to entrench the right of foreign national offenders to reside in the UK.
Some of the EU criminals identified include:
Learco Chindamo, an Italian national who murdered headteacher Philip Lawrence in 1995 when he went to the assistance of a 13-year-old boy who was being attacked.
Theresa Rafacz, a Polish national, who killed her husband, including by kicking him in the face with a shod foot while he lay on the ground drunk.
Andrzej Stankiewicz, who was sentenced to five years imprisonment for causing death by careless driving while drunk.
Jordan Epee Homb, a German, convicted of possessing of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, who went to his victims house (occupied by his mother and seven-year-old daughter). An accomplice fired a shotgun twice through the front door.
Mircea Gheorghiu, a Romanian rapist whom the Secretary of State was ordered to readmit to the UK and to grant permanent residence, after removing him from the UK.
Mantas Baibokas, a Lithuanian who was discovered in possession of 7 kg of amphetamine sulphate, hidden in a jet ski in his garage.
Commenting, Justice Minister Dominic Raab said:
This is yet more evidence of how EU membership makes us less safe. Free movement of people allows unelected judges in the rogue European Court to decide who we can and cant deport. This puts British families at risk. It squanders UK taxpayers money on keeping them in prison and thats on top of the 50 million we send to the EU every day.
Outside the EU, we can take back control of our borders, deport more dangerous criminals, and strengthen public protection. Thats why the safer choice is to Vote Leave on 23 June.
Being in the EU makes us less safe. EU free movement rules prioritise the rights of criminals over public safety and mean we cannot deport dangerous EU criminals. New research by Vote Leave reveals:
50 cases in which the UK has been unable to deport serious criminals to the European Union because of EU law. These cases include offenders convicted of murder, rape, robbery and drug trafficking.
Of these 50 offenders, all but two were sentenced in the UK to terms of imprisonment exceeding one year and, had it not been for EU law, would have been subject to automatic deportation under UK law.
This includes six offenders convicted of homicide, 5 convicted of sexual offences and 13 convicted of drug dealing. Crimes include murder, rape, blinding a child and possession of 7 kg of amphetamine sulphate with intent to supply. In each case, EU law allowed them to stay in the UK.
The legal judgements preventing the removal of 46 out of 50 of the criminals were issued since the current Government took office in May 2010.
The Governments renegotiation will do nothing to change this. The European Commission has said it will issue a Communication to address the UKs concerns, but it accepts that it has no legal effect.
The UK will continue to lack control over whether it can deport serious criminals if it votes to remain in the unreformed EU on 23 June. This lack of control will only increase as the European Court uses the supposedly fundamental status of EU citizenship and the Charter of Fundamental Rights to entrench the right of foreign national offenders to reside in the UK. Even where the British courts have ruled offenders are dangerous, we are unable to remove them. None of these persons would have been removed under the European Arrest Warrant as they were not wanted in other EU member states.
50 criminals that the UK has been unable to deport because of EU law
Vote Leave has identified 50 serious criminals whom the UK was unable to deport because of EU law (see the Annex for full details). The table summarises the results:
Type of offence Part 1 Homicide 6 Part 2 Offences against the person 15 Part 3 Sexual offences 5 Part 4 Drug offences 13 Part 5 Offences of dishonesty 9 Part 6 Other offences 2
Of these 50 offenders, all but two were sentenced in the UK to terms of imprisonment exceeding one year and would have been subject to automatic deportation under UK law had they been subject to it.
In addition, the legal judgements preventing the removal of 46 out of 50 of the criminals were issued since the current Government took office in May 2010.
Homicide
Six of the 50 offenders whom the UK could not remove were convicted of offences of homicide. They include:
Learco Chindamo, an Italian national who murdered headteacher Philip Lawrence in 1995 when he went to the assistance of a 13-year-old boy who was being attacked.
Theresa Rafacz, a Polish national, who killed her husband, including by kicking him in the face with a shod foot while he lay on the ground drunk.
Andrzej Stankiewicz, who was sentenced to five years imprisonment for causing death by careless driving while drunk.
Offences against the person
15 of the 50 offenders whom the UK could not remove were convicted of offences against the person. They include:
LG, an Italian national, who followed a 66-year-old retired man and attacked him from behind, inflicting serious head and facial injuries, including a fracture of the skull, during a robbery. The trial judge said he was a thoroughly dangerous man.
Jordan Epee Homb, a German, convicted of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, who went to his victims house (occupied by his mother and seven-year-old daughter). An accomplice fired a shotgun twice through the front door.
AB, a Polish national, who shook her three month old daughter several times, as a result of which she was left brain-damaged, confined to a wheelchair and blind.
Sexual offences
5 of the 50 offenders whom the UK could not remove were convicted of sexual offences. They include:
Mircea Gheorghiu, a Romanian rapist whom the Secretary of State was ordered to readmit to the UK and to grant permanent residence, after removing him from the UK.
MS, a Lithuanian rapist. The Tribunal said his deportation could not be justified on the basis of his previous criminal conviction even of such a serious nature as rape and attempted rape.
VW, a Lithuanian, convicted of sexual assault. The Tribunal ruled the Appellants behaviour does not come within the serious grounds of public policy.
Drug offences
13 of the 50 offenders whom the UK could not remove were convicted of drug offences. They include:
Mantas Baibokas, a Lithuanian who was discovered in possession of 7 kg of amphetamine sulphate, hidden in a jet ski in his garage.
Eddie Karwhoo, a French national, convicted of fraudulently evading the prohibition on importing class A drugs and sentenced to nine years imprisonment.
Kingsley Chukwudinma Nwanekwul, a German national, convicted of being knowingly concerned in fraudulently evading the prohibition on importing Class A drugs and sentenced to eight-and-a-half years imprisonment.
Offences of dishonesty
Benedetto Vassallo, an Italian career criminal convicted on 31 separate occasions of 68 offences in the UK
Vladas Juocys, a Lithuanian national, sentenced to five years imprisonment for very serious tax offences, with convictions for things of which he ought to be ashamed.
Darius Kersys, a Lithuanian convicted of defrauding a vulnerable elderly neighbour he had befriended to obtain dishonestly 112,000 after he died. The Judge described the crime as a mean-spirited and nasty piece of offending.
UK law on the deportation of foreign criminals
The Home Secretary has the power to deport foreign nationals from the UK if she considers that it would be conducive to the public good. In addition, UK law provides that a person who is (a) convicted of a serious crime and sentenced to imprisonment or (b) is sentenced to more than twelve months imprisonment, is subject to automatic deportation. However, this has no application where deportation would breach rights of the foreign criminal under the EU treaties.
This means that those with a right of residence in the UK under EU law are subject to a much weaker system. As Mr Justice McCloskey has said, EU foreign national offenders fall under an entirely different regime from that which applies to other immigrants. EU law purposefully make[s] it difficult to remove a person from the jurisdiction, even if they are a criminal.
EU law on the deportation of foreign criminals
The unamended EU Treaties give every EU citizen the right to enter the UK:
Citizens of the Union shall enjoy the right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Every citizen of the Union shall have the right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States.
Further provision is made by the 2004 Free Movement Directive, which was given effect to in UK law on 30 April 2006; Immigration. The 2004 Directive requires that persons can only be removed for reasons:
based exclusively on the personal conduct of the individual concerned. Previous criminal convictions shall not in themselves constitute grounds for taking such measures. The personal conduct of the individual concerned must represent a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society. Justifications that are isolated from the particulars of the case or that rely on considerations of general prevention shall not be accepted.
The Directive makes it even harder to remove criminals from other EU member states where they have resided in the UK for a given period of time.
EU citizens who have lived in the UK for more than five years may only be removed on serious grounds of public policy and public security.
EU citizens who have lived in the UK for more than ten years may only be removed on imperative grounds of public security.
The European Court remains in ultimate control of how the Treaties and this Directive are applied in the UK. It has long held that the right to free movement must be interpreted broadly and that departures from the rules concerning the free movement of persons constitute exceptions which must be strictly construed and that exceptions to and derogations from the principle of freedom of movement must be interpreted strictly.
The European Court has ruled that it is unlawful to have a policy, or even a presumption that foreign national offenders convicted of specified offences are liable to removal. This includes those convicted of murder. A murderer in England and Wales can only be released if the Parole Board is satisfied that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public that the prisoner should be confined. As a result, a murderer who is eligible for release cannot constitute the genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat which EU law requires must exist for deportation to take place.
The difficulties caused by the European Court are demonstrated by the Governments flagging attempts to deport CS. CS, a Moroccan national, was convicted of conveying a SIM card into prison for her father-in-law, convicted terrorist Abu Hamza al-Masri, and sentenced to twelve months imprisonment. The Secretary of State decided to deport CS. On 4 February 2016, Advocate General Professor Professor Maciej Szpunar delivered an opinion stating that it was, in principle, contrary to the EU Treaties to deport CS because she had a child who was a British citizen. If this opinion is followed by the European Court, as seems likely, it will make it much more difficult to remove her from the UK.
The UK has also been unable to remove persons whom the courts have concluded were terrorists. ZZ was an Algerian-French national who had resided in the UK between 1990 and 2005. In 2005, the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, refused him readmission on return from a trip to Algeria and expelled him on the grounds of public security. Following a series of legal challenges, including a reference to the European Court of Justice, in 2015, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission ruled the Home Secretary, Theresa May, could not exclude ZZ from the UK because of EU law. The Commission noted that:
We are confident that the Appellant was actively involved in the GIA [Algerian Armed Islamic Group], and was so involved well into 1996. He had broad contacts with GIA extremists in Europe. His accounts as to his trips to Europe are untrue. We conclude that his trips to the Continent were as a GIA activist.
The Governments renegotiation will not solve the problem
The Government claims that the renegotiation means it will be able to prevent dangerous EU nationals from coming to the UK and make it easier to deport them if they have been living in the UK. This is false. The renegotiation does not in any way relax the onerous requirements of EU law which prevent the UK deporting dangerous criminals.
There is no proposal to amend the Treaties or the 2004 Free Movement Directive. The proposals agreed at the European Council will be contained in a Communication to be issued by the European Commission. As the Commission accepts, a Communication is a policy document with no mandatory authority. The Commission takes the initiative of publishing a Communication when it wishes to set out its own thinking on a topical issue. A Communication has no legal effect.
The Commissions declaration states that the UK may take into account past conduct of an individual in the determination of whether a Union citizens conduct poses a present threat to public policy or security. Yet the European Court has already ruled that a previous conviction can be taken into account in so far as the circumstances which gave rise to that conviction are evidence of personal conduct constituting a present threat. This did nothing to aid the removal of the 50 criminals discussed in this paper.
The Commissions declaration also states that member states may act on grounds of public policy or public security even in the absence of a previous criminal conviction on preventative grounds but specific to the individual concerned. Yet the European Court ruled this was the law in 1974 in the first case referred to that court after the UK joined the EU.
The Governments proposals will have no legal status and are, in any event, merely restatements of the status quo. The situation is only likely to get worse. The European Court has already claimed EU citizenship is the fundamental status of the nationals of every EU member state.
The European Court believes that the right of EU criminals to freedom of movement defeats the rights of British citizens to live in safety. If we remain, the European Court will continue to prioritise EU criminals rights ahead of public safety. In addition, the Charter of Fundamental Rights creates a new right for all EU citizens to move freely and reside within the EU. This will cement the European Courts control of whether criminals can stay in the UK.
Part 1. Homicide
#1 Learco Chindamo
In 1995, Chindamo, who is an Italian citizen, murdered the headteacher Philip Lawrence who went to help a 13-year-old boy who was being attacked. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1996.
Chindamo was released in 2010 but recalled to prison due to accusations he intimidated and robbed a man at a cash machine, charges of which he was later acquitted.
In 2007, Mr Justice Collins ruled that removing Chindamo would be disproportionate under EU law.
#2 FV (Italy)
FV, an Italian national, was convicted of the manslaughter of Edward Mitchell by reason of provocation in 2002. He inflicted at least 20 blows to the head with weapons, including a hammer, before strangling Mr Mitchell with a flex from an iron. He was sentenced to eight years imprisonment. FV had previous convictions for assaulting police, driving a motor vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs, and driving while disqualified. The Secretary of State ordered his deportation.
Nonetheless, in September 2012, the Court of Appeal ruled his deportation was inconsistent with EU law because, in light of rulings of the European Court, imperative grounds did not exist to justify his deportation.
#3 Theresa Rafacz
On 18 July 2009, Rafacz, who is a Polish national, killed her husband, including by kicking him in the face with a shod foot while he lay on the ground defenceless and drunk.
She admitted manslaughter, with Mr Justice Hart ruling the offence involved gratuitous violence. She was sentenced to four years imprisonment.
Nonetheless, Mr Justice Blake ruled EU law prevented her removal, stating that there was no basis which could justify her deportation on the grounds of public policy.
#4 Andrzej Stankiewicz
In 2010, Stankiewicz was convicted of causing death by careless driving while under the influence of alcohol and sentenced to five years imprisonment. He was three times over the limit. The sentencing judge stated that he was driving at a higher rate of speed, apparently out of control and weaving about on both sides of the carriageway before colliding with the deceased.
In July 2014, the Upper Tribunal in Glasgow ruled that his removal would contravene his rights under EU law.
#5 AZ (Hungary)
AZ, a Hungarian citizen, was convicted on 19 December 2011 of causing death by dangerous driving and sentenced to 4 years imprisonment and disqualified from driving for 5 years. To be entirely clear, a married man, a father, a son of a lady who had already lost another son, was killed as a result of the appellants dangerous driving. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
On 25 July 2014, the Upper Tribunal highlighted the need to distinguish EEA deportation cases from those of other foreign national criminals, and ruled AZs deportation would be contrary to EU law.
#6 Joao Pedro Correie Lopes
In 2012, Lopes, a Portuguese national, was sentenced to four years imprisonment for causing the death of an elderly woman, Nora Gutmann, by dangerous driving and to twelve months for knowingly causing a recording of false data relating to his lorry tachograph.
This conviction came on top of another incident in February 2009 when a cyclist went under the wheels of his lorry and died for which he received three points on his licence and a 200 fine. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
In July 2015, the Upper Tribunal noted its powers in respect of criminals from the EU are limited, stating: Had we been applying UK law governing deportation of foreign criminals we may well have concluded that his deportation was both lawful and proportionate, but the claimant is an EEA national and his case must be decided under the relevant EU law provisions. The Tribunal concluded his removal would be inconsistent with EU law.
Part 2. Offences against the person
#7 LG (Italy)
LG, an Italian national, was convicted of robbery and inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent: in the early hours of Saturday 29 January 2000, LG had followed a 66 year old retired man and attacked him from behind, inflicting serious head and facial injuries, including a fracture of the skull. LG robbed the victim of his wallet, leaving him lying in the road.
The trial judge said the offence was a brutal, senseless, cowardly attack upon an elderly gentleman, stating: you are a thoroughly dangerous manI dont think for offences of robbery of this type it gets much worse. His sentence was reduced on appeal to nine years.
LG had several other previous convictions, including for obtaining property by deception in 1996, obtaining services by deception, theft, and robbery. For the robbery in 1997, he received a sentence of three years and 28 days imprisonment.
In April 2009, Lord Justice Carnwath, sitting in the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal, stated that while LG did present a risk to public security, we do not think that the decision to deport LG was justifiable under EU law and allowed his appeal against deportation.
#8 Jordan Epee Homb
Between 2005 and 2010, Homb, a French citizen, incurred several convictions, involving mainly simple possession of drugs, with one offence of criminal damage and another of assault. In February 2011, he was convicted of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and sentenced to 4-and-a-half years imprisonment. He went to the victims house (which was occupied by the victims mother and seven-year-old daughter) to scare him. An accomplice fired a shotgun twice through the front door. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
In February 2014, Mr Justice McCloskey, sitting in the Upper Tribunal, noted that as an EU citizen, Homb has to be dealt with under an entirely different regime from that which applies to other immigrants and ruled his deportation would be inconsistent with EU law.
#9 Andrei Zaharia
In 2012, Zaharia, a Romanian citizen, was convicted of two offences of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm against a previous boyfriend of his girlfriend who was stabbed with a knife along with a bystander. Zaharia was sentenced to fifteen months imprisonment. The Secretary of State ordered his deportation.
In January 2014, the Upper Tribunal found that there is no basis to remove him under EU law.
#10 Daha Essa
In January 2007, Essa, a Dutch national, committed a robbery at knife point: He contested his guilt at trial; showed no remorse or awareness of the terrifying nature of his conduct on his victim who was trapped in an empty railway carriage at the time of the events. He had a previous conviction for handling stolen goods.
Nonetheless, on 19 July 2013, Mr Justice Blake, sitting in the Upper Tribunal, concluded that deportation now for the conduct leading to his conviction would be disproportionate under EU law.
#11 AB (Poland)
In 2010, AB, a Polish national, shook her three month old daughter several times in order to stop her crying, as a result of which her daughter suffered severe and life-threatening injuries leaving her brain-damaged, confined to a wheelchair and blind. That occurred at a time when the appellant was on her way out to meet a male who had been in contact with her via a sex search website. She was convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm and perverting the course of public justice for lying about the injuries and sentenced to three years imprisonment. The Secretary of State decided to deport her.
The Upper Tribunal said, in allowing her appeal, that: We consider it necessary to stress at this point that considerations that would have been significant and relevant in a non-EEA deportation case, such as deterrence and public revulsion, simply do not apply in this case. We are fully aware that the appellants offence was a shocking one and that the repercussions are extensive, leaving a young child permanently disabled and with the prospect of a truncated life. Had this been an ordinary deportation case such other considerations, taken together with the appellants circumstances in general, may well have led us to conclude that deportation was justified and in the public interest. However the appellant is an EEA national and, as such, she benefits from the protection of the EEA Regulations to which we are required by law to defer. Accordingly we find that there is only one decision we are able to reach, namely that the appellants deportation would be in breach of the EEA Regulations.
#12 MG (Portugal)
MG, a Portuguese national, had a conviction for child cruelty and three counts of assault, against her own children and was sentenced to twenty-one months imprisonment. The Secretary of State refused her a residence card and ordered her deportation on grounds of public policy and public security.
Nonetheless, on 14 May 2014, the Upper Tribunal, following a ruling of the European Court in the same case, decided that: it has not been shown that there are either grounds or serious grounds of public policy or public security, allowing MG to remain in the UK.
#13 Nathan Oduro Beko Quiafo
Quiafo, a Dutch national, has an unedifying record of United Kingdom criminality. He received a warning for assault occasioning actual bodily harm in 2004, and then a reprimand for drug possession. In 2006, he committed two offences of robbery. He later committed several drug offences. In 2010, he was arrested in possession of larger supplies of unspecified Class A drugs, more than required for his personal use. While on bail, he committed an attempted robbery. He was imprisoned for four years for attempted robbery and possession with intent to supply.
In 2012, after the Secretary of State decided to deport him, he appealed and won on the grounds that he had shown remorse, and his girlfriend was pregnant. He then committed further drug offences, including possession of cannabis with intent to supply and driving without a licence, failing to provide a specimen for analysis, failing to comply with a no entry sign, and driving while uninsured.
The Secretary of State decided to deport him (again). The Immigration Judge held this was to breach the claimants rights as an EEA national under the community treaties in respect of residence. This decision was upheld by the Upper Tribunal.
#14 Jacek Straszewski
In June 2010, Straszewski, a Polish national, while drunk, attacked another man with a broken glass, causing serious injuries to his face and neck, pleading guilty to unlawful wounding for which he was sentenced to fifteen months imprisonment. While on bail for that offence, he burgled a house containing two young women, punching and kicking them before making his escape. He pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery and was sentenced to 42 months imprisonment. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
Nonetheless, the Court of Appeal ruled that his deportation was inconsistent with EU law.
#15 Awale Madar
Mardar, a Dutch national, had four convictions for theft, a conviction for disorderly behaviour in a public place, a conviction for three separate offences of cannabis possession, a conviction for obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duty, a conviction for handling stolen property and two convictions for robbery. For the robberies, he was sentenced to three-and-a-half-years detention. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
On 3 June 2014, the Upper Tribunal ruled that deportation would be disproportionate under EU law.
#16 Lukasz Tomasz Wozniak
Wozniak, a Polish national, had a lengthy criminal record, including convictions for careless driving, failing to surrender to custody, theft from shops, fraudulent use of vehicle documents, driving while uninsured, and breach of a conditional discharge.
On 11 December 2011, he was sentenced to thirty-two months imprisonment for offences of robbery. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
Upper Tribunal Judge Perkins held as a matter of EU law that I cannot agree that his conduct qualifies him for removal and therefore I must and do allow the appeal.
#17 Dariush Farhand
Farhand, a Danish national, had a criminal record which Mrs Justice Andrews said showed an unedifying portrait of a young man who is prepared to put the lives of others at risk by driving with excess alcohol in his bloodstream, and who in more recent years has been prone to violence whilst under its influence. He was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm while serving a suspended sentence for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and sentenced to thirty months imprisonment. The trial judge described the offence as a serious, senseless, unprovoked attack late at night.
In November 2014, Mrs Justice Andrews, sitting in the Upper Tribunal, stated that his deportation would be disproportionate under EU law.
#18 Marian-Ionut Creanga
Creanga, a Romanian national, was first reprimanded for being drunk and disorderly in December 2010. He received a warning for battery in March 2011; was fined for disorderly behaviour or threatening abusive or insulting words likely to cause harassment alarm or distress in November 2011 and fined for shoplifting in April 2012. The index offence is his conviction for attempted robbery on 13 July 2012 following a plea of guilty at Isleworth Crown Court. On 21 September 2012 he was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
On 24 March 2014, Mr Justice Kenneth Parker, sitting in the Upper Tribunal, ruled that this was illegal under EU law.
#19 Arqr Wazny
In April 2011, Wazny, a Polish national who was convicted of violent disorder and sentenced to two years imprisonment after attacking Royal Marine Nigel Leppington in Dorset, who intervened when the gang which Wazny led attacked Leppingtons neighbour.
However, an immigration tribunal permitted him to remain in the UK because of his right to private and family life.
#20 Emil Damian Bejlik
Bejlik, a Polish national, was convicted of two offences of robbery and sentenced to one year and sixteen months imprisonment. The offences involved him and an accomplice snatching mobile phones from women in Bury town centre at night. One of the victims had a piercing ripped during the struggle. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
In October 2013, the Upper Tribunal ruled EU law meant that he could not be removed from the UK.
#21 Melvin Luis Cavallo
Cavallo, an Italian citizen, was convicted of assault to severe injury and robbery and sentenced to twelve months imprisonment. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
The Upper Tribunal ruled that serious grounds of public policy were not established which could justify his removal, which was in contravention of EU law.
Part 3. Sexual offences
#22 Mircea Gheorghiu
Gheorghiu, a Romanian national, entered the UK without leave in January 2007. In November 2007, he was convicted of driving a motor vehicle with excess alcohol, fined and disqualified from driving for 20 months.
It later emerged that he had a criminal record in Romania. In 1990 he was convicted of the offence of rape and sentenced to 6 years imprisonment. Between 2001 and March 2002 he was convicted on three occasions of forestry offences, cutting timber without a licence, and received custodial sentences on the last two occasions.
The Secretary of State removed him from the UK in March 2015.
Nonetheless, on 18 November 2015, Mr Justice Blake, sitting in the Upper Tribunal, decided this was unlawful under EU law, ruling Gheorghiu must be reunited with his family as quickly as possible and that he was entitled to a permanent residence on his return and the residence card issued to him will reflect that.
#23 MS (Lithuania)
MS, a Lithuanian national, pleaded guilty to rape and attempted rape of his partner and was sentenced to three years imprisonment. The Secretary of State decided to deport him on grounds of public policy. The Secretary of State accepted that the appellants deportation could not be justified simply on the basis of his previous criminal conviction even of such a serious nature as rape and attempted rape.
The Upper Tribunal ruled: the appellant cannot be removed or deported as an EU national.
#24 VW (Lithuania)
VW, a Lithuanian national, entered the UK in 2005. On 8 August 2013, he was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman and later that year was sentenced to fifteen months imprisonment. The Secretary of State decided to deport VW.
The Immigration Judge found that VW was not remorseful for the behaviour that he inflicted upon the victim, but nevertheless decided that the Appellants behaviour does not come within the serious grounds of public policy, and therefore under EU law could not be deported.
On 27 October 2015, Mr Justice Holgate, sitting in the Upper Tribunal (Asylum and Immigration Chamber) dismissed the Home Secretarys appeal, ruling the decision must stand.
#25 VB (Lithuania)
VB, a Lithuanian national, was sentenced to three years imprisonment for offences involving the trafficking of women for prostitution. The Crown Court Judge recommended that she be deported.
On 26 October 2008, Senior Immigration Judge Richard McKee held that there was nothing to justify her deportation in EU law.
#26 MP (Portugal)
MP, a Portuguese national, entered the UK in October 2000. Between 11 October 2002 and 17 September 2013, the appellant was convicted on ten occasions for seventeen offences, including one sexual offence, three offences against the person, four public order offences, two relating to the police and courts and one drugs offence. On 20 August 2013, at Mold Crown Court, the appellant was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm contrary to s.47 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 and sentenced to fifteen months imprisonment. The Secretary of State decided to deport him on grounds of public policy.
In April 2015, the Upper Tribunal ruled that his deportation was inconsistent with EU law.
Part 4. Drug offences
#27 Mantas Baibokas
Baibokas, a Lithuanian citizen, first came to the attention of the authorities in 2008 for driving while under the influence of alcohol and for using a vehicle without a test certificate. In 2012, he was convicted of possession of amphetamine with intent to supply, after 7 kilogrammes of amphetamine sulphate were found in a jet ski in his garage. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
In February 2014, Mr Justice Jay, sitting in the Upper Tribunal, stated expulsion cannot be justified on the grounds of public policy and would be in breach of the EEA Regulations.
#28 Eddie Karwhoo
Karwhoo, a French national, was convicted of the fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on the importation of a Class A drug and was sentenced to nine years imprisonment. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
On 25 November 2013, Lord Matthews, sitting in the Upper Tribunal, concluded that deportation would be unlawful under EU law.
#29 HAD (Austria)
HAD, an Austrian citizen, was convicted in 2011 of possessing a class A controlled drug with intent to supply and sentenced to 8 years and 6 months imprisonment.
On 27 July 2015, the Upper Tribunal ruled that his deportation would be inconsistent with EU law.
#30 Kingsley Chukwudinma Nwanekwu
In 2011, Nwanekwu, a German citizen, was convicted of being knowingly concerned in fraudulent evasion of prohibition or restriction on importation of Class A controlled drugs, and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment exceeding eight-and-a-half years.
The Secretary of State decided he should be deported from the UK.
In May 2015, Upper Tribunal Judge Reeds found that this decision was disproportionate and inconsistent with EU law. He explained that the legal regime for deporting EU criminals is different and can properly described as more restrictive than that for foreign national criminals the Appellants criminal conviction, whilst serious, cannot justify a decision to deport him as an EU national on public policy grounds.
#31 AA (Nigeria/Norway)
AA was a Nigerian with Norwegian citizenship whose case was governed by the Free Movement Directive because that Directive is incorporated into the European Economic Area agreement.
In August 2010, AA was convicted of the importation of one kilogram of a class A drug, cocaine, and was sentenced to six years imprisonment. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
The Upper Tribunal Judge stated that he was bound to express my disquiet at the case of an individual who has committed so serious an offence as to merit a period of six years imprisonment being permitted to remain in the United Kingdom.
Nonetheless, both the Upper Tribunal and the Court of Appeal agreed that his removal would be contrary to EU law.
#32 Justin Ewengue
Ewengue, a French national, was convicted of four counts of possession of control drugs (class A) with intent to supply and one count of possession of class A drugs. He was sentenced to four years 10 months on each count to run concurrently. Between April and December 2012, he had a significant role in the commercial supply of drugs at street level. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
In May 2015, the Upper Tribunal found that, as a matter of EU law, there were no imperative grounds of public security to justify the removal of the Appellant and that his removal could not be justified.
#33 Siegnerella Elaine Flaneur
Flaneur, a Dutch national, was apprehended at Belfast Airport in connection with the attempted importation of 136 grammes of cocaine. She was sentenced to two-and-a-half years imprisonment. The Secretary of State decided to deport her.
The Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland quashed the deportation order on the ground it was inconsistent with EU law.
#34 Siegnette Elaine Flaneur
Flaneur, a Dutch national, was apprehended at Belfast Airport in connection with the attempted importation of 136 grammes of cocaine. She was sentenced to three years imprisonment. The Secretary of State decided to deport her.
The Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland quashed the deportation order on the ground it was inconsistent with EU law.
#35 Bruno Ferreira Melo
Melo, a Portuguese national, was convicted of attempted importation of LSD into the UK and sentenced to twenty months imprisonment. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
The Upper Tribunal ruled that his removal would be contrary to EU law.
#36 Rui Paulino Cardoso Viera De Almedia
De Almedia, a Portuguese national, was convicted of fourteen offences on nine occasions, including the supply of Class A drugs, for which he was sentenced to sixteen months imprisonment in 2012. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
In November 2013, the Upper Tribunal decided that EU law prevented his removal.
#37 Tomasz Kazimierz Michalik
Michalik, a Polish citizen, was convicted of abstracting electricity and production of cannabis as part of a commercial operation. He was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
The Upper Tribunal ruled it would be illegal under EU law to remove him to Poland.
#38 Alberto Braganca Cassama
Cassama, a Portuguese national, arrived in the UK in 2012 and in 2013 was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment for conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis.
On 11 August 2014, the Upper Tribunal allowed his appeal against deportation from the UK on the grounds that it would be inconsistent with EU law.
#39 Marcin Zajaczkowski
Zajaczkowski, a Polish national, was convicted of cultivating cannabis and sentenced to twelve months imprisonment. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
In August 2014, this decision was ruled to be illegal under EU law.
Part 5. Offences of dishonesty
#40 Benedetto Vassallo
Vassallo, an Italian national has been convicted on 31 separate occasions of 68 offences in the UK, including numerous offences of burglary, which, have resulted in custodial sentences ranging in length from 14 days to 54 months.
He has also been convicted in Switzerland for burglary, criminal damage and a public order offence and in Sweden for burglary.
In May 2012, he was sentenced to 28 months imprisonment for the burglary of an elderly couples home. The Secretary of State ordered his deportation.
However, in January 2016, the Court of Appeal ruled this was inconsistent with EU law.
#41 Dimitris Tsavdaris
Tsavdaris, a Greek national, has been convicted of 20 criminal offences, the first in October 1999. On 2nd July 2004, he was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment for an offence of permitting premises to be used for the supply of Class A drugs. On 14th October 2005 he was convicted of theft from a motor vehicle and destruction of property, for which he was sentenced to 2 months imprisonment. He was released from prison on 16th February 2005.
The Secretary of State decided to deport him, and he was detained for that purpose between 28 May and 5 December 2006. He was then released unconditionally.
In February 2014, Mrs Justice Lang ruled that in light of the difficulties EU law put in the way of his deportation, his detention was unlawful, entitling him to damages.
#42 Joseph Miranda
Miranda, a Portuguese citizen, was convicted in December 2013 of burglary with intent to steal. He had previous convictions for robbery in 2003, six offences of theft and deception between 2005 and 2007, three offences of false representation between 2007 and 2013, shoplifting, and failing to surrender to custody in 2013. The Secretary of State ordered his deportation.
The Upper Tribunal Judge said that there are not in this appeal imperative grounds of public security to be considered, however unpleasant it may be for members of British society to have to endure and suffer from the criminal activities of the appellant and that his removal was inconsistent with EU law, despite the fact he was a persistent and public offender.
#43 Raimodas Budraitis
Budraitis, a Lithuanian citizen, was first convicted in the UK for burglary in 2008 and for a second time in 2009. Thereafter, he was convicted of shoplifting. In total, he has 11 convictions for 23 offences, including several in Lithuania. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
This was ruled to be contrary to EU law by the Upper Tribunal.
#44 Carlos Miguel Lopas Cristo
Cristo, a Portuguese citizen, accumulated 11 convictions for 17 offences, including 11 theft and kindred offences and six offences relating to police/courts/prisons. He was then convicted of shoplifting and sentenced to 20 weeks imprisonment. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
The Upper Tribunal ruled that deporting him to Portugal would be inconsistent with EU law.
#45 Vladas Juocys
Juocys, a Lithuanian national, was sentenced to five years imprisonment for very serious tax offences. He had previous convictions for things of which he ought to be ashamed, including driving with excess alcohol, driving while uninsured, failing to surrender to custody, and interfering with an insurance document with intent to deceive. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
In December 2013, the Upper Tribunal noted: It is trite law that EEA nationals who commit criminal offences in the United Kingdom are not in the same position as foreign nationals. The power to make a deportation order against them is regulated by the European Economic Area Regulations of 2006 which purposefully make it difficult to remove a person from the jurisdiction if they are in fact an EEA national. It ruled his removal would be illegal under EU law.
#46 Darius Kersys
In January 2013, Kersys, a Lithuanian national, was convicted of three offences of identity fraud, by which he and his wife used bank cards belonging to a vulnerable elderly neighbour whom they had befriended in order to obtain sums of money totalling about 112,000 from his bank account after his death. The Judge described the crime as a mean-spirited and nasty piece of offending and sentenced him to two-and-a-half years imprisonment .
The Court of Appeal ruled that his removal was inconsistent with EU law, with Lord Justice Moore-Bick stating the case falls far short of the threshold for deportation.
#47 Mubarik Essa
Essa, a Dutch national, was convicted of conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced to 27 months imprisonment. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
The First-tier Tribunal ruled it is not shown that imperative grounds of public security are made out, holding that removal would be contrary to EU law. The Upper Tribunal dismissed the Secretary of States appeal.
#48 Mohammed Essa
Essa, a Dutch national, was convicted of conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced to 27 months imprisonment. The Secretary of State decided to deport him.
The First-tier Tribunal ruled it is not shown that imperative grounds of public security are made out, holding that removal would be contrary to EU law. The Upper Tribunal dismissed the Secretary of States appeal in October 2014.
Part 6. Other offences
#49 Arturs Visockis
Visockis, a Latvian national, was convicted of shoplifting, then for four counts of theft and breach of a conditional discharge. In 2012, he was sentenced to thirty seven months imprisonment for escape from lawful custody and burglary.
In November 2013, the Upper Tribunal ruled his removal would be contrary to his rights under EU law.
#50 Bento Helder De Oliveira
De Oliveira, a Portuguese national, was convicted of a serious offence and sentenced to 20 months imprisonment. The Secretary of States attempts to deport him were held to be illegal under EU law.
LONDON - England - A panicking PM, David Cameron today released another flurry of false information trying to back up his failing bid to keep Britain in a moribund, corrupt EU. The PMs latest false claims were summarily debunked in full.
What the experts say on David Camerons claims this morning:
On promises of opt outs from Eurozone bailouts. George Osborne has said, when it comes to the EU forcing the UK to bailout Eurozone countries, the Commission has acted in flagrant breach of the agreement wed all signed up to in 2011.
On the rebate. George Osborne 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.
On the ability to veto future EU Treaties. George Osborne has said: Rather than stand in your way, or veto the Treaty amendments required, we, in Britain, can support you in the Eurozone make the lasting changes that you need to see strengthen the euro. In return, you can help us make the changes we need to safeguard the interests of those economies who are not in the Eurozone. David Cameron says: we will not stand in the way of those developments. His renegotiation (which he claims is legally-binding and irreversible) requires the UK to facilitate Eurozone integration.
On an economic shock hitting the public finances. David Cameron has said that trade will continue after we Vote Leave and we should not believe scaremongering: If we were outside the EU altogether, wed still be trading with all these European countries, of course we would Of course the trading would go on Theres a lot of scaremongering on all sides of this debate. Of course the trading would go on.
Responding to David Camerons comments at an impromptu press conference in London this morning, Douglas Carswell MP said:
The In campaign is in a blind panic. David Camerons renegotiation was a failure no-one believes he got a deal worth the paper it was written on. Now people are rejecting his campaign of fear. The Prime Minister says we need a proper debate about the facts but he is too chicken to take on anyone from the Vote Leave campaign head-to-head.
David Cameron and George Osborne have both admitted that they have given up our right to veto future EU treaties, that the EU has ignored us in the past over bailouts and they know their guarantees on the renegotiation are about as trustworthy as their mate Nick Cleggs pledges on tuition fees. On 23 June, the public have a choice: if they trust David Cameron and other EU politicians they should vote in. If not, they should Vote Leave to take back control.
The six claims made by the Prime Minister: The Facts
The Prime Minister claims that the UK is not liable to bailout the Eurozone. The Eurozone has broken its promises before, as Osborne has admitted.
The Prime Minister claims the UK rebate is secure. Osborne completely disagrees with him.
The Prime Minister claims that we have not given up our right to veto new EU Treaties. His own renegotiation agreement and Chancellor have contradicted this.
The Prime Minister claims that the MFF is falling and the UK will block its increase. This is unreal.
The Prime Minister claims we can block an EU army. We cannot block EU permanent structured cooperation in defence and Cameron may have promised support for the proposal to Germany as part of his renegotiation.
The Prime Minister claimed there would not be an additional 8 billion to spend on public services. There would be 10.6 billion. Not even David Cameron believes there will be an economic shock.
The Prime Minister claims that the UK is not liable to bailout the Eurozone. The Eurozone has broken its promises before, as Osborne has admitted.
Article 122(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU still allows the Council of Ministers by qualified majority to grant Union financial assistance as part of ad hoc bailouts of the Eurozone.
The European Court has consistently ruled that the establishment of Eurozone-only bailout mechanisms does not affect the EUs powers under article 122(2). In 2012, it ruled that: The establishment of the ESM [European Stability Mechanism, a eurozone-only fund] does not affect the power of the Union to grant, on the basis of art.122(2) TFEU, ad hoc financial assistance to a Member State when it is found that that Member State is in difficulties or is seriously threatened with severe difficulties caused by natural disasters or exceptional occurrences beyond its control. In September 2015, the EUs General Court confirmed that article 122(2) enables the Union to grant ad hoc financial assistance to a Member State.
Until this Treaty provision is changed, the UK will be liable to bailout the Eurozone. The Treaties remain unamended.
The Prime Minister previously claimed that he had secured a deal to protect the UK from Eurozone bailouts, saying look too at what we have achieved already. Ending Britains obligation to bail-out Eurozone members.
This promise was quickly broken. On 17 July 2015, contrary to the 2011 agreement, the Commission decided to use the EFSM to grant 7.16 billion in bridging finance to Greece. George Osborne later accepted that the Commission had acted in flagrant breach of the agreement wed all signed up to in 2011.
The new deal is in a document that is widely regarded to not be legally binding. The EU has the legal right to force the UK into Eurozone bailouts and will break its promises again.
The Prime Minister claims the UK rebate is secure. Osborne disagrees with him.
Not even George Osborne believes David Cameron. He 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.
Osborne has said that: the rebate involves a discussion between member states and the European Commission, which is why we were discussing with the Commission, in parallel, the size of the British rebate If the rebate was always going to apply, and to such an extent, why did neither he nor any other Labour Member raise the matter? we were engaged in the intensive discussions to nail down the rebate it was not clear that the rebate would apply.
David Cameron previously said the Blair Governments plan to give up the rebate in return for CAP reform is not an unreasonable position.
The Executive Director of the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign, Will Straw, has previously called for the rebate to be scrapped in its entirety.
The only legal basis for the rebate is a 2014 Council Decision which expires five years after the referendum.
The Prime Minister claims that we have not given up our right to veto new EU Treaties. His own renegotiation agreement and Chancellor have contradicted this.
David Camerons renegotiation agreement (which he claims is legally binding and irreversible) states that: Member States not participating in the further deepening of the economic and monetary union will not create obstacles to but facilitate such further deepening. It also obliges the UK to refrain from measures which could jeopardise the attainment of the objectives of economic and monetary union.. This means the UK is committing to support the planned new EU Treaty.
The Five Presidents Report contains the Commissions proposals for this new Treaty. These include more powers over social security systems, company law, insolvency law, property rights and taxation.
The Government was clear it gave up the veto in return for other member states agreeing to its renegotiation. George Osborne said: So let me be candid: there is a deal to be done and we can work together. Rather than stand in your way, or veto the Treaty amendments required, we, in Britain, can support you in the Eurozone make the lasting changes that you need to see strengthen the euro. In return, you can help us make the changes we need to safeguard the interests of those economies who are not in the Eurozone.
David Cameron has said we will not stand in the way of those developments, as long as we can be sure that there are mechanisms in place to ensure that our own interests are fully protected. He believes this happened during his renegotiation.
There is also no prospect of the UK vetoing accession Treaties, which the Prime Minister and Foreign Office strongly support.
The Prime Minister claims that the MFF is falling and the UK will block its increase. This is unreal.
If we vote to remain we will have lost all of our political capital. It is commonly accepted that the EU has overspent and will need to increase its spending ceilings.
A briefing note for the European Parliament states that implementation of the 2014-2020 MFF has already proven to be challenging, even in its first two years This raises questions about the functioning of the MFF through to 2020, and, in particular, about the adequacy of the agreed spending ceilings the budgetary authority has already had to resort to almost all the special, last-resort, levers and flexibility instruments provided for in the MFF Regulation.
British politicians have constantly failed to use the veto on the MFF. In 2005 when Tony Blair went to negotiate the MFF he had a veto and promised to secure fundamental changes. He ended up securing no reform but gave up half of the UKs rebate.
The Prime Minister claims we can block an EU army. We cannot block EU permanent structured cooperation in defence and Cameron may have promised support for the proposal to Germany as part of his renegotiation.
The EU Treaties allow other member states to establish permanent structured cooperation in defence. The UK has no power to block this step which would undermine NATO.
It has also been widely reported that David Cameron did a deal with Germany in which he agreed to support a euro army in return for the EU agreeing to his renegotiation.
The Prime Minister claimed there would not be an additional 8 billion to spend on public services. There would be 10.6 billion. Not even David Cameron believes there will be an economic shock.
He was right. The UKs net contribution to the EU in 2015 was 10.6 billion, not 8 billion.
Claims about a shock and decline in trade which would hit the public finances have been disputed by David Cameron: If we were outside the EU altogether, wed still be trading with all these European countries, of course we would Of course the trading would go on Theres a lot of scaremongering on all sides of this debate. Of course the trading would go on.
BRUSSELS - Belgium - New rulings unveiled today by the European Court of Justice threaten the integrity of our borders, and increases the risk that illegal immigrants will be able to enter the UK.
Commenting on the European Court of Justices rulings this morning, Dominic Raab MP said:
These rulings by the European Court of Justice threaten the integrity of our borders, and create serious risks for our security. Its also a stark illustration of our loss of proper democratic control to the EU over a sensitive area of policy.
The ruling increases the risk that illegal immigrants will be able to enter the UK, because it weakens the ability of other EU governments to put in place proper checks. The EU is simply not fit for purpose, and the only way to take back control is to Vote Leave on 23 June.
The European Court has prevented EU member states in the Schengen Area from imprisoning persons who entered their territory from another EU member illegally without first applying the EU Returns Directive. This gives illegal entrants thirty days to return voluntarily. The decision will help illegal entrants to come to the UK. It could mean illegal migrants are released from detention. The ruling follows a marked increase in persons using forged documents to enter the UK from the EU. The European Court has also made it harder to remove asylum seekers to safe third countries within the EU. This will make it more difficult for the UK to remove illegal entrants who have already claimed asylum in another member state. The European Court also delayed removals of asylum seekers from the UK, on the sole ground their asylum application in another member state was more than three months old. The European Court has prevented EU member states in the Schengen Area from imprisoning persons who entered their territory from another EU member illegally without first applying the EU Returns Directive. This gives illegal entrants thirty days to return voluntarily. The decision will help illegal entrants to come to the UK. It could mean illegal migrants are released from detention.
Ms Affum, a Ghanaian national, was on a bus from Ghent to London. She was stopped by police officers at the entrance to the Channel Tunnel. After presenting a Belgian passport with the name and photograph of another person, and lacking any other identity or travel document in her name, she was placed in police custody on the ground of illegal entry into French territory. She was placed in administrative detention with a view to her return to Belgium.
The European Court held it was unlawful to imprison third country nationals for illegal entry unless the return procedure under EU law had been completed. The Court states that: the Member States cannot permit third country nationals in respect of whom the return procedure established by Directive 2008/115 has not yet been completed to be imprisoned merely on account of illegal entry, resulting in an illegal stay. A return decision in principle shall provide for an appropriate period for voluntary departure of between seven and thirty days. This will make it easier for illegal entrants to come to the UK.
The court held France could not exclude Ms Afum from this rule because she had entered from another country within the Schengen Area.
The European Courts ruling follows a marked increase in persons using forged documents to enter the UK from the EU.
The EUs own Frontex Agency has noted that: The number of persons aiming to get to the UK with fraudulent document significantly increased (+70%) compared to 2014. This trend is mostly attributable to the increasing number of Albanian nationals often misusing Italian and Greek ID cards followed by Ukrainian nationals abusing authentic Polish ID cards.
EU law permits EU nationals to enter the UK using identity cards, despite the high rate of forgery.
The European Court has also made it harder to remove asylum seekers to safe third countries within the EU. This will make more difficult for the UK to remove illegal entrants who have already claimed asylum in another member state.
Mr Ghezelbash is an Iranian national who applied for asylum in the Netherlands in March 2014, having already made an asylum application in France. The French authorities agreed to take him back under the Dublin Regulation. The UK is bound by the Dublin Regulation.
Mr Ghezelbash requested his application be examined under the extended asylum application procedure in order to take full account of the documents produced by him.
The Court ruled that the EU did not confine itself to introducing organisational rules simply governing relations between Member States for the purpose of determining the Member State responsible, but decided to involve asylum seekers in that process by obliging Member States to inform them of the criteria for determining responsibility and to provide them with an opportunity to submit information relevant to the correct interpretation of those criteria, and by conferring on asylum seekers the right to an effective remedy in respect of any transfer decision that may be taken at the conclusion of that process.
The Court stated that: the EU legislature did not provide for any specific link or, a fortiori, any exclusive link between the right to an effective remedy and the possibility that an asylum seeker might be subject to inhuman and degrading treatment.
This means that asylum seekers in the UK can object to being removed to another EU country in which they made an asylum claim, even if there is no risk of them being subject to persecution there.
The European Court also delayed removals of asylum seekers from the UK, on the sole ground their asylum application in another member state was more than three months old.
The Swedish Government attempted to return Mr Karim, a Syrian national, to Slovenia. He applied for asylum in 2014 in Sweden, having already done so in Slovenia in May 2013. The Slovenian authorities agreed to take him back.
The European Court held that because Mr Karim had been outside Slovenia for more than three months, his application in Sweden is to be regarded as a new application giving rise to a new procedure for determining the Member State responsible and that the Member State in which the new asylum application was made is required to complete the process for determining the Member State responsible for examining that new application.
The Court held as a result that Mr Karim could challenge the summary decision to remove him because he had been outside Slovenia for more than three months .
Mumbai: RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on Tuesday said he is not "overly perturbed" by surrender of Payments Bank licences by some companies but indicated that there could be a mechanism to ensure that entities apply for licences after due diligence as there is a cost involved in vetting them.
Three entitiesTech Mahindra, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company and a consortium of Dilip Shanghvi, IDFC Bank and Telenor Financial Serviceshave decided to back out of the Payments Bank licencing.
"We are not overly perturbed that some people decided after analysis that they would not go forward. In fact it suggests that licencing has been adequately liberal and that we have a variety of players coming in," he said at a press conference after announcing the second bi-monthly monetary policy for the current fiscal.
Last August, RBI gave in-principle approval to 11 applicants including Department of Posts, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Airtel M Commerce Services, Fino PayTech, National Securities Depository, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra and Vodafone m-pesa for setting up payments banks.
Rajan said: "We gave out licences to anybody we thought have the appropriate qualifications to run a Payments Bank. We presume that they also analysed potential business prospects.
After doing further analysis and seeing the other players who are coming in, some of them decided to back off.
"My sense is that the Payment Bank works particularly well for those who have base of operations and many contact points and therefore can built upon that and the classic example is somebody affiliated with mobile company with many kiosk through which you can do cash in cash out," he explained.
He said however that there is a cost in scrutinising licence applications as lot of information is sought and various government agencies are involved. "People will decide they will come in or not. People should also acknowledge the fact that it imposes some cost on assessors to go through the application. We ask a lot of information from various government agencies," he said.
So, going forward, "we have to find some way that people devote adequate time to understanding whether in fact they should apply or not. The days where licences were rationed and therefore you had to get the licences otherwise you would not get down the line we hope is in the passe", he added.
He cautioned that people should not go in for licences just because it is a valuable property but must have intention of doing the business. "Don't just go in for licence because it's a valuable property to have but instead do the due diligence on your own.
And when you apply, it should be with the intent of fully carrying out...we not overly perturbed by some people decided to back out," he added.
Mumbai: Arundhati Bhattacharya, the first woman chairperson of the nation's largest bank SBI, has been ranked among the top five most powerful women in finance by the Forbes magazine.
Bhattacharya has moved up five spots from the previous year to 5th this year, SBI said in a statement. She is also ranked 25th in Forbes' list of 'The World's 100 Most Powerful Women', which features top female leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, scientists, philanthropists and CEOs.
Bhattacharya has been instrumental in transforming the over 200 year-old bank into technology-driven lender with SBIiNTOUCH digital banking outlet, mobile wallet State Bank Buddy, State Bank Anywhere - a retail internet banking based application for smartphones, SBI Tech Learning Centres for educating customers and SBI e-Pay, a payment aggregator service, among others.
Under her leadership, SBI grew its network to around 17,000 branches and services over 330 million customers with presence in 36 countries.
Telecom Secretary J S Deepak will deliberate on the problem of call drop, investments in the sector and ongoing policy reforms. (Representational image)
New Delhi: Telecom Secretary J S Deepak will deliberate on the problem of call drop, investments in the sector and ongoing policy reforms with CEOs of service providers on June 10.
"There will be a number of issues that will be discussed at the meeting (on June 10). It will include call drop, investments, policy reforms and overall status of telecom sector," Deepak told reporters on the sidelines of India Satcom today.
Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has asked the Department of Telecom to look into radio-link timeout technology allegedly used by mobile operators, along with Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
The latest test drive conducted in Delhi by the Trai found Aircel and Vodafone to be using RLT beyond the levels their peers follow. RLT is one of the parameters which decides for how long the call should be sustained if the signal quality drops below a certain threshold.
As per an official source, some telecom operators are using it for masking call drops, resulting in higher bills for subscribers. Besides this, telecom sector is gearing up for one of biggest spectrum auctions of all time in which airwaves worth at least Rs 5.66 crore will be put up for sale. Industry has requested the government to defer auction of 700 Mhz frequency band which alone accounts for about Rs 4 lakh crore.
The DoT has also decided to take up one pending policy measure every month. The Department is presently working to frame guidelines to roll out telecom infrastructure across the country to ease hurdles that industry face.
The proposed Right of Way guidelines, if finalised, will help expeditious roll-out of telecom infrastructure as well as improve quality of service, reduce call drop and cost of setting up networks.
Switzerland promised on Monday to work with Indian authorities to tackle tax dodgers who stash money in Swiss bank accounts to avoid Indian taxes.
After talks in Geneva with Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann and round-table discussions with Swiss businessmen, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the two countries had agreed to make combating tax evasion and "black money" a shared priority.
"We discussed the need for an early and expeditious exchange of information to bring to justice the tax offenders. An early start to negotiations on the Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Information would be important in this respect," he said, referring to a portal supported by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Modi promised in his 2014 election campaign to recover billions of dollars sent to tax havens abroad to avoid income tax, now about 30 per cent in India. Schneider-Ammann said no figure had been put on the amount of "black money" to be recovered. Talks would begin later this month, he said.
Modi said Switzerland had also agreed to support its bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which it applied to join last month, having won a waiver in 2008 that accorded it the right to trade in commercial nuclear technology.
New Delhi's bid for full membership of the 48-nation club, if granted, would tip the balance of power in South Asia against its arch-rival Pakistan, whose own application has been backed by China despite questions over its proliferation record.
Modi tacked on Switzerland and Mexico as extra stops on a five-country tour to seek their support on joining the NSG. He left Switzerland for Washington, where U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to offer his backing also.
Both Switzerland and Mexico have been viewed as skeptical about India's bid for nuclear legitimacy. They are among countries concerned that India has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a step that would require New Delhi to give up its nuclear arsenal.
The nuclear club holds its annual meeting later this month.
Among the proposed changes, Sebi plans to remove the restriction on the SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) to invest in other SPVs holding the assets, which in turn would allow REITs to invest in a holding company owning stake in SPVs.
New Delhi: With an aim to make REITs more attractive to investors, markets regulator Sebi plans to relax its norms to allow these Trusts to invest more in under- construction assets and have a larger number of sponsors.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had put in place its regulations for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in September 2014, but these Trusts have not generated enough interest among investors and industry players who have been seeking further measures to make them attractive.
While the government has already announced various taxation related and other sops for REITs, Sebi has now decided to further amend its regulations by taking into account representations received from various quarters.
A proposal to amend REIT Regulations would be placed before Sebi's Board next week, after which a consultation paper would be floated for seeking further comments from various stakeholders before making the final changes to the norms, a senior official said.
A consultation process is already underway for making the InViT (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) Regulations. Besides representations from the industry for making changes to REIT Regulations, Sebi has also held several meetings with market participants and industry bodies including about steps required to smoothen the process of seeking registration with Sebi and launching of an offer.
India's real estate sector has grown rapidly in recent years and the growing scale of operations of corporate sector has increased the demand for commercial buildings, office spaces, shopping centres, warehouses and conference centres.
For such assets, REITs have been preferred investment vehicles globally and can be so in India too. Among the proposed changes, Sebi plans to remove the restriction on the SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) to invest in other SPVs holding the assets, which in turn would allow REITs to invest in a holding company owning stake in SPVs. It is being proposed that the REIT would hold controlling interest and at least 50 per cent equity in the Holding Company.
The Holding Company can in turn hold controlling interest and at least 50 per cent equity in underlying SPV. A large proportion of real estate projects in India are financed by financial institutions on project-finance basis where lenders require a pledge on shares of the SPV.
In such cases, if the SPV is held directly by the SPV, the lenders would want pledge of the SPV shares held by the REIT and this might not be attractive for REIT investors with the existing restriction.
Currently, an SPV is required to hold at least 80 per cent of its assets directly and cannot invest in other SPVs. Another proposed move is to allow the REITs to have up to five sponsors, as against the current norm for maximum three.
Priyanka Chopra was snapped at the Mumbai airport today. (Photo: Viral Bhayani)
Mumbai: Bollywoods Desi Girl Priyanka Chopra returned back to Mumbai on Tuesday (June, 7) after attending the last rites of her grandmother. Dressed in a white basic t-shirt over a blue ripped jeans, the actress completed her chic look by putting on an ivory coloured jacket.
Styled by Ami Patel, Priyanka, who is in town for a short period, looked extremely stylish in outfit by Theory.
Priyanka Chopra was all smiles for the shutterbugs. (Photo: Viral Bhayani)
On work front, well soon see the Quantico star dazzling away her fans in her Hollywood film Baywatch where she plays the role of a baddie named Victoria Leeds.
The film also stars Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron in the lead roles. The film will hit silver screens in 2017.
After converting his bachelor pad into a love nest for wife Mira, Shahid Kapoor is now getting ready for a new change in his life parenthood. The actor, who is expecting his first child in September, is making special arrangements for the babys arrival.
According to reports, Shahid is converting one of his many rooms into the babys room and is converting his powder room into a proper shower-cum-toilet. Shahids sea-facing pad in Juhu, originally had a dance studio in the basement, which was the actor and his younger brother used to perfect their grooves, apart from partying with friends. The upper deck of the house boasts of one large master bedroom with a bathroom, dining area, kitchen, hall and sprawling lawns.
No words needed A video posted by Shahid Kapoor (@shahidkapoor) on Feb 16, 2016 at 4:44am PST
Shahid is taking his daddy duties very seriously and apart from making his home as comfortable as possible for Mira, he has also been treating her to relaxing vacations abroad. In-between his hectic Rangoon shoots, Shahid and Mira snuck away to London and the Maldives for some alone time together.
Current vibe . A photo posted by Shahid Kapoor (@shahidkapoor) on Oct 31, 2015 at 5:23am PDT
On the work front, Shahid's 'Udta Punjab' has hit a roadblock with the censor board demanding over 80 cuts and wanting to take out 'Punjab' from the title. The film was scheduled to hit theatres on June 17.
Rumours doing the rounds stated that Hrithik will be playing the part of 'Jack Sparrow' essayed by Johnny Depp.
Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan is currently working on his romantic drama Kaabil, however, there is a a lot of buzz surrounding his next film titled Thug. Rumours had it that the movie will be on the lines of Pirates of the Caribbean and that Hrithik will be playing the part of 'Jack Sparrow' essayed by Hollywood star Johnny Depp.
Vijay Krishna Acharya, who has signed the 42-year-old actor for the action adventure flick dismissed those rumours saying it was not inspired by the popular Hollywood movie.
"The film with Hrithik is not as reported. It is not on the lines of Pirates of the Caribbean. The film has all elements like drama, action, humour, romance, song. It's an action adventure film," revealed the sources.
A formal announcement regarding the movie, that is being produced by Yash Raj, is to be made soon. The Bang Bang star will be seen next in Ashutosh Gowariker's Mohenjo Daro, a period drama.
Meanwhile Hrithik is currently working with Yami Gautam, in director Sanjay Gupta's Kaabil. In an exclusive interview with DC, Yami revealed that both stars will be playing a blind couple in the film. It also happens to be the first film where the lead pair is blind.
Anurag's tweet came after the Censor Board raised certain objections regarding references to Punjab.
Anurag Kashyap, one of the producers of Udta Punjab, has compared the ongoing censorship regarding his upcoming film to the dictator regime of North Korea. The Bombay Velvet director expressed his angst on his social networking handle, saying that there was no sense of freedom.
"I always wondered what it felt like to live in North Korea... Ab to plane pakadney ki bhi zaroorat nahin...," he posted on Twitter.
I always wondered what it felt like to live in North Korea .. Ab to plane pakadney ki bhi zaroorat nahin.. Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 6, 2016
The 43-year-old filmmaker's tweet came after the Censor Board had purportedly raised certain objections regarding references to Punjab following which the movie may have to go through some changes.
Apart from asking to take Punjab out of the films title, the board has asked the makers to make 89 cuts in the film for it to release with an A rating.
Joseph Ka Mukadama was a Hindi play adaptation of which famous Czech novel?? We are back there Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 6, 2016
@NeetalSengar your pride devoid of truth is gonna come back and bite in your ass so hard and no one will be around to hear you scream Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 6, 2016
Udta Punjab, starring Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor
Khan, Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosanjh in a pivotal role, deals with the substance abuse in Northen part of the state and its effects on the youth.
"There is no film more honest than UDTA PUNJAB... And any person or party opposing it is actually GUILTY of promoting drugs," Kashyap added.
There is no film more honest than UDTA PUNJAB .. And any person or party opposing it is actually GUILTY of promoting drugs Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 6, 2016
The director later chose to clarify his statement, saying it was the censor board and the 'dictatorial man' sitting at the head, which felt like North Korea to him.
It's my fight Vs a dictatorial man sitting there operating like an oligarch in his constituency of censor board, that's my North Korea Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 7, 2016
Anurag also asked all political parties including the National Congress Party and the AAP, to step back as he felt this was his personal fight against the board and that he didn't want them 'colouring' it with any 'political affiliation'.
I request Congress, AAP and other political parties to stay out of my battle. It's my Rights vs the Censorship. I speak only on my behalf Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 7, 2016
Rest of you go pick your own fights. I will fight mine. Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 7, 2016
So please don't colour my fight with any political affiliation because there is none. Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 7, 2016
The Bollywood film fraternity also tok to their social media handles last evening to rally behind 'Udta Punjab'. Filmmakers Mahesh Bhatt, Karan Johar, Hansal Mehta stepped up to vehemently criticise the board for their actions.
" Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance". Is Pahalaj Nihalani listening ? Mahesh Bhatt (@MaheshNBhatt) June 6, 2016
Delusion or collusion? Why is the establishment so scared of films that mirror reality? #UdtaPunjabCensored Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) June 6, 2016
Do not go gentle into that good night Bollywood! Rage, rage against this theatre of the absurd. #UdtaPunjabCensored Anupama Chopra (@anupamachopra) June 7, 2016
I guess the next step will be to submit scripts for censorship. #UdtaPunjabCensored Nikkhil Advani (@nikkhiladvani) June 7, 2016
#UdtaPunjab speaks of the reality of our times....censoring reality amounts to delusion.....the fraternity has to stand by what's right!! Karan Johar (@karanjohar) June 6, 2016
Anyone who says that drugs are not a problem in punjab is either unaware,complicit or has malafide intention #UdtaPunjab @_phoenix_fire_ soha ali khan (@sakpataudi) June 6, 2016
If instead of #UdtaPunjab they had called it Girta Punjab, perhaps, Censor would have cleared it as a realistic movie. #UdtaPunjab Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) June 6, 2016
Directed by Abhishek Chaubey, the 'Udta Punjab' is slated to release on June 17.
While Ranveer is busy shooting for 'Befikre', Deepika is currently shooting for a few endorsement deals.
Ranveer Singh and his lady love Deepika Padukone are all set to head out on a romantic getaway. The couple, who are on an all time career high with their respective projects- Ranveer with Aditya Chopras Befikre and Deepika with her Hollywood film xXx: The Return of Xander Cage- have spent the past few months away from each other.
According to recent reports, the two also had an alleged fallout, but those rumours were dismissed as a lovers tiff. Now, the Bajirao Mastani co-stars have prepared a long impending holiday together. Reports state that the lovebirds will head out on a European getaway along with their families.
Ranveer and Deepika have been going the distance to make their relationship work. In February, Ranveer visited Deepika and her xXx cast in Canada and the two even flew to Sri Lanka together to attend a friends wedding.
Deepika Padukone spotted at the Mumbai airport on Monday night.
The two are expected to leave after Ranveer wraps his 'Befikre' shoot in July. After wrapping work on 'xXx', Deepika flew to Budapest for a special song sequence for Homi Adajania's 'Raabta'. On her arrival in Mumbai, Deepika shoot a few endorsement deals.
She was spotted at the Mumbai airport on Monday night, believed to be catching a Bangalore bound flight to meet her family.
Deepika Padukone is reportedly flying to Bangalore to meet her family.
Deepika Padukone and her bodyguard had a hearty laugh on their way in to the airport.
Deepika Padukone paired her all white outfit with a long beige jacket.
The #southindianandproud stressed on the fact South Indian beauty is underappreciated in popular discourse. (Photo: Twitter)
Last week, a 19-year-old Singapore-based student Tricia Ferdinandt, wrote a long thread about being South Indian on Twitter in which she complained that South Asian beauty is always portrayed as being light-skin oriented and dark skin is hardly ever seen. She then went on to propose a hashtag that people could use to celebrate being a South Indian.
This led South Indian people to start posting their own pictures on Twitter to showcase their pride in possessing dark skin and facial features typically associated with them. Whats even better is that even men decided to take part in the Twitter trend and posted photos of themselves in South Indian attire on social media.
Check out some of the most awesome tweets that used the hashtag #southindianandproud posted by social media users:
hindustani-tamil-malayalee kutty sick & tired of my south indians being under-appreciated #SouthIndianAndProud pic.twitter.com/yFLjtoJbLU gulab jamun (@K0HIN00R) June 5, 2016
Why the hell not. Proud to be a Malayalee. Proud to be an Indian. #southindianandproud pic.twitter.com/guhpx2BSQy Shreedhya Kurup (@Shreedzter) June 6, 2016
Can't deny. Queens of Bollywood. One of the many reasons why - #SouthIndianAndProud pic.twitter.com/LDlhbYG4CL Ranveer's bae (@deepikasbae) June 6, 2016
Greater Noida: Tension returned to Bishada village in Dadri on Monday, after nine months of peace, as the family members of those accused of the Dadri lynching and residents defied prohibitory orders and held a panchayat to demand that an FIR be lodged against victim Mohammed Ikhlaqs family for cow slaughter.
The demand comes after a lab report on May 31 established that the meat found in the Dadri lynching victims house was that of a cow or its progeny. Since the report became public, the villagers, supported by some local leaders, had been pushing for a mahapanchayat and Dadri had been put on high alert.
Around 300 villagers of Bishada attended the panchayat at the temple in the centre of the village on Monday. It is the same temple from where the announcement on the night of September 28, 2015, had led to people gathering outside Ikhlaqs house to teach him a lesson for allegedly storing cow meat in his house. Mohammed Ikhlaq was killed that night. In Mondays meeting, senior villagers asked residents to give the district administration and police an ultimatum that they have 20 days to act on their demands, and, if the deadline was not met, they would call a mahapanchayat to decide their course of action.
We met the SSP and demanded the registering of an FIR against the family of Ikhlaq, said Sanjay Rana, father of Dadri lynching key accused Vishal.
Those in jail should be released: BJP leader
The Bharatiya Janata Party is being very vocal about its support of the demands of Dadri villagers. The question is that cow slaughter had taken place. The report has come and now an FIR should be lodged against those involved in cow slaughter. Those who have been locked up in jail should be released. The compensation should be withdrawn. Government should take back the three houses given to them, BJP leader Vinay Katiyar said on Monday.
Rana, who was formerly associated with the BJP, said, In the forensic report it is evident that Akhlaq did slaughter a cow. The government must take back all the compensation they have given to his family. If our children are being tried as criminals, the family of Ikhlaq should also be treated like one.
Villagers had met the SSP of Gautam Budh Nagar on Sunday and demanded that an FIR be registered against the family of Ikhlaq for slaughtering a cow and hurting their religious sentiments.
SSP Gautam Budh Nagar, Dharmendra Singh, said police officials are monitoring the situation in the village and that he is in touch with the villagers. I met the villagers and ordered an inquiry into their demands. A senior police official has already initiated the inquiry, he said.
Witnessing the entry of fringe group members into the village, we increased the police presence in the locality and asked officials of four nearby police stations to keep an eye on the situation, he said, adding that a Provincial Armed Constabulary company has also been deployed as a precautionary measure.
It was a simple gathering of villagers. It was a peaceful meeting that was conducted under the observation of police officials, the SSP said. The situation is under control, district magistrate N.P. Singh said, adding that he has appealed to the residents not to resort to violence. Political leaders should not politicise the matter as it is sub judice. Let the case proceed in court. They can put their views or evidence before the court. Nobody will be allowed to disturb law and order, the DM said.
The Congress has criticised the statements of BJP leaders, saying they will vitiate the atmosphere. Calling for a mahapanchayat and the statements being made after the forensic report came out are not proper. Whether it is the Centre or the state government, it should be stopped, Congress leader P.L. Punia said.
New Delhi: Delhi Police on Monday said it came across the name of another senior nephrologist in connection with the kidney racket busted in Apollo Hospital here last week.
It is suspected that a few kidney transplants, which were facilitated by the racketeers, were done by the doctor. However, so far there is no evidence to prove his intent but the roles of his personal secretaries are under scanner, an official privy to the investigation said.
During investigation, it has also emerged that some of the recipients who procured kidney from the racket had used forged documents to hide their addresses. The police has short-listed the names of three senior doctors from the hospital's in-house assessment committee for verifying documents related to transplants, the official said.
The three of them are likely to be questioned first as they had cleared the papers in connection with the surgeries under police scanner. Meanwhile, two particular donors associated with the racket are likely to be arrested, the official said.
Also, the teams which were sent across cities to nab the racket's kingpin, Rajukumar Rao, who is believed to be associated with similar rackets in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, are likely to return by tomorrow.
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. Two more prominent private hospitals in the city have come under the police scanner.
With the arrest of five persons, including the personal secretaries of a senior nephrologist 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.
Police has 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.
Earlier, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals had 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."
AAP government sets up 5-member probe panel
The AAP government in Delhi on Monday set up a five-member panel to investigate the kidney racket and asked it to submit its report within 15 days.
Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain said the committee wold probe whether there were procedural lapses on the part of the hospital.
The probe panel, headed by Dr D K Tampe, dean of Maulana Azad Medical College, has been asked to submit an interim report within one week.
Special panel will investigate whether laid down approval protocols were followed by the hospital. It will also re-examine the documentation and interview process by the authorisation committee of the hospital concerned, said a senior government official.
The minister said that the committee will also give suggestions on updating a list of guiding principles and best practices in the area of organ donation.
The committee is directed to submit an interim report regarding the five cases of organ sale detected so far within one week and a detailed report within a fortnight, said an order issued by the health and family welfare department.
Chennai: Over 5,000 advocates from across Tamil Nadu took out a rally in Chennai Monday demanding that the Madras High Court withdraw its recent amendment to the Advocates Act enabling the High court to debar erring advocates. The advocates, led by Madras High Court Advocates Association, threatened to stage an indefinite protest till the notification, amended on May 25 by the Madras high court as per the Supreme Court verdict in R K Anand case of 2009, was withdrawn.
The procession, commencing from Triplicane police station on Walajah Road at 11 am, culminated near Chepauk Government guesthouse. While advocates carried placards highlighting their demands, vehicles and tableaux also took part in the rally. A chariot carried an advocate attired like the Just King Manu Needhi Cholan, a Chola emperor who ruled in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka and famous for dispensing justice in an even manner, even executing his son for a heinous religious crime against a cow.
Advocates from over 135 Bar Associations from 35 districts, including Puducherry, took part in the agitation. Addressing the gathering, R C Paul Kanagaraj, president, MHAA, said advocates would face serious difficulties in pursuing their profession in the courts if the notification comes into the force. He said several forces were making attempts to divide the lawyer community in the State.
A former general secretary of the ABVP, RSS affiliated student organisation, Rai was quoted as saying in an interview to a weekly magazine that Ambedkar did not write the Constitution. (Photo: File)
New Delhi: Recently appointed as chief of a premier government-funded art centre in Delhi, Ram Bahadur Rai on Tuesday stoked a controversy by questioning Dr BR Ambedkar's role in framing of the Constitution and describing it as a "myth".
A former general secretary of the ABVP, RSS affiliated student organisation, Rai was quoted as saying in an interview to a weekly magazine that Ambedkar did not write the Constitution.
Read: Q&A: BJP, RSS have accepted Ambedkar only physically, not ideologically
Rai, who was appointed as Chairman of Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) in April, was quoted by 'Outlook' as having said that Ambedkar's role was limited and that whatever material B N Rau, a civil servant, gave to him , Ambedkar would correct the language.
"So, Ambedkar did not write the Constitution. In fact, he said, if the Constitution is ever to be set afire, then 'I will be first to do so,'" Rai said.
Asked if Ambedkar's role was then a myth, Rai replied, "Yes, myth hai, myth hai, myth hai (yes, it is a myth, it is a myth, it is a myth). It is part of identity politics."
Rai immediately came under attack with BJP's Scheduled Caste Morcha chief Dushyant Kumar Gautam condemning the controversial comments, saying they amounted to insulting Ambedkar and are a hurdle in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Dalit outreach.
When contacted, Rai denied giving any such interview, claiming it was a "breach of journalistic ethics".
Attacking Rai, Gautam said, "Those who are saying so are doing it without any thinking and it seems they have some malice and enmity against the Scheduled Castes and the concept of social justice.
"This is the reason otherwise such statements would not have been made. If Ambedkar was from upper castes, then they would not made such comments," he added.
Asked about Rai's commets, Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma said he was not aware of the content of the interview.
The interview quoted Rai as saying that the Constitution needs to be reconsidered afresh.
"This Constitution is a haven for lawyers - lawyers wrote it, the kind with no connection to India's nature or culture.
This does not mean that they were not desh bhakts, or learned or that they did not want a good Constitution.
"But they were trapped in circumstances, which is why the Constitution they came up with became, broadly, a new testament of our gulaami (slavery)," Rai said, according to the interview.
He said some "myths" have been created in the country and one is that the Constitution is like a "temple idol" nobody can touch.
"Some people feel, if the Constitution is tampered with, what will happen to the dreams of Babasaheb Ambedkar? But people to represent Babasaheb's dreams are in this Parliament, so this danger does not exist," he said.
Rai's controversial comments come at a time when BJP has been making vigorous attempts to win over politically crucial SC community to its side ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
Gautam called Ambedkar the "foremost patriot" and claimed that people like Rai were "concerned" over Modi's attempts to attach the Dalit community with BJP.
"The way and speed with which Modi is working to create social harmony and taking everybody along has caused concern among some people," he said.
Asked for his comments, BJP Vice President Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said Ambedkar continues to be "supremely important icon" of the emancipation of downtrodden sections of society, especially Dalits.
"Whatever way people may assess him, he remains our national hero," he said.
Etah, Uttar Pradesh: Hitting back at Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for questioning what his party has done in the past two years, BJP chief Amit Shah on Tuesday said it has given the country a Prime Minister who speaks.
"Recently Rahul baba asked what BJP has done in two years...at least we gave a Prime Minister who speaks, otherwise in 10 years regime of UPA except Soniaji and Rahul baba, no other person heard the voice of the PM," he said.
Claiming that BJP will get two-thirds majority in 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, Shah also hit out at the ruling Samajwadi Party, questioning what it had done for the people of the state in the last four years.
"We are presenting a report card of two years of NDA government, but Akhilesh babu (Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav) you should also tell people what your government did in four years," Shah told booth-level workers in Kasganj.
Asking people if they get power for 24 hours power in the state, he said, "There is no shortage of power, the shortcoming is in intentions. In two years, we (NDA government) gave power to 9,000 villages." Shah alleged that in the 10 years of UPA regime, which was supported by SP and BSP, scams worth Rs 12 lakh crore took place.
"They left no place whether its sky, earth and underneath where corruption did not take place," Shah said. "There is not a single allegation of corruption against the present regime," the BJP chief said.
"People ask as to how we will get a majority government in Uttar Pradesh. It will become possible due to your (workers) efforts," he said. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought a number of schemes for the welfare of people, including free LPG connection for BPL families.
Panaji: In what may trigger a fresh controversy, former Goa chief minister Ravi S Naik on Tuesday demanded the Centre to ban the Nigerians from entering India while alleging that they indulge in illegal activities.
"The Nigerians come here in Delhi , in Bengaluru and do 'dadagiri' in the entire country. The Nigerians should be asked to leave India , we don't want Nigerian tourists. The Government of India should ban Nigerians from entering India ," Naik told ANI.
Read: People angry with Nigerians due to their attitude: Goa CM Parsekar
He further stated that if the Nigerians come to India to study then the state government and the police should keep a strict watch on them.
"If they have come to study here, a watch should be kept on them to see whether they really study and go to colleges. They don't study, rather they indulge in illegal activities," he added.
Referring to the Nigerians with the pejorative 'Negroes', the senior Congress leader also said that the Nigerians have been causing 'problems' in Goa as well other metropolitan cities.
Read: Nigerians are a problem across country, in Goa: Minister
The Congress leader's remark comes just days after Goa Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar sought stringent laws to deport Nigerians and Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said that the people of the state are specifically not happy with them.
Parulekar had said that the Nigerians create problems in Goa and sell drugs while just days after Parsekar said on 30 May that Goans were not happy with the attitude and lifestyle of the Nigerians living in the coastal state.
The Goa Home Ministry had in 2014 during the monsoon session of the assembly referred to the Africans as 'Negroes', an error for which then chief minister Manohar Parrikar had to tender an apology after an outcry.
Senior advocate Amit Sibal, who was appearing for Sinh, stated before the apex court that the petitioner had undergone liver transplant in 2004 and as the life of the transplant is about 10 years, he urgently needed treatment. (Photo: PTI)
New Delhi: In a blow to former union minister and Congress leader Matang Sinh, the Supreme Court had on Monday refused to entertain his interim bail plea in connection with the multi-crore Saradha Group chit-fund scam.
Senior advocate Amit Sibal, who was appearing for Sinh, stated before the apex court that the petitioner had undergone liver transplant in 2004 and as the life of the transplant is about 10 years, he urgently needed treatment.
Sibal, contended the health condition of his client is deteriorating with each passing day and might slip into coma if not treated urgently.
The apex court bench, however, said there was already an order of the court that whatever medical facility was available, should be provided to him. On November 6 last year, the apex court had refused to hear the plea of Sinh, stating the probe was not yet complete.
The CBI had arrested Matang Sinh in February last year on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and misappropriation of funds related to Saradha Realty.
Guwahati: In what has come as serious embarrassment for the elected representatives of people in Assam, many costly appliances like LED TVs, air conditioners and refrigerators bought from public money have gone missing from the official quarters of former speaker Pranab Gogoi and former deputy speaker Bhimananda Tanti.
Former Speaker Pranab Kumar Gogoi was allotted a posh bungalow in the assembly premises in which the assembly secretariat had set up as many as 22 ACs and six large screen TVs besides two big refrigerators.
After the election of the new speaker, when assembly secretariat was to take over the possession of the bungalow vacated by former speaker, it was found that at least three ACs, one fridge and one LED TV were missing.
Former deputy speaker Bhimananda Tanti was also allotted a new bungalow. He vacated the bungalow designated for deputy speaker after losing the assembly election.
Secretariat sources said that two ACs were missing from Tantis bungalow. The Assam Assembly principal secretary Mr Mrigendra Kumar Deka also admitted that the many appliances have gone missing from the bungalows.
We have learnt that three ACs, a fridge and a TV set which went missing from speakers were shifted to the new quarter of the MLA hostel which has been allotted to him. We dont know about the two ACs missing from the bungalow allotted to the former deputy speaker, said Mr Deka.
The employees of the assembly secretariat looking after the maintenance of official bungalows said that even expensive curtains were missing when possession of the bungalow was handed over to them.
New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi's open defence of her son-in-law Robert Vadra following allegations of buying benami or proxy-owned property in London was a clear message to the Congress workers that "family is more important than the party", said an editorial in 'The Organizer', a magazine linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or the RSS.
"By coming out in open defence of Robert Vadra, 'family is more important than the Party' is the obvious message that is being transmitted to the demoralised cadre of the tainted party," the editorial was quoted as saying.
The article titled "Congress caught in 'catch 22'" attacked the party's electoral performance, saying that it was losing ground and the BJP is gaining ever since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. It said the first-family is the "glue that holds the feudal satraps within the party together" and any attack on family is responded to with strong a voice from the managers.
"Perhaps, Sonia Gandhi is sensing this transformation, hence the outrage against any allegations," the article said.
In response to Sonia Gandhi's attack on PM Modi, it said that "challenging the government or calling Prime Minister a 'Shahenshah', is certainly not going to solve the riddles for the Congress."
"Political Congressism" led by Nehru-Gandhi family "represents the dynastic, corrupt, opportunistic and divisive nature of polity" and misuse of investigative machinery for political purposes has been the cardinal principle of this system.
"The awakened and young Bharat is determined to get rid of these vices. The response of people to the constructive development initiatives indicate the self-belief and vigour of awakened Bharat rather than fatalism. Congress needs to respond to this changing situation as a responsible national Opposition. It is also a prerequisite for healthy Democracy," it said.
The article said the Congress party must free itself from Its own culture, else the people will force the "dissolution of outlived organization."
The incident took place around 1.30 AM on Maniktala Main Road near CIT Park in Kolkata when the six persons, mainly vegetable vendors, were sleeping on the footpath. (Representational image)
Kolkata: A 60-year-old man was on Tuesday killed and five others injured when an SUV ran over them when they were sleeping on footpath in the Maniktala area in the northern part of the city, police said.
The incident took place around 1.30 AM on Maniktala Main Road near CIT Park in Kolkata when the six persons, mainly vegetable vendors, were sleeping on the footpath.
The driver of the SUV lost control over the vehicle and it ran over the sleeping persons after mounting the pavement, a Kolkata Police officer said.
Ali Hussain Sardar succumbed to his injuries, he said.
While four persons were discharged after treatment, Esak Mondal (50) is undergoing treatment at RG Kar Medical College. The driver of the vehicle has been arrested, he said.
Asked whether the driver was drunk, the officer said, We are waiting for the medical report of the person concerned.
India's entry into the MTCR will pave the way to buy high-end missile technology. (Photo: www.defense.gov)
New Delhi/Washington: The members of the Missile Technology Control Regime, a key anti-proliferation grouping, have agreed to admit India, diplomats said, in a win for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he meets President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday.
Diplomats with direct knowledge of the matter said a deadline for members of the 34-nation group to object to India's admission had expired on Monday without any of them raising objections.
Under this so-called 'silent procedure', India's admission follows automatically, diplomats from four MTCR member nations told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Obama was expected to say he was looking forward to India's "imminent entry" into the MTCR when the two leaders address the press after their seventh bilateral meeting, sources aware of its agenda said.
Admission to the MTCR would open the way for India to buy high-end missile technology, also making more realistic its aspiration to buy state-of-the-art surveillance drones such as the U.S. Predator, made by General Atomics.
ARMS EXPORTER
India also makes a supersonic cruise missile, the Brahmos, in a joint venture with Russia that both countries hope to sell to third countries - a development that would make India a significant arms exporter for the first time.
Membership of the MTCR would require India to comply with rules such as a maximum missile range of 300 km (186 miles) that seek to prevent arms races from developing.
Italy had earlier objected to admitting India but, after an unrelated bilateral dispute was resolved, did not object this time within a 10-day deadline after the group's chair, the Netherlands, wrote to members suggesting India be welcomed.
An Italian marine, held for four years at the country's embassy in New Delhi over the killing of two Indian fishermen in an anti-piracy operation in 2012, was recently allowed to return home.
No formal meeting is required for India to complete its entry into the missile control group, which was set up in 1987 to limit the spread of unmanned systems capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction.
The MTCR is one of four international non-proliferation regimes that India -- which in recent decades has gone from being a non-aligned outsider to a rising nuclear-weapons power -- has been excluded from.
New Delhi has also applied to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a 48-nation club that governs trade in commercial nuclear technology and was originally set up in response to India's first atomic weapons test in 1974.
Joining the NSG will be much more difficult because China is a member and has backed the membership aspirations of Pakistan, its ally and India's arch-rival.
Still, the breakthrough on the MTCR will be welcomed in the U.S. Congress, which Modi will address on Wednesday. Congress ratified a civilian nuclear agreement with India in 2008 that seeks to build commercial ties, while at the same time binding New Delhi into the global security order.
Ahead of the summit, U.S.-based nuclear reactor maker Westinghouse, a unit of Japan's Toshiba Corp, has made progress towards a deal to build six reactors in Andhra Pradesh. A deal, if completed, would be the first to stem from the civil nuclear accord.
Jayalalithaa referred to the arrest of four Indian fishermen who had ventured from Rameswaram, pointing out that this was the 3rd such arrest since May 31. (Photo: PTI)
Chennai: Raking up the issue of fishermen, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has said the situation at sea remains "precarious" due to "offensive acts" of the Sri Lankan Navy despite repeated appeals to the Centre to ensure safety of Indian fishermen.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jayalalithaa referred to the arrest of four Indian fishermen who had ventured from Rameswaram, on June 5 and pointed out that this was the third such incident since May 31.
Read: Jayalalithaa thanks PM for Metro extension
A total of 15 fishermen and 91 boats were now under the custody of the island government, she said while seeking Modi's intervention to secure their release.
The Chief Minister said she had written to him on many occasions, taking up with him, the "repeated instances of abduction and apprehension of innocent Indian fishermen" belonging to the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu by the Lankan Navy while eking out their livelihood in their traditional fishing waters.
In the letter dated June 6, which was released by the state government on Tuesday, Jayalalithaa said she has been requesting Centre to 'mount' a strong diplomatic initiative to uphold the rights and interests of the Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu.
"In spite of my repeated appeals to ensure the safety and security of our innocent fishermen and to devise a permanent solution to this sensitive livelihood issue, the situation at sea remains precarious with the continued offensive acts of the Sri Lankan Navy," she said.
Jayalalithaa requested Modi to direct the Ministry of External Affairs "to use diplomatic channels to ensure that our fishermen are allowed to peacefully pursue their livelihood in their traditional fishing waters."
She also sought his "direct intervention to secure the immediate release of the 15 fishermen and 91 fishing boats in Sri Lankan custody."
Jayalalithaa said the "unconstitutional ceding of Katchatheevu by the agreements of 1974 and 1976 is central to this problem."
"The Sri Lankan strategy of not releasing the fishing boats, the main source of livelihood of the poor fishermen, is further aggravating the situation," she said.
While seven fishermen were arrested by the Lankan Navy on May 31, four others were arrested on June 2 following which Jayalalithaa sought Modi's intervention for their release.
29 people, including two police officers, were killed during clashes between encroachers and police in Mathura last week. (Photo: PTI)
Lucknow: Bowing to opposition demand, Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday ordered judicial probe into last week's Mathura violence in which 29 people, including two police officers, were killed.
The probe will be conducted by a retired judge of Allahabad High Court and the inquiry committee has been asked to submit its report within two months.
Read: Jawahar Bagh violence: Four days after clash, heads roll in Mathura
"A judicial probe has been ordered into Mathura violence. Retired Allahabad High Court judge Imtiyaz Murtaza will conduct inquiry," an official spokesman said here. The spokesman said the inquiry panel will go into the circumstances that led to the incident.
Read: Godman Jai Gurudevs Rs 12,000 crore empire led to Mathura violence
It has been asked to make suggestions that would help in ensuring that such incidents do not recur. 29 people, including two police officers, were killed during clashes between encroachers and police in Mathura last week. The violence had claimed the lives of Superintendent of Police (City) Mukul Dwivedi and SHO Santosh Kumar.
Read: Centre seeks report on Mathura violence
Political parties had been demanding a judicial inquiry into the violence. BJP Member of Parliament from Mathura Hema Malini had demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident.
Read: Mathura violence: Supreme Court refuses to order CBI probe
The police have short-listed the names of three senior doctors from the hospital's in-house assessment committee for verifying documents related to transplants. (Photo: Representational Image)
New Delhi: Two women were among three more persons arrested on Tuesday in connection with the kidney racket busted in Apollo Hospital here last week, taking the total numbers of arrests in the high-profile case to eight.
The names of the three persons, yet to be disclosed by police, had emerged during the interrogation of the five arrested earlier, a senior official said.
The official further said, all three of them are donors associated with the racket. While two of them were apprehended from Kanpur, the other was arrested from Siliguri.
Meanwhile, another police team has been sent to Kanpur to conduct more raids to nab some other suspects identified in connection with the racket, which was active in several states across the nation.
The kingpin of the racket, Rajukumar Rao, who is suspected to have links with similar rackets with Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, is still at large.
Meanwhile, the investigators on Monday came across the name of another senior nephrologist in connection with the racket. It is suspected that a few kidney transplants, which were facilitated by the racketeers, were done by the doctor concerned in Apollo Hospital.
However, so far there is no evidence to prove his intent but the roles of his personal secretaries are under scanner, an official privy to the investigation had said.
During investigation, it has also emerged that some of the recipients who procured kidney from the racket had used forged documents to hide their addresses.
The police have short-listed the names of three senior doctors from the hospital's in-house assessment committee for verifying documents related to transplants. The three of them are likely to be questioned first as they had cleared the papers in connection with the surgeries under police scanner.
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. Two more prominent private hospitals in the city have come under the police scanner.
Jurist NR Madhava Menon expressed his agreement on the need for a separate law for mediation at both pre and post litigation stages. (Photo: Representational Image)
New Delhi: A proposal of the government to bring a law to provide legislative backing to out-of-court settlements to reduce court cases has received the backing of a high-powered committee set up to suggest legal reforms.
The Law Ministry had proposed before the Advisory Council of the National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms that the process of mediation "should be given statutory backing by enacting a stand-alone law on mediation."
Now, the minutes of the meeting, held in February this year, suggest that several members have supported the idea, saying advocates and social activists should have a proactive role in mediation.
The Council, chaired by the Law Minister, usually meets twice a year. Representatives from the Supreme Court, the Bar Council and the Union Home and Law ministries and the Attorney General are its members.
As of now, the mediation process is mostly used to settle marital disputes and the new legislation could encourage such settlements in other areas also like landlord-tenant and industrial disputes which form a major chunk of litigations.
A note mooted by the ministry for the meeting said, "There is no legislation to back the mediation process in the country...the lack of any statutory backing to the mediation process is a cause of concern/apprehension in the minds of the parties regarding the validity/enforceability of the outcome of mediation. Therefore, some parties may prefer the lawyer-dominated, formal judicial process."
According to the minutes, jurist NR Madhava Menon expressed his agreement on the need for a separate law for mediation at both pre and post litigation stages.
He opined that mediation requires a different code of ethics, approach and procedures and the existing provision of civil procedure code have not allowed mediation to gain much traction.
The delegation conveyed to the Home Minister the necessity of getting presidential assent to the three bills, which were opposed by tribal groups of the state. (Photo: PTI)
New Delhi: An all-party delegation from Manipur, led by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, on Tuesday met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and apprised him about the need for presidential assent to convert three Inner Line Permit System-related bills into acts.
The delegation conveyed to the Home Minister the necessity of getting presidential assent to the three bills, which were opposed by tribal groups of the state. Singh gave a patient hearing to the delegation, official sources said.
The Chief Minister was joined by representatives of BJP, LJD, JD(U), CPI(M), among others.
The three bills were passed last year in August after months of mass movement to protect the indigenous populace from the illegal immigrants in the state, including those from neighbouring Myanmar.
The delegation sought presidential assent to have the three bills converted into acts.
The bills have been strongly opposed by tribals, particularly Nagas and Kukis, who mainly inhabit the hill districts of Manipur.
The Manipur Tribals Forum (MTF) has for many months been protesting in New Delhi against the three bills and the death of nine young protesters last September in Churachandpur district of the state.
Last month, four legislators of the Naga People's Front (NPF) also met the Home Minister in Delhi asking him not to take any action for ensuring presidential nod to the three bills.
The Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS), which spearheads the movement for legislation to protect the indigenous population from migrants, announced its own shutdown against the delay in enactment of the three bills.
The JCILPS demands an inner line permit (ILP) system for Manipur which has been encapsulated in the three anti-migrant bills passed by the Manipur assembly that now await the president's nod.
The ILP is a special permit required to enter certain restricted areas in the country. The system is already in force in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram.
It was first introduced by the British, restricting entry into these areas to protect their commercial interests.
Acceding to the demand of JCILPS, the Congress government in Manipur had last year passed three bills to protect the indigenous people inhabiting the valley districts of the state.
They were: The Protection of Manipur People Bill, 2015, The Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms (Seventh Amendment) Bill, 2015 and The Manipur Shops and Establishments (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015.
Charred vehicles inside the Jawahar Bagh that was opened for the public in Mathura. (Photo: PTI)
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to order a CBI probe into the violence in Mathura that left 29 people including two policemen dead.
A vacation bench of justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy said that it is not inclined to pass any order and asked the petitioner to approach the Allahabad High Court for a remedy.
During the hearing, senior advocate Geeta Luthra, appearing for lawyer and Delhi BJP spokesperson Ashwini Upadhyay, said large scale violence has been reported in the city and evidences are being destroyed.
She said that Samajwadi Party-led Uttar Pradesh government is not recommending a CBI probe and the state investigating agencies are "not doing their work properly".
Read: Jawahar Bagh violence: Four days after clash, heads roll in Mathura
To this, the bench said, "From your petition there is no evidence to suggest there is any lapse on the part of state investigating agency. Without any evidence that state investigating agencies are not working properly, courts cannot interfere."
The bench asked the petitioner to withdraw the petition and termed it dismissed as withdrawn.
The apex court had yesterday agreed to hear the plea which had sought an urgent hearing, saying CBI probe was necessary, looking at the gravity of the violence.
Twenty nine people, including Mathura SP Mukul Dwivedi and SHO Santosh Kumar Yadav were killed in the clash between the police and encroachers that broke out in the city on June 2 when police tried to evict illegal occupants, believed to be of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, from Jawahar Bagh on Allahabad High Court orders.
Read: Mathura clashes: Centre inactive, governor silent, says Mayawati
Upadhyay, in his plea, had said the court may also take suo motu cognizance of the matter and direct the CBI enquiry, as "it is necessary to find out the truth, root cause of the incident and nexus among executive, legislature and the said group".
The petitioner had also sought a direction to the state and Centre for framing of a uniform policy for compensation for families of the deceased in such cases.
It had also claimed the union government was ready for a CBI inquiry into the incident but Uttar Pradesh government was developing cold feet in recommending CBI probe.
PM Modi on his fourth leg in US during five nation tour (Photo: Twitter/ANI)
Washington: The United States of America on Monday has decided to return more than 200 stolen cultural objects back to India, during Prime Minister Narendra Modis fourth leg visit to US in five nation tour. This is the Prime Ministers fourth visit to United States in the last two years.
During her address at ceremony of Repatriation of Cultural Property, Attorney General of the United States, Loretta E. Lynch said, Today we begin the process of returning more than 200 stolen cultural objects back to India. Repatriation is returning of art or cultural heritage to country of its origin or former owners.
Restoring India's cultural heritage: PM @narendramodi attends ceremony for return of idols with US Attorney General pic.twitter.com/G9QjQ5hv9r Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
Thanking for the special gesture of Attorney General, the Prime Minister said, We are very grateful for Government of US and the President for returning a part of our culture. This heritage inspires us for the future.
He added, Usually its the present that brings nations together, but sometimes its the heritage that brings two nations closer. Over the past two years, various countries have endeavoured to return India's stolen cultural heritage.
Repatriation is returning of art or cultural heritage to country of its origin or former owners #ModiInUS (pic: MEA) pic.twitter.com/ZHwtKSbt9P ANI (@ANI_news) June 6, 2016
Modi said, when we look at these artefacts, we realise how much our ancestors had mastered the science and arts. In India we have archaeological digs, we find such artefacts. He added, governments and laws have become more alert about trafficking of cultural artefacts and are working to prevent it.
While citing an example he said, Medical science's history isnt old, as I remember seeing a slide of 700 year old stone engraved showing a woman with embryo in womb which means 700 years back surgery was done, much earlier than what our medical history goes back to.
From a bronze Ganesh to a Jain figure of Bahubali, here are pics of some of the returned cultural artifacts pic.twitter.com/k1BmSytUY4 Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
Modi paid a tribute to the US space scientists who lost their lives during their research in space at the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial and also laid a wreath at tomb of US soldiers who were martyred during American conflicts, at Arlington Cemetery (Washington D.C).
During his visit to Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial, Modi met Sunita Williams and family of Kalpana Chawla and invited them to visit India, to which Sunita Williams expressed it as honour to have been invited.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday greeted the Muslim community on the beginning of Ramzan and hoped the holy month deepens the bond of brotherhood and the spirit of harmony in society
"As the holy month of Ramzan commences, I convey my greetings to the Muslim community," he said in an official statement.
"May Ramzan deepen the bond of brotherhood and the spirit of harmony in our society", he said. The Prime Minister is currently in the US as part of his five-nation tour.
Clashes broke out between police and encroachers who were being evicted from Jawahar Bagh in Mathura. (Photo: PTI)
Kolkata: Miffed over the use of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's name by the sect involved in Mathura violence, his grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose today demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident.
"Netaji took up arms to fight against the British rule. But now the rule of law is supreme. We have a Constitution that does not allow anyone to take law into their own hands. They (the sect) were using the name of Netaji for their own vested interests. I feel there should be a CBI inquiry into the incident to bring out the truth," Bose told PTI.
"From where did they get so much of arms and ammunition?" he wondered.
Ram Vriksh Yadav, the chief of the violent encroachers at Jawahar Bagh who was among those killed in the clashes with police in Mathura last week, was the leader of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi - an outfit claiming allegiance to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
"I strongly object to the use of Netaji's name by this sect. They for their own benefit are resorting to violence and maligning the name of Netaji," Bose added.
Srinagar: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has lashed out at Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, saying it was "disdainful" of him to claim success of Kashmiri youth in civil services was due to the NDA government at the Centre.
"How disrespectful and disdainful of @naqvimukhtar to claim the success of Kashmiri youth as some sort of NDA achievement.#shame," Omar wrote on Twitter.
How disrespectful & disdainful of @naqvimukhtar to claim the success of Kashmiri youth as some sort of NDA achievement. #shame Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) June 6, 2016
The former chief minister was responding to the reported remarks of Naqvi on Monday that "youths in Kashmir earlier joined ISIS. They have now started joining the IAS (Indian Administrative Service)".
Naqvi had said this was because of the NDA government at the Centre. "Actually Kashmiris joined the civil services LONG before the NDA existed & will join long after the NDA disappears!" Omar said.
Puducherry: The new congress government led by former union minister V Narayanasamy assumed office in a grand swearing-in ceremony held at the Gandhi Thidal on the beach road here on Monday. Lt Governor Kiran Bedi administered the oath of office and secrecy to Chief Minister V Narayanasamy and five other ministers - A Namassivayam, Malladi Krishna Rao, M O H F Shah Jahan, M Kandasamy and R Kamalakannan. All of them took the oath in the name of God.
The Congress government in Puducherry on Monday announced various welfare schemes for different sections of society hours after it assumed office.
After his first cabinet meeting, Chief Minister, V. Narayanasamy, said the government has decided to increase free rice given to family card holders from 10 kg to 20 kg. This will benefit 3.35 lakh families.
The government has decided to provide 50 per cent subsidy on electricity charges to domestic consumers for usage of less than 100 units per month. Crop insurance will be provided to all farmers and the government will bear the entire premium, he said.
The annual income limit for getting financial grant from Puducherry Medical Relief Society has been raised from `75,000 to `1.5 lakh and spot exemption being given in sales tax towards diesel purchase by fishermen has also been hiked.
A total of 15.73 per cent of total budget will be earmarked for Adi-Dravidar welfare. The government is also proposing to promote Puducherry as a smart city with complete support from French government.
The new government is dedicated to the development of the Union Territory, creating new job opportunities, promoting tourism and ensuring safety of women, he said.
Later in the day, the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues called on the Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi at Raj Nivas. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Narayanasamy said the Governor and the new cabinet will work together for development of the Union Territory.
Prosperous Puducherry is the vision of the Governor as well as the new government. We will work together to achieve the goal he said
The portfolios of ministers and date of Assembly session will be announced in two days, the Chief Minister said.
Former Union minister V. Narayanasamy was on Monday sworn in as Chief Minister of Puducherry at Gandhi Thidal on beach road here. This is the first cabinet in the Union Territory to be sworn in outside Raj Bhavan to enable participation of party workers and the public in the ceremony.
Congress legislator K. Lakshminarayanan, who was a strong contender for ministerial berth, was conspicuous by his absence. The Congress-DMK front winning 17 seats in the election had a comfortable majority to form the government. Internal squabbles in Congress delayed formation of the ministry.
Though Narayanasamy was elected leader of Congress legislature party on May 28, the fight for ministerial berths continued.
After staking claim to form the government by meeting Kiran Bedi on May 30, Narayanasamy rushed to New Delhi to hold discussions with the party high command. The problems were sorted out with the intervention of party president Sonia Gandhi.
The 69-year-old Narayanasamy had served as minister of state in Prime Ministers Office (PMO) and minister of state for Parliamentary affairs in two UPA governments.
A law graduate, he was actively part of political activities right from his school days. Apart from working as Pradesh Congress Committee president for a small term, he was mostly engaged in national politics than state politics. Narayanasamy who didnt contest the election should get elected to the Assembly within six months.
The Karnataka government had appealed to the Supreme Court against the verdict of the Karnataka High Court which had acquitted J Jayalalithaa. (Photo: PTI)
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on a batch of appeals filed by Karnataka government and others against the High Court order acquitting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and others in a disproportionate assets case.
A vacation bench comprising justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy, which has been hearing the appeals of the state government and DMK leader K Anbazhagan against the acquittal, concluded hearing arguments.
Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Karnataka government, dealt with the alleged roles of six firms and the evidence regarding assets and funds held by each of them.
Read: DA case: SC commences hearing on pleas against Jayalalithaa's acquittal
The firms, which found mention in the trial court records, are Lex Property Development, Meadow Agro Farms Ltd, Riverway Agro Products Pvt Ltd, Ramraj Agro Mills Ltd, Signora Business Enterprises Pvt Ltd and Indo Doha Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd.
"The issue of the matter is that these companies were purchased (takeover of shareholding) by introduction of the accused persons (other than A-1 Jayalalithaa) as directors and removal of existing directors. The control of these companies were taken by the accused persons, after which bank accounts were opened and as large amount of cash was deposited into these accounts," the written note submitted by Luthra said.
The note also gave a chart showing cash flow and purchase of property.
Dealing with the role of the firms, Luthra claimed that "in essence these companies were used as receptacles of ill-gotten cash for which no explanation was given during investigation nor during the trial. Such cash becomes the basis for large scale properties being purchased where all negotiations were done at the house of A1 (irrespective of where the property situated in Tamil Nadu)."
The senior lawyer also submitted an amended chart to give details of transaction of funds including the details of cash deposits.
Senior advocate Harin P Raval, appearing for the companies, opposed the submissions made by Karnataka government. The senior lawyer further said "The trial court by order dated September 27, 2014, in the absence of the present respondent companies being arraigned as accused persons, without notice and without hearing, purported to exercise powers under section 452 of CrPC and directed confiscation of properties registered in the name of six companies to the state government...".
The firms also disputed the locus of Karnataka government in filing the appeals in the apex court.
Dealing with the probable situations, the companies said that there was no question of "any attachment or disposal of their property" by the Karnataka government.
Earlier, the apex court had said that acquiring assets "per se" is not a crime unless the sources are found to be illegal.
The court had outlined the three options available to it and said it may either uphold the High court verdict or reverse it or re-appreciate the entire evidence which may lead to fresh re-trial or it can also remand the matter to the High court for fresh consideration.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, also appearing for Karnataka, had said, "The judgement of the High Court reflects violent miscarriage of justice and it is perverse beyond imagination. It is based on mere surmises and conjectures and none of the findings are based on evidence."
The Karnataka government is arguing its appeal in the case as the trial was shifted from Tamil Nadu and a Bangalore court had convicted the accused including Jayalalithaa who later succeeded in her challenge before the High Court there.
Besides Jayalalithaa, others acquitted by the High Court were her close aide Sasikala and her two relatives, VN Sudhakaran and Elavarasi.
Read: Jaya's DA case: No leniency for public servants, Swamy tells SC
On July 27, last year the apex court had issued notices on Karnataka government's appeal seeking stay of the high court judgement to Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and her relatives VN Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, asking them to file their replies within eight weeks.
The Karnataka HC had on May 11, 2015 ruled that AIADMK supremo's conviction by special court suffered from infirmity and was not sustainable in law, clearing decks for her return as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.
The special court had in 2014 held Jayalalithaa guilty of corruption and sentenced her to four years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore. Jayalalithaa and three others were accused of allegedly amassing disproportionate asserts to the tune of Rs. 66.65.crores during her first term as Chief Minister from 1991 to 1996.
DGP J.V. Ramudu addresses the media in the presence of commissioner of police Gautam Sawang and others in Vijayawada on Monday. (Photo: DC)
Vijayawada: Director General of Police (DGP) J.V. Ramudu said the Andhra Pradesh police force is facing several challenges due to loss of infrastructure facilities like AP Police Academy, Greyhounds Training Academy and organisations like Octopus, FSL, along with manpower, after the bifurcation of the state.
Speaking to mediapersons here on Monday, he said though bifurcation was done two years ago, several issues are still pending to be resolve before the Centre. Recently, the AP police submitted all the issues to the Centre at a meeting held in New Delhi.
"Now, there is no space either for infrastructure or to train the personnel. The division of APSP has not been completed yet and Andhra Pradesh should get nearly 3,000 staff as per the AP Reorganisation Act. The police department has several setbacks but its performance is satisfactory," he said.
There are nearly 16,000 posts vacant in the police department and the government approved sanction for 6,000 posts. The Anantapur police training centre has been changed as a temporary police training academy, till a new academy would take shape, he said.
He said the CRPF centre would be established at Agiripalli in Krishna district and that, the AP police already requested the Centre to allot additional staff for it.
Nearly 7,000 people died in road accidents last year, he said and added that drunken driving would be punished severely, apart from increasing a check on it.
The DGP also said that nearly 33,000 police staff would be deployed for Krishna Pushkaralu in Andhra Pradesh. The state had requested the Centre and neighboring states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Orissa for additional forces. The police would take all measures to prevent occurrence of untoward incidents, with experience gained from Godavari Pushkaralu.
India and Japan had sealed a broad agreement for cooperation in civil nuclear energy during Abe's visit here last year. (Photo: PTI)
New Delhi: Japan on Tuesday strongly supported India's bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and said it was working with the Indian government to garner support from other countries ahead of the bloc's crucial plenary meeting.
"I hope that India will be the part of the NSG. Japan is working with India to make sure that it becomes a member of the NSG. We are talking to Indian government on how India can get more support from other countries," Kenji Hiramatsu, Japan's envoy to India, said.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to pay a "reciprocal" visit to Japan this year, adding no date has been finalised. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had visited India in December last year.
On finalising the nitty-gritty relating to the broad agreement for cooperation in civil nuclear energy between India and Japan, inked in December last year, the envoy said both countries were working on it and that there was no "road blocks" or any "major pending issues", He, however, did not give any time line.
India has planned a major expansion of its nuclear energy sector and membership of the NSG, currently comprising 48 nations, will help it trade in and export nuclear technology.
Switzerland, a key member of the NSG had yesterday said it will support India's application after Modi held talks with Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann.
India's application is expected to be taken up for discussion by the NSG at its plenary meetings on June 9 in Vienna and June 24 in Seoul. China has been opposing India's bid arguing that it was not a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The NSG works under the principle of unanimity and even one country's vote against India will scuttle its bid.
On the Indo-Japan nuclear pact, the Japanese envoy said, "I don't see any road block. It is a technical review. There is no major pending issues."
He was delivering a lecture on "Challenges and Prospects of Japan's Diplomacy in the context of India-Japan relationship", organised by the Observer Research Foundation.
Asked when Japanese Parliament will approve the nuclear agreement with India so that the final deal could be signed, he said, "We don't know when that will happen."
India and Japan had sealed a broad agreement for cooperation in civil nuclear energy during Abe's visit here last year. It was said the final deal would be signed after certain technical and legal issues are thrashed out.
Emphasising that the tri-lateral Malabar naval exercise among Japan, US and India is important for "strategic and safety reasons" in the Indo-Pacific region, Kenji hoped that cooperation among the three countries will more "meaningful".
Asked about implementation of the Indo-Japan pacts on transfer of defence equipment and technology, the envoy said the two sides are in the process of identifying projects for transfer of technology.
Hyderabad: Most of the 25 students who have been asked to leave by the Western Kentucky University in the US are apparently Telugu.
The 25 are among 60 Indian graduate students undergoing a computer science programme. They have been asked to leave after the first semester as they do not meet the admission standards, a media report said Tuesday.
However, Mr Bob Skipper, media relations director at Western Kentucky University stated over e-mail: This is all preliminary with several students appealing (with the help of the department) and are likely be allowed to stay.
Mr Aditya Sharma, the chairman of Indian Students Association, stated that most of these students were from TS and AP states.
The varsity is considering the plea of another 15 Indian students. If it thinks that they too do not fit the bill, then the number will go up to to 40.
Varsity employed global recruiters
Most of the 25 students who have been asked to leave by the Western Kentucky University in the US are apparently Telugu. Chairman of Indian Students Association Aditya Sharma said, As of now 25 students have been asked to leave for sure..
These students were enrolled in January this year after a recruitment campaign in India last year, but were found lacking the ability to even write computer programmes. The university had used international recruiters, who had run advertisements, to find the students and had compensated them based on how many students they enrolled.
Mr James Gary, the chairman of the universitys Computer Science programme, had said on Monday that almost 40 students did not meet the requirements of their admissions.
While some will be allowed to remain, at least 25 of the nearly 60 students in the programme must leave, he was quoted as saying by The New York Times.
Mr Sharma added that some of the students had adopted a "casual" approach to their studies.
Karnataka govt said that she was taking Rs 1 as salary and on the other hand she takes ten's of crore from her cadres as birthday gift. (Photo: PTI)
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday commenced final hearing on various appeals including the one filed by Karnataka against the acquittal of AIADMK Chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and others in a disproportionate assets case.
A bench, comprising justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy, asked senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for Karnataka government, to start arguments in the matter.
The Karnataka government is arguing the case as the trial was shifted from Tamil Nadu and a Bangalore court had convicted the accused including Jayalalithaa who had succeeded in her challenge before the High Court there.
Opening his arguments, Dave said there were glaring mistakes in the order of the Karnataka High Court acquitting Jayalalithaa and others which needed to be set aside.
"There are glaring mistakes in the order of the Karnataka High Court acquitting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, which has to be set aside. The trial court has given a very reasoned order holding them guilty and needs to be upheld," Dave said.
He said the approach of the High Court was "very casual and troublesome" and would defeat the very motive of Prevention of Corruption Act (PC ACT). Besides Jayalalithaa, others acquited by the High Court were her close aide Sasikala and her two relatives, V N Sudhakaran and Elavarasi.
Dave said Jayalalithaa was Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from June 24, 1991 to May 13, 1996 and Sasikala and her two relatives had acted in conspiracy to amass huge wealth of Rs 53.60 crore disproportionate to their known sources of income.
Dave said Sudhakaran had moved to Jayalalithaa's house in 1992 and was her foster son and his marriage was termed as a marriage of the century. The bench, however, said, "You must stick to the merit of the case and we are not concerned whether its marriage of the century or not. It is none of our concern," the bench said.
Dave continued with the arguments and said, "Case of the prosecution is that they all conspired together to properly utilise the disproportionate assets acquired by Jayalalithaa through a web of companies and firms."
Dave further said that Karnataka government was aware of the fact that Jayalalithaa is a public figure and if she is right and innocent, she is liable to be acquitted.
"The High Court has never bothered to go into the reasoning and findings given by the trial court. It adopted a very casual approach. It went all together in a different tangent. Hence its order needs to be reversed," the senior advocate said.
Dave said the High Court's approach was not in consonance with the approach advocated by the Supreme Court all these years while dealing with the issue of corruption.
The FIR was lodged in 1996 but "the powerful people involved in the case subverted the system to their advantage" and eight companies were registered in a single day, he said.
"There are arguments that these companies are independent companies and you can't look into the transaction of these firms. Question is whose companies are these and who are the people running these companies," Dave alleged.
He said AIADMK chief and Sasikala were partners in two companies, Jaya Publication and Sasi Enterprise, and several transactions have taken place between these companies and other firms to "legitimise the disproportionate assets".
"It has now become a fashion for the politicians nowadays to accept ten's of crores from their cadres on birthdays to avoid Income Tax lense but here we are dealing with Prevention of Corruption Act.
"She was taking Rs 1 as salary and on the other hand she takes ten's of crore from her cadres as birthday gift. Is this a way? These are their defence and sometime these defence are even accepted by the court. Suitcase full of money are taken out of the house and deposited in various banks," he alleged.
He claimed that all the four accused were not blood relations and yet they were staying under a single roof just to manage everything through their web of companies. The arguements of Dave remained inconclusive and will continue tomorrow.
On July 27, last year the apex court had issued noticeson Karnataka government's appeal seeking stay of the high court judgement to Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and her relatives V N Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, asking them to file their replies within eight weeks.
The apex court had earlier allowed an intervention application by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy in the matter and asked him to file the issues he wished to press before it.
The Karnataka HC had on May 11, 2015 ruled that AIADMK supremo's conviction by special court suffered from infirmity and was not sustainable in law, clearing decks for her return as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.
Karnataka government, in its plea against the May 11 last year order, claimed that HC had erred in computing disproportionate assets of the AIADMK leader.
The Karnataka government also asked whether the high court had "erred in law" by according benefit of doubt to Jayalalithaa in pursuance of a Supreme Court judgement holding that accused can be acquitted if his or her disproportionate assets were to the extent of ten per cent.
The state government had also claimed that the high court has erred in overruling preliminary objections raised by it and added that the accused had filed their appeals against conviction without impleading Karnataka as a party.
The special court had in 2014 held Jayalalithaa guilty of corruption and sentenced her to four years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore.
New Delhi: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday questioned the verdict of Karnataka High Court acquitting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and others in a disproportionate assets case in Supreme Court, saying there can be no leniency in prosecuting public servants holding high positions.
Swamy told the bench of justices Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Amitava Roy that leniency, as envisaged by the apex court in other cases, is not applicable when public servants in high places committed corrupt acts.
"The single appellate judge erred in applying the leniency (criteria) instead, in keeping with a catena of judgements of Supreme Court, (it) should have confirmed the conviction," he said, adding that "there can be no room for leniency in prosecuting corruption cases, especially of public servants holding high positions."
Swamy's submissions came after senior advocate B V Acharaya, appearing for Karnataka government, concluded his arguments on the appeals challenging the High Court verdict.
The BJP leader said the first key issue to be decided by the apex court was whether or not the income and wealth calculations by Karnataka High Court is accepted and whether the Rs 2.82 crores estimate of disproportionate assets should be taken as accurate.
He also questioned the role of the Superintendent of Police of Tamil Nadu, who was the sole respondent from the appeal stage before the High Court and till the end of proceedings.
"The issue is whether the judicial process was subverted or not by the vitiating circumstances of the appointment of the sole public prosecutor from Tamil Nadu," he said.
Besides Jayalalithaa, others accquited by the High Court were her close aide Sasikala and her two relatives, V N Sudhakaran and Elavarasi.
On July 27, last year the apex court had issued notices on Karnataka government's appeal seeking stay of the high court judgement to Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and her relatives V N Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, asking them to file their replies within eight weeks.
The apex court had then allowed an intervention application by Swamy in the matter and asked him to file the issues he wished to press before it.
The BJP leader further claimed that the substantial rebuttals raised by newly-appointed public prosecutor for Karnataka government were not addressed in the over 1000 page judgement delivered by the High Court.
"Thus I submit, decide whether or not there has been a miscarriage of justice vitiating the fair proceedings in the High Court," he said in his written submissions.
He claimed that the entire "re-calculation" done by the judge of Karnataka High Court was "arbitrary, unreasonable and unsupported" by any established procedure known in case law on corruption cases and "it trivializes the serious consequences of corruption."
"The judgement of the Karnataka High Court acquitting the respondents requires in the interest of justice, public interest and probity be scrutinised with judicial wisdom and strictness. The acquittal thus be set aside," Swamy said.
On February 23, the apex court had started final hearing on various appeals including one filed by Karnataka against the acquittal of the AIADMK chief and others in the case.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for Karnataka government, had said there were glaring mistakes in the order of the High Court acquitting Jayalalithaa and others which needed to be set aside.
The Karnataka HC had on May 11, 2015 ruled that AIADMK supremo's conviction by special court suffered from infirmity and was not sustainable in law, clearing decks for her return as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.
Karnataka government, in its plea against the May 11 last year order, claimed that HC had erred in computing disproportionate assets of the AIADMK leader.
It had also asked whether the high court had "erred in law" by according benefit of doubt to Jayalalithaa in pursuance of a Supreme Court judgement holding that accused can be acquitted if his or her disproportionate assets were to the extent of ten per cent.
The special court had in 2014 held Jayalalithaa guilty of corruption and sentenced her to four years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore.
Kota: The district education department in Jhalawar, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's home town and assembly constituency, has asked government teachers to check open defecation in their respective school areas by going out on visit at 5 am to generate awareness and also click photos of those found relieving themselves in open.
The order, however, has not gone down well with teachers' organisations which said such a job is inappropriate particularly for women teachers.
A senior official in the department said the order requires teachers to send a report and photographs through WhatsApp to senior officials everyday.
The order was issued on June 3 and will come into effective after schools' summer vacation ends on June 21.
Jhalawar district education officer (elementary) Laxman Kumar Malawat said the heads of government schools and their staff have been directed to visit their respective areas in morning at about 5 O'clock.
During the visit they would generate awareness amongst students and their parents against open defecation and click photographs of those found defecating in open, Malawat said.
The teachers must send the report and the photos to their senior officials on WhatsApp daily, he added.
The practice has been started at some schools in the district since February and will be taken up in rest of the government schools as it has yielded "positive results", the DEO said.
Other measures for checking open defecation include rewarding those students who have toilets at their homes, separate queue for students with toilets and those without at morning assembly prayer in schools, Malawat said.
Female government teachers are also covered under the order. Teachers' organisations have reacted sharply to the order.
"Is this now the only job left for teachers to do instead of teaching?" asked Jhalawar district Shikshak Sang (Rastriya) former president Ajay Jain.
Such additional job to teachers would adversely affect the quality of education and results, he said.
"The job is inappropriate, particularly for female teachers," said Jyoti Sharma, general secretary of district Shikshak Sang (Rastriya) and lecturer in biology at government senior secondary school.
"But, we are government servants and we must follow the government orders," she said.
Belagavi/Hubballi: The law and order situation in the state is worsening and the 6.5 crore population is suffering due to the cold war between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Home Minister Dr G Parameshwar which has been going on for the past three years, said Union Minister for Fertilisers and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ananth Kumar.
At a party campaign for the upcoming polls to the Upper House in Belagavi on Monday, he said that the unresolved differences between the Chief Minister and the Home Minister had affected the government machinery badly. Police personnel who were supposed to maintain law and order had to resort to an agitation due to the state's government's negligence, the Union minister said.
The entire process of development had turned haywire with Mr Siddaramaiah neglecting his priorities. Despite being aware of some of the major problems faced by police personnel, the state government did not take any measures to fix them. Including the appointment of personnel to the police department, the government did not work on extending basic facilities to the personnel, many of whom were leading a miserable life, said Mr Ananth Kumar.
Ananth Kumar: Siddaramaiah responsible for cash for vote
Union minister for chemicals and fertilisers Ananth Kumar alleged on Monday that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was responsible for bribery creating havoc in the coming Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council elections. Speaking to reporters here, he claimed legislators were demanding money for their votes as the Congress had fielded a third candidate with an eye on the additional votes from independents and rebel MLAs of other parties.
Contending that the Congress should have made an effort to build a consensus among Opposition leaders before fielding a third candidate, he said the Chief Minister could have avoided shameful incidents like a media sting on the 'vote for cash' issue if he had been more amicable. The autocratic approach of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to both polity and governance should be blamed for the ongoing charges of horse-trading against the MLAs. Siddaramaiah himself is encouraging cross voting by saying its the prerogative of every legislator to decide which candidate he should elect to the Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council. His behavior is a clear breach of the Anti-Defection Law introduced by his own party leader, Rajiv Gandhi, he said. Regretting that the party high command had failed to prevent Mr Siddaramaiah from encouraging corruption in the elections, he said the Congress should have fielded candidates based on its own strength in the Legislative Assembly.
IG Viswakumarjit makes enquiries with the villagers of Agiripalli in Krishna district on allegations that Telugu Desam leader attacked police on Monday. (Photo: DC)
Vijayawada: Tension prevailed in Agiripalli mandal headquarters for sometime on Monday when the TD leaders attacked the police.
Leaders of various political parties staged a protest seeking action against TD leaders in connection with the incident.
According to the police, SI Rajendra Prasad was supervising the cops on traffic control duty at Agiripalli Centre and he questioned rowdy-sheeters, Paleti Sravan Kumar and Rompicherla Ramu, when they were on their way to the police station to submit details about the reason behind their moving out of the station, as per the new rules.
However, the duo reacted in a different manner when questoined about the same by the SI and questioned his authority.
This led to a verbal duel between the police officer and the rowdy-sheeters and the latter tried to attack the SI.
Soon Sravan Kumar informed about the incident to his brother and local TD leader Paleti Maheswara Rao on phone.
Immediately, the TD leader, along with his followers, reached the place and tried to attack the SI.
In the melee, two constables, who tried to prevent the TD men from attacking the SI, suffered minor injuries. After sometime, the rowdy-sheeters and the TD leader fled from the place.
According to reports, Paleti Maheswara Rao is a close follower of minister Ravela Kishore Babu and MP Maganti Babu. The police informed the issue to the higher officials. North zone IG Kumara Vishwajit, SP Vijaya Kumar, DSP K. Srinivasa Rao reached Agiripalli and conducted an inquiry on the incident.
Meanwhile, leaders of various political parties staged a protest demanding the police to arrest those involved in the incident. They wondered how can the police protect people when they cant protect themselves.
New Delhi: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Tuesday said that allegations of horse-trading are not being levelled against the beneficiary, but instead on that person whose party has been broken.
"Is that person the beneficiary whose party was broken and ten people switched sides to the BJP or that party where ten new people joined? So, allegations of horse-trading are not being levelled against the beneficiary and instead the allegations are made on that person whose party was broken. So, this is a strange justice which the nation should definitely contemplate upon," Rawat told the media here.
Rawat also said that he is being summoned repeatedly so that he is not able to carry out his duties, adding that despite all this, he is here to honour the agency formed by the Indian Parliament.
"Whenever they (CBI) will call me, I will appear before them. I would appeal to the people to watch the CD on the basis of which I have been summoned. I should definitely be punished if something faulty comes out in that particular CD. I am being summoned repeatedly so that I am not able to carry out my duties in the state which is my responsibility. But despite all this, I am here to honour the agency formed by the Indian Parliament," he added.
"The prestige of this premier organisation is at stake. A through probe must be done on horse-trading if indeed it has taken place in Uttarakhand. They should also probe the comments made by the leaders of both parties, besides tracking down their mobile, landline calls and the truth will come to the fore," Rawat said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has called Rawat for questioning in connection with the ongoing preliminary enquiry into an alleged sting operation against him.
The CBI had earlier questioned Rawat on May 24 for over five hours in connection with the sting operation where he was shown offering bribe to rebel Congress MLAs to save his government.
Earlier, the Uttarakhand High Court had refused to quash the ongoing CBI probe into the sting operation, following which the agency had summoned the Chief Minister.
The TV sting operation was done in March, when rebel Congress lawmakers voted against the state budget, triggering a political crisis.
Later, Rawat government was sacked by the Centre and the state was placed under President's Rule.
However, Congress knocked the door of the Court and Rawat returned as Chief Minister after winning a trust vote ordered by the Supreme Court earlier this month.
Our biggest enemy lies within us. Smug as we are with the fact that we remain one of the fastest growing economies (though the new GDP series is extremely dodgy), we are oblivious to structural problems that continue to bedevil us. In the past two years, there isnt a single tangible transformative idea the BJP has come up with. Not one killer application that could breathe life into a supine economy. Governed by incrementalism, blinded by its mandate based on the idea of majoritarianism and impervious to an ever-decelerating economys varied imponderables, the BJP has at no stage in these two years shown any stomach for reform.
One of Indias foremost minds on foreign trade, at a gathering on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreements recently, captured this credo, not sparing any words for the current regime, saying: India is happy merely having a seat on the high table, but it has to remember to plan, articulate and assert itself, which it sadly doesnt. Worse still, the BJP seems completely besotted with its idea of vikaswad as it fulminates over the virodhwad (obstructionism) of the Congress.
The Congress, meanwhile, very much like Macbeth, cannot wash the taint of corruption and remains thoroughly discredited. However, the BJP-manufactured anger against the dynasty remains an issue the Grand Old Party must deal with, as it goes beyond the immediate members of the dynasty and attempts a dangerous revision of Nehru. The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi can claim they have done wonderfully well in the last 24 months, but the reality unfortunately doesnt mirror that.
Agreed that corruption has gone off the radar and isnt part of the subconscious, there hasnt been a single conviction in the last two years. No dramatic arrests or trials that convicted the corrupt. Bharat Parashars CBI trial court has come closest when it convicted the Rungta brothers in the monumental coal scam, but even they are out on bail. The way the AgustaWestland scam probe has been allowed to drag and drift is another example. The CBI filed its PE in March 2013 soon after Italys carabinieri filed its comprehensive investigation report. Agreed that till May 2014, the UPA was in power, what has the BJP done since? Every nuance and detail has been tracked in minutiae by the Italian police probe, including the money trail and recipients of the payoffs, but nothing was done for over three years.
Railways, highways, coal and power are showing an uptick due to the commitment of those helming these ministries. LED, Pehal, Jan Dhan and DBT are excellent administrative reforms, but there is a blue sky available for the BJP, and it has shown no appetite for dramatic and radical change. While it is true that untangling the knots left behind by the UPA has taken its time, but equally, frequent bureaucratic shuffles and maltreatment of top officers hasnt helped in altering sentiments and policy paralysis may well have been replaced by a bureaucratic paralysis.
The spectre of 5Cs CAG, CVC, CIC, CBI and the courts continues to haunt the steel frame. It is well known that Nitin Gadkari has gone beyond the pale of the IAS (his PS and some other officers are not from the service), and this enables him to function with greater alacrity. On the whole, the bureaucracy is a bit rebellious at the way it is being asked to come to speed, and is even impeding progress.
Yes, the BJP has bitten the bullet on the politically-sensitive decontrol of diesel, linking it to global crude prices, but even the somnolent UPA, realising the petro-diesel price differential was creating havoc with the auto economy, had started that process by raising diesel prices by 50 paise per month to bridge the humungous deficit.
Yes, the long-pending insurance bill ramping FDI from 26 per cent to 49 per cent has finally fructified, and other FDI reforms taken place, but the necessary impetus for domestic consumption has not come about despite global crude prices softening for 18 months. FDI inflows are once again showing an uptrend. Infra, social sector and rural spending is up as two successive drought years have left Bharat in serious distress. Once rural spending gets a kickstart with these measures, hopefully on the back of a good monsoon, the economy may well move to the next level of competence.
Pinpricks like continuing tax terrorism, internecine feuding with the RBI governor, zero job growth, weak private investment, obsession with legislation in the face of rampant tyranny of numbers in the Upper House, helplessness in reining in the lunatic fringe, rising intolerance and inability to bring the Opposition on board have proved dampeners which have caught everyones attention. No movement forward on black money, repeated attempts at tax amnesty schemes despite the Supreme Court ruling against continuing such adventures and a general lassitude on big-ticket reforms is also not helping.
The biggest downer is the continuing push of the Hindutva agenda, using the power of majoritarianism. The PM must realise that India is made up of different people, from different strata and different regions. The vast majority of these are based at the bottom of the pyramid, where everyones path crosses in a pool of desperation. Mr Modi is aware that the people voted overwhelmingly for him, not for the BJP. It is incumbent on him to use the next three years to change these perceptions and take India not just to the high table, but to make a meaningful contribution there.
A new economic paradigm, if at all the BJP has one, must be unveiled now for India to leapfrog. It is essential that the BJP provides India with its economic vision, one that is far removed from 10 years of quasi-socialism and cronyism. Unfortunately, though, the BJP has just revived old UPA schemes by giving them new names and carried on as if it is business as usual. A new idea and idiom for India is yet to materialise. It has to show intent more than anything else and not allow things to drift. Two years is a long time in the history and journey of a government. In Mr Modis case, much more was expected and much less has been delivered.
In September 2008, with only 35 minutes to spare before the then 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group met in Geneva to discuss the one-time waiver for India from rules that forbade nuclear trade with a country that hadnt signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, US President George W. Bush managed to persuade Chinese President Hu Jintao to support the move, or risk the opprobrium of being the only holdout. The clean waiver went through. In large part, it was due to Mr Bushs sustained push, that saw him not only work on Beijing, but send secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to persuade Australia, deeply sceptical of Indian intent, to come on board, and get other critics to fall in line.
Canberras decision to allow uranium exports flowed from a recognition that India had a good non-proliferation record and that, notwithstanding it being outside the NPT, it made no sense to isolate it on nuclear issues. India was no slouch either. It sent its two top diplomats Shivshankar Menon and Shyam Saran to Geneva days before the NSG meet, to assure the five other nations who had reservations Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway and New Zealand that it would stand by its pledge not to share sensitive nuclear technology or material with others.
India followed up private reassurances with a public statement at the NSG meet where it pledged to uphold its voluntary moratorium on testing nuclear weapons. Eight years later India, the country that went rogue in 1974, now stands at the cusp of nuclear liberation, knocking on the doors of the NSG (with 48 members now) for full membership. Once again, China, the overarching Asian superpower, more powerful than it was in 2008, and which now more than ever cant risk a vastly more confident India rising at its doorstep, is all set to play the spoiler.
India believes it has met every concern of the NSG on proliferation issues. The process that began with the 2005 India-US civil nuclear agreement, the stringent US Congress 123 Agreement, the civil-military nuclear separation agreement, and vetting by the International Atomic Energy Agency, has shown Indian intent. It has fallen in line with all export control regimes. It has demonstrated to the world that while it may not be a signatory to the NPT or CTBT, in letter and in spirit it abides by the law.
Energy-deficient India sees NSG membership as key to dealing with climate change, boosting capacity to help transition from dirty hydrocarbons to clean energy in the 30 nuclear energy plants it will have up and running in 15 years. Criticism that nuclear reactor construction contracts for the domestic nuclear power market never materialised are set to be laid to rest shortly with a deal with Westinghouse to build six nuclear reactors in Andhra Pradesh.
Indias adherence in spirit to the Wassenaar Arrangement and the Australia Group on dual-use technologies, armaments, chemical and biological weapons has won it brownie points. None of these is likely to sway China. Prime Minister Narendra Modis China charm offensive, which began with an invitation to Chinese President Xi Jinping to Gujarat, the equivalent of a visit to Mr Modis own home, the PMs reciprocal visit to China, New Delhis cancellation of visas for Chinese dissidents, shying off from attending Taiwan President Tsai Ingwens swearing-in, and even the last throw of the dice in President Pranab Mukherjees quiet diplomacy on the sidelines of his recent visit to Beijing, have not eased Mr Xis geopolitical angst. An India in the NSG will be seen as Chinas equal.
China also fears Indias broad and fast-growing nuclear research into next generation technologies that could pit India as a global competitor to China in power plant contracts. Chinas argument that India, which formally applied for NSG membership on May 12, does not qualify as its not an NPT signatory rests on a technicality. But heres the flaw. Stating that India cannot be given NSG membership unless Pakistan, which too has applied for NSG membership, is also acknowledged as a nuclear power, begs the question where does the anointment of Pakistan as a nuclear power leave Israel, or Iran, which Washington has worked strenuously to bring on to the right side, and, more important, North Korea, a Beijing client state that it is unable or unwilling to control.
China has not been publicly named or shamed for its duplicitous projection of Islamabad and Pyongyang, its twin Cubas, that it armed with nuclear weapons in clear violation of its NPT commitments. Indias record, unlike Pakistans and Chinas is unblemished. It doesnt have a Prof. Abdul Qadeer Khan, father of Pakistans nuclear bomb, its chief proliferator, buyer and seller of nuclear technology to not one but three rogue nations Libya, North Korea and Iran rattling around in its closet, threatening to rain nuclear Armageddon on its neighbour.
None of Indias civilian leaders has done what Pakistans civilian leadership has former PM Benazir Bhutto going to Pyongyang with a nuke for missiles deal in the bag! Ms Bhutto and incumbent PM Nawaz Sharif may, of course, have played along with the military in altogether different times, unable to step away from the jingoistic nationalism and anti-India refrain that marks the militarys hold over the national mindset. Mr Sharif, who heads a fledgling democracy, may not yet have the following that is needed to break with Pakistans all-powerful military.
But its this very Pakistan Army that pushed Washington closer to New Delhi, infuriating Pentagon insiders with its sustained attack on US soldiers in Afghanistan while refashioning the disparate Taliban elements into a fighting force that will step into the breach in the terror havens, ending Afghan attempts to strengthen democracy, once the American forces exit.
The other signal that Washington is pulling India into its arc of allies will come when India gains entry, expected this week, into the second critical technology control grouping, the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), which is complementary to the NSG, and which will allow it to import Predator drones that can halt Pakistani infiltration across its borders, as well as give India a freer hand if it should choose to export missiles to anti-Chinese countries like Vietnam. The far-reaching implications of the India-US military logistics support agreement, too, is lost on no one.
Beijings line that denying Islamabad entry will reinforce the Pakistan militarys expansion of its nuclear programme is essentially saying the world must reward nuclear bad behaviour. On June 9, when the NSG meets in Geneva, and again in Seoul June 24 to decide Indias entry, it must demonstrate that the world knows how to distinguish between good and bad nuclear behaviour.
According to both Lenovo and Google, the new device will be priced not more than $500 (approximately Rs 33,000).
Early this year, at CES event, Lenovo announced its partnership project with Google, Project Tango phone, aimed to push 3D mapping and augmented reality to next level.
On the basis of Lenovos statement, the company is expected to unveil the device during Tech World, scheduled to be held on June 9.
However, ahead of the expected official announcement of the device, a famous leakster Evan Blass from @evleaks tweeted that the first Project Tango phone could be a 6.4-inch Phablet with a QHD screen.
First Project Tango phone (Google AR): 6.4", QHD Lenovo PHAB2 Pro. Evan Blass (@evleaks) June 5, 2016
The device is believed to be loaded with cameras and sensors to allow 3D mapping.
According to both Lenovo and Google, the new device will be priced not more than $500 (approximately Rs 33,000).
More information is expected to be revealed at the Lenovo's Tech World event.
Also read: Google to produce Project Tango 3D phone with Lenovo.
Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Telangana government will soon launch two initiatives focused on different areas like hardware, particularly electronics and semi-conductors. (Representational image)
Hyderabad: After setting up India's largest technological incubation centre, T-Hub, Telangana government will soon launch two initiativesT Works and the country's first Very Large Scale Integration Design (VLSID) Academyin the city.
"We are ready to start various verticals of T-Hub focused on different areas like hardware, particularly electronics and semi-conductors, which will be launched in Hyderabad before December end. We are going to call it 'T-Works'," Telangana IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan told reporters here today.
T-Works will be another feature in Hyderabad where prototyping lab, innovation opportunities in hardware, electronic manufacturing and semi-conductors will be made available to help innovators to work on, he added.
Ranjan, who along with Telangana's Information Technology Minister K T Rama Rao, was on a visit to the US recently, said: "We visited a prototyping lab in California and signed an MoU also. They will be sharing their technological know-how on establishing our T-works in Hyderabad."
Ranjan further said the Telangana government will also soon set up Very Large Scale Integration Design (VLSID) Academy and the first phase will come up in Gachibowli here, which will be the first one to be set up by a government in the country in collaboration with industry partners.
"Though there are some VLSI design institutions, but we want to make the best cutting-edge technology available to the manpower here and the government is in the process of setting up a VLSI Design Academy," he said adding that US-based chip maker AMD has agreed to partner with the proposed VLSID Academy.
Meanwhile, the 30th International Conference on VLSID will be held here from January 7 to 11. Over 2,000 experts from around the world including policy makers, influencers from the government, private and the academic sector will converge in Hyderabad for the five-day conference to debate, deliver key notes, present tutorials and papers to shape the future of VLSI Design industry in India, he said.
The upcoming conference theme 'Technologies for a Secure and Connected World' will highlight Cloud Computing and IoE (Internet of Things), VLSID General Chair Dasaradha Gude told reporters here today.
Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Attacks by the Nigeria-based fighters on Friday, Sunday and Monday on the town of Bosso and its military post forced people to flee. (Photo: AFP)
Niamey: The United Nations refugee agency says at least 50,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in southeastern Niger after a series of attacks by Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.
The agency said Tuesday that attacks by the Nigeria-based fighters on Friday, Sunday and Monday on the town of Bosso and its military post forced people to flee.
Read: 32 troops killed in Niger clash with Boko Haram jihadists: Defence Ministry
Niger's National Defense Minister Hassoumi Massoudou said Tuesday the death toll from the overnight attack Friday in Bosso has been revised. He said 24 soldiers from Niger were killed along with two soldiers from Nigeria. The defense ministry earlier reported that 30 soldiers from Niger and two Nigerian soldiers were killed.
Massoudou said 55 insurgents were also killed. Boko Haram's nearly seven-year insurgency has killed thousands and displaced 2.7 million.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi lays a wreath at the Tomb of Unknown Soldiers, paying homage to Indian-American astronaut late Kalpana Chawla at Arlington National Cemetery in US. (Photo: Twitter)
Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday laid a wreath at the Tomb of Unknown Soldiers and paid homage to Indian-American astronaut late Kalpana Chawla at Arlington National Cemetery here.
"Honouring sacrifice, saluting valour. Formal engagements begin with a solemn ceremony," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.
"In homage to heroism and indomitable courage," Swarup said in another tweet.
In the presence of astronaut Sunita Williams and Kalpana Chawla's family pic.twitter.com/sPJbrQxdPU Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
He also had a brief interaction with the husband and family members of Chawla, senior officials from NASA, Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams and her father at Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial.
US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter accompanied the Prime Minister. Indian Ambassador to the US Arun K Singh, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, US Ambassador to India Richard Verma and Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal were also present on the occasion.
In homage to heroism and indomitable courage. PM @narendramodi at the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial pic.twitter.com/HXJwgPFs8f Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
"All of us are very honoured that he took time to come and acknowledge the shuttle catastrophe and the deep cooperation that we have with India in the space world," Williams said after her brief interaction with Modi.
"Personally it is commemorating my friend (Kalpana Chawla)," Williams said.
Modi spoke to Sunita's father in Gujarati and invited them to visit India. "With health permitting, I definitely look forward to visiting India," her father said.
"The Prime Minister said come to India. Please come and visit," she said.
Chawla's husband Jean-Pierre Harrison presented a set of books on the late astronaut, including a biography written by him, to the Prime Minister.
The Tomb of the Unknowns is a monument dedicated to American service members who have died without their remains being identified.
Swiss President Schneider-Ammann said Switzerland is not a country that supports these practices and the country wants to be part of the international mainstream on these matters. (Photo: AP)
Washington: There has been a meeting of mind between India and Switzerland on the issue of black money and tax evasion, a top Indian official said on Tuesday, a day after it assured India of stepped up cooperation over the issue.
"Clearly there was a meeting of mind on the issue of black money and tax evasion," External Affairs Ministry Spokesman Vikas Swarup told reporters here, a day after the Prime Minister's visit to Switzerland.
"As (Swiss) President (Johann) Schneider-Ammann said Switzerland is not a country that supports these practices. Switzerland is a country which wants to be part of the international mainstream on these matters. And of course there would be further co-operation between India and Switzerland," Swarup said.
On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his talks with Swiss President Schneider-Amman, raised the issue of black money and tax evasion by Indians to which the latter offered to extend the level of cooperation.
Schneider-Amman said his government will send a state secretary for international financial matters to India on June 14 to explore enhancing cooperation on the issue.
India's membership to Nuclear Suppliers Group was the another major issue discussed in Switzerland, Swarup said, adding that New Delhi has received categorical assurance from the Swiss President himself saying that he would support Indias membership to NSG.
Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here on Monday (US time) on a three-day visit, during which he will hold talks with President Barack Obama to review bilateral ties and address a joint session of the US Congress.
Modi arrived at the Joint Base Andrews from Switzerland, where he secured the European nations support for Indias NSG membership ahead of a key meeting of the 48-nation bloc.
The penultimate leg of PM Narendra Modis journey begins as he arrives in Washington D.C. on a sunny summer afternoon, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.
US Ambassador to India Richard Verma and Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Biswal were among the top officials present at the base to receive Prime Minister Modi.
Modi has a packed schedule here, including the address to a joint session of the US Congress. He will be the fifth Indian Prime Minister to do so. Modi is visiting the US at the invitation of President Obama.
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, a senior US official had said ahead of the meeting.
This is Prime Minister Modis fourth visit to the US. In my meeting with the President on June 7, we will seek to build upon the progress achieved in providing new vigour and momentum to our strategic partnership in diverse areas, Modi had said before departing for his five-nation tour to Afghanistan, Qatar, Switzerland, the US and Mexico.
Modi will begin his US visit by paying tributes at the Arlington National Cemetery. He will then meet heads of a number of American think tanks and will attend an event to repatriate Indian antiquity by the US.
Modi will also address the 40th AGM of the USIBC (US India Business Council) and meet US business leaders.
India and USA are natural partners, two vibrant democracies that celebrate their diversity and pluralism. Strong India-USA ties benefit not only our two nations but also the entire world, Modi said.
From the US, Modi will visit Mexico before heading back to India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi being welcomed by Indian high commissioner to USA, Arun Singh on his arrival at Joint Base Andrews (JBA) in Washington DC, USA. (Photo: PTI)
Washington: Notwithstanding a "difficult political" climate in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi "demonstrated" the country's leadership on the issue of climate change, the White House has said ahead of his crucial meeting with US President Barack Obama.
During his Oval Office meeting with Modi on Tuesday, President Barack Obama is expected to discuss the economic ties along with national security, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said yesterday.
Earnest, however, did not divulge on the possible outcome of the meeting.
"I don't have anything to say about potential deliverables yet. We may have more on this tomorrow, obviously. I can tell you that there are a couple of things that the President is interested in discussing the Prime Minister Modi," he said.
"The first is obviously the important role that India played in completing an international climate change agreement. We discussed back in December in Paris that India was going to play an important role in making important commitments to this agreement that would ensure that the world came together to confront this challenge," the presidential spokesman said.
President Obama had an opportunity to meet PM Modi and the rest of the Indian delegation to those negotiations, to talk over what role India could play and what commitments India could make.
"Obviously, this is a situation where Prime Minister Modi demonstrated a lot of leadership even in the face of a difficult political climate back home. He committed his country to standards that will be good for the Indian people, but more importantly, will be good for the rest of the world, too," Earnest said.
"So obviously, the President has a lot of respect for the way that Prime Minister Modi has handled this issue. And I would anticipate that they'll have a discussion about what more the US and India can do to advance the climate agenda," he said.
"I would expect the US and India to discuss the economic ties between our two countries. The economic relationship between the two countries is an important one. It is a relationship that benefits both our citizens. So I would anticipate a discussion of some economic issues," he said while previewing the seventh meeting between the two leaders.
"There obviously are some important national security issues as well. We have seen in recent years greater and closer coordination between US national security officials and Indian national security officials."
"The president is certainly interested in trying to deepen and strengthen those ties because it would enhance the national security of both our countries," he said, adding that the two leaders have got a pretty full agenda.
Responding to a question, Earnest said the US is unlikely to request India to ratify the climate change agreement by the end of the year.
"What I don't know is the process that India has to go through in order to ratify the agreement. So I don't know whether or not the President will be making that specific request," he said.
"But the role that India has played thus far in helping the international committee come to an agreement has been significant, and we obviously would expect India moving forward to continue to play an important role in the international community in making progress, even beyond the agreement that was signed, or that was reached back in December," Earnest said.
The aim of the interaction was to understand from them, how they see global trends in the coming years, the challenges and what US and India could do together for the world, keeping in mind among the templates that the Prime Minister has articulated. What can US and India do together for the world was really the theme," Indian Ambassador to the US Arun K Singh said. (Photo: Twitter)
Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday met representatives of several prominent US think-tanks to understand how they look at global trends and challenges and what India and the US can do together for the world.
"Had a wonderful interaction with leading think-tanks," the Prime Minister tweeted after his meeting with representatives of the think-tanks.
Also had a wonderful interaction with leading think tanks. pic.twitter.com/zoT1VPslml Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 7, 2016
The thinks-tank that were represented at the meeting were Brookings Institute, Council on Foreign Relations, Center for American Progress, Atlantic Council, Hudson Institute, Center for National Interest, Global Energy Capital, Carnegie Endowment, Asia Group, Pew Research Center, the US Institute of Peace and Foundation for Defence of Democracies.
"The aim of the interaction was to understand from them, how they see global trends in the coming years, the challenges and what US and India could do together for the world, keeping in mind among the templates that the Prime Minister has articulated. What can US and India do together for the world was really the theme," Indian Ambassador to the US Arun K Singh told reporters.
"Current global issues were discussed in the medium and longer term perspective. And we looked at opportunities and ways to be able to work together in a way that would meet India's national interest and of course would be of interest to the US," Singh said and denied that this exercise was undertaken as part of perception management drive.
The Ambassador said that Prime Minister shared his thoughts at the end of the meeting. Based on the feedback he receives from people and think- tanks in the US, Singh said there is a very very positive assessment of the reforms that have taken place in the last two years.
"And you have to just look at the facts that US equity investment in India is USD 12 billion today and FDI flows into India went up by 50 per cent. So if you just look at facts, you can see that there is a recognition of the tremendous amount of progress that has taken place in India in the last two years," he said.
More than 10 eminent NGOs in a statement urged Modi to reconsider the implementation of the National IPR Policy. (Photo: AP)
Washington: A group of NGOs have appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to succumb to pressure from the US on the issue of intellectual property regime (IPR).
More than 10 eminent NGOs in a statement urged Modi to reconsider the implementation of the National IPR Policy and send the policy back to the drawing board.
Read: Live: Modi arrives at White House, to hold talks with Barack Obama
It urged the Prime Minister to "withstand the pressure from the US government and corporations and to defend the people's interests" and to reject any demand to either initiate negotiation on free trade agreements and/or bilateral investment treaty with the US or joining the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).
The NGOs are Forum Against FTAs, Lawyers Collective, All Indian Drug Action Network, Initiative for Health & Equity in Society, Third World Network, National Working Group on Patent Laws, Gene Campaign, New Trade Union Initiative, Navdanya, Software Freedom Law Centre, and Centre for Internet and Society.
The NGOs also urged Modi to ensure transparency and accountability in the engagements with the US on IP issues by tabling a White Paper in Parliament.
"We are concerned that the National Intellectual Property Rights Policy adopted by the Cabinet ignores India's experience of implementing a regime of IP protection that balances the rights of the IP holders and public interest, by proposing an 'IP maximalist' agenda," the NGOs said.
They alleged that the IP maximalist agenda in the policy fully ignores the socio-economic needs of people of India and serves the profit motives of Multi National Corporations
(MNCs) that own an overwhelming majority of the world's IP.
"We urge the government to reconsider this anti-people policy," the NGOs said.
"We understand the primary intent of the policy is to respond to the aggressive demands of US government, backed by the corporate interests especially the pharmaceutical companies, to amend India's IP laws that include several safeguards to protect the public interest," it said.
"The government of India should remain committed to the welfare of its people's interest and should not succumb to the pressures that it is being subjected to. Above all, the government must fulfill its obligation to protect the rights of the citizens that have been guaranteed by the constitution, in particular, right to health, right to education, and right to food," they said.
Ryan Reyes, whose partner Daniel Kaufman was killed in the San Bernardino, Calif., terrorist attacks, speaks to students at California State University in San Bernardino. (Photo: AP)
San Bernadino: A man whose boyfriend was killed in the San Bernardino terror attack has criticized Donald Trump's suggestion that Muslims be banned from entering the US.
Speaking to students Monday at a class on terrorism at California State University, San Bernardino, Ryan Reyes encouraged tolerance in the wake of the shooting six months ago and said his anger has shifted from the attack to how the nation has responded.
He told students the Muslim community should not be blamed for the actions of radical groups.
Reyes' boyfriend Daniel Kaufman ran a coffee shop at the social services center where Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people at a holiday gathering last Dec. 2. Investigators say the attackers had been radicalized.
Brock Turner had faced up to 14 years behind bars for the January 2015 assault but is now expected to serve only three months of his six-month sentence in a county jail. (Photo: AP)
Los Angeles: The father of a Stanford University student convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman has come under fire for dismissing the crime as 20 minutes of action.
The judge who oversaw the case in California, Aaron Persky, has also sparked outrage for sentencing Brock Turner to six months in prison and probation for the assault, saying that he feared a stiffer jail term would have a severe impact on Turner.
The 20-year-old student from Ohio had faced up to 14 years behind bars for the January 2015 assault but is now expected to serve only three months of his six-month sentence in a county jail.
His father said in a statement at the sentencing hearing last week that Turner, who quit Stanford after he was charged, did not deserve to go to jail.
(Brock) will never be his happy go lucky self with that easy going personality and welcoming smile, Dan Turner told the court in his statement made public on Monday. His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve. That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life.
The case has put the spotlight on rape at US college campuses where, according to one study, more than one in every six women are raped during their first year at university while too drunk or drugged to be able to fend off their attacker.
The judge justified his lenient sentence saying Turner had shown genuine feelings of remorse and that the former swimmer did not pose a danger to society.
Ruin two lives
Details of the case went viral on social media over the weekend after the victims emotional statement to the court was released by the prosecutor, with many denouncing the sentence as a slap on the wrist.
If someones a rapist and an athlete, theyre not an athlete who made a mistake, theyre a criminal who can also swim, tweeted Lauren DeStefano, a US author, in a post retweeted more than 12,000 times.
In her statement, the victim described how the attack had left her emotionally scarred and made her not want (her) body anymore.
She recounted waking up in a hospital bed in San Jose, California, on the morning of January 18, 2015 without any recollection of what had happened and described the invasive exam she underwent.
She also challenged Turners own statement to the court in which he said, I want to show people that one night of drinking can ruin a life.
Ruin a life, one life, yours. You forgot about mine, she told the court as she faced her attacker.
Let me rephrase for you: I want to show people that one night of drinking can ruin two lives. You and me. You are the cause, I am the effect.
She also dismissed Turners account that she was conscious and willing during the assault which took place outside a fraternity party where the two had met.
Turner was convicted in March of three felony charges: assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated/unconscious person, penetration of an intoxicated person and penetration of an unconscious person.
He was arrested after two bicyclists saw him assaulting the victim behind a dumpster. When they called out, he tried to run away but the two tackled him and held him until police arrived, authorities said.
The judges perceived leniency has prompted calls for his dismissal but the prosecutor who handled the case said Monday he was against such an outcome.
While I strongly disagree with the sentence that judge Persky issued in the Brock Turner case I do not believe he should be removed from his judgeship, Jeffrey Rosen said in a statement.
I am so pleased that the victims powerful and true statements about the devastation of campus sexual assault are being heard across our nation. She has given voice to thousands of sexual assault survivors, Jeffrey Rosen added.
Enhanced global co-operation with greater role for India, strengthening of defence and security relationship and initiating steps to boost bilateral trade are believed to be on top of the agenda for US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they meet at the White House. (Photo: PTI)
Washington: The US is "committed" to help India build its defence capabilities until it can be the "net provider of security" in the Asia-Pacific region, a senior Obama administration official has said.
"There is a recognition that as India grows and develops the capacity to protect its interests, not just in immediate region, but also broadly throughout Asia Pacific particularly in the Indian Ocean region. It is in the US interest to build India that capacity until it can truly be the net provider of security," the official told PTI.
"Whether India decides to operate with us or not, we are committed to help India develop that capacity to protect its own interest and to ensure that the Indian Ocean region is free from the kind of threats to maritime transport, shipping, the way it is being in the South China Sea," he said.
Enhanced global co-operation with greater role for India, strengthening of defence and security relationship and initiating steps to boost bilateral trade are believed to be on top of the agenda for US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi when they meet at the White House today.
The official said the India-US relationship has now "emerged at the world stage" and is no longer a "restricted to narrow" South Asia or subcontinental set of issues.
"This level of engagement between an American President and an Indian Prime Minister is absolutely unprecedented," the official said.
India recognises that it now has a tangible and active role to play in protecting its interest, the official said moments after Modi landed at the Andrews Air Force Base for his three-day visit to Washington.
So "it drifted away" from previous governments insisting on values and ideals like disarmament, non-discrimination to being "much more practical" in really reaching out protecting that interest.
The first manifestation of this was at the Paris Climate Change Summit last November. The summit was successful largely because "Modi made a personal decision" to shift away from the integrated north- south narrative to one of really joining in with other world leaders to solving these problems, the official said.
"I think the President and the Prime Minister are likely to talk about how they continue their co-operation on world problems. That would come up in the meeting on different issues. And that would be reflected in the joint statement as well," said the official.
"Secondly the other major convergence that has taken place in recent years is in the realm of security. Again you have a country that historically was non-aligned, probably more closely aligned to the Soviets than with any other country. The US on the other hand was a major cold war protagonist and preferred operating with close alliances," the official said.
"What we have seen from the joint strategic vision from last year is that there is really a strong convergence of perspectives on security matters including regional security matters," the official added.
At the same time, the officials conceded that the convergence is not complete yet.
"There are areas where US still prefers to operate with partners and do operations together as we do elsewhere in the world. India is still hesitant to operate with any other country. It prefers to be autonomous and truly non-aligned," the official said.
"There was a statement made by one of our military commanders that created kind of push back, blow back inside India. But that is the kind of issue where we are on the edge where our co-operation is today. But I think in the years to come, we would look back at this period and say well we managed to get that through as well," observed the official, who is privy to the discussions between the two countries.
The official also conceded that America?s security partnership with Pakistan over the years still poses challenge to India-US relationship.
"But even there you would see there is going to be a much greater convergence again that no country should allow territory to use to launch terrorist attack against neighbours. And I think that is a very strong point of convergence between these two," said the senior administration official.
Economic front is one area, where there is less convergence as compared to security and global issues, the official said.
"On economic front, historically we had a socialist command economy in India and US promoting global liberalised trade. This is an area where convergence is far from complete," the official said.
"I think, as US is working with other countries in the Asia Pacific region, trans-pacific partnership, we have envisioned of a liberalised high standard trade and investment system in the Asia Pacific region. And India is not yet comfortable with that," the official said.
"It (India) still has an approach that is more protectionist which is internally oriented to advance its own industry and make its own industry more competitive. Of course, we understand that. But we are working and we are intensifying discussions including in the Oval Office tomorrow between the President and the Prime Minister, how we can come on board and find areas to c-operate on in the trade investment area," said the official.
Washington: President Barack Obama edged closer to a formal endorsement of Hillary Clinton as the Democratic presidential nominee Monday, suggesting the next 48 hours would be pivotal.
With a series primary votes on Tuesday that could see Clinton all but seal the party nomination, the White House refused to rule out an endorsement within days.
"Once the voters in New Jersey and California have an opportunity to express their preference," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest, "then we may be in a position where we have a much greater sense of what the outcome is likely to be."
It is an open secret in Washington that President Barack Obama intends to endorse Clinton.
But the White House has publicly been wary of putting Obama's hand on the scale during a surprisingly long and sometimes bitter primary race against leftist Bernie Sanders.
White House officials have been wary about alienating millions of young voters who have flocked to Sanders' strident campaign, which has given voice to popular anger about income inequality.
"I think the Sanders campaign would agree that the president has worked hard and gone to great lengths to be fair," said Earnest.
But he added: "The president does have a long personal relationship with Secretary Clinton, she served as his secretary of state for more than four years."
Sanders -- a 74-year-old senator from Vermont who was an independent until recently -- has won 10 million votes during the primaries, three million fewer than Clinton.
But Sanders' supporters have vowed to fight to the bitter end and even challenge Clinton's nomination at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia in July.
There is growing unease in Democratic circles that such infighting could help Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump.
"It's important not to take the Republican party's decision to nominate a controversial lightly," said Earnest.
Washington: The US is working with India to bring the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack to justice, a top official has said amid Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley's deposition before a Mumbai court.
"We are going to continue to work with India to make sure that those responsible are brought to justice," State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner told reporters at his daily news briefing yesterday when asked about the video testimony of LeT operative Headley, a Mumbai-attack convict, before a court in Mumbai.
"We have been over the years working closely with and cooperating with the Indian government in its investigation.
We are committed to doing all we can to assisting the Indian government in pursuing every possible lead to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack to justice," he said.
"He (Headley) provided testimony via video link to a court in Mumbai. The victims of that attack included not only Americans, Indians, but also citizens of other nations," Toner said in response to a question.
He said the US is working with and has encouraged that kind of collaboration between Pakistan and India on this particular case.
Headley, 55, who is serving 35-year prison sentence in the US for his involvement in the Mumbai attacks, has spoken about how Pakistani terrorists conducted the strikes after two failed attempts, the role of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, another LeT commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi as well as his handler in the outfit Sajid Mir among other issues.
Among the Japanese warships, which will practice submarine hunting and anti-aircraft defence, will be the Hyuga, one of the country's three new helicopter carriers. (Photo: PTI)
Tokyo: A fleet of Indian, US, and Japanese warships will hold a large-scale joint naval exercise over eight days from Friday in the Western Pacific, close to a Japanese island chain, part of which China claims.
As China pushes its territorial claims in the neighbouring South China Sea, Tokyo and Washington worry it will look to extend its influence into the Western Pacific, with a growing fleet of submarines and surface vessels to ply distant oceans.
The drill, dubbed Malabar, is an annual event between the US and India, and Japan is joining it this year for the first time since 2007, Japan's ministry of defense said in a statement.
Among the Japanese warships, which will practice submarine hunting and anti-aircraft defence, will be the Hyuga, one of the country's three new helicopter carriers. Last year, the drill was held in the Bay of Bengal near India.
Japan's southwestern island chain, which hosts the biggest concentration of US military personnel in Asia, blocks China's east coast access to the Western Pacific. Japan's military is reinforcing the islands with radar stations and anti-ship missile batteries.
Lying around 220km (137 miles) west of Taiwan are a group of uninhabited isles, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, which are controlled by Tokyo and claimed by Beijing.
On Tuesday, China told the United States it should play a constructive role in safeguarding peace in the disputed South China Sea, as US secretary of state John Kerry called for talks and a peaceful resolution.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims, as well as close military ties with the United States.
Father of the 7-year-old Japanese boy who went missing. (Photo: AP)
Tokyo: Parents who abandoned their seven-year-old son in a Japanese forest as a punishment will not face charges, police said Tuesday.
Yamato Tanooka survived for six nights alone after his mother and father left him on a mountain road in the bear-infested woods of Hokkaido.
Many in Japan were angry at the couple, who said they had forced their son out of the car to teach him a lesson for throwing stones.
They had originally told police Yamato got lost while on a family outing, but later admitted they lied because they feared social censure.
"We plan not to regard it as a criminal case," a Hokkaido police spokesman told AFP, indicating it would be referred to social services.
Toru Numata, a lawyer who handles abuse and domestic violence cases, told AFP: "Considering the factors behind the case, the chances of making it a prosecutable one are extremely slim."
Numata said that the focus is likely to shift to the boy's mental care, focusing on possible trauma from the ordeal.
Rescue workers and soldiers spent days scouring the mountainous forest -- where bears are known to roam -- after Yamato went missing on May 28.
He was finally discovered last Friday by a soldier, sheltering in a hut on a military drill field around five kilometres (three miles) from where he was abandoned.
The boy was found to be suffering from mild dehydration and was sent to hospital. He is expected to be discharged later Tuesday.
On Monday, police questioned him for about an hour in hospital, accompanied by his mother and doctors, the Tokyo Shimbun said.
He was quoted by the daily as telling police: "I walked alone and met no one", adding that he sometimes stopped to rest and arrived at the hut in the dark.
The International Organization for Migration meanwhile said the death toll so far this year was already nearly a thousand above the 1,838 deaths registered in the Mediterranean during the first half of 2015. (Photo: AP)
Geneva: More than 10,000 people have died attempting the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe since 2014, the United Nations said Tuesday.
"You've now had since the start of 2014 when this phenomenon of rising numbers across the Mediterranean happened 10,000 deaths. That threshold has been crossed just in the last few days," UN refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards told reporters.
UNHCR said the number of Mediterranean deaths had risen sharply in 2016, with 2,814 people dying since the start of the year, following a total of 3,771 in 2015 and 3,500 the year earlier. That amounts to 10,085 deaths in less than two and a half years.
"This is clearly an appalling number of deaths that have occurred in the Mediterranean, just on Europe's borders just in the past couple of years," Edwards told AFP.
"It's an extremely worrying dynamic," he said, reiterating the agency's call for the world to find "viable alternative and regular means of dealing with these movements".
"They're happening, they're not stopping, they need a solution to prevent further lives being lost," he said.
The International Organization for Migration meanwhile said the death toll so far this year was already nearly a thousand above the 1,838 deaths registered in the Mediterranean during the first half of 2015.
As of Monday, a total of 206,400 refugees and migrants had arrived in Europe since the start of the year, mainly landing in Greece and Italy, the organisation said.
Following the latest shipwreck off the Greek island of Crete last Friday, the IOM said around 320 people remained missing, presumed drowned.
Rescuers pulled some 340 people to safety but there has been much uncertainty about how many people had been onboard the ship.
IOM said Tuesday that based on testimony from several survivors it was convinced there had been either 648 or 650 men, women and children onboard.
The survivors, spokesman Joel Millman said, "Were sure of the number because smugglers counted them twice a day before departure".
He said survivors had provided harrowing accounts, including the story of a man travelling with his wife and three children who entrusted his three-year-old daughter to another migrant onboard saying he feared he would not live. The girl survived, but the rest of her family perished.
The victim was drinking on the night she was raped. (Representational Image)
Worcester: According to recently filed court documents, a Massachusetts school is alleging that a student who was raped overseas is partially responsible because she was drinking that night and chose to follow a stranger onto a dark rooftop.
The Boston Globe reports Worcester Polytechnic Institute made the arguments in response to a civil suit filed last year in which the victim alleges that the college failed to provide a safe environment for students.
The woman was assaulted by a security guard in April 2012 at a university-leased apartment building in Puerto Rico, where she was completing a research project.
The school's attorneys argue the victim engaged in risky behavior including excessive drinking and disregarded training about how to protect herself from harm.
The woman's lawyers say the school's argument is an attempt to harass and intimidate her.
Doha: Qatar on Tuesday released 23 Indian prisoners, in a special gesture just after the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi, who had taken up the issue of welfare of Indians in Doha with the leadership of Qatar, expressed gratitude to Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani for this gesture that coincided with the start of holy month of Ramadan.
"A special gesture to mark the start of a special month...the Government of Qatar releases 23 prisoners, who will return home to India," the Prime Minister tweeted.
A special gesture to mark the start of a special month...the Government of Qatar releases 23 prisoners, who will return home to India. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 6, 2016
My deepest gratitude to the Emir of Qatar for the gesture. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 6, 2016
The release comes close on the heels of Modi's two-day visit in Doha.
According to officials, the Prime Minister had been assured by the Emir that Qatar will take care of Indian community whose population is about 6.3 lakh.
Yazidi Kurdish women chant slogans against the Islamic State group's invasion of Sinjar city one year ago, in Dohuk, northern Iraq. (Photo: AP/File)
Mosul: Islamic State militants have burned alive at least 19 Yazidi girls, who were captured as sex slaves, for refusing to sleep with Jihadis in Central Mosul, Iraq.
According to reports, ISIS militants put the women in iron cages and set them on fire as punishment.
Eyewitnesses claims the horrifying mass execution of the young women took place in front of hundreds of people.
Read: Girl burns herself to be less attractive for IS: Ghastly tale of Yazidi woman
The 19 girls were burned to death, while hundreds of people were watching. Nobody could do anything to save them from the brutal punishment, an eyewitness told ARA News in Mosul.
"They were punished for refusing to have sex with ISIS militants," a local media activist was quoted as saying in the report.
Read: ISIS sex slaves forced to undergo two-finger virginity test: HRW
It is estimated that about 3,000 to 5,000 Yazidi women and young girls, including minors, are enslaved by ISIS and are experiencing unspeakable horrors.
Islamic State militants consider the Yazidis to be devil-worshippers. The Yazidi faith has elements of Christianity, Zoroastrianism and Islam. Most of the Yazidi population, numbering around half a million, remains displaced in camps inside the autonomous entity in Iraq's north known as Kurdistan.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerr, left, speaks with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People at the end of the eighth round of U.S-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing. (Photo: AP)
Beijing: Beijing will not budge on its claims of ownership over a vast tranche of the South China Sea, a top official insisted Tuesday, as a key annual meeting with the US ended with no movement on the issue.
During a two-day confab in the Chinese capital, US Secretary of State John Kerry urged China to settle its territorial rows peacefully and based on the "rule of law".
But Beijing's top diplomat Yang Jiechi said the United States should butt out of disputes a long way from its shores, including an international arbitration case brought by the Philippines.
China's stance on the case is "in line with international law", Yang said, insisting that Beijing's position "has not and will not change".
The case, he said, should be settled directly between the parties involved and called on Washington to "honour its promise of not taking a position in territorial disputes".
The South China Sea has "been China's territory since ancient times" and China "has every right to uphold its territorial sovereignty and lawful and legitimate maritime entitlements", Yang said.
China claims nearly all of the strategically vital sea despite competing claims by several Southeast Asian neighbours, and has rapidly built artificial islands suitable for military use. Washington has responded by sending warships close to Chinese-claimed reefs, angering Beijing.
The sour ending to the annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue came despite efforts by both sides to smooth out differences that divide the world's top two economies.
Speaking to reporters, the two sides seemed to talk past each other on the thorny question of how to settle a conflict in the region kicked off by the Chinese construction.
Both called for peaceful settlement of the issue and pledged to support freedom of navigation through the region's air and waters, but their remarks suggested very different visions for achieving those goals.
The US will continue its "fundamental support for negotiations and a peaceful resolution based on the rule of law", Kerry said.
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.
The meeting was also clouded by US concerns about an unfavourable business climate, steel overcapacity, and a constricted environment for foreign non-governmental organisations.
The Hindu priest's head had been nearly severed from his neck. (Representational Image: AP)
Dhaka: Unidentified attackers slaughtered a 70-year-old Hindu priest in western Bangladesh on Tuesday, police said, the latest in a series of attacks on minorities by suspected Islamist militants.
The body of Ananda Gopal Ganguly was found with his head nearly severed in a rice field near his home in the village of Noldanga in Jhenidah district, the area's deputy police chief Gopinath Kanjilal said.
"He left home this morning saying that he was going to a Hindu house to offer prayers. Later farmers found his near-decapitated body at a rice field," Kanjilal told AFP.
Kanjilal said it was too early to point fingers at any group, but added that "pattern of the killing is similar to ones carried out by local Islamist militants in recent time".
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.
Ganguly is the 11th person to be killed in the last ten weeks with most of the attacks being claimed by Islamic State jihadists' group.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government has blamed homegrown Islamists for the attacks, rejecting claims of responsibility from the IS and a South Asian branch of Al-Qaeda.
Experts say a government crackdown on opponents, including a ban on Bangladesh's largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami following a protracted political crisis, has pushed many towards extremism.
Hong Kong: In a major development, China has for the first time, publicly acknowledged the role of Pakistan in the coordinated terror attacks that took place in Mumbai between November 26 and 29, 2008 that claimed the lives of 164 people and left another 308 injured.
Chinese State Television CCTV9 has, in a documentary aired recently, highlighted the role of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and its sponsors in Pakistan in this horrific attack which shook the world.
This change in policy by China is significant in the sense that it is taking place on the eve of the expiry of Beijings decision to place on technical hold the listing of three known LeT/JuD (Jamaat-ud-Dawa) militants Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, Talha Saeed and Hafiz Abdul Rauf, on June 9, 2016.
The listing of these individuals by the Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council in September 2015, had the overwhelming support of all members of the international community, with the exception of China, which acted on Pakistans behest.
China is already facing considerable global flak over a similar technical hold over the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Hafiz Saeed, even though the JeM stands listed by the United Nations Sanctions Committee.
China has obviously realized that extending blind support to Pakistan on terror-related issues taints its own reputation as a responsible world power that is seeking to build an international consensus on the need for all countries to jointly fight the menace of terror.
London: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was discharged from hospital, a week after successfully undergoing an open-heart surgery here.
Sharif's wife Kulsum Nawaz and his two sons Hassan and Hussain accompanied the Premier from the Harley Street Clinic in London to his house in the British capital.
Sharif moved to his home in Park Lane this evening after undergoing the "successful" surgery last Tuesday. "He is in good spirits with his family by his side," a source close to the family said.
The 66-year-old PML-N leader had gone to London on May 22 for a regular medical checkup but was diagnosed with a heart complication by doctors who suggested surgery.
Premier's daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif tweeted, "Dekho, dekho kon aaya (look, look, who has come)", along with a picture of Sharif coming out of the hospital.
Dekho Dekho kon aaya pic.twitter.com/nKufY0EhD8 Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) June 6, 2016
Earlier in the day, Maryam said, "Doctors satisfied with PM's progress and latest reports. All being well, Insha' Allah PM will be discharged this afternoon."
"PM going back home," she wrote on twitter.
Yesterday, nearly a week after the Premier underwent surgery, Maryam had announced that his recovery was on track. "PM's recovery on course. Was made to walk several times in the corridor during the day, and up and down a flight of stairs twice," Maryam tweeted.
This was Sharif's second cardiac procedure in five years. The need for the surgery arose after the Premier went through a cardiac procedure called Atrial Fibrillation
Ablation in 2011, "during which certain complications occurred resulting in perforation of heart", Maryam had told the media.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani were among several world leaders who had wished Sharif ahead of his surgery.
However, Sharif had only spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the surgery.
Beijing: US firms feel increasingly unwelcome in China, top American officials said Tuesday, as disagreements overshadowed an annual dialogue in Beijing.
The comments came as a survey of European firms said China's slowing growth was matched by an "increasingly hostile," business environment.
American companies are "questioning whether they are welcome in China", US treasury secretary Jack Lew told a meeting of CEOs on the sidelines of the Strategic and Economic dialogue.
"Concerns about the business climate have grown in recent years," he added.
Top US diplomat John Kerry urged Beijing to "get the barriers out of the way" of companies, adding that the two countries have yet to resolve concerns on intellectual property and clarify "the rules of the road".
"As every businessperson at this table knows, certainty, clarity, even-handedness and an equal application of the laws to everybody is critical to the confidence of the marketplace," he said.
He added that a Chinese law on foreign non-governmental organisations, including universities and professional groups, set to come into force next year would seriously curtail their ability of to work in China.
Lew and Kerry made their comments in a meeting with CEOs from US corporations including metals manufacturer Alcoa, which has accused China of dumping aluminium on world markets.
The group also included executives from China's Wanda Group, whose recent overseas buying spree included the purchase of Hollywood studio Legendary earlier this year.
China's vice-premier Wang Yang called on companies to seek "win-win results" while acknowledging that "in a market economy there will always be competition between our businesses".
The event came on the second day of the annual dialogue whose opening was marked by pointed exchanges on China's alleged overproduction of steel.
Lew said excess capacity had a "distorting and damaging effect" on world markets, but China's finance minister replied that the world was merely "pointing a finger" at his country.
Military researchers in the US have identified the first patient in the United States to be infected with bacteria that are resistant to an antibiotic that was the last resort against drug-resistant germs. The patient is well now, but the case raises the spectre of superbugs that could cause untreatable infections, because the bacteria can easily transmit their resistance to other germs that are already resistant to additional antibiotics. The resistance can spread because it arises from loose genetic material that bacteria typically share with one another.
Think of a puzzle, said Dr Beth Bell, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA. You need lots of different pieces to get a result that is resistant to everything. This is the last piece of that puzzle, unfortunately, in the United States. We have that genetic element that would allow for bacteria that are resistant to every antibiotic.
The bacteria are resistant to a drug called colistin, an old antibiotic that in the United States is held in reserve to treat especially dangerous infections that are resistant to a class of drugs called carbapenems. If carbapenem-resistant bacteria, called CRE, also pick up resistance to colistin, they will be unstoppable. This is huge, said Dr Lance Price, a researcher at George Washington University. We are one step away from CRE strains that cannot be treated with antibiotics. We now have all the pieces in place for it to be untreatable.
The gene for resistance to colistin was first found in China, where the drug is used in pig and poultry farming. Researchers reported its discovery there in November. It has also been found in the intestine of one pig in the United States. CRE is still relatively rare, causing just 600 deaths a year, but by 2013, researchers had identified it in healthcare facilities in 44 states. Dr Thomas R Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. often calls it the nightmare superbug, because it is resistant to all but one antibiotic colistin.
We risk being in a post-antiobiotic world, Dr Thomas said. That wouldnt just be urinary tract infections or pneumonia that could be for the 6,00,000 patients a year who need cancer treatment. He added, The medicine cabinet is empty for some patients.
The colistin resistance in the United States came to light when a 49-year-old woman, who Dr Beth said was connected ...to the military, was treated for a urinary infection at a military clinic in Pennsylvania. Because her urine culture had unusual results, the sample was sent to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, which identified the drug resistance. The bacteria, though resistant to colistin and some other antibiotics, were not resistant to carbapenems. Doctors there published a report on the case in a medical journal.
Sample analysis
Patrick McGann, a scientist at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and lead author of the paper, said researchers had only started analysing samples a few weeks ago. They tested samples from 6 patients, and one of them was the womans. Dr Beth said researchers did not know how the patient contracted the resistant bacteria. The microbes have been found in people in Asia and Europe, but the patient had not traveled during the past 5 months. It is possible that she contracted the bacteria from food, or from contact with someone else who was infected, Dr Beth said. Public health workers will interview the woman and will probably test her family members and other close contacts for the bacteria, she said.
Infectious disease doctors have long warned that overuse of antibiotics in people and in animals put human health at risk by reducing the power of the drugs, some of modern medicines most prized jewels. About 2 million Americans fall ill from antibiotic-resistant bacteria every year and at least 23,000 die from those infections.
The CRE germs usually strike people receiving medical care in hospitals or nursing homes, including patients on breathing machines or dependent on catheters. Healthy people are rarely, if ever, affected.
But the bugs attack broadly, and the infections they cause are not limited to people with severely compromised immune systems. CRE was believed to be the cause of infections from improperly cleaned medical scopes that led to the death of 2 people at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in California last year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here today on a three-day visit during which he will hold talks with President Barack Obama to review bilateral ties and address a joint session of the US Congress.
Modi arrived at the Joint Base Andrews from Switzerland where he secured the European nation's support for India's NSG membership ahead of a key meeting of the 48-nation bloc.
"Penultimate leg of PM Narendra Modi's journey begins as he arrives in Washington D.C. on a sunny summer afternoon," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.
US' Ambassador to India Richard Verma and Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Biswal were among the top officials present at the base to receive Prime Minister Modi.
Modi has a packed schedule here, including the address to a joint session of the US Congress. He will be the fifth Indian Prime Minister to do so. Modi is visiting the US at the invitation of President Obama.
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", a senior US official had said ahead of the meeting.
This is Prime Minister Modi's fourth visit to the US.
"In my meeting with the President on June 7, we will seek to build upon the progress achieved in providing new vigour and momentum to our strategic partnership in diverse areas," Modi had said before departing for his five-nation tour to Afghanistan, Qatar, Switzerland, the US and Mexico.
Modi will begin his US visit by paying tributes at the Arlington National Cemetery. He will then meet heads of a number of American think tanks and will attend an event to repatriate Indian antiquity by the US.
Modi will also address the 40th AGM of the USIBC (US India Business Council) and meet US business leaders.
"India and USA are natural partners, two vibrant democracies that celebrate their diversity and pluralism. Strong India-USA ties benefit not only our two nations but also the entire world," Modi had said.
From the US, Modi will visit Mexico before heading back to India.
Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on Monday approved the dedicate bus lane schemes notification with advice to the Delhi government to address some issues.
Jung advised the AAP government to discuss with traffic police and clarify whether motorised vehicles other than buses and goods vehicles would be allowed in the dedicated bus lanes, and under what conditions.
He also asked the government about the action that buses and goods vehicles would face if they do not used the dedicated lane on roads.
The Delhi government wants to slap a fine of Rs 2,000 on motorists which block the proposed reserved bus lane.
Deny any intentional delay in approving the schemes approval, the Raj Niwas said in a statement: The file related to notification of dedicated bus lanes in Delhi was submitted to the Lieutenant Governors office on the evening of June 3, clarifying some of the issues raised in the note of the Lieutenant Governors Secretariat on February 26.
After the note from LG on February 26, the AAP government on June 2 sent back the plan to him with making "minor" changes in it.
Kejriwal had tweeted on Sunday about the proposal facing alleged hurdles in Raj Niwas.
We are trying to implement it (bus-lane proposal). Unfortunately, LG n BJP blocking it (sic), the Chief Minister tweeted.
In another tweet, Kejriwal said that he hoped that the LG and BJP would stop blocking the AAP government's public interest schemes.
The Delhi government has recommended giving special power to junior engineers and PWD officials senior to JEs to impound vehicles and challan motorists obstructing buses on the dedicated lanes.
The Raj Niwas statement said Jung approved the notification with a suggestion to the AAP government to explicitly state that buses and goods vehicles shall move only in dedicated bus lanes and indicate penal provisions for such violations.
Apart from idle parking, penal provisions for violation of restrictions/ conditions for plying of other vehicles in identified bus lanes should also be indicated, the Raj Niwas has suggested.
Delegation of powers
Jung also asked the Kejriwal government to specify delegation of powers to officers of various departments for prosecuting different offences/ violations and give clear guidelines for allowing emergency vehicles to use the dedicated bus land.
The Raj Niwas has also asked the AAP government to carefully identify and specify the roads to be covered under the scheme.
As per government officials dedicated bus lanes have been marked along 500 km of Public Works Department roads in the capital.
Mayors of the three municipal corporations have called the city government's special Assembly session on insanitary conditions prevailing in Delhi as a political gimmick.
The mayors said on Monday that the city government had not yet cleared sanitation bylaws submitted by the MCDs, allowing them more powers to carry out their responsibility of keeping the city clean.
The three MCDs are run by the Bharatiya Janata Party and are often at loggerheads with the citys Aam Aadmi Party government.
The government is calling the special session to hide its failures and malign the MCDs, the mayors said.
Leader of the House in South Corporation Subhash Arya alleged that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been keeping himself involved in the publicity and expansion of AAA and neglecting governance.
There is no point in convening the special session of the Assembly as the AAP MLAs have been gagging the opposition in the Assembly and they are generally thrown out from the house, he said.
It seems that Delhi government is scared of the presence of the three opposition members in the house.
This is the reason the government is convening a special session on the issues of
sanitation to politically pressurise the MCDs, Subhash Arya said.
North Corporation Mayor Sanjeev Nayyar said the government has not installed CCTV cameras and yet to regularise the temporary staff as promised during the elections.
The government has also not been able to provide amenities to the residents. The government has been convening the special sessions frequently on one issue or another just to deviate attention of the people from its failures, Nayyar said.
On Sunday, Delhi government had sought replies from the three municipal corporations for insanitary conditions prevailing in their respective areas.
Reasonable explanation
Legal action will be initiated against the municipalities if they fail to provide a reasonable explanation, the government had said.
While the citys northwest and east districts got the highest number of 'conditional orders' or notices at 32 each, the southwest district received only 14 'conditional orders'.
The north and west districts got 26 'conditional orders' each from the government.
While the northeast and south districts got 15 'conditional orders' each, the southeast district received 18 such notices.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today began his three-day US visit by laying a wreath at the Tomb of Unknown Soldiers and paying homage to Indian-American astronaut late Kalpana Chawla at Arlington National Cemetery here.
"Honouring sacrifice, saluting valour. Formal engagements begin with a solemn ceremony," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.
"In homage to heroism and indomitable courage," Swarup said in another tweet.
Modi also had a brief interaction with the husband and family members of Chawla, senior officials from NASA, Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams and her father at Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial.
US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter accompanied the Prime Minister. Indian Ambassador to the US Arun K Singh, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, US Ambassador to India Richard Verma and Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal were also present on the occasion.
"All of us are very honoured that he took time to come and acknowledge the shuttle catastrophe and the deep cooperation that we have with India in the space world," Williams told PTI.
"Personally it is commemorating my friend (Kalpana Chawla)," 50-year-old Williams said.
Modi spoke to Williams' father in Gujarati and invited them to visit India.
"With health permitting, I definitely look forward to visiting India," her father said.
Chawla's husband Jean-Pierre Harrison presented a set of books on the late astronaut, including a biography written by him, to the Prime Minister.
Modi inquired about him and also asked about the colourful jacket he was wearing. Harrison said he got it from Gujarat.
Chawla was the first woman of Indian-origin in space. In 2003, Chawla was one of the seven crew members killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
The Tomb of the Unknowns is a monument dedicated to American service members who have died without their remains being identified.
Backing India's bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the US has said by becoming the member of the elite grouping the country would be in a stronger position to be a "good citizen" on proliferation- related issues.
"Having gone down the path of the civil nuclear agreement with India, and having invested a significant amount of time in building up our cooperation with India as it relates to nuclear security," Deputy National Security Advisor Benjamin Rhodes told a Washington audience.
Rhodes remarks on India came in response to a question about why some countries like China are opposing India's membership in the 48-member NSG.
"..I think the bottom line for us is that we believe that through engagement with India and through engagement with groups like the NSG, we are in a better position to support India as a good citizen on these issues," Rhodes said.
He said the US believed that engaging India and trying to bring it into international processes will be more effective in promoting the country's security protocols.
"And frankly, it takes place against continued conversations that we have with India about their approach to nuclear weapons; and of course, the support that we've always expressed for diplomatic efforts between India and Pakistan," Rhodes said in response to a question at an event organised by the Arms Control Association.
Based in Washington, Arms Control Association is a think-tank that had opposed India-US civil nuclear deal and is now opposing India's membership to the NSG.
Rhodes remarks on India came in response to a question on India about why some countries are opposing India's membership to NSG.
"So, I think the bottom line for us is that we believe that through engagement with India and through engagement with groups like the NSG, we are in a better position to support India as a good citizen on these issues going forward," Rhodes said.
"Of course, we'll take seriously the concerns of other nations, but again for us I think this is part of a broader context where we've decided to take this approach with India. And we've seen it bear some fruit, particularly on issues related to nuclear security," he said.
"So again, we understand the concerns, but in many ways we're dealing with a challenge that was fairly far advanced by the time we took office. And we decided to sustain the previous administration's decision to pursue that civil nuclear cooperation broadly," he said.
"Then what we've tried to do is nest it in these international bodies and protocols so that, again, India is in a stronger position to be a good citizen on proliferation- related issues," Rhodes said.
A 70-year-old Hindu priest was today hacked to death in Bangladesh by three suspected Islamic State jihadists who nearly severed his head, the second priest from the community to be killed this year in the Muslim-majority nation which has seen a string of brutal attacks by Islamists on minorities and secular activists.
Ananda Gopal Ganguly was attacked at around 9:30 AM by three bike-borne men who slit his throat with sharp-edged weapons in the western Jhinaigah district's Noldanga village, Assistant Superintendent of Police Gopinath Kanjilal said, adding that suspected militants carried out the murder.
"As it appears Ganguly was killed by the militants as it matches the pattern they followed previously," Jhinaidah's police chief Altaf Hossain told PTI.
"He was an old ordinary man who was known little beyond the neighbourhood and we found no clue as well that he had enmity with anyone... the circumstances led us to point our figure to militants as we launched the investigation initially," he said.
Police said they have recovered the body and sent it for an autopsy. An investigation was launched into the incident.
The near-decapitated body of the priest was discovered by farmers at a farmland near his home.
Meanwhile, IS claimed responsibility for the killing of the Hindu priest. The terror group said it "assassinated" the priest while he was going for prayers, the SITE monitoring group quoted the terror group's Amaq news agency.
Ganguly, who was a priest at the Noldanga temple in Sadar upazila, was on his way to the temple riding a bicycle to offer prayers when the unidentified assailants struck. They first shot him and then hacked him to death to make sure that he was dead.
Launching a massive crackdown on extremists after a spate of attacks, Bangladesh police today gunned down three suspected Islamists.
The three were operatives of the outlawed Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) outfit which was targeted by Superintendent of Police Babul Aktar whose wife was brutally killed by the militants on Sunday.
There have been systematic assaults in Bangladesh in recent months specially targeting minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and foreigners.
On Sunday, a Christian businessman was hacked to death by unidentified machete-wielding men near a church, hours after the wife of a top anti-terror police officer was shot dead by religious extremists.
A special court today granted bail to Home Ministry official Anand Joshi, who was arrested for allegedly issuing FCRA notices arbitrarily to several NGOs for financial gains, observing that the accused cannot be put in jail for an indefinite period.
Special CBI Judge Vinod Kumar gave the relief to Joshi, who was an under secretary in the Home Ministry, on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of the like amount.
"Accusations are serious but the accused cannot be put in jail for an indefinite period. Considering that he is not likely to abscond, bail is granted to the accused," the judge said.
The court imposed several bail conditions on the accused while cautioning him "if CBI makes any complaint that he is trying to contact/influence any NGO or witness, the court will cancel the bail."
The court directed Joshi not to leave Ghaziabad and Delhi till the time investigation is over and also asked him to deposit his passport with the investigating officer (IO).
It, however, said that in case of any emergency, he can leave for Ranchi, where his parents reside, after taking the court's prior permission.
"He will not try to influence any witness or to contact any of the NGOs being probed," the court said.
During the arguments on the bail plea, the court observed that Joshi's conduct was doubtful as he had earlier fled as per CBI's allegation.
The court also asked Joshi to make his presence before the IO every Monday.
Joshi sought bail, saying that he was not in a condition to influence any witness or NGO and that he has been transferred from the Home Ministry.
Opposing the plea, CBI said that if granted bail, Joshi could threaten witnesses as he was in an influential capacity.
It also submitted that a large number of NGOs were required to be investigated and there were apprehensions that he could abscond.
While seeking bail, Joshi said neither the files nor the NGOs were under his control and he could not even touch those documents. He added he will not flee if granted the relief.
Joshi, who was arrested from west Delhi on May 15, was presently under judicial custody.
CBI had earlier claimed that files relating to several NGOs had gone missing from the Home Ministry and they were recovered from his house although he was not supposed to take them away.
CBI had alleged that Joshi had been issuing notices dishonestly to a large number of NGOs/societies registered under the FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) 2010, which have been receiving significant amount of foreign contributions, in an arbitrary manner.
CBI had said some of these organisations were Care India, Snehalya Charitable Trust, Indian HIV/AIDS Alliance and All India Primary Teachers Federation and alleged that representatives of some of these organisations were called and Joshi had demanded and obtained illegal gratification.
Joshi was arrested after he allegedly gave unconvincing answers to the questions posed by a team of Special Crime division of the CBI, including those related to disappearance of files on Sabrang Trust of activist Teesta Setalvad.
Joshi, who had disappeared from his home in Indirapuram in Ghaziabad, was picked up from Tilak Nagar area of West Delhi and taken to CBI headquarters for questioning. Subsequently, he was arrested by the agency.
Joshi has rejected the charge and instead accused his seniors of pressuring him to give clean chit to NGOs. In a note which he had left before leaving home, Joshi claimed he had been subjected to "mental harassment" in recent months.
Hillary Clinton has a "volcanic" temper and a loud fight she had with Bill Clinton in 1995 left the then US President with a black eye, an ex-Secret Service officer has claimed in a 'tell-all' book.
The forthcoming book - 'Crisis of Character' by former Secret Service officer Gary J Byrne who was assigned to the White House during Bill Clinton's presidency - alleges that 2016 Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary "lacks the integrity and temperament to serve in the office."
The book is due to be released June 28 - a month before Hillary is likely to take the stage to accept the Democratic presidential nomination in Philadelphia.
The 285-page book describes Hillary Clinton's "appalling leadership style" as being "volcanic, impulsive, enabled by sycophants and disdainful of the rules set for everyone else", Fox News reported citing excerpts from the book.
While most of the book's contents have remained under wraps so far, a preview on Amazon 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 says he "personally observed" President Clinton's 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 writes.
Byrne recalls an alleged fight between the first couple during the summer of 1995 in Chapter 1, 'The Vase'. Byrne is quoted as saying that 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".
Clinton's personal scheduler Nancy Hernreich allegedly told Byrne the eye condition was a result of Clinton's allergy to coffee.
The book, however, is not solely about the Clintons.
"While books about the Clintons written by supposed insiders are plentiful, Byrne's credibility is bolstered by reporting at the time of the Monica Lewinsky-Bill Clinton sex scandal," the media report said.
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 Lewinsky's visits to the West Wing of the White House.
Byrne says 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 writes.
The row over drug-themed Bollywood film "Udta Punjab" slated for release on June 17 escalated today with co-producer Anurag Kashyap hitting out at Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani, calling him "oligarch" and "dictator" and that it was like living in North Korea.
The Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Diljit Dosanjh starrer movie that delves into how the youth in Punjab have succumbed to drugs, also unleashed political sparring, prompting Kashyap to ask parties to stay away from the censorship row. Punjab goes to polls next year.
The makers of the film are said to have been asked by the Revising Committee of the Censor Board to remove all references to Punjab and to make 89 cuts.
Kashyap, however, said they are waiting for an "official letter" from the Board in this regard.
Kashyap got the support of several filmmakers including Karan Johar, Mahesh Bhatt, Ram Gopal Varma and Mukesh Bhatt. "It is a dark day for freedom of expression and creativity in the country," Mukesh Bhatt said, calling Nihalani a "stooge" of the government.
The "Bombay Velvet" director took to Twitter to vent his ire at the Censor Board and said there is no sense of freedom.
"I always wondered what it felt like to live in North Korea... Ab to plane pakadney ki bhi zaroorat nahin...," he posted on Twitter.
"I request Congress, AAP and other political parties to stay out of my battle. It's my Rights vs the Censorship. I speak only on my behalf."
The "Gangs of Wasseypur" helmer, who often faces the burnt of censorship, says his fight is not against the Censor Board.
"It's my fight Vs a dictatorial man sitting there operating like an oligarch in his constituency of censor board, that's my North Korea," he said.
"Rest of you go pick your own fights. I will fight mine. So please don't colour my fight with any political affiliation because there is none." The movie is produced by Kashyap's Phantom Films and Ekta Kapoor-led Balaji Films.
AAP and Congress accused Punjab's ruling SAD-BJP alliance of exercising its influence to "censor" the movie, a charge denied by the state government.
Punjab Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister Sohan Singh Thandal said, "any movie or film which is not in the interest of state and which tries to defame Punjab should always be opposed."
Punjab BJP Chief and Union Minister Vijay Sampla hailed the move of the Censor Board and any attempt to defame Punjab, which is a foodbowl of the country, should be dealt with sternly.
Attempts to reach Nihalani over phone were met without success.
When contacted, I&B ministry officials said the CBFC is independent when it comes to certification of films.
The ministry is, however, re-looking at the entire process of certification of films in the light of the Shyam Benegal committee report which had given its suggestions recently, they added.
Vani Tripathi, a member of the Censor Board, said Kashyap can approach the Film Appellate Tribunal to redress his grievances over any censorship issue.
But Kashyap said nothing can be done till a formal communication is received from the Censor Board on any changes that needed to be incorporated.
He also said it is absolutely impossible to remove any references to Punjab in the film, saying it is a true reflection of the situation prevailing in the state.
Sources in the CBFC said the Revising Committee of which its chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani was a part had viewed the movie but did not disclose the decision of the panel.
"The movie was reviewed by the Revising Committee recently," a source said but emphasised that "no show cause notice has been given to the filmmakers.""Udta Punjab" lead actor Shahid actor also reacted on Twitter and thanked everyone for their support.
"Overwhelmed with all the support #UdtaPunjab #freedomofexpression #drugsdimaadi," he wrote.
India's nuclear disaster emergency plans are "not in line with international standard" and some interventions set by Indian nuclear regulator in case of an emergency provide "inadequate" protection against possible radiation, Grrenpeace India claimed today.
"Some of the disaster intervention levels set by the Indian nuclear regulator allow inadequate protection against possible exposure, both internal (from consumption of irradiated foodstuffs or radioactive particle-laden air) and external (by simply being physically present in an area with high radiation levels) in case of a nuclear emergency," it alleged.
The NGO, which released a report 'Red Alert India's nuclear disaster plans outdated and inadequate', highlighted key issues like "lack" of emergency preparedness, "ancient" manual for emergency guidelines, "unacceptable" standards of food contamination among the reasons for India's plans being "outdated" in case of an emergency.
Referring to the recent "accident" at Kakrapar Atomic Power Station (KAPS) in Gujarat, Greenpeace India said it proved that India's nuclear accident plans are "not in line" with international standards.
The report highlighted that population density around nuclear power plants in India poses a "significant" evacuation challenge in the event of an emergency.
"The current evacuation plans only provide support within a radius of 16 km in case of an offsite nuclear accident. For Fukushima, Japan had to set an evacuation zone of 30 km.
"Our report examines such differences and provides recommendations for the authorities to act upon," said David Boilley, Director ACRO Labs and lead author of the report.
The NGO further said the manual on emergency preparedness at Kalpakkam, despite being revised in April 2011, still includes a regulatory guideline with intervention levels based on Publication 40 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) adopted in 1984 which was well before the Chernobyl disaster.
There have been updates to these international guidelines in 1992, and then again in 2007 but the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has not updated its guidelines for 26 years, it said.
Greenpeace India claimed India's acceptable limit of contaminated food are "set dangerously higher" than international limits.
In case of an accident, counter measures are initiated only if contamination is in the range between 8,000 Bq/kg in meat to 90,000 Bq/kg in fruits and vegetables.
In comparison, any organic matter with more than 8,000 Bq/kg of cesium is considered as radioactive waste in Japan.
"Effectively, this means India will allow the consumption of irradiated food which, in other countries such as Japan, would be termed radioactive waste," Boilley said.
"The Kakrapar accident proved that India's nuclear accident plans are not in line with international standards. Only four public updates were provided in 21 days of continued plant emergency at Kakrapar nuclear station," Hozefa Merchant, Senior Nuclear Campaigner for Greenpeace India alleged.
Merchant said while in opposition, BJP supported a stronger liability regime as well as strong regulations on safety.
"Now that it enjoys a majority at the Centre and considering the growing international influence being exerted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his party is uniquely placed to implement strong regulations for protecting India and its citizens against nuclear accidents," Merchant said.
Congress today virtually rejected Gurudas Kamat's plans to quit politics, insisting that the senior leader is an "integral part of the Congress family" and party leadership would discuss with him his future role and responsibility.
"Kamat is a very seasoned and experienced leader. He is integral part of the Congress family. I categorically and squarely reject reports that he has resigned from the party".
"He was, is and will always remain a part of the Congress family. I am certain Congress leadership will discuss with him his future role and responsibility in the party so that it can benefit from his experience", party's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told PTI.
The statement from the AICC has come a day after the 61-year-old Congress general secretary announced that he was quitting active politics.
The move had come ahead of next year's Mumbai civic elections, where Congress is hoping to dislodge the incumbent Shiv Sena-BJP combine.
Surjewala's remarks came hours after Kamat made it clear today that he has the "highest respect and regard" for Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi and "my resignation is purely on personal grounds."
Yesterday, there was no reaction from the AICC over Kamat's sudden decision to quit active politics which had come as a bolt from the blue for the party.
Kamat, AICC general secretary incharge of Gujarat and Rajasthan, who had been Mumbai PCC chief for a long time, was reportedly unhappy over the appointment of his known detractor Sanjay Nirupam as the head of the city unit of the party.
Under his charge, Congress had done well in the local bodies polls in Gujarat and Rajasthan.
India is all set to become member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), a key anti-proliferation grouping, as it cleared final hurdles in getting membership of the bloc that will help New Delhi access high-end missile technology.
Diplomatic sources said there was no objection to Indias application for the membership of the MTCR and that the deadline for member countries to object expired on Monday.
They said the plenary meeting of the 34-nation grouping will take place later this year in Seoul during which India will be formally inducted as the new entrant.
Mission almost accomplished. Only some procedural formalities remain before India becomes member of #MTCR, Roald Naess, Norwegian Ambassador to Ireland tweeted.
Membership of the MTCR will help India procure high-end missile technology and surveillance systems by leading manufacturers which are allowed to be accessed by only MTCR member countries.
Sources said India had applied for the MTCR membership last year and its application was under consideration as part of a silent procedure which ended on Monday without any objection from any country.
There were certain formalities to be completed before India is inducted into the bloc, added the sources. The development comes as India was expanding its diplomatic outreach seeking support for its entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
India has developed a range of missile systems, including Brahmos, Agni and Prithvi missile systems.
China insists on consensus
China on Tuesday kept mum whether Indias inclusion into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was discussed during the strategic dialogue with the US, but insisted on full discussion and consensus on the issue within the elite grouping, PTI reports from Beijing.
Members within the group still differ on the accession of countries which are not party states to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a written response to a PTI query.
According to the clarion call issued by gofossilfree.org campaign (a project of 350.org), Divestment is the opposite of an investment it simply means getting rid of stocks, bonds or investment funds that are unethical or morally ambiguous.
The campaign points out that $3.4 trillion is the approximate value of the 518 institutions that have divested to date including: faith-based groups: 26%; foundations 24%; governmental organisations- 14%; pension funds 13%; colleges, universities and schools 12%; NGOs-6%; for profit corporations 3% and health 1%.
Faith-based groups are at the forefront of divestment but the percentage differential between faith-based groups and NGOs and for-profit corporations really stand out. Interestingly, the latter two groups are supposed to be key actors on clean energy and climate change.
It is also striking that currently no organisation from the largest aggregate greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting developing countries China, India and Brazil are listed. In the case of South Africa, the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation is the only organisation listed. Is fossil fuel divestment not relevant to developing countries? Or, is it that fossil free divestment needs to proactively include new investing opportunities for clean energy for the poor in developing countries?
The fossil fuel divestment campaign draws inspiration from the global divestment against South Africas apartheid regime. The anti-apartheid divestment campaign worked because an amalgam of stakeholders coalesced around divesting from a racially unjust and oppressive regime in order to promote the goals of racial equality and democracy. But the scaling up of fossil fuel divestment into a fully inclusive global campaign involving the key GHG aggregate emitters confronted with serious poverty eradication and gender related sustainable energy concerns has proven to be much more challenging.
The national efforts to divest from fossil fuels energy sources and mitigate associated GHGs have tended to be viewed as politically contentious double-headed Janus coins. On one side, fossil fuel based energy security needs including the need for cost-effective and reliable energy consumption and production are seen as the primary drivers of national socioeconomic development. On the other side, fossil fuel driven energy consumption and production patterns directly contribute to anthropogenic GHG emissions that cause climate change.
Countries have varying responsibilities for historical and aggregate GHG emissions, and varied capacities for climate change mitigation and adaption. The wide variations in terms of GHG emissions as well as the differences in national responsive capacities combined with different national energy development goals mean that fossil fuel divestment scenarios and approaches need to be equally flexible and diverse.
But, there is a more neglected aspect of the energy-climate change debate which fossil fuel divestment needs to take stock of. Poor households rely heavily on solid fuels (wood, coal, dung etc) which results in toxic levels of household air pollution and emissions of short lived climate pollutants (SLCPs).
In 2014, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that household air pollution caused by particulate matter emissions from the inefficient combustion of solid fuels was linked to 4.3 million deaths. Measuring 2.5 micrometres or less, particulate matter (PM 2.5) has been directly linked with causing heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer.
Sustainable development
As demonstrated by a 2011 United Nations Environment Programme and World Meteorological Organisation Report, one of the principal components of PM 2.5 black carbon is known to be a short-term climate pollutant. Reducing PM 2.5 offers double benefits, so why is there no globally agreed protocol for action?
The Synthesis Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stated that: Mitigation and adaptation raise issues of equity, justice and fairness and are necessary to achieve sustainable development and poverty eradication. Many of those most vulnerable to climate change have contributed and contribute little to GHG emissions. This inequity is worth underscoring because it raises question: What does fossil fuel divestment mean for those who are energy poor and climate vulnerable?
Fossil free divestment in the absence of investment options for increasing low-carbon and zero carbon energy services for the poor appears to pit climate change mitigation against increasing access to modern energy services for the poor. According to the WHO, close to three billion people - "the forgotten three billion"-depend on highly inefficient and polluting energy sources which impact negatively on their daily lives. So where is the global urgency towards improving the lives of poor women and children who spend a disproportionate amount of time in front of polluted hearths?
In 2010, the Global Alliance for Clean Cook Stoves set an ambitious goal of 100 by 20 that is 100 million homes with clean and efficient stoves and fuels by 2020. But how has this goal progressed in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia where the majority of the energy poor reside?
To make matters worse, Southern Africa is now in the grip of a severe El Nino-induced drought. Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi and Mozambique have all declared national drought disasters and called for urgent international assistance. Massive energy and food insecurity along with water scarcity bodes grave danger for this region.
The 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change does not offer an exact mechanism that can jointly reduce SLCPs and increase access to clean energy for the poor. Two of the most promising initiatives related to the business of clean energy access are not found in the actual Paris Agreement, but were launched in the margins of the 2015 Paris Conference. These new public-private initiatives on clean energy access for the poor are promising: Breakthrough Energy Coalition (BEC) and, International Solar Alliance.
Fossil fuel divestment needs to transform into concrete sustainable energy solutions for the poor. ".... Three billion"- the majority of whom live in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa - to bear the heavy burdens that accrue from energy poverty and climate vulnerability."
(Cherian is the author of Energy and Global Climate Change: Bridging the Sustainable Development Divide)
With just days remaining before the referendum on European Union membership, two anxieties are colliding: the fear of job losses if Britain leaves and the fear of high immigration if it remains.
News headlines reflect a country that is not at ease with itself, trapped between what former American secretary of state Dean Acheson once described as an imperial past it finds hard to relinquish and a future role it is reluctant to embrace.
Acheson argued that Britains paths to influence in the world, including its special relationship with the United States, were played out. Just one avenue remained: positive engagement with Europe. The only obstacle was British recalcitrance. So it appears today, even after more than 40 years of European Union membership.
The Leave campaign tries to summon a vision of Britain at its patriotic best when it stands alone, a race apart, an island unto itself and fiercely independent of Europe. The pro-European Remain camp would like to talk of a Britain that is outward-looking and at the heart of Europe.
But ministers of the Conservative government, under pressure from the eurosceptics within their partys ranks, find it difficult to break out of negative terrain. For most of the campai-gn, they have defended European membership merely as the lesser of the two evils. At times, this bitter and bad-tempered referendum res-embles a battle between those who want us half out of Europe and those who want us fully out.
It is not too late to make the positive case for Britains future in Europe. The 2014 Scottish independence referendum is a stark reminder of the dangers of excessive negativity. Reaffirming Scotlands status as part of the United Kingdom required a patriotic vision and a positive, forward-looking mission statement. The same holds true in this referendum.
Traditional patriotism and modern realities need not be at odds. In an interdependent world, each country must strike a balance between the autonomy it desires and the cooperation it needs. In the European Union, Britain can play a constructive role without either subjugating its identity to a European superstate or lurching backward into a Little England mind-set. The way we can reconcile the competing forces of memory, destiny and reality is by leading Europes next stage of development.
America rightly claims to be an exceptional country. So, too, is Britain. We honour British exceptionalism, show national pride and confound the eurosceptic message when we put ourselves in the vanguard of charting Europes future. And the world benefits from a Britain unafraid to lead. And Europe is in need of direction.
Speaking in Strasbourg in 2014, Pope Francis lamented: The great ideas which once inspired Europe seem to have lost their attraction, only to be replaced by the bureaucratic technicalities of its institutions. The idea of Europe had become, he said, elderly and haggard.
A British-inspired agenda can help reinvigorate this Continental soul and promote the union that the international community needs: a global Europe no longer self-absorbed and inward-looking, but focused on building powerful and productive diplomatic and trading relationships throughout the world.
Consider the problem of terrorism. The multinational operations of the Islamic State can be countered only by cross-border security cooperation. Britain is home to one of the worlds most respected intelligence agencies, which makes it well placed to lead a more professional pan-European effort on intelligence-sharing and surveillance.
Our history of engagement with West Asia and Africa also positions Britain to shape a European-led modern version of the Marshall Plan that would combine diplomacy, aid and economic incentives to address the causes of instability in those regions. And as Europe faces its largest humanitarian crisis since 1945 tens of millions of migrants and refugees Britain must help the union provide its neighbours with new educational, economic and entrepreneurial opportunities. A fast-growing population of about 200 million young people in West Asia and North Africa must have a future defined not by the choice between tyranny and terrorism, but by opportunity and hope.
With British encouragement, Europe can lead the world in confronting climate change. The Continent needs to reduce its energy dependence on Russia, which is subsidising oppression near the unions eastern border. A reformed European energy market, recalling the unions postwar origins as a coal and steel community, could integrate abundant British wind and wave power into a Continental low-carbon energy grid.
Stuck in low gear
Eight years after the start of the financial crisis, Europes economy is still stuck in low gear, with an average of 10% unemployment and near zero growth for six post-recession years. As Britains chancellor, I opposed joining Europes single currency, which I saw as an obstacle to growth. But I firmly believe that Britain a pioneer in the original single market should play a vital role in the unions economic revival.
Europe can be an engine of global growth again if we open its digital, information technology and service industries to cross-Continental competition, unite the unions brightest scientific and academic minds to create the worlds largest research hub, and conclude a better, more transparent trade deal with the United States. Britain should also be a key player in demonstrating that such powerful economic cooperation is about creating more than merely a competitive marketplace, but a community underpinned by social rights and workplace standards.
A Britain that accomplishes these things will not make any of us less British as a result. The high tide of Europes federalist ambitions is receding. In its place is a more acceptable model of decision making shared by its 28 national governments. The Continents future lies not in a United States of Europe, but in a United Europe of States.
At Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 1962, President John F Kennedy called for a declaration of interdependence with Europe, in which the United States was pledged as a partner, toward a more perfect union. And he urged Britain to champion a united Europe in order to promote the rule of law, freedom, peace and prosperity around the world.
He was right then, and his words live on. For Britain in its post-imperial era, engagement is our oxygen, cooperation our imperative and leadership our destiny. If Britons vote to lead in Europe, not leave it, on June 23, they will show that Britain is anything but played out.
(The writer is former prime minister of Britain)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama today committed themselves to join the Paris climate change deal this year, which would provide a "significant global momentum" towards implementation of the historic agreement, a top White House official said.
"The US reaffirms its commitment to join the agreement as soon as possible this year. India similarly has begun its processes to work toward this shared objective," the White House said.
Noting that the US and India share common climate and clean energy interests and are close partners in the fight against climate change, the White House said the leadership from both countries helped galvanise global action to combat climate change and culminated in the historic Paris Agreement reached last December.
"Both countries are committed to working together and with others to promote full implementation of the Paris Agreement to address the urgent threats posed by climate change," the White House said after the Oval Office meeting between Obama and Modi.
The Prime Minister is currently on a three-day US visit at the invitation of President Obama. Climate change was one of the major topics of discussion between the two leaders.
During the meeting, Obama and Modi reiterated their commitment to pursue low greenhouse gas emission development strategies in the pre-2020 period and to develop long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies.
In addition, India and the US "resolved" to work to adopt an HFC amendment in 2016 with increased financial support from donor countries to the Multilateral Fund to help developing countries with implementation, and an ambitious phasedown schedule, under the Montreal Protocol pursuant to the Dubai Pathway, the White House said.
Modi and Obama resolved to work together at the upcoming International Civil Aviation Organisation Assembly to reach a successful outcome to address greenhouse gas emissions from international aviation.
"Further, the two countries will pursue under the leadership of the G20 strong outcomes to promote improved heavy-duty vehicle standards and efficiency in accordance with their national priorities and capabilities," the White House said.
Obama and Modi welcomed the signing of an MOU to Enhance Cooperation on Energy Security, Clean Energy and Climate Change, and an MOU on Cooperation in Gas Hydrates.
Reflecting Modi's call to embrace wildlife conservation as a development imperative, the two leaders also welcomed the signing of an MOU to enhance cooperation on Wildlife Conservation and Combating Wildlife Trafficking.
Thailand-based Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF), which retails Five Star Chicken in India, has upped its ante in the southern market with the launch of its packaged foods.
The company has launched 20 variants of its packaged foods in Bengaluru and Chennai, its current focus markets. Since we are a new entrant in the market for packaged foods, for the next three to four years, our focus will be South India. We plan to launch the products in Kerala in the next six months, said Sanjeev Pant, Senior Vice President Food Business, CPF (India).
The company has made an investment to the tune of $18 million in the factory, quality assurance and R&D for the launch of the packaged foods in India.
It has further committed that India remains one of its major focus markets. With a composite $700 million in revenues from operations in India, the country is one of the top 10 markets for the company.
In order to cater to the varying taste profiles within South India itself, the company plans to launch a new product every one or two months. Our main focus is on R&D so that we can create products that suit our consumers. Such innovation comes at a price and hence, while we not be a value player, we pride in quality, he said.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday directed district-in-charge secretaries to take steps to weed out middlemen from government offices.
Speaking at a meeting with district-in-charge secretaries that lasted for about five hours in Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah said middlemen posed hurdles in reaching out to the poor.
The chief minister told the officials to regularly visit districts entrusted to them and also take disciplinary action against officials responsible for dereliction of duty.
Media was not allowed to attend Tuesdays meeting. However, the chief ministers office provided a note on the proceedings later in the evening.
Thousands of applications seeking mutations were pending before the Revenue department. Applications of those who pay bribes are processed. Where should the poor farmer go? Surveyors have turned bed bugs, sucking the blood of the poor, he said.
Siddaramaiah ordered the suspension of Maharani Womens college hostel warden and directed Additional Chief Secretary, Higher Education department, Bharath Lal Meena, to probe into the affairs of the hostel and submit a report. Siddaramaiah said students of the hostel, who were paying for their food for the last three years, should be refunded.
The number of beggars has shown a 41% decline in 10 years between 2001 and 2011 with Hindus and Muslims constituting the biggest chunk.
According to Census 2011 figures on non-workers released on Tuesday, there were 3.72 lakh beggars in the country, which is a decline from 6.30 lakh recorded in Census 2001.
One of the positives would be the decrease in number of beggars in the age group 5-14 years from 82,615 to 34,736, an impressive 58% decline.
Interestingly, 1.43 lakh beggars are above 60 years, down from 1.97 lakh in 2001. In this, 19,181 (25,776 in 2001) are above 80 years.
Though the numbers are decreasing, the challenge before the government and civil society have not nullified.
Together, Hindus and Muslims form 97% of the beggars.
Of this, Hindus constitute the highest of 2.68 lakh. The community has recorded a sharp 42.52% decline in the number of beggars from 4.67 lakh in 2001.
Similarly, the number of Muslim beggars, too, have shown a 34.85% decrease in number of beggars from 1.42 lakh to 92,760.
The proportion of Hindus who are forced to begging is 0.27% while that of Muslims is 0.53% of their population.
While Sikhs (1,657), Buddhists (1,963) and Jains (241) have shown decline, only Christians have shown a slight increase from 3,183 to 3,303.
DH had in December last year reported that 3,010 Indians, including 982 women, with graduation or above are begging on the streets. Of this, 410, including 137 women, have degrees in technical field
The controversy over the resignation of KSPS officer Anupama Shenoy, who was deputy superintendent of police of Kudligi sub-division in Ballari district took a new turn on Tuesday.
Anupama trained her guns on Ballari district incharge minister P T Parameshwar Naik, who holds the labour portfolio, and demanded his resignation.
In February, Anupama was transferred from Kudligi as she had put Naiks phone call on hold. In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Anupama said that she had quit her job and wanted to know when Naik would put in his papers. By noon, another post on her Facebook wall said that a CD over the love affair of the minister would be released if he did not resign before 5 pm. However, nothing of that sort happened till late in the night.
Towards evening, there was a sarcastic statement on the FB that Naik had been arrested as people would revolt over the delay in the minister putting in his papers. By 8 pm, Anupama in an another post said children would be spoiled if the CD was released. It is something which should be viewed only after midnight, the post stated.
Naik reacts
Who is she to seek my resignation? The question of me quitting the Cabinet is irrelevant. I am no way concerned with Shenoys resignation, Naik told reporters in Chikkamagaluru. Swearing on God, the minister said he not had called Anupama over the phone even once after the February episode. He said the chief minister was free to act against him if he had erred.
Naik visited Chikkamagaluru for the first time after the Congress came to power three years ago, for a progress review meeting. He had camped at a luxurious resort on the outskirts of the town. However, he left the resort in a private vehicle to avoid journalists who were waiting there to seek his reaction over the Anupama issue. As the news channels flashed news of him avoiding the media, the minister later addressed a press meet at travellers bungalow.
Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa on Tuesday said Kudligi sub-division deputy superintendent of police Anupama Shenoy should not have aired her grievances in public.
Replying to queries from reporters in Bengaluru, Thimmappa said Anupama is a government employee and there is an administrative set-up in place for redressal of grievances. She could have written to her higher-ups about her grievances. There was no need to make comments on social media, he said.
Anupama, who resigned last week over the construction of a godown of a liquor shop that blocked the way to Ambedkar Bhavan in Kudligi town, had posted messages about the government and top police officers on her Facebook page.
The Speaker said if Anupama had posted a message dubbing the Siddaramaiah regime as rum government, then disciplinary action should be initiated against her. Whether it is a jawan or a diwan in the government, the same rules apply for all, he said.
When his attention was drawn to the reported comment by the officer that the government is not transparent in its dealings, Thimmappa said the government should be more transparent in its functioning.
I have been repeatedly saying it, Thimmappa said. Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra however said the officer shouldnt have tendered her resignation. She should have discussed the matter with her higher-ups or the home minister. She shouldnt have tendered her resignation, he said.
Hold inquiry, says Tara
BJP MLC Tara Anuradha said Siddaramaiah should not accept Anupamas resignation without an inquiry into the matter. In a letter, Tara appealed to Siddaramaiah to personally speak to Anupama and get her version of the story before accepting her resignation.
The MLC said that it is the governments responsibility to create a conducive atmosphere for senior women officers.
Congress candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections Oscar Fernandes on Tuesday expressed confidence that the party will win all three seats it is contesting.
Fernandes said the party has the required numbers to win three of the four Rajya Sabha seats. The party high command took the decision to field the third candidate as it was convinced about the support it has. He, however, refused to comment on reports of horsetrading ahead of the elections scheduled for June 11.
Jairam Ramesh and K C Ramamurthy are the other candidates. All three candidates are busy personally meeting Congress MLAs to seek their support in the elections and visited the KPCC office on Queens Road on Tuesday. They also spoke to party MLAs over phone.
On the TV sting showing some independent MLAs discussing sale of votes, Fernandes said there was nothing new in the sting operation. I dont know why they call it a sting operation. They (media persons) have asked something and they (Independent MLAs) have said something in reply, he added. He, however, refused to comment on some independent MLAs demanding huge sums of money for their votes in the Rajya Sabha polls. As I am a candidate in the elections, it is not appropriate on my part to comment on the issue, he added.
On the demand that the Rajya Sabha elections should be countermanded in the wake of the sting operation, he said the Election Commission of India (ECI) is seized of the matter, and it will take an appropriate decision.
The ruling Congress can easily win two Rajya Sabha seats. But it needs the support of at least 13 non-Congress MLAs to win the third seat. The party has been struggling to woo independent MLAs and legislators of smaller parties. The JD(S) is also trying to seek independent MLAs support as party candidate B M Farook is short of the required numbers.
However, Farook, a JD(S) Rajya Sabha candidate, sounds more confident about winning than his party state president H D Kumaraswamy. Though it seems like we dont have the numbers, I am sure I will win. Till the last day of the elections, anything can happen, he said, when asked about the shortage of numbers in the party.
When his reaction was sought to the JD(S)s repeated appeals to the Election Commission to countermand the polls, he said he would welcome it. He denied his party was seeking suspension of the polls due to lack of confidence or the numbers. BJPs candidate and Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to visit Bengaluru on June 9.
Independent MLAs and legislators from smaller parties who were staying in Mumbai on Tuesday left the Maharashtra capital to avoid the media glare.
The Congress had on Sunday shifted some seven MLAs, including independents, to a hotel in Mumbai in the wake of possible horse trading ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for June 11. Many of these MLAs were shown in sting operations done by two national news channels, discussing sale of votes.
Sources in the Congress said party legislators from Yeshwantpur and K R Puram constituencies S T Somashekar and Byrati Basavaraj respectively left Mumbai along with the independent MLAs in the morning. They were planning to visit the pilgrim centre of Shirdi. It was not clear whether the MLAs will return to Bengaluru after their Shirdi visit.
Somashekar and Basavaraj, who are close confidants of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, have been given the responsibility of keeping the independent MLAs together till the elections are over. Besides, two other MLAs, Ashok Kheni and S N Subbareddy, returned to Karnataka. Mankal S Vaidya, Satish Sail, Guru Patil and Arvind Patil were among the MLAs who visited Shirdi, the sources said.
When contacted, Subbareddy, the MLA from Bagepalli, said he was in Mumbai on business visit and he has nothing to do with the Congress keeping some MLAs in a hotel there.
It was a coincidence that on Sunday I travelled to Mumbai from Bengaluru in the same flight with other MLAs. I am a co-member of the Congress. I will vote for the party in the elections, Subbareddy added.
Arvind Patil said he has not visited Mumbai along with other independents and that he was in his constituency Khanapur. The Congress needs the support of independent MLAs and legislators of smaller parties to ensure the victory of its third candidate K C Ramamurthy.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakar has said that the state government had no plans of closing down any school.
The statement comes a day after the government said that it would shut down 2,168 schools with poor student strength.
It is difficult for a single teacher to impart quality education for students of Class 1 to 5. On the other hand, it is also difficult to post additional teachers for schools with poor student strength.
Hence, four-five such schools will be brought under a common roof by providing conveyance facility for students, the minister elaborated.
The minister said that a circular would soon be issued prohibiting the deputy directors of public instruction and block education officers from serving in their native district.
He said that teachers transfers would be taken up after the conclusion of elections to the Legislative Council and Rajya Sabha.
Speaking to reporters in Hubballi, Ratnakar said that the opinion of parents would be elicited before merging the schools. We will not close a school even if a single student wants to study there, he said.
The Union government is considering holding a single entrance exam for admission to undergraduate engineering courses too, but that will not happen for the next two academic years, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) Chairman Anil D Sahasrabudhe said here on Tuesday.
Speaking on the sidelines of Bangalore Universitys 51st convocation on Tuesday, he said, We are thinking on these lines. However, a lot of preparation needs to be done for that. It will not happen soon. Not even in the next academic year (2017-18).
While many states consider JEE Mains results to admit students to their engineering courses, Sahasrabudhe stressed the need for a standard syllabus in all states before a single entrance test could be held across the country. The AICTE chairman also spoke about the councils start-up policy to encourage budding entrepreneurs. The policy aims to nurture start-ups at the college level and would be implemented this academic year. We talk about Skill India and Make in India initiatives. That would be possible only when we promote start-ups. We will only give a framework and it will be up to colleges and universities to take the initiative, he said.
Sahasrabudhe hoped that new start-ups would create a large number of jobs at a smaller level. Large industries are not creating a large number of jobs. Its start-ups that are creating the opportunities, he said.
He also highlighted the governments plan to push Indian universities to be among the top 100 in the world. A primary step towards this goal, he said, was faculty and student exchange programmes. Under the governments Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN), 500 colleges/universities are encouraged to invite foreign faculty to conduct state-of-the-art courses. This year, we have crossed 600. Institutes like the IISc have invited foreign faculty under the programme which is government-funded, he said.
On some companies delaying recruiting students even two years after giving them offer letters, the AICTE chairman emphasised the need to ensure students met the standards to get recruited. There is a need to regularly update the syllabus, he said.
As uncertainty looms large over the deal for procuring amphibian aircraft from Japan for Indian Navy, Tokyo has now put on New Delhi the onus of ending the stalemate.
Tokyos envoy to New Delhi, Kenji Hiramatsu, on Tuesday said that Japan was expecting the deal on the ShinMaywa US-2 amphibian aircraft to be concluded soon. He was delivering a lecture on Challenges and Prospects of Japans Diplomacy in the context of India-Japan relationship at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.
Hiramatsu, however, told journalists later that it was up to the Government of India to decide how to move forward on the proposed agreement.
Though the two countries have been negotiating the deal over the past several years, Japans reluctance to allow transfer of the technology to India resulted in an impasse. New Delhi was insisting on inserting in the agreement provisions that would in future facilitate co-production of the aircraft in India.
The US-2 amphibian aircraft is manufactured by ShinMaywa Industries Limited of Japan. The STOL (short take-off and landing) aircraft is used by the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force for sea and air rescue operations.
A low-intensity blast in a moving private-owned bus in Fatehabad district of Haryana on Tuesday morning injured two people.
The explosion occurred when the bus was on its way from Jakhal to Fatehabad.
This is the fourth explosion in Haryana since January, although the police said Tuesdays explosion cannot be linked to previous blasts.
Additional Director General Police, Law and Order, Muhammad Akil said the explosive device was in a black bag. Preliminary examination has revealed the use of sulphur-like substance, commonly used in crackers. The police said no circuit or trigger was found.
Bhagirath and his wife Rajbala suffered minor burnt injuries, the police said.
Senior police officers along with bomb disposal squad reached the spot to probe the incident. Last week, at least eight passengers were injured, some severely, after a battery-supported bomb exploded in a moving bus on the national highway near Kurukshetra in Haryana. The Chandigarh bound bus that started from Sonipat had around 45 passengers on board. The bomb was kept in a yellow bag stuffed inside clothes.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been roped in to assist the probe. An explosion occurred in a bus near Kurukshetra and in Panipat on January 16 and May 13 this year.
Bombmaker testing skill
Meanwhile, security agencies are on alert as they believe the series of blasts could be a trained bombmaker testing his skills. Sources said the probe on the first three blasts have offered clues to the involvement of a professional bombmaker. Sources said further probe is on to ascertain if Tuesdays blast has any links to the earlier blasts. Forensic test on the bomb used in the May 26 explosion that took place in a bus in Pipli indicates that the bombmaker used around 300-400 grams of potassium chlorate and ammonium nitrate fastened with an electric circuit with a 12-volt battery to make the bomb. He also used a quartz watch as its timer.
The first blast occurred on January 16 in a passenger train in Panipat railway station, while the second on May 13 in an EMU train in Panipat. Investigators believe that the bombs were getting better with each explosion, prompting the speculation that the blasts could be test runs for a massive attack.
DH News Service
Forensic test on the bomb used in the May 26 explosion that took place in a bus in Pipli indicates that the bombmaker used around 300-400 grams of potassium chlorate and ammonium nitrate fastened with an electric circuit with a 12-volt battery to make the bomb. He also used a quartz watch as its timer
Officials in Mathura said their efforts to evict cult leader Ram Briksh Yadav from Jawahar Bagh Park failed due to his political connections.
This comes a day after the Uttar Pradesh government blamed the local police for the failure to assess the situation before the eviction drive, that led to the deadly clash.
Sources said the district administration in Mathura had sent several reports to the senior officials in the state government in the past three to four years but no action was taken on those reports.
District Horticulture Department, which owned the park, used to send its report on illegal occupation of the park to the Mathura district magistrate on a monthly basis, sources said. The department officials had lodged as many as 12 FIRs against Yadav and his cult members pertaining to the incidents of assaults and encroachment at the park, the sources added.
Yadav had been given permission to hold a sit-in at the park for a period of only two days in 2014. But once Yadav moved into the Park, he remained there till his death during Thursdays clash with the cops, said an official in Mathura.
District officials said the authorities in the state capital would cite casualties whenever action was planned against Yadav.
Sources said Yadav had planned to set up his own ashram at the Park after being expelled from Jai Gurudevs organisation. Yadav wanted a big place for setting up his ashram in Mathura and Jawahar Bagh Park was the ideal place, said a Horticulture Department official in Mathura.
There were reports that Yadav had contacted senior officials in the government to get the park allotted on lease for a period of 99 years. Given his clout, he would have succeeded, the official remarked.
Sources said the plan to take the park on lease could not fructify owing to a petition in the Allahabad High Court seeking eviction of Yadav and his supporters from there. But for the court order, the park could never have been vacated, officials added.
DH News Service
A prominent businessman of Patna, Sushil Kumar Varshaney, who was returning from Hajipur to the state capital, was gunned down by two unidentified miscreants.
The incident took place on National Highway-77 which connects Hajipur with Patna. Varshaney, who is uncle of Piyushanad Varshaney, owner of Aligarh Locks Factory Limited, was returning to his Patna home when two criminals on motorcycle intercepted him on way and shot him from close quarters.
The trader was rushed to Hajipur Sadar Hospital in a precarious condition where the doctor declared him brought dead.
Many firms proposed to convert tonnes of trash generated in the city into electricity during the presentation made before Bengaluru Development Minister K J George, Mayor B N Manjunatha Reddy and the expert committee on solid waste management.
The representatives of the companies explained that the solid waste generated in the city had sufficient calorific value to produce energy.
Bengaluru-based Wescopower Generation Limited offered to tackle citys garbage woes using Korean technology. Its representative said the company could put up a plant to utilise 2,500 tonnes of garbage per day to generate 18 mw power.
Another company Movers India Private Limited, in its presentation, said it would use gasification technology wherein low calorific value waste and high calorific waste, including animal waste such as meat, could be used.
The representative of NEG, a multinational company, explained that its plant had the capacity to generate 12 mw power using 600 tonnes of garbage a day.
Another firm, Ecoman company said it is willing to convert waste to compost in small capacity and offered to do it on a pilot basis.
Ecologic Technologies Private Limited offered to convert 700 tonnes of waste to energy on a daily basis, using biomethanisation technology, whereas Jindal company said it would use 1500 tonnes of garbage to generate 16 mw.
Zonta, which is installing a waste-to-energy plant at Pollavaram in Tamil Nadu, said it would use controlled combustion technology for the project. Other companies, which gave their presentations to the screening committee, were Ecoman, D&S Renergies Private Limited, Elephant Energy Private Limited, Innovision Engineers Private Limited, Ramky Energy and Environment Limited, Indium Projects Private Limited, ILP, MSGP, Orgreen, Green Elephant and Jindal ITF.
Additional Chief Secretary (Urban Development) Mahendra Jain, BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad, Joint Commissioner (Health) Sarfraz Khan and other senior officials were also present during the presentation.
DH News Service
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday supported Indias candidature for membership of the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) as he discussed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi ways to take bilateral ties to new heights.
Addressing the media jointly with Modi after over hour-long talks at the White House, Obama said it was natural for India and the US, two of the biggest democracies, to deepen and broaden partnership.
Modi said the two leaders discussed a wide range of issues, particularly ways to take the bilateral economic ties to new heights. The other issues discussed by them included terrorism, clean energy, climate change, regional security and cyber security.
During his remarks to the media, Obama said they discussed progress made in the Civil Nuclear agreement.
I indicated support to India being a part of NSG, the US president said, while underlining that India needs technology which is critical for its progress and prosperity.
Modi later said: I am thankful for the help and support that my friend president Obama has extended with regard to membership in Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and NSG.
Obama said non-proliferation of nuclear material and technology was also discussed. I also mentioned the prime ministers very effective participation in the Nuclear Security Summit, he said.
While stating that they also discussed important regional issues, Obama said the US and India have a shared vision of peace and development and that complex issues should be resolved diplomatically.
Modi said India and the US have worked shoulder-to-shoulder in meeting the challenges that face, not only the two countries, but the entire world.
Over the last two years, India and the US have been cooperating on global issues like climate change, nuclear security, terrorism...I feel proud, not just as friends but as two countries, on this and we will continue to work shoulder-to-shoulder, said Modi.
After his seventh meeting with the US president since 2014, the prime minister said he and Obama would meet in September on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in China. Till that time, Modi hoped, they would be able to make progress in a number of areas, including the dream of climate justice.
Rajukumar Rao, the kingpin of the kidney transplant racket in Delhis Apollo Hospital has been arrested in Kolkata, sources confirmed on Tuesday night.
He is expected to be brought to Delhi on Wednesday morning where he will be questioned by the Special Investigation Team of the Delhi Police about his role in the racket, the sources said.
The arrest came after Delhi Police nabbed 3 donors, including a couple, on Monday night.
The donor couple, Umesh Srivastava and Neelu Srivastava, was arrested in Kanpur. The third donor, Momita, was nabbed in Siliguri. She is the wife of Devashish Moulik, who was arrested last week.
With the arrest of Rao and the 3 donors, the total numbers of arrests in the case has gone up to 9.
Last week, five men, including two personal assistants of senior nephrologists in Apollo Hospital, were arrested in connection with the kidney racket.
The sources said the donors had come to Delhi in January and February, when Devashish and Aseem Sikdar, another accused in the case, arranged their accommodation at a Paharganj hotel.
They stayed there for around 25 days. During this time, Sikdar first made their fake identity cards and then arranged for their operation at Apollo.
The 3 allegedly got Rs 4 lakh each for donating their kidney, violating the law which allows organ donation only by those related to the receiver.
When the police made the initial arrests last week, they seized large numbers of files at Apollo Hospital with the details of organ donors and receivers.
While scanning them, they stumbled upon the names and photos of the 3 donors. After getting their addresses, the Delhi Police sent a team to arrest them, the sources said.
Meanwhile, police sources said that 10 doctors, part of the assessment committee on transplant surgeries at the hospital will be questioned about the case in the coming days.
The panel includes senior doctors working at the hospital, independent doctors and a government doctor.
The police are also waiting to question senior Apollo nephrologist Dr Ashok Sarin, after his expected return from America on Thursday.
One of the arrested men in the case is Sarins personal assistant. The police are also expected to question another senior Apollo nephrologist Dr Sandeep Guleria, in the coming days. His personal assistant too was arrested last week.
DH News Service
11 May 2016 (Pew Research Center) The American middle class is losing ground in metropolitan areas across the country, affecting communities from Boston to Seattle and from Dallas to Milwaukee. From 2000 to 2014 the share of adults living in middle-income households fell in 203 of the 229 U.S. metropolitan areas examined in a new Pew Research Center analysis of government data. The decrease in the middle-class share was often substantial, measuring 6 percentage points or more in 53 metropolitan areas, compared with a 4-point drop nationally. The shrinking of the middle class at the national level, to the point where it may no longer be the economic majority in the U.S., was documented in an earlier analysis by the Pew Research Center. The changes at the metropolitan level, the subject of this in-depth look at the American middle class, demonstrate that the national trend is the result of widespread declines in localities all around the country. This report encompasses 229 of the 381 metropolitan statistical areas as defined by the federal government. That is the maximum number of areas that could be identified in the Census Bureau data used for the analysis and for which data are available for both 2000 and 2014 (an accompanying text box provides more detail).1 Together, these areas accounted for 76% of the nations population in 2014. With relatively fewer Americans in the middle-income tier, the economic tiers above and below have grown in significance over time. The share of adults in upper-income households increased in 172 of the 229 metropolitan areas, even as the share of adults in lower-income households rose in 160 metropolitan areas from 2000 to 2014. The shifting economic fortunes of localities were not an either/or proposition: Some 108 metropolitan areas experienced growth in both the lower- and upper-income tiers. The possibility that a shrinking of the middle class may signal a movement into either the lower-income tier or the upper-income tier is exemplified by the experiences of Goldsboro, NC, and Midland, TXone community buffeted by broader economic forces and the other buttressed by them. In Goldsboroan old railroad junction town and home to Seymour Johnson Air Force Basethe share of adults who are middle income fell from 60% in 2000 to 48% in 2014, or by 12 percentage points. This was one of the greatest decreases among the 229 metropolitan areas analyzed. It was also an unambiguous signal of economic loss as the share of adults in lower-income households in Goldsboro increased sharply, from 27% in 2000 to 41% in 2014. But in Midlandan energy-based economy that benefited from the rise in oil prices from 2000 to 2014the shrinking middle class was a sign of financial gains. The share of adults in middle-income households in Midland decreased from 53% in 2000 to 43% in 2014, the fourth-largest drop in the nation. But this was accompanied by rapid growth in the share of adults in upper-income households in Midland, which doubled from 18% in 2000 to 37% in 2014.2 Among American adults overall, including those from outside the 229 areas examined in depth, the share living in middle-income households fell from 55% in 2000 to 51% in 2014. Reflecting the accumulation of changes at the metropolitan level, the nationwide share of adults in lower-income households increased from 28% to 29% and the share in upper-income households rose from 17% to 20% during the period.3 The widespread erosion of the middle class took place against the backdrop of a decrease in household incomes in most U.S. metropolitan areas. Nationwide, the median income of U.S. households in 2014 stood at 8% less than in 1999, a reminder that the economy has yet to fully recover from the effects of the Great Recession of 2007-09. The decline was pervasive, with median incomes falling in 190 of 229 metropolitan areas examined. Goldsboro ranked near the bottom with a loss of 26% in median income. Midland bucked the prevailing trend with the median income there rising 37% from 1999 to 2014, the greatest increase among the areas examined.4 The decline of the middle class is a reflection of rising income inequality in the U.S. Generally speaking, middle-class households are more prevalent in metropolitan areas where there is less of a gap between the incomes of households near the top and the bottom ends of the income distribution. Moreover, from 2000 to 2014, the middle-class share decreased more in areas with a greater increase in income inequality. These findings emerge from a new Pew Research Center analysis of the latest available 2014 American Community Survey (ACS) data from the U.S. Census Bureau in conjunction with the 2000 decennial census data. The focus of the study is on the relative size and economic well-being of the middle class in U.S. metropolitan statistical areas. These areas consist of an urban core and surrounding localities with social and economic ties to the core. A metropolitan area may cross state boundaries, such as the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA area (see the text box for more details). A previous report from the Pew Research Center, released on Dec. 9, 2015, focused on national trends in the size and economic well-being of the American middle class from 1971 to 2015. That report demonstrated that the share of American adults in middle-income households shrank from 61% in 1971 to 50% in 2015. The national level estimates presented in the earlier report were derived from Current Population Survey (CPS) data. Thus, they differ slightly from the estimates in this report. The current and future status of the American middle class continues to be a central issue in the 2016 presidential campaign. Moreover, new economic research suggests that a struggling middle class could be holding back the potential for future economic growth.5 The national trend is clearthe middle class is losing ground as a share of the population, and its share of aggregate U.S. household income is also declining.6 But, as the trends in Goldsboro and Midland demonstrate, similar changes in the size of the middle class could reflect very different economic circumstances and reactions at the local level. []
Contact
Rakesh Kochhar, Associate Director, Research
Richard Fry, Senior Researcher
Molly Rohal, Communications Manager
202.419.4372
www.pewresearch.org [more]
RiverStone Health, as the public health department for Yellowstone County, responds to public health threats. On June 17, a full-scale exercise will help RiverStone Health test its readiness to give out potentially life-saving medicine, such as antibiotics, vaccines, antidotes or other medical supplies to the whole community.
During a major public health emergency, ensuring the public can quickly and safely receive medications is one the most serious challenges facing public health officials. Yellowstone County plans rely on operating points of dispensing (PODs) as convenient locations to give out medicines during a man-made emergency or natural disaster. Six POD sites are located in Yellowstone County.
The June 17 exercise involves running a POD in the main gym at Billings West High School. Anyone can participate, and large numbers of volunteers will make the exercise much more realistic. At the POD, volunteers fill out a brief medical form, answer a few questions and then receive a small snack in place of medication. The line moves through the dispensing point as if it were a real event.
The exercise, focused on a public health threat, is a collaborative effort with partners from the Local Emergency Planning Committee. The drill is part of COYOTE 2016, an acronym short for County of Yellowstone Operating Together in an Emergency. COYOTE drills, done every two years, allow emergency responders and agencies to test the plans they have in place and to involve the community in emergency preparedness exercises.
The more agencies and emergency responders can collaborate before an emergency occurs, the better and stronger their response during a crisis. The LEPC and its subcommittees meet regularly to exchange information, formulate plans and cultivate the cohesive relationships necessary to respond to emergencies.
Among the COYOTE 2016 participants are: local law enforcement, American Medical Response, St. Vincent Healthcare, United Way of Yellowstone County, Yellowstone County Emergency and General Services, Yellowstone Amateur Radio Emergency Services, Billings Fire Department, Billings Logan International Airport Rescue and Firefighting, and Montana State Disaster and Emergency Services. St. Vincent Healthcare, the Montana Womens Prison and St. Johns Lutheran Ministries will each run a closed POD, a dispensing point which is not open to the general public.
United Way of Yellowstone County is working to recruit as many as 700 volunteers for the exercise. Anyone can register to participate, but an adult must accompany children under age 14. Volunteers can register online at www.YouCanVolunteer.org by emailing cmackey@uwyellowstone.org or calling 406-272-8511. Participants are entered in a grand prize drawing. The winner will choose between prizes that include a bicycle, television, yearlong gym membership or a weekend getaway package.
With your help, we can make this exercise as realistic as possible.
The former director of the Montana Audubon Center in Billings has settled a wrongful termination lawsuit she filed in December.
The case was dismissed with prejudice by District Judge Michael Moses on May 25.
Howard resigned from her post at the center in June 2015 after a five-year stint. In her lawsuit, she claimed that her resignation amounted to constructive termination, meaning that her employer created a hostile work environment.
There was a "lack of procedural hierarchy, procedures, lack of evaluations and unethical behavior" among supervisors, according to the original complaint. She named Montana Audubon and John Does 1 through 5 as defendants.
At around the same time of the lawsuit, the center hired a new director. In a response brief, the organization denied the allegations.
On May 18, attorneys for Howard and Montana Audubon filed a stipulation for dismissal, saying that the case was "fully settled upon its merits."
The Gazette was unable to reach Howard on Monday. Her attorney, Mark Hilario, did not return a call for comment Monday. Montana Audubon Executive Director Steve Hoffman did not return a call for comment. Montana Audubon's attorney, Curt Drake, declined to comment.
Tanya Punt is transforming a near-death experience into a life-giving opportunity for veterans who, like her, have suffered a traumatic brain injury or another ravage of war.
Punt, 45, of Billings, was thrown from a horse April 12, 2014, during a barrel racing competition, landing on her helmet-less head. Doctors feared she wouldnt survive her brain injury, or that shed at least be paralyzed on her left side. Instead she made a complete recovery except for losing her senses of smell and taste.
With her competitive riding career over she cashed a check after a barrel racing competition six months to the day after her injury, then hung it up for good Punt has found a good cause for the tack she used to use five times every week: the Horses Spirits Healing program at the Intermountain Equestrian Center.
I didnt need all this (tack) anymore, she said Saturday as veterans prepared for their time with the horses inside the centers arena. It was nice to find someone else who can use it.
Her husband, David, an eight-year army veteran who served in Operation Desert Storm, said hes not one for horses but he does enjoy helping veterans deal with the issues that they often bring home following combat.
My wife and I are copacetic, he said with a grin, and not everyone has that. She had a traumatic brain injury, and she can relate to those guys.
Twice each week, equine therapist counselors help four to six veterans at a time with groundwork, leading the horses or riding a pair of Norwegian Fjords, a mother/daughter combination of former pack horses named Dip and Dot.
We are always on the lookout for tack donations, said Anvia Hampton, an equine therapist counselor who directs the program. Until now, we havent had an adult-sized saddle. This donation will make it a lot easier to provide lessons.
After seeing all the good work being done with her former tack Saturday, Punt said shed return with even more equipment for the program to put to use.
If it can benefit somebody, she said, I want to do it.
One of those benefited Saturday was Connie Hatley, who lives south of Ryegate and served during the mid-1970s as one of the navys first air traffic controllers.
If you are tense, I find these horses very sympathetic, she said. They are well-trained. You never have to worry about being kicked.
Miguel Gonzalez, of Huntley, who founded Warrior Wishes Montana, a website that keeps veterans up to date about the services available to them across the state, fought in Baghdad during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Multiple injuries to his knee, back and biceps resulted in his 100-percent military disability.
He said he founded the organization in September 2015 with the idea that there are a lot of people out there willing to help veterans.
The website, www.warriorwishesmontana.com, includes tributes to the Horses Spirits Healing program and many others that serve Montanas more than 100,000 veterans.
We are an organization thats run strictly by veterans. Nobody takes a salary, Gonzalez said.
Barb Skelton owns the Intermountain Equestrian Center together with her husband, Paul Gatzemeier. She calls Dip and Dot gentle giants and said veterans feel a sense of accomplishment just leading them around the arena.
When the veterans talk privately, they sometimes talk about how they were treated upon their return to civilian life, Gatzemeier said, and how they dont want others treated like they were.
Another veteran, Bob Crandall, uses a wheelchair, yet is able to do groundwork with a smaller horse named Mastercard. On Saturday, Gatzemeier got quite the workout pushing Crandalls wheelchair along the dirt floor of the arena while Crandall did his groundwork with Mastercard.
Crandall praised Punt for thinking of the Horses Spirits Healing program when it came time to donate.
Weve learned not to look a gift horse in the mouth, he said with a laugh.
I just love to see people being with horses, said Hampton, the equine therapist, as she kept a watchful eye on everything going on in the arena. These horses feel at home hanging out with people, and they have a sixth sense. They seem to understand what the veterans are feeling.
They do have a calming effect, said Lynn Angvick of Billings, another veteran. Guys with PTSD can be withdrawn and antisocial, but around these horses theyre different. Younger veterans, older veterans its all the same. The horse feels what you feel.
The PCIe Controller and PHY combination delivers another compliant product to the PLDA ecosystem, providing a robust third party alternative to traditional, multi-product IP providers
SAN JOSE, Calif., June 7, 2016 -- PLDA, the industry leader in PCI Express and interface IP solutions and M31, a global silicon intellectual property (IP) boutique, today announced that their combined PCI Express (PCIe) 3.0 solution passed all PCIe 3.0 compliance tests performed by PCI-SIG at the compliance workshop in April 2016. The solution includes PLDAs XpressRICH3 Controller IP combined with the M31 PHY and provides a compliant solution for the TSMC 28HPC+ Process Node. The combined solution delivers significant chip area and power saving benefits which are essential for TSMC 28HPC+ ASIC designers looking to optimize their mid- to low-end SoC designs.
PLDA and M31 are helping to ensure a more robust choice for out-of-the box PCIe 3.0 solutions for designers by focusing on PCIe compliance testing, as well as providing a silicon-proven and rigorously tested alternative to the traditional, multi-product IP providers. The addition of this product to the PCI-SIG Integrators List is the latest of several compliant solutions for the PLDA Ecosystem of independent providers.
According to PLDAs CTO Stephane Hauradou, PLDAs extensive Ecosystem of innovative providers such as M31 combined with our history of groundbreaking PCIe architecture development and a track record of over 2,500 PCI Express designs in silicon delivers the quality and ease-of-integration our global customer base has come to expect from our IP products.
"M31 is committed to provide a full set of solutions through partnerships with leading, complimentary IP providers such as PLDA and by actively pursuing certifications and compatibility tests, said H.P. Lin, Chairman of M31. Our goal is to completely meet the needs of our customers with distinguished and differentiated products combined with the support they need to achieve first pass silicon success.
PCI-SIG is the consortium that owns and manages PCIe specifications as open industry standards. Its compliance workshops offer members the opportunity to test and validate their products before they enter the field. Testing is completed against PCI-SIG maintained systems, as well as other leading manufacturers of PCIe products. The rigorous testing process includes interoperability testing on a range of PC hardware products, transaction layer and data link testing, physical layer testing and configuration testing.
Were pleased that PLDA and M31 have partnered to provide a PCIe 3.0 compliant solution, said Al Yanes, PCI-SIG president and chairman. Their combined efforts to participate in the PCIe specification compliance testing help ensure the continued expansion and success of the PCIe architecture.
Learn More during the TSMC OIP and Symposium:
PLDA will be exhibiting at both the TSMC OIP and TSMC Symposium 2016 shows in Amsterdam, Netherland from June 13-14, 2016. To set up a time to discuss PLDA or M31s solutions, please email sales@plda.com.
Information links:
For information and specifications on PLDAs XpressRICH3 Controller IP for PCIe technology for ASIC please visit: https://www.plda.com/products/asicfpgasoc-ip/pcie-soft-ip/pcie-30-soft-ip/xpressrich3-pcie-30
For information and specifications on M31s PHY: https://www.plda.com/products/pcie-solutions-asicsoc/pcie-phy-ip/pcie-30-phy-ip/m31-pcie-phy-ip-31
For information on the PLDA Ecosystem of partners, please visit: https://www.plda.com/partners
About PLDA
PLDA has been successfully delivering PCI and PCI Express IP for more than 20 years. With over 6,200 licenses, PLDA has established a vast customer base and the worlds broadest PCIe ecosystem. PLDA has maintained its leadership over four generations of PCI Express specifications, enabling customers to reduce risk and accelerate time to market for their ASIC and FPGA based designs. PLDA provides a complete PCIe solution with its IP cores, FPGA boards for ASIC prototyping, PCIe BFM/testbench, PCIe drivers and APIs. PLDA is a global company with offices in North America (San Jose, California) and Europe (France, Italy, Bulgaria).
About M31 Technology
M31 Technology Corporation is a professional silicon intellectual property (IP) provider. The company was founded in July, 2011 with its headquarters in Hsinchu, Taiwan. M31s strength is in R&D and customer service. With substantial experiences in IP development, IC design and electronic design automation fields, M31 focuses on providing high-speed interface IPs, memory compilers and standard cell library solutions. For more information, please visit http://www.m31tech.com.
About PCI-SIG
PCI-SIG is the consortium that owns and manages PCI specifications as open industry standards. The organization defines industry standard I/O (input/output) specifications consistent with the needs of its members. Currently, PCI-SIG is comprised of nearly 800 industry-leading member companies. To join PCI-SIG, and for a list of the Board of Directors, visit www.pcisig.com.
eFPGA cores support all technology nodes, including advanced 14nm processes
Austin, Texas, June 7, 2016 Menta SAS, a provider of embedded FPGA (eFPGA) Intellectual Property (IP), today announced the next generation of its embedded programmable logic IP cores for SoCs. The programmable logic, available as both custom and pre-defined IP cores, is based on Mentas proven eFPGA fabric, optimized to deliver the industrys best combination of performance, reduced size and low power consumption.
The company has also expanded support to additional technology nodes. In addition to TSMC 28nm HPM and ST Microelectronics 28nm FDSOI, the IP is now optimized for GlobalFoundries 14nm LPP process. Mentas eFPGA technology will be demonstrated at booth #640 from June 6-9, 2016 at the Design Automation Conference in Austin, Texas.
Programmability is essential feature of next-generation SoCs
Embedding an FPGA fabric as an IP core in a SOC allows semiconductor designers to update the silicon at will post production, thereby eliminating the cost and time associated with re-spinning silicon. These features are becoming critical to balance the sometimes conflicting requirements to preserve investment and get to market faster with the complex parallel and co-processing SoCs used in todays automotive, aerospace, defense, industrial, computing and Internet of Things applications.
Over three product generations, Mentas eFPGAs have stood apart from the competition in terms of flexibility and ease of use, said Yoan Dupret, who is in charge of business development at Menta. The boost in performance and support of additional process nodes with our next generation of eFPGAs will bring the benefits of post production RTL modification to a wider range of applications. This is a game changer for any engineering team aiming to meet compressed time-to-market windows with the confidence that their systems can accommodate evolving standards or additional customer-defined features.
Optimized performance, density and power consumption
Version 4 of Mentas custom and pre-defined eFPGA IP cores will benefit from a boost in performance, area usage, and lower power consumption. For example, on a circuit with 15k equivalent programmable logic gates (including 1056 LUT6 and six 18bits MAC DSP) intended for TSMC 28nm HPM process, the area is less than 0.9mm, the static power consumption is 0.47mW and the single stage control logic runs at 740MHz while the LUT utilization is greater than 90%. It is always difficult to compare programmable logic cores since the LUT definition and architectures are different. However, Menta eFPGAs feature better static power vs frequency than competition, and is unique in offering fault coverage greater than 99.6%.
Flexible design for any SOC enabled by comprehensive EDA support tools
Menta pre-defined eFPGAs have from 7k-60k equivalent ASIC gates, plus DSP blocks. The IP cores are delivered as hard macros with optimized arrays sizes. In addition, Menta can deliver custom IP cores with embedded logic blocks (eLB), embedded custom blocks (eCB), and embedded memory blocks (eMB), each of which are customizable in type, number and size to address various markets and applications. Menta provides Origami Designer to define in the simplest way the custom IP based on designers RTL. The eFPGA IP cores are designed for standard test compatibility with all common ASIC and SOC test solutions.
Mentas also provides customer support with Origami Programmer, a proven EDA tool that supports design from HDL design to bitstream with synthesis, mapping, place and route. Origami Programmer includes synthesis to allow RTL applications in VHDL, Verilog or SystemVerilog, as well as SDC support for application design constraints. Additionally, timing analyses tools enhance engineer experience and facilitate designs.
Availability
Mentas eFPGA IP cores and associated software are available now. For more information, please visit www.menta-efpga.com, or contact our customer support team at info@menta-efpga.com.
About Menta
Menta is a privately held company based in Montpellier, France. The company provides embedded FPGA (eFPGA) technology for SoC, ASIC or SASSP designs. Menta's programmable logic architecture is based on scalable, customizable and easily programmable architecture created to provide programmability for next-generation ASIC design with the benefits of eFPGA design flexibility. For more information, visit the company website at: www.menta-efpga.com
Australian market leader Telstra has reportedly expressed an interest in re-entering Vietnam via an investment in Vietnamese number two Mobifone.
Telstra pulled out of Vietnam in 2003 after investing around $240 million into a joint venture with the Vietnam Post and Communications Group, but could now take a stake in Mobifone following a discussion between Telstras current international COO Han Kotterman and Vietnams Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan.
Mobifone split from fellow state-owned operator VNPT in June 2014, and the Ministry of Information and Communications has been aiming to privatise it for over a year. The operator was ordered to provide a plan for an IPO by the end of 2014 but the privatisation plan has been consistently delayed.
Currently Vietnams government is looking to privatise several state-owned businesses like Mobifone, with foreign investors able to acquire a stake of up to 49% in the operator after the planned IPO. Telstra is not alone in its interest in Mobifone; Axiata, Telenor and Comvik International Vietnam have all indicated interest in acquiring a controlling stake.
A previous IPO scheduled in 2006 was eventually abandoned, but this too drew substantial interest from significant players include Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom (Orange), Singtel and Vodafone.
MTN South Africa is extending its managed services agreement with CSG Systems.
The managed services agreement entails system management and support of the carriers retail billing operations, credit vetting and number portability. This new five-year agreement extends CSGs responsibilities to all of the proprietary and bespoke platforms currently in use by MTN.
The extension of the business relationship with CSG International will go a long way towards helping MTN to simplify and streamline our operations, while ensuring that we improve the quality of the services we provide to our customers, said Benjamin Marais, chief information officer, MTN SA.
CSG and MTN have a long-standing partnership that spans over a decade. In 2014, MTN appointed CSG to provide its deep domain expertise of technology and processes, as well as knowledgeable resources for MTNs wholesale business operations.
Phillip Yoo, president of CSG Internationals Global Carrier Business, said: As MTNs business continues to develop and transform, CSG is prepared to offer the people, processes and technology they will need for success.
WASHINGTON The Caligulan malice with which Donald Trump administered Paul Ryan's degradation is an object lesson in the price of abject capitulation to power. This episode should be studied as a clinical case of a particular Washington myopia the ability of career politicians to convince themselves that they and their agendas are of supreme importance.
The pornographic politics of Trump's presidential campaign, which was preceded by decades of ignorant bile (about Barack Obama's birth certificate and much else), have not exhausted Trump's eagerness to plumb new depths of destructiveness. Herewith the remarkably brief timeline of the breaking of Ryan to Trump's saddle.
On May 3, Trump won the Indiana primary, ending competition for the Republican nomination.
On May 5, Ryan said he still was not prepared to endorse Trump. That day Trump responded that he was not ready to endorse Ryan's agenda. This was not news, considering that Trump has campaigned against every significant element of this agenda: entitlement reform, the rule of law, revival of Congress as a counter to the executive overreach that Barack Obama has practiced and that Trump promises to enlarge upon.
On May 12, a Trump meeting with Ryan resulted in a cringeworthy joint statement that had to be read to be properly disbelieved. The two spoke about the "great conversation" they had about "our shared principles." They celebrated their "many important areas of common ground" while offhandedly mentioning "our few differences." Those who know, or thought they knew, Ryan doubted that he could name a single shared principle, and he did not do so.
In spite of, and in conspicuous dissonance with, the May 12 happy talk, Ryan continued to withhold his endorsement. Perhaps he hoped that Trump, at age 69, was going to mend his manners.
Instead, Trump dragged a personal problem, his coming trial on fraud charges associated with Trump University, into the presidential campaign.
Having first done so in February, on May 27 he again attacked the "Mexican" judge (born in Indiana, 1,332 miles from Mexico) who will preside at the trial, asserting that the Hoosier Mexican was unfit to preside because his ethnic heritage would incline him against Trump, the wall-building scourge of Mexican rapists. On May 30, Trump again attacked the judge, again embracing the identity politics that actually characterizes contemporary progressivism: An individual has, always and only, the interests and motivations of his race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.
By June 2, Ryan had heard enough. He endorsed Trump. He did so because President Trump would sign Ryan's House "agenda." Well.
Since May 5, the Hamlet of southeastern Wisconsin had indeed learned something. He had learned Trump's contemptuous response to his scruples. Trump's response was an insouciant intensification of his anti-institutional politics the judicial system, too, is "rigged." Ryan limply described Trump's attack on the judge as thinking "out of left field" that he could not "relate to."
All supposedly will be redeemed by the House agenda. So, assume, fancifully, that in 2017 this agenda emerges intact from a House not yet proved able to pass 12 appropriations bills. Assume, too, that Republicans still control the Senate and can persuade enough Democrats to push the House agenda over the 60-vote threshold. Now, for some really strenuous assuming: Assume that whatever semblance of the House agenda that reaches President Trump's desk is more important than keeping this impetuous, vicious, ignorant and anti-constitutional man from being at that desk.
Some say in extenuation of Ryan's behavior that if he could not embrace Trump, he could not continue as speaker. But is Ryan, who was reluctant to become speaker, now more indispensable to the nation's civic health than Trump is menacing to that health? Ryan could have enhanced that health by valuing it above his office.
In March, Trump said of Ryan: "I'm sure I'm going to get along great with him. And if I don't, he's going to have to pay a big price." Ryan has now paid a staggering price by getting along with Trump. And what did Ryan purchase with the coin of his reputation? Perhaps his agenda.
In Robert Bolt's play "A Man for All Seasons," Thomas More is betrayed by Richard Rich, who commits perjury to please the king, in exchange for being named attorney general for Wales. Says More: "Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world. ... But for Wales?" Or for the House agenda?
The center is located in Gurgaon, and will be one of seven such places worldwide
Microsoft has opened its Cyber Security Engagement Center (CSEC) in Gurgaon, India. The center will be one of the seven such locations worldwide, and will serve as a dedicated hub for Microsoft in India. The aim is to drive public-private partnerships to fight cyber crimes and strengthen cooperation with Indian businesses, government and academic organisations on cyber security. It also hopes to increase the companys contribution towards protecting Indian computer and internet users against cybercrime threats.
Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, Microsoft India said in a statement, India stands at an exciting threshold today as data becomes a key driver of growth across every sector and industry and Cloud based computing becomes more prevalent. Cybersecurity is crucial for Digital India. A data driven economy can flourish only when governments, businesses and individuals have access to hyper scale and hyper flexible cloud computing with the confidence that their data is secure. Our Cyber Security Engagement Center in Gurgaon underlines our relentless commitment to security and partnering India in its digital transformation.
The CSEC will also bring together Microsofts Digital Crime Unit (DCU) experts, which comprise attorneys, investigators and security response experts from the company. Further, as the CSEC is a part of Microsoft Consultancy Services (MCS), a dedicated response team based in India will offer cyber monitoring and machine learning-based detection technology in the country. This team will ensure quick response and resolution to cyber threats to enterprise customers. Further, the CSEC will utilize DCUs Cyber Threat Intelligence Program that monitors and analyses malware infections. Through this software, it aims to provide a malware threat assessment and offer actionable information for select IP infrastructures shared by its customers on a noncommercial basis.
Like other big names in the tech industry, Lenovo has also started holding its own tech event every year, since 2015. In the upcoming Lenovo Tech World 2016, we believe, the company will be focusing more on mobiles. If rumors are to be believed, the June 9th keynote by Lenovo Chairman & CEO, Yang Yuanqing, will be about announcing new devices, and a few other technology avenues that the company might be exploring in the future. Motorola, which is now owned by Lenovo is most likely to announce its new flagship smartphone as well. We could also see Lenovo officially announce the Project Tango based phablet, the company showcased back in MWC 2016. But there would more, we take a closer look on what to expect from Lenovos Tech World 2016
Moto Z
Lenovo has been teasing a secretive mystery box with Moto and Lenovo brandings for some time now. It is more than likely that Moto Z will be announced at the event. According to rumors we have seen till now, the new Moto Z smartphone will be replacing the current X lineup. Moreover, the phone is suggested to be modular, somewhat similar to the LG G5. It is rumored that the upcoming Moto Z will be offered with user replaceable back covers. A previous leak suggested that there would be multiple options available at launch. These interchangeable backplates will include a pico projector, stereo speaker, camera grip and more.
The phone on the other hand is likely to be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC, which is likely to be coupled with 4GB of RAM. Moto Z may feature a 5.5-inch display with a Quad-HD resolution and a Moto G4 plus-like fingerprint scanner. Rumours also suggest that Moto might actually launch two phones, the Moto Z Play and the Moto Z Style, just like last year.
Moto Razr
A lot of people in the tech community raised their eyebrows after Moto released the Moto Razr commercial recently. Rumour mills started to churn out fresh rumors that the company might be working on a new Moto Razr phone for 2016. However, a recent report by the The Telegraph suggests that a company spokesperson has denied the return of the clamshell Razr phone. Well, we can still look forward to the Moto Z.
Lenovos Project Tango phone (PHAB2 Pro)
Earlier this year, Lenovo showcased the first prototype of a consumer tablet which features Googles 3D mapping technology. The smart phablet is based on Googles Project Tango and might be called PHAB2 Pro. This technology can map your environment and offer augmented reality in that space. It boasts a large 6.7-inch display and a Qualcomm SoC, but we still don't know other specifications of the device.
Google launched its original Project Tango Development Kit back in 2014, which consisted of a NVIDIA Tegra powered 7-inch tablet. The kit was priced at $1024 (Rs. 68,355 approximately) but Lenovo has already stated that its upcoming phablet will be priced around $500 (Rs. 33,375 approximately)
PCs and laptops
Last year at Lenovo Tech World, the company announced half a dozen new laptops, and we expect that there might be more to come this year. On the PC front, there has been some new innovation in the graphics department as well as some changes on the processor front. We expect that Lenovo might launch something exciting in its Y Gaming range powered by the new Intel i7 chips, and the latest NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 GPU.
Emerging technologies
On the official website, Lenovo states Tech World 2016 will give you the chance to be the first to learn of blockbuster emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations. This could mean that the company might be looking to dip its toes in the VR segment, which seems to be the trend these days.
Samsung may unveil either one or two such devices in February next year
Samsung may launch two new smartphones with bendable screens by early 2017. According to a report by Bloomberg, one of the versions may be able to fold completely half. It is tipped to have a 5-inch screen, which would turn into a tablet with a display as big as 8-inches when opened. The report also states that the company may unveil either one or both devices in February next year. Further, sources told the publication that Samsung is not planning to market the phone under the Galaxy S name.
These speculations are in line with some of the other rumours about Samsung's fol. Last month, it was reported that the company may be planning to launch five flagship devices next year including a foldable smartphone tipped to be called the Galaxy X. The device is rumoured to sport a bendable display with 4K resolution. Sometime earlier, Korean website, ETNews had suggested that Samsung may start mass producing foldable displays by the end of 2016, with a device being available by 2014. The report also noted that the device might resemble a 5-inch smartphone that converts into a 7-inch tablet when opened. Back in September last year, it was reported that Samsung was testing two smartphones with foldable displays under the codename, Project Valley.
New doubts emerge over the cooperation between the UK and European countries in security matters
On a BBC programme last month, the editor of The Spectator, a traditional weekly magazine, said that security cooperation between European Union countries was not fit for purpose, among other reasons, because the intelligence service in Spain was "a mess".
Some minutes after, the interview turned to Sir John Sawers, former chief of Secret Intelligence Service MI6 from 2009 to 2014. Sawers came out in defence of his Spanish colleagues. "Contrary to what has been said, they are very, very good," he said.
"Contrary to what has been said, they are very, very good"
National security is another controversial topic in the battle of ideas that is being fought ahead of the EU referendum on the 23rd June. Similar to the issues of sovereignty, economy and immigration, it's practically impossible for a voter to distinguish between who is telling the truth and who is not.
Sawers, who will vote in favour of remaining within the EU, found a weapon to support the argument that his country is better defended from inside the EU, in none other than the Spanish Centro Nacional de Inteligencia.
The ex boss of British espionage repeated what had occupied the front page of The Sunday Times: the agility and speed with which the intelligence services exchange information makes the continent, including the UK, safer.
"Leaving the EU would put us in more danger," Sawers feared.
Leaving the EU would put us in more danger
Although Sawers does have the support of many major figures, current Justice minister in the UK Michael Gove has remarked that he is "completely mistaken." He believes that the role played by the EU justice system has led the British secret services to lose agility.
During an interview with Spanish daily El Pais, Sawers rejected the idea put forward by his predecessor in MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, who had said that "Europe would lose, not Britain, if Brexit were to occur."
Speaking about his Spanish former colleagues, he said that "at an operational level, the Spanish and British intelligence services have a great mutual respect. Both share decades of experience combating terrorism, which means they have special abilities and a great resilience when confronting the current threat of Islamic terrorism."
Numis has reiterated a hold rating at target price of 2,700p on the London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) ahead of its merger with Deutsche Boerse.
The 21bn merger between the LSE and Germanys stock exchange was announced in mid-March and aims to generate cost synergies of 450m (354m) and revenue synergies of at least 250m (197m).
We believe a merger with Deutsche Boerse could create significant value for LSE shareholders if completed as expected, Numis said.
But whilst we see the obvious benefits from such a merger (namely cost and revenue synergies), we remain mindful of the challenges that would need to be overcome for it to complete (competition authorities, regulatory concerns, national pride) and the long list of failed merger and acquisition deals within this sector.
The UK and German governments have said they would block the deal if it was seen to hurt their domestic economies.
Numis said while a deal would be difficult to tie up, it estimated LSE could be worth up to 3,200p per share if the merger completes as expected and the targeted cost synergies are achieved.
However, we still maintain our hold recommendation and 2,700p/share target price as we remain mindful of the numerous challenges that need to be overcome for such a deal to complete.
The broker added that it continues to favour LSEs strong market position, favourable growth drivers and diversified revenue base but the shares have had a very strong run and are up with events in our view, especially given the downside risks should a deal not eventually be completed.
Weir Group shares gained on Tuesday after Canaccord Genuity raised its rating on the stock to hold from sell and its target price to 1,200p from 800p.
Canaccord said given the rally in Weirs US peers, it believes the valuation for the UK oil and gas-focused engineering company is likely to stay extended even if the fundamental case is difficult to see.
The stock has in any case almost always traded at a premium to European oil services peers, in part because of its greater flexibility through downturns.
The analyst said Weir has a long track record of cash generation through good and bad times so it is hard to argue that the company should trade at a large discount to its peers in North America which are showing a notable increase in share prices. Schlumberger, Halliburton and National Oilwell Varco are among the US peers.
However, Canaccord said Weir is 25% exposed to the oil and gas sector, which has suffered a slump in crude prices amid a global supply glut.
We continue to believe that fundamental over-capacity issues are likely to cap any recovery in pricing for the oil and gas supply chain for an extended period, even if volume recovers: and the capital expenditure outlook for the diversified majors in the sector strongly suggests there remains some way to go before this inventory is worked through.
Credit Suisse bumped up its target price on shares of Coca Cola HBC following what it described as an "upbeat" investor seminar from the company on the previous day.
The bottling company outlined plans for revenues to grow by between 4% to 5% over fiscal year 2016 to 2020 and boost its margins from the 7.5% achieved in 2015 back to their levels from before the crisis, at 11%.
Analysts Sanjeet Aujla, Charlie Mills and Pavan Daswan estimated the improvement in margins would be more backend-loaded, towards 2018-2020, reaching 10% by fiscal year 2020. The analysts also called attention to the "inherent volatility" of the companys markets.
If CCH met those targets then on the basis of current exchange rates that could translate into a compound annual growth rate of 15% in earnings per share between 2016 and 2020, they said.
That led Credit Suisse to lift its target price on the companys shares from 1,480p to 1,500p, while keeping its recommendation at 'neutral'.
The Swiss broker also pointed out the prospect for better pricing in Russia, easing deflation across Europe and the "good work" carried out by management on its cost base, which should allow for greater operational leverage if momentum on the top line was maintained.
Lastly, the analysts noted how in the absence of future M&A opportunities the company would 'optimise' its balance sheet by paying out a special dividend.
Credit Suisse bumped up its target price on shares of Coca Cola HBC following what it described as an "upbeat" investor seminar from the company on the previous day.
The bottling company outlined plans for revenues to grow by between 4% to 5% over fiscal year 2016 to 2020 and boost its margins from the 7.5% achieved in 2015 back to their levels from before the crisis, at 11%.
Analysts Sanjeet Aujla, Charlie Mills and Pavan Daswan estimated the improvement in margins would be more backend-loaded, towards 2018-2020, reaching 10% by fiscal year 2020. The analysts also called attention to the "inherent volatility" of the companys markets.
If CCH met those targets then on the basis of current exchange rates that could translate into a compound annual growth rate of 15% in earnings per share between 2016 and 2020, they said.
That led Credit Suisse to lift its target price on the companys shares from 1,480p to 1,500p, while keeping its recommendation at 'neutral'.
The Swiss broker also pointed out the prospect for better pricing in Russia, easing deflation across Europe and the "good work" carried out by management on its cost base, which should allow for greater operational leverage if momentum on the top line was maintained.
Lastly, the analysts noted how in the absence of future M&A opportunities the company would 'optimise' its balance sheet by paying out a special dividend.
Numis has reiterated a hold rating at target price of 2,700p on the London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) ahead of its merger with Deutsche Boerse.
The 21bn merger between the LSE and Germanys stock exchange was announced in mid-March and aims to generate cost synergies of 450m (354m) and revenue synergies of at least 250m (197m).
We believe a merger with Deutsche Boerse could create significant value for LSE shareholders if completed as expected, Numis said.
But whilst we see the obvious benefits from such a merger (namely cost and revenue synergies), we remain mindful of the challenges that would need to be overcome for it to complete (competition authorities, regulatory concerns, national pride) and the long list of failed merger and acquisition deals within this sector.
The UK and German governments have said they would block the deal if it was seen to hurt their domestic economies.
Numis said while a deal would be difficult to tie up, it estimated LSE could be worth up to 3,200p per share if the merger completes as expected and the targeted cost synergies are achieved.
However, we still maintain our hold recommendation and 2,700p/share target price as we remain mindful of the numerous challenges that need to be overcome for such a deal to complete.
The broker added that it continues to favour LSEs strong market position, favourable growth drivers and diversified revenue base but the shares have had a very strong run and are up with events in our view, especially given the downside risks should a deal not eventually be completed.
LSE shares rose 0.83% to 2,677p at 1023 BST.
J Sainsbury will on Wednesday post its trading update for the 12 weeks to 4 June.
The supermarket is expected to report a drop in first quarter like-for-like sales due to its shift away from multi-pack promotions to simpler price cuts.
Kantar Worldpanel last week said the supermarkets sales in the 12 weeks to 22 May were down 1.2% while its market share shrank to 16.2% from 16.5%.
Following the report, Deutsche Bank said it lowers its estimates on first quarter like-for-like sales to a 1.4% fall from a previous forecast for a 0.4% decline after already cutting its projections last month from a 0.6% increase.
Deutsche Bank cut its target price to 310p from 325p but reiterated a buy rating on the stock.
We expect a +1% contribution from new space to drive total sales growth excluding fuel of -0.4%, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Niamh Mcsherry.
While this Kantar data is disappointing, we still see the opportunity for Sainsburys to invest more in the offer in order to recover top line momentum.
The UKs so-called Big Four supermarkets, including Sainsbury, Tesco, Asda and Morrisons, have been engaged in a price war amid fierce competition from discounters Aldi and Lidl.
Last month Sainsbury chief executive Mike Coupe said: Weve seen food prices fall by almost 4% in the past couple of years. Great for customers. Not necessarily great if youre selling groceries.
Coupe warned that the grocery market would remain competitive for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile, investors will be looking to Wednesdays trading update for any update on Sainsburys acquisition of Argos owner Home Retail Group. The deal is expected to be completed in the third quarter pending regulatory approval.
However, the UK competition watchdog said last month that it was looking into whether the proposed take-over could result in a substantial lessening of competition for consumers.
The Competition and Markets Authority is expected to announce on if it intends on launching a full investigation on 25 July.
Wednesday 08 June
INTERIMS
Alternative Networks, Redhall Group, Sanderson Group
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)
MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)
FINALS
Best of the Best, CMC Markets , Creston, GB Group, Grafenia , Tricorn Group, Workspace Group
ANNUAL REPORT
CMC Markets
AGMS
Central Asia Metals, Hurricane Energy, M&C Saatchi, Share plc, Witan Pacific Inv Trust
UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Industrial Production (09:30)
Manufacturing Production (09:30)
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Compagnie de St-Gobain SA
The Institute of Directors has continued its assault on those involved in the collapse of BHS with a call on Tuesday for the accountancy watchdog to launch a probe into the matter.
The Times reported that IoD director general Simon Walker had written to the Financial Reporting Council to strongly urge it to investigate whether the board of Philip Greens Arcadia Group had failed in its duties to promote the success of a company.
Walker also wants the FRC to examine the conduct and role of Grant Thornton and Olswang, which advised Dominic Chappells Retail Acquisitions consortium in the purchase of BHS for 1 in March last year, the report added.
BHS fell into administration in April and a rescue could not be organised in time to save it from being wound up last week with the potential loss of up to 11,000 jobs. Thousands of staff are facing a likely cut to their pensions as their fund had a 571m deficit.
In the letter to the FRC, Walker said: So many unanswered questions remain about the demise of BHS, and the business community as a whole deserves to know exactly why this firm failed and who was responsible.
He also again questioned why Lord Grabiner as chairman of Taveta Investments, the ultimate owner of Arcadia Group, was not more involved in the sale of BHS: In the FRCs judgment, does this constitute good corporate governance?
Grabiner's role has come under increasing scrutiny since he gave evidence to a joint hearing of the Work & Pensions and Business select parliamentary committees where he revealed he was not involved in the decision to sell BHS.
In a separate open letter to the committees, Walker said he had concerns about the conduct of the Arcadia Board, headed by Lord Grabiner, once they had decided to sell BHS.
The Arcadia board set up a sub-committee to investigate options for the sale, which is not necessarily poor governance, but evidence given by Lord Grabiner to your parliamentary committee suggests that he was relaxed about not being involved, Walker wrote.
It is surprising that he was not, as chair, part of that sub-committee. That he did not find out about the sale until five days after it had been agreed, and that he had not given any indication of what was an acceptable sale, is at best described as alarming.
This doesnt sit very well with the UK Corporate Governance Code, which says the chairman is responsible for leadership of the board. It is crucial on any board that delegation of decision-making is not confused with devolution of accountability.
Walker said a failure to look at Grabiner's conduct could set an appalling precedent for future sales of failing businesses.
Frank Field, who chairs the Work & Pensions committee said on Monday he also also had fresh questions for Grabiner.
We already knew that the chairman of Taveta (Green's family investment vehicle) learnt about, and agreed, the sale of BHS five days after the keys were handed over, he said in a statement.
Now we know that his first act at that meeting was to relinquish the chair to the only other director in the room [Arcadia finance director Paul Budge, Arcadia finance director). Im baffled and have asked him to explain.
Field added that new documents received by the committees shed further light on the thinking of both sides of the deal but begged further questions.
One of these was why Retail Acquisitions had adopted BHS managements existing business plan of outrageous ambition.
Could Dominic Chappell really be expected to succeed where Sir Philip Green had failed? he said.
He also wanted to know why Taveta agreed to pay only 15m to the pension fund over three years to be matched by Retail Acquisitions.
Chappell is scheduled to appear before the committee on June 8.
When serious crimes occur on Montana Indian reservations, the news is often suppressed by the multiple agencies responsible for assisting the victims, investigating and bringing perpetrators to justice.
Lack of public information makes such crimes all the more outrageous. Its as if the FBI, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and tribal government leadership are saying: If we dont talk about it, the problem will go away.
This attitude is corrosive to public trust. Crime affects the community, not just the individual who was injured. If an attack on a neighbor, or a schoolmate is hushed up, what confidence can other families have that they will be safe or that an attack on them would be thoroughly investigated?
These worries are top of mind now with bits of information trickling out of the Crow Reservation about an unnamed woman being severely burned in April. No official law enforcement or other governmental official will confirm even the most basic facts of what happened to this woman.
The FBI has refused to provide any information, except for this statement made in response to Gazette calls: The victim is being treated from 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.
A spokeswoman for Montana U.S. Attorney Michael Cotter declined comment.
State Rep. Carolyn Pease Lopez, a Crow tribal member, is correct in saying that information being kept from the public makes it seem like the federal government believes life has less value on the reservation.
We want to know one human being is worth as much on the reservation as off, Pease-Lopez told a Gazette reporter last week.
State Rep. Kelly McCarthy, of Billings, said hes gotten the same silent treatment as tribal members and the press. Federal agencies dont return his calls about issues on Montanas Indian reservations. McCarthy told a Gazette reporter that federal authorities may believe they dont need to share information with a state official.
The result of this lack of communication is to minimize the appearance of crime on Montana Indian reservations and to keep citizens in the dark about efforts (or lack of effort) to prevent violence and to bring offenders to justice.
The story of a woman found severely burned somewhere between Lodge Grass and Busby two months ago is the latest, terrible example of the deafening silence from authorities responsible for protecting people on Montana reservations.
The leaders of both the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and the Crow Tribe have publicly called attention to drug-related crime in their communities, largely fueled by methamphetamine trafficking. The stories of the victims of violence drug-related or not should be part of raising community awareness of that crime. All of us must demand protection for our neighbors wherever they live in Montana.
We are particularly disappointed that U.S. Attorney Michael Cotter hasnt spoken up. As Montanas top federal law enforcement officer, Cotter should set the tone for public information. We call on Cotter to establish policies that will keep communities informed on a timely basis.
The U.S. attorneys office has initiatives for cooperation with Montana tribal justice systems. Public cooperation is a key factor in success of such initiatives, and cooperation wont happen without public trust.
There are sometimes situations in which facts may jeopardize a case if publicly revealed before an arrest. But to keep the community in the dark on all facts of a serious crime for days, weeks, even months erodes trust.
The pall of uncertainty surrounding UK's future tenure in the European Union is impacting US flows into European equities, says Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research.
"We do find that flows from US investors into European equities (measured by AMG/Lipper mutual fund data which includes ETFs) are very sensitive to policy uncertainty," the research unit said.
Britons are due to vote on the UK's membership of the EU on 23 June. Polls so far have been mixed, some suggesting a Brexit outcome and others a Bremain.
The cable has been buffeted by the political and economic uncertainty caused by the two protagonist camps in the much-debated EU in-out vote.
Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research cited a UK Policy Uncertainty index that had increased markedly in recent months.
"The outflows from US investors seem to have coincided closely with this shift," it said in a research note.
"Over the longer run, we think UK Policy Uncertainty specifically is less strong an indicator for US flows than the aggregate European uncertainty.
"For example, UK Policy Uncertainty and flows from US investors were poorly correlated in 2012-2015 when US investors were more focused elsewhere in Europe."
Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research further added that should the referendum outcome be to remain in the EU, "we expect to see policy uncertainty conditions in the UK lessen, and this would be consistent with a modest pick-up in flows into Europe."
Mining titans BHP Billiton and Glencore number among the final bidders for Anglo American's Australian metallurgical coal assets that may fetch about $1.5bn, according to a report.
Bloomberg, citing several sources with knowledge of the matter, also reported that Anemka Resources, the mining investor backed by Warburg Pincus, had made a bid.
China's Yanzhou Coal Mining and, together, Apollo Global Management and Xcoal Energy & Resources had submitted final bids for the Moranbah and Grosvenor mines, the report said.
The deadline for bids was 6 June.
The sources told the news agency that Anglo American could reach an agreement for the mines this month, but that no decision had yet been made and talks might amount to nothing.
Glencore might be bidding with a partner, one of the sources said.
Anglo American wants to raise $3bn-$4bn from asset sales to help lower debt and refocus the company as a miner of diamonds, platinum and copper.
In April, the mining heavyweight agreed to sell its Brazilian niobium and phosphate unit to China Molybdenum for $1.5bn. It had also agreed to sell interests in several Australian coal mines including Foxleigh, Callide and Dartbrook.
Business is booming for OneSavings Bank , which has just clocked up a 35m profit after selling a 250m securitisation of pre-crisis mortgages, writes the Financial Times' Lex column.
The buy-to-let lender intended to use the dosh to originate more mortgages, and its loan books have swollen by more than a third each year since 2013.
And yet, noted the column, shares in OneSavings Bank have lagged Lloyds'. This was true also of other buy-to-let lenders Shawbrook and Aldermore.
Lex reckoned valuation could be the reason, observing that the stock trades at a twice-2017 book value, which was rather high for a European bank.
It also looked to a list of bearish points, among them increasing purchase taxes, Brexit and further cuts to tax relief of buy-to-let mortgages.
"Yet lending keeps growing," wrote the column. In April it was up 16% on the year to 18.5bn, according to Council of Mortgage Lenders' estimates.
But also Lex contended that these factors would help so-called professional landlords -- those with four properties or more -- who could absorb the higher costs and would want more services, such as setting up tax-efficient corporate structures.
Property consultancy thought that the proportion of UK homes rented out privately would rise four percentage points to 22% in the next five years.
"A share contraction in the property market would hit buy-to-let lenders hard," said Lex.
"But anyone worried about a housing crash should not own shares in a UK bank."
Meantime, The Telegraph's Questor column also dipped into the property-related theme, slapping a "Sell" opinion on the hsares on plumbing supplies business Wolseley.
It pointed to a 10% slump in the outfit's shares after a grey third-quarter trading update.
"There could be more pain to come as slowing growth at the FTSE 100-listed company leaves the shares exposed," contended the column.
Wolseley generated most of its revenue and profits in the UK, and warned that industrial markets -- contributing about 14% of the US' 8.3bn revenues -- experienced weaker demand.
"The company operates the Ferguson brand in the US, where orders have been lower due to a slump in activity from oil and gas-related customers," Questor said.
It also pointed the global commodity slowdown, which had put a damper on Wolseley's Canadian and Nordics businesses, and noted the tough trading in Wolseley's home UK market.
"Here (in the UK), like-for-like revenues were down 0.4%, during the third quarter as repairs and maintenance remain weak. The company will report on a review of UK operations in August."
Nevertheless, Wolseley did post 2.8% like-for-like revenue growth.
"The concern is that the US juggernaut is showing signs of slowing and that leaves the shares trading on 15-times forecast earnings looking exposed," Questor noted.
"The company reports annual results on September 27, with the market expecting revenue of 14.3bn and pre-tax profits of 860m, giving 246p in earnings per share."
The issue for investors was the building supplies business had a track record of being extremely cyclical.
"Looking back to the previous peak in 2006, the shares fell almost 90pc during the next two years as the slowdown hit. Sell."
Save my User ID and Password
Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site.
Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site.
12 teens charged in standoff at Ohio youth prison
Twelve teens are charged with rioting, inducing panic, escape and vandalism in a takeover of the Indian River youth prison school.
The Missouri River basin is hedging toward a wet June through August but only slightly, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
NOAA forecaster Doug Kluck provided the forecast during the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers June telephone conference call concerning the Corps Missouri River Basin dam operation on Tuesday.
The wetter weather, if it comes, is due to a La Nina cooler ocean waters in the tropical Pacific. Typically that wetter weather doesnt show up until the late summer or fall, Kluck added. Right now the system is fairly neutral, making it difficult for forecasters to predict whether the La Nina will generate more moisture.
A wetter forecast would be welcome news to firefighting agencies and farmers and ranchers across the West. Drought conditions are forecast for parts of Washington, Oregon, North Dakota and Minnesota this summer, with drought expected to persist in California and parts of Nevada and Arizona.
Likewise, portions of Montana and Wyoming are already experiencing abnormally dry conditions or moderate drought, including south-central Montana and north-central and eastern Wyoming, according to a U.S. drought monitor map for the Missouri Basin.
Warmer temperatures have already produced peak runoff in the river system, with some flooding occurring along the Laramie, South Platte and Platte rivers in Wyoming and Nebraska. That spike in river flows is expected to wear out in about a week to 10 days.
With snow melting quickly from the mountains the forecast for July and August is for below-normal river levels in the Missouri Basin.
The runoff pushed Fort Peck Reservoir to an elevation of 2,235.9 feet at the end of May. That was a climb of 1.7 feet during the month with the reservoir forecast to rise another 2 feet in June. The forecast has prompted the Corps to increase its releases from the dam from 8,000 cubic feet per second to 9,000 cfs this month.
Conditions in much of the Missouri River Basin were wetter than average during May, Jody Farhat, chief of the Corps Missouri River Basin Water Management Division, said in a press release. In the upper basin, heavy rains accompanied by mountain snowmelt increased runoff into the reservoir system.
Widespread rain in the lower basin also increased flows on many of the tributaries below the reservoir system, causing tributary and Missouri River levels to rise.
Rainfall events like these can lead to localized flooding downstream of the reservoir system, Farhat said.
The mountain snowpack peaked in early April, about two weeks earlier than normal. The snowpack crested at 95 percent of average above Fort Peck on April 1 and 89 percent of average in the reach between Garrison and Fort Peck on April 2.
The total volume of water stored in the Missouri River Mainstem Reservoir System is 59.4 million acre feet.
The reservoirs remain well positioned to capture additional runoff should further reductions in releases become necessary, Farhat said.
Subscriber content preview
One of the gangways broke off and punctured the ship's hull.
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) A dock in Ketchikan is out of commission for the foreseeable future after a cruise ship crashed into it.
City of Ketchikan Port and Harbors Director Steve Corporon told the Ketchikan Daily News that Berth 3 was damaged Friday when a Celebrity Cruises ship struck the dock.
. . .
ED serves notice on Devas Multimedia for FEMA violations in Antrix deal
The Enforcement Directorate has served show-cause notice on Devas Multimedia for receiving foreign direct investments (FDI) worth Rs578 crore in alleged violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
The Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are conducting a probe into the 2005 deal between Devas Multimedia and Antrix Corporation Limited (ACL), the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), for alleged forex violations.
Overseas investors in Devas Multimedia included CC Devas Mauritius Limited, Telecom Devas Mauritius Ltd, Deutsche Telkom Asia Private Limited and Devas Employees Mauritius Private Limited.
Bangalore-based Devas has allegedly bagged the deal despite its ineligibility, raised investments worth Rs578 crore from foreign investors based in the US, Mauritius and Singapore and then pocketed them, said an agency source. It was alleged that Devas Multimedia has a subsidiary incorporated in the US to park a substantial portion of the foreign funds it had received as remittances on the pretext of ''services, salaries, etc,'' reports quoting sources said.
''It was alleged that the Bangalore-based firm submitted false information, claiming it had the technology to provide the services as per the pact to Antrix, and sent away a good portion of the wrongful gain to its US-based subsidiary'' the report quoted the source as saying.
Investigators are now examining the role of a US-based firm in the irregularities. ED is conducting a FEMA probe against the firm and is likely to upgrade it into a money-laundering probe.
The agreement on delivery of video, multimedia and information services to mobile phones via two geo-stationary satellites was later scrapped in 2011.
Devas has denied all allegations of wrongdoings levelled against it by ED and the CBI.
In May, the CBI had twice questioned Isro's former chairman G Madhavan Nair in connection with probe in the case since March last year. It grilled Nair on issues, including Devas Multimedia's technical competence to enter into a deal with Antrix.
Halloween creatures owls, crows and bats all live at Crossroads, and that makes us very happy, for these scary animals make a positive contribution to the habitats of the preserve. We don't even mind black cats, IF they are kept indoors. Feral and outdoor cats are exceedingly harmful to wildlife ... and that's not a superstition! But to tamp down superstitions, we at Crossroads will spend the week demystifying Halloween creatures.
On October 28, 2022, at 6 p.m. will be our Evening with Owls. The Open Door Bird Sanctuary will be at Crossroads, offering a one-hour presentation followed by the opportunity to meet and greet live birds. Learn all about owls and the other incredible birds in the care of the Sanctuary!
Down through the centuries, in many cultures throughout the world, owls have been associated with evil and death. Truth is, owls probably are not smart enough to be evil. But researchers agree that owls are about as dim as the nighttime forests in which they hunt.
Owls don't need to be smart. They have everything else going for them. They are muscular. They fly silently. Their huge eyes enable them to see in the dark. Their beaks and talons are strong and wickedly sharp. But their sensitive ears are what make owls extraordinary hunters.
Most people assume that the plumicorns (a.k.a. "horns) of an owl are its ears. Not so.
The actual ears lie under feathers on the sides of the head, and they aren't symmetrical. Because one ear is higher than the other and the ears are unequal in size, sound is different from different directions, helping owls locate prey, which they do almost unfailingly, even in total darkness.
Owls do not smell their prey. As with most birds, the sense of smell is insignificant, if it exists are all. Great Horned Owls frequently prey on skunks. Enough said.
But well-developed intelligence? Researchers have observed owls beating their wings on bushes to try to flush out little birds. Is this learned behavior? Is it problem-solving?
Maybe.
For the most part, owls do not have a lot of problems to solve. They appropriate abandoned nests of other birds, so they don't need building skills. They are stealthy by nature, and they pounce on and usually catch anything they hear, so they don't need hunting techniques.
In spite of ghost stories, legends of American First People, and superstitions from Europe and India, hooting owls do not foretell impending death, although their nocturnal calls are spooky. We hear them now and then this time of year, but we will regularly hear those eerie calls at Crossroads in January or February.
In contrast to owls, crows are noisy all year round and they are amazingly intelligent. They can learn. They can remember. They can solve problems. They can even identify individual humans. And they detest owls, though whether this is innate or learned behavior is not clear.
Those curious about crows will want to attend the Crossroads Book Club on Wednesday, October 26, at 10:00 a.m. This month, the book Crow Planet, Essential Wisdom for the Urban Wilderness by Lyanda Lynn Haupt will explore the fascinating world of these remarkable birds. The program is free and open to all, whether or not they have read the book.
So bring the family to our program on owls, learn about crows at the Crossroads Book Club, or learn about bats at our pre-school Junior Nature Club on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. or our Family Science Saturday program at 2:00 p.m. Costumes are encouraged but not required at Junior Nature Club and Science Saturday, and adult visitors are welcome.
A Dothan man will now have to be sentenced for a fifth time after the Alabama appeals court recently reversed his death sentence for the killing of three people at a Dothan residence nearly 20 years ago.
Attorney David Hogg said the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the death sentence on Friday for his client, 45-year-old Jerry Jerome Smith, remanding it back to Houston County Circuit Court.
With the reversal, the sentencing basically starts fresh, Hogg said. A jury will have to be selected again too.
Circuit Court Judge Michael Conaway sentenced Smith to death last fall, affirming a jurys similar recommendation they returned. A jury already convicted Smith earlier, finding him guilty of capital murder for the killing of two or more people. The jury recommended the death sentence by a vote of 10 to 2.
A jury found Smith guilty of killing Willie James Flournoy, 40, of Dothan, Theresa Ann Helms, 26, of Wicksburg and David Lee Bennett, 29, of Midland City. The three people were killed at a Sturgeon Court residence on Oct. 19, 1996. Police had described it as a crack house. All three people were shot to death in the home.
The case has been reversed for a new sentencing phase of trial.
Basically, the courtroom was not open to the public for jury selection, and the appellate court held that was a violation of Mr. Smiths right to have a public trial, Hogg said. The right to have a public trial extends to all parts of a trial, even jury selection.
According to the appellate opinion, the circuit court totally closed jury qualification to the public for Smiths last sentencing phase.
The opinion also said although the circuit court noted generic concerns regarding the small size of the courtroom, and the need to prevent inappropriate communication, the circuit court did not point to any specific harm or threat that needed to be addressed that resulted in the full closure of the courtroom.
According to the opinion, before beginning the jury selection process during the fourth penalty sentencing, the circuit court completely excluded the public and the press from the general qualification of jurors. Smith and his legal counsel objected, informing the court that Smiths family, a member of the media and one of Smiths appellate attorneys, an attorney from the Equal Justice Initiative, were there to observe the proceedings.
The opinion said the circuit court judge explained that it did not want any improper contact between the jury selection process and the public. The court also said the decision to close the court was in an effort to minimize contact with any jurors during the selection process.
Hogg said Smith will now have to be scheduled for a new sentencing phase during which a jury will hear evidence from the state in favor of the death and from the defense in favor of a sentence of life without parole. The jury will then make a sentence recommendation to the court, which then can affirm their recommendation or make its own.
The Dothan City School Board will consider reforms to its disciplinary code intended to reduce the use of suspension, expulsion and other exclusionary practices.
Representatives from the Southern Poverty Law Center on Monday presented a report criticizing the school systems use of exclusionary discipline and arrests in schools. The report found that black students and students with disabilities were suspended and expelled at much higher rates than whites. The report urged the school system to reduce reliance on zero tolerance policies and use of police for disciplinary matters they say should be handled by school officials. They also urged clarification of disciplinary policies.
We always have as a backburner, legal action, Natalie Lyons, a SPLC attorney, said. But right now were focused on trying to make changes in collaboration with the school district. This is our aim.
According to the report, black students comprised 85 percent of in-school suspensions, 90 percent of referrals to PASS Academy, Dothans alternative school, and 100 percent of expulsions. Black students make up 55 percent of enrollment in the city schools.
The report also found that children with disabilities are being increasingly referred for out-of-school discipline. Lyons said the overuse of exclusionary discipline could interfere with students legal rights to an education.
Another key finding in the report was that the city school system relied too much on police to handle disciplinary matters.
Nanyamka Shukura, a SPLC representative, said that many of the incidents students are being kicked out of school and arrested for are minor disruptions. Shukura also said that many of the offenses students are being disciplined for are vaguely defined.
I expect that if I asked everybody here their definition of defiance, Id get a different response from each, she said.
Lyons said the exclusionary discipline used by schools increased the likelihood students would drop out and have future problems with law enforcement.
The Southern Poverty Law Center is calling for a number of reforms to the city schools disciplinary practices. The organization wants the system to reserve exclusionary discipline only for the most serious offenses and reduce the use of law enforcement to handle disciplinary matters within schools. Lyons said the school system should use disciplinary policies that keep students in school and are more encouraging of positive behavior. The organization also wants better reporting of disciplinary data.
Lyons said similar policies enacted in Baltimore have helped the public school system there reduce disciplinary problems and have even had an impact on youth crime.
Dothan City School Superintendent Chuck Ledbetter said the school system is taking the Southern Poverty Law Centers recommendations under advisement. He said it is likely that he will recommend a number of changes to the disciplinary system in July. Ledbetter said he was in agreement that the days of zero-tolerance policies are near an end.
We hire people with degrees and training for a reason, he said. Zero tolerance doesnt allow that.
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.
NEW TOWN When FBI Director James Comey visited a northwest North Dakota Indian reservation Monday, the tribal chairman didnt sugar-coat the crime problems facing the community.
The situation of excess crime on Fort Berthold is literally killing our people and tearing our people apart, said Mark Fox, chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation.
Comey met with tribal officials, law enforcement and North Dakotas senators on Monday to hear about the challenges facing the reservation in the heart of the Bakken.
Comey also visited Williston on Monday to participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the FBI office that recently opened there, the first new FBI resident agency to open in decades.
In New Town, Comey said the additional three agents and support staff assigned to Williston should free up other FBI resources to focus more on Fort Berthold.
We all acknowledge its probably not going to make enough of a difference, Comey said during his first visit to a Great Plains Indian reservation. The next question is, what more can we do?
Crime at Fort Berthold has increased during the past seven years, said Fox, adding that the reservation is in a drug epidemic.
Here at Fort Berthold, its gotten to a point where were getting actually a little bit desperate, he said.
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp has been advocating for FBI agents to be stationed at Fort Berthold and other reservations.
This isnt a problem thats unique to Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara, Heitkamp said. Its complicated by all the money, its complicated by all the economic opportunity, and its a step above, but its not isolated here. The need to have a focus not just on northwest North Dakota, but really all across Indian Country, is, to me, pretty critical.
Comey said FBI officials will monitor what effect the new resources in Williston have on fighting crime at Fort Berthold and determine what the next step would be.
One of his initial reactions Monday was to reinvigorate an FBI Safe Trails Task Force in North Dakota, which Comey said used to exist in the area. The task forces focus on combating the growth of crime in Indian Country through collaboration with other federal, state, local and tribal agencies.
There really ought to be one in this area given the demand, given the number of people who are suffering, especially given the drug plague, Comey said. Im walking away thinking weve got to push hard to see if we can get one done.
Attorney Chris Myers called it remarkable that the presence of FBI in the Bakken has tripled since officials began pushing for more resources. Myers said strong collaboration among agencies will be key.
We can yell and scream all day long for more resources, but at some point we only get so much, Myers said. Then we have to do with what we have.
Sen. John Hoeven said getting additional FBI agents stationed permanently in Williston will help the entire state, not just the northwest. He said he advocating for even more federal resources, including more prosecutors.
Were continuing to make the case that we need more resources given the growth and the development in the energy patch, Hoeven said.
Toyota has added extra standard features to its entry- and mid-level Aurion models, increasing the value of the struggling large sedan on the run into the end-of-financial-year sales.
The current generation V6-powered Aurion will be the last built in Australia ahead of the Japanese brand's exit from local manufacturing in 2017.
The entry-level Aurion AT-X variant now rides on 17-inch 10-spoke alloy wheels, a premium four-spoke steering wheel and gear shift lever and all Aurion models are now fitted with rear ISOFIX points. The AT-X's price remains at $36,490 plus on road costs.
Stepping up to the mid-range Sportivo model gets you satellite navigation, 10 speaker JBL sound system, digital radio, seven-inch touchscreen and rear-window power sunshade. These features are optional on the base AT-X model, and cost $1750 extra.
The Sportivo also gets redesigned black 18-inch alloy wheels as standard.
The extra equipment adds $3000 to the list price of the Sportivo bringing it to $43,990 before on-road and dealer costs.
The range-topping Presara model can option the Sportivo's 18-inch alloy wheels and revised suspension and steering for an extra $1000.
Fine Gael Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick, has said that a reduction of almost 30 per cent in unemployment in Louth over the past five years is proof of Fine Gaels commitment to creating sustainable employment.
When I first entered politics in 2011 this country was in a financial mess, left behind by the previous Fianna Fail Governmen, Deputy fitzpatrick said..
Almost 18,000 men and women were unemployed in county Louth, when Fine Gael took over in 2011, and nearly 2,000 Enterprise Ireland and IDA jobs were lost in Louth in the last three years of the Fianna Fail Government.
Our dole queues were getting longer and our brightest young men and women were emigrating at an alarming rate.
That was five year ago and thankfully things are now changing radically for the better. Although I do wonder if those on the opposition benches have developed a convenient form of memory loss as they seem to forget the mess they left behind.
In November 2015 the number of men and women unemployed in County Louth stood at just over 12,500. That was a drop of just under 6,000 in the space of five years. In one term the Fine Gael led Government reduced unemployment in County Louth by almost 30%.
Many of the new jobs in County Louth have been created by the indigenous small businesses, who have started to benefit from the economic recovery. Louth has also benefited from foreign direct investment. In the last three years 1 in 10 of all foreign direct investment jobs came to the county. Companies like PayPal, eBay, National Pen, Sales Sense, East Coat Bakehouse, Prometric and Moorehill lodge are just some of the larger companies in Louth who have been instrumental in creating the new jobs, alongside the many SMEs.
But our work is not done and we must continue to build towards full sustainable employment. Each new job created in Louth means more resources which Fine Gael is committed to using to fix the many challenges we face as a society. This Partnership Government is determined to maintain the good progress on job creation that was started by the previous Government.
Fine Gael in Government continues to prioritise job creation because we believe that only a strong economy, supporting people at work, can pay for the services needed to create a fair society here in Louth.
Burleigh County Commissioners want to know why the Bismarck Renaissance Zone was extended after they voted against it.
Commissioners voted Monday to request the state attorney general's opinion on whether a 15-month extension granted by the state was allowed, because Commerce Department guidelines specify the commission and the school board both must submit letters of support for it to continue. They also extended an invitation to Commerce Department officials to explain why the incentive was renewed short-term.
The Renaissance Zone designation gives developers and building owners state income tax and local property tax breaks for investing in aging and deteriorating properties within its borders. Bismarck's original Renaissance Zone was set to expire in May. The county commissioners voted against it because they decided such tax incentives were unnecessary.
But Bismarck city commissioners voted to extend it five more years, and then the Bismarck School Board agreed to back that extension.
The state Commerce Department, in turn, denied the five-year extension but renewed the Renaissance Zone short-term to allow the 2017 Legislature time to study the extension requirements.
County Commissioner Jim Peluso objected to the state's extension through August 2017 after all five county commissioners had voted against it.
"It seems to me our vote was disenfranchised. We didn't have a say in it," he said. "It seems to me we need an explanation of why this was even asked of us. ... It obviously wasn't a binding vote."
The following guest post was written by my friend Jen Eyer, Vice President of Vanguard Public Affairs. Jen has spent many years in the world of journalism and most recently managed the newsroom for The Ann Arbor News, part of the MLive Media Group. You can read her full bio HERE. This piece was first published at the Vanguard Public Affairs site HERE.
Enjoy.
One year ago, House Republicans boasted about protecting local anti-discrimination ordinances while passing the Death Star bill.
Now that seems so quaint. Now, certain Republicans have embarked on a new campaign to mobilize their base by targeting perhaps the most marginalized group of all: transgender kids.
To that end, a group of 20 House Republicans dropped a bathroom inspection bill late Thursday that, like a Senate bill introduced in May, would prohibit transgender students and adults from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity.
But the House bill goes much further. Sponsored by Rep. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake), it would void safe schools policies that have already been adopted by many districts, as well as certain legal protections for transgender people that exist in 38 Michigan communities that have adopted LGBT protections that the states civil rights law lacks.
Yes, those are the same ordinances Republicans patted themselves on the backs for saving last year.
In 2015, Republicans sought to preempt local ordinances that set prevailing wages, paid leave, and other policies that benefitted employees. But they ran into unexpected backlash when it was discovered the legislation would also override the local LGBT ordinances.
Interest groups on both the left and right banded together to oppose overriding those local anti-discrimination ordinances. Most powerfully, after initially supporting the legislation, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce worked to support inclusion of an amendment exempting policies that address discrimination.
House Republicans disingenuously shared the news, as if it was their plan all along. Panel approves amended HB4052 to protect local anti-employment discrimination ordinances, Michigan House Republicans proclaimed on Twitter.
Enter 2016. School boards and administrators have begun asking the state for guidance on how best to accommodate the bathroom needs of transgender students, who they know are far more likely to be bullied, to be clinically anxious and depressed, and to commit suicide.
In response, the state Board of Education worked to draft guidelines for the Department of Education to offer schools. These are voluntary guidelines, and they are meant not only to protect vulnerable transgender students, but also to keep school districts from running afoul of Title IX.
The federal government has made its position clear: Failure to allow transgender students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity could result in a loss of federal funds. And forcing transgender students to use a separate bathroom is the very definition of discrimination. Either option forces these students to reveal their identity and makes them more vulnerable to abuse and violence.
But those factors dont sway the culture warriors who want to take Michigan back to the 1950s. Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette, who is widely expected to run for governor in 2018, sent a missive to the feds demanding that they retract the policy. The Legislature stripped the Board of its only funding (now restored). And religious crusaders organized a campaign to bombard the Board with opposition.
This is a campaign built on fear. The reality is that there is no evidence that transgender people who have already been using the bathrooms matching their gender identity for years threaten anyone.
It is heartening that both bills have been referred to the Committee on Government Operations, where bills often go to die. But I fear this years targets might not be quite so important to the business community, as transgender people make up a very small percentage of the population, and they are widely misunderstood. Though an LGBT friend for as long as I can remember, I didnt fully begin to understand until I talked face-to-face with a father about his transgender childs journey.
So they may yet end up as pawns. However, lawmakers should keep in mind that Runestads bill would cost Michigan as dearly as the original Death Star bill would have last year, if not more. In addition to jeopardizing federal funding for schools, Michigan would once again, like Indiana and North Carolina, become a poster child for regressive policies that hurt individuals and the economy.
Its an albatross Michiganders have been forced to wear all too frequently in the past few years, and its time for that to end. Its time for certain legislators and politicians to stop playing cynical politics with childrens lives, and place themselves on the right side of history once and for all.
Back in the early 90s, Michigan Gov. John Engler the first of Michigans corporatist governors oversaw the creation of the for-profit charter school industry in our state. Pitching it as forcing schools to compete, he signed legislation that opened the floodgates for charter schools to siphon away tax dollars intended to educate children into the coffers of private corporations. Two decades later, our state is dealing with the predictable (and predicted) outcome: the demise of public education in Michigan.
Engler also oversaw the creation of a one-size-fits-all method of school funding, one that ignores the fact that it costs more to educate some populations of kids than others due to things like poverty, crime, and aging, decrepit infrastructure. Disinvestment in education in places like Detroit led to starving local schools of adequate funding. As charter schools rushed in to fill the void, public schools had even fewer resources with which to compete leading the situation we find ourselves in today.
The idea that schools should be forced to compete against each other is a disgusting public policy that only a truly heartless and soulless corporatist could embrace. Children arent prizes to be awarded. They are living, breathing human beings and their education is essential to our society. Intentionally denying them access to quality neighborhood schools is a moral failure beyond words.
The excuse is always that theres too much corruption and its this corruption that has led to the failure of public education. The truth of course is that there has been a failure of leadership and a failure to invest in children. From Englers time as governor through today, Republicans have continuously sought to educate urban kids on the cheap and to avoid making the necessary investments in their schools. And they did all of this while portraying their teachers as parasites on the jugular vein of society for daring to ask for a decent wage, reasonable benefits, and the ability to one day retire in dignity.
In addition to birthing the for-profit charter industry in Michigan and ensuring that poor kids schools would never be comparable to their counterparts in wealthier districts, Engler did one other thing: he used the states Emergency Financial Manager law to take over Detroit schools. This was the corporatist Republicans answer to the rampant corruption: take over the schools and show them how to run them properly. In 1999 he signed Public Act 10 which was the initial takeover of DPS. Now, two decades later, under almost continuous state oversight, Detroit schools are a corrupt as they have ever been, perhaps worse.
Which brings us to today. In an interview with The Detroit News, Engler had the audacity to say that limiting the expansion of charter schools is morally wrong:
The former three-term Republican governor called any constraints on charter schools morally wrong. This is a school system where the principals see nothing wrong with stealing from the district, and leadership wants to eliminate the competition in order to force children into schools where they wont be educated, said Engler, referring to 13 current and former DPS administrators who are facing jail time for their role in a $2.7 million bribery and kickback scheme. The 46,000-student school district has lost more than 100,000 students during the past 10 years. In my mind, its inevitable the rest of them will also leave, Engler said. Because you cannot morally justify putting your child in a school where 19 of 20 will not be able to read proficiently. Engler said if he were still in office, he would move to eliminate the school districts administration and convert the district into a network of independently operated neighborhood schools. The central office of Detroit Public Schools should be closed, Engler said. Its too expensive, too ineffective and too corrupt.
The level of audacity in this statement boggles the mind. After having ensured the utter demise of public schools in Detroit through the proliferation of for-profit charters, Engler now believes we need more of the same. And blaming it all on the classic Republican trope of corruption is a disgusting bit of rhetoric given that much of this corruption happened under the not-so-watchful eye of state-appointed overseers.
But the most bitter irony of all in his statement is the presumption that charter schools are the magic panacea to this rampant corruption. I call your attention to this part of Democratic State Rep. Adam Zemkes recent floor speech:
Without this accountability, youre handing out taxpayer-funded checks to every rotten person who can convince some of our less-than-careful and financially-incentivized charter authorizers to grant their application. And that accreditation that the authorizers sold you on? Its self-policing. They can already do it. Its not accountability. Its a joke. So, here this package is, a handout to criminals. And I dont take that lightly so Im going to give a couple of examples. Folks like Shantell Bell, former treasurer at George Washington Carver Academy in Highland Park. Under the same laws, that this package doesnt change, her embezzlement went unreported until her ex-boyfriend found out that she had bought a house in the city of Detroit and charged it to the school as a textbook purchase. And, folks, more recently that was three years ago or so folks, just this year, like Sharon McPhail. Many of us may remember Sharon McPhail. She was part of the Kwame Kilpatrick administration. She is currently serving as the superintendent of a charter school called, ironically, Detroit Community Schools. She has no experience in education so when she was confronted that she had to be certified as an educator to be called a superintendent, she changed her title to Chief Administrative Officer. Sharon, sadly, is not the only problem in DCS. The CFO and the Dean of the school both have been thrown out of previous public positions for unlawful acts, as well. And last year, setting all of these things aside, last year how many DCS students passed the ACT, since were all concerned about academic achievement around here? ZERO. Zero students passed the ACT. Any of the sections. Not one. And since 2007, out of the hundreds of students theyve graduated, two have passed. TWO!
It is no surprise, of course, that corruption is rampant in charter schools. The Detroit Free Presss expose on charter schools in 2014 which detailed many more examples showed clearly that there little to no oversight of charters. They are essentially free to do what they wish.
To put the final nail in the coffin of public education in Detroit, the current DPS rescue legislation passed by the Republican-controlled House forces public schools to close if they are failing. Charter schools, on the other hand, are allowed to reinvent themselves ad nauseum.
Itll come as no surprise to you that John Engler was one of the originators of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a corporatist front-group funded in part by the Koch brothers and the DeVos family. The Mackinac Center has long led the charge to destroy public education and to replace it with for-profit charters. They take a multi-pronged approach that includes promoting policies that starve local municipalities and schools of necessary resources, demonizing teachers, and eroding workers rights through the destruction of unions.
John Engler lives in Virginia these days where he is the president of the Business Roundtable, a conservative association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies working to promote corporatist principles and policies throughout the country.
Given his roll in creating the education catastrophe we face right now, on behalf of the entire state of Michigan, Id like to ask him to stay in Virginia and keep his nose and voice out of our affairs.
Hes done enough damage already.
[CC image credit: Chuck Grimmett | Wikimedia Commons]
House Bill 5674 is grounded in medical science and puts patient safety above religious ideology.
A medical emergency is a dire situation, no matter who you are or what you believe. But when a patient shows up in the emergency room of a Catholic-affiliated hospital, she doesnt know whether shell be treated based on established medical standards of care or the religious beliefs of the hospital and staff. This can have life-threatening consequences, as Ive written about here for more than a year
Catholic health systems are governed by religious directives written by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. These directives forbid Catholic-affiliated facilities to provide abortion care, reproductive healthcare and other services based strictly on religious beliefs not medical standards.
No one is trying to interfere with the religious liberty of individuals, but when your job is to provide healthcare services, faith should never take priority over protecting someones health or life. This is especially serious considering that one in six hospital beds in the United States is part of a Catholic health system. In some areas, Catholic-affiliated facilities are literally the only option for emergency care within a reasonable distance. Whats more, Catholic health systems dont always tell patients about the services they will or wont provide even in an emergency.
To make sure patients receive appropriate care at every hospital, Democrats in the Michigan House have introduced House Bill 5674, which amends Michigans public health code to require healthcare professionals to provide emergency medical care according to medical standards of care not religious beliefs.
To be very clear: HB 5674 would not require any healthcare professional to perform an elective abortion. But it would require providers and facilities to provide that service and other reproductive and medical care in an emergency.
In a number of recent cases, women have been turned away from Catholic-affiliated hospitals when they needed emergency care. These women, like Tamesha Means, were not given any information about their condition or the fact that they should seek care elsewhere something that may not even be possible when time is of the essence. In other cases, like Jessica Manns, women were denied care, forcing them to undergo an additional procedure that adds risk, cost and recovery time to their necessary care. In Manns case, a Catholic hospital administrator overruled the advice of her doctor.
State Representative Sam Singh, the lead sponsor of HB 5674 which has numerous co-sponsors has this to say about the legislation:
The incidents that have surfaced of women being refused life-saving reproductive health services due to the administrative policies implemented by religiously-affiliated health institutions is unacceptable. This bill is an important step towards ensuring women are receiving accessible and quality reproductive care, while physicians are given the opportunity to provide the best possible care to their patients without interference. Women in our state deserve access to reproductive care in any situation, but particularly in circumstances where there are pregnancy complications that could lead to life-threatening health issues.
Merissa Kovach, field organizer at the ACLU of Michigan, says the legislation creates a balancing act that requires women to be admitted for emergency care and requires the hospital to follow its obligation to give women the care they need, rather than compelling a hospital to not follow religious directives.
The bill ensures that women receive information about their health condition and that no woman is turned away from a hospital if her life or health is in jeopardy, Kovach says. Had this been law when Tamesha Means walked into the hospital, she would not have been turned away and she would have been given the information she needed on the status of her health and she would have been protected by the law.
The bill also protects individual healthcare providers who want to provide the best medical care possible, rather than abiding by potentially dangerous religious directives. In the case of Jessica Mann, Kovach says, her doctor would have been protected had he performed the tubal ligation procedure necessary to protect Manns health over the hospitals objections to the sterilization procedure.
In addition, the bill requires timely referrals to another provider after emergency treatment is complete, to make sure patients receive adequate follow-up treatment.
A notable aspect of HB 5674 is the fact that its grounded in the principles of quality medical care standards established and accepted by healthcare professionals. For example, every patient at any facility has a right to informed consent, which means being given all the pertinent information about their health and any procedure that might be performed. If youve ever signed a form that says you understand the potential risks of a medical procedure, thats informed consent. Getting informed consent from patients is required by every healthcare facility, but Catholic-affiliated hospitals often deny patients that right. Tamesha Means was never told shed need an emergency abortion to protect her health once she began miscarrying, and these violations of patients rights happen frequently at Catholic-affiliated facilities.
HB 5674 also clearly states that healthcare decisions should be made based on medically accurate information and defines exactly what that means:
(c) Medically accurate information means information that is any of the following:
(i) Verified or supported by the weight of peer-reviewed medical research conducted in compliance with accepted scientific methods.
(ii) Recognized as correct and objective by leading medical organizations with relevant expertise.
(iii) Recommended and affirmed in the medical practice guidelines of a nationally recognized accrediting organization.
Were happy about that, Kovach says. We like to think of it as good policy when we allow the medical community to determine what medical policy is appropriate.
HB 5674 has been assigned to the House Committee on Regulatory Reform. No meeting date has been set yet but we will continue following this important legislation.
In the meantime, the ACLU continues to hold Catholic health systems nationwide accountable, and is demanding federal oversight to ensure that all hospitals provide the emergency care required by law regardless of religious affiliation. Sign the petition HERE.
[Image credit: Parentingupstream via Pixabay.]
In an era when technology is changing the ways people conduct every aspect of their lives, its not a surprise that business leaders have come to depend on it as the lever that will elevate their sales and marketing performance to the next level.
Productivity has increased in all aspects of business because of technology, and the implementation of CRM, SFA, marketing automation and social media tools to name a few technologies has had a direct effect on sales effectiveness.
That effect is not a universal thing, however. In fact, many organizations are performing more poorly now than they did in the past, in spite of technological advances.
For example, quota attainment peaked in 2011, when 63 percent of salespeople made their numbers, but since then it has skidded to 55 percent, CSO Insights reported.
Marketers and salespeople are now less happy with the technology they are given to use than they were in the past.
The percentage of respondents who said they were very satisfied with the systems they were using plummeted by eight full points in a year from 12.44 percent in 2015 to 4.41 percent in 2016, according to a yet-to-be-released CallidusCloud research report.
Performance is down, in aggregate, and satisfaction with technology is also in decline. Whats the problem? It could be that the next evolutionary step for sales and marketing is not technological but cultural.
That was a sentiment I heard a lot at CRM Evolution, the premier CRM conference for thought leadership, held last month in Washington D.C. Naturally, there were plenty of software vendors in attendance, and there was a lot of talk about new technologies: the Internet of Things, machine learning, automated voice assistants and more.
Culture Counts
The tide of new technologies continues to roll in, but behaviors, organizational structures and processes are not changing quickly enough for the humans those technologies are meant to serve.Yes, the new trends promise to revolutionize the way people live and work, but most businesses havent yet internalized the last two waves of change, and they could be swamped as a result.
Technological change is both a response and a driver of customer expectations. As customers come to expect faster responses and more subject expertise from sales people, along with a more consultative sales process, businesses need to lean on technology to make them possible on a profitable scale.
Yet many companies still fight battles with adoption. Only 26 percent of respondents could report full adoption of sales and marketing technologies, the CallidusCloud research found. Many are struggling to gain acceptable alignment between sales and marketing; 71.62 percent of respondents in the same study reported either siloed systems or no automated systems at all.
Several CRM Evolution speakers homed in on the concept of culture.
Many executives are still not digitally literate, said Brian Solis, a principal at the Altimeter Group. Although they know they need technology in order to succeed, their own blind spots or resentments about the technology and change in general can deprive their organizations of the ability to capitalize on their investments.
Some companies in heavily regulated industries use those regulations as the excuse to avoid change, Solis said, adding that the companies that will succeed are the ones that dont turn inward but instead collaborate with regulators to find ways to enable innovation.
Successful leadership requires an understanding that digital transformation must influence overall company strategy and executive leadership, according to Sheryl Kingstone, research director at 451 Research. Furthermore, that leadership needs to aim for disruption, not seek to preserve the status quo, even when that currently might be profitable.
Executive buy-in is not a new idea. Over the past 30 years, many a CRM implementation has failed because of a pervasive disdain that started at the top and trickled down through the organization.
The need for executive buy-in has expanded to include new technologies on several fronts. Without leadership that not only supports technological change but also can articulate its possibilities to the people who will use it, businesses will find it impossible to overcome organizational inertia.
One solution could be reverse mentoring, Solis suggested that is, executives receiving guidance from their more technologically savvy employees. However, that requires an open mindset that many executives fail to possess.
Embrace Change
Changing customer expectations and fast-evolving technologies have created a need for a new kind of C-level leadership.
CEOs need to become more aware of the customer experience and understand how it maps to technology, and then push to keep the two aligned. They dont need to be younger but they do need to be more aware of change, and more connected to which changes will make their businesses more effective at delivering winning customer experiences. Then, they need to be champions of that change.
For CIOs, the role will become ever more strategic in nature. To effect the changes the CEO outlines, the CIO must determine which systems and data should be integrated for maximum effect, as well as how to make that integration happen in an economical way.
Sales and marketing leadership together must create a team-oriented culture that makes use of data to its fullest in order to translate a vision into results. The days of sales and marketing battling, bickering and pursuing contradictory goals now are long over.
Although you need to worry about technological change, it should not be your organizations main worry. Success hinges on creating a culture that can change gracefully and incorporate new concepts and technology as smoothly as possible.
Driving business disruption without simultaneously disrupting your organization internally is a tough task. Is your companys leadership up to it?
As a proud North Dakota gun owner, I want to voice my support for Wayne Stenehjem to be the next governor of our great state. In his service to North Dakota as attorney general and as a former legislator, Stenehjem has proven time and time again that he is a staunch supporter of our Second Amendment rights. That is why the National Rifle Association gave him their highest A+ rating and their endorsement for the June gubernatorial primary.
Doug Burgum, Stenehjems primary opponent, has also received high marks from the NRA, but only because of a short survey that his East Coast campaign advisers filled out for him. As is the case with much of his campaign this year, we simply cant be sure if his stance on gun rights is a genuine reflection of his beliefs or just another campaign talking point to get elected.
Stenehjem is the only candidate in this race who has a proven track record of standing up for North Dakotans on Second Amendment issues and I know that he will continue to do so as governor. Action speaks louder than words, and that is why I encourage fellow North Dakota gun owners to join me in casting their ballot for Stenehjem on June 14.
China is investigating the encryption and data storage features of technology products sold there by large foreign companies such as Apple, The New York Times reported this week.
Authorities apparently are focusing on whether the products pose a security threat.
A committee associated with the Cyberspace Administration of China reportedly is conducting reviews that include interviews of company executives and other employees.
Other countries, including the U.S. and the UK, do review some tech products, but they tend to focus on those to be used by the military or government departments involved with security. Beijing apparently is looking at consumer software and gadgets as well.
In addition to ensuring that the products arent being used in espionage, the reviews could be used to siphon off technological knowledge, according to the Times. They might be used to block the import of products or to extract trade secrets in exchange for access to Chinas market. Tech knowledge so obtained might be passed on to Chinese companies competing with foreign ones, or expose vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers in China.
Pingpong Antidiplomacy
In March, China was the second biggest U.S. trading partner behind Canada, accounting for nearly 15 percent of Americas foreign trade, while Canada chalked up just over 15 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
U.S. exports to China totaled just over US$25 billion of the $128 billion bilateral trade between the two countries, according to the Census Bureau.
Yet both countries have been cracking down on this trade for years.
In 2010, Google threatened to pull out from China over hacking and censorship concerns and got the U.S. government involved.
Last year, U.S. business groups asked China to postpone new rules for American businesses selling technology to banks there.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is facing antitrust scrutiny in China. Apples iBooks and iTunes Movies servicesshut down in China in April but Apple has just invested $1 billion in Chinas answer to Uber,Didi Chuxing.
The U.S. has imposed restrictions on Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE, and in May the U.S. Department of Commerce imposed a ban on ZTE for exporting U.S. tech to Iran. The ban was lifted after two weeks in exchange for ZTEs pledge of cooperation with the departments investigation.
China Pushes Back
The U.S. has created various roadblocks for Chinese infrastructure companies such as Huawei and ZTE to compete effectively, citing national security concerns, said Brent Iadarola, VP of mobile and wireless communications at Frost & Sullivan.
The Chinese are attempting to level the playing field or at least plant the seed that, if the U.S. continues to subject Chinese commercial products to harsh review and regulatory requirements under the pretense of national security, they will retaliate, he told the E-Commerce Times.
Since NSA whistleblower Edward Snowdens revelations about the agencys spying activities, U.S. products are assumed to be compromised much like Chinese products were before that, noted Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.
The NSAs and FBIs insistence on including encryption backdoors in high-tech products may have provided grounds for concern over espionage activities.
These efforts by the three-letter agencies are foolish and damaging and are badly damaging U.S. technology exports across a broad number of firms, Enderle told the E-Commerce Times.
On the other hand, China has a pattern of abusing the intellectual property rights of foreign companies, said Daniel Castro, vice president at theInformation Technology and Innovation Foundation.
Any actions by the Chinese government that force companies to unnecessarily disclose proprietary business information are cause for concern, he told the E-Commerce Times.
The goal of Chinas increased scrutiny, at least initially, Enderle maintained, is to reduce U.S. tech imports.
In an effort to better monetize its platform and boost user traffic, Twitter may relax the 140-character limit on individual tweets by no longer counting photos and Web links, Bloomberg reported earlier this week.
The tweak could take place within two weeks, according to the story, which cited an unnamed source who asked for anonymity because the decision had not yet been made public.
CEO Jack Dorsey hinted at the move earlier this year when he tweeted an elaborate screenshot containing more than 1,300 characters.
The company reportedly was considering expanding the maximum tweet size to as many as 10,000 characters.
Raising the character limit would make a stronger case for increasing user engagement on Twitter, Dorsey said.
Weve spent a lot of time observing what people are doing on Twitter, and we see them taking screenshots of text and tweeting it, he said. Instead, what if that text was actually text? Text that could be searched. Text that could be highlighted. Thats more utility and power.
Twitter did not begin with a 140-character limit, Dorsey noted. It instituted the limit in order to fit into a single SMS message, which has a 160-character limit.
Link Letters
Links chew up about 23 characters per tweet. Eliminating links and images from the mix would encourage members to post more images and allow them to write in something that approximates whole sentences.
The move by Twitter is a nice refinement, but not a breakthrough move, said Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at Tirias Research. It will make it easier for users to share more content, but doesnt change Twitters fundamental problem attracting new users.
The company is still having difficulty attracting new users and increasing the utility for existing members, he told the E-Commerce Times.
By not counting photos and links, Twitter will make it less cumbersome for users to post photos with their tweets, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. The tools used to shorten links often break anyway, creating more difficulty in generating traffic.
Removing annoyances should get people to use the service more and for tweets to be more informative and more interesting, he told the E-Commerce Times.
Traffic Booster
While the move should help increase traffic and help Twitter compete against services such as Instagram, there is a downside risk that it will put a strain on devices used to read longer tweets, said Mike Jude, program manager at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan.
A principal virtue of Twitter is its small footprint and easy consumption, he told the E-Commerce Times. This will erode that to some extent, but people like photos, and I think this will be popular.
Twitter reported an average of 310 million active monthly users during the first quarter, an increase of 3 percent from the year-ago quarter.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear Googles appeal of a lower court ruling in a suit alleging the company used deceptive practices in the sale and placement of advertising through its AdWords program between 2004 and 2008.
Google, a unit of Alphabet, sought to overturn the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals September 2015 ruling that the lawsuit could go forward as a class action case.
The case, originally filed in 2008, alleges that Google placed clients advertising on parked domain and error pages, where few if any advertisers would want to display their products. Google did not disclose that practice to its customers, according to court documents.
The Google AdWords program is an auction-based, online advertising platform that displays advertising on the Google search engine after users look up a particular search term. Google charges advertisers on a pay per click model. Error pages and parked domain generally are considered worthless sites.
Error pages generally appear when a person enters an unregistered URL into the address bar.
California Case
Googles ad placement practice violated California state laws, including the Unfair Competition Law and False Advertising Law, the suit maintains.
Because the case involves multiple plaintiffs seeking various degrees of individual damages, it should not be certified as class action, Google has argued.
Google declined to comment for this story, as the litigation is pending.
However, a source familiar with the case told the E-Commerce Times that Google disputes the original plaintiffs claims that the company made misleading comments about the possibility that ads would appear on error pages and parked domain sites.
Many of the advertisers benefited from having their ads appear on those pages, Google has said in court filings.
The case is limited to the 2004-2008 period, because Google changed its participation practices, making AdWords for Domains and AdWords for Errors opt-in.
Still, the class action suit could involve hundreds of thousands of advertisers and result in millions of dollars in damages.
Sites Considered Garbage
Google engaged in some pretty egregious conduct, said Robert Schubert, attorney with San Francisco law firm Schubert, Jonckheer & Kolbe, which is representing the plaintiffs in the case.
Google placed the ads on what the plaintiffs considered garbage sites, he told the E-Commerce Times.
The advertisers would have paid less money for the ads had they known they would be placed on those sites, Schubert said, adding that he hopes to get the case back to court within a year.
It is too early to tell what long-term impact the Supreme Courts rejection of the case could have on Google, said Rick Edmonds, media business analyst at the Poynter Institute.
Letting the suit go forward does not necessarily mean it will succeed, he told the E-Commerce Times.
Google generated $67 billion in ad revenue in 2015.
Just last month, it agreed to stop accepting ads for predatory payday loan services on its website. The company has taken steps over the years to reduce nuisance advertising on its search engine, disabling more than 780 million ads in 2015.
Blog Archive June 2021 (1) May 2021 (77) April 2021 (77) March 2021 (82) February 2021 (68) January 2021 (64) December 2020 (67) November 2020 (66) October 2020 (66) September 2020 (67) August 2020 (74) July 2020 (83) June 2020 (92) May 2020 (86) April 2020 (104) March 2020 (105) February 2020 (74) January 2020 (75) December 2019 (75) November 2019 (70) October 2019 (89) September 2019 (69) August 2019 (81) July 2019 (77) June 2019 (73) May 2019 (110) April 2019 (110) March 2019 (102) February 2019 (85) January 2019 (123) December 2018 (116) November 2018 (112) October 2018 (121) September 2018 (107) August 2018 (150) July 2018 (163) June 2018 (190) May 2018 (145) April 2018 (112) March 2018 (124) February 2018 (113) January 2018 (164) December 2017 (150) November 2017 (144) October 2017 (169) September 2017 (171) August 2017 (135) July 2017 (131) June 2017 (147) May 2017 (160) April 2017 (138) March 2017 (156) February 2017 (143) January 2017 (203) December 2016 (208) November 2016 (185) October 2016 (173) September 2016 (194) August 2016 (232) July 2016 (225) June 2016 (238) May 2016 (231) April 2016 (215) March 2016 (246) February 2016 (226) January 2016 (252) December 2015 (230) November 2015 (250) October 2015 (234) September 2015 (222) August 2015 (253) July 2015 (275) June 2015 (279) May 2015 (223) April 2015 (226) March 2015 (243) February 2015 (258) January 2015 (281) December 2014 (292) November 2014 (296) October 2014 (413) September 2014 (472) August 2014 (506) July 2014 (483) June 2014 (488) May 2014 (512) April 2014 (497) March 2014 (531) February 2014 (482) January 2014 (535) December 2013 (482) November 2013 (441) October 2013 (416) September 2013 (491) August 2013 (521) July 2013 (491) June 2013 (470) May 2013 (457) April 2013 (426) March 2013 (420) February 2013 (414) January 2013 (489) December 2012 (433) November 2012 (504) October 2012 (469) September 2012 (430) August 2012 (427) July 2012 (360) June 2012 (336) May 2012 (362) April 2012 (322) March 2012 (263) February 2012 (224) January 2012 (291) December 2011 (295) November 2011 (325) October 2011 (330) September 2011 (319) August 2011 (333) July 2011 (318) June 2011 (387) May 2011 (373) April 2011 (389) March 2011 (375) February 2011 (335) January 2011 (400) December 2010 (445) November 2010 (395) October 2010 (312) September 2010 (262) August 2010 (277) July 2010 (323) June 2010 (386) May 2010 (360) April 2010 (333) March 2010 (351) February 2010 (336) January 2010 (384) December 2009 (353) November 2009 (300) October 2009 (308) September 2009 (350) August 2009 (298) July 2009 (255) June 2009 (203) May 2009 (193) April 2009 (186) March 2009 (197) February 2009 (173) January 2009 (148) December 2008 (181) November 2008 (197) October 2008 (236) September 2008 (304) August 2008 (314) July 2008 (273) June 2008 (27) May 2008 (1) April 2008 (6) October 2007 (1) May 2007 (1) April 2007 (6) March 2007 (2) February 2007 (1) October 2006 (1) September 2006 (1) August 2006 (4) July 2006 (4) June 2006 (1) July 2005 (1) May 2005 (2) March 2005 (1) June 2004 (2) May 2004 (1) April 2004 (4) March 2004 (2) February 2004 (2) July 2003 (2) June 2003 (5)
I have known Wayne Stenehjem since he was a law student and I was in student services at the University of North Dakota. Stenehjem was a young man when he began 24 years representing his Grand Forks district in the North Dakota Legislature. This means in those years he was elected one time and re-elected five times.
After that period, I had the opportunity as president of charitable nonprofit NDAD to work with Stenehjem in his role as our attorney general with oversight over charitable gaming in North Dakota. He has served as attorney general for 16 years elected once and re-elected three times.
It's not the candidate who decides to make a career in politics. It's the voters.
Given Stenehjem's election record, it's clear that, time and time again, voters have put their trust in him.
It's time for us to do so once more.
While Stenehjem and I haven't always agreed on every issue (Who does?), he has always been fair, open and honest. And clearly, his experience is a needed asset.
My support is as an individual and not as representative of NDAD. Stenehjem has my support, wholeheartedly, to be the next governor of North Dakota.
UTRECHT New research has ranked apparel brands on their sourcing and reporting of sustainable cotton use. IKEA Group, C&A, H&M, and Adidas, are ranked highest, while VF Corp and Kering scored less well in the report - published by WWF, Pesticides Action Network (PAN) UK and Solidaridad which judges brands primarily on their use of organic cotton, Fairtrade cotton, Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) and Better Cotton Initiative sourced cotton.
VIRGINIA US-based not-for-profit, Conservation International, has told Ecotextile News it will develop a new Freshwater Health Index, and with its partners, will also contribute to new guidelines on the Natural Capital Protocol for the apparel industry. Conservation International says it is also working with other stakeholders to develop new tools and evaluate future scenarios related to freshwater use in industries and how this impacts on water basins in industrial regions such as China and Cambodia. CI received a grant to support the development of the Freshwater Health Index from the Victor and William Fung Foundation Ltd., which was established in 2006 to commemorate the centenary of the Fung Group.
LEEDS A fashion industry conference which will take place in the UK in September at the University of Leeds has announced a number of new speakers. The Emperor's New Clothes will take place at the University of Leeds in the North of England and include a keynote address by Kate Fletcher, a professor of sustainability, design and fashion at London College of Fashion. Kate has written more than 50 scholarly and popular publications in the fashion field.
Also talking will be Nik Engineer, global partners lead, Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Nik leads the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's relationships with its global partners, each of whom are pathfinders within their respective industries, exploring the potential of the circular economy as a source of value creation.
Dr Alison Gwilt, reader in fashion and sustainability at Sheffield Hallam University is a fashion design researcher, author and consultant who explores and promotes a range of innovative design methods and approaches that seek to enable the fashion and textiles community to adopt more sustainable and ethical practices.
Professor William Young is professor of sustainability and business, and co-director of the sustainability research institute at the University of Leeds. William's research is focused on consumer behaviour around sustainability issues. He will be talking about the mainstreaming of sustainability issues in consumer attitudes along with some behaviours and how retailers and consumer-citizens are filling the void being left by slow government action.
The conference is organised by researchers from the School of Design at the University of Leeds and will host speakers and attendees from a diverse range of backgrounds: industry and academia, design and technology, micro enterprises and industrial giants.
Taking inspiration from the tale of The Emperor's New Clothes and the little boy who points out what no-one else dares to admit, the conference aims to offer an open platform for discussion. It will enable participants to explore points of difference, challenge myths and preconceptions, and consider alternative approaches for a more sustainable fashion and textiles future.
This conference will take place on Thursday 8 September at the University of Leeds.
Delegate fees: 75 (60 early bird)
Student fees: 25 (15 early bird)
Early bird prices are valid until 30 June 2016.
Online booking will open shortly.
(Photo: ACT / DCA)The city most affected by Nepal's 7.9 magnitude earthquake on April 25, 2015 was Kathmandu.Patan Durbar Square, experienced significant devastation.
World religious leaders have offered prayers for the thousands who perished in Nepal's deadly earthquake which has left most parts of the mountainous country in rubble.
Many religious leaders have offered prayers including Pope Francis who commiserated with temblor victims after Sunday Mass.
The April 25 earthquake reached magnitude of 7.8 according, the U.S. Geological Survey and by nightfall on April there more than 4,000 deaths registered from Nepal' worst natural disaster.
Francis led the Regina Coeli prayer with the crowds that gathered at Saint Peter's Square in the Vatican.
He expressed his "closeness to the populations struck by a powerful earthquake in Nepal and neighboring countries."
"I pray for the victims, for the wounded, and for all those who suffer because of this calamity," he said.
Earlier in the day, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin sent a telegram to the Apostolic Vicariate of Nepal to offer condolences to those who died in the earthquake.
"His Holiness was deeply saddened to learn of the earthquake and the resultant loss of many hundreds of lives in Nepal, as well as in neighboring countries," stated the telegram, which was sent to Bishop Paul Simick.
"He expresses his solidarity with all affected by this disaster and assures those who grieve for deceased family members of his closeness in prayer."
http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-sends-telegramme-of-condolance-following-nepa
"He offers encouragement to the civil authorities and emergency personnel as they continue their rescue efforts and assistance to those touched by this tragedy," Parolin said in the telegram. "Upon them all he invokes the blessings of the Almighty as a pledge of healing and consolation."
Meanwhile, the Tibetan Buddhist leader Dalai Lama expressed grief over the deadly earthquake, telling Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala in a letter that the Himalayan country remains close to his heart because it provides a refuge for many Tibetans.
"The people of Nepal and Tibetans have been neighbours throughout history and many Tibetan refugees live in Nepal," the Dalai Lama said in the letter. "I offer my condolences to you and to those who have lost members of their families, friends and their homes in this tragedy."
The death toll for Nepal does not include others who died in nearby areas such as Tibet in China and India.
(Photo: REUTERS / Kim Kyung-Hoon)Children attend a Christmas mass at a Catholic church in Beijing December 24, 2014. Christmas is not a traditional festival in China but is growing in popularity, especially in more metropolitan areas where young people go out to celebrate, give gifts and decorate their homes.
Education authorities in Beijing have removed an extract from the Bible included in secondary school textbooks due to it receiving sharp criticism it was propagating "Western" values.
The Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences had included the extract from the Book of Genesis in textbooks meant for middle school students, said The Hindustan Times.
Officially atheist China has allowed bibles, along with Christianity since the early 1980s but there is now a pushback against Western thinking in all aspects of education, from economics to fairy tales, The Financial Times reported.
"The writing of our humanities textbooks must not be let loose . . . it affects politics, national unity and our people's solidarity," retired economics professor He Xin, a member of government advisory body the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said on Weibo.
The tabloid Global Times reported it had been included "to broaden students' horizons by introducing them to Western mythology".
"Columnist Wang Xiaoshi published a commentary on Hainan-based news site cwzg.cn, saying that the textbook violates China's Education Law, which mandates that China adopt the principle of separation of education and religion," the newspaper said in a report.
The Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences had included extracts from the Bible's Book of Genesis in its Chinese language textbook for first-year middle school students since early 2002.
But the book recently triggered lively discussion online, as some netizens questioned why the Christian content appeared in a textbook in a secular country, The Global Times reported.
An employee from BAES previously told the Beijing Youth Daily that they had included the Bible story to broaden students' horizons by introducing them to Western mythology.
Mei Hualong, a PhD candidate in Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Harvard University, was quoted by news site guancha.cn as saying that the Bible originated from the ancient Middle East and has greatly influenced the West.
The book is thus an important channel for students to learn more about the outside world, and including some of its contents in a textbook reflects China's cultural confidence, Mei asserted.
The latest Bible attack follows a ruling last year from the minister of education that Western ideas have no place in Chinese textbooks, said The Financial Times.
Im may a group of professors called on the government to have more Marxist economics in place of Western economics in university courses.
"In the past two years I've seen a new push to emphasise traditional Chinese culture in textbooks and exam questions," said Li Xue, a secondary-school teacher in Beijing. "We never had to learn so many classical fables when we were in school as I see my daughter learning. It's the new top-down policy direction."
The writers of the secondary-school book defended their inclusion of the Bible, saying they wanted to broaden students' understanding of mythology by including a famous western tale, according to an interview in the Beijing Youth Daily, a State-run newspaper.
An exclusive private school is being sued over a calamitous school camp that saw half of the attending students hospitalised.St Catherines, a girls school located in Toorak, Melbourne, is now facing a lawsuit by its deputy principal, Rosemary Ward, who claims the schools Year 10 camp to Fiji was poorly managed and resulted in misery, both for herself and the girls.Wards lawyers, from Maurice Blackburn, are alleging that the private school breached protections under the Fair Work Act, and are seeking $250,000 in damages and other costs.According to court documents, between March 25 and April 10, half of the 30 students were hospitalised with gastro, caught an aggressive strain of conjunctivitis and stranded by a cyclone that hit the island.Ward also slammed the backpacker-style accommodation, which the girls were made to endure.She added that she is now being pressured to resign from her role after escalating her concerns about the schools mismanagement of the excursion in a meeting on April 22.However, the chair of St Catherine's school council, Clare Cannon, denied Ward was asked to resign, telling The Educator that while the school could not comment on matters before the court, there were inaccuracies in the claim that will be addressed at the appropriate time.Mrs Ward was not asked to resign. The School will not otherwise make public comment about its employees or matters that are before the court, save to say that there are inaccuracies in the claim and these will be addressed at the appropriate time, Cannon said.It was claimed that during the trip, the girls were awoken by drunken backpackers who stumbling past the dormitories late at night, one room became flooded and several students ate their meals on the floor because there were not enough seats.Ward, who was the designated emergency contact, said these events rendered the camp disastrous and calamitous and also blamed the company that was contracted to run the excursion.She has been unable to return to the school since May 5 due to a medical condition and is currently receiving treatment.St Catherines school has been contacted for further comment.
As a researcher and author working at the intersection of education, civil rights, and juvenile and social justice, Monique W. Morris has long studied the issues women of color face in the United States. She is co-founder and president of the National Black Womens Justice Institutea Berkeley, Calif.-based nonprofit organization that works to improve racial and gender disparities in the criminal justice system for black women. Morris previously served as a vice president for economic programs, advocacy, and research at the NAACP. She and Rebecca Epstein, executive director of the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, are currently partnering in a two-year project to improve the relationships between girls of color and school resource officers.
Her latest research sheds a light on the treatment of black girls in K-12 schools. In her fourth book, Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools (New Press, 2016), Morris takes a closer look at the educational policies, practices, and conditions in U.S. schools that marginalize black girls both academically and socially as early, she argues, as pre-K. In the book, Morris unpacks the racial and gendered stereotypes that affect how schools respond to black girls on a daily basis.
Recent studies from the U.S. Department of Educations office for civil rights show that many current disciplinary measures end up barring these young students from schools at higher rates than those for any other female student group and most male groups, which puts them at greater risk of entering the juvenile justice system. Morris frames this research around the stories of girls she spoke with across the country who experienced pushout"defined as the practices that foster criminalization in schools and how this criminalization leads to imprisonmentto expose what she says are the untold stories of the conditions that remain a barrier to black girls education and well-being.
Commentary Associate Kate Stoltzfus interviewed Monique W. Morris by phone to discuss why young black girls are disproportionately pushed out of schools and how educators and policymakers can join forces with their communities to create school environments that allow all black girls to thrive in the classroom.
EW: Black girls are 16 percent of the female student population in public schools in the United States but more than one-third of all female school-based arrests, according to 2011-12 data from the U.S. Department of Educations office for civil rights. The disparities between how schools discipline black female students and all other female student groups, as well as many male groups, start as early as preschool. How do we begin to make sense of this polarizing gap?
MORRIS: One of the things Ive been sharing in this conversation about school pushout and black girls is that black girls are the only group of girls who are disproportionately overrepresented in all categories for which discipline data are collected by the U.S. Department of Education. When we look at this continuum of discipline in partnership with the community conditions, the ways in which our society has misunderstood and misrepresented elements of black femininity, and the other issues that contribute to school pushout like academic marginalization or underperformance in school, we start to understand that this is not about girls just being bad. We start to see a set of conditions that presents a unique opportunity for there to be a vulnerability to contact with the criminal legal system and contact with school disciplinarians or policies and practices. What were talking about is the convergence of multiple factors. These are girls who are dealing with multiple forms of victimization, abuse, and oppression, and their response to that oppression is often misread as combative, angry behavior. Sometimes it is angry, and that doesnt make it any less victimizing. So when were talking about contact with the disciplinary authorities in schools and black girls, its important for us to understand the centrality of trauma and to also explore the cultural conditions that have facilitated a consciousness that renders black girls uniquely vulnerable to having their behaviors being read as loud and aggressive and dangerous to the school environment when they may not necessarily be so.
There are a host of ways in which black girls are uniquely feeling that their presence in school is not consistent with who the school believes should be there."
EW: In the process of writing Pushout, you talked with black girls in elementary through high schools across the country about their experiences in education. What did those conversations reveal to you that statistics or formal research couldnt?
MORRIS: I worked backwards and talked to girls who had experienced school pushout, who had been removed from school, who were being educated in juvenile detention facilities. I talked to them about what their education story was, and in almost all of those cases, these black girls understood that education was important to them. At the same time, while they valued education in theory, they had gone to schools and had engagement with educators that was telling them something different. Almost all of the girls had been suspended or expelled early on in their lives, having their first experiences with suspension in kindergarten and 1st grade. They had experience with racial and gendered bias from the educators in their lives as well as with the other caring adults on campus. They also described being repeatedly victimized in community and in schools, and having that victimization either rendered secondary to the pain and victimization of their male counterparts, or not believed in their spaces of learning and in their homes. What has happened in their lives is that they express the way children do when they have been exposed to trauma and victimization; they have acted out in ways that adults have deemed disruptive. Their narratives represent an opportunity to hear from the viewpoint of girls who have experienced school pushout what their stories are and how they believe the community of caring adults could better understand to these conditions.
EW: You described seeing a raw, uncultivated version of yourself in the girls you spoke with. How do your own past experiences in school inform your exploration of the criminalization of black girls in education?
See Also To watch four education researchers discuss the criminalization of black girls, please visit: Black Girls and School Discipline: Four Researchers Unpack K-12s Racial Bias (Videos)
MORRIS: I was always a high performer in school, but that didnt mean I was not subjected to differential treatment from some educators or to some of the thoughts and comments that triggered me in other ways to question my own behavior and my own body. I am a survivor of sexual assault, and this early victimization in my life has shaped how I read and respond to girls who also risk sexual victimization and who are in schools where now there are dress-code policies that allow for adults to continuously police the bodies of girls and to police the bodies of black girls in ways that they perceive to be different than the way in which their white or Asian counterparts have their bodies policed. My very first job was as a student teacher in the Summer Bridge Program in San Francisco. I have always understood that education is an important factor in the development and healthy wellbeing of our communities. I establish in the book the critical role that education has played in the lives of black women and black girls historically. What weve got to do as the community of caring adults, as educators, as those who are committed to educational equity, is to continue to interrogate and center the narratives of girls in ways that allow for us to establish more robust and critical engagements. My personal background and training as a researcher in the criminal and juvenile legal field contributes to that. Having the opportunity to engage with girls who had been in contact with the justice system and were trying to get back into school or who had been commercially sexually exploited and out of school for a long time, their narratives were not engaged the way that I felt they could be, especially when they overlapped with the oppressions that are faced by girls uniquely as a function of their race and gender. Thats where I started to ask a series of questions: Why arent they in school? What is happening in school that makes them feel like they cant be there?
EW: As you note in your book, in a nationwide culture of increased surveillance and zero-tolerance-behavior policies in schools, unconscious bias created by racial and gendered stereotypes in America increases the exclusion of black girls from learning spaces, which has the potential to push girls who are already struggling into the criminal justice system. What do you believe are the biggest issues facing K-12 black female students?
See Also For more perspectives from prominent education scholars, leaders, and practitioners, please visit:
MORRIS: What were dealing with are a serious of issues that are tied to harsh punishment in response to problematic student behavior. You get cases like a six-year-old girl having a tantrum in her kindergarten class and instead of her being engaged with love or responded to with some degree of caring, she is placed in handcuffs in the backseat of a police car. There are a host of ways in which black girls are uniquely feeling that their presence in school is not consistent with who the school believes should be there. For black girls who tend to attend these hyper-segregated schools that are high-poverty and often low-performing, they are in schools where there is the belief among administrators that zero-tolerance responses to negative student behavior is the way to curb negative student behavior. This is rather than the development of a continuum of responses or restorative practices that allow for young people to come to terms with how they have created harm and who will be responsible for resolving the harm togetherco-constructing discipline and other policies that impact them. Whats happening here is the presence of biased learning environments and the absence of resources and other college and career pathways that can facilitate healing in response to much of the problematic behavior and the underlying causes of the problematic behavior.
See Also To read Rebecca Epsteins Commentary for our bias series, please visit: Policing Girls of Color in Schools
EW: You say that one of the biggest causes of the discipline disparity is that black girls do not fit into societys narrow definition of femininity. You note in your book that black girls are subject to more scrutiny and put into two categories: either good girls or ghetto girls, both of which reinforce historical and current stereotypes about black femininity. How can educators combat their unconscious bias and help to recast the negative images of young female black students often perpetuated by American culture?
MORRIS: I believe most educators are in the field because they love children and believe in the promise of education. I also believe that we are all living with unconscious bias that informs how we read behaviors, what decisions we make, and how we interpret language, volume, and presentation. Whether it aligns with our professed beliefs or not, we are still impacted by negative stereotypes about individuals and identity. In order for us to come to terms with that, we have to engage in the development of other tools, training, and decision-making instruments that serve as a guide for us to engage in a much more equitable way when were talking about how we respond to children. I dont think that societys narrow definition of femininity, which aligns most closely to what is normed for white, middle-class families, serves anyone particularly well. It has a particular impact on girls who are perceived as the opposite of that. If girls are loud rather than quiet or present in ways that are typically perceived as more masculine than wearing a skirt, thats a problem. When we dont have a particularly diverse teaching force, then we have a greater likelihood that the individuals engaging with youth from various backgrounds are not necessarily going to understand, at least innately, what is happening. What needs to happen is a much more robust discussion in teachers preparation and training opportunities about implicit bias, decision-making matrices, and the ways in which youth can be brought into establishing both a school and classroom culture that honors their norms as well as those that are typically enforced by schools. Im also of that mind that while dress codes are increasing in popularity among schoolsespecially when were talking about the codes that most directly impact girlsthey have little to do with how girls learn. There is an opportunity for us to think about dress codes, to examine them, and to, at a very minimum, remove language that has a disproportionate impact on black girls and girls of color in a way that is negative in order for us to really move forward with supporting them as critical thinkers and learners in schools.
Complete Series: Beyond Bias This yearlong series will examine efforts to recognize and overcome discrimination in schools. View the complete series.
EW: You offer solutions to cultivate quality learning environments for young black female students, including protection from victimization; fostering discussions about healthy, intimate relationships; quality student-teacher relationships; creating school wraparound services; providing more focus on learning and less focus on discipline; and establishing school-credit recovery between alternative schools (such as those in detention centers) and district schools. What might putting these solutions into practice look likeboth at the policy and classroom level?
MORRIS: Schools can either reinforce dominant ideas that are present in society, or they can actively work to develop skillsets among young people to be critical participants in the process of developing the society they want to be a part of and live in. There need to be particular conditions in place: developing healing-informed responses to problematic student behavior and healing-informed classrooms in schools (in recognition of trauma that is alive in many ways among girls who are most at-risk of school pushout), establishing college and career pathways for girls, and developing de-biased learning (which includes culturally-competent, gender-responsive curriculum; integrating the arts; and directly addressing the issue of implicit bias). Its important for us to think about how we engage young people in co-constructing with adults the kind of learning environment that we want to facilitate and have in place.
EW: In continuing to seek solutions, you are traveling the country with Rebecca Epstein, executive director of the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, to speak with girls of color and school police officers. Can you explain what this work is and talk about what these conversations have revealed? Where you would like the larger conversation about the involvement of law enforcement in school discipline to go?
MORRIS: The project that the National Black Womens Justice Institute and the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality are involved in is broader than just black girls. Its looking at girls of color and their relationship to school resource officers. The policies and practices that have been put in place in response to these elevated discipline rates for girls of color were not constructed with girls in mind. Theres been very little that explores the actions that officers are called to enforce in schools. The only time we hear about engagement with law enforcement and girls of color is if there has been an arrest on campus and it makes the news in some way. What we wanted to do was engage law enforcement officers in an opportunity to talk about how they see their role as school resource officers and what engagement and training theyve had on working specifically with girls of color. School resource officers have become part of the school climate, so its very important to talk to them, too, about the implicit biases that they are engaging when they interface with girls of color and what kinds of training theyre receiving to help reduce the use of harmful tactics when talking to and working with girls of color.
On a winding road in rural New England, students are pushing the boundaries of their power to shape the way they learn and how their school runs.
Unlike most American high schools, student leadership at Harwood Union High School isnt limited to campaigns for cleaner bathrooms or better cafeteria food. Here, teenagers are deeply involved in shaping the pillars of school life, from the daily class schedule to the styles of teaching and learning that work best for them.
Aided by community groups that have trained them in leadership techniques, young people and adults at Harwood have forged an unusually strong and equal partnership over the past eight years. They developed decisionmaking processes that put students at the heart of the biggest school decisions. When new teachers are hired, report cards are redesigned, or honors classes are revamped, students are at the table, debating, sharing research, listening, and voting. That work has made this unassuming school in Vermonts Green Mountains a national model for educators who believe students deserve the right to play a central role in creating their school experience.
Its definitely empowering, said Cole Lavoie, a senior whos on the school leadership team, working with teachers and administrators to figure out how honors classes should be restructured in the proficiency-based system that Vermont is phasing into its schools.
Harwood is ahead of the curve because of the number of different ways theyve institutionalized student voice, said Catharine Biddle, an assistant professor of educational leadership at the University of Maine, who studied the schools relationship with Up for Learning, a community group that provides leadership training for its students and staff members. Involving students as deeply as they have, in as many ways as they have, helps avoid a common mistake of seeing student voice as monolithic: that as long as we get a couple of kids giving us feedback, thats student involvement.
Students as Change Agents
At Harwood, governance works like a mini-democracy. Students or faculty members can propose a bill to change an aspect of school life, and it is circulated, discussed, revised, and voted on. Students who have learned leadership skills in the Up for Learning training, known as YATST, or Youth and Adults Transforming Schools Together, lead many of those discussions.
Proposals typically arise from research: Issues of concern surface through surveys and school meetings. Recent rounds of that research showed that students wanted to give teachers feedback about their instruction. The proposal passed, and now students and teachers are working in committees to design feedback forms.
Some teachers are better than others, and its important for us as students to be able to say whats working well for us and what isnt, said Anna Van Dine, a senior whos a member of Harwoods student government.
One of the big issues at Harwood lately has been revising the school schedule to support the new proficiency-based approach, which is supposed to allow students to customize their learning and to demonstrate competency in a variety of ways. Many students wanted to add an eighth block to the seven-block schedule, to make space for independent projects, teacher consultations, or added classes, and they brought their proposal to the administration.
Anneka Williams, a junior, said that trying to get their idea approved offered her a living education in civics. In meetings with administrators and the towns school board, she learned about the complicated web of factors that go into changing a school schedule, like bus transportation, class-size mandates, and fixed budget line items.
I found out that its not as simple as we thought, she said.
Anneka and her peers on the scheduling committee were frustrated by how few of their fellow students were willing to attend meetings to offer input on the proposed schedule change. So they tried another way to gauge student sentiment: The committee asked the administration to stage a mock registration for the not-yet-approved 8th block. To the committee members surprise, few of their peers even signed up for an 8th block.
It was disappointing to see that we thought we represented the rest of the students, but we didnt, Anneka said.
The net result was a sobering dose of compromise. The school board approved the 8th block but not for credit-bearing classes, as Anneka hoped. It will be used for independent study, to take online courses, or to consult with teachers.
An Eye-Opening Experience
Even though the end result was disappointing, Anneka is glad she helped make room in Harwoods schedule for new things.
Its important for students to realize they can have a big influence on their learning, she said. Its frustrating when you use your voice and you dont get what you want, but we got a lot out of it, and its been a big learning experience.
A spring afternoon offered another example of Harwoods inclusive style of governance. Two teachers and 15 students met during an extended block to plan an upcoming all-school dialogue, an event that involves all 665 students in grades 7-12 and 120 faculty and staff members in small-group discussions about key issues in the school. Snacking on almonds, coconut, and oranges, they brainstormed to craft four guiding questions for the event, which aims to elicit school sentiment on how teachers shouldor shouldntuse technology in their classrooms. The topic came from a survey that showed deeply mixed views on how teachers use iPads and other devices in their lessons.
Some of the meeting focused on process: How should the talks be structured? With pairs of students and teachers talking, and then rotating throughout the afternoon, like the daylong all-school dialogue held last spring? Several students objected to that format. It gets really awkward when theres downtime. Youre just staring at the other person, said one girl. Another student suggested groups of four. Instead of sitting and talking, another girl suggested, what if we rotate around to four different stations, each featuring a unique question to discuss?
With those ideas in the air, the gathering broke into two groups, each facilitated by a teacher, to focus on writing the guiding questions. In one, students began by sharing their experiences when teachers incorporated iPads into their work. Some enjoyed it, while others worried that it disadvantaged students who lacked computers or Internet access at home. Some students felt that using technology in their assignments should be a choice, not a requirement.
I should be able to write a paper, or do a project, whatever will let me convey my understanding of the topic, said a boy in a gray T-shirt.
More Asking, Less Telling
Ellen Berrings, a career-education teacher and student-government adviser, listened and took notes. Youre talking about your experiences. And I hear that getting the right balance is important to you. What about if we ask a question like, Tell us about a time [technology] worked for you, and a time it didnt, and why. Are we on the right track? Most students nodded yes. She, like Marcus Grace, the world-languages teacher facilitating the other group of students, led by asking questions, rather than making statements or giving instructions.
After an hour of these discussions, the two groups reconvened and compared notes on their draft questions. There would be more meetings in the coming weeks to refine the event plan.
Berrings said after the meeting that working in the Harwood style can demand a big shift for teachers, from being the classroom leader to being a facilitator. As one of the small group of Harwood staff members and students who have participated in Up for Learnings YATST training, Berrings said her biggest lesson was how to stop talking and create space for students to talk. Now, she sees herself not as the disseminator of information but as someone who provides tidbits that move students to discovery.
There is certainly a fear factor to it, but for me, it felt liberating, she said. Before, it was like, every minute I have to be doing something, and what if it bombs? Sometimes, you should come in the classroom and say, Wow, that didnt work yesterday, what are we going to do now? Were all in it together, figuring it out.
See Also Harwood Union High School in Vermont has put students at the center of most major decisions, from shaping the school schedule to hiring staff. In an Education Week live chat, co-principal Amy Rex explains how student voice took center stage and the difference it made. Chat: Letting Student Voice Shape Your School
Amy Rex and Lisa Atwood became co-principals four years ago, when Harwood was already working on giving students a bigger voice. That idea needed to seep into the leadership structure, though, and theyve been working on it ever since. Students now occupy five of the 14 spots on the leadership team. They research topics under discussion, gather feedback from their peers, and imbue discussions with those viewpoints.
Tolerating Messy
Rex acknowledged that the schools signature style of distributed leadership is definitely slower than a top-down, adults-only approach. Proposals from the student body, or from faculty members, can take weeks of consideration and revision before theyre put to a vote, she said. But the payoff is big.
You have to be in the mindset of letting go, Rex said. But Ive seen the benefits for the students. And its made me a more reflective educator. Driving home at night, Im still thinking about what a student said.
We know its messy, said Atwood. There is hard work on each aspect of each thing, getting everyone in the same boat. We know were not going to have it all worked out tomorrow.
Rex and Atwood, who have also been through the YATST training, acknowledge that the bid for inclusive leadership is a work in progress. Not all the adults have become skilled at making way for students views.
At a recent leadership-team meeting, for instance, Chuntao Lin, a junior, sat silent while the adults around him talked nonstop. His subcommittee was working on a policy for how late assignments should be handled in the proficiency-based system, where the content of assignments, not their timeliness, is whats graded. Noticing his silence, Rex aimed a question at the teenager as a quiet reminder to her colleagues. Right away, he opened up with ideas, prompting an exchange of views with teachers around the table.
Viewing students as equalor near equalpartners isnt comfortable for all teachers. Therisa Rogers came to Harwood this year, after 20 years teaching English in other cities, and saw right away that Harwood is a place where students feel comfortable questioning teachers about their instructional choices. Shes heard decidedly mixed feelings about that from her colleagues.
Some are really excited by the dialogue with students, and some are like, OK, could you just learn the material? Rogers said. I like it. It can be more difficult than if students are passively receiving the material. But its also more rewarding.
Helen Beattie, the executive director and founder of Up for Learning, which trains Harwood students and staff members in leading change together, said that the partnership requires a big change in adults attitudes.
Its moving to the point where the adults say we cant do this without them, she said. Thats the culture shift.
New federal data show a continuing deep gulf between the educational experiences of traditionally disadvantaged student groups and their peers on a broad range of indicators, findings that follow years of efforts by government and advocacy groups to level the playing field in U.S. public schools.
Black and Latino students are still more likely to be suspended, more likely to attend schools with high concentrations of inexperienced teachers, and less likely to have access to rigorous and advanced coursework than their white peers, according to the data released today by the U.S. Department of Educations office for civil rights.
Our systemic failure to educate some groups of children as well as others tears at the moral fabric of the nation, U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. said in a call with reporters. The data, which highlights disparities for students of color, students with disabilities, and English-language learners, shows that we still fall far short of the ideal of educational equity, he said.
The data also shows some bright spots, including a nearly 20 percent drop in out-of-school suspensions nationwide.
See Also Civil Rights Data Collection: Inside the Information
The newest Civil Rights Data Collectiondata on more than 50 million students collected from more than 99 percent of public schools and districts in the country during the 2013-14 school yearalso includes, for the first time, information about education in correctional facilities, the presence of law-enforcement officers in schools, and national data on chronic absenteeism.
The Obama administration, known for a more aggressive approach to educational civil rights issues, has increased the data collection done by previous Education Departments, surveying nearly every school in the country every two years, rather than collecting a representative sample.
The Education Department released an analysis of key data points alongside the data Tuesday. Among its starkest findings:
Black K-12 students are nearly four times more likely to receive an out-of-school suspension than white students, and students with disabilities are more than twice as likely to be suspended as their peers.
Black students are more than twice as likely to be referred to law enforcement or arrested at school than their white peers.
High schools with higher levels of black and Latino enrollment are less likely to offer calculus, physics, chemistry, and Algebra II.
New Federal Education Law
King pointed to the nations new education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, as a possible remedy for some disparities in student access and treatment.
The law, which replaced the No Child Left Behind Act, may open the door for school districts and states to flagand intervene inindividual schools with high rates of chronic absenteeism, low teacher engagement, or an unsupportive school climate. Under ESSA, states must create accountability systems that go beyond test scores and graduation rates and include at least one factor that gets at school quality or student supports.
King cited the civil rights data in support of the Education Departments work to create regulations under ESSA. The Department has proposed requiring that districts per-pupil spending of state and local dollars in schools with large shares of low-income students be at least equal to the average per-pupil spending figure in wealthier schools. King said this requirement would ensure more and better opportunities for disadvantaged students. But critics say the plan is clear federal overreach, and could ultimately backfire.
Some have suggested the Department of Education is pushing too hard or asking too much of states as they implement the law, King said. But, to be clear, we will not compromise away the civil right of all students to an excellent education.
A New Look at Absenteeism
In the first-ever analysis of attendance in nearly every public school nationwide, more than 6.5 million students13 percent of all studentsmissed 15 days or more of school in 2013-14. Anotherand likely overlapping6.5 million students attended a school where more than half of their teachers missed 10 days or more of school for reasons unrelated to school activities and professional development.
To put that in perspective, imagine if the 34 largest school districts in the country in 2013including New York City and Los Angeles, Jefferson County, Ky., and the entire state of Hawaiisimply shut down for three weeks of the school year.
When lots of kids are chronically absent, not just one or two, it puts the teacher in a no-win situation of either starting every class with significant review or leaving students to catch up on their own, said Robert Balfanz, the director of the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University. In prior research, Balfanz has found chronic absenteeism is one of the strongest predictors that a student will eventually drop out of school.
For black, Latino, American Indian, and multiracial high school students, roughly 20 percent or more are chronically missing from class, civil rights data show. For Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander high school students, 25 percent or more missed at least 15 days of school.
In high school, 18 percent of all students and 20 percent of English-language learners are chronically absent.
King said the prevalence of chronic absenteeism, particularly for students of color, was distressing.
I view this as an urgent call for action, King said. Even the best teacher cant be successful with students who are not in class, so we have a lot of work to do with that.
Classroom Experience
Even before ESSAs passage in December, states had begun putting greater focus on access to advanced coursework. But the civil rights data show that there is still considerable work to do when it comes to ensuring that students of color are given a chance to enroll in those courses.
For instance, 33 percent of high schools with high black and Latino enrollment offer calculus, compared to 56 percent of high schools with low black and Latino enrollment. And 48 percent of high schools with high black and Latino enrollment offer physics, compared to 67 percent of high schools with low black and Latino enrollment.
The gaps were smallerbut still significantfor other courses. Sixty-five percent of high schools with high black and Latino enrollment offer chemistry, compared to 78 percent of high schools with low enrollment among those groups. And 71 percent of high schools with high black and Latino enrollment offer Algebra II, compared to 84 percent of the high schools that dont enroll many of those students.
Those findings suggest we have a long way to go to provide opportunities for students based on race, said Michael Cohen, the president of Achieve, a Washington-based group that helps states bolster academic standards.
The unequal access for minority students extends to gifted education classes. Black and Latino students represent about 42 percent of student enrollment in schools offering such classesbut they make up only 28 percent of students enrolled in gifted courses, a disparity that remains largely unchanged since the last federal data release.
Access to trained and experienced teachers is also unequal.
Dozens of studies show that teachers with more experience tend, on average, to be more effective than novices.
Yet in 2013-14, black students were more than twice as likely to attend a school where more than 20 percent of teachers were brand new, compared to their white peers. In all, 11 percent of black students attended such schools and 9 percent of Latino students did, compared to 5 percent of white students.
In 2013-14, 3 percent of black students and 2 percent of Latino students attended schools where more than 20 percent of teachers hadnt met all certification requirements.
Student Discipline Gaps
The Obama administration has pushed schools to rework discipline policies and practices with a specific focus on school suspensions.
The new civil rights data show a nearly 20 percent drop in the number of K-12 students who received at least one out-of-school suspension, but disparities persist. The Education Departments data analyses did not indicate if any student groups had more significant declines in suspension rates than others.
While 6 percent of all K-12 students were suspended in 2013-14, the suspension rate was 18 percent for black boys, 10 percent for black girls, 5 percent for white boys, and 2 percent for white girls.
In 2013-14, black children made up 19 percent of preschool enrollment, but 47 percent of suspended children, according to data summaries released by the department. By comparison, white children made up 41 percent of enrollment but 28 percent of children suspended.
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon called the overall drop in the suspension rate breathtaking and a tremendous testament to our educators commitment to making sure that students are in school and can learn.
She noted that the data was collected in the middle of the same school year when the administration made two key pushes to tackle uneven school discipline rates: releasing guidance on discipline and civil rights laws, and releasing the first national information on suspensions of prekindergarten students, which served as a wake-up call for some policymakers.
Discrepancies in discipline rates continued in other areas, as well. Black students were about twice as likely to be expelled as white students in 2013-14, the data show.
A large part of this is that implicit racial bias is still a real issue that impacts the ways in which black students in particular are dealt with when it comes to school discipline, said Thomas Mariadason, a staff attorney for the Advancement Project, a civil rights organization.
The problem may also be an imbalance between student discipline and support, federal officials said. They noted that Asian, black, and Latino students are more likely than their white peers to be among the 1.6 million students nationwide who attend a school that has a law-enforcement officer but no school counselor.
Students With Disabilities
As in the 2011-12 report, this years data collection finds that students with disabilities represent the 67 percent of students who are restrained or secluded at school, though they make up only about 12 percent of the student population.
In comparison, students with disabilities represented 58 percent of students who were secluded during the 2011-12 school year, and 75 percent of those who were restrained that year.
The increase has come even as more states have chosen to adopt policies saying that restraint or seclusion must be used only to protect the student or school staff from imminent harm. Several bills have been introduced in Congress that would limit restraint or seclusion, and though those bills did not pass, elements of those bills language have been adopted by many states.
The apparent lack of change in the restraint and seclusion numbers was not surprising to Denise Marshall, the executive director of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates.
Theres going to need to be further mandates or guidance or something with some teeth in it thats going to spur change, she said.
Along with increased data collection, the Education Department has also sought to make civil rights data more accessible to the public. It announced plans Tuesday to make the raw data available online for use by the public, researchers, advocacy organizations, and parent groups and to partner with the school-rating site Great Schools to include civil rights information in its school profiles.
The Education Department also plans to release analyses highlighting specific elements of the data throughout the summer and fall.
It seems as if no discussion of Americas educational climate is complete without the mention of Carol Dwecks concept of growth mindset and Angela Duckworths notion of grit. Along with the fervor surrounding these buzzwords comes the inevitable calls for some sort of quantifiable measurement of these largely intangible characteristics. And although both Dweck and Duckworth largely disavow the notion of measuring these intangible skills, their respective websites offer a visitor the opportunity to test these soft skills. And in the past three years alone, hundreds of academic articles have been written about growth-mindset and grit skills, including in Education Week.
Forgetting for a moment the larger debate about the validity or newness of some of these innovations, their measurement specifically should be looked at with a critical eye. Growth mindset and grit are understandably difficult to measure using standardized methods and instead often rely on Likert-style self-reporting. As some critics have noted, such surveys can be muddy and vulnerable to biases. The 2012 Program for International Student Assessment results place American schoolchildren 27th in math and 20th in science but far above average in confidence, suggesting that self-reporting as a method is inherently problematic, particularly in the United States. In fact, many of the psychological measures currently used are unreliable and subject to reference bias, confirmation bias, and social-desirability bias. Therefore, if we do want to find viable ways to evaluate grit or mindset, where do we look for our solutions?
In this age of educational accountability, the knee-jerk reaction is for policymakers to measure these delicate values through some type of box-checking scheme. Before we discuss the potential of this particular endeavor, it would be instructive to examine historical attempts to translate natural human behaviors into mechanical, quantifiable systems. Consider the famous walking robots of Boston Dynamics. Boston Dynamics, an MIT-spawned company that focuses on robotics and human-simulation software, attempted to create a robot that could effectively mimic the human gait. This company, which employed the brightest minds of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, and later bought by Google. It had all the money, intelligence, and support it could possibly need, and it still took more than a decade to get its first real success with the BigDog robot in 2005.
But it has been considerably more difficult for Boston Dynamics and equivalent companies to create robots and software that can mimic basic cognitive and interpersonal tasks, such as reading emotional expressions or responding appropriately to conversational stimuli. These simple mental functions, which most humans perform effortlessly countless times a day, require the harmonious firing of millions of neurons in the brain in combinations that scientists have yet to crack.
Consider for a moment that arguably the smartest, richest, and best-educated people in the world have spent billions of dollars over more than half a century to get machines to do such basic tasks as walking or responding appropriately to a person in a conversation. Keeping that in mind, now think about the fact that we are asking policymakers to quickly and efficiently (not to mention cheaply) come up with a simple, quantifiable test for the complex, abstract human qualities of grit and mindset. Regardless of the talent or experience of our educational experts, the implications here should be clear.
We already have the most sophisticated and accurate evaluative tools at our disposal: human beings and, more specifically, teachers."
Thankfully, we already have the most sophisticated and accurate evaluative tools at our disposal: human beings and, more specifically, teachers. Experienced, well-trained teachers already possess the ability to differentiate grit from simple compliance, or identify students who need to be supported as they move toward growth mindsets.
While it is true that teachers can be influenced by reference bias and other factors, we should not favor imprecise rubrics or dubious self-reporting over the power of professional judgment. Simply put, human beings are capable of amazing feats. Most of us can walk, register the emotions of others, and easily have a conversation. We often do so simultaneously. These feats are entirely unmatched in the history of inventions, and to assume policymakers will be able to succeed where countless others have failed is both foolish and arrogant.
To support this argument, we need only turn to Sir Ken Robinson, who touts the power of human beings in education and argues against the standardized factory line style schools long favored in America. This factory model is not only ineffective and dehumanizing, it is also incredibly fragile. Consider an assembly line making automobiles: If something is moved out of sequence in a significant manner, the entire line shuts down. When any element of our fragile, dehumanized education system breaks down, as it inevitably does, our methods for accountability become imprecise and invalid.
Additionally, it is next to impossible to measure intangibles such as grit or mindset using the factory model, since measuring these characteristics relies on the web of relationships between each teacher, each student, and the curriculum adopted by each schoolnone of which can be adequately standardized.
If we are truly interested in measuring growth mindset, the operative word for improvement should be growth, not standardization or compliance. It would be unreasonable to compare students at failing schools, which have their own unique sets of relationships between students and teachers, with students at schools that are generally thought of as successful.
Each school must be considered its own case, with its own set of relationships. Every student within that school can be evaluated for growth mindset or grit by a cadre of expert teachers. Our goal as educators should not be to encourage children to be identical, with identical mindsets and identical measures of grittiness, but to do our best to meet students where they are and encourage intellectual, intrapersonal, and interpersonal growth within the scope of our unique relationships with each one of them.
Taking all this into account, it is clear why trying to artificially quantify what a teacher can determine naturally is failing on epic proportions.
Mechanized or standardized systems do indeed have their place, especially when it comes to complex computations or easily quantifiable measurements. In addition, we think the concepts of growth mindset and grit are indeed valuable to education, even if they are in no way new or innovative. However, it is only through appropriate training for teachers that we will come to a more accurate understanding of our students mindsets or grittiness. Further, it is noteworthy that these professional-development opportunities are conducted by humans for humans and are designed to increase the competence of complex, nonstandard, human systems of judgment and analysis.
The drive to incessantly measure and homogenize concepts such as growth mindset and grit only dehumanizes and, thus, curtails the power of these cognitive tools. If we must measure, let us use the most appropriate, precious, and powerful tool at our disposal: the combined wisdom, experience, and professionalism of our teachers.
In order to avoid a school-funding shutdown looming at the end of the month, Kansas politicians will hold a special session to attempt to address a state supreme court order to more equitably fund their schools.
Republican Gov. Sam Brownbacks June 7 call for a special session came a week after several top Kansas Republican lawmakers threatened to defy yet another court order to provide poor districts more money or not be allowed to distribute any state aid. Over the last few weeks, local district officials have been writing contingency plans on how they would proceed without $4 billion in state aid.
On May 27for the second time this yearthe Kansas Supreme Court struck down the legislatures funding formula on the grounds that it does not equitably distribute state aid among its school districts.
The legislature, which officially ended its session last June 1, will have until the end of the month to figure out a new finance formula or the state supreme court says it will prohibit any state aid from being distributed.
The special session comes on the cusp of whats expected to be a hotly contested election season where a large portion of the legislators are up for reelection.
Parents and teachers would not be happy with schools shut down due to lack of state aid.
Lack of Consensus
Several of the states top legislators said last week that there is no consensus on what to do next. Some dont want to do anything at all.
"[These legislators] have gone out of their way to pick a fight, said Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce, a Republican, emphasizing the seriousness of the threat. Its gotten to a breaking point.
A ruling on whether the new funding formula is adequate is expected later this summer. If the state loses that case, the legislature will be forced to find close to $400 million more for Kansas districts.
The case, Gannon v. Kansas, was brought by four poor school districts in 2010. The court first ruled in 2014 that the states funding formula was inequitable.
After the governor and legislature made another round of cuts to state aid for districts, the high court again ruled in February that the finance formula was inequitable. The court estimated that the formula left districts more than $54 million short in annual funding. In that ruling, the court first said it would shut down the states school districts if the legislature didnt come up with a satisfactory formula by June 30.
The legislature, late in its session, quicklyand Democrats said illegallypushed through a bill known as the Classroom Learning Assuring Student Success Act. The law would have put $2 million more a year into the school finance formula and done it in a way that the states wealthy districts wouldnt suffer financially.
In its ruling issued in late May, the court described the states current funding formula as still inequitable and disproportionately burdensome on local taxpayers. The justices said that political necessities were irrelevant to their review, and that if schools were to close, state lawmakers, not the court, would be to blame.
Simply put, the legislatures unconstitutional enactment is void; it has not performed its duty, said the ruling, signed by all seven justices.
The state education department estimates that satisfying the ruling will cost the state between $38 million and $51 million a year.
In reacting to the ruling, the governor and state lawmakers didnt mince words.
The court has yet again demonstrated it is the most political body in the state of Kansas, said Gov. Brownback. He referred to the ruling as political brinksmanship. House Speaker Ray Merrick, a Republican, said the court was holding children hostage.
But for leaders of the states poorest districts, who have frozen teacher salaries, implemented four-day school weeks, and, as a last resort, dramatically increased local property taxes, the courts ruling was a relief, and they amped up the pressure for the legislature to increase funding.
Shutting down the school system on July 1 would have disastrous effects on our fine public schools and state, the Kansas Association of School Boards said in a statement. We strongly urge our elected leaders to continue working on providing a constitutional system for all of our students and resolve this issue as soon as possible.
Power Struggle
The case has become one of the starkest examples in the country of how much power state supreme courts have in shaping school finance.
The legislature had to make deep state budget cuts in recent years after lawmakers in 2012 made a series of income-tax reductions they said were intended to spur the economy, which has not yet come to fruition.
Brownback hasnt made clear what he or senior Republican officials would propose in the special session. The states Democrats, who are in the minority, have proposed to revert to an old formula, an effort the court has describe as a safe harbor.
In response to the supreme courts school finance decision and other rulings, state legislators in recent months have campaigned to have the appointed justices removed from office this fall. Kansas voters can remove appointed judges in what are known as retention votes.
Though the Obama administration got to proposeand will get to finalizethe regulations on accountability for the Every Student Succeeds Act, it will be up to the next administration to approve state plans and hold states to their promises.
The uncertainty about who in Washington will take the baton and how theyll handle it, along with the extent to which schools performance during the 2016-17 academic year will play into accountability under ESSA, are among the major concerns expressed by state K-12 leaders as they continue to study the newly released draft regulations.
To take one such knotty example, states are still teasing out how they want to handle the requirement in the proposed rules for a single, summative rating for each school, such as an A-F grade or numerical score.
Overall, Chris Minnich, the executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, said his group was really pleased with what the department has done on the proposed regulations.
But many state schools chiefs themselves have said theyre still reviewing the proposed rules, and were still unwilling to comment publicly about specifics in the ESSA accountability regulations that the U.S. Department of Education published for comment at the end of last month.
States probably wont wait until the regulations are finallikely in the fallbefore they begin drafting their plans for submission to the department. But its unclear whether they will assume the Obama administrations word is set in stone, said Michael J. Petrilli, the president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Washington think tank that promotes policy flexibility for states and districts.
According to the proposed regulations, states accountability plans are due either in March 2017 when the next administrations Education Department will barely be up and running, or July 2017, when the 2017-18 school year (the first full year of ESSA) will be just a month away.
And that timeline could be disrupted if presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump wins the November election and shelves the proposed rules from President Barack Obamas Education Department, Petrilli added.
I think if states really want to do something that they believe in and is within the letter of the law, but violates the new regs, they would go ahead and make their case to the new administration, he said.
But few states might feel the need to go to such lengthsthats because the proposed rules actually offer a great deal of flexibility for states, said Liz King, the education policy director of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights: As a general matter, the department bent over backwards to provide options.
Ratings and Data
The draft regulations call for states to come up with one single rating for a school. But not every state wants to go in that direction.
For instance, Stephen L. Pruitt, the commissioner of education in Kentucky, doesnt think that a single summative score gives parents a full picture of a schools performance.
I think it sort of masks things that do create a better educational environment for kids, Pruitt said. I think its better for a parent to be able to look at a set of indicators and be able to see that a school with, say, an achievement gap has recently expanded its course offerings.
You wouldnt get that [nuance] if you just scored 78, he said.
And in other states, there may be interest in making sure those ratings come with plenty of context.
For instance, North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson said her state is mulling over the idea of using a performance index of, for example, 300 points for that comprehensive school rating; reporting the average score for schools in the state; and then reporting how far above or below that average a particular schools final score is. In that way, Atkinson said, there would a rating for each school, but the emphasis, when her state reports the rating, would be on a schools relative performance.
Atkinson did say she likes the provision of the proposed ESSA rules to require at least three scoring levelsand not just scores of the pass-fail varietyfor reporting various elements of school performance.
The more we can move away from all-or-nothing, the better the transparency, Atkinson said.
But Minnich, of the state chiefs council, expressed concern about how schools performance from the upcoming school year could affect accountability.
Although the Every Student Succeeds Act takes full effect in 2017-18, the proposed rules would require that 2016-17 school data be used to identify for school improvement, under ESSA, the lowest-performing 5 percent of Title I schools, high schools that graduate fewer than two-thirds of their students, and Title I schools with consistently underperforming groups of students that have not improved after previous interventions.
That might make it tricky for schools this next year, because although their 2016-17 performance could count for school improvement purposes, they wont be sure exactly how, since their states ESSA plans are not yet final.
We really do believe that the 2017-18 school year is the first year that we should use the data, Minnich said.
Opt-Out Options
Not everyone thinks the proposed rules are workableor within the scope of the law.
The draft rules specify states options for dealing with test-participation rates lower than 95 percenteven if state law allows for parent opt-outs. States must lower the schools overall score, give the school the lowest possible rating for academic achievement, flag the school for extra support, or submit their own plan to the federal department for consideration.
But Leonie Haimson, the executive director of Class Size Matters and an activist sympathetic to the testing opt-out movement, thinks the Education Department is taking ESSA too far.
The proposed regulation, she said, really does seem to give more enforcement power to the federal government than we thought the law would allow.
But Minnich said he thought the Education Department threaded the needle well on the issue.
Weve got to make sure were talking about the value of these assessments, Minnich said.
I remember vividly the day I dropped off my first application to teach. The school districts secretary barely looked up as she mumbled, Someone will be in touch I walked to my car, dejected, and suddenly stopped in my tracks. No! I said out loud to no one. I want a teaching job!
I turned, walked back in, and adamantly told the secretary I wanted to talk to someone who could give me a job. She pointed to a room where all the high school principals were meeting, and I stood and waited to pounce on the first one who came out the door.
I got the job.
I was 21. I had on a sundress.
Fast forward 37 years, and I dont even know who that courageous young teacher was. The confidence I exhibited when I announced as that meeting door opened, I want a job! dwindled away on the first day of school when a senior stood before me and challenged my teaching expertise.
He was right. I didnt know what I was doing. But as a novice teacher, I never thought my struggles with classroom management or curriculum facilitation were a result of a lack of support or training; I was pretty sure all the problems I had back then lay somewhere deep inside myself.
But now we know that beginning teachers are more successful (and confident) when they are supported. There are now policies in place that were unheard of back thenbeginning teachers are assigned mentors, professional development on classroom management is provided, there are professional learning communities for novice teachers to collaborate, discussion boards are available, and for goodness sake, the internet is MAGICAL! I had none of those opportunities when I started.
Preparation Gaps
Currently, I work as a Regional Education Facilitator in North Carolina offering support to the states beginning teachers. As such, I have often thought about my own first years of teaching and wondered about the dispositions of our current beginning teachers; how do they feel about the support they receive?
So ... I asked them.
I sent out a survey to 100 teachers in their first three years in the classroom. I asked them one question: What information did you need prior to teaching that you werent given? Their responses varied, but most fell into two big (and important) categories:
1) They didnt come prepared to deal with the paperwork.
Why didnt my university tell me about papers? Papers in my box, papers that need to be returned, papers that need to be sent to parents, papers that need to be graded? I cant stay on top of it. ... Im drowning in papers. ...
2) They didnt come prepared to teach students with special needs.
What about the ones who dont have an IEP, the ones who arent identified through the special education program? I have students who are angry, depressed, confrontational, and with attention problems. They arent identified, so I dont know where to start. ...
What about students whose first language isnt English? I dont know if they struggle in reading because of the language barrier, or if they also struggle reading books written in their native language!
So what kind of advice could I give these teachers? What could I pull from my own years of teaching as well as from my current work?
It almost sounds too simple, but its a little tip I call Circle the Wagons. Simply asking for help is a strategy that some beginning teachers dont use enough (or at all). Struggling with finding the time to reach out, while often working in isolation, can make it difficult to establish meaningful relationships in a school. But a mentor-teacher, whether officially assigned or through a natural relationship that develops due to close proximity on the school hallway, can share management tips on keeping up with paperwork. Of course, online tools offer answers to many organizational questions so the technology facilitator is a possible resource as well.
In addition, calling on the experts like the counselor, school psychologist, ESL teacher, behavior specialist, special education directorsat the school and district levelsis necessary when there are questions about strategies for at-risk students. And simply talking to (and observing) other teachers who have taught the same students in the past, or who also teach them now, can provide the direction a struggling teacher needs.
The X Factor: Administrative Support
But the one thing teachers didnt mention in the surveythe one thing I hear them talk about almost dailyhas to do with the leader of that wagon train. Research shows it has the most impact on teacher retention, and its two simple words: administrative support. A quick internet search will provide numerous articles and dissertations on the subject of principal support for teachers, but I dont need the written word to tell me what Ive seen for myself through the years.
School administrators can impact the retention of their beginning teachers by offering support in these ways:
Being accessible. Can I walk to his/her office door and have a quick word?
Can I walk to his/her office door and have a quick word? Being instructional. Is he/she sharing strategies that help me be a better teacher in my classroom?
Is he/she sharing strategies that help me be a better teacher in my classroom? Being protective. Does he or she have my back if a parent is angry or a student is disrupting class?
Does he or she have my back if a parent is angry or a student is disrupting class? Being communicative. Am I always aware of whats going on, or do I hear things first from students or from the community?
And principals who really support their beginning teachers take it a step further. They are open about acknowledging that the teacher is just starting out. A simple, I know youre new at this ... how can I help you? is so meaningful and can make a huge difference.
Administrators should also consider providing school-level meetings and celebrations for beginning teachers. Supporting a professional learning community of new teachers adds a layer of encouragement and camaraderie that can make those first years bearable. And recognizing those newest to our profession for even small victories in the classroom is another way to impact retention. A note in the teachers box, a quick email, and a shout out at a faculty meeting are free and easy ways to make a difference.
Last week I saw an excited beginning teacher in the hallway of a high school. After some conversation, she said, When I first started working here, I said the one thing I really wanted was support from my principal. I was right. This job is hard, but knowing hes my biggest cheerleader makes me want to work even harder!
As beginning teachers have told me, though, we hope their principals are also there to share strategies for managing paperwork and to provide support for teaching special populations of students.
They are, after all, the leaders of the wagon train.
Kieldrecht unlocks the docks and boosts the Flanders economy
The massive ships ride the tide on the Scheldt for five hours, waiting their turn. Eventually they enter the Kallo lock, which takes them through to the quays of the Waasland docks to unload their cargoes. The lock is really full, says Freddy Aerts, head of maritime access at the Flemish Ministry of Mobility and Public Works. So we have these traffic jams.
The ships are costly to operate and their cargoes must be unloaded quickly. So Aerts is about to give the cargo vessels a way to beat the traffic. The port of Antwerp inaugurates the biggest lock in the world on 10 June. The Kieldrecht lock will triple the amount of shipping using the Waasland docks on the left bank of the Scheldt by providing a second way for ships to enter. Now we can take the biggest ships that are sailing, Aerts says. It will be a real stimulus to the economy.
In a momentous month for massive port locks, Kieldrecht will take over from the Berendrecht lock on Antwerps right bank as the worlds biggest. Later in June a third lane of new mega-locks on the Panama Canal will open. All are built with European engineering and financed by the European Investment Bank, which put up EUR 160.5 million of the new Antwerp locks cost.
Between low and high tide, the Scheldt rises and falls between four and six metres. That slows cargo handling and requires very deep quays. So Antwerplike other tidal portsbuilt locks, which take ships into a basin where the water level can be held stable. On the right bank, Antwerp has six locks, including the big Berendrecht, which opened in 1989. That infrastructure helps make it Europes second-biggest port, after Rotterdam.
NEW TOWN The Bakken crude on the oil train that derailed in Oregon last week met North Dakotas oil conditioning order that requires companies to remove the most volatile gases.
The Federal Railroad Administration said the oil on the train that derailed in the Columbia River Gorge in Mosier, Ore., had a vapor pressure of 9.2 pounds per square inch.
Thats below the requirement of 13.7 psi set by the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources last year to reduce the volatility of Bakken crude in response to fiery oil train derailments in the U.S. and Canada.
The train, headed to Tacoma, Wash., was loaded at the Dakota Plains terminal in New Town, an FRA spokeswoman said.
Sixteen of the 96 rail cars derailed Friday and officials estimate 42,000 gallons of crude oil escaped from four rail cars. No one was hurt, but the incident forced evacuations, the closure of a highway and the towns sewer system to be shut off temporarily.
Jim Tate, vice president of operations for Dakota Plains, said the rail-loading facility receives oil by pipeline and truck from several oil producers. The oil is commingled before leaving the rail facility.
The Department of Mineral Resources requires that companies report the vapor pressure testing at the point when the oil changes custody, such as when it is loaded into a truck or enters a pipeline, said spokeswoman Alison Ritter.
The Dakota Plains facility does its own vapor pressure testing on the oil before its loaded into rail cars, Tate said.
We run a very tight sampling protocol on all of our oil thats shipped, Tate said.
Justin Jacobs, a spokesman for Union Pacific, said the cause of the derailment is under investigation, but early indications point to an unusual failure with a fastener that connects the railroad tie to the rail.
Union Pacific has reopened rail traffic in the area, but has suspended unit trains of oil from traveling through the Columbia River Gorge, Jacobs said.
About 35 percent of oil produced in the Bakken region traveled by rail in March, or about 400,000 barrels per day, according to the North Dakota Pipeline Authority.
West Coast refineries receive about 25 percent of Bakken crude that is shipped by rail, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The East Coast continues to be the largest recipient of Bakken crude-by-rail shipments.
Overall, rail shipments of Bakken crude are down by about half compared to the end of 2014.
The reduction is largely due to economic factors, but also attributed to a drop in North Dakotas oil production and increased availability of pipeline transportation.
Shady thief makes off with haul of sunglasses
Police are appealing for help after a thief made off with numerous pairs of sunglasses.
They stole 62 pairs of REVO shades from an area behind The Grandstand overnight between Sunday and Monday.
You can see a picture of them on our website - anyone who can help is asked to contact Police Headquarters.
Two men hospitalised after 'violent' fight in Douglas
Police are appealing for witnesses after a 'violent altercation' in Douglas which left two men in hospital.
It happened at 1.30am on Saturday in the area of Prospect Hill and Nelson Street and involved a number of local residents.
Two people have been arrested and interviewed - officers say a number of passers-by tried to intervene to calm the situation.
Detective Constable Sam Cannell says it's lucky the injured parties aren't more seriously wounded:
Media
Sam Cannell
MEDORA Zoning for a full-scale refinery on the edge of Billings County, less than 3 miles from the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, has been stalled for another month, even as the project manager warned that such a delay could prevent construction from beginning this summer.
The county commission on Tuesday decided to set time aside for a broad public meeting with the refinery developers and regulating agencies. The project hinges on an air quality permit.
The Billings County Commission has a recommendation from its zoning board to move forward with zoning on the 700-acre site, but Chairman Jim Arthaud said the county will wait until July 6 to hear from the North Dakota Department of Health, which will be in charge of key permits for air quality and water and waste disposal, as well as other agencies "that will have their fingers on it."
A health department representative was expected to be at Tuesdays meeting to discuss the stringent Class I air quality program under which the refinery would have to operate -- but because of a scheduling mix-up, provided a brief outline by phone.
Air quality chief Terry OClair described a yearlong process of computerized pollution dispersion models that would have to be developed and vetted before his department determined whether the refinery could operate so close to the national park without causing a significant deterioration of its Class I air quality.
There will be a lot of hoops and a lot of regulations, OClair said of the federal Clean Air Act adopted by the state.
The company had specifically asked the county to approve zoning without waiting for the air quality permit so it could get a jump on the construction season, according to Meridian Energy Group project manager Dan Hedrington.
Theyre doing a really thorough job," he said of the county's decision to slow down.
The projects proximity to a Class I air zone limited in North Dakota to the national park units and the Lostwood National Wildlife Refuge will present a significant challenge, one the company says it can meet with state-of-the-art pollution control technology.
If the air quality permit is rejected for the location between Fryburg and Belfield, Hedrington said its possible another site could be utilized. He said that location is confidential for now.
The meeting generated a few questions, but Arthaud postponed detailed discussion until July, when more folks with answers would be in the room.
Well make a day of it, he said, adding that meeting could raise even more questions, and he didnt want to speculate about whether the commission would act on the zoning recommendation at that time.
Karen May, who owns property near the project, said she would like to know what the countys cost would be in infrastructure, fire protection and any other public services.
May said area residents have a complicated economic life, supported by ranching, oil and tourism, all of them cyclical.
For that reason, she said such a huge decision with broad implications should be made by a regional group of counties and cities.
I dont have an ax to grind, and Im not saying its bad. But we will all pay for this, she said.
While May was speaking in a rhetorical sense, Arthaud did say Billings County will not pay for any infrastructure for the project. He also pointed out that the countys property tax base is low because so much land in the county is owned and managed by the federal government. The refinery would add a $900 million project to the countys tax base.
Meridian has applied to the State Water Commission for a groundwater permit to draw 400 gallons per minute from the Dakota Group formation.
WWE fans can catch tonight's episode of Raw with an online live stream!
The June 6 episode will air live from the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma at 8 p.m. ET, setting the stage for John Cena's ongoing battle to find a home in the New Era.
The Leader of the Cenation returned to Raw last week, but his homecoming was far from glorious. Cena took a beating courtesy of AJ Styles and the Club, and, now that he and the Phenomenal One are set to go head to head at Money in the Bank, you can expect to see sparks fly just two weeks before the pay-per-view.
Cena and styles aren't the only ones gearing up for June's infamous set of ladder matches. Seth Rollins is primed to recapture his WWE World Heavyweight title from the Big Dog (not that it was every Reigns' to begin with) and fans are hoping that the pair's taunting will finally turn to blows during this week's Raw.
Else where, Money in the Bank's top six contenders will continue their fight to ensure pay-per-view victory. Sami Zayn, Cesaro, Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose, Kevin Owens, and Alberto Del Rio are all vying for the WWE World Heavyweight contract and, according to WWE, it's just a matter of time before tensions boil over.
Click here to catch an online live stream of Monday Night Raw.
Back in 2014, Samsung released a promotional video featuring a device which could fold into a phone and unfold into a tablet. Though the concept was extremely innovative and well-received by the public, the device never really made it to consumers. That is, of course, until now.
According to sources, who have opted to remain anonymous, Samsung is planning on finally introducing devices with bendable screens next year, possibly on the Mobile World Congress (MWC) that is set to be held on February 2017.
The two devices are alleged to be two smartphone models that would comprise a completely different line of Samsung devices. Thus, as much as the technology is revolutionary, the bendable devices would not ship with the esteemed "S" branding.
Nevertheless, bendable screens on devices are something that has never been introduced to the mainstream market before. Plus, the two smartphones which are alleged to feature the technology seem to be pretty nifty as well. The sources alleged that one of the devices would fold in half, much like a cosmetic compact, while the other would be a 5-inch smartphone that could stretch to an 8-inch tablet.
Indeed, the concept of the devices is enough to get many tech aficionados excited. Lee Seung Woo, an analyst at IBK Securities Co. in Seoul, believes that the introduction of the bendable devices could very well spell victory for Samsung for a few years, at least until competitors catch up to the technology.
"This product could be a game-changer if Samsung successfully comes up with a user interface suitable for bendable screens. Next year is a probable scenario. Their biggest obstacle was related to making transparent plastics and making them durable, which seems resolved by now," Lee said.
Samsung's fascination with bendable phones since 2008. During that year, the South Korean tech giant unveiled a prototype of a device that utilizes two tiled screens. After that brief demonstration, Samsung's bendable devices showed up again in the famous 2014 promotional concept video. Since then, however, the tech giant has been quite silent about the development of its (literally) flexible devices.
If the sources are correct, 2017 could very well be the year when devices with flexible screens make it to the mainstream market.
BEER-SHEVA, June 6, 2016... Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers have found that medical marijuana users experience significant pain relief and function with only minor side effects, according to a new study.
It is the first study on the characteristics of patients who have permission from the Israel Health Ministry to seek treatment with medical marijuana.
The study, led by Prof. Pesach Shvartzman of BGU's Faculty of Health Sciences, was recently presented at the Sixth International Jerusalem Conference on Health Policy. The conference was organized by the Israel National Institute for Health Policy Research.
"Although medical cannabis has been legal for a decade and is licensed to patients to relieve pain and other symptoms, there has been no information about the users themselves," Prof. Shvartzman explains.
The study examined more than 2,000 cancer and non-cancer patients using medical marijuana with a focus on their socioeconomic characteristics, dosages, previous treatment, treatment safety, and side effects, as well as overall treatment effectiveness. Patients were interviewed by telephone in the first three months of treatment and subsequently every four months for two years.
Users reported in later interviews that their pain, nausea, anxiety, appetite, and general feeling had improved. Fewer than one in 10 stopped taking the drug due to side effects or ineffectiveness after the first interview, and only six percent after the second interview.
Nearly all of the participants (99.6 percent) sought a marijuana prescription after trying other conventional medications that were ineffective, while more than half (56 percent) reported seeking drugs with fewer side effects.
More than three quarters (77 percent) experienced minor side effects that included dry mouth (61 percent) and hunger (60 percent). Some 44 percent reported elevated moods.
Medical marijuana treatment has become popular and accepted over the last few years in Israel, with approximately 20,000 registered users and 50 more approved each week by the Health Ministry.
"Israel is truly at the forefront of medical marijuana," says Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance in Washington, D.C.
###
About American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) plays a vital role in sustaining David Ben-Gurion's vision: creating a world-class institution of education and research in the Israeli desert, nurturing the Negev community and sharing the University's expertise locally and around the globe. With some 20,000 students on campuses in Beer-Sheva, Sede Boqer and Eilat in Israel's southern desert, BGU is a university with a conscience, where the highest academic standards are integrated with community involvement committed to sustainable development of the Negev. AABGU, which is headquartered in Manhattan, has nine regional offices throughout the United States. For more information, visit http://www.aabgu.org
1. Among active duty military, Army personnel most at risk for violent suicide
Firearms the most common cause of suicide death across all branches of service
Abstract: http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/M15-2785
URL goes live when the embargo lifts
A study of rates and predictors of suicide among active duty enlisted service members found that Army personnel were most at risk for violent suicide. Firearms were determined to be the primary cause of suicide death across all branches of service. The findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide and a growing concern among those serving in the U.S. military, where overall suicide rates almost doubled between 2001 and 2011. Understanding suicide trends among military units and the nonclinical factors associated with chosen suicide methods may help to improve suicide prevention strategies.
Researchers studied a U.S. military suicide data repository to calculate suicide rates for all active duty enlisted U.S. military personnel in each branch of the military from 2005 to 2011. The authors also looked at methods of suicide to identify those at risk for firearm-specific suicide. The data showed that suicide rates were highest among army personnel. Among suicides with a known cause of death, 62 percent were attributed to firearms. In addition, the results suggest that among army personnel or marines who committed suicide, those with infantry or special operations job classifications were more likely than those in noninfantry positions to use a firearm to commit suicide. According to the authors, these findings may help to guide efforts to prevent self-harm within the military.
Note: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Cara Graeff. For an interview with the lead author, Dr. Andrew Anglemyer, please contact Dale Kuska at dmkuska@nps.edu or Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Gregory Flores at glflores@nps.edu.
2. TAVI may reduce mortality rates better than surgery for aortic stenosis
Abstract: http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/M16-0060
URL goes live when the embargo lifts
Compared with surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR), transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) may have better early and midterm outcomes for patients with severe aortic stenosis, including reduced early myocardial infarction and all-cause mortality. A systematic evidence review and meta-analysis is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
In recent years, TAVI has become preferred alternative to surgical valve replacement for patients at high surgical risk. Currently, interest is increasing in comparative studies of TAVI and SAVR in patients at low or intermediate surgical risk. In one recent trial, TAVI was not found to be superior to SAVR for reducing all-cause mortality, stroke, or myocardial infarction at one year. Another trial in patients at intermediate risk showed no statistically significant differences between TAVI and SAVR for reducing death or stroke at two years.
Given several recent studies, extended follow-up of previous studies, and some conflicting results, researchers conducted an updated meta-analysis comparing clinical outcomes, including short- and mid-term mortality, of adult patients with severe aortic stenosis undergoing either TAVI or SAVI. The data showed that TAVI may have similar or reduced early and midterm all-cause mortality outcomes in patients with high and low to intermediate surgical risk. Transfemoral TAVI seemed to provide a clear mortality benefit over SAVR. TAVI was also associated with significantly less myocardial infarction, major bleeding, acute kidney injury, and new-onset atrial fibrillation. However, SAVR significantly reduced pacemaker implantation, vascular complications, and paravalvular leak. According to the researchers, these results consolidate the role of TAVI as an alternative to SAVR for adults with severe aortic stenosis.
Note: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Cara Graeff. For an interview with the lead author Giovanni Esposito MD, PhD, please contact him directly at espogiov@unina.it or +39 0817463075.
3. To treat or not to treat? Guidelines and physician opinions vary on treating subclinical hypothyroidism
Annals of Internal Medicine and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center go "Beyond the Guidelines" to discuss whether or not to treat subclinical hypothyroidism
Abstract: http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/M16-0857
URL goes live when the embargo lifts
Should a patient be treated for subclinical hypothyroidism? Two experts debate the topic in a multicomponent educational article being published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Currently, clinical guidelines differ on whether or not patients should be screened for thyroid dysfunction or treated for subclinical hypothyroidism. An evidence review for the USPSTF found adequate evidence that treating subclinical hypothyroidism did not provide clinically meaningful improvements in several measures of health or quality-of-life. Evidence was inadequate to determine whether screening for thyroid dysfunction reduced cardiovascular disease or related morbidity and mortality. Therefore, their guidelines do not recommend screening for thyroid dysfunction in asymptomatic adults or treating hypothyroidism. Separate guidelines from the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and the American Thyroid Association are more aggressive. They say that subclinical hypothyroidism adversely affects cardiovascular outcomes and thus merits case-finding in patients with certain clinical conditions or characteristics.
In this Beyond the Guidelines article, two physicians with differing opinions weigh the benefits and harms of treating a patient with subclinical hypothyroidism. Their debate is presented in a question and answer format, and includes video interviews with the patient and physicians. All Beyond the Guidelines papers are based on the Department of Medicine Grand Rounds at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Each session focuses on care of a patient who "falls between the cracks" in available evidence and for whom the optimal clinical management is unclear. Such situations include those in which a guideline finds evidence insufficient to make a recommendation, a patient does not fit criteria mapped out in recommendations, or different organizations provide conflicting recommendations. A list of topics is available at http://www.annals.org/grandrounds.
Note: The URLs, including video link, will be live when the embargo lifts. For an embargoed PDF, please contact Cara Graeff. To interview the lead author, please contact Lizzie Williamson at erwillia@bidmc.harvard.edu or 617-632-8217.
4. Annals Graphic Medicine feature paints vivid picture of life with OCD
Free content: http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/G15-0018
URL goes live when the embargo lifts
The author of an Annals Graphic Medicine feature entitled A Brief Anatomy of My Anxiety: The OCD Variety, uses compelling visuals to describe what life is like living with OCD. Annals Graphic Medicine uses the creativity of the graphic novel format to address medically relevant topics. These free features are often poignant and thought-provoking. A complete list of topics is available at http://www.annals.org/graphicmedicine.
Note: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Cara Graeff. Dr. William Doane can be contacted directly at wjd13@psu.edu or on his cell at 513-461-1395.
###
Also new in this issue:
Control of an Outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in a Tertiary Hospital in Korea
Ga Eun Park, MD; Jae-Hoon Ko, MD; Kyong Ran Peck, MD, PhD; Ji Yeon Lee, MD; Ji Yong Lee, MD; Sun Young Cho, MD; Young Eun Ha, MD; Cheol-In Kang, MD, PhD; Ji-Man Kang, MD; Yae-Jean Kim, MD, PhD; Hee Jae Huh, MD, PhD; Chang-Seok Ki, MD, PhD; Nam Yong Lee, MD, PhD; Jun Haeng Lee, MD, PhD; Ik Joon Jo, MD, PhD; Byeong-Ho Jeong, MD; Gee Young Suh, MD, PhD; Jinkyeong Park, MD; Chi Ryang Chung, MD, PhD; Jae-Hoon Song, MD, PhD; and Doo Ryeon Chung, MD, PhD
Original Research
http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/M15-2495
New York, NY (June 7, 2016)A single exposure to general anesthesia poses no cognitive risk to healthy children under age 3, a critical time in brain development, according to a multicenter study led by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Childrens Hospital. Findings from the PANDA (Pediatric Anesthesia Neurodevelopment Assessment) study, the largest and most comprehensive of its kind, were published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
A number of animal studies have suggested that exposure to commonly used anesthetic agents in early development could lead to deficits in learning, memory, attention, and other cognitive functions, says lead author Lena S. Sun, MD, the Emanuel M. Papper Professor of Pediatric Anesthesiology and professor of pediatrics at Columbia and chief of pediatric anesthesiology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Childrens Hospital. However, few clinical studies have adequately addressed whether this is also true in humans. Based on our findings, we can reassure parents that one exposure to anesthesia is safe for healthy young children.
The potential neurotoxicity of anesthetic agents commonly used in general anesthesia has been one of the most pressing concerns in pediatric surgery in the past decade. The PANDA project is among the most rigorously designed studies aimed at addressing this concern. Our findings should be reassuring to millions of parents whose young children need to undergo surgical procedures under general anesthesia across the world each year, said Guohua Li, DrPH, MD, the Mieczyslaw Finster Professor of Anesthesiology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, professor of epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, and a co-author of the paper.
An estimated 2 million children in the United States undergo anesthesia each year, roughly two-thirds for surgical procedures such as hernia repair, circumcision, and tonsillectomy. Anesthesia is also often used in diagnostic procedures, including imaging studies and endoscopies.
The PANDA study examined whether exposure to a single anesthetic of short duration (median of 80 minutes) in children under age 3 had an effect on global cognitive function (IQ) later in life.
The study included 105 healthy children who underwent surgical repair of inguinal herniaone of the most common operations of early childhoodat one of four sites.
IQ scores and secondary neurodevelopmental outcomes, including memory, learning, processing speed, visuospatial function, attention, executive function, language, and behavior, were assessed when the children were between the ages of 8 and 15, allowing enough time after exposure to anesthesia for any impairments to emerge. Outcomes for each child were compared with those of a healthy, biologically related sibling of a similar age who was not exposed to anesthesia.
There was no significant difference in IQ scores between the children who were exposed to anesthesia and siblings who were not, says Dr. Sun. We also saw no difference in most of the secondary outcomes, although more children in the group exposed to anesthesia exhibited internalizing behavior that required further clinical evaluation. Thats an area that needs to be further explored.
Internalizing behaviors are behaviors that are directed inward. Examples of negative or problematic internalizing behaviors include anxiety, social withdrawal, and feelings of loneliness and guilt.
Overall, this is good news for parents whose children need anesthesia for elective surgery or a diagnostic procedure, said Dr. Sun.
But the PANDA study leaves some important questions unanswered, she adds. We need to take a closer look at the effect of anesthesia on cognitive function in girls, since most of the subjects in the group exposed to anesthesia were boys. Also, we need to look at the effects of repeated and prolonged exposure to anesthesia, as well as the effects of anesthesia on more vulnerable subgroups, such as children with serious medical conditions.
###
The study is titled, Association Between A Single General Anesthetic Exposure Before Age 36 Months and Neurocognitive Outcomes in Later Childhood. The other contributors are: Tonya L.K. Miller (Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA), Cynthia Salorio (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD), Mary W. Byrne (CUMC), David C. Bellinger (Harvard), Caleb H. Ing (NYP/MSCH), Raymond Park (Harvard), Jerilynn Radcliffe (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA), Stephen R. Hays (Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Nashville, TN), Charles J. DiMaggio (New York University School of Medicine New York, NY), Timothy J. Cooper (Vanderbilt), Virginia Rauh (Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia), Lynne G. Maxwell (University of Pennsylvania), Ahrim Youn (Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia), and Francis X. McGowan (University of Pennsylvania).
The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R34 HD060741 and UL1 TR000040), the Food and Drug Administration (HHSF223200810036C), SmartTots, Columbia University, Vanderbilt University, Boston Childrens Hospital, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.
Dr. Sun receives consultant fees from Merck Research Laboratories to attend a Pediatric Anesthesia Scientific Investigators Engagement meeting. Dr. Li serves as director of the Columbia University CDC-funded Injury Control Research Center (1 R49 CE002096). He also receives research funding from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Dr. Bellinger serves as a co-investigator on the General Anesthesia Study (GAS) Trial. He is the PI (with ME McCann) of a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health (HD084566) that funds the U.S. sites of the GAS trial. Dr. Radcliffe reports receiving NIH funding for research, as well as consultant fees from the City of Philadelphia and Columbia University unrelated to the PANDA project. Dr. Maxwell has served on the data safety monitoring board for a clinical trial funded by The Medicines Company (Parsippany, NJ), for which she received a consulting fee. She also reports serving as site PI for two clinical trials funded by Grunenthal (Aachen, Germany). Dr. McGowan reports receiving consulting fees from Merck Research Laboratories (Kenilworth, NJ). Dr. Hays reports being a site primary investigator for industry-sponsored licensing studies from Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Dublin, Ireland), Cadence Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (San Diego, CA, USA), Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals (Dublin, Ireland), and the Grunenthal Group (Aachen, Germany), outside the submitted work. No other authors reported disclosures.
Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, preclinical, and clinical research; medical and health sciences education; and patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and State and one of the largest faculty medical practices in the Northeast. For more information, visit cumc.columbia.edu or columbiadoctors.org.
NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital
NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, located in New York City, offers the best available care in every area of pediatrics -- including the most complex neonatal and critical care, and all areas of pediatric subspecialties -- in a family-friendly and technologically advanced setting. Building a reputation for more than a century as one of the nation's premier children's hospitals, Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital is affiliated with the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and is Manhattan's only hospital dedicated solely to the care of children and one of the largest providers of children's health services in the tri-state area with a long-standing commitment to its community. It is also a major international referral center, meeting the special needs of children from infancy through adolescence worldwide. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital also comprises NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division, NewYork-Presbyterian/The Allen Hospital and NewYork-Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan Hospital. The hospital is also closely affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian/Hudson Valley Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian/Lawrence Hospital and NewYork-Presbyterian/Queens. NewYork-Presbyterian is the #1 hospital in the New York metropolitan area, according to U.S. News & World Report, and consistently named to the magazine's Honor Roll of best hospitals in the nation. For more information, visit http://www.nyp.org.
Berkeley Lab, UC Berkeley researchers developing new tools to capture chemotherapy drugs before they circulate throughout the body
Doctors have a powerful arsenal of cancer-fighting chemotherapy drugs to choose from, though a key challenge is to better target these drugs to kill tumors while limiting their potentially harmful side effects.
Now, researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) are helping to develop and test materials for a new device that can be inserted via a tiny tube into a vein and soak up most of these drugs like a sponge. That's after a separate tube delivers a more concentrated dose to tumors -- and before the drugs can widely circulate in the bloodstream.
Researchers say the drug-capture system could also potentially be applied to antibiotic treatments in combating dangerous bacterial infections while limiting their side effects.
From Fuel Cell to Cancer Treatment
X. Chelsea Chen, a postdoctoral researcher working in the Soft Matter Electron Microscopy program in Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division, had been investigating polymer membranes--which help current to flow in a fuel cell that converts hydrogen and oxygen into electricity -- when she learned about the concept for this new type of medical device.
She saw that the proposed drug-capture device could benefit from the same property in the fuel cell material, which allows it to attract and capture certain molecules by their electric charge while allowing other types of molecules to flow through.
"We used to use this material for transporting protons in a fuel cell," Chen said. "I was really excited when I found out this could be used for chemotherapy -- this was branching out in a totally different direction." The polymer material includes polyethylene, which is strong and flexible and is used for garbage bags, and another polymer containing sulfonic acid, which has a negative electric charge.
Certain types of chemotherapy drugs, such as doxorubicin, which is used to treat liver cancer, have a positive charge, so the polymer material attracts and binds the drug molecules. "In our lab experiments, the current design can absorb 90 percent of the drug in 25-30 minutes," Chen said.
That is important, since an increasingly popular liver-cancer treatment, known as TACE, can allow up to half of the chemotherapy dose to reach the rest of the body even though it is intended to reduce its circulation.
Removing a toxin after tumor treatment
"Doxorubicin has been around for decades. It is very well understood, and it is also very toxic," said Steven Hetts, an associate professor of radiology at UC San Francisco and an interventional neuroradiologist at the UCSF Medical Center who conceived of the new treatment system, called ChemoFilter. "If you get exposed to too much, when it goes through the heart you can go into heart failure." So doctors are very careful with the dose.
Hetts specializes in treating eye tumors by navigating a tube, called a catheter, from the femoral artery in the thigh to the opthalmic artery that supplies blood to the affected eye, and pumping chemotherapy medication through the catheter to the tumor.
"You can get very high concentrations of that chemotherapy in the eye and relatively low concentrations in the rest of the body, but some will wash through the eye and into the veins in the head," Hetts said, "so you can have side effects from that."
Hetts began to question, "Is there a way to drain, to remove that excess drug before it has side effects? If you can remove a lot of the drug, you could escalate the dose of the drug you can give, for better tumor control and potentially a cure -- and you could basically eliminate any side effects.
"It occurred to me that maybe we could navigate a separate catheter into the vein that drains the blood, and have a material that binds up any excess chemotherapy," he said.
While the eye cancers he treats are rare -- there are several hundred children per year in the U.S. who are affected by this kind of tumor--he saw a parallel need to improve the treatment options for liver cancer, which is far more pervasive: It is the third-leading cause of cancer deaths globally, with an estimated half a million new cases each year.
Bringing a medical device from drawing board to market
In 2013 his staff reached out to Nitash Balsara, a senior scientist at Berkeley Lab and a chemical engineering professor at UC Berkeley and lead-PI of the Soft Matter Electron Microscopy program in Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division, to pursue the idea, and Chen began to work on materials based on Hetts' concept. The research team received a patent for a ChemoFilter system in April.
The patented device features a nickel-titanium metal frame in a collapsible flower-petal array, attached to a thin polymer membrane that can be expanded out from a catheter to absorb a drug. In a preclinical study, a ChemoFilter device was inserted into a pig and was found to reduce the peak concentration of the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin by about 85 percent.
The device will hopefully find use in human cancer treatment within a couple of years, Hetts said.
Next-gen drug-capture devices
Chen and other researchers are also working on next-generation ChemoFilter devices that use a different mix of materials and different methods to remove drugs from the body, though those will likely take longer to receive federal approval for use.
Researchers at Caltech in Pasadena, Calif., are working to coat the ChemoFilter membranes with DNA segments that can bind with specific drug molecules. "DNA could be great to remove a lot of different chemotherapy drugs," Hetts said.
The membranes could also be designed to capture antibiotics to treat potentially deadly infections from anthrax and other bacteria, and there are many applications in veterinary medicine, too, he said.
Chen uses facilities at Berkeley Lab's Molecular Foundry to develop specialized polymers for ChemoFilter devices.
She also uses the Foundry's National Center for Electron Microscopy and conducts X-ray experiments at the lab's Advanced Light Source and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory's Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource to study the nanostructure of the polymer materials she develops, and to better understand the drug-capture mechanism at microscopic scales and inform new designs.
"Without these awesome images from the Foundry and ALS, we wouldn't know how to optimize the performance of the materials," Chen said.
"We are actively searching for new materials and mechanisms" for the polymer membranes, she added. Researchers are exploring the use of 3-D-printed materials, for example, that can be coated with charged particles to attract and bind drug molecules.
A growth trend
Stephen Solomon, chief of Interventional Radiology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, said the application of the TACE procedure has been increasing since the late '90s, and it has been shown to extend patient survival for those with liver cancer.
Solomon said he was familiar with the general concept of the ChemoFilter system: "One of the goals of any procedure involving chemotherapy is to minimize toxicity outside of the targeted organ, and the hope of this technology is to limit such toxicity."
Hetts said he looks forward to the development of more "cutting-edge" versions of ChemoFilter devices that are tailored to a wide range of treatments.
"This project has moved forward nicely and I'm really impressed," he said. "It's been a great experience in coming together to create these devices, and I'm looking forward to continuing it."
###
The Molecular Foundry, Advanced Light Source and Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource are DOE Office of Science User Facilities.
This work is supported by the DOE Office of Science and the National Institutes of Health.
Learn more about the work conducted by Nitash Balsara's research group: http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/npbgrp/.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit http://www.lbl.gov.
DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology looked at nearly 29 million tweets surrounding four recent Black Lives Matter (BLM) events to identify the social media patterns of its activists. They found that the community is unlike many other social movements because of its ability to bond over the course of many months. More than a third of those who participated via social media for the first time continued their participation during the next BLM event. The study also found being from a state with historically high rates of black victimization due to police violence, especially in the South and Midwest, was linked to peoples' response on social media even if the state wasn't the scene of the current BLM event. The researchers also found a change in tone on Twitter the day before protests sprung up around the nation.
The Georgia Tech study is among the first to examine the online language of the BLM movement. It collected tweets surrounding four major events: the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri (August 2014); the decision not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson (November 2014); protests and the shooting deaths of two New York City police officers (December 2014); and the death of Freddie Gray while in custody of Baltimore police officers (April 2015).
The team also plugged in data of more than 10,000 deaths due to police shootings since 2000. From that, it outlined which states, based on their African-American population, had the highest rates of deaths. Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico were among the highest in the mainland United States.
"These were the same states where we found very negative language on Twitter during Black Lives Matter events," said Munmun De Choudhury, the Georgia Tech assistant professor who led the study. "Other areas, especially in the South and Midwest, used words about death to express their feelings. Potentially, Twitter users in states with historically higher rates of fatal police shootings of blacks tend to interact with others to seek and provide psychosocial support around issues of racial inequality."
However, much of that negativity disappeared on the immediate eve of protests. Language changed. The researchers noticed that tweets about death, anger and first person singular nouns transformed into more posts about family, friends and first person plural pronouns.
"We saw more sadness but lower anger and anxiety the day before protests," said Benjamin Sugar, a Georgia Tech master's student who co-authored the study. "It doesn't mean they weren't angry or anxious. But in 140 characters, people showed thoughts of moving forward and making a difference."
BLM was born on Facebook in 2013 following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Florida's Trayvon Martin. During each subsequent event, the movement has contradicted typical Twitter stereotypes. The study found that on average 36 percent of first-time BLM users participated again.
"Other hashtags movements have helped spread awareness about important issues, but many of them quickly lose their momentum," said Shagun Jhaver, a Georgia Tech Ph.D. student and co-author. "The Black Lives Matter movement realizes it's part of a long-term social transformation and shows continual engagement. And it continues despite having no formal hierarchal structure."
The research, "Social Media Participation in an Activist Movement for Racial Equality," won best paper when it was presented last month at the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media in Germany. It was funded, in part, by the National Institutes of Health (#1R01GM11269701). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Institutes of Health.
###
Nearly four in 10 news stories about mental illness analyzed by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers connect mental illness with violent behavior toward others, even though less than five percent of violence in the United States is directly related to mental illness.
The findings, published in the June issue of Health Affairs, suggest that this routine linkage of mental illness with violence toward others paints an unfair portrait of those with mental illness, suggesting that most are prone to violence when numerous studies have concluded that only a small percentage actually commit violence. The researchers, who examined a sample of stories published in top-tier media outlets over a 20-year period, say they were surprised that there was little change in how the media portrayed people with mental illness. If anything, they say, the portrayals may have increased the stigma toward people with mental illness. Just one percent of newspaper stories linking violence with mental illness appearing on the front page in the first decade of the study period (1994 to 2005) compared with 18 percent in the second decade (2005 to 2014).
"Most people with mental illness are not violent toward others and most violence is not caused by mental illness, but you would never know that by looking at media coverage of incidents," says study leader Emma E. "Beth" McGinty, PhD, MS, an assistant professor in the departments of Health Policy and Management and Mental Health at the Bloomberg School. "Despite all of the work that has been done to reduce stigma associated with mental health issues, this portrayal of mental illness as closely linked with violence exacerbates a false perception about people with these illnesses, many of whom live healthy, productive lives.
"In an ideal world, reporting would make clear the low percentage of people with mental illness who commit violence."
In any given year, 20 percent of the U.S. population suffers from mental illness and, over a lifetime, roughly 50 percent receive a diagnosis.
For their study, the researchers analyzed a random sample of 400 news stories about mental illness over a 20-year period that appeared in 11 high-circulation, high-viewership media outlets in the United States. The most frequently mentioned topic across the study period was violence (55 percent), with 38 percent mentioning violence against others and 29 percent linking mental illness with suicide. Treatment is mentioned in 47 percent of stories but just 14 percent described successful treatment for or recovery from mental illness.
"Stories about successful treatment have the potential to decrease stigma and provide a counter image to depictions of violence, but there are not that many of these types of narratives depicted in the news media," McGinty says.
A deeper dive into the media coverage found that depictions of mass shootings by individuals with mental illness increased over the course of the study period, from nine percent of all news stories in the first decade to 22 percent in the second decade. The number of mass shootings, according to FBI statistics, has remained steady over the time period. Among the stories that mentioned violence toward others, 38 percent mentioned that mental illness can increase the risk of such violence while eight percent mentioned that most people with mental illness are never or rarely violent toward others.
Schizophrenia was the specific diagnosis most frequently mentioned as related to violence (17 percent) and the two most frequently mentioned risk factors for violence other than mental illness were drug use (five percent) and stressful life events (five percent).
One limitation of the study is that it did not include stories from local television news, where large segments of Americans get their news.
McGinty says the negative stories add to the perception that people with mental illness are dangerous, a stigmatizing portrayal that prior studies have shown leads to a desire for social distance from people with mental illness: people who say they wouldn't want to work with someone with mental illness or wouldn't want someone with mental illness to marry into their families. Such stigma can lead to a reluctance among people with symptoms to seek treatment, problems staying in treatment and discrimination regarding housing and employment.
She concedes, however, that it may be difficult for members of the news media not to assume mental illness is in play because of the idea among many that anyone who would commit violence, especially mass shootings, must have mental illness.
"Anyone who kills people is not mentally healthy. We can all agree on that," McGinty says. "But it's not necessarily true that they have a diagnosable illness. They may have anger or emotional issues, which can be clinically separate from a diagnosis of mental illness. Violence may stem from alcohol or drug use, issues related to poverty or childhood abuse. But these elements are rarely discussed. And as a result, coverage is skewed toward assuming mental illness first."
###
"Trends in News Media Coverage of Mental Illness in the United States: 1995--2014" was written by Emma E. "Beth" McGinty, Alene Kennedy-Hendricks, Seema Choksy and Colleen Barry.
In collaboration with researchers at Nanjing Agricultural University, Dr Tony Miller from the John Innes Centre has developed rice crops with an improved ability to manage their own pH levels, enabling them to take up significantly more nitrogen, iron and phosphorous from soil and increase yield by up to 54 percent.
Rice is a major crop, feeding almost 50 percent of the world's population and has retained the ability to survive in changing environmental conditions. The crop is able to thrive in flooded paddy fields -- where the soggy, anaerobic conditions favour the availability of ammonium -- as well as in much drier, drained soil, where increased oxygen means more nitrate is available. nitrogen fertilizer is a major cost in growing many cereal crops and its overuse has a negative environmental impact.
The nitrogen that all plants need to grow is typically available in the form of nitrate or ammonium ions in the soil, which are taken up by the plant roots. For the plant, getting the right balance of nitrate and ammonium is very important: too much ammonium and plant cells become alkaline; too much nitrate and they become acidic. Either way, upsetting the pH balance means the plant's enzymes do not work as well, affecting plant health and crop yield.
Together with the partners in Nanjing, China, Dr Miller's team has been working out how rice plants can maintain pH under these changing environments.
Rice contains a gene called OsNRT2.3, which creates a protein involved in nitrate transport. This one gene makes two slightly different versions of the protein: OsNRT2.3a and OsNRT2.3b. Following tests to determine the role of both versions of the protein, Dr Miller's team found that OsNRT2.3b is able to switch nitrate transport on or off, depending on the internal pH of the plant cell.
When this 'b' protein was overexpressed in rice plants they were better able to buffer themselves against pH changes in their environment. This enabled them to take up much more nitrogen, as well as more iron and phosphorus. These rice plants gave a much higher yield of rice grain (up to 54 percent more yield), and their nitrogen use efficiency increased by up to 40 percent.
Dr Miller said: "Now that we know this particular protein found in rice plants can greatly increase nitrogen efficiency and yields, we can begin to produce new varieties of rice and other crops. These findings bring us a significant step closer to being able to produce more of the world's food with a lower environmental impact."
This new technology has been patented by PBL, the John Innes Centre's innovation management company, and has already been licensed to 3 different companies to develop new varieties of 6 different crop species.
###
This study, which will be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and grants from the Chinese Government.
Notes to editors
1. The paper "Overexpression of a pH-sensitive nitrate transporter in rice increases crop yields" has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/06/01/1525184113.full
2. An image of Dr Miller can be found at: http://bit.ly/1PfMsrz
3. If you have any questions or would like to interview Professor Miller, please contact:
Geraldine Platten,
Communications Manager, the John Innes Centre
T: 01603 450 238
E: Geraldine.platten@jic.ac.uk
4. About the John Innes Centre
The John Innes Centre is an independent, international centre of excellence in plant science and microbiology.Our mission is to generate knowledge of plants and microbes through innovative research, to train scientists for the future, to apply our knowledge of nature's diversity to benefit agriculture, the environment, human health and wellbeing, and engage with policy makers and the public.
To achieve these goals we establish pioneering long-term research objectives in plant and microbial science, with a focus on genetics. These objectives include promoting the translation of research through partnerships to develop improved crops and to make new products from microbes and plants for human health and other applications. We also create new approaches, technologies and resources that enable research advances and help industry to make new products. The knowledge, resources and trained researchers we generate help global societies address important challenges including providing sufficient and affordable food, making new products for human health and industrial applications, and developing sustainable bio-based manufacturing.
This provides a fertile environment for training the next generation of plant and microbial scientists, many of whom go on to careers in industry and academia, around the world.
The John Innes Centre is strategically funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). In 2014-2015 the John Innes Centre received a total of 36.9 million from the BBSRC.
The John Innes Centre is the winner of the BBSRC's 2013 - 2016 Excellence With Impact award.
5. About the BBSRC
The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) invests in world-class bioscience research and training on behalf of the UK public. Our aim is to further scientific knowledge, to promote economic growth, wealth and job creation and to improve quality of life in the UK and beyond.
Funded by Government, BBSRC invested over 509M in world-class bioscience in 2014-15. We support research and training in universities and strategically funded institutes. BBSRC research and the people we fund are helping society to meet major challenges, including food security, green energy and healthier, longer lives. Our investments underpin important UK economic sectors, such as farming, food, industrial biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.
For more information about BBSRC, our science and our impact see: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk For more information about BBSRC strategically funded institutes see: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/institutes
6. About PBL
Plant Bioscience Limited: PBL is an IP management and technology development company, investing in emerging technology across the life sciences. The Company is jointly and equally owned by The John Innes Centre, The Sainsbury Laboratory and the BBSRC. PBL brings together innovative technologies from public research sources worldwide, invests in building intellectual property protection and technology development, and commercialises through licensing and, where appropriate, new venture formation. Contact: info@pbltechnology.com
7. For further information about Nanjing Agricultural University visit: http://english.njau.edu.cn/
Professor Derya Unutmaz, M.D., of The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, will receive five years of funding -- totaling $3,281,515 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases -- to find better ways to diagnose and treat myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), the debilitating and mysterious condition more generally known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 836,000 and 2.5 million Americans suffer from ME/CFS. Symptoms include profound fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, sleep abnormalities and pain.
Researchers have identified several potential environmental triggers and faulty immune system components associated with ME/CFS, but the immunological basis for the disease remains murky. Moreover, the symptoms and severity of ME/CFS vary widely among patients.
Unutmaz proposes to undertake a major study of ME/CFS patients, screening blood samples for potential immunological biomarkers of the disease, and using the results to develop better diagnostic tools and personalized treatments for the disease.
###
The Jackson Laboratory is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institution with more than 1,700 employees. Headquartered in Bar Harbor, Maine, it has a National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center, a facility in Sacramento, Calif., and a genomic medicine institute in Farmington, Conn. Its mission is to discover precise genomic solutions for disease and empower the global biomedical community in the shared quest to improve human health.
Microbiologists have concocted an artificial seawater medium that can be used to successfully cultivate abundant marine microorganisms, many of which have not been genetically characterized before. The recipe and study led by LSU doctoral candidate Michael Henson from Sylvania, Ohio and LSU Assistant Professor Cameron Thrash with support from LSU undergraduate researchers David Pitre from Houma, La., Celeste Lanclos from Opelousas, La. and Jessica Lee Weckhorst from Denham Springs, La. was published recently in the open access journal, mSphere.
"Less than 1 percent of microbes have been cultivated, and we need new cultures," Henson said.
The research team developed a suite of four artificial sea water media that vary based on salinity to make it more accessible to more people to conduct this research.
"We developed an artificial media which means you can make it in the lab; and anyone can order these chemicals and make this media anywhere in the world," Thrash said.
The artificial seawater media consists of about 60 ingredients that include chemical elements such as calcium, sodium, magnesium plus organic and inorganic nitrogen, carbon, trace metals and B vitamins.
Prior to this discovery, many of the most abundant microorganisms in the ocean that have been successfully cultured were done so with the aid of natural seawater media. Seawater is naturally low in nutrients, and many marine microbes are adapted to those conditions. The painstaking culturing process that includes filtering and sterilizing the seawater can pose many challenges. First, it requires access to large volumes of seawater, which can be logistically challenging for research labs that are not located near the coast. Secondly, the composition of natural seawater is not clearly defined or understood; therefore, it is difficult to characterize it physiologically. Thirdly, the composition of seawater at various times and places chemically changes; it's not static.
"You get what we call 'vintages' of seawater at the same location over various periods of time," Thrash said. "Bacteria that grow easily in saltwater rarely grow easily in freshwater and vice versa."
To solve some of these challenges, his lab created a complex yet defined artificial seawater media that is portable and reproducible. Although there are other artificial seawater media available, this is the first time an artificial medium has led to the isolation of highly abundant marine microbes such as SAR11, a group of organisms that has been difficult to cultivate. This new tool may benefit genomics researchers, marine chemists and the microbial research community.
For this study, the scientists collected seawater from six sites along the southern Louisiana coast on the Gulf of Mexico that ranged in salinity from estuaries to marine environments. They diluted the microbial sample such that they could add a single cell per culture well filled with their new media via a technique called dilution-to-extinction. Then, they looked for an increase in cell growth over a few weeks, after which they extracted and sequenced DNA from the isolated microorganisms. The researchers verified the DNA of the microbes they collected in nature with the DNA of the microbes they grew in the lab. Numerous close relationships between the two groups of microorganisms shows an equal success rate for cultivation in the artificial seawater medium.
In addition to isolating highly abundant bacteria for the first time with artificial media, many of these microorganisms had never been cultured from the Gulf of Mexico before.
"We have first examples of versions of those organisms from here," Thrash said. "It's exciting."
These first cultivars are also critical to the research on how bacteria have adapted and evolved in the Gulf of Mexico compared to other parts of the world's oceans.
"We really don't know until we can cultivate these organisms if the ones in the Gulf of Mexico are the same as the ones on the Oregon coast or in the mid-Atlantic or in the Antarctic," Thrash said.
That's part of the Thrash Lab's larger research goal: to apply the Gulf of Mexico cultivars towards large-scale microbial biogeography and evolutionary studies. More than 200 strains of microorganisms from the Gulf of Mexico are part of the LSU Culture Collection. Many of these strains may be useful for other research. For example, some of these microbes may degrade hydrocarbons.
"The Gulf of Mexico is an incredibly dynamic system. The water is constantly changing in salinity. Based on those changes, you will see drastically different microbial communities. We had to develop media that reflect that dynamic," Henson said.
The researchers have made all of their data and supplemental materials publicly available online.
###
BROOKLYN, New York - Under Europe's "Right to be Forgotten" law, citizens there can petition Internet search providers such as Google to remove search results linked to personal information that is negative or defamatory. In many cases, these links lead to information about accusations of criminal activity or financial difficulties, which may be "delisted" if the information is erroneous or no longer relevant.
But "gone" doesn't always mean "forgotten," according to a new study by researchers at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering, NYU Shanghai, and the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil.
"The Right to Be Forgotten has been largely working and is responding to legitimate privacy concerns of many Europeans," said New York University Professor Keith Ross. "Our research shows, however, that a third-party, such as a transparency activist or a private investigator, can discover many delisted links and determine the names of the people who requested the delistings." Ross, the Leonard J. Shustek Professor of Computer Science at NYU Tandon and dean of engineering and computer science at NYU Shanghai, led the research team, which included Professor of Computer Science Virgilio Almeida and doctoral students Evandro Cunha and Gabriel Magno, all of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, and Minhui Xue, a doctoral student at NYU Shanghai.
They focused only on requests to delist content from mass media sites such as online newspapers and broadcast outlets. Although the law requires search engines to delist search links, it does not require newspaper articles and other source material to be removed from the Internet.
A hacker faces a fairly low bar if he or she knows a particular URL has been delisted. Of 283 delisted URLs used in the study, the authors successfully determined the names of the requesters in 103 cases.
But the authors also demonstrated that a hacker can prevail even when the URL is unknown, by downloading media articles about topics most commonly associated with delisting, including sexual assault and financial misconduct; extracting the names from the articles; then sending multiple queries to a European Google search site to see if the articles were delisted.
The researchers estimate that a third party could potentially determine 30 to 40 percent of the delisted mass-media URLs, along with the names of the people who made the delisting requests. Such hackers do exist and have published the names of people who requested delisting, thereby opening them to even more public scrutiny - the so-called "Streisand effect," a phenomenon, named for the reclusive star, whereby an attempt to hide a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely.
Their results show that the law has fundamental technical flaws that could compromise its effectiveness in the future.
Demographic analysis revealed that the majority of requesters were men, ages 20-40, and most were ordinary citizens, not celebrities. In accordance with the law, Google delisted links for persons who were wrongfully charged, acquitted, or who finished serving their sentences, among other privacy issues.
The researchers believe that defenses to these privacy attacks are limited. One possible defense would be for Google to never display the delisted URL in its search results. (Currently, Jane Doe's delisted robbery article would not show up when her name is used in a search, but would do so if the name of the bank were searched, for example.) This defense is not only a strong form of censorship, but can also be partially circumvented, they said.
A French data protection authority recently ordered Google to delist links from all of its properties including Google.com, in addition to its search engines with European suffixes. Google has so far refused, and the dispute is likely to end up in European courts. "Even if this law is extended throughout all of the Google search properties, the potential for such attacks will be unchanged and they will continue to be effective," said Almeida of the Federal University of Minas Gerais.
The researchers noted that they will never publicly share the names discovered in association with their analysis. They informed Google of the research results.
###
The paper, entitled The Right to be Forgotten in the Media: A Data-Driven Study is available at https://docs.google.com/a/nyu.edu/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=bnl1LmVkdXxrZWl0aHJvc3N8Z3g6MzA5NmYxOWZlMjcwMzM1NQ. It will be presented the 16th Annual Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium in Darmstadt, Germany, in July, and will be published in the proceedings.
The NYU Tandon School of Engineering dates to 1854, when the NYU School of Civil Engineering and Architecture as well as the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (widely known as Brooklyn Poly) were founded. Their successor institutions merged in January 2014 to create a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences, rooted in a tradition of invention, innovation and entrepreneurship. In addition to programs at its main campus in downtown Brooklyn, it is closely connected to engineering programs in NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai, and it operates business incubators in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn. For more information, visit http://engineering.nyu.edu.
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Coral reefs are declining around the world because a combination of factors -- overfishing, nutrient pollution, and pathogenic disease -- ultimately become deadly in the face of higher ocean temperatures, researchers have concluded.
A study published today in Nature Communications, based on one of the largest and longest field experiments done on this topic, suggests that the widespread coral deaths observed in recent decades are being caused by this combination of multiple local stressors and global warming.
These forces greatly weaken corals, and allow opportunistic pathogens to build to such levels that corals cannot survive.
The findings were made by researchers from six institutions following a three-year experiment that simulated both overfishing and nutrient pollution on a coral reef in the Florida Keys. The large body of field data collected over an extended period of time helped resolve some of the fundamental questions about the cause of coral reef declines, scientists said.
"This is grim news, but at least it will help settle the argument over why corals are dying," said Rebecca Vega Thurber, an assistant professor in the College of Science at Oregon State University and corresponding author on the study.
"This makes it clear there's no single force that's causing such widespread coral deaths. Loss of fish that help remove algae, or the addition of excess nutrients like those in fertilizers, can cause algal growth on reefs. This changes the normal microbiota of corals to become more pathogenic, and all of these problems reach critical levels as ocean temperatures warm."
The end result, scientists say, is a global decline of coral reefs that is now reaching catastrophic proportions.
"We need to know how human activities are affecting coral reef ecosystems," says David Garrison, program director in the National Science Foundation's Division of Ocean Sciences, which funded the research. "Coral reefs are among the most sensitive indicators of the health of the oceans. This report is a major contribution toward understanding how reefs will fare in the future."
Scientists say the problems caused by bacterial infections due to local stressors and warm temperatures are in addition to damage from mass coral bleaching events already under way. Only in the early 1980's did researchers observe the first mass bleaching event in recorded history. There have now been three such events just in the past 20 years.
"About 25-35 percent of the corals on the Great Barrier Reef are dying right now," Vega-Thurber said. "In 2014-16 large portions of tropical reef across the planet experienced bleaching, and this past April, 90 percent of the Great Barrier Reef bleached as part of a massive El Nino event. Corals everywhere seem to be dying."
In addition to helping to sort out the effects of known stressors like overfishing and nutrient pollution, the researchers made one bizarre and totally unexpected finding.
In normal conditions, parrotfish, like many other species, are essential to the health of coral reefs, nibbling at them to remove algae and causing no permanent damage. But in one part of the experiment corals were so weakened by nitrogen and phosphorus pollution that when parrot fish would bite them, 62 percent of the corals would die. A normally healthy fish-coral interaction had been turned into a deadly one.
"We want to make clear that parrotfish are not the problem, they are a normal and essential part of healthy reef ecosystems," Vega-Thurber said. "The problem is when corals are so weakened they cannot withstand normal impacts. And the solution will be to help those corals recover their health, by ensuring that their local environment is free of nutrient pollution and that fish stocks are not depleted."
Among the findings of the study:
Overfishing, nutrient pollution and increased temperature all lead to an increase in pathogens;
The sheer abundance of pathogens is more important than what particular type or species they are;
Coral reef mortality mirrors the abundance of pathogens;
Heat exacerbates these problems, with 80 percent of coral deaths coming in the summer or fall, but only when fish are removed or nutrient pollution is present;
While high thermal stress has received the most attention, even modest temperature increases make corals more vulnerable to bacteria;
Loss of fish can increase algal cover up to six times;
In a distressed system with many algae, coral disease levels double and coral mortality increases eight times;
Increased algal cover or elevated temperature can reduce levels of naturally-secreted antibiotics that help protect corals from harmful bacteria;
Direct algal contact driven by overfishing and nutrient pollution destabilizes the coral microbiome, in some cases leading to a 6- to 9-time increase in mortality.
The findings, researchers say, make it clear that in the face of global warming, some of the best opportunities to protect coral reefs lie in careful management of fishing and protection of water quality. This would give corals their best chance to have a healthy microbiome and resist warmer conditions without dying.
###
Downloadable high-resolution video: Interview with Rebecca Vega-Thurber
Collaborators on this research were from Florida International University, the University of California/Santa Barbara, Penn State University, Rice University, the University of Florida/Gainsville, SymbioSeas and Marine Applied Research Center, and the Laboratoire d'Excellence.
Editor Notes: Digital images and video are available to illustrate this story.
Photos:
Divers studying coral experimental plots: https://flic.kr/p/HmQhRG
Sampling coral microbiome: https://flic.kr/p/HmQA9s
Experimental design: https://flic.kr/p/HJdVkQ
Parrot fish cleaning algae off corals: https://flic.kr/p/HCy9nq
An estimated 32.9% % of all 3- and 4-yr old children living in low- and middle-income countries scored poorly on either their cognitive or socioemotional development, according to a study published by Dana McCoy and colleagues from Harvard University, Boston, USA, in this week's PLOS Medicine.
The researchers used data collected between 2005 and 2015 based on caregiver report using the Early Childhood Development Index (ECDI) for 99,222 3- and 4-y-old children living in 35 LMICs as part of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) and Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) programs. They estimated that 14.6% of children in these 35 countries had low ECDI scores in the cognitive domain, 26.2% had low socioemotional scores, and 36.8% performed poorly in either or both domains. Of the 35 LMICs studied, those with the highest percentage of low-scoring children included Chad (67.0%), Sierra Leone (54.3%), and Central African Republic (54.1%), while those with the lowest percentage included Bosnia (4.4%) and Montenegro (4.3%). When extrapolating models to all LMICs, the authors estimate that 80.8 million 3- and 4-y-old children - or 32.9% of those living in these countries - are failing to meet basic cognitive or socioemotional milestones. An additional 16.7% of children are estimated to do well with respect to their cognitive and socioemotional development, but experience stunted physical growth.
The measure used to define cognitive and socioemotional development in this study focused on a narrow range of early skills, including children's ability to follow simple directions, work independently, control aggression, avoid distraction, and get along well with other children. Future research is needed to examine a broader range of developmental skills and age groups, as well as to identify possible interventions for mitigating these developmental setbacks.
Developmental deficits are most common in the poorest countries of the world. As the authors write: "Low development scores were largely concentrated in areas of the world facing continued high exposure to risk factors such as infectious disease, malnutrition, poverty, and low availability of high-quality healthcare and educational resources."
###
This study was supported by Grand Challenges Canada, which is funded by the Government of Canada.
Research Article
IN YOUR COVERAGE PLEASE USE THIS URL TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE FREELY AVAILABLE PAPER: http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002034
Citation: McCoy DC, Peet ED, Ezzati M, Danaei G, Black MM, Sudfeld CR, et al. (2016) Early Childhood Developmental Status in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: National, Regional, and Global Prevalence Estimates Using Predictive Modeling. PLoS Med 13(6): e1002034. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002034
Funding: Funding for the present study was provided by the Saving Brains Program from Grand Challenges Canada (grant number 0073-03; http://www.grandchallenges.ca/saving-brains/. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
HOUSTON -- (June 7, 2016) -- One of the longest and largest studies of coral reef health ever undertaken finds that corals are declining worldwide because a variety of threats -- overfishing, nutrient pollution and pathogenic disease -- that ultimately become deadly in the face of higher ocean temperatures.
The study by marine biologists from Rice University, Oregon State University and other institutions was published today in Nature Communications on the eve of World Oceans Day, an annual global celebration of Earth's oceans. The findings are based on a continuous three-year experiment to measure how humans impact reef health. Data from the experiment on reefs in the Florida Keys suggests that widespread coral deaths, including the ongoing global bleaching event that affected 90 percent of the Great Barrier Reef this year, are being caused by a combination of multiple local stressors and global warming.
"Our findings serve as a challenge and an inspiration for World Oceans Day because they show that what we do locally impacts the ability of coral reefs to survive global stressors," said study co-author Adrienne Simoes Correa, a marine biologist in Rice University's Department of BioSciences. "If we catch too many reef fish and allow human waste, detergents and fertilizers to enter the ocean through runoff and river outlets, then it is even harder for corals to cope with warming seas driven by climate change. We can see the devastating results of these combined stressors around the world currently, as reefs bleach and corals die in the wake of the ongoing third global coral bleaching event."
Researchers found the combination of warming and other stressors greatly weaken corals and allow opportunistic pathogens to build to such levels that corals cannot survive.
The findings were made by researchers from six institutions following an experiment that simulated both overfishing and nutrient pollution on a Florida reef. A large body of field data collected over an extended period of time helped resolve fundamental questions about the cause of coral reef declines, scientists said.
"This is grim news, but at least it will help settle the argument over why corals are dying," said Rebecca Vega Thurber, an assistant professor in the College of Science at Oregon State University and corresponding author on the study.
"This makes it clear there's no single force that's causing such widespread coral deaths," she said. "Loss of fish that help remove algae, or the addition of excess nutrients like those in fertilizers, can cause algal growth on reefs. This changes the normal microbiota of corals to become more pathogenic, and all of these problems reach critical levels as ocean temperatures warm."
The end result, the scientists said, is a global decline of coral reefs that is now reaching catastrophic proportions.
"We need to know how human activities are affecting coral reef ecosystems," said David Garrison, program director in the National Science Foundation's Division of Ocean Sciences, which funded the research. "Coral reefs are among the most sensitive indicators of the health of the oceans. This report is a major contribution toward understanding how reefs will fare in the future."
Correa said few studies rival the scale and scope of the one in Florida.
"It is incredibly difficult to keep an experiment running continuously for three years on the reef," she said. "To simulate overfishing effects, we put large cages over parts of the reef to keep fish out. It was a constant battle to make sure these cages were really 'fish-proof' and to keep macroalgae, fire corals and other organisms from growing on top of the cages. Every time a storm or hurricane blew through, there was a risk that the cages would be damaged or destroyed. Despite the challenges, field studies like this one are important because they show how coral reefs are suffering from 'death by a thousand cuts.'"
Scientists have said the problems caused by bacterial infections due to local stressors and warm temperatures are in addition to damage from mass coral bleaching events already under way. Only in the early 1980s did researchers observe the first mass-bleaching event in recorded history. There have now been three such events just in the past 20 years.
Among the findings from the study:
Overfishing, nutrient pollution and increased temperature all lead to an increase in pathogens.
The sheer abundance of pathogens is more important than what particular type or species they are.
Coral reef mortality mirrors the abundance of pathogens.
Heat exacerbates these problems, with 80 percent of coral deaths coming in the summer or fall, but only when fish are removed or nutrient pollution is present.
While high thermal stress has received the most attention, even modest temperature increases make corals more vulnerable to bacteria.
Loss of fish can increase algal cover up to six times.
In a distressed system with many algae, coral disease levels double and coral mortality increases eight times.
Increased algal cover or elevated temperature can reduce levels of naturally secreted antibiotics that help protect corals from harmful bacteria.
Direct algal contact driven by overfishing and nutrient pollution destabilizes the coral microbiome, in some cases leading to a six- to nine-time increase in mortality.
According to the researchers, the findings make it clear that in the face of global warming, some of the best opportunities to protect coral reefs lie in careful management of fishing and protection of water quality. This would give corals their best chance to have a healthy microbiome and resist warmer conditions without dying.
###
Collaborators on this research were from Florida International University, the University of California-Santa Barbara, Penn State University, the University of Florida-Gainesville, the Laboratoire d'Excellence, SymbioSeas and Marine Applied Research Center.
High-resolution IMAGES are available for download at:
http://news.rice.edu/files/2016/06/0607-CORAL-Lizard-b-v5il9s.jpg
CUTLINE: A before and after image of coral bleaching and later dying in March / May 2016, at Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef, captured by the XL Catlin Seaview Survey. (Image courtesy of XL Catlin Seaview Survey; high-resolution version available for download and reuse at http://www.globalcoralbleaching.org/#images)
http://news.rice.edu/files/2016/06/0607_CORAL-divers06-lg-23byxto.jpg
CAPTION: Data from three years of experiments on reefs in the Florida Keys suggests that widespread coral deaths, including an ongoing global coral bleaching, are being caused by a combination of multiple local stressors and global warming. (Photo by A.M.S. Correa/Rice University)
http://news.rice.edu/files/2016/06/0607_CORAL-inside52-lg-1vhhykf.jpg
CAPTION: This experiment simulated the combined impacts of overfishing and nutrient pollution. The mesh-covered cylinder is filled with slow-release fertilizer, which added nitrogen and phosphorous to simulate nutrient pollution. The mesh cage excluded fish from the study area to simulate overfishing. Significant macroalgal growth, which can be deadly to corals, can be seen in the left foreground. (Photo by A.M.S. Correa/Rice University)
http://news.rice.edu/files/2016/02/0216-CORAL-amsc-lg-2m2m8pf.jpg
CAPTION: Adrienne Simoes Correa (Photo courtesy of Rice University)
http://news.rice.edu/files/2016/02/0216-CORAL-rvt-lg-tjg0sc.jpg CAPTION: Rebecca Vega Thurber (Photo courtesy of Oregon State University)
The DOI of the Nature Communications paper is 10.1038/ncomms11833.
A copy of the paper is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11833
Additional images are available at http://www.globalcoralbleaching.org/#images
Related research about coral health from Rice:
Marine virus outbreaks linked to coral bleaching -- Feb. 17, 2016
http://news.rice.edu/2016/02/17/marine-virus-outbreaks-linked-to-coral-bleaching/
Study: Ocean acidification already slowing coral reef growth -- Feb. 25, 2016
http://news.rice.edu/2016/02/25/study-ocean-acidification-already-slowing-coral-reef-growth/
This release can be found online at news.rice.edu.
Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,910 undergraduates and 2,809 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for best quality of life and for lots of race/class interaction by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://tinyurl.com/RiceUniversityoverview.
HOUSTON - (June 7, 2016) - A gap-toothed peptide created by bioengineers at Rice University may be an efficient way to deliver insoluble drugs to precise locations in the body.
Rice bioengineer Jeffrey Hartgerink and his students made a hydrogel of what they call "missing tooth" peptide nanofibers. Gaps in the fibers are designed to hold drug molecules that have hydrophobic -- water-avoiding -- properties. The biodegradable gel can be injected where needed and releases the medication over time.
The material is the subject of a new paper in the American Chemical Society journal Biomacromolecules.
Hydrogels built of custom peptides are a specialty of Hartgerink's lab, which has introduced variations in recent years for tissue growth and healing through the clotting powers of synthetic snake venom.
The new work by Hartgerink and Rice graduate students I-Che Li and Amanda Moore aims to administer drugs that tend to clump, which makes them difficult to deliver via the bloodstream.
"Hydrophilic (water-attracting) molecules frequently don't need a delivery mechanism because you can inject them," Hartgerink said. "They're water-soluble, they go into the blood and they're fine. But hydrophobic drugs are challenging to deliver. We load them into the interstices of these fibers, and they can be delivered wherever we inject the hydrogel."
In the lab's earlier hydrogels, proteins or small molecules are trapped in the gel created by the microscopic fibers. "Here, we've done something different: We modify the inside of the fibers," he said. "We remove part of the internal portion of the fiber -- that's the missing tooth -- and that's a hydrophobic environment."
To make the unique fibers, the lab first made custom peptides with alternating hydrophobic and hydrophilic amino acids and left intentional gaps. Hydrophobic small-molecule drugs mixed with the peptides were attracted to the gaps and trapped when the peptides self-assembled into jaw-like fibers.
The hydrogel becomes a liquid due to the shearing forces encountered as it passes through a needle, a phenomenon called thixotropy, and it returns to gel form in the body. The drugs nest in their peptide pockets until released by the hydrogel. The lab has tested hydrogels with cancer, antibiotic and anti-inflammatory drugs and is studying how the drugs are released over time.
Hartgerink said the "missing tooth" hydrogel can serve more than one function. "We can simultaneously trap hydrophilic proteins in the hydrogel matrix," he said. "There's no reason we can't do both at the same time. This paper just looks at one aspect, but they're not mutually exclusive approaches. The long-term goal of this material is that it eventually can do everything."
###
Hartgerink is a professor of chemistry and of bioengineering at Rice.
The Robert A. Welch Foundation and the National Institutes of Health supported the research.
Read the abstract at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.biomac.6b00309.
This news release can be found online at http://news.rice.edu/2016/06/07/missing-tooth-hydrogels-handle-hard-to-deliver-drugs/
Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.
Related materials:
Hartgerink Research Group: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~jdh/publist.html
Rice Department of Bioengineering: http://bioe.rice.edu
BioScience Research Collaborative: http://brc.rice.edu/home/
Images for download:
http://news.rice.edu/files/2016/06/0606_TOOTH-1-WEB-25vge6x.jpg
A hydrogel made at Rice University consists of custom peptide fibers with spaces -- "missing teeth" -- that can trap and deliver hydrophobic small-molecule drugs. (Credit: I-Che Li/Rice University)
http://news.rice.edu/files/2016/06/0606_TOOTH-2A-WEB-2k7rh2i.jpg
A hydrogel developed at Rice University is designed to trap small-molecule drugs in hydrophobic spaces inside its constituent fibers. Earlier hydrogels release their cargoes more quickly by diffusion, while "missing tooth" hydrogels would prolong the release of drugs into the surrounding environment. (Credit: I-Che Li/Rice University)
http://news.rice.edu/files/2016/06/0606_TOOTH-3b-WEB-1x3vc94.jpg
Peptides created at Rice University that are hydrophilic (blue) on one side and hydrophobic (red) on the other naturally self-assemble in solution, turning into a hydrogel. Pockets left in the hydrophobic sides leave spaces ("missing teeth") where small-molecule drugs can be trapped for later delivery. (Credit: I-Che Li/Rice University)
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,910 undergraduates and 2,809 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for best quality of life and for lots of race/class interaction by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://tinyurl.com/RiceUniversityoverview.
Why do deer in a group, when startled, suddenly bolt away together and never collide with each other? It's because these deer have an inner compass that allows them to follow a certain direction in order to make their escape. Their getaway is almost always along a north-south axis, thanks to their ability to sense the magnetic field, says Petr Obleser of the Czech University of Life Sciences in the Czech Republic. He and Hynek Burda of the University Duisburg-Essen, Germany, are lead authors of a study in Springer's journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.
Flight distance and flight trajectories relative to danger have been studied in different types of animal species. Little is known, however, about how animals living in groups synchronize their escape direction when frightened, in order to avoid collision and keep the group together. This study is the first on the escape behavior in animals to consider the role of the magnetic compass directions.
Obleser's team turned to roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), a species of deer commonly found grazing in flat open agricultural land in Europe. The researchers conducted field studies in 60 separate areas in three hunting locations in the Czech Republic. This was done at different times of the day, for 46 days between April and August 2014. The animals were monitored by experienced wildlife biologists and rangers. They noted the direction in which the deer's bodies were aligned while the animals were still undisturbed grazing or standing. Once the animals were startled, the observers noted the direction in which they escaped, and how this route correlated with the direction from the threat and to their next place of shelter.
It was found that roe deer tend to align their bodies along the north-south axis when grazing. When startled, the animals generally fled away from observers. They did not merely make their getaway in the direction directly opposite to the approaching threat, but consistently did so north- or southwards. In fact, they seemed to actively avoid escaping westwards and eastwards, says Obleser. Wind direction or the position of the sun had no influence on the direction of their escape route.
Such a north-south preference was more pronounced in groups than in single animals. "This suggests that an important function of this behavior is to coordinate the movement in the group, to keep the common course of escape when frightened and to maintain the cohesion of the group," says Obleser.
The researchers believe that the tendency of deer to align their bodies with respect to a north-south magnetic field line confirm that they are magnetosensitive and magnetoreceptive. This assists the animals to "read" and comprehend the mental maps they hold of the landscapes they occupy.
They also speculate that escape in a known direction eases spatial orientation and helps the animals to return later to the same place from which they fled. This might for example be important for a lactating female roe deer that has been hiding her fawn in tall grass or crops nearby.
###
Reference: Obleser, P. et al. (2016). Compass-controlled escape behavior in roe deer, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, DOI 10.1007/s00265-016-2142-y
WASHINGTON, DC -- In the midst of all the apparent tumult, intense emotion, and occasional reckless behavior characterizing the teenage years, the brain is, in fact, evolving and developing the neural circuits needed to keep emotions in check. Research in the June 8, 2016 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience describes how the ability to control emotions moves from one brain area to another as teens mature into adults, offering an opportunity to understand how disorders related to emotional control emerge.
"Our study opens the way for a better understanding of the neurobiology behind adolescent behavior in emotionally arousing situations," said study author Anna Tyborowska of Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands. "The findings could also have important clinical implications [as] many psychiatric disorders emerge during adolescence and are characterized by problems with emotional action control."
Previous research links the spike in sensation-seeking and impulsive behavior during adolescence to the delayed maturation of the prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain involved in reasoning, planning, and decision-making. Study authors Inge Volman, Ivan Toni, and Karin Roelofs previously demonstrated the importance of the anterior prefrontal cortex in emotional control in adults. However, it has not been clear whether and how the delayed development of the prefrontal cortex affects emotional control during adolescence.
To address this question, the researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain activity in 47 healthy 14-year-old adolescents while they evaluated the emotional expressions of happy and angry faces. Sometimes, the teens were instructed to push a joystick toward happy faces and away from angry faces, a natural, instinctive response. Other times, they had to push the joystick toward angry faces and away from happy faces, an unnatural response requiring more emotional self-control.
The researchers also measured the adolescents' testosterone levels to gauge their pubertal maturation. Adolescents with high testosterone levels, or a greater level of maturity, showed stronger activity in the anterior prefrontal cortex during actions requiring more emotional self-control. Individuals with low testosterone levels had more activity in the amygdala and the pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus, subcortical brain regions known to play a key role in emotional processing.
Participants completed the task equally well regardless of testosterone level, suggesting both brain circuits support emotional control. However, the researchers indicate real-world scenarios may prove more challenging to subjects with an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex.
"This is one of the few studies that looks at how puberty stage is associated with brain development in young people who are all the same chronological age," said neuroscientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, who studies adolescent development at University College London and was not involved in the study. She said the results add to our understanding of typical behavior and how the brain changes in adolescence.
The results may also help us understand how emotional control can go awry during development. It's possible that the failure of the prefrontal cortex to integrate properly into the emotional control circuit could contribute to the emergence of affective disorders in adolescence.
###
The Journal of Neuroscience is published by the Society for Neuroscience, an organization of nearly 38,000 basic scientists and clinicians who study the brain and nervous system. Study author Anna Tyborowska can be reached at a.tyborowska@donders.ru.nl. More information on adolescent brain development can be found on BrainFacts.org.
Millions of people in the developing world could be spared from lifelong disability -- or possible death -- from parasitic worm diseases under a vastly expanded treatment program that is cost-effective, according to a new analysis led by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers.
The modeling analysis suggests that current World Health Organization guidelines may need to be revised to more effectively combat parasitic worm disease, which afflicts some 1.5 million people across the globe. It points the way to a sweeping new program in which more than 1 billion doses of two low-cost drugs -- often donated -- could be dispensed in sub-Saharan Africa to largely knock out these infections.
Using prevalence and cost-effectiveness models, the researchers found it would be economically worthwhile to make these drugs available to schoolchildren every year in communities where as few as 5 percent have schistosomiasis, as opposed to the 50 percent threshold now recommended by WHO. It would also be feasible to expand treatment to adults and preschool-aged children, who often aren't included in WHO guidelines, and to combine treatment in areas heavily afflicted by the two most common types of worm infections, which are caused by schistosomes and the soil-transmitted helminths, said Nathan Lo, a Stanford MD-PhD student and lead author of the study.
"If we incorporate this new evidence, we can start to consider elimination of this as a public health problem," Lo said. "Substantial populations are not receiving treatment under current guidelines that could benefit under a cost-effective program."
A prevalent ailment
Based on the analysis, it would make economic sense to increase treatment for schistosomiasis by six times the current estimated needs and twice current estimates for soil-transmitted helminth infections in sub-Saharan Africa, said Jason Andrews, MD, assistant professor of medicine and the senior author of the study.
"These worms cause an array of health effects from anemia, malnutrition and growth stunting to infertility, cancer of the urinary tract and liver cirrhosis," Andrews said. "Mass drug administration of the scale we've proposed could prevent many of these problems. Our analysis indicates that this would not only be effective but also a cost-effective investment when compared alongside other health interventions."
The study will be published online June 1 in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Parasitic worm diseases are among the most prevalent ailments in the developing world, with documented transmission in 78 countries, according to WHO. About 150,000 people die of complications every year from these parasitic infections.
The two major categories of parasitic worms are the Schistosoma worms and the soil-transmitted helminths. The Schistosoma parasites reproduce in freshwater snails and can penetrate the skin of people who swim in contaminated lakes or rivers or who walk in muddy fields. The helminth worms, such as roundworm, whipworm and hookworm, are mainly found in soil. These worms may produce small eggs in the body that are expelled in human feces and can be transmitted to others through ingestion of this material in soil or water supplies.
Low-cost treatments
Both diseases are easily treated with low-cost drugs that have relatively few side effects, Lo said. Schistosomiasis is typically treated with praziquantel, which costs about 21 cents a pill and can reduce egg production by 98 percent, he said. The helminths can be readily treated with albendazole, which costs about 3 cents a pill and can reduce the number of worm eggs by as much as 95 percent.
In the past 15 years, there has been a significant reduction in the global prevalence of these infections and greater access to medication, with 15 to 45 percent of those who need it getting treatment, according to WHO. Yet these diseases remain a persistent problem in many parts of the world, including Africa, South America and South Asia.
In February, WHO issued a press release urging further expansion of treatment where the disease is most endemic, with a goal of reaching 75 percent coverage in preschool- and school-age children by 2020. However, the WHO guidelines were written a decade ago and have not been updated to address changing goals and information.
"The guidelines were based on the best judgment of experts at the time, but I think there's fairly broad agreement that it's time to revisit these in view of new data, analyses and priorities," Andrews said.
He and his colleagues decided to take a systematic look at how best to control these infections, using a variety of models to examine prevalence and transmission patterns across Africa, as well as a cost-effectiveness model to determine what made the most economic sense.
They found that it would be most cost-effective to treat Schistosoma worm infections annually when prevalence among children was as low as 5 percent -- well below WHO's current threshold of 50 percent prevalence. In the case of helminth infections, they found it would be economically worthwhile to treat school-age children when prevalence was 20 percent -- the same level currently recommended by WHO.
Their analysis also shows that it would be feasible to include preschool-age children and adults in the treatment program, as both age groups may experience the disabling symptoms of parasitic infection but have not been traditionally included in these treatment programs. Moreover, adults can easily reinfect children through fecal contamination in the household environment, Lo said.
Finally, the researchers found that it would save money to treat the two diseases at the same time, rather than as separate programs because most of the cost is involved in delivering the treatment, not in the pills themselves.
"It makes sense to work together to treat multiple diseases when they are in a single setting," Lo said. "If you have health-care workers who go into a village to do one treatment, they will have go back to the village for a different treatment, and the second visit costs just as much."
If these proposed recommendations for sub-Saharan Africa were followed, it would require a sixfold increase in treatment for Schistosoma infections -- from about 120 million to more than 750 million doses annually -- and a doubling of the number of doses for helminth infections from 335 million to nearly 660 million a year, the researchers estimate.
Question of affordability
The scientists did not calculate the cost of the total proposed program, and it's unclear whether current funders would be willing to increase their support. These programs are currently funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, local ministries of health and various nonprofits, as well as pharmaceutical companies that donate the drugs.
In scaling up treatment, it would also be important to be mindful of the potential for drug resistance, although the proposed guidelines meet the best practices for avoiding the emergence of resistance, Lo said. He said resistance with these drugs has been documented in animals, though not in human populations.
###
The other Stanford co-author of the paper is Eran Bendavid, MD, assistant professor of medicine. Researchers in Switzerland, Canada and the Ivory Coast also contributed to the study.
The research was funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Mount Sinai Hospital-University Health Network AMO Innovation Fund and the Stanford University Medical Scholars Program.
The Stanford University School of Medicine consistently ranks among the nation's top medical schools, integrating research, medical education, patient care and community service. For more news about the school, please visit http://med.stanford.edu/school.html. The medical school is part of Stanford Medicine, which includes Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford. For information about all three, please visit http://med.stanford.edu.
Note: Please forgive the self-promotion, but since my new book the NIV Lifehacks Bible is being released today, I thought Id provide an excerpt from Genesis.
Sold into slavery, Joseph is put in charge of Potiphars household. Potiphar entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph (Genesis 39:4-5).
The word stewardship comes from the Greek word oikonomia, which refers to someone who manages a household and is the root of the English word economy. Joseph began by controlling a household and would eventually control the entire economy of Egypt. In all of history, there have been few stewards who gained the status and power of Joseph.
Stewardship is an important concept in the Bible, since we are stewards in Gods household, his economy of all things. Here are three things we should know about stewardship:
God made humans stewards over creation God has made humans rulers over the works of his hands (Ps 8:5-6). Were entrusted with the resources of the Earth not for our own exploitation but for the cultivation of its use for the good of ourselves, our neighbors, and for those who come after us.
Stewardship is about all of life Too often we tend to think of stewardship only in relation to finances (e.g., a churchs stewardship committee) or the environment (e.g., creation care). While both of these are important parts of Gods economy, biblical stewardship is much broader. As Stephen Grabill explains, stewardship is a form of whole-life discipleship that embraces every legitimate vocation and calling to fulfill Gods mission in the world. And as Hugh Whelchel adds, Stewardship is not one more thing we have to do, but a way of seeing everything we already do in a very different light.
The basic form of stewardship is daily work Work is the primary way in which we serve our neighbor. As Rev. Robert Sirico has said, The Scripture provides an insight into our nature: We are all, man and woman, called into this life to find our vocation, the work that is uniquely ours and contributes to the flourishing of the wider community.
Takeaway: Stewardship is the wise use of every resources entrusted to us by God whether money, skill, time, talent, or position for his purposes.
SAN ANTONIO (June 7, 2016) - Schistosomiasis, a disease caused by parasitic flukes that live in the blood vessels, affects more than 200 million people in Africa, Asia, South America and the Middle East, and ranks second only to malaria as the most devastating parasitic disease of humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Dr. Tim Anderson in the Department of Genetics at Texas Biomedical Research Institute and Dr. Phil LoVerde at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have been awarded a $3.5 million grant over the next five years by the National Institutes of Health to understand the genetic changes in the parasite that lead to drug resistance. Chronic schistosomiasis infection can lead to liver failure and bladder cancer, and, in 240 thousand people annually, infection can lead to death.
Praziquantel (PZQ) is the primary drug to treat schistosomiasis, and 250 million doses of this drug are now used to treat patients every year. With such intensive drug treatment the public health community is concerned that resistance to this drug will emerge - or may have already emerged. The way in which the drug kills parasites is also not known. PZQ targets adult parasites, and it is unknown why the drug is ineffective against immature stages.
"We currently don't know how the drug works and what the mechanism of action is," Anderson explained. "Once we know how the drug works, we can start to improve it. One way to understand how the drug works is to identify the genes that make parasites resistant."
Like bacteria and viruses, parasites can adapt rapidly to drug treatment. In a prior study led by Anderson and LoVerde, genetic crosses between sensitive and resistant parasites identified a single region of the parasite genome that is strongly linked to PZQ resistance.
The research funded by this grant will focus on the precise genes and mutations that are involved in the resistance in this laboratory genetic cross. Researchers will then determine whether the same genes are involved in PZQ resistance in schistosome parasites infecting people in Kenya and Uganda.
"We can obtain parasite eggs from fecal samples collected from patients, hatch parasite larvae, and sequence their genomes," Anderson explained. "We can then examine the same patients after PZQ treatment. A proportion of these patients will still be infected: we can identify the genes involved in resistance by sequencing the parasites that survive drug treatment."
Identification of the genes involved in resistance would allow development of simple molecular tests to monitor resistance during parasite treatment programs. Such "molecular markers" are now used for monitoring resistance in malaria control programs and would be an immensely valuable tool for providing early warning of drug resistance emergence in Schistosomiasis.
In addition to collaborating with Dr. Phil LoVerde at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Texas Biomedical Research Institute is working with field researchers in Uganda and Kenya. This grant funding further builds a vigorous research program on viral and parasitic diseases at Texas Biomed.
###
Texas Biomed is one of the world's leading independent biomedical research institutions dedicated to advancing health worldwide through innovative biomedical research. Texas Biomed partners with hundreds of researchers and institutions around the world to develop vaccines and therapeutics against viral pathogens causing AIDS, hepatitis, herpes, hemorrhagic fevers and parasitic diseases responsible for malaria and schistosomiasis. The Institute also has programs in the genomics of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, psychiatric disorders and other diseases. For more information on Texas Biomed, go to http://www.TxBiomed.org.
Historical survey of excavated mosaic art of pagans, Jews, Samaritans, Christians and Muslims earns Hebrew University professor the first prize in this year's Polonsky Awards
Mosaics are not mere decorations, for when approached critically they can be read as first-rate historical documents that sharpen and refine our understanding of societies, their ideologies, institutions and liturgies.
The Holy Land (present day Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority) has been a central arena where different faiths met, communicated, competed and conflicted with each other. It boasts a plethora of ancient mosaics from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Umayyad and Early Abbasid periods.
Prof. Rina Talgam, the Alice and Edward J. Winant Family Professor of Art History, in the History of Art Department in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Faculty of Humanities, has been following the intricate visual dialogues among Paganism, Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity and Islam in the Holy Land from before the Roman Empire to after the Muslim conquests.
"Mosaics located in private and public spheres, in both secular and religious buildings, played an important role in constructing cultural, religious and ethnic identities in a multicultural society, often intended to reflect the difference among the various communities, but also testified to the existence of an extensive commonality," Talgam said.
In her recent book -- Mosaics of Faith: Floors of Pagans, Jews, Samaritans, Christians, and Muslims in the Holy Land (Penn State University Press, July 2014) -- Talgam offers comprehensive analytical history of mosaics from a wide chronological range (a millennium), reviewing all aspects of the floor mosaics in their multicultural contexts.
"The discussion of the mosaics touches upon a long list of questions and deals with all aspects of the mosaics. Alongside the study of iconographic aspects, it examined the compositional characteristics, the style and the technique of the mosaic," said Talgam, a highly experienced archaeologist specializing in ancient art of the Middle East.
The book examines the relations between the religious and secular spheres and indicates a considerable degree of dynamism in the drawing of the boundaries between them over the course of time. What make this endeavor both timely and imperative are recent archeological discoveries that have considerably enriched the existing corpora and, above all, have challenged prevailing assumptions.
"The inclusion of mosaics in the scholarly discourse makes possible a richer perception of the past and sheds light on both the intimate links and the disjunctions between art and text," Talgam said.
Talgam's research has earned her the First Prize of the Polonsky Prizes for Creativity & Originality in the Humanistic Disciplines for the year 2016. The prize was presented to her at the Hebrew University's 79th annual meeting of the Board of Governors in Jerusalem.
The Polonsky Prizes were initiated by Dr. Leonard S. Polonsky, a devoted, veteran member of the British Friends of the Hebrew University who donated the funds for the prize in order to highlight the originality and creativity of scholarship in the humanities at the Hebrew University. The Prizes are awarded for creative endeavors in all areas of the humanities that were written or published during the past five years. The 2016 prizes were awarded during the 79th international Meeting of the Hebrew University's Board of Governors in Jerusalem.
###
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem is Israel's leading academic and research institution, producing one-third of all civilian research in Israel. For more information, visit http://new.huji.ac.il/en.
Calcium ion batteries (CIBs) have attracted much attention as next-generation batteries to replace lithium ion batteries (LIBs) because the theoretical capacity of CIBs is twice that of LIBs. This doubled capacity can be explained by the difference between monovalent and divalent ions. In addition, CIBs possess advantages such as a lower cost and higher safety because calcium is more abundant than lithium and because CIBs have a higher melting point than LIBs. However, there is one major obstacle to the application in CIBs. There is no suitable electrode material in which calcium ions can be inserted and extracted reversibly because of the relatively large ionic radius of calcium ions (112 pm) as compared to that of lithium ions (76 pm).
In this study, Tomohiro Tojo and his colleagues at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, employed Prussian blue (PB) and Prussian blue analogues (PBAs) as CIB electrodes because they possess large sites for inserting and extracting large-sized ions, as shown in Fig. 1. Up to now, using PBAs as an electrode material, the electrochemical behaviors of sodium ions corresponding to the radius of calcium ions have been examined in organic and inorganic electrolytes. These reports have shown reversible insertion and extraction of sodium ions into and from PBA structures.
The research team investigated the electrochemical performance of several PBA electrodes in order to determine whether calcium ions in an organic electrolyte exhibit either reversible or irreversible insertion and extraction into and from the crystal structure. We found reversible capacities of 40-50 mAh/g at a low current density, as shown in Fig. 2(a). In Fig. 2(b), the Coulombic efficiencies, which are defined as the ratio of the amount of insertion (discharge) and extraction (charge) of calcium ions, were observed to have a constant value of 90% after the 3rd cycle.
The results shown in Fig. 2 demonstrate the excellent cyclability of the PBA electrodes, even though the reversible capacities were half the theoretical capacity. The researchers investigated the reason for the high reversibility using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The reversibility is explained by the durable structure of the PBAs and their excellent charge balance during the insertion and extraction of calcium ions.
We propose Prussian blue (PB) and Prussian blue analogues (PBAs) as feasible electrode materials for CIBs, even though additional investigation is needed in order to enhance the reversible capacities still further. The researchers have carried out the further study to utilize CIBs beyond LIBs.
###
Funding agency:
Tomohiro Tojo acknowledges the partial support through a Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research (No. 15K13947). Yoji Sakurai acknowledges support from a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), No. 24360109 from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
Reference:
Authors: Tomohiro Tojo, Yosuke Sugiura, Ryoji Inada, and Yoji Sakurai.
Title of original paper: Reversible Calcium Ion Batteries Using a Dehydrated Prussian Blue Analogue Cathode.
Journal, volume, pages and year: Electrochimica Acta, 207, 22-27 (2016).
Digital Object Identifier (DOI): 10.1016/j.electacta.2016.04.159
Affiliation: Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology.
Information about the first author: http://researchmap.jp/tj1010/?lang=english
Further information
Toyohashi University of Technology
1-1 Hibarigaoka, Tempaku
Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, 441-8580, JAPAN
Inquiries: Committee for Public Relations
E-mail: press@office.tut.ac.jp
Toyohashi University of Technology, which was founded in 1976 as a National University of Japan, is a leading research institute in the fields of mechanical engineering, advanced electronics, information sciences, life sciences, and architecture.
Website: http://www.tut.ac.jp/english/
Sometimes good fish go bad. But it's not their fault.
In a three-year effort to understand the effects of known stressors such as overfishing and nutrient pollution on coral reefs, scientists made a totally unexpected finding: A normally healthy interaction between fish and coral had turned deadly.
In typical conditions, parrotfish -- like many other species -- are essential to the health of coral reefs, nibbling at them to remove algae while causing no permanent damage. However, a new study conducted by UC Santa Barbara field ecologist Deron Burkepile and colleagues in the Florida Keys found that 62 percent of corals weakened by nitrogen and phosphorus pollution died when parrotfish bit them. The results appear in the journal Nature Communications.
"Normally benign predation by the parrotfish turned into coral murder," said Burkepile, an associate professor in UCSB's Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology. "But it's not the parrotfishes; they're like the reef janitors, keeping it clean. Those extra nutrients -- nutrient pollution -- turn parrotfishes into an actual source of mortality by facilitating pathogens in the wounds left by their bites. Excess nutrients turn a coral accomplice into a coral killer."
The researchers found that multiple local stressors combined with warming ocean temperatures weaken corals to such an extent that opportunistic pathogens build to levels that kill them. "When we looked at the patterns of how corals died in our experiment, we saw high coral mortality when we removed herbivorous fishes from the reefs," Burkepile said.
"This allowed seaweeds to grow next to the corals and compete with them, which slowed the corals' growth rate," he added. "Seaweeds also transferred bacterial pathogens directly to the corals from their surface, which made the corals sick."
Investigators from six institutions conducted a three-year experiment that simulated both overfishing and nutrient pollution on a coral reef. They built exclosures to keep herbivorous fishes away from corals; in some reef areas, they added nutrients to mimic nutrient pollution in order to understand the relative roles of each scenario. The large body of field data generated helped to resolve some of the fundamental questions about the cause of coral reef declines.
"When corals are so weakened, they cannot withstand normal impacts," said corresponding author Rebecca Vega Thurber, an assistant professor in the College of Science at Oregon State University (OSU). "The solution will be to help those corals recover their health by ensuring that their local environment is free of nutrient pollution and that fish stocks are not depleted."
The findings make it clear that in the face of rising ocean temperatures, some of the best opportunities to protect coral reefs lie in careful management of fishing and protection of water quality. This would give corals their best chance to have a healthy microbiome and resist warmer conditions without dying, according to the researchers.
"We need to know how human activities are affecting coral reef ecosystems," said David Garrison, program director in the National Science Foundation's Division of Ocean Sciences, which funded the research. "Coral reefs are among the most sensitive indicators of the health of the oceans. This report is a major contribution toward understanding how reefs will fare in the future."
###
Other UCSB co-authors are Andrew Shantz, Catharine Pritchard and Nathan Lemoine. Additional contributors include lead author Jesse Zaneveld and Ryan McMinds, Jerome Payet, Rory Welsh, Adrienne Correa and Stephanie Rosales of OSU, Corinne Fuchs of the University of Florida in Gainsville and Jeffrey Maynard of the SymbioSeas and Marine Applied Research Center in Wilmington, North Carolina, and Laboratoire d'Excellence in French Polynesia.
It's common now to see people snubbing social companions to concentrate on their smartphone. But what causes this behaviour - known as 'phubbing' - and how did it come to be regarded as normal?
Research from psychologists at the University of Kent suggests people's internet addiction is leading them increasingly to 'phub' - and experience being 'phubbed' - in social situations. This, in turn, leads them to view this phubbing behaviour as normal.
The research, by Varoth Chotpitayasunondh and Professor Karen Douglas from the University's School of Psychology, identified a number of factors that were linked to smartphone addiction. These were internet addiction, a fear of missing out and a lack of self-control.
This smartphone addiction, in turn, was directly linked to people demonstrating phubbing behaviour. The researchers further found that it was this experience of phubbing - and of being phubbed themselves - that made people more likely to think that phubbing was 'normal' behaviour.
The research, thought to be the first to consider both the causes and consequences of this modern-day phenomena, is likely to lead to further investigations of the impact of phubbing on the quality of social interaction.
It is published as How "phubbing" becomes the norm: The antecedents and consequences of snubbing via smartphone in the journal Computers in Human Behaviour. See paper here: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074756321630345
###
For further information or interview requests contact Martin Herrema at the University of Kent Press Office.
Tel: 01227 823581/01634 888879
Email: M.J.Herrema@kent.ac.uk
News releases can also be found at http://www.kent.ac.uk/news
University of Kent on Twitter: http://twitter.com/UniKent
Note to editors
1. For the purposes of the present research, a "phubber" may be defined as a person who starts snubbing someone in a social situation by paying attention to his/her smartphone instead, and a "phubbee" may be defined as a person who is ignored by his/her companion(s) in a social situation because his/her companion(s) uses or check their smartphones instead.
2. Established in 1965, the University of Kent - the UK's European university - now has almost 20,000 students across campuses or study centres at Canterbury, Medway, Tonbridge, Brussels, Paris, Athens and Rome.
It has been ranked: third for overall student satisfaction in the 2014 National Student Survey; 16th in the Guardian University Guide 2016; 23rd in the Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2016; and 22nd in the Complete University Guide 2015.
In the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2015-16, Kent is in the top 10% of the world's leading universities for international outlook and 66th in its table of the most international universities in the world. The THE also ranked the University as 20th in its 'Table of Tables' 2016.
Kent is ranked 17th in the UK for research intensity (REF 2014). It has world-leading research in all subjects and 97% of its research is deemed by the REF to be of international quality.
Along with the universities of East Anglia and Essex, Kent is a member of the Eastern Arc Research Consortium (http://www.kent.ac.uk/about/partnerships/eastern-arc.html).
The University is worth 0.7 billion to the economy of the south east and supports more than 7,800 jobs in the region. Student off-campus spend contributes 293.3m and 2,532 full-time-equivalent jobs to those totals.
In 2014, Kent received its second Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education.
As the world anxiously awaits a report from restoration experts on the condition of the ancient Syrian City of Palmyra, now recaptured from ISIS control, a University of Kent heritage lawyer warns that, much closer to home, the Maritime Mercantile City of
As the world anxiously awaits a report from restoration experts on the condition of the ancient Syrian City of Palmyra, now recaptured from ISIS control, a University of Kent heritage lawyer warns that, much closer to home, the Maritime Mercantile City of Liverpool is also on UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger.
In a paper titled From Local to World Heritage: a Comparative analysis. https://www.kent.ac.uk/law/heritage/Docs/final%20conf/WHS%20special%20issue%20EDITORIAL%20FINAL%20RP%2012.01.2016.pdf Dr Sophie Vigneron, of Kent Law School (KLS), explains that following Liverpool City Council's outline planning consent for a 5.5 billion urban development known as Liverpool Waters, the Maritime Mercantile City could even be removed from the World Heritage List altogether.
Liverpool was made a World Heritage site in 2004 to celebrate its legacy as a merchant shipping port. The home of The Beatles and many other important cultural influences was identified as 'one of the world's major trading centres in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries' and subsequently approved as having Outstanding Universal Value in 2010. However, with the proposal for Liverpool Waters, a hotel, office and residential development, the World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) mission concluded that the World Heritage Site would be irreversibly damaged due to 'substantial deterioration of its architectural and town planning coherence, a serious loss of historical authenticity and an important loss of cultural significance'.
Research on the identification of national properties for inclusion in the World Heritage List in relation to the criteria of outstanding universal value, authenticity and integrity and the nomination of properties, is examined in Dr Vigneron's research which highlights these key findings:
Balancing conservation versus economic development is an ongoing issue
Goal of more consultation and community involvement rarely achieved
National selection not representative
Specialist criteria not translating into lay concepts
Dr Vigneron's research is published in Historic Environment: Policy and Practice 2016, volume 7 (2/3). See: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17567505.2016.1172777
###
For further information or interview requests contact Sandy Fleming at the University of Kent Press Office. Tel: 01227 823581/01634 888879 Email: S.Fleming@kent.ac.uk
News releases can also be found at http://www.kent.ac.uk/news
University of Kent on Twitter: http://twitter.com/UniKent
Notes to editors
There are now over 1,000 World Heritage properties around the world with a wide number of different challenges, reflecting their very different characters and natures, as well as different governance systems and cultural traditions in different regions of the world.
After ISIS militants seized control of Palmyra, known as the "Venice of the Sands" last May, they immediately set out to destroy it. In the past year until it was recaptured, parts of the UNESCO* World Heritage site have been blown apart.
The site was recaptured by Syrian forces in late March, but by then many of the site's monuments had been reduced to rubble, including the Temple of Bel and the Arch of Triumph, both of which stood for nearly two millennia. Now UNESCO is assessing the practicalities and the cost of restoration of the damage to the ancient ruins.
*UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
Established in 1965, the University of Kent - the UK's European university -- now has almost 20,000 students across campuses or study centres at Canterbury, Medway, Tonbridge, Brussels, Paris, Athens and Rome.
It has been ranked: third for overall student satisfaction in the 2014 National Student Survey; 16th in the Guardian University Guide 2016; 23rd in the Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2016; and 22nd in the Complete University Guide 2015.
In the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2015-16, Kent is in the top 10% of the world's leading universities for international outlook and 66th in its table of the most international universities in the world. The THE also ranked the University as 20th in its 'Table of Tables' 2016.
Kent is ranked 17th in the UK for research intensity (REF 2014). It has world-leading research in all subjects and 97% of its research is deemed by the REF to be of international quality.
Along with the universities of East Anglia and Essex, Kent is a member of the Eastern Arc Research Consortium.
In 2014, Kent received its second Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education.
PULLMAN, Wash. - Not a morning person? Neither are your kidneys. Research from the Washington State University College of Pharmacy suggests there may be benefits to timing chemotherapy in cancer patients to the time of day the body is "most awake."
Daniel Sorensen, a doctor of pharmacy student at WSU in Spokane, is studying the commonly used chemotherapy drug cisplatin as part of the college's Pharm.D. honors program. He won a graduate student travel award from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) to present the research in San Diego in April.
"Our laboratory is interested in understanding how cancer treatment will be more effective by administering that treatment during certain cycles of circadian rhythms," said Panshak Dakup, a graduate student who works with Sorensen in the lab of assistant professor Shobhan Gaddameedhi. Cisplatin's poisonous effect on the kidneys is one of its major limitations as a chemotherapy drug. Sorensen's project explored the expression levels of both cisplatin transporter molecules and cisplatin-DNA repair activity, which are the key players of cisplatin resistance and toxicity, against a 24-hour cycle in mouse kidney and liver tissues.
"The circadian clock regulates certain signaling pathways that are key for minimizing drug toxicity in normal tissues and increasing anti-cancer therapeutic drug efficacy," said Gaddameedhi.
This means coordinating chemotherapy treatments with the time of day when a patient's body is at peak expression of drug transporter molecules could help the patient's metabolism fight against drug toxicity and side effects. However, further study will be needed to pinpoint exactly how circadian dosing works before it can be tested in patient treatment plans.
Sorensen's project builds on previous research conducted by Gaddameedhi.
Up to 43 percent of genes in the body are regulated by the circadian clock. Among these are 175 drug targets that are clock-controlled genes and are targets of 56 of the top 100 best-selling drugs in the United States, said Gaddameedhi.
The Pharm.D. honors program provides opportunities for student pharmacists to explore areas of interest through developing and conducting formal research projects. This allows them to strategically align personal pharmacy interests and future career goals by providing deeper expertise in the interest area.
Research at the WSU College of Pharmacy supports the university's land-grant mission to address some of society's most complex issues, specifically WSU's efforts surrounding developing practical solutions to challenging problems in health care delivery, health care access and disease prevention.
###
As the growth of cities worldwide transforms humans into an "urban species," many scholars question the sustainability of modern urbanization. But in reality there aren't much data on long-term historical urbanization trends and patterns.
A new Yale-led study offers fresh clarity on these historical trends, providing the first spatially explicit dataset of the location and size of urban settlements globally over the past 6,000 years.
By creating maps through digitizing, transcribing, and geocoding a deep trove of historical, archaeological, and census-based urban population data previously available only in tabular form, the authors make accessible information on urban centers from 3700 B.C. to A.D. 2000.
They also create a "reliability ranking" for each geocoded location to assess the geographic uncertainty of each data point.
Their findings are published in the journal Scientific Data.
"To better understand urbanization today it is helpful to know what urbanization looked like through history," said Meredith Reba, a Research Associate at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES) and lead author of the paper. "By understanding how cities have grown and changed over time, throughout history, it might tell us something useful about how they are changing today."
Other contributors are Karen Seto, a Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science at F&ES, and Femke Reitsma, a Senior Lecturer in Geographical Information Systems at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.
The findings have broad applications. The dataset offers an important first step toward understanding the geographic distribution of urban populations throughout history and across the world.
Currently the only spatially explicit data available at a global scale is the United Nations World Urbanization Prospects, which provides population values, latitudes, and longitudes for places with populations of 300,000 or more. However, this resource goes back only to 1950.
For their dataset, the authors draw on two principle sources: Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: A Historical Census (1987), by historian Tertius Chandler, which estimated the city-level populations from 2250 B.C. to 1975; and World Cities: -3,000 to 2,000 (2003), by political scientist George Modelski, which documents the world's most important cities during three eras of history (ancient, classical, and modern). Modelski was able to extend Chandler's work by 1,475 years by using archaeological site assessments and population-density estimates.
Although both books are cited regularly by scholars, they are neither widely accessible nor easy to use since the data are not available in digital format. The new dataset, which is digitized and easily accessible, makes the historical information available for examination by other researchers, including geographers, historians, archaeologists, and ecologists.
The dataset allows researchers to map and visualize city level population changes through time. For example, Istanbul, Turkey (previously known as Constantinople) underwent a major period of population decline between AD 1057 and AD 1453. During this time the population dropped from approximately 300,000 to 45,000 due to a series of events including a city sacking by the Crusaders and a bout with the plague.
According to the authors, the ability to pinpoint the size and location of human populations over time will help researchers understand the evolving characteristics of the human species -- particularly human interactions with the environment.
"We see this as just a starting point onto which others can add and develop into a larger record on historical population trends," Reba said.
###
When NATO leaders gather in Warsaw in July, they will do so against a background of uncertainty. Uncertainty about the future of the European project. Uncertainty about the outcome of the US Presidential elections. Finally, uncertainty about how best to tackle the range of security threats facing the Alliance.
The absence of a single unifying threat has been a problem for NATO since the end of the Cold War. US impatience with the failure of their European Allies to contribute more to their own defence has aggravated the situation. Taken together, these two issues pose serious questions for the Alliance.
Citizens of NATO countries and observers will be looking for clarity about how best to confront the twin challenges of Russian assertiveness to the East and the spread of instability on NATOs southern and south eastern flanks. Meeting these expectations will be tough for an alliance of 28 members with differing perspectives on the relative priority to be attached to the threats they face.
For some, the resurgence of Russian military activism provides an answer. It has coincided with, and been largely responsible for, signs of an upturn, albeit modest and patchy, in European spending on defence. But, if the purpose of the Alliance has been to deter potential adversaries and reassure allies, the re-emergence of threatening Russian behaviour could be said to represent failure.
So, what should the NATO leaders do at Warsaw to shore up confidence in the relevance and effectiveness of the Alliance?
First, they should show that they have fulfilled the commitments made at the Wales Summit in 2014. Setting out how the Allies have made progress against the targets for increased spending on defence will be important. There can be endless debates about whether spending on defence is being used well. Levels of defence spending tell their own story. That said, it will also be important to demonstrate progress in building the new Very High Readiness Joint Task Force and the defence capabilities required in order to reach the NATO Forces 2020 target set out in the Chicago and Wales summit declarations. This should include remedying weaknesses revealed by the NATO operation over Libya in 2011. Processes, such as Smart Defence and Framework Nation, may be useful ways to get more from pledged defence expenditures, but they need to be seen to produce tangible results.
Second, they should further strengthen the NATO presence in Eastern Europe. Logic points towards the establishment of a permanent presence of forces drawn from the major European powers and the US. However, in the absence of consensus that the assurances provided in 1997 against the permanent presence of NATO forces in Eastern Europe no longer hold good, it will be necessary to boost the credibility of the Alliances rapid reinforcement plans. Although it would likely be unpopular with some Allies, who will not unreasonably argue that the Eastern Europeans should do more to help themselves, there may be a case for increasing the size of the common funds at NATOs disposal in order to pump prime the construction of any new infrastructure that is needed and help pay for the cost of exercising the Alliances reinforcement plans. Alongside investment in the credibility of NATOs Article 5 commitment, the Alliance should, as the ELN has argued, ensure that its channels of communication to the political and military leadership of the Russian Federation are up to date and regularly tested.
Third, they should restate the role that nuclear weapons play in the Alliances deterrent strategy and initiate more visible exercising of this capability. This is not about sabre rattling, but about credibility of demonstrating that the procedures required for nuclear release are effective. The intention should be to reduce the risk of miscalculation about the Alliances resolve, not to abandon the effort to make further progress towards genuine, multilateral disarmament. No doubt the Alliance will record the achievement of initial operational capability of the NATO ballistic missile defence system. But they would be wise to do so in muted tones, given the scope for misinterpretation, willful or otherwise, by Russia.
Fourth, NATO leaders should explain how NATO can help to make its members safer from the threat of Islamist terrorism and instability in the Middle East and North Africa. In doing so, they will need to acknowledge the limited capacity of military power to effect lasting change. In most respects, it is national governments and the EU that will be in the lead in restoring border controls, acting compassionately towards refugees and responding to the genuine concerns of their electorates, while at the same time tackling the causes of alienation from western, liberal, democratic values. While the prospect of early progress towards unblocking arrangements for the use of NATO headquarters and other infrastructure for EU led operations (the Berlin Plus arrangements) is slim, the leaders of the Alliance should emphasise the complementary and mutually reinforcing roles that the EU and NATO can and do play, in spite of the many frustrations.
Above all, NATO leaders should demonstrate unity of purpose. This is particularly important at a time when Putins Russia is seeking to drive wedges between the Allies and the nerves of the European member states are so exposed over the immigration crisis. This will involve compromise, which will probably mean not spelling out priorities as clearly as outside observers, and defence planners, might wish. That is a price worth paying for the sake of cohesion.
Finally, what role will the UK play at Warsaw? All depends on the outcome of the European Referendum. If the UK votes to remain a member of the EU, the Prime Minister will be in a position to play a positive role, drawing strength from last years commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defence in order to encourage others to move in the same direction and helping to bring together Allies with different perspectives on Alliance priorities. If the UK votes to leave, the government will be in such disarray and the mood among European Allies so resentful that it is difficult to see how the UK could wield positive influence at Warsaw.
The opinions articulated above represent the views of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Leadership Network or any of its members. The ELNs aim is to encourage debates that will help develop Europes capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security policy challenges of our time.
According to Ericsson's annual Mobility Report, between 2015 and 2021, the number of IoT connected devices is expected to grow 23 percent annually, of which cellular IoT is forecast to have the highest growth rate
Internet of Things (IoT) connections will surpass mobile by 2018, according to communications giant Ericsson. In the firm's annual Mobility Report, it said that between 2015 and 2021, the number of IoT connected devices is expected to grow 23 percent annually, of which cellular IoT is forecast to have the highest growth rate. Of the 28 billion total devices that will be connected by 2021, close to 16 billion will be IoT devices.
According to Rima Qureshi, Senior Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer, Ericsson, IoT is now accelerating as device costs fall and innovative applications emerge. From 2020, commercial deployment of 5G networks will provide additional capabilities that are critical for IoT, such as network slicing and the capacity to connect exponentially more devices than is possible today.
Mobile subscriptions are growing around 3 percent year-on-year globally and reached 7.4 billion in Q1 2016. India grew the most in terms of net additions during the quarter (+21 million), followed by Myanmar (+5 million), Indonesia (+5 million), the US (+3 million) and Pakistan (+3 million).
Western Europe will spearhead in adding IoT connections the number of IoT devices in this market is projected to grow 400 percent by 2021. This will principally be driven by regulatory requirements, for example for intelligent utility meters, and a growing demand for connected cars including the EU e-call directive to be implemented in 2018.
Smartphone subscriptions continue to increase and are forecast to surpass those for basic phones in Q3 this year. By 2021, smartphone subscriptions will almost double from 3.4 billion to 6.3 billion. The report also reveals that there are now 5 billion mobile subscribers unique users in the world today, which is testament to the phenomenal growth of mobile technology in a relatively short period of time.
Mobile video traffic is forecast to grow by around 55 percent annually through 2021, when it should account for over two-thirds of all mobile data traffic. While social networking will grow by 41 per cent annually over the coming six years, its relative share of traffic will decline from 15 percent in 2015 to around 10 percent in 2021, as a result of the stronger growth in the video category.
The rest of the application categories have annual growth rates ranging from 19 to 37 per cent, so are shrinking in proportion to the whole. The trend is accentuated by the growing use of embedded video in social media and web pages, which is considered video traffic in this context.
The emergence of new applications can shift the relative volumes of different types of traffic, but the proliferation of different sized smart devices will also affect the traffic mix for example, tablets are associated with a higher share of online video traffic than smartphones. Typically, tablets and smartphones are used equally for watching short video content, but tablets are used more for watching longer video content.
Mobile video traffic is forecast to grow by around 55 percent annually through 2021, when it should account for over two-thirds of all mobile data traffic. While social networking will grow by 41 percent annually over the coming six years, its relative share of traffic will decline from 15 percent in 2015 to around 10 percent in 2021, as a result of the stronger growth in the video category.
The rest of the application categories have annual growth rates ranging from 19 to 37 percent, so are shrinking in proportion to the whole. The trend is accentuated by the growing use of embedded video in social media and web pages.
The emergence of new applications can shift the relative volumes of different types of traffic, but the proliferation of different sized smart devices will also affect the traffic mix for example, tablets are associated with a higher share of online video traffic than smartphones. Typically, tablets and smartphones are used equally for watching short video content, but tablets are used more for watching longer video content.
Detailed in the report is a dramatic shift in teen viewing habits the rampant use of cellular data for smartphone video grew 127 percent in just 15 months (2014-15). Over a period of four years (2011-15) there has been a 50 percent drop in the time teens spend watching TV/video on a TV screen, and in contrast an 85 percent increase in those viewing TV/video on a smartphone. This, and the fact that the upcoming generation of mobile users are the heaviest consumers of data for smartphone video streaming (Wi-Fi and cellular combined), makes them the most important group for cellular operators to monitor.
In 2016, a long anticipated milestone is being passed with commercial LTE networks supporting downlink peak data speeds of 1 Gbps. Devices that support 1 Gbps are expected in the second half of 2016, initially in markets such as Japan, US, South Korea and China, but rapidly spreading to other regions. Mobile users will enjoy extremely fast time to content thanks to this enhanced technology, which will enable up to two thirds faster download speeds compared with the fastest technology available today.
Mobile broadband subscriptions will grow four-fold in the Middle East and Africa between 2015 and 2021; mobile data traffic in India will grow 15 times by 2021; and despite being the most mature market, US mobile traffic will grow 50 percent in 2016 alone.
Global mobile data traffic grew 60 percent between Q1 2015 and Q1 2016, due to rising numbers of smartphone subscriptions and increasing data consumption per subscriber. By the end of 2021, around 90 percent of mobile data traffic will be from smartphones.
In terms of LTE subscriptions, there were 150 million new subscriptions during the quarter driven by demand for improved user experience and faster networks reaching a total of 1.2 billion worldwide. LTE peak data speeds of 1 Gbps are anticipated to be commercially available in 2016.
5G is expected to start more quickly than anticipated, and spectrum harmonization is needed between countries planning early roll-outs. This is in addition to the current process for WRC-19, which focuses on spectrum for commercial 5G deployments beyond 2020.
Read more news about (internet advertising India, internet advertising, advertising India, digital advertising India, media advertising India)
Today's pound sterling exchange rates have appreciated across the board. We examine the latest GBP to Canadian dollar forercasts.
Despite the Ivey PMI falling from 53.1 to 49.4 in May the Canadian dollar exchange rates returned to a more bullish trend on Wednesday morning.
Forecasts suggest a strong increase in Canadian Building Permits for April, a sign of more robust economic conditions which could prompt the Loonie to extend its gains against rivals further.
Foreign exchange investors were somewhat cautious of the Canadian Dollar (CAD) exchange rates ahead of this afternoons Ivey PMI report, which was expected to offer a fresh indication of weakness in the domestic economy.
Should the figure suggest greater robustness, however, the Pound Sterling to Canadian Dollar (GBP/CAD) exchange rate could return to a downtrend.
The pound sterling exchange rates have managed to jump against all of its usual peers today, although actual sources of positive data have been fairly scarce overall.
This is a sharp change to Mondays session, when Sterling hit the rocks over the course of the day.
Sterling actually moved markedly in the Asian trading session with little stimulus, which is thought to have been due to an accidental activation of a currency transfer program at the wrong time.
With the European session now open, corrective trading has largely sent the Pound soaring against the competition, with the greatest advances being seen against the Hungarian Forint and the Japanese Yen.
Latest Currency Exchange Rates
On Wednesday the Pound to British Pound exchange rate (GBP/GBP) converts at 1 At time of writing the pound to pound exchange rate is quoted at 1. The GBP to EUR exchange rate converts at 1.151 today. Today finds the pound to us dollar spot exchange rate priced at 1.146. At time of writing the pound to australian dollar exchange rate is quoted at 1.788. Please note: the FX rates above, updated 26th Oct 2022, will have a commission applied by your typical high street bank. Currency brokers specialise in these type of foreign currency transactions and can save you up to 5% on international payments compared to the banks.
Tomorrows UK Data to Bring Production Stats and GDP Estimate
The next UK economic announcements to come arent due until tomorrow morning, when Aprils industrial and manufacturing production results are due to be announced.
In the former case, the monthly industrial printing is expected to rise while the annual outcome has been forecast to drop. These forecasts are essentially reversed for the manufacturing variants, with a drop in store on the month and an improvement on the cards for the year.
Later on, during the afternoon, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) GDP estimate for May will come; this previously printed in the region of 0.3%.
Canadian Dollar Generally Poor Today after Fed Rate Hike Chances Remain Flexible
The Loonie has, for the most part, been an unstable option for investors today, with losses stemming from recent developments from the Fed. This goes against predictions of a second positive day against GBP.
While Fed Chair Janet Yellen has not explicitly confirmed or ruled out a rate hike in June, the policymaker has also linked the odds to how the EU Referendum is progressing. The implication of this is that Remain-positive polls will increase the likelihood of an early Fed rate hike, which will in turn push down the appeal of the CAD.
Elsewhere in Canada, the cost of oil has risen of late, although the Alberta wildfires continue to rage and disrupt oil production and transportation, despite being contained by around 70%.
Next Major Canadian Data to Concern National Housing Stats
The Canadian Dollar may remain in its poor position over the remainder of the day, due to the next notable piece of national data not being out until Wednesday.
This will consist of the housing starts and building permits results for May and April respectively, which are forecast to dip and rise.
Following on from this on Thursday afternoon will be the new housing price index for April, which has no forecasts currently assigned.
CBA Strategist Speculates on Pounds Fat Finger Gains
Regarding the only major Sterling news today which has already taken place, most economists have put the Pounds advance down to a so-called fat finger trade, where traders supposedly hit the wrong button when entering figures to be exchanged.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia Senior Currency Strategist Joseph Capurso has responded by saying:
Could be stops going off in thin liquidity. Cant imagine GBP is liquid in Asian trading hours.
The Pound has made sizable sustained gains against peers today on investor optimism.
Sterlings rise against the CAD and others has been unshakable today, thanks to a lack of negative EU Referendum news.
The future may not be so bright for the Pound, however, as chances are that a poll pointing to a Brexit will emerge before long. In spite of the rising price of oil, the CAD has failed to advance on Sterling.
I would suggest that you look at the "How Express Entry Works" sticky at the top of the Canada branch. It will run down how you go about applying to come to Canada under the Federal Skilled Worker Program and what you need to do to apply.
Using the information in the video and the links associated with it, you should be able to apply without the use of a consultant.... they can't sit the IELTS exam for you; they can't get your university transcripts and get them evaluated for you; they can't get your criminal record checks done for you, so why pay them your hard earned money for something that you're going to have to do yourself?
As for sponsorship, that's something you're going to have to sort out by yourself... no immigration agent can guarantee you a job in Canada from outside of Canada and most (if not all) employers will want to interview you directly and not just take the word of a migration or employment agent.
With a 353 CRS ranking, it's highly unlikely that you will ever receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) to come to Canada.. you will need at least 100 points more on your score to have any chance of being offered an ITA to come to Canada... i.e. in the last 18 months, the absolute lowest CRS ranking that has been offered an ITA has been 450 and no lower than that. No, we do not believe that it will fall below 450, as it's only hit 450 a few times since January 2015 and even if it does go below 450, it will likely never fall below 400.
If you should be fortunate enough to be offered an ITA, it will take up to 6 months for the Government of Canada to process your paperwork and grant your visa. As for how long it will take you to get an ITA, it all depends on your CRS ranking and the CRS rank drawn by the Government of Canada.
Job market in Canada: it's hard to say... Canada is a large country and employment figures vary from province to province, so it's impossible to say what the market is like - for the simple fact that there are too many variable at work to give a definitive answer. Again, this is something you will have to sort out yourself by looking online to see what the job postings are like.
PR for your parents and your in-laws: unless they're completely dependent on you for their livelihood, it's unlikely that you can include them in your application to come to Canada and they will have to qualify to come to Canada on their own merit - they will likely have to prove that they are financially self sufficient enough to come to Canada, as they'll not qualify for any form of assistance from the Canadian government.
To find out more information on how they would go about applying and how much it will cost, you should do a Google search, as none of us here have any information about how that works... we are volunteers here and are not paid migration agents and we also do not work for the Government of Canada, so any information that we might have won't be any different than what you would find by doing a search online.
Hello
Do you know a society in dubai providing a good quality kitcheen countertop with large choice of models
Thank you
Regards
If the UK leaves the European Union life for expats across the continent will change and now the opinion polls are indicating a rise in support for exiting.The latest online survey from YouGov puts the Leave campaign three points ahead of Remain at 45% and 41% respectively with 11% undecided while another online survey from TNS records Leave at 43% and Remain on 41%.What is interesting is the issue that are emerging in the polling with immigration one of the biggest. The Leave campaign has stated that it will push for the introduction of an Australia style points based immigration system if it wins the referendum vote on 23 June.Indeed, the YouGov poll showed concerns over immigration had increased among the electorate, with 20% of people now ranking it as a top issue, a rise of 3%.The figures comes as a new report from independent not political group Migration Watch shows that a huge rise in Londons population in the last two decades has been driven solely by immigration. The UK born have remained at 5.2 million while the foreign born have doubled to three million.This means that the majority of children born in London have foreign born parents. Between 2001 and 2011 some 540,000 children were born to parents who were both foreign born while 505,000 were to parents who were both UK born. In 2012 only one third of births were to parents who were both UK born.Londons population is projected to continue to grow to 10 million in the next 15 years, driven by international immigration and births to the current and future immigrant population, the report says.The polls indicate that a lot of British people believe that too many immigrants have been able to move easily to the UK because of the countrys membership of the EU with figures showing a particular influx after countries such as Poland and Romania also became members.But Prime Minister David Cameron had said that it will be easier to control immigration by remaining a member of the EU. He believes one reason for recent rises in immigration from other EU countries is that the UK economy has outperformed Europe but he expects immigration from and emigration to the EU to come into balance as the economies of countries such as France and Germany picked up.His plan is to ensure that new arrivals did not claim unemployment benefit and left after six months if they did not have a job and his recent renegotiation with the EU will mean that all those arriving in the UK should make a contribution for four years before getting full welfare access.Whatever happens on the 23 June, experts believe that the vote will result in changes for people moving to the UK and not just from the EU. Citizens of Australia and New Zealand, for example, are now having to contribute to health costs.
east beACH.jpg
After Monday's ruling which found East Beach in Ocean Springs is a public beach, the City of Ocean Springs may be entitled to some or all of a $250,000 bond, as well as recovery of court costs and attorney fees.
(File photo/Gulflive.com)
OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- The City of Ocean Springs is likely entitled to a share of a $250,000, as well as recovery of its court costs and attorney fees, after a chancery court judge ruled in its favor in the seven-year-old East Beach property dispute.
In 2010, a Hinds County chancery judge ordered East Beach homeowners Buddy Gunn and Neil Harris to sign a $250,000 bond after the two men were issued an injunction to stop Ocean Springs from constructing a 3,470-foot long sidewalk along the beach.
Gunn and Harris argued they owned about 1,000 feet of the property where the proposed sidewalk was to be located. They also argued property south of the road and the seawall was on their deeds and they pay taxes on it.
Attorneys for the City, Secretary of State's office and Jackson County argued the property is public tidelands to be used for the benefit of the public.
At the time, the City had a $540,000 grant from the Mississippi Department of Transportation available for the project. However, with ownership of the beach tied up in court, that grant money went elsewhere.
In ordering the bond, Hinds County judge wrote that should it be determined that the injunction had been issued in error, the City -- along with Jackson County the State of Mississippi -- would be entitled to the $250,000 in bond money, as well as all court costs and attorney fees.
The bond was signed by Gunn and Harris, along with Harris' wife, Vecie. It is guaranteed by the Hartford Fire Insurance Company.
Twice the Supreme Court ruled the injunction was issued in error, remanding the case back to chancery court. Monday, Chancellor Hollis McGehee issued his opinion that the beach is public property and voided the injunction.
"Therefore, the court finds as a matter of fact and law that the current existing sand beach at the area known as East Beach, Ocean Springs, MS is a man made beach," McGehee wrote. "The beach is held by the State as a trustee for the use and benefit of the people of the state of Mississippi. The prior grant of injunctive relief is set aside and held for naught."
City Attorney Robert Wilkinson explained that once the judge has issued his opinion, he instructs the Secretary of State's office to draft the final judgment.
"The case has been won," Wilkinson said. "Any attempts to dismiss Monday's verdict as "just an opinion" are misinformed."
A message left for Harris Tuesday was not returned by press time. It is unknown whether he and Gunn will make one final appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court, which has twice overturned injunctions in their favor and sent the matter back to chancery court.
Whether receiving some of all of the $250,000 bond, as well as recovering its attorney fees and court costs, would allow the City to move forward with its plans to build a sidewalk on East Beach remains to be seen.
In 2009, bids for the project came in around $450,000, then-City Planner Eric Meyer said at the time.
Longtime alderman Greg Denyer, who represents the East Beach area, said he was not only "thrilled" with Monday's court decision, but is hopeful of seeing the sidewalk project revived.
"I'm elated," he said of the decision. "It's what I thought should happen from the beginning. I'm thrilled it turned out that way for the City. It's unfortunate we had to go to court and spend money, but I'm glad it turned out the way it did."
Denyer said when or how the City moves forward with the sidewalk project will likely be contingent upon how much of the grant money the City receives and whether he and his fellow aldermen decide to put any legal fees recovered back into the general fund.
"I don't think there's any money in the budget right right now for a sidewalk," he said. "But if we were to get that bond money, we might be able to build it. If not all of it at once, perhaps half of it and then come back and do the other half as we have the money."
Denyer also said the ideal situation would be to build the sidewalk on the south side of the existing seawall, tying the walkway into the toe of the seawall.
"Hopefully, we've learned some lessons from the Front Beach sidewalk," he said, noting the erosion problems which have plagued that sidewalk.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is doling out $300 million in federal aid to American cotton farmers, who are struggling to survive against deep foreign subsidies and the loss of their own government support, the agency announced Monday.
The Cotton Ginning Cost Share program will offer meaningful, timely and targeted assistance to cotton growers to help with their anticipated ginning costs and to facilitate marketing, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a news release.
U.S. cotton farmers have been under tremendous strain since lawmakers stripped them of most federal subsidies in the 2014 farm bill, a move designed to appease Brazil in trade talks. The new program doesnt directly pay farmers based on crop production, which had put off Brazil. The fresh aid is categorized as marketing assistance and provides 40 percent of a farmers ginning costs in a one-time payment based on their 2015 acreage reported to the Farm Service Agency.
The economic challenges facing cotton producers in our area are significant, and when farmers are in trouble, the whole community is affected, said U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer, a Republican from Lubbock.
Farmers can sign up at their local FSA offices between June 20 and Aug. 5, with payments expected to start going out in July. For farmers in Texas, the nations leading cotton-producing state, the payout comes to $36.97 per acre.
Industry representatives cheered the announcement, which comes as cotton growers beholden to $700,000 cotton planters and last-chance financing for seed, fertilizer and pesticides are betting on double-bale crops just to break even.
Our producers appreciate Secretary Vilsacks efforts in providing marketing assistance to a commodity that is suffering a serious decline in market revenue partly due to heavily subsidized foreign competition, with no signs of commodity prices reaching the level needed to offset their production costs, said Shane Stephens, a Mississippi cotton warehouse operator who is chairman of the Tennessee-based National Cotton Council.
Steve Verett of Lubbock-based Plains Cotton Growers said the short-term assistance will provide some well-needed relief.
We had hoped for more, but were certainly appreciative of the USDA doing this, he said.
Cotton has been selling for 64 cents per pound, compared with highs of about $2 per pound in 2011. Growers say the market is skewed thanks to high payouts to farmers overseas by foreign governments such as China, which has paid cotton farmers as much as $1.45 per pound.
Before the 2014 farm bill, federal crop payments would have kicked in once the base price fell below 72 cents per pound.
Direct payments to cotton farmers were phased out beginning in 2014 under the farm bill to resolve a World Trade Organization dispute with Brazil, which contended that the United States was unfairly shoring up the U.S. cotton price. Cotton was excluded from replacement support deals such as agriculture risk coverage and price loss coverage programs beginning this year, but it still was eligible for marketing assistance loans and crop insurance coverage.
The industry earlier this year thought it had a solution. Cotton is processed as both fiber and oil. By reclassifying cotton as an oilseed, as had been done with soybeans in the 2002 farm bill, cotton could again be designated a program crop eligible for the safety net.
House Agriculture Committee chairman Mike Conaway, R-Midland, joined more than 100 representatives in formally requesting Vilsack to make that designation.
But Vilsack said he lacked the legal authority. Critics of the request said such a redesignation would cost taxpayers $10 billion in payments.
Neugebauer, whose district in Lubbock sits in the heart of the nations largest cotton patch, praised Mondays announcement.
Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot.
I am pleased to see the department put some assistance in place, he said. This is not producers first choice for how USDA could have addressed the downturn in cotton, and I agree that more could have been done by designating cotton as an eligible oilseed.
Jeff Nunley, executive director of the South Texas Cotton and Grain Association, said the industry hadnt given up on the oilseed designation but that the cost-sharing announcement was welcome news.
Ive had a couple of producers call me and theyre like, well, I dont know if this is going to be enough to really get us out of the trouble were in, but its hard to complain cause its better than a sharp stick in the eye.
Matt Huie, a cotton grower in Beeville, said the one-time payment was a needed boost, but far from a solution.
If you want a quote from me, its going to be mejor que nada (better than nothing), he said.
We still have the potential out there to make a really big crop, but the short version is that at todays prices, it takes a really good crop just to break even, he said. Although the secretarys designation here helps, thats based on the 2015 crop, and theres still nothing in place for the 2016 crop, which is what we are currently growing. And the risks are pretty huge.
lbrezosky@express-news.net
Customer services management company Alorica, which employs about 2,200 people in San Antonio, is expanding in Texas as it looks to hire 400 more people locally and announces the purchase of a Plano-based competitor.
The Irvine, California-based Alorica plans to acquire Expert Global Solutions, which provides corporations with outsourcing services, including technical support and staffing of customer call centers.
The acquisition, which will be finalized in about five to eight weeks, speaks highly of the work done by EGS in San Antonio, said Alorica spokesman Ken Muche.
Muche said Alorica is more than just a call center, but also a company that interacts with customers through social media, the internet, text messages and other forms of communication.
Folks think oh its a call center, theyre just picking up phones. Weve evolved because our customers have evolved, he said.
Andy Lee, founder of Alorica, will become the chairman and CEO of the combined company. Lee said in a statement that the acquisition will expand the companys reach in sectors such as health care and communications. The combined company will employ 91,000 people across the world.
"With our domain expertise in nine major verticals, particularly in health care, communications, retail and financial services, we'll be well positioned to tailor the right mix of talent, capacity, analytics and technology to deliver solutions for every client," Lee said in a statement.
Bob Segert, the CEO and president of EGS, said in a statement hes proud of the transformation EGS has achieved in recent years.
Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Our people have worked hard to earn the trust of our clients and become a valued service partner, he said. The combination of our companies creates innovative capabilities to deliver world-class customer experiences, with an even broader suite of solutions."
In 2015, Alorica and EGS generated a total of $2.3 billion in combined revenue. Shareholders in EGS will continue to be minority shareholders in Alorica.
mpetersen@express-news.net
@malachi111493
Businessman Sardar Biglari is using a lawsuit to try to bully a San Antonio investment adviser and silence his criticism of the head of Biglari Holdings Inc., the owner of Steak n Shake and Maxim magazine, a recently filed court document alleges.
Biglari has sued investment adviser Marc Gagni for defamation and business disparagement, saying Gagni distributed a document that contained at least one false and disparaging statement that later was repeated in a column on Forbes magazines website.
Biglaris lawsuit is a shameless and arrogant attempt to suppress (Gagnis) exercise of free speech, from providing privileged and candid information to those seeking (Gagnis) professional advice and to punish (Gagni) from passing on media reports and published opinions of others that were critical of Biglari, Gagnis court filing states.
Ironically, while Biglari attempts to overwhelm and bully (Gagni) basically a solo investment adviser he neglects any attempt to silence his much-larger long-standing critics, including but not limited to Forbes magazine, Hearst Newspapers, and the Groveland Group, Gagnis filing adds. Hearst owns the San Antonio Express-News and Groveland waged an unsuccessful proxy fight at Biglari Holdings last year.
Gagni, with Gagni Asset Management LLC, wants Biglaris March 18 lawsuit tossed and to be awarded court costs and attorneys fees. The case was filed in Bexar County District Court.
Gagnis filing describes Biglaris complaint as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, or SLAPP. Five years ago, then-Gov. Rick Perry signed an anti-SLAPP bill into law to curb what was described in the legislation as frivolous lawsuits.
Calls to Biglaris lawyers were not returned. But in a court filing seeking additional time to be heard on Gagnis request that the case be dismissed, Biglari argued that his lawsuit falls under one of the exemptions of the law, which is known as the Texas Citizens Participation Act.
Discussions with would-be clients and current clients are business communications that generally would not be protected under the TCPA, Bilgaris filing says. Indeed, the TCPA exemption states that it does not apply where, among other things, the intended audience is an actual or potential buyer or customer.
San Antonio attorney Jessica Mann, who represents Gagni, said there isnt much case law addressing the exemption.
It just hasnt come up yet in this context, when youre dealing with an investment adviser, Mann said. She is with the firm Branscomb PC.
What precipitated Biglaris lawsuit was an October column on Forbes website under the headline The Gospel of Greed: How Sardar Biglari Paid Himself $34 Million Despite Lousy Fund Returns. Neither Forbes nor columnist Antoine Gara have been sued by Biglari.
Gagni is accused of obtaining an April 2015 confidential letter that Biglari wrote to partners in the Lion Fund LP, a private hedge fund that he manages, and offering it to Forbes. Among other things, the letter reported the Lion Fund produced a negative 7.2 percent return in 2014.
Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot.
The Forbes column criticized Biglari for paying himself a $34.4 million bonus payment despite the Lion Fund finishing in the red. Biglari, in his lawsuit, calls that blatantly wrong. The suit adds that Biglari Capital received an incentive fee of $34.4 million in 2014 based on a 40.2 percent return produced by the Lion Fund II LP, another hedge fund Biglari manages.
Gagni also is accused of distributing a document that contained false statements to a limited partner in the Lion Fund. Among other things, Biglaris suit says, the document falsely stated that Biglari sold Biglari Capital Corp., the Lion Funds general partner, to the publicly traded Biglari Holdings for $4.2 million and then bought it back for $1.7 million implying that he made a $2.5 million profit. Biglari has reported that Biglari Capital sold for the nominal sum of $1.
The suit adds that the document falsely said that Biglari transfers cash from Biglari Holdings to Lion Fund II, which in turn uses the money to buy shares in Biglari Holdings all without shareholder knowledge.
A court hearing in the case is scheduled for this morning.
pdanner@express-news.net
Twitter: @AlamoPD
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
The Rev. Kelly S. Allen, who came to San Antonio in 2009 to become pastor of University Presbyterian Church and became one of the citys leading advocates for refugees seeking safety from violence and poverty and for the right of same-sex couples to marry, died Sunday after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke.
A clergywoman known for strong convictions expressed with a gentle, collaborative spirit, Allen led others to set the world a little more right, one colleague said.
She was 50.
A memorial service is planned for 11 a.m. Saturday at Parker Chapel on the Trinity University campus, a family member said.
Allen was delivering remarks on womens resistance and courage during a workshop at a Presbyterian conference at Mo-Ranch in the Hill Country town of Hunt when she suddenly became ill Friday.
She was telling stories of courageous women, said the Rev. Traci Smith of Northwood Presbyterian Church, who was at the conference and stayed with Allen until her death. She was talking about immigrants, Hebrew midwives and a woman who did anti-lynching work in the South in the 60s. It was fitting, in introspect.
The overriding theme of Allens life had been to help the vulnerable and the weak, no matter the cost, Smith said. She didnt hit you over the head with it, but that was what drove her.
Perhaps best known as chairwoman of the Interfaith Welcome Coalition, Allen worked for the just treatment of immigrant mothers and children held in detention centers in Dilley and Karnes City and to solidify her churchs outreach to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. She also was chairwoman of the Immigration Task Force of Mission Presbytery, the Presbyterian Church USAs regional authority.
She lived her life as a witness to Jesus Christ in every aspect of her life, said David Germer, director of Christian education at University Presbyterian.
Though passionate about the issues she cared about, Allen also welcomed opposing arguments and invited people to air them, to stay in conversation with her and each other, he said.
She also counted on the work of the Holy Spirit to intervene, and she could use Scripture to remind us of Gods favor for immigrants and refugees and how people of faith are called to respond, Germer said.
She could talk about a way the world is not right and trusted that God would call the people to help set the world a little more right, he said. There wasnt a meeting I had with Kelly in which I didnt feel a tiny sting to do a little more. She called out the same things in herself.
Allen was an early advocate on LGBT issues and performed her first same-sex marriage in 2000, Smith said.
There was great risk for her personally and professionally, but as with her immigrant and refugee work, she would say she would be on the right side of history, Smith said.
University Presbyterian was already inclusive, but Kelly took that to a different level, Germer said. She helped us to more tangibly welcome LGBT, not just say we welcome the LGBT community.
Several groups, including Fiesta Youth, PFLAG and the Pride of San Antonio Showband, hold regular meetings at University Presbyterian.
Friends and colleagues said San Antonio represented just a fraction of her lifes work.
A native of Boston, Allen studied at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri; Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, and the University of Birmingham in England. She was ordained in 1992.
She taught at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis and served on the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance National Response Team.
Her first job out of seminary was First Presbyterian in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, where she was head pastor from 1992 to 1997. This put Allen in the middle of a natural disaster when massive flooding hit the area, Allens sister-in-law Heather Allen said. She was an integral part of assisting people with services and support in that crisis, she said.
Allen also was pastor of First Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, where she learned community organizing.
She and her husband fostered several children, Heather Allen said.
In 2014, Allen stood for moderator of the 221st General Assembly of the church, its highest-ranking elected post. She wasnt elected, but this raised her stature nationally, and Northwood Presbyterians Smith said it led to her immigration work.
It was a big legacy and a big life, she said. It will take a lot of people to fill those shoes.
Allen suffered severe injuries and needed multiple surgeries from a car accident in St. Louis, a traumatic event that also claimed the life of a friend, said Adam Allen, her brother. The driver who struck them ran from police but was caught.
When the gentleman came up for sentencing, she went to court and basically forgave him and asked for leniency, her brother recalled. All the rest of us wanted him to go to jail forever for killing her friend and injuring her so badly.
Adam Allen remembered her as a second mother, always in charge, in a good way.
We didnt always agree on things, and we were on different ends of the spectrum, politically, he said. But Kelly not only preached forgiveness, she lived forgiveness.
Allen is survived by her husband, John Rezentes; two children, Clare and David Rezentes; her mother Marlys Allen, her father Thomas Allen and his wife Joann; her brother and his wife; and several nieces and nephews.
Minutes before her death, Allen was sitting with Smith and wondering whether to join a mission trip to Indonesia. She was always wanting to do more, Smith said.
Even in death, Allen found a way. She was an organ donor.
eayala@express-news.net
Twitter: @ElaineAyala
Bexar County has recommended that commissioners award a security contract worth more than $1 million to a Corpus Christi firm whose owner recently was arrested and charged with improperly operating the company.
Wesley Terry, a Florida attorney, was arrested on Feb. 12 in Corpus Christi for operating a security company without a qualified manager, according to a Nueces County Sheriffs Office report.
About a month later, seeking the Bexar County contract, Terry signed a Texas Ethics Commission affidavit as the authorized agent of AMTEX Security.
On Monday, he told me he no longer owned the firm.
At the time (of the arrest), I was the owner, Terry said, adding that he was wrongly arrested.
We have always been in compliance with (the) Texas (Department of Public Safety), he continued. Our license has always been valid.
He blamed his arrest on cronyism and politics in Nueces County.
This was something from a competitor, he said, declining to elaborate.
Asked who currently owns AMTEX, Terry said, Im not going to get into all this, who owns the company. Its not worth reporting, and hung up the phone.
AMTEX Security was founded in 1984 by former Democratic Congressman Solomon Ortiz a year after he joined Congress. Ortiz sold his ownership in the firm in 2003 after the media raised conflict-of-interest concerns, yet he continued to profit from it, according to a 2010 article in The Hill.
U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, narrowly defeated Ortiz in 2010.
On Monday morning, a day before Bexar County commissioners were scheduled to consider awarding AMTEX the contract, county staff did not know about Terrys arrest or the change in ownership.
As of April 1, 2016, (Terry) signed as the president of AMTEX Security, said Mary Quinones, the countys purchasing agent.
Late Monday, Quinones said the new president was Justin Roath.
Terry was arrested in connection with not properly registering AMTEX with DPS, according to Nueces County Sheriff Jim Kaelin. Before the DPS investigation, the firm had provided security at the Nueces County courthouse.
DPS came to the sheriffs office and said, This is a company that is not doing valid business in the state of Texas, Kaelin said. They were escorted out of the building the same day.
Nueces County Judge Loyd Neal told me that AMTEX didnt have all the licensing done.
They were not qualified so we terminated the agreement, Neal said.
Despite the recent trouble, a local committee recommended AMTEX as the most eligible for recommendation of award, with Blue Armor Security Services coming in a close second, according to county records. Nine companies responded to the countys request for proposals.
The recommendation was made despite AMTEX costing the county about $210,000 more annually than Blue Armor, a 22 percent increase in the cost of the contract.
Blue Armor has provided security in Bexar County since 2013.
Last month, Bexar County Commissioner Kevin Wolff criticized the contract as a conflict of interest and a violation of county policy because Blue Armor is owned by Willie Ng, chief investigator for Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood.
A clause in the contract bars employees from holding contracts with the county.
LaHood hired Ng in January 2015. He has argued that the clause is illegal because county employees are permitted by state law to hold county contracts.
The debate has grown heated; at one point LaHood called Wolff a liar.
On Monday, Quinones said she did not know whether the revelations about AMTEX would affect Tuesdays vote on the contract.
bchasnoff@express-news.net
LUCEDALE, Mississippi -- George Regional Hospital has been recognized as one of only 168 acute-care hospitals -- out of over 4,000 -- to receive a five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
"It's a reflection of what people experience when they receive care at George Regional Health System," said hospital CEO Greg Havard "Our goals are to ensure we excel in three key areas: Compliance, Quality Care and Patient Satisfaction. I know we've made tremendous strides in meeting each of those goals since I've been here."
Havard has been the George Regional CEO since January 2015.
"We are certainly proud to have this distinction," He continued. "This recognition puts us in the top two percent of hospitals in the country. The citizens of this county have every right to be extremely proud of our community hospital."
The ratings are based on 11 publicly-reported measures in the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, which gauges patient experiences.
The survey contains 21 patient perspectives on care which cover nine key topics:
Communication with doctors
Communication with nurses
Responsiveness of hospital staff
Pain management
Communication about medicines
Discharge information
Cleanliness of hospital environment
Quietness of hospital environment
Transition of care
"Our hospital is one of the finest community owned and rural hospitals in the state and the entire southeast," said George County supervisor Larry McDonald. "This 5-star award affirms what the George County Board of Supervisors has known and has worked toward for years.
"Our board is extremely proud of George Regional Health System and congratulates every staff member for their contributions made to this honor."
George Regional Hospital, founded in 1950, has a staff of more than 30 physicians and another 319 health care professionals and support staff who provide care to both inpatients and outpatients.
"So the next time you hear someone comparing you community hospital to others," Havard said, "remind them of this fact; when patients were asked, George Regional Hospital outperformed 98 percent of all hospitals in the United States."
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 2 1 of 2 / Show More Show Less 2 of 2 Show More Show Less
San Antonio developer GrayStreet Partners, which has invested millions of dollars in several high-profile projects downtown over the last year, is planning a new 27.5-acre multifamily project on the Northwest Side near Ingram Park Mall.
Two companies run by Kevin and Paul Covey, GrayStreets father-and-son leadership team, are asking the city to rezone the vacant land from a business park to multifamily, allowing for 33 units an acre. The city Zoning Commission will consider their request today, and city staff has recommended approval.
At the Hillandale facility in Turner, Maine, a hen lies trapped under the wires of her cage. Many birds become trapped by their wings, necks, and legs, and are unable to reach food or water. Photo by The HSUS
2.7K shares
An undercover investigation by The HSUS has revealed cruel treatment of egg-laying hens at New Englands largest egg producer. The factory farm in question supplies eggs to several states, including Massachusetts, where volunteers are just finishing gathering signatures to place a measure on Novembers ballot. The measure would establish a commonsense retail standard for the sale of eggs and other animal products, disallowing the sale within Massachusetts of products resulting from extreme methods of farm animal confinement.
The Maine facility where we conducted the investigation is a massive complex of almost 70 warehouses that together confine some four million laying hens. Its operated by Hillandale Farms and owned by egg magnate Jack DeCoster, whose filthy facilities in Iowa led to a 2010 salmonella outbreak for which he was criminally convicted. DeCoster is closely connected in business matters to Orland Bethel, the top guy at Hillandale, which now leases and operates the egg barns in the town of Turner, while DeCoster remains the owner of the facility. DeCoster and Bethel were at the heart of the 2010 egg recalls in Iowa and Ohio a public-health crisis I wrote about in The Humane Economy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the outbreak sickened tens of thousands of consumers in multiple states. More than half a billion eggs were recalled due to salmonella at the operations run by these men, and DeCoster was sentenced to federal prison for his role in the outbreak.
As you can see in the video, our investigator documented a veritable house of horrors, including:
Hens confined in cages packed so tightly, they cant even spread their wings.
Hens forced to share their cages with the rotting carcasses of dead cage-mates. Some dead birds are mummified and stuck to the wire cage floor. A worker told the HSUS investigator that when the birds are mummified like that, it means theyve been in the cage (with living hens) for months.
Hens trapped by their necks, wings, and feet in the rusty wire cages.
Hens found with bloody prolapses and horrendous facial abnormalities. The HSUS investigator was told by his supervisor not to do anything for one such hen. As long as its standing up and laying eggs, thats all that matters.
Poisoned rodents found in hens cages and combined with chicken manure to be sold for fertilizer.
The last year has seen a torrent of announcements from major companies like McDonalds and Walmart touting that theyre starting to switch to 100 percent cage-free eggs. These are tremendously encouraging announcements, and collectively amount to a repudiation of the battery-cage systems that have come to dominate egg production in the last half century. As important and exciting as these corporate policies are, as of today, nine out of 10 egg-laying chickens in the United States are still locked inside cages where they cant even spread their wings. We must accelerate the transition away from these inherently inhumane production systems and embrace a cage-free future.
That process starts with a vivid reminder about what life is like in these battery cages and on these factory farms. That should provide all the motivation we need to close this ugly era of animal agriculture and start anew.
NFU Cymru met with the new Environment and Rural Affairs Cabinet Secretary, Lesley Griffiths AM, for the first time yesterday.
The role Welsh food and farming plays in delivering jobs, growth and investment to the economy of Wales was the main topic of conversation.
In a positive meeting NFU Cymru was delighted that the Cabinet Secretary fully recognised the importance of the sector to the Welsh economy and the huge potential of the industry.
Speaking after the meeting NFU Cymru President Stephen James said: "We highlighted the role of farming in directly employing 60,000 people in Wales, generating a gross output of nearly 1.5bn.
"Farming is the cornerstone of the 6bn food supply chain which employs in total around 18% of the Welsh workforce and the axis around which rural communities thrive.
"Whilst I am confident for our long term future we cannot hide from the fact that presently the industry is under pressure as a result of a global downturn in commodity prices.
"Welsh Government cannot influence global markets but there are a number of areas where it can help Welsh farmers."
Welsh food in Welsh public services
Mr James continued: "We want to see increasing amounts of Welsh food served in Welsh schools, hospitals, prisons and to troops in Wales.
"Government can play a leading role in making this happen, ensuring that greater emphasis is made on PGI status and assurance standards when purchasing decisions are being made by public bodies."
Mr James impressed on the Cabinet Secretary the need to ensure that all remaining Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments are made without further delay.
He said: "I am particularly concerned at the continued delay in 2015 BPS payments for many of our cross border farmers, this matter must be urgently addressed.
"Looking forward, Governments both side of the Wales / England border, must work to ensure that this matter is resolved to prevent any repeat in these payment delays for future years.
"Bovine TB continues to cast a dark cloud over our cattle industry, latest figures show a 27% year on year increase in the number of TB reactors, we asked the Cabinet Secretary to look at best practice from across the world with a view to implementing a comprehensive TB eradication strategy for Wales."
Wales Rural Development Programmme
NFU Cymru Deputy President, John Davies, highlighted the potential of the Wales Rural Development Programme in helping to achieve our vision of a productive, profitable and progressive industry in Wales.
He asked the Cabinet Secretary to consider introducing, without delay, a small grant scheme to support investment on farm in new equipment and technology, ensuring that the scheme is easily accessible so as to facilitate widespread uptake.
In conclusion Stephen James said: "NFU Cymru was pleased to meet Lesley Griffiths AM so soon after her appointment and we are delighted with the positive nature of our discussions and the enthusiasm the Cabinet Secretary has about her new portfolio.
"We have significant challenges ahead of us but also the opportunity to further increase our contribution to the economy of Wales and we look forward to discussing these in more detail in the coming weeks."
AHDB Exports (AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds) has published four target market reports that summarise key information important for understanding their markets.
Reports for Portugal, Spain, Morocco and Algeria have been published.
The publications include consumer trends, market information and demographics, all designed to give a picture of the potential import requirements of the country.
Portugal report
Combined, the countries imported an approximate total of 19,536,000Mt during the 2014/15 marketing season and are forecast to import approximately 20,869,000Mt in 2015/16.
Spain report
The current drought across North African countries ensures that the UK is seen as a key exporter.
Portugal
Portuguese 2015/16 wheat production is forecasted to decline by 32% to 69,000 tonnes. With a total annual demand of around 1.1 million tonnes of wheat, due to low domestic production, 1 million tonnes has to be imported.
Spain
Spanish wheat production is approximately 5 million tonnes per annum. For the 2015/16 season, wheat imports are forecast at 5.5 million tonnes and barley imports approximately 864,000 tonnes.
Morocco
Moroccan wheat production varies between 58 million tonnes depending on climatic conditions. For the 2015/16 season, wheat imports are forecast to reach approximately 2.8 million tonnes and barley imports approximately 200,000 tonnes.
Algeria
Algerias wheat harvest for 2015/16 totalled 2.7 million tonnes, of which, approximately 0.5 million tonnes is soft wheat. Total wheat imports are forecast to total 7.7 million tonnes and barley 650,000 tonnes.
Farmers attending this years Cereals event will get their first look at New Hollands T6.180 Methane Power tractor which was unveiled at Agritechnica.
The second generation prototype is based on a New Holland T6.180 standard tractor and features a 175hp (129kW) Nef 6 engine developed by FPT Industrial that delivers 740Nm torque.
The nine gas cylinders have a total capacity of 300 litres (52kg) compressed methane, sufficient for approximately half a day of normal tractor operations.
The second generation Methane Power T6.180 delivers significant fuel saving of 20% to 40% compared to conventional fuels.
This tractor is an important step in achieving New Hollands goal of energy independent farming as the methane is generated through renewable biomass production.
When using bio-methane, the machines carbon impact is virtually zero.
On environmental performance, the new machine has 80% less polluting emissions than a standard diesel tractor and is already capable of fulfilling future greenhouse gas targets, which are expected to require a 20% reduction in emissions across Europe by 2020.
The Methane Power tractor will be located at the New Holland stand and the companys staff will be in attendance to demonstrate its skills and answer any queries.
MEPs have urged the EU Commission to put forward proposals against unfair trading practices in the food supply chain.
This is to ensure fair earnings for farmers and a wide choice for consumers, in a resolution voted today (7 June).
The aim should be to ensure fair and transparent trade relations among food producers, suppliers and distributors.
Fair trading should in turn help to prevent overproduction and food waste, they add.
"The initiatives taken so far have not been effective. That's why we give more suggestions. More work should be done to improve relations between suppliers and supermarkets and hypermarkets, especially when it comes to minimising the so-called fear factor.
"We also call on the European Commission to do more when it comes to new tools that should help us to counteract unfair trading practices", said Parliament's rapporteur Edward Czesak (ECR, PL).
"All players in the food supply chain should enjoy the same rights", he added.
Income and power imbalances in the food supply chain must be tackled as a matter of urgency in order to improve farmers bargaining power, says the resolution, which was approved by 600 votes to 48, with 24 abstentions.
MEPs stress that selling below the cost of production, and the serious misuse of basic agricultural foods such as dairy, fruit and vegetables as loss leaders by large-scale retailers, threaten the long-term sustainability of EU production of these items.
Farmers and small and medium businesses are particularly vulnerable to unfair trading practices (UTPs).
They are sometimes forced to sell at a loss when price negotiations with a stronger party put them at a disadvantage, e.g. by making them bear the cost of supermarket markdowns and reductions.
Consumers are also disadvantaged, as their choice of products and access to new and innovative goods are limited, MEPs say.
Robust enforcement needed to overcome supplier fear factor
Voluntary and self-regulatory schemes have so far shown "limited results" owing to a lack of proper enforcement, under-representation of farmers, conflicts of interest between the parties, dispute settlement mechanisms that fail to reflect the supplier "fear factor" and the fact that they do not apply to the whole supply chain, MEPs underline.
"Framework legislation at EU level is necessary in order to tackle UTPs and to ensure that European farmers and consumers have the opportunity to benefit from fair selling and buying conditions", they add.
Parliament believes that the Supply Chain Initiative and other national and EU voluntary systems should be promoted "as an addition to effective and robust enforcement mechanisms at member state level, ensuring that complaints can be lodged anonymously and establishing dissuasive penalties, together with EU-level coordination".
MEPs encourage producers and traders, including farmers' organisations, to get involved in such initiatives.
British farmers must be safe from exploitation
Ahead of the vote, the NFU lobbied MEPs to support the report which seeks to reduce the negative impacts UTPs can have on farmers.
The NFU also supports the reports view that the Groceries Supply Chain Code of Practice (GSCOP) is a possible model to follow at EU level.
NFU President Meurig Raymond2 said: "I am pleased that MEPs have supported the call for stronger action to tackle unfairness in the food supply chain.
"This report is promising, but we will continue to reiterate that without an effective EU legislative frame work to oversee unfair trading practices, the fear factor will remain in commercial relationships.
"With GSCOP working well in the UK we believe an extension of this at an EU level, as the report recommends, would be a very good thing.
"The government must push the European Commission to introduce an EU wide approach so that British farmers and food processors can be safe from exploitation in the supply chain.
"It is essential that UK farmers enjoy the same protections when they trade at home, as when they trade abroad.
"We are glad that the report also recognises the limitations of the voluntary EU Supply Chain Initiative including the lack of an option to lodge confidential complaints, no penalties for non-compliance and the fact that the effectiveness of the dispute resolution options have not been tested."
Farmers have expressed concern about the unknown implications of Britain leaving the European Union, according to a new survey by experts at the University of Exeter.
Almost half (45.8 per cent) of those questioned said the interests of British agriculture will be best served by the UK remaining a member of the EU.
More than a third (35.5 per cent) indicated that it would be in the interest of British agriculture to leave the EU.
The remaining 18.7 per cent were unable to give an answer.
If this group is removed the proportion in favour of remain is 56.6 per cent while 43.4 per cent favour leaving.
The 1,251 farmers who took part in the postal survey, by the University of Exeters Land, Environment, Economics and Policy Institute (LEEP), were also asked about future Government financial support for agriculture.
Only 17.1 per cent thought it would remain at broadly similar levels in the event of a Brexit, while 44.5 per cent thought it would not, and 38.4 per cent didnt know.
Older farmers were significantly more confident that support would be maintained if we left the EU compared to those who were younger.
Farmers are sceptical
LEEP Director Professor Matt Lobley said: "This is a robust survey of the views of farmers.
"The 1,251 respondents represent approximately 5 per cent of all farms in the South West and almost 9 per cent of the regions farmland.
"These findings suggest that some farmers feel the Common Agricultural Policy has an important role in supporting their work, and that they are concerned leaving the European Union could leave them more economically vulnerable than they are now."
LEEP Director Professor Michael Winter OBE said: "The UK is a highly urbanised nation.
"Our research shows that farmers are sceptical about whether the UK government outside the EU would maintain the same level of support for farmers as under the EU.
"History suggests that politicians would prefer to reform the Common Agricultural Policy."
'Defra will be Brexit ready if we vote to leave'
Farm Minister George Eustice MP, prominent Leave campaigner, admitted it had been extremely difficult to take a different view to the Prime Minister, but insisted that leaving the EU was the right decision.
"Big decisions always make people apprehensive but we must not duck the big decisions," he said.
"Although the Government says its got no plan B it does have people like me whove done a lot of work," added Mr Eustice.
"I can assure you Defra will be Brexit ready if we vote to leave.
"And if we do vote for change the Prime Minister will lead the reconciliation to that new reality the entire machine of government will be committed to withdrawal from the EU in the best possible way."
'Typical bluff and bluster from Leave side'
Former NFU President Peter Kendall has weighed in on the debate, saying it was "typical bluff and bluster from the leave side, who fail to answer key questions that are vital to the British farming industry.
"They are unable to guarantee that farmers will receive the same support as their key competitors in the European Union.
"And they cannot explain how farmers can sell tariff-free into the EU if we left the single market.
"Its clear that British farming is stronger, safer and better off in Europe."
Online communities solve the problem of Google RankBrain AI destroying your search rank
Confusion! In the past five years the world of SEO has been thrown into a frenzy with competing ideas and actions at odds with one another. For example, Our media site TMCnet and its numerous family of sites have millions of pages of content and on a given day, we will get emails from one company asking us to add links to an article and another email from a similar company asking us to remove the links. We try to comply in all of these cases but it is obvious that the SEO industry is spending tens of millions of dollars on driving in circles.
Sitting in the middle of this commotion it seems these companies havent a clue. After all, how can two competitors want to remove and add links from the same site on the same day? And this happens constantly.
Quite often the people reaching out dont work for the company directly they are hired SEO guns or agencies.
Smarter Search Engines: Part of the problem has to do with Google the search engine is getting more and more complicated to game. The idea of gaming is to try to generate a higher a result than you normally would by just providing useful information to humans.
The company is now using AI to a greater extent and as a result, there are many things to be aware of. John Ramton from TechCrunch does a good job summarizing whats happening. His article has lots of theoretical analysis and charts about how AI has progressed but what caught my eye is how this relates to sites ranking. For example:
Within Google, there are a number of core algorithms that exist. It is RankBrains job to learn what mixture of these core algorithms is best applied to each type of search results. For instance, in certain search results, RankBrain might learn that the most important signal is the META Title.
The point is search results are now so customized, you will have trouble fooling Google as there are few general rules which apply across all queries.
When RankBrain operates, it is essentially learning what the correct settings are for each environment. As you might have guessed by now, these settings are completely dependent on the vertical on which it is operating. So, for instance, in the health industry, Google knows that a site like WebMD.com is a reputable site that they would like to have near the top of their searchable index. Anything that looks like the structure of WebMDs site will be associated with the good camp. Similarly, any site that looks like the structure of a known spammy site in the health vertical will be associated with the bad camp.
In other words, your site design may or may not be ideal for your industry. The only way to ensure you have a solid chance of ranking for the range of terms in your market is to have multiple sites with various designs. This protects you if the leading site in your space as determined by Google has a redesign.
Broad is Bad: Another point is sites which are not niched may be categorized as spam. In other words, if you arent niched enough, you might be punished profusely. Ive seen the results of this punishment firsthand and can tell you, its not pretty. Many companies may be getting punished and not even know it. The best way around this situation is to have multiple sites in the various markets you cover as a hedge.
Perhaps most scary is the use of backlinking strategies which differ from dominant market players. A shoe company could be severely penalized if it receives backlinks which are different in nature than Nike.
Finally, we have reached a point where each competitive keyword must be considered on its own and a strategy needs to be built to handle them all.
OCs to the Rescue: For over a decade, my company TMC has been building turnkey (content provided) online communities (OCs) focused on niche markets for our customers. We have found the best way to connect buyers and sellers is to allow the seller to surround its messaging with relevant content. Weve done this for hundreds of companies as small as the two-man show and for others such as AT&T, Sprint, Cisco, Oracle, etc.
This is how the Webscale Networking OC looks as of today
In each case, we allowed a company to transcend its own organic SEO with other relevant results. Many companies see a mix of results on their relevant keyword searches made up of their online community as well as their internal pages.
Long-tail search results too are boosted by having an online community with lots of content added by our editorial team.
May I have some more please? The one constant here is content you need it. Lots of it. The challenge in housing the content on your own site is it may be difficult to justify to management what the ROI might be. On a third-party online community site, rankings can help tell the story.
Of course rank is only part of the reason for an OC customers tell us they provide an invaluable branding mechanism as well.
The point is niching your search engine attack and filling each niche site with a well of continuous content is the best way to SEO and sales success. AI always gets smarter and will continue to reward a well-thought-out SEO strategy that goes beyond hiring a consultant to add and remove links for you all day.
TMC has built hundreds of turnkey online-community sites for customers in a variety of industries, allowing them to boost their brands, position themselves as a category leader and generate more awareness and sales.
British Horse Society (BHS) officials in the Yorkshire region are keen to draw to the attention of farmers and landowners the current funding opportunities offered by LEADER.
Defra has awarded the Yorkshire Dales LEADER area 2.23 million to support local priorities, amongst which boosting rural tourism and farm diversification are high on the agenda.
In an early round of funding, farms and other businesses are invited to apply for grants of up to 35,000 which the British Horse Society have suggested might be used to open up more routes to enable riders to get off the roads.
As well as providing pleasanter riding opportunities, allowing access to new routes will help to relieve pressure on already congested rural roads.
A campaign by the British Horse Society, Dead Slow, highlights that in the five years since the launch of its horse accidents website, over 2,000 reports of road incidents involving horses have been reported to the charity.
Of these, 36 caused rider deaths, and 181 resulted in a horse dying from their injuries or being put to sleep.
Rima Berry who assists applicants through the grant process at LEADER welcomes the support of the British Horse Society in highlighting grant funding and acknowledges the synergy of their aims.
The Yorkshire Dales LEADER funding area extends beyond the boundaries of the National Park, so the area of geographical eligibility is quite extensive.
Farmers and other landowners throughout the region can potentially access funding to make existing tracks and footpaths rider-friendly by replacing stiles with gates and signposting new routes.
These could be developed further to provide new sources of income and sustainable job opportunities; the key objectives of LEADER funding.
Responsible riders
Jane Ellison-Bates is a LEADER Executive Board Member and British Horse Society committee member covering the Yorkshire Dales area, as well as being a horse rider herself.
She observes: "Some farmers can be instinctively resistant to horses, but in reality riders are not seeking to tear around chewing up their fields at a flat gallop, but simply wish to get from A to B in a pleasant environment away from traffic.
"There is plenty of evidence to suggest that responsible riders are willing to pay good money to ride routes off-road, as evidenced by the commercial success of farmer David Coates highly popular diversification venture Craven Country Ride at Coniston Cold.
"It always surprises me that there are not more landowners like David realising the commercial potential presented by horse riders. The current LEADER funding is a golden opportunity to get started."
Larger landowning corporations such as The Forestry Commission and Yorkshire Water are already recognising the value in providing riding tracks at locations such as Swinsty and Scar House Reservoirs.
The BHS encourages farmers to consider creating new circular routes, developing footpaths or currently private tracks to link existing public bridleways and rights of way to make viable routes for riders off-road.
Toll routes, creating areas for visiting riders to park horseboxes and trailers and offering refreshment facilities are potentially income-generating opportunities that can be created with relatively low investment.
Landowners can dedicate new rights of way across their land through a creation agreement.
Once a route has been added to the definitive map, the responsibility for the upkeep of its surface is usually taken over by North Yorkshire County Council.
LEADER funding is available in several different categories, so an early conversation with Rima Berry is recommended for farm business owners to determine the best approach to a funding bid for diversification.
Outline applications for projects of this nature need to be in by 25th July with funds becoming available for approved projects at the end of 2016.
The EU Parliament has called for technological and innovative solutions for farming.
MEPs today voted on two own-initiative reports: 'Technological solutions for sustainable agriculture' from Conservative MEP Anthea McIntyre, and 'Enhancing innovation and economic development in future European farm management' from Liberal MEP Jan Huitema.
These reports call for innovative and technological solutions in agriculture policy.
These timely reports underline the importance of innovative technologies for European agriculture.
New solutions are essential in ensuring agricultural competitiveness and sustainability.
Following on from the conclusions of the European Competitiveness Council, we support the concept of the innovation principle and its inclusion in the EUs policy and regulatory framework.
The crop protection industry is a key stakeholder for innovative solutions in agriculture.
ECPA member companies heavily invest in solutions to support farmers with a robust and innovative toolbox of pesticides, which helps deliver secure, safe and affordable food.
Furthermore pesticides and other plant science innovations boost crop yields, minimise pre-and post-harvest losses and improve the efficient use of natural resources such as land, water and energy.
Innovation has made crop protection safer and more effective than ever before - for both the environment and for the consumer.
A breakthrough, new winter feed wheat variety that combines high yield with robust resistance to one of the UKs foremost wheat diseases is being launched to growers for planting this autumn.
Graham, the new hard Group 4 winter feed wheat from Syngenta, boasts a UK treated yield of 104% of control varieties on the AHDB Recommended List for 2016/17 equivalent to 10.8 t/ha, says Syngenta technical crop expert, Kathryn Hearn.
That rises to 107% for the West region where it has the highest treated yield figure of any winter wheat variety listed, she adds.
But significantly, Graham also combines its yield with a 7 rating for resistance to the key disease of Septoria tritici the highest of any Group 4 winter wheat variety on the 2016/17 AHDB Recommended List, Ms Hearn points out.
"Clearly, yield is important when selecting a feed wheat," says Ms Hearn.
"But what is also important, especially with low grain prices, is that growers are able to obtain that yield in a reliable manner, in order to manage their risk.
"Septoria tritici, for example, has become increasingly difficult to control following shifts in its sensitivity to traditional triazole fungicide chemistry.
"Going forward, the use of an integrated strategy, utilising a variety with good Septoria tritici resistance to underpin fungicides, is set to become an increasingly important approach.
"Graham not only offers stand-out Septoria tritici resistance among Group 4 winter wheats on the AHDB Recommended List, but also has good resistance to other diseases with 7 or 8 ratings against mildew, rusts and Fusarium ear blight," she adds.
Underlining its resilience, Ms Hearn says Graham also has a high untreated yield of 94%, and it could help growers manage risk in a number of other ways.
Looking at harvest as an example, she says Graham is one of the earlier-ripening Group 4 winter feed wheats on the AHDB Recommended List, and has shown good resistance to lodging.
"Growing a variety with good standing power and early maturity is a key factor for managing risk at harvest.
"With low grain prices, the last thing you want is a lodged crop causing lost yield or quality, or harvest delays.
"Similarly, an early-maturing variety can be safely in-store before the weather starts to close in as harvest gets later.
"It can also spread harvest labour and machinery use when grown as part of a mixture of varieties with different maturity dates.
"For other factors, Graham also has excellent grain quality, including a specific weight of 76.5 kg/hl on the AHDB Recommended List and a high Hagberg falling number of 266.
"All in all, we see Graham as offering a robust new option to help growers manage risk in a number of ways."
From a rotational viewpoint, Ms Hearn says Graham has also produced excellent yield as a first wheat, and was ranked as the number one variety over two years of Syngenta trials when drilled in early September, with an average yield of more than 114% of control varieties.
Numerous veterinary groups have welcomed the announcement that bluetongue (BTV-8) vaccine will be available by mid-July.
The British Veterinary Association (BVA), British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA), Goat Veterinary Society (GVS), and Sheep Veterinary Society (SVS) welcomed the announcement at the end of last week (3 June) that bluetongue (BTV-8) vaccine will be available by mid-July to support farmers and smallholders in managing the risk of a bluetongue outbreak predicted to reach mainland UK by late summer.
Since the Defra risk assessment indicates a high risk by late summer of a BTV incursion from France, veterinary associations have been involved in discussions with government, farmers representatives and manufacturers to ensure vaccine is available to meet potential demand particularly in the south of England where risk is highest.
The situation remains under constant review by Defra as the disease develops and the weather warms up, promoting midge activity.
On Friday, pharmaceutical companies MSD and Zoetis announced that batches of vaccine will be available from mid-July.
Vets across the UK are also contributing to the Joint campaign Against Bluetongue (JAB), helping to make farmers aware of the risk, clinical signs and what action to take, through speaking at local JAB information events and displaying posters and leaflets in practices.
While welcoming the announcement of vaccine availability, veterinary organisations also sought clarification about the cost and the amount of vaccine likely to be available in July and thereafter.
Seriously affects productivity of livestock
BVA President Sean Wensley said: "We welcome the announcement that vaccine will be available in time to meet potential demand.
"This disease seriously affects animal health and welfare as well as the productivity of livestock, and vaccination is the key control.
"While it is good news that vaccine will be available, we know that both farmers and vets will have questions about cost and whether there will a limit to the amount of vaccine available in July.
"It would be helpful to have these questions clarified as soon as possible.
"We recommend farmers speak to their local vet about the benefits of vaccination, taking into account their locality and individual circumstances.
"Farmers should not hesitate to seek advice if they have any concerns about their livestock."
NFU livestock chairman Charles Sercombe said: "This is really welcome news for the industry and we strongly urge farmers to discuss vaccination with their vet in order to fully understand the risk to their business considering their system and geography.
"These conversations should be ongoing because as the situation in France and mainland Europe changes the risk will change in the UK.
"We are calling on manufacturers and vets to be clear on the vaccine pricing and availability.
"Farmers will base decisions on whether to vaccinate on a number of factors, with price and availability featuring highly."
AHDB agrees to transfer surplus levy funds to new horticultural body
Ministry says the dairy farm will impact childrens ability to enjoy camp
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
The approval of a 1,400-cow dairy farm to be built about a half-mile away from a childrens camp run by an Indiana ministry has caused the ministry to sue the zoning officials who approved the farm.
Milco Dairy Farms LLC would be built upwind of Harvest Christian Camp, which is located about 35 miles east of Indianapolis.
Opponents of the farm say that the Rush County Board of Zoning Appeals violated the ministrys constitutional rights and local zoning rules when it approved the farm in April.
According to Kim Ferraro, an attorney with the Hoosier Environmental Council, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the House of Prayer Ministries Inc., the farm could threaten the camps ability to operate.
The camps very existence is at stake, she told the Associated Press. Parents of young children are not going to want to send their kids to this camp with that sort of operation so close by.
According to the suit, filed May 16, the zoning will impede on the rights to practice religion freely; the suit also states the farm will produce about 19,000 gallons of feces and urine daily, which could end up in streams and expose the children to pathogens.
Todd Janzen, an attorney for the farm, told the AP that the farm will be built in accordance with the states strictest rules.
Syngenta launches the varieties on Tuesday
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
Soybean farmers in Western Canada will have three new soybean varieties to choose from.
On Tuesday, Syngenta announced the launch of three new varieties bred to fit western geographies, deliver strong yield potential and disease resistance, and give growers the ability to spread out maturity risk.
S001-B1, S003-L3 and S006-W5 are high-yielding, Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield varieties bred for producers who are looking to increase overall yield potential and reduce risk.
S001-B1 is an early maturing, medium-tall plant best suited to the early double zero (00) maturity zones across the Prairies. It can offer great standability for strong emergence, consistent yields and easy harvestability, along with excellent iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) tolerance and good white mould tolerance.
It also comes with the Rps1c gene for Phytophthora root rot with very good field tolerance.
The second variety, S003-L3, is a medium- to short-height plant best suited to the early maturity 00 zones in western Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The varietys characteristics include a narrow lancelet leaf shape, as well as top pod clusters that provide a late season boost to yields in ideal growing conditions.
It features IDC tolerance, good white mould tolerance and the Rps6 gene for managing Phytophthora root rot.
The third variety, S006-W5, is a medium-height plant thats well suited to the highly productive soils found in the mid- to late 00 zones in Manitobas soybean growing areas.
In 2015, the Manitoba Crop Variety Evaluation Teams trials saw the variety yield 10 per cent above the industry check. It features the Rps1a and Rps3a gene stack for excellent Phytophthora root rot protection.
The seeds will be made available for purchase in fall 2016 for 2017 seeding.
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.
A recent report by Legal Daily shows that China increased its anti-corruption enforcement actions in 2015.
In 2015, the Chinese prosecutors pursued 8,217 actions against individual bribers, a significant increase comparing to 7,827 in 2014 and 5,515 in 2013.
The total number of anti-corruption cases tried by the Chinese courts increased from 31,000 in 2014 to 34,000 in 2015. The individuals involved in these cases also increased from 44,000 in 2014 to 49,000 in 2015.
China passed new anti-corruption laws, including the Ninth Amendment to the Criminal Law and the Draft of the Amendment to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. The Supreme Court of China has also issued new interpretations of the Criminal Law regarding anti-corruption and anti-bribery cases.
On the other hand, the total number of enforcement actions brought by the Administration for Industry and Commerce (AIC) decreased from 4521 in 2013 to 2986 in 2014 and 669 in the first half of 2015, although the average fines imposed in each case have increased, as the total fines imposed by the AIC only decreased from 463,000,000 in 2013 to 443,000,000 in 2014 and 113,000,000 in the first half of 2015.
The Legal Daily report said the decrease was caused by the ongoing reform to the AIC system. Some local AICs are being transferred from the vertical system (meaning they are directly controlled branches of the State AIC) to the local government, and some AICs are being integrated with other departments of the local governments such as the administration for food and drugs and the administration for quality control. These changes may have affected the enforcement of the local AICs. The report predicts that once the reforms are concluded, the AIC will resume its anti-corruption enforcement actions.
The enforcement statistics for 2015 show that the Chinese government is still expanding its efforts against corruption and commercial bribery cases.
Thats a signal for foreign companies doing business in China to follow closely ongoing changes of the regulatory environment to stay in compliance with the local anti-corruption laws.
____
Chang Liu is an attorney in Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck, LLP based in the firms Woodbury, New York office. Prior to law school at Hofstra University, he worked for a defense contractor in China on cross-border transactions. Hes fluent in Chinese and Spanish. He can be contacted here.
Hello *waves* I'm A.M. Griffin, writer of all things sexy and some things not so sexy (YA and monster porn). Thanks for stopping by and checking out my latest release, On These Pages. It's my first contemporary romance, something that I never thought I'd write. I usually write about heroes that are alien, wolf-shifter or vampiric in nature.
On These Pages
On These Pages is a second chance romance. I believe in second chances, especially since my marriage is a product of one. I met my husband in high school, but in this story, Toni Harrison met Ahmad in College. She was the bright-eyed, naive freshman and he was an upper classman, player. Doomed from the beginning. Years later and after major changes in both their lives they ran into each other again. While Toni never had gotten over Ahmad, he didn't remember her. Ouch.
I started writing On These Pages during a low point in my life. I was beginning to question my motivation to write. One day I had this vision of this woman and man and as their story unfolded in my mind I felt compelled to write about them. I wanted to find out more about them and know how their story ended. Since I'm a pantser (someone who doesn't use an outline) every word, every scenario and every emotion was new to me. The story eventually ended up being almost 100K words and unfortunately I had to revise and cut out a hulking 20K words (yikes! The pain!)
The story is set in Detroit, Michigan in the present. I don't live that far from Detroit so it was pretty easy to weave the city into the story. Roller skating is a big thing there so I made sure to add a scene where they had a function at the roller rink. Michigan also has a ton of state and county parks and I made sure to throw a good family picnic in the story. I loved writing On These Pages and hope that you'll enjoy Toni and Ahmad just as much as I do.
About the author:
A. M. Griffin is a wife who rarely cooks, mother of three, dog owner (and sometimes dog owned), a daughter, sister, aunt and friend. She's a hard worker whose two favorite outlets are reading and writing. She enjoys reading everything from mystery novels to historical romances and of course fantasy romance. She is a believer in the unbelievable, open to all possibilities from mermaids in our oceans and seas, angels in the skies and intelligent life forms in distant galaxies.
Where you can find me:
Website: http://www.amgriffinbooks.com/
Subscribe to my Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/A.M.-Griffin/e/B00APK4V4G/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
Email: [email protected]
Like me at: www.facebook.com/amgriffinbooks Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/amgriffinbooks Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AMGriffinbooks Follow me on Instagram: amgriffinbooks
Subscribe my newsletter for updates giveaways: http://eepurl.com/TZzXv
Kim Cattrall pulled out of a play because of a "tsunami" of insomnia.
Kim Cattrall
The 'Sex and the City' actress had been due to play the title role in 'Linda' at London's Royal Court Theatre last year but withdrew two weeks before the production opened for the sake of her "sanity" after seeking medical advice.
The 59-year-old actress hadn't slept for 48 hours when she returned to the US from the UK and described her insomnia as a "gorilla sitting on my chest".
She told Radio Times magazine: "I didn't understand the debilitating consequence of having no sleep. It becomes a tsunami. I was in a void.
"I didn't want to let down the audience, the theatre, playwright or the actors.
"Letting go of all that was the hardest part but I realised the work that I really needed to do was more important than the play - it was work or my sanity."
Kim - who was replaced in the production by Noma Dumezweni - didn't listen to the "noise" of social media criticism when she pulled out of the play because she knew her problem was more "complex" than people realised.
She said: "I have my own voice on social media, where I can say: 'If you're interested in what really happened, the whole story is more complex than being disease of the week', than someone saying, 'I have this battle'.
"Coming back to the US, I hadn't slept for 48 hours and had to wait six hours to get my 18-year-old cat through customs. When the customs officer said: 'So how much is your cat worth?' I couldn't stop laughing hysterically."
The 'Sensitive Skin' actress turned to cognitive behavioural therapy to combat her chronic sleeplessness.
She said: "It's like putting on a pair of sneakers and going into your past to get a new perspective. And I was gentle with myself. So last Christmas wasn't about friends and relations; it was a monastic experience of trying to delve."
John Boyega has joined the cast list Pacific Rim 2.
John Boyega
Pacific Rim 2 is a project that has been in the pipeline for some time and, at times, it looked like the movie was not going to go ahead at all.
However, there has been some great news about the movie this week as Boyega is on board and will play the son of Stacker Pentecost - played by Idris Elba in the first film.
The movie will see Guillermo del Toro return to the director's chair and he took to Twitter to announce that filming will be getting under way shortly.
An official press release confirmed that Boyega was on board the project:
Legendary Pictures has tapped John Boyega, one of today's most talented rising stars, the lead role for the second instalment of its PACIFIC RIM franchise. The film, which is targeting a 4th Quarter start date is rapidly taking shape as a key project on Legendary's upcoming slate with Boyega playing the son of Idris Elba's character from the original film.
The project will be directed by Steven S. DeKnight based on the world created by Guillermo del Toro and Travis Beacham. Thomas Tull, Mary Parent, Jon Jashni, and del Toro will produce the action adventure film along with Boyega and Femi Oguns under their Upper Room Productions shingle. Cale Boyter will serve as the film's executive producer.
"It is undeniable that with all his talent and natural charm, John stands out amongst today's generation of young leading men," said Mary Parent, Legendary's Vice Chairman of Worldwide Production.
"I am very proud and happy to welcome John into a fantastic sandbox. The Pacific Rim universe will be reinforced with him as a leading man as it continues to be a multicultural, multi-layered world. 'The World saving the world' was our goal and I couldn't think of a better man for the job," stated del Toro.
John Boyega's previous credits include STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS and ATTACK THE BLOCK. His upcoming projects include STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII, THE CIRCLE opposite Tom Hanks and Emma Watson, IMPERIAL DREAMS, WATERSHIP DOWN alongside James McAvoy and Sir Ben Kingsley, and he will star on stage next year in WOYZECK at The Old Vic. He is represented by WME and Identity Agency Group in the UK and Hansen Jacobson.
The film will be distributed by Universal Pictures around the world with the exception of China.
Boyega is currently filming Star Wars: Episode VIII, which will see him reprise the role of Finn. The actor has also completed work on The Circle, which will be released later this year.
Pacific Rim first hit the big screen back in 2013 starring Charlie Hunnam - it is not yet clear if the actor will be reprising the role of Raleigh Becket.
There is no official release date for Pacific Rim 2.
by Helen Earnshaw for www.femalefirst.co.uk
find me on and follow me on
Princes William and Harry are "always fun to be around".
Princes William and Harry
Polo star Nacho Figueras has praised the royal siblings for their fun nature and excellent horse riding skills.
He told HELLO! magazine: "They love the sport of polo so it's always fun to be around them. It's always fun to help them and an honour to help them raise money, which is what they use polo for, for charities, so it's a wonderful thing.
"Their grandmother [Queen Elizabeth] is a big fan of horses and very passionate. Their grandfather played, their father played, they both play. They're great riders."
Meanwhile, Ralph Lauren model Nacho previously praised the Prince for his commitment to the Sentebale charity.
He shared: "Harry is so committed to this charity that he never fails to inspire me. With Harry's leadership, we are changing a whole generation for the better ...
"Harry is the best as a guy friend. Not only is he competitive and energetic when he plays polo, but he is a fun person to be around in general. It is wonderful to see him."
Nacho joined Prince Harry to take part in a charity polo match in April at Valiente Polo Farm in Wellington, Florida to raise funds for the charity.
Anne Gerwig, Wellington's newly crowned mayor, said at the time: "It feels so right to have Prince Harry play polo here because we are such an equestrian town. I feel like Cinderella hoping to meet the Prince! We are privileged to have him here."
Queen Elizabeth has got "great rhythm".
Queen Elizabeth
The 90-year-old royal's cousin Lady Elizabeth Anson has revealed music has always been part of her cousin's life and says the Queen is a particularly big fan of theatre and musicals. She said: "We did a lot of singing at Kensington Palace. Nobody thought it was odd after dinner if we put on a record and all sang 'Doing the Lambeth Walk', so music has always been part of her life. The Queen loves the theatre and musicals like 'Show Boat', 'Oklahoma!' and 'Annie Get Your Gun'. These were the tunes that remained in one's head and were very danceable to. The Queen is a fantastic dancer. She's got great rhythm. If you watch her at Trooping the Colour, you will see that she's tapping her toes. So military music means a lot to her, she's extremely knowledgeable about military music and loves massed bands, especially pipe bands."
And BBC Radio 2 have put together a playlist of what they believe to be the monarch's favourite songs after chatting with her close family and friends.
Eve Pollard, who will present 'Our Queen: 90 Musical Years', added to Radio Times: "I had no inkling that the one singing star the Queen is word perfect on is none other than the ukulele king George Formby. The story of her fondness for his music says so much about her. It seems she received a letter from the George Formby Society asking her to be its president. Her correspondence secretary noted, 'I don't honestly think, if you don't mind me saying so, this is appropriate.' To which the Queen replied, 'Well, I do see that, but you see I love George Formby.' 'Really?' responded the secretary. 'Oh yes. I know all his songs and I can sing them.'"
V Festival will be broadcast live on Channel 5 and MTV.
Rihanna
The channels have struck a deal with organisers of the music extravaganza to stream performances and back stage shenanigans of the forthcoming summer event.
MTV UK, which has been the broadcast partner for the festival the past three year, will air live highlights from the MTV stage as well as the main stage, while Channel 5 has agreed to screen performances across the weekend.
MTV Senior Commissioning Editor Jeremy Davies said: "We're thrilled to be partnering with V Festival, a major highlight in the live music calendar.
"The festival always attracts global talent with huge appeal, providing a fantastic experience for live music fans both at the festival and watching on screen."
MTV will also air further extended coverage in September.
Paul Glossop, event organiser, said: "We're proud to be partnering with Viacom for a third year running to air highlights of V Festival live on the world's premier music channel MTV, and for the first time, live on Channel 5.
V Festival, which is held across two sites in Chelmsford and Staffordshire, will take place on August 20 and 21.
Justin Bieber and Rihanna have been lined-up to headline the event, while the likes of Sia, David Guetta, Rita Ora, Faithless, Kaiser Chiefs and Bastille are also featured on the confirmed line-up, along with Jess Glynne, Little Mix, Jake Bugg, Years & Years, Tinie Tempah and Example.
Speaking to EW in a new interview about his recent role in Game of Thrones and upcoming role as Mr. Wednesday in Starz' American Gods series, based on Neil Gaiman's novel of the same name, Ian McShane gave a bit of a tease as to what to expect from the show.
Ian McShane
He said: "I think it's terrific. I read the book. It seemed to be a perfect blueprint for a series. Neil is a prolific author and I thought, 'Wow, he jumps here and jumps there with all these old gods'.
"Mr. Wednesday is the character I play - he meets up with this character, Shadow Moon, played by Ricky Whittle, who I think is going to be terrific in this, he's a good lad.
"I also worked with the producer before, Michael Green, on Kings, who is a very gifted writer-producer and a very decent guy.
"It just seems like one of those shows that could be quite extraordinary. There's a lot of special effects, which is why I have time off now. They got these big sequences they have to do back in Toronto.
"Good writing, great character, there's other terrific people in the show playing the various guest gods. And there's [executive producer] Bryan Fuller, who I haven't worked with before, as the other producer.
"It's a very ambitious show but it's something very different, which is what drew me back to long-form TV."
His interview comes after the news that Gillian Anderson has joined the cast of American Gods, in the role of New God, Media.
Details for her character read: "[Media is] the mouthpiece for the New Gods, functioning as their public face and sales representive, by taking the form of various iconic celebrities. She lives off the attention and worship that people give to screens, to their laptops, their TVs, to their iPhones in their hands while they watch their TVs. Ever the perky spokesperson, and always in control, she spins stories in whatever direction best suits her."
American Gods will broadcast at some point in 2017.
by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk
find me on and follow me on
Scientists have developed a blood test that can predict whether people with depression will respond to common antidepressants, a discovery that could bring in a new era of personalized treatment for people with the debilitating mental illness.
Guided by this test, the researchers said, doctors should in future be able to direct depressed patients with a certain level of inflammation in their blood toward earlier treatment with a more potent course of antidepressants, possibly including combining two medications, before they get worse.
"This study moves us a step closer to providing personalized antidepressant treatment at the earliest signs of depression," said Annamaria Cattaneo, who led the work at King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN)
Depression is one of the most common forms of mental illness, affecting more than 350 million people worldwide. It is ranked by the World Health Organization as the leading cause of disability globally.
Treatment usually involves either medication, some form of psychotherapy, or a combination of both. But around half of all people treated for depression fail to get better with first-line antidepressants, and around a third of patients are resistant to all available medications designed to help.
Until now, doctors have not been able to establish whether someone will respond to an antidepressant, or whether they might need a more aggressive treatment plan from the start.
As a result, patients are often treated with a trial-and-error approach, trying one drug after another for months on end and often seeing no improvement in their symptoms.
In this study, published on Tuesday in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, Cattaneo's team focused on two biomarkers that measure blood inflammation.
Previous studies have already linked raised levels of inflammation with a poor response to antidepressants.
The researchers measured the two markers, called Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor (MIF) and interleukin (IL)-1, in two groups of depressed patients before or after they took a range of commonly prescribed antidepressants.
They found that blood readings above a certain threshold could reliably predict the probability of a patient responding.
Patients with MIF and IL-1 levels above the thresholds had a 100 percent chance of not responding to conventional, commonly prescribed antidepressants, the researchers found, while those with lower levels did show a positive treatment response.
Carmine Pariante, a IoPPN professor who worked on the team, said the results point to a "clinically-suitable approach for personalizing antidepressant therapy".
Next Story : Not Your Average Gift: Our Handpicked Thoughtful Diwali Gifts
Hiring can be tricky for any organisation. The characteristics of a 'good hire' are never bound by any hard and fast rule, and is constantly evolving based on context and the position available. Thus identifying what it takes to be the best hire is not always easy. In the recent years, the proliferation of technology and social media has had an impact on the job market, as it has had on businesses as well. In today's context, while hiring, organization are looking to find an individual who is able to keep up with the constant transformation that is taking place - in terms of attitude, social skillset and abilities. Such candidates will enable them to move in the direction where industries are headed, if not a few steps ahead.
Keeping in mind you meet the basic educational and experience requirements for a desired job, some of the other defining characteristics that make you a good hire are:
1. Organizational culture connect
It is important to make a conscious effort to understand the organization that you are applying to and what it stands for. Identify if you are right fit for the organization. If you are not, assess whether you will be able to adapt to fit the organizational culture. For instance, if you are a person who values structure and clearly defined roles in your work, it may not be easy to adapt to an environment that is not so. The first source of information to evaluate this is the company's website and other employees currently working there. It is equally important to gauge this at the job interview. If as a job candidate, you are clear about your desire to join a particular company, be sure to exhibit emphatically a passion for the job and brand, along with an alignment with the company's culture through your responses.
2. Ability to evolve constantly
Individuals in any industry will be unable to survive the demands of the age that we live in, unless they are able to update and acquire new skillset. This would essentially involve not just learning, but also a lot of unlearning. Unless you have the flexibility to adapt to the demands of the business and industry, you will become redundant very easily. It is then important to evaluate, how up-to- date you are with the latest developments and skills increasingly required in the industry. It is also equally important to display flexibility and openness to ideas, individuals and perspectives.
3. Technology Expertise
In an age where most businesses are driven by technology, it is important to display a superior knowledge in technology in order to showcase your proficiency in them. This could be in the form certifications in areas that are most relevant to your job. This could also be through the adept use of technology during your job search process to either network and understand the industry better. Using your LinkedIn, other social media accounts and personal blog to adequately communicate your personal brand is an important skillset that a recruiter will recognize and look-out for. Additionally, with the millions of CVs that reach a recruiter's inbox, it is important to identify and use the specific keywords and statements that will make your CV stand out.
4. Emotional Intelligence
While meeting the demands of the job are important, it is equally important to have other qualities such as grit & persistence, empathy, teamwork, the ability to manage & lead people, make friends and manage uncertainty. These are the skills required to face the demands of the industry in the long run without burning out or burning bridges. Recruiters realize the importance of good emotional intelligence and are always on the lookout for clues that may give you away.
One of the most common channels used by recruiters to assess this is past behavior in previous employment and social media activities. Signs such as frequent job changes, negative references from peers, employers etc. and a pessimistic attitude are quick giveaways. On social media, careless ranting about the workplace or people, cyber bullying and irresponsible positing of photographs/post can be warning signs that. So make sure to have a clean track record either online or offline.
The digital age calls for the ability to keep pace with the constant transformation that is taking place. While building your profile as an individual, ensure that your efforts showcase this dynamism by displaying a combination of passion for the brand, flexibility on the job, technology proficiency and emotional skills. Most importantly be sure to adapt your skillset with the demands placed by the industry at large.
(By Anshuman Das, Managing Partner, Longhouse Consulting)
Next Story : Not Your Average Gift: Our Handpicked Thoughtful Diwali Gifts
Borealis, a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, has invested 40 million to upgrade its steam cracker in Porvoo, Finland. The upgrade will enhance the cracker's energy efficiency, yield higher production capacities for propylene and crude C4, and enables an overall higher production quality of propylene.
The investment in the cracker will further enhance its performance by boosting capacity and improving energy efficiency. The production capacity of propylene and crude C4 will increase by 30 kilo tonnes per annum and 10 kilo tonnes per annum, respectively.
Investing in upgrades and capacity expansion at strategic Borealis production locations such as Porvoo enables us to improve the competitiveness of our strong, integrated polyolefins business in Europe. Through continuous investments, Borealis is securing its position among the most innovative and reliable polyethylene and polypropylene suppliers in Europe, said Markku Korvenranta, Borealis executive vice president base chemicals.
Borealis, a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, has invested 40 million to upgrade its steam cracker in Porvoo, Finland. The upgrade will enhance the cracker's energy efficiency, yield higher production capacities for propylene and crude C4, and enables an overall higher production quality of propylene.#
Flexible, integrated steam crackers and their associated production units form the backbone of the Borealis olefins and polyolefins portfolio in Europe. Borealis sources basic feedstocks such as naphtha, butane, propane and ethane from the oil and gas industry and converts these into ethylene, propylene and other high value hydrocarbons. (NA)
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
Anurag Kashyap is in news because of Udta Punjab these days. The famous director and producer grabbed headlines with his latest tweet where he slammed the censor board for removing Punjab from the title of the film. Now, Anurag has said in a recent interview that people can't deal with his honesty.
Anurag Kashyap said to a leading news agency, "In this country, people can't deal with honesty... I talk straight... I am not a person who looks for controversy. I don't enjoy controversy so much. Today, everybody has an opinion, and in a sea of opinions, it doesn't matter.''
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, also feels that Bollywood needs to work harder, "The more regional cinema will threaten us, Bollywood will work harder. We are threatened from everywhere because we are more mediocre as compared to everybody else. We have to get rid of our mediocrity and pull up our socks and make better films.''
Also Read: Not To Be Missed! Ajay Devgn Shares An Adorable Picture With Son Yug & Wife Kajol
Coming back to Udta Punjab, here is how Anurag showed his anger on twitter, ''I always wondered what it felt like to live in North Korea .. Ab to plane pakadney ki bhi zaroorat nahin..There is no film more honest than UDTA PUNJAB .. And any person or party opposing it is actually GUILTY of promoting drugs.''
Malayalam actresses are hugely talented and the way they are getting applauded by film industries of other languages prove that fact without any doubts.
Today, we are going to list at some of the popular Malayalam actresses actresses who made their presence felt in the Kannada film industry. Take a look.(Malayalam actresses who have featured in 2 or more Kannda films have only been considered)
Bhavana Bhavana, is one of the Malayalam actresses, who is hugely popular in Sandalwood. The actress made her debut in Sandalwood starring opposite Puneeth Rajkumar in the 2010 release Jackie. The film was a big success and it established her as a lead actress in the industry. Bhama Bhama has had a successful outing in Kannada film industry, so far. Bhama, made her debut in Sandalwood in the year 2010 with the film Modalasala. From then on, she has been an active presence in the industry appearing in close to 9 Kannada films, so far. she was most recently seen in the Kannada film Arjuna. Parvathy Parvathy, got a break in Sandalwood, much before she established herself as a leading actress in Mollywood. The Kannada film Milana which had Puneeth Rajkumar and Parvathy in the lead roles, was a huge success, which made the actress hugely popular. Nithya Menen Interestingly, the actress made her entry to films as a lead actor with the Kannada film 7 O' Clock which released in the year 2006. Later, she appeared in Kannada films like Josh and Aidonla Aidu. But, it was the Kannada film Mynaa which skyrocketed her fame in the industry. The film won both critical and commercial success. The actress would be next seen in the film Kotigobba 2 which has Sudeep in the lead role. Meera Jasmine Meera Jasmine made an entry to Sandalwood, way back in the year 2004. She starred opposite Puneeth Rajkumar in the film Maurya. Later, the actress featured in 5 films in Sandalwood, which made her a popular face in the industry.
Well, actresses trying their hands in other language films is a common sight nowadays. We have had many actresses who went on to make it big in Kollywood and Tollywood.
But, less often we have talked about Sandalwood and Malayalam actresses who made a mark in that particular industry.
Interestingly, actresses like Shobhana and Revathi, made their presence felt in Sandalwood, by featuring in a couple of films. But, they concentrated more on Malayalam and Tamil film industries.
Mollywood actresses like Bhama, Bhavana, Meera Jasmine etc have featured in good number of Kannada films. Interestingly, actress Nayantara, who is hugely popular in the entire South Indian film industry, has featured only in a single Kannada film, so far.
Most recently, actress Navya Nair, who had taken a sabbatical from films post her marriage, decided to make a comeback to films with a Kannada film. The actress played the lead role in the Kannada remake of Malayalam film Drishyam.
renowned actress amala Paul would also be seen making her debut in Sandalwood soon. The actress would be seen playing the leading lady in actor Sudeep's next film Hebbuli.
Anu Emmanuel has been in the headlines since past few days, due to her sudden exit from the Dulquer Salmaan-Amal Neerad project. It was reported that Anu quit the project due to date issues.
But in a recent interview, the young actress shocked the movie industry by making some bold statements. Anu Emmanuel opines that heroines are not respected in the Malayalam movie industry.
Click here for Anu Emmanuel's latest pictures....
The other language industries are ready to accept the viewpoints of the heroines. But, Malayalam movie industry is still not ready to provide a space for the leading ladies to raise their ideas and opinions.
Even though the actress didn't talk much about the Malayalam industry and projects she was associated with, it is evident that Anu is extremely disappointed with her experiences from the industry.
It was reported that the actress backed out from the Dulquer Salmaan movie due to her fall out with the team, not because of the date issues. But both Anu and the team chose to slam the reports.
The actress was also the initial choice for Dulquer starrer Charlie, but she turned down the movie due to her final exams. Anu is currently filming for the final schedule of her upcoming Telugu movie, Oxygen.
Young director Karthik Subbaraj had a dream beginning to his film-making career. After dishing out back-to-back hits, the 33-year-old director came up with Iraivi, a film that talks about the insouciant mindset of men.
While watching the movie you might realize that Iraivi has the potential to make you think, laugh and perhaps reach out for the wiper even, but never will you feel like the film might offend someone.
Well, not just someone, but Iraivi has made a handful of people unhappy, thanks to a particular character portrayed in the film.
Played by Vijai Murugan, the character in question is a ruthless and greedy producer who troubles SJ Surya (portrayed as a struggling director) in the movie.
After watching the film, producer Kathiresan, who had bankrolled Karthik's Jigarthanda, has alleged that Vijai Murugan's character has been written, keeping in mind his feud with Karthik.
Kathiresan and Karthik Subbaraj were not in good terms during the filming and release of Jigarthanda. Now, the Producers Council (TFPC) has stated that cinema should not be used to unleash one's anger or vengeance.
Speaking to Times of India, PL Thenappan, the Vice President of TFPC has said: "What he (Karthik) said initially with respect to the film's story, and what has come as the final output, are two different things. He has changed a lot, and he even hesitated to show the progress of the post-production work to the film's producer."
Adding that the young director has taken success to his head, Thenappan has said, "When the issue with Kathiresan is still in court, how can Karthik etch out such a character for his personal satisfaction? A director who has successfully directed just two films shouldn't think of himself as Mani Ratnam."
The members of Producers Council may unite later this week to take a call on the issue.
Iraivi is produced by CV Kumar, who is yet to comment on the issue.
Also Read: Siddharth's Film With Director Sasi Will Have GV Prakash As One Of The Leads!
The cast of the new show, Kawach - Vivek Dahiya, Mona Singh and Mahek Chahal are on a promotion spree. Recently, Mona and Vivek promoted Kawach in Delhi, but Mehak was missing. Yesterday (6th June), all the three actors were seen promoting the show in Andheri, Mumbai.
Earlier, there were rumours of Mahek is out of the show due to her accident. But, her presence on Mumbai promotions, put all speculations to rest. Vivek took to instagram, "Capitalising on one of the best elements of being an actor i.e Kawach Mumbai promotions. Jaw tired of speaking, going mute for next few hours but it was super fun. Wardrobe- @tisastudio."
Check Out Mona, Vivek & Mahek Promoting Kawach In Mumbai
The producer of the show, Ekta Kapoor could not make it for the event (as she was in Tirupati) and spoke to media with a recorded AV. Colors TV CEO, Raj Nayak accompanied the lead actors of the show.
Kawach is a thrilling paranormal series. It is a story of love, passion and obsession for Rajbir, Paridhi & Manjulika. Vivek Dahiya will be seen playing the role of Rajbir, Mona Singh will be seen as Paridhi, while Mehak Chahal will portray the role of Manjulika.
Speaking about her character Mona was quoted by a leading daily as saying, "Paridhi is a modern women who is well educated, is an archaeologist by profession and doesn't believe in supernatural occurrences. But, she is willing to go to any length to protect her husband from the clutches of evil."
Raj was quoted as saying, "The numero uno show of Indian television is going to be replaced by a new entrant which has the potential to become another trendsetter in the industry. The success of Naagin has led us to believe that the Indian viewers have a huge appetite for stories which dangle on the realms of the unknown."
He further added, "Going by the efficacy of this research, we bring to the viewers, Kawach - a show that talks about love, demonic possession and exorcism. COLORS has set a benchmark of sorts in the finite fiction series space and we hope to continue the same trend now with Kawach. The show will definitely create ripples, is our belief."
Kawach will be replacing Naagin. It will be aired from 11th June at 8 pm on Colors TV. (Image Source: Colors Twitter)
Superstar Mahesh Babu has flown to London post the release of Brahmotsavam along with his wife Namrata Shirodkar and Kids, Gautham and Sitara. The month-long vacation is apparently exclusive to meet family and friends in UK and trip around the country.
On the other hand, Allu Arjun is also touring along with his wife and son in Turkey. "I would like to Thank the Turkish Consulate for the Personal Honors.", he recently tweeted after receiving the visa.
Check out the slides below to have a look at the celebrities recent holiday pictures.
Lakshmi Manchu is having her time of life in Tokyo, Japan and her series of tweets about the food there will make you want to hop to the destination, immediately.
Meanwhile, Balakrishna, who is in USA to celebrate his birthday on 10 June, is busy meeting his fans. The actor is making use of the time to raise funds for the Basavatharakam Indo-American Cancer Hospital by hosting charity dinners to fans, who wish to meet him.
Upasana Kamineni, wife of Ram Charan is also on a working holiday, in New york. Ritu Varma has also been sharing her holiday pictures from New york and they are all goals. Looks like this is our Tollywood celebs smart way to escape the heat in Hyderabad.
China's largest conglomerate, Citic Limited, sold a $1.25 billion dual-tranche bond on Monday; disdaining a new issue premium despite Asia's weakening credit backdrop.
The state-owned company brought its five-and-a-half year and 10-year deal to market on a day when Asian investment grade credit spreads widened roughly 3bp in response to Fridays big move in Treasuries.
Weaker than expected US jobs data prompted a 10bp rally in 10-year Treasuries last Friday and while Asian credits outperformed their underlying benchmark on Monday, one fund manager told FinanceAsia that Citic should have offered some concession to the market.
The A3/A- group, nevertheless, managed to build up a peak order book of $4.25 billion, which was evenly split between the two tranches.
Initial price guidance for the Reg S deal was set at 180bp and 225bp over Treasuries, respectively, before being tightened to 155bp-160bp on the shorter-dated tranche and 200bp-205bp for the longer-dated.
Final pricing of a $500 million December 2021 tranche was fixed at 99.975% on a coupon of 2.8% to yield 2.805%, or 155bp over Treasuries.
A $750 million June 2026 tranche was priced at 99.785% on a coupon of 3.7% to yield 3.726%, or 200bp over Treasuries according to a term sheet seen by FinanceAsia.
"This shows tight pricing is still achievable for Chinese SOEs, one banker commented. Aggressively priced transactions are possible in current market conditions.
The closest comparables were the company's existing 6.62% April 2021 and 6.8% January 2023 notes. These were trading 148bp and 172bp over Treasuries, or G-Spreads of 150bp and 192bp.
The Hong Kong-based fund manager said the deal was relatively unattractive given the complete lack of new issue premium relative to secondary market trading levels.
"The existing 2021 bonds are fair value for a low single-A rated company," the manager commented.
"Investors' biggest concern remains Citics iron ore project in Australia," he added. "Steel prices are threatened by China's slowing demand."
Citic may incur another HK$4 billion to HK$5 billion loss ($515 million to $644 million) from the Sino Iron project over 2016 to 2018 given the bleak prospects for iron ore prices, according to analysis by Goldman Sachs in March.
After years of losses, the Hong Kong-listed company has embarked on a restructuring plan, which led to the sale of its residential property assets to China Overseas Land & Investment for in March for $4.8 billion.
According to its latest annual results, Citic's net profit was up 5% year-on-year to HK$41.8 billion ($5.4 billion) in 2015. This included a HK$10 billion disposal gain on Citic Securities and HK$12.5 billion impairment loss on its Australian iron ore project.
Besides its mining assets, the Beijing-based group owns a 64.4% stake in Citic Bank, China's tenth largest lenders by assets in China, as well as steel, manufacturing and telecom businesses.
Citics new deal was issued under the groups existing $9 billion global medium-term note programme, with proceeds being used for re-financing purposes.
The company recently announced that it has redeemed its $750 million 7.875% perpetual securities early.
Joint global coordinators for the transaction were Citic CLSA, UBS and HSBC, while BOCI, Citic Bank International and Natixis joined as joint bookrunners.
KELOWNA, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 11/30/16 -- Wolfpack Capital Corp. ("Wolfpack" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: WLP.P), a capital pool company pursuant to Policy 2.4 of the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V"), announces that effective November 30, 2016, the name of the Corporation will change to "Pulse Oil Corp.". At the opening of trading on the TSX Venture Exchange on December 1, 2016, the trading symbol of the Corporation will change from "WLP.P" to "PUL.P". The new CUSIP number will be 74587Y101 and the new ISIN number will be CA74587Y1016. The share capital of the Corporation remains unchanged.
Further to Wolfpack's news release dated October 13, 2016, the Corporation is working towards the completion of its previously announced Qualifying Transaction with Hydrate Resources Corp. ("HRC").
About Wolfpack Capital Corp.
Wolfpack is a Canadian company incorporated on September 17, 2012 under the Business Corporation Act of Alberta and is a Capital Pool Company as defined in Policy 2.4 of the TSX-V corporate finance manual. Wolfpack was notified by the TSX-V that effective October 20, 2016 that its listing has been transferred to the NEX and 50% of the seed capital shares (1,000,000 shares) were cancelled concurrently with listing on the NEX.
Reinstatement to Trading
The common shares of Wolfpack will remain halted until such time as the TSX-V provides its permission to resume trading which is anticipated upon completion of Wolfpack's Qualifying Transaction with HRC.
Prior to entering into the previously announced agreement between Wolfpack and HRC, Wolfpack did not carry on any active business activity other than reviewing potential transactions that would qualify as the Company's Qualifying Transaction.
READER ADVISORY
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
THIS PRESS RELEASE, REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE CANADIAN LAWS, IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES, AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR A SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO SELL ANY OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN IN THE UNITED STATES. THESE SECURITIES HAVE NOT BEEN, AND WILL NOT BE, REGISTERED UNDER THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED, OR ANY STATE SECURITIES LAWS, AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO U.S. PERSONS UNLESS REGISTERED OR EXEMPT THEREFROM.
Contacts:
Wolfpack Capital Corp.
Greg Downey, CPA, CMA
CFO
(250) 979-7022
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - June 06, 2016) - Leading public relations and reputation management firm, ICMediaDirect reveals that negative reviews can have a direct financial effect on businesses, according to data suggesting that 86 percent of potential customers will think twice about buying a product from a company with unfavorable feedback. With another survey showing that 9 out of 10 people say they take online reviews 'very seriously,' the agency has responded by providing advice on how companies can recover after receiving negative feedback online. See your Online Reputation Report now, by visiting http://www.icmediadirect.com
ICMediaDirect has built an outstanding track record in efficient reputation control, having enhanced the brand image of Fortune 500 companies, celebrities, politicians, and athletes. The agency uses a clear strategy for diminishing the unwanted impact of criticism. First, determine if a comment is legitimate. Some information spread online is created by competing brands. The best course of action for this scenario is to request to have the review removed citing its unlikely authenticity. Next, find out if a review is opinion based. In this case, a company has a powerful opportunity to share factual, positive information about themselves, while also diluting the effect of the review. When a customer has left factual, yet negative feedback, then it is time to respond fully and genuinely. The agency recommends a dynamic approach, combining an apology with a proactive solution to a client's problem.
With respect to difficult situations where there is significant interaction online, ICMediaDirect advises addressing the complaint offline where possible by asking for the customer's details or requesting to contact them privately. Experts at the firm have noted that this can reduce the impact of any further mistakes and the pressure on the business manager dealing with the complaints.
ICMediaDirect is a full-service online reputation and content marketing agency, specializing in online brand repair. Its extensive experience with successful recovery from negative online reviews has helped companies and individuals project a positive image and build an efficient message with a strong impact on their audience. In 2015, the agency published a game-changing handbook on Google brand repair and has been awarded the New York Excellence Award by the SBIEC for two consecutive years. ICMediaDirect regularly attends well-known industry conferences including Affiliate Summit, ad:tech, and LeadsCon, where it shares its expertise and techniques with businesses from all over the world. To see your Online Reputation Report, visit http://www.icmediadirect.com
ICMediaDirect - PR and Marketing News: http://icmediadirectnews.com
Reputation-Control.com - 100% Reputation Control: http://www.reputation-control.com
ICMediaDirect.com -- Reputation Management -- IC Media Direct to Attend New York ad:tech 2016: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/icmediadirect-com-reputation-management-ic-041656580.html
Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/6/7/11G101710/Images/IC_Media_Direct_Shares_Expertise_On_How_To_Recover-a7fb18654eabb483a520c3c406765c42.jpg
Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3QHOeY8qAM
ICMediaDirect.com
TEL: 1.800.595.0821
www.ICMediaDirect.com
pr@icmediadirect.com
Leading industrial IoT communications provider partners with one of the largest systems integrators in the Middle East to enable Sensor-2-Server solutions for utilities, government and energy customers
BOULDER,Colorado, June 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --FreeWave Technologies (www.freewave.com), a leader in industrial, secure Machine to Machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) wireless networking solutions, today announced a strategic partnership with Baud Telecom Company (http://www.btc.com.sa/home.html), one of the largest integrated ICT solution providers in the Middle East. FreeWave and Baud Telecom Company have recently combined their expertise to deliver an extremely rugged, yet flexible, industrial IoT networking solution for Saudi Electric Company (SEC). SEC was the first customer to certify and deploy FreeWave's new WavePro' (WP201') shorthaul Point- to-Point and Wi-Fi hotspot platform (http://go.freewave.com/l/68372/2015-12-16/37myq8). Installed since October 2015 with 100 percent uptime, WavePro provides SEC (https://www.se.com.sa/en-us/) with an outdoor self-healing network at a remote power plant, enabling the secure collection, control and transport of Voice, Video, Data and Sensor data (VVDS).
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130605/LA27345LOGO
"Our customers demand that we deliver the best ICT solutions and services available, and therefore we must be highly selective in the partnerships we create," explained Omar Al Charif, Telecom Business Unit Manager for BTC. "After rigorous review of many alternatives, we are excited to partner with a reputable industrial IoT communication technology partner such as FreeWave, and are confident that we'll be able bring the value, high performance, security and reliability that our customers expect."
The first project for Baud Telecom Company and FreeWave was to provide SEC, the premier power provider in the Gulf, with reliable and secure IoT networking at a remote power plant site in the desert. With constant sand blasts and temperatures rising to 65 degrees Centigrade (145 degrees Fahrenheit), the need to deploy extremely rugged field systems is a must. Additionally, the significant amount of metal located at the power plant made it even more difficult for radio frequency (RF) based communications to work effectively. Despite these challenges, BTC and FreeWave were able to successfully and rapidly deploy a WavePro network to solve the following industrial IoT applications:
Self-healing Wi-Fi mesh network over the power plant
Voice over IP (VoIP) communications
Security camera control and video transport back to a central monitoring center
SCADA networking for monitoring the inbound water quality for cooling applications
AMI backhaul networking to help manage energy consumption within the smart grid
Wi-Fi hotspot for the residents of the neighboring village
Abdul Aziz Al Sultan, telecom engineering and substation automation department manager at SEC/NG SA, said: "We require a robust solution for time-critical applications. With FreeWave WavePro, we are confident that we have found a reliable and flexible platform that can be deployed quickly and cost-effectively integrated into our network."
By incorporating dual-band, concurrently operational radios (2.4GHz and 5GHz) into an IP67 enclosure, WavePro brings industrial-grade communications to the harshest of environments without fail. It's an ideal field area network solution for oil and gas, utilities, mining, power plants, municipalities, disaster recovery and many other industrial applications. WavePro is also a global solution, homologating in a number of countries beyond the USA including Canada, LATAM, the Middle East, the Far East and Europe. For more information, please visit: (http://go.freewave.com/l/68372/2015-12-16/37myq8).
"Being able to partner with the premier systems integrator in the Middle East is a significant step forward for FreeWave," said Kim Niederman, CEO of FreeWave. "We are thrilled for the opportunity to work with Baud Telecom Company and its customers, as we strive to help solve the most complex and demanding industrial IoT networking applications in the world."
About FreeWave Technologies
FreeWave Technologies (www.freewave.com) is a leading provider of wireless Machine to Machine (M2M) solutions that deliver reliable access to data for leading companies in the industrial Internet of Things (IoT) markets. As the #1 provider of wireless IIoT to the oil and gasindustry, FreeWave's fast, flexible and easy-to-deploy solutions streamline connectivity over long distances to also create significant operational efficiencies for government, defense and UAV/Drone contractors, agriculture equipment manufacturers, energy and smart grid networks, municipalities and more. With 20-plus years of experience in the M2M market and millions of radios deployed in the field, customers repeatedly turn to FreeWave to maximize their value in connecting M2M devices to optimize real-time decision making.
Media Contact:
Jeremy Douglas
Catapult PR-IR
+1-303-581-7760 ext. 16
jdouglas@catapultpr-ir.com
By Andrew Ujifusa and Alyson Klein
Its been close to two weeks since the U.S. Department of Education released proposed regulations for the Every Student Succeeds Act that would govern school accountability. Weve touched on several high-profile issues in the draft rules since they were made public, including their requirement for a single overall rating for schools and the tricky shift to ESSA that some schools might face in 2016-17.
But below, you can find several of the most important issues in a straightforward, cheat sheet format. Weve organized the material into three categories:
What ESSA says about the issue in statutory language;
How the proposed ESSA regulations would handle the issue, and;
Some of the reaction to the proposed regulations. (We included this where it was relevantnot every area has gotten serious pushback or praise at this early stage.)
Let us know if you think weve missed any major issues in the comments section, or email us at aujifusa@epe.org, or aklein@epe.org. You have until Aug. 1 to submit your comments to the department about these proposed rules. Theyre expected to be finalized at some point after that later this year.
Overall School Rating
What ESSA Says: ESSA does not explicitly require states to apply an overall rating to each school in their accountability plans.
What the Draft Rules Say: The regulations require a summative rating for each school. States have to have at least three categories of summative ratings. The rating can take the form of a number (say on a scale of 1 to 100), an A through F grade, or it could just be a category (say, needs improvement, satisfactory, or excellent.) Plus, states need to make publicly available any data that informs the overall summative rating. If schools are calculating the rating based on growth, achievement, and school climate, for example, they need to publish that data for parents, alongside the overall score.
The Reaction: Supporters of such a comprehensive rating for schools say the proposal is consistent with the intent of ESSA to provide clear information to educators, parents, and others. Some, however, are concerned that it could undermine alternative methods of school accountability, such as dashboards that provide information about various indicators, but dont place a single rating on schools.
Test Participation
What ESSA Says: States are still required to test all students annually in English/language arts and math in grades 3-8 and once in high school. But states are allowed to set consequences for schools that dont meet the 95 percent participation threshold. States could also have laws explicitly allowing parents to opt their children out of tests.
What the Draft Rules Say: States must choose one of three sanctions for schools that miss the threshold, such as giving schools the lowest rating on their academic achievement indicators or knocking down their overall ratings. Or else states can submit their own plans for dealing with test-participation problems.
The Reaction: Fans of annual standardized tests say the proposal is appropriate and highlights how important these tests are. However, those friendly to the testing opt-out movement argue the plan is too prescriptive and that states would not get the flexibility they think the law contains when it comes to dealing with high opt-out rates. (If youre thinking the legal environment for opt-out seems complicated or unclear right now, youre not alone.) AFT President Randi Weingarten is among those critical of the proposed rules here, saying theyre too punitive.
Accountability Indicators
What ESSA Says: States must create an accountability system that relies on both academic indicators like test scores, graduation rates, and English-language proficiency, plus at least one indicator of school quality or student success, which could be teacher engagement, student engagmement, school climate, or anything else the state cooks up thats subject to federal approval of their accountability plans. Each of these indicators must carry substantial weight. And the academic indicators, as a group, must be given a weight much greater than the school-quality or student-success indicator.
What the Draft Rules Say: The proposed regulations dont define what much greater means or give any sense of what would be an appropriate weight for each indicator. They do say, however, that the academic indicators need to give equal weight to math and reading. And they say that the school-quality indicator should be something that research shows will contribute to student achievement or boost graduation rates. (Theres research to back up indicators like access to the arts, or science and social studies classes, U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King, Jr. said in a recent interview with Education Week.)
Also, the school-quality indicator should be something that shows real differentiation from one school to another. For example, the department is discouraging states from using average daily attendance; it says theres simply not enough variation from school to school, which means its harder to tell which schools need closer attention and support. Also, importantly, just as with the summative rating, states need to come up with at least three performance levels for each indicator. That means if a state picks, say, teacher engagement, it needs to figure out what it means for a school to have at least high, low, and medium teacher engagement. (States could come up with more than three levels, if they want.)
The Reaction: Mike Petrilli, of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, thinks the department is attaching too many strings to the school quality indicator. Check out his post here .
Subgroups of Students and N Sizes
What ESSA Says: States need to consider the performance of each subgroup of students (thats English-language learners, racial minorities, students in special education, and disadvantaged kids) seperately, no combining of subgroups into super subgroups. Also, states need to set an n size, meaning the minimum number of students in a particular group that a school must have in order for that group to count for accountability purposes. The state gets to pick the n size it wantsthe department doesnt get to require any particular number. (The thinking behind an n size: If a school of 5,000 students only has one English-language learner, it might violate that students privacy to report the data separately from everyone elses.)
What the Draft Rules Say: The regulations make it crystal clear that super subgroups that combine different groups of students for accountability purposes are prohibited. Thats not new, but it shows the department is serious about this issue, even though it allowed super subgroups in waivers from the previous version of the law, No Child Left Behind. The department says that states that want an n size of more than 30 had better be able to justify it. (Under NCLB, state n sizes ranged from as small as five to as large as 50. Thirty was about average. More on page 40 of this report .)
The Reaction: So far, not much on this. But well keep our ears open.
Consistently Underperforming Groups of Students
What ESSA Says: States have to identify schools where certain subgroups of students (say, English-language learners or students in special education) are consistently underperforming. Those schools are supposed to get targeted support under ESSA, which means the school comes up with a plan to fix the problem and the district has to monitor its efforts. If the school doesnt get any better after a certain number of yearsdetermined by the districtthe district steps in and takes over the turnaround.
What the Draft Rules Say: The proposed rules leave it up to states to decide what consistently underperforming means. But these state defintions must incorporate at least one of the following criteria: a) whether the subgroup is on track to meet the states long-term goals, b) whether the subgroup is performing at the lowest level on any one of the states academic indicators, c) whether the subgroup is at or below a certain level of performance, compared to the rest of state, d) whether the subgroup is performing way below the state average, or the average of the highest performing subgroup in the state, or e) another factor that the state comes up with.
Also, under the regulations, a state is supposed to consider a school as having chronically underperforming subgroups of students and step in and fix the problem if the subgroups performance isnt getting any better after three years.
The Reaction: While the proposed regulatory language seems to jibe with ESSAs statutory language that the term shall be determined by the State, the Education Trust, a civil rights advocacy group, has argued that the options available to states are too loose, and would allow many states to downplay the performance of struggling students.
Turnaround and Intervention Plans
What ESSA Says: There are basically two big buckets of schools to know about here. Schools in comprehensive support fall into the bottom 5 percent of performers, high schools where less than 67 percent of students graduate, and those where a particular subgroup of students is performing really poorly, as poorly as kids in schools in the bottom 5 percent of performers in the state. And then there are the schools in targeted support, are those where a particular subgroup of students is struggling.
For schools in comprehensive support, districts come up with an evidence-based plan to fix the problem, monitored by the state. For schools in targeted support, schools must come up with an evidence-based plan to fix the problem, monitored by the district.
What the Draft Rules Say: States need to let parents know if their childs school has been identified for targeted or comprehensive support. And the state should try very hard to come up with evidence-based interventions that meet the most-rigorous evidence standards. If states want to, they can even come up with a list of preapproved strategies for districts to try.
Also, for schools in targeted support, districts should consider whether the school (or even certain populations within the school) are getting access to a fair share of resources, including money and good teachers. Districts also must establish exit criteria for when a school no longer needs to be in targeted support (for instance, the students in whatever subgroup was struggling are now performing much better).
The Reaction: So far, not much on this. Well update this post if we hear more.
Identifying Schools for Interventions
What ESSA Says: States are supposed to build an index for measuring school performance that includes student achievement, graduation rates, English-language proficiency, and another academic factor (which could be growth on tests). Plus, they have to include another indicator that gets at school quality or students opportunity to learn (something like school climate, success in advanced coursework, teacher engagement). Schools that perform really badly on these indicators and are found to be in the bottom 5 percent of performers are identified for comprehensive suppport. Those where a particular subgroup of students are performing poorly are identified for targeted support.
What the Draft Rules Say: States cant get off the comprehensive improvement list just because they have made progress on the school quality indicatorthey have to also make progress on an academic indicator. So that means, for instance, that a school with really low math and reading scores thats been able to help fix poor teacher engagement cant get out of improvement status until its math and reading scores get better.
The Reaction: Not a whole lot that weve seen so far, although Petrillis earlier criticisms about the overall importance school quality indicator can also apply here.
Timelines and Deadlines
What ESSA Says: The U.S. Department of Education approves state accountability plans that will begin in the 2017-18 school year. Waivers from the mandates of the previous version of the law, the No Child Left Behind Act, expire on July 1 of this year. The 2016-17 school year is a transition time between the two systems.
What the Draft Rules Say: There are two deadlines to submit these plans, one in March 2017, and the other in July 2017. Although the plans would start in 2017-18, schools with high drop-out rates or schools in the bottom 5 percent of performers must be identified as needing comprehensive support based on their 2016-17 outcomes. (Districts with schools in comprehensive support need to come up with a plan to fix the problem, which the state is supposed to monitor. If the school doesnt get better after a period of time set by the stateno more than four yearsthe state has to step in and try a more serious intervention.)
The Reaction: The deadlines may not be easy to deal with, thanks to the presidential transition. The March deadline will be very soon after a new administration takes over. And the July deadline is very close to the 2017-18 academic year. But moving up the deadlines might cut into states development time for the plans. And the required use of 2016-17 academic data for some school-improvement decisions worries some who say schools would be working in a sort of accountability limbo.
Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .
NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - Telecommunications giant Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) plans to submit a second-round bid of $3 billion for Yahoo Inc.'s (YHOO) core Internet business, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing a person familiar with the matter. According to the WSJ report, Verizon was expected to meet Monday's deadline for the second round of bids. The company is seen as the leading contender to acquire Yahoo. Private equity firm TPG was also expected to submit a second-round bid ahead of the deadline. Yahoo is expected to hold at least one more round of bidding, and the offers could change, the WSJ reported. Verizon's chief financial officer Francis Shammo said in December 2015 that the company could look at buying Yahoo if it is a strategic fit. However, bidders are said to have lowered their expected prices following weeks of sale presentations by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer at the company's Sunnyvale, California headquarters and its disclosure of data that detailed the company's flagging prospects. In February, Yahoo said its board of directors has formed an independent committee to explore strategic alternatives for the company. YHOO closed Monday's trading at $37.08, up $0.47 or 1.28 percent on a volume of 8.43 million shares. In after-hours, the stock further gained $0.01 or 0.03 percent to $37.08. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Cabinet office is set to release final Japan leading economic indicators data for April at 1:00 am ET Tuesday. The leading index is expected to show a score of 100.6 in April, compared to the preliminary reading of 99.3 in March. Ahead of the data, the yen fell against its major rivals. As of 12:55 am ET, the yen was trading at 122.35 against the euro, 156.37 against the pound, 110.97 against the Swiss franc and 107.76 against the U.S. dollar. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Estonia's consumer prices continued to decline in May, figures from Statistics Estonia showed Tuesday. The consumer price index fell 0.9 percent year-over-year in May, faster than the 0.7 percent drop in March. The measure has been falling since June 2015. Compared to May 2015, goods were 0.9 percent cheaper and costs for services lower by 1.0 percent. Both transport and housing costs dipped by 5.9 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively in May. At the same time, clothing and footwear prices grew 3.8 percent. On a monthly basis, consumer prices edged up 0.1 percent in May, after remaining flat in the prior month. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Stockholm based private equity firm Monterro has closed its second fund and raised SEK 1.2 billion. Monterro 2 is more than twice the size of Monterro 1, surpassing its target and reaching the hard cap for the fund. Monterro 2 will have the same focus as Monterro 1 investments in Nordic software companies.
"We are grateful for the support we have received from our existing investor base and we also welcome a limited number of new investors. Since the inception of Monterro we have been fortunate to be involved with a number of great Nordics software companies and supported their growth and international expansion. We now look forward to continuing with the same strategy in Monterro 2", says Thomas Bill, Managing Partner at Monterro.
About Monterro
Monterro (www.monterro.se) is a Stockholm based private equity firm focusing on software and software based services in the Nordic region. The team behind Monterro has unique operational and strategic experience combined with a strong financial background. One third of the capital in Monterro 2 comes from the partners, assuring aligned interests between Monterro, entrepreneurs and external investors.
This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160606006616/en/
Contacts:
Monterro
Thomas Bill
Managing Partner
tel +46 (0)8 20 05 56
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- NewVoiceMedia, a leading global provider of cloud technology, which helps businesses sell more, serve better and grow faster, increased its customer base by over 50 percent and grew its international new business by 140 percent in FY'2016.
The company now serves more than 600 customers spanning 128 countries and six continents, including MobileIron, Siemens, RAC, Canadian Cancer Society, Vax, Quintessentially and Wowcher. NewVoiceMedia's intelligent communications platform is revolutionising the way organisations connect with their customers worldwide, enabling them to deliver a personalised and unique customer service experience and drive a more effective sales team.
Recognised as one of the world's most valuable cloud computing companies by Insights Success Magazine, NewVoiceMedia continues to attract new customers through exciting technological developments, starting the last financial year by announcing the launch of its gamification module Motivate. Using the combined power and intelligence of ContactWorld for Sales and Motivate, together with the single platform of Salesforce, sales organisations can now transform everyday tasks into rewarding activities that will help increase engagement, encourage reps to develop a habit of best practice processes and improve business efficiencies, especially through improved user CRM adoption. In August, the company launched ContactWorld QuickStart for the SMB market, offering smaller businesses a great value customer contact solution with the fundamental call features needed to grow their business, meaning they can invest their money in further expansion and scale the use of the platform to support their growth.
In September, NewVoiceMedia launched ContactWorld for Wearables on the Salesforce AppExchange. Through this solution, sales and service professionals can offer exceptional service to their customers and prospects without being tied to their computers or compromising their busy schedules.
Over the year, NewVoiceMedia was recognised by some of the most prestigious awards in the industry. The company was honoured in the Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100, an annual league table which ranks Britain's private technology, media and telecoms companies with the fastest-growing sales, and most recently by CUSTOMER magazine's CRM Excellence Awards for its ContactWorld for Service solution.
Rapid growth and technology innovation led to NewVoiceMedia securing $30m in a new round of funding from new investor BGF Ventures and joined by existing investors BVP, Eden Ventures, Highland Capital Partners Europe, Salesforce Ventures and TCV. This investment, which further recognises the company's incredible growth and financial performance, is helping to accelerate NewVoiceMedia's international growth plans, with particular emphasis on the North American market, driven by further expansion of it US-based sales, marketing and professional services delivery teams and alongside its ongoing commitment to enriching its product and platform capabilities.
NewVoiceMedia also announced several new appointments over the last year to meet increased demand for its technology, including senior executives Darren Smith, Moni Manor and Scott Sampson, together with Frank van Veenendaal who joined NewVoiceMedia's Board of Directors. Last year the company was recognised as a top technology company to work for by the European Breakout List, Business Insider and Glassdoor, demonstrating its commitment towards its employees and focus on building a positive workplace.
Jonathan Gale, CEO of NewVoiceMedia, comments, "We enjoyed another year of incredible expansion throughout FY'2016. With 140 percent international growth, half our new business came from outside the UK, and we now serve more than 600 customers spanning 128 countries. Furthermore, our customer base increased by over 50 percent from the previous year and nearly half of new bookings were for our ContactWorld for Sales platform.
"We are focused on continuing to drive innovation that will revolutionise the way organisations connect with their customers and prospects worldwide. With our world-class intelligent communications platform, relentless commitment to driving innovation, market position and momentum, coupled with a multi-billion dollar market opportunity, we look forward to continuing our impressive growth trajectory throughout FY'2017 and beyond, while helping our global customer base grow their businesses with improved efficiency and greater customer advocacy".
For further information, visit www.newvoicemedia.com.
About NewVoiceMedia
NewVoiceMedia powers customer connections that transform businesses globally. The leading vendor's award-winning cloud customer contact platform revolutionises the way organisations connect with their customers worldwide, enabling them to deliver a personalised and unique customer service experience and drive a more effective sales and marketing team. With a true cloud environment and proven 99.999% platform availability, NewVoiceMedia ensures complete flexibility, scalability and reliability.
Spanning 128 countries and six continents, NewVoiceMedia's 600+ customers include PhotoBox, MobileIron, TNT, Lumesse, JustGiving, Canadian Cancer Society and Wowcher. For more information visit www.newvoicemedia.com or follow NewVoiceMedia on Twitter @NewVoiceMedia.
NewVoiceMedia PR contact
Nicola Brookes
NewVoiceMedia
Tel: +44 (0)7500 006 458
Email Contact
Most web applications have multiple serious, open vulnerabilities, increasing the likelihood of a breach
LONDON and SANTA CLARA, California, June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --WhiteHat Security, the only application security provider that combines the best of technology and human intelligence, today announced the release of the eleventh annual Web Applications Security Statistics Report. Compiled using data collected from tens of thousands of websites, the report reveals that the majority of web applications exhibit, on average, two or more serious vulnerabilities per application for every industry at any given point in time.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160222/336045LOGO
The Report's findings are based on the aggregated vulnerability scanning and remediation data from web applications that use the WhiteHat Sentinel service for application security testing. The research shows that no industry has mastered application security, and of the 12 industries analyzed in this Report, the information technology (IT), education, and retail industries suffer the highest number of critical or high-risk vulnerabilities per web application, at 17, 15 and 13 respectively.
The findings also highlight that the IT and retail industries struggle to remediate in a timely manner. It takes approximately 250 days for IT and 205 days for retail businesses to fix their software vulnerabilities.
According to the "Window of Exposure" data in the Report, another key metric organizations need to pay attention to is the number of days an application has one or more serious vulnerabilities open during a given time period. Across all industries, a substantial number of web applications remain always vulnerable. A few key highlights:
Information Technology (IT) -- 60 percent of web applications are always vulnerable.
Retail -- half of all web applications are always vulnerable.
Banking and Financial Services -- 40 and 41 percent of web applications are always vulnerable, respectively.
Healthcare -- 47 percent of web applications are always vulnerable.
"We've observed that organizations have hundreds, if not thousands, of consumer-facing web applications, and each of these web apps has anywhere from five to 32 vulnerabilities," said Tamir Hardof, Chief Marketing Officer, WhiteHat Security. "This means that there are thousands of vulnerabilities across the average organization's web applications. While this number is overwhelming, risk ratings can really help security teams prioritize which vulnerabilities they work on fixing first. Unfortunately, what this year's report tells us once again is that organizations are not really relying on risk levels as a baseline to inform their application security strategies."
Remediation rates
The report also captures data on vulnerabilities that are fixed once they are discovered. Generally, the more critical the vulnerability, the more complex they are to understand and remediate. For nine of the 12 industries analyzed, remediation rates are below 50 percent. In IT, less than 25 percent of open vulnerabilities are remediated, and vulnerabilities in this industry have an average age of 875 days. The average time-to-fix for vulnerabilities varies by industry from approximately 15 weeks in the energy industry to 35 weeks in IT.
Key trends from 2013 - 2015 include:
Remediation rates declined significantly in IT , which saw a drop from 46 percent to 24 percent, and in banking , which dropped from 52 percent to 42 percent.
, which saw a drop from 46 percent to 24 percent, and in , which dropped from 52 percent to 42 percent. Financial services and retail saw modest increases in their remediation rates , from 41 percent to 48 percent for financial services, and from 42 percent to 48 percent for retail.
, from 41 percent to 48 percent for financial services, and from 42 percent to 48 percent for retail. The greatest improvement was in the food & beverage industry , where remediation rates quadrupled, from 17 percent to 62 percent.
, where remediation rates quadrupled, from 17 percent to 62 percent. In manufacturing, rates almost doubled from 34 percent to 66 percent, while healthcare and insurance increased from 26 percent to 42 percent, and 26 percent to 44 percent, respectively.
"Since 2013, the average time to fix vulnerabilities has trended upward overall, but we've seen some great successes with customers who have embedded security into the software development process," said Ryan O'Leary, Vice President, Threat Research Center and Technical Support, WhiteHat Security. "Discovering vulnerabilities in development is key to reducing vulnerabilities when the application is staged. Introducing source scanning, or SAST, has the potential to eliminate 80-90% of well-known vulnerabilities. We look forward to seeing how this report will evolve as security and development teams work together more closely around shared security and risk management goals."
WhiteHat Security can be found in stand B47 at the Infosecurity Europe show, taking place from today through June 9th. Ryan O'Leary will be speaking about the new Stats Report during his talk, Ten Years On: Lessons From A Decade of Website Security Statistics, Thursday, June 9 at 13:20.
For more information:
View the full report
Register to attend the webinar "Stats Report Explained" on June 29
Read the blog
Learn more about the Threat Research Center
SAN FRANCISCO, June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Industry's first visual presentation platform combining advanced collaboration, analytics, Slack integration and mobile presenting capabilities
Prezi, the visual presentation platform that helps people connect more powerfully with their audiences and customers, today announced the launch ofPrezi Business. This new platform combines all the benefits that make Prezi presentations stand out with new business-focused productivity tools such as team and audience collaboration capabilities, engagement analytics, integration with Slack, and remote presenting.
(Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160603/375318)
Prezi Business is the company's response to a rapidly growing need: tools that enable openness and teamwork over hierarchy and silos, as well as the modern customer's desire for conversations rather than one-way experiences. These trends have impacted the presentation space, creating a long-awaited change that is being driven largely by students moving from the classroom to the workplace.
"Millennials constitute a huge part of our 75 Million user base, as they've moved into the professional world, they've brought their modern expectations and favourite tools with them," said Peter Arvai, CEO and co-founder of Prezi. "We designed Prezi Business for users like them; for those that want a more visual, collaborative, data-driven and - most importantly - conversational way to present."
It's Time for the Modern Presentation
Presentations are an essential part of business communications, and there'splenty of evidencethat suggests changing up the old office stack's way of presenting (one-way dialogue using slides and bullet points) can have a huge impact on overall success. According to theRAIN Group, for example, sales professionals can increase sales bycollaboratingwith prospects instead of talking at them, andION Interactiverecently found that twice as many consumers say that interactive content is more memorable than static.
Prezi Business is a platform that includes all of the visual and conversational benefits of Prezi, enabling organizations to create presentations that bring together multiple stories that can be dynamically delivered based on audience's interests. New, business-ready features include:
Advanced Collaboration - Co-editing and commenting features support real-time collaboration and eliminate the need for version control, allowing users to talk to each other directly in their prezis, no matter their location. Prezi Business also stores presentations in the cloud, letting users sort, select, or link them together from a single location. This content can then be shared with colleagues for collaborative development, and with customers who may then bring it into their own organizations to continue to the conversation as needed.
- Co-editing and commenting features support real-time collaboration and eliminate the need for version control, allowing users to talk to each other directly in their prezis, no matter their location. Prezi Business also stores presentations in the cloud, letting users sort, select, or link them together from a single location. This content can then be shared with colleagues for collaborative development, and with customers who may then bring it into their own organizations to continue to the conversation as needed. Prezi Analytics - Real-time analytics give organizations feedback to help sales and marketing departments focus on customers with the highest need. Presenters can employ real-time usage data to determine when to follow up with a prospect, or learn which topics resonated with their audience. Managers can use the analytics leaderboard to track their entire team's performance and improve productivity.
- Real-time analytics give organizations feedback to help sales and marketing departments focus on customers with the highest need. Presenters can employ real-time usage data to determine when to follow up with a prospect, or learn which topics resonated with their audience. Managers can use the analytics leaderboard to track their entire team's performance and improve productivity. Integration with Slack - Slack gives Prezi Business users a unique way to enhance collaboration on the presentations they build through the communication channel that has significantlyimproved business productivity. Prezi users can now receive Slack notifications when someone has commented on their prezi; when someone has shared a prezi with them; and when someone has edited their prezi. It also sends notifications when their prezi is being viewed and analyzed so they can get real-time feedback from their audience.
- Slack gives Prezi Business users a unique way to enhance collaboration on the presentations they build through the communication channel that has significantlyimproved business productivity. Prezi users can now receive Slack notifications when someone has commented on their prezi; when someone has shared a prezi with them; and when someone has edited their prezi. It also sends notifications when their prezi is being viewed and analyzed so they can get real-time feedback from their audience. Remote HD Presenting- Every Prezi Business customer gets their own password-protected virtual meeting room, where they can host remote presentations to be viewed by anyone. Remote presentations are smooth and unpixelated. They can be viewed or presented in HD, without the need for screensharing software.
Availability
Prezi Business is available worldwide. For more information, visithttps://prezi.com/business/.
Customer Quotes
"We use Prezi quite strategically and extensively from the top down and we have won more business in the last five months than the previous five months using Prezi," said David Ahrens, chief marketing officer at UBIC, a global provider of innovative and full-service Litigation Consulting, eDiscovery solutions and Project Management for AMLaw 100 law firms and Fortune 500 companies. "Prezi facilitates better overall engagement with our audience and we can tie increased sales performance to Prezi. The new features in Prezi Business are promising - we especially like remote presenting where you can stream live - brilliant."
"Prezi Business is light years beyond PowerPoint," said Jason Haskell, Middle Enterprise Account Manager at a leading next-generation security and compliance company. "With Prezi Business, we can easily create presentations for our clients that are more engaging and memorable - helping us to better tell our story and win new business."
"I first started using Prezi in college as a way of standing out from the crowd. When I started in sales I realised that I could apply the same tactics by sending a presentation instead of a boring email," said Murrough Connellan, sales development representative at Zendesk. "Having used Prezi Business to the same effect I was really impressed by the analytics and the insights you can gain from it. Knowing what parts of the information you send potential clients interests them is invaluable for prospecting. You are able to tell not only if they clicked on your presentation but also how much time they invested and into which part. With this information you can approach a prospect knowing their perspective which in turn makes the relationship a little less complicated."
About Prezi
Prezi is the presentation platform that helps you connect more powerfully with your audience and customers. Unlike slides, Prezi's single, interactive canvas encourages conversation and collaboration, making your overall presentation more engaging, persuasive, and memorable. Prezi's latest offering, Prezi Business, moves Prezi into the modern workplace by meeting the needs of today's agile companies. Founded in 2009, and with offices in San Francisco and Budapest, Prezi now fosters a community of over 75 million users and over 260 million prezis around the world. Its investors include Accel Partners, Spectrum Equity and TED conferences. For more information, please visithttp://www.prezi.com.
Media Contact:
Csaba Faix
Prezi
+3630-248-6444
csaba.faix@prezi.com
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Cyber-security firm to work with security specialist value-added distributor to support aggressive EMEA expansion plans
Malwarebytes, the leading advanced malware prevention and remediation solution, today announced it has signed Wick Hill as a pan-European value-added distributor specialising in security. The agreement supports Malwarebytes' rapidly growing presence in Europe and continued strategy to expand in the area through channel relationships.
This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160607005103/en/
Wick Hill and Malwarebytes will work together to offer the cyber security company's advanced endpoint protection and remediation capabilities for enterprises to resellers in the UK, DACH, Benelux, France and the Nordics, as part of a two-tier distribution model. Wick Hill is frequently recognised as one of the best specialist security distributors in the region, and the deal will further expand Malwarebytes' reach while providing Wick Hill with access to an increasingly in-depth portfolio of layered solutions.
Anthony O'Mara, VP, EMEA at Malwarebytes, said: "Given the ever advancing threat landscape, the possibility of suffering a security breach has never been higher. Our proven ability to quickly detect and remediate these threats means our products are in higher demand than ever.
"Given its reach and reputation in the cyber security space, Wick Hill is an ideal partner for us. The company also operates an enviable range of partner support services and has a track record of helping vendors expand their reseller base and grow sales. As part of Rigby Private Equity (RPE), Wick Hill also has access to an established network of resellers across EMEA, and we will be taking advantage of that to grow our presence even further in the future."
Ian Kilpatrick, chairman Wick Hill Group, continued: "We are delighted that Malwarebytes has chosen Wick Hill as a pan-EMEA distribution partner. Driven by the strength of its product set, the company has a uniquely valuable brand in the security market, providing resellers with a massive opportunity."
"In today's increasingly insecure IT environment, multi-level protection is vital and we feel Malwarebytes fits perfectly into our existing portfolio. We're very excited about helping the company grow its EMEA channel to expand across the region."
In July 2015, Wick Hill became part of Rigby Private Equity (RPE). RPE is building an EMEA-wide, high-value, specialist distribution business, with a common proposition and consistent delivery. Value added distributor Zycko, is also part of RPE with the combined Wick Hill and Zycko product portfolio encompassing networking, infrastructure, security, communications, storage, access, performance, monitoring and management.
Paul Eccleston, head of RPE, commented: "The appointment of Wick Hill by Malwarebytes is another milestone for RPE, following Zycko's recent appointment by Unitrends as its sole EMEA wide distributor. It demonstrates that there is a strong need for a pan-EMEA distributor that can work with companies wanting to expand and grow internationally, in partnership with a value added distributor that can deliver technical and sales support consistently, whilst giving vendors access to an established reseller network."
-- ENDS --
About Malwarebytes
Malwarebytes protects consumers and businesses against dangerous threats such as malware, ransomware, and exploits that escape detection by traditional antivirus solutions. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, the company's flagship product, has a highly advanced heuristic detection engine that removed more than five billion malicious threats from computers worldwide. More than 10,000 SMBs and enterprise businesses worldwide trust Malwarebytes to protect their data. Founded in 2008, the company is headquartered in California with offices in Europe, and a global team of researchers and experts. For more information, please visit us at https://www.malwarebytes.com/.
Malwarebytes reflects the operating philosophy of its founder and CEO Marcin Kleczynski: to create the best disinfection and protection solutions to combat the world's most harmful Internet threats. Marcin was recently named "CEO of the Year" in the Global Excellence awards and has been named to the 2015 Forbes 30 Under 30 Rising Stars of Enterprise Technology list and the Silicon Valley Business Journal's 40 Under 40 award, adding those to a 2014 Ernst Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
About Wick Hill
Established in 1976, value added distributor Wick Hill specialises in secure IP infrastructure solutions. The company sources and delivers best-of-breed, easy-to-use solutions through its channel partners, with a portfolio that covers security, performance, access, networking, convergence, storage and hosted solutions.
Wick Hill is particularly focused on providing a wide range of value-added support for its channel partners. This includes strong lead generation and conversion, technical and consultancy support, and comprehensive training. Wick Hill Group is part of Rigby Private Equity, a subsidiary of Rigby Group Investments, an independent company within Rigby Group plc. Wick Hill has its headquarters in the UK and offices in Germany and Austria. Wick Hill also offers services to channel partners in fourteen European countries and worldwide, through its association with Zycko, as part of RPE.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160607005103/en/
Contacts:
Wick Hill
Annabelle Brown
01326 318212
email pr@wickhill.com
https://www.wickhill.com
or
Malwarebytes
Aislinn Collins
07980 711864
email malwarebytes@fieldhouseassociates.com
LONDON, June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Gale Klappa, outgoing CEO of one of America's largest utility companies, has won the title of Business Worldwide Magazine's (BWM) CEO of the Year 2016 -Electricity and Natural Gas Industry.
Klappa, who successfully served as head of Milwaukee-based WEC Energy Group Inc. for more than a decade, retired from the post in May this year. During his time with the huge Mid Western power company he oversaw the $9 billion acquisition of Integrys Energy Group in 2015. He will continue to help shape the future of the organization in his role as non-executive chairman of the company.
On being told of the BWM award, Klappa said: "I'm delighted to receive this award on behalf of both myself and the company. Our culture and our customer focus are at the heart of everything we do as a company."
WEC Energy currently supplies power to 4.4 million homes and businesses in areas of Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota (the eighth largest natural gas provider in the United States). The company has around 8,500 employees and 55,000 stockholders, making it the 15th largest investor-owned utility company in the United States. Meanwhile capital spending has doubled to around $1.5 billion within the past year.
A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and honorary Doctor of Commercial Science, Klappa was voted Wisconsin Business Leader of the Year from the Harvard Business School Club of Wisconsin in 2013.
Chair of WEC's board succession planning committee, John Bergstrom referred to Kappa, 65, as "an extraordinary leader" and praised his commitment to raising "the vitality, focus and performance" of the company.
Part of Klappa's managerial style included ongoing reviews of staff in order to ensure they carried out the company's core values on a daily basis (he included himself in this assessment procedure). His main priority was impeccable customer service. At the same time, he encouraged an 'inclusive' company culture where staff felt valued and engaged. His reward was an impressively low staff turnover.
More information on WEC Energy can be found on the group's website at http://www.wecenergygroup.com
An article on the company can also be found on BWM website
http://www.bwmonline.com/2016/05/wec-energy-customer-service-core/
For more details on Business Worldwide Magazine Awards 2016, go to http://www.bwmonline.com/awards/
About Business Worldwide Magazine
Business Worldwide Magazine is the leading source of business and dealmaker intelligence throughout the world. Our quarterly magazine and online news portal enables an established audience of corporate dealmakers to track the latest news, stories and developments affecting the international markets, corporate finance, business strategy and changes in legislation. This readership includes of CEO/CFO - Banks, Corporate Lawyers and Venture Capital/Private Equity Companies to name a few.
http://www.bwmonline.com
Contact
David Jones
Awards Department
E:david.jones@bwmonline.com
W:http://www.bwmonline.com
The policy blueprint laid out by GOP Speaker of the House Paul Ryan includes proposals dealing with early learning and career and technical education, and also praises the Every Student Succeeds Act for providing additional support to charter schools.
A Better Way: Our Vision for a Confident America was created by the House Republicans Task Force on Poverty, Opportunity, and Upward Mobility in order to address a variety of policy issues. It was presented to the public by Ryan and other House Republicans, including Rep. John Kline , R-Minn., the chairman of the House education committee, on Tuesday.
The report doesnt spend a ton of time dealing with K-12, but there are a few things worth noting in the 35-page plan.
Early Education: The report states that while access to high-quality prekindergarten programs is important, the federal government has 14 programs that explicitly provide early care or education for children that do not deliver long-term results to disadvantaged children. It also criticizes federal Head Start programs for the much-discussed fade out effect , in which gains from these programs dissolve by the time children complete the 3d grade, according to research.
The solution? A Better Way wants more research to highlight the best early-education programs; less redundancy in the early-education and child-care programs Washington pays for; and a broader array of options for parents when choosing such programs.
At-Risk Youth: A decent chunk of this section on disadvantaged children and those who enter the juvenile-justice system is spent promoting school choice. The blueprint praises ESSA for its federal support for high-quality charter schools.
Providing all childrenparticularly the most vulnerable childrenbetter educational choices will give them a better chance to succeed beyond the classroom, the report states.
The House Republican report also notes changes that ESSA makes to educational services for children in correctional and other juvenile-justice facilities. (On a related note, the National Center for Youth Law has put together a detailed fact sheet about how ESSA handles students in the juvenile-justice system as well as students in foster care.)
The GOP blueprint also calls for at-risk children to be made more aware of the various services available to them for issues like substance abuse and mental health; recognizes that different regions might need some services more than others; and promotes school choice like the District of Columbias Opportunity Scholarships program, which provides vouchers to students in D.C.
Career and Technical Education: Noting that in the 2012-13 academic year 11 million students in the country enrolled in career and technical education programs, A Better Way notes that federal funding for CTE programs isnt particularly flexible from states perspectives. (The federal Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, which provides just over $1 billion annually to CTE, was last reauthorized in 2006, and in March, then-Acting Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. called for it to be reauthorized so that, among other things, the courses that make up a good CTE program are better defined.)
In keeping with other sections of the report, Republicans on the task force want federal officials to meddle less with state and local decisions about workforce training. The blueprint also calls for better partnerships between CTE and local business in order to improve alignment between programs and in-demand jobs.
Read the full A Better Way proposal below:
Photo: Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. is surrounded by the media as he arrives for a House GOP conference meeting at the Capitol last October.
Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .
Regulatory News:
The Management Board of Arctic Paper S.A. ("the Company") provides for public information, as attached, the contents of resolutions concluded by the Ordinary Shareholders Meeting on 2 June 2016 ("OSM") (including changes of the Company's Articles of Association). There were no objections to any of the resolutions of the Ordinary Shareholders Meeting. The Ordinary Shareholders Meeting did not refrain from considering any of the items of scheduled agenda.
Attachments:
1. Resolutions concluded by the Ordinary Shareholders Meeting of Arctic Paper S.A. on 2 June 2016 attachment no 1.
2. Justification for the draft resolution no. 20/2016 adopted by the Ordinary Shareholders' Meeting of Arctic Paper S.A. regarding consent to the establishment of a registered pledge over a collection of movables and property rights of the Company attachment no. 2
3. Hitherto wording of joint stock company Arctic Paper Spolka Akcyjna Articles of Association together with approved amendments attachment no. 3.
This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com
This information is disclosed pursuant to the Article 56 section 1 item 2 of Public Offering Act current and periodic information and was submitted for publication on 2nd June 2016 at 4:00 pm CET, in reference to Arctic Paper's current report no. 12/2016 filed with the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160607005841/en/
Contacts:
For additional information, please contact:
Per Skoglund, acting President of the Management Board of Arctic Paper,
tel. +46 733 21 70 09
DALLAS, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Koeppel Direct has created and released an insightful new infographic, The Travel Guide to Destination Marketing, which details the motivations and activities of the world's travelers. With the travel season on the cusp of being in full swing, and the total number of international travelers growing year after year, Koeppel shows how travelers no longer rely on one or two channels of accessible information when planning a trip. Instead, today's informed traveler relies heavily on web-based information to plan and book a trip.
Among the key insights:
Most travelers will employ social media, mobile technology, peer reviews, virtual booking sites, and the latest in mobile technology to plan, book, and fulfill the trip of their dreams. Interestingly, 52% of those surveyed indicated that a destination viewed via social media was an inspiration for their vacation, suggesting that traditional "word of mouth advertising" has been replaced to a large degree by shared imagery.
The top online booking website accounted for more than 300 million unique bookings, with the next five websites garnering a total of just under 300 million combined. Perhaps surprising to some, Booking.com is the leader in online booking websites, with hundreds of millions of dedicated users.
The top travel destinations these days include France, the USA, Spain, China, and Italy. Though France boasts slightly more visitors each year -- at about 84M visitors -- when compared to the USA, visitors tend to spend more than three times as much money when visiting the United States. Times Square in New York, Central Park in New York, and Union Station in Washington D.C. are three top destinations.
The top television advertisers for travel in 2015 included Southwest Airlines, followed by Trivago.com, Disney and The Royal Caribbean. Also in 2015, social network ad spend exceeded video ad spend for travel advertising.
To view the infographic and learn more about travel activities across the globe, including which destination marketing vehicles are most prevalent in the travel industry, please visit: http://koeppeldirect.com/drtvblog/travel-guide-destination-marketing-trends/.
About Koeppel Direct
Based in Dallas, Koeppel Direct is a leading direct response (DR) advertising agency, specializing in multichannel direct response television (DRTV). As buyers of direct response advertising time, Koeppel Direct assists clients in strategically placing DR advertising, as well as creating an effective advertising campaign that maximizes their clients' ROI. In addition to DRTV, Koeppel Direct provides media services for print, radio, and online -- tapping into a broad range of opportunities for their clients. Founded in 1995 by President Peter Koeppel, the company has grown into a dynamic and diverse team, with each team member bringing expert direct marketing and advertising knowledge and experience. Koeppel himself is a thought leader who is a frequent direct marketing industry speaker and editorial contributor, serving on Forbes magazine's Agency Council. Koeppel Direct's impressive client portfolio includes major companies like Turbo Tax, and Match.com. The professional management and highly experienced staff have made Koeppel Direct a leading direct response advertising agency in America.
For more information about Koeppel Direct, please visit:
http://www.koeppeldirect.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/company/koeppel-direct
AMSTERDAM, June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Integration With Elsevier's Research Data Management Portfolio Helps Researchers Prepare, Conduct and Analyze Experiments, Methods, and Protocols in One Place, Saving Them Valuable Time
Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, announced today the acquisition of Hivebench, the flagship product of researcher application developer Shazino, based in Lyon, France. This tool will be integrated into Elsevier's existing Research Data Management portfolio, resulting in the further enhancement of the researcher experience.
Hivebench is a digital laboratory notebook that helps researchers prepare, conduct and analyze experiments, methods, and protocols in one place, saving them valuable time. Hivebench has thousands of registered users, mostly biological laboratory researchers, and is positioned in the center of the research process. Hivebench is the only electronic laboratory notebook available on the web, on desktop (OSX) and mobile (iOS) devices.
"Linking the tool with the Elsevier tools and Mendeley Data repositories will improve the overall experience and quality of data normalization, without requiring the researcher to do any extra work,"says Wouter Haak, Vice President Research Data Management at Elsevier. "Additional metadata and actions from the researcher will be captured via daily micro-steps instead of the current process of having to structure, manage and submit data all the way at the point of submission. The integration of Hivebench is an essential next step in further developing our integrated portfolio of research data management tools that truly make a difference in the way researchers do their job."
"We've been collaborating with Elsevier's Mendeley for the past two years and already enable Hivebench users to export their results to Mendeley Data," said Julien Therier, CEO and founder of Shazino and Hivebench. "Being part of the Elsevier's Research Data Management portfolio will allow us to reach more researchers and install Hivebench locally in laboratories and organizations."
The acquisition will also benefit institutions and funders. The integration of Hivebench with Elsevier's 'funder compliance check' module, that will be developed in 2016 for the Elsevier and Mendeley data repositories, will also ensure that the data complies with funder requirements. Both institutions and funders are seeking this link between the data in the laboratory and the data posting requirements. With the Hivebench acquisition, this link is just a mouse click away. Julien Therier and Vincent Tourraine (lead developer at Hivebench) will join Elsevier's Mendeley Data team in London.
Research data is the foundation on which scientific, technical and medical knowledge is built, but there are challenges in making it accessible and shareable. Elsevier is addressing these challenges by creating solutions that support researchers to store, share, discover and use data. That way, authors receive credit for their work while the wider research community benefits from discovering and using research data. Some of Elsevier's existing initiatives enable: posting data in repositories, supplementary data depositing, data journals and promotion of the use of proper data citation practices as laid out in the Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles which Elsevier has endorsed.
The acquisition is effective immediately and financial terms of the transaction are not being disclosed. More information and updates on this news can be found onElsevier Connect, Elsevier's online community, and on the Mendeley blog.
About Elsevier:
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier provides web-based, digital solutions - among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Elsevier Research Intelligenceand ClinicalKey - and publishes over 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and more than 35,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries.http://www.elsevier.com
Media contact
Harald Boersma
Director, Corporate Relations, Elsevier
+31 20 485 27 36
h.boersma@elsevier.com
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 5:00 am ET Tuesday, Eurostat is set to release Eurozone revised GDP data for the first quarter. The statistical office is set to confirm a 0.5 percent sequential growth for the first quarter. Ahead of the data, the euro traded mixed against its major rivals. While the euro rose against the greenback and the yen, it held steady against the pound. Against the franc, it declined. The euro was worth 1.1368 against the greenback, 122.50 against the yen, 1.0990 against the franc and 0.7792 against the pound as of 4:55 am ET. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Toyota Motor Corporation will exhibit the "Camatte Capsule" trailer, at the International Tokyo Toy Show 2016 to be held at Tokyo Big Sight (located in Koto-ku, Tokyo) for four days2 from June 9 through 12. The interior space of this new design can be customized as a joint activity for parents and children to share.
Toyota Motor Corporation Public Affairs Division Global Communications Department Tel: +81-3-3817-9926
TOKYO, June 7, 2016 - (JCN Newswire) - Toyota Motor Corporation will exhibit the "Camatte Capsule"(1) trailer, at the International Tokyo Toy Show 2016 to be held at Tokyo Big Sight (located in Koto-ku, Tokyo) for four days(2) from June 9 through 12. The interior space of this new design can be customized as a joint activity for parents and children to share.Out of a desire to convey the joy and dreams of motor vehicles to the next generation and to encourage children to become more familiar with cars, Toyota has been exhibiting various types of Camatte vehicles at the Tokyo Toy Show every year since 2012. The hope is to create an opportunity for parents and children to enjoy interacting with and talking about cars together.Up until last year, the main focus of the Camatte exhibit has been on the vehicle exterior, allowing children to exchange exterior panels and make design customizations. This year, the focus has shifted to the interior space with the Camatte Capsule: a trailer with an interior space can be customized. The Camatte Capsule is equipped with a system that allows children to freely visualize what they might want to do or place inside of a car, and to project the space they have designed on three screens positioned around the inside of the vehicle.Description of the hands-on experience and procedure1) Using a tablet terminal in which an application developed for the exhibit has been installed, a child first chooses one of six color patterns, and then selects and positions a maximum of 8 out of 24 items one might find in daily life (such as furniture, appliances, or musical instruments).2) While experiencing a virtual space consisting of the selected colors and items projected on the three screens inside the Camatte Capsule, parents can then hold a dialogue with their child about the space (the world) they have designed.Additionally, several Camatte vehicles will be exhibited as towing a Camatte Capsule. These are the "Camatte Sora" (displayed in 2012), "Camatte 57s" (displayed in 2013), and the "Camatte Hajime" (displayed in 2015). The exhibit as a whole will thus offer visitors a wide variety of hands-on Camatte experiences.Reference: Overview of the Camatte Series to dateToyota exhibited the first Camatte vehicle in 2012. The Camatte Sora could be driven by children, who could also customize its colors and style using easily removable and installable body panels. In 2013, Toyota debuted the Camatte 57s, whose body exterior consisted of 57 detachable small panels that could be assembled like a puzzle. Then, in 2014, Toyota displayed the Camatte Lab, which allowed children to display pictures they had drawn on the hood of the car while getting an up-close look at the inner workings of the car throughout the entire booth. In 2015, Toyota exhibited Camatte Hajime along with Camatte Vision, which employed AR(3) in order to enable children to enjoy a simulated experience of driving a car specified to their liking through town.(1) The name Camatte is based on the Japanese word for caring and is meant to signify "caring for others" and "caring for cars". "Capsule" refers to a space (a world) that children can create freely.(2) Buyer's days: June 9-10; public days: June 11-12(3) Augmented Reality is technology that displays virtual information in addition to real world imagery.About ToyotaSupported by people around the world, Toyota Motor Corporation (TSE: 7203; NYSE: TM), has endeavored since its establishment in 1937 to serve society by creating better products. As of the end of December 2013, Toyota conducts its business worldwide with 52 overseas manufacturing companies in 27 countries and regions. Toyota's vehicles are sold in more than 170 countries and regions. For more information, please visit www.toyota-global.com.Source: ToyotaContact:Copyright 2016 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
LONDON, June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
At a high-level discussion hosted by Lord Low of Dalston on Monday 6th June in the River Room at the House of Lords, international experts, activists from the field of global development, inclusive education academics, philanthropists, foundations and government officials joined forces to discuss how education for ALL children can be achieved - also for children with disabilities in developing countries.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160607/376304 )
The eve of 6th June also marked the launch of LIGHT FOR THE WORLD, a disability and development organisation in the UK. Lord Low of Dalston, International Ambassador of LIGHT FOR THE WORLD, Professor Tom Shakespeare, Deputy Chair and Trustee at LIGHT FOR THE WORLD CIO, Yetnebersh Nigussie Molla, Senior Inclusion Advisor and Dr. Caroline Harper OBE, Sightsavers emphasised the urgent need to work together in strong international networks to grant children with disabilities access to education.
"Over 90% percent of children with disabilities in Burkina Faso and Ethiopia are never given the chance to receive an education. Without education, the majority of persons with disabilities in developing countries cannot find employment and will never be able to live independently. Thus, reducing poverty among persons with disabilities and their families means providing quality inclusive education" pointed out Lord Low of Dalston.
Over 30 Million children are out of school in Sub-Saharan Africa and one in three children of primary school age has a disability. Specifically, in developing countries, children with disabilities are often stigmatized, hidden and outcast from society. "Our core principle must be to leave no one behind and to work towards education for all children - including children with disabilities. Education gives children with disabilities the chance to become productive citizens and future contributors to the development of their country" urged Yetnebersh Nigussie, Senior Inclusion Advisor at LIGHT FOR THE WORLD and disability activist from Ethiopia. Yetnebersh, who became blind at the age of five, never succumbed to societal opinions about her capabilities. She overcame the barriers of social exclusion in Ethiopia, by not only finishing school, but also completing her advanced studies and becoming a lawyer.
Professor Tom Shakespeare, Deputy Chair of the Board of Trustees of LIGHT FOR THE WORLD CIO and co-author of the 'World Report on Disability' (2011) added to her point by saying that, "Many of the world's billion disabled people are excluded from rights such as healthcare, education and employment. I think that LIGHT FOR THE WORLD, with local partners, can make a real difference, and that's why I am proud to be a supporter." Sightsavers' Chief Executive, Dr. Caroline Harper highlighted that, "Ensuring access to education for children with disabilities in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will only be possible if we work closely with local Ministries, donors and other NGOs. Global influence and awareness like that built by Muhammad Ali, illustrates first-hand how individuals can make a difference. Ali, who was diagnosed with a form of Parkinson's Disease in the early 1980's, devoted himself to humanitarian work including support for education. We urge everyone working in education to collect data to help us monitor whether children with disabilities are being left out - as they have so often been in the past".
In line with the Sustainable Development Goals and their core principle of leaving no one behind, the Trustees of LIGHT FOR THE WORLD and its Ambassadors call for each stakeholder to lay the foundation towards an inclusive society whereby men and women with disabilities equally enjoy their fundamental freedoms, all human rights, are treated meaningfully and are included in the day-to-day activities of their given community.
ABOUT LIGHT FOR THE WORLD
Founded in Austria 28 years ago, LIGHT FOR THE WORLD is an international disability and development organization whose vision is an inclusive society where no one is left behind. We strive for accessible eye care services and support inclusive education, empowering persons with disabilities to participate equally in society.
LIGHT FOR THE WORLD proves every day that the inclusion of children with disabilities in schools is possible. Our multi-stakeholder pilot project in Garango in Burkina Faso, is a good example. Starting in 2009, the percentage of children with disabilities attending school in the project region rose from 4% to 60%.
Follow us on Twitter @lftwworldwide
Visit us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/LFTWInternational
Enquiries:
Joy Morozov, Senior Manager International Alliances
LIGHT FOR THE WORLD CIO - United Kingdom
Mobile: +44-(0)75-149-79-349 / +43-664-889-296-15
Email: j.morozov@light-for-the-world.org
LONDON, June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Over 250 events set to take place across the capital from 20-26th June
London Technology Week 2016 will see a record number of events take place across the capital from 20-26thJune. With just two weeks until launch, this year's London Technology Week has already registered more events than in previous years, highlighting London's position as a global tech hub and the growth of London Technology Week as an international festival for business.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130723/629764-a )
More than 250 events are currently listed for Europe's largest festival of technology, surpassing the previous record of 228 events hosted in 2015. This year's events will take place in locations across the capital at some of London's leading venues including: the Gherkin, IMAX Theatre, The Olympic Park and the London Stock Exchange, to name a few.
Tens of thousands of visitors from across the world are expected to attend this year's festival with the opportunity to attend a wide range of events - from keynote speeches to innovation showcases and networking events. Attendees at London Technology Week 2016 will be able to see some of the latest cutting edge technologies on display including drones, wearables and virtual reality.
Some events to look out for during the week include:
John Lewis (JLABS): Up on the Roof - Innovation, Talent and Drink : Innovation is at the heart of John Lewis and has been for over 150 years. Come and join them for a drink on the roof of our flagship store in Oxford Street where you will get to meet experts from across our business in areas such as IT, Online and Innovation. You will also get the chance to meet JLAB finalists and explore their game-changing ideas about the future of retail.
Innovation is at the heart of and has been for over 150 years. Come and join them for a drink on the roof of our flagship store in Oxford Street where you will get to meet experts from across our business in areas such as IT, Online and Innovation. You will also get the chance to meet JLAB finalists and explore their game-changing ideas about the future of retail. Olswang: Is VR Really the Future of Content?: The excitement around Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality is hard to miss in 2016. Olswang, in conjunction with GP Bullhound are hosting a panel-led debate looking at the challenges and opportunities in developing content for this new platform. Will we recognise the world of content today through the virtual lens of tomorrow?
Re Work: Future of Food Summit: How will emerging AgTech and FoodTech impact the future of food? In this full day summit, founders, growers, innovators and food industry executives will come together to discuss, explore and collaborate to discover how advancing technology such as robotics, AI and machine vision will impact the food supply chain.
WIRED Money: WIRED Money brings together the innovators and thought leaders driving the future of money, banking and finance. The international line-up of speakers covered a fascinating range of topics including the evolving role of digital currencies, issues of security and trust, crowdfunding, friction-free transactions, cybersecurity and the democratisation of investment and lending.
Ford: Changing the way the world moves : At this headline event, Ford will bring together many of the key players who are already working on future mobility solutions. A lively panel discussion will be followed by a networking session, during which we will showcase our latest Ford Smart Mobility initiatives, and highlight our transition into an auto and a mobility company
At this headline event, Ford will bring together many of the key players who are already working on future mobility solutions. A lively panel discussion will be followed by a networking session, during which we will showcase our latest Ford Smart Mobility initiatives, and highlight our transition into an auto and a mobility company 2016 Most Influential Women in UK Tech: One of the most important events on the UK technology calendar each year, in 2016 the 'Computer Weekly Most Influential Women in UK Tech' will take place within London Technology Week. Among the announcement and recognition of the 50 most influential female technology leaders in the country, the event also features 10 speakers and a Q&A panel, each of whom share their experiences on how women are making a difference to the future of the UK's high-tech economy.
MasterCard & London & Partners: Beyond finance: How London FinTech innovations are transforming our lives: Join senior representatives from financial services and tech, high growth startups, investors, accelerators and other influencers at the Gherkin to explore how FinTech innovations are transforming our lives and the world economy. Meet and network with FinTech startup founders, CEOs and investors in our FinTech village and explore how FinTech is driving financial inclusion.
Stack Overflow: Tech Talent: Developing Our Future: Developers are unsung heroes: the creators of code which powers the technologies enabling innovation and growth, in London and around the world.Joel Spolsky, the founder of Stack Overflow will open the event with a keynote speech that celebrates developers and the impact they make on every aspect of our lives. This year, we've found an even bigger venue - the IMAX theatre at Waterloo. Dr Sue Black OBE, named one of the top 50 women in tech in Europe in 2015 and inspirational founder of TechMums will also join Spolsky on stage. Additional speakers to be announced.
and around the world.Joel Spolsky, the founder of Stack Overflow will open the event with a keynote speech that celebrates developers and the impact they make on every aspect of our lives. This year, we've found an even bigger venue - the IMAX theatre at Waterloo. Dr Sue Black OBE, named one of the top 50 women in tech in in 2015 and inspirational founder of TechMums will also join Spolsky on stage. Additional speakers to be announced. Your Life: Fast track your future: At Your Life's event at the Velodrome on the 21st June some of the country's leading tech pioneers will be wowing an audience of 500 pupils from schools across the South East with the potential of tech jobs. The teens will gain a first-hand glimpse of next generation technology with the aim of inspiring the British Steve Jobs or Sheryl Sandberg .
. Tech London Advocates Creative Tech - How to be successful with the Big Players: Everyone knows that startups and established companies can benefit by collaborating. But the imbalance in size and approach can cause problems. For this special LTW event TLA, The Digital Catapult and The Creative Industries Federation join forces to bring you practical advice, debate and case studies on how best to avoid the pitfalls and reap the rewards of collaboration.
This year's range of events will shine a spotlight on London's booming technology sector, focussing on five key streams: Business, Innovation, Talent & Diversity, Growth and After Hours (networking).
The week will kick off with a launch event on Monday 20th June. Convening leading figures from thetechnologyand wider business community. Hosted by London & Partners, the Mayor of London's promotional company, the event will focus on London as hub for the convergence of technology with traditional industries.
Gordon Innes, CEO of London & Partners said: "The record level of events at this year's London Technology Week offers further proof of the attractiveness and diversity of London's tech sector. With an array of world class venues across the city, a high concentration of global decision makers and numerous networking and cultural activities, London is the leading destination for international business events and festivals. This year's London Technology Week promises to be bigger and better than ever and offers a unique platform to showcase the very best of London's booming digital economy and thriving culture of entrepreneurship and innovation."
Kevin Pearce, London Technology Week Event Director, UBM EMEA added: "We are excited by both the record breaking number of events taking place as part of London Technology Week 2016 and by the variety of hosts, venues and topics being planned across the week. No other festival of live events offers such a diverse range of networking, learning and business opportunities. Since its launch in 2014, London Technology Week has hosted delegations from every corner of the tech community. Based on the amazing line-up of events already confirmed for 2016, we are looking forward to welcoming participating visitors, business leaders, international tech specialists and enthusiasts from the entire tech eco-system to come and join us from 20-26th June."
London Technology Week is organised by UBM EMEA, in association with founding partners London & Partners, ExCeL London and Tech London Advocates, with support from strategic partners Tech City UK, UKTI and techUK.
London hosted its first London Technology Week in 2014 and last year's festival attracted over 43,000 attendees from around the world. London's diverse tech sector was represented in over 200 independently run events which took place in venues such as The Shard, The Ritz, Canada House and ExCeL London.
Notes to Editors
About London Technology Week
London Technology Week is a festival of events, taking place across the city and representing the entire technology ecosystem.
No other festival of live events brings together as many domestic and international tech specialists and enthusiasts to London for such a variety of networking, social, learning and business opportunities.
Since its launch in 2014 London Technology Week has included more than 400 eventsand has welcomed delegations from around the world.
For more information about London Technology Week, visit:
http://londontechnologyweek.co.uk/
For more information on how to host an event at London Technology Week 2016, visit:http://londontechnologyweek.co.uk/how-to-host-an-event/
About UBM EMEA
UBM EMEA (http://ubmemea.com/) connects people and creates opportunities for companies across five continents to develop new business, meet customers, launch new products, promote brands and expand markets. Operating in more than 23 countries, UBM EMEA organises many of the world's largest, most important live events, awards and community sites in a wide variety of industries. Its technology events include Technology for Marketing, eCommerce Expo, Black Hat Europe and London Technology Week.
About London & Partners
London & Partners is the official promotional company for London. We promote London and attract businesses, events, congresses, students and visitors to the capital. Our aims are to build London's international reputation and to attract investment and visitor spend, which create jobs and growth.
London & Partners is a not-for-profit public private partnership, funded by the Mayor of London and our network of commercial partners.
For more information visithttp://www.londonandpartners.com
About Tech London Advocates
Tech London Advocatesis a private sector led coalition of over 500 expert individuals from the tech sector and broader community who have committed to championing London's potential as a world-class hub for tech and digital businesses. Founded by Russ Shaw in 2013, it strives to support London's tech start-ups and high-growth businesses in finding new investment, new talent and continued success.
For more information about Tech London Advocates, visithttp://techlondonadvocates.org.uk/
NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Vodafone will be connecting the world's first and only exoskeleton that is FDA cleared for use with both stroke patients and spinal cord injuries -- the Ekso GT (OTCQB: EKSO) from Ekso Bionics. Vodafone's network and global Internet of Things (IoT) SIM will ensure reliable communications for diagnostics and improved access to patient data, helping to improve the user experience with the suit.
Robotic exoskeletons are ready to wear, battery-powered robots that are strapped over the users' clothing, enabling individuals to achieve mobility, strength, or endurance not otherwise possible.
The Ekso GT can provide adaptive amounts of power to either side of the patient's body, helping to improve results for patients. The suit allows physical therapists to mobilize patients earlier, more frequently and with a greater number of high intensity steps, all which will aid recovery.
Vodafone Group's Head of IoT for the Americas Andrew Morawski said, "The Internet of Things is enabling all types of medical devices to be connected anywhere in the world, which is directly affecting the care that patients are receiving. The focus that Ekso Bionics has on helping stroke and spinal cord injury patients to increase mobility is making a significant impact on the quality of life for its users."
"We are in business to help people achieve the remarkable, and we can do this most effectively with best in class partners. We chose Vodafone to provide a single global solution that ensures seamless connectivity, no matter where a rehabilitation hospital is located," said Thomas Looby, Ekso Bionics' chief executive officer. "With Vodafone IoT technology, we can monitor how our exoskeletons are performing in real time, providing therapists with data on how the patients' rehabilitation is progressing."
Ekso Bionics has been able to simplify its manufacturing process by using the same Vodafone SIM for all suits globally as well as having a single worldwide partner delivering a managed service. Ekso Bionics' Ekso GT is currently available in the United States, Mexico, Canada, South Africa, and in most European countries. The Ekso GT is offered in more than 150 leading rehabilitation institutions around the world and has helped enable its users to take more than 50 million steps not otherwise possible.
About Ekso Bionics
Ekso Bionics is a leading developer of exoskeleton solutions that amplify human potential by supporting or enhancing strength, endurance and mobility across medical, industrial and defense applications. Founded in 2005, the company continues to build upon its unparalleled expertise to design some of the most cutting-edge, innovative wearable robots available on the market. They are the only exoskeleton company to offer technologies that range from helping those with paralysis to stand up and walk, to enhancing human capabilities on job sites across the globe, to providing research for the advancement of R&D projects intended to benefit U.S. defense capabilities. The company is headquartered in the Bay Area and is listed on the OTCQB under the symbol (OTCQB: EKSO). For more information, visit: www.eksobionics.com.
About Vodafone Group
Vodafone is one of the world's largest telecommunications companies and provides a range of services including voice, messaging, data and fixed communications. Vodafone has mobile operations in 26 countries, partners with mobile networks in 57 more, and fixed broadband operations in 17 markets. As of 31 March 2016, Vodafone had 462 million mobile customers and 13.4 million fixed broadband customers. For more information, please visit: www.vodafone.com.
GUELPH, ON -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Eco-Shift Power Corp. (OTC PINK: ECOP), a global producer of advanced LED lighting products, today announced it has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with the Greenenz Group of New Zealand and Enertricity of Sweden).
Eco-Shift Power Corp. is a contract manufacturer of advanced, high-efficiency lighting products and components designed for state-of-the-art energy management systems and cloud-based software platforms.
Greenenz Group and Enertricity partner is providing sustainable solutions for the waste, solar, water, lighting and distributed energy sectors acting as an Energy Service Company (ESCO) having a global network covering 30 countries.
"In essence, we act as project developers integrating design, financing, installation and operational elements," commented Anders Calius, the CEO of Enertricity.
Working with the Swedish Government Export Agency (EKN) Greenenz and Enertricity are looking forward to growing Eco-Shift Power's global footprint having secured the exclusive agency rights to Africa, Middle East, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, Scandinavia and the Pacific Islands.
Commenting on the Agreement Alistair Haughton, CEO of Eco-Shift Power said, "We are very pleased with this partnership... ECOP has been developing their distribution network with an eye on the larger strategic Facility Management and ESCO's... the Greenenz-Enertricity partnership will facilitate this through their global network."
Company Contact:
sales@eco-shiftpower.com
contact@eco-shiftpower.com
+1(844) 779-7900 (toll free)
Eco-Shift Power Corp.
53 Speedvale Avenue West
Guelph, ON N1H 1J6
Canada
SAN FRANCISCO, June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
The globalRadiology Information System (RIS) marketis expected to reach USD 980.2 million by 2024 according to a new report by Grand View Research Inc. The significant number of technological advancements coupled with the growing demand for Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) is the major contributing factor for the growth of this market.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150105/723757 )
The Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is one of the most crucial information systems for patient management across the healthcare system. With the advent of the integrated RIS, the EMR has been taken to the next level, now including radiology images in addition to text-based patient records. The RIS, a network software suite utilized for distributing, storing, and manipulating patient radiological imagery and data, enables the radiologists to manage the administrative and operational functions of radiology.
It also ensures high business security and patient confidentiality. RIS is considered to be the core system for the electronic management of the imaging departments and is gaining popularity in developing economies such as China and India, where the population base of patients is enormous; thereby making it imperative to deploy RIS in their healthcare facilities.
Browse full research report with TOC on "Radiology Information System (RIS) Market Analysis By Product (Integrated, Standalone), By Deployment Mode (Cloud-based, Web-based, On-premise), By End-use (Hospitals, Outpatient Department (OPD) Clinics, Others), And Segment Forecasts to 2024" at: http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/radiology-information-system-ris-market
Further key findings from the report suggest:
The integrated RIS was identified as the most lucrative sub-segment of the market in 2015. Picture Archiving and Communication systems (PACS) and RIS have been rendered sophisticated with the adoption of more effective and consistent user interfaces.
The integrated RIS has provided a platform for improved workflow and patient safety while decreasing the cost. The cost and risk involved in maintaining duplicate databases and a duplicate set of reports in this are negligible. Therefore, various facilities are opting for the integrated RIS to increase the workflow efficiency.
In 2015, hospitals held the largest market in terms of revenue. This is attributed to the increasing patient inflow at hospitals and the requirement to conform to stringent standards in order to ensure patient safety with minimal error. It enables clinicians to manage and share patient diagnostic data, administrative and appointment functions, and radiology reports.
In 2013, Accenture completed the deployment of a cloud-based RIS for 23 facilities and five hospitals in Southwest England within the National Health Service (NHS). This is expected to increase the efficiency of the facilities as it would allow clinicians to access information, securely store health-related patient data, and exchange diagnostic information.
within the National Health Service (NHS). This is expected to increase the efficiency of the facilities as it would allow clinicians to access information, securely store health-related patient data, and exchange diagnostic information. Cloud-based is expected to witness a lucrative growth rate over the forecast period. This is due to the increasing demand for cloud computing in medical imaging as it allows clinicians to share patient data across the region in crucial cases, such as major trauma or stroke.
North America was the highest revenue-generating region of the market, owing to the incorporation of Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) and better healthcare facilities in the region. Every year, the North American Radiology Society conducts a workshop on clinical trials in radiology and imaging through small sessions and discussions. This workshop provides an experience in radiology clinical trials, learning the methodological aspects of the field, and designing and conducting an analysis of imaging clinical trials.
was the highest revenue-generating region of the market, owing to the incorporation of Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) and better healthcare facilities in the region. Every year, the North American Radiology Society conducts a workshop on clinical trials in radiology and imaging through small sessions and discussions. This workshop provides an experience in radiology clinical trials, learning the methodological aspects of the field, and designing and conducting an analysis of imaging clinical trials. Asia Pacific is expected to spearhead the future market growth. The Asian healthcare IT solutions market is growing at a rapid rate to overcome critical issues of the adverse drug effects and dosage-related issues. This is actively accelerating the demand for Radiology Information System (RIS), Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), Picture Information System (PIS), and Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS).
is expected to spearhead the future market growth. The Asian healthcare IT solutions market is growing at a rapid rate to overcome critical issues of the adverse drug effects and dosage-related issues. This is actively accelerating the demand for Radiology Information System (RIS), Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), Picture Information System (PIS), and Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS). In 2013, Singapore Health Ministry's IT arm, Integrated Health information systems (IHis) and SingHealth and Eastern Health Alliance (EH Alliance) groups purchased Carestream's Vue PACS and VUE RIS to achieve accurate radiology results and effectively manage patient's imaging data
The key players of the Radiology Information System (RIS) market include MedInformatix Inc., McKesson Corporation, Cerner Corporation, GE Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, and Siemens AG
In 2015, the ASA biometric section funded an annual workshop in Scottsdale, Arizona . The workshop presented an opportunity to learn about the imaging clinical trials and to gain experience by collaborating with the imaging specialists and radiologists, which is helpful in the radiology information system.
Grand View Research has segmented the global Radiology Information System (RIS) market on the basis of product, deployment mode, end-use and region:
Radiology Information System (RIS) Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022) Integrated RIS Standalone RIS
Radiology Information System (RIS) Deployment Mode Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022) Web-based Cloud-based On-Premise
Radiology Information System (RIS) End-use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022) Hospitals Outpatient Department (OPD) Clinics Others
Radiology Information System (RIS) Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022) North America U.S Canada Europe UK Germany France Rest of Europe Asia Pacific India Japan China Rest of Asia Pacific Latin America Brazil Mexico Rest of Latin America MEA South Africa Rest of MEA
Browse related reports by Grand View Research:
Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Devices Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/gastrointestinal-endoscopic-devices-market
Fetal Monitoring Analysis Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/fetal-monitoring-analysis-market
Aesthetic Lasers and Energy Devices Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/aesthetic-lasers-and-energy-devices-market
X-Ray Detectors Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/x-ray-detectors-market
About Grand View Research
Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. Thecompany provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.
Read Our Blogs - mediafound.org , grandviewresearch.com/blogs/healthcare
Contact:
Sherry James
Corporate Sales Specialist, USA
Grand View Research, Inc
Phone: 1-415-349-0058
Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519
Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com
Web: http://www.grandviewresearch.com
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner said on Monday that some Chicago Public Schools resembled crumbling prisons. And people in Chicago were not amused.
The school district called on Rauner to apologize. Mayor Rahm Emanuel accused Rauner of auditioning to be the running mate of presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump.
And CPS parents, teachers, principals, and others took to social media to blast the governor over his language. With the hashtag #NotAPrison, they rebutted the governors claims.
.@GovRauner At my CPS school children receive small group instruction and are loved #notaprison @AnthonyCody pic.twitter.com/MsWdSOpc5W -- Michelle Gunderson (@MSGunderson) June 6, 2016
@GovRauner lm not sure if every inmate in Illinois get a hug before they go on summer break! #NotaPrison #apologize //t.co/fdepzheZ0O -- Ibrahim Mouzaoui (@Mr_Mouzaoui) June 6, 2016
My sons CPS scl values inquiry and problem solving. Students are critical thinkers. It is #notaprison @GovRauner . pic.twitter.com/p4Bq9DAjbV -- Wendy Katten (@wjk1971) June 6, 2016
. @GovRauner my nhood @ChiPubSchools are the bedrock of my community.They are my all-in and deserve to be funded @GROWCommunity1 #NotAPrison -- Alderman Ameya Pawar (@Alderman_Pawar) June 6, 2016
Just passing time until we can vote the guy out of office. #notaprison pic.twitter.com/nDHh7Zm3D4 -- James Gray (@PrincipalGray) June 6, 2016
The governors remarks about Chicago Public Schools came amid heated back-and-forth between Rauner and Emanuel about who is at fault for the lack of a state budget and a state education spending plan. It also came on the same day that superintendents from 15 low-income districts, including Chicago and Peoria, blasted the governor for playing politics with school funding and asked Rauner to step up and work toward a more equitable school funding formula.
For context, here is the governors quote, as published in The Chicago Sun-Times on Monday:
The simple fact is that when you look objectively at the state of Chicago Public Schools, many of them are inadequate. Many of them are woeful, and some are just tragic. Many of them are basically almost crumbling prisons. Theyre not a place a young person should be educated.
CPS officials shot back that the district had made remarkable gains in recent yearseven as it faced deep financial constraints.
RAS AL KHAIMAH, UAE, June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone (RAK FTZ) has announced its participation in two of the major business conferences in Russia, Intax Expo 2016 and CIS Wealth 2016. With hundreds of business delegates representing various industries, these events serve as great platforms to generate awareness about the investment opportunities available in Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), particularly RAK FTZ, one of the fastest growing free zones in the Middle East region.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160515/367695LOGO )
On 6 to 7 June 2016, RAK FTZ attended the Intax Expo in Lotte Hotel, Moscow and then will head to Ekaterinburg on 9 June 2016 to participate at the CIS Wealth Conference in Hyatt Regency Hotel.
"We are very excited to take part in these major conferences as they present opportunities for us to connect with potential Russian investors and promote the investment opportunities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ras Al Khaimah (RAK)," said Tomas Csobonyei, RAK FTZ's Business Development Director. "Russian investors would be happy to know that RAK FTZ brings the most diversified portfolio of investments for them. RAK FTZ offers 100 per cent company ownership, freedom from taxation and customs duty, and tailor-made business solutions for up to 50 per cent lower than elsewhere in the region. Whether they are planning to establish a manufacturing base or a sales office, we can support them in achieving their business' full potential and at the same time, help them realise a higher return on investment."
Mr Csobonyei will highlight the immense business advantages offered by RAK FTZ's stable investment environment during a presentation that he will conduct at both events. The free zone will also have a stand where Russia investors can meet with the free zone's Business Development professionals and gain insights on how to successfully enter the world's fast-growing economies.
For more information and to set up a meeting with the free zone's Business Development experts in Ekaterinburg, please contact Kathrin Lemke at k.lemke@rakftz.
About Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone:
Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone (RAK FTZ) provides award-winning services and world-class facilities, enabling clients to quickly and efficiently set up and grow profitable companies in the United Arab Emirates. Home to more than 8,600 active companies from over 100 countries and over 50 industry sectors, RAK FTZ offers a completely tax-free status to its clients, allows for 100 per cent foreign ownership and unrestricted repatriation of profits, in addition to a host of other business-friendly incentives.
Lessthan an hour's drive from Dubai, RAK FTZ offers significantgeographical advantages forclientsto easily access markets in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. It caters to the unique requirements of small, medium and large businesses with four free zone parks including business centre facilities, offices, warehouses and land for development, as well as facilities for educational institutions. Since its inception 15 years ago, RAK FTZ has diversified from its traditional focus on industrial manufacturing to also support trading, sales and marketing activities, a wide range of service sectors, as well as logistics and distribution platforms. To learn more about RAK FTZ, please visit http://www.rakftz.com.
Media Contact:
Cleo Eleazar
Senior Manager - Public Relations & Events
Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone Authority (RAK FTZ)
Phone: +971-7-2077173
E-mail: c.eleazar@rakftz.com
Merchant Research Consulting, Ltd. informs that new research reports, covering various chemical markets, have been recently added at its website.
New Chemical Markets Research Reports Include:
Graphite: 2016 World Market Review and Forecast. The rise in global demand for graphite, coupled with tight supply, will remain the dominant trend on the global graphite market in the nearest future. The demand is driven by steady interest demonstrated by graphite-consuming sectors, mainly steel makers and Li-ion battery producers. For instance, Tesla Motors announced plans to construct the biggest lithium-ion battery factory in the world, which is likely to boost the demand for graphite. The supply curtailment is expected as China restricts exports of various minerals and restructures its graphite mining and manufacturing operations in an effort to diminish pollution. For instance, China has recently suspended 55 graphite operations in Shandong province. Such policy will persevere as the country mulls the possibility of shutting down more graphite mines and processing plants.
Polycarbonate (PC): 2016 World Market Outlook and Forecast up to 2020. The global polycarbonate market is unlikely to demonstrate large growth in 2016. The upstream and downstream markets for polycarbonate remain highly volatile, with weak energy prices and ample feedstock inventories, coupled with moderate or ebbing demand in many polycarbonate-consuming sectors, like CD manufacture. The macroeconomic situation in different parts of the world (China, Russia, etc) will hardly be good enough to trigger polycarbonate demand boost. China's economic slowdown will have significant implications for the global polycarbonate market since Asia Pacific already is the largest polycarbonate market worldwide, representing more than half of the global market. Russia, marked by decrease in purchasing power and economic unbalances, faces tough challenges ahead, and despite polycarbonate production rise in Q1 2016 is unlikely to fare large growth rate by the end of the year.
Propylene Glycol (PG): 2016 World Market Outlook and Forecast up to 2020. Traditional feedstock for propylene glycol has been of petrochemical origin, but production of naturally sourced bio-based propylene glycol has become a recent trend of the so-called green chemistry. Companies like BioChem Technology Group, Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) and Oleon NV manufacture propylene glycol from renewable resources. The major benefit of such products is significant reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (by up to 80%) when compared to standard propylene glycol. The abundant availability of crude glycerin and rising concerns over GHG impacts make the bio-based propylene glycol a cost-effective substitute for its petrochemical sibling. However, economic uncertainty, as well as the lack of focus and determination in public policy and decision making stymie the development of multiple green initiatives, like further proliferation of bio-propylene glycol. The above-mentioned companies will definitely need an external impetus, possibly in the form of financial incentives, to boost the production of green chemicals.
Soda Ash: 2016 World Market Outlook and Forecast up to 2020. India has recently become a target of dumping operations involving soda ash imports, which threatened the domestic soda ash market and specifically its local manufacturers. The key soda ash producers on the Indian market include the following companies: Tata Chemicals, GHCL, DCW, Nirma Ltd., and Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals Fertilisers Ltd (TAC). Soda ash at dumping prices has been shipped from China, Kenya, Pakistan and some other countries. Following the investigation, the Indian antidumping authorities had to impose the provisional antidumping duties on imports of soda ash from China to India. This measure has not been welcomed by all manufacturing sectors. For instance, the Indian glass manufacturing industry, which is a key soda ash consuming sector, immediately experienced price spike. That is why the All India Glass Manufactures Federation called for the abolishment of the customs duty on imports of soda ash to India.
Salt: 2016 World Market Review and Forecast. The global salt market will demonstrate a steady growth at around 3-3.5% per year in the nearest future, driven by robust development of the chemical sector and numerous other salt-consuming areas. Asia Pacific, particularly China, will remain the largest salt-consuming region with the highest growth rates in the world. These positive prospects of the Asian salt market are reflected in the strategies of various international companies. For example, K+S, which has huge experience in mining and processing mineral raw materials, has purchased mining licenses for the Ashburton salt project, which will be launched in Australia possibly in 2022 and will have a capacity of manufacturing 3.5 million tonnes of salt per year. The main consumer of this salt will be the Chinese chemical sector.
Many other trustworthy insightful research studies exploring various chemical markets are available at Merchant Research Consulting website
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160607005981/en/
Contacts:
Merchant Research Consulting, Ltd.
Alena Amberly
Tel: +44 (20) 7558-8740
Fax: +44 (20) 7900-3970
info@mcgroup.co.uk
MYRTLE BEACH, SOUTH CAROLINA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Cellebrite, the leader in digital forensic extraction, decoding and analysis solutions, introduced an enhanced version of its UFED InField solution today at Mobile Forensics World. The new platform agnostic software solution delivers simplified, secure forensics data access and control while streamlining investigative workflows as part of a multi-tier forensic architecture. An intuitive user interface and new selective extraction capabilities make accessing specific live device data quick and easy. These new capabilities accelerate investigations by allowing agencies to increase access by extending the reach of extraction capabilities to investigators, unify investigative teams by connecting lab and field personnel around the evidence collection process, and secure digital evidence that they can defend in court.
"Today, mobile forensics is touching every single type of crime we investigate, from petty theft, to high-profile, complex homicide investigations," said Sgt. Frank Pace, Phoenix Police Department Digital Forensics Investigative Unit. "As a profession, we are at a point that we need to integrate digital forensics, related training and policies into our culture and processes. Every officer, investigator and prosecutor is going to need that to be effective in their job."
Field tested and proven, the InField solution allows officers and investigators at every level and in any location to securely access and perform forensically sound logical and physical extractions of mobile device or SIM card data by timeframe, data types or relevant persons with minimal training. Whether accessed via in-car workstations, laptops, tablets or self-service kiosks located at a station, this single-purpose, frontline solution supports the widest variety of device types with intuitive workflows that prevent errors or contamination of evidence. The InField software runs across hardware platforms, including the UFED Infield Kiosk and UFED TK. The new enhanced version now enables:
Real-time Access to Qualified Digital Evidence
Field users can select and extract only the relevant data needed based on time range or specific subject information. The Quick Copy feature encourages digital consent by allowing officers and investigators the ability to copy only specific evidence from witnesses and/or victim's phones, leaving personal data private.
Centralized Management & Control
UFED InField simplifies the end-to-end visibility to and management of software updates, configuration modifications, user permissions and usage statistics by crime types and devices processed to ensure evidence is properly managed and protected.
Evidence Integrity
Built on the proven UFED platform, InField enables the real-time, forensically sound extraction of mobile device data and produces defensible evidence investigative stakeholders can stand behind.
"Designed to work on our form factors or an agency's existing laptops, UFED Infield delivers new and improved digital forensics workflows and the actionable intelligence necessary to quickly and effectively focus investigative efforts, reduce case backlogs and significantly shorten case cycle times," said Ron Serber, Cellebrite Global Co-CEO.
To see firsthand how InField's new capabilities can benefit your field organization, visit us at booth 303 or online at www.cellebrite.com/law_enforcement.
About Cellebrite
Every day around the world, digital data is impacting investigations. Making it intelligent and actionable is what Cellebrite does best. A pioneer of mobile data forensics since 1999 with a passion for technology innovation, Cellebrite is uniquely positioned to address the rapidly evolving needs of its diverse customer base to access, unify and defend digital evidence of all kinds. Together, our powerful UFED solutions deliver the only complete, end-to-end Digital Forensics Platform on the market. Our track record remains unchallenged. Our results? Proven and well documented. With more than 40,000 UFED licenses deployed globally in 100 countries, we allow law enforcement, intelligence services, border patrols, special forces, military and the private sector to achieve their missions quickly and effectively.
Cellebrite is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Sun Corporation, a listed Japanese company (6736/JQ).
Contacts:
Jeremy Nazarian
CMO
+1(973) 941-7200
jeremy.nazarian@cellebrite.com
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. (ZBH), a musculoskeletal healthcare company, Tuesday said its Board has approved a definitive agreement to commence a tender offer to acquire LDR Holding Corp. (LDRH), a medical device company focused on spine disorders, for $37.00 per share in cash. This implies a transaction value of approximately $1.0 billion.
The transaction is structured as an all-cash tender offer for all outstanding shares of LDR common stock, followed by a merger.
The deal is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016.
The transaction is expected to be neutral to adjusted earnings per share in 2017 and accretive thereafter.
Zimmer Biomet said the addition of LDR will bolster its presence in the global Spine market and provide the Company with an immediate and a leading position in the fast growing cervical disc replacement or CDR and MIS segments.
Zimmer Biomet also expects the transaction to accelerate the future growth of its overall business.
With respect to 2016, the Company reiterated its previously provided revenue guidance, an increase of 2.0% to 3.0% as compared to adjusted pro forma full year 2015 on a constant currency basis.
The Company said it will update its revenue guidance to reflect this transaction at or about the time of closing. Zimmer Biomet is also reiterating its 2016 adjusted earnings per share guidance of $7.85 - $8.00.
Upon consummation of the transaction, LDR will be combined with Zimmer Biomet's Spine & CMF category and will be led by Adam Johnson, Zimmer Biomet Group President, Spine, CMF and Thoracic, and Dental.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
MARIETTA, GA--(Marketwired - June 07, 2016) - Value Lighting, a division of Revolution Lighting Technologies, announced today that it has been awarded a $500,000 lighting contract from Price Development Group for lighting solutions for its PDG Germantown high-end cosmopolitan residential complex, located in Nashville, Tennessee. The partnership has the opportunity to extend further with upcoming Price Development Group projects, totaling an additional $1.5M in lighting contracts for projects located in Atlanta, Denver, and Nashville over the next 18 months.
PDG Germantown is scheduled to open in February 2017 and will consist of 244 studio, one-, and two-bedroom floorplans, along with a five-story parking garage. Price Development Group partnered with Value Lighting, who offers unique industry solutions that deliver high quality lighting solutions and value driven opportunity. The lighting installed throughout the complex, consisting of 35% high efficiency LED solutions, addresses apartments, common areas, and support spaces. In addition, exterior locations including garage parking, pathway, and security lighting were addressed.
"We are excited to partner with The Price Development Group on its latest multi-family development in Nashville, allowing them to achieve their business goals, offering high quality and sustainably focused residences to its customers," said Chris Shaw, Vice President of Operations, Value Lighting. "Selection by a successful multi-family developer such as The Price Development Group is a testament to Value Lighting's unique capabilities and industry knowledge to service our national footprint, offering the best lighting solutions, combining efficiency, high quality aesthetics and the best cost available."
Lighting accounts for 12% of residential energy use, and incorporation of high efficiency LED lighting solutions, which is up to 85% more efficient, allows developers and property managers to reduce long-term operating expenses, while appealing to renters and buyers focused on sustainable, high efficiency homes. In addition to The Price Development Group, Value Lighting's national footprint and unique solutions oriented business model has allowed them to successfully partner with other successful customers throughout the U.S. In 2015, Value Lighting was awarded more than 300 multi-family project lighting contracts. This national success has already extended into 2016, partnering with developers including Mill Creek Residential Trust and Billingsley Construction, supplying lighting solutions for its respective multi-family developments.
About Value Lighting
Value Lighting Inc., a division of Revolution Lighting Technologies, is a nationally based company, headquartered in Marietta, GA, and offices located in Texas, Washington DC and Phoenix, AZ. Its team consists of lighting professionals who have been supplying the Multi-Family Residential industry across the U.S. with quality lighting solutions for thirty years. From bid to final shipment, Value Lighting monitors each project to ensure competency and accuracy throughout all phases of development. Value Lighting's project teams act as a trusted partner to assist its customers with budgeting, product selection and purchasing. For additional information, please visit www.valuelightinginc.com.
Media Contact:
Matthew Bretzius
FischTank Marketing and PR
matt@fischtankpr.com
BOSTON, MA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- InspireMD, Inc. (NYSE MKT: NSPR) ("InspireMD" or the "Company"), a leader in embolic prevention systems (EPS), neurovascular devices and thrombus management technologies, today announced the appointment of James Barry, Ph.D. as President and CEO effective immediately. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Barry served as InspireMD's Chief Operating Officer since July 2014 and has been a member of the Company's Board of Directors since January 2012. He replaces Alan Milinazzo, who previously announced his decision to step down as Director, President and CEO in January 2016. Mr. Milinazzo will continue to serve as an advisor to the Company.
Dr. Barry brings more than two decades of experience in the medical device industry. For more than 18 years, he held senior roles at Boston Scientific Corporation. Dr. Barry initiated and oversaw the development of Boston Scientific's Taxus stent which quickly became the number one selling drug eluting stent worldwide. He also oversaw the development of the technology that is employed in the Synergy Everolimus-Eluting Stent System.
Sol J. Barer, Ph.D., Chairman of InspireMD, commented, "We are extremely pleased to name Dr. Barry as President and CEO. Jim brings an invaluable set of capabilities, relationships, and experience in line with our efforts to pioneer and commercialize new device technologies that leverage our proprietary MicroNet platform. Jim is well-versed in the Company, as a Board Member and in his previous role as the Company's Chief Operating Officer, where he led initiatives to realign the organization around corporate strategic objectives, such as the transition into the carotid and neuro interventional markets, and also to design, develop, obtain regulatory clearances, and begin commercial activities for CGuard EPS."
Dr. Barry commented, "I am excited to take on the challenge of driving broad clinical and commercial acceptance of our CGuard technology. We have a growing body of clinical evidence that supports the therapeutic benefits of CGuard, which has been well received so far by the clinical community. We are now well focused on bringing that innovative success to gaining commercial traction. I look forward to ongoing, targeted initiatives with our distributor partners, including Penumbra, to develop broad based markets where our products are of routine clinical use. Finally, I am delighted to continue to serve with and further build around the focused, dedicated and talented team of InspireMD."
In addition to serving as a Board Member of InspireMD, Dr. Barry serves on a number of Advisory Boards including the College of Biomedical Engineering at Yale University, the College of Sciences at University of Massachusetts-Lowell, and the Massachusetts Life Science Center. Dr. Barry holds a Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry from St. Anselm College and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.
About CGuard EPS
The proprietary CGuard Embolic Prevention System (EPS) uses the same MicroNet technology featured on the MGuard and MGuard Prime coronary Embolic Protection Systems. The CGuard EPS is designed to prevent peri-procedural and late embolization by trapping potential emboli against the arterial wall while maintaining excellent perfusion to the external carotid artery and branch vessels.
MicroNet is a bio-stable mesh woven from a single strand of 20 micron Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET).
CGuard EPS is CE Marked and not approved for sale in the U.S. by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration at this time.
About InspireMD, Inc.
InspireMD seeks to utilize its proprietary MicroNet technology to make its products the industry standard for embolic protection and to provide a superior solution to the key clinical issues of current stenting in patients with a high risk of distal embolization, no reflow and major adverse cardiac events.
InspireMD intends to pursue applications of this MicroNet technology in coronary, carotid (CGuard), neurovascular, and peripheral artery procedures. InspireMD's common stock is quoted on the NYSE MKT under the ticker symbol NSPR.
Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements." Such statements may be preceded by the words "intends," "may," "will," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "projects," "predicts," "estimates," "aims," "believes," "hopes," "potential" or similar words. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, are based on certain assumptions and are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control, and cannot be predicted or quantified and consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks and uncertainties associated with (i) market acceptance of our existing and new products, (ii) negative clinical trial results or lengthy product delays in key markets, (iii) an inability to secure regulatory approvals for the sale of our products, (iv) intense competition in the medical device industry from much larger, multinational companies, (v) product liability claims, (vi) product malfunctions, (vii) our limited manufacturing capabilities and reliance on subcontractors for assistance, (viii) insufficient or inadequate reimbursement by governmental and other third party payers for our products, (ix) our efforts to successfully obtain and maintain intellectual property protection covering our products, which may not be successful, (x) legislative or regulatory reform of the healthcare system in both the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions, (xi) our reliance on single suppliers for certain product components, (xii) the fact that we will need to raise additional capital to meet our business requirements in the future and that such capital raising may be costly, dilutive or difficult to obtain and (xiii) the fact that we conduct business in multiple foreign jurisdictions, exposing us to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, logistical and communications challenges, burdens and costs of compliance with foreign laws and political and economic instability in each jurisdiction. More detailed information about the Company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward looking statements is set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Investors and security holders are urged to read these documents free of charge on the SEC's web site at http://www.sec.gov. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Investor Contacts:
InspireMD, Inc.
Craig Shore
Chief Financial Officer
Phone: 1-888-776-6804 FREE
Email: craigs@inspiremd.com
PCG Advisory
Vivian Cervantes
Investor Relations
Phone: (212) 554-5482
SAN JOSE, CA and TEL AVIV, ISRAEL -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Weka.IO LTD, today announced the closing of Series B funding, with participation from Qualcomm Incorporated, through its venture investment group, Qualcomm Ventures, Gemini Israel Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, WRV II, L.P. and several individual investors. This new investment round brings the total capital raised to over $32M to date.
The new funding will be used to accelerate Weka.IO's go-to-market strategy, with immediate plans to expand sales and marketing in the USA. The company will also apply the funds to continue building an exceptional engineering team in Tel Aviv, Israel and San Jose, USA.
"Weka.IO's differentiated solution will radically change the economics of high performance storage. This highly disruptive technology is the work of a world class team with a successful track record of building highly differentiated storage systems," said Lip-Bu Tan, Chairman of Walden International. "With a product portfolio that will address tens of billions of dollars in market opportunity, Weka.IO represents a strong investment for us."
"We invest in companies that are building highly disruptive technologies," said Quinn Li, vice president and head of Qualcomm Ventures. "The Weka.IO team has strong expertise in storage systems and we look forward to supporting them in their mission to re-define how storage is deployed."
"The infusion of capital enables Weka.IO to further innovate with differentiated products and bring to market the next generation releases of software to expand the use cases and addressable market," said Michael Raam, President and CEO of Weka.IO. "The funds will also be utilized to grow our customer support and business teams in multiple geographical locations."
The patent-pending Weka.IO technology scales storage to hundreds of Petabytes, tens of millions of IOPs, with sub milliseconds latency at cloud economics. The revolutionary technology is enabling Weka.IO customers to achieve higher levels of efficiencies at a TCO that has not been possible with legacy storage technologies.
About Weka.IO
Weka.IO software defined storage (SDS) technology is transforming enterprise and cloud storage by radically simplifying the way storage is deployed in the datacenter. Weka.IO was founded in 2013 and funded by leading venture and strategic investors. For more information, visit www.weka.io or follow @wekaIO on Twitter
WekaIO, wekaio.com and Weka.IO logo are trademarks of WekaIO, LTD.
Weka.IO Press Contact:
Barbara Murphy
barbara@weka.io
IRVING, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- (OTCQB: DYNR) -- DynaResource, Inc. ("DynaUSA", and "the Company") is pleased to announce that Mineras de DynaResource S.A. de C.V. ("DynaMineras"), the 100% owned subsidiary of DynaUSA and the exclusive operator of the San Jose de Gracia Property in northern Sinaloa, Mexico ("SJG"), is reporting the delivery for sale, on June 6, 2016, of an approximate 625 Oz gold contained in concentrates (exact weights in gold and silver oz. to be determined at final settlement).
DynaMineras further reports May 2016 production, over a period of 20 mill operating days, of an approximate total of 1,250 Oz gold contained in concentrates (exact weights in gold and silver oz. to be determined at final settlement). DynaMineras reports the below summary of the 20-day pilot mill operations during May, with assays reported according to internal lab reports:
1) 3,371 Tons: Feed material processed;
2) 15.48 g/t Au: Average grade of mill feed;
3) 1,250 Oz Gold: Gold concentrates produced (exact weights in gold and silver Oz to be determined at final settlement of sale);
DynaMineras further reports contract mining at San Pablo mine, and test mill runs of the pilot mill facility at SJG are continuing, with an average volume output from the pilot mill facility in May of approximately 168.5 tonnes per 24 hours of operation.
DynaMineras - Mine Plan and Mill Operations (Pilot Operations)
DynaMineras is conducting operations at SJG according to internally developed mine plans for San Pablo Mine (compiled by Company VP- Director of Exploration and Resource Development, Pedro I. Teran Cruz, using Surpac software), and through the internally designed SJG Pilot Mill facility (consisting of a basic gravity-flotation circuit) which was previously operated by DynaUSA during the 2003-2006 period. There is no preliminary economic assessment report completed for SJG so the precise cutoff grade for underground mining has not yet been determined. The operations are being funded internally by DynaMineras and DynaUSA, and from revenues generated from the test mining and pilot mill operations. The mine plan was developed from the block model of resources as defined in the DynaMexico NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate which was included in the DynaMexico NI 43-101 Technical Report and filed by the Company with SEDAR; and from the analysis of underground mining works conducted in 2003-2006.
SJG Ownership
DynaResource de Mexico SA de CV ("DynaMexico") owns 100% of the SJG Project. DynaUSA currently holds 80% of the total outstanding Capital of DynaMexico, and, DynaUSA currently holds 100% of DynaMineras.
General Manager appointed at San Jose de Gracia Project
On February 4, 2016 DynaUSA announced the appointment of Mr. Rene L.F. Mladosich as General Manager of the San Jose de Gracia Project, effective February 1, 2016. (See DynaResource, Inc. news release dated February 4, 2016).
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
K.D. DIEPHOLZ;
DynaResource, Inc.; Chairman and CEO
IMPORTANT CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING CANADIAN DISCLOSURE STANDARDS
The Company is an "OTC Reporting Issuer" as that term is defined in Multilateral Instrument 51-509, Issuers Quoted in the U.S. Over-the-Counter Markets, promulgated by various Canadian Provincial Securities Commissions.
Accordingly, certain disclosure in this news release or other disclosure provided by the Company has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of United States securities laws. In Canada, an issuer is required to provide technical information with respect to mineralization, including reserves and resources, if any, on its mineral exploration properties in accordance with Canadian requirements, which differ significantly from the requirements of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") applicable to registration statements and reports filed by United States companies pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. As such, information contained in this news release or other disclosure provided by the Company concerning descriptions of mineralization under Canadian standards may not be comparable to similar information made public by United States companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements of the SEC and not subject to Canadian securities legislation. This news release or other disclosure provided by the Company may use the terms "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources" and "inferred mineral resources". While these terms are recognized and required by Canadian regulations (under National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects), the SEC does not recognize them. United States investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of the mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted to reserves. In addition, "inferred mineral resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian securities legislation, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies, although they may form, in certain circumstances, the basis of a "preliminary economic assessment" as that term is defined in National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that part or all of an inferred mineral resource exists, or is economically or legally mineable.
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
This News release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Certain information contained in this news release, including any information relating to future financial or operating performance may be deemed "forward-looking". All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that DynaResource expects to occur, are "forward-looking information". These statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect the Company's expectations regarding the future growth, results of operations, business prospects and opportunities of DynaResource. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current internal projections, expectations or beliefs and are based on information currently available to DynaResource. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "projects", "potential", "scheduled", "forecast", "budget" or the negative of those terms or other comparable terminology. Certain assumptions have been made regarding the Company's plans at the San Jose de Gracia property. Many of these assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of DynaResource and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct. Such factors include, without limitation: capital requirements, fluctuations in the international currency markets and in the rates of exchange of the currencies of the United States and Mexico; price volatility in the spot and forward markets for commodities; discrepancies between actual and estimated production, between actual and estimated reserves and resources and between actual and estimated metallurgical recoveries; changes in national and local governments in any country which DynaResource currently or may in the future carry on business; taxation; controls; regulations and political or economic developments in the countries in which DynaResource does or may carry on business; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses and permits, diminishing quantities or grades of reserves; competition; loss of key employees; additional funding requirements; actual results of current exploration or reclamation activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; accidents; labor disputes; defective title to mineral claims or property or contests over claims to mineral properties. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining, including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding and gold bullion losses (and the risk of inadequate insurance or inability to obtain insurance, to cover these risks) as well as those risks referenced in the Annual Report for DynaResource available at www.sec.gov. Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and actual results and future events could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking information. All of the forward-looking information contained in this news release is qualified by these cautionary statements. Although DynaResource believes that the forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on reasonable assumptions, readers cannot be assured that actual results will be consistent with such statements. Accordingly, readers are cautioned against placing undue reliance on forward-looking information. DynaResource expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise.
For further information on DynaUSA, DynaMineras, and DynaMexico, please visit www.dynaresource.com or contact:
Brad J. Saulter
DynaUSA
V.P. - Investor Relations
US Telephone: 972-868-9066
K.D. Diepholz
DynaUSA
Chairman / CEO
DynaResource de Mexico
Presidente
Mineras de DynaResource
Presidente
MILPITAS, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- ABBYY, a leading provider of technologies and solutions to action information, has partnered with Japan's Amedia to create the Amedia Live Reader application -- a mobile optical character reader for the visually impaired.
With the integration of the ABBYY Mobile OCR Engine, the Amedia Live Reader uses the camera of an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to scan an image with text before the app reads aloud the text to the user in real-time.
Released initially in Japan, the Amedia Live Reader is now more generally available. Early customers of Amedia Live Reader have used the mobile app in a variety of work/life scenarios, such as reading menus in restaurants and train/bus schedules when traveling, as well as printed materials handed out at business meetings/conferences.
"Amedia chose to partner with ABBYY for the creation of this product because we're particularly impressed with ABBYY's ability to support so many languages," said Yu Mochizuki, president of Amedia Corporation. "By combining both teams, we were able to create an app that is helping improve the lives of visually impaired people around the globe."
Mochizuki added, "The app is special in that it recognizes characters in complex scenes (such as street signs) and reads these characters aloud in real-time, achieving both accuracy and speed. This is made possible by combining ABBYY OCR technologies and our special image processing technology. To our knowledge, we haven't seen anything like this in other mobile products, at this affordable price point."
The ABBYY Mobile OCR Engine is a software development kit (SDK) based on ABBYY's world-renowned OCR technologies. Its powerful image processing algorithms enable mobile devices to perform highly accurate text recognition.
"We are honored to be part of this breakthrough offering," said ABBYY North American HQ CEO Dean Tang. "FineReader is known for its assistive learning uses, and this app is an extension of those. Many comparable, yet more expensive, apps aren't able to support certain languages like Chinese, Japanese and Korean, which is yet another way the Amedia Live Reader beats its competition."
The Amedia Live Reader is available for purchase on iTunes for $29.99. In order to operate, iOS 8.0 or later is required. Supported languages include English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Japanese and Korean.
About ABBYY
ABBYY is a leading global provider of technologies and solutions that help businesses to action information. The company sets the standard in content capture and innovative language-based technologies that integrate across the information lifecycle. ABBYY solutions are relied on to optimize business processes, mitigate risk, accelerate decision making and drive revenue. ABBYY technologies are used and licensed by some of the largest international enterprises and government organizations, as well as SMBs and individuals. The company maintains offices in Australia, Canada, Cyprus, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, the UAE, the UK, Ukraine, and the United States. For more information, see Key Facts.
ABBYY and the ABBYY Logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of ABBYY Software Ltd. Other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby recognized.
Media Contact:
Karbo Communications for ABBYY
Email Contact
Margaret Pereira
925-989-8109
Blue Earth Diagnostics Ltd., a molecular imaging diagnostics company, and Siemens' PETNET Solutions, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., today announced the commercial availability of Axumin (fluciclovine F 18) injection in the United States. Axumin is a novel molecular imaging agent indicated for use in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to identify suspected sites of prostate cancer recurrence in men who have elevated blood levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA) following prior treatment. Axumin was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on May 27, 2016, and is the first FDA-approved F-18 PET imaging agent indicated for use in patients with suspected recurrent prostate cancer.
Axumin will be commercially available this month through Blue Earth Diagnostics' manufacturer and exclusive distributor in the United States, Siemens' PETNET Solutions. Initial commercial production of Axumin will be underway at certain Siemens' PETNET Solutions radiopharmacies, with increasingly broader availability planned in the coming months.
"We are tremendously pleased with FDA's recent approval of Axumin for suspected biochemically recurrent prostate cancer, and hope that this will make a real difference to patients and their physicians," saidJonathan Allis, D. Phil., CEO of Blue Earth Diagnostics Ltd.Blue Earth Diagnostics is extremely pleased to be working with Siemens' PETNET Solutions, the leading supplier of PET radiopharmaceuticals in the United States; we both share a passion for PET molecular imaging, and for providing imaging tools to improve patient management."
"This is a significant milestone for the PET industry, as this is the first proprietary F-18 labeled agent for an oncology indication approved by the FDA. And, being F-18 labeled enables efficient distribution and wide patient access," said Barry Scott, head of Siemens' PETNET Solutions. "Through our broad network of radiopharmacies we are able to increase access to PET tracers, like Axumin, helping healthcare providers to address society's most challenging diseases. We are proud to work with Blue Earth Diagnostics as the U.S. commercial supplier making Axumin available to imaging centers and their patients."
Blue Earth Diagnostics and Siemens' PETNET Solutions welcome visitors to the upcoming SNMMI meeting to visit their exhibit booths. Blue Earth Diagnostics is at Booth 337; Siemens' PETNET Solutions is at Booth 431.
About AxuminTM (fluciclovine F 18)
Axumin (fluciclovine F 18) injection is a novel product indicated for use in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to identify suspected sites of prostate cancer recurrence in men. Recurrence of prostate cancer is suspected by an increase in prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels following initial therapy. PET imaging with Axumin may identify the location and extent of such recurrence. Axumin was developed to enable visualization of the increased amino acid transport that occurs in many cancers, including prostate cancer. It consists of a synthetic amino acid that is preferentially taken up by prostate cancer cells compared with surrounding normal tissues, and is labeled with the radioisotope F18 for PET imaging. Axumin was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on May 27, 2016 following Priority Review, and is the first product commercialized by Blue Earth Diagnostics, which licensed the product from GE Healthcare. The molecule is being investigated by Blue Earth Diagnostics for other potential cancer indications, such as glioma.
Indication and Important Safety Information About Axumin
INDICATION
Axumin (fluciclovine F 18) injection is indicated for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging in men with suspected prostate cancer recurrence based on elevated blood prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels following prior treatment.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
Image interpretation errors can occur with Axumin PET imaging. A negative image does not rule out recurrent prostate cancer and a positive image does not confirm its presence. The performance of Axumin seems to be affected by PSA levels. Axumin uptake may occur with other cancers and benign prostatic hypertrophy in primary prostate cancer. Clinical correlation, which may include histopathological evaluation, is recommended.
Hypersensitivity reactions, including anaphylaxis, may occur in patients who receive Axumin. Emergency resuscitation equipment and personnel should be immediately available.
Axumin use contributes to a patient's overall long-term cumulative radiation exposure, which is associated with an increased risk of cancer. Safe handling practices should be used to minimize radiation exposure to the patient and health care providers.
Adverse reactions were reported in 1% of subjects during clinical studies with Axumin. The most common adverse reactions were injection site pain, injection site erythema and dysgeusia.
To report suspected adverse reactions to Axumin, call 1-855-AXUMIN1 (1-855-298-6461) or contact FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch
Full Axumin prescribing information is available at www.axumin.com
About Prostate Cancer/Recurrent Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men. While most primary prostate cancer can be successfully treated, the disease recurs in up to one-third of patients. In some patients recurrent disease is detectable only by a rise in prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels, yet the location of the recurrence cannot consistently be located by conventional imaging, severely limiting treatment guidance for these patients.
About Blue Earth Diagnostics
Blue Earth Diagnostics is a molecular imaging diagnostics company focused on the development and commercialization of novel PET imaging agents to inform clinical management and guide care for cancer patients in areas of unmet medical need. Formed in 2014, Blue Earth Diagnostics is led by recognized experts in the clinical development and commercialization of innovative nuclear medicine products. The Company's first approved and commercially available product is AxuminTM (fluciclovine F18) injection, a novel molecular imaging agent for use in PET imaging to detect and localize prostate cancer in men experiencing suspected biochemical recurrence. Blue Earth Diagnostics Inc. of Burlington, Mass., is the wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary of U.K.-based Blue Earth Diagnostics Ltd. The Company is funded by Syncona LLP, an independent subsidiary of the Wellcome Trust. For more information, visit www.blueearthdx.com.
About Siemens AG
Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 165 years. The company is active in more than 200 countries, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world's largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is No. 1 in offshore wind turbine construction, a leading supplier of gas and steam turbines for power generation, a major provider of power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2015, which ended on September 30, 2015, Siemens generated revenue of 75.6 billion and net income of 7.4 billion. At the end of September 2015, the company had around 348,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160607005692/en/
Contacts:
For Blue Earth Diagnostics Inc. (U.S.)
Priscilla Harlan, 781-799-7917
Vice President, Corporate Communications
p.harlan@blueearthdx.com
or
Media
Sam Brown Inc.
Cory Tromblee, 617-571-7220
corytromblee@sambrown.com
or
For Blue Earth Diagnostics Ltd. (U.K.)
Consilium Strategic Communications
Amber Fennell, +44 (0)7739 658 783
fennel@consilium-comm.com
or
For Siemens Healthineers
Jeff Bell, +1 610-448-6348
Sr. Manager, Media Relations
jeffrey.t.bell@siemens.com
Indias population is growing younger: by 2020 the average age will be 29, while in the U.S. and China it will be 37. Michael J. Connelly , Senior Fellow, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, explains how India is trying to use this young workforce to its advantage, which must begin with access to a high-quality educationsomething that continues to be a struggle.
Education reform is a priority in virtually every country on the planet. Governments worldwide recognize that an educated populace is the key to economic growth in an increasingly global economy and is also a critical tool for combating the ignorance that renders groups susceptible to demagogues and fanatics. Nowhere is there a greater sense of urgency to accomplishing those goals than in India, which is undergoing an economic transformation in an effort to create a world-class economy amid dramatic demographic change and political and cultural upheavals that threaten social stability.
The worlds largest democracy, India is a diverse country with population centers ranging from some of the largest cities in the world to remote rural areas, from the Himalayas to beach towns. It has 22 official languages in its various regions, and another 150 different languages have sizeable speaking populations. Religious and culture wars go back centuries. All of those things exacerbate the countrys universally acknowledged learning crisis, but little progress has been made in improving the system, nor is there consensus on the systemic failures that led to the crisis, much less on what should be done to fix the problems.
Demographic Dividend
Indias rapidly growing population is set to overtake China s by 2023, making it the worlds most populous nation. It already has the largest population under the age of 35 and the worlds largest primary school system , with more than 200 million K-5 studentseight times the number in the U.S.comprising a demographic dividend from a golden generation. As the rest of the world is agingthe Japanese workforce has been shrinking for more than 20 years, Chinas working-age ratio peaked in 2013 (and will decline by a substantial amount in the next few decades), and Koreas workforce began to decline last yearIndia is growing younger. By 2020, the average Indian will be only 29 years of age, compared to 37 in China and the United States, 45 in Western Europe and 48 in Japan.
India is trying to leverage those demographics into accelerated economic growth (and the improvement in the average Indians material conditions that such growth can create) by preparing students for jobs in a modern work force. The International Monetary Fund has calculated that the increase in the working-age ratio could add two percentage points to the countrys per capita GDP growth per annum.
In order to accomplish this goal, India enacted legislation in 2009 that recognized that ensuring access to a quality education was one of the priorities of the Indian government. It identified educational opportunity as a civil right and expanded compulsory attendance requirements to age 14 (although truancy enforcement in some urban slums and in rural villages leaves much to be desired). It more than doubled education spending, increased teacher salaries, and reduced class size.
The legislation changed the law, but not the culture. The education system, a hothouse for corruption for decades, remains antiquated and mismanaged. India still utilizes an out-of-date curriculum based on rote learning, and because of corrupt cronyism and patronage, jobs are often obtained through a spoils system of political connections and energetic toadying, a veritable graft bonanza. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the conservative Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to victory two years ago on a strong Hindu nationalist platform and a promise to fight corruption. But their successes have been more anecdotal than systemic, and corruption with seeming impunity remains pervasive.
In places like the large affluent suburbs of New Delhi, Indias capital city of nearly 20 million people and in Mumbai, the nations financial capital with more than 20 million people, private schools run by entrepreneurs, former government-school administrators, and universities have stepped into the breach, resulting in better opportunities for middle class students there, but a national system that is inequitable as well as corrupt.
Income and Wealth Inequity
The main problems in Indian society are economic, largely caused by extreme wealth and income inequality. Despite an economic liberalization that began in the 1990s and has created growing levels of disposable incomes for a rapidly expanding middle class, many people still lack jobs and educational opportunities.
The plight of the chronically unemployed and uneducated in the context of the countrys current GDP growth rate of 7.5 percent has been described as the feeling of being hungry and starving as everyone around you readies for a feast. A panoramic view of India shows two different countries, with a dichotomy between the more modern, diverse and westernized urban New India and the rural Old India (where love marriages are disparaged in favor of arranged marriages, and significant vestiges of the Indian caste system remain).
Unrest over income inequality has recently resulted in protests, primarily in mostly rural northern states. Some of the protests devolved into riots and looting, causing dozens of deaths and injuries, disrupting business, forcing shops and factories to close or suspend operations and even temporarily restricting water supplies to New Delhi. That, in turn, led to military interventions by the Indian army. And despite Prime Minister Modis pledges after the unrest to carry out reforms, some see a rising climate of intolerance that threatens to undermine the BJPs promise of better days to come.
Technology As Equalizer?
Techno-optimists from Silicon Valley to Bangalore argue that digital technology can help unleash world-changing transformations in the field of education, becoming an engine that builds new educational models to power humankind to dazzling heights of accomplishment. But in the face of proliferating interest in digital education worldwide, the use of technology in the delivery of instruction has not made much of an inroad in Indian schools. Ironically, a country that has given us more than its share of coders, mobile technology platform developers, and graduate-degreed computer scientists has a cultural bias against online education for K-12 students.
In any event, infrastructure to support computer-based instruction and assessment is sorely lacking. Electricity and indoor plumbing are more essential services than Internet connections and broadband accessonly 53 percent of Indias 1.4 million schools have functional girls toilets, and 26 percent of schools do not have access to drinking water . Rolling out innovative smartphone apps, increased broadband capacity, and enhanced educational software for computer networks is not a high priority compared to these basic needs.
Teacher Training, Recruitment and Retention
Regardless of the state of technology implementation, the key to academic improvement and successful school governance is the ability to hire, train, and retain great teachers. Thats particularly true in developing countries. In India the problem is compounded by a teacher shortage, especially in primary schools. The Brookings Institution estimates a shortfall of 689,000 teachers (almost 10 percent of the total), and many schools are in remote areas where it is even harder to recruit and retain good teachers and strong school leaders.
Teachers in India are also notoriously ill-trained, unprepared and ineffectual if they show up at all. Nationwide, teacher absenteeism is estimated to cost more than $1.5 billion annually: 25 percent of Indian teachers at schools in rural areas are absent on any given day. A recent article in the New York Times reported that teacher absences in one district of 2,700 schools averaged close to 40 percent, and in some states reached 46 percent. And yet, in a study of 3,000 schools, only one principal reported that a teacher had been fired for poor attendance.
By comparison, according to the National Council of Teacher Quality, teacher attendance in the United States is typically more than 94 percent , with almost all absences accounted for by sickness or personal matters. That compares to a 97 percent average attendance rate for all full-time wage and salaried American workers. [Some U.S. school districts, however, rival Indias record. The Center for American Progress , for example, reported that in 2012 up to 40 percent of teachers in Camden, New Jersey, were absent from their classrooms on any given school day.]
Student Performance
Not surprisingly, the academic performance of many Indian students is poor and getting worse. In India less than 50 percent of fifth graders in rural areas read at a second-grade level, 16% worse than a decade earlier (perhaps because a greater number of rural students were enrolled in school). Nationally in India, only 42 percent of students graduate from high school; 29 percent drop out before finishing fifth grade.
To be sure, oversight has been strengthened in some places. The Times article referenced above reported on one zealous administrator who beat three teachers with a stick because they had obtained their jobs by using fraudulent documents. The administrator was reprimanded for taking that approach and soon thereafter developed a more practical blueprint for disciplining staff members on his watch. He maintained his personal vigilance but also established a parole-like disciplinary committee to augment his efforts.
If civil service employees could not be fired (much less severely beaten), they could be demoted or transferred. Recently, for example, he demoted a frequently absent principal to assistant teacher, reducing his salary by almost 35%. His advisory board reviewed the case, and it recommended transferring him too. He was transferred to a remote village that was a two-hour drive from his home.
A Sense of Urgency
Education reform and improved academic outcomes that prepare Indian students for a technology-driven future are high priorities for the Indian government. It is critical for the global economy and the countrys internal political stability that its efforts succeed. A dramatic improvement in public education is necessary to complement the countrys transformative economic scheme, and the success of its education reform efforts is also critical to peace and political stability. To paraphrase U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, education is the antidote to ignorance: the right book can be a more powerful force against extremism than a gun.
To succeed in that effort, Indian leaders must find a way to make educational improvement culturally important. Additional government spending must be allocated to the sector, from pre-K to the university level, including for infrastructure development. Private/public partnerships should be established to augment governmental efforts, and international assistance must be developed, especially for segments of society that are currently underserved, like rural areas and the urban poor.
The curriculum needs to be upgraded to include more creative problem-solving and higher-level cognitive skill development, to deal with special needs students and, generally, to take a more holistic approach to human development. It is also imperative that teacher training, professional development, and management oversight policies be enhanced, and that technology tools be adopted and implemented to increase teacher productivity and effectiveness. The problems with Indias vast educational sector are ingrained and severe, but the return on investment in its transformation is incalculable.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
In the wake of increased hostilities in the Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh and other territories occupied by Armenia, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev accused Armenian officials of a hostile "campaign of propaganda".
Speaking at the Fourth Congress of World Azerbaijanis held in Baku, Aliyev said the aim of the campaign is to "blacken Azerbaijan, portray it as an anti-democratic state and circulate false and fictitious information about the history of Nagorno-Karabakh."
He stressed that Nagorno-Karabakh is historical and native Azerbaijani land. "Armenians were resettled to Karabakh from Eastern Anatolia and Iran in the early 19th century," he said. "In 1978, even a monument was erected in Nagorno-Karabakh to mark the 150th anniversary of the resettlement of Armenians to Nagorno-Karbakh."
The Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding provinces were occupied by Armenia during the post-Soviet power vacuum, resulting in about 30,000 deaths and nearly one million refugees and internally displaced people. Many international bodies, including the United Nations, European Parliament, OSCE and most recently the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe have called for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from the Azerbaijani territories.
Aliyev also addressed remarks by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan at a recent summit of the Eurasian Economic Union, in which he suggested that Azerbaijan was responsible for starting the recent hostilities. "Seeing that pressure on them to resolve the issue peacefully is mounting and statements are made about the need to change the status quo - which would mean a withdrawal of occupying from our lands - they resort to provocations," Aliyev added.
The Azerbaijani President also questioned the existence of "Nagorno-Karabakh army". "It is a myth intended to mislead the international community," he said. According to Aliyev, "The people serving in the Armenian armed forces in Nagorno-Karabakh are citizens of Armenia, 80% of them are citizens of Armenia, born in Armenia."
Days of heavy fighting in the region erupted in April between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces, resulting in hundreds of casualties. The halt in hostilities is fragile.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Teck Resources Limited (TSX: TCK.A and TCK.B, NYSE: TCK) ("Teck") today announced the early results of its previously announced cash tender offers (the "Tender Offers") to purchase up to US$1,000,000,000 aggregate principal amount (subject to increase by Teck, the "Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount") of the following series of notes issued by Teck:
-- 3.150% Notes due 2017 (the "3.150% 2017 Notes"); -- 3.850% Notes due 2017 (the "3.850% 2017 Notes"); -- 2.500% Notes due 2018 (the "2018 Notes"); and -- 3.000% Notes due 2019 (the "2019 Notes" and, together with the 3.150% 2017 Notes, the 3.850% 2017 Notes and the 2018 Notes, the "Notes").
Teck also announced today that it increased the aggregate maximum principal amount of Notes that may be accepted for purchase in the Tender Offers from US$1,000,000,000 to US$1,250,000,000 (as so increased, the "Revised Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount"). This announcement amends the Offer Documents (as defined below) with respect to the Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount. All other terms and conditions of the Tender Offers described in the Offer Documents remain unchanged.
According to information received from Global Bondholder Services Corporation ("GBSC"), the Depositary and Information Agent for the Tender Offers, as of 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on June 6, 2016 (that date and time, the "Early Tender Date"), Teck had received valid tenders from holders of the Notes as outlined in the table below.
Aggregate Principal Principal Amount Amount CUSIP Outstanding Tendered Tender Cap Title of Notes Number (U.S.$) (U.S.$) (U.S.$) --------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- 3.150% Notes due 2017 878742AU9 $300,000,000 $266,274,000 N/A 3.850% Notes due 2017 878742AR6 $300,000,000 $284,264,000 N/A 2.500% Notes due 2018 878742AX3 $500,000,000 $477,526,000 N/A 3.000% Notes due 2019 878744AA9 $500,000,000 $372,189,000 $300,000,000 Dollars per U.S.$1,000 Principal Amount of Notes -------------- Principal Amount Approximate Total Accepted Proration Acceptance Consideration Title of Notes (U.S.$) Factor Priority Level (U.S.$) (1) ----------------------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- 3.150% Notes due 2017 $266,274,000 100% 1 $1,013.75 3.850% Notes due 2017 $284,264,000 100% 2 $1,032.50 2.500% Notes due 2018 $477,526,000 100% 3 $1,012.50 3.000% Notes due 2019 $221,936,000 59.6% 4 $977.50
(1) Includes the Early Tender Premium (as defined below).
Teck also announced that it intends to accept for purchase US$1,250,000,000 aggregate principal amount of Notes, which is the Revised Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) on or before the Early Tender Date, subject to all conditions to the Tender Offers having been either satisfied or waived by Teck. These Notes will be purchased on the "Early Settlement Date", which will be determined at Teck's option and is currently expected to occur on June 7, 2016, subject to all conditions to the Tender Offers having been either satisfied or waived by Teck.
The amount of each series of Notes that is to be purchased on the Early Settlement Date will be determined in accordance with the acceptance priority levels and the proration procedures described in the Offer Documents, subject to the Revised Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount and the Tender Cap (as described in the above table) for the 2019 Notes. It is expected that the 3.150% 2017 Notes, the 3.850% 2017 Notes and the 2018 Notes accepted for purchase will not be subject to proration and the 2019 Notes accepted for purchase will be subject to a proration factor of approximately 59.6%. Payments for Notes purchased will include accrued and unpaid interest from and including the last interest payment date applicable to the relevant series of Notes up to, but not including, the applicable Settlement Date (as such term is defined in the Offer to Purchase). In addition, because the Tender Offers were fully subscribed as of the Early Tender Date, holders who validly tender Notes after such date and on or before the Expiration Date (as defined below) will not have any of their Notes accepted for purchase, unless Teck further increases the Revised Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount. Teck reserves the right, but is under no obligation, to further increase the Revised Aggregate Maximum Tender Amount or the Tender Cap at any time, subject to compliance with applicable law.
Notes tendered in the Tender Offers that have not been accepted for purchase due to proration will be returned promptly to the tendering holders.
The Tender Offers are being made pursuant to the terms and conditions described in its Offer to Purchase, dated May 23, 2016, and related Letter of Transmittal (together, the "Offer Documents").
Subject to the terms and conditions of the Tender Offers, the consideration for each US$1,000 principal amount of Notes validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) and accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offers will be the tender offer consideration for such series of Notes set forth in the Offer Documents (with respect to each series of Notes, the "Tender Offer Consideration"). Holders of Notes that were validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) at or prior to the Early Tender Date and accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offers will receive the applicable Total Consideration (as defined below) for such series, which includes the early tender premium for such series of Notes set forth in the Offer Documents (with respect to each series of Notes, the "Early Tender Premium" and, together with the applicable Tender Offer Consideration, the "Total Consideration").
The Tender Offers will expire at 12:00 midnight, New York City time, at the end of the day on June 20, 2016, unless extended or earlier terminated by Teck (the "Expiration Date"). No tenders submitted after the Expiration Date will be valid. The settlement date, if necessary, for Notes validly tendered after the Early Tender Date and on or before the Expiration Date and which are accepted for purchase (the "Final Settlement Date") is expected to occur on the first business day following the Expiration Date. Since the Withdrawal Deadline (as defined in the Offer to Purchase) has passed, Notes tendered after the Early Tender Date may not be withdrawn, subject to applicable law.
The Tender Offers are subject to the conditions described in the Offer Documents. However, the financing condition described in the Offer Documents (the "Financing Condition") is expected to be satisfied on June 7, 2016, upon the closing of Teck's previously announced offering of senior unsecured notes in an aggregate principal amount of US$1.25 billion. Full details of the terms and conditions of the Tender Offers are set forth in the Offer Documents, which are available from GBSC. Teck may amend, extend or terminate the Tender Offers at any time.
Goldman, Sachs & Co., BofA Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC are the dealer managers in the Tender Offers. Global Bondholder Services Corporation has been retained to serve as both the depositary and the information agent for the Tender Offers. Persons with questions regarding the Tender Offers should contact Goldman, Sachs & Co. at (toll-free) (800) 828-3182 or (collect) (212) 902-6941, BofA Merrill Lynch at (toll-free) (888) 292-0070 or (collect) (980) 388-3646 or J.P. Morgan Securities LLC at (toll-free) (866) 834-4666 or (collect) (212) 834-8553. Requests for copies of the Offer to Purchase, the related Letter of Transmittal and other related materials should be directed to Global Bondholder Services Corporation at (toll-free) (866) 807-2200 or (collect) (212) 430-3774.
None of Teck, its board of directors, the dealer managers, the depositary or the information agent, the trustee with respect to the Notes or any of Teck's or their respective affiliates, makes any recommendation as to whether holders of the Notes should tender any Notes in response to the Tender Offers. The Tender Offers are made only by the Offer to Purchase and related Letter of Transmittal. The Tender Offers are not being made to holders of Notes in any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the securities, blue sky or other laws of such jurisdiction. In any jurisdiction in which the Tender Offers are required to be made by a licensed broker or dealer, the Tender Offers will be deemed to be made on behalf of Teck by the dealer managers, or one or more registered brokers or dealers that are licensed under the laws of such jurisdiction.
About Teck
Teck is a diversified resource company committed to responsible mining and mineral development with major business units focused on copper, steelmaking coal, zinc and energy. Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, its shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols TCK.A and TCK.B and the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TCK.
Forward Looking Statements
This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements as defined in applicable securities laws (collectively referred to as "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements include: statements regarding the terms and timing for completion of the Tender Offers, including but not limited to the acceptance for purchase of any Notes validly tendered and the expected Settlement Dates and Expiration Date; and the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions of the Tender Offers, including the Financing Condition.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Teck to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to vary include, but are not limited to, conditions in financial markets, investor response to Teck's Tender Offers, and other risk factors as detailed from time to time in Teck's reports filed with Canadian securities administrators and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Readers are cautioned against unduly relying on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date of the relevant document and, except as required by law, Teck undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or future events or otherwise.
Contacts:
Investor Contact:
Greg Waller
Vice President, Investor Relations & Strategic Analysis
604.699.4014
greg.waller@teck.com
Media Contact:
Chris Stannell
Senior Communications Specialist
604.699.4368
chris.stannell@teck.com
KOTKA, Finland, June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
On Saturday, June 4th 2016, the third Women Startup Competition took place in Budapest, Hungary. Out of over 150 applicants from all over Europe, an online jury selected a shortlist of 12 startups led by women. After a 5-day-long intensive training in Budapest and live 2-minute pitches at Demo Day, four winners were selected by a panel of nine judges. The Finnish startup Kids Friendly Media Oy got second place in the competition with its FamilyWithKids.com project.
The winners were selected based on their pitches and the potential success of each project. The main goal of the competition is to increase awareness of female entrepreneurship in Europe, to bring the women-led startups into the spotlight, and to help them meet the investors of their dreams.The Demo Day took place at the Akvarium Klub, as a closing event of Brain Bar Budapest - a unique international think tank festival in the heart of Europe.
"While in Europe, the number of female-founded startups is below 21%, we feel that there is a need to inspire, educate and unite them whenever we can. The Women Startup Competition is an excellent place for that. Beyond this, the successful women entrepreneurs will be the next generation of Women Angel and VC investors, of whom there is only 6% now in the EU" - says Tamas Muller, founder of the contest.
FamilyWithKids.com is an online global marketplace for kids-friendly services. It is a unified source of structured and moderated information, designed to help busy parents discover, evaluate and book the kids-friendly services they need. The platform is freemium, so any company that serves the family is added to the directory for free. The project is led by Viktoriia Krasilshchikova, a working mother of three, and a New York University graduate with over 10 years of experience in online-marketing and PR.
The company's pilot project (KidsReview.ru) was launched on the Russian market in 2010, it reached the break-even point in 5 years, and is currently used by 8 million families in the region. Kids Friendly Media Oy plans to build on the experience gained, and to cover EU and US by the end of 2017.
The full list of winners of Women Startup Competition Europe 2016:
Bookr Kids ( Hungary ) Kids Friendly Media Oy ( Finland ) BloomyLoom ( Hungary ) ClearKarma ( Austria )
The shortlist included companies from Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom. Official website of Women Startup Competition Europe: http://www.womenstartupcompetition.com
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services, today announced that another Chinese bank, Bank of Communications, has been approved by ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA) to participate in the IBA gold auction from June 8, 2016. The final price of the gold auction is used by IBA to determine the LBMA Gold Price benchmark.
"We are pleased to welcome Bank of Communications to the gold auction," said Finbarr Hutcheson, President, ICE Benchmark Administration. "The increased interest from firms in China to participate in the auction demonstrates the growth in importance across the globe of the LBMA Gold Price since we transitioned the benchmark to a transparent, electronic auction process last year."
"I am pleased to welcome the Bank of Communications as the fourth Chinese bank to join the LBMA Gold Price. This takes the total number of participants to fourteen and highlights the continued international strength and appeal of the auction," said Ruth Crowell, Chief Executive of the London Bullion Market Association.
In 2015, IBA successfully transitioned the former London Gold Fix to an independently administered, transparent and electronic auction process. Since assuming administration of the gold auction, IBA has grown the number of direct participants from four to 14 and volumes have grown by more than 100%.
To enhance transparency, IBA immediately introduced a number of new measures to improve the auction when it assumed administration of the benchmark in 2015, including new governance, surveillance and an independent Oversight Committee comprised of a cross section of the market.
IBA operates physically settled, electronic and tradable spot gold auctions at 10.30am and 3.00pm UK time. The price formation is in US Dollars (USD). At the end of the auction IBA publishes the benchmark in USD, EUR and GBP.
The LBMA Gold Price is a regulated benchmark under the supervision of the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
About ICE Benchmark Administration Limited
ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA) is a UK company based in London established for the purpose of administering benchmarks and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. IBA, which is independently capitalized, administers the following three systemically important benchmarks: ICE LIBOR, LBMA Gold Price and ICE Swap Rate. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), IBA is required to comply with the FCA's rules for benchmark administrators and has also been formally assessed in respect of ICE LIBOR against the IOSCO Principles for Financial Benchmarks.
About Intercontinental Exchange
Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) operates the leading network of global futures, equity and equity options exchanges, as well as global clearing and data services across financial and commodity markets. The New York Stock Exchange is the world leader in capital raising, listings and equities trading.
Trademarks of ICE and/or its affiliates include Intercontinental Exchange, ICE, ICE block design, NYSE and New York Stock Exchange, Interactive Data and Trayport. Information regarding additional trademarks and intellectual property rights of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. and/or its affiliates is located at www.intercontinentalexchange.com/terms-of-use.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 -- Statements in this press release regarding ICE's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ICE's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in ICE's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, as filed with the SEC on February 4, 2016.
SOURCE: Intercontinental Exchange
ICE-CORP
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160607006095/en/
Contacts:
ICE
Media Contact:
Claire Miller
+44 20 7065 7745
claire.miller@theice.com
or
Investor Contact:
Kelly Loeffler
+1 770 857 4726
kelly.loeffler@theice.com
NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Nano Mobile Healthcare Inc., (OTCQB: VNTH), ("Nano Mobile" or the "Company") has announced a business update for its 3rd fiscal year quarter.
The Company recently filed its form 10-Q for the period ending March 31, 2016. Operating expenses were reduced for the third consecutive quarter. The Company is also working to reduce its convertible debt obligations and increase its working capital. The complete 10-Q report is available on http://www.sec.gov/.
Given the increase of marijuana legalization and decriminalization efforts by a growing number of states, the Company has made the development of its law enforcement sensor the short-term priority. There is a growing need on the part of law enforcement across the country for a portable sensor to detect marijuana abuse and impaired driving. The Company also plans to incorporate alcohol detection along with the marijuana sensing capability in one device so that law enforcement can have the capability to detect both alcohol (DUI breathalyzer) and marijuana abuse -- without having to use two separate devices. Finally, the pathway for revenue is shorter in the law enforcement sector then with healthcare screening, as there is not the time and expense required to complete human FDA trials.
Our sublicense for the use of NASA technology has been extended by three years such that the exclusivity of the underlying patents now ends in 2021, providing us with the additional time we need to advance the healthcare applications when the law enforcement breathalyzer enters the marketplace.
About Nano Mobile Healthcare, Inc.
Nano Mobile Healthcare -- a mobile health technology company -- is developing personalized and point-of-care screening using Apps based upon chemical sensing residing within a Bluetooth device that works with any smartphone, tablet or laptop. With its foundations in advanced nanotechnology, the Company's first product, the Nano Mobile Health Sensor, which is in development, is the convergence of nano-electronics, bio-informatics, and wireless technology to create the next generation mobile health application. The Company has offices in New York City and Mountain View, CA. For more information, please visit us at http://nanomobilehealthcare.com/.
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things statements with respect to our objectives and strategies to achieve those objectives, as well as statements with respect to our beliefs, plans, expectations, anticipations, estimates or intentions. Such forward-looking statements may also include statements, among other things, concerning the efficacy, safety and intended utilization of Nano Mobile Healthcare's product candidates, the conduct and results of future clinical trials, plans regarding regulatory filings, future research and clinical trials and plans regarding partnering activities. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially include, among others, the risk that product candidates that appeared promising in early research and clinical trials do not demonstrate safety and/or efficacy in larger-scale or later clinical trials, trials may have difficulty enrolling, Nano Mobile Healthcare may not obtain approval to market its product candidates, or outside financing may not be available to meet capital requirements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations. We caution that all forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and actual results may differ materially from the assumptions, estimates or expectations reflected or contained in the forward-looking information, and that actual future performance will be affected by a number of factors, including economic conditions, technological change, regulatory change and competitive factors, many of which are beyond our control. Therefore, future events and results may vary significantly from what we currently foresee.
For a further list and description of the risks and uncertainties the Company faces, please refer to the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other periodic and other filings Nano Mobile Healthcare files with the Securities and Exchange Commission and are available at http://www.sec.gov/. Such forward-looking statements are current only as of the date they are made, and Nano Mobile Healthcare assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3018421
Christine Petraglia
646-354-8886
christine@csirgroup.com
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Alithya, Quebec's largest privately-held strategic consulting and IT services firm, is proud to announce a major joint project with Desjardins Group, Canada's largest cooperative financial institution, to modernize its automated banking machines and service counters.
Alithya will add a remote development centre to its FinTech International Excellence Centre as part of this mandate, including a lab with ten automated banking machines. Well over a hundred Desjardins and Alithya experts will collaborate to complete this strategic project by the end of 2018.
"This agreement reflects Alithya's strategy to develop leading-edge FinTech expertise to address the specific needs of clients in the financial industry. The recognized operational excellence, advanced banking industry knowledge and mutual confidence that characterizes our 25-year relationship with Desjardins, were all determining factors in winning this major contract," stated Paul Raymond, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alithya.
About Alithya
Alithya is Quebec's largest privately-held strategic consulting and IT services firm, with a presence across North America and in France. Founded in 1992, we have grown by partnering with our clients to provide high-quality strategy and IT consulting services that help them achieve their business objectives. We serve clients mainly in the financial services, telecommunications, transportation, healthcare and government sectors. With 10 offices in Canada and France, our consulting team is now over 1,200 strong. To find out more, visit www.alithya.com
Contacts:
Marie-Josee Rivard
Manager, Communications and Marketing
514 285-5552
m-j.rivard@alithya.com
TAMPA, FL -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Umbra Applied Technologies (UAT), an Umbra Applied Technologies Group, Inc. subsidiary (OTC: UATG), announced today that the application process for governmental approval to begin the manufacturing and sales of its flagship UBR-16 battle rifle is underway.
In recent months, Umbra Applied Technologies' Special Weapons & Ordinance Research Division (SWORD) completed the final design of its long range sniper rifle, the PRP-30. The company released the very first images of the highly anticipated precision rifle at the end of last May. The completion of the PRP-30 represents the fulfilment of the company's conventional weapons product line. The finalization of the two conventional weapons inaugurates the production of the 2016 UBR-16 and 2017 PRP-30.
In addition, the company has begun the process of completing its new office in Tampa Florida. The company has already begun accepting applications to staff its secured site in Tampa and once fully staffed intends to begin the process of locating a facility suitable for the development and production of its advanced weapons program. When questioned about the advanced weapons UAT is developing, CEO Alex Umbra responded, "The UAT's advanced weapons program is very much a marriage between our Applied Sciences Division and SWORD; representing a vanguard of technical development. It is the culmination of everything we have learned and collaborated on. It represents the future of warfare 25 years ahead of current technology. Site B will be home to the most advanced weapons systems and platforms we are currently capable of making."
While UAT awaits ATF approval for its Type 7 federal firearms license (FFL) and Class 2 Special Occupational Taxpayer (SOT), it will also apply for exportation approval with the State Department. UAT expects its Tampa offices to be operational by July with licensing approved shortly thereafter. The Tampa based team will be the hub of UAT's firearms and intelligence operations in country and abroad.
About Umbra Applied Technologies Group, Inc.
Umbra Applied Technologies is a member of the Umbra Applied Technologies Group (OTC: UATG) family of companies. Umbra Applied Technologies, a U.S. based Defense and Security Company, is engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration, and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products, and services for defense, civil, and commercial applications in the United States and internationally. It also provides management, engineering, technical, scientific, logistic, and information services.
In support of air, land and naval forces, the company operates in five segments: Aeronautics, Information Systems & Global Solutions, Biotech, Alternative & Renewable Energy, and Intelligence Systems. The Aeronautics segment offers military aircrafts, such as unmanned combat and air mobility aircrafts, and related technologies. The Information Systems & Global Solutions segment provides advanced technology systems and security expertise, integrated information technology solutions, and management services for civil, defense, intelligence, and other government customers. The Biotech segment addresses critical gaps that are absent in defense medical research programs. The Alternative & Renewable Energy segment provides alternative solutions to energy through research in bio-electricity, wind, thermodynamic and solar energy. The Intelligence segment provides computational study of signals, open source and network intelligence through advanced metrics and algorithms to locate and extract sentiment from gathered intelligence.
For more information visit www.uatgroup.com or www.umbraappliedtechnologies.com
Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements that are based on present circumstances and on Umbra Applied Technologies Group predictions with respect to events that have not occurred, that may not occur, or that may occur with different consequences and timing than those now assumed or anticipated. Such forward-looking statements, including any statements regarding the plans and objectives of management for future operations or products, the market acceptance or future success of our products, and our future financial performance, are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events or results described in the forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this release and Umbra Applied Technologies does not undertake and specifically declines any obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Readers should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
Investor Relations
Everest Corporate Advisors, Inc.
(702) 902-2361
(702) 982-1339
GIVAT SHMUEL, ISRAEL -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- DSIT Solutions Ltd., a 41.2%-held equity investment of Acorn Energy, Inc. (OTCQB: ACFN), announced today that it has received a new $7.1 million order for its Blackfish Hull Mounted Sonar (HMS) systems to be delivered over a two-year period. The Blackfish is an advanced, medium-frequency Hull Mounted Sonar designed for littoral (near shore) as well as deep water Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) operations.
Dan Ben-Dov, DSIT's Vice President for Sales and Marketing, commented, "This order for DSIT's Blackfish HMS systems was secured through a competitive process from a large and prestigious Navy -- a new customer of DSIT. The Navy's decision to equip its newly built vessels with our Blackfish sonar systems represents an important endorsement of our technology and the value of our solution."
Benny Sela, CEO of DSIT, added, "A few years ago we made a strategic decision to invest in developing a high-performance yet cost-effective Hull Mounted Sonar. Today, this new order further validates this strategy, following an over $15 million order in 2015. Moreover, DSIT now offers several versions of our Blackfish HMS to enable its installation on different types and sizes of vessels."
Jan Loeb, CEO of Acorn Energy, stated, "The Blackfish contract expands DSIT's order backlog to $26 million and highlights the strength of its product offerings. We believe DSIT is well positioned to extend its success with new customers around the globe."
About DSIT
DSIT develops and produces sonar systems for the defense, HLS, energy and commercial markets. The company employs a world-class multi-disciplinary team of professionals that are skilled in the latest sonar and real-time technologies. DSIT products include: The Shield family of Diver Detection Sonars, Anti-Submarine Warfare systems, Portable Acoustic Ranges, Underwater Acoustic Signal Analysis applications and sonar simulators and trainers. For more information visit www.dsit.co.il
About Acorn Energy, Inc.
Acorn Energy, Inc. is a holding company whose companies help their customers achieve greater productivity, reliability, security, and efficiency -- factors which can lead to greater profitability. Its OmniMetrix business remotely monitors emergency back-up power generation systems to increase their reliability. For more information visit: http://www.acornenergy.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release includes forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. There is no assurance that Acorn will be successful in maximizing the value of its operating companies and other assets. A complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties which may affect Acorn Energy's business generally and the businesses of its subsidiaries is included in "Risk Factors" in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K as filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Investor Relations Contact:
David Collins
William Jones
Catalyst Global
212-924-9800
Email Contact
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Take a moment and think of all the things you see and hear each day. Whether it is news headlines on the Internet, a loved one's smile, your favourite song on the radio or a conversation with a neighbour - these seemingly incidental sights and sounds can be out of reach for people who have a combined loss of hearing and vision.
To recognize this dual disability, June is celebrated as Deafblind Awareness Month in communities across Canada. It is also the birth month of Helen Keller, an internationally recognized person who lived with deafblindness.
This June, following a national proclamation that was passed unanimously by Parliament in 2015, a committee of consumers, service providers and supporters are working in partnership for the first time to spread the word about deafblindness and make a wave from coast to coast. The group's goal for Deafblind Awareness Month is to come together to educate the public about the unique disability and the support available through intervenor services.
"People who are deafblind can live full, active and meaningful lives if they have the right support systems in place, such as the services of an intervenor," explains Jennifer Robbins, Interim Executive Director of Canadian Helen Keller Centre (CHKC), a founding member of the national alliance. "Intervenors are professionals trained to act as the eyes and ears of a person who is deafblind. They help individuals navigate their environment, communicate, make their own choices and achieve as much independence as possible."
While many people are familiar with Helen Keller's story, they are often unaware that her disability impacts an estimated one in 10,000 Canadians who are deafblind, including many who live in the Greater Toronto Area.
One of these individuals is Doug Milligan, who recently moved from Kingston, Ontario to Toronto. Doug lives happily and independently in his own home at CHKC's Rotary Cheshire Apartments, where he has access to on-duty intervenors 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He is also able to book one-on-one sessions with an intervenor daily. With this support in place, Doug is socializing, learning and doing the things he feels passionate about, like writing. He is also becoming more physically active and enjoys walking, body building and hopes to connect with other athletes by getting back into dragon boat racing.
"All people who are deafblind should have the ability to make their own choices and build the vital life skills they need to be active members of their communities, whether they live in a Toronto apartment that offers 24-7 intervenor services or in any other city or town in Canada," adds CHKC's Jennifer Robbins. "With Deafblind Awareness Month initiatives from across the country now united, the abilities of this segment of our population and the importance of intervenor services are gaining more attention on a national scale."
Penny Leclair, a deafblind consumer from Ottawa, agrees.
"Deafblindness is just a concept to most people because it is difficult to imagine what people who are deafblind can do," says Ms. Leclair. "The national awareness initiative is extremely important. Isolation can be severe when you can't communicate with the outside world because you've lost a combination of hearing and vision. By educating the public, we are bringing awareness of the disability of deafblindness across Canada. We hope that our joint efforts will ultimately lead to similar levels of support in all provinces and increased levels of employment for the extremely capable Canadians living with this dual disability."
Please visit the national calendar of events for Deafblind Awareness Month to learn what is happening in your community.
About Canadian Helen Keller Centre
Canadian Helen Keller Centre (CHKC) offers training, intervenor services and affordable housing for deafblind consumers. It is Canada's only residential training centre for people who are deafblind and has played an important role in the lives of individuals, their families and the community since opening its doors in July 2001. Dedicated staff and instructors offer classes to improve skills needed for daily living, which facilitates independence and helps people who are deafblind care for their families and homes. CHKC also provides core programming in technology, orientation and mobility, communication and the use of an intervenor, a specially trained professional who acts as the eyes and ears of a person who is deafblind.
Customized for the varying needs of each individual, CHKC courses include orientation and mobility, communication, computer essentials, use of iOS devices like an iPhone or iPad, safe travel, cooking and kitchen essentials, household management and personal finance. Instruction is available in English, French, ASL and LSQ through one-on-one classes, group workshops, intensive residential stays and/or in a consumer's own home.
CHKC's Rotary Cheshire Apartments (RCA) is North America's only barrier-free independent living residence with intervenor services for people who are deafblind. RCA tenants are active adults and seniors who live independently in their apartments.
Contacts:
Canadian Helen Keller Centre
Jennifer Robbins
Interim Executive Director
(416) 730-9501
info@chkc.org
www.chkc.org
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Earlier this month, Apple Pay increased their presence in Canada by signing on two major Canadian banks (RBC and CIBC), along with two additional financial institutions (ATB Financial and Canadian Tire Financial Services). The new partnerships follow Apple Pay's official launch into Canada last year, through collaboration with American Express.
The expansion now allows consumers to upload credit card information to their smartphones to use at retailers and restaurants, but critics suggest the tool may prove less useful than the hype around it suggests.
Since launching in the United States in 2014, only 6% of users with Apple Pay-enabled iPhones were reported to use the service, indicating relatively low adoption rates. While Canada's early implementation of EMV payments in 2010 suggests a favourable environment for Apple Pay, the system's inherent shortcomings remain the same.
Rod Hsu, President of nTrust, a Canadian FinTech company, points out several drawbacks that may prevent the payment tool from gaining mass traction:
-- Maximum limit: Similar to paying via credit card through tap, Apple Pay has a transaction limit of $100. This makes the tool an appropriate method for small purchases, but unusable for larger transactions such as a sizable grocery shop, high-end meal, or most electronic or clothing purchases. With the average credit card transaction just over $100 in Canada, users will still be required to carry their card. -- Merchant adoption: While a comparably larger number of recognizable shops and services -- including McDonald's, London Drugs, Tim Hortons, Canadian Tire, Petro-Canada, and Pizza Hut -- are equipped to accept Apple Pay in Canada, many local favourites don't yet have a tap-enabled point of sales system. This may irritate users, who will be forced to carry their credit and debit card as a back up. -- Overspending: Similar to other tap-and-pay options, the ease of paying via mobile makes overspending likely. The step away from tangible cash transactions often leads to a rise in spending, as micro-transactions add up over time. Canadian households already reached a new record average debt at the end of 2015. Considering consumers are more likely to reach for their phones than their wallets, this becomes a particular concern.
According to Hsu, Apple Pay has the potential to encourage wider adoption of tap-and-pay technology by both merchants and consumers. However, improving overall usability is necessary for Apple Pay to truly excel in Canada.
About nTrust
nTrust is a rapidly growing online and mobile money transfer platform that helps people around the world instantly move and access their money. Using nTrust, members can send money to friends, cash out to their bank account, spend money through their phone, or load funds to a prepaid card to use anywhere the MasterCard Acceptance Mark is displayed, online or in-person. nTrust's proprietary technology uses the highest encryption standards and is "PCI-DSS Level 1" certified, which remains the top global standard for operational and technical security designed by Visa, MasterCard, and American Express.
Contacts:
Miranda Thorne
604.738.2220
miranda@talkshopmedia.com
The U.S. Education Department this morning releases its new Civil Rights Data Collection , the most comprehensive information to date on educational opportunity and equity in every public school and district in the country.
Heres what you need to know:
What Is the Civil Rights Data Collection?
Every two years since 1968, the Education Department has collected information on demographics and educational opportunities for students of different genders, races, English-proficiency levels, and disabilities. These data are used both for enforcement of federal civil rights laws and for research to improve education for these students.
The data released today are from the 2013-14 school years; the Education Department is collecting 2015-16 data now.
Which Schools Are Included in the CRDC?
For most of the collections history, it has included only a representative sample of districts from each state. In 2000, and then from 2011-12 onward, the Education Department collected information from every public school in the country that spends at least 50 percent of each day on educational services. This includes charter and magnet schools, juvenile justice facilities, virtual schools, alternative schools for students with disabilities. Note, the collection does not include public schools on tribal lands and military bases, or private schools, day-care centers, or programs for children under age 2.
Whats New in the CRDC?
The collection today is significantly more detailed than the original 1968 survey. Schools and districts must report the general demographics of their students, as well as statistics on discipline, bullying, uses of restraint and seclusion, single-sex education programs, early-childhood education (from age 3 on), pathways to college and career, school finance, and teacher quality and equity.
The 2013-14 collection will answer several new questions, including:
How many teachers in preschool-12th grades do not meet state licensing or certification requirements?
How many schools have a police officer assigned to the campus?
What types of incidents trigger schools to call in law enforcement for discipline?
How many hours a week do juvenile justice facilities provide educational programs?
How Accurate Is the Civil Rights Data Collection?
Most of the data are broken down by race/ethnicity, sex, disability, and English-language-learner status, highlighting disparities for key indicators throughout a childs academic career. Historically, about 95 percent of surveyed districts respondedand that is up to more than 99 percent so far for 2013-14however, data are self-reported by schools and districts, and previous collections have been criticized for missing and inaccurate data .
For 2013-14, the Education Department put in more reviews and audits to check the data before it is made public. The department held pre-collection focus groups and training to ensure those reporting the data understood the questions being asked. Each district must review its own data and certify that they are accurate before the information is included, and any missing data will be marked in the collections tables.
Also, the Education Department continuously refines its definitions to dig out the information important to equity decisions. For example, the 2011-12 data included in its count of teacher absences days off for professional development; the 2013-14 data excludes professional development from counts of teachers absent 10 days or more.
The data are available at ocrdata.ed.gov .
Related:
CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Eguana Technologies Inc. (TSX VENTURE: EGT)(OTCQB: EGTYF) is pleased to announce that its customer Ampere Energy Power S.L. (Ampere) is nominated for the prestigious ees Award for its innovative "Sphere" storage system.
At ees Europe, Ampere will present it's highly innovative energy storage system "Sphere" for the first time to the public. The ees Europe tradeshow and conference runs in conjunction with Intersolar Europe, held in Munich (Germany) from 22 to 24 June, 2016. The "Sphere" product, which can be seen at Ampere's booth (# B1.450) is powered by Eguana's patented Bi-Direx power control solution (PCS).
"We have targeted Europe partnerships this year and are pleased to have Bi-Direx power the Ampere "Sphere" system. Ampere has chosen our technology for its advanced grid features and integration flexibility, which enabled their aesthetically driven design." said Martin Duerr, Director of Business Development at Eguana Technologies. "The nomination for the ees Award is well deserved and we believe Ampere is poised to become one of the leading energy storage system providers in Europe."
Apart from using industrial-grade high quality components as Eguana's patented Bi-Direx PCS, the system shows a completely different approach compared to common energy storage systems. Not only because of it's spherical shape and advanced modern design but also due to ease of installation and possibility of using wireless energy meters, the system is ideally suited to be installed in nearly any private household. "For the first time, applications of domestic energy storage systems will also be possible for private households that do not own a house or flat. With this system architecture, we even allow participation in the energy transition also for people without a Solar PV system on their roof", explains Ander Muelas, CEO of Ampere Energy.
Ten finalists for the ees Award have been announced, and the winner will be revealed at ees Europe on Wednesday, 22 June. For more information, please visit: https://www.intersolar.de/en/news-press/news/award-finalists-2016.html
About Ampere Power Energy S.L.:
Ampere Energy is a system integration and solution provider headquartered in Valencia (Spain) which develops, manufactures and markets Energy Storage systems and solutions from kWh scale up to MWh scale. Ampere Energy provides their costumers the key tool for developing and executing new business models in the transforming energy sector: Battery-based Energy Storage solutions from small (kWh) to large scale (MWh). Ampere Energy is a full solution and service provider, offering turnkey solutions, which are easily deployable and installable. Therefore, customers are able to focus on their core business and benefit from the most innovative battery technology. Through the advanced EMS system, customers can benefit and/or offer business models in renewable energy integration, primary reserve control, grid enhancement reduction or self consumption increase or various of these benefits together. Please visit http://ampere-energy.com/ampere-energy-%28en%29.html for more information.
About Eguana Technologies Inc.:
Eguana Technologies Inc. (TSX VENTURE: EGT)(OTCQB: EGTYF) designs and manufactures high performance power controls for residential and commercial energy storage systems. Eguana has more than 15 years' experience delivering grid edge power electronics for fuel cell, photovoltaic and battery applications and delivers proven, durable, high quality solutions from its high capacity manufacturing facilities in Europe and North America.
With thousands of its proprietary energy storage inverters deployed in the European and North American markets, Eguana is the leading supplier of power controls for solar self-consumption, grid services and demand charge applications at the grid edge.
To learn more, visit www.EguanaTech.com or follow us on Twitter, https://twitter.com/EguanaTech.
Forward-Looking Information
Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and involves a number of risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or future events or developments, to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information, which speaks only as of the date hereof. Readers are also directed to the Risk Factors section of the Company's current Annual Information Form which may be found on its website or at sedar.com The Company does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking information contained herein to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
Company Inquiries
Justin Holland
CEO, Eguana Technologies Inc.
+1.416.728.7635
Justin.Holland@EguanaTech.com
Business Development Inquiries
Martin Duerr
Director Business Development, Eguana Technologies Inc.
+1.416.318.6675
Martin.Duerr@EguanaTech.com
www.EguanaTech.com
ATLANTA, GA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- True Nature Holding, Inc. (OTCQB: TNTY) ("the Company") today announced that it has appointed Mr. James Driscoll as CEO. Former CEO Steve Keaveney will remain with the Company as CFO.
Steve Keaveney stated, "I am delighted that Jim Driscoll will succeed me as CEO and assist us in managing our significant future growth. Jim recently joined our Board of Directors and made an immediate impact. His diverse experience in operations and significant leadership ability are a great asset to the management team."
"The True Nature management team is embarking on an exciting period of growth," stated newly appointed CEO James Driscoll. "I am thrilled to join in the leadership of this Company at a unique time when there is a need and opportunity for consolidation in the industry due to changes in the regulatory environment."
In addition to his position at True Nature, Mr. Driscoll, 54, is currently CEO of Channel Terminals, LLC, a crude oil liquids terminals and refinery based in Houston, TX. He serves as an Advisory Board Member at HealPros LLC and Funding University LLC. He has an MBA from Harvard University and a BA in English Literature from Bowdoin College.
Mr. Keaveney continued, "I look forward to working with Jim to build value for our shareholders by taking a leadership position in the compounding pharmacy industry. We recently closed our first acquisition, have two acquisitions under letter of intent and more under consideration giving us an exciting pipeline for future growth."
Mr. Keaveney said, "We are also excited to be working with Dawson James Securities, our investment banker, to evaluate capital market options. We hope to complete the previously announced transactions in the third quarter of 2016. We plan to enter into additional transactions during 2016 dependent upon finding suitable acquisition opportunities and financing. We are also fortunate to have great professional partners including the law firm of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, our auditors Hancock Askew and Investor Relations firm, The Chesapeake Group."
About True Nature Holding, Inc.: True Nature plans to acquire compounding pharmacies which have specialty formulations and are seeking a larger market. These pharmacies may serve both the human and veterinary markets. The Company intends to develop a network of compounding pharmacy operations, with both 503(a) and 503(b) facilities, to provide products for not just a single user but also for stocking inventory at doctor's offices and hospitals. To achieve its goals, it intends to establish a national online pharmacy, True Nature Pharmacy, which will market its product mix through online distribution channels.
Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
As contemplated by the provisions of the Safe Harbor section of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, this news release contains forward-looking statements pertaining to future, anticipated, or projected plans, performances and developments, as well as other statements relating to future operations. All such forward-looking statements are necessarily only estimates or predictions of future results or events and there can be no assurance that actual results or events will not materially differ from expectations. Further information on potential factors that could affect True Nature Holding, Inc. is included in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We expressly disclaim any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
For more information, please contact:
Stephen Keaveney
Chief Financial Officer
True Nature Holding, Inc.
404-254-6980
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Vatic Ventures Corp. (the "Company" or "Vatic") (NEX: VCV.H)(FRANKFURT: V8V) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an assignment and purchase agreement (the "Agreement") to acquire 80% of the issued and outstanding shares (the "Shares") of Saksrithai Development Co. Ltd. ("Saksrithai"), a Thailand company which holds two special prospecting licenses ("SPLs") for the exploration of potash.
The two licenses, which are contiguous, are located in the northern Thailand province of Nakkon Ratchasinna and comprise an area of approximately 32 km2. The property is located in the western part of the Khorat Basin in the Khorat Plateau which contains a large evaporate basin of Cretaceous age.
Pursuant to the Agreement the Company is acquiring the rights of Red Branch Investments Ltd. a Hong Kong incorporated company ("Red Branch") to acquire the Shares pursuant to a memorandum of understanding entered into among the holders of the Shares of Saksrithai (the "Saksrithai Shareholders"), Saksrithai and Red Branch dated February 26, 2016 which is in the process of being superseded by a share purchase agreement (the "Underlying Acquisition Agreement"). In accordance with the terms of the Underlying Acquisition Agreement, as assigned to the Company, the Company has the right to purchase the Shares by paying the Saksrithai Shareholders THB 8,000,000 (8,000,000 Thai Baht, the currency of Thailand, which equates to approximately US$220,000). The Underlying Acquisition Agreement also provides that subsequent to Red Branch or its assigns purchasing the Shares, Red Branch or its assigns will fund a THB 50 million (approximately US$1.4 million) first stage exploration and development program which will include sufficient funding to satisfy work and expenditure commitments under the SPLs, to pay the Thailand project expenses and funding for general and administrative expenses in Thailand and Canada. In the event that the full amount of THB 50 million is not expended the Saksrithai Shareholders will be entitled to a cash payment of 20% of the unspent balance,
As consideration for the Agreement, the Company will issue 5.2 million common shares to Red Branch plus a 1% NSR on the property. The NSR can be purchased by the Company at any time for US$1 million.
Upon closing of the transaction Gerry Wright, the principal of Red Branch, will be joining the board of directors of the Company. Mr. Wright is a Professional Engineer and holds a Doctorate in Engineering from Queen's University, Belfast. He has over 30 years' experience in the minerals exploration and development industry in Asia, North America, Europe and Africa, serving as a Senior Officer and Director of a number of public and private companies. He has extensive experience and knowledge of the potash resources underlying Thailand's Khorat Plateau and the regional potash industry. As CEO of Asia Pacific resources Ltd., he was directly responsible for acquisition, financing and development of Asia's most significant potash discovery.
The Company also announces a unit private placement financing of up to $1 million consisting of up to 10 million units, with each unit being comprised of one common share and one share purchase warrant exercisable for 2 years at a price of $0.15 (the "Financing"). Up to $100,000 of the Financing will be distributed pursuant to BC Instrument 45-536 and used for the proposed acquisition with the remainder to be distributed under other exemptions and used for the proposed acquisition and working capital purposes. There is no material fact that has not been generally disclosed.
Upon completion of the proposed acquisition and Financing the Company expects to be reinstated to the TSX Venture Exchange. The transaction is subject to TSX.V regulatory approval.
ABOUT VATIC VENTURES CORP.
Vatic Ventures Corp (www.vaticventures.com) is a junior exploration company and continues to assess new opportunities and prospects.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD "Nasim Tyab" Nasim Tyab, Chairman and CEO Vatic Ventures Corp.
NEITHER THE NEX BOARD OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.
Contacts:
Nasim Tyab, CEO
nasim@vaticventures.com
604-566-9399
Welcome to Liberty Island--Bond No. 9's lush and lively Summer '16 scent, celebrating the world's most famous island,home of the world's most celebrated symbol of freedom-the torch-bearing Statue of Liberty.
NEW YORK, June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --New York-centric Bond No. 9 has a summertime tradition launching fresh and breezy island and beach scents. Coney Island was the first. Then came Fire Island, Montauk, Hamptons and Shelter Island. But for summer 2016, we take a different tack and pay homage to a destination island of a totally different sort. Arriving in time for Independence Day, we are utterly proud to introduce Liberty Island-the world's most famous island, visited by four million freedom-lovers a year. Yes, a joyous eau de parfum honoring the hallowed 12-acre tract of land in Upper New York Bay that is home to none other than the crown-wearing, torch-bearing, 151-foot tall, Franco-American Statue of Liberty itself.
Experience the interactive Multimedia News Release here: http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7853051-bond-no-9-liberty-island/
Liberty Island, the eau de parfum, is a joyous, sparkling fruity-floral summertime blend that, in keeping with democratic precepts, is wearable by women and men alike. Its starter notes-citrussy bergamot essence and mandarin essence, along with tangy blackcurrant-willrivet your attention. Then comes the lush heart notes, orange blossom absolute and jasmine, which are there, frankly, to seduce. (It's summertime, after all.) These segue into a lingering base with a high percentage of heady musk mingled with sugary marshmallow-a time-out flavor, if ever there was one.
Bond No. 9's Liberty Island superstarbottle is rendered in shining, semi-transparent cobalt blue. Randomly strewn on its surface is a network of jaunty and effervescent white stars-co-opted from both the Star-Spangled Banner and Miss Liberty's irregularly star-shaped base.
Liberty Island arrives on counter June 2016.
Available at Bond No. 9 New York Boutiques, Saks Fifth Avenue nationwide, select Bloomingdales stores, Harrods UK, and www.bondno9.com
Price: 100ml, $295; 50ml, $220
www.bondno9.com
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A slim majority of Americans think marijuana should be legalized, according to a new Quinnipiac University National poll. The poll found that 54 percent of Americans think marijuana should be made legal in the U.S., while 41 percent disagree. Men support the legalization of marijuana 60 percent to 37 percent, while women are divided, with 48 percent in favor and 46 percent opposed. Republicans and older voters are opposed to legalizing marijuana, although most other demographics support legalization. 'The fact that a majority of American voters favors legalizing marijuana in general shows how attitudes about the drug have changed,' said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. The poll also found that the vast majority of Americans support prescribing marijuana in pill form to veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The Quinnipiac survey of 1,561 registered voters was conducted May 24th through 30th and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Regulatory News:
Arkema's (Paris:AKE) combined shareholders general meeting was held on 7 June under the chairmanship of Thierry Le Henaff, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The shareholders adopted all resolutions recommended by the Board of Directors, including:
The approval of the 2015 Company's and consolidated financial statements,
The re-election of Thierry Le Henaff as director for a four-year term,
The payment of a dividend of 1.90 per share effective 13 June 2016, and
Various delegations of authority and financial authorizations granted to the Board of Directors.
The Board of Directors, which met immediately after the shareholders' meeting, decided to reappoint Thierry Le Henaff as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for the duration of his term of office as director.
During this annual general meeting, Thierry Le Henaff came back on the tenth anniversary of Arkema's stock market listing and the in-depth transformation undertaken by the Group since 2006. Throughout this period, the Group changed considerably with the speeding-up of the development of its High Performance Materials division, its excellent achievements in occupational safety and environmental protection, and its strong technological innovation drive.
More efficient, more resilient and with a balanced geographic presence, the Group successfully created, over the last ten years, a lot of value for both its shareholders and its stakeholders, as reflected by its stock market performance and the significant growth of its dividend.
After detailing the 2015 highlights, including the success of the Kerteh thiochemicals platform start-up in Malaysia and of the integration of Bostik, Thierry Le Henaff concluded his presentation by setting out the Group's ambition and key priorities over the long term.
Thierry Lemonnier, Chief Financial Officer, then presented Arkema's excellent financial performance in 2015 and early 2016, and confirmed the Group's outlook for the year.
Lastly, Thierry Morin, Chairman of the Nominating, Compensation and Corporate Governance Committee, presented the Company's latest developments in corporate governance and compensation matters, with further implementation of the best practices in these areas.
The full results of the votes will be available in the coming days on the Company's website www.arkema.com
A designer of materials and innovative solutions, Arkema shapes materials and creates new uses that accelerate customer performance. Our balanced business portfolio spans high-performance materials, industrial specialties and coating solutions. Our globally recognized brands are ranked among the leaders in the markets we serve. Reporting annual sales of 7.7 billion in 2015, we employ approximately 19,000 people worldwide and operate in close to 50 countries. We are committed to active engagement with all our stakeholders. Our research centers in North America, France and Asia concentrate on advances in bio-based products, new energies, water management, electronic solutions, lightweight materials and design, home efficiency and insulation. For the latest, visit. www.arkema.com
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160607006197/en/
Contacts:
Arkema
Investor Relations:
Sophie Fouillat, Tel.: +33 1 49 00 86 37
E-mail: sophie.fouillat@arkema.com
or
Francois Ruas, Tel.: +33 1 49 00 72 07
E-mail: francois.ruas@arkema.com
or
Press Contacts:
Gilles Galinier, Tel.: +33 1 49 00 70 07
E-mail: gilles.galinier@arkema.com
or
Sophie Suc, Tel.: +33 6 22 02 24 64
E-mail: sophie.suc@arkema.com
DUBAI, UAE, June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai (Moorfields) was the winner of the 'International Eye Clinic of the Year' award at the annual IMTJ Medical Travel Awards 2016, held recently in Madrid, Spain. The awards attract entries from hospitals and clinics around the world. Moorfields won the international medical tourism award for its success in attracting international patients to Dubai.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160607/376375 )
Moorfields actively supports Dubai Healthcare City's programme to develop healthcare tourism, which focuses on a number of key clinical areas, including eye care. Since opening the hospital in Dubai in 2007, Moorfields has treated more than 100,000 patients from over 180 countries, many from the GCC and wider Middle East region in addition to the UAE, for some of the most complex eye conditions.
The International Eye Clinic of the Year award is presented to the eye clinic that demonstrates the greatest success in attracting and serving international patients (medical tourists) with evidence of the numbers and type of medical tourists/patients treated and country of origin, quality and range of services provided and patient satisfaction.
The awards were presented on 24th May at a high profile reception in Madrid, during the International Medical Travel Journal Medical Travel Summit, which brought together all the pre-eminent providers and experts in medical travel and medical tourism sectors.
Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai was also the winner of the 'International Patient Care Team of the Year' at the 10th World Healthcare Tourism Congress awards, 2015, held in Dubai.
Commenting on the latest award success, Maha Aboughali - Business Development and Marketing Director at Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai - who accepted the award on behalf of the hospital, said: "The Moorfields team in Dubai was thrilled to win this prestigious international award at the IMTJ Medical Travel Awards for 2016. It is our latest international award success and a testament to the hard work we have put in since we opened the hospital in Dubai in 2007, which includes supporting Dubai's healthcare tourism objectives. We have treated more than 100,000 patients from over 180 countries, through our unique consultant-led service, and it is especially gratifying to have such positive feedback from patients who are treated away from the familiar comforts of home and family."
Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai is the first overseas branch of the Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London. The hospital provides the full spectrum of eye care related services from basic screening to complex eye surgeries, managed through a resident and visiting team of Consultant Ophthalmologists.
The hospital has replicated the excellent standards of its 'parent facility' in London, relating to clinical care, training, teaching, as well as research. Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai meets these standards, while patient care revolves around exceeding patient expectations and providing a customised VIP service.
TheIMTJ Medical Travel Awardsare owned, organised and produced by theInternational Medical Travel Journal (IMTJ)publishing and editorial team, which provides insight into the medical travel and medical tourism sector.
Chairman of the judging panel and Managing Editor of IMTJ Keith Pollard says the awards celebrate the best providers in the industry and aim to encourage others to strive to match them: "Medical travel is an exciting and growing global industry, with many providers delivering excellence in both medical care and customer service. The judges wanted to reward innovation and excellence, highlight best practice and celebrate those who are leading the way in the industry and delivering successful outcomes for patients. All our winners exemplify the way the medical tourism industry should be run - professional, offering exceptional patient care and providing the best possible medical outcomes."
Notes to editors:
About Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai
Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai (MEHD) is the first overseas branch of Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the oldest and one of the largest centres for ophthalmic treatment, teaching and research in the world. Located at the Al Razi Medical Complex in Dubai Health Care City, the facility provides day case surgery and outpatient diagnostic and treatment services, for a variety of surgical and non-surgical eye conditions. MEHD will also raise standards for research and teaching in the region. MEHD is owned and managed by the NHS Foundation Trust, and maintains close links with London, to ensure that patients in the GCC receive the best eye care treatment in the world.
About IMTJ
The International Medical Travel Journal ( http://www.imtj.com) provides insight into the medical travel and medical tourism sector. IMTJ was established in 2007 in response to the increasing interest in medical travel and medical tourism. It embraces many of the themes that challenge healthcare providers across the world - insurance, accreditation, marketing and promotion, quality, patient safety, levels of care and experience in treating international patients.
IMTJ is independent of the associations and special interest groups that have come aboard the medical tourism bandwagon. Our aim is to create a central focus for information, resources and opinion on medical travel for those involved in the industry, anywhere in the world.
The internationalisation of healthcare through health tourismis at the heart of IMTJ. Patients are becoming healthcare consumers and in many countries, patient choice is being extended to surgery and treatment provided by international hospitals and clinics. By sharing expertise, knowledge, and views about the health travelindustry, IMTJ helps to ensure that patient expectations are met, and that the industry maintains a high reputation.
TheInternational Medical Travel Journal(IMTJ) is owned and managed byIntuition Communication, a specialist publisher of consumer and business-to-business information on private healthcare and medical travel.The company also operates a consumer facing portal for medical tourism -Treatment Abroad.
Issued on behalf of Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai by WPR.
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- TC Transcontinental (TSX: TCL.A)(TSX: TCL.B) has once again been named one of Canada's 50 best corporate citizens in the prestigious Corporate Knights ranking. The fact that TC Transcontinental received this honour again in 2016 attests to the Corporation's commitment to social responsibility and its determination to follow through by putting forward a well-structured approach implemented with three-year plans.
The Corporate Knights ranking, now in its 15th year, measures the social, environmental and governance performance of contending companies. TC Transcontinental has appeared regularly in the list over the years, and in 2016 the Corporation is ranked in position 40.
"It is an honor for TC Transcontinental to be included once again in the Corporate Knights ranking," said Francois Olivier, President and Chief Executive Officer of TC Transcontinental. "This recognition crowns our achievements which were accomplished thanks to the collaboration of our employees and inspires us for the future. In a spirit of continuity and encouraged by this success, we have developed our 2016-2018 plan with a focus on the same themes related to employees, communities and the environment, and enhanced it with objectives linked to prosperity. This plan is a great source of pride for us and together, we will continue on this journey in order to drive sustainable results."
To view the latest TC Transcontinental Corporate Social Responsibility Report, entitled Guide. Mobilize. Achieve., marking the completion of the 2013-2015 three-year plan, click here.
The Corporation also released its new plan for 2016-2018, Driving Sustainable Results, which can be viewed here.
For more information about the Corporate Knights ranking, click here.
About TC Transcontinental
Canada's largest printer with operations in print, flexible packaging, publishing and digital media, TC Transcontinental's mission is to create products and services that allow businesses to attract, reach and retain their target customers.
Respect, teamwork, performance and innovation are strong values held by the Corporation and its employees. The Corporation's commitment to all stakeholders is to pursue its business and philanthropic activities in a responsible manner.
Transcontinental Inc. (TSX: TCL.A)(TSX: TCL.B), known as TC Transcontinental, has close to 8,000 employees in Canada and the United States, and revenues of C$2.0 billion in 2015. Website: www.tc.tc
Contacts:
Media
Nathalie St-Jean
Senior Advisor, Communications
TC Transcontinental
514-954-3581
nathalie.st-jean@tc.tc
Financial Community
Jennifer F. McCaughey
Vice President, Communications
TC Transcontinental
514-954-2821
jennifer.mccaughey@tc.tc / www.tc.tc
HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Ucore Rare Metals, Inc. (TSX VENTURE: UCU)(OTCQX: UURAF) ("Ucore" or the "Company") is pleased to update on the continuing performance of the SuperLig-One rare earth element ("REE") separation pilot plant (the "Plant" or "SuperLig-One".)
Pregnant leach solution ("PLS") derived from the Company's Bokan-Dotson Ridge project in Alaska has been treated by the SuperLig-One Molecular Recognition Technology ("MRT") Plant, at the IBC Advanced Technologies, Inc. ("IBC") Utah facility. The PLS was initially separated from impurity metals ("Gangue Metals") (see Ucore Press Release ("PR"), dated May 9, 2016) followed by the removal of scandium (see Ucore PR dated May 24, 2016.)
In the latest separation circuit, the PLS has now been separated into two classes of REE: heavy REE, comprised of samarium to lutetium ("HREE") and light REE, comprised of lanthanum to neodymium plus yttrium ("LREE"). The class separations have been achieved at 99%+ purity and 99%+ recovery.
The foregoing represents the final stage of processing prior to the separation of individual Critical HREE ("Heavy CREOs") from the remaining PLS. The Heavy CREOs, which include dysprosium, terbium and europium, are classified by the US Department of Energy as being critically important to the near term viability of domestic clean energy applications and industries.
"The SuperLig-One pilot facility has again delivered results that represent near quantitative levels of recovery and purity," said Jim McKenzie, President and CEO of Ucore. "This ability differentiates MRT from less selective technologies such as solvent extraction, ion exchange, and precipitation ("Legacy Separation Technologies"), which consume significant quantities of solvents and hazardous chemicals. These legacy methodologies are also characterized by substantial waste generation, much of it in the form of unrecoverable REE. SuperLig-One, by contrast, is the first commercial scale green chemistry platform that we are aware of capable of separating and recovering HREE and LREE classes at both a 99%+ level of purity and a 99%+ level of recovery."
Since announcement of the completion of SuperLig certifications; PLS analysis; automation control verification; water testing; process flow testing of the Plant; REE separation, as a group, from the Gangue Metals; and scandium separation from the group of REE; the following results have been achieved using the SuperLig-One Plant:
-- Separation of REE into HREE and LREE Classes - HREE and LREE groups were separated from each other at the 99%+ level. Each class contains a minimum of 99% of the HREE and LREE, respectively, originally present in the PLS. Recovery of greater than 99% of 99%+ pure HREE and LREE is in sharp contrast to the processing of REE-bearing solutions using other, less selective Legacy Separation Technologies, wherein large percentages of the initial REE may end up as waste in tailings. The highly selective, green chemistry SuperLigr-One separations make the HREE and LREE classes available for further separations, as desired, of individual pure REE free from Gangue Metals. -- REE Purity - Purity of each of the HREE and LREE classes is greater than 99% versus Gangue Metals and other REE. Prior removal of the Gangue Metals and separation of the REE into distinct classes greatly simplifies the further purification of the PLS to obtain individual REE. -- Verification of Purities and Confirmation of Scale-up Parameters - Purities and recoveries of the HREE and LREE classes from the PLS have been verified analytically at IBC using inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy ("ICP".) Purities and recovery rates obtained are consistent with those found earlier in lab-scale test work at IBC (see PR dated March 2, 2015), in which purities of the individually separated REE were verified by an independent analytical laboratory, confirming that the SuperLigr-One Plant is scaling as expected. Scaling of the Plant is enhanced by the numerical knowledge of all operating parameters at the molecular level, which were determined previously at laboratory scale. Subsequent scaling then follows directly using well known chemical engineering principles, as seen in the functioning SuperLigr- One Plant.
The SuperLig-One Plant offers a disruptive technology platform for diversifying, from commercial, geographical and technological perspectives, the separation and processing of REE. Currently concentrated in China, present-day REE processing is oligopolistic and depends upon an installed base of Legacy Separation Technologies. The introduction of efficient, innovative, green chemistry REE production using MRT is expected to substantially alter this dynamic and strengthen the domestic, commercial, and military economies of the United States and other nations that depend on reliable and efficiently processed sources of rare metals, such as REE, for an environmentally sustainable and prosperous future.
Advanced Development
The next stages of the SuperLig-One Plant operation will demonstrate the separation of the individual Heavy CREOs, as well as two HREE sub-groups, as follows:
-- Separation and recovery of dysprosium at 99.99% purity. -- Individual separation and recovery of terbium and europium, each at 99%+ purity. -- Separation and recovery of an HREE sub-group containing holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium at the 99%+ purity level. This sub- group will be retained for further separations. -- Separation and recovery of an HREE sub-group containing samarium and gadolinium at the 99%+ purity level. This sub-group will be retained for further separations.
The recently separated 99%+ pure LREE class will be retained for future separations, as required.
Following confirmatory testing of each unit operation, the Plant will undergo a continuous run of PLS.
For further information on the SuperLig-One Pilot Plant Mission Summary, please see the following link: http://ucore.com/superlig-one
For background on traditional approaches to separation of REE and the historical advance offered by MRT, please refer to the recently published White Paper on Separation of Rare Earth Elements, entitled "Molecular Recognition Technology: A Green Chemistry Process for Separation of Individual Rare Earth Metals", at the following link: http://ucore.com/academic-papers
Steven R. Izatt, President and CEO of IBC, has approved the scientific and technical content of this news release and is the Qualified Person responsible for its accuracy. Mr. Izatt, Registered Member of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration ("SME"), holds a B.A. degree in Chemistry from Brigham Young University ("BYU"), as well as an M.S. degree in Chemical Engineering Practice and an M.S. degree in Technology and Policy, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ("MIT".)
Background
Ucore Rare Metals is a development-phase company focused on rare metals resources, extraction and beneficiation technologies with near term potential for production, growth and scalability. On March 3, 2015, Ucore announced the right to acquire a controlling ownership interest in the exclusive rights to IBC SuperLig technology for rare earths and multi-metallic tailings processing applications in North America and associated world markets. The Company has a 100% ownership stake in the Bokan project. On March 31, 2014, Ucore announced the unanimous support of the Alaska State Legislature for the investment of up to USD $145 Million in the Bokan project at the discretion of the Alaska Import Development and Export Agency ("AIDEA").
Cautionary Notes
This press release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address future exploration drilling, exploration activities, research and development timelines, and events or developments that the Company expects, are forward looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include exploitation and exploration successes or setbacks, research and develop successes or setbacks, continued availability of financing, and general economic, market or business conditions.
MRT is at advanced testing stages and has yet to be proven, at a commercial scale, for the separation of rare earth elements. The Company has not yet released an economic assessment on the use of MRT for the separation of rare earth elements and does not yet have any specific contracts for the processing of rare earths using MRT.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined by the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
Ucore Rare Metals Inc.
Mr. Jim McKenzie
President and Chief Executive Officer
+1 (902) 482-5214
www.ucore.com
TORONTO, June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
C$ unless otherwise stated
TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC
SEHK:945
Manulife Financial Corporation ("MFC") announced today that it has priced an offering in Taiwan of U.S. $1 billion principal amount of 4.70% senior notes due June 23, 2046 (the "Notes"). The offering will be made pursuant to a prospectus supplement dated June 7, 2016 to MFC's existing base shelf prospectus. The Notes will bear interest at a fixed rate of 4.70% and will mature on June 23, 2046.
"Similar to recently completed transactions in Singapore and the United States, this offering is an important part of our global strategy to diversify funding sources. We are pleased with the demand it generated as well as its attractive pricing and features," said Steve Roder, Chief Financial Officer. "We anticipate that these issues will further strengthen our already strong capitalization, even after funding potential redemptions later this year and completing the previously announced pension transaction with Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong."
Roy Gori, President and Chief Executive Officer of Manulife Asia, said, "The demand for our offering in Taiwan reflects Manulife's strong presence and brand awareness in Asia. It also provides a great opportunity to broaden our relationships with our bank partners in the region."
The Notes will be subject to redemption in whole, but not in part, at the option of MFC, on June 23, 2021 and thereafter on every June 23rd, on not less than 30 nor more than 60 days' prior notice, at a redemption price equal to 100% of the principal amount thereof, together with accrued and unpaid interest thereon to, but excluding, the redemption date. The Notes will be direct unsecured obligations of MFC and rank equally in right of payment with all of its existing and future unsecured and unsubordinated indebtedness.
The Notes have not been, and will not be, offered, sold or re-sold, directly, or indirectly, to purchasers other than "professional institutional investors" as defined under Paragraph 2, Article 4 of the Financial Consumer Protection Act of the Republic of China. Purchasers of the Notes are not permitted to sell or otherwise dispose of the Notes except by transfer to a professional institutional investor.
The offering is expected to close on or about June 23, 2016. Applicationwill bemade to the Taipei Exchange (the "TPEx") for the listing of, and permission to deal in, the Notes by way of debt issues to professional institutional investors only and such permission is expected to become effective on or about June 23, 2016. Listing will be subject to MFC fulfilling all the listing requirements of the TPEx.
BNP Paribas, Taipei Branch, HSBC Bank (Taiwan) Limited and Standard Chartered Bank (Taiwan) Limited have been appointed as managers and joint-bookrunners and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, Taipei Branchhas been appointed as a manager for the offering.
MFC intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes.
The Notes have not been and will not be registered in the United States under theUnited States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or the securities laws of any state of the United States or other jurisdiction and may not be offered or sold within the United States, or to, or for the account or benefit of, "U.S. persons" (as defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act) except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable state or local securities law. The offering will be made solely to non-U.S. persons in offshore transactions pursuant to Regulation S under the Securities Act. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy securities in the United States or any other jurisdiction where it is unlawful to do so.
The Notes will not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, in Canada or to any resident of Canada.
About Manulife
Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group providing forward-thinking solutions to help people with their big financial decisions.We operate as John Hancock in the United States, and Manulife elsewhere.We provide financial advice, insurance and wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions.At the end of 2015, we had approximately 34,000 employees, 63,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving 20 million customers.At the end of March 2016, we had $904 billion (US$697 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made more than $24.9 billion in benefits, interest and other payments to our customers.Our principal operations are in Asia, Canada and the United States where we have served customers for more than 100 years.With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong.
Media inquiries: Sean B. Pasternak, Manulife (Toronto), +1-416-852-2745, sean_pasternak@manulife.com; Saijal Patel, Manulife Asia, +1-852-2202-1382, saijal_patel@manulife.com; Investor Relations: Robert Veloso, Manulife (Toronto), +1-416-852-8982, robert_veloso@manulife.com; Eileen Tam, Manulife Asia, +1-852-2510-5888, eileen_tam@manulife.com
Updated
A 20-state review of research and policies from the federal Institute of Education Sciences found no clear-cut process for identifying English-language learners with learning disabilities.
The report from the institutes Regional Education Laboratory West, operated by WestEd, found that states and schools often have trouble drawing distinctions between English-learner students who struggle with the language and those who have learning disabilities.
Last summer, my colleague Christina Samuels addressed this very topic on her On Special Education blog , writing that states and districts are struggling both to identify these children and to steer them to effective programs.
Thats partly because schools have poorly designed and implemented referral processes and a lack of understanding about why English-learner students are not making adequate progress, the institutes latest report argues.
Culling from the guidelines and protocols used by the 20 states with the largest ELL populations, the brief offers a set of recommendations to better identify and support English-learner students who may have learning disabilities. The suggestions include:
Relying on additional considerations, such as previous education experience, fluency in his or her first language, attitude toward learning English, and parent input, when determining whether English-learner students should be placed in special education programs.
Establishing exit criteria for English-learner-support programs for EL students in special education.
Providing test accommodations for English-learner students .
. Producing manuals to aid classroom educators in identifying and supporting English-learner students who may have learning disabilities.
Among the states with the largest ELL populations, only fiveConnecticut , Illinois , Michigan , Minnesota , and Virginia have publicly available manuals designed to aid educators. Among those, only the Illinois and Minnesota guides explore how a childs cultural background or acculturation process might lead to misdiagnosis. And only the Illinois manual outlines a professional development program for educators serving English-learners who may have disabilities.
Heres a look at the brief:
Strategies to Identify and Support English Learners With Learning Disabilities
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Ralph Lauren Corp. (RL) said it will rightsize the cost structure and implement an ROI-driven financial model to free up resources to invest in the brand and drive high-quality sales. The new plan includes strengthening the leadership team and creating a more nimble organization by moving from an average of 9 to 6 layers.
The Restructuring Plan will result in a reduction in workforce and the closure of certain stores.
RL is currently trading at $88.75, down $7.58 or 7.87% percent.
The company expects its Fiscal 2017 restructuring activities to result in approximately $180-$220 million of annualized expense savings related to its initiatives to streamline the organizational structure and rightsize its cost structure and real estate portfolio. This is in addition to the $125 million of annualized cost savings associated with the Company's Fiscal 2016 restructuring activities.
The company expects to incur restructuring charges of up to $400 million as a result of the Fiscal 2017 restructuring activities and up to a $150 million inventory charge associated with the reduction of inventory out of current liquidation channels in line with the Company's Way Forward Plan. These charges are expected to be substantially realized by the end of Fiscal 2017.
In the first quarter of Fiscal 2017, the Company expects consolidated net revenues to decline at a mid-single digit rate. Operating margin for the first quarter of Fiscal 2017 is expected to be approximately 110-160 basis points below the comparable prior year period. The first quarter tax rate is estimated to be approximately 29%.
The Company currently expects consolidated net revenues for Fiscal 2017 to decrease at a low-double digit rate due to a proactive pullback in inventory receipts, store closures, pricing harmonization and other quality of sale initiatives, combined with the weak retail traffic environment in the U.S. Operating margin for Fiscal 2017 is currently anticipated to be approximately 10%, as cost savings are expected to be offset by growth in new store expenses, unfavorable foreign currency impacts, infrastructure investments and fixed expense deleveraging. The Fiscal 2017 tax rate is estimated to be approximately 29%. Capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $375 million in Fiscal 2017. This guidance assumes approximately $200 million in share repurchases.
As a result of its Way Forward Plan, the Company expects to stabilize performance in Fiscal 2018 and pivot to growth off of a smaller, more profitable base in Fiscal 2019, with improving operating margins in both fiscal years.
In Fiscal 2020, the company targets market share growth and a mid-teens operating margin.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- The Women's Initiative of POLSINELLI, an Am Law 100 firm, yesterday hosted "Women in Finance Support Women Veterans," a panel discussion in partnership with Mission: Getting to Next (MGTN), a career transition program recognized as the essential first step for women in leadership and senior executive positions in the private, public, not-for-profit and military sectors.
Carole Hyatt, Founder/CEO of MGTN, delivered the welcoming remarks. The special guest speaker was Retired Army Brigadier General Loree Sutton, MD, who serves under the leadership of NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio as the first commissioner of the newly established Department of Veterans' Services. The panel discussion that followed featured:
Sarah Frank, media consultant, executive producer and Board Co-Chair for MGTN
Dr. Ellen S. Hurwitz, Ph.D., an award winning professor of comparative medieval and philosophy of history who serves on arts and education boards around the globe
Eden J. Murrie, Retired Brigadier General, USAF and Director of Government Transformation and Agency Partnerships for the Partnership for Public Service
L.J. Rittenhouse, CEO of Rittenhouse Rankings, a pioneer in Financial Analytics Research and consulting
Marianne Watson, Retired US Army Brigadier General, Director of Outreach for Center for America and Board Co-Chair for MGTN
Phyllis J. Wilson, Chief Warrant Officer Five and Military Fellow with the Chief of Staff of the Army's Strategic Studies Group
The panel was moderated by Joan Firestone, Executive Director of MGTN.
"The event was designed to give our female clients an opportunity to connect with and explore opportunities to support female veterans," said Bernadette Herward Davida, Polsinelli Shareholder who organized the event on behalf of the firm's Women's Initiative.
"It was an honor to host an event that included such esteemed women from the private, public and military sectors," said Dan Flanigan, Polsinelli New York Office Managing Partner.
Polsinelli's Women's Initiative executes initiatives which attract, retain and promote the success of women throughout the firm's 19 offices across the U.S. In April 2016 Law360 ranked Polsinelli among its 100 best U.S. law firms for women. In 2015, Polsinelli achieved Gold Standard Certification from the Women in Law Empowerment Forum, an honor that acknowledges firms that promote women as business leaders in the legal field.
About Polsinelli:
real challenges. real answers.(SM)
Polsinelli is an Am Law 100 firm with more than 800 attorneys in 19 offices, serving corporations, institutions, and entrepreneurs nationally. Ranked in the top five percent of law firms for client service*, the firm has risen more than 50 spots over the past five years in the Am Law 100 annual law firm ranking. Polsinelli attorneys provide practical legal counsel infused with business insight, and focus on health care, financial services, real estate, intellectual property, mid-market corporate, and business litigation. Polsinelli attorneys have depth of experience in 100 service areas and 70 industries. The firm can be found online at www.polsinelli.com. Polsinelli PC. In California, Polsinelli LLP.
* 2016 BTI Client Service A-Team Report
For more information, contact:
Dan Flanigan
Polsinelli
Email Contact
816-360-4260
Adam Friedman
Adam Friedman Associates
Email Contact
917-675-6250
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- MDN Inc. (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: MDN) is pleased to announce that it has signed a definitive property purchase agreement (the "Agreement") to acquire the Argor property (the "Property") from Barrick Gold Inc., James Bay Columbium Ltd. and Goldcorp Inc. (the "Sellers").
The Argor property is located in the James Bay Lowlands in Northern Ontario. Historic exploratory and detailed drilling totalling over 14,000 meters was completed in the 1960s. 85 holes were drilled at a maximum depth of 275 meters, in sections of 61 meters intervals along a strike of 730 meters. A historic estimate was finalized by Dr. P. Price of Canadian Bechtel Ltd in 1967 and indicated 62 million tonnes at 0.52% Nb2O5. Moreover, an exploration shaft was sunk and a 250 tonne bulk sample was extracted to subsequently be used in a pilot plant which demonstrated a high recovery rate of 78%.
Upon closing of the transaction, subject to the consent of the Province of Ontario for the transfer of the mining lease comprising the Property and the TSX Venture Exchange approval, the Sellers will transfer 100% of the asset to MDN. In consideration, MDN will issue to the Sellers 5,000,000 common shares in the capital of MDN and will pay to the Sellers a cash consideration of C$25,000.
In addition to the shares and cash consideration the Sellers retain a 2.0% net smelter returns royalty (the "Royalty") over all minerals produced from the Property. MDN has the right to buy-back 1% of the Royalty for the sum of C$2,000,000 (in constant 2016 dollars, subject to a cap of C$3,000,000) at any time.
Moreover, the Sellers have the right to re-acquire a 51% interest in the Property (the "Back-in Right"), in case of the establishment on the Property of one or more deposits containing no less than 2 million gold ounces and/or gold equivalent ounces of resources in aggregate, upon payment by the Seller to the Buyer of 2.5 times Buyer's expenditures incurred on the Property. The Back-In Right does not apply to the niobium content.
"We are pleased to finalise the acquisition of Argor," said Claude Dufresne, President and CEO. "The quality of the mineral is such that we strongly believe Argor has the potential to become the second North American producer of Ferro niobium," added Mr. Dufresne.
Claude Dufresne, Engineer, acted as the qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"). He reviewed and approved the technical and scientific content of this press release.
The historical resources estimate, the historical feasibility and the historical metallurgical testing are based on data obtained by previous operators in the 1960s. MDN has not yet undertaken the work necessary to verify or classify those historical results. Economic studies completed in the 1960s do not mean the Argor deposit would be found to be economic today. MDN is not treating the historical results as a current mineral resource nor as having been verified by a qualified person.
About MDN (TSX VENTURE: MDN)
MDN Inc. is a mining exploration and development company with properties in Quebec and in Tanzania. In Quebec, MDN holds a 72.5% interest in Crevier Minerals Inc., which owns a NI 43-101 niobium tantalum resource and 100% of the Samaqua property.
Follow us on Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/MDN_INC
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/1318737
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements are discussed in greater detail in the Company's most recent Annual Information Form filed on SEDAR. Investors and others who base themselves on the Company's forward-looking statements should carefully consider the factors mentioned in the Annual Information Form, as well as the uncertainties they represent and the risk they entail. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct, and as such, the forward-looking statements in this press release should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release.
Contacts:
Claude Dufresne, P.Eng.
President & CEO
MDN Inc.
514 866-6500, Ext. 221
cdufresne@mdn-mines.com
www.mdn-mines.com
BOSTON, MA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Playworld, a leading commercial playground equipment manufacturer committed to saving outdoor unstructured play, today announced PlayForm 7, a piece of play sculpture -- interactive art that is designed to be played on and provides different experiences than a traditional playground -- is now installed at Boston's City Hall Plaza. The temporary play space leverages public art as a means to reunite communities and is part of Design Museum Foundation's Extraordinary Playscapes, an exhibition exploring the importance of play in childhood development while showcasing how designers translate play objectives into innovative, extraordinary, and outdoor play environments.
The innovative play sculpture at City Hall Plaza will be unveiled and celebrated as part of the Extraordinary Playscapes exhibition, opening in June. A ribbon-cutting ceremony with Mayor Martin Walsh will take place on June 13 at 1:30 p.m. and will feature plenty of play time for kids and adults alike.
"There is a dire need to keep people excited and engaged with outdoor play, especially in urban areas," said Missy Benson, a play advocate for Playworld. "With the installation of PlayForm 7 at City Hall Plaza, we seek to break away from the pattern of standardized playgrounds and offer a refreshing new take on play while furthering our efforts to make outdoor play more accessible to urban communities around the country."
PlayForm 7 at City Hall Plaza is one among six unique playgrounds that will be featured in the Extraordinary Playscapes exhibition, and also shown in their Playground Passport. The play structure at City Hall Plaza is being installed by Playworld's New England based distributor Ultiplay.
"We are thrilled to partner with Playworld, Ultiplay and Design Museum Foundation to bring PlayForm 7 to City Hall Plaza," said Chris Cook, commissioner of Boston Parks and Recreation Department. "Integrating design with play, the play sculpture will provide residents and visitors with an unconventional summer playground and will contribute immensely to Boston's legacy of arts."
"PlayForm 7 greatly embodies the outdoor, free play virtues we're highlighting in the Extraordinary Playscapes exhibition," said Sam Aquillano, executive director, Design Museum Foundation. "Bostonians now have a chance to learn more about the importance and design of play, and enjoy an extraordinary playscape right at City Hall Plaza."
To learn more about PlayForm 7 at City Hall Plaza, please visit Playworld.com or contact Shwetha Ramani at 201-656-7178 or sramani@rosecomm.com.
About Playworld
Playworld believes The World Needs Play. Play is vital to everyone's health and well-being. It's something you are never too young or too old to enjoy. We develop playground environments where creativity is king, belly laughs are welcome and children make the rules. Playworld equipment is designed to unleash the transformational power of play so bodies grow stronger and imagination can take flight. For 45 years, Playworld has created innovative, inclusive and meaningful outdoor play experiences for all ages and abilities. Come play with us.
About Design Museum Foundation
At Design Museum Foundation we believe design can change the world. Done well, it can elevate our quality of life, make businesses more competitive, and protect our environment. Design awareness, education, and expertise are more important now than ever before as design continues to impact communities, organizations, and markets around the world. Design Museum Foundation is redefining what it means to be a museum in the 21st century -- we're online, nomadic, and accessible to all through a network of exhibitions, events, and content. Our mission: show the world the positive impact good design can have and create the most accessible museum imaginable. Design is everywhere. So are we. For more information visit designmuseumboston.org.
Media contact:
Shwetha Ramani
RoseComm for Playworld
201-656-7178
sramani@rosecomm.com
PHILADELPHIA, June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --If the UK chooses to exit the Union (EU) it will affect the mobility of UK-based scientists and their collaborations. That's the finding of a new study published by the Royal Society, the UK's independent scientific academy, entitled UK Research and the European Union: The Role of the EU in Researcher Collaboration and Mobility. The Intellectual Property & Science business of Thomson Reuters was commissioned to provide supporting data and analysis for the study, contributing detailed information on global trends in collaboration and mobility from its Web of Science platform.
On June 23, 2016, a referendum on the UK's continued membership of the EU will be held, potentially resulting in the country's exit from the EU. Colloquially referred to as a 'Brexit,' the decision could have a major impact on both the UK and the EU, with a number of studies projecting potential economic impacts of that decision. The purpose of the Royal Society's new study is to gather evidence about the influence of the EU on scientific research collaboration, and mobility in order to inform debate. A previous study examined the role of the EU in funding UK research, bringing together the most up to date facts and figures about the finances and a third study, also published, examines the influence of the EU on regulation and policy that governs UK research.
"Almost 40 percent of the 1.6 million research papers published by UK authors between 2005 and 2014 were internationally co-authored and EU Member States are 7 of the UK's top ten strongest collaborators. The data shows us that UK papers acknowledging any type of EU funding have more impact than the average paper, and where that funding comes from the ERC in particular, papers have the highest impact of all," said Becky Purvis, Head of Public Affairs at the Royal Society. "By teaming with Thomson Reuters, we have some concrete numbers to better understand the role of the EU in these collaborations. We hope our reports will be a useful guide for anyone who wants to understand the role of the EU in the UK research landscape."
Among the key findings of the Thomson Reuters analysis conducted for the Royal Society were the following:
UK Researchers Are Collaborating Internationally More Frequently: Of the 1.6 million research papers published by UK authors between 2005 and 2014, 36.8 percent were internationally co-authored. This compares with roughly 90 percent of UK research papers including only UK authors in 1981. The growth in global collaboration has been accompanied by a 3x surge in total research output over the same period.
Of the 1.6 million research papers published by UK authors between 2005 and 2014, 36.8 percent were internationally co-authored. This compares with roughly 90 percent of UK research papers including only UK authors in 1981. The growth in global collaboration has been accompanied by a 3x surge in total research output over the same period. Other EU Countries Most Frequent Collaborative Partners: When normalized by total volume of research output, Germany is the most frequent collaborative partner for UK researchers, followed by France , Italy , and the Netherlands . On an absolute basis, the U.S. is the most frequent collaborator with UK researchers.
When normalized by total volume of research output, is the most frequent collaborative partner for UK researchers, followed by , , and . On an absolute basis, the U.S. is the most frequent collaborator with UK researchers. EU funding shows a similar degree of international collaboration (50%) as UK funding (49%) , however some EU funding streams result in much higher levels of international co-authorship. 58% of European Research Council (ERC) funded UK papers have international co-authors.
, however some EU funding streams result in much higher levels of international co-authorship. 58% of European Research Council (ERC) funded UK papers have international co-authors. EU Funding Associated with Higher Impact: For both papers published by UK-only authors and UK-EU co-authored papers, those acknowledging EU funding have more impact than the average paper, and where that funding comes from the ERC in particular, papers have the highest impact of all.
"Major geopolitical decisions like the one currently facing the UK can have significant unintended consequences that affect everything from job growth and GDP to global collaboration on scientific research," said Jessica Turner, global head of Government & Academia at Thomson Reuters "Only by benchmarking current recent trends in global research activity is it possible to truly understand the potential impact of a political move that could introduce new barriers to international collaboration."
The full study, UK Research and the European Union: The Role of the EU in Researcher Collaboration and Mobility, was published by the Royal Society on Monday 6 June 2016. Scientific literature citation data and analysis in the study was powered by Thomson Reuters Web of Science.
Visit State of Innovation for more information.
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of news and information for professional markets. Our customers rely on us to deliver the intelligence, technology and expertise they need to find trusted answers. The business has operated in more than 100 countries for more than 100 years. For more information, visit www.thomsonreuters.com.
The Royal Society is a self-governing Fellowship of many of the world's most distinguished scientists drawn from all areas of science, engineering, and medicine. The Society's fundamental purpose, as it has been since its foundation in 1660, is to recognise, promote, and support excellence in science and to encourage the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity.
For further information please visit http://royalsociety.org. Follow the Royal Society on Twitter at http://twitter.com/royalsociety or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/theroyalsociety
WASHINGTON, DC -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- RVs Move America, the first-ever economic impact study of the recreation vehicle industry, revealed the RV industry contributed $49.7 billion to the U.S. economy in 2015, and provided 289,852 full-time jobs to American workers.
"The study demonstrates that the RV industry is a dynamic part of the U.S. economy," said Frank Hugelmeyer, president of the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association (RVIA), which commissioned the study. "American workers involved in our industry earned more than $15.8 billion in wages and benefits, and, along with the firms that employed them, paid $5.7 billion in federal, state and local business taxes."
The RVs Move America report includes all companies involved in the manufacture, sale, rental, repair, storage, and service of recreation vehicles, as well as the aftermarket industry and the financing and insurance of RV purchases and the economic impact of recreation vehicle travel.
Results of the study were released today at a news conference held during an RV industry gathering in Washington, D.C. Joining Hugelmeyer were: Derald Bontrager, RVIA Chairman of the Board and President & CEO of Jayco Industries; Bob Martin, President, CEO & Director, Thor Industries, Inc.; Doug Gaeddert, General Manager, Forest River, Inc.; and Michael Happe, President & CEO, Winnebago Industries. Bruce Andrews, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce also participated in the event and applauded the industry for its growth, amplifying remarks made last week in Elkhart, Indiana by President Barack Obama.
"Today's new report from RVIA could not be more timely, as just last week President Obama shined a spotlight on the recreation vehicle industry's impressive growth during his visit to Elkhart, Indiana," said U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews. "RVIA's research only reaffirms our International Trade Administration's findings in its latest Top Markets Report, which highlighted the vast potential for America's RV industry and our greater recreation transportation sector to increase their exports around the world and ultimately support more jobs and economic growth here at home."
Campgrounds Abound
According to the study, there are 16,750 recreation vehicle accessible campgrounds in the U.S. and the industry's impact on tourism is significant, with 72,494 total jobs and $2.5 billion in related economic output. It's estimated that 22 million Americans are planning RV trips this summer, many heading to our country's national parks to participate in the Centennial celebration of the National Park Service.
Top RV States
The table below from RVs Move America presents a summary of the total economic impact of the recreation vehicle industry in the United States. Summary tables for each state and congressional district are included in the study's final report. Indiana (where more than 80 percent of RVs are made), California, Texas, Florida and Iowa are the top five states that benefit most from the RV industry, mainly due to the presence of manufacturing facilities and robust RV sales.
Economic Contribution of the Recreation Vehicle Industry
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Direct Indirect Induced Total --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jobs (FTE) 155,608 60,562 73,682 289,852 Wages $7.9 billion $4.0 billion $3.9 billion $15.8 billion Economic Impact $27.0 billion $10.5 billion $12.1 billion $49.7 billion --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Taxes $5.7 billion ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fueling Employment
Increased interest in RVs has spurred the need for an expanded workforce across a number of sectors. The study estimates there are 228 RV manufacturing facilities in the U.S. that in 2015 directly employed nearly 31,000 workers. According to Derald Bontrager, president & CEO of Jayco Inc. and chairman of the RVIA board, that number will continue to grow in 2016 and 2017 with every RV manufacturer currently hiring and adding production space to keep pace with accelerating demand.
In addition, the study estimates:
Recreation vehicle use accounts for 45,150 jobs at campgrounds across the country.
Manufacturers of components used to assemble RVs, ranging from nuts and bolts to refrigerators and wood flooring, last year employed 13,108 workers.
The industry is responsible for creating 60,562 jobs with firms related to the RV industry. These "indirect" firms provide a range of goods and services, including equipment, raw materials, personnel, financial, advertising, consulting, government, or transportation services. These firms generated about $10.5 billion in economic activity.
RV dealers employed approximated 29,785 workers in the United States.
RVs Reach New Peaks
The ongoing RV expansion has established new records in units shipped and consecutive years of growth. RV shipments are expected to total 396,400 in 2016 and to increase to 404,800 in 2017, well above the quarter century record of 390,362 in 2006. Moreover, 2017 will mark the eighth consecutive year of expansion, easily topping the old record of five years of gains set in 2006.
What's Driving a Thriving Industry?
Interest in RVs is high for many reasons including:
Continuous improvements and innovative designs minimize weight, lower costs and incorporate high-tech amenities to suit the changing preferences of today's consumer.
Multiple options are available for a variety of tastes and price points - from pop-up campers to luxury motorhomes, toy haulers to fifth wheelers, and conventional travel trailers to park models.
Continued modest gains in jobs, incomes and household wealth and relatively low levels of inflation, unemployment, and interest rates.
Lifestyle: Recent Nielsen research shows the most appealing elements of RVing include being active, enjoying outdoor adventures and nature, and strengthening family relations.
Increasing numbers of younger people are jumping on board to enjoy RV travel experiences.
National and state parks perks: Campsites are offering more features, including electrical hookups, Wi-Fi and family activities.
About RVIA: The Recreation Vehicle Industry Association is the national association representing approximately 400 manufacturers and component suppliers producing 98 percent of all RVs made in the United States. Visit www.rvia.org for further information.
About the Study: The Economic Impact Study of the Recreation Vehicle Industry was conducted by John Dunham & Associates (JDA) and estimates the economic contributions made by the RV industry to the U.S. economy in 2015. JDA used standard econometric models first developed by the U.S. Forest Service, and now maintained by the IMPLAN Group LLC. Data came from the RVIA and its partner organizations, industry sources, the Federal Government and Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. (D&B). Visit www.rvsmoveamerica.org for complete results, including state by state snapshots.
To view this release in a media-rich format, go to: http://rvia.new-media-release.com/2016/economic_impact/
CONTACT:
Kevin Broom
Director of Media Relations
571-665-5844
Email Contact
Bill Baker
Sr. Director of Communications
571-665-5841
Email Contact
SAN DIEGO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- thinkstep, a leading global sustainability software and services provider, announced today at the Sustainable Brands Conference, the appointments of Rosemary Lapka as director of the consumer goods sector for North America, and Nuno da Silva to the position of director of product stewardship.
Rosemary brings to thinkstep a strong background in sustainability, business and design combined with broad experience in the retail, food & beverage, consumer goods and agriculture industries. Most recently she managed sustainable natural resource and product health programs for the grocery retailer ALDI in the U.S. Previously, she supported sustainability communication and strategy at a Fortune 500 ingredient manufacturer and taught design/sustainability studies at a university in the Middle East. She has an MS/MBA from the University of Michigan and a BFA in Communication Design from Carnegie Mellon University. Rosemary will be based in the Boston office.
Nuno, who was previously the managing director of PE INTERNATIONAL American operations, returns to the rebranded company after a brief tenure with Loop Industries, and several years as a partner with Environmental Resources Management, (ERM) where he helped companies identify, calculate and leverage social and environmental improvements in their products, services, operations and capital projects. In his new role with thinkstep, he will work across business sectors and focus on creating market and revenue opportunities for the company. He holds Master's degrees in advanced product design and engineering from the Technical University of Delft (Netherlands), and in environmental engineering from University of Portugal, Lisbon.
"I am extremely pleased to welcome Nuno back into the thinkstep family. His broad expertise and first-hand knowledge of our organization will allow him to hit the ground running as he cultivates new market opportunities for us," said Graeme Dykes, thinkstep president North America. "Equally exciting is the appointment of Rosemary Lapka, new head of the consumer goods sector for North America. Rosemary brings us a wealth of sustainability product and industry knowledge. I am confident that both of these experts will help to drive thinkstep to a new level of market share and customer centricity."
About thinkstep
thinkstep enables organizations worldwide to succeed sustainably. Our industry-leading software, data and services drive operational excellence, product innovation, brand value and regulatory compliance. With a global presence in 19 countries we serve more than 2,000 companies, including 40 percent of the Fortune 500, such as BASF, Hewlett-Packard, Interface, Siemens and Unilever. For more information, visit www.thinkstep.com.
Media Contact:
Traci Massaro
617-877-1293
Email Contact
ROUYN-NORANDA, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Brunswick Resources Inc. (the "Corporation" or "Brunswick") (TSX VENTURE: BRU) is pleased to announce the acquisition of two mining properties located in the northwestern region of the Province of Quebec at approximately 45 kilometers southwest of the Chibougamau mining camp. The properties are located contiguously and to the west of the Monster Lake Project of TomaGold and Iamgold, in the Chibougamau Mining camp.
The properties are being acquired because Brunswick has identified to the west of the Monster Lake Structural Zone a parallel structural corridor. The Monster Lake Project is underlain by Archean Volcanic rock of the Obatogamau Formation and is traversed by an important deformation corridor and associated gold-bearing mineralized structures. Historical drilling and recent success by TomaGold have identified at least a four kilometer long structural corridor including amongst others, the 325 Megane high grade gold Zone.
The First Option Agreement
The Corporation has entered into an option agreement to acquire 29 mining claims located in the Jamesie region of Northwestern Quebec.
Brunswick Resources Inc. will pay a total of $25,000 and issue a total of 1,500,000 common shares over a period of 3 years for an Option to acquire a 100% interest in the Irene Lake Property. The Optionor has retained a 2.0% NSR in the property. This acquisition is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.
The Second Option Agreement
The Corporation has entered into an option agreement to acquire 14 mining claims located in the Jamesie region of northwestern Quebec.
Brunswick Resources Inc. will pay a total of $6,000 and issue a total of 600,000 common shares over a period of 3 years for an Option to acquire a 100% interest in the additional claims of the Irene Lake Property. The Optionors have retained a 2.0% NSR in the property. This acquisition is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.
Both properties are contiguous and to the west of TomaGold's and Iamgold Monster Lake Project where 5 major gold zones were intercepted. Over 20 intercepts of high gold ranging from 10.0 to 237.6 g/t Au were discovered on the Monster Lake property.
Brunswick Resources Inc., announces that the Corporation has sold the Abitibi Gold Property. Brunswick Resources has decided to concentrate its exploration efforts on the new properties in Quebec and on the Chester Property in New Brunswick.
Christian Dupont, P. Eng., is the qualified person responsible of the information contained in this press release.
Brunswick Resources Inc. is a publicly listed company trading on the TSX Venture Exchange (BRU).
This press release was prepared by Brunswick Resources Inc. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange Inc nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the Policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) has reviewed or accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
About Brunswick Resources Inc.
Brunswick Resources Inc. is a Canadian-based natural resources company with mineral holdings in Ontario and New Brunswick. Brunswick is currently focused on exploration in the Bathurst Mining Camp. The Bathurst Mining camp is where 47 VMS (volcanic massive sulfide) deposits have been found to date, including the Brunswick No. 12 and the Brunswick No. 6 Mines where more than 130,000,000 tonnes of Base metal ore has been produced to date. Brunswick Resources Flagship project is the Chester Copper and VMS Project located in the Bathurst Mining camp. The Chester mineral resource (Explor Resources Press Release dated April 10, 2014) includes the following:
MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE - CHESTER DEPOSIT (MARCH 7, 2014)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cut-off Cu Zn Ag Class (Cu%) Ktonnes (%) (%) (g/t) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- In-Pit ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Measured 0.5 101 1.87 0.14 6.7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Indicated 0.5 1,296 1.34 0.06 3.3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Measured and Indicated 0.5 1,397 1.38 0.06 3.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inferred 0.5 2,060 1.25 n/a n/a ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Below Pit ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inferred 2.0 29 2.33 n/a n/a ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Combined ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Measured 0.5 101 1.87 0.14 6.7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Indicated 0.5 1,299 1.34 0.06 3.3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Measured and Indicated 0.5 1,400 1.38 0.06 3.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inferred Variable 2,089 1.26 n/a n/a ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: Inferred resources are based primarily on older drilling results which do not have sufficient zinc and silver analyses to generate resource grades for these elements.
Robert Sim, P.Geo, an independent consultant, served as the Qualified Person responsible for preparing the Technical Report, as defined in National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101), in compliance with Form 43-101F1 (the Technical Report). Mr. Sim is a Geologist with more than 30 years of experience primarily in base and precious metals exploration, operations, resource modeling, and feasibility-level evaluations. Mr. Sim has worked on similar volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits, including the Winston Lake deposit in Ontario and the Cayeli deposit in Turkey. Mr. Sim received assistance from Geo-statistician Bruce Davis, Ph.D., FAusIMM, of BD Resource Consulting, Inc.
This document may contain forward-looking statements relating to Brunswick's operations or to the environment in which it operates. Such statements are based on operations, estimates, forecasts and projections. They are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and may be beyond Brunswick's control. A number of important factors could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements, including those set forth in other public filling. In addition, such statements relate to the date on which they are made. Consequently, undue reliance should not placed on such forward-looking statements. Brunswick disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, save and except as may be required by applicable securities laws.
A map of the LAC IRENE GOLD PROPERTY is available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/160607_BRU_MAP.pdf
Contacts:
Brunswick Resources Inc.
Christian Dupont
President and CEO
(888) 764-5195 or (819) 797-0596
(819) 797-6050 (FAX)
brunswick@tlb.sympatico.ca
www.brunswickresources.com
EAGAN, MN -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- TempWorks Software, a leader in staffing software, today announces Kevin Prow as the company's new chief information officer (CIO). Prior to being named to his new role, Prow held several positions at the company, including support technician, product developer and director of support services. Under Prow's leadership, TempWorks aims to increase its business value and strengthen its product line and full software development cycle.
"My main focus is growing the innovations currently in place within our company," said Kevin Prow, CIO of TempWorks. "I look forward to guiding our product enhancements, ensuring our services are the best quality possible and consistently delivering new solutions to the market. I hope to capitalize on the development team's vast set of skills, blending the very best of business and technical expertise."
As CIO, Prow guides the development team through the software development cycle from start to finish. He directs the scope, development, design, testing, release, maintenance of the entire product line while working with TempWorks' chief technology officer from an architectural standpoint. Additionally, Prow determines the clearest developmental and strategic roadmap for each engineering plan. When working with existing clients, internal stakeholders and vendor partners, he ensures continued innovation, improved user experience and streamlined operations throughout all communications.
"Looking at our continued growth these past few years, I felt it was the right time and Kevin was the right person to fill this role," said David Dourgarian, CEO of TempWorks. "Not only have Kevin's skills been of great value to us, but his commitment and loyalty to the company are two qualities we value most. I have the utmost confidence his leadership will bring us to a new level of development and performance."
Prow joined the TempWorks team in 2004 as a support technician, where he worked until his deployment to Iraq and Kuwait in 2006. Upon his return the following year, Prow re-joined the staffing software company as a product developer. He played an instrumental role in implementing the company's payroll funding division in 2009. Since then, Prow served as the director of support services and established the effective support infrastructure that exists within TempWorks today.
TempWorks recently received a Stevie Award as a Company of the Year winner. Under Prow's guidance, the company continues to offer new software solutions and further improve the staffing software experience for its users and stakeholders.
For more information please visit: http://www.tempworks.com/
Media Contacts
Courtney Calderon
Uproar PR for TempWorks Software
+1.321.236.0102 x224
Email Contact
Ansell leads the way in adopting new EN388 glove protection standard
BRUSSELS, June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ansell, a global leader in protection solutions, is proud to launch an extensive program for its distributors and customers to implement the upcoming changes in the EN388 standard concerning hand protection against mechanical risks. Ansell is committed to help its distributors and customers better understand these changes and guide them through this change with clear information, training and a fully compliant product range. In addition, with one of the largest and most knowledgeable glove manufacturer sales forces across the globe, Ansell is ready to assist all safety professionals in taking the most educated purchase decision for their safety requirements and prepare for the new regulations.
The new EN 388 standard represents the most sweeping revisions to this fundamental mechanical hand protection benchmark established over 20 years ago. Ansell has taken the lead in developing a range of tools to make the new regulations simpler to understand and easier to adopt. The new EN388 standard introduces several new testing protocol for abrasion, impact and cut performance, this includes a new test method based on the current EN ISO 13997 which will become mandatory for protective gloves made from specific "engineered yarns." With the old test method, the testing cut blades were often blunted by the presence of such specific fibres such as stainless steel and glass fibres in the yarns.
"Ansell supports improved industry transparency with regard to the true performance of protective gloves against mechanical risks and the new revision is a major step towards harmonization and more reliable claims," says Guido Van Duren, Director Global Regulatory Compliance PPE Products of Ansell and former President of the European Safety Federation. "For the past eight years we have been working within the standards committee for the introduction of more reliable and consistent EN388 performance levels, including improved lab testing methodology. Our distribution partners, customers and safety managers will be able to select the right hand protection based on more rigorous, repeatable and standardized testing."
In addition, a full Ansell Guardian customized auditing and consulting methodology benefits companies that are interested in SKU reduction, health and safety compliance, productivity and cost reduction. Ansell is committed to keeping its clients "Well Informed, Well Protected, Well Ahead."
To hear more about what this new regulation means to the industry, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NE6cFcxaCY to watch a video of Peter Dobbelsteijn, Chief Commercial Officer EMEA & APAC Region & Ansell Global Guardian at Ansell. This month Ansell is hosting a series of brief webinars in order to outline all EN388 industry changes. In addition, Ansell has developed a range of tools to make the new standards simple to understand and easy to adopt. To learn more, visit www.ansell.com/enresourcecenter.
About Ansell
Ansell is a world leader in providing superior health and safety protection solutions that enhance human well-being. With operations in North America, Latin America/Caribbean, EMEA and Asia, Ansell employs 15,000 people worldwide and holds leading positions in the personal protective equipment and medical gloves market, as well as in the sexual health and well-being category worldwide. Ansell operates in four main business segments: Medical, Industrial, Single Use and Sexual Wellness. Information on Ansell and its products can be found at www.ansell.com. AnsellProtects
There appears to be some movement in the showdown over K-12 funding in Kansas. After the states supreme court last month once again ruled that the states funding formula is inequitable and threatened to shut off funding to the schools as of next month, Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, announced on Twitter Tuesday morning that he will call a special session to attempt to satisfy the court.
I am calling a special session to keep Kansas schools open, despite the Courts threat to close them. https://t.co/rEL3TrT5Jj #ksleg Sam Brownback (@govsambrownback) June 7, 2016
For an entire week after the May 31 Gannon v. Kansas decision , the states political leaders called the judges names, threatened to defy the ruling, and left school leaders researching ways to keep the schools open without state money.
The state doesnt have much to spend after a series of income tax cuts in 2012 and 2013, and the states education department estimates it would cost Kansas around $51 million to keep the schools open. But the majority of the legislature is up for re-election this fall, and parents and teachers in the Sunflower State wont be happy if schools arent open come July 1.
This week, the states Democrats started a petition that would force a special session. Some Republicans have discussed changing the constitutional language so that the court cant shut down schools.
DENVER, CO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Larry H. Miller Dealerships (LHM Dealerships) announced today the acquisition of three stores in Colorado with the purchase of Cherry Creek Dodge in Denver, Colorado Chrysler Jeep in Aurora and Fiat of Denver.
"We've been strategic in our approach to growth and in finding opportunities that are a win-win for the seller, employees and our company. Denver is a strong market for us and these brands are a great fit with our business model," said Dean Fitzpatrick, president, Larry H. Miller Dealerships. "With the acquisition of these dealerships, we are able to employ more Denver residents and deepen our connection and commitment to the community."
LHM Dealerships will retain current employees of the newly acquired stores, bringing the group's total amount of employees in Colorado to more than 1,000. The dealership group employs over 5,000 individuals in seven states.
The stores were purchased from Doug Moreland, whom LHM Dealerships acquired seven stores from in Arizona in 2013.
"I'm appreciative of the way the LHM Dealerships group conducts business and takes care of its employees," said Moreland. "Their focus on customer service, community and giving back assures me that these stores and our customers will be in good hands."
Larry H. Miller began his career as a parts salesman in Denver in 1970. In 1987, he opened his first store in the state, Larry H. Miller Toyota Scion Boulder. In 1988, LHM Dealerships opened Larry H. Miller Liberty Toyota Colorado Springs. Larry H. Miller Toyota Colorado Springs opened in 1992, and Larry H. Miller Volkswagen Lakewood opened in 2001. A Nissan store was added to the group in 2006, with the addition of Larry H. Miller Nissan Highlands Ranch. In 2014, Larry H. Miller Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram 104th in Thornton and Larry H. Miller Ford Lakewood joined the group. In 2015, the Larry H. Miller Ram Truck Center opened.
LHM Dealerships strongly supports giving back in the communities where it conducts business. Through Larry H. Miller Charities, the dealerships give back to the community by focusing their charitable giving on issues that affect women and children, with an emphasis on health and education. Since 1996, more than $400,000 has been donated to qualified nonprofit organizations throughout Colorado.
Cherry Creek Dodge is located at 2727 S. Havana St. in Denver and will be renamed Larry H. Miller Dodge Ram Cherry Creek; Colorado Chrysler Jeep is located at 350 S. Havana St. in Aurora and will be renamed Larry H. Miller Colorado Chrysler Jeep; and Fiat of Denver is located at 505 S. Havana St. in Denver and will be renamed Larry H. Miller Fiat Denver.
--lhmauto.com--
About Larry H. Miller Dealerships
Larry H. Miller Dealerships operates 58 dealership locations under 20 different automotive brands in seven western states. The group employs more than 1,000 individuals at 11 Colorado locations.
Since 1996, more than $400,000 has been donated to qualified nonprofits throughout Colorado. Funds are generated, in large part, through LHM companies and employee contributions, as well as donations from the general public.
For more information on Larry H. Miller Dealerships, please visit www.lhmauto.com.
LONDON, June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --Almost half of the smartphones and 93% of laptops will include USB Type-C connectivity by 2020,according to a new study from ABI Research. The market will see fewer connectivity types and ports per device as the industry steadily transitions toward wireless solutions and cable-free devices.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151014/276887LOGO
"USB-Type C and Thunderbolt 3.0 will be the last major physical ports to gain major significance and mainstream traction before the transition to wireless alternatives," says Andrew Zignani, Industry Analyst at ABI Research. "During this period, a number of devices will operate without any cabled connectivity, and while this will remain a nascent portion of the market for some time, the potential is there and heightening."
802.11ad, also known as WiGig, already gained some traction in the laptop and docking space, currently enabled on some Dell, Acer, and Asus notebooks and docks shipping this year. ABI Research data suggests that the first, real mainstream opportunities for WiGig in access points, devices, and accessories will occur in late 2016. Thereafter, momentum is likely to build across other device categories, such as portable PCs and peripherals, smartphones, tablets, and displays.
Yet, a large portion of the market will not migrate toward cable-free devices in the short-term, such as high-performance categories and enterprise notebooks that require the ability to connect to different legacy infrastructures. Furthermore, wired and wireless connectivity solutions are not mutually exclusive and are, in many respects, complementary.
"We anticipate there to be WiGig-enabled devices that use physical cables, such as the USB-Type C for charging or to assist in dealing with legacy equipment when not at home or when wireless connectivity is not available," concludes Zignani. "It will take some time for WiGig-enabled displays, projectors, televisions, and accessories to come to market, so many devices will still need to have the option of a physical connection through USB-Type C and Thunderbolt 3.0 for the foreseeable future."
These findings are from ABI Research's Device Connectivity Report (https://www.abiresearch.com/market-research/product/1024834-device-connectivity-report/). This report is part of the company's Wireless Connectivity Service (https://www.abiresearch.com/market-research/service/wireless-connectivity/), which includes research reports, market data, insights, and competitive assessments.
About ABI Research
For more than 25 years, ABI Research has stood at the forefront of technology market intelligence, partnering with innovative business leaders to implement informed, transformative technology decisions. The company employs a global team of senior analysts to provide comprehensive research and consulting services through deep quantitative forecasts, qualitative analyses and teardown services. An industry pioneer, ABI Research is proactive in its approach, frequently uncovering ground-breaking business cycles ahead of the curve and publishing research 18 to 36 months in advance of other organizations. In all, the company covers more than 60 services, spanning 11 technology sectors. For more information, visit www.abiresearch.com.
Regulatory News:
This press release does not constitute an offer to acquire securities.
Press Release Dated June 7, 2016:
Tender Offer
for the shares of:
SAFT
initiated by:
TOTAL
presented by:
BNP PARIBAS
Total is advised by:
MESSIER MARIS ASSOCIES
AVAILABILITY OF THE OFFER DOCUMENT AND INFORMATION RELATING TO TOTAL, IN PARTICULAR TOTAL'S LEGAL, FINANCIAL AND ACCOUNTING CHARACTERISTICS
TERMS OF THE OFFER
36.50 per share of Saft Group (ex-dividend of 0.85per share1
This press release was prepared by Total (Paris:FP) (LSE:TTA) (NYSE:TOT) and made available to the public pursuant to Articles 231-27, 1 and 2, and 231-28 I of the General Regulation of the Autorite des Marches Financiers (the "AMF
IMPORTANT NOTICE
In the event that, following the tender offer, the number of shares not tendered by Saft Group's minority shareholders represents five percent or less of Saft Group's share capital or voting rights, Total reserves the right, within three months following the closing of the tender offer and in accordance with Article L. 433-4 III of the French Monetary and Financial Code and Article 237-14 et seq. of the AMF's General Regulation, to conduct a squeeze-out to acquire the Saft Group shares not tendered in the tender offer in exchange for compensation equal to the Offer price, after adjustments, where applicable.
Pursuant to Article L. 621-8 of the French Monetary and Financial Code and Article 231-23 of the AMF's General Regulation, the AMF has, in accordance with its decision regarding the Offer on June 7, 2016, granted approval No. 16-229 as of June 7, 2016 to the offer document prepared by Total.
Information relating to Total, in particular its legal, financial and accounting characteristics, was filed with the AMF on June 7, 2016 and supplements the offer document prepared by Total.
The offer document and the information relating to Total, in particular its legal, financial and accounting characteristics, are available on the websites of the AMF (amf-france.org) and Total (total.com) and may be obtained free of charge from:
Total BNP Paribas 16 boulevard des Italiens 75009 Paris La Defense 6, 2 place Jean Millier 92400 Courbevoie
Press and Investor Relations Contacts for Total:
Press:
Press Office +33 (0) 1 47 44 46 99
Investor Relations:
Mike Sangster, Nicolas Fumex, Patrick Guenkel, Romain Richemont +44 (0) 207 719 7962
Robert Hammond (U.S.) +1 713 483 5070
This press release has been prepared for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to acquire securities. The distribution of this press release, the Offer or acceptance of the Offer may be subject to legal restrictions in certain jurisdictions. Persons coming into possession of this press release must inform themselves of the applicable legal restrictions and comply with them. A failure to comply with legal restrictions may constitute a violation of applicable stock exchange laws and regulations in certain jurisdictions. Total will not be not liable for the violation of applicable legal restrictions by any person.
1 Total amount approved at Saft Group's Combined General Shareholders' Meeting on May 13, 2016.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160607006380/en/
Contacts:
Total
Press and Investor Relations:
Press:
Press Office, +33 (0) 1 47 44 46 99
or
Investor Relations:
Mike Sangster, Nicolas Fumex, Patrick Guenkel, Romain Richemont, +44 (0) 207 719 7962
Robert Hammond (U.S.), +1 713 483 5070
SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Databricks, the company founded by the team that created Apache Spark, today announced the General Availability of Databricks Community Edition (DCE), a free version of the just-in-time data platform built on top of open source Apache Spark, at Spark Summit 2016. DCE is accessible to all users today to learn Apache Spark quickly and easily with no infrastructure headaches. The announcement comes just four months after the beta launch of Databricks Community Edition at Spark Summit East in New York.
"This year we've seen explosive growth for the Apache Spark project and all signs indicate the pace will only accelerate as the community expands even more," said Matei Zaharia, cofounder and chief technology officer at Databricks. "Databricks Community Edition has created an ideal environment for learning Apache Spark. Developers of all backgrounds can now use Databricks Community Edition to learn Spark and mitigate the acute Spark skills gap."
The Ideal Platform for Learning Apache Spark
Since the beta launch of Databricks Community Edition in February 2016, more than 8,000 users have registered for the free platform. Users have created over 61,000 notebooks in four different languages, including Python, Scala, SQL, and R. A survey conducted by Databricks of the DCE beta users identified that 60 percent of users were neither data scientists nor engineers, enabling a new category of people to learn Apache Spark, data science and data engineering skills.
A recent survey conducted by Stack Overflow, an online community for programmers, found that Apache Spark talent is in high demand. The General Availability of DCE will open up an ideal environment for users learning Spark, accelerate the growth and adoption of Spark, and enable new users to contribute to the community.
"Today's enterprises have an insatiable demand for data skills, which is exacerbated by the scarcity of qualified talent. Education is in Databricks' DNA, and our birthplace at the UC Berkeley AMPLab gives the company significant experience in educating students and users. Databricks Community Edition augments that effort as a learning platform. More than 2,200 students have already taken courses using Databricks Community Edition since its beta release, and with its general availability, we expect widespread adoption by universities across the world," said Ion Stoica, cofounder and executive chairman at Databricks.
Databricks Community Edition users will have access to a 6GB micro-cluster as well as a cluster manager and the notebook environment to prototype simple applications. As a learning tool, DCE comes with a rich portfolio of Apache Spark learning resources, including a set of award-winning Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) and sample notebooks.
To learn more, read the Databricks blog post here: https://databricks.com/blog/2016/06/07/dce-ga.html
To sign up for Databricks Community Edition, visit https://databricks.com/try-databricks.
About Databricks:
Databricks' vision is to empower anyone to easily build and deploy advanced analytics solutions. The company was founded by the team who created Apache Spark, a powerful open source data processing engine built for sophisticated analytics, ease of use, and speed. Databricks is the largest contributor to the open source Apache Spark project providing 10x more code than any other company. The company has also trained over 20,000 users on Apache Spark, and has the largest number of customers deploying Spark to date. Databricks provides a just-in-time data platform, to simplify data integration, real-time experimentation, and robust deployment of production applications. Databricks is venture-backed by Andreessen Horowitz and NEA. For more information, contact info@databricks.com.
Databricks 2016. All rights reserved. Apache, Apache Spark and Spark are trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation.
Media Contact:
Suzanne Block
Merritt Group for Databricks
E: DatabricksMG@merrittgrp.com
P: 617-824-0981
SALT LAKE CITY, UT -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Jane.com, an e-commerce marketplace for daily, 72-hour flash sales, today announced that Mike McEwan, CEO & Founder, received the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2016 Award in the Retail category in the Utah Region. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Award program.
The award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance, and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. McEwan was selected by an independent panel of judges and presented with an award at a gala event at The Grand America Hotel on June 4, 2016.
"It's a great honor to be selected as an EY Award winner and represent Jane.com at a national level," said Mike McEwan, Jane.com CEO and Founder. "Jane.com has come a long way since its inception in 2011 and it has been made possible by our dedicated internal team, professional network of sellers and loyal customers. Our goal is to continue to deliver quality products aligned with today's fashion trends at affordable prices."
Jane.com was founded in 2011 and plays an active role in its local community. McEwan has led the company as it has partnered with various non-profit organizations like Musana, an organization that empowers women in Uganda, and Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.), a community dedicated to stopping child sex trafficking. Jane.com was recently ranked #11 on Inc. 5000's list of fastest-growing private companies, and recognized as #1 fastest-growing retail company and #1 fastest-growing Utah company.
Since 1986, EY has honored entrepreneurs whose ingenuity, spirit of innovation and discipline have propelled their companies' success, invigorated their industries, and benefited their communities. Now in its 30th year, the program has honored the inspirational leadership of such entrepreneurs as Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee Company, Robert Unanue of Goya Foods, and Mindy Grossman of HSN. Recent US national winners include Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn; Hamdi Ulukaya, founder of Chobani.
As a Utah Region award winner, McEwan is now eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2016 national program. Award winners in several national categories will be announced at the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards gala in Palm Springs, California, on November 19, 2016.
About Jane.com
Jane.com was founded in 2011 and is based in Salt Lake City, UT. The company is an online daily deal boutique that provides sellers with a marketplace to help grow their businesses and market affordable women's fashion, home decor and children's clothings to consumers at a fraction of the normal price. Jane.com has experienced exponential growth over the years and was #11 on the Inc 5000 List of the fastest-growing private companies in America in 2015. To learn more about Jane.com, visit https://jane.com/.
About EY Entrepreneur Of The Year
EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world's most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 145 cities in more than 60 countries.
Contact
Codeword
jane@codewordagency.com
Delft, the Netherlands (ots) - Kipp & Zonen, the market leader in solar radiation measurement solutions, is proud to announce the launch of a ground-breaking new development at the Intersolar Europe in Munich.RaZON+ is an all-in-one system that accurately measures both direct normal irradiance (DNI) and diffuse horizontal irradiance (DHI) from the sun and sky, enabling it to provide very reliable values of global horizontal solar irradiance (GHI) and sunshine duration. This new and affordable system helps solar energy projects, PV as well as CSP, to prospect for new locations, calculate performance ratios, maximise operating efficiency, schedule maintenance and monitor plant performance; all with a minimal soiling effect.Decades of scientific knowledge, engineering experience and customer feedback have been the inspiration for this new development. RaZON+ uses a new and unique design of integrated Smart pyrheliometer and shaded Smart pyranometer with quartz diffuser that both meet ISO 9060 requirements. The innovative features of the pyrheliometer minimise the effects of soiling when operated unattended in remote locations, without compromising the high accuracy of the instrument. "The first prototype tests already confirmed that we were heading in the right direction with RaZON+" says Ilja Staupe, the leading Physicist of this development. "We quickly found out we had something really innovative at hand and applied for a patent".RaZON+ measures the diffuse horizontal solar irradiance with a shaded Smart pyranometer mounted on top of the housing. Kipp & Zonen chooses to measure DNI and DHI and calculate GHI, as this minimises the effect of thermal offsets in the pyranometer and provides an accurate and reliable measurement with a much lower uncertainty. RaZON+ capabilities can easily be extended with the connection of a compact weather station or other Modbus sensors.After simple installation and alignment, RaZON+ uses its GPS receiver to track the sun from dawn to dusk and automatically stores measurement data from the integrated pyrheliometer and shaded pyranometer. User friendliness was a key target in the development, not just for installation but also for the collection of accurate solar irradiance data. Thanks to the integrated data logger and the Smart radiometers with internal temperature correction, accurate stored and real time data is available. The information is accessible via Ethernet and RS485 ports and includes DNI, DHI, GHI, sunshine duration, kWh/m2, sun position, GPS time and system status.RaZON+ offers a complete web interface with data, graphs and status information, which can also be checked on the spot with a smartphone, tablet or laptop via its integrated Wi-Fi connection.Kipp & Zonen welcomes you to Intersolar Europe in Munich. Visit booth B3.370 to be one of the first to see RaZON+ in real life and learn the details of this exciting technical innovation and its additional capabilities such as onsite calibration and automatic soiling detection.Pictures can be found with this link: http://ots.de/HCnPtFor more information and/or pictures please contact us (Kelly.Dalu@kippzonen.com).Originaltext: Kipp & Zonen B.V. digital press kits: http://www.presseportal.de/nr/101094 press kits via RSS: http://www.presseportal.de/rss/pm_101094.rss2Contact: Marketing Communication Kelly.Dalu@kippzonen.com
Foresight Solar and Infrastructure VCT plc Interim Management Statement for the Quarter Ended 31 March 2016
Foresight Solar VCT plc presents its interim management statement for the quarter ended 31 March 2016. This constitutes the company's third interim management statement for the financial year ending 30 June 2016, as required by the UK Listing Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rule 4.3.
The unaudited net asset value (NAV) per ordinary share as at 31 March 2016 was 103.2p (31 December 2015: 105.9p).
During the three month period ended 31 March 2016 the underlying performance of the Ordinary Shares fund remained robust and generated a positive return per Ordinary Share of 3.1p (2.9%). However, given that the Ordinary Shares fund has or will during the course of 2016 pass the minimum five year holding period for all investors, the Board has elected to recognise an accrual for the performance fee incentive of approximately 5.8p per Ordinary Share at this time and this has been deducted to arrive at the NAV of 103.2p per Ordinary Share as at 31 March 2016. The accrual will be amended quarterly to reflect movements in the underlying total return of the Ordinary Share class prior to Shareholders being offered the opportunity to realise their investment at which point the final performance incentive fee will be determined.
The unaudited net asset value (NAV) per C share as at 31 March 2016 was 83.1p (31 December 2015: 82.0p).
In line with original expectations, an interim dividend of 3.0p per Ordinary Share and 2.5p per C Share was paid to shareholders on 8 April 2016.
At 31 March 2016 there were 38,290,862 Ordinary shares in issue. There were no share movements during the three months ended 31 March 2016 on the ordinary shares fund.
At 31 March 2016 there were 12,509,245 C shares in issue. There were no share movements during the three months ended 31 March 2016 on the C shares fund.
The net assets at 31 March 2016 comprised the following:
Ordinary Shares Fund '000 % of Net Assets
Unquoted Investments at fair value as determined 41,443 105% by the Directors
Quoted investments at bid price 0 0% ------------- ---------------- Total venture capital investments 41,443 105%
Cash & liquid investments 35 0%
Other net current assets (1,945) (5)% ------------- ---------------- Net Assets 39,533 100.0 ------------- ----------------
C Shares Fund '000 % of Net Assets
Unquoted Investments at fair value as determined by the 10,088 97% Directors
Quoted investments at bid price 0 0% -------- ---------------- Total venture capital investments 0 97%
Cash & liquid investments 58 0.6%
Other net current assets 248 2.4% -------- ---------------- Net Assets 10,394 100.0 -------- ----------------
For further information please contact: Gary Fraser, Foresight Group: 020 3667 8100
This announcement is distributed by GlobeNewswire on behalf of GlobeNewswire clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that: (i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and (ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Foresight Solar & Infrastructure VCT plc via GlobeNewswire [HUG#2018757]
B640GZ4R859
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
WASHINGTON, DC -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Cannabis Science, Inc. (OTC PINK: CBIS), a U.S. company specializing in the development of cannabis-based medicines, announces the CBIS African healthcare infrastructure delegation led by Mr. Raymond Dabney and including Dr. Julius Garvey, member of the Scientific Advisory Board of CBIS, Dr. Allen Herman, Chief Medical Officer of CBIS, and Mr. Melvin Foote, President & CEO of Constituency for Africa has just concluded with outstanding results. The delegation has met the prime objectives of the trip to South Africa and is now planning the next steps and trip for a follow up implementation program.
"This short visit to this vibrant and modern African region initiated our partnership with the political, intellectual, educational, research, and clinical leadership of South Africa and Namibia. We are excited and believe that our educational and drug development programs will be very successful," said Dr. Herman.
Beginning in Cape Town, South Africa, the CBIS delegation met with key stakeholders in Government Ministries, political parties, the private sector, civil society, and academia. CBIS discussed and planned collaboration with international regulatory agencies in South Africa and Namibia to provide access to high quality, first-class cannabinoid pharmaceuticals to those critically in need of new treatments for life threatening and debilitating conditions.
In Johannesburg, South Africa, the delegation met with royal representatives of a northern Kingdom located in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Discussions centered on the central role of traditional cannabinoids in the culture, the traditional medicines of native South Africans and the indigenous plant-based knowledge systems of the entire southern Africa region. Establishing operations in key Southern African cities will enable the Company to develop and supply pharmaceuticals throughout the African continent. CBIS is targeting the underserved medical treatment/pharmaceutical industry in Africa with a total population of over 1.1 billion people.
In Windhoek, Namibia, the delegation began meetings with the leadership of the Namibian National Forensic Science Institute and federal police responsible for regulating highly addictive drugs of abuse. They added important comments on the wide variety of indigenous plants in Namibia and strongly suggested that public abuse and health concerns are some of their main focuses within the context of the indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) of Namibia. The Government and the educational and research leaders of southern Africa continue their leadership and commitment in its development and implementation of initiatives to strengthen the country's health-care infrastructure and improve the delivery of health-care education and services to the people of southern Africa. The CBIS delegation is on this similar path while contributing to economic development in Africa through education, job creation, capacity building, and technology transfer.
In northern Windhoek, the delegation toured a drug and alcohol treatment facility of the Ministry of Social Services. The Ministry group explained their concerns related to drugs of abuse and the complete group reached a consensus that the CBIS drug development program is very important and is separate and distinct from their concerns. There Mr. Dabney, Dr. Garvey and Mr. Foote were interviewed by TV1 of the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation. The filmed interview was shown on Namibian national evening news and focused on the critical importance of the development of drugs from plants (especially phyto-cannabinoids) in the treatment of widely prevalent health disorders in Namibia (e.g. HIV/AIDS, cancer, and PTSD).
The delegation, educational leaders, and the various government entities discussed the critical role that the Raymond C. Dabney University (RCDU) will play in education, job creation, and in the development of effective cannabinoids and other phyto-pharmaceuticals for the many critical ailments that are endemic in the region.
To mark the delegation's success, Mr. Dabney signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) with the International University of Management of Namibia. IUM is a private non-profit university that has more than 10,000 graduate students on six campuses across Namibia and serves as the de facto graduate university of Namibia. This MOC is designed for the development of joint educational and research programs. The discussion of the initial formal partnership of the African Healthcare Infrastructure program, and signing of the historic MOC was filmed by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation and shown on national television. Our intentions are to expand scholarship offering to a wide scale of students while expanding campus numbers across the continent.
"Our visit to southern Africa, which also marked by my first visit to Africa, was successful, rich, and fulfilling. The people and leaders of Namibia and South Africa showed us remarkable generosity and we know that our collaboration with the extraordinary institutions and people of the region will result in sustainable drug development, research, educational programs, and job creation covering the basic areas of economic development one step at a time across the vast continent of Africa," commented Mr. Dabney.
About Cannabis Science, Inc.
Cannabis Science, Inc., takes advantage of its unique understanding of metabolic processes to provide novel treatment approaches to a number of illnesses for which current treatments and understanding remain unsatisfactory. Cannabinoids have an extensive history dating back thousands of years, and currently, there are a growing number of peer-reviewed scientific publications that document the underlying biochemical pathways that cannabinoids modulate. The Company works with leading experts in drug development, medicinal characterization, and clinical research to develop, produce, and commercialize novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment for illnesses caused by infections as well as for age-related illness. Our initial focus is on skin cancers, HIV/AIDS, and neurological conditions. The Company is proceeding with the research and development of its proprietary drugs as a part of this initial focus: CS-S/BCC-1, CS-TATI-1, and CS-NEURO-1, respectively.
Forward-Looking Statements
This Press Release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934. A statement containing words such as "anticipate," "seek," intend," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "project," "plan," or similar phrases may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Some or all of the events or results anticipated by these forward-looking statements may not occur. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include the future U.S. and global economies, the impact of competition, and the Company's reliance on existing regulations regarding the use and development of cannabis-based drugs. Cannabis Science, Inc., does not undertake any duty nor does it intend to update the results of these forward-looking statements. Safe Harbor Statement. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a 'safe harbor' for forward looking statements. Certain of the statements contained herein, which are not historical facts are forward looking statements with respect to events, the occurrence of which involved risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements may be impacted, either positively or negatively, by various factors. Information concerning potential factors that could affect the company are detailed from time to time in the company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Cannabis Science, Inc.
Investor Relations
Teresa Misenheimer
teresa@cannabisscience.com
Tel: 1-888-263-0832
Cannabis Science, Inc.
Mr. Raymond C. Dabney
President & CEO, Co-Founder
raymond.dabney@cannabisscience.com
Tel:1-888-263-0832
Cannabis Science, Inc.
Dr. Allen Herman
Chief Medical Officer (CMO)
allen.herman@cannabisscience.com
Tel: 1-888-263-0832
HORSHAM, PA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- AAMCO President and CEO Brett Ponton and COO Rob Rajkowski recently engaged in a substantive roundtable dialogue about how the iconic brand's executive team is driving value to franchise owners in their stores.
Since Ponton and Rajkowski joined the iconic auto repair franchise in 2013, AAMCO has simplified its proven business model, created additional revenue streams and made significant investments in its training platforms to attract a wider set of savvy entrepreneurs who want to carry on the grand American tradition of small business ownership.
AAMCO's executive team's commitment to the brand's franchise owners stems from the fact that several of them were franchisees themselves. Ponton had been CEO of Heartland Automotive, the largest Jiffy Lube franchisee in North America, operating nearly 575 units, and Rajkowski served there as COO. Ponton and Rajkowski are veterans of the automotive industry, with decades of years of senior management experience under their belts. As a result of their experience, AAMCO has been reinvigorated as a franchisor whose sole concern is the success of its franchise owners.
"We create value for franchisees primarily by doing two things: 1) Helping them improve bottom-line results, and 2) Helping them create long-term enterprise value in their businesses and the investment our franchisees made in our brand," Ponton said at the roundtable. "We wrap ourselves around the franchisees: we're talking about operational support, marketing support, administrative support, recruitment help -- because our mission in life is pretty clear. We need to support the people on the front lines of our business: the auto repair franchise owners who have the pleasure of serving the millions of consumers AAMCO has the good fortune to take care of year in and year out."
AAMCO provides long-term value to franchise owners with expansion into Total Car Care
While AAMCO remains the global leader in transmission repair, the auto repair franchise is charting a path to becoming the dominant brand for Total Car Care. To help AAMCO franchise owners get a bigger slice of the general automotive repair market, which generates $57 billion a year in sales according to IBISWorld research, the brand launched its "Trust" campaign to expand the public's perception of what AAMCO can offer to its growing base of customers. After all, if AAMCO is trusted to fix the most complicated part of a car, its technicians can surely change customers' oil, fix their brakes and rotate their tires.
The leadership team simplified the business model by partnering with Global Powertrain Systems to build a remanufacturing facility on the site of AAMCO headquarters in Newnan, Georgia. AAMCO franchise owners can now purchase high-quality remanufactured transmissions from the remanufacturing facility; the company can deliver a remanufactured transmission to more than 70% of its franchisees the day after the order is received. This gives AAMCO franchisees immediate access to a vertically integrated supply chain with preferred pricing, and it helps keep overhead costs low while AAMCO franchisees are focusing on increasing their profitability in the Total Car Care segment.
"Looking at Total Car Care becoming a component of the business, where we have repeat customers and create lifetime value with the customers, is absolutely the way to continue to drive our growth," Rajkowski said.
Ponton added that the root of AAMCO's success in expanding the brand's level of service to include Total Car Care is rooted in their hard-won reputation of customer trust and brand recognition.
"I've had the opportunity to work for very strong American brands in my career," Ponton said. "One of the things that attracted me to AAMCO is that our brand is woven into the fabric of American car culture. It's been a privilege and an honor to join such a great brand with such a great heritage. AAMCO enjoys national brand recognition. That is meaningful and tangible, and it really gives our franchisees a leg up on the competition in driving traffic to their centers. It's up to us as the franchisor to come up with the right marketing programs and the right operational procedures to ensure that we deliver the great experience that those consumers expect."
AAMCO is committed to remaining the industry's leading expert for transmission repair and Total Car Care
AAMCO made a significant investment in initial and ongoing training and education by establishing AAMCO University. The state-of-the-art training facility in Newnan, Georgia, is a pathway to success for franchise owners and technicians alike. For AAMCO center owners, there is more than 250 hours of training, as well as more than 300 online courses focused on comprehensive business ownership principles and procedural applications. Each independent AAMCO franchisee is positioned to be a leader in their community and industry with an eye on establishing, developing and growing steady income and long-term business value for every location.
"We have made a significant capital investment in our facility," Rajkowski said. "It has an auditorium where we bring in our managers and technicians, as well as a live, working, full shop, where technicians can be trained on the latest techniques and latest equipment. If you can't get there live, we can do webcasts and leverage our technology today to get the same type of training they would receive if they came. We also have an online learning platform, where we can build skills from an entry-level technician all the way up to master. Our learning management system allows technicians to build their career, at their own pace, from entry-level all the way up to master tech."
Invest in the iconic auto repair franchise
For half a century, the AAMCO franchise brand has been a dynamic part of American car culture. With nearly 700 auto repair locations across the country, AAMCO is one of the original American franchise systems, and its brand is committed to innovation and trusted in the eyes of the American consumer.
For Ponton, collaboration with AAMCO franchise owners is of paramount importance to maintaining the success of the legacy brand.
"We are very fortunate to have a very strong franchisee organization, the National AAMCO Dealers Association, within our business," Ponton said. "The longest-tenured member in the organization has been with AAMCO for over 40 years. We also have operators who are quite new within that organization. It's a very diverse association, and they really give us great counsel. It's allowed us to have a platform to collaborate in a very constructive and positive way."
AAMCO is actively seeking single- and multi-unit operators who are passionate about the brand and committed to providing the highest-quality service. Interested candidates should have a minimum net worth of $250,000 and liquid assets of at least $65,000 per unit. Depending on the real estate site selected, franchisees can expect the total investment to be approximately $227,400-$333,000, with a $39,500 initial franchise fee. Reduced franchise fees are available for honorably discharged veterans.
To learn more about AAMCO, please visit aamcofranchises.com.
Embedded Video Available
Embedded Video Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3018752
Contact
Eric Simon
Director of Franchise Development
esimon@americandriveline.com
866-379-5649
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations intensive teaching partnership projects show signs of promise, but they have not yet translated into widespread achievement gains for students.
Thats one of the major results from three interim reports released today by the RAND corporation covering implementation of the grants , access to effective teaching , and impact on student outcomes , through 2013-14. Researchers are still analyzing another two years of data, so this is really a teaser of things to come.
Gates announced the intensive partnerships in 2010. The foundation gave grants to three districtsMemphis, Tenn., Pittsburgh, Pa.; and Hillsborough, Fla.; and to one consortia of charter schools in California. The grantees agreed to craft new teacher-evaluation systems (including consideration of student achievement), and to re-orient professional development, teacher career options, and hiring around those systems.
The Gates investment came almost at the same time as the U.S. Department of Educations Race to the Top competition, which prioritized similar themes .
Overall, the researchers underscored one major factor: All of the districts made the significant changes they promised to the Gates Foundation in their plans, despite struggling with certain elements like professional development.
This isnt an example of a reform that wasnt implemented, or where there was really strong resistance. Quite the opposite, said Michael S. Garet, the principal investigator on the implementation report and a vice president of the American Institutes of Research.
Education Week reported that as of 2013, Gates had spent nearly $700 million specifically on its teacher-quality initiatives. Of that, some $281 million went towards the Intensive Partnership sites.
The findings so far confirm for us that changing systems to improve teaching quality is very complex work and requires persistence and patience, said Mary Beth Lambert, a spokeswoman for the foundation. It remains hopeful that the final two years will show strong results, and will build on all of the findings, she added.
The reports are a densely packed 500 pages, so youll want to read them all for the full picture. Below is a small sample of the findings.
1. The grants impact on student achievement is mixedbut appears to be trending upwards.
Overall, the researchers found that there were few statistically significant gains over the time period studied. In one district, Memphis, student achievement dipped for a few years in 3-8 math, but had begun to rebound by 2014; in Pittsburgh, achievement went up in 3-8 math. In both cases, only a few years estimated impacts were actually statistically significant.
Take a look at the graph below, which represents Hillsboroughs 3-8 achievement scores. The white line is the intervention and the blue band the confidence interval; the x-axis represents standard deviations. As youll note, any impact is pretty close to zero overall.
Its challenging to measure the impact of district-level initiatives since theres no real control group, so the researchers used two different methods for their analysis. First, they used a difference in difference approach, comparing the districts achievement trajectories to those in other districts and accounting for their different demographic factors. To cross-check those results, they also created a synthetic control group for each district populated by students elsewhere in each districts respective state that closely matched the population of the district.
Interpreting these findings is challenging. It took several years for the grantees to put all of the various components in place, so perhaps its not surprising that any benefits are only now emerging. Also, keep in mind that these are averages across many schools in a district, which tend to obscure particularly high- or low-flying schools.
Its possible that this is a worse-before-better situation; we just dont know, Garet said. We really need the next two years of data.
Another way to consider these findings is to compare the 2013-14 effect sizes to other types of interventions. Below, you can see how the reading findings stack up. According to the report, the teaching reforms didnt have as big an impact as classroom-level interventions, such as cmoprehensive school reform, or CSR, programs (think Success For All). But it was stronger than other district interventions, such as charter schools or technical assistance (DAIT, below.)
Most importantly: RAND will continue to analyze results in 2014-15 and 2015-16, so stay tuned.
2. Teachers enthusiasm for evaluation has declined.
The reports indicate that teachers, in general, did find the observation portion of the system helpful for reflection and changing practices. Between 60 and 80 percent of teachers in each district said that the evaluations helped pinpoint areas of weakness and instruction.
But they were not convinced that the entire evaluation apparatus was really going to help students: The proportion of teachers who said it would declined in the three districts since 2011most precipitously in Pittsburgh. In site visits to each of the districts, teachers reported finding the evaluations time-consuming and that preparing for being observed took up a lot of preparation time. (Enthusiasm is higher among teachers in the charter schools in the consortia that won the fourth Gates grant.)
3. Professional development remains a challenge.
This finding probably isnt that surprising, but still is noteworthy. One of the main goals of the project was to generate individual, actionable feedback for each teacher. But, while principals did report using the results from the evaluation for professional development, they didnt always have the best tools or infrastructure for doing so.
Sites are finding it difficult to link individual PD to needs identified by the teacher-evaluation process, a challenge that stems from incomplete information in the evaluation measures, from a lack of PD options that are tailored to areas of weakness that those measures identify, and from insufficient time for principals to offer tailored feedback to each teacher, the authors wrote in the report.
Gates has invested a lot in personalized professional development over the last several years, probably as a result of these kinds of challenges cropping up along the way.
4. Teacher-evaluation results skew positive.
As is the case elsewhere, teachers got pretty good results from the new teacher-evaluation systems. Pittsburgh initially identified a higher percentage of weaker teachers, while Memphis gave out the most top ratings.
5. The grants didnt do much to affect teacher-distribution patterns.
Here again, the results were pretty mixed.
The districts started with good distribution patterns, with low-income and minority students generally getting slightly better access to effective teachers than their peers. By the end of 2013-14 school year, that pattern had persisted, and in some cases gotten even better (Memphis), and in one case slightly worse (Hillsborough.)
But these patterns do not seem to have been a result of any particular district effort. Though the districts tried incentives, like extra pay for teaching in schools with more disadvantaged students, those programs dont seem to have had a great uptake or much of an impact. (This is consistent with other research .) Instead, it appears that more-effective teachers are either improving their performance or replacing departing teachers who were less effective.
Well continue to dig into the findings. In the meantime, leave a comment and tell us what you found of interest.
The Gates Foundation commissioned the RAND evaluations. (It also provides support for Education Week.)
Charts courtesy of RAND.
For more on the Gates projects:
REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Viterra Inc. ("Viterra"), today hosted an official grand opening event at its new high throughput grain terminal at Kindersley, Saskatchewan. Viterra customers, employees and local government officials gathered to commemorate the company's significant investment in west central Saskatchewan.
"Our return to Kindersley is a great example of Viterra's commitment to creating and maintaining an industry leading asset network that is modern and efficient," said Kyle Jeworski, Viterra's President and CEO for North America. "In Saskatchewan alone, we've invested millions of dollars at several locations in recent years to support our unwavering focus on operational excellence and superior customer service."
The new facility has 28,000 tonnes of grain storage and 108 railcar loading capacity. It is the sixth elevator the company has operated in Kindersley since building its first elevator there in 1934.
"We have been fortunate to experience significant growth throughout the history of our company. Although we now have a global presence, we still recognize the importance of our Prairie roots, and the values and lessons we have learned from our farmers," said Jeworski. "As trusted advisors, we take great pride in working hard to connect them to markets in over fifty countries. We've put together a great team at Kindersley that I'm confident will continue Viterra's tradition of excellence in west central Saskatchewan."
About Viterra
Viterra is Canada's grain industry leader, supported by the expertise of its people, a superior network of assets, and unrivalled connections to world markets. Headquartered in Regina, Saskatchewan, our commitment to agriculture goes back over 100 years, partnering with farmers to market and move their crops to areas of need around the world. Our continued focus on operational excellence throughout North America allows us to efficiently handle, process, distribute and transport grains and oilseeds. We provide further value to our partners through a wide variety of contracting and risk management tools to help them realize the full potential of their crops. For more information on Viterra in North America, please visit www.viterra.com. Viterra is part of the Agricultural Business Segment of Glencore.
Contacts:
Peter Flengeris
Viterra Inc.
(306) 569-4810
peter.flengeris@viterra.com
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- San Marco Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: SMN) announces that it has granted options to directors, officers and consultants to purchase a total of 1,800,000 shares at a price of $0.10 per share for five years. The options vest, as to 25% each, on granting and on the next three, six and nine months.
About San Marco
San Marco Resources Inc. (www.sanmarcocorp.com) is a Canadian mineral exploration company with a portfolio of three promising projects in mining-friendly Mexico, including the Cuatro de Mayo Project in Sonora State on which the Company is currently active, and an alliance with GlobeTrotters Resource Group Inc. pursuant to which they will jointly initiate a state-wide effort to generate and acquire new high potential and overlooked mineral targets in Sonora State, Mexico.
San Marco has a committed management team with extensive experience in Mexico and a proven track record of building shareholder value.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
San Marco Resources Inc.
Robert Willis
CEO
Cell: 604-813-2606
rwillis@sanmarcocorp.com
www.sanmarcocorp.com
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Oban Mining Corporation (TSX: OBM) (the "Corporation") is pleased to announce the results of its annual and special meeting of shareholders (the "Meeting") held on June 7, 2016.
A total of 49,079,954 common shares ("Common Shares") were represented at the Meeting and all matters presented for approval at the Meeting were duly authorized and approved, as follows:
i. election of all management nominees to the board of directors of the Corporation; ii. appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as auditors of the Corporation for the ensuing year and authorization of the directors to fix their remuneration; and iii.approval to change the name of the Corporation from "Oban Mining Corporation" to "Osisko Mining Inc.".
Detailed voting results regarding the election of directors are as follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Voted For Voted For Withheld Withheld Name (#) (%) (#) (%) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Burzynski 44,474,393 99.46 243,537 0.54 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jose Vizquerra 44,455,488 99.41 262,442 0.59 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sean Roosen 44,273,059 99.01 444,871 0.99 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ned Goodman 43,962,364 98.31 755,566 1.69 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert Wares 44,277,362 99.01 440,568 0.99 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Patrick F.N. Anderson 44,285,948 99.03 431,982 0.97 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Keith McKay 44,604,738 99.75 113,192 0.25 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Murray John 44,064,132 98.54 653,798 1.46 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Christie 44,004,436 98.40 713,494 1.60 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bernardo Alvarez Calderon 44,611,773 99.76 106,157 0.24 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Further details on the above matters, including the report of voting results thereon, are set out in the Corporation meeting materials, which are available on SEDAR under the issuer profile of the Corporation at www.sedar.com.
Name Change to Osisko Mining Inc.
At the Meeting, shareholders of the Corporation representing approximately 98.99% of the votes cast on the matter overwhelmingly approved the special resolution to change the name of the Corporation from "Oban Mining Corporation" to "Osisko Mining Inc.". The Corporation will adopt the name "Osisko Mining Inc." and formalize its re-branding initiatives in the near future, which reflects the evolution of the Corporation since the beginning of 2015, including its assets and management, and following its consolidation activities in Ontario and Quebec. The original Osisko Mining Corporation earned international recognition with the successes of its exploration and development team - a team that includes the original founders of Osisko who are now senior management and on the board of directors of the Corporation (the "Board") - crowned by the discovery, development and operation of the Canadian Malartic mine in the Abitibi region of north-western Quebec, until the joint acquisition of Osisko Mining Corporation in June 2014 by Agnico Eagle Mines Limited and Yamana Gold Inc. The Corporation wishes to reintroduce the Osisko Mining name to the mining and investment communities to better reflect the Corporation's current management, Board and technical teams that were responsible for much of the success of the original Osisko Mining Corporation, and the highly prospective mineral project portfolio in Quebec and Ontario that management believes will allow the Corporation to continue the fulfilment both of the Corporation's potential and its commitments to all of its stakeholders. The Corporation enjoys strong sponsorship from its largest shareholder Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd., who together with management and insiders of the Corporation currently owns approximately 19.9% of the shares of the company.
The Corporation has notified the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") of the proposed name change. Subject to TSX approval, it is expected that the Common Shares will commence trading on the TSX under the new name and under the new stock symbol "OSK" at the opening of business two or three days subsequent to the effecting of the name change by the Corporation, subject to the receipt by the TSX of the necessary documentation.
About the Corporation
The Corporation is a mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development of precious metal resource properties in Canada. The Corporation holds a 100% in the high-grade Windfall Lake gold deposit located between Val-d'Or and Chibougamau in Quebec and holds a 100% undivided interest in a large area of claims in the surrounding Urban Barry area (82,400 hectares), a 100% interest in the Marban project located in the heart of Quebec's prolific Abitibi gold mining district, and properties in the Larder Lake Mining Division in northeast Ontario, including the Jonpol and Garrcon deposits on the Garrison property, the Buffonta past producing mine and the Gold Pike mine property. The Corporation also holds interests and options in a number of additional properties in northern Ontario. The Corporation is well financed with approximately $74 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities.
This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-looking statements relate, among other things, to: the matters to be considered at the Meeting; the steps required for the Corporation to change its name from "Oban Mining Corporation" to "Osisko Mining Inc." and the related Shareholder, stock exchange and regulatory approvals; the timing and ability of the Corporation to change its name from "Oban Mining Corporation" to "Osisko Mining Inc."; and the timing for holding the Meeting.
These forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Corporation at the time such statements were made. Actual future results may differ materially as forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Corporation to materially differ from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Corporation believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Corporation cannot assure Shareholders that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended.Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. The Corporation assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.
Contacts:
John Burzynski
President & Chief Executive Officer
Tel: (416) 848-9504
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- The Canderel Group of Companies (www.canderel.com), a leader in the Canadian real estate industry announced today that the firm has entered into an agreement to act as both property and leasing managers for the Bentall Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, effective July 18, 2016.
Located in the downtown core connected to the Burrard SkyTrain station, the complex comprises four Class A and AAA office towers totalling 1.4 million square feet of office area and approximately 50,000 square feet of additional retail space. It is recognized by many as the preeminent office complex in Vancouver. Bentall Centre is home to numerous multinational and national tenants including Bank of Montreal, Blakes, CIBC and Deloitte.
"This is a strategic partnership for our firm and it further expands Canderel's extensive management portfolio across Canada," says Jonathan Wener, Chairman and CEO of Canderel. "We, at Canderel, are committed to providing the highest level of service and management expertise to the Bentall Centre and its tenants."
"With national bench strength in construction, re-development, leasing and property management, Canderel is ideally positioned to ensure and enhance the project's unique stature in the Vancouver marketplace," says Bryce Margetts, Canderel's VP of Western Canada based in Vancouver.
ABOUT CANDEREL
Canderel was founded in 1975 by Jonathan Wener, who entered the real estate business with a strong set of conservative business principles, tremendous drive and a passion for buildings and architecture. Four decades later, Canderel is a leading innovator in real estate investment, development and management. The company is recognized for the exceptional diversity, talent and experience of its team and the ability to achieve success for clients and partners. With its headquarters in Montreal and regional offices in Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, the addition of the Bentall Centre brings the company's total management portfolio to approximately 23 million square feet.
Contacts:
CANDEREL
Bryce R. Margetts
Vice-President, Western Canada
604 639-5988
bmargetts@canderel.com
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- VVC Exploration Corporation ("VVC" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: VVC) announces a convertible debenture private placement financing of up US$1,000,000 (or CA$1,250,000) (the "Debenture Financing") and the grant of options.
Debenture Financing
The Debenture Financing is available in USD units (a "USD Debenture Unit") or in CAD units (a "CAD Debenture Unit") at the option of the subscriber. Each USD Debenture Unit comprises one US$25,000 Debenture and 500,000 common share purchase warrant ("Warrants") of the Company and each CAD Debenture Unit comprises one CA$25,000 Debenture and 400,000 common share purchase warrant ("Warrants") of the Company. Each Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one additional common share of the Company at $0.05 per share expiring in 5 years from the closing date. Each Debenture bears interest at 12% per annum for a term of 5 years and are convertible into shares of VVC at CA$0.05 per share in the first year and at $0.10 per share in the subsequent four years.
The Debenture Financing is being offered to Accredited Investors in their applicable jurisdictions and is expected to close within 45 days. Subscriptions of US$ 460,000 and CA$ 133,250 have already been received. Closing of this Debenture will be subject to obtaining the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.
The net proceeds of this financing will be used to cover maintenance fees and option payments on the Company's properties in Mexico, pay accounts payables, general corporate expenses and operating expenses in Mexico and Canada.
Samalayuca Copper Project Update
As a follow-up to our news release of February 4, 2016, regarding a court ruling relating to the lands around the Samalayuca Project, the Company has been advised that SEMARNAT has appealed the court ruling. VVC is waiting for the results of the appeal, and regardless of the outcome, the Company will continue to work with the Ejido Commissariat and CONAMP to initiate mining exploitation and exploration on the Samalayuca Project. VVC and its partners are committed to operating the Samalayuca Copper Project in an environmentally and socially responsible manner and to encourage the sustainable development of the communities in the vicinity of the Samalayuca Project.
Shareholders' Meeting
The Company will be holding its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on August 31, 2016 at 10:00 am (Montreal Time) at the Marriott Fairfield Inn & Suites - Montreal Airport, Toscana II Room, 700 Michel Jasmin Avenue, Dorval, Quebec, H9P 1C5.
Grant of Options
The Company also announces the grant of incentive stock options under its stock option plan, to officers, directors and consultants of the Company, to purchase up to an aggregate of 7,750,000 common shares, representing 9.2% of the outstanding shares of the Company. The stock options are exercisable at a price of CA$0.05 per share expiring June 7, 2026. Pursuant to the TSX Venture Exchange policies, the exercise price was fixed at the minimum allowable price. The options will vest and be exercisable on the basis of 25% on the date of grant and 25% every six months thereafter.
There are currently 181,786,131 shares outstanding and 16,750,000 options outstanding at an average exercise price of $0.067 per share. The options were granted subject to provisions of the Company's stock option plan which was approved by shareholders on July 22, 2015, and are subject to the TSX Venture Exchange policies and the applicable securities laws.
About VVC Exploration Corporation
VVC is a Canadian exploration and mining company with projects in Mexico and Canada, which includes a near production copper prospect in Chihuahua State, and gold and silver prospects in Sonora and Sinaloa States, Mexico. The Company also has a grassroots gold/VMS prospect in the Timmins area of northern Ontario. VVC is aggressively seeking to convert its near production copper project, Samalayuca Cobre, to pilot scale production, then full production.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
Michel J. Lafrance, Secretary-Treasurer
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This news release contains "forward-looking information" (within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws) and "forward -looking statements" (within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Such statements or information are identified with words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "plan", "intend", "potential", "estimate", "propose", "project", "outlook", "foresee" or similar words suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. Such statements include, among others, those concerning the raising of to US$1,000,000 or $CA$1,250,000 in Debenture financing and initiating mining exploitation and exploration on the Samalayuca Project.
Such forward-looking information or statements are based on a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions which may cause actual results or other expectations to differ materially from those anticipated and which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, management's expectations regarding the Company's ability to sell the Debenture Financing, the Zoning Changes, the future development and growth of the Company and its Samalayuca Project. Actual results could differ materially due to a number of factors. No assurances can be given that the efforts by Company will be successful. Additional assumptions and risks are set out in detail in the Company's MD&A, available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information or statements are reasonable, prospective investors in the Company's securities should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements because the Company can provide no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking information and statements contained in this news release are as of the date of this news release and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise this forward-looking information and statements except as required by law.
Investors are cautioned that trading in the securities of VVC should be considered highly speculative. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.
Contacts:
VVC Exploration Corporation
Patrick Fernet
(514) 631-2727
pfernet@vvcexploration.com
Regulatory News:
International Flavors Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) (Euronext Paris:IFF), a leading innovator of sensory experiences that move the world, today celebrates Sophia Grojsman, perfumer and industry legend, as she is honored with The Fragrance Foundation Perfumer of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award. Each year, the Fragrance Foundation recognizes the global industry and its outstanding creative achievements in the world of perfumery during its renowned industry event held at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.
"Our Sophia is a living legend. She has inspired the world of beauty with her vibrancy and unparalleled ability to create simple scents and turn them into global phenomena," said Nicolas Mirzayantz, Group President, Fragrances, IFF. "An act of generosity, her fragrances are universal. She was a pioneer in understanding what women wanted and crafted superior fragrances that ignited deep emotional experiences. She is one of the most successful and iconic perfumers of our generation, and we are proud she has been recognized with this exceptional award by the industry she loves."
Sophia began her legacy as an IFF lab technician in 1966 and stayed with the company for nearly fifty years, creating more than 30 bestselling fine fragrances. In her early years, she worked with some of the greatest IFF perfumers of the time Ernest Shiftan, Josephine Catapano and many others. Continuing the tradition of empowerment, Sophia inspired fellow perfumers, customers and consumers with her uncompromising commitment to beauty and sensuality and her deep passion for creating timeless scent experiences.
"When I think about a fragrance, I think of it as an expression of both myself and the person with whom I am working with at the moment. It is an exceptional experience to have been able to use my talents to make people happy for so many years," said Sophia. "During my time at IFF, they gave me a chance to explore and tell stories of femininity and strength, and I loved it. Being named The Fragrance Foundation Lifetime Achievement awardee is an honor and I am proud to share it because fragrance is for everyone."
Among her many accomplishments and accolades, Sophia was honored with the Achiever Award by Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) in 1994; the Living Legacy Award by the American Society of Perfumers in 1996, and the Lifetime Achievement Award by CEW in 1999. Additionally, many of her creations and collaborations have been recognized by The Fragrance Foundation as inductees into its Fragrance Hall of Fame.
Please note a few of these fragrances below (collaborators are also listed, as appropriate):
A Lab On Fire Rose Rebelle Respawn (2013)
Calvin Klein Eternity (1988)
Celine Magic (with Alain Astori)
Christian LaCroix (shell bottle, 1999)
Elizabeth Arden True Love
Elizabeth Taylor Diamonds and Rubies
Estee Lauder Beautiful (1985)
Estee Lauder Spellbound (1991)
Estee Lauder White Linen (1978)
Frederic Malle Outrageous (2007)
LancomeTresor (1990)
Lancome Tresor Sparkling (2007, with Alienor Massenet)
Laura Biagiotti Sotto Voce
Gloria Vanderbilt Vanderbilt
Prescriptives Calyx (1986)
Yves Saint Laurent Paris (1983)
Yves Saint Laurent Parisienne (2009, with Sophie Labbe)
Yves Saint Laurent Paris Premieres Roses (2003, with Dominique Ropion & Laurent Bruyere)
Yves Saint Laurent Yvresse (formerlyChampagne, 1993)
Meet IFF
International Flavors Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) (Euronext Paris: IFF) is a leading innovator of sensorial experiences that move the world. At the heart of our company, we are fueled by a sense of discovery, constantly asking "what if?". That passion for exploration drives us to co-create unique products that consumers taste, smell, or feel in fine fragrances and beauty, detergents and household goods, as well as beloved foods and beverages. Our 6,700 team members globally take advantage of leading consumer insights, research and development, creative expertise, and customer intimacy to develop differentiated offerings for consumer products. Learn more at www.iff.com, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160607006659/en/
Contacts:
IFF
Michael DeVeau, 212-708-7164
VP, Global Corporate Communications Investor Relations
Michael.DeVeau@iff.com
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Avrupa Minerals Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: AVU)(FRANKFURT: 8AM) has arranged a private placement of 10 million units at $0.10 per unit for gross proceeds of $1 million. Each unit will have a four-month hold period and is comprised of one common share plus a warrant to purchase another common share at $0.15 for a period of three years.
During 2015 and 2016, Avrupa has achieved the following:
- Continued with three joint ventures, including replacing one partner with a new one who committed to a 5,000 meter drill program. - Reported new drill results from the Alvalade Project in Portugal for copper, zinc, and lead, expanding the area of massive sulfide mineralization along a target strike length of 1.8 kms. - Completed the initial drill programs and an initial gold resource estimate at the Slivovo Project in Kosovo. - Completed a work program with a new partner on the Alvito IOCG project which upgraded the project at no dilution or cost to Avrupa. - Raised only $1 million (June 2015) and kept G&A at very low levels compared to its peers. - Reported a resource estimate from its Covas Tungsten project in Northern Portugal. - Identified prospective projects for acquisition in a strategically near-by country.
Avrupa generally funds exploration by bringing in partners on its mineral exploration projects and has arranged six partnerships over the past six years funding over $15 million in exploration. In line with that, the proceeds of the current private placement will mostly be used for administration costs and early stage exploration, including a venture into one new near-by country, with the aim of upgrading present projects to be ready for joint venture.
Avrupa Minerals Ltd. is a growth-oriented junior exploration and development company focused on discovery, using a prospect generator model, of valuable mineral deposits in politically stable and prospective regions of Europe, including Portugal, Kosovo, and Germany.
The Company currently holds nine exploration licenses in three European countries, including six in Portugal covering 3,821 km2, two in Kosovo covering 47 km2, and one in Germany covering 307 km2. Avrupa has three joint ventures, two in Portugal and one in Kosovo:
- The Alvalade JV, with Colt Resources, covering one license in the Iberian Pyrite Belt of southern Portugal, for Cu-rich massive sulfide deposits; - The Covas JV, with Blackheath Resources, covering one license in northern Portugal, for intrusion-related W deposits; and - Avrupa's partner at the Slivovo Gold Project in Kosovo is presently advancing the Project by funding and operating a pre-feasibility study.
Avrupa is currently upgrading precious and base metal targets to JV-ready status in a variety of districts on their other licenses, with the idea of attracting potential partners to project-specific and/or regional exploration programs.
On behalf of the Board,
Paul W. Kuhn, President & Director
This news release was prepared by Company management, who take full responsibility for its content. Paul W. Kuhn, President and CEO of Avrupa Minerals, a Licensed Professional Geologist and a Registered Member of the Society of Mining Engineers, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators. He has reviewed the technical disclosure in this release. Mr. Kuhn, the QP, has not only reviewed, but prepared and supervised the preparation or approval the scientific and technical content in the news release.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
Avrupa Minerals Ltd.
1-604-687-3520
www.avrupaminerals.com
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/07/16 -- Aberdeen International Inc. ("Aberdeen", or the "Company") (TSX: AAB) would like to provide further information regarding the proposed pilot production joint venture agreement at the Sal de los Angeles lithium brine project ("Sal de los Angeles Project", or the "Project").
The joint venture agreement establishes a joint venture with Salta Exploraciones SA ("SESA") for the construction and operation of a pilot facility at the Project. The joint venture agreement stipulates the pilot plant will be designed to produce initially approximately 2,500 tonnes per annum ("tpa") of lithium carbonate equivalent ("LCE"). As stated in our May 12, 2016 press release, the Project has not been the subject of a feasibility study and there is no guarantee the pilot plant will successfully produce a commercial product on a profitable basis or at all. Pursuant to the joint venture agreement, in order to earn a 50% stake in the joint venture, SESA must contribute an estimated US$6 million or the required amount for the construction and operation of the stipulated pilot facility by incurring all construction and overrun costs, including the costs associated with one full year of post-construction operation. PLASA must contribute US$3.3 million over the next twelve months, with an initial contribution of US$200,000 within 30 days of receiving all necessary permits, in consideration for a 30% contributing participation in the joint venture and the right to sell any lithium products. In addition, PLASA will be fully carried for the remaining 20% of the joint venture in consideration for contributing brine from existing wells on the Project. The agreement has a 25-year term.
The purpose of the pilot program is not to commence commercial production but to utilize the expertise and experience of its new joint venture partner, SESA. Aberdeen highlights SESA will be responsible for any cost overruns required until the pilot facility is fully built. SESA is a consortium of Argentina based engineering and construction firms with extensive experience in the design, construction and operation of lithium brine facilities in Argentina's Puna region, where the Project is located.
At the request of the Ontario Securities Commission, Aberdeen clarifies there is currently no mineral resource estimate, mineral reserve estimate, or economic analysis on the Sal de los Angeles Project to support the construction and operation of a pilot plant and historically, projects that have not first established technical feasibility and economic viability have much higher risks of technical and economic failure.
Additionally, estimates regarding mineralization at the Project are considered historical estimates and, accordingly, cannot be relied upon. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify any estimate as a current mineral resource estimate.
Aberdeen has filed a National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") technical report on the Salar de los Angles lithium project. The independent technical report, entitled "NI 43-101 Technical Report Salar de los Angeles Project, Salar de Diablillos, Salta Province, Argentina" dated May 2, 2016, was prepared for Aberdeen by Raymond Spanjers, P.Geo. The Technical Report is available under the Company's profile on SEDAR and on the Company's website at www.aberdeeninternational.ca.
The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by William Randall, P.Geo, who is a Qualified Person as defined under NI 43-101.
ABOUT ABERDEEN INTERNATIONAL
Aberdeen International is a global resource investment company and merchant bank focused on small capitalization companies in the mining and metals sector. African Thunder Platinum, Aberdeen's premiere investment, is a lower-cost platinum group metals project in South Africa's well-known Bushveld Complex. Aberdeen has further enhanced its investment holdings with its holding of 50% of Potasio y Litio de Argentina SA, which holds the Sal de los Angeles lithium project in Argentina.
For additional information, please visit our website at www.aberdeeninternational.ca and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and check out Aberdeen's YouTube Channel.
Cautionary Notes
Except for statements of historical fact contained herein, the information in this press release constitutes "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities law. Such forward-looking information may be identified by words such as "plans", "proposes", "estimates", "intends", "expects", "believes", "may", "will" and include without limitation, statements regarding, the construction and operation of the pilot facility, the budget and timetable for construction; partners' obligation and their ability to meet those obligations; the possible commercial nature of any products; joint venture and operating committee operations and decisions; the ability of the Company to generate additional value for shareholders as a result of such transactions, past success as an indicator of future success; net asset value of the Company; industry opportunities, lithium pricing and dynamics and anticipated returns. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate; actual results and future events could differ materially from such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, among others, metal prices, competition, financing risks, acquisition risks, risks inherent in the mining industry, and regulatory risks. Most of these factors are beyond the control of the Company. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as otherwise required by applicable securities statutes or regulation, the Company expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contacts:
Aberdeen International Inc.
Rob Hopkins
Manager, Investor Relations
+1 416-861-5899
info@aberdeeninternational.ca
Aberdeen International Inc.
David Stein
President and Chief Executive Officer
+1 416-861-5812
dstein@aberdeeninternational.ca
www.aberdeeninternational.ca
CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Japan will on Wednesday release final Q1 figures for gross domestic product, highlighting a busy day in Asia-Pacific economic activity.
GDP is called higher by 05 percent on quarter - an upward revision from last month's preliminary reading of 0.4 percent. GDP was down 0.4 percent in the three months prior.
On a yearly basis, GDP is expected to see an upward revision to 2.0 percent from 1.7 percent. It contracted 1.1 percent in the previous three months.
Japan also will see April numbers for current account and May data for bank lending and the eco watchers survey.
The current account is tipped to show a surplus of 2,308.8 billion yen, down from 2,980.4 in March. Bank lending is expected to hold steady at 2.2 percent. The eco watchers index is tipped to come in at 43.4, down marginally from 43.5.
New Zealand will release Q1 figures for manufacturing activity. In the previous three months, activity was down 1.9 percent on quarter, while volume climbed 1.3 percent.
Australia will provide April numbers for home loans, with forecasts calling for an increase of 2.8 percent. That follows the 0.9 percent decline in March - when the value of loans fell 1.2 percent and investment lending gained 1.5 percent.
China will release May figures for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to fall 6.0 percent on year after sliding 10.9 percent in April. Exports are called lower by 4.6 percent after dipping 1.8 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $54.70 billion, up from $45.56 billion a month earlier.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
LONDON, June 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
The ability to disrupt sets apart the fastest growing brands
Continual innovation, increased revenue from advertising, and growth in its cloud business has helped Google reclaim from Apple the no.1 position in the 2016 BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking, released today by WPP and Millward Brown. The brand increased its value 32% to $229bn, while last year's leader Apple dropped to no.2 after declining -8% in value to $228bn. Microsoft remains at no.3, growing 5% to $122bn, while Facebook (+44%, no.5) and Amazon (+59%, no.7) entered the Top 10 for the first time. The total brand value held by the Top 100 rose 3% year on year to hit $3.4 trillion.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151014/276726LOGO )
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160607/376638LOGO )
The BrandZ data and analysis indicates that this was a stable year for the world's most powerful brands in the face of global financial pressures, including the economic slowdown in China. However the brands that innovated, and then showcased their innovations to consumers through the brand experience, have achieved standout growth with Google, Amazon and Facebook acting as prime examples.
Disruption was the dominant trend, with brands changing the status quo with their offerings in a number of ways, often beyond the use of digital technologies. Brands of all kinds moved to build a multi-faceted ecosystem around the consumer's needs and desires, often by diversifying into new categories. Amazon built its own logistics network using independent contractors, which enabled it to offer flexible and one-hour delivery options, and started producing its own content. Facebook began hosting publishers' original content to keep members active. Starbucks (+49%, no.21) moved into the ecommerce space with a 'tap and go' app, and enhanced its cold drinks and savoury ranges and offered beer and wine to extend its relevance.
"The brands that thrive, regardless of sector, are those that behave like challengers and adopt disruptor models and mindsets," said David Roth, CEO EMEA and Asia, The Store WPP. "They're shaking up other categories with innovation that goes beyond new products or technologies - transforming the way a service is delivered, enhancing the consumer experience or changing a format. The power these brands already hold, combined with the strength of their platforms, is enabling them to quickly and successfully move across sectors."
The BrandZ Top 10 Most Valuable Global Brands 2016
Rank Brand value Brand value 2016 Brand Category 2016 ($M) change Rank 2015 1 Google Technology 229,198 +32% 2 2 Apple Technology 228,460 -8% 1 3 Microsoft Technology 121,824 +5% 3 4 AT&T Telecoms 107,387 +20% 6 5 Facebook Technology 102,551 +44% 12 6 Visa Payments 100,800 +10% 5 7 Amazon Retail 98,988 +59% 14 8 Verizon Telecoms 93,220 +8% 7 9 McDonald's Fast food 88,654 +9% 9 10 IBM Technology 86,206 -8% 4
Key trends highlighted in this year's BrandZ Top 100 study include:
Strong brands outperform the market . Brands that appear in the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking consistently deliver a better financial performance than brands that are not included, thereby generating a superior return for shareholders.
. Brands that appear in the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking consistently deliver a better financial performance than brands that are not included, thereby generating a superior return for shareholders. Disruption is a catalyst for value growth. The categories that increased in value were all either shaken up by challenger brands founded on a unique and meaningful proposition, such as Under Armour and Victoria's Secret in the apparel category (+14%), or innovated to a high degree in response to a new trend, such as the brands in the fast food category (+11%) which successfully responded to global demand for healthier products.
The categories that increased in value were all either shaken up by challenger brands founded on a unique and meaningful proposition, such as Under Armour and Victoria's Secret in the apparel category (+14%), or innovated to a high degree in response to a new trend, such as the brands in the fast food category (+11%) which successfully responded to global demand for healthier products. Innovation is the main growth driver - but it must be seen and felt by consumers. The brands that are the strongest innovators have increased their value the most over the 11 years of BrandZ Top 100 rankings. However, to have an impact on brand value, innovation must be clearly communicated and delivered through the brand experience: the brands that are perceived as innovative by consumers - which include Disney (no.19) and Pampers (no.37) - grew nine times faster than those seen as less innovative.
The brands that are the strongest innovators have increased their value the most over the 11 years of BrandZ Top 100 rankings. However, to have an impact on brand value, innovation must be clearly communicated and delivered through the brand experience: the brands that are as innovative by consumers - which include Disney (no.19) and Pampers (no.37) - grew nine times faster than those seen as less innovative. Apparel is the fastest growing category , rising 14% to $114bn . There is an emphasis on high performance, with brands including Nike (+26%) and Under Armour (a new entry) launching specialist premium lines, incorporating technology such as heart monitors into their clothing, and integrating sportswear with free apps to provide a total consumer experience.
rising 14% to . There is an emphasis on high performance, with brands including Nike (+26%) and Under Armour (a new entry) launching specialist premium lines, incorporating technology such as heart monitors into their clothing, and integrating sportswear with free apps to provide a total consumer experience. B2B is a category of efficient businesses but inefficient brands. They are perceived as more responsible than B2C brands, better to work for, good value and stable, but not as exciting or dynamic. B2B brands are in fact highly innovative; ensuring they are credited as such requires strong and meaningful brand communication. SAP (no.22) and Adobe (a new entry at no.100) are among the B2B brands being perceived as innovative by customers.
They are perceived as more responsible than B2C brands, better to work for, good value and stable, but not as exciting or dynamic. B2B brands are in fact highly innovative; ensuring they are credited as such requires strong and meaningful brand communication. SAP (no.22) and Adobe (a new entry at no.100) are among the B2B brands being perceived as innovative by customers. Disruption extends to the ranking itself. Close to half (46) of the brands in the 2016 Top 100 entered the ranking after it was first launched in 2006; 54 have been there since the inaugural ranking. This shows how a strong brand can sustain its value over time, but also illustrates the potential that exists for new brands to successfully shake up the status quo.
Close to half (46) of the brands in the 2016 Top 100 entered the ranking after it was first launched in 2006; 54 have been there since the inaugural ranking. This shows how a strong brand can sustain its value over time, but also illustrates the potential that exists for new brands to successfully shake up the status quo. Strong emotional connections are boosting local brands. With a clear understanding of their consumers' needs, local brands are gaining market share at home and, with improved functionality and marketing, are also winning share in new regions. China's Huawei (no.50, +22%), for example, has rapidly globalised and taken market share from both Apple and Samsung.
Doreen Wang, Millward Brown's Global Head of BrandZ, comments: "By stretching their brands in innovative ways and expanding into new categories, the strongest brands in the Top 100 are increasing their penetration and their relevance in people's day-to-day lives. There is a risk in doing this, however: it blurs the lines between categories and can leave brands struggling for identity. Defining and articulating a very clear positioning and purpose will play a more crucial part than ever in building a strong, distinct brand."
The BrandZ' Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands report and rankings, and a great deal more brand insight for key regions of the world and 14 market sectors, are available online here. A new suite of interactive smartphone and tablet applications is available for free download for Apple IOS and all Android devices from www.brandz.com/mobile or search for BrandZ in the respective iTunes or Google Play app stores.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
About the BrandZ' Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands Ranking
Carried out by WPP's marketing and brand consultancy Millward Brown, the BrandZ' Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking is now in its eleventh year. It is the only study to combine measures of brand equity based on interviews with over three million consumers globally about thousands of global 'consumer facing' and business-to-business brands with a rigorous analysis of the financial and business performance of each company (using data from Bloomberg and Kantar Worldpanel) to separate the value that brand plays in driving business and shareholder value. Consumer perception of a brand is a key input in determining brand value because brands are a combination of business performance, product delivery, clarity of positioning, and leadership. The ranking takes into account regional variations since, even for truly global brands, measures of brand contribution might differ substantially across countries.
About Millward Brown
Millward Brown is a leading global research agency specializing in advertising effectiveness, strategic communication, media and brand equity research. Millward Brown helps clients grow great brands through comprehensive research-based qualitative and quantitative solutions. Specialist global practices include a leading Digital practice (focused on digital effectiveness), Firefly Millward Brown (a global qualitative network), a Neuroscience Practice (using neuroscience to optimize the value of traditional research techniques), and Millward Brown Vermeer (a strategy consultancy helping companies maximize financial returns on brand and marketing investments). Millward Brown operates in more than 55 countries and is part of Kantar, WPP's data investment management division. Learn more at www.millwardbrown.com.
About WPP
WPP is the world's largest communications services group with billings of US$73 billion and revenues of US$19 billion. Through its operating companies, the Group provides a comprehensive range of advertising and marketing services including advertising & media investment management; data investment management; public relations & public affairs; branding & identity; healthcare communications; direct, digital, promotion & relationship marketing and specialist communications. The company employs 194,000 people (including associates and investments) in over 3,000 offices across 112 countries. For more information, visit www.wpp.com. WPP was named Holding Company of the Year at the 2015 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for the fifth year running. WPP was also named, for the fifth consecutive year, the World's Most Effective Holding Company in the 2016 Effie Effectiveness Index, which recognizes the effectiveness of marketing communications. In 2016 WPP was recognised by Warc 100 as the World's Top Holding Company (second year running).
For further information please contact:
Lucy Edgar
Manager, Global Marketing, Millward Brown
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7450 2614
Email: Lucy.Edgar@millwardbrown.com
Or
Kate Alexander / Hannah Robertson
Eureka Communications
Tel: +44 (0)1420 564346
Mobile: +44 (0)7788 584413
Email: kate@eurekacomms.co.uk / hannah@eurekacomms.co.uk
Ex-Stanford Swimmer Gets Light Sex Assault Sentence
A Stanford University swimmer who was planning to compete in the Olympics will be spending the next few months in county jail, the next few years on probation, and the rest of his life on the sex offender registry. But as bad as that sounds, the defendant, Brock Turner, received a light sentence given the severity of his crimes.
Turner, 20, was convicted in March of three felony counts for his January, 2015 assault on a passed-out drunk woman on the Stanford campus outside of a frat party. This week he was sentenced for the charges, which were assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated person and two counts of sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object, reports the San Jose Mercury News.
The Incident
Turner's victim was a former college student who had attended a party with friends. After drinking too much, she was reportedly passed out when two Swedish Stanford students passed by; they spotted Turner thrusting himself onto her on the ground. They chased Turner and called the police and the victim woke up hours later on a hospital gurney.
She testified at the hearing about her difficulties since the incident, including being alienated, depressed, and having to quit her job due to emotional issues. The victim insisted that a probation sentence for Turner was unacceptable and the judge seemed to hear that, sending Turner to jail, putting him on probation, and ensuring that his sex offender status will remain with him by forcing him to register.
Sentencing Considerations
Turner could have spent up to six years in prison on the charges but was given six months in the county jail. The sentence recognizes his lack of criminal record and positive testimony about his quality of character. According to reports, the victim -- who was surrounded by friends and family in the courtroom -- appeared stoic as Turner's relatively light sentence was announced. He was remanded to county jail after the hearing and can be released in three months for good behavior.
Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky acknowledged the difficulty of his job, trying to balance the jury's verdict, the information that came to light during the trial, and sentencing memos filed by both sides that included character witnesses for Turner. "The trial is a search for the truth," Persky said. "It's an imperfect process."
Considering Imperfection
It is imperfect indeed, an imperfect process in an imperfect system. While it is true that Turner was a promising youth with no criminal past, shouldn't we expect more from an athlete at Stanford than we do kids with no privilege? This case demonstrates how the criminal justice system favors those who already have a lot.
It rewards a sense of entitlement by making punishments for the privileged less harsh in part because they have more to lose than poor kids. Plus, it gives those who got the best chances to begin with, the best second chances.
Accused?
If you have been accused of a crime, talk to a lawyer and start working on your defense. Many attorneys consult for free or a minimal fee and will be happy to assess your case.
Editor's note, May 8, 2016: This article originally stated that the victim was a current student. However, she was a former student at the time of the incident.
Related Resources:
Cooper Energy Limitedhas agreed to sell its 55% stake in the Tangai-Sukananti KSO in Indonesia for $5.9 million.Cooper Energy will sell its Indonesian oil producing asset to ACL International Ltd, a Canadian oil and gas company, and Lamara Energy Pte, a Singaporean company.The company says the completion date for this deal is 29 July 2016, and the sale will result in an immaterial loss around $2 million against the book value at 31 December 2015.This transaction will complete the companys withdrawal from Indonesia, as part of its strategy to concentrate on Australia particularly on the Gippsland Basin gas projects.Cooper Energy reported a net loss of $34.1 million at 31 December 2015.
(ASX:EGH)
Eureka Group Holdingsis the largest operator of rental retirement villages in Australia at the moment. We have close to 2,000 residents who stay with us. And our shared value mission in life is to provide meaningful and respectful accommodation for the 25 per cent of Australians who are less well off. And either totally or primarily rely on the pension and rent assistance, provided by the Australian Government.Eurekas focus is to keep growing; right now we have four ways to grow. Well continue to acquire existing villages throughout regional Australia. Well continue to in-fill or brownfield develop on existing land that we already own. We have the ability to increase rents and occupancy. And lastly, something we havent done before is to provide services into our residences, to allow them to stay with us longer and not necessarily have to move to a higher level of care, in an aged-care facility.Eurekas currently corporatising what is a cottage industry. Right now, weve identified there are over 2,000 retirement villages that are owned by church groups, volunteers, not for profits and individual private owners. And of that 2,000 only 60 of those villages are owned in a corporate framework of which we own and manage 29. Weve done due diligence on over 200 of those 2,000 villages and we would be quite happy to buy any of those at the right price.The market that were active in, which is the less well off Australian retiree is unfortunately, the fastest growing retiree market in Australia, every year. So we see a strong supply of residents looking for a quality place to live. And at the moment, were not seeing any shortage of assets that we can acquire, to fulfil that requirement.Over the last 12 months, every metric has gone through the roof. Weve increased revenue, weve increased EBITDA, weve increased net profit. In fact if you look back to January 2014 until now, the annualised EBITDA has grown from $1 million to $10.5 million. The other thing that Eureka is extremely good at is converting a dollar of revenue to free cash flow, which we then reinvest back into buying existing assets. So all in all, I would say were in a strong position, weve got a conservatively geared balance sheet. And I think the next 12 months for Eureka looks very exciting.
Instana, a San Mateo, California-based provider of a platform to monitor and manage complex big data and microservices architectures, raised $6m in venture capital funding.
The round was led by Target Partners with participation from German IT consulting firm Codecentric.
Founded in April 2015 by Mirko Novakovic, CEO, Pete Abrams, COO, Fabian Lange, VP of Engineering, and Pavlo Baron, CTO, in April 2015, Instana provides a platform to monitor and manage complex big data and microservices architectures by visualizing the application landscape and making actionable suggestions to let business apps and systems work and perform.
The solution combines its own knowledge with a machine learning approach to predict future performance degradation or downtime, identify service interdependencies, and offer actionable advice to bring a system back to good health.
Its virtual DevOps assistant, called Stan, offers advice that includes exact root-cause and suggestions for remediation.
A spin-off from Codecentric, the company has engineering headquarters in Solingen, Germany employing 23 people in total.
FinSMEs
07/06/2016
GreenMantra Technologies, a Brantford, Ontario, Canada-based producer of specialty chemicals from recycled plastic feedstocks, closes CAD$5.5m third funding round.
Backers included existing investors ArcTern Ventures and Cycle Capital.
The company intends to use the funds to bring several new products to market and to support working capital needs as the business expands.
Founded in 2011 by President & CEO Kousay Said, GreenMantra Technologies utilizes a proprietary catalytic system and patented process to transform hard-to-recycle polyolefin plastics such as grocery bags, shrink wrap, bottle caps, milk jugs and shampoo bottles into waxes, greases, lubricants and other specialty chemicals. Its wax products include drop in replacements as well as novel waxes that have a broad range of applications in the asphalt roofing and paving, inks, coatings, plastics, plastic color masterbatch, adhesives, and rubber industries.
FinSMEs
07/06/2016
Convercent, a Denver, CO-based provider of enterprise compliance management software, raised $11m in Series C funding.
The round was led by Tola Capital, with participation from Sapphire Ventures and other existing investors (Azure Capital, Mantucket Capital, and Rho Capital Partners). In conjunction with the funding, Stacey Giard, Chief Operating Officer and principal of Tola Capital, will join Convercents board of directors.
The company intends to use the funds to enhance predictive analytics and reporting, while expanding its global sales and marketing efforts.
Led by Patrick Quinlan, CEO, Convercent provides a risk-based global compliance solution that enables the design, implementation and measurement of an effective compliance program integrating the management of corporate compliance risks, cases, disclosures, training and policies.
The company serves customers in more than 130 countries, including Philip Morris International, CH2M Hill and Under Armour.
FinSMEs
07/06/2016
Helpshift, a San Francisco, CA-based in-app customer support company, raised $23M in Series B funding.
Backers included new investors Microsoft Ventures and Salesforce Ventures and existing investors Intel Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, True Ventures and Visionnaire Ventures.
The company, which has raised $36.2m to date, intends to use the funds for continued expansion across teams in R&D, sales and marketing.
Founded in 2012 by Abinash Tripathy, CEO, Helpshift provides a customer-centric platform that allows large and small companies to support and engage their customers in-app. The support platform includes native functionality such as in-app FAQs, in-app chat, a CRM ticketing system, in-app campaigns, and in-app surveys. It is installed on more than 1.3 billion devices worldwide, and serves 300+ million mobile customers monthly.
Customers include companies such as Zynga, VirginMedia, Microsoft, WesternUnion, Flipboard, Shyp, Luxe, WordPress, and thousands of other brands, startups, and developers.
FinSMEs
07/06/2016
Skooler, a Norwegian learning software company, closed $3m in funding.
The round was led by existing investor Viking Venture, a Nordic venture capital fund which now owns 41% of the company, with participation from Roger Larsen, former CEO and founder of LMT company Fronter.
The company intends to use the funds to strenghten its international expansion.
Based in Moss, Norway and London, UK, Skooler is supplying Learning Management Tools (LMT) software for education which integrates into the Microsoft Office365 product suite.
The platform features tools to create assignments containing links, video, pictures, documents and text, to keep track of activities creating yearly timetables, topic plans and lesson plans linked to the school calendar and curriculum learning objectives, and to communicate with groups and individuals, whether they are teachers, students or parents/guardians.
FinSMEs
07/06/2016
Signal, a Chicago, IL-based provider of real-time, people-based marketing technology, raised $30M in Series E funding.
The round was led by I2A with participation from Pritzker Group Ventures, Baird Capital, EPIC Ventures, and Silicon Valley Bank.
The company, which has raised a total of over $70m in funding to date, will use the proceeds to further accelerate and expand its technology platform and organization globally.
Led by Mike Sands, CEO, Signal provides a real-time people-based marketing platform which combines data collection, persistent identification, data onboarding and media activation for real-time cross-channel engagement.
Today, the companys technology runs on more than 45,000 digital properties in 158 countries, supporting top brands including Allstate, Audi, Crate & Barrel, GAP, JetBlue Airways, Macys, 1-800-Flowers.com, Starcom MediaVest Group, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and more.
FinSMEs
07/06/2016
President Obama Commutes 42 Sentences: More to Come
Last week President Obama announced that he will commute the sentences of 42 federal prisoners, bringing to 348 his administration's total commuted sentences. This president has used the power of commutation more often than seven previous presidents combined, according to the Huffington Post, focusing particularly on commuting the too-severe mandatory minimum sentences of those imprisoned on drug crimes.
The White House's lead counsel, Neil Eggleston, issued a blog post last week explaining the decision and emphasizing the fact that serious reforms to criminal sentencing will have to take place at a congressional level. "There remain thousands of men and women in federal prison serving sentences longer than necessary, often due to overly harsh mandatory minimum sentences," he wrote.
Too Little?
White House counsel said that for there to be true reform, the changes have to come from lawmakers. He wrote in his blog post last week that the president "remains committed to using his clemency power throughout the remainder of the Administration to give more deserving individuals that same second chance." But he emphasized the need for new legislation from Congress to "bring about lasting change to the federal system."
Although the Obama Administration has been more active than most with respect to commuting sentences, there are critics who say he has not done enough and that he could have done more with his two terms in office. A clemency initiative that was supposed to apply to 10,000 prisoners now seems much less robust and Former Attorney General Eric Holder told The Washington Post that it is now thought that only about 1,000-2,000 people in federal prisons will see relief from this initiative.
Rachel Barkow, a professor at New York University, suggested that if Obama were to commute all the unfair sentences that fall under his stated criteria, about 1,500 more federal prisoners would have to receive the presidential grant. That seems unlikely to happen but the possibility can't be ruled out.
Decriminalizing a Category
Approximately 14,000 commutations were granted in a single year by former President Gerald Ford reportedly. Anyone who had deserted or dodged the draft during the Vietnam War was pardoned by the president. The figure shows that there is no limit, theoretically, to how many sentences can be commuted by a president.
But, the Huffington Post points out, "when comparing Obama's commutations to presidents of the past, the White House doesn't mention those from Ford because they applied to an entire category of individuals." Obama's commutations are based on review of individual cases, and if he continues apace, more can be expected this year. His counsel has promised as much.
Related Resources:
Biovotion Ltd, a Zurich, Switzerland-based wearable physiology monitoring company, held the first closing of its ongoing CHF10M Series A financing round.
The round is led by Swiss Re (Ticker symbol: SREN) with participation from existing investor STMicroelectronics NV (EPA: STM).
The company, which is now in the process to add further strategically instrumental partners in a second closing of this Series A round, intends to use the funds to prepare the introduction of its platform in the medical markets.
Founded in 2011 by Dr. Andreas Caduff, CEO, Biovotion provides clinical-grade wearable solutions based on the companys know-how and IP in non-invasive physiological monitoring, including vital sign, hydration, and glucose monitoring, supporting users in keeping a healthy lifestyle, improving healthcare treatment outcomes, and aiming to reduce cost of health provisions.
FinSMEs
07/06/2016
NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - U.S. President Barack Obama should press the visiting prime minister of India to strengthen his country's anti-trafficking laws and deliver justice to victims, human rights campaigners said on Tuesday.
Obama was due to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House on Tuesday to discuss economic growth, climate change, clean energy and defence cooperation.
However, activists called on Obama to use Modi's fourth visit to the United States since becoming prime minister in 2014 to focus on India's anti-slavery record.
India has the most slaves in the world with more than 18 million people trapped in debt bondage, forced into marriage, sold to brothels or born into servitude, according to the 2016 Global Slavery Index.
"More people are enslaved in India than in any other country in the world, with millions of Indian men, women, and children trapped in debt bondage and forced to perform strenuous work, said Amy Sobel of the Washington-based Human Rights First pressure group.
"Prime Minister Modi's trip to the United States is an opportunity for President Obama to raise concerns over India's progress in combating modern slavery while ensuring that the U.S.-India relationship is grounded in respect for human dignity and fundamental rights."
Forty percent of the world's estimated 45.8 million slaves are in India, although the scourge exists in all 167 nations surveyed in last month's Global Slavery Index, according to researchers behind the list.
The U.S. State Department's 2015 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report shows that India's primary trafficking problem is forced labour.
Often trapped in debt, victims including women and children are forced to work in brick kilns, rice mills, agriculture, embroidery factories, and other industries to pay off what they owe to their traffickers.
The TIP report ranks India as a Tier 2 country which means the government has not fully complied with U.S. standards but is making significant efforts to meet those standards.
Last week a senior U.S. lawmaker raised concerns over India's human rights record, noting that the 2015 TIP report indicated that Indian officials at various levels of government were complicit in human trafficking.
"The government did not report investigations, prosecutions or convictions of government officials complicit in human trafficking offences," said Senator Ben Cardin, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, during a speech in New Delhi.
Indian officials, however, have pointed to a slew of initiatives taken by Modi's government over the last two years which they said was proof that New Delhi was taking the issue seriously.
These include the introduction of a new anti-trafficking law, an online platform to find missing children and increased focus on the rehabilitation of victims of slavery.
Last week India unveiled a draft of its first comprehensive anti-human trafficking law, which provides for more shelters, a rehabilitation fund, fast-track courts to ensure speedy trials, a federal investigative agency to boost convictions.
(Reporting by Nita Bhalla; Editing by Katie Nguyen. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Is One Bad Yelp Review Worth One Million Dollars?
No business wants to get dogged in a Yelp review, especially dog walking and sitting companies that thrive on word of mouth and positive customer feedback for new clients. But could a lone one-star Yelp review really cost a Lone Star state pet sitting company $1 million dollars in lost business?
That's what Dallas-based Prestigious Pets is contending, after a couple left a less-than-stellar Yelp review of their dog-walking and fish-feeding services. And even though the company may be trying to send a message to consumers, this may be a valuable learning experience for small businesses on when you can go too far to protect your image.
Murky Legal Waters
Michelle and Robert Duchouquette hired Prestigious Pets to look after their two dogs and pet beta fish Gordy while on a five-day trip to Napa, California last year, but weren't too pleased with the service. While Michelle's review of the service said the "care of our dogs was fine," she was upset about an additional $5 walking fee and complained the fish was overfed: "We have a camera on the bowl, and we watched the water go from clear to cloudy."
Prestigious Pets responded first with a $6,700 lawsuit in small claims court, then moved it to a Dallas district court and upped their damages to $1 million. Why so high? Paul Alan Levy, the couple's attorney, points to one charge in particular: "The complaint alleges that a charge of overfeeding a fish is libel per se because it amounts to the criminal offense of animal cruelty under Texas law."
Non-Disparagement Non-Enforcement
On top of the libel allegation, the lawsuit claims the Duchoquette's violated a service contract they signed with Prestigious Pets which included a non-disparagement clause:
[Y]our acceptance of this agreement prohibits you from taking any action that negatively impacts Prestigious Pets, LLC, its reputation, products, services, management, employees or independent contractors....Any violation of this clause is to be determined by Prestigious Pets LLC in its sole discretion....
Whether that clause is enforceable is up for debate. The social media non-disparagement clause is fairly new, and cases based on them are just now reaching the courts.
And aside from the enforceability issue is the public perception issue. Yes, your small business's professional reputation is often all you have. But which hurts your rep more: an isolated negative review, or a litigious campaign that makes you look like a bully? Not many people had heard of Prestigious Pets before they filed this lawsuit, but now millions of people might be hearing their name for the wrong reasons.
Follow FindLaw for Consumers on Google+.
Related Resources:
Its been eight months and 10 days since Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched by a mob in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh on the suspicion of possessing beef, but the embers of the controversy refuse to die.
A week back the final report on the meat found from the house of Akhlaq in Bisahra Village of Greater Noida, confirmed that the flesh was that of a cow. It was compiled by the Central Forensic and Scientific Lab in Mathura.
But eyebrows were raised as the lab where the samples were tested is governed by the Uttar Pradesh government.
The preliminary report of the lab test of the pieces of meat recovered from Akhlaq's house had ruled out that it was cow meat. It suggested that the flesh is that of a goat.
The report confirming that if was cow meat comes at a time when Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are round the corner. This report could well be used as a tool to funnel religious sentiments by various political parties and divide the state on religious grounds quite easily, noted Firstpost's Vivek Awasthi.
"Ghettoisation of Muslims on the basis of fear is an old art practiced by all so-called "secular" parties in India. The tragedy of Akhlaq thus also became an opportunity for the Akhilesh Yadav government to carefully exploit and consolidate its Muslim vote bank," wrote Sreemoy Talukdar of Firstpost.
BJP parliamentarian Yogi Adityanath asked that action should be taken against Akhlaq's family for eating beef and the compensation given to the family should be taken back, while the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) demanded apology from the Uttar Pradesh government, Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan, and all those who had returned awards in the fallout of the Dadri lynching incident.
But its not just the state government, political parties and the upcoming Assembly elections, trouble has been brewing in Dadri itself.
After the new report was released, the administration and police in Greater Noida was put on high alert as a 'mahapanchayat' was called on Monday afternoon in village over demand for registration of an FIR against Akhlaq's family for alleged cow slaughter.
The jawans of the Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary have been patrolling the village since Monday evening. District Magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar NP Singh clamped Section 144 CrPC and issued prohibitory orders banning gathering of five or more persons in the district.
The state police has also clarified that the flesh was in fact recovered from the "tri-junction near a transformer" outside Akhlaq's residence and not from his home, reports DNA.
But come Tuesday, the situation in Bishada was tense as locals held a protest meeting ignoring the prohibitory orders.
The protest meeting was also attended by some local level Shiv Sena members, according to the organisers.
"Situation is under control," Singh said, adding he has appealed to the residents not to resort to violence. "Political leaders should not politicise the matter since it is subjudice. "Let the case proceed in court. They can put their views or evidence before the court. Nobody will be allowed to disturb law and order.
This comes after some Hindu frontal organisations VHP, Rashtrawadi Pratap Sena, Goraksha Dal and Hindu Yuva Vahini said that they will participate in the panchayat. Sanjay Rana, local BJP leader and father of accused Vishal Rana, had threatened that the mahapanchayat will be held in the village as police have failed to register an FIR against Akhlaq's family.
Residents of Bishada village, including the kin of the accused in the lynching case, met the Gautam Budh Nagar SSP to press their demand for registration of an FIR. VHP leader Surindera Jain also visited the village on Sunday and claimed that that the accused have falsely been implicated.
Meanwhile, Akhlaq's family has decided to challenge in court the new forensic report, reports The Times of India. Yusuf Saifi, Akhlaq family's lawyer, said the forensic report is not related to the case. "The report will be challenged in Surajpur court soon," he said.
The Congress, on the other hand, criticised the statements of BJP leaders, saying it will vitiate the atmosphere. "Calling for mahapanchayat and the statements being made after the forensic report came are not proper. Whether it is the Centre or the state government, it should be stopped," PL Punia said.
Later on Sunday evening, villagers held a meeting at Shiv temple in Bishada and decided that after 20 days they will take a call where to hold the mahapanchayat. They said they will maintain peace and on Wednesday move the district court for filing of an FIR against Akhlaq's family.
The issue of cow is an issue of our faith. We are peace-loving and we believe in the justice system. However, in 20 days, the government should look at all alternatives and listen to our demands. Otherwise, the capacity to contain this public anger might not exist in my village, said Rana, reports The Indian Express.
"They have decided not to take law in their hands but fight their case in the court. Talks were held with villagers who have promised to pursue their legal battle in court and not resort to violence or other means which could disturb law and order," Singh added.
A DNA report stated that SSP Dharmendra Yadav has said that a case will be filed against Akhlaq's family only if charges of beef possession are found true.
Meanwhile, one of juvenile accused in Bishada case, was released from Gautam Buddha Nagar reform home following bail granted by the high court.
Nineteen people were arrested in connection with the murder of Akhlaq, while one of the accused was given a clean chit by police. As one of the accused was minor, he was sent to the remand home.
With inputs from agencies
Greater Noida: Police on Tuesday began probe into the complaint against the family of Dadri lynch victim, a day after a 20-day ultimatum was given to the administration for registering a case against them for alleged cow slaughter and beef consumption.
The situation in Bishada village in Dadri was described by authorities as under control after tension returned on Monday nearly nine months after 50-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched following rumours that his family stored and ate beef at their house.
Rival parties also traded charges as the village became a political battleground ahead of next year's Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. Circle Officer, Dadri, started the investigations into the complaint of the family of one of the accused and villagers about alleged cow slaughter by Akhlaqs family, as he spoke to local residents and scanned previous probe documents.
Situation in Bishada is normal. No untoward incident was reported," SDM Dadri RK Singh said, adding, "additional forces are keeping watch over the movement of persons. On Tuesday, there was no political movement in the village." Singh also said villagers have decided to follow the legal battle in court and have promised that they will not resort to violence.
The ultimatum for registering an FIR given at a meeting of villagers at Shiv temple in Bishada last night came six days after a report from a forensic lab in Mathura said that the meat sample taken from outside Akhlaqs house belonged to a "cow or its progeny". Some members of BJP and Shiv Sena also attended the meeting.
After the report surfaced, a section of Bishada residents had also approached police, urging them to register an FIR against Akhlaqs family for allegedly killing a cow and consuming beef.
"Villagers gave 20 days to the administration to investigate and lodge the FIR against the Akhlaq family members. However we are moving the court on Wednesday under section 156(3) requesting court to issue directions to police to lodge FIR against the Akhlaqs family as forensic report has confirmed it was beef," said Sanjay Rana, father of one of the accused Vishal Rana.
BJP President Amit Shah rejected allegations by rival parties that the party was raking up the Dadri issue to communalise the upcoming elections.
"If it is so they should expose it. Whose government is here, who controls lab and police. How can you blame BJP," he told reporters in Lucknow. "We did not organise any panchayat in Dadri. BJP has nothing to do with it. If some persons sit together and hold a panchayat peacefully what is objectionable in that," he added.
BSP leader Satbir Singh alleged that BJP and SP are hand in glove and have secret understanding. "Both are following appeasement policy. SP is trying to appease Muslims while BJP is trying to garner support of Hindus. They both want the communal tension till elections with hope of cashing it during assembly elections," he said. Samajwadi Party leader Pratap Chauhan denied the allegations of BSP and said, the situation in Bishada deteriorated due to BJP hate speeches... BJP is communalising the issue."
BJP leader Sanjay Aggarwal said, "Bishada situation got deteriorated due to improper handling and one-sided action of the state government."
New Delhi: District magistrates (DM) of the respective areas will be held responsible for poor progress under the Centre's 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign aimed at protecting and empowering the girl child, Union minister Maneka Gandhi said on Tuesday.
"Wherever we have not done well, I will be talking to them (DMs) through video conferencing every day. Every DM will have to give me a report and anybody who has failed, it will go into his Annual Confidential Report (ACR) because I will be discussing it with the chief minister concerned," she said.
The Women and Child Development Minister was responding to a query at the All Women Journalists' workshop here on decline in the child sex-ratio at Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. "District authorities need to tell all the village sarpanches about Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act and provide them counselling to ensure protection of women from violence," a senior ministry official said.
"They have to put the fear of PCPNDT Act as Haryana has done. It is the key to it. They need to map and register all the ultrasound machines in the districts and establish a web portal," he said.
The official said that 49 out of 100 districts selected under the programme had recorded significant improvement in child sex-ratio.
The scheme puts the onus on deputy commissioners and district magistrates for adopting a proactive approach by launching creative initiatives to change the attitude of the people on the issue of the girl child.
Srinagar: Unnerved by a joint strategy formulated by united separatist camp against the governments plans to construct Sainik Colonies for retired army officials and ghetto-type housing complexes for displaced Kashmiri migrants, the Jammu and Kashmir government has come down heavily on separatist leaders by putting them either behind bars or under constant house detention.
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Chairman, Yasin Malik, was put in citys Central Jail for a week. He was briefly released on Friday evening but was rearrested on Saturday soon after he addressed a press conference in Srinagar. JKLF, in a statement, said that Malik has been arrested in a case dating back to 1987 elections which were largely seen as rigged and are believed to be responsible for fanning large-scale militancy in Kashmir.
If so-called rulers and their authorities have any shame left, they should instead of caging resistance leaders and activists, find some courage and compete with them on political fronts, the statement read.
Malik is the main driving force for uniting the already divided separatist camp against the government plans of building colonies for ex-army men and Kashmiri pandits. Since the government's plans of constructing colonies were exposed by a local newspaper, Kashmir Reader, the separatists issued joint statements to oppose any such plans. The separatists say the move was aimed at deeply polarising Kashmir.
Moderate Hurriyat (M) leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who is also under house detention, lashed out at J&K government for worst-ever crackdown on separatist leaders. The way this government is behaving with us is worst-ever dictatorial approach. This government is pushing people to wall and is creating a vacuum on the ground. This shows the frustration of government and police over united approach of pro-freedom leaders of Kashmir, he told local media.
Accusing the government of committing blunders, senior Hurriyat leader, Nayeem Khan, said that the choking of the movement of separatist leaders would further trigger public anger on ground.
This time the approach by the government is more harsh and rigid. The fact is that the public is against the plans of establishing separate colonies for retired army men and clusters for migrant Kashmiri Pandits, Khan said. Lashing out at the government for its policies, Hurriyat (G) Chairman, Syed Ali Geelani, who is under house arrest, said the separatists would continue to protest until government revokes its decisions.
We will resist all such attempts aimed at turning the Muslim majority Kashmir into minority. We will register our protest till government revokes its decisions to set up separate colonies for Pandits and ex-army men, Geelani said.
The Hurriyat Conference and JKLF have termed the government plans of building separate colonies as nefarious designs to change the demography of the state. They have also warned government of serious consequences if their leaders arent released before the holy month of Ramadan. Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Police have justified the crackdown on the Hurriyat leadership for maintaining peace in the Valley.
The separatists have been taken into preventive custody to ensure that the peace is not disturbed in the Valley. Nobody will be allowed to disturb the peace, Syed Javaid Mujtaba Geelani, the Inspector General of Police, said.
Separatists from across the different faction of Hurriyat Conference and JKLF including Shabir Shah, Ashraf Sehrai, Ghulam Nabi Shumji, Altaf Shah, Ayaz Akbar, Mukhtar Ahmad Waza, Advocate Shahid-ul-Islam, Hilal War and Showkat Bakshi have been lodged in various police stations or kept under house detention by the police.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader and leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, cautioned the government of any decision on Pandit and Sainik Colonies.
All the political parties and stakeholders should be taken into confidence and no unilateral decision should be taken on this sensitive issue, Azad said.
While the Jammu and Kashmir government is in continuous denial over the allotment of the land for Sainik Colonies, the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Societies (JKCSS) Saturday made some startled revelations about the construction of apartments in Old Air Field on the outskirts of Srinagar. JKCSS asked government to come clean on the purpose of 47 apartments blocks being constructed inside Old Air Field base.
If it is not part of the proposed Sainik Colony, the government and the army should clarify the status of this upcoming colony inside the Old Air Field, the JKCSS said in a statement. But CM Mehbooba has denied any settlement of non-state subjects in the Sainik Colonies by the government. I want to make it clear that the Sainik Colonies are meant for ex-army men who are State Subjects, she said in the Assembly last week.
On separate Pandit colonies, she said the government would set up transit accommodation to facilitate the return of migrant Pandits to the valley. Former Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, shared government documents about the allotment of land in the Old Airfield area for proposed Sainik Colony triggering war of words between the government and opposition.
Public anger in Kashmir is visible against the governments move. A statewide shutdown called by separatists against the Sainik and KP Colonies on 26 May evoked strong response from the general public. Emboldened separatists are mulling to launch large-scale protests if government doesnt revoke its orders on separate colonies.
New Delhi: New Delhi police on Tuesday arrested three kidney donors over an illegal racket at one of India's top hospitals that has shone a spotlight on underground organ trafficking.
The donors were taken into custody after being questioned by investigators probing the racket at the upscale Apollo Hospital which was revealed late last week, a senior officer told AFP.
Police say a criminal gang lured poor people to sell their kidneys for some Rs three lakh ($4,500) before selling the organs for huge profits to those in need.
The gang used forged documents to pretend that the donors were relatives of transplant recipients in order to undergo the operations, police said.
"We have arrested three donors including a woman. This takes the total number of people arrested to eight," said New Delhi deputy commissioner MS Randhawa.
"Investigations continue... we will question the recipients also and based on the outcome we will take action against them. Some doctors will also be questioned," he told AFP.
Last Thursday police raided the hospital in the capital where two suspects worked as assistants to a senior nephrologist and made three arrests.
Another two were arrested over the weekend.
Apollo has denied any role in the scam, saying it has been a "victim of a well-orchestrated operation to cheat patients and the hospital".
The commercial trade of organs is illegal in India and transplant donations to non-relatives must be approved by a special committee.
Millions of Indians suffer from kidney disease, mostly because of high rates of diabetes.
But a chronic shortage of organs available for transplant has fuelled a black market.
"India has a demand of more than 500,000 organs every year. But we get around 3,000 cadaver organ donations," said Sunayana Singh, the chief executive of the Organ Receiving and Giving Awareness Network (ORGAN).
"Patients who don't get organs through legal donations look for options and the only option is illegal donors," she told AFP.
"The only solution is to create public awareness."
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday extended the interim protection from arrest granted to Pankaj Bhujbal, son of former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, and over 10 others who are facing charges of money laundering in Maharashtra Sadan scam.
While Pankaj, businessman Asif Balwa, Vinod Goenka and four others had challenged the non-bailable warrants (NBW) issued by a special court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act cases, 11 others accused in the case had approached the HC seeking anticipatory bail following NBWs issued against them.
Justice Sadhana Jadhav, while hearing the petition of Pankaj and others challenging the NBW against them, said a single bench does not have jurisdiction to hear the petition and granted them liberty to move a division bench tomorrow.
While doing so, Justice Jadhav said she will extend the interim protection granted to the petitioners till June 10 by when they can approach a division bench.
Meanwhile, another single bench of Justice PN Deshmukh extended till 1 July the interim protection from arrest granted to 11 others accused in the case.
The accused are Pravin Jain, Sanjiv Jain, Chandrasekhar Sarda, Jagdish Prasad Purohit, Bimalkumar Jain, Sanjay Kakade, Kapil Puri, Rajesh Mistry, Vipul Kankaria, Sailesh Mehta and Suresh Jajodia.
The court on Tuesday also allowed Sanjay Kakade to visit Hyderabad for a business assignment tomorrow and return by evening.
According to ED, the accused allegedly conspired with Chhagan Bhujbal, former PWD minister, to divert or 'launder' the "kickbacks" received by him through their firms.
The petitioners argued that the offences they are charged with are non-cognisable and warrants could not have been issued against them because they were not arrested during the interrogation which took place earlier.
On 30 March this year, ED had filed a 11,500-page charge-sheet naming Chhagan Bhujbal, Pankaj, Bhujbal's nephew Sameer and firms such as D B Realty, Balwa group, Neelkamal Realtors and Builders, Neelkamal Central Apartment LLP and Kakade Infrastructure in connection with the case.
The charges relate to alleged irregularities in the construction of the state guest house Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi and the Kalina land-grabbing case in Mumbai.
Days after the Uttar Pradesh police clashed with the members of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi (ABVVKS) at Jawahar Bagh, the state government on Monday submitted a two-page report detailing the sequence of events that led to the deaths of around 30 people.
According to the report, the police was forced to act before adequate preparations had been made, following an attack by the cult members, The Hindu reported.
After admitting to some lapses in the polices handling of the Mathura clashes, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav transferred the District Magistrate Rajesh Kumar and the senior superintendent of the Mathura Police Rakesh Kumar Singh.
In a letter sent to the home ministry, the UP government said that the police failed to assess the dangers the cult may pose even after an alarm was raised by the district magistrate on 20 February, reported NDTV.
Responding to attacks by the Opposition, the Akhilesh government on Monday said that there was no political pressure on the police to not evict encroachers from Jawahar Bagh. BJP chief Amit Shah had targeted the Samajwadi Party and Shivpal Yadav of patronising the cult.
BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma, who was sent by the party to assess the situation, had also alleged that the police were "under pressure from the administration to go easy as land-grabbers had links" with the ruling party.
Aligarh Divisional Commissioner Chandra Kant began a probe into the violence on Sunday to ascertain the circumstances leading to the deadly incident. So far, 45 cases have been registered against the encroachers belonging to the ABVVKS.
Opposition leaders have been trying to manipulate the incident and attack the state government ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh suggested the state government to recommend a CBI probe into the violence. If the UP government recommends a CBI probe, we will surely accept it. It is not an ordinary incident, he said.
In a press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra criticised the UP government, and said that the state administration was responsible for law and order. "Why was the government missing?," he asked.
The state BJP spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak said, "The Mathura incident is entirely because of intelligence failure. Timely assessment was not done as to how many people were present at the spot and what fire arms they possessed.
BSP supremo Mayawati accused the NDA government at the centre of antics and inaction with regards to the violence at Jawahar Bagh. They (NDA) are only indulging in rhetoric and drama in Uttar Pradesh, she said. Further, she alleged that the violence was sparked off due to the state administrations tacit support to the land-grabbers.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) too slammed the Akhilesh Yadav government for the violence and demanded its resignation. It alleged that jungle raj and mafia raj has been thriving in Uttar Pradesh ever since the Samajwadi Party came to power. Senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh said that his party had demanded eviction of illegal occupants from the land and it was not done despite the orders from the High Court.
Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju also alleged that the violence in Mathura was a lapse on the part of the UP government.
Meanwhile, Hema Malini was tweeting pictures of her shooting for a film and hoping for its early release. Soon after her tweets were picked up by media channels, she deleted them and expressed her grief over the incident. She also attacked the UP government for not paying attention to the encroachment before. She also met the family of deceased SP Mukul Dwiwedi.
Met the family members- father, wife, brother & son of SP City Mukul Dwivedi & expressed my deep grief at their loss pic.twitter.com/iYmORf4Dpv Hema Malini (@dreamgirlhema) June 4, 2016
Rahul Gandhi also mounted attack on the state government, saying it is a stark reminder of the "deteriorating" law and order situation in the state. He expressed his condolences and hoped the government ensures that peace is restored in a series of tweets.
Unabated violence is a stark reminder of the deteriorating law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh. (2/3) Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) June 3, 2016
In summation, the violence in Mathura has unsurprisingly turned into a political issue for the parties. Ahead of the elections, all the parties have accused the state government for its ignorance. The Akhilesh government on its part, renounced itself of all blame and instead attacked the police for its failure.
With inputs from agencies
The woe of a person, who has been waging a battle for the closure of a school that he has been running without adequate number of students, for more than a decade in 100 percent literate Kerala, is far from over, even after the highest court in the country granted his plea.
The Supreme Court had on Monday allowed closure of 104-year-old Malaparamba Aided Upper Primary School in Kozhikode district while rejecting a government appeal against a high court order upholding the right of the private management to shut down the school.
While the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government is planning to amend the Kerala Education Rules (KER) to circumvent the Supreme Court order, the school protection committee consisting of parents and teachers of the school and local residents have vowed to physically block the officials from sealing the school.
They had successfully blocked several such attempts made by the education department officials following last months high court order allowing the closure of the school. P K Padmarjan, who has been running the school, has been suffering loss since 1996. He said he will file a contempt of court case if anybody tries to block the implementation of the Apex Court order.
The saga of Padmarajan started in May 2014 when the government allowed him to shut down the school due to lack of students. His attempt to demolish the building was thwarted by the school protection committee with the help of local politicians. They re-built and re-opened the school with contributions from the public from June 2014.
However, the high court did not find any merit in continuing the school, which had 44 students, eight teachers and two support staff at the time of the demolition. It upheld the governments earlier order and directed the education department to rehabilitate the students and teachers in nearby schools.
Padmarajan moved the court again this year after the school protection committee failed to ensure an increase in the enrollment. He told Firstpost that the enrollment last year was only 51.
I would not have tried to shut down the school if the members of the committee had ensured an enrollment of at least 100 students. But they could attract only seven students in the last two years, he said.
This is the plight of not just the Malaparamba School alone. According to the 2015 state economic survey, as many as 5,573 schools in both government and aided sectors are running without the required number of students (average 15 in a class) as on 2014-15. Such schools are termed uneconomic.
Enrollment of students in the state has been declining in recent years; the number has declined from 37.9 lakh in 2014-15 to 37.7 lakh in 2015-16, according to the state economic review. Change in demographic pattern of the state due to low birth rate is the main reason attributed for this phenomenon.
The decline in the number of students in lower primary section is 11,782 in 2014-15 from 2013-14. While the decline in upper primary section is 38,406 in 2014-15, and the high school section shows a decrease of 8,652 students over the previous year.
KC Zacharia, honorary professor at the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) at Thiruvananthapuram said that the school age population will shrink further as the state is heading for zero population growth.
The 2011 census statistics already show signs of negative growth. The 2011 census data showed that population growth rate of children, belonging to the age group of 0-6, had already become negative. The growth rate in this category between 2001 and 2011 is -8.44 percent.
According to him, children in the lower primary school ages are projected to decline from 2847,000 in 1991 to 1638,000 in 2051. This will render more and more schools in the state uneconomic and teachers surplus.
A recent study by the education department showed there were 13 teachers for every 30 students in 3,500 uneconomic schools. This works out to one teacher for every two students. The Right to Education (RTE) Act stipulates a Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) of 30 or less for schools with less than 200 enrolled students. Schools with greater enrollment should have a PTR of 40.
The study revealed there were 11 teachers for less than 20 students in 593 schools. On an average, there are 11 teachers to teach 16 students in these schools. There are average 15 teachers to teach 25 students in 517 schools and 17 teachers for every 35 students in 756 schools.
Economic experts have been suggesting closure of all uneconomic schools and retrenchment of surplus teachers. However, the successive governments have been sustaining them and paying teachers salary without doing any work.
It does not make any economic sense to keep these schools opened for the sake of teachers. The closure of the uneconomic schools may not hurt the children since the state has sufficient schools to cater to all school going children, says S Irudayarajan, a fellow with CDS.
Rajan, who has done several studies on population, said students from uneconomic schools can easily be relocated to nearby schools as the state had one lower primary school for every square kilometre and one high school for every 4 sq.km.
Economists and demographers see huge economic opportunity from the closure of the uneconomic schools. Zacharia feels that the state could solve the acute shortage of old age homes faced if the government allows uneconomic schools to be converted as old age homes.
Old age homes currently available in the state are not sufficient to meet the growing demand. A substantial number of the aged are forced to move to old age homes as those who are supposed to support them are going away from the state in search of jobs, says Zacharia.
Irudayarajan says the state could use the opportunity to improve the quality of education in the state. The standard of education in the state has been witnessing a steady decline over the years.
The study conducted at the instance of the Accountant General showed that five percent of the students in Std VII cannot identify alphabets. Thirty five percent of the students cant read or write their mother tongue. Eighty five percent students are poor in basic science and 73 percent in mathematics.
The grasp of three Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic) was found very low among class four students as well. It showed that 47% students cant write in Malayalam and 25% in English. The case with maths and science is worse. While 63% students are poor in mathematics, 73% do not have even basic knowledge in science.
State Education Secretary APM Mohammed Hanish does not agree with the experts regarding shut down of uneconomic schools. He told Firstpost that government and aided schools still had a major role to play in sustaining the achievements made by the state in the education sector.
He said that the government and aided schools were not getting adequate enrollment as parents were showing preference for private schools due to slide in the quality of teaching in government schools.
Hanish said that the government would address the problem by improving the infrastructure and quality of teaching in government and aided schools.
In its death throes, the Republican Party is a toilet of racist, sexist, misogynistic bullshit. Today, Iowa State Senator David Johnson has changed his party affiliation to "No Party", and compared the rise of Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for president, to that of the fascist German National Socialists in the 1930s.
Via TPM:
Johnson, who said he would change his registration to No Party, compared Trump's rise to the top of the GOP ticket to the rise of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s.
Trump won "by reducing his campaign to reality TV and large crowds and divisive language and all the trappings of a good show for those who like that kind of approach and that's what happened in the 1930s in Germany," he told The Guardian.
"I think that's all I need to say but certainly the fascists took control of Germany under the same types of strategies," he added.
Johnson, who noted that his own father was part of the first U.S. unit to help liberate a Nazi prison camp, said that Trump's attacks on the "Mexican" heritage of U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel flew in the face of everything he'd been taught as a child.
"If we're going to exclude Muslims from traveling to the United States, who's next? Are we going to come down on Jews? He's not fit to be president," Johnson told the publication.
Every week my hospital admits a white horse that has been hit by a truck or has gone so lame that it cannot walk anymore. When doctors diagnose them they find that most of them are partially deaf and blind. Most of them die of their wounds and dehydration within a few days. These are marriage horses.
People in the business of letting horses for weddings own dozens and house them outside the city. When they are rented for marriages, they are made to walk more than 30-50 kilometres to the venue a trek that starts early morning and lasts the whole day. By evening they have reached the baraat headquarters and stand around for several hours till the groom and his party are ready to leave. The horse is then dressed. The saddle on the horse is a heavy throne like chair and around its forehead is decorated with all sorts of things that hang over and get into its eyes. The groom sits on it with his nephew and then the band starts at a decibel level that makes even passing humans hold their ears. The horse handler holds the horses bit tightly enough to prevent it from rearing up at the noise and fireworks. The iron chain fitted into its mouth destroys the teeth and makes its gums bleed. The fire-lit lanterns surrounding the horse generate heat. Various relatives and friends, dancing in front of the horse, constantly tug at the groom to shower him with small notes of money, further unbalancing him. The horse is walked for another several kilometres in a slow and an extremely noisy parade and then finally, when the groom dismounts, it is taken to another wedding.
By 2 am the functions and weddings of the day are over and the horse is walked back to its owner outside the city. After a few hours rest and feeding the trek starts again the next day. Drunken late-night truckers often hit the horse on its homeward journey. While some collapse due to exhaustion, some die on the spot or are left there to die if they have broken their legs. And some fortunate ones are brought to my hospital.
There are two kinds of marriage horses. Some are racehorses that have been kept in great comfort till they start losing races and are then sold down the line to smaller and smaller racecourses till they end up in the hands of the marriage horse suppliers. They go from good food and clean stalls to bad food and being tied up on the side of the road in a village, with no shelter tolerating the heat, rain and cold. The others are inbred because of their white colour and the females are repeatedly made to reproduce till they die of exhaustion, so that there are enough white horses in the market. Both have a terribly sad and short life.
Why are we doing this to this noble animal? People are ignorant of the origin of the horse at marriages and so they carry on this ridiculous custom without understanding the meaning behind it. A few hundred years ago, women used to often get kidnapped from their marriages by dacoits or members of a rival clan who would appear on horses. Many horses were kept at the marriage venues to chase the kidnappers. From there originates this lunacy that makes the bottoms of urbanized young groom so sore that they would probably give their wedding night a miss and put soothing balms on their buttocks instead. This is not a prince that is coming to claim his princess this is a silly young man overdressed in silks and jewels with a lampshade on his head and garland of money around his neck, pretending he is a kidnapper about to do the unspeakable act of taking a young girl against her will and holding her to ransom.
There are so many other explanations that are as gross. And the horse rented in weddings is always a mare. While the actual reason a mare is chosen is because she is easier to handle round the year than a male, who might get temperamental during the summer season, the use of a mare and not a horse suggests the grooms intention to domesticate the wife and to ride her for the rest of their married life.
In the Shrimali Brahmin community, the girls ride on horses in the same way as the grooms. The significance is that they are equal in the marriage. Either way, it is the horse that is punished. In some communities the mare's hair is plaited with sacred thread or 'mouli' and the groom's sisters feed her with Bengal gram, which has been soaked in water the night before, or with gur and atta. The horse will definitely get colic from this fermented besan or gur which is the worst thing that can happen to a horse and which kills many.
How inauspicious to start a marriage with a torture of a poor female animal which has to starve, and has to go through dehydration, fatigue, noise, and physical pain. The agony of the horse is clearly shown in the enlarged eyes and wild spin of its eyeballs and the ears held erect both of which only happen when the horse is extremely distressed.
Horses are extremely allergic to noise, fire, hundreds of people crowding them and walking long distances on tarred roads. There are thirty thousand weddings a day in Delhi during the wedding season alone. There are about 300 horses. Do the math. In Mumbai, the horses are kept in south Mumbais Kamathipura and taken to outskirts of Mumbai about 60 km away every day.
What a horrible and outdated way to ruin the baraat tradition; to abuse a horse when you could have gone safely and happily in a car. I am going to ask animal welfare people to intercede in the baraat and call policemen in on the grounds of cruelty. Imagine your bridal parade disrupted by people confiscating the bridegrooms mount. He would look even sillier then.
Horses are thinking sentient beings. Many terrible customs have ended in India sati (which presumed that a woman had value only if her husband lived), thuggee (now refined to bribes and white collar crime), and animal sacrifice. It is now time for sensible people to call for ending this hideous and vulgar practice. Or let the bride go to the grooms house in a palanquin carried by her brothers; an authentic and beautiful marriage tradition.
To join the animal welfare movement contact gandhim@nic.in, www.peopleforanimalsindia.org
Patna: The Opposition BJP on Tuesday questioned Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's "waking from slumber" seven days after the Intermediate exam muddle and alleged "political patronage" to state exam board chairman and head of the Vaishali college.
"Seven days after the Intermediate exam controversy surfaced, the Chief Minster woke from his slumber yesterday and directed registration of case in the 10+2 exam irregularities, which have sullied the image of Bihar across the country," BJP Parliamentary Board chief Sushil Kumar Modi told reporters.
"The education department constituted a committee to probe the irregularities, while Bihar School Examination Board formed a judicial committee on the issue without knowledge of the government before the CM intervened yesterday and disbanded both committees and ordered registration of FIR," Sushil Modi said after his weekly Janata Darbar.
The senior BJP leader alleged "political patronage" to BSEB chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh and head of Bishun Rai college in Vaishali from where Arts topper Ruby Rai and Science topper Saurabh Shrestha hailed from.
"Even a child knows that the head of Bishun Rai college Bachha Rai worked more than Lalu Prasad for victory of his two sons Tejaswi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav in the recent Assembly polls from Roghopur and Mahua respectively in Vaishali district," Sushil alleged.
"BSEB chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh is the husband of a former JD(U) MLA and enjoys considerable support of the ruling JD(U)," he said.
"Is it possible that the BSEB could not even open the envelop in which a committee headed by Hassan Waris had submitted report on the Bishun Rai college malpractices in the same exam last year," Sushil said to buttress his allegation of political support to the BSEB chairman.
The BJP leader also questioned whether the BSEB decision to cancel results of Science topper Saurabh Shrestha and third topper in Science stream Rahul Kumar after finding the two not up to mark in a written re-test and interview on Friday last would stand legal scrutiny.
"If the students go to court to challenge the board decision, will it be able to legally defend itself for
cancelling the results on the basis of a re-test and interview ... the BSEB has only provision of re-totalling of marks and not revaluation," he said though clarifying he did not support the performance of the dubious science toppers.
Sushil Modi also criticised Nitish Kumar's order to do away with holding examination for students at class IX for their promotion.
New Delhi: Congress on Tuesday termed the exit of Ajit Jogi from the party as "good riddance", saying that he has saved it the trouble of expelling him and that he will not be able to harm it.
"Jogi ceases to be a Congress Working Committee member and Chairman of AICC's tribal cell after his announcement of floating a new party. He has saved us the trouble of expelling him," party General Secretary BK Hariprasad told reporters here. "It is a good riddance that he has left," he said.
Still smarting from debacles in Assembly polls in four states, Congress received a setback with two CWC members Ajit Jogi and Gurudas Kamat quitting the party yesterday.
While Jogi, a former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, formally announced he would launch a new political outfit, Kamat said he was quitting politics altogether.
Hariprasad said that the party elevated Jogi from "DM to CM", and that he would not be able to harm it.
"A man who was made a chief minister from the post of District Magistrate by Congress, cannot undermine it," Hariprasad said.
He accused Jogi, who became the first chief minister of Chhattisgarh when the state was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000, of resorting to "politicking of a very negative kind" despite the party giving him "a very long rope" to "reform".
He said Jogi quit the party after his demand for a Rajya Sabha nomination was ignored.
Coming down hard on the expelled leader, Hariprasad dubbed Jogi as "de facto chief minister of Chhattigarh", stating that he consistently sabotaged the prospects of Congress to help BJP's Raman Singh retain power since 2003.
"Congress is not that weak in Chhattisgarh. Despite Jogi's negative performance, the party lost the last elections by just 0.77 percent of the vote," Hariprasad said underlining the close tussle between the party and BJP in the tribal state.
Asked whether Jogi may join the saffron party, he said, "He (Jogi) is de facto chief minister there so it is immaterial whether he joins BJP or not".
Incidentally, Jogi had accused the state Congress of working as the "B Team" of BJP.
Jogi had been sulking for quite some time following the expulsion of his son Amit after some audio tapes purportedly indicated his involvement in fixing a bypoll in Chhattisgarh in favour of BJP. His wife, Renu Jogi, is a Congress MLA from Kota.
Hariprasad maintained that the party would not take any action against the MLAs, including Renu Jogi, who had participated in Jogi's meeting yesterday.
He said he would be visiting Chhattisgarh within a week to talk to state party leaders in the wake of Jogi's exit from the party.
"History is witness to the fact that many may have quit Congress but they have not been able to finish us," he said.
Believe in astrology or not, the stars are definitely not in favour of the Congress party of late. Even before the party could get over its shocking defeat in Assam Assembly polls leading to the end of its 15-year-old rule in the state, the Congress is facing trouble in another front, this time in Tripura.
Six Congress legislators on Tuesday joined the Trinamool Congress leaving the national party.
Assembly Speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath told reporters that he had received a letter from Congress legislator Sudip Roy Barman, who he said was accompanied by three legislators.
"The letter was signed by six Congress MLAs informing me that they have joined the Trinamool Congress," Debnath said. "I would call all the six Congress MLAs for individual hearing and verification of their signature. After consulting the rules and experts, I will take a final decision in this regard in a day or two."
Trinamool Congress vice-president Mukul Roy came to Agartala on Tuesday, his second visit to the Left-ruled state in five days.
It is baffling that the Congress top brass is failing to grasp the seriousness of the situation despite getting red-flagged in different parts of the country from its own party leaders and cadres. The sense of dejection that has crept into the minds of the local cadres and regional leaderswho are actually the pillars of the party can shake the very foundation of the party despite its illustrious past.
Things look shaky even in Meghalaya. Chief Minister Mukul Sangma's wife Dikkanchi D Shira lost the Tura Lok Sabha seat bypoll to National People's Party Conrad K Sangma. The bypoll in Tura happened as the seat fell vacant after the death of incumbent MP and former Lok Sabha speaker Purno A Sangma on 4 March.
Conrad, who won in 23 of the 24 Assembly segments, defeated Shira by a margin of 1,92,212 votes. The Congress candidate had got 1,37,285 votes.
Fearing a Arunachal Pradesh-like mutiny where Congress dissident Kalikho Pul became the chief minister of the state in February by toppling the Nabam Tuki government with outside support from the BJP, Mukul Sangma apparently wrote to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi warning against "black sheep" in the state unit who are apparently in touch with BJP leaders, an Indian Express report said.
The Meghalaya chief minister's apprehension is not unfounded as a whopping number of 18 rebel Congress MLAs helped Pul to wrest power from Tuki in Arunachal Pradesh.
The intent of the BJP to free the North East from Congress rule is unmissable. On 24 May, soon after Sarbananda Sonowal was sworn in as the first BJP chief minister of Assam and also in the region, the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) was formed to bring in all non-Congress parties of the region under one umbrella.
The new platform of the BJP was formed for development of all northeastern states, hours after Sarbananda Sonowal was sworn-in as the 14th chief minister of Assam. The alliance was formed at a meeting chaired by BJP President Amit Shah and attended by Sonowal and his Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Sikkim counterparts Kalikho Pul, TR Zeliang and PK Chamling respectively.
In an ominous message to the Congress, NEDA convenor Himanta Biswa Sarma had made it clear in an interview to Times Now, that the BJP is trying to make inroads into Manipur where the assembly election is due in 2017. What should worry the Congress more is that some of its leaders in Manipur are already in talks with the BJP.
The North East accounts for 25 Lok Sabha seats in total including Sikkim.
On Monday, veteran Congress leader Gurudas Kamat resigned from primary membership of the party and announced his retirement from politics. The resignation is a major setback to the grand old party in the key state of Maharashtra.
"For several months now, I have felt I need to take a backseat to enable others to get the opportunity. I met Hon Congress president about 10 days ago and expressed a desire to resign," Kamat said.
Kamat was known as a loyalist of the Gandhi family and his resignation was met with surprise in political circles, as per a report in Loksatta.
Last week, senior Congress leader and the first chief minister of Chhattisgarh Ajit Jogi had decided to form a new party in clear violation of Congress code of conduct.
"In the last 13 years, I havent been given any role by the party not even at the block level and Ive been rendered an ordinary party worker. The party workers who are with me have not been given any responsibility, even at the booth level, so forget about a bigger role. I know it has been maneuvered by some people (read Congress leaders) in Delhi. They cant tolerate regional satraps coming up, like it happened in the case of Mamata Banerjee, Jagan Reddy and Himanta Biswa Sarma. They want weak people and sycophants in the party," Jogi told Firstpost.
Although Uttarakhand Chief Minister Rawat could save his government, largely on technical grounds, he seems to be facing another round of dissension.
According to Hindustan Times, Rawat is facing dissent "with several leaders from the Garhwal region accusing him of ignoring them for positions in the government as well as the party."
What is unique in the pattern of dissent is that the instead of accommodating or giving them patient hearings, the Gandhis have chose to ignore the dissidents. Be it Himanta Biswa Sarma in Assam or Ajit Jogi in Chhattisgarh, these leaders contributed significantly to the rise of the Congress in their respective states before.
The dissent mostly brews as one set of leaders get backing from the high command while those who raise their voice are simply sidelined. Be it Tarun Gogoi in Assam in the past or Mukul Sangma in Meghalaya, the party top brass should introspect how these regional leaders function as allegations of them being dictatorial could not just be mere coincidence.
With input from PTI
The renewal of the reservation stir in Haryana underlines, as never before, the pressing need for Jats to have a new leadership that could take them out of their growing political isolation.
Unable to arrest their economic decline, their frustration has mounted because of the Constitutional and judicial limits on inclusion of a social group into the OBC or Other Backward Classes reservation pool. This has goaded them into expressing their fury against such limits in futile outbursts periodically.
But these limits are now a settled matter of law. The Constitution provides reservation for what is called the Educationally and Socially Backward Classes (ESBC). The Supreme Court has decreed that a social group can be classified as ESBC after a socio-economic survey has been conducted. It isnt consequently a decision left to the whims of the executive. It has also been laid down that the reserved quota cannot exceed 50% of the total jobs or educational seats that are available.
These norms have seemingly created insurmountable barriers for Jats to be included in the OBC pool. A good many OBC castes believe Jats are prosperous and politically dominant. Their inclusion in the OBC pool will consequently deny other castes of their share in the 27% pie reserved for OBCs. It is, as of now, impossible to provide them a separate quota as it will breach the 50% limit the Supreme Court has provided.
Nor are the upper castes enamoured with Jats, who played a significant role in undermining their earlier dominance of the society. They fear that reservation for Jats will further empower them in the areas where their presence is substantial. On the other hand, Dalits identify Jats as among their principal tormentors.
Against this backdrop of socio-political rivalry, the Jats isolated themselves further because of the violent turn their agitation for reservation took in Haryana earlier this year.
It seems to have consolidated the non-Jat groups, a situation not disadvantageous to the BJP government which is headed by Manohar Lal Khattar, a Punjabi. It is said that one-third of Jats in Haryana voted the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha, but they are certainly not the partys durable mainstay.
The violence in Haryana earlier this year persuaded the state government to extend reservation to Jats and five other social groups. This was, as was widely accepted, stayed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, provoking the Jats to return to the barricades all over again this week.
It cannot but be asked: To whom are the Jats displaying their displeasure and anger? What is the message they seek to communicate?
It makes no sense for Jats to address their demand to the Khattar government as its decision to extend reservations to them given effect through two legislative enactments has been put on hold by the high court. Even the inclusion of the two Acts in the Ninth Schedule will not render it immune from judicial scrutiny.
The government can thus satisfy Jats through a violation of the high court order, which will signal a breakdown of the Constitutional arrangement and abort the Khattar government. It will not risk taking this course and alienate the non-Jat constituency.
This is the point the Jat leaders seem to have palpably missed that their opposition to the government will drive them into a cul-de-sac, where no other social group is likely to provide them company. Nor is there honour in this isolation, for the very basis of their demand for reservation is the KC Gupta Commission report, which the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) dismissed as biased.
The Supreme Court upheld the NCBCs opinion when it rejected the UPA governments decision to include Jats in the Central OBC list of some states. Constituting 25% of Haryanas population, the Gupta report says the share of Jats in Class I and Class II services in the state is 21 percent. It cannot be anybodys case that a social groups representation in government jobs must be equal to its percentage in the states population.
No doubt, the Gupta Commission claimed the Jats lagged behind Brahmins and Banias and, therefore, needed to be included in the reservation pool. However, as the NCBC pointed out, it didnt provide comparative figures of representation for social groups such as Ahirs and Gujjars, traditionally considered on par or lower to the Jats.
Educationally, the Jats at the graduation level were said to have 6.5% enrollment, against the average of 8.3 %; the difference was far less at the postgraduate level. But the educational lag of Jats is not so enormous as to require affirmative action, given that they happen to own three-fourths of agricultural land in Haryana.
They also command enormous political clout five out of 10 chief ministers of Haryana have been Jats, some with multiple terms. One-third of the states 90 Assembly constituencies are Jat-dominated. It has had a fair representation in the Army the current Army chief, Gen Dalbir Singh is a Jat, as is the Northern Command head, Lt Gen DS Hooda.
This isnt to say that there exists no reason for disquiet among the Jats. As a predominantly peasant community, the agrarian crisis has had to have an impact on it. Agriculture is no longer a lucrative proposition as it was during the Green Revolution, from which the Jats did gain substantial economic clout. Agricultural yields have decreased, the cost of inputs had increased, and the prices of some produce have crashed.
Worse, the fragmentation of farms has further eroded their profit margins. A NABARD paper illustrates that landholdings in the marginal category (less than 1 hectare) constituted 67% of all operational holdings in the country in 2010-2011. The National Sample Survey Office released data in 2014 showing that more than 60% of the total rural households covered in its survey in 11 states were in deep debt.
The disquiet arising from the decline in prosperity among Jats deepens as they see individuals of other social groups take advantage of reservation. Quite obviously, reservation cant become the sole instrument for an overnight uplift of social groups on par or lower to the Jats in the social hierarchy.
Yet it stokes their anxiety that the others are catching up with them and may eventually challenge their increasingly tenuous dominance. They also think the denial of reservation is discriminatory as they too are classified as Shudra in the Hindu social hierarchy, as are, for instance, the Ahirs/Yadav and Kurmis in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. But the latter have been granted reservation, both at the Centre and in states, even though the extent they lag behind Jats is debatable.
But all these factors are precisely why Jats need new leaders who could play a salutary role in guiding the community to tackle the crisis they encounter. They need to rally Jats for demanding policies which could help tackle agricultural distress, particularly the rising rural indebtedness.
But Jats cant trigger changes in policies alone. This can come about only by forging an alliance with other peasant communities to mount pressure on state and Central governments. However, in western UP, the Jat-led social alliance broke down over the issue of reservation. The alliances constituents Ahirs and Gujjars broke away as Jats opposed the Mandal report in 1990. And because they began to gravitate to the BJP, the Muslims too veered away from their leadership.
From this perspective, the Jats in Uttar Pradesh had no option other than to tail behind the upper caste whose hegemony they had so successfully challenged once. But the isolation could extract a far greater price from them in Haryana, where there supremacy has been state-wide in its impact than being confined to a pocket, as it was in UP. Politics in Haryana has traditionally revolved around in support or opposition to Jats.
Nor is it that reservation can arrest the decline of Jats overnight. As of now, less than 31 lakh are employed in Central government jobs. Just think how many vacancies are created every year! In 15 years or so, when all Central government employees will have been post-Mandal recruits, only 7-8 lakh, or 27%, will have come through the OBC reservation.
Given the extensive Central OBC list, the share of Jats, even if they were granted reservation, cant possibly be large. This projection tells you that even if government jobs in all states were included at best, two crore the mechanism of state employment cant suddenly reduce the number of people dependent on agriculture. It is very unlikely that reservation will be extended to the private sector anytime soon. Anyway, reduction of population pressure on agriculture is just an aspect of the distress in rural India.
This is precisely why the new Jat leadership has to rethink its strategy of ensuring the community is not perennially caught in a downward spiral. In their rethinking, it cannot but also persuade Jats to redefine themselves and their social relations. For just too long, they have allowed the stereotype of Jats being oppressive and belligerent to persist. A reinforcing of this perception will only isolate them further.
(The author Delhi-based journalist. His novel, The Hour Before Dawn, has as its backdrop the demolition of the Babri Masjid. It is available in bookstores.)
Star Trek turned 50 in 2016. In its half-century of existence on TV, on the big screen, and in the worldwide community of its fans Star Trek has become an integral part of our everyday lives. Even casual viewers know the pointed ears, the Vulcan salute, and the meaning of "beam me up, Scotty."
Yet, Star Trek does not owe its enduring popularity and its place in our collective imagination to its aliens or to its technological speculations. What makes it so unique, and so exciting, is its radical optimism about humanity's future as a society: in other words, utopia.
In Star Trek, humanity has reached abundance. Thanks to scientific progress and good governance, the Federation has overcome the social ills commonly associated with the uneven distribution of material wealth. The citizens of the Federation no longer work to sustain and provide for themselves they find meaning in more elevated pursuits.
This state of economic bliss, however, is not without difficulties. For one, the Federation and its fire department-cum-diplomatic arm, namely Starfleet, operate in a galaxy where equally (if not more) advanced species do not live by the same altruistic motivations. Most notably, the ever-scheming Ferengis view the relentless acquisition of private wealth as their cardinal purpose in the universe.
Trekonomics takes readers on a journey through Star Trek's fictional society, its mores and values, and its sources of inspiration in classic sci-fi. But it also looks hard at the challenges posed by it. How does Star Trek solve what Keynes called "the economic question," the old and stubborn quandary of the allocation of scarce resources? How can it benefit all without depriving anyone? And what could that mean for us, the passengers of starship Earth?
Excerpt from Trekonomics
RED CROSS MEETS THE MIT FACULTY CLUB
The Next Generation cemented the franchise's definitive turn toward utopia. While Cold War America infused The Original Series with a very distinct flavor, The Next Generation moved deliberately past these quaint conflicts.
The "bibles" of the respective shows highlight that change of direction. This is how, in his 1967 writers' guidelines for what became known as The Original Series, Gene Roddenberry describes the status of Earth in the Star Trek universe (emphasis mine):
"For one thing, we'll never take a story back there and therefore don't expect to get into subjects which would create great problems, technical and otherwise. The "U.S.S." on our ship designation stands for "United Space Ship" indicating (without troublesome specifics) that mankind has found some unity on Earth, perhaps at long last even peace. If you require a statement such as one that Earth cities of the future are splendidly planned with fifty-mile parkland strips around them, fine. But television today simply will not let us get into details of Earth's politics of Star Trek's century; for example, which socio-economic system ultimately worked out best."
One could not be clearer. This was Cold War America. Some very specific topics were not to be broached, especially those pertaining to the socioeconomic organization of Star Trek's future society. In his interviews with me, Chris Black, writer and co-executive producer of Star Trek: Enterprise, summarized Roddenberry's gingerly approach as "pragmatic." Chris expounded: "He's saying, look, people can have whatever utopian vision of the future they want (I might even agree with them), but network politics will only let us show so much."
The Original Series' real five-year mission was to denounce the prejudices and controversies of the real world: racism, bigotry, mutually assured destruction, the Vietnam War. It was a critique of the Cold War and thus it was also, necessarily, a critique of Cold War science fiction that is, above all a critique of Robert Heinlein.
According to Roddenberry himself, no author has had more influence on The Original Series than Robert Heinlein, and more specifically his juvenile novel Space Cadet. The book, published in 1948, is considered a classic. It is a bildungsroman, retelling the education of young Matt Dodson from Iowa, who joins the Space Patrol and becomes a man. There is a reason why Star Trek's Captain Kirk is from Iowa. The Space Patrol is a prototype of Starfleet: it is a multiracial, multinational institution, entrusted with keeping the peace in the solar system.
Where it gets a little weird is that Heinlein's Space Patrol controls nuclear warheads in orbit around Earth, and its mission is to nuke any country that has been tempted to go to war with its neighbors. This supranational body in charge of deterrence, enforcing peace and democracy on the home planet by the threat of annihilation, was an extrapolation of what could potentially be achieved if you combined the UN charter with mutually assured destruction. And all this in a book aimed at kids.
Such was the optimism Heinlein could muster at the time, and compared to his later works, Space Cadet is relatively happy and idealistic, if a bit sociopathic. It makes a lot of sense that it had inspired Roddenberry. In Space Cadet, Heinlein portrayed a society where racism had been overcome. Not unlike Starfleet, the Space Patrol was supposed to be a force for good. The fat finger on the nuclear trigger makes it a very doubtful proposition, however. The Space Patrol, autonomous and unaccountable, is the opposite of the kind democratic and open society championed by Star Trek.
The hierarchical structure and naval ranks of the first Star Trek series were geared to appeal to Heinlein's readers and demographic, all these starry-eyed kids who, like Roddenberry himself, had read Space Cadet and Have Spacesuit Will Travel. Star Trek used all the tropes of Heinlein but sanitized them. For instance, racial and gender equality were prominent features of Heinlein's stories. Nobody cared about your sex or the color of your skin as long as you were willing to sign up for the Space Patrol or the Federal service. Starship Troopers' hero, Juan "Johnny" Rico, was Filipino. In that regard, Heinlein had undoubtedly paved the way for The Original Series' integrated crew. From Space Cadet onward, he made it a new norm in science fiction that people of color and women (as in Starship Troopers) could also be protagonists. That they were bestowed visibility and full agency in an authoritarian version of e pluribus unum is a different question altogether. Kirk himself, manly, resourceful, and decisive, came across as just dim enough to evince Johnny Rico. William Shatner played up to perfection the character's kitsch, his martial swagger and womanizing slightly off-kilter in a world ruled by diplomats and scientists, all eggheads and sissies, with or without pointy ears.
Later in his life, Roddenberry stated without ambiguity that he had modeled The Original Series on Swift's Gulliver's Travels, so as to get around the network's suffocating censorship. Science fiction gave him a convenient means to blow open public debate and to push against the ideological boundaries of 1960s television. Here he is, in his own words, from a 1992 interview culled by Marc Cushman and quoted in the first volume of These Are the Voyages:
"Swift wanted to write satire on his time and went to Lilliput in his story to do just that. He could talk about insane prime ministers and crooked kings and all that. It was this wonderful thing. Children could read it as a fairy tale, an adventure, and as they got older they'd recognize it for what it really is. . . . It seemed to me that perhaps, if I wanted to talk about sex, religion, politics, make some comments against Vietnam and so on, that if I had similar situations involving these subjects happening on other planets to little green people, indeed it might get by."
Economics, and specifically the social consequences of automation and artificial intelligence, would have to wait awhile longer. That does not mean Roddenberry was not aware of the revolutionary potential of robotics, on the contrary. He had obviously read Asimov's stories in his youth. He had even produced a remarkable episode in which an AI prototype temporarily replaced Kirk and the crew at the helm of the Enterprise.
Contrast the ideological tension in The Original Series with the relaxed setting described in the bible for The Next Generation, twenty years later. Discussing the exact same question of Earth's society in the Star Trek universe, Roddenberry states:
"We have established that most (if not all) of the major problems facing the human species have been resolved and the Earth has since been transformed into a human paradise, with large protected wilderness areas, grand parks, beautiful cities, and a literate and compassionate population that has learned to appreciate life as a grand adventure."
The much looser tone and thematic freedom in part reflect the shifting economics of the American television industry in the 1980s. Cable channels and syndication broke the broadcast networks' monopoly on the market, making it profitable for writers and producers to cater to niche audiences. Ideological conformism receded in favor of creative daring. This is particularly true in the case of The Next Generation, which was sold directly to individual TV stations, thus bypassing the networks' tastemakers and gatekeepers entirely.
Wholesale utopia was no longer out of bounds. On the contrary, it turned into a compelling selling point for the show and greatly contributed to its popularity. Gone was the uneasy silence about anything that could possibly smack of a critique of a given "socio-economic system." In broad strokes, Earth's society had become a mixture of the Red Cross and the MIT faculty club.
One cannot help but wonder how all the so-called major problems had supposedly been solved. Lieutenant Tom Paris of Voyager mentions that sometime in the twenty-second century the "New World Economy" was established, and that is when "money went the way of the dinosaurs." Deep Space Nine explored twenty-first-century social unrest in a two-part time-travel episode entitled "Past Tense," and Enterprise covered some of the later events with great gusto but frustratingly few details. To this day, the magnitude of the elision remains tantalizing.
Manu Saadia was born in Paris, France, where he fell into science fiction and Star Trek fandom at the age of eight. He studied history of science and economic history in Paris and Chicago. His work on Trekonomics has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Business Insider. Manu Saadia is a contributing writer for Fusion.net. He lives in Los Angeles with his son and his wife.
To interpret the Central Board of Film Certification's diktat against Udta Punjab as an attempt to curb artistic freedom would be to miss the point altogether. It may be tempting for some to paint India as North Korea, as producer Anurag Kashyap has already done, but the fact is that his movie has met the fate of Santa Banta jokes in becoming a victim of the 2017 Assembly elections in Punjab. If sharing jokes was as easy as banning movies and had Arvind Kejriwal not had to rely on courts to do so, the pranks, too, by now would've stopped.
This is not to provide cover for CBFC chief Pahalaj Nihalani who keeps pushing the boundaries of absurdity with every decision. From clipping James Bond's kisses, removing references to homosexuality to banning 'cuss' words like Bombay from our films, the sanskari uncle has been admirably shouldering the sacred burden of keeping secure the nation's chastity belt. Nihalani may be the frontrunner for Limca Book Of Records For Serial Ludicrousness but in Udta Punjab's case, he appears to be a bit-part player.
Consider the nature of the censor board diktat. Though there are conflicting reports about whether the title can retain the word 'Punjab', the CBFC seemingly wants the makers of the film to drop all references to real places, politics and upcoming state elections from the dialogues in order to get certification.
The Hindu quoted a CBFC member as saying: "The screening for the Revising Committee (led by Pahalani) took place on Friday and it did not recommend that the title be changed. Certain objectionable scenes and words have been asked to be removed. Now its up to the producers to accept it or not."
The CBFC's 'Revising Committee' which had a second look at the film after Kashyap knocked on Union information and broadcasting ministry's door, apparently found the movie to be "full of abuses."
This is a wild goose. The real reason behind the astonishingly bad decision by even CBFC's 'exalted' standards seems to be the fact that the movie has substance abuse as its central motif and places it in the context of a state which is grappling with a festering drug problem and is due for polls in nine months.
It doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes to figure out what may have led to this decision though the Sukhbir Singh Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal, an ally of the NDA government, has claimed that it has no control over releasing of movies while clarifying in the same breath that any attempts of "defaming Punjab" will be resisted.
"We have got no control over such decisions. As we said in the past, we will continue to welcome this movie as long as no party or the Punjab community is slammed. If the film is about a societal issue, only then we welcome it," SAD MLA Virsa Singh Valtoha from Amritsar was quoted as saying in Times of India.
It is indeed a sad state of affairs for the ruling SAD which is widely expected to bow out in the upcoming polls. Reports quoting various surveys have pointed out the magnitude of the problem in Punjab where almost 70 percent of its nearly three crore population is affected by substance abuse. The crisis is more acute in the rural areas.
Amid such a scenario, if a movie featuring popular actors such as Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor and under the banner and reach of Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Telefilms and Kashyap's Phantom Films focuses on the worst-kept secret of Punjab, it may make drug abuse the talking point of the elections which the ruling coalition desperately wants to avoid.
However, the sad (pun unintended) state of India's vote bank politics is such that though the SAD and BJP are in the dock over this issue, the AAP or the Congress are hardly in a position to claim a seat on the moral high horse.
The AAP chief, as has already been mentioned, recently signed a hard copy (no less) of a petition seeking the banning of Santa Banta jokes which has long been a part of Indian tradition of laughing at ourselves. And its not as if only a particular community is the butt of all ridicule. The stereotypical Bong who cannot look beyond his fish and rosogolla is as infamous as the penny-wise Marwari, the dhokla-wolving Gujarati or the Gulf-bound Mallu.
By signing the petition, Kejriwal was effectively blowing the same dog whistle that the MNS or Shiv Sena try to blow when they claim to speak for Marathi manoos while whipping the butt of comedians.
Rajya Sabha MP and former state Congress chief Partap Bajwa has said his party will " take this issue to Parliament and not allow this move."
The gentleman needs to be reminded that Akali Dal is merely following the trail blazed by the Congress party which over the years had banned a number of movies which it found politically too inconvenient. Be it Punjabi film Kaum De Heere, which apparently " glorifies the assassins of Indira Gandhi" and still lies banned with even BJP acting in collusion, or Aandhi (1975) the Gulzar-directed film which Indira Gandhi found too close for comfort. Or Kissa Kursi Ka (1977), which was released only after a regime change because the Congress government thought it was a spoof of the Emergency. Prints and copies of the film were burned by party supporters.
Be that as it may, instead of getting angry with Nihalani, Kashyap should actually send him a box of sweets. The CBFC chief just ensured that Udta Punjab will be a grand success.
Agartala: After receiving a shot in its arm with the joining of six dissident Congress MLAs in Tripura, the Trinamool Congress on Tuesday said it will now organise a movement against CPM to oust it from power.
"Now, they are members of our family and will organise a movement against the ruling CPM to oust them from the helm of affairs and free the people of Tripura from their tyranny," Roy said after reaching here from Kolkata to accept the MLAs into the party fold.
"Today is a historic day because from this day we have entered Tripura Assembly. Only Mamata Banerjee and her party can oust the CPM from power, which was proved in West Bengal. It is our mission to oust the CPM in the 2018 state election," he said.
Alleging that law and order has collapsed in the state and common people have no safety and security, Roy said that he along with the MLAs who have joined TMC, would meet Governor Tathagata Roy and submit a memorandum on the issue.
Sudip Roy Burman, who had resigned from the post of the Leader of Opposition in Tripura Assembly ahead of the polls in West Bengal, protesting the CongressCPM tie-up in that state, said the six MLAs would now openly work as TMC activists.
In the 60-member House, the Left Front has 50 seats and of the 10 MLAs of Congress, six submitted the letter to the Speaker.
"We are not under the purview of anti-defection act because two-third majority of Congress MLAs have joined TMC," he added.
LOS ANGELES With the Democratic presidential nomination effectively wrapped up, Hillary Clinton's campaign urged supporters to head to the polls in Tuesday's nominating contests in hopes that victories will persuade rival Bernie Sanders to bow out of the race.
Clinton secured enough delegates to win the nomination before Tuesday's voting, U.S. media outlets reported on Monday night. But Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said they were pushing supporters and volunteers to "stay at this" for the contests in New Jersey, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Mexico and California - where she still risks a loss to Sanders.
"We're on the verge of making history, and we're going to celebrate that tonight," Mook told CNN. "There's a lot of people we want to make sure turn out today. We do not want to send a message that anybody's vote doesn't count."
A former U.S. secretary of state, Clinton would be the first woman presidential candidate of a major U.S. political party. She wants to move beyond the primary battle and turn her attention to presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and the Nov. 8 election.
But despite growing pressure from party luminaries for him to exit the race, Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont who describes himself as a democratic socialist, has vowed to stay in until next month's party convention that formally picks the nominee.
California is the biggest prize on Tuesday - the last and largest state to vote in what became a surprisingly tough Democratic primary race.
If Sanders, who was trailing in polls in California until recently, won the state, it would not be enough for him to catch Clinton in the overall delegate count, but it could fuel his continued presence in the race.
"We will look forward tonight to marking having reached the threshold of a majority of the pledged delegates, Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon told CNN, referring to delegates won in primary contests. "And at that point, Bernie Sanders will be out of our race."
Sanders has commanded huge crowds, galvanizing younger voters with promises to address economic inequality. But Clinton has edged him out, particularly among older voters, with a more pragmatic campaign focussed on building on President Barack Obama's policies.
Steven Acosta, a 47-year-old teacher living in Los Angeles, voted for Clinton on Tuesday, saying this was partly because he believes she stands a better chance of winning in November.
"I like what Bernie Sanders says and I agree with almost everything that he says," Acosta said. "The problem is that I think Republicans would really unify ... even more against him."
'RUSH TO JUDGEMENT'
Sanders was determined to stay in the race, even after the Associated Press and NBC reported on Monday night that Clinton had clinched the number of delegates needed to win the nomination. A Sanders campaign spokesman castigated what he said was the media's "rush to judgement."
Under Democratic National Committee rules, most delegates to the July 25-28 convention are awarded by popular votes in state-by-state elections, and Clinton has a clear lead in those "pledged" delegates.
But the delegate count also includes "superdelegates" - party leaders and elected senators, members of Congress and governors - who in theory can change their mind at any time. Clinton's superdelegate support outnumbers Sanders' by more than 10 to 1.
In practice, superdelegates who have announced their intention are unlikely to change their minds. Sanders would have to get more than 60 percent of the superdelegates backing Clinton to switch their votes. So far, his campaign manager Jeff Weaver acknowledged they have not converted a single delegate.
Obama is eager to start campaigning, but the White House said he wanted to give voters an opportunity to cast ballots before weighing in on the Democratic race. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he was aware of media calculations showing Clinton has clinched the nomination.
"However at this point there is at least one superdelegate - the one who works in the Oval Office - who's not prepared to make a public declaration about his endorsement at this point," Earnest said, referring to Obama's superdelegate vote as president.
Clinton secured the endorsement on Tuesday of Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California, Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, who withheld her support until voting day.
CHALLENGE TO WIN SUPPORTERS
Dr. David Hunt, 67, a neurosurgeon from Hoboken, New Jersey, said he was aware the media had declared Clinton had clinched the nomination, but still voted for Sanders.
If he wins California and New Jersey, which I suspect he wont, then he should continue campaigning, but on issues only, and not on personality, he said. But if he loses California and New Jersey he should absolutely concede and formally, actively work for Hillary. If he splits the two states, well then it is an interesting call.
Clinton will face a challenge to win over Sanders supporters.
They have become increasingly resistant in recent months, with fewer than half saying they would vote for her if she becomes the partys nominee, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in May.
Last month, 41 percent of Sanders supporters said they would vote for Clinton if she runs against Trump in the general election. That was down from 50 percent in April, and 52 percent in March.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll included 2,919 Sanders supporters during the month of May and has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 2 percentage points.
(Writing by Ginger Gibson; Additional reporting by Amanda Becker and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Jonathan Allen and Chris Kahn in New York; Joseph Ax and Frank McGurty in New Jersey; Alex Dobuzinskis and Dan Whitcomb in California; Editing by Frances Kerry)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
NEW YORK Donald Trump's attacks on a federal judge of Mexican heritage have ignited hundreds of postings on social media about an advocacy group for Latinos that some Trump supporters are calling a terrorist organisation.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has said that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, an Indiana native whose parents are Mexican immigrants, is making unfair rulings against him as the presiding judge in a class-action lawsuit over Trump University because of his plans to crack down on illegal immigration, including a promise to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
As evidence of what they say is Curiel's bias, Trump and some of his supporters have pointed to the judge's membership in La Raza Lawyers of San Diego, a local group for Hispanic lawyers that is affiliated with the Hispanic National Bar Association.
Some Trump supporters have incorrectly linked La Raza Lawyers to the National Council of La Raza, a 50-year-old civil rights group that has been strongly critical of Trump's proposals on immigration, as well as his idea to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States.
The NCLR's non-profit designation bars it from engaging in political campaigns, and the group's website describes it as a "nonpartisan voice for Latinos."
A conservative blog, GotNews.com, first noted Curiel's membership in the lawyer's group, which it identified simply as "La Raza," on May 31. A day later, another conservative website, The Daily Caller, made a link to the NCLR.
After the NCLR was first named, Trump fans on Twitter began attacking it. "Judge #TrumpHater #GonzaloCuriel is a member of the #TERRORIST group #LaRazza #BANLaRazza #GonzaloCuriel #RESIGN," wrote a user @WillysBaldSpot, whose profile describes her as a Trump supporter.
"I would never have known the "La Raza" organisation existed without Trump's controversial comments. #genius," wrote @asamjulian, another self-proclaimed Trump fan.
TRUMP: "HE'S GOT BIAS"
Trump on Sunday repeated his attack on Curiel in an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation."
"He's a member of a club or society very strongly pro-Mexican, which is all fine. But I say he's got bias," Trump said in the interview.
"This judge has treated me very unfairly. He's treated me in a hostile manner, and there's something going on," he added.
The words "La Raza" translate from Spanish to mean "the race," which Trump fans cite as proof the NCLR is a group of people who hate anyone who isn't Hispanic.
Lisa Navarrete, an NCLR spokeswoman, rejected that interpretation, saying that "thousands" of groups had names that included "La Raza" as a "nod to our common heritage."
The attacks on the advocacy group are the latest signs of the increasing racial tension in the 2016 presidential race. Critics have said Trump's calls to deport undocumented immigrants and ban Muslims amount to racism. His supporters say he's defending the country from terrorism and violence.
Some supporters of the New York businessman have blamed the NCLR for the violent clashes between anti-Trump protesters and Trump fans at a San Jose, California, rally last week.
"Thank you La Raza for putting California into play for Trump," wrote another supporter, @magnifier661. "Your violent fascism turned off the voting class #MAGA (a hashtag meaning Make America Great Again)."
The NCLR has been criticized in the past for its leaders' statements on immigration - the group supports a path to citizenship for people who entered the United States illegally - but Navarrete said it has never before attracted the ire of a presidential candidate.
Over the past week, she said, she and other NCLR officials have been calling journalists and pundits they believe are mischaracterizing the group.
"We've been doing a lot of correcting the media and making sure they're not repeating what supporters of Mr. Trump are saying," she said.
"We're sitting around arguing the minutiae of banking regulation, not running around in hoods.'"
Hope Hicks, Trump's spokeswoman, declined to comment.
(Reporting by Emily Flitter; Editing by Leslie Adler)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
BERLIN Chancellor Angela Merkel dismissed as "incomprehensible" accusations levied by Turkey against German lawmakers of Turkish origin after Germany's parliament passed a resolution declaring the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces a genocide.
Last week's symbolic parliamentary resolution in the Bundestag lower house infuriated Turkey, which rejects the idea that the killings of Christian Armenians during World War One was a genocide.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, a crucial ally for Merkel and her European partners in tackling the continent's migrant crisis, has accused Germans of hypocrisy, given their own history in the 20th century.
He also said the blood of German lawmakers of Turkish origin who voted for the resolution should be tested.
"The lawmakers in Germany's lower house of parliament are freely elected without exception and the accusations and statements which have been made by the Turkish side are incomprehensible," Merkel told a news conference on Tuesday.
"It was clear with the passing of the resolution that there is a difference of views between the majority of the Bundestag and the Turkish side," said Merkel, stressing she would push for direct talks between Turkey and Armenia.
Germany invited a senior Turkish diplomat to the foreign ministry to discuss Ankara's reaction. An official said the latest comments on German lawmakers were not in line with traditionally close ties between the countries.
Earlier on Tuesday Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the German government should make clear that it did not share parliament's view on the Armenian issue.
He also said Turkey would have to suspend its deal with the EU to stem the flow of migrants to Europe if there was no agreement on granting visa-free travel to Turks. The collapse of the pact would be a major blow for Merkel who has championed it.
Addressing the charge of hypocrisy, Merkel said Germany would continue to deal with its legacy of the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were murdered, and she would push for the creation of a historical commission to help Turkey and Armenia.
While Turkey accepts that many Armenians died in partisan fighting beginning in 1915, it denies that up to 1.5 million were killed and that this constituted an act of genocide, a term used by many Western historians and foreign parliaments.
Merkel also said she would try to help end the conflict between Armenian-backed separatists and Azeri forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. That could improve Turkey-Armenia ties, she told the news conference, also attended by the visiting president of Azerbaijan.
The Armenian Patriarchate in Turkey, representing an estimated 60,000 Armenian Christians in the mostly Muslim country, issued a statement condemning the German resolution.
It said the German parliament had no right to express its opinion on the subject, and that its judgment was unacceptable and wrong.
(Reporting by Madeline Chambers and Caroline Copley, Additional reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley in Istanbul; Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Gareth Jones)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
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.
London: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been discharged from hospital, a week after successfully undergoing an open-heart surgery.
Sharif's wife Kulsum Nawaz and his two sons Hassan and Hussain accompanied the Premier from the Harley Street Clinic in London to his house in the British capital last evening.
Sharif moved to his home in Park Lane after undergoing the "successful" surgery last Tuesday.
"He is in good spirits with his family by his side," a source close to the family said.
The 66-year-old PML-N leader had gone to London on 22 May for a regular medical checkup but was diagnosed with a heart complication by doctors who suggested surgery.
Premier's daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif tweeted, "Dekho, dekho kon aaya (look, look, who has come)," along with a picture of Sharif coming out of the hospital.
Meanwhile, a PML-N UK spokesperson said Sharif would like to thank everybody who prayed for him and sent their good wishes, especially in the month of Ramadan.
"People from across different communities have held vigils for his well-being. The Christian community held prayers for him on Sunday in Manchester. He is truly moved by all the prayers and love," he told PTI.
The Pakistani premier is expected to gradually begin receiving visitors beyond his close family at his Park Lane apartment here where he is said to be "fine and resting."
"He will be there for around two weeks or so, until his doctors give him permission to travel. He would be keen to get back home to Pakistan as soon as possible," his party spokesperson added.
This was Sharif's second cardiac procedure in five years. The need for the surgery arose after the premier went through a procedure called Atrial Fibrillation Ablation in 2011, "during which certain complications occurred resulting in perforation of the heart," Maryam had told the media.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani were among several world leaders who had wished Sharif ahead of his surgery.
However, Sharif had only spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the surgery.
Los Angeles: The Playboy Mansion, the legendary party house where Hollywood's elite cavorted with scantily-clad "bunnies," is being sold to the billionaire Twinkies owner who lives next door, a spokesman said Monday.
Hugh Hefner, the 90-year-old owner of the Holmby Hills estate in southern California and founder of Playboy Magazine, will be permitted to continue living there for the rest of his life.
The buyer is Daren Metropoulos, a 32-year-old business tycoon who lives on the property next door to the mansion, which he bought from Hefner in 2009 for $18 million.
"We can confirm that the Playboy Mansion is in escrow with Daren Metropoulos as the buyer," a Playboy spokesman told AFP.
"Due to confidentiality restrictions, we are not able to comment on any specifics, including what contingencies need to be cleared to close the sale."
Metropoulos is a principal at private-equity firm Metropoulos and Co., which co-owns Hostess Brands, the maker of Twinkies, an iconic American snack.
He intends to connect the two estates into a combined 7.3-acre compound once Hefner dies, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The paper quoted Metropoulos as saying the mansion's heritage "transcends its celebrity" and that "to have the opportunity to serve as its steward would be a true privilege."
He declined to disclose the purchase price, although the estate was valued at $200 million when Playboy Enterprises put it up for sale earlier this year.
Built in 1927 and bought by Hefner for $1 million in 1971, the property was emblematic of Hollywood's excess, hosting its infamous pool parties with a lingerie-only dress code for the female guests who cavorted in the caved grotto.
Elvis reportedly slept with eight Playmates at once at the 12-bedroom stately home, while John Lennon once burned a Matisse original with a cigarette.
The sale comes soon after the magazine's recent relaunch as a mainstream publication with no full-frontal nudity, and with the parent company on sale for an estimated $500 million.
ft/grf
1994-2016 Agence France-Presse
Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off his three-day visit to Washington starting on Monday by visiting the 'Tomb of the Unknown Soldier' at the Arlington National Cemetery.
As Modi laid a wreath at the cemetery, Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted:
Honouring sacrifice, saluting valour. Formal engagements begin with a solemn ceremony at @ArlingtonNatl pic.twitter.com/6mF13EJElL Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
Modi was received by Defence Secretary Ashton Carter at the US' most hallowed military ground. The Arlington sarcophagus contain the remains of service members from the First and Second World Wars, and the Korea and Vietnam wars. The 3rd US Infantry Regiment has famously stood guard over the monument through howling blizzards and hurricanes since 1948.
Modi also paid tribute to astronaut Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian woman in space and her six crew members who died as the Columbia space shuttle flew apart while re-entering Earth's orbit on 1 February, 2003.
Modi interacted with Chawla's husband, Jean-Pierre Harrison, complimenting him warmly on his Gujarati Kutch embroidered jacket. A charmed Harrison presented Modi with his wifes biography The Edge of Time. Harrisons memoir about his wife describes how Punjab Engineering College graduate Chawla emigrated to the US in the 1980s to become an astronaut in 1994. Chawla made her first space flight in 1997 as a mission specialist and prime robotic arm operator.
After the wreath laying ceremony, Modi interacted with astronaut Sunita Williams and her father Deepak Pandya. Senior officials from Nasa also met Modi at the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial. Nasa has a long and successful history of space cooperation with India, beginning in 1963 when India first launched a US-manufactured sounding rocket from Thumba to study Earths magnetic equator.
Modi, 65, has kept the most grueling of travel schedules on his five nation tour: He scored a big win in Geneva on Monday for India's bid to be admitted to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). He touched down in Washington later on Monday afternoon to hurl himself into a flurry of activities.
He met with heads of powerful Washington think tanks on Monday to lobby support for Indias NSG bid and calm Americas nuclear hawks.
Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann has promised India support in its efforts to become a member of the NSG," said Swarup at press conference on Monday in Washington.
India has been shut out for decades from the NSG because of its refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Modi added Mexico and Switzerland to his itinerary because both countries had expressed reservations about India being included in the NSG after Delhi applied for membership last month.
Becoming a member of the 48-nation NSG would help India access nuclear fuel and technology. India has been chasing the NSG dream for the last few years and formally moved its application on 12 May. The grouping will take up India's application in its plenary meetings on 9 June in Vienna and 24 June in Seoul.
The Barack Obama-Modi bromance is likely to receive top billing on Tuesday with Modi having a working lunch at the White House. Modi is counting on Obamas mediation to get the Chinese on board with Indias NSG bid. Unfortunately, ongoing US-China strategic and economic talks have exacerbated tensions: US Secretary of State John Kerry warned China this week that it would be committing a provocative and destabilising act if it establishes an air defence zone in the South China Sea.
Obama will have his work cut out in trying to persuade Chinese president Xi Jinping to support Indias entry into the elite club when the US itself is wading through a sea of contentious issues with the Chinese, said author and South Asia expert Adam V Larkey.
Chinese opposition to Indias membership into the elite club has an unambiguous Pakistan angle. Days after India made a formal application to be a part of the NSG, Pakistan pulled a copycat move.
On several fronts, Modi has been clearing the ground for closer India-US ties. He has resolved the rift over Indias nuclear liability legislation. Progress has been made in negotiations with Westinghouse for the supply of nuclear reactors.India hopes to increase the share of electricity generated from nuclear sources from 4 percent to 25 percent by 2050.
However, one of Modi's most ambitious plans is to create 100 gigawatts of power from solar power, and an additional 75 from other renewable sources, such as wind. Naturally, the US is integral to the success of Modis plan because most of the world's solar technology is produced in the US.
Modis US summit is an effort to lock in progress on several fronts, including economic, energy, environment and defense and security issue. Washington and New Delhi have one of the biggest, fastest moving defence relationships in the world, quipped former US ambassador Frank Wisner.
This visit is likely to underscore that some of the deepest convergences are on defense issues. Modis speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, comes at a crucial time when the US-India Defence Technology and Partnership bill is moving through Congress. Since the US and India are not treaty allies, the US Senate and House of Representatives have both introduced legislation to institutionalise the US-India security partnership.
During Wednesdays address, Modi is likely to highlight congressional contributions to US-India relations and progress made under presidents of both parties. The Obama administration and George W Bush administrations have both taken big steps to upgrade the partnership.
London: Scotland police is planning to introduce hijab as an optional uniform, in an attempt to attract more women Muslim recruits to the force, which currently has less black and Asian representation.
Scotland Yard, Britain's largest police force, already has the option in place, leading to Police Scotland studying various designs that would be suitable and cover the head and neck but not the face.
"Police Scotland is committed to working with communities to encourage under-represented groups to consider policing as a career. Part of this involves removing unnecessary barriers, which include considerations about the officers' uniform," said Peter Blair, head of resource management at Police Scotland.
"As a result, work has been undertaken to source a uniform hijab. Such a hijab is worn by many officers in police forces in England and across the world and Police Scotland is keen to replicate this good practice," he said.
According to the Scottish Daily Record, Police Scotland briefed the Scottish Police Authority this week on the need to recruit an additional 650 ethnic minority employees to reflect the number of those from black and Asian backgrounds in Scottish society as a whole.
Figures show there were just 127 applications from black and Asian candidates in 2015-16.
A suitable headscarf has been tested and will now be presented for consideration.
Until now, women officers wishing to wear headscarves had required to seek the permission of their line manager, seen as a hurdle that was proving off-putting.
AMMAN Three Jordanian intelligence officers and two other security personnel were killed in an attack on their security office in a Palestinian refugee camp outside the Jordanian capital, Amman, and one suspect was arrested, officials said on Monday, saying it appeared to be an "individual and isolated act."
The incident at the Baqaa camp, the biggest of its kind in Jordan, jolted the U.S.-backed Arab kingdom, whose relative stability has distinguished it from powerful war-ravaged neighbours, Syria to the north and Iraq to the east.
Initial investigations suggested the attack at the intelligence department's office at the Baqaa camp was an "individual and isolated act", Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said. He gave no further details.
Earlier, when Jordan announced the incident, Momani described it as a terrorist attack that took place at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT), adding that alongside three officers, a guard and a telephone exchange operator at the security office were killed.
Two residents said the suspect was a 22-year-old Palestinian from Baqaa camp with no Islamist leanings. They said he was seen acting suspiciously in a disused mosque in the area and when he tried to resist arrest, shot at someone, injuring him lightly but using a pistol believed to have been used in the attack.
A large proportion of Jordan's more than 7 million people are descended from Palestinian refugees who fled in the aftermath of the creation of Israel in 1948.
The incident raised fears among residents of a security backlash against camp residents, who have long complained of suffering discrimination in areas such as jobs.
MILITANT ISLAM IN CAMPS
Western donors and political analysts warn of growing Islamist radicalisation in Jordan's impoverished refugee camps and in districts within major cities laid low by poverty and a lack of economic opportunities.
Dozens have left the sprawling Baqaa camp, which houses over 100,000 Palestinian refugees, to join Islamist militant groups fighting in Syria and Iraq.
Earlier this year, several Islamic State sympathizers were killed in a shootout with security forces in the northern Jordanian city of Irbid.
Security authorities said later they had carried out a pre-emptive strike on militants linked to Syria who were planning suicide attacks on shopping malls and government buildings.
Jordan, a U.S. ally for decades and with close security ties with Israel, has long been a target of radical Sunni Muslim fundamentalist groups including al Qaeda and Islamic State.
It was among the first regional state to join a U.S.-led military campaign against Islamic State, which seized large expanses of Iraq and Syria in 2014 and 2015 but has been pushed back by U.S.- and Russian-backed counter-offensives this year.
King Abdullah has repeatedly warned that the threat from ultra-hardline Sunni groups poses the biggest threat to Jordan's long-term stability. Amman has imprisoned dozens of hardline Islamists in the last few years, many of whom who came from Syria or were arrested while trying to cross the border.
Jordan's main political opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood, which commands a large following within the camp, said the attack on Baqaa only served those who sought to sow strife.
"Preserving the stability of Jordan is a religious duty and necessity," said the statement by the mainstream Islamist party.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the attack was "proof of the criminal behaviour of terrorist groups" who act against the tenets of Islam.
(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Peter Cooney)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
WASHINGTON U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Monday rejected a barrage of criticism from his own party over his allegations of bias against a Hispanic judge, insisting his concerns were valid.
"All I want to do is figure out why I'm being treated unfairly by a judge. And a lot of people agree with it," Trump said on Fox News.
Trump has been on the defensive since his comments last week about Mexican-American U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is overseeing fraud lawsuits against Trump University, the New York businessman's defunct real estate school.
Trump told campaign supporters in a conference call they should stand by him in his attacks on the judge, Bloomberg Politics reported. It said during the call Trump distanced himself from a memo his campaign sent supporters on Sunday that urged them to avoid the issue.
Asked for comment, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said: "It was a very positive call to discuss overall messaging."
Trump has suggested that Curiel's heritage is influencing the judge's opinion about the case because of Trump's campaign rhetoric about illegal immigration. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the Nov. 8 presidential election, has pledged to seal the U.S.-Mexico border with a wall, and has said Mexico is sending rapists and drug dealers to the United States.
Former Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio, a U.S. senator from Florida, joined the chorus of criticism. In an interview with Orlando's WFTV, Rubio called Trump's comments wrong and said he had to stop.
"I ran for president and I warned this was going to happen," Rubio said.
Trump has regularly stirred up controversy on the campaign trail and has frequently dismayed Republican establishment leaders. His view of an ethnically biased judiciary has drawn a fresh wave of criticism, including concern in his own party.
On Sunday he was asked if - by the same token - he believed a Muslim judge would be biased against him based on Trump's call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country. "It's possible. Yes," Trump said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
Republican leaders including House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell have distanced themselves from Trump's comments, saying they are worried the tone of his presidential campaign could enrage Latinos, who are a growing U.S. voting bloc.
'BIG TROUBLE'
"If this doesn't change we're in for big trouble," Senator Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, said on MSNBC on Monday. "I hope to be able to support the nominee. I certainly can't now," said Flake, whose state has a large percentage of Hispanics.
A former rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Ohio Governor John Kasich, called on Trump to apologise to Curiel, who was born in Indiana to Mexican immigrant parents.
"Attacking judges based on their race (and/or) religion is another tactic that divides our country," Kasich wrote on Twitter. "More importantly, it is flat out wrong."
It was unclear what, if any, effect the latest furore would have on Trump's unorthodox candidacy. States with significant Hispanic populations including California, New Mexico and New Jersey hold nominating contests on Tuesday.
On Monday, the global internet media company BuzzFeed pulled out of a million-dollar advertising agreement with the Republican National Committee over objections to Trump's rhetoric.
"The Trump campaign is directly opposed to the freedoms of our employees in the United States and around the world and in some cases, such as his proposed ban on international travel for Muslims, would make it impossible for our employees to do their jobs," BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti wrote to employees.
Hillary Clinton, who is hoping to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination in Tuesday's contests, seized on the Curiel controversy to point out once again where Republicans disagreed with their standard bearer.
"@realDonaldTrump's bigoted comments about a Latino judge are so disgusting, even other Republicans are offended," she said in a Twitter post.
Trump fought back against his Republican critics on Monday, with especially sharp words for Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker.
Gingrich, mentioned as a possible running mate to Trump, on Sunday called Trump's comments inexcusable.
"I was surprised at Newt," Trump told the "Fox & Friends" program. "I thought it was inappropriate what he said."
(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Megan Cassella and Steve Holland in Washington, Angela Moon in New York; Editing by Frances Kerry and Howard Goller)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
United Nations: The global threat emanating from Islamic State (IS) remains high, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said in a report.
The continued military pressure exerted in Iraq and Syria by international coalition forces has led to serious military setbacks for IS, Xinhua quoted Ban as saying in the report issued on Monday.
"However, even though the territorial expansion of IS in both states (Syria and Iraq) has been halted and, in part reversed over recent months, many (UN) member states have noted that IS is not yet strategically and irreversibly weakened."
"A worrying factor is that no member state has reported that IS is short on, or lacks, arms or ammunition," he said.
Over the past six months alone, "Islamic State has carried out, inspired, or claimed responsibility for, terrorist attacks in Bangladesh, Belgium, Egypt, France, Germany, Indonesia, Lebanon, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Turkey and the US," he said.
"The attacks have killed more than 500 individuals and injured hundreds more."
National law enforcement agencies continue to investigate those attacks, but it is already clear that they were coordinated by foreign terrorist fighters who had returned to Europe from IS-held territory in Syria, Ban noted.
"This demonstrates the ability of IS returnees to quickly link up and draw on the support of established radical networks and supporters of Al-Qaeda and thereby enhance their newly acquired terrorism skills with local knowledge and support," he said.
The secretary-general also said: "Significant numbers of foreign terrorist fighters continue to travel from states around the world to join IS in Iraq and Syria."
He said this while citing a report from a member state saying that around 38,000 individuals may have attempted to travel to the region in the past few years.
"Countermeasures taken by states to detect and deter foreign terrorist fighters, and increased controls at the borders of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, may be affecting the numbers of such fighters able to join IS."
The UN Security Council has maintained that IS, also known as Daesh, poses a threat to international peace and security, calling upon all UN member states to fight the terrorist group, including making the joint efforts to cut off funds for it.
Ban called for strengthened international cooperation to fight IS and other terrorist groups in the world.
United Nations: Following a vehement protest from Saudi Arabia, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday removed the Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen from a list of government forces that committed grave violations against children last year, pending a joint review of cases.
Saudi Arabia's UN Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi insisted "the removal is unconditional and irreversible," explaining that the government has no problem with a review and is confident it will conclude that the coalition was "wrongly placed on the list."
Earlier, he asked for an immediate correction saying Saudi Arabia's inclusion on the list was based on "inaccurate and incomplete" information.
The secretary-general's annual report on children and armed conflict released Thursday said the UN verified a total of 1,953 youngsters killed and injured in 2015 a six-fold increase in the number of child casualties in Yemen compared with 2014. About 60 percent of those casualties were attributed to the coalition. The UN said it also verified 101 attacks on schools and hospitals last year, double the number in 2014, of which 48 percent were attributed to the coalition.
Al-Mouallimi called the casualty figures attributed to the coalition "wildly exaggerated" saying "the casualties are far lower."
A statement late Monday from UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Ban accepted a Saudi proposal for a joint U.N.-Saudi review of the cases and numbers in the report and invited the coalition to send a team to New York as soon as possible for detailed discussions before the Security Council examines its findings in August.
Philippe Bolopion, deputy director for global advocacy at Human Rights Watch, said his organisation and others have also documented the impact of coalition airstrikes on children, schools and hospitals.
He accused the secretary-general's office of engaging in "political manipulation" and tainting his human rights legacy.
"After giving a similar pass to Israel last year, the UN secretary-general's office has hit a new low by capitulating to Saudi Arabia's brazen pressure and taking the country off its just published list of shame," Bolopion said. "Yemen's children deserve better."
The Saudi-led, US-backed coalition supporting Yemen's internationally recognized government is battling the Houthis and their allies. The Houthis have held Yemen's capital, Sanaa, since September 2014, and their advance across the Arab world's poorest country brought the Saudi-led coalition into the war in March 2015. The UN says over 6,000 people have been killed.
The United Nations declared a truce on April 10 to pave the way for peace talks that started a week later in Kuwait.
But the fragile truce has been marred with violations and breaches by both sides as clashes and airstrikes led by the coalition continued in different areas across the country.
"The timing of this report is most unfortunate because it comes as we are hoping for a breakthrough in the discussions in Kuwait leading to an agreement and hopefully an end to the conflict," Al-Mouallimi said.
Beijing: China told the United States on Tuesday that it should play a constructive role in safeguarding peace in the disputed South China Sea, as US Secretary of State John Kerry called for talks and a peaceful resolution.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims, as well as close military ties with the United States.
China has been angered by what it views as provocative US military patrols close to islands China controls in the South China Sea. The United States says the patrols are to protect freedom of navigation.
Speaking at the end of high-level Sino-US talks in Beijing, State Councillor Yang Jiechi, China's top diplomat who outranks the foreign minister, said China had the right to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights.
"China respects and protects the right that all countries enjoy under international law to freedom of navigation and overflight," Yang told reporters.
Disputes should be resolved by the parties involved through consultation, he said.
"China hopes the US will scrupulously abide by its promise to not take sides in relevant territorial disputes and play a constructive role in safeguarding peace and stability in the South China Sea," Yang said.
US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Saturday the US approach to the Asia-Pacific remained "one of commitment, strength and inclusion", but he also warned China against provocative behaviour in the South China Sea.
Kerry said the United States did not take a position on the sovereignty of any land features in the South China Sea but thought all claimants should exercise restraint.
"We reiterated America's fundamental support for negotiations and a peaceful resolution based on the rule of law as well as our concern about any unilateral steps by any party ... to alter the status quo," Kerry said.
Kerry added that he and Yang reaffirmed their governments' commitment to upholding the freedom of navigation and overflight.
The Philippines is hoping for a favourable ruling from a tribunal in The Hague this month after it went to court in 2013 seeking clarification on its economic entitlements in the South China Sea.
China has said it will not respect the court's decision and there are fears in Manila that China may retaliate by declaring an air defence identification zone in the disputed waters or by reclaiming disputed Scarborough Shoal.
Gregory Poling, director of Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies, said China would not risk an escalation if it knew the United States would try to deter its actions on Scarborough Shoal.
"What we've seen over and over in the last years, China is unwilling to risk activities that threaten deadly force," Poling told diplomats and military officials at the main army base in Manila.
"It is possible to deter them. We'll have to keep deterring them over and over. That is the test for next 10 to 15 years in this game of whack-a-mole until the Chinese decide that this is not the way to do international relations."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have got Switzerland's support for India's membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), but with China bent on blocking its entry, the going will be tough for India. Much will depend on President Barak Obama, who Modi will be meeting in Washington on Tuesday. The President is already committed to India's membership, but will he be in the mood to do the heavy lifting which his predecessor George W Bush did for Manmohan Singh in 2008?
The 46-member NSG group is meeting in Vienna on 9 and 10 June. One of the issues on the agenda is to consider India's application for admission into the world's premiere body which controls nuclear trade. India applied for entry on 12 May. A week later, Pakistan also sent in its request for admission.
Thanks to Bush, the NSG had made an exemption for India in 2008. It was touch and go till the last moment. Not just China, but many other countries including Ireland, New Zealand, Austria, Switzerland and Norway argued the waiver for India, reluctant to give India, a non signatory to the nuclear non proliferation treaty, the green signal. But Bush and his team, including Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, were personally involved in persuading the opposition. Bush himself was on the phone line with the then Chinese president Hu Jintao to persuade him not to block the move. The Chinese abstained and paved the way for the waiver. China finding itself alone in the end, raised no objections.
India is hoping now that it will persuade all the nay-sayers to come around as China usually does not want to be the lone voice of opposition in a multilateral group. Prime Minister's visit to Switzerland and Mexico is to gently persuade these two members. He has succeeded in getting the go-ahead from the Swiss.
After restricted talks with Swiss President Johann Schneider, followed by a delegation level meeting, Prime Minster Narendra Modi said in a press statement:
"I am also thankful to the President for Switzerland's understanding and support for India's membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group."
Prime Minister Modi will hope to use his persuasive skill also in Mexico. Noway and the Netherlands had also proved difficult the last time round, not because of any animosity towards India but because of the NPT.
President Obama, like many other democrats, is strong on non-proliferation and was not initially a supporter of the India-US nuclear deal. He has since revised his views and has been publicly saying that India needs to be part of the larger global non proliferation regime. Obama first expressed support for Indian in a November 2010 joint statement with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Since then, the NSG has discussed whether and how to revise its membership criteria with the view toward determining whether India meets the revised criteria.
The Obama team now argue that India's membership will make the non proliferation movement stronger. But even in America, where there is bipartisam support for closer ties with India, mainly as a counter to China's growing economic and military power in Asia, there are many skeptics. Democratic Senator Edward Markey from Massachusetts is one such voice. He is a member of the powerful Senate foreign relations committee.
"If India joined the Nuclear Suppliers Group it would be the only participating government that was not a party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty," Markey had said earlier. He criticized President Obama for trying to facilitate India's entry, saying it will begin a fresh nuclear arms race between sub continental neighbours, India and Pakaistan.
"Today," the senator argued, "we are not only granting India exemptions from global nonproliferation rules, but we are actually proposing to include India in the body that decides on those rules."
He believes India's membership will further weaken the non proliferation regime, built from scratch by those against the spread of nuclear power. The argument among many sections is that India's entry will send Pakistan into a tailspin and encourage it to go ahead with its nuclear weapons program. Already Pakistan is said to be ahead of India in the race and has battlefield nuclear weapons.
China will play the NPT card to the hilt, knowing full well that many countries have problems of India joining the NSG without fulfilling this basic obligation. Ironically the NSG was established in 1975, to counter India's 1974 nuclear test.
India had been lobbying hard for entry. But China holds the key. Beijing has always been wary of India's growing co-operation with the US, and believe Washington is hoping to checkmate its influence by giving India a seat in the high table. Unlike in 2008, China may be unwilling to back off. It will push hard for Pakistan to also be included. If India pulls it off, it will be a great diplomatic victory. But chances are New Delhi may have to wait longer. Perhaps the Missile Technolgy Control Regime membership will come easier. With the two Italian marines back home, Rome is unlikely to block the move. All other countries in the group have already agreed. China is not a member of the MTCR.
Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi successfully convinces the global community during his foreign visits that India should be allowed into the Nuclear Supply Group (NSG), given the countrys impeccable nonproliferation record and nuclear know how, China is doing its best to deny India the exalted status.
India applied for NSG membership on 12 May, 2016, and the fate of the application will be known when the extraordinary plenary meeting of the NSG is held on 9 and 10 June. The United States, Russia and other major powers support Indias contention. Switzerland, which was against the Indian bid, has now agreed to support a major diplomatic victory that Modi scored in Geneva on 5 June.
The NSG comprised 48 nuclear supplier states that have voluntarily agreed to coordinate their export controls governing transfers of civilian nuclear material and nuclear-related equipment and technology to non-nuclear-weapon states. It aims at averting nuclear exports for commercial and peaceful purposes from being used to make nuclear weapons. Its members are expected to forgo nuclear trade with governments that do not subject themselves to international measures and inspections designed to provide confidence that their nuclear imports are not used to develop nuclear arms.
A few months ago, I had the opportunity to talk to Ambassador Rafael M Grossi, chairman of the NSG, during his visit to Delhi. Underscoring the importance of the NSG, he told me that global demand for clean nuclear energy is growing, notwithstanding what the critics may say (China has or proposes to have 30 Nuclear Power Plants (NPP). India wants to have eight or 10 of them. Bangladesh is building one. NPPs are under construction in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Latin America and East Europe. And here, one is not talking of the already well established NPPs in the developed world). Hence, there is going to be more and more nuclear trade fuel, machineries and technologies. And here comes the importance of non-proliferation and transparency. The NSG tries to ensure transparency in nuclear trade. The NSG guidelines require that importing states provide assurances to NSG members that proposed deals will not contribute to the creation of nuclear weapons. Potential recipients are also expected to have physical security measures in place to prevent theft or unauthorised use of their imports and to promise that nuclear materials and information will not be transferred to a third party without the explicit permission of the original exporter.
In addition, final destinations for any transfer must have International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards in place. The IAEA is charged with verifying that non-nuclear-weapon states are not illicitly pursuing nuclear weapons. IAEA safeguards are to prevent nuclear material or technology from being stolen or misappropriated for weapons include inspections, remote monitoring, seals, and other measures.
The guidelines comprised two parts, each of which was created in response to a significant proliferation event that highlighted shortcomings in the then-existing export control systems. Part I lists materials and technology designed specifically for nuclear use. These include fissile materials, nuclear reactors and equipment, and reprocessing and enrichment equipment. Part II identifies dual-use goods, which are non-nuclear items with legitimate civilian applications that can also be used to develop weapons. Machine tools and lasers are two types of dual-use goods.
In sum, Grossi told me, The mandate of the NSG is to produce, export, import nuclear material and equipment; exchange information on export and import policies; prevent misuse or abuse of legitimate trade of nuclear goods for hostile use and offer technological expertise to countries seeking its assistance.
Once a country is admitted as a member of the NSG, what benefits do accrue to it? Does it make access to technology, equipment and material easier? Does each transfer have to be approved by the NSG? Grossis answers were, In todays world, no country operates in isolation. Nuclear industry is a big industry and you must have international cooperation as well as the needed mechanisms. Here, the membership of the NSG helps in providing comforts both to the nuclear supplier and recipient. Once admitted, a NSG member (1) gets timely information on nuclear matters, (2) contributes by way of information, (3) has confirmed credentials, (4) can act as an instrument of harmonisation and coordination , and (5) is part of a very transparent process with regard to the material, equipment and technology. These advantages cannot be quantified, but these generate a very positive atmosphere.
However, the NSG chairman made it clear that not each transfer of information related to the nuclear field has to be approved by the NSG. The NSG is not a supra-national authority. It is only a mechanism for exchange of information; it provides a forum for consultation," he said.
Importantly, Grossi was evasive on Indias prospects for joining the NSG. Indias membership quest is a work in process. India is important. No member in NSG is against India. India is far more advanced in nuclear energy than many NSG members. You just cannot ignore India. India is a key nuclear power that has focused on developing its nuclear energy for use in the agriculture sector, in the field of medicine, in the development of its nuclear plants. It has an excellent reputation, an indisputable role, which will be much more in the future. The globalisation of India's nuclear programme is something to be welcomed.
But then, ultimately, it (decision on Indias membership) is going to be a political decision. The NSG functions on the premise of compatibility and consensus through established guidelines. If I were to talk about how India could contribute to strengthening the NSG, I would say, in a very general statement, that all countries active in the nuclear field have something to contribute. Nobody denies this fact. The important thing is to fine tune the process; where consensus can be achieved, to do it in a fair, concise and transparent manner.
However, Grossi was hopeful that there would be a consensus on India. And he had a point when he said, My role as the chairman of the NSG is to facilitate the process of consensus on Indias membership. As it is, without being a member of the NSG and without being a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), India has already got some concessions from the IAEA in 2008 on nuclear trade. So in Indias case, we are no longer very orthodox and legalistic. My responsibility, therefore, is to tell everybody where we can meet half-way. I am playing the role of an honest broker on the question of Indias membership. In fact, my experience in the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) tells me that we can find a consensus on India. If in CWC India, Pakistan and China could agree, it is not impossible to see India joining the NSG.
I will like to emphasise the particular sentence of the NSG chairman So in Indias case, we are no longer very orthodox and legalistic. But this is precisely what China is being, when it talks of blocking India on the grounds that it is not a member of the NPT. Even legalistically, China does not make any sense when it says that membership of the NPT is a prerequisite for NSG membership. When the NSG was set up in 1974, France, then a non-signatory to the NPT, became a member. Japan had not ratified the NPT when it became a member of the NSG. Neither had Argentina and Brazil.
The truth is that the Chinese objection to Indias membership in NSG is essentially political. Despite all its talks on the desirability of a multipolar world, China will never tolerate India emerging as one of these poles. In Beijings multipolar world, there is only one Asian pole, and that is China. For China, India is part of the "strategic periphery" which China has historically sought to weaken, control, or diplomatically manipulate. Pakistan is a pawn in this Chinese diplomatic game. There are, thus, obvious limitations to the Hindi-Chini Bhai-Bhai (Indians and Chinese are brothers) idea. And they constitute the biggest challenge to Modi in the realms of foreign policy.
Facebook has appointed Umang Bedi as Managing Director, India. He will officially start at Facebook in July 2016. Bedi joins Facebook from Adobe South Asia after a five year stint where he was managing director responsible for growing their business in India.
At Facebook, he will lead in building and maintaining strategic relationships with top clients and regional agencies in the country. Bedi will take over from Kirthiga Reddy, who will be returning to United States to take on a new role at the companys headquarters at Menlo Park. He has close to two decades of leadership experience across sales, marketing and partnerships wherein where he has built teams and grew businesses for multinational companies.
Dan Neary, Vice President, Asia Pacific, Facebook said,
India is known for its great talent pool and we are really pleased to have Umang Bedi, a proven business executive to lead our business in India. I also want to wish Kirthiga the very best in her new global role. Kirthiga has played a huge and key role in building our India business from scratch, and I know she will continue to deliver the same impact in the US.
Kirthiga will start her new role in August 2016. She will manage a set of global brands and also lead the emerging markets efforts globally for the Global Accounts team, which manages Facebooks relationships with the worlds largest global advertisers.
Kirthiga Reddy said,
After six years in India building our operations and business, its hard to leave a team I now call family. The good news is that we will continue to work together. As I look ahead, I am excited about how well positioned our business is, to grow from strength to strength with Umangs leadership, and with my next opportunity to shape and drive our emerging markets strategy across some of the worlds biggest brands.
Xiaomi has been rumored to launch own smartwatch since last year. Now, it looks like the Chinese smartphone maker might actually introduce one soon.
Pan Jiutang, analyst from China has revealed on Weibo that Xiaomis new smartwatch will have power consumption similar to Garmins wearables. It is interesting to see that Xiaomi is competing with Garmin which had a 3.5% market share in Q4, 2015. The company which holds 5th spot in the wearables market makes smartwatches and fitness trackers. He further mentions in the post what should be the price tag for a smartwatch from Xiaomi 999 Yuan ($152) and 1,599 Yuan ($243). This could mean that Xiaomi might release two variants of the smartwatch.
The latest development about smartwatch comes after Xiaomis VP had mentioned in April that the company will release a smartwatch in later half of 2016. In addition, Huamis CEO had also seconded Xiaomis smartwatch plan recently. Huami is the company that manufactures Mi Band. Xiaomi recently announced the Mi Band 2 which will go on sale starting from today.
It will be interesting to see what Xiaomi plans to offer with its smartwatch as there is a decent competition from established players like Samsung and Motorola.
source
Check out the new FoneArena Daily video that gives you a quick roundup of todays technology news.
OnePlus 3 will go on sale exclusively on Amazon.in in India from June 15. This will be an open sale without invites.
Samsung is expected to release two bendable smartphones with OLED displays in 2017.
Xiaomi is said to launch a smartwatch in later 2016 that will compete directly with Garmin wearables.
Samsung has announced Galaxy S7 Active with Snapdragon 820, 4GB RAM, 4000mAh battery.
Deal of the day HTC RE Camera for Rs. 5,362 on Snapdeal
Despite a plant-based blip in the US, with companies like JBS shutting down its alternative meat operation, plant-based companies continue to release products and... Read More
Apache (APA 3.29%) has been surrounded by rumors a lot lately as a potential merger and acquisition target. However, at the moment, it's still an independent company. That independence might not last forever, unless the company goes on the offensive and makes an acquisition of its own. That would finally put it out of the reach of closest rivals, which had been seeking to take advantage of the downturn to acquire it.
Reports, rumors, and speculation
Takeover speculation surrounding Apache started last November when rumors surfaced that an unnamed rival had made an unsolicited approach on a potential takeover. Analysts initially pointed to a big oil giant as the likely bidder, but it turned out that Anadarko Petroleum (APC) made the non-binding offer as a way to feel out Apache's interest for a merger of equals. Apache quickly rejected the idea, causing Anadarko Petroleum to conclude that such a transaction wasn't worth pursuing. Investors and analysts both agreed that the proposed transaction wasn't a good fit on a strategic level for Anadarko.
That initial rejection hasn't stopped the rumor mill, which cranked up again last month. This time, an online report said that the company may be acquired by Occidental Petroleum (OXY 0.37%). That report coincided with a town hall meeting that Apache had set up with its employees. However, that town hall was actually set up to discuss layoffs, not an acquisition by Occidental Petroleum as the report had suggested. As such, that rumor quickly died off.
Hunt or continue to be hunted
Clearly, the market still views Apache as a prime takeover candidate. There's good reason for that, which starts with the fact that the company has an investment-grade balance sheet that is flush with $1 billion in cash. That balance sheet strength was built after Apache retooled its portfolio over the past couple of years, jettisoning higher-risk assets in order to focus on its North American shale position. Because of that, the company was able to build a strong position in the Permian Basin as well as the emerging SCOOP play in Oklahoma, which is complemented by solid legacy assets in Egypt and the North Sea. That said, it is this combination of balance sheet strength and a strong asset portfolio that is catching the eye of its rivals.
One of the ways Apache could deter its competitors from future approaches is by significantly bolstering its size and thus putting itself out of their reach. At the moment, Apache is clearly within their grasp given that the company is half the size of Occidental Petroleum and about a third smaller than Anadarko Petroleum:
Because of its currently smaller scale, Apache would need to target a company that's at least half its size in order to bulk up to the point where it would no longer be a viable takeover target. One interesting target is the $19 billion Concho Resources (CXO), which would be a good strategic fit for Apache. What makes Concho Resources a fit is its top-notch position in the Permian Basin. The company currently controls 650,000 net acres in the play, which holds an estimated 5 billion barrels of oil equivalent resource potential. Furthermore, like Apache, Concho Resources has a cash-rich balance sheet, with is sitting on $500 million in cash to go with minimal debt for a company of its size.
An acquisition of Concho Resources or a similarly sized company would increase the size of Apache to such a degree that it would likely no longer be a takeover target. Also, if it made the right deal and acquired a company with a strong balance sheet and solid growth potential, Apache could create significant value for its investors in the future as it accelerates production growth at a time when oil prices are projected to head higher.
Investor takeaway
If Apache wants to put an end to the rumors, it needs to go from being the hunted to being the hunter. In doing so, it would not only turn off would-be suitors due to its larger size, but it could create a lot of value by making a deal for a company that's well positioned for higher oil prices.
Answers at the bottom of the page
Question 1: Jacques Villeneuve raced in 10 Grands Prix on home soil, but how many times did he finish on the podium in Montreal - once, twice or three times?
Enlarge Sutton Motorsport Images Info Close
Question 2: Nigel Mansell famously lost victory in the 1991 race after his car ground to a halt on the final lap. But who inherited the win?
Question 3: Which Japanese driver - and future F1 team boss - is featured in the video below, making a swift escape from his Lola after it burst into flames three laps into the 1991 race?
Question 4: Three world champions crashed out of the 1999 race at the infamous Wall of Champions - name them.
Question 5: Which driver accidentally ran into the back of Kimi Raikkonens Ferrari (below) at the end of the pit lane during the 2008 race?
Enlarge Sutton Motorsport Images Info Close
Question 6: Which team holds the record for most victories in Canada with 13?
Question 7: Three venues have hosted the Canadian Grand Prix - Montreal, Mont-Tremblant and which other circuit?
Question 8: Which one of these two things happened for the first time in F1 history at the 1971 Canadian Grand Prix? a) The race was red-flagged because of bad weather; b) A safety car was deployed.
Question 9: In the video below, which driver is seen passing Jarno Trullis Jordan during a wet race in Montreal in 2000?
Question 10: Two drivers have scored Grand Slams (pole, fastest lap, win, led every lap) on Canadian soil. Nelson Piquet was the first in 1984, but who scored the second in 1994?
Question 11: Which British driver said this in 2007, after making contact with some local wildlife during the race: It is such a shame about the beaver. It had it in for me for sure! I was running in third place at the time, behind the safety car. I was on a clear, one-stop strategy and it damaged the front wing?
Question 12: In what year did the man after whom the Montreal circuit is named - Gilles Villeneuve - score his only Canadian Grand Prix victory?
Question 13: Who did Force Indias Sergio Perez collide with on the final lap of the 2014 race while disputing fourth place, earning himself a much disputed five-place grid penalty for the next race?
Enlarge Sutton Images Info Close
Question 14: What unique - and slightly dubious - honour did Canadian racer Al Pease earn in the 1969 race?
Question 15: Which French driver celebrated a season-best finish of fifth place in the 2001 Canadian Grand Prix by performing several donuts and throwing his helmet into the crowd?
The Internal Revenue Service on Monday released a list of more than 400 groups who were singled out for conservative tendencies. The release comes three years after news of the government agencys scandal broke.
Edward Greim, the lawyer representing the more than 400 groups in a class action lawsuit, joined the FOX Business Network to discuss the case.
We already know that the IRS, at least in the initial stages, intended to pull out groups that were a part of what it believed were the Tea Party movement, he told Deidre Bolton. "Certainly it used those names themselves, and in fact Lois Lerner admitted to that and apologized for it. Theyve since walked back that apology.
However, Greim said he and his clients cannot say the agency is admitting fault at this time.
What theyre doing is theyre releasing the list of groups who were all pulled out and treated differently by them, he said. But they have not admitted fault yet. That is still something weve got to establish in our case.
According to Greim, the case will not go to trial until next summer, but he will be making use of the time in between.
Well be using this time to get discovery, take depositions , put people under oath and uncover all the inner workings of the targeting scheme, he said.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has flown beneath the radar for the first six decades of its development, and just recently it's exploded into public consciousness, according to Neil Jacobstein.
The AI & Robotics co-chair at Singularity University and former CEO of Teknowledge Corporation believes the combination of humans, AI, and good business processes is disrupting the very ground we stand on in financial technology (Fintech) and beyond as we already use machine learning tools to augment the power of the human brain.
At Singularity University's Exponential Finance conference today, Jacobstein pointed to examples like Google's AlphaGo wiping the floor with world champion Lee Sedol, and how quickly the world shifted from a state of shock to seizing the scientific opportunity. Soon after seeing its human champion so thoroughly beaten by a machine, South Korea announced a plan to spend $840 million by 2020 to boost AI research and development (R&D), and to create a research institute where six of the country's highest profile tech companiesSamsung, LG, SK Telecom SKT, KT, Naver, and Hyundaiwill each invest up to $3 billion in AI R&D.
He also mentioned Facebook's DeepText AI language comprehension and categorization, as well as Viv, saying that calling it another personal assistant misses the point. Viv, Jacobstein explained, is a tool that allows you to delegate work to a computer or an agent. You teach Viv how to do something, and from there it becomes a problem-solving utility akin to Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. It's with us all the time.
"The key point [about Viv] from an outside-in perspective, from a user perspective, is that they are no longer interacting with a system that's just a tool. You don't need to tell it everything you want it to do," Jacobstein told PCMag. "You show it what you want it to do, and then actually delegate work to this intelligent system."
Business and Open-Source Driving the AI Boom From 2011-2015, over $3 billion was invested specifically in AI-related companies, according to Jacobstein. Beyond the Facebooks and Googles of the world, there are a host of start-ups and open-source initiatives applying next-gen machine learning, AI, and Big Data technologies to real-world business use cases. Jacobstein talked about a few:
Brighterion An AI-as-a-Service start-up bringing cloud-based data analysis and predictive analytics to the financial community, cyber-security companies, and industrial Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
Kabbage A start-up using unconventional data and machine learning to give small to midsize businesses (SMBs) a line of credit up to $100,000 in a matter of minutes.
Feedzai A machine-learning platform analyzing fraud in each step of financial transactions to identify anomalies with on-demand Big Data processing and AI for banking, e-commerce, payments, and lending.
Experfy A curated marketplace for AI professionals where companies can post a business problem they're experiencing and bid on an AI-based solution proposed by marketplace professionals. Jacobstein disclosed he's an investor in Experfy, which came out of HarvardX.
Nutonian A start-up that created Eureqa, a virtual data scientist designed to extract answers from complex data 90 percent faster than traditional predictive models. Jacobstein described Eureqa as an example of how barriers of access to machine learning algorithms and data science tools hurt SMBs.
TensorFlow Google's open-source software library for machine-learning intelligence; an AI application development toolbox.
OpenAI The nonprofit research company started by Elon Musk and Y-Combinator founder Sam Altman to put AI algorithms out into the public domain. This democratization of AI technology has already started with OpenAI Gym, an open-source system for evaluating reinforcement learning algorithms.
Smartphones Are Already Building Augmented Brains "All of us have a common problem," Jacobstein said during his keynote. "The human brain has limitations in speed, memory, bandwidth, and built-in biases in cognition."
AI impacts human resources (HR) by augmenting people and adding machines and transforms business models radically, Jacobstein explained. He said AI is advancing toward the ability to construct an artificial neocortex and hippocampusto replicate and accelerate rendered brain function and make artificial brains bigger and faster than our own.
Think about how your brain functions when using multiple monitors at work, or in extending your thoughts and tasks in an array of apps, tabs, and notes across your devices. The goal, Jacobstein said, is for the businesses driving this change to help transform the quality of institutionsbe it education, healthcare, finance, etc.and make sure users have transparent insight into how the technology is being used, where it's going, and what it can and can't do...yet. Customers shouldn't be afraid of this technology.
"The idea is to make sure people don't become miserable, angry, and alienated by technology that's having mostly beneficial effects," said Jacobstein. "As AI becomes more powerful, there's the question of making sure we are monitoring and understanding its objectives. We also want to make sure we have thought through the co-evolution of human and artificial intelligence. Both from the point of view of framing questions and problems we want AI to solve, but also how we partner with machines and the kind of relationships we want with themmodels that are enhancing human self esteem."
AI is already performing a lot of our computational heavy lifting on the Web. As Jacobstein explained to PCMag, some of the people who grouse about technology would go completely crazy if they left their smartphone in a taxi. Whether it's wearables, smartphones, tablets, or laptops, users don't see the systems churning behind the icons on their smartphones, the encoded as-a-service power behind it.
"It'll start out being an enhancement for the elite, but like cell phones it will eventually democratize in price, and it's not too far in the future," said Jacobstein. "A smartphone is your brain being augmented by access to all the world's knowledge and a huge amount of machine intelligence behind all the back-end processing. You are already augmented by machine intelligence."
This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.
Dogfish Brewery, one of the success stories of the craft beer industry, is now expanding into oysters of all things.
Beer and oysters may not seem like an obvious pairing, but Dogfish Brewery CEO Sam Calagione explained why they go well together.
Theres no better pairing, I mean both mother earth, beautiful, simple, pure foods, beer and oysters, meant to be drunk and ate together, Calagione told the FOX Business Networks Stuart Varney.
The oysters are grown in a unique way to give them a smoky flavor.
Its a pretty unique process. Were partnered with our friends at Hoopers Island, great Chesapeake seafood company and we figured out a way to make the oysters in a tank drink salt water that was infused with wood smoke, alder wood, oak. So these are raw oysters that taste smoked, said Calagione.
The company has made it a priority to support American fishermen by using local seafood.
We opened a seafood restaurant called Chesapeake & Maine. We committed to 100% of the seafood coming from those two regions. I dont know if you know this, but 91% of the seafood sold in American restaurants doesnt come from America, our shores, its from overseas, its frozen, big carbon footprint. We want to work directly with fisherman. Small breweries are adding jobs in America, we want to also protect the jobs of the fishermen, Calagione said.
For now though, youll have to go to Delaware to try out the new oysters.
At the moment the oysters are only available at the restaurant in Delaware, but Calagione said, The partnership we have with Hoopers Island means that eventually throughout the mid-atlantic were going to start distributing the smoke and the water oyster.
The brewery has even created a beer to be paired with those oysters.
Our SeaQuenchAle, which is designed to go with these, its made with lime and its made with sea salt so it is a very refreshing 4.9% alcohol beer, said Calagione.
If a company successfully raises its dividend for 25 years in a row, it joins the ranks of a select group of businesses called Dividend Aristocrats. Given that the business world is brutally competitive, it's extremely challenging to join this elite group, so when a company manages to do so it proves that the business is built to last.
We Fools greatly admire this group of companies and believe that almost every investor should find a place for at least a few of them in his or her portfolio. Knowing that, we asked a team of Motley Fool specialists to share a Dividend Aristocrat they think is a buy right now. Read below to see what they had to say:
Matt DiLalloDespite the volatility of oil prices,ExxonMobil has been able to grow its dividend each year for more than 30 years. It even increased its payout this year, though it was by the smallest rate since 2011. Further, the last time the oil giant cut its payout was the year Harry Truman entered the White House.
That history aside, what matters to dividend investors is the company's ability to keep that income-growth train rolling. Admittedly, right now the company is facing some pressures due to weaker oil prices, which has cut into its cash flow. During the first quarter, cash flow from operations and asset sales totaled $5 billion, which wasn't enough to cover the $5.1 billion it spent in capital expenditures, let alone its $3.7 billion in shareholder distributions. However, that was due to very weak oil and gas price realizations after oil crashed below $30 a barrel.
Oil has subsequently started to recover and is poised to continue to rally due to the growing belief that supplies are expected to be back in balance with demand before the end of the year. Moreover, after two years of underinvestment, the oil market could be woefully undersupplied by the end of next year unless oil averages $70 a barrel, according to analysts. Meanwhile, oil would need to average $90 a barrel in order to ensure long-term supply/demand balance in 2018 and beyond. In other words, unless oil demand falls off the table -- instead of growing as it has been doing -- its price should be much higher in the future, which would enable ExxonMobil to continue to grow its dividend.
Bottom line, oil prices might be down right now, but prices don't appear likely to stay low for too much longer. That bodes well for ExxonMobil's future.
Brian FeroldiI think that dividend-focused investors should take a closer look at pharma giantAbbVie right now. The company has positioned itself for double-digit growth over the next few years, and its dividend yield is a market-beating 3.5% right now. That's a nice combination that any investor should appreciate.
AbbVie's stock has been a big winner over the past few years thanks in large part to Humira, its best-selling multi-indication anti-inflammatory drug. Last year, AbbVie sold more than $14 billion worth of Humira worldwide, up an impressive 19% over the prior year if you strip out currency movements.
PHOTO CREDIT: IMAGES_OF_MONEY FLICKR (CREATIVE COMMONS).
Management expects that sales of Humira will continue to grow at a rapid clip for years to come, and when you add in the expected growth of the rest of its lineup -- like itscancer drug, Imbruvica, and its hepatitis C cure, Viekira Pak -- they are calling for earnings to grow by double-digit rates between now and 2020.
That's a bold prediction, and while the growth sounds great, many on Wall Street are concerned thatbiosimilarcompetition could put a stop to Humira's growth. While that's a potential risk, management remains confident that Humira is well-protected from copycats until at least 2022, which is why they are willing to provide such a long-term growth forecast.
AbbVie has a history of living up to its expectations, so I'm inclined to believe the outlook. If you agree, then AbbVie's stock looks quite cheap right now. Shares are trading for about 11 times next year's earnings estimates, giving shares a price/earnings to growth (PEG) ratio of about 0.83 (anything below 1 is considered cheap).
AbbVie's stock offers investors income, growth, and value right now. I find that to be a compelling combination.
There are only a few dozen companies that have earned the title of dividend aristocrat, and most of them trade at a substantial premium. Wal-Mart , which is in the middle of making heavy investments that have eaten away at its bottom line, is one of the cheaper aristocrats available.
Wal-Mart already sells nearly $500 billion worth of products each year around the world, but the company recognized last year that it needed to make some major investments in order to drive growth going forward. Higher wages and increased training are raising costs and driving down profits, but the hope is that this extra spending will improve employee morale and customer satisfaction. Wal-Mart is also getting serious about e-commerce, increasing its capital spending dedicated to online sales and rolling out initiatives like online grocery order and pickup.
Because shares of Wal-Mart have been beaten down since hitting highs in early 2015, the dividend yield is currently about 2.85%. Based on Wal-Mart's earnings guidance for this year, it will pay out about half of its earnings in dividend payments. But the company expects earnings growth to resume next year, driven by its various initiatives, and that means that dividend growth could pick up as well. With Wal-Mart offering a dividend yield well above historical levels for the stock, June is a good time to consider picking up some shares.
The article 3 Dividend Aristocrats to Buy in June originally appeared on Fool.com.
Brian Feroldihas no position in any stocks mentioned.Like this article? Follow him onTwitter where he goes by the handle@Longtermmind-setor connect with him onLinkedInto see more articles like this.Matt DiLallo has the following options: long January 2017 $55 calls on Wal-Mart Stores and short September 2016 $67.5 calls on Wal-Mart Stores. Timothy Green has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of ExxonMobil. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
United Continental has alienated lots of customers in the last few years. Repeated IT snafus, subpar reliability, and poor employee morale have all contributed to the loss of loyal fliers to rivals like Delta Air Lines .
In the past few years, airlines -- both domestic and foreign -- have invested huge sums to upgrade their offerings for business travelers, especially on long-haul routes. It has increasingly become standard on international flights for every business class (or first class) seat to convert into a fully flat bed and have direct aisle access.
However, it didn't help that United's international business class seats have been substandard. This put the carrier at a huge disadvantage in competing for lucrative corporate travelers. Last week, United announced a big makeover for its international premium cabins that could help it start to win back some of these high-value customers.
United was the first U.S. carrier to move to 100% full flat-bed seats in international business class. Yet it has been a laggard in terms of seat width and aisle access.
Since April 2014, Delta Air Lines has offered direct aisle access and fully flat beds for every business class seat on its international widebody fleet. Even on its narrowbody 757s used for transatlantic flights, Delta has a slightly staggered configuration that makes it easier for premium passengers sitting in the window seat to step over the traveler in the aisle seat.
By contrast, for most business class seats on United's international flights, you will either need to climb over someone else to get up, or another passenger will need to climb over you. Many of United's 777s even have an eight-across business class configuration with two "middle seats" per row. United also has a high proportion of rear-facing business class seats.
This doesn't meet the standards that business class passengers expect. Given that business class seats often sell for $5,000 to $10,000 round-trip for international flights, customers are right to expect more. United's deficient business class seats have probably contributed to Delta's growing market share in New York, a key business market that United dominated five years ago.
United aims to catch up
United's new Polaris business class -- which the carrier unveiled last week in New York -- could help United match or even beat Delta in terms of the quality of its international business class service.
The Polaris class will feature custom-designed "suite-like pods," with each seat converting into a 78-inch flat bed. All of the seats will be forward-facing and have direct aisle access.
United's new Polaris business class seats will come in semi-private pods. Image source: United Airlines.
The Polaris seats will offer more work space and storage space than United's current business class seats. However, the main focus of United's design effort was enabling customers to sleep better. In addition to the seats being larger and more private, United is also upgrading the bedding in partnership with luxury chain Saks Fifth Avenue.
United is also upgrading its in-flight menu and building new business-class lounges at nine key airports around the world. The lounges will include amenities like showers, private daybeds, and an upscale restaurant.
United Continental CEO Oscar Munoz said it was important to refresh the entire business-class experience
A slow rollout
United's Polaris business class sounds like a big upgrade over what United offers today and at least on par with Delta's business class product, called Delta One. However, it will roll out fairly slowly.
The new Polaris seats will debut on United's first 777-300ER in December. It will also come installed on the carrier's 787-10 and A350-1000 fleets, both scheduled to enter service in 2018. Additionally, United has announced plans to retrofit over 100 older 777-200s and 767-300s with the Polaris seats.
Even then, United's 767-400ER, 787-8, and 787-9 fleets would still lack direct aisle access for business class window seats. If customers respond well to the new Polaris seats, United should strongly consider putting them on all of its international widebodies. Only then will it be able to provide the consistency of experience that business class travelers expect.
The article Business Class Is Getting a Huge Upgrade at United Airlines
Image source: Groupon.
There's somebody else taking the wheel in Indonesia for Groupon . The daily deals leader is unloading Groupon Indonesia to Malaysia's KFit Holdings, a fitness sharing program that recently expanded its offerings to include beauty and wellness categories. Terms of the transaction weren't disclosed, but Groupon is getting a stake in KFit Holdings.
Groupon Indonesia has 1 million subscribers and more than 15,000 participating local merchants, but Groupon has struggled to grow internationally at a time when its focus remains on growing closer to home.
It announced last summer that it would be laying off 1,100 employees from its international offices. It was assessing its presence country by country, and its stated primary objective at the time was to ensure that every country that it's doing business in is making money for Groupon and strategic to its long-term mission.
Closer to home
Monday's move to hand over Groupon Indonesia isn't exactly a surprise given the baby steps that it has taken out of certain international markets. Putting more of its eggs in the stateside basket also isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Groupon delivered $1.467 billion in gross billings in its latest quarter, 5% below the prior year's first-quarter tally. However, that financial performance could've been worse. There was a 5% year-over-year uptick in North America, partly offsetting double-digit percentage declines overseas. The majority of its workforce was international a year ago, but 64% of its revenue is now being generated in North America.
Losing a million accounts in Indonesia doesn't sting as much when you consider that it's sitting on 26.9 million active customers closer to home. In fact, it gained nearly as many customers as it has -- or had -- in Indonesia during just the first three months of the year.
Groupon's stock has been all over the map. It plunged 76% in 2012, its first full year as a public company. It went on to more than double in 2013, only to get slammed in 2014 and 2015. It's beating the market so far in 2016, but the shares are so volatile that it's always too early to call the year a failure or success.
It isn't in a hurry to shake up its international shortcomings. Groupon's still flush with post-IPO cash, armed with $688.5 billion in cash and no long-term debt. With improving margins on its Groupon Goods business and a chunky Rolodex with 700,000 active deals, you can't write Groupon off -- even as it writes off some of its subsidiaries.
The article Groupon's International Retreat Continues originally appeared on Fool.com.
Rick Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Image source: Getty Images.
What: Shares of Whiting Petroleum jumped in May, up more than 14% for the month. Fueling that surge was a nearly 7% rally in the price of oil as well as bullish statements from the company in regards to its projected output for 2016.
So what: Oil continued to rebound last month, closing at just under $50 a barrel due to declining U.S. production and supply outages in Canada and Nigeria. That $50-per-barrel mark is key for Whiting Petroleum because it's the price at which the company believes it can generate enough cash flow to keep its production roughly flat, all else being equal.
In fact, it was crude's recent rally toward $50 a barrel, as well as bringing on a financial partner to help fund drilling, that has Whiting Petroleum more optimistic about its production for 2016. After initially cutting its capex budget by 80% and planning to cease its fracking operations by the end of the first half of the year, Whiting Petroleum now sees its output coming in stronger than its initial projections. That optimism was evident at its annual shareholder meeting last month when the company issued upbeat second-quarter and full-year production guidance, with it is now expecting production to be between 48.1 million to 50.1 million barrels of oil equivalent, or BOE, for the full year. At the midpoint, that's above its initial guidance range of 46.8 million to 50.5 million BOE. That said, Whiting Petroleum still expects its average daily production to decline by double digits from last year's average rate.
While Whiting Petroleum is growing more optimistic for 2016, it's nowhere near as positive as Pioneer Natural Resources , which, unlike Whiting, plans to grow its production this year. In fact, Pioneer Natural Resources now expects its output to increase 12% in 2016, which is above its initial guidance for 10% growth. Furthermore, Pioneer Natural Resources noted that it plans to add as many as 10 more drilling rigs this year once it feels confident oil has stabilized at $50 a barrel, which could drive even more production growth. Needless to say, Whiting Petroleum will need oil to move a lot higher than that before it can restart its own double-digit production growth engine.
Now what: With oil moving higher, it is fueling a lot more optimism at Whiting Petroleum. That said, the company still expects its production to decline this year despite its more optimistic view. Also, it is a long way from being able to grow its output given its large debt load and weaker drilling returns. In other words, it still has a lot of work to do before it's able to create value for investors.
The article Oil and Optimism Fueled Whiting Petroleum Corp. to a 14.6% Rally in May originally appeared on Fool.com.
Matt DiLallo has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Dodd-Frank, legislation enacted in the wake of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, has been the subject of much controversy on both Wall Street and Main Street since its inception. While proponents of the law believe it has helped reign in excess risk and curb greedy practices, critics say it has helped stifle economic growth in the United States and put unnecessary regulatory burdens on some of the nations biggest financial institutions.
Representative Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is in the latter camp and on a campaign to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. In prepared remarks before the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday morning, the Texas Republican proposed an alternative to the law called the Financial CHOICE Act, which stands for Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers, and Entrepreneurs.
The congressmans proposal includes ending Washingtons authority to designate financial institutions as systemically important, enacting a cost-benefit analysis for every new proposed financial regulation and a requirement to pass Congress before they take effect, impose budgets on financial regulatory agencies excluding the Federal Reserve, and converting financial regulatory agencies like the CFPB and the Federal Housing Finance agencies into bipartisan commissions rather than led by single directors.
In an interview with the FOX Business Networks Stuart Varney, Hensarling explained his rationale for taking on Dodd-Frank, saying his goal is to reduce complexity on Americas financial institutions.
The mind-numbing complex government regulations are keeping capital on the sidelines. Its hurting small banks. Were losing a community financial institution a day and theyre not dying of natural causes, theyre dying of Dodd-Frank, he said.
Michael Block, chief strategist at Rhino Trading Partners, said he agrees with the effort, and sees Hensarlings proposals benefitting the smaller institutions in the long run.
There can be better liquidity in these markets to help all investorsincluding constituents who are invested in the markets. People dont get that. Theres middle ground here, he said.
Block continued by describing the ways in which Dodd-Frank not only impacts large institutions, but smaller retail investors as well.
In terms of [401(k) investors] money managers getting the best price for stocks, they cant anymore because the natural liquidity providers, the big banks, arent there. I think Congressman Hensarling is on to something. My question is: Will the public accept it, and will they allow it, Block said.
Indeed, there are those who oppose such an effort to replace Dodd-Frank.
During Tuesdays Senate hearing on bank capital and liquidity regulation, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, a long-time critic of Wall Street and Dodd-Frank supporter, said that such proposals like Hensarlings would construct a path to ruin, both for our economic system and our country.
House Speaker Paul Ryan has previously pledged to outline a detailed Republican agenda during the remainder of the 2016 race for the White House, and Hensarlings Financial CHOICE Act is likely to become one component of Ryans broader policy push. Still, its chances of passing any vote in Congress this year are slim as Democrats in the Senate are most likely to block the effort, and with President Barack Obama ready to veto it should it land on his desk.
However, a win by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in November could change the course of the Financial CHOICE Acts fate. Hensarling briefly remarked about a meeting with Trump at Trump Tower in New York City Tuesday, saying the billionaire businessman has common ground with him on Dodd-Frank, and he absolutely wants to repeal it.
Delivery service giantUnited Parcel Service Inc.announced on May 18 that it's launching an industrial-strength, on-demand 3D-printing service network this summer. The operation will link its global logistics network with 3D printers at more than 60 UPS stores in the U.S. and Fast Radius' on-demand production facility in Louisville, Kentucky.
Start-up Fast Radius, in which UPS has invested, is located on the UPS Supply Chain Solutions Campus, near UPS' worldwide air hub at the Louisville International Airport. This location should provide UPS' 3D printing service with a significant delivery speed advantage over such services offered by3D SystemsCorporation,Stratasys Ltd., Proto Labs , and others.
This news didn't get as much press as it deserves because it was overshadowed byHP Inc.'shighly anticipated launch of its first 3D printer the day before.
Here's what you should know.
Several of Fast Radius' 3D printers. Image source: Fast Radius.
UPS' 3D printing network
UPS isn't a newbie to the 3D printing space; its UPS Store was the first nationwide retailer to offer in-store 3D printing services in 2014. The company rolled out this service in collaboration with Stratasys, with Stratasys' uPrint 3D printers the exclusive machines used.
The delivery service titan upped its involvement in 3D printing in May 2015, when it initially partnered with Fast Radius (then named CloudDDM -- DDM stands for "direct digital manufacturing") for the launch of a nearly fully automated 3D printing factory equipped with 100 printers, according to TheWall Street Journal.The rollout of the 3D printing network, however, takes things to a new level, as the network will make the partners' 3D printing services accessible to significantly more potential users.
UPS is also teaming up with German software giantSAPon this initiative. SAP's supply chain solutions will be integrated with UPS' manufacturing solutions and global logistics network to simplify the industrial manufacturing process.
How the process generally works:
Customers place their 3D printing orders on Fast Radius' website.
Orders will be directed to the optimal manufacturing facility (Fast Radius contracts out capabilities that it doesn't possess) or UPS Store location based on geography, speed, and product quality requirements.
Orders can be shipped as early as same day.
Any person or company globally can use the network.
The 3D printing network's speed advantage
Setting up operations on the UPS Supply Chain Campus was a key part of Fast Radius' business plan. This location, coupled with UPS' expertise in logistics and Fast Radius' nearly fully automated 3D-printing platform allows the company to generally take orders "up to 6 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, or when most suppliers are having to box up an order for pick-up, and still get them delivered next day," according to its website.
Fast Radius' nearly fully automated factory. The company was formerly named CloudDDM. Image source: Fast Radius.
About Fast Radius
Fast Radius' on-demand rapid prototyping and manufacturing capabilities include both traditional manufacturing techniques and 3D printing. In this way, it's more similar toProto Labs than to 3D Systems or Stratasys. UPS invested in this start-up last year through its venture capital arm.
The company's website shows that it works with both polymers and metals, and possesses all the major 3D printing technologies, including fused deposition modeling (FDM), selective laser sintering (SLS), stereolithography (SLA), PolyJet, and direct metal laser sintering (DMLS).
There's an unknown with respect to its 3D printers. The company's website says that it uses "automated additive manufacturing systems built on proprietary technology." Its website also includes a snippet from Metal Miner's interview with co-founder and Chairman Mitch Free, where Free is quoted as saying, "Our printers are purpose-built and not commercially available." These quotes could suggest that the 3D printers themselves are proprietary, but that doesn't seem seem likely, at least not entirely. For instance, PolyJet is Stratasys' proprietary technology, which means that others cannot manufacture printers using this tech.
I reached out to Fast Radius with several questions about the 3D printers and have not heard back. So, I can only speculate. I'd guess that the company has purchased some to many of its 3D printers from manufacturers, such as Stratasys, and then significantly altered them. Standard commercialized models would need to be altered given that Fast Radius' platform is nearly fully automated.
Fast Radius has global expansion plans, according to co-founder and CEO Rick Smith's statement in UPS' press release. The company's website lists Steelcase, Flex, GoPro, and Georgia-Pacific as customers.
Why UPS is testing the 3D printing waters
UPS' forays into 3D printing are likely as much about defense as offense. Like many companies involved in the manufacturing supply chain, the delivery giant can't yet know exactly how 3D printing will impact its business, as industry dynamics are in the early stages of unfolding. UPS obviously doesn't want to see 3D printing take a big chunk out of its $58-billion-per-year package and freight transportation empire,just as the internet significantly cut into its document delivery business.
Given UPS' 3D printing services network speed advantage, competitors such as 3D Systems, Stratasys, and Proto Labs will need to continue to successfully differentiate their service offerings.
The article UPS Is Launching a 3D-Printing Service With a Significant Competitive Advantage originally appeared on Fool.com.
Beth McKenna has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Proto Labs. The Motley Fool recommends 3D Systems, Stratasys, and United Parcel Service. 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: Getty Images.
Seaspan Corporation has been busy this year. Through a series of transactions, the company raised roughly $750 million in capital, which it plans to use to fund its upcoming newbuild deliveries as well as refinance some higher cost capital. It's that latter goal that the company was recently able to complete after it redeemed the rest of its Series C Preferred Shares. It's a move that made a lot of sense given that a looming deadline would make those preferred shares much more expensive.
Seaspan Corporation's preferred method of raising cash
Seaspan Corporation's initial offering of Series C Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Stock was completed in early 2011. At that time the company priced $250 million of the shares at an initial rate of 9.5% per year. Those funds were intended to provide the company with cash to make vessel acquisitions or investments. A few months later the company priced another $100 million shares, which further bolstered its cash position to take advantage of growth opportunities.
At a 9.5% annual yield, the price for this series of preferred stock was rather steep, but given the company's capital needs it was the price it needed to pay to fund its ambitious growth plans. Further, by going the preferred route the company wouldn't risk overextending itself with debt, nor diluting existing shareholders. It's that hybrid feature of the preferred that's appealing, which is why Seaspan Corporation isn't the only containership leasing company that uses preferred stock to finance growth. In fact, just last year rivalCostamare issued $100 million of Series D Preferred Stock at an initial yield of 8.75%. Costamare chose this route to raise cash for vessel acquisitions and investments so that it too could avoid additional debt and dilution.
Reading the fine print
One problem with Seaspan Corporation's preferred stock is the fact that this particular series was about to get much more expensive. That's because one of the features was a provision that would lead to a substantially higher dividend rate if Seaspan Corporation didn't redeem them by a specified date. In this case the dividend rate would increase by 1.25 times on each dividend date after January of next year up to a maximum of 30%.
This wasn't the only time Seaspan Corporation has had to include a dividend escalation feature in its preferred shares. The company's recent offering of Series F Cumulative Preferred Shares is another example. While these shares feature a lower initial yield of 6.95% for the first five years, that rate will increase by 1% every year after the fifth anniversary until it hits a maximum of 10.5%. That said, there is an acceleration feature whereby the rate jumps to 10.5% if the company doesn't complete a material transaction by the end of next year. That material transaction is either the acquisition of all the membership interests in its Greater China Intermodal (GCI) joint venture with the Carlisle Group or the acquisition of all the assets owned by that joint venture. In other words, this particular series of preferred stock was issued to effectively guarantee that Seaspan Corporation has the capital it needs to facilitate Carlisle Group's exit of its investment in the joint venture.
Given these dividend escalation provisions Seaspan Corporation is often left with no choice but to redeem its preferred shares before they get more expensive. That's certainly the case with the Series C redemption and could be the case next year with the Series F Preferreds if the company doesn't take out Carlisle Group's interest in its GCI joint venture to stave off that escalation clause.
Investor takeaway
Containership companies like Seaspan Corporation and Costamare rely on preferred shares to raise capital in order to fund growth. However, this capital doesn't come cheap and it often can get more expensive due to the fine print, though it can be a better short-term option than more debt or dilution. That said, the somewhat short-term nature does force these companies to reshuffle their capital deck so to speak, which is what Seaspan Corporation is doing by making the smart move to redeem its Series C before they get too expensive.
The article Was This Redemption a Smart Move for Seaspan Corporation? originally appeared on Fool.com.
Matt DiLallo owns shares of Seaspan Corporation. The Motley Fool recommends Seaspan Corporation. 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: Cobalt International Energy, Inc.
What: Cobalt International Energy had a rough May. Its stock sank 31.9% for the month despite rising oil prices. Fueling the sell-off was the company's first-quarter report as well as the quick departure of its CEO.
So what: Cobalt International Energy posted its first-quarter results in early May. That report marked a turning point for the company because it was the first time in its history that Cobalt reported actual oil and gas sales after its Heidelberg project in the Gulf of Mexico came on line. That progress aside, investors were concerned by the lack of progress on a key asset sale, which weighed on the stock last month.
That's after the company noted that the sale of its Angola Blocks 20 and 21 might not close as quickly as expected due to the downturn in the oil market. While Cobalt, the prospective buyer, and the Angolan government support the transaction, the parties have agreed to initiate discussions on alternative options that will facilitate the closing of the transaction amid the weak market conditions. This has investors concerned that the deal could need to be renegotiated or that it might not close at all.
Even more concerning was the abrupt departure of CEO Joseph Bryant on May 31. He resigned as chairman, CEO, and board member effective the very next day with no reason provided to investors for his departure. The CEO position, however, was quickly filled -- former BHP Billiton petroleum executive Timothy Cutt was hired as its new CEO effective on July 2. Cutt had served as the president of BHP Billiton's petroleum division from mid-2013 until this March. Under his direction, the company focused much of its attention on unconventional North American shale plays, which could potentially point to a strategy shift at Cobalt in the future, though it is worth noting that the bulk of BHP Billiton's shale position was acquired before Cutt took over the division.
Now what: Cobalt International Energy is in transition. Not only did the company produce its first barrels of oil in its history last quarter, but it's selling off its Angola assets to focus its attention on the Gulf of Mexico. Amid that transition, the company's CEO abruptly resigned, which didn't sit well with investors. Because of that and its singular focus on the development of risky offshore projects, investors are better off watching this oil stock from the sidelines.
The article Why Cobalt International Energy, Inc.'s Stock Crashed 32% in May originally appeared on Fool.com.
Matt DiLallo owns shares of BHP Billiton Limited (ADR). The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Amazon and Netflix account for half of the "FANG" quartet of high-growth tech stocks. Amazon is the dominant name in both Internet retail and cloud infrastructure, while Netflix rules the video streaming market with 81.5 million subscribers worldwide.
This rapid escalation of hostilities puts Netflix -- which is already engaged in constant battles with content providers and carriers -- in a tough spot. It also arguably makes Amazon a better long-term investment than Netflix for three simple reasons.
But over the past few years, Amazon has aggressively expanded into the streaming video market to challenge Netflix. In 2011, it gave its Prime members access to thousands of streaming videos from its Instant Video library. The following year, Amazon inked a distribution deal with Epix (previously Netflix's exclusive partner) to expand its media library. It started producing original shows and films in 2013, and introduced a YouTube-like service forusers to share videos earlier this year. Amazon also recently launched a stand-alone Amazon Video option for $9 permonth to undercutNetflix's $15 monthly fee.
For Amazon, streaming video is just another perk for its Prime members, who pay $99 per year for discounts, free shipping options, free e-books from the lending library, cloud storage, and other perks. Expanding its Prime ecosystem is a top priority for Amazon, because those customers generally pay more and buy fewer products from rival e-commerce sites.
Image source: Amazon.
Back in January, research firm CIRP reported that the average Prime member spent $1,100 per year on the site, compared to just $600 for non-members. It also reported that the number of U.S. Prime members grew 35% year-over-year to 54 million. Therefore, Amazon can likely afford to break even or take losses on Amazon Video as long as it drives growth in Prime members, who buy more products from its core marketplace business. Amazon's marketplace still runs on thin margins, but its high-margin cloud platform AWS (Amazon Web Services) businessnow generates over half of its operating profits.
But streaming video is Netflix's bread and butter, and its margins are already thin. Its total operating margin was just 2.5% last quarter, down from 6.2% a year earlier. That figure is expected to slide to 2.2% during the current quarter, due to the high costs of content acquisition, original content production, marketing campaigns, and overseas expansions. If Netflix lowers its subscription fees to compete against Amazon and other streaming rivals, its operating margins could easily turn negative.
Netflix relies on too many companies
Netflix has aggressively expanded its slate of original shows and movies, but streaming content obligations (the amount it promises to pay studios to license future titles) are still its biggest expense. That total rose 26% annually to $12.3 billion last quarter, indicating that it won't declare independence from big media companies anytime soon.
Some Netflix bulls point to its multi-year distribution deal with Disney as a strong catalyst for future subscriber growth. But Netflix is also reportedly paying Disney more than$300 million per year for that privilege. Several of Netflix's most popular programs are Marvel shows that it co-developed with Disney's ABC Studios. This lopsided relationship gives Disney lots of leverage to renegotiate higher rates after the current deal expires. That's the same reason Netflix eventually cutties with Starz and Epix.
Netflix, Amazon, and other OTT (over-the-top) providers pay telecom companies for "paid peering" connections which are essential for high-quality streams. Meanwhile, telcos are launching their own data-free video streaming servicesentire streaming video library is hosted on AWS. This means that Netflix actually funds Amazon's most profitable business, which ironically bolsters its rival's ability to charge lower prices for Amazon Video.
Amazon is still the cheaper stock
Amazon and Netflix are often called "cult stocks" which seemingly defy fundamental gravity, but the former is still cheaper than the latter:
Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 2022 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. FAQ - New Privacy Policy
For Americas youth, the 2016 election is a game changer, dictating everything from job prospects to the cost of college.
This is where the Roosevelt Institute campus network comes in. A part of the progressive Roosevelt Institute, its the first student run policy organization in the country.
Joelle Gamble, the National Director of the Roosevelt Network, says that its time for candidates to start reaching out to young people.
Data from CIRCLE at Tufts University says that young people usually dont get reached out to for GOTV until about 90 days before an election which is pretty late and so theres a chance still if a lot of the campaigns start now to change that Gamble tells FOXBusiness.com.
More than student loans and job prospects though, Gamble says that young people are mostly concerned with the political system.
The overarching theme that I hear is really just around how we are going to make politics work again because the kind of politics that we feel like were in right now isnt going to fix the country or put us in the direction that we think the country should be in says Gamble.
And the Roosevelt Institutes campus members are tackling politics at the state level as well.
Folks in North Carolina have been meeting with elected officials around voting reform, folks in Michigan have been doing the same. In Colorado we met with 30 elected officials alone and all across the country weve met with over 100 in the past 2 months says Gamble.
Gamble says that the way for campaigns to reach millennials is to listen to them.
At the end of the day they have to listen they have to be willing to listen they have to be told that theyre wrong but at the end of the day that listening process i think is actually what invests our generation into politics says Gamble.
And Gamble says that one of the best ways for young people to get involved in this election is to pull their friends in
Actually really cool story that someone told us I saw on Snapchat that my friends were voting so I got in my car and I drove and I voted because I felt like I needed to says Gamble.
Kylie Jenners Twitter account was hacked over the weekend, as was Keith Richards', Mark Zuckerbergs and Jack Blacks. In a message on Jenners Twitter, the hacker hinted there was a connection between the Twitter takeover and the recent hack of Katy Perrys account tweeting Miss u @katyperry.
Black's account, which is connected to his band Tenacious D, cleared up rumors after the hacker sent out a series of tweets implying the star had died.
"WE had our Twitter account hacked. We can assure you that Jack is ALIVE and WELL and that this was a sick 'prank,'" the band tweeted.
Richards also responded strongly to negative messages sent out on his account.
"Earlier today Keiths Twitter account was hacked along with other verified accounts," a tweet on Sunday explained. "The hateful tweets that were posted have been removed."
Meanwhile, Jenner was less fazed by the hack.
"Mmmm, so my Twitter was hacked. I don't really care," she said in a Snapchat video. "I'm just letting them have fun."
Computer security news expert Graham Cluley posted a video claiming the hack could have been a lot worse.
Well you may not care, but what about your 16 million followers on Twitter? he said in the video. Dont you think you should care about them? Because if your account had been hacked Kylie, then potentially those users could have clicked on a link and gone somewhere malicious, maybe they could have had their password fished.
Longtime Hollywood PR guru Howard Bragman told FOX411 the hackings should inspire celebs to increase their cyber security.
Hacking is a fact of life for celebrities and the rest of us, Bragman said. People need to use this as a teachable moment to up their personal level of security and their verifications.
He said most celebrities recover from brief hacks like the ones Jenner, Perry and others faced in recent weeks.
Celebrities typically get beyond these hacks except in two circumstances: when they claim they were hacked but they really werent, and when truly damning information is released.
Meanwhile, Zuckerbergs LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter accounts were hacked. The hackers left a clue writing Hacked by OurMine Team on the Facebook creators Pinterest page.
Reports claim OurMine also tweeted in a now deleted message that Zuckerbergs password was obtained from the LinkedIn data leak in 2012.
The belief is that he was using the same passwords for multiple websites, and his password was a dumb one anyway, Cluley told FOX411. From the sound of things, the hack was assisted by the recent release on the web of a huge database of old LinkedIn usernames and passwords that were stolen from the site a few years ago.
Zuckerberg's team said he has since changed his passwords.
PR expert Ronn Torossian explained that celebrity hacks generally cause no harm to their brand.
Genuine hacks of celebrity social media accounts does not tarnish their brands, he explained. Unless a celebrity works in the CIA, no one expects them to have perfect security, as we all deal with security related issues.
And President and CEO of InfoTech noted there are innumerable ways to hack.
Just as there are endless methods for burglars to break into a house, there are endless methods for hackers to hack into your computer."
Twitter did not comment on the celebrity hacks directly, but a spokesperson for the company said users should use strong passwords for the social media site.
"A number of other online services have seen millions of passwords stolen in the past several weeks," a Twitter spokesperson told FoxNews.com, via email. "We recommend people use a unique, strong password for Twitter."
"Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie says she's pregnant and will be skipping the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro because of the Zika virus.
Guthrie made the announcement on the NBC program Tuesday morning. She cited doctors' advice in deciding to skip the Olympics. NBC had announced in April that Guthrie would co-host the opening ceremony of the Rio Games on Aug. 5.
NBC Universal has stated employees who are concerned about making the trip to Brazil can opt out.
Weve created a transparent culture here where people feel very comfortable raising a hand and saying, You know what? Id rather not make this trip, Noah Oppenheim, NBC News Senior Vice President, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Zika is known to cause birth defects, including microcephaly, in which the baby's head is smaller than expected because the brain hasn't developed properly. The virus is now in 60 countries, with Olympic host Brazil the hardest-hit nation.
Guthrie says her second child with husband Michael Feldman is due in December. The couple's first child, a girl, was born in August 2014.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Scientists are making headway in the search for solutions to one of the most vexing problems in mental health: How to predict who is at risk for suicide.
Researchers are hunting for so-called biomarkers, such as patterns of brain activity on fMRI scans or levels of stress hormones in the blood, linked to suicidal thoughts and acts. They are creating computer algorithms, fed with tens of thousands of pieces of data, to come up with measures of risk. They are looking at sleep patterns and even responses to specialized computer tasks that can reveal unconscious biases toward self-harm.
The need is great. The reality is that it is very hard for psychiatrists and psychologists to identify who is at risk for suicide. They rely heavily on simply asking patients.
But people often conceal their plans. Indeed, researchers at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital found that clinicians were no more accurate than chance in predicting which patients visiting a psychiatric emergency room were likely to attempt suicide in the next six months.
Widely accepted risk factors, like being male, having a history of mental illness and experiencing stressors like a job or relationship loss, are often not specific enough to be much help.
Meanwhile, rates of suicide deaths are rising in the U.S. The rate jumped 24% from 1999 to 2014, from 10.5 to 13 per 100,000 people, according to an April 2016 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It is a leading cause of death and we just dont have a handle on it, says Matthew K. Nock, a psychology professor at Harvard and one of the countrys leading suicide researchers.
Click for more from the Wall Street Journal.
A Canadian woman has given birth to four girls naturally an estimated 1 in 15 million chance, CBC.ca reported.
Bethani and Tim Webb, of Alberta, Canada, welcomed their healthy newborns into the world Friday after Bethani underwent a caesarean section at Edmontons Royal Alexandra Hospital. The babies weighed between 3 pounds and 4 pounds, 1 ounce.
Bethani, 22, told CBC.ca that she was overwhelmed but happy her newborns were doing well.
Tim described the birth as surreal.
My heart was just pounding, the 23-year-old dad told CBC.ca. I felt as if it was a magic show. It was one baby, two babies, three babies and then four babies.
The quadruplets are the couples first children.
The Webbs said telling their daughters apart for now is easy, as the NICU team has them lined up as A, B, C and D. When they get home, they plan to use different nail polish colors to tell them apart. They named the girls Emily, Grace, McKayla and Abigail.
They plan to move in with Tims mom, where Tim will live with six girls.
"It's a good thing we'll have two washrooms, that's for sure, Tim told the news website. And I'll have to get used to not having a washroom, (living) with five other girls. It'll be OK. I think we'll do OK.
The Webbs' friend has started a GoFundMe page to help the couple cover expenses for their newborns.
The 11-year-old Nebraska girl who was scalped in a freak accident at a carnival smiled in her first public appearance to discuss her recovery Friday. Elizabeth Lulu Gilreath, who has been hospitalized at University of Nebraska Medical Center since the May 5 tragedy, wore a bandage on her head and sat in a wheelchair for the press conference.
[Elizabeth] joined us at the last minute. It was a complete surprise, Taylor Wilson, a hospital publicist, told InsideEdition.com. Ten minutes beforehand, her mom said Elizabeth was up for it.
Lulu smiled and was upbeat as her mother, Virginia Cooksey, told reporters that doctors are happy with her progress, and that she can see out of both eyes although one has been surgically shut to heal, InsideEdition.com reported.
Elizabeth is a very tough patient, Cooksey said.
While Lulu said she was hoping to be released Monday or Tuesday, Cooksey noted in a Facebook post that her daughter has been scheduled for another operation and a release date has not been set.
Shes so tired and ready to [go] home, Cooksey wrote in the post. I keep telling her [baby] setps and its all in (Gods) time.
The family is planning to sue over the ride, called Kings Crown, which at the carnival run by Thomas d. Thomas Shows.
Despite advances in pregnancy care, each year in the U.S. there are approximately 50,000 stillbirths and infant deaths shortly after delivery, a rate that hasnt budged in years. Some are the result of genetic abnormalities or unanticipated complications, but often there is no known cause.
Now, as researchers learn more about the traumatic effects of such deaths on families, more hospitals are creating programs to help them cope. So-called perinatal-loss coordinators train staff to provide compassionate care and guidance for both practical and emotional issues. They are connecting grieving parents with support groups, counseling and nonprofit advocacy groups that help mothers move on and in many cases try again for a successful pregnancy.
Without such intervention, mothers especially are at high risk for mental health disorders, says Katherine Gold, an assistant professor of family medicine and obstetrics and gynecology at University of Michigan. In a study she led of more than 600 women, published in March in the Journal of Womens Health, those who experienced stillbirth or an early infant death had sharply higher risks for depression and post-traumatic stress than women who had delivered a healthy baby. Nine months after a loss they showed high levels of distress, but a minority of them was getting any kind of counseling, medication, group therapy or other treatment.
It is really important that we deal with families in a sensitive way that helps them get better, rather than making things worse, says Dr. Gold. Labor and delivery teams at the universitys hospitals are offered monthly seminars on reproductive loss to help them deliver empathetic care. Such training can also help doctors and nurses cope with their own trauma after a death in their care, she says.
In the U.S., we currently have no protocols or standards for support when a woman suffers a stillbirth or neonatal loss says Nicole Barsalona, founder of the nonprofit Mommy Interrupted. Ms. Barsalona, who lives in Boston, is working with a number of organizations on programs to help families and train medical professionals. She was on vacation in Europe when her daughter Olivia was stillborn in a London hospital in 2014.
Click for more from the Wall Street Journal.
As rates of melanoma rise, scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine are suggesting a possible solution: screenings at primary care physicians (PCP) offices. In a study presented Tuesday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago, researchers found that, on average, participants screened for skin cancer at their PCP had melanomas that were nearly twice as thin as those who were not screened by their doctor.
Not all PCPs are trained in detecting melanoma, and usually patients have to go to their dermatologist to get a screening. According to the American Cancer Society, melanoma accounts for only 1 percent of skin cancers but kills a majority of skin cancer patients. This year, more than 10,000 people are predicted to die of the disease, and more than 76,000 may be diagnosed.
"Our findings suggest that PCP screening is an effective way to improve early detection of melanoma, which could potentially save lives," lead study author Laura Ferris, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of dermatology at the Pitt School of Medicine, said in a news release.
Ferris and her team trained PCPs involved in the study to screen for melanoma based on a German program thought to make the procedure easier. PCPs conducted the screening during office visits to patients ages 35 and older, and during the first year of the program, 2014, 15 percent of the nearly 334,000 eligible patients received the screening. On average, the participants who underwent the evaluation had melanomas that were nearly twice as thin as those who didnt get the screening. Earlier-stage, thinner melanomas allow for quicker treatment and better prognoses.
Researchers also noted that among the screened group, only 5 percent had concerning melanomas thicker than 1 millimeter, which require biopsy of a nearby lymph node to ensure no metastasizing has occurred, compared with 20 percent of the unscreened group.
"The PCP screenings prevented a lot of people from needing more aggressive therapy. Additionally, we did not see a high rate of false positive biopsies, in which no skin cancer was present, nor did we see a high rate of unnecessary dermatology referrals or skin surgeries, all of which suggest that the program did not simply drive up health care costs needlessly," Ferris, also a member of the Melanoma Program, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, said in the release.
Study authors said that notably, half of the screened patients were men, who are at a greater risk of dying from melanoma and have been underrepresented in other skin cancer screenings so far.
"It's exciting that our approach improves detection in this especially vulnerable population," Ferris said in the release.
The next time you plan to bring a gift to a friend in the hospital, check the visitor policy first.
Some health-care facilities are tightening restrictions on where flowers, plants, balloons and other cheery items are allowed, citing concerns about the potential for infection, among other risks.
Most intensive-care units have been no-flower zones for decades. Many hospitals now have banned latex balloons out of concern for latex allergies. Now, some are extending limitations to ICU step-down units, cardiac-care units, pediatrics, labor and delivery units.
Every place has its quirks. It varies with each hospital, each unit, sometimes each patient, says Jeff Gaster, owner of CitiFloral, which has delivered flowers and other items to the cluster of hospitals along bedpan alley on Manhattans Upper East Side for 30 years.
Yet evidence linking flowers and plants to outbreaks of infection or illness in individual patients is minimal, infectious-disease experts say.
This is one of the issues where theres a paucity of evidence, and when that happens in infection control, one of our goals is always to keep the patient safe, says Susan Dolan, president of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, which represents more than 15,000 clinicians working to fight healthcare-associated infections. Its not cut-and-dried, if youll pardon the pun, which is why you see a spectrum of what hospitals will and wont allow.
Click for more from the Wall Street Journal.
The chair of the Republican National Committee, Reince Preibus, said in a published interview today that he's anticipating a family, friendly atmosphere when Republicans gather in Cleveland for the convention next month.
Preibus said he was predicting a "G-Rated" convention, including nothing that would "give anyone heartburn".
That may be, but just six weeks out, Donald Trump is still keeping everything interesting and giving heartburn to at least some Republicans. Former presidential candidate governor John Kasich tweeted this out about Trump and the Hispanic judge controversy,"@realdonaldtrump should apologize to Judge Curiel & try to unite this country #TwoPaths.
In addition, Hillary Clintons new attack ad against Trump could possibly be more damaging, because she uses the words of other GOPers condemning Trump.
Firefighters and first responders in Harris County, Texas, bid farewell to one of their own the other day.
It was an incredibly sad day for us, public information officer David Padovan told me. Any time we lose one of our members it cuts to the core. And Bretagne was a full-fledged member of our fire department.
Bretagne was a longtime member of Texas Task Force One -- an urban search-and-rescue team.
Click here to join Todds American Dispatch: a Must-Read for Conservatives!
She and her partner Denise Corliss responded to some of the nation's most horrific disasters -- from Hurricane Katrina to the tornadoes that ravaged Moore, Okla.
She was also there in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Bretagne and her partner worked 12-hour shifts for nearly two weeks in the rubble of the twin towers -- searching first for survivors -- and then for remains.
She was our ambassador, Padovan told me.
A year before she died, Bretagne and her partner returned to Ground Zero. They walked side by side through the memorial.
And if you happen to visit the museum -- you might find a cobblestone -- inscribed with her name.
You see --- Bretagne was the last surviving 9/11 rescue dog -- a golden retriever.
Read Todds latest book a guide to restoring traditional American values! Click here!
Bretagne retired a few years ago but she continued to serve helping to train other rescue dogs and visiting local schools. Up until two weeks ago she would sit with elementary school children as they learned to read.
Old age had hobbled the gentle canine. Her kidneys were failing. So the difficult decision was made. It had to be made.
Her final moments on June 7th were tenderly chronicled by journalist Andrew Kragie in the Houston Chronicle:
Panting at the end of a thick leash, the elderly dog was gently lifted from a truck and placed on the sidewalk outside the veterinary office. Then she hobbled toward the building, passing more than a dozen men and women dressed in blue, their hands raised to their foreheads in a somber salute.
And then, it was done. Bretagne was euthanized another hero from that awful, terrible day was gone.
Her lifeless body was carried away, draped in an American flag.
Some may say that the most a dog could be is a pet, the fire department wrote in a statement. However, to the over 400 members of the Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department, Bretagne was a civil servant, a hero and is family. We will remember her fondly, and continue serving the community with her as inspiration.
Bretagne was not just man's best friend -- she was a nation's best friend.
Its a strategy the Obama administration has mastered the 3-D strategy: Delay, Distract, and Deflect.
I cited that strategy in a post last month when a federal judge in Texas labelled the Obama Justice Department unethical and intentionally deceptive calling out the biased behavior of government attorneys in defending President Obamas unconstitutional Executive order on immigration, a case now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
This time its the Obama administrations Internal Revenue Service (IRS) thats back in the spotlight implementing the 3-D strategy.
We have been in federal court since 2012 challenging the unconstitutional targeting by the IRS of conservative and Tea Party groups. This unlawful scheme was designed to punish organizations because of their conservative political beliefs.
In April, we were in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit presenting arguments on behalf of 38 organizations that we represent in our federal lawsuit. In arguments before the panel, the court was very critical of the IRS. As Judge David B. Sentelle put it: Its hard to find the IRS to be an agency we can trust.
Thats very true. And, you can add that the IRS is an agency committed to concealing the truth and dedicated to delaying the release of information.
Thats why a recent revelation from another lawsuit challenging the IRS bias is so important. It took a series of orders from federal judges and the ongoing pressure of litigation to get the IRS to finally release a list of the organizations it has targeted. The government released the names of 426 organizations.
And, as the Washington Times reports, its clear that many groups were targeted simply because of their conservative-sounding names. According to the Washington Times: Sixty of the groups on the list released last month have the word tea in their name, 33 have patriot, eight refer to the Constitution, and 13 have 912 in their name which is the monicker of a movement started by conservatives. Another 26 group names refer to liberty, though that list does include some groups that are not discernibly conservative in orientation.
With the release of this list, I am certain the IRS will use this occasion to once again claim that the targeting is over -- a claim it has made now for several years.
But, that assertion is simply nonsense. The fact is that we still represent two groups that have not been approved by the IRS.
One group Albuquerque Tea Party has been waiting more than 6 years since the day it filed its application for tax-exempt status in December 2009. No approval. No denial. Nothing.
As I have stated many times, the IRS is incapable of self-correction. That is why litigation is so important. We have to rely on the federal courts for justice.
And we know that continued litigation -- like the class-action suit that forced the IRS to finally release a list of groups it targeted -- is the only way to force the IRSs hand in order to expose its targeting scheme.
Its very clear that the Obama administration is trying to run out the clock.
In the final months of his presidency, President Obama has no intention of getting to the bottom of what happened inside the IRS or, for that matter, holding anyone accountable for the unlawful targeting scandal.
Were not going to let the Obama administration run out the clock. The presidents second term may be nearing an end, but our resolve in getting to the truth through our federal lawsuit is only strengthened with each day and will continue even after he leaves office.
Its time for the stonewalling to stop and time for the courts and Congress to get to the bottom of this targeting scheme that was coordinated with the help of the Justice Department and other federal agencies.
The bottom line: We intend to obtain justice for those patriotic Americans who were unconstitutionally targeted by their own government.
Federal regulations today impose a crushing burden of more than $1.88 trillion on our economy. Thats roughly $15,000 per household and more than the entire countrys corporate and individual income tax burden combined. Excessive and often unnecessary rules imposed by federal bureaucrats strain family budgets and create conditions where businessesespecially small businesses without large compliance teamsstruggle to create jobs.
This red tape churned out of Washington represents more than a set of negative economic statistics; it constitutes a growing threat to our freedoms. Unelected bureaucrats attempt to regulate seemingly every aspect of the economy and our day-to-day lives. These dictates of what some describe as the "nanny state" range from the minisculelike the type of light bulbs we can buy and the shape of pineapple sectors in fruit cocktailto the titaniclike the legal uses of our land and the kind of health care insurance available to patients. And under President Obama, who openly champions a unilateral pen-and-phone approach to governance, the federal bureaucracy has burdened our economy and our lives with more red tape than ever before.
This enormous growth in regulations has accelerated with a rule-making process that is nothing short of broken. Bureaucrats and special interests have developed increasingly sophisticated means of bypassing the basic protections Congress built into the process by which federal agencies write rules. Recent administrations of both parties have proved unable to fix the problemwith Republicans failing to tame out-of-control agencies and Democrats collaborating to facilitate bureaucratic overreach.
In such circumstances, the courts often stand as the only true independent check on increasingly out-of-control regulators. Courts have the power to strike down regulatory actions inconsistent with the law, thereby ensuring that bureaucrats cannot regulate any further than the peoples elected representatives gave them lawful authority to do so.
This system is premised on a very simple notion at the core of our Constitutions design: that, in the seminal words of Chief Justice John Marshall, it is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.
Unfortunately, as the regulatory bureaucracy has grown, the judiciary has in many respects become complicit in its overreach.
Over the past three decades, courts have adopted a deferential approach the government in regulatory cases. Under this doctrineknown as "Chevron deference" after the Supreme Court case that established its formulationcourts defer to a federal agencys interpretation of a law as long as the law is ambiguous and the governments interpretation is reasonable. In practice, courts read these terms so broadly as to give federal bureaucrats essentially unbridled power to say what the law isoftentimes even if the agencys interpretation contradicts the plain language of the statute.
Also disturbing is the concept of Auer deference, which essentially extends Chevrons logic to courts treatment of an agencys interpretation of its own regulations. As its criticsincluding multiple Supreme Court justiceshave noted, Auer not only offends basic notions about government accountability and the separation of powers under the Constitution, but it also improperly incentivizes bureaucrats to write vague regulations in order to later reinterpret these nebulous words however they see fit.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have resisted judicial deference from its inception, arguing that the Executive Branch cannot exercise the power to make the law or decide its meaningwhether usurped or voluntarily delegated by Congress. Moreover, Chevron and Auer are plainly inconsistent with the governing language of the Administrative Procedure Act, which says that the reviewing court shall decide all relevant questions of law, interpret constitutional and statutory provisions, and determine the meaning or applicability of the terms of an agency action.
Congress cannot wait any longer to step in and stop the regulatory overreach enabled by Chevron and Auer deference. Recently, we partnered with colleagues in the House and Senate like Senator Chuck Grassley and Mike Lee and Reps. Bob Goodlatte and Tom Marino to introduce the Separation of Powers Restoration Act. This legislation will clarify what should be an unambiguous principle of the Constitution: that courtsnot bureaucratshave the ultimate authority to say what the law is and hold the regulatory bureaucracy accountable to the law.
Restoring this proper judicial role under the Constitution is vital to returning accountability to the regulatory process. We urge our colleagues to join us to win passage of the Separation of Powers Restoration Act and check the overreach of the regulatory bureaucracy.
Hillary Clinton has earned enough delegates to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, according to an Associated Press count released Monday night an assessment swiftly challenged by primary rival Bernie Sanders and his campaign.
The AP released its updated tally, showing the former secretary of state winning enough delegates to become the first woman to top a major partys presidential ticket, on the eve of the last major day of primary voting.
The AP said Clinton reached the 2,383 delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee with a weekend victory in Puerto Rico and late burst of support from superdelegates. Those are party officials and officeholders, many of them eager to wrap up the primary, free to support whichever candidate they want.
"We really need to bring a close to this primary process and get on to defeating Donald Trump," said Nancy Worley, a superdelegate who chairs Alabama's Democratic Party and provided one of the last endorsements to put Clinton over the top.
"It's time to stand behind our presumptive candidate," said Michael Brown, one of two superdelegates from the District of Columbia who came forward in the past week to back Clinton before the city's June 14 primary. "We shouldn't be acting like we are undecided when the people of America have spoken."
Clinton touted the news at a Long Beach, Calif., campaign event, saying the campaign is now on the brink of a historic unprecedented moment. But even she stressed that six states are yet to vote on Tuesday and urged supporters to cast their ballots for her in those contests.
The six states to vote Tuesday include New Jersey, North Dakota, New Mexico, Montana, California, and South Dakota.
Campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement: This is an important milestone, but there are six states that are voting Tuesday, with millions of people heading to the polls, and Hillary Clinton is working to earn every vote. We look forward to Tuesday night, when Hillary Clinton will clinch not only a win in the popular vote, but also the majority of pledged delegates."
The Sanders campaign rejected the declaration that Clinton had clinched the party nod, citing its longstanding position that the superdelegates should not count until they actually vote at the convention as they are free to switch sides before then.
"There is nothing to concede," Sanders told KTVU late Monday at a rally in San Francisco. "Secretary Clinton will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to win the Democratic nomination. She will be dependent on superdelegates. They vote on July 25th so right now our goal right at this moment [is to] do everything we can to win the primary tomorrow."
Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs accused the media of a rush to judgement" and "ignoring the Democratic National Committees clear statement that it is wrong to count the votes of superdelegates before they actually vote at the convention this summer."
"Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump," Briggs said.
On Monday, Sanders' supporters expressed disappointment that the calls were made before California's primary and urged the senator to continue on despite the pronouncements. "We're going to keep fighting until the last vote is counted," said Kristen Elliott, a Sanders' supporter from San Francisco who attended the rally.
Said another attendee, Patrick Bryant of San Francisco: "It's what bookies do. They call fights before they're over."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi endorsed Clinton during an interview on Good Morning America before her home states primary.
"I'm a voter in California and I have voted for Hillary Clinton for president of the United States and proud to endorse her for that position," Pelosi said, though adding "it's not over until it's over."
Clinton has won 1,812 pledged delegates in primaries and caucuses. She also has the support of 571 superdelegates, according to an Associated Press count. The AP surveyed all 714 superdelegates repeatedly in the past seven months, and only 95 remain publicly uncommitted.
All the superdelegates counted in Clinton's tally have unequivocally told the AP they will back her at the convention and not change their vote. Since the start of the AP's survey in late 2015, no superdelegates have switched from supporting Clinton to backing Sanders.
Clintons presumptive victory Monday came nearly eight years to the day after she conceded her first White House campaign to Barack Obama. Back then, she famously noted her inability to "shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling."
Campaigning this time as the loyal successor to Obama, Clinton fended off a surprisingly strong challenge from Vermont Sen. Sanders. He mobilized millions with a fervently liberal message and his insurgent candidacy revealed a deep level of national frustration with politics-as-usual, even among Democrats who have controlled the White House since 2009.
Clinton outpaced Sanders in winning new superdelegate endorsements even after his string of primary and caucus wins in May. Following the results in Puerto Rico, it is no longer possible for Sanders to reach the 2,383 needed to win the nomination based on the remaining available pledged delegates and uncommitted superdelegates, according to the AP.
Clinton leads Sanders by more than 3 million cast votes, by 291 pledged delegates and by 523 superdelegates. She also won 29 caucuses and primaries compared to his 21 victories.
Echoing the sentiments of California Gov. Jerry Brown, who overcame a decades-long rivalry with the Clinton family to endorse her last week, many superdelegates expressed a desire to close ranks around a nominee who could defeat Trump in November.
Beyond winning over millions of Sanders supporters who vow to remain loyal to the self-described democratic socialist, Clinton faces challenges as she turns toward November, including criticism of her decision to use a private email server run from her New York home while serving as secretary of state. Her deep unpopularity among Republicans has pushed many leery of Trump to nevertheless embrace his campaign.
"This to me is about saving the country and preventing a third progressive, liberal term, which is what a Clinton presidency would do," House Speaker Paul Ryan told the AP last week after he finally endorsed Trump, weeks after the New Yorker clinched the GOP nomination.
Yet Clinton showed no signs of limping into the general election as she approached the milestone, leaving Sanders behind and focusing on lacerating Trump. She said electing the billionaire businessman, who has spent months hitting her and her husband with bitingly personal attacks, would be a "historic mistake."
"He is not just unprepared. He is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility," Clinton said last week in a speech that was striking in its forcefulness, previewing a brutal five-month general election campaign to come.
Even without the nomination, Sanders can claim ideological victory. His liberal positions pushed the issue of income inequality into the spotlight and drove Clinton to the left on issues such as trade, Wall Street and campaign finance reform.
But she prevailed, in part, by claiming much of the coalition that boosted Obama. She won overwhelming support from women and minorities, catapulting her to decisive victories in diverse, delegate-rich states such as New York and Texas.
When Clinton launched her campaign last April, she did so largely unopposed, having scared off more formidable challengers by locking down much of the party's organizational and fundraising infrastructure. Vice President Joe Biden, seen as her most threatening rival, opted not to run in October.
Of the four opponents who did take her on, Sanders was the only one who emerged to provide a serious challenge. He caught fire among young voters and independents, his campaign gaining momentum from a narrow loss in Iowa in February and a commanding victory in New Hampshire. His ability to raise vast sums of money online gave him the resources to continue into the spring.
But Clinton vowed not to repeat the failings of her 2008 campaign and focused early on winning delegates, hiring help from Obama's old team before launching her campaign. They pushed superdelegates into making early commitments and held campaign appearances in areas where they could win the most pledged delegates.
Her victory in Nevada in late February diminished concerns from allies about her campaign operation. Decisive wins in Southern states on Super Tuesday and a sweep of March 15 contests gave her a significant delegate lead, which became insurmountable by the end of April after big victories in New York and in the Northeast.
She now moves on to face Trump, whose ascent to the top of the Republican Party few expected. The brash real estate mogul and reality TV star has long since turned his attention from primary foes to Clinton, debuting a nickname "Crooked Hillary" and arguing she belongs in jail for her email setup.
After a long primary campaign, Clinton said this past weekend in California she was ready to accept his challenge.
"We're judged by our words and our deeds, not our race, not our ethnicity, not our religion," she said Saturday in Oxnard. "So it is time to judge Donald Trump by his words and his deeds. And I believe that his words and his deeds disqualify him from being president of the United States."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Donald Trump urged supporters during a conference call Monday to intensify attacks on the federal judge presiding over the Trump University case after learning a memo was sent from his own campaign to not discuss the lawsuit.
Trump stood by his attacks on U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiels Mexican ancestry and ordered supporters to question the judges credibility as well as intensify attacks on reporters, Fox News confirmed.
Bloomberg first reported that Trump learned about the memo during the conference call and questioned how his supporters are supposed to defend themselves when they arent allowed to talk.
"That's one of the reasons I want to have this call, because you guys are getting sometimes stupid information from people that aren't so smart," Trump said.
The memo, which was obtained by Bloomberg, told surrogates that theyre not authorized to discuss matters concerning the Trump Organization including corporate news such as the Trump University case.
Republican lawmakers are urging the presidential candidate to apologize for talking about the ethnic background and impartiality of Curiel.
Curiel is a former federal prosecutor who was born in Indiana to parents who came from Mexico in the 1940s. He has not responded to Trump's attack, and Trump's legal team has not sought his removal from the case. Judges generally are thought to have conflicts of interest only in more specific situations, such as a financial interest in the outcome of the case.
Trump University is the target of two lawsuits in San Diego and New York which accuse the business of fleecing students with unfulfilled promises to teach them secrets of success in real estate. Trump has maintained that customers were overwhelmingly satisfied. Curiel is presiding over the suits in California.
Fox News' Carl Cameron and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Florida's attorney general personally solicited a political contribution from Donald Trump around the same time her office deliberated joining an investigation of alleged fraud at Trump University and its affiliates.
The new disclosure from Attorney General Pam Bondi's spokesman to The Associated Press on Monday provides additional details around the unusual circumstances of Trump's $25,000 donation to Bondi.
The money came from a Trump family foundation in apparent violation of rules surrounding political activities by charities. A political group backing Bondi's re-election, called And Justice for All, reported receiving the check Sept. 17, 2013 -- four days after Bondi's office publicly announced she was considering joining a New York state probe of Trump University's activities, according to a 2013 report in the Orlando Sentinel.
After the check came in, Bondi's office nixed suing Trump, citing insufficient grounds to proceed.
Bondi declined repeated requests for an interview on Monday, referring all questions to Marc Reichelderfer, a political consultant who worked for her most re-election effort.
Reichelderfer told AP that Bondi spoke with Trump "several weeks" before her office publicly announced it was deliberating whether to join a lawsuit proposed by New York's Democratic attorney general. Reichelfelder said that Bondi was unaware of dozens of consumer complaints received by her office about Trump's real-estate seminars at the time she requested the donation.
"The process took at least several weeks, from the time they spoke to the time they received the contribution," Reichelderfer told AP.
The timing of the donation by Trump is notable because the now presumptive Republican presidential nominee has said he expects and receives favors from politicians to whom he gives money.
"When I want something I get it," Trump said at an Iowa rally in January. "When I call, they kiss my ass. It's true."
In addition to the money given by his foundation, Trump himself has donated $253,500 since in Florida since 1999, most of it going to Republican candidates, the state party or political committees affiliated with GOP officials. His daughter, Ivanka Trump, also gave a $500 check to Bondi a week before her father's money came in, as well as another $25,000 to the Republican Party of Florida the following year.
The AP reviewed thousands of pages of records related to consumer complaints about Trump University and its affiliates filed with Bondi's office. The documents -- previously obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, which first reported Trump's donation to Bondi -- reveal a new reservoir of unhappy Trump University customers, despite recent claims from the presumptive GOP presidential nominee that the students of his real estate seminar company were overwhelmingly satisfied.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and a separate federal class action civil lawsuit in California allege that Trump University -- which was largely owned by Trump himself -- defrauded consumers by as much as $35,000 each with promises of a real estate investing education that they either did not receive or found to be worthless.
All told, more than 20 people requested help from the Florida attorney general's office in obtaining refunds from Trump University and affiliates, with Bondi's predecessor receiving numerous other complaints about the seminar company Trump partnered with. Many of the Trump-related consumers alleged that they paid money for training materials and personalized instruction which were never delivered.
"I was laid off work for the first time in my life and really need this money to support my family," wrote one of the many people seeking help, adding that he had been promised a refund but never received it. "$1,400 is so much money for my family."
The documents complicate prior claims by Bondi's office that she received only one consumer complaint about Trump University at the time that she decided not to join the New York investigation.
Bondi's office said that its statement about receiving only a single complaint was accurate at the time because most of the complaints dealt with the Trump Institute, a separate corporate entity from Trump University, and were made before she took office at the start of 2011. The Trump Institute was licensed by Trump to run his seminars, however, with Trump keeping a share of the profits, according to depositions in the Trump University case. In internal emails, Bondi's own staff appeared to lump Trump University and the Trump Institute together -- as New York's lawsuit has done.
Bondi was not the only GOP attorney general to shy away from suing Trump.
The Associated Press first reported last week that then-Texas Attorney Greg Abbott received $35,000 from Trump, three years after his office in 2010 dropped a proposed lawsuit over Trump U. Following AP's report, former Texas Deputy Chief of Consumer Protection John Owens said the case had been dropped for political reasons. He also made public a detailed internal summary of what he called his staff's strong case against Trump.
A spokesman for Abbott, now the Texas governor, said the case was dropped after Trump's organization agreed to stop offering his namesake real-estate seminars in the state. Within months, Trump University was out of business nationwide.
By choosing not to pursue Trump in court, the GOP attorneys general left the unhappy students in their states on their own to try to get refunds from the celebrity businessman.
Both Bondi and Abbott have now endorsed Trump for president.
After months of standing on the sidelines, President Obama is getting ready to hit the campaign trail for presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton with a formal endorsement coming as early as the end of this week.
On Monday night, The Associated Press reported that its count of delegates shows Clinton had captured the 2,383 needed to secure the Democratic presidential nomination.
The New York Times and other media outlets have reported that Obama has been waiting to aggressively campaign for his partys nominee.
The president is already scheduled to speak at a Democratic fundraiser Wednesday in New York -- one day after six states hold their nominating contests.
He has indicated he wants to spend a lot of time on the campaign trail, so when its time to do that, well go out guns a blazing, White House communications director Jennifer Psaki said. We are actively thinking through how to use the president on the campaign trail what works for the nominee, what works for him, and how to utilize his strengths and his appeal.
Obamas popularity and the power of the presidency could help Democrats claw back some of the media attention that Donald Trump has dominated in recent months.
Just last week, Obama said the presumptive Republican nominee occupies about 70 percent of the news right now and lashed out at American culture for being too celebrity and fame-driven.
But before Obama can get to work, the Democratic Party will have to come together which means getting Bernie Sanders on board.
Sanders, whose message of income inequality and a rigged political system has resonated with younger Democratic voters, has vowed to continue his fight all the way to the Democratic convention in July.
"We really need to bring a close to this primary process and get on to defeating Donald Trump," said Nancy Worley, a superdelegate who chairs Alabama's Democratic Party and provided one of the last endorsements to put Clinton over the top.
"It's time to stand behind our presumptive candidate," said Michael Brown, one of two superdelegates from the District of Columbia who came forward in the past week to back Clinton before the city's June 14 primary. "We shouldn't be acting like we are undecided when the people of America have spoken."
Clinton touted the news at a Long Beach, Calif., campaign event, saying the campaign is now on the brink of a historic unprecedented moment. But even she stressed that six states are yet to vote on Tuesday and urged supporters to cast their ballots for her in those contests.
The six states to vote Tuesday include New Jersey, North Dakota, New Mexico, Montana, California, and South Dakota.
Campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement: This is an important milestone, but there are six states that are voting Tuesday, with millions of people heading to the polls, and Hillary Clinton is working to earn every vote. We look forward to Tuesday night, when Hillary Clinton will clinch not only a win in the popular vote, but also the majority of pledged delegates."
The Sanders campaign rejected the declaration that Clinton had clinched the party nod, citing its longstanding position that the superdelegates should not count until they actually vote at the convention as they are free to switch sides before then.
"There is nothing to concede," Sanders told KTVU late Monday at a rally in San Francisco. "Secretary Clinton will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to win the Democratic nomination. She will be dependent on superdelegates. They vote on July 25th so right now our goal right at this moment (is to) do everything we can to win the primary tomorrow."
Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs accused the media of a rush to judgement" and "ignoring the Democratic National Committees clear statement that it is wrong to count the votes of superdelegates before they actually vote at the convention this summer."
"Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump," Briggs said.
On Monday, Sanders' supporters expressed disappointment that the calls were made before California's primary and urged the senator to continue on despite the pronouncements. "We're going to keep fighting until the last vote is counted," said Kristen Elliott, a Sanders' supporter from San Francisco who attended the rally.
Said another attendee, Patrick Bryant of San Francisco: "It's what bookies do. They call fights before they're over."
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi endorsed Clinton during an interview on Good Morning America before her home states primary.
"I'm a voter in California and I have voted for Hillary Clinton for president of the United States and proud to endorse her for that position," Pelosi said, though adding "it's not over until it's over."
Clintons presumptive victory Monday came nearly eight years to the day after she conceded her first White House campaign to Obama. Back then, she famously noted her inability to "shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling."
Campaigning this time as the loyal successor to Obama, Clinton fended off a surprisingly strong challenge from Vermont Sen. Sanders. He mobilized millions with a fervently liberal message and his insurgent candidacy revealed a deep level of national frustration with politics-as-usual, even among Democrats who have controlled the White House since 2009.
Clinton outpaced Sanders in winning new superdelegate endorsements even after his string of primary and caucus wins in May. Following the results in Puerto Rico, it is no longer possible for Sanders to reach the 2,383 needed to win the nomination based on the remaining available pledged delegates and uncommitted superdelegates, according to the AP.
Clinton leads Sanders by more than 3 million cast votes, by 291 pledged delegates and by 523 superdelegates. She also won 29 caucuses and primaries compared to his 21 victories.
Echoing the sentiments of California Gov. Jerry Brown, who overcame a decades-long rivalry with the Clinton family to endorse her last week, many superdelegates expressed a desire to close ranks around a nominee who could defeat Trump in November.
Beyond winning over millions of Sanders supporters who vow to remain loyal to the self-described democratic socialist, Clinton faces challenges as she turns toward November, including criticism of her decision to use a private email server run from her New York home while serving as secretary of state. Her deep unpopularity among Republicans has pushed many leery of Trump to nevertheless embrace his campaign.
"This to me is about saving the country and preventing a third progressive, liberal term, which is what a Clinton presidency would do," House Speaker Paul Ryan told the AP last week after he finally endorsed Trump, weeks after the New Yorker clinched the GOP nomination.
Yet Clinton showed no signs of limping into the general election as she approached the milestone, leaving Sanders behind and focusing on lacerating Trump. She said electing the billionaire businessman, who has spent months hitting her and her husband with bitingly personal attacks, would be a "historic mistake."
"He is not just unprepared. He is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility," Clinton said last week in a speech that was striking in its forcefulness, previewing a brutal five-month general election campaign to come.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
House Speaker Paul Ryan began the hard work Tuesday of convincing nervous Republicans to back the party and its presumptive standard-bearer -- even as he disavowed Donald Trumps racially charged comments about a judge in his strongest terms yet, calling them the textbook definition of a racist comment.
The speaker condemned the comments as a growing chorus of GOP figures did the same, reprising concerns theyve had for months about the billionaire businessmans barbed tone and no-apologies style. With the primary season set to mostly wrap Tuesday night, the presumptive nominee and party leaders still are having visible difficulty navigating their arranged political marriage.
In a radio interview late Monday, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell even agreed with the notion that November represents a lesser of two evils election, though he dismissed Hillary Clinton as seeking a third Obama term.
Meanwhile, Ryan on Tuesday tried to quell the rancor in the Republican Party by unveiling the first plank of the GOP platform.
"People know what Republicans are against," Ryan said in a video posted on Twitter before announcing a plan to overhaul the nation's poverty programs. "Now, we're going to give you a plan that shows what we are for."
Ryan unveiled the first of several policy proposals at an alcohol and drug treatment program in the nation's capital. Called A Better Way, Ryans proposals would make changes to welfare, food and housing aid, increase work requirements, make aid more efficient and give states more decisions on how benefits are rolled out.
The rollout comes as Republicans seek to distance themselves from the latest firestorm surrounding comments Trump made about U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, claiming the judge can't be impartial in lawsuits against Trump University because his parents were born in Mexico and Trump wants to build a wall along the border.
Trumps comments were immediately denounced by a number of high-profile Republicans, some of whom had previously supported him. Ryan himself disavowed Trumps remarks Tuesday, calling them unacceptable.
Yet Ryan said the comments didnt alter his support for Trump over presumptive Democratic nominee Clinton.
We have a greater likelihood of getting our policies enacted than with Hillary Clinton as president, he said at a press conference announcing the proposals.
Ryan also is appealing to frustrated Republican voters backing Trump, but who are upset with the party itself.
"We can get angry and we can stay angry or we could channel that anger into action," Ryan said in a video posted to his website Friday.
Ryans attempt to change the conversation was echoed by other Republican leaders who have expressed frustration at Trumps dominance of the political conversation.
"I'm not going to be sucked into talking about Trump 24-7," said No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Cornyn of Texas on Monday evening as he was asked for his response to Trumps remarks. "We're going to talk about our work and what we're doing here."
As part of his effort to coalesce support behind him, Trump also met Tuesday with House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas at Trump Tower. The meeting comes as Hensarling unveiled details of a plan to replace the Dodd-Frank Act and end taxpayer-funded bank bailouts.
Ryan has made clear that his support is predominantly because he believes a Republican in the White House would be more likely to help enact his policy goals. On Thursday, Ryan will also release a national security plan, followed by plans on other issues, including the Constitution and health care in coming weeks.
Ryans proposal looks to consolidate food and housing programs, while also creating incentives for states to improve programs, and to help get recipients back to work.
Some of the proposals, such as scaling back the Obama administration's stricter nutrition rules for school meals, are already in motion.
Ryan's plan was criticized by Democrats, even before they were formally announced.
"While Speaker Ryan rolls out a swanky new policy agenda in an attempt to offer an alternative vision to that of Donald Trump, Americans across the country are struggling," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., ahead of the release. "The only `better way' that Speaker Ryan's recommendations will offer is a better way to fall into poverty."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The State Department has told a federal court that processing a Republican National Committee demand for documents relating to Hillary Clinton and her aides would take as long as 75 years and would stretch generations.
The department made the argument in a bid to fight the request, just one of several legal battles still unfolding over the former secretary of states personal email use.
The RNC had sued the department back in March for the records. The party is seeking years worth of emails for top Clinton aides including former chief of staff Cheryl Mills, adviser Jacob Sullivan and Bryan Pagliano, an IT specialist who helped set up Clintons server and struck an immunity deal with the Justice Department in the ongoing FBI probe.
A court filing last Wednesday before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia estimated that -- not counting the Pagliano request processing the records would take 75 years, considering the time it takes to review what would be hundreds of thousands of pages.
FOIA requests are not supposed to be labored over for generations, said the court filing, which sought summary judgment on the basis the RNC request was too broad and burdensome.
State Department officials defended the court filing on Tuesday.
Spokesman Mark Toner told Fox News the claim it could take 75 years is not an outlandish estimation, believe it or not.
Meanwhile, Pagliano also moved Tuesday to keep his own records under wraps in a separate case.
The ex-staffer who set up Clinton's home email server filed documents under seal in response to a judge's directive that he reveal his immunity arrangement with the Justice Department.
The motion was hidden from public view, and two exhibits were also sealed.
Pagliano last week said he would not testify in an upcoming deposition sought by conservative legal advocacy group Judicial Watch, which has sued for information about Clinton's email server.
In response, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan gave Pagliano until Tuesday evening to file with the court a copy of his immunity agreement.
On another front, the State Department said Tuesday that Clintons use of private email was not widely known, further undercutting claims she made as recently as Sunday.
Speaking with ABC News, Clinton said, Everybody in the department knew that I was emailing from a personal address. Hundreds of people knew it.
Toner, though, said Tuesday that really no one among the senior staff had a full and comprehensive knowledge of how much she was using her personal email and if they had, they probably would have done it differently.
The State Department was responding to questions about the deposition of aide Stephen Mull in a civil lawsuit. Mull, who ran Clinton's office, said he couldn't remember when he first learned about her private email, or why he suggested she get a government email account instead.
Fox News Catherine Herridge and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Donald Trump said late Tuesday that his controversial comments about a federal judges Mexican heritage have been misconstrued, as he defended his remarks in his most extensive statement to date on the matter in the face of a growing bipartisan backlash.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, in an apparent bid to move past the controversy, issued the 700-word statement shortly before polls were set to close in the last major round of primary voting Tuesday.
Trump said he does not intend to comment further, but used the statement to elaborate on his initial claim that a federal judges Mexican heritage presented a conflict of interest for him in Trump University litigation. He tried to make clear his comments were limited to this judge.
It is unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage, Trump said. I am friends with and employ thousands of people of Mexican and Hispanic descent. The American justice system relies on fair and impartial judges. All judges should be held to that standard. I do not feel that ones heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial.
He went on to cite positive reviews of Trump University, noting the case is now scheduled for trial in November.
I do not intend to comment on this matter any further. With all of the thousands of people who have given the courses such high marks and accolades, we will win this case! Trump said.
The statement capped what was arguably Trumps toughest day of criticism from leading members of his own party.
House Speaker Paul Ryan earlier Tuesday called the remarks the textbook definition of a racist comment. Ryan disavowed Trumps comments, calling them unacceptable.
Trump made the comments about U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, claiming the Indiana-born judge can't be impartial in lawsuits against Trump University because his parents were born in Mexico and Trump wants to build a wall along the border.
Trumps comments were immediately denounced by a number of high-profile Republicans.
Even as his status as the party standard-bearer is set to be solidified with Tuesdays voting, other GOP lawmakers continued to distance themselves from Trump.
Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., who is facing a tough re-election race, said Tuesday he will no longer support Trump for president.
He said he would not support presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, either, and would instead write in General Petraeus.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Bernie Sanders is blasting out mixed messages about his presidential campaign plans once the dust settles from Tuesdays last major batch of primaries on one hand vowing to fight to the convention, and on the other saying hell assess his options Wednesday, as he returns home to Burlington.
The speculation is swirling as Sanders faces mounting pressure from senior Democrats to step aside and let presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton charge ahead in the general election battle against Donald Trump.
Fox News projected Tuesday night that Clinton has earned enough delegates to clinch the party's nomination. With that in hand, President Obama reportedly is expected to get behind Clinton in a matter of days.
But Sanders plans are the big X-factor.
Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, of Illinois, said Tuesday, when asked whether Sanders may quit the race, All bets are off until the convention.
Sanders campaign lashed out at the media overnight after the Associated Press earlier declared that Clinton had reached the necessary 2,383 delegates to clinch the nomination, before Tuesday's primary voting even began.
There is nothing to concede, he told KTVU. Secretary Clinton will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to win the Democratic nomination. She will be dependent on superdelegates.
Superdelegates are the party insiders and officials free to support whichever candidate they want. Their support helped bring Clinton to the 2,383 delegate threshold, and Sanders has argued all along that he intends to court them in hopes of luring them to his side before the convention.
Still, Clinton has a substantial lead in pledged delegates as well. Before Tuesday, she had the support of 1,812 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses, and the support of 571 superdelegates.
At a press conference late Monday, Sanders indicated hell consider his options once Tuesdays primaries are over. In a potentially telling sign, hes returning to Burlington after the votes.
Sanders big goal Tuesday night is to win the marquee California primary, worth 475 delegates. Also voting Tuesday were Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Republicans are casting votes in all those contests save for North Dakota.
Trump will speak to the media at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday night.
Trump has already locked up the nomination, however, and for weeks has effectively been running a general election campaign.
On Tuesday, the frustration among Sanders supporters was evident on social media, as his backers accused AP and television networks of stifling voter turnout and relying upon superdelegates who won't formally cast their vote until the party's Philadelphia convention in July.
Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said the campaign's job is to convince the superdelegates that the Vermont senator is "by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump." He said calling the Democratic contest before superdelegates formally vote at the convention was a "rush to judgment."
In the AP's survey, which began in late 2015, no superdelegate has flipped support from Clinton to Sanders. None has suggested that could happen.
Since their creation in 1982, superdelegates have rarely strayed from their original endorsements -- unless there is a change in the pledged delegate tally. In 2008, some superdelegates flipped from Clinton to Obama after he overcame her early lead in pledged delegates."
Clinton's faithful also worried that the call might affect turnout in California, where the former secretary of state seeks victory to stifle Sanders' momentum. Said actress Eva Longoria during a Clinton fundraising concert in Los Angeles: "Don't let that keep you away tomorrow. We need California. We need New Jersey, we need North Dakota. Please find your polling place and help Hillary create history."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Is Bernie Sanders in denial, or just milking his moment?
With Hillary Clinton having now captured the 2,383 delegates needed to win the nomination todayas declared last night by the APthe long contest would seem to be over.
But no.
Sanders says hes heading for a contested convention in Philadelphia.
The Vermont senator risks looking like a sore loser, but at this point, what else has he got to do?
Many people forget that Sanders was not a Democrat until adopting the label last year to make his run. The Democratic establishment has been clearly lined up behind Clinton.
He doesnt really owe the party anything.
Sanders was kind of marginalized as an independent member of Congress. Now hes drawing huge crowds, raising big money and garnering endless media attention. Of course he doesnt want to give up the limelight.
Plus, the man is 74 years old. Its not like he can bide his time until 2020. Ted Cruz dropped his campaign against Donald Trump, despite repeatedly vowing to take the fight to Cleveland, because hes young enough for another presidential bid. This is it for Bernie.
Now obviously hes accomplished far more than anyone expected and gained a measure of clout within his new party. Hes already pushed Clinton significantly to the left. He can make demands for such things as platform concessions at the convention. I dont see Hillary picking him as her running mate, given that hed be 78 at the end of the first term, but stranger things have happened.
Maybe he's engaging in pregame bluster. Sanders told a presser he'll be returning to Vermont to "assess where we are" rather that discuss things based on "speculation." (Hillary had a media availability yesterday, perhaps signaling a shift in her limited-access policy.)
Its clear, in retrospect, that Sanders might have had a shot at beating the Clinton machine. And that is prompting some early political obituaries.
According to interviews with the candidate, his advisers, allies and other Democrats, says the Washington Post, Sanders fell short because of missed opportunities, a failure to connect with key constituencies and stubborn strategy decisions.
Once his campaign got hot, he struggled to connect with black and Latino voters, as well as with older Democrats, groups that carried Clintons candidacy. Sanders repeatedly clashed with another vital constituency the party leaders whose votes as superdelegates he would ultimately need to pry the nomination away from Clinton.
Sanders also overestimated the power of his economic message and, adamant that he run the kind of positive campaign that had been his trademark in Vermont, initially underestimated the imperative to draw sharp contrasts with Clinton.
By failing to compete with Clinton in minority communities, Sanders won states with large white populations but fell behind to the point where he couldnt catch up. Clinton, for instance, swept 73 percent of the vote in South Carolina.
By spending limited time on the trail and tending to Senate business in 2015, Sanders acted like a message candidate who didnt expect to winand by the time that changed, it was too late.
By saying he didnt care about Clintons damn emails, Sanders gave up a major weapon and showed he wanted to fight only on the issues. But that only takes you so far.
Even if he ekes out a slight victory in California, the math is totally against Sanders. Of the superdelegates who have announced their support, 547 are for Hillary, 46 for Bernie. The weight that the Democrats give superdelegates may be totally unfair, but the notion that large numbers of them are going to flip for a guy who attacks the party system as rigged seems far-fetched.
The real question is whether all those Feeling the Bern will transfer their allegiance to Clinton, or whether a sizable number will defect to Trump or simply stay home. And thats why Sanders tone is important.
Of course, reporters can also be tendentious. A female journalist asked Sanders yesterday whether it would be sexist for him to keep resisting the first woman to win a major-party nomination. He dismissed the question as not serious.
Clinton is talking about unifying the party. Her spokesman Brian Fallon told MSNBC yesterday, I think it would be helpful to not seek to delegitimize the process that has led to Hillary Clinton clinching this nomination as will happen tomorrow night.
So Hillary is going to declare victory. The press will say shes the winner. And Bernie Sanders will have a hard time convincing anyone that hes still got a shot at the nomination.
The first member of Congress to receive an endorsement from Donald Trump is fighting for her political life on Tuesday, as she faces powerful and well-funded conservative groups determined to oust her.
Trump over the weekend endorsed North Carolina Rep. Renee Ellmers, who is running against another sitting Republican congressman, George Holding, and two-time Senate candidate Greg Brannon for the states 2nd congressional district seat. Ellmers also was the first congresswoman to endorse Trump.
The candidates are facing off after federal judges in February struck down two congressional district boundaries as illegal racial gerrymanders. Consequently the state legislature redrew parts of all districts and delayed the March 15 primary.
No matter who wins Tuesday, at least one incumbent member of Congress will be out of a job.
Ellmers is hoping the endorsement from Trump can help swing the race in her favor against Holding, who is frequently cast as more conservative.
Renee was the first congresswoman to endorse me and she really was terrific, and boy is she a fighter, Trump said in a robocall to voters.
But the impact of Trump remains unknown for the candidate who once was a Tea Party darling, elected in the conservative wave that swept Congress in the 2010 midterms.
She joined the conservative Americans for Prosperity on the Hands off my Healthcare tour in 2009 and 2010 in opposition to ObamaCare, a spokesman for the group told FoxNews.com. In 2010, she also picked up the endorsement of Tea Party icon and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Thats all in the past. Now, outside conservative groups are pumping in resources to defeat her.
Americans for Prosperity, the Club for Growth and American Foundations Committee have spent well over $1 million opposing Ellmers, accusing her of not being conservative on fiscal issues and failing to challenge President Obama's administration.
The final straw was her support of the Import-Export Bank, Donald Bryson, North Carolina state director for Americans for Prosperity, told FoxNews.com.
Her support for a number of spending bills and subsidies have provoked conservative ire. Ellmers also faces opposition from pro-life groups unhappy at her after she temporarily halted and forced changes last year to a House bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks
Ellmers said last week she was not going to be controlled by special interest groups.
"I absolutely refuse to feel the pressure they put on other members to vote the way they want them to vote. I don't care about the scorecards that they keep, she said, according to The News and Observer.
On Saturday she said she was proud to receive Trumps support
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, she told FoxNews.com in a statement.
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."
An aide to Holding argued Trumps backing wont change the incumbents record on the issues.
Ellmers voted for 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 presidential primary, the aide said Sunday. Now she's trying to fool voters to get reelected.
Bryson said he is unsure how much the Trump backing will affect Ellmers, especially considering it came so late in the process.
He noted that their campaign, focused on opposing her instead of supporting her opponent, has been aggressive. The group says it has made more than 160,000 calls and has knocked on over 16,000 doors in the effort to oust Ellmers.
FoxNews.coms Christopher Snyder and Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ice age bison fossils offer new clues to the early migration of humans in North America, according to a report released by UC Santa Cruz on Monday.
Experts have long believed that early humans used an ice-free corridor in the Rocky Mountains to migrate from Alsaka and Yukon to other parts of North America, although its specific use is unclear.
Researchers at UC Santa Cruz believe the ice corridor was fully opened about 13,000 years ago, with humans following bison that hailed from north and south of the ice sheet.
Related: Dogs were domesticated twice, new DNA research shows
"When the corridor opened, people were already living south of there. And because those people were bison hunters, we can assume they would have followed the bison as they moved north into the corridor," said Beth Shapiro, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz, and a co-author of the study, on the universitys website.
In order to understand the bisons' movement, researchers used radiocarbon dating and mitochondrial DNA analysis on bison fossils. They were able to distinguish whether the bison hailed from north or south of the ice sheets.
Shapiro determined in prior findings that bison populations on each end of the ice sheets were genetically distinct by the time the corridor opened.
Related: DNA from ancient Phoenician stuns scientists
The research shows that the southern part of the corridor opened first, with southern bison to beginning to migrate northward as early as 13,400 years ago, before the corridor fully opened. Scientists also found some southward movement of northern bison. The two populations were overlapping in the corridor 13,000 years ago, they said.
The corridor provides insights into the North American Pleistocene era, which spans from 2.6 million to around 11,700 years ago.
Recent evidence also points to the theory that the ice sheets fused together some 21,000 years ago and closed the corridor before evidence of humans living south of the ice sheets has been found.
If youre the person who stashed a cache of silver coins in a rock crevice near Modiin in Israel, we have great news.
Your coins have been found only 2,140 years after you hid them.
Archaeologists uncovered the coins in April during an excavation prior to the construction of a neighborhood.
The coins, from the Hasmonean period, are shekels and half-shekels that were minted in the city of Tyre and bear the images of the king, Antiochus VII, and his brother, Demetrius II, said Avraham Tendler, director of the excavation, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Related: Team testing new scanner on Egypt's Great Pyramid
The cache that we found is compelling evidence that one of the members of the estate who had saved his income for months needed to leave the house for some unknown reason. He buried his money in the hope of coming back and collecting it, but was apparently unfortunate and never returned.
It is exciting to think that the coin hoard was waiting here 2,140 years until we exposed it.
The coins were found on what was once an agricultural estate where a Jewish family planted olive trees and vineyards, Tendler said. An olive press and storehouses for olive oil are currently being uncovered in an industrial area next to the estate.
Sixteen silver coins were found, one or two from every year between 135 and 126 BC, said Dr. Donald Tzvi Ariel, head of the coin department at the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Related: Underwater 'lost city' not a city at all
It seems that some thought went into collecting the coins, and it is possible that the person who buried the cache was a coin collector, Ariel said. He acted in just the same way as stamp and coin collectors manage collections today.
The excavators also found many bronze coins bearing the names of Hasmonean kings, indicating that the estate continued to operate throughout the Early Roman period.
The coins were stamped Year Two and contained the slogan Freedom of Zion, suggesting that the residents of the estate took part in the first revolt against the Romans in 66 AD.
Related: Study confirms King Tut's dagger was made with iron from a meteorite
The artifacts will be preserved in an archaeological park when workers are done building the neighborhood unless someone comes forward to prove hes the one who hid them there more than two millennia ago.
Solar Impulse 2 was forced to postpone its eagerly-anticipated flight from Lehigh Valley to New York as a result of bad weather early Tuesday.
The solar-powered plane was originally scheduled to take off from Lehigh Valley International Airport at midnight and was expected to arrive at New Yorks JFK Airport about 4 hours later after a flyby of the Statue of Liberty.
The journey between Lehigh Valley and New York would have marked the 14th leg of the solar planes historic solar-powered trip around the world.
Related: Solar Impulse 2 reaches Hawaii, shatters records in historic Pacific flight
In a video posted to YouTube, Solar Impulse 2 pilot Andre Borschberg explained that the decision to postpone the trip came after a test flight. There was a risk of showers in some ways we underestimated the risk, he said. It was quite difficult to find a way back to the airport tonight when we were doing the test flight, so, of course, we didnt want to proceed to JFK with this situation.
Borschberg, who noted that the aircraft is fine, explained that the Solar Impulse team has to carefully plan the pioneering aircrafts journeys. When you work on this type of project, you learn all the time, you try to get close to the limits, you have to, he said. You try to not go over your limits, thats what we did not do tonight.
Solar Impulse has not yet announced when the rescheduled flight will take place.
Related: From high above the Pacific, Solar Impulse 2 pilot spreads Earth Day message
The plane is the brainchild of explorer and Solar Impulse Chairman Piccard, who is taking it in turns with his fellow Swiss pilot Borschberg to fly the aircraft on its journey across the globe.
The aircraft, a larger version of a single-seat prototype that first flew six years ago, is made of carbon fiber and has 17,248 solar cells built into the wing that supply the plane with renewable energy, via four motors. The solar cells recharge four lithium polymer batteries, which provide power for night flying.
Solar Impulse 2 typically flies between 30 mph and 40 mph, although this can increase and decrease significantly depending on wind speed.
Related: Solar Impulse 2s epic journey in pictures
The plane has travelled 18,375 miles since setting off from on the first leg of the trip from Abu Dhabi to Oman in March 2015, and has racked up almost 385 hours of flight time.
Prior to its arrival in Lehigh Valley, Solar Impulse 2 made stops in India, Myanmar, China, Japan, Hawaii, California, Phoenix, Tulsa and Dayton. From New York, the plane will fly across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. The final leg of the odyssey is from Europe to Abu Dhabi.
A huge inflatable mobile hangar that can be quickly assembled and disassembled is being used to shelter Solar Impulse 2 on its journey around the world.
Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This Thor can fly, but it doesn't have a hammer, nor is it arrestingly handsome. Instead, it's a 3D-printed drone that Airbus showed off last week at the Berlin air show.
About 13-feet long and complete with engine mountings and propellers, Thor is a first-gen prototype, designed to show off what 3D printing can offer the aerospace industry.
The prototype first flew last November near Hamburg, according to the AFP, though it did not perform test flights at the air show. Other than its electrical components, the entire aircraft is made from polyamide, the fine material that is the equivalent of "ink" in many 3D printers.
"This is a test of what's possible with 3D printing technology," Thor project head Detlev Konigorski told the AFP. "We want to see if we can speed up the development process by using 3D printing not just for individual parts but for an entire system."
Airbus and other aircraft manufacturers have used 3D-printed components in their designs for years. In addition to being incorporated into new plane designs, they're also used to cut maintenance costs for aging fighter jets.
The Royal Air Force has been experimenting with 3D-printed replacement parts for their Tornado fighters that could save 1.2 million pounds, or $1.7 million, by 2017.
In addition to Thor, Airbus has been developing several other 3D-printed innovations, including a partition for the cabin of commercial passenger jets that mimics the structure of living cells and bones. The so-called "bionic partition" design uses custom algorithms to mimic cellular structure and bone growth, creating a very strong structure that Airbus says weighs 45 percent less than traditional designs.
This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.
Terrified passengers and flight crew were hospitalized and a plane cabin was trashed after severe turbulence rocked a flight from Peru to Argentina.
Twenty-three people were injured on Saturday when the Avianca Airlines flight from Lima to Buenos Aires ran into a rough weather patch at 41,000 feet, over the Andes mountain range.
Photographs of the aftermath posted to social media show a crew member with a severe gash on her head and others strapped to their seats wearing neck braces.
Avianca 965 flight turbulence leaves 36 requiring urgent medical treatment-- - https://t.co/sWYVOLN24U Media pic.twitter.com/BuJMnGeSHN Patriot Media (@iyosomi) June 7, 2016
In another photo, debris can be seen strewn across the cabin.
[News] Avianca flight #AV965 from Lima - Buenos Aires encounters severe turbulence injuring at least 20 people. pic.twitter.com/BIq4Y56cXf Brendan Grainger (@S118869) June 6, 2016
In a statement, the airline said 10 people on board flight AV965 were admitted to hospital and released soon after.
A witness told the Mail Online one passenger was thrown from their seat and slammed their head during the turbulence.
But he also questioned how the airline handled the incident after the plane arrived safety at Ezeiza in Buenos Aires.
Nobody from Avianca was there to meet us when we arrived in Ezeiza to see how we were, passenger Alejandro Babato said.
It was a miracle we survived.
The passenger jet remained grounded for six hours after landing before it departed Buenos Aires for the return flight.
The frightening incident was the second bout of severe turbulence to injure passengers this week.
Yesterday, reports emerged an unspecified number of people on board a Malaysia Airlines flight were treated for injuries after the plane was battered by turbulence between London and Kuala Lumpur.
Photographs showed up-ended meal carts and debris that had been flung across the cabin.
Malaysia Airlines which has struggled to shake off the stigma of the MH370 and MS17 disasters said some passengers were injured on board.
Due to a brief moment of severe turbulence some passengers suffered minor injuries, the airline said in a statement.
A small number of affected passengers and crew have been treated by medical officers.
Photos: Yesterday - Avianca A330 which hit severe turbulence, injured 23 onboard & cracked the aircraft interior. pic.twitter.com/upCjFMPDKk Alex Macheras (@AlexInAir) June 6, 2016
Malaysian state news agency Bernama aired footage of a passenger being taken from the landed plane on a stretcher and wearing a neck brace.
Malaysia Airlines has assisted the 378 passengers and crew on-board MH1 and sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience caused by this weather event which was entirely beyond our control, the company also said it its statement.
This weeks incidents are the latest on a growing list of flights that have been jostled by damaging turbulence this year.
Last month, 31 passengers and crew were injured, including broken bones, when turbulence hit a Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi to Jakarta.
In April, photos emerged of a plane cabin resembling a war zone after a particularly bumpy Thai Airways flight from Jakarta to Bangkok.
And in January, passengers on an Air New Zealand Tokyo to Auckland flight had a mid air fright after bad turbulence hit during dinner service, which sent food trays flying across the cabin.
About 25 turbulence-related injuries are reported in Australia each year, however many other cases go unreported, according to the latest data from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
Those not wearing seatbelts are the most likely to be affected.
But turbulence is much more likely to cause injuries to passengers and crew in the cabin than damage to the aircraft itself, which is built to withstand it, the bureau said.
The federal bureaucrat who blocked armed law enforcement agents from apprehending a man involved in the San Bernardino terror attack last December, then allegedly lied to investigators about her actions, has been reassigned to another post, but likely won't face further investigation, FoxNews.com has learned.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services supervisor who an Inspector Generals report did not name but blasted for keeping Department of Homeland Security agents from Enrique Marquez is Irene Martin, who, according to her Linkedin.com account, has been with the agency for at least 16 years, 13 years as a field supervisor.
Marquez and his Russian wife Mariya Chernykh were scheduled for an interview with Martins staff on Dec. 3, the day after Marquezs friend Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people at an office Christmas party. After the FBI learned Marquez allegedly supplied the guns, they sent five armed Homeland Security Investigation agents to the USCIS building to detain Marquez.
Homeland Security Investigations is part of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which, like U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, is part of DHS. Martin refused to allow the agents access to Marquez.
It is not clear what disciplinary action Martin could face, but the report last week faulted her for making agents wait more than 90 minutes before she gave them access to related files on the suspected terrorist, and then she dismissively ordered them to hand copy files, according to the federal report. Agents told building security they intended to arrest Marquez to prevent him from killing anyone, but Martin had them wait 30 minutes just to see her. When questioned by IG investigators later, Martin repeatedly changed her story and also contradicted what other witnesses said.
We concluded that the USCIS Field Office Director at the San Bernardino office improperly delayed HSI agents from conducting a lawful and routine law enforcement action the report said. We have also concluded that the Field Office Director was not candid with OIG investigators during her interview.
Jeff Carter, chief of media relations for USCIS, told FoxNews.com late Monday that "to his knowledge there is no further investigation into Martin," and her transfer become acting deputy district director was planned before the audit was released.
Martin, who formally oversaw San Bernardino and Riverside as well as Los Angeles counties, did not return emails to FoxNews.com. USCIS in California referred calls to its Washington headquarters, where officials refused to comment. However, experts and former law enforcement agents told FoxNews.com Martins actions amounted to obstruction of justice.
The USCIS field directors behavior was not only outrageous and reprehensible, but in violation of federal law and policy that ensure any law enforcement agency the ability to make arrests or conduct interviews in government facilities, said Jessica Vaughan, of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based research institute. I cannot imagine any possible excuse for her actions, and it is doubly concerning that she apparently lied to the investigators about what she did. She needs to be fired, not to mention prosecuted.
Although Marquez was only a person of interest a day after the attack, authorities were frantically trying to track down anyone associated with Farook and Malik. Both Farook and Malik were killed by law enforcement after their morning attack.
When agents show up to CIS for a criminal investigation, they should never be impeded. That is obstruction of justice, said Claude Arnold, retired special agent in charge for ICEs Los Angeles bureau of Homeland Security Investigations.
Martin is not named in the Inspector General report released June 1, but large portions of the 9-page report to Congress are dedicated to documenting the field supervisors actions. Internal sources confirmed Martins identity and the USCIS web site still lists her as the field supervisor.
When interviewed by OIG, the field office director denied telling the agents they were not allowed to arrest, detain, or interview anyone in the building, the report states. However, her account is contradicted by that of the other HSI agents present.
She also gave inconsistent answers about when she discovered that the HSI agents were investigating the shootings from the day prior.Either version is contradicted by the building security officer.
Arnold said the allegations in the Inspector Generals report indicate criminality.
It is pretty standard across the federal government that if someone engages in criminal misconduct related to their professional duties, it is also a removable offense, he said.
The report notes Martin had no authority to hold up the agents who were justifiably concerned that Marquez and Chernykh may pose a threat to the occupants and visitors of the USCIS facility. Marquez, who is now in jail and awaiting trial on charges related to supplying the guns as well as marriage fraud, has pleaded not guilty.
Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., requested the IG investigation.
The DHS was created to unify and improve coordinated efforts to defend our homeland. Refusing to allow armed ICE agents into a USCIS facility to detain a suspected terrorist just a day after a deadly terrorist attack is disturbing, Johnson told FoxNews.com. It is my hope that the DHS takes this incident seriously and improves its coordination so that something like this never happens again. The safety of all Americans depends on it.
The Latest on the trial of a reputed high-ranking member of the Bloods street gang accused of orchestrating the abduction of a prosecutor's father (all times local):
12:45 p.m.
A violent leader in the Bloods street gang says he wants to represent himself in a North Carolina kidnapping trial because his lawyers don't know enough about gang operations.
Fifty-one-year-old Kelvin Melton made the comments Monday during a 10-minute exchange with the judge before the start of a trial that could put him in federal prison for life. Melton is accused of directing underlings to abduct the prosecutor who put him in prison for life in an earlier North Carolina shooting case.
The botched plan led to gang members snatching the prosecutor's father instead. Frank Janssen was saved when authorities stormed an Atlanta apartment where he was held. His captors were finalizing details to kill him and dispose of his body. Milton is accused of orchestrating the abduction from his prison cell.
The judge said Melton's lawyers will continue to defend him.
___
7 a.m.
A violent criminal described as a high-ranking member of the Bloods street gang goes on trial in North Carolina after authorities say he helped orchestrate from his prison cell the abduction of a prosecutor's father.
Fifty-one-year-old Kelvin Melton was already serving a life sentence for ordering underlings to shoot a Raleigh man when the prosecutor's father was abducted two years ago. Melton's trial on kidnapping and other charges starts Monday in federal court in Raleigh.
Authorities say Melton used a smuggled cellphone to target the Wake County prosecutor who put him away for the Raleigh shooting. The botched plan led to gang members snatching the prosecutor's father instead. Frank Janssen was saved when authorities stormed an Atlanta apartment where he was held. His captors were finalizing details to kill him and dispose of his body.
Investigators are launching a new effort next month to retrieve the "black box" of a freighter that sank last October with 33 crew members on board.
The National Transportation Safety Board on Monday said NTSB, U.S. Coast Guard and Navy personnel will depart in early July for the site near the Bahamas where the El Faro sank. They'll be accompanied by engineers from a private company that specializes in underwater projects.
The ship's voyage data recorder couldn't be retrieved when it was located in April because of obstructions that require specialized equipment.
The 790-foot freighter sank in 15,000 feet of water after losing propulsion between Jacksonville, Florida, and Puerto Rico, during Hurricane Joaquin. All 33 crewmembers died.
The recorder may hold audio from the ship's bridge that can shed light on its final moments.
next Image 1 of 2
prev Image 2 of 2
A department chief is among five New York City jail employees who've been convicted on felony charges for allegedly beating an inmate who stared down the chief during a search of his cell.
Bronx prosecutors say former Assistant Chief of Security Eliseo Perez and officers Alfred Rivera, Tobias Parker, Jose Parra and David Rodriguez, were convicted Tuesday. They each face up to 15 years in prison.
Jeffrey Richard, a sixth guard who prosecutors alleged helped cover up the attack, was found not guilty.
Prosecutors say Perez ordered guards at Rikers Island to attack inmate Jahmal Lightfoot on June 11, 2012, after the inmate stared him down.
Authorities say Lightfoot suffered two broken eye sockets and other injuries.
Prosecutors say the guards also falsified reports to say Lightfoot had a weapon.
The human brain is hardwired to judge. This survival mechanism makes it very hard to meet someone without evaluating and interpreting their behavior.
While we tend to think that our judgments are based on the content of conversations and other obvious behaviors, the research says otherwise. In fact, the majority of our judgments are focused on smaller, subtler things, such as handshakes and body language. We often form complete opinions about people based solely on these behaviors.
We are so good at judging other peoples personalities based on small things that, in a University of Kansas study, subjects accurately predicted peoples personality traits, such as extroversion/introversion, emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness, simply by looking at pictures of the shoes they wore.
Our unconscious behaviors have a language of their own, and their words arent always kind. These behaviors have likely become an integral part of who you are, and if you dont spend much time thinking about them, now is a good time to start, because they could be sabotaging your career.
Related: 9 Skills You Should Learn That Pay Dividends Forever
1. How you treat waiters and receptionists.
How you treat support staff is so indicative of your makeup that it has become a common interview tactic. By gauging how you interact with support staff on your way in and out of the building, interviewers get a sense for how you treat people in general. Most people act the part when theyre speaking to the hiring manager or other important people, but some will pull a Jekyll and Hyde act the moment they walk out the door, treating others with disdain or indifference. Business lunches are another place this comes to light. No matter how nice you are to the people you have lunch with, its all for naught if those people witness you behaving badly toward others.
2. How often you check your phone.
Theres nothing more frustrating than someone pulling out their phone mid-conversation. Doing so conveys a lack of respect, attention, listening skills, and willpower. Unless its an emergency, its wise to keep your phone holstered. A study from Elon University confirms that pulling out your phone during a conversation lowers both the quality and quantity of face-to-face interactions.
3. Repetitive, nervous habits.
Touching your nails or face or picking at your skin typically indicates that youre nervous, overwhelmed, and not in control. Research from the University of Michigan suggests that these nervous habits are indicative of a perfectionistic personality, and that perfectionists are more likely to engage in these habits when theyre frustrated or bored.
4. How long you take to ask questions.
Have you ever had a conversation with someone where they talked about themselves the entire time? The amount of time someone allows to pass before they take an interest in you is a strong personality indicator. People who only talk about themselves tend to be loud, self-absorbed takers. People who only ask questions and share little about themselves are usually quiet, humble givers. Those who strike a nice balance of give-and-take are reciprocators and good conversationalists.
Related: Breaking These 13 Bad Habits Will Make You Happier
5. Your handshake.
Its common for people to associate a weak handshake with a lack of confidence and an overall lackadaisical attitude. A study at the University of Alabama showed that, although it isnt safe to draw assumptions about someones competence based on their handshake, you can accurately identify personality traits. Specifically, the study found that a firm handshake equates with being less shy, less neurotic, and more extroverted.
6. Tardiness.
Showing up late leads people to think that you lack respect and tend to procrastinate, as well as being lazy or disinterested. Contrary to these perceptions, a San Diego State University study by Jeff Conte revealed that tardiness is typically seen in people who multitask, or are high in relaxed, Type B personality traits. Contes study found that Type B individuals are often late because they experience time more slowly than the rest of us. Bottom line here is not to read too much into people showing up late. Its better to ask whats behind it than to make assumptions.
7. Handwriting.
There are all manner of false stereotypes attempting to relate your handwriting to your personality. For example, people believe that how hard you press down on the paper relates to how uptight you are, the slant of your writing indicates introversion or extroversion, and the neatness/sloppiness of your writing reveals organizational tendencies. The research is inconclusive at best when it comes to handwriting and personality. If you have an important letter to write, Id suggest sticking to the keyboard to keep things neutral.
8. Eye contact.
The key to eye contact is balance. While its important to maintain eye contact, doing so 100 percent of the time is perceived as aggressive and creepy. At the same time, if you only maintain eye contact for a small portion of the conversation, youll come across as disinterested, shy, or embarrassed. Studies show that maintaining eye contact for roughly 60 percent of a conversation strikes the right balance and makes you come across as interested, friendly, and trustworthy.
Related: How to Master the Art of the First Impression
Bringing It All Together
Sometimes the little things in life make a big difference. Its good to be ready for them, so that you can make a strong impression.
A version of this article appeared on TalentSmart.
Authorities in central Florida are trying to figure out how an alligator got ahold of a dead body Tuesday near a lake.
Lakeland police said they first received a 911 call in the morning after someone reported seeing the alligator with a body in its mouth on the shore of Lake Hunter.
Police said the body found Tuesday is that of a male, and preliminarily appears to have been deceased for at least a day. Lakeland is located about 35 miles east of Tampa.
It appears prematurely, a little early that maybe this body was in the lake more than a day from looking at the body, said Lakeland police spokesman Sgt. Gary Gross in a video from the scene. It doesnt appear to have just occurred.
LIVE on #Periscope: Body pulled out of the lake in Lakeland - Police Investigation https://t.co/R5yPcm33zS Sgt. Gary B Gross (@GaryBGross) June 7, 2016
When officials arrived at the scene, the alligator let go of the body and swam away, police said.
Watch on #Periscope: Body pulled out of the lake in Lakeland - Police Investigation https://t.co/lVQqr9s5gH Sgt. Gary B Gross (@GaryBGross) June 7, 2016
It wasn't known if the alligator killed the person or simply found the dead body. Gross said a medical examiner will have to determine the cause of death.
Officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission responded to the scene and will attempt to trap the alligator, Fox 13 reported.
Click for more from Fox 13.
Big data doesn't necessarily come with a big pricetag. Here, an expert offers his tips for using big data on a small budget.
Got an operational problem?
Big Data will solve it! Marketing ills? Ask Big Data! Those two words have become a catchall -- but data-crunching services tend to chase after enterprise-level businesses, making them out of reach for most small businesses. (Google Analytics Premium, for example, starts at $150,000 a year.) Dont worry: Martineau says that with a strategic approach to Big Data, anyone can afford it.
So, where do I start?
Identify your single biggest opportunity for improvement. Then within that category, focus on tracking and improving one key metric -- something where experimenting with a little time and money can move the needle. The three I recommend: How much traffic and leads did I generate this month? What percentage of leads converted into customers? What percentage of my customers are not satisfied enough to refer me to others? Pick one and follow it for a couple of weeks to a quarter.
OK, but how will I follow it?
A few vendors will automatically gather this information and tell you what is working and what isnt. These include Wicked Reports ($99/month), ClicData ($75/month) and Graphly ($49/month). Another one, SumAll ($99/month), connects to your social media accounts and provides insights.
Thats still expensive. What about a free option?
The free version of Google Analytics offers a wealth of reports that can help you evaluate whats happening on your website. It wont provide you with the granular, minute-by-minute insights and support these other services do, but its a good place to start.
Will Big Data ever be widely accessible?
In the not-too-distant future, small businesses will leverage Big Data without even knowing it. Accounting software, CRM and marketing automation software will automatically serve predictive analytics, insights and more. These solutions will help you know which questions to ask and give you the answers you seek without having to concern yourself with complex technicalities.
The father of a Stanford University swimmer convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman is coming under fire on blogs and social media for playing down the attack as 20 minutes of action during a public statement at the swimmers sentencing on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky, who sentenced Brock Allen Turner to six months in prison, is facing calls for his removal from the bench after saying jail would have a severe impact on Turner.
Some are urging for his recall in Change.org petitions, and Stanford University law professor Michele Dauber, a friend of the victim, launched a campaign of her own.
"This sentence is making all women at Stanford less safe because its sending the message to women student if this happens to you, you are on your own and its sending the message to potential perpetrators I have your back," Dauber told CBS News Monday.
Persky said in court Thursday that he was following the recommendation of the county's probation department with Turner's sentence. Turner, of Dayton, Ohio, also must to register for life as a sex offender after a jury convicted him of three felony counts of assault and attempted rape.
Turner, 20, was found by two students on top of an unconscious woman by a dumpster in January 2015. Prosecutors said Turner met the woman at a party and sexually assaulted her after she passed out from intoxication. Police officers said the woman was unresponsive and partially clothed.
Turner faced up to 14 years in prison, a sentence his father, Dan Turner, argued against.
That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life, Dan said at his sons sentencing hearing.
The woman Turner assaulted had much stronger words for the former swimming star when she read her victim impact statement in court prior to Turners sentencing.
You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today, the 23-year-old woman said, The Washington Post reported. The damage is done, no one can undo it. And now we both have a choice. We can let this destroy us, I can remain angry and hurt and you can be in denial, or we can face it head on: I accept the pain, you accept the punishment, and we move on.
The local prosecutor disagreed with the sentence, arguing for six years for crimes that could have sent Turner to prison for 10 years. But lawyers who have appeared in Persky's court call him a fair and conservative judge in the county in the heart of Silicon Valley.
"He is an absolutely solid and respected judge," said Santa Clara County deputy public defender Gary Goodman. "Persky made the right decision."
Barbara Muller, a criminal defense attorney who works two weeks a month in Persky's court, says he "is definitely one of the fairest judges" in the county.
"He considers all facts and is very thorough," Muller said. "He plays it right down the middle."
The judge is barred from commenting on the case because Turner is appealing his conviction, court spokesman Joe Macaluso said.
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen, whose office argued for a prison sentence for Turner, said Persky should not lose his job because of the ruling.
"While I strongly disagree with the sentence that Judge Persky issued in the Brock Turner case, I do not believe he should be removed from his judgeship," Rosen said in a statement Monday. His office would not comment further.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Tropical Storm Colin made a mess as it moved across northern Florida early Tuesday, flooding roads and knocking out power to thousands.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency in 34 of the state's 67 counties as the storm churned its way across the state into southeast Georgia. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Colin marked the earliest that a third named storm has ever formed in the Atlantic basin.
By 5 a.m. EDT Tuesday, the storm was moving into the Atlantic, away from the Georgia coast.
Scott told the Associated Press that there were no reports of major damage, but the state will be tracking flooding from the sudden deluge of rain, much of which fell during high tides Monday. He said Florida has seen severe flooding in unlikely places after previous storms.
The center of the storm reached land late Monday in the area of Apalachee Bay in the state's Big Bend region.
"We'll just see how well it runs off," Scott said. "I always remember back to (Tropical Storm) Isaac in 2012, it went west but we had unbelievable flooding in Palm Beach County."
Colin's maximum sustained winds Tuesday morning were near 50 mph with some strengthening forecast after the storm moved into the Atlantic. But the NHC said Colin was expected to lose its tropical cyclone status by Tuesday night.
The storm disrupted schools and summer programs. Many were dismissed early Monday, and two high school graduations in the Tampa Bay area were postponed due to the storms, with both ceremonies being moved to Wednesday night and Thursday. High winds also closed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa.
At Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge roads were flooded and businesses sent people home early.
The high winds and rain also knocked out power to about 10,000 Floridians heading into Monday evening from the Tampa Bay area to Jacksonville.
Colin produced rainfall amounts of 3 to 6 inches, and forecasters said up to 8 inches were possible across north Florida, southeastern Georgia and coastal areas of the Carolinas through Tuesday.
Not everyone in Florida was hunkering down. About 50 people were in the water with surfboards off Treasure Island to take advantage of the rare 2-3-foot swells breaking in the Gulf's warm waters.
"It's like man against nature," said Derek Wiltison of Atlantic Beach. "Surfers tend to drop what they're doing work, relationships, whatever to go out and catch a wave."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Voters in Switzerland this week overwhelmingly rejected an economic plan to offer all citizens an unconditional monthly payment, in what was to be the first major country to adopt a guaranteed basic income.
But that's unlikely to stop the debate or, worse, the experimentation here in the U.S.
That's too bad.
Guaranteed basic income is a straightforward concept: All citizens of a nation are guaranteed an unconditional payment to improve their lives. They can use it for whatever they choose. That could be buying drugs, taking violin lessons or making sure their kids have diapers. No strings attached.
Related: Prepare for a Massive Recession
Interestingly, there are both liberal/socialist and conservative/libertarian arguments supporting basic income. The liberal side puts this in the same broad category of other social-welfare programs. As a nation, we have a responsibility to our most vulnerable, and the richest of our citizens and the most profitable of our institutions should give more of their wealth to help those who don't have it. Entrepreneurial technology companies, under this argument, have even more responsibility to back this kind of social program, since advances in technology and productivity -- especially the growth of artificial-intelligence products -- threaten to put even more people out of work in the coming years.
The conservative argument rests on the fairness and simplicity of the program. Instead of spending tax dollars on programs such as welfare, food stamps, Medicare and Social Security for some of the population, give an equal amount to everyone and be done with it. Everyone starts at the same point, and if you choose to buy heroin with your basic income, it's no one's fault but your own. Entrepreneurial technology companies can actually innovate further on products and services that put people out of work, since they are funding basic income and fueling the overall economy with the efficiencies their technologies provide.
Switzerland was always a lousy lab for this. It has very generous social-welfare programs already, and the country, thanks in large part to its banking heritage, is very wealthy to begin with.
The U.S. is a different matter, with a crushing deficit, rising debt, decaying cities and a population already hooked on government payments. What's more, as the current election season shows, there's a sharp political divide (even within the two major parties) that makes the idea difficult to ever come to a vote. One can see Bernie Sanders supporting it as a socialist add-on to current entitlements, Donald Trump not understanding the subtleties, the #NeverTrump conservatives fighting it on misguided principle and Hillary Clinton equally championing the idea and fighting it, depending on the event or fundraiser. None of that furthers the discussion.
The private sector is trying its own experiments. Y Combinator, the fabled accelerator program, is moving ahead with a plan to do a trial-run of basic income in a U.S. city, specifically Oakland, right in Silicon Valley's backyard. The goal, according to Y Combinator, is to "to answer a few key questions: how peoples happiness, well-being and financial health are affected by basic income, as well as how people might spend their time."
Obviously, there's something meritorious in a private-sector experiment for a societal need. After all, that's what entrepreneurship is all about: finding an innovative solution to a hard-to-crack problem.
But the Y Combinator study is flawed -- and potentially dangerous -- and, like the move in Switzerland, should be abandoned before it ever gets off the ground.
Y Combinator plans to take a test group in Oakland and give them income "for the duration of the study, no matter what," the company says. "People will be able to volunteer, work, not work, move to another country -- anything. We hope basic income promotes freedom, and we want to see how people experience that freedom."
In short, for however long the test lasts -- it has floated a test period of five years -- Y Combinator will be guaranteeing some income and seeing what people do with it.
Related: Transgender Rights? Citizens United? Should Brands Get Political?
But then what?
That's a question worth asking, because, make no mistake, this is a human experiment. Y Combinator will be artificially propping up people's incomes for a short period of time and seeing what folks do with it. Y Combinator is only looking to see if this makes people happier or "better," as if that's some reasonable endpoint. Then, presumably, it will take this income away. For scientific purity, it has to: The only way to judge the impact of this new income on families is to test them over the same time period and same conditions with the absence of it. Y Combinator also has to study a control group, and gauge whether that group's happiness level is lower in the absence of income, if it truly wants scientific data.
You can see the ethical dilemma in a basic-income experiment: You're toying with people's financial health, and, by judging your endpoints based on feelings, you're tinkering with and assessing human behavior. Y Combinator isn't conducting an economic experiment. It's conducting a psychological one, and that can go disastrously wrong if it's not careful. It needs to message to the marketplace that all the safeguards inherent in any health-related or psychological study of humans are being followed.
The researcher Y Combinator hired, Elizabeth Rhodes, just got her doctorate in social work and political science from the University of Michigan, where she studied slum communities in Nairobi, Kenya. This is a very different engagement, though, one with dangers that can't be downplayed. What seems like a harmless and innovative assessment of basic income could end up being an economic Tuskegee, scarring the people who came to rely on the basic income offered during the study.
And to what end? This experiment can't possibly determine whether the country could support basic income. For one thing, Oakland is not an ideal test city. Y Combinator said it selected Oakland because of its economic diversity, but it also chose it because it's "close to where we live, which means well be closer to the people involved." But that could equally skew the results. Having relationships with subjects means researchers cannot be dispassionate, something essential in scientific rigor.
What's more, the endpoints are simply disappointing: "Do people sit around and play video games, or do they create new things? Are people happy and fulfilled? Do people, without the fear of not being able to eat, accomplish far more and benefit society far more? And do recipients, on the whole, create more economic value than they receive?"
Fascinating, yes, but the success or failure of basic income won't necessarily rest on its benefit -- people with more money will either spend it or save it -- but how it will be paid for. Switzerland's voters -- 77 percent of whom rejected basic income -- didn't like the moral impact of handing someone a check, but also couldn't figure out where the money would come from. It was just one generation removed from the New Deal that our own government found it couldn't pay for.
Ultimately, policy needs to be based on the balance sheet, not good intentions. Just ask the Soviet Union and, more recently, Venezuela, how their economic utopias worked out for them.
Y Combinator fully admits the cost -- and therefore the feasibility -- won't be addressed. "We dont yet know how it should look or how to pay for it," it says. That's a big omission, one that, if this were a startup pitching to join Y Combinator, its partners would shoot down immediately.
Related: Regardless of Outcome, Sanders Has Shed Light on the Problem of Income Inequality
With technology and innovation, there may come a day when the economy can support guaranteed basic income, but that time isn't now, and, despite Silicon Valley's God-playing enthusiasm, that time remains far, far off. It may never come. The irony of basic income is that, if an economy can support such a program, it probably doesn't need it anyway.
One way or another, now isn't the time to make lab rats of human beings whose lives, whose hopes and dreams, whose health and welfare relies on capital derived from more predictable sources than the all-too-visible tinkering hand of a well-meaning technology accelerator.
The Swiss got it right. So should Silicon Valley.
Many female CEOs I know have the same story. A male job candidate blows them away with his interview and jam-packed CV. His references sing his praises, so she hires him on the spot, excited about the new skills hell bring to her company.
A few months later, hes cleaning out his office. Not because hes on to bigger and better things, but because hes consistently underperformed at his job. Despite conversation after conversation with the CEO, things havent improved. As she shakes his hand one final time, the CEO is left to ponder just what went wrong.
Ive had highly recommended engineers miss deadlines before, says Susan Johnson, CEO of Women.com. Or do work that was just not up to par. At some point, you begin to wonder -- is it you? Are your male direct reports just not taking you seriously?
Related: How Women Leaders Win and Help Others to Do the Same
42.7 percent of managers in the U.S. are female, according to a 2015 report by the International Labour Organization. But that doesnt mean that our culture is any more used to women in positions of power. There is evidence that female leaders are evaluated less favorably than their male counterparts, are liked less than their male counterparts, and are penalized for adopting masculine leadership styles, writes UCLAs Kim Elsessar in her book "Gender Bias Against Female Leaders: A Review."
But Susan Johnsons story points to an even bigger problem. Men managed by women often dont perform as well as when managed by other men -- and the women arent sure what to do about it.
A communication quandary.
The problem probably begins with communication. Compared to male bosses, female bosses may express their criticisms less aggressively. Studies show that while men see verbal sparring as a normal part of the work environment, women tend to take harsh words to heart. They avoid using them on others -- even subordinates.
In some cases, however, harsh words are the only way to get the message across. NOVA Medical CEO Sue Chen recalls a heated conversation she had with her team. She was making a point she considered vitally important, but the message just wasnt getting through. My comfort zone does not go above 10 on the Richter scale, but that day I went to 12. I was really angry.
To Chens surprise, her cofounder wasnt offended -- he was impressed. Not only did he end up agreeing with her, he also told her that she should show her aggressive side to more people in the company. So far, Chen hasnt followed his advice. Why cant I be a nice person and also a boss? she asks.
And theres the crux of the problem. Most women know how to be harder. But do they want to be?
Related: 10 Inspirational Quotes From Women Business Leaders
I chose to be a leader who focuses on teamwork and collaboration, says Susan Johnson. Could I be harder? Sure. But I dont run my team that way. And frankly, I just dont think its the most effective.
Johnsons instinct is spot on. The research is unequivocal -- when women manage teams, there are a myriad of benefits: they are better at keeping employees engaged and are more likely to cultivate new talent on their team. Corporate boards with at least one woman member pay less for successful acquisitions and have significantly higher return on equity. Maybe the answer isnt teaching women to imitate men -- its in teaching men to sit back and enjoy the benefits of having a female boss.
But our business culture (and the library of self-help books that its spawned) doesnt do that. Instead of telling men to communicate better and collaborate more, it tells women to mimic standard business behavior -- a set of standards set, over time, primarily by men. This isnt just sexist; it also blunts female bosses effectiveness by curtailing the skills that make them great. Maybe its not women but office culture itself that should change.
Lean In shouldnt mean man up.
When "Lean In" came out, there was one particular statistic that was bandied about more often than the others. Im referring, of course, to the Hewlett-Packard study Sandberg cited about the differing tendencies among men and women when applying for jobs.
It turned out, Sandberg explained, that women would only submit a resume when they feel they meet all of the requirements -- men throw their hat in the ring if they make 60 percent of them. Women need to shift from thinking, Im not ready to do that to thinking I want to do that -- and Ill learn by doing it. Sandberg encouraged.
Related: Do Women Leaders Walk a Tightrope to Be Seen as Effective and Likable?
That sentence sets off alarm bells. Imagine legions of men armed with only 60 percent of the requisite skills setting off to build bridges, perform surgeries, and dismantle bombs. How many accidents, catastrophes and losses could have been avoided if the people in charge were actually fully qualified? Or even 90 percent qualified?
This seems like another case where men could learn from women, instead of the other way around. Why not shift office norms so people of all genders are actually qualified for the jobs they apply for? Studies have shown that men tend to exaggerate their abilities and accomplishments, whereas women downplay theirs. Of course, in many cases that exaggeration is harmless -- a normal part of talking yourself up in a job interview or trying to make a good impression on your manager. But theres a line between being confident and being accurate. More men would do well to respect it, especially when they have a female boss. Otherwise theyre likely to end up like Susan Johnsons deadline-missing engineers -- looking for a new job.
Your boss, not your date.
When I ask most female CEOs this question -- what advice would you give to a male subordinate of a female boss -- their first response is, Tell him to treat the female boss exactly the same way he would treat a male boss.
But the reality isnt so simple. What does treating someone like a male boss actually mean?
Sue Chen shares an experience she had with a man she hired, a sales manager she described as a smooth talker. He was always ready with a joke or pleasantry, but whenever she had to give him critical feedback, as a boss should, he reacted very badly. Finally I told him Im your boss -- dont treat me like a date, Chen says. He was completely taken aback. That was the only way he knew to be around women.
Most male employees probably realize that flirting with their female boss isnt a great idea. But research shows that Chens sales manager isnt as alone as you might think. Men are more likely to see other men as competitors in the office hierarchy, while they see women more as sisters, friends or lovers. Sometimes, that translates into solid office friendships; other times, it can come off as a lack of respect.
This dynamic can be especially difficult when it comes time for the hardest part of a bosss day: giving negative feedback to your employees. Many female CEOs I talked to said their male employees often took their criticisms more personally than female employees did.
Over the years, weve had several men crash and burn, says Chen. In the beginning, its always great. But the first time I have to change my tone, its much more jarring coming from me than coming from a man.
The culprit here is probably deeply ingrained, but unconscious, gender biases. One 2015 study found that men act more assertively when managed by a female boss to counteract the perceived threat to their masculinity. Men can counter this tendency by thinking before they speak in stressful moments with their female boss -- and remembering that her opinions deserve respect.
But maybe the best, and simplest, advice for men being managed by women is to just stay quiet and listen. Men, even subordinate ones, interrupt women as much as three times more often than they interrupt other men. A recent study published in The Harvard Business Review showed this as a major concern for even for women at the executive level. So if treating a female boss exactly like a male boss isnt in the cards, maybe simply thinking twice before talking over her in a meeting will be a good first step.
State police say they're seeking the public's help in solving the killing of a 30-year-old man whose body was found in an upstate New York river 36 years ago.
Investigators say the body of Barry Marquart of Binghamton was found in the Chenango River north of his hometown in November 1980, two days after he was reported missing by his father.
Police say his car had been found parked in a rest area along Interstate in Dickinson. His body was found submerged nearby in the Chenango River. Troopers say his wallet was found nearby but his watch was missing.
An autopsy determined he had suffered injuries from blows to his head and face. The cause of death was drowning.
Troopers say the cold case remains open. Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to state police at 607-561-7400.
New York City has spent $265,000 in taxpayer funds to make sure everyone knows they can use the bathroom of their choice, with a massive ad campaign urging residents, commuters and tourists to Look past pink and blue.
The ads, which urge readers to Use the restroom consistent with who you are, feature transgender models and are set to be featured in subway cars, bus shelters, phone booths, local newspapers, digital ads and social media promotions. Most will be printed in either English or Spanish, though some community newspaper ads will be written in Korean, Chinese, Russian and Bengali.
A press release from the New York City Commission on Human Rights emphasized an individuals right to use any restroom, regardless of the sex they were assigned at birth.
While other cities and states are legislating intolerance and taking away individuals right to use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity, we are proudly standing with our transgender and gender non-confirming New Yorkers, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement.
Existing city law already permits transgender people to use the bathroom of their choosing. The new ad blitz is only designed to promote the policy.
While I am sensitive to the confusion that some people experience surrounding their gender, I resent the fact that Mayor Bill de Blasio and other bathroom bullies are telling our daughters that something is wrong with them when they feel discomfort sharing potentially dangerous situations with older biological males," said the Rev. Jason McGuire, executive director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms.
The campaign which cost $265,000, according to The New York Post was built after research from transgender and cisgender New Yorkers, a city press release said. Cisgender is another term for those who identify with their sex at birth.
Public money should not have been spent on the campaign, said Joseph Borelli, a Republican member of the New York City Council, who nonetheless quipped that there could be a silver lining.
Im not sure if this is the best use of taxpayer money, Borelli told FoxNews.com. However, I guess it is fair to warn people that there may be men in the womens restroom in the future.
Alisha King, a full-time mom and transgender model featured in one of the ads, told of the struggles that she said many in the trans community face on a daily basis when choosing which restroom door to walk through.
Bathroom discrimination is a regular occurrence for the transgender community, King said in the press release. So much so that many of us avoid even using public restrooms to begin with.
New York City said the ad campaign is the first of its kind in the nation.
The bathroom campaign comes on the heels of a transgender restroom PSA released earlier this month featuring the cast of the Broadway musical "Kinky Boots." The ensemble, featuring Harvey Fierstein and Cyndi Lauper, sing a tune titled "Just Pee (Where You Wanna Pee)."
"This video is a reminder that sometimes we go to the bathroom just to pee," Fierstein said in a statement.
The sudden national emphasis on transgender rights has spurred legal battles, boycotts and a spate of newly minted pronouns -- a controversy critics say is out of kilter for an issue that directly affects about two in every 1,000 Americans.
Activists are now pushing aside family values, parental rights, indisputable science, the best interests of children, religious freedom, free speech, property rights, and local control in order to aggressively push the transsexual, cross-dressing, sex change agenda, said Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, a Golden State organization that bills itself as pro-child and pro-family. [They] have coordinated to push this new project to keep their funding coming.
Critics say they dont want men using womens restrooms and are even more adamant that they dont want biological boys permitted to share restrooms and showers with girls in public schools.
Last month, the Obama administration announced a new directive that every public school in the nation must provide transgender access or face the loss of federal funds. The directive came as North Carolina passed a law banning individuals from using public bathrooms that do not correspond with the biological sex listed on their birth certificates.
Also last month, Texas and 10 other states declared they would defy the federal directive and sued the Obama administration over it.
"He's trying to cram down as many parts of his liberal agenda on the United States of America as he possibly can," Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott said.
Even if the issue requires policy changes, White House involvement has precluded state and local governments from building consensus and crafting real solutions, wrote Rob Port, founder of the North Dakota political website sayanythingblog.com.
"How are local officials supposed to deal with this issue when the president of the United States is busy for transparently partisan political reasons sticking his nose into it?" Port recently wrote.
The transgender rights debate has extended well beyond the bathroom. Colleges and universities have banned the use of certain pronouns that they believe can exclude transgender men and women. New York City has passed a law that would penalize employers and landlords who refuse to address their workers or tenants with the pronoun of their choosing including the gender-free pronouns ze and hir.
Such laws force people who, whether for religious or scientific reasons, may not see gender as a fluid concept to go against their beliefs, said UCLA School of Law Professor Eugene Volokh, a free speech and religious freedom expert who writes a blog for the Washington Post.
It requires people to essentially make political statements that they dont want to make, as the use of ze, for instance, Volokh said. It requires people to say things that they may sincerely believe are lies and that indeed are contrary to what they see as Gods ordering of the world.
The New York City law was enacted in December, but to date, no one has been cited for violating it, officials told FoxNews.com.
We have not fined any employers, landlords, or providers of public accommodations for misusing a transgender persons preferred pronoun, an official said to FoxNews.com.
After national retail giant Target announced that customers would be able to use the restroom of their gender identification in a statement responding to North Carolinas bathroom bill, the American Family Association launched a petition that has so far gathered 1.3 million signatures from people pledging to boycott the chain. The critics have claimed credit for a 20 percent decline in the companys market capitalization, although economists point to a combination of factors.
College students and faculty have embraced transgender rights. Last week, Yale University announced that each of its 23 buildings on campus will have gender-neutral bathrooms, one of several changes made this past year to make the school more transgender friendly.
"Yale aims to be a leader on this front," Tamar Gendler, dean of Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, said. "Part of what is important about the all-gender bathroom project and about putting it at the top of our commencement site, is this is about public signaling."
Professors are now using preferred pronouns when addressing students, and the school is allowing transgender students to change their names on their school identification card and the school's web portal at no charge.
The University of Vermont last year also began officially addressing transgender students using the name and gender pronoun of their choice. Smith College, an all-women's school in Massachusetts, made headlines last year when it began admitting students who were born male but identify as female.
Harvard allows housing based on the gender with which a student identifies for sophomores, juniors and seniors and allows students to use the bathrooms with which they feel most comfortable. But it does not allow non-legal names to appear on official documents.
Proponents applaud the Obama administration and reject the idea that a small minority of transgender women and men should drive large-scale legal and social changes.
Civil Rights laws were never meant for the majority, they were created for the minority, Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center of Transgender Equality, told FoxNews.com. We have all sorts of laws aimed at things that are low population.
We dont say that small Indian tribes shouldnt be honored and respected, she adds. Those of Jewish faith is a low part of the population, but nobody says lets not protect the Jews. Its an unsettling thing that this is occurring with transgender issues.
A couple of guys meet at South By Southwest. They have an idea for an app. They raise $1 million plus in seed funding and set up shop in Los Angeles.
And then? They go to Midwestern teenagers to test their app. Thats exactly what Wheel Video co-founder and CEO Paul Boukadakis did when he returned to his alma mater, Bishop Kelley High School in Tulsa, Okla. After all, high school students live on mobile and can be bought with pizza.
We have taken the concept and we have seeded it in the Midwest. We went back to our roots," Boukadakis says in an interview with Entrepreneur. "A lot of people on the East and West Coast get first glimpses of products. We wanted to take it back to the Heartland.
Wheel Video, which officially launches an upgraded version of the app in the Apple app store today, is kind of like Snapchat, but collaborative. A user records a video between one and 30 seconds long and then other users can add their own clips to the piece.
Related: Founders of Humin Release New App That Lets You Share Contact Info by Tapping on Your Phone
Communicating with emojis, mobile videos and filtered snaps is a second language for teenagers, so they are perhaps the most intuitive age group for creating stories with mobile phones. So far, the teenagers signed off on Wheel Video.
We have grown from one high school to several high schools, from 100 power users from other social media networks to now about 10,000 users in about a month, Boukadakis says. The app has been in stealth mode since May.
To be sure, getting people to download another social media app is no small feat. But Boukadakis and his technical co-founder, Chris Shaheen, brought in marketing heavyweight Lane Wood to help with that. Wood previously helped launch the prestigious non-profit charity: water and helped grow the trendy eyeglasses company Warby Parker and the augmented networking site Humin.
The way you get around it, says Wood, who does acknowledge that app fatigue is a real thing, is to make sure you bring interesting people, make sure the content is really interesting. This type of interaction isnt just another one of something, its a really unique way to interact.
Related: Tinder Aims to Make Matching More 'Humin' With New Acquisition
But to survive as a business, Wheel Video needs to impress more than just teenagers. It needs to impress advertisers. Advertisers need to want to build creative campaigns on the platform.
Breaking into a market dominated by goliaths such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and Vimeo is no small feat, especially for a six-member team that has not made any money as of this time. Boukadakis says he doesnt intend to replace any of the legacy giants, only sit alongside them. He thinks that the insatiable desire of teenagers to express themselves online will support Wheel Video.
These kids, they are creating a la carte, they are doing things on different platforms that show a different side of themselves. And this is that next tool in their arsenal for creativity," Boukadakis says. "I dont think innovation is ever going to stop. They are always going to find the next thing to create through.
Ethiopia's parliament on Tuesday approved a law to imprison people who distribute defamatory speech, pornography and spam online, a move that bloggers and activists said is meant to silence dissent.
The law's most severe penalty is 10 years' imprisonment for sharing pornography online. Sharing defamatory speech or spam gets at least three years in prison.
Ethiopia's cybersecurity officials have said the country is subject to more than 1,000 cyberattacks per day, and the government has said the new law will enable it to prosecute such crimes more efficiently.
But rights groups have accused the East African country of restricting freedom of expression and using spyware against dissidents living overseas. An Ethiopian court last month charged an opposition activist over his Facebook posts.
Daniel Berhane, a popular blogger, said the new law is a concern to him as an editor of a website that has several contributors and is an active user of social media.
"It jumbled provisions for cyberattacks with provisions about content, thereby paving the way for a heavy-handedness on online expression," he said.
The makeshift mortar looked like something from an old pirate ship, and it took the Kurdish fighters several days to figure out how to use the improvised weapon seized in a skirmish with ISIS.
When they finally did, they crouched behind sandbags and launched a series of homemade shells found with the device at a village held by the terrorist group a mile away. As each projectile blasted off from the 8-foot tube mounted on a pair of tires, culminating in a puff of smoke on the horizon, members of Kurdistans army, known as the Peshmerga, laughed and slapped each other on the back.
I hope they felt it like I felt the pain I felt in my arm," said a soldier named Ali, still nursing a wound from the recent fight near Sinjar where the curious armament had been found.
The incident, which occurred last week in Kurdish-held territory on the plains just north of Mosul, typified the resourcefulness of both sides. A makeshift rocket launcher crafted from spare parts and ingenuity found in the aftermath of a battle and then turned on its builders.
It was also a snapshot of the clashes occurring in the villages that lie between ISIS Iraqi stronghold of Mosul and the Kurdish capital of Erbil. To the south, Iraqi government forces backed by U.S. air power are fighting to retake Fallujah. In neighboring Syria, the de facto capital of ISIS caliphate, Raqqa, is under siege from Syrian, Russian, U.S. and Kurdish forces. But in northern Iraq, the battle for Mosul looms, with near-daily skirmishes serving as deadly dress rehearsals.
Iraqis caught in the crossfire Christians, Kurds, Sunni and Shia Muslims as well as Yazidi and other minorities do their best to survive as they wait for the coming all-out assault on the black-clad jihadist army.
Our soldiers believe in the people here and they see the need to protect the people, Brig. Gen. Omer Khalid told FoxNews.com. We see what ISIS has done with Mosul and [Sinjar] and the people there and we dont want that to happen here.
Khalid spoke in Hogna, a tiny village on the outskirts of Zummar City and the largest Kurdish-held base near Mosul. On wind-swept, rolling hills dotted with sparse vegetation, the Peshmerga keep watch on ISIS soldiers inhabiting the village in the distance.
For soldiers earning the equivalent of $200 per month to face off against the worlds most dangerous terrorist army, morale-boosting moments such as the firing of the strange mortar break the tense monotony.
Last weekend, ISIS mounted a rare midday raid on the Kurds dug in at Hogna, peppering the base with mortar fire. When the smoke cleared, no Kurds were injured. But the nearly reflexive donning of surgical masks was an unmistakable sign that the threat of a chemical attack is always on their minds.
The attack left the Kurds itching to return fire, but equipment and ammunition is short. International aid is channeled through Baghdad, which maintains often strained relations with the northern, semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
We need bazookas, rocket-propelled grenades, small arms, said Khalid.
For now, a homemade mortar, stolen from the enemy and turned on him, would have to do.
EXCLUSIVE: Over the last two years, as the global refugee crisis spiraled out of control, the United Nations refugee organization has handed over nearly a billion dollars to private organizations and national governments, much of it without verifying whether those partners had the expertise to buy the goods, or the means to detect fraud in the purchases, according to a report by a U.N. watchdog.
More than $400 million of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees money was handed over to partners last year-- within twelve months after the organization had put in place a mandatory policy intended to streamline partnership arrangements and bring partner policies in line with UNHCRs own procedures.
At the same time, UNHCR, as the relief body is known, was doing little or nothing on its own to monitor how well the partners were handling its procurement money, according to the watchdog report.
That inaction came despite internal warning signs that showed projects with systematic weaknesses in procurement, including mismatched paperwork, spending on purchases that went beyond authorized levels, and unsatisfactory bidding procedures for relief goods.
The blunt audit by the U.N.s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) was issued in April, and could be described as remarkably tough, according to Brett Schaefer, an expert on U.N. finances at the conservative Heritage Foundation, who examined it at Fox News behest.
It identifies serious problems in UNHCR that could lead to serious lapses in terms of fraud, Schaefer declared, at a time when U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon himself has been calling for vastly greater spending and efforts by wealthy countries to deal with the refugee crisis.
Interestingly enough, the head of UNHCR during the period covered by the OIOS report was Antonio Guterres, a Socialist former Prime Minister of Portugal who has declared himself a candidate for Bans job when the Secretary General leaves office at the end of the year.
CLICK HERE FOR THE REPORT
The saga of inaction, bureaucratic incoherence and apparent unconcern about the spending of huge amounts of cash at UNHCR is the latest symptom of problems for the U.N. system as a whole, as it leans more and more on government and private partnerships to take the lead on a proliferating array of issues, ranging from humanitarian and environmental concerns to its nebulous and newly-approved Sustainable Development Goals.
Overall concern about U.N. partnerships was outlined by the U.N. itself in 2014, in a broader report by another watchdog that warned of the lack of adequate managerial control over such relationships where third parties carried out U.N. goals.
As it happens, 2014 is also the year in which UNHCR unveiled its new Policy and Procedures on Procurement by Partners with UNHCR Funds, to deal with the fast-developing trend.
By that time, according to UNHCR documents, the organization already had 1,653 partnership agreements with 913 partners with a value of $1.35 billionroughly 40 percent of UNHCRs overall spending.
Of that total, according to the OIOS report, about $505 million was spent that year for partner procurement, a number that dropped to $404 million in 2015.
The 2014 policy gave tough instructions to the agencys offices and bureaus around the world, as well as at UNHCRs Geneva headquarters, to conduct cost-benefit analyses before using such partners, doing careful pre-qualification diligence before giving them authority to spend more than $100,000, and carefully monitoring partners actions to achieve value for money.
CLICK HERE FOR THE POLICY
Unfortunately, according to the OIOS report, little or none of that happened.
Using a sample of 16 countriesUNHCR operates in 129 countries overallthe OIOS auditors spent three months looking at the agencys operations for eleven months from the launching of the new partnership policy in November, 2014, to September, 2015.
They discovered, among other things:
None of the 16 country offices did the cost-benefit analysis demanded by their new policy before deciding to use a partner for procurement, or even analyzed whether buying by partners was required at all.
In 12 of the 16 countries, UNHCR officials did not even assess their partners abilities to carry out such procurement at the required scale, or their experience and expertise at such purchasing. In one country, Myanmar, OIOS reported that the UNHCR office said it was not aware it had to carry out any such assessment.
In the remainder, where assessments were carried out, the report says, they were inadequate, and did not verify information provided by the partners.
A review of the 16 countries also showed that UNHCR offices had not systematically ensured that partners had policies and procedures to prevent, investigate and discipline fraud. Some had written policies, but no staff training to back them up.
The 2014 policy demanded that UNHCR and its partners establish a joint plan to closely support and monitor implementation of procurement activities, which happened haphazardly at best. In South Sudan, for example, only four of 21 partners had been visited by October 2015.
Laxness in the field was matched, according to the report, at UNHCR headquarters, often with the excuse that resources for the job were unavailable. According to OIOS, monitoring consisted of looking over project audit reports for mentions of procurement activities, which, said the watchdogs dryly, in the opinion of OIOS could not be termed as monitoring.
A bigger untended job, according to the report, was assessing the qualifications of partners given a bigger blank check than the $100,000 minimum for making relief purchases. Based on 2014 data, some 328 partners required pre-qualification vetting, and 17 had procurement budgets ranging from $1 million to $38 million. At the time of the audit, only three had been cleared under the new policy.
As a result, the OIOS report says, UNHCR entrusted procurement valued at $316 million to partners whomay have been unsuitable to carry out efficient and cost-effective procurement.
OIOS listed almost all of the fixes required to fix those lapses as critical, meaning that without them, there were no reasonable assurances that UNHCR actually controlled the activities or their goals.
UNHCR responded to the watchdog criticism by agreeing to everything OIOS recommendedwhich amounted, essentially, to doing what was required to follow its own policies in the first place.
The big question: when?
In the wake of the painful report, UNHCR, under its new High Commissioner, Filippo Grandi, a veteran U.N. bureaucrat, is scrambling to clean up the situation.
For one thing, the pace of pre-qualification of UNHCR partners has suddenly accelerated. But most of the agencys response action otherwise consists, in the first instance, of establishing a multi-departmental task force to pump out an action plan to achieve the goals it had already called for in 2014.
The task force is currently operational, and work is in progress, according to UNHCR managements response to the OIOS document. Pieces of the action plan are expected to fall into place at various times, starting this August and extending through next year.
The clear deliverables and time lines for fraud monitoring, however, were not expected until October 2017.
And according to the report itself, the U.N. organization is not slated to have pulled together all of that action plan until the very end of 2017.
George Russell is editor-at-large of Fox News and can be found on Twitter: @GeorgeRussell or on Facebook.com/George Russell
India will try to join a climate change deal within this year, the Obama administration said Tuesday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Barack Obama met at the White House and the two leaders played up their efforts to cooperate on issues of global concern.
Stressing their "strong bonds," Obama said the world's two largest democracies had "joined forces" to bring about the landmark climate agreement that was reached in Paris last December.
"We discussed how we can as quickly as possible bring the Paris agreement into place, how we can make sure that climate financing that's necessary for India to be able to embark on its bold vision for solar energy and clean energy that Prime Minister Modi has laid out can be accomplished," Obama said, alongside Modi after their meeting in the Oval Office.
Modi said that the U.S. and India have been cooperating on issues of global concern, including nuclear security, climate change and terrorism. He referred to Obama as "my close friend" and said the two nations would continue working "shoulder to shoulder."
India is the world's third-largest carbon emitter among nations, after China and the U.S. The Paris agreement aims to keep the global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with preindustrial times. The agreement enters into force once 55 countries representing at least 55 percent of global emissions have joined it.
In a joint statement with the U.S., India said it would seek to join the climate deal "as soon as possible this year" and had started its domestic process to ratify it. The U.S., India and dozens of other countries have already signed the deal, the first hurdle in a two-step process, but Modi has been coy about whether India would formally join this year. The U.S. is eager for countries to join quickly because the deal's carbon-cutting requirements only kick in once a critical mass of polluting nations join. The U.S., China, Canada, Mexico and Australia have all said they intend to join the agreement within this year.
Other joint announcements, though, seemed to illustrate the major challenges in securing concrete progress on climate. Though the two countries said engineering and site development work was starting on six nuclear reactors that U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Co. wants to build in India, there was no agreement about the major unresolved issue: cost and financing. Instead, the countries said only that they had agreed to finish the contractual arrangements by June 2017.
The U.S. and India also said they'd agreed to try to use a decades-old ozone-protection treaty to phase out hydrofluorocarbons, refrigerants that are potent greenhouse gases, through an amendment that would also provide funds to help poorer countries implement it. But officials said an actual deal to phase out HFCs wouldn't come until the parties to the treaty meet in October in Rwanda.
This is Modi's fourth visit to the U.S. since he took office two years ago, and his seventh meeting with Obama. On Wednesday, the Indian leader addresses a joint meeting of Congress.
Modi and Obama seem to have forged a bond. When Obama visited India last year, Modi pulled the president into a bear hug as he stepped off Air Force One, and the two leaders have publicly praised each other.
India has long felt slighted by the global powers, seeing itself as a powerful, highly educated country that is all-too-often dismissed for its poverty, dirty streets and the lingering power of its caste system.
The respect is particularly sweet in Washington. Modi was denied a visa to visit the U.S. in 2005, three years after religious riots killed more than 1,000 Muslims in the western state of Gujarat, where he was then the top official. American officials largely avoided contact with him over suspicions that he was involved in the rioting or did not do enough to stop them, until he became prime minister in the 2014 landslide elections
Modi is on a five-nation tour that has also taken him to Switzerland, Afghanistan and Qatar. After the U.S., he will visit Mexico.
Dental Fix Franchise Reviews: Tim Rouzee Discusses His First Year in Business
Colorado Franchisee of Dental Fix Reviews Franchisor Support; Shares How He Achieved Year One Goals
June 07, 2016 // Franchising.com // DAVIE, Fla. Tim Rouzee wasnt on the hunt for franchises; rather, it was his wife who was researching various franchise opportunities for herself and instead found the perfect fit for her husband. When she came across Dental Fix Rx, she knew it would be the right next step in Tims professional career. He opened his Dental Fix franchise over a year ago and far exceeded his year one goals, serving more than 110 customers.
He sat down recently to share what his first year was like as a Dental Fix Rx franchisee. During this Dental Fix Franchise Reviews video, Tim describes the following:
Franchisor training and support,
Centralized technological and account management services provided by Dental Fix Rx,
Customer feedback, and
Initial success with the franchise.
Tim was able to achieve this success in his first year of business due to the high level of support provided by the Dental Fix Rx corporate team, which includes an intensive eight-week training program as well as centralized technological and account management services. By handling the majority of the back-end office support, franchise owners like Tim are able to solely focus on servicing customers. The company is also one of the only franchises to offer a franchise guarantee refunding the franchise fee if new owners do not service 40 clients within his or her first year of business.
The biggest revelation for me is how many dentists are out there and unhappy with the service center theyre currently using, Tim said. Theyre happy to have someone thats an individual owner and can make decisions on the spot.
Visit https://www.dentalfixrx.com/franchise/testimonials.html to view Tim Rouzees Dental Fix Review online.
About Dental Fix Rx
Founded in 2009, Dental Fix Rx is a fast-growing mobile dental equipment repair service franchise that is revolutionizing the dental service industry by delivering immediate, on-demand equipment service, hand-piece repairs and cost-effective consumable products through its network of highly-trained franchise professionals. With local franchise owners serving businesses within their market, Dental Fix Rx completes repairs on-site from mobile repair centers that are equipped to fix a wide range of equipment found in any practice from compressors to chair upholstery. The company has sold nearly 250 franchises that service 17,000 customers throughout North America. For more information, visit www.dentalfixrx.com. For franchise information, call (855) 242-5230 or visit www.dentalfixrx.com/franchise/.
Media Contact:
Jayne Levy
Fishman Public Relations
(847) 945-1300
jlevy@fishmanpr.com
###
Comments:
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
Disqus
McAlisters Deli Aims to Attract New Franchisees in northeastern Ohio as Chain Expands
Award-winning fast casual restaurant continues expansion with plans for multiple new locations.
June 07, 2016 // Franchising.com // ATLANTA McAlisters Deli, a leading fast casual restaurant chain known for its Famous Sweet Tea and recently ranked as one of consumers favorite chains by Restaurant Business, announced it is looking for new partnerships with experienced multi-unit restaurant owners as the brand continues its expansion into Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown.
Ohio represents an important part of McAlisters growth strategy and were excited about the brands continued expansion into the region, said Jeff Sturgis, McAlisters Vice President of Franchise Development. The McAlisters Deli brand has become a top choice for some of the most successful multi-unit franchise owners in the country, so were excited to watch the brand grow in these areas due in large part to the talent of our franchisees.
McAlisters first Cleveland area location is scheduled to open in late June in North Olmstead. As the company looks to open additional restaurants in the area, they are actively seeking qualified franchisees in Mahoning, Trumbull, Portage, Summit, Medina, Lorain, Lake and Cuyahoga Counties. Currently McAlisters has eight locations throughout the State of Ohio, including locations in Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati.
McAlisters had a successful year of franchise growth in 2015 with $548 million in system-wide sales, the opening of 27 new restaurants some in new markets, including Chicago, Rochester, and Orlando and nearly 60 commitments for new restaurants. This growth is fueled by both existing franchisees as well as new partnerships with experienced multi-unit franchise owners with notable portfolios.
McAlister's currently operates more than 350 franchised locations in the U.S., across 27 states. The company has attracted a record number of franchise inquiries in recent years due to its quality leadership, healthy sales to investment ratio, and exceptional company performance.
To learn more about franchising opportunities with McAlisters, please contact (888) 855-DELI (3354) or franchising@mcalistersdeli.com, or visit www.mcalistersdelifranchise.com.
About McAlisters
Founded in 1989, McAlisters Deli is a fast casual restaurant chain known for its sandwiches, spuds, soups, salads, desserts and McAlisters Famous Sweet Tea. In addition to dine-in and take-out service, McAlisters also offers catering with a selection of sandwich trays, box lunches, desserts, a hot spud bar and more. With numerous industry accolades, the McAlisters brand has 350 restaurants in 27 states. The company is headquartered in Atlanta. For more information, visit www.mcalistersdeli.com.
About FOCUS Brands Inc.
Atlanta-based FOCUS Brands Inc., through its affiliate brands, is the franchisor and operator of more than 5,000 ice cream shoppes, bakeries, restaurants, and cafes in the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 60 foreign countries under the brand names Carvel, Cinnabon, Schlotzskys, Moes Southwest Grill, Auntie Annes and McAlisters Deli, as well as Seattles Best Coffee on certain military bases and in certain international markets. Please visit www.focusbrands.com to learn more.
SOURCE McAlisters
Media Contact:
Lauren Tweet
Allison+Partners
(404) 832-7182
McAlisters@allisonpr.com
###
Comments:
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
Disqus
Right at Home Kicks Off 2016 Strong With Expansion and Growth; Shows No Signs of Slowing Down
The Leading Senior Care Franchise Is on Pace for Another Record-Breaking Year
OMAHA, NE (PRWEB) June 07, 2016 - Right at Home, a leader of the fast-growing in-home care industry, is off to an impressive start in 2016. In the first quarter of the year, Right at Home has added 7,000 new caregivers to its ever-growing network, opened 14 new franchise units, and signed agreements to open an additional 10 territories.
Right at Homes success so far this year builds off the momentum of a successful 2015. Last year, the company came out on top after performing more than 20 million hours of care for its clients and opening 53 new franchise units. The brand was also identified as one of the Top Franchises to Buy in 2015 by Forbes magazine for the second consecutive year. And for the third straight year, Right at Home was honored by Franchise Times on their Fast and Serious ranking of the top 40 smartest-growing brands that are seeing consistent yearly unit and revenue growth.
Right at Home separates itself from the competition by emphasizing both training and support, focusing on the Right People providing clients with the Right Care. With 517 locations in eight countries and more than 22,400 caregivers and 18,500 clients, Right at Home is able to incorporate the best industry practices from its domestic and international partners into its business model.
All of our caregivers and franchisees share our passion for improving the quality of life for our clients, said Brian Petranick, chief executive officer and president. We have the opportunity to revolutionize the in-home care industry, especially since there are more elderly across the world living at home, exactly where they want to age comfortably and happily. With family not always close to their loved ones, we can apply learnings and experience from all over the globe to ensure the Right Care will be given by the Right People to the ever-increasing aging population throughout the world.
More than 450 corporate team members, franchisees, office staff and vendors from all over the globe came together in Chicago in April to celebrate the previous years successes, discuss the best senior care industry practices and brainstorm ways to improve local Right at Home franchise businesses to serve local communities more effectively.
One way Right at Home plans to do this is by refocusing its efforts on RightTransitions, a program dedicated to bringing seniors home from hospital stays successfully to avoid additional hospital time and added expenses. The program was originally developed in 2009 and is now in place throughout the entire Right at Home system. RightTransitions works with hospitals to create personalized care plans to help outgoing patients transition back to life at home in order to avoid readmission. Each individual RightTransitions program is uniquely tailored to the patient it serves, and can range from a few hours of in-home care after hospital discharge to 24-hour assistance. The program can also include meal preparation and ambulatory assistance.
Were constantly working to stay on top of the ever-changing healthcare industry and adapting our business model to suit these changes, said Petranick. RightTransitions enables us to really personalize our services in an industry that sometimes appears to be one-size-fits-all. Our goal is to work with each individual client to give them the best possible care.
Caregiving is the fastest-growing occupation in the U.S., and shows no signs of slowing. There are a number of factors contributing to this need for caregivers, including high divorce rates, families deciding to have fewer kids, and children choosing to move away from home. That means that demand for Right at Homes services will continue to rise.
Right at Homes strong first quarter is a sign of whats to come, and 2016 is on pace to be another solid year, said Petranick. Our goal is to expand the Right at Home brand so we can make a difference in the lives of more seniors and their families.
About Right at Home
Founded in 1995, Right at Home offers in-home companionship and personal care and assistance to seniors and disabled adults who want to continue to live independently. Local Right at Home offices are independently owned and operated and directly employ and supervise all caregiving staff, each of whom is thoroughly screened, trained, and bonded/insured prior to entering a clients home. Right at Homes global office is based in Omaha, Nebraska, with more than 500 franchise locations in the U.S. and seven other countries. For more information on Right at Home, visit About Right at Home athttp://www.rightathome.net/about-us or read the Right at Home franchising blog athttp://www.rightathomefranchise.com/blog/. To learn more about franchising opportunities, please visithttp://www.rightathomefranchise.com/.
SOURCE Right at Home
Contact:
Lauren Boukas
No Limit Agency
+1 (312) 526-3996
###
Add to Request List Added Request Information
Comments:
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
Disqus
The teacher crisis is real, and were not going to work our way out of it simply by making it easier to hire teachers.
Beautiful State Of The Art Car Wash Opens in Greenville, S.C.
Cedar Pete's Car Wash is celebrating the launch of their new Car Wash service in the 108 Cedar Lane Road, Greenville, SC area by Holding a Free upgrade with wash on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/cedarpetescarwash
--
In a slightly different approach to launching its new Car Wash service, Cedar Pete's Car Wash, a car wash at 108 Cedar Lane Road, Greenville, SC has decided it will have a monthly contest for a Free upgrade with wash on the Facebook page, and this is expected to be ongoing.
Where most businesses tend to just put a sign out front, Cedar Pete's Car Wash has decided to be a little more exciting and fun with their Facebook page and their monthly contest
Cedar Pete's Car Wash was launched from the ground up. This is a brand new State Of The Art facility
Bobby Soltys, Owner/Founder at Cedar Pete's Car Wash, says: "Having a different type of service was the goal with the launch of the new Car Wash because customer should have a great and unique experience"
It should be really worthwhile and the goal is that it will let people know Cedar Pete's is all about customer service and providing a great, unique experience.This is great for anyone that has a car unless people suddenly decide that they like their cars dirty and smelly!
Cedar Pete's Car Wash has always made a point of standing out when compared to other car washes in the Greenville, SC area. The fact that every car is hand dried, FREE WiFi is provided, having a Spanish POS system for our Spanish customers are just some of the many ways Cedar Pete's stands out
This is a great chance for Greenville residents to see that their local car wash cares about them AND their cars and support a full service car wash where "No car leaves the property wet"
Cedar Pete's Car Wash has been serving the 108 Cedar Lane Road, Greenville, SC area since December, 2015. To date it has already served hundreds of customers and has become recognized as a leader in State Of The Art Technology, including an Osmosis process and the use of well water. They use "brushless" foam and every car also gets a free vacuum! It can be found at 108 Cedar Lane Road near Near downtown Greenville.
Bobby Soltys also said: "While Cedar Pete's may not be the only car wash in Greenville, local residents are choosing Cedar Pete's Car Wash because going the extra mile no matter which wash they choose by providing a free vacuum and a hand dried experience on every car is just standard practice"
When asked about the new Car Wash service, Bobby Soltys said: " it is going to be a hit because "No car will ever leave the property wet and every car is hand dried"
Further information about Cedar Pete's Car Wash and the new car wash service can be discovered at http://www.cedarpetescarwash.com. or by calling 609-4442
To enter the Facebook contest, go to https://www.facebook.com/cedarpetescarwash/
For more information about us, please visit http://www.cedarpetescarwash.com
Contact Info:
Name: Bobby Soltys
Organization: Cedar Pete's Car Wash
Address: 108 Cedar Land Road
Phone: 864-609-4442
Release ID: 118187
For more information visit r
Recent Press Releases By The Same User
Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
North Texas Biz Assist Releases a New Mobile App Design Service
North Texas Biz Assist releases its upcoming Mobile App Design and Development service launch. Further information can be found at http://www.northtexasbizassist.com.
--
Ahead of the launch of its new Mobile App Design and Development service, North Texas Biz Assist is making public 5 facts about the service, set to go live June 7, 2016, which fans and consumers within the Small Business Marketing space will find interesting.
The 5 items include nuggets such as how:
The idea for creating the Mobile App Design and Development service came about after the realization that every business will have its own app someday. Upon discovery of a fantastic team of programmers who only work on business apps a partnership was developed. They love what they do and they do it well. NTBA will work with a business owner to design an app to their specifications. NTBA's own app shows some of the different features that can be implemented into any app as shown on the intro video.
North Texas Biz Assist has done something different compared to other businesses in the Small Business Marketing space by finding a team of programmers who claims a 98% success rate in first time Apple application acceptance. A small monthly fee includes updates and tweaks to the app to keep it current.
The Mobile App Design and Development service will be released as part of North Texas Biz Assist's greater plans to design mobile apps for local businesses. Each app will be customized to fit the particular needs of that particular business. Apps will be designed to will work like magic in today's world and attract customers in a way that's more expected than ever before. An app can be built in less than a month
North Texas Biz Assist got it's start when Founder Wade Webster noticed a growing need for economic and effective mobile app development. He discovered a solution to get noticed by today's consumers efficiently. With over a year searching for the best app programmers in the Small Business Marketing world, Wade Webster started in 2015 and continues to discover resources that will benefit today's successful businesses by bringing 21st century tools to them.
Wade Webster is quoted in saying: "We like to do things to connect with our clients and customers. Things like come along side the client to make the app according to desired specifications, and make sure the design fits your company's goals. Your business will have an app someday, today's consumers demand it more each day. My company is here to make your app a reality today so you stay ahead of your competition."
North Texas Biz Assist's Mobile App Design and Development service is set to launch June 7, 2016. To find out more about North Texas Biz Assist and the new service, Visit http://www.northtexasbizassist.com and watch the video showing the NTBA app.
For more information about us, please visit http://www.northtexasbizassist.com
Contact Info:
Name: Wade Webster
Email: wade@northtexasbizassist.com
Organization: North Texas Biz Assist
Address: 6000 Ohio Dr
Phone: +1 469 573 1077
Release ID: 118064
For more information visit r
Recent Press Releases By The Same User
Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
All States Containers Launches Their Official Website
All States Containers have high quality, sturdy, rugged and built to last and climate-tight storage containers. The door linings on their containers are all water-tight in order to secure their valuable property.
--
All States Containers launched their official website to offer their services for Specialized Refinishing in Raleigh, North Carolina. The company is now inviting everyone to visit their official website where people will learn more about their services.
They offer shipping containers and storage containers with different sizes to choose from. All States Containers has been serving Central North Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina. They offer deliver and pickup services. They have a large selection of steel and weather resistant storage containers that can be used to transfer goods and items.
All States Containers is a local depot that is based in the Charlotte, NC region, providing onsite delivery of cargo containers that are either for rent or for sale. Their steel containers are utilized for a many purposes, but especially used for for storing supplies, materials and equipment. Such awesome containers could also be adapted to serve as on-site mobile production offices, small houses and other things. The containers that people sell are all-steel containers that are likewise called ISO containers, conex boxes, cargo containers, storage containers, shipping containers and construction packing containers.
All their storage containers are all available for sale when they are within the Charlotte region or anywhere inside the central North Carolina region. Whilst they're suitable for delivering materials and goods overseas, they are usually used for short-term storage of tools and pieces of equipment.
All States Containers have high quality, sturdy, rugged and built to last and climate-tight storage containers. The door linings on their containers are all water-tight in order to secure their valuable property. They are a full-service steel storage company which means they would do not just rent or sell storage containers to their valued customers. They provide quality attention, personal service which is unmatched in their industry. They take time to completely understand the needs of their customers and then suggest the most suitable solution depending on their requirements. They will be delivering the storage container straight to the site and they will pick this up when it is ready. All States Containers is asking people to give them a call and they will deliver the storage containers right away.
To learn more about All States Containers, please feel free to visit http://www.allstatescontainers.com/.
For more information about us, please visit http://www.allstatescontainers.com
Contact Info:
Name: Tad Lowdermilk
Organization: All State Containers
Address: 10114 Royshall DR Pineville, NC 28134
Release ID: 118233
For more information visit r
Recent Press Releases By The Same User
Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Atlanta Duct Cleaning Firm Announces Referral Program
Duct cleaning is a major focus of the Atlanta business. Better indoor air means healthier living and breathing conditions.
--
Atlanta Duct & Dryer Cleaning HVAC team is pleased to announce that they offer a referral program to customers in order to increase the ability of friends and neighbors to take advantage of the top quality services for HVAC duct cleaning of indoor air. Duct dryer vent cleaning prevents strain on the systems and provides healthier living and breathing conditions for inhabitants. The duct cleaning firm also provides dryer vent cleaning and system maintenance.
A spokesperson for the company explains, "Many Atlanta homeowners don't realize the importance of having their air ducts and HVAC systems cleaned and properly maintained. Up to forty pounds of dust can accumulate over the course of a year in a typical six-room home. Your HVAC system is constantly breathing and recirculating this air. Several health problems can arise from breathing in all the airborne contaminants that accumulate. Contaminants such as tiny dust particles, fungi spores, and mold are re-circulated five to seven times per day, on average."
Filters should be changed regularly, but even replacement of filters doesn't prevent accumulation of contaminants in the duct-work of the structure. Indoor air quality is particularly important for individuals with respiratory health conditions, environmental allergies or autoimmune disorders. The U.S. Dept. of Energy has stated that from 25 to 40 percent of energy used to heat or cool a home is wasted. When contaminants build up in a system, it must work harder and less efficiently. The HVAC system which is not clean has a shortened lifespan. The system that is free of contaminants don't have to work as hard to maintain temperature.
The duct cleaning company has prepared several easy-to-choose-from discounted packages. The customer may also request customized services. Responsive service is available, with most customers scheduled within a day, if necessary. Customer satisfaction is the goal of every project offered by the firm.
For more information about us, please visit http://www.Atlantaductdryercleaning.com
Contact Info:
Name: John Pack
Organization: Atlanta Duct & Dryer Cleaning HVAC
Address: P.O Box 1051, Marietta GA 30061
Phone: (770) 765-2797
Source: http://marketersmedia.com/__trashed-27/117437
Release ID: 117437
For more information visit r
Recent Press Releases By The Same User
Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Livingston TX Small Business Startup Ideas Report Released
A new report, Learn How To Start A New Business and Avoid the 3 Biggest Mistakes All Startups Make, has been released by author Dr Karl Ruegg.
--
Published author Dr Karl Ruegg has released a new report: Learn How To Start A New Business and Avoid the 3 Biggest Mistakes All Startups Make, available from the following the website: http://start-a-new-business.org.
Dr Ruegg says that 95 percent of all small business startups fail within five years. The new report reveals the three biggest mistakes a small business startup typically makes, as well as describing how these issues can be overcome and providing tips on generating ample new leads for a business without spending a cent on marketing or advertising.
The report covers in depth a number of strategies that Dr Ruegg says is vital to the success and growth of any small business, with demonstrable examples of how they work. The strategies for small business owners cover learning the following: how to stand out amongst competitors; how to master the market within the relevant industry; how to ensure a business' service or product becomes an obvious choice to buyers; how to create a 10 second elevator pitch that produces a successful outcome; access to a proprietary, comprehensive marketing library; and, a customised roadmap for each business with a blueprint for success.
The report also highlights the importance of the acquisition of new customers, one of the most challenging aspects of running a small business, and cites examples from its e-learning marketing system. Equally as important, it also discusses the need for small business to learn how to turn prospective buyers into actual customers, as this takes pressure off them having to constantly increase the amount of traffic to their website, if they can master working with the opportunities they already have.
Other aspects covered by the report gives small business owners an insight into communication methods with their client and prospect base, such as frequency of communication, type of communication and so on. It says, if done correctly, small businesses can benefit from an increased number of transactions per client, repeat business, and succeed based on their customers' perceived value of buying the product or service, regardless of price.
Dr Ruegg's website start-a-new-business.org also contains an online guided tour of his e-learning marketing system, following which viewers may subscribe to a series of four videos outlining how small businesses can generate more visitors and prospective clients to their online businesses.
For more information about us, please visit http://start-a-new-business.org
Contact Info:
Name: Dr Karl Ruegg
Organization: Start A New Business
Release ID: 118269
For more information visit r
Recent Press Releases By The Same User
Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
HOCOA Home Repair Network Introduces Contractor Matching Service
The service helps home and business owners in the local area find reputable contractors to provide remodeling services, reports http://www.hocoalkn.com.
--
HOCOA Home Repair Network, which exclusively serves the people of Lake Norman and the surrounding areas, has introduced their contractor matching service. The service that HOCOA has launched aims to help home and business owners in the area find reputable contractors who can provide remodeling services in Lake Norman. HOCOA's goal is to ensure that they provide a superior concierge service that streamlines the contractor search process and provides peace of mind for their members.
Marty Karriker, the owner of HOCOA Home Repair Network of Lake Norman, stated "It's a fact that finding the right contractor for a home repair or business maintenance job is not an easy task. There is no shortage of scam artists out there that will take a property owner's money and provide shoddy work or fail to complete the job as stated. For this reason, we have made it our mission to take the fear out of the contractor search process. The General Contractors in Lake Norman that we work with have been thoroughly vetted by our team and meet a set of strict standards that show they can consistently provide top-notch service and impeccable work."
HOCOA Home Repair network's objective is to be able to steer client's toward some of the area's best artisans, contractors, and service providers. Their service providers cover the entire Metro Charlotte area including Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson, Denver, Mooresville, Troutman, Harrisburg, Concord, Kannapolis, Statesville, and Salisbury. Becoming an HOCOA member also provides additional benefits for home and business owners, such as access to special pricing and products at Sears and ProSource.
As Karriker goes on to say, "HOCOA of Lake Norman contractors will show up, return calls, are licensed, insured and perform quality work at a fair price. There is no obligation to use our contractors, so we invite local home and business owners to give us a call and let us arrange for contractors to call them. We are dedicated to meeting the needs of property owners in this area and are looking forward to hearing about their success with our contractors."
Those who are looking for remodeling or painting contractors in Lake Norman and would like to speak with someone at HOCOA Home Repair Network about how they can help with their unique situation should visit http://www.hocoalkn.com for more information.
About HOCOA Home Repair Network:
HOCOA of Lake Norman is a live, local Home Repair Network that connects homeowners and business owners with reliable, licensed, insured, contractors 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
For more information about us, please visit http://www.hocoalkn.com
Contact Info:
Name: Marty Karriker
Organization: HOCOA Home Repair Network
Phone: (704) 892-7404
Source: http://marketersmedia.com/hocoa-home-repair-network-introduces-contractor-matching-service/118360
Release ID: 118360
For more information visit r
Recent Press Releases By The Same User
Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Personalized Custom T-Shirts Company 5amily Launches Redesigned Website
5amily is a leading online vendor of custom merchandise. Today, the company announces the public launch of their new site that will allow people to create personalized products based on their own hobbies and passions.
--
People love custom items and apparel. There has been a lot of speculation by market analysts about why this is so; why there is such a thing as the "T-shirt economy". Today branded apparel is so popular that t-shirts, hoodies, cups, and other custom items are often the cash cow for companies that need revenue to build other things. Each year more than $40 billion (source: statista.com) will exchange hands in sales of branded/decorated apparel. People love t-shirts, and they love apparel that speaks to them. 5amily is a custom merchandise company that is taking that same concept of branded apparel and providing a means for individuals to create personalized items at affordable prices.
"We wanted a way for people to easily create personal items that they can enjoy," company spokesperson Mari Liis says. "Our process is simple. To get started, someone will enter their first or last name and then just specify or look for additional topics that they may be passionate about and this will bring up designs incorporating those details. It's all fairly straight-forward, and is a really neat way for people to express themselves in a unique fashionable way."
When designing the shirt, the user has multiple selection options for designs in categories including Family, Hobbies, Pets, Professions, Sports, Locations, Majors, and Zodiac signs.
Using common themes where possible allows 5amily to produce items that are unique whilst catering to a wide range of interests. Kids can buy special presents for their parents or students for their teacher and still be able to create a one of a kind name or branded item.
The website was set up to make it easy for people to celebrate what they love. The store sells not only t-shirts, hoodies, and bags, but also coffee mugs, phone cases and other personal items. "We've made it possible for kids to create a perfect Mother's Day or Father's Day present, let Grandma express her craze for her grandchildren, or hobbyists to show the world what they love," says Mari Liis. "These items are fun. They let people tell the world about their passions in a funny and humorous way."
And it seems that early users are in agreement based on the customer testimonials received by the company! In the words of Loretta Herrera "I totally loved my scrapping T-Shirt. I received many compliments and I was very pleased with the quality of the T-Shirt. Thanks again and look forward to ordering more merchandise through your company."
"Love the shirts, my Granddaughter told me it is all Me with a great Big Smile on her face! Thank You, they are Great!" - Julie Flinn
"The T-shirt shown above is a great buy! The material is of great quality cotton and the artwork is so clever and whimsical. I can't wait until my next scrappy gathering to show it off as I sip my coffee and scrap!" - Linda Mowles
The website is live and ready for use. For more information, visit: https://5amily.com
For more information about us, please visit https://5amily.com
Contact Info:
Name: Mari Liis
Organization: 5amily
Release ID: 118050
For more information visit r
Recent Press Releases By The Same User
Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17)
Free Freightnet Membership
List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours.
The Association of British Insurers will take on the chief executive of Aviva, Andy Briggs, as its next chairman.
Andy Briggs will replace Paul Evans, chief executive of Axa UK, who has completed his two-year term at the organisation.
Members of the ABI nominated Mr Briggs, who has been deputy chairman since November last year.
He will start his new role as chairman in October.
Since joining Aviva in April 2015, Mr Briggs has led the firm through the acquisition of Friends Life, where he was group chief executive.
He has previously held executive roles at Scottish Widows, Lloyds Banking Group and Prudential.
Mr Briggs said: The ABI plays an important role working closely with government, regulators and others to ensure that the industry promotes best practice, transparency and great value for customers.
I believe that as an industry our unwavering focus should be to help customers think both about savings, so that they can enjoy a secure and prosperous retirement, and also to protect their families, businesses and belongings when the unexpected happens.
Meanwhile, Paul Geddes, chief executive of the Direct Line Group, will become ABI deputy chairman, having previously worked as chief executive for RBS Groups UK retail banking business.
katherine.denham@ft.com
An investment trust owned largely by Lord Jacob Rothschild has said it has no intention to make an offer to buy Alliance Trust.
Last week, Alliance Trust confirmed that RIT Capital Partners, which manages 2.4bn of assets, had made an informal proposal to merge the two companies.
It was suggested the merger approach, which was in the first stage of consideration, could have benefited both sets of shareholders.
However, a statement from RIT Capital published on the London Stock Exchange today (7 June), reads: Following careful analysis and constructive discussions with representatives of Alliance Trust, RIT has concluded that it would not be in the best interests of its shareholders to make an offer.
The board of RIT respects the process which Alliance Trust are going through and wishes them well with their strategic review.
The future of Alliance Trust has been under close scrutiny over the past year after the largest individual shareholder in the 2.7bn company, Elliott Advisors, said it was concerned about its internal management costs and underperformance against its peers.
Elliott Advisors called for a restructure of board members, which led to the departure of Alliance Trust chief executive Katherine Garrett-Cox.
Responding to todays announcement from RIT Capital Partners, a spokesman for Alliance Trust said the board is implementing a series of changes to enhance shareholder value.
This process is well under way and has already started to make good progress, lowering costs, narrowing the discount and allowing for the creation of a fully independent board of directors.
In light of this, the trust will continue to suspend share buybacks until it has completed its strategic review.
RIT Capitals shares have been up slightly today, which Stephen Peters, investment manager at Charles Stanley, said could suggest RIT investors were not overwhelmed by the prospective takeover.
Had the acquisition gone ahead, he said RIT would have needed to overcome a number of issues, such as taking control of the assets and selling off parts of the Dundee-based company.
RIT as it stands is a well-managed trust and doesnt really need Alliance Trust, whereas Alliance Trust needs to evolve rapidly.
No one knows what the situation is and whether Alliance Trust wanted to play ball at this stage, he said, adding perhaps it wanted to see what other options are out there.
I think it generates an interesting debate in the market as to what investors want Alliance Trust to be in the future - whether they want it to be Alliance Trust but better, or be something different.
Mr Peters added: It has board members in place now who are more willing to embrace new ideas, and I am comfortable they have arrived at this decision in a sensible and logical way.
katherine.denham@ft.com
Newton Investment Management has appointed Zoe Kan as lead manager on the 2.1bn Asian Income fund, moving away from its team-led approach.
Ms Kan will now lead the funds strategy supported by Rob Marshall-Lee and Caroline Keen who are named as alternate managers. Ms Kan has worked at Newton, part of BNY Mellon, for 15 years and has been involved with the management of the Asian Income fund since its inception in 2005.
Jason Pidcock was the last lead manager of the fund but left in May 2015 to join Jupiter and has since launched a rival vehicle. After Mr Pidcocks departure, Newton opted for a team-based appraoch on the fund as it tried to calm investors and stem outflows.
It combinined its emerging market and Asian equity investment teams, led by Mr Marshall-Lee.
Fergus McCarthy, head of UK and Ireland intermediary distribution at BNY Mellon, said: We have been very pleased with the performance of the Newton Asian Income fund over the last 12 months, and this is due to the experience and skill of the Newton emerging and Asian equity team under the leadership of Rob Marshall-Lee.
However, he added: We recognise advisers and their clients like to have a named manager on the funds they invest in. It is common across Newtons fund range to have a named lead and alternate manager.
With Rob having had a good opportunity to review the best way for the team to continue to deliver strong investment performance, it has been decided to combine the strength of the team-based approach with the visibility of a named lead manager on the fund.
Rob Marshall-Lee, head of emerging and Asian equities at Newton, said: Zoe is a natural choice to lead the fund, given her significant experience on the fund itself and in Newtons wider management of Asian equities.
Since Mr Pidcocks departure, the fund has returned 3.8 per cent compared to the IA Asia Pacific ex Japan sector average loss of 8.4 per cent, according to FE Analytics.
A defined benefits pension scheme is investing in equity release lender One Family, FTAdviser understands, a move it has been suggested that could pave the way for other company savings schemes to diversify where they invest to ensure returns for retirees.
Mutual One Family was created out of last years merger between Family Investments and Engage Mutual, offering Junior Isas, over 50s life cover, child trust funds and equity release lending.
A source familiar with the matter said One Family has recently attracted investment from a defined benefit pension scheme to put back into the market as equity release lending.
The scheme in question was the Railways Pension Scheme, with this maiden move potentially paving the way for similar investments from other large funds looking to diversify.
A spokesman for One Family said as per industry practice for funding recipients, the company declined to comment.
The Railways Pension Scheme - managed by Railpen - also declined to comment, other than to say it invests in a wide range of assets.
Stuart Wilson, channel marketing director at equity release lender More 2 Life, said: With the launch of One Family, it is great to see new types of funders entering this market, including DB pension funds, which will help accelerate innovation in this market.
These new funders are not necessarily constrained in the same way as traditional life office funders are (eg. Solvency II) and that will open up new opportunities for product development in this market, he added.
However Dan Baines, commercial director at Leeds-based retirement specialists Age Partnership, warned of the potential for nasty shocks for all parties in the event variable mortgage rates rise in the future.
Back in April, One Family announced its intention to enter the lifetime mortgage market during the first half of 2016 with a unique product offering available exclusively through advisers.
In May, it went live with two new lifetime mortgage products, an interest roll-up deal and a roll-up voluntary payment option, which allows the customer to repay 10 per cent of the initial loan each year, without incurring an early repayment charge.
Leading this venture is Georgina Smith - previously chief executive and marketing director at Stonehaven - who was appointed as the managing director of One Family Lifetime Mortgages.
Large insurance companies like Aviva, LV and the JRP Group fund their equity release businesses with investment from in-house annuity books.
Bernie Hickman, managing director for individual retirement at Legal & General, explained large annuity funds need assets to invest in which have strong, stable, long-term income streams.
If it is good for an annuity fund, then it would also be sensible for defined benefit, however it needs to be well understood, so the investor would need to be close to origination to ensure good quality assets, he added.
LVs third quarter trading update last year showed equity release sales falling 46 per cent, from 84m to 45m year-on-year. It noted the fall was mainly due to fact the enhanced annuity business could not cover as a high a volume of loans, even while demand for equity release remained high.
Just 3 per cent of small business owners count auto-enrolment among their biggest concerns, a survey by Now: Pensions has found.
That is despite more than a third of the businesses that have staged since the beginning of the tax year either waiting until the last minute to enrol with a scheme, or missing the deadline altogether.
The survey asked 350 businesses with fewer than 50 employees to cite their biggest concerns for the coming year.
By far the most popular answer was sales with 34 per cent, with access to capital a distant second at 12 per cent.
The EU referendum, government spending cuts, keeping up with technology and IT took the next four spots, all under 10 per cent.
Auto-enrolment came in seventh place, just ahead of the introduction of the living wage.
Now: Pensions chief executive Morten Nilsson warned businesses not to put off making provisions until the last minute.
With so many other things to think about it is easy to see how auto-enrolment can slip through the cracks, he said. But, the penalties for non-compliance are steep - as much as 500 a day for firms employing 5 to 49 people - so small firms need to give it the attention it deserves.
Now: Pensions findings appeared to contradict a recent survey by insolvency adviser trade body R3, which found auto-enrolment and the EU referendum were the top two concerns for businesses of all sizes.
In this group of 500 businesses, those with between 11-50 employees were the most concerned about auto-enrolment, while micro-businesses with five or fewer employees were the least concerned.
Christopher Daems, director of Cervello Financial Planning and a specialist in advising businesses on pensions, said his experience of the marketplace is split.
He said: Some employers are concerned, but become far less concerned when they have a plan in place to comply and are taking action. However, there are other employers who are not concerned due to a lack of understanding in the financial implications of not complying.
He said the industry needed to find better ways of talking directly to the employers who are failing to comply, and therefore we need to think about strategies which engage these employers.
The Pensions Regulator hit employers failing in their workplace pension duties with a record number of fines for the first three months of the year, as the smallest firms began to reach their staging dates.
If the current rate of fines being handed out continues, then between now and 2018, pension platform Paycircle calculated an estimated 63,000 small and micro UK employers - roughly 3.5 per cent of those due to auto-enrol - will receive fixed non-compliance fines totalling more than 25m.
james.fernyhough@ft.com
Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia was among the right people enshrined on the memorial wall on Saturday, Oct. 21.
Near the end of a hour-long conversation at Monday's meeting of the Corvallis City Club, an audience members asked Erin Prince, the departing superintendent for the Corvallis School District, how exactly the district had boosted its on-time graduation rate from 67.5 percent in 2012 to 86 percent in 2015.
Prince, who will leave the district at the end of July after five years as superintendent, mentioned programs such as interventions with at-risk students. But she said the change basically came down to creating a culture in the district that did not allow roughly 1 in 3 of its students to fail to graduate on time.
Its not magic, she said. Its a lot of dedicated hard work by our staff.
Princes legacy and the future of the district were the topic of the Monday meeting, which drew about 40 people. Prince was joined in the discussion by State Sen. Sara Gelser and Ryan Noss, the districts student services director, who has been tapped to lead the district for the 2016-17 school year while trustees seek a permanent replacement for Prince. (Noss, of course, could turn out to be the permanent replacement.)
Gelser, a former Corvallis School Board member, said the improvement in the graduation rate is an accomplishment that has not gotten the attention it deserves.
Every single student matters, Gelser said. Thats the leadership (Prince) has brought.
Prince, who is leaving the district for a position as vice president of education policy for the Oregon education think tank the Chalkboard Project, said that part of the reason she feels like she can leave the district is that it has leaders in place to keep the district moving forward.
Prince said she has tried to focus the district on three strategic goals: closing the opportunity gaps faced by traditionally underrepresented groups, having every student show growth and having every student graduate.
Prince said it would be bittersweet to leave Corvallis, but she hoped that it would give her the opportunity to help more students throughout Oregon.
I am a better person and a better leader for my time in Corvallis, she said.
Noss also spoke about the future of the district at the meeting. He said implementing the districts equity plan and renewing the districts local option levy this November will be priorities during his year leading the district.
Feb. 28, 1922 June 3, 2016
Harvey Littlejohn Low of Corvallis passed peacefully at Timberwood Court Memory Care in Albany on June 3, 2016, after spending the day surrounded by his children and grandchildren.
The son of George Sutherland Low and Jessie Fraser Harvey Low, Harvey was born Feb. 28, 1922, in Spokane, Washington. He attended North Central High School where he excelled in wood and metal shop, and had great fun participating in school plays and musicals. There he met the love of his life, Agnes Margaret Twitchell (1924-1996). They married in 1942.
A naturalist, sportsman, machinist, carpenter, gunsmith, farmer, educator, environmentalist and human rights advocate, Harveys twinkling eyes expressed intellect, quick wit and resolve. Always, he was a force to be reckoned with.
During World War II, Harvey served in the Army Marine Engineers in Europe, building the Mulberry Pontoons, and later in the Army Special Services Marine Maintenance Corps completing port reconstruction following Gen. George Patton up the Rhine. After the war, Harvey returned to Spokane, his wife, and their toddler daughter, Diana Elizabeth (1944), where he pursued advanced studies in education at Eastern Washington College of Education (now EWU), and became the proud father of Michael Harvey (1947), and Lindy Louise (1949). The family moved to Newport, Washington, in 1950, where Harvey taught industrial arts at Newport High School, while continuing graduate studies at EWC. Harvey and Agnes moved the family to Wenatchee, Washington, in 1955 where he served as Counseling Department Head/Dean of Students at Wenatchee High School for six years.
One of only 32 people selected from a nationwide pool of applicants, Harvey received a full-ride scholarship to attend Harvard Universitys Leadership in Education Summer Fellowship Seminar in 1960. He then set his sights on acquiring an EdD degree from Washington State College (now University) in Pullman, where the family next settled, and Lori Leanne was born (1963). His studies launched Harvey into a professorial position at WSU, where he taught educational counseling and administration until his retirement in 1985. One of Harveys proudest achievements during his tenure at WSU was establishing a High School Equivalency Program (HEP) on campus. The program provided children of migratory and seasonal farmworkers an opportunity to obtain the equivalent of a high school diploma, and subsequently gain employment or begin postsecondary studies.
Throughout his life, Harvey was a forceful advocate for the disenfranchised, at a time when doing so was often disdained. By his courageous actions and words, Harvey provided a voice to the voiceless, a hand up to the discouraged, and instilled in his children a deep respect for the value of all people.
Harvey and Agnes purchased a home, outbuildings and 40 acres of farm land, three miles south of Pullman. As a kid farming with horse and plow, forty acres was as much as a man could do on his own! Harvey said, when asked why such a small plot in the middle of many thousand-acre farms in the Palouse. He loved the many aspects of farming, and especially enjoyed his string of pack horses which he took elk and deer hunting with friends and family in the high Cascade and Blue Mountains. While in Corvallis, Harvey became an active member of the local Ducks Unlimited Club, continued to support his familys educational pursuits, and lived independently until late 2015.
Bundling the family into a pickup to immerse his children in the beauty and wonder of wilderness and national parks, was a priority for Harvey something his father, George Sutherland Low, had given both Harvey and brother, George. Fishing, hunting, exploring and honoring the natural world is a value that lives on in the Harvey Low clan. Like landing a mighty rainbow trout or making a clean shot of a bird, Harvey loved telling the tales of his and his families many adventures and singing around a campfire. This tradition will carry on as the remaining Low clan make new adventures, and tell the tales, bringing Harveys humor, grace, and kind spirit forward into their shared future.
Harvey cherished his family. His most inviolable wish was that we remain strong and true to one another. In that spirit, we encourage all to look into the eyes of those you love and be grateful for the gifts they offer.
Harvey found renewal and sanctuary in nature. To fully honor his spirit, his clan urges you to take a moment this day to be in nature to absorb its deep truth and lasting universality.
Friends and family will gather for a celebration of Harveys life on June 9.
Harvey was preceded in death by his parents, older brother George Sutherland Low, and wife Agnes (Twitchell) Low.
Surviving kin include his children, Diana Elizabeth Dunnington (Leslie), Michael Harvey Low (Carmen), Lindy Louise LeCoq (Creighton) and Lori Leanne Soli (Scott); grandchildren Lynn Elizabeth Faulkenberry (Todd Bybee), Marie Kathleen Dunnington, Meghan Sarah McArt and Molly Margaret McArt (David Marcus); and great-grandchildren, Andrew David Faulkenberry, Justin Robert Faulkenberry and Micah Harvey Marcus.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to The Sierra Club, Earth Justice or Ducks Unlimited.
This log includes incidents in which there might have been a public disturbance or a risk to the public. Information comes from the Corvallis Police Department, the Benton County Sheriffs Office and Oregon State Police. It does not include all calls for service. The status of incidents might change after further investigation. Locations are approximate. People arrested or suspected in crimes are considered innocent until proven otherwise.
Corvallis Police Department
MONDAY, JUNE 6
WELL STICK WITH COFFEE: 1 a.m., 2075 N.W. Circle Boulevard. An officer arrested Robert Keith Manuel, 32, of Corvallis after a clerk at a convenience store called police to report that Manuel had talked about making his own energy drinks and putting a substance in a plastic bag in the clerks drink. Manuel reportedly left the bag with the clerk, and its contents tested positive for methamphetamine. Manuel was found by police and charged with a count of unlawful possession of methamphetamine.
SATURDAY, JUNE 4
INTERFERENCE WITH MAKING A REPORT: 3:29 p.m., 950 N.W. Sycamore Ave. An officer arrested Jarryn Thomas Grimes, 21, of Corvallis, after he allegedly shoved a woman in a domestic dispute and then took her phone when she attempted to call police. Grimes was charged with harassment and interfering with making a report.
STRANGULATION: 3:50 a.m., 146 N.W. 21st St. Officers arrested Tyler John Harney, 23, no address, after receiving a report that he was violating a no-contact order and had struck a woman. Harney was charged with fourth degree assault, strangulation, second degree disorderly conduct, and violating a release agreement.
RESISTING ARREST: 3:36 a.m., 333 N.W. 13th St. Officers arrested Kyle Hardin Strickland, 22, of Forest Grove, after he reportedly broke two windows and a glass table at a house and then fell asleep on its porch. He allegedly fought with police when they arrived and was transported to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center for cuts on his hands. He was charged with second degree criminal mischief, second degree criminal trespassing, first degree criminal trespassing and resisting arrest.
DUII: 2:47 a.m., Northwest Fifth Street and Northwest Jackson Avenue. An officer arrested Jayme S. Rogers, 25, of Corvallis for a charge of DUII. Rogers reportedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.12 percent.
FRIDAY, JUNE 3
METH: 10:06 p.m., Northwest First Street and Northwest Van Buren Avenue. An officer checking on a man naked from the waist down flailing around inside a bathroom had medics transport the man, Eric Delos Hoeye, 41, of Monroe, to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. Hoeye was cited for outstanding warrants, second degree criminal mischief and unlawful possession of methamphetamine. Hoeye reportedly had a bag of methamphetamine with him in the bathroom.
Editor's note: Democrat-Herald reporter Jennifer Moody is teaching a writing class at Oregon State University this quarter, and one of the exercises she asks her students to do is write an editorial. This week, the Gazette-Times will publish some of the students' work on its Opinion page. Yesterday's submission considered the recent suspension of an OSU fraternity; today's editorial takes a different tack.
Oregon State University's Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity has been suspended for five years for reports of hazing.
We believe that the university's decision is justified in the light of studies from the University of Maryland that hazing has led to yearly deaths since 1970.
Additionally, hazing can cause physical impairments and emotional trauma to the participant.
It would have been negligent of OSU to not have taken any action regarding the situation. However, were concerned that it wont be enough.
Hazing is a common tradition among Greek houses; more than 70 percent of members have reported some kind of hazing, according to the website stophazing.org.
While the suspension is a step in the right direction, it's a step that has been shown to stall, rather than prevent, hazing. It's just a matter of time before it happens again.
OSU determines its punishment in cases like this based in part on the severity of the hazing. Minor incidents can lead to suspension while bigger ones can lead to expulsion.
We believe a harsher method, such as immediately and effectively terminating the fraternity, may be warranted in some cases, not just to set an example that this behavior will not be tolerated but also to indefinitely prevent hazing from happening again.
We also believe that sororities are no exception and should be treated with the same expectations of regarding hazing.
Opposing sides have claimed that hazing is a bonding experience, but there are many different methods to ensure bonding occurs without having to humiliate someone.
Besides expulsion, another solution to reduce the chances of hazing could be increased supervision by having an adult present during initiation rituals.
Another way is by barring students who are caught being involved in hazing from joining other frats of attending any sort of fraternity-related event.
We believe that hazing is an campuswide issue across all states and not just here in Corvallis. This problem needs to be addressed and solved through critical punishments and stricter supervision.
EHang Goes To Nevada EHang, the company with the human-sized drone, will first test its EHang 184 in Nevada, according to a story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. EHang will work with the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems, sending people to build out the drone, and test that the helicopter-like device can work. The Chinese company EHang, debuted 184 at this year's CES, as a manned flying machinebut controlled like a drone, where passengers would enter their details via a smartphone, and let the drone do the rest.
Debate Your Robot Japanese firm Hitachi has developed an AI that can read, and analyze, thousands of pages of text in Japanese and then present both a pro and con argument. The system also anchors the points from details in the text. This goal is for the program to be able to digest material and then come up with opinions around business decisions for companies. (Via Japan Today)
$10.6M For Vital Connect Another $11 million is going to Vital Connect, which makes disposable, connected health patches. The Silicon Valley, CA-based firm works directly with doctors and hospitals, who use the products to collect vital signs from heart rate and skin temperature to the electrical activity of the heart (ECG) sending the readings via an app. Although Vital Connect is not marketed to consumers, health monitoring devices are eventually expected to make their way into people's lives, allowing them to take, record and send their own health data to doctors from home.
Uber Drivers Upgrade Uber is granting drivers more perks. To start? Drivers can now take a pause (something, they actually couldn't do before) instead of declining a trip. Also, drivers will be allowed to charge people who make them wait more than 2 minutes. These, and other changes, come as Uber continues to fend off lawsuits from drivers, and compete against other ride-sharing apps, including Lyft, for riders.
CarPlay Vs. Android Auto Curious how Apple's connected car program stacks up against Google's? We took both for a ride in the past few weeks, to give you the breakdown on which one works best on the the road. We'd love your thoughts too.
Motorway deaths : Dramatic rise in motorway deaths in North Rhine-Westphalia
Motorway 3 around Cologne: By the end of May, 18 people had died on the motorways around Cologne alone. Foto: dpa
Dusseldorf Cologne police are to increase the number of speed traps to combat the rise in accidents.
Teilen
Teilen Weiterleiten
Weiterleiten Tweeten
Tweeten Weiterleiten
Weiterleiten Drucken
Double the number of people have died on North Rhine- Westphalias motorways in the first five months of 2016 than in the same period last year. A total of 19 people died in accidents between January and May 2015 compared with 38 deaths to the end of May this year.
A spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday that the figures were being analysed and then measures would be taken. There will be more speed controls and distance measurements would be strengthened. The police will particularly target lorry drivers.
By the end of May, 18 people had died on the motorways around Cologne alone, 12 more than during the same period last year. Police in the cathedral city announced yesterday they would be getting tough with speeders. The Cologne police chief, Jurgen Mathies, said there would be many more controls. He has also asked the Ministry of the Interior to let him use speed control equipment from other police departments. Its a question of systematically dealing with speeders, tailgaters and mobile phone users, said Mathies, who called the latest development in his area dramatic.
The dense motorway network around Cologne stretches from Aachen to Olpe and from Remscheid to the Siebengebirge. There is no stretch of motorway that is a local blackspot for deaths. Mathies said the main causes of accidents were speeding, driving too close to the car in front and drivers getting distracted because they were using their mobile phones at the wheel.
The road traffic regulations provide that every driver must always drive carefully and considerately said Mathies. Many dont seem to realize any more that such rules exist, he said.
by: Elizabeth Dzeng (@LizDzeng)
On September 11, 2015, the legislative bodies of California and the United Kingdom were both faced with the decision to legalize physician assisted dying. Both bills were remarkably similar and based on the Oregon Death with Dignity bill. However, UK lawmakers decisively rejected their bill while their California counterparts approved the End of Life Option Act.
Post-hoc analysis of why the bill failed in the UK and why it succeeded in California point to the usual arguments; concerns about the protection of vulnerable populations and fears of a slippery slope on one side and calls for control and dignity to the end on the other. However, I believe that the different paths taken this day might reflect the different philosophies these countries hold regarding the primacy of choice and autonomy.
That it passed in California might reflect Americas sociopolitical tendencies towards individual rights and autonomy, and the nations mistrust of institutions such as the government and medicine, in favor of personal control over ones own destiny. This is evident in Americas health care system and in particular end of life decision-making, where cultures and policies tend to idealize choice and autonomy. For example, while local variations undoubtedly exist, hospital policies and cultures regarding Do Not Resuscitate decision-making commonly prioritize autonomy.
In particular, New York State law mandates that a physician must perform resuscitation if the patient or surrogate requests it regardless of whether they think it would be clinically appropriate (Spitzer, 2003). It has been shown that institutions that prioritize autonomy over best interest promote cultures where physicians more frequently fail to guide patients by making recommendations (Dzeng, 2015). Rather than empowering patients, a discourse of choice unintentionally allows physicians to derogate from their responsibility to educate and guide and threatens to abandon patients at their most vulnerable moment.
Over the past few years, there has been a shift towards greater awareness that Americans are not dying well. The popular press is rife with stories of helplessness in the face of technologically intense, aggressive care that dehumanizes the last stage of the natural life process (Gawande, 2014). The death with dignity movement reflects this desire to regain control in the face of bewildering choices and the helplessness that comes with being asked to make choices with implications for which they are not fully informed.
However, adding this choice to end ones life might further exacerbate this overwhelming list of options. It potentially does patients a tragic dis-service by giving them the option to end their lives as a poor alternative to providing the palliative care services and guidance that should have been provided. We have already seen in Oregon and the Netherlands doctor shopping for physicians willing to prescribe medications that will cause death (Snijdewind, 2015). This further disrupts the continuity of care that is so essential for a trusting relationship.
Maybe rather than focusing on this discourse of choice, we should instead shift our priorities towards creating a culture of care. To fix this broken system, we need to focus on humanizing the end of life and embrace the spiritual and psychosocial aspects of dying, strengthen clinical palliative care services, and work with the patient to promote genuine understanding of the choices that will realistically accomplish the patients goals and values.
Perhaps lawmakers in the UK, a health care system that has traditionally focused on best interest decision making (UK Mental Capacity Act, 2005), recognized that the ability to choose aid in dying was more deleterious than focusing on providing clinical and psychosocial support as a means to a good death. Indeed, a recent Economist Intelligence Unit report ranked the UK number one in the world for Quality of Death. The UK has a rich history of care of the dying, as exemplified by Dame Cicely Saunders and her creation of the hospice movement. Temels landmark study on the benefits of early palliative care was greeted with excitement and surprise by the American community, and yet my British colleagues found the hype confusing since early palliative care through their National Health Service (NHS) had always been the standard (Temel, 2010).
While the debate on aid in dying continues nationally, the time for divisive debate in California needs to move instead towards crafting a moral response to the Act. Instead, those who oppose and supported the bill must come together as united advocates whose ultimate goals have always been to improve quality of death. It would be tragic if patients felt they need to resort to aid in dying because they were not provided with adequate palliative care support. Health care practitioners must recognize that there is oftentimes underlying meaning behind their requests and ensure that the patient has their palliative care needs addressed.
California must use this as a catalyst to redouble efforts to improve palliative care in California and the US more broadly. Practitioners will need to develop their individual and institutional responses on how best to provide safe, ethical care that respects both the patient and their choices. The CAPC Report Card gave California a B score, signaling the need to focus on improving support. The low frequency of requests and enactments of aid in dying in Oregon and Washington have been in part due to their efforts to improve palliative care services and training in response to their Death with Dignity Act (Lee, 1996).
Dignity is a term that has been embraced by advocates of aid in dying, but perhaps the way to enable a dignified death lies not merely in choice, but through fostering a humanistic, supportive, care based palliative care infrastructure.
Footnote: This is a series of posts this week on Physician Assisted Death in recognition that Californias physician-assisted dying law, ABX2-15 (AB-15), the End of Life Option Act, takes effect on June 9, 2016.
Article
Protecting the worlds oceans an important goal of Germanys climate diplomacy
The worlds oceans are vital to our survival. They regulate the global climate and are a source of food and income for billions of people. Only a very small part of the seas enjoys legal protection, however. Our diplomats are working in New York right now to change this state of affairs.
Alan Burkitt-Gray speaks to Michael Wheeler, executive vice president at NTT Ltd, about a name change for the company, NTT's contribution in the midst of the pandemic and all things network security.
Danville Regional Medical Center CEO Alan Larson and other community leaders addressed the progress of the Imagine Danville initiative at a news conference Monday morning.
The initiative began Feb. 5 as the hospitals effort to combat the wave of violent crimes that had affected many in the city. There had been 13 weekly neighborhood walks promoting peace and unity since the initiative started.
Along with the walks, a website DRMCcares.com was created to let people share ideas and thoughts on how to reduce crime.
Only one of those is going to continue for the foreseeable future.
The walks have been discontinued due to a hot summer forthcoming. The website, which has had thousands of visitors a month, will still be operational.
During the break, the hospital will converse with organizations and community leaders with hopes of restarting the walks or presenting new community outreach programs.
Larson said that the Imagine Danville initiative has been tremendously successful. Theyve brought people and organizations together, have seen other residents start their own gatherings for peace and have increased awareness about crime reduction strategies, he said.
He also emphasized patience when wanting to see a change.
Sometimes it can take years for a city to turn around an upward trend of violent crimes, but the residents must have patience, Larson said.
It also takes a community to step up and speak out about violence.
When the community says theyve had enough, [violence] stops, said Danville Police Chief Philip Broadfoot.
He said violent and property crimes have reduced over the years but even though were going down, we must continuously work to keep it down, he said.
Each community [must] continue to be vigilant in that matter, Larson said.
Youth are directly affected by the violence, said Faith Stamps, executive director of the Danville Boys & Girls Club, which hosted a walk in February.
The Rev. Jeffrey Brown from Boston helped reduce crime in his area by 79 percent over a decade. His approach to stopping crime was applauded by Larson, Broadfoot and others at the news conference.
He took the time to speak to youth at the Boys & Girls Club during his stay, Stamps said. She said she has seen a positive change in the youth of her program since the walks started. Her kids have even participated in the walks.
Some of those youth either have been or know someone who has been directly affected by crime, Stamps said.
Crime is just one piece, said the Rev. Kathleen Monge of the Fairview United Methodist Church. We have to take a long term look at this.
She compared anti-violence initiatives to healing from a serious injury. It takes weeks or months for the healing to be finished.
Monge said crime is a spiritual and health issue that is a big concern for her, and her family.
It does take time, Monge said. [But] I care about thisso I said let me get involved now.
Asked to talk about his vision for the future of Danville, City Manager Ken Larking told a roomful of chamber of commerce members that he prefers to call it our vision a collaborative effort between city staff, the public and City Council.
We have about 43,000 people who live in Danville and at least that many different opinions on how their city government should function, Larking said Tuesday. The City Council has the difficult task of taking those 43,000 opinions and developing a strategy that is in the best interest of everyone I feel certain that during Danvilles existence, the vision has boiled down to this: To create a place where people can have a rich, safe and enjoyable life through their working, learning and playing.
To accomplish that, Larking said, the citys role is to set policy, adopt laws, establish services and appropriate money something he said the city has been doing since it was founded 223 years ago, expanding those efforts as needed for the common good of this community.
Larking said while the city is not the driving factor on whether a business succeeds saying that responsibility belongs to business leaders who take the risk to build a business there are ways the city government can help.
First, we need to have common sense ordinances and a permitting process that encourages orderly development, but not so restrictive that its hard to start and maintain a business, he said.
Larking said the city needs to be aggressive in all aspects of economic development, including having safeguards to protect the citys investment in business ventures, working to recruit businesses that research shows makes sense for Danville, protecting existing businesses, creating opportunities for people looking for work and encouraging educational opportunities so companies will find workers ready for the jobs they will provide.
Youth disengagement is an issue, Larking said, and work needs to be done to eliminate any feeling that some young people have that there is no hope in their future.
He said he recently visited W.W. Moore Detention Center and spoke to young people who asked how they were going to get jobs and better themselves. Larking said the answer to beginning a successful work life is to be able to pass a drug test, show up at the job on time and to be committed to learning the job.
Larking said he was impressed with their desire for better futures and to be able to support themselves.
If you do those three things, you can start a career, Larking said, noting that initially it could be a ground-floor position that offers the opportunity to work their way up. Some of these kids dont realize its there for the grasping there are jobs in Danville. You dont have to disqualify yourself because of circumstances.
Larking admits there are challenges and there is a lot of work to be done, but said he believes residents should also be proud of what has been accomplished.
When I decided to come to Danville three years ago, I was so impressed by the business, civic and government leaders who were dedicated to overcoming the challenges before them, Larking said. It may be difficult to see from the inside, but anyone from the outside who takes the time to learn about what our community is doing to re-imagine ourselves, is impressed. I often speak to my colleagues from other cities about what is happening here and they are in awe at what we are doing as am I.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe rushed out an executive order restoring rights to ex-offenders without consulting the Virginia General Assembly and as a result included an imprisoned murderer and several sex offenders on the list local lawmakers said Monday.
A number of us were concerned that it wasnt well thought out, said state Sen. Frank Ruff, R- Clarksville.
On Friday, prosecutors revealed a murderer serving a life sentence and two sex offenders still in prison were among the listed 206,000 felons to receive rights restoration. The Virginia GOP heavily criticized the errors after the news of the miscues leaked out.
Del. Danny Marshall, R-Danville, said historically, previous governors had avoided restoring rights for similar reasons. When U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine was governor, he stopped efforts to restore voting rights because of worries about the Virginia Constitution, Marshall said.
Because McAuliffe was working on the order before the 2016 General Assembly session, Marshall wondered why the governor didnt submit legislation. Marshall said he believed a bill restoring rights for non-violent offenders at least could have been debated and passed during the session.
I think its very possible we could have negotiated something friendly to people who have gotten their acts together, Ruff added.
Marshall said he believed McAuliffes ultimate motive was to gain support for Democrats before the 2016 election. He added that Republicans asked McAuliffe to call a special legislative session over rights restoration, which the governor did not do.
In his haste to get done, he overstepped his boundaries, Ruff said.
GOP leaders also have asked to make the complete list of ex-offenders public, but the McAuliffe administration said the list is being withheld because it is constantly being refined.
After McAuliffe announced the order in April, state GOP leaders filed a lawsuit against his administration. Ruff said the courts would ultimately have the final say over the issue.
The Virginia Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case July 19.
CHATHAM The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors changed its bylaws Monday night to get rid of penalties against board members including those on board appointed commissions who violate the countys ethical standards.
The vote also eliminated a requirement that elected and appointed officials sign a statement a Model of Excellence stating they would uphold the countys standards of conduct.
The boards vote followed a public hearing held during the boards meeting in Chatham. No residents spoke on the matter.
Callands-Gretna Supervisor Jerry Hagerman took issue with the board voting on something he said is illegal and unenforceable. What gives board members the authority to say someone is in violation? Hagerman asked.
County Attorney J. Vaden Hunt said all bodies of Virginias elected officials have codes of ethics. State code says a board member participating in disorderly conduct can be penalized, Hunt said.
Approval from the board of the changes would remove the ability of one member to punish another, Hunt said.
Hagerman expressed disbelief that the board was considering a vote on the proposal.
I cannot believe that we are going to vote on something that is unenforceable, Hagerman said before making a substitute motion to have the item removed.
The motion failed due to lack of a second from other members.
Tunstall Supervisor Tim Barber said he had no problem voting for the proposal. The boards move would take the policy back to before the additions of the penalties and the Model of Excellence were made three years ago.
The board voted 6-1 for the changes, with Hagerman opposing.
The standards require that board members act in the public interest, comply with the law, refrain from abusive conduct including verbal attacks on the character or motives of other board members and avoid conflict of interest, among other codes of behavior.
They also instruct supervisors not to accept gifts and favors for themselves or family members that could be interpreted as influencing the performance of their duties.
The standards compliance and enforcement section had stated that the board may impose sanctions and fines on members whose behavior does not comply, including public or private reprimand, formal censured loss of seniority or committee assignment or budget restriction.
In other matters, the board approved a $236,125 contract a one-year contract with four optional one-year renewals with Galls, LLC to provide winter and summer uniforms for the Pittsylvania County Sheriffs Office. The county received three bids and Galls offered the lowest, said County Administrator Clarence Monday.
The current contract expires in July.
Supervisors also voted to authorize staff to research Danville Utilities electric rates and for Barber and Hunt to work together to draft a resolution opposing the citys recent decision to increase its electric rates.
Danvilles decision will result in an increase of $2.43 in the average residents monthly utility bill.
Barber proposed the resolution during the boards meeting.
Danville Utilities serves residents in Pittsylvania County.
Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading.
Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy
Arranges Non-Brokered Private Placement
Grants Stock Options
VANCOUVER, June 6, 2016 /CNW/ - Wealth Minerals Ltd. (the "Company" or "Wealth") - (TSXV: WML; OTCQB: WMLLF; Frankfurt: EJZ), announces that Mr. Timothy McCutcheon has been appointed President of the Company, effective immediately. Henk van Alphen has resigned as President, but will remain as the Chief Executive Officer.
"We are excited to welcome Tim into Wealth's executive management team as we lay the groundwork for Wealth's next phase of growth in the lithium space," stated Henk van Alphen, Wealth's CEO, "He brings many years of financial and administrative expertise that will be invaluable as the company grows."
Tim McCutcheon commented: "I am extremely excited to join the Wealth's team and help move the Company forward as it seeks to complete lithium project acquisitions. The lithium space is undergoing profound positive change and Wealth is well positioned to capitalize on increasing demand and expanding applications for lithium."
Tim McCutcheon
Mr. McCutcheon is a mining and finance professional with over 20 years of international business experience. He has led several mining development companies with assets in Russia, Slovakia and Ghana. Additionally, Mr. McCutcheon has served as an advisor to a wide range of natural resource companies, playing key roles in administration and capital market strategy.
Prior to moving to the mining sector, Mr. McCutcheon worked in multiple financial institutions such as Bear Stearns, Aton Capital and Pioneer Investments as an award-winning metals and mining sector analyst and as an investment banker. He also was a founder/partner of DBM Capital Partners Ltd, a leading boutique metals finance institution which managed the mining fund Sayan Investments Ltd and advised multiple base and precious metals mining companies active in Europe and Asia. Mr. McCutcheon has a BA and MBA from Columbia University, New York, USA.
Non-Brokered private Placement
The Company also announces that it has arranged a non-brokered private placement (the "Placement") of 5,000,000 common shares (the "Shares") of the Company at a price of $0.40 per Share, for gross proceeds of up to $2,000,000. All shares issued in the Placement will have a hold period in Canada of four months from the closing of the Placement.
The net proceeds from the Placement are intended to be used to fund the costs related to the ongoing discussions with Li3 Energy Inc. ("Li3") pursuant to the letter of intent with Li3 announced on February 1, 2016 (NR16-01), including to carry out and complete the required due diligence on Li3 and the Maricunga Lithium Project, for the review and assessment of additional potential lithium mineral property acquisitions in South America on which the Company is actively negotiating and the preparation of related formal documentation for any such acquisition(s), for property payments and work programs on the Company's existing mineral properties and for general and administrative expenses and working capital.
Completion of the Placement is subject to the acceptance for filing thereof by the TSX Venture Exchange.
This press release does not constitute an offer of sale of any of the foregoing securities in the United States. None of the foregoing securities have been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act") or any applicable state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) or persons in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor will there be any sale of the foregoing securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.
Stock Options
Pursuant to the Company's 2004 Incentive Stock Option Plan, the Company has granted incentive stock options to directors, officers, employees and consultants of the Company and its affiliates to purchase up to an aggregate of 1,400,000 common shares in the capital stock of the Company. The options are exercisable on or before June 6, 2018 at a price of $1.05 per share.
About Wealth Minerals Ltd.
Wealth is a mineral resource company with interests in Canada, Mexico, Peru and Chile. The Company's main focus is the acquisition of Lithium projects in South America, including interests in the Maricunga Salar and the Salar de Aguas Calientes in Chile. The Company also maintains a portfolio of precious and base metal exploration-stage projects, including Yanamina (Peru) and Valsequillo (Mexico).
For further details on the Company readers are referred to the Company's web site (www.wealthminerals.com) and its Canadian regulatory filings on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors of
WEALTH MINERALS LTD.
"Hendrik van Alphen"
Hendrik van Alphen
Chief Executive Officer
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release, which has been prepared by management.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and US securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, statements regarding the anticipated content, commencement, timing and cost of exploration programs, the proposed use of the proceeds from the private placement; the Company's expectation that it will be able to enter into agreements to acquire interests in additional lithium or other mineral projects; anticipated exploration program results, the discovery and delineation of mineral deposits/resources/reserves, the proposed acquisition by the Company of interests in the Maricunga and Aguas Calientes Salars, Chile, and the anticipated business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, the state of the financial markets for the Company's equity securities, the state of the commodity markets generally, variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, variations in the market price of any mineral products the Company may produce or plan to produce, the inability of the Company to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required, including TSXV acceptance, for its planned activities, the inability of the Company to produce minerals from its properties successfully or profitably, to continue its projected growth, to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Company's latest interim Management Discussion and Analysis and filed with certain securities commissions in Canada. All of the Company's Canadian public disclosure filings may be accessed via www.sedar.com and readers are urged to review these materials, including the technical reports filed with respect to the Company's mineral properties.
This press release is not, and is not to be construed in any way as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States.
SOURCE Wealth Minerals Ltd.
Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCwire) - Prophecy Development Corp. (Prophecy or the Company) (TSX:PCY, Frankfurt:1P2) announces that John Lee, of Suite 1301, 12 Harcourt Road, Central, Hong Kong, Executive Chairman of the Company, completed the acquisition of 75,000,000 (pre-consolidation) units (each a "Unit") at a price of $0.02 per Unit in the Company, pursuant to a private placement (the "Private Placement") which closed on June 3, 2016 for total consideration of $1,500,000 in debt. Each Unit consists of one Common share in the capital of the Company (a Share) and one Share purchase warrant (a Warrant). Each Warrant entitles the holder to acquire an additional Share at a price of $0.04 per Share for a period of five years from the date of issuance. The Shares, Warrants and any Shares issued upon exercise of the Warrants are subject to a four (4) month hold period from the date of closing of the Private Placement.
Prior to the Private Placement, Mr. Lee beneficially owned 20,719,116 (pre-consolidation) shares, representing approximately 5.62% of the issued and outstanding shares of the Company.
As a result of the Private Placement, Mr. Lee now beneficially owns and exercises control over an aggregate of 957,191 (post-consolidation) Shares representing an interest of approximately 21.58% of the Company's currently issued and outstanding (post-consolidation) Shares, 32.92% of the Company's Shares on a partially diluted basis assuming full exercise of only the 75,000,000 Warrants, and 34.45% of the Company's Shares on a fully diluted basis assuming exercise of all of the Company's outstanding share purchase warrants.
The securities described in this news release were acquired in exchange for satisfaction of $1,500,000 of indebtedness owed by the Company to Linx Partners Ltd. (Linx) (a company controlled by Mr. Lee) under the revolving Credit Facility Agreement with the Company dated March 12, 2015, as amended. The securities were acquired by Mr. Lee for investment purposes only, and not for purposes of exercising control or direction over the Company.
Mr. Lee also intends to acquire an additional 52,763 (post consolidation) Shares on June 7, 2016, at a deemed price of $1.99 per Share to settle $105,000 in outstanding consulting fees owed to him. Such Shares are being issued through the Companys Share-Based Compensation Plan which was approved by shareholders at the Companys Annual General Meeting of shareholders held on June 2, 2016.
Generally, Mr. Lee intends to evaluate his investment in the Company and to increase or decrease its shareholdings as circumstances require, depending on market conditions and other factors, through market transactions, private agreements or otherwise.
The information contained in this news release has been provided by Mr. Lee and the Company is not responsible for its accuracy.
A copy of the early warning report pursuant to National Instrument 62-103 required to be filed with the applicable securities commissions in connection with the acquisition of the Units described in this news release will be available for viewing under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. A copy of the early warning report can also be obtained from the contact number for Investor Relations below.
About Prophecy
Prophecy Development Corp. is a Canadian public company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange that is engaged in developing mining and energy projects in Mongolia, Bolivia and Canada. Further information on Prophecy can be found at www.prophecydev.com.
Prophecy Development Corp.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
JOHN LEE
Executive Chairman
For more information about Prophecy, please contact Investor Relations:
+1.604.563.0699
+1.888.513.6286
ir@prophecydev.com
www.prophecydev.com
To view this press release as a PDF file, click onto the following link:public://news_release_pdf/prophecy06062016.pdfSource: Prophecy Development Corp. (OTC Pink:PRPCF, TSX:PCY, FWB:1P2) http://www.prophecydev.com/
Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com
Copyright 2016 Filing Services Canada Inc.
El Capitan Precious Metals Inc. (OTCQB: ECPN) announced today that the Shareholders Meeting will be held at The Inn of the Mountain Gods in Ruidoso, NM on September 28th 2016 at 10:00 am. The Inn of the Mountain Gods is offering a preferred rate for meeting attendees, and this rate should be requested when making reservations.
The purpose of moving the meeting is to allow shareholders to visit the mine site at Capitan, NM, about 25 miles from The Inn of the Mountain Gods. Shareholders will be able to view, firsthand, the recent activities at the mine site.
The results of recent activities at the mine include the excavating of ore and the concentration of the ore through the AuraSource Heavy Metals Separation equipment. Stockpiles of ore, from each stage of the process, are currently located at the mine for efficient, continued production and concentration activities.
At the meeting, the shareholder presentation will also provide, in detail, a complete explanation of the transportation of the ore concentrates to Logistica, who further concentrates the initially concentrated ore, thus producing the valuable concentrates such as those that have recently been deposited in the bonded COMEX warehouse. It is important to realize that the concentration of the ore at both the mine site and at Logistica is a multiple-step process, with the ore continually becoming more concentrated with each step.
The meeting will also provide a description of the commercial production line that has been designed and is expected to be established for the extraction of the actual precious metals by Logistica. El Capitan Precious Metals, Inc. is looking forward to having the opportunity to provide its shareholders with a full explanation and demonstration of its activities, eliminating questions and misinformation related to the Companys ability to produce precious metals.
About El Capitan Precious Metals, Inc.:
El Capitan Precious Metals Inc. is a mining company based in Scottsdale, Arizona that is principally engaged in the mining of precious metals and other minerals. The Companys primary asset is its wholly owned subsidiary El Capitan, Ltd., an Arizona corporation, which holds the 100% equity interest in the El Capitan property located near Capitan, New Mexico. www.elcapitanpmi.com
Forward-Looking Safe Harbor Statement:
The statements included in this press release concerning predictions of economic performance and managements plans and objectives constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. Words such as expect(s), feel(s), believe(s), will, may, anticipate(s) and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the expected completion, timing and results of metallurgical testing, interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits, results of initial feasibility, pre-feasibility and feasibility studies and expectations with respect to the engaging in strategic transactions. All of such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of the Company, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. Specifically, there can be no assurance regarding the timing and terms of any transaction involving the Company or its El Capitan property, or that such a transaction will be completed at all. In addition, there can be no assurance that periodic updates to the Companys geological technical reports will support the Companys prior claims regarding the metallurgical value and make-up of the ore on the New Mexico property. Additional risks and uncertainties affecting the Company include, but are not limited to, the possibility that future exploration, development, testing or mining results will not be consistent with past results and/or the Companys expectations; discrepancies between different types of testing methods, some or all of which may not be industry standard; the ability to mine precious and other minerals on a cost effective basis; the Companys ability to successfully complete contracts for the sale of its products; fluctuations in world market prices for the Companys products; the Companys ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approvals; the Companys ability to obtain financing for continued operations and/or the commencement of mining activities on satisfactory terms; the Companys ability to enter into and meet all the conditions to consummate contracts to sell its mining properties that it chooses to list for sale; and other risks and uncertainties described in the Companys filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements that speak only as of the date hereof, and we do not undertake any obligation to revise and disseminate forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, or to reflect the occurrence of or non-occurrence of any events.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160607005684/en/
Contact
El Capitan Precious Metals Inc.
John F Stapleton, 480-440-1449
MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - Jun 7, 2016) - MDN Inc. (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:MDN) is pleased to announce that it has signed a definitive property purchase agreement (the "Agreement") to acquire the Argor property (the "Property") from Barrick Gold Inc., James Bay Columbium Ltd. and Goldcorp Inc. (the "Sellers").
The Argor property is located in the James Bay Lowlands in Northern Ontario. Historic exploratory and detailed drilling totalling over 14,000 meters was completed in the 1960s. 85 holes were drilled at a maximum depth of 275 meters, in sections of 61 meters intervals along a strike of 730 meters. A historic estimate was finalized by Dr. P. Price of Canadian Bechtel Ltd in 1967 and indicated 62 million tonnes at 0.52% Nb2O5. Moreover, an exploration shaft was sunk and a 250 tonne bulk sample was extracted to subsequently be used in a pilot plant which demonstrated a high recovery rate of 78%.
Upon closing of the transaction, subject to the consent of the Province of Ontario for the transfer of the mining lease comprising the Property and the TSX Venture Exchange approval, the Sellers will transfer 100% of the asset to MDN. In consideration, MDN will issue to the Sellers 5,000,000 common shares in the capital of MDN and will pay to the Sellers a cash consideration of C$25,000.
In addition to the shares and cash consideration the Sellers retain a 2.0% net smelter returns royalty (the "Royalty") over all minerals produced from the Property. MDN has the right to buy-back 1% of the Royalty for the sum of C$2,000,000 (in constant 2016 dollars, subject to a cap of C$3,000,000) at any time.
Moreover, the Sellers have the right to re-acquire a 51% interest in the Property (the "Back-in Right"), in case of the establishment on the Property of one or more deposits containing no less than 2 million gold ounces and/or gold equivalent ounces of resources in aggregate, upon payment by the Seller to the Buyer of 2.5 times Buyer's expenditures incurred on the Property. The Back-In Right does not apply to the niobium content.
"We are pleased to finalise the acquisition of Argor," said Claude Dufresne, President and CEO. "The quality of the mineral is such that we strongly believe Argor has the potential to become the second North American producer of Ferro niobium," added Mr. Dufresne.
Claude Dufresne, Engineer, acted as the qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"). He reviewed and approved the technical and scientific content of this press release.
The historical resources estimate, the historical feasibility and the historical metallurgical testing are based on data obtained by previous operators in the 1960s. MDN has not yet undertaken the work necessary to verify or classify those historical results. Economic studies completed in the 1960s do not mean the Argor deposit would be found to be economic today. MDN is not treating the historical results as a current mineral resource nor as having been verified by a qualified person.
About MDN (TSX VENTURE:MDN)
MDN Inc. is a mining exploration and development company with properties in Quebec and in Tanzania. In Quebec, MDN holds a 72.5% interest in Crevier Minerals Inc., which owns a NI 43-101 niobium tantalum resource and 100% of the Samaqua property.
Follow us on Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/MDN_INC
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/1318737
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements are discussed in greater detail in the Company's most recent Annual Information Form filed on SEDAR. Investors and others who base themselves on the Company's forward-looking statements should carefully consider the factors mentioned in the Annual Information Form, as well as the uncertainties they represent and the risk they entail. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct, and as such, the forward-looking statements in this press release should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this press release.
ROUYN-NORANDA, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - Jun 7, 2016) - Brunswick Resources Inc. (the "Corporation" or "Brunswick") (TSX VENTURE:BRU) is pleased to announce the acquisition of two mining properties located in the northwestern region of the Province of Quebec at approximately 45 kilometers southwest of the Chibougamau mining camp. The properties are located contiguously and to the west of the Monster Lake Project of TomaGold and Iamgold, in the Chibougamau Mining camp.
The properties are being acquired because Brunswick has identified to the west of the Monster Lake Structural Zone a parallel structural corridor. The Monster Lake Project is underlain by Archean Volcanic rock of the Obatogamau Formation and is traversed by an important deformation corridor and associated gold-bearing mineralized structures. Historical drilling and recent success by TomaGold have identified at least a four kilometer long structural corridor including amongst others, the 325 Megane high grade gold Zone.
The First Option Agreement
The Corporation has entered into an option agreement to acquire 29 mining claims located in the Jamesie region of Northwestern Quebec.
Brunswick Resources Inc. will pay a total of $25,000 and issue a total of 1,500,000 common shares over a period of 3 years for an Option to acquire a 100% interest in the Irene Lake Property. The Optionor has retained a 2.0% NSR in the property. This acquisition is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.
The Second Option Agreement
The Corporation has entered into an option agreement to acquire 14 mining claims located in the Jamesie region of northwestern Quebec.
Brunswick Resources Inc. will pay a total of $6,000 and issue a total of 600,000 common shares over a period of 3 years for an Option to acquire a 100% interest in the additional claims of the Irene Lake Property. The Optionors have retained a 2.0% NSR in the property. This acquisition is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.
Both properties are contiguous and to the west of TomaGold's and Iamgold Monster Lake Project where 5 major gold zones were intercepted. Over 20 intercepts of high gold ranging from 10.0 to 237.6 g/t Au were discovered on the Monster Lake property.
Brunswick Resources Inc., announces that the Corporation has sold the Abitibi Gold Property. Brunswick Resources has decided to concentrate its exploration efforts on the new properties in Quebec and on the Chester Property in New Brunswick.
Christian Dupont, P. Eng., is the qualified person responsible of the information contained in this press release.
Brunswick Resources Inc. is a publicly listed company trading on the TSX Venture Exchange (BRU).
This press release was prepared by Brunswick Resources Inc. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange Inc nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the Policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) has reviewed or accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
About Brunswick Resources Inc.
Brunswick Resources Inc. is a Canadian-based natural resources company with mineral holdings in Ontario and New Brunswick. Brunswick is currently focused on exploration in the Bathurst Mining Camp. The Bathurst Mining camp is where 47 VMS (volcanic massive sulfide) deposits have been found to date, including the Brunswick No. 12 and the Brunswick No. 6 Mines where more than 130,000,000 tonnes of Base metal ore has been produced to date. Brunswick Resources Flagship project is the Chester Copper and VMS Project located in the Bathurst Mining camp. The Chester mineral resource (Explor Resources Press Release dated April 10, 2014) includes the following:
MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE - CHESTER DEPOSIT (MARCH 7, 2014)
Class Cut-off
(Cu%)
Ktonnes Cu
(%) Zn
(%) Ag
(g/t) In-Pit Measured 0.5 101 1.87 0.14 6.7 Indicated 0.5 1,296 1.34 0.06 3.3 Measured and Indicated 0.5 1,397 1.38 0.06 3.5 Inferred 0.5 2,060 1.25 n/a n/a Below Pit Inferred 2.0 29 2.33 n/a n/a Combined Measured 0.5 101 1.87 0.14 6.7 Indicated 0.5 1,299 1.34 0.06 3.3 Measured and Indicated 0.5 1,400 1.38 0.06 3.5 Inferred Variable 2,089 1.26 n/a n/a
Note: Inferred resources are based primarily on older drilling results which do not have sufficient zinc and silver analyses to generate resource grades for these elements.
Robert Sim, P.Geo, an independent consultant, served as the Qualified Person responsible for preparing the Technical Report, as defined in National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101), in compliance with Form 43-101F1 (the Technical Report). Mr. Sim is a Geologist with more than 30 years of experience primarily in base and precious metals exploration, operations, resource modeling, and feasibility-level evaluations. Mr. Sim has worked on similar volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits, including the Winston Lake deposit in Ontario and the Cayeli deposit in Turkey. Mr. Sim received assistance from Geo-statistician Bruce Davis, Ph.D., FAusIMM, of BD Resource Consulting, Inc.
This document may contain forward-looking statements relating to Brunswick's operations or to the environment in which it operates. Such statements are based on operations, estimates, forecasts and projections. They are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and may be beyond Brunswick's control. A number of important factors could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements, including those set forth in other public filling. In addition, such statements relate to the date on which they are made. Consequently, undue reliance should not placed on such forward-looking statements. Brunswick disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, save and except as may be required by applicable securities laws.
A map of the LAC IRENE GOLD PROPERTY is available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/160607_BRU_MAP.pdf
You're not alone if the thought of hunching over a bowl of hot noodle soup, the broth steaming up your glasses while shovelling noodles into your mouth, makes you actually and longingly dewy-eyed for the cold weather. But where best to beat Melbourne's big, bad chill? Check these entries out, or get a blanket - and don't leave your couch for the next three months.
Burmese House
Myanmar's national dish is moh hin gha, a fish soup with rice vermicelli that is a staple breakfast. At Burmese House (open for dinner only), they use pink salmon instead of the traditional catfish, and cook it with garlic, ginger, lemongrass, chilli powder and onion. It's topped with sliced boiled egg. They also do a coconut, chicken egg-noodle soup, which has been likened to laksa, simply topped with chicken and sliced boiled egg.
303 Bridge Road, Richmond, 03 9421 2861; burmesehouse.com.au
Hem 27
They've whittled out the Chinese dishes usually found on lengthy Vietnamese restaurant menus and expanded on the Vietnamese offerings, which means you'll find not-everywhere dishes here. All the recipes have been handed down from the owner Michael Nguyen's mother and are prepared by his wife and co-owner Tiffany Truong. You'll find pho, bun (rice vermicelli soups), hu tieu mi (rice egg noodle soup), as well as the special tangy soft-shell crab soup that Michael says his mum introduced to Melbourne, via a Springvale restaurant, 10 years ago.
Shop 27, Showgrounds Village, 320 Epsom Road, Flemington, 03 9376 2961
Middle Fish
Advertisement
At Middle Fish the tom yum that heady broth of lemongrass, chilli, garlic, lime, and galangal clouded with milk comes with glass noodles, instead of the usual rice. The translucent noodles (from Thailand) are made with mung bean flour. "They work well with the tom yum," says chef/owner Pla Liamthong, "and they're healthier." It's topped with tiger prawns and Chinese broccoli, and the condiments invite you to sweeten, sour, salt or spice it the way you like it.
122 Berkeley Street, Carlton, 03 9348 1704; middlefish.com.au
Miss Ruben
Also known as Jewish penicillin, chicken noodle soup at NY Jewish-style deli Miss Ruben is made the proper way, with bones and vegies, cooked for hours to form a tasty, golden broth. It comes with a giant matzo ball (matzo meal, egg, oil and water) and short noodles. Does it cure all ills? "Definitely," says owner Amanda Ruben. "A lady just came in and said she felt terrible yesterday, but was much better after soup, so came back for more." Also available to take away.
76 Glen Eira Road, Ripponlea, 03 9042 5933
Mr Ramen San
Of the myriad regional styles of ramen, the rich, creamy pork-based tonkotsu from Kyushu (an island of Japan in the south-west) is taking hold of Melbourne. Tonkotsu here is salty and creamy rich, topped with charsu, nori and egg. You can order it spicy, or half-spicy. There is a veg ramen, as well as regional specials like a black tonkotsu, with black garlic, "deeper flavour". You'll find it down a wind-blown arcade (near the queue for Royal Custard Puff's hot, custard-filled doughnut balls; there's dessert).
Shop 12a, 200 Bourke Street, Melbourne, 03 9042 1588; mrramensan.com.au
M Yong Tofu
Ordering the signature yong tofu involves a few decisions. Step 1, choose from four types of noodle: hokkien, egg, rice or vermicelli. Step 2, select a soup base: curry (laksa base), chicken or tom yum. Step 3, choose a combination (six bits in each combo) of add-ins: processed fish-paste-stuffed vegetables, balls, dumplings and puffs. This humble cash-only place also does a mighty seafood curry laksa with good grit and loads of plump seafood, and a funky Penang assam laksa with mackerel and pineapple pieces.
314 Racecourse Road, Flemington, 03 9376 0168
Nanyang Bak Kut Teh
Part of SugarBun (the Malaysian fast-food chain, in the same heritage building), Nanyang specialises in bak kut teh, a dark broth made from 23 herbs and spices that's plump with pork ribs, pork balls and belly fat, but no noodles. Fortunately for noodle chasers, they also specialise in Sarawak laksa (less coconut milk, more prawn flavour than you'd taste in a curry laksa), and full with vermicelli, beansprouts, strips of omelette, shredded chicken and prawns.
205 Russell Street, Melbourne, 03 9650 4336; nanyangbkt.com
Pho Chu The
It's pho fast at this Victoria Street speciality shop that serves only pho. It comes a few ways, with chicken, with giblets, etc, and the menu is posted on the walls, along with a cool line-drawing mural. There is fresh chilli and sliced red onion on every table, as well as a flask of hot jasmine tea to balance the umami beef broth.
270 Victoria Street, Richmond, 03 9428 7797
Pho Nom
Jerry Mai's pho is richly flavoured, and made to her mother's recipe, using top ingredients. Choose classic pho bo with sliced rare beef, pho bo Saigon with beef, brisket and meatballs, or pho wagyu with sliced sirloin. The chicken (ga) pho is made with free-range birds, and, if you can't choose, go the ga bo, with chicken and beef. Vegetarians, there's mushroom and tofu pho for you.
Store 33, lower ground, Emporium Melbourne, 287 Lonsdale Street & 567 Collins Street, Melbourne; phonom.com.au
Shimbashi Soba & Sake
The soba are made fresh every morning and every afternoon by chef Taka Kumayaya who starts at the start of the noodle-making process, and stone-grinds Tasmanian buckwheat. They're moist without being tacky and have a subtle wholemeal flavour. The soup base is teased out of imported bonito and mackerel shavings. The two are brought together and topped with six combinations, such as mushroom and wild vegie, or dumplings and chicken fillet. Also available with thick, udon noodles.
17 Liverpool Street, Melbourne, 03 9654 6727; shimbashisobamelbourne.net
Soi 38
Thai boat noodles, from a food cart, in a car park. At Soi 38, chef/owner Top Kijphavee buys fresh ingredients each day to make just three noodle-soup dishes. The signature boat noodles (originating in Ayuthaya, the Venice of Thailand, and originally sold out of boats) is a dark beef broth, topped with thin-sliced rump, house-made beef balls and a braise (maybe shin, but whatever's good that day). You can choose your noodle and listen to the pork crackling actually crackle when it hits the broth. Take it any direction with table condiments: chilli, pickled chilli, fish sauce or sugar.
38 McIlwraith Place; Melbourne, soi38.com
Tina's Noodle Kitchen & Dainty Noodle Express
Work through a wide-mouthed bowl maybe brimming with beef and vegetables in an electric-red broth with the double-punch of chilli and tongue-numbing Sichuan pepper. That's just one of the 37 soup choices, all laden with slippery rice noodles, that include veg options and milder flavours. Dainty Emporium (in the same restaurant family) does a spicy beef soup in a kicking broth made with springy wheat noodles, popular in northern China.
Tina's: Melbourne, Box Hill, Maribyrnong and Preston; Dainty Noodle Express, Emporium Melbourne.
Vue de Monde at the Rialto. Photo: Wayne Taylor
Address Level 55, Rialto, 525 Collins Street Melbourne, Victoria 3000 View map Opening hours Wed-Thu 6pm-midnight; Fri-Sat, noon-2pm; 6pm-midnight Features Views, Licensed Prices Expensive (mains over $40) Chef Hugh Allen Payments Diner's Club, eftpos, AMEX, Visa, Mastercard Phone 03 9691 3888
This month marks five years since Vue de Monde moved to the 55th floor of the Rialto. It has never been better. The room buzzes with energy and freshness, even as the kangaroo-skin table coverings are becoming butter-soft and worn.
The food has "wow" factor yet it is flavour and texture that impress most. Kitchen trickery has been reined in and most food is cooked in pots and pans.
The view over Melbourne never gets boring: how easy it is to pity cars crawling over the Bolte Bridge when one is nibbling on duck breast with fermented truffle.
King George whiting with burnt orange puree and quandong. Photo: Wayne Taylor
There's a warmth to the dining experience, driven largely by head chef Justin James and his crew, who bring many dishes to the table from the open kitchen, and also, in a funny way, by the international team of floor staff, some of whom can seem starstruck to simply be there.
That's not necessarily the best mindset when shepherding diners through the uncertainty and wonder of a menu-free experience, but there's something about being on the ride together that appeals.
Vue de Monde is expensive $200 plus per multi-course meal so most people would never consider dining here. However, if you can spend a lot of money on a meal, there's value.
Kangaroo served on charcoal. Photo: Wayne Taylor
Chef James (ex-Eleven Madison Park in New York) runs the kitchen; he eats each menu with owner Shannon Bennett, who still has ultimate oversight. Bennett should be happy. His man on the ground (well, 400 metres above it) is doing him proud, using technique in service of diner enjoyment, not just because it's fun to play with food. That can result in dishes that layer inspiration and process in remarkably complex ways but end up eating very easily.
"That's so delicious," I say, about a veal and cabbage dish. Juniper-infused milk gel and cabbage braised in veal jus sit underneath grilled veal. The meat is rolled in reduced cabbage juice, then a mix of charred cabbage powder and caramelised milk powder. It's topped by discs cut from cabbage leaves how clever, how simple that have been variously pickled, compressed, confited and charred. I found most of that out later. In the moment, I was dazed by milk and earth, blood and fire, by the modest alchemy of food that stops time.
Vue de Monde has a farm at Burnham Beeches and the chefs head out there fortnightly to pick and prod and plan. One day, Justin James pulled a Jerusalem artichoke plant from the earth and noticed that its root ball looked like an upturned tree, artichokes clinging to it like apples.
The 'magical' doughnut tree. Photo: Wayne Taylor
That lightning bolt of inspiration has become a fabulous dessert: the roots and vegetables are painstakingly cleaned, poached in sugar syrup, then fried and the artichokes piped full of apple jam. What appears at the table is a magical doughnut tree. You pluck sweet, caramelised artichokes from the "branches" and swipe them through salted chocolate. It's an ace amusement and tastes great.
A restaurant like Vue de Monde is not part of normal life (though apparently one couple has been 41 times). The trick is to make the rarefied also feel warm, to let diners celebrate their own occasions while being carried along by a premium experience. It takes confidence to do that and experience to judge it and I think Vue de Monde right now has the balance bang-on.
Rating: Four and a half stars (out of five)
http://www.vuedemonde.com.au/
SHARE
By Zahra Farah Zahra.Farah@Gosanangelo.Com/325-659-8250
As many as 16,000 people in San Angelo live below the poverty line, according to the U.S. Census. In many cases, they live without food, water and other necessities that most people take for granted.
During the Islam holy month of Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to dusk to understand what it's like to be thirsty and hungry.
"Ramadan means the state of being parched or thirsty," said Dr. Samer Ali, an associate professor of Arabic studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
Ramadan, which began July 20 for most Muslims, is one of the five pillars of the Islam religion. During this month, Muslims can eat and drink nothing between dawn and sunset.
The belief is that during this month Angel Gabriel revealed a verse from the Quran to Prophet Muhammad.
"Muslims believe the Quran is the vehicle of salvation. It's so crucial, because without it there is no guidance," Ali said.
This year, Ramadan, which is based on the Muslim Lunar Calendar, arrived earlier than usual. The calendar is strictly based on how the moon sets. The lunar calendar averages out to 354 to 355 days in a year.
This year, the fast will most likely end Aug. 18, based on when the moon sets.
Dr. Fazlur Rahman, a San Angelo oncologist, said Ramadan is about more than fasting, it has spiritual and social aspects.
"Spiritually fasting is intended to open up your hearts and purify your soul. You hope to follow in God's good direction," Rahman said.
Not only does a participant refrain from eating, drinking and sex, a person must also keep all thoughts clear from negativity.
Ramadan is more about a discipline of mind, Rahman said.
For Muslims, who are supposed to pray five times a day, Ramadan is also a time for additional prayer and to read daily verses from the Quran.
Religions such as Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism all incorporate an element of fast in the religion.
"There's a belief ethics comes from controlling impulses, and the most basic form of self restraint is watching what we eat," Ali said.
Dr. Mark Webb, chairman of the philosophy department at Texas Tech University, explained all religions have a form of sacrifice.
For example, in Judaism an important day is Yom Kippur, which is considered a day of repentance.
In Buddhism, practicing monks will have to give up eating after noon as part of their spiritual training.
In certain Christian denominations, Lent is a time when people give up a certain desire for six weeks.
Fasting is not for everyone. Children, the elderly, pregnant women or the ill should not feel forced to fast.
"Religion should not be used as punishment," Rahman said. "God understands our strengths and weaknesses. He wants us to better our- selves."
The first few days are difficult for everyone, Rahman's wife, Ara, said.
With her busy schedule, she said she worried about how she would survive the first few days of her fast.
Ara Rahman, who is also a member of the Peace Ambassadors of West Texas, a multi-faith organization, thought about all the running around she would have to do in the Texas heat.
"I didn't know if this was something I wanted to do," she said.
However, Ara Rahman said she made sure to have plenty of food and water during Suhoor, the Islamic term for the meal eaten before the sun rises and the day's fast begins.
She said as she went about her day she felt completely fine.
"I thought I was going to be tired, but I was totally blown away to find I had more energy," Ara Rahman said. "Mentally, I felt more focused."
An important aspect of Ramadan is about helping the community and giving back.
This is called Zakat, giving away a fixed portion of one's income to charity.
The Rahmans remember growing up in Bangladesh and having their doors open to everyone and offering food. In some cases, this was the only time some people could get meat.
There is no central church collecting the Zakat. Anyone who gives away money can give it to anyone they know in need, no matter their religion.
Charity comes from the heart, because a believer is reminded during Ramadan they could easily go hungry.
"You give out of a sense of empathy not superiority," Ali said.
The Muslim population in San Angelo is small. The nearest mosque is in San Antonio.
The Rahmans said most Muslims in the city take the opportunity to visit friends or family or hold small celebrations in their home.
Hank Tussy of Rio Vista, Calif., a veteran of D-Day, salutes during the playing of "Taps" at a ceremony on the anniversary of the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe 72 years ago, at the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C.
SHARE A bouquet of flowers is seen in front of the 4,000 gold stars on the Freedom Wall, on the anniversary of D-Day, at the World War II Memorial, Monday, June 6, 2016 in Washington. ABOVE: Hank Tussy of Rio Vista, Calif., a veteran of D-Day, salutes during the playing of "Taps" at a ceremony on the anniversary of the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe 72 years ago, at the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. Associated Press photos Joe Ortiz, a World War II veteran, stands during the playing of the national anthem during a ceremony on the anniversary of D-Day, Monday at the World War II Memorial in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
By Francois Mori, Associated Press
COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France Proud veterans in their 90s and families of fallen soldiers are commemorating the epochal D-Day invasion of Normandy 72 years ago that helped the Allies vanquish Hitler.
They held small ceremonies and moments of remembrance Monday along the wide beaches and cliffs where thousands of U.S., British, Canadian and French troops landed as dawn was breaking June 6, 1944. It was a pivotal moment in World War II, weakening the Nazis' hold on Western Europe after they suffered a punishing defeat in Stalingrad in the east.
Henry Breton of Augusta, Maine, was among the shrinking number of D-Day survivors to make it to Normandy for Monday's anniversary.
Speaking at the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, Breton recalled landing in the second wave of boats, 35 minutes after the first, with the 106th Infantry Division.
"It brings back so many memories," he said, standing amid rows and rows of white crosses at the cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach.
Breton, who describes himself as "91 and a half," is hoping this visit isn't his last. "I would like to be here on the 75th."
People of many nationalities came Monday to pay respects. A group of Germans wrote the name of a regiment on the sand as a group of Spanish history enthusiasts dressed as D-Day participants walked nearby.
Peggy Harris of Vernon, Texas, was unable to come this year to visit the grave of her husband, 1st Lt. Billie D. Harris. But a good friend, Janie Simon, brought flowers and a sign asking visitors to email photos of the gravesite to his widow.
"She feels blessed that even though she lost Billie in this quest for freedom, people come here. That gives her great comfort," Simon said from the gravesite.
Harris landed in Normandy on D-Day, was shot to death days later and buried by French villagers, but his wife didn't find out what happened for more than 60 years.
"She never remarried," said Simon, who had an uncle who landed on Utah Beach and whose own husband fought in Vietnam. "It's a real love story."
U.S. Army Air Corps veteran Hartley Baird from Pittsburgh sailed into Normandy in August 1944 and fought to liberate France from the Nazis.
"I wouldn't have survived if the men hadn't cleared the way on D-Day," he said at the American Cemetery, where he came to pay homage to "the true heroes, those that are buried here."
Associated Press A Greek worker, part of team of experts, begins renovation of Jesus' tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's old city, Monday, June 6, 2016. A team of experts has begun a historic renovation at the spot where Christians believe Jesus was buried, overcoming long-standing religious rivalries to carry out the first repairs at the site in over 200 years. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
SHARE Associated Press Christian nuns watch as a team of experts begin renovation of Jesus' tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's old city, Monday, June 6, 2016. A team of experts has begun a historic renovation at the spot where Christians believe Jesus was buried, overcoming long-standing religious rivalries to carry out the first repairs at the site in over 200 years. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
By Daniela Berretta, Associated Press
JERUSALEM A team of experts began a historic renovation on Monday at the spot where Christians believe Jesus was buried, overcoming long-standing religious rivalries to carry out the first repairs at the site in more than 200 years.
The project is focused on reinforcing and preserving the Edicule the ancient chamber housing Jesus' tomb in Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is the first such work at the tomb since 1810, when the shrine was restored and given its current shape following a fire.
An ornate structure with hanging oil lamps, columns and oversize candlesticks, the Edicule was erected above the spot where Christian tradition says Jesus' body was anointed, wrapped in cloth and buried before his resurrection. It stands a few hundred yards (meters) from the site of Jesus' crucifixion.
With its stone staircases, gilded ornamentation and many dark chambers, the church is one of Christianity's holiest shrines. But that hasn't stopped clerics from engaging in turf rivalries over the years.
The Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches are responsible for maintaining separate sections, and each denomination jealously guards its domain. While the clergymen who work and pray at the church generally get along, tensions can rise to the surface. In 2008, an argument between Greek Orthodox and Armenian monks erupted into a brawl.
This time, the clergymen put aside their differences a reflection of the dire need for the repairs. Last year, Israeli police briefly shut down the building after Israel's Antiquities Authority deemed it unsafe, prompting the Christian denominations to join forces.
"We equally decided the required renovation was necessary to be done, so we agreed upon it," said the Rev. Samuel Aghoyan, the top Armenian official at the church.
An Associated Press team had exclusive access to the site as the work began late Monday, carried out by a team of nine Greek experts who have done similar restoration work on the Acropolis as well as to Byzantine churches throughout the Mediterranean.
While a group of nuns looked on, the sound of clanking tools filled the vast arched space where conservators and restoration experts began chipping away at mortar between marble slabs. Using cotton swabs dipped into a solution of liquid soap and water, one expert scrubbed away centuries-old layers of wax and carbon dioxide. Another airbrushed the dirt as the work progressed.
Antonia Moropoulou, an architect at the National Technical University of Athens, which is supervising the renovation, noted the intricacy of the historic effort.
"Nobody envies this responsibility and challenge," she said. "Because, it is a challenge to work here in this ambient of an open monument visited by thousands of people daily."
Moropoulou said the tomb is stable, but needs urgent attention after years of exposure to environmental factors like water, humidity and candle smoke.
"The marble and stone slabs have developed, due to the stresses, some deformations," she said. In addition, the structure needs to be protected from the risk of earthquake damage.
Even an iron cage erected around the Edicule by British authorities in 1947 cannot bear the stress. "So another solution is needed," Moropoulou said.
The project will bolster the structure by, among other things, replacing the mortars and strengthening the columns. It is expected to take eight to 12 months, during which time pilgrims will be able to continue visiting the site.
Kavin Johnson
SHARE
When we finally find the person we want to spend the rest of our life with, we certainly don't want to make any mistakes that will harm the relationship. We try to do all the right things but invariably we get caught up in situations that we don't handle well.
Three common mistakes that can have a profound effect on our marriage and any relationship are: defining the other person, bringing up the past and arguing until someone gives up.
Define yourself, not your spouse
Defining our spouse typically occurs when we have become engaged in a disagreement or argument. If we find ourselves losing the argument, we give in to the idea of turning the tables on them by pointing out a flaw. We may say something like, " ... and you always ..."
We have just defined their behavior and in essence who they are. Not any one person can be summed up in one simple statement of a previous set of behaviors but that's the feeling when someone defines us. I dare say it's been done to you and my guess is you didn't like it at all! No one wants to be told what they have done or what they might do.
Instead of turning the tables on them, define yourself in the situation. Tell your loved one what your thoughts and feelings really are about the situation. Most of us aren't taught to share our feelings because it makes us vulnerable. But vulnerability to one another is what makes a relationship deep and truly meaningful. It's a scary thing to do, but the payoff can be life changing.
Stay in the present, don't bring up past
Another relationship mistake we make when we find ourselves losing an argument is to bring up an incident from the past. There was a time, months or even years ago; you became angry, felt overwhelmed and/ or trapped. Your thoughts may have swirled in your head so fast you thought you might be sick.
At that time the real point of the argument had been lost and all you wanted was to get away, to stop the emotional turmoil you were in. To make it stop, to push your spouse away, to get a break from the intensity of the moment. A horrible, hurtful statement came out of your mouth, or worse, you touched them in your emotional state. It really wasn't something you wanted to say or do to the one you love but you said it, you did it and you can't take it back.
It's forever burned in their memory. Now, it's the present day. You have found yourself in another argument and "that time" from the past is brought up. "That time," that incident, has become a time that has lived in infamy in the relationship. A reminder of the incident has been used time and time again as a manipulative tool to distract the argument and get the other to back down and give up.
However, more often, the present becomes instantly heated and explodes into a tornado of verbal abuse from both parties that frequently resembles the original incident.
The offended partner can't let go of that past incident. We have sincerely apologized numerous times but the idea of truly forgiving it is unthinkable in our spouse's mind. That incident, they believe, was an unforgivable act. That belief will kill the relationship if the person who was offended does not deal with it.
Eventually, you will become resentful for being coerced or guilted into apologizing for the umpteenth time. We all have been guilty of digging up the past at least once in a relationship. In fact, it's such a common behavior Garth Brooks sang a song about it:
We're always diggin' up things
We should forget about
When it comes to forgettin'
Baby, there ain't no doubt
We bury the hatchet
But leave the handle sticking out
It's a likable country song that sheds light on an event that's all too often true. We may make an honest effort of burying our weapons, of burying the past, for the sake of peace but just in case we need to reach for it again we leave the handle sticking out.
Take a time out, don't argue till someone drops
We all get caught up in arguments, especially the ones we are passionate about; that is, the ones in which we have to be right! Because of our need to be right or because of the insecurity we feel that comes from being wrong, we often argue without considering the consequences. We respond and/or react to something said without thinking.
The reaction can be physical or verbal but either one can be an emotional blow to our spouse that can cut deeply. Before we get emotionally caught up in a heated discussion we need to take a break. We need a time out.
Professional boxers are allowed to rest for 60 seconds every three minutes in every match. Judges all over the nation order court proceedings to recess. Physicians in Rhode Island are now writing orders for kids to be allowed to have recess.
Our employers are required by law to give us a 15 minute break every four hours that we work. So there really must be something to this idea of taking a break. A disagreement with our spouse is stressful and brings out some intense feelings, so why don't we allow ourselves to take a break?
Take a break to evaluate why you feel the need to win the argument. Identify the feelings you are having and your thoughts that are feeding those feelings. Ask yourself why the discussion has become so intense and why you have become so upset. Have you "dug up a hatchet" from the past to use against your spouse?
In most cases it really doesn't matter who started the argument or why. What's really important to know in a marital argument, is that if one of you wins, then you both lose.
Defining your spouse, bringing up the past, and arguing until you win are three common mistakes that most couples make at some time in their relationship. They are divisive to the relationship and keep the couple at odds with each other.
So when you find yourself in another argument remember to define yourself, stay in the present, and take a break before things get too heated.
Kavin Johnson is a licensed minister and licensed professional counselor with West Texas Counseling and Guidance. He sees individuals, couples, adolescents and adults.
Contact him at 325-944-2561 or kavinj@sanangelocounseling.org.
The United States is at a crossroads on criminal justice. Americans make up less than 5 percent of the global population but comprise 25 percent of the world's incarcerated people. Mass incarceration has not made our nation any safer, and it comes at a hefty price to our states and our communities.Taxpayers spend $80 billion every year on incarceration. Nationwide, per-capita expenditures on corrections have tripled over the past three decades. But our criminal-justice policies exact more than an economic price. In 2010, approximately 2.7 million young people -- 1 in every 28 American children -- had a parent in prison. Children with fathers who have been incarcerated are much more likely to be expelled or suspended from school (23 percent vs. 4 percent), and a family's income drops, on average, 22 percent over the years that a father is incarcerated.These social costs are devastating, especially for African-Americans and Latinos, who made up one quarter of the U.S. population but comprised 59 percent of those incarcerated in state and federal prisons as of the end of 2013. Harmful mandatory minimum sentencing policies, in particular, have had a disproportionate impact. Studies show, for example, that white and black Americans use drugs at approximately the same rates, yet African-Americans are sent to prison for drugs offenses 10 times more often.In California and Oklahoma, we know it's time to make a change. Addressing homelessness is a priority in Los Angeles, and in Oklahoma City maintaining low unemployment rates continues to be at the top of the agenda. These are two issues with direct ties to our failed drug war and criminal-justice policies; individuals often exit the criminal justice system without receiving the rehabilitation they need, including mental health treatment and job skills and training.Furthermore, with California and Oklahoma burdened by severe prison overcrowding, our citizens have seen up close how mandatory minimum sentencing laws at the federal level are causing massive expense at the state level without addressing the root causes of crime.We have an opportunity to right the wrongs of draconian criminal-justice policies on the federal level. The proposed Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act would reform mandatory minimums for certain offenses while broadening judges' discretion in sentencing. This Senate bill also would also expand rehabilitation programs in prisons.We applaud this approach and urge lawmakers to include appropriate transition support for those who have done their time. Too often, "transition support" means $40 and a bus ticket. After spending months or years in jail, people released without meaningful support find few opportunities to build a new life and end up homeless or back in the revolving door of incarceration.Harsh mandatory minimum laws for low-level, nonviolent offenders do more harm than good. Studies show the threat of incarceration, not the length of sentencing, influences behavior. By moving toward discretionary sentencing that allows judges to distinguish between violent and nonviolent offenses, the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act allows for more positive prospects for re-entry as well as a more efficient use of federal tax dollars in keeping our communities safe.The need for criminal justice reform has been recognized by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, and a bipartisan group of senators -- including Republicans Mike Lee of Utah and Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Democrats Cory Booker of New Jersey and Dianne Feinstein of California -- have stepped forward to co-sponsor the bill. We urge California Sen. Barbara Boxer and Oklahoma Sens. Jim Inhofe and James Lankford to join their colleagues in calling for reform on an issue that affects communities across the country.In Los Angeles and Oklahoma City, we'll continue working toward smart policies that benefit our communities. It's time our federal representatives did the same.
After a colleague's son accrued a bill in the tens of thousands for being picked up by an air ambulance following a nasty car accident, North Dakota state Sen. Judy Lee, a lifelong Republican and advocate for small government, dropped her resistance to regulations.She introduced legislation last year that would incentivize air ambulance companies to accept insurance. The bill easily became law, but it was immediately challenged in court. Why? Because a federal 1978 law prohibits governments from imposing any restrictions or rules on airline companies -- and that includes air ambulances.Sure enough, a federal judge in March sided with Valley Med Flight, the independent air ambulance company that filed the lawsuit, and struck down the law.For many state officials, especially those in rural areas, the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 is archaic. As rural hospitals close around the country, the law is financially harming more and more patients who may have to rely on air ambulances to get them to faraway hospitals in emergency situations. Even when patients have insurance, they're often left with exorbitant bills in the tens of thousands of dollars. (In life and death situations, though, medical bills may be better than none. In Puerto Rico, the island's only air ambulance company suspended services this week.)Rebecca Ternes, deputy commissioner of the North Dakota Insurance Department, has been getting complaints about the out-of-pocket costs associated with air ambulances for some time.The smallest charge Ive ever seen was $18,000, and the highest Ive ever seen was $80,000, she said.The costs are so high for a variety of reasons, but one of the biggest is insurance networks. When someone needs to be airlifted, there's no time to shop around for the company that takes their health insurance. Most often, whichever air ambulance is closest is the one that comes to pick patients up.North Dakota's law would have required air ambulance businesses that want to be on the "primary call list" to take insurance from companies that cover 75 percent of the states population. If they had refused, the air ambulance businesses would have been placed on the secondary call list, likely getting less calls.This issue is consuming the office of Montanas state auditor.We have these independent companies that are refusing to get in-network for insurance companies because they feel that they dont get paid enough," said Jesse Laslovich, chief legal counsel for the auditor. "Theres no one for the consumer to turn to in these instances, so theyve been turning to us."He says hes in ongoing talks with an air ambulance working group to try to get more companies to accept insurance.But Rick Sherlock, president of the Association of Air Medical Services, argues the industry is already regulated enough.We have the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] on the federal level that we must comply with. And then theres medicine, which resides on the state level, he said.Thirty percent of air ambulance rides cross state lines. If states were allowed to create their own rules for air ambulance companies, Sherlock says it would lead to a patchwork of boundaries that wouldn't necessarily benefit patients. For example, a company could be in-network for an insurance company in one state but out-of-network in the state it transports the patient to. This could still result in high balance bills.According to Sherlock, much of what's driving the cost of air ambulances is the cost of uncompensated care.Alabama and Pennsylvania, for example, only reimburse companies $200 for air transport under Medicaid, he said.For many, its hard to swallow the idea that there cant be some compromise between states and the private companies.This isnt a partisan issue, this is a people issue. Were not trying to inhibit commerce or trade, were just trying to protect people, said Ternes. In rural states, air ambulances are a critical provider.Still, the fact remains that air ambulances are protected by federal law from state regulation -- and efforts to change that have failed. Earlier this year, U.S. Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and John Hoeven of North Dakota tried to amend FAA reauthorization legislation to let states regulate air ambulance companies.Ternes also worries that North Dakotas unsuccessful attempt will make other states much more cautious about introducing similar bills. But in Montana, Laslovich is hopeful that they can come to an agreement that's fair for residents without violating federal law.The law is the law, but I see a crack there," he said, "and I think we can find a way to help people out."
After several unsuccessful attempts, a swath of South Los Angeles won a hard-fought battle to receive "Promise Zone" designation, a move that pushes the neediest neighborhoods to the top of the list when applying for competitive federal grants to tackle issues related to poverty.Federal and local leaders made the announcement Monday at a news conference, flanked by college and high school students from Los Angeles Trade-Technical College. They hugged and cheered over an accomplishment that had become something of a mission."We have been able to clear the mission to improve the lives of brothers and sisters in need," said Councilman Curren Price, who represents parts of the area. "We will soon have another powerful tool under our belt to rewrite the South L.A. story."Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement that "this will bring new resources, energy, and urgency into our movement to expand opportunity in all of L.A.'s neighborhoods."In 2014, when President Obama created Promise Zones to help struggling communities recover from the Great Recession, South L.A. did not meet the requirements, according to officials.The city was one of five in the U.S. to earn the status, but for neighborhoods bounded by Hollywood, MacArthur Park and Koreatown. Some South L.A. residents and community leaders were angered at falling short."We thought that the way that Promise Zones were organized that we would be prime in South L.A. to get the Promise Zone," Congresswoman Maxine Waters said at Monday's announcement. "However, we learned a lot about the criteria and how it was all put together. "That fall, Larry Frank, president of Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, led the charge in putting in a second application with support from USC, the Los Angeles Unified School District and more than 40 other community partners. But, once again, South L.A. didn't make the cut.After the failed attempt, the Department of Housing and Urban Development met with Frank and others to show them where their application was failing. It turned out South L.A. had scored low points in the areas of housing need and unemployment."Unless we changed the way they were going to score these Promise Zones applications, we were dead," Frank said.The way the federal government evaluated housing need was based on the number of foreclosures that sit empty."That's a Detroit measure, not a South L.A. measure," Frank said. "In South L.A. we have three families fighting for a single apartment and living in a single apartment. We have the worst homelessness in America. We have an unaffordability crisis in L.A."U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro took a tour of the region to better understand the problems that plagued the community. Over the next year, the community leaders refined their application for Promise Zone status and lobbied the federal government to change the way it graded South L.A.'s bid.This time South L.A. was chosen.South L.A. is one of 13 communities in the nation picked in the final round of Promise Zones designations. Los Angeles is the only city to have had two designations within its city boundaries.The new zone will straddle major transit lines of the Exposition, Blue and Crenshaw/LAX lines as well as the proposed Vermont bus rapid transit line. The boundaries include about 200,000 residents living in parts of Crenshaw, Leimert Park, Exposition Park, University Park, Historic South-Central, Central-Alameda, Florence and downtown Los Angeles."One of the goals is how does the community realize opportunities of the transportation investments without having mass displacement," said Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who represents parts of South L.A.Harris-Dawson worked as the president of the Community Coalition, a South L.A.-based nonprofit organization, when South L.A. was skipped over in the first round of designations."We thought it was definitely an injustice," he said. "But we licked our wounds, we got in the room, and tried to come up with something so innovative and so powerful that the federal government can't resist and that has been accomplished now. It's a really bright and shiny moment."These are the final nine Promise Zones across the country in high poverty areas, according to a release by the U.S. Department of Housing. Eight other communities include Atlanta; Nashville, Tenn.; San Diego; Evansville, Ind.; Southwest Florida Regional Planning Commission; Spokane Tribe of Indians, Washington state; Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Rolette County, N.D.; and Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico.
Corporations generally dont like getting involved in politics. They spend a fortune on lobbying, but they dont want to be seen as overtly partisan for fear of offending half their potential customers. So why are so many big companies lining up in support of LGBT rights?There are a couple of factors at play. To start, its been expected for a while now that companies have in place corporate social responsibility programs, meaning they adopt formal policies to demonstrate that theyre good citizens of their communities. With the corporate social responsibility revolution, now its OK for companies to take sides on things like environmental change and human rights, says Frank Dobbin, a sociologist at Harvard University.Still, Dobbin notes, corporations dont like to go looking for trouble. They tend to stay on the sidelines of contentious issues, waiting until theres a bandwagon they can jump on. That may have happened with the push to end discrimination against gay and transgender individuals. Just as legalized discrimination against African-Americans is no longer acceptable, LGBT rights are fast becoming a given within certain circles -- the circles upper management tends to run in. When you get to a certain elite social level, that analogy is entirely apt for them, says Ryan Anderson, who researches social issues at the conservative Heritage Foundation. It becomes a no-brainer.This dynamic is especially evident in centers of tech and finance. Some of the opposition to bills that restrict gay rights has come from locally based companies -- Monsanto in Missouri, Bank of America in North Carolina. But objections have also been raised from the outside by companies such as Apple, Disney and Deutsche Bank.Tolerance has become an essential value to most millennials. Companies that want to target that enormous demographic as potential employees feel they must be seen as on board with gay rights. In 2002, only 3 percent of the Fortune 500 companies had policies in place to protect transgender employees, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights advocacy group. Now, more than 75 percent do. They have younger employees who, even if theyre straight, would not be happy if they were supporting anti-gay laws, says Mark Mizruchi, who studies corporate behavior at the University of Michigan. How are they going to recruit a recent graduate of Harvard Business School to Atlanta or Charlotte if their states have relatively retrograde views on social issues?The principle applies to marketing as well. Researchers have found that todays young adults are more inclined to buy products from a company such as Apple if they believe its values are in line with their own beliefs. Those between the ages of 26 and 35 are 21 percent more likely to buy from a company they feel reflects their values, according to Melissa Dodd at the University of Central Florida.Other researchers have found that becoming associated with a cause can boost brand loyalty, including for companies that are seen as conservative. Perhaps it is better in 2016 to be intensely loved by a few than inoffensive to many, conclude Aaron Chatterji and Michael Toffel, professors at Duke and Harvard universities business schools, respectively.Theres still a risk. Companies that get too far ahead of their customers on sensitive issues risk a backlash or even a boycott. But quite a few of the largest companies have concluded that support for gay rights -- along with other policies they are comfortable with, such as infrastructure spending and an open door for immigrants -- will be good for their bottom lines.
Former Democratic Assemblyman Tom Calderon on Monday pleaded guilty to one felony count of money laundering as part of an agreement in which federal prosecutors offered to seek a prison sentence of no more than 12 months.The plea settles his part of a criminal case that also alleges that his brother, former Democratic state Sen. Ron Calderon, accepted bribes, according to a court filing released Monday by the U.S. attorney's office.Accompanied only by his attorney, Tom Calderon, a Montebello resident, stood before U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder in a nearly empty courtroom. His brother, Ron, who was the main target of the FBI sting operation and still faces a slew of bribery and laundering charges, left the courtroom as soon as his business before Snyder was done.Calderon spoke clearly and without hesitation as Snyder reviewed the terms of the plea deal with him and peppered him with questions to ensure he understood the implications of his decision to plead guilty.Outside the courtroom, Ron Calderon's attorney Mark Geragos, was critical of the plea agreement, calling it a "sweetheart deal" that was meant to put pressure on his client. Tom Calderon is not required to testify against his brother under the terms of the agreement. It is uncertain whether prosecutors will be permitted to tell a jury in Ron Calderon's trial about the guilty plea.Geragos said a plea agreement for Ron Calderon was not being discussed and expected the case would proceed to trial.Tom Calderon recently underwent heart surgery that forced a delay in his trial. He admits in the plea bargain that he and his brother, Ron Calderon, hid bribe money through laundering to his company.Prosecutors agreed to drop six charges against Tom Calderon as part of the agreement.In accepting Calderon's guilty plea, Snyder emphasized that she is not beholden to the terms of the deal he struck with the government. While the maximum punishment for a count of money laundering is 20 years' imprisonment and $500,000 in fines, sentencing guidelines make it far more likely that Snyder would increase the sentence for Calderon by a matter of months instead of years -- if she decides to depart from the plea agreement at all.The plea agreement was signed Monday by Tom Calderon and his attorney, Shepard Kopp."I have nothing to say," Tom Calderon said when reached at home Monday. Kopp declined comment.Ron and Tom Calderon were indicted by a federal grand jury in February 2014. Ron Calderon was charged with 24 felony counts that include accepting $88,000 in bribes in exchange for official actions. He has pleaded not guilty and there is no plea agreement in his case, officials said Monday.The former state senator is accused of accepting bribes from an undercover FBI agent posing as a film industry executive in exchange for advocating for an extension of tax credits for film productions. Investigators also allege he took bribes from the owner of a medical firm in exchange for action on legislation involving workers' compensation.The plea agreement says that Tom Calderon admits that he founded a political consulting company, Calderon Group Inc., and also became an executive officer of Californians for Diversity, a nonprofit group."In or around April 2013, defendant and his brother Ronald S. Calderon agreed to conceal the fact that Ronald S. Calderon was receiving bribe money from" undercover FBI agents," the agreement alleges, adding that Tom Calderon "agreed to allow bribe money to be funneled through the Calderon Group in order to conceal and disguise the fact that the money represented the proceeds of bribery."The agreement mentioned that Ron Calderon allegedly directed an undercover FBI agent to make a $30,000 payment to the Calderon Group on April 16, 2013.The plea agreement signed by Tom Calderon on Monday says he understands that he "willfully caused to be conducted a financial transaction involving property that represented the proceeds of bribery," and that he knew that the transaction was "designed to conceal" the source of the bribery proceeds.
Initiative's intent
Combining measures
The state Supreme Court made it likely Monday that Californians will vote in November on Gov. Jerry Brown's crime initiative, which would allow prisoners convicted of nonviolent felonies to be considered for early parole.The California District Attorneys Association sought to keep the measure off the ballot, arguing that Brown had violated the public's right to comment on initiative measures by combining his proposal with one that would require a judicial hearing before defendants as young as 14 could be tried as adults. The authors of the juvenile measure had already completed their public-comment period, required by state law, when they agreed to let Brown take it over and add his parole plan.In a 6-1 ruling, the court said the two measures were "reasonably germane" to one another and could be submitted as a single initiative, without further public comment.The ruling allows election officials to count 1 million signatures that backers of the initiative recently submitted. They need 585,407 valid signatures for the proposal to make the November ballot.Dan Newman, a spokesman for the initiative campaign, said Californians "will now have a chance to improve public safety." By giving these prisoners a chance at parole, he said, the initiative will provide an incentive for them to follow prison rules, educate themselves and "turn their lives around."Prosecutors will "vigorously oppose this dangerous measure," said San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe, president-elect of the statewide district attorneys association. He said the ruling, by allowing the two initiatives to merge and circulate without additional public comment, "sets a dangerous precedent for the initiative process."The measure, if it qualifies, will join a November ballot likely to also include such weighty subjects as the death penalty, legalization of marijuana, gun control, taxes and a ban on single-use plastic bags at grocery stores, in addition to the presidential and U.S. Senate elections.Brown's initiative would reduce the population of the state's prisons -- under federal court order to ease overcrowding and improve health care -- and partially roll back the fixed-term sentencing system that he signed into law in 1977.Under that system, state laws determine a range of sentences for each crime, judges choose the sentence, and the inmate must serve the prescribed term, with reductions for good behavior. Sentences are often increased by many years for an inmate's previous felony convictions and aggravating circumstances of the crime, including gang membership, infliction of serious injuries and use of a gun.The new initiative would make inmates eligible for parole after serving their sentence for the crime they committed. It would cover only those convicted of felonies classified as nonviolent, which would disqualify those who used a gun or inflicted serious injuries. Early release would not be guaranteed -- the parole boards, composed mostly of former law enforcement and prison officials, now review the cases of murderers serving life sentences and usually vote to keep them in prison.The initiative would also repeal a law, approved by voters in 2000, that allowed prosecutors to charge youths aged 14 to 17 in adult court for serious crimes, with potential sentences of up to life in prison. The measure would restore a previous law allowing a juvenile court judge to decide whether the youth should be tried instead as a juvenile, who could be held only until age 23.The juvenile crime measure was proposed separately in December, but its sponsors agreed in January to let Brown combine it with his felony-parole plan as a single initiative. Under a 2014 state law, sponsors of a proposed ballot measure can add new provisions without requiring an additional 30 days of public comment, but only if the changes are "reasonably germane" to the original proposal.A Sacramento judge agreed with prosecutors that the two initiative proposals weren't closely related and ordered a further period of public comment, which would have made it virtually impossible to meet the November ballot deadline. But the state's high court said Monday that Brown's measure satisfied the "lenient" standard set by the 2014 law."The proponents of an initiative are captains of the ship when it comes to deciding which provisions to take on board," Justice Carol Corrigan said in the majority opinion. She noted that the first version of the juvenile-crime initiative would have made some young adult inmates eligible for parole, and said both measures were "intended to benefit prisoners who have rehabilitated themselves in custody."In dissent, Justice Ming Chin said Brown's adult-felon proposal had little in common with the juvenile-crime measure and should have required a new period of public comment. He noted that Brown, when he signed the 2014 law, said it was intended to "increase public participation in the initiative process."Both initiatives "involve the criminal justice system," Chin said, but Brown's measure "has nothing to do with juveniles."
Baltimore Police Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., the driver of the van in which Freddie Gray suffered a fatal spinal cord injury, will go to trial Thursday before a judge rather than a jury.And, under a ruling Monday by Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams, prosecutors won't be able to present key evidence that Gray allegedly told officers "I can't breathe" during his transport.Goodson, 46, is the second officer to elect a bench trial in the case. Officer Edward Nero was acquitted of all charges by Williams last month.Legal experts said Goodson's decision, which came during a pretrial motions hearing in a downtown courthouse Monday, may have been made easier by Nero's acquittal, but they also noted the two officers' cases are distinct and that a bench trial comes with its own risks."On the one hand, Officer Goodson is putting all of his eggs in one basket in having Judge Williams making the decision," said Warren Alperstein, a Baltimore defense attorney who is not involved in the case. "On the other hand, Judge Williams certainly has demonstrated in Nero's trial that he is able to hear the evidence, apply the law and ultimately make a decision that may not be popular."Douglas Colbert, a University of Maryland law professor who has been following the case, added, "It's always surprising when an accused person opts to be judged by the court and not by the community of jurors."And yet, in the relatively rare instances where police officers are defendants, they have consistently opted for judge trials _ with very good results for the defendants," he said.Goodson faces the most serious charges of the six Baltimore police officers charged in Gray's arrest and death. They include depraved-heart murder _ a second-degree felony charge that carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. He also faces three counts of manslaughter and charges of second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment.Gray, 25, died in April 2015, a week after being placed in the police van, handcuffed and shackled but not wearing a seat belt. His death sparked widespread protests, and his funeral was followed by rioting, looting and arson. Initially scheduled to occur in rapid succession beginning last year, the officers' trials have been delayed by several legal challenges.Aside from Nero, only one other officer has gone to trial _ Officer William Porter, whose trial ended in a mistrial last December after the 12-member jury was unable to reach a consensus on any of the charges against him.It was Porter who allegedly made the comment to police investigator Detective Syreeta Teel that he heard Gray say "I can't breathe" during the fourth stop of the van, at a location where he, Goodson and Gray were alone.Teel testified at Porter's trial that Porter provided the statement during an unrecorded phone conversation three days after Gray's arrest and prior to Porter providing his recorded statement to police. Porter did not repeat the comment in his recorded statement, and on the stand denied having ever made it.Goodson is the only officer among the six charged to refuse to provide a statement to police. All of the officers have pleaded not guilty.All of the officers, their attorneys and the prosecutors in the case are barred by a gag order from discussing it.Alperstein said the exclusion of Porter's alleged statement amounted to a "home run" for the defense, as it makes it much more difficult for the prosecution to prove that Goodson was aware that Gray needed immediate medical care."How does the state prove that Goodson was aware of this need without Porter's statement?" Alperstein said.Colbert said Williams' decision was "obviously a ruling for the defense," and he expects "a shifting of the prosecution's case" to other evidence that shows Goodson was aware that Gray was struggling to breathe and was injured. He noted that prosecutors have hinted at a theory that Gray was given what's known as a rough ride, and could move more toward that in light of the ruling."The prosecution is going to have to look for evidence elsewhere, and I expect that's what they're going to do," Colbert said. "That's what they were probably doing before this morning's hearing, but now it becomes an imperative."It's unclear whether Williams' decision to block Porter's alleged statement to Teel will have a domino effect on other evidence in the case, experts said.Williams denied a separate but overlapping defense motion Monday to block portions of assistant medical examiner Carol Allan's autopsy of Gray that include statements by witnesses and others that Goodson argued he would not be able to challenge through cross examination.Williams found that statements experts reasonably rely on to reach opinions are generally admissible as the foundation of the opinion itself, even if they are not admissible as evidence.Alperstein said prosecutors and defense attorneys are likely to clash again at trial over the ultimate basis for Allan's ruling that Gray's death was a homicide. In the autopsy, the results of which were obtained exclusively by The Baltimore Sun last year, Allan seems to make a clear reference to Porter's alleged statement to Teel.At the fourth stop of the van, she writes, Porter "opened the doors and observed Mr. Gray lying belly down on the floor with his head facing the cabin compartment, and reportedly he was asking for help, saying he couldn't breathe, couldn't get up and needed a medic."At Porter's trial, Allan testified that she would not have concluded Gray's death was a homicide if Goodson had taken Gray directly to the hospital after the van's fourth stop, suggesting that the officers' disregard for Gray's alleged comment at that stop that he couldn't breathe was a key factor in her determining the manner of Gray's death.Alperstein expects prosecutors will walk Allan through her opinion again at Goodson's trial, and could "try to back-door Officer Porter's statement to Detective Teel when asking Dr. Allan how she formulated the basis of her opinion."The defense, in response, would try to object based on Judge Williams' decision to preclude the statement, Alperstein said.Also Monday, Williams denied defense motions to dismiss the case for violating Goodson's right to a speedy trial. He also rejected the claim that prosecutors had not fully outlined the alleged acts that constituted the crimes charged.Monday's hearing lasted less than half an hour. A small group of protesters stood outside the courthouse with signs calling for justice for Gray.William H. "Billy" Murphy, the attorney for the Gray family, said he is not concerned with Goodson's selection of a bench trial.After Nero's acquittal, Murphy commended the judge for "not bending to public opinion," saying Williams "stood tall and did what he believed was just" while being "very careful" to make clear that his findings were specific to Nero's case.On Monday, Murphy said "every case is different, and Goodson's case is definitely different from Nero's in many ways," so it should not be presumed that Williams also will acquit Goodson. Observers should allow the trial to play out, he said."I have a high level of confidence in Judge Williams," Murphy said. "But apparently Officer Goodson does, too."
Despite support from Gov. Greg Abbott, officials in Brewster County have agreed to ban the display of Christian crosses on sheriff's vehicles to settle a lawsuit from the national Freedom From Religion Foundation.Under the settlement, approved last week by county commissioners, Brewster County agreed to pay the foundation $21,970 in legal fees and $400 for court costs.Two atheist residents of Brewster County who joined the foundation's lawsuit, Kevin Price and Jesse Castillo, also were awarded $1 each "for past constitutional violations," the consent decree said.Greg Hudson, an Austin lawyer representing Brewster County and Sheriff Ronny Dodson, said the settlement reflected a county policy approved by the Commissioners Court in March that banned political, religious, commercial and personal symbols and messages from county vehicles. The ban was approved about three weeks after the foundation filed its lawsuit in Alpine's federal court.The decals, foot-high depictions of a Latin cross with a thin blue line, were removed from the department's vehicles."It was just a business decision. There was no reason to fight anything," Hudson said. "I think the county's position is, let's save this fight for another day; we've taken care of this issue internally."The settlement resolved "claimed constitutional violations" but specified that the county was making no admission of liability.In its lawsuit, the foundation argued that the crosses represent a government endorsement of Christianity in violation of the First Amendment's prohibition on government actions that improperly favor one religion.District Attorney Rod Ponton, whose West Texas district includes Brewster County, in December asked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to issue a formal opinion approving of the display, writing that he believed the "cross is a symbol of protection and comfort" for officers.Abbott followed with a memo to Paxton that said the crosses do not favor one religion."The Brewster County deputies' crosses neither establish a religion nor threaten any person's ability to worship God, or decline to worship God, in his own way, " Abbott said. "The symbol of the cross appropriately conveys the solemn respect all Texans should have for the courage and sacrifice of our peace officers."Paxton, a Christian who has made it a priority to protect religious practice, was blocked from issuing his opinion when the foundation sued Brewster County in early March. His office does not offer legal opinions involving pending litigation.
On Monday, in the morning, at Parliament House, Brisbane, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC officially opened the 27th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Queensland Seminar.
In the evening, at Government House, the Governor and Mrs Kaye de Jersey hosted a reception for delegates attending the 27th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Queensland Seminar where His Excellency addressed guests.
Following, at The Brisbane Club, the Governor and Mrs de Jersey attended the 2016 Queensland Day Dinner hosted by the Royal Historical Society of Queensland where His Excellency presented the John Douglas Kerr Medal of Distinction.
Description
GIS 07 June 2016: The President of the Republic, Dr Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, is part of Forbes 2016 List of the Worlds 100 Most Powerful Women. The Mauritian President is ranked 96 on the list which honors women, thus joining German Chancellor Angela Merkel, number-one Power Woman for six years running.
President Gurib-Fakim is ranked third on the African continent after Nigerian Folorunsho Alakija, who is ranked 80, and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, from Liberia, positioned at 83rd.
With the advent of more women behind the Presidential desk, a host of celebrities came off the list this year and new leaders replaced icons, with new countries joining the list such as Mauritius, Myanmar, Scotland, Nepal, Croatia, Lithuania, and Taiwan. These are some of the countries gaining representation in this years list, due to a visible increase in women leaders being elected to President or head of state with the potential to wield their influence both nationally and globally.
Four metrics were used as is the case each year, namely: money (either net worth, company revenues, or GDP); media presence; spheres of influence; and impact, analysed both within the context of each womans field (media, technology, business, philanthropy, politics, and finance) and outside of it.
Being powerful as a woman
To a Forbes question about whether power is about control or influence, President Gurib-Fakim, believes it is the latter. People say to have power, you hire and you fire. I dont subscribe to this notion. For me, power is the ability to influence. If you can influence in the long-term by leaving behind a legacy, to me, thats real power, she states.
Moreover, Forbes highlights the career of the Mauritian President as a biodiversity scientist and her work in advancing awareness of global warming and promoting new investments in science and technology in Mauritius and on the African continent. She is already making strides on both fronts, including partnering with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to pilot 10 PhD research grants on the island, with plans to expand the programme to as many as 10,000 other scientists across Africa in the future.
Topping the List
German Chancellor Angela Merkel continues to head the list, followed close behind, by Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, number two; Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen; philanthropist Melinda Gates; and General Motors GM +1.32% CEO Mary Barra. International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde retains her spot at number six.
(TNS) State officials are growing more optimistic about high-speed internet access helping to supplant coal jobs lost in the Silicon Holler of eastern Kentucky.The Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) initiative hosted its third-annual summit on Monday in Pikevilles East Kentucky Expo Center.Theres never been a greater necessity for invention, innovation, finding ways to supplement the coal industry, U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers told more than 1,000 Kentuckians at the summit.Coal production in Kentucky dipped last year to its lowest point since the Great Depression, according to the state Energy and Environmental Cabinet. The states coal industry lost 27.7 percent of its workforce in 2015. Less than 6,000 eastern Kentuckians are now employed by the coal industry, down from 14,381 in 2008, per the cabinet.Still, Rogers contended coal is not dead.Coal is alive, coal is going to be with us for a long time, said the 78-year-old congressman. Im going to be one of the biggest boosters of coal youll find. But I also realize weve got to find ways to supplement that employment weve lost in the industry over these years.A belief that eastern Kentucky can thrive with enhanced broadband connection was voiced frequently throughout the summit.SOAR Executive Director Jared Arnett said the group is determined to connect the region more closely with the global economy. But we also want communities, county judges and mayors to be better connected to one another. We want K through 12 (primary education) connected to workforce development and secondary education, said Arnett.Improving that connection is reliant on a faster, more readily available broadband network.Gov. Matt Bevin, who inherited the role of SOAR co-chair when he assumed office this year, proposed on Monday the state refocus its initiative to expand broadband primarily on eastern Kentucky.This isnt to say this isnt needed in other places, said Bevin. But we are going to focus on where we need it the most.Seventy percent of Kentucky households have access to broadband, but internet-access speeds arent reaching their full potential, especially on the eastern side of the state.Most of eastern Kentuckys broadband block groups dont have access to the federal minimum download speed of 25 megabytes per second, keynote speaker Roberto Gallardo said. And less than 10 percent of Kentuckys block groups dont have access to 25 down, he said.Gallardo, of the Intelligent Community Institute, an extension of Mississippi State University, presented a map of the U.S. to reveal how eastern Kentucky is on the wrong side of the divide as it relates to internet access.Its important and it is moving fast. Weve got to make sure we get policy makers on the right side of the divide, said Gallardo. Why not come up with a telework-ready community?The concept of telecommuting, wherein workers perform jobs and earn pay from home or workplaces through a computer, was promoted throughout the summit.The executive director for Hazard-based Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP), Jeff Whitehead, commended Jackson, Owsley and Perry Counties for adding hubs through Teleworks USA. Since 2015, nearly 60 Hazard residents have found work at the Hazard Teleworks Hub with companies like U-Haul and Sutherland CloudSource.Whitehead said leaders of other coal cities and counties have expressed interest in opening telework hubs in their community.Laid-off coal miners can also find work online by learning to write code for start-up tech companies in some Kentucky cities, like Pikeville.Bit Source, which develops software and websites for companies, received heavy praise during the symposium. Creative director Payton May and president Justin Hall educated locals about Bit Source, one of about 15 companies and agencies that set up a booth in the arena.It started with the question, can you teach a coal miner to code? said Hall, referencing the process of using algorithms to build websites and software.The company employs six former coal miners, and only one of the 10 workers originally hired by the company was not previously working in the coal industry, Hall said.Another SOAR partner, Louisville-based tech company Interapt, also wants to teach code to and employ residents of eastern Kentucky.Interapt CEO Ankur Gopal announced on Monday his company will hire as many as 50 people, after training and assessing them later this year. Gopal said the prospective workers will train at Big Sandy Community and Technical Colleges Mayo campus in Paintsville.Some employees could even work remotely from eastern Kentucky, Gopal said.Interapt is one of several companies working with the TechHire Eastern Kentucky Initiative, which partners with EKCEP and SOAR.On Monday, dozens of SOAR partners were represented in the symposium. The SOAR initiative launched in 2013 and after organizing sessions in southern and eastern Kentucky communities, has placed an emphasis on broadband expansion at the forefront of its mission.Tom Wheeler, a chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), was a keynote speaker and told the crowd that the FCC is focused on boosting internet speeds throughout Appalachia.Coal was the most important commodity in centuries past, said Wheeler. High-speed broadband is the most important commodity of the 21st century.Rogers agreed. In his closing remarks, the congressman reiterated his desire to push the region forward by all means necessary. He also said hes now confident with Bevin as his co-chair, after some initial anxiety during the change in administration.This is the new interstate highway system in my book, said Rogers. Silicon Holler is now open for business.
Mick Schumacher is beginning to turn his mind to the next step in his race towards formula one.
Under the intense spotlight not only of his surname but the fact his famous father Michael is still struggling to recover from serious injuries, teen Mick made the switch from karts to single seaters last year.
Now 17, the young German has added the Italian Formula 4 series to his programme for 2016.
But it was in the German F4 series round at the Lausitzring at the weekend that Schumacher so impressed, securing pole and winning not one but two races under the watchful eye of his mother Corinna and manager Sabine Kehm.
And now, Mick is starting to think about his next step - Formula 3.
It is from Europe's premier F3 series that Max Verstappen, who is a year older than Schumacher, leapt straight from relative obscurity to F1 stardom.
"For sure," Mick Schumacher told Kolner Express newspaper, "the next step is Formula 3. The competition is really high. That would be the next step," he said.
(GMM)
Eric Boullier has defended McLaren supremo Ron Dennis' right to predict forthcoming F1 dominance for the Woking based team.
While the team has improved markedly since its horror 2015, Honda-powered McLaren is still a long way from being able to challenge on merit for podiums, let alone take on the established dominance of Mercedes.
Nonetheless, McLaren Group chairman Dennis recently declared that "the next world champions after Mercedes will be McLaren. We'll get to that goal before other people," he insisted.
But although it raised eyebrows, team boss Boullier said Dennis has the right to make that sort of statement.
"First of all you know what the ambition of McLaren is, and this is what we are targeting," said the Frenchman.
"I think this statement from Ron -- you know he has a great career, he is a legend in formula one and I think it's also an extra motivation for all of us to achieve what we want to," Boullier added.
(GMM)
Charlie Whiting has played down suggestions Daniil Kvyat has become the 'bad boy' of formula one.
Russian Kvyat incurred Sebastian Vettel's wrath in China, lost his Red Bull seat after a calamitous start in Russia, and will serve a grid penalty this weekend in Montreal after crashing with Kevin Magnussen in Monaco.
"Yes he has been involved in incidents for which he was penalised," FIA race director Charlie Whiting told Russian media including the Tass news agency.
"But he is a very good driver, I really like and respect him," Whiting added.
"Yes he's had incidents but I don't think he will always be the worst offender," the Briton said.
Now racing for Toro Rosso, 22-year-old Kvyat has sounded particularly frustrated recently, indicating he might be looking to leave the Red Bull family altogether.
"Every day in formula one the rumours are different and contradictory," Igor Ermilin, the presidential advisor to the Russian automobile federation, told Sport-Express.
"That several teams including Williams are interested in him is no secret," he added, "but a lot will depend on how the rest of this season goes."
For his part, Kvyat says he has put his latest frustration behind him.
"The frustration from the last race in Monaco is now forgotten and has made me even more determined to show what I'm capable of doing," he said.
(GMM)
The work, described in an open-access paper in Nature Communications marks a new frontier in catalyst design at the molecular level. Such catalysts are formulated to produce highly selective chemical reactions.
An international team led by researchers at the University of Melbourne has developed a new catalyst system for the efficient removal of CO 2 from formic acid (HO 2 CH), resulting in the production of CO 2 and H 2 at a low temperature of 70 C. Other methods for producing hydrogen from formic acid have required high temperatures, and also produce waste products.
Nature uses a number of design principles to create different classes of enzyme catalysts capable of a wide range of chemical transformations of substrates. A metal ion or metal cluster often has a critical role as a co-factor. A key concept in enzyme catalysis is the preorganization of the reaction environment by the enzyme, directing the substrate to the reaction site, which provides a favorable geometry for the transition state required for bond activation. In essence, the enzyme steers the substrate along the required reaction coordinate to allow the desired transformation to product(s).
The concept of changing the environment at a metal centre to switch on reactivity has also been recently exploited in gold chemistry. Here, we use gas-phase experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations to examine how the binuclear silver hydride cation, [Ag 2 (H)]+, can be structurally manipulated by the appropriate choice of phosphine ligands to switch on the protonation of the hydride by formic acid to liberate hydrogen, which is a key step in the selective, catalyzed decomposition of formic acid that does not occur in absence of ligands. We chose [Ag 2 (H)]+ since it has been spectroscopically characterized and ligated variants can readily be formed. Formic acid was chosen as a substrate since its decomposition is one of the most widely studied topics in chemistry, with a rich history spanning more than a century. Apart from the academic interest in establishing the mechanism(s) of decomposition, the selective, catalyzed decomposition of formic acid has potentially important applications in areas ranging from hydrogen storage through to the generation of in situ hydrogenation sources for reduction of organic substrates. Zavras et al.
Role of the ligand in the selective decarboxylation of formic acid catalyzed by [LAg 2 (H)]+. (a) catalytic cycle, with following steps: (i), decarboxylation of [LAg 2 (O 2 CH)]+ via CID (collision-induced dissociation) to generate [LAg 2 (H)]+. (ii), IMR (ionmolecule reaction) of [LAg 2 (H)]+ to regenerate [LAg 2 (O 2 CH)]+. (iii), IMR of [LAg 2 (H)]+. (iv), CID of [LAg 2 (H)(HO 2 CH)]+ to regenerate [LAg 2 (H)]+. (v), IMR of [LAg 2 (H)(HO 2 CH)]+ with HO 2 CH to yield [LAg 2 (H)(HO 2 CH) 2 ]+. (vi), CID of [LAg 2 (H)(HO 2 CH) 2 ]+ to regenerate [LAg 2 (H)(HO 2 CH)]+.
Most stable DFT-calculated structures of systems examined: (b) 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e and 1f. DFT calculations used the hybrid functional B3LYP with def2-TZVP AO basis set for all atoms and corresponding relativistic effective core potential for Ag atoms. Bond distances are given in A (black) and PAgH bond angles in degrees (red). Zavras et al. Click to enlarge.
Professor Richard OHair, from the University of Melbournes School of Chemistry and Bio21 Institute, worked in collaboration with Professors Philippe Dugourd (from the University of Lyon), Philippe Maitre (University of Paris South), Bonacic-Koutecky (Humboldt-University Berlin) and Dr. Roger Mulder (CSIRO Manufacturing) for the study.
While the study successfully produces hydrogen and CO 2 , the ultimate aim of future research will be to ensure any derivative source of hydrogen produces zero emissions.
One of the grand challenges for chemists today is to develop perfect chemical reactions that proceed with 100% yield and 100% selectivity without forming any waste products. With formic acid, the aim was to transform it into hydrogen and carbon dioxide, which could really lend itself to the important practical applications of hydrogen energy in the transport sector. Professor OHair
Using a suite of gas-phase techniques, the research team designed a series of silver complexes and examined their reactions with formic acid.
The team was able to identify and orchestrate the exact catalyst that would effectively manipulate a strict hydrogen/carbon dioxide-only production.
Two key concepts have emerged from this work: (i) that ligands can have a vital role in reshaping the scaffold of a metal cluster to activate its reactivity towards a substrate; and (ii) that fundamental gas-phase studies can be used to direct the search for new types of metal complexes that promote related reactivity in solution. Together these concepts have allowed us to achieve the selective extrusion of carbon dioxide from formic acid, an important process for applications in hydrogen storage. Zavras et al.
One of the major challenges for hydrogen power is the lack of refueling infrastructure; the researchers suggest this obstacle could easily be overcome if one day the industry moves to using liquid formic acid.
Professor OHair notes that while the new catalyst design is an important step forward in addressing our hydrogen energy needs, there are still many barriers to overcome, such as the production of carbon dioxide and how it could potentially be recycled to regenerate formic acid.
The research was funded by the Australian Research Council.
Resources
General Motors demonstrated for the first time in China its latest version of connected vehicle (V2X) technology, including Intersection Collision Alert and Emergency Brake Alert, at the National Intelligent & Connected Vehicle Test Demo Base in Shanghai.
GM plans to bring vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technology to the US market in the 2017 Cadillac CTS using a Dedicated Short Range Communication spectrum.
The Demo Base will help facilitate R&D, standards study and policy formulation, as well as testing and certifying connected vehicle technology in China. It has full access to Wi-Fi, LTE-V and DSRC.
The facility supports 29 demonstration and testing programs, including Vehicle Collision Alert, Leading Vehicle Brake Alert and Pedestrian Crossing Alert. It will support more than 100 programs by the end of 2017.
Based on the achievements in the adoption of DSRC, GM looks forward to collaborating with other companies and organizations to develop and verify V2X standards that conform to Chinas needs. Its goal is to advance the level of connected vehicle technology in GMs largest market.
GM says V2Xwhich includes V2V, vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle to pedestrian (V2P) technologyis one of its most promising solutions for addressing the safety, mobility and environmental challenges facing the global automotive industry.
Charging that Nissan faked emissions results on the diesel Qashqai, South Koreas Ministry of Environment (MOE) has ordered Nissan Korea Co., the local unit of the Japanese carmaker, to recall 814 units of the SUVs already sold in the country; banned sales of the vehicle; imposed a 340 million won (US$294,000) fine; and has filed a complaint with the prosecutors office against the head of Nissan Korea. In May, MOE charged that the Nissan Qashqai sold in S. Korea was arbitrarily setting its engine system to illegally control exhaust emissions. ( Earlier post .)
The government recently launched a nationwide probe into 20 diesel car models sold in South Korea, sparked by Volkswagens emissions scandal last year.
During a hearing in late May, Nissan Korea denied allegations it arbitrarily stopped the exhaust gas recirculation function at temperatures over 35 C to fabricate emissions results, according to the ministry.
Nissan responded to the latest actions by MOE by saying that it is working closely and transparently with the Korean government concerning real-world NO x emissions of the Qashqai.
Senior Nissan representatives met several times with Ministry of Environment officials to discuss the governments concerns. Nissan continues to maintain, as it has throughout the discussions, that it has complied with all existing regulations and did not use an unjustified arbitrary setup or an illegal defeat device in the vehicle.
The Qashqai sold in Korea has been properly homologated to Euro 6 emission standards. This vehicle was certified by the Korean government last year under regulations permitting the importation and sales of vehicles that comply with these emission standards.
Nissan said it is studying the conclusions reached by the MOE and is currently exploring its options.
The Rambus CryptoManager platform adds a layer of security to the Movimento OTA solution. Vehicle updates provided by the combined Movimento and Rambus solution offers one-time, single-use keys that are unique to each vehicle, minimizing vulnerabilities and maximizing security.
Digital security provider Rambus and Movimento, leading provider of over-the-air (OTA) software lifecycle and data management for the automotive/IoT sectors, have partnered to deliver secure, convenient and personalized OTA vehicle updates critical to safety and performance in the era of the connected car.
As part of the collaboration, Movimentos OTA technology utilizes the Rambus CryptoManager platform, enabling in-field provisioning of encrypted keys generated for each vehicle and allowing for secure communication between a vehicle and the cloud.
As cars continue to increase in complexity and connectivity, often depending on more than 100 million lines of code to function, car makers and consumers alike are demanding simple and secure methods to download, authenticate and install vehicle updates.
By partnering with Rambus and integrating the CryptoManager security platform with Movimentos OTA solutions, we are able to further our strategy of building a best-in-class ecosystem of integrated solutions to enable the software defined car and data analytics. Mahbubul Alam, CTO of Movimento
Movimentos tools and technologies are designed to reduce complexity when making software and firmware updates by updating all the ECUs in a car in one go securely. From the chip to the cloud, Movimento builds on more than a decade of experience in automotive industry with the company updating more than three million vehicles every year.
Many current OTA solutions deliver functional updates and security patches for vehicles using the same software encryption key for multiple vehicles, increasing the vulnerability of the update. The Rambus CryptoManager solution provides an integrated security platform with flexible implementation from the hardware root-of-trust to the secure firmware which, when combined with Movimentos OTA technology, enables the next level of integrated chip-to-cloud-to-car security. Dr. Martin Scott, general manager of the Rambus Cryptography Research Division
The CryptoManager platform allows for cost reduction by enabling security features already embedded in automotive chipsets and requires no additional security hardware. By utilizing an embedded hardware solution, the CryptoManager platform minimizes the attack surface of the vehicle by providing end point security.
Movimentos car manufacturer customers include Ford, GM, FCA and Volvo plus a wide range of Tier-1 suppliers including ZF, Bosch, Denso, Panasonic, Continental, Delphi, Visteon, Magna and others. The company is headquartered in Plymouth, Michigan, with offices in the Silicon Valley, Mexico, Sweden, Germany and Asia Pacific.
The Rambus Cryptography Research division technologies span areas including tamper resistance, content and media protection, network security, and secure payment and transaction services. These technologies protect nearly nine billion licensed products annually.
Home zone park assist is a partially automated function that still requires some monitoring by the driver. It was designed for repeated parking maneuversfor example, at home or into an assigned parking garage space. The unique aspect about the technology is that Home zone park assist learns and saves individual driving maneuvers. Once it does so, it will perform them independently; all the driver has to do is press a button.
Boschs newest autonomous parking technology, Home zone park assist, will make its North American market debut by 2019. With Home zone park assist, drivers will conveniently control the parking process by smartphone, even from outside the vehicle. The technology will guide the car, autonomously if needed, to parking spaces up to 100 meters away, where it then maneuvers the car into the space.
Parking is a natural step on the path to fully autonomous vehicles. With the expected production of this technology in 2019, Bosch continues to play an integral role in bringing autonomous vehicles to North American consumers. Home zone park assist is another example of Bosch technology that helps to reduce accidents and injuries. Frank Sgambati, director of marketing and product innovation for Chassis Systems Control in North America, Robert Bosch
The Bosch system has to be instructed only once. The driver activates the assistants learning function when the car is in the desired starting position. Then, he or she drives the car slowly (walking pace) to a parking space no more than 100 meters away in a trial run. The system saves the starting position, destination and the route driven between them.
Nationwide Insurance claims data: approximately 13% of auto accidents occur in parking lots. One of the main causes is vehicles with poor visibility.
From then on, Home zone park assist can take over parking the car from the defined starting position. Drivers can choose to remain inside the car or to control the process from outside, either using a dead mans switch on the ignition key or via smartphone. The Bosch system is capable of learning and retrieving up to 10 different driving maneuvers for repeated parking situations.
The system draws on a total of 12 ultrasonic sensors installed in the front and rear bumpers plus a stereo video camera mounted near the rear-view mirror. Instead of the stereo video camera, the solution also can use four radar sensors, one on each corner of the vehicle.
Home zone park assist uses the sensors for orienting itself for the drive to and into the parking space. It also can recall any objects noted during the trial run, such as posts or trees. The system is constantly comparing the position of the car with the stored position of objects in the vehicles surroundings.
If the sensors detect an unknown static obstacle such as a garbage can left in the cars path, the car automatically stops. If the obstacle can be avoided by deviating slightly from the preset route, the car will steer independently around it.
While parking, the Bosch Home zone park assist system also automatically corrects for inaccuracies. Even if the driver has not left the car precisely at the saved starting position before activating Home zone park assist, the system can still maneuver effortlessly. It also is not a problem if the driver parked the car incorrectly at the end of the trial run. Home zone park assist technology can correct for deviations of up to six-and-a-half feet when planning its route.
In addition, Home zone park assist also is capable of pulling out of a parking space autonomously. At the touch of a button on a smartphone or key fob, the system brings the car automatically to the defined starting position, so that the driver can simply step in and drive off. This saves the driver from having to squeeze in or out of the vehicle when it is parked in a tight space.
The parents of a 15-year-old boy accused of killing five people in a North Carolina shooting rampage released a statement saying they are overcome with grief over the deaths. Alan and Elise Thompson issued the statement Tuesday that acknowledged the pain caused by their son, Austin Thompson. They say they mourn for the five killed, including another son, James, who was among those slain. Witnesses described in 911 calls that the shooter opened fire with what appeared to be a shotgun in a neighborhood northeast of downtown Raleigh and also shot at least two people on a popular walking trail. They say they feel immeasurable pain and grief over what happened.
Donald Trump is literally trumpeting that he gave $1 million out of his own pocket to vets. He says he has a net worth of over $10 billion. I wondered how this would compare to an average family in North Carolina.
Google says the average family net worth in North Carolina is $425,000. While this seems high, lets use it for comparison. Doing the math, Trumps million-dollar donation is the same value as the average family making a donation of $42.50. Would you call a press conference for making a donation of $50?
In Donald Trumps world, you should get a Nobel Prize or something for such generosity!
James Ivie
Eden
Democrats, I accept all of your apologies
To all of my marvelous Democratic friends, I accept your apologies for the following: A strong majority of (God-fearing, patriotic) voters says Mrs. Clinton should continue her quest to be our next corrupt president even if she is charged with a felony in connection with her private email use while secretary of state.
That is according to a new Fox News poll. And no, Fox News does not do the poll; it, like most entities, farmed it out to professional polling organizations. Sorry, MSNBC lovers.
My entire family was Democrats. Of course, that was when they actually were the party of the working people instead of Black Lives Matter, Jimmy Hoffas Teamsters, government employees and teachers unions that gave us the rubber room in New York City.
I do actually know a handful of Democrats who dont hate our country. But there are, of course, many more who believe that we need an actual socialist as president, as opposed to the socialist wannabe now occupying the White House.
Tony Moschetti
High Point
GREENWICH The new New Lebanon School is poised to receive a key endorsement from the towns Planning and Zoning Commission.
Representatives from the projects building committee were scheduled to appeare Tuesday before the commission looking for final site plan approval for the new school.
The commissions decision on the application was after deadline for Greenwich Time. Building committee Chairman Stephen Walko said on Tuesday he was hopeful of an approval.
We believe we have checked every box that we need to, Walko said. I want to be respectful of the process so I dont want to make predictions. We believe we have addressed the questions they asked us.
This is the projects second time before the commission. The first time, the commission had questions about traffic flow and pedestrian safety, among other issues. Walko said his committee had consulted with the towns police department, the Parks and Recreation Department and the tree warden.
The new school has already received approval from the towns Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency.
Tuesday nights consideration by the commission came a day after the Board of Estimate and Taxations Budget Committee by a three-zero-one vote approved the release of previously budgeted $1.85 million for the design of the new building. Budget Committee member Leslie Tarkington abstained saying she wanted to hear what Planning and Zoning had to say.
The full BET will consider the release of the design money at its June 13 meeting.
The current expectation is that the New Lebanon students will be in modular classrooms at Western Middle School while their school is razed and rebuilt. The plan is to have the new building ready for the 2017-18 school year.
Because of concerns about lead and arsenic in the soil at the Western site, the ground where the modular classrooms would be placed was expected to be tested later this week. Walko said he anticipated getting results in about a month. The results will be considered in the final student placement decision.
Part of the William Street field next to New Lebanon School has been found to be contaminated. Cleanup has been postponed while officials try to close a funding shortfall after estimates came in higher than the appropriation.
Walko said the committee has considered placing modulars on the ball field next to the school which should be decontaminated by then or keeping the students in the existing building during construction if the soil at Western proves toxic.
While we dont look forward to that decision, we are planning for it, Walko said.
kborsuk@scni.com
Thumbs up to the hundreds of volunteers and participants who put together and pulled off the inaugural Emsway Walk for Safety at Greenwich Point honoring Emily Fedorko, the Old Greenwich teenager who was killed in a a boating accident almost two years ago. The event was organized by Emilys parents, Joe and Pam, to promote safe-boating education. Emilys death in August 2014 led to passage of a law that bans anyone under age 16 from operating a boat towing a tuber or water skier, and requires a boat operator to complete a safety course on towing.
Thumbs up to the Greenwich Concours dElegance rolling on despite wet conditions and threats of downpours throughout the weekend. Owners of these classic cars, some of the finest in the world, would certainly prefer to protect them from the elements. Nevertheless, more than 250 cars exhibited at the exclusive show, which charges $40 per ticket. Owners were rewarded with car buffs who turned out in force despite the damp conditions.
Thumbs up to the The Board of Education for not taking lightly the decision on the material that is to be used to replace the turf at Greenwich High Schools Cardinal Stadium. We cant think of an option that would be embraced by everyone, which is exactly why the matter deserves scrutiny. In the end, the decision was made to use Envionfill, which blends sand and an acrylic coating. Given how polarizing crumb rubber has been in recent years, were glad to see that the board members prioritized safety, even as they juggled realistic cost challenges regarding upkeep.
Thumbs up to the University of Connecticut for its decision to name a decorated combat veteran as director of the schools Office of Veterans Affairs and Military Programs. Theres nothing like putting a person whos walked the walk in a position to help veterans pursue their education. U.S. Army Maj. Alyssa Kelleher is a two-time Bronze Star medal recipient and served on active duty in Afghanistan. To boot, she is a UConn alum.
Thumbs down to the findings of a recent study showing Connecticut to have a middling performance when it comes to the creation and nurturing of startup companies. Overall, the state ranked 36th out of 50 states when it comes to jobs created in both the startup and so-called scaleup categories. Scaleups are companies that employ at least 50 people by their 10th year of operation. The Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City, Mo.-based entity that studies how to spur the startup sector, issued the findings. In the particular category of employee growth at startups Connecticut was even farther behind: The state ranked 47th nationally.
Thumbs up to the ongoing community support for the Hope in Motion fundraiser, which held its 21st annual fundraiser to support the Bennett Cancer Center at Stamford Hospital. Its easy to get lost in the scope of the thousands of people who participated in the 5K walk and 10K run in Stamford Sunday, but just consider that there were 230 teams. These arent just groups of athletes looking for something to do on a June Sunday. They rally around a friend or family member dealing with cancer, or in memory of a loved one. The event raised $800,000 of its $1 million goal by Sunday afternoon, and donations can still be made at stamfordhospitalfoundation.org.
Thumbs down to the lost life-changing opportunity of the person who had a million dollars slip through his or her fingers and never even knew it. Last Thursday, at the stroke of midnight, a Powerball ticket purchased by someone in Connecticut turned from a $1 million passport to prosperity to a worthless scrap of paper. The Quick Pick ticket was sold at Rainbow News and Variety at 205 Main St. in Norwalk for the Dec. 5 Powerball drawing. The deadline for claiming the prize was 11:59 p.m. Thursday. The deadline came . . . and went.
Timeline for One UI 5 rollout revealed: Galaxy S and Z models to get it by the end of the year
While OnePlus has already done away with the invite system for the OnePlus 3 (as well as all its future handsets), the company has now announced that it will also be organizing pop-up events aimed at allowing people to try and buy the upcoming smartphone.
"Right after the trip to the Loop, we will be visiting 7 cities with the OnePlus 3," the Chinese company says on its website. "Join us at the pop-up events to experience the OnePlus 3 first-hand. Be among the first to purchase our new flagship, right there and then. Exclusive swag will be up for grabs. No need to sign up. Everyone is welcome."
The cities where these pop-up events will be held include New York, London, Paris, Berlin, New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore (now Bengaluru). While the date and venue details for the US and European cities have been announced, those for the Indian cities is yet to be confirmed. Head to the Source link below for more information.
Source
BlackBerry's debut Android-powered smartphone Priv has got a big thumbs down from customers, at-least according to AT&T. An unnamed, high-level executive with the carrier bluntly told Cnet that the device "is really struggling."
The executive noted that the handset mostly caught the fancy of BlackBerry loyalists only, and over-and-above that, majority of those who actually went ahead and purchased the phone found it difficult to make a switch from the Canadian company's OS to Google's OS.
"We've seen more returns than we would like," the executive said.
According to the numbers revealed by BlackBerry, a total of 600,000 Priv units were sold in Q1 this year, well below the 850,000 forecasted by analysts. Many believed that at $700 the phone was overpriced, something which even CEO John Chen admitted in an interview.
Shifting its focus a bit, the company has already said that it now plans to launch two mid-range devices this year - one with a Priv-like physical keyboard, while the other will be an all-touchscreen phone.
Via
The statue of Southern Baptist evangelist Billy Graham in downtown Nashville will be moved by LifeWay Christian Resources to North Carolina. The statue will be placed at LifeWay's Ridgecrest Baptist Conference Center near Asheville, N.C. LifeWay said the decision to move the 9-foot-tall statue of Graham was prompted by the sale last year and move of the Christian publishing company's corporate campus to a smaller facility.
"Ridgecrest is a perfeDonated to LifeWay in 2006, the statue pays tribute to Graham's career as an author and evangelist. During the presentation of the statue at the Southern Baptist Convention, sculptor Terrell O'Brien said he "tried to bring the Gospel to the forefront in this sculpture and pay tribute to a man who has dedicated his life to preaching all over the world without compromise." ct location for the Graham statue," said Thomas Rainer, LifeWay president and CEO. "It is only a few miles from the home where Graham has lived most of his life, and it will welcome nearly 70,000 men and women who come to Ridgecrest every year for spiritual training and retreat."
"We have about 3 acres at our new facility," LifeWay spokesman Marty King said. "Contrasting that with the 15 acres at our old location, the mountainside retreat setting in North Carolina was the most optimal location."
In his six decades of television, Graham is principally known for hosting the annual Billy Graham Crusades, which he began in 1947, until he concluded in 2005, at the time of his retirement. He also hosted the popular radio show Hour of Decision from 1950 to 1954. He repudiates segregation and in addition to religious goals he helped shape the world view of fundamentalist and evangelicals, leading them to appreciate the relationship between the Bible and contemporary secular viewpoints.
Graham was a spiritual adviser to American presidents; he was particularly close to Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson (one of Graham's closest friends), and Richard Nixon. Graham, 97, lives in the mountains of North Carolina not far from LifeWay's retreat center.
Tags : Billy Graham billy graham statue billy graham news billy graham latest
Published on 2016/06/06 | Source
The cast of "Train to Busan" talked about how they got to star in the movie.
Advertisement
"Train to Busan" is a blockbuster about a group of people on the KTX train struggling for survival while an unprecedented natural disaster hits Korea. "Train to Busan" started off with a lot of attention as the director had come up with a new element for this movie and the scenario was outstanding. The cast is also made up of the greatest actors and actresses.
Gong Yoo stated the reasons he chose "Train to Busan": "This new element for the movie will create synergy and it's something you have never seen in Korea before". Gong Yoo has starred in various movies from "Silenced" and "The Suspect". He claimed he felt the success of the movie just by looking at the scenario.
Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok and Choi Wooshik mentioned the movie's intensity and appealing characters as their reason for starring in the movie. Jung Yu-mi said, "I loved the scenario and how intense it sounded". Choi Wooshik mentioned the turning point of the movie and Ma Dong-seok said, "I fell for characters that are full of humanity. This action is different from the other action movies I've done".
Lastly, the cast has never ending faith in the director Yeon Sang-ho. Ahn So-hee said, "Director Yeon Sang-ho is a good reason enough to star in "Train to Busan". Kim Eui-sung said, "He has a stance and he is perfect in his direction". Kim Su-an said, "The director told me to do what I liked to do and he monitors me thoroughly".
Published on 2016/06/07 | Source
Kim Yoo-jung attended a VIP film screening event for "Proof of Innocence" at Lotte Cinema World Tower in Jamsil-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul in the afternoon on June 7th.
Advertisement
Crime movie "Proof of Innocence" depicts the daughter-in-law murder case of Daehae Steels that stirred the entire country after Pil-jae, a broker, received a letter from a death row inmate.
"Proof of Innocence" is opening on June 16th.
Login or sign up to follow actresses, movies & dramas and get specific updates and news
Login Sign Up
New Ad-free Subscriber Login
Email
Password
Password Username Your E-mail will only be used to retrieve a lost password.
Stay logged in
Help
Published on 2016/06/06 | Source
One of the things men take pride in is definitely his suit. It brings men's appeal to the next level. It is the same thing even for the handsome actors who do not require the power of stylish clothes to look good.
Advertisement
Song Joong-ki and Lee Jong-suk pulled off the same suit. Song Joong-ki wore the suit on his way to Hong Kong and Lee Jong-suk wore the same suit for the cover of the men's magazine, GQ Taiwan.
Which clothes? : Dark navy pinstripe slim fit suit. Wore checkered dress shirt under the jacket. Number by international luxury brand 'D'. Suit is not sold in Korea yet. The shirt is sold at KRW 820,000.
Song Joong-ki? : His airport style also exuded the big boss appeal. He matched the tie color to suit to dress up formally. He completed the look neatly with the black shiny loafers and a big bag.
Lee Jong-suk? : He pulled off the look in the free style. He showed both the back and front straps. He unbuttoned the jacket completely. He wore the loafers without wearing socks revealing his ankles.
Same clothes, different feeling: Song Joong-ki's weapon was his charismatic look. He showcased the classic look, the original purpose of suit perfectly.
Lee Jong-suk exuded the relaxing mood as a model turned actor. He showed off his tall figure in the slim fit suit. As he had opportunities to strike various poses for the pictorial shoot, he also added the comical expression as well.
Harlow is a former New Town in Essex with a population of 86,000. Located in the upper Stort Valley, it was built in the decades after the Second World War to ease overcrowding and London and provide homes for people bombed out during the Blitz. It includes Britain's first pedestrian precinct and first modern residential tower block, The Lawn. Old Harlow, the historic part of the town, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. David and Victoria Beckham's former home, Rowneybury House, nicknamed 'Beckingham Palace', is nearby.
11:52, 25 OCT 2022
ydney-based media company has been fined $272,850 for allegedly disguising employees as unpaid interns, following an investigation and legal action from the Fair Work Ombudsman The ruling was made in the Federal Court by Judge Tom Altobelli against AIMG BQ Pty Ltd, a company with links to the Ostar International Media Group that owns Chinese-language websites and publications for Australias Chinese community.AIMG BQ admitted to underpaying two event co-ordinators between October 2013 and June 2014 to the amount of $18,767. One was a 24-year-old from China who spoke limited English, who worked 180 hours for no pay over the course of four months carrying out duties including administration, cleaning, editing and event organisation.She was with the company as part of a so-called internship whilst studying at UTS. The court found it unlawful for the internship to be unpaid as she was carrying out productive tasks that were not related to her studies for a Masters in Event Management. After completing the internship, she was paid $50 per day ($6.56 per hour), a staggering $8,387 below the legal rate.Judge Altobelli said a serious message was being sent to the company to prevent other businesses benefitting from employment relationships disguised as unpaid internships.In welcoming the decision, Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said, We don't want to stifle genuine learning opportunities that help young people get a foot in the door, but we also don't want to see young people being treated unfairly through unlawful unpaid work schemes.
Music! Music! Music! Come, join your neighbors and listen to some traditional mountain music. Therell be fiddling, guitar picking, banjo ringing, bass slapping, singing in the old-tyme way, and stories told bout folks you know. Its a leisurely afternoon of Vintage Valle Music at Bairds Creek Presbyterian Church, June 19, 2016, from 4 to 6 p.m.
Highlighting our bill this June are The Burnett Sisters, a Bluegrass Gospel and Oldtime band from Boone, ranging in age from 9 to 19. All the girls are homeschooled and have grown up under the instruction of local musicians such as John Cockman, Cecil Gurganus, and the Junior Appalachian Musician Program at the Jones House in Boone. The girls play Fiddle, Guitar, Bass, Banjo, Mandolin and love to sing harmonies as well. They compete and perform as individuals and in the string bands Strictly Strings and the Tater Hill Mashers in festivals throughout the mountains of North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. Recently, the groups had performances at Merlefest, Fiddlers Grove, and Houstonfest. Heres a sample of their music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEF2Yg9DwSc
Taking time out from her busy post-graduate summer schedule to share her considerable talents with her community, vocalist Sarah McGuire will appear at Vintage Valle Music only in June this year. Sarah writes much of her own material and is competent in selecting her music from a wide range of musical genres. Accompanied by her father, Mark McGuire, a Sarah McGuire performance is always delightful!
Returning after a years hiatus is Rev. Bryan McFarland, a folk-singing, song-writing pastor whose calling in life is to serve as a hunger action advocate. Bryan doesnt just talk about the need to feed the hungry, he writes songs and then sings about what we can do to alleviate this need. His beautiful award-winning songs, Till All Are Fed and Enough for Everyone, have opened hearts, minds, and giving around the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLwmYIzkb78
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=712640&songID=5782515
Bryans message-in-song is sure to inspire you to want to help, so were offering you the opportunity to bring a can of soup, a box of cereal, or some other non-perishable food item to help our local hunger needs. Food insecurity is especially high during the summer months when students are not in school where they can receive two meals a day. All donations will be shared with our local community through Western Watauga Outreach, a Quiet Givers program. http://quietgivers.org/western-watauga-food-project/
Bairds Creek Presbyterian Church is located at 2147 NC Hwy 194 S., Vilas NC 28692. Therell be no passing the hat, no preachin n prayin, no dinner on the grounds; just pickin n singin, and lotsa grinnin at Vintage Valle Music, June 19, 2016, 4 to 6 p.m. Theres never a charge, but non-perishable food items will be gratefully appreciated.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Reddit
Pocket
By Jessica Isaacs | [email protected]
Awesome opportunities for summer fun await you high atop the towering summit of Beech Mountain Resort!
Make your way over to the resorts 5506 Skybar for great, drinks and live music from a different band each week at this one-of-a-kind local hot spot. The bars new lunch menu offers sandwiches, salads and snacks beginning on Thursday every weekend, as well as brunch on Sundays.
5506 is a unique facility. There is not another bar or restaurant like it in the High Country, said Talia Freeman, marketing director at BMR. Customers experience endless views, seeing all the way to Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina. Its pretty incredible.
The live music kicks off at 2:30 p.m. every Saturday afternoon, and this years lineup will feature several local favorites, including the Corklickers, the Harris Brothers and more.
Its nice to hear live music with such beautiful surroundings, Freeman said. Plus, we have a great music lineup some really talented artists. I am excited for people to experience such great talent.
Although there is no space for parking at the summit, there are two ways to get to the top and check out 5506.
If youre feeling adventurous, take the scenic chairlift and soak up the incredible vistas for just $10. If youre not so much a fan of heights, the resort now offers shuttle services to and from the summit for just $5.
The panoramic views of the mountains are simply stunning. I live and work here, but I am still in awe of the beauty, Freeman said. Some people simply do not enjoy the chairlift, though, so the shuttle is a more affordable option and it eases the discomfort that some people have with heights.
Just cant get enough of life on top of the world? Start your day with Mile High Yoga on the 5506 observation deck at 10:30 a.m. on select Saturdays this summer.
Our mission is to provide a safe, friendly, soothing and unique atmosphere for all ability levels, said Freeman. Our hand-picked instructors bring a wealth of knowledge and passion to help you strengthen your body, calm your mind and find a little inspiration for the rest of your journey.
Mile High Yoga is all about the experience. We really strive to have quality instructors. That combined with the beautiful setting and the long range mountain views make for a rejuvenating and relaxing class.
Whether you plan to visit for morning yoga, lunch and drinks or afternoon music, 5506 at Beech Mountain Resort will keep you coming back for more this summer.
Freeman said youll definitely enjoy the good food, good people, beautiful surroundings and cool weather at 5506, where family friendly fun is never in short supply.
Continue reading for the live music schedule, the weekend lunch menu, shuttle availability and information on Mile High Yoga.
To learn more, visit beechmountainresort.com or call 800-438-2093.
5506 Live Music Lineup:
June 4 The local bluegrass legends The Corklickers
June 11 The blues, rock and funk of Andrew Scotchie and the River Rats
June 18 The up-and-coming rock and blues vocalist Shelby Rae Moore
June 25 The rowdy, edgy and fun bluegrass of Grandpas Cough Medicine
July 2 The local blues, rock and funk legend Melissa Reaves
July 9th The funky horn-driven rock and soul of Dr Bacon
July 16 The blues, soul and jazz/funk of South Carolinas Shane Pruitt Band
July 23 A return performance by local bluegrass legends The Corklickers
July 30 The versatile blues, rock and country of The Harris Brothers
August 6 The earthy and eclectic Americana music of Wise Old River
August 13 TBD
August 20 The atmospheric and fun New Acoustic sounds of Sweet Sweet
August 27 The Americana, folk and rock grooves of Virginias If Birds Could Fly
Sept. 3 TBD
Scenic Lift Rides to 5506:
$10 round trip tickets, open from noon to 6 p.m. on Thursdays and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
Shuttle Option to 5506:
$5 shuttle tickets include rides up and back down the mountain and can be purchased at Ski Beech Sports. Shuttle space is limited and this option is not suitable for small children that require a car seat or booster seat.
Shuttle rides back down from the summit run on the half hour with the last ride scheduled for 5:30 p.m. each day. You must purchase a ticket to take the shuttle.
Shuttles are located at the end of lot #1.
Thursday rides up the mountain: noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m., 5 p.m.
Friday through Sunday rides up the mountain: 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m. 4 p.m., 5 p.m.
Mile High Yoga Schedule:
June 4, 11, 18, 25
July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
Aug. 6, 13, 20, 27
Sept. 3
Classes begin at 10:30 a.m. and last approximately one hour. The class is accessible by the chairlift. Participants are asked to ride the lift between 10-10:15 a.m.
Yoga mats are limited and instructors include Cara Pittman and Jenna Thompson.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Reddit
Pocket
Two Rivers Community School, a K-8 public charter school in Boone, recently received the NC Green School of Quality award from the NC Green Schools Program, a non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in the states schools from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.
It is the first school outside of Buncombe County to achieve the certification in Western North Carolina.
Under the auspices of the Center for the Environment at Catawba College, the NC Green Schools Program helps teachers connect and share ideas, offers resources and tools to help them start green initiatives and recognizes schools that meet specified goals.
The NC Green School of Quality Award is given to schools that are taking active strides in improving and maintaining sustainable practices and implementing a robust environmental education curriculum.
Two Rivers Development Director, Ryan Robinson, says he knew the NC Green School certification was a good fit for their school when he learned about it. Its a natural partnership that we are proud to have, and we look forward to watching it blossom, he says. Whats beautiful about the certification process is that Two Rivers was already meeting the standards of what classifies as a Green School. Whats even better now, we have a support system to help us achieve even more. The faculty and Board of Directors are extremely excited about the certification and look forward to growing the partnership with NC Green Schools.
NC Green Schools Program Coordinator Katie Cavert Ferrell notes that Two Rivers can point to many accomplishments: teaching students about nature; protecting and caring for the environment through creating a green-minded campus; and integrating sustainability education in the curriculum. Especially impressive are the experiential education opportunities they offer at Buffalo Cove, the integration of environmental practices into the daily lives of students and the service learning projects of the eighth graders, she says.
NC Green Schools Judge Torin Kexel was enthusiastic in his assessment of Two Rivers green efforts: It is so uplifting to see the efforts that our schools are making to not only have a direct impact on the environment but to help create engaged youth citizens that will shape North Carolinas future for years to come!
John Wear, executive director of the Center for the Environment, agrees that it is especially good that younger students are being encouraged to revere the environment and live sustainably. We at the Center want to congratulate Two Rivers Community School for its efforts to become a NC Green School of Quality, he says. Its very important to help students become environmentally aware at an early age. The positive experiences they have now will inform their actions in the future.
Founded in 2005, Two Rivers Community School is a tuition-free, K-8, public-charter school located in Boone, NC. The Two Rivers curriculum challenges students with dynamic learning experiences both in and out of the classroom. Academics are at the core of every opportunity provided with the expectation that students grow in both character and in intellect during their time at Two Rivers. This year the schools enrollment is 178 students with spaces open for next school year in certain grade levels. If you would like to learn more about Two Rivers Community School, please contact Beth Vossen at 828-262-5411 or email at [email protected]
The Center for the Environment was founded in 1996 to educate the college community and the public about environmental stewardship and sustainability, provide value-added education for students through interaction with thought leaders and opportunities for experiential learning, and bring diverse people and groups together to catalyze sustainable solutions to our most persistent environmental challenges. For more information, visit www.CenterForTheEnvironment.org.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Reddit
Pocket
Elkland Art Center Liberty Parade: How to Get Involved
Were a month away, but we have a long way to go!
How can you help?
Donate! We launched the Liberty Parade 2016: Tuning In! fundraiser last week and weve already raised nearly $600but thats only 6% of our goal. Help us raise $10,000 by July 4th! Why do we need to raise that much?? Watch our promo video!
Volunteer behind the scenes! We need volunteers, young or old, to help before, during, and after the paradewe cant do it without you!
Become an artist! Participate in our sound waves workshop. Well dye long strips of fabricsound wavesas our 2016 parade prop. The little ones can even participate by making percussion instruments.
Make Some Noise! Follow us on twitter and instagram, share our promo video, send our crowdfunding link with your social circles!
https://www.crowdrise.com/ liberty-parade-2016-tuning-in/ fundraiser/ elklandschoolartcenter
Soil and Water Meeting June 22
The Watauga Soil and Water Conservation District Board will hold its regular Board meeting Wednesday June 22, 2016 at 8:00 am at the Soil & Water Office located at 971 West King Street, Boone NC 28607.The public is invited to attend.
CCC&TI Recognizes BLET Graduates
Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute recently honored its 43rd academy of graduates from the Basic Law Enforcement Training program. Eight graduates completed more than 660 hours of training over 16 weeks. Following the course, students had to successfully complete a rigorous physical exam as well as the standardized state tests.
Graduates, pictured left to right, are: Front row Dillon Benge of Lenoir (Top POPAT Fitness Award); Jared Spray of Granite Falls (Andrew Burgess Academic Award); Bradley Beach Jr. of Lenoir (Platoon Leader, Gary Clark Driving Award and Overall Fitness Award); and Kyle Hartley of Lenoir (Hank Lane Report Writing Award). Back row Josh Reuscher of Granite Falls; David Gragg of Lenoir (GRIT Award); Robert Campbell of Vilas; and Jordan Williams of Hickory (Top Gun Award).
For more information or to apply for CCC&TIs Basic Law Enforcement Training program, which is now accepting applications for the Fall Semester, contact BLET Program Director Dennis Hopkins at 828-726-2750.
Upcoming Movie Screenings at the Watauga Library
High Country Lifelong Learners Movie: The Thin Man
June 13th, 2016 Watauga County Public Library Meeting Room
High Country Lifelong Learners in association with the Watauga County Public Library invite you to join us for a movie viewing of The Thin Man on June 13th from 2:00 pm 4:30 pm.
Director W.S. Van Dykes Oscar nominated 1934 film, The Thin Man, tells the story of Nick and Nora Charles, a former detective and his rich, playful wife, who investigate a murder case mostly for the fun of it.
Stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy and Maureen OSullivan
This film has an MPAA rating of Unrated and an approximate run-time of 91 minutes.
For more information please email [email protected] com, Attention: Deb Gooch.
Third Thursday Movie: Cool Hand Luke
June 16th, 2016 Watauga County Public Library Meeting Room
The Watauga County Public Librarys movie group invites you to join us for a viewing ofCool Hand Luke on June 16th from 6:30 pm 8:30 pm.
When petty criminal Luke Jackson (Paul Newman) is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesnt play by the rules of either the sadistic warden (Strother Martin) or the yards resident heavy, Dragline (George Kennedy), who ends up admiring the new guys unbreakable will. Lukes bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prisons dreaded solitary confinement cell, the box, make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.
This film has an MPAA rating of PG and an approximate run-time of 126 minutes.
For more information please call (828) 264-8784 ext. 2
Stonewalls Restaurant Presents Bill Stevenson Music
Stonewalls Restaurant in downtown Banner Elk will feature the instrumental guitar music of Bill Stevenson every Friday and Saturday, Beginning June 10-11, from 6-8 pm, throughout the summer. Bill plays oldies from the 50s through the 70s. Come celebrate the summer holidays at Stonewalls Restaurant with excellent food, great service, and music you can remember!
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Reddit
Pocket
Compiled by Jesse Wood
April 23, 2014. For the N.C. Supreme Court Associate Justice section on the primary ballots, residents have three choices: Eric Levinson, Robin Hudson and Jeanette Doran.
While the N.C. Democratic Party has endorsed only one of those three candidates Robin Hudson, a group called N.C. Experienced Conservative Judges has endorsed two: Eric Levinson and Jeanette Doran.
While some of the primary races are only open to certain parties, every registered voter has the opportunity to vote on the candidates for N.C. Supreme Court. You may only vote for one of the judge candidates. Take a look below at information provided in the N.C. State Board of Elections 2014 Primary Voter Guide about each candidate.
ERIC LEVINSON
Place of Residence: Cornelius, N.C.
Education: UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law, J.D., 1992, University of Georgia, BBA Finance, cum laude, 1989; Institute on Political and Economic Systems, Fund for American Studies (coursework Georgetown University, internship at Reagan White House), 1989
Occupation: Superior Court Judge
Employer: State of N.C.
Date Admitted to the Bar: 1992
Legal/judicial Experience:Superior Court Judge, 2009-present; Rule of Law Counselor, Kabul, Afghanistan, 2008; Justice Attache to Iraq, U.S. Department of Justice, 2007-2008; Associate Judge, N.C. Court of Appeals, 2003-2007; District/Family Court Judge, Mecklenburg County, 1996-2002; Assistant District Attorney, Cabarrus and Rowan Counties, 1992-1996
Candidate Statement: No other candidate offers my combination of experience as a judge on the Court of Appeals, District/Family Court, and Superior Court. I am the only candidate who has been in the trial courtrooms as a judge andin our appellate courts as a judge.
Except for my service to our nation as the Justice Attache to Iraq for the U.S. Department of Justice (establishing Major Crimes Courts to prosecute terrorists), and my assistance to the Supreme Court of Afghanistan, I have been a judge since 1996. No other candidate has this breadth of experience.
I adhere to the rule of law as an impartial jurist and preserve individual freedoms. As a judge, I do not make public policy decisions.
I am described as a brave, independent jurist and Constitutional conservative. I have bipartisan support and am endorsed by former Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake, Jr. and former Justice Robert Orr, who say I am simply the most qualified candidate. I would be privileged to have your support.www.levinsonforjustice.com.
ROBIN HUDSON
Place of Residence: Wake County
Education: Yale University, B.A.; UNC-Chapel Hill, J.D.
Occupation: Justice, Supreme Court of North Carolina
Employer: State of North Carolina
Date Admitted to the Bar: 1976
Legal/judicial Experience: 2007-present, Justice, NC Supreme Court 2001-2006, Judge, NC Court of Appeals, first woman elected without being appointed 25 years legal practice representing individuals and families 1977-present, NC Bar Association; 2005-2006, Vice President 1978-present, NC Association of Women Attorneys
Candidate Statement: In 38 years as a lawyer and judge, Ive handled all kinds of cases for all kinds of people. That experience has helped me understand real people and real families and to be fair in every case, as my record on the Supreme Court since 2007 shows.
In 13 years as an appellate court judge, Ive made thousands of decisions. I know the challenges people face every day, with their jobs, children, property, safety, and schools. My experience with individuals from all walks of life has given me a unique understanding of our states people, the legal issues they face, and their need for judges who decide cases fairly.
All my life Ive worked hard. I went to public schools, worked in the summers, and waited tables in college. The hardest work Ive done was being a single mom, raising two young kids while trying to run a law practice.
People deserve even-handed judges. Im fair; Im independent. And I understand how our complex laws affect real people. More than a dozen former Justices and appellate Judges endorse my re-election.
Please visit www.robinhudson.org
Thanks.
JEANETTE DORAN
Place of Residence: Raleigh
Education: Campbell University School of Law, JD, cum laude. Auburn University, BA
Occupation: Chair, NC Board of Review; attorney
Employer: State of North Carolina
Date Admitted to the Bar: 2000, North Carolina; 2006 US Supreme Court
Legal/judicial Experience: Chairman, Board of Review, deciding appeals of unemployment insurance and tax claims; Executive Director, NC Institute for Constitutional Law; UNC School of Government; Federal Public Defender; Federal Law Clerk
Candidate Statement: Throughout my career, I have focused on state and federal constitutional issues. My experience at trial and appellate levels in state and federal courts shows a strong commitment to the rule of law. As a lawyer, I understand the importance of our founding principles and the role of the courts. As a mom, I have a special motivation to ensure the law is fairly, justly and consistently applied.
As an attorney, I represented ordinary taxpayers fighting to protect liberty and promote freedom by enforcing the constitution. My clients included everyday citizens, parents, school children, and charitable groups. I stood up for a wide range of North Carolinians, and I took on corporate giants and powerful politicians.
I believe policy changes should come from the people, not activist judges. I have traveled the state sharing my love of the North Carolina and United States Constitutions with civic and grassroots groups. I have earned a reputation for understanding complex laws but never forgetting the fundamentals of both the state and federal constitutions. I want to bring my ability and my dedication to public service to the Supreme Court.
I ask for your vote.
jeanetteforjustice.com
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Reddit
Pocket
Photos by Ken Ketchie.
The OASIS Shriners rolled into town for their annual statewide parade this weekend, which brought countless guests and a large number of American military veterans to the streets of Blowing Rock for a fun Saturday afternoon.
Retired U.S. Army Major General Chuck Swannack took the lead as grand marshal for this years parade, which focused on a very important theme: A Salute to Our Veterans.
The parade went extremely well and the weather cooperated beautifully, said Allison West of Chetola Resort, which sits at the heart of the town and played an integral role in the Shriners weekend in Blowing Rock. We had a great turnout with lots of participation. It was well received, well attended and turned out to be another wonderful day.
Its a tradition for the Shriners to do this. Everywhere they have their annual ceremonial, they always hold their Shriners parade. In giving back to the community, they also always give a donation to local organizations. This year, the Watauga High School marching band and JROTC both received donations.
Don Reid, a Charlotte resident and close friend of the OASIS organization who helps promote their activity, said he was blown away in Blowing Rock by the kindness of the community and the success of the weekend.
The event turned out very well for the Shriners, said Reid, who was exploring the town for the first time over the weekend. They were trying to have a ceremonial and a parade that would salute our veterans and also be pleasing to the people of Blowing Rock, and I think they accomplished that.
The thing that impressed me the most was what a wonderful town Blowing Rock is and how accommodating all of the people were. They acted as if they were really happy to have everybody there and they did their best. I was so impressed with everybody, but if I had to single out one person who blew us away it would be Marcia Greene at Chetola. She worked for weeks and weeks to help us get as many veterans there as we could.
For more information on the Oasis Shriners, visit oasisshriners.org.
Check out our photos from the parade and youll quickly understand the OASIS Shriners bring their annual state parade to Blowing Rock year after year.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Reddit
Pocket
We're a family of seven living in Georgia where Andrew's working as a professor at GSU. You can read more about us here
Lavrov stated according to TASS , the largest news agency in Russia, that Russia will not conceal its disapproval of the build-up of Nato's military infrastructure towards its borders. Russia, he added, is similarly displeased with the fact that also non-members of the defence alliance are participating in the annual naval exercise, Baltops.
The Baltic Sea Region is currently faced with no such threat that would justify the military exercise that began under the supervision of Nato in Hanko, Finland, on Monday, argues Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
A total of 17 nations, including Finland, are to participate in the exercise between 6 and 8 June.
I'm convinced that also our friends and neighbours in Finland understand that, Lavrov said according to TASS.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs was also quoted by Sputnik as saying that Russia has a sovereign right to respond to the increasing activities of Nato.
Timo Soini (PS), the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland, asserted in a news conference organised after his meeting with Lavrov in Moscow on Monday that the decision of Finland to participate in the naval exercise was taken solely based on its defence interests, TASS also reports.
Participation in exercises is a key element of international co-operation for Finland, he said according to the news agency.
Soini also pointed out that similar activities have been carried out since 1993 and that the naval exercise is by no means directed against Russia. The Finnish Navy similarly highlights in a press release that its troops have participated in Baltops since 1993.
Aleksi Teivainen HT
Photo: Natalia Kolesnikova AFP / Lehtikuva
Source: Uusi Suomi
The widow of slain garda Jerry McCabe has insisted her husband was murdered in an attack sanctioned by people who Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams represents.
Twenty years after Det Gda McCabe was gunned down in Co Limerick, Ann McCabe has insisted his killing was a cold and calculated murder because he and his colleague were fired at "indiscriminately".
She has criticised the Sinn Fein leader and said she never accepted her husband's killing was an accident.
"I didn't accept it from day one," she said. "If you walk up to a car and start shooting indiscriminately into a car, you stop and then you start again? Murder is what I would call it and I would still call it murder.
"I haven't changed, really, in the last 20 years. I've learned to live with it, but I haven't changed and I don't think I ever will change. The pain is still there."
Grief
The grief is something that mother-of-five Ann has always struggled with, but it is something she is determined to address.
She knows she is not the only woman widowed at the hands of garda-killers and understands the pain families of deceased gardai go through, such as in the cases of Tony Golden and Adrian Donohoe.
Gda Golden was shot by a dissident republican last year while helping a victim of domestic violence. The killer then shot himself.
"Tony Golden's was a different murder, but Adrian Donohoe's killers are still walking around," said Ann.
Gda Donohoe was killed during the robbery of a Credit Union in Co Louth in 2013.
His widow, Caroline, recently retired from the force to care for their two young children.
"There are people around there who know who they are, and until they are brought before the courts Caroline Donohoe will never have peace. This is going on and on for her," said Ann.
"She has to try and get on with her life. I met her recently in Dublin and she is a lovely young lady with young kids."
The two youngest McCabe children were in their rooms preparing for the third day of their Junior and Leaving Cert exams when they heard their mother's screams downstairs 20 years ago today.
By the time they reached the bottom step, she was on the floor, inconsolable.
Det Gda McCabe died in a hail of bullets from AK47s brandished by two men in balaclavas. They fired 15 rounds at his car near Adare. Three hit him.
Ann said she has never forgiven his killers, and insisted his death was no accident.
The 1996 IRA ceasefire had broken down four months earlier, and its Army Council initially denied any involvement in the attack.
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams later confirmed the killing was not authorised by the Army Council, but by a lower level authority within the IRA.
"He knew from day one who they were and he knew what operation they were on," Ann.
"It was sanctioned by the people he represents - the IRA, his comrades.
"He said they weren't involved, that it was somebody making mischief.
"He rephrased that recently when there was another murder. He said 'a bit of mischief-making'. Somebody making mischief to Jerry.
"Sinn Fein knew who they were playing ducks and drakes with."
Pearse McAuley, from Strabane, Co Tyrone, and Jeremiah Sheehy, Michael O'Neill and Kevin Walsh, from Limerick, were convicted by the non-jury Special Criminal Court of manslaughter.
All four had originally been charged with Det Gda McCabe's murder, but the State was forced to accept the manslaughter plea when key witnesses refused to co-operate after IRA intimidation.
"I reckon they were spoken to before they got into the box and that is why. There was widespread intimidation of witnesses," said Ann.
"That is what really got me angry, and that was the start of my campaign."
McAuley had previously escaped from Brixton Prison in London while awaiting prosecution over an IRA terror campaign in England. He had also jumped bail two months before the shooting.
Gardai believe it was Walsh who fired the fatal shots.
"It was plain murder. It wasn't manslaughter, so then when the sentencing came out we were shocked at that, but we had to accept it," said Ann.
"Behind the scenes I got myself very active in keeping them inside in jail because I reckon there was a deal done between our Government and the IRA.
Confronted
"They wanted to make them part of the Peace Process because I had confrontations with Mr Adams on a few occasions and he literally told me they were part of it. The deal was done with the Government at the time."
Det Garda McCabe and his colleague, Ben O'Sullivan, were escorting a cash-in-transit van at 6.50am on June 7, 1996, near the village of Adare when their car was hit by a 4x4.
Of the 15 rounds fired, one hit the officers' car and 11 struck Det Gda O'Sullivan, who survived.
A family friend rang Ann to ask if she had heard of an accident involving gardai.
Ann tried to contact Henry Street Garda Station in Limerick but could not get through.
"At that stage there was a knock at the door and I think I shouted, 'Take your time', because the bell was ringing a bit," she said.
"I didn't know who he was at the time, John Kerin [Detective Inspector in Henry Street], because I hadn't met him before.
"I just remember his face. I didn't see the garda at the gate. He asked me my name and I said, 'Yeah, Ann McCabe'.
"The look on his face and the colour of his face will always be in my mind. He told us that Jerry was dead.
"I just kept shouting that Jerry couldn't be dead. 'Please tell me it's not Jerry'."
Ann then received a call from her son, John, who was a garda in Monaghan.
"He heard it on the radio and called Roxboro and asked, 'Is it my Dad? "They said 'yes'."
In 2006, with her husband's 10th anniversary nearing, Ann confronted the Sinn Fein leader at a fundraiser in New York.
"Mr Adams came on the stage and Gerry [Gregg, who was making a film about Det Gda McCabe's death] had told me that the minute questions from the floor started I was to stand up.
"I said, 'My name is Ann McCabe and my husband was murdered by the IRA, who you represent, in Adare. One question: can you condemn his killing; and there are two people on the run - can you tell us where they are?'
"He said lots of people lost loved ones, but I said, 'You said Jerry was part of the conflict. He wasn't. We had no conflict in the South. The conflict was in the North."
Unhappy with Mr Adams' reply, she walked out.
"I was determined to get answers. I just knew I wouldn't get them because I think he lies. He lies through his teeth," said Ann.
Garda forensic officers at the site where Neil Fitzgerald's body was found Photo: Collins
Ireland's latest gangland murder victim carried out a violent slash attack only days before he was shot dead.
Neil Fitzgerald (36), who was a key lieutenant in the Rattigan gang, was shot dead in a remote location in Tallaght at the weekend.
Expand Close Murder victim Neil Fitzgerald / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp Murder victim Neil Fitzgerald
His body was found by a passer-by on Sunday morning in the Hills Lane area of the Dublin suburb.
The Herald can reveal that Fitzgerald was involved in a violent brawl last Wednesday with a young man.
This led to associates of feared gangsters Graham 'The Wig' Whelan and 'Fat' Freddie Thompson becoming involved.
Warning
Fitzgerald produced a knife during the brawl and one man suffered slash wounds. The injured man then called two men, who are close associates of Thompson and Whelan, who arrived at the scene.
A number of threats were issued, with Fitzgerald warning the Kinahan cartel associates that he would kill them.
It is understood this is one of a number of threats Fitzgerald had made against rival gangsters since his release from jail.
It has also emerged that a close friend of Fitzgerald summoned him to the scene of his murder in an apparent act of betrayal.
Fitzgerald, who had been living in Blessington, Co Wicklow, spent a number of his younger years in Australia and was involved in body-building.
He previously received a 10-year jail term after pointing a loaded handgun at three garda detectives following a high-speed car chase.
It later emerged that the weapon with which Fitzgerald threatened gardai was used in an attack on Thompson's home.
A source described Fitzgerald as "an angry individual" who was prone to violence throughout his life.
Whelan and Thompson were key players in the Crumlin/Drimnagh feud in the Noughties which claimed 16 lives.
Whelan (35), who is described as one of the more dangerous gangland figures, was arrested in the drug seizure that led to the deadly round of killings.
The thug, along with Phillip Griffiths and Declan Gavin, was arrested following the massive seizure at the Holiday Inn on Pearse Street.
Gavin's associates labelled him a rat after the successful garda operation, and his 2001 murder, for which Brian Rattigan is serving a life sentence, ignited the deadly feud.
Meanwhile, gardai were last night continuing to question two people in relation to the murder of Neil Fitzgerald.
The man and woman, who are both aged in their 20s, are being held at Tallaght and Rathfarnham garda stations.
Both were associates of Fitzgerald, and the man has several previous convictions for armed robberies as well as drug-related offences.
A businessman serving a sentence for possession of 1.9m worth of cannabis has been caught for the seventh time using a mobile phone in his prison cell.
Alan Boggins (41) was calling home about his two young children when prison officers in Mountjoy saw him. He threw the phone down the toilet.
He did not get any extra jail time after Judge Anthony Halpin gave him a three-month sentence but made it concurrent to one he is already serving.
Dublin District Court heard he had six prior convictions for the same offence.
Boggins, of Keelogue House, Peamount Road, Newcastle, Co Dublin pleaded guilty to unlawfully having a mobile phone in a prison on January 6, 2016.
The court heard prison officers saw him with the mobile phone in his hand. When he saw them, he put it in the toilet. It was retrieved by staff.
A garda sergeant said that Boggins had 31 prior convictions, including six for possession of a mobile phone in prison.
His last conviction, in 2015, was for one of these offences and he was given a six-month suspended sentence.
Fundraising
He was sentenced to 13 years in jail in 2013 for possession of drugs for sale or supply.
Boggins had been "quite active" in terms of recreation in the prison and had been involved in a charity fundraising event which raised 4,500 for the children's hospital, his barrister, John Griffin, said.
"He's been of relatively good behaviour," Mr Griffin added.
He said Boggins was pleading guilty on his second day in court in relation to the offence.
"He has two young children at home," Mr Griffin added.
Previously, the court heard Boggins' release date was in 2023.
He had already been disciplined by the prison authorities for having a phone and had no visits for 14 days.
He had worked in the bakery in Mountjoy and had "kept himself quite busy". The defendant had also taken a gym instruction course.
Boggins, a former car dealer and married father-of-two, was convicted of drugs offences following a trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
That court was presented with testimonials and reports from business and sporting backgrounds in the Clondalkin area praising his contributions to the parish.
Anti-Water charges TD Paul Murphy has said the Taoiseach is "utterly delusional" if he thinks people will pay water bills.
The Dublin South-West deputy was responding to remarks made by Mr Kenny at the weekend when he warned homeowners: "You are going to have to pay."
Mr Kenny's comments came after indications from the European Commission last week that water charges can't be abolished once they are in place.
"I think he's utterly delusional if he thinks that people are going to pay for water charges," AAA-PBP TD Mr Murphy told the Herald.
He also poured scorn on Mr Kenny's suggestion of reducing the point at which unpaid charges can be deducted from wages, which is 500.
"You can't change the legislation without a Dail majority," Mr Murphy said. "He doesn't have a Dail majority for it. It's not part of the agreement with Fianna Fail. I mean, if Fianna Fail were to go along with something like that it would be very severely punished. They'll be under pressure not to. So I think it's not real."
Mr Murphy said that the European Commission's position on water charges wasn't clear, and said it would have to take a case to the European Court of Justice if it were to fine Ireland for not complying with EU laws.
Fight
He said that the Government could "put up a serious fight" in arguing that charging for water here isn't "established practice".
Water charges are to be suspended under Fine Gael's deal with Fianna Fail, with an expert commission to be established to determine their future before its recommendations are put to a Dail vote.
"Water charges only come back if Fianna Fail vote for them," Mr Murphy said.
He argued that "it's very difficult to see this Government being able to impose them".
Gardai are continuing to question an 18-year-old over the fatal stabbing of a man at a north Dublin halting site.
Wesley Mooney (33) was stabbed to death during an attack in Dunsink Lane in Finglas the early hours of yesterday.
The victim, who was previously convicted for threatening to kill his former partner and their child, suffered one knife wound.
Emergency services rushed to the scene but, despite the efforts of paramedics, Mooney was pronounced dead a short time later.
Questioning
A teenager was arrested at the scene, and detectives from Finglas Garda Station were still questioning him last night.
Mooney did not live at the halting site, and gardai are investigating whether he was disturbed by someone who did.
Locals said they heard no argument or row at the time of the incident, and only became aware of what had happened when emergency services arrived.
The victim lived at nearby Abbotstown Drive, where his family told the Herald yesterday that they were not aware of the circumstances surrounding his death.
"We know as much as the gardai and we don't think they know what happened either," said one man who was being comforted by family and friends at the house.
Mooney's body was removed from the scene yesterday afternoon, and a post-mortem was carried out last night.
The results will determine which direction the Garda investigation takes. Mooney was known to gardai, but mainly for motoring and public order offences.
He received a suspended sentence last February at Blanchardstown District Court where he pleaded guilty to possession of a claw hammer and threatening and abusive behaviour.
Access
In 2008, he received a suspended sentence after he pleaded guilty to threatening to kill his former partner and their 14-month-old child because he was not allowed access.
He pulled what appeared to be a gun from a sock and pointed it at his partner, Kim Murphy, at her Clondalkin home, asking her if she wanted him to "put the three of us asleep together".
The court heard the relationship between Mooney and Ms Murphy had ended four months previously.
Mooney also pleaded guilty to acting as a lookout during a robbery at Terry Rogers Bookmakers on Glasnevin Avenue on August 24, 2010 while he was on bail.
Judge Patricia Ryan sentenced him to six years for both offences at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court but suspended it on strict conditions.
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.
TEL AVIV (JTA)In 1978, when Beit Hatfutsot-Museum of the Jewish People opened, it did something big. But it did it in the smallest way possible.
Among the museums first exhibits was a gallery filled with 18 miniature synagogues, each as intricate and tiny as a dollhouse. Representing houses of worship from around the world, the Synagogue Halllike the museum itselfwas a picture of global Jewish diversity, its models reflecting the wide range of building styles that house Jewish prayer.
Visitors to the museum gasped at the fine detailing of the curved pews, the twinkling miniature chandeliers and the stunningly diverse takes on the aron hakodeshthe holy arks that have stored Torah scrolls for thousands of years. Soon the Synagogue Hall was one of Beit Hatfutsots most recognized and most beloved permanent exhibitions.
For nearly four decades, the beauty of these scale models remained unchanged. But technologyand museum patrons technological aptitudehas vastly shifted in recent years. So as Beit Hatfutsot-The Museum of the Jewish People this month unveils a massive $100 million overhaul, its most beloved exhibit is getting a high-tech makeover as well.
At the core of Beit Hatfutsots relaunch is a desire to evolve from a museum that catalogs the Jews of the Diaspora into a museum that tells the ever-changing story of the entirety of Jewish peopleas transient, technology savvy and varied as they may be.
Its an ambitious makeover, and one thats been made possible thanks to a generous gift from Alfred Moses, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Romania in the 1990s.
The attorney and philanthropist, himself no stranger to grand synagogues, spent years practicing diplomacy abroad on behalf of the United States. During the many years he was stationed in Europe, he made sure to find time between statecraft to pray at some of the oldest and grandest Jewish houses of worship on the continent.
While serving under President Bill Clinton as the envoy to Romania, Moses fell in love with one particularly historic Bucharest synagogue: The Choral Temple, a red-brick replica of Viennas Leopoldstadt-Tempelgasse Great Synagogue, features Moorish turrets, ornate ceilings and lavish rococo details.
Moses prayed there for years, and after his return to Washington and his belovedand significantly more modestKesher Synagogue in the Georgetown section, Moses felt he had a new insight on the vast diversity of prayer styles that has shaped Jewish worship across the globe for centuries.
Im an observant Jew, and I visited many of those synagogues over the years, Moses, 86, told JTA in a phone interview. I have some sense of what life was like, particularly in Eastern Europe for Jews, so I decided to make a pledge.
Not just any pledgea gift of $6 million, of which $5 million has been specifically earmarked for the refurbishment of the synagogue gallery.
Jewish life has both diversity and permanence, Moses said. My hope for this exhibition is that it will give visitors a sense of the durability of the Jewish message, and an appreciation of earlier generations and how they expressed their Judaism within the confines of a synagogue.
The new Synagogue Gallery will include the same 18 beloved structures that it opened with, as well as three new models. Each display has been altered to showcase the way in which the structure reflects three specific roles that sit at the heart of a synagogue: social gatherings; studying; work and prayer.
And rather than simply present material in a one-way stream to visitors, the new exhibitlike the rest of the revamped museumwill be fully interactive. It will prompt its audience to consider several questions: What are the forms of creativity that synagogues have fostered in the past and present? Where will Jews congregate as well as think and worship together in the future?
Like the ever-shifting and always debatable definition of what makes a Jew, the physical boundaries of a synagogue are difficult to map and even more difficult to qualify. Acknowledging that modern Jewish communal life occurs in a variety of spaces under a number of pretexts, the new exhibit draws upon all sorts of media to show the modern evolution of the synagogue. A video art installation from artist Ron Slavin will anchor the center of the exhibit, while four animated films, each set in a different time period, will show different types of congregations. Meanwhile, a comedic film starring the Israeli satirist Kobi Arieli will make lighthearted note of the differences in the ways Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews pray.
In keeping with the philosophy of Beit Hatfutsots entire overhaul to make the museum a central, interactive portal for the stories of Jews around the world, individual prayer is also an option for visitors. A huge repository of Jewish prayers can be selected by the visitor and forwarded to personal email accounts or smartphones. At the same time, museum patrons are also encouraged to create their own prayers and add them to the database so they can be shared by other guests.
Kids will have the chance to design and build their own synagogue models, and music lovers can select from a number of recordings of piyutim, or Jewish liturgical prayers, to listen to the sounds and rhythms of Jewish prayer across the globe.
A stained glass window created in Germany in 1919 by Freidrich Adler along with antique Judaica items, like prayer books and manuscripts, will anchor the exhibit in history.
At its core, the revised exhibition will showcase the individuality of Jewish prayer, and the roles that both private reflection and communal worship have played in shaping the modern face of Judaism.
Whatever message is derived from the synagogue experience is always an individual message, Moses says. A synagogue service means different things to different people. It always will and always has. [The new gallery] is a representation of the fullness of Jewish lifewhat it was, and what it will continue to be.
This article is part of series sponsored by the Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot, the sole institution anywhere in the world devoted to sharing the complete story of the Jewish people with millions of visitors from all walks of life.
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) praised Mosab Hassan Yousef (a/k/a the Green Prince), the son of a Hamas leader, for his courageous, important, and insightful speech at the Jerusalem Post conference in New York on May 22, 2016), urging the free world to unite against Islam itself as a belief system that has resulted in so many murders in the name of Allah and that threatens not only Israel, but also all of humanity.
I speak with the authority of experience, not from books or second-hand knowledge, and I dont represent anyone but myself, Yousef noted in his talk.
Yousefs experiences indeed give him the authority and knowledge to speak out. He grew up as the privileged oldest son of Hamas co-founder and leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, being taught and believing that Jews were evil enemies of humanity. He observed Muslim women sending their children to be suicide bombers to obtain honor in their community, while the Hamas leaders enjoyed their privileged lives. Twenty years ago, Yousef participated in the first intifada and spent months in an Israeli prison, where he read The Jerusalem Post with the intention of learning English, and in the process, learned about Israel and the West. He then spent 10 years (1997-2007) undercover (with the code name Green Prince), helping Israels Shin Bet thwart multiple potential terror attacks against Israeli civilians and assassination plots against Israeli leaders, saving countless lives. He converted to Christianity; obtained asylum in the U.S., and wrote his autobiography Son of Hamas, published in 2010.
In his speech Yousef stated, At some point, I thought the Jewish people were the enemies of humanity. I thought they were the enemies of our people, the Palestinian people, until I came to experience what the Jewish nation really is, through intelligence service, through witnessing the true democratic model, in an ocean of darkness, the only light in the Middle East.
In the Muslim society, I witnessed a woman who sent five of her children to die in suicide bombing attacks. One after another. She would put the explosive belt on them and bless them and say: Go, kill the Jews! to gain respect in her society. This is hypocrisy.
My father disowned me, because hes a hypocrite. On a personal level, hes a loving father. But when he puts on the Hamas mask, that he cannot exist without, hes a monster, hes something else.
We cannot fool ourselves. Theres an Islamic problem: Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, ISIS, Boko Haramall of them are killing in the name of Allah. Theyre not killing in the name of Jesus. Theyre not killing in the name of Jehovah. Theyre not killing in the name of Mahavira or the Buddha or Lao-Tsu. Theyre killing in the name of Allah.
There is an Islamic problem. And I think humanity needs to stand against this danger, because this danger is not only against the State Israel. This danger is against the evolvement of mankind.
The Muslim people have a problem. And their problem is in their belief system. They have to face it, and we need to encourage them to fight the good fight. As I did. If I was able...
I had privileges as the son of a top Hamas leader. I had something to lose. But the average Muslim person [doesnt] have lots of things to lose. Theyre already living in darkness and misery. If they leave it, its better for them.
Humanity and the free world need to unify, as eventually, even though it was too late, the world unified against Nazism.
Today, free people need to unite against Islam, not against the Muslim people. Against Islam itself, as a belief system.
When the president of the free world stands and says that Islam is a religion of peace, he creates the climate, he provides the climate, the perfect climate, to create more terrorism.
A bunch of hypocrites called BDS compare Israel to the racist regime of South Africa. How can you compare? If its the capital of the Jewish people, and the Israeli government are not allowing the Jewish people to worship freely in their capital on their holiest site, for political correctness, not to offend the Muslims, and give them that kind of freedom, how can we compare this to that?
I love Israel. I love what aIsrael stands for. Its ethics. Its values. Its democracy. Its love. A nation that was able to overcome the Holocaust. And instead of playing the victim mentality and blaming everyone for their suffering, they were able to build a state, a democratic state. Make it from a newborn state to an advanced and completely developed state in less than 25 years. This is a great example.
Editors note: Mosab Hassan Yousef spoke at the AIPAC Orlando Conference in February and shared the same message, however, the event was closed to the press, so even though Heritage staff could attend, we couldnt cover it.
The 'Star Wars' character Yoda's uncommon grammar is used by a geneticist to explain his theory on the origins of Yiddish, among whose greatest writers was Sholem Aleichem.
(JTA)-Science has finally provided evidence of what Jewish "Star Wars" fans long suspected: Yoda is a member of the tribe-or at least he speaks like one.
The bad news is the science has been widely dismissed as junk.
The Yoda reference appears in a video in which a a 36-year-old Israeli linguist at Sheffield University in England argues that Ashkenazi Jews and the Yiddish language originated in Turkey.
The study joins a number of others published in the past 15 years that challenge the prevailing theory that Jews originated in the Mediterranean Middle East and that Yiddish was developed among Jews in Europe. The research is controversial not only because its critics say it is scientifically weak, but also because it is seen by some to weaken Jews' claim to the Land of Israel-and is used to this end by some who oppose the Jewish state.
In a video released in April, geneticist Eran Elhaik explains that Yoda, like Yiddish speakers, uses words from one language, but follows the grammar rules of another. The little green guru speaks strangely constructed English the same way that Yiddish uses German and Hebrew words, but Slavic grammar.
The video is an effort by Elhaik to explain and publicize his study on the origins of Yiddish and Ashkenazi Jews, coauthored by Tel Aviv University linguist Paul Wexler and others and published in March in Oxford University Press' prestigious journal Genome Biology and Evolution.
According to their theory, the original Ashkenazi Jews lived in a "Slavo-Iranian confederation" and over time developed Yiddish as a secret language to "gain an advantage in trade." Though they used German and Hebrew words, they kept the Slavic grammar.
As evidence, Elhaik's study cites a genetic analysis tracing Ashkenazi Jewish lineage to ancient trade routes in northeastern Turkey. Along the routes were villages with names that "may be derived from [the word] 'Ashkenaz,'" according to the study.
The findings made headlines around the world, including in The Independent, Language Magazine and Science Daily.
But some of the world's most prominent scholars in the fields of both Yiddish and Jewish genetics quickly rejected the study and condemned its outsized claims as reflective of deteriorating scientific standards and the politicization of research questions about Jewish history.
Shaul Stampfer, a professor of Soviet and East European Jewry at the Hebrew University, said of Elhaik's research in an email to JTA: "It is basically nonsense."
Prof. Dovid Katz, founder of Vilnius University's Yiddish Institute and an author of several books on the language, savaged the study's linguistic analysis.
"The authors have melded accurate but contextually meaningless genetic correlations with laughable linguistic theories that now proliferate, sadly, as a consequence of a much weakened Yiddish academic environment internationally," he told JTA. "There is not a single word or sound in Yiddish that comes from Iranian or Turkish."
A dialect of Yiddish "thrived before there even was a single Slavic-derived word in the language," he added. "The paper is a fine example of genetics as smokescreen for off-the-wall linguistics."
In response, Wexler called Katz's criticism "totally false" and ignorant-and "more of an emotional tirade than a scholarly statement" by someone he said made research breakthroughs in the 1980s "but did not live up to his promise." Yiddish features "hundreds and maybe even thousands of covert and overt Iranianisms," Wexler said.
Sergio DellaPergola, a Hebrew University professor who is among the most prominent demographers of the Jewish people, called the study a "falsification" and "one of the big canards of the 21st century." He criticized its "exceedingly small" sample size and non-inclusion of Sephardi Jewish genes, which he said would have undermined the findings.
A 2014 analysis by Bennett Greenspan, the American founder of a genetic testing company, compared the profiles of nearly 15,000 Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish men to non-Jews in the Middle East and Europe. He found a "nearly perfect genetic match" between 75 percent of the Jews and the non-Jewish Middle Easterners.
Had a Sephardic-Ashkenazi analysis been included in Elhaik's study, it would have shown greater similarity between the two groups of Jews than between Ashkenazi Jews and Turkish non-Jews, DellaPergola predicted. Like most scholars, DellaPergola believes Ashkenazi Jews descend from those who migrated from the Middle East to Europe hundreds of years ago.
"Studying the DNA of non-Ashkenazic Jews would not change the DNA of Ashkenazic Jews nor the predicted origin of their DNA," Elhaik told JTA. He said his study is "the largest genomic study on Ashkenazic Jews to date and the first of its kind on Yiddish speakers."
Elhaik has ruffled academic feathers before by challenging the accepted notion that Jews originated in the Middle East. In 2013, he published another poorly received study in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution that supported the theory that the Ashkenazi Jews are descended from Khazars-an extinct multi-ethnic kingdom of Iranians, Turks, Slavs and Circassians-who converted en masse in the eighth century.
Popularized in the 1970s by Hungarian-British author Arthur Koestler in his book "The Thirteenth Tribe," the Khazari theory was championed again in 2008 by Shlomo Sand, a Tel Aviv University historian specializing in cinema, in "The Invention of the Jewish People."
The theory has little genetic evidence to support it and is regarded as a myth by most scholars.
Whereas Sand and Koestler's use of science to sell books hardly required a rebuttal, Elhaik is a geneticist being published in prestigious journals, DellaPergola said. He accused Genome Biology and Evolution of failing to critically review the study ahead of publication.
The journal's editor-in-chief, William Martin, said he "cannot agree to any allegations that the authors ... approached the data or the analysis with any element of dishonesty."
The last word, it turns out, may belong to Yoda. "Many of the truths that we cling to depend on our point of view," the Jedi master said-in perfect English.
Not only was Marcia Jo Zerivitz awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters-Honoris Causa, as was noted in the May 20 issue, but Heritage recently discovered that this award was an extremely rare honor. The following is more on the honorary degree Zerivitz received, as well as pictures with family and friends from the Central Florida area.
Marcia Jo Zerivitz, founding executive director of Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters-Honoris Causa from Florida International University at their May 11, 2016 Commencement ceremony. In addition to Zerivitz, there were 10 graduation ceremonies for FIU, with 5,000 people present. United States National Security Adviser Susan Rice was the commencement speaker, who followed Zerivitz's speech.
Provost and Executive Vice President Kenneth G. Furton said, "This is the highest academic recognition that we as a university can confer to an individual for their contributions to a variety of fields and causes. We are proud to honor Marcia Jo Zerivitz for her many and long-standing commitments to our community."
In his nomination letter, Dr. Stephen Fain, founding FIU professor emeritus, College of Education, said, "Marcia Jo Zerivitz is recognized as a significant figure in American Jewish history and in the museum world. For the vision and impact she has had on Floridians of all backgrounds and for her skill as a researcher and as a communicator, I submit her name..."
Zerivitz was escorted to the Hooding Ceremony by Founding Dean of the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs John Stack and Dr. Fain. FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg read the citation as Furton and Board of Trustees vice-chair Jorge Arrizurieta presented the Ph.D. Hood.
Following Zerivitz's remarks, President Rosenberg said, "Dr. Zerivitz is the personification of vision, of persistence, and of action of getting things done. I am sure her family and friends asked, 'Why are you doing this,' and now we have something that captures the entire experience."
How did Zerivitz feel that day? "I felt like royalty, because FIU treated my family and me with such high respect. When FIU President Mark Rosenberg called me a few months ago to tell me that I would receive this honorary degree, he said it was a rare honor that FIU confers."
Zerivitz came to the MOSAIC project with decades of experience as a community leader and fundraiser.
Driven by her passion to ensure continuity for the Florida Jewish community and the MOSAIC board's direction to find a permanent home for the collection, Marcia Jo discovered the abandoned Beth Jacob Synagogue on South Beach. She recruited volunteers, created a strategic plan and institutional structure and led the fundraising to adapt the National Register building to the Jewish Museum of Florida (JMOF) that opened in 1995.
Delegation of Orlando Friends Attended Marcia Jo Zerivitz's Doctorate Ceremony on May 11, 2016. Left to right: Daughter Marni Kerstein Odom, Son Michael Kerstein, Sheryl Meitin, Elliott Zerivitz, Dr. Marcia Jo Zerivitz, Arlyne Monroe, Bruce Hausman, Lois Tannenbaum, Lisa Bierman Franklin. Orlando representatives absent from this photo are Emily and Marty Glickstein and Joy and Don Zerivitz.
Before her retirement in 2011, Zerivitz presented 70 exhibits and 500 educational programs. With her original and growing collections database and planning and management skills, JMOF was AAM-accredited twice.
She initiated legislations for Florida Jewish History Month (which was in May) and Jewish American Heritage Month and authored many historical publications and films. She continues to research, write, lecture, curate exhibits and consult in the field.
"I am profoundly honored" Zerivitiz stated. "It was made clear to me that this honor came from the faculty and this validated the hard work by all the volunteers from around the State who joined me in research before the days of Google and Wikipedia. Now I am regarded as a cultural anthropologist, sociologist and historian and the process I created to dig out the hidden history of Jews in Florida is respected and can be replicated by other groups of people. Some denied me credibility along the way because I did not have a Ph.D. so this honor makes me more "acceptable" for documenting the history of Floridian Jews, driven by my passion to help ensure Jewish continuity."
On the heels of his return from his trip to Poland to participate in the March of the Living, then on to Israel where he spent two weeks traveling all over the Land, Sam Friedman learned on May 23 that he was promoted to the position of assistant director of Central Florida Hillel.
"I am pleased to announce that Sam Friedman is officially our new assistant director!" a please Aaron Weil, CEO of Central Florida Hillel stated.
"It feels like just yesterday I was moving to Orlando to start the next phase of my Jewish communal career as the director of Community Relations at Central Florida Hillel. I am humbled and honored to share that I have now, 19 months later, accepted the position of assistant director. I look forward to continuing to shape an organization that has already shaped me so much," Friedman said in a Facebook post responding to the myriad of congratulations on his page.
Friedman came to UCF as the director of community relations in October 2014. In this position, Friedman built relationships with off campus groups. Now, he will work more "in-house" to build closer relationships between the UCF student community and Hillel. The position offers a great challenge to Friedman as there are more than 600 student-run organizations, including 54 religious and cultural groups. The UCF student population is known for its diversity and inclusion-not many colleges and universities can make this claim. It is the largest university in the United States by undergraduate enrollment and the second largest by total enrollment. According to the rankings of the 2013-2014 academic year, Arizona State U in Tempe had a total enrollment of 60,168, compared to UCF's total of 59,770.
Friedman already has planned new programs, including the Salaam-Shalom program, a dialogue group that hopes to bring Muslim and Jewish student leaders together. According to Friedman, such programs will further build community, fulfilling one of the tenets of the UCF Creed: "I will promote an open and supportive campus environment by respecting the rights and contributions of every individual."
(The four other tenets are integrity, scholarship, creativity and excellence.)
A strong believer in acceptance of other's differences, rather than tolerance, Friedman told the UCF newspaper, Central Florida Future, "We're better together when we know about each other. We like to say that America is a melting pot. I'd like to think we're more like a salad bowl. The ingredients are mixed together, but like people, they still have unique features and identities."
Heritage is meeting with Friedman to learn about the programs he plans to implement.
Temple Israel will be celebrating the holiday of Shavuot by hosting an evening of study, known as Tikun Leil Shavuot. This year the congregation will be honoring Ruth Goldhar for her 50-plus years as Orlando educator along with other Jewish Studies teachers from the community. This night of learning will be held at Temple Israel, 50 South Moss Road in Winter Springs on June 11, beginning at 9 p.m.
Some of the subjects will include sections from Pirkei Avot, Birkat HaCohanim.
Because it is a tradition to eat dairy meals on Shavuot, Temple Israel will once again hold a Cheesecake Bake-off competition this evening during the study sessions. Five of our congregants, including last years winner, will offer their best recipes for tasting and voting. This program is open to the entire Central Florida community.
HOBOKEN, N.J. (JTA)Kosovo is a newborn country, a majority Muslim state that fought for its independence from Serbia only eight years ago. Yet it has erected a Holocaust memorial outside its parliament, elected a female president, held pride parades in support of LGBTQ rights and supported the building of a major Catholic cathedral in its capital city to honor Mother Teresa.
As a Jew and a rabbi, I have walked the streets of its capital and several countryside locales with a yarmulke and felt safe and even extensively welcomed when identified by my faith.
Next week, I will return to Kosovo for the third time as a speaker at its annual international Interfaith Kosovo conference. Two Nobel Prize winners will keynote the gathering, and leaders from religious, governmental and nongovernmental organizations from around the world will take part. Londons newly elected Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, will be honored alongside Archbishop Vicenzo Paglia of Rome for their contribution to global dialogue between faiths.
This is a very different Kosovo than the one depicted last week in a New York Times article titled How Kosovo Was Turned Into Fertile Ground for ISIS. According to the article, Saudi Arabia and other conservative Arab gulf states are exporting to Kosovo a conservative Muslim ideology that has inspired Kosovars to take up the mantle of radical Islam. According to the Times, Saudi money and influence have transformed this once-tolerant Muslim society at the hem of Europe into a font of Islamic extremism and a pipeline for jihadists.
As an American rabbi, I am in no position to dispute the articles assertions. Yet I think it would be imprecise to suggest that Kosovo is uniquely prone to radicalism or that the effort to radicalize a historically moderate population is succeeding. In fact, Kosovo merits our attention as a bellwether state and exemplar of how to undermine extremism.
The Times article will certainly not dissuade me from attending the Interfaith Kosovo gathering. My hope is that it will not dissuade others from visiting the country either. If anything, the article should serve as a call to redouble efforts to promote interfaith collaboration, especially in regions prone to conflict.
At next weeks conference, I will have the pleasure of spending time with Kosovos foreign minister, Petrit Selimi, whom I consider to be a friend. We have spent long hours reflecting on the challenges and joys of life, of balancing work, family and other obligations, and of making tough decisions for the sake of peace, even when they fill us with anxiety. We have spoken of marrying people who excel professionally in their own right and challenge us to be better human beings and to dedicate ourselves to gender equality at home and in the workplace.
If there is one key difference between Kosovo and so many other countries facing down extremism, it might be leadership. Yes, its politics can be messy and complicated. Yes, it is one of the newest countries on earth. But its leaders care deeply and have been visionary in positioning Kosovo as a center for interfaith collaboration and dialogue rather than of strife and extremism. Selimi exemplifies this, especially in his founding of the Interfaith Kosovo initiative.
Selimi was as ever articulate in refuting the Times article.
According to an opinion poll by the British Council, Kosovo[s population] supports by 98 percent membership in the EU, and we are the first country in all of the Balkans that has elected a female president some five years ago, he told me.
The foreign minister also sent me a reply (in his translation) from President Hashim Thaci, who played a key role in the founding of Kosovo and remains a central guide for the fledgling country.
Our little republic was facing genocide only 17 years ago, yet we managed to reconstruct our houses, rebuild our society, and re-create the intercommunal and interfaith tolerance that we became famous for, Thaci wrote.
Thaci acknowledged that in the years after the war, radical elements on the margins of [the] Islamic community tried to usurp the traditional position of Islam in our secular society by attempting to recruit young people for ISIS and other evil causes.
Yet, he insisted, we as a state, we as a society respondedand we responded forcefully.
Noting the use of Kosovos legal system to prosecute those who have perpetrated or planned extremist violence, Thaci shared evidence of the countrys initial successes, saying the number of Kosovars who have joined the extremist cause in Syria is less than in most EU member states.
I met privately with Thaci when I was in Kosovo last year, joined only by his security detail and Selimi. The reverence he is shown there should not be overlooked. It is as though Kosovos George Washington or Thomas Jefferson is taking a public stand against extremism and for religious pluralism.
Kosovo is located near the heart of the Balkans, and its citizens have endured great hardship in prior decades. It continues to grapple with questions of national identity. But I remain optimistic that its political and social leadership can overcome external pressures. Kosovo has much to share and much to teach, and I look forward to visiting the country once again.
Rabbi Joshua M. Z. Stanton is a congregational rabbi who has dedicated much of his young career to interfaith collaboration.
What a thrill it was to be in Cleveland, Ohio! You may not hear that sentence too often, but it was truly thrilling for me, your JCRC staff director, to attend the Jewish Council on Public Affairs (JCPA) annual conference there in mid-May. For three days, Jewish public affairs and community relations professionals learned, debated, and schmoozed together in one of the strongest, best-supported, and most well-organized Jewish communities in the United States. With a generous full scholarship from JCPA in hand, I was able to be among them. With representatives from New Yorks giant JCRC to the tiny one in Springfield, Ill., it was extremely valuable to hear how other communities engage on issues such as Israel, civil rights and political polarization, and on strategies for interfaith and interethnic relations, separation of church and state and crisis management.
It was no surprise that the 2016 election was a hot topic at the conference. The first session, with former U.S. Reps. Martin Frost (D-Texas) and Tom Davis (R-Va.), included a discussion on the current toxic political environment. A panel with Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) and Kristen Clarke of the Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights included a lengthy back-and-forth about voting rights, especially restrictive voter identification laws that some states, most conspicuously Texas, have recently passed. During the Q&A period, the JCRC professionals and lay leaders in attendance spoke about how their organizations could help contribute to a more civil dialog in such a heated political season. Some communities are bringing in facilitators to lead sessions on how to do so, while others are looking to their clergy to promote civility and compassion in political discussion. One takeaway for everyone was that in formal event settings around the election or politics, ground rules for civility should be laid out in advance and any participants must agree to abide by them. We look forward to putting this into practice at our event on June 6, The Jewish Vote in the 2016 Presidential Election.
Israel advocacy held a prominent place at the conference, with sessions on managing diverse perspectives on Israel; the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement; and briefings from the Israel consul-general for the Midwest Region as well as from experts from the Council on Foreign Relations and the Brookings Institution. We were grateful that despite outside groups trying to intercede in the Orlando area, we remain a region with strong support of Israel, and we were proud that our event with the Israel Action Network in February laid out a pragmatic advocacy plan for engaging with individuals around BDS. It was also heartening that our decision to serve as an educational resource for last summers Iran nuclear deal, rather than take a stand on the deal, was the strategy that experts in community relations advisedour role is to ensure that diverse perspectives can be heard, that we are a big tent. In fact, the saying of our Orlando JCRC chairwoman, Ina Porth, of All Jews, All Views resonated with the entire audience as well as with those leading the discussions.
For community relations professionals, the sessions on interfaith and interethnic outreach were a highlight. We were reminded many times that there is no shortcut to relationship building. As Jewish communal professionals, we must be everywherefinding common ground with other faiths, reaching out to other ethnic groups, and getting to know people as individuals. Some communities partner with non-Jewish professional organizations or place young, promising Jewish leaders on local secular nonprofit boards. Others become sponsors of organizations like an inner-city program for at-risk youth to show that our Jewish values extend far beyond our own community. We were advised to look for identity markers that we have in common, such as being parents, runners, environmentalists, or similar.
Even if our community does not have a particular issue with something, such as police-community relations (how lucky our Maitland campus is to have the Maitland Police Department!), we should still engage, if only to learn more and find ways to engage with other communities.
One very popular session was on Jewish-Muslim relations, where the panel (a rabbi, an imam and a young Muslim woman who had just completed a fellowship at the Shalom Hartman Institutes Muslim Leadership Initiative) spoke about the urgency around the two faiths coming together, that improved Jewish-Muslim relations are only really possible in the United States, that it is too late in France and that without intervention, there is no reason that the climate in the U.S. could not become like it is in France, with alienated Muslim youths constantly attacking Jews despite government avowals to stop the violence. Here in the U.S., each faith tends to get its information on the other (especially about Israel) from just a few sources, frequently sources that are at odds with the other. The panel advocated for telling our stories directly to each other, diversifying the sources of our own information and being committed to having a difficult discussion with an open mind.
Lastly, the conference offered myriad ways for attendees to just talk to one another. A side conversation with the Philadelphia JCRC on the importance of interfaith Israel missions, one with New York on how it spends its $5 million (!) JCRC budget, another with a representative from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) on refugees and international developmentall of these helped spark new ideas for how Orlandos JCRC can be more effective going forward.
It was a thrill to hear from the Institute for Curriculum Services, which advocates for accurate depictions of Israel and Jews in textbooks and curriculum materials across the country, that Orlando is one of its most trusted partners, and that our community members Barbara Weinrich and Dr. Terri Susan Fine have contributed so much to the organization in the past nine years. It was a thrill to hear directly from Rabbi Doug Kahn, one of the most trusted voices in the Jewish communal professional world, about how key it is to engage in passionate moderation and ensure that nuance does not get lost in the current climate of soundbites and tweets. It was a thrill to sit with our Florida colleagues from Miami, South Palm Beach and Pinellas to talk about how lucky we are to live in Florida, a state with a strongly pro-Israel legislature and members of Congress who prove their support to Israel through their votes and their voices. And it was a thrill to return to Orlando with new ideas and strategies for our JCRC and broader community.
Thank you, Cleveland!
Marli Porth is the director of Community Relations and Leadership Development at the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando.
WASHINGTON (JTA)Yes, theres the Avigdor Liberman who wants to behead bad guys, mandate loyalty oaths and pay Arabs to leave the countrythe one who makes fun of the disabled and who dodged a fraud charge.
But Israels onetime foreign minister and maybe-next defense minister is not quite the cartoon hes made out to beOK, the cartoon he at times seems determined to make himself out to be.
As defense minister, Liberman would double to two the Cabinet ministers who have seriously considered a two-state outcome: himself and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He is more deferential to the United States- Israel relationship than Netanyahu. And his posture toward Israels Arab neighbors is not all threat.
Its time to review three areas where the once and possibly future member of the security cabinet has served as a voice for moderationbut also to keep in mind how his rhetoric undercuts his apparent restraint.
Two states for two peoples, or transfer and a recipe for unrest?
Liberman has spoken seriously and extensively about peace, and has in fact embraced two states, even though he rankled disability advocates a year ago when he called two-state advocates autistic.
One of his most radical ideas would crack the sequencing that famously helped scuttle the 2000 Camp David peace talks: Yasser Arafat, then the Palestinian leader, was considering embracing then-Prime Minister Ehud Baraks proposals, but balked when he toured the Arab and Muslim worlds and was told he would be seen as a quisling if he agreed to Baraks terms, particularly on Jerusalem.
Libermans solution: negotiate holistically. Make peace with the Arabs and the Palestinians simultaneously. Its a plan that would allow the Palestinians greater leverage, should they coordinate with other Arab nations to extract concessions. Thats one reason why Netanyahu insists on direct talks, where Israel holds more cards. But, the thinking goes, it also could lead to a more stable and permanent peace in the region. Liberman, looking toward activating this plan, could keep Netanyahu focused on working with moderate Arabs in the region.
The security advantage means cooperation with moderate nations, exchanging intelligence, joint efforts, Liberman told Al Monitor in 2014. With regard to this facet, our partners could gain very nice inputs. And theres also the economic sphere. I am convinced that one day, well have embassies in Riyadh, in Kuwait, in the Gulf States and other places. The combination of our initiative, technology and knowledge with their tremendous financial reserves can together change the world.
His proposal to swap heavily populated areasArab-heavy regions of Israel bordering the West Bank with Jewish-heavy portions beyond the Green Lineis what has stirred controversy. Liberman tries to make it sound like common sense: Jews want to live chez-eux, why wouldnt Palestinians?
For one thing, not every Israeli Arab wants to live in a Palestinian statesubtle but deep-seated differences have emerged between the populations since 1948. Israeli Arabs have said they resent being considered as pawns.
For another, Liberman proposes paying Israeli Arabs to leavea transfer policy that would undercut his hopes that Israel would no longer be an international punching bag, as he told Al-Monitor
Yuli Tamir, a former education minister, wrote in Haaretz in 2015 that Libermans plan sets dangerous precedents, by positing that minorities cannot exist with majorities, and by suggesting that majority Arab areas of Israel should seek sovereignty.
If Israel consents to discuss a redrawing of its borders based on demographic criteria, it probably wont be long before the Arabs of the Galilee (where they are currently a majority) and of the Negev (where in certain areas there is an Arab majority) may also question their belonging to Israel, she said.
Avigdor plays nice, or is he just scared of the bigger bully?
Martin Indyk, who led the U.S. team that tried to broker Israeli Palestinian peace in 2013-2014, said Sunday on Twitter that Liberman was easier to work with than Moshe Yaalon, the man he would replace and who has been lionized by the left in the current political crisis as a defender of democracy.
Lieberman says reprehensible things but I remember that he supported U.S. Secretary of State John Kerrys peace efforts when Yaalon was insulting him, Indyk said.
In 2013, attending the Saban Forum, organized by the Brookings Institution, he said it was best not to air differences publicly, advising the sides to cool down the atmosphere.
Liberman is known to be critical of Netanyahus at-times-confrontational posture vis a vis the U.S., believing the Israeli leader often seems too eager to get into it with Israels most powerful and important ally.
But that might also be a function of a natural bully deferring to the big kid on the playground. Liberman and his lieutenants have shown no compunction about insulting leaders of less imposing countries like Turkey, Sweden, Spain and France.
Yvet has a heart thats so big! As big as the Aswan Dam!
Liberman, known by his Russian nickname Yvet, offered humanitarian assistance to Syria in 2012, as its civil war descended into chaos.
So he cares, right? Cares enough that in 2001, when Egypt was considering reintroducing forces in the Sinai, he said Israel should threaten to bomb the Aswan Dameffectively, commit a major war crime.
Dear Editor:
In response to the May 20, 2016, Lexi Goldstein letter to the editor, Registered student organizations have a right to exist on campus, is really about shutting down free speech.
Ms. Goldstein makes the argument that the UCF Muslim Student Association (MSA) couldnt possibly have any real troubling terrorist connections because Rez told her so. Rez, a follower of Islam, holds a dual membership in the UCF MSA and UCF Knights For Israel. Rez describes himself as simultaneously pro-Israel and pro-Palestine which is a very difficult position to justify because the Palestinians call for the destruction of Israel in their Hamas Charter.
The second paragraph of the Hamas Charter states, Israel will exist and continue to exist until Islam obliterates it as it has obliterated others before it (Hassan al-Banna, founder of The Muslim Brotherhood).
Removing the second paragraph of the Hamas Charter calling for the obliteration of Israel is a good starting point for a walk down the road to peaceful coexistence. Ms. Goldstein appears to make conclusions about the MSA and Muslims in general based on her relationship with her friend Rez.
What should concern all of us, is the brutal, bloody, and horrific Muslim on Muslim violence going on right now throughout North Africa, Indonesia, and the Middle East by Sunni and Shia Muslims. Over time, Muslims have killed far more of their fellow Muslims than they have Christians or Jews. What were seeing now in the Middle East is the continuation of Iranian Shias fighting Sunni Muslims for dominance in Syria and Iraq. So how did this all start your probably asking?
The Shia Sunni violence began when Mohammad failed to transmit a clear line of succession after his death. I wish all those millions of murdered Muslims died for something more meaningful, but that is not the case. If the followers of Islam can not stop killing each other over Mohammads succession of power mistake 1400 years ago, how can Jews, Christians, and all the other non-Muslims feel safe when Islamists cant figure out how to stop killing their fellow Muslim brothers and sisters?
If our Muslim friends can learn to tolerate each other instead of killing each other, then maybe they will leave all of us non-Muslim Kuffars alone in peace? Until a Sunni Shia peace happens then we Jews, Christians, and others dont stand a chance.
On the other hand, Israeli military experts say that as long as the Sunni and Shias are focused on killing each other in Iraq and Syria, less time is spent focusing on killing the Jews, Christians, and wiping Israel off the map.
So stop the hate and silly micro aggressions against those who voice their concerns about the Global Jihad Movement. We need to have a national dialogue about Muslim on Muslim violence because a large segment of the followers of Islam are the true Islamophobes and haters and killers of each other.
Alan Kornman
Chuluota
The state's congressional primaries Tuesday are capped by the 2nd District GOP race between Republicans Renee Ellmers of Dunn and George Holding of Raleigh marking the first time two sitting members of Congress have run against each other since 2012.
Voters in Apex, a Raleigh suburb that is a Republican Party stronghold, were dealing with a new line drawn to define the new 2nd Congressional District and the neighboring 4th.
At Apex Baptist Church, which stands at the central intersection of the quaint downtown full of restored buildings, voters were divided Tuesday morning.
Greg Fiorentino is an IT manager. He saw little substantial difference between Ellmers and Holding's work in Washington, but he was swayed to Ellmers because he saw her running a less-negative election campaign.
"They're pretty close," Fiorentino said. In congress, "they're about the same."
Hugo Canedo is an Apex retiree.
"I voted for the most conservative of the candidates. In this case, Holding. I agree with him 100 percent. I'm very conservative. A constitutional conservative," Canedo said.
Canedo said he watched the televised debate pitting Holding against Ellmers, but also dug into their records.
"I did my homework. And that's the main thing. You cannot vote on emotion. We have to stop all the baloney that's going on right now" he said.
Cary obstetrician Greg Brannon is also in the race, which developed when federal judges in February struck down two North Carolina congressional district boundaries as illegal racial gerrymanders. The state legislature redrew parts of all 13 districts in the state and delayed the congressional primary originally set for March 15.
Holding decided to run in the new 2nd, which absorbed significant portions of the old 13th District he represented.
The Holding and Ellmers campaigns have each spent several hundred thousand dollars in the past few months, but the most significant influx of money has come from outside groups seeking to defeat Ellmers or elect Holding.
The Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity and American Foundations Committee combined has spent well over $1 million, accusing Ellmers of not being conservative on fiscal issues and on challenging the Obama administration.
Ellmers, once the favorite of tea party activists who helped elect her in 2010, said the outside spending is retribution for not following the groups' agendas closely enough. Holding, a former federal prosecutor, was first elected in 2012. Brannon finished second in the past two GOP U.S. Senate primaries.
Tuesday's winner will have the upper hand in November to win the Republican-leaning district.
Tuesday's primary also will determine nominees in 11 of the 13 districts. Democratic Rep. Alma Adams and Republican Reps. Walter Jones Jr. and Robert Pittenger are facing substantive challengers. Voters also will whittle down candidates for a seat on the state Supreme Court.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Digvijaya Singh was caught in an awkward position when the members of Rajput Samaj demanded the repeal of reservations for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe government employees as far as promotions are concerned.
Recently, the Jabalpur bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court quashed a rule which had been introduced by Digvijaya Singh during his tenure as chief minister in 2002, granting reservations in promotions for SC/ST government employees.
The courts judgment has affected more than 50,000 government employees, as per the official sources. However, Supreme Court has granted a stay on implementation of the judgment.
Digvijaya Singh, himself a member of Rajput clan, was attending a programme of Madhya Pradesh Rajput Samaj at Jyoti Talkies square in the MP Nagar locality of Bhopal to mark the birth anniversary of Maharana Pratap on Tuesday, when some of the members attending the programme waived placards in support of their demand.
While addressing the participants, Singh got irritated when he saw placards being waved by a section of the gathering. Realising the political implications of the demand raised in his presence, he asked the members to keep the placards away, otherwise, he warned, he would leave the programme.
I came here for attending a community programme. Please dont politicise it, he said.
The former chief minister also spoke on unity in society, urging those present to rise above caste and religion.
Maharana Pratap was a great warrior and used to respect all the castes and religions. During the wars he fought, he was well supported by warriors of all religions and castes. Hakim Khan fought for Maharana Pratap. Later, tribals also helped him, Singh said.
At his urging, however, those who were waving the placards set them aside.
Recently, Richa Chadha opened up about being a victim of body shaming, during her TEDx talk in Delhi. She also addressed the effects of eating disorders and body-image issues. Since her talk at the event, the actor has been in the limelight, and her bold declarations are being discussed.
Read: Outsider term should not exist in Bollywood, says Richa Chadha
A source close to the actor reveals that Chadha is garnering a strong response on social media.
Richa Chadha plans to start a community page on social media where people can discuss issues related to body shaming. (Rahul Jhangiani )
A lot of youngsters and their parents are reaching out to Richa via Twitter and Facebook. People are opening up to her about similar issues that they have faced. Richa has been responding to these messages and sharing tips whenever she can, informs a source close to the actor.
Read: It is a great time to be an actress, says Richa Chadha
While the actor remained unavailable for a comment, her spokesperson confirmed the news saying, Richa truly wishes to extend her thoughts beyond just a talk. Hence, she is planning to get a group started on social media where people can share their stories.
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, minister of state for information & broadcasting, has responded to producer Anurag Kashyaps tweet in which he criticised the Central Board Of Film Certifications advice to make cuts to the upcoming film Udta Punjab, starring Shahid Kapoor.
Apko lagta hai aap North Korea mai hain? Yahan vote le lete hain,democracy hai: Rajyavardhan Rathore, MoS, I&B on Anurag kashyap's tweet ANI (@ANI_news) June 7, 2016
Upset with the committees recommendations, Kashyap had tweeted,I always wondered what it felt like to live in North Korea. Ab to plane pakadney ki bhi zaroorat nahin.
I always wondered what it felt like to live in North Korea .. Ab to plane pakadney ki bhi zaroorat nahin.. Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 6, 2016
Rathore said that the filmmakers whore not happy with the boards decision can go to the reviewing committee or the Appellate Tribunal.
There are 3 committees,film now under reviewing committee;if unsatisfied, one can go to Appellate Tribunal:Rajyavardhan Rathore #UdtaPunjab ANI (@ANI_news) June 7, 2016
In last 5 months,many filmmakers were unhappy with CBFC decision and they appealed to the tribunal and were satisfied: Rajyavardhan Rathore ANI (@ANI_news) June 7, 2016
Vani tripathi, a CBFC member, said that one shouldnt speculate before the revising committees report is out.
Revising committee report still not out, once it is out you'll know whether film has been asked to give cuts: Vani Tripathi, CBFC member ANI (@ANI_news) June 7, 2016
The censor board has asked the filmmakers to drop all references to Punjab from the movie which revolves around the states drug addiction problem.
Watch: Udta Punjab trailer
Directed by Abhishek Choubey, Udta Punjab stars Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor and Diljit Dosanjh in lead roles.
Read: Censoring wont fix drug problem: Rahul Gandhi gives Udta Punjab wings
Read: Udta Punjab censor row: Anurag Kashyap compares India with North Korea
The movie is scheduled for a June 17 release.
Read: Punjabs drug problem in 5 steps: Facts, figures, falsehoods, and worse
Also read: Chitta ve? Study shows Punjabi songs driving youth towards drugs
Follow @htshowbiz for more.
With the government going ahead with the idea of creating a bad bank, Reserve Bank on Tuesday made its concerns clear on the ownership of such a vehicle to tide over the bad loan menace, saying the lenders should hold a minority stake in any stressed assets fund.
In our view, majority ownership by banks is probably not wise or warranted. Perhaps, some form of minority ownership with a number of other players coming in, in addition to the government, to provide capacity, especially in management of stressed assets would be appropriate, RBI governor Raghuram Rajan told reporters.
The comments came amid a confirmation from the government that it was serious on setting up a stressed asset fund, which in the common parlance is called a bad bank, to take care of the bad assets. A bad bank, as is present in China for instance, buys up all bad loans from other banks.
Rajan has been critical of such an entity saying when banks themselves or government own such an entity it creates a moral hazard, enabling banks to continue with their reckless lending practices as they know that they will be bailed out one day by the system.
Unconfirmed reports said SBI will be leading to the $ 3-billion fund, which will also have investments from private equity funds and sovereign wealth funds, most probably from West Asia apart from the National Investment Fund.
Rajan on Tuesday said the key issue for such a fund will be the issue of pricing, where both the bank selling a stressed asset and the fund buying into it find a common ground.
This is not the first time Rajan has expressed concerns over such an arrangement. In a previous episode when there were reports over the formation of a bad bank this February, he had raised question marks if a quasi-public entity will be able to solve the problems.
Bad loans crossed 13% as of March with reported NPAs alone being over Rs 5.9 lakh crore.
The RBI governor explained there are a variety of stressed assets funds, which can include one giving debt support to stressed borrowers and also buying bad assets from banks. He said bulk of the work in this regard is being done by the government and RBI is only consulted on issues like its structure, ownership, etc.
The burgeoning bad assets in the system, coupled with the efficacy of the existing ARCs to deal with the situation either on capital constraints or lack of agreement on price, seem to be driving force for the formation of such a stressed asset fund by the government.
The overall bad assets including restructured assets and non-performing assets touched 13 % after an asset quality review by RBI, which asked banks to recognise 130 large corporate borrowers as bad loans. The apex bank is targeting to clean-up the bank balance sheets to represent their true nature by March.
Housing.com, the real estate portal and app, has closed all its services, except one. It is now connecting people to buy and sell houses.
Earlier, under ousted co-founder Rahul Yadav and its 11 other founders, Housing did everything -- from short stays to finding houses on rent, and from selling land to renting out commercial spaces.
We are now focusing on just buying and selling residential property thats the biggest business in real estate, about 80% of all deals, said Jason Kothari, Housings new CEO.
For now, Housing is just like an advertising platform it connects people who want to buy flats and houses with owners, or brokers, who have listed properties on the platform. Competitors such as Magic Bricks and 99acres do the same.
However, this will change.
In the next 12-24 months, we will go offline, said Kothari. He is looking at an army of Housings own brokers a business that is highly unorganised, mostly done by the neighbourhood broker.
The business is cash rich a straight 2% commission on every deal, no questions asked.
Housing will also partner with brokers like a franchisee-led model with the leading brokers in each city Housing is present in. Its not dissimilar from what Ola Cabs or Uber does partnering with the best drivers. We will do that with the best brokers, said Kothari.
The real estate market in India is $120 billion (about Rs 8,040 crore), buying-selling makes for more than 70% of it. According to estimates, the business will be worth $850 billion by 2028.
Kothari claims that Housings new model is helping its revenue grow at 200% every month, but the base is small. Its targeting revenue of $10 million by the end of this year.
It already has the largest selection of houses for resale, around 450,000 of them. We have the best quality of homes Thats unlike any of the others, said Kothari.
Housings executives go and check each house before listing it. Now, its own brokers will help Housing sell them.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
MUMBAI: Indias largest drug maker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries is selling two units in Philadelphia and Aurora to Frontida BioPharm as it looks to consolidate its manufacturing facilities in the United States.
While the company didnt disclose financial terms and conditions of the deal, it is unlikely to have any material impact on Sun Pharmas consolidated financials. As a part of manufacturing consolidation in the US, one of its wholly owned subsidiaries has entered into an agreement with Frontida BioPharm for divestment of its two oral solid dosage manufacturing facilities, it said.
The move is in the backdrop of increasing competition and pricing pressure faced by Sun P harm a and others in the US market. US business accounts for around half of Sun Pharmas sales. The company had recently guided for a 8-10% sales growth in 2016-17, much lower than the analysts expectation of around 20%.
As a part of the latest deal, Frontida will continue manufacturing certain products for Sun Pharma at the two facilities on contract for a certain period and also offer employment to all production, quality, and administrative personnel.
In a similar move in December 2015, Sun Pharma had sold its manufacturing facility in Ohio to Nostrum Laboratories.
CHANDIGARH/NEW DELHI: Three months after the Jat quota agitation in Haryana had pushed the airfare of Chandigarh-New Delhi flights through the roof, the flights have again become about five times costly as the community launched the second round of agitation on Sunday.
On Monday, the private airlines were charging anywhere between Rs 15,000 and Rs 17,000 for the one-hour flight between Delhi and Chandigarh as against the Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 on normal days, while the fare is likely to be lower on Tuesday. As per travel websitemake-my-trip.com the airfare on Tuesday is likely to range between Rs 7,000 and Rs 11,000.
The airline operators, however, said the increase was due an increase in the bookings.
A spokesperson of Spicejet on Sunday had said, Since very few seats are available, the airfare is high till Monday. For Tuesday, the bookings are not that high which is why the fare will automatically come down by half up to Rs 8,000.
Stating the same reason for the hike in airfare, an official from the Jet airways said with an increase in the bookings for particular days, the airfare foes up. The airfare varies with the demand for tickets. More the demand, higher the fare, said one of its official.
He said there were not many advance bookings from June 7 onwards and the fare would come down automatically. The official said the fare would be between Rs5,000 and Rs9,000 on June 7 and will go down further later in the week. Airfares had touched Rs 99,000 during the stir in February. Traffic on NH-1 was also thin.
BISADA (GREATER NOIDA): Police must book Mohammad Ikhlaqs family for cow slaughter in 20 days and drop murder charges against those accused of lynching him, residents of Uttar Pradeshs Bisada village demanded on Monday, ratcheting up communal tensions before the state polls.
Defying prohibitory orders, more than 50 people attended the Bisada panchayat held in response to a forensic report that said the meat recovered from Ikhlaqs fridge after the murder was beef.
The report prompted family members of those accused of killing the 55-year-old man to justify the murder, saying Ikhlaqs family broke the law and insulted Hindu sentiments by killing a calf.
The heightened communal passions came less than a year before state polls where the BJP is looking to dethrone the ruling Samajwadi Party. We want police to register an FIR against Ikhlaqs family for slaughtering and eating a cow and change the sections of FIR against the accused from murder to culpable homicide, said Sanjay Rana, father of a suspect Vishal, formerly associated with the BJP.
Others demanded the government rescind the compensation given to Ikhlaqs family and threatened to call a mahapanchayat of 144 Rajput villages if their demands werent met.
We have full faith in judiciary and the law. If our children are being tried as criminals, family of Ikhlaq should also be treated like one, said Rana.
Ikhlaqs lynching last year triggered a nationwide debate on rising intolerance in the country with opposition parties saying the BJP was fanning communal passion across the country for electoral gains.
Members of the Shiv Sena also attended the panchayat and extended their support to families of the accused amid heavy police presence.
Its a failure of law and order. The police dont listen to Hindus. If a person has slaughtered a cow, he or she should be put behind the bars., said Mahesh Kumar Ahuja, a Sena leader from Ghaziabad.
It is the responsibility of the government to protect the religious sentiments of Hindus, he said as 15-20 Sena members wearing saffron scarves surrounded him.
The panchayat was held on a day a fast-track court deferred the framing of charges against the accused to June 10, amid demands that the sections under which they were booked be relaxed.
Ikhlaqs family said they will object to the forensic report and demand a fair probe. Ikhlaqs brother Jaan Mohammad said, It seems like the forensic report is politically motivated. We will seek justice from the court. Their counsel said the report was dubious.
The mahapanchayat threat brought back memories of the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots which preceded the general elections next year where a similar gathering of Jat leaders allegedly precipitated the violence that killed 60 people.
On September 28, Ikhlaq and his younger son Danish were attacked by a mob of local residents at night in Bisada, 50km from Delhi, after rumours spread that he slaughtered a cow and stored beef for eating.
Ikhlaq succumbed to his injuries while Danish survived with a fractured skull. Eighteen people, including three juveniles, were arrested on charges of murder and assault.
Since then, cow protection vigilante groups have mushroomed across the country, especially in BJP-ruled states, and beef has become a religiously sensitive topic. Last week, three cattle traders were thrashed allegedly by Hindu groups and two Muslim herdsmen were hanged in Jharkhand last year.
Cow slaughter and the consumption of beef are banned in several states but many groups call for a nationwide prohibition on beef eating and cattle trade, pointing out that Hindu scriptures describe the cow as the mother of civilisation.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The online registrations in Delhi University have eased the admission process for applicants but uploading of documents has put many in a fix. Many aspirants said they were unsure about which document to upload.
A few aspirants accidentally uploaded birth certificates as a proof of birth when the university has asked for the class 10 pass certificate.
I have uploaded the birth certificate issued by the municipal corporation. I do not know what to do. I think I will have to fill a new form, said Kirti Singh, an aspirant. She had come to attend the Open Day with her mother to clarify her query.
The Open Day was held at Sri Venkateswara College on Tuesday. For the next two days, the Open House is at Zakir Hussain College.
See: HTs flippable guide to Delhi University admissions
This time the university has made uploading of certain documents mandatory. Self-attested copies of class 10 board certificate, class 12 mark sheets, reserved category certificate and income certificate for the OBC non-creamy layer have to be submitted.
I just have a class 10 mark sheet and no board certificate. I am in a fix in what to do. I am trying to find out about this certificate from my school, said Vidhi Tiwari, a resident of south Delhi.
See: Find the DU college of your choice
University officials said a student must fill a fresh form if they have made any error or uploaded the wrong document.
The income certificate for OBC non-creamy layer (NCL) is also causing concern. I have the OBC certificate of 2014. I have been told a fresh certificate would require time. Will I be able to apply?, said Pawan Shokeen of Pitampura.
The university official said this should not be a cause for worry for students.
Read more: Confused about admissions? Heres what you need to know
They can upload the OBC certificate and apply for an endorsement from the district magistrate -level which will help them get admission. Till then they can submit other proofs of income to show their income has remained unchanged, said Gurpreet Singh Tuteja, deputy dean, students welfare.
Lady Irwin College also organized Open Day on Tuesday to introduce home science as promising stream.
MUMBAI: Expressing his resentment for being ignored by the party leadership, senior Congress leader and former union minister Gurudas Kamat on Monday resigned from the membership of Congress. Kamat also informed the leadership that he would like to retire from active politics.
The decision of the senior leader comes ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections scheduled early next year. Kamat himself sent a text message to his supporters about the decision expressing his desire to retire for being ignored by party leadership.
Over the last more than 44 years, I have worked with most of you and served the Congress. For several months now I have felt I need to take a backseat to enable others to get the opportunity. I met Honorable Congress President about 10 days ago and expressed a desire to resign. Subsequently I sent letters to both Soniaji and Rahulji that I would like to exit. Since there was no reply I have formally informed that I would like to retire from Politics, says the message sent by Kamat to his close aides.
Kamat held the post of general secretary of the All India Congress Committee. He was in charge of party affairs of Rajasthan where the Congress lost the assembly elections in 2013.
Kamat is the second high profile Congress leader to quit this month following former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi. Kamat, a former Mumbai Congress president, was also unhappy with the party over the choice of Sanjay Nirupam as city Congress chief.
Three years ago, the government made wide-ranging changes in rape laws in India following the huge public outcry after the 2012 December 16 gang rape case. But crimes against women remain a worrying subject in the Capital, with a rape being reported every four hours in 2015.
The number of rape cases grew to 2,199 in 2015 up by 1.52% from 2,166 in 2014 and cases of outraging the modesty of women saw an increase of 24% from 4,322 in 2014 to 5,367 in 2015.
Acting on the recommendations of the Justice Verma Committee, Parliament passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013 that widened the definition of rape. It also provided for death penalty in rape cases that cause death of the victim or leave her in a vegetative state.
Though the law should have acted as a deterrent, the latest figures of Delhi police show that crimes against women such as rape had increased three-fold from 706 in 2012 to 2,199 in 2015.
Till May 15 this year, 781 cases of rape were reported in Delhi, a 7.5% hike from the same period last year.
As per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) latest figures, a total of 36,735 cases of rape were reported during 2014 all over India, of which Delhi alone reported 2,166 cases a contribution of 5.8%.
Interestingly, a report submitted by city police to the Delhi high court earlier this year showed a whopping 73.11% acquittal rate in crime cases against women.
Though the government had said that several other measures are being taken to ensure that crime against women do not go unreported, the figures should act as a wake-up call to shift focus from reporting of crime to preventing it.
Read- Danish woman gangrape case: Delhi court convicts five
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
NEW DELHI: Delhi University teachers protesting the University Grants Commissions (UGC) third amendment regulation have now threatened to boycott the admission process. They have been already boycotting the evaluation process since May 24.
The protest could delay results of DUs undergraduate courses, which are usually out by June 30. The delay will also affect students who have to apply for postgraduate courses.
With teachers threatening to intensify their agitation and boycott the admissions, the issue may snowball into a bigger controversy.
The teachers have been protesting the regulation as the terms of the notification would cause around 5,000 ad-hoc teachers losing their jobs and make promotion difficult.
On Monday, UGC called representatives of teachers across the country for a consultation on the regulation. With no concrete assurance coming from the UGC, the teachers are mulling to intensify their protest.
The entire evaluation and result declaration process takes 30 days. Now with almost two weeks lost, the results would be delayed, said an official of the examination department.
Teachers said they would decide their future course of action at the Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) general body meeting on Tuesday.
The consultations went on for more than five hours but it is extremely unfortunate the UGC chairperson was not willing to concede anything more than what the ministry of human resource development had already stated in its press release. The UGC chairperson was unwilling to give any assurance on the academic performance indicator (API), said Nandita Narian, DUTA president.
Thousands of teachers held a day-long protest as the consultations went on. They banged steel plates in a symbolic gesture to make the UGC and government hear their anguish.
DU teachers were joined by teachers from different other universities, students and even political leaders.
JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who was present at the protest, was not allowed to address the gathering. Some teachers were against Kumar addressing the gathering.
Deepender Hooda, chief whip of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, told the teachers that he would take up the issue in Parliament during the monsoon session.
NEW DELHI: Having received flak over increased property tax rates in its area from residents and traders alike, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) now wants to roll back the implementation of the recommendations of the third Municipal Valuation Committee (MVC).
We have passed a resolution condemning the Delhi government and have called a special meeting of the EDMC House on Tuesday, where we will pass a resolution to recall the increase in taxes, said Jitender Choudhary, chairman, Standing Committee, EDMC.
He added that during the municipal workers strike, the Delhi government pressured the civic body through various letters asking them to implement the MVC recommendations.
The Delhi government, however, refuted the allegations and said that while the implementation was a mandate of the municipal corporations entirely, the blame is now being shifted onto the government.
The recommendations had led to an increase in property tax up to 10 times.
Lost your wallet at the Delhi airport? Found a plug point that is not working or the staff is not cooperating? You may log in to social media to register your complaint.
Air passengers are taking to Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms to get their complaints registered. In February, a passenger complained on the Twitter handle of Delhi airport about an unauthorised transaction that with his card at a shop at the Delhi airport.
The airport management contacted the shop owner and helped the passenger. Similarly, when a passenger lost his wallet which had his visa, the airport staff not only found it but also asked the airline to hold the flight for the passenger.
The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) gets around 1,500 queries in a month. We get queries like check-in time, how to spend time at the airport, shopping and eating options at Delhi airport. People enquire about store or services which we provide and we even get queries from foreign travellers about visa and other related information, said a DIAL spokesperson.
Even a complaint about non-functional sensors at the airport parking was addressed after a user complained on Twitter.
Read: Delhi airport runway to be closed every night for DMRC work
According to officials, 65% queries are neutral (check-ins - travelling to or from Delhi), 34% positive and 1% negative. We try to provide customer support through our social media platforms. A lot of features and information is shared through the Delhi airport social media to provide information to people and help them make their journey easy and smooth, the spokesperson said.
Delhi airport has over four lakh followers on Facebook and more than 30,000 on Twitter. Lost and found queries are handled on Twitter. Plane spotting, celeb spotting are quite common tweets where people tag Delhi airport. Often a news article becomes the most tweeted thing. We design contests to engage with our social media audience. Some of the contests are fun-based but most are designed to take a subtle feedback on the airport, the spokesperson added.
Delhi airport handles the highest number of passengers across the country.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
NEW DELHI: India on Monday gained crucial support from Switzerland for its bid to become a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) days ahead of a key meeting of the 48-member atomic trading club to consider New Delhis candidature.
Experts, however, have questioned whether India will be able to overcome opposition from countries such as China at the NSGs extraordinary plenary meeting in Vienna during June 9-10.
Seeking the backing of key NSG members such as Switzerland, the US and Mexico are important elements of Prime Ministers five-nation tour. Hours after he flew into Geneva, Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann announced his countrys backing for Indias membership after talks with Modi.
We have promised India support in its efforts to become a member of NSG, SchneiderAmmann said. Modi thanked him for Switzerlands understanding and support.
Modi is expected to lobby the United States and Mexico for backing Indias candidature on the next two stops of his tour. The US and numerous other NSG members have supported Indias inclusion based on its non-proliferation record.
However, China, acting at the behest of its close ally Pakistan, has linked Indias membership to the inclusion of Pakistan.
The NSG operates on the principles of unanimity and consensus and Indias bid for membership can be scuttled if it is opposed by even one member.
Without naming Pakistan, China has said many other non-NPT members have voiced their aspirations to join the NSG. It has said the issue should be discussed further and decided by consensus among all NSG members since India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Analysts in the US believe Indias NSG application is in a precarious position because of Chinas contention that the same exceptions should be made for Pakistan.
Pakistan and China have played their cards really well this time around. Pakistan has an application for NSG membership and China can, therefore, argue whats good for the goose is good for the gander, Micheal Krepon, a nuclear proliferation expert and co-founder of the Stimson Center think tank in Washington, was quoted as saying by ANI.
Any move to include Pakistan in the NSG will compound the nuclear proliferation consequences because India becomes saddled with Pakistans terrible track record, he said.
Despite the opposition from Beijing, New Delhi is pushing its bid alongside an effort to first gain entry to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), another crucial export control regime.
The MTCR is a club of 34 countries that controls trade in missile and space technology and Italy was the only country that had opposed Indias entry because of a row over two Italian marines. With both the marines back in Italy, Rome is no longer expected to oppose Indias candidature and a top government official told Hindustan Times that Indias membership of the MTCR is expected to be announced when Modi is in Washington on June 7.
India has been pushing for NSG membership for several years and made a formal application on May 12. Membership of the group is expected to give a major boost to Indias efforts to expand the atomic energy sector since it will have unfettered access to nuclear technology and know-how.
ROHTAK: The second phase of the Jat agitation, launched by the All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) on Sunday, has fizzled out in almost all parts of Haryana.
The response to dharnas held by the AI J ASS remained muted in most areas over the last two days, with only a few hundred protesters turning up at the main protest site in Jasia village of Rohtak district the epicentre of the quota agitation four months ago.
AIJASS president Yashpal Malik, who was supposed to address the rally at Jasia on Monday, disappointed his supporters by failing to show up. The quota stir spear head, who overplayed his hand in the absence of support from khaps and other organisations, is suspected to have kept away over a sedition case lodged against him by the Jind police recently.
Malik, however, told HT over the phone that he had gone to attend the funeral of a relative in Delhi. I have promised (the family members of the deceased) that I will be in Uttar Pradesh for the next three days. I will come to Haryana after that, he said, blaming the hot weather for the low turnout of protesters. Police sources said the AIJASS chief will face arrest in the sedition case if he enters Haryana during the course of the agitation.
No reports of violence emerged on the second day of the agitation, even as the size of the gatherings across the state shrunk significantly.
Khaps and many other Jat leaders have distanced themselves from the agitation, opting for the legal route instead. A law passed by the state government to provide reservation in jobs and education to the community has been stayed by the Punjab and Haryana high court.
Heavy police presence and repeated warnings by the state authorities also discouraged leaders of the Jat community from participating in the second agitation, sources said.
The Jats have now sought permission from the Rohtak district administration to protest along NH-71A near Jasia village from 10am to 4pm every day. The police will not book anyone now, as long as the protest remains peaceful, a spokesperson said.
Rohtak superintendent of police Shashank Anand said though the situation was under control, over 2,500 policemen and paramilitary personnel have been deployed in the district.
A similar situation prevailed in other parts of the region. In Jhajjar, around 35 people gathered at Sector 9 and ended their dharna by evening after submitting a memorandum to Jhajjar SP Jashandeep Singh. Agitators in Jind shifted base from Jhanjha village because district authorities denied permission to protest at the site.
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has accused lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung of snooping on him and his ministers, the latest in a war of words between the two leaders over who controls the appointment of bureaucrats in a city that is a semi-state.
Kejriwal, in a letter to Union home minister Rajnath Singh, urged the Centre to which Delhi Police reports to focus on improving Delhis law and order situation rather than on officers working with the AAP government.
Shocking! LG snooping on CM n Ministers. Who visits CM n ministers- LG secretly collecting this info n informing PMO (sic), tweeted Kejriwal on Tuesday, citing a letter that Jung wrote to the PMO in February.
In his letter, Jung had said the Delhi government appointed non-IAS officers without his knowledge and blamed Kejriwals principal secretary Rajendra Kumar for not issuing any circular regarding such postings. Jungs letter came two months after Rajendra Kumars office in the Delhi Secretariat was raided by a CBI team, triggering a row.
I am informed that there are quite a few instances of serving officers from the Central Services and retired officers from the All India Services being directly engaged by the elected government without the approval of the Lt Governor, Jung wrote.
Jung pointed out that SK Nagarwal of the Indian railway services of engineers, while on study leave, was found working in the office of Delhis home minister. The L-G sought rescinding of Nagarwals deputation and demanded a direction to all ministries that such appointments were not made without his offices approval.
Following L-Gs letter, the home ministry in the last week of May wrote to the Delhi government and sought details of all officers on deputation in the AAP government and a list of consultants employed on a contract basis.
Responding to the home ministrys missive, Kejriwal instead asked the Centre to share the list of consultants it had appointed in the last two years in the interest of both the governments.
Read: Kejriwal vs Jung again? Appointed by AAP govt, Tihar DG steps down
You have asked which consultants Delhi government has appointed? I will get its list prepared. But Delhi government wants to know how many consultants has central government appointed in its two years. Please send the full list. Both the governments will benefit from the exchange of this list, Kejriwal wrote.
In response to the Centres request to provide details of officers working at IAS cadre posts, Kejriwal told the home ministry to share a state-wise list of such officers.
As per my understanding there wont be more than 2-4 such officers. I am hopeful that you have asked for the same information from Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Chandrababu Naidu, Vasundhra Raje, Devender Fadnavis. What is the situation there? he said.
L-G office rejects allegations
Sources in the L-G house rejected the CMs allegations as baseless. They said the L-G was only following protocol.
Sources said the L-Gs office had received documents that an officer was suspended by senior bureaucrat SK Nagarwal, who was on study leave.
According to service rules, he cannot join any department secretly while claiming that he is on study leave. This is a breach of service rules. Nagarwal is an officer of the Indian Railway Services of Engineers and reports to the Central government as his parent cadre. The L-G had written to the government to inform about the breach of rules by the officer, said a source in the L-G office.
Read: Let us work: Kejriwals AAP govt targets PM Modi with new posters
The source clarified that the L-G did not seek any further details or snooped on anyone.
Within our rights: Home ministry
According to a home ministry official, the Kejriwal government was appointing non-cadre (from Indian revenue service or railway engineering service) officers instead of IAS officers deputed to it. Because of this, four or five IAS officers are awaiting posting.
In the next cadre review, the cadre-controlling authority of IAS officers, the ministry of personnel, can say why should it earmark IAS officers for Delhi government it was not using their services. Therefore, we sought information about such officers from the Delhi government, said the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Besides, the official said, the ministry was the cadre-controlling authority for Delhi. The ministry is well within its rights to seek such information from the Delhi government the official said.
The alleged kingpin of the kidney racket busted at Delhis Apollo Hospital was arrested from Kolkata on Tuesday.
A woman from Siliguri in West Bengal and a married couple from UP were also nabbed on Tuesday, taking the total number of arrests in the case to nine.
The mastermind, T Rajkumar Rao, 39, was held in a joint operation of Kolkata Police and Delhi Police and is likely to be brought to the Capital by Wednesday night or Thursday morning.
Rao was under the radar of Delhi Police and a team was camping in Kolkata for the last two-three days. Rao was reportedly arrested from a party that he had organised.
He was introduced to the organ racket by a woman named Shama and her aide Deepaankar in Kolkata eight to nine years ago. Police are also looking for them.
Raos name surfaced in the latest racket during the interrogation of his three accomplices Aseem Sikdar, Devashish Moulik and Satya Prakash.
The others arrested on Tuesday are Umesh Shrivastava and his wife Neelu, natives of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, and Momita Mauli from Siliguri.
All three of them are donors whose kidneys were illegally donated to different recipients allegedly at the hospital by five members of the racket who were arrested on Friday, said police.
Read: Delhi kidney racket: Raids in three cities to trace kingpin
Momita is the wife of one of the middlemen already arrested, Devashish Mauli. Police officers said they were verifying the names and backgrounds of the arrested people as they suspect the donors used fake names.
A quarrel between Momita and Devashish over payment of money promised to her against the kidney she had donated on her husbands direction came to the notice of Sarita Vihar police and helped them bust the racket.
Momitas kidney was donated to a patient from Jammu and Kashmir less than a fortnight before the racket was busted, said police. Momita had called the 100 number after the tiff with her husband.
Investigators are looking for two more donors and raids are being conducted in Kanpur, Kolkata, Nagpur, Jalandhar, Coimbatore and other cities to nab them.
Police sources said the racket is spread across many cities. We are looking for the five recipients who got kidneys of the five donors, said a senior police officer.
Read: Apollo staffers among 5 held over kidney racket
Mandeep Singh Randhawa, deputy commissioner of police (southeast), said the names of the married couple and another woman surfaced following interrogation of the five arrested accused, Aseem Sikdar, Satya Prakash alias Ashu, Devashish, Aditya Singh and Shailesh Saxena.
NEW DELHI/LUCK NOW: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a petition seeking a CBI probe into the clashes that erupted in Mathura last week, even as the Uttar Pradesh government transferred the areas district magistrate and senior superintendent of police in this connection.
A vacation bench headed by Justice PC Ghose ordered that the petition, filed by Delhi BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay, be listed for hearing on Tuesday. The petitioner s counsel, Kamini Jaiswal, had sought an urgent hearing into the matter. The petitioner said though the Centre was ready to order a probe by the central agency, the Uttar Pradesh government has developed cold feet. He also demanded uniform compensation for the families of those killed in the violence.
Upadhyay alleged that Ram Vriksh Yadav, Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi leader and alleged mastermind of the attack, had been running a parallel government at Jawahar Bagh Park since 2014 with the backing of the local administration. Finally, when police tried to evict members of the group from the park under the Allahabad high court s direction on June 2, clashes broke out. As many as 29 people including superintendent of police (city) Mukul Dwivedi and station house officer Santosh Kumar were killed.
Earlier in the day, the Uttar Pradesh government had transferred Mathura district magistrate Rajesh Kumar and senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rakesh Kumar Singh in connection with the Jawahar Bagh violence. Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav confirmed the action taken against the senior officials on Twitter. # UPCM@yadav akhilesh instructions, DM/SSP Mathura has been transferred. New incumbents will join soon, he tweeted.
Senior state officials later said Jalaun SSP Babloo Kumar was appointed in Singhs place while Kumar was replaced by former Muzaffarnagar district magistrate Nikhil Chandra Shukla. Police, meanwhile, launched a statewide hunt to nab the activists of the Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagarhi, which owes allegiance to the Swadheen Bharat Subhash Sena.
GREATER NOIDA: Bisada lynching victim Mohd Ikhlaqs family has rejected the probe report that said the meat found at his house was beef.
We feel the report is manipulated. We will seek the courts intervention. It should be probed thoroughly, said lawyer Yusuf Saifi on Monday. He said he would challenge the forensic report and demand a fair probe.
Ikhlaqs brother Jaan Mohammad said, It seems the forensic report is politically motivated. The court will deliver justice.
The fast-track court trying the case that shook the country and triggered a debate on intolerance deferred hearing till June 10.
Framing of charges against those accused of lynching Ikhlaq and brutally beating up his son may happen in the next hearing.
Today (Monday), we objected to the framing of charges as we did not get copies of the statement of Ikhlaqs daughter Shaista and the medical reports of Danish and Ikhlaq. The court asked the investigators to submit the copies and adjourned the proceedings till June 10, said Ram Sharan Nagar, counsel for the accused.
Three of total 18 accused in the case filed their bail applications on Monday. Counsel for accused Vivek and Santosh Chaudhary said he would seek changes in the sections under which the case had been registered.
The mob was agitated as a cow was slaughtered. They had no intention of killing anyone. So the section should be changed from IPC 302 (murder) to IPC 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), said Chaudhary.
As many as 18 residents of Bisada in Dadri area, 50 km from Delhi, were booked for murder and assault on September 28 when a mob allegedly attacked Mohammad Ikhlaq, 55 and his younger son, Danish, over allegations of slaughtering a cow and storing its meat.
The mob had allegedly recovered a bowl of meat from the refrigerator at Ikhlaqs house, which they claimed was cow meat. The sample were sent for a forensic test at a Mathura lab which said the meat was of a cow or its progeny.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
NEW DELHI: The Art of Living Foundation on Monday said there was no irreparable environmental damage to the Yamuna floodplain due to the World Culture Festival that it hosted in March 2016.
The Art of Living is a reputed organisation with a proven track record in environment protection and care. Much of what has been said with reference to damage of the Yamuna floodplain is concocted and without any logical or scientific basis, Kedar Desai, spokesperson, Art Of Living, said at a press conference here.
Scientific evidence and data available with us make us believe that an unbiased investigation will reveal the truth about the allegations and our contention of causing no damage to air, water and soil will be vindicated, he said.
The Art of Living might now approach Supreme Court against the National Green Tribunals order which asked it to pay ` 5 crore as compensation. Our legal team is studying the NGT order. Supreme Court is on vacation. We will soon take an appropriate step, Desai said.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is not desperate to resume peace talks and India never opened a window of opportunity for dialogue, Pakistani foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz has said.
The foreign affairs adviser to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made the remarks during a television news show on Sunday. His comments were in response to Indian defence minister Manohar Parrikars statement about the slowly closing window of goodwill and dialogue with Pakistan that separates terrorists between good ones and bad ones.
He said India had never opened a window of opportunity for dialogue with Pakistan and all developments in this regard were sabotaged when talks were postponed after the Pathankot attack . India has blamed t he Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group for the January 2 attack on the strategic airbase in Pathankot in which seven soldiers and four suicide attackers were killed.
It is a very strange thing to say as it was decided here on December 9 that the dialogue would resume but then the Pathankot incident occurred and everything vanished into thin air, Aziz said on Sunday.
At the same time, he said Pakistan is not desperate for talks and there is no restlessness for dialogue.
If India continues to repeat the old allegation of terrorism when it comes to the negotiating table, it must remember terrorism is part of the composite dialogue that Pakistan proposes, he said.
He told the audience that if the region has to see peace, it has to see dialogue first. They (India) say that they will talk if we (Pakistan) make some progress on terrorism, but we say that they should talk on all issues, including Kashmir. (With inputs from HTC, New Delhi)
Badli residents were a happy lot last year when the metro line was extended to their village in outer Delhi, unaware that they would have to risk their lives or shell out an additional Rs 10 for each ride.
The metro station was constructed by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) next to the Badli railway station and is used by about 10,000 commuters each day. But a majority of the residents live on the other side of the railway station, making the trip to the metro station a risky proposition.
To get into the metro, we either have to purchase a platform ticket, which costs Rs 10 [and which most people] avoid or risk our lives by crossing the railway track. The railway police often conduct raids to check whether we have an authorised [platform] ticket to enter the railway station, said Shri Krishan Mudgal, a resident of Yadav Nagar in Badli. The metro was supposed to help us with connectivity, but it is a risky affair now.
Mudgals son and daughter-in-law work at Connaught Place and have to cross the railway track to get to work every day.
The metro station has an entrance only on one side, for Rohini residents, and a foot-over-bridge to make it accessible from Badli exists only on paper. The Janhit Prayas Samiti, a local NGO, has raised this issue on several platforms but the project is yet to take off.
This station is constructed on the Rohini side of the railway line of Northern Railway and there is no provision for passengers living in areas such as Yadav Nagar, Samaipur, Shivpuri, Siraspur and Libaspur to go to the other side of railway line. We have witnessed a few accidents as well, said Hitesh Sharma, a local working with the NGO.
It is most dangerous during peak hours, from 8:30 to 10 am, when three local trains arrive at the railway station and a mad rush for the metro station ensues.
A plan is at an advanced stage for building a foot-over-bridge at Samaypur Badli. However, this involves approvals and coordination with the railway authorities and the public works department, [and also] some financial issues. The matter is under the active consideration of all the concerned authorities, said a DMRC spokesperson.
The construction of the bridge would bring much-needed relief to the locals, who are forced to walk for 20 minutes to reach the station that is barely five minutes from their homes.
A FOB bypassing the railway station would help us and it should have the facility of escalator to help senior citizens, said Dipak Kumar, who travels to Noida for work.
The 4.39 km-long extension of the Yellow line from Jahangirpuri to Samaypur Badli began operating in November last year.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Delhi University will provide accessible smart phones, smart canes, hearing gear and wheelchairs to students with disability from this year.
In a move to empower students, the universitys Equal Opportunity Cell (EOC) is working to provide physically impaired students with such facilities.
The students have already been provided laptops and now we will give them accessible smart phones, canes, wheelchair and hearing gear. These will be provided through the central governments Assistance for Person with Disability (ADIP) scheme, said Anil Aneja, officer on special duty (OSD), EOC.
The university reserves 3% of seats in each course for such students. They also get 5% relaxation in cutoff. Even for hostel seats, there is 5% reservation for physically disabled.
See: HTs flippable guide to Delhi University admissions
With the change in the cutoff policy last year, which will continue this year as well, officials say enrolment of students in the category has increased.
Suppose a disabled student has scored a 90 % in the board exam and he takes admission under the cutoff meant for the disabled category. But later as the cutoff in the subsequent list comes down and he meets the cutoff, he will move to the general seat. So this policy has made more seats available for students with disability, said Aneja.
Even though the process is online this year, the EOC has been helping such students to fill the form. They are also attending queries over the phone.
See: Find the DU college of your choice
We are getting a lot of query on dyslexia being included in the disabled category. This is included in the locomotor orthopaedic disability, said Bipin Tiwari, EOC OSD.
Those with more than 40% disability will be considered for the reservation in the category. Starting this year, students will upload self-attested copies of disability certificates with the registration form.
DU will only accept a certificate from the government hospital as a proof of disability, said Tiwari.
So far around 468 candidates in the category have applied to DU. Last year, a total of 1,031 students applied.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: The censor board has asked the makers of Shahid Kapoor-starrer Udta Punjab to drop all references to Punjab from the movie that revolves around the states drug addiction problem, sources said on Monday.
The decision of the boards revising committee is possibly aimed at helping the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) dodge uncomfortable questions around the mounting drug addiction problem nine months before the assembly polls.
It is not about cuts any more as the board want the makers to set the films plot in a fictitious place. This is very bizarre. How can they ask to remove Punjab from the film? said a film industry insider.
Board member Ashoke Pandit condemned the demand and called it an insult to the freedom of expression.
If the trailer of the film was allowed, what is the problem with the film? What kind of situation are we heading to? It is a dangerous trend, said Pandit, who is not a part of the committee.
I am sure the film will be cleared in the tribunal. It is the most comic decision to ask them not to use the word Punjab, Pandit added.
Analysts say the movies portrayal of drug addiction among Punjabs youth might prove disastrous for the SAD, an NDA constituent, because of widespread discontent regarding the state governments failure to tamp down on the problem. Anurag Kashyap, one of the films producers, thanked board chief Pahlaj Nihalani a few weeks ago on Twitter for clearing the expletive-laden trailer. Nihalani was unavailable for comment.
Filmmaker Onir, who faced a similar problem for his film My Brother...Nikhil in 2005 called the decision unfair. I think its important that we grow up and address the real problem. Why are filmmakers being penalised? There is a film which is showing the truth and now its facing so much objection.
Earlier reports said the board wanted 89 cuts in the movie but sources indicated the new demand went beyond cosmetic changes or dropping the reference to Punjab in the films title.
The film depicts the hardcore reality of Punjab that was reported by the media and is well-known. The makers havent cooked up something, the insider said.
Directed by Abhishek Chaubey, the film starring Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosanjh was slated to release on June 17.
A source told HT the demands hadnt been formally communicated and the producers will go to the censor board tribunal or the court to challenge the decision. The makers, however, were ready to talk about some cuts or demands to change the films name.
They are dilly-dallying knowing very well that the release is round the corner. To demand that all references to Punjab be removed from the film is unbelievable.
The producers were unavailable for comment but sources suggested the release date wont be postponed.
If the state government or any political party had objections to the film or its content, they should have gone to court, Pandit said.
The move might benefit the Akali Dal though the party never officially sought a ban on the movie. But SAD spokesman and state minister Daljit Singh Cheema told HT the movie was projecting Punjab wrongly.
The movie is tarnishing the image of Punjab and its people by showing them as drug addicts, Cheema said.
Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt said the developments shocked him. This is just bizarre. We get the government we elect. Nowadays you make a film and you dont know what you will get in return, he said.
Sources said the movie hit a hurdle because of depiction of narcotics abuse and the use of expletives, joining a string of controversial movies that underwent cuts or name changes due to cultural, political or religious reasons.
In 2009, Irrfan Khan and Shah Rukh Khans Billu was made to remove the word barber from its title after the community protested against it. The 2016 sex-comedy, Kya Kool Hain Hum 3, had to undergo massive cuts to get an adult certificate. Salman Khans 2015 blockbuster, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, had to trim several sequences involving Pakistan.
After three years of persuading the authorities to initiate projects to handle the issue of waterlogging, the residents of Kailash Colony remain a disappointed lot. The projects were proposed by architects and engineers from the colony to solve the massive waterlogging problem in L and A blocks. They say that the problem has been permanent since the colony was established in the 80s.
After years of struggle and legwork, all projects were finalised six months back and the construction was on in full swing. But the residents claim that many of them have been left incomplete and those which were completed have faults.
They say that the SDMC should have constructed a pavement 10 inches higher than the surface level with a bell mouth which is made on the side of the pavement so that there is a gap for water to flow. However, the residents point out that the water harvesting pits are made on the same level and even lower because of which these pits will fail to divert the rainwater.
They also complain that the pathways are broken and the new tiles, stone slabs are all over the place. The residents had also requested the authorities to close the old stormwater drain which is no more in use as this has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Whenever it rains, the colony gets submerged in water. The modification of drains is a long pending project with the SDMC and this is how they plan to complete it. We stay in a low-lying water catchment area which fills with water till our knees, said DB Sood, general secretary, Kailash Colony RWA.
Residents have complained of poor workmanship, substandard material used and faulty design of the waterlogging pits. The recent rain left the area flooded as residents had to struggle with an incomplete stormwater drain in L block. After a series of meetings with the authorities, the residents were assured that the drain will be covered with slabs from the colony gate up to the main road. In the absence of lids, the drain remains filled with garbage, filth and debris that block the rainwater.
The neglected old drain that encircles the garbage bin was to be filled. We have been running from pillar to post for the last three years to get these projects through but we are not satisfied with the quality as they have faulty design and are incapable of tackling the problem of waterlogging, said RP Kalia, 88, a resident.
Residents are now hopeful as the SDMC has promised to fix the drain near A-block before the onset of monsoon. While work on the drain is ongoing from the Metro station till the residential colony, residents claim that the construction material is of low quality. While the drain had been designed to divert the rainwater and prevent flooding of the area, residents feel that it will fail to serve the purpose due to the faulty plan.
A US university has asked at least 25 Indian students enrolled in a graduate course to leave because of their inability to write computer programmes, which is a necessary qualification.
The university allowed them to complete their first semester. They now have the option to enrol in some other US university, as some of them are trying, or to return home
Western Kentucky University used international recruiters to enrol these students, at a commission of $2,000 for each admission, and had not directly screened them.
James Gary, chairman of Western Kentuckys computer science programme, told The New York Times almost 40 students did not meet the requirements of their admission.
Read | Deportation row: Why is US turning back Indian students?
They were offered remedial help by the university but it didnt work out well for all. At least 25 of nearly 60 students enrolled will have to leave.
If they come out of here without the ability to write programs, thats embarrassing to my department, Gary has said as the reason for asking them to leave.
According to The Times, the university began recruiting aggressively using a recruiter to lift enrolment and revenue in the face of deep state budget cuts.
Read | Not just students: Indian tourists, businessmen also deported from US
But when staff members realised last fall that some students were not fulfilling basic admission needs, the universitys senate endorsed a resolution expressing concerns at the new system.
The university said on Monday its now changing its admission method for India. Members from the computer science department will directly meet and screen applicants.
An estimated 37% of US universities and colleges use international recruiters to find and admit students, paying them a commission for every enrolment.
The number of Indians studying in US universities has been rising every year going up from 103,895 in 2010 to 132,888 in 2014, according to a report by the Institute of International Education and the US department of state.
Read | 16 hours, no food or water: Student recounts US deportation horror
Read | Indians held in fake US university sting, hundreds face deportation
Read | 16 students deported from US, hassled at Hyderabad airport
While the debate over the age limit and screening process for recruiting civil servants in India rages on, it is interesting to note the specific conditions for entry into the civil service in many other countries. While some require degrees or educational courses for various levels of employment, there are also additional requirements such as linguistic competence, enjoyment of civil rights, military obligations, specific age limits etc, according to a paper by the European Parliament on recruitment and equal opportunities systems.
Till some years ago, almost all member states of the European Union had lower and upper age limits for entry to the civil service. However, in the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Sweden and Portugal there are no upper age limits. In Belgium and Ireland the upper age limit is 50 years; in Germany it is 32 years for the probationary period and 50 years for definitive recruitment; in Austria it is 40 years; in Greece it varies between 30 and 35 years according to category, and in Spain and France the upper age limit varies according to the competition. In the United Kingdom there is no upper age limit. In some states, ministers or departments can make exceptions to the age limits.
Applicants could also have gained work experience in the public or private sector in the member state in which they are applying or in other member states. In Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, work experience is of great importance, given the absence of minimal legal requirements relating to the educational qualifications required at each level.
In Ireland and the United Kingdom, experience gained in both the civil service and the private sector is taken into account when appointments are made. In almost all member states, work experience acquired in the civil service is used as a criterion for selecting staff. There is no formal competitive exam procedure in the Netherlands. The German civil service does not have a centralised competitive exam system. Recruitment is organised autonomously by each authority. For the UK civil services, recruitment is based on a decentralised procedure and according to merit. Recruitment practices are based on open competition and job vacancies are advertised. Previous OECD reports suggest that the age of entry is rising in these countries civil services as often, the civil services offered new recruits long-term career prospects as compared to the private sector.
Shailaja Chandra, former chief secretary, Delhi government, says Every country has its own recruitment system for the civil services and they are conceived of and are conducive to the requirements of that country. We are a very young population and we do not have much of lateral entry. Many of the developed countries go in for lateral entry. We say we have it but its more on paper than in fact. Only a handful of people are taken in through lateral entry and they dont join the services but occupy certain posts only. Many countries do have an entrance exam. For instance in the UK, a lot of the induction at the cabinet secretarys level is done by a group of people that selects people after screening their CVs, through interviews and considering their academic and related performance.
They proactively look for look for better qualifications or experience. In France also, candidates are taken in at a young age.
Everywhere, merit is a prime consideration and making it available to all to have a chance is important, but that does not mean you water down the level of screening. Like many other countries, we are also seeking to find a high level of merit among the selected candidates, she says. The present system of a written exam, says Chandra, may not be necessary in other smaller countries because they have much smaller populations and the number of people they induct is small. We have a huge civil service and inducting 200-300 in the services, after over 2000 are called for the interview from tens of thousands who appeared for the written exam. The present system is as tight and as well-thought out as it should be, she says.
Read more: The changed CSAT gets thumbs up from aspirants
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
A police case was filed against a college in Bihar and four of its students who topped the state boards Class 12 exam but failed to answer basic questions later, triggering suspicion they had cheated their way to the top.
The state education department lodged an FIR against VR College of Vaishali and this years four toppers Ruby Ray, Saurav Shrestha, Shalini Ray and Saurav Kumar on Monday night after chief minister Nitish Kumar sought a criminal investigation into possible wrongdoing in the board exam.
Officials of the Bihar State Education Board (BSEB), superintendents at the exam and evaluation centres, where the answerscripts were evaluated, were also named in the two-page FIR lodged by secondary education secretary Rajiv Ranjan Prasad.
The culprits must be booked as these allegations of cheating have brought a bad name to Bihar, RJD chief Lalu Prasad said. These are people driven out from the party long ago. All those who have demeaned Bihar should go to jail, he said, responding to a query linking VR College secretary Bachcha Rai to the RJD.
Notorious for incidents of mass cheating, Bihar was engulfed in a merit muddle when the toppers failed to answer rudimentary questions during a media interaction soon after the results were announced. Arts topper Ruby said political science is all about cooking while Shrestha, who topped the science stream, replied to a question that the most reactive element in the periodic table is aluminium.
The board called 14 students for a retest on Friday but Ruby, who had scored 444 out of 500 marks, skipped it citing ill health. Thereafter, Ruby was given time till June 14 to take the retest or risk getting the result struck down.
The police case follows the governments order to rescind its previous decision to set up a committee of inquiry. The government also shot down a board proposal to institute a judicial inquiry on Sunday.
Board chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh was served a show-cause notice for ordering a judicial inquiry without having the authority to do so.
The FIR mentioned that copies of the toppers seemed to have been changed, which makes it a case of fraud. The exam centre of the college was GA high school, Hajipur. All answer books of Vaishali went to Ara-Bhabua districts, except for this college, which was examined at Rajendra Nagar high school in Patna, it said.
A special investigation team headed by Patna senior SP Manu Maharaj will investigate the case.
The investigation has begun and the process of evidence collection is on. Action will follow, Bihar director general of police PK Thakur said.
The board cancelled on Saturday the recognition of two Vaishali district colleges VR College of Kirtipur and Bishundeo Rai college of Bhagwanpur, which has three toppers.
Vaishali gained national notoriety in 2015 for large-scale use of unfair means after visuals emerged of parents and friends climbing a multi-storey building to provide answers in pieces of paper to their wards writing an exam. Nitish Kumar, after being reprimanded by the Patna high court, had cracked the whip on cheaters, resulting in the arrest and suspension of hundreds of students and their parents.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Delays in investor meetings, industrial visits and medical emergencies due to traffic jams could become a thing of the past as the Haryana government looks to launch chopper services in the state.
Government officials on Monday met aviation service providers in Gurgaon for a brainstorming session on the feasibility of a chopper service to industrial model townships located in the National Capital Region.
This is a positive step and will help in easy commute for foreign investors, said Manmohan Gaind, vice-president, Manesar Industries Welfare Association. But the government has to focus on basic issues like resolving congestion on highways, ensuring fast movement of goods and reducing red tape.
Haryana is home to a number of key industrial areas, including Gurgaon, Manesar, Dharuhera (Rewari), Bawal (Rewari) and Kundli (Sonepat), all on busy national highways that witness heavy congestion and long traffic jams, particularly during peak hours.
Apart from making the commute easier for investors and industrialists, the state also hopes to tap into the growing popularity of medical tourism in the country. In the absence of a chopper service, medical facilities are forced to rely on green corridors special lanes created by diverting or blocking traffic to allow swift transfer of organs or patients.
Officials of the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC), the states industry development body, met representatives of private aviation companies to determine the financial and technical aspects of launching a chopper service in the state.
Those present at the meeting said it was a pre-bid interaction. We want to know whether industry, medical tourism and organ transplantation can be served by launching a chopper service in the state. We will send the recommendations to the government based on the feedback we got in the meeting, HSIIDC DGM Priya Sardana told HT.
The seeds for this plan were planted during the two-day Happening Haryana Summit in March, when the HSIIDC hired a private operator to offer chopper services to the attendees. Several industrial groups at the summit had reportedly complained of the traffic problem, particularly in NCR towns such as Gurgaon.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
A political game is again at play in Bisada village of Uttar Pradesh that is due for state election in 2017, with rival parties accusing each other of whipping up communal passions.
A forensic report has ratcheted up tension in the village, which is 50km from Delhi, where a Muslim man was lynched last year over allegations of beef consumption, triggering a nationwide debate on rising intolerance in the country.
Police must book Mohammad Ikhlaqs family for cow slaughter and drop murder charges against those accused of lynching him, villagers demanded at a meeting on Monday.
The panchayat held in defiance of a prohibitory order had shades of saffron. A Shiv Sena leader from Ghaziabad, Mahesh Ahuja, extended support to the families of the accused as he addressed the gathering. He was in Bisada to ensure no injustice was done to Hindus, Ahuja said.
There cannot be two laws in this country. The state government has divided the law for majority and minority, which we are opposing. We have met the local SDM and given a memorandum to lodge an FIR against Ikhlaqs kin for slaughtering a cow and consuming its meat, Ahuja said.
The village elders tried to downplay the remarks that drew applause from the young as the locals set as 20-day deadline for police to register a case against the Ikhlaq family.
On September 28, 55-year-old Ikhlaq and his son Danish were attacked by a mob of local residents. Ikhlaq succumbed to his injuries while Danish survived with a fractured skull. Eighteen people, including three juveniles, were arrested on charges of murder and assault.
The mob recovered what is said was a bowl of cow meat from Ikhlaqs home. Samples were sent for forensic test and a report last week said the meat was that of a cow or its progeny.
Rivals have accused the BJP of communalising the issue. Law and order is a state subject and the Akhilesh government is responsible for what is happening in Bisada, says the party, looking to dislodge the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.
Indias most populous state was one of the biggest contributors to the BJPs sweep in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. But, the party is a marginal player in the state politics dominated by regional outfits such as SP and Mayawatis Bahujan Samaj Party. It is looking to correct the anomaly in the assembly elections.
The state government is failing to control such situations. In the upcoming elections, we are going to form a government. Our government will ensure strict law and order in the state, said Sanjay Aggarwal, BJP leader from Gautam Budh Nagar.
The Samajwadi Party has criticised the BJP for indulging in politics of hate. It is all BJPs fault and its hate politics. They are trying to communalise the issue ahead of the assembly elections but we will not let it happen, partys district chief Pratap Chauhan said.
The BSP led by former chief minister Mayawati is looking to make a comeback has targeted the SP for alleged lawlessness in the state and the BJP for communal violence.
This is a conspiracy of both the BJP and SP. Both of them are trying appeasement politics and the residents are fed up with this. It is understood that BJPs gain is SPs gain as both are trying to keep the communal pot boiling, said Greater Noida BSP chief Lakhmi Singh said.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Air India has barred its pilots and flight attendants from operating flights with spouses, siblings and children as fellow crew members.
Unlike private domestic carriers, many crew members in AI have relatives working in the same company. The oldest Indian carrier employs pilots who have married co-pilots and colleagues tasked with cabin service. Many of their children and siblings are also employed with the airline.
The national carrier, which issued the order on Monday, said that the move was for maintaining air safety.
It has been noticed that on occasion flight duties being performed by immediate family members on the same flight either as pilot-in-command, co-pilot or cabin crew. In the interest of flight safety, immediate family members ie wife, husband, children, sisters and brothers performing flight duties on the same flight is henceforth prohibited, the airline said in a circular.
It added that, in case, the automated flight rosters schedule family members on the same flight they should volunteer to get it changed.
AI chairperson and managing director Ashwani Lohani told Hindustan Times that there hadnt been any instance of air safety lapses owing to family members operating a flight.
It has more to do with discipline, he said.
Crew members, however, felt that the move could hamper their personal life.
Now with separate flying, we will hardly get to spend any time with each other. Most of our flight schedules include up to 4 days of outstation stay, a senior flight attendant operating long distance international flights said requesting anonymity.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Ajit Jogi is no longer a member of the Congress Working Committee after his announcement of forming a new party, Congress general secretary BK Hariprasad said on Tuesday.
Former Chhattisgarh chief minister and rebel Congress leader Jogi has he is floating a new party, asking people to suggest a name for it.
He made the announcement while addressing a rally in Kotmi in Marwahi assembly constituency in Chhattisgarh on Monday.
The fate of Chhattisgarh should be decided in the state. We will not accept decisions taken by people sitting in Delhi. The state is very rich in resources, but people are very poor. We will not tolerate this anymore. The development of the state will now be done by the poor and labourers, Jogi said.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh played down the significance of Jogi charting out an independent course, saying only his wife, son and an MLA were with him and called his exit as good for the party.
The Congress leader said the alleged fixing of the Antagarh assembly byelection in 2014, in which Jogi and his son Amits names had figured, eroded his faith in the first chief minister of Chhattisgarh.
Jogi has denied any wrongdoing and claimed the tapes of alleged bypoll fixing were forged.
The Congress is in big trouble in the north-eastern states after it lost Arunachal Pradesh to dissidence and Assam assembly polls to a BJP-led alliance this year.
On Tuesday, Tripura added to the grand old partys misery in the region after six of its MLAs joined Mamata Banerjees Trinamool Congress (TMC). Another Congress MLA resigned and applied for CPI(M) membership, bringing the partys seats in the 60-member Tripura assembly down from 10 to three.
The Tripura development followed the call of a banned Meghalaya outfit Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) to overthrow the dictatorial and inefficient Mukul Sangma, the states chief minister. The outfit also threatened to blow up the state Congress headquarters in Shillong.
Read:Weve burnt our fingers in past with peace talks: Meghalaya CM
Sangmas Congress government in instability-prone Meghalaya has been battling dissidence since his wife Dikkanchi D Shira lost the May by-poll for the Tura Lok Sabha seat. Former chief ministers and veteran Congress leaders DD Lapang and Salseng C Marak are allegedly leading the rebellion against the chief minister.
Sangma was expected to shuffle his cabinet in a bid to placate the rebels when HNLC issued the threat. We have a mechanism to verify if HNCL has any nexus with any political leader or group of politicians demanding change of leadership, Sangma said.
Insisting his government was safe, Sangma told HT: It is not a question of dissidence but of grievances blown out of proportions. But we have checked the forces of destabilisation, including the BJP.
Read:Meghalaya CM says no threat to Congress government
The BJP, for a change, did not have a hand in weakening the Congress in Tripura. TMC cashed in on the anger of the Congress MLAs who were opposed to the poll pact between the Congress and Left Front in West Bengal.
The Left Front which has 50 MLAs is the Congress main rival in Tripura. The CPI(M) in particular has been edging it out since the 1993 assembly polls.
We promised poriborton (change), and it has begun, TMC vice-president Mukul Roy said in Agartala after the six Congress MLAs sent a formal letter to assembly speaker Ramendra Debnath and joined his party.
Barman said: TMC will do what the Congress couldnt. This is the beginning of the end of the Left Front in Tripura.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday raked up the Ram Temple issue ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections scheduled next year and urged all to wait for the Supreme Courts final verdict or achieve mutual consensus on the same.
BJP president Amit Shah said the Ram Janmabhoomi is a part of his partys election manifesto.
We have specified it that the Ram temple should be made on the site either after a consensus or by the directions of court. This is our firm stand, he told the media in Lucknow.
Shah further said the BJP will contest the polls in Uttar Pradesh on the issue of development.
We do not endorse Sanjeev Balyans remarks on Dadri controversy. Our agenda is only development, he added.
The BJP president also used the occasion to take potshots at the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) and alleged that Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav-led government has failed to curb corruption.
The comment from the BJP chief comes after minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises, Kalraj Mishra said that his party would not make the Ram temple an election issue in Uttar Pradesh.
Mishra had said the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya is a national issue but the BJP will not make it an issue in the Uttar Pradesh elections.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh had recently in an interview said that his party would fight next years assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh on the issue of development.
Singh said the issue of construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya is an important cultural issue and not political.
The Ram Mandir issue is not political, but a cultural issue. The matter is also sub-judice. The matter is in the Supreme Court and we are only waiting for the judgment, he said.
The home minister also said that his party has never indulged in the politics of communal polarisation for votes.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah hit back at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday over a question over the partys performance at the Centre in the past two years, saying it gave the country a Prime Minister who speaks.
Recently Rahul baba asked what the BJP has done in two years... at least we gave a Prime Minister who speaks, otherwise in the 10-year regime of the UPA, except Sonia ji and Rahul baba, no other person heard the voice of the PM, he said.
Saying that BJP will get two-thirds majority in 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, Shah also hit out at the ruling Samajwadi Party, questioning what it had done for the people of the state in four years.
We are presenting a report card of two years of NDA government, but Akhilesh babu (chief minister Akhilesh Yadav) you should also tell people what your government did in four years, Shah told booth-level workers in Kasganj.
Asking people if they get power for 24 hours power in the state, he said, There is no shortage of power, the shortcoming is in intentions. In two years, we (NDA government) gave power to 9,000 villages.
Shah alleged that in the 10 years of UPA regime, which was supported by SP and BSP, scams worth Rs 12 lakh crore took place.
They left no place whether its sky, earth and underneath where corruption did not take place, Shah said.
There is not a single allegation of corruption against the present regime.
People ask as to how we will get a majority government in Uttar Pradesh. It will become possible due to your (workers) efforts, he said.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought a number of schemes for the welfare of people, including free LPG connection for BPL families.
Fancy a summer vacation in Leh and have the stomach for a non-stop 33-hour bus journey through mountain passes? You are in luck.
The Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) on Monday restarted its summer bus service from New Delhi to Leh in Jammu and Kashmir, an official told new agency IANS.
We started plying the daily to and fro bus service between Delhi-Leh via Manali from Monday, the official said. A one-way ticket costs Rs 1,365.
The arduous 1,050km non-stop journey from Delhi to Leh in Ladakh division takes 33 hours. The route, which winds through four mountain passes, remains snowbound from October to May or June.
A luxury bus service linking tourist town of Manali in Himachal Pradesh with Leh will restart July 1, more than six months after it was discontinued in the winter, Vijay Sharma, the general manager of the Himachal Pradesh tourism development corporation, said.
The 35-seater bus will leave Manali at 11am every alternate day and will arrive in Leh the next evening after covering 475 km.
The bus will make an overnight halt at Keylong in Lahaul-Spiti district to leave at 4am the next morning. One-way fare of Rs 2,700 includes a nights stay at Keylong, dinner and breakfast.
A special camping site has been developed at Keylong for the night halt. The bus crosses four mountain passes in Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir -- Rohtang Pass (13,050 ft), Baralacha Pass (16,020 ft), Lachungla Pass (16,620 ft) and Tanglangla Pass (17,480 ft).
Backpackers flock Manali from August to September and most of the travellers prefer to drive down the Manali-Leh highway to get to Ladakh.
The three Manipur anti-migrant bills tabled by a Manipur delegation headed by chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh before Union home minister Rajnath Singh will be re-examined by legal and constitutional experts, as per a decision taken after a meeting on Tuesday.
Rajnath Singh is understood to have conveyed to the delegates of all political parties from Manipur the reasons for rejecting the three bills passed by the Manipur assembly on August 31, 2015.
A joint statement issued by Ibobi Singh and other political representatives on Tuesday shortly after the crucial meeting said that legal and constitutional experts shall re-examine the bills for new legislation.
The joint statement said: An hour long meeting was held with home minister on Tuesday and there were 18 delegates.
The contentious bills are the Manipur Land Reforms and Land Revenue (7th Amendment) Bill, 2015, the Manipur Shops and Establishment (2nd Amendment) Bill, 2015 and the Manipur Protection of Peoples Bill, 2015.
The experts shall examine the first two bills for a reasonable conclusion. In case of the third bill, legal and constitutional experts shall re-examine the bill for a new legislation taking into consideration all aspects of the hill and valley people of Manipur.
Apprehending more trouble in the valley, the joint statement also appealed to the people to maintain peace and harmony.
Since last year Manipur has been experiencing various forms of agitations in connection with the bills.
While the Congress top brass has been cautious in its reaction to former Union minister and senior party leader Gurudas Kamats decision to quit the party, it now appears the reasons behind his discontent is more local than anything going on within the party at the top level.
Kamat was upset with the party leadership over decisions related to the Mumbai Congress, of which he was president in the past, and the impression that his supporters are being sidelined from routine functioning, sources said.
He was also unhappy over the choice of Sanjay Nirupam as city Congress chief and has publicly expressed his disapproval of the same. Party office-bearers from Kamats faction in the city unit complained that they were sidelined by Nirupam, leading to the widening of the rift between the warring groups.
Kamats discontent was visible during the two visits of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi to Mumbai in the past five months. As an act of protest, Kamat skipped Gandhis padyatra between Bandra and Dharavi over rising electricity bills in January and then the rally in support of jewellers in April.
Significantly, Kamat is known for sending his resignation to the party leadership when he is unhappy with certain decisions. He had quit as Youth Congress president and as a minister in the United Progressive Alliance government when he was not promoted as Cabinet minister.
A day after he announced his decision to resign from the party as well as politics, Kamat, 61, wrote to the party leadership and messaged his followers, insisting that he will continue to do social work but will not hold a party tag.
I will continue to be available for people minus the party tag for whatever help or issues to be taken up with different agencies from this weekend, Kamat stated in a text message to the media and his followers on Tuesday morning. I would also like to emphasise that I have the highest respect and regard for Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi and my resignation is purely on personal grounds.
The resignation comes ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections scheduled early next year. Party insiders believe this will hamper Congress prospects as Kamat, if not pacified, will not hesitate to use the support he enjoys in Mumbai politics against it.
Another group in Mumbai Congress, however, believes that his threat of resignation is a pressure tactic as he wants to have a say in the affairs of the city unit during the municipal elections. They also pointed out that Kamat always had problems with those heading the city unit of the party whether it was late Murli Deora or Kripashankar Singh.
Kamat, on the other hand, expressed his resentment at being ignored by the party leadership while informing his supporters on Monday evening of his resignation and exit from politics.
Over the last more than 44 years, I have worked with most of you and served the Congress. For several months now, I have felt I need to take a backseat to enable others to get the opportunity. I met honourable Congress president about 10 days ago and expressed a desire to resign, stated Kamat in a text message to his close aides. Subsequently, I sent letters to both Soniaji and Rahulji that I would like to exit. Since there was no reply, I have formally informed that I would like to retire from politics. I would like to thank each one of you for all the cooperation.
Kamat could not be reached for comment for this article despite repeated attempts.
Mohan Prakash, the All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra, said, I was in Bhopal attending a meeting of party legislators in connection with the Rajya Sabha elections. I have just come to know about the resignation. I will personally contact him and convince to revoke the decision.
Kamat is a member of the Congress Working Committee and a general secretary of the All India Congress Committee. He was in-charge of party affairs of Rajasthan, where Congress lost the assembly elections badly in 2013.
Three more persons, including two women, were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the kidney racket busted in Apollo Hospital in New Delhi last week, taking the total numbers of arrests in the high-profile case to eight.
The names of the three persons, yet to be disclosed by police, had emerged during the interrogation of the five arrested earlier, a senior official said.
The official further said, all three of them are donors associated with the racket. While two of them were apprehended from Kanpur, the other was arrested from Siliguri.
Meanwhile, another police team has been sent to Kanpur to conduct more raids to nab some other suspects identified in connection with the racket, which was active in several states across the nation.
The kingpin of the racket, Rajukumar Rao, who is suspected to have links with similar rackets with Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, is still at large.
Meanwhile, the investigators on Tuesday came across the name of another senior nephrologist in connection with the racket. It is suspected that a few kidney transplants, which were facilitated by the racketeers, were done by the doctor concerned in Apollo Hospital.
However, so far there is no evidence to prove his intent but the roles of his personal secretaries are under scanner, an official privy to the investigation had said.
During investigation, it has also emerged that some of the recipients who procured kidney from the racket had used forged documents to hide their addresses.
The police has short-listed the names of three senior doctors from the hospitals in-house assessment committee for verifying documents related to transplants. The three of them are likely to be questioned first as they had cleared the papers in connection with the surgeries under police scanner.
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.
Two more prominent private hospitals in the city have come under the police scanner.
Life has come a full circle for Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu.
The man, who played the role of a kingmaker in Delhi during the United Front regime and put Hyderabad on the global map as an IT destination, has now fallen off the national radar thanks to the bifurcation of erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh.
Naidu is struggling to rebuild the truncated state and get back into the limelight by creating a new capital of international standards.
In an exclusive interview after completing two years in office, Naidu told Hindustan Times about the challenges he has faced in handling the affairs of the new state, his relationship with the Centre as well as his counterpart in Telangana.
Here are the excerpts:
Q: Not long ago, you were one of the most popular political figures in national politics, calling shots in Delhi during the United Front government and later during the Vajpayee regime. Where is all the glory now? You are not heard and seen in Delhi now, and you hardly make it to the national news these days
A: Brother, it is history. I was the chief minister of combined Andhra Pradesh for nine years and Leader of Opposition for 10 years. No other chief minister of this state had got that opportunity. But if you go into history, the TDP has been in the national news since my father-in-law NT Rama Rao decimated the Congress party in the state for the first time and established the National Front.
After I became the chief minister, I played a key role in the establishment of United Front and making of two Prime Ministers and a President. Even during Vajpayee government, the TDP had its major supporter with 35 MPs. Everywhere, people used to talk about Andhra Pradesh, as I brought global players like Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Bill Gates and Wolfensohn to Hyderabad. Naturally, I was in the national focus.
Now, I am the chief minister of a smaller state with just 13 districts. That is the difference.
Q: Are you missing all that glory now?
A: Its okay; no regrets. My focus at present is only on developing my state, which is deprived of all its resources after the bifurcation and make it a model state. But, the day will come when people all over the world will talk about Amaravati, our new capital, which is 400 times bigger than Singapore in terms of area and 10 times in population.
Already, it has generated interest in China, Japan, Singapore, Gulf and Malaysia. It is only a matter of time that we shall get back our past glory.
Q: What has been the biggest challenge you had to face after taking over as the chief minister of residuary Andhra Pradesh state two years ago?
A: The biggest challenge for me in the last two years was to create infrastructure for the new capital and bring administration from Hyderabad to Amaravati amidst severe financial crisis and scarcity of human resources. We have started right from the scratch with a negative balance sheet. I have started functioning from a bus; then moved to a temporary camp office and now, we are building state secretariat complex. We are now focussing on capital infrastructure.
We have been requesting the Centre to come to our rescue whether it is by way of granting special category status or special financial package. The Centre has given some assistance, but it is not enough. We never wanted a separate state; it was the creation of the Centre. So, it is the responsibility of the Centre to provide all resources either by revising its policies or granting additional resources to AP till it gets the level-playing field with other states.
Q: But, the NDA government is ignoring your demand for special category status or granting special financial package on the lines of Bihar. Are you comfortable with the NDA?
A: I never had any problems with anybody, nor did I create any problems for the NDA leadership, since the days of Vajpayee. I dont have any ego problem. I can adjust with anybody for that matter. I am pursuing all the issues with the Centre with a lot of patience since AP is a two-year-old baby and I have to handle the relations carefully to get maximum benefits to the state.
Q: Of late, the relations between the TDP and BJP seem to have strained a lot. Do you think the alliance between the two parties will continue till 2019?
A: I dont think there are any serious differences between the two parties. All that we have been asking the BJP leaders is to lend a helping hand to the state by securing adequate funds and resources. In fact, as a goodwill gesture, we have given one Rajya Sabha seat to the BJP from Andhra Pradesh and I hope Suresh Prabhu, being the railway minister, will be of great help to the state. Let us see.
Q: You have taken up construction of Amaravati, the new capital as a mission. How much time will it take to complete the capital?
A: It has started and we are confident of completing it well within the schedule. The land acquisition is completed and we are now constructing buildings for offices. I want to develop Amaravati on par with the top 10 developed cities in the world.
Q: How is your equation with the Telangana government?
A: There are certain contentious issues but we want to sort them out amicably. Since the Centre is responsible for bifurcation, it should play the role of a gentleman to resolve them, instead of creating problems between the two states. We want to adopt a give and take an approach with Telangana. The Centre should compensate the losses caused to AP due to the bifurcation.
Q: Why are you encouraging defections from YSR Congress party, though the TDP has enough mandate from the people in the last elections?
A: I never forced anybody to join my party. People who are disgusted with his (YS Jaganmohan Reddy) style of functioning, are coming to us on their own. Otherwise, I am running a stable government.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Centre is going all out to ensure that in its second year, the International Yoga day is marked by a publicity blitz on public as well as private media platforms.
The ministry of information and broadcasting has asked all TV channels, community radio and FM stations to do their bit for the big-ticket event.
As it did last year, the ministry has asked the news broadcasters association, association of radio operators, community radio association apart from the public broadcaster, Doordarshan to air programmes in the run up to the June 21 event.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi who led the celebrations by joining in the Yoga practice at Rajpath in the Capital last year is expected to participate in the event in Chandigarh this year.
While the event itself is widely covered, the ministry is keen to promote the international affair.
In a communique the ministry has said: The forthcoming June 21 will be the second International Yoga Day and hence, it will hold special significance for India, particularly when the genesis of practice of Yoga is associated with our country and several initiatives have been taken by institutions, both public and private, to promote the cause.
The letter further says it is hoped that TV and radio broadcasters will take all possible steps this year also to promote the International Yoga Day by carrying special features or in any other befitting manner during the period leading to the occasion.
A similar exercise was carried out last year as well; when senior I&B ministry officials held discussions with private broadcasters to ensure wall-to-wall coverage that the international event that has put Yoga on the global map.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
From a bronze Ganesh to a Jain figure of Bahubali, the US has returned more than 200 pieces of rare cultural artefacts to India during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
From a bronze Ganesh to a Jain figure of Bahubali, here are pics of some of the returned cultural artefacts (Vikas Swarups Twitter account)
PM Modi at the ceremony for return of idols with US Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch.
Modi expressed his gratitude for the return of the ancient artefacts during a ceremony on Monday night here.
We are very grateful for government of the US and the President for returning a part of our culture. This heritage inspires us for the future, he said.
During her address at ceremony of Repatriation of Cultural Property, US Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said: Today (Monday) we begin the process of returning more than 200 stolen cultural objects back to India.
Attorney General Lorreta Lynch and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi look at the statue Khajuraho, 12th century, made from red sandstone, during a ceremony marking the repatriation of over 200 artifacts to the Indian government, in Washington. (AP)
Earlier, Modi paid tribute to the US space scientists who lost their lives during their research in space at the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial and also laid a wreath at Arlington Cemetery (Washington DC), the tomb of US soldiers killed during conflicts.
In homage to heroism and indomitable courage. PM @narendramodi at the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial pic.twitter.com/HXJwgPFs8f Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
During his visit to Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial, Modi met NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and the family of Kalpana Chawla, Indo-American astronaut, and invited them to visit India.
Honouring sacrifice, saluting valour. Formal engagements begin with a solemn ceremony at @ArlingtonNatl pic.twitter.com/6mF13EJElL Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
Narendra Modi, right, with Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, right of Modi, lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington. (AP)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, center, with Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, left, and, Maj. Gen. Bradley Becker, right, arrive to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington. (AP)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands with member of the Indian community in Washington upon his arrival at Andrews Air Force Base. (AP)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi being welcomed by Indian high commissioner to USA, Arun Singh on his arrival at Joint Base Andrews (JBA) in Washington DC. (PTI)
Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi gestures on his arrival at Joint Base Andrews (JBA), in Washington DC, USA on Monday. (PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves to the Indian community people on his arrival at Joint Base Andrews (JBA), in Washington D.C., USA on Monday. (PTI)
Modi arrived in Washington on Monday on a three-day visit, during which he will hold talks with President Barack Obama to review bilateral ties and address a joint session of the US Congress.
This is the Prime Ministers fourth visit to the US in the last two years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today laid a wreath at the Tomb of Unknown Soldiers and paid homage to Indian-American astronaut late Kalpana Chawla at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington.
Honouring sacrifice, saluting valour. Formal engagements begin with a solemn ceremony, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.
In homage to heroism and indomitable courage, Swarup said in another tweet.
He also had a brief interaction with the husband and family members of Chawla, senior officials from NASA, Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams and her father at Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial.
In the presence of astronaut Sunita Williams and Kalpana Chawla's family pic.twitter.com/sPJbrQxdPU Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
In homage to heroism and indomitable courage. PM @narendramodi at the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial pic.twitter.com/HXJwgPFs8f Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter accompanied the Prime Minister. Indian Ambassador to the US Arun K Singh, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, US Ambassador to India Richard Verma and Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal were also present on the occasion.
All of us are very honored that he took time to come and acknowledge the shuttle catastrophe and the deep cooperation that we have with India in the space world, Williams told PTI after her brief interaction with Modi.
Personally it is commemorating my friend (Kalpana Chawala), Williams said.
Modi spoke to Sunitas father in Gujarati and invited them to visit India.
With health permitting, I definitely look forward to visiting India, her father said.
The Prime Minister said come to India. Please come and visit, she said.
Chawlas husband Jean-Pierre Harrison presented a set of books on the late astronaut, including a biography written by him, to the Prime Minister.
The Tomb of the Unknowns is a monument dedicated to American service members who have died without their remains being identified.
VHP leader Sadhvi Prachi sparked off another controversy on Tuesday saying it is time to make India free of Muslims.
Known for courting controversies, the Sadhvi claimed the mission of a Congress-free India has already been accomplished and it is now time to rid the country of Muslims.
Now that we have achieved the mission of making a Congress-free India, it is time to make India Muslim-free. We are working on that, she said in Roorkee where at least 32 people were injured last week in a clash between two communities over forcible evacuation of a scrap dealers shop.
Khanpur MLA Kunwar Pranav Singh Champions house was attacked by members of a community alleging their sacred book was also desecrated by his supporters.
The Sadhvi claimed that the attack on Champions house was part of a premeditated conspiracy.
Champion, one of the nine Congress MLAs who revolted against chief minister Harish Rawat, recently joined BJP.
On the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, she said if BJP projects Yogi Adityananth as its chief ministerial candidate, it was bound to win 300 seats in the state.
Prachi had often been in the news for asking people to boycott films of Bollywood Khans and demanding a CBI probe into all Muslim educational institutions including Aligarh Muslim University and madrasas in Deoband to check anti- national activities.
The members of the Missile Technology Control Regime, a key anti-proliferation grouping, have agreed to admit India, diplomats said, in a win for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he meets President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday.
Diplomats with direct knowledge of the matter said a deadline for members of the 34-nation group to object to Indias admission had expired on Monday without any of them raising objections.
Under this so-called silent procedure, Indias admission follows automatically, diplomats from four MTCR member nations told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Obama was expected to say he was looking forward to Indias imminent entry into the MTCR when the two leaders address the press after their seventh bilateral meeting, sources aware of its agenda said.
Read: India bids for Nuclear Suppliers Group entry via MTCR membership
Admission to the MTCR would open the way for India to buy high-end missile technology, also making more realistic its aspiration to buy state-of-the-art surveillance drones such as the US Predator, made by General Atomics.
ARMS EXPORTER
India also makes a supersonic cruise missile, the Brahmos, in a joint venture with Russia that both countries hope to sell to third countries - a development that would make India a significant arms exporter for the first time.
Membership of the MTCR would require India to comply with rules - such as a maximum missile range of 300 km - that seek to prevent arms races from developing.
Italy had earlier objected to admitting India but, after an unrelated bilateral dispute was resolved, did not object this time within a 10-day deadline after the groups chair, the Netherlands, wrote to members suggesting India be welcomed.
An Italian marine, held for four years at the countrys embassy in New Delhi over the killing of two Indian fishermen in an anti-piracy operation in 2012, was recently allowed to return home.
No formal meeting is required for India to complete its entry into the missile control group, which was set up in 1987 to limit the spread of unmanned systems capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction.
The MTCR is one of four international non-proliferation regimes that India - which in recent decades has gone from being a non-aligned outsider to a rising nuclear-weapons power - has been excluded from.
New Delhi has also applied to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a 48-nation club that governs trade in commercial nuclear technology and was originally set up in response to Indias first atomic weapons test in 1974.
Joining the NSG will be much more difficult because China is a member and has backed the membership aspirations of Pakistan, its ally and Indias arch-rival.
Still, the breakthrough on the MTCR will be welcomed in the US Congress, which Modi will address on Wednesday. Congress ratified a civilian nuclear agreement with India in 2008 that seeks to build commercial ties, while at the same time binding New Delhi into the global security order.
Ahead of the summit, US-based nuclear reactor maker Westinghouse, a unit of Japans Toshiba Corp, has made progress towards a deal to build six reactors in Andhra Pradesh. A deal, if completed, would be the first to stem from the civil nuclear accord.
A fleet of Indian, US and Japanese warships will hold a large-scale joint naval exercise over eight days from Friday in the Western Pacific, close to a Japanese island chain, part of which China claims.
The three countries are finding greater convergence of their interests in the Indo-Pacific region in the wake of China taking an aggressive stand on the issues of sovereignty disputes.
Both Tokyo and New Delhi have shared concerns about China extending its naval presence in the Indian Ocean, wooing the littoral countries and scouting for bases.
As China pushes its territorial claims in the neighbouring South China Sea, the nations worry it will look to extend its influence into the Western Pacific, with a growing fleet of submarines and surface vessels to ply distant oceans.
The drill, dubbed Malabar, is an annual event between India and the US, and Japan is joining it this year for the first time since 2007, Japans ministry of defence said in a statement.
Among the Japanese warships, which will practise submarine hunting and anti-aircraft defence, will be the Hyuga, one of the countrys three new helicopter carriers. Last year, the drill was held in the Bay of Bengal near India.
Japans southwestern island chain, which hosts the biggest concentration of US military personnel in Asia, blocks Chinas east coast access to the Western Pacific. Japans military is reinforcing the islands with radar stations and anti-ship missile batteries.
Lying around 220 km west of Taiwan are a group of uninhabited isles, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, which are controlled by Tokyo and claimed by Beijing.
On Tuesday, China told the United States it should play a constructive role in safeguarding peace in the disputed South China Sea, as US secretary of state John Kerry called for talks and a peaceful resolution.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims, as well as close military ties with the United States.
US President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday welcomed the start of preparatory work on six nuclear reactors in India, a key step in closing the first deal stemming from a US-India civil nuclear accord struck over a decade ago.
India, US Export-Import Bank to work together toward a competitive financing package for nuclear reactors: India-US joint statement
Site design of six nuclear reactors in India to begin immediately: India-US joint statement
Obama, Modi confirm Nuclear Power Corporation Of India and Westinghouse will finalise contractual arrangements by June 2017.
India has made a name for itself as fastest growing economy in the world. Will work together for worlds peace and security -- Modi
We have discussed a range of issues of cooperation today from business and technology to governance -- Modi
India is a young country and we are aware of the talent it has. We will continue to work together in the future too -- Obama
India and USA have strong bonds -- Obama
Will meet again in G20 ,will fulfil dream of climate justice.Our friend Obama extended support to MTCR and NSG ; will always be grateful -- Modi
India is a young country, over 800 million of Indians below age of 35. Our youth power in partnership with US will serve mankind -- Modi
We are working shoulder to shoulder; we are proud. Will continue working together --Modi
Want to thank my close friend President Obama,we discussed a range of issues. Also thank US Congress for inviting me -- Modi
We discussed progress made on nuclear civil cooperation -- Obama
We discussed regional security issues; we wish to work together on cyber security -- Obama
I have fond memories of India when I took part in Republic Day -- Obama
For Modi, Tuesdays visit was a time to set the seal on what has been achieved and set the stage for what he hopes will be a mushrooming in US-India trade from $120 billion to $500 billion.
Read: Smart politics or true friendship? Understanding the Modi-Obama equation
For Obama, who will step down from office in January, it was a matter of his legacy -- friendship with India and inroads into its huge market are a victory for his so-called pivot to Asia.
Relations between the countries are not always easy -- India insists on staying out of formal alliances and forging its own course -- but both leaders can boast that ties have improved.
Modi was scheduled to meet with US business leaders and members of the three million strong Indian-American community after meeting Obama.
Officials played down the chances of major announcements during the visit, but noted that India is very close to a deal with US electric giant Westinghouse to build a nuclear plant.
Another potential arena for greater cooperation is in the military and security arena.
India has made the United States its main arms supplier -- spending $14 billion over the past five years -- but also spends heavily with French, Israeli and Russian suppliers.
The two countries are negotiating a Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), although it is not clear whether a final draft will be ready for Modi to sign on his visit.
This arrangement, long-sought by Washington, will allow the two militaries to seek supplies and spare parts from each others bases.
Singh did not say whether agreement was imminent -- India also wants deals to acquire advanced US arms technology -- but noted that Indian and US troops now train together regularly.
With inputs from agencies
Senior party leader and former Union minister Gurudas Kamats resignation from the Congress came as a surprise to many of his colleagues but not to his supporters who claim that matters had turned worse in the past three months.
Congress leaders are keeping a close watch on Kamat who while announcing his resignation from the party and retirement from active politics maintained that he would continue to do the social work.
Kamats move came on a day former Chhattisgarh chief minister and another veteran Congress leader Ajit Jogi quit the party to form his own political outfit.
The Congress also suffered a setback in Tripura where its sitting legislator Jitendra Sarkar quit the party and the assembly on Monday. The crisis deepened further when another group of six of the 10 legislators also quit the party in protest against its electoral understanding with the CPM-led Left Front in recent West Bengal assembly polls.
A Maharashtra Congress leader said it had become impossible for Kamat to stay put in the party where outsiders were given precedence over loyalists.
Kamat and Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam, who is originally from Bihar and left the Shiv Sena to join the party, were often at loggerheads over issues related to the functioning of the city unit.
Miffed over Nirupams unilateral decisions, Kamat had last year slammed him for allegedly threatening Mumbai municipal commissioner over the eviction of hawkers. As the matters worsened further, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi stepped in to play the role of a peacemaker and made desperate attempts to iron out the differences between the two leaders.
Kamat was also upset with the style of functioning of Mohan Prakash, the Congress general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra. He had repeatedly complained to the Congress high command about Prakash, accusing him of ignoring party loyalists during appointments.
His supporters cited the cases of having an outsider Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who was earlier with the Shiv Sena, as a Congress legislature party (CLP) leader in the Maharashtra assembly and nominating Narayan Rane, also an ex-Shiv Sainik, to the legislative council despite having lost the 2014 state assembly elections.
However, Kamats aides dismissed the suggestion that the immediate provocation was nominating former finance minister P Chidambaram to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra.
He had never sought a Rajya Sabha seat. Kamat is a fighter, who has won and lost elections. He will never prefer a back door entry to Parliament, one of his close aides said on the condition of anonymity.
In July 2011, an upset Kamat resigned from the Congress-led UPA government, headed by Manmohan Singh, after being appointed as a minister of state with independent charge of the then newly-created portfolio of drinking water and sanitation. He expressed the desire to work for the party.
But two years later in 2013, Kamat was named as a Congress general secretary and given the charge of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Daman and Diu, besides Dadra and Nagar Haveli, a post on which he continued till his resignation.
His supporters ruled out that he will take back his resignation.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
West Bengal chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, on Tuesday announced that her party would support the GST Bill within Parliament.
She instructed Finance Minister Dr Amit Mitra, who is also the chairman of the Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers on GST, to ensure that the bill is passed on the floor of the Parliament during the monsoon session.
Her statement comes as a major breather for the ruling BJP whose prime concern is to get the GST passed, especially in the Rajya Sabha, where it does not have sufficient strength to get the bill passed.
I have ideological differences with BJP and I politically oppose them. But that does not mean I will create a hindrance for passing a pro- people bill like of GST, the chief minister said, while addressing a felicitation ceremony organised by the different chambers of commerce.
Read:Finance minister Arun Jaitley hints at GST rollout next year
The bill is long pending and hence try to develop a consensus on the bill during the next two meetings of the empowered committee, she directed Mitra.
Mamata also attacked the Union government for allegedly misguiding enforcement agencies against the business community.
Agencies like the CBI, the Enforcement Branch and the Income Tax department are terrorising the business community and hence many industrialists are leaving the country after winding up their businesses,she said.
Mamata appealed to industrialists to not waste any more time investing in the state and asked them to stop giving recession-related excuses for not doing so.
What is recession? It is created by the people. If you are scared of recession then what is the point of doing business? You should not waste time in discussions, but start investing immediately. And if you face any problem my team of ministers and officers are always ready to help you and solve your problems,she said.
According to her, the automobile and manufacturing industries would be her focus in the coming days. Land would not be a problem in setting up industries, she asserted, while making it clear that she would continue with her policy on no government role for industry land procurement.
We want to regain Bengals past glory in the automobile and manufacturing sectors. Land will not be a problem. We do want anything forcefully. But we are ready with our land bank from where land can be allotted to industries, she added.
Read:Government determined to push through GST Bill in next session: Jaitley
Chief minister Akhilesh Yadavs efforts to shift the focus to development in Uttar Pradesh has received a severe jolt amid allegations of inept handling of the violence in Mathura and political patronage to the mastermind behind the clashes.
Read: Mathuras Jawahar Bagh pays the price: 2,500 trees missing
Opposition parties are losing no opportunity in taking political advantage of the incident months before the 2017 assembly elections in the state. The deteriorating law and order situation has already become the focus of their attacks. So has the chief minister for being lax and not taking the incident seriously.
Read: Charred vehicles, destroyed lives: A glimpse into the Mathura mayhem | Pics
A demand for dismissal of his uncle and minister for public works department Shivpal Singh Yadav has also been made for patronising Ramvriksh Yadav - the leader of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi.
Members of the little-known armed sect squatted in Jawahar Bagh area of the city 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 last 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.
Read: Mathura violence mastermind Ramvriksh Yadav dead: UP DGP
This triggered clashes and rioting inside the park that left at least 27 people dead.
Akhileshs attempts to assuage the feelings of people have failed and his detractors are blaming him for the whole issue calling his action as too little and too late.
Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav should have placed the district magistrate Rajesh Kumar and district police chief Rakesh Kumar Singh under suspension. He did not do so as the DM has been a district magistrate in Kannauj while the district police chief enjoyed patronage from a senior leader of the Samajwadi Party, Congress Legislature Party leader and Mathura MLA Pradeep Mathur said.
District magistrate Kumar and senior superintendent of police Singh were transferred days after violence broke out when police tried to evict encroachers from Jawahar Bagh.
The Congress has already demanded a probe into the whole issue by a sitting high court judge. I made repeated requests to the chief minister to discuss Jawahar Bagh issue in the past two years. The chief minister always avoided any discussion, he added.
His comments are in accordance with the line that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi took on the issue soon after the incident.
Unabated violence is a stark reminder of the deteriorating law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh--- Hope the Government ensures that peace in Mathura is restored immediately and the guilty are punished, Rahul tweeted.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has also blamed the chief minister for not taking the Mathura violence seriously. She demanded a CBI probe into the incident under the supervision of the Supreme Court.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday held statewide demonstrations to demand a CBI probe and dismissal of Shivpal Singh Yadav.
The ruling Samajwadi Party, on the other hand, adopted a counter strategy to wriggle out of the situation. On Monday, two senior party leaders Rajendra Chaudhary and Ambika Chaudhary strongly countered the accusations against its leaders and instead blamed the Centre for the Mathura clashes.
They demanded the resignation of Union home minister Rajnath Singh for not providing intelligence inputs to check the Mathura incident and said it was a political conspiracy to destabilise the SP government.
As demands for resignations from both sides is gaining momentum the truth may be lost in the din of politics of the ongoing blame game in Uttar Pradesh.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to entertain a petition by a BJP leader seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the violence in Mathuras Jawahar Bagh in which 29 people, including two police officers, were killed last week.
A vacation bench headed by justice PC Ghose asked Ashwini Upadhyay to approach the Allahabad high court instead. The court said that Upadhyay has not made any representation to the state government neither the Allahabad HC where a matter on the issue was already pending.
On Monday, the top court agreed to urgently hear the plea for a CBI inquiry into the Jawahar Bagh violence.
This is a matter which is to be looked into by the state government as the Centre does not have the power to order a CBI probe in the matter, the bench, also comprising of justice Amitava Roy, said.
Upadhyay alleged that Ram Vriksh Yadav, the alleged mastermind behind the attack and Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahis leader, was running a parallel government inside the Jawahar Bagh Park since 2014 with the backing of the local administration.
The petitioner said the Centre was ready for a CBI probe but the Uttar Pradesh government was developing cold feet over the issue. He also demanded uniform compensation for the families of those killed in the violence.
Twenty nine people, including a superintendent of police and an SHO, were killed in violent clashes between police and encroachers on June 2 when police tried to evict illegal occupants from Jawahar Bagh Park on the orders of the Allahabad HC.
Quoting media reports, Upadhyay alleged Yadav was very close to some politicians, ministers and the local administration was unwilling to act against the group.
Armed members of the group had been squatting at Jawahar Bagh but the local administration did not take appropriate action even as they built a self-sustaining community within the park during 2014-16.
They built huts and toilets, cultivated vegetables and disallowed others from entering the park. There were around 3000 squatters, 20 Lakh kg food grain, 200 cars and 400 gas cylinders in the park, he said.
The BJP leader also said the park had turned into a quasi-republic with its own Constitution, penal code, judicial system, prisons and army but the district administration was silent for two years.
The police recovered 47 guns, 6 rifles and 179 hand grenades from the camp. By June 3, they had arrested 368 people, 120 of whom were charged with creating disturbances. This included 196 preventive arrests, including those of 116 women, the petitioner said.
CBI inquiry is necessary to find out the root cause of the Mathura incident and nexus among the Executive, Legislatures and the extremist group
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama are scheduled to meet at the White House on Tuesday for over two hours that will include a working lunch to be attended by Vice President Joe Biden.
Read: Modi pays homage to Kalpana Chawla, thanks US for returning stolen artefacts
The seventh Modi-Obama meeting will highlight the deepening of the US-India relationship in key areas since the Presidents visit to New Delhi in January 2015, the White House said.
This is a pretty significant amount of time for the President and Prime Minister. They would be able to cover every single issue in the time allotted, a senior US official said,adding that the actual time has been expanded to provide ample opportunity to cover all issues.
Climate change, clean energy, defence co-operation on agenda
The President looks forward to discussing progress made on our climate change and clean energy partnership, security and defence cooperation, and economic growth priorities, the White House said, adding that Biden would will also attend.
Modi, Obama to address press after the meeting
After an hour-long meeting, the two leaders are briefly scheduled to address the press inside the Oval Office for about 15 minutes.
Obama to host Modi for a working lunch
Soon thereafter Obama would host Modi for a working lunch in the Cabinet Room of the White House. Biden would also be present for the lunch.
They have two pretty lengthy meetings. One would be in the Oval Office. Then there is a little bit of a press spray. Then they would shift to a lunch meeting as well. It is pretty significant, the official said.
Modi is currently on a three-day US visit. On Wednesday, he would address a joint meeting of the US Congress.
India and the US agreed on Tuesday to begin preparatory work on building six nuclear reactors in India as Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Barack Obama, who backed New Delhis candidature for the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India and US firm Westinghouse will immediately begin engineering and site design work for the AP1000 nuclear reactors and conclude contractual arrangements by June 2017.
Obama and Modi welcomed the start of the preparatory work on the reactors, a key step towards closing the first deal based on the landmark US-India civil nuclear deal struck more than a decade ago.
Read | As it happened: PM Modi meets Prez Obama, holds talks at White House
India and the US Export-Import Bank will work together for a competitive financing package for the project, the two leaders said in a joint statement. The project will be among the largest of its kind when it is completed and it will fulfill the promise of the civil nuclear agreement.
Addressing the media with Modi after their talks at the White House that lasted more than an hour, Obama backed Indias entry into the NSG. I indicated support to India being a part of NSG, he said.
India needs technology that is critical for its progress and prosperity, Obama added.
Modi said, I am thankful for the help and support that my friend President Obama has extended with regard to membership in MTCR (Missile Technology Control Regime) and NSG.
Entry in MTCR group
Obamas remarks came hours after Reuters reported that members of the MTCR had agreed to admit India. Diplomats with knowledge of the matter said a deadline for members of the 34-nation group to object to Indias admission expired on Monday without any member raising objections.
Under this silent procedure, Indias admission followed automatically, diplomats from four MTCR member nations said.
Read |India clears final hurdle to join missile control group, say diplomats
Admission to the MTCR will pave the way for India to buy high-end missile and UAV technology. It will also be able to market weapons systems such as the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, developed with Russia, to third countries.
During their meeting, Obama and Modi discussed a range of issues, included terrorism, clean energy, climate change, regional security and cyber-security. Obama said it was natural for the two biggest democracies to deepen and broaden their partnership. Modi said the two leaders discussed ways to take bilateral economic ties to new heights.
Obama also said he had discussed with Modi how to bring the landmark Paris climate change agreement into force as quickly as possible. Modi expressed support for the enactment of the climate accord this year.
I believe what Prime Minister Modi has said about this is that India shares the objective that the US has laid out, which is to see the agreement come into force this year, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a news briefing.
Indias backing will provide significant global momentum towards implementing the historic agreement, the White House said. The US reaffirms its commitment to join the agreement as soon as possible this year. India similarly has begun its processes to work toward this shared objective, it added.
Both countries are committed to working together and with others to promote full implementation of the Paris Agreement to address the urgent threats posed by climate change, the White House said.
Referring to the agreement on building six nuclear reactors, Brian Deese, senior advisor to the US President, told reporters that these plants will bring clean energy to India and generate thousands of jobs in the US.
The White House said the steps the two governments had taken in the past two years through the US-India Contact Group, including by addressing the nuclear liability issue through Indias ratification of the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage, have laid a strong foundation for a long-term partnership between US and Indian companies for building nuclear power plants in India.
While addressing the media, Obama said India and the US have strong bonds while Modi said India had made a name for itself as the worlds fastest growing economy and it will work with the US for the worlds peace and security.
India is a young country, over 800 million of Indians are below the age of 35. Our youth power in partnership with the US will serve mankind, Modi said. We are working shoulder to shoulder; we are proud. We will continue working together.
I have fond memories of India when I took part in the Republic Day, Obama said. India is a young country and we are aware of the talent it has. We will continue to work together in the future too.
(With inputs from agencies)
Read | Smart politics or true friendship? Understanding the Modi-Obama equation
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid a wreath at the Tomb of Unknown Soldiers on Tuesday and paid homage to Indian-American astronaut late Kalpana Chawla at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington.
Honouring sacrifice, saluting valour. Formal engagements begin with a solemn ceremony. In homage to heroism and indomitable courage, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said a series of tweets.
Honouring sacrifice, saluting valour. Formal engagements begin with a solemn ceremony at @ArlingtonNatl pic.twitter.com/6mF13EJElL Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
Modi also briefly interacted with the husband and family members of Chawla, senior officials of NASA, Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams and her father at Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial.
US defense secretary Ashton Carter accompanied the Prime Minister. Indian ambassador to the US Arun K Singh, foreign secretary S Jaishankar, US ambassador to India Richard Verma and assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal were also present on the occasion.
All of us are very honoured that he took time to come and acknowledge the shuttle catastrophe and the deep cooperation that we have with India in the space world, Williams told PTI after her brief interaction with Modi.
In a gesture to solidify US-India ties, the former returned over 200 cultural artefacts estimated at $100 million (about Rs 660 crore) at a ceremony attended by the Prime Minister.
For some, these artefacts may be measured in monetary terms but for us this is beyond that. Its a part of our culture and heritage, Modi said at the ceremony held at the Blair House.
From a bronze Ganesh to a Jain figure of Bahubali, here are pics of some of the returned cultural artifacts pic.twitter.com/k1BmSytUY4 Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
Items returned included religious statues, bronzes and terra cotta pieces, some dating back 2,000 years, looted from some of Indias most treasured religious sites. Among the pieces returned is a statue of Saint Manikkavichavakar, a Hindu mystic and poet from the Chola period (circa 850 to 1250 AD) stolen from the Sivan Temple in Chennai, which is valued at $1.5 million (about Rs 10 crore).
The artefacts that speak to Indias astounding history and beautiful culture are beginning their journey home, US attorney general Loretta E Lynch said. It is my hope and the hope of the American people that this repatriation will serve as a sign of our great respect for Indias culture; our deep admiration for its people; and our sincere appreciation for the ties between our nations.
Later in the day, Modi interacted with the heads of US think-tanks.
The aim of the interaction was to understand from them how they see the global trends in the coming years, the challenges and what the US and India could do together, ambassador to the US Arun K Singh said.
The think-tanks were from Brookings, Council on Foreign Relations, Centre for American Progress, the Atlantic Council, Houston Institute, Central for National Interest, Global Energy Capital, Carnegie Endowment, the Asia Group, Pew Research Centre, the US Institute of Peace and the Foundation for Defence of Democracies.
So, this is sort of think tanks representing whole spectrum of opinion here, said Singh. It was in that framework that different current global issues were in a medium and longer term perspective, and we looked at opportunities and ways for us to be able to work together.
On Day 2, Prime Minister Modi will meet Obama, followed by a lunch at the White House. Later in the day, he will meet business leaders in the US and address the US-India Business Council. Modi will address a joint meeting of the US Congress on the final day of his three-day visit, before heading to Mexico City.
Read: India and US should not miss this chance to set a global example
Jean-Paul Harrison, husband of Kalpana Chawla, the Indian-American astronaut who died in 2003, wore a colourful jacket to his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.
Modi recognised it immediately. He noticed it was a Gujarati jacket, Harrison said after his brief meeting with Modi at Arlington national cemetery.
The Prime Minister began his three-day tour on Monday, his fourth to the US since taking office, by laying a wreath at the memorial to the unknown soldier at the cemetery to a 19-gun salute.
He met Harrison and other relatives of Chawla, who died in the crash of the Columbia space shuttle, just a short distance away at a separate memorial to the astronauts.
Chawla, who was born in Karnal, Haryana and was the first Indian-American woman in space, perished in the crash of the shuttle in February 2003.
Harrison gave Modi two books about Chawla, one of which, he said, was signed by her NASA colleagues. The other was her biography written by Harrison.
Sunita Williams, another Indian-American astronaut who holds the record for the maximum number of space walks by a woman - seven - too was at the memorial to meet Modi.
She brought along Deepak Pandya, her father whom the Prime Minister greeted in Gujarati and spent some time talking with. He spoke to him more than me, she complained with a smile.
Pandya, who met Modi in 2007 when he was chief minister of Gujarat, was mobbed by Indian journalists covering the event for comments, as Williams looked on fondly.
US returns stolen Indian artefacts
The US handed over to Modi 12 historical artefacts stolen from India and recovered by authorities in America one of them dating back more than 2,000 years. The artefacts were handed over by US attorney general Loretta Lynch.
My gratitude to the US govt for the sensitivity shown to India's heritage, Modi said, according to a tweet from the external affairs ministry spokesman. This will evoke great respect among the people of India, another tweet said.
Spokesman Vikas Swarup said the US has identified around 200 such stolen artefacts recovered in America that are in the process of being returned to India.
Lynch said: The pieces you see here today represent just a fraction of the collection seized by ICE as part of Operation Hidden Idol, whose primary suspect is Subhash Kapoor.
She added: This operation uncovered one of the largest antiquities smuggling operations on US soil, resulting in the recovery of more than 3,000 artifacts including religious statues, bronzes and terra cotta art that are over 2,000 years old.
Collectively, the recovered objects are valued at more than $150 million.
Kapoor, a New York-based art dealer who has been called the ultimate temple raider, was arrested in 2011 and extradited to India in 2012. He is being tried in Chennai.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi may visit Israel early next year, as both countries prepare to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of full diplomatic relations, an official of the Jewish state said.
Prime Minister Modi, that we know, wants to go and visit Israel. We dont have any specific dates. I can tell you that next year, we are celebrating 25 years of full diplomatic relations. It is a major milestone and will be celebrated with high-level visits on both sides, the spokesperson of Embassy of Israel, Ohad Horsandi, told PTI.
The two countries established full diplomatic relations on January 29, 1992. Modis visit, if it happens, would be the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the Jewish state. Horsandi also confirmed that Israeli President Reuven Rivlin proposed to visit India.
We dont know when he (Rivlin) is going to visit. We are hoping to a find a suitable date thats good for India and for Israel because Modi is a busy man and (undertakes) lot of trips, he said.
Our Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) is (also) very keen to visit India, Horsandi added.
The diplomat noted that recent years saw high-level bilateral visits, with President Pranab Mukherjee making a trip to Israel in 2015 and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in January this year, and (the then) Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon coming to India for the first time last year.
Since the establishment of full diplomatic relations in 1992, he said bilateral relations have gradually grown and improved in almost every field, whether its defence, agriculture, trade or tourism.
On the proposed regional comprehensive economic agreement between India and Israel, he said both sides understood its benefits.
Seven rounds of discussions have already taken place in this regard.
In many ways, Indian and Israeli economies are complementary. We are hoping to have further discussions in the next few months on this (proposed agreement) to see how it can go further, Horsandi added.
With Qatar Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani pardoning several prisoners for Ramadan, including 23 Indians, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed his gratitude to the Emir.
A special gesture to mark the start of a special month...the Government of Qatar releases 23 prisoners, who will return home to India. My deepest gratitude to the Emir of Qatar for the gesture. tweeted Prime Minister Modi, who is in Washington on a bilateral visit at the invitation of President Barack Obama.
A special gesture to mark the start of a special month...the Government of Qatar releases 23 prisoners, who will return home to India. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 6, 2016
My deepest gratitude to the Emir of Qatar for the gesture. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 6, 2016
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani issued an Emiri gesture pardoning a number of prisoners on the occasion of the Holy Month of Ramadan, reported Qatar News Agency.
Though official figures have yet to be released, many of the pardoned prisoners, typically hail from nations that have a lot of nationals here, including India, Nepal, Bangladesh and the Philippines, said Doha News, adding Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani typically pardons inmates twice a year, including National Day on Dec. 18.
Those who are freed have usually already served a significant portion of their jail terms and the pardons are seen as a sign of goodwill toward Qatars large expat population, said embassy officials.
More information about those who are pardoned will be sent to their respective embassies in the coming weeks.
Nearly 100 people were pardoned during Ramadan for crimes related to theft, possession of drugs and fraud, among other crimes in previous years.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Modi concluded his visit to Qatar, where he held meetings with business leaders and the Emir of Qatar, followed by signing of agreements, a lunch hosted by the Emir, a meeting with the father Emir and an interaction with the Indian community.
A young social activist, whose efforts helped in the rescue of as many as 111 child labourers, was assaulted by two unidentified persons when she was on her way to Morbi town in Gujarats Saurashtra region.
Police said Jharna Joshi, in her early twenties, has been admitted in a local hospital for injuries on her forehead, arms and legs after she was attacked on Sunday night.
Joshi, who is from Ahmedabad, had joined the Sonaki Ceramics firm to expose the use of child labour there and conducted a sting operation for nearly two months.
She was attacked near Halvad town when she was on her way to Morbi on her scooter by two unidentified persons riding a motorcycle.
They halted me by crossing my way and asked if I was Jharna the girl who rescued child labourers. Just as I said yes, they attacked me, Joshi told Gujarati channel Sandesh News.
According to Morbis deputy superintendent of police GM Malek, Joshi had been receiving threats ever since she got the child labourers freed from the ceramics factory. He said she had suspected that the threats were being issued at the behest of Sonaki Ceramics owner Jignesh Patel who was livid following the sting operation, and had warned her.
Malek said the police have registered an FIR about the attack on Joshi and launched investigations to nab the assailants.
India may join the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) very quickly as there are no longer any major obstacles and things are moving positively, a senior US official has said.
We do expect that India will join MTCR very quickly. I think things are moving positively, a senior Obama administration official told PTI when asked about the possibility of India joining the 34-member group.
There are no longer any major obstacles that we are aware of, the official said on Monday.
US President Barack Obama has strongly backed Indias membership into the MTCR and three other export control regime - Australia Group, Nuclear Suppliers Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement.
The move will boost Indias efforts to purchase Predator drones from the US and export its high-tech missiles to friendly nations.
However, on India becoming a member of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) where China is openly opposing it, the Obama administration is keeping its fingers crossed for the moment.
On NSG, there is a process that is still ongoing. I do not think the NSG plenary is not meeting until later in this month. Lets see how it goes but the US is absolutely, categorically, unreservedly committed to Indias membership in the NSG.
The US and India and other friendly countries are working actively together to see that India get there, the official, who requested anonymity, added.
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 worlds key missile manufacturers, to restrict their exports of missiles and related technologies capable of carrying a 500-kg payload at least 300 kilometres 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 MTCRs announcement, India and the US are expected to fast-track their discussion on sale of predator series of unmanned aircraft for the Indian military.
The United States said on Tuesday that it recognises India as a major defence partner and would treat it at a level similar to the closest allies of the US.
Indias foreign secretary S Jaishankar called it a notable development while briefing reporters about the third summit held in Washington on Tuesday between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Barack Obama.
India recognised as a major defence partner for the US, we would be treated at a level similar to the closest allies of the US: Foreign Secy ANI (@ANI_news) June 7, 2016
The US also promised to cooperate with India against terrorist threats from groups such as Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba and the D company, a reference to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
In this context, they (the two leaders) directed their officials to identify specific new areas of collaboration at the next meeting of USIndia Counterterrorism Joint Working Group, said a joint statement issued after the talks.
Terrorism was also the focus of the discussion. There was disccusion on how to deepen US-India colalboration against terrorism: Foreign Secy ANI (@ANI_news) June 7, 2016
The American side also committed itself to treating Pathankot attack at par with 26/11 terror strike in terms of ensuring punishment to perpetrators based in Pakistan, Jaishankar added.
US commitment to bring 2008 Mumbai attackers to justice now extends to #PathankotAttack as well: Foreign Secy on PM-Pres.Obama meet ANI (@ANI_news) June 7, 2016
Giving details of the discussion between PM Modi and President Obama, Jaishankar said that a fair amount of time was spent on how to finance clean energy. He added the two leaders reaffirmed their support for a reformed United Nations Security Council with India as a permanent member and for addressing global development and security challenges.
Jaishankar said that India is looking forward to the acceptance of its application to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group and that the matter will come up for discussion at the end of this month in South Korea.
This matter will come up for discussion end of this month in South Korea, US has been supportive of this process for some time now: FS ANI (@ANI_news) June 7, 2016
Earlier on Tuesday, India and the US agreed to begin preparatory work on building six nuclear reactors in India as Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Barack Obama, who backed New Delhis candidature for the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India and US firm Westinghouse will immediately begin engineering and site design work for the AP1000 nuclear reactors and conclude contractual arrangements by June 2017.
Obama and Modi welcomed the start of the preparatory work on the reactors, a key step towards closing the first deal based on the landmark US-India civil nuclear deal struck more than a decade ago.
Addressing the media with Modi after their talks at the White House that lasted more than an hour, Obama backed Indias entry into the NSG. I indicated support to India being a part of NSG, he said.
India needs technology that is critical for its progress and prosperity, Obama added.
Modi said, I am thankful for the help and support that my friend President Obama has extended with regard to membership in MTCR (Missile Technology Control Regime) and NSG.
Read | India clears final hurdle to join missile control group, can buy high-end tech
During their meeting, Obama and Modi discussed a range of issues, included terrorism, clean energy, climate change, regional security and cyber-security. Obama said it was natural for the two biggest democracies to deepen and broaden their partnership. Modi said the two leaders discussed ways to take bilateral economic ties to new heights.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will again question Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat on Tuesday in connection with the ongoing preliminary probe into an alleged sting operation against him in which he was shown offering bribe to rebel Congress MLAs to save his government.
The CBI had earlier questioned Rawat on May 24 for over five hours in this regard.
I believe the entire nation is watching this. And very soon there will be a solution to this conspiracy, Rawat said.
Continuing his tirade against the BJP-led Centre for handing over the matter to the CBI, Rawat this was done when Uttarakhand was under Presidents Rule.
Meanwhile, state BJP president Ajay Bhatt said that Rawat should cooperate with the CBI rather than blaming anyone in this regard.
He should cooperate with the CBI. Why is he blaming us? Bhatt said.
Earlier, the Uttarakhand high court had refused to quash the ongoing CBI probe, following which the agency had summoned the chief minister.
The TV sting operation was done in March, when rebel Congress lawmakers voted against the state budget, triggering a political crisis.
Later, Rawat government was sacked by the Centre and the state was placed under Presidents Rule.
However, Congress knocked the door of the Court and Rawat returned as chief minister after winning a trust vote ordered by the Supreme Court.
Volunteers of rightwing groups are being asked to prepare themselves for the construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya in the poll-bound state of Uttar Pradesh during a weapons training programme in Madhya Pradesh.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) made its intentions clear during the week-long training camp for its women activists saying they will have to tackle any obstacle during the construction of the temple in the communally sensitive state, where polls are slated for early 2017.
Durga Vahini volunteers, who are being trained on the outskirts of Madhya Pradeshs capital city of Bhopal, learned to shoot guns and use cane sticks during the Shourya Prashikshan Shivir or Bravery Training Camp. VHP and aBajrang Dal activists also attended the camp.
Durga Vahini came into existence after Babri Masjid demolition. Thats why we are asked to be prepared and get ourselves trained to tackle any such situation in future which may come in the way of the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, Kirti Dixit, Bhopal convener of the VHPs womens wing, told Hindustan Times.
Dixit added that they were taught to use firearms and cane sticks to save themselves from anti-social elements and protect the Hindu dharma.
VHPs Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh regional pracharak Rajesh Tiwari also echoed similar sentiments saying the youngsters learnt about self-defence and Hindu sanskriti.
We are happy that our womens wing is showing immense enthusiasm in the training camp for construction of the Ram Temple. They will definitely play an important role in Ram Mandir, Tiwari said.
The VHP, which is affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), decided to launch the construction of the controversial temple from December 31 during the Ujjain Kumbh. The RSS is considered the ideological fountainhead of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre.
We kept our patience, but wont wait beyond December, VHP general secretary said while addressing saints at the religious gathering that is held once in 12 years.
Days later, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat also raised the issue at the Vaicharik Kumbh organised by the MP government but did not back the VHP call.
VHP office-bearers said that the construction of the temple may be the immediate goal in their sight but the larger objective behind the training camp attended by about 1,000 activists was to save the Hindu Rashtra and its sanskriti.
The BJP, however, distanced itself from the camps saying the Bajrang Dal and VHP do not constitute the party and people should listen to only to the government on such issues.
Last month, a VHP leader was among several people booked by police for allegedly instigating religious sentiments by imparting arms training to women cadres of a right-wing affiliate in Varanasi.
At least 70 members of the Durga Vahini were trained to shoot with air rifles and fight with cane sticks during the controversial camp at the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Varanasi camp came close to a similar training programme organised by the Bajrang Dal at Ayodhya. The earlier camp too ran into a controversy after a video showing activists fighting volunteers dressed as terrorists in robes and skull caps surfaced.
A Bajrang Dal leader was arrested over the camp which the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) said was organised to polarise the state ahead of the assembly polls next year.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Citing past experience, Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma said on Monday that signing peace agreements with armed militant groups has done more harm than good in the state.
The earlier approach of signing peace agreement has harmed the state more. We have burnt our fingers in the past by engaging talks with the so-called militant outfits, Sangma said during a press briefing.
The GNLA (a militant outfit operating in western Garo Hills region) is an offshoot of that peace deal, he said while referring to the tri-partite ceasefire agreement signed with the Achik National Volunteer Council (now disbanded) which has given rise to mushrooming of militant outfits including the GNLA.
The peace pact was signed in 2004 and it took a decade to finally disarm the ANVC and its break-away faction the ANVC-B.
The chief ministers statement comes in the wake of criticism of the governments official disarmament of a relatively small armed militant group the United Achik Liberation Army (UALA) at Tura.
Sangma said, there is no mandate for political dialogue with UALA, it is just a platform to come overground through this channel created by the government.
While raising the issue of availability of arms and explosives from across the international border from Myanmar and Bangladesh, Sangma said, It calls for an action to put pressure on Bangladesh so that their soil is not used by insurgent outfits including the HNLC. It is a matter of time that the Centre gets the support of its counterparts.
According to him, armed groups like the Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) are operating from across the international border.
Expressing optimism that the exercise will soon witness positive outcome, the chief minister asserted, We will ensure that Bangladesh will no longer be a safe haven for the HNLC. This is my commitment to the people.
Vultures hover overhead, cackling hyenas gnaw at hundreds of carcasses and a putrid stench of decomposing flesh draw attention to an elevated area in the Aravalli hills of drought-battered eastern Rajasthan. Its the graveyard of abandoned cattle.
The grim situation at Kochar village of Sawai Madhopur district belies the governments promise and push to protect cows and bulls as severe drought over the past 45 days have forced people to simply abandon their cattle on a flat, barren and rocky hilltop.
The site, about 30 km long and 7 km wide, is where Kochar is located along with 25 other villages many of them deserted as seven ponds that fed the area have dried up this year. Cows need at least 70 litres of water a day.
Bereft of vegetation, fodder and water, the forsaken cattle mostly old and feeble were dying by the dozen and becoming food for scavengers such as vultures and hyenas. A survey by the administration showed around 800 cows were abandoned there, and half of them have perished already.
There is always some water and scrub vegetation on which the cows survive. But this year, many died because of the water and food shortage, said Ramkesh Gurjar of nearby Khad Satolai village, about 120 km east of Jaipur.
The deaths have triggered a political slugfest between the opposition Congress and the BJP government in the state, which has a dedicated department for cow protection called directorate of Gaupalan.
The BJP stands fully exposed. The Congress never makes cow a political issue but the BJP seeks votes in the name of cows and temples. But where is the BJP government when cows are dying in thousands? asked Rajasthan unit Congress chief Sachin Pilot.
He visited the area about a month ago and had apparently prodded the government to take action.
The Congress pointed to the cattle deaths after the Vasundhra Raje government on Tuesday transferred a police officer in Pratapgarh for arresting members of a vigilante group, Gau Raksha Dal, for stripping and assaulting people transporting cows.
Rajasthan has banned the sale and slaughter of cows, considered sacred in Hinduism, while vigilantes have stepped up efforts to enforce the prohibition.
For its part, the government dismissed allegations of laxity. Instead, gaupalan or cow welfare minister Otaram Dewasi accused the Congress of politicising the issue. As soon as we came to know of cows dying, I spoke to the collectors and sought a report. Based on their report, we sanctioned Rs 1 crore, he said.
The former additional district magistrate of Karauli, Mahavir Singh Rajpurohit, backed the ministers claim. The situation got aggravated because the area received only one-third the normal rainfall in the past two years, he said.
Besides funds, fodder was on the way too. Radha Krishna Gaushala in Sawai Madhopur has been authorised to route the fodder supply, district collector Anandhi said.
A resident of Sawai Madhopur, who first initiated relief work, thanked the administration for its supportive. It donated money that helped us get fodder and water tankers. The gaushalas also sent fodder. Earlier, 50-60 cows were dying daily but now 4-5 cows are dying, said Mahesh Chaprana.
The Congress was not convinced, though. The partys state unit secretary, Danish Abrar, said the government took more than a month to release funds and send the first fodder truck.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Monday demanded the resignation of Union home minister Rajnath Singh for the Mathura violence that claimed 29 lives, including two police officials.
Terming the violence a political conspiracy, senior SP leaders Ambika Chaudhary and Rajendra Chaudhary said, The central government failed to alert the state government about armed Maoists having assembled in Jawahar Bagh located in the heart of the city. Its the failure of the central intelligence agencies and the Union home minister should resign on moral grounds.
They claimed that Maoists from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar had assembled in the park. The central intelligence agencies were aware of their designs but failed to alert the state government.
Read: SC dismisses plea seeking CBI probe into Mathura clashes
A Tuesday morning flight from Mumbai to Nairobi, Kenya, returned to the city after its crew found that the on-board toilets were dysfunctional.
The Kenya Airways flight took off from Mumbai around 7.30am, about an hour behind schedule. An hour into the flight, the crew discovered that at least two toilets were not working, according to passengers. As a result, they decided to fly back to Mumbai. The flight returned to Mumbai around 9.15 am but that didnt end passengers ordeal.
For about an hour after turning back, the crew did not offer us water. Snacks were served on board after fliers began to lose their cool, said Ashutosh Tiwari, one of the 150-odd passengers. Tiwari added that unable to take the long wait, some passengers called off the trip. The crew refused to give information and was unapologetic about whole experience. As a result, some passengers chose to get off the plane, added Tiwari.
Although the crew kept giving updates that was flight was almost ready to leave, the passengers continued to wait inside the aircraft at least until 1pm. It takes over six hours to travel between Mumbai and Nairobi. The Kenyan Airways staff at T2 told HT that officials at its reservation office in Andheri would comment on the matter but despite several calls the airlines staff was not available for a comment.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Nearly 90 minutes after boarding a Jet Airways flight bound to Ahmedabad from Mumbai on Tuesday, passengers were told that the flight was cancelled. The flight time between the two cities is just about 60 minutes.
Fliers were ostensibly more irked because the airline blamed the temporary closure of the Ahmedabad airstrip for the last-minute cancellation. I can understand if a flight is cancelled owing to a technical snag. But an airline should not lie to people, said Vijay V, a passenger.
A Jet Airways spokesperson said that the delay was primarily caused by a snag. Jet Airways flight 9W 327 from Mumbai to Ahmedabad did a ground return at Mumbai owing to technical reasons, and the aircraft is currently being inspected by the airlines Jet Airways engineering team. Moreover, because of the runway closure at Ahmedabad, both Jet Airways flights 9W 327/328 Mumbai Ahmedabad - Mumbai were not operated, said a Jet Airways spokesperson, adding that the airline was making arrangements to accommodate the guests on alternate carriers and reroute guests via alternate points to/from Mumbai/Ahmedabad.
According to passengers, boarding the 8.45am flight was completed by 7.20am. Soon, the aircraft started taxiing towards the runway but did not take off for about 20 minutes.
Then the airline crew allegedly said that the aircraft would head back to its parking bay citing some engineering glitch. More than an hour later, the crew announced that the flight was cancelled owing to closure of the Ahmedabad runway.
Another set of passengers booked to travel to Mumbai on board the same aircraft were also held up in Ahmedabad, said airport officials.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
The civic bodys inquiry into the desilting scam, which unearthed the civic official-contractor nexus and resulted in blacklisting of some of the contractors, seems to have hit its pre-monsoon work.
With the monsoon barely a week away, Hindustan Times invited an expert panel to audit nine stormwater drains and six roads across the city. Their conclusion is the same as every year with many nullahs yet to be thoroughly cleaned, the city is not rain-ready.
Even after floating tenders thrice, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was unable to appoint contractors for desilting projects in April. The contractors had asked for amounts higher than the estimated rates, and the tenders for cleaning minor nullahs did not receive any response.
This led to a delay in awarding contracts and thus incomplete work. Minor nullahs are now being cleaned by labourers from NGOs.
The panel comprising two former engineers with the civic body and two citizen activists visited nine nullahs (stormwater drains) and five roads at different locations in the city on June 3.They rated the monsoon preparedness work at 5.1 out of 10.
Why does the civic body suffer every year, even after spending crores on desilting? The expert panel blames it on lack of planning, lackadaisical attitude towards maintenance and concentration on big-ticket projects.
For instance, the BMC has, on several occasions, admitted how encroachments near nullahs make the cleaning work tough and maintaining cleanliness tougher. However, the illegal settlements continue to thrive, with some of the nullahs being completely blocked by slum dwellers.
A case in point could be the Behrampada nullah in Bandra (East), where illegal settlements run parallel to the nullah. There is no access route for desilting machines to reach the nullah. HT panelists rated it as the worst, with an embarrassing 2 out of 10. Two of the panelists scored it zero.
The civic body claims it has taken measures such as seeking assistance from the advanced locality management (ALM), awareness programmes and putting up posters to dissuade citizens from throwing garbage into the nullah. We clean and desilt the nullah regularly, but within a day, it is choked with garbage, said a civic official.
The civic body recently demolished 27 structures blocking the flow of Chamdawadi nullah in Bandra (East). After last years deluge, all deputy municipal commissioners and ward officers were given 10 days to carry out the cleanliness drive at all nullahs and were asked to continue with it throughout the monsoon.
However this year, the drive hardly took off and in a knee-jerk reaction the BMC may announce more such drives.
Referring to use the BMC Act, 1888 to solve these problems, DK Pathak, former storm water drain engineer, said, There should be no settlements within 6m radius of these nullahs. If such settlements come up, the civic body has the right to demolish it.
The 3.19 lakh students from the Mumbai division who passed the secondary school certificate (SSC) exam on Monday may find it tough to get a seat in the citys top junior colleges. Reason: there are only 2.69 lakh first year junior college (FYJC) seats on offer. Moreover, the top scores of the ICSE and CBSE board students are much higher than the SSC board students.
While educationists are wondering if scoring above 95% will be sufficient for SSC students to bag a seat in a college and course of their choice, they expect the national education board students to dominate the first FYJC admission list.
The ICSE and CBSE board had more students scoring 95% and above. This will surely reflect in the merit lists. With the admissions going fully online this year, students will have to be very careful about the options they fill in to avoid losing out on seats in good colleges, said Manju Nichani, principal of KC College at Churchgate.
This year, however, more students earned distinction (75% and above), which principals hope will help them get seats in the second and third merit lists.
From a batch of 77, most students have scored distinction. The lowest scorer has also secured first class. We have 29 students scoring above 90%, but only one student has scored 95%, said Freny Mehta, principal of Alexandra Girls High School in Fort.
At Swami Vivekanand School in Chembur, 94 of the 362 students scored above 90%, but barely four managed to go beyond 95%. Most CBSE and ICSE schools had pointed that at least 25% or above from their batch had scored above 95% in the boards this year. In ICSE exams, 16 students from Maharashtra had scored above 98.6%, while two students scored 99%.
Even if the first few seats go to non-state board, SSC students can be assured that therell be plenty of seats left for them in colleges of their choice, said Marie Fernandes, principal of St Andrews College in Bandra.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
With the monsoon barely a week away, Hindustan Times invited an expert panel to audit nine stormwater drains and six roads across the city. This is their analysis of ground reality:
RAFIQ NAGAR NULLAH, GOVANDI: A major nullah in the eastern suburbs, it carries stormwater from Govandi, Mankhurd, Chembur and Ghatkopar. Running parallel to the Deonar dumping ground, the nullah connects to the Thane creek. If not desilted properly, it can lead to flooding in Shivaji Nagar, Mankhurd and Chembur
WHAT THE HT PANEL FOUND: Floating material and silt was found in huge quantities at the site. When HT visited the site, desilting, collection, transportation of silt was underway. The BMC has also undertaken construction of a retaining wall on the site, which was stuck owing to encroachment near the nullahs
Substantial silt was removed from the nullah. The work should continue and the nullah should be maintained systematically.
DK Pathak, former solid waste management engineer
Rating: 4.5/10
Read more: Mumbai ill-prepared for monsoon woes, audit reveals
Read more: Nullahs clogged, Mumbai not rain-ready yet: HT audit
DHARAVI NULLAH: It is an important extension of the Mithi River. It carries stormwater from flood-prone areas of Mahim and Dharavi to Mithi River. It needs to be desilted to avoid flooding in these low-lying areas
WHAT THE HT PANEL FOUND: A clear example of why the BMC needs to immediately strengthen the system and also install a sewage disposal system in slum settlements. The encroachments on one side of the nullah are leading to continuous discharge of sewage into it. Even if the civic body claims to have desilted the nullah, within a few hours, the nullah is filled with floating material, filth and silt. This could possibly lead to heavy flooding
The west side of the nullah has to be cleared for JCBs to operate. Toilet blocks are near the nullah. They should be planned and connected to the sewage line.
James John, activist, AGNI member
Rating: 4.5/10
RASRAJ NULLAH, VILE PARLE (WEST): The nullah flows from Vile Parle and connects to drains in Andheri and Juhu. It could lead to flooding in Vile Parle, if not cleaned properly
WHAT THE HT PANEL FOUND: A considerable amount of desilting has been undertaken at the spot. However, large swathes of silt and floating material were found in the nullah. The civic body needs to clean the nullah thoroughly.
The BMC is yet to finish desilting of the nullah. Settlements run parallel to the nullah, which explains why they need to be cleaned at regular intervals.
Nikhil Desai, activist from F-north
Rating: 4.75/10
BEHRAMPADA NULLAH: It carries storm water from the areas of Bandra (West). The nullah flows from Bandra (East) and further connects to Mithi. It could lead to flooding if not cleaned properly
WHAT THE HT PANEL FOUND: This was one of the worst nullahs that HT visited, filled with garbage and swathes of silt with direct sewage discharge into the nullah. Upstream was not cleaned, blocking the flow of the nullah. The nullah is narrow owing to slum settlements running parallel
The upstream has not been even cleaned once. Heaps of garbage need to be immediately removed from the nullah.
GD Patil, former road engineer
Rating: 2/10
The city unit of Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday filed a written complaint against persons who allegedly defaced the poster of Prime Minister Narendra Modi near Sector 35. It is alleged that some Congress workers on Sunday had smeared grease on the poster of the Prime Minister as a mark of protest against the completion of two years of the BJP-led NDA government.
The police said an FIR has been lodged against unidentified persons.
The owner of the hoarding, VK Pandey, has also approached us with a complaint and an FIR has been filed against unidentified persons, Neeraj Kumar Singh, in charge, Sector 24 police station, said.
This is highly disrespectful. The persons who did this should be arrested without delay. They have not only insulted the PM but also the entire nation. They are free to mark their protest but defacement of the PMs photo is not acceptable, said Rakesh Sharma, BJPs Noida unit chief.
The city unit of the Congress maintained that they have only registered their protest against the fake advertisements of the achievements of the Modi government.
What police case do they want against us? Cant we mark our protest against the fake advertisements by the government? People are suffering from skyrocketing prices of petrol, diesel, pulses, vegetables and other basic commodities.
The government has recently imposed additional tax on each product and services. The BJP is trying to manipulate the issue with such acts. There was nothing wrong in that protest, said Pawan Sharma, in charge, Noida city Congress committee.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
At a time the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) seems to be resting after an intensive round of its Parivar Jodo campaign, the Congress on Monday announced to launch the first phase of its door-to-door campaign from June 24. Also taking a cue from AAPs Bolda Punjab campaign, the Congress will try to get feedback from voters to finalise partys poll manifesto for Punjab.
Addressing a press conference in Chandigarh, Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh said each district and assembly constituency will be covered in 45 days by the party to hear out the expectations and grievances of people and reach out to each household. Each district will have state Congress vice-president as in-charge of the campaign while each general secretary will look after an assembly constituency. I will be holding 80 interactions with cross-section of voters in addition to three dharnas against the government this month, Amarinder said.
Senior vice-president Lal Singh, who has chalked out the programme, said the entire state has been divided into six zones for the campaign and each zone will have 19-20 assembly segments. The PPCC general secretary incharge of the assembly segment will be from outside the district so that he can take everybody along. Each group will hold 20 meetings starting from June 24 to August 8 in the first phase, Lal Singh said.
Read: In testing times, party MLAs fail to contribute to Congress coffers
BAJWA TO HEAD PARTYS AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE
Party secretary Harish Chaudhary also announced seven committees on various issues to finalise the partys poll manifesto. Interestingly, former Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa will chair the committee on agriculture. The other committees will be on economy, women issues, dalits, youth and farm labour.
CAPT LOSES COOL OVER TYTLER QUESTION
Asked about his clean chit to Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Amarinder lost his cool and said he has answered the question several times that none of the victims who were giving their testimony to him spoke about Tytler. His name was raked up BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana during the Delhi elections after few months. If investigation finds Tytler guilty, hang him.
JAKHAR REFUSES TO SHARE STAGE WITH CAPT
Once a staunch loyalist of Amarinder, former CLP leader Sunil Jakhar refused to share stage with him during the PPCC meeting. Though a placard by the name of Jakhar was kept on the stage, Jakhar refused to take a seat on the stage, where two other vice-presidents Manpreet Badal and Hans Raj Hans were sitting along with Amarinder, Lal Singh, Ambika Soni, CLP leader Charanjit Singh Channi and other senior leaders. Amarinder while answering a query on Jakhar not being seen at his programmes, said, He is a part of every programme. Should I make him sit on my lap? Its the media thats trying to create a rift between us.
Poll debacles have not been the only worry of the Congress. Its coffers have also suffered a collateral damage.
Yet, it remains splurge-happy. Outnumbered by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) at Maghi rally in January, the party tried to lure more people to its rally at Talwandi Sabo in April with some take-home goodies besides a hearty lunch.
At the Coffee with Captain events managed by poll strategist Prashant Kishors team, IPAC, each youth participant carried home a bag containing a notepad, pen, cap and T-shirt with Punjab Da Captain written on it . Now as Amarinder launches his next round of coffee, this time with ex-servicemen, who have a substantial presence in Punjab, the party has arranged mobile stickers and caps for each of the 2,000 invitees expected to attend the event at Pathankot on June 8.
The Congress plans to have 80 more such events with different sections of society such as farmers, traders, teachers and women in the run-up to the 2017 polls.
This when the party, by its own admission, is facing a major financial crunch. A string of defeats in states following the the Lok Sabha polls has left its coffers empty as donations from corporate houses have dried up and its membership drives arent getting new members. In Punjab, a long spell of being out of power has left its rallies at the mercy of well-off Congress MLAs and leaders, who too are not happy pitching in from their pockets. Much to its dismay, not only has the tally of rich MLAs in Punjab gone down after defections and a series of bypolls, even its 42 MLAs have still to comply by the fiat of paying a months salary to the party kitty.
As per information obtained from the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee Congress office, in the last four years, none of the MLAs have paid a months salary as contribution to the party treasury. But it is not a pressing concern. Going by the tradition, they have to clear their dues before they apply for a party ticket. All MLAs will clear their dues before the elections, says PPCC senior vice-president Lal Singh.
Basic salary of MLA just Rs 25,000
But Congress MLAs question if partys financial needs can be met with a paltry Rs 25,000 monthly basic salary that they draw. Our pay becomes respectable only after including free travel and other allowances. Even the Election Commission now admits money is driving elections in our country. Punjab is heading for a costliest election in 2017 when crores of rupees will be spent on each constituency by every party, said a MLA requesting anonymity.
Even party treasurer Moti Lal Voras diktat of hiking party members annual contribution to Rs 250 has met with resistance. Members still pay Rs 5 annually as fee during membership drives. Extended last year, the party is clueless on membership drive figures and claims the last membership drive had fetched 30 lakh members in Punjab. Each officebearer of the jumbo-sized PPCC too is expected to shell out `300 annually and none has.
But the financial woes have not dampened the partys spending in the run-up to polls. According to IPAC, collaterals such as keychains, t-shirts and caps are going to be a part of all major party campaigns. The tents, lighting and catering for all Coffee with Captain events are being handled by an event management company, learnt to have a tie-up with Kishors IPAC, which now has a 140-member team in Punjab that will be scaled up to 1,500 before polls. But the bills being raised are not Amarinders worry.
The All India Congress Committee is taking care of the poll expenses, including IPAC bills, he says. As for Kishor, he says he draws no salary for his consultancy and he gets his due if he wins the election!
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Twenty-nine special investigation teams (SITs) in as many months! Thats the rate at which Punjabs Parkash Singh Badal government forms squads to solve crimes.
The state has two-dozen police districts, where cops led by senior superintendents of police (SSPs) maintain law and order. Their questionable detection skills forces the government to set up SITs whenever criminals leave them searching for clues. Most SITs (including 11 formed in the past five months) have been to defuse public protest, however.
The dismal success rate of the SITs as well has the potential to derail law and order now. Each of this team is under the command of a senior officer, including even inspector general (IG), a so-called expert in detection, yet 29 SITs of more than 80 cops have made no progress in any case all remain under investigation.
Punjab Police have taken huge criticism over the rise in targeted killings. The principal opposition party, the Congress, has upped the ante against the Akali-BJP government after the SIT guided by director general of police (DGP) Suresh Arora failed in its two-month hunt for those who killed Namdhari matriarch Chand Kaur, 85, on April 4 at the sects Bhaini Sahib headquarters. Investigations are on, is how a police officer said before hanging up the telephone receiver.
Be it shooting during the morning drill at an RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh) branch in Ludhiana or motorcyclists gunning down Punjab Shiv Sena leader Durga Prasad Gupta at Khanna in a broad daylight on April 23, the investigators are yet to make any progress. However, additional director general of police Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota, director of the bureau of investigation, says the progress in every case is reviewed regularly. The SITs help make breakthroughs, definitely. The case they are assigned are complex and tedious and not every case relates to law and order, he told HT.
While 11 SITs were set up in the past five months two per month 13 were formed last year and four are at work since 2014. In many cases, a single officer is on multiple SITs. IG (crime) Nageswara Rao, who had a long innings in the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation), leads four special teams and is part of another. DGP (border range) Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh, who is also hailed for his crime-solving skills, is a head of three SITs, while another bright officer, IG Varinder Kumar, guides two.
Every SIT has good leaders and still the results are discouraging. This is a matter of concern, agreed a senior police officer.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
After the intervention of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot, on Monday decided to conduct the upcoming Punjab Medical Entrance Test (PMET) in two slots (morning and afternoon) to adjust all candidates within Punjab.
Read more: Punjab medical entrance test advanced by a day, now on June 11
The PMET, going online for the first time, was earlier planned in a single shift on June 11. Since the Punjab examination centres were short of computers on that date, new centres were created at Hisar, Kurukshetra, and Ambala in Haryana for candidates from Bathinda, Patiala, and SAS Nagar districts.
The candidates from Pathankot and Amritsar were accommodated in Jammu and Samba areas of Jammu and Kashmir, and a few from Chandigarh were asked to appear at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh. As the list of the centres appeared on the university website on Saturday, the candidates required to appear in Haryana were concerned about their safety during the second round the Jat agitation for reservation. After many candidates approached the CM during his sangat darshan (public contact) programme in Muktsar on Sunday, he told the university to conduct the test within the state.
The revised plan requires a separate question-paper for each of the two sessions. The revised list of allotted centres will be on our website by tomorrow (Tuesday), said BFUHS vice-chancellor Dr Raj Bahadur.
He said given the situation in Haryana, the parents concerns were genuine. Also, since the number of candidates was too high, we had to plan two shifts. We are trying to allocate student the centres nearest to their home district. The reporting time for the second shift is 12.30pm, said the V-C. The morning session is between 10am and 1pm and the evening session from 2pm to 5pm. Constant changes in this years PMET system has disturbed the focus of candidates. A parent, Rajiv Batra, said: It was a horrible year for medical aspirants. First uncertainties over the conducting of the test and then over frequent changes in date. Now at eleventh hour, they have introduced two shifts. Hope nothing else changes now.
Both question papers should be of the same level, said PMET trainer Arvind Goyal.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Farmers, on Monday, announced to organise a massive rally against the central government at Ramlila Ground, Delhi in the upcoming months.
Addressing a gathering at 38th State Farmers Convention at Bhawanigarh, the leaders of farmers unions expressed deep concern over the escalating incidents of suicides by farmers due to anti-farmer policies of the SAD-BJP government in the state. They also shared their concern regarding the growing crop losses due to increasing number of stray cattle and asked the state administration to get rid of this menace.
The convention held at the Grain Market, Bhawanigarh saw participation of large number of farmers from the Malwa region. The convention was addressed by Hanan Mulla, national general secretary of All India Kissan Sabha, Sukhwinder Singh Sekhon, general secretary of Punjab state committee of farmers and other district leaders of farmers.
Mulla said the Modi-led BJP government had failed to deliver its promises made to the farming community. He said the farmers from all over the country would protest and hold a massive rally at Ramlila Ground, Delhi in the upcoming months.
He said in this paddy season, farmers were spending Rs 1,6001,700 per quintal on sowing and growing of paddy. However, the government has decided MSP of paddy at Rs 1,410 per quintal, which was a joke on the farmers community. Such inhuman decision of the government leads farmers to commit suicide. The government should fix price of paddy price at Rs 2,000 per quintal, he said.
Sekhon said the government was following the compensation policies made by Britishers, which needed amendments. He said in case of crop failure, the government should give the farmers a compensation of Rs 35,000.
Mulla said in all sectors, the producer decided the selling price of their product, but in farming sector, that price was decided by other people. He said there was 26 percent increase in suicides of farmers, which was only because of the governments anti-farmer policies.
As Udta Punjab, the movie about the drug problem in Punjab, faces the dreadful situation of having to delete all mentions of Punjab or even reshoot the movie to place it in a fictitious location the censor board would do well to first look at the social reality that the movie aims to underline. It is a reality that the state government too has repeatedly tried to hide at best and at worst, deny.
1. False claim
Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is also president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) that has issued statements against the movie, had in February claimed at a rally in Jalandhar: Out of the total 2.77 crore population in the state, only 0.06% were found using opium-based drugs. He claimed to have based his assertion on a study conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. In essence, that means only about 16,000 people in Punjab are hooked to drugs. He is wrong. The AIIMS report puts the figures much higher. Read on for more on that.
Read more: Chitta ve? Study shows Punjabi songs driving youth towards drugs
2. The 70% mistake
Ironically, Sukhbir mentioned how Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had maligned the state by claiming 70% drug addiction in Punjab in 2012. Rahuls comment, too, was a misreading of an earlier survey in his overblown hurry to earn political brownie points. The trailer of Udta Punjab has a voiceover purportedly reading a news report about 70% youth addicted to drugs. Many media outlets had got it wrong too at the time.
Anurag Kashyap, who has co-produced Udta Punjab, along with Balaji Motion Pictures, has condemned CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani.
Read: Anurag Kashyap compares India with North Korea
3. Back to Sukhbir
Lets go back to what the deputy CM said in Jalandhar. The AIIMS study he cited is the Punjab Opioid Dependence Survey (PODS), commissioned by the Centre and conducted in February-April 2015 by the NGO Society for Promotion of Youth and Masses (SPYM) and AIIMS experts. It says there are 2.32 lakh opioid-drug dependents (addicts) in Punjab. This, by basic math, means 0.84% of the states total population. That is 14 times higher than what Sukhbir claimed. It is worse, in fact. However, the study does not cover marijuana, or the synthetic drugs and prescription drugs that are a significant part of the problem.
4. Worse
Principal investigator Dr Atul Ambekar of AIIMS said the study considered only adults. Punjab, as per the census, has nearly 1.9 crore persons aged 18 or above. By that logic, 2.32 lakh out of 1.9 crore is 1.2% of the adult population addicted to drugs. The world average is 0.2%, based on UN figures as published in a study in Addiction, the worlds top journal in the field. It considers people aged 15-64. Punjabs population in that bracket is 1.8 crore. If, therefore, you divide the number of addicts with that, the opioid-drug addiction rate alone in Punjab again comes out to be 1.2%. That is six times the world average. The figure for India is 0.7%, which means Punjabs drug abuse figure for opioid- based drugs alone is nearly twice the national number.
Read: All Punjab references to be dropped from Udta Punjab?
5. Only male, hence double the number
And cited above are just the number of addicts. As for users, the AIIMS survey estimates the number to be 8.6 lakh which is 4.5% of all of Punjabs adult population has at least used opioid- based drugs, including smack and heroin. These are dangerous figures, Dr Ambekar says. He adds perspective: Our study, in fact, found that 99% of the addicts are male. If one were to consider the survey total by that logic, the figures are double of what they appear to be!
Watch Shahid Kapoor in a song from Udta Punjab
HT busted the 70% myth
Sukhbir has done a Rahul, only the other way around! While Sukhbir Badal is now misreading a survey to downplay the problem, the 70% figure about addiction extent in Punjab was also a hyperbolic misreading of a 2006 survey by Rahul Gandhi. The writer of that report, Amritsar-based sociologist Ranwinder Singh Sandhu, had told HT that his 2006 study had been misinterpreted: I didnt study the general population, but a scientific sample of 600 drug addicts from four districts Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala and Bathinda. The aim was to understand the trend within the addiction circles, and we found that 73.5% of the drug addicts belong to 16-40 age group. Thats the 7/10 that people cite. Thats all. Simply put, 73.5% of the drug addicts are youth; not that 70% of youth are drug addicts.
Irrespective of my report, the drug problem must be acknowledged first. They (government) dont think its a problem. Why has there never been a survey to determine the extent? he had remarked when HT wrote a detailed report on the issue four years ago. Not much has changed since, except that Bollywood is now interested in telling the story, and the politicians remain addicted to denial or hyperbole.
Follow @htshowbiz and @htpunjab for more
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
In a bizarre incident, a retired armyman sleeping in the open in the porch (verandah) of his house in Dyal Nagar, Ghumar Mandi, was hit by a stray bullet in his right arm on Saturday, but did not realise what had hit him until the doctors pulled out the bullet from the arm.
Police suspect that the bullet was fired from a pistol in celebratory fire from somewhere near his residence. A team from police station division near 8 reached the spot and started investigation.
The complainant Kewal Krishan, meanwhile, thought he had received an electric current and cried out for help. His son Baljit Singh, the first to his aid, claimed that as soon as he heard the cries, he took his father to a private hospital in the area.
Doctors removed a .32 bore bullet from my fathers arm. I immediately informed the police, said Baljit, claiming that the bullet could have been fired deliberately. He refuted the police theory of retaliatory fire.
Division number 8 SHO Gaurav Taura said police had now launching a hunt for people who owned a .32 bore weapon in the area. A case under Sections 336 (act endangering life or personal safety) of others) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against unidentified accused.
Read: Threat or no threat, Punjab Police sell guns to VIPs sans verification
Read: Gun licences: Right to instant service for true-blue Akalis
For Nanak Singhs parents, international boundaries do more than just separate countries. Sometimes, they gobble up loved ones.
Nanak was just seven years old in 1984, when he playfully chased his father through the fields and ended up crossing the India-Pakistan border. It was an understandable mistake, given that their house in Shanna Bedi village was located barely two kilometres from the border.
The Pakistani authorities, however, seemed to care neither for his innocence nor his tender age. Nanaks parents havent seen him since then.
Nanak must be 39 today, and his parents dont know if they will recognise him if he shows up at their doorstep one day. My only wish is to see him before I die, she says as tears well up in her eyes. I appeal to the government to help us bring him home.
She still recalls the day Nanak ran after his father, Rattan Singh, never to come back. We lodged a police complaint quickly. There was no border security fence then, so it was easy to stray over to the other side. We may be poor and without much influence, but we still have hope, says Pyari.
For a long time, Nanaks family was unsure of his whereabouts. But then, in 2002, Ramdas police came over to tell them that he was lodged in a Pakistan jail under a different name Kakar Singh.
His name figured on the list of prisoners as Kakar Singh, but we were searching for Nanak. The Border Security Force later sent the Pakistani authorities a letter seeking his release, but that didnt help. Nanak is the oldest of nine siblings, and the government is our only hope of getting him back, says his younger brother, Baldev Singh.
The Punjab and Haryana high courts recent notice to the Centre on a petition to ensure Nanaks return has come as a ray of hope. I approached many people, seeking help for this family, but to no avail. Finally, filing a public interest litigation seemed to be the only option left. It has been a long time since Pakistan sent over that list with Kakar Singhs name in it. I will try and take the family to meet external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj soon, the petitioner, Swaran Singh, said.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Objections raised by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) over the film Udta Punjab, which addresses Punjabs drug abuse problem, has raised a political storm in the state, with opposition parties gunning for the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and its partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for allegedly being behind the censor move. Also, the controversy has further given limelight to an issue that is already a vote plank in the state set to go to polls early next year.
The CBFC has ordered 89 cuts in the film including deletion of references to Punjab not just in the title but the entire film. The makers have decided to approach the high court against that.
At the national level, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal waded into the controversy, taking a stand against the censor board. Punjab has a crippling drug problem. Censoring #UdtaPunjab will not fix it. The government must accept reality and find solutions, tweeted Rahul.
Punjab has a crippling drug problem. Censoring #UdtaPunjab will not fix it. The government must accept the reality and find solutions. Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) June 7, 2016
SAD secretary general and Rajya Sabha member Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa reacted by saying that this was yet another bid to defame Punjabis by calling them drug addicts.
Punjab Congress president and former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh said that cuts were like taking the soul out of the films body. He added, Instead of trying to suppress the harsh reality of drug scourge in Punjab, the Akali-BJP government should better spend its energies in solving the problem, he added.
AAP MP Bhagwant Mann alleged the censor Board was acting at the behest of SAD-BJP regime. It is an attack on freedom of speech and expression in highlighting the extent of drug problem in the state. By indulging in such acts, the state government cannot hide the reality of Punjab that it has pushed the state into a drug menace during its nine-year rule, Mann added.
Responding to a question on the issue, CM Parkash Singh Badal told reporters in Rupnagar on Tuesday that the state government had nothing to do with it: How can the state government be held responsible for it when the CBFC is exclusively under the control of the central government? However, Dhindsa targeted Rahul Gandhi, saying that he should adopt an open-minded approach to get aware of the seriousness of this issue rather than playing politics on it.
Punjab BJP chief and Union minister Vijay Sampla, meanwhile, welcomed the CBFC move and was quoted as saying: Nobody should be allowed to defame Punjab... Why did the producers name the movie Udta Punjab? Why not Udta Bollywood? The drug problem is a global issue. Why is one state being singled out?
Kashyap livid
From the filmmakers side, Anurag Kashyap, one of the producers of the movie, also took to Twitter to express his anguish: I always wondered what it felt like to live in North Korea... Ab to plane pakadney ki bhi zaroorat nahin (now I dont even need to catch a plane). He dubbed censor board chief Pahlaj Nihalani a dictatorial man while asking politicians to stay out of my battle.
I always wondered what it felt like to live in North Korea .. Ab to plane pakadney ki bhi zaroorat nahin.. Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 6, 2016
Backing the film, director Karan Johar tweeted, #UdtaPunjab speaks of the reality of our times....censoring reality amounts to delusion the fraternity has to stand by whats right.
#UdtaPunjab speaks of the reality of our times....censoring reality amounts to delusion.....the fraternity has to stand by what's right!! Karan Johar (@karanjohar) June 6, 2016
Leading man Shahid Kapoor, who plays rockstar-addict Tommy Singh in the movie, said, Just because the title is Udta Punjab, everyone is thinking the problem is only in Punjab. First of all, Punjab is in India and any problem in Punjab is Indias problem Everyone associated with the film believes the issue genuinely concerns the youth and not just Punjabis...
There is no film more honest than UDTA PUNJAB... And any person or party opposing it is actually GUILTY of promoting drugs, further tweeted Kashyap.
I completely agree, was AAP chief Kejriwals response on Twitter. But it elicited a terse response from the filmmaker: I request Congress, AAP and other political parties to stay out of my battle. Its my Rights vs the Censorship. I speak only on my behalf.
Polls ahead
Even before the Udta Punjab controversy broke, the Congress had made drug abuse in Punjab a key poll issue. Gandhi had in 2012 famously announced that 70% of Punjabs youth were addicts, the party citing a misinterpreted study. In April this year too, the Congress vice-president had said, The present government in Punjab has been ignoring the drug issue. The drug problem will be solved in months if our party comes to power in the assembly elections.
Punjabs drug problem in 5 steps: Facts, figures, falsehoods, and worse
Kejriwal and Amarinder have both promised to wipe out the problem in four weeks to four months.
Punjab elections are expected to be a three-cornered fight with the SAD-BJP alliance fighting for survival, the Congress looking for a comeback win, and a confident AAP looking to spread its wings beyond Delhi.
Also read: Chitta ve? Study shows Punjabi songs driving youth towards drugs
Is drug abuse a prime problem in Punjab? @htTweets HT Punjab (@HTPunjab) June 7, 2016
(With inputs from New Delhi)
In a continued effort to hone its conventional operational preparedness on the Western front, Vajra Corps had conducted a series of tactical exercises with troops during the summer months.
These exercises were conducted at Khem Karan, famously known as Patton Graveyard and Jalalabad, both in general area of Ferozepur by Double Victory Brigade and Golden Arrow Division.
Above were held close on the heels of divisional level maneuver exercise conducted in general area Nakodar-Nurmahal, in the vicinity of Ludhiana by Panther Division.
Two more tactical exercises were conducted by the Vajra Corps.
The exercises involving large scale tank, infantry and aviation maneuvers, were supervised by Lt Gen JS Cheema, General Officer Commanding Vajra Corps.
Despite intense heat, with temperatures touching 500 C mark inside the tank or infantry combat vehicle, the troops undertook various tactical maneuvers, displaying their skills and strategy.
The exercise was witnessed on the concluding day by Lt Gen KJ Singh, General Officer Commanding in-Chief, Western Command.
The Army Commander complimented the troops for displaying a very high standard of professionalism, even under harsh weather conditions.
He also complimented the formation for its innovative training methodology in actual terrain and weather conditions, which has further enhanced its operational and logistics preparedness for conventional operations, adding to the might of the Western Command.
Rivalry between two groups claimed a life on Tuesday morning as a 24-year-old commission agent was gunned down allegedly by the members of a rival group at the vegetable market, Bahadurke road.
The assailants pumped four bullets into his body and fled. Sources say both the groups had conflict over the issue of money earned through extortion of local vegetable vendors.
The victim, Kamaldeep Singh alias Abhi alias Gabbar, a member of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), was rushed to the Christian Medical College and Hospital, where the doctors declared him brought dead.
He, along with his elder brother Rubal, an SAD leader, used to help his father, a commission agent, in his business.
The key accused behind the murder have been identified as Inderjit Singh and Kirpal Singh alias Pala, both residents of Salem Tabri.
Before the incident, the victim, along with his accomplices, allegedly thrashed Kinder, Inderjits brother, and held him captive on Tuesday morning, which allegedly provoked the rival group and they killed Kamaldeep.
The deceased, a resident of Nawan Mohalla near Subhani Building Chowk, received four bullets in his stomach, chest and arm.
The family performed last rites on Tuesday evening under heavy security arrangement.
Meanwhile, the Basti Jodhewal police have nabbed Pala and his accomplice Rajan.
Other accused, identified as Somnath Fauji, Bobby, Atinder Singh, Iqbal Singh and Lucky, are at large, while six more are yet to be identified.
The police recovered five shells from the spot and lodged a case of murder against 13 people.
The incident occurred around 6am on Tuesday. Eyewitnesses say Kamaldeep and his aides indulged in a scuffle with Kinder, and they held him captive near their shop at the vegetable market.
Meanwhile, when Inderjit came to know, he along with his accomplice Pala struck there on a scooter and opened fire in the air.
Thereafter, he allegedly fired four bullets on Kamadeep and fled after releasing his brother.
After the incident, panic gripped the vegetable market and vendors fled after closing their shops. On being informed, the police reached the spot and rushed Kamaldeep to the hospital, where he died.
Inspector Ashok Kumar Sharma, station house officer, Basti Jodhewal police station, said the police had launched a manhunt to arrest the accused.
Sources say both groups were partner in business, but later broke ties.
Two days ago, the Inderjit and Pala group had allegedly looted Rs 1.50 lakh from an employee of Kamaldeep.
She took time to claim her spot at the top in the television industry, but once there, theres been no looking back for actor Divyanka Tripathi. But Tripathi, better known as Dr Ishitha on television show Yeh Hai Mohabbatein, had her share of adjustments to make in the glamour world.
The biggest struggle was wearing short dresses. In the beginning, it was a taboo for me, says the actor who was born and brought up in Bhopal.
I played a simple girl in Banoo Main Teri Dulhan (2006) and after that everyone thought I am like that in real life too. It was when I entered Comedy Circus in 2013 that I actually opened up because I realised that if I dont wear short clothes, people will have this notion that Divyanka is a behenji and she cannot do anything but wear conservative clothes and look sober. As an actor, I really had to break this thought, exclaims Tripathi.
So, did people make fun of her? Oh yes, people indirectly cracked jokes in front of me about how they looked at me as a plain Jane. I realised that instead of expecting good acting out of me, they would just expect me in sarees and suits. I wanted to change their perception. I started wearing short clothes for the character... it was very uncomfortable for me, says the actor.
Read: Divyanka Tripathis in a hurry to get married, wants a monsoon wedding
For someone, who stayed away from the glitz and glamour of Mumbai, becoming a household name was unexpected, but the actor has a theory behind her journey.
I think the universe was preparing me to be an actor. I never pursued one thing for long but I was jack of all trades. I was learning everything possible because I knew my father would never shell out money for dresses or parties but he would always give me money for new courses and books. I have learnt sketching, drawing, singing, dancing, rifle shooting, paragliding. I was an NCC cadet and I loved the fact that I was encouraged to learn something, says Tripathi who is engaged to marry actor Vivek Dahiya.
Talking about her source of inspiration, the actor says, My parents have been my biggest support. Had it not been for them, I would have not been able to be the confident and fearless person that I am today.
She adds how her life would be incomplete without her siblings, My best memories in life are with my elder sister Priyanka Tiwari and my brother Aishwarya Tripathi.
Actor Divyanka Tripathi with fiance actor Vivek Dahiya.
On Vivek and marriage
One thing about Vivek you love: He is so positive. We had this sudden spark. He was ready to take up my responsibility in every way possible.
One thing you dont like about Vivek: He is so likeable. I like everything about him.
Life after marriage : Vivek is a very open minded person. Generally men in India generally like to sit back and get dinner and coffee on the table. Vivek is all about equality and does not want everything readymade. I dont think balancing marriage and work would be tough.
Prized possession: Vivek and my family.
Actor Divyanka Tripathi with family.
Read: TV border ki tarah hai, dhyaan chooka aur goli lag sakti hai: Kapil Sharma
Trivia
Phobia: I am really scared of losing people I love. My family means the world to me and I would not want to ever hurt them. That is what I fear the most.
Favorite dish: I love daal baati, Gujarati food and thepla.
Define yourself in three words :Positive, , flexible, adventurous
Two things fans dont know about you: I forget a lot! I have a poor memory. Main Ghajini hoon!
I can be super lazy. I can sleep 15 hours a day!
Had you not been an actor, what would you have been? : An Army officer
Idea of success: Achieving my dreams and being happy with it. I want a happy life for my family. Success is happiness!
What turns you off: Blatant lies and disrespect.
Health advise for fans: Have a very good breakfast in the morning and throughout the day keep having small meals after every 2 hours.
Its important to workout, yoga is good.
Tough thing about being an actor: Handling fame and fan attention
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Britains Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on Tuesday dropped its case against Indian-origin journalist Hasan Suroor on the ground that it had no evidence to support the allegation of sexual grooming made against him by a vigilante group last November.
Following a further review of the case there is now no longer a realistic prospect of conviction, CPS told the Blackfriars Crown Court in a written submission. Suroor said he was considering suing the vigilante group called Unknown TV.
The judge ruled he had decided to return an unequivocal verdict of not guilty and criticised the prosecutions handling of the case. He said he was extremely concerned that such serious allegations were sought to be pursued on the basis of a telephone call from an unregulated vigilante group.
Suroor said a written order declaring his innocence would be issued on June 24 with a ruling on his application for legal costs to be reimbursed.
Paul Mason, Suroors defence counsel, said the robust stand we took has paid off.
China on Tuesday kept mum on whether Indias inclusion into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was discussed during the strategic dialogue with the US, but insisted on full discussion and consensus on the issue within the elite grouping.
Members within the group still differ on the accession of countries which are not party states to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the Chinese Foreign Ministry said, in a written response to a PTI query.
The ministry was responding to a question on India securing Switzerlands support on the NSG and whether the issue figured in the Strategic and Economic Dialogue with the US.
China stands for continuous and full discussions within the group on this issue in order to forge consensus and make a decision based on agreement, the Ministry said, adding that it has been explicitly articulated Beijings position to the Indian media in recent weeks.
The Ministry, however, did not respond to the question whether the issue was discussed with the US during the strategic talks which covers all aspects of the bilateral ties and multilateral issues of interest to China and the US.
While the US has backed Indias inclusion in the 48-member NSG, China is reportedly supporting Pakistan though it maintains that Islamabad too is not a signatory to the NPT.
The issue was expected to figure in the plenary meeting of the NSG on June 9 in Vienna. The US-China strategic talks was attended among others by Secretary of State John Kerry.
In his remarks after the conclusion of the talks, Kerry mostly touched differences relating to the South China Sea dispute as well as mutual position on the nuclear issues relating to North Korea.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry also reacted guardedly to the recent remarks by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
China holds a consistent and clear position on the South China Sea (SCS) issue, it said.
While firmly upholding territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, China is committed to resolving disputes peacefully through consultation and negotiation, managing differences by establishing rules and mechanisms, achieving win-win results through development and cooperation, and safeguarding the freedom of navigation and overflight as well as peace and stability in the South China Sea, it said.
China is poised to work alongside regional countries to maintain regional peace and stability, achieve economic prosperity and share development dividends, it said.
In his comments on the SCS, Parrikar had said, we have traditional links with the countries in the South China Sea. More than half (of) our trade passes through its waters.
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 overflight in accordance with international law, in particular the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, he added.
Hillary Clinton has reached the number of delegates needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, the Associated Press said on Monday, putting her on course to become the first woman to head a major US party ticket.
Clinton, a former secretary of state, reached the 2,383 delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee with a decisive weekend victory in Puerto Rico and a burst of last-minute support from superdelegates, the AP reported.
Clinton has 1,812 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses. She also has the support of 571 superdelegates, according to an Associated Press count.
The Democratic Party holds its convention in Philadelphia in July to formally choose its nominee for the November 8 election against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Unprecedented moment
Clinton says she is on the brink of a historic, unprecedented moment but there is still work to do in six states voting Tuesday.
Clinton is campaigning in California, the largest prize up for grabs Tuesday.
Even as she looks toward the general election, Clinton says she will fight hard for every single vote in the final Democratic contests.
Rise as presidential nominee
Clintons rise to presumptive nominee arrived nearly eight years to the day after she conceded her first White House campaign to Barack Obama. Back then, she famously noted her inability to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling.
Campaigning this time as the loyal successor to the nations first black president, Clinton held off a surprisingly strong challenge from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. He mobilized millions with a fervently liberal message and his insurgent candidacy revealed a deep level of national frustration with politics-as-usual, even among Democrats who have controlled the White House since 2009.
Hillary Clintons rise to presumptive nominee arrived nearly eight years to the day after she conceded her first White House campaign to Barack Obama. (AP File Photo)
The AP surveyed all 714 superdelegates repeatedly in the past seven months, and only 95 remain publicly uncommitted.
Sanders campaign said it was a rush to judgment to declare Clinton the presumptive nominee given that superdelegates can switch their support before the Democratic convention in late July.
Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump, said Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs.
The supredelegates counted in Clintons tally have unequivocally told the AP they will do so.
Clinton outpaced Sanders in winning new superdelegate endorsements even after his string of primary and caucus wins in May.
Following the results in Puerto Rico, it is no longer possible for Sanders to reach the 2,383 needed to win the nomination based on the remaining available pledged delegates and uncommitted superdelegates.
Sanders said this past weekend he plans to fight on until the convention, promising to make the case to superdelegates that he is better positioned to beat Trump in November. But since the start of the APs survey in late 2015, no superdelegates have switched from supporting Clinton to backing Sanders.
Indeed, Clintons victory is broadly decisive. She leads Sanders by more than 3 million cast votes, by 291 pledged delegates and by 523 superdelegates. She won 29 caucuses and primaries to his 21 victories.
Thats a far bigger margin than Obama had in 2008, when he led Clinton by 131 pledged delegates and 105 superdelegates at the point he clinched the nomination.
Clinton vs Sanders
Though she marched into her second presidential primary campaign as an overwhelming favorite, Clinton could not shake Sanders until its final days. He campaigned aggressively in California ahead of the states Tuesday election, unwilling to exit a race Clinton stood on the cusp of winning.
Beyond winning over millions of Sanders supporters who vow to remain loyal to the self-described democratic socialist, Clinton faces challenges as she turns toward November, including criticism of her decision to use a private email server run from her New York home while serving as secretary of state. Her deep unpopularity among Republicans has pushed many leery of Trump to nevertheless embrace his campaign.
In this file photo, Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders argue a point during a Democratic presidential primary debate at the University of Michigan-Flint. (AP)
Yet Clinton showed no signs of limping into the general election as she approached the milestone, leaving Sanders behind and focusing on lacerating Trump. She said electing the billionaire businessman, who has spent months hitting her and her husband with bitingly personal attacks, would be a historic mistake.
He is not just unprepared. He is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility, Clinton said last week in a speech that was striking in its forcefulness, previewing a brutal five-month general election campaign to come.
Even without the nomination, Sanders can claim ideological victory. His liberal positions pushed the issue of income inequality into the spotlight and drove Clinton to the left on issues such as trade, Wall Street and campaign finance reform.
When Clinton launched her campaign last April, she did so largely unopposed, having scared off more formidable challengers by locking down much of the partys organizational and fundraising infrastructure. Vice President Joe Biden, seen as her most threatening rival, opted not to run in October.
Of the four opponents who did take her on, Sanders was the only one who emerged to provide a serious challenge.
But Clinton vowed not to repeat the failings of her 2008 campaign and focused early on winning delegates, hiring help from Obamas old team before launching her campaign. They pushed superdelegates into making early commitments and held campaign appearances in areas where they could win the most pledged delegates.
Her victory in Nevada in late February diminished concerns from allies about her campaign operation. Decisive wins in Southern states on Super Tuesday and a sweep of March 15 contests gave her a significant delegate lead, which became insurmountable by the end of April after big victories in New York and in the Northeast.
She now moves on to face Trump, whose ascent to the top of the Republican Party few expected. The brash real estate mogul and reality TV star has long since turned his attention from primary foes to Clinton, debuting a nickname - Crooked Hillary - and arguing she belongs in jail for her email setup.
After a long primary campaign, Clinton said this past weekend in California she was ready to accept his challenge.
Were judged by our words and our deeds, not our race, not our ethnicity, not our religion, she said Saturday in Oxnard, California. So it is time to judge Donald Trump by his words and his deeds. And I believe that his words and his deeds disqualify him from being president of the United States.
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons brother-in-law Roger was released from a southern California jail on Monday after he was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence, according to police and local media.
Roger Clinton, 59, was released from Redondo Beach jail after posting a $15,000 bail, Redondo Beach police spokeswomen said in a phone interview. He is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 2.
Police declined to confirm that the man arrested and then released was the same Roger Clinton who is the younger half brother of former President Bill Clinton.
It is not the first time that Roger Clinton has been in the news. Bill Clinton, on his last day in office, pardoned his brother for a 1980s drug conviction.
It could not be immediately learned if Roger Clinton had retained an attorney. Roger Clinton could not be reached for comment. The Clinton campaign also did not respond to requests for comment.
Redondo Beach police pulled over Roger Clinton, of Torrance, California, after the police department received a phone call about 7:20 pm on Sunday about a driver possibly under the influence travelling south on the Pacific Coast Highway in an erratic manner, a police statement said.
Clinton was evaluated for driving under the influence of alcohol, including field sobriety tests, and was arrested, the statement said. He was taken to the Redondo Beach jail, where he refused all chemical testing, it said.
Unidentified men shot and hacked a Hindu priest to death in southwestern Bangladesh on Tuesday, the latest in a series of attacks on minorities in recent months.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the killing in Jhenaidah district through its Amaq News Agency.
In a separate development, three suspected Islamists were killed in gunbattles with Bangladesh police following the launch of a massive crackdown on extremists.
Hasan Hafizur Rahman, officer-in-charge of the area where the attack occurred, said the attackers riding a motorcycle stopped Anando Gopal Ganguly while he was going to a temple on a bicycle to perform prayers in the morning.
Local residents told police that the three assailants first shot Ganguly and then hacked him with a sharp weapon, probably to make sure he was dead, before they fled.
We do not have any clues about who did this, Rahman said.
Police did not rule out the possible involvement of Islamist militants as the incident was similar to many other brutal attacks in the Muslim-majority country.
The killing came two days after suspected Islamist militants killed the wife of a police superintendent who led drives against militant groups, successfully leading to the arrest of suspected militants and seizure of arms and ammunition from their hideouts in recent years.
Hours after the murder of the police officers wife, unidentified assailants killed a Christian man inside his grocery shop, also on Sunday, in Natore district.
The series of killings, allegedly by Islamist groups, has thrown a major challenge to the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as many are worried about the security situation.
Authorities have downplayed the incidents and said international groups like the IS and Al Qaeda have no presence in Bangladesh. They have also said local groups are behind such attacks to create anarchy.
Since last year, suspected Islamist militants have attacked and killed a number of people, including atheist and secular bloggers, publishers, teachers and online activists. Two foreigners were also killed.
In the past two months, at least 10 people were killed allegedly by members of suspected militant groups, according to Amnesty International.
The IS claimed responsibility for several attacks, according to SITE Intelligence Group. Those claims could not be independently verified by Hindustan Times.
A crackdown on extremists resulted in the death of three operatives of the outlawed Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in separate gun battles with police. Two policemen were also injured in the operations.
The JMB was targeted by superintendent of police Babul Aktar, whose wife was killed by militants on Sunday.
Two JMB operatives were killed in a shootout with detectives in Dhaka while another member of the group was killed in a gunfight with police in northwestern Rajshahi city. The two men killed in Dhaka were said to be involved in several recent attacks, including the bombing of a Shia mosque and the murder of a liberal professor, police said.
(With inputs from agencies)
A 70-year-old Hindu priest was found murdered in western Bangladesh on Monday, with his head nearly severed from his body, in the latest in a series of attacks on minorities by suspected Islamists.
Farmers discovered the body of Ananda Gopal Ganguly near his home in the village of Noldanga in Jhenidah district after he had gone missing on his way to morning prayers.
Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, investigators said the killing bore the hallmarks of recent attacks by Islamist extremists who have carried out 10 other similar killings in the last 10 weeks.
He left home this morning saying that he was going to a Hindu house to offer prayers, the districts deputy police chief Gopinath Kanjilal told AFP.
Later farmers found his near-decapitated body in a rice field.
We do not know the identity of the killers. His body was found in an isolated area and we do not believe there any witnesses to the killing.
But the pattern of the killing is similar to ones carried out by local Islamist militants in recent time, Kanjilal added.
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.
Most of the recent attacks have been claimed by the Islamic State organisation or the local offspring of al-Qaeda.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas government has however blamed homegrown Islamists for the attacks, rejecting claims of responsibility from the IS and a South Asian branch of al-Qaeda.
Experts say a government crackdown on opponents, including a ban on Bangladeshs largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami following a protracted political crisis, has pushed many towards extremism.
Jamaat-e-Islami is a traditional ally of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party whose leader, two-time former prime minister Khaleda Zia, is facing a raft of charges in connection with deadly firebombings.
Victims of the attacks by suspected Islamists have included secular bloggers, gay rights activists and followers of minority religions.
Although it is officially secular, around 90 percent of Bangladeshs 160 million-strong population is Muslim.
Gangulys murder comes only two days after a Christian was hacked to death after Sunday prayers near a church in northwest Bangladesh in an attack claimed by IS.
A Hindu shop owner was also hacked to death outside his store in the northern Gaibandha district late last month. IS said it was behind that killing as well.
Read: IS claims killing of Hindu man in Bangladesh for blasphemy
When US drones obliterated a car carrying Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour last month, it was the kind of targeted killing that unmanned aircraft are best known for.
But 15 years after a drone first fired missiles in combat, the US militarys drone programme has expanded far beyond specific strikes to become an everyday part of the war machine.
Now, from control booths in the United States and bases around the Middle East, Afghanistan and parts of Africa, drone crews are flying surveillance missions and providing close air support for troops on the ground.
In the wars we fight, this is the future, said drone pilot Lieutenant Shaw, as he stood in a hangar at the Air Forces drone base in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.
Crews spoke to Reuters on condition that only their first names and rank be used to identify them.
A US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone sits on the tarmac at Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan after returning from a mission March 9, 2016. (REUTERS)
The increased use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in a wide range of battle applications comes as the United States looks to reduce the number of soldiers fighting abroad.
The US military declined to provide statistics breaking down drone activity into types of missions, but dozens of interviews with people working in the secretive programmes show UAVs have become an integral tool on the battlefield.
That is likely to raise further objections from critics who say drones often miss their intended targets, can only partly relay what is happening on the ground and encourage warfare with impunity waged by people at computer screens far from danger.
In Afghanistan, the United States has around 9,800 troops left and plans to cut the level to 5,500 by early 2017.
At its peak a few years ago, the US military had around 100,000 soldiers there, yet the dramatic decrease does not mean the conflict is winding down. In fact, the Taliban insurgency is as potent now as at any time since 2001.
U.S. airmen control a US Air Force drone from a command trailer at Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan March 9, 2016. (REUTERS)
DRONES TAKING OVER
As part of its expanding programme, the Air Force aims to double the number of drone squadrons over the next five years.
Even some proponents, like retired Lieutenant Colonel T Mark McCurley, a former Air Force drone pilot, say over reliance on remote killing and electronic intelligence has hurt efforts on the ground.
Too often, remotely piloted aircraft are being used as a tool to wantonly kill individuals, rather than as one of many tools to capture and shut down whole terrorist networks, he said.
Central to the shift towards remote operations is Afghanistan, where weak local forces, a dwindling troop presence and rugged terrain have made it something of a testing ground.
A US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone flies over Creech Air Force Base in Nevada during a training mission May 19, 2016. (REUTERS)
Drones there log up to eight times as many flight hours as the few remaining manned fighter aircraft. They also release more weapons than conventional aircraft, Reuters reported in April.
For the first time, the top Air Force general in the country was trained as a drone pilot before he deployed, a move he said reflected the importance of unmanned aircraft in the broader military mission.
Our airmen are flying persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and strike missions all across Afghanistan, Major General Jeff Taliaferro told Reuters in Kabul, referring to the drone programme.
Theyre performing everything from counterterrorism to base defence, and really its a capability a lot of our missions have come to rely on.
A US airman guides a US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone as it taxis to the runway at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan March 9, 2016.
RAPID EXPANSION
The latest generation of drones carries more and bigger weapons and an expanding payload of hi-tech sensors designed to handle a wider range of missions for the conventional military.
The number of hours flown by the Air Forces newest attack drone, the MQ-9 Reaper, more than doubled globally between 2010 and 2015, to nearly as many hours as F-16 fighter jets, according to statistics from the Air Force Safety Center.
In a plan announced late last year, the Air Force proposed roughly $3 billion in funding to expand its attack drone force further, adding 75 of the latest Reaper aircraft.
It already fields at least 93 Reapers and 150 of the older MQ-1 Predators, both built by General Atomics, as well as 33 much larger Global Hawk surveillance UAVs, manufactured by Northrop Grumman.
The U.S. Army also operates a fleet of roughly 130 MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft, an upgraded version of the Predator, and all military services have thousands of smaller, mostly unarmed surveillance drones.
One challenge for the U.S. military is recruiting enough staff to operate a growing fleet and expanding range of roles.
As many as 3,500 new personnel may be added to a workforce of roughly 1,700 pilots and sensor operators in a bid to expand the programme and relieve stress and overwork, according to proposals released by the Air Forces Air Combat Command.
A US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone sits armed with Hellfire missiles and a 500-pound bomb in a hanger at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan March 9, 2016.
FULL CIRCLE
While Afghan missions are flown via satellite link by pilots at bases in the United States, aircraft take off and land under the control of crews deployed to the airfields in Afghanistan.
As a steady procession of Reapers rolled down the runways and into the bright Afghan sky, operators at Kandahar described life in on of the fastest-changing sectors of the military.
My old job was going away, while this field is rapidly expanding, said Captain Bryan, a pilot who used to fly KC-135 refuelling aircraft.
Kandahars role as a drone centre in Afghanistan brings the drone full circle.
Fifteen years ago, a U.S. drone made history over Kandahar when it fired the first weapon deployed by unmanned aircraft in combat, during a failed attempt to kill then-Taliban leader Mullah Omar in the first days of the U.S.-led operation that ousted the hardline Islamists from power.
On its way back to base, the drone fired its second missile at Kandahar airfield, then suspected of being occupied by Taliban and al Qaeda fighters.
At the height of the NATO coalition mission, Kandahar, which is also a civilian airport, hosted a range of military aircraft including F-16 fighter jets and C-130 cargo planes. Now, the only attack aircraft deployed here are about two dozen drones.
Squeezed into sand-coloured shipping containers just off the tarmac, pilots and sensor operators flip through checklists amid an array of monitors, touch screens, radio consoles and a secret chat system with which they talk to pilots in the United States.
At the beginning of the year, the squadron at Kandahar began flying new, extended-range Reapers, usually carrying four Hellfire missiles, one 500 lb GBU-12 bomb and an external fuel tank under the wings.
That load has allowed the aircraft to be used for more than just hunting individuals, including close air support for troops fighting on the ground
A US airman secures an MQ-9 Reaper drone after it returned from a mission at Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan March 9, 2016. (REUTERS)
ANYTHING BUT A VIDEO GAME
Almost 8,000 miles away, pilots sitting at another sun-bleached desert base, this time in the United States, are among the crews that take over a few minutes after takeoff and guide the aircraft during the mission.
Sitting in dark, air-conditioned booths at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, pilots and sensor operators work closely with large teams of intelligence analysts who sift streams of real-time data transmitted by the drones on the other side of the planet.
While air strikes often grab the headlines, the vast majority of missions in Afghanistan involve hours of mind-numbing surveillance and intelligence gathering, crews say.
The most revolutionary aspect of unmanned aircraft, crews add, is the combination of weapons and surveillance capabilities, which often provide more information than analysts can process.
At Creech, crews handle nearly half of all the Air Forces 60 global drone flights on any given day.
For us its anything but a video game, said Captain Tim, a pilot based at Creech, addressing one of the main criticisms levelled at the drone programme. From here youre having an impact on the battlefield.
The Playboy Mansion, the legendary party house where Hollywoods elite cavorted with scantily-clad bunnies, is being sold to the billionaire Twinkies owner who lives next door, a spokesman said Monday.
Hugh Hefner, the 90-year-old owner of the Holmby Hills estate in southern California and founder of Playboy Magazine, will be permitted to continue living there for the rest of his life.
Playboy Bunnies pose for a selfie at the premiere of "The Transporter Refueled" at Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. Reuters
The buyer is Daren Metropoulos, a 32-year-old business tycoon who lives on the property next door to the mansion, which he bought from Hefner in 2009 for $18 million.
Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion is about to acquire a new owner the wealthy businessman who lives next door (John Salangsang/Invision/AP)
We can confirm that the Playboy Mansion is in escrow with Daren Metropoulos as the buyer, a Playboy spokesman told AFP.
Due to confidentiality restrictions, we are not able to comment on any specifics, including what contingencies need to be cleared to close the sale.
The buyer is Daren Metropoulos, a 32-year-old business tycoon who lives on the property next door to the mansion, which he bought from Hefner in 2009 for $18 million (REUTERS)
Metropoulos is a principal at private-equity firm Metropoulos and Co., which co-owns Hostess Brands, the maker of Twinkies, an iconic American snack.
He intends to connect the two estates into a combined 7.3-acre compound once Hefner dies, according to the Wall Street Journal.
A peacock walks on the grounds of the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. (REUTERS)
The paper quoted Metropoulos as saying the mansions heritage transcends its celebrity and that to have the opportunity to serve as its steward would be a true privilege.
He declined to disclose the purchase price, although the estate was valued at $200 million when Playboy Enterprises put it up for sale earlier this year.
The Playboy Mansion, the legendary party house where Hollywood's eilte cavorted with scantily-clad "bunnies," is being sold to the billionaire Twinkies owner who lives next door. (AFP)
Built in 1927 and bought by Hefner for $1 million in 1971, the property was emblematic of Hollywoods excess, hosting its infamous pool parties with a lingerie-only dress code for the female guests who cavorted in the caved grotto.
Eugena Washington, Playmate of the Year, poses at Playboy's 2016 Playmate of the Year Announcement held at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. (John Salangsang/Invision/AP)
Elvis reportedly slept with eight Playmates at once at the 12-bedroom stately home, while John Lennon once burned a Matisse original with a cigarette.
A general view of the Playboy Mansion during the premiere of "The Transporter Refueled" in Los Angeles.
The sale comes soon after the magazines recent relaunch as a mainstream publication with no full-frontal nudity, and with the parent company on sale for an estimated $500 million.
A shower in the pool area of the Playboy Mansion is seen in Los Angeles. AP
A judge on Monday dismissed murder charges against a man who had been on death row after he was convicted in the 1977 slaying of a 21-year-old woman in East Texas and sentenced to death.
State district court judge Jack Carter approved an agreement between prosecutors and attorneys for Kerry Max Cook to throw out the charges. Cook has been free since 1999 and has spent decades seeking a full exoneration.
It was determined that Cooks rights were violated, in part by the presentation of false testimony by a witness called at his original trial, according to the judges order. Prosecutors at the time also suppressed a taped interview with a manager at the apartment complex where Linda Jo Edwards was killed that would have helped Cooks defence, the order said.
Attorneys representing Cook had argued that six rounds of DNA testing from 1999 to 2015 failed to identify any evidence proving he was at the scene of the crime.
Mondays ruling sends the matter to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals where Cook will seek a full exoneration. If thats granted, Cook could be eligible for more than $3 million in compensation from the state, plus additional benefits, for the 20 years he was imprisoned, according to The Dallas Morning News. He now lives in New Jersey.
Cook was convicted in 1978 in the slaying of Edwards in her Tyler apartment and was sentenced to death. Cook maintained his innocence and the verdict was overturned, but legal wrangling continued for decades.
The DNA testing confirmed the presence of semen found in Edwards underwear from James Mayfield, her boss and former lover whose extramarital affair with Edwards ended badly, the lawyers contend.
Although Mayfield was considered a longtime suspect in the case, hes never been charged in relation to the crime. Mayfield couldnt be reached for comment but he has denied any role in Edwards killing in the past. A call to his attorney was not immediately returned Monday.
Court documents Monday indicate the case took a turn in April when authorities interviewed Mayfield again and granted him immunity from prosecution.
Mayfield had previously testified and claimed in various interviews with authorities that he and Edwards had ended an affair three weeks before her death. But he acknowledged in April that the couple had had sex the day before she was killed. Mayfields admission amounted to false testimony, according to court records.
Smith County district attorney Matt Bingham on Monday declined to discuss the matter. Its still pending in front of the court so Im going to reserve any statements, he said.
Cook could not be reached for comment and a message left for his attorney was not returned.
Texas has executed 537 inmates since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976, far more than any other state, according to the Death Penalty Information Centre, which opposes capital punishment.
If secretary of state John Kerrys brief news conference was anything to go by, the US-China strategic dialogue ended on Tuesday without much to show as a breakthrough in a bilateral relationship fraught with challenges.
The news conference is learnt to have lasted for 20 minutes. Earlier, discussions between top officials of the two countries broadly focussed on the situation in North Korea, maritime disputes in the South China Sea where US allies have competing claims with China and the crisis in West Asia.
There was no indication that officials discussed Indias bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which has been doggedly stalled by China on the ground that India cannot be part of the club because it is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
China has repeated its reasons for blocking Indias entry to the NSG: The NSG is an important component of the non- proliferation regime founded on the NPT. This is a long-term consensus of the international community which was reaffirmed last year by the NPT review convention," foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said last month.
That is why the NSG has been taking NPT signatory status must status for new members, Hua said.
The dialogue between China and the US itself was straightforward.
The tone was set when Kerry said on Monday that territorial conflicts in the South China Sea must not be resolved by unilateral action. He said: Let's resolve this through rule of law, through diplomacy, through negotiation.
Chinese state media said on Tuesday that the US-China dialogue is aimed at more concrete cooperation.
China and the United States are working together to build a new type of major power relationship in accordance with the consensus reached by their leaders, Chinese vice premier Liu Yandong told the opening ceremony for the eighth China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue and the seventh China-US High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange in Beijing.
According to state media, Liu said she expected the two parties to establish more platforms for people-to-people exchanges on education, science, culture, health and other fields so as to root belief in mutual respect and benefit deeply in the mind of the Chinese and American people.
It added, China looks forward to communication with the United States over issues on macroeconomic policies, a bilateral investment treaty, global economic governance, finance, climate change and province-to-state cooperation.
--
A man whose boyfriend was killed in the San Bernardino terror attack criticised Donald Trumps suggestion that Muslims be banned from entering the US and encouraged tolerance in the wake of the shootings.
Speaking to students on Monday in a Terrorism in the 21st Century class at California State University, San Bernardino, Ryan Reyes said his anger has shifted from the attack to how the nation has responded. He said the Muslim community should not be blamed for the actions of radical groups.
A ban on anybody based on something like that, I was appalled that that notion even came up, Reyes said of Trumps Muslim ban proposal.
Reyes boyfriend Daniel Kaufman ran a coffee shop at the social services centre where Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people at a holiday gathering last December 2. Investigators say the attackers had been radicalised for at least two years.
Soon after the attack, Trump called for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States immigrants and visitors alike because of what he describes as hatred among large segments of the Muslim population toward Americans.
Reyes, 33, began urging tolerance toward Muslims soon after the attack. He appeared frequently in the national media and was invited by President Obama as a guest to the State of the Union address.
Reyes said he was encouraged to speak out in part because of his own encounters with hate and intolerance as a young gay man. In the months after the attack, he largely retreated from the glare of television cameras to grieve.
Ive gotten over the anger part of it in the grieving stage, he said. Now its just more disappointment in the way our country is handling themselves.
Ryan spoke to an audience of students planning careers in law enforcement, counter-terrorism and criminal justice. Professor Brian Levin has invited other speakers, including a SWAT team member, journalists and others who responded to the San Bernardino attack to address the class.
The campus is located about 10 miles north of Inland Regional Centre, where the shooting took place.
I think its important not just to get subject matter experts, but people who have lived through this terrible, violent tragedy but still exhibit compassion, grace and poise, Levin said.
Levin is the director of CSU San Bernardinos Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, a non-partisan research and policy centre. He said his organisation found that the number of hate crimes against Muslims in the US nearly tripled in the month after the Paris terror attack that killed 130 people.
Reyes and Kaufman had been a couple for three years. Reyes said he did not have a lot of exposure to the Muslim community before the attack, and said he still knows relatively few Muslims today. But he recalled how a few Muslim neighbours came to express their condolences after the shooting.
One of the first things I said to them was, I apologised on behalf of the entire nation, on how they were going to be treated, he said.
Students asked Reyes about what he plans to do to fight Islamophobia and how he is finding strength after Kaufmans death.
He said he hoped people with hateful attitudes against Muslims hear his message and think, Theres the loved one of one of the victims. If he can feel this way about it, why do I have that much hate?
Sri Lanka on Tuesday announced a landmark law to recognise as dead an estimated 65,000 people still missing seven years after the end of a bitter civil war, allowing relatives to claim inheritances.
Ministers approved a draft bill to issue certificates of absence to the families of those who went missing during a 37-year war with Tamil separatists and a Marxist uprising.
This measure will help tens of thousands of Sri Lankans whose family members and loved ones are missing and who are unable to address practical issues relating to their disappearance, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Under the current law, families cannot access the property, bank accounts or inheritances left by missing relatives unless they can conclusively prove they are dead -- an often impossible task.
Huge numbers of minority Tamils went missing during almost four decades of war after being arrested by security services, while thousands more died in military bombardments.
Several mass graves containing skeletal remains have been found in the past two decades, but only a handful have ever been identified.
In this photograph taken on May 19, 2009, Sri Lankan soldiers carry the remains of Tamil Tiger rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in the district of Mullaittivu. (AFP file photo)
Thousands of people also went missing during a crackdown by security forces and pro-government vigilante groups on Marxist rebels between 1987 and 1990.
At that time Sri Lanka was notorious for burning dozens of unidentified corpses on piles of tyres by the roadside -- so-called tyre-pyre burnings designed to drive fear into the rebels.
Sri Lanka has one of the largest caseloads of missing persons in the world, the foreign ministry statement said.
In fact, since 1994 alone the government commissions have received over 65,000 complaints of missing persons.
Official sources said a certificate of absence could be used to make claims in place of a death certificate under the new law, which is likely to pass through parliament in a few months.
The government last month announced it was setting up an office to try to trace the war missing in a move to bring closure for families.
The cffice of missing persons has been tasked with recommending compensation and clearing the way for next of kin to take legal action against anyone responsible for the disappearance of loved ones.
Troops crushed separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in a no-holds-barred offensive in 2009, killing up to 40,000 Tamil civilians.
President Maithripala Sirisena, who came to power in January last year, has agreed to a domestic investigation into violations of international humanitarian law.
The father of a Stanford University student convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman has come under fire for dismissing the crime as 20 minutes of action.
The judge who oversaw the case in California, Aaron Persky, has also sparked outrage for sentencing Brock Turner to six months in prison and probation for the assault, saying that he feared a stiffer jail term would have a severe impact on Turner.
The 20-year-old student from Ohio had faced up to 14 years behind bars for the January 2015 assault but is now expected to serve only three months of his six-month sentence in a county jail.
His father said in a statement at the sentencing hearing last week that Turner, who quit Stanford after he was charged, did not deserve to go to jail.
(Brock) will never be his happy go lucky self with that easy going personality and welcoming smile, Dan Turner told the court in his statement made public on Monday. His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve.
That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life.
The case has put the spotlight on rape at US college campuses where, according to one study, more than one in every six women are raped during their first year at university while too drunk or drugged to be able to fend off their attacker.
The judge justified his lenient sentence saying Turner had shown genuine feelings of remorse and that the former swimmer did not pose a danger to society.
Stanford University's campus is seen in an aerial photo in Stanford, California, United States. (REUTERS)
Ruin two lives
Details of the case went viral on social media over the weekend after the victims emotional statement to the court was released by the prosecutor, with many denouncing the sentence as a slap on the wrist.
If someones a rapist and an athlete, theyre not an athlete who made a mistake, theyre a criminal who can also swim, tweeted Lauren DeStefano, a US author, in a post retweeted more than 12,000 times.
In her statement, the victim described how the attack had left her emotionally scarred and made her not want (her) body anymore.
She recounted waking up in a hospital bed in San Jose, California, on the morning of January 18, 2015 without any recollection of what had happened and described the invasive exam she underwent.
She also challenged Turners own statement to the court in which he said I want to show people that one night of drinking can ruin a life.
Ruin a life, one life, yours. You forgot about mine, she told the court as she faced her attacker.
Let me rephrase for you: I want to show people that one night of drinking can ruin two lives. You and me. You are the cause, I am the effect.
She also dismissed Turners account that she was conscious and willing during the assault which took place outside a fraternity party where the two had met.
Turner was convicted in March of three felony charges: assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated/unconscious person, penetration of an intoxicated person and penetration of an unconscious person.
He was arrested after two bicyclists saw him assaulting the victim behind a dumpster. When they called out, he tried to run away but the two tackled him and held him until police arrived, authorities said.
The judges perceived leniency has prompted calls for his dismissal but the prosecutor who handled the case said Monday he was against such an outcome.
While I strongly disagree with the sentence that judge Persky issued in the Brock Turner case I do not believe he should be removed from his judgeship, Jeffrey Rosen said in a statement. I am so pleased that the victims powerful and true statements about the devastation of campus sexual assault are being heard across our nation.
She has given voice to thousands of sexual assault survivors.
The US presidential election came up at Prime Minister Narendra Modis interaction with a bipartisan group of leaders from Americas prominent think tanks on Monday evening.
The meeting was attended by Brookings Strobe Talbott, a former deputy secretary of state, and Carnegies William Burns, also a former deputy secretary of state. Neera Tanden, head of the Center for American Progress, too was present at the meeting.
Officials refused to share details of the discussion, citing the ground rules of the engagement.
India has been closely following the US presidential election campaign, specially the ascent of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
In the run up to Modis visit, an Indian official confirmed Trumps campaign was being closely followed by New Delhi but insisted they had found no reason to worry as yet.
The officials point, made in as many words, was it was impossible to pin down the famously erratic real estate tycoon to any position as he had flip-flopped on practically every issue.
Pushed by a moderator at a Republican presidential debate in Florida, before he secured the nomination, Trump declared himself against the H-1B temporary visa programme.
Trump said he supported a temporary pause in the programme to study the downsides, essentially Americans being displaced by it, but later he defended the programme.
The H-1B programme is crucial to the bottomline at some of Indias leading IT giants such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro and Satyam Mahindra.
Trump has also indicated his willingness to seek Indias help, if elected, to deal with Pakistans nuclear weapons should they fall into wrong hands, without, once again, specifying details.
But he has been clear on abrogating the Paris accord on climate change, for which India was a leading partner, using the forum to launch a global solar alliance with France.
We will see, the Indian official had said, indicating there were larger issues about Trump and his position that needs better clarity.
India tends to believe it understands presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton better, given a long history of interactions with her going back to her days as the first lady.
Hillary first visited India with daughter Chelsea in 1995 before her husband, former president Bill Clinton, who visited in 2000 in the last months of his presidency.
And as President Barack Obamas secretary of state from 2009 to 2012, Hillary famously said in a speech in Chennai in 2011 that it was time for India to lead.
Modi met the former secretary of state and her husband on his first visit to the US as prime minister in 2014, when she had not yet announced her run, but was widely expected to.
There has been speculation in the Indian-American community that Modi may speak to Hillary and Trump during this visit, on phone if not in person, but officials have all but ruled it out.
There is a precedence, claim those still rooting for an outreach, citing former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayees phone conversation with Republican candidate George W Bush in September 2000. But Bush had requested the call, Indian officials had said then.
The Tabbs of Amelia County were one of the oldest and wealthiest families in Virginia, owning vast acreage and many slaves. When the Civil War came, 16-year-old Johnny Tabb wanted to join his brothers in the Confederate Army, but he was a frail lad with a serious eye problem, and this was not possible. However, his chance to serve the Confederacy would come.
In 1862, Major B.F. Ficklin of the Confederate War Department, visiting the Tabb family estate, The Forest, revealed that he had been commissioned by the Southern government to go to England, buy a ship, and convert it into a blockade runner for the Confederacy. He invited young Tabb to accompany him, an invitation the boy eagerly accepted. Tabb left the next day for Wilmington, N.C., where he joined the Confederate Navy as clerk to Captain John Wilkinson, who had been selected to command the new blockade runner.
In September 1862, Wilkinson, Ficklin, Tabb and two government officials boarded the Southern steamer Kate in Wilmington with funds converted into pounds sterling for the purchase. The trip would be long, arduous and dangerous. Kate proceeded down the Cape Fear River and laid to under the guns of Fort Fisher, in sight of the Federal blockading fleet, waiting for nightfall. Under cover of darkness she ran the blockade and headed for San Salvador in the Bahamas.
In transit, one of the passengers died of yellow fever; Major Ficklin also contracted the disease, but survived. At San Salvador, Ficklin hired a schooner to take the party to Cuba. With contrary winds, the going was slow; they ran out of ice and provisions. On the latter part of their week-long voyage, a 14-foot shark, which had been following them from San Salvador, was their only food. The schooner finally arrived at Cardenas, Cuba, where Tabb set foot on foreign soil for the first time. He was fascinated by the enormous crabs that frequented the streets and houses. The party went by train to Havana, where they took a Spanish steamer bound for the Virgin Islands, stopping at numerous ports along the way. In St. Thomas, they transferred to an English mail steamer and proceeded to Southampton without further incident. The trip had taken almost two months.
The party then proceeded to Glasgow, Scotland, to negotiate the purchase of a passenger steamer, Giraffe, which ran between Glasgow and Belfast, and to oversee her conversion into a blockade runner. She was 260 feet long and weighed 900 tons, with a draft of 10 feet and a top speed of 13 knots, and carried no armament. She was one of the fastest of the blockade runners, about as fast as the famous Confederate raider Alabama. During the period of negotiations and renovation, Tabbs duties were nominal, and he enjoyed the sights of England, as well as a side trip to Paris.
Giraffe sailed under the British flag with a British captain, although Captain Wilkinson was actually in charge. The first cargo consisted of medical supplies and fine paper for printing money consigned to the Confederate Treasury Department, along with 26 Scottish lithographers who had contracted to work for the treasury. The crossing, via the Portuguese Madeira Islands and Puerto Rico to Nassau, was routine. In Nassau they picked up pilots and set sail on the final leg of their journey, the running of the Federal blockade of Wilmington.
On December 26, 1862, Giraffe approached the North Carolina coast. As she neared the blockading fleet, the fire room hatch was covered, all lights were extinguished, and even the compass was hooded except for a small hole for the helmsman to see through. Anyone showing an open light was subject to instant death. Heading for the mouth of the Cape Fear River, the ship came to a sudden haltGiraffe was stuck on a sandbar. If capture appeared imminent, the ship was to be destroyed rather than surrendered. Tabb was ordered to bring explosives on deck for that purpose. A boat was launched to set out an anchor. The sailors rowed with muffled oars, so close to a blockader that the crews voices could be heard. With the anchor dropped, the ships winch was tightened, and Giraffe was pulled off the bar. The anchor was then cut loose, and the ship entered the port of Wilmington at midnight on December 29. The next morning, Tabb counted 17 blockaders in line offshore. He later memorialized the incident in a poem called The Anchor.
Giraffe, one of only three or four blockade runners owned by the Confederate government, was renamed R.E. Lee. All other blockade runners were privately owned and were so profitable that often one successful trip would more than pay for the loss of a ship. A blockade-runner, Tabb once wrote, was almost as invisible at night as Harlequin in the pantomime. Nothing showed above the deck but two short masts, and the smokestack; and the lead-colored hull could scarcely be seen at the distance of one hundred yards. Even on a clear day they were not easily discovered.
Sailors on the privately owned ships were paid $100 a month in gold and a $50 bonus at the end of a good trip, which usually took about seven days. The crews of the government-owned blockade runners were paid the same. Captains and pilots earned as much as $5,000 a year. Navy captains, subordinate officers and pilots received only the pay of their rank in gold.
R.E. Lee became one of the most famous of all the blockade runners. She ran the blockade 21 times, with 6,000 to 7,000 cotton bales worth $2 million in gold, and she brought back cargos of equal value. Tabb served aboard until almost the end of her Confederate service. The voyages were between Bermuda or Nassau and such Carolina coastal cities as Wilmington, Beaufort and Charleston. Tabb said that on each trip they had to pass through 20 to 30 Federal warships, and that the task was not made easier when the cargo was ammunition.
During one trip, bad weather forced R.E. Lee to stray off course, and she met a Federal blockader too suddenly for evasive action. The quick-witted Captain Wilkinson ordered the ship quickly rigged to impersonate a Federal transport (many captured blockade runners were converted to that use). He ran up the United States flag, saluted the blockader, who returned the salute, and proceeded on his way.
On another occasion, more aggressive action was necessary. Outbound for Nassau, R.E. Lee was chased by USS Iroquois, a sailing vessel. She had government gold in her cargo and was using inferior coal, which was costing her speed. Cotton bales were quickly soaked in turpentine and used as fuel, and the boilers were fired so high that the deck was almost scorching hot. R.E. Lee stayed ahead of her pursuer and, at dusk, put up a smoke screen, made a sharp 90-degree turn and escaped.
In September 1863, Wilkinson was put in charge of an expedition to free Confederate prisoners of war at Johnsons Island, near Sandusky, Ohio. A party of handpicked men was formed, with Lieutenant Robert Minor as second-in-command. The inclusion in the party of young Johnny Tabb was evidence of the high esteem in which his commander held him.
The expedition was a true cloak-and-dagger affair. The party, including a replacement captain for R.E. Lee, sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on October 10, 1863, with a cargo of cotton. She was attacked and struck by enemy fire while running the blockade, but got through with only minor damage. The proceeds from the sale of the cotton were to be used to buy blankets and shoes for the army and for the needs of the released prisoners. The men arrived in Halifax on October 16, and because such a large party of Confederates would attract attention, they split into small groups. Wilkinson had been given letters to certain individuals in Canada who were ready to help, and an advance man was sent to Montreal, via Portland, Maine, to advise them of the partys coming.
The party got as far as Toronto, but the plot was discovered and the Canadian governor general issued a proclamation threatening to imprison anyone violating his countrys neutrality laws. He also notified United States authorities, and the prison garrison was reinforced and placed on full alert. The expedition was therefore called off, and the entire party returned to Halifax, making part of the trip by sleigh, and booked passage on Alpha, the first steamer available bound for Bermuda, in December 1863.
R.E. Lee, under her replacement captain, sailed from Halifax after landing the expedition party. She was captured off the North Carolina coast on her way to Texas with army payrolls. Renamed Fort Donelson, she was assigned to Union blockade duty and subsequently participated in the capture of Fort Fisher and the closing of Wilmington, the last port open to the Confederacyan ironic ending to the career of a famous blockade runner.
After the arrival of the expedition party in Bermuda, Wilkinson took command of a privately owned blockade runner, Whisper, which had come over from England in the early part of 1864. Tabb accompanied him back to the Confederacy, where they parted ways.
In May 1864, Tabb ran the blockade for the 20th time from Wilmington to Bermuda. It was a particularly difficult crossing, in rough weather, on a poor steamer burning bad coal. Tabb remembered that it was a Sunday when they landed because the bell of the English church was ringing, and he got ashore just in time to attend the evening service.
Tabb had come bearing government dispatches, and was under orders to return on Siren, a small British steamer used by the governor of Bermuda as a yacht, which had been purchased by the Confederate government. Siren, which was commanded by a British captain, was in poor condition, and the captain had trouble getting a crew. She was very noisy, roaring like a buzz saw, Tabb said, and someone remarked that the blockading fleet would hear her coming before they saw her. On the third day at sea there was a report, which proved false, that she had sprung a leak and was going to sink. But something had definitely gone wrong with the engine, and the ship was almost dead in the water. On the morning of June 5, 1864, off Beaufort, N.C., Siren was approached by the Federal steamer Keystone State, which fired two shots over her bow. The British flag was lowered, and Siren was towed into port by Keystone State as a prize of war.
Tabb, the British captain and others were sent to Point Lookout, the infamous Federal prison camp located on a low, sandy peninsula in southern Maryland where the Potomac River meets the Chesapeake Bay. The prison was about 20 acres in size, surrounded by a palisade and heavily guarded. The prisoners were housed in tents, although there was an extensive hospital for the illof whom there were many. There, Tabb spent the most miserable seven months of his life. He corresponded with the British representative in Washington and secured his cooperation in getting the captain and his associates released from Point Lookout. They were prepared to declare him English also, to secure his release, but Tabb would have none of this. When the Englishmen reached New York, they sent, by prearrangement, a box of supplies to Tabb, which included a $5 gold piece concealed in a sausage. Being sick in the hospital at the time, Tabb somehow forgot the money and gave the supplies away. The honest recipient of the sausage later returned the $5 gold piece to him.
The only bright spot in Tabbs imprisonment was his meeting with Sidney Lanier, a young Confederate signal officer who also had been captured aboard a blockade runner. Lanier, who would become one of the Souths best-known postwar literary figures, was an accomplished flutist. While in the hospital, Tabb heard the sound of a flute, which Lanier had smuggled into prison concealed up his sleeve, and vowed that he must find the player when he was able. The two kindred spirits became inseparable until their release from prison. They were together as much as possible, frequently being joined by a Polish physician with a fine voice who loved to sing operatic arias. Often, when singing a love song, the good doctor would work himself up to an emotional peak, much to the amusement of the young Americans.
In February 1865, Tabb was finally exchanged and went home to The Forest in Amelia County, where he remained until April, recuperating from his prison ordeal. He then joined his brothers regiment, the 59th Virginia Infantry stationed near Richmond, at about the time that the capital city was evacuated. The 59th, commanded by his older brother, Colonel William Barksdale Tabb, was part of Brig. Gen. Henry A. Wises brigade. As the Army of Northern Virginia withdrew southwestward, closely pursued by Federal forces, it passed through Tabbs home county. A portion of the army was surrounded at the Battle of Saylers Creek on April 6, 1865. Most of the encircled Confederates were obliged to surrender, but Wises brigade fought its way out of the trap and became part of Maj. Gen. John B. Gordons command on the march to High Bridge, Farmville, and Appomattox Court House. There, on April 9, 1865, just past his 20th birthday, Private John B. Tabb was paroled along with his brothers and the remaining members of the 59th Virginia Infantry.
After the war, Major Ficklin offered to send Tabb to Baltimore to study music. The Tabb family had been impoverished by the war, and the majors offer was readily accepted. A year later, however, Ficklin had financial reverses of his own and could no longer sponsor Tabbs musical education. Tabb then taught school for a time and, although from an Episcopalian family, converted to Roman Catholicism while in Baltimore. He entered Saint Marys Seminary there and was ordained a priest in 1874 at the age of 29. He became a teacher at Saint Charles College and Seminary in Ellicott City, Md., where he remained for the rest of his life.
While at Saint Charles, Tabb renewed his friendship with Sidney Lanier, then a resident of Baltimore, principal flutist of the Peabody Symphony Orchestra and member of the faculty of Johns Hopkins University. The former prison mates maintained a lively correspondence until Laniers death.
In the postwar years, Father Tabb gained a widespread reputation in American literary circles. Several volumes of his poems were published, and many appeared in well-known periodicals of the day such as Harpers, The Atlantic and Lippincotts, and also received critical acclaim in the British press. Ever the unreconstructed Rebel, Father Tabb would never cross the Mason-Dixon Line, and always refused invitations to speak in the North.
Father Tabb was remembered by his students for his accomplished piano playing, his incisive cartoons and his ready wit. The archives of the Suplician order contain many clever cartoons of Tabbs fellow priests, often accompanied by topical and pun-filled verses that reveal his keen insight into human nature.
Father Tabbs eyesight continued to deteriorate from the malady that had plagued him since childhood. He had to be relieved of his teaching duties at Saint Charles, and eventually became completely blind. His general health also began to fail with increasing rapidity. The opening lines of a poem published in his first book of verse begin, To die in sleepto drift from dream to dream. At 11 p.m. on November 19, 1909, Father Tabbs wish was granted.
Documentary masterpiece Filmmaker Ken Burns reflects on his epic series The Civil War on the eve of its 25th anniversary rerelease
A QUARTER CENTURY after Ken Burns five-part, 11-hour documentary debuted, The Civil War will air again this fallin a restored high-definition version. It required two months of scanning the original footage to create the new edition, which enables viewers to see all the images as Burns himself did. The series has been hailed as a masterpiece of documentary filmmaking, blending archival images and narration with passages from letters and diaries read by renowned actors such as Morgan Freeman as social reformer Frederick Douglass; George Plimpton as the acidic New York diarist George Templeton Strong and Garrison Keillor as poet-turned-nurse Walt Whitman. In 1990 The Civil War was watched by 38 million, setting a viewing record that has so far been unsurpassed. The high-definition version, which will air on PBS stations September 7-11, 2015, and will also be available as a DVD and on Blu-Ray, includes bonus footage as well as interviews about making and remastering the documentary.
CWT: What can viewers expect from the restoration project?
KB: Frame-by-frame transfer to high definition, which will result to sharper, clearer and just more stunningly beautiful images.
CWT: Looking back, would you change anything or use any methods from current technology?
KB: No, thank goodness. People have succumbed to the use of CGI [computer-generated imagery], and re-creations have become more standard. We really tried to limit that. We wanted the archival recordthe actual historical recordto speak for itself. We were criticized, I think correctly, for not doing this general or that battle, or this or that aspect or Congress or American life, but in a war that took four years and was fought in 10,000 places, you cant cover everything. So youre left with taking what you think are symbolic and representative movements that will stand in for all those 10,000 places where the war was fought.
CWT: Is there anything you regret leaving on the cutting room floor?
KB: Tons. The cutting room floor is never filled with bad stuff; its always filled with good stuff. If you remember the movie Amadeus when the empress says, Too many notes, its always about subtraction; sometimes you take out a moment or a scene that is better than the one adjacent to it, but it didnt serve the larger purpose. Those are really tough decisions. I love that people still come up to me after 25 years and say, You know, what you left out. Nobody comes up and says, That was 11 boring hours. They say, What you needed and come up with something else. And theyre usually Civil War buffsand thats great too because you want them to be experts. But Ive still got to make the film for a general audience that may not know the difference between Robert E. Lee and U.S. Grant.
CWT: Thousands of glass negatives were lost following the war. What image that might have been on one of those plates would you have wanted to find?
KB: One of battle! For the greatest war in American history there are a million images; 125,000 surviveand Ive seen most of them. And not one of them is of battle. A lot of people say, well, thats smoke over there. These were long exposure times, and things were moving fast. So we dont have that. And I doubt theres any of that in all those missing images.
CWT: How is it you turned to making documentaries when your initial training was in film?
KB: I was trained in filmperiod. But that also included documentary, and all my teachers were documentary still photographers. My dad was also an anthropologist whose hobby was photography. I think there is as much drama in what is and what was than anything the human imagination makes up. That is to say, as Shelby Foote once told me: God is the greatest dramatist. Here is Abraham Lincoln triumphantly hearing the news of the surrender at Appomattox, and a few days later, on Good Friday, he decides he has enough time to go to the theater. If you try to sell that to a producer in Hollywood, they say, Ooohhh, thats implausible. I think what youve got in a documentary is fresh, not stale plots. Thats a really good thing.
CWT: Some of the talking heads you used were unusual. Talk about how James Symington came to recite a poem.
KB: I had no idea that Symington, a congressman, would do that. That was one of the great gifts.
CWT: And what about Daisy Turner, who I understand was 101 at the time of the filming?
KB: Daisy Turner was an accident, too. I went to visit her in Vermont. She was blind and nearly wholly deaf. I tried a few things, but she seemed disoriented. Just when I started to tell the crew to wind it up, she asked, Do you want to hear The Soldiers Story? I didnt know what it was, but I was polite and said, Sureand she flawlessly recited from memory all the rhyming couplets of a poem she had committed to memory 90 years before. We divided it up into three partssort of a Greek chorus for the entire Battle of Gettysburg, the greatest battle fought in North America.
CWT: Tell us about her connection to the Civil War.
KB: Daisys father had escaped from slavery, made his way north and joined the 1st New Jersey Cavalry, and came back and killed his former overseer. Then moved to Vermont because it had never made slavery legal.
CWT: How did you discover so much archival material regarding African Americans?
KB: For way too long the Civil War has treated African Americans as passive bystanders to this struggle and not the active, dedicated, self-sacrificing soldiers in this intensely personal drama of self-liberation. Its one of the best stories I know. One of the hardest things we had to doand the deepest we had to digwas to find those narratives. This war came about because of slavery. Everyone tries to convince you otherwise: Its economic. Its social. Political differences. States rights. Its about taxation. Its about representation. But its about slavery. Its about the fact that the United States began its existence proclaiming to the world that all men were created equal, and yet a person who wrote those words owned more than 100 human beings and didnt see fit to free any one of them in his lifetimehe set in motion an American narrative that is constantly having to grapple with race. It would bring on the Civil War. It would cause the largest number of deaths. All the deaths from other wars combined do not equal the number of deaths from the Civil War.
CWT: What do you say to people who contend the war wasnt about slavery?
KB: I say please look at South Carolinas Articles of Secession after Lincolns First Inauguration. They never once mention states rights; they mention slavery over and over again. And we felt it was time to stop making this a story of two groups of people who disagreed and fought and killed each other, and then decided they want to be one. Its a much more complicated dynamic. The drama is much more dramatic when you tell the more difficult storywhen you dont try to sell a kind of Madison Avenue, sanitized version of it.
CWT: How long did it take to assemble the material for the film?
KB: We spent five years.
CWT: Did you think it would take that long when you started?
KB: Pretty much. Im working on a history of the Vietnam War that, when its broadcast in 2017, will be 10 years in the making. It sometimes takes time to do something right.
CWT: How did you decide to do The Civil War?
KB: I was visiting my dad in western Michigan, and I had brought him his 2-year-old granddaughter. On the afternoon of Christmas Day, everybody was taking a nap, relaxing, watching TV, and I finished reading The Killer Angels. I put the book down and said to my dad, I know what my next film is. And he said, What? I said, the Civil War. He said, Oh, what part? I said, All of it. And he just shook his head and walked out of the room like, My idiot son! And that was really fun. From then on I ploughed toward that.
CWT: How did you settle on Confederate and Union soldiers Sam Watkins and Elijah Hunt Rhodes to carry the film as main protagonists?
KB: One was sort of obvious: Sam Watkins, who had published this wonderful Company Aytch [in 1882]. As for Elijah Rhodes: Ive lived in a tiny town in New Hampshire since 1979, and one of my neighbors was a descendant of Rhodes. One day I was visiting his garage, and he said, Ive also published this diary of my great-grandfather. And I started to read itoh my God, I thought, this is wonderful. Here is my Union grunt. So the wonderful thing that Sam Watkins did, as we see in the introduction, Elijah Hunt Rhodes also did: They started in the beginning, and they lived to tell the tale.
CWT: Why are the accounts of common soldier-survivors important?
KB: More often than not were distracted by the morose and the tragicand theres lots to be morose and tragic about in the Civil Warbut these guys survived it. They brought out of it a kind of memory of the war that is so direct and honest that its a great thing.
CWT: Civil War soldiers were remarkably literate.
KB: It is really remarkable. This was a war fought by two very literate armies who saw things differently, and they wrote home in a way that we dont now. We tweet at 140 characters and we do abbreviations, but we dont write letters. Many of us dont even know how to write a letter. These people did, and so you have access to them. While it seems different because we dont do things like that, they also seem really familiar. Human nature never changes. The Bible says it: Theres nothing new under the sun. You have great examples of generosity and greed; you have puritanism and prurience on exhibit in the past. I think what I felt is: Why just have a narrator tell you? Why cant you hear in the way they spoke from love letters to military dispatches, from newspapers to government records. All of them reveal much more than just the surface of what theyre saying.
CWT: How did you come across Sullivan Ballous beautiful love letter to his wife?
KB: We had more than two dozen historical advisers, some of the greatest writers of history, period. Not just Shelby Foote, but many other people, representing a spectrum of belief, from Marxist historians to Conservative historians of the Lost Cause, if that is the correct way to describe them. One of them whos now passed awayRobert Johannsen of the University of Illinois, I believefound it in the Illinois State Archives. I was sort of haranguing them about documentary material at a consultants meeting, and all of a sudden this ended up on our doorstep. I read it out loud, and everybody cried, and my voice caught itself. It was great.
CWT: Your film is what put it out there for the public, and for history.
KB: We tried to do that at every step of the way: to be honest about what was going on and see it from the Southern as well as the Northern perspective. I have relatives who fought on both sides. It is the most important event in all of American history. Everything that came before it led up to it, and everything that came since has been a consequence. All the films I had done before thisBrooklyn Bridge, The Shakers, The Statue of Liberty, Huey Long, The Congress, Thomas Hart Bentonall those narratives, chosen randomly and haphazardly, had a central determining force: the Civil War. Thats what drove me to do it. Every thread unravels to the Civil War. All the things we talk about, Ferguson or Baltimore or Sanford, Fla., or Oklahoma City. These are all vestiges of what caused the Civil War: our inability to see people based on the content of their character, as Dr. Martin Luther King said, rather than on the color of their skin.
CWT: On that subject: I was impressed with your 2011 documentary on the Central Park Fivethe story of five black and Latino teenagers accused and falsely convicted in 1990 of raping a jogger in Central Park.
KB: My daughter Sarah was really the guiding force for that, along with her husband David McMann, the great filmmaker, and myself. I rememberwhen she was too young to rememberI was editing The Civil War in New York City, and reading the tabloids every day. I thought they did it, and I was shaking my head, saying, Whats going to happen to cities, whats happened to families? I now know these guys intimately, and they were and are all good people. They served out a full sentence for a crime they didnt commit. There are still people who would prefer to sayyou know, Well, they must have done something. Well, they actually paid for the worst crime that happened that night, and we know they didnt do that. Well, they must have done something. What it says is the thing that propelled us into the Civil War is still here: the question of race.
CWT: The timing for this restoration project is perfect.
KB: Were really thrilled about this kind of harmonic convergence. It is 150 years since the end of the Civil War. Weve passed the important anniversary dates in April and May, and this September we will be able to say its 25 years since our film was first broadcast, 150 years since the Civil War. If you want to know who you are, you have to know where youve been, and the most important place weve been is not Philadelphia 1776, not Normandy 1944, not the World Trade Center 2001all those are hugely important moments, but beginning at Fort Sumter in 1861 and going to Fords Theatre in 1865 is the way we understand best who we are. Then theres the fact that PBS and our underwriter, Bank of America, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have been willing to pay for this restoration, frame by frame, of an 11-hour film. There are 24 frames per second. Thats a lot of painstaking restoration, and well have it for another generation. As were talking, its a school day in America. Im told that 2,500 classes will be looking at part of The Civil War series. And thats very heartening.
This interview was originally published in the October 2015 Civil War Times.
It looks like you've reached a page that doesnt exist (anymore).
Please use the navigation or search above to find content on Hospitality Net.
Go back to home
The 2016 HOLA conference roused both enthusiasm and caution for Latin Americas hotel industry. Major markets benefit from their alignment with the U.S. dollar, but hurt from oversupply. Smaller markets, however, may be poised for growth.
This years Hotel Opportunities in Latin America (HOLA) conference opened with mixed signals. On one side of the picture, the drop in commodity prices, historic increases in hotel supply, and weaker exchange rates continue to impact Central and South American economies, now in the fifth year of an economic slowdown and the second year of recession.
On the brighter side, an increasing amount of travel among Latin Americas middle class and undersupplied secondary and tertiary markets in the region pose the opportunity for growth, particularly for branded hotels.
Falling Commodity Prices
A downgrade in commodity prices, especially for crude oil, has been affecting Latin America ever since prices peaked in mid-year 2011. Owing to both supply and demand factors, oil prices began to decrease in late 2014, bottoming out early this year. Prices of other commodities such as iron ore, copper, and grains have also dropped.
Because the regions economies rely so heavily on commodity production, these declines bring significant challenges. Declining demand from other nations, along with the ongoing recession in Latin American countries, has slowed exports, particularly to China, the regions largest importer.
There is some positive news, however, for specific markets. The recent drop in oil prices affects oil exporters like Colombia but helps importers like Chile. The reduction in the price of oil will lower the value of oil reserves in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, at least in the near term; however, oil prices have been on a slow but steady upswing since early 2016, resulting in the expectation that a recovery has taken root.
Currency Depreciation Continues - Impact On Hotels Dependent On Market
Currencies in the most prominent Latin American economies have depreciated as a result of falling commodity prices, a stronger U.S. dollar, and an outlook of sluggish growth in China. Currency depreciation in just the last three years, on average, is a staggering 30%. While the regions emerging markets have typically held the promise of higher yields, Latin America has been at the forefront of a selloff among emerging markets worldwide, the result of stronger economic conditions in the U.S.
Many economies in the region also rely heavily on the export of commodities, making Latin Americas biggest exporters, such as Brazil, dependent on economic growth and demand in China. The latest bout of currency weakness in Latin America was in part triggered by the devaluation of the Chinese currency, the yuan; a cheaper yuan hurts Chinas purchasing power for commodities produced in Latin America, such as copper and oil.
With respect to hotels, assets whose primary rate position is set in the U.S. dollar (namely hotels located in capital cities and resort markets) remain unaffected by regional currency fluctuations and instead benefit from higher revenues when converted to the local currency. However, assets that are more dependent on local currencies have been hit with plummeting average rates.
The currency depreciation has also weakened consumer spending, causing a decrease in Latin American travelers visiting other countries in the region, while perhaps increasing domestic travel. Moreover, the favorable exchange rates make these Latin American destinations less expensive for North American travelers, resulting in a potential increase in travel from the U.S.
Hotel Supply Increases Significant In Recent Years, But Still Low For Some Markets
Major Latin American cities have experienced an influx of new hotel supply in recent years. In fact, markets such as Panama City, Panama, had been oversaturated with year-over-year supply increases for years, a trend that has only recently let up. The pace of new development in the region reflects, in some part, a lack of proper due diligence, with well-capitalized family companies and multi-sector developers embarking on projects on a whim.
The onset of economic uncertainty has slowed the increase in supply, however, and Latin American hotel markets remain for the most part undersupplied. By comparison, rooms supply in the United States is nine times greater per capita compared with that of Latin America, presenting some markets with opportunities for growth.
Mexico and Chile, in particular, continue to emerge as the regions most diverse and upward-bound economies. This is reflected in these nations healthy manufacturing sectors and the success of their hospitality markets, which boast stable occupancies and strong tourism.
Meanwhile, supply growth in Brazil is expected to be below the average for the region, due to significant increases in supply, coupled with economic declines, over the last few years, and an overall weak economic outlook. Similarly, supply growth in Colombia is set to slow, as government incentives designed to prompt hotel development also created a bloat in supply over the last few years.
Perus supply growth has remained relatively muted in the recent past, and sound economic performance, favorable business policies, and the countrys emergence as a cultural and culinary destination support a positive outlook for its hotel industry. In fact, Peru is expected to realize dominant growth in supply over the next few years, especially in secondary and tertiary markets. Argentina, another of Latin Americas top economic powers, has likewise received only marginal increases in hotel supply in recent years, despite major infrastructural projects in the nation.
Brand Presence Expected To Continue To Expand
The growing acquisition power of the Latin American middle class is becoming more and more evident, prompting increases in both commercial and leisure travel. As mentioned previously, this has created opportunities for growth in secondary hotel markets, specifically for branded hotels.
Latin America as a whole remains underserved by brand-affiliated hotels. The majority of Latin American hotels are operated independentlyonly 46% of the regions hotels are branded. Delegates at the HOLA conference shared a general expectation that branded supply will increase in the region through the conversion of independent hotels to branded hotels, as well as the growing trend of family companies affiliating their properties with brands.
By 2025, Latin Americas mix of branded versus independent hotels is expected to shift to approximately 55% to 41%, respectively. Notably, the expansion of hotel brands could also catalyze an increase in demand and new opportunities for high-quality professional hotel management companies in the region.
Closing Thoughts
The Latin American hotel industry is vast in scope, and opportunities, particularly in the regions best-performing economies and certain smaller markets, exist for well-advised hoteliers. HOLA speakers and delegates, however, urged caution moving forward, given concern that the U.S. is near the end of its economic recovery and the global market for Latin American commodities is continuing to soften.
Under the pressure of these economic conditions, the pace of performance growth for Latin Americas hotel industry has slowed significantly since 2012/13. On the upside, supply growth has also settled over the past year, establishing some long overdue opportunities for expansion in specific markets. Additionally, a growing, traveling middle class continues to present the opportunity for supply increases in Latin America, particularly branded hotels in secondary and tertiary cities. Proper due diligence in hotel operations, branding, and development in the region will further offset risks; thus, the outlook would be best defined as cautiously optimistic.
About Luigi Major
Luigi Major, MAI, is the Managing Director and Senior Partner of HVS Houston. Luigi earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Houston's Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management. Luigi travels and works extensively in the U.S. and Latin America. Contact Luigi at (214) 629-1135, or lmajor@hvs.com.
New GBTA Study: Extended Stay Accommodations: What Travel Buyers Needs to Know
The GBTA Foundation conducted a new study in partnership with WWStay to understand how travel programs approach their need for extended stay accommodations. This is a follow up to a 2015 study showing nearly half of U.S. international business travelers have used extended stay accommodations in the past 12 months, with 72 percent of Millennials having used one more than any other age group.
These numbers clearly demonstrate that you need to be thinking about extended stay as an important part of your travel program.
What Defines an Extended Stay Business Trip?
Just over half (51 percent) of North American travel buyers who responded to the survey said they consider an extended stay trip as one that falls between 5+ to 10+ nights, while 15 percent said it is defined as 30 nights or more. Almost a quarter of respondents mentioned they did not have a set definition. While there is no set timeframe all companies must follow, what is important is that your organization create a definition for what is considered an extended stay trip. This is the first step in managing this part of your travel program. The definition you set and the needs of your travelers will make it easier to understand who owns this piece and when other departments either take over or can collaborate with your group.
Challenges Faced Fulfilling Extended Stay Accommodations
The most commonly cited challenge among travel buyers when fulfilling extended stay accommodations was finding the right type of lodging for their travelers when the destination was not one they had previously visited. Without the benefit of established relationships with lodging suppliers and on-the-ground knowledge, the process becomes even more labor and resource intensive. Even with those relationships in place, there is an inevitable back-and-forth process with extended stay accommodations to find the right solution for the traveler that also fits within the parameters of the travel program.
Travel buyers also find with extended stay accommodations in new parts of the world their travelers havent been to before, that it can be difficult to properly vet the quality and safety of the lodging in advance. This is where partnering with a TMC or third-party service provider can be helpful to ensure the property truly does meet all the needs of the traveler and the standards set by the travel program.
Additional challenges encountered by travel buyers include minimum night stays, limited number of properties in certain locations, labor intensive search process and price negotiations.
Duty of Care Implications
In general the various types of extended stay accommodations including traditional hotels, extended stay hotels, community rentals or serviced apartments can meet all of the duty of care standards in place for an organization as long as a proper vetting process is in place to evaluate the safety of the accommodations. Challenges arise when the property has not been vetted by the travel program or partner to the program and when travelers do not book through approved channels.
The 2015 study found 60 percent of North American based business travelers who travel internationally book extended stay accommodations on their own outside of their travel department. This poses a number of potential challenges including lost visibility, increased likelihood of poor decisions as a result of limited knowledge, and reduced productivity. When a travel buyer has no visibility into a travelers itinerary, there is very little that can be done to offer support if needed. The duty of care implications can be more severe in the case of an emergency such as weather, health or security-related issues. Booking through approved channels in conjunction with regular communication between travelers and their travel program minimizes these risks.
TMCs and third-party service providers that manage extended stay lodging for a travel buyer along with third-party security companies can all help coordinate and manage the safety of the extended stay traveler. At a minimum, travel buyers should have tracking capabilities to know where their travelers are staying at all times. Duty of care initiatives should be no different for transient trips than for those traveling for an extended period of time. If anything, those away from the office for longer periods of time should be acutely aware of and have at their disposal all information needed in case of an emergency.
Travel buyers wear a lot of different hats, and in most cases, managing extended stay trips for their travelers is one of them. Understanding the unique needs of their travelers in terms of extended stay business trips, as well as available resources, will help you determine how to best manage extended stay in your travel program. This new study is a valuable resource for travel buyers, and GBTA members can access it for free on the GBTA Hub.
Methodology: The GBTA Foundation study, Extended Stay Accommodations: What Travel Managers Need to Know, conducted in partnership with WWStay included 273 respondents to a short questionnaire sent to Canada and U.S.-based travel managers in March of 2016. An additional 16 in-depth interviews were conducted from March 14-29, 2016, with travel managers who had participated in the survey mentioned. The interviews conducted by the GBTA Foundation Research team varied in length from 30-60 minutes.
The new-build Holiday Inn Express & Suites Trois-Rivieres hotel is set to open early 2018
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) announces the signing of a third hotel with the ownership group Le Groupe Robin.
The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Trois-Rivieres hotel will be a 111-room, eco-friendly LEED-certified property. It will include 79 standard rooms and 32 suites including eight business suites with private meeting space for up to six people. The hotel is equipped with the latest energy and cost savings technologies such as a large solar wall that will be used to produce energy and power all exterior signage year-round.
Le Groupe Robin will incorporate the citys rich history into the design and culture of the property. The hotel will feature the Holiday Inn Express brands new design solution, which was created to meet the evolving needs of the brands target guest who is looking for a simple, smart travel experience.
Jonathan Lund, Regional Vice President, Canada, IHG said:We are so pleased to have Le Groupe Robin add an additional property in Quebec. They are known for quality properties and we are looking forward to continuing our great relationship with them.
Nellie Robin, Vice President of Le Groupe Robin said: IHG has been a trusted partner in the development and opening of our two other Quebec hotels in Saint Hyacinthe and Vaudreuil Dorion. We are excited to expand our partnership with this third property in Trois-Rivieres and continue to offer the best service while redefining our vision of hospitality.
The hotel is set to open early 2018, and will be in the heart of Trois-Rivieres. Trois-Rivieres is centrally located between the large cities of Montreal and Quebec City; the community has experienced growth over the last few years, making it a major business and leisure destination.
Le Groupe Robins two IHG hotels are award-winning properties. The Holiday Inn Express Saint-Hyacinthe was Canadas first hotel with LEED certification, and the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Vandreuil-Dorion received the 2016 IHG Developer of the Year Award.
This new property is set to be Quebecs 16th IHG hotel. IHG has 175 properties and 24,659 rooms in Canada, with 29 hotels and 3,358 rooms in the pipeline.
AC Hotel Atlanta Buckhead At Phipps Plaza Opening This Summer
Located at the intersection of Peachtree Road and Wieuca Road, the AC Hotel Atlanta Buckhead at Phipps Plaza will be the brand's inaugural location in the Atlanta market and the state of Georgia and the second AC Hotel in Noble's portfolio after opening the AC Hotel Kansas City last year.
Noble Investment Group, in partnership with Simon Property Group (NYSE: SPG), is slated to reveal the AC Hotel brand in Buckhead this summer. Located at the intersection of Peachtree Road and Wieuca Road, the AC Hotel Atlanta Buckhead at Phipps Plaza will be the brand's inaugural location in the Atlanta market and the state of Georgia and the second AC Hotel in Noble's portfolio after opening the AC Hotel Kansas City last year.
"For over 20 years, Noble has endeavored to make valuable investments in cities throughout the United States. Our hotels are designed to be the living room of our communities and are known for their creativity by day and social buzz by night. Atlanta is our home and we are excited to bring the highly anticipated AC Hotel to our business colleagues, friends and neighbors in our Buckhead community," said Mit Shah, Noble's Chief Executive Officer.
The AC Hotel name has become synonymous with modern, first class European-inspired accommodations, generous amenities, and value for the discerning traveler: a stylish package perfect for each unique guest from urban-chic millennials to business travelers. Founded in 1998, AC Hotels is one of the most highly acclaimed and sought after hotel brands throughout Europe. The AC Hotel Atlanta Buckhead at Phipps Plaza will complement Phipps Plaza luxury retailers such as Bottega Veneta, Celine, Fendi and Gucci as well as Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Along with 166 guest rooms and suites, 24-hour health and fitness including indoor swimming, local companies will be able to take advantage of the 2,500-square-feet of executive meeting space as well as the AC Library. Guests will enjoy a breakfast selection of self-serve European fare in the AC Kitchen while the AC Lounge will boast tapas-inspired small bites, craft beers, cocktails and specialty wines.
With additional AC Hotel locations in Spain, Italy, Denmark, France, Turkey and Mexico, the AC Hotel Atlanta Buckhead at Phipps Plaza will serve to further the brand's international scope and growing imprint within the United States.
Founded in 1993, the Noble organization specializes in making value-added, opportunistic investments in the lodging and hospitality retail sector. Through its private equity real estate funds, Noble has invested more than $3 billion throughout the United States in primarily select service and extended stay hotels which are affiliated with premium brands by Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, Starwood and InterContinental.
Its been almost two years since Amber Rose and Wiz Khalifa filed for divorce, with rumors circulating that the cause of the divorce stemmed from Wiz cheating on Amber. Since then, though, they appeared to be on relatively good terms together, even coupling up with their son Bash on special occasions.
Matters of the divorce have finally been settled, and it appears like the two parents went out to celebrate by throwing bills at strippers (more on that later). In terms of the divorce, its reported that Amber is to receive $1 million based on their prenup, but because Wiz has already forked over $356,000 he only owes her another $644,000. Thats not all Amber will receive from the divorce settlement, she will also get $14,800 a month in child support for their son Bash (who is now 3-years old). The couple have joint physical and legal custody of Bash.
Wiz keeps his Pennsylvania home in tact, alongside a collection of ten cars which include a 69 Chevelle, a 68 Camaro, a 62 and a 64 Impala and a Porsche.
Last night the former couple hit Ace of Diamonds in L.A., where they chilled in the VIP section and blew some stacks they even held hands upon exiting the club (video below). Take a look at some photos from their excursion above.
Summer Jam wasnt the only big show that went down last night. Not too far away, Beyonces Formation tour touched down in Philadelphia, and her official opener, DJ Khaled, had a few surprises in store, as he brought out Rick Ross as well as the hometown hero Meek Mill, performing for the first time since he was put on house arrest in early February. Meeks sentence was originally supposed to have been over last week, but on June 1, it was reported that Meek was given eight more days on house arrest because some of his volunteer work was not approved by the judge.
Does his appearance at Beyonces show mean that his house arrest is officially over now? Meeks Instagram also shows that he was on stage during Lil Uzi Verts set at the Roots Picnic, which took place on Saturday, also in Philly. According to TMZ, last nights performance was approved by the judge, but there hasnt been any confirmation on whether his sentence is officially up. He was originally sentenced because he violated his parole by performing outside of Philly without authorization. It now seems that hes allowed to tear down stages once again, as long as theyre situated in Philly.
When he is officially freed from the confines of his own mansion, its unclear when Meek will be allowed to perform in other cities. In any case, theres no better place to play than in ones stomping grounds, and he clearly had the support of his city last night at Lincoln Financial Field.
Meek and Rozay joined forces for their MMG classic Ima Boss, and Meek also went solo to drop his live staple, the Dreams and Nightmares Intro, which still ranks as one of his best tracks. Backstage was Meeks boo, whos been holding it down in Philly for her man, as well as Yo Gotti and Jay Z, who kept up his duties as his wifes roadman, despite his presence being requested at Summer Jam.
Meek Mill
Rita Oras lawsuit against Roc Nation, and the labels subsequent counter-suit are reportedly off the table, with Ora and Roc founder Jay Z reaching a settlement out of court.
Rita filed her suit in 2015, in which she argued that the label had neglected her in favor of promoting the athletes in represents, and requested that they let her out of her 10-year contract. Roc nation responded with a $2.3 million counter-suit, seeking compensation for the funding they had put into promoting Ritas sophomore album, which is yet to be released.
Mirror points to a document on the Supreme Court website, suggesting that Rita and Roc Nation have come to a settlement out of court. Rita also hinted that she has a new deal on the horizon via SnapChat, which further supports her alleged parting with Roc Nation.
View her post below.
Rita Ora
Rib-tickler extraordinaire hits the Wexford St. venue for two nights next week
Friday evening saw the hilarious Andrew Stanley stop by the Hot Press Speakeasy at Forbidden Fruit, but next week will see the funnyman taking to the Whelan's stage for a pair of headline shows.
Ably supported by FACTS star Ryan Cullen, Andrew will be bringing his high-energy interactive show to the Wexford St. venue on June 16 & 17. Preparing to bring his show to Edinburgh for the first time in a few years, it'll be a great chance to catch one of Ireland's best comedians at the peak of his considerable powers.
The English alternative duo have also announced a new album.
Bear's Den have unveiled their newest single, 'Auld Wives'. The track premiered on Greg James' BBC Radio 1 show yesterday.
The single is the first new music heard from the band since 2014's Islands. It is also the first track off their upcoming new album Red Earth and Pouring Rain.
The band will be embarking on a European tour later this year beginning in Oslo in October. No Irish dates have been announced. Red Earth and Pouring Rain will be released on July 22.
The English four piece will play at The Olympia later this year.
Glass Animals have announced an upcoming show in The Olympia.
The indie rock outfit have played a number of Irish venues including Whelan's and The Academy since the release of their debut album Zaba in 2014.
This year they will also appear at Electric Picnic before heading off on the US leg of their tour.
Their new album How to be a Human Being is out on August 26.
The Olympia gig will take place on October 29 with tickets going on sale this Friday.
Check out the video for latest single, 'Life Itself' here:
This article can only be read with a Premium Account
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
SAN ANTONIO - The U.S. Department of Agriculture is doling out $300 million in federal aid to American cotton farmers, struggling to survive against deep foreign subsidies and the loss of their own government support, the agency announced Monday.
"The Cotton Ginning Cost Share program will offer meaningful, timely and targeted assistance to cotton growers to help with their anticipated ginning costs and to facilitate marketing," Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a news release.
The U.S. cotton farmer has been under tremendous strain since lawmakers stripped them of most federal subsidies in the 2014 farm bill - a move designed to appease Brazil in trade talks. The new program doesn't directly pay farmers based on crop production, which put off Brazil.
The fresh aid is categorized "marketing assistance" and provides 40 percent of a farmer's ginning costs in a one-time payment based on their 2015 acreage reported to the Farm Service Agency.
"The economic challenges facing cotton producers in our area are significant, and when farmers are in trouble, the whole community is affected," said U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer, a Republican from Lubbock.
Farmers can sign up at their local Farm Service Agency offices between June 20 and Aug. 5, with payments expected to start going out in July. For farmers in Texas, the nation's leading cotton-producing state, the payout comes to $36.97 per acre.
Industry representatives cheered the announcement, which comes as cotton growers are betting on double-bale crops just to break even.
"Our producers appreciate Secretary Vilsack's efforts in providing marketing assistance to a commodity that is suffering a serious decline in market revenue partly due to heavily subsidized foreign competition, with no signs of commodity prices reaching the level needed to offset their production costs," said Shane Stephens, a Mississippi cotton warehouse operator who is chairman of the Tennessee-based National Cotton Council.
Steve Verett of the Lubbock-based Plains Cotton Growers said the short-term assistance will provide some "well-needed relief."
"We had hoped for more, but we're certainly appreciative of the USDA doing this," he said.
Cotton has been selling for 64 cents per pound, compared with highs of about $2 per pound in 2011. Growers say the market is skewed thanks to high payouts to farmers overseas by foreign governments such as China, which has paid cotton farmers as much as $1.45 per pound.
Before the 2014 farm bill, federal crop payments would have kicked in once the base price fell below of 72 cents a pound.
Direct payments to cotton farmers were phased out beginning in 2014 under the farm bill to resolve a World Trade Organization dispute with Brazil, which contended the U.S. was unfairly shoring up the U.S. cotton price. Cotton was excluded from replacement support deals such as the agriculture risk coverage and price loss coverage programs beginning this year, but still eligible for marketing assistance loans and crop insurance coverage.
The industry earlier this year thought it had a solution. Cotton is processed as both fiber and oil. By reclassifying cotton as an oilseed, as had been done with soybeans in the 2002 farm bill, cotton could once again be designated a program crop eligible for the safety net.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Midland, joined more than 100 representatives in formally requesting Vilsack make that designation.
Vilsack said he lacked the legal authority. Critics of the request said such a redesignation would cost taxpayers $10 billion in payments.
Neugebauer, whose district in Lubbock sits in the heart of the nation's largest cotton patch, praised the announcement.
"I am pleased to see the department put some assistance in place," he said. "This is not producers' first choice for how USDA could have addressed the downturn in cotton, and I agree that more could have been done by designating cotton as an eligible oilseed."
Jeff Nunley, executive director of the South Texas Cotton and Grain Association, said that while the industry hadn't given up on the oilseed designation, the cost-sharing announcement was welcome news.
"I've had a couple of producers call me, and they're like, 'Well, I don't know if this is going to be enough to really get us out of the trouble we're in, but it's hard to complain 'cause it's better than a sharp stick in the eye.' "
Matt Huie, a cotton grower in Beeville, said the one-time payment was a needed boost but far from a solution.
"If you want a quote from me, it's going to be mejor que nada," he said, meaning better than nothing.
"We still have the potential out there to make a really big crop, but the short version is that at today's prices, it takes a really good crop just to break even," he said. "Although the secretary's designation here helps, that's based on the 2015 crop, and there's still nothing in place for the 2016 crop, which is what we are currently growing. And the risks are pretty huge."
MOSIER, Ore. - Local politicians and residents reacted with shock and anger Monday as Union Pacific began running trains through this tiny Columbia River Gorge town just three days after a fiery derailment forced residents to evacuate and water and sewage systems to shut down.
Residents shot video from an overpass of trains sliding past crumpled and burnt oil tankers, some of them still dripping oil onto the tracks. The town's mayor and fire chief expressed deep concern about the trains running again before a full investigation was complete and before the damaged tankers were cleared.
Trains began running Sunday through the town of about 400 carrying mixed goods - but no crude oil.
"This is all about money. They're willing to risk us blowing up again for their money to keep coming in," said Loretta Scheler, who rents out a two-story building just a few hundred feet from the tracks. "It's just insane."
Sandwiched between the tracks and forested cliffs at a bend in the river, Mosier is part of a scenic area that's world famous for the summer winds that blow through the Columbia River Gorge and attract wind surfers and kite sailors.
Union Pacific defended its actions Monday, saying it was safe to run other trains while crews continued to drain oil from the crashed tankers. Thirteen tankers remained and 10 still contained crude, said Raquel Espinoza, a spokeswoman for the railroad. Trains are moving at about 10 mph.
Sixteen tank cars went off the tracks Friday. Fire started in four of the cars. An estimated 42,000 gallons of crude oil were released, said Don Hamilton, a spokesman with for the state, federal and tribal agencies responding. About 10,000 gallons were recovered in wastewater systems, while the rest was burned off, captured by booms or absorbed into soil, he said.
No injuries have been reported. Dozens of residents have been given the all clear to return home.
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 an Associated Press analysis.
The worst was a 2013 derailment that killed 47 people in Lac-Megantic, Quebec.
Buying and selling ivory in the United States is about to get a lot harder, even if your grandfather brought the tusk hanging over your fireplace back from a safari 50 years ago.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a new rule Monday that eliminates almost all trade in ivory products, no matter how or when the object was acquired. If you have planned to sell something made of ivory at an antique store, well, it better be at least 100 years old.
The Fish and Wildlife Service had allowed people to buy and sell antique ivory products for years after banning new ivory from entering the country. But the problem is that ivory poachers and traders can make an object look old when it's not. Some unscrupulous antique dealers also sold items they knew were recent to make an extra buck by claiming they were antique.
African elephants are also more endangered than ever before. Criminal syndicates and terror groups use highly-trained poachers with military-grade weaponry to hunt elephants across Africa and have well-established supply lines. Poachers have killed 100,000 elephants in the last three years, according to new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Cracking down on people buying ivory products is the only way to stop the slaughter.
"Strong laws around wildlife crime and strong enforcement of those laws are absolutely critical in deterring traffickers and poachers, and each country has an obligation to review and strengthen its laws, close loopholes and otherwise simplify the role of law enforcement in combating the illegal wildlife trade," said Patrick Bergin, CEO of the African Wildlife Foundation. "We should do everything in our power to facilitate, rather than complicate, enforcement efforts in the United States and around the world."
There are exceptions, of course, but there are common sense rules. Ivory has no special qualities that cannot be replicated by another substance, it's simply the allure of knowing that the object was a piece of an elephant that makes it special. Frankly, that fascination makes me a little ill after living in Africa for 11 years.
I've written before that business people hold the solution to ending the ivory trade. We should join with the Fish and Wildlife Service in shutting down those who trade in the corpses or endangered species.
For many years, Houston has been exhibit A for people looking for evidence that cutting away land-use red tape leads to inclusivity and broad-based economic growth. The truth seems self-evident: The one place with no comprehensive development plan also has some of the lowest rents of any major city.
Urban libertarian Houston-boosters have been particularly active in recent weeks, even reaching the pages of the New York Times op-ed page with a column by David Brooks, who praised the city's "easy, hodgepodge housing construction" and the fact that it's "less regulated, so it's easier to to start a business." A piece at Market Urbanism, a website devoted to laissez-faire municipal governance, credited the city's "hands-off approach" with allowing the city to keep up with shifting demands.
Of course, it's true that Houston has grown massively in the past several years, due largely, but not entirely to an energy boom that created hundreds of thousands of well-paid jobs. If the city had more restrictive zoning codes, it would have taken longer and cost more to build enough housing to accommodate them. Whole e-books have been written about the harm that NIMBYism, both codified and informal, has wreaked upon American cities.
But it's also important to remember one very important thing about the geography of affordable cities: They tend to be much less dense already. Plotting median rents (as collected by Zillow) against the number of people per square mile shows a pretty strong correlation between the two:
Sure, there's still plenty of room to add housing in places like New York and San Francisco, as the Washington Post's Emily Badger has illustrated. But building in already-dense places is inherently harder than places like Houston that still have big, unbuilt lots all over downtown. Small parcels have to be consolidated, construction is tricky, neighbors have to be accommodated. So even if the city rubber-stamped developers' permit applications, the resulting apartment buildings would be more expensive.
And of course, Houston has paid another price for its unwillingness to tell people where to build, as recent columns in City Observatory and Next City have observed: Out-of-control floods and scattershot transportation, which have cost billions through flood rehab and productivity-killing traffic jams. Perhaps Houston might have benefited from stronger guidelines in years past to shape a more sustainable present.
So before saying that zoning is good or zoning is bad, consider that some zoning is good and other zoning is bad, at least from the standpoint of creating an accessible and dynamic city. And above all, don't ignore the role that the quantity of land available in a city plays in how much it costs to live in it.
Two Katy students channeled their love of the Lone Star State into award-winning artwork to be featured in the 2017 "Don't Mess with Texas" calendar.
Second-grader Eric Zhang of Roosevelt Alexander Elementary and fifth-grader Fernanda Nunoz-Flores of Hazel S. Pattison Elementary submitted two of the 13 designs that were ultimately selected from 6,460 entries.
"Eric was very excited when we told him that he won this contest," said Zhang's father, Yingchun Zhang. "I woke him up with the news and he jumped out of bed. When he first told us that he wanted to use his art, we asked him to Google what 'Don't Mess with Texas' means to him. He was so happy to have permission to use the iPad."
For the past three years, Keep Texas Beautiful and the Texas Department of Transportation have joined forces to create a litter-prevention calendar to encourage youth to keep state roadways clean and the environment free from trash. Texas elementary school students enrolled in kindergarten through fifth grade are eligible.
In addition to being assigned a month for the calendar, Zhang, Nunoz-Flores, and the other winners received an iDeaUSA 8 tablet from contest sponsors, H-E-B and Central Market. The students' respective teachers will also be awarded $100 H-E-B and Central Market gift cards.
"Obviously, education is so important," said Suzanne Kho, Keep Texas Beautiful's executive director. "The younger you can work with kids, the sooner they can influence their family and friends. We like to get them to start thinking about issues like litter prevention as early as possible."
Next year, the grass roots community improvement organization, a Keep America Beautiful affiliate, will celebrate its 50th anniversary. Its successful "Don't Mess with Texas" slogan is 30 years old.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
"This menu is boring," I announced glumly to my two dinner companions at La Table, the successor restaurant to Philippe on Post Oak. I had scanned the terse dish listings quickly - "chicken paillard;" "hanger steak;" "burrata mozzarella and tomato" - with the sinking sense that I had eaten it all before.
Yet once the food began arriving at our linen-clad table in the formal upstairs dining room, I settled into a calm, surprised pleasure at how exactingly everything was done. Though the menu would not have been out of place at your better grade of country club, the execution had a quiet elegance and assurance to it that seldom wavered during my various visits.
A glossy lobster bisque, that old-school French warhorse, rang with the deep, oceanic vibrato of many simmered lobster shells. "Colossal lump crab salad" turned out to be a stunning crown-shaped affair of sweet crab, lush avocado and bracing wafers of radish, all outlined by a gracefully balanced sweet/tart citrus vinaigrette. Lovely stuff, made Houston-friendly with a glimmer of cilantro and a spark of jalapeno.
Even the bread basket earned my admiration, for the chewy mini baguettes and seeded wheat rolls that are made in house and served with good butter that is not straight from the refrigerator.
More Information La Table xxx 1800 Post Oak 713-439-1000 Hours: L: downstairs daily 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; upstairs Monday-Friday 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m., 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. D: both upstairs and downstairs 5-10 pm. Monday-Thursday; 5 p.m.-11 p.m. Friday & Saturday. Credit cards: all major Prices: starters $10-$28; entrees $10-$54 downstairs, $24-$54 upstairs; desserts $12-$20 Must orders: roast chicken for two; crab and avocado salad; lobster bisque; roasted beet salad; tuna flatbread; croque Madame; apple tart; chocolate souffle for two Reservations: recommended upstairs; walk-ins welcome downstairs Noise level: quiet upstairs; moderate downstairs Website: latablehouston.com xxxx superlative; can hold its own on a national stage. xxx excellent; one of the best restaurants in the city. xx very good; one of the best restaurants of its kind. x a good restaurant that we recommend. (no stars) restaurant cannot be recommended at this time. See More Collapse
Scores of such well-considered details make a meal here feel like you're dining in some well-ordered cocoon, where domes are whisked off dishes in concert, vast acreage stretches out between tables and the wine advice is as sound as the wine service. At its best, the French-in-spirit food itself seems to exist inside some Platonic bubble: The kitchen can turn a simple potato puree into a buttery, thrilling event; make simple flatbread exciting; and inject dark magic into chocolate souffle that ranks among the best desserts in the city.
La Table's executive chef, Manuel Pucha, was Philippe Schmit's first lieutenant when the restaurant opened in 2011 as Philippe. Pucha stayed on during a wanly received reincarnation as the all-American Table on Post Oak and now seems to have hit his stride under a classic French remake by Invest Hospitality, an investment and management firm that has provided services to such high-flying venues as Atelier de Joel Robuchon in New York and Miami.
For La Table - now pronounced "lah tah-bleh" in the French style - the company has instituted a multi-part concept that is very much of the moment, with a casual cafe, a bar and a gleaming, capable bakery downstairs while upstairs - grandly dubbed "Chateau" - has been reconfigured into a pale and plushly upholstered formal dining room and spaces for private events.
In between lies an ad hoc bookstore selling massive coffee-table tomes from Assouline, whose titles range from $50 to well, you don't want to know. These imposing volumes form a decor element all their own, and, I am sorry to say, establish a sort of "you can't afford this" vibe that doesn't really apply to the restaurant parts of the equation.
Indeed, the downstairs "Marche" operation offers everything from pristine, affordable breakfasts featuring house-baked kouglofs (an Alsatian-inspired pastry); to lunches of beautifully made Croque Madame sandwiches or salade Nicoise; to happy hours specializing in a variety of champagne-based cocktails and jewellike flatbreads. (The flatbread of raw sushi-grade tuna, in particular, is a marvel, from its thin, crisp base to its translucent sheet of satiny fish.)
A number of the pricey entrees served upstairs can be had downstairs in half portions, for half the price, including an excellent seared yellowfin tuna accessorized Nicoise fashion, with green beans, olives and frisky lemon preserves.
But upstairs or down, expect beautiful plating, unusually smart wine advice and layers upon layers of courtly service, of a type rarely experienced in this ever-more-casual dining era. Warmth and welcome are part of the equation, and as detail oriented as the service can be, it doesn't feel stuffy. Rather, it's a gentle reminder of an all-but-lost world of fine dining.
Upstairs or down, too, I found that I could pretty much order without fear. I may have liked some dishes better than others, but over three visits I didn't encounter a single one I disliked, a rarity.
A striped bass catch of the day was seared on the flattop (a la plancha, as the menu has it) and came with a spirited grain mustard and yuzu vinaigrette, for an effect both simple and eloquent at once. The fish was done just a shade more than I prefer, but it did not miss by much.
Spring-pea-and-ricotta ravioli in a foamy bath of Parmesan broth were all gentle persuasion. So was trembly souffle of Comte cheese, soft and delicate in its pool of Parmesan-laced asparagus veloute. No swagger, just quiet suavity.
A heritage free-range chicken for two, the upstairs restaurant's tableside showpiece, survived what I was told was a seven-hour roasting in fine, juicy form, its sticky rendered skin daubed with pinot noir for a delicious effect. From the tableside carving - graciously portioned out for three instead of two - to the winy burgundy sauce and roasted vegetable sides, that chicken was an old-school joy.
My only quibble? Don't bill the white button mushrooms involved as "wild mushrooms." They work well in context and need no marketing.
Even the salads outdid their modest concepts. Roasted beet salad sounds pretty humdrum these days, but when the earthy roots are as variegated as a rainbow, and when they contrast with local Blue Heron Farm goat yogurt and goat cheese, edged with blood-orange-infused olive oil, the dish becomes an event. So, in its pared-down way, does an unexpected and seriously refreshing combo of marinated cucumber strips over rich slices of avocado.
Lamb chops and steak frites may speak to the country-club demographic here, but they are nicely done: the chops rich and herby, properly medium rare; the steak sliced and gleefully chewy, with a bouncy Bearnaise sauce and crisp twiggy fries that I enjoyed despite their slightly cottony interiors.
There are some worthy desserts, notably a graceful apple tart on a crisp, layered pastry base and an ingratiating mini baked Alaska, its peaks of scorched meringue sheltering a vivid foundation of house-made raspberry ice cream.
But it is the baked-to-order chocolate souffle that is not to be missed. Order it at the start of your meal, or at least 25 to 30 minutes before you want it brought to the table. Made with deep, dark, bittersweet 70 percent Valrhona chocolate, this is not one of those hugely showy poufs that's more air and razzmatazz than flavor. From its crisped surface to its interior ooze, this souffle is pure intensity.
With a couple of scoops of the terrific house-made vanilla ice cream plopped in the middle, the souffle is destination-worthy. It's served downstairs as well as upstairs. And when my companion begged for a little more vanilla ice cream, a couple of fresh scoops materialized with an "of course!"
That's the brand of service that animates this exceedingly pleasant throwback of a restaurant. Dining at La Table can feel a bit like attending a fine-dining theme park of a very fine-tuned, subtle kind. I find myself glad there's still a place for that in this loud, messy world.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
A man was wounded early Tuesday morning when a veteran police officer's gun apparently accidentally fired during a fight at a bar in northeast Houston.
The incident happened at about 1 a.m. at Mr. A's club at 3409 Cavalcade near West Hunting, said Kese Smith, a spokesman for the Houston Police Department.
Smith said Sgt. K. Green,who has been on the force for 31 years, and four other officers were off-duty and working an extra job as security at the club when a fight broke out in a small back room. Green and another officer went to the room, which was very crowded, and saw the three to four men fighting each other. As Green tried to break up the fight, he saw one of the men reach into the waistband of his pants as if he had a gun.
Fearing for his own and the bar patrons' safety, Green pulled out his gun, Smith said. When he drew his gun, the large crowd pushed a man, identified as Earl Wayne Brown, and he fell into Green's gun, which fired. The gunshot wounded Brown.
Brown was rushed to Memorial Hermann hospital. Details of his injury and condition were not released, but Smith said he had a non-life-threatening wound. Investigators don't believe he had been involved in the fight.
No other injuries were reported.
The people involved in the fight left after the gunfire.
No description of the man who reached into his waistband was available.
It was not known what sparked the fight.
As is customary in officer-involved shootings in the city, the HPD Homicide and Internal Affairs divisions as well as the Harris County District Attorney's Office will investigate the case.
Tempers boiled over at a town hall meeting hosted by U.S. Rep John Culberson Monday in Braeswood Place to talk about flooding on Brays Bayou.
In an auditorium at Pershing Middle School, about 200 residents gathered from the neighborhoods hardest hit by floods in May 2015 and April 2016, when some homes soaked under feet of water. Its a multi-billion dollar-problem for which Houston currently has no quick solution. And no answers surfaced Monday.
RELATED: The trouble with living in a swamp: Houston floods explained
Culbersons town hall was a place to vent. Many attendees shared similar stories of sinking thousands of dollars in repairs to ruined homes that can never be rented or sold. They feared they would be ruined next time the water came in.
Its a hardship to keep our property, Tim Ryan from Meyerland told Culberson from the audience.
Culberson, with a seat on the powerful House Committee on Appropriations, touted the $194 million in federal funds hes won for the Harris County Flood Control District since 2002. But even projects funded by that couldnt contain the great magnitude of recent rains.
Im looking for creative suggestions, Culberson told the audience.
He got several. One woman suggested building giant reservoirs beneath the streets, as has been done in Japan. A man suggested partnering with China to develop a solution.
Another, his face red with frustration, ordered Culberson to make back room deals and threaten some careers to stop the floods.
Attendees charged that developers were exacerbating the floods, that project construction was way behind schedule, that funds were being poorly distributed and more. One man took the microphone at the front of the room and exclaimed, What the hell is going on?, drawing applause.
Culberson, who grew up near the Braeswood area, suggested attendees contact their county commissioner to address those issues.
We have, an audience member shouted.
The best viable solution, Culberson said, was to build more retention space, which would require land and money. He needed local entities to be able to match federal funds, he said.
For the owners of swamped homes, a distant promise of more reservoirs meant little. Ryan suggested a federal buyout of the hundreds of flooded properties. An unemployed oil and gas engineer, Ryan said he and his family took $30,000 from his savings to cover costs associated with the two floods, and were stuck paying taxes on the home.
Were going broke, he said.
Culberson said he thought residents should have an opportunity to sell out and move, and vowed to light a fire under FEMA until the emergency management agency forked over funds for such large-scale disaster mitigation.
Attendees showed little confidence that FEMA would save them. Many recalled frustrations with the agency. Ryan, who has federal flood insurance, had rejected a loss appraisal by a federally-contracted insurer which he said undervalued his home by more than $100,000, and spent months pushing for FEMA to reassess. The process is ongoing.
After the town hall, Ryan said hed taken nothing hopeful from the event, though he praised Culbersons effort to come out and listen, even in the face of angry constituents. He doubted that flood control construction projects would soon ease his woes, and remained adamant that the best help government could give the flooded residents would be to relieve them of their property.
All the houses that flooded in Meyerland, he said. They all need to be torn down.
You know that part of your vacation where you hold your breath and hope for the best? It used to happen just before the plane landed, in that precarious moment between heaven and earth. But lately, it's been taking place on terra firma, when you arrive at the airport and you're confronted by a Transportation Security Administration screening.
For good reason. A few months ago, the TSA announced that screening with a full-body scanner would no longer be optional for some passengers, meaning there's a better chance than ever you'll be forced through one of the machines. What the agency euphemistically calls a "random and unpredictable" security screening adds an aspect of fear and uncertainty to an already fear-inducing and uncertain process.
And then there are the long lines, which have been blamed on cutbacks related to the TSA's PreCheck program. The agency assigned to protect America's transportation systems incorrectly predicted that more passengers would sign up for its trusted traveler program, so it cut staffing by 10 percent. The result? Record lines. The TSA says it's taking steps to reduce the wait times.
The coping mechanisms have evolved in the past few months, so if you're a frequent air traveler, you probably already know a lot of the following strategies, at least subconsciously. But with the summer travel season about to get underway, you may find yourself face to face with a TSA agent, unsure what to do. Travelers can avoid that fate with a little planning and a few insider strategies.
First, give yourself time. Lots of time. Josh Nathan, a professor at the Art Institute of Colorado, allows himself three hours to get through the TSA screening in Denver. That's no typographical error. It's advice he would pass along to anyone who's thinking of flying this summer. "Plan for three hours, and be delighted if you make it to your airplane," he says, adding, "If that departs on time, you feel like you won an unpublicized lottery."
Why so long? Nathan reports that the Denver TSA, once one of the most efficient of the agency's operations, has randomly closed checkpoints. A few weeks ago, the airport made headlines when TSA wait times exceeded one hour. To calm angry passengers, airport staff reportedly handed out bottled water, parceled out candies and brought in therapy dogs to soothe frayed nerves.
There are shortcuts, but they'll cost you. Sonita Lontoh, a San Francisco technology executive and frequent flier, recommends paying $100 for a five-year membership in the Global Entry program, which also gives you TSA PreCheck eligibility. And the PreCheck lines, which allow you to get screened without removing the computer from your bag, taking off your shoes or passing through a full-body scanner, are significantly shorter.
"It's much faster," she says. For example, on a recent flight from Orlando, Florida, the difference between using the TSA PreCheck lane and the regular lane was more than an hour. How does she know? A colleague without PreCheck went through the regular line, and she didn't see her until shortly before their flight began boarding.
There are other ways to cut the line. In Orlando, for example, you can also use Clear, a private biometric screening system. It costs about $15 a month to belong to Clear, which can be used at a number of airports in cities including San Francisco, Dallas and Baltimore (but not Washington). Neither Clear nor Global Entry are practical solutions for infrequent travelers, though.
What you wear this summer matters, says Katelyn O'Shaughnessy, a travel agent from Venice, California, who has advised countless clients on how to handle the TSA. With the agency beefing up security in the wake of various terrorist threats, you don't want to wear anything that could slow down the process.
"Don't wear shirts or pants with extraneous pockets, buttons, zippers, or anything with sequined bling on it," she says. "These items tend to appear suspicious on the scanner, which is programmed to flag anything out of the ordinary."
Unfortunately, it's possible to follow all of this advice and still fall afoul of the TSA's random and unpredictable security. Kimberly Marcus, an educational consultant from Alfred, New York, thought she had done everything right when she showed up for her recent flight at the Tri-Cities Regional Airport in Blountville, Tennessee.
But an alarm sounded when she stepped through the scanner, and an agent ordered her to submit to an "enhanced" pat-down.
"An agent felt up my leg until she met resistance," she says. "Several times. The agent also felt across the front of me with her fingertips. This routine is not at all routine or acceptable to me, and I found what would be sexual assault in other contexts to be very disturbing and upsetting."
And that's the problem with the TSA this summer. The expert advice works, but not every time. Which is to say, you can show up three hours early and still miss your plane. Trusted traveler programs don't always send you to the front of the line, and you could still get a once-over by an agent and a possible delay. You can wear all the right clothes and still set off alarms.
Of course, nothing can prepare you for a prison-style pat-down at the hands of a TSA agent. And nothing can guarantee you'll avoid it, either. But if you take a few precautions, you can come close. Don't forget to breathe.
- - -
Elliott is a consumer advocate, journalist and co-founder of the advocacy group Travelers United. Email him at chris@elliott.org.
After first responders hit the crime scene there's another cop that comes: the criminal detective.
Well, detective is old nomenclature. They call them criminal investigators now. And the quiet work they do behind the scenes helps hold civilized society together.
The work of criminal investigators has come to the forefront of local attention thanks to complications in the high-profile case of Harris County Sheriff's Deputy Darren Goforth, who was killed late in 2015. Now the Houston Chronicle reports that an investigator put a slew of other cases in jeopardy by sleeping with a key witness in that crime.
The work of investigators is often documented in fiction, from Sherlock Holmes to "CSI". But in real life, investigating a homicide and bringing a suspect to trial is tedious, painstaking and hardly glamorous.
It's all about taking tiny clues left scattered on a street, in a home or in an empty field, plus the tidbits of recollection from witness memory, and piecing it together to pin the crime on one person in a city of millions.
Then it means finding that person and taking them to court.
"There's really no mysticism to it," said Rex White, director of the University of Houston's Criminal Justice Institute and a 40-year law enforcement veteran.
RELATED: How to be a police homicide detective
Investigative work starts with a promotion for a uniformed patrol officer with some years of experience responding rapidly to breaking crime scenes and filing detailed reports. In most small agencies, all investigators enter a rotation to take whatever case comes up on their shift, be it car theft or rape.
Bigger agencies like the Houston Police Department, White said, have investigators specialized in types of crime like residential theft, commercial theft, auto theft, sex crimes and others.
Of course none draws more attention than homicide. White said the best recruits to homicide investigation often come from a crash scene unit, in which officers are accustomed to mapping and analyzing an incident in this case, a car accidentin minute detail.
By the time an investigator shows up at the scene of a homicide, the first responders have generally already compiled a multi-page report while taking meticulous care to leave the scene untouched. The investigator sets to work turning those few pages into hundreds.
It begins with interviewing witnesses who remain on the scene and finding out who may be worth revisiting later.
A crime scene unit blocks off the area to protect fragile forensic evidence such as human hairs, footprints and carpet fibers that might yield leads in the lab. The investigator goes in with an eye for detail. The scene should generate a crucial lead: the modus operandi, or the style of crime.
"People have habits," White said. "However they did, they probably did it that way before."
Once an investigator can determine precisely how the crime was committed, he or she will look for similar incidents.
In pre-digital days, that meant visiting various courthouses and agency archives and sifting through volumes of files in search of similar crimes. Today search engines have largely replaced shoe leather, and investigators can quickly plug in details to a variety of law-enforcement-exclusive platforms.
"You can find about any damn thing you want on a computer," White said. "But what you get from electronic sources still has to be verified."
So investigators will take the MO to street sources. Those could be confidential informants on the agency payroll. They could also be former suspects who an investigator interrogated, vetted and cleared in a previous case. Memories of not getting arrested may put that source on friendly terms.
"You know anyone who works like this?" an investigator may ask a source after describing the crime. "Have you heard of anyone new in your neighborhood?"
Through witness interviews, crime records and street sources, the investigator builds a list of suspects. The obvious ones get nixed from the list, such as those in jail or those living far away. The rest are tracked down for interviews in which they are challenged to prove their innocence.
If the suspect mentions other people in their story, the investigator tracks them down as well. If the stories match, the suspect is crossed off and the list grows smaller and smaller. The biggest frustration comes when every suspect is crossed off, White said, and the process begins anew.
Otherwise, the list narrows to a few names and it's time for a line-up, either in photos or in person. Witnesses from the scene are brought back to clear or accuse those in the line-up.
Once the investigator believes the evidence is sufficient to go to trial, they'll pull it together for an arrest affidavit and warrant.
Then comes another challenge: getting witnesses to go on the record.
An affidavit should attribute incriminating information to a source by name, but lots of folks are extremely hesitant to make a public accusation, fearing retribution.
Investigators will also have to press their sources to go to trial, to stand before the accused and say they did it.
"It can be hard to convince people," White said.
When they are convinced, the investigator is ready to lead the arrest of a suspect and any accomplices, or to prepare wanted notices for anyone who can't be tracked down.
In conference with a prosecutor they will refine the case, writing out the evidence they gathered against the accused and attributing it to sources.
An investigator will testify at trial, and then they're off the hook . . . and on to the next case.
Below: "Learning Objectives on Criminal Investigation," from coursework curriculum at the University of Houston Downtown's Criminal Justice Institute, courtesy of Rex White.
Most of us think of radical scientific innovation as the whiz-bang invention or discovery that displaces what came before and reshapes the world as we know it. Transistors, assembly lines, and radiation, for example, were revolutions that wiped out whole industries and replaced them with new ones. Computers, cars, and X-rays/microwaves came to enrich modern life.
Maria Montessori, a genius scientist who founded Montessori schools, engaged in an entirely different kind of innovation. Yet earth-shattering it was. Montessori originated a transformation through the prism of an idea. Not only was her idea radical, her process for achieving insight was equally radical. And it was simple: It came from walking in someone elses shoes.
Montessoris personality was disruptive. She was born in 1870 to a progressive Italian family that supported education for women. But that wasn't enough for her. The Montessori family believed that young Maria could become a teacher the only suitable profession for a modern woman. But she wanted more.
Despite the objections of friends and family, she took classes at a boys technical school for engineers. When she decided to become a physician a scandalous aspiration both her father and the head of the board of education at the University of Rome told her it would be impossible. But Montessori so excelled in the sciences that the university was forced to capitulate, and ultimately awarded her one of the first medical degrees ever achieved by an Italian woman.
More "How to think like a genius" How to think like a genius: Start like Einstein
Montessoris chosen specialty? Psychiatry: a field so filled with human monsters that it frightened the most stoic of men.
In those days, insanity and retardation were treated the same and both were treated terribly. Children and adults alike were locked in bleak facilities. One of Montessoris responsibilities was to travel to each of the asylums around Rome to choose suitable patients for the university clinic.
In the asylums, she noticed that the retarded children would reach out for things to grasp, even searching the ground for crumbs of food after they were fed just so as to have something to manipulate. They were craving stimulation, she thought. And she jumped to a daring deduction: Their developmental delays might be related to their environment.
Montessori asked herself: If I were a child, how would I react if every time I tried to manipulate my environment, the means to do so were taken away from me? How would I respond to school where I hoped to learn by doing, only to find that I must sit still and listen or watch rather than trying things out for myself? How would it be if I were constantly controlled by those around me, like a little doll, allowed to do nothing on my own because I might act too slowly or incorrectly?
Montessori tells the story of a baby girl, about six months old. Given a rattle, she dropped it again and again. She wasn't watching the rattle as she released it, but rather the capability of her own tiny hands. On closer scrutiny, Montessori noticed that the baby systematically varied the activity, dropping or not dropping the rattle as she opened a single finger at a time. After the babys mother grew frustrated at having to pick up the toy repeatedly and took it away, the baby cried. But this reaction was not simply a control-related tantrum: The baby was expressing frustration at not being able to complete her experiment.
Montessoris ideas grew larger at every stage:
1) There might be something about the environment that retarded child development.
2) Education could impact advancement among normal children.
3) Self-learning among children suggested an approach to instruction that was more child-centric.
4) Morality evoked an educational system grounded in the childs right to respect and dignity.
The physician turned into an educator. (If her family was relieved, it was not to last.) She read everything published over the former 200 years on educational theory; she visited London and Paris to see if anyone there was training mentally deficient children. There was precious little for her to go on.
Upon her return to Italy, she founded the countrys first state Orthophrenic school. Retarded children from around Italy were brought for two-year stints to live and study under methods that Montessori had developed. The results were hard to believe. Most retarded students attained unimaginable developmental milestones; many passed the state examinations taken by normal children.
The Montessori Method is rooted in respect for children. At a time when children sat on hard benches listening silently all day to a single teachers recitation and suffering the rod for any infraction of the rules, this was earth-shattering. No longer was the child dependent and subservient. Just the opposite: Montessori argued that childrens natural impulses should not be suppressed; their natural hunger to learn should be nurtured and exercised.
Toys were replaced with child-sized tools, and children did tasks such as cleaning and cooking. Students taught themselves through self-exploration or were taught by older students. The teacher remained in the shadows, coming out only as needed as a non-directive guide.
Today there are an estimated 20,000 Montessori schools; they're on every continent except Antarctica. Montessori preschool students have been shown to out-perform traditional students on standardized tests of reading and math, and also possess advanced social skills. Older Montessori students have reported a greater sense of motivation and community than students from other schools. In a randomized comparison, Montessori pupils also wrote noticeably more creative essays.
Montessoris ideas are forever being rediscovered anew. Khan Academy, founded in 2006, updates Montessoris concept of self-directed learning for the web generation. Khan Academy's streaming videos and exercises demonstrate many of the same benefits as Montessori schools: For instance, children considered slow often catch up to and even exceed their peers when allowed to pace themselves.
Walking in anothers shoes isn't the sexiest technique for radical innovation, but Montessori teaches us that it is a tool that can be used to transform.
When was the last time you worked your brain to squarely place yourself in another person's situation? When did you last hear an opposing political point of view and think, Hmmm if I were in the place of that person, might I also hold that opinion?
Try it. You might be surprised what happens.
Roberta Ness, M.D., M.P.H., is a member of the elite National Academy of Medicine and winner of the Snow award, one of the highest honors given to a public health professional. The "How to Think Like a Genius" series is loosely adapted from her book Genius Unmasked. She's on the board of TED. And here's her TEDxHouston talk, "Can Innovation Be Taught?"
Bookmark Gray Matters. This reaction is not simply a control-related tantrum.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
The Houston school district's chief auditor alleged in a complaint filed Monday with HISD that the board suspended him in March for blowing the whistle on potential illegal activity, including problems with construction spending and questions about a trustee's residency.
Richard Patton, who remains on leave from his job as the Houston Independent School District's top internal watchdog, also requested that the board reinstate him "with reasonable measures put into place to ensure no further retaliation." Patton's filing lays the groundwork for him to follow up in court with a whistleblower lawsuit against the nation's seventh-largest school district. The school board has two months to rule on his request under state law.
The Chronicle reported in May that Patton told the school board in November, four months before his suspension, that he had reported potential violations of state law to HISD's police chief. His audit team had found several work orders that he believed were improperly split to avoid state-mandated spending caps on certain construction projects.
The Chronicle also reported that Patton, in the days before his suspension, told district staff that he had responded to unspecified questions about HISD from federal authorities.
In his complaint filed Monday, Patton cited his communication with the HISD police chief and the FBI as evidence that he was a whistleblower. In addition, Patton revealed in the complaint that he or his staff had reported to the Harris County District Attorney's Office an allegation concerning board member Diana Davila's residency in the east-side district she represents.
Records obtained by the Chronicle show that the concerns centered on whether Davila inaccurately reported on campaign paperwork the length of time she had lived in District 8 when she filed to run for the board seat in August.
Davila said in an interview that she did not know the auditor's office was investigating her residency until a Chronicle reporter called her in May. Davila said she accurately reported that she had been living in District 8 for two years and eight months, first in a property owned by her husband's parents and then in a new townhouse.
Questions about Davila's residency were brought to the audit department's attention through a call to its tip line, according to Patton's complaint.
"Apparently some people don't like the way I'm voting so they decided they want to create a story for me," Davila said. "I have nothing to hide."
Davila, who took office in January, added that she was not at the board's closed-door meeting with Patton on March 10, the day he was suspended.
During that March meeting, according to Patton's complaint, board members Rhonda Skillern-Jones and Jolanda Jones "aggressively cross-examined" him about some personal documents that he had asked his assistant to scan for him using district equipment.
Skillern-Jones declined Monday to comment, citing the pending complaint. Jones did not respond to a text message for comment.
Patton said in the complaint that he believes the scanning situation is the alleged misconduct that the board hired a local law firm to investigate. The board for three months has refused to publicly specify the reason for the investigation.
The district's general counsel, Elneita Hutchins-Taylor, confirmed Monday that the investigation was recently finished, but she would not release a copy. She said district officials would consider whether or not to release the report after receiving a written request under the Texas Public Information Act. The law gives public entities up to 10 days to release information or to seek permission from the Texas attorney general to withhold it.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Let's take a quick tour of a community I'm calling Unc, Texas.
Unc has an estimated 1.9 million residents, a number surpassed by only four U.S. cities.
Among Texas cities, only Houston is more populous. Twelve U.S. states have fewer inhabitants than Unc.
Unc, of course, isn't a city. It's made up of the subdivisions, strip malls and master planned communities in the vast and rapidly growing unincorporated areas of Harris County.
The most recent description of Unc comes to us via the county's budget office, which compiled a population report using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the county appraisal district and other sources. The report shows that trends detailed in previous annual reports are accelerating, as growth in unincorporated areas continues to outpace that in Houston and the county's other municipalities.
(By way of comparsion, Dallas County has about 7,400 residents in unincorporated areas.)
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett is the closest thing Unc has to a mayor. He welcomes the growth but worries about its implications.
Because they lack a conventional city government, residents of Unc get services from a patchwork of agencies -- municipal utility districts, volunteer fire departments, contract deputies, and of course the county itself. But the county isn't really set up to serve the needs of an urban area. It lacks ordinance-making power, for example.
"County government was created with rural counties in mind," Emmett told me recently.
Emmett is particularly concerned about anti-property tax fervor in the Texas Legislature. Unlike Houston, Harris County doesn't levy a sales tax. "We don't have anything other than property taxes and a piddling amount of the hotel occupancy tax," Emmett says.
Measures like revenue caps, limiting growth in property tax revenues, have "very strong support" in Austin, he says.
Some of the nation's metropolitan areas have jettisoned traditional county government and adopted some sort of consolidated city-county model. Emmett says he has discussed these possibilities with three Houston mayors, and he says the city and county are combining efforts on some big initiatives like a joint processing center and crime lab.
In the long term, he thinks something like the Woodlands Township model might be an option for governance of Harris County's unincorporated areas. But for now, he's struggling to figure out how to use the existing structure to deliver services to all those new residents of Unc, Texas.
CHICAGO - Vice President Joe Biden Monday unveiled the federal government's awaited cancer database, a voluminous public sharing of genomic and clinical data aimed at helping researchers and doctors tailor unique treatments to patients.
The initiative, two years in the making, is being rolled out as part of the Obama administration's "cancer moonshot," which seeks to break down barriers between researchers to aid in discoveries. The database currently contains data for 12,000 patients but is expected to grow into the hundreds of thousands.
"We've been able to generate vast troves of cancer and genomic data, but the information is scattered among different government and academic repositories," Biden told cancer doctors and basic scientists at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. "Most of it is out of the reach of scientists. We're bringing into it one place."
Biden, whose son Beau was treated for brain cancer at MD Anderson Cancer Center and died of the disease last year, earlier in the day officially launched the database at the University of Chicago. The university developed the database, known as the Genomic Data Commons, with funding from the National Cancer Institute.
The GDC, a private cloud-based platform, went live Monday with more than 4 million gigabytes of data from NCI-supported research programs, including the Cancer Genome Atlas and an equivalent database for childhood cancers. It is accessible now through Amazon and in time will be accessible through Google and Microsoft as well, said NCI officials. There is no charge.
Cancer officials hope the database accelerates what used to be called "personalized medicine" and is now called "precision medicine," the idea that therapy can be tailored to each patient. The notion has been talked about for more than a decade but has yet to be put in practice in significant ways.
Dr. Louis Staudt, director of the NCI's Center for Cancer Genomics, Monday called it "the engine to get the right drug to the right patient at the right time."
Precision medicine is a response to the specific genetic mutations associated with a variety of cancers and tumor types, mutations targeted by more and more new therapies. But the selection of the precise therapy based on a patient's particular molecular profile has proved hard, hampered by a collective failure to see patterns in the enormous amount of new information.
The GDC will harmonize the data using standardized software algorithms, NCI officials said.
The project was first announced in 2014, well before Obama made a cancer moonshot one of his last priorities in office this year. But the database has become a key component of the Obama project, a symbol of its emphasis on the need for greater openness and collaboration by scientists.
"We spend hundreds of millions of dollars on cancer research," Biden reminded doctors and researchers at the ASCO meeting. "Imagine if you all worked together."
The Obama administration says the moonshot could help accelerate the pace of cancer research potential, bringing 10 years of progress in five years. It has proposed $1 billion in funding for the project, an amount Congress has not authorized.
The database's funding comes from $70 million allocated to the NCI for cancer genomics projects under the agency's precision medicine initiative.
Dr. Ron DePinho, president of MD Anderson, said the Houston cancer center recognizes data sharing as "a critical aspect of our own Moon Shots," a reference to the initiative he launched in September 2012 to dramatically improve treatment for certain difficult cancers. He called it "a positive step for the federal government to expand such data sharing to more patients."
The federal database is searchable, but Biden expressed confidence that patients' privacy and security will be protected. He noted that all NCI-funded research would automatically to available at the GDC and urged clinicians and scientists at the ASCO meeting to "upload your raw genomic data" for the benefit of all researchers.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Police discovered the bodies of three people in a southeast Houston apartment on Monday.
It was earlier reported that the three were victims of a shooting, but Houston police would not confirm if all of the victims were shot to death. At a news conference later Monday, HPD said foul play was involved and there appeared to be a struggle at the scene.
Three bodies were discovered at Park Houston Apartments in the 12000 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Neighbors heard gunshots, and called police, officers said at the news conference. Police responded to a call at the apartment complex and found two men and one woman dead.
A suspect was seen fleeing the scene, police said. He was described as black, about 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing about 200 pounds. Police added that the suspect had a short Afro and was wearing blue shorts and a white T-shirt. He was seen carrying a black backpack with a yellow-and-black handle.
Police said they questioned a man at the apartment complex. It's unclear if the man questioned was a witness or another suspect.
Kids screamed. Balloons popped. A confetti cannon detonated.
And combat-veteran-turned-science-teacher Stephen Seidel blacked out in the bleachers at the high school pep rally.
"I can't be around explosions," the former infantryman testified Monday in a faltering voice. "I don't know how many flashbacks I had."
Seidel took the witness stand on the first day of trial in his federal civil case against the New Caney Independent School District in Montgomery County, saying school officials failed to provide the accommodations he needed for post-traumatic stress disorder.
A jury in U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison's court must determine if the district violated Seidel's rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act when a supervisor ordered him to attend a "Lip Dub" rally, which Seidel told jurors was a "pep rally on steroids."
He had a running agreement with the school principal that he never had to attend such events, but his department chair insisted that he did.
Since the December 2012 pep rally, he hasn't returned to work. He needs help when he leaves the house. And doctors provide him a solo waiting room for visits, he told the jury.
With the judge's approval, he testified Monday with his wife sitting just inches away and angled toward him, observing his whole body to ensure he was all right.
"I was a damn good soldier and I was a damn good teacher," he testified. "And now I can't do anything, it feels like."
Seidel's attorney, Harry Laxton Jr. told jurors in an opening statement that Seidel felt he had no choice but to attend the pep rally.
School officials contend Seidel could have ignored conflicting instructions from the department chair.
"The accommodation that Mr. Seidel was granted (by the principal) was never taken away," said Erik Nichols, the attorney representing the district, in opening remarks.
War flashback
Seidel enlisted in the Army in 2002 and deployed to South Baghdad in the early days of the Iraq War, serving as a junior enlisted specialist in a field artillery unit in the first Cavalry Division.
He was with his unit in an urban setting when a mortar blast landed behind him, throwing him into a building, according to testimony. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, and injured his back and knees. He was honorably discharged in 2005.
Not long after, a Fourth of July fireworks display triggered a flashback.
"I woke up underneath the table with my weapon out," he told the jury. "That's when I knew I needed treatment."
Seidel enrolled in college and got a degree in biology. He had his first teaching job in Cleveland, but his entry-level position was eliminated in a layoff. So he joined the science department at New Caney High School in 2011-2012.
He told Principal David Loyacano privately that loud, echoing sounds at school pep rallies might trigger his PTSD. Loyacano said that was fine and assigned Seidel to patrol the halls for stragglers whenever there was an event in the gym.
The following school year on the last day of school before winter break, the school held the "lip dub" rally for all clubs, teams and departments to celebrate school pride.
Emails went out telling all teachers to report for duty. Seidel ignored them. But his department head told him he didn't have a choice. He explained he was an exception. She insisted. This was the person, he testified, who evaluated him, gave him mandatory prep work, whom he called when he was going to be absent. He took it as an implied order.
"I went into soldier mode, I guess. My duty was to protect them at all costs," he testified.
'It's a mental condition'
The question for jurors is whether the district rescinded its obligation to an employee.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, mental disabilities are classified the same way as physical disabilities, said Steve Roppolo, an employment lawyer with Fisher & Phillips in Houston. The federal law covers employees with mental impairments the same as if employees were blind or had prosthetic limbs.
As more employees return from active combat duty, companies are receiving more accommodation requests to handle post-traumatic stress, such as comfort animals in the workplace or coming up with ways to avoid loud noises, Roppolo said.
One of the most common accommodations veterans ask for is help in handling loud surprising noises, said Joe Bontke, acting deputy director of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Houston. Some use guide dogs, while others take steps to avoid putting themselves into situations like pep rallies, said Bontke, who is not familiar with Seidel's case.
But accommodations are confidential and co-workers may have no idea what was worked out between a manager and a disabled employee, he said. That, in turn, can lead to a conflict if co-workers urge their colleagues to participate in situations that they specifically sought to avoid.
"It's a mental condition," Seidel's lawyer, Blaxton, explained to jurors."It's not like a limp. It's not a missing limb."
Seidel now qualifies with the Social Security Administration as 100 percent disabled. His wife is expected to take the stand Tuesday.
L.M. Sixel contributed to this report.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
WASHINGTON - For four decades the U.S. government has stored vast seas of crude oil in underground caverns along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast, providing a backstop in the event the world's oil supply is disrupted.
But as those facilities age, and the need for such a large reserve seemingly wanes, the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve faces a significant reduction in size, a potential shift in purpose and hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs and upgrades to its storage and transportation systems.
The sale of more than 160 million barrels of oil - close to a quarter of the entire reserve - has been authorized by Congress.
As that oil is sold off over the next nine years, the money generated by those sales will fund everything from deficit reduction to highway construction to maintenance of the reserve, which is nearing the end of its intended life.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy is wrapping up a yearlong review of the program to determine not only if the reserve is too large, but also whether it should remain in its current locations. The review will also examine whether the nation's energy security would be better served by storing gasoline and other refined products rather then crude oil.
Significant quantities of the reserve have been sold before to ease potential shortages and moderate prices - most recently when civil war broke out in Libya in 2011. But energy analysts said these latest moves represent a significant shift in U.S. energy policy.
Changing mindset
Kevin Book, managing director of the Washington-based consulting firm ClearView Energy Partners, said the combination of the Obama administration's advocacy of more gasoline reserves and Republicans' desire to generate revenue through oil sales represents a major shift from the government's historical push to grow the nation's oil stockpile.
"They're selling a fifth of the nation's oil security and only a small part of that is going to preserve the asset," he said.
Created in 1975 following the Arab oil embargo, the national petroleum reserve holds close to 700 million barrels of oil - enough to maintain U.S. consumption for five months. That's more than double the supplies available in 2005, when President George W. Bush ordered the Strategic Petroleum Reserve increased to 1 billion barrels.
But since then, the U.S. shale boom has increased domestic oil production 60 percent to 8.8 million barrels a day. That has reduced the need for oil from abroad to feed the country's demand of 19.4 million barrels a day.
Simultaneously, the system of old salt caverns, pipelines and pumps that make up what government officials refer to as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is falling into disrepair. That came into clear view this year when a water pipe used to move oil around the storage caverns at the Big Hill reserve in East Texas - one of only four storage sites nationwide - burst. The facility was flooded and shut down for weeks, as contractors made emergency repairs.
A report from the Energy Department last year described a long backlog of maintenance work at the four reserve sites, as well as an out-of-date design of pipelines and shipping terminals that could not effectively get oil to market in the event of an emergency. Officials blamed the problem on a shale boom that led the flows of many pipelines to be reversed to get domestic oil and not imported oil to refineries.
The agency put a price tag of up to $2 billion on upgrades, which included plans for the construction of a docking facility on the Gulf Coast to get the oil to market via tanker instead of pipelines. Congress tentatively set aside funding for the overhaul in a budget bill late last year - on the condition it be paid for by the sale of oil from the reserve.
Bipartisan sticking point
That and other projects funded by oil reserve sales, which would be worth $8 billion at today's prices, has received bipartisan support. The first of the oil sales are scheduled to begin next year and run through 2025. But the prospect of selling government crude in the midst of an oil bust that has slashed prices to half their 2014 level has rankled lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats.
"If they started selling it now, our slow growth in the price of oil could end and prices would go back down," said Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston. "Let's wait a couple years and try to make more money on it."
How big should the reserve be then? The International Energy Agency, the international group representing oil-importing countries including the United States, advises member states to maintain a three-month supply.
The Energy Department is studying the question of size. Its recommendations, which would need congressional approval to take effect, are expected to be released this summer.
But the Obama administration has signaled some of its intent. After a test sale of 5 million barrels in 2014, the Energy Department used the proceeds to establish three gasoline storage facilities in the Northeast, after Hurricane Sandy disrupted that region's fuel supply in 2012.
Still, at a Senate hearing in October, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said the need for a petroleum reserve remained critical.
I'm not going to talk about a specific size," he said. "The real issue is a major disruption that leads to a substantial price incursion that affects all of us."
Since its creation four decades ago, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been used only three times. In addition to Libya, the government released oil to the market in 1991 after Iraq invaded Kuwait and again in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina shut down Gulf production, pipelines and refineries.
Expensive insurance policy
Considering its cost of more than $180 million a year, critics have wondered why the government maintains the reserve.
Fred Beach, assistant director for energy policy at the University of Texas' Energy Institute, said commercial oil storage has grown to the point where it is nearly the same size as the government's stockpile, with far easier and quicker access. But, he said, he does not expect the reserve to be decommissioned any time soon.
"It's an insurance policy. It's a safety blanket," he said. "How do you argue against a what if?"
AUSTIN - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review a pair of Houston death-penalty cases that potentially could impact two key aspects of Texas' legal path to the death chamber.
By agreeing to consider whether death sentences should be overturned by racially charged testimony or an intellectual disability, legal experts say the high court will be weighing whether Texas' procedures for imposing the ultimate criminal sentence meet legal muster, despite growing court challenges over the practices.
So far, Texas generally has been able to successfully defend how it administers the death penalty.
Legal experts on capital punishment said Monday that the Supreme Court's decision to review both cases is significant.
"If there's a procedure that's been rejected by virtually every other state in the nation that waves a red flag before the Supreme Court," said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center, a group that focuses on showcasing legal flaws in the capital punishment system. "Texas has done that again and again."
One of the cases to be reviewed by the Supreme Court involves the high-profile appeal of Duane Buck, 52, who was sentenced to death for the July 1995 slaying of his girlfriend, Debra Gardner, and her friend, Kenneth Butler, after he and Gardner had an argument.
Police reports at the time showed Buck shot his own sister and Butler after he barged into Gardner's home with a rifle. He then chased Gardner outside the residence, and shot her as her young daughter watched.
"The bitch, she deserved it," witnesses quoted Buck as saying after he shot Gardner, according to a prison report.
In court filings, Buck's attorneys are not arguing his guilt in the case, only the death sentence he was given. At issue is trial testimony in which a psychologist claimed Buck was more likely to remain a threat to society because he was black, an assertion that Buck's attorneys say underscores a racial bias in his sentencing that should overturn his death sentence.
"Mr. Buck was sentenced to death after his own attorneys introduced an 'expert' who told the jury that Mr. Buck was more likely to be dangerous in the future because he is black," his current lawyers said in a prepared statement.
Buck's attorneys argued that the lawyer who represented him during his trial nearly 20 years ago provided ineffective assistance.
Ellis lauds decision
State Sen. Rodney Ellis, a Houston Democrat who has championed changes in the Texas justice system to erase racial and legal inequities that have resulted in death sentences for men who were later exonerated, applauded the high court's decision to review Buck's appeal.
"The people of Texas deserve a justice system based on the core principles of equal justice under the law that is free from racial prejudice and discrimination - particularly when it involves the ultimate punishment," the senator said.
"There is no doubt that racist 'expert' testimony was involved in sentencing Buck to death. I hope the Supreme Court will correct this egregious and indefensible error and grant a new sentencing hearing free of racial bias. That said, Harris County can fix this problem now by agreeing to a new sentencing hearing."
Experts on both sides of the capital punishment debate said the Buck case is important because it involves the use of race in testimony to determine whether a person should be sentenced to death, a practice the high court has forbidden in other cases, including six Texas cases in which state officials decided to drop the death sentence on appeal.
State attorneys insist the testimony during Buck's trial should not overturn his sentence.
In the second case, Bobby James Moore, 56, is challenging his 1980 death sentence by arguing he has an intellectual disability.
Twice in recent years, the high court generally has blocked other states from executing convicts with intellectual disabilities. Moore's case focuses on whether a state may reject current medical standards in determining intellectual disability.
Moore was sentenced to death for the execution-style shotgun slaying of Houston resident James McCarble, a 72-year-old clerk, during a botched grocery store robbery in April 1980. He was 20 at the time, and had two accomplices, one of whom got a life sentence.
Moore's attorneys argue that his execution would violate the U.S. Constitution prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment because he has been diagnosed as intellectually disabled by medical professionals. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected his intellectual disability claim in 2015 because he failed to meet Texas' standard for determining those issues.
Paxton defends state
In his response, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the state's standard is "consistent" with Supreme Court opinions that have "specifically left to the individual states the task of developing appropriate ways to enforce the constitutional restriction against executing intellectually disabled offenders."
When it first announced Monday that it would review Moore's case, the high court said it also would review Moore's claim that his sentence should be overturned because he has been isolated on death row for 36 years. Within two hours, however, the court amended its original order saying it would only review the intellectual disability issue.
No dates have been set on when the high court will consider the two cases during its next term, officials said.
Dane Schiller contributed to this story.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
LOS ANGELES - Hillary Clinton has secured enough delegates to win the Democratic presidential nomination, according to the Associated Press, emerging from a long and bruising primary to become the first woman to lead a major party in the race for the White House.
A bitter presidential contest that Clinton once was expected to win in a walk ended abruptly late Monday, as she claimed exactly the number of delegates needed to secure the nomination in her contest against Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, according the AP's latest tally.
Clinton was widely expected - even inside her own campaign - to clinch the nomination on Tuesday, when California, New Jersey and four other states are scheduled to vote. But according to the AP, Clinton continued to pick up newly committed delegates over the weekend and on Monday that effectively guarantee her the nomination.
With that milestone, the former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state has ended more than two centuries of national history in which only men have been the standard-bearers for the major political parties.
She also overcame her own crushing loss in the 2008 Democratic primary against Barack Obama, as well as a political environment this year that favored outsiders at the expense of Clinton's establishment credentials. And she became the first spouse of a former president to win the presidential nomination in her own right.
'Really emotional'
"My supporters are passionate, they are committed, they have voted for me in great numbers across the country for many reasons," Clinton said Monday on the campaign trail in California. "But among the reasons is their belief that having a woman president would make a great statement - a historic statement - about what kind of country we are, what we stand for. It's really emotional."
Now, Clinton will turn fully to face Republican Donald Trump in the November general election, a pivot that unofficially began last week with a withering speech on foreign policy in which she shredded Trump's qualifications and temperament. Those attacks continued this weekend at appearances up and down California and have been received with unprecedented enthusiasm by her supporters.
Clinton has faced an unexpectedly strong and increasingly contentious challenge from Sanders, and there is the possibility that the senator from Vermont will keep battling Clinton even now that she has effectively sewn up the nomination.
But that won't stop Clinton from celebrating the milestone on Tuesday, when she had planned to claim the nomination.
Tuesday marks the exact anniversary of the day eight years ago when Clinton conceded the Democratic nomination to then-Sen. Barack Obama.
She famously promised then that a woman would someday win the White House. And she took credit for leaving "about 18 million cracks" in the "highest, hardest glass ceiling" of all during her first effort at it.
President Obama could endorse Clinton as soon as this week, not waiting for the Democratic convention in July, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Monday.
The president will decide for himself when to endorse, but "we may have a better sense of where the race is headed" after Tuesday's voting, Earnest said.
An Obama endorsement would be a significant boost to Clinton as she seeks to unify Democrats after the difficult primaries. It would send a strong message to Sanders and his supporters that they should coalesce around Clinton, something Sanders has indicated he is far from ready to do.
"We'll be talking about all of that in the next days, and I look forward to that," Clinton said when asked what role Obama might play in her campaign. "Obviously, I'm excited about having the president's support, because I have said throughout this campaign, I was honored to serve in the president's Cabinet."
Anti-Trump speech helped
Although Clinton was widely expected to clinch the nomination before the polls close in enormous California, she has been campaigning furiously there in recent days, in part to deny Sanders a victory on a night when she and her campaign want no doubt to remain about her nomination.
The two candidates remained locked in an exceedingly tight contest in California, with several polls within the margin of error. Clinton has been buoyed, however, by a speech last week in San Diego in which she slammed presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump like never before, calling him temperamentally unfit and ill prepared to assume the presidency.
Although Clinton has increasingly appeared to be campaigning more against Trump than Sanders, the success of her speech -and its reverberations on the campaign trail in California over the weekend - may help her against Sanders on Tuesday, too.
At times deadpan and at other times incredulous, Clinton delivered a cutting 35-minute assault on Trump on Thursday that read like a greatest hits of his most controversial comments.
It was a clear sign of how Clinton plans to defeat Trump - and overcome her own weaknesses, which include lingering questions about her judgment and trustworthiness and the fact that a majority of Americans say they don't like her.
The business mogul has responded with a barrage of attacks on Twitter and in television interviews. "Crooked Hillary Clinton has not held a news conference in more than 7 months," Trump tweeted Monday. "Her record is so bad she is unable to answer tough questions!"
She took eight questions from reporters Monday.
On the campaign trail, Clinton has regularly reprised some of her favorite lines from the speech with more than a little glee.
"I didn't make these comments up, I just repeated the ones he's made," Clinton said while campaigning Sunday. "I just read chapter and verse."
Sanders to consider future
Sanders plans to take stock of his presidential campaign at his home in Burlington, Vt., after Tuesday's primaries.
"Let's assess where we are after tomorrow before we make statements based on speculation," Sanders said at a news conference in Emeryville, Calif., when asked if he is willing to endorse Clinton in the coming weeks.
Clinton picked up more delegates in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands over the weekend and leads the senator among both pledged delegates, those earned in voting contests, and "superdelegates," the party leaders and elected officials who are free to support the candidate of their choice at the national convention.
It was superdelegates that put her over the top to gain the 2,383 needed to secure the nomination, according to the AP.
Sanders has argued that Clinton won't have a lock because superdelegates don't actually vote until the convention and could change their minds.
It's a strategy that most political observers consider a long shot, to say the least.
As individuals, we all try to build on our strengths and work on our weaknesses, and it's probably a good idea to balance these two activities. But as a country we are completely messing this up.
In this election we've been ignoring the parts of America that are working well and wallowing in the parts that are fading. This has led to a campaign season driven by fear, resentment and pessimism. And it will lead to worse policymaking down the road, since prosperity means building on things we do well, not obsessing over the things that we've lost.
The person chiefly responsible for this all-warts view of America is, of course, Donald Trump.
Trump has focused his campaign on the struggling white neighborhoods in the industrial Midwest. The prototypical Trump voter is an upscale man from a downscale place.
As Nate Silver has demonstrated, Trump voters are not poor. Their median household income is about $72,000, which is far above the national average. But they tend to be from former manufacturing hubs, which have been in decades-long decline. They tend to be from places like Kokomo, Ind., which has had a 13.5 percent decline in weekly wages since 2000, and Saginaw, Mich., which has had a 9.8 percent decline.
These areas enjoyed a brief resurgence four years ago, when manufacturing picked up. But the manufacturing economy has headed south again over the past 19 months, thanks to low foreign demand. People in such places are so desperate for any sort of change that they're willing to overlook all the baggage that comes with Donald Trump.
Trump's general election focus on the swing states of the industrial Midwest means that Hillary Clinton will have to focus her efforts there, too. The whole tenor of the fall campaign will be shaped by the pain of towns that are in long-term decline - where people feel economically adrift and culturally left behind.
Energy issues will play an outsized role. As Ronald Brownstein of The Atlantic has shown, Republicans tend to do well in industrial places heavily reliant on carbon-intensive fuels. Democrats tend to do well in postindustrial places where carbon output is low. Trump will hit Clinton for supporting environmental regulations that hurt the manufacturing economy. Clinton will rally her people with efforts to address climate change.
This style of campaign could also pave the way for a longer-term realignment. Michael Lind of New America argues in an essay in Politico that Republicans are becoming a Midwestern, white working-class party that embraces economic nationalism - walling out immigrants and global economic competition. The Democrats are becoming a multicultural globalist coalition that will see national boundaries as obsolete.
But there's another America out there, pointing to a different political debate. For while people are flooding out of the Midwest, they are flooding into the South and the West. The financial crisis knocked many Sun Belt cities to their knees, but they are back up and surging. Jobs and people are now heading to Orlando, Florida; Phoenix; Nashville, Tennessee; Charlotte, North Carolina; Denver and beyond.
There are two kinds of places that are getting it right. The first we might call Richard Florida cities, after the writer who champions them. These are dense, highly educated, highly communal places with plenty of hipsters. These cities, like Austin, Seattle and San Francisco, have lots of innovation, lots of cultural amenities, but high housing prices and lots of inequality.
The second kind of cities we might call Joel Kotkin cities, after the writer who champions them. These are opportunity cities like Houston, Dallas and Salt Lake City. These places are less regulated, so it's easier to start a business. They are sprawling with easy, hodgepodge housing construction, so the cost of living is low. Immigrants flock to them.
As Kotkin and Tory Gattis pointed out in an essay in The City Journal, Houston has been a boomtown for the past two decades. It's America's fourth-largest city, with 35 percent metro area population growth between 2000 and 2013. It's the most ethnically diverse city in America and has had a surge in mid-skill jobs. Houston's diversified its economy, so even the energy recession has not derailed its progress.
We should be having a debate between the Kotkin model and the Florida model, between two successful ways to create prosperity, each with strengths and weaknesses. That would be a forward-looking debate between groups who are open, confident and innovative. That would be a debate that, while it might divide by cultural values and aesthetics, wouldn't divide along ugly racial lines.
We should be focusing on the growing, dynamic places and figuring out how to use those models to nurture inclusive opportunity and rejuvenate the places that aren't. Instead, this campaign will focus on the past: who we need to shut out to get back what we lost.
The future is being built right now. The prevailing sense of public despair is just wrong.
Brooks is a New York Times columnist.
Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print.
Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition.
If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create.
As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content.
When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to.
After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code.
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS!
OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK
The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those.
t week, a top EU court advisor said European employers may be justified in banning Muslim headscarves but do the comments have any impact on Kiwi bosses? HRM asked industry lawyer Andy Bell for the legal low-down.There is a distinct lack of reported Court cases in New Zealand on the issue of religious clothing in the workplace, as most cases appear to be settled privately, reveals Bell, of Wellington-based Bell & Co . This makes it difficult to provide clear and precise guidance as to how the legislation is practically applied, he adds.While few previous cases address the issue, Bell says there is well-established legislation that can provide valuable guidance to employers.The blanket rule in the employment context is that discrimination based on religious practices or beliefs is not permitted, he told HRM.An employee generally cannot be dismissed, retired, or forced to resign due to their religion [and] an employer must also afford employees the same conditions of employment, benefits, opportunities, promotions and transfers of the same or similar qualifications, experience or skills, he stressedAccordingly, the general rule is that an employee cannot be dismissed or otherwise discriminated against in New Zealand as a result of wearing religious clothing in the workplace, such as a headscarf.However, Bell who has over 10 years experience in the field of employment law admits there are some exceptions to the rule.Section 28 of the Human Rights Act 1993 requires an employer to accommodate a religious practice so long as any required adjustment of the employers activities is not unreasonably disruptive, he reveals.This most likely means that an employer is not required to accommodate religious clothing in the workplace where doing so would cause significant expense, or disruption to business activities. In my view however it would be difficult to preclude the wearing of a headscarf on these grounds.Another exception arises in situations where religious clothing may give rise to health and safety issues, says Bell, pointing to a Supreme Court of Canada case in which an employer wasnt forced to accommodate the religious practices of a Sikh worker.The man was ultimately dismissed for failing to wear a safety helmet because it was contrary to his religious beliefs, explains Bell. The duty to accommodate this employee was overridden by the role requirement to wear a helmet. The law would likely be applied in New Zealand in a similar manner.Bell says New Zealands Human Rights Commission also provides some guidance in respect of religious clothing in the workplace.The HRC published a brochure in 2011 Religious Diversity in the New Zealand Workplace which states that an employees request to wear a headscarf at work should be considered by the employer in good faith, but where health and safety requirements require an employee to wear protective clothing, the wearing of a headscarf can cause some difficulty, says Bell.In the brochure, the Human Rights Commission urges employers to approach any conflicts with the reasonable expectation of finding a practical and acceptable resolution.This reinforces the position that the right to wear religious clothing in the workplace is not absolute, but should be accommodated where to do so would not cause significant disruption to business activities or raise health and safety concerns, Bell told HRM.Putting it simply, Bell says bosses should do their best to accommodate the religious needs of employees and avoid any potential legal complications.My recommendation to New Zealand employers is to accommodate religious clothing, such as headscarves and turbans, wherever possible and practicable in the workplace.If the employer chooses not to accommodate religious clothing and cannot reasonably justify the decision in accordance with the legislation, it risks sanctions being imposed by either the Employment Relations Authority or the Human Rights Commission, he warns.If the matter is reported to the media, it also risks damage to reputation.
governing board of Canton, a town in the US state of North Carolina, has planned a controversial wellness initiative which aims at encouraging staff to quit smoking.We have a sizable amount of employees who use tobacco, town manager Seth Hendler-Voss told local Haywood County newspaper The Mountaineer.The concern, he said, was that a catastrophic insurance claim could skyrocket the premiums of the councils employee health coverage and inflate costs significantly.We will only see a 3.6 per cent increase in our healthcare premium for next fiscal year, he said. The initial renewal quote of 13 per cent made me nervous. We ended up negotiating it down, in part because of our low medical loss ratio and high wellness program participation.If there are ways we can reduce our risk exposure and limit high claims, we should make every effort to do so.The tobacco cessation initiative was created as a result of these fears and looks at health insurance as a group participatory process.Under the plan, employees will be encouraged to quit smoking. Those who manage to drop the habit in the first year will receive a US$250 cheque.However staff would have to sign an affidavit before commencing the program, effectively agreeing to a financial penalty if they cannot quit and have made no attempt to do so.You face a surcharge in 2018 or a premium increase of 10 per cent, said Hendler-Voss. We dont want to hurt pocket books, but we need to make sure were going to be responsible. We are all in this together and we rely on the health and wellness of each other.The plan has received a lot of attention with some individuals concerned about its effects.My phone has not stopped. It does bother me, just the idea of a penalty, and there have been several employees who had an issue, said alderman Zeb Smathers.Another alderman, Ralph Hamlett, also spoke out against the proposed plan; Sometimes, a carrot can work wonders, versus a stick to beat someone over the head, he said.However, Hendler-Voss defended the initiative saying that employees wont be penalised if they keep on trying to quit. There will also be no penalty in the first year, he added.Im warning the board, if we do not keep reigns on health and wellness, we are facing risk, Hendler-Voss said. We have been very good to our employees. They are our top resource and priority. You dont have to quit but you have to be actively trying to quit.
An Alberta hotline for victims of Islamophobia has received daily calls since its launch in April.
Of the 78 complaints it's received since, roughly 80 per cent have been related to workplace discrimination, reports Metro News.
The Alberta Muslim Public Affairs Council (AMPAC) created the toll-free line in response to growing incidences of Islamophobia around the province.
We came together in terms of a community, to provide some sort of a support mechanism,AMPAC president Khan Suri told Global News.
Advertisement
Schools, a train station and a mosque have been vandalized with racist graffiti across the province in recent months.
Islamophobic callers
The organization noted that on top of reporting incidents of Islamophobia, some have also called the hotline to leave hateful messages.
"We've had people call in and leave messages like, 'Muslims are animals and they shouldn't be here in Canada,'" said Mustafa Farooq, vice-president of public policy at AMPAC, in an interview with CBC News.
AMPAC is working with police to investigate some of the reports and calls.
Those who experience discrimination, harassment or a hate crime due to Islamophobia in Alberta are asked to call 1-800-607-3722 or email report@ampac.ca.
Advertisement
Also on HuffPost:
An Alberta mom has sparked controversy after she posted a photo on Facebook of her toddler holding a gun.
"I posted it because it was cute and because I knew there was going to be a reaction," Cindy O'Hara told The Huffington Post Alberta.
Advertisement
Cindy O'Hara posted this photo of her son on Facebook, which sparked debate.
The mother, who lives in Airdrie, shared the photo in a few private Facebook groups for parents in the city north of Calgary with the caption: "Wow we taught our 2.5 to shoot today. He did great."
Commenters immediately launched into a debate over parenting and gun safety.
"Sorry people, but guns in the hands of children are not safe no matter the argument. Children as young as the one in this photo simply aren't equipped mentally to understand the dangers and consequences," wrote Dan Brown on Facebook.
Broken BB gun
O'Hara said her two-year-old son Jaxson is holding a broken BB gun in the photo.
"It was unfireable, it was completely broken," she said in a phone interview. "He was taught the proper stance, how to hold it properly and how to put it away properly."
Still, many parents were concerned.
"The 2.5 year old now knows it's ok and cute to play 'pew pew.' What happens if he grabs one that does work," commented Dan McEwing.
Advertisement
"It boils down to parent choice, responsibility and accountability, and teaching the correct ways."
Others came to O'Hara's defence.
"Better to teach him now then later! At least he's going to learn how to use it properly," posted Kim Taylor.
O'Hara says the negative feedback hasn't changed her stance on guns and gun safety, adding that her eight-year-old fires BB guns at a shooting range and she hopes Jaxson will join him when he's older.
"It boils down to parent choice, responsibility and accountability, and teaching the correct ways," O'Hara said. "Jaxson, you can ask him. He knows guns are dangerous. You don't point them at people."
It's legal for Canadians under the age of 18 to use guns, as long as they are directly supervised by an adult with a gun licence.
Also on HuffPost:
"Hello BuzzFeeders,
I wanted to share with you a business decision we have made regarding the Trump for President campaign and why we made it.
In April, the Republican National Committee signed an agreement with BuzzFeed to spend a significant amount on political advertisements slated to run during the Fall election cycle. As you know, we accept advertisements from both republican and democratic candidates and we were pleased to accept this advertising order from the RNC.
Since signing this advertising deal, Donald Trump, as you know, has become the presumptive nominee of his party. The tone and substance of his campaign are unique in the history of modern US politics. Trump advocates banning Muslims from traveling to the United States, hes threatened to limit the free press, and made offensive statements toward women, immigrants, descendants of immigrants, and foreign nationals.
Earlier today Buzzfeed informed the RNC that we would not accept Trump for President ads and that we would be terminating our agreement with them. The Trump campaign is directly opposed to the freedoms of our employees in the United States and around the world and in some cases, such as his proposed ban on international travel for Muslims, would make it impossible for our employees to do their jobs.
We dont need to and do not expect to agree with the positions or values of all our advertisers. And as you know, there is a wall between our business and editorial operations. This decision to cancel this ad buy will have no influence on our continuing coverage of the campaign.
We certainly dont like to turn away revenue that funds all the important work we do across the company. However, in some cases we must make business exceptions: we dont run cigarette ads because they are hazardous to our health, and we wont accept Trump ads for the exact same reason.
Thanks,
Jonah"
A tub is filled with unsafe water in a Batchewana First Nation home.
An Ontario chief says his remote reserve plagued by unsafe water continues to be on the hook for arranging and paying for bottled water even though Ottawa is technically responsible for the service.
Its one example of how the federal government has continually let down Grassy Narrows, said Chief Simon Fobister Sr. in an interview with The Huffington Post Canada.
Advertisement
On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a 92-page report calling on the Liberal government to take urgent steps to address the drinking water issues on some First Nations reserves.
The water crisis is the result of years of discrimination compounded by lack of accountability, said Amanda Klasing, senior HRW researcher, in a news release.
Tainted water and broken systems on Ontarios First Nations reserves are jeopardizing health, burdening parents and caregivers, and exacerbating problems on reserves.
Advertisement
Sign outside Grassy Narrows First Nation.
The Liberal governments promise to end boil-water advisories on reserves within five years and the $2.2-billion promise it earmarked in the budget to achieve that goal has yet to produce tangible change in communities.
Wheres the money?
Fobister said he met with Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada in Thunder Bay last month to talk about the ongoing water crisis that has lowered his community's standard of living for years. Officials told him that Ottawa has yet to to move budget money into the departments account.
Department has all this money assigned to them, but its not flowing," said Fobister.
The federal government is financially obligated to cover the costs related to the regulation and governance of drinking water on First Nations reserves.
Grassy Narrows protesters demonstrate against mercury poisoning in 1975 on the steps of Queen's Park in Toronto. (Photo: Barrie Davis / The Globe and Mail via The Canadian Press)
Advertisement
Grassy Narrows, approximately 500 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, has a long history with unsafe drinking water. In the 1960s, 9,000 kilograms of mercury was dumped in a local river after a paper mill was shut down.
Federal officials at the time and successive governments all failed to clean up the toxic mess.
A government supply of bottled water is delivered every day to Grassy Narrows, Fobister explained to HuffPost. But after the shipment is dropped off, its up to the band to pay people to monitor the new supply and distribute clean water door-to-door to elders and others unable to do the pick up themselves.
They have all the money and we dont. Grassy Narrows Chief Simon Fobister Sr.
Its a regular bill that adds insult to injury, Fobister said. He doesnt understand why the government cant use the money for bottled water toward fixing the reserves broken water treatment plant.
The department is paying for the purchase and delivery of the water to the reserve, but theyre not paying for the distribution for the community. They have all the money and we dont.
Advertisement
Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett speaks to reporters on Parliament Hill in February. (Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
Home to approximately 1,000 people, the community has been under a boil-water advisory for nearly three years. Antibiotic-resistant skin diseases have been reported among children who live on the reserve.
Last year, council declared a state of emergency over its unsafe drinking water. Today, water from the treatment plant and two community wells remain under do not consume orders.
Respect UN declaration: watchdog
For its report, Human Rights Watch investigated five Ontario First Nations Batchewana, Grassy Narrows, Neskantaga, Six Nations of the Grand River, and Shoal Lake 40 all under long-term boil-water orders. Investigators conducted 111 interviews.
Advertisement
First Nations families are worried about the long-term health effects of the water they drink and bathe in will have on their kids, the report said.
It suggested the government of Canada tackle both the symptoms and the underlying causes.
The three pages of recommendations includes one that the federal government follow international legal standards and respect the rights set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in relation to access to safe drinking water.
The water crisis is the result of years of discrimination compounded by lack of accountability. Amanda Klasing, Human Rights Watch researcher
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigned on the promise to end boil-water advisories on First Nations within five years a pledge one expert labelled as unrealistic."
Lalita Bharadwaj, a public health professor at the University of Saskatchewan, explained to Macleans magazine last year that the timeline is problematic because it doesnt take into account unknown factors:
Advertisement
Im not sure how Mr. Trudeau has come up with this idea, because the causes are so complex. It could be because the treatment system doesnt work, or its ineffective to treat the water. It could be because the raw water source is contaminated. It could be because the pressure within the piping is not allowing for the delivery of pressurized water to the house, and that would affect the chlorination process. There are a number of factors.
In responding to the HRW report, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada spokeswoman Valerie Hache reiterated the governments pledge to end long-term boil water advisories on reserves within five years.
We know that there is much more work to be done. INAC will take the time to review the report, and determine the next steps to addressing their recommendations in partnership with First Nations communities," she wrote in an email to HuffPost Canada.
Currently, there are 133 boil-water advisories on 89 First Nation reserves across the country.
Also on HuffPost:
Canada Post has been ordered to stop delivering a publication in Toronto that several groups have blasted as anti-Semitic and homophobic.
Judy Foote, minister of public services and procurement, issued a prohibitory order on Monday against the delivery of Your Ward News, according to a press release from Standing Together Against Mailing Prejudice.
Advertisement
We are ecstatic about the Ministers decision, said Lisa Kinsella, one of the founding members of STAMP, in a statement.
Minister of Public Services Judy Foote ordered Canada Post to stop delivering the newsletter on Monday. (Photo: The Canadian Press)
For too long, Your Ward News has been permitted to disseminate racism, homophobia, misogyny and anti-Semitism to as many as 300,000 homes in Toronto. Minister Footes swift and decisive action means that this disgusting material will no longer be landing in the mailboxes of people who dont want it.
Advertisement
Human rights complaint
In April, a human rights complaint was filed by an Ottawa lawyer against the paper, according to the Toronto Star.
"Canada Post and the Government of Canada are regularly and knowingly delivering misogynist, racist, anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim and homophobic hate propaganda into Toronto-area homes," Richard Warman said in the complaint.
'We're just a satirical, offensive newspaper'
The paper's editor, who has identified himself in the past as pick-up artist Dmitri The Lover, told CBC News the government order would be a "temporary inconvenience," and vowed to fight it.
Editor James Sears has asked for a panel to review the order and expects the case to be presided by "a real judge."
"We've done nothing illegal. There have been no criminal charges filed. It is an arbitrary decision," Sears said.
Advertisement
"We're just a satirical, offensive newspaper. It has been found multiple times by Canada Post lawyers that we're not breaking any hate-speech laws."
Kinsella called Sears "an unabashed Hitler enthusiast" in the release. She told CBC that his publication is not satirical and is "hate promotion."
Sears is a former Toronto doctor who lost his medical licence in the '90s after pleading guilty to sexual assault.
Climate change has caused almost a third of the land cover in Canada and Alaska to go green, according to a NASA study.
Using 87,000 satellite images, researchers found there was extensive greening, or vegetation growth, between 1984 and 2012 in the western Alaska tundra and along the north and northeastern coast of Canada.
Advertisement
In the April report, NASA researchers say the most intensive greening was observed in Quebec and Labrador.
It's an "unmistakable" trend, researchers wrote.
In this screengrab from a NASA video on the study, the greener regions represent the areas that have seen more intense greening over time. (Photo: NASA Goddard/YouTube)
The study also found that the warmer climate was affecting the Boreal regions in Canada and Alaska. In those areas, researchers found an opposite effect: browning.
Advertisement
Scott Goetz, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Centre in Massachusetts, told the National Post that "trees in the boreal system do not respond well to high temperatures, which limits vegetation productivity.
The research supports previous studies on vegetation. But in using the images from Landsat satellites, researchers were able to get a much more localized view of the landscape.
'We can zoom in'
"The resolution with Landsat is drastically improved, it lets you look at the local effects of things like topography, such as in areas where you might have small woodlands or open areas," Jeffrey Masek, one of the researchers who worked on the study, told the agency.
More detailed data will help researchers zero in on greening patterns in these areas.
"One of the big questions is, Will forest biomes migrate with warming climate? There hasnt been much evidence of it to date, Masek said. But we can zoom in and see if its changing."
Also On HuffPost:
Navigating the streets of New York City isn't easy, especially if it's your first time.
Fortunately for comedian James Corden, a few local legends were close by to guide him on his way. In search of The Beacon theatre, where he will host the 70th annual Tony Awards this Sunday, the "Late Late Show" host drove his now famous SUV along Broadway with "Hamilton" star and creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda.
After rapping through "Hamilton's" insanely speedy "Guns and Ships" lyrics, the British actor and Pulitzer Prize winning composer picked up a few more Broadway friends including six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald, "Modern Family" star Jesse Tyler Ferguson and "30 Rock" alum Jane Krakowski taking the sing-along session from good to great.
Advertisement
Check out the video above to hear the five stars sing along to some of Broadway's biggest hits, including "Rent's" "Seasons of Love," "Jersey Boys'" "You're Just Too Good to Be True" and an epic rendition of "Les Miserables'" "One Day More."
Prior to airing the epic edition of "Carpool Karaoke" Corden sat down with radio host Howard Stern revealing he struggled to book stars for the segment.
"If you imagine an artist, just think of any artist in the world, they said no to it. I mean, everyone," he confessed. Eventually the talk show host was able to book famed diva Mariah Carey, but there was a catch. "She came out and said, 'Oh, I'm not singing today,' and she went, 'We'll just drive around and have a chat,'" Corden explained laughing.
Advertisement
Taking a chance he went with it, planning to sing to the songstress hoping she would chime in. Fortunately, she did, kicking off the now beloved series.
Who was your favourite "Carpool Karaoke" guest? Let us know in the comments below.
City of Edmonton
The City of Edmonton is giving residents an environmentally-friendly way to charge their phone on the go with the construction of solar-powered public benches.
Two benches, made by MIT Media Lab start-up Soofa, were unveiled as part of Environment Week on Tuesday.
Advertisement
"The City of Edmonton is the first Canadian city to have Soofa benches installed," said Sandra Richter, co-founder and CEO of Soofa, in a release.
A father charges his phone at a Soofa bench. Two of the benches are being installed in Edmonton. (Photo: Soofa)
The benches not only charge mobile devices, but are also filled with environmental monitoring equipment.
Advertisement
The sustainably-built outdoor furniture uses sunlight to run and stores energy so it can even be used at night.
Coun. Ben Henderson and Edmonton Oilers player Andrew Ference unveiled the benches, which will be located at Churchill Square and the Muttart Conservatory.
The benches are used in 12 U.S. states and five countries around the world.
These benches provide a visible and tangible solar power experience for citizens, said Mark Brostrom, director of city environmental strategies, in a release.
A Liberal minister's self-deprecating joke in question period went over like a lead balloon with a Conservative critic asking about language barriers facing Syrian refugees in Canada.
And in an unusual turn of events, Tory MP Michelle Rempel even scolded the House Speaker for laughing.
Advertisement
Rempel rose in the House of Commons Tuesday to share concerns raised at a parliamentary committee that Syrian refugees and other immigrants are not receiving proper language training. A faculty member from the Vancouver Community College told MPs that classes for more than 220 refugees and immigrants were cancelled because of a federal funding cut, Postmedia reported.
Immigration Minister John McCallum and Conservative MP Michelle Rempel are shown in question period Tuesday.
Though McCallum earlier denied any cut, Rempel demanded to know why the training was being cancelled for those in need.
Advertisement
"Yesterday, when the minister stood here and glibly claimed that he had a plan to address language training, was he looking at these cuts or was he just planning his next photo-op?" she asked.
McCallum was ready with a witty retort.
"Mr. Speaker, if the government wanted to send somebody somewhere for a photo-op, I suspect there are people in this aisle they'd probably send before they sent me," he said with a big smile.
Grit MPs, who have recently pledged not to clap during question period, broke out in laughter. Tories were unimpressed rookie MP Cathay Wagantall literally shushed the government benches.
"This is not a laughing matter." MP Michelle Rempel
"While the people across the aisle here, Mr. Speaker, laugh at something like this, we have refugees in front of committee who are saying they are isolated and you're laughing now, too," Rempel said to the Speaker. "This is not a laughing matter."
The Tory MP said it is "shameful" that the government is not providing the training when boards of education and other agencies are ready to help.
Advertisement
"They've spent over a $1 billion and they have not got the job done," she concluded of the Trudeau government's refugee resettlement plan.
Speaker Geoff Regan rose to point out that, as Rempel knows, many members "on all sides" were laughing at McCallum's "self-deprecating" humour.
McCallum then suggested MPs were laughing because, well, they thought he was funny. There's nothing "amusing" about resources for refugees, he said.
The immigration minister said Liberals committed $600 million for refugee resettlement in the next year, including an additional $37 million for those coming from Syria.
"Language training is important and we have committed the funding for that language training to occur," McCallum said.
Advertisement
Rempel later took to Twitter to express concern about Regan's conduct.
I'll admit, I'm concerned that Speaker felt it necessary to interpret the laughter from Lib benches when asked about refugee support. Michelle Rempel, MP (@MichelleRempel) June 7, 2016
Her Conservative colleague Tony Clement and NDP MP Niki Ashton also said their piece.
I don't like the Speaker of the House taking sides, supporting a Liberal glibly joking rather than answering a serious q by @MichelleRempel Tony Clement (@TonyclementCPC) June 7, 2016
Key Q by @MichelleRempel on Lib cuts to language training 4 refugees only to followed by the Minister and Speaker having a laugh.#notajoke Niki Ashton (@nikiashton) June 7, 2016
Also on HuffPost
Ken Dunn
Once upon a time, Toronto's Ken Dunn was a police officer, working in everything from SWAT to homicide for the RCMP and Ottawa police.
In his 14 years in that career, he noticed a correlation between low literacy rates and criminals.
Fast forward to today and the cop is now a CEO aiming to solve the crime of illiteracy.
Dunn recently launched an initiative through his company Reader's Legacy, a website that combines a social media community with an online bookstore.
Advertisement
"Our primary goal here at Reader's Legacy is to eliminate children's literacy problems," Dunn told The Huffington Post Canada. "We know the key to doing that is making reading cool. We operate the world's largest book club and are going to give away one million books in order to prove that reading is cool and put a book in every child's hands."
Ken Dunn left policing and later started a publishing company.
Of course, there's a process. People who create a new, free account will receive "LitCoins," which can then be redeemed for books that include new releases and best-sellers.
When members make redemptions, a percentage of each transaction will then be donated to children's literacy programs. About 250,000 free books will be going to Canadians, Dunn said.
Advertisement
"I grew up in Canada and have become acutely aware of the literacy problems that exist in children in this country," he said. "Reader's Legacy is a global initiative with Canadian origins and I welcome everyone to get involved."
Dunn quit policing to start a mortgage origination company. After financial success with that venture, he wrote five books and created a publishing company.
Also on HuffPost:
The parents of a toddler in Japan are likely replaying all sorts of horror scenarios in their heads after a visit to the zoo.
A video recently posted to YouTube shows a two-year-old boy in a yellow rain coat watching a lion through the glass at Chiba Zoological Park.
Advertisement
Within seconds, the big cat, which one Japanese news site estimated weighed over 400 pounds, runs from the opposite end of his enclosure up to the wall, his paws slipping as he collides with it.
The boy has turned his back by this point, but then backs away quickly once he sees the lion so close to him.
The zoo said that the animal just wanted to play, but good intentions or not the child could have easily been killed.
Advertisement
Adam M. Roberts, CEO of animal advocacy group Born Free USA, told The Dodo he thinks the glass was the only thing that prevented the lion from attacking.
"Lions are natural wild predators and the child in this video, especially when turning his back to the massive feline, becomes prey in the animal's eyes," he said.
"The firm glass wall held the lion inside his enclosure, surely frustrating his innate instincts."
"The firm glass wall held the lion inside his enclosure, surely frustrating his innate instincts."
The video popped up not long after a three-year-old boy ended up in a gorilla exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo, which led to zoo staff shooting one of the endangered animals to protect him.
Many blamed the boy's parents, but a prosecutor said Monday the mother wouldn't face any charges.
Also on HuffPost
University of Calgary
The University of Calgary paid $20,000 in ransom after a malware attack on the school's computers last week.
The university announced the payment in a release Tuesday, 10 days after a cyberattack that left students and staff unable to access university-issued computers, email or Skype.
Advertisement
"A ransomware attack involves an unknown cyberattacker locking or encrypting computers or computer networks until a ransom is paid, and when it is, keys, or methods of decryption, are provided," wrote Linda Dalgetty, vice-president of finances and services at the university, in a release.
No personal or university data was released to the public. The school is working with Calgary police to investigate the attack.
The school's IT department is still working to recover data and make sure all of affected systems are operational.
"We thank students, faculty and staff for their tremendous patience and understanding as we continue to work through this very challenging issue," wrote Dalgetty.
Advertisement
Also on HuffPost:
Roberto A Sanchez via Getty Images sun rays early in the morning over the jungle and mountains behind the airport of la ceiba in honduras, central america
Although, you can use the media's insistence that El Salvador is plagued by gang violence, which the majority of the country is untouched by, to your advantage. This picture-perfect country with black-sand beaches, tourist-friendly colonial towns, ideal surfing waves, coffee plantations, and a string of hikeable volcanoes, is off the beaten path for more tourists. The perks -- you enjoy better prices, fewer crowds, and more authentic experiences with the country's warm-hearted locals.
Advertisement
The following are just a few of many reasons to visit Central America's most underrated country.
You Can Hike Volcanoes
A string of Volcanoes run through the core of El Salvador, and most of them are hiker-friendly. The Parque Nacional Los Volcanoes, formerly known as Parque Nacional Cerro Verde, offers hectares of thick forest that is home to hundreds of bird species. Take the paved road to the visitor center and enjoy a mellow walk through the nature loop or hike to the volcanic peak of Santa Ana or Izalco for postcard-worthy views. El Boqueron is located just outside of San Salvador and offers well-maintained trails to the lip of a mind-bending crater. Because the peaks of El Salvador's volcanoes are generally low (the highest peak is 8,950), hikers of all levels can enjoy the country's best views.
You Can Spend Days (or Weeks) at the Beach
Photo credit: Ivan Garcia
Many travelers imagine Costa Rica or Belize when they hear about Central American beach vacations. However, El Salvador offers less crowded beaches, inexpensive beachfront accommodations, world-famous surfing waves, and a number of trendy beach towns with happening bars and restaurants on the sand. La Libertad and its famous surf spot, Punta Roca, attracts water sport enthusiasts from around the world, but its nearby El Tunco and Sunzal that are favorites among backpackers and travelers of all ages.
El Salvador's small size works as an advantage to beach lovers, allowing them to reach dozens of picture-perfect beaches in a matter of minutes.
Advertisement
You Can Discover Historic Towns
The media has driven travelers to think El Salvador's towns are gang infested, but that's far from the truth. Visitors can explore an abundance of quaint, colonial towns offering souvenir shops, cobblestone streets, and delicious Central American cuisine. Travel just 50 kilometers north of San Salvador to the country's cultural capital, Suchitoto, where the winding streets come to life with art, crafts, and food vendors every weekend. Similarly, the Ruta de las Flores winds through a picturesque collection of villages that have become melting pots of indigenous flair and colonial architecture. The cobblestone streets of the Ruta de las Flores town of Juayua is a must-visit for its nearby waterfalls, hot springs, and weekly food fair.
You Can Discover Ruins Without the Crowds
Photo credit: IrvinJp
If you've ever visited the Chichen Itza ruins of Mexico or Peru's Machu Picchu, you know what it's like to explore ancient archaeological sites among droves of tourists. El Salvador's ruins aren't as dramatic as others in Latin America, but they offer peeks into ancient Mesoamerican settlements without crowds of camera-toting tourists.
A few miles south of San Andres is the "Pompeii of the Americas," a UNESCO World Heritage Site by the name of Joa de Ceren. A volcanic eruption roughly 1,500 years ago buried the village in volcanic ash, preserving it for modern exploration. When discovered, the preserved clay urns still had food inside. The site isn't equipped with placards or signs, so it pays to hire a guide to provide the ins and outs of El Salvador's rich Mayan history.
Is it really true that calories don't count when you're on holiday? Let's hope so! Whether it's sampling sizzling-hot local delicacies from a street-side vendor or tucking into a five-course gourmet spread at a celebrity chef's hip new restaurant, enjoying scrumptious food is one of the most enjoyable aspects of travel.
For many foodies, visiting a Michelin-starred restaurant is not only a highlight of their trip; it's often the primary reason to travel in the first place. For those in search of the most exceptional quality and stellar VIP service, we have scoured the globe -- and the endorsements of more than half a million Booking.com travellers -- to bring you a bucket list of six delectable destinations that are guaranteed to tickle even the savviest of taste buds with tantalizing Michelin-starred fare. From super-star gourmet capitals to hidden gastronomic gems, these delicious destinations will have your mouth watering in no time.
Hungry for even more amazing foodie finds? Feed your appetite for discovery and peruse the full list of 3,461 traveller-tested destinations with fabulous gourmet food powered by Booking.com's new Passion Search platform.
Advertisement
photo credit Booking.com
Featuring more than 80,000 restaurants and the biggest fish market in the world, the capital of Japan is a culinary paradise for any food lover! Conveniently located only minutes away from the Sugamo Station in central Tokyo -- and the world's first ramen restaurant to be awarded with a coveted Michelin star -- Tsuta is well worth a visit for any noodle aficionado! Serving up affordable fare for travellers on any budget, chef and owner Yuki Onishi's unique ramen dishes feature broth prepared with three different kinds of soy, special homemade noodles, and steaming hot bowls finished with a dollop of black truffle sauce. What more could any foodie ask for?
photo credit Booking.com
Known as the city with the highest number of Michelin stars per square meter, San Sebastian is a gastronomic paradise and the culinary capital of the Basque region in northern Spain. In addition to incredible food literally being available around every corner, this coastal retreat piles it on with additional servings of stunning natural beauty, lively nightlife and world-famous festivals.
Advertisement
With countless amazing restaurants, you can't go wrong, but no trip to San Sebastian is complete without sampling the Basque take on tapas, known locally as "pintxos." Must-try dishes include "gilda," a pintxos made with local anchovies, olives, and guindilla peppers and "txistorra," a traditional sausage made from a mixture of minced pork and beef.
photo credit Booking.com
Home to the only UK pub that has been awarded with two Michelin stars, the British enclave of Marlow is a picturesque town on the banks of the River Thames only 33 miles west of central London. When we think of the iconic staples of British cuisine, the first dishes that immediately come to mind are the world-famous fish 'n' chips, mom's Sunday roast and of course the ubiquitous full English breakfast, served throughout the UK.
At The Hand and Flowers, food lovers can indulge their palates in a simple and informal environment, feasting on the pub's modern and unpretentious takes on English favourites and rustic French classics, all prepared with seasonal ingredients and served up in cosy surroundings.
Advertisement
photo credit Booking.com
As a true gourmet paradise, Hong Kong is not only one of the most populous cities in the world, but is also home to the world's least expensive Michelin-starred restaurant. Located in the Mongkok district, the small eatery of Tim Ho Wan, earned a Michelin star in 2010. For dim sum lovers familiar with their delicious dumplings, the accolade is completely justified. With baskets of dim sum selling for less than $2 USD -- make sure to queue up early, as this budget-friendly joint is incredibly popular!
photo credit Booking.com
The Polish capital of Warsaw is a great destination to sample traditional Polish specialties like hearty meat stews and stuffed dumplings. As the first restaurant in Poland to be awarded with a Michelin Star, Atelier Amaro is the perfect spot to savour delicious Polish dishes prepared with fresh ingredients.
Featuring a creative array of ingredients, their signature dish "The Wosk Pig" is inspired by the fact that the melting point of beeswax and the perfect temperature for slow-roasting suckling pig is the same, a toasty 72C. Once it's been cooked to perfection, they serve it as a terrine, accompanied with honey and mustard ice cream, and finish it with a fine powder made from ground sweetcorn. Bon appetit!
Advertisement
photo credit Booking.com
Known as the foodie Mecca of Asia and the best restaurant city in the world, Kyoto's gastronomic scene will satisfy even the most demanding palate. The former capital of Japan is home to 175 Michelin-starred restaurants serving 20 different types of cuisine.
In additional to truly sublime eats, this beautiful destination also boasts countless temple and shrines, as well as -- of course -- cherry blossoms, with a famous annual festival that attracts visitors from all over the globe. While in Kyoto, you should definitely try some of the city's most famous specialties, such as soba or ramen noodles, tantalizing preparations of tofu, or just sit down for a traditional multi-course dinner known as Kaiseki.
Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook
"Pack your bags - you're coming to Zurich."
I read that line in the email about 50 times. Me? Zurich? Google? They WANTED to hire ME to speak!??!!
A week earlier, a gentleman who worked at Google in Europe saw my new website and was intrigued about my new career as an inspirational speaker. We conversed through email and phone. He told me that there was a conference for his team with all his colleagues across Europe which would be held in Zurich.
Advertisement
He thought it would be a great idea for me to speak there and inspire the team. He asked me to put together a proposal on what I would speak about in a one-hour time slot.
I outlined the speech that I thought would resonate with the audience.
First half: I would talk about my story and the biggest challenge I faced (having a stroke, emergency brain surgery, my recovery).
Second half: I would discuss the positive coping tools I used to overcome my challenge successfully and how these coping tools apply to the challenges THEY (Google) face.
I mentioned that IF Google were to hire me to speak, we would need to have a conversation regarding the top three or four challenges that the audience faces.
Advertisement
To me, that is critical. Understanding the audience, their role and objectives, the obstacles they are encountering, and why. I need to know the audience so that I can put myself in their shoes.
The second half is all about the audience, bringing them in and giving them a new perspective on how to look at the challenges they face.
It is my job to paint that picture for the audience in such a way that when they walk out of the room, they look at their challenges in a BRAND NEW light, have a new plan of attack that they can implement RIGHT AWAY and are INSPIRED to tackle their challenges head on!
I give a lot of vivid examples so the audience can really visualize how the positive coping tools are used in THEIR daily life. I completed the proposal and sent it to my contact at Google.
Barely two days later, I got the email with the one line that shocked me -- "Pack your bags - you're coming to Zurich." I was dumbfounded. I pretty much sat in my apartment trying to make sense of it all. GOOGLE wanted me to speak -- GOOGLE!!??!
Advertisement
After the shock wore off, it was time to get down to business! I was going to fly to Zurich to speak at Google! Most important was to know the real challenges the audience was facing so that I could tailor my speech for them. After a few emails, I understood their challenges and re-worked my speech so that it really spoke to THEM.
They also requested we leave time for Q&A. So, speech was ready to go, agenda for my one-hour time slot was set, flight and hotel were booked.
Mon Jan. 25, 2016 arrived! It was Google Speech day. I will admit, I was rather nervous. My speech wasn't until 3 p.m. My contact at Google came to the lobby to get me and almost immediately my nerves disappeared. We laughed, talked and it was very evident how much he appreciated me coming to share my story and inspire his team.
He introduced me to his colleagues across Europe and various leaders across the company. It was a very intimate setting -- there were about 40 to 50 people in the room.
As I began to speak and shared my story, I could see everyone "leaning in." They were so engaged. After the first half, I delved into positive coping tools and THEIR challenges. With the nods of agreement and captivated interest, I KNEW I had hit the nail on the head -- the challenges I described were exactly what they were all feeling. I discussed different ways to look at the challenges they were facing to ensure success.
Advertisement
Next up was the Q&A. I was so surprised at how inquisitive they were! Question after question. It was wonderful! To have such a bright, smart and down to earth group of people so engaged was heartwarming to me.
I realized two things:
I had no reason to be nervous. The people in that room were so welcoming, warm, and expressed a great deal of gratitude that I had come to Zurich to share my story with them and inspire them.
It reinforced that I made the right career move. There is a lot to learn when you get into a new career but at the end of the day, to be able to inspire and motivate other people is a wonderful feeling!
Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook
MORE ON HUFFPOST:
Jim Young / Reuters Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Tom Mulcair speaks at a campaign event in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, October 18, 2015. REUTERS/Jim Young
The 2015 federal election solidified a few truths in Canadian politics. First, it showed us that we are still capable of ousting a party that no longer deserves to govern. Second, it proved we are willing to give a chance to a leader who is both inspiring and largely unproven.
And third, it revealed a hard truth about the NDP; the party can't convince voters to give them the keys to the country. Voters don't trust them to do the big job. In other words, it is time to rename and rebuild the party. After all, the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada did it, and it gave them ten years in power.
Advertisement
Like it or not, the Liberal Party of Canada convinced a large segment of the Canadian public that they were now the voice for progressives. Justin Trudeau seemed a lot more modern and left leaning than Tom Mulcair, and voters looking for an antidote for a decade of Stephen Harper's conservatives made their choice.
The bad branding of the NDP isn't entirely the fault of the NDP, however. Try being Bob Rae after his reign as the NDP premier in Ontario came to an end. Rae was pillared by his political enemies, and his party became a laughing stock to almost everyone in Canada's largest province. Even to this day, the impact of the opposition's insistence that he was the most incompetent leader in the history of the country still resonates with many Ontario voters.
A rebranding of a progressive-minded party would be a positive development for not just the NDP, but for voters as well.
Many people will point to the 2011 election as proof the NDP's branding is not the problem. The party became the official opposition after securing the most seats in its history, surprising pundits and Canadians alike. But let's be honest what that really was; a declaration of the impact Jack Layton had on voters. Like Trudeau in 2015, Layton was the biggest reason the party was so successful, and several candidates rode Layton's coattails to victory, despite some not even campaigning in the election.
Advertisement
The presidential race in America is yet another barometer on how badly progressives are currently represented in politics. Bernie Sanders forced Hillary Clinton to profess progressive platform ideas early in the race, yet most Americans still view her as a centrist at best. Sanders has wrestled the base away from Clinton, leaving the party fractured going into the convention. This is an example of a party not nurturing its own core values, and while the party will survive, the brain trust behind the scenes are certainly going to be in damage control after the general election wraps up, no matter who wins.
Luckily for the NDP, unlike the Democrats south of the border, they can scrap their party's name and orange motif without much blowback. And they should. The party's image is irreparable, tattered from years of negative election results and cemented in a state of mediocrity. Mulcair ran one of the worst campaigns in modern times, gambling on a push to the centre while brandishing one of the most unsettling and inauthentic smiles the country has ever seen. Whether it was Mulcair alone or through the assistance of his handlers, the NDP were once again viewed through a lens of incompetence. The Orange Crush of 2011 is now completely eviscerated, and the party is in a familiar third place mindset with no clear-cut leader on the horizon.
All is not lost, however. A rebranding of a progressive-minded party would be a positive development for not just the NDP, but for voters as well. The new party, while it would need to promote some left wing mainstays like labor rights and fighting climate change, could also challenge its base to support a less ideological stance on issues like health care and the military.
Moreover, it could outflank the Liberals on issues like domestic spying or international trade deals, even as it finds room in the centre for tax policies and marijuana legislation. The party could view the right and left as a symbiotic relationship, becoming an ambidextrous party instead of an ideological one. This would require unity among the members, and if you were at the recent NDP convention you are fully aware of the lack of unity among the party faithful.
The convention featured a fractured base of passionate and practical progressives, both vying for influence in how the party moves forward. If both groups understood how much they needed each other, they would have something to build upon. Even if they do finally come together and compromise, they would still have to deal with a deflated orange shanty instead of a robust, inclusive big tent.
Advertisement
Of course, many lifelong members will dismiss the idea of renaming a historical party as needless fiddling. They will trot out Tommy Douglas and Layton as examples of how the NDP contributed to the Canadian political ether. But they will eventually notice that they are only speaking in the past tense, and if the party has a future it might be time to finally clean the slate.
Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook
ALSO ON HUFFPOST:
BSIP/UIG via Getty Images Geriatric services. Elder life at Hospital.
For thousands of years the medical profession has worked to save and improve lives. As medical advancements were made, we found ourselves faced with the need to decide whether to extend life mechanically or "pull the plug" and allow death to take its natural course.
Most recently, the Supreme Court of Canada answered another question: should we be able to medically assist someone to die? Yes, the court found that Canadians should be permitted to request medical assistance in dying in certain circumstances. And it is defining those circumstances, while balancing the need to protect the vulnerable and the sanctity of life, that has become so hotly debated.
Advertisement
Last week the national disability rights community and their allies issued an open letter to members of Parliament and senators, urging both Houses to adopt Bill C-14. Some senators have said that thousands of Canadians have written them letters and sent messages on social media about the bill. Some are concerned that Bill C-14 is fundamentally flawed because it restricts access to people whose "natural death is reasonably foreseeable."
"Isn't that discriminatory?" they ask. "What about people who are suffering and who are not dying? How can we deny them access to medical assistance to die upon their request, if they find their suffering from a psychiatric disability or chronic condition intolerable?"
Some provincial courts have issued their own decisions and some colleges of physicians have issued guidelines, with mixed results. Some indicate that people with irremediable conditions which cause them intolerable suffering should have access to medical aid in dying, whether or not they are actually dying. This is the principle at the heart the passionate debate within Senate this week.
For people who are suffering intolerably but not at the end of their lives, medical aid in dying is not the right response.
Should the medical profession help people who are not actually dying, to die? Should a profession that has studied medicine for millennia in order to reduce human suffering, now determine what level of suffering makes life no longer worth living? These are perhaps the heaviest of issues these two Houses have ever had to debate.
To help inform this debate, our organizations, along with several others, convened a large coalition: The Vulnerable Persons Standard. We are working together to ensure that legislation protects vulnerable persons. The boundary established in Bill C-14 for reasonable foreseeability of natural death will serve as an essential safeguard to protect vulnerable persons from being induced to commit suicide through the system.
Yet some senators are suggesting that equality demands that people who are suffering should have access whether or not they are dying. And we have been told that the health care regulators have come up with the protocols needed to ensure that people who are not dying are not at risk of abuse or pressure to end their lives.
This is an unacceptable starting point. From our perspective, anyone who is not dying, but who is nonetheless seeking death, is by definition vulnerable. They should get the response, care and support they deserve. A number of legal experts agree that this limitation is constitutionally justified under Bill C-14's objectives to ensure "inherent and equal value of every person's life," to protect the vulnerable, and to "avoid encouraging negative perceptions of the quality of life of persons who are elderly, ill or disabled."
Bill C-14 provides for medical aid in dying to assist people who are suffering intolerably at the end of their lives, to exercise autonomy in how they die. This is exactly as it should be written in order to uphold the government's obligations to balance both the respect for autonomy and the sanctity of life.
Advertisement
For people who are suffering intolerably but not at the end of their lives, medical aid in dying is not the right response. It would undermine the value of the lives of people with disabilities or chronic conditions. Rather, governments and communities must respond by ensuring access to the supports that people need to ameliorate their suffering and improve the quality of their lives, respecting individuals' right to decide whether and how they take advantage of the options provided. Death should not be one of those options when one is not actually dying.
We need to do much more in Canada to ensure that people who are dying have the options they need, through palliative care and other supports, to exercise autonomy in how they die. We must also do much more to ensure that people with disabilities and chronic conditions who are not dying have the supports, autonomy and equal respect they require in order to maximize their quality of life, participation and inclusion in our society. We can do both of those things. But first, we must pass Bill C-14.
Michael Bach is the Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Association for Community Living and James Hicks is the National Coordinator of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities.
Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook
MORE ON HUFFPOST:
A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet from VFA-31 fly's a combat patrol over in Afghanistan on Dec. 15 2008. (Photo: Staff Sgt. Aaron Allmon)
The Liberal government intends to buy the Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet, according to multiple sources.
Advertisement
Bridging the gap between the aging CF-188 Hornets and a future multirole fighter, the Super Hornet is ideal for Canada. Last April, I wrote on how the Super Hornet is what Canada needs in an editorial published on the Huffington Post Canada.
Canada should replace the fleet of aging CF-18s and operate the Super Hornet until 2040, when drones will most likely take over the skies.
According to John McKay, parliamentary secretary to the defence minister, a decision is coming "soon, rather than later" and a small amount of Super Hornet would be purchased to smooth the transition toward a fifth-generation stealth fighter.
McKay was quick to blame the previous Conservative government for failing to replace Canada's fighter aircraft.
Advertisement
"Unfortunately, the last five years have been a bit of a loss, and as a consequence, there is a developing capability gap which needs to be managed," McKay said. "We have obligations to NATO. We have obligations to NORAD. We have obligations to our own defence and to expeditionary matters."
However, in 2014, the Conservative government announced it was upgrading the CF-18s to keep them in the air until 2025. A project estimated at about $400 million, it would've given time to find the best alternative, according to the Conservatives, for replacement -- the F-35.
Canada has been cannibalizing old CF-18s for parts to keep the flying ones in order, and have been doing so for years.
That said, I don't believe Canada needs a stealth fighter. Instead of buying a small number of Super Hornets to fill the void in the Royal Canadian Air Force, Canada should replace the fleet of aging CF-18s and operate the Super Hornet until 2040, when drones will most likely take over the skies.
Canada's defence policy cannot justify the use of a stealth fighter, especially now that it is under review. A multirole aircraft capable of conducting airstrikes and interception missions is critical for Canadian operations. The F-35A is clearly not ideal for these two types of missions.
Advertisement
According to Lt.-Gen. Michael Hood, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) commander, the RCAF is in no rush to replace the CF-18 who is scheduled to be retired in 2025.
Hood might be right, but Canada has been cannibalizing old CF-18s for parts to keep the flying ones in order, and have been doing so for years. Using this strategy for the next nine years is clearly not a good alternative -- buying new aircraft is.
Canada cannot wait any longer and needs to quickly move on a replacement aircraft.
Supporting NATO in Eastern Europe and conducting Arctic patrols take a heavy toll on our fighter aircraft and having a fleet of new multirole aircraft would enable Canada to support both its allies and keep the north free of intrusion with better efficiency.
The Liberal government emphasizes on the fact that Canada cannot wait any longer and needs to quickly move on a replacement aircraft. Although I don't agree on most of their politics, I am fully supporting this statement and I believe the RCAF is desperately in need of a new fighter aircraft.
The Super Hornet is by far the best alternative for Canada and will keep the RCAF operational for the next 25 years -- a critical timeline for future drone warfare. By then, Boeing and Lockheed Martin will most likely have some workable unmanned fighter drones; a great option for Canada to keep constant surveillance in the Arctic and its coasts.
Advertisement
Until then, RCAF pilots deserve a better aircraft and the Liberal government understands the urgency of the matter. Boeing has a production line ready to support Canada and have been a great defence industry partner for years.
Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook
MORE ON HUFFPOST:
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
In the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the government of Oceania has an entire Ministry that uses all forms of media to create a false reality.
One of the tasks of the Ministry of Truth is to develop a new language called Newspeak which is meant to make thoughtcrime (thinking critically) impossible. The objective is to significantly reduce the number of words in the English language so that there would be no words for thoughts that were deemed a crime, that is, thoughts that question the government's version of the truth.
Advertisement
In British Columbia today, the Government Communications and Public Engagement office has a budget of $37,900,000 to ensure that you have the correct view of what the B.C. Liberals do for you with your money.
Thanks to the work of this office, during the B.C. teachers' strike in 2014, we learned new meanings for words.
We learned that education assistants were "salary benefits" for teachers.
We learned that there was a thing called an "affordability zone".
Now, two years later, we continue to learn new meanings for words we thought we understood.
We used to think that funding meant providing more money than what was previously there. But on 31 May 2016, we learned that "more funding" means "rescinding the 2015 demand that school districts cut $54 000 000 from their budgets and instead allowing them to keep $25 000 000 of the money previously funded and then demanded back."
We used to think that a moral obligation meant that we were obliged to do good, to do the right thing.
Advertisement
Now we learn from Gordon Wilson, speaking on behalf of the government, that a moral obligation means that we should pollute our air with methane gas, pollute our water with undisclosed chemicals and fracture our earthquake-prone land, all in an attempt to ensure that people who live in China don't die from the air pollution that they create.
In B.C. today, Christy Clark's Liberal government wants us to believe that 2 + 2 = 5.
Given this new version of reality in B.C., is it now a thoughtcrime to ask about the moral obligation of the B.C. Liberal government to protect our waterways from mining waste pollution?
Is it a thoughtcrime to ask about the moral obligation of the Ministry of Education to provide students with schools that do not have rats, asbestos, mould, leaky roofs and dysfunctional heating and cooling systems?
Is it a thoughtcrime to question the government's concern for people in China when parents in B.C. worry about delayed seismic upgrades and the lead in the drinking water at their child's school?
In the novel, the main character, Winston Smith says: Freedom is the freedom to say that 2 + 2 = 4
In B.C. today, Christy Clark's Liberal government wants us to believe that 2 + 2 = 5.
They want us to believe that school trustees are responsible for school closures.
They want us to believe that removing $4,200,000,000 from the education budget over the past 14 years means that they have "increased per student funding to the highest level."
Advertisement
Perhaps the reason we have so much difficulty believing them is because we remember what happened to Oceania's chocolate rations in Nineteen Eighty-Four:
It was therefore necessary to rewrite a paragraph of Big Brother's speech, in such a way as to make him predict the thing that had actually happened. ... Today's issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston's job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones. As for the third message, it referred to a very simple error which could be set right in a couple of minutes. As short a time ago as February, the Ministry of Plenty had issued a promise (a "categorical pledge" were the official words) that there would be no reduction of the chocolate ration during 1984. Actually, as Winston was aware, the chocolate ration was to be reduced from thirty grammes to twenty at the end of the present week. All that was needed was to substitute for the original promise a warning that it would probably be necessary to reduce the ration at some time in April. From Nineteen Eighty-Four, Part One, Chapter 4
With so many of us having read Nineteen Eighty-Four at school, the government communications and public engagement office certainly have their work cut out.
While they try to convince us about the benefits of the Prosperity Fund, we'll be thinking of the 20 per cent of B.C. children who go to bed without a meal most nights a week.
Advertisement
And, while they try to get us to "yes," we'll be thinking "no," committing thoughtcrimes as we do so.
Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook
ALSO ON HUFFPOST:
Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters A Palestinian man stands behind a fence as he waits for his relatives to return at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and southern Gaza Strip May 27, 2015. Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah crossing on Tuesday and Wednesday, for the first time in nearly 80 days, to allow stranded Palestinians to return to the Gaza Strip, witnesses and officials said. But it did not allow traffic the other way, leaving thousands of Gazans, some of whom need to travel for medical treatment, stuck inside the tiny enclave, authorities there said. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
It roared furiously across acres of soil, its fiery plumes undulating in the wind as it rampaged mile after mile, felling trees in its wake. It hurtled forward, flailed its luminous limbs as it leapt, and charged into the homes of thousands, slicing great swathes of Albertan ground and human habitation.
Residents of Fort Mac became refugees overnight -- refugees in their own province. At a moment's notice, they fled, bundling their children into cars, scrambling to pack necessities. An endless cortege of vehicles rolled along the highways to shelters well out of the fire's reach. But the beast roared on, unstoppable and voracious, sweeping away the memory of a landscape once filled with human dwellings and everyday buzz. Hollowed-out houses now glare blindly as charred skeletons of mangled life.
Advertisement
Nightly we listened to the media. Nightly we fixed our gaze with disbelief upon ghastly sights -- on silhouettes of trauma. We heard the voices of the displaced, shot through with pangs of longing. "We want to go home," they cried out in a protracted groan of homesickness. Theirs is an unquenchable desire to return to their hearth.
*
Almost 50 years ago, news reports around the world directed our gaze upon the frontal events of the June 1967 War when Israel was said to have made short work of her Arab neighbours. But behind this spectacle of military strength and unbeknownst to many at that time, the Israeli army committed egregious war crimes: it effected the forcible evacuation and thereafter the destruction of three Palestinian villages -- Imwas, Beit Nuba and Yalo -- situated in the Latrun salient, an area of the West Bank between Israel and Tel-Aviv. Though there were no combatants among the villagers, a trumped-up charge of "security" was the pretext for a massive expulsion of roughly 10,000 defenseless residents.
Upon their exodus, the villagers' centuries-old homes were bulldozed and buried under rubble. "The chickens and doves were buried ... The fields were turned into wasteland in front of our eyes," reported Israeli journalist Amos Kenan, a reserve soldier in the occupying force in Beit Nuba who witnessed events first-hand. "The children wept and asked for water," he recalled. "They all carried white flags ... We drove them out. They [went] on wandering in the south like lost cattle."
Terrorized into flight by the army's aggressive threats, the villagers staggered for 32 kilometres with babes in arms and few belongings. Long processions of anguished folk trundled to Ramallah, parched and battered by the summer heat. And as they fled through the hills, the Israeli army (with the aid of the Jewish National Fund, a "charitable" organization whose objective is land redemption and reclamation in the State of Israel) carried out its demolition work, razing homes to the ground and seizing thousands of acres of privately owned Palestinian property. The aged and crippled, who were unable to leave, met their death under the collapsing quarry stones of their once magnificently fashioned homes.
Advertisement
In the early 1970s, the Jewish National Fund of Canada (JNF Canada) and its Canadian donors established a sanctuary of pine forests on the scattered remnants of Beit Nuba, Imwas and Yalo. The conservancy became a recreational resort and was designated Canada Park. Today it poses as a monument to JNF Canada's "environmentalist" ventures.
Yet this so-called green project sequesters the dark deeds of 1967 under a canopy of European vegetation. In a veritable travesty of an odious past, the park offers visitors carefree amusement, leisure grounds for picnicking and occasions for extreme sports. Dirt-bikers spurn history and run roughshod over Palestinian graveyards. Meanwhile a majority of Palestinians are barred from entering the stolen land that is theirs. Such is the cruel irony of Canada Park.
*
Happily, for all their tragedy, the victims of Fort Mac will one day see the restoration of their homes and most will enjoy the return to their beloved abode. But 50 years on, the Latrun villagers have yet to see their right of return granted. For they are not the victims of a disrupted and "vengeful" ecology -- a fate that readily elicits universal compassion -- but of a disaster mired in settler-colonial politics, caused by discernible human agency and one that has actively forestalled the villagers' right to go home.
The expropriation of the Latrun salient was a premeditated act of military vengeance inflicted upon innocent inhabitants, not an act of God. As Defense Minister Moshe Dayan (1915-1981) averred, the villages were collectively punished for having stood undefeated before the forces of the Haganah (Israeli army) in 1948. (Moshe Dayan, Story of My Life, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1976, p. 397.)
In effect, Beit Nuba, Yalo and Imwas were the casualties of an expansionist policy of land clearances dating back to the early days of Israel's conception. Under international law, such clearances are deemed war crimes, since they violate the Fourth Geneva Convention on at least three counts: 1) by forcibly depopulating villages; 2) by destroying civilian property in occupied territory; and 3) by preventing the displaced from returning to their homes and properties. (John Reynolds, Where Villages Stood, Al Haq Report, December 2007, pp. 41-62.)
Advertisement
The third of these violations persists today. The survivors of the 1967 expulsion and the descendants of those villagers are still, after 49 years, denied access to their native home. Yet their desire to return never diminishes; their ache is as intense as the longings felt by the evacuees of Fort Mac.
Canada Park, which sits in Occupied Palestine, may seem remote to us here; yet it was conceived and financed in the 1970s by Canadian funds, tax-deductible donations collected by the Jewish National Fund of Canada. The story of the park's genesis is a sordid chapter in our history and on June 7, 2016 it behooves us to recall it, condemn it publicly and, not least, to demand that the survivors of that episode at last be granted the right to reclaim their most beloved hearth.
*
The Liberal Government's recent endorsement of a joint statement affirming the application of international law in the case of displaced persons highlights the legitimacy of the Latrun villagers' right of safe and dignified return to their home.
Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook
MORE ON HUFFPOST:
CP
The risks and costs associated with the climate crisis are growing. Also growing are the job and economic opportunities from the clean economy.
We anticipate the Ontario Liberal government's long-awaited plan to address climate change will finally roll out soon. We need to get this right.
Advertisement
As expected, a cap-and-trade system will be the cornerstone of their plan. Under this plan, the government sets a maximum level or "cap" on greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution. The government issues permits to companies that allow GHG emissions up to the cap. If a company's GHG pollution exceed the cap, they must buy more pollution permits. If under the cap, they can sell pollution permits. This provides an incentive for industry to reduce emissions in order to avoid having to purchase more pollution permits or to profit from selling them.
Unfortunately, the Liberal's cap-and-trade legislation gives over 100 of Ontario's biggest polluters a free pass. Handing out free pollution permits undermine the effectiveness and integrity of the cap-and-trade system.
The Green Party supports creating the market conditions for businesses and people to make the best low carbon choices.
In the Liberal plan, the money the government collects will be used to provide incentives to change our collective behaviour and our consumer choices. We anticipate that there will be financial incentives for people to lower their carbon footprint, such as subsidies to buy electric cars or build homes that do not rely on oil or natural gas. Conceptually, these carrots are good, but is this prescriptive central planning approach the best way to go?
Advertisement
For years the Green Party has pushed for a price on carbon pollution that provides a strong financial incentive or stick to reduce carbon pollution. This is known as decarbonizing the economy. Greens have advocated for electric cars and their necessary infrastructure, along with passive solar homes, distributed renewable electricity generation, better transit and other things that we hope are in the government's plan.
I suppose you could say that the provincial government is finally listening to what Greens have been saying. The Ontario Liberals now seem to share many of the "ends" Greens desire for a low carbon economy, but I fear that the "means" the Liberals plan to use to achieve those "ends" are substantially different and not as effective.
The Green Party supports creating the market conditions for businesses and people to make the best low carbon choices. This can be most be most effectively and efficiently achieved with a "carbon fee and dividend" approach to decarbonizing the economy. We would identify all significant sources of GHG pollution -- not just industrial emitters like the existing plan -- and we would charge each source a fee per unit of pollution, based on a fixed carbon price. There would be no government tax involved.
This is a revenue neutral plan. All of the money raised would be returned to adult citizens of Ontario on a per capita basis, as a dividend through a separately administered Special Purpose Account segregated from government revenues. In this way there would be no loss to the economy -- just a reallocation of dollars. Things like gasoline would cost more, but everyone would get a dividend check to offset those cost. If people bought an electric vehicle and didn't need gasoline, they would still get the dividend cheque -- rewarding them financially for reducing their carbon footprint. The dividend would have the added benefit of helping to reduce poverty by establishing the financial foundation for a guaranteed annual income.
The fee and dividend system empowers people and businesses to decide the best way to reduce their carbon footprint. Solutions would not be prescriptive. Government would not pick winners and losers. Market needs would generate the incentives to reduce carbon pollution, not artificial government interventions.
Advertisement
There would be no carbon trading or the need for a carbon trading bureaucracy. The price of carbon would not be subject to the short-term vagaries and fluctuations of a market. It would be set based on the best estimate of the real cost of climate change to our economy, and the agreed international time frame for action.
The Green Party thinks that the best results will be achieved if citizens and businesses themselves are challenged to use their creativity and innovation to achieve the essential goal of a decarbonized Ontario economy. Let's hope the Liberals climate plan uses effective and efficient "means" to reach low carbon "ends."
Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook
People who support free trade agreements usually make one frequent argument: these agreements will help our bottom line. Without them, they warn, Canada will be left out like a social loser in the world economic cocktail party circuit. And we all know what happens to social outcasts: they get battered, figuratively, by low growth and missed economic opportunities.
We hear often that Canada is a trading nation and that, without trade agreements such as the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Europe, we will lose access to 800 million consumers and 40 per cent of the world economy. But joining trade agreements with the in crowd may amount to submitting to peer pressure. Here are five reasons why the TPP and CETA will not make you and me wealthier.
Advertisement
Photo by Council of Canadians, Flickr Media Commons
1) There is no serious independent economic study of either the TPP or CETA.
In CETAs case, there is one outdated study from 2008. And even that says the deal would exacerbate Canadas trade deficit and produce minimal growth. Worse, the Harper governments prediction of 80,000 new jobs turns out to be a work of fiction. TPP has not been studied independently either.
Studies on the TPP are not hopeful. A Tufts University Study predicted 58,000 job losses in Canada, dismal economic growth and rising inequality.
Here are figures from some who do back the agreement. These studies fail to take account of aspects such as investor state dispute settlements, or they assume full employment
C.D Howe Institute: 0.02 per cent extra growth 2018, rising to about 0.08 per cent in 2035.
World Bank: less than one per cent by 2030
With friends like these...
Jim Balsillie, former head of BlackBerry maker RIM, told a Parliamentary Committee:
"It is like buying a house or buying a business or entering into a marriage with absolutely no facts whatsoever about what you're getting into, because houses are good and businesses are good and marriages are good. No, they're not good any way, any time, anyhow. It's a function of understanding what somebody is looking for and making sure that it works."
2) Signing agreements doesnt guarantee more trade. Canada has an unprecedented number of free trade agreements, but export growth has been higher with countries not covered by these agreements.
Aren't trade agreements meant to increase trade? Jim Stanford, an economist and special adviser at Unifor, the trade union, demonstrates that Canadas export growth has been faster with countries not covered by free trade agreements. As regards our free trade agreement with South Korea, Canada's exports actually declined after the agreement came into force.
The reality is that we still mostly trade with the U.S. Seventy-five per cent of our exports still go to the U.S. And agreements havent made things better: Whereas five per cent of our exports are with other free trade agreement (FTA) countries, close to 30 per cent of bilateral trade occurs with non-FTA partners. Added to this, Canadas exports to non-FTA countries grew faster than imports.
3) With free trade agreements, other than with the U.S., our trade is less balanced.
Current account balances are a sign of economic health. Strong exports mean economic value and jobs are kept in the country.
Advertisement
Since 2001, Canadas imports have grown faster than sluggish exports, and our trade balances have deteriorated significantly, according to Stanford. He writes, Canadas export performance since the turn of century has been the worst of any industrial country.
In fact, he says, our current account deficit is the third worst of all OECD countries.
4) Many business leaders are questioning the use of free trade agreements as magic bullets to increase trade, when they do not.
Matthew Wilson of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters told a Senate Committee:
"To be blunt, Canada has a poor history of success in free trade agreements. Aside from the NAFTA and specifically the Canada-U.S. trade relationship, very few, if any, free trade agreements have led to an increase in exports in any goods, let alone from Canada's advanced manufacturing sector."
The fact that free trade agreements, without underlying infrastructure, dont advance trade has been echoed by others.
5) Trade agreements are making us more dependent on exports of raw materials and resources, and hampering our manufacturing and high-value industries.
Advertisement
Balsillie doesnt mince his words. He says, "I guarantee you there will never be another Canadian tech company like RIM under the framework of TPP."
He adds, "Canada has the most superficial innovation discourse that I've seen in the world. We take these articles of faith that more intellectual property enforcement is good. Free trade is always good. We have these false myths and orthodoxies that we just take on, unchallenged."
To have a vibrant economy, a country needs to have industries that are differentiated. This is where the market is willing to pay more for distinctive products, as opposed to raw materials, where there is often nothing that makes the product different, and so countries merely compete on price.
Canada, despite, its free trade agreements, has locked itself into dependency on raw materials. Under NAFTA, Canada accepted a proportionality clause, forcing us to ensure equal proportions of oil production for the U.S. market and for domestic consumption.
In 1999, if you took a basket of the high-value-added industries (transportation equipment, aerospace, consumer goods, automotive), they represented 60 per cent of Canadas exports, while the resource sector (agriculture, mining, forestry and oil and gas) represented only one-quarter of our exports. In 2014, the export sector had grown to 40 per cent of the economy. As Carleton University trade researcher John Jacobs writes, high-value industries employ more people and are under threat by free trade agreements.
Advertisement
Our decline into a resource economy was so bad, that, in 2013, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, we had the least technically complex economy in the OECD.
And then there are the non-economic costs: UN rapporteurs on human rights and indigenous peoples have condemned these agreements. There are also concerns about effects on labour rights, the environment, public policy and equality.
Other countries may be doing it, but the TPP and CETA are not worth the cover charge to this popular club.
Alan Majchrowicz via Getty Images Mount Robson 3,954 m (12,972 ft) and Berg Lake from Mumm Basin, Mt. Robson Provincial Park British Columbia Canada
View from Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area, Darkwoods, British Columbia (Photo by M. A. Beaucher)
Advertisement
Our planet is a very different place today than when your grandparents were born. Despite the copious amount of conservation work occurring on a daily basis by citizens, volunteers and environmental groups, biodiversity is continuing to be lost in Canada.
In order to restore the Earth's "factory settings," which provide habitat for species and critical ecosystem services to Canadians, organizations such as the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) are constantly finding more ways to conserve and restore our lands and waters for the long term.
As a result of working with private landowners and many partners, NCC has helped protect 2.8 million acres (more than 1.1 million hectares) in important forests, wetlands, grasslands and coastal areas across Canada through private land conservation.
The lands are being maintained for today and in perpetuity, connecting Canadians with nature and creating a legacy for our children and grandchildren. Together, we have made great strides towards protecting our country's incredible natural spaces. This Environment Week, and throughout the year, NCC is urging people to stay connected to the outdoors and visit some of the most treasured areas in our country.
Advertisement
The conservation of our natural spaces safeguards the air we breathe and the water we drink. Our well-being, and the well-being of our children and grandchildren, depends on nature.
Bunchberry Meadows Conservation Area, AB (Photo by Kyle Marquardt)
Here in Canada, where outdoor recreation is a way of life, protecting our lands and waters also promotes healthier living by ensuring that we continue to have places to hike, bike, camp, fish, ski and play.
Canada is blessed to have majestic natural areas. By working together, we can protect our watersheds, rivers, lakes, grasslands, forests and mountains so that we, our children and grandchildren have a chance to enjoy them.
The Earth is losing biodiversity and it is critical humans reverse these changes. Ecosystems can help protect our communities by providing natural buffers against the effects of climate change. Our forests and wetlands help cool the planet, store carbon, ensure a supply of clean water and mitigate flood risk, among other benefits. Coastal habitats help local communities adapt to the harmful effects of climate change by protecting us from flooding and storm surges.
Advertisement
Conway Sandhills, PEI (Photo by John Sylvester)
NCC is fundraising and negotiating for more lands -- accepting donations, or paying up to the assessed value for lands that are important for nature. We want to conserve more lands that are vulnerable to habitat loss and fragmentation.
This land conservation work has been helped along by the Government of Canada's Natural Areas Conservation Program. For every two dollars the Nature Conservancy of Canada raises from private citizens, businesses and corporations, community and family foundations and provincial agencies, the federal government matches it with a dollar. These public-private partnerships are critically important. Without it, these conservation projects would not have happened.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada is showing that growing the new sustainable economy and achieving conservation can coexist. Canadians wish to see jobs, prosperity and economic development and they also want healthy lands and waters. NCC is continuing its efforts to help make these two priorities happen simultaneously.
We invite you to join us on the land and help with preserving our natural spaces. The Nature Conservancy of Canada has started its calendar of volunteer events, many which are family friendly. To learn more about events in your province, visit www.conservationvolunteers.ca.
Advertisement
What if I told you that we could leave the European Union with little risk to our economy? That we could regain control of our borders without any risk to trade? What if I told you that we could reclaim democracy and the sovereignty of our parliament without withdrawing from Europe? Sound like fantastic nonsense?
There is a Safe Way to Leave the EU
Beneath the shouted exchanges of the Leave and Remain Campaigns, a number of determined people have been quietly outlining exactly how the UK can have the best of both worlds. I have watched people like Simon Barnett engage others on Twitter and calmly present his arguments with almost relentless patience.
Advertisement
Simon is a fan of Roland Smith, fellow of the Adam Smith Institute, and I must give thanks up front to Roland for outlining in a series of excellent articles exactly how we can safely leave the European Union. The EU is a political construct, and, while a centralised political union might be right for some of our European neighbours, it does not sit well with the British, who have a long tradition of individual freedom. Indeed, if manufactured fears over the economy weren't trumping that tradition of freedom, Leave would be even further ahead in the polls. Well, despite what fear mongers would have you believe, there is no need to be afraid of a leave vote, our economy is not at risk.
Britain originally signed up to the Common Market, an economic association that enabled us to trade freely. Few campaigning for the UK to leave the European Union have a problem with the idea of Britain accessing Europe's market or with the continent accessing ours. The concerns of those who want to leave centre around democracy, sovereignty and a chaotic immigration policy that puts pressure on public services and discriminates against the rest of the world.
Those who want to remain in the EU value the UK's access to a market-place of 500 million people, our employment rights, and the freedom to travel. All of those things were available to the UK prior to political union, and, despite what some would have us believe, they will be available to us if we chose to leave the EU in the right way.
If the government had engaged in an impartial public education program prior to the start of the referendum campaign, we could have avoided so much harmful uncertainty. Instead of trying to use fear to coerce the population into remaining in an unpopular political union, the government could have listened to people's concerns and presented a practical way to address them. One way that is growing in popularity is commonly known as the EEA Option. It is outlined by Roland Smith in this great article for Public Finance. I strongly advise anyone who is planning to vote in the referendum to read it. Once you understand the EEA Option, voting to leave becomes the obvious, safe choice.
Advertisement
This graphic, used by kind permission of Public Finance, shows the benefits of the EEA Option versus EU Membership:
EU vs. EEA
We'd retain access to the single market, and regain the sovereignty of the British Parliament. We'd be able to travel freely across Europe, but would have an emergency brake on immigration that we could activate when we felt it necessary - we would not need permission from Brussels. Our financial contributions to the EU would be reduced and we would be freed from much EU red tape. The EEA Option would not just suit the UK, it would suit Brussels, which needs further integration if the Euro is to stand any chance of long-term success.
Those who argue that we should remain in the EU in order to reform it are utterly misguided. That would only sow the seeds of future discontent. Even under the threat of Brexit, the EU refused any real reform. When confronted with the possibility that it might lose one of its biggest contributors, the EU could only offer David Cameron the most meagre concessions. If we remain in the EU, there is no chance of any real reform, particularly once we give away our only negotiating chip - the threat that we will leave.
We don't need anyone's permission to reform the EU. We can do it ourselves. We can do it by voting to leave. A number of MPs have already signalled that a vote to leave the EU would result in the EEA Option, a trade-only relationship. The UK would withdraw from the EU and activate its membership of the EEA. We would not turn our back on Europe, simply redefine how we engage with it, and recover control of our political institutions and processes.
Advertisement
If the Prime Minister had presented Britain with the EEA Option, I believe that the result of the referendum would have been a foregone conclusion. Instead, the campaign has been defined by wild rhetoric from both sides, but with Leave surging ahead in the polls and momentum likely to carry it further still, instead of campaigning to the bitter end as though this was a vicious General Election, David Cameron needs to recognise the responsibilities he has to the country as Prime Minister.
He keeps asking the Leave Campaign to present plans for a future outside the EU, but that's his job, and, as Prime Minister, he should now recognise that Brexit is likely and tell the British people what his practical plans are. He and his government need to admit that the EEA Option is viable, that it would be the government's default position in the event of a Leave vote, that it is our best chance of a reformed relationship with Europe, and that it would entail very little risk.
Regardless of whether the Prime Minister has the courage to take such a bold step, we, the people, have no reason to fear a Leave vote on June 23rd. I recommend any undecided voters read Roland Smith's excellent articles, The Liberal Case for Leave and The Case for the EEA Option.
Britain's membership of the EU has become a very divisive subject and, without sensible action, that division will continue long after the referendum. In the event of a Remain vote, Ukip will be resurgent because none of the issues that have led to its rise will have been addressed. It will continue its upward trajectory and eat into the vote of both Labour and the Conservatives at the next General Election. If nothing else, this referendum has revealed people's profound anger at being forced into political union, and it would be folly to ignore it.
If there is a Leave vote, there will be a period of uncertainty as Parliament tries to decipher exactly what a Leave vote means and how to deal with it. Whichever way Parliament tries to address the people's mandate, there will be loud cries of unfairness from all sides, and each cry of foul could slow down or derail whatever mechanism is used to give effect to the Leave vote.
As I've previously written, the Prime Minister has the opportunity to take a pragmatic step to avoid all of that uncertainty and unpleasantness. David Cameron can go for the EEA Option and unite the country behind him. The benefits of the EEA Option have been outlined in some detail by Roland Smith, fellow of the Adam Smith Institute. You can read more about it here and here.
Advertisement
By taking the EEA Option the Prime Minister would be listening to the vast majority of the British people who do not want political union with the EU, but would protect the British economy by maintaining access to the Common Market. Even people in the Remain camp who support the economic arguments to stay in the EU question the necessity for political union, and since we are not part of the Eurozone, there is no need for the UK to have so much law and policy set in Brussels.
EEA membership gives the UK an autonomous brake on immigration; we do not need to ask permission from Brussels to use it. Along with the fact that Parliament would once again be supreme sovereign in our democracy, the emergency immigration brake would address the principal concerns of those who want to leave the EU.
Signalling the EEA Option would be a pragmatic step from a Prime Minister who has the best interests of the nation at heart. It is an opportunity to provide true leadership that would prevent discontent, division and uncertainty while recognising that the British people have fundamental problems with political union.
Advertisement
I hope that David Cameron has the foresight for such a step and have taken the cheeky liberty of imagining what his letter to voters might look like (click to enlarge):
If you like the sound of an end to political union, but retaining access to the Common Market, then the EEA Option is for you. Let's see whether the power of digital activism can get the EEA Option to the top of the agenda and shift the divisive referendum debate to a sensible, pragmatic solution.
Let's start a campaign to get David Cameron and others to make the move. Tweet your support of the EEA Option to David Cameron, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn, with the hashtag #EEA
Advertisement
I'll get the ball rolling:
It's time for Britain to unite behind The EEA Option. Unite Britain, help Europe #EEA@David_Cameronhttps://t.co/33cQX7xgMr Adam Hamdy (@adamhamdy) June 7, 2016
It's time for Britain to unite behind The EEA Option. Unite Britain, help Europe #EEA@jeremycorbynhttps://t.co/33cQX7xgMr Adam Hamdy (@adamhamdy) June 7, 2016
It's time for Britain to unite behind The EEA Option. Unite Britain, help Europe #EEA@BorisJohnsonhttps://t.co/33cQX7xgMr Adam Hamdy (@adamhamdy) June 7, 2016
I won't pretend to be an authority on the subject, but as an expat business owner with operations in both England and Sweden, I feel as though I represent a very small minority of UK citizens. Firstly, I am not anti-Cameron, nor am I pro-Brexit. I do, however, believe that this whole fiasco should be a decision for our leader, NOT the general public. While I could have a lot to lose on a personal level, I don't feel equipped to make a decision that will benefit the entire country. However, with the referendum just weeks away, I feel like now is a good time to chime in and express my concerns.
There has been a lot of scaremongering from both sides over the last few months. While the Out camp has laid down some pretty convincing arguments, they are yet to publicly declare that expats will be safe from harm. To me, this silence makes it clear that it wouldn't be particularly good news! Therefore, I am voting to remain in the EU on the basis of fear. While it's not a decision I feel comfortable with, there's simply too much uncertainty to sway me in the other direction. Such as...
Will the Freedom of Movement Act still be honoured?
According to the Telegraph, the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969 will ensure that previous acquired rights will remain, which debunks former attorney general Domonic Grieve's claim that "an EU exit could make two million Britons living abroad illegal immigrants overnight." While it's a relief to know that I won't have to pack up my bags and move back to England, there's nothing to say that certain privileges won't be cut or adapted, such as health care, pensions and public services. I haven't lived in Sweden for the five years required to gain citizenship rights; therefore, what will remain legally valid is yet to be seen.
Advertisement
How long will it take for the laws to change?
Since the announcement of the referendum, I have been making preparations to retain my right of residency. I've updated my migration permit and acquired for a social security number, which is valid until 2020. By the time it runs out I should have permanent right of residence, regardless of whether or not Britain remains in the EU. However, my brother (who has just moved to Sweden in March) doesn't have this luxury. With a nine month waiting list, his migration permit and social security number won't be granted until after the referendum. So does this mean that he will not be protected under the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties 1969? - even the Swedish government couldn't answer my queries.
EU rules state that there is a two year legal limit on post-Brexit negotiations. Some reports, however, estimate that it could take longer. But without a definitive timeline, how are new expats - like my brother - supposed to make long-term plans to migrate abroad? Especially when they've been given no indication of which rights will remain legally valid.
What will happen to expat business owners?
Robert Carte, CEO of Your Company Formations Ltd, has stated that "Too many people on both sides of the channel will simply have too much too lose. Therefore, the current tax legislation is unlikely to change too drastically." While Paul Drechsler of the Confederation of British Industry has stated on numerous occasions that Brexit would leave British expats in a "significant period of uncertainty." Reinforcing the notion that nobody can predict what type/level of economic fallout could occur. Therefore, aside from speculation, we have absolutely nothing to go on.
As a VAT-registered business owner who lives abroad, but operates remotely in the UK, Brexit's impact on Value Added Tax is a major concern for me and many other freelancers in the same situation. The Refund Directive is crucial for the operation of my company, but if Brexit goes ahead, there's no guarantee that it would remain. If the UK no longer allow foreign businesses to recover UK VAT, there could be serious repercussions... and that's not to mention the chance of double taxation - which is a major issue among American expats who have clients in the United States. While it may take two or more years for new laws to pass if Brexit goes ahead, many businesses will need to start making preparations immediately.
Advertisement
Shah is 31 and has perfectly groomed curly hair, with striking red highlights, no doubt a product of the many expert barber shops in the Calais refugee camp, known as the 'Jungle'.
Shah worked for the US army in Afghanistan, a common story among Afghans in the camp. He was a tank driver and transported fuel from Jalabad to various American army bases around the country. One day while driving fuel with his younger brother, he was stopped at a checkpoint controlled by Taliban members. They demanded that he carried a box for them to friends they had at another check point, near to an American base. To get him to agree to this deal, they took his brother hostage.
Later, passing through a government-controlled check point, the box full of ammunition was discovered and he was arrested. When tortured and beaten, he explained that he had been blackmailed by members of the Taliban controlling one of the checkpoints. In response, his interrogators directed troops to the checkpoint he had described, where men were killed on both sides.
Advertisement
When the Taliban found out that it was the tank driver who had leaked information regarding their position, they killed Shah's younger brother.
Shah's family was distraught and blamed him for putting them all at risk by working for the American army. In disgrace, and faced with continual threats from the Taliban, Shah sold some property to pay people smugglers $10,000 to take him to Europe.
After three months of constant travelling, mostly by foot, or hidden in freezing containers in trucks, Shah arrived in Germany.
"I stayed in Germany for five months. But, the German refugee process is very long; it's 5 years, 6 years, before they are giving you paper to take your family from Afghanistan". Instead, Shah plans to seek Asylum in France.
Advertisement
"I am going to save my life, whether it's France or the UK - it doesn't matter for me."
But he doesn't like the Calais camp or the way he is treated there.
"99 percent in the jungle are the same as you. But the people outside are thinking something else about us, they're thinking that we are not human, we are something else. They are scared of us, but we are humans, we have the same heart like you, the same dreams, the same hopes."
There are those who would prefer he went back to his own country and he knows it. "But," he asks me, "who put us in this trouble in the first place? I know, all the world know that. 42 countries are involved in our country, they are fighting there. But they do not live there. I am the one suffering there. I am Afghani. I know.
"Hundreds of people are dying in Afghanistan, and I know that could be me, could be my father, or my mother. So how can I live there? When you walk in the streets, there are explosions. When you are sitting on a bus, you have to check your seat for explosives, you have to check the driver. How can I live there?
"And now, the same stresses in the jungle. We are facing stress, stress, stress. We are human. We're not machines or something else."
When I ask him which family members he will bring over if he is granted asylum, I am surprised to hear him mention a wife and children for the first time. He laughs at my surprise: "Yeah. I have a wife and children. My eldest child is about ten years - he is a boy. I have five children." This is even more of a shock to me and he laughs again.
Advertisement
"That's the Afghani tradition," he explains.
His family is living in a part of Afghanistan without electricity or mobile signal. Once a week they climb a hill in the village to get enough reception to call him.
"I have a daughter - she's talking with me - she's saying to me that 'father, you are lying to us. Nine months you are saying that "I will take you, I will take you, I will send you this". Papa I am not talking with you, you are lying to me.' I am just saying to her, 'please'. She's a child, she doesn't know I'm in a problem. She's six years old.
"My wife knows I'm in trouble. I'm explaining every day, she knows well. She's a little bit educated."
He sighs. "I want a peaceful Afghanistan. I want my country."
Shah's future is uncertain and the fact that he has registered fingerprints in Germany may mean that he will have his French asylum claim rejected. If so, he faces years without his family and children. Meanwhile, they survive off food his father brings them, unable to leave the house unaccompanied, and without access to any form of education.
It makes me feel slightly uneasy, that in 2016 I can still find myself pondering the issue of balancing writing with motherhood - perhaps I should discuss writing and parenthood, as I'm sure there are many father's out there doing a similar juggling act. However, that is not my reality, so I'm going to address the issues I have encountered during the writing and publication of my first novel, Russian Redemption.
When I first read Virginia Woolf's famous essay A Room Of One's Own, I was studying Literature at University. I not only had a room to call my own, but indeed an entire house, my only distraction and responsibility was my adored German Shepherd, Molly, an endless stream of pub invitations and random part time jobs.
Virginia Woolf would have relished my abundant opportunities for creativity. Reading her essay's I was struck by how far we had come as a society, how many opportunities women now have to forge the careers we desire, adhering to only our own expectations. I had all the time in the world to write a novel, I answered to no one (except the dog when she wanted a walk)...fast forward some eight or nine years, I am a wife, a business owner and the mother of two beautiful girls.
Advertisement
I answer to just about everything and everyone else...
A Room Of One's Own means something more to me now. I had studied it with enthusiasm as a young woman but as a mother, and a writer, I understand now on a totally different level. I wonder if Virginia Woolf would have imagined we might have come further - I am fortunate to live in a bigger, physical, home these days, yet my room has vanished.
As so many mother's will tell you, it is the mental room, to think and create that flounders when our children are young. We give it willingly because we love our children but if you once desired a life of creativity, it will never leave you completely.
I am not an award winning, financially secure Author. I am fortunate enough to have been published but my writing has not replaced my day job (yet!), it exists on the fringes of my life, considered a hobby by my family. I persevere in creating a room in my life and family to accommodate my writing - but I never apologise for wanting it.
So, how do you balance writing with motherhood?
I find it easy to plan and list ideas while running around with the children. Snippets of ideas or scenes but I avoid any lengthy writing. I know some writers like to steal pockets of time in and around their family but I find it never goes well - the writing or the family time! Set aside the time to write with intent. Be it your commute, lunchtime, nap time, half an hour before bed or dedicated weekend hours. It is better to write interrupted for a shorter period and do it well than feel as though you are going in circles. My youngest is now in nursery 3 short days per week. I work on our business for the majority but I also carve out a set period for writing - a solo trip to Starbucks is my favourite! Write in the most effective way for you. Despite knowing it is an utterly ineffective method I like to write by hand in notebooks before typing everything up. I find writing by hand produces my most authentic work. I do use Evernote to take notes or occasionally write scenes if I'm out and about with just my phone, but I would struggle to write much of value straight onto a document. Whatever works for you and makes the most of your time. Hire a good Editor. We live in a wonderful time for opportunities to publish either traditionally or independently. However, the stop/start nature of writing around a families needs/wants/demands means the danger for disjointed transitional points is higher. A good Editor will help your book become the best version of itself - whether you self publish or approach traditional publishing houses. Understand your plot. I attempted to write many novels before finally completing Russian Redemption. The simple change I made in my approach which contributed to my success was to alter my planning process. I first drafted the entire story, in simple sentences from start to finish, I then broke this up into scenes, expanding each one in detail (including some dialogue) before tackling each one in turn. This meant that I always knew my next step, because it was already half written. This one simple change kept my momentum in check. Explore all avenues. I was fortunate to place my novel with a publishing house. However, with the advent of services such as Kindle Direct Publishing, now valid and exciting opportunities exist for all Authors.
How do you balance writing with motherhood?
This week, a high level political meeting takes place at the UN in New York to discuss the steps member states need to take to end AIDS. We are at a crucial point in the fight against AIDS
We need to scale up the response over the next four years to be on track to meet the commitment to end the AIDS pandemic by 2030 - a goal set by the UK alongside other countries as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.
At the last High Level Meeting on Ending AIDS in 2011, the coalition government sent a delegation led by Minister Stephan O'Brien. But sadly, this time round, no minister from the UK Government will attend. In addition, the Department for International Development (DFID), the lead department for this UN meeting, is not planning to send a senior member of staff either.
Advertisement
In the context of a meeting that is expected to be well attended by ministers and even presidents from some countries, this sends a bad message about the importance the UK places on a successful High Level Meeting. The UK supports the Sustainable Development Goals but lack of attendance at one of the first UN meetings directly related to their achievement is a worrying indication of their commitment to this global agenda.
The UK has played a critical role in leading the global HIV response and DfID has been rightly lauded as the second largest global donor to HIV. But money cannot speak on its own behalf. Leadership is needed to ensure that the UK's financial commitment is matched by strong evidence-based policy and political commitments. And few actions signal the UK's commitment better than despatching a high-ranking minister to lead such a delegation. It signals to other states that this is something that matters to the UK.
It's worrying therefore that a minister will not be present and I fear it is part of a trend in which we see HIV being progressively de-prioritised by the government. HIV has all but disappeared from DfID's strategies, its public statements and from its website.
Ongoing commitment at the highest political level is still required. The latest data from the end of 2014 showed that 2million people were infected that year and 1.2million people died of AIDS-related illness. AIDS is the number one killer of women of reproductive age and adolescents in Africa. Latest figures from UNAIDS show that certain groups, particularly sex workers, people who inject drugs, transgender people, prisoners and gay men and other men who have sex with men, are being left behind - 90% of new HIV infections in central Asia, Europe, North America, the Middle East and North Africa in 2014 were among people from key populations and their sexual partners.
Advertisement
In the Asia and Pacific region, Latin America and the Caribbean, people from key populations and their sexual partners accounted for nearly two thirds of new infections. In sub-Saharan Africa, key populations accounted for more than 20% of new infections, and HIV prevalence among these populations is often extremely high. For example, in South Africa, surveillance data published in 2015 estimated HIV prevalence among sex workers was 71.8% in Johannesburg,39.7% in Cape Town and 53.5% in Durban.
But the types of policy interventions needed to address the epidemic among these groups won't be championed at the High Level Meeting unless countries like the UK are prepared to step up to the mark.
Do we want to see global policy on HIV dictated by conservative states that deny basic human rights to LGBT people and actively block harm reduction methods needed to end AIDS among people who inject drugs? Or states which go out of their way to block LGBT representation and deny representation to civil society generally in discussions about AIDS?
The truth is that progressive states like the UK need a strong and resolute place at the table in UN meetings like this. To do otherwise is to leave the stage open to other countries to push often deeply regressive policies of their own.
Technological innovation in healthcare rehabilitation could hold the key to transforming the lives of thousands of stroke survivors by helping them to get back on their feet. By using wearable 'haptic bracelet' devices, we're aiming to cultivate an innovative method to improve the walking of people after stroke.
There are so many opportunities out there to use technological products and wearables to enhance living - and this is never more true than when looking at how best to help with rehabilitation after illness or injury.
Advertisement
As a physiotherapist with a specific interest in stroke rehabilitation, I'm passionate about finding and adapting technology to help people improve their ability, and ultimately their quality of life.
To give you some background, there are 1.2 million stroke survivors in the UK and half are likely to have a disability (Stroke Association, 2016) so technological solutions could transform the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
However, what sometimes seems like a great idea on paper just doesn't pan out in real-life practice. Simple things like the ability to fasten a smart watch or to press buttons on a mobile phone app are often impossible and frustrating for people after stroke, meaning that the potential benefits of using a variety of technology is lost.
That's why I am so excited about our new project working alongside computer engineers and stroke survivors to collaboratively develop a wearable piece of technology to help with the evenness, or symmetry of walking, after stroke.
Advertisement
Walking asymmetrically occurs when more time is spent on one leg than the other and happens after stroke as damage to the brain leads to reduced muscle activity on one side of the body. Difficulties with walking are common after stroke and have a significant impact on stroke survivors' recovery; problems with walking reduces an individual's confidence to walk around in the community, increases their risk of falling and makes many people feel self-conscious about walking in public. Consequently, many people simply avoid walking outside and going out, which ultimately results in the loss of their social networks and triggers poorer physical and mental health.
The haptic bracelets that I am developing with computer engineers from the Open University and colleagues from nursing, science and physiotherapy here at Manchester Met could help with this by sensing asymmetry and providing a vibratory rhythmical cue - similar to a mobile phone - which we think could improve the evenness of walking.
The aim is to develop something that is wearable, probably on the leg, and that is discreet with easy controls for stroke survivors to use outside of their usual physio and occupational therapy sessions. It is vital to develop the haptic bracelet in conjunction with stroke survivors and therapists, rather than just coming up with the technology and giving it to people to use. We are now running focus groups with stroke survivors to find out how they want it to look, feel and work and their input will directly shape the design.
We are also planning similar sessions with therapists to look at how they might want it to use to complement their treatment. The project is very much in its infancy but has just been awarded innovation funding from the Greater Manchester Academic Health Science Network to develop it further.
As there is evidence that suggests the bracelets could improve walking in a range of conditions, not just stroke, the device has big potential and we are hopeful that by the end of the year we will have a working prototype of a haptic device which we can go on to test in larger scale trials. But, perhaps more importantly, we will have a device that by collaboratively harnessing technological know-how and the input of stroke survivors, will work for, and can be used by, people after stroke to deliver potentially meaningful benefits in everyday life.
Advertisement
You know what? Sod the economy, stupid! The Brexit is all about idealism. There's more at stake here than house prices and jobs, much more.
22 years ago, on 6 June 1994, U.S. president Bill Clinton took part in the ceremonies commemorating the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy which cost approximately 4.500 allied service men their lives, but finally helped defeat Nazi Germany.
Clinton standing atop the cliffs of Pointe-du-hoc said some ominous words to those who survived the butchery: "You completed your mission here, but the mission of freedom goes on, the battle continues." And: "The longest day is not yet over."
Advertisement
And, I would argue, the sun still hasn't set on the longest day.
An aggressive form of nationalism is resurging all over the continent, in France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, the list goes on.
And many of the nations, who started the transition towards sovereign democrac rule little more than 25 years ago, after the fall of the Iron Curtain, often still seem fickle today.
The Polish, the Hungarian, the Czech, the list goes on, all urgently wanted to be part of Europe, but today can't always resist the tug of the reactionary, the pull of the illiberal.
You have your own demons, driving you 'round the bend at times, but I'm pretty sure, they will never gain the upper hand.
Advertisement
When you look further afield you can add even more contrast to the picture.
In 1992 after the end of the Cold War U.S. scholar Francis Fukuyama argued that there was an end to history, as the Western liberal democratic system had won over the authoritarian forms of government.
What was hard to predict then, was that quite obviously history not just has a stop but also a reverse button.
Looking at countries and regions surrounding the European Union you can't help but feel, that there has been historic regression towards authoritarianism.
Scan the horizon from East to South and the picture becomes clear: Russia, Turkey, and many countries in the Middle East, all showed promising signs of working towards joining the league of democratic states, but now have fallen back into stifling authoritarianism.
Maybe the most worrying signs of regression come from across the big pond. The most powerful ally in the fight for democracy shows worrying signs of at least flirting with demagoguery itself.
Advertisement
And yes, of course there are economic implications when talking about the Brexit. (The house prices and jobs.)
But look at it this way: Who truly knows what is going to happen to the British economy if Britain votes Brexit or not on June 23?
Be wary of anybody trying to serve you definitive answers, from either camp. They're as reliable as fortune-tellers consulting crystal balls.
House prices could go up or down or remain just where they are. There could be more or less or none jobs left at all.
Bear with the rest of Europe, exert your influence, and bring your deep rooted liberal democratic tradition to bear.
Advertisement
Blood won't be shed, though toil, tears and sweat probably will need to be invested, once again. Do the right thing on 23 June 2016, like you did in 1975.
Britain, who was the last bastion of hope in Europe over 70 years ago, cannot just leave the EU now. You cannot just say, sod this, we're done here!
Help bring the longest day to a close, once and for all, by working with Europe from within. Europe needs to stand together.
A recent study conducted by The Asia Foundation found that 3 in 5 ever-partnered women aged 15 to 49 in Timor-Leste had experienced physical or sexual violence by a husband or boyfriend in their lifetime. This might sound shocking. But, in fact, violence against women exists in all corners of the globe. What makes this study ground-breaking is not just the high rates of violence that it reveals, but that it helps us to understand some of the underlying drivers of the problem. This will inform better solutions.
Since 2015 my colleagues and I from The Equality Institute have been supporting The Asia Foundation to conduct this study which provides the first national prevalence data on violence against women in Timor-Leste. One single study can never tell us all we need to know about this complex issue. However, the results help us to understand the important connections between different types of violence in society, and the roles that gender inequality, the normalisation of violence, and histories of conflict and trauma play in this South-East Asian nation.
Advertisement
I spoke with Susan Marx, Country Representative of The Asia Foundation in Timor-Leste to learn more about the challenges in conducting the research, the main findings and how those findings will be used.
Why did The Asia Foundation decide to conduct this research?
To us, this research was crucial as part of our larger program aimed at ending violence against women and children in Timor-Leste (Nabilan). The Nabilan Health and Life Experiences Baseline Study is very important, as it offers new insights into this issue and into the immense implications of violence on women's health and wellbeing, as well as that of their children, their families, and their communities. We will use this study to influence our own work, but also as tool to advocate with civil society and the government to support work to end violence against women and children.
What challenges did you face conducting the research?
Conducting research of this nature in any environment is not easy, but all the more so in a nation that has suffered tremendous levels of trauma and conflict. For the most part, Timor-Leste has successfully overcome the conflicts of its past, but it still has many serious challenges, such as bad roads and limited access to clean water, low levels of literacy, and poor health and nutrition for most of the population. However, one of the biggest challenges we encountered during this research was the unequal balance of power between men and women in a very patriarchal, Catholic society. Through very careful training with the interviewers, we reinforced ethical and safe research practices. This sometimes meant challenging strong beliefs and social norms about domestic violence and the role and place of women in Timor-Leste society.
Advertisement
How did you get men to talk to you about their use of violence against women?
Throughout this research, it was key to establish trust with the men and women who we were interviewing. We used tablet computers for the surveys, and for the men, the most sensitive questions about violence perpetration were asked in a totally anonymous way. This helped men feel comfortable expressing views and sharing information that they would likely not share in a face-to-face interview. We also found that most male survey participants actually appreciated the opportunity to share their experiences, which included their own experiences of violence - for example, two in three men said they had experienced some form of violence or trauma during the conflict years and many still had symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
What are the key findings?
There were many interesting findings, which you can read about on our website. Overall, three in five (59 percent) ever-partnered women aged between 15 and 49 years had experienced physical or sexual i violence by a male partner in their lifetime, and almost one in two (47 percent) had experienced such violence in the previous 12 months. The Study also shows that violence against women in Timor-Leste is a major public health issue with long-term consequences for women's physical, mental, and reproductive health. But sadly many women are failing to receive the medical attention they need.
Advertisement
So what did you find in terms of the root causes of this violence?
Well, we found that violence was driven by unequal gender norms, and models of what it means to be a man that emphasise strength, toughness, and dominance over women and other men. This study showed how different types of violence are actually interconnected in Timor-Leste. For example, women and men's experiences of child abuse were linked with intimate partner violence. And men who showed symptoms of trauma were more likely to have perpetrated violence against women. This is particularly important given the post-conflict setting of Timor-Leste.
What has been the reaction so far from people in Timor-Leste to the preliminary findings?
We were obviously concerned with how the results would go over, given the high rates of violence found by the study. But from the start the key was to make sure that the study findings were actually used. So we had a Research Reference Group which included representatives from government, local non-governmental organizations, academia, the national department of statistics, and others. This group helped guide the study design, implementation and review the initial findings. Sharing preliminary findings early was crucial to ensure that the study was endorsed by Timorese organisations and individuals, who will ultimately use the research.
Now that you have this information how will you use it?
On Friday I rushed through the streets of Cordoba to arrive at THE place, the place of THE protest. There are quite literally protests every other day in Argentina, but this one mattered to me the most. Anyway, after arriving 20 minutes late I waited another 40 minutes before it really began, I just can't get used to Cordoban punctuality!
The protest in question was Ni Una Menos, a powerful phrase in Spanish standing for "Not one woman less, not one more death " and the demand of thousands who marched on Friday the 3rd of June across Argentina. Ni Una Menos is two years old and grew in response to the femicide of 14 year old Chiara Paez, murdered by her 16 year old boyfriend. Ni Una Menos.
Advertisement
It is estimated that approximately 66,000 women and girls are violently killed every year and for obvious reasons this data is incomplete. The word femicide was used by the feminist movement in the 70s to politicise the killing of women and girls, and countries in central and latin America have some of the highest rates, as do some European countries. Not all femicide is perpertrated by a current or past intimate partner, in fact the proportion is rather low in countries with high femicide rates.
Part of the problem with the data on femicide is that they are often covered up, sometimes on purpose and sometimes not. In Argentina it has been suggested that
In Argentina there is almost one femicide a day and in the UK about 2 per week, but my Microsoft Word still underlines it as a spelling mistake. Come on Microsoft Ni Una Menos.
Advertisement
In 2015 more than 300,000 in Buenos Aires alone (protests happened across the country) marched for Ni Una Menos, but since then the number of femicides have risen. This year's protest took place after the killings of three 12-year-olds in Argentina and the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in Brazil. Ni Una Menos. Many protesters relate to the demands, having suffered sexism and violence be it physical or psychological. Projects like everyday sexism in the UK are showing that most of us have experienced situations that left us feeling uneasy purely because of our gender. However, the protest isn't just for women, men also join to walk side by side and shout for the same causes.
In Argentina, the UK and all over the world women still face some similar problems, like the idea that we no longer need feminism because we have achieved gender equality or the implicit gendered discourses that permeate society like 'you can't play with that it's girly' or 'girls can't do maths'. That's obviously not to say we are all the same or suffer the same. Even within countries we do not all suffer the same. For that reason each regional Ni Una Menos might choose to focus on specific women's rights, like in Rosario last year when they chose to focus on abortion rights. Again, here is another issue which might feel closer to home.
In Argentina it is suggested that 3,000 women die every year due to illegal abortions. In the Latin American and Caribbean region at least 10% of all maternal deaths are due to unsafe abortion and roughly a further 760,000 are treated for complications from unsafe abortion. Most of these women are likely to come from poorer backgrounds or rural areas who might have to seek help from whoever can offer it regardless of qualifications or hygiene. Ni Una Menos.
Advertisement
In Cordoba people from all walks of life marched for Ni Una Menos, there were men and women, older ladies and toddlers, there were sex workers and anti-prostitution groups, those against transphobia, migrants and indigenous women. Gender inequality affects us all so it is only logically we all fight against it. There is no country quite there yet, for my anti-feminist friends in the UK just go and listen to Laura Bates. What we can learn from Argentina is to embrace the word feminist and come together to shine a light on our own gender based issues.
I haven't written this to engage in the discourse of 'those poor women OVER there, we have it so much better'. I wrote this for my Argentine sisters (hola Laura y Gabi) and for Amy who always asks what my Spanish posts mean. I wrote this for you, to ask you to march, be it from your front door to the car door, your desk to the coffee machine or up the stairs in the supermarket, march and say Ni Una Menos today and every day.
A Milo Robinson / Alamy
From last month many workers under the age of 25 will have discovered that their pay package is substantially less than their older colleagues. People who are doing the same job and have the same level of experience are finding that they are being treated differently by their employer.
This situation hasn't emerged by accident; it is a deliberate move by the government to keep wages low for under 25s. Their new, heavily publicised, National 'Living Wage' will not apply to under 25s meaning that young people could find themselves treated as second class employees.
Advertisement
Since April there has been a 50p per hour difference in the minimum rate for those over 25 years of age and those younger than 25. This is predicted to rise to a difference of 1.21 per hour by October 2020 . It has been estimated that under 25s on the minimum wage will have earned 11,047.89 less than an older colleague over the next five years .
I've started a campaign to highlight the injustice of this for workers of my generation and have arranged the first debate on this issue in Parliament for this Wednesday.
Those leaving university will find the situation particularly insulting. Research by Which? indicates that a typical student on a three-year course outside London can expect to graduate with around 35,000 to 40,000 of student loan debt.
Most students on a three-year course graduate at the age of 21 and around half of graduates go on to employment in non-graduate roles, a trend that has steadily increased since the 2009 recession. A young graduate who has done all the right things--worked hard and got a degree--and who is saddled with up to 40,000 of debt as a result, is not even entitled to a full 'Living Wage'.
Advertisement
For too long the Government have offered weak and frankly outrageous justifications for this approach. Cabinet Minister Matthew Hancock told his party conference that young people were too unproductive and the Tory Minister Chris Grayling told me that firms needed to be 'incentivised' to hire young workers . This is why I have called a debate on this issue where the Government can be held to account.
On productivity, we know that young people are often the ones asked to work the longer shifts, lift the heavier packages and work the antisocial hours. I know this from personal experience. When I graduated from university I started working for a business in my hometown dealing with sales both overseas and across the UK.
As one of the few employees who at the time was young, unmarried and without children, I was regularly asked to travel at short notice and work out-of-hours at evenings and weekends.
Young people are often asked to work harder and longer hours because of their youth and often oblige, through a desire to prove themselves and to move up the ladder. Sometimes their circumstances mean that it is easier for their employers to ask them to work the more unpopular shifts rather than older members of staff who might have more commitments at home.
Unsurprisingly when I asked the Government to show me some figures to back up their claims that the young are unproductive I was told they have absolutely no evidence to prove this. In an answer to a written question Minister Nick Boles told me that "there are no official statistics estimating the productivity of workers by their age."
Advertisement
3.44m young people could be affected by these lower wage rates and it is an absolute outrage that they have been told they are not worth 7.20 an hour. Youth unemployment is a huge problem but debt and low wages are not the solution.
A poll by Survation suggested that 66% of voters were in favour of extending the National 'Living Wage' to under 25s but once again the government are on the wrong side of the equal pay for equal work debate. I'll be working with young people and MPs in Westminster to build pressure on the Government to rethink this unjust decision.
This morning I woke to learn of the sad death of Muhammad Ali, one of my childhood heroes. As I sat down to write this blog, rich memories of Ali and other larger than life icons recently passed come flooding back. Prince, a musical maverick and pioneer who bridged many genres and struck a powerful chord with black and white artists and audiences alike. And David Bowie, the creative genius who inspired self-expression without constraint.
Our heroes come in myriad flavours; champions, pioneers and visionaries who know no boundaries, inspiring us to venture beyond our respective comfort zones and explore our own potential. Some of our heroes are friends and family, most we know through media. Occasionally you simply come across a brilliant individual who radiates confidence, charisma and charm, someone who captures your imagination.
I was fortunate enough to meet a new hero recently. He is an 88 year old scientist, who became an honorary member of the European Space Agency in 1975, and in 1983 founded the Brunel Institute for Bioengineering, which is involved in biological research during weightless space-flight.
Advertisement
Today Professor Heinz Wolff is focussing on another daunting challenge, how affordable care can be provided in the context of increasing demand due to the ageing population and medical improvements. As you can see from this short video, Heinz is extremely passionate about his subject. When we first spoke Heinz told me that a Victorian old lady (though old was a good deal younger than it is now) would probably have been cared for more humanely than a single frail elderly person is today.
Heinz's solution' 'Give & Take Care' was awarded 1 million as part of Innovate UK's 'Long Term Care Revolution' National Challenge. He recently spoke about the project at the Neighbourhoods of the Future roadshow which I chaired in collaboration with Professor Alexander Peine of Utrecht University, on behalf of the European Commission.
First and foremost it's worth pointing out that Heinz believes there is far too much gratuitous use of technology today. He says that care should not be provided by technology, but by human hands, with technology serving an enabler to make the process easier.
Based on the idea of 'mutual exchange', people take part in Give & Take Care through supporting or caring for an older person in their community. Heinz believes that caring for each other will ease the pressure on Government social and health services so that they will be able to focus on critical and specialised cases.
Advertisement
The hours of support the care givers provide are recorded and they get credits - or 'GATs' - for each hour of care they have undertaken. They can then use their GATs in the future towards their own care or that of a friend or relative. Give & Take Care is effectively a pension scheme - the GAT pension supported by the Co-operative Bank, where the contributions and returns are made in time rather than money.
One of the important features of the scheme is that it occupies what is a new space outside government, business and indeed the established third sector. According to Heinz this neutrality is essential to persuading people that Give & Take Care is immune from the vicissitudes of political, commercial and financial change and the hours banked with the scheme are safe and secure for the future.
The Art of Collaboration
Aligning the interests of the private, public, and third sectors was a common theme across the two day "meeting of minds" staged at NatWest HQ in London May 11 and 12. 200 key stakeholders and thought leaders from the digital, construction, health/social care, finance, security, academic and 3rd sectors engaged in a stimulating dialogue about adopting a Europe wide approach to age-friendly homes and Smart Neighbourhoods of the Future.
The objective is to inform a European Reference Framework for Age-friendly Housing which aims to identify the key features that make homes suitable for healthy and active ageing as well as providing recommendations for a set of complementary actions at EU, national and regional level to increase the number of age-friendly (or inclusive) homes - both smart new build and retrofit - and urban environments across Europe.
Three themes transcended many of the keynote presentations and open innovation workshops:
Funding. We have to rethink the way projects are funded. New forms of collaboration involving private and public sectors are necessary to inspire start-ups, SME's and corporate brands to innovate, drive growth and achieve scale and sustainability.
Technology. We are on the cusp of a new technological revolution with IoT and M2M acting as catalysts which will empower older adults to enjoy more independent lives. However, we cannot and must not lose the human touch.
Inter-generational Knowledge Exchange. There is an appetite to share information, collaborate and co-create. Participants - of all ages - really enjoyed the opportunity to share ideas and strike up conversations that may well lead to collaborations with stakeholders from sectors they would not normally engage or socialise with.
This last point was further explored in a session led by the RSA and Nesta, which looked at health and wellbeing in an ageing society as a "Social Movement", a voluntary collective of individuals committed to promoting change through co-ordinated activity, to produce a lasting and self-generating effect and creating, as they do a sense of shared identity.
Working with Innovate UK over the past few years I have engaged with many gifted professionals willing to invest their ideas, knowledge, time and connections, with a view to improving quality of life for ageing friends, family, society and indeed our older selves.
This has informed the creation of what we are calling the Agile Ageing Alliance, (AAA) which aims to connect Europe's brightest creative minds and key stakeholders in a united - informal and independent - effort to boost knowledge and investment and accelerate development of innovative solutions that will foster healthy, active, independent lifestyles and social engagement in later life.
Advertisement
In addition to staging the Neighbourhoods of the Future Roadshow, which you can learn more about via this short video, if you feel you have something you'd like to contribute please join our LinkedIn Group where you can share your thoughts and find out about engaging with new AAA initiatives.
Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
There is a growing paranoia among the political elite, particularly those in the Remain camp, that young people will not make the journey to the polling stations on June 23rd. The assumption that young voters are plagued by political apathy is shared by many. The organisers of Glastonbury, for example, have expressed their worry that ravers will be too preoccupied to exercise their right to vote.
Advertisement
Given the current state of both the Remain and Leave campaigns, it is not surprising that younger voters view the EU referendum with disinterest. Discourse surrounding the referendum is often expressed through the lips of unpopular politicians. The likes of Nigel Farage, Michael Gove, David Cameron and George Osborne are no less likely to encourage students to march to the polling stations than create 'EU Safe Spaces'. Even the darling of the student left, Owen Jones, has failed to ignite young people with referendum fervour. Given that a year ago, after the EU's abhorrent treatment of Greece, Jones ardently called for the UK's independence, his U-turn represents how establishment Referendum debate has become.
In addition to the unsavoury characters and fear mongering statements occupying the referendum stage, the reasons we are given for voting are equally uninspiring. We are constantly reminded to vote with our heads and not with our hearts. The decision we have to make is presented less as a choice than the result of a mathematical equation. "Do you hear the people sing, singing the songs of pension plans and tariffs?", exclaims a flag-waving, barricade-manning George Osborne.
The Remain and Leave campaigns insist on bombarding us with facts and statistics, whilst forgetting that dubious number-crunching isn't a turn-on. For many, the EU referendum has slowly morphed into a staggered retelling of the Budget.
The inclination of people, including students, to abstain from the upcoming referendum is therefore perfectly natural. But is crucial to note that this stems from a crisis of values within referendum debate.
Advertisement
Instead of voting out of a sincere regard for dubious mathematical axioms, my vote results from a conviction in the absolute value of democracy. During the preliminary stage of referendum campaigning, official 'Brexiteers' highlighted the undemocratic nature of the EU. As we enter the closing stages of referendum campaigning, however, 'democracy' has become a dirty word abandoned in favour statistical analysis.
In doesn't take a qualified economist to understand that the EU's existence is predicated on its undemocratic nature. The existence of unelected officials creating and influencing the laws that affect our lives is mere farce. This is 2016, not 1516. From the creation of Magna Carta to the movements of the Levellers in the 16th century and the Suffragettes at the turn of the 20th, the progress of mankind's political status has been one of increased enfranchisement. Engrained within our existence is a desire to shape our own lives, rather than have them paternalistically endowed upon us.
It is only by recognising the anachronistic nature of the EU that we can truly recognise how important this referendum is. Yes, I registered to vote because I'm young and therefore will be directly affected by its result. But fundamentally, I registered to vote because I recognise that breaking away from the EU is the necessary course for any nation that enshrines the value of democracy.
Sitting on a park bench in the center of Erbil, northern Iraq with two local Kurdish men, I'm deep in conversation about violence against women. My long-standing work on women's rights with my charity Project Monma has brought me to northern Iraq twice now. The first time was to learn about the endemic of honor killings in the region and this time to find out more about how the advent of ISIS has affected women and girls. Despite the presence of ISIS just a meer 30 minutes away, Iraqi Kurds move through the streets appearing unconcerned. I'm talking to Jihad Othman and Sardar Sattar, two young Iraqi students. As we sip small cups of coffee, they tell me that gender inequality is a big problem in northern Iraq. Pointing to the park square, Jihad notes it's almost completely filled with men.
Advertisement
"Women need to speak out," Sardar tells me.
The situation for women and girls in Iraqi Kurdistan is indeed abysmal. During my first visit to the region I met with women's rights activists, politicians and the Iraqi Kurds themselves, both male and female. What I learnt was that women and girls face pervasive violence, domestic abuse, honor killings and blatant discrimination. A situation which has only been worsened by the arrival of ISIS.
Thousands fled towards Erbil seeking refuge in IDP camps when ISIS appeared over a hill in 2014. The many displaced women I spoke with reported that ISIS is forcing citizens to convert to Sunni Islam. Women are ordered to completely cover themselves and one doctor from Mosul informed me that ISIS now has 'biters', a special female police force which sets about biting women, as a form of punishment. The Yezidi women have perhaps faced the greatest horror with the arrival of ISIS, being sold in slave markets as sex slaves.
However, arrival into the camps has not led to safety for women and girls. I met with Fatima Hashima, a caring and dedicated social worker working in the women's center in Baharka camp near Erbil housing around 3000 IDP's. Sitting in the small container like building on the outskirts of the camp, I asked her what the situation is like for girls living in the camp. Emotional, psychological and sexual violence against women is common she told me, even with girls as young as six years old.
Like in many parts of the world, sexual harassment is a frequent and a largely silent crime. Men hiss, leer and make degrading comments as women pass by in the streets and women are afraid to speak out against it. Such harassment is a daily occurrence in the camp according to Fatima and the other girls I interviewed, but most girls fear to report it out of fear that they will be shamed. It gets worse. There are cases of women being raped by their husbands and girls as young as 11 years old being married to men more than twice their age. Fatima tells me that parents are choosing to marry girls so young as a way of protecting them from harassment.
Advertisement
Wafaa Khalid a twenty three year old woman living in the camp came to join us in the centre. She fled Mosul after ISIS killed some of her family members. She married her cousin when she was 17 years old, she didn't want to, she told me but her father told her that it was better to marry someone that they knew.
After 8pm they close the tent door out of fear boys in the camp will try and come into the tent. She has a little girl sat on her lap and I ask her if she worried about her daughter. 'Yes of course,' she replies. Her daughter is 5 years old.
For the girls coming back from the slave markets in Mosul and Raqqua the situation is particularly difficult. Diana Kako, a dedicated women's rights activist I met on my first trip to the country agreed to meet with me again in her small office in Erbil. She explained that there have been girls who have been sent to shelters to avoid getting killed by their family because in Kurdistan, if a girl looses her virginity or gets pregnant before she is married, she must be killed. Girls who have been raped, must suffer the same fate. All in the name of family honor.
There are reports of girls committing suicide by burning themselves to death but Diana believes that it is really the families, killing their own daughters. I sat aghast. But the violence doesn't end there. 'Traditionally in Kurdish culture it was considered an honor for a man to beat his wife,' Diana tells me. New laws are being put in place against domestic violence but the problem is still widespread. I ask her what she thinks about this, as an Iraqi woman, 'there's no honor in beating your wife,' she says firmly.
Advertisement
In a country where honor is more important than a woman's life, there is much work to be done in the field of women's rights. Where sexual harassment keeps women living their life in fear, where a woman is afraid of her 5-year-old daughter being sexually harassed and where girls are killed just because they were raped, there is a very serious problem. Change is needed. Diana explained that the problem in Iraq is the culture. Yes, the culture. In my many travels around the world, culture has been a persistent excuse used by men to justify their violent attitudes towards women. Culture. As a cultural anthropologist I have continually failed to understand how the endemic physical, psychological and emotional violence that women around the world suffer can ever, be justified as culture. I don't understand how the lecherous leers of men as women walk in the street can be considered 'cultural' and I especially fail to understand how murdering your sister, wife or child, just because she fell in love, wanted a boyfriend or worse because she was kidnapped, sold in a slave market and raped, can ever be justified in the name of honor.
ANDREW YATES via Getty Images
The most recent government statistics show the number of new homes built is down 9%, and still an astonishing 32% below the peak under Labour - a full six years since David Cameron became Prime Minister.
This is the housebuilding recovery that never was. And it is a big part of the six years of failure on housing under the Tories from homelessness (doubled) to home-ownership (fallen by 200,000).
Advertisement
The consequences of this failure on housing are painfully clear across the country, especially for younger people.
But this failure is also distorting debate on our EU referendum.
When housing policy fails so badly, then it gives an opening for those who want to stoke division and resentment.
How else can we read the Conservative Leader of the House of Commons recently looking to blame the fall in home-ownership on EU immigration.
He's right in pinpointing a problem. But wrong in prescribing the solution as exit from the EU. Because it is perfectly possible to have a healthy growing population and rising home-ownership. Britain had both in the baby boom years under the Macmilllan and Wilson governments; and we also had both under the last Labour government when a million more households were helped into home-ownership.
Advertisement
It's now under Conservative Ministers that home-ownership is in freefall - with a third of a million fewer under-35s owning a home than in 2010.
So the Leader of the House should point the finger at his Conservative Cabinet colleagues, not the EU.
In fact, the European Union has helped us build some of the affordable homes we need in the past, and can do so again in the future. A contribution that's even more important now that George Osborne has cut funding for social rented homes completely - breaking a cross-party consensus stretching back to the 1919 Addison Act.
The European Investment Bank has provided more than 4.2billion to help build social housing and regenerate urban areas across the UK over the past 18 years, and has pledged to invest a further 1billion to build almost 20,000 affordable homes.
This funding would be lost if we leave the EU, and the new homes put at risk.
I see this sort of investment as another specific case that shows how by our common efforts across Europe we can achieve more than we would alone - using the balance sheets of governments across the EU to drive down the cost of borrowing for housing in Britain.
Advertisement
Despite these opportunities, Conservative failure on housing risks opening the door on crude efforts to blame Europe for domestic policy failures.
It doesn't have to be this way. Our last Labour government's record on housing isn't perfect, but between 1997 and 2010 we did build two million homes, create one million more home-owners and made the biggest investment in social housing in a generation - all as a leading member of the EU.
So my plea to voters on Referendum Day is this: don't let Tory failure on housing fool you. We can fix Britain's housing crisis, and the European Union can be an ally in doing so.
Before having children, nobody warned me about the crazy strangers offering unsolicited advice about your own children. I have now heard of and experienced much of this madness with all my children, my first experience while standing at a bus stand on Tottenham Court Road a few years ago. A woman came up to me and offered me her shawl saying, "Your baby looks cold." I replied, "She is fine, thank you." After she insisted several more times, I invited her to use her own scarf since apparently she felt cold. Another time a man looked at my child sitting in a sling I wore and he said, "Does that thing hurt your baby?" I explained that he was comfortable. He insisted that he looked uncomfortable (my child was asleep) adding, "Can he breath?" Wanting to end this exchange I responded, "No, he is suffocating." A friend told me of a complete stranger who started screaming at her in a car lot while she considered buying a used car for her family, claiming that she was risking her children's lives. These are just a few of the stories that parents--especially mothers--experience.
After a rather nasty person aggressed me with yet more unsolicited advice about my child, I came across Wendy Molyneux' "Hello Stranger on the Street, Could You Please Tell Me How to Take Care of My Baby?" which not only gave me some solace, but also made me laugh out loud:
Advertisement
First of all, should he be sleeping, ever? If so, should it be at night? Should I keep him in a bassinet or crib or should I let him just sleep in the yard, or the toaster? And when he sleeps, should I just let him sleep as long as he wants, or should I wake him up every fifteen minutes or so for a "baby party" where I give him hard candies and play loud music? Being a new parent is confusing, and there aren't any books or internets about it, that's why I have to rely on kind strangers like you.
The irony of our experiences as mothers is paradoxical of course. On the one hand it is still assumed in society that we are biologically programmed to know everything from from how to raise children, wear stilettos, and have an innate appreciation of Hello Kitty. On the other hand, once a baby is produced, our "female points" mystically drop back down to zero. And suddenly we are assumed to be in need of help by complete strangers who willingly pop into our lives to raise our children, irrespective of our own knowledge. Should we have any, of course.
This past week we witnessed the story of a mother, Michelle Gregg, who "let" her three-year-old son enter into the cage of Harambe the gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo and the parents of the seven-year-old boy who was left on a mountain road in Hokkaido, Japan, as a punishment for throwing stones at passing cars by his father, Takayuki Tanooka. The interesting thing about these two cases is how differently the media and the public treated Gregg in Cincinnati and the father in Japan.
The fury directed at Gregg in Cincinnati focussed on an eventuality that has happened to all parents, namely that of losing track of your child for a split second. Anyone who has children--especially a three-year-old--immediately understands that what this mother needed was not the condemnation of people whose closest proximity to children is Modern Family, but empathy. Instead, some rather mean-spirited people have pit this woman's life against that of the sadly deceased Harambe in a nonsensical petition, "Justice for Harambe," which is a racist attack on the Gregg, a black women, flimsily attempting to link the boy's having entered into the gorilla enclosure to neglect at home: "We believe that this negligence may be reflective of the child's home situation." Such surveillance of black mothers in the US is not uncommon and Dorothy Roberts notes that the racial imbalance of black parents being reported to social services has resulted that "one in ten children in Central Harlem is in foster care, a rate of child removal experienced by few other poor communities." The petition, after having been called out for its racism, has since been redacted, its author now sharply back-peddling and denying that she did not want to break up the child (despite having addressed the petition to Child Protection Services). Eyewitness accounts repeatedly back up Gregg's story that she was vigilant over the child, that the young boy had said he was going to go into the gorilla's habitat to which she repeatedly said, "No, you're not, no, you're not." Yet, Michelle Gregg, the boy's mother is exclusively vilified in both mass and social media. Little is said about his father, Deonne Dickerson. Of course.
Advertisement
Conversely, Tanooka, whose parenting skills would make any child long for military school, received media coverage which was far less judgmental than the avalanche bestowed upon Gregg. Even Guardian columnist, Deborah Orr, was quite forgiving of Tanooka and notes the social shame that parents feel for not being in control of their children, essentially orientalising parental shame in Japan as somehow different: "social shame has the name sekentei and is a very big deal, that pressure probably feels much greater." Any mother outside Japan knows that Orr's statement is complete bunk. The social pressure to parent is especially felt by women around the world who are microscopically held to impossible levels of excellence, always wrong for being too this or not enough that.
Tanooka, having made a media apology and admitted having gone "too far" with a punishment, will now face no investigation. Michelle Gregg was not so fortunate and not only faced a police investigation but was also subjected to racist taunts and aspersions of her parenting to include a bizarre video by Anonymous. Two very similar situations: one in which a child escaped his parents and dashed off into an animal enclosure and another in which a father exercises a cruel punishment causing his son to be lost for six days in the wilderness. The female parent is critiqued, while the male parent is sent home with his family intact.
Volunteer tourism or "Voluntourism" is when companies send volunteers abroad for profit. This involves volunteer work in developing nations, and willing participants with a wad of spare cash and time can travel the world in the belief they are gaining a sense of community alongside fellow volunteers and the native population.
A survey from two years ago saw 35% of adults say they would like to try a holiday involving a voluntourism component, in addition to the 6% who had already done so. It is worth roughly 1.3 billion a year in the UK economy such is the fierce competition with these not for profit businesses, the profits get paid to people in the form of wages rather than dividends. It may on the surface appear to be a more pleasant form of commercialisation, maintaining the illusion of nice and fluffy charity work but it is a business earning income none the less.
The rise of voluntourism has seen host nations end up with a number of rather serious and worrying problems. In developing African nations the local population are now less likely to purchase health insurance since they know every few months there will be a ready and willing supply of foreign volunteers to bring medication--leaving the community susceptible to disease during interims.
Advertisement
A growing number of people have also become involved in "orphan" projects in Africa and South East Asia, where children are cared for and receive an education by the voluntourism organisation. Some children, because their parents cannot afford send them to school, move into orphanages where tourists come to provide them with food and education.
Wealthy tourists prevent local workers from getting much-needed jobs (hence why they cannot afford to send their children to school) and abused or abandoned children form emotional attachments to the visitors, who increase their trauma levels by disappearing back home.
On the African continent, there has been a surge in unregistered orphanages. UNICEF officials said children's welfare is secondary to profits and it is thought less than one-third of income goes on child care and that as many as 65% of orphans may not be orphans at all. There are also woeful checks on the background of the people seeing these children, which may result in some rather unsavoury characters being given plenty of access to young and vulnerable children.
It is said "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."
Advertisement
If it is good intentions that drive these volunteers, then surely logic would dictate that the many thousands spent on their adventure to deepest darkest Africa or wherever it may be, would be better spent investing in skills for the community rather than having a community reliant on constant outside help. Why not provide the community with the resources and knowledge to care for their own and invest in infrastructure? Well that simply does not generate enough profit. Sending money does not make someone feel or look like the wonderful person they wish to portray themselves as without some lovely photographs of themselves in the latest fashionable crisis zone.
If you know someone who has been on one of these trips they won't be hard to spot. Volunteers spend a great deal of time on social media , where these "volunteers" post "selfies" with the poor indigenous people and splash hashtags along with a carefully selected filter just to show off their glamorous lives. It all seems to devalue the original purpose of volunteering abroad and makes one wonder if these individuals' motives were charitable at all. Working in an underdeveloped region is supposed to result in meaningful change and an expansion of one's worldview, not a new profile picture that can get you a few extra likes.
These examples reveal the real danger and absolute selfishness of voluntourism: It creates a dependency between host communities and Western societies rather than the infrastructure needed for sustainable self-reliance.
Once again, clumsy attempts from do-gooders end up harming communities they want to help. We have seen it with foreign aid, costly for the taxpayer and ineffective. The result is we end up propping up dictators, dumping cheap food and clothes, devastating industries and encouraging a dependency culture. And now we see it with "voluntourism."
As a democratic socialist, I'm thrilled socialist ideas are being talked about more than ever (for the first time in a few decades in the US, it's on the agenda at an election). Unfortunately, it turns out that all this attention for socialist ideas is because their advocates are the most on the fringe of mainstream political discourse, decidedly the outsiders in a contest framed and managed by centrists: Enter Corbyn.
You may have heard about Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders. Perhaps you're familiar with their ideas. Both are incendiary, passionate leaders with a flair for controversy. Their views and voting records are those of unorthodox firebrands rather than moderate, mainstream centrists. Both have been attacked by the hawkish right for their uncompromising positions against war and capitalism, and by the hard left for not being radical enough.
Decades of unrelenting criticism for voting and campaigning against establishment policies may have contributed to their steely determination to keep on going in a different direction. But for both Corybn and Sanders recently, that direction has been up. And it has been on a strong zephyr of popularity on which they have risen, garnering massive support for a left wing platform.
Advertisement
The Labour Party is the largest political party in the UK and now, after Corbyn's campaign, the only party that boasts more members under 27 than the Lib Dems and UKIP have in total membership. This past year has seen Corbyn weather the storms of oppositional politics after Labour members chose him, an old leftist of the species extirpated by Blair, commonly berated for looking like a geography teacher, and the kind of man who sings The Red Flag in the local pub by way of celebration for his victory, for their official leader last October.
Shallow slights aside, compared to Cameron or one of his cronies, Jeremy Corbyn is somebody we could be proud to have represent us. Beneath his cosmetic appearance, he is symbolic of sincerity, something thought to be missing in a politics obsessed with style over substance. In most ways, Jeremy Corbyn is not what most people would usually consider a politician.
When giving his reply to the Queen's Speech in Parliament earlier this month, Corbyn could discern little that was good about the announcements that rolled forth from Her Majesty. For Corbyn, this was a moment of unrestrained self-expression, his chance to assert his own radical ideas about politics and government in the UK. Corbyn passionately argued that "This government do not seem to understand that cuts have consequences."
Which, I think, really gets to the bottom of how most people are feeling about austerity at the moment and explains why, despite vicious attacks on his kudos in the hard-right media, his popularity amongst ordinary people seems to be increasing. Austerity is a fraudulent scheme. It has preyed upon public services and left families struggling to make ends meet. Corbyn speaks to the anti-austerity zeitgeist that betrays the conventional wisdom that we have never had it so good.
Advertisement
It is 2016, and people queue up at food banks to avoid starvation, walking past homeless people who are have had their lifelines severed. How can we go forward with austerity, cutting further and further in to the safety net as the future stretches miserably ahead for the poorest and most marginalised people? In Victorian society the poor were out of sight and out mind for most of the governors, and the same rings true today. And this poverty, we are told, is an individual's choice, rather than a result of the government's austerity agenda. While Cameron goes off sailing, people's support services are sinking under the weight of his cuts. It is maddeningly unfair and a recipe for discontent.
When you look at policies and issues, people are in favour of publicly funding the NHS and education, supporting social services, housing the homeless and reducing the burden of cuts on women. People don't like what this government has planned for trade unions and feel that there is generally too much of a burden on working people. They want a living wage and universal basic income. They look to the other social democracies and wonder why our welfare state seems to be in a state of retrenchment. They want utilities like energy and transport renationalised. The Labour Party led by Corbyn agree on these issues. And having served for several decades as an MP he has the political talent to act on his ideas.
The triumph of the right wing has been to frame their ideas as objective facts rather than as political, economic choices. The task for socialists, as Corbyn realises, is to expose austerity as "a political choice, not an economic necessity." Just as trickle-down economics was based in fantasy and ideology, so is austerity.
Truly a rebel, Corbyn believes the left can make its' own rules. We must do what is right to correct a tremendous wrong and refuse to capitulate the soul and substance of the left to the terms and conditions of the right. This means talking about socialism and rejecting the wrong choices and priorities of the austerity agenda.
As we become older, we become more intolerant. Of pop music, other peoples' children, litter and in my case certain foodstuffs.
My formative years were spent feasting at tables struggling to support the weight of foodstuffs placed on them. When the question arose as to who had eaten all the pies, I had to become inconspicuous immediately, which was difficult after such a high degree of pie consumption.
The only thing absent from my feasting table was cold cheese of which I developed such a hatred in my younger days that if it was served on sticks at the Pearly Gates with pineapple and a welcoming glass of pink champagne, I would opt for the all-you-can-eat Barbeque at the other place.
Advertisement
Regrettably, Mother Nature intervened further in the noughties forcing me to wave a heartfelt goodbye to chocolate. This was because my consumption of it was accompanied with a collection of symptoms so disabling that it was like Jeremy Hunt appearing in a lift full of junior doctors and releasing a smell so disgusting it temporarily stopped them beating him to death.
Not content with the damage she has caused, Mother Nature has now intervened with a further assault on my soft parts with similar symptoms when I eat bread. While I have not nailed this down to a specific ingredient, it is abundantly clear to me that I have developed an intolerance to gluten.
The digestively grumpy state I have a now achieved has caused me to embrace the world of careful eating and there is much I dislike about it.
In my search for digestive nirvana, I have been forced to examine the contents of the shelves of Holland and Barrett in my quest for a new fuel source. I had ventured into this establishment previously to purchase "snake oil" which I had been assured would enable me to live to the age of 100 inspired by my uncle who glugged litres of the stuff. Fortunately for me as I am still consuming the stuff, that uncle exited this mortal coil when the finishing line was in sight. The rest of Holland and Barrett unfortunately has the aroma of a pet shop. This is not food - it is the love child of cat litter and the essential elements to life so condensed down that all of the enjoyable bits have been squeezed out. To illustrate this, they have a range of biscuits called charcoal biscuits. This is for a good reason - they contain charcoal as evidenced by them being black in colour. I can produce the same - it is called a burnt biscuit. The only saving grace is charcoal biscuits contain gluten.
Advertisement
I have tried to consume gluten free bread but found it lacks the essential characteristic enabling it to stay together. It's like having a house without cement - it only takes a big bad wolf with an attitude problem and a tendency to exhale to render your stately pile unstately.
As a result of all of this, I am now a fussy eater. This contrasts with my formative years during which if it was capable of being on a plate, I would eat it.
Happiness has been removed from my attending an Italian restaurant with both Pizza and Pasta becoming verboten. And a recent visit to a local Chinese restaurant led to my receiving a vicious oral beating from the waiter who had briefed me about what I could eat on the menu (in short nothing). I chose to ignore this advice advice owing to the need to eat and my mistaken belief that plum sauce is what it says on the tin.
I now inhabit a dark corner of High Street supermarkets inhabited by pastey faced stick figures seeking solace in packets of gluten free coffee and walnut cake or lemon slices. In their dreams, they are stuffing their faces with flour based delicacies which not only amuse their Bouche-es but make them feel that as if they had died and gone to heaven. The reality is that the symptoms of eating such delicacies would lack the heaven but approximate the death.
Advertisement
I recently sat at the table of a greasy spoon eyeing the breaded onion rings remaining on my plate, the greasy residue of the Bacchanalian feast that had accompanied it. I contemplated their consumption and prepared my "farewell letter" which began "goodbye cruel world - the choice was between life or breaded onion rings". Fortunately, other things caused me to see sense including the Pickwick collective, chips, the Golden Age of Dutch art, conducting the final movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in front of a mirror and the watching the films of Scarlet Johansson alone in a dark room. I chose Scarlet over breaded onion rings.
Becoming gluten free has caused me to make surprising discoveries. A visit to McDonalds for instance now requires me to order a naked burger - in plain English a burger without the bun. While recognising that a Big Mac does taste good, being presented with its constituent parts is like experiencing a partner only on the basis of an endoscopic examination of the internal organs during a first date.
There are consolations however with my delicate state. Cutting out bread, cake and everything created out of the unholy gluten as well introducing exercise into my life, I now posses the ripped body of a love God. My buns are no longer floury but of steel and my face does not possesses the jowly extensions which had often caused me to be mistaken for the Pickwick family dog. Even Mrs Pickwick has declared that she is sleeping with a new man. I have taken this to be a figure of speech despite Mrs Pickwick having been away a lot recently.
Small businesses are the lifeblood of Britain's economy. After all, they bring in a collective 1.8 trillion each year and employ almost two-thirds of the country. At the end of the day, it's undeniably Britain's ambitious, would-be entrepreneurs that keep us moving forward.
And to be honest, that's what makes the ever-increasing likelihood of an impending Brexit all the more terrifying.
First and foremost, let's just go ahead and put the issue to bed right now: there has never been an economic case for leaving the European Union. Never, ever, ever.
Advertisement
The International Monetary Fund, Bank of England, US Federal Reserve and Institute for Fiscal Studies all think it's a dumb idea - hell, nine out of ten economists are advising against it. And bearing in mind that most of us can't even begin to comprehend the finer points of how the global economy actually works, that should be enough to convince even the most sceptical of voters.
But just for argument's sake, let's take a look at what an EU exit would actually mean for our small businesses.
When in doubt, investors like stability - and this farce of a referendum has completely tossed stability out the window. Until this vote has been settled, Britain's economic progress has come to a complete and utter standstill. Company formations have plateaued, business owners are frantically scrambling to liquidate unsuccessful ventures and the pound has plummeted in value. Nobody wants to spend money setting up shop until Britain until we're able to see the tangible results of a Brexit.
And you can hardly blame them. Think British exports are currently being hampered by red tape in Europe? Just you wait until we cut ties with Brussels.
Advertisement
British businesses will instantly become less competitive because they'll be faced a whole host of new, non-tariff barriers. Costly rules of origin, divergence in regulations and various distribution restraints will make it more complicated for small companies to export their goods and services across the single market. British companies will likely face those same barriers when attempting to export to the EU's top trade partners - meaning they'll end up paying far higher costs for their inputs.
Now, plenty of Brexit supporters are willing to scoff at these new trade barriers by arguing that they will pale in comparison to the EU laws that are currently hindering our success. And let's give credit where credit is due: the EU has a few silly trade policies that seem a bit trivial on this side of the English Channel. But any and all gains from shedding European market regulations will be negligent at best.
The UK already enjoys some of the most flexible employment and market regulations on the planet. Where small businesses are concerned, around half of all EU regulation costs come from crucial climate change legislation and working time directives that stipulate we should all be entitled to at least 20 days of paid leave each year. Why on earth would an 'independent' Westminster scrap that?
It's time to face facts: leaving the European Union will not benefit British businesses at all. If anything, a Brexit will only discourage smaller companies from trying to do business abroad. That will subsequently transform this country's thriving small business economy into an insular, nationalistic beast that simply cannot compete on the global stage.
As Britain is approaching a referendum which has the ability to reshape the future of British politics, economics and culture, the case for left to back the brexit campaign is as clear and compelling as it has ever been. Yet right now the political conditions in the UK means a Brexit vote would be even more disastrous than people may think.
The development of a European community after WW2 happened on the backdrop of rising European fascism and multiple incidents of genocide and ethnic cleansing. It is the memory of these events which make people view the EU as a necessity, a positive force for good in a time of devastation and instability. This was indeed the case, however, this view needs re assessing;
Advertisement
The treatment of Greece for instance, they have been driven into economic collapse through reckless lending from German and French banks, and unsurprisingly it is Germany and France who are benefiting most from the bailout process. Furthermore, these bailouts are only granted providing Greece commits to economic reforms which will bring them in line with the neoliberal ambitions economic ambitions of the EU.
The proposed TTIP is another example of the undemocratic EU we find ourselves a member of. The threat TTIP (would have) posed to our publicly run NHS was negotiated in secret by unaccountable, unelected bureaucrats with corporate interests at the front of their minds. In a country so proud of our Welfare State we should be concerned by the treaties negotiated by the EU which seek to enforce free market policies based on privatisation and completely remove any form of Keynesian economics - put plainly, this is not democracy.
To add to this, there is still no plan in place to 'distribute' the refugees accepted into Germany last summer, and many nations such as Belgium have become increasingly hostile to the growing number of refugees arriving in Europe. As no solution is reached and this militant stance grows, Europe faces the real prospect of a shift to the far right, with Hungary on the brink of fascism and the rise of the Front National in France. But with an institution that is run for the economic gain of the few again the EU seems incapable of providing a moral and sustainable solution.
These issues alone provide the left with more than enough reasoning to vote to leave. However, I believe the decision is far from clear cut. Leaving the EU in the political climate of the UK right now, will mean one thing - the right of the Conservatives will take hold of Britain's government.
Advertisement
Boris Johnson, and others on the right of the Conservative party are heading the leave campaign, not based on the issues mentioned above, but with an ambition to further their own political agendas and seek a mandate to shape the post Brexit economy with the vision of brining back neoliberal Thatcherite politics. Whilst some like Daniel Hannan are campaigning to leave the EU with genuine conviction and belief, which I completely respect. Johnson is a man whose only interest is to further his own career. Two years ago Johnson was an avid supporter of Britain remaining in the EU, now the comparisons of the EU to the Third Reich show his pure desperation and lack of any genuine view point on the vote. In many senses a vote for Brexit, whether you like it or not is a vote to enhance the political career of Boris Johnson. The prospect of allowing the likes of Johnson, two years to shape post Brexit Britain for me offers far greater risks to our sovereignty than remaining in the EU. It is hard to say whether the political conditions for a 'Brexit' will ever be perfect, but I know I would much rather leave the EU knowing that a secure government, working in the interests of the many would be what we would be left with.
Furthermore, it is not just the prospect of what post Brexit Britain might look like which urges me to vote to remain in the EU. Within Europe today left wing groups in Greece and the likes of Podemos in Spain are actively fighting the battle for a reformed Europe. Whether this is truly possible is debatable, but at the same time we can only find out by remaining in the EU and joining their struggle. When despite everything, the Greek people bravely voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU they called for solidarity, solidarity from the other ordinary citizens of Europe to stand with them and not allow the nameless, faceless bureaucrats tear apart our European community. This is something we cannot do from outside.
There is no arguing against the corruptness of the EU, the system is flawed and concentrates authority in a minority who are given the political and economic power to crush the sovereignty of countries like Greece. Moreover, it is hard to say whether true meaningful reform (not the type offered by Cameron) will ever be possible in such a corrupt unit, whose obsession with free market, neoliberal economics prevents true democracy ever taking place. Yet right now, I believe Britain needs to remain in the union to be able to fight back with Greece but also to squash the re-emergence of the right, neoliberal branch of the Tory party, who are hell bent on propelling us back into a Thatcherite age.
Secrets are everywhere, in every society, and in every heart. Most are private, some are held in common, the so-called 'open secret', and some become traps for others. Secrets and deceit often go together, as in the Mike Leigh film 'Secrets and Lies,' and as Sir Walter Scott wrote "Oh! What a tangled web we weave, ... When first we practice to deceive."
Perhaps it's because I'm a writer- and a British Asian writer- that one 'tangled web' in particular still fascinates me. In the tragic case of Anni Dewani, the young bride killed on her honeymoon in South Africa, secrets run deep. Her British Asian husband Shrien Dewani was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder, which he has always denied. He was eventually cleared, after the case collapsed due to lack of reliable evidence. But not before he revealed to the court that he was bisexual. The prosecution argued that this 'double life' was a motive in the murder but the judge rejected this view. Anni Dewani's family have since told the press, that if she had known about his bisexuality, she would never have married him- and they would not have allowed it.
For me, the case illuminates British-Asian society's obsession with presenting a respectable and conventional appearance- because homosexuality is largely a taboo. As a British-Asian woman, I've witnessed the impact of the secrecy required to maintain that respectable facade. And I've written about it, in novels such as The Coral Strand. Though the theme of secrecy also exists in books such as Brick Lane, The Year of the Runaways and the play Calcutta Kosher, I believe only the surface has been scratched in British Asian literature, with writers concentrating on themes of migration and racism.
Advertisement
The British-Asian community has existed for three or four generations now, but many of its traditions and customs have frozen in time; they're still the same as when the first generation came. Despite this, the ambitions and dreams of younger generations have moved on. Whilst still wanting to be part of their communities, being loyal and respectful to their families, they often find themselves torn and conflicted. As a young man said to me, 'now we have more secrets than ever.' There are people who lead double lives, have secret boyfriends, girlfriends, marriages; secrets about their sexuality and beliefs. Secret children even, as a woman wrote in to the secrets project I began, 'With my partner for seven years. Knew family would never accept him. When had my baby, heart broken in 2. I visit my family, pretend everything normal. Rush back to feed my child.'
When I talked to friends about secrets and British-Asians, this is what they said: 'We're taught to please others, which is why we have white lies and secrets.' 'We're taught to fit in with family and society. Not to question it.' 'It's a blame culture, there always has to be a scapegoat, so people protect themselves.' 'It's a macho culture, and men keep each other's secrets.' 'Women are taught not to speak their minds and feelings are never discussed.' Could it be that honour killings happen when women have secretly followed their feelings and fallen in love? 'Murdered by MyFather,' a drama written by Vinay Patel, aired on the BBC in March 2016, telling the story of just such an honour killing.
Secrets are a potent subject for writers and artists. Secrets make the impossible, possible, by subverting the rules, breaking taboos - as the women in my novel, The Coral Strand do - in the end the secrets have to come out, bringing resolution and redemption.
Advertisement
I was inspired to start the British-Asian Secrets project, by the PostSecret community art project created in the United States by Frank Warren, in which he invited people to decorate a card and write a secret. A decade on, the PostSecret project has produced books and exhibitions. The art and the secrets touch the heart: tender, painful and light-hearted they add to the sum of human experience; make a plea for acceptance of our darker and nobler sides, reveal conscience and guilt, sin and goodness. The priest, who draws a collar and writes across it that some days it feels more like a noose, is expressing far more than mere words, capturing our hearts and minds with his anguish and insight.
Secrets, shared anonymously, can connect us, show us our common humanity, and lead to discussion, awareness, evolution. The very processes which art aims to provoke, and which could create new understanding in British-Asian society.
Reference
This post was broadcast on the BBC World Service: The Cultural Frontline http://bbc.in/1OP0yoY
http://www.ravinderrandhawa.com/brit-asians-lets-talk-secrets/
Graffiti artist Marck Emaya is a Fine Arts student at Dar al-Kalima University College Arts and Culture in Bethlehem. From childhood he was fascinated with art and in particular graffiti.
Enticed by the colours he saw on walls in the movies he watched with his family, he became addicted and decided he was going to create art of his own. Along with being art student, Emaya spends time teaching children (and even some of their parents) how to draw and paint at the school next door to his university.
In an email exchange before we met one sunny day in his studio, Emaya told me how he uses a surrealist thinking to create his concepts, then mixes abstract and classic art in his paintings. The premise behind his work is to get people to recognise Palestinians as humans and not as terrorists or expendable numbers.
Advertisement
Perception Problem
Emaya explains that the perception problem is two-fold. First is how Palestinians see themselves:
"If you look at people in Palestine, they don't think of themselves as humans and are always looking for ways to prove that they are humans. But who has the authority to tell them whether or not are they are human? We may have different colour skin and speak different languages but put religion aside, put politics aside, put all the bullsh*t aside and you will see in the end we are all human."
Second is how Palestinians are perceived by others. The "Palestinians are terrorists" narrative is having grave impacts on Palestinian lives. Emaya spoke of how others profusely stare at him and his beard as though he is a terrorist. This is especially the case when he travels to other places through Jordon. "The entire journey they watch me. I'm going to keep my beard and break the image they have made of us."
Rethinking Resistance
I asked if he feels the occupation affects his education. He explains he is only able to paint from what he sees: "I cannot paint an angel if I do not see one." The same goes with the sea. Emaya was unable to see the sea until he traveled to study in Greece two years ago - even then it was not in his own land. It was apparent that the restriction of movement and the limitations placed on Emaya play on his mind.
Advertisement
This painting is called "Resistance" and hangs on the studio wall. It conveys the transition that occurs during occupation when human lives become numbers. "When you hear of people dying in the news, you often hear that "1000 have been killed" but there are no real feelings in that number." In this painting Emaya also explains that to simply exist is not enough. To merely be there is a statue stance - so he has painted them as statues. Movement is freedom.
Critical Concepts
Emaya is critical of violent movements saying that Palestinians too are doing bad things along with the occupation. He condemns stone-throwing and believes that the most powerful form of resistance is seeking education and knowledge.
His favorite work is this painting:
A long sketchbook filled with drawings is shown to us too. The concept in these works is to show a human changing to a beast. This proved challenging because changing the figure makes it looks like another creature. So he retained and accentuated core facial features: eyes, nose and mouth to make it more realistic. "Our mouth is always open and our tongue is out, this is to show how we talk but we don't always think."
Emaya explains that if people want to look at Palestine they cannot just look at the Palestine today but must look through the history- what has happened, who has been present and try not to only listen to Palestinians stories but the Israelis stories too before making up your own mind.
Advertisement
The message Emaya wants to leave is this:
"Just look at us as humans, deal with us as humans, and that's all I want. If you deal with me that way, I'll be very proud"
I want to muscle in on the latest playground scrap. After MP Matt Hancock suggested employers weed out privileged job applicants by asking them if they were privately educated, headteachers of some of Britain's top independent schools, including Eton and Westminster, have accused politicians - and the media that reported his thoughts so widely - of being "rude" about them.
Rude? I'm not sure, but ridiculous it certainly is. Hancock, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, hits the nail on the head when he says asking people where they were schooled is the "last workplace taboo". Asking questions about a candidate's background should be as taboo as querying their sexuality, religion or political leanings. Whether they went private or not, it should be kept private. After all, the decision was completely out of their hands.
Advertisement
Surely holding someone responsible for a choice made by their parent or guardian, years or decades before, is the antithesis of social mobility and free movement. Keeping a person out of a job because of their background is just as narrow-minded as gifting someone the chairmanship of a company because their father held it before them.
As a recruiter, I want the best candidate for the role, irrespective of whether or not they wore boaters to school. Will I be forced to reject the most able applicant for a less remarkable person because their parents paid for their education instead of relying on the state? Isn't this the same as overlooking an excellent female because I worry she may take time off to have babies and settling for a second-rate male instead. It's dangerous ground.
Am I then meant to check up if an applicant with a hint of a plum in their voice swears blind they were educated at the local comprehensive? As Jeffrey Archer - who claimed wrongly to have a degree from Oxford University - and Iain Duncan Smith, who pretended to have studied at the University of Perugia, can testify, CVs are not always documents of truth.
I agree that there is an imbalance in the world of employment. Only seven per cent of the population is privately educated, which means the vast majority is not. And yet this tiny percentage continues to dominate high-earning, well-respected professions. In February, the social mobility charity the Sutton Trust released a report called Leading People 2016, which revealed that industries such as law, medicine and journalism were full of people who went to fee-paying schools. Half of our best-loved actors are privately educated and it's a fact that most trophy cabinets full of Oscars and Baftas can be found in mansions, not council houses.
Advertisement
But with the finger of blame pointed at independent schools, its leaders have come out fighting. In a letter to yesterday's Sunday Times, 12 headteachers of leading schools joined forces to claim that their seats of learning - arguably the most exclusive in the country - were "deeply committed to accessibility" and boasted "plenty of pupils from ordinary backgrounds." Although they didn't name names (no snitches here), it was a clear swipe at Hancock's idea that if employers checked the "socio-economic background" of interviewees, it would no longer discriminate against those from poorer families.
"Independent schools cannot solve all educational and social problems," wrote the headteachers before pointing out that "a quarter of pupils are on assisted places" and almost all independent schools "work in their communities...sharing teachers and facilities...and running programmes...that enrich lives and raise aspirations." So, by taking the money from the 'haves', they are able to give something back to the 'have nots'. Robin Hood would be proud. Isn't it better to give some poor children access to the very best that money can buy rather than not allowing anyone to have it?
Before I sign off, it's worth pointing out that, according to the Sutton Trust, another profession dominated by graduates of independent schools is politics. Half of David Cameron's cabinet was privately educated - including Hancock who is an alumnus of The King's School, Chester. I can't imagine his first employer bothered asking him about his education. They didn't need to - it was his family's computer software business.
Young people today are more outward looking, more independent and more internationalist than ever before. A trip across the Pond or backpacking South East Asia is routine for many compared to the big adventure that was travelling all the way across the Channel on a rusty car ferry to Belgium when I was a 'restless teenager.' Beyond the international languages of English and technology the thirsts in our schools is for Mandarin and Arabic, not the declining European languages of French and German.
As the most powerful generation ever, today's young people can harness the influence of technology and digital communication to support campaign groups across the globe, forcing multinational companies to change their employment practices in developing countries or shaming distant regimes for their human rights abuses. They shop globally and debate globally.
Advertisement
To a young person setting up home today it appears incorrigible that when I was doing the same back in the 1980s I had no choice but to pay the Government for my electricity supply, gas, water, air tickets and telephone - often having to go on a long waiting list for the privilege of just getting connected. The large centralised structure that was Government had a say, and a controlling one, in so many aspects of our lives.
The successor to that central controlling structure today is the EU. A body that was fashioned against the backdrop of declining imperial powers, being replaced by trading blocs and artificial political alliances - the most notorious of which was the Soviet Union - was created at the height of the Cold War. It decides what is best for our environment, for our agricultural systems, our regulations for businesses, access to our energy resources, the size of the font on our chewing gum wrappers and most absurdly recently that tampons should be taxed as a luxury item! Individual governments are relatively powerless to make changes; the Commission and the 33,000 expanding and well paid workforce are unelected and largely unidentifiable so what hope can ordinary young people have to make a difference?
A third of the EU Budget is taken up with regional aid and cohesion fund to help poorer areas - only a small fraction of which benefits the UK. Alarmingly, if this is such an important and effective part of the EU, why is youth unemployment in Greece 52%, Spain 46% and Italy 37%? Indeed, a direct result of the constraints of the Euro imposed on some of the weaker Eurozone economies has been to undermine the life chances of young people. In Greece for example a fifth of pupils are educated in schools short of heating and lighting, whilst no school has been built or renovated since 2006.
Advertisement
In short, young people across the EU are paying the price of the failed Euro experiment. The EU is the world's only shrinking trading bloc - accounting for just 60% of the world's economy that it enjoyed back in 1990. Free movement of labour is a founding principle of the EU and has its advantages, but when there is such a disconnect between the economies of Eastern Europe and the UK the inevitable mass migration of people northwards (and we have just seen the latest figures revealing net migration here at 330,000 over the last year) impacts on the job opportunities of our young people.
The UK Government just cannot control EU migration therefore it is the non-EU migrants who are discriminated against in order to try to manage down the figures to sustainable levels. That means that a bright electrical engineer from India or a medic from the Philippines will often be passed over in favour of a second best equivalent who just happens to live in the EU. That is not fair for other people wanting to come here and does not help our own economy. It also lessens the opportunities for our own students wanting to study and work abroad beyond the EU, when we could have trading agreements with the growing economies of the world, particularly in South East Asia, and reciprocal arrangements to encourage mutual exchange. We only have to look at the new focus of US investment and defence policy which is much more geared to the Pacific Rim and away from the old Atlantic Alliances to see where the future lies.
One in 12 of the world's population is an Indian under the age of 28. That is where the future lies. Yet we cannot negotiate our own trade agreements with the great growing economies like India without the EU and they have just spent 9 years failing to negotiate an EU-India trade deal. What a wasted opportunity for our young people whose future may lie beyond fortress Europe or at least benefit from closer ties. Disgracefully the EU is not a free trade area but a protective customs union that imposes some of the highest tariffs on some of the world's poorest countries, who need trade with the West to lift themselves out of poverty.
This protectionist isolationism benefits the existing elites, who fear that the ingenious flair of new inventions, companies and services that our school leavers and graduates are creating might jeopardize their position. They therefore lobby to keep things more or less as they are. If we vote to leave we can unleash the amazing creative talents of our young people working up and down the country in new and exciting industries. We can reconnect with the rest of the world and do away with trade barriers with some of our closest businesses partners in the USA, Australia, India and the rest of the old Commonwealth, increasing wealth and opportunity for all.
Advertisement
We are constantly told about the learning opportunities that the EU has opened up. Try telling that to a UK student paying for tuition fees against an EU undergraduate who, in Scotland for example, can pay nothing. We just this week heard that more than 12,000 EU graduates studying in the UK have 'gone missing' after leaving British universities owing a total of 89m. That is 89m of UK taxpayers' money that could be helping to keep our fees down and courses open.
The Erasmus programme is often held up as a benefit to young people of being in the EU and without doubt it is a fantastic opportunity for students to study around the continent. However, what needs to be made absolutely clear, is that it is not an EU-only scheme; Macedonia, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Turkey can fully take part in all Erasmus actions, whilst other European countries, including Russia, Moldova and Serbia, as well as others not even on the European continent, such as Israel and Egypt, can take part in aspects of the scheme. The UK, with its rich history in academia and cultural heritage with our continental neighbours, would almost certainly maintain its current Erasmus arrangements if we were to leave the EU. Indeed, the UK could well make it more attractive for students to travel abroad and provide secure and stable funding, which is something that the Erasmus programme currently does not have, particularly given attempts just last year to cut the Erasmus programme's funding in order to finance Jean-Claude Juncker's spending spree.
There has also been some scaremongering that current EU funding for youth services in the UK will disappear if we vote to leave on 23 June. Not surprisingly these fears have been raised by the very organisations that receive EU grants. The truth is that the money we receive from the EU is our own money simply recycled around the labyrinthine corridors in Brussels and then reallocated by some anonymous committee of Eurocrats. With this in mind, there is no reason that the UK government would not continue to fund schemes that it thought worthwhile with the 10 billion independence dividend of repatriated British taxpayers' money. Indeed, the newly independent UK could invest more into youth services, as well as in other worthy areas of public policy.
So for young people with their whole future ahead of them it must be increasingly obvious that a vote to remain in the EU is a step back into the past, shackling ourselves to a constrictive Big Brother Leviathan that is so odds with the freedoms, innovation and internationalism that young people take for granted today. A vote to Leave on 23 June is a vote to expand our horizon and reacquaint ourselves with the 6.9billion of the world's population who do not have the privilege of an EU passport.
Advertisement
Tim Loughton is the Conservative MP for East Worthing and Shoreham
The fundamental problem with the European Union - and why people should vote to leave it on June 23rd - is that it is undemocratic. The executive of the EU is the European Commission. We have never voted the members of this body into power, nor can we vote to remove them. Rather, they are appointed to their role. At the same time, the European Parliament - the only part of the EU that is directly elected by the people of Europe - is a toothless parliament that is unable to propose laws and legislation.
Democracy, in practical terms, means that people get to elect those who propose and decide the laws that govern them. Democracy means that those with the power to formulate the laws that govern a certain territory must face regular elections, voted in by the inhabitants of said territory. The power and unelected nature of the Commission means that the EU is undemocratic.
Those that wish to stay in the EU respond to this fact by pointing out that the European Commission is collectively appointed by nationally elected governments from each member state, and that the European Parliament has the ability to amend and block legislation. This is all true. But this still does not make the EU democratic.
Advertisement
The point is that laws within the EU do not emanate from representatives of the people, but appointed technocrats. That is not democratic. None of us has the power to select or dismiss these commissioners. They do not formulate law as representatives of the demos. They face no threat of being dismissed by the electorate, should they propose laws we do not like.
The appointment system is intended to insulate them from the supposed wild passions of the electorate. This is the theoretical justification for how the EU works. And it is plainly undemocratic. Why else is the EU structured so as not to allow direct representatives of the people, selected through the ballot box, to propose policy? In a democratic system, we elect representatives to formulate law on our behalf, not to outsource that power to someone else on their behalf.
The fact that the European Parliament can amend and vote against legislation is also insufficient. What kind of a parliament is unable to propose legislation? What we have here is an unelected body proposing laws and a parliament that is then allowed to look over and try to amend those laws. This reduces a parliament to simply a watchdog over an unelected executive - in this case, the European Commission. The elected representatives merely have a chance to "participate" in lawmaking; they do not have overriding authority. Sovereignty - or supreme authority - is not with the people.
Hillary Clinton secured her partys nomination for president and wed like to use this historic moment to denounce, in no uncertain terms, the word clinch." Donald Trump's campaign released a statement about the Gonzalo Curiel matter, and not since Trump University has the candidate been associated with something so devoid of content. And maybe it's just us, but as congressional Republicans strain to find something redeeming in Trump, their statements are reminding us more and more of interviews with death row inmates' mothers. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Tuesday, June 7th, 2016:
TRUMP RELEASES CURIEL STATEMENT - Not dictated, possibly not even read -- Donald J. Trump: "It is unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage. I am friends with and employ thousands of people of Mexican and Hispanic descent. The American justice system relies on fair and impartial judges. All judges should be held to that standard. I do not feel that ones heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial."
MCCONNELL ADDS TO GOP CONDEMNATION OF TRUMP'S STATEMENTS ON MINORITIES - Sounds like his goal is to make Donald Trump a one-term president. Mike McAuliff: "For Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Donald Trumps insults aimed at minorities and others the intemperate business tycoon considers enemies amount to a message problem. McConnell recently said that he voted against archconservative Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election because Goldwater opposed the Civil Rights Act. Goldwaters racism cost the GOP the support of African-American voters for generations, and McConnell said that it could happen again with Trump and Latino voters. But asked Tuesday how he squared that with still supporting Trump, McConnell merely repeated his warning. 'I was worried that we would do to the Latino vote what was done to the African-American vote by defining our party in such a way that we could not reach out to what has become the nations largest minority group,' McConnell told reporters on Capitol Hill. 'So I am worried about that. I said that last week and I say it again today.'" [HuffPost]
HUNT FOR POLITICO'S NEXT EDITOR UNDERWAY - [daenerys voice] Hot takes do not burn the dragon [/daenerys voice] Michael Calderone: "Several journalists have so far been considered for the job, one of the most influential in coverage of politics and policy in Washington. Candidates have included Politico national editor Kristin Roberts, Politico Europe managing editor Carrie Budoff Brown, Bloomberg News Washington managing editor (and former Politico managing editor) Craig Gordon, and Daily Beast executive editor Noah Shachtman, sources said. Gordon and Shachtman declined to comment. Management also approached former Politico reporter and current BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith early on in the search process, but Smith indicated he wasnt interested in returning, according to sources." [HuffPost]
Advertisement
KIRK SAYS HE WON'T ENDORSE TRUMP - Too bad David French isn't running. Kirk's statement: "While I oppose the Democratic nominee, Donald Trump's latest statements, in context with past attacks on Hispanics, women and the disabled like me, make it certain that I cannot and will not support my party's nominee for president regardless of the political impact on my candidacy or the Republican Party."
Kirk previously sang a different tune.
@mkraju: MARK KIRK says he will write in "Petraeus" when he votes this fall and definitely won't vote for Hillary
Advertisement
Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? Get your own copy. It's free! Sign up here. Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill
PAUL RYAN, THAT GUY I'M SUPPORTING SURE WAS BEING RACIST, HUH? - But it's cool, because the House speaker visited Anacostia that time! Matt Fuller: "House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) had harsh words Tuesday for Donald Trumps comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel, calling out the presumptive GOP nominee for racist comments while simultaneously reaffirming that his endorsement of Trump stands. At an outdoor press conference set up to discuss the rollout of an anti-poverty plan, Ryan was asked if Trumps repeated statements that Curiel should be disqualified from overseeing a Trump University case because of his Mexican heritage had made him regret his recent endorsement of Trump. 'I disavow those comments. I regret those comments that he made,' Ryan said. 'Claiming a person cant do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment,' Ryan said. 'I think that should be absolutely disavowed. Its absolutely unacceptable.'" [HuffPost]
Excellent surrogating: "Donald Trump may be doubling down on his controversial comments about a Mexican-American judge, but theyre causing significant heartburn for even his strongest supporters who are having to answer for them Anderson himself invoked Trumps comments about U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel; NPR host Renee Montagne did not specifically ask about them. But he then bristled when Montagne pressed him more on whether Trumps remarks were racist and accused her of conducting an 'ambush interview.'" [HuffPost's Amanda Terkel]
BERNIE'S DONOR LIST TOTALLY IN TOP ONE PERCENT - A lot of people giving $27. Shane Goldmacher: "For all the chatter about who will get ahold of Bernie Sanders powerful email list of donors, one group already has it along with the names, credit card numbers and addresses of the vast majority of his nearly 2.5 million donors. Its called ActBlue, a nonprofit little known outside the cloistered world of digital political circles that serves as the unsung central hub of donating via the Web for Democrats everywhere. And the fact that Sanders used the platform and that ActBlue gets to keep a database of Sanders supporters who collectively pumped more than $200 million into his campaign is expected to redound to the benefit of down-ballot Democrats, from small-town council candidates to incumbent U.S. senators, all across the country." [Politico]
Advertisement
REPUBLICANS HAVING HARD TIME ATTRACTING TALENT - As long as the GOP doesn't lose Scott, we're sure its outreach efforts will be fine. Adrian Carrasquillo: "Last week, news about the Republican National Committees struggles hit in quick succession. First, the RNCs Hispanic media director left to work on down-ballot races because of discomfort with Donald Trump. Then, the person filling the role, Helen Aguirre-Ferre a seasoned journalist and commentator had spent months slamming Trump for his comments about Latinos and immigrants, violence at his rallies, and past positions out of step with conservative values. But Aguirre-Ferre wasnt the only person approached for that job, according to a source familiar with the proceedings. Mario Lopez, president of the Hispanic Leadership Fund, was spoken to regarding the role. He decided it wasnt a good fit, the source said." [BuzzFeed]
Explaining away your nominee's racist statements with the same tone you would use to explain away the behavior of someone who just had back surgery is not a good sign: "Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on Tuesday defended Donald Trump as a "first-time candidate" amid swirling criticism from Republicans of the presumptive GOP nominee's racially charged rhetoric. 'Be nice to him, he's a first-time candidate,' Hatch told members of the media in Washington, according to reporters, adding that Trump is 'going to make mistakes.'" [The Hill's Jesse Byrnes]
WHY DIDN'T THIS HAPPEN SOONER? - A Donald Trump / Dick Morris partnership has all of the cosmic predetermination of a lousy romcom. Gabriel Sherman: "According to two sources with direct knowledge of the talks, the Trump campaign is in discussions with Dick Morris, the former Clinton adviser turned Clinton nemesis, about joining the campaign as a strategist. Morris would 'join the Hillary unit,' one source explained. 'Its on the table,' a senior Trump adviser added. 'Some of the most important info about the Clintons is 20 years old.' Whether a deal is imminent isn't clear. Morris did not respond to requests for comment. Trump spokesperson Hope Hicks did not respond to a request either." [NYMag]
Advertisement
WHO PRESIDENT TRUMP WOULD APPOINT TO THE SUPREME COURT - Stephanie Mencimer: "If a Republican (even Donald Trump) appoints the next Supreme Court justice, he won't be looking for another Roberts, Kennedy, or even Scalia. Instead, he will seek another Samuel Alitowhose rulings on issues from abortion to unions to affirmative action never deviate from the conservative line. 'They'd like to have another justice who is perceived as having the intellect of Scalia, the writing skills of Scalia,' explains Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California-Irvine law school, who testified against Alito's nomination. 'But in terms of votes, they'd like to have Alito. He is in every case, in every area, a conservative. If you want to know his judicial philosophy, just look at the Republican Party platform.'" [Mother Jones]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here's a hungover baby.
GARY JOHNSON WON'T GET STONED IN THE WEST WING - Besides, coke leaves your system WAYYY faster. Jonathan Easley: "[Johnson] talked openly about his own marijuana use, telling The Hill that he has used the drug recreationally 'as recently as a month ago.' But he said he wouldnt be using it going forward during his campaign or if he wins the White House. 'The notion of getting that call at midnight or two oclock people need to know theres a firm voice on the other side,' he said. Johnson, who does not drink, argued that legalizing marijuana would lead to less substance abuse overall because its a 'a safer alternative than everything else out there, starting with alcohol.'" [The Hill]
COMFORT FOOD
- The most poetic Guy Fieri video you're going to see this week.
- Elephant is a bold crossing guard.
- Guys, stop placing your hands over your crotch.
TWITTERAMA
@KenJennings: Hey California, the rest of us voted months ago. I finally saw Deadpool but I'm not tweeting about it all day.
@JuddLegum: Not a GOP strategist but I'd pick just one of these messages:
1. Trump is a racist
2. I support Trump
he's a birther!"
"PC libtard"
"mexican rapists!
"meh"
"banning muslims!"
"it's only temporary"
"mexican judge."
new phone who dis
Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com) or Arthur Delaney (arthur@huffingtonpost.com). Follow us on Twitter @HuffPostHill (twitter.com/HuffPostHill).
Customer support has never been more important. More and more often, customers that give negative feedback are moving to other companies. If you want to master the art of persuasion, you need to take into account what your target audience is saying about you.
You need to produce meaningful content, act on customer feedback and respond to inquiries promptly. Now is the time to reimagine how you support customers. This guide is going to show you give of the reasons why.
Customer Expectations Have Risen
Social media means that customers have the power to bring down companies by sharing their negative experiences. This is a negative form of
that you can do nothing about. As you likely already understand, customers are used to getting what they want.
The statistics say that 82% of CEOs claim that customer expectations are higher than they were three years ago. Customers want to be treated like royalty. The saying that the customer is always right is still incorrect, but if you want their business you best adhere to it anyway.
Advertisement
Companies are Fighting on Experience
The battlefield has moved away from products and now
. The number of companies doing this is rising. Customer support is almost as important as a quality product. With customer support importance on the rise, you need to think about whether you are doing your best to support customers.
And this doesn't just apply when you talk to them directly. It's about fulfilling their expectations. For example, if nobody seems to care about your philanthropic efforts, stop posting blogs about it. Or think about ways that you can make them care.
Conduct regular customer research to find out about what customers really want.
Support is a Part of the Product
Customer support used to be something kept entirely separate from the product. Today it should be part of the product itself. Your
through providing seamless support free of charge at all times.
Even smaller companies have to do that these days. One example of a company doing this well is Amazon. They introduced the Amazon Mayday button, so customers can get help regardless of the webpage they are on. The key to this is that it's everywhere and they don't have to wait to actually get that support.
One way you can make customer support part of your product is to place your support center in both the header and footer of your website. Within this support center, you can include helpful links to other pages of your website, or even to helpful external websites.
Customers Will Pay More for a Better Experience
Doing business online used to be about a race to the bottom. The cheapest company that still offered a good product tended to win. Today that's not the case because most
. For a company, this means they have to have a minimum level of customer support.
Armed with this information, you have an opportunity to generate more business. Introducing tiered customer support levels can act as an extra income stream.
Advertisement
Experiences are No Longer Reactive
Think of the traditional customer service support button and it was always reactive. You acted when someone asked you a question. This is a prime example of reacting to situations as they happen.
Many organizations realized this was a problem. It means that problems have to happen before you can start to act. But what if you could solve problems before they actually happened? Proactive customer service saves a lot of time and effort.
For example, sign-on technology is starting to turn proactive. If the customer can't log in, it will automatically take them to the relevant page where they can retrieve a new password. The customer didn't have to do anything to actually get there. It's a form of proactive help that is going to generate customer appreciation.
And it's all happening because companies are more willing to adopt the latest technology.
Conclusion
You need to rethink the way you deliver customer service. No longer has it become an added extra it's become a part of the fabric of every company. Fail on this front and you are going to lose out to your competitors, regardless of how awesome your product is or how much of a
you are.
When I was 22, I moved to Rome on my own. I had fallen in love with the city while on holiday, and had been inspired by meeting a young woman in a hostel. After her marriage ended she'd decided to start a new life in Rome, and she was staying in the hostel until she found a flat, while looking for work as an English teacher. Why shouldn't I do the same?
While still in London, I searched for flat shares and teaching jobs, and fantasized about my new life -- a dolce vita of sunshine, fantastic food, and beauty everywhere. Meanwhile my mother, who was less enthusiastic about my decision, reminded me about practical things like contracts and insurance, and all the new things I'd have to buy. There was no way I could fit my whole life into the single 23 kg suitcase allowed by British Airways. "Why don't I come with you?" my mother suggested. "That way you can bring more things. Though of course, the stuff for the kitchen will be too heavy. We'll have to buy that there. Where can you buy frying pans in Rome?"
Although it was a little disappointing to have my bid for independence supervised by my mother, overall I was relieved. Aside from the benefit of being able to bring two big suitcases (and double the hand luggage), I was glad to know that my mother would be keeping me company for my first few days in Rome. It made the impending move seem much less daunting, and it was useful to have someone else keeping track of practical things, and helping with the packing.
Advertisement
Packing your life into two suitcases is not easy. I have no idea how I'd have managed with one. I'm not the most minimalist of people, and I wanted to somehow fit my entire bedroom in the suitcase. In the end I settled for hiding a few books in-between the clothes, hoping they wouldn't weigh too much. I was so concerned about bringing my favourite books and pictures to decorate my new room that I nearly forgot about more essential items such as documents and medication. In hindsight, having some kind of useful moving checklist would have helped.
A few days later, my mother and I -- and our luggage -- were in a tiny, prison-like bedroom in Rome. There were bars on the window, and a bed which, when folded down, took up all the floor space. I was either in the bed or out of the room, as there was literally no other space. As my mother and I began the laborious process of unpacking, and trying to find a place for my smuggled books, I found myself regretting my impulsive decision to take the first flat I'd found.
I had become fixated on the idea of living in Testaccio, a down-to-earth neighbourhood on the edge of the city centre. As strange as it may sound, the main reason is that I wanted to live close to the Protestant Cemetery. It's one of the most beautiful, peaceful places in Rome, and my two favourite poets (Keats and Shelley) are both buried there. Reading Rachel Roddy's food blog Rachel Eats had also made Testaccio sound enticing, as an authentic, unpretentious Roman neighbourhood with a lively market and some of the best places to eat in Rome.
So, when I saw an affordable room in the neighbourhood of my dreams, I leapt at the chance. At the beginning, I was so happy to be in Rome - and Testaccio - that I was prepared to overlook the flat's shortcomings. It didn't matter if my room was a bit on the small side, or if there was no proper shower cubicle, or if the drains got blocked and flooded my bedroom occasionally...And, no, I didn't speak enough Italian to be able to successfully communicate with my flatmates or my landlord, but that was all right. Things would get better, piano piano.
Advertisement
I can still vividly remember those first few days in Rome -- the heat and the torrential rain; a visit to the Colosseum and a trip to the department store to buy new pillows. In a foreign setting, the most mundane tasks took on a strange kind of significance. A search for kitchenware acquires a certain kind of glamour when it involves a walk through the centro storico of Rome, past Baroque churches and Renaissance palazzi.
From our morning cappuccino at Linari till last thing at night, my mother and I were always together. She paid for our meals, bought me kitchen supplies and blankets, and reminded me to sort out practicalities like buying a new phone and getting a codice fiscale. While I walked around with my head in the clouds, she was always more alert, and on one occasion quickly steered us away from a would-be-flasher on the Aventine Hill. I had bought mosquito spray, but unfortunately there's no deterrent for perverts.
Despite my excitement about my new life in Rome, my mother's imminent departure seemed to hang over us like a Roman storm cloud. One of the many reasons I'd moved to Rome was that I'd wanted to leave home, become more independent, and start feeling like an adult, but doing that involved saying goodbye. I got a lump in my throat just thinking about it, and began to dread the inevitable moment.
It came on the platform of Ostiense, with the arrival of the train that would take her to the airport. We hugged goodbye and both cried. I've cried in front of her countless times, but it was the first time I could remember seeing her cry. Her tears made it seem so much worse, confirming that it was a real goodbye, and not just me being sentimental.
A couple of years later, we talked about that farewell at Ostiense. "I felt terrible," she said, "As though I was abandoning you. Leaving you alone in a foreign country where you didn't know anyone, in that horrible flat..."
Advertisement
Everyone talks about the practical difficulties of moving abroad -- packing, finding a job, finding a flat, dealing with bureaucracy and learning the language. But for me, nothing compared to that goodbye. Although I didn't feel abandoned, it was the loneliest I'd ever felt, and it's only in hindsight that I can understand why everyone kept telling me that I was "brave" to move to Rome on my own. It does take courage to start a new life abroad, knowing that you're separated from your family by the entire country of France.
Bill de Blasio could well be the most mired mayor in New York City history. As the subject of multiple investigations at the state and federal level, he's not just tabloid fodder. The daily punch lines call "Crime Time for Blaz," and "deBacle." But the New York Post may not have to superimpose de Blasio's head on an image of a shackled prisoner in an orange jumpsuit much longer. He could very well be facing criminal charges while in office, which would make this one of the biggest controversies in New York City political history: the takedown of the Mayor.
The big question is, will he be charged and if so, when? The answer is simple. When the feds find a rat. Ironically, one of the potential rats could be the maker of mint-scented, rat-proof trash bags. Joseph Dussich struggled for a decade to get the approval of the city for his vermin-inspired invention. As it happens, after making a massive donation to Bill de Blasio's non-profit, the "Campaign for One New York," wham, bam, thank you ma'am, Mint-X bags won a multi-million dollar contract with the city. You may call it corruption because it reeks worse than Central Park's horse-drawn carriages. While law enforcement tries to subversively complete lengthy probes into multiple scandals, de Blasio is trying to peg his current quagmire on a vendetta-filled attack by "political frenemies," including Governor Cuomo. When the Beautiful Mind conspiracy theories get old, his press machine sends him around town to butcher Chick-Fil-A 's reputation as a distraction method.
Advertisement
But, truth be told, the FBI, Manhattan District Attorney and U.S. Attorney's Office would not be teaming up unless there was a there there. How can we be sure that de Blasio isn't going to be unjustly persecuted? After all, when it comes to the rumors that he turned county committees into slush funds by siphoning inordinate amounts of money to political candidates, several politicians rushed to his defense. "This happens all the time," was the general rebuttal. How can you prove it was to get around campaign finance laws, when surely politicians get money all the time from county committees for their campaigns? And, de Blasio's alleged scheme to try to get more democrats elected in 2014? Well, that's not really an illegal scheme at all. Most politicians advocate for their comrades to rule the chambers - it's called political expediency.
These arguments struck a chord with me. So, I endeavored to find out, why is this different? Is de Blasio attracting unwelcome attention because one of his frenemies is out to get him? Is the Mayor being set-up? It took me all of ten minutes to reach my conclusion. Sometimes the crux of the crime is its clumsiness. If you stuff a CVS candy bar in your bag, you'll probably successfully sneak it into a theater, but if you try to walk into a stadium waving the same Snickers you're asking for trouble. Thus, I realized, the de Blasio saga is a remake of Take the Money and Run. As you'll recall in the movie, bumbling crook Virgil Starkwell approaches a bank teller with an illegible note.
Bank Teller 1: Does this look like "gub" or "gun?"
Bank Teller 2: "Gun. See? But what's "abt" mean?"
Virgil Starkwell: It's "act." A-C-T. Act natural. Please put fifty thousand dollars into this bag and act natural."
Advertisement
Bank Teller 1: "Oh I see. This is a holdup?"
Now let's run through the "de Blasio remake" as hypothetically filmed in 2014 -- de Blasio replaces Woody Allen as Starkwell. Starkwell, one eyebrow raised, says to aide: "look up the chintzy, obscure Putnam County Democratic Committee. How many donations has it received in the past 3-5 years?"
Aide: "Oh, approximately $30,000 in small donations $200, $500, $1,000, pretty low-key."
Starkwell: "Perfect. I have a great idea. I'm going to personally call my closest allies: unions, real estate developers and others who are easily traced back to me, and request close to $700,000 in contributions to that tiny Putnam County Committee in the span of two weeks. Then we will waste no time in siphoning the money to my preferred State Senate Candidates. No one will ever suspect I am trying to skirt campaign finance laws."
Aide: "But Starkwell, a quick trip over to the NY State Board of Elections Contributions website and a quick search of the Putnam and Ulster County Democratic Committees will surely tip people off to a flood of donations then dumped to your friends faster than bozo the clown dunked at the carnival."
Starkwell: Good point. Start preparing a smoke and mirrors smear campaign of Chick-Fil-A."
But Take the Money and Run the sequel doesn't end there. Campaign finance violations are only a crime at the state level. Starkwell is too shrewd to get stuck in shallow waters. To reach his full bumbling criminal potential he needs to sink himself. Scene two. Starkwell, caressing his chin, pontificates to aides: call up the contributors! After they donate anywhere between $50,000 and $100,000, let's get those gems a traceable quid pro quo. Around six to seven months after the nurses union donates, give them a nine-year contract with the city worth more than $500 million dollars and built-in raises of 2% a year! Approve the building plans for that real-estate developer Don Peebles. Less than two months after the donations from the 32BJ union, let's approve a $211 million dollar, nine-year city contract that gives 18% in raises to cleaners and handymen; and a month after that stinky, rat trash bag manufacturer gives us 100k, give that man a Parks Department partnership he'll never forget!
Aide: But Starkwell, surely a Google search will reveal the close proximity of city favors to the donors. Starkwell: Good point. Prepare an even bigger smoke and mirrors smear campaign of Chick-Fil-A!
So if the facts are all there online, and it looks, smells and scurries like a rat, then what's the problem? As several of my law enforcement friends concur, the satire can't reach it's climax until the feds find the pizza-eating rat. For any indictment and any conviction, the evidence must first substantiate the charge. Jumping to conclusions or filling in the blanks simply won't suffice when it comes to accusing the Mayor of New York of a crime. So the feds are talking to everyone and anyone: donors, aides and likely subpoenaing as much material as they can, including internal emails and phone records to find a smoking gun. To prove a true quid pro quo, they need proof that the Mayor made calls, asked for favors AND (here's the clincher) promised something in return for those contributions. This means something must have either been put in writing or there needs to be a few good rats to corroborate the corruption and charge de Blasio with a federal offense. Another common strategy is to build evidence against those closest to de Blasio: his trusted aides or the candidates he allegedly supported, and use that information to get them to strike a plea deal and rat out the boss.
That's what's surely going on right now people. It's a hunt for the rats, which makes this sort of like a game of Clue. Will the whistleblower be a disgruntled union insider? A trusted aide? A political peer? The Greek owner of Gristedes? Or how about that real estate developer, Peebles, who already frantically confessed to the press that de Blasio "pressured" him? Or, will the rat be the apropos mint-scented trash bag titan? We shall see.
Recently the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its final rules on methane emissions. The rules aim to crack down on leaked emissions of methane from new sources of oil and gas production, processing and transmission equipment. The new rules also represent the first time the EPA has directly addressed methane pollution. This is a critical component to the White House's goal of cutting methane emissions from oil and gas companies by 40 to 45 percent by 2025. It is also a critical component of moving towards a future based on clean energy.
While these rules cover the upstream oil and gas industry, they are significant for the electric power sector too. Electricity generation is the largest end-use for natural gas, and between 2000 and 2015, the share of U.S. electricity generated by natural gas more than doubled from 16% to 33%. It might not be popular to say in some circles, but this is a good thing. Over the last decade, natural gas displacing coal has been the dominant factor in the decline of CO2 emissions in the power sector, which are now at a 27-year low.
In addition to lowering the emission rate of electricity production, natural gas power also supports the large-scale deployment of renewable energy. Just like you can effortlessly turn up or down the dial on a gas stove to adjust the flame, natural gas power plants can quickly adjust power output in sync with the natural variations of wind and solar energy. This is known as load-following, and it's what's necessary to avoid power outages and power surges. Nuclear and coal have far more limited load-following ability. And until the economics of large-scale battery storage improve, the flexibility provided by natural gas plants is the key to dramatically increasing wind and solar energy while maintaining grid reliability.
Advertisement
But here's the thing: between the gas well and the power plant, natural gas travels through a complex system of pipelines, compressors, storage tanks and processing equipment. Controlling methane emissions throughout that journey is a challenge that must be taken seriously. The recent EPA rules apply only to yet-to-be-built infrastructure. Looking ahead, the White House plans to propose regulations on existing infrastructure. These rules make sense even for producers. According to the White House fact sheet, "Reducing methane emissions means capturing valuable fuel that is otherwise wasted and reducing other harmful pollutants - a win for public health and the economy."
Sustainability is at the heart of the clean energy industry and we must support the EPA and the Administration in their implementation of key policies to address climate change, including responsible action towards a cleaner natural gas supply chain. This is how the foundation of the clean energy future gets built especially until the world can be powered 100% by renewable sources.
Have you ever come back from a family vacation feeling refreshed and rejuvenated? Where your kids had the time of their lives while being immersed in another culture? Last summer, my daughters, age 9 and 11, and I were invited to Me & Mom in Tuscany hosted by Maria Rocco, sister to celebrity chef, David Rocco, where we experienced a trip of a lifetime.
Maria Rocco created a very unique destination for moms to share memories with their children and, at the same time, each enjoying themselves with their own peers. She built on the kids' camp concept by providing moms, a luxurious get-away where they can relax in the beautiful setting of the Tuscan countryside with the Mediterranean beckoning in the distance and with full Italian culture and language immersion.
La Capitana - the Kid's Camp
While my kids enjoyed a week sleepover camp experience (with a full range of outdoor activities, sports, learning the Italian language, cooking workshops, and eating organic Italian food from local farmhouses - I could go on..) with other children from around the world, I was accommodated in a newly renovated and elegant agriturismo. An agriturismo is a style of vacationing in luxurious old farmhouses with a resort-like feeling. My agriturismo had both the appeal of a century old farmhouse with state of the art creature comforts. The mom's villa was a spacious eight bedroom villa with two completely separate living spaces to accommodate moms, like me, who may want their child to stay with them on occasion. It is surrounded by vineyards and olive groves where seven other moms and I indulged in yoga and cooking classes, outings to old estates for wine tastings, day trips to the seaside towns of Porto Ercole and Orbetello, as well as a shopping trip to Sienna.
Advertisement
My Youngest in front of her window in La Capitana
Upon our arrival, Maria, had a welcoming reception at the kid's camp, before the rest of the children (the camp holds 50 kids per week) arrived the next day. La Capitana, the children's agriturismo, is a massive eighteenth century farmhouse, with winding staircases inside and out with its very own chapel. This farmhouse sits on top of one of the green hills of Tuscany, overlooking the sea. That night we were able to meet the staff members of the camp. Besides the Director of the Kid's Camp, there are nine camp counsellors, two chefs and a property manager, as well as cleaning staff. Two of the counselors are Italian, one from New Zealand and the remainder are either from the USA or Canada and most counsellors were returning for their second and third year.
The reception was catered together by the kid's camp chef and the mom's villa's personal chef. Mom's beverages included Prosecco and other Italian wines, the spread was a nice introduction to traditional Italian fare. We soon learned that we would be making these recipes and more during our upcoming week with our chef, Maurizio.
The sunset were outstanding!
The evening ended with the most spectacular sunset I have ever seen (little did I know there would be one every single night I was there).
Advertisement
As I was meeting women from Italy, Canada, USA, Japan, Czechoslovakia and the Ukraine, my girls were meeting kids from all over the world as well. As the other children arrived for the week they were placed in age appropriate groups for activities and sleeping accommodations. Their days were filled with activities with two hours a day focusing on Italian and Italian cooking and culture. We were given their schedule so we would know when they would have a break for a visit if we were not busy ourselves.
It did not take my girls long to pick up some popular Italian phrases while I struggled with my ability to speak it. Luckily I did not have to rely on it! As I was basking in my own retreat, my daughters were having the time of their lives! I could faintly hear the laughter from children as I peered up into the distance to see La Capitana on the hill above us.
Maurizo serving Spritz cocktail poolside at the mom's villa
When we were not out on an excursion, the pool was my favorite place to be. And having Maurizio, our chef, bring us a chilled jug of Spritz cocktail, made with Prosecco and Campari, in the 36 degree Celsius temperature was an added bonus!
Sunset from the mom's villa
Each night we were served our dinner outside on a harvest table under a canopy of grape vines. This was truly the best time of the day for me - when the moms all came together to eat and enjoy the incredible food, the free flowing wine and the spectacular sunset that graced us each evening. Mornings usually started with a stimulating yoga class before our day began. Nothing in Italy is fast paced and I was able to savor the day as it was planned out for me.
The girls and me for a quick picture!
When I had down time I would wander up to the kid's camp just to see how my girls were doing. My 12 year had no time for barely a selfie with me as she had made friends quite quickly, in particular, a girl from Rome that she is still in contact with. My youngest one is more reserved and was happy to spend some time with me. We even had a sleepover one night in my room, which was really special for both of us. My youngest daughter, however, was eager to return back to the kid's camp the next morning, in fear of missing something.
Advertisement
My daughters with their new friends from Italy and the Ukraine and a camp counsellor
The symptoms of RSV in babies and children may look like the common cold, but there are a few additional things to watch out for, as well as ways to help prevent infection.
This review first appeared in the New York Journal of Books.
"The Smartest Places on Earth" by Antoine van Agtamael and Fred Bakker is a smart book.
It is also smartly timed. And the smartest thing it does is land right at the intersection of where three different critical and timely debates have converged.
One debate centers on the question of whether the industrialized world is in a phase of jobless growth, interspersed with no growth and even recession. Will we learn new skills and find new jobs or is this phase in reality a permanent state?
The second debate has been triggered by the recent excitement around the so-called "second machine age," involving various forms of automation and new technologies that are poised to take over the tasks historically performed by humans. Will we be freed up for leisure activity or will robots take our jobs?
Advertisement
The third debate revolves around the question of what might the implications--and reasons--be of a clearly measurable drop in productivity in the U.S. for the first time in more than three decades. When combined with the data from the rest of the industrialized world with parallel crises-- productivity growth in the Eurozone at 0.3 per cent and Japan at 0.4 per cent, which raises concerns about whether we are looking at a prolonged period of wage stagnation and economies struggling to support their already aging populations. Have the current round of technological revolutions been hyped up and cannot compare with the productivity gains of earlier industrial revolutions or have we yet not experienced the true impact of change that takes the accumulation of multiple generations of technologies?
Needless to say, these debates underpin the charged political climate in the U.S. and in many industrialized countries; there is a sense of growing pessimism about the ability of these formerly thriving societies to regenerate and reinvent themselves. There is a general sense fueling the political narrative that the industrialized world is getting older, jobless, and unequal.
In the midst of this overcast outlook, this book delivers a glimmer of hope. According to Agtmael and Bakker, the West will be the world's next emerging market; in fact, the many decaying rustbelts in places such as Akron or Eindhoven or Dresden are sources of future competitive advantage; they shall rise (or have already risen) as the next hubs of innovation and growth.
Advertisement
Why should we believe this? The logic seems intuitive enough. All the fallow resources left over from the decay of an industrial past are prime candidates for reuse. To this you add a few key ingredients: a major research university, a major corporation, an ecosystem built on trust and collaboration that also acts as a magnet for talent, a "connector," and a mystery ingredient that might best be described as the "prince's kiss," and voila: a new brainbelt awakes. This is the core message of the book.
While the authors have spent considerable time and energy visiting a multitude of putative brainbelt locations in the U.S. and Europe and talking to "hundreds of people," the argument is made inductively through a collection of case studies--many of which are explored at considerable depth.
The story of Akron going from tire capital to polymer capital or the Netherlands transforming from textiles to thermoplastics is repeated in many other locations documented in the book. The authors catalogue 59 such brainbelts and cover 10 of them in the book. One travels well as the chapters unfold, even if the journey does not necessarily take us to the most exciting of places.
While we can always quibble about the usefulness of stringing together a series of case studies and anecdotes into a larger theory with policy and investment implications, there is a conceptual framework underlying the book that makes me want to believe the authors' proposition.
In fact, I have made a similar case myself. In my article "Finding Competitive Advantage in Adversity" in the Harvard Business Review, I make the argument that adverse circumstances produce a situation where several resources remain underutilized and are therefore available at a low price. This creates an opportunity for an innovator to find a low barrier to entry, snap up the resources, and build something new.
Advertisement
The authors provide several examples of such underutilized resources, including even abandoned buildings that are re-purposed into coffee shops and wine bars--and spaces for start-ups to set up their offices. It would have been nice to have more discussion of the somewhat more substantive repurposing that is necessary to incubate new technologies or the core pieces of intellectual capital that fuel the revival and are the real "brains" behind the brainbelts. Simply pointing to the anchor academic institution or the vestiges of a once-great company or to the tireless efforts of a "connector" seems quite unsatisfactory, particularly if one is attempting make such a revival a reality in one's own region.
Moreover, if the authors had stuck to the core message and developed it more, the book would have been stronger. Unfortunately, they felt compelled to stray into adjacent territory. These digressions into many different evolving technologies or the challenges encountered by incumbent organizations to be entrepreneurial and innovative or the different forms of funding innovation seem like material re-purposed from umpteen other books on the subject. The presence in this book of broader issues repurposed from the innovation literature dulls the focus. It also runs the risk of making the reader impatient for insights and fast forward to the end to jump to the recommendations and practical implications.
When one gets to these recommendations, one may feel a bit let down. Consider:
1. Policy makers should build political consensus for basic research, even with tight budgets.
2. Government-funded research should benefit from later financial success.
3. Venture capitalists should teach their investors to think longer-term and early stage.
True. But these seem not that much more actionable than the "prince's kiss." One wishes there was more: more clarity as to why these are the top three points for policy makers to consider, more original ideas, and more in-depth practical suggestions.
Nevertheless, this is an important and timely book; while the title may be a bit of an over-sell of Akron, Ohio, or Albany, New York, as the "smartest places on earth," one would be smart to give The Smartest Places on Earth a read.
The United States can shipwreck North Korea's nuclear ambitions by striking a deal with China.
We should close our military bases and end our defense commitments to Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines. In exchange, China would be required to force North Korea to abandon its nuclear arsenal and to renew its adherence to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. That could be accomplished by China's annexation, military occupation, or economic strangulation of North Korea. China would also be required to honor freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.
At present, China profits but marginally from North Korea's nuclear or missile fecklessness and chronic threats against the United States, South Korea, and Japan. The more we and our professed Asian allies must focus military plans and resources on North Korea, the less are available to oppose China.
On the other hand, North Korea's bellicosity militates against China's national security by offering justification for South Korea and Japan to permit the United States to station military bases and tens of thousands of troops within their borders; and, for South Korea to consider deploying a United States ballistic missile defense system, i.e., Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THADD).
Advertisement
China would prefer to jockey with its neighbors in Asia without confronting the United States. Here, the United States' national security converges with China's.
The Constitution prescribes a foreign policy of invincible self-defense as optimal for national security. At present, It would include pay raises for the men and women who guard our land, sea, air, and cybersecurity borders; the re-deployment of 100 percent of our military resources to the United States to defend the homeland from foreign aggression; and, the termination of treaty or executive branch commitments to defend 69 foreign countries from attack without congressional authorization in contravention Article I, section 8, clause 11.
President George Washington, who was present at the creation of the Constitution, advised in his Farewell Address to avoid foreign entanglements that invariably tie our destiny to the ambitions of others. His advice rested on timeless facets of human nature, not on the current state of transportation technology for crossing the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans:"It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world...There can be no greater error than to expect or caluclate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard."
Then Secretary of State John Quincy Adams elaborated in his July 4, 1821 address to Congress that while the United States wishes freedom and independece abroad to flourish, it fights only to defend its own. The military-industrial complex necessary for the United States to police the world would create a tyranny at home by crowning the executive with limitless power.
Advertisement
The United States is safer from foreign aggression than any other nation in history. Our nuclear arsenal is terrifying. Our conventional weapons are unsurpassed. Our military budget dwarfs that of any other rival. Our armed forces are the best trained in the world.
By ending all of our overseas bases, lily pads, and commitments to foreign nations, and dedicating all of our military resources (including increased pay for soldiers, pilots, and naval personnel) to defending the nation's borders, our self-defense shield would be impenetrable. By avoiding foreign entanglements as President Washington advised, we would confront fewer adversaries. At present, most have been created by decades of a foreign policy that figuratively first searches for hornets' nests abroad to burst asunder with bayonets, and then squanders trillions of dollars endlessly to fight the angry hornets we provoked.
John Quincy Adams provided an unanswerable explanation for resisting the temptation of world domination in his July 4 address:
"[America] would involve herself beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom.The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force....She might become the dictatress of the world. She would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit...."
Don't underestimate Congress.
It has performed a miracle.
It has lost its vertebrae and become the invertebrate branch of government like the rare devolution of a species.
A few pages of history speak volumes.
More than four decades ago, Congress staunchly defended and exercised its constitutional prerogatives. It defeated or curtailed executive usurpations reminiscent of Imperial Rome.
In 1970, Congress voted to repeal the ill-conceived 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution based on a presidential lie about a second North Vietnamese torpedo attack on the U.S.S. Mattox.
Advertisement
In 1971, Congress voted to prohibit the reintroduction of ground troops into Cambodia.
In 1973, Congress prohibited any bombing of Cambodia, and further denied funds for combat operations off the shores of North Vietnam, South Vietnam, Laos, or Cambodia.
In 1973, the Senate Judiciary Committee specified the powers and jurisdiction of a special prosecutor to investigate the Watergate scandal as a condition to confirming Elliot Richardson as Attorney General.
In 1973, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution to curtail unconstitutional presidential wars.
In 1974, Congress passed the Budget Control and Impoundment Act to prevent the President from refusing to spend appropriated funds.
In 1974, the House Judiciary Committee voted three articles of impeachment against President Richard M. Nixon for "high crimes and misdemeanors," which forced his resignation on August 9.
Advertisement
In 1974, President Gerald R. Ford testified before Congress about his pardon of former President Nixon.
In 1975, Congress passed the so-called "Clark Amendment" to prohibit C.I.A. covert action in Angola.
In 1975, the Senate established a Select Committee to Study Government Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, popularly known as the "Church Committee." It published a report on Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders which implicated the United States Government in assassination plots regarding Patrice Lumumba of the Congo, Fidel Castro of Cuba, Ramon Trujillo of the Dominican Republic, Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam, and General Rene Schneider of Chile.
President Ford protested the publication arguing that "public disclosure now of information I provided to the Senate Select Committee concerning allegations of political assassination activities of the United States Government will result in grievous harm to the national interest and may endanger individuals." Chairman Frank Church (D-Idaho) stoutly answered that "the national interest is better served by letting the American people know the true and complete story. A basic tenet of our democracy is that the people must be told of the mistakes of their government so that they may have the opportunity to correct them."
In 1978, Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to curtail warrantless presidential spying on American citizens for foreign intelligence purposes.
Over the ensuing decades, however, Congress lost its vertebrae.
Unconstitutional presidential wars have been initiated against Bosnia, Kosovo, Libya, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and its associated forces throughout the Middle East, and North Africa without congressional rebuke.
Advertisement
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) took presidential impeachments off the table.
Executive agreements have been substituted for treaties requiring a two-thirds Senate vote for ratification, e.g., the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that addresses Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Executive Order 12333 circumvents FISA's limits on the President's authority to spy on citizens for foreign intelligence purposes without congressional objection.
Congress permits the President to spend money in violation appropriations limitations.
Congress permits the President to classify congressional documents and to prohibit their publication contrary to the Constitution's Speech or Debate Clause and the Supreme Court's decision in Gravel v. United States (1972), for example, the Senate Torture Report and a 28-page chapter of the report of the Joint Congressional Inquiry into Intelligence Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001.
Congress permits executive agencies like the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, to operate without appropriated funds.
Congress permits executive agencies like the Federal Communications Commission to levy taxes through surcharges on phone bills in furtherance of universal service.
Advertisement
Congress tolerates the President playing prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner to kill any American citizen the President decrees is an imminent danger to the national security based on secret, uncorroborated evidence supplied by the same intelligence community that wrongly concluded that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.
Congress slumbers while the President squanders trillions of dollars abroad on fool's errands in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, and elsewhere that make us less safe. They create enemies that would not otherwise exist, and resemble a foreign policy of smashing hornets' nests with bayonets and spending trillions to fight the angry hornets we provoked.
In sum, chronic congressional cravenness is destroying the Constitution's separation of powers and the Republic more completely than a nuclear bomb could accomplish. Yet that fatal dereliction is ignored by the candidates, media, and voters alike as if they were all sleepwalking through history.
A few weeks ago I wrote a story on theater etiquette -- particularly the use of cell phones inside the theater. Many people agreed with me and emailed, tweeted, posted on social media, etc. words of support. These people are of course in the right. I applaud them. Then there were those that disagreed with me--most privately emailing me to tell me how essential it is for social media purposes that people be allowed to use photography inside the theater.
When I wrote the prior piece, I thought photography was not allowed in the theater as per house rules, it had simply become too widespread to enforce such a rule in a real systematic way. However, despite the language that appears in every single Playbill (shown below), it appears that photography is now officially permitted in at least the Shubert Organization's 17 Broadway houses and likely beyond. The recently departed Tuck Everlasting was even running a contest at one of those theaters where one of the requirements of winning was taking a photo inside the theater, ticket in hand. The Shuberts issued this statement upon my request (emphasis theirs): "To accommodate theatre-goers in the age of social media, audience members in Shubert-owned theatres are generally permitted to take photos inside the house prior to the curtain going up, during intermission, and after the show, never during a performance when the taking of pictures or the use of recording devices of any kind is strictly prohibited."
Advertisement
In light of the Shubert statement, I wanted to know the policies of Broadway's other two major landlords. (I did not reach out to theater owners beyond the big three, though I can tell you from my trip there last week that the Vivian Beaumont Theater still at least tries to be anti-cell phone.) Despite numerous requests for a statement from Jujamcyn Theaters press representatives, I couldn't receive official confirmation on their policy. I did some leg work though and asked ushers; I was surprised by what they told me. The Jujamcyn ushers I spoke with (representing 5 Broadway houses) told me they only enforce the stated "no photography" policy during the show, not at all before the show, during intermission or during the curtain call. I won't use any names, as it isn't necessary to cost people their jobs for this post, but one said to me: "The producers want to advertise. So we let them take pictures of anything as long as the actual performance isn't happening. If we see it when the performance is happening, we might walk down the aisle to stop it." (Though note that, without an official statement, it's hard to tell what the Jujamcyn policy is. It is also difficult to make a universal statement about how the policy is enforced--I didn't speak to every single usher. I was nevertheless struck by the fact that not one said anything different.) The Nederlander Organization, the other of Broadway's powerhouse theater owners, doesn't have a press rep, and an email to Nick Scandalios, Executive Vice President of the Nederlander Organization, went unreturned, but Nederlander ushers were more all over the place. Most said they would stop anyone taking photographs that captured the stage, even if it was before the show or during intermission.
This of course raises another issue--I didn't ask United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829 what they thought about these policy changes, but I can imagine designers' preference would not be to have everyone with a smartphone capturing and spreading their copyright-protected work.
I personally think that social media can be served by photos taken in the lobby with cardboard cutouts or in front of a step-and-repeat (ala Paramour). But I've clearly been outvoted by society at large. The Metropolitan Opera House has been allowing photographs in its auditorium for a few years at least.
Advertisement
Really, the truth is, even the strongest anti-phone policy is virtually unenforceable these days. When Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg vetoed the New York City law that makes cell phone "use"--defined as dialing, talking, having it ring, etc.--in theaters a ticketable offense he cited the enforcement difficulty. The City Council overrode the veto and so it is law, but we all know the law doesn't do anything. Ushers can't issue tickets and the police have better things to do. (The theaters could of course make and enforce their own house rules, even perhaps ejecting disruptive audience members, but that will never happen with cell phone use.) The sponsor of the New York City law said at the time it was more about giving other audience members a real public right to say: "Stop."
I am going to Cuba for a conference, my first visit to that island. When I mention these travels, I almost invariably get a positive reaction. A few older relatives responded nervously, memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis still vivid. The majority view was positive, however but almost uniformly tinged with regret for the transformation thought to be overtaking Cuba. Numerous people expressed their envy that I will see the island "before it changes."
We Americans tend to think of Cuba as frozen in time since its 1959 revolution. Pictures of old American cars, in mint condition, lovingly cared for by Cuban mechanics (who are not by the way burdened by the need for high-tech computer equipment that new cars require for even basic maintenance) impress residents of the United States. Such images suggest a Cuba that, whatever else it might be, has something in common with a small-town American car show, with proud owners of beautifully preserved cars lining the streets.
The implication of this frozen-in-time image is that when the U.S. cut off relations with its second closest non-contiguous neighbor, Cuba went into a time capsule: untouched by technological advances and isolated from the world. While there may be some truth to its isolation (at least from tourists) for the first thirty five years after the revolution, in the last twenty years Cuba has received increasing numbers of vacationing visitors. In an island with a population of about 12 million, a few million tourists a year--mostly from Europe, Canada, and other Spanish speaking parts of the Americas--makes a considerable impact. For the automobile fans, a less impressive corrective is that Cuba also received many small cars from Soviet-era Eastern Europe after 1959. Interspersed with those Buicks and Pontiacs, in other words, are Vazs, Polski Fiats and perhaps even a Yugo or two.
The idea behind the regret American friends routinely express is that the U.S. will change Cuba and "not for the better." (An NPR story recently pursued this line, in fact, interviewing Cubans about how they felt about the prospect for Americanization: http://www.npr.org/2016/05/21/478962937/the-u-s-influence-on-cuba-s-rapid-cultural-change )
Advertisement
A frequent follow up comment declares that it is better to visit before we ruin it, through economic development that will bring in fast-food and upscale coffee. We seem certain of the potential of modern American consumer culture to destroy other cultures and local variations among them. Americans are not alone in this, of course, since the "McDonaldization" of the world has been opposed in countries on the receiving end of U.S. economic expansion. What Walmart does to local economies within the U.S., resident opponents and U.S. visitors fear our chain stores will similarly do to undermine foreign local economies.
Some American tourists travel to feel at home, of course, only with other weather and maybe room service delivered in another language. But many travel internationally hoping to go somewhere that feels different. It is disappointing to find the same places to eat or sleep in other countries as we see in our own. Even if we don't consume the sub sandwich, the burger, or the dessert drink masquerading as a coffee, its presence reminds us of the global reach of American culture.
In feeling nostalgic about Cuba, supposedly preserved in a moment of a half-century ago, perhaps we are not missing so much pre-revolutionary Cuba as the United States of fifty years ago. Retro-American cars (and people who take care of them, even if they do so for lack of an easier option) appeal in part to our nostalgia for the mid-century U.S. For my part, if it is true that I am about to visit 1950s America, I hope that Cubans don't reproduce the weak coffee that earned comments from international travelers to the U.S. up through the 1980s. A cup of strong coffee trumps the lure of nostalgia anyday.
Mental Illness in the Black Community
I was 23 before I started going to a counselor for my actions and symptoms that were very similar to symptoms of depression. I was depressed most days of the week which caused me not to eat. I lost weight and was awake for more than 12 hours of the day with 4-5 hours of sleep thrown in here and there. My partner at the time also dealt with issues with mental health and rarely focused on me.
I spent a lot of my time trying to make sure he was doing okay, mentally and emotionally. When I wasn't doing that I was studying. I was in the library for 7-10 hours at a time and even once I left the library I would go straight back to my dorm room to study until I had to go to class again or I would head straight to class to learn new information.
Advertisement
This was my life the last year and a half I was in college.
I was always alone. And even when I wasn't alone -- maybe hanging out with friends -- I wasn't mentally there. I always tried to find a way to be alone in my dorm room so that I spent more time studying as I could then have an excuse to tell my friends as to why I didn't show up to have lunch or to hang out. I felt empty and numb most of the time wondering why I even woke up most mornings.
I didn't tell anyone about these feelings -- not my mom or my sister -- and I felt like if I did they would ask me why I felt this way when my life was so good. When I had more opportunities than most young adults my age get, why would or how could I be depressed?
Mental health or mental illness is rarely discussed within the black community. In the black community, mental illness is thought of as a "white person's disease." It is nothing that affects black people. But mental illness is not dependent upon race or gender. Mental health is extremely important for any and everyone, race is not important as anyone may experience or deal with mental health issues. Without mental health, we can not be healthy. Everyone experiences emotional ups and downs, including black people.
"According to the Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, African-Americans are 20 percent more likely to experience serious mental health problems than the general population," reported the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The statistic is true, although black people are more likely to deal with psychological distress versus their white counterparts, black people are less likely to seek help when dealing with mental health issues.
Advertisement
The stigma surrounding mental illness in the black community is heavy as black people feel as though choosing to seek professional help, such as a therapist, is a sign of weakness. The topic of mental health is largely absent from discourse in the black community. It is not a topic that is talked about amongst friends or family given the stigma associated with mental illness in the black community. In fact, some family members may even ridicule or make fun of the individual dealing with the mental illness. As a result, individuals in the black community choose to suffer in silence rather than telling anyone what they may be dealing with.
According to Nia Hamm in Ebony, one of the reasons psychologists say black people suffer more from mental illness versus their white counterparts is because of the "psycho-social reason, including socio-economic status, poverty, and crime in African-American communities."
Black people tend to feel as though their suffering is a normal and expected outcome given our history from slavery to present. But also dealing with the fact that in a country that is predominantly white, we are the outsider. As an outsider, we are more prone to discrimination and actions from the majority that may also contribute to mental illness developing at an accelerated rate.
But how do we as black people change the conversation of mental health in the black community?
Well, that's not going to be easy, but the first step is getting the conversation going. I have already seen young black millennials take the lead and start discussing the topic of mental health on a public platform.
At the beginning of May, The Fader published an article on Victor Pope Jr, a comedian, and social media star, where they interviewed him to discuss his YouTube video where he openly talks about living with Bipolar Disorder. You can find the link to the article here.
Advertisement
Also, providing resources to black people in the black community of more affordable options that will help their mental health. Recently, more people are using virtual therapy such as talkspace, where a person is able to text or skype their therapist. This would allow for black people to not have to go into an office or force them to let family members or friends know where they are going, but also make therapy more accessible.
There is still a long way to go before black people become comfortable, open and accepting of the thought of mental illness as well as talking about it in comfortable spaces such as, barbershops and family functions, but I think once black people are more educated on mental illness as well as therapy it will be easier for it to be talked about in the black community.
But just a reminder to everyone if it has never been said to you before: It is okay if you are sad if you get depressed if you get anxious or have anxiety if you just can't seem to find a reason to get out of bed on some mornings because of how you are feeling.
Your emotions are valid, and you are valid.
A version of this post originally appeared on The Awkward Activist.
___________________
WASHINGTON, USA - MAY 18: Verizon workers on strike march outside of a Verizon Wireless store in downtown Washington, USA on May 18, 2016. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
The largest strike in recent history ended on Wednesday, as nearly 40,000 Verizon field technicians, call-center workers and others went back to work after more than six weeks on the line. The strike captured the public's imagination not just because of its size and duration, but because it laid bare the seedy underbelly of the attack on good jobs in America -- unprincipled and unbridled outsourcing and globalization, fueled by corporate greed. The Verizon strike was less a battle over union benefits than a fight for the future of work in America; less a campaign for those who sport the union label and more a crusade for us all. Confounding prognosticators and pundits, the workers won -- and so did we all.
The details of the tentative agreement between the workers' unions and Verizon show just how much workers stand to gain when they stand together. Telecomm giant Verizon has pledged to roll back its off-shoring efforts and agreed to create 1,300 good-paying jobs on the East Coast. And after spending years fighting attempts of workers in its wireless retail stores to organize, Verizon will finally sign a first-ever contract with nearly 70 wireless workers. The company secured higher health care contributions from workers, but the workers had signaled they were prepared to make those concessions even before the strike began. Overall, the workers' gains in wages and benefits outweighed any concessions.
Advertisement
The strikers' success defies prevailing narratives about how today's workers are subject to the whim of forces beyond their control, whether it's the forces of globalization or the greed of billionaire CEOs. There are many reasons the striking workers were able to defy the odds and expectations, but two causes stand out. The first is the unity and tenacity of the workers themselves, who went six weeks without a paycheck and one month without employer-provided health care. Faced with such deprivation, Verizon had clearly hoped for a quick victory and capitulation, but the workers held their ground.
The second reason for the strike's success is Americans' growing unwillingness to countenance the unsustainable economic inequality Verizon's demands help fuel. Against a backdrop of mass movements like Occupy Wall Street and the Fight for $15 shining a spotlight on corporate exploitation of working people for profit, and with anxiety over the loss of good jobs animating presidential campaigns in both political parties, the strike put in sharp relief the old labor standard, "Which side are you on?" With Verizon and its business practices emblematic of the unbridled corporate greed preventing countless Americans from achieving basic economic security, the answer was clear: America stands with the workers.
Verizon is incredibly profitable, averaging $1.5 billion in net revenues per month. Yet, while Verizon raked in huge profits, it refused to invest in either its workforce or in maintaining and expanding service for consumers. Instead, the company offshored thousands of U.S. jobs to call centers in the Philippines and Mexico, paying those workers as little as $2.13 an hour. It's no wonder that the company's profile sank to a three-year low, and analysts estimated that the strike cost the corporation 150,000 new customers.
Consumers and the broader public soured on Verizon, but they stood with striking workers. Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and eleven members of Congress walked the picket line. Fifteen municipalities passed resolutions supporting the strikers, and some promised to stop giving Verizon public contracts. Labor organizations like the AFL-CIO and international unions, large progressive membership organizations like MoveOn and the Working Families Party, and worker rights advocates like NELP rallied around striking workers to put down a marker on the kinds of jobs we must create and protect in America.
Advertisement
Because they stood up and stood together, Verizon workers safeguarded their own jobs and won the company's promise to create even more good jobs. But their biggest victory may be in breaking through the wall Verizon had established between the company's largely unionized "wired" workforce and its lower paid wireless workforce. Though the new contract for Verizon wireless retail workers extends to only 70 people in New York City and Massachusetts, it gives their union, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), a foothold in the most profitable and fastest growing part of the company, creating an opportunity for thousands of low-paid retail workers to organize and secure a better quality of life.
The Verizon strike showed what workers can do when they stand up and stand together, and now those workers have a chance to show that the labor movement can expand and thrive in today's economy.
Photo courtesy of Flickr.
Robo-advisors have had a significant -- and generally positive -- impact on the financial services industry. The term typically refers to services that use models and algorithms to invest client portfolios, often in exchange-traded funds (ETFs). A benefit much touted by some of these services is that there's no interaction with a human advisor. The entire process is done online. Betterment and Wealthfront are the leading robo-advisors that fit into this category.
Lower fees
Because these robo-advisors are automated, they have significantly lower expenses than traditional investment advisors. Here's Betterment's fee schedule, which it offers through a wrap fee program:
0.15 percent for accounts with balances greater than $100,000
0.25 percent for accounts with balances between $10,000 and $100,000
0.35 percent for accounts with balances below $10,000
Fiduciary duty
Robo-advisors are SEC-registered investment advisors. Under both common law and federal statutes, SEC-registered investment advisors owe a "fiduciary duty" to their clients.
There is much confusion over what a "fiduciary duty" entails. According to the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, SEC-registered investment advisors have the following obligations to their clients:
Serve the client's best interest
Act in utmost good faith
Act prudently, with the care, skill and judgment of a professional
Avoid conflicts of interest
Disclose all material facts
Control investment expenses
A lower standard
Most brokers are not SEC-registered investment advisors. They don't have a fiduciary duty to their clients. They are held to a much lower "suitability" standard, which permits them to sell higher-price, higher-commission products to their clients, even though the expected returns of these products may be lower than readily available lower-cost investments.
Advertisement
The securities industry has done a great job of obscuring the distinction between a fiduciary advisor and someone with only a "suitability" obligation. If investors understood the difference, few would elect to entrust their hard-earned money to anyone who wasn't held to the fiduciary standard.
The DOL rule
The U.S. Department of Labor recently issued a rule requiring those who advise retirement plans to act as "fiduciaries" to their clients. While this rule has some loopholes and doesn't apply to advice in non-retirement settings, overall it's still a very positive development for retirement plan participants.
Sound investment advice, but...
The investment advice offered by most robo-advisors is generally sound. They advocate using a globally diversified portfolio of low-fee exchange-traded funds. They rebalance portfolios to keep their clients within their tolerance for risk and some offer tax loss harvesting to capitalize on downturns in the market.
Different levels of fiduciary advice
However, being a true "fiduciary" to clients may require more expansive services and interaction with a human advisor. A policy statement updated in April by the Massachusetts Securities Division could pose a threat to the business model of fully automated robo-advisors. William Francis Galvin is the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He heads the state's Securities Division. Mr. Galvin is generally regarded as a leader in protecting the rights of investors. Actions taken by his agency are closely followed by other state and federal regulators.
The policy statement makes the compelling point that both robo and traditional advisors are governed by the same fiduciary standard, yet robo-advisors, through disclaimers and otherwise, render advice far less expansive than traditional advisors. Specifically, fully automated robo-advisors have no personal interaction with their clients, "minimally personalize" their investment advice, may not meet the high standard of care imposed on traditional advisors for their investment decisions, and sometimes disclaim the obligation to act in their clients' best interest.
Advertisement
The policy statement concludes that fully automated robo-advisors may be "inherently unable to act as fiduciaries." Consequently, the state regulatory body will evaluate their suitability for registration, with certain guidelines in mind, on a "case-by-case" basis. The clear import is that fully automated robo-advisors may not be approved for registration in Massachusetts.
If this position is adopted by other states, it may be the death knell for fully automated robo-advisors. They may have to adjust by changing their disclaimers and adding the ability for clients to interact with qualified investment advisors. This is the approach taken by Vanguard.
The takeaway
The rise of robo-advisors has generally been a very positive development for investors who may not meet asset thresholds set by traditional advisors. They provide sound investment advice, at a low cost. They are serving primarily smaller investors who traditional advisors could not serve in a cost-effective manner. However, they may have overreached by conveying the impression the fiduciary advice they provide is equivalent to what investors receive from human advisors governed by the same legal standard.
The Massachusetts Securities Division's policy statement is correct in highlighting this difference in service. The lesson for investors is two-fold:
Insist that all registered investment advisors are held to the same high fiduciary standard.
Don't entrust your money to anyone who will not agree in writing to a fiduciary obligation.
Dan Solin is a New York Times bestselling author of the Smartest series of books, including The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read, The Smartest Retirement Book You'll Ever Read and his latest, The Smartest Sales Book You'll Ever Read. He is a wealth advisor with Buckingham and the Director of Investor Advocacy for The BAM ALLIANCE.
Advertisement
Los Angeles County has one of the largest homeless populations in the nation, made up of more than 46,000 men, women, children, veterans and the elderly, who live on the streets on any given night. Many of these people live with a serious mental illness and a majority of them also struggle with a substance use disorder. For reasons as varied as each individual, thousands of people live on the streets in makeshift tents and sleep under bridges, and the majority spend their days and nights in a constant search for a safe place in what is a highly volatile and unforgiving environment. This human tragedy must no longer be ignored.
In 2004, I co-authored Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act. Our goal was to infuse California with funding to provide high-quality services and support to people who live with a mental illness. The initiative was approved by voters and currently places a 1 percent tax on individuals whose personal incomes exceed $1 million. This ongoing revenue source is currently bringing in $2 billion and I know it is making a profound, positive impact on the lives of tens of thousands of people and yet, it is not enough. Many continue to languish on the streets of every county in our state.
Given the immensity of the homeless population in Los Angeles, the County Board of Supervisors has put forward a proposal very similar to Proposition 63 that would create a half-percent tax on yearly income for millionaires residing only in Los Angeles County. If the Board is successful at getting the initiative on the November ballot, and the measure is approved by voters, it is estimated to generate about $250 million annually to fund the County's plan to eradicate homelessness in Los Angeles altogether.
Advertisement
In order to levy a direct income tax on residents, the Board must first gain the approval of the California State Legislature and the Governor. Once that is achieved, the initiative will be placed on the ballot and voters in Los Angeles County will then have the opportunity to decide for themselves if eradicating homelessness is a priority for them.
Everyone in America can sense it. President Barack Obama is relishing for his chance to dive into the General Election campaign.
Instead of sitting on the sidelines much longer, the President's strong appetite for taking the gloves off and engaging in full on combat with the Republican Party's presumptive nominee, Donald Trump, has reached a near boiling point.
Even so, it's one thing for the President to be eager to take on Trump. It's something entirely different to give a full throated endorsement, promote and to make a case to the American people on behalf of your Party's standard bearer as to why such a candidate should succeed him in the oval office.
Advertisement
That's why with news breaking this evening that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton clinched the magic number of 2,383 delegates and thus concluded the Democratic Party's nomination battle, all eyes will immediately turn to President Obama to see if and when he'll make an endorsement before the Democratic National Committee convenes its convention in July.
At this very moment, the rumor mill that is Washington, D.C. along with the national political intelligentsia will begin speculating about at what point President Obama will formally back Clinton.
Will the President wait and play a behind-the-scenes role by working the phones and lobbying Clinton's rival, Senator Bernie Sanders and his allies, urging them to coalesce behind her before he gives her the official nod?
Or, will the President waste no time and quickly send a Party unity message by throwing his support Clinton's way now that she has been crowned as the presumptive nominee by the Party's delegates?
Advertisement
Given the razor-thin margin in recent national polls between Clinton and Trump coupled with Obama's sustained 50% job approval ratings among all Americans, it's clear that the sooner the President backs the former Secretary of State, the better.
Why? Well, because what happened to Trump after he knocked out the rest of the GOP field and assumed his status of nominee-in-waiting was that he saw his poll numbers tick up sharply. With the drawn-out, bruising and cutthroat Democratic primary war now over, a similar polling trend, but among Democratic voters, will likely be reflected in Clinton future numbers.
But, having an endorsement from the Democratic Party's highest ranking and most popular figurehead will no doubt help to accelerate such poll movement for Clinton, and possibly at a more torrid pace than Trump experienced.
This is because while Trump's poll numbers steadily grew after locking down his Party's nomination, he's nonetheless lagged in consolidating more support from large swaths of the GOP, particularly with the Party elites, his former competitors, and the donor class.
Obama hopping aboard the Hillary for America bandwagon will represent both a unity message symbolically, but also tangibly-- all of which will starkly contrast with Trump's consolidation efforts on the GOP side.
Advertisement
In terms of the political optics, the President has consistently hovered around an 80% job approval rating among all Democrats, including Clinton and Sanders supporters. The sheer image of the President, Clinton's 2008 adversary, rallying behind her will help to heal the open wounds caused by the trench warfare in the primary. Materially, the political benefits President Obama's support would bring include an existing nationwide network of operatives and built in infrastructure stemming from his Obama for America campaigns. This would range from troves of voter data to grassroots and low-dollar donor information, dire-hard activist and volunteer lists, and much more.
Beyond all the above advantages an Obama endorsement will produce for Clinton, arguably the biggest asset of all would be the President's firepower as her chief surrogate on the stump.
Like Clinton, Obama has a lot at stake in this election.
For the former Secretary of State, it's obviously a do-or-die election that she must win. For Obama, much of his Presidential accomplishments, from the Affordable Care Act to the Paris Agreement is at risk of being on Trump's chopping block. Should Trump win in November, he's promised to wreak havoc on the Obama legacy and erase many of the progressive gains Obama delivered as President.
On the flip side, Clinton has run her campaign on a platform of continuing the Obama legacy and expanding on the President's successes. Ensuring her victory in November will virtually guarantee that Obama's achievements will be enshrined for years to come.
With so much on the line for Obama, questions of when he'll endorse and how Clinton's camp will maximize the use of the President on the campaign trail will be filling up the eardrums of those listening to the endless political noise that is embodied by Washington's ever churning echo chamber. The next play is the President's and everyone will be watching.
Ideological government structures, such as those Bernie Sanders is advocating, eventually lead to ruin because productivity goes down and the nation as a whole follows once you take away the motivation fueled by the "dream" (the hope for a success which anyone can achieve). Today, even bustling nations putatively based on socialism, like China, operate under capitalism or state capitalism.
Setting aside the very important social, international, environmental and other issues which we would all gladly take endless servings of if they were free, progress in all of these areas can only be fueled when the economy, and therefore business, is healthy. Immigration, properly handled, can be an important ingredient in this formula, as it has always been in our history.
Debate about immigration policy is very much in fashion this year, although in some senses it hasn't been out of fashion for the last 25 or 30 centuries. In the US, Donald Trump promises to build the Great Wall, following the course of a peculiarly oversized moat called the Rio Grande. He also wants to brazenly use religious preference as a method of preventing certain undocumented immigrants from entering the country. No one can accuse Trump of putting a high polish on his comments, particularly when it comes to immigration. But I am confident that the ultimate execution of his utterings would demonstrate as better thought out and consistent in a pro-economy policy.
Advertisement
Although many people on both sides of the aisle have debunked the Trump immigration policies -- either as being unconstitutional or un-American or unrealistic -- the simple fact is that rancor over immigration has reached a new medium-term high, and there are plenty of Americans who will vote for Trump precisely because he is so seemingly anti-immigrant. In the US, it isn't uncommon for immigration to be debunked. In fact, America went through at least a century of successive immigrant groups bad-mouthing their predecessors. One can only hope that, given Trump's unwillingness to endorse an increase in the minimum wage and his other pro-business stances, that his policy on immigration is more about beefing up the country's ability to handle the influx rather than prohibiting it.
The US is not alone in its struggle, as feelings about immigration seem to be running high around the world.
The Syrian diaspora has caused a great deal of strife, and anti-immigrant sentiment can be found in many Middle Eastern countries and elsewhere. The sheer number of refugees -- estimated to be at least 6 million -- is overwhelming the bureaucracy of those countries, and is perhaps overwhelming their sense of decency as well. Although the major complainants about Syrians are in the Middle East, pressure is being felt throughout Europe as well, particularly in countries where there has been violence attributed to radical Islamic groups, such as France.
Syrian refugees are hardly the only immigration problem evident in the EU. In fact, immigration -- of Eastern Europeans, not Syrians -- is one of the major reasons for the movement to push the UK out of the European Union. Recent surveys have demonstrated that the most persuasive argument of the eurosceptics is that immigration, which is at an unprecedented high into the UK, is ruining a relatively rich England for the benefit of poorer countries in the east. The argument is simple: the only way to control the borders of the UK is to exit the union. Otherwise, free immigration between and among the 28 member states is a given.
Advertisement
The rise of this anti-immigration sentiment is growing prodigiously on both sides of the Atlantic, and beyond. As might be expected, comparisons to ancient Rome by proponents of both sides of the issue have recently been heard in notable places. Former mayor of London, Boris Johnson, wrote in his 2006 book, "Dream of Rome," that a successful policy to reduce immigration would make the UK less like Rome and more like Sparta. On the other hand, Ted Cruz compared Obama to Catiline on the Senate floor following the November, 2014 announcement of the President's executive order delaying the deportation of undocumented parents of children who were here legally (either by virtue of citizenship at birth or legal permanent residency). This, despite the fact that Obama has been the "Deporter-in-Chief," compared to any other American president.
There is an interesting schism in the scholarship about the consequences of Rome's open immigration policy. On the one hand, writings from the left claim that the greatness of Rome lay in its ability to accept and assimilate widely varying immigrant groups, from conquered territories or otherwise. But on the other hand, a professorial group from the right argues that a too-liberal immigration policy is what ultimately caused the fall of Rome in 476 A.D. They argue that the edict of Emperor Caracalla in 212 A.D., which granted Roman citizenship to as many as 30 million immigrants, was the beginning of the end.
In fact, the beginning of that end came more than a century and a half later when, in 376, the Romans allowed a large group of Gothic immigrants to occupy Imperial territory across the Danube. Their reasoning was that the new "immigrants" could be impressed into the Army, where manpower had been severely depleted. Rome was unable to feed and supply this new army, which ultimately led to revolt in the ranks and the beginning of the continued pounding of Rome that ensured its fall a century later.
Wherever you come out on whether the inpouring of immigrants to Rome contributed to its ultimate demise, proper government management of the inflow would have likely averted starvation and other issues. As is the case today, Rome had the resources to produce enough food and shelter to accommodate the increase in population, had it only undertaken appropriate planning.
Advertisement
Getting back to the modern era, it certainly seems that the scholarly proponents of immigration have more relevance today. Many important historians, beginning with Livy and going through Machiavelli to Gibbon, make the better argument that xenophobia precedes decline. A rough, modern-day equivalent to the events of 376 A.D. would be the US deciding to allow the occupation of Key West by a large and hostile group of North Korean soldiers and scientists -- an event which seems highly unlikely.
What is not important is the analogy between 21st century America and fourth century Rome, nor is the continuing debate about whether immigration is a good or bad thing, in Europe or elsewhere. What is important is that immigration in 21st century America is absolutely necessary to preserve the much-bemoaned American dream. We are a country not just built upon immigrants, but built upon a singular notion: that anyone who works hard enough can achieve material success, and that freedom fosters that goal, as well as mobility within society.
The vitality of the American economy depends upon immigrant groups, and perhaps it always has. More importantly, as the descendants of 19th century immigrants find it increasingly difficult to outdo their parents, new immigrants, starting from a more easily attainable set of goals, can achieve a "success" in more manageable terms. The "dream," after all, is more likely achieved if one aspires to owning a modest home, versus owning a modest jet. Simply put, "the melting pot" needs to be stirred from the bottom up, and more realistic expectations of immigrant groups will keep the water boiling. The strength of America is that belief in freedom combined with the ability to succeed monetarily. Together, they are far and away the most critical cultural requirements of citizenship.
While both are considerations in all territories, the immigration concerns in the US are weighted more towards their impact to our labor force and the economy as opposed to crime and security concerns. As was the case in Rome, we have plenty of land and resources to accommodate a Roman level of immigration. For instance, a significant percentage of farmable land remains unoccupied. So, if we decide that we want to have the same open door policy which our country was built on, we could manage it.
Today the underlying resistance to large-scale immigration, if controlled, is the perceived threat that it would have on wages. Everything else, like burdens on our social systems, can be easily managed if immigrants are allowed to work -- which, for the most part, they are willing and anxious to do.
Advertisement
America has already priced itself out of many industries which rely on labor. While some may point to cheap labor in other countries as the reason for this, it is actually inaccurate. Factors such as this can be handled with import/export taxation policies and other tools available to our government. The industries in the US which have been shattered are those specifically where unions were strong and wage and benefit requirements were imposed on their employers, thus pricing them out of markets such as steel, automotive, basic manufacturing and others.
If these constraints were removed, and the market allowed to decide what each industry could afford to pay, the result would be, following perhaps a few years of transitional pain, growth to industries such as manufacturing, farming and other industries that have been badly impaired in the US as a result of union and other labor lobbying efforts. These industries could be allowed to once again grow and flourish here, thereby creating both an increase in jobs and GDP. This would also help return a once valued strong work ethic and reduce our reliance on other countries.
Looking back only a few centuries into the history of powerful nations, we mainly find what amounts to an autocratic albocracy. Today, on most state levels and even at the federal level, the working class and what we still refer to as minority groups collectively have the largest political voice. This is one of the great aspects of our democracy. However, while one might expect that these powerful groups would advocate (relatively) open immigration, an honest account of their cumulative positions today indicate the opposite. They have instead taken to a protectionist approach against anyone, even their own, participating in our success.
India and the United States strengthened their commitments to strong climate action today - particularly on the supercharged climate pollutants known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). During his visit to Washington, Prime Minister Modi and President Obama pledged to work for an HFC agreement this year under the Montreal Protocol that includes "an ambitious phasedown schedule" for all countries and "increased financial support" to the Protocol's Multilateral Fund to help developing countries with implementation.
These are the key ingredients for a landmark climate pact that builds on last year's historic Paris agreement.
HFCs, used primarily in refrigerators and air conditioners, are potent and man-made chemicals that will contribute heavily to dangerous climate change by mid-century if their rapid growth is not checked. An HFC agreement this year would bring a successful end to talks underway under the Montreal Protocol for close to a decade.
Advertisement
India has recently championed efforts to reach agreement after raising concerns in years past. In April 2015, India offered its own proposal to cover HFCs under the Montreal Protocol, pushing negotiations into the home stretch.
India's original proposal, however, would allow developing countries, including India and China, too long to keep increasing their HFC use through 2030. As I told the Washington Post, it doesn't make sense for India to build an industry that is a generation behind, and then for donor countries to pay to dismantle it. Other proposals to update the treaty - from North America, the European Union, and the Federated States of Micronesia - include ambitious, achievable schedules that allow HFC growth to continue through 2020 at the latest, but then quickly transition to the next generation of climate-friendlier chemicals.
Today's announcement, supporting an "ambitious phasedown schedule," raises expectations that negotiators will be able to bridge the gap between these proposals with near-term action. As always, the formula for success under the nearly 30-year-old Montreal Protocol is to marry action by all countries with donor country support for implementation by developing countries. Obama and Modi agreed to: "work to adopt an HFC amendment in 2016 with increased financial support from donor countries to the Multilateral Fund to help developing countries with implementation, and an ambitious phasedown schedule, under the Montreal Protocol pursuant to the Dubai Pathway." Because HFCs are such super heat-trapping pollutants, the equivalent of tens of billions of tons of CO2 emissions hang in the balance. An HFC phasedown between now and 2050 would be roughly equal to avoiding the current CO2 emissions of the entire planet for 2-3 years.
Advertisement
As another sign of momentum, the U.S. and China also today reaffirmed their joint commitment to completing an ambitious HFC deal this year, in a joint communique from the annual U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. This complementary announcement brings the two fastest-growing developing countries into alignment, further boosting prospects for well-financed, ambitious HFC cuts.
At an HFC negotiating session in Geneva in April, countries tentatively agreed on a solution to concerns of countries with the most extreme hot temperatures, and they got down to brass tacks by focusing on terms for supporting developing countries through the Multilateral Fund .
But work remains. At the upcoming negotiating session in Vienna in July, parties need to lay out their bottom-line needs on the pace of the phasedown and the scale of financing.
Mark Plesent, the Working Theater producing artistic director--in tandem with managing director B. J. Evans and Tamilla Woodard, artistic director of Five Boroughs/One City--has come up with an intriguing project: developing a play about each of the five boroughs that will then tour each borough.
After their working on the ambitious undertaking for a couple of years, Plesent has just opened the first one at Manhattan's Urban Stages. It's The Block, written by Dan Hoyle and directed by Woodard, and if the following four plays are anywhere near as strong as the initial entry, audiences throughout the City are in for a tremendous treat.
The block under scrutiny is in the Bronx and takes place for the most part at Moe's outdoor stand but also at a nearby corner. Moe (Nathan Hinton), who's operated his business selling refreshments et al but has his eye on a move to Wisconsin(!), is a judicious middle-aged man. For the play's purposes, he mostly keeps company with customers Dontrell (Clinton Lowe) and Rick (Flaco Navaja).
Advertisement
Dontrell, once a teenaged delinquent with a record, is just back from a few years living upstate in Schenectady. He's returned at a low point because his girlfriend has dumped him. Figuring himself on the block for good but crashing only temporarily with his addicted mother, he's looking for legit employment.
Rick, working for a chauffeur service, holds out promise for Dontrell by insisting he'll talk his friend up to the boss. But there's something about quick-talking Rick that tips observers to his not necessarily following through with the offer--not a giveaway Rick, trying to keep on the up-and-up, notices.
In between the trio's propulsive confabs, Hoyle--who obviously, knows the neighborhood and its denizens like the back of his hand--switches to Eddie (Robert Jimenez), an angry local spending his abundant spare time ranting from a plastic crate he drags around with him.
Dontrell also frequents the magnetic spot on the block, as does old pal, Soria (Yvette Ganier), a lesbian vociferously out, who's trying to keep her family together as the landlord at the building where she's lived for 43 years threatens eviction. (Raul Abrego is the set designer pinpointing the typical Bronx locales.)
Advertisement
The beauty of Hoyle's writing is that he incorporates no cliches into the multi-dimensional characters. They're instantly recognizable and yet unpredictable. They're certainly street-smart, but they're also informed about things far beyond the block: Kofi Annan comes up for discussion; Eddie wears a T-shirt that says "Cornell," because he has a daughter studying there.
The five friends are trying to make the most of their lives against odds so challenging that their honest striving is a guarantee of nothing. Straining to put his past far behind him, Dontrell even has to hang up on his mother when she suggests he resumes some of his old illegal ways for her sake.
According to Hoyle (I couldn't resist), the realities of Bronx living means something's got to give, and before the 80 or 85 minutes of The Block end, these men and the lone woman have to accept conditions as gracefully as they can.
Thanks to the utterly humane script, Willard's savvy directing and the playing by a flawless cast, this writer's Block is completely convincing and completely successful. It happens that every once in a while, a play about which little is known comes around and turns out to be a happy surprise. The Block is absolutely one of those.
******************
People who believe in musicals will tell you there's nothing that can't be turned into one. No idea deserves to be dismissed out of hand. Therefore, taking on the writing life as well as the love life of James Joyce, one of the 20th century's master wordsmith (if not the leading English-speaking wordsmith), can't instantly be described as an irrevocably doomed notion.
In that case, what needs saying is that subject matter not immediately impressive as tuner-ready requires the right person or persons to tackle it. So on the strength--that's to say the weakness--of Himself and Nora, the story of Joyce's relationship with, and long delayed marriage to, Nora Barnacle, composer-lyricist-bookwriter Jonathan Brielle may not be best suited for this daunting task.
Advertisement
Brielle throws the spotlight on Joyce (Matt Bogart, handsome in the Clark Gable/Cary Grant mode) when he's a young man declaring his intention to write. He's at odds with his Da (Michael McCormick) for whom he has great feeling. He's quarreling with the Catholic Church so much that he's beginning to believe he can't remain in Ireland.
He does know he's passionate about Nora (Whitney Bashor), particularly because she refuses to subordinate herself to him. After some colorful discussion, she reluctantly agrees to live with him without the sanctity of a marriage he abhors.
She certainly stands by him when publishing houses in large numbers reject his manuscripts and money is scarce. The penury is often due to his drinking away the cash his brother sends. (This Joyce declares it's the solvent brother's duty to take care of the struggling artist brother.) Nonetheless, Nora stands by her ceaselessly scribbling man as they raise their children, Giorgio (Zachary Prince) and Lucia (Lianne Marie Dobbs), who've become troubled by the time they reach their later adolescent years.
I've read much of Joyce's writing but must confess I've never gotten through Finnegan's Wake and all that compulsive wordplay. Also, I'm not certain Ulysses is the greatest 20th century novel, as Joyce intended it to be. (I'd argue for Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past.) All the same, I admire Joyce enormously. Who doesn't?
But much as I think he's awesome (in contemporary parlance), I can't pretend I've retained every word in he's put to paper. So it may be that Brielle has lifted many of his lyrics from the printed Joyce page, but if he has, Joyce himself wasn't supplying language ready for setting on melodies.
Advertisement
Still, most of the lyrics must be Brielle approximating Joyce. The power ballads he puts into the mouths of the relentlessly self-regarding author and the tough Nora are not Joycean by a long shot. One ditty, sung when Joyce has settled in Italy and is teaching English to native Italians, consists of Ireland city names and is set to a jog, choreographed by Kelli Barclay. It's meant to be a sly joke, coming as it does directly after Joyce's insisting he misses nothing about his abandoned country.
Danced by the five cast members it may be the most un-Joyce-like outburst during Himself and Nora. Hold it. There is a rival routine. Ezra Pound (McCormick), a Joyce champion, appears with the donor Harriet Weaver (Dobbs) to do a vaudeville song and dance.
Directed by Michael Bush, the ensemble is proficient, although Bogart's portrayal of the often self-impressed Joyce occasionally looks as if it's Bogart impressed with his own himself. The hard ensemble work doesn't disguise the problem of a script that remains stubbornly unconvincing.
Although there are extended references to Joyce's problems with Ulysses before Sylvia Beach (Dobbs) fetches up funds for publishing, little analytic is revealed about the author's influences. There is, however, one constant walking symbol: a priest (Prince) who stalks Joyce throughout the musical. The suggestion, needless to say, is that try as Joyce might to evade the hold Catholicism had over him, he never could.
A Chicago based lawyer, real estate investor and General Counsel to Wheeler Financial, a private investment company, David R. Gray Jr. founded his legal practice to focus primarily on legal matters concerning real estate, real estate taxation and civil litigation. Much of his work is representing investors like Wheeler Financial and servicing their investment portfolios. What makes this interesting is how David took something many would call boring or mundane and diversified to keep his own interest alive.
What is nature of the investments you manage?
"Real estate tax lien certificates purchased at county tax sales. These investments are complex but typically beneficial to all parties involved."
"County tax sales ensure local governments are able to efficiently collect their delinquent tax revenue and investors have an opportunity to obtain attractive risk adjusted returns. For the property owner, a tax lien sold to a private party is typically a much better option than any available loan and State law provides ample time to repay the amount owed."
What is it that keeps your interest in this industry?
Advertisement
"I enjoy the work because it's a combination of law, finance and real estate. I have spent the last 15 or so years working in this industry and have met countless numbers of people, from all walks of life. I take great pride in the numerous times I have been able to relate to people and take the time to work a deal out where the delinquent taxpayer can remain in their home while the investor maximizes its returns. These type of win-win resolutions are common for me but often overlooked by critics of the industry."
How/where can someone invest in tax sales?
"Every state has different laws concerning tax liens, but these kinds of sales -- county tax sales or otherwise -- occur with relative frequency and are announced by local government well in advance. Potential investors should exercise caution in seeking to purchase tax liens, just as they would with any other investment. After obtaining a tax lien it is crucial the investor have proper portfolio servicing and management. Tax liens require active and specialized asset management which is something I have specialized in over some 15 years."
How important is it to keep personally connected to the process of procuring new talent/personnel for your team?
"Extremely. An appropriate hiring process is the backbone of strategic planning for any organization and the process should be tailored to the job. For example, a hiring process for a legal position will involve different details than a process for a financial position because different skills and knowledge are required. We go to great lengths for our investors and clients, so it is absolutely necessary to ensure we put together the best possible group of professionals."
Advertisement
What are your thoughts about hiring and employment?
"Obviously I need to spend time with the candidate and I will involve others as well to get different perspectives. I look for candidates with a positive attitude, motivation, people skills and personal responsibility. Due to the unique nature of my work, I invest a great deal of time training a new hire. It is therefore vital to ensure I am bringing in the right person."
"I have learned a great deal about leadership over the years. One thing I've learned is the health of a team starts with the health of its leader. If the leader demonstrates strong character and values, he will attract people who have similar qualities. The best leaders lead by example and influence others to be their best."
Best interview question you have asked?
"Probably, "why do you want to work here?" Finding the true motivation of the candidate is critical. I want people on my team who are motivated to help others and develop themselves, not ones who have self-serving agendas. If the candidate is currently employed, I will ask why they want to leave."
Any hilarious, or conversely, horrifying interview stories?
"Not that I wish to share. (Writer's note: Attorneys never answer this question!) Generally, candidates and new hires are on their best behavior at first. It's only after a few months of employment when their true colors come out. This is why a longer process is necessary and why I seek to attract those with strong character and ambition. I look for people who want to improve themselves day after day. Once an employee has been trained and has settled in, my role is to encourage and support them in their purpose."
What has driven you in building personal success?
It seems close to impossible to get a policeman, any policemen, convicted of unlawfully shooting an African-American. For that matter, it's pretty damn hard to get an overzealous, gun-toting private citizen convicted of the same crime. We need only consider George Zimmerman's acquittal in the death of 17-year old Trayvon Martin.
So in those relatively rare instances where the legal system plods along as intended, and justice finally does seem to "prevail," and a violent person is convicted by a jury of unlawfully taking the life of a young African-American, it hurts all the more when the perpetrator--the person found guilty by a jury of his or her peers--walks away without being punished.
It hurts all the more. In March of 1991, a black teenage girl, 15-year old Latasha Harlins, was shot and killed by the owner of a convenience store in Los Angeles. The owner of the store, a 51-year old Korean woman named Soon Ja Du, claimed that Latasha had placed a bottle of orange juice in her backpack and was going to leave the store without paying.
Advertisement
But eyewitnesses, along with physical evidence obtained at the scene, indicated otherwise. While the girl had, in fact, placed the orange juice bottle in her bag, she had money clutched in her hand, ready to pay, when she was accosted by the store owner, who had aggressively grabbed the girl's backpack.
Clearly, this teenage girl fully intended to pay for the beverage. However, after being "assaulted" by the woman, Latasha reflexively responded in a manner that made sense. She struck back, in effect, defending herself. And then, in a show of defiance, she angrily threw the orange juice on the counter and proceeded to walk out of the store.
At this point, the proprietor removed a handgun from behind the counter, followed Latasha a few steps, and shot her point blank in the back of the head, killing her instantly. Although she tried to claim that, "fearing for her life," she had shot Latasha in self-defense, the testimony of two witnesses, plus footage from the store's security camera, told a different story. In truth, she sneaked up on Latasha and "executed" her.
The jury found Soon Ja Du guilty of "voluntary manslaughter," a crime that carries a maximum sentence in California of 16 years in prison. But instead of jail time, the judge, one Joyce Karlin, sentenced Ja Du to five years probation, 400 hours of community service, and a fine of $500.
Advertisement
If I'm not mistaken, in 1991, $500 was also the maximum fine you could be assessed for littering. So, very broadly speaking, it could be said that blowing the head off a black teenager, and illegally discarding your sandwich wrapper, were now rendered equal in the eyes of the Law.
By Deepak Chopra, MD
There's a powerful way to explain the rise of Donald Trump that most commentators have missed entirely or undervalued. The standard line describes Trump as a bizarre anomaly. Beginning as an improbable celebrity candidate, he has defied all the conventional rules of politics, which should have been fatal. Instead Trump has swept all before him on the Republican side. Possessing a "genius" for grabbing the limelight, he continues to dominate the scene in ways no previous politician ever has in modern times--so the conventional view goes.
But in reality Trump isn't bizarre or anomalous. He stands for something universal, something right before our eyes. It's an aspect of the human psyche that we feel embarrassed and ashamed of, which makes it our collective secret. Going back a century in the field of depth psychology, the secret side of human nature acquired a special name: the shadow.
The shadow compounds all the dark impulses--hatred, aggression, sadism, selfishness, jealousy, resentment, sexual transgression--that are hidden out of sight. The name originated with Carl Jung, but its basic origin came from Freud's insight that our psyches are dualistic, sharply divided between the conscious and unconscious. The rise of civilization is a tribute to how well we obey our conscious mind and suppress our unconscious side. But what hides in the shadows will out.
Advertisement
When it does, societies that look well-ordered and rational, fair and just, cultured and refined, suddenly erupt in horrible displays of everything they are not about: violence, prejudice, chaos, and ungovernable irrationality. In fact, the tragic irony is that the worst eruptions of the shadow occur in societies that on the surface have the least to worry about. This explains why all of Europe, at the height of settled, civilized behavior, threw itself into the inferno of World War I.
If Trump is the latest expression of the shadow, he isn't a bizarre anomaly, which would be true if normal, rational values are your only standard of measure. Turn the coin over, making the unconscious your standard of measure, and he is absolutely typical. When the shadow breaks out, what's wrong is right. Being transgressive feels like a relief, because suddenly the collective psyche can gambol in forbidden fields. When Trump indulges in rampant bad behavior and at the same time says to his riotous audiences, "This is fun, isn't it?" he's expressing in public our ashamed impulse to stop obeying the rules.
But the fun of world War I, which almost gleefully sent young men off to fight, quickly turned to horror, and the shadow closed an insidious trap. Once released, it is very hard to force the shadow back into its underground bunker. The Republican party has kept the shadow on a slow simmer for decades, ever since Nixon discovered how to make hay form Southern racism, law-and-order aggression against minorities, and us-versus-them attitudes to the Vietnam anti-war movement. In order to make themselves feel unashamed, the good people on the right found figureheads after Nixon who exuded respectability. The irony is that as with civilized societies that seem the least likely to allow the shadow to run free, the more benign a Reagan or Bush acted, the stronger the shadow became behind the facade.
Advertisement
Trump has stripped away the facade, intoxicated by the "fun" of letting his demons run and discovering to his surprise (much as Nixon did) that millions of people roared with approval. Yet by comparison, Nixon retained relative control over the forces he unleashed, while Trump may be riding a tiger--that part of the story has yet to play itself out.
If the shadow refuses to go back underground, which is always the case, what outcomes can we anticipate over the next six months? The present situation finds us trapped between denial and disaster. Denial is when you ignore the shadow; disaster is when you totally surrender to it. Without being at either extreme, right now many Americans feel the unsettling symptom of being out of control. Trump glorifies being out of control, and until this outbreak runs its course--which no one can predict--he will remain immune to all the normal constraints.
What to do in the meantime? A few things come to mind.
See Trumpism for what it is, a confrontation with the shadow. Instead of demonizing him, acknowledge that the shadow is in everyone and always has been. At the same time, realize that the shadow never wins in the end. Find every opening to reinforce the value of returning to right and reason in your own life. Don't fight the shadow with the shadow, which means not stooping to play by Trump's nihilistic rules--he will always be willing to go lower than you are willing to go.
America has been fortunate in our ability to let off steam and recognize that we have demons. In the Great Depression bank robbers became folk heroes, but nobody suggested electing Bonnie and Clyde president. The rational constraints that allow for human evolution have been successful for millennia, as the higher brain became dominant over the lower brain. That dominance still holds good, no matter how close we flirt with the primitive areas of the mind. Trump represents something authentic in human nature, and in troubled times he's the bad boy who becomes a folk hero. No one can predict if his Wrong=Right stance will carry him to the White House. The contest with our own shadow isn't over yet.
Deepak Chopra MD, FACP, founder of The Chopra Foundation and co-founder of The Chopra Center for Wellbeing, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation, and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology and Metabolism. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. Chopra is the author of more than 80 books translated into over 43 languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. His latest books are Super Genes co-authored with Rudolph Tanzi, PhD and Quantum Healing (Revised and Updated): Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine. www.deepakchopra.com
The strength of American colleges and universities are dependent on the outcomes and trajectory of the students served. Based on literature reports, it is evident that co-curricular activities, systemic initiatives, diversity, and strategic planning have a positive impact on student development. At the helm of academic success is the ethos of student leadership and how progressive students navigate the pathway to obtain and maximize goals. There is no "one size fits all" mechanism to acquire student success; however, there are processes that increase the likelihood of positive outcomes. While it might be easier to wave a magic wand that adequately prepares students for the global market, that reality is dismal. Instead, collegiate entities are now adopting more practical approaches to develop its leaders and redefine the scope of student progress.
Higher education theorists have long proposed various ideologies on what practices most benefit students and how those methods can become transferrable skills post-graduation. Today, much of the literature tends to measure student leadership solely through programmatic processes and newly devised universal plans that hope to peak interest on campus. While these strategies may boost retention on an interim basis, they alone possess marginal influence to sustain the life cycle of a learner purposed to compete at the global level.
Advertisement
Astin and Astin (2000) found that leadership and the process of cultivating transferrable skills are the nucleus of higher education institutions. In order to maximize annual goals, individualized leadership plans each year is essential to the matriculation process. In addition, self-discovery, reflectiveness, networking, and the celebration of milestones are necessary components to undergraduate development. While we recognize that classroom experiences prepare students for the job market, co-curricular application affords hands-on training and demonstrates aptitude in governance and career readiness. Undoubtedly, active participation in student led organizations add value to the collegiate experience and heighten awareness in career preparation, management styles, and navigation of the job market. Those proactive in peer inspired organizations are more likely to serve in leadership roles post-graduation.
Studies centered in student government have encouraged students to become increasingly active as undergraduates. As leaders on campus, students gain the core principles associated with leadership. While leadership amongst peers can be a frightening task, exposure to various challenges offers relevant experiences. According to Terenzini, Pascarella, & Bliming (1996) co-curricular activities are connected to cognitive development as it relates to persistence and communication.
Leadership is not a dormant trait, but one that requires tenacity, courage, and fortitude. Involvement on campus can be fun, interactive, and thought-provoking; however, it does come with a price. The upside to professional development is self-awareness and the mastery of people skills as you interface with peers and leaders on campus. When asked, take advantage of opportunities to facilitate functions, coordinate activities, partner with faculty, research, and travel on behalf of your organization. The more exposure to others who are like minded increases marketability and confidence.
Advertisement
In the seventh century BCE, one could find cinnamon from India at the Temple of Hera in the Greek island of Samos in the Aegean Sea. Hera was the wife of Zeus, the father of the Olympian gods.
Samos also gave birth to the natural philosophers Pythagoras, who in the sixth century BCE started using mathematics in the decoding of the heavens, and Aristarchos, who in the third century BCE invented the heliocentric theory of the cosmos.
Greeks followed the clues of Pythagoras, Aristarchos and numerous other philosophers-scientists and invented modern-like science and technology. They also gave us political theory, history, law, democracy, the civilian control of the military, the Olympics, architecture, theater, and great poetry and literature.
Advertisement
In addition, the Greeks traveled widely, leaving distinct footprints of civilization everywhere they visited or settled temporarily or for centuries. They dotted the Mediterranean with poleis, some 2,500 of them in the fifth century BCE. After the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great in late fourth century BCE, they founded kingdoms in Africa and Asia that lasted for several centuries.
It's probably this unparalleled achievement that made the Greeks targets for jealousy and propaganda. The small tribes of scholars who study them know that the best museums of Europe and America are full of looted Greek treasures.
So you are either in love with the Greeks or you ignore or hate them.
Nevertheless, Greek science, and scientific technology in the form of machines like the second century BCE Antikythera Mechanism (the world's first computer), were real and made our world what it is.
Alexander the Great was also real. His empire was a sophisticated engine that successfully globalized Greek culture. The ancient Greek scholar Plutarch praised Alexander for sowing the world with more than seventy poleis and countless educated officials.
Advertisement
Yet, Alexander has also been the subject of misunderstandings and brutal attacks.
A scholar who sees Alexander as "an utterly ruthless conqueror, merciless even to his own folk," is John Boardman. He is a senior British archaeologist and historian of art. He summarized his biased politics against the Greeks as well as his tremendous knowledge of Greek culture in "The Greeks in Asia" (Thames and Hudson, 2015).
Boardman says the homeland of Alexander, Macedonia, was not Greece, that Macedonians did not speak Greek, that the Macedonian language was as far from Greek as other "Indo-European" languages, and that Alexander was not Greek and despised the Greeks.
Boardman ignored Herodotos, the Greek father of history, who in the fifth century BCE, in his "Histories," explained that the Macedonians were Greek with origins from Argos. Herodotos says Macedonians competed in the Olympics, exclusively restricted to Greek athletes.
Ironically, Boardman warns us we "ignore or mistrust" Herodotos at "our peril."
Boardman also bypassed Arrian, the most reliable ancient historian on Alexander, who says Alexander fought the Persians to revenge the wrongs Persians had done to Greece.
Alexander embraced Herakles and Achilles, the greatest heroes of the Greeks. Alexander carried Homer's "Iliad" always with him. This was the "Iliad" that Aristotle, his tutor, had prepared for him.
Advertisement
Boardman also peppers his text with other exaggerations. For example, he alleges, more than once, the "Greeks were not empire builders." "The Greeks came from the east." The Minoans of Crete were not Greek. Artemis of Ephesos "seems as much an eastern goddess as a Greek one." Aphrodite was "a very oriental goddess." Cyprus was "part-Greek."
After the Persian Wars, Boardman charges, the Greeks "reverted to fighting each other, inventing a fairly low-level democracy in Athens." The Greek victory over the Persians "was indeed heroic, but rather a sideshow for world history until a non-Greek [Alexander] thought to avenge it." The Persians were less violent than the Greeks.
This hubris explains why Boardman sees the Greeks as an "odd phenomenon in world history." But were they?
He documents extraordinary Greek influence all over Asia. "Greekness was everywhere apparent, the language was spoken and written, the arts understood and practiced, by Greeks and others," he writes. Is this "odd"? Add to this the influence of the Greeks in Egypt, the rest of Africa, and the West and it's clear the Greeks were central to the world.
Boardman, however, does more than badmouthing the Greeks. He highlights the inventiveness and attractiveness of their culture. He praises the Greeks of Asia Minor for their seventh century BCE invention of a monetary economy for "their [Lydian] neighbors and themselves, and ultimately for all of the West, for all the world."
Advertisement
He sees the genius of the Greeks in their art. The Greeks influenced "that great geographical band of urban civilizations that stretched from China to Peru... their art had something of the character of a virus in antiquity."
Boardman's sound judgment of Greek art makes his lavishly illustrated book extremely valuable. He paints a vast cultural panorama of Greek life in Asia.
"The Greeks colonized not only the lands where they settled but also those they had simply visited or heard about with their mythological nexus, abetted by the skills of artists and poets whose works seemed very accessible at all levels of society," Boardman writes.
Greeks ruled Bactria (northern Afghanistan and Pakistan) in the third and second centuries BCE. Bactrian coins, exquisite in design, symbolic, and iconographic, served the political and mythological interests of the Greeks. The rulers appeared on the coins dressed like Alexander.
Bactrian coins were often struck for non-Greeks. They served both "Greek and oriental subjects and language."
Advertisement
Similar things happened among the Scythians, Parthians, Persians, Indians and Chinese. The Parthian king Orodes supported Greek plays.
Greek art, theater, architecture, coinage, and religion were copied and adapted for native cultures. For example, "Greek Dionysiac worship and practice found a ready echo in northwest India." The Greeks also influenced "the politics and ethos of Buddhism."
It's a tense day in California, as it's a fraught period throughout the nation, as it's a time of mind-numbing horrors occurring around the world. (And, as these things go, the horrors exist next to, amongst, and within the universe's smallest, and largest, wonders.)
I will cast a vote today, in spite of the unfortunate, rapacious, eyeball-and-advertising-dollar-hungry press reports that a nomination is already as good as locked up. And I hope record-setting numbers of others vote today as well. I don't even care who wins. It is a precious right, and an enormous privilege (which I believe should be an obligation; maybe someday).
Which might make my next statement seem incongruous. As the vote is a precious right, and an enormous privilege, it is also, by itself, the cheapest, laziest degree of involvement in shaping our society. It is where democracy begins. But it's hardly the epitome of how it functions, and it's anything but the crucible within which its battles are lost, and won. It's nothing but a starting point.
Advertisement
Maybe a story would help. This past year, I accompanied employees of CEH (the Center for Environmental Health), an environmental non-profit, to Washington, D.C. where we lobbied the offices of eight members of congress. Whether you know it or not, the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA) was renegotiated, and rewritten, this year. And whether you know it or not, those words, on those pieces of paper, probably play a greater role than anything other than your genes in determining whether or not you'll get cancer in your lifetime. Yet, you probably don't know anything about it. Half the congressional members we met with hardly knew anything about it.
The congressional members I met that day -- all of them Democrats -- seemed overwhelmed, depressed, exhausted, and all but defeated. Their attitude about our mission -- which was to alter one clause, in once sentence, that would have linguistically protected all Americans from increased exposure to unlimited amounts of toxic chemicals -- was along the lines of, "Best of luck to ya."
"We don't control anything here," we were told, over and over, in office after office. "The other side does."
"I see your point, and I admire your position," we were told. "I'll make a couple of calls. But, I wouldn't get your hopes up. The other side runs things now."
Advertisement
Or, we were lectured, "You think the chemical industry doesn't know that language is in there? That language is the only reason they came to the table in the first place. They're never going to agree to any changes in that language."
But, within twenty-four hours, the crucial language was altered in a unanimous vote. Because CEH exists. Because we traveled. Because we applied pressure. Because, representatives who weren't inclined to fight for what we were after, or to agree to it, were induced toward our position.
So, Hillary Clinton is going to win a nomination over Bernie Sanders, we're informed. Or else she's not. Again, I don't care. What I care about is getting everyone from one-millimeter left of center (or, every sane person from halfway over to the right, if any of them still exist) to understand that the vote, the election, is only the first step. As Hillary Clinton might not be inclined to protect your interests upon her election without unrelenting pressure, Bernie Sanders won't be able to do so, either, without your continued, unending, and unrelenting pressure upon those opposed to his proposals. The congressional members I met with spend their days grinding away in mind-numbing fashion, over punctuation-level minutia, battling to gain slivers of concession, and then working themselves to the bone to hold onto it, while others try to take it away. How many of you, I wonder, are aware that this is the process of our democracy? How many have seen it? How many have participated, beyond casting votes? Some, I know, have. But, I'm guessing, very few.
I am, today, on this tense, fraught, wondrously horror filled California morning, praying that everyone with any progressive inclinations whatsoever will realize that the real work begins the day after the election. That's when the grinding fights, the monotonous exchanges of commas, and clauses, and favors, begin. That's when a Hillary Clinton can be pressured, squeezed, and forced into adopting the positions that Bernie Sanders would also have had to beg for, bargain for, trade for, and...gasp...compromise upon. Hillary Clinton, should she win the nomination, can be forced to do nearly anything progressives would demand, if they demand relentlessly enough, in large enough numbers.
Advertisement
Regardless of how many disagree, there is no doubt in my mind about this. I have seen it with my own eyes. It all depends on how much pressure is brought to bear. Yes, there will be "moneyed interests" that she is beholden to. And, with adequate organization and effort, forces can be applied that overpower those interests. (Hell, there might even be issues over which she'd be relieved to be pressured away from.) That is democracy in action, equally important to the vote. But, it can't come into play at all if a regressive party obtains, maintains, or even gains, elected positions.
So, yes, as trite as it sounds, this is a plea for unity. It's a plea to band together. As I don't care who wins, I also don't care when -- so long as it's prior to November. It's a plea to accept disappointment, and even outrage, without determining that the system can't be worked, and won. It's a plea on behalf of my nine-year-old daughter, who will have a better chance at things that are important to her existence if a flawed Democrat (or, better yet, a slew of them) takes office. Not just because they were voted in. That's not enough. Because they were voted in, after which their feet were held to the fire, every second, of every day they're in office. That's what it will take, on certain issues (like saner gun control laws), even if Bernie Sanders becomes president. It's what it would take to overpower the opposition, once he's in office, on other issues. Will greater movement be required from a Clinton administration? Yes, on a number of issues. But I know, if the people who have supported Bernie Sanders apply the same energy they put into planning and attending rallies of 30,000 into pressuring Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party toward more progressive positions, they will succeed. That doesn't mean Sanders supporters will choose to do so. But it also doesn't mean they can't. It doesn't mean we can't, together.
To those who know me, I'm anything but a Pollyanna. I'm aware of Hillary Clinton's (and Barack Obama's) inclinations toward questionable, costly, and ghastly interventions. I'm aware of the money she's taken from dishonorable sources. I also watched, in my youth, as a groundswell of people forced politicians to end involvement in a Southeast Asian war. It took years. It took tens of thousands of deaths. It took -- to put it very mildly -- much more than it should have. But it was accomplished. I'm also in mourning for the world I wish we had, and disgusted by the realities of the one that exists. But I know that a vote is not all that's required to alter it. And I'm aware that no vote, by itself, ever will. But, it's an imperative first step.
I also know there are those who will launch a cavalcade of criticisms of everything I've said. "I'll never vote for Hillary Clinton," people will write. And, "She's just as bad as Trump," others will claim. If she does win the nomination, and you distrust and despise her so, I'd suggest the greatest revenge shouldn't be withholding your vote from her. It should be voting her into office, and forcing her to do your bidding. Make her your employee. Because that can be done. And that's democracy in action. Forcing politicians to do what they otherwise wouldn't have. And, if "lesser of two evilism" is too tawdry a notion for you, then I encourage you to reword the concept. If you don't get the leader you most want, make sure you get the one you can most influence, and control.
By Andrew Morrison
Andrew Morrison is the Gender and Diversity Division chief at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Prior to joining the IDB, he worked at the World Bank as lead economist in the Gender and Development Group and as regional gender coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean.
"Your result is described as a slight automatic association for male with career and female with family."
For a man who describes himself as a feminist and has spent most of his professional life working on gender equality, my result on the Gender-Career Implicit Association Test (that I invite you to take) was devastating and eye-opening. And I am not alone: 75% of the people who have taken the test show the same bias to some degree.
Advertisement
The truth is that stereotypes and gender norms have a stronger influence than we think, and this is especially true when talking about labor markets and professional careers.
Women are still more likely to work in lower-paying sectors and occupations--and this occupational segregation explains part of the observed wage gap between men and women. Pioneering research for the United States suggests that gender differences in occupations and sectors are in fact the most important measurable factor explaining gender wage gaps, but much more research on this topic needs to be done in developing countries.
Multilateral Investment Fund
Looking for some answers
To what extent are women's choices of occupations and sectors the result of a conscious choice of jobs that offer them more flexibility to combine work with domestic responsibilities? To what extent are wage or earnings gaps due to unconscious bias against women in hiring or promotion decisions? And to what degree do women--whether consciously or unconsciously--limit themselves to more feminine occupations? The answers to these questions are essential for us to formulate smart policy responses.
Can economic incentives combat unconscious bias by encouraging women to consciously examine their career choices, avoid default choices that conform to social norms, and choose higher-paying jobs? An experiment in Kenya found that providing young people information on the returns to training in different areas--complemented by inspirational videos about women who succeeded in traditionally male-dominated occupations--led to more young women choosing training in higher-paying male occupations. The IDB is trying a similar intervention in Mexico, in partnership with the Public Education Ministry.
Advertisement
Getting women into training courses for more high-paying occupations is, of course, only the first step. They need to complete the training courses and not drop out because of a hostile environment or lack of female role models. And then they need to make the leap to gainful employment and successful careers.
For some women, the issue is productivity and earnings. But for others, the issue is more basic: participation per se in labor markets.
While the participation rate of women in Latin America and the Caribbean has grown to 53.8% in 2014 from 45.5% in 1995--the fastest rate of increase in any world region--it remains 26 points below male participation rates. And since 2012, there has been a deceleration in women's labor force participation in the region. It seems that the easy gains in participation have been made, and that further increases will require addressing structural constraints that limit women's participation, like access to child and elder care.
Women's economic empowerment remains a challenge in Latin America and the Caribbean and around the world--which is precisely why more than 200 experts representing the private sector, governments, civil society, and multilateral development banks are gathering today and tomorrow in Washington, D.C., to attend the 2016 Global Gender Summit on Women's Economic Empowerment. The event will allow us to share new developments, lessons learned, emerging challenges, and best practices in advancing women's economic empowerment globally.
Join us today and tomorrow in shaping the future of the gender equality agenda. Follow the summit via livestream and take part in the discussion using #MDBgender on Twitter.
Advertisement
This story first appeared on Ecosystem Marketplace
By Stephen Donofrio
Deconstruct a hamburger, and what have you got? Beef - maybe from Paraguay - on a bun that might contain soy from Brazil and palm oil from Indonesia, all wrapped in a paper bag made from pulverized Malaysian trees.
A decade ago, you could have assumed each of these ingredients came at the expense of tropical forests, which were being flattened en masse to make way for giant plantations. That, unfortunately, is still a good bet, but it's not a sure one, because hundreds of companies have pledged to produce or source palm, timber & pulp, soy, and cattle in ways that don't drive deforestation.
In our newest report, Supply Change: Tracking Corporate Commitments to Deforestation-free Supply Chains, 2016, we have tracked 579 individual commitments from 366 companies - up from 307 commitments from 243 companies in March of last year - and it shows that, of those 366 companies, most still haven't reported progress on their pledges. Disturbingly, that figure includes companies whose pledges were supposed to be met prior to this year. What's more, the vast majority of companies active in the beef and soy sectors still haven't made any pledges at all.
Advertisement
We presented our results at the Global Landscapes Forum in London, where investors from around the world are looking to put money into sustainable agriculture initiatives.
Taking Stock
One glaring finding stands out: disclosure on progress toward commitments is insufficient as public information on progress is only available for one in three commitments.
Most of the companies that have committed to reduce deforestation are headquartered in North America and Europe, far away from the commodity-related deforestation. They also tend to be large, publicly traded entities, dealing in food products, and well-known to consumers - but they purchase from smaller, less visible, and less transparent companies.
In the report, we look beyond just those that have made commitments, and instead at 566 companies, representing at least US$7.3 trillion in market capitalization, who were identified as having deforestation risk tied to these four commodities.
Advertisement
Of companies active in palm, 61% have adopted pledges, compared with only 15% in cattle and 19% in soy. The disparity is alarming because it is estimated that cattle production causes 10 times more deforestation than palm.
That's largely because of the attention given to palm, such as high-profile campaigns against companies like Nestle and Kellogg's to reduce forest destruction linked to palm oil.
Going forward, the challenge is to shine this same sort of light on soy and beef, while also moving further and further down the supply chain, to the hundreds of thousands of small farmers who supply the bulk of the beef and soy that ends up in burgers and buns.
What's Happening Now?
A small but growing number of investors have begun shifting their agricultural holdings from traditional plantations that come at the expense of forests and small landholders to more sustainable activities, many of which earn a return by helping farmers become more efficient, effective, and business-savvy.
For most corporations, it's a completely new way of thinking, and yesterday's Global Landscapes Forum was designed to move that forward, which is why we chose to launch our report there.
Advertisement
Organizations like the Consumer Goods Forum are also moving the ball forward with new tools like the Sustainable Soy Sourcing Guidelines, which help companies develop their own soy sourcing policies.
Together, these and other initiatives are bringing the bright light of transparency into a previously opaque part of the global economy - and helping to remove deforestation from the products we use every day.
I'm Fred Raillard, CEO, Co-founder and Creative Chief Officer of FRED & FARID, a social, content, tech solutions for brands company based in Paris, Shanghai, Beijing and New York. In partnership with FRED & FARID, BFM Business launches #FredinChina, a social media podcast in "Chine Hebdo", the weekly radio broadcast of Mathieu Jolivet. #FredinChina is essential to know and understand the world's largest economy.
I fell in love with China, and live in Shanghai with my wife and sons since September 2012. With my teams at the FRED & FARID Shanghai agency we monitor, analyze and decrypt this ultra-connected China with nearly 800 million netizens by sharing what we see, hear and read on Weibo, WeChat, Huaban, Youku. I prepare this column with Jing Qian from FRED & FARID Shanghai.
Click here to listen to all the podcasts.
Advertisement
In China, there are contrasting opinions about the racist ad
The HotTopic of the week is this very racist detergent commercial that you all unfortunately know. It's the TVC where you see a black man coming towards an Asian woman who puts him in a washing machine, from where he comes out 'clean'. 'Clean' means he comes out looking like an Asian person. It's a super racist commercial that made a huge bad buzz in the Western world.
It came out late in China as the TVC was released 3 months ago and didn't do any bad buzz. But it came back from the West to China. And we can see different reactions from Chinese people. Young, educated people in China were shocked by the racism of this commercial, also by the fact that this TVC is a copy from an Italian one. So it really shows a bad image of China. But another part of the country didn't understand why the western countries were so sensitive about it. For them, the commercial isn't racist at all. It is just a message. On various forums, you can see thousands of people saying that this commercial is not racist. That was really shocking, more than the ad itself.
The detergent company also acted badly. They apologized officially and publicly towards "African people". This is interesting because they really think that black people are in Africa and only in Africa. For them, there are no black people in the rest of the world.
In the end it really just shows that the whole story doesn't have any racist intentions. It is a story of stupidity and a profound lack of culture.
The cute digital activation for "Children's Day" by Alibaba
The HotBrand of the week is Alipay, the mobile payment system of Alibaba Group. You know that Chinese people or Chinese brands are crazy about activations. So they celebrate pretty much everything on the calendar: Halloween, Christmas, Chinese New Year, Western New Year, Mother's Day, Lovers Day etc. So on June 1st, they celebrate the Children's Day. All brands are planning something to celebrate children. This year, Alipay had a good idea.
Advertisement
All users saw their name changed on the app: the surnames were all replaced by 'Bao Bao', meaning 'baby'. As surnames precede first names in China, it is like everyone was named 'Baby John' or 'Baby Sara'. It was pretty cute and touching so most people loved it. But it also created bad buzz as Alipay is supposed to be a financial tool so they have to be more serious. Also because Alibaba could change the profile of its customers without permission so people found it really scary and not funny at all. So people thought that Alibaba still couldn't launch activations as cool as their competitor Tencent, which is always using the right tone.
Q&A app Fenda already pays its first... billionaire users
The HotPost of the week is related to Fenda, the HotBrand of last week. It's a Q&A application reinventing the genre. Q&A apps are very successful in China. The principle of this WeChat application is that as an expert you can answer any question of your topic, and you get paid for your responses. But the trick is if someone else wants to know your answer, he has to pay you and the person who asked the question also.
This week, the son of the richest man in China used Fenda's application and answered 32 questions in 30 minutes. He earned 200,000 RMB ($27,000). It shows how successful the app is. For example, a girl paid 3,000 RMB to get the answer of the young man, but on the return she received 6,000 RMB because 3100 people wanted to know the answers. They were basic questions such as, "As you are very rich, what can't you buy?", with passionate answers like "I can buy anything of course, except things like love and freedom".
As season 6 progresses and the capital of Westeros, King's Landing, is on the cusp of a bloody revolution, it seems that outside of Ramsay Bolton, the High Sparrow is everyone's least favorite character in the show.
There are good reasons to despise him: he's a religious fanatic who wants to establish a theocracy, he's always preaching, he has shamed several of the characters we've known for a long time and of course he imprisoned and tortured Loras Tyrel just for being gay.
Despicable. No one should support that kind of leader.
Today, that is.
But let's not forget that Game of Thrones takes place in medieval times, not in our (post) modern era.
Advertisement
We judge religious extremism in the show harshly because of ISIS and Taliban, and we give the feudal system and its perpetrators a pass because there's no feudal threat on our cushy democracies. But if we judge the High Sparrow and the Sparrow movement by 21st century values, let's hold the other characters to the same standard.
For More On Why We Shouldn't Hate The High Sparrow - Watch This Video
Tyrion and Ned Should Be In Jail, Daenerys is Just an Establishment Crony
Let's look at Tyrion Lannister, a trust fund baby who is guilty of extortion, murder and kidnapping. He also owned a woman he later killed because she testified against him. Sounds like a swell guy.
What about the late Ned Stark, the noblest of all characters? He inherited his daddy's vast wealth that has been amassed thanks to paying NO WAGES to the people who cultivate land that they are not allowed to own. And how many people died in the war he started because his sister was kidnapped? No one cares about the sisters of the common people though. Furthermore, in the pilot episode he didn't give a soldier who fled the White Walkers a fair trial and executed him unjustly, with his own hands, while his 10 year boy was watching. That sounds like some Kim Jung Un might try to pull off.
Loras Tyrel should not be in jail for being gay on this we can all agree. He should rot in a cell for convincing Renly Baratheon to start an unlawful civil war against Stannis, a war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives. And for what? So Loras could get a cabinet position in the new administration.
Advertisement
The High Sparrow's victim, Cersei, is the one who actually got Loras in prison in the first place, because he was standing in her way. She also had her husband and innocent civilians murdered for political reasons, so she's more like a mob boss than a queen. She also tortured a woman just to get back at her brother.
But what about Daenerys Targaryen, the Freer of Slaves and Breaker of Chains? She is against slavery, but isn't feudalism just a different system of quasi-slavery that is built on exploitation and violence against the 99%? She doesn't want to change this horrible system, just tweak it. And how is she planning on getting to power? Through fire and blood. Thousands will have to die for her to fulfil her personal political ambition.
The Lords Have Only Themselves To Blame
This all sounds preposterous, of course, because we're talking about the middle ages, because preaching and shaming are far less serious crimes than all of the above.
The Sparrow movement is after all a direct result of the economic and political policies advanced by one-percenters like the Starks, Lannisters and Baratheons. Why shouldn't the poor be allowed to advance their own interests? They're just acting in self-defense, telling the billionaire class that they cannot have it all. Enough is enough.
The working families of Westeros don't have democratic tools for change, no ballot boxes or freedom of speech - their constitution is the religious text. They're right to be angry and to want a political revolution. Why should they accept to be ruled by an elite that dubs them LOWborn?! Are the HIGHborn really better just because they say so? Why should everyone pay for their own mistakes?
Advertisement
Also, Westerosi kings and lords derive their legitimacy from the religious establishment, so why shouldn't the 99% do the same?
There's actually a good reason to mistrust the High Sparrow - could it be because we barely know him and not part of the "club". We want Cersei to pay for her crimes, but we want someone from the club to kill her, somebody like Arya. What does a pope have to do with kings, knights and dragons?! We've been following these nobles for so many seasons, so we prefer the devil we know.
But, objectively, if we were living in Westeros, most of us would prefer to be ruled by a religious zealot with a mandate to better the life of the 99%, than by a crazy murderous caste who think their blood makes them genetically superior. That's some fucked up shit right there.
In contrast, the High Sparrow offers regular folks hope of social mobility and dignity, he protects them for the violence of the 1%. So when we judge him according to the world he lives in, he doesn't seem like such a bad guy after all.
Check out Gil Kidron's YouTube channel GoT Academy for unique content about Game of Thrones
Follow Game of Thrones Academy on Twitter or Facebook
In his Sunday New York Times article "'Be Yourself' Is Terrible Advice," Professor Adam Grant of my alma mater, The University of Pennsylvania, states that, "Authenticity means erasing the gap between what you firmly believe inside and what you reveal to the outside world."
In fact, what Professor Grant provides is the exact definition of "congruence," not "authenticity."
Congruence is when what one reveals to the outer world matches his or her inner workings; authenticity, on the other hand, is usually denoted in contradistinction to our false selves, facades or personas - what we show the outer world. For instance, if you feel that your vocation is to be a great novelist or painter but you did not pursue that calling because your parents pressured you to go into business, then you would be inauthentic.
More importantly, these notions currently bandied about - such as "authenticity" as well as "mindfulness" and "compassion" - derive from the wave of Buddhist philosophy sweeping over the United States for the last fifty years. (Yes, of course, Heidegger spoke of authenticity, and compassion plays a large role in Christianity and Judaism, but I would argue that our contemporary understandings of these terms are heavily influenced by the presence of the Dalai Lama in our culture today. In particular, regarding compassion, I would bet that more Americans could identify His Holiness stating, "My religion is compassion," than find India on a map.)
Advertisement
Detached from the larger teachings, Westerners often attempt to apply psychological tests - such as the one Professor Grant mentions in his article regarding people salting their steaks - to prove scientific theories. But applying Western science to measure the efficacy of Buddhist principles is like trying to measure milk with a ruler. Devoid of a broader understanding of how the Buddha believed our minds function and why our minds have a negativity bias, the Buddha's prescription to alleviate suffering, which employs such concepts as authenticity, mindfulness, and compassion, represents another paradigm that Westerners are just beginning to appreciate.
The example of authenticity that Professor Grant cites in his article - namely author A.J. Jacobs deciding to speak his thoughts with no filter or "low monitoring" for a few weeks - has very little to do with authenticity. From the studies I have read, the average person has 50,000 to 90,000 thoughts everyday, the disproportionate number of them are redundant and negative. What Professor Grant claims to be authenticity would be better understood as mindful awareness of thoughts. If authenticity meant verbalizing the streams of consciousness that run through our heads - as is done in psychoanalysis - then every prison cell in America would be double-booked for the next 500 years. Which is why the Buddha devised the 8 limb path that incorporates such tenets as "Right speech," "Right mindfulness," and "Right actions."
Finally, in Buddhism there is no self to be. Hence the title "'Be Yourself' Is Terrible Advice" is correct, but it is correct for the wrong reason. And maybe it is equally unadvisable to quote a fictional fool here, but Polonius' advice to Laertes - "This above all: to thine own self be true" - could be updated for our epoch as Joseph Campell's "Follow your bliss" (cf. Elaine Scarry on beauty) or more colloquially as "Follow your guts," "Follow your intuition," "Follow your heart," "Have personal integrity," or "Be congruent..." rather than trying to be something that does not exist.
Advertisement
College decisions should incorporate a good deal of investigative effort. There's a lot of information to sort through and it's difficult to distill useful, accurate content from opinion. You might want to know how to choose a major or find the best college fit. At Synocate our students use a detailed approach that leads to an informed decision. Research isn't just about finding facts but uncovering academic motivation and how colleges will enhance it. Our framework helps students understand how each year of undergrad will contribute towards their goals.
Personal Goals
Students typically have two main routes in mind after their undergraduate years -- additional schooling or specific career paths. To maximize intellectual preparation and chances during these respective application processes, students should engage in academic research or develop personal projects. Like in undergraduate admissions, high school students need to explain their interest in a field and relate past life moments and accomplishments to support their story.
Nothing proves interest in the field more than demonstrated growth over time. College decisions were likely based on a combination of academic interest, university resources, and student life. Compared to high school academic interest likely changed and became more refined- something that's proven through major selection, student club participation, research assistantships, personal projects, original research, etc.
Advertisement
Proving Interest
Regardless of the decision between starting a career afterwards or continuing onto graduate schooling after undergrad, students should leave with tangible milestones as part of their intellectual development. College decisions are the first step followed by transition to the workplace or academia which begins with another application process that asks the same set of general questions:
Why do you care about this field? What experiences or achievements prepare you for this environment? What kind of contributions should we expect?
Crafting a Narrative
If students can point to 2-3 actions that illustrate commitment and passion they will have a strong story. For example, someone interested in working for a robotics technology firm or a robotics program should have answers to the three questions.
1. I got my start with programming LEGO robots. Lights-out was especially exciting -- I could see my creation move across my room with it's glow-in-the-dark paint. Years later I applied these skills to my very first aerial drone project. It would fly from house to house recording backyard activities. I never missed a neighborhood barbecue or a chance to swim in my neighbor's pool.
Advertisement
2. Halfway through college I organized robot battle between two miniature transformers (just like the movie). It started as a hobby from the skills gained in courses from the Artificial Intelligence lab on campus and grew during my internship at a robotics company. None of this would have been possible without the help of my advisor, a professor with expertise in robot development. My college decision paved the way.
3. I've studied computer vision extensively and relied heavily on this knowledge to complete the robotics project that served as my senior thesis. I'd like to expand on the human-computer interaction aspects of your program. Specifically, I'd like to help computers distinguish moving vehicles from stationary objects and people. This is a priority for autonomous cars.
Last week, the LA Times Editorial Board observed our presidential candidates' silence on climate change. The Board acknowledged two sad truths: first, climate change is dangerously absent from the national discussion, despite its importance; and second, we shouldn't be surprised that our politicians don't talk about it because it doesn't resonate with voters. The second is a bad excuse for the first. The Board and our candidates are ignoring the devastating influence of climate change on our community.
Had I been in the editorial board meeting, I would have pitched a different piece. I would have suggested an editorial that urged the candidates to visit the places in California where voters are already deeply affected by climate change and the industries that perpetuate it. Presidential campaigns search high and low to find "real people" who can break through the campaign bubble and tell the stories that underpin a candidate's vision; unfortunately, it's increasingly easy to find Californians who confront the effects of climate change every day.
Freeze frame of infrared footage of Southern California Gas Company Aliso Canyon Disaster (Reuters / Environmental Defense Fund)
Advertisement
First the candidates should go to Aliso Canyon. There, the Southern California Gas Company operates a natural gas reservoir that provides gas for 21 million people and thousands of businesses in the region. Last winter, it was the subject of news stories detailing the massive breach in one of its gas wells. The disaster represented the single largest known methane "leak" in the country -- an emission of greenhouse gases more than eighty times as potent as carbon dioxide. In layman's terms, it is equivalent to burning nearly a billion gallons of gasoline. (I could drive my car for about 2 million years with that amount of fuel.)
Instead of doing the typical campaign tour, the candidates could spend time with the folks who live there. They could hear from Porter Ranch residents who still haven't returned home because they fear the residues of heavy metal -- remnants of past oil and gas drilling -- on their kitchen counters, or living room sofas. Or they could hear from students at CSUN, who have walked to class only to find their noses bleeding from the fumes in the natural gas. (They could also call officials from the California Air Resources Board -- one of the the state agencies that administers California's climate policy -- to learn how the Gas Company has publicly dismissed the Board's suggested climate pollution mitigation strategy.)
Signal Hill, overlooking Long Beach, in the 1940s
Oil well on Signal Hill, 2008. (David McNew / Getty Images)
From Aliso Canyon, I'd suggest the candidates follow the gas pipelines south and east into Los Angeles, where they connect to the city's top climate polluters -- facilities that emit carbon dioxide as they burn fossil fuels to generate electricity and refine oil. But even as climate pollution slowly contributes to a global calamity, it immediately coincides with local public health impacts from ozone and particulate emissions. Instead of discussing the far-away effects of a melting glacier, I'd suggest a visit to Wilmington, or Riverside, where the incidence of asthma and respiratory disease is higher because of our continued dependence on fossil fuels. Talk to the families who still live among oil wells. (The Long Beach Oil Field produced nearly a fifth of the nation's oil in the 1920s and Los Angeles continues to produce more than 20 million barrels of oil a year.) After connecting with families, the candidates might visit the South Coast Air Quality Management District -- a public agency charged with implementing the Federal Clean Air Act -- to learn how the California oil lobby helped to oust the agency's Executive Director for doing his job.
Advertisement
A California climate trip would not be complete without a visit to the Central Valley. You can picture the motorcades barreling down the I-5, buzzing past the water propaganda strapped to idle farm trucks that dot the side of the road and urge motorists to support drought assistance measures in Sacramento. I'd encourage the candidates to turn east, off the freeway, and toward places like Tulare, or Corcoran. These are parts of California where folks are literally running out of water. Talk to the farm workers who have trouble finding work because fields have been fallowed or, increasingly, repurposed for novel uses. (A Central Valley observer could not, for example, miss the thousands of acres of dry land transformed into vast solar arrays, which presumably reveal that in drought economics, photovoltaics > photosynthesis.) Don't just consult with the scientists whose research shows us that rising temperatures will lead to less snowpack, earlier melt, and exacerbated drought. But also talk with the families who live downstream, where the coincidence of a prolonged drought, over-pumping of our groundwater, and decades of nitrogen-based fertilizer use have so contaminated their drinking water it is now dangerous to consume.
These are just the greatest hits. There isn't enough space to address all the honorable mentions -- most notably, the downtown LA factory that for years manufactured the batteries we needed to power our gas guzzlers, but left 10,000 nearby homes devastated with lead contamination. If the presidential candidates visited these communities, they could make climate change a more broadly resonant issue. And, together, by empowering the voters whose calls for justice have too long have gone unheard, we could take a step forward toward a more equitable discussion of our climate. It would also go a long way toward bridging the gap the LA Times lamented.
Jake Levine is the energy and technology policy advisor to State Senator Fran Pavley. He previously served as Chief of Staff at Opower, a software company focused on helping people take control of their energy use. He is a former aide to President Obama, where he served in the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change. His opinions are his own.
The Secretary Actually Disobeyed NO Applicable State Department Policy, Let Alone Any Law
The author, an expert in corporate governance, is dismayed by the Inspector General's recent report finding that Secretary Clinton disobeyed formal State Department policies regarding the Department's unclassified email system -- dismayed as well by the drumbeat of media coverage that has gotten much of the Report exactly wrong. Notably, while the IG claims no violations of law on Ms. Clinton's part regarding her handling of unclassified emails -- importantly, the IG investigation does not address classification issues -- even the IG's conclusions as to policy transgressions are belied by many other facts that emerged from its investigation.
It is little known that, under the Inspector General Act of 1978, the mandate of the Inspectors General who oversee the administration of every Executive branch agency is to improve government business processes as much as to ferret out wrongful or illegal behavior. In the context of an IG Report finding that Secretary Clinton's email practices violated no laws but only State Department policy rules, the IG tellingly concludes:
Longstanding, systemic weaknesses related to electronic records and communications have existed within the Office of the Secretary that go well beyond the tenure of any one Secretary of State.
Review of the IG Report's eight "Recommendations" for improving the State Department's regulation of electronic records further confirms that the Department's "longstanding systemic weaknesses" in its handling of such records, and going back to the beginning of the century, is the only meaningful charge to be found here. It is also a charge for which a Republican Congress shares much blame, as having not only refused to increase the State Department's operating budget, as requested, during Secretary Clinton's tenure--but having actually cut that budget.
The IG's "Recommendation 8" is especially revealing: it now recommends--in May 2016--that the Department institute penalties for employees who fail to use only authorized information systems to conduct day-to-day operations. Of course this means that to this day there is no mechanism in place for enforcing IT policy guidance in this area--and a policy without an enforcement mechanism reflects a set of rules that was simply not taken seriously by either managers or human resource officers...or obviously, by just about anyone else at the Department.
Treatment by the media and press
Meanwhile, over-the-top news reports ignore the overall slant of the Report--again, hardly focused on Clinton alone--as well as many factual revelations, some buried deep within the Report:
-- That no previous Secretary of State had an email address on the State Department system;
-- That using a personal email account for official business was absolutely the norm for at least one previous Secretary (Colin Powell);
Advertisement
-- That when one of Secretary Clinton's senior officials suggested in 2010 that she should have an email address on the State Department system, the Secretary responded that she was entirely amenable to receiving such an address as long as there wasn't "any risk of the personal being accessible."
-- The Report's hard-to-believe conclusion that during her tenure from 2005 to 2009, former Secretary Condoleezza Rice "did not use either personal or Department email accounts for official business" (raising the question as to just how she communicated with others, many years into the current millennium);
-- That no seminal moment is reflected in the IG Report (because no such moment in fact occurred) wherein the Secretary decided to "go underground" with her own email address and server, but rather this practice merely continued email protocols she had employed in the Senate and on the 2008 campaign trail--and about which hundreds of her colleagues were obviously aware during her time as Secretary;
--That, in the words of a senior career official at State, "there was no requirement for [Secretary Clinton] to be connected to our system."
The senior official in question was Lewis Lukens, the non-political career veteran who directed the Department's Executive Secretariat, responsible for overseeing the broader office of the Secretary of State. Notably, Mr. Lukens reportedly found nothing unusual about either Ms. Clinton's electronic absence from the State Department system or the fact that she used an outside service for her communications.
Advertisement
Mr. Lukens was probably nonplussed because, again, the Department's IT systems during Ms. Clinton's time in office were so poor and antiquated that foreign service officers, high and low, routinely used personal emails to get their work done and ensure messages were sent and received in a timely manner. Of course, the State Department's unclassified servers were surely no more secure--and given the massive Chinese hacking of Government IT systems revealed in 2015, perhaps even a good deal less secure--than a private server residing in a suburban New York basement.
Long-standing practice a legitimate guidepost for informing Secretary Clinton's behavior
There is one other reason the systemic weaknesses of the State Department's IT systems is the only meaningful charge in this Report: from a corporate governance standpoint, it is well settled that an organization's unwritten practices and policies may well override written, formal policies regulating the same behavior. For example, there is a strong and formal rule that says government workers and contractors using government furnished equipment in the workplace may only use such property for official, government purposes--and many private sector organizations have similar rules. The reality, of course, is that government workers routinely use their equipment to write personal emails, and to make social appointments and reservations. This is an understandable and accepted practice that, at the lower level of rules and norms, effectively revises the formal policy rule to allow reasonable personal use of government resources.
Similarly, the reverse situation of Secretary Clinton using non-Government resources for her work-related communications, no matter what formal policies they may have arguably infringed, was a long-standing, recognized practice that effectively carved an exception out of general Departmental policies. As a result, there is no other conclusion to reach here but that Secretary Clinton's handling of emails and email systems during her time at the State Department was within the norms of accepted practice--as carried out by former Secretaries and low-level foreign service officers alike.
This isn't a coincidence.
There are so many examples of Trump inciting violence the New York Times put together this video documenting some of them. A powerful video juxtaposing his longing for the violence against protestors from the "good ol' days" with images from the Civil Rights Era recently went viral. There's been an upswing in anti-Muslim hate crimes that correlates with his candidacy--including several offenders who cite him as their inspiration. Another of his supporters beat an unhoused Latino man. Yet another sucker punched a demonstrator at a rally and then, more alarmingly, went on to say, "The next time we see him, we might have to kill him." Trump has not just flagrantly violated the typical boundaries of political discourse, his candidacy is linked to multiple instances of violence. It shouldn't be a surprise that opposition to him has responded in kind. Yet, a lot of people seem shocked and appalled at this perfectly logical reaction. In the face of media, politicians, and GOP primary voters normalizing Trump as a presidential candidate--whatever your personal beliefs regarding violent resistance--there's an inherent value in forestalling Trump's normalization. Violent resistance accomplishes this. In spite of this, such resistance is apparently more offensive and unacceptable to societal norms and liberal sensibilities than the nastiness being resisted in the first place.
Advertisement
As a result, a litany of think-pieces and condemnations from liberal media and politicians are making their rounds to make it clear how unacceptable and counterproductive any violence or rioting is, urging people to "listen to the other side," and to use "legitimate means" to fight Trump's rise--ignoring the possibility of fascism in the US rising with it. Those who stray from this nonviolent narrative, like Emmet Rensin, an editor at Vox who tweeted that people should riot when Trump comes to town, face swift and punitive redress, urging them to fall back in line. Amidst the hot takes and denunciations from liberals, they all seem to miss a few key points. First, they misplace the blame. Second, they misunderstand the desired outcome from violent resistance and those protesting Trump in general. And third, they ignore the history of successful violent insurrection in the US, instead favoring the elementary school version of history in which nonviolence is the only means of struggle that's ever achieved a thing.
Advertisement
Let's go point by point.
Point one. These denunciations of violence from anti-Trump protestors rest on the misguided view that the divide Trump's exposed is a typical political disagreement between partisans, and should be handled as such. This couldn't be further from the truth. Trump might not be a fascist in the 20th century European sense of the term--though many of his supporters are--but he might represent its 21st century US version. There's no doubt he's expanded the Overton Window to include rhetoric previously well outside its bounds. His calls for a "deportation force" to expel 11+ million people from the country, his claims that most Mexican immigrants are rapists and criminals, his calls to keep databases of Muslims and to enact a total ban on Muslims entering the country, his rampant sexism, his mocking people with disabilities, and his propensity for lying have brought the already pathetic state of US political discourse to astoundingly precarious lows. Treating this like politics as usual allows it to become politics as usual, and those who do so risk complicity ushering in a new era of fascist politics in the United States. Violence that takes place at Trump rallies--in support or opposition--is a reaction to the tone he's set, and the blame for it should land primarily on his shoulders. As awful as Ted Cruz is, and he's genuinely terrible, like there's no way to overemphasize how terribly awful Ted Cruz is--politically, personally, as a colleague, a roommate, a presidential candidate... I mean he's really the worst. But if he was the presumptive GOP nominee things wouldn't look this way.
Point two. Politicians and liberal pundits seem to believe the principal goal for everyone resisting Trump is to halt his entry into the Oval Office. This, by default, means assisting Hillary Clinton's entry. That's a fine goal for some people to embrace, and in the heat of an election year perhaps partisans and pundits can be forgiven for having such a narrow view, but there's more to this fight than helping get another Clinton into the White House. And for some, posing that as the goal is a good way to motivate them to stay home. My biggest issue with looking at the Trump problem as an exclusively political issue, though, is that if he loses this fall everyone will go back to ignoring the things that got us here in the first place. No matter who wins in November, the forces underpinning his rise will remain.
Trump doesn't exist in a vacuum. He's the natural consequence of, among other things, Republicans longstanding embrace of racism, perpetual attacks on the credibility of media, scientists, and the federal government, defunding public education, railing against so-called PC culture, and using immigrants as scape goats. Defeating these systems of power and their underlying apparatuses--think tanks, conservative radio, Fox News, the Tea Party, etc.--is a much longer-term and more demanding task than assuring Trump isn't elected. Taking on the attitudes that drive them is even more difficult. Assuming anti-Trump protests should be strictly focused on electoral politics and not these broader goals would be a detrimental oversight. Understanding European anti-fascists use of violent tactics to shut down large rallies from White Supremacists can be illustrative here. Because while Trump isn't leading full bore White Supremacist rallies, there is value in making it clear that even his fascism-lite has no place in civilized society. And whether his candidacy represents how fascism comes to the US or he's simply opened the door to it is immaterial. Either should be stopped post haste.
Point three. Violent resistance matters. Riots can lead to major change (*note the irony of that hyperlink going to a Vox article). It's not liberal politicians or masses that historians identify as the spark underlying the modern movement for LGBTQ equality. Nor was it a think piece from some smarmy liberal writer. It was the people who took to the streets during the Stonewall Uprising. It was the Watts Rebellion, not the Watts Battle of Ideas, that exposed the enduring systemic neglect, poverty, inequality, and racism faced by that community. Similarly, it was the LA Uprising, not the LA Protests, that led to significant changes in the Los Angeles Police Department. More recently, the Ferguson and Baltimore Uprisings both helped prompt the Justice Department to investigate their corrupt police forces. And since we're talking about fascism, it's worth remembering that it wasn't the election of a moderate centrist (hello, Hillary) or a sanguine protest that stopped its ascent in Europe. It was, primarily, the Russian military, and to a lesser extent the US military; neither of which practiced nonviolence if memory serves.
"Will Arnett put you up to this, didn't he?"
That's what Jason Bateman said to his agent four years ago when this Arrested Development star learned that Walt Disney Animation Studios wanted him to come voice one of the leads for Zootopia.
"Ever since Toy Story -- or was it Shrek ? - film actors were being invited to voice these really great characters in animated films. And that was something that I really, really wanted to do. I kept hoping that my career would someday get to a place where I'd then get to be one of those people who got the opportunity to do voice work on a movie like that," Bateman recalled during a recent interview.
"Now you have to understand that I'm really good friends with Will Arnett. And he gets to do voice work for animation all the time. So Will knew how I felt about this. He knew that doing voice work in animation was a real career goal of mine. Which is why - just to bust my chops -- Will would say things to me like 'Gee, I don't think that they're going to call. You just don't have what it takes to work in animation, Bateman,'" Jason continued.
Advertisement
"So when that call finally came from Disney three or four years back ... This was a really big, big call for me. I literally pulled my car over so that I then wouldn't lose the signal," Bateman said. "But all I can think of as my agent is telling me the good news is that Will must have put him up to this. That this couldn't possibly be real. But when it did actually turn out to be real, that Disney really did want me to come voice Nick Wilde for Zootopia ... Well, I have to admit that that was pretty cool."
Ginnifer Goodwin was exactly excited when she learned Disney wanted her to come voice Officer Judy Hopps for Zootopia. But in the case of this Once Upon a Time star, it was personal satisfaction - rather than career ambition - that made her immediately say "Yes" to this project.
"I grew up seeing and loving every Disney film. Seriously. When I was a kid, my first love was Winnie-the-Pooh. Then came Snow White. That was a big one for me as well. She was my first Disney Princess. And because she was a brunette, I thought that this meant that we were semi-related," Goodwin laughed. "Then came Alice in Wonderland. She was a big obsession of mine for a while as well. Long story short, this is why me getting to voice a character in a Disney film has been a personal goal of mine for a very long time."
And Ginnifer finally got to do it -- sort of - when she was cast to be the voice of Fawn in Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast. Which was one of the six Disney Fairies home premieres that DisneyToon Studios has produced over the last eight years.
Advertisement
"So one morning in 2013, I'm sitting in my kitchen in Vancouver - that's where we shoot Once Upon a Time - and I notice that I have all of these messages on my phone. All of my acting representatives - including my voice-over agent - have reached out to me at the exact same time. So I immediately think that Disney doesn't want to be the voice of Fawn anymore. That I was being fired off of Tinker Bell and the NeverBeast, " Goodwin remembered.
"And because I'm pregnant with my first son at the time and full of hormones, I start to cry. And my husband Josh -- because he wants to comfort me - starts saying things like 'Maybe it's good news. Maybe Disney's calling to offer you the lead in their next animated feature.' And I tell him 'That's mean. I am so obviously getting fired here,' " Ginnifer continues.
"So I sit down and dial the phone. And miraculously I can get everyone back on the line. And I think that the words my agent said were 'John Lasseter is calling to offer you ..." And I immediately turn to Josh and said 'How did you know ?,' " Goodwin stated. "The very next thing I did was interrupt my agent and say 'I'm in.' And he said 'Don't you want to know about the role? Or what the movie's about?' And I said 'No. We can do that later. Just call them back and say that I said that I'd take the job. Because I want this to be immediately legally binding so that Disney then can't back out. And then you can call me back and tell me what this job is all about."
Now Ginnifer - because she'd already been voicing Fawn ("NeverBeast was my animation boot camp") - at least sort of already knew her way around a recording booth. Whereas for Bateman, learning how to properly voice Nick Wilde - giving the animators at Disney exactly what they needed to work with -- was a real performing challenge for this TV & film veteran.
"Every few months, they'd call me in to do these two-hour-long recording sessions. I mean, typically there'd be four new scenes that they wanted me to record dialogue for. So it's just you in a booth with a microphone and those pages and the directors on the other side of the glass. And it's honestly a lot harder than it looks. I really had to concentrate in order to learn how to do voice-over work properly," Jason said.
Advertisement
Goodwin confirms what Bateman said. "As an actor, there's something genuinely terrifying about not having facial expressions, your body language, a costume or a prop to cling to. It's just you in that booth. And in order to give the animators and the editors everything they need to in order to make their movie, you just have to relinquish all control to them and say 'Okay. I'm going to throw everything into my voice and then try and give the directors a million different choices for every scene.' That way, they can then edit together a vocal performance that actually works for this character," Ginnifer enthused. "That's the weird part of working in animation. You really have to trust the people you're working with because you won't get to see what the character that you've been voicing is actually like until you finally get to see the finished version of that film."
Which was the exact same thing that Jason was thinking when he finally got to see the completed version of Zootopia at a friends-and-family-of-the-Crew screening several weeks prior to the official world premiere of this new Walt Disney Animation Studios production.
"I mean, the script changed so much over the three or four years that I was working on this thing. But I trusted Byron (Howard) and Rich (Moore). I saw that the movie that these guys were trying to make wasn't loaded with trendy jokes or issues. That they really wanted to make something that would be relevant today and tomorrow but would also have an evergreen quality," Bateman said. "So that friends-and-family screening for the Crew was the first time that I'd seen it all come together and truly then knew what Zootopia was really about. And I remember walking out of that screening feeling really, really proud."
Goodwin had a similar reaction when she finally got to see the finished version of Zootopia. She was especially impressed with the work that Disney's animators did with the voice work that Ginnifer had done for the scene where (SPOILER ALERT) Judy apologizes to Nick for stereotyping him. Thinking that this fox was just like all of the other predators.
Advertisement
"My memory of working on that scene was that I totally lost it. That Byron & Rich had to really pull me back because no one could understand what my character was saying because I had blubbered my way through the first couple of takes," Goodwin recalled. "But then when I saw that scene fully animated in the finished version of Zootopia, I was surprised by how genuinely moving it was."
Mind you, to hear the directors of Zootopia talk, it was Ginnifer's emotionally grounded voice-over work as Officer Judy Hopps that really made that scene in this Walt Disney Animation Studios production work.
"Ginnifer had given us this great performance in the recording booth. She was actually crying when she recorded that scene, which then made it seem so real. And when Kira Lehtomaki - who was the lead on Hopps -- and the other animators heard that take, they were like 'You're not going to use a different take, are you?,' said Rich. "Kira wanted that take so badly. She said 'I know what to do.' And when she brought the first pass to Rich and I, we were like 'Holy $#1+ !' "
Floods are the most common cause of weather-related disasters globally, causing billions of dollars' worth of damage and the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives. As with all disasters, the poorest are hardest hit: they are more likely to live in vulnerable areas and less likely to have the skills or financial resources to protect themselves. Women are more likely than men to lose their lives and livelihoods.
But the charity I work for, Practical Action, has been developing and adapting technology to create end-to-end Flood Early Warning Systems with vulnerable communities in Nepal since 2002. This began as very simple technology that has steadily been improved and extended to more communities. Since 2013, Practical Action has collaborated with Zurich Insurance through the Zurich Flood Resilience Programme (ZFRP) to reach more people more effectively.
Severe flooding of the Vilcanuta River in Macchu Pichu, Peru (MicroAid International, 2016)
This global programme is also implemented in Peru and Bangladesh and in the Karnali basin of Nepal we now implement end-to-end warning systems with 74 communities. Now, not only does this technology have the ability to save thousands of lives a year, it also means that many thousands more who would have survived don't necessarily lose their livelihoods, savings and possessions every time disaster hits.
How we use technology for good in Karnali, Nepal
Advertisement
Risk knowledge
Practical Action's work with risk knowledge has two components: firstly, basic training for communities and government staff to explain how the system functions and to make people's roles and responsibilities clear. The second component involves integrating a community's knowledge of floods with expert understanding of local hydrology through mapping risk and capacity. The village map includes critical risk information, for example all households with pregnant women, and capacity information such as safe evacuation routes.
Risk monitoring in the Karnali basin is done manually by the gauge reader, three times a day in normal conditions, and every hour once the river crosses a threshold level. This is supported by automatic radar readings. In the Karnali basin, this system gives communities around three to five hours in which to gather their families and belongings and move to higher ground. Loss of human life and belongings has reduced dramatically since the implementation of this system, but livestock and other valuable assets are still frequently lost.
The Karnali gauge reader with a list of contact numbers for downstream communities (Practical Action)
Rainfall monitoring could potentially increase the lead time significantly. This year, with support from Practical Action, the Nepali Department of Hydrology and Meteorology will pilot two methods of rainfall monitoring: one 'rainfall-to-runoff' model, which uses basin characteristics such as slope and evaporation rate to estimate the river level from rainfall, and one probabilistic forecasting model, which compares current and recent river level data trends against data from past flood events.
Advertisement
Communication and dissemination
The Karnali communication network is activated when the river crosses the 'alert', 'warning', or 'danger' threshold levels. The gauge reader calls the District Emergency Operation Centre (DEOC), local radio stations, the police, the armed police, the army, and crucially, the Community Disaster Management Committee (CDMC) coordinators in at-risk communities. The CDMC coordinator contacts the head of the Early Warning Task Force, which is responsible for spreading the message using sirens, flags, or megaphones. Villagers may also receive warnings from local police posts or radio stations.
The ability to respond
Each community Practical Action works in has three Task Forces: Early Warning, Search and Rescue, and First Aid. Search and Rescue volunteers retrieve people stranded by flood waters, and First Aid volunteers manage any casualties or in the worst case, fatalities.
Each task force needs equipment such as sirens, lifejackets, bandages, and medicines. To keep this up to date and well-stocked, each CDMC manages a community emergency fund. Each household contributes 5 rupees ($0.05) monthly. The CDMC decides how this is spent; one granted 5,000 rupees ($47) to two families made destitute. It can therefore also serve as a safety net for the community.
Creating sustainability
How do we ensure these flood early warning systems continue to protect communities long into the future? In Nepal there are costs that must be owned and absorbed by the government, including wages and mobile phone costs for the gauge reader, and maintaining equipment such as the radar. Unfortunately, district officer turnover rates are extremely high, and each new officer could refuse to support the system if they did not prioritise it. Practical Action has now successfully lobbied the national government for a district-level management fund that must be used to maintain the Karnali warning systems.
Community members in an emergency shelter with capacity and risk maps (Practical Action)
Participatory risk mapping and action planning ensures the community is fully engaged with and empowered by the system. One community in Nepal used their village risk map to successfully petition the local government not to build a road that would have inundated their village during the monsoon.
So has technology acheived flood resilience?
The short answer is no. To build long-term community resilience to floods, there must be support to adapt and diversify livelihoods. In Nepal, Bangladesh and other flood-prone countries, farmers' crops are often destroyed before they can be harvested, costing families a whole year of investment and damaging their food and financial security.
Advertisement
A farmer field school plot in Karnali (Practical Action)
Support to adapt practice is essential. Community libraries provide weather forecasts and adaptation information, such as which food crops can be grown in sandy, previously flooded soils. Farmer Field Schools are particularly important for women farmers, who are less able to access government extension services due to cultural norms that prevent them from interacting with male extensionists or travelling far from home. Equally, training in alternative livelihoods can also strengthen resilience.
So while simple, well-placed technology can reduce the devastating losses in Nepal and other flood-prone countries, true flood resilience demands a more holistic approach.
Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex (Tsitsernakaberd) in Yerevan, Armenia. Built in 1967 and dedicated to the victims of Armenian genocide of 1915. Twelve slabs are positioned in a circle, representing the 12 lost provinces in present day Turkey. In the center of the circle, at a depth of 1.5 meters, there is an eternal flame dedicated to the 1.5 million people killed during the Armenian Genocide.
Germany's parliament became the latest to add its name to the list of legislatures and leaders that have passed resolutions accusing Turkey of waging genocide against the Armenians during World War I. And the actions of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may actually be fueling this increase in resolutions condemning his country.
During World War I, between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians were killed in Turkey. Critics of the Ottoman Empire blamed the government for ordering the systematic slaughter of these people, based on fears that they would conspire with the Russians or allies to destroy the country.
Advertisement
Regardless of who was to blame, public indifference over the matter was shameful. When asked about how people would perceive Hitler's bloodthirsty policies, the Der Fuhrer replied "Who, after all, speaks today for the annihilation of the Armenians?"
Actually, Allies (Great Britain, France and Russia) issued a joint declaration in 1915, condemning the killings. And the United States Senate passed concurrent resolution 12 blasting the massacres, a full year before entering World War I. The U.S. Senate voted for relief for the region, noting the plight of the Armenians in 1919, and passed a similar resolution in 1920, but after that, nothing was done for decades. Why?
First of all, the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist. After the war, the new state of Turkey itself was besieged by foreign powers, and only through Kemal Ataturk was able to carve out its independence. Turkey went from WWII neutrality to becoming a Cold War ally. There was less political stomach abroad for assaulting a government that was different than the one responsible for the extermination.
Second of all, people increasingly traveled to Turkey, or met Turks traveling to their country. The world began to realize that the Turkish people were very different from whoever ordered the butchery, the way the modern Germany is very different from the Nazi regime.
Advertisement
But with the ascent of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it's a different story. He used the democratic institutions to come to power, only to behave in an undemocratic fashion. He has embraced the history of the Ottoman Empire, and even the style of its sultans. He's even used the levers of government to censor domestic dissent, and even target journalists abroad who have criticized him. Targeting a minority group like the Kurds only adds to the analogy foreign governments perceive Erdogan and how he treats others.
Photo taken by the author in Turkey during the 2015 election.
When asked whether an executive presidency could coexist with the unitary structure of the state, a new government Erdogan supports in his constitutional change proposal, he replied "There are already examples in the world. You can see it when you look at Hitler's Germany."
Analysis of the timing of Armenian genocide declarations by legislatures and leaders reveals that of the 56 such resolutions, nearly half were passed since Erdogan came to power. When you consider that Erdogan's only been in power for 13 years, it is pretty impressive. Foreign governments have averaged nearly two Armenian genocide resolutions a year since 2003, as opposed to 0.35 per year before Erdogan. In other words, the annual average for Armenian genocide condemnations during the reign of Erdogan is more than five times as high as before he took office, despite worldwide knowledge of the atrocities.
Foreign countries interested in condemning Armenian genocide should not only draw distinctions between Turkey and the actions of the Ottoman Empire. They should make the same distinction between Erdogan and the people of Turkey, who do not always support him.
John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Ga. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu.
From climate change to Zika to ISIS, it can seem like there are more global challenges than there are people (which is a lot). Clearly, there is no need to create imaginary problems. Yet some "talking heads" and politicians, seem panicked about declining birth rates in countries like Japan, South Korea, Italy, Spain, Germany, and the United States. Really, this is no cause for stress.
Our new book, The Good Crisis, discusses why we needn't worry about declining birth rates. (It's available as a free download here.) Here are a few points to get you started.
Global population is still rising rapidly. Long queue of fuel tanker trucks waiting to fill up in Lagos, Nigeria.
Advertisement
While industrialized countries have seen a decline in birth rates, the world continues to add some 83 million people each year. By 2100 our planet will be inhabited by 11.2 billion people, according to the latest UN projections. This rapid growth has real consequences for all of us, especially in heavily populated urban areas in the developing world.
As our population continues to grow, access to food and clean water decreases and CO2 emissions and fossil fuel consumption increase. The decrease in birth rates in some parts of the world is no reason for alarm. In fact, voluntary population stabilization would help solve some of the worst problems we now face.
Social services are not in danger. Some alarmists argue that with lower birth rates, an aging population will have no one to take care of them. With smaller numbers of workers, they argue, there won't be enough money for social services for the aging population. The reality is that social services are always changing and adapting. With declining birth rates, the funding we spend on some services can decrease, thus freeing up resources for older people.
Here in the U.S., funding for Social Security and Medicare ultimately depend on our national productivity. Innovation, increased access to quality education and health care, job sharing opportunities, and many other factors can contribute to productivity. By acting wisely, we can cover future retirement costs.
Advertisement
Slower population growth or even decline doesn't necessarily have an adverse effect on the number of dependents per working person. In 1960, Japan had 56 dependents for every 100 working age people. By 2010, it was virtually unchanged at 57 dependents. In Germany, it went up slightly during that half-century from 48 to 52. These are small shifts of no great consequence. Note also that the U.S. dependency ratio improved greatly during this same period from 67 to just 50.
The economy is not suffering as a result of declining birth rates. Despite lower birth rates, the GDP in the developing world has continued to grow. In fact, economic challenges tend to be greater for countries with rapid population growth than those with declining birth rates. Countries like Niger and Haiti, which are among the least developed nations with low income levels, have high birth rates. On the other hand, studies from around the world suggest that increased opportunities for economic empowerment, innovation and leadership, especially for women and marginalized communities, increases productivity, while decreasing economic and social inequality.
Israel and palestinian flags face to face, symbol for the relationship between the two countries.
Over the past few months, members of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) have debated the merits of a resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutions in protest of what many feel are Israel's systematic violations of Palestinian rights. Fifty-one percent of AAA's eligible members voted, which was the largest turnout in AAA history. 2,423 members opposed the resolution, which was pushed heavily by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, while 2,384 voted to support it.
Defeat of the resolution is good for the AAA, but more importantly it's good for academic freedom. While Israel obviously has a debatable record when it comes to the Palestinians, the boycott would have done little other than restrict academic freedom and exchange, shut down opportunities for open debate and discussion among scholars on both sides of the issue, and create an environment in which a scholarly association generates and is complicit in discriminatory behavior.
Advertisement
Clearly, the vote shows that the membership of the AAA is evenly split on the issue, so this is likely to continue to be debated, and supporters of the resolution have already stated they will press on. Debate is essential, but it should focus on issues, not on resolutions designed to disenfranchise a significant group of academics from the general discourse. This is hypocritical and damaging to the basic value of academic freedom.
In response to the negative vote, the Executive Board of the AAA decided to take a series of measures targeted at Israel. These include issuing a statement censuring the Israeli government and a letter to US government offices identifying ways that US resources and policies related to Israel and Palestine violate academic freedom and disenfranchise Palestinians. One is left wondering if US policies contribute to the problem, why is the AAA not censuring the US government or proposing a boycott of American academic institutions.
Rather than censuring and targeting specific countries, groups, or organizations that the leadership of AAA happens to dislike or disapprove of, those responsible for running the association should focus on educating the public and government officials, particularly in the US, about the need to support academic freedom in all societies as a means of strengthening democratic ideals and encouraging knowledgeable participation of the populace in government.
Perhaps most troubling in the AAA boycott proposal was the fact that it identified a basic hypocrisy among many in the association evident in a resolution aimed at punishing academics and academic institutions in Israel for government behaviors made possible in part by a long history of political, military, and economic support from the US. At the same time, those anthropologists chose to ignore human rights abuses by governments of Syria, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and many others instead preferring to target a single country the pro-Palestinian BDS movement dislikes. In other words, a group of American academics decided to discriminately pass judgment on others while ignoring problems in their own and other societies and the complicity of their own society in the problems they see in Israel's behavior.
Advertisement
This is hypocritical, arrogant, and counterproductive. But there are alternatives that can be productive. In its response to the vote, supporters of the boycott argued that it opens spaces for critical discussion of the US role in Israeli human rights abuses. While this is true, the goal should be to open spaces for critical discussion of the US role in supporting governments that abuse human rights in general. There is no need to single out Israel or any other country on this point--the problem is much more widespread.
So why would he do it? Because in Giordano's view, and that of his social media supporters, Bernie is losing ugly and hurting Democrats' chances of prevailing against Donald Trump in November.
"I mean, what haven't they touched?" Giordano asks, peering at me via a 6-by-4 inch Skype window from his home in Mexico City. "What part of the Obama coalition have they not alienated? It's like they want to erase the coalition."
Giordano is referring not to Sanders himself, but to his most fervent online followers, who have blasted away at everyone from John Lewis to Delores Huerta to Elizabeth Warren, and most recently Barney Frank, for failing to support Bernie's "political revolution," or worse, for backing Hillary Clinton, who is loathed by a swath of the Sanders faithful. Giordano says he blames Sanders for the vituperative tendencies of his shock troops, and for failing to talk them down.
When my family and I moved to Barrington, Rhode Island from Scarsdale, New York, I asked my husband, Brett, for two things: a puppy, and grass cloth wallpaper for my new living room.
Done and done. Our wallpaper is Phillip Jeffries Extra Fine Arrowroot in Khaki and I love it. Our dog's name is Sammi and she is a Bichon Frise Shih Tzu Poodle, the regal Shichon Poo. I love her too. Sammi is one of those petite, designer mixed breeds with a name that sounds like a sneeze. She is the color of a caramel macchiato and has the disposition of a sleeping toddler. Just perfect.
Advertisement
But still, there is much more work to be done taking care of a dog than in looking after a bit of decorative wallpaper.
For instance, I have to walk the dog at 6:45 every morning, rain or shine. In rain, I walk right out of the driveway, away from the blustery winds off Narragansett Bay. For shine, I guide her left, down towards the expansive view and briny scent of the beach.
I have only one complaint about my dog. This complaint is actually a complaint about other dogs in the neighborhood and their owners. It is, in that way, a complaint about Barrington, and since I love generalized exaggeration, it's actually a complaint about the entire state of Rhode Island.
My dog likes to eat the poop of other dogs.
And yes, I blame Rhode Island for this.
Why?
Because in Rhode Island, everyone is just a bit freer and more relaxed than they are in New York. For the most part, that's great. I dig it. Kids ride their bikes all over town, there is less helicopter parenting, and far less pressure and homework and tutoring and grandstanding and show-offing and perfecting and polishing. Phew. What a relief.
Advertisement
But is it too much to ask people to pick up their pooch's poop?
Really, people?
In New York, if your dog squatted to do her business, and you didn't squat down immediately after to scoop it up, someone would sue you. They would fine your ass a gazillion dollars and take your home away from you and then haul you off to jail as an example to the community. It would be a just and fair sentence, according to New Yorkers.
Remember I am prone to exaggeration. But I kid you not.
Except for a cover story in The Barrington Times -- my local town's newspaper -- a few weeks back ("Poop bags on a pole? Not too classy, Barrington," from April 27 -- best article title ever, perhaps), that sort of neighborhood watch doesn't seem to be the case here in RI. I started noticing the "free poop problem" when my dog picked up a chunk of something alluring along our morning walk about a year ago and gaily went about chomping on it. Worried for her safety, I reached into her open mouth and grabbed the offending morsel. It was shiiiiit.
"Oh, shit!" I said, dropping it and, for some unexplicable reason, smelling my fingers. Yup. Still shit.
Sammi and I had a very serious, heart-to-heart talk when we got home, but it didn't stick. Trainers, treats, tranquilizers (for me): none of it has worked. She still eats poop whenever she gets the chance and I still get skeeved out by her behavior.
Unfortunately, because of my neighbors, there are many opportunities for her to enjoy this grotesque predilection. Why, just last night, Sammi and I came across a pile of dark brown dung curled on our corner like a question. The answer was No, Sammi. No.
Advertisement
And so I have taken to the streets, asking every dog owner I pass to please pick up after his or her pooch. (I used to interrogate, and now I cajole. Oh won't you pleeeease? It can make my cute puppy so sick! As opposed to, Have you no common decency? Were you raised by wolves?)
Leaving your dog's feces to rot on the grass is a giant middle finger to your neighbors. Eff. You.
The poop does not act as fertilizer. It is not good for the environment. It does not, in any way, make the world a better place.
So clean up after your dog.
Done.
Except. The other day, Sammi and I ambled on one of our usual walks, taking a right out of the driveway and looping the 'hood in a complete circle. I made it halfway around when a car slowed. I assumed the couple needed directions, so I slowed too. The passenger got out, an elderly woman. "This is my house," she said, pointing to where Sammi and I stood perched on the edge of her grass. "I see you walking your dog here frequently, and I'd like you to stop. Please take her to the other side of the street."
I protested. I explained, "I always pick up after my dog! I am starting an anti-poop campaign in our neighborhood! I'm one of the good guys!"
She shook her head sadly. "Your dog's urine is ruining my lawn," she said.
"My dog's urine?" I asked, feigning innocence. Truth is, my dog loves to urinate right there, where we were standing, on her lawn. It is one of Sammi's go-to favorite pee spots.
Advertisement
Not today, I guessed, or tomorrow, depending on how accommodating I decided to be, coupled with how litigious she felt like being. Agitated, Sammi and I turned and stomped off without letting her finish her sentence. Down the block we trotted, me careful not to let Sammi pee, poop, walk, dance, step, sing, or spit on anyone's property but my own.
When Sammi and I returned home, I promptly sat in my living room and admired my pretty wallpaper from the safety of my own couch.
An Open Letter to San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee; the San Francisco Board of Supervisors; US Attorney General Loretta Lynch; CA Attorney General Kamala Harris D;istrict Attorney George Gascon; Joyce Hicks, Executive Director of the SF Office of Civilian Complaints; and Police Commission President Suzy Loftus
Dear Public Officials,
"The culture of any organization is shaped by the worst behavior the leader is willing to tolerate." - Gruenter and Whitaker
On December 2nd, 2015, in a scene reminiscent of the Spanish Civil War, the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) killed 26 year old Mario Woods in broad daylight in front of a bus full of children on their way home from school, among many eyewitnesses.
Advertisement
Mario was the 8th person killed by SFPD in 2015, the 20th person killed by the SFPD under Chief Greg Suhr.
It took tremendous community pressure and 2 more lives for you to take the first important step to changing SFPD culture, asking for Chief Suhr's resignation. SFPD opened fire on Luis Gongora Demetrio Pat within 22 seconds of arriving on the scene on April 7, 2016. SFPD shot and killed Jessica Nelson, a 29 year old pregnant woman, inside a stolen car in violation of department policy on May 19, 2016.
Chief Suhr's May 19 resignation was the first and necessary step towards transformational culture change of SFPD. But his resignation is only the beginning. Much remains to be done to rein in the racist rogue violent SFPD and unless you continue to act boldly more San Franciscans will likely lose their lives to SF police brutality.
Advertisement
To be clear, there are many good officers in SFPD. But as the pro bono attorneys who investigated every aspect of SFPD's operations for District Attorney George Gascon's Blue Ribbon Panel found, SFPD lacks accountability, transparency, and needs a top to bottom overhaul to rid it of bigotry and nepotism.
Now is the time to move forward with transforming SFPD culture.
Get A New, Qualified, Experienced Chief
Mayor Ed Lee needs to work with communities most impacted by police brutality to define the criteria for and selection process of a new Chief. Criteria should include extensive experience with:
building trust with community
21st century policing procedures
holding an entire department accountable
The new Chief must pledge to adopt President Obama's 21st Century Policing Task Force Report and the Blue Ribbon Panel Report when issued and follow all their recommendations.
SFPD is emblematic of the cultural struggle going on across the country. Communities and allies in law enforcement are pressing for police to adopt a "guardian" culture: modern, accountable, community-oriented policing with a primary objective of protecting the community. They are meeting resistance from "old school" police who support a "warrior" culture that pits the police against the community in an ongoing battle that neither side wins.
Advertisement
President Obama's Task Force Report is a blueprint of policing best practices for establishing and maintaining a guardian culture. This is critical for SFPD to restore its legitimacy in the community.
Equally important, the new Chief must work to remedy all the nuts and bolts of SFPD operations identified by the Blue Ribbon Panel pro bono attorneys as problematic: human resources, recruiting, hiring, background checks, discipline, Internal Affairs, etc.
Train SFPD Officers
All SFPD officers need training in community policing, overcoming their racism, de-escalation techniques, and Mental Health First Aid. According to the SF Chronicle, "More than 60 percent of all fatal shootings by San Francisco police since 2010 involved people with mental health problems or who were acting erratically at the time of the incident..... The department responds to an average of 400 calls per month involving such people."
New York City is investing $850 million in mental health, training 25,000 people including first responders in "Mental Health First Aid," a method for deescalating situations with people experiencing a mental health crisis. San Francisco should enact a similar initiative.
Punish Wrongdoing
US Attorney General Loretta Lynch and CA Attorney General Kamala Harris need to end the COPS collaborative review and send either the US or CA Civil Rights Division to conduct a pattern and practice investigation and reorganize SFPD under consent decree. Advocates petitioned both of them for a Civil Rights Division investigation of SFPD. Instead Mayor Lee and Chief Suhr requested the US Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) office conduct a "collaborative review." Community members, including the Justice 4 Mario Woods Coalition, have been opposed to the "collaborative review" from the beginning because it produces recommendations that are unenforceable.
Advertisement
Either US Attorney General Loretta Lynch or CA Attorney General Kamala Harris needs to send her Civil Rights Division to conduct a pattern and practice investigation of SFPD as was done in Ferguson post Michael Brown and Baltimore post Freddie Gray. A pattern and practice investigation culminates in a consent decree overseen by a Federal judge. SFPD would be forced to change.
District Attorney George Gascon needs to indict and convict police officers involved in the Amilcar Perez Lopez, Mario Woods, Luis Gongora, and Jessica Nelson shootings with murder. The officers involved in these shootings must go to jail. Police impunity must come to an end.
The San Francisco Police Commission needs to take a more assertive role in disciplining officers. As a taxpayer and citizen, I find it outrageous that I cannot call 911 and have confidence that the police who respond did not just send a text calling someone a "n-----." It is the responsibility of the San Francisco Police Commission to discipline officers. Under their watch, not one but two scandals have emerged under two separate unrelated investigations revealing racist text messages exchanged between officers while on duty. Lax enforcement by the Police Commission has fostered a culture where bigots are emboldened. The SF Police Commissioners need to step up their enforcement, or the people of San Francisco need to demand that the Police Commissioners step down and be replaced by other San Franciscans who will act decisively to discipline SFPD conduct until all officers get the memo that this type of behavior will no longer be tolerated.
The Office of Civilian Complaints needs to sustain more complaints to the San Francisco Police Commission. The mission of the Office of Citizen Complaints is to promptly, fairly and impartially investigate complaints against San Francisco police officers and make policy recommendations regarding police practices. The challenge is that it is relatively rare for OCC to pursue complaints not resolved by the SFPD to the Police Commission. Doing so would result in more discipline.
Change Policies
The San Francisco Police Commission needs to adopt a new use of force policy and not adopt Tasers.
SFPD's use of force policy was adopted in 1995. According to the SF Chronicle, "Between 2000 and 2015, there have been 95 reported shootings involving San Francisco police officers, including 40 fatal ones, according to police data (officer suicides and accidental discharges were excluded)."
"While no officer-involved shootings have resulted in criminal charges in San Francisco since 2000, police have determined four of those shootings to be in violation of department policy (excluding suicides and accidental discharges). At least two of those involved officers firing a gun at a moving vehicle, a practice discouraged by federal guidelines and restricted by some police departments."
Advertisement
After Mario Woods the SF Police Commission started to review its use of force policy to encourage use of minimal force. The SF Police Officers Association has opposed any change in use of force policy.
Meanwhile, SFPD killed two more people. They opened fire on Luis Gongora within 22 seconds of arriving on the scene and shot Jessica Nelson in a crashed car in violation of department policy.
SF Police Commission needs to get the new use of force policy established, train officers in its use, and hold officers who violate it accountable for their actions.
Mayor Lee, the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, and local business improvement districts are calling on the San Francisco Police Commission to adopt the use of Tasers. Community advocates are staunchly opposed to Tasers because they can cause serious injury and even death. We want SFPD to change its culture to deescalate from violence, not acquire another tool of violence. Introducing Tasers at any time would be a mistake, especially at this time when the divide between SFPD and the community is monumental.
Increase Transparency
Stakeholders agree- the Board of Supervisors, the Blue Ribbon Panel, the SF Police Commission, the public- that we need accurate, impartial data to make good decisions. That is currently impossible with SFPD, and the Blue Ribbon Panel found that no entity is providing oversight and auditing SFPD.
Advertisement
Currently Supervisor David Campos is proposing creating a Public Advocate office over the Office of Civilian Complaints. I served in NYC government and am familiar with the function of a Public Advocate. Essentially a Public Advocate is a government official the public can turn to after they have exhausted other channels that have been nonresponsive. I do not think another layer of bureaucracy would be a helpful move to improve SFPD.
Far more helpful would be to create an Office of Inspector General (OIG) of SFPD, modeled on the office in NYC, to continuously audit and analyze SFPD and make recommendations. NYPD OIG was created by the Floyd stop and frisk litigation. The OIG continuously audits NYPD, analyzes and makes recommendations and provides impartial accurate data on NYPD activities to continuously improve policing.
Conclusion
No one of you acting alone can transform SFPD. It will take all of you each doing your part to make the change that is needed. You need to act quickly to protect San Franciscans from SFPD and provide the healing that is needed to build trust with the community.
Please do your jobs. Our lives depend on you.
Sincerely,
I met Ashley the summer I charted a transatlantic flight to Hungary in order to volunteer at one of my former denomination's bible colleges. We hit it off from the start and once I returned home to Seattle we wrote emails, IMed, and occasionally talked on the phone. Despite being on opposite sides of the globe we quickly became best friends.
When guys I liked (never told her about the girls) didn't seem to notice I was even alive, she did what best friends do best. "It's his loss, Kelsey," she would say over the phone, sounding irritated at how moronic the guy was for not automatically falling head-over-heels for the gangly, socially awkward brunette that was teenage-me.
However, one of the problems with our friendship from the get-go was that because I was older I thought of Ashley as a "little sister in Christ." (Yes, I would've actually said that. Yes, I know how gag-y it is). And as her "big sister in Christ" I felt it was my responsibility to, well, big-sister her. Which is a lot like mothering, only bossier.
Advertisement
I loved her just like she was family, I really did. I would've said, "I love you, so I want what's best for you."
We'd both been raised right smack in the middle of Evangelical Purity Culture. We'd read all the books on "saving ourselves for marriage" and "Christian courtship" and "kissing dating goodbye" and "biblical gender roles." And I internalized it all. Every word. It was what was best for me. It was what was best for her. It was what was best for everyone. No exceptions.
So when Ashley called me up one day to tell me that she was having a summer romance with some gorgeous barista she'd just met I completely panicked. My brain reeled, my heart raced. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to say. And I didn't know how to fix it.
I loved her, so I wanted what was best for her.
Unfortunately, I decided to "speak the Truth to her in love" as her "big sister in Christ." Because that's what big sisters apparently do, they just smash right into the middle of something fun, romantic, and maybe even a little bit steamy and stomp all over it like King Kong having a temper tantrum right in the middle of prom night. (Or at least that's how I handled big-sistering. I don't have a big sister, myself, so I can't say if this is par for the course.)
Advertisement
So I wrote her an email. Because truth! Because purity! Because I was her "big sister in Christ," I was her friend, and I felt as if I was going to be personally responsible for any harm (impurity) that may result from this barista-dating business. I pulled out all the stops: quoted bible verses, argued for purity and righteousness, and reminded her of the blessings that come with only dating Christian virgins. And then, to my regret and horror, I pushed send.
I loved her, so I wanted what was best for her.
Maybe she was happy. I don't know. I barely listened as the red sirens in my head whirled. Maybe she was happy. I can't really recall. I don't think I ever knew or even cared. I mean, ideologies were at stake! So what did happiness have to do with anything?
I loved her, so I wanted what was best for her.
We grew apart slowly, and while I never knew how much that letter played a part in it, I know it did. How could it not have?
Near the end of our slowly-drifting friendship I left our denomination, and I began the process of leaving Conservative Christianity and Evangelicalism, too. I wouldn't exactly say I left gracefully. I left with fire in my eyes and third-degree burns on my heart. But as I read books about egalitarianism and feminism, I began to slowly heal. And I tried to get Ashley to be my spiritual and ideological traveling companion, even mailed her a book.
I loved her, so I wanted what was best for her.
I wanted her to come with me because it wasn't safe or healthy there--or at least it wasn't for me. But Ashley didn't join my quest. In fact, last I heard she'd gotten married to a young man within my ex-denomination who was working towards becoming a youth pastor.
Advertisement
It broke my heart that she was going to stay in that god-awful place. A place I wanted nothing to do with. A place I still want nothing to do with. She could've escaped with me, but now she was going to be stuck and married to a youth pastor of all people--a youth pastor within the same denomination I grew up in. It sounded like hell. It sounded like my hell. I was sad, I told myself, because I cared.
I loved her, so I wanted what was best for her.
It's taken me a long time to realize that that isn't love. And to realize that while I was a good friend in some ways, I was also a really shitty friend in others. It was wrong of me to try to cage her in Conservative Christianity, and it was equally wrong of me to try to force her to leave it.
It wasn't until the husband and I had been married for nearly two years that I began to see that that isn't what love looks like, not at all. Love is saying, "I love you now and I love who you're becoming." Love is caring for someone else's well-being more than your ideologies. Love is giving someone the space to reimagine and reinvent who they are, even if that's not what you would've wanted for them. Love is allowing someone to be free.
I'm tired. I'm tired of being a Christian. People say it's only a term, only a word but that word feels like the lead apron at the dentist's office. It's pushing down on me from all sides, clipped tightly around my neck. It carries the weight of the hearts that have been wounded and the spirits that have been broken in the name of Christianity.
It carries the weight of teenagers who have been kicked out of their homes--gay teens and unwed mothers. It carries the weight of women who have been told to submit to their abusive husbands. It carries the weight of women who question their value, their worth, because they were raped or had sex with someone they loved before they were married. It carries the weight of so many tears that have been shed after someone was verbally accosted by a Christian. It carries the weight of scars and wounds that run so deeply they've latched onto people's identities and sense of self-worth.
And I'm tired. I'm tired of being a Christian. This isn't irritation or angst; it's exhaustion.
I'm tired of being a Christian if it means I have to believe that I have a monopoly on ethical living or spiritual truths. If my personal creed needs to be forced on or applied to anyone other than myself, than this isn't for me. I'm tired of the policing in the name of righteousness, which really just starts sounding a lot like I'm-more-right-than-you-ness. If enforced, unasked for "accountability" is the rule, then I'm tired of being a Christian.
Advertisement
I'm tired of being a Christian if it means I have to be certain. I want to be comfortable with "I don't know." I want to relax into it. To deeply breathe it in and out like the fresh, salty, restorative ocean air. I want to welcome my doubts, to open the door when they knock, rather than trying to hide them out of sight. If I have to know for sure or debate every little theological point until I can present a list of tenets worth defending until death (be it mine or my opponent's), then I'm tired of being a Christian.
I'm tired of being a Christian if it means spouting theological bumper stickers when life is crumbling, cracking all around like a house under demolition. If saying "Life is really shitty now" would be inappropriate for a Christian or somehow unfaithful or if it'd be expected that I add in a trite little "But God will work it all together for good!" at the end to ease the discomfort of my listeners and to showcase my faith in redemption, then I'm tired of being a Christian.
I'm tired of being a Christian if it means that it would not only bring dishonor to the name of God but that it would also be a sin if I were to stand in front of a crowd on Sunday morning and proclaim my love of God. My teaching would bring shame. My praises would be sin. If being a woman is so shameful that my words of homage would bring scandal and humiliation, then I'm tired of being a Christian.
I'm tired of being a Christian if it means that referring to God as Mother is heresy. A God who mothers; a God who kicks down the door to the Theological Boys' Locker Room; a God who understands and welcomes me. If insinuating that maybe the Creator of the Universe is a little like me, a woman, is sacrilege, then you can let me off at the next stop. I'm tired of being a Christian.
Advertisement
I'm tired of being a Christian if it means damning love to Hell. I want the outgrowth of my faith to be love not protesting someone else's family. I want to encourage, support, and defend romantic and familiar love. If I'm expected to picket and condemn loving, happy families, then I'm tired of being a Christian.
I'm tired of being a Christian if it means spiritual practices are strict and ridged. If writing instead of going to church doesn't count; if reading poetry or coloring in the morning instead of reading the bible isn't good enough; if praying with color, scissors and glue, and quiet, overwhelming feelings when there are no words doesn't count as real prayer; if the fact that watching a sunset fills me with more peace and awe than reciting liturgy isn't religious enough, then I'm tired of being a Christian.
I'm tired of being a Christian if it means saying that every fiber of my being is wretched, tainted, depraved. At the beginning of the world God looked at her creation and declared it good. And I'm part of that creation. There's fire and magic in my personhood; there's a holy hellion in my heart; there's a wild mystic in my soul. If believing there are sparks of the divine in me and every person I come in contact with is heretical, then I'm tired of being a Christian.
I'm tired of being a Christian if it means silencing those who have been hurt by the church. If we're just expected to read the bible every day despite the panic attacks; if we're just expected to go to church every Sunday despite the scars; if we're just expected to keep our mouths closed because our church experiences were traumatic and less-than-stellar, then I'm tired of being a Christian.
As a child sitting in children's Sunday school Jesus seemed to say: "It's okay, you're welcome here. Come sit down right here next to me." And now, somehow despite it all, I can feel the Divine's gentle pull again. She calls, Mother calls, welcoming me to sit down next to her. And I do. But I'm worn out. I'm exhausted. I'm tired.
Advertisement
The Puerto Rico primary matters, a lot. (Hillary Clinton/Flickr)
Yesterday Puerto Rico, the Caribbean island, held their primary.
I did NOT know that Puerto Rico was run by the US government, omg idle teen (@NeptuneAv) June 6, 2016
And it was actually a very big deal. Here's why.
1. It's the only say this US territory gets in the election
Most US territories aren't continuously inhabited, but five are, and those get to vote in presidential primaries or caucuses. (Wikipedia)
Advertisement
The citizens of these territories don't vote in the presidential election in November, but they do vote in the primaries. So this is the only chance they get to have a voice in this election.
I didn't even know you could vote in Puerto Rico. Why not just go ahead and make it and Guam states? Seriously. Ryan Chamberlain (@littlepigeon87) June 6, 2016
The Virgin Islands voted this weekend too, on Saturday. Altogether, these five territories have 112 delegates--and Puerto Rico has the most.
2. Puerto Rico has a lot of delegates
It's a pretty small island.
Advertisement
But it has a lot of delegates: 67.
(Guam and the USVI each have 12, Northern Mariana Islands have 11, and American Samoa has 10.)
To put that into perspective, that's more than Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, Utah, Kentucky, New Mexico, both the Dakotas combined, Alaska plus Hawaii, and a bunch of other states.
Someone explain to me how Puerto Rico has 67 democratic delegates? That's more delegates than 33% of the STATES in the country. Rivers decas (@RiversDecas) April 9, 2016
That means their primary has a pretty substantial impact on the election. Numbers matter.
3. They didn't have enough polling places
PR is the newest face of voting problems that have cropped up in other states too, like Arizona, because our voting system is dysfunctional.
Here's what we were being told as of 5pm Sunday, re: long lines in Puerto Rico. Got a diff story from Dems @ 8pm. https://t.co/ZBmW4aKruo tonydokoupil (@tonydokoupil) June 6, 2016
Advertisement
4. And there were charges of voter suppression and fraud
On top of that, there were allegations of voter fraud and voter suppression that started even before the voting did.
Interestingly, allegations of fraud and inadequate preparation are flying in all directions--including at both the Clinton and Sanders campaigns.
Whether due to poor organization by Democrats in Puerto Rico, the Sanders campaign, or both, a lot of people got disenfranchised tonight. Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) June 6, 2016
Saddened to hear about the blatant, Clinton-sponsored voter fraud in the Puerto Rico primary. We will keep fighting regardless! #PRPrimary sarah isabella (@sarah_isabella9) June 6, 2016
Sanders campaign requested cut in number of Puerto Rico polling locations: report https://t.co/HpVsLOXNAK pic.twitter.com/jExktDJJIl The Hill (@thehill) June 6, 2016
Advertisement
.@BernieSanders releases statement on Puerto Rico polling places; says nothing about Hillary Clinton winning there pic.twitter.com/FnwdQB2NVN Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) June 6, 2016
Some #PuertoRico Democratic officials are claiming we requested fewer polling places in today's primary contest. That's completely false. Symone D. Sanders (@SymoneDSanders) June 6, 2016
Some of Sanders' own team did complain to the candidate himself about a lack of resources before the primary.
Before you jump to any conclusions, remember that the biggest issue here is probably that PR is broke.
Advertisement
Dude, the reason polling locations were cut is that Puerto Rico is broke. This was not some ridiculous conspiracy by the DNC or Hillary. Vive la resistance (@feistybunnygirl) June 5, 2016
5. Clinton won big in Puerto Rico
Hillary Clinton won big in the Puerto Rico primary. (Hillary Clinton/Flickr)
But still, the vote happened, and Hillary Clinton beat Bernie Sanders pretty badly in Puerto Rico.
The final count isn't in yet, but it looks like she may have beat him about 60/40.
If she had beaten him even more soundly, she would have clinched the nomination--even before California, New Jersey, and three other states vote tomorrow in the next-to-last primary. (The last one is Washington, DC, on June 14th.)
Per AP count, if Clinton wins 85% of the Puerto Rico this afternoon, she could win the nomination today: https://t.co/nvmejv0JSv Phil Elliott (@Philip_Elliott) June 5, 2016
Especially since she also won another US territory, USVI, on Saturday.
While she won't reach the magic number of delegates with pledged delegates alone, an overwhelming number of superdelegates have promised to vote for her. They don't actually vote until July 25th, and #TeamSanders hopes to sway some to vote for him instead, but that's unlikely to happen--and he'd have to sway hundreds of them to switch.
Advertisement
Side note: In 2008, some superdelegates switched to Barack Obama from Hillary Clinton, but that was a pretty different situation--for one thing, they were both Democrats. Until running for president, Sanders has always been an independent. So it's a stretch to expect leaders in the Democratic party to vote for a guy who has never been a Democrat, is also losing the popular vote by millions of votes, and is winning with young people but losing among key Democratic demographic groups, like African-Americans and Hispanics (as we saw in the lopsided result in PR).
6. PR put Clinton on the cusp of winning the nomination
For all intents and purposes, Puerto Rico put Clinton within shouting distance of becoming the presumptive nominee.
It's true that superdelegates haven't technically voted and won't for another six weeks. And Bernie supporters are making that very clear.
But... while superdelegates won't actually cast their votes until the convention, thanks to her big win in Puerto Rico, Clinton is about to clinch. Probably before California, which has the biggest number of delegates, even finishes voting. Because New Jersey.
Advertisement
Though right now she's favored to win California too.
Our polls-plus forecast currently has Hillary Clinton finishing with 53.2 percent of the vote in California: https://t.co/Sk6iWSOE8m FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) June 6, 2016
California democratic primary, among those who early voted:
Clinton 56% (+12)
Sanders 44%@Capitol_Weekly poll pic.twitter.com/aGItfBIIfG Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) June 6, 2016
No matter how you look at it, it's mathematically pretty much impossible for Sanders to win the nomination.
By contrast, Bernie Sanders now needs to win 98% of all remaining dels (pledged + super) to get to 2383, per NBC pic.twitter.com/sELb10VqaF Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) June 6, 2016
Partly because of Puerto Rico.
We just won Puerto Rico! Gracias a la Isla del Encanto por esta victoria! pic.twitter.com/D2szaqU3fS Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 6, 2016
Advertisement
With so many diverse communities in the United States, one of the most intriguing is the "first-generation American" community. Today we understand first-generation Americans as native-born American citizens and residents whose parents are foreign born; children of immigrants. Reflecting the same array of countries our parents immigrated from, first-generation Americans descend from regions and cultures all around the globe. However, even with the diversity among the countries that birthed our parents, there is an underlying bond that all first-generation Americans tend to share. That is, we have all had to deal with the repercussions of our parents sacrificing, and ultimately adapting to the social, economic, and cultural differences encountered in America.
As a population, we all share stories of the ups and downs, as well as the paradox of experiencing foreign-born parents trying to raise American children. We can all identify with the struggle to balance our parents' attempt to embrace "The American Dream", while also instilling particular "foreign-based" morals and values into their children. Their efforts to encourage us to assimilate to American culture, but not too much so as to avoid adopting any of the perceived negative traits of "American kids." We're told that we have to study harder and work harder than "your American friends" and are criticized as "so American" if we do something wrong or complain too much. Above all else however, the overarching bond first-generation Americans face is likely to be the pressure to be "successful" because of the resounding belief of relatives abroad that anyone who makes it to America should take full advantage of the resources there, and thus has no excuses to not be successful. There is the constant pressure to accomplish even more than your parents have because you were actually born in America.
Advertisement
A primary reason for this phenomenon is that oftentimes the core focus of immigrant parents is to ensure that their children are, at the very least, well off and financially secure. These parents are typically willing to make any sacrifices necessary to provide their children with opportunities and preparation to accomplish more than they did themselves. As such, it is not uncommon for first-generation Americans to be reminded of these sacrifices and hardships because, in theory, it is supposed to motivate our generation to surpass the achievement of our parents and provide even more for our families and the second and third generation Americans to come.
With this in mind, we can begin to deconstruct and understand why so many immigrant parents encourage their kids to pursue what they consider to be "stable" careers. These career options tend to be limited to jobs that are predictably lucrative or that involve a skill or a talent that you're extraordinarily good at. The doctor. The lawyer. The engineer. While I certainly cannot speak for all first-generation Americans, at the very least I feel confident saying that many parents of Asian and African descent urge their kids to choose these careers. Why? Because these are the career paths that mean that their kids have "made it". A stable income; the ability to work mostly anywhere, the perceived ease and security of finding employment in these industries. Ultimately, these career paths help to justify the sacrifices and hardships that foreign parents endured.
It should come as no surprise then that immigrant parents tend to be hypercritical of their children pursuing a career path in a field like entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is practically synonymous with risk; the risk of walking away from security to create something new; the risk of braving an unfamiliar storm of stress and uncertainty; the risk that you might have miscalculated an opportunity, or your own internal resources as you plunge into a new venture. Running a business is as risky as it gets. However, I would argue that this phenomenon has not and should not preclude first-generation Americans from pursuing careers as entrepreneurs.
Advertisement
In fact, the very attributes of the first-generation American phenomenon and the pressure prescribed by immigrant parents may, arguably, create the perfect context for a successful entrepreneur. Affirmation can be found in the fact that some of the most successful entrepreneurs in America happen to be first-generation.
Considering a career in entrepreneurship already sets a person apart from the vast majority, but what distinguishes the drive and motivation of first-generation entrepreneurs from other types of entrepreneurs is the very weight of their parents' burdens and the other aforementioned challenges of being first-generation American.
Take for example, the perception of the average hours per workweek. For many Americans, a 40-hour workweek is completely sufficient and typical. For a first-generation American however, "normal" working hours looks very different. The average American immigrant often works anywhere between 60 to 80 hours; an amount more consistent with that of an entrepreneur. Other experiences and attributes that distinguish first-generation Americans entrepreneurs from other types include:
1) The catalyst of direct or close affiliation with abject poverty or standards of living so low that it excludes the alternative of failing and leaves success as the only option.
2) The general understanding of "no" to really mean "not right now" and something that can turn into a "yes" later on.
Advertisement
3) The acknowledgement that doing what one loves is secondary to achieving security and success because security and success will ultimately enable you to do what you love.
4) The insatiable urge and critical need to show our parents that their hard work and sacrifice was not in vain; but rather, has been utilized for the advancement of the family and future generations.
At a press conference last week, WWE Superstar, I mean Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, declared to a room full of reporters that "the press should be ashamed of themselves."
He's right. They should.
Not for having the audacity to challenge a politician's statement, but to use an old cliche, for bringing a knife to a gun fight.
The reality is Donald Trump is a street fighter. He feels he is getting the best of the media (he is) by initiating these confrontations with them because he knows the media has to play by a set of rules to maintain their objectivity.
Advertisement
So much for the old adage "never pick a fight with anyone who buys ink by the barrel."
Trump's observation that "the media is, frankly, made up of people that in many cases, not in all cases, are not good people... I think the political press is among the most dishonest people that I have ever met," felt like we were getting an inside look at a figure with dictatorial aspirations.
This is dangerous. Very dangerous.
Historically, political leaders in power who have this kind of open contempt for the free press end up utilizing means to try and silence it.
It's a difficult needle to thread for the press corps. Asking reporters to objectively chronicle the rise of a political figure that calls them "sleaze" and revels in it.
What is the media to do?
I say fight back.
Not with editorials that real people in the real world don't read, but with a much more profound and visible statement rooted in substance and fact.
Advertisement
Imagine if every day from now until Election Day, every major newspaper and affiliate had a front-page that was laid out like a political mail piece that simply showcased what "Dictator Donald" said and what the facts actually were. A scorecard that showed the specific questions he was asked and a yes or no box that revealed whether he answered the question or not.
Trump's weakness is his complete disregard for substance and the truth. He doesn't know the details, doesn't really care and glosses over any specific question with a broad generalization, a thump of the chest and slogans that read like "how 'bout them Cowboys!"
The most powerful thing the media could do across its broad network and reach with Americans is to highlight that in a meaningful way every single day.
Imagine if the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, LA Times, USA Today and its Gannett affiliates (and any publication in a swing state) changed their front-pages in this way and really stuck it to Trump the way he has so brazenly stuck it to everyone else.
Of course this will never happen and would certainly lead to all kinds of headaches and lawsuits.
The point though is the media needs to do something to reassert its role as the people's check-and-balance. To breakthrough and be the vehicle to tell truth-to-power on behalf of the American people. I have always said that the media's true power lies in its ability to reach and shape public perception.
Advertisement
I don't believe that the media was ever looking for this fight, but like it or not, they are now in it and they are losing.
Politicians and policy-makers love to borrow or steal good ideas. There are organizations that represent elected officials on all levels of government, Federal, state and local where sharing what works in one community or state oftentimes is replicated by colleagues. Oftentimes this may be the result of personal interactions and relationships. However, in many instances annual or semi-annual meetings offer seminars or workshops on specific issue areas to bring to attendees' attention ideas that have proven successful in a particular city or state. Examples of valuable public interest group organizations include: U.S. Conference of Mayors, National League of Cities, National Governors' Association, National Association of Counties, National Association of Towns and Townships, Council of State Governments, and the International City/County Management Association.
Over the past several decades' conservatives have been particularly adept at forming think tanks on policy issues to disseminate ideas, policies and programs across a broad spectrum of the political/governmental arena and in many instances they have been so widely adopted that they become issues of priority in national elections. Take for instance the current proliferation of voter suppression legislation in state legislatures that are controlled by Republican majorities.
Advertisement
Coordinated state efforts to impose voter ID restrictions, privatize education and prisons, and drug test welfare recipients are but a few of the many regressive, pro-corporate or red meat social issues that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) have hand delivered to politicians and legislatures in recent years. As Huffington Post has reported, ALEC is a right-wing, corporate lobbying firm and think tank that creates model legislation for replication in State Legislatures across the country here.
ALEC is to legislation what McDonalds is to fast food, but even better because they also deliver. Looking for a way to advance your conservative agenda? Why not dial up ALEC and have a ready-made, packaged, quick and inexpensive set of legislative proposals delivered to your door that has already been sampled in other jurisdictions of like-minded conservatives. Join the club and create what appears to be a movement garnering national attention.
In the process many progressive-minded politicians and elected officials are left to fend off an onslaught of pre-packaged momentum in a decidedly defensive posture. This has put progressives at a distinct disadvantage in an increasingly large number of jurisdictions and not afforded them the opportunities to pursue legislation in a forward thinking manner.
Well that is about to change if Mathew Charles Cardinale has his way!
Cardinale is currently a law student at Gonzaga University who also happens to be Chief Executive Officer of SMART ALEC, which stands for State and Municipal Action for Results Today/Agenda for Legislative Empowerment and Collaboration. Now this is a mouthful and as a former legislative staffer I applaud his mighty efforts to apply a description to a very clever acronym. But SMART ALEC seems like a perfect antidote to the senseless yet effective policy agenda advanced by a conservative revolution that has its roots tracing back to the Reagan Administration.
Advertisement
In 2012, at the age of 30, he sued the City of Atlanta without an attorney and prevailed before the Georgia Supreme Court. In Cardinale v. City of Atlanta the Court struck down a secret vote taken by the City Council of Atlanta, striking a blow to lack of transparency efforts taken by the Council during non-roll call votes. Cardinale is also the founder of Atlanta Progressive News, an online news service that is in its 11th year of publication.
SMART ALEC'S first model ordinance on Affordable Housing Impact Statements was adopted by the City of Atlanta last year and is currently being considered in New Orleans, Albany, and Pittsburgh. This model ordinance offers a unique method for cities and counties to keep track of the impact of lawmakers' public policy decisions on the affordable housing stock in their respective jurisdictions and was recently featured in an article by the Stanford Social Innovation Review here. Efforts are also underway in Multnomah County, OR to consider becoming the first county in the country to adopt Affordable Housing Impact Statements.
Dr. Dwanda Farmer, one of the nation's few PhD's in Community Development, and a Board Member of SMART ALEC, and a community development practitioner for nearly two decades offers that "a community's commitment to affordable housing cannot be demonstrated nor measured without the consistent use of Affordable Housing Impact Statements."
Cardinale's goal is to raise $100,000 on Go Fund Me to support the organization's efforts to have these affordability statements adopted in 10 cities/counties by 2018.
If the progressive community is serious about leveling the playing field with ALEC it has a lot of catchup to do and having SMART ALEC around might help it to recapture a foothold in the legislative public policy arena. It is long overdue and given the success of Bernie Sanders' efforts to initiate a more progressive agenda into the national election cycle this might just be the most opportune time we have seen in quite some time.
It has been so disheartening to hear the political discussion this country and news outlets have been having for the last few days about Donald Trump's comments on Gonzalo Curiel, the American judge overseeing the lawsuit against Trump University. The fact that we're even discussing whether or not the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party made racists remarks about the judge should be appalling enough. But the fact that the two top leaders of the Republican Party can't bring themselves to calling Trump's comments what they are - racists, is even more appalling.
Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader, when asked by Chuck Todd three times on "Meet the Press" this past Sunday if Trump's comments were racists, he responded, "I could not disagree more with a statement like that." "I couldn't disagree more with what he had to say." "I don't agree with what he had to say."
But Senator McConnell would not admit what is obvious to everyone else who understands what racism is. Donald Trump's comments cannot be described as anything but racists.
Advertisement
Moments later, on that same interview, Senator McConnell said, "I think the party of Lincoln wants to win The White House."
http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/mcconnell-trump-judge-comments-i-couldn-t-disagree-more-n586056
Well, Senator, I'm pretty sure that if Lincoln could see what is happening to your party, who the party's presumptive nominee is, and that you, the Senate Majority Leader are planning to vote for a man like Trump, he would turn in his grave.
But Paul Ryan's response was even more disheartening. When asked by Vicki McKenna on Friday about Trump's comments on her WISN radio show (and then his comments printed on The Walt Street Journal), the Speaker of the House responded, "Look, the comment about the judge the other day just was out of left field for my mind..."
Really, Mr. Speaker? Out of left field...?
Ryan went on to say, "It's reasoning I don't relate to. I completely disagree with the thinking behind that. And so, he clearly says and does things I don't agree with, and I've had to speak up from time to time when that has occurred, and I'll continue to do that if it's necessary. I hope it's not."
Advertisement
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/06/03/paul-ryan-donald-trumps-judge-comments-out-of-left-field/
But like Senator McConnell, Speak Ryan would not call Trump's comments racists.
Here's the thing. Donald Trump's racist rants did not start with his comments on Judge Gonzalo Curiel. Or even with his comments about Mexicans when he announced his run for President. They started when he decided to question the U.S. Citizenship of our current President. That was racist too. But no one brings that up anymore. And it is shocking how little the press is doing to make the correlation between the two.
So let me remind you, Mr. Speaker, Trump's latest comments did not come, "Out of left field." And to suggest that they did, is an insult to millions of Americans, and to the office you hold.
To the rest of the Republicans out there, including Senator McConnell, I leave you with Maya Angelou's words. "When someone shows you who they are, believe them; the first time."
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/335-when-someone-shows-you-who-they-are-believe-them-the
Up until a couple weeks ago, I had never been to a wine tasting. As a relatively new wine drinker 7&7s, margaritas, and martinis my longtime cocktails of choice the idea of stepping up to the counter of a cellar and sipping sirahs and sauvignons and such intimidated me to no end.
A mother/daughter trip to California featuring stops along the Pacific Coast Wine Trail courtesy Highway 1 Discovery Route and Morro Bay Tourism Bureau cured me of my wine-tasting trepidation. I owe my conversion from newbie to (kinda sorta) natural to three delightful wineries and the patient, passionate sommeliers who shared their spirits, stories, and expertise with this admittedly ignorant wine drinker.
The Pacific Coast Wine Trail features ten wineries along Highway 1 spanning California's central coast. The first wine tasting on the itinerary for my daughter and me was Hearst Ranch Winery Tasting Room.
Advertisement
Hearst Ranch Winery Tasting Room is the most northern stop on the Pacific Wine Coast Trail, located across the street from Hearst Castle State Park in the historic Sebastian Brother's General Store in San Simeon. Built in 1852 at the peak of the whaling industry boom, the general store also features a lunch counter serving up Hearst Ranch Beef and other hearty delights.
My partner in my first wine-tasting adventure, my oldest daughter, is a far more educated and experienced wine drinker than I am. So she nearly snorted when my first question to Simon, our engaging and informative sommelier, was "Do I have to spit it out?"
My daughter chortled and Simon merely smiled. He assured me I did not have to spit out the wine after sipping, that such things were typically done only by folks tasting and judging competitions (as Simon often does) to prevent overindulging during the event.
With that opener behind us and my idiot newbie status thus revealed, Simon proceeded to kindly answer my next question of, "Okay, so exactly how should I go about tasting wine?"
Advertisement
Simon patiently guided me through the process. From the first "give it a good swirl in the glass" to considering the bouquet to intaking a wee bit of air with the sip and finally mulling over the notes subtle and strong, Simon showed me the ropes step by step on that first sample.
From there, he offered up an array of tasty reds, whites, zinfandels, cabernets and more. As my daughter and I sampled and sipped, Simon shared the story behind the Hearst Ranch Winery's hand-crafted offerings culled from grapes grown in California's Central Coast vineyards. I enjoyed each sampling for different reasons, and not a single one tempted me to "dump it" in the nearby receptacle Simon said was there for that purpose (not for spitting).
Lessons learned: How to not look like a wine-tasting newbie. And how to seek out subtle scents and flavors.
HEARST RANCH WINERY TASTING ROOM
440 SLO San Simeon Road, San Simeon, CA 93452
The next day, my daughter and I had the pleasure of a complimentary wine tasting at beautiful Harmony Cellars in the itsy bitsy town of Harmony, population 18.
Advertisement
Harmony Cellars, located a few miles south of Cambria, is a family-owned and numerous award-winning winery founded in 1989 by Chuck and Kim Mulligan. It sits on property that's been in the family for four generations, most notably once belonging to Kim's great-grandfather, who made homemade wine in the basement of his creamery in the 1800s. The Mulligans are committed to crafting quality wines at affordable prices and continue to be directly involved in the winemaking and business.
Our wine steward, Erin, shared not only chocolates and such for clearing our palates between sips, she explained how pairing wines with foods need not be a pretentious affair. In fact, she pointed out, their flagship wine the 2014 Chardonnay pairs particularly well with popcorn, and the 2013 Zinfandel goes fabulously with pizza and burgers. (Their website highlights similarly down-to-earth food/wine pairings, including mouthwatering recipes.)
Not only did the Harmony Cellars prices and food/wine suggestions appeal to my "common" tastes and sensibilities, Erin endeared herself to me when I revealed our visit was only my second wine tasting ever. "I would have never guessed," she said, "You look like a pro!" (I refuse to second guess her sincerity.)
After our wine tasting, my daughter and I enjoyed wandering about the peaceful grounds of Harmony Cellars. It's easy to see why locals and tourists flock to the spot for their many events throughout the year as well as those seeking special moments and relaxation with a partner or pal and a glass or two of pure perfection.
My daughter and I also were treated to a tour of the boutique production facility with manager Mike, who explained the grape-to-barrel process. We were impressed by the massive barrels of aging wine as well as the equipment and hard worker that smoosh and smash the grapes, converting them to the luscious liquid in a far more efficient (and sanitary) grape-stomping technique than the one Lucille Ball made hilariously famous.
Advertisement
The Harmony Cellars staff explained an aspect of the wine industry I hadn't considered: the importance of wine clubs. The subscription services are the lifeblood of Harmony Cellars and most wineries, Erin and Mike stressed, with each winery offering varied membership benefits for wine-lovers who would like bottles available "on call" at the winery or delivered right to their door with generous discounts applied to the cases of wine. (My daughter and I were delighted to learn the Harmony Cellars Wine Club ships to Colorado and are mulling over the membership options.)
With a complimentary bottle of their flagship wine in hand, my daughter and I reluctantly left the tranquil estate of Harmony Cellars, where my wine-tasting education went far beyond simply sipping and sampling.
Lessons learned: The hard work, dedication, and passion that goes into every bottle of wine; that great wine need not carry a high price tag; that popcorn can be a perfect accompaniment to a glass (or two) of a buttery smooth Chardonnay.
HARMONY CELLARS
3255 Harmony Valley Road, Harmony, CA 93435
Our final full day in California, my daughter and I capped off our wine-tasting fun at Chateau Margene Tasting Room, situated along the Embarcadero in Morro Bay. Tasting room attendant James treated us to a complimentary Luxury Wine Tasting Package (part of the Morro Bay Adventure Pass) as well as a continued education on the wine-making business.
Advertisement
Chateau Margene is a boutique micro-winery launched by Michael and Margene Mooney in 1998. Michael's family history in California dates back to the 1700s and includes many rancheros plus a vaqueros named Pio who joined up with the infamous James Powers Gang and whose colorful story, as told by winemaker Michael Mooney, adorns the Chateau Margene El Pistolero 2014 Chardonnay "Limitado" bottles.
The importance of story and backstory to the business was shared by James as he poured sample after sample of the vintages culled from grapes grown on the Mooney's estate. Several couples lined the counter of the chic tasting room, and James strolled casually from group to group, relating the beginnings of each bottle.
As anyone who drinks wine knows, the wine's year is a big deal. I asked James why and which years are supposedly best, and he offered up great words of wisdom on the importance of the numerous factors affecting the vintage. Weather (water!) during the growing season being, seemingly, the biggest deal of all. For that reason, the drought in California has had an impact on the wine industry there. The 2015 production was limited and not all that fabulous, James admitted. But 2013? That's definitely one of note, James said, featuring some of the best from winemaker Michael Mooney.
After a good hour or so of sipping and learning, my daughter and I bid James farewell and headed out onto the Embarcadero, cheery and chatty and thankful we didn't have to drive to our home-away-from-home at nearby Blue Sail Inn.
Lessons learned: Story matters... as does growing conditions, hence the importance of vintage year.
Advertisement
CHATEAU MARGENE
845 Embarcadero, Morro Bay, CA 93442
Learn about all ten wineries on California's central coast that make up the Pacific Coast Wine Trail at www.pacificcoastwinetrail.com.
The funniest woman I've ever known is my college roommate, Beth Wareham. In her new book with co-author, Jason Davis (a Blood, O.G.), a Westchester County housewife and a Harlem gangbanger get it on in hilarious circumstances. It's a beautiful thing, y'all.
My College Roommate's New Novel (Lisa Hagan Books)
Another beautiful thing? The real-life story of Beth and me.
I was one angry young woman by the time I met Beth my senior year at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, where I'd arrived freshman year a sheltered, naive, seventeen-year old from an all-girls high school with a progressive bent.
Y'all see, society on the Vanderbilt campus in the late seventies didn't work the way my Sunday School teachers at East Ridge Baptist Christ in East Ridge, Tennessee, told me all my life that they did, as in the song that goes "Jesus Loves the Little Children. All the children of the world. Red and yellow. Black and white. They are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world."
Advertisement
Jesus may love them, but in college I learned that people do not love all the little children. A codified social system based on the Greek letters of the alphabet stacked everybody up in fraternities and sororities against one another according to gender, race, and creed. And that's for starters. There were other markers for dress, wealth, and social standing. The Greek system that dominated social life at Vandy, which was accepted as the way things were, awakened this little believer, who had almost zero prior knowledge of sororities and fraternities, to the injustices in the world.
By senior year, heartbroken and pissed off at the world, I was living in a single in the stoner dorm, the result of two life-altering decisions I'd made junior year.
Number one, I'd deactivated from my "exclusive" sorority following a year of acting out after an officer told me my friend, who was rushing sophomore year, couldn't join our sorority because she was Jewish and wouldn't represent our Christian ideals. Angry, aghast, shocked that this officer had gotten an entirely different message than I had out of Sunday School, I never participated in the sorority at the level they required again. After a year of cutting meetings, of not caring, they asked me to leave. I'm still ashamed of myself for not quitting that day I found out what all my former sorority represented, for childishly acting out instead of protesting and demanding answers.
Number two, my pivotal junior year, I switched majors from Molecular Biology, from being a pre-med, to English. But that's a longform story for another day.
Advertisement
Thus, long story short, I wound up alone, in a single, in the stoner dorm senior year -- gladly rid of my sorority status, but bittersweet about leaving my group of pre-med grinds.
That fall John Lennon was shot. I was eating next to nothing after a nasty break-up with my longtime, on-again/off-again boyfriend over my summer romance in London with an Irish boy. I was listening to the Steve Winwood album "Arc of a Diver" over and over. I visited my high school boyfriend in Chapel Hill in a lame, failed attempt to recapture my past. I wrote an emo-style paper for an independent study on e. e. cummings that my professor called "oddly elliptical." A cute frat boy, one with a mind and a heart, in my Medieval Literature class came to visit me in my single, but only wanted help with his homework.
Right before Christmas, a friend and former roommate -- bless her -- invited me to live in her suite with five other girls the next semester. I'd be in a double with a girl I'd never met. "Yes, please," I'd said, afraid that I was living in an unhealthy way, knowing I had to stop reuminating on my lost pre-med status, my nasty break-up, my lost Irish boy, the stigma of having de-activated from my sorority and take on the real world that did not love all the little children. I was a privileged person -- a young, educated white woman from a supportive family that'd risen in the world by starting a business. Moaning and moping anymore about my "aloneness," I felt, would've been ridiculous.
Enter my new roommate. Beth Wareham. A six-foot-tall Texan outfitted with a gorgeous tan, a mane of blond hair, and a sharp-shooting wit that mowed down frat boys within a hundred yards.
That last semester at Vanderbilt, I still felt the sting of being a persona non grata in my former circles since I'd lost my labels, since I didn't dress to conform in preppy pink and green, since the whole scene pissed me off, but I have to hand it to Wareham. That girl was my tonic -- this little nonconformist's bodyguard, the first badass I ever knew. With her, screw 'em, I was back to walking the brick byways of Vandy with impunity. Y'all see, Beth was her own woman, had never pledged a sorority, was solely the product of her convictions; and I was proud to be her new roommate and friend.
Advertisement
We could've fit in if we'd wanted to, but we didn't want to. We didn't want to conform when so many others didn't even have the choice.
After graduating, I moved to Boston to work in publishing, an idea that'd germinated during my hiatus in the stoner dorm. Beth joined me for a year, but then moved on, on her own journey, ending up in Manhattan in publishing, where she lives today with her husband, a former music critic for The New York Times.
For the past decade Beth and her co-writer Jason Smith -- a Blood, O.G., as in the gang in Harlem and the Bronx, now a writer and father who mentors at-risk youth -- have been friends. Beth says she and Jason cause a bit of a stir out together in New York. Feeling the camaraderie, the empowerment I'd felt with her, I imagine them striding the concrete canyons of Manhattan -- friends, blood brothers -- slaying the haters.
In Beth and Jason's stylishly hilarious new book, Hair Club Burning: An Interracial Comedy, Marianne -- a real housewife of Westchester County -- takes down her low-down, no-account, bastard-of-a-husband with the help of Jay -- a Harlem gangbanger -- who perhaps needs Marianne as much as she needs him. A match made in heaven, Marianne and Jay burn the house down. Y'all will be amused, delighted, shocked, enthralled in the company of these funny-as-hell badasses, who discover love is, indeed, color-blind.
Come for the wisecracks and the sex scenes. Stay for the message.
"Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world. Red and yellow. Black and white. They are precious in his sight." Amen.
The verbiage, the lines and phrases; the words and meanings are so familiar, so regurgitated, we can almost write the script blindfolded. We've heard the language spewed over decades of sexist thinking on the topic of rape, spouted by crafty, amoral defense attorneys, desperate, self-serving parents; entitled, clueless perpetrators, and hardened, sociopathic criminals. Whatever their disparate positions, the goal for each is the same: diminish the crime, denigrate the victim, point the finger away from the rapist and toward the person he's raped, usually a woman and often a vulnerable one.
"She was asking for it."
"Her skirt was really short."
"She was drunk and falling all over me."
"She wanted it, then changed her mind."
"She's lying to keep her parents/husband/boyfriend/friends from judging her."
"She was walking around practically naked."
"I just used my finger; that's not rape."
"I didn't hear her say no."
"She liked it... she had an orgasm!"
"Lots of girls cry rape when it's not true."
And, most recently, "that is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life."
That thoughtless gem was offered by Dan Turner, father of convicted felon, Brock Turner, the Stanford swimmer who raped a woman during a frat party, in reference to his son's potential sentence.
Advertisement
"20 minutes of action."
That's the language used to describe the act of a man leading a very drunk woman out behind a dumpster on the Stanford campus, pulling her body down to the pine-needle covered dirt; yanking off her panties and bra, pulling up her skirt, spreading her legs and raping her "with a foreign object" while she was unconscious. So unconscious she didn't wake up until being rolled down a hospital hallway on a gurney, battered, wounded, and raped.
Had two Stanford grad students from Sweden not been biking past as Turner was involved in his "20 minutes of action," had they not tackled him as he attempted to bolt, leaving his victim exposed, violated and injured, odds are good this privileged young man would've gotten away with it.
As it was, after a jury found Turner guilty of three felony counts of sexual assault, which, per California statute, should have been followed by a minimum sentence of two to three years of incarceration, the judge on the case, Aaron Persky, handed down what is essentially, and inexplicably, a wrist slap. After listening to both the impassioned, vulnerable, and excruciatingly detailed statement of the rape victim, as well as the plea of Turner's father with its sympathy-inducing, rape-diminishing language, Persky opted to give credence to the men in this story, not the woman who'd been so violently and egregiously abused:
Persky determined that six months in jail followed by three years of probation was the best punishment for Turner, stating that he had to ask himself, "Is incarceration in prison the right answer for the poisoning of (the woman's) life?" Perksy also cited Turner's lack of a criminal record as a factor in a more lenient sentence. @ Huffington Post
And while Turner will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, probably the most impactful aspect of his sentence, the prosecutor had recommended "six years in state prison, noting that he'd lied about his alcohol history, had been previously accused of aggression toward women and has refused to admit he committed assault," issues the judge, apparently, did not feel warranted the recommended time:
...while he was sentencing Turner, Persky said he took into consideration the athlete's lack of criminal history, his apparent remorse, and the fact that the victim and victimizer were both intoxicated. (Emphasis added.)
And there it is... one of the more utilized talking points: "she was drunk."
The outrage triggered by the adjudicated sentence, as well as the father's crass and dismissive "20 minutes of action" comment, has gone viral and rightfully so. At a time, and in a culture, where issues of sexual assault and rape are front and center on a daily basis -- in schools, the military, in homes and workplaces -- the diminishment of a brutal act of violence, with a paltry sentence and language so contradictory to the actual event, is appalling.
But while the justice system appears to have prioritized the crime's impact on the perpetrator rather than the victim, others are not feeling quite so generous. A recall action has been instigated against Judge Persky, and members of the Stanford community have stepped up to take further steps against Brock Turner:
Meanwhile, Stanford University released a statement declaring that it "did everything within its power to assure that justice was served in this case." "In less than two weeks after the incident, Stanford had conducted an investigation and banned Turner from ever setting foot on campus--as a student or otherwise," the statement read. "This is the harshest sanction that a university can impose on a student."
Seems it will have to do.
Turner's father has now rolled back his comment, stating it was misunderstood, and he was only referencing the amount of time of the incident, not defining "sexual activity by the word 'action," but despite the retraction, he's inextricably added to the litany of rape language. And one has to wonder: given the viral nature of anything anyone says in our current social media/media culture, how is it possible someone in his position could be so careless about the language he used, particularly in a case this sensitive and particularly when it's embedded in a written document, as this phrase was (adding to the presumption that some thought was given)?
We don't know. But does this kind of verbiage, and other coded words and phrases of rape language, have a toxic effect on the issue of rape itself?
It certainly contributes to and upholds misconceptions and stereotypes; it spells out handy excuses and justifications for those looking for them; it offers articulation of stigmas used against the victims involved, and, one would guess, it aids in building a false wall of defense against the very simple, very black and white matter of what constitutes rape: "unlawful sexual intercourse or any other sexual penetration of the vagina, anus, or mouth of another person, with or without force, by a sex organ, other body part, or foreign object, without the consent of the victim."
Period.
For anyone unclear, consent is an explicit "yes" offered by a person who is of age, conscious and unimpaired by alcohol, drugs, mental or physical illness, coercion, misunderstanding, magical potions, or any other form of diminishment, and certainly someone who is capable of uttering the word "yes."
Conversely, if someone sexually forces themselves upon another person without that conscious consent, it doesn't matter who they are, what their father says, how stressed and anxious they might be; how well they swim, what college they go to, how much money their parents have, what race they belong to, how drunk anyone was, what anyone was doing or wearing, or certainly how many other women in other situations in the past might have wrongly "cried rape." IT'S RAPE.
Advertisement
It's not confusing. There's no parsing that applies. Don't bother ferreting around for words that justify or excuse. There is only one word with which to concern yourself: "yes." Was it said per the above (you know, the "conscious" part)? If so, so be it. If not, it's rape.
And until those who find themselves considering rape, excusing rape, defending rape, adjudicating rape, or attempting to deflect from what is rape understand that "yes or no" are the only parts of our language that need to be considered, we will, dreadfully, have to talk about rape again and again.
Let's not. Let's teach our children better. Let's educate our society more explicitly. Let's hold our judges and lawyers accountable. Let's evolve.
Note: I urge you to read the full statement by the unnamed rape victim in this case. It is deeply moving, powerfully articulate, and paints an unvarnished picture of her experience and its impact on every aspect of her life. It's very illuminating. You'll find it HERE.
Photograph by Volkan Olmez @ Unsplash
___________________________________________________________
Farmers in the Flor de Pancasan area of Nicaragua's Matiguas municipality were struggling. They were seeing low crop yields for a variety of reasons, including soil depletion, a lack of resources to make key investments and weather fluctuations, and this was affecting their ability to feed their families. Through its Learning for Gender Integration project, Lutheran World Relief wanted to see whether an initiative to increase agricultural production and improve food security might be bolstered with efforts to reduce gender gaps.
Many women in the area are members of agricultural cooperatives. But the cooperative structures did not address the limitations women face in receiving services, as fewer of them own land or have access to credit. Additionally, men typically make the majority of household resource decisions.
Through this initiative, the women in the Flor de Pancasan cooperative got an opportunity to participate more fully in the operation of their family farms -- and they proved their mettle. Given the same training and resources as men in the cooperative, they saw much larger increases in production. The point is not necessarily that women are better farmers than men, but that their participation in running the farm pays major dividends.
Advertisement
This is an English translation of an article in La Prensa, a daily national newspaper published in Nicaragua. Read the article in in Spanish.
By Lucydalia Baca Castellon
Four years ago, Jose Ananias Suarez -- like many other rural dwellers -- was ready to leave his hometown and birthplace of Pancasan in Matiguas, Matagalpa in search of a better life. With each growing season, weather conditions and soil depletion reduced the yield of the staple grains he and his father and brothers planted on their shared 60 acre farm, forcing him to work on nearby farms for a salary to ensure he could feed his family.
Today, thanks to crop diversification and implementing best agricultural management practices, their income has risen and their quality of life has improved. "Now besides corn and beans, we also work with coffee and cocoa, and since cocoa produces all year long, we always have a few bucks in our pocket," says Suarez.
Similar to Mr. Suarez, and like many other women farmers facing multiple barriers to land ownership and finance for their production, Sandra Lopez has managed to earn income of her own for the first time in her life. Although the land remains titled to her husband, she now owns four cows that generate daily income for her from sale of the milk they produce.
Advertisement
Suarez and Lopez are two of the 417 members of the Flor de Pancasan (Flower of Pancasan) Cooperative who in the past three years have improved their standard of living by diversifying their production and implementing better farming practices with the support of the project Learning for Gender Integration (LGI, for its acronym in English).
"This project worked in four key areas to ensure food security: improved production yields, diversified production, strengthened political structure in the cooperative, and sensitization of men and women on shared household decision-making," explains the project coordinator, Marvin Antonio Molina of Lutheran World Relief (LWR).
Crop Diversification
"In the beginning it was a struggle to get women to attend the workshops, but as they became more involved eventually it turned out that the women were producing more than the men. They were more efficient producers," says Ciro Estrada, coordinator at the Community Agricultural Diversification and Development Association (ADDAC).
The initiative urged those involved to combine the production of basic grains for consumption with crops for income generation, and the coffee and cocoa plantations were renovated and expanded.
In coffee, which before yielded on average 523 pounds per acre, women increased their production by another 523 pounds per acre, while men only added an additional 116 pounds per acre. And with cocoa, before yielding an average of 348 pounds per acre, the women increased production by 811 pounds and men by only and additional 348 pounds.
The improvements were achieved through constant training, field days in demonstration plots, proper soil management, and in the case of cacao plantations, grafting the trees with more productive varieties and implementing better pruning techniques.
Advertisement
"It shows that when you give [women] the right opportunities, when given technical assistance, advice and training, they are more efficient than men at production. In addition, when there is improved communication between men and women and improved relationships, that carries over into the field as better production, thus improving household incomes," asserts Estrada.
Due to the positive results of this initiative, developed by LWR with the support of ADDAC, according to Molina there are plans to replicate it in other communities in the north, possibly next in Rancho Grande.
Direct Exportation
Increasing the visibility of the role of women in farming and facilitating women's access to credit are the most important contributions made by the three-year LGI project implemented by LWR and ADDAC, says Levy del Carmen Mesis, secretary of the Board of Directors of the Flor de Pancasan Cooperative.
According to Mesis, although the project is concluding, the cooperative is prepared to ensure sustainability of the project. "As we now have Fair Trade certification, we can get better prices for the coffee and cocoa we harvest, we are already looking for new markets, and in the future we can get direct buyers and become direct exporters," he said.
Grafting to improve
Grafting cocoa trees with clones or cuttings from more productive trees has been one of the techniques that has allowed members of the Flor de Pancasan Cooperative increase the yield of this crop that was previously barely 348 pounds per acre.
"After just a bit more than a year, the grafted trees begin to bear fruit and you know whether they will be more productive or be pure shell," says Solomon Suarez, a Pancasan producer.
In addition to grafting the trees, the application of bio inputs for the management and control of pests, and leaving cuttings and stubble to nourish the soil, guarantee increased productivity and improved quality of the cocoa.
The pilot project
The Learning for Gender Integration project, which started in 2013, was a pilot initiative that was developed in parallel in Nicaragua, India and Uganda. In Nicaragua the project invested $210,000 donated [to LWR] by the Foods Resource Bank which benefited 417 members of the Flor de Pancasan cooperative, of which 143 are women.
Advertisement
Each year, we kick off our summer with the Memorial Day holiday to remember and honor our veterans. Although it took a while for the weather to heat up, this year was no different. We all took time to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. However, there is another point of view that is often missed... those veterans who remain amongst the living, but are faced with homelessness.
Did you know that there's a new face of veteran homelessness? According to recent studies, female veterans are between two and four times more likely than their civilian counterparts to become homeless. Because women make up the fastest-growing segment of the homeless veteran population, that means children are also at a higher risk for homelessness.
While the number of male veterans has declined over the past few decades, the number of female veterans has doubled since the 1980s. Women, today, represent roughly 15 percent of the U.S. armed forces, and about 19 percent of post-9/11 veterans -- a population that is projected to grow, rapidly. The Department of Veterans Affairs expects female veterans to number more than 2 million or close to 10 percent of the veteran population, by 2020.
Advertisement
Researchers have known for years that veterans make up a disproportionate share of the homeless population -- as many as one in four. But they've never been able to identify a clear link between military service and homelessness. Instead, they've pinpointed certain factors, like post-traumatic stress disorder, that increases a veteran's chances of becoming homeless. Still, the root causes remain largely unclear when we consider the protective factors, such as the world-renowned VA health and benefits system, that are offered to military service members.
Among these "new" homeless veterans, one risk factor stands out -- a history of sexual trauma. In a survey of the roughly 130,000 homeless veterans who used VA outpatient services in 2010, about 40 percent of the females, and 3 percent of the males, said they'd experienced military sexual trauma (MST). In another study that compared homeless female veterans with housed female veterans, over 50 percent of the homeless population reported experiencing MST -- twice the rate of their housed counterparts. Suddenly, trauma appears to be linked to homelessness among female veterans, whether the trauma occurred before, during, or after military service. Unfortunately for some, they are victims of sexual abuse before, during and after their military service, which compounds the pre-existing trauma with MST, and creates even bigger risk factors.
It has always been difficult to get an accurate count of the homeless population, and homeless veterans are no exception. One prominent female veteran who was homeless for years after suffering MST during her Army career said the problem is compounded because "it's hard to count women who don't want to be found." As researchers learn more about trauma among homeless female veterans, the struggle begins to find gender-specific housing facilities that can accommodate these young women and their children.
This year's Democratic primary in Michigan marked one of the biggest errors in polling history.
Combined polling averages showed Hillary Clinton leading by 18 percentage points or more, but she still ended up losing to Bernie Sanders by 1.5 percentage points, setting what may be a new record for the biggest upset against polling averages.
The 2015 U.K. general election was projected to be very close, with few seats in parliament won or lost for Conservatives or Labour. Instead, Conservatives surprised nearly every pollster with a 6% lead, winning enough to gain back a critical majority in parliament.
There have been other high-profile misfires--in Israel, Greece, and some closely watched U.S. Senate contests during the 2014 midterm elections. Even Nate Silver, famed statistician and editor in chief of FiveThirtyEight, thinks "the world may have a polling problem."
Advertisement
Polling is teetering on the edge of disaster. Or so we've been hearing a lot recently.
Beyond the debate over polling's accuracy, however, one thing is certain: We have entered a new era of polling, ushered in by an upheaval in communication technology that has already changed the way polls are conductedSo far, this new era is less about any single new approach to collecting data, but rather the way pollsters have adapted their techniques to deliver representative and reliable data.
To understand the changes now underway and their implications, consider the way polling has evolved through distinct eras over the past 100 years.
Straw Polls
American newspapers first started running straw polls of various kinds (sometimes called "straw votes") just before the turn of the 20th Century. Some involved ballots printed in newspapers and returned by readers. Some involved door-to-door canvassing. What they all had in common was an effort to collect preferences of as many voters as possible without any effort to assure that those who responded represented the larger electorate. The most ambitious, highly-regardedand ultimately infamousinvolved paper ballots sent to millions of Americans nationwide via the U.S. mail weekly magazine, Literary Digest.
Advertisement
Starting in 1924, the Digest mailed out printed "ballots" (all hand-addressed) to 10 to 20 million households that they asked recipients to fill out and return (the ballots post-cards also included a subscription solicitation).
The names and addresses came from a wide variety of lists, though most were culled from telephone directories and automobile registries in an era when both sources skewed disproportionately to upper income Americans.
The Digest's editors made no effort to statistically adjust or weight their results, relying instead on the sheer volume of responses to produce an accurate result. The Digests straw polls earned a reputation for accuracy because they correctly forecast the winners of the 1928 and 1932 presidential elections. But even then, there were problems evident beneath the surface--the Digest's results sometimes overstated the Republican share of the vote and occasionally erred in individual states.
Then came 1936. The Literary Digest straw poll predicted that Republican challenger Alf Landon would defeat President Franklin Delano Roosevelt by a 13 percentage point margin (54 to 41%). Instead, Roosevelt won by an even larger, 24-point landslide (61 to 37%). The failure led to the demise of not just straw polling, but of the Literary Digest itself a few years later.
To this day, many blame the Literary Digest's failure entirely on the non-representative nature of telephone and automobile owners of the 1930s. In recent decades, however, historical data has revealed another, possibly more significant problem, something pollsters call "response bias": Roosevelt voters were simply less likely to return their ballots than supporters of Landon voters.
Advertisement
Quota sampling
The Literary Digest debacle ushered in a second era led by polling pioneers Elmo Roper, Archibald Crossley and, most famously, George Gallup, who adopted new methods to correct for the flaws they perceived in the straw polls. To obtain what they argued were representative samples, they sent out trained interviewers to obtain the cooperation respondents across all demographic and economic categories and conduct face-to-face interviews.
Although explicitly described as "scientific" by their proponents, these newer methods did not involve random sampling. Instead, Gallup and his peers sent out interviewers to speak to prescribed numbers of respondents in each income and demographic category within set geographical areas, a method now known as "quota sampling."
Polls using this methodology proliferated in the 1940s despite some nagging problems. As described by David Moore in his book, The Super Pollsters, interviewers in that era had considerable discretion in how and where they chose to find respondents to meet their quotas.
Some would visit parks, construction sites or other outdoor areas in search of respondents who looked like they might fill their quotas. Others might look for respondents who seemed easier to interview, which created another potential for bias.
Then came 1948
At the end of the campaign, the three preeminent pollstersGallup, Roper and Crossleyall confidently predicted that Thomas Dewey would defeat President Harry Truman by margins ranging from 4 to 15 percentage points. Their polling and prognostication helped create a nearly unanimous conventional wisdom anticipating a Dewey victory.
Advertisement
That belief helped produce one of the biggest blunders in polling history. On election night, the Chicago Daily Tribune declared in a bold-faced headline "Dewey Defeats Truman," just hours before complete vote tallies found that President Truman had been reelected by a 5 percentage point margin nationwide.
Even today, the image of Truman grinning as he holds aloft the paper and headline is iconic, a symbol of the unpredictable nature of election polling.
Two academic panels investigated what went wrong in 1948 and found many reasons for the misfire. While the pollsters themselves concluded they had underrated the importance of undecided voters and had missed late shifts toward Truman by not conducting last minute polls, the academic experts also attacked the use of quota sampling.
The committee formed by the Social Science Research Council stopped short of blaming sampling methodology for missing Truman's win, but they did find "considerable systemic error" in quota samples that consistently underrepresented the less-well educated. They urged pollsters to adopt random "probability sampling" in their future work.
Probability sampling
One 1948 survey correctly forecast the Truman victory. It wasn't even the point of the survey--it was an academic study on attitudes on foreign policy that added on two vote preference questions at the last minute. Nevertheless, the Survey Research Center (SRC) at the University of Michigan fielded their study in late October, completing just before the Election and used a more expansive "random probability" sampling method.
Advertisement
The sampling methods used by SRC had been developed by other academics in the 1930s. They involved random sampling clusters of counties across that country, then of neighborhoods within the selected counties, then of individual households within those neighborhoods and specific respondents within each household. Selections were made randomly at each step of the process, ensuring that every member of the U.S. population had an equal or known potential to be selected.
The success of the SRC poll gave greater visibility to both its sponsor and the random probability sampling method, which soon became the gold standard for survey research. The news media pollsters gradually shifted from quota to probability sampling and the SRC scholars at Michigan launched their biennial Election Studies that became the preeminent, ongoing academic survey on political attitudes in the United States, now known as the American National Election Studies (ANES).
Multi-stage random probability samples of individuals interviewed in-person remain the heart of the high quality, scientific surveys conducted by the U.S Census and other government statistical agencies to this day, such as the Census Current Population Survey (CPS) and American Community Survey (ACS).
In the realm of elections, pollsters continued to conduct in-person random sample surveys until the late 1970s, when a key technological evolution kicked off yet another era of reinvention.
Telephone surveys
The Literary Digest failure left most pollsters wary of conducting polls by telephone. As late as 1960, a quarter of Americans still lacked home telephone service, so phone polls would continue to skew toward higher income respondents.
Advertisement
These attitudes started to change in the 1970s, when telephone coverage finally grew to more than 90 percent of U.S. households, and the best known pollsters started experimenting with telephone polling. By the mid-1980s, nearly 95% of Americans had home telephone service, and partly because the percentage was even larger among voters, most election polls were conducted by telephone.
Phone surveys offered a number of advantages over those conducted in person. They were faster and less expensive and could be conducted in a central facility, with all interviewers carefully supervised and trained to follow highly standardized procedures. Telephone numbers also offered the chance for sampling that was even closer to truly random (and thus more accurate) than the "cluster" designs used for in-person surveys. Samples could be drawn from a pool of all assigned numbers, with the last digits randomized to allow access to all working telephones, whether listed or unlisted.
The introduction of personal computers in the 1980s helped further disrupt the field. The availability of low cost PCs made it possible to quickly tabulate survey results without having to spend small fortunes buying time on mainframe and minicomputers. The new technology also enabled pollsters to draft survey questions more quickly and transmit the text via modem (and eventually, via the internet) to specialized call centers who would eventually send digitized data back through the same channel. Networked PCs also lowered the cost of computer-assisted interviewing, allowing call centers to abandon hand-dialing and paper-and-pencil questionnaires and execute surveys more quickly and efficiently.
All of these changes led to a rapid proliferation of telephone polls over the past 30 years, which quickly became ubiquitous in the news media and in political campaigns at all levels, national, state and local. National surveys conducted by news organizations such as ABC News, CNN, Fox News, the Washington Post and the New York Times continue to be conducted to this day by telephone.
The New Era?
At this point, our story takes a different turn. The technology revolution that helped make polling omnipresent has also gradually but inexorably eroded the conditions that enabled random sample surveys by telephone.
Advertisement
The changes were best described six years ago by Jay Leve, the editor and founder of SurveyUSA, a company that conducts phone surveys using an automated, recorded voice methodology. All phone polling, Leve argued, depends on a set of assumptions:
You're at home; you have a [home] phone; your phone has a hard-coded area code and exchange which means I know where you are; you're waiting for your phone to ring; when it rings you'll answer it; it's OK for me to interrupt you; you're happy to talk to me; whatever you're doing is less important than talking to me; and I won't take no for an answerI'm going to keep calling back until you talk to me.
That was the reality of telephone usage in the early 1980s. The current experience, he said, is quite different:
In fact, you don't have a home phone; your number can ring anywhere in the world; you're not waiting for your phone to ring; nobody calls you on the phone anyway they text you or IM you; when your phone rings, you don't answer ityour time is precious, you have competing interests, you resent calls from strangers, you're on one or more Do-Not-Call lists, and 20 minutes [the length of many pollsters' interviews] is an eternity.
Two measurable trends illustrate Leve's narrative. The first involves the increasing number who have abandoned landline service for cell phones. According to in-person interviews conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, the percentage of "cell phone only" Americans has grown from the low single digits to 47.7% of all adults in just 12 years. Another 16.1% of adults have both a landline and cell phone, but answer all or almost all calls on wireless phones.
Advertisement
The second trend traces the number of Americans now effectively out of reach of survey calls. According to the Pew Research Center, the typical response rate for their surveys has "fallen dramatically," from 36 to 9% between 1997 and 2012, and only part of the decline was about Americans hanging up on pollsters. Pew reported its typical contact rate had fallen to just 62% in 2012, meaning that more than a third of those called never answered the ringing phone.
Yet neither of these trends alone spell the demise of polling or decline in polling accuracy. Despite the lower response rates, the Pew report concluded, "telephone surveys that include landlines and cell phones and are weighted to match the demographic composition of the population continue to provide accurate data on most political, social and economic measures."
And therein lies a silver lining: As technology has steadily eroded some of the critical assumptions of random sampling, pollsters have been applying the science of survey research to learning, just as steadily, how to correct for the increasing statistical flaws in their unweighted data.
Today, in an eerie parallel to the early days of straw polls and quota sampling, better educated people tend to be more available and willing to do surveys than the less well-educated. But unlike those early days, pollsters have developed increasingly powerful tools to statistically adjust (or weight) their data in ways the early polling pioneers could only dream of.
The declines in response rates have not made telephone polls obsolete or inaccurate, just far more expensive and harder to conduct. All pollsters, whether they begin by attempting to contact random samples or draw upon alternative sources as we do at SurveyMonkey, must use statistical adjustment and modeling to remove the bias from raw data.
Advertisement
So the new era in polling now underway may be characterized less by any particular means of collecting data and more by the underlying approach of rendering that data as reliable and representative.
Another moment of reinvention is underway. Six years ago, when I interviewed Jay Leve for the National Journal, he said he "doesn't look to the future with despair but with wonder" at the opportunities for the polling profession.
Photo: Michele O'Donnell
Liz Kay holds an MFA from the University of Nebraska, where she received an Academy of American Poets Prize. Her poetry has appeared in various journals and she has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and for inclusion in the Best New Poets Anthology. She's a founding editor of Spark Wheel Press.
Monsters: A Love Story, her first novel, features Stacey Lane, a published poet and mother of two young boys, who is left in a state of bereaved confusion after the sudden death of her husband. No longer able to write, and living in her dead husband's hometown, she feels lost in her life.
Everything in her life changes dramatically when she receives an email from a movie producer interested in purchasing the film rights to her latest work, Monsters in the Afterlife. She finds herself in Hollywood working closely on the screenplay with bad-boy actor Tommy DeMarco. These two damaged people form an unlikely pair and their tumultuous relationship begins.
Advertisement
You're a published poet. What made you decide to write a novel?
I was more than half way through writing it and still denied to myself that I was actually writing a novel. Over time, my work had become increasingly narrative. I'd written a sequence of poems based on the Hansel and Gretel story, but I wrote them from the perspective of the witch. Various artists were very interested in it--painters, novelists, poets, playwrights--and I became excited by the idea of a writer's work being interpreted by others, which is central to the narrative of the book. The characters of Stacey and Tommy developed, and the novel emerged. It was really liberating for me because I'd never before written on so large a scale.
Why the title Monsters: A Love Story?
In a way, I think Stacey and Tommy are monsters themselves. Specifically, Stacey is busy policing herself and her behavior. She sometimes seems cold and unemotional; and she could be criticized for how she handles her young children. Tommy has no boundaries at all, and he's not used to being held accountable for his behavior. He constantly crosses the line.
You've talked about Monsters being a culmination of preoccupations about gender expectations, sexual politics, and the power of desire. Will you talk about that?
For me, it probably traces back to an episode of Downton Abbey where a diplomat lets himself into Lady Mary's room and coerces her into sex. It's such an interesting theme because the way they depicted it made it seem seductive. Actually, it was an assault. I think it fostered our ideas about sexuality that women are always culpable for their behavior. I wanted to write something that played into that cultural obsession with a so-called "traditional" romance, but one that was problematic.
Monsters portrays two very different men: Phillip, a physician; and Tommy, an actor. Tell us about this dichotomy.
I love Phillip. [Laughter] He represents a different kind of masculinity. He's quite respectable and respectful. He's careful in his approach to Stacey; doesn't push her sexually and Stacey becomes the aggressor in their relationship. He's careful with her children; yet, there's no spark for Phillip. Stacey doesn't feel passionate about him and the children don't seem to like him that much.
Advertisement
Why, in our culture, are we so drawn to the larger-than-life but problematic 'Tommys'?
Poetry doesn't contain dialogue; yet, the dialogue in Monsters is razor sharp. Talk about writing dialogue after years of writing poetry.
Writing dialogue was the most fun for me. In poetry, I don't use dialogue, ever. The language of poetry is so far removed from the way we actually speak. Moving into a world where I could create snippets of conversation like the language used in daily life, was my way of making art out of conversational language. The dialogue just seemed to flow naturally. I write like a poet does; I write line-by-line and then make small tweaks. I pay attention to syllable counts and rhythms. I'm sure that factored into the way the dialogue ended up.
You once mentioned having fallen deliriously in love with Tommy and Stacey, the two main characters in Monsters. Will you talk about the importance of characters?
My work has always been driven by character. I'm most interested in characters who are organic, imperfect, and deeply flawed. I always want to find that human element in them--the things that make them vulnerable and lovable. While I think Tommy and Stacey are monsters in their own ways--Tommy much more so--I've always loved monsters. Falling in love with both Tommy and Stacey was what made writing the book possible for me.
What's coming next from Liz Kay?
I have a couple of ideas. I'm sure whatever I end up doing will be subversive. [Laughter].
Congratulations on penning Monsters: A Love Story, a blistering tale about a problematic relationship between two deeply flawed and charismatic characters.
Do you know what the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population is? Families with children. About two-fifths (41 percent) of the homeless population is made up of families, making family homelessness a growing phenomenon.
The American Aid Foundation reports that seven in 10 Americans are just one paycheck away from the street. One survey found that 61 percent of respondents said that if they lost their jobs, they wouldn't be able to cover their mortgage or rent payments for more than five months.
Let's take a closer look at the homelessness crisis in America, and what's being done to address it.
What Is Homelessness?
Advertisement
At one time or another, we've all come across street people, most of whom find themselves to be intermittently or chronically homeless. But the scope of homelessness runs deeper than what a cursory glance renders or a brief interaction elicits.
The Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act (1987) defines a homeless individual as someone who "lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence and has a primary nighttime residency that is a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations." An institutionalized person who temporarily lives in an institutional setting or a displaced person who uses public or private places not designed for or designated as regular sleeping accommodations is included in the broader definition.
How Many People Are Homeless in the United States?
The exact number is elusive. That's because the figures can vary significantly depending on the method taken to collect the data and when the data are gathered (for example, a single night vs. a calendar year).
Advertisement
Based on a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) report, 1.56 million people, or one in 200 Americans, experienced homelessness and found shelter from Oct. 1, 2008-Sept. 30, 2009.
What Are the Causes of Homelessness?
Based on a 2015 report produced by the United States Conference of Mayors, a lack of affordable housing and poverty are the leading causes of overall homelessness. This is true for both homeless families and unaccompanied individuals.
Unemployment and low-paying jobs are chief reasons for homelessness among families with children. Ranking causes for homelessness among individuals are mental illness and substance abuse, with a lack of needed services for both.
The least likely cause of homelessness is prisoner reentry (release from incarceration), which shatters the myth that many homeless people are likely to be criminals. Homeless people actually commit less violent crimes than housed people, according to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty.
Who Is at Increased Risk for Homelessness?
People who are living in poverty are at greatest risk of becoming homeless. Demographic groups that are more apt to face poverty are also more vulnerable to homelessness.
Advertisement
Veterans are also at greater risk for becoming homeless, as compared to adults in the general population. About 1.4 million veterans may be subject to homelessness as a result of poverty, poor support networks, and substandard living conditions and housing, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.
Who Is Homeless?
The 2015 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress characterized a sheltered homeless person as male, white or African-American, age 24 or older, and alone. The report further indicated that chronically homeless individuals represented 15 percent (84,291 people), unaccompanied youth and children 7.8 percent (45,205 people), and chronically homeless families 3 percent (15,143 people) of the total homeless population.
The notion that all homeless people are unemployed is false. An article entitled "Why Don't Homeless People Just Get Jobs?" stated that "one third to one half of the homeless population is employed."
Homelessness is largely concentrated in central cities. Seventy-one percent of total homelessness occurs in urban areas, 21 percent in suburban areas, and 9 percent in rural areas.
How Can We Put an End to Homelessness?
Creating affordable housing and expanding housing assistance programs are two immediate solutions. The State of Homelessness in America 2015 report concluded: "Mainstream low-income assistance programs should be attentive to households' living situations and help maintain housing stability whenever possible and, more importantly, communities, states, and the federal government should urgently prioritize investment in affordable housing,"
Advertisement
In 2010, the Obama administration released an ambitious plan to end homelessness. Called Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, the plan's main goals are to halt and eradicate child and family homelessness in 10 years and to prevent and eliminate chronic homelessness and homelessness among veterans in five years. Since its inception, the program has reduced homelessness among veterans by 33 percent, chronic homelessness by 21 percent, and family homelessness by 15 percent.
Community-based efforts have also made inroads in stemming the tide of homelessness. Christina Mainero, MBA/MPH, has direct experience working with these populations. According to Mainero:
"The Illumination Foundation is but one example of a non-profit organization that has established a strong network of public and private partners throughout the community. These partners worked together to break the cycle of homelessness by bringing medical care and wrap-around services to homeless children and families as they transitioned toward independent living and self-sufficiency."
Mainero adds, "I learned more from the families and children I worked with than I could hope to fully express. My interaction with these individuals has strengthened my belief that the human spirit, like the human body, is simultaneously exceedingly resilient and incredibly fragile. To be human is to be both a strong and a vulnerable creature."
During Pope Francis' visit to the U.S. in 2015, the pontiff made a historic speech to Congress at Saint Patrick's Church in Washington, DC. In a moving appeal to lawmakers, the pontiff said, "We can find no social or moral justification, no justification, no justification whatsoever, for lack of housing."
Advertisement
Safe, affordable housing is a fundamental human right, and as such, it should be upheld.
Earlier on Huff/Post50:
Today, the Earth got a little hotter, and a little more crowded.
Forests Protect The BUB: Bizarre, Useful and Beautiful biodiversity that sustains all of us, besides storing carbon -- and Amazonian spiders that mimic orchids.Credit Mary Ellen Harte
Forests: the cheapest way to store carbon
OO Pastureland and Farming Are Major Deforestation Drivers
In South America - with pastureland accounting for over 70% of deforestation between 1990 and 2005. Got enough beef yet?
When we harm forests, we harm ourselves.
*
*
HOT NEWS
OO World Would Warm by Massive 10C If All Fossil Fuels Are Burned - says a new study.
Civilization would end - as would your future children's future. Why?
This extreme scenario would wreak profound damage on human health, food supplies and the global economy, and leave some regions uninhabitable.
Advertisement
Actually, civilization would probably end well before a rise of 10C -- even 6 or 7C could do it, because of the cascading catastrophies that would envelop us. But let's just look at the 10C consequences for fun.
Forget about farming - we cannot genetically engineer plants to grow in a climate that is beyond the biophysical capabilities of its genome. Some cereal crops in the Sahel are already reaching those limits, and even important US crops face a declining future at far less than a 10C rise.
Forget about hunting - It would be worse than the Stone Age, for we are plundering our natural resources even now, and destroying the natural environments that supported our ancestral hunters. Hot acidic oceans would not support much of anything edible beyond non-nutritious jellyfish.
Source ArtefactoryLab at Vimeo
Rising sea levels and extreme weather would flood many major infrastructures.
Supporting even small populations would be challenging, let alone our big one. That means massive die-offs and civil chaos. Move Game of Thrones into a place like the Mideast - and then watch humanity face extinction.
Advertisement
"I think it is really important to know what would happen if we don't take any action to mitigate climate change," said lead researcher Katarzyna Tokarska, at the University of Victoria, Canada.
"Even though we have the Paris climate change agreement, so far there hasn't been any action. [This research] is a warning message."
Related Headline:
OO Effect of CO2 on Warming Is Worse Than We Thought - record rising temperatures in the past 3 years lead a number of scientists to conclude that our climate is more sensitive to rising CO2 levels than previously thought -- which means the world will get hotter faster and our climate will change faster.
*
*
If You Don't Vote For Climate Action, You Can Forget The Rest - in a climate-changing world of famine, drought, rising seas, giant storms and heat waves, there will be no security in jobs, health, wealth, or national safety. There will be chaos ensuing from increasing crises and disasters. Vote.
TIME TO ACT. Vote for leaders who understand this enormous problem facing us, and who are courageous enough to turbo-drive its known solutions:
Advertisement
S top burning fossil fuels ASAP, and ramp up clean renewable energy;
top burning fossil fuels ASAP, and ramp up clean renewable energy; T ake our populations to sustainable levels with humane policies;
ake our populations to sustainable levels with humane policies; A ct to reduce consumption;
ct to reduce consumption; R ely on economic policies that create sustainable existence, not infinite growth;
ely on economic policies that create sustainable existence, not infinite growth; Trees are important to store carbon: conserve and increase our forests.
*
*
THE FACE OF FUTURE FLOODING
<>
Source ArtefactoryLab at Vimeo
@@ 5:46 AM - Paris Underwater - what do the French do when their home floods? Why, go out and film it, of course! Viva la France! Although this was filmed 5 years ago, the Louvre is closed today and moving artwork to higher levels, as its lower ones face flooding.
Consider this an increasing portent of things to come for all of us, under worsening climate change.
OO Coastal Flooding: a Sign of the Damage Our Economy
Is Wreaking on Our Fragile Environment - says the former Archbishop of Canterbury.
Advertisement
Related Headline:
OO Statue of Liberty and Venice Under Climate Change Threat, says UN
*
*
GOOD CLEAN NEWS
OO Global Clean Energy Jobs Rose 5% in 2015
Due to US Boom - in solar and wind power jobs, increasing global renewable energy employment to more than 8 million people in 2015, says a report from the International Renewable Energy Agency.
About 770,000 people were employed in renewable energy in the US in 2015, dwarfing the 187,000 employed in the oil and gas sector and the 68,000 in coal mining.
The gap is set to grow further, with jobs in solar and wind growing by more than 20% in 2015, while oil and gas jobs fell by 18%.
OO Governments Raised $26 Billon from Carbon Pricing in 2015 - it's a start, but it needs to rise much faster to help the energy transition and fight climate change.
*
*
FOSSIL FUEL FOLLIES
As If This Isn't Bad Enough? Not only destroying carbon-storing forest and producing climate changing fuels, the Alberta oil sands mining also creates harmful polluting vapors. Feel the burn? Courtesy Howl Arts Collective at flickr
Advertisement
OO Pollution From Canadian Oil Sands Vapor Is Substantial - says a new study.
*
*
CLUELESS LEADERSHIP
@@ Kimmel Pooh-poohs Pompous Palin's Denial:
"What if I decide to deny the existence of yogurt?" Or of gravity? Ultimately, K notes, "Either you believe in science, or you don't."
<>
And for even more nonsense...
'I'm not a big believer in man-made climate change.' says Don The Denier of man-made global warming. Credit: modified piece by Nate Beeler at the Columbus Dispatch
OO Donald Trump's Election Would Derail Paris Climate Deal,
Warns Its Architect- Former French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said, "If a climate change denier was to be elected, it would threaten dramatically global action against climate disruption."
More Trumpery...
OO Coal Industry Group Backs Trump - one dinosaur backs another.
<><>
OO Fund Investors Ignoring Climate Risks Rose Last Year Despite BOE Warning - that is, from the Bank of England, which warned about the potential for "huge" losses from a sudden shift in regulation designed to curb global warming and fossil fuels.
Advertisement
Almost half of the world's top 500 investors are failing to act on climate change risk and management. Oh-oh.
If we do not grow sustainably,
Our children will die inhumanely.
@@ The Cost of Unintended Pregnancy: Too Young
Teen childbearing cost US taxpayers $9+ Billion in 2010
And the costs of raising a child usually ensures decades, if not a life, of poverty for its mother.
- US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Help prevent unintended pregnancies in your community:
publicize where women can access affordable contraception.
They can go here to find locations:
And there are many more actions you can do, right here.
*
*
*
SOLAR KEEPS SURFING
OO Solar Power Is Contagious - fully one third of the customers for the largest US Solar rootop installer were referred by a friend or neighbor. If you install solar photovoltaic panels on your roof, that increases the odds that your neighbors will install their own panels.
Advertisement
Rooftop solar is expanding rapidly in the US-- by some estimates, a new system goes up every four minutes.
OO US: Solar Surges As Coal Collapses -Solar capacity is surging; by the end of 2016, there will be twice as much solar as there was in 2014.
Meanwhile, recent coal plants closings bring tally of closed (or closing) coal generation to 100 gigawatts' worth since 2010, says the Sierra Club, which has focused on limiting and now reducing coal use since 2002.
OO New Record Set for World's Cheapest Solar -
Now Undercutting Coal
Solar power set another record-low price as renewable energy United Arab Emirates developers promised project costs that undercut even coal-fired generators.
They bid as little as 2.99 cents per kilowatt-hour to develop 800 megawatts of solar-power projects there - 15% lower than the previous record set in Mexico last month.
Check it out here, right now!
*
*
*
WHY WE MUST ACT NOW: RISING RISKS
Daily Climate Change: Global Map of Unusual Temperatures, June 7, 2016
How unusual has the weather been? No one event is "caused" by climate change, but global warming, which is predicted to increase unusual, extreme weather, is having a daily effect on weather, worldwide.
Looking above at recent temperature anomalies, much of North America (indeed, most of western Canada, where a wildfire still burns), and the waters surrounding it and the US, are experiencing warmer than normal temperatures: despite El Nino driven precipitation, California remains in drought, and its "water freezer", the snowpack in the Sierras, is melting away rapidly.
Advertisement
Similar to What I Saw but with alpen glow the supercell cloud I saw glowed hot pink for a while. Source wikipedia
Up here in the Colorado Rockies, my summer research home, unusually hot weather predominates. I got to see my first supercell, a giant mushrooming cloud that you would normally find occurring under extreme weather conditions in the midwest -- they mushroom up, fill with lightning, then eventually collapse like a souffle, releasing heavy amounts of rain. Luckily for us, the storm was south of us.
Much of the areas surrounding the North Pole are experiencing much warmer than normal temperatures - not good news for our Arctic thermal shield of ice. Hotter than usual temperatures continue to dominate human habitats.
*
*
*
Think primitive initial conditions at a cabin in a remote part of the Colorado Rockies and broken computers, and you can understand why this week's column is so short.
There is, of course, much more news on the consequences and solutions to climate change. To get it, check out this annotated resource list I've compiled, "Climate Change News Resources," at Wordpress.com here. For more information on the science of climate change, its consequences and solutions you can view my annotated list of online information resources here.
Advertisement
To help you understand just what science does and does NOT do, check this out!
For the second straight year, the Illinois General Assembly left Springfield this week without a budget in place for fiscal year that starts July 1.
A year ago, when Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democrats who control the Legislature first deadlocked over the FY 2016 budget, the situation today was unthinkable. A full year without any plan for state spending and revenue was unprecedented.
Advertisement
But also unimaginable a year ago was that Rauner and the Democrats would enter FY 2017 not only without a balanced budget, but with a goal that in effect will prolong the budget standoff through calendar year 2016.
After nearly a year of rejecting pursuit of short-term budget fixes -- which he said would take pressure off for business and political reforms -- Rauner on Memorial Day abruptly changed course. He endorsed a stopgap budget to carry state government through 2016 and urged House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton to pass a stand-alone K-12 school funding bill so school districts statewide can be assured of opening on time in the fall.
A few days after Democrats in the House rushed to approve a budget from Madigan that was $7 billion out of balance, Cullerton attempted to pass it in the Senate, where it got a very unfriendly reception. Republicans railed against its massive unfunded spending while many Democrats rejected it both for its imbalance and the way Madigan forced it through the House.
In an attempt to appease Rauner while also backing him into a corner, the Senate in the final minutes of the spring session passed a stand-alone K-12 bill, but it increased school funding by an astounding $900 million. That was far more than Rauner's original proposal, which increased funding by only $120 million. It passed in the Senate but failed miserably in the House, where suburban representatives questioned why $475 million of the increase would go to Chicago Public Schools.
Advertisement
Thus our lawmakers left Springfield with neither a state budget nor a school budget in place.
In the two days that followed the session's collapse, Rauner hit the road on a tour of Illinois to gin up support for a "clean" school funding bill and a broader, stopgap plan to get state government through the calendar year. In the process, he did some Chicago bashing that probably isn't a healthy addition to the process.
We review the final days of the legislative session and look at what's to come on this week's "Only in Illinois." Despite all the bad news, we end this edition on a positive note thanks to the closing speeches of Cullerton and Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno.
Three new studies confirm what economists already knew: refugees do not ultimately burden the nations that accept them. On the contrary, investing in refugee resettlement can actually improve economic performance in the long run. While the humanitarian case for refugee resettlement receives the majority of the attention, the economic case is also compelling.
Early this year, the International Monetary Fund published a report examining the economic impact of resettling refugees in Europe. The authors calculate that after refugees start working, they will produce more than the upfront cost of resettlement, confirming the results of a study on Germany last year, which posed a similar question.
They estimate that for every euro spent on refugees, the European economy will grow by more than 1.84 euros within five years. The supposed influx of refugees, which for most European countries is a minor addition to their total population, will not only fail to produce the disastrous effects predicted by their opponents, but could also result in the reversal of aging European populations.
Advertisement
It should be stressed that policies which provide access to the labor market for refugees and allow for integration into community networks are necessary to achieve these gains.
In April, economists Mette Foged and Giovanni Peri published a study in the prestigious American Economic Journal that rigorously examined the short and long term effects of refugees from Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq resettling in Denmark. They found that refugees employed in low-skilled manual jobs did cause displacement for native Danes--but it actually resulted in pushing lower skilled, less educated natives into higher paid positions. They concluded that immigration had positive effects on mobility and employment.
Last month, a study--whose author, economist Philippe Legrain, promises it to be "the first comprehensive, international study of how refugees can contribute to advanced economies"--builds on the IMF's findings. He concludes that since refugees not only join the labor force but improve the labor force, the economic benefits of refugees are even higher.
These three studies are just the latest in a huge literature that finds labor markets can quickly and successfully absorb immigrants and refugees without substantial harm to natives. Moreover, infusions of new populations can modestly improve economic performance in the long-run and revitalize struggling cities.
Advertisement
This economic case for refugees might seem counterintuitive. Refugees who have just fled their country and have a poor command of the language might not seem able to contribute to a fast-paced, global economy. And while that may be true for some very early on, it's a flawed assumption when applied to the long-term.
Refugees earn and spend money, which boosts economic activity. They start businesses, make investments, launch new cultural and religious institutions, and in the case of Syrian refugees-- many being educated and highly skilled--they will contribute heavily to numerous sectors of the economy.
Demographic concerns should also be taken into account. Refugees tend to err on the younger side, helping to reinvigorate an aging population. This issue is not as acute here in the United States as it is in Europe, but the infusion of a younger population can help address the fiscal cost of settling refugees and America's aging population.
Of course, refugees still face many challenges when resettling into a new country. Integration is slow and often arduous and does require upfront costs for governments and the private sector. But once some time has elapsed, refugees find their niche in their new home and begin contributing to society and economy.
Consider the U.S. case of refugee populations such as the Cubans or the Vietnamese. Their initial arrival had costs, but in the long-run America is a richer, more prosperous nation because of their robust contributions. We look at these populations as part of the American mosaic-- not as some distant group who struggled in their new home.
Advertisement
The sheer number of Syrians and other refugee populations on the move seems daunting, but the U.S. used to resettle much higher numbers of refugees with positive outcomes--and we can still do so today.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump smiles during a rally, Thursday, June 2, 2016, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
It was both completely in character and shamefully beyond the pale when Donald Trump accused Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over two lawsuits against Trump University, of having an inherent conflict of interest in the cases because of the judges Mexican heritage. On Sunday he extended that charge to Muslim judges, who he also suspects would be unable to remain unbiased. If there was a shred of doubt remaining on the question of whether Donald Trump is fit to make judicial nominations before this attack, that debate is now over. Even GOP senators are speaking out against Trumps remarks. But in a contortion act that defies logic, those same senators continue to go to extraordinary lengths to hold open the vacant Supreme Court seat for the very person whose approach to judicial matters they are condemning.
Advertisement
GOP leaders rushed to denounce Trumps remarks about Judge Curiel, with Republican senators including Kelly Ayotte, Jeff Flake, Rob Portman, and Mitch McConnell speaking out against his comments and House Speaker Paul Ryan calling them out of left field even though even a casual observer knows they were coming right from home plate for the past year. Trump has been consistent in his baseless attacks on entire communities since the first day of his campaign, when he smeared Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers. And if some in the GOP are (rightly) condemning Trumps vision of a justice system in which some judges are prohibited from doing their jobs because of their ethnic background, why are they going to extraordinary lengths to put him in the drivers seat of our nominating process?
GOP senators are still doing everything they can to block President Obama from filling the Supreme Court vacancy. Rather than follow the Constitution and give fair consideration to President Obamas extraordinarily qualified and respected nominee, GOP senators are running a campaign of unprecedented obstruction in order to allow Trump to make the Supreme Court nomination instead.
Lets be clear: Trump had already provided countless reasons to call into question his fitness to nominate judges. This is a man who supports killing the family members of terrorists and wants to open up libel laws so he can go after journalists. That hes now implying whole swaths of people are not fit for the federal bench is one of the most disturbing examples yet of Trumps contempt for the independence of the judiciary and for Americans different from him. It goes against the most fundamental values of our country, and it is Exhibit A of why he should never be the person nominating judges at the Supreme Court or any level.
Advertisement
Its no wonder Americans are worried about the prospect of Donald Trump making judicial nominations. Even before his attack on Judge Curiel, a recent poll found that the majority of Americans dont trust Trump to fill the Supreme Court vacancy, and theyre none too pleased with the senators obstructing President Obamas nominee. Half of voters say they are less likely to vote for a senator who opposed having confirmation hearings for Judge Merrick Garland. For Republican senators in tight reelection battles, their unwillingness to do their jobs is increasingly and rightfully becoming a liability with voters.
The fact that GOP senators are flat-out refusing to do their jobs on the Supreme Court was already an outrage. That they are now working to hold the seat open for a man who thinks some judges cant do their jobs because of their ethnic background or religion is unconscionable and should be, quite frankly, embarrassing to all Republicans. GOP leaders are in a position of both condemning Trumps approach to judicial issues and working to make sure hes the one to make lifetime judicial appointments. Make sense? It doesnt to me, either.
We are wringing our hands and cringing each day every time Donald Trump makes an utterance. The most recent is his doubling down on making the heritage of federal U.S. District Court judge Gonzalo Curiel (born in Indiana) the basis to find him unfit to further preside over the fraud lawsuit against Trump's Trump University in San Diego. Of course, now Trump tells us that this is not being racist, but those in the media covering the story are. Speaker Paul Ryan today, among other Republicans, now disagrees, calling Trump's utterances about Judge Curiel's heritage the textbook definition of being a racist. Then, Trumps gets on a conference call yesterday (unusual for a presidential candidate) with his surrogates and belittles his own staff's dissemination of information. These actions, of course, are just further symptoms of a mental infirmity from which he cannot escape and upon which he cannot be elected---though the media has yet to figure it out.
No major media outlet (cable or otherwise) has addressed the reality of Trump having a mental condition that makes him unfit for president. It was, though, eloquently and most exquisitely addressed by author and novelist Richard North Patterson last week in Huff Post's politics section in his blog, "Too Sick To Lead: The Lethal Personality Disorder of Donald Trump". Another worthy piece is one by Professor Dan McAdams of Northwestern University, "The Mind of Donald Trump" that was published in The Atlantic. Though published after this post first went into print, the latest are Dan Dale's "Is Donald Trump OK? Erratic behavior raises mental health questions", and Tom Boggioni's, "Donald Trump's recent 'erratic behavior' has medical professionals questioning his mental health".
Advertisement
Because it is so important, some of Patterson's observations bear repeating in this post. He states, for example,
"There is only one organizing principle which makes sense of his [Trump's] wildly oscillating utterance and behavior-the clinical definition of narcissistic personality disorder.
The Mayo Clinic describes it as 'a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others.' This is bad enough in selecting a spouse or a friend. But when applied to a prospective president, the symptoms are disqualifying."
He then scrolls off symptoms of this disorder: (1) an exaggerated sense of self-importance; (2) an unwarranted belief in one's own superiority; (3) a preoccupation with fantasies of one's own success, power and brilliance; (4) a craving for constant admiration; (5) a consuming sense of entitlement; (6) an expectation of special favors and unquestioning compliance; (7) a penchant for exploiting or disparaging others; (8) a total inability to recognize the needs of anyone else; (9) an unreasoning fury at people you perceive as thwarting your wishes or desires; (10) a tendency to act on impulse; (11) a need to always be right; (12) a belief one is above the rules; (13) a superficial charm deployed to disguise a gift for manipulation; (14) an array of inconsistent statements and behaviors driven by one's needs of the moment; (15) an inability to assess the consequences of one's actions in new or complex situations; (16) the visceral reflex to humiliate and degrade anyone who displeases you, no matter the context or situation; and, in sum (17) a total incapacity to separate the world from one's own psychodrama. Remind you of someone? The central theme to Trump's warped psychology (according to Patterson) is his belief that "filling the presidency requires nothing but the wonder of himself". The closest this writer ever came to such diagnoses was having a major in psychology in college, but these conditions surely seem spot on in explaining Trump's deficiencies.
Advertisement
But as dangerous is Trump's mentality for the presidency, equally disturbing is, to repeat, why the media has yet to focus attention on his disorder; it instead focuses on his supposed strategies or tactics to explain away his conduct and behavior, and, in so doing, provides him with all the attention he needs and craves. The media cajoles and chuckles over his behavior instead of trying to unravel its underpinnings; puzzles over his racist, misogynistic, demagogic and homophobic conduct instead of providing readers and listeners with an underlying psychological condition that provides an explanation from which he, himself, cannot escape and for which he could never be the leader of the free world.
The principal media outlets have become nothing but chumps at the voters' expense if it believes Trump's behavior in psychological terms is off limits or a forbidden topic. Given the totally preposterous verbiage that spews forth from Trump daily---again like the media being racist, criticizing with abusive language reporters and others that challenge him and call him to task; because they are of Mexican heritage, have Muslim blood in their lineage, even are female based on gender bias, judges cannot fairly and impartially decide cases involving Trump or his companies (3,500 at last count per a USA Today story recently); or even referring to an African American in a rally as " 'My' African American" [is this Thomas Jefferson we are listening to?]---it is about time the media disrobe Trump's psyche and dissect his psychological condition---nothing is off limits if Trump wants to play hardball with everyone and everything as he has been doing.
Trump is in the end psychologically unfit to be the country's president, and the Republican Party saying otherwise is, quoting Patterson again, "the political and moral equivalent of a criminally callous auto manufacturer, willing to sell cars with defective airbags and exploding gas tanks. Worse. For they are not selling us combustible cars; they are selling out the country. It is hard to put a name to their dishonor."
Advertisement
God help us all with a President Trump, but long before that happens let's stop wringing our hands and do something about it. The media, the ball is firmly in your court.
UPDATE
The conventions are over now and Trump continues to hammer those that criticize him, like saying yesterday (July 28, 2016) that he would want to punch out the little guy [obviously referring to former NYC Mayor and former Republican, Mike Bloomberg, due to his scathing remarks about Trump when he spoke at the DNC, also describing Trump using the word "insane"] so that his head would spin. Just another example of Trump's NPD. And then there was Trump, during his acceptance speech, saying "I am your voice; "only I can fix the problems". Another example of NPD. And HRC could not have put it more pointedly in her own acceptance speech when she said, paraphrasing now, would we want someone on the nuclear button who reacts [to criticisms] with tweets as Trump constantly does seemingly everyday? And his remarks about Russia and hacking into our computer systems?
SECOND UPDATE (July 31, 2016)
Coterminous with the conclusion of the conventions, and if the contents of this post and its update are not convincing enough, then all readers must read Jane Mayer's exhaustive piece in the July 25, 2016 issue of The New Yorker, "Donald Trump's Ghostwriter Tells All". It details the "journey" author Tony Schwartz undertook with Trump in Schwartz's, NOT Trump's, writing of The Art of the Deal. Her article and Mr. Schwartz's interaction with Trump provide the "exclamation point" to the topic of this post. And, of course, the latest major dustup involves Trump's inability to courteously and with due respect address Mr. and Mrs. Khan's (parents of their fallen war hero son) quite negative public remarks about Trump's conduct and treatment of Americans (particularly Gold Star families) without even an apology, together with his lack of knowledge of the U.S. Constitution and what its provisions state and mean.
THIRD UPDATE (August 2, 2016)
The death of the Polisario Front leader, Mohamed Abdelaziz, in Algeria last week has brought renewed attention to the conflict of the Western Sahara. While some may hope for some overture in the conflict, his demise will not usher in a grand shift in the Polisario Front's hardline rejectionist strategy for Sahrawi independence. An uncompromising strategy that is shaped in Algiers rather than in the Polisario Front's camps in Tindouf, Algeria. The future leadership of the Polisario Front, which will be elected after the perfunctory mourning period, will continue the Front's military and political reliance on Algeria as an integral party in the stalemated conflict.
Mohamed Abdelaziz, a native of Marrakech, Morocco, had been Secretary General of the Polisario Front since 1976, a year after Morocco annexed the contested territory of the Western Sahara from Spanish colonial administration. During Abdelaziz's leadership, the Polisario Front pursued an obdurate secessionist campaign for independence, fighting a guerilla warfare from 1975 until 1991 when the UN brokered a ceasefire with the aim of establishing a referendum for self-determination. Almost three decades later, no such plebiscite has taken place and the conflict has effectively descended into a regional quagmire. Despite many UN attempts to negotiate a comprehensive settlement to the conflict, all parties continue to advance their own intransigent claims.
With Abdelaziz at the helm of the Polisario Front, the separatist movement's biggest achievement has undoubtedly been the high profile international attention this little known conflict has continued to garner. Abdelaziz's public relations approach has framed the conflict in colonial terms, as the Polisario, somewhat successfully cast the Moroccan annexation and subsequent rule over the Western Sahara as a foreign colonial occupation in violation of self-determination principles. In so doing, it managed to deemphasize the historical and cultural roots that link the region to Moroccan territorial claims. The success of this discourse of occupation was recently on display during the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon's visit to the Sahrawi camps. As the Secretary General toured the camps, he recklessly and most undiplomatically, called Morocco's control of the territory "an occupation" much to the furore of Morocco.
Advertisement
The Polisario increasingly capitalized on nongovernmental organizations' scathing reports of Moroccan human rights violations in the territory to frame the conflict as a struggle against authoritarianism. Abdelaziz even courted the support of celebrities like Spanish actor Javier Bardem, who made a documentary film, "Sons of the Clouds: The Last Colony," on the Western Sahara that claims to shed light on the Moroccan control of the territory and abuses of human rights. The documentary, probably wouldn't have caught anyone's attention, including a high-level congressional viewing, if it were not the project of the Hollywood A-lister and Oscar-winning actor.
Beyond the use of public relations and the media, Abdelaziz has rejected any proposals calling for anyting short of full independence of the territory, even when Morocco compromised in its position and offered a plan for Sahrawi autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty in 2007. The plan has US, France and Spain's support, but the Polisario and its patron, Algeria, have rejected the plan as a mere Moroccan attempt to legitimize its de facto control of the territory. The talks between the two parties (some say three parties including Algeria) to work on confidence-building measures have led nowhere over the last few years, and change in leadership of the Polisario will likely not result in any breakthrough in the polisario rejectionist position, that primarily centers around the right of the Sahrawis to self-determination. Such principle, while affirmed by international norms, is unlikely to yield any practical comprehensive solution to the conflict.
Advertisement
Modern conception of self-determination could grant people in the Western Sahara a choice for autonomy and sovereignty. However, it does not lay down the parameters of defining such people. A simple theoretical discussion on the evolution of the norm of self-determination leaves us with the contentious question of who is entitled to take part in deciding the future of the Western Sahara through the UN sponsored referendum. To be sure, the dizzying number of UN resolutions, as the Western Sahara conflict shows, fail to demarcate the contours within which an identity exists, while clearly positing the right of self-determination as sine qua non to self-governance. However, such conceptualization of the Western Sahara case also reflects the United Nations' lack of historical considerations of the territory, which could have enriched its understanding of the complex identity issues that are at stake for all parties involved in the conflict.
The application of self-determination also discounts historical relationships of allegiance that existed between Moroccan sultans and leading Sahrawi tribes. These allegiance rapports were recognized in the International Court of Justice's famous advisory opinion in 1975. Boundaries of the territory itself are colonial creations and were drawn with no respect for existing nomadic tribes that roamed the whole Saharan and Sahel regions. Self-determination of peoples, in the Western Sahara (as demarcated now), legitimizes colonial structures that were imposed in the first place. In other words, the United Nations' attempt to implement the referendum for self-determination in the Western Sahara is based on colonial imposed demarcations of the region, and as such, it cannot result in an adequate resolution to the conflict.
In addition to identity and historical factors, the fight over the Western Sahara is mostly beset by regional and international factors. Past non-interventionist strategies followed by major international powers and lack of international urgency of the issue contributed to prolonging the conflict. Only targeted pressure and active diplomatic engagement from the United States, France or the European community as a block can provide a window of hope in the resolution of the dispute, and a much needed relief to the plight of the thousands of Sahrawis in the camps of Tindouf.
Advertisement
Most importantly, the nature of inter-Maghrebi politics, especially, the rivalry between Morocco and Algeria has fueled the conflict and has exacerbated the situation in the territory. Domestic issues have further fomented this rivalry namely the role of the military in Algeria, and its hard line strategy vis-a-vis the conflict in the Western Sahara. While Morocco has offered a slight compromise with the autonomy plan, there is still mass domestic support for the "Moroccanity" of the Western Sahara and the territorial integrity of Morocco.
Obama's presence, along with that of Prime Minister Abe, signaled a new beginning for Hiroshima to distance itself from a 70+ year association with victimization, loss, and sadness.
We must recognize the importance of Obama's visit to Hiroshima but not overstate it. Both anti- and pro-Obama watchers will use this occasion to their own ends. Going forward, Hiroshima needs to rebrand itself beyond Obama, just as Japan is branding itself beyond World War II.
Scholars will continue to debate the ethics of the role that the atomic bombings played in Japan's unconditional surrender. We must never forget what happened in August 1945 at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But the historic reintroduction of Hiroshima to the world is now a chance to say, "We remember, we will never forget, and that was then, this is now." It is time for the 20th century to step into the 21st, and Hiroshima can help us build that connection.
The words, "That was then, this is now," were shared with me by a Japanese citizen when I was a young person visiting Japan in the hot and humid month of July 1993. I was stepping foot on Japanese soil for the first time and I arrived with a nervous anticipation about meeting Japanese citizens, given the history of our two countries. As a young person I felt extremely guilty about the US decision to drop the atomic bomb in Japan. It made me want to reach out to every Japanese person to start a conversation about peace and forgiveness. When I told one Japanese that I was personally sorry about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, she smiled and shrugged with words that were translated to me as "That was then, this is now. It's okay." (Ano toki wa ano toki, ima wa ima.)
Her words almost brought me to tears. She didn't want my forgiveness. She didn't see me as responsible. She saw me as I was to her as a young American citizen visiting Japan for the first time nearly fifty years after the end of World War II. It was possible for us to meet as tomodachi (friends). This symbolic act by a private citizen of Japan has stuck with me for nearly two decades. It guides my thinking today about the personal connection associated with peace and reconciliation.
At the time of my first visit to Japan, I was in my first full-time job as a cultural affairs and educational exchange specialist, just months from earning a doctoral degree in international relations, but my degree did not focus specifically on Asia or Japan. I focused on peace and conflict resolution studies, US foreign policy and intercultural/international communication.
The Prime Minister's Office of Japan had invited me to join 150 international youth in what was then called International Youth Village. We met with 150 Japanese youth who spent time with us teaching washi, the art of papermaking and origami, the Japanese art of folding paper, of which the most iconic global symbol is the peace crane.
The peace crane is also the symbol of Hiroshima and the story of Sadako Sasaki, a 12-year-old girl who died in 1955 from leukemia associated with radiation illness after initially surviving the atomic bomb dropped less than a mile from her home near Misasa Bridge.
Today's Hiroshima is as much about social entrepreneurship and start-up businesses, Made in Hiroshima products, and civic pride as it is about the story of Sasaki and the 1000 cranes. It is possible to accommodate both stories in our memory and search for meaning.
Just two months ago I visited Hiroshima for the first time. I met an atomic bomb survivor and we embraced as tomodachi. We called our moment, "The Hiroshima Hug." It's my hope that many Americans and global citizens will have a chance to visit the modern city of Hiroshima and meet new friends as we all do our part for peace and nonviolence.
After a string of attacks on Nigeria's oil infrastructure, its government plans to open talks with the newly formed militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA).
As the group continues to take key oil and gas installations out of commission in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, Nigeria's president, Muhammadu Buhari reportedly has appointed a team to begin a dialogue with "everyone involved" in the situation.
Additionally, the country's oil minister, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said that the military would scale back the hunt for the militants in the south, the source of much of the country's oil.
Advertisement
The Niger Delta Avengers have threatened to reduce the nation's oil output to zero, and on 3 June, the group blew up a pipeline operated by Eni, and set off explosions on pipelines belonging Shell Petroleum Company of Nigeria.
The group is demanding that all international companies leave the region and hand over full control of the oil resources in the delta.
In this revival of Niger Delta militancy, the NDA replaces the earlier Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which launched attacks on the oil infrastructure in the 2000s. Those attacks ceased when the government offered amnesty and cash to members of the movement.
On a related note, the Nigerian government has also offered to improve the business climate to benefit its people.
Advertisement
Earlier this year, Niger Delta Avengers promised to make oil companies suffer as "you have made the people of the Niger Delta suffer over the years from environmental degradation and environment pollution."
The group alleges that the president favors oil interests over those of the people in the area. The vice president of the country stated that the administration will "work to ensure that the man on the street in the Niger Delta receives the benefit from all that is available there."
According to UPI, the World Bank estimates that 70 percent of the government revenue in Nigeria comes from oil.
History is made! Hillary Rodham Clinton is the first woman to be the nominee of a major political Party in the United States. We have the opportunity to make real the preamble to our Constitution which called on us to 'form a more perfect union'. Electing Hillary Rodham Clinton America's 45th and first woman President moves our nation closer to its destiny.
To do this we need to unite the Party. With the help of those who believed in and supported Senator Bernie Sanders we can take back Congress and move a progressive agenda forward. Senator Sanders and his supporters changed the discussion in this election bringing forward issues of income-inequality; universal healthcare and affordable college. Those issues will remain a part of the Democratic platform and be part of the goals we all fight for.
The debate has never been about whether we should move those issues forward rather how we do it. Those of us who have spent a lifetime supporting progressive causes and supported Hillary have never argued with these goals. We also know no one person alone can accomplish these and other goals Hillary Clinton campaigned on.
There is an urgency to reforming our criminal justice system; passing comprehensive immigration reform; equal pay for equal work for women; full civil and human rights for the LGBT community; raising the minimum wage; and moving forward on fighting climate change; all of which we can only accomplish by working together.
Advertisement
We face a Presidential election with two candidates who couldn't be more opposite in their policies and the direction in which they want to lead the nation. One wants to divide us and go back to the days of "America First'; the other wants to unite us, build ladders of opportunity for all, and be a responsible leader and force for a better and safer world.
America voting for a Donald Trump Presidency is frightening. He is a man who attacks the ethnic background of judges disrespecting the judicial system for personal gain. He said his appointments to the Supreme Court would be acceptable to the very far-right pledging to turn back Roe v. Wade; reverse marriage-equality; support Citizens United; and declare the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. A President Trump promises to deport eleven million immigrants to Mexico; ban all Muslims from coming to the United States; be fine with more nations having nuclear weapons; and tear up climate change treaties because he believes climate change is a hoax.
Or Americans can join together as Democrats, Independents, Republicans and decent people of all backgrounds to elect Hillary Rodham Clinton President. Someone who will make progress on progressive goals and work to make this a safer world. A President Clinton would expand climate treaties; appoint Supreme Court Justices committed to overturning Citizens United and supporting a view of the constitution guaranteeing civil and human rights to all people and respecting the separation of church and state. President Clinton will work to eliminate nuclear weapons from the world and build coalitions to put diplomatic and economic pressure on nations that threaten world peace. A President Clinton will support the United Nations and NATO so responsibility for protecting the world doesn't fall totally on the United States. A president Clinton who understands the United States President is also the leader of the free world and is prepared to take on the mantel of that responsibly. A President Clinton will fight to make this a world where everyone is respected for who they are, for their hard work, and that includes women, the LGBT community and those who don't have a voice to speak for themselves.
As we move forward through the final primaries and the convention when Hillary Clinton formally becomes the Democratic Candidate she has pledged to work with Senator Sanders to welcome and include all those who supported him into the campaign. All of us who are Hillary supporters must do the same.
Advertisement
Just as in 2008 as a passionate Hillary supporter I was welcomed into the campaign of Barack Obama I want to be part of warmly welcoming supporters of Senator Sanders and standing arm-in-arm with them as together we work to defeat Donald Trump and take back the Congress.
Clinton supporters must recognize it will take some time before many of Sanders' supporters join the campaign and that is fine. Many of Hillary's supporters in 2008 took time to come around to supporting Obama. Passions don't turn on a dime and campaigns are about passion without which you can't work 24/7 for the candidate you believe in.
On June 8, we celebrate World Ocean Day, a date designated by the United Nations to recognize our relationship with the ocean through so many different ways of global connection. Around the world, through the World Ocean Network, The Ocean Project, and many other organizations with ocean interests, events will take place to highlight the value of ocean resources. There will be maritime festivals and beach clean-ups, school projects and environmental presentations the world over - in Africa and Asia, Europe and the Americas. What was once a bright idea is now an international event that for one brief moment focuses some part of ephemeral world interest on the ocean and its benefit for all mankind.
Of course, every day is ocean day. And we can claim that with the authority of the headlines that every day point to some ocean issue of import: the catastrophic disaster of a failed drilling rig or shipping accident, the trade impact of an expanded Panama Canal, the security implications of the opening of Northern Arctic passages, the decline of fisheries across the world economy, the vast plastic wasteland floating in mid-Pacific, and the continuing, growing evidence of the negative impact of climate change on the ocean and its capacity for supporting all aspects of human survival.
What is Ocean Day meant to do? If all those concerned with ocean issues were to shout at once, there would be a compelling noise, enough to let us know that others around the world also care, enough to give us confidence that our whole is greater by the sum of our individual voices, and perhaps enough to penetrate the consciousness of a political structure that for the most part continues to ignore ocean issues. Sadly, if we hear anything at all, it is either the silence of indifference, or the shrill pitch of denial, or occasionally, the clear voice of science and reality, there, but apparently not yet loud enough to make the necessary difference for the deciders.
What does it take for the will of the people to coalesce around a single issue, to be informed and changed into a voice for change, and to counter the lassitude and cynicism? The analogy that occurs of course is the ocean itself, believed to be infinite in its capacity to dissolve the toxins, absorb the oil, sequester the CO2, cleanse the waste, heal itself along with the poisons of others. Cleaning the beaches on Ocean Day is a reminder of what the ocean cannot assimilate - poly nets and fishing lines, plastic bags and containers, and congealed residue of too much oil spilled or chemicals deposited, and disrupted lives of so many worldwide who have for generations made their living from the sea. This detritus, both natural and social, is ample evidence that the ocean has reached its limit and that, if we continue to despoil it, we risk a vast, terrible, irretrievable loss.
When we stand by the sea, or when we imagine it in our minds, we perceive Nature in the reality of its movement, shifting light, and sense of life. When we study the ocean, we understand its contribution to our health and well-being through water, food, energy, and economic, cultural, and spiritual connection. Why would we put such a valuable thing at risk? Why would we subvert a national policy to protect it? Why would we ignore a system of governance and law for the sea to manage it? Why, deliberately, through acts of commission and omission, would we allow such a vital thing to be compromised, poisoned, and killed? Surely, if on this Ocean Day we can come to the realization that such acts are truly self-destructive, we can then use every other day to spread the word, to act in some overt way to change our behaviors, and to otherwise transform the will of one "citizen of the ocean" to become thousands, to become millions, who demand that the ocean be returned from scarcity to abundance, from conflict to accommodation, from exploitation to sustainability, from ignorance to intelligent action for our future.
The ocean will serve us well forever, if we only demand now to serve it better.
How can one control their nerves during public speaking or even an exam? originally appeared on Quora -- the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.
Answer by Barbara Oakley, Co-Instructor, Learning How to Learn, the world's largest online course, on Quora.
The main solution to my phobia, as I discovered, lay in paying attention to the way I was breathing. I was breathing very shallowly, from the top of my chest. This doesn't bring in enough oxygen to properly oxygenate the body. The result? My body felt a feeling of panic that related much more to the lack of oxygen rather than (as I had previously supposed) to the fear of speaking in front of people. The drawing at the left below is an attempt to illustrate upper chest breathing (left) versus "lower down" breathing (right).
Advertisement
It's really quite a simple technique to breathe from deeper down. It almost feels fake, to breathe so that you expand from around the belly rather than around the rib cage. But it works. About 90 seconds before you're due to go on, when that "yikes" feeling of anxiety really starts kicking in, start consciously breathing from deep down, expanding your chest like a barrel. This will help to minimize that squeaky, breathless voice that often comes with fear of public speaking--or fear of test taking! Try breathing this way in a few brief practice sessions before you have a "real deal" public speaking event or test.
One important issue is the context of who you are speaking for. Imagine that you are standing in front of a glass cage with a rattlesnake in it at a zoo. No big deal, right? Now imagine the glass disappears. Very big deal! It's all in the context.
You want to shape the context with which you are viewing the audience. First of all, imagine there's a pane of glass between you and them--hey, they're in a kind of different world, so it's okay to just be yourself. Next, remember that you're not there to be YOU--you're there to channel a helpful and informative message to them. Think about their needs, not yourself. It's okay to pretend you're someone else while you're channeling the information you are sharing. Pick whoever you'd like and admire. In my case, before I go on, I remind myself that I am channeling Joan Rivers. It doesn't matter if I'm actually conveying something very deep and scientific--Joan's my gal. She loved being in front of audiences. I can pretend to be that way too, at least for an hour or two, until my speech is done.
Advertisement
When I'm speaking, I'll get nervous sometimes inside and think--I'm so nervous! What if I say something really wrong! But I just let that thought go by and keep going. It's actually perfectly natural for those kinds of thoughts to arise. I've also discovered that if I feel really nervous inside, it's actually not visible on the outside, as long as I have my breathing under control.
On important talks, like my TED talk, or the talk I gave for the National Academy of Sciences at the Sackler Auditorium, I must have practiced on the order of 70 hours each. Nancy Duarte's TED talk was a good guide in getting ready for those important events. Basically, even though I was petrified with fear inside, I'd given the talks so many times that my mouth knew what to do even though my mind often didn't. I looked casual and calm, even though I certainly didn't feel that way inside!
Those two big practice talks were great, though. They gave me a solid foundation for speaking so that I learned I could stand and speak in front of audiences, even with high pressure, without freezing. The more I speak, the easier it gets. One trick, if despite your best efforts, you still find yourself a bit panicky mid speech, is to pause for a drink of water. Use those spare seconds as you're walking over for the glass of water to get your breathing in line.
I've found by sharing confidences in the green room before speeches, that even highly experienced speakers will go over their slides before a speech, even if they've given the speech dozens, if not hundreds, of times in the past. If they've last given the speech only a few days previously, a couple minutes of review will do. But if it's been a few months since giving a particular talk, it's a good idea to go through the talk again completely sometime during the day before, just to get those neurons all back in tune and firing. Doing the review the day before instead of the same day as the speech allows your brain time to re-synthesize and get everything properly back in mind.
I can't emphasize enough how important it is nowadays to have good visuals that draw people's attention. Not just a bunch of clip art, but well made visuals that are directly relevant to what you're speaking about. Your audience will really appreciate the fact that they are getting key ideas both verbally and visually.
Advertisement
Becoming a good public speaker is probably one of the key life skills I've learned--it enhances everything else I do as a researcher, writer, and innovator. I try to have fun with audiences--to treat them as if they're my friend and collectively, we're sharing a joke. Surprisingly, it can be easier to speak to a thousand people than to two people. With a thousand people, you know exactly what you're going to say, and you're in control of the situation. With only two people, not so much.
Here I am in front of an audience of over 1,000 at Michigan Tech (a wonderful school!). There are two large overflow rooms not visible in the picture.
Twenty years ago, I remember looking shyly at one of my professors and thinking "I could never speak in front of a class like that!" And that was just a simple class of twenty students! I would never in a million years have thought that I'd eventually be prancing the stage in front of an audience of 2,000 in Jakarta with my beautiful batik, or joking around on a panel in front of 500 students in Taiwan, or madly ad-libbing fifteen minutes (probably the funniest, most informative part!) of my talk in South Africa as technicians struggled to bring up a dead connection to my Powerpoint. Incidentally, my rule of thumb is that something always will go wrong technically somewhere in a talk, no matter how carefully prepared you are, and no matter how many times you've gone through the presentation with the technicians beforehand. If you think that way, the possibility of a glitch becomes a sort of running joke in your mind, and it's easy to have fun with the audience when the little (or occasionally big) glitch might finally pop up.
Sometime I'll give three or four big speeches in a day, sometimes doubly extended because the speeches are sequentially translated (here's a simultaneous translation video in Spanish of a talk I gave recently in Medellin for the 25th anniversary of the great organization
Advertisement
Photo: welcomenepal
I had an extra-ordinary opportunity to travel across the western Nepal on a bus-trip along the dangerous roads which are made between very high mountains. Trisuli and Kaligandaki rivers flow just besides these very curvy roads. Rafters across scary waves of Trisuli are often seen while riding through these buses. Buses often stop at some of the small motels/hotels in the middle of the highway for the relaxation of travelers. Food and tea these motels provide has its own local taste.
Tourists do not go that far most of the time unless they are familiar with somebody in the area. Travel agencies often limit the tourists to these famous trekking sites like Nagarkot, Jomsom or Mt. Everest area. Most of the travelers do not realize that Nepal is much more than these few locations.
Lot of foreign travellers often come associated with some NGOs/INGOs like Care Nepal International, Red Cross Society, etc and have been observed travelling as far as Dadeldhura and Doti District of Nepal. JICA International associates from Japan are often seen contributing in the health care industries in the most remote parts of the country.
Pokhara is definitely the first destination for most of the tourists who visit Nepal. Davis Falls is one of the wonders in the world which looks as if lying in some bottomless pit. One of the visiting tourist by the name of Davis is said to have falled down the stream while visiting the spot. Phewa Lake with a temple in the middle of it is one of the most romantic destinations in Pokhara. At a very low cost, the visitors are allowed to boat around the Phewa Lake.
Phewa Lake, Pokhara (Photo : Nepal Tourism Board)
Advertisement
The most extra-ordinary engineering feat in Nepal, the Karnali Bridge was actually built by a Japanese company which still stands as a fantastic feat of architect above the longest river flowing in Nepal.
Pokhara, Nepal (Photo : Nepal Tourism Board)
Karnali Bridge is itself a tourist spot for Nepalese from the Far-West. With Bardiya Wildlife Reserve lying beside it, it attracts most of the local tourists. Rich landlords of the area often go for hunting inside these reserves. Wild lotuses are seen blooming amongst the fresh ponds untouched by any modern air.
Nagarkot is a great spot for picnic and parties. From the cliff at Nagarkot mountain, the Himalayan range consisting of Annapurna and Mt.Everest can be clearly seen in their own grandeur and immensity. No human have been able to build such structures up to this moment. Heavy tourist traffic is seen at Nagarkot beside it being a favorite spot for Kathmandu youngsters.
Advertisement
(Photo : Nepal Tourism Board)
Jomsom is one of the most popular tourist destination with a weather that is wintry most of the times. Located among snowy mountains in the remote himalayas, Jomsom has a airport that gives domestic and international tourists the taste of one of the most remote sites. Jomsom is located in the Mustang region which has its own heritage. There is a huge community of Mustang origin people here in New York. Mustang Kydup USA connects all the Mustang origin people in USA. There are plenty of places in Jomsom where new motels and shops can be placed for the visitors. New trekking routes can be established among the snowy hilltops. French film team actually shot the movie " CARAVAN" in this area depicting the story of a Yak herdsmen. Jomsom residents also known as "Bhotes" are renowned for their service and relationship with tourists. Some of them have travelled along with their guests to different regions of Europe while others have joined British Gurkhas. Jomsom businesses can be promoted in the national level by Nepal Tourism Board. Even the Jomsom apples are popular items in the Nepalese markets and are frequently exported across different regions of Europe.
(Photo : Nepal Tourism Board)
Unlike Jomsom, Muktinath is a religious destination where Hindus from across the world go for pilgrimage. Located in the snowy foothills, Muktinath is sought after by devotees seeking liberation from chain of repeated births and deaths. Various miracles are attributed with this region where devotees have experienced God personally. Muktinath Cable Car is one of the most successful innovation that has increased the tourist flow in this region on a great extent. The cable car is a technology similar to "Roosevelt Island Car" that transports people from the highway across a deep gorge to the hilltop where the temple if located. A serene and quiet place gets crowded in occasions like Mahashivaratri with the devotees of Lord Shiva. Many Indian pilgrims visit this temple regularly to purify themselves and obtain the grace of great Mahadeva.
(Photo: Nepal Tourism Board)
Pashupati is a great spot for those devoted in devotional service which is the simplest method to approach the supreme. All the parapheranelia to worship Lord Shiva are available at Pashupatinath.
Indian pilgrims from all over the world flock here in days of Mahashivaratri. Pashupatinath is a huge town in itself with various temples of different deities. The sight of corpses being burnt down at the funeral site in Pashupati is a great view for truth seekers. Spiritual aspirants yearn to learn from these sights the truth of our existence.
(Photo: Nepal Tourism Board)
Advertisement
Lumbini which is located in Bhairahawa region is a place where Siddhartha Gautam, empounder of Buddism,also known as Lord Buddha was born by the tree as a son of Yashoda, wife of King Sudhyodhana of Shakya Dynasty. Buddha later left the palace in search of enligtenment and obtain full knowledge at Gaya while sitting under the Bodhi tree.
(Photo: Tapoban International Commune's Facebook)
Osho Tapoban in the Nagarjuna hills are the most famous spots for the active entrepreneurs, engineers, professors and doctors of Nepal. After Osho passed after, it has been run by Swamis initiated by Osho and his disciples. Most of the members are highly successful and rich Kathmandu entrepreneurs. Nagarjuna mountains offer peaceful realm for meditation upon the spirit under guidance from a qualified master.
All the facilities of modern convenience are available at Nagarjuna mountains making it a great spot for spiritual vacation. Hard-working entrepreneurs and engineers come back to this spot to recharge themselves during the weekend so that they can prepare themselves for a better work.
Osho followers always had been educated and intelligent folks. Even in the USA, he gathered the richest crowd who were sick and tired of materialism and stress that comes with it. Tapoban is a great spot for spiritual tourists from all over the world. The beauty and grandeur of the place is incomparable. Engineers who attend these camps at Nagarjuna have reported high level productivity in their work.
(Photo: Nepal Tourism Board)
Vipasana meditation:
Vipasana generally means withdrawing within instead of worshipping a certain deitymaster outside for the spiritual attainment. Vipasana meditations began during the Buddha's period under his disciples.
Advertisement
Tourism was no more the source of major GDP, but money being sent by families abroad as majority of young Nepalese left the nation in search of livelihood whether it be Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Europe or America. Majority of wealth was thus taken outside the country. Nepal was thus dependent upon revenue coming from outside during this period, which lasted for over a decade rendering the country in midst of all the evil that one can imagine.
Should George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Others Be Jailed?
Cross-posted with TomDispatch.com
"The cold was terrible but the screams were worse," Sara Mendez told the BBC. "The screams of those who were being tortured were the first thing you heard and they made you shiver. That's why there was a radio blasting day and night."
In the 1970s, Mendez was a young Uruguayan teacher with leftist leanings. In 1973, when the military seized power in her country (a few months before General Augusto Pinochets more famous coup in Chile), Mendez fled to Argentina. She lived there in safety until that country suffered its own coup in 1976. That July, a joint Uruguayan-Argentine military commando group kidnapped her in Buenos Aires and deposited her at Automotores Orletti, a former auto repair shop that would become infamous as a torture site and paramilitary command center. There she was indeed tortured, and there, too, her torturers stole her 20-day-old baby, Simon, giving him to a policemans family to raise.
Mendez was an early victim of Operation Condor, a torture and assassination program focused on the regions leftists that, from 1975 to 1986, would spread terror across Latin Americas southern cone. On May 27th, an Argentine court convicted 14 military officers of crimes connected with Operation Condor, issuing prison sentences ranging from 13 to 25 years. Among those sentenced was Reynaldo Bignone, Argentinas last military dictator, now 88. (He held power from 1982 to 1983.)
Advertisement
Those convictions are deeply satisfying to the surviving victims and their families, to the legal teams that worked for more than a decade on the case, and to human rights organizations around the world. And yet, as just as this outcome is, it has left me with questions -- questions about the length of time between crime and conviction, and about what kinds of justice can and cannot be achieved through prosecutions alone.
Operation Condor
Operation Condor was launched by the security forces of five military dictatorships: Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Brazil soon joined, as did Ecuador and Peru eventually. As a Cold War anti-communist collaboration among the police, military, and intelligence services of those eight governments, Condor offered an enticing set of possibilities. The various services could not only cooperate, but pursue their enemies in tandem across national borders. Indeed, its reach stretched as far as Washington, D.C., where in 1976 its operatives assassinated former Chilean ambassador to the U.S. Orlando Letelier and his young assistant, Ronni Moffitt, both of whom then worked at the Institute for Policy Studies, a left-wing think tank.
How many people suffered grievously or died due to Operation Condor? A definitive number is by now probably beyond recovery, but records from Chiles secret police suggest that by itself Argentinas dirty war -- the name given to the Argentine juntas reign of terror, disappearances, and torture -- took the lives of 22,000 people between 1975 and 1978. Thousands more are thought to have died before that countrys dictatorship ended in 1983. Its generally believed that at least another 3,000 people died under the grimmest of circumstances in Chile, while thousands more were tortured but lived. And although its story is less well known, the similar reign of terror of the Uruguayan dictatorship directly affected the lives of almost every family in the country. As Lawrence Wechsler wrote in a 1989 article in the New Yorker:
Advertisement
By 1980, one in every fifty Uruguayans had been detained at some point, and detention routinely involved torture; one in every five hundred had received a sentence of six years or longer under conditions of extreme difficulty; and somewhere between three hundred thousand and four hundred thousand Uruguayans went into exile. Comparable percentages for the United States would involve the emigration of thirty million people, the detention of five million, and the extended incarceration of five hundred thousand.
And what was the U.S. role in Operation Condor? Washington did not (for once) plan and organize this transnational program of assassination and torture, but its national security agencies were certainly involved, as declassified Defense Department communications indicate. In his book The Condor Years, Columbia University journalism professor John Dinges reported that the CIA provided training for Chiles secret police, computers for Condors database, telex machines and encoders for its secret communications, and transmitters for its private, continent-wide radio communications network. Chilean Colonel Manuel Contreras, one of Condors chief architects (who was then on the CIA payroll), met with CIA Deputy Director Vernon Walters four times. And what did the CIA get in return? Among other things, access to the results of interrogation under torture, according to Dinges. "Latin American intelligence services," he added,
considered U.S. intelligence agencies their allies and provided timely and intimate details of their repressive activities. I have obtained three documents establishing that information obtained under torture, from prisoners who later were executed and disappeared, were provided to the CIA, the FBI and the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency). There is no question that the U.S. officials were aware of the torture.
Justice Delayed
Why did it take 40 years to bring the architects of Operation Condor to justice? A key factor: for much of that time, it was illegal in Argentina to put them on trial. In the first years of the new civilian government, the Argentine congress passed two laws that granted these men immunity from prosecution for crimes committed in the dirty war. Only in 2005 did that countrys supreme court rule that those impunity laws were unconstitutional. Since then, many human rights crimes have been prosecuted. Indeed, Reynaldo Bignone, the former dictator, was already in jail when sentenced in May for his role in Operation Condor. He had been convicted in 2010 of kidnapping, torture, and murder in the years of the dirty war. As of March, Argentinas Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) had recorded 666 convictions for participation in the crimes of that era.
Advertisement
But theres a question that cant help but arise: Whats the point of bringing such old men to trial four decades later? How could justice delayed for that long be anything but justice denied?
One answer is that, late as they are, such trials still establish something that all the books and articles in the world cant: an official record of the terrible crimes of Operation Condor. This is a crucial step in the process of making its victims, and the nations involved, whole again. As a spokesperson for CELS told the Wall Street Journal, Forty years after Operation Condor was formally founded, and 16 years after the judicial investigation began, this trial produced valuable contributions to knowledge of the truth about the era of state terrorism and this regional criminal network.
It took four decades to get those convictions. Theoretically at least, Americans wouldnt have to wait that long to bring our own war criminals to account. Ive spent the last few years of my life arguing that this country must find a way to hold accountable officials responsible for crimes in the so-called war on terror. I dont want the victims of those crimes, some of whom are still locked up, to wait another 40 years for justice.
Nor do I want the United States to continue its slide into a brave new world, in which any attack on a possible enemy anywhere or any curtailment of our own liberties is permitted as long as it makes us feel secure. Its little wonder that the presumptive Republican presidential candidate feels free to run around promising yet more torture and murder. After all, no ones been called to account for the last round. And when there is no official acknowledgement of, or accountability for, the waging of illegal war, international kidnapping operations, the indefinite detention without prospect of trial of prisoners at Guantanamo, and, of course, torture, there is no reason not to do it all over again. Indeed, according to Pew Research Center polls, Americans are now more willing to agree that torture is sometimes justified than they were in the years immediately following the 9/11 attacks.
Advertisement
Torture and the U.S. Prison System
In a recent piece of mine, I focused on Abu Zubaydah, a prisoner the CIA tortured horribly, falsely claiming he was a top al-Qaeda operative, knew about a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, and might even have trained some of the 9/11 pilots. In another kind of world, I wrote, Abu Zubaydah would be exhibit one in the war crimes trials of Americas top leaders and its major intelligence agency. Although none of the charges against him proved true, he is still held in isolation at Guantanamo.
Then something surprising happened. I received an email message from someone Id heard of but never met. Joseph Margulies was the lead counsel in Rasul v. Bush, the first (and unsuccessful) attempt to get the Supreme Court to allow prisoners at Guantanamo to challenge their detention in federal courts. He is also one of Abu Zubaydahs defense attorneys.
He directed me to an article of his, War Crimes in a Punitive Age, that mentioned my Abu Zubaydah essay. Id gotten the facts of the case right, he assured me, but added, I suspect we are not in complete agreement on the issue of what justice for his client should look like. As he wrote in his piece,
There is no question that Zubaydah was the victim of war crimes. The entire CIA black site program [the Agencys Bush era secret prisons around the world] was a global conspiracy to evade and violate international and domestic law. Yet I am firmly convinced there should be no war crimes prosecutions. The call to prosecute is the Siren Song of the carceral state -- the very philosophy we need to dismantle.
Advertisement
In other words, one of the leading legal opponents of everything the war on terror represents is firmly opposed to the idea of prosecuting officials of the Bush administration for war crimes (though he has not the slightest doubt that they committed them). Margulies agrees that the crimes against Abu Zubaydah were all too real and grave indeed, and that society must make its judgment known. He asks, however, Why do we believe a criminal trial is the only way for society to register its moral voice?
He doubts that such trials are the best way to do so, fearing that by placing all the blame for the events of those years on a small number of criminal officials, the citizens of an (at least nominally) democratic country could be let off the hook for a responsibility they, too, should share. After all, its unlikely the war on terror could have continued year after year without the support -- or at least the lack of interest or opposition -- of the citizenry.
Margulies, in other words, raises important questions. When people talk about bringing someone to justice they usually imagine a trial, a conviction, and perhaps most important, punishment. But he has reminded me of my own longstanding ambivalence about the equation between punishment and justice.
Even as we call for accountability for war criminals, we shouldnt forget that we live in the country that jails the largest proportion of its own population (except for the Seychelles islands), and that holds the largest number of prisoners in the world. Abuse and torture -- including rape, sexual humiliation, beatings, and prolonged exposure to extremes of heat and cold -- are routine realities of the U.S. prison system. Solitary confinement -- presently being experienced by at least 80,000 people in our prisons and immigrant detention centers -- should also be considered a potentially psychosis-inducing form of torture.
Every nation that institutionalizes torture, as the United States has done, selects specific groups of people as legitimate targets for its application. In the days of Operation Condor, Chilean torturers called their victims humanoids to distinguish them from actual human beings. Surely, though, the United States hasnt done that? Surely, theres no history of the torture of particular groups? Sadly, of course, such a history does exist, and like so many things in this country, its all about race.
Advertisement
The practice of torture in the U.S. didnt start with those post-9/11 enhanced interrogation techniques, nor with the Vietnam Wars Phoenix Program, nor even with the nineteenth century U.S. war in the Philippines. It began when European settlers first treated native peoples and enslaved Africans as subhuman savages. As southern farmers started importing captured Africans to augment their supply of indentured English labor, they quickly realized that there was little incentive for those slaves to work -- none but the pain of whippings, mutilations, and brandings, and the threat of yet more pain. Torture and slavery, in other words, were fused at the root. From the first arrival of black people on this continent, it has been permissible, even legal, to torture them.
And it didnt stop with emancipation. After the end of slavery, southern states began the practice of convict leasing -- arresting former slaves and then their descendants, often on trumped-up charges, and renting them out as labor to farmers and later coal mine owners who had the power and legal right to whip and abuse them as they chose.
Then theres lynching. Many people think of it as an extrajudicial death by hanging. As it was practiced in the Jim Crow South, however, it was a form of public, state-approved torture, often involving the castration or disembowelment of the living victim, sometimes followed by death by fire. Lynching thus continued the practice of treating black minds and bodies as legitimate targets of torture. So maybe we shouldnt be surprised that, of the more than two million prisoners in the United States today, 40% are black, while the U.S. population is only 13% black.
Heres the problem, then. When we say that putting George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and other top officials in their administration in prison for war crimes would be justice, we endorse a criminal justice system that is more criminal than just, and where torture is a daily occurrence.
Do we want to do to Bush, Cheney, and their accomplices essentially what they did to their victims? There is, of course, a certain appeal to the idea of someday seeing such powerful white men among the suffering, tortured millions in our prison system, or even -- like the supposed dirty bomber Jose Padilla and Abu Zubaydah -- in perpetual solitary confinement.
Advertisement
And yet, would this truly provide even a facsimile of justice, given that American prisons are hardly instruments of justice to begin with? Those opposed to the acts at the heart of Americas never-ending war on terror were heartened when President Obama ordered the CIA black sites dismantled globally. We continue to demand the closing of Guantanamo (something that looks increasingly unlikely to happen in his presidency). How, then, can we find justice through a prison system that uses similar methods on an everyday basis here in the U.S.?
Forty Years to Go?
And then, of course, there is the question: Whom should justice truly serve?
The first answer is: the victims of the "war on terror," including those who were tortured, those detained without trial, the civilian "collateral damage" of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the "unintended" victims of drone assassinations. Then there are all those in the rest of the world who have to live with the threat of a nuclear-armed superpower that has in these years regularly refused to recognize the most basic aspects of the rule of law.
Many who work with survivors of organized repression like Operation Condor say that their primary desire is not the punishment of their oppressors but official acknowledgement of what happened to them. In his New Yorker article, Wechsler, for instance, pointed out that, for the victims of torture, accountability may not be identical to punishment at all.
People don't necessarily insist that the former torturers go to jail -- there has been enough of jail -- but they do want to see the truth established... It's a mysteriously powerful, almost magical notion, because often everybody already knows the truth -- everyone knows who the torturers were and what they did, the torturers know that everyone knows, and everyone knows that they know.
Seeing the truth established was the purpose behind South Africas post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Torturers and murderers on both sides of the anti-apartheid struggle were offered amnesty for their crimes -- but only after they openly acknowledged those crimes. In this way, a public record of the horrors of apartheid was built, and imperfect as the process may have been, the nation was able to confront its history.
Advertisement
That is the kind of reckoning we need in this country. It started with the release of a summary of the Senate Intelligence Committees report on the CIAs torture program, which brought many brutal details into the light. But thats just the beginning. We would need a full and public accounting not just of the CIAs activities, but of the doings of other military and civilian agencies and outfits, including the Joint Special Operations Command. We also would need a full-scale airing of the White Houses drone assassination program, and perhaps most important of all, a full accounting of the illegal, devastating invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Justice would also require -- to the extent possible -- making whole those who had been harmed. In the case of the war on terror, this might begin by allowing torture victims to sue their torturers in federal court (as the U.N. Convention against Torture requires). With one exception, the Obama administration has until now blocked all such efforts on national security grounds. In the case of the Iraq War, justice would undoubtedly also require financial reparations to repair the infrastructure of what was once a modern, developed nation.
Were unlikely to see justice in the war on terror until that cruel and self-defeating exercise is well and truly over and the country has officially acknowledged and accounted for its crimes. Lets hope it doesnt take another 40 years.
Rebecca Gordon, a TomDispatch regular, teaches in the philosophy department at the University of San Francisco. She is the author of American Nuremberg: The U.S. Officials Who Should Stand Trial for Post-9/11 War Crimes (Hot Books). Her previous books include Mainstreaming Torture: Ethical Approaches in the Post-9/11 United States and Letters from Nicaragua.
UNDISCOVERED
Social Actions engender beneficial outcomes for society and the environment, from someone helping a neighbour to major global development programmes by multinational corporations benefiting millions of people worldwide the permutations are endless.
A Boundless Ocean of Potential and Possibilities
Social Actions are central to life itself - without us doing something that benefits others, not just ourselves, we would not have survived for long as a species. Yet, the immense transformative power of Social Actions still remains untapped due to the lack of centralised organisation.
When Social Actions are properly structured, organised, commoditised, traded, tracked, measured, valued, verified, made legally binding, transferable, exchangeable and enforceable through a centralised global platform such as Re-Give they will have the capacity to effect significant positive social, environmental and economic change across the world - at scale.
Advertisement
This is because this structural underpinning gives Social Actions quantifiable socio-economic value and makes them transactional, thus enabling them to be used, on an organised basis, to enhance or augment most types of transactions or to replace certain of their components. This would, ordinarily, be in the form of you giving me something (or doing something for me) and in return (or as an addition to our arrangement), I carry out a Social Action that has some form of value to you.
The Tao of Social Actions
Putting aside any Social Actions that benefit you directly, any quid pro quo arrangement between us comes into its own when you seek Social Actions (at any scale or level, local to global) that benefit others, not just yourself thus benefiting those that are unrelated to the original, underlying arrangement between us.
This means you and I (and all others who have similar arrangements) can go about our business - while society and the environment benefits from the flow of positive Social Actions this generates.
Imagination. Ignited
A vast range of things can be done by a great number of people, business and organisations to help society and the environment but they just don't get to do it because of the lack of opportunity, ideas, imagination, inspiration, inducements, motivation, encouragement, etc. Often, what they can easily do is within their easy reach, but they don't see it (or want to do it) unless someone points it out to them or gives them the incentive, the impetus to do it.
Advertisement
The mass catalyst for this impetus are organised, transactional Social Actions wellsprings that will open up boundless oceans of potential and possibilities as the need for ever more innovative and impactful Social Actions demanded by those funding them ignites the world's imagination unleashing a limitless surge of ingenuity and inventiveness for the betterment of society. For instance (assume all other relevant factors are also taken into account):
Social Actions In Action
I offer you equity in my company in return for your investment and to enhance my offer I or my company carry out a series of impactful Social Actions that you are really inspired by and which gives life chances to a large number of disadvantaged people in a developing country.
You buy my products or services or help me to secure some resource or asset or give me expert advice on a matter you are knowledgeable of and in return I carry out a stream of environmental Social Actions that have positive effects across the globe.
You make a financial contribution to me for my personal, business or other purpose (or make a tax-efficient charitable donation to a charity, NGO, institution) and in return you agree to a major, one-off Social Action being carried out that you care about and which benefits the environment nationally, on a long-term, sustainable basis.
You lend me (or my business, organisation, etc) money and instead of receiving interest on the loan you agree to me (or my company or organisation) carrying out a small, regular Social Action for a fixed period of time that benefits a particular group of people in our neighbourhood and which has a form of value to you which is greater than the interest you forego (I may also give you a financial return as well if I want to).
Multiple, Cascading Social Impacts
Social Actions are carried out either: Directly I will carry out my Social Action just by myself, or Outsourced I will engage (and pay) someone else (a person or a business) to do this for me.
Outsourcing Social Actions has many multiple, cascading layers of beneficial outcomes and social impacts to it - including job retention and creation, new and existing businesses getting more work, stimulus of the local economy at the grass roots level leading to a ripple effect that invigorates, energises and swells the national economy on a long-term, sustainable basis making it more effective, resulting in people living better lives.
Transformation On a Global Scale
Social Actions are not a panacea for everything, but when, in the course of time, millions of organised, transactional Social Actions (of all types, sizes and dimensions) are carried out all over the world every moment, every day, every year as the by-effects of millions of normal transactions between people, companies and organisations they have the capacity to nudge the world, its environment, its climate and its people a step towards better.
If these steps become more pronounced, more widespread, ever more frequent, more substantial in scale, scope and reach then perhaps a major positive transformation of the global economy and ecosystem is realistically possible.
Advertisement
ADDENDUM | Exploration of themes from the above article
The New Economics of Social Actions
Any person, business or organisation from anywhere in the world can use Social Actions as part of their normal transactions to achieve their objectives, whilst at the same time, enriching society:
Freeing Students from Debt
Financial Contributions (non-charitable donations)
Suppose a student says "give me a financial contribution so that I can pay-off my student debt and in return, I will teach disadvantaged kids for a few hours every week for a year". If the education of disadvantaged kids is something you care about, you might give some money to this student.
If many people care about the same thing as you, this and other such students would most probably raise what they need to pay-off their student loans and be free to get on with their lives instead of being burdened by debt for many years to come. Their Social Action can be something related to their studies - e.g. if they study maths, they can teach that, or it can be totally unrelated (e.g. medical student, but opts to mow the grass of the local community centre, etc).
Personal Social Bond (akin to a Loan)
If a student is unable to raise sufficient money though financial contributions, they have the option to issue a personal Social Bond through Re-Give, which (at default state) is akin to an unsecured, Interest Free Loan.
Advertisement
Architecture
To attract backers, along with fortifying it with an inspiring Social Action, a Social Bond can also be secured by its issuer (whoever they may be) either with verified collateral or guarantees from third parties (e.g. for students, perhaps from parents) - and rewards and/or financial returns can also be offered as well.
Rationale
For Social Bond issuers with existing interest charging loans, the financial upshot may be that they can refinance these loans to an interest free or a low cost one. The other outcome is that once they establish a good reputation on Re-Give, they can attempt to raise funds through financial contributions, thereby freeing themselves of debt. For those who have no existing debt, it's a way to get capital quickly to meet their personal or commercial objectives.
For Social Bond holders - it's primarily about generating great social impact and, if offered, also receiving a reward and/or a financial return as well at the same time. If it's secured, then all of this without any additional risks either. In essence - it would be the same as a normal lending (or bond investment) transaction, but with the added attractiveness of the Social Action being offered by the issuer.
Corporate Sponsorship
Students can also seek sponsorship from companies in their area of study in return for a Social Action. Example: a student studies law and asks a law firm to make a financial contribution or to back the student's Social Bond in return for a Social Action which the firm really likes.
The Power of Reciprocity
Why would anyone help someone they may not know of (e.g. a student, a businessperson, a company, a school - anyone at all for that matter) to pay-off or reduce their debts or to fund something?
Advertisement
Along with perhaps being inspired by their personal or corporate story and with what they are currently doing or will do (for students, also perhaps with what they are studying or will study) - it would primarily be to fund the Social Action that the student, person, company, etc will carry out and also, if offered, receiving a reward and/or a financial return as well at the same time.
It boils down to this you help me, I help you.....but the difference here being: you help me, I help you and together, we also help society and the environment times this by millions of instances across the world.
Here are other areas (this list is by no means exhaustive) where people, businesses and organisations can carry out a great Social Action in return for various type of support/backing from others (assume all other relevant factors such as any rewards and/or a financial returns being offered, collateral if relevant, due diligence, etc are also taken into account by the parties involved).
Fuelling Businesses
Entrepreneurs, established businesspersons, start-ups, existing businesses (small to multinational conglomerates), micro-businesses in developing countries, etc can raise money through personal or corporate Social Bonds, financial contributions - and equity. Along with the merits of the business or commercial project itself, another driver of interest from potential backers would be the associated Social Action being offered.
Private | Personal
An individual person can raise money for any private or personal purpose through personal Social Bonds and financial contributions. Why would anyone fund someone else's personal purpose? Along with perhaps being inspired by the person's personal story, it would primarily be to fund the Social Action that the person will carry out.
Advertisement
Non-Profit
Charities, NGO, Microfinance, Social, Religious and Educational Organisations, etc can raise money through corporate Social Bonds, financial contributions and, if registered as a charity, tax-efficient donations. What the non-profit stands for and the Social Action it will carry out in return for support would be the reasons why it gets support.
Government
Local, regional or national Government departments can raise money for any public purpose (either for new projects or programmes or to reinforce existing ones) through sovereign Social Bonds and financial contributions. Why would anyone fund a Government project or programme? Perhaps there are funding shortages that is preventing a particular project or programme that the public wants or needs, from making progress and thus, voluntary funding from the public might galvanise things, especially if the pubic really likes the associated Social Action being offered.
Social Actions Unleashed
Social Actions work exceptionally well when combined with loans (on Re-Give, it's Social Bonds).
Why?
First - the ability to replace or reduce interest/cost with Social Actions frees the borrower from extra financial burdens and engenders Social Actions, leading to greater social impact. Although borrowers can pay a financial return to lenders as well as carrying out a Social Action, they would not, ordinarily, commit to paying market-rate interest and also carry out a major Social Action. The absence or diminishment of one, increases the other.
For borrowers: Social Actions may not have the same financial burden as interest payments and, along with positive social outcomes, could also result in beneficial commercial outcomes as well, in terms of access to other opportunities via the very act of carrying out the Social Actions, etc.
For lenders: the interest income from a single loan (assuming it's not usurious) would not be significant. For ad hoc, occasional lenders whose income is not derived mainly from interest earned from money lent out, it would make more sense, from a social impact perspective, to forego interest in return for a great Social Action. Professional lenders could, as part of their CSR strategy, have some of their loans portfolio consisting of Social Action loans that pay zero or little interest but have great social impact.
Advertisement
The Boomerang Effect
Second - assume you're a lender and that a borrower who carried out an agreed Social Action instead of paying you interest, pays back your original capital in full, on time. You now have the original capital back and feel gratified about the social impact you achieved with it, so you look for a similar lending + Social Action opportunity.
If again successful (agreed Social Action carried out + borrowed money returned in full, on time), you decide to repeat this cycle again and again seeking Social Actions that are more impactful (and perhaps carried out elsewhere in the world). Assuming you suffer no real capital loss by protecting yourself from defaults (Re-Give can help you to do this) then, the combined total social impact from your original capital - due to it coming back to you and you then redeploying it - could be exponentially greater than you could have ordinarily achieved on your own with the same amount of capital plus the interest you would have earned from it.
Modus Operandi | Anatomy of a Social Action based commercial transaction
LOAN Jane, an established businesswoman growing her property company
Jane borrows $1m for a year from a group of 100 lenders ($10,000 from each), who ask for 10% interest (assume default risk is mitigated by Jane through adequate collateral). Jane asks what she can do as a Social Action instead of paying the monetary interest. The lenders care about homelessness and ask Jane to provide one of her existing properties to be a shelter for the homeless for a year. Jane agrees.
Analysis from Jane's side
Janes needs $1m to grow her business and would like to spend all of her money on this, rather than giving $100,000 of monetary interest to the lenders. If only she could do something else (e.g. as a Social Action) that the group of lenders would accept, other than her paying the monetary interest to them...
She does the calculation: she has a property that she already owns which she can use to provide a shelter for the homeless. This property is fit for purpose, but isn't perhaps generating a great deal of income at the moment. Jane calculates that the overall loss of income from this property plus running the shelter would be less than $100,000 pa (and Jane's accountant advises her that if structured properly, she may be able to deduct the cost of running the shelter from her tax bill as a charitable donation, further reducing the overall costs).
Advertisement
From the social perspective: Jane gets to do something good for society and her neighbourhood, while further progressing her business commercially and, after a year, perhaps she may even decide to keep the shelter for good, because by then, after a year of helping the homeless and seeing the difference she made, Jane might also start caring about homelessness. All of this is a clear positive outcome for Jane.
Analysis from the lenders side
As an individual lender within the group, you would have lent Jane $10,000 on the expectation of receiving a monetary interest of $1,000. You have a cause (e.g. homelessness) that's dear to you and for which you are happy to spend more than $1,000.
However, you ordinarily would not be able to provide a new shelter + running cost for the homeless with just $1,000. In fact, this would be difficult even if everyone in your group of lenders pooled their $100,000 monetary interest because of the costs of acquiring/securing an adequate property. However, Jane already has a property that she can provide as a shelter and is ready to do this, in lieu of paying the $100,000 monetary interest.
Your group of lenders do the calculation: you each forego monetary interest of $1,000 but in return, you get a new shelter for the homeless for at least a year, which you would not be able to get even if you pooled all of your expected monetary interest. The total effective financial value of this particular Social Action is, therefore, exponentially greater than your individual expected monetary interest of $1,000 (the same goes for each of the other lenders).
Thus, in effect, by agreeing to Jane's Social Action (as a group), you have amplified your own respective, individual social impact by many orders of magnitude greater than your forego amount (which you would have happily given to your cause anyway). This a clear positive outcome for you and your fellow group of lenders.
Advertisement
Add to this the possibility of Jane continuing to operate the shelter for many years to come - and your original (interest income) 'loss' of $1,000 now pales into insignificance in the face of the accumulation of many years of valuable social impacts that you helped to generate. Moreover, these social impacts are amplified by many orders of magnitude when, after Jane repays you in full, you redeploy your original capital to another Social Action based transaction repeatedly.
Financial Returns
As an expression of her gratitude for your support, Jane may also voluntarily opt to give you (and the other lenders) a reasonable financial return as well. This would foster a stronger relationship between you and Jane for the future and also means that this transaction makes commercial sense to you as well.
Analysis from the beneficiaries side
The homeless who get to stay in Jane's shelter get some reprieve from the streets, get food, medical attention, etc and the space and time to help them to progress onwards and upwards.
For the local community and its people, and for society in general - it's a small change for the better. A small step forward for all - even for those who have nothing to do with this whole Social Action arrangement between Jane and the lenders, because the net result is that there are fewer homeless people on the streets - thus making the neighbourhood a much better place.
Other brief examples
EQUITY Ravi, an inventor looking to manufacture his invention for the mass market
Ravi invents a commercial product and offers 20% of his company's equity for 1 crore INR so that he can manufacture it and as a Social Action, he will have the local river cleaned of pollution and make it safe for the local community of more than 5,000 people. If the commercials stack-up, it's an opportunity for Ravi's backers to financially benefit from an innovative commercial product and also to generate substantial positive health and environmental impacts for the long-term.
Advertisement
FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION Li, a micro-financed farmer expanding her enterprise
Li borrowed money at high interest from a micro finance organisation to cultivate her land. She wants to expand her farming activities but does not wish to increase her debt burden and wants to fully repay her existing loans. She is asking for 500,000 CNY as a non-charitable donation (i.e. as a financial contribution) and as a Social Action, she will give seeds of high-yield crops for free to small farmers all over the country. Funders aren't expecting a financial return but will help Li to be debt free and to expand her farm at the same time, and also enable small farms all over the country to flourish.
RESOURCE Ali, a new author looking to publish his book on his own
Ali, an aspiring author, is unable to get a major publishing contract for his book because he is relatively unknown. He wants to publish his book himself and is seeking a commercial book printer and distributor to provide these services to him at cost price. As a Social Action, he will give lectures to highly disadvantaged, small schools all across the country. Book printer and distributor may not profit from this, but costs are covered by Ali so there won't be a financial loss. Moreover, Ali's Social Action will help to increase exposure and good will for all involved, and at the same time, generate a substantial positive educational impact for the long-term.
PARTNER Filip, starting a mobile catering business
Filip wants to start a mobile catering business supplying exotic, healthy food at parties and events all over the county. He is looking for someone to join him as a partner and as a Social Action, he will hold a class every week (at whatever location he is at) to teach people from all walks of life how to cook healthy food. If the commercials stack-up, it's an opportunity for the partner to financially benefit from this, and at the same time, to generate a substantial positive health impact for the long-term.
ONLINE SHOP Layla & Co, a family business selling high-end jewellery reaching new markets
A very old, reputable family business, Layla & Co is seeking new markets for their products. They wish to sell online but are wary of paying high transaction fees. They open an online shop with no fees and to attract PR and customers, as a Social Action, they offer to provide winter clothing to 1,000 disadvantaged families in a poor country across the world that suffers from severe cold spells. They were doing this already anyway, but doing it now as a specific Social Action adds measurable economic and PR value. Customers get to see and buy high-end jewellery and also to help those who are suffering due to extreme weather.
DONATIONS Asmara Community Centre, raising funds to provide more services
A major regional community centre and a registered charity - it needs substantial donations to grow its range of services and is seeking 5m in charitable donations. As a Social Action, it will export high quality dates (which it grows in one of its projects) at cost price to food charities all over the world. Donors see a multitude of long term social impacts, from local to global.
Before launching his asset management firm Alpha Architect, Dr. Wesley Gray served as a Marine Corps officer in Iraq. Already a student of economics at the time he joined the Marine Corps after graduating from Penn's prestigious Wharton undergraduate program, Wes found that military experience gave him many insights into the nature of people and financial markets alike. An acclaimed author and portfolio manager who received a doctorate in finance from University of Chicago, Wes's hard-won lessons from the battlefield have informed his investment approach. To Wes and his portfolio management style, the rules of combat and competition can be universal.
You now run an investment firm, Alpha Architect, but you've also written books about fighting wars and investing in markets. How has your time in the military informed your work as an investor?
There are two lessons that I took from the military that apply to our investment approach. The first one is what everyone knows: humans are emotional, and the more that things are chaotic and crazy, the more emotional they get. The way you deal with that in a military context is to train all the time, under conditions of stress. We use systematic, quantitative tools [in investing] for the same reason that we shoot live rounds of ammunition over Marines' heads in training to ensure that they're operating effectively under those conditions and following basic procedures. We do the same thing in financial markets: we follow basic procedures that we know on average will accomplish a mission.
Advertisement
The second lesson is the dynamic nature of both the military and the market. If I shoot at somebody, they don't just stand there, they run away and try to shoot back at me. Similarly, in financial markets, if you see something cheap, other people think it's cheap too, and then it gets expensive. There's action and reaction, and understanding the dynamic component of gains--whether in war or a in financial markets--is really important in figuring out how to be successful over the long term.
How do you balance humility with convincing people to trust your judgment? Is there a parallel between persuading clients and inspiring soldiers, and is humility an asset or a setback in those settings?
Sometimes in the military, you don't know what the hell is going on, but you have to give an order with confidence and bravado so people will follow you through the firehole. The troops' trust in you is about your ability to respect them, and your integrity, honor, courage, and commitment. They know that you're not just pulling rabbits out of a hat, and that you're thoughtful and calculating about how you make decisions. You first establish credibility, trust, and confidence, so that when you say 'hey, let's do this,' the troops know it actually means something. The same is true in financial markets. When we conduct research, we try our best to find the truth, but we never claim to know the absolute truth, because anyone who says that is probably full of it. We come to solutions that we think are our best foot forward, and then we say, 'hey, this is what we put all our money into, we are as confident as we possibly can be given the amount of uncertainty in the stock environment, let's do this.'
Advertisement
What's the best war analogy to explain your approach to investing? What type of story would best help people understand what you're doing in the markets?
One example is that value investing works when you have a long time horizon and sit through chaos. It's the same thing in military strategy--if you're doing a patrol, you don't go down the road because the enemy knows that's the easiest avenue of approach. So you have to do something really painful that the enemy doesn't think you're crazy enough to do. Instead of taking the road, you roll through the thistle patch, repel up the thousand foot cliff, get behind the enemy, and shoot them in the head. In investing, just like in war, you have to do the most counterintuitive concept ever, otherwise the enemy has already got that base covered. You just have to be weird or unpredictable, in some sense. Warren Buffett's like that. He bought Geico and had 70% of his wealth in one security. No way someone's crazy enough to do that. Guess what? When you do crazy stuff that no one anticipates, and you're willing to be a little different, that's how you get the edge. So, in that sense, I think there are a lot of analogies between war and investment.
So, you're a professional contrarian.
There is no better way to promote openness in Cuba than by allowing everyday Americans to travel freely to the Island and serve as on-the-ground ambassadors of our democratic values.
This would seem obvious to just about any American who ever traveled to a foreign country. Yet as the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act finally secures bipartisan majority support in the U.S. Senate, pro-embargo lobbyists attempt to quell the momentum by claiming that American visitors only strengthen the Cuban government's repressive apparatus because many stay in hotels owned by the military.
The facts simply don't support this correlation. On the contrary, if we compare conditions in Cuba between the decade when restrictions on American travel were in full force and the seven years since the Obama Administration began easing them, the evidence weighs overwhelmingly in favor of travel serving as a catalyst for meaningful change.
Advertisement
The Cuban "travel ban" as we know it today became law under the Trade Sanctions Reform Act of 2000 ("TSRA"), which prohibits the issuance of general or specific licenses by the U.S. Treasury Department for travel to, from, or within Cuba for "tourist activities."
While TSRA didn't outlaw American travel to Cuba altogether, it did make it exceedingly cumbersome and expensive for U.S. citizens to visit the Island for close to a decade. During that time, the Cuban government's grip over the activities of its people, especially in their interactions with the few Americans who managed to visit, remained as stifling as it had ever been.
In his first year in office, President Obama began shifting U.S. policy away from attempting to punish the Castro government, and toward empowering civil society and supporting independent economic activity through greater contact with Americans. The changes that followed are simply too numerous to dismiss as mere happenstance, especially when compared to the preceding decade.
From 2010 to 2015, the number of self-employed licenses issued by the Cuban government increased from approximately 150,000 to more than half a million, creating private sector jobs for approximately 35% percent of the Cuban labor force. A significant number of these businesses secured seed capital through remittances brought by visiting Cuban-Americans, and many found success thanks to the tourism market, which has nearly doubled since our two nations began normalizing relations. Just last month, it was reported that the Cuban government would recognize small and medium sized independent businesses as legal entities separate from their owners.
Advertisement
In 2013, the Castro government enacted its first political reform by eliminating the exit visa that for decades made it extremely difficult for Cubans, and particularly political dissidents, to travel abroad. Since then, the number of Cubans exploring the world, including countless civil society leaders, has skyrocketed. Earlier this year, in preparation for Carnival's Adonia, the first American cruise ship to arrive in the Port of Havana in over 50 years, Cuban officials eliminated a longstanding ban on Cubans traveling to and from the Island via commercial vessel.
The government also began expanding Internet access in 2015, increasing the number of public Wi-Fi hotspots from zero to 65 and cutting the cost of usage by 50 percent (though at $2 an hour, it remains high for most Cubans). Cuba also announced it would pilot broadband service to Cuban homes, with a goal of reaching 50 percent household penetration by 2020.
It is still difficult to draw a direct casual relation between President Obama's travel policy and the Cuban reforms that have coincided with his administration. Short-term political detentions may have increased, but so have street protests. What is clear, though, is that a surge in American visitors over the same period has not lead to lesser freedoms and opportunities for Cubans than those they had a decade ago. If anything, the facts strongly suggest that expanded American travel has contributed to the growing autonomy of the Cuban people.
Students lead a tour through the UWC Dilijan school library.
This April, the UWC Dilijan school welcomed Aurora Prize Selection Committee Co-Chair George Clooney to tour and meet with students. During a student-led Q&A, Mr. Clooney spoke about the importance of education, the next generation's ability to positively impact the world, and the need for people of different cultures to learn from each other through positive discourse.
We couldn't agree more. With so much conflict being endured the world over, it's never been more important to foster a sense of humanity within the next generation by engaging people with diverse backgrounds and beliefs at a young age. In fact, it was with this shared belief in the power of cross-cultural dialogue that Veronika and I helped co-found UWC Dilijan in 2014.
Students deliver presentations about the impact of education on their lives.
Part of a global network of international schools, UWC Dilijan brings together 190 students from 64 countries, challenging their preconceived notions of other nationalities. Turkish students learning alongside Armenians, Israeli students being educated with Palestinians. Many students themselves come from conflict areas; some have even lost loved ones as a result. At UWC Dilijan, each learns to live and grow alongside another. We're excited to see them carry these lessons forward after graduating.
Advertisement
It was a pleasure to offer these students the chance to hear Mr. Clooney's inspiring message of tolerance, agency and peace. Our work at UWC Dilijan and beyond continues in this spirit, working to promote international dialogue and unearth the common humanity that unites us all.
John Prendergast of Not On Our Watch (left) and Mr. Clooney participate in the student-led panel.
One such initiative is the Aurora Prize, the annual humanitarian award Mr. Clooney presented in April which, now in its second year, recently reopened its call for nominations. The Aurora Prize aims to recognize those who have overcome great personal challenges to make an exceptional impact on preserving human life and advancing humanitarian causes.
Nominations for the 2017 Aurora Prize--which will honor one Laureate with a $100,000 grant, as well as a $1,000,000 award to be donated to the charitable organizations that inspired their work--will be accepted from now until September 9, 2016.
We encourage you to nominate by visiting the Prize website here.
I went natural after high school, and 11 years later, after having my daughter, I finally realize the significance of my transition.
When I first decided to stop getting perms in 2004, natural hair salons were very much the new trend in Atlanta. You had one salon in particular, Too Groovy, that from my perspective, was one of the main contributors leading the way for this new hair craze. It was unbelievable that they could wash, roller set, straighten, and style my hair without the use of the creamy crack. Because I had gotten perms since I was about 6 or 7, this discovery, for me, was unprecedented.
After having my daughter, I finally realize the significance of my transition.
My hair is somewhat of a soft, fine texture. Years and years of getting a perm kept it thin, often times broken off, but I just kept perming it anyway. Realizing that my hair could actually thrive by doing away with my former hair routine sounded perfect as I headed off to college. Besides, I always heard that you go natural when you attend an HBCU (shout out to Mother Tuskegee!) so I was ready and willing to see what this natural black girl life was about. Ever since going natural, I've worn my hair in weaves, braids, curly, straightened, and even did the big chop after graduating college and moving to New York. Living in Brooklyn helped me to understand the differences and varieties of black beauty -- it was heavenly!
I began to wear my hair in its natural curly state. Like most other curly girls, I researched on YouTube and tried about 7,234,722 products, most of which ended up being half used and in the trash. I'm still trying new products ever so often, but I have completely slowed down on the number of products I use and the number of products I try.
Advertisement
The moment I found out I was having a girl, it became vividly clear why being a natural mommy was so important: My daughter would be watching.
Fast forward to 2013, and I had my daughter. The moment I found out I was having a girl, it became vividly clear why being a natural mommy was so important: My daughter would be watching. Every move I make, every swipe of my makeup brush, every time my flat iron goes from the roots to the ends of my hair, every time I comment on my, hers, or someone else's hair style, texture, length, style, she is soaking it all in and will one day shape her own thoughts, ideas, and opinions based on what she has seen and heard -- from me.
And she is internalizing these messages in a way that will inevitably impact her self-esteem and help her define her own standards of beauty. So I had to be honest with myself. What message am I sending to her? Will she love her natural kinks and coils? Does she believe her hair is beautiful the way it grows out of her head, or will she see it as an obstacle she needs to overcome because the world and the media is telling her she needs hair with elbow length minimum or else she'll need to get a weave? Will she view her braids as a protective style, or a way to cover up her problematic tresses? All of these are questions that I fight to answer for her every single day so that she knows her hair is beautiful just the way it grows out of her head!
Advertisement
Although she is only 2 years old, I am doing my best to teach her early. So far, she loves her hair. She will request her "Annie hair" -- referring to Quvenzhane' Wallis in the remake of the classic movie (shout out to mainstream black representation!) I've also used our natural hair journey as a way to twin with my mini me in an effort to be the show her that we are in this together.
Sometimes, if I give her two cornrows, mommy wears two cornrows. If I put her hair in a cute bun on the top of her head with all her kinky glory freely flowing in the back, mommy does the same. If she wears the quintessential black girl hairstyle -- two afro puff balls, I let her have her shine and wear my hair like an adult -- but you get my point.
I have to fight against these messages for my daughter -- and yours -- every single day.
As a black woman, I have internalized so many messages that I view, as I have matured, are vicious, and often subtle attacks on our subconscious and our entire being -- our skin, our bodies, and our hair. I have to fight against these messages for my daughter -- and yours -- every single day. I want my daughter to know and truly believe that she is not beautiful in spite of her kinky hair, but that she is beautiful because of it. And since I am her first teacher, I best be practicing what I preach.
with Edwin van Teijlingen, Professor of Maternal & Perinatal Health Research at Bournemouth University.
Last month Women's Deliver Conference in Copenhagen was a turning point for the future of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with regards to women and girls' rights -The SDGs will only be achieved if women and girls are put at the centre of development and the key message from the conference was that there is a need to focus on solutions.
In order to obtain solutions for maternal health, we need to evaluate interventions to take the guesswork out of policy-making by determining what works, what does not work, when and why. For there are still too many programmes where the impact is not known - such as programmes that sadly lack any comparison, whether in time (before-and-after research) or with a control area, or are not evaluated at all due to lack of resources. If organisations do not evaluate we may never know the medium- to longer-term effects of their projects.
Advertisement
Health Promotion Groups
We would like to highlight an example of a well-designed evaluation of a medium-sized programme run on a low budget in Nepal. In 2007, Green Tara Nepal (GTN), a non-governmental organization (NGO), designed and implemented a five-year intervention to improve maternal health uptake in rural Nepal using health promotion groups. GTN aims to improve women's health and their rights. It addresses issues around sexual and reproductive health, tackling social issues that include sexual violence. GTN's work was all the more interesting as it started shortly after the Maoist rebellion (1996-2006) in Nepal, which was still ongoing at the time the intervention was designed (2005/2006). It is worth remembering that Nepal like many countries has inequitable access of health services due to finances, geography (the time it takes to reach a clinic), caste, ethnicity, religion and corruption. Sometimes it is simply women not knowing about maternity care or in Nepal's case - their mothers-in-law influence their decision to attend maternity clinics. Women have it tough there, some may not finish school, and they do most of the work in the house and fields. Especially poor rural women married young; by 18 or 19 they are a mother of two children. Typically, on marriage a young woman moves into their husband's home and becomes part of his family and the mother-in-law decides everything - When she eats, when she works, when to go to the hospital, when to seek care and where to give birth.
To address this dynamic, GTN recruited two local Nepali health promoters to create groups of women and mothers-in-law to empower women to seek care; as women and mother-in-law groups encouraged the whole community to negotiate their own solutions and improve access to maternal health. It used health promotion groups and participatory action approaches (for example using role-play), health promotion techniques and offered women in the groups small incentives. Yet, it was hard to engage the men to take part in similar groups. The GTN curriculum for the women's groups each with 24 sessions of health promotion. The content of the intervention and the health promotion sessions include visual card description, a facilitator guide/modules if possible, or an outline of the session topics and related participatory activities. The GTN model is similar to that of social mobilisation groups in India and the Aga Khan Foundation Rural Support Programmes (AKRPs). All founded on the principles that communities can take ownership of their development through village groups. GTN and similar groups work with the community to implement and resource activities in support of that plan, often in partnership with local government.
Advertisement
One of the GTN women's groups.
What did we find?
Our paper 'Measuring What Works: An impact evaluation of women's groups on maternal health uptake in rural Nepal's provides insight into women's group interventions why they work and sometimes do not. We concluded that GTN's activities in community-based health promotion using groups have a greater effect on the uptake of ANC, including taking iron and folic acid, attending postnatal care and less so on delivery care. What is impressive is that only two locally recruited and trained health promoters, established and supported women's groups with enrolment running between 2006 and 2012. Mobilising close to 1000 women including a wide-range of castes and empowering lower castes to attend. What GTN did was exploiting existing monthly women's group meetings, which were originally savings or literacy-based. Using such existing social capital has a potential for scaling-up within existing social systems, where community and health institutions are collaborating to improve access to quality maternal and newborn health services.
The evaluation has implications for policy and practice in public health - Programs aiming to improve uptake of services may benefit from maternal health promotion using women's groups that include women and their mothers-in law. Yet, health promotion cannot solve everything. We must remember that other factors that are not easily resolved through health promotion interventions may influence these outcomes, such as costs or geographical constraints.This paper discusses how to implement and evaluate what works best in low-income countries. We advocate that the evaluation should be designed early even before the implementation of the fieldwork and that the evaluation research is setting appropriate, with a well-designed methodology (DiD) and analysis plan.
To those attempting to evaluate we caution that measuring the effect of a community-based intervention is not straightforward because of confounding social and environmental factors. Therefore, the most-suited evaluation design is needed to ascertain whether the changes or improvements are due to the intervention or to external factors, yet often randomised controlled trials, the gold standard methodology for measuring effectiveness are difficult to organise, expensive and often setting-inappropriate. Finally, to achieve long-term change you have to build slowly and not expect to see massive change overnight, and not give up.
Advertisement
Where next?
We need more data on women to continue to contribute to programmes' impact, accountability and efficacy. We need more projects such as GTN that use groups to improve awareness: This implies increasing and improving accountability and measurement mechanisms at country and global levels. As Melinda Gates elaborated, one of the tools to find and take further these solutions is more and better data, "make the invisible visible".
Profits have long trumped all in the business world - for decades, wages have stagnated and product quality has declined, while profit margins rose. Stockholders fiddled while the economy burned.
Photo Source
Today, with easy accessibility of the web and social media to shine a light on bad policy, businesses with a shareholder-only agenda are starting to feel the consequences. Companies with social conscience are on the rise, and tuned-in consumers are driving the trend.
Companies like houshold goods retailer Costco have commitment to paying employees a livable wage baked right into their company culture. Riding on the buzz fueled by social media, the bulk retailer has surpassed Wal-Mart's profits, an obvious indicator that ethical consumerism is on the rise.
Advertisement
For some companies, the corporate culture is all about giving back by getting involved in local or global charity initiatives. Adapting to changes in the way consumers choose companies they want to do business with led to companies of all sizes embracing a more charitable approach. Charity partnerships are not only good for business, they inspire a happier, more engaged workforce. People like working for a company they can be proud of.
Nextiva, a cloud communications company, is a solid example of the many reasons that business owners should strongly consider getting involved in their local community. The company's charitable organization, Nextiva Cares, has gotten involved in a wide variety of local and national causes through sponsorships, including the creation of a local Little Free Library and a notable donation to the Mayo Clinic.
One of the most impressive things about their approach is the diversity of their charitable contributions. From participating in the Uber Kitten campaign, to raising money for Phoenix Children's Hospital, to donating gifts to Toys for Tots, the company always has something going on. For maximum engagement, when choosing initiatives to get behind, the management team includes the personal interests and causes of its employees.
Advertisement
According to Glassdoor, focusing on local charity events has made a big difference in employee satisfaction. Nextiva has a four-star rating and a CEO approval rating of 87 percent. To put this into perspective, Wal-Mart's CEO approval rating is only 64 percent.
Meanwhile, Costco's CEO has achieved a 92 percent, which further highlights how important it is to develop a people-first company culture.
COLUMBUS, OHIO - SEPTEMBER 18: The Ohio State cheerleaders entertain the crowd before their game against the OU Bobcats on September 18, 2010 in Columbus, OH.
It's a sad cliche, I know. Movies like Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
and Choice Hotels' current "Should I stay or should I go" commercial remind me that I am far from alone in my ambivalence. So do the countless blogs and articles out there on why you should or will never go to a reunion. But something tells me that my trepidation about committing to attending my upcoming high school reunion is a bit different than most.
It has nothing to do with what you will think of me, and everything to do with how I feel about myself. And not in a judgmental, "I'm too fat " sort of way. It's not about my career ups and downs, money, bad Botox or not having aged gracefully enough.
Advertisement
It's that I feel like my life hasn't even started yet.
While many of my classmates are concluding one phase of their lives, and about to start another, I'm still waiting. Whether you are divorced, happily married, remarried, or unhappily (while gritting your teeth) married - most of you have kids. And those kids, nieces and nephews are getting older. Many of them are graduating. Most from high school, others from college. Some are starting their own careers and lives. A few are even getting married. Meanwhile, after all these years, I haven't even met someone I want to spend more than a few dates with, let alone start a family with.
Which would be perfectly fine -- if only I didn't want that.
So. Very. Badly.
I know I'm not supposed to admit this. Like some modern twist of the He-man Woman Haters Club, it's become some sign of weakness in our ultra-feminist world to acknowledge that love and relationships matter, but they really do. I'd even challenge that they are all that matters.
Women do not need a man or kids to be complete. Please know that I know this. We fought for equal rights (and still do) so that we would have the ability to make our own choices. To have options beyond marrying someone, anyone, to survive. And to control our own destinies without having to attach to a man for financial security. But this woman wants both, and always has. It hasn't stopped me from living my life to the fullest, but I truly believe everything in life - the good and the bad - is better when it's shared. I've had love and lost it enough to know the pros and the cons of both sides.
The reasons I'm still single can be as simple or complex as you want to get. But it boils down to the fact that I don't need a man, I want the right one. And I just haven't met him yet.
Advertisement
Because of this, I often feel like a failure, or at the very least a failure to launch. And now, on top of it, I am back searching for my next job (thank you advertising -- for always keeping it real). Which makes me wonder, in my darkest hours, if I've done anything right.
So as my 30th (yes, 30th) high school reunion approaches later this year, it feels like a marker of time passing that I really don't want to be reminded of.
I'm not ready to look back, not even close. I feel like I haven't gotten started yet.
I spent the evening at a lovely high school graduation party for my friend's daughter tonight. I enjoyed chatting with their very welcoming friends and family members -- each of them, either a parent or child of someone there. I was there alone, as I am at most events these days.
As I sat on my friend's couch, admiring her beautiful home full of pictures of her kids, trips to the Outer Banks with family friends, I felt happy for them -- and sad (not sorry) for myself at the same time. I want what they have. It's a feeling I've become way too used to. Before I left, I flipped through her daughter's yearbook, emblazoned with well wishes and quotes about how her future can be anything she wants to be.
I remember being at that turning point like it was yesterday. Because for me, it was. It still feels closer than my future. It's nearly impossible for me to comprehend that it's been 30 years since I walked across the stage in my white cap and gown at The Front Row Theater in Highland Heights, Ohio. My handsome boyfriend was there, along with my parents and younger twin brothers -- all of them cheering me on to my future. I was headed to my dream school in the fall: The Ohio State University. I had turned down both Syracuse University and Boston University because OSU looked and felt to me like what college was supposed to be -- and it was. My entire life was ahead of me, and I couldn't wait for it to start.
Advertisement
In many ways, I'm still waiting.
It's a lonely feeling, being single and childless for too long -- when you don't want to be. I actually envy my girlfriends of many ages who are intentionally happily single and/or childless. According to a 2013 Gallup poll,"more than half of Americans between the ages of 18 and 40 have children, and another 40% do not currently, but hope to have children someday. Only six percent of Americans aged 18 to 40 do not have, and do not want to have, children."
I wish I were in that six percent.
I wish I didn't ache for a family the way I do. Especially when I'm surrounded by examples of it. I've actually started avoiding baby showers and kids parties, something I never thought I'd have to do. They just hurt too much. I'm thinking a reunion with old friends sharing charming photos of their families and stories about their teenagers' misadventures might kill me.
Yes, I have taken advantage of my freedom and lived my life. I have travelled extensively -- with friends, cross-country in my roadster for a month with my mom, visited Europe, the Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii, and even Paris for a week alone. Which was exhilarating. I have lived in three amazing cities, worked at some of the top advertising agencies in the world, loved several men and left them when it was clear that I had no other choice. I am grateful for all that I have.
But the older I get, the more sure I am of one thing: love is the prize. Love in all its glorious forms: of what you do, where you live, your dog or cat, children, grandchildren, friends, and if you're really lucky - someone special to share your life with. Someone who "gets" you.
I don't feel that I've done anything wrong. I have no regrets. I just don't have something important that I want in my life -- and it is just too damn hard sometimes to be at peace with it. On any ordinary Thursday, let alone at a reunion.
By Tareq Baconi and Alaa Tartir. Tareq Baconi and Alaa Tartir are, respectively, Policy Fellow and Program Director of Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network
France hosted the preliminary session of an international peace conference on Israel-Palestine on June 3. That marked the first serious effort to reinitiate the peace process after the failure of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's initiative in early 2014. And yet France is resisting the lesson which many hoped would be learnt following the failure of Kerry's initiative: without significant reform, the peace process that has dominated over two decades of diplomacy on Israel-Palestine is set to fail.
In preparation for the Paris conference, the French fielded a delegation to Israel and Palestine. They were focused primarily on meeting with Israeli members of the negotiating team, and addressing their concerns about the conference - even though Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had clearly expressed his disinterest in the French initiative. Rather than support French efforts, Netanyahu reiterated his supposed commitment to bilateral negotiations between the parties. He also showed a favorable stance to Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi's unexpected and somewhat bewildering revival of the Arab Peace Initiative.
By contrast, according to reliable sources close to the French negotiating team, the Palestinian leadership appeared just too happy to do anything in order to be at the negotiation table. "They are just too easy and too keen," a French source said, "they are more excited than we are."
Advertisement
This brief window into the French thinking made clear that the basic structural problems that have waylaid past diplomatic efforts have not been addressed. Rather, Israel's rejection of a lasting peace agreement and the Palestinian leadership's inability to develop sufficient negotiating clout persist.
The history of the peace process is riddled with failure precisely because it assumes a symmetry between the two parties where it does not exist. This assumption was on full display in the days leading to the French initiative: the Israelis have no real reason to give up on a cost-free occupation, and the Palestinians have no effective way of compelling them to do so.
Other glaring shortfalls are evident. Asked how the peace process would address the situation in Gaza, the sources quoted above said that, for the French delegates "Gaza is not a priority." The division between Gaza and the West Bank, which in many ways persists because of international policies that discourage unity, appear to have been accepted and even integrated into the very structures of diplomacy. This further erodes any Palestinian capacity to push for a just settlement.
The move away from an American-centric peace process is in itself a positive development, given the failed U.S track record in acting as an honest broker in negotiations. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) support for this initiative grows out of the international nature of the conference. Yet internationalization does not in itself address the fundamental imbalance between the two parties. Unless the process is reformed to bring pressure to bear on Israel to abide by international law, rather than simply to negotiate, the outcome is destined to failure, with disastrous consequences for the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation as well as for Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Advertisement
With the current constellation of power within Israel, the most right leaning coalition in Israel's history, any hope for the ratification of a lasting peace grounded in international law is little more than fantasy.
But indeed that is the point. The peace process continues to serve its purpose: it is the charade or act of the process itself, rather than the outcome, which France appears to be seeking. The conference is little more than a platform from which to expand France's diplomatic mission and export its soft power back into the Middle East. At a time when the U.S. is retreating, France possibly sees itself as taking a lead in the region. Further, France appears to see peace making around Israel-Palestine as a stepping stone into broader diplomacy elsewhere.
The illusion of the "peace process" has exacerbated the conflict over the past two decades. The Oslo Accords, which emerged from bilateral negotiations between the parties, failed to end the conflict, but rather strengthened Israel's control over the Palestinian territories. A plethora of initiatives have since been put forward against a backdrop of Israeli settlement expansion, colonization of Palestinian land and resources, and creeping Judaizisation of Jerusalem.
My plan was to wrap up Memorial weekend doing some laundry, cooking, and enjoying a little Netflix and chill. But then Big Boi trended on Twitter. I promised myself many months ago that I would leave rappers and their socio-familial insights to themselves after I wrote my last of two articles on the Future/Ciara saga. But there are certain topics to which, as hard as I try, I cannot turn a deaf ear. One in particular being the ongoing public vilification of black women and, this time, black mothers.
The growing trend amongst many of our black male celebrities is to publicly denigrate black women and mothers. Big Boi was the latest to take aim when he posted a meme drawing a comparison between the black mother from the 70s and the one of today. The split image showed a fully clad Florida Evans from the popular TV series Good Times standing in front of pots and pans speaking to her daughter. The other depicted a younger black woman straddling a stool with her back to the camera as a child looks on. She is donning a bikini top and thong, looking over her shoulder, and smiling at the camera. At the bottom of the meme is written: 'And We Act Like We Don't Know What's Wrong With These Kids.'
After seeing this, I was less concerned about what is going on with 'these kids' and more concerned with what is going on with our black men. When did the state of our children fall solely upon the shoulders of black women? As fathers and the presumptive heads of families, black men share equal or greater responsibility for how our children are raised. Whether these men live in the same home as their children or not, if they are fulfilling their parental duties, even when mom is failing, he should be the safety mechanism that prevents ultimate disaster. Despite this fact, many black men seek to lay blame at the feet of black women instead of actively working with them or assuming greater parenting responsibilities when necessary to ensure positive outcomes for their children. Either course of action is better than playing the blame game, name calling, or engaging in stand-offs. Because from that nobody wins, especially the children.
Advertisement
The vilification of black women by black men is nothing new unfortunately. But when celebrity black men use their substantial platforms to take aim at black mothers, a destructive precedence is set that has a contagion effect. It bolsters the stereotypical image of the black mother both inside and outside of our community as being uneducated, ratchet, on welfare, gold-digging, promiscuous, and overall failures as women and parents. And these stigmatizing beliefs are emblazoned in our collective consciousness when wealthy successful black men launch public attacks against black mothers including those of their own children. These stereotypical characteristics are far cries from who the vast majority of black mothers are. But in the unfortunate instances when she is all of the above, at what point does accountability set in with black men for choosing to have children with women like this?
What are any of these men doing to change the narrative? Dare I say nothing. How can they when the same women with whom they criticize and blame, they exploit through misogynistic music and videos that make them millions. These men cannot have it both ways. They cannot nullify the black mother's ability to parent, seemingly based upon her appearance and inappropriate behavior as Big Boi did, when they promote and profit from her hypersexual image. They cannot bash black mothers who work as strippers when they are more than happy to make it rain in the strip clubs or in the boom-boom rooms of their homes (I remember seeing an episode of MTV Cribs when Big Boi showed off a stripper pole he had in his home). They cannot claim not to 'love these hoes' when the Gram proves the bigger the ass the greater the likes. These men forfeit their right to judge when they actively participate in and perpetuate the exploitation of black women who are often somebody's mama.
Advertisement
But what was most interesting to me about the meme Big Boi posted was that Florida Evans, the most marginalized, although beloved, black mother in the history of television, was presented as the quintessential representation. Not Mrs. Winslow from Family Matters, or Aunt Viv from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, or Claire Huxtable from the Cosby Show, but Florida Evans--a struggling black mother living with her family in the ghetto.
My example of black motherhood, as for many others, was not at all that of Florida Evans. I was raised in the South Bronx, in the 70s, by a black mother who worked full-time by day while attending college at night to complete her undergraduate and Master's degrees. The black mother who headed my household worked her way up from a customer service representative to an executive level position for the largest utility company in New York, from where she retired after 34 years. The example of black motherhood for me was that of a consistent provider despite never receiving a dime of child support from my gainfully employed father from who she was divorced.
I myself am a black mother who is both a college and law school graduate. I work as a professor and freelancer to fully financially support my son. I've never collected public assistance. I've never been the subject of a child welfare investigation. And in my 44 years, I have managed to stay off of the stripper pole.
I am not an anomaly. I am one of many black mothers who not only fall short of the stereotypes, but crush them. Decades ago, Malcolm X said that the most disrespected and unprotected person in America is the black woman.
Advertisement
School recently ended for lots of kids. It ended for me years ago...and some of my former teachers might tell you it ended for me while I was in school.
I wasn't a terrible student: In high school I was an average student, while in college I moved up into the "B" neighborhood...a less dangerous one with my parents, who were my college cops, investigating to see where their money was going.
Still, when I announced that I had made the Dean's List a few times and even Honors List for one amazing semester, instead of congratulations, friends and family greeted me with, "How'd you do that??"
Advertisement
There were some classes that just didn't cut it with me...which is why I ended up cutting the classes. Whenever I could get away with it, that is.
Spanish? Science? Algebra? Geometry? To me, those were my own nightmarish, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Spanish was "muy mal" for me. Actually, any language other than English I just couldn't wrap my head around. If anything, my head was spinning in circles if El Profesor asked me anything east of, "Que pasa, Senor Kramer?"
"Nada" was my usual reply. When asked if I had anything to add, I would respond with, "No mas," in essence using up all of my available Espanol.
Of course, now that I live in Los Angeles where English is practically the second language behind Spanish, I am, "muy no satisfecha" about my inability back then to have processed the Spanish. So yes, Senor Mirsky and Profesor Soletsky: My not paying attention in your Spanish classes has come back to bite me in el asno.
Advertisement
Biology? Biology was one of my worst classes. Period. Or, it was a period I wished never existed. I didn't care about bio until I developed an interest in girls, which was well after tenth grade. But by then, they were far too developed to tolerate the likes of me, a limited Lothario who couldn't get past cellular connectivity, let alone how to connect with girls.
That lack of bio knowledge certainly didn't help matters later on when I came upon chemistry. Though I did come up with my own chemistry equation:
-Biology Knowledge (+) -Chemistry Knowledge = Very Lonely Nights
Another class where I was clueless was algebra. It was like the Day of the Doomed for us numerically challenged captives as we shuffled slowly to class, not sure what kind of torture the teacher was going to test us with. The only math I did was to look up at the clock and count how many minutes were left before the bell rang, thereby ending class, with us exiting the classroom eight times over three the speed in which we solemnly entered.
Geometry was worse, far worse - an added year of worse. With a humorless, robotic teacher pulling the strings on us, his mathematically challenged marionettes, it...was...torture. And torture for the teacher too, as he knew he was doomed in trying to explain the basics of geometry to a class of clueless captives for the twentieth time.
We finally did get it on the 21st time when in despair he threw his hands up in the air and gave us the answers. That, so he could graduate our sorry asses outta there and never see us again.
Advertisement
I did learn one thing in geometry: that I liked biology better. The pretty brunette sitting next to me was a biological subject I only wished I could have studied.
As mentioned, it was in college where things began to fall into place. A little late to the party perhaps, but now, as then...I put two and two together, felt the chemistry in the classes, and began to learn those all important life lessons.
In retrospect, I'm thankful for the education I had - particularly the times I did pay attention to the teachers. However, a good portion of my growth and knowledge has occurred outside the walls of the classrooms.
Venice, the Statue of Liberty, the Galapagos Islands, and Stonehenge are all at risk of disappearing due to climate change, according to a frightening new report by UNESCO.
The researchers examined 31 at-risk World Heritage properties in 29 countries, focusing on some of the most popular tourist destinations around the world, including Easter Island, the city of Cartagena, Columbia, Shiretoko National Park in Japan, South Africa's Cape Floral Kingdom and many more. The results, compiled from peer-reviewed science papers, technical reports, site-specific evaluations, and input from local experts, are dire, and show that climate change poses a real threat to the world's history.
Advertisement
The report also featured in-depth case studies of sites like Venice and the Statue of Liberty. "One-hundred percent of the assets at Liberty National Monument are at 'high exposure' risk from sea-level rise due to the extremely low elevation of the island and its vulnerability to storms," says the report.
As for Venice? "The city's extraordinary assemblage of Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture is under immediate threat from rising sea levels," states the report. The effects of rising sea levels are already causing problems in the canal city, with frequent floods damaging the city's renowned architecture. "The water level in the lagoon will continue to rise, eating away at the substance of the buildings as damp spreads up the brickwork," the report states.
Don't expect to see anything about the effects of climate change on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, though. In a controversial move, the government intervened to have it removed from the report, The Guardian reported.
The report also takes a close look at the effects of tourism on the same sites, particularly those with "uncontrolled or poorly managed visitor access." The findings also said that "tourism can play a positive role in helping to secure the future of many World Heritage sites in a changing climate," especially the ones like Venice that rely on tourism dollars to survive.
Advertisement
Read the full UNESCO report here.
Photo Courtesy of Shutterstock
Wondering when you should buy a flight for that late summer or fall trip? Well, stop everything and start shopping now.
Even with airfares remaining pretty low over the last several months -- thanks to lower fuel costs -- massive systemwide sales that are worth flying home about are rare. Because more than 80% of domestic air travel is controlled by four airlines, there's not much incentive for the Big Four (United, Delta, American and Southwest) to drop prices. They will often just selectively match fares from low-cost carriers.
Except when Southwest goes rogue.
In a new three-day sale launched on June 7, Southwest is offering flights starting at $49, $79, $99 and $129 one way on most routes for travel in later this year (Aug. 23 - Dec. 14, with some blackouts around holidays). These fares are $20-$25 each way cheaper than their usual sale fares. Southwest does this a couple times a year, and if you love to fly, but hate to pay retail -- this is when you should be shopping and buying flights.
Advertisement
See, Southwest's footprint is so big that the other carriers have to compete or they will lose market share during the fall months, when air travel tends to thin out. So even if you don't want to fly Southwest, it's a good bet that fares will drop across the board in the next few days as airlines match the Southwest sale. A metasearch site like Fly.com is a good way to see which airlines are offering up the best deals on the dates you need.
You'll find the best flight deals if you follow a few simple rules.
1. Be flexible on your dates. Maybe one week is $400 roundtrip for your dream trip, but the following week is $250. A little flexibility goes a long way toward keeping your travel on budget. I love to use the fare calendars in our Today's Best Fares section to highlight when I can save the most on my trip.
2. Try to fly at least one leg on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday. These are the days of the week planes are least full, and so these are the days that most sales target with the lowest fares. By contrast, Friday and Sunday flights are rarely discounted.
3. Consider alternate airports. For example, JetBlue flies to Long Beach instead of LAX -- so if you can fly into the LBC, you might save as much as $50-$100 on the flight. Consider the same for Chicago (Midway or O'Hare), New York (JFK, La Guardia, Newark -- or for the adventurous Westchester County (HPN) or Trenton (TTN), the Bay Area (San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose), Dallas (Love or DFW), Houston (Bush or Hobby), South Florida (Miami, Ft. Lauderdale or West Palm Beach), Washington, D.C. (BWI, Dulles or Reagan National).
Advertisement
4. Fly early. The early bird gets the best deal. The first flight out in the morning is often the cheapest of the day -- and it's the most likely one to be on time.
5. Don't forget about the fees. Are you a heavy packer? Check. Do you want extra legroom? Check. Are you going to want more nourishment than a cup of soda during the flight? Check. Those checks add up when you check-in.
6. Don't hunt and peck. A metasearch site such as Fly.com, which searches several airlines and travel agencies at the same time for your itinerary, is a great way to find the best combination of price and date for your future trip.
7. Don't sleep on a good fare. You're allowed to cancel your flight at no penalty up to 24 hours after booking, so if you see a great fare, grab it and figure out the details (hotels, time off of work, etc.) later. All's fare during airfare wars, and the cheap flights won't last forever. When these sales end, expect prices to soar once again.
Cross-posted from UN Women
On the east coast of Ecuador, between cotton trees, tropical flowers and the raging sea, lies Manabione of the provinces hardest-hit by the earthquake of 16 April 2016, where hundreds of families have been left homeless.
Forty per cent of women in affected areas dont have their own source of income. Many are heads of household who lost their homes and jobs because of the earthquake. Most of them are now living in shelters set up by the Ecuadorian Government and other cooperating agencies. According to Ecuadorian Government data, there were 28,775 people living in shelters as of May and a total of 5,824 families have been affected.
But they havent lost their enthusiasm or their drive to succeed. From 17-19 May, some 80 women from the towns of Calceta and Rocafuerte attended a training workshop entitled Tools for my personal and business development, organized by the Ministry of Justice in collaboration with UN Women.
Advertisement
Despite sweltering heat and adverse conditions, the women came to learn about managing microbusinesses, recovery costs, working hours, budgets and wage management, all with a view to setting up and operating a small business. After three days of classes, many already had a vision of the businesses they would establish.
In Rocafuerte, Reinalda Zambrano had to move to a shelter because her house was damaged by the quake. The single mother earns a living through farming and sewing and manages to make ends meet for her children. She said the workshop helped raise my self-esteem, to value myself as a human being and to appreciate my work. She added that the knowledge gained will help increase her independence so she wont have to depend on a crop or the children's father to feed and educate them. She is planning to set up a mending business in the coming months.
Nancy Alvarez, 40, from Calceta, is a nursery school teacher and, although she did not lose her home, she wants to support her community. Her children are grown so she is able to help care for the girls and boys in the shelter located in the municipal stadium. She says she feels very grateful for the motivation gained from the trainers to be strong and start a new life. With a big smile, she says that she will soon establish a small business selling fruit salads. I've already worked out the investment and profit percentages. Im determined to start this!
Advertisement
In both towns, those attending the course accepted their completion certificates with joy, gratitude and the hope of seeing their dreams become reality.
We became aware of the high potential of women who knew trades but who might need tools to improve their production, says Moni Pizani, UN Women Representative in Ecuador, adding that the training programme was inspired by the very women living locally. We normally see crises as a problem, but this one has provided many opportunities that we must seize! We are at their disposal to do whatever we can.
This project, coupled with training for members of the Armed Forces and Police on the prevention of gender-based violence, is one of several providing tools to both empower and protect women and girls in the post-disaster period.
Canada's Pacific Rim National Park is one of the world's most extraordinary national parks.
Yellowstone was the world's first national park. As the US National Park Service turns 100 years old this year, people from around the country (and globe) are flocking to these iconic reserves. US National Parks now number more than 400 and welcomed more than 305 million visitors in 2015.
The idea of creating protected wilderness areas was a popular one; more than 100 countries around the world have followed suit, with more than 1200 national parks worldwide. While you can always visit some of the newest national parks here in the United States, you might want to consider checking out some of the amazing national parks outside our borders.
North America
Palenque National Park, Mexico
Palenque National Park
Considered Mexico's most famous cultural preserve, Palenque National Park protects one of the country's most important archaeological sites, an elegant ancient city-state of the Maya Empire's classic period. The ruins are situated high above the surrounding tropical forest, where wildlife like spider monkeys, toucans and parrots can be spotted. While much of the structure is still waiting to be unearthed, journey to the central observatory (a destination in itself) for spectacular sunrise and sunset views.
Advertisement
Pacific Rim National Park, Canada
Located on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island, this three-part park is perfect for all sorts of adventuring. With its 10-mile Long Beach, Broken Group Islands (you take a ferry to get there) and native culture, this is one of the most popular parks in Canada.
Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica
One of the world's most biologically diverse areas, Corcovado is home to hundreds of species of rare insects, mammals and birds. Hiking and trekking are the primary forms of exploration for enjoying tropical beaches and old-growth forests.
South America
Tayrona National Park, Colombia
Tayrona National Park
Perhaps one of the most visited locations in Colombia, Tayrona is a haven for backpackers and those seeking a bit of tropical beauty. Access the far reaches of the park by foot or donkey; you'll be rewarded with white-sand beaches, plenty of hiking trails and trees between which you can string your hammock.
Parque Nacional Los Glacieres, Argentina
Arrive in El Calafate and you'll immediately be asked, "are you here to see El Perito Moreno"? It's a good question -- and one to which you should answer "yes." One of the few glaciers still growing, Perito Moreno stretches 120 square miles and towers over a blue lagoon in Parque Nacional Los Glacieres. The massive shears are what draw people, but the sheer majesty is what keeps them there for hours.
Advertisement
Pantanal Matogrossense National Park, Brazil
The Amazon may get all of the press, but the Pantanal is one of the most immense, pristine and biologically rich environments on the planet. Extending through parts of Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, it's often referred to as the world's largest freshwater wetland system, home to more than 250 species of fish and almost 100 species of mammals -- it's also the best place to spot a jaguar.
Asia
Hakone National Park, Japan
Hakone National Park
Accessible from Tokyo, Hakone National Park is the perfect escape from the city. Experience the relaxation of a natural hot springs bath or, on clear days, enjoy spectacular views of Mount Fuji.
Khao Yai National Park, Thailand
One of the largest monsoon rainforests remaining in Asia, Khao Yai is a nature-lover's paradise. The national park is home to monkeys, elephants, tigers, sun bears, leopards and large pythons, so guests can spend their time searching for elusive wildlife while enjoying the hiking and biking trails winding around the park's many waterfalls.
Cat Ba National Park, Vietnam
Sign up for a tour on a traditional junk boat and enjoy a cruise along dramatic limestone karst islands, including Cat Ba National Park. Home to a wide variety of flora unique to Vietnam, as well as a healthy population of wildlife, Cat Ba is also a climber's paradise, worthy of exploration by hands, feet and rope.
Africa
Etosha National Park, Namibia
Etosha National Park
Etosha National Park, hailed as Namibia's top game park and one of the best national parks in Africa, allows visitors to spot wildlife from far-off distances due to the open and arid landscapes. Etosha is home to some rare and unusual wild animals, as well as the Big Five of Africa. Common wildlife sightings include rhinos, giraffes, elephants, lions, antelopes and even cheetahs and leopards.
Advertisement
Nairobi National Park, Kenya
Venture 15 to 20 minutes from the center of Nairobi, the largest city in East Africa, and you can take photos of giraffes juxtaposed with skyscrapers. Nairobi National Park is home to world's densest population of black rhinos, but you can also spot zebras, giraffes, hippos, leopards and lions. It's the true definition of "urban jungle."
Toubkal National Park, Morocco
For those who want to get beyond the local markets, journey to Toubkal National Park, located in the Atlas Mountains. Nearly all of North Africa's highest peaks are within the boundaries of the park, making for some very happy climbers. Hikers can explore snow-capped mountains and visit local Berber villages along the way.
Europe
Triglav National Park, Slovenia
Triglav National Park
Located just outside of Bled, Slovenia's only national park seems plucked from a fairy tale. With the picturesque Lake Bohinj ripe for exploration by canoe or kayak, plenty of hiking trails and quaint wooden houses lining the lake, it's a glorious respite from the popular destination of Bled.
Sarek National Park, Sweden
If you're looking for a place to escape from crowds and eschew the trappings of civilization, head to Sarek. With 772 square miles (2,000 square kilometers) to explore, this pristine expanse is riddled with glaciers and threaded with whitewater rapids. Six of Sweden's highest summits (say that six times fast) are also in the park, perfect for trekkers and peak baggers.
Timanfaya National Park, Spain
On the island of Lanzarote, part of the Canary Islands, you'll find Timanfaya National Park, which looks as if it could have been pulled from Mars and deposited on the island. This area, which was formed when more than 100 volcanoes rose up and devastated the island, remains a hot spot -- the temperatures just a few feet below the soil still reach 752 degrees Fahrenheit and higher. Come for the otherworldly landscapes; stay for the opportunity to eat Canarian food prepared by geothermal heat.
Advertisement
Australia
Freycinet National Park, Tasmania
Freycinet National Park
One of the most beautiful areas on this swoon-worthy island, Freycinet is home to Wineglass Bay, Honeymoon Bay and Coles Bay, which are all worth exploring. With well-marked trails and plenty to see, it's easy to lose days in this stunning setting.
Jervis Bay National Park, New South Wales
Humpback whales, dolphins and southern right whales can be seen along the coastline during migration season, which is reason enough to visit Jervis Bay National Park, located just a few hours from Sydney. Add in the white-sand stretches of Hyams Beach and you've found a slice a paradise.
Of course, these are just a few of the spectacular national parks scattered across the world. There are hundreds more to explore -- just pick your continent.
Leading up to President Obama's historic trip, I was asked by a reporter when he decided to visit Hiroshima? I responded: "June 12, 1982." On that day, thirty-four years ago, 1 million citizens marched through New York City for nuclear disarmament. Most remember it as the largest single demonstration in United States history. However, the march also showed that at the height of the Cold War, citizens were not willing to simply criticize President Reagan. They organized, built coalitions, and marched for a reduction of all nuclear weapons and a transfer of military budgets to "human needs." The June 12 rally demonstrated the power of bringing in diverse voices to the peace movement and how nuclear weapons and civil rights were inextricably linked.
When the rally was organized, minority participation included the Reverend Herbert Daughtry's National Black United Front (BUF), the Asian American Caucus for Disarmament, Hispanics for Survival and Disarmament, and the African American Coordinating Committee. The latter served as an umbrella group for Harlem Fight Back, the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Women for Racial and Economic Equality, the National Conference of Black Lawyers, the National Tenants Organization, Black Veterans for Social Justice, the National Conference of Black Pastors, and many others. Led largely by BUF, the minority groups formed the Third World and Progressive People's Coalition and called for unilateral nuclear disarmament, an end to U.S. military aggression in Central America, and an end to racism in the U.S.
Advertisement
The official planning committee of the June 12 march, made up mostly of traditional peace groups, however, did not want minority participation at the rally. John Collins of Clergy and Laity Concerned (CALC), a group that was a founding member of the June 12 Rally Committee, argued that a lot of the difficulties arose out of the fact that "the peace and environmental movements tended to be white and middle class and to a certain degree racist...not in the sense of the KKK or that kind of thing. It's just that a lot people in white groups don't know how to relate to and work with Third World groups."
War Resister's League leader David McReynolds criticized the peace movement for allowing African American groups to march. "For better or worse, it is not on civil rights or the persistent brutalization of poor Americans," he said. However, Charlene Mitchell, executive secretary of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, maintained that now was the time to unify "black, white, Native American, Hispanic, and other nationally oppressed people" for nuclear disarmament.
In an effort to find common ground, the Black United Front, led by Rev. Daughtry met with the Rally Committee. When the rally finally took place, 50 percent of the leadership was black. One million demonstrators marched through Central Park and midtown Manhattan. Companion rallies were held at both the Rose Bowl in Pasadena (90,000 in attendance), and in San Francisco (50,000). Dick Gregory, Chaka Kahn, Toni Morrison, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Rita Marley, and Harry Belafonte were among the marchers. Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee were on stage as Coretta Scott King declared: "All of our hopes for equality, for justice, economic security, for a healthy environment, depend on nuclear disarmament." As demonstrators proceeded to the United Nations, Harlem Fight Back, the New York Teachers Black Caucus, and other predominately black groups marched down to Seventh Avenue. On 110th Street and Lexington, they were joined by the East Harlem contingent under the banner of Hispanics for Survival.
Advertisement
In Harlem, black ministers stated, "When you take a look at the military budget and then at our decaying cities, you can see that we are already victims of war." The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists passed a resolution that called on the U.S. to renounce the "first use of nuclear weapons." In an editorial published in the New York Amsterdam News the day of the rally, Harlem Fight Back, argued racism and the nuclear arms race were related, citing the theft of Native American lands for uranium and the building of one of the world's major nuclear arsenals in South Africa.
As a college student at Columbia University, President Obama reported on the June 12 rally. He argued that "nuclear weapons were linked to economics and politics and part of a larger problem-militarism." He continued to think and write about the nuclear issue throughout his academic career, thus starting him on his eventual path to Hiroshima. Now, thirty-four years later, it is time for us to heed Obama's call for a "moral awakening." We need to build coalitions, incorporate diverse voices, and reignite the antinuclear movement that was once so vibrant.
When we wanted to end the Vietnam War we did not wait for Nixon to bring all of the troops home. When we wanted civil rights, we did not wait for Johnson to sign the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Act. When we wanted marriage equality, we did not wait for politicians to evolve. In all cases, we made it happen. Why should nuclear disarmament be any different? President Obama's speech must not be the end, but the beginning of a new movement for nuclear disarmament. June 12, 1982 proves it can be done. What are we waiting for?
A review of Shadi Hamid's new book Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam is Reshaping the World
By Amanda Zeidan
Over the years there have been many attempts to explain why the Islamic world seems to be, as some have argued, at odds with modernity and political pluralism. Yet, such presumptions persist under determinist arguments, underpinned by the assumption that Islam must eventually undergo an Islamic reformation that follows a similar trajectory and reasoning as Christianity's period of reformation. Shadi Hamid rejects this idea in his new book: Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam is Reshaping the World. Hamid argues that Islam is fundamentally different from other major religions, and this distinction serves as the impetus throughout the book as he explains why Islam is uniquely resistant to secularization. Additionally, Hamid suggests the struggle to situate the role of religion in public life can explain the rise of the self-declared Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Middle East's descent into widespread violence and instability. Hamid's inquiry is ambitious and challenging: he calls on readers to question their assumptions about the role of religion in public life, particularly the supposition that secularism is a prerequisite for democracy.
Advertisement
Hamid's argument rests on the notion that Islam was fundamentally different from other major religions since its inception, and this carries profound implications with regard to the role of Islam in politics. The founder and prophet of Islam, Muhammad, was also a statesman. Consequently, his leadership intertwined politics, law, and religion, placing the lattermost at the forefront of public life. In contrast, Christianity placed Christ in opposition to the existing legal order and political system. Therefore, Hamid argues, the Islamic reformation, should there be one, cannot be expected to parallel that of Christianity.
The core of the text explores three models of political association in Islamic contexts: the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Ennahda in Tunisia, and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey. Hamid assesses how each movement manages the balance between religion and state, and finds shortcomings in each instance. Where the state falls short in accommodating space for religion in public life, tension can give way to perverse forms of Islamist movements, such as ISIL.
The book reads as part-memoir, part-essay as Hamid shares anecdotes and events that occurred during his time interviewing Islamist activists. Collectively, these experiences tell a bigger story of the struggle to establish legitimate political order in the Middle East since the fall of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924 and how the failure to reconcile pre-modern Islamic law with the nation-state has paved the way for the emergence of ISIL, which Hamid notes "is more important not for what it does, but for what it means. Even if ISIL were destroyed tomorrow it would stand as one of the most successful and distinctly 'Islamist' state-building projects of the modern era."
In one striking story, Hamid describes a conversation he had with a young Tunisian filmmaker whose cousin joined ISIL in Syria. Hamid asks the filmmaker if his cousin's decision to fight with ISIL seems abnormal to him. The filmmaker, who by then had gone through several beers, replies, "You're living in America, habibi, not in Tunisia...if you lived in Tunisia and you're experiencing daily subjugation and injustice, and you have ideas, and you have principles, and you have objectives, and you have a vision for the future, and if you live in a state that doesn't embrace you, then it's the opposite. It's very normal." These personal anecdotes bolster the tension underlying Hamid's thesis - that secularism without democracy is neither sustainable nor desirable.
Advertisement
Tunisia, Egypt, and Turkey are useful case studies inasmuch as they provide a reference point for discussion, but Hamid's analysis neglects a discussion of Islamist movements across Central Asian and Eurasian states. Several post-Soviet Islamic countries of Central Asia and Eurasia have foregone democratic ideals for the sake of augmenting their security apparatuses, not unlike autocracies in the Middle East. However, the general population of countries like Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan do not necessarily want to see religion play a more central role in public life. Kazakhstan is one such country that proves to be a fairly well-functioning, though undemocratic, secular Muslim-majority state. One wonders if this calls into question Hamid's argument that Islam is unique in how it relates to politics.
Readers who can get past Hamid's frequent reminders of his access to Islamist activists will find that the author displays a great deal of intellectual humility. The book opens with Hamid recounting his interviews with Muslim Brotherhood activists just days before the deadliest massacre in modern Egyptian history. He admits that he struggles to understand "the willingness to die" of some mainstream Islamists, and the remainder of the book reflects a similar thoughtfulness. For readers whose main source of information about the Middle East is general news coverage, Islamic Exceptionalism combines fluid storytelling with a non-traditional perspective on the history of Islam that may prove necessary for real progress in Western foreign policy.
Amanda Zeidan received an MSc in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, with a concentration in Global Business and Finance. She is an Allen W. and Allen M. Dulles Graduate Fellow (2015-16) at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy and a Middle East Fellow at Young Professionals in Foreign Policy.
Betwa Sharma
NEW DELHI -- Eight months after a Muslim ironsmith in Bisada village was beaten to death by a mob alleging that he had slaughtered a calf and eaten it, residents of the village in western Uttar Pradesh are now demanding that his family be arrested within 20 days for consuming beef.
Tensions have escalated in Bisada village, located in Dadri tehsil around 60 kilometers from Delhi, after a key finding of a forensic laboratory in Mathura was made public, last week. While the family members of Mohammad Akhlaq have insisted they had cooked mutton on the tragic night of September 28, the laboratory found that the meat in question belonged to "cow or its progeny."
Advertisement
While nothing justifies the murder a man by an enraged mob, least of all what he chooses to eat, family members of at least 18 persons arrested for Akhlaq's murder view the latest "cow and its progeny" finding as way to get their relatives off the hook or at least get a lighter sentence.
Eating buffalo meat is allowed in Uttar Pradesh, but cow slaughter is punishable with seven years in prison and a fine of Rs.10,000.
The police have arrested 18 people including two minors for Akhlaq's murder.
The finding of the Mathura laboratory was made public six months after the preliminary report of the U.P. Veterinary Department found the meat samples to be mutton.
Despite a order prohibiting large gatherings, around 50 villagers gathered inside a temple in Bisada village, and called on the local administration to arrest Akhlaq's family members within 20 days.
Advertisement
The villagers said that they would not be able to contain "public anger" if the arrests were not made within 20 days, The Indian Expressreported.
The issue of cow is an issue of our faith. We are peace-loving and we believe in the justice system. However, in 20 days, the government should look at all alternatives and listen to our demands. Otherwise, the capacity to contain this public anger might not exist in my village, Sanjay Rana, father of one man arrested for Akhlaq's murder and uncle to another accused in the case, told the newspaper.
Reports from the ground also suggest that those raging against Akhlaq's family are mostly relatives of the men arrested for his murder. The Indian Express reported that families of 18 accused persons attended the meeting on Monday night in Bisada village.
The Hindustan Times reported that they demanded the arrest of Akhlaq's family members and the release of their own relatives.
If innocent children are not given fair treatment, we will organise a mahapanchayat, even immolate ourselves," Pratap Singh Sisodia, a former village chief, told the newspaper.
Advertisement
Members of Shiv Sena, a right-wing political party based in Maharashtra, also attended the meeting in Dadri village.
Its a failure of law and order. The police dont listen to Hindus. If a person has slaughtered a cow, he or she should be put behind the bars. Law should be the same for everyone, Mahesh Kumar Ahuja, a Sena leader from Ghaziabad, told the Hindustan Times.
Families of the accused men and Shiv Sena leaders have also alleged bias on the part of the Samajwadi Party-run government in U.P.
I want to ask the Chief Minister, dont Hindus vote for him and his government? Do only Muslims vote for them? Our children are in jail because a man died. This report made it clear that the man had killed a cow. Why should a case not be registered? Why shouldnt his family be in jail when our children are in jail? Why are you saving the guilty?," Mahesh Kumar Ahuja, a Shiv Sena leader, told The Indian Express.
Advertisement
Contact HuffPost India
Also on HuffPost India:
Film Still
The Udta Punjab controversy with the Censor Board is becoming bigger by the day, with no solution in sight. While Anurag Kashyap, in an interview with India Today, took a direct dig at Minister of Information and Broadcasting Arun Jaitley by saying he was 'disappointed in him,' other people from the fraternity too are voicing their angst against the Censor Board's high-handedness.
This time, it is apparent to many that Pahlaj Nihalani has dug his own grave by stepping too far. Playing the moral guardian may have worked for him thus far, but Bollywood is sending out a strong message making it clear that it is not going to bow down to CBFC's pressure.
Advertisement
Here's what some of the actors, directors, writers are saying in support of Udta Punjab, which has gone nearly 89 cuts but no formal letter that says so, effectively putting the film in limbo.
Arjun Kapoor said it the way it is.
U know a lot of people in our fraternity speak up for other causes, it's time we stood up for our own. #UdtaPunjab deserves a proper release Arjun Kapoor (@arjunk26) June 7, 2016
Alia Bhatt quoted Malala.
Karan Johar minced no words.
#UdtaPunjab speaks of the reality of our times....censoring reality amounts to delusion.....the fraternity has to stand by what's right!! Karan Johar (@karanjohar) June 6, 2016
Farhan Akhtar had this lassi analogy.
Power is the most dangerous addiction of all & someone in the CBFC seems to be tripping hard on Lassi in the Sky with Diamonds. #UdtaPunjab Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) June 7, 2016
Well, this too.
#Udtapunjab known for better things like love,peace,bhaichara,culture,respect,freedom fighters,spotsmans,music,I m a proud PUNJABI nd INDIAN Harbhajan Singh (@harbhajan_singh) June 7, 2016
Alia's father, Mahesh Bhatt, weighed in.
The Censors says I am the one who says the last sentence on UDTA PUNJAB .The nation can say what it wants our verdict is going to stick. Mahesh Bhatt (@MaheshNBhatt) June 7, 2016
And so did ace Tweeter and full-time douche Ram Gopal Varma.
Govt which wants to ban Udta Punjab shud realise that by banning a Udta film they actually trying to ban Udta truth Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) June 6, 2016
CBFC Board member Ashoke Pandit has been vocal about his criticism toward Pahlaj Nihalani.
Rahul Gandhi should google & find out as to how many films have bn banned by his family & how they hv treated the #FilmIndustry. #UdtaPunjab Ashoke Pandit (@ashokepandit) June 7, 2016
Deepak Dobriyal pretty much nailed it with this cool clip.
While lyricist Varun Grover had an interesting suggestion.
Hansal Mehta, who's made films like Shahid and Aligarh which have often courted controversies with the Censor Board said:
What is this I'm hearing about #UdtaPunjab? Makes me very, very angry. Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) June 6, 2016
Can the truth defame a state? #UdtaPunjabCensored Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) June 6, 2016
Delusion or collusion? Why is the establishment so scared of films that mirror reality? #UdtaPunjabCensored Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) June 6, 2016
Nikhil Advani too showed solidarity with Anurag and co.
Are we (censor board) not reading the disclaimer at the beginning of films. It's fictional na? Hmmm.., maybe it isn't? #UdtaPunjabCensored Nikkhil Advani (@nikkhiladvani) June 7, 2016
And so did Soha Ali Khan.
Anyone who says that drugs are not a problem in punjab is either unaware,complicit or has malafide intention #UdtaPunjab@_phoenix_fire_ soha ali khan (@sakpataudi) June 6, 2016
All the love that's been pouring in has made Shahid 'Tommy Singh' Kapoor very, very happy.
While all the support is pretty great and may lead to some change, a Tweet by veteran journalist Shekhar Gupta reminded us of the silence of the biggies.
Advertisement
Also See On HuffPost:
Mark Wilson via Getty Images ARLINGTON, VA - JUNE 06: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, June 6, 2016 in Arlington, Virginia. The Prime Minister will meet with President Barack Obama on June 7. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here today on a three-day visit during which he will hold talks with President Barack Obama to review bilateral ties and address a joint session of the US Congress.
Modi arrived at the Joint Base Andrews from Switzerland where he secured the European nation's support for India's NSG membership ahead of a key meeting of the 48-nation bloc.
Advertisement
Penultimate leg of PM's @narendramodi's journey begins as he arrives in Washington D.C. on a sunny summer afternoon pic.twitter.com/tMMSz8qdKk Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
US Ambassador to India Richard Verma and Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Biswal were among the top officials present at the base to receive Prime Minister Modi.
Modi has a packed schedule here, including the address to a joint session of the US Congress. He will be the fifth Indian Prime Minister to do so. Modi is visiting the US at the invitation of President Obama.
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", a senior US official had said ahead of the meeting.
Advertisement
This is Prime Minister Modi's fourth visit to the US.
"In my meeting with the President on June 7, we will seek to build upon the progress achieved in providing new vigour and momentum to our strategic partnership in diverse areas," Modi had said before departing for his five-nation tour to Afghanistan, Qatar, Switzerland, the US and Mexico.
Modi will begin his US visit by paying tributes at the Arlington National Cemetery. He will then meet heads of a number of American think tanks and will attend an event to repatriate Indian antiquity by the US.
Modi will also address the 40th AGM of the USIBC (US India Business Council) and meet US business leaders.
"India and USA are natural partners, two vibrant democracies that celebrate their diversity and pluralism. Strong India-USA ties benefit not only our two nations but also the entire world," Modi had said.
Advertisement
From the US, Modi will visit Mexico before heading back to India.
Also On HuffPost:
Imeh Akpanudosen via Getty Images HOLLYWOOD, CA - APRIL 08: Director Nagraj Manjule attends the Indian Film Festival Of Los Angeles Opening Night Gala for 'Sold' at ArcLight Cinemas on April 8, 2014 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images)
Filmmaker Nagraj Manjule, who is currently a hot favorite in the Marathi film circuit after the phenomenal success of Sairat, has reportedly had a dark past that is catching up with him even as he scales the heights of professional glory.
While the director has asserted himself as a socially-sensitive filmmaker who is deeply pained by societal evils in several interviews, Manjule's ex-wife has horrific tales to tell of his conduct as a husband, as per various reports that were kick-started by one in the Marathi newspaper Lokmat, published roughly a fortnight ago.
Advertisement
In an interview with The Quint, Sunita Manjule described a marital life filled with strife, abuse, and most of all, neglect and abandonment. Manjule said she was married to the director when he was studying in the 12th standard and went to live with his family in Solapur.
Irony doesn't get darker than this. One of the most appealing factors about Sairat has been its strong lead female character (essayed by Rinku Rajguru), who rides a bike to the college, a tractor on the farm, and also takes complete charge of the relationship.
In a recent interview with The Hindu, Manjule had said:
Sunita further says that she was left to take care of her husband's 'large family' and would make sure she was the 'perfect wife.'
Advertisement
While she was busy taking care of the family, Nagraj went on to pursue his film career and enrolled himself in a film institute in Ahmednagar.
While she 'overlooked' her marital woes, Sunita's will power reached a breaking point when Nagraj's debut Marathi film, Fandry, won the National Award. While the whole family was headed to Delhi to be a part of the ceremony, Sunita alleges that she was locked up in the house.
"Not only did they go without me, they also locked me inside the house while they were leaving. I didnt know what to do. I was at a loss for words. The husband I knew slowly vanished into the filmmaker. Whenever he would come, he would get his friends, sometimes male sometimes female, along. I would cook, serve and be the best host possible. But he would never even acknowledge my presence in front of his friends."
Sunita reveals that the couple filed for a divorce in 2012 and she was paid Rs 7 lakhs in a settlement.
Sunita now works as a maid in several households to support herself and her ailing parents.
She also said her big regret is not having any children, something she eagerly wanted to have with Nagraj. Whenever she raised the question of keeping the child, Nagraj would beat her up and make her abort.
Advertisement
"He made me go for 2-3 abortions, and whenever I raised my voice for keeping the child, he thrashed me, with his bare hands, leather belt and sometimes, a log of wood."
HuffPost India attempted to get in touch with Nagraj Manjule for a comment, but his phone was unavailable and, later, switched off. He also did not respond to text messages.
Read the full interview here.
Also See On HuffPost:
The India Today Group via Getty Images MUMBAI, INDIA NOVEMBER 16: Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone during the promotion of their movie Ram-Leela in Mumbai.(Photo by Milind Shelte/India Today Group/Getty Images)
Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone have spent the past few months away from one another, literally living in different continents.
While he's been holed up in Paris for Aditya Chopra's Befikre, she's been occupied with her Hollywood debut, XxX: The Return Of Xander Cage.
Advertisement
The need to spend some time together is but a natural outcome of constant longing.
According to a report in Mumbai Mirror, the Bajirao Mastani (2015) actors are planning an eight-day European getaway and this time, they intend to take their respective families along.
Recently, there was news about Singh's growing friendship with Victoria's Secret model Julie Ordon, that triggered rumours about differences between his steady date Deepika, but the whole episode was later dismissed as a yet-another lover's tiff.
Always finding time to make his ladylove feel special, Singh even went all the way to Canada to spend Valentines' Day with Padukone.
His ladylove returned the gesture as she dropped by Paris, about a fortnight ago, to be with her boyfriend before heading to Budapest to shoot for a special number in Homi Adajania's Raabta.
Advertisement
The couple is expected to leave after Ranveer wraps up his Befikre shoot in July. Meanwhile, Padukone is already in Mumbai and is finishing meetings with filmmakers about her next set of assignments.
Contact HuffPost India
Also see on HuffPost:
YouTube/Screenshot
At a time when a spate of attacks on Africans in India have caused widespread outrage, former Goa Chief Minister Ravi Naik has come up with a bizarre suggestion.
Naik, a senior Congress leader, called for a ban by the Central government on Nigerians from entering India.
Advertisement
Referring to Nigerians with the pejorative "negroes", the senior Congress leader also told reporters that Nigerians have been causing "problems" in Goa and other parts of the country.
"The government of India should ban them. They should be probed. It should be checked whether they are here to study or for picnic or to sell drugs," said Naik, who has also served as the home minister in the erstwhile Congress-led coalition government in Goa.
Naik demanded that Nigerian students staying illegally and indulging in illegal activities in Goa must be screened for documents and deported immediately.
"Nigerians come here and do 'dadagriri' in Delhi, Bengaluru and the entire country. We should chase the Nigerians out of here. Have they come here to study? Are they really studying? Are they really going to college, schools? Are they really going to bogus schools or bogus typing schools, this has to be probed. It is very important," Naik said on the sidelines of a press conference.
Advertisement
On 20 May, a Congolese national, Masonda Ketada Oliver, was beaten to death in a brawl in Delhi's Vasant Kunj neighbourhood. A week later, at least seven people hailing from Africa were allegedly attacked in three separate incidents in Rajpur Khurd village, in Delhi's Chhatarpur neighbourhood.
Last week, the Delhi High Court expressed anguish over the recent attacks on Africans in the national capital.
"There is a let up from crime against women. Now Delhi is becoming racist. There have been attacks on African nationals. We do not know what is happening in the city," a bench of justices BD Ahmed and RK Gauba observed.
"We can only express anguish, you (government) are the executive, you will have to implement the directions given by the court," the bench further said while expressing concern that "public was taking law into their hands" and there was a need for the government to take appropriate steps.
Although there have been many reports about alleged racist remarks and attacks on Africans, the government has said all such incidents cannot be termed as racist.
Advertisement
Also See On HuffPost:
Samsung
Is your phone too big for your pocket? Now you just might be able to fold it.
Help may soon be at hand if you prefer a phone with a robust screen size, that can never slip comfortably into your pockets. According to some reports, Samsung will be launching a smartphone with a folding display in 2017. The size of the phone will be 5 inches but it will have an 8-inch folding display.
A report from Bloomberg suggests that the phone might be launched early next year at the Mobile World Congress which is held at Barcelona, Spain. The device will use an organic LED technology for its display. Samsung has showed off this concept already in CES 2013.
Advertisement
"If you make a working, bendable phone then its a massive market. If theyre going to release it commercially this year Id be thoroughly impressed. If you have a low-resolution black and white screen that is not terribly reliable, then thats not a commercial prospect," Arvind Vijayaraghava, a researcher at Manchester University told Bloomberg.
Samsung is running the project under the code name, Project Valley. According to sources, the company plans to launch two devices eventually. It is unclear whether both devices will be launched at the MWC next year. Samsung executive told Bloomberg that the display folds in half like a cosmetic compact.
Advertisement
Mobile maker Oppo showed off a bendable phone in May. And, another Chinese company called Moxi also demonstrated a working model of a bendable smartphone with a black and white display.
Maciej Frolow via Getty Images Female robot head with connected cables and glow of light in the background. Illustration symbolising artificial intelligence.
The future is uncertain. At least for the 3,000 software engineers whose tasks are about to be replaced by an artificial intelligence (AI) tool at Wipro.
Mints Varun Sood reports that Wipro is all set to use Holmes, its artificial intelligence wizard to automate certain projects and this, in turn, will free up 3,000 engineers from "mundane" software maintenance jobs. This step is expected to save the company about $46.5 million as it tries to strengthen profitability in what is becoming an increasingly uncertain environment for outsourcing companies. Wipro also plans to sell this artificial intelligence tool to new and existing clients this year and earn anywhere between $60 million to $70 million, according to the report.
Advertisement
The AI platform will be deployed at the companys fixed-price projects, which employ about 30,000 people. Wipro has a workforce of 110,000. The company controls how many people it deploys for these fixed-price projects in exchange for a set fee.
Hyper-automation is one of the six themes [CEO Abidali Neemuchwala] has outlined," a Wipro executive told Mint. Another executive who has been briefed about the development said, "We will move out 1,300 engineers from on-site [fixed price contracts] and about 2,000 people from off-site this year.
Wipro isnt the only Indian outsourcing company to use artificial intelligence. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) and Infosys Ltd have their own AI platforms, called Ignio and Mana respectively, in the works. Indian outsourcing companies are under pressure to boost their revenue streams and better differentiate their offerings in a competitive market for IT services.
Holmes, or heuristics and ontology-based learning machines and experiential systems can perform tasks more efficiently as compared to its human counterparts, while minimising errors. One of the tasks Holmes is expected to do is help banks process loans more efficiently.
Advertisement
Artificial intelligence platforms can automate many repetitive tasks and can potentially be deployed for several data-oriented jobs. Their increasing use has prompted anxiety whether many jobs will be lost to these platforms.
Speaking about AI recently, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak said, If a computer is 100 times better than our brain, will it make the world perfect? Probably not, it will probably end up just like us, fighting."
In a more doomsday-like prediction, historian, lecturer and author Yuval Noah Harari has said that intelligent robots will lead to the rise of the useless class of humans, and become one of the most dire threats of the 21st century, potentially replacing human jobs.
Advertisement
Contact HuffPost India
Also see on HuffPost:
Vikas Swarup/Twitter
The United States has returned over 200 pieces of rare artefacts to India, coinciding with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the country.
The artefacts, which range from an idol of the Hindu god Ganesha to a figure of the Jain deity Bahubali, were reportedly stolen from museums and temples over the years and then smuggled into the US, says an India Today article.
Advertisement
Expressing his gratitude at the return of the ancient treasures, the Prime Minister told IANS: "We are very grateful to the government of the US and the President for returning a part of our culture. This heritage inspires us for the future. Usually it's the present that brings nations together, but sometimes it's the heritage that brings two nations closer. Over the past two years, various countries have endeavoured to return India's stolen cultural heritage."
A focus on heritage & culture...I thank the US government for the return of precious cultural artefacts to India. pic.twitter.com/9mxjtEU527 Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 7, 2016
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted:
PM @narendramodi : People are attracted to India for its ancient civilisation. We have towns dating back 5000 years pic.twitter.com/nCpiFCli4S Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
PM @narendramodi :There treasures are to be enjoyed by the entire world. Technology can help us catch those indulging in illicit trafficking Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
PM: My gratitude to the US Govt for the sensitivity shown to India's heritage. This will evoke great respect among the people of India Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
On Monday, Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain presented the International Insurance Award (Julio Castelo Matran) to Ohio Insurance Institute (OII) for its substantial and groundbreaking contribution to the insurance sector.The award was one of many presented at the Fundacion MAPFRE's 2015 Awards, an event that recognizes individuals and institutions for outstanding contributions to society. OII is the first U.S. organization to receive an award from the prestigious event since its inception in 2007.The Julio Castelo Matran award includes a prize of 30,000 euros.It was OIIs launch of www.insurancecareers.org in 2012 that caught the attention of MAPFRE's jury. The website, a part of OIIs Insurance Careers program, helped connect job seekers with industry professionals. It has helped promote employment among students, military veterans and professionals looking to shift gears in their careers.The websites adaptability to other countries and its capacity to tackle Ohios pressing insurance employment needs was what won the jury over."We believe that to effectuate change and inspire others to join the burgeoning career field within the insurance industry, one must educate job seekers on the key tenets of how insurance is more than simply numbers on a sheet of paper, but a safeguard that truly helps people during what is often one of the most difficult experiences they will encounter," remarked OII Director of Government Relations Jeff Anthony as he received the award on behalf of the organization."With Ohio's insurance industry facing an increasing demand to fill over 26,000 jobs by 2020, we are aware of the challenge and excited about the opportunity to educate and inspire the next generation on the great opportunities within the industry," Anthony added.OIIs website was developed following Ohio Governor John Kasichs arranging of a CEO Insurance Education Taskforce in 2011to determine current and future workforce needs for the states insurance sectorconsidered one of the states largest employment and economic contributors."Because of OII's long-standing commitment to educating youth on insurance and safety matters, an insurance careers initiative was a natural extension for our association," said OII president and Governor's Insurance Education Taskforce representative Dan Kelso.
Small independent agents and brokers struggle every day to keep up with the big players, yet they also have advantages over the big players, chief among them that they are not corporate, but instead have the chance to cultivate and promote a main street vibe.Whether literally occupying a street front office in a small town or not, independent agents have the opportunity to understand local markets and make a name for themselves that cannot be matched by someone working for a national brand.They (national brands) cannot provide the personalized, hands-on service that a local independent insurance agent can provide, writes Riley Simmons in a blog post at ezlynx.com. EZLynx provides insurance businesses with marketing and technology products and services.The key value proposition IAs bring to the distribution channel is to provide customers both choice of providers and advocacy within them, said Brady Polansky, VP of agency relations for EZLynx. This is where technology innovators like EZLynx really benefit IAs by providing a single platform to integrate quotes and policies from hundreds of carriers, while providing a dashboard for how each carrier is performing in the marketplace.Rather than building a system to record what has already transpired, EZLynxs patented innovations tell the IAs what to do next, said Polansky. With respect to policy retention, for example, IAs who follow our renewal process see an average of an 8 point improvement in PIF retention. The best part of retention improvement like this is the money falls directly to the bottom line while also increasing the IAs EBITDA valuation. In other words, they get paid more now, and they get paid more later.The blog emphasizes that while small independent agencies probably cannot compete nationally for SEO with terms like auto insurance they may be able to do very well with terms such as auto insurance agents near Dallas, TX, and that optimizing their websites to attract local traffic can make a huge difference.Simmons also advises the obvious but often overlooked marketing strategies of on the ground networking, meeting other local professionals in complementary businesses such as law and accounting, and attending networking events.He writes that agents also need to communicate continually with clients, checking in to make sure they are happy with their coverage on a regular basis, not just at renewal time. The more yearly touches, the better chance youll keep a customer for life, he writes. We all know its cheaper to retain a customer than to acquire a new customer, but we rarely take the steps necessary to achieve a high retention rate.Sometimes success really is as simple as just doing all the things you already know you should do.
China wants to be a global center of insurance excellence and plans to launch its own insurance market to rival other international players.That launch looks like it will take place this weekend (June 12) according to a report in the South China Morning Post.The Shanghai-based insurance market will offer trading facilities and services for reinsurance, shipping and specialty lines with the aim of becoming a major global player in financial services by 2020.It will mean a strengthening of Chinas insurance regulations and standards to bring domestic insurers up to international standards. Authorities have been tightening restrictions on foreign insurers in recent months.The insurance industry could play a major role in ending illegal fishing according to a new academic study.The cost to the global economy of rogue fishing vessels is estimated at between $10 to $20 billion a year and the ability of illegal operators to get insurance is supporting the problem.The University of British Columbia Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries study, reported by Phys.org, suggests that insurers could help by checking a list of illegal vessels before issuing insurance."Insurers should take the simple step of consulting IUU fishing vessel lists to make sure that these notorious and well-known ships are refused insurance, said co-author Dana Miller.Financial institutions being hit by cyber crime is inevitable because its not what the internet was made for. Thats according to a leading cyber expert who told CNBC: "The internet was never designed to be secure.the criminals have taken advantage of the weaknesses which are inherent in this kind of network of networks.Professor Sir David Omand, Commissioner at the Global Commission on Internet Governance said Monday that the big challenge is to make the internet secure, especially as the Internet of Things spreads, creating greater vulnerability.
A Riverside County grand jury has indicted seven Southern California residents who have allegedly defrauded insurance companies for $98 million in workers compensation claims, reported The Press Enterprise.The indictments are anticipated to lead to prosecution against the defendants. A number of the defendants were charged back in 2014, but have yet to face a preliminary hearing. With the indictment, however, prosecutors can bypass the preliminary hearing and put the accused on trial.According to the Riverside County District Attorneys Office, chiropractor and Riverside native Peyman Heidary, 45, hatched a workers' compensation fraud ring that involved various clinics in Riverside, Orange and Los Angeles counties; this racket defrauded 18 insurers.Prosecutors say that of the $98 million billed since 2009, at least $12.4 million was paid out.Heidary instructed his employees to purposely conduct batteries of unnecessary tests including MRIs and sleep studies with the intent of billing insurance companies an amount well beyond what was medically necessary or indicted, authorities claimed in a court document seeking steeper bail and a hearing in an attempt to prevent the defendants to post bail with allegedly stolen money.The court documents further elaborated that the fraud ring would present inflated bills to the insurers of the patients employers. If an insurer refused to pay a bill, it can face a lien and fines from the state. Desperate companies might have settled the illegal bills or liens to avoid paying for fines.The grand jury handed down two indictments. The first replaces the 2014, and names Heidary and three other accomplices. They face a combined total of 69 felony counts including conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, making a false insurance claim, making a false statement for the purpose of obtaining workers compensation benefits, money laundering, practicing medicine without a license, and capping; plus one misdemeanor count of unlicensed practice of law.The second indictment charges three other accomplices who were medical providers employed by Heidary with 38 felony counts, including conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, making a false insurance claim, making a false statement for the purpose of obtaining workers' compensation benefits and capping.Heidary faces up to 97 years and 4 months in state prison if he is convicted as charged. His six accomplices each face up to 63 years and 4 months in state prison.The defendants will appear for arraignment on Tuesday, June 7, in Riverside County Superior Court.
Adams-Cheshire Preparing To Discuss Closing A School
CHESHIRE, Mass. The two elementary schools in the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District will be studied this summer to determine whether one should be closed.
School Committee member Edmund St. John IV asked Chairman Paul Butler on Monday when they will start serious discussions about possibly closing a school.
"As we are going into the summer I would like to see if we could start setting up discussion regarding plans about possibly closing a school," he said. "It is on a lot peoples minds and I'd love to not see this left alone."
Butler agreed and said Adams had secured grant funds to hire the Collins Center of te University of Massachusetts at Boston to survey both schools and provide information that will better inform the committee of which school to close.
St. John said it might be worthwhile just to have community meetings at which people can voice their opinions.
"I think a lot of people would like to see events where we may not have a plan or numbers, but just a place for them to voice their opinions," St. John said.
School Committee member Regina Hill reported that there were few technological hiccups during the recent computerized Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers standardized test.
Butler agreed.
"I had a walk-through at the high school with PARCC ... and it's overwhelming, but it looked like all the schools were able to pull together and it went as good as it could have," he said.
Both agreed that the test would have been impossible without the laptops Adams and Cheshire purchased for the schools last year.
We work towards an equitable,
gender-just, self-reliant and
sustainable fisheries,
particularly in the small-scale,
artisanal sector
We work towards an equitable,
gender-just, self-reliant and
sustainable fisheries,
particularly in the small-scale,
artisanal sector
We work towards an equitable,
gender-just, self-reliant and
sustainable fisheries,
particularly in the small-scale,
artisanal sector
We work towards an equitable,
gender-just, self-reliant and
sustainable fisheries,
particularly in the small-scale,
artisanal sector
Video Games May Be Associated With Better Cognitive Performance in Children, Finds Study
Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Kerry Washington says that shes previously been fired from two television pilots for not sounding more like a girlfriend and not being hood or urban or enough.
Before Scandal, I was actually cast in two other pilots. Both went to series, but I was fired and recast, Washington told Variety. For both, it was because they wanted me to sound more girlfriend, more like hood, more urban.
Washington sat down with Variety in an interview with comedian Aziz Ansari, who also shared his own experiences with racist casting producers.
A lot of other minority actors have told me, Oh, this so rings a bell when you go into an audition room and you see a bunch of people that look like you and you just start feeling like, Oh Im not here (for me), Im here because I fit what looks like the person they want in here, Ansari said.
The firings ultimately led Washington to pursue the role as Olivia Pope in Shonda Rhimes' hit series Scandal, which is now in its fifth season 89 episodes later.
Washington added, "I definitely feel like Im at that point where its nice to not have to sit at home and wait to be invited to the party, but to be creating work for yourself."
Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Studio Ghibli hires male directors because they tend to have a more idealistic approach to fantasy than women.
Producer Yoshiaki Nishimura attempted to explain the Japanese animation studios lack of women when asked whether it will ever shake up its gender balance during a Guardian interview.
It depends on what kind of a film it would be, he said. Unlike live action, with animation we have to simplify the real world. Women tend to be more realistic and manage day-to-day lives very well. Men on the other hand tend to be more idealistic - and fantasy films need that idealistic approach. I dont think its a coincidence men are picked.
Despite such gender stereotyping, Studio Ghibli is known for pushing complex and inspiring female characters to the forefront of its movies. Latest release When Marine Was There follows the story of an androgynous 12-year-old girl who is brilliant at drawing and has never fitted in while San, the lead character of the classic Princess Mononoke, was raised by wolves to become a powerful female warrior. Then of course there was the fierce princess Nausicaa from 1984s Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.
Studio Ghibli's feature films Show all 20 1 /20 Studio Ghibli's feature films Studio Ghibli's feature films Princess Mononoke 1997 Studio Ghibli's feature films Castle in the Sky 1986 Studio Ghibli's feature films Grave of the Fireflies 1988 Studio Ghibli's feature films My Neighbor Totoro 1988 Studio Ghibli's feature films Kiki's Delivery Service 1989 Studio Ghibli's feature films Only Yesterday 1991 Studio Ghibli's feature films Porco Rosso 1992 Studio Ghibli's feature films Pom Poko 1994 Studio Ghibli's feature films Whisper of the Heart 1995 Studio Ghibli's feature films My Neighbors the Yamadas 1999 Studio Ghibli's feature films Spirited Away 2001 Studio Ghibli Studio Ghibli's feature films The Cat Returns 2002 Studio Ghibli's feature films Howl's Moving Castle 2004 Studio Ghibli's feature films Tales from Earthsea 2006 Studio Ghibli's feature films Ponyo 2008 Studio Ghibli's feature films Arrietty 2010 Studio Ghibli's feature films From Up on Poppy Hill 2011 Studio Ghibli's feature films The Wind Rises 2013 Studio Ghibli's feature films The Tale of Princess Kaguya 2013 Studio Ghibli's feature films When Marnie Was There 2014
The studios legendary director Hayao Miyazaki retired in 2014 but made his attitude towards female characters clear in 2013. Many of my movies have strong female leads - brave, self-sufficient girls that dont think twice about fighting for what they believe in with all their heart, he said. Theyll need a friend, or a supporter, but never a saviour. Any woman is just as capable of being a hero as any man.
Perhaps its time that Miyazakis successors, including Nishimura and director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, had similar faith in women working in film, although with Studio Ghibli struggling financially with the cost of making hand-drawn animation it sadly remains to be seen whether there will be any new directors at all.
The slim-down process has begun, Nishimura said. There is no in-house production at the moment.
When Marnie Was There arrives in UK cinemas on 10 June.
Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Whether or not Swiss Army Man, and Daniel Radcliffe's majestic performance within as a farting corpse, becomes an indie hit; there's no doubting it's had quite the journey to screen.
A thrill ride from its Sundance premiere, which sparked audience walkouts due to its fart-heavy content, to its inventive promotional campaign; which has offered fans the chance to play with Daniel Radcliffe's corpse, as well as take selfies with live Daniel Radcliffe next to dead Daniel Radcliffe.
The film sees Paul Dano as a young man stranded on a deserted island, about to end it all before he spots a flatulent corpse (Radcliffe) lying on the beach, utilising his gas to propel himself to the mainland before embarking on an adventure through the wilderness with his newfound companion.
And, unsurprisingly, it had a production just as a delightfully bizarre as everything that's happened since. Speaking to GQ, Radcliffe revealed how the shots of Dano's character riding Radcliffe's corpse to shore, powered by farts, were achieved; a sequence which can be glimpsed in the film's trailer.
"Jason Haima, who's our makeup chief... he made a prosthetic, uh, butt that had a pipe in it that you could blow air through," the actor stated. "So that's how that worked. I don't wear the prosthetic butt. The prosthetic butt is cast and modeled on my butt, and then they film on that one really close in."
Which, yes, did involve getting a butt mould done. "You have to get your d*ck and balls out of the way," Radcliffe notes. "It involved covering me in a sort of liquid that then turns to a solid. It's actually not too bad on the hairs, but you do want to keep your junk out of the way."
Another sure mystery for audiences will, of course, be the audio source of all those farts. Apparently not from Radcliffe, as he jokes: "I definitely can't fart on cue. That is beyond me. They were all done later."
"The directors basically announced if anyone wanted to just go over to the sound recordist, Steve, and fart, he would record it and they would try and put it in the movie. I think they only ended up with, like, two, one from Paul Dano and then I believe our editor has a good one in there as well."
Radcliffe also spoke a little about the severity of reaction to the film, and his own confusion on the numerous Sundance walkouts. "The farting didn't even enter my head as being a weird thing," he said. "I was really quite taken aback when we sound mastered it and it caused such a weird reaction in some people. I can understand it being not for everyone, but controversial? It's not like we're making a massive racist remark. It was very strange to me but also kind of entertaining."
"I remember there was one tweetI'm not on Twitter. I don't get involved," he continued. "But I did get sucked in over that period, and there was one tweet that did get under my skin, because it was a guy that was all p*ssed off. He hashtagged one of his tweets #makebettermovies, which I was just like, f*ckingit's from a man who's never made a movie! The sh*ttiest film you've ever seen has had such f*cking hard work put into it! You can't say sh*t like that."
Swiss Army Man hits US cinemas 1 July, with a UK release date yet to be announced.
Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Netflix went to great lengths to point out how many shows it has eligible for the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards this week, mailing voters DVDs of every episode from more than 26 Netflix original series.
The stunt, which Netflix declined to comment on, was clearly designed to illustrate how major a player the service is if thought of in the way a traditional TV network is.
The giant box sets were sent to the Television Academys 19,000+ members, who usually only get a couple of episodes from key shows, and apparently weighed 20 pounds each. According to Variety, the whole thing cost Netflix $1 million.
Obviously theyre trying to make a statement, but its a little bit over the top, said one studio executive and Academy member.
Thus far, only two Netflix original series have managed to ensnare Emmys - House of Cards, with five awards, and Orange is the New Black, with four.
Sign up to IndyEat's free newsletter for weekly recipes, foodie features and cookbook releases Get our Now Hear This email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
IndyEats email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
People throwing dinner parties should avoid serving wine from large glasses to prevent their guests drinking them out of house and home, new research suggests.
Experts have found that consuming wine from a larger glass leads to people drinking more.
Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of Bristol examined drinking habits of revellers at a restaurant with a bar in Cambridge over a 16-week period.
Recommended Read more Drinks expert makes a surprising revelation about red wine
Wine could be purchased by the glass and was served in different sized glasses. The size of the glasses were changed at fortnightly intervals, alternating between the standard 300ml size, a larger 370ml glass and smaller 250ml glasses.
The researchers found that the volume of wine purchased daily was 9.4 per cent higher when sold in larger glasses compared to standard-sized glasses, according to the study which had been published in the journal BMC Public Health.
UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 New Conservative Party leader and incoming prime minister Rishi Sunak waves as he leaves from Conservative Party Headquarters in central London having been announced as the winner of the Conservative Party leadership contest AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2022 Visitors at the PoliNations garden in Victoria Square, Birmingham, which is made up of five 40ft high tree installations and over 6,000 plants. The PoliNations programme aims to explore how migration and cross-pollination have shaped the UKs gardens and culture PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2022 Undergraduates at the University of St Andrews take part in the traditional Pier Walk along the harbour walls of St Andrews before the start of the new academic year PA
But the authors said the findings were inconclusive as to whether sales were different with smaller compared to standard-sized glasses.
We found that increasing the size of wine glasses, even without increasing the amount of wine, leads people to drink more, said Dr Rachel Pechey from the Behaviour and Health Research Unit at Cambridge.
It's not obvious why this should be the case, but one reason may be that larger glasses change our perceptions of the amount of wine, leading us to drink faster and order more.
But it's interesting that we didn't see the opposite effect when we switched to smaller wine glasses.
Professor Theresa Marteau, director of the unit, added: This suggests that avoiding the use of larger wine glasses could reduce the amount that people drink.
We need more research to confirm this effect, but if it is the case, then we will need to think how this might be implemented. For example, could it be an alcohol licensing requirements that all wine glasses have to be below a certain size?
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Noel Edmonds has prompted criticism for suggesting a cancer patients illness was caused by his negative attitude.
The 67-year-old presenter posted a tweet with a photo of a Swiss-made EMP pad, claiming the device slowed the ageing process, reduced pain, lifted depression and stress and addressed cancer.
Vaun Earl, whose Twitter bio says he is ill with kidney cancer, lymph node metastases and psoriatic arthritis, criticised the device and called it quackery.
I think Noel Edmonds should stick to what he's good at. Presenting quiz shows and beard trimming, rather than curing cancer, Earl wrote on Twitter.
Edmonds responded to Earl by suggested that his ill health was caused by his negative attitude.
Earl told The Independent he did not condone any of the personal attacks being carried out on Edmonds for his remarks.
"I have no statement to make other than what was said on Twitter earlier," Earl said. "I don't condone any personal attacks on Noel."
The company EMPpad has distanced itself from Edmonds and has said they do not agree with his comments "in any way, shape or form."
"The EMPpad Omnium1 and EMPpad iMRS use very low intensity and frequency pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) which target the cells within the body and help to improve the way they function," the company said in a statement. "Research has demonstrated that this can lead to widespread health benefits, including supporting an effective immune response and a healthy overall body."
People news in pictures Show all 18 1 /18 People news in pictures People news in pictures 7 October 2015 Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in an ice hockey match between former NHL stars and officials at the Shayba Arena in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Vladimir Putin spent his 63rd birthday on the ice, playing hockey with NHL stars against Russian officials and tycoons EPA People news in pictures 6 October 2015 German designer Karl Lagerfeld (R) and model Cara Delevingne (C) appear at the end of his Spring/Summer 2016 women's ready-to-wear collection for fashion house Chanel at the Grand Palais which is transformed into a Chanel airport during the Fashion Week in Paris, France Reuters People news in pictures 5 October 2015 Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne addresses the Conservative party conference in Manchester. The Chancellor argued that reducing the payments to people in low paid jobs would give them economic security by reducing the Governments spending deficit Getty Images People news in pictures 4 October 2015 Cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston takes a moment in the centre of the field with his daughter Frankie Thurston, holding dark-skinned doll, after winning the 2015 NRL Grand Final match between the Brisbane Broncos and the North Queensland Cowboys at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The image quickly became the talking point of Australias National Rugby League Final and provoked a strong reaction on social media, with many praising Thurston for giving his child a toy that promotes inclusiveness and diversity Getty Images People news in pictures 3 October 2015 Pope Francis gives a thumbs-up as he greets people at the end of an audience to the participants of a meeting organized by the "Food Bank" at the Paul VI audience hall in Vatican Getty Images People news in pictures 2 October 2015 Britain's Finance Minister George Osborne (L) throws an American football as he meets with former American football players Dan Marino (2nd R) and Curtis Martin (not pictured) at 11 Downing Street in London, ahead of the New York Jets playing against the Miami Dolphins at London's Wembley Stadium on 4 October Getty Images People news in pictures 1 October 2015 An honor guard opens the door as Russian President Vladimir Putin enters a hall to attend a meeting with members of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia People news in pictures 30 September 2015 Former Mrs America Lisa Christie, who alleges misconduct by Bill Cosby, holds up photos of her younger self during a news conference at the law office of attorney Gloria Allred in Los Angeles People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Matt Damon has defended himself against claims that he instructed gay actors to remain in the closet. He had said I think youre a better actor the less people know about you and sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether youre straight or gay, people shouldnt know anything about your sexuality but an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show said, I was just trying to say actors are more effective when theyre a mystery. Right? Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Marion Cotillard has said that there is no place for feminism in Hollywood. Speaking to Porter magazine, she saidFilm-making is not about gender/ You cannot ask a president in a festival like Cannes to have, like, five movies directed by women and five by men. For me it doesnt create equality, it creates separation. I mean, I dont qualify myself as a feminist." Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Paul Walkers daughter, Meadow, is suing Porsche over her fathers death in a lawsuit that claims he was trapped in the burning car because of design flaws and the seat belt. The Fast and Furious star was killed when the Porsche Carrera GT he was a passenger in hit a pole in California in 2013. The driver, his friend Roger Rodas, also died when the vehicle burst into flames. AP People news in pictures 28 September 2015 Robert Mugabe waits to address the United Nations General Assembly. The leader of Zimbabwe reportedly exclaimed 'We are not gay!' as he criticised Western nation's "double standards and attempts to prescribe new rights that are contrary to our values, norms, traditions and beliefs. In 2013 he described homosexuals as worse than pigs, goats and birds. Reuters People news in pictures 28 September 2015 South African comedian Trevor Noah hosts the first 'Daily Show' since taking over from Jon Stewart as host. Stewart had presented the US satirical news show since 1999 and was described by Noah during the show as a 'Political father' 2015 Getty Images People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Sir Elton John may have received a phone call from the real Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin's spokesman announced he had made contact weeks after the singer was duped by pranksters pretending to be the Russian President. Getty People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Actor Leonardo DiCaprio was mistakenly declared as the artist who produced the Mona Lisa by Fox News anchor Shepard Smith. It was in fact Leonardo da Vinci. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 A new biography claims Donald Trump expected to be dead by 40 and never marry. The Guardian says the a new book also claims that in 1980, Mr Trump manufactured a fake vice-president of his real estate conglomerate, whom he called John Baron. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 The Dalai Lama has said that Britain's policy towards China is just about 'Money, money, money.' And asked 'Where is morality?' People news in pictures 24 September 2015 Puff Daddy secured the number-one spot on the Forbes Hip Hop Cash Kings list, with the publication calculating he made an estimated $60million (39m) between June 2014 and June 2015.
"Although research using very low frequency and intensity PEMF to help address cancer has produced some promising early results, it is currently in the very early stages and EMPpad does not make the claim that PEMF therapy can prevent cancer," they added.
"The opinions of Mr Noel Edmonds are his alone and do not reflect in any way with the opinions of us at EMPpad. We had no discussion, input or prior knowledge of the content of Mr Edmonds statement and we do not agree with it in any way, shape or form."
Edmonds has come under heavy criticism for his remarks on social media.
Comedian Al Murray said it was a horrible thing for Edmonds to say and mocked the presenter by posting a photograph of a box from his game show Deal Or No Deal.
I must say I liked Noel Edmonds in the 1980's, but unfortunately he didn't stay there, wrote one Twitter user. While another said, Please don't abuse the public and particularly those in need of real answers with this kind of b*****s.
"My mother died of pancreatic cancer. She was the most positive person I've ever met who would help anybody, clown," wrote another.
Professor Jane Maher, Joint Chief Medical Officer of Macmillan Cancer Support, told The Independent patients should not feel pressured to feel positive after their diagnosis.
Cancer and its treatment can be a very scary experience, making some people feel helpless and too tired to be positive," Maher said. "But that does not mean they cant also survive their disease."
Some patients tell us that having a positive attitude helps them when coping but we also know that a positive attitude means different things to different people and there should be no pressure on anyone to feel or act in a certain way."
If you are feeling anxious or depressed, you dont have to go through it alone," she continued. "Its really important that you do talk to your, doctor, nurse or someone close to you about your feelings."
A spokesperson for Edmonds did not immediately respond to request for comment.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
American journalist and The Today Show co-host Savannah Guthrie says she's pregnant and will be skipping the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro because of the Zika virus.
Guthrie made the announcement on the NBC program on Tuesday morning and cited doctors advice in deciding to skip the Olympics.
NBC had announced in April that Guthrie would co-host the opening ceremony of the Rio Games on 5 August.
People news in pictures Show all 18 1 /18 People news in pictures People news in pictures 7 October 2015 Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in an ice hockey match between former NHL stars and officials at the Shayba Arena in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Vladimir Putin spent his 63rd birthday on the ice, playing hockey with NHL stars against Russian officials and tycoons EPA People news in pictures 6 October 2015 German designer Karl Lagerfeld (R) and model Cara Delevingne (C) appear at the end of his Spring/Summer 2016 women's ready-to-wear collection for fashion house Chanel at the Grand Palais which is transformed into a Chanel airport during the Fashion Week in Paris, France Reuters People news in pictures 5 October 2015 Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne addresses the Conservative party conference in Manchester. The Chancellor argued that reducing the payments to people in low paid jobs would give them economic security by reducing the Governments spending deficit Getty Images People news in pictures 4 October 2015 Cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston takes a moment in the centre of the field with his daughter Frankie Thurston, holding dark-skinned doll, after winning the 2015 NRL Grand Final match between the Brisbane Broncos and the North Queensland Cowboys at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The image quickly became the talking point of Australias National Rugby League Final and provoked a strong reaction on social media, with many praising Thurston for giving his child a toy that promotes inclusiveness and diversity Getty Images People news in pictures 3 October 2015 Pope Francis gives a thumbs-up as he greets people at the end of an audience to the participants of a meeting organized by the "Food Bank" at the Paul VI audience hall in Vatican Getty Images People news in pictures 2 October 2015 Britain's Finance Minister George Osborne (L) throws an American football as he meets with former American football players Dan Marino (2nd R) and Curtis Martin (not pictured) at 11 Downing Street in London, ahead of the New York Jets playing against the Miami Dolphins at London's Wembley Stadium on 4 October Getty Images People news in pictures 1 October 2015 An honor guard opens the door as Russian President Vladimir Putin enters a hall to attend a meeting with members of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia People news in pictures 30 September 2015 Former Mrs America Lisa Christie, who alleges misconduct by Bill Cosby, holds up photos of her younger self during a news conference at the law office of attorney Gloria Allred in Los Angeles People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Matt Damon has defended himself against claims that he instructed gay actors to remain in the closet. He had said I think youre a better actor the less people know about you and sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether youre straight or gay, people shouldnt know anything about your sexuality but an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show said, I was just trying to say actors are more effective when theyre a mystery. Right? Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Marion Cotillard has said that there is no place for feminism in Hollywood. Speaking to Porter magazine, she saidFilm-making is not about gender/ You cannot ask a president in a festival like Cannes to have, like, five movies directed by women and five by men. For me it doesnt create equality, it creates separation. I mean, I dont qualify myself as a feminist." Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Paul Walkers daughter, Meadow, is suing Porsche over her fathers death in a lawsuit that claims he was trapped in the burning car because of design flaws and the seat belt. The Fast and Furious star was killed when the Porsche Carrera GT he was a passenger in hit a pole in California in 2013. The driver, his friend Roger Rodas, also died when the vehicle burst into flames. AP People news in pictures 28 September 2015 Robert Mugabe waits to address the United Nations General Assembly. The leader of Zimbabwe reportedly exclaimed 'We are not gay!' as he criticised Western nation's "double standards and attempts to prescribe new rights that are contrary to our values, norms, traditions and beliefs. In 2013 he described homosexuals as worse than pigs, goats and birds. Reuters People news in pictures 28 September 2015 South African comedian Trevor Noah hosts the first 'Daily Show' since taking over from Jon Stewart as host. Stewart had presented the US satirical news show since 1999 and was described by Noah during the show as a 'Political father' 2015 Getty Images People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Sir Elton John may have received a phone call from the real Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin's spokesman announced he had made contact weeks after the singer was duped by pranksters pretending to be the Russian President. Getty People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Actor Leonardo DiCaprio was mistakenly declared as the artist who produced the Mona Lisa by Fox News anchor Shepard Smith. It was in fact Leonardo da Vinci. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 A new biography claims Donald Trump expected to be dead by 40 and never marry. The Guardian says the a new book also claims that in 1980, Mr Trump manufactured a fake vice-president of his real estate conglomerate, whom he called John Baron. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 The Dalai Lama has said that Britain's policy towards China is just about 'Money, money, money.' And asked 'Where is morality?' People news in pictures 24 September 2015 Puff Daddy secured the number-one spot on the Forbes Hip Hop Cash Kings list, with the publication calculating he made an estimated $60million (39m) between June 2014 and June 2015.
Zika is known to cause birth defects, including microcephaly, in which the baby's head is smaller than expected because the brain hasn't developed properly. The virus is now in 60 countries, with Olympic host Brazil the hardest-hit nation.
Guthrie says her second child with husband Michael Feldman is due in December. The couple's first child, a girl, was born in August 2014.
Association Press
Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
A US scientist has accidentally proved a 200-year-old theory about jumping electric eels by famous 19th century explorer Alexander von Humboldt.
The celebrated naturalist recounted witnessing a riverside battle between a group of horses and electric eels while on a trip in the Amazon in 1800.
There have been no recorded sightings of electric eels attacking anything on the shore since, so it had been assumed that von Humboldt had exaggerated which he had seen.
But biologist Professor Kenneth Catania, from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, found that the eels will jump out of the water to attack larger predators which when they become partially submerged in the water.
He made the discovery by accident after he tried to move them from one tank to another.
While using a net with a metal rim handle to move them, he noticed that after a while the eels stopped trying to dodge the net and began to rise out of the water to press their chins to the handle and generated a series of high-voltage pulses.
After noticing the phenomenon, he designed an experiment when he placed them in a tank with prosthetic human arms and alligator heads - covered with a conductive metal strip and LED lights to show the electricity generated - partially submerged in the water.
He filmed them jumping up and using their chins on the side of the head and the arm to amplify the electric shock.
Alexander von Humboldt's description of eels attacking the horses in the Amazon in 1800
Prof Catania said the jolt of electricity created by eels is much weaker in the water, but if they extend themselves out of the water they distribute the shock directly at the animal that they perceive is threatening them.
He explained: This allows the eels to deliver shocks with a maximum amount of power to partially submerged land animals that invade their territory.
It also allows them to electrify a much larger portion of the invaders body.
The scientist said he had dismissed von Humboldts findings initially saying: "The first time I read von Humboldt's tale, I thought it was completely bizarre.Why would the eels attack the horses instead of swimming away?"
In the study, published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Prof Catania explained that the leaping behaviour is likely to have evolved in several stages.
Science news in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. "Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity," said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. "But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there." Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planets oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a transient anus that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. Muller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the interstitium. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jose Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary
Getting closer to the target would have increased the effectiveness of the shocks.
Later generations of eels would have improved the accuracy of their leaping to the extent they were able to make direct contact with their victims.
He concluded: "Each stage provides a successive advantage, suggesting how it may have evolved.
Prof Catania thinks it is "reasonable to suggest that von Humboldt observed a similar eel behavior on March 19th of 1800".
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Several active and retired South Yorkshire Police officers and a pilot will face trial next year charged with misusing a police helicopter to film people having sex.
The four men were arrested as part of an internal investigation into reports a force helicopter had been used for inappropriate filming of people while they are naked or engaged in sexual activity.
Serving officers Matthew Lucas, 41, Lee Walls, 46, former officer Adrian Pogmore, 50, and police pilot Matthew Loosemore, 44, appeared at Sheffield Crown Court charged with committing misconduct in a public office.
Malcolm Reeves, 63, who was a pilot at South Yorkshire Police before retiring in 2013, was also charged in relation to the case but did not appear in court for the hearing on Tuesday.
The charges relate to four alleged incidents between 2009 and 2012 - one in August 2007, two on the same day on July 2008 and another in July 2012.
One charge alleges misconduct that was namely to observe and record a naked person without her knowledge and consent".
Another alleges misconduct amounting to "misusing police resources for purposes that were not connected to your employment, namely to observe and record persons performing sexual acts".
UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2022 Visitors at the PoliNations garden in Victoria Square, Birmingham, which is made up of five 40ft high tree installations and over 6,000 plants. The PoliNations programme aims to explore how migration and cross-pollination have shaped the UKs gardens and culture PA
South Yorkshire Police confirmed Lucas and Walls were serving officers but had been suspended from duty.
The four men who appeared in court were granted bail and will appear for a further hearing on 14 July.
All five deny the charges against them.
Additional reporting by PA
Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
A 15-year-old girl has been accused of blood libel after making a pro-Palestinian speech in a competition for schoolchildren in London.
Leanne Mohamed, from Ilford, won the Redbridge borough final in the Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge but footage of her entry has sparked fierce debate and online abuse.
In the speech, entitled Birds Not Bombs, she said her family was Palestinian and spoke of the death of her one-year-old cousin after relatives struggled to access medical treatment in Gaza.
Leanne Mohamad, of Wansted High School, won the Redbridge borough title in the "Speak Out" competition for teenagers (YouTube)
How would you feel if you were woken every morning by bombs and not birdsif for 68 years they bombed your land, took away your genuine human rights and killed your families and children? she asked the audience.
Accusing the Israeli government of aggression, oppression and injustice, she claimed that 30,000 Palestinian children had been killed.
I am Palestinian and I am human - I shouldnt have to remind the world of that, Leanne said before condemning discrimination of any kind.
She ended the speech by saying free Palestine and raising a Palestinian flag, to applause and cheers from the audience.
Footage of her speech sparked a furious reaction from some online commentators.
Leanne's speech came during amid heightened tensions over a wave of Palestinian attacks on Israelis and responding security crackdowns. (AFP)
Articles on the Israellycool website called it an Isis recruiting video that amounted to blood libel.
Other critics said Leanne did not give evidence for some of her claims, particularly on childrens deaths, and failed to balance her argument with information on terror attacks against Israelis.
The Wanstead High School pupil received widespread support on Twitter but was also labelled an antisemite and advocate for suicide bombers.
If the Islamist scum is old enough to be on Twitter and spout lies she's old enough to be ridiculed, one person wrote.
As hundreds of people continued to tweet about her speech, Leanne said she had reported online abuse to police.
Absolutely appalled to receive such hateful messages from adults on Twitter, she wrote. I'm 15 years old, you should be ashamed.
But she also thanked people for their wonderful support.
Wes Streeting, the Labour MP for Ilford North, said he was concerned about Leannes treatment and condemned the appalling abuse.
Her speech was a powerful argument about human rights, drawing on her own Palestinian heritage and arguing against discrimination based on nationality, race and culture, he said.
I saw nothing in it that could reasonably considered to be antisemitic, or hate speech.
Her underlying message was one about peace and I think that's something we can all support.
Bob Hamlyn, the head of Wanstead High School, told the Ilford Recorder that Leanne and her family were receiving pastoral support.
The Speakers Trust, which runs the public speaking competition with the Jack Petchey Foundation also generated controversy by removing the video of her speech from its YouTube channel, but later reinstated it following consultation with Leannes family, saying the move aimed to safeguard a minor.
The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Show all 10 1 /10 The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Medics evacuate a wounded man from the scene of an attack in Jerusalem. A Palestinian rammed a vehicle into a bus stop then got out and started stabbing people before he was shot dead AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Israeli ZAKA emergency response members carry the body of an Israeli at the scene of a shooting attack in Jerusalem. A pair of Palestinian men boarded a bus in Jerusalem and began shooting and stabbing passengers, while another assailant rammed a car into a bus station before stabbing bystanders, in near-simultaneous attacks that escalated a month long wave of violence AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Getty Images The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians throw molotov cocktail during clashes with Israeli troops near Ramallah, West Bank. Recent days have seen a series of stabbing attacks in Israel and the West Bank that have wounded several Israelis AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Women cry during the funeral of Palestinian teenager Ahmad Sharaka, 13, who was shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes at a checkpoint near Ramallah, at the family house in the Palestinian West Bank refugee camp of Jalazoun, Ramallah AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies A wounded Palestinian boy and his father hold hands at a hospital after their house was brought down by an Israeli air strike in Gaza Reuters The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians look on after a protester is shot by Israelis soldiers during clashes at the Howara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus EPA The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies A lawyer wearing his official robes kicks a tear gas canister back toward Israeli soldiers during a demonstration by scores of Palestinian lawyers called for by the Palestinian Bar Association in solidarity with protesters at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, near Ramallah, West Bank AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Undercover Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian in Ramallah Reuters The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinian youth burn tyres during clashes with Israeli soldiers close to the Jewish settlement of Bet El, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, after Israel barred Palestinians from Jerusalem's Old City as tensions mounted following attacks that killed two Israelis and wounded a child
More than 7,000 people signed an online petition demanding the video be put back online with a letter saying the teenager had been silenced.
In a joint statement, organisers said Leanne was chosen as the Redbridge Regional Final winner on 19 May and had her speech posted online alongside other contenders the following week.
She was not among the 15 speakers chosen by the judging panel to progress to the competitions grand final.
Organisers denied rumours she had been banned and said the decision was made without external influence and before the online furore emerged.
Following vile and hateful comments posted online during this Bank Holiday weekend Speakers Trust removed the video of Leannes speech. We will not tolerate trolling of young people, the statement said.
In our society people have the right to hold and express different views or perspectives.
It is important that young people can express these, challenge and question in an appropriate manner and learn to live with each other in peace.
Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
A man is in a critical condition in hospital after being struck by lightning in Northern Ireland, it has been reported.
A seven-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy are also understood to have been injured in the incident and are being treated for burn injuries at Royal Belfast Hospital for Children.
UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 New Conservative Party leader and incoming prime minister Rishi Sunak waves as he leaves from Conservative Party Headquarters in central London having been announced as the winner of the Conservative Party leadership contest AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2022 Visitors at the PoliNations garden in Victoria Square, Birmingham, which is made up of five 40ft high tree installations and over 6,000 plants. The PoliNations programme aims to explore how migration and cross-pollination have shaped the UKs gardens and culture PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2022 Undergraduates at the University of St Andrews take part in the traditional Pier Walk along the harbour walls of St Andrews before the start of the new academic year PA
The incident took place in Lisburn, County Antrim. Eye witnesses observed emergency services arriving at Laurel Hill Road to tend to the injured.
The man was taken to nearby Lagan Valley Hospital where he is still receiving medicial treatment, Belfast Live reports.
Eye witnesses told The Belfast Telegraph that the man was collecting his children from school and was talking on his mobile phone when the lightning struck.
Following the incident, The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service has issued a warning urging caution. They said in a statement: "As more thundery showers are forecast with the possibility of lightning we would ask people to remain very vigilant when they are out and about.If there is a high chance of thunder storms lightning safety advice would suggest that you stay indoors but if you are outside you should avoid open fields and hilltops.
You should also stay away from tall, isolated trees. If you are in a group, spread out to avoid the current travelling between group members. You should also stay away from water and wet items as well as metal objects, which are all excellent conductors of electricity.
Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Another transgender woman has been sent to a men's prison despite the Government promising to review the rights of transgender prisoners.
The review was commissioned after two transgender women were found hanged within weeks of each other in two different male prisons last year.
Subsequently, a third transgender prisoner, Tara Hudson, was transferred from all-male HMP Bristol to all-female HMP Eastwood prison after a public campaign.
But Daniel Zeichner, the Labour MP for Cambridge, told Pink News that a trans constituent, who did not want to be named, was currently being held in a male prison.
He said: "A transgender constituent of mine who is being held in custody is having a very difficult time in a mens prison.
[After the previous cases] we were promised a review. What discussions has she had with the Justice Secretary and how close are we to some outcomes from that review?"
Prison policy currently states that transgender prisoners must have a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) in order to be sent to the correct prison for their gender.
However, due to the difficulties and expense of getting a GRC, many transgender people never obtain one.
Minister for Equality, Nicky Morgan MP, said she would look into the specific case.
"The Government are firmly committed to ensuring that the needs of transgender prisoners are fully met," she said.
"The Ministry of Justice has carried out the review and it will be published shortly."
Transgender woman subjected to horrifying verbal abuse on train
The Ministry of Justice said in a statement: "We do not comment on individual prisoners. Our top priority is the welfare of those in our custody, and there are strict rules in place to ensure transgender prisoners are managed safely and in accordance with the law.
Any allegation that transgender prisoners are being treated in an improper way will always be fully investigated. If anyone is aware of such treatment, we would urge them to report it to the appropriate authorities, such as the relevant prison, police, Independent Monitoring Board, Prison and Probation Ombudsman or the Chief Inspector of Prisons.
"We are reviewing how transgender prisoners are treated in the Prison Service and will set out more detail in due course."
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
The official Brexit campaign has been accused of distorting the facts after complaining that EU regulations have prevented the UK from deporting dozens of foreign criminals, including killers and sex offenders.
The dossier of 50 criminals, published by Vote Leave on Tuesday includes Learco Chindamo, who was convicted of the 1995 murder of headmaster Philip Lawrence. The UK has been unable to deport him, according to the Brexit campaign.
Dominc Raab, the justice minister who disclosed the details, said British families were being put at risk as a consequence of EU membership.
The dossier also highlights the case of a Lithuanian rapist identified in court papers as MS, who the upper immigration tribunal ruled could not be deported simply on the basis of his previous criminal conviction even of such a serious nature.
It includes six offenders convicted of homicides including murder, manslaughter and death by dangerous driving. It includes the case of Chindamo, who was 15 when he murdered Mr Lawrence outside the head teacher's school in Maida Vale, north-west London, in 1995. He came to the UK aged six from his native Italy and won a battle against being sent back to the EU state.
Remain campaigner Lord Mandleson, however, speaking on Sky News accused Vote Leave of distorting the facts and said that while it was right to raise the 50 criminals, they must also take into account the 6,500 criminals deported from the UK since 2010 because of the European Arrest Warrant
He said: "They take a germ of truth, they then generalise from it and in the process they distort the real picture.
Man tries to burn EU flag, can't because of EU law for flammable materials
Vote Leave warned that EU free movement rules prioritise the rights of criminals over public safety by preventing deportation. The group claimed the problem would get worse as the European Court of Justice uses the Charter of Fundamental Rights to entrench the right of offenders to stay in the UK.
This is yet more evidence of how EU membership makes us less safe, Mr Raab added.
Free movement of people allows unelected judges in the rogue European Court to decide who we can and can't deport. This puts British families at risk. It squanders UK taxpayers' money on keeping them in prison - and that's on top of the 50 million we send to the EU every day.
Outside the EU, we can take back control of our borders, deport more dangerous criminals, and strengthen public protection. That's why the safer choice is to vote Leave on 23 June.
But James Brokenshire, the immigration minister, dismissed the complaints and also highlighted the 6,500 European criminals deported because of the arrest warrant.
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.
He added: The UK sought greater control over the deportation of foreign criminals in its EU renegotiation - and that's precisely what the Prime Minister's deal delivered.
The International Law Decision we secured means our ability to deport foreign criminals is strengthened, and it is now clear that the UK can take into account the full background of a criminal in a decision over whether to deport.
The bigger picture is that our access to the European Arrest Warrant has allowed us to deport 6,500 European criminals since 2010. That's 130 times the number of criminals Vote Leave have identified.
If we left the EU, we could no longer use the European Arrest Warrant. That's just one of the reasons we are safer inside the EU, where we can co-operate to deal far more effectively with crime and security.
On Monday Vote Leave were accussed of fanning the flames of division after publishing a map highlighting how the EU will a share a border with Syria if Turkey gains membership. In their referendum campaign material, set to be sent to millions of people across the UK , Vote Leave claimed that five countries Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey are "set to join the EU. Only three territories are actually named on the map: the UK, Syria and Iraq.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
David Cameron has admitted that forecasters dont always dont get it right as he was challenged on claims of economic Armageddon if the UK pulled out of the European Union.
Mr Cameron also raised the prospect of a second Scottish referendum if England voted to leave the European Union while Scotland voted to remain.
I do worry about a second Scottish referendum if we vote to leave, he said.
Mr Cameron faced tough question from an ITV studio audience in a televised debate with the Ukip leader Nigel Farage.
But he insisted that the UK would be worse off if Britain were to leave the European Union rather than to remain.
Frustration with an institution are not a justification for walking away, he said.
Mr Cameron also insisted that UK would remain sovereign even if the UK voted to remain in the EU but added that a vote to leave would damage Britains economic prosperity.
We are engaged in the greatest act of sovereignty for many years, he said. If you love your country you do not damage its economy.
Mr Cameron also offered a fig leaf to Tory anti-Europeans saying that peoples individual careers should not get caught up in this referendum hinting that Leave campaigners such as Boris Johnson would have big Cabinet roles regardless of the vote later this month.
Ukip leader Nigel Farage addresses the studio audience (Getty Images)
Responding to the Ukip leader Nigel Farage, who appeared earlier in the programme, Mr Cameron urged voters not to cast their ballot on purely domestic concerns.
Dont take the Nigel Farage little England option, he said.
But speaking before Mr Cameron the Ukip leader said the European Union was done for saying the money had run out and migration crisis had been a nightmare.
He dismissed claims from the studio audience that trade would suffer if the UK pulled out of the European Union saying that any renegotiation of Britains relationship would be better than the current deal.
No deal is better than the rotten deal that weve got at the moment, he said.
He also dismissed threat by senior European figures that Brexit would disadvantage Britain in the future.
Were British, were better than that, he said. Were not going to be bullied by anyone let alone the unelected Jean Claude Junker.
The debate came after a day of political drama in which Mr Cameron launched an extraordinary attack on his Cabinet colleagues Michael Gove and Boris Johnson accusing them of telling total untruths to con the public into voting to leave.
Amid signs of deep concern in the Remain camp that momentum is gathering behind a vote to leave Mr Cameron ripped up his self-denying ordinance not to attack fellow Tories to accuse his colleagues of peddling nonsense.
In response Mr Gove and Mr Johnson challenged the Prime Minister to a face-to-face debate so voters could judge for themselves which sides arguments were more accurate.
Mr Camerons intervention ahead of his debate with Nigel Farage was widely interpreted as a response to fears in the Remain campaign that they are losing control of the campaign following a week that has been focused on immigration and crime both strong areas for Vote Leave. Mr Cameron said he only decided to call the press conference while watching the news coverage of the debate on Monday night.
Perhaps taking a leaf out of his former election strategists Lynton Crosbys playbook of what he once described as throwing a dead cat on the table Mr Cameron attempted to move the debate back on the economy by launching a strong and personal on his Cabinet colleagues.
The Leave campaign (is) resorting to total untruths to con people into taking a leap in the dark, he said.
It's irresponsible and it's wrong and it's time that the Leave campaign was called out on the nonsense that they are peddling.
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.
He accused the Brexit side of complacency and nonchalance about the consequences of EU withdrawal, after senior spokesmen including Justice Secretary He accused the Brexit side of complacency and nonchalance about the consequences of EU withdrawal, after senior spokesmen including Justice Secretary Michael Gove suggested voters should dismiss the assessment of economic experts.
Mr Cameron asked whether you would build a bridge or a house without expert advice and then said that warnings about the repercussions of Brexit from experts including the World Trade Organisation, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve amounted to a reality check for voters.
He added that in the past few days alone Vote Leave had made untrue claims that Britain could be liable for future bailouts of eurozone states and could lose its rebate and its veto powers; could be forced to increase its contribution to the EU budget and be powerless to stop the creation of an EU army. And he said that Vote Leave estimates of the money that could be saved by quitting the 28-nation bloc were contradicted by every credible economic organisation.
He said: Credible experts warning about risks to our economic security on one side and a series of assertions that turn out to be completely untrue on the other.
Nigel Farage tells audience member to calm down after calling him out on scaremongering
In a message to voters about the importance of the June 23 vote, Mr Cameron said: It matters for your job, it matters for the prices that you pay in the supermarket each week, it matters for the mortgage you pay or your chances for getting on the housing ladder, it matters for your pension, it matters for the price of your family holiday, it matters for the money that we have available to spend on your local hospital or your local school.
And it matters for your children and your grandchildren, the kind of opportunities that they will have and the kind of country that they will grow up in.
All of this depends on the strength of our economy and I believe - along with this collection of independent experts - that our economy is stronger inside this organisation.
So listen to the experts. Don't stand on the sidelines. This matters for you. There are no second chances, no re-runs. So register to vote and vote Remain on June 23.
The EU referendum debate has so far been characterised by bias, distortion and exaggeration. So until 23 June we were running a series of question and answer features that explain the most important issues in a detailed, dispassionate way to help inform your decision.
What is Brexit and why are we having an EU referendum?
Will we gain or lose rights by leaving the European Union?
What will happen to immigration if there's Brexit?
Will Brexit make the UK more or less safe?
Will the UK benefit from being released from EU laws?
Will leaving the EU save taxpayers money and mean more money for the NHS?
What will Brexit do to UK trade?
How Brexit will affect British tourism
What will Brexit mean for British tourists booking holidays in the EU?
Will Brexit help or damage the environment?
Will Brexit mean that Europeans have to leave the UK?
What will Brexit mean for British expats?
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
David Cameron has launched an extraordinary attack on his cabinet colleagues Michael Gove and Boris Johnson accusing them of telling total untruths to con the public into voting to leave the European Union.
Amid signs of deep concern in the Remain camp that momentum is gathering behind Leave, Mr Cameron ripped up his self-denying ordinance not to attack fellow Conservatives to accuse his colleagues of peddling nonsense.
Mr Cameron revealed that he only decided to call the press conference while watching the news last night. The last-minute move suggests that the Prime Minister is increasingly nervous that he is losing control of a campaign which has been focused for the last week on immigration and crime both strong areas for Vote Leave.
You have Days Hours Minutes Seconds left to register
Perhaps taking a leaf out of his former election strategists Lynton Crosbys playbook of what he once described as throwing a dead cat on the table Mr Cameron attempted to move the debate back on the economy by launching a strong and personal on his Cabinet colleagues.
The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit Show all 7 1 /7 The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 22 May 2015 In his regular column in The Express Nigel Farage utilised the concerns over Putin and the EU to deliver a tongue in cheek conclusion. With friends like these, who needs enemies? PA The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 13 November 2015 UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire Mike Hookem, was one of several political figures who took no time to harness the toxic atmosphere just moments after Paris attacks to push an agenda. Cameron says were safer in the EU. Well Im in the centre of the EU and it doesnt feel very safe. Getty Images The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 19 April 2016 In an article written for The Guardian, Michael Gove attempts to bolster his argument with a highly charged metaphor in which he likens UK remaining in the EU to a hostage situation. Were voting to be hostages locked in the back of the car and driven headlong towards deeper EU integration. Rex The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 26 April 2016 In a move that is hard to decipher, let alone understand, Mike Hookem stuck it to Obama re-tweeting a UKIP advertisement that utilises a quote from the film: Love Actually to dishonour the US stance on the EU. A friend who bullies us is no longer a friend The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 10 May 2016 During a speech in London former work and pensions secretary Ian Duncan Smith said that EU migration would cause an increasing divide between people who benefit from immigration and people who couldnt not find work because of uncontrolled migration. The European Union is a force for social injustice which backs the haves rather than the have-nots. EPA The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 15 May 2016 Cartoon character Boris Johnson made the news again over controversial comments that the EU had the same goal as Hitler in trying to create a political super state. Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically. The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods. PA The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 16 May 2016 During a tour of the womens clothing manufacturer David Nieper, Boris had ample time to cook up a new metaphor, arguably eclipsing Goves in which he compares the EU to badly designed undergarments. So I just say to all those who prophecy doom and gloom for the British Business, I say their pants are on fire. Lets say knickers to the pessimists, knickers to all those who talk Britain down. Getty Images
"The Leave campaign [is] resorting to total untruths to con people into taking a leap in the dark, he said.
It's irresponsible and it's wrong and it's time that the Leave campaign was called out on the nonsense that they are peddling."
Recommended Read more Corbyn makes last minute plea to young voters to register for EU poll
He accused the Brexit side of complacency and nonchalance about the consequences of EU withdrawal, after senior spokesmen including Justice Secretary Michael Gove suggested voters should dismiss the assessment of economic experts.
Mr Cameron asked whether you would build a bridge or a house without expert advice and then said that warnings about the repercussions of Brexit from experts including the World Trade Organisation and the chairman of the US Federal Reserve amounted to a reality check for voters.
He added that in the past few days alone Vote Leave had made untrue claims that Britain could be liable for future bailouts of eurozone states and could lose its rebate and its veto powers; could be forced to increase its contribution to the EU budget and be powerless to stop the creation of an EU army. And he said that Vote Leave estimates of the money that could be saved by quitting the 28-nation bloc were contradicted by every credible economic organisation.
He said: Credible experts warning about risks to our economic security on one side and a series of assertions that turn out to be completely untrue on the other.
In a message to voters about the importance of the 23 June vote, Mr Cameron said: It matters for your job, it matters for the prices that you pay in the supermarket each week, it matters for the mortgage you pay or your chances for getting on the housing ladder, it matters for your pension, it matters for the price of your family holiday, it matters for the money that we have available to spend on your local hospital or your local school.
And it matters for your children and your grandchildren, the kind of opportunities that they will have and the kind of country that they will grow up in.
"All of this depends on the strength of our economy and I believe along with this collection of independent experts that our economy is stronger inside this organisation.
"So listen to the experts. Don't stand on the sidelines. This matters for you. There are no second chances, no re-runs. So register to vote and vote Remain on 23 June.
The EU referendum debate has so far been characterised by bias, distortion and exaggeration. So until 23 June we were running a series of question and answer features that explain the most important issues in a detailed, dispassionate way to help inform your decision.
What is Brexit and why are we having an EU referendum?
Will we gain or lose rights by leaving the European Union?
What will happen to immigration if there's Brexit?
Will Brexit make the UK more or less safe?
Will the UK benefit from being released from EU laws?
Will leaving the EU save taxpayers money and mean more money for the NHS?
What will Brexit do to UK trade?
How Brexit will affect British tourism
What will Brexit mean for British tourists booking holidays in the EU?
Will Brexit help or damage the environment?
Will Brexit mean that Europeans have to leave the UK?
What will Brexit mean for British expats?
Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
David Cameron and Nigel Farage are going head-to-head in a debate about the EU referendum. Here are the latest updates:
Cameron accuses top Tories of EU referendum 'untruths'
Vote Leave accused over 'misleading' website
Billions taken out of Sterling system ahead of poll
Brexit 'could cost 34bn in export tax'
Why register to vote in the referendum?
Today's debate between Nigel Farage and David Cameron on ITV will start at 9pm and run for an hour.
Each of the party leaders will face questions for a 200-strong audience for about half an hour.
Mr Farage is arguing for Remain, while Mr Farage wants to leave the European Union.
Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
At midnight, the deadline will pass to register to vote in the EU referendum, and an estimated seven million people in the UK are still unregistered.
Today is your last chance to make sure you can have your say, the Electoral Commission said, after almost a quarter of a million people submitted applications to register on Monday alone.
Registering to vote takes just five minutes and can be done online.
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to register, what to expect and how to vote in the EU referendum:
Am I eligible to vote?
You can vote in the referendum if youre registered and are 18 or over on the day of the vote. Other requirements include:
A British citizen living in the UK, or
A Commonwealth citizen living in the UK who has leave to remain in the UK or who does not require leave to remain in the UK
A British citizen living overseas who has been registered to vote in the UK in the last 15 years
An Irish citizen living overseas who was born in Northern Ireland and who has been registered to vote in Northern Ireland in the last 15 years
If youre under 18 then you might be aware that the Conservatives blocked an amendment to allow 16 and 17 year-olds to vote in the referendum.
How do I register?
If you registered to vote in the May local and mayoral elections a few weeks ago then you will not need to re-register.
You have to register before midnight on 7 June to have your say in the referendum. You can do that here: gov.uk/register-to-vote
You will need your National Insurance number and your passport.
There is a caveat: If youve moved home in the last few weeks then you will need to re-register at your new property.
EU referendum - key dates
Still not convinced youre registered?
Every local authority holds the electoral register for their area. You can contact your local registration office and they will be able to let you know if you are registered.
To find the contact details of your local office, enter your postcode here on the Electoral Commissions website.
What will I be asked?
This question will appear on your ballot paper: Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?
Youll be given the option to put a cross next to Remain or Leave.
Where do I vote?
You can vote in the referendum in person at your local polling station which youll be able to find the location of on the Electoral Commissions website closer to voting day.
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.
What happens if I'm at Glastonbury, for example, and can't vote in person?
Instead of voting in person, on the day, you can register for either a postal vote or a proxy vote.
For a postal vote: you will need to download this form and send it to your local registration office (mentioned above). This will need to arrive at the office by 5pm on 8 June 2016. Your local council will then send you a ballot paper by post, which will need to arrive back at the office by 10pm on 23 June.
The second option a proxy vote means allowing somebody you trust to vote on your behalf. Check here for the correct form to fire off.
The EU referendum debate has so far been characterised by bias, distortion and exaggeration. So until 23 June we were running a series of question and answer features that explain the most important issues in a detailed, dispassionate way to help inform your decision.
What is Brexit and why are we having an EU referendum?
Will we gain or lose rights by leaving the European Union?
What will happen to immigration if there's Brexit?
Will Brexit make the UK more or less safe?
Will the UK benefit from being released from EU laws?
Will leaving the EU save taxpayers money and mean more money for the NHS?
What will Brexit do to UK trade?
How Brexit will affect British tourism
What will Brexit mean for British tourists booking holidays in the EU?
Will Brexit help or damage the environment?
Will Brexit mean that Europeans have to leave the UK?
What will Brexit mean for British expats?
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Jeremy Corbyn has made a last minute plea to young people urging them to register for a vote in upcoming EU referendum.
The Labour leader urged voters to sign up before the end of the day and specifically appealed to younger people to take advantage of their smartphones.
He said: Today is the last day to register to vote in the referendum and I urge anyone who is listening or watching us today to just remember they have a chance to register today - they can do it online, it means they will be able to vote and take part.
Many young people are still not registered. I hope they will take the advantage of using a smartphone or a computer and getting their names on the register to be able to take part in what will be a very important decision."
Mr Corbyn was accompanied by his deputy, Tom Watson, and shadow business secretary Angela Eagle. The trio, joined by young activists, were on London's Southbank to unveil a new poster from the Labour In For Britain campaign to remain in the EU.
Split down the middle, the left-hand side of the poster lists workers' rights such as paid holiday and maternity leave under an "In Europe" heading. On the right, the list is crumpled up a dire warning of what Labour believes could happen to these rights if Britain leaves the EU.
His call to younger voters comes as David Cameron issued a plea to Independent readers to make sure they have registered to vote as three new polls suggested that momentum is moving towards Britains exit from the European Union.
The Prime Minister told The Independent: For many people this will be one of the most important choices they make.
This is a vote about the future of the country. This vote will determine the sort of economy young people grow up in, the sort of opportunities that our children and grandchildren have.
This is bigger than any one politician why is why I urge everyone to go out and register so they can have their say.
Figures from the Electoral Commission show that since May over 1.35 million people have applied to register to vote online of which 763,183 were under the age of 34 those most likely to support a remain vote
The EU referendum debate has so far been characterised by bias, distortion and exaggeration. So until 23 June we were running a series of question and answer features that explain the most important issues in a detailed, dispassionate way to help inform your decision.
What is Brexit and why are we having an EU referendum?
Will we gain or lose rights by leaving the European Union?
What will happen to immigration if there's Brexit?
Will Brexit make the UK more or less safe?
Will the UK benefit from being released from EU laws?
Will leaving the EU save taxpayers money and mean more money for the NHS?
What will Brexit do to UK trade?
How Brexit will affect British tourism
What will Brexit mean for British tourists booking holidays in the EU?
Will Brexit help or damage the environment?
Will Brexit mean that Europeans have to leave the UK?
What will Brexit mean for British expats?
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Britains most senior religious leader has accused the Ukip leader Nigel Farage of giving legitimisation to racism for his own political gain.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said claims by Mr Farage that staying in the European Union could lead to sexual attacks such as those which occurred on New Year's Eve in Cologne were inexcusable.
He also criticised the Leave campaign for stoking anti-Muslim sentiment with warnings about Turkeys accession to the European Union.
Recommended Read more Cameron urges voters to register as Leave camp surges ahead
Mr Farage was widely condemned at the weekend for saying that the threat to British women of mass sex attacks if Britain voted to stay in the EU was the nuclear bomb of the referendum campaign.
The archbishop told the Commons Home Affairs Committee: I think that is an inexcusable pandering to people's worries and prejudices.
That is giving legitimisation to racism which I've seen in parishes in which I've served, and has led to attacks on people in those parishes. We cannot legitimise that.
What that is, is accentuating fear for political gain and that is absolutely inexcusable.
The archbishop - who refused to be drawn on whether he was for Leave of Remain - accepted people had genuine fears about the impact of mass migration, but said that did not make them racists.
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.
However, he said that the way to deal with such concerns was in ensure the communities affected had the resources they needed to cope.
The answer to fear is not to say it's improper to fear. But it is to recognise fear and to address the causes of the fear, he said.
The Labour MP David Winnick asked the archbishop whether he was concerned that the referendum campaign and warnings from the Leave camp about the possibility of Turkey joining the EU had combined with widespread fear of Islamist terrorism to stoke anti-Muslim feeling in the UK.
Mr Welby replied: It is a very, very major concern indeed. I have very close relations with a number of Muslim leaders across the country and there is a greater and greater suspicion. As we all know there is a much higher level of hate crime than there used to be.
There is a sort of sense of 'Are we about to become an Islamic country?' which hovers around. Once you ask a number of questions, you realise it's just fear and there is no evidence of any kind backing up what they are saying, but somehow it all feels very threatening and that results in a high level of prejudice against Muslims, and particularly observant Muslims.
Asked if he agreed with anti-immigration campaigners who suggest the UK is full, he replied: If I'm honest, no, I don't think Britain is full. We can take more people in, but we have to think very, very hard about doing it.
The archbishop accepted there would be a limit on the number of people Britain could support, but said he did not know what the figure was, adding: I don't think we are there yet.
He confirmed that, nine months after he offered to house a Syrian family at Lambeth Palace, no refugees have moved in.
It had proved difficult to identify an appropriate family, but it was hoped that one would arrive within a reasonable distance of time, he said.
Committee chairman Keith Vaz pointed out that Church leaders had signed a call for the Government to take in an additional 30,000 Syrian refugees, and said: It's been nine months. If we can't clear the archbishop in that time, what hope is there for the rest of us?
Mr Welby said it would be absolutely irresponsible for the Government not to listen to concerns about the impact of immigration on communities and public services, but added: There is also a point when we say that the role of government has to be to say certain things need to be done and certain things are right and to allay people's fears.
He also voiced concern about prejudice against Jews, telling the committee: As a nation we have to recognise that anti-Semitism has been the root and origin of most racist behaviour for the last 1,000 years in this country.
We have a shameful record until very recently in historic terms. It seems to be something that is latent under the surface and bubbles to the surface very easily indeed.
The archbishop said that, while it was fashionable to discuss the challenge of migration from Syria and Libya, it should not be forgotten that vast numbers of people had been displaced from their homes by climate change in southern Africa and the ongoing crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The EU referendum debate has so far been characterised by bias, distortion and exaggeration. So until 23 June we were running a series of question and answer features that explain the most important issues in a detailed, dispassionate way to help inform your decision.
What is Brexit and why are we having an EU referendum?
Will we gain or lose rights by leaving the European Union?
What will happen to immigration if there's Brexit?
Will Brexit make the UK more or less safe?
Will the UK benefit from being released from EU laws?
Will leaving the EU save taxpayers money and mean more money for the NHS?
What will Brexit do to UK trade?
How Brexit will affect British tourism
What will Brexit mean for British tourists booking holidays in the EU?
Will Brexit help or damage the environment?
Will Brexit mean that Europeans have to leave the UK?
What will Brexit mean for British expats?
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Nigel Farage has suggested pharmaceutical companies lobbying the EU have put people producing alternative medicine "out of business".
Mr Farage was asked whether it was worth risking the pharmaceutical industry losing billions of pounds and thousands of jobs if Britain left the EU.
He replied: "I don't buy the fact that a pharmaceutical company is in Britain because it's in the EU.
"I'm not wholly happy with the way that much of the pharmaceutical industry has behaved.
"In particular I see their lobbying in Brussels, which is absolutely massive, and I see the way they've been very good at putting out of business people producing alternative medicine."
The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit Show all 7 1 /7 The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 22 May 2015 In his regular column in The Express Nigel Farage utilised the concerns over Putin and the EU to deliver a tongue in cheek conclusion. With friends like these, who needs enemies? PA The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 13 November 2015 UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire Mike Hookem, was one of several political figures who took no time to harness the toxic atmosphere just moments after Paris attacks to push an agenda. Cameron says were safer in the EU. Well Im in the centre of the EU and it doesnt feel very safe. Getty Images The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 19 April 2016 In an article written for The Guardian, Michael Gove attempts to bolster his argument with a highly charged metaphor in which he likens UK remaining in the EU to a hostage situation. Were voting to be hostages locked in the back of the car and driven headlong towards deeper EU integration. Rex The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 26 April 2016 In a move that is hard to decipher, let alone understand, Mike Hookem stuck it to Obama re-tweeting a UKIP advertisement that utilises a quote from the film: Love Actually to dishonour the US stance on the EU. A friend who bullies us is no longer a friend The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 10 May 2016 During a speech in London former work and pensions secretary Ian Duncan Smith said that EU migration would cause an increasing divide between people who benefit from immigration and people who couldnt not find work because of uncontrolled migration. The European Union is a force for social injustice which backs the haves rather than the have-nots. EPA The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 15 May 2016 Cartoon character Boris Johnson made the news again over controversial comments that the EU had the same goal as Hitler in trying to create a political super state. Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically. The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods. PA The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 16 May 2016 During a tour of the womens clothing manufacturer David Nieper, Boris had ample time to cook up a new metaphor, arguably eclipsing Goves in which he compares the EU to badly designed undergarments. So I just say to all those who prophecy doom and gloom for the British Business, I say their pants are on fire. Lets say knickers to the pessimists, knickers to all those who talk Britain down. Getty Images
He added: "Only 12 per cent of the entire British economy is exports to the EU.
"Our biggest industry isn't pharmaceuticals. It's financial services of all kinds."
The audience member who asked the question then tells Mr Farage: "But alternative medicine has not actually been proven against placebo."
A recent systematic review of research around homeopathy found it to be no more effective than placebo.
Homeopathy was described as a 'therapeutic dead-end' in the review (Getty Images)
During the debate Mr Farage also told an audience member to "calm down" when she asked him to explain his suggestion that women could be at risk of sex attacks from refugees if Britons vote to stay in the EU.
The Ukip leader was criticised by a fellow Brexit campaigner earlier this week for "outrageous blatant scaremongering" over his suggestion women could be at risk of sex attacks from refugees if Britain stays in the EU.
Mr Farage had said the possibility of such attacks in the UK will be "the nuclear bomb" of the referendum campaign.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Nigel Farage told an audience member to "calm down" when she asked him a question about immigration during a debate on the EU Referendum.
Mr Farage's response came as an audience member asked him to explain his suggestion that women could be at risk of sex attacks from refugees if Britons vote to stay in the EU.
The audience member asked: "How can you have the audacity to use such blatant scaremongering tactics or the Leave campaign?
"In light of the recent horrific sexual assaults in Germany, you have basically suggested that a vote to Remain is a vote for British women to be subdued to the same horrific assaults."
Mr Farage replied: "Just calm down there, a little bit alright?
The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit Show all 7 1 /7 The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 22 May 2015 In his regular column in The Express Nigel Farage utilised the concerns over Putin and the EU to deliver a tongue in cheek conclusion. With friends like these, who needs enemies? PA The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 13 November 2015 UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire Mike Hookem, was one of several political figures who took no time to harness the toxic atmosphere just moments after Paris attacks to push an agenda. Cameron says were safer in the EU. Well Im in the centre of the EU and it doesnt feel very safe. Getty Images The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 19 April 2016 In an article written for The Guardian, Michael Gove attempts to bolster his argument with a highly charged metaphor in which he likens UK remaining in the EU to a hostage situation. Were voting to be hostages locked in the back of the car and driven headlong towards deeper EU integration. Rex The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 26 April 2016 In a move that is hard to decipher, let alone understand, Mike Hookem stuck it to Obama re-tweeting a UKIP advertisement that utilises a quote from the film: Love Actually to dishonour the US stance on the EU. A friend who bullies us is no longer a friend The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 10 May 2016 During a speech in London former work and pensions secretary Ian Duncan Smith said that EU migration would cause an increasing divide between people who benefit from immigration and people who couldnt not find work because of uncontrolled migration. The European Union is a force for social injustice which backs the haves rather than the have-nots. EPA The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 15 May 2016 Cartoon character Boris Johnson made the news again over controversial comments that the EU had the same goal as Hitler in trying to create a political super state. Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically. The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods. PA The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 16 May 2016 During a tour of the womens clothing manufacturer David Nieper, Boris had ample time to cook up a new metaphor, arguably eclipsing Goves in which he compares the EU to badly designed undergarments. So I just say to all those who prophecy doom and gloom for the British Business, I say their pants are on fire. Lets say knickers to the pessimists, knickers to all those who talk Britain down. Getty Images
He said: "Because... sometimes in life what it says at the top of a newspaper page and what you've actually said can be slightly different things.
"Look, I'm used to being demonised because I've taken on the establishment.
"When I first suggested we should have an Australian-style points system, you'd think I'd said something dreadful. And now I'm pleased to say lots of people are saying it.
He added: "What I said about Cologne was that it's a huge issue in Germany. It's a huge issue in Sweden. I think Angela Merkel has made a big mistake by saying 'please anyone come', and what's happened is a very large number of young, single, males, have settled in Germany and Sweden who come from cultures where attitudes towards women are different.
"I haven't scaremongered in any way at all."
The Ukip leader was criticised by a fellow Brexit campaigner earlier this week for "outrageous blatant scaremongering" over his suggestion women could be at risk of sex attacks from refugees if Britain stays in the EU.
Mr Farage had said the possibility of such attacks in the UK will be "the nuclear bomb" of the referendum campaign.
Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Sir Philip Green has been called little better than a corporate crook and faced renewed calls for him to be stripped of his knighthood over the collapse of BHS.
MPs attacked when they called his naked greed in a House of Commons debate over the retail chain as it faces liquidation and the loss of 11,000 jobs after it failed to find a buyer.
The Arcadia boss has been condemned for his role in the collapse of the 88-year-old business after he sold it to investors led by a businessman who had been made bankrupt three times, Dominic Chappell, for just 1 in 2015.
The chain was put into administration in April this year with a 571m deficit in its pension fund.
On Friday, its administrator, Duff & Phelps, said it had not been possible to agree a sale because all the prospective buyers did not have the working capital needed to rescue the firm.
All of BHSs remaining 163 shops will now be closed over the coming weeks.
Between 2000 and 2005, the Green family took 420m in dividends from the company.
SNP treasury spokesman Roger Mullin told the Commons: If ever there was an unacceptable face of capitalism, it comes in the form of Sir Philip Green and his like.
Many will be thinking Green is little better than a corporate crook, he added.
Adminstrator Duff & Phelps said the 88-year-old company could not be saved last week (Getty)
Labour MP Jim McMahon said Sir Philip is not fit to lick the boots of these people let alone be a knight of the realm.
It is not good enough that 11,000 people face redundancy and an uncertain pension while the millionaires cream tens of millions of pounds off the top to pay for brand-new yachts.
The people in my constituency, where the store is likely to close, will not see justice in their view until somebody is in the dock, facing trial.
A number of investigations have been launched into the affair including an Insolvency Service inquiry which could led to several former BHS bosses, including Sir Philip, banned from being directors of companies for several years.
Recommended Read more The fate of BHS and the existential threat to the British high street
The Pensions Regulator is investigating whether Sir Philip avoid his financial responsibility towards the fund and may call on him to contribute 200m into the fund to help close up its black hole.
Two separate investigations by the Business, Innovation and Skills and Work and Pensions select committees are also being carried out.
Last month, Sir Philip wrote to the chairs of both committees to say he was being vilified by them before they had concluded their investigations.
He said Frank Field, who chairs the DWP select committee, and Iain Wright, who is in charge of its BIS counterpart, had subjected him to trial by media and suggested they were leaping to conclusions before any evidence from any witness has been heard.
Biggest business scandals in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Biggest business scandals in pictures Biggest business scandals in pictures Volkswagen emissions scandal VW admitted to rigging its US emission tests so that diesel-powered cars would looks like they were emitting less nitrous oxide, which can damage the ozone layer and contribute to respiratory diseases. Around 11 million cars worldwide were affected. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Martin Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals Martin Shkreli became known as the most hated man in the world after his drug company, Turing, increased the price of a 62-year-old drug that treated HIV patients by 5,000% to $750 a pill. He was charged with illegally taking stock from Retrophin, a biotechnology firm he started in 2011, and using it pay off debts from unrelated business dealings. Shkreli, who maintains he is innocent, and says there is little evidence of fraud because his investors didn't lose money. Biggest business scandals in pictures Panama Papers: Millions of leaked documents expose how worlds rich and powerful hid money - April 2016 Millions of confidential documents have been leaked from one of the worlds most secretive law firms, exposing how the rich and powerful have hidden their money. Dictators and other heads of state have been accused of laundering money, avoiding sanctions and evading tax, according to the unprecedented cache of papers that show the inner workings of the law firm Mossack Fonseca, which is based in Panama. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Google's tax avoidance Google reached a deal with the HM Revenue and Customs to pay back 130 million in so-called back-taxes that have been due since 2005. George Osborne championed the deal as a major success. But European MEPs have since called for the Chancellor to appear in front of the committee on tax rulings to explain the tax deal. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Rogue trader A French court cut the damages owed by rogue trader Jerome Kerviel from 4.9bn (4.2bn) to just 1m (860,000). The court ruled on that Kerviel was partly responsible for massive losses suffered in 2008 by his former employer Societe Generale through his reckless trades. Kerviel has consistently maintained that bosses at the French bank knew what he was doing all along. AP Biggest business scandals in pictures Barclays CEO under investigation for trying to identify whistleblower - Monday Paril 10 Authorities have launched an investigation into Barclays chief executive officer Jes Staley for trying to identify a whistleblower, the bank said on Monday. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) are both investigating Mr Staley after the bank notified them that Mr Staley had tried to identify the author of two anonymous letters, which were sent to the board and a senior executive in June 2016. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures UK to crack down on bank money laundering after reports of 65bn Russian scam, City minister says - March 2017 The Economic Secretary to the Treasury has vowed that the Government will crack down on money laundering practices, after several of the UK's biggest banks were accused of processing money from a Russian scam, believed to involve up to $80bn (65bn). Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Former HBOS bankers convicted of bribery and fraud over 245m loan scam - February 2017 Two former HBOS bankers were among six people found guilty of bribery and fraud that cost customers and shareholders hundreds of millions of pounds, the BBC reports. Lynden Scourfield, 54, a manager at HBOS, forced struggling clients to use the services of his friends David Mills, 60, and Michael Bancroft, 73. In return, the two businessmen arranged sex parties, cash and lavish gifts. On Monday, the three were convicted at Southwark Crown Court on accounts including bribery, fraud and money laundering. Mark Dobson, another manager at HBOS, Alison Mills, and John Cartwright were also convicted. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Lloyds chief apologises for damage caused by affair allegations - August 2016 Antonio Horta-Osorio, the chief executive of Lloyds Bank, has broken his silence over allegations about his private life admitting he regrets any "damage done to the group's reputation". In a message sent to the bank's 75,000 employees, the banker said that anyone can make mistakes while insisting that staff had to maintain the highest professional standards. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Christine Lagarde faces court over 340m Bernard Tapie payment - July 2016 The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, must stand trial in France over a payment of 403 million (now 340m, then 290m) to tycoon Bernard Tapie, a France's highest appeals court has ruled. The court rejected Ms Lagarde's appeal against a judge's order in December for her to stand trial over allegations of negligence in her handling of the affair. Ms Lagarde could risk a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a fine of 15,000 euros if convicted. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures HSBC senior manager arrested in FX rigging investigation at JFK airport in New York - July 2016 A senior executive at HSBC has been arrested at New York's JFK airport for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to rig currency benchmarks, according to reports. Mark Johnson, global head of foreign exchange cash trading in London, was reportedly arrested on Tuesday. He will appear before a federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, Bloomberg said. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Former PwC employees found guilty in 'Luxleaks' tax scandal - June 2016 Two ex- PricewaterhouseCoopers staffers were found guilty in Luxembourg of stealing confidential tax files that helped unleash a global scandal over generous fiscal deals for hundreds of international companies. Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet face suspended sentences of 12 months and 9 months and were ordered to pay fines of 1,500 (1,230) and 1,000 (822) for their role in the so-called LuxLeaks scandal. Despite the minimal sentences, the ruling was described by Deltours lawyer as shocking and a terrible anomaly. The ruling puts on guard future whistle-blowers, Deltour told reporters.The LuxLeaks revelations sped beyond Luxembourg, causing European Union regulators to expand a tax-subsidy probe and propose new laws to fight corporate tax dodging, while EU lawmakers created a special committee to probe fiscal deals across the 28-nation bloc. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Goldman Sachs dealmakers lavished Libyan officials with prostitutes to win contract - June 2016 A former Goldman Sachs dealmaker trying to persuade Gadaffi-era Libya to invest $1 billion with the investment bank procured prostitutes and invited Libyan officials to lavish parties in the hope of winning the business, the High Court heard on Monday June 13.The Libyan Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund is suing Goldman Sachs for inappropriately coercing its naive staff into giving its sovereign wealth fund cash to the bank to invest in products they did not understand. The products were designed to generate big profits for Goldman, the LIA claims.Goldman denies wrongdoing and says the LIA was treated as an arms-length customer Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Former boss of BHS said his life was threatened - June 2016 Darren Topp, the former boss of BHS, has said former owner Dominic Chappell threatened to kill him when he challenged him over a 1.5 million transfer out of the business. MPs on the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee asked Mr Topp about a 1.5 million transfer Mr Chappell made from BHS to a company called BHS Sweden. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley admits paying workers below the minimum wage - June 2016 Mike Ashley admitted paying Sports Direct employees below the minimum wage at a hearing in front of MPs. The company founder said that workers were paid less than the statutory minimum because of bottlenecks at security in an admission that could result in sanctions from HMRC. Reuters Biggest business scandals in pictures Mitsubishi admits improper fuel tests - April 2016 Mitsubishi has admitted to using false fuel methods dating back to 1991. The scale of the scandal is only just coming to light after it was revealed in April that data was falsified in the testing of four types of cars, including two Nissan cars. AP Biggest business scandals in pictures Quindell, the scandal-ridden insurance firm Quindell was once a darling of AIM but its share price fell in April 2014 when its accounting practices were attacked in a stinging research note by US short seller Gotham City. In August the group was forced to disclose that the 107 million pre-tax profit it had reported for 2013 was incorrect, and it had in fact suffered a 64million loss. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Toshiba Accounting Scandal The boss of Toshiba, the Japanese technology giant, resigned in disgrace in the wake of one of the countrys biggest ever accounting scandals. His exit came two months after the company revealed that it was investigating accounting irregularities. An independent investigatory panel said that Toshibas management had inflated its reported profits by up to 152 billion yen (780m) between 2008 and 2014. Biggest business scandals in pictures FIFA Corruption Scandal Fifa, football's world governing body, has been engulfed by claims of widespread corruption since the summer of 2015, when the US Department of Justice indicted several top executives. It has now claimed the careers of two of the most powerful men in football, Fifa President Sepp Blatter and Uefa President Michel Platini, after they were banned for eight years from all football-related activities by Fifa's ethics committee. A Swiss criminal investigation into the pair is ongoing. Getty Biggest business scandals in pictures Libor fraudster City trader Tom Hayes, 35, has become the first person to be convicted of rigging Libor rates following a trial at London's Southwark Crown Court. Hayes worked as a trader in yen derivatives at UBS before joining the American bank Citigroup in Tokyo. He was fired from Citigroup following an investigation into his trading methods. He returned to the UK in December 2012 and was arrested following a two-and-a-half year criminal investigation by the SFO. Getty
But Mr Field dismissed the accusations telling the Independent he had mostly been responding to his comments in the media.
He said: I certainly feel a sense of anger on behalf of all those BHS workers whose wages were deducted to go into their pension scheme and they find theyve not gone into their pension scheme and that they stand to lose some of the pension they thought they would gain.
"I would hope that he would make good that loss. We will obviously look at all the evidence in the lead up to his appearance in June and of course the committee will make up their minds on the basis of the evidence".
Sir Philip is due to appear before the MPs to give evidence on 15 June.
Mr Chappell is also scheduled to appear on Wednesday.
Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Tony Blair is expected to defend himself against the findings of the Chilcot Report by claiming the situation in the Middle East would have been worse if Saddam Hussein had been left in power.
The former Prime Minister may claim that although it turned out that the Iraqi dictator did not actually have any weapons of mass destruction, (WMD), he could have developed them at a later date.
Mr Blair will say that although there were failures in post-conflict planning, the main cause of the years of bloodshed that have followed the 2003 invasion was external intervention by Iran and al-Qaeda.
The former PM will not comment publicly until Sir John Chilcot finally publishes his report on 6 July, seven years after his Iraq inquiry began, according to The Guardian. But Mr Blair is said to have been meeting allies to discuss his response to whatever Sir John says.
Although post-invasion violence may have directly or indirectly caused as many as 460,800 Iraqi deaths, and although Isis, widely believed to be more brutal than al-Qaeda, now controls a population of about 10 million Iraqis and Syrians, Mr Blair is reportedly planning to argue the Middle East situation could have been worse with Saddam still in power.
He will now reportedly argue that although no WMD were found in Iraq despite his pre-invasion statement that intelligence had established beyond doubt they were being produced Saddam retained the expertise and capacity to make them.
This, Mr Blair will claim, could have had seriously damaging consequences for stability in the Middle East and the safety of the world if Saddam had stayed in power.
Tony Blair: A career of controversies Show all 11 1 /11 Tony Blair: A career of controversies Tony Blair: A career of controversies The Tony Blair 'selfie'.. A journalist takes a picture of Kennard Phillips 'Photo Op', depicting Prime Minister Tony Blair taking a 'selfie' in front of an explosion in Iraq, during a press viewing of the exhibition Catalyst: Contemporary Art and War Tony Blair: A career of controversies Protesters pictured outside the QEII Conference centre in London in 2011 as former British PM Tony Blair give his evidence in the Chilcot Iraq Inquiry Tony Blair: A career of controversies David Lawley-Wakelin, who disrupted Tony Blairs testimony at the Leveson Inquiry by bursting into the court Tony Blair: A career of controversies Blair giving evidence Tony Blair: A career of controversies Tony Blair visiting troops in Iraq in 2007 Tony Blair: A career of controversies Blair meeting with troops in Basra, Iraq in 2003 Tony Blair: A career of controversies Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair speaks to British soldiers at Divisional Headquaters in Basra, May 2007 Tony Blair: A career of controversies British Prime Minister Tony Blair eats dinner with British troops in Basra, Iraq, 21 December, 2004 Tony Blair: A career of controversies Syrian president Bashar El Assad during his official visit to the United Kingdom in 2002. Mr Blair tried to engage Mr Garcia in a conversation about Syria. The former Prime Minister made clear he was very much in favour of military intervention last summer. Tony Blair: A career of controversies Syrian president Bashar El Assad and wife Asma during their official visit to the United Kingdom in 2002. Mr Blair tried to engage Mr Garcia in a conversation about Syria Tony Blair: A career of controversies Former Prime Minister Tony Blair's signature adorns a program he signed for an Iraq veteran during a reception at the Guildhall in London following the service of commemoration at St Paul's Cathedral honouring UK military and civilian personnel who served in Iraq
In line with claims already made in speeches and his autobiography, Mr Blair is also expected to argue that interventions by Iran and al-Qaeda were the main cause of the chaos that engulfed Iraq after the invasion.
He is expected to accept that planning for the aftermath of the invasion was inadequate, and that the US and the UK failed to predict how sectarian and religious tensions would escalate once a strongman dictator like Saddam had been removed.
But Mr Blair, who spent nearly eight years as Middle East peace envoy after leaving Downing Street in 2007, will reportedly insist that things only got as bad as they did because of the influences of Iran and al-Qaeda.
It is also thought likely that he will deny he was given unequivocal warnings about such possible chaos by academic experts in a Downing Street meeting in November 2002. This may conflict with the account given by some of those academics who told The Independent last year that they had warned of the possibility of a long and vicious civil war.
One expert, Professor George Joffe of Cambridge University, also told The Independent: There was nobody in leadership with any practical experience of how to handle a transition to democracy. They were quite childish in somehow believing that democracy would bloom.
Mr Blairs expected vigorous defence of his actions may well exacerbate tensions within the Labour Party. During his party leadership campaign, Jeremy Corbyn promised that Labour would officially apologise for taking Britain to war in Iraq on the basis of deception.
He also appeared to leave open the possibility of Mr Blair being tried for war crimes by telling the BBCs Newsnight last August: If he has committed a war crime, yes [he should stand trial]. Everybody who has committed a war crime should.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Thirty-four schoolchildren and two adults were saved from a dangerous stretch of coast after they were spotted using their mobile phone screens as beacons.
The traumatic rescue came after the teenage hiking party lost their way during an evening walk on the coastal path between St Margarets Bay and Dover Harbour in Kent, and narrowly avoided getting hit by falling rocks.
The group became stranded amidst the rising tide after descending from the cliffs onto the beach, and had to use their phones to indicate their position to the coastguard according to Kent Online.
Maritime experts described the area as hostile and blamed the group for being unfamiliar with the risks they were taking.
A large-scale emergency search was launched at around 9pm on Monday when the partys two adult supervisors raised the alarm - with Kent Police and around 40 volunteers involved in the search operation.
A Coastguard helicopter eventually identified the trapped party using an infra-red camera and rescue craft were directed to where the majority of the group was huddled together.
Rescuers found that the teenagers had split up instead of remaining in one group, and four pupils had climbed onto nearby rocks in an attempt to get wider coverage for the search.
By the end of the rescue mission, 31 of the walkers were rescued by lifeboat and taken ashore. The remaining five were lifted to safety by helicopter and flown to the Dover Coastguard station.
Mark Finnis, coxswain at Dover RNLI, told KMFM News: I dont think they realised the situation they could have been in a couple of hours later. Theyd have had real problems with the rising water. They were unfamiliar with the area.
Its very hostile ground, they werent dressed up for it at all. There are regular cliff falls down there. There wasnt a lot of thought put into the activity that they took.
UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2022 Visitors at the PoliNations garden in Victoria Square, Birmingham, which is made up of five 40ft high tree installations and over 6,000 plants. The PoliNations programme aims to explore how migration and cross-pollination have shaped the UKs gardens and culture PA
Thankfully the quick and well co-ordinated search and rescue response meant all 36 casualties were rescued and were lucky to escape without serious injuries, but they've had a traumatic experience.
The Dover Coastguard confirmed that all the stranded children had been accounted for and brought to shore safely by 11pm.
Richard Cockerill, senior maritime operations officer for UK Coastguard, told Press Association: The group was advised to switch on their mobile phone lights to help us locate them.
The group was located by one of the Walmer lifeboats in an area of active cliff falls and also spotted by the helicopter using the forward-looking infra-red camera.
All 36 people were recovered to safety by lifeboat and helicopter.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
The unlikely prospect of a parrot giving evidence in court appears to have receded after prosecutors expressed doubts over legal precedent for the move.
Relatives of Martin Duram, who was shot dead in May 2015, believe the African grey, named Bud, was in the room at the time of a shooting which also left his wife, Glenna, with a bullet wound to the head but alive.
The bird belonged to the deceased and has apparently been caught on video saying dont f*cking shoot, which the family believe could be crucial evidence of an attempted murder-suicide by Ms Duram.
They want the police to use the parrot as a witness.
However, lawyers have raised doubts about the strength of the parrots testimony.
"I'm not aware of any legal precedent for that," Newaygo County Prosecutor Robert Springstead told The Associated Press.
"Certainly, as we work our way through the case, that may be something to look at, but I highly doubt there is any precedent for that."
Mr Springstead, who had not heard the footage of the parrot uttering the phrase, also emphasised the practical problems with a bird would have swearing an oath.
World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty
"To a parrot, are you raising a wing, a foot?" he said.
No charges have yet been filed in the case and Mr Duram's death from five gunshot wounds at his home in Ensley Township, Michigan, remains under investigation. His wounds appeared not to be self-inflicted, Mr Springstead said.
But Mr Durams parents told Wood TV they were frustrated that nobody had been charged over the death and that the police investigation is still ongoing.
"As soon as I receive the investigation, I will make a charging decision," the prosecutor continued. "I expect that to happen in the next few weeks."
Ms Duram has denied the accusations against her. I know for a fact I didnt kill my husband, she told police.
Recommended Read more Snake catcher shares pictures showing python eating parrot whole
However, relatives of Mr Duram believe the parrot could be the key to solving the case.
That bird picks up everything and anything, and its got the filthiest mouth around, said Mr Durams mother Lillian.
Mr Durams father, Charles, said: I personally think he [Bud] was there and he remembers it and he was saying it.
Christina Keller, Mr Durams ex-wife, now owns the parrot and has also alleged the bird is repeating Mr Duram's last words.
The incident was initially thought to be a shooting by a third party, but police have listed Glenna Duram as a suspect.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Serial rapists are far more common than previously thought, analysis of 5,000 rape kits dating back more than 20 years has revealed.
Scientists in Ohio, United States, announced their findings after testing the backlog of rape kits, which were used between 1993 and 2010.
Analysis of the kits used to collect evidence from the victims of sexual attacks - has given the researchers greater insight into the behaviour of sexual predators.
More than 250 people have already been convicted of sexual offences as a result of the tests and investigators expect the prosecutions to continue.
The Cuyahoga County Sexual Assault Kit Task Force a multidisciplinary body dedicated to following up sexual assault cases stemming from the untested kits worked with the Begun Centre for Violence Prevention Research and Education at Case Western Reserve University, who study violence and its prevention, to gain an insight into patterns revealed by the kits.
Starting in 2014, the task force say the discovery that serial rapists are much more common than previous studies have suggested could change the way sexual assaults are investigated.
Of 243 sexual assaults studied, 51 per cent were tied to serial offenders, who tended to have more extensive and violent criminal histories than one-off sexual offenders.
Our findings suggest it is very likely that a sexual offender has either previously sexually assaulted or will offend again in the future, said Rachel Lovell, senior research associate at the Begun Centre.
Investigating each sexual assault as possibly perpetrated by a serial offender has the potential to reduce the number of sexual assaults if investigations focus more on the offender than on single incidents.
Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Show all 19 1 /19 Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Afghanistan Recommendation: I urge the Government of Afghanistan to adopt legislative reforms to ensure that sexual violence offences are not conflated with adultery or morality crimes and to establish infrastructure for the delivery of protection, health and le gal services to survivors. I call on the Ministry of the Interior to accelerate efforts to integrate women into the Afghan National Police, thereby enhancing its outreach and its capacity to address sexual and gender-based violence Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Central African Republic Recommendation: I urge the authorities of the Central African Republic to ensure that efforts to restore security and the rule of law take into account the prevention of sexual violence and that monitoring of the ceasefire and peace agreement explicitly reflects this consideration, in line with the joint communique of the Government and the United Nations on the prevention of and response to conflict-related sexual violence signed in December 2012. I further encourage the authorities to make the rapid response unit to combat sexual violence operational and to establish a special criminal court Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Colombia Recommendation: I commend the Government of Colombia for the progress made to date and its collaboration with the United Nations, including through the visit of my Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict in March 2015. I encourage the authorities to implement Law 1719 and continue to prosecute cases of sexual violence committed during the conflict to ensure that survivors receive justice and receive reparations. Conflict-related sexual violence should continue to be addressed in the Havana peace talks, as well as in the resulting accords and transitional justice mechanisms. Particular attention should be paid to groups that face additional barriers to justice such as ethnic minorities, women in rural areas, children, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex individuals and women abused within the ranks of armed groups. I encourage the Government to scale up its protection measures and share its good practices with other conflict-affected countries Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Congo Recommendation: I urge the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to ensure full implementation of the armed forces action plan against sexual violence, to systematically bring perpetrators to justice and to deliver reparations to victims, including payment of outstanding compensation awards. I call on donors and the United Nations system to support the Government in its efforts and to pay increased attention to neglected areas, including unregulated mining regions Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Iraq Recommendation: I commend the Government of Iraq for its national action plan for the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and urge its swift implementation, including by training its security forces to ensur e respect for womens rights. Programmes to support the social reintegration of women and girls released from captivity by ISIL are urgently needed, as is community-based medical and psychological care. The capacity of the United Nations system should be enhanced through the deployment of Womens Protection Advisers or equivalent specialists Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Libya Recommendation: I urge the national authorities in Libya to implement Decree No. 119 and Resolution 904 of 2014 to ensure redress for all victims, including those affected by the current conflict, through the establishment of multisectoral services and the adoption of legislation to categorically prohibit sexual violence Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Mali Recommendation: I urge the Government of Mali, with support from United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict, to develop a comprehensive national strategy to combat sexual and gender-based violence and to ensure the safety of humanitarian workers so that services can reach remote areas. I further call on all parties to ensure that conflict-related sexual violence is addressed in the inter-Malian dialogue and that perpetrators of sexual violence do not benefit from amnesty or early release Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Myanmar Recommendation: I urge the Government of Myanmar to continue with its reform agenda and, in the process, take practical and timely actions to protect and support survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and to ensure that security personnel accused of such crimes are prosecuted. Sexual violence should be an element in all ceasefire and peace negotiations, excluded from the scope of amnesty provisions and addressed in transitional justice processes. It is critical that women be able to participate consistently in and influence these processes Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Somalia Recommendation: I reiterate my call to the Federal Government of Somalia to implement the commitments made under the joint communique of 7 May 2013 and its national action plan to combat sexual violence in conflict, including specific plans for the army and the police. I encourage the adoption of a sexual offences bill as a matter of priority Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life South Sudan Recommendation: I urge the parties to the conflict in South Sudan to adopt action plans to implement the commitments made under their respective communiques. I call upon the Government of South Sudan to address the negative impact of customary law on womens rights and to reflect international human rights standards in national law. I also encourage the African Union to make public and act upon the report of its Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Sudan (Darfur) Recommendation: I call upon the Government of the Sudan to grant the United Nations and its humanitarian partners unfettered access for monitoring and the provision of assistance to people in need in Darfur. Given that there has been grave concern over sexual violence in Darfur for more than a decade, I encourage the Government to engage with my Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict to develop a framework of cooperation to address the issue comprehensively Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Syria Recommendation: I acknowledge the Governments invitation to my Special Representative to visit the Syrian Arab Republic and call upon the authorities, in the context of such a visit, to agree on specific measures to prevent sexual violence, including by members of the security forces. I condemn the use of sexual violence by ISIL and all other parties listed in the annex to the present report and call on them to cease such violations immediately and allow unfettered access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Yemen Recommendation: I urge the authorities in Yemen to undertake legislative reform as a basis for addressing impunity for sexual violence, ensuring the provision of services for survivors and aligning the minimum legal age of marriage with international standards. I further call on the authorities to engage with local community and faithbased leaders to address sexual and gender-based violence and discriminatory social norms Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Bosnia and Herzegovina Recommendation: I urge the relevant authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to harmonize legislation and policies so that the rights of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence to reparations are consistently recognized and to allocate a specific budget for this purpose. I further call upon the authorities to protect and support survivors participating in judicial proceedings through, inter alia, referrals to free legal aid, psychosocial and health services, as well as economic empowerment programmes Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Ivory Coast Recommendation: I urge the Government of Cote dIvoire to ensure the effective implementation of its national strategy to combat gender-based violence and the action plan for FRCI, and call on the international community to support these efforts. It is critical to accelerate disarmament, demobilization and reintegration and strengthen law enforcement to ensure that ex-combatants who have been reintegrated into the transport sector do not pose a risk to women and girls who are reliant on those services. The Government and the international community must provide monitoring and awareness-raising to mitigate the possibility of a recurrence of sexual violence in the context of the presidential elections to be held in October 2015 Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Liberia Recommendation: I call on the Government of Liberia to continue its critical efforts to combat sexual and gender-based violence including through the United Nations-Government of Liberia Joint Programme, and in the context of recovery from the Ebola virus epidemic Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Nepal Recommendation: I encourage the Government to ensure that survivors of conflict-related sexual violence are recognized under the law as conflict victims, which will enable them to access services, judicial remedies and reparations. I further call on all parties involved in the transitional justice process to ensure that the rights and needs o f survivors of sexual violence are addressed in institutional reforms and that these crimes are excluded from amnesties and statutes of limitations Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Sri Lanka Recommendation: I call upon the newly elected Government of Sri Lanka to investigate allegations of sexual violence, including against national armed and security forces, and to provide multisectoral services for survivors, including reparations and economic empowerment programmes for women at risk, including war widows and female heads of household Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Nigeria Recommendation: I encourage the Government to implement its national action plan on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) to ensure that womens protection concerns are mainstreamed throughout its security operations. I also call upon the authorities to guarantee security in and around internally displaced persons camps and to extend medical and psychosocial services to high-risk areas
The researchers also found many rapists have long criminal histories, often beginning before their first documented sexual assault and continuing after it. Seventy-four per cent of serial rapists were found to have been arrested before the sexual attack and 95 per cent had been arrested afterwards.
In contrast, for one-off rapists, the figures were 51 per cent and 78 per cent respectively.
The different types of offenders were also found to behave differently during the course of their crimes, the researchers said.
Sexual assaults committed by serial offenders more frequently involved kidnapping victims and threatening them, the researchers found. Serial offenders were also less likely to be known to their victim.
But sexual assaults committed by serial offenders less frequently involved restraining victims and injuring them in order to complete the attack. However, one-off offenders were more likely to punch, slap, hold down or restrain a victim.
One-off offenders were more likely to attack in their own house or the house of the victim. However, 58 per cent of serial offenders committed all of their crimes in the same type of setting, such as a vehicle.
The researchers also said one-off offenders were more likely than serial offenders to commit sexual assaults with others, such as participating in gang rapes.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
CNN host Ashleigh Banfield dedicated more than half of her show to read the entire statement from the sexual assault victim at Stanford University.
On Mondays episode of Legal View, Banfield read the 13-page statement written by the 23-year-old woman sexually assaulted by former Stanford swimmer Brock Allen Turner.
See one thing we have in common is that we were both unable to get up in the morning. I am no stranger to suffering. You made me a victim. In newspapers my name was unconscious intoxicated woman, ten syllables, and nothing more than that. For a while, I believed that that was all I was, the victim wrote.
I had to force myself to relearn my real name, my identity. To relearn that this is not all that I am. That I am not just a drunk victim at a frat party found behind a dumpster, while you are the All American swimmer at a top university, innocent until proven guilty, with so much at stake. I am a human being who has been irreversibly hurt, my life was put on hold for over a year, waiting to figure out if I was worth something.
Turner, 20, was recently sentenced to six-months in prison, sparking national criticism that the sentence was far too light given the nature of the crime. The national average of convicted rapists spend at least 11 years in prison, according to the Department of Justice.
This woman has perhaps superseded the work of every documentarian, the work of every politician, the work of every journalist, the work of any advocate who has tried to help people understand what is and what isn't consent, Banfield told CNNMoney. It was her. It was her words that drove me to realize that this needs to be published on a broader scale.
Watch Banfield read the victim's impact letter in full above.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Donald Trump has claimed he was one of the people who broke the glass ceiling for women in the construction industry amid accusations that he approved gender-based pay gaps for his campaign staff.
Number one, I have great respect for women. I was the one that really broke the glass ceiling on behalf of women, more than anybody in the construction industry, Mr Trump told Fox presenter Bill OReilly.
My relationship I think is going to end up being very good with women.
The Boston Globe reported that the Republican pays a third more to male versus female employees.
The answer is no. I just had it checked because I heard this was going to be a question, reponded Mr Trump when asked about whether these claims were true.
He accused the Clinton Foundation of paying a lot more to men than women.
I pay on talent, on ability, he added.
He and his eldest daughter Ivanka, an executive at his real estate company for the last decade, have long defended his role as a promoter of women within the male-dominated industry.
He was promoting women in development and construction at a time when it was unheard of. There was no trend towards equality in the real estate and construction industry back in the 1980s and he was doing it because he believes ultimately in merit, Ms Trump told CBS This Morning in May.
His comments came the same day that Hillary Clinton was announced as the presumptive Democratic nominee, although her majority of super delegates could change their allegiance at the party convention.
Shes not honest, I dont even think shes capable. Every decision shes made practically, shes made so many bad decisions, said Mr Trump on the Fox show. She would be a disaster as president of our country.
Mr OReilly recently suggested that women reporters who support equal rights should not be allowed to report on Mr Trump as he is the antithesis of feminism and a purveyor of beauty pageants, therefore these reporters work would be biased against him.
The spotlight on Mr Trumps attitude towards and comments about women became more intense after the release of a video on YouTube which recalled his remarks about women being pigs and bimbos.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
A retired Nasa astronaut has been charged with murder over his involvement in a car crash in which two girls were killed, amid allegations of drink-driving.
James Donald Halsell Jr, 59, a veteran of five Space Shuttle missions, was arrested after crashing his Chrysler into another car, in which Niomi Deona James, 11, and Jayla Latrick Parler, 13, were passengers.
Both girls were ejected from the Ford Fiesta they were in and died before emergency services arrived at the scene, on a rural highway east of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
State troopers confirmed neither of the girls were wearing seatbelts at the time of the collision and initial investigations showed alcohol and excessive speed may have been key factors in the crash.
The incident took place at 2.50am on Monday morning and Halsell was charged at Tuscaloosa County Jail at 11am.
Their father, Pernell Deon James, 37, and his partner Shontel Latriva Cutts, 25, both suffered injuries in the crash and were later treated at hospital.
Halsell Jr was released later in the day after posting a $150,000 bail, AL.com reported.
World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty
He became an astronaut with Nasa in 1991 and subsequently logged over 1,200 hours in space, having previously served as an Air Force colonel.
Halsell worked for ATK Launch Systems following his retirement from NASA in 2006.
He has received multiple honours and awards over the years for his pioneering research into aeronautical engineering, and once served as a manager at the Kennedy Space Centre.
Police are continuing to investigate the reasons behind the accident.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
American pharmaceutical bad boy Martin Shkreli pleaded not guilty to additional criminal charges filed against him in New York court.
Shkreli - who achieved overnight fame when he hiked the price of AIDS and cancer drug Daraprim by 5000 per cent in late 2015 - is accused of conspiracy to commit securities fraud while serving as CEO of the pharmaceutical company Retrophin from 2012 to 2015.
The new charge, filed last week, comes in addition to previous counts of fraud and conspiracy charges for both Shkreli, 33, and corporate attorney Evan Greebel - who is accused of assisting the former CEO.
According to CNN Money, the US Attorneys office alleges that Shkreli and Mr Greebel lied to investors regarding poor performing hedge funds. They are also accused of misallocating Retrophin capital to pay off some of the mismanaged hedge funds.
Mr Greebel also pleaded not guilty on Monday.
Shkreli smirks at questions
The new indictment adds nothing to the flawed theory of the case against Mr Shkreli, defence attorney Benjamin Brafman said in a statement.
US District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto reportedly delayed setting up a trial date, asking for the defendants back in court on 14 July to establish a calendar of motions.
However, Assistant US Attorney Winston Paes said the new indictment did not ultimately change the case and a trial date should have been set on Monday.
That is the conduct that was also alleged in Retrophin's civil case, Paes told CNBC. So there's no new evidence.
Shkreli, quiet in the courtroom, gave his opinion of the case via Periscope livestream immediately after.
It went great, the judge b*tch-slapped the government again, he said.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
A mother who let her boyfriend rape her two daughters has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Tracey Glover, 44, pleaded guilty to two counts of rape for allowing Alberto Hernandez to rape the girls while she was in bed with them in their home in Columbus, Ohio.
Prosecutors said Glover held one of the girl's arms to calm her, ABC 6 reported. The girls were aged eight and 13 at the time.
Glover testified against Hernandez, who was sentenced to lie in prison for four counts of rape, in exchange for the 10-year sentence.
Alberto Hernandez was sentenced to lie in prison for four counts of rape (Franklin County Sherrif's Office) (Franklin County Sherrif's Office)
"I'm not a perfect mom, but I've always been there for them," she told Franklin County Common Pleas court.
"My daughters mean everything to me. I would die for them. I can't justify what I did."
Judge Chris Brown told her the children "didn't mean enough" to her.
World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty
The court heard Glover has a history of mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction and was sexually absed as a child, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
She was also the victim of domestic violence by a number of men, including Hernandez.
Glover told the judge she hoped to be reuinited with her daughters one day.
"I'd recommend you let them reach out first," Judge Brown told her. "If they want a relationship with you after this, you should let them initiate that."
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Students have staged a braless protest at a school after a girl was reprimanded for dressing without a bra, making another student feel "uncomfortable".
Senior Kaitlyn Juvik sparked a movement against the compulsory wearing of bras after she took offence at being told to cover up by a teacher whil not wearing the undergarment under a shoulderless, non-transparent black blouse while at school.
Students at Helena High School, Montana, staged a demonstration and started a Facebook group called No Bra, No Problem in protest at being told what to wear.
Fellow female students later turned up to school without bras to demonstrate against the decision.
What I was confronted about was wrong ... as long as nothing is showing and youre covered up, girls should not have to wear a bra, Ms Juvik told MTN News.
Someone had said they felt uncomfortable with how she was dressed, leading to her being reprimanded, but Ms Juvik told reporters that her own body, if appropriately covered, should not give others cause for concern.
The fact that I was told it makes people uncomfortable offended me because its my body, she told the broadcaster. It is my natural body and Im not sure why that is uncomfortable to somebody.
Topless Tempest in New York's Central Park Show all 9 1 /9 Topless Tempest in New York's Central Park Topless Tempest in New York's Central Park Topless Tempest Reanna Roane, as Ariel, perches on a rock in Central Park during the Outdoor Co-Ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society theater company's performance of Shakespeare's The Tempest, Thursday, May 19, 2016, in New York. Associated Press Topless Tempest in New York's Central Park A sign directs people to a "stripped-down," free performance of Shakespeare's The Tempest Associated Press Topless Tempest in New York's Central Park Reanna Roane as Ariel, creeps up behind Sarah Sutliff as Alonso Associated Press Topless Tempest in New York's Central Park Led by Reanna Roane, second from left, as "Ariel," a group of supernatural spirits emerge from the woods at Central Park's Summit Rock Associated Press Topless Tempest in New York's Central Park Led by Reanna Roane, second from left, as "Ariel," a group of supernatural spirits emerge from the woods at Central Park's Summit Rock Associated Press Topless Tempest in New York's Central Park Kara Lynn, left, as Ferdinand, and Marisa Roper, as Miranda Topless Tempest in New York's Central Park Kara Lynn, left, as Ferdinand, and Marisa Roper as Miranda Associated Press Topless Tempest in New York's Central Park Kara Lynn, left, as Ferdinand, and Marisa Roper as Miranda Associated Press Topless Tempest in New York's Central Park Gina Marie Russell, left, as the sorcerer Prospero, and Marisa Roper as Miranda Associated Press
In response to the action, the schools principal, Steve Thennis, said: Im not going to check students undergarments.
"We are going to ask them to dress appropriately and if we feel it is inappropriate, male or female, we are going to ask them to cover up.
Would you wear pajamas to school?
The 'No Bra, No Problem' page has received international support, with a number of messages from across the world.
I support you from Belgium, said Facebook user Patrick Monbailliu. Don't step back.
"No girl or women should have to wear a bra if they don't want to and no one should be able to tell you what you can and cant do for your comfort, Michael Wright said.
We men are not told to wear underwear if we don't want to, so why should you women?
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
A woman has been charged with second degree murder after the car she was driving plunged 200 feet off a Hawaiian motorway onto the rocky shoreline below, killing her twin sister.
Alexandria Duval, formerly known as Alison Dadow, has been accused of intentionally causing the death of her identical twin sister, Anastasia Duval, who was formerly known as Ann Duval.
The sisters, 37, were travelling in a white Ford Explorer when the car collided with a rock wall on the Makai side of the Hana Highway, falling down the side of the cliff. Anastasia was pronounced dead at the scene and left Alexandria in a critical condition. She was airlifted to hospital.
Witnesses cited in court documents said the driver of the car appeared to be in a rage before the crash happened, while the passenger was apparently pulling the drivers hair during an argument seen while the car was stationary, the Associated Press reports.
The car was also seen accelerating forward and making a sharp left over the cliff, Maui Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Emlyn Higa said, while the cars air-bag control module shows the driver did not make an attempt to break before accelerating and hitting the rock wall.
After Alexandria was discharged from hospital she attempted to leave the state and was arrested by police.
Mr Higa said in the court documents: We had information after she was discharged from the hospital she attempted to fly out of the jurisdiction on Friday night.
A Maui woman who was driving the vehicle when it plunged off the cliff is charged with murder in the death of her twin, who was in the passenger's seat (AP)
All we know is she was trying to leave the state, he said. We were afraid she would try to leave the country as well.
Alexandria was arrested on Friday night and appeared in court on Monday with her arm in a sling, where a judge ordered her to be held without bail.
Todd Edins, Alexandrias defence attorney, said she did not try to harm herself or the person she most loved and was closest to in the world. He referred to her using her former name of Alison, though both sisters had registered their address and driving licenses under their new name of Duval.
The twins were known for their yoga business in Florida, Twin Power Yoga, which they ran under the names Ann and Alison Dadow. In December 2014 the pair reportedly left Florida to move to Utah.
They were reported to have relocated to Hawaii in January this year, when Anastasia apparently appeared at a homeless shelter in Maui.
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Donald Trump said that his recent comments about a Mexican-American judge presiding over the Trump University lawsuit had been misconstrued.
In a statement released on his website, the presumptive Republican nominee explained that he is expressing concerns about receiving a fair trial.
It is unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage, Mr Trump said. I am friends with and employ thousands of people of Mexican and Hispanic descent. The American justice system relies on fair and impartial judges. All judges should be held to that standard.
He continued: I do not feel that ones heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial.
People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Show all 8 1 /8 People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Miley Cyrus 'God he thinks he is the f***ing chosen one or some shit! Honestly f*** this sh*t I am moving if this is my president! I dont say things I dont mean!' Jemal Countess/Getty Images People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Whoopi Goldberg 'I dont think thats America. I dont want it to be America. Maybe its time for me to move you know' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Samuel L. Jackson 'If that mother**er becomes president, Im moving my black ass to South Africa' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Raven Symone 'My confession for this election is, if any Republican gets nominated, Im gonna move to Canada with my entire family. Is that bad? I already have my ticket. I literally bought my ticket, I swear' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Cher 'If he were to be elected, I'm moving to Jupiter' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Neve Campbell 'Im terrified. Its really scary. My biggest fear is that Trump will triumph. I cannot believe that he is still in the game ... [I'll] move back to Canada' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Jon Stewart 'I would consider getting in a rocket and going to another planet, because clearly this planets gone bonkers' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Randy Blythe 'He could just be a clown. If he is the president, though, I am leaving America 'till he's gone'
Mr Trumps statement comes after Speaker Paul Ryan called his comments about US District Judge Gonzalo P Curiel - who was born in Indiana - a textbook definition of a racist comment.
Although Mr Ryan was sharply critical of the New York real estate moguls comments about the judge, he still reiterated his support for Mr Trump in the general election.
We have more likelihood of getting our policies enacted with [Trump] than with [Clinton], he said.
Mr Trump came under fire last week for his remarks about Judge Curiel, whom he said is politically biased because he is proud of his Mexican heritage.
[Curiel is] proud of his his heritage. I respect him for that, Mr Trump told CNN. He's a Mexican. We're building a wall between here and Mexico."
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
House Speaker Paul Ryan called comments made about a Mexican-American judge by Donald Trump the textbook definition of a racist comment.
Recommended Read more Paul Ryan says he will vote for Donald Trump
Last week, Mr Trump claimed that Judge Gonzalo P Curiel has a conflict of interest in presiding over the Trump University lawsuit on account of his Mexican heritage.
I disavow these comments - I regret those comments that he made, Mr Ryan said during a press conference to unveil House Republican anti-poverty proposals.
Claiming a person cant do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment, he added.
Who will be Donald Trump's running mate?
Despite his disavowal of Mr Trumps comments, Mr Ryan still reiterated his support for the real estate mogul.
I think that should be absolutely disavowed. Its absolutely unacceptable, he said. But do I believe that Hillary Clinton is the answer? No, I do not.
Mr Ryan explained that House Republicans have more common ground on the policy issues of the day with Mr Trump than Ms Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee.
We have more likelihood of getting our policies enacted with him than with her.
New Jersey Gov Chris Christie rushed to Mr Trump's defense after voting for his former opponent in his state's primary on Tuesday, saying that the New York tycoon is "not a racist".
He added that accusations that Mr Trump is a racist "are absolutely contrary to every experience that Ive had with him over the last 14 years."
In the end, there are always going to be conflicts regarding civil lawsuits. There are always going to be opinions. Those are Donalds opinions. And he has the right to express them, the same way anybody else has the right to express their views regarding how theyre treated in the civil or criminal courts in this country. Thats part of what free speech is about," Mr Christie told reporters.
In a 5 June interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, Mr Trump doubled down on his criticisms of Judge Curiel.
Tapper pressed Mr Trump more than 20 times in the interview to respond to allegations that his claims were racist.
[Curiel is] proud of his his heritage. I respect him for that, Mr Trump said. He's a Mexican. We're building a wall between here and Mexico.
If you are saying he cannot do his job because of his race, is that not the definition of racism? Tapper asked, drawing a connection similar to Mr Ryan's Monday morning statement.
Mr Trump maintained his position: "No. I don't think so at all."
Scott Eisen/Getty
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Hillary Clinton is ready to put the Bernie Sanders campaign to rest in the last of the big primaries before the Democratic National Convention in July - but the Vermont senator will not go quietly.
While the Associated Press made its Monday night declaration that the former Secretary of State has earned more than enough delegates to be the nominee, Mr Sanders has vowed to take his revolution all the way to the Philadelphia convention.
Bernie Sanders addresses supporters in San Francisco on eve of primary AP
Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump will continue to bask in his victory, and the Democratic rivals will split 694 delegates from six states - New Jersey, California, New Mexico, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota - after Tuesdays vote.
The District of Columbia is the last primary for the Democrats and is taking place on 14 June.
Ms Clinton currently has a delegate count of 2,383 - the number needed to win the nomination, and 571 of whom are superdelegates and will cast their votes at the Convention. Mr Sanders trails with 1,569 delegates.
Mr Sanders, however, insists he can change the minds of the superdelegates by late-July.
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Hillary Clinton is to become the first female presidential candidate of a major US political party, after surpassing the number of delegates necessary to secure the Democratic nomination, the Associated Press reported on Monday.
The news agency keeps what is considered the authoritative tally of electoral delegates. It counted pledged delegates won by Ms Clinton in primaries and caucuses, and surveyed Democratic super-delegates the party grandees who also cast a vote to find that the former Secretary of State now has the support of at least 2,383 delegates in total, the majority required to claim the nomination.
Ms Clinton was likely pushed over the threshold by winning the Puerto Rico primary on Sunday evening, and, as the presumptive nominee, is now expected to formally accept the nomination at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia in July before facing Republican Donald Trump in November's general election. The news comes the day before the last major day of primary season, with votes being held in New Jersey, California and four other states on Tuesday.
Ms Clinton's campaign tweeted on Monday evening that she was "flattered" by the Associated Press report, but said she was focussed on Tuesday's primaries, adding: "We are on the brink of a historic moment, but we still have work to do."
Ms Clintons challenger, progressive Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, has thrown his remaining resources into contesting California, where the two are neck and neck in polls. He has insisted Ms Clinton cannot reach the necessary delegate count without super-delegates, who do not cast their votes until the convention, and has vowed to try to convert them before then.
A spokesman for Mr Sanders said last night: "Secretary Clinton does not have and will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to secure the nomination. She will be dependent on superdelegates who do not vote until July 25 and who can change their minds between now and then."
Traditionally, super-delegates have backed the candidate who wins the popular vote and thus secures the greatest number of pledged delegates. Ms Clinton has so far won several more states than Mr Sanders, close to 300 more pledged delegates and some three million more individual votes.
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Hillary Clinton has cemented her position as the presumptive Democratic nominee, seizing her place in history as the first woman to contest a US presidential election at the head of a major political party.
The former Secretary of State cruised to victory in four of the week's six state primaries including, crucially, California - where her rival, Bernie Sanders, had hoped to fuel his flagging campaign.
When she conceded defeat to Barack Obama at the end of a long and gruelling primary season in 2008, Ms Clinton expressed regret that she had been unable to shatter that highest and hardest glass ceiling, the presidential nomination. As she at last celebrated her 2016 primary triumph with supporters in Brooklyn on Tuesday night, she returned to the metaphor. "Barriers can come down. Justice and equality can win," she said. "This campaign is about making sure there are no ceilings, no limits on any of us. This is our moment to come together."
Describing her nomination as a milestone, Ms Clinton harked back to the history of womens rights, including the Seneca Falls convention of 1848 and the passing of the 19th Amendment in 1919, which gave women the vote. Tonights victory is not about one person, she said. It belongs to generations of women and men who struggled and sacrificed and made this moment possible.
Ms Clinton was declared the winner of the races in the key state of California - by 56 per cent of the vote to Mr Sanders' 43 per cent New Jersey, South Dakota and New Mexico, racking up delegates from the total of 694 that were in play at the day's primaries. Mr Sanders picked off victories in North Dakota and Montana.
On the eve of the votes, the Associated Press reported that Ms Clinton had already passed the threshold of 2,383 delegates needed to claim the nomination. That count comprised pledged delegates from primaries and caucuses, as well as superdelegates who will cast their votes at the Democratic convention in July, and who told the news agency they were already set on supporting Ms Clinton. The report caused outrage in the Sanders camp, which decried the medias rush to judgement, pointing out that superdelegates do not vote until July 25 and can change their minds between now and then.
By this week, Ms Clinton was ahead of Mr Sanders by several states, close to 300 pledged delegates and some three million individual votes. Given her strong finish on Tuesday, she has now reached a majority of pledged delegates.
Recommended Read more How Bernie Sanders missed his chance to beat Hillary Clinton
Addressing an emotional crowd at his California headquarters in Santa Monica, Mr Sanders insisted he would soldier on regardless, saying he intended to fight hard" to win the final primary in Washington DC on 14 June, and then "take our fight for social, economic, racial and environmental justice" to the party convention in Philadelphia. I know that the fight in front of us is a very, very steep fight," he said, "but I will continue to fight for every vote and every delegate we can get.
Despite his decision not to drop out of the Democratic race, the Vermont Senator struck a conciliatory tone, saying he had received a gracious phone-call from Ms Clinton and congratulated her on her victories. And he had a defiant message for Donald Trump, saying The American people will never support a candidate whose major theme is bigotry.
In her speech, Ms Clinton commended Mr Sanders on what she said was an extraordinary campaign, acknowledging that he had excited millions of voters, especially young people. Insisting that she and the Vermont Senator agreed on the major issues, she called on his supporters to put aside their resentments ahead of the general election. It never feels good to put your heart into a cause or a candidate you believe in and to come up short. I know that feeling well, she said. But as we look ahead to the battle that awaits, lets remember all that unites us.
Hillary Clinton celebrates clinching the Democratic presidential nomination with supporters in Brooklyn, New York (AP) ((AP))
Mr Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, added to his haul of primary states with uncontested victories in New Jersey, California, New Mexico, Montana and South Dakota. Speaking to supporters at the Trump National Golf Club in Westchester, he intensified his attacks on his future general election opponent, accusing her of having turned the State Department into a private hedge fund during her tenure as Secretary of State.
Mr Trump's speech, delivered from a teleprompter, provided a taste of the ugly tactics to come in the general election. Implying that Ms Clinton had offered favourable treatment to dubious foreign powers in return for donations to her family foundation, the billionaire property mogul said Ms Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had turned the politics of personal enrichment into an art-form.
Encouraging disaffected Sanders voters to come over to his side, Mr Trump said: To all of those Bernie Sanders voters who have been left out in the cold by a rigged system of superdelegates, we welcome you with open arms.
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
As she launched her campaign a year ago, faced with a ragbag of little-known competitors, Ms Clinton could have been forgiven for expecting a coronation. But while former governors such as Martin OMalley and Lincoln Chafee failed to capture voters imaginations, it was Mr Sanders, a 74-year-old self-described socialist, who unexpectedly mounted the most resonant and resilient challenge to Ms Clinton and to the status quo.
Mr Sanders only joined the Democratic party in 2015 after decades as an independent, and was at first considered little more than a protest candidate. But his revolutionary message quickly drew a loyal following that continued to grow as the race ground on. With a fundraising machine forged on social media, he was able to spend more than $200m on a campaign that has forced the front-runner and the Democratic establishment to the left on multiple issues.
The strength of the Sanders surge means that, even in defeat, his campaign has secured major concessions from the party, including five seats on the 15-person convention platform committee, which authors the Democratic policy platform for the general election.
But while the Vermont Senator has consistently outperformed Ms Clinton among younger voters and independents, he was unable to break her deep ties with the African-American community, particularly in the early voting states of the Deep South. Ms Clinton also overshadowed the outsider in major states with large Hispanic populations, such as New York, Texas and Florida.
The former Secretary of State landed her first blow of the general election last week, with a foreign policy speech in which she characterised Mr Trump as "dangerous" and "ignorant". Last night she reiterated her claim that the reality TV star was temperamentally unfit to occupy the Oval Office. When he says, 'Lets make America great again,' that is code for Lets take America backwards, she said, adding: He has abused his primary opponents and their families, attacked the press for asking tough questions, denigrated Muslims and immigrants. He wants to win by stoking fear and rubbing salt in wounds.
Ms Clinton has weaknesses of her own as a general election candidate: some of her supporters fear the spectre of past scandals, while liberal critics are suspicious of her centrist policy record, particularly in foreign affairs. Ms Clinton herself concedes that she is not a natural politician like her husband or her former foe, President Obama. Her candidacy is historic in more than one way she has higher unfavourable poll ratings than any previous nominee in recent memory.
But concerned Democrats can seek consolation in another fact: Donald Trumps unfavourables are higher still.
Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Early last year, two Stanford University graduate students caught a young man on top of a half-naked, unconscious woman behind a dumpster. One shouted, "What the f-- are you doing?"
Brock Turner, then a freshman and All-American swimmer at the school, didn't reply. Instead, he took off running. The graduate students tackled him, according to court testimony, and held him until police arrived. Turner's victim later woke on a gurney, covered in dirt and pine needles.
Most people accused of rape are never found guilty -- the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network estimates 97 of 100 avoid punishment. Turner's crime, however, had witnesses. He was charged with three felonies related to sexual assault and convicted in March on all counts. He faced a maximum prison sentence of 14 years, with prosecutors recommending six.
But last week, Judge Aaron Persky leveled instead a punishment that ignited fury nationwide: Six months in the county jail, followed by three years' probation.
The penalty sharply deviated from the sentencing norm. The majority of convicted rapists in the United States go to prison. The average sentence length is 11 years, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics:
Turner, to be sure, was not convicted of rape. The two rape charges he originally faced were dropped. But at least two of the three remaining charges -- assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object and sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object -- fall under the Justice Department's definition of rape: "Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim."
The United States Sentencing Commission, which establishes sentencing guidelines and policies for federal courts, recommends between eight and 20 years for convicted rapists, depending on the age of the victim, the extent of their injuries and whether they were kidnapped.
Judges in local courts, meanwhile, generally decide punishments based on the severity of the offense and the defendant's criminal record.
So how could Turner, 20, commit a violent crime and get away with what many are calling a slap on the wrist?
Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Show all 19 1 /19 Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Afghanistan Recommendation: I urge the Government of Afghanistan to adopt legislative reforms to ensure that sexual violence offences are not conflated with adultery or morality crimes and to establish infrastructure for the delivery of protection, health and le gal services to survivors. I call on the Ministry of the Interior to accelerate efforts to integrate women into the Afghan National Police, thereby enhancing its outreach and its capacity to address sexual and gender-based violence Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Central African Republic Recommendation: I urge the authorities of the Central African Republic to ensure that efforts to restore security and the rule of law take into account the prevention of sexual violence and that monitoring of the ceasefire and peace agreement explicitly reflects this consideration, in line with the joint communique of the Government and the United Nations on the prevention of and response to conflict-related sexual violence signed in December 2012. I further encourage the authorities to make the rapid response unit to combat sexual violence operational and to establish a special criminal court Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Colombia Recommendation: I commend the Government of Colombia for the progress made to date and its collaboration with the United Nations, including through the visit of my Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict in March 2015. I encourage the authorities to implement Law 1719 and continue to prosecute cases of sexual violence committed during the conflict to ensure that survivors receive justice and receive reparations. Conflict-related sexual violence should continue to be addressed in the Havana peace talks, as well as in the resulting accords and transitional justice mechanisms. Particular attention should be paid to groups that face additional barriers to justice such as ethnic minorities, women in rural areas, children, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex individuals and women abused within the ranks of armed groups. I encourage the Government to scale up its protection measures and share its good practices with other conflict-affected countries Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Congo Recommendation: I urge the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to ensure full implementation of the armed forces action plan against sexual violence, to systematically bring perpetrators to justice and to deliver reparations to victims, including payment of outstanding compensation awards. I call on donors and the United Nations system to support the Government in its efforts and to pay increased attention to neglected areas, including unregulated mining regions Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Iraq Recommendation: I commend the Government of Iraq for its national action plan for the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and urge its swift implementation, including by training its security forces to ensur e respect for womens rights. Programmes to support the social reintegration of women and girls released from captivity by ISIL are urgently needed, as is community-based medical and psychological care. The capacity of the United Nations system should be enhanced through the deployment of Womens Protection Advisers or equivalent specialists Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Libya Recommendation: I urge the national authorities in Libya to implement Decree No. 119 and Resolution 904 of 2014 to ensure redress for all victims, including those affected by the current conflict, through the establishment of multisectoral services and the adoption of legislation to categorically prohibit sexual violence Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Mali Recommendation: I urge the Government of Mali, with support from United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict, to develop a comprehensive national strategy to combat sexual and gender-based violence and to ensure the safety of humanitarian workers so that services can reach remote areas. I further call on all parties to ensure that conflict-related sexual violence is addressed in the inter-Malian dialogue and that perpetrators of sexual violence do not benefit from amnesty or early release Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Myanmar Recommendation: I urge the Government of Myanmar to continue with its reform agenda and, in the process, take practical and timely actions to protect and support survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and to ensure that security personnel accused of such crimes are prosecuted. Sexual violence should be an element in all ceasefire and peace negotiations, excluded from the scope of amnesty provisions and addressed in transitional justice processes. It is critical that women be able to participate consistently in and influence these processes Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Somalia Recommendation: I reiterate my call to the Federal Government of Somalia to implement the commitments made under the joint communique of 7 May 2013 and its national action plan to combat sexual violence in conflict, including specific plans for the army and the police. I encourage the adoption of a sexual offences bill as a matter of priority Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life South Sudan Recommendation: I urge the parties to the conflict in South Sudan to adopt action plans to implement the commitments made under their respective communiques. I call upon the Government of South Sudan to address the negative impact of customary law on womens rights and to reflect international human rights standards in national law. I also encourage the African Union to make public and act upon the report of its Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Sudan (Darfur) Recommendation: I call upon the Government of the Sudan to grant the United Nations and its humanitarian partners unfettered access for monitoring and the provision of assistance to people in need in Darfur. Given that there has been grave concern over sexual violence in Darfur for more than a decade, I encourage the Government to engage with my Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict to develop a framework of cooperation to address the issue comprehensively Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Syria Recommendation: I acknowledge the Governments invitation to my Special Representative to visit the Syrian Arab Republic and call upon the authorities, in the context of such a visit, to agree on specific measures to prevent sexual violence, including by members of the security forces. I condemn the use of sexual violence by ISIL and all other parties listed in the annex to the present report and call on them to cease such violations immediately and allow unfettered access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Yemen Recommendation: I urge the authorities in Yemen to undertake legislative reform as a basis for addressing impunity for sexual violence, ensuring the provision of services for survivors and aligning the minimum legal age of marriage with international standards. I further call on the authorities to engage with local community and faithbased leaders to address sexual and gender-based violence and discriminatory social norms Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Bosnia and Herzegovina Recommendation: I urge the relevant authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to harmonize legislation and policies so that the rights of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence to reparations are consistently recognized and to allocate a specific budget for this purpose. I further call upon the authorities to protect and support survivors participating in judicial proceedings through, inter alia, referrals to free legal aid, psychosocial and health services, as well as economic empowerment programmes Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Ivory Coast Recommendation: I urge the Government of Cote dIvoire to ensure the effective implementation of its national strategy to combat gender-based violence and the action plan for FRCI, and call on the international community to support these efforts. It is critical to accelerate disarmament, demobilization and reintegration and strengthen law enforcement to ensure that ex-combatants who have been reintegrated into the transport sector do not pose a risk to women and girls who are reliant on those services. The Government and the international community must provide monitoring and awareness-raising to mitigate the possibility of a recurrence of sexual violence in the context of the presidential elections to be held in October 2015 Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Liberia Recommendation: I call on the Government of Liberia to continue its critical efforts to combat sexual and gender-based violence including through the United Nations-Government of Liberia Joint Programme, and in the context of recovery from the Ebola virus epidemic Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Nepal Recommendation: I encourage the Government to ensure that survivors of conflict-related sexual violence are recognized under the law as conflict victims, which will enable them to access services, judicial remedies and reparations. I further call on all parties involved in the transitional justice process to ensure that the rights and needs o f survivors of sexual violence are addressed in institutional reforms and that these crimes are excluded from amnesties and statutes of limitations Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Sri Lanka Recommendation: I call upon the newly elected Government of Sri Lanka to investigate allegations of sexual violence, including against national armed and security forces, and to provide multisectoral services for survivors, including reparations and economic empowerment programmes for women at risk, including war widows and female heads of household Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Nigeria Recommendation: I encourage the Government to implement its national action plan on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) to ensure that womens protection concerns are mainstreamed throughout its security operations. I also call upon the authorities to guarantee security in and around internally displaced persons camps and to extend medical and psychosocial services to high-risk areas
To begin: He's not the first.
About 84 percent of convicted rapists in 2009 were sentenced to prison, according to the most recent BJS analysis of America's 75 largest counties. Five percent went to jail, which often serves as a more temporary holding space. Eleven percent received probation or "other."
Turner, whose school portrait in a crisp black blazer has been shared widely, fell into that slim minority. "A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him," Persky said at Turner's sentencing. "I think he will not be a danger to others."
Daniel Macallair, executive director of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in San Francisco, said every sexual assault case is different, but the question the judge faces remains the same: What punishment is in society's best interest?
"There's no easy answer," he said. "Exposing people to the criminal justice system for long period of time does not make them better. In fact, you could take a marginal offender and turn them into a chronic offender by exposing them to the prison environment."
Not to dismiss Turner's actions, he added.
"It was more than getting drunk and out of control," he said. "People get drunk all the time and don't commit a sexual assault."
Josh Marquis, an Oregon district attorney and sexual assault case veteran, said it's possible the California judge was embracing restorative justice, a philosophy that focuses on criminal rehabilitation. The approach, he said, best applies to young or first-time offenders who have damaged, say, property.
"This is an insane idea for homicide and rape," Marquis said. "Will 20 years in prison make [Turner] a better man? Probably not. But he savagely voided the social contract when he did what he did."
Marquis recalls a 2013 sentence in Montana, where a teacher was ordered to serve 30 days in prison for raping his student, a 14-year-old girl. "She seemed older than her chronological age," District Judge G. Todd Baugh said at the time. (The girl committed suicide during the trial.) Following a national outcry and a determination by the Montana Supreme Court that the sentence was inappropriate, the teacher was resentenced to 10 years.
In 2014, a Dallas County judge sentenced a man who admitted he raped a 14-year-old girl to five years' probation. State District Judge Jeanine Howard said the sex offender didn't deserve prison because the girl was not a virgin and "wasn't the victim she claimed to be," according to the Dallas Morning News.
Claudia Bayliff, a Virginia lawyer who has advised the U.S. military on sexual assault prevention, said persistent misconceptions about sexual assault can affect a judge's reasoning.
"If you ask someone on the street what a rapist looks like, they'll tell you a stranger with a ski mask and a gun," Bayliff said. "You get this superstar athlete white kid from a fancy university, and he doesn't fit that image."
The victims, she said, are often portrayed as "bringing it on themselves." Multiple news outlets reported Turner's victim had a blood alcohol level of three times the legal driving limit, though she wasn't behind the wheel.
Because of this bias, Bayliff said, Turner's attack could be interpreted as an alcohol-fueled mistake. That's how his father saw it, according to an open letter he wrote about his son's convictions.
"His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve," Dan A. Turner wrote. "That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life."
By Monday afternoon, a petition to remove Judge Persky from the bench had garnered 75,000 signatures. "He... failed to send the message that sexual assault is against the law," the author wrote, "regardless of social class, race, gender or other factors."
Turner's victim, meanwhile, read aloud an impact statement in court that has since gone viral.
"As this is a first offence I can see where leniency would beckon," she wrote. "On the other hand, as a society, we cannot forgive everyone's first sexual assault or digital rape. It doesn't make sense. The seriousness of rape has to be communicated clearly, we should not create a culture that suggests we learn that rape is wrong through trial and error.
Copyright: Washington Post
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Isis has claimed responsibility for hacking an elderly Hindu priest to death in Bangladesh in the latest horrific machete attack in the country.
Three motorbike-riding militants attacked Ananta Gopal Ganguly as he made his way to his temple in Karatipara, Jhenaidah district, on Tuesday morning.
Hasan Hafizur Rahman, a local police officer, told Reuters they slit the 70-year-olds throat and mutilated his body.
They almost beheaded him before they fled the scene, he added.
It came after a series of hacking murders in Bangladesh (NurPhoto)
The government had banned more than one person riding pillion on a motorcycle the previous day, after the wife of a prominent anti-terror security official was shot dead by three suspected militants.
Isis claimed responsibility for killing Mr Ganguly in a propaganda statement saying Islamic State fighters had assassinated a Hindu priest.
The statement gave no reason for the murder but it follows a series of similar attacks on Hindus, Christians and people accused of promoting secularism in Bangladesh.
Isis announced its presence in the country late last year and analysts believe they are recruiting from pre-existing Islamist extremist groups who have been carrying out such attacks since 2013.
Bangladeshi authorities have repeatedly denied the groups existence in the country and Mr Rahman dismissed the claim as baseless.
But it has been increasingly advertising its alleged expansion into the country through official propaganda channels, featuring two large features on the subject in the most recent issue of its English language magazine.
Two gay-rights activists hacked to death in Bangladesh
Calling the faction its Bengal province, it hailed the recent killing of Hindu businessmen and priests, as well as a Shia preacher that Isis claimed militants murdered in Jhenaidah from their nearby base.
A militant named as the emir of the faction, Shaykh Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif, vowed to target Shia and Ahmadi Muslims, crusaders, Hindus and missionaries.
Criticising the Jamaat-e-Islami group blamed for previous attacks, he claimed Hindus were responsible for anti-Islamic propaganda in Bangladesh, as well as spreading fahishah (adultery or sin) among Muslims.
In April, a Hindu tailor was hacked to death by militants inside his shop in another attack claimed by Isis.
A 60-year-old Christian grocer was also hacked to death after prayers on Sunday, while in April a liberal professor was killed in Rajshahi in April.
Since February last year, militants have killed more than 30 people in Bangladesh, including members of religious minorities, liberal bloggers and academics.
Timeline: The emergence of Isis Show all 40 1 /40 Timeline: The emergence of Isis Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2000 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (pictured here) forms an al-Qaeda splinter group in Iraq, al-Qaeda in Iraq. Its brutality from the beginning alienates Iraqis and many al-Qaeda leaders. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2006 Al-Zarqawi is killed in a U.S. strike. Al-Zarqawis successor, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, announces the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI). Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2009 Still al-Qaeda-linked ISI claims responsibility for suicide bombings that killed 155 in Baghdad, as well as attacks in August and October killing 240, as President Obama announces troop withdrawal from Iraq in March. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2010 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi becomes head of ISI, at lowest ebb of Islamist militancy in Iraq, which sees last U.S. combat brigade depart. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2012 In Syria, protests (pictured here starting in Daree) have morphed into what president Assad labelled a real war with emergence of a coalition of forces opposed to Assads regime. Syria group Jabhat al-Nusra are among rebel groups who refuse to join, denouncing it as a conspiracy. Bombings targeting Shia areas, killing more than 500 people, spark fears of new sectarian conflict. Sunni Muslims stage protests across country against what they see as increasingly marginalisation by Shia-led government. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2013 Al-Baghdadi renames ISI as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or Isis, as the group absorbs Syrian al-Nusra, gaining a foothold in Syria. In response, al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri (Bin Ladens successor) concerned about Isis expansion orders that Isis be dissolved and ISI operations should be confined to Iraq. This order is rejected by al-Baghdadi. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - January Isis fighters capture the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, giving them base to launch slew of attacks further south. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis declares itself the Caliphate, calling itself Islamic State (IS). The group captures Mosul, Iraqs second largest city; Tal Afar, just 93 miles from Syrian border; and the central Iraqi city of Tikrit. These advances sent shockwaves around the world. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Around the same time Isis releases a video calling for western Muslims to join the Caliphate and fight, prompting new evaluations of extremists groups social media understanding. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis take Baiji oil fields in Iraq - giving them access to huge amounts of possible revenue. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August James Foley is executed by the group as concerns grow for second American prisoner, fellow reporter Steven Sotloff. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August Obama authorises U.S. airstrikes in Iraq, helping to stall Isis along with action by Kurdish forces following the deaths of hundreds of Yazidi people on Mount Sinjar. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release video showing Steven Sotloffs murder prompting Western speculation his executioner is same man who killed Mr Foley. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Obama tells us that America will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release a video appearing to show David Haines, who was captured by militants in Syria in 2013, wearing an orange jumpsuit and kneeling in the desert while he reads a pre-prepared script. It later shows what appears to be the aid worker's body. Rex Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Peshmerga fighters scrabble to hold positions in the Diyala province (a gateway to Baghdad) as Isis fighters continue to advance on Iraqi capital. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Aid worker Alan Henning is killed. Self-imposed media blackout refuses to show images of him in final moments, instead focuses upon humanitarian care. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Isis raise their flag in Kobani, which had been strongly defended by Kurdish troops. The victory goes against hopeful western analysis Isis had overextended itself, while alienating much of the Muslim population through the murder of Henning. Victory causes fresh waves of Kurdish refugees arriving in Turkey. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - November American hostage, who embarced values of Islam, Peter Kassig and 14 Syrian soldiers are shown meeting the same fate as other captives. But intelligence agencies will be poring over the apparently significant discrepancies between this and previous films. Seramedig.org.uk Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis has released a video revealing the murder by burning to death of a Jordanian pilot held by the group since the end of December 2014. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have released videos which appear to show the beheading of Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February American aid worker, Kayla Mueller was the last American hostage known to be held by Isis. She died, according to her captors, in an airstrike by the Jordanian air force on the city of Raqqa in Syria, though US authorities disputed this. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have posted a gruesome video online in which they force 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian hostages to kneel on a beach in Libya before beheading them. Egypt vowed to avenge the beheading and launched air strikes on Isis positions. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February The British Isis militant suspected of appearing in videos showing the beheading of Western hostages has been named in reports as Mohammed Emwazi from London. Rex Features Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - March Isis triple suicide attack has killed more than 100 worshippers and hundreds of others were injured after the group members targeted two mosques in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Iraqi forces have claimed victory over Isis in battle for Tikrit and raised the flag in the city. EPA/STR Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan that killed at least 35 people queuing to collect their wages and injured 100 more. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis media arm released a 29-minute video purporting to show militants executing Ethiopian Christians captives. The footage bore the extremist groups al-Furqan media logo and showed the destruction of churches and desecration of religious symbols. A masked fighter made a statement threatening Christians who did not convert to Islam or pay a special tax. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isis has been "incapacitated" by a spinal injuries sustained in a US air strike in Iraq. He is being treated in a hideout by two doctors from Isis stronghold of Mosul who are said to be "strong ideological supporters of the group". Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis has also claimed responsibility for killing 300 of Yazidi captives, including women, children and elderly people in Iraq AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis attack on Prophet Mohamed cartoon contest in Texas was its first action on US soil. Two gunmen were shot and killed after launching the attack at the exhibition. Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi have been named as the attackers at the Curtis Culwell Centre arena in Garland. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isiss deputy leader, Abu Alaa Afri, a former physics teacher who was thought to have taken charge of the deadly terrorist group, has been killed in a US-led coalition airstrike. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May US special forces have killed a senior Isis leader named as Abu Sayyaf in an operation aiming to capture him and his wife in Syria. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Iran-backed militias are sent to Ramadi by the Iraqi government to fight Isis militants who completed their capture of the city. Government soldiers and civilians were reportedly massacred by extremists as they took control and the army fled. Charred bodies were left littering the city streets as troops clung on to trucks speeding away from the city. Ramadi is the latest government stronghold to fall to the so-called Islamic State, despite air strikes by a US-led international coalition aiming to stop its advance in Iraq and Syria. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis rounded up civilians trapped in Palmyra and forced them to watch 20 people being executed in the historic citys ancient amphitheatre. The Unesco World Heritage site was overrun by militants, threatening the future of 2,000 year-old monuments and ruins. Thousands of Palmyras residents fled but many are still living within the city walls, while the UN human rights office in Geneva said it had received reports of Syrian government forces preventing people from leaving until they retreated from the city. Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May A group of Isis-affiliated fighters have captured a key airport in central Libya. The militants took control of the al-Qardabiya airbase in Sirte after a local militia tasked with defending the facility withdrew from their positions. Affiliates of Isis, already control large parts of Sirte, the birthplace of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and a former stronghold of his supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June The US Air Force has destroyed an Isis stronghold after an extremist let slip their location on social media. According the Air Force Times, General Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, commander of Air Combat Command, said that Airmen at Hulburt Field, Florida, used images shared by jihadists to track the location of their headquarters before destroying it in an airstrike. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Kurdish forces captured a key military base in a significant victory in Raqqa as well as town of Tell Abyad. YPG fighters, backed by US-led airstrikes and other rebels, consolidated their gains, when they seized the key town on the Syria-Turkey border. They are now just 30 miles to the north of Raqqa and have cut off a major supply route deep inside Isis-held territory. Ahmet Silk/Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has released gruesome footage claiming to show the murder of more than a dozen men by drowning, decapitation and using a rocket-propelled grenade as it seeks to boost morale among its fanatical supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has begun carrying out its threat to destroy structures in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, blowing up at least two monuments at the Unesco-protected site as Syrian government troops made advances on the Islamists positions. AFP
Isis and an al-Qaeda offshoot al-Qaeda in the Indian Peninsula - have claimed responsibility for most of the killings but few attackers have been caught.
Last month, junior foreign minister Shahriar Alam said the so-called Islamic State was trying to ride a wave of religious radicalisation by falsely claiming killings, and said there was evidence implicating domestic militant groups.
The government has launched a crackdown on organisations wanting to impose strict Islamic law in Bangladesh, with at least eight suspects killed in shootouts since November, including three on Tuesday.
It has blamed the growing violence on its political opponents linked to Islamist parties, which it says are aiming to create chaos and prevent war crimes trials from going ahead.
Tension has risen since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordered Islamist leaders suspected of atrocities during the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan to be put on trial.
Her rivals accuse her of settling political scores by hunting down members of the Jamaat-e-Islami, an ally of the main opposition group headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia a claim denied in Dhaka.
Hindus and Christians make up about 10 percent of Bangladesh's 160 million residents.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
The Chinese government has imposed its customary ban on civil servants, teachers and students from fasting during Ramadan in a mainly Muslim region in Northwest China.
In the Xinjiang region where Muslims form 58 per cent of the population, restaurants have been ordered to keep normal opening hours.
While the majority of Muslims fast from dawn to dusk during the holy month, the Chinese Communist party is officially atheist.
Human rights groups have blamed clashes between the region's 10 million-strong Uighar Muslim minority and state security forces on religious and cultural restrictions.
A notice on a government website in the central Xinjiang city of Korla read as: "Party members, cadres, civil servants, students and minors must not fast for Ramadan and must not take part in religious activities.
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
"During the Ramadan month, food and drink businesses must not close."
Dilxat Raxit from the exile group, the World Uyghur Congress, has condemned the restrictions, telling Khaleej Times: "China thinks that the Islamic faith of Uighurs threatens the rule of the Beijing leadership".
Ramadan 2016 - All you need to know
While local government has imposed its annual restrictions on observing Ramadan, Beijing has stated it in a white paper "there will be no interference" in Muslim religious practices.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Police in Thailand have found a slaughterhouse and tiger holding facility used in a suspected animal trafficking network centred on the countrys controversial 'Tiger Temple'.
The authorities raided a house, around 30 miles from the Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua temple grounds in Kanchanburi province, Western Thailand, following a tip-off.
Four live tigers were found, along with dozens of empty cages, according to police colonel Montri Pancharoen, who oversaw the raid.
We believe it was used by the Tiger Temple to hold live tigers before slaughtering them for their skins, meat and bones to be exported outside the country, or sent to restaurants in Thailand that serve tiger meat to tour groups, he said.
Tiger Temple raided
The property, which was in an isolated area and surrounded by tall fences had a work area with knives and a large chopping area, which authorities believe was used as a slaughter area.
During the raid, the police detained two caretakers at the house, who claimed the tigers were the private property of the absent property owner, Mr Montri said.
Thailand's Tiger Temple raid Show all 10 1 /10 Thailand's Tiger Temple raid Thailand's Tiger Temple raid Thai officers carry a sedated tiger outside its cage at the Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua Tiger Temple Getty Images Thailand's Tiger Temple raid Wildlife officials sedate a tiger at the Tiger Temple AP Thailand's Tiger Temple raid A tiger stands in a cage at a property in Saiyok district in Kanchanaburi province AP Thailand's Tiger Temple raid Thai army display a tiger skin found inside Tiger Temple as officials continue moving live tigers from the controversial place REUTERS Thailand's Tiger Temple raid A sedated tiger is stretchered as officials start moving tigers from Thailand's controversial Tiger Temple, a popular tourist destination which has come under fire in recent years over the welfare of its big cats REUTERS Thailand's Tiger Temple raid Thai wildlife officials load a cage containing a tiger onto a truck after they removed it from an enclosure at the Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua Tiger Temple AFP/Getty Images Thailand's Tiger Temple raid Tiger cub carcasses were found in jars containing liquid as officials continue to investigate the Tiger Temple REUTERS Thailand's Tiger Temple raid Thai officers observe the carcasses of 40 tiger cubs and a bear found undeclared at the Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua Tiger Temple Getty Images Thailand's Tiger Temple raid A Thai wildlife official looks at a Malayan sun bear in a cage as found during a raid at the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi Province EPA Thailand's Tiger Temple raid An official looks at a stuffed bear as they continue moving live tigers from the controversial Tiger Temple REUTERS
Last week, a raid at Thailands Tiger Temple exposed one of the countrys biggest wildlife-trafficking scandals.
Authorities removed more than 137 tigers from the Buddhist temple grounds, and found 40 dead tiger cubs in a freezer and 20 more preserved in jars.
The Tiger Temple is just a starting point, or a supplier. We have information that the Tiger Temple is not the only place that supplies tigers to illegal smugglers, said Mr Montri.
Animal rights activist have long accused the temple - which was a popular tourist destination giving visitors the opportunity to walk the tigers and take pictures with them of mistreating the animals.
The government also has its suspicions the temple's monks have been involved in illegal breeding and trafficking of the animals, however the monks have resisted previous efforts to remove the tigers.
A day after officials discovered the dead tiger cubs at the temple, the police stopped a monk and two other men who were leaving the temple in a truck loaded with two tiger skins, a suitcase of tiger teeth and 700 vials of tiger skin.
Press Association contributed to this report
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Dozens of migrant men from Syria and Afghanistan are reportedly being forced into selling sex for as little as two euros in order to survive their asylum in Greece.
The men, including some teenagers, are giving themselves up for prostitution to make money shortly after they arrive in Athens, according to a report by Global Post.
The majority of this activity is centred on Greek capital Athens red light Fylis Street neighbourhood.
Old airport in Athens becomes home for trapped refugees
While some of the migrants are selling sex for 30 euros, others are forced to accept as little as two euros as they are reportedly too ashamed to ask for more.
Much has been made of the number of female migrants forced to become prostitutes in asylum camps in Europe, but little has been reported about the extent of the issue within the male migrant community.
Sex work in Greece is only legal in registered brothels but a large amount of illicit business is conducted on the streets of the capital and in public parks.
A young Afghan migrant, named only as Abdullah, said he had sold sex.
He told the website: I didnt have any money. At the airport, there is no healthy work.
There was no other way for me. I didn't even have 20 cents Abdullah, a young Afghan migrant
You can sell drugs, sell sex or work for smugglers to find customers. There was no other way for me. I didnt even have 20 cents.
I got angry. I had just arrived, and I had to do this just to get some money.
We had only one hope, that the border was open, and now it's closed. I dont have money to go anywhere. I dont know what to do.
Abdullah currently lives within the citys Hellinikon Olympic complex, which is home to more than 4,000 migrants who line the entrance to the nearby airport.
In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Show all 12 1 /12 In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee children at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees queuing for food at the Kara Tepe camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees' tents at the Kara Tepe camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees at the Oxy transit camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees waiting to board ferries to the Greek mainland in Mytilene, Lebos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees waiting to board ferries to the Greek mainland in Mytilene, Lebos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees waiting to board ferries to the Greek mainland in Mytilene, Lebos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos The graves of drowned refugees in Mytilene, Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos A building used to house unaccompanied children at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees queuing to register at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees arriving on smugglers' boats from Turkey in Lesbos
Since January 2011, almost 10,000 Pakistani asylum seekers have sought refuge in Greece, and nearly 6,000 from Syria according to statistics from the UN Refugee Agency.
A further 5,700 have fled from the Syrian conflict to Greek shores and the remaining 34,000 from Bangladesh, Georgia and elsewhere.
According to figures published by the European Commission, less than 2 per cent of migrants to Greece have so far moved on to other European countries.
However, last month the European Border agency announced the number of migrants arriving on Greek islands from Turkey was down 90 per cent on the previous month.
The Independent has contacted the International Organisation for Migration for comment.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Thousands of British citizens living in Germany are feared to have had their votes lost by the countrys postal service after workers were confused by their British pre-paid envelopes.
A spokesman for the countrys national postal service, Deutsche Post, said many of its employees had wrongly told British people attempting to submit their postal votes for the upcoming referendum on EU membership that they had to pay for postage.
The confusion has reportedly arisen because there is not one standard size of envelope across the European Union.
The British Royal Mail classifies A5 envelopes to be standard size, but the German definition of a standard letter is no larger than 90x140mm in size and weighing no more than 50g.
This means that, although the envelopes were valid under the Internal Business Reply Service (IBRS) scheme, some German post offices refused to accept the expats ballots.
There are currently 100,000 British citizens registered as living in Germany.
A spokesman for the service told the Guardian: As IBRS is a product that is seldom posted at our outlets, it might happen that a retail partner who is not familiar with IBRS requests postage from the sender.
What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Show all 5 1 /5 What's the European Parliament ever done for us? What's the European Parliament ever done for us? A cap on the amount of hours an employer can make you work The Working Time directive provides legal standards to ensure the health and safety of employees in Europe. Among the many rules are a working week of a maximum 48 hours, including overtime, a daily rest period of 11 hours in every 24, a break if a person works for six hours or more, and one day off in every seven. It also includes provisions for paid annual leave of at least four weeks every year Getty Images What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping the people of Britain to avoid smoking In 2014 MEPs passed the Tobacco Products Directive strengthening existing rules on the manufacture, production and presentation of tobacco products. This includes things like reduced branding, restrictions on products containing flavoured tobacco, health warnings on cigarette packets and provisions for e-cigarettes to ensure they are safe What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping you to make the right choices with your food Thanks to the European Parliament, UK consumers have access to more information than ever about their food and drink. This includes amount of fat, and how much of it is saturated, carbohydrates, sugars, protein and so on. It also includes portion sizes and guideline daily amount information so people can make informed choices about their diet. All facts must be clear and easy to understand What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Two year guarantees and 14-day returns policy for all products Consumers across the EU have access to a number of rights, from things which are potentially very useful, to things which used to be annoying. For example, shoppers in the UK receive a two-year guarantee on all products, and a 14-day period to change their minds and return a purchase, these things are useful www.PeopleImages.com-licence restrictions apply What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Keeping your air nice and fresh (and safe) Believe it or not, although the situation is improving, some areas of the UK have appalling air quality. A report by the Royal College of Physicians released on 23 February says 40,000 deaths are caused by outdoor air pollution in the UK every year. Air pollution is linked to a number of illnesses and conditions, from Asthma to diabetes and dementia. The report estimates the costs to British business and the health service add up to 20 billion every year
In this case, the customers concerned can alternatively throw the envelopes in one of our 110,000 letterboxes.
He said it was extremely unlikely that postal workers handling the letters in post boxes would not forward them onto the UK.
The Electoral Commissions said it was aware that a very small number of voters may have been wrongly told their envelopes were ineligible.
It said the Royal Mail was working closely with postal operators to ensure acceptance of postal votes.
Voters are advised that once a ballot is in the postal system (ie if it has been posted into a postbox) it will be processed.
It it comes British expats have struggled to get their votes back to the UK for the vote which could threaten their position in their adopted country.
The Economist reports there are an estimated 1.3m British people living in Europe and eligible to vote in the UK but only 200,000 are registered.
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
More than 60 per cent of French voters now have an unfavourable view of the European Union while almost half the electorate in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands have also become Eurosceptic, new research reveals.
An analysis by the respected American think-tank the Pew Research Centre found a marked drop in support for the EU across seven major European countries.
Opposition to the EU now runs at 60 per cent in France, 71 per cent in Greece, both higher than the 48 per cent opposition in the UK.
EU Referendum: Latest Poll
The study highlights the huge task faced by Brussels in restoring confidence in the organisation after the financial crisis and its handling of the influx of refugees from Syria and North Africa.
In 2004, 69 per cent of French voters and 58 per cent of German voters backed the EU while not a single country reported a net negative rating.
The research also reveals that not a single European country wants more powers to be handed to the EU while a growing number of voters want powers repatriated.
Roughly two-thirds of Greeks (68 per cent) and British (65 per cent) want some EU power returned to Athens and London. Pluralities in Sweden (47 per cent), the Netherlands (44 per cent), Germany (43 per cent) and Italy (39 per cent) also want to curtail EU power.
But interestingly, as shown in the chart below - created for The Independent by statistics agency Statista - the vast majority of voters in most other European countries, with the exception of France, do not want Britain to vote for Brexit. However 32 per cent of French voters believe Britain departure would be a good thing for the EU.
The report authors said their research showed the British were not the only ones with doubts about the European Union.
(Statista (Statista)
The EUs image and stature have been on a roller coaster ride in recent years throughout Europe, they wrote.
The EU is again experiencing a sharp dip in public support in a number of its largest member states.
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
There is little enthusiasm for transferring more power to Brussels. As the British head to the polls, just 6 per cent of the public in the UK wants such an outcome. And only 8 per cent of Greeks favour more power for the EU.
In most countries a quarter or more of the public prefers to keep the current division of power.
The EU referendum debate has so far been characterised by bias, distortion and exaggeration. So until 23 June we were running a series of question and answer features that explain the most important issues in a detailed, dispassionate way to help inform your decision.
What is Brexit and why are we having an EU referendum?
Will we gain or lose rights by leaving the European Union?
What will happen to immigration if there's Brexit?
Will Brexit make the UK more or less safe?
Will the UK benefit from being released from EU laws?
Will leaving the EU save taxpayers money and mean more money for the NHS?
What will Brexit do to UK trade?
How Brexit will affect British tourism
What will Brexit mean for British tourists booking holidays in the EU?
Will Brexit help or damage the environment?
Will Brexit mean that Europeans have to leave the UK?
What will Brexit mean for British expats?
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
German President Joachim Gauck said on Monday he would not serve a second five-year term, a decision that could trigger a battle between the parties in Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition over who should succeed him.
Although the position of president is largely ceremonial in Germany, the selection of the last two heads of state has caused problems for Merkel and it risks dividing her government in the run-up to the next federal election in 2017.
Merkel initially opposed the appointment of Gauck, a 76-year-old Lutheran pastor who played an important role in the peaceful protests in communist East Germany that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Recommended Read more Angela Merkel breaks silence to warn UK against Brexit
But she was forced to accept him when other parties, including her coalition partner at the time, the Free Democrats (FDP), came together and backed him. Her previous choice for the post, conservative politician Christian Wulff, was forced to resign in 2012 in a financial favours scandal.
There was broad cross-party support for Gauck to serve a second term, but he said on Monday that his age had been a factor in the decision, which he described as "not easy."
"I'm thankful that I'm well but at the same time I'm aware that the period between the 77th and 82nd year of one's life is different to the one in which I find myself now," he said, speaking at Bellevue presidential palace in Berlin.
"I don't want to presume an energy and vitality for another five years that I can't guarantee," he said.
World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she had wished Gauck would serve another term as president, adding that her Christian Democrats (CDU) would hold talks with Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) as well as others to decide on a candidate.
Paul Nolte, a history professor at Berlin's Free University, said the search for a candidate would add to Merkel's problems, which already include dealing with the migrant crisis and souring relations with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
"(Gauck's) decision means that things are a bit more difficult for Ms Merkel and she now has even more on her to-do list, namely to find a candidate. But the search must not endanger the grand coalition before the federal election in 2017," he said.
The president is not directly elected by the people, but rather by the Federal Convention, an assembly of members of the German parliament and the same number of delegates sent from state parliaments.
That means that Merkel must win the support of at least one other big party for her nominee. Any party can propose a candidate for president.
Among the people whose names have been mentioned as possible successors to Gauck are Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, 73, and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, 60, although both might struggle to win cross-party support. The appointment of either would necessitate a reshuffle of Merkel's cabinet.
Norbert Lammert, 67, who is president of the Bundestag lower house of parliament, is seen as another possible candidate. There has also been talk in the German media that a woman could be appointed for the first time.
Gauck's term expires in March 2017, roughly half a year before Germany holds a parliamentary election. Merkel, 61, is widely expected to run for a fourth term as chancellor, although her popularity has dipped following her decision last year to open German borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees.
Agreeing a joint candidate for the ruling conservatives and Social Democrats (SPD) could signal to voters that Merkel's 'grand coalition' - traditionally a partnership of last resort in German politics - could continue after the general election.
But the SPD, which has sunk to post-reunification lows in opinion polls, may be reluctant to send such a signal. And agreeing a candidate between the CDU and the CSU could also be difficult given the Bavarian party's withering criticism of Merkel's migrant policy.
German presidents serve five-year terms and can only be re-elected once. They are considered a moral authority and represent the country at official gatherings and on issues of international law. They can also dissolve the parliament.
REUTERS
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Turkey's President has vowed to fight against terrorism "until the end" after at least 11 people were killed in a car bomb attack in central Istanbul.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the atrocity, which was the latest in a series of bombings in the country's largest city, "cannot be pardoned or forgiven".
A bus carrying Turkish police officers appeared to be the target of the blast, which struck during Tuesday morning's rush hour in the historic Beyazit Square district near Istanbul University and tourist sites.
The governor of Istanbul, Vasip Sahin, said seven police officers and four civilians were killed, with 36 others wounded. There were fears the death toll could rise as three people remained in a critical condition.
Police officers inspect the area after a bomb attack to a police bus in the Vezneciler district of Istanbul, Turkey, 07 June 2016. (EPA)
A parked car packed with explosives was detonated using a remote control as the police bus passed, local reports said. The charred wreck of a partially destroyed vehicle could be seen next to the bus, which was flipped upside down by the force of the explosion.
The blast also damaged nearby buildings, blowing out windows, reducing frontages to rubble and leaving debris strewn across the road. The windows at a famous 16th-century Ottoman mosque, Sehzadebasi, also shattered.
There was a loud bang, we thought it was lightning but right at that second the windows of the shop came down. It was extremely scary, Cevher, a shopkeeper whose business was damaged, told Reuters.
Four suspects were arrested hours after the attack and were being questioned by police on suspicion of hiring the car used to carry the explosives.
In pictures: Istanbul bomb attack Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Istanbul bomb attack In pictures: Istanbul bomb attack A general view shows police officers inspecting the site of a bomb attack to a police bus EPA In pictures: Istanbul bomb attack A police officer stands next to the wreckage of a vehicle at the scene of a bomb attack to a police bus in the Vezneciler district of Istanbul EPA In pictures: Istanbul bomb attack Police officers secure the area surrounding the scene of a bomb attack targeting a police bus in the Vezneciler district of Istanbul EPA In pictures: Istanbul bomb attack Police officers and emergency services work at the scene of a bomb attack In pictures: Istanbul bomb attack A Turkish medic arrives as security officials and firefighters work at the explosion site after a bus carrying riot police official was struck by a bomb AP In pictures: Istanbul bomb attack Police walk near a Turkish police bus which was targeted in a bomb attack in a central Istanbul district Reuters In pictures: Istanbul bomb attack Turkish security officials and firefighters work at the explosion site after a bus carrying riot police official was struck by a bomb AP In pictures: Istanbul bomb attack Special police walks near the site where a Turkish police bus was targeted in a bomb attack in a central Istanbul district REUTERS In pictures: Istanbul bomb attack People remove glass of a destroyed shop window near the site where a Turkish police bus was targeted in a bomb attack REUTERS In pictures: Istanbul bomb attack Police inspects the scene near a Turkish police bus which was targeted in a bomb attack in a central Istanbul district Reuters
President Erdogan described the attack on officers whose jobs were to protect others as unforgivable.
These cannot be pardoned or forgiven - we will continue our fight against these terrorists until the end, tirelessly and fearlessly, he told reporters after visiting some of the injured victims in hospital.
Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, said his thoughts were with the victims. "The UK utterly condemns this senseless and appalling act of violence," he added.
John Bass, the American ambassador to Turkey, called the bombing heinous and said the US stood shoulder to shoulder with Turkey.
"Deeply saddened by the barbarous terror attack in Istanbul," he said in a statement. "Such senseless violence could never be rationalised by any cause."
A spokesperson for the European Union expressed "solidarity" with Turkey as negotiations continue over concessions including possible visa-free travel as part of March's landmark refugee deal.
Police walk near a Turkish police bus which was targeted in a bomb attack in a central Istanbul district, Turkey, June 7, 2016. (Reuters)
Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, also condemned the attack, which occurred on the second day of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
They are cold-heartedly exploding bombs on a Ramadan day, he said in a television interview.
The Prime Minister, Binali Yildirim, promised a full investigation to expose who was behind the atrocity.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Isis, Kurdish militant groups and left-wing extremists have recently orchestrated attacks in Turkey.
Suspicions were turning to the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack in Istanbul that wounded seven people last month. A parked car was blown up as a bus carrying security force personnel passed by.
The PKK, which has waged an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, frequently targets passing police and military vehicles with remote-controlled car bombs in south-eastern Turkey.
Police inspects the scene near a Turkish police bus which was targeted in a bomb attack in a central Istanbul district (Reuters)
Attacks have mounted as the Syrian civil war continues over the border and Turkish security forces continue operations in Kurdish areas of the country's south-east.
The country is part of the US-led coalition against Isis and allows international fighter jets to use an air base at Incirlik to launch raids.
Last month, two police officers were killed in a suspected Isis bombing at Gaziantep's police station and a suicide attack claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) hit near a mosque in the city of Bursa in April.
Tuesday's attack was the fourth major bombing in Istanbul this year. Two of them targeting tourists and two hitting security forces. The spike in violence has led to a sharp dip in tourism, a mainstay of the economy.
One such attack involved an Isis suicide bomber targeting tourists on Istanbul's Istiklal Street on 19 March, six days after a TAK-claimed blast in central Ankara killed more than 30 people.
The violence has sparked several travel warnings by the US, UK and European nations cautioning that further attacks were likely.
The British Government's travel advice warns that attacks could be indiscriminate and "affect places visited by foreigners".
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Two men attempted to carry out an armed robbery on a McDonalds in France - only to be thwarted by a table full of soldiers from an elite military unit having their lunch at the restaurant.
The thieves burst into the restaurant in the eastern commune of Ecole-Valentin on Sunday night - one firing a warning gunshot while the other began raiding the tills, as customers and employees fled the scene.
However, the two men were completely unaware of the presence of a dozen elite special operations soldiers - all trained in dealing with hostage situations.
Monkey robs jewellery store
Antony, 20, who works in the kitchen, said he did not initially grasp what was happening.
At first I did not realise there was a gunshot, he told France Bleu.
The staff took cover in the kitchen while the robbery took place, he said. Once the men were done they hastily made their exit through the kitchen, while one of the men brandished a gun and warned the staff not to move.
It was at this point - once everyone was out of danger that the soldiers made their move, pursuing the robbers into the car park.
Heartwarming news stories from around the world Show all 30 1 /30 Heartwarming news stories from around the world Heartwarming news stories from around the world A boy who saved the life of a suicidal man by simply asking him "Are you okay? has said he did it because he likes to help people who need help. Jamie Harrington, from Ballymun, Dublin, told the Humans of Dublin project about a meeting with a man in his 30s sitting on the edge of a bridge and about to jump off it. After sitting down and speaking to the stranger for 45 minutes, 16-year-old Jamie persuaded the man to go to hospital and seek treatment Heartwarming news stories from around the world This little boy loves books so much that he cries when his mother stops reading to him A good book can keep a child entertained for hours, but there aren't many that can actually make babies cry when they end. That's exactly what happened to one little boy, who looks completely engrossed while his mother reads him the book 'I Am a Bunny', a classic children's book about the pattern of the seasons. However, when the story ends and his mother closes the book, he immediately begins crying. The only thing that seems to placate him is opening the book at the beginning and reading the story again. It's heartening to see such a little child so completely in love with a book, but it must get a little wearing for his parents after a while Leesedanielle/YouTube Heartwarming news stories from around the world Tattoo with a hidden message highlights the invisible battle faced by people with depression A young woman has brought attention to the invisibility of depression - by getting a tattoo which sends out two opposing messages depending on how you look at it. The tattoo on her leg appears to say "I'm fine" when read by someone looking at her, but reveals its true secret to its wearer when she looks down at it, reading "Save me" instead. Bekah Miles, a 21-year-old US student who has struggled with depression for some years, got the inking on her leg to start a conversation about mental health and give voice to her experience Facebook/Bekah Miles Heartwarming news stories from around the world Teen goes to extraordinary lengths to give autistic twin the high school graduation to remember A teenager has earned herself an army of fans after she finally reached her goal to help her severely autistic twin brother across the stage at their high school graduation. Anders Bonville, 18, from Birmingham, Alabama, was diagnosed with autism when he was two, which left him non-verbal but along with his sister, Aly the pair developed their own unique language and set out to alter perceptions of the condition. Aly was called first on-stage to receive her diploma. With her brother being walked quietly behind a curtained area in his wheelchair to keep him calm, she quickly exited to get him before his name was called out. Aly zoomed down the hallway with her brother in his wheelchair so that he would be happy when the big moment came. Although the principal had ordered the audience to hold all applause until the end the moment Aly took her brothers hand and led him across the stage the entire hall rose to its feet and erupted into applause including the principal herself Benida Pillitary Bonville via Facebook Heartwarming news stories from around the world 'Forrest Gump' completes 42 back-to-back marathons A man has completed 42 back-to-back marathons while dressed as Forrest Gump. Ewan Gordon, 42, from Oxfordshire, copied the popular film character by growing out his hair and beard to complete the 1,050-mile challenge in memory of nine-year-old Thomas Laurie who died last year. Thomas suffered from Cockayne Syndrome a rare premature ageing disease which is known to affect just 100 youngsters in the UK. Mr Gordon, a civil servant, ran about 26 miles each day (42km) the equivalent of a marathon a day for 42 days, from John OGroats to Lands End. He said he was inspired to adopt the quirky persona following a bet when a friend said he would sponsor Mr Gordon more money for his charity run if he did @OxLightBlues/Twitter Heartwarming news stories from around the world Charity shop thanks 'true gent' who donated late wife's wedding dress with heartfelt message A charity shop in Leeds has tracked down the elderly man who donated his late wifes stunning 1950s wedding dress with a heartfelt note. St Gemmas Hospice, which runs a speciality bridal shop in Garforth, described the man as a true gent while appealing for help finding him on social media. The stunning vintage gown has a lace bodice and sleeves and full embroidered skirt. A note attached to it read: I wish any lady who takes this dress to have a life with her loved one 56 years like I did. Happy years. I was a lucky man to marry a lady like mine" St Gemma's Hospice Heartwarming news stories from around the world Blood donors in Sweden get a text message whenever their blood saves someone's life With blood donation rates in decline all over the developed world, Swedens blood service is enlisting new technology to help push back against shortages. One new initiative, where donors are sent automatic text messages telling them when their blood has actually been used, has caught the public eye. People who donate initially receive a 'thank you' text when they give blood, but they get another message when their blood makes it into somebody elses veins Getty Heartwarming news stories from around the world Guide dog jumps in front of oncoming bus to save blind owner When Figo the service dog saw an oncoming mini school bus heading for Audrey Stone, the blind woman he was trained to guide, the golden retriever's protective instincts kicked in: He threw himself at the closest part of the vehicle he could. Police photos show the result: fur stuck to the front driver's side wheel and in the middle of Michael Neuner Avenue in New York, where the bus came to a stop after striking the pair. The driver of the Brewster school bus, carrying two kindergartners to St. Lawrence O'Toole Childhood Learning Center, told police he didn't see the pair crossing the road as they made their way home at about 8:15 Monday morning. But Figo saw the bus coming and leapt into action AP Heartwarming news stories from around the world Florida boy grew his hair for two years and endured bullying to donate it to charity After more than two years growing his hair, a boy from Florida has donated his locks to charity, despite being bullied along the way. Christian McPhilamy, an eight-year-old from Florida, began growing his hair after seeing an advert about paediatric cancer and has now donated four locks, each measuring over 10 inches, to charity Facebook Heartwarming news stories from around the world A police officer who told a student his parents were killed surprised him at his graduation ceremony Kazzie Porties parents, Riley and Emily, were killed by a drunk driver. Eric Ellison, an officer at the Orange Police Department in Texas, broke the news to the couples five children and told the youngest hed be by his side during graduation Heartwarming news stories from around the world Cafe asks customer to leave after he tells breastfeeding mother to cover up An Australian cafe has been praised for sticking up for a breastfeeding mother after a customer told her to cover up. Jessica-Anne Allen, owner of Cheese and Biscuits Cafe in Queensland, Australia, has described how she was approached by a male customer in the cafe on Thursday to complain that he was upset by a woman in the coffee shop breastfeeding her child nearby. The customer asked the cafe owner, 29, to tell the mother to cover up. When Mrs Allen refused to do so, he took matters into his own hands and challenged the woman himself. Staff at the cafe then asked the man to leave Heartwarming news stories from around the world Dog with cancer completes bucket list When their dog was diagnosed with terminal cancer, Cocos owners put together a bucket list and made sure their hound experienced an exciting few weeks before she died. Before she was put down on 5 May, Coco: visited a beach; took a ride in a helicopter; went in a fire engine; ate a steak at the pub; and also had a Big Mac from a McDonalds Drive Thru, amongst other activities https://www.facebook.com/symon.spencer.9 Heartwarming news stories from around the world Elderly cancer patient who rang 911 because he had no food is inundated with donations from well-wishers An elderly cancer patient who called 911 because he was hungry and had no food is receiving donations from hundreds of people across America who were moved by his story. Clarence Blackmon was discharged from a private hospital in Fayetteville, in North Carolina, on Tuesday after spending months there for cancer treatment. The 81-year-old returned to his house without any supplies and anyone close by to call for help, leading him to call 911 in desperation and ask for food. An hour-and-a-half later, Marilyn Hinson, the operator who answered that call, arrived at his front door with police carrying bags full of food and made him some ham sandwiches Heartwarming news stories from around the world Son receives touching 30th birthday card from father who died in 1999 A son has revealed how he only just received a birthday card from his dad who died from cancer over a decade ago, with the father having the foresight to mark his children's milestone birthdays before passing away. It was inscribed with a simple 'Love ya - Dad', and was written such a long time ago that even the corny joke on the inside feels quite charmingly dated ChrisBenRoy Heartwarming news stories from around the world Chinese student carries disabled friend to school every day for three years so he doesn't miss class A teenager has been hailed as the most beautiful student in China after spending three years giving piggy-backs to his disabled friend so that he doesnt have to miss a class. The story of 18-year-old Xie Xu, who volunteered to look after his 19-year-old classmate Zhang Chi, has been shared widely on Chinese social media and received widespread local media coverage Heartwarming news stories from around the world Teenage Aldi worker Christian Trouesdale walkes an old man home A young man from Horwich in Greater Manchester has become an unexpected internet sensation after he was photographed walking a frail old man home from the supermarket. Aldi worker Christian Trouesdale, 18, said he had received a crazy reaction with messages of support flooding in from as far afield as Dubai, Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand. The image of Mr Trouesdale hand-in-hand with a 96-year-old customer on the street outside the shop was first shared by nearby worker and Horwich resident Samantha-Jayne Brady, 23, who said it was a lovely thing to witness Samantha-Jayne Brady Heartwarming news stories from around the world 8-year-old survivor of abuse writes inspirational 'thank you' letter to social workers An eight-year-old girl who was abused as an infant has written a thank-you letter to social workers and detectives who helped to rescue her from a home where she had been left paralysed as a result of beatings. Marie Suprenant is not able to walk as a result of the injuries that she sustained before she was taken under the care of a foster parent. I want to thank you for making me happy by giving me a new warm and safe environment, she writes. Now I have a home that is nice and I have three nice meals a day Heartwarming news stories from around the world Woman praised for defending Muslim woman 'harassed on train for wearing a hijab' An Australian woman has been described as a hero for challenging a train passenger who was allegedly being abusive towards a Muslim woman sat in the same carriage. Stacey Eden claimed an older woman was accusing the unidentified Muslim woman and the man sat next to her of being an Isis supporter because she was wearing a hijab. Ms Eden, from Sydney, said the alleged tirade began "a good ten minutes" before she started filming the woman, later uploading the video on to her Facebook page. Footage from the alleged incident began as the unnamed passenger asked the woman, who was also sat with a pram on the opposite side of the train, "why do you wear it [a hijab] for a man that marries a six year-old girl?" The woman and the man remained silent, but Ms Eden responded: "She wears it for herself, OK? She wears it because she wants to be modest with her body, not because of people like you who are going to sit there and disrespect her" Heartwarming news stories from around the world Loving parents have got matching tattoos of their daughters huge red birthmark Honey-Rae Phillips was born with the large strawberry mark covering half her body. The Daily Mirror reports that Mum Tanya Phillips and dad Adam Philips, who are both from Grimsby, got the tattoos after people starting making comments about it in public. We wanted Honey-Rae to feel special, that her birthmark was something to feel proud of and not embarrassed by, Ms Phillips told the newspaper Heartwarming news stories from around the world James Robertson who walked 20 miles to work every day for nine years is gifted new car James Robertson who was unable to afford a new car after his last one broke down nine years ago was recently awarded more than $310,000 in donations by kind strangers who learned of his daily difficulties. Even though the money raised was meant for a new vehicle, a car dealership decided to give him a new one worth around $37,000 (around 24,000) for free in his preferred colour, red Reuters Heartwarming news stories from around the world Stranger gives Kindle to homeless man An anonymous do-gooder has shunned praise after he gave a homeless man his Kindle. The man from San Diego, California, was visiting Las Vegas last month, when he met a homeless man named Paul, who had read the same, worn book, each time he passed. The man said he had also been down on his luck in the past, and decided to give Paul his Kindle e-reader. A moving photo showing Paul with his Kindle has been viewed over 2 million times on Imgur Mjuad/Reddit Heartwarming news stories from around the world Attacked pensioner Alan Barnes crowdfund passes 200,000 in donations Pensioner Alan Barnes was mugged outside his home in Gateshead last week in an attack that left him with a broken collarbone and too scared to return to his own house. Katie Cutler, who lives nearby to Barnes, set up a crowdfunding page intending to raise 500 to help the disabled pensioner find a new home. Her efforts have led to more than 200,000 in donations being made Heartwarming news stories from around the world Man reunited with stolen dog during search for new pet Richard Brower was heartbroken after his dog, a German shepherd called Dozer, was stolen from the Yard of his Alberta home, and his endless searching proved fruitless. But he had no idea that when he started searching for a new German shepherd, he would experience the closest thing to a miracle in his life the Claresholm Animal Rescue Society, unbeknownst to its organisers, had Dozer safe and well, and now hes back at home Global News Heartwarming news stories from around the world Bart the 'zombie cat' set to make full recovery following his unlikely return from the grave Bart, the Florida cat who was buried after his owner found him lifeless in a pool of blood after being hit by a car, is set to make a full recovery when he returned from the grave five days later. Upon his return owner Ellis Hutson took the cat for surgery to remove his eye and have his jaw re-wired, and Bart is expected to return home soon Reuters/Humane Society of Tampa Bay Heartwarming news stories from around the world Friendship Nine's civil rights-era convictions overturned by South Carolina court It is 54 years since the Friendship Nine walked into McCrorys in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and sat down at the whites-only lunch counter in a sit-in that inspired non-violent protests across the South that were an integral part to the civil rights movement. The nine were arrested and convicted of ignoring a segregation order and sent to jail for 30 days, but this week their convictions were finally overturned Reuters Heartwarming news stories from around the world 'Humans of New York' blog raises over $1 million for Brooklyn school Humans of New York, the photo blog that aims to capture daily glimpses into the lives of New York inhabitants, has raised over $1 million dollars for a school in one of the most-crime ridden parts of the city this week, all because of the story of 13-year-old Vidal. The money is for Vidals school to be able to make contributions towards its pupils college tuition and to fund trips for sixth-graders to tour Harvard University IndiGoGo/Humans of New York Heartwarming news stories from around the world Mystery man who gave heart-warming note to young mum on train to 'put a smile on her face' has been identified The stranger who handed a small piece of paper and a 5 note to a 23-year-old mother just to tell her what a great mum she is has been identified, after recipient Sammie Welch was so overwhelmed by his kindness she started a Facebook search just to be able to thank him. Ken Saunders, 50, said he just wanted to put a smile on Welchs face PA Heartwarming news stories from around the world Father calls out his daughters racist bullies in emotional video A father has taken to YouTube to shame bullies who bombarded his daughter with racist abuse on social media. Mr Knudsons daughter, from Prior Lake in the US state of Minnesota, was adopted and is of African American descent. He recounted how he approached the parents of the twin bullies only to be told that there was nothing wrong with the abuse. I have a beautiful African American daughter who I love more than life itself and would do anything for, he said in the video Heartwarming news stories from around the world This kid thought the postman should get post too It must be kind of lonely being a mailman, all this correspondence running through your hands every day but none of it addressed to you. It must be kind of lonely being a mailman, all this correspondence running through your hands every day but none of it addressed to you absofaluminium Heartwarming news stories from around the world Student raises thousands of pounds for homeless man who offered her 3 for a taxi Christmas is a traditionally a time for giving, particularly to the less fortunate members of society, but one homeless man was prepared to hand over everything he had. The man, named Robbie, offered a 22-year-old student 3 to help her get home safely after a night out - and now she is hoping to raise enough money to help him off the streets Rex
They shouted for the men to stop, but they just carried on. One fell on some stairs and was quickly apprehended, while the other was halted by a shot to the abdomen.
Police arrived on the scene shortly afterwards and arrested the two criminals.
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Isis has killed at least seven people in a car bombing in the Iraqi city of Karbala, while terror attacks near Baghdad left several other victims dead.
Local reports said a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives in Karbala on Tuesday afternoon.
Police said at least seven civilians were killed and more than 20 people wounded in the attack, while Isis claimed it had killed and wounded 30 people.
In a propaganda statement, the so-called Islamic State said it had targeted members of the Popular Mobilisation Committees - mainly Shia militias fighting Isis alongside Iraqi government forces.
Local authorities did not confirm whether any fighters were among the dead but extremists have often attempted to used the same justification when massacring civilians.
Tuesday's blast hit a commercial area near the governor of Karbala's home in the city centre, several kilometres from its famed Imam Hussein Shrine, the al-Maalomah news agency reported.
Footage showed a huge column of smoke rising into the air from a building partially destroyed by the blast, with burning debris littering the streets.
Isis has carried out numerous bombings across Iraq in recent weeks as it continues to lose territory and fight to retain control of Fallujah.
World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty
Karbala is considered sacred by Shia Muslims, who the terrorist group have declared to be apostates and target in many of their attacks.
Tens of millions of people make pilgrimages to the city every year to visit the famous Imam Hussein shrine.
The attack came hours after another car bomb struck in Istanbul, killing at least 11 people. No group immediately claimed responsibility.
Baghdad and its surrounds have seen a string of almost daily attacks in recent weeks, but southern Iraq has largely been spared from the violence.
Separate bombings in and around the capital killed another seven civilians on Tuesday, police said.
Additional reporting by AP
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
The UN has been heavily criticised by human rights groups for removing the Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels in Yemen from a blacklist of states and groups accused of committing grave violations against children.
A spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced the change following a vehement protest from Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia's UN Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi said the accusation the coalition was responsible for 60 per cent of child deaths and injuries in Yemen last year was "wildly exaggerated".
Earlier, he argued Saudi Arabia's inclusion on the list was based on "inaccurate and incomplete" information and asked for an immediate correction.
UN: Six children are killed in Yemen every day
The secretary-general's annual report on children and armed conflict said the Saudi-led coalition was responsible for killing 510 children and wounding 667 in the Yemen conflict last year.
The report also verified 101 attacks on schools and hospitals, of which 48 per cent were attributed to the coalition.
Mr Al-Mouallimi said "the casualties are far fewer".
The UN said on Monday it would carry out a joint review of the cases and numbers in the report.
Philippe Bolopion, deputy director for global advocacy at Human Rights Watch, said his organisation and others have also documented the impact of coalition air strikes on children, schools and hospitals.
A sports hall destroyed by Saudi-led air strikes in Sanaa (Getty)
Mr Bolopion accused the secretary-general's office of engaging in "political manipulation" and tainting his human rights legacy.
"After giving a similar pass to Israel last year, the UN secretary-general's office has hit a new low by capitulating to Saudi Arabia's brazen pressure and taking the country off its just published list of shame," he said.
"Yemen's children deserve better."
Fighters loyal to Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in Aden, on 4 January, 2016 (Getty Images)
Richard Bennett, Representative and Head of Amnesty Internationals UN Office, said: It is unprecedented for the UN to bow to pressure to alter its own published report on children in armed conflict. It is unconscionable that this pressure was brought to bear by one of the very states listed in the report.
Blatant pandering such as this undermines all of the UNs work to protect children caught up in war. Secretary-General Ban must not succumb to pressure and undermine the important role of his own Special Representative. By doing so he also damages the credibility of the UN as a whole.
This is a stark example of why the UN needs to stand up for human rights and its own principles otherwise it will rapidly become part of the problem rather than the solution.
World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty
The Saudi-led, US-backed coalition supporting Yemen's internationally recognised government is battling the Houthi rebels and their allies.
The Houthis have held Yemen's capital, Sanaa, since September 2014. Their advance across the Arab world's poorest country brought the Saudi-led coalition into the war in March 2015. The UN says over 6,000 people have been killed.
Amnesty International activists protesting against UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia, outside Parliament earlier this year (Getty)
MPs have raised urgent concerns about continuing British arms sales to Saudi Arabia during the conflict, while the Ministry of Defence is urgently investigating evidence of the coalition's use of British-made cluster bombs.
The UN declared a truce on 10 April to pave the way for peace talks, which started a week later in Kuwait. But the fragile truce has been marred with violations and breaches by both sides, as clashes and air strikes led by the coalition continued in different areas across the country.
Additional reporting by AP
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Indias higher education governing body has implemented new regulations which allow male students to lodge sexual harassment claims against other men, women, and transgenders for the first time.
The University Grants Commissions (UGC) measures state institutions must act assertively when dealing with gender-based violence against employees and students, regardless of sex, reports Indias The Telegraph.
It was last month that the UGC enforced the new rules making sexual harassment gender-neutral, saying male students are also disposed to sexually-motivated persecution, as well as women and transgenders.
The UGCs prevention, prohibition, and redressal of sexual harassment regulations have been updated in accordance with the change.
The regulations allows third-party complaints to be made on behalf of victims if they are unable to do so because of physical or mental incapacity or death. All educational institutions have been instructed to set up internal complaints committees to deal with incidents.
India protests against sexual violence Show all 20 1 /20 India protests against sexual violence India protests against sexual violence April 2015 School girls wear black bands on their faces during a protest rally against the rape case of a 16-year-old girl at Dhupguri town in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal Reuters India protests against sexual violence March 2015 Students of Convent of Jesus and Mary School participate in a protest against the alleged gang rape of a nun in her 70s AP India protests against sexual violence March 2015 Official figures for the number of women raped in India are often disputed by Women's Rights experts who claim the numbers are far higher SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP/Getty Images India protests against sexual violence March 2015 Women protest after the horrific rape and murder of Jyoti Singh in India BBC India protests against sexual violence June 2014 Women in India protest against rape and other attacks on women and girls in the country AP India protests against sexual violence June 2014 Indian activists from the Social Unity Center of India (SUCI) shout slogans against the state government in protest against the gang rape and murder of two girls in the district of Badaun in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and recent rapes in the eastern state of West Bengal, in Kolkata AFP/Getty India protests against sexual violence June 2014 Supporters of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were protesting against the rape and hanging of two girls Reuters India protests against sexual violence May 2014 Members of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union shout slogans during a protest against a gang rape of two teenage girls in Katra village, outside the Uttar Pradesh state house, in New Delhi. A top government official said the northern Uttar Pradesh state has sacked two police officers who failed to respond to a complaint by the father of the two teenage girls who went missing and were later found gang raped and killed. The placard at right reads, "Punish the culprits of gang-rape and murder of two Dalit girls" AP Photo/Manish Swarup India protests against sexual violence January 2014 Student protesters outside a Suri hospital where a rape victim is being treated Andrew Buncombe India protests against sexual violence January 2014 West Bengal Women's Forum activists walk a protest rally against a rape case in Calcutta, eastern India. A young girl was gang-raped on October 25 and afterwards repeatedly threatened by the accused, following which the disturbed girl set herself on fire December 23. She was admitted to the hospital with 40 percent burns and finally succumbed to her burn injuries on 31 December EPA India protests against sexual violence August 2013 Republican Party of India supporters protest in Mumbai against the rape of a female photographer Reuters India protests against sexual violence May 2013 Indian demonstrators shout slogans at the police during a protest calling for better safety for women AFP/Getty Images India protests against sexual violence April 2013 An Indian woman holds a poster as she protests with others against how Indian authorities handle sex crimes near the Parliament in New Delhi, after a second suspect was arrested in the rape of a 5-year-old girl. Child rights activists say the rape of the girl is just the latest case in which Indian police failed to take urgent action on a report of a missing child. Three days after the attack, the girl was found alone in locked room in the same New Delhi building where her family lives AP India protests against sexual violence March 2013 Indians protests against all-too-common gang-rapes in their country Getty Images India protests against sexual violence January 2013 Indian students of various organisations hold placards as they shout slogans during a demonstration in Hyderabad Getty Images India protests against sexual violence January 2013 A protester chants slogans as she braces herself against the spray fired from police water canons during a protest against the Indian government's reaction to recent rape incidents in India, in front of India Gate on December 23, 2012 in New Delhi Getty Images India protests against sexual violence January 2013 Indian children paint messages during a gathering to mourn the death of the 23-year old rape victim. Her statement was used in the trial AP India protests against sexual violence January 2013 Indians hold a candlelight vigil in Delhi in memory of a gang-rape victim. Five men have been charged with murder AP India protests against sexual violence December 2012 Indian protesters are escorted by police as they demonstrate against the brutal gang-rape of a woman AP India protests against sexual violence December 2012 Indian protesters destroy a police van during a violent demonstration near the India Gate against a gang rape and brutal beating of a 23-year-old student on a bus AP
A UGC official informed The Telegraph they were aware of male sexual harassment incidents from as early as 2007 when a complaint was filed against a Ramjas College teacher by two male students.
Ramjas College, which is part of the University of Delhi, reportedly amended its rules to include sexual harassment cases against male students because of that incident.
Commenting on the legislation, which may potentially set precedent as there was previously no law concerning sexual harassment against male students, lawyer Brinda Grover told local media: It is good to encourage a gender-neutral law.
Student victims of sexual persecution must lodge their case within three months of the offence, although exceptions may apply in extreme cases such as illness.
Universities and colleges which breach the regulations may experience funding cuts and further penalties. All complaints are to be reviewed in 90 days, subsequently followed by a response within 30 days of the reports receipt.
Students found guilty may be suspended, and teachers and other employees may be penalised, according to institutional rules.
Sexual violence in India has been under intense national and international scrutiny since 2012 when 23-year-old medical student, Jyoti Singh, died after being brutally gang raped on a bus in New Delhi, which led to mass international condemnation and protests.
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
Incirlik is Americas forward air base in Turkey, take-off point for the US air battle against Isis. But in less than two months, a group of Armenians, all descendants of the 1915 genocide of one-and-a-half-million Christians massacred by Ottoman Turkey, will claim in a US court that the land on which Americas jets take off to bomb Syrian and Iraqi targets belongs to them, and must be returned to their families.
As an increasing number of European nations acknowledge the most appalling crime against humanity of the First World War as a genocide, which the US Government still refuses to accept for fear of upsetting Turkey, the ghosts of the dead, it seems, are returning to haunt even Americas latest Middle East war.
This is no arcane historical legal argument but a potentially deeply embarrassing political case, in which three named Armenians who are full US citizens will, in a California court, assert their rights to land under and around Incirlik, seven miles from Adana, where around 1,500 members of the 39th US Air Base Wing are based in Natos southern command.
The Pentagons own war-speak propaganda describes how Incirlik is a strategic location close to many of the worlds trouble spots, where US personnel help protect US and Nato interests in the southern region by providing a responsive [sic] staging and operation air base, ready to project integrated, forward-based air power with excellent facilities.
Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Show all 10 1 /10 Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Armenian people carry torches during a march to commemorate the mass killings of Armenians Getty Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Armenian people take part in a march in commemoration of the 101th anniversary of the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces in 1915 Getty Armenians mark 101 years since genocide People hold a flag during the laying of the flowers at the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan Getty Armenians mark 101 years since genocide President Serzh Sargsyan and actor George Clooney attend the laying of the flowers at the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan Getty Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Armenian clergymen, US actor George Clooney, center, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, second right front, and guests attend a ceremony at a memorial to Armenians killed by the Ottoman Turks, in Yerevan AP Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian (C,R) and US actor George Clooney (C) attend a ceremony at the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan Getty Armenians mark 101 years since genocide A general view of attendees and mount Ararat during the laying of the flowers at the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan Getty Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Lebanese of Armenian descent burn an effigy of Turkish president Erdogan during a protest in front the house of Turkish Ambassador to mark the 101st anniversary of the mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, near Beirut, Lebanon EPA Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Activists hold portraits of victims during a silent demonstration to commemorate the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in Istanbul Reuters Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Activists hold portraits of victims during a silent demonstration to commemorate the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in Istanbul Reuters
Unfortunately for the Americans, in that other war a century ago, the very lands below these excellent facilities and their two runways and aircraft shelters belonged to the doomed Armenians of the Ottoman Empire. They included farms, houses and a village church and school, summer homes to the Armenian Christians who lived in the nearby city of Adana and grew fig tree plantations at Incirlik, whose very name in Turkish means the place of figs.
Almost all these Armenians were exterminated in the genocide by the Ottoman Turkish Government, not long after the Allied landings at Gallipoli, victims of the first industrial holocaust of the 20th century. They were slaughtered with knives and thrown into mass graves, shot down by militia firing squads, tied together and hurled into rivers, their women gang-raped and their children burned alive, hundreds of thousands dying on death marches into what is now northern Syria.
Their suffering is now acknowledged as a genocide by more than 20 nations, including Russia, France and now Germany. The US, fearful of losing the Incirlik air base and other military facilities by angering Turkey, is one of the few advanced Western nations that still refuses to acknowledge the genocide itself accepted as a historical fact by hundreds of international and even Turkish historians, but sadly not by the Turkish Government, which provided the Nazis with the inspiration for the Jewish Holocaust of the Second World War.
The August hearing at the 9th Circuit Court of California will involve three named Armenian descendants of genocide victims and survivors Alex Bakalian, Anais Haroutounian and Rita Mahdessian who are formally asking for the return of 122 acres of land in and around the Incirlik air base.
Another 13 Armenians may also be added to the complaint, which would then cover the entire territory of the air base whose sparsely populated terrain and uncongested airspace, to use the Pentagons words, is now home to the 728th US Air Mobility Squadron.
Syrian refugees feel abandoned in Turkey
Their transport aircraft carry 70 per cent of all cargo entering Afghanistan, where American troops continue training missions in their war against the Taliban.
The base is also home to Turkish fighter squadrons in their ferocious bombing campaign against Kurdish rebels. It provides housing for at least 2,000 Turkish and US service family members. Thus the American hospital, dental clinic, chapel and Starbucks and Pizza Hut outlets on the base have been erected unknown, no doubt, to almost all the Americans who work there on the wreckage of one of the 20th centurys most terrible war crimes, land for which the US Government has paid millions of dollars in rent since the 1950s.
The original lawsuit, referred to in court as Bakalian versus the Republic of Turkey, was filed in December 2010 in the Central District Court of California by the three named descendants of Armenian victims who claimed that the defendants confiscated and then profited from land at Incirlik illegally seized during the genocide.
The case was officially brought against the Turkish Government-owned Central Bank of Turkey and TC Ziraat Bankasi, a state-owned agricultural bank. The Turkish state never appeared before the court, although the Armenians lawyers say they were validly served with the complaint.
Recommended Read more Of course Germany would refuse to deny the Armenian genocide
At first, the two banks asserted sovereign immunity and asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit. In the First World War, the Ottomans appointed their national banks as holders of abandoned Armenian property holders, of course, who for the most part had already been murdered.
But according to independent Armenian-American researcher Missak Kelechian, who has investigated the history of the Armenian-owned land and is helping Vartkes Yeghiayan and Kathryn Boyd, lawyers representing the three plaintiffs he has already researched the deaths of Armenian orphans in Turkish hands in Beirut during the First World War the case could force American courts to acknowledge the Armenian genocide in law.
For, in March 2013, the district court determined that the banks could be held to answer for the expropriation of property of Ottoman and Turkish nationals when this action was associated with human rights abuses, including genocide.
Following long-established rules of immunity recognised by all nations, US law abrogates the immunity from legal action in US courts traditionally afforded to foreign states in a few limited and specific situations, Mr Yeghiayan says.
The district court found that the Foreign Service Immunities Act denies immunity to the Turkish banks in this case because the banks are doing business in the United States and therefore the lawsuit falls within one of the sovereign immunity exceptions. But the district court ruled that the case must still be dismissed because it involves a political question.
Bakalian, Haroutounian and Mahdessian, however, appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of California and the case was transferred from the district court; the next hearing is scheduled for August this year.
Lawyers for the three Armenians have seized on US Secretary of State John Kerrys recent remarks that the acts committed by Isis against Christians, Yazidis and Shiite groups constituted genocide, which must [still] be brought to light by an independent investigation and through formal legal determination made by a competent court or tribunal. They say their three clients have always believed their case should be judged on its legal, not political, merits.
There can be little doubt, however, that this far distant and historically based case contains an explosive political message: if the Armenian genocide is acknowledged by a US law court, it can only be a matter of time before the government in Washington is forced to use the very same word for the mass killings of 1915.
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
It is worrying that leading individuals of the EU referendum debate are increasingly abusive; accusing one another about dishonest or misleading information rather than honest discussion. It suggests our politicians are not of an adequate calibre to enable the UK to negotiate the necessary changes to the EU to meet the requirements David Cameron has put as preconditions for continuing membership. It is clear to everyone that the EU has problems and is unsustainable unless it is reformed. The obvious answer is for the UK to get out of the EU before it implodes with all the associated troubles.
J Longstaff
Buxted
The daily edition of The Independent recently published three incisive articles by the original editor of the paper, Andreas Whittam-Smith. Over the years I have come to respect the thoughts of Whittam-Smith and towards the end of the third article had finally decided, based on historic facts, that a Leave vote was the only way to bring this nonsense to an end. Then disappointingly, he writes, 'with a heavy heart,' despite all its faults he will vote remain.
I, however, will be brave enough to vote for what is right.
Graham Barlow
Wirral
As I look at the "debate" on the EU referendum, I see it being led by people who are supposed to have received this country's finest education. Yet they are unable to raise a single coherent argument based on a fact. It seems that elitist posturing and self-interest seem to be the only motives for the "arguments" put forward.
Phil Rolandi
Address unknown
Would Marx leave the EU?
The Independent has given little coverage to left-wing perspectives on the referendum. The Communist Party of Great Britain (which opposes plebiscitary democracy as a Bonapartist tool to exclude the masses) calls for a boycott of the "inherently anti-democratic" referendum. In advocating a Brexit, the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) quotes Lenin: "a union of imperialist states can only be a reactionary entity and it cant last". The Belfast-based Northern Area Committee of the Communist Party of Ireland sets itself in opposition to the combined forces of international capitalism, including the World Bank, IMF, multinationals, the US and the European Central Bank who constitute the Remain Club, in supporting a "left exit campaign a Lexit!"
Dr John Doherty
Address unknown
Consequences of the EU Referendum
I am now starting to have real concerns that, whoever wins the forthcoming referendum, the losing side will be left with a deep and perhaps inconsolable resentment. Whilst the 1975 vote was held following a vigorous and well-argued debate which focused mainly, if not exclusively, upon the economic benefits of us remaining in the common market, the result was - for the most part - accepted with good grace. This time round, the whole argument has become downright rough and dirty. If we vote to stay in, there will be millions who will carry with them, perhaps for a generation, a deep resentment about current and further immigration. If we decide to leave, there will be millions who will blame all future economic ills, whatever their cause, on those who wrenched us away from the security of the EU.
The legacy that the leaders of both sides will bequeath to us after their shabby campaigns is a divided nation. They should remember how history shows us that whoever wins a civil war, the nature of the conflict ensures that the losers never trust or respect the winners again. I for one will never forgive them for it.
Colin Burke
Manchester
Sport Directs Mike Ashley faces MPs
There really is no place in an advanced economy for the so called zero hours contract. In reality, it is an abuse of workers right used by employers. This practice by its very nature places very little value on an employees status and as we have seen can lead to further abuse in the workplace. Mr Wright and his parliamentary committee should reconsider their holier than thou attitude to Mr Ashley and instead address the real issue: Parliament allowing the practice in the first place.
John Barron
Burton
Norway combats pollution
What a major step Norway is taking to control pollution! A real good news story that shows what we can achieve if we have the will. It is fair to mention that although Norway is a major oil producer, it derives a lot of its electricity from hydro-electric power. The move by Norway is therefore sustainable and is to be welcomed.
Martin Rayner
Address unknown
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}
The aid debate is about to get shriller. On 13th June MPs will debate the UK's commitment to spend a set fraction of its income helping poor people in other countries.
But who is right those who warn that vast amounts are squandered, stolen and spent on absurdities, or those who say aid makes a massive difference to people living in shocking poverty?
The Parliamentary debate is a victory for the Mail on Sunday and the more than 230,000 people who signed its petition. Despite spending cuts at home, the Government is committed to hand over 0.7 per cent of national income in overseas aid, regardless of need, states the petition.
Instead, it argues, the 0.7 per cent promise should be scrapped and aid should be only for truly deserving causes, on a case-by-case basis.
The newspaper has also published a series of colourful stories about aid. They include the Indian businessman accused of stealing a huge chunk of UK aid and then strangling his stepdaughter to conceal the theft, and the UK aid millions that may have fallen into I terrorists hands.
By contrast, the aid world in which I work tells stories of the painfully many people in urgent need. In South Sudan, war has left families bereaved and terrified and now some five million people face a food crisis. In Syria, a terrible and growing number have been killed, severely injured and traumatised by war and in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, last months cyclone left tens of thousands needing food, clean water and other emergency help.
There is, alas, no shortage of truly deserving cases.
Its true: UK aid is not perfect and sometimes things do go very wrong, as it seems with the new airport in St Helena, a far-flung UK Overseas Territory, where DFID is said to have spent 250 million on an airport where planes may be unable to land.
Some projects work better than others, aid workers make mistakes and yes, money is sometimes stolen, despite rules requiring everything to be accounted for. Another problem is that some UK government departments that spend aid are not as transparent as the Department for International Development about where the money goes.
But these are all reasons to keep making UK aid better, not to slash our help for others who badly need assistance that we can afford.
One important way to make our aid more effective is to direct more of it to the local organisations that are first to help after a disaster. They know the affected places and people better than international charities and are cheaper, too.
There is good news here some governments (including the UKs) and aid organisations agreed last month to ensure that 25 per cent of all emergency aid goes to local organisations by 2020. Compared to the current 0.3 per cent, this is serious progress.
What is a scandal is that UK tax havens enable corruption and so undermine the power of UK aid. The British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands host hundreds of thousands of companies whose real owners are secret. They can be used for hiding dirty money, safe in the knowledge that even the police will struggle to trace the real owners. Until its tax havens clean up their acts, the UK is giving aid with one hand and helping the corrupt with the other.
The UK could also make its aid go further by helping developing countries collect more of the tax billions they are owed by multinationals and their wealthy elites. The UK is already training poor countries tax collectors but this is not enough to help them win what the World Bank has called the tax wars with big companies.
What tax collectors everywhere need is information. The UK has the power to force multinationals to publish the crucial details of their finances worldwide, which would boost all countries efforts to collect the billions they lose to multinational tax cheats.
This might seem irrelevant to Mondays aid debate. But taxes pay for the health, education, policing and all the other public services that people need. And, unlike aid, tax revenues do not depend on debates in rich countries Parliaments.
Rachel Baird works for Christian Aid, which campaigns for reforms to help developing countries collect more tax and reduce corruption.
Education Minister Richard Bruton has told the tens of thousands of school pupils sitting state exams to remember there are alternative ways towards achieving rewarding careers.
Almost 60,000 students are entered for the Leaving Certificate, including the vocational programme and the Applied course and a nother 60,652 younger students will sit the Junior Cert.
Exams run until the last week in June and the Leaving results will be released on August 17.
Mr Bruton extended best wishes to the pupils facing a stressful few weeks.
"There is great value in everything that students have achieved in the classroom and in their exam preparations, and I hope that they are successful in demonstrating that over the coming weeks," he said.
The minister appealed for students not to look at the exams as the be-all and end-all.
"While recognising that these exams are important, I hope that students remember that there are many opportunities open to them following on from the Leaving Certificate," Mr Bruton said.
"As well as routes to further and higher education there are alternative pathways to rewarding careers."
Mr Bruton said the Government was focused on doubling the number of apprenticeships available by 2020.
Exams are being sat by 117,453 people at 5,000 centres around the country.
There are four million test papers being sat over the 13 days of the state exams and 4,300 examiners will correct them over the summer.
Pat Burke, chairman of the State Examinations Commission, added his best wishes.
"The State examinations represent the culmination of much hard work by students, their families and schools," he said.
"The Commission is committed to ensuring that the examinations are conducted to the highest standards in an open, and fair manner. It is our objective to enable each candidate to display his or her achievements during what can be a stressful time.
"I know that the continued support of families and the wider education community and beyond is essential at this time."
George Osborne pictured at Belfast Harbour with members of the NI Stronger In campaign group. The UK Chancellor has warned of a return to a border clampdown between Northern Ireland and the Republic if Britain leaves the EU. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire
UK Chancellor George Osborne has warned of a return to a border clampdown between Northern Ireland and the Republic if Britain leaves the EU.
He also claimed that Northern Ireland's farmers were likely to face huge cuts to the billions they receive in subsidies from the EU.
Speaking during a sunny tour of the busy Warrenpoint Harbour in Co Down, he reinforced his warnings of a return to border checkpoints in the event of a Brexit.
Mr Osborne has already said a Brexit would trigger a "profound economic shock" in Northern Ireland and result in an inevitable hardening of the Border.
"I'm here at Warrenpoint and it's a very practical demonstration of the fact that Northern Ireland has the only land border (in the UK) with an EU country.
"If we were to quit the EU, then jobs would be lost. I think Northern Ireland would be particularly hard hit. You would have a hardening of the Border.
"You only have to listen to the businesses at the port here, telling us that jobs would be lost and their futures would be uncertain."
He continued: "If we quit the EU, this is going to be the Border with the EU.
"There would have to be a hardening of the Border, imposed by the British Government or, indeed, by the Irish Government, and that would have an impact on business."
Warrenpoint Harbour handles a range of industry imports and exports, with vast piles of wood stacked in and around the estate. It also deals in a huge volume of cement exports and recently began work on a 2.5m expansion with Quinn Cement.
Farmers
Mr Osborne warned that farmers could be among the worst hit if the UK left the EU, adding that it was unlikely that Westminster would be able to match the almost 2bn (2.5bn) Northern Ireland received in a seven-year period from Europe.
"Close to 90pc of farming incomes here come from EU support payments," he said.
"What would happen if we left? The whole country would have less money."
U.S. President Barack Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Daniel Kahneman at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, November 20, 2013. REUTERS/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS ENTERTAINMENT PROFILE)
British voters are succumbing to impulsive gut feelings and irrational reflexes in the Brexit campaign with little regard for the enormous consequences down the road, the world's most influential psychologist has warned.
Daniel Kahneman, the Israeli Nobel laureate and father of behavioural economics, said the referendum debate is being driven by a destructive psychological process, one that could lead to a grave misjudgment and a downward spiral for British society.
"The major impression one gets observing the debate is that the reasons for exit are clearly emotional," he said.
"The arguments look odd: they look short-term and based on irritation and anger. These seem to be powerful enough that they may lead to Brexit," he said, speaking to The Telegraph at the Amundi world investment forum in Paris.
Expand Close Boris Johnson during a visit to Farmhouse Biscuits in Nelson, Lancashire, where he was campaigning on behalf of the Vote Leave EU campaign / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp Boris Johnson during a visit to Farmhouse Biscuits in Nelson, Lancashire, where he was campaigning on behalf of the Vote Leave EU campaign
The counter-critique is that the Remain campaign is equally degrading the debate, playing on visceral reactions and ephemeral issues of the day. In a sense the two sides are egging each other on. That is the sociological fascination of it.
Professor Kahneman, who survived the Nazi occupation of France as a Jewish child in the Second World War, said the risk is that the British people will be swept along by emotion and lash out later at scapegoats if EU withdrawal proves to be a disastrous strategic error.
"They won't regret it because regret is rare. They'll find a way to explain what happened and blame somebody. That is the general pattern when things go wrong and people are afraid," he said.
The refusal to face up to the implications of what is really at stake in the referendum comes as no surprise to a man imbued with deep sense of anthropological pessimism.
Confidence has very little to do with the information on which it is based...
His life's work is anchored in studies showing that people are irrational. They are prone to cognitive biases and "systematic errors in thinking", made worse by chronic over-confidence in their own judgment - and the less intelligent they are, the more militantly certain they tend to be.
Expand Close HOPEFUL: Donal Trump pictured at Doonbeg in west Clare. Photo: Kip Carroll / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp HOPEFUL: Donal Trump pictured at Doonbeg in west Clare. Photo: Kip Carroll
People do not always act in their own economic self-interest. Nor do they strive to maximize "utility' and minimize risk, contrary to the assumptions of efficient markets theory and the core premises of the economics profession. "People are myopic. Our brain circuits respond to immediate consequences," he said.
"We feel too much confidence in our beliefs but the results of psychological research are unequivocal: confidence has very little to do with the information on which it is based," he said.
This is why individual investors are so persistently incompetent and incorrigible, and why leaders often go to war on the basis of catastrophic miscalculation.
He cited a study by Berkeley economist Terrence Odean based on 10,000 discount brokerage accounts that stripped out distress sales and focused only on trades where clients bought and sold stocks in the same day.
The discovery was that the stocks they sold outperformed those they bought by 3.4pc on average over the subsequent year. "That is huge," said Prof Kahneman.
By selling their winners they can pat themselves on the back for being so clever. They can control the reward circuits of pleasure.
They cling to their bad stocks because they cannot bring themselves to crystalize the loss and acknowledge failure. This is a costly asymmetry. On balance, they should do the exact opposite.
Prof Kahneman speaks softly in English with an unplaceable accent, a melange of his years in France, Israel, and at Stanford and Princeton in the US. He recoils from his fame as a sage, insisting that he has nothing worthwhile to say about politics or economics. His lapidary views come through anyway.
"Donald Trump is psychologically fascinating. He represents a sort of ideal in that he is very rich, and people want to be rich," he said.
"He's a masculine fantasy: lots of money and lots of women. He is not afraid of anything. In the context of politicians who seem to be doing nothing, it feels compelling. He looks strong. He is a bully, and people like bullies," he said.
Prof Kahneman compares the Trump syndrome to the strange response of Americans to rape cases that he studied in the 1980s. Society has a proclivity to blame the victim - in the Trump saga: Mexicans, Muslims, and others - because people subtly conform to the idea that the rapist cannot act otherwise.
"It is a very interesting phenomenon and it has reached the point where Trump can get away with almost anything. 'The bully is immutable, it is in his nature, that is what he does', and once you convince people that it is normal for you to do that kind of thing, you can get away with things that nobody else could get away with," he said.
Corrosive economic stress seems to be the backdrop for why such a large slice of American society is willing to suspend its normal judgment. He says globalisation was badly managed in favour of winners, and has left a tens of millions of losers.
"It destroyed American manufacturing and the American middle class. There are places where real incomes have dropped 30pc over the last thirty years. There used to be a concept that if you do your job, and live your life properly, things will be fine. People don't think that any more," he said.
Prof Kahneman and his late colleague Amos Tversky have profoundly influenced a generation of psychologists. In the process they challenged the assumption of rationality in economics, which is why he won the Nobel Prize in 2002.
His book 'Thinking , Fast and Slow' became a global best-seller, compared by some to Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations or the General Theory by John Maynard Keynes for its role in shaping economic 'science' - if it can still be called a science.
He loosely contrasts the quick, intuitive, emotional reactions in the right-side of the brain with the slower, logical responses of the left-side. The latter is lazy, apt to confirm emotions too easily, and does not always pull its weight in decisions. That is where mistakes are made.
"The worst thing you can do is to keep checking your portfolio. If you have the urge to trade, take a shower instead because it will save you money.
His experiments are deeply disturbing for anybody with a touching faith in rationality. He discovered that parole judges rack up a 65pc release rate for prisoners if the case comes up just after lunch. This collapses to almost zero by the end of the afternoon as the meal fades. The judges are of course unaware of their bias.
We are very bad at learning from mistakes because we fall into the trap of hindsight and "re-image" past events, conjuring false explications for what may have been a random shock. We have already created a false narrative about the Great Recession of 2008-2009.
"When you read the Big Short you think that those who didn't see the crash coming must have been either blind or knaves. It invites you to hindsight," he said.
"But it could not have been as simple as that. A great number of highly intelligent people didn't see it coming. The crash was not as predictable as it now appears. We have learned the wrong lesson," he said.
"Surprises are self-negating. We explain them. We deny the uncertainty we face and learn that crises are predictable, when we should learn the opposite," he said. We will be caught out again as surely as night follows day.
Most investors who think they have understood past errors and will get the timing right next time are deluding themselves. Cognitive biases are too strong. "We don't really learn anything," he said.
He advises people to invest in a tracker fund and avoid rifle shots. "People trade too much. They churn their accounts. They think they know something, but having a lot of ideas is costly. If they knew how the world worked, they wouldn't invest," he said.
The worst thing you can do is to keep checking your portfolio. If you have the urge to trade, take a shower instead because it will save you money.
An "angry" Sir John Major has launched a brutal assault on the "squalid" Brexit campaign being run by Boris Johnson and Michael Gove
Above all, do not put your wealth in managed funds or let hedge funds get hold of it. The great mystery of behavioural finance is why people ignore all the evidence and allow managers to cream off their tithe for little or no value added. "The one sure thing in the world is the fees," he said.
Not even Warren Buffett really disproves his findings, he insists. "Buffet doesn't buy the market, he buys companies, and he buys management. In a way he relies on perfectly legal insider information. And he causes markets to move in his direction. That is self-fulfilling, so he has an advantage," he said.
One thing that Prof Kahneman and Warren Buffet can agree on is that markets are imperfect and that rational expectations theory is hocus pocus.
Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
More than a quarter of all Dublin office space has changed hands in little more than three years, a rate described as "extraordinary."
International investors dominate the market, accounting for 68pc of sales in the first three months of this year, up from 62pc in 2015, according to a new report from Savills Ireland.
The report says that almost 1m square metres (sq m) of modern office space has traded in Dublin since the beginning of 2013 - equivalent to 27pc of the entire stock in Dublin.
In the core city centre districts the figures are even higher, with almost 40pc of office space in the prime central business district changing hands over the period.
The volume of sales reflects the fall out from the crash, including one-off exits by Nama and other banks from properties backed by soured boom-era loans, according to Dr John McCartney, economist and Director of Research at Savills Ireland.
"The extraordinary rate at which office buildings have changed hands reflects two things; firstly a glut of supply as Nama and the lending institutions put the assets associated with non-performing loans up for sale. Secondly, rapid growth in services employment which created strong occupier demand and low vacancy rates," he said.
Institutional investors and stock market-listed REITs have become the biggest buyers of office property since the start of 2015, accounting for 41pc of modern office purchases by volume and 80pc by value.
They are typically making large scale purchases, with the average deal size among such purchasers coming in at just under 50m.
The average size of deals done by private individuals was 3.6m.
Office space isn't the only commercial property changing hands, with hotels seeing strong demand.
And the country's biggest hotel chain has exchanged contracts to buy the freehold interest on Limerick's landmark Clarion Hotel for 8.5m.
In March Dalata acquired a leasehold interest in the 158-bedroom, four-star hotel, which dominates the Shannon waterfront in the city. The hotel is to be rebranded as a Clayton hotel before the end of 2016 with further investment planned, Dalata said.
Last week Dalata moved its stock maket listing to the main index on the Irish Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.
The shares previously traded on the so-called junior market on the Irish Stock Exchange and the AIM in London, which is traditionally used by smaller companies.
The proportion of continental animals in the national cattle herd is set to decline further according to the country's biggest bull studs.
Demand for large continental breeds such as Belgian Blue and Charolais continue to decline as both beef and dairy farmers gravitate towards the early maturing beef breeds such as Angus and Hereford.
Sales of beef sires for use on the dairy herd is up again, especially in the southern half of the country.
"We saw a 15pc increase in the number of beef straws being used, with Angus, Hereford and Limousin all up by at least 25pc on last year," said Munster AI's Terry Dillon.
Ease of calving and shorter gestations typical of the smaller beef breeds are the big factors for dairy farmers focused on minimising the calving interval.
"The difference between a Limousin and an Angus could be nearly two weeks.
"That's a big difference for a bull being used at the end of the breeding season," said Progressive Genetic's marketing manager, Laurence Feeney.
He estimates that beef straw sales in the northern half of the country were up by nearly 5pc compared to dairy sires, with overall volumes up by 10pc in line with the 120,000 head increase in the dairy herd.
BDGP
However, Limousins are gaining ground on other continental breeds on the back of the Beef Data Genomics Programme (BDGP) according to Mr Feeney.
"Farmers' perception is that the Limousin has more milk, and is a more efficient cow in terms of fertility and ease of management.
"It's going to depend on the results from the BDGP, but if lads see an improvement, there's no reason why these trends wouldn't continue," he added.
Sexed semen is another line that has suffered in sales as dairy farmers look to cut back on expenditure.
It was one of the main reasons for a fall in revenue during the first five months of 2016 for Tipperary-based stud Dovea.
"Sexed semen sales were down 20pc, which probably isn't surprising for straws costing 40 each in the year that's in it," said Dovea general manager Ger Ryan.
A similar drop in sexed semen usage was encountered in Progressive Genetic's region, while sales of cheaper straws from the Gene Ireland and end-of-line bulls rose by 10pc.
"Gene Ireland straws, which were costing less than half the average straw price of 18, were sold out by the start of the breeding season. But our bargain basement bulls priced at 12-14 also sold very well this year," said Mr Feeney.
A tagging scheme delivering enhanced traceability in the sheep flock is one of the key measures being considered as part of the 25m package for the sector.
Farming bodies are seeking a 'menu' of options that farmers could pick from to meet the requirements of the new funding.
The ICSA's John Brooks warned against using the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) as a blueprint for rolling out the sheep scheme, pointing out that breeding within the sector was not at the same level.
"The department are keen to have as part of it enhanced traceability in the flock," said Mr Brooks. However, he said the ICSA felt it wasn't a sensible requirement to put electronic tags on lambs that were going straight from farm to slaughter.
Agriculture Minister Michael Creed said discussions were underway with the farm representative groups and that he was keen to get their input.
Mr Creed said the sector has "waited long enough" and his department was anxious to have it in place for 2017.
He said he was keen to have a scheme they could collectively sign off on as the monies would be coming from the Rural Development Programme under CAP and it requires amendment at EU level.
"I want to pay the industry this money. Obviously there will be a quid pro quo as otherwise it would be direct income aid and the State can't just say 'there is a cheque'," Mr Creed said.
"The only thing I would say is from talking to people like the meat industry we have issues in respect of traceability in the sector," he said. "If we are looking to explore new markets in particular that is maybe something that should be reflected upon."
Potentially the payment could be divvied out at 10 a head, with a flock of over 2.4 million ewes in the country.
The IFA's John Lynskey said the changes would have to be submitted before the end of June to be passed and be paid out next year.
Mr Lynskey said they hoped the options would be broad enough for farmers to fulfil the scheme, which he felt should be mainly focused on animal welfare issues, such as dealing with foot rot.
He felt other measures that may be included were faecal egg counts to ensure the correct level of dosing was followed to reduce anthelmintic resistance. Mr Brooks said he felt the animal welfare measures would be of benefit to farmers.
"We want this to be of minimal cost and bureaucracy so we are trying to focus on items that would be beneficial to farmers," he said.
"It has to get past the EU and we think they would like the animal welfare measures."
It is understood some reference period would be followed to ensure the monies were available to those in the sector for the long-term.
EU governments have refused to re-authorise agricultures number one weedkiller glyphosate for use in Europe, over concerns that the product may be linked to cancer.
The licence for glyphosate a key ingredient in Roundup is due to expire at the end of this month.
In a tense vote yesterday, national representatives in the EUs plants, animals, food and feed committee threw out a European Commission proposal to extend the current authorisation for 12-18 months, pending new scientific advice.
If no solution is found before July 1, farmers will be forced to stop using products containing glyphosate, the worlds most-used herbicide, by December 2018.
Farmers say there are no viable chemical alternatives for weed control, and that costs and carbon emissions will go up if they have to switch from glyphosate to ploughing.
This would be a total disaster for Irish farming, said Carlow agronomist Pat Minnock.
Glyphosate revolutionised cereal production here since it became available in the 1970s. It has increased cereal yields and reduced costs by controlling scutch.
There is no other herbicide out there that will control scutch roots.
A graminicide will control it temporarily, but there would be very limited options for its use in cereal crops, he said.
The issue has heralded an era of more politicised environmental lawmaking, with growing concerns that other commonly used pesticides will be subjected to a similar process.
Unusual
Its unusual for the re-licensing of a product to receive such political attention, Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness said. I think this will extend to the re-licensing of other products.
The Glyphosate Task Force, representing manufacturers, has contacted the commission seeking a full licence renewal.
The issue will now be heard by an appeal committee made up of ambassadors from the EUs 28 countries, and will be discussed by commissioners at their weekly meeting today.
Although 20 EU countries, including Ireland, were in favour of reauthorising glyphosate, EU voting rules require a qualified majority of 55pc of EU countries that make up 65pc of the EUs population.
The fact that the EUs most populous states, Germany, France and Italy, abstained from Mondays vote, made re-approval impossible. Malta was the only country to vote against.
The vote follows several compromise proposals by the Commission, which says EU countries can ban the use of specific products containing glyphosate.
EU health chief Vytenis Andriukaitis has warned governments not to hide behind the Commissions decision.
Glyphosate came up for a 15-year renewal last year but a decision was put off after a World Health Organisation (WHO) body classified it as probably carcinogenic to humans.
The advice conflicts with the European Food and Safety Agency, which found it was unlikely to be carcinogenic, a position echoed by a joint United Nations/WHO committee last month.
The European chemicals agency is now reviewing its toxicity but is not expected to rule before mid-2017.
One of the biggest issues surrounding glyphosates use in Europe is the practice of burning off cereal crops with the pesticide 10 days before harvest. It is probably the issue that concerns people most, admitted Mr Minnock.
However, the crop advisor said that the technique was the only way for continuous cereal rotations to work in Ireland.
You could increase the integrated pest management (IPM) techniques, but by waiting until the crop is harvested to deal with scutch, you will not get back into to sow until maybe November.
That doesnt work in modern rotations where farmers are trying to spread the autumn workload and get crops planted in good conditions in September and October, he said.
EU health chief Vytenis Andriukaitis has warned governments not to hide behind the Commissions decision.
Glyphosate came up for a 15-year renewal last year but a decision was put off after a World Health Organisation (WHO) body classified it as probably carcinogenic to humans.
The advice conflicts with the European Food and Safety Agency, which found it was unlikely to be carcinogenic, a position echoed by a joint United Nations/WHO committee last month.
The European chemicals agency is now reviewing its toxicity but is not expected to rule before mid-2017.
One of the biggest issues surrounding glyphosates use in Europe is the practice of burning off cereal crops with the pesticide 10 days before harvest. It is probably the issue that concerns people most, admitted Mr Minnock.
However, the crop advisor said that the technique was the only way for continuous cereal rotations to work in Ireland.
You could increase the integrated pest management (IPM) techniques, but by waiting until the crop is harvested to deal with scutch, you will not get back into to sow until maybe November.
That doesnt work in modern rotations where farmers are trying to spread the autumn workload and get crops planted in good conditions in September and October, he said.
Mr Naughten said he will discuss the possibility of refitting the plants to burn biomass with the ESB and Bord na Mona. Photo: PA
Converting three peat-fired power plants in the Midlands to run on biomass fuel is being examined by Minister Denis Naughten as a means to safeguard around 1,500 jobs in the region.
A briefing supplied to Mr Naughten said the future of all three power stations is at risk, if Bord na Mona fails to get a favourable approval from An Bord Pleanala for a plant in Edenderry, Co Offaly.
This would "undermine" the two other stations run by the ESB, officials said. They warned 1,443 jobs supported by the peat-to-power industry would be lost if operations ceased.
Speaking to the Irish Independent Mr Naughten - the new minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment - said he is probably the Dail's "single biggest supporter of biomass". He said he will discuss the possibility of refitting the plants to burn biomass with the ESB and Bord na Mona.
"From my perspective as a Midlands TD, biomass has to be grown here in Ireland. One -because of the carbon impact of that, but two - because of jobs.
"There's 800 to 900 people directly employed in supplying and supporting the three peat-fired power stations.
"There's roughly the same number of ancillary jobs supported by that. And the solution we're being told in relation to those three peat-fired power stations is to grow willow and supply them through biomass."
He said willow won't grow in the Midlands but that he wants to investigate what biomass crops will grow in the vicinity of the power stations.
This would create income for local farmers, maintain existing job levels in harvesting and transport and help Ireland meet its renewable energy targets.
Mr Naughten said the prospect of converting the three plants is more feasible than refitting the massive coal-fired plant at Moneypoint, Co Clare to burn biomass.
Delivering homes to the 90,000-plus families on social housing waiting lists is being hampered by delays in completing designs, securing planning permission and, in some cases, finding the necessary land. Photo: Bloomberg
Local authorities have failed to build any of the 1,700 'shovel-ready' social houses promised more than a year ago.
Architects and design teams are only now being appointed for some developments - 13 months after the previous Government announced a 312m investment programme which it claimed was part of an "aggressive" plan to tackle the housing crisis.
Delivering homes to the 90,000-plus families on social housing waiting lists is being hampered by delays in completing designs, securing planning permission and, in some cases, finding the necessary land, it has emerged.
It comes after former housing minister Paudie Coffey claimed in May last year that work would go ahead on 100 projects which were "shovel-ready" - but not one of the promised homes has been delivered.
The Irish Independent has learned the Government now plans to send 'project delivery teams' into local authorities to speed up delivery of units as the number of people living in homeless accommodation continues to rise.
Housing Minister Simon Coveney said, while there were "genuine challenges" for some local authorities, there were "a lot of things" which could be done to speed up delivery.
"Chief executives (of city and county councils) need to take responsibility. The chief executive needs to drive this with a sense of urgency," he said.
"We should be able to turn around projects on publicly-owned land quicker. The delays include the tendering, planning, approval, contract sign-off and servicing of sites. There's a whole project management issue which is taking far too long before a builder moves on site."
Last March, the Department of the Environment produced a list of projects which had received Stage 1 approval - meaning the scheme had been sanctioned, and councils were allowed go ahead to the detailed planning and design stage.
Some 1,706 homes were approved in May 2015. Another 134 were sanctioned the following July, and 890 last January - a total of 2,730 across 145 individual schemes.
The Irish Independent asked each local authority to provide an update on how the projects were progressing. Three - Kerry, Offaly and Wexford - failed to respond. The data shows:
No social houses have been built by the local authorities from the 2,730 sanctioned as long as a year ago.
Just 26 are under construction in Donegal, Tipperary and Louth. Louth County Council said it expects 12 to be completed this month.
Architects and design teams are only now being appointed for many of the schemes. A significant number have yet to proceed to planning.
Some units have been purchased - Fingal has secured 44, Cork City another 28 and Louth another eight. But some councils are only beginning to purchase homes now.
In some cases, including Cork and Galway, the number of units has been increased, which has resulted in delays as projects must be redesigned.
Some other projects have also been cancelled or delayed.
In Longford, no work has started on 13 houses approved in Lanesborough last July. 'Trial holes' are being organised for the site, the council said.
A land swap is also being organised with the HSE in Meath to facilitate construction of 19 units in Summerhill, approved in May 2015.
In one case - a 3.1m scheme of 20 units at Strandhill in Co Sligo - construction work is not expected to begin until November next year, 30 months after it was approved.
The minister said special teams would be sent into local authorities to drive delivery.
Last year, 72 social houses were built, and around 1,160 acquired. The Government plans to deliver up to 35,000, which includes new-build and rented units. The teams will include architects, planners, quantity surveyors and engineers who will scrutinise local authorities' performances to ensure projects are proceeding in a timely manner.
"We will send project teams from the department into the local authorities to speed up the planning, approval and design process. We need to help local authorities to move quicker through procurement," Coveney said.
"I will expect and demand urgency from local authorities."
The teams are expected to be announced in the Action Plan for Housing. Chief executives of local authorities were due to report back last Friday on how they could speed-up delivery.
Airbnb is facing an outcry after a transgender guest stated she was denied a stay by a host because of her gender identity.
Shadi Petrosky, a well-known Hollywood producer, on Sunday tweeted a screenshot of a Minneapolis-based host denying her a stay because she did not want her 13-year-old son to "feel any discomfort in his own home," but thanked Ms Petrosky for her "honesty."
Ms Petrosky said she had privately complained to Airbnb in 2015, but rather than removing the host, the company upgraded her to super host status, which rewards more experienced hosts with multiple five-star reviews from their guests.
It took a viral post, that at the time of writing has been retweeted over a thousand times, for the company to take action. On Monday the host was finally suspended.
I was denied @Airbnb because I disclosed that I'm trans. Airbnb did nothing. Had I not disclosed I'd be "dishonest" pic.twitter.com/jEkbEFIG2r Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky) 5 June 2016
Discrimination has no place in the Airbnb community. We are removing this host from Airbnb, spokesman Nick Papas said in a statement. The company is also reviewing the incident.
Last week, Airbnb released a memo stating it was launching an internal review to see what else it can do to battle discrimination. It has asked Laura Murphy, former head of the ACLUs DC office, to lead the project. Its also offering unconscious bias training to employees and some hosts.
The Hollywood producer clarified on Twitter that she decided to share the episode now because the company is being accused of failing to address complaints of racial discrimination.
In a posts following the viral tweet Ms Petrosky, now a self-proclaimed "accidental transsexual travel activist," pointed out that the house-sharing company has no LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex) non-discrimination policy.
Airbnb's anti-discrimination policy states: We prohibit content that promotes discrimination, bigotry, racism, hatred, harassment or harm against any individual or group. It does not specify discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identification.
The company does point out that many countries have laws against discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, disability, sex, sexual orientation, or age, and says that hosts are required to obey local laws.
North Carolina and Mississippi have recently passed laws allowing businesses to refuse service to LGBT people and the so-called bathroom law a ruling that transgender people must use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender on their birth certificate.
Black guests have been complaining they are regularly denied accommodation because of their race and have been sharing stories under the hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack.
Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Apple's first store in Singapore will be powered solely by solar energy, it has been reported
Apple annual worldwide developers' conference (WWDC) is almost upon us, where we can expect to hear further details of the latest software updates for its products, from iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, to Mac and Apple TV.
What is WWDC?
Apple has been hosting developer conferences since 1983, and 2016 marks its 27th. Although we primarily think of it as a launchpad for annual software upgrades, in the past devices including the iPhone 4, Mac Pro and Power Mac have been launched there. Last year, Apple used the keynote to announce Apple Music, its radio and streaming service with a little help from stars Drake and The Weeknd.
Read More
When is it?
The keynote speech will take place at 10am PDT (18:00 BST) on Monday June 13, in the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, the venue used to reveal last year's iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus and iPad Pro to the world. Further events on Tuesday and Wednesday will be held at Moscone West, the nearby convention centre which has hosted WWDC in recent years. Around 5,000 developers are expected to be in attendance.
How can I watch the event?
You can tune in to Apple's website to watch the presentation live here, or through the WWDC iOS app. The Telegraph will be liveblogging throughout, covering the announcements surrounding iOS, OS X, watchOS and tvOS.
Read More
iOS 10
The majority of the two-hour or so presentation tends to be dedicated to the latest version of iOS, Apple's software for iPhone and iPad. Last year saw the introduction of iOS 9, so we can almost certainly expect iOS 10 to make an appearance, which is likely to be ushered in by Craig Federighi, the senior vice president of software engineering.
The beta version of the software will be opened up to developers in June, before being rolled out to the general public in autumn with the release of the iPhone 7.
Details of iOS 10 have have been unusually scarce this year, but reports suggest digital assistant Siri may be updated to handle your voicemails, transcribing them to read without having your ring your inbox and select the message you want to listen to.
iOS 10 could also be the first time we see HomeKit fully realised - Apple's connected home framework first released as part of iOS 8. Now that more smart devices exist which support the platform, now could be the time Apple chooses to tie up loose ends with a redesigned Home app.
Another interesting rumour is how iPhone owners may soon finally be able to hide Apple's default apps for good.
The 32 apps, including Apple Watch, Stocks and Compass, are currently undeletable, as chief executive Tim Cook has previously said getting rid of them could render the handset unusable as some are linked to other native apps.
For example, deleting Apple Maps could hinder Siri's ability to give accurate directions, and getting rid of the phone app could leave you unable to make calls.
Apple appears to have recently added keys to iTunes metadata, suggesting the apps could be hidden on a more permanent basis than just storing them in folders. The lines of code read "isFirstParty" and "isFirstPartyHideableApp," and are currently set to "false", according toAppAdvice.
Cook has previously acknowledged how frustrated users are at not being able to adequately hide the defaults, saying: "I recognise that some people want to do this, and it's something we are looking at."
"Well figure out a way [for you to remove them]. Its not that we want to suck up your real estate; were not motivated to do that. We want you to be happy," he added.
Apple News is also rumoured to be given an overhaul, while multi-user support for enterprise and education iPhone and iPad users is also expected to be a key focus of the presentation.
Apple Music update
A new, more intuitive version of Apple Music will be revealed, including an expanded version of radio service Beats One among other significant changes, according to Bloomberg. Design chief Jony Ive and Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor have reportedly stepped up their involvement with the platform, which Apple is likely to be banking on as a future money spinner as iPhone sales slow.
This could result in a design overhaul, focused on simplicity and ease of switching between tabs.
A poster for Zoo, a story told through the eyes of 12-year-old Tom,aided by his friends, as he fights to save the animal.
A poster for Zoo, a story told through the eyes of 12-year-old Tom,aided by his friends, as he fights to save the animal.
Shelia the baby elephant with sisters Denise and Beatrice Austin in their Whitewell Road home.
The team behind Zoo talk about how they were influenced by Denise Austin, who saved pachyderm from wartime cull of animals.
People who fancy themselves as movie moguls are getting the chance to invest in a new film based on one of Northern Ireland's most famous wartime stories - about an elephant, that wasn't so much in the room as in the backyard of a north Belfast house.
Top British actors including Toby Jones, from The Hunger Games, and Penelope Wilton, from Downton Abbey, have been signed up to take part in Zoo.
Amy Huberman and Ian McElhinney also have key roles in the film.
Expand Close Downton Abbey's Penelope Wilton will star in the film. / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp Downton Abbey's Penelope Wilton will star in the film.
The film is due to start shooting next month in Belfast and Canada, where an elephant called Nellie - what else? - has been recruited to play the heavyweight starring role by the rather aptly named Wee Buns Films company.
The locally based producers searched the world for almost three years to find the perfect pachyderm to double as Sheila, the baby elephant that was rescued from Belfast Zoo by one of her keepers, Denise Austin, after police officers shot dead 33 animals, fearing there would be chaos if they escaped during the Luftwaffe raids.
Ms Austin, who was one of the attraction's first female keepers, sheltered Sheila in the back yard of her home on the Whitewell Road. She survived the war, dying in 1960.
The hunt for an elephant to play the part of Sheila ended in Hamilton, Canada, where three-year-old Nellie is a popular resident at the African Lion Safari under the care of Charlie Gray, a world authority on elephants.
Expand Close Amy Huberman at the IFTA Awards 2016 / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp Amy Huberman at the IFTA Awards 2016
Zoo producer John Leslie said: "There was a whole debate over whether or not we should use computer-generated imagery to put an elephant on the screen, but we all felt if we could work with a real animal we should."
Writer and director Colin McIvor became interested in making a film about the elephant after reading a story in the Belfast Telegraph.
Expand Close Denise Austin and a friend with Shelia the baby elephant. / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp Denise Austin and a friend with Shelia the baby elephant.
Initially, the woman who saved Sheila was only known as the Elephant Angel, but after appeals from Belfast Zoo it was established that her name was Denise Austin.
Colin immediately thought that the story could prove to be the basis of a hit movie. And in typical elephantine style, he never forgot.
Video of the Day
Now, after nearly six years in development, the final draft of the script by McIvor and his Wee Buns colleague Katy Jackson is about to be turned into a film that has been backed by, among others, Northern Ireland Screen and the British Film Institute
The plot of Zoo, which is aimed at the family market, doesn't stick 100% to the original elephant's tale.
John said: "We have three children taking the elephant from the zoo, and in our film the father of one of the youngsters is the zookeeper who hears about the Government officials ordering the cull of what they consider to be dangerous animals.
"The children take the elephant to Ms Austin's yard for her to look after it, but for various reasons we have changed her name to Mrs Leonard."
Expand Close A poster for Zoo, a story told through the eyes of 12-year-old Tom,aided by his friends, as he fights to save the animal. / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp A poster for Zoo, a story told through the eyes of 12-year-old Tom,aided by his friends, as he fights to save the animal.
The elephant in the film also has a different name - Buster, not Sheila.
Before filming can commence producers need to raise more money. John said his team were just a short way off their 3m target budget, and that's why they have set up an Enterprise Investment Scheme syndicate (EIS) for entrepreneur to put cash in.
"The main thing about the EIS is that it's a Government incentive, so there's a 30% tax break for investors and they also stand to get returns later on," John explained.
Smaller investors are being encouraged to get on board too through an Indiegogo crowdfunding project designed to attract money from the general public and friends and family members of people involved in the film. The producer said: "It's a kick-starter scheme where you get DVDs or T-shirts in return for putting in something as small as 10."
He also admitted that he was on a mission to persuade local business to get involved in Northern Ireland's rapidly expanding film industry.
"To really secure our local film industry, indigenous producers, writers, directors and so on need to encourage local investors to develop our own infrastructure that does not rely on Game of Thrones, Universal and HBO," John told this newspaper.
"That route makes us a service provider not a standalone indigenous industry. This is a debate that in my view needs to be aired and discussed in earnest here."
Filming on Zoo is due to start in Belfast on July 18. "Everything is ready," said John. "Most of the crew and cast members have their dates, but we just have to get this last piece of money in place by the end of June to hit our budget. It's a hyper-critical time.
"But that's the way it often is with films and we think our ducks are almost all lined up."
Expand Close A poster for Zoo, a story told through the eyes of 12-year-old Tom,aided by his friends, as he fights to save the animal. / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp A poster for Zoo, a story told through the eyes of 12-year-old Tom,aided by his friends, as he fights to save the animal.
Global interest in the film, which is due to be released early next year, is already said to be high. At the Cannes Film Festival, the movie's sales agent Metro International pre-sold Zoo to a major worldwide distributor and in the process attracted interest from Poland, Turkey, the former Yugoslavia and Japan.
Writer Colin said: "Regardless of the fact that this true story played out on my hometown streets, my reaction to it was immediate - this is an inspiring cinematic story with universal appeal. The festival's reaction to the package has proved my instincts to be correct."
John said that people had long been fascinated by the story of the Angel Elephant, which was featured recently on The One Show on the BBC.
"With children now involved in the storyline we are confident that the film will appeal to families in a big way," he added. "But it will also have some gritty moments in it with the bombing raids and it is very realistic."
Downplayed in the film will be the cull in the zoo, in which marksmen from the RUC were asked to kill the 33 animals on orders from the Ministry of Public Security.
The directive came amid fears that if the animals escaped from the zoo and got onto the Antrim Road during the blitz, they could wreak havoc on the area and surrounding streets.
Among the animals killed on Saturday, April 21, 1941, were one hyena, two wolves, one puma, one tiger, one Barbary lion, one black bear, two polar bears and one lynx. There was even a giant rat, whose name was Hugo.
Zoo is also said to be funny with lots of Belfast humour in it. "It really has a bit of everything," explained John.
The creative team behind the film has an impressive track record, with previous efforts including The Survivalist, A Patch of Fog, Behold the Lamb and TV series The Truth Commissioner.
Zoo will be shot over five weeks in Belfast, including a number of days in the city's zoo, which will be adapted to look like it did in the wartime years.
There will also be two weeks of filming in Ontario, close to where Nellie lives and where a set replicating the back yard of Ms Austin's Whitewell Road house will be built.
According to the Africa Lion Safari's website, Nellie is an Asian elephant and she was born on Friday August 2, 2013, at 6am weighing in at 309lbs.
The site adds: "She was born to her 19-year-old mother, Natasha, after a 21-month pregnancy. Nellie is the third calf for Natasha and first for her father Johnson.
"Her birth is very significant as Nellie represents the first all-Canadian Asian elephant born at the park as both of her parents were also born here."
The fact that the production team behind Zoo are going to Canada to shoot her scenes means, of course, that Nellie the elephant won't have to pack her trunk to come here.
Van Morrison celebrates after winning an award at the 46th Annual Songwriters Hall 0f Fame Induction and Awards (AP)
Lady Gaga turned heads in a daring black bra and dark shorts when she arrived to pick up an award at the 46th annual Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony in New York.
She was joined by Van Morrison, Tony Bennett and Stephen Colbert at the three hour ceremony to honour songwriters.
New inductees to the Hall of Fame included country stars Toby Keith and Bobby Braddock, the late Chicago bluesman Willie Dixon, the Grateful Dead songwriting team of Robert Hunter and the late Jerry Garcia, pop and stage star Cyndi Lauper and rock composer and performer Linda Perry.
"I still can't believe I make a living making music," Lauper said during her speech.
Morrison and Lady Gaga - who had changed into a zebra-striped suit - picked up honorary prizes, while awards also were presented to Nate Ruess and the former CEO of the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers John LoFrumento.
At the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, admirers from across genres and generations exchanged tributes.
Veteran crooner Bennett, 88, presented Lady Gaga, his duet partner, with a Contemporary Icon Award. Gaga then performed Perry's What's Up?.
Perry said it was "crazy" that a song she dashed off in her bedroom, fighting off fleas from her dog, would be embraced by a world famous performer.
Carly Rae Jepsen faithfully sang Lauper's moody ballad Time After Time and Michael Buble crooned a finger-snapping version of Morrison's Moondance.
A segment on Dixon featured a speech by Sir Elton John's songwriting partner, Bernie Taupin, who called him the Shakespeare of the blues and noted that many bands in England in the '60s started out by playing Little Red Rooster, 'Back Door Man and other Dixon standards. Taupin credited Dixon with loading up British artists such as the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton with great material and giving them "the wings to fly".
Morrison, the night's final act, had a more practical take. Looking like a Blues Brother in his familiar black, with dark shades to match, he noted how songwriting royalties keep the money coming in during dry spells in his career.
"So the name of the game is hustle," he said.
Ann McCabe claims Gerry Adams knew from day one who her husbands killers were. He knew what operation they were on. It was sanctioned by the people he represents the IRA, his comrades. Photograph Liam Burke/Press 22
The two youngest McCabe children were in their rooms preparing for the third day of their Junior and Leaving Cert exams when they heard their mother's screams downstairs.
By the time they had rushed down and reached the bottom step, she was on the floor, totally inconsolable.
Their father, Detective Garda Jerry McCabe, had been ambushed by a hail of bullets from AK47s brandished by two men in balaclavas. They fired 15 rounds at his car near Adare 20 years ago today. Three hit Det Gda McCabe, killing him instantly.
His widowed wife Ann has never forgiven his killers.
"I haven't changed really in the last 20 years. I've learned to live with it but I haven't changed and I don't think I ever will change. The pain is still there."
She says her husband's death was no accident.
"I didn't accept it from day one. If you walk up to a car and start shooting indiscriminately into it, you stop, and then you start again... murder is what I would call it, and I would still call it murder."
The 1994 IRA ceasefire had broken down four months before the killing, and the Army Council initially denied any involvement in the attack.
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams later confirmed the killing was not authorised by the Army Council but by a lower-level authority within the IRA.
"He knew from day one who they were," said Ann, "and he knew what operation they were on.
"It was sanctioned by the people he represents. The IRA, his comrades.
"He said they weren't involved, it was somebody making mischief. He rephrased that recently when there was another murder. He said 'a bit of mischief-making'. Somebody making mischief to Jerry.
"Sinn Fein knew who they were playing ducks and drakes with."
Pearse McAuley from Strabane and Jeremiah Sheehy, Michael O'Neill and Kevin Walsh from Limerick were jailed for manslaughter by the non-jury Special Criminal Court.
All four men had originally been charged with Detective Garda McCabe's murder - but the State was forced to accept the manslaughter plea when key witnesses refused to co-operate after IRA intimidation.
"I reckon they were spoken to before they got into the box, and that is why. We had widespread intimidation of witnesses," said Ann.
"That is what really got me angry, and that was the start of my campaign."
McAuley had previously escaped from a prison in Brixton while awaiting prosecution over an IRA terror campaign in England and had also jumped bail in Ireland two months before the shooting.
Gardai believe it was Walsh who fired the fatal shots.
"It was plain murder. It wasn't manslaughter - so then, when the sentencing came out, we were shocked at that but we had to accept it.
"Behind the scenes I got myself very active in keeping them inside in jail, because I reckon there was a deal done between our government and the IRA," said Ann.
"They wanted to make them part of the peace process. I had confrontations with Mr Adams on a few occasions and he literally told me they were part of it."
In 2006, with the 10th anniversary of her husband's killing approaching, Ann confronted the Sinn Fein leader at a fundraiser in New York.
"Mr Adams came on the stage and Gerry (Gregg - who was making a film about Det Gda McCabe's death) had told me the minute questions from the floor start, stand up.
"I said: 'My name is Ann McCabe and my husband was murdered by the IRA, who you represent, in Adare. One question - can you condemn his killing? And there are two people on the run - can you tell us where they are?'"
Unhappy with Mr Adams's reply, she walked out.
"I was determined to try and get answers. I knew I wouldn't get them because I think he lies. He lies through his teeth."
Det Gda McCabe and his colleague Detective Garda Ben O'Sullivan were escorting a cash in transit van at 6.50am on June 7, 1996, near the village of Adare, when their car was struck by a 4x4.
Of the 15 rounds fired, one hit their car, three hit and killed Det Gda McCabe, and 11 struck Det Gda O'Sullivan. He miraculously survived.
A family friend rang Ann to see if she had heard of an accident involving gardai.
She tried to contact Henry Street garda station in Limerick city centre but could not get through.
"At that stage, there was a knock at the door and I think I shouted, 'Take your time,' because the bell was ringing a bit.
"I didn't know who he was at the time, John Kerin (detective inspector in Henry Street at the time), because I hadn't met him before. I just remember his face.
"The look on his face and the colour of his face will always be in my mind. He told us that Jerry was dead.
"I just kept shouting Jerry couldn't be dead, 'Please tell me it's not Jerry.'
"I think I was on the floor at that stage. I could hear the screams of the two kids and then all hell broke loose."
The grief is something Ann has always struggled with but something she is determined to address.
She knows she is not the only woman widowed at the hands of garda-killers and understands the pain families of deceased gardai go through, such as in the cases of Tony Golden and Adrian Donohoe.
Gda Golden was shot by a dissident republican last year while helping a victim of domestic violence. The killer then shot himself.
"Tony Golden's was a different murder but Adrian Donohoe's killers are still walking around," said Ann.
He was killed during the robbery of a credit union office in Co Louth in 2013.
His wife Caroline recently retired from the force to care for their two young children.
"There are people around there who know who they are and until they are brought before the courts, Caroline Donohoe will never have peace. This is going on and on for her."
Dr John Waldron was among the first to bring a family planning clinic to Ireland. Photo: Caroline Norris
Tributes have been paid to a well-known horse breeder who was killed in a crash over the bank holiday weekend. Three people were killed and eight injured on our roads over the weekend.
Dr John Waldron, from Tuam, Co Galway, was killed after his car collided with another vehicle at Fortmoy Cross, Borrisokane, Co Tipperary, on Sunday evening.
A young motorist died and three others were injured in another horrific collision between a van and an ambulance in Cork. The accident occurred in thick fog shortly after 1am yesterday on the N20 Cork-Limerick road near Bottlehill, 12km north of Cork city.
In a third accident, in Limerick on Sunday, a man in his 20s was killed after his car left the road and hit a ditch near Cappamore.
Ambulance
Dr Waldron was returning home from a point-to-point meeting in Ballingarry. He was well known in horse-racing circles and bred horses for much of his life.
Among the horses he bred was the famous Faugheen, which won the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham last year, as well as a number of other high-profile races.
Dr Waldron had sold the gelding for just 3,500.
He was also involved in bringing family planning to Ireland. In late 1975, the Galway Family Planning Association was set up and Dr Waldron was among the first volunteer doctors to run the clinic.
The popular Tuam doctor, who was in his early 70s, was pronounced dead at the scene at Borrisokane and his body was taken to Limerick Hospital.
Tuam Fianna Fail councillor Donagh Killilea paid tribute to Dr Waldron.
"He was a well respected doctor who made great advances in family planning and he bred horses all his life; but above it all, he was an adventurer more so than anything. He lived his life to the full," he said.
In Cork, the driver who died when his van collided with an ambulance was named locally as Michael Jewitt.
The 36-year-old suffered multiple injuries in the collision and died before he could be transferred to Cork University Hospital (CUH).
Three people travelling in the ambulance - two paramedics and a patient - suffered minor injuries. All of them were transferred to CUH for precautionary treatment.
Friends of a Dublin pensioner who stole over 100,000 by using her sister's social welfare card to fraudulently claim benefits have gathered 6,000 for her towards repayment of the cash, a court has heard.
Marie McMahon (68) told gardai that when her sister Katherine emigrated to the States in 1992, her friend initially used the woman's social welfare card to pick up her benefits. When this woman went into hospital McMahon agreed to continue collecting the payments and they split the money between them.
This woman later died in 2012 and McMahon continued to collect her sister's benefits until she was detected through facial recognition technology in July 2014.
She told officers that she believed if she stopped collecting the money, social welfare would have to start an investigation and she would be caught, so she decided to continue with the fraud.
McMahon of Aideen Avenue, Terenure pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 13 charges of stealing various amounts of social welfare payments from James's Street Post Office on dates between September 1, 2002 and June 11, 2014. She has one previous conviction for possession of drugs from 1979.
Judge Melanie Greally initially heard evidence in the case in March and had adjourned it to allow her consider testimonials handed into court and to allow time for a probation report to be prepared.
At the original sentence hearing Lorcan Staines BL, defending, had handed in a large volume of testimonials and said his client had been involved in a protest movement in relation to woman's rights for many years.
Today Mr Staines said that since her last court appearance friends of McMahon had become aware of the case due to the media attention and had gathered 6,000 towards repayment of the money stolen. She would also have her benefits reduced by 15 per week.
He said she would not be able to repay the money in her lifetime but was making these efforts. He asked the court to take into account her age and medical difficulties.
Judge Greally said McMahon appeared to be someone who had gathered very useful skills over her lifetime and the possibility of community service warranted investigation. She noted it was possible that McMahon may not be medically fit but she adjourned the case to October for the probation service to assess suitability.
Prominent loyalist Winston 'Winkie' Rea has denied murdering two Catholics in Belfast more than 25 years ago.
The 65-year-old stands accused of the paramilitary killings of workmen John Devine in 1989 and John O'Hara in 1991.
Rea, of Springwell Crescent, Groomsport, Co Down, faces 12 charges, including two other attempted murders, weapons offences and membership of the outlawed Red Hand Commando terror group.
Appearing before Belfast Magistrates' Court in a wheelchair, he was granted bail on the condition that he surrenders his passport.
Detectives from the PSNI's legacy investigation branch arrested him last Tuesday as part of a re-examination of murders stretching back into the Troubles.
The fresh probe came after police had won a legal battle to gain access to interviews Rea gave to Boston College researchers behind a project on the Northern Ireland conflict.
Mr Devine was shot dead at his home on Fallswater Street in west Belfast on July 23, 1989.
The 37-year-old was sitting in his living room along with his 13-year-old son when gunmen forced their way in and killed him.
Taxi driver Mr O'Hara (41) was shot dead by two masked men at Dunluce Avenue in the south of the city on April 17, 1991.
John Gilligan arrives at The Four Courts for a Supreme court hearing
Convicted drug trafficker John Gilligan brazenly walked into the Four Courts today despite the fact that there have been two attempts to kill him.
The gang boss is trying one last roll of the dice to stop three properties being taken off him by the Criminal Assets Bureau.
Expand Close John Gilligan arrives at The Four Courts for a Supreme court hearing / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp John Gilligan arrives at The Four Courts for a Supreme court hearing
He had a case at the Supreme Court in his ongoing battle to save the houses from seizure, including the bungalow beside the former Jessbrook equestrian centre which was successfully taken from him and sold by the CAB.
Wearing a light grey suit and an open neck white shirt, Gilligan carried a number of folders under his arm as he walked boldly down the quays, smiling at photographers as he neared the entrance to the courts.
He appeared to be tanned and in good health but refused to answer any questions about the case with the CAB, his health since recovering from a number of gunshot wounds in a previous attempt on his life, or whether he still fears his life is under threat.
He walked straight to the Law Library where he met with his legal team before the case which was as scheduled to begin at 11am.
The Supreme Court has today told the legal team representing John Gilligan that the legal papers submitted in his efforts to stop the Criminal Assets Bureau seizing three properties from him are "in a disgraceful state".
Chief Justice Susan Denham told QC John Hardy that the file submitted made the court process very difficult.
Expand Close Reporter Conor Feehan speaks to John Gilligan he arrives at The Four Courts for a Supreme court hearing / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp Reporter Conor Feehan speaks to John Gilligan he arrives at The Four Courts for a Supreme court hearing
"They are indexed wrong, there is no call for it," she said, adding that they were too long and featured a lot of duplication.
Mr Justice John McMenamin echoed her view and asked had QC John Hardy read the index.
"Yes" said, QC John Hardy.
"Did you understand it?" asked the Chief Justice.
"Yes" said, QC John Hardy.
"How did you understand it?" asked the Chief Justice.
QC John Hardy said every effort was made to reduce duplication and control the amount of paperwork in the file.
Gilligan was released from prison in October 2013 after serving 17 years for drug trafficking.
Not long after that there was a plot to murder him but the gunman ran into a pub near where Gilligan was drinking instead of the one he was actually in.
Then in March 2014 a gunman burst into the house he was staying in at Neilstown and gunned him down.
The pint-sized gangster was rushed to Connolly hospital for life-saving surgery, and he discharged himself while still in a wheelchair and fled to the UK.
But he looked in good health today as he walked cockily to court to save the Kildare property, as well as two west Dublin houses in Corduff Avenue and Willsbrook View.
The estimated value of the three properties is around 600,000.
Gilligan is believed to be staying at the Kildare property while waiting for his day in court, but he never leaves it as he has made too many enemies and doesnt know who wants him dead.
He is blamed by the criminal fraternity for the CAB being set up in the first place.
Gilligan remains one of the chief suspects for the murder of investigative journalist Veronica Guerin.
The heroic INM reporter was gunned down in her car on the Naas Road 20 years ago this month in June 1996. It is believed Gilligan ordered the assassination after Guerin wrote a number of articles on the gangland figure that exposed his flourishing drug-dealing empire.
Hes one of the most hated men in Ireland and tried to get support from his old cronies when he came out of prison, but nobody wants to go near him. Everyone blames him for the creation of the CAB, said one source.
The High Court has already ruled that the three Gilligan properties were bought with the proceeds of crime but he has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.
And if that court rules against him, Gilligan, his wife Geraldine, daughter Tracey and son Darren, will be evicted from the properties and they will be sold off with the cash given back to the state.
The CAB succeeded in selling another of Gilligans homes in Lucan in March 2015 for 318,000.
A 32-year-old operations manager, who struck her head on a sign after using an unorthodox and hazardous route through a Dublin hotel car park, has seen an award for damages slashed by half in the Circuit Civil Court.
Judge James ODonohoe said Natalie Malone suffered a head injury two years ago after she and boyfriend Sean Adams had parked their car at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Blanchardstown, to get a hot chocolate in the hotel restaurant.
As the hotel entrance door closest to them had been locked and an intercom had been broken that day, they made their way to a second entrance, manoeuvring between parked cars and using a shortcut instead of the designated walkway.
The judge told Ms Malones barrister, Eileen McAuley, that in doing so, they had needed to squeeze between a parked car and a bollard close to a wall.
Malone had not seen a large protruding illuminated sign on the wall and hit her head on it before being knocked to the ground from the impact. She had suffered a one-centimetre laceration to her forehead which bled heavily.
Malone, of Fortlawn Avenue, Blanchardstown, had been taken to the Emergency Department of Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown where her wound was stitched. She had also suffered a soft-tissue injury to her neck.
Malone, who sued the hotel owner, Tifco Ltd, of Northwood Court, Santry, Dublin, for negligence, told the court the wound had left a scar on her forehead.
Barrister Conor Kearney, for the hotel, said his client denied liability and claimed Ms Malone had contributed to her injuries by not using the designated walkway.
Mr Kearney told the court that Ms Malone had failed to pay attention to where she was going.
Judge ODonohue said he was satisfied Ms Malone had used a precarious route. He also noted that the hotel had since her accident modified the walkway access.
The judge, finding that the parties were liable on a 50/50 basis, awarded Ms Malone 6,000 damages -half of an initial award of 12,000- along with her legal costs.
Gardai are continuing to question a teenager over the fatal stabbing of a man in north Dublin.
Wesley Mooney (33) was stabbed to death during an attack in Dunsink Lane in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Expand Close Wesley Mooney / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp Wesley Mooney
The victim - who was previously convicted for threatening to kill his former partner and their child - received a knife wound during the incident at the Finglas halting site.
Emergency services rushed to the scene, but despite the best efforts of paramedics, Mooney was pronounced dead a short time later.
A teenager was arrested at the scene by gardai, and detectives from Finglas Garda Station are continuing to question him in relation to the fatal knife attack. The 18-year-old was detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
Mooney did not live at the halting site, and gardai are investigating whether he was disturbed by a person living there.
Locals said they did not hear an argument or row at the time of the incident, and only became aware of what had happened when emergency services arrived at the scene.
The victim lived at nearby Abbotstown Drive, where his family yesterday told the Irish Independent that they were not aware of the circumstances surrounding his death.
"We know as much as the gardai, and we don't think they know what happened either," said one man as he was comforted by family and friends.
The deceased's body was removed from the scene yesterday afternoon, and a post-mortem was being carried out last night. The results of this examination will determine which direction the garda investigation takes.
Expand Close The remains of Wesley Mooney are removed from the halting site yesterday. Photo: Gerry Mooney / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp The remains of Wesley Mooney are removed from the halting site yesterday. Photo: Gerry Mooney
Mooney was known to gardai, mainly for motoring and public order offences.
In February, he received a suspended sentence at Blanchardstown District Court, where he pleaded guilty to possession of a claw hammer and threatening and abusive behaviour. In another incident in 2008, Mooney received a suspended sentence after he pleaded guilty to threatening to kill his former partner and their child.
Mooney pulled what looked like a gun out of a sock and pointed it at his partner, Kim Murphy, at her Clondalkin home, and asked her did she want him "to put the three of us asleep together?".
He also pleaded guilty to acting as lookout during a robbery of Terry Rogers Bookmakers on Glasnevin Avenue, north Dublin, on August 24, 2010, while he was on bail. Judge Patricia Ryan sentenced him to six years for both offences at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, but suspended it on strict conditions.
Alan OReilly (pictured centre) with fellow pupils of Confey Community College in Leixlip, Co Kildare. Alan was presented with an award in recognition of his perfect attendance record throughout his school years. Photo: Steve Humphreys
For Leaving Certificate candidate Alan O'Reilly, the exams starting tomorrow are only one of the educational goals he set himself at school.
The 17-year-old from Leixlip, Co Kildare, hasn't missed a day since he started in the local Scoil San Carlo primary school, Confey, 13 years ago.
According to his mother, Tara O'Reilly, he made perfect school attendance a mission after his senior infants teacher commented that he hadn't missed a day that year.
Alan held his record throughout his remaining time in Scoil San Carlo, and then over his five years at Confey Community College, also in Leixlip.
While some children may pull the odd "sickie" with the support of an indulgent parent, in Alan's case, according to his mother, he was more likely to pretend not to be sick.
Maintaining his record also involved some personal sacrifice. For instance, as a teenager, Alan decided that he would not travel to Spain for a family wedding. Instead, he opted to stay at home with his granddad.
His proud mum said that while "we punish for non-attendance, more attention should be paid to recognising good attendance".
As well as being a diligent student, Alan has also played a big role in school life as a member of the student council, taking on the role of president of the body while he was in fifth year.
Confey College recently paid tribute to Alan with a presentation of an award from principal Mike O'Byrne at the school's graduation ceremony for the class of 2016.
Now, Alan is looking forward to getting through the exams and moving on to his next goal - studying human resources management in the National College of Ireland, starting this autumn.
A new online marking system is being trialled in the State exams this year.
Instead of papers being marked in the traditional way, students' scripts will be scanned and converted to digital images that examiners will access on their home computers.
The pilot project is confined to Junior Certificate French Higher Level, which will be taken by 26,000 students.
If it proves successful, it is likely to be used on a more widespread basis in the future.
Overall, the trial will involve about 1pc of all exam papers to be submitted over the next two to three weeks.
One of the benefits of a computerised approach is that the marking scheme for a paper is built into the software, which eliminates, or at least minimises, the possibility of an incorrect mark being applied.
Some 120,000 Leaving and Junior Certificate candidates start the exams tomorrow.
This is the biggest number in over a decade, reflecting high birth rates in Ireland since the late 1990s.
Students will be spread across more than 15,000 exam centres, including more than 10,000 centres for students for whom special arrangements are made to help them overcome a disadvantage, such as dyslexia or a visual or hearing impairment.
Demand for special centres has been growing significantly and last year 10,223 were provided for 19,806 students, comprising 14pc of all Leaving and Junior Certificate candidates.
In some cases, for instance where a student is dictating to a scribe, the centre may be for only one candidate and in others there may be more than one.
The State Examinations Commission (SEC) offers a range of accommodations to facilitate students with special needs, including readers and scribes, Braille or enlarged papers and the use of tape recorders and personal computers.
This year, the SEC has moved to improve communications with, and transparency for, candidates and their parents, with online information about how it deals with errors on papers and concerns about difficult questions.
A new section on the examinations.ie website, about setting standards and dealing with errors, explains, among other things, that there may be fluctuations in the difficulty of questions in any exam between one year and the next, and that where that happens the marking scheme is adjusted to ensure fairness.
Variations in question difficulty may arise because it is not possible to pre-test questions in advance because of the risk of security breaches.
In relation to the online marking pilot project, the SEC said there would be no change in the exam itself, and the only difference that students may notice would be a barcode at the bottom of each page to facilitate scanning and traceability
The SEC said online marking was widely used internationally, including in the UK and Northern Ireland, and that research, as well as a trial it conducted in 2014, showed that online marking enhanced standards of marking assurance and control and delivered operational efficiencies.
A team of 90 examiners is being trained in the new marking software.
As well as offering improved quality assurance, online marking will also bring efficiencies, such as eliminating the need for examiners to drive to the SEC headquarters in Athlone to pick up the papers for marking.
A record one in three Leaving Certificate students is planning to sit honours maths this year
A record one in three Leaving Certificate students is planning to sit honours maths this year.
Some 19,202 students have entered for the higher level paper - almost double the 10,435 at this time in 2011, the year before bonus points were introduced for the subject
The surge in interest is attributed mainly to the reward of 25 CAO bonus points for those who achieve a minimum D3 on the paper.
Not all 19,202 are expected to sit the exam on the day - each year there is a drop-off of about 20pc from the number who have indicated that they want to take honours.
However, with entries for the paper at their highest level ever, any fall-off could still see a further rise in the 27.4pc of maths candidates who sat higher level in 2015.
Overwhelmingly, candidates achieve a minimum D3 but, as more middle-ranking ordinary level students are lured up, the 'fail' rate has risen.
Meanwhile, there is an ongoing increase in the number of candidates taking the optional oral Irish test in the Junior Cert.
Its rise in popularity can be tracked to the introduction, in 2010, of 40pc of marks for the oral test, which is examined by the students' own teachers.
The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) has banned members doing this work - nonetheless, there has been a tenfold increase, from 1,687 students sitting the test in 2010 to 16,487 last year.
Education Minister Richard Bruton has been accused of going against "progressive measures" proposed during the last government, as he will not tackle the "baptism barrier" in schools.
The Irish Independent revealed yesterday that Mr Bruton will not be dealing with the situation that allows Catholic schools to give priority enrolment to children of their faith.
Labour Senator Aodhan O Riordain said the lack of action "flies in the face of all the progressive measures" his party attempted to take.
While the minister announced an initiative to speed up the process of increasing the number of non-denominational schools, it emerged there will be no specific action on the 'baptism rule' that can cause an issue in about 20pc of schools which are oversubscribed.
Mr O'Riordain said it was "desperately disappointing". He said it was reasonable that parents would want to send their child to their local school regardless of its ethos - and that they were not seeking to change how the school was managed in doing that.
Meanwhile, Paul Murphy of AAA-PBP said it was "outrageous" and claimed it was "basic discrimination against minority faiths and people who aren't religious". His group is planning to reintroduce a bill on the matter into the Dail to get rid of the baptism barrier.
A spokesman for Mr Bruton responded to the criticism, arguing that the "most direct way of dealing with this is by providing more non-denominational and multi-denominational schools and we're doing that".
He said the legislation required would face "significant constitutional difficulties" but that Mr Bruton would be discussing the issue further with an Oireachtas committee.
Irelands latest gangland murder victim carried out a violent slash attack only days before he was shot dead.
Neil Fitzgerald (36), who was a key lieutenant in the Rattigan gang, was shot dead in a remote location in Tallaght at the weekend.
His body was found by a passer-by on Sunday morning in the Hills Lane area of the Dublin suburb.
Fitzgerald was involved in a violent brawl last Wednesday with a young man.
This led to associates of feared gangsters Graham The Wig Whelan and Fat Freddie Thompson becoming involved.
Warning
Fitzgerald produced a knife during the brawl and one man suffered slash wounds. The injured man then called two men, who are close associates of Thompson and Whelan, who arrived at the scene.
A number of threats were issued, with Fitzgerald warning the Kinahan cartel associates that he would kill them.
It is understood this is one of a number of threats Fitzgerald had made against rival gangsters since his release from jail.
It has also emerged that a close friend of Fitzgerald summoned him to the scene of his murder in an apparent act of betrayal.
Fitzgerald, who had been living in Blessington, Co Wicklow, spent a number of his younger years in Australia and was involved in body-building.
He previously received a 10-year jail term after pointing a loaded handgun at three garda detectives following a high-speed car chase.
It later emerged that the weapon with which Fitzgerald threatened gardai was used in an attack on Thompsons home.
A source described Fitzgerald as an angry individual who was prone to violence throughout his life.
Whelan and Thompson were key players in the Crumlin/Drimnagh feud in the Noughties which claimed 16 lives.
Whelan (35), who is described as one of the more dangerous gangland figures, was arrested in the drug seizure that led to the deadly round of killings.
The thug, along with Phillip Griffiths and Declan Gavin, was arrested following the massive seizure at the Holiday Inn on Pearse Street.
Gavins associates labelled him a rat after the successful garda operation, and his 2001 murder, for which Brian Rattigan is serving a life sentence, ignited the deadly feud.
Meanwhile, gardai were last night continuing to question two people in relation to the murder of Neil Fitzgerald.
The man and woman, who are both aged in their 20s, are being held at Tallaght and Rathfarnham garda stations.
Both were associates of Fitzgerald, and the man has several previous convictions for armed robberies as well as drug-related offences.
Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald and Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan both declared they were determined to bring an end to gangland slayings on the streets of Dublin.
Tanaiste Fitzgerald warned that nobody is above the law and she was utterly determined to support gardai in bringing the culprits to justice.
Commissioner OSullivan said the families of gangland killings were receiving the support of garda liaison officers and the force was determined to solve the current spate of murders.
Minister Fitzgerald told Independent.ie that whole communities have been victims of the recent gangland slayings in Dublin.
"Criminals have to be brought to justice and I am utterly and totally committed to bringing criminals to justice, as is the Government.
"Nobody is outside the justice system. Nobody is above the law. Nobody. We have shown that against The Provisionals, we've shown it in the past against organised crime, and we will show it again," she said.
She also stated "We must work with victims' groups... We have to resource the gardai and I am and I will resource the gardai to deal with the gangland crime we are seeing at present.
"There is no question but that the gardai are being, and will be, resourced," she said.
She referred to the families of the victims of the gangland murders who had suffered so much.
"There are always victims (of these killings), there are individuals, there are families, there are communities. The criminal justice system hasn't been sensitive enough to the needs of victims and it is changing fairly dramatically and it needs to change fairly dramatically."
Earlier, she had spoke at an event in Dublin marking the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Support After Homicide volunteer organisation.
Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan said the entire garda force is behind the communities in Dublin that have been suffering as a result of the gangland slayings in recent months.
She told Independent.ie "We treat each single victim as unique. Their experience is is unique. We are very, very conscious that behind every tragedy and every murder is a family that is bereaved.
It is very important that the services that are provided to those families remain the same and we are absolutely committed to doing that. We appoint family liason officers to each individual case and they will deal with that family right through the investigation and the whole process as well."
She wanted the communities affected by gangland violence to know that the gardai are determined to bring the cycle of violence to an end.
"Our dedication, our commitment, and our resolve to solving these crimes is absolute. We have more than 20 people arrested and a number of people charged before the courts and our determination will continue in that regard.
"In addition to our investigative strands, we are also there to support the community. The people who are committing these crimes have absolutely no support in the community.
"We are very conscious of the trauma and the impact that these crimes have on the community as well as on the individual families that are bereaved. Obviously, those families are part of that community as well and we are very conscious of that. It's a very important part of what we do is to support the community as well as the families," she said.
Commissioner O'Sullivan, speaking earlier at an event marking 20 years of the Support After Homicide volunteer organisation which supports the families of victims, said "To have a member of your family murdered is absolutely unimaginable and there are no words that can make it more real than the words you hear when the news is first broken.
When it happens, it's absolutely horrific. It doesn't matter if a dead person was part of a family targetted by another family, the bereaved are just that - absolutely bereaved and bereft at the loss of a loved one."
"Anyone who has lost a loved one to homicide, and I'm very conscious that today the anniversary of Jerry McCabe, it's unfortunate but a significant number of garda families have shared that devastating loss. And that terrible way when someone you love is taken away from you.
"So I'm very conscious today of the anniversary of our colleague, Detective Garda Jerry McCabe and, indeed, what that brings home for his wife Ann, his colleagues including Ben O'Sullivan who was injured that day, and also the colleagues and families of other people, other members of the Garda Siochana, and indeed, anybody who has lost a loved one through murder. A day like today, and the upcoming anniversary of the death of Veronica Guerin, will bring home to every single person who has lost a loved one in that way, just how raw that emotion remains...
"A homicide, or murder as we call it, is so brutally sudden that I suspect many of those left behind never, ever, get over the shock of it," said the commissioner.
Three police officers and two members of the public have been injured after a car chase in east Belfast.
Two men were arrested after the incident, which unfolded when a silver Renault Megane failed to stop for officers.
Police pursued the vehicle, with the chase ending when the Megane crashed into the police car in London Street. Three officers in the vehicle were injured.
The PSNI said a number of other vehicles were damaged in London Road, Upper Frank Street and My Lady's Road and two members of the public had reported injuries.
None of the injuries sustained by the five people are believed to be serious.
The two men arrested when the Megane crashed are aged 22 and 26.
Officers have appealed for witnesses to come forward.
Ann McCabe pictured outside the Garda Station in Adare Co Limerick at the 20th anniversary of the Death of Det Jerry McCabe
Standing side by side in the calmness of the early morning sunshine, Ann McCabe and Anne O'Sullivan supported one another as Adare, Co Limerick, stood silent to remember the gun attack on their garda husbands, this morning, 20 years ago.
It was 6.55am, June 7th, 1996, when Detective Garda Jerry McCabe and Detective Garda Ben O'Sullivan, were targeted by an IRA gang, as both officers provided an armed escort for a mail delivery van.
Det McCabe was killed instantly when a bullet from an AK47 machine gun severed his spine as he sat in the Garda car.
His partner Ben O'Sullivan was shot 11 times, but miraculously survived.
At a commemoration ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of her husband's shocking death, Ann McCabe, along with her daughter Stacey, laid flowers outside Adare Garda Station, which stands beside the spot where Det Gda McCabe was murdered in a hail of automatic gunfire.
Members of the force performed a guard of honour and members of the Garda Band played a haunting rendition of the hymn, Abide With Me, which was sung at Det McCabe's funeral mass.
Chief Superintendent David Sheahan, who laid a wreath, led senior members of the Limerick Garda Division, including Superintendent Derek Smart, Superintendent Tom O'Connor, and Superintendent Jim Ryan, in a minutes silence at 6.55am.
"For me, today is the same as 20 years ago June 7th," Ann McCabe said speaking afterwards.
"Nothing ever changes," she said pausing in her thoughts, adding, "but you learn to live with it and get on with it".
Speaking publicly for the first time since the atrocity, Ann O'Sullivan, wife of retired Det Gda Ben O'Sullivan, said: "I found it very hard today."
"It brought back every hour of this time twenty years ago."
"It brought tears," she said.
Ms O'Sullivan, who at the time worked as a nurse in the accident and emergency department at Limerick Regional Hospital, said: "I was off work that day and I got a phone call from a colleague of mine...she said I've bad news for you."
"I just got up from bed and went straight out to the hospital, and then I heard all the bad news, that Jerry had passed away and Ben was in Resus."
"You can imagine it was crazy... It was horrendous," she added.
"You have to move on, but those days come back too...They have their own space and time," she said.
The two courageous women have been a constant support to one another through the the dark days of the last two decades.
They promised that support would continue to abide until their own final days.
"Yes, we will. Absolutely 100%," they said.
Det McCabe's daughter Stacey, wept as she paid tribute to her late father, beneath a plaque in memory of her murdered father: "In the midst of sadness, we pray for thanksgiving for the inspiration and example we received in and through Dad."
"We pray in thanksgiving for the love, light, and laughter he bright to our lives," she added.
An emotional Ben O'Sullivan said: "This morning's ceremony has brought me to my knees really."
He said the shooting in 1996 was still "crystal clear in my head".
"You're never expected to forget something like that. You're not supposed to forget that." "You're supposed to take up the gauntlet and accept that it happened; you cannot turn the clock backwards."
He said he had "come to terms" with "the atrocity that took place this morning 20 years ago", but "will never forget what happened".
"Jerry and myself joined the detective branch in 1973, on the same day, and, for the length of time we served in the Garda Siochana after that, I could safely say that there was scarcely a day we were separated because we worked as a team."
"Wherever you saw Jerry you saw me. Regrettably, today you see me without Jerry, regrettably."
He added: "A smile is useless unless you give it away. Every time I saw Jerry a smile was evident, and that's a comforting (memory)."
"Today is the first day of the part of my life that is left. I cannot change the part that's gone," Mr O'Sullivan said.
This is the moment two brave fire officers barely escaped injury as they battled a large blaze in Galway on Monday night.
The video, captured by Connacht Tribune Assistant Editor Enda Cunningham, shows emergency workers battling a blaze at the former Sacre Coeur Hotel in Salthill.
As two officers attempt to gain access to the building a large flame bursts out of the structure.
In a second video three officers are seen holding back a steel sheet as a large fire erupts from the abandoned building.
The fire at the former Sac in Salthill pic.twitter.com/GsnZixM1lS Enda Cunningham (@endacunningham) June 6, 2016
Mr Cunningham wrote: "Just goes to show how dangerous a firefighter's job is ..."
He explained that the hotel has been empty since it closed in 2005. The fire broke out just before 7pm yesterday evening.
Expand Close Fire in Sacre Coeur Hotel. Picture: @rugby_is_best / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp Fire in Sacre Coeur Hotel. Picture: @rugby_is_best
No one was injured in the fire.
At least four units of Galway Fire Brigade attended the blaze
In Dublin eight fire units dealt with a large fire at an unused house in Rathcoole.
The property, believed to have up to 10 bedrooms, was engulfed in flames and emergency services were alerted shortly after 7pm.
Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Fire in Rathcoole. Picture @DubFireBrigade Fire in Rathcoole. Picture @DubFireBrigade Fire in Rathcoole. Picture @DubFireBrigade Fire in Rathcoole. Picture @DubFireBrigade / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp Fire in Rathcoole. Picture @DubFireBrigade
A number of fire crews began tackling the blaze at what was described as "a large derelict structure."
Eight units of Dublin Fire Brigade went to the scene, including fire engines from Tallaght, Dolphin's Barn, Rathfarnham, Dun Laoghaire and from the brigade headquarters in Tara Street.
Firefighters spent over four hours battling the blaze before it was brought under control.
Tom Curran with his late partner Marie Fleming, who passed away last December
Marie Fleming with her partner Tom Curranat at their home in Co Wiclkow
The partner of the late right-to-die campaigner Marie Fleming has said he helped up to 200 terminally ill people plan their deaths.
Tom Curran is Europe coordinator for the non-profit organisation Exit International, and has called on the government to legislate for assisted dying.
Mr Curran, from Arklow, Co Wicklow, cared for Marie full-time for over 15 years as she suffered from multiple sclerosis, and together they unsuccessfully challenged the ban on assisted suicide, before her death on December 20, 2013.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Mr Curran revealed that he had helped around 200 people in making plans to die, primarily through the use of a lethal drug that is banned throughout Europe and must be imported illegally.
Expand Close Tom Curran with his partner Marie Fleming / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp Tom Curran with his partner Marie Fleming
He explained that the majority of people he has helped are based in Ireland and England.
Some people who made plans have died since but I dont know how they died. They dont report back to me for obvious reasons.
He added that there are many others he has refused to help.
There are a lot of people that I just say sorry to and I suggest that you go and talk to your doctor.
These would be people who were irrationally suicidal. I have almost pleaded with them to make contact with the health or support services, he said.
Mr Curran added that the plans typically involve dying at home rather than travelling abroad to clinics such as Dignitas in Switzerland.
The problem with having to travel is that a lot of people who have gone there have gone before they really wanted to. They had to go before they became too incapacitated to go, but it was sooner than they absolutely needed to go, he said.
He noted that Marie had originally considered travel to Dignitas, but later decided to make a plan to die at home in Wicklow.
Expand Close Tom Curran with his late partner Marie Fleming, who passed away last December / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp Tom Curran with his late partner Marie Fleming, who passed away last December
We got five more years of life together, a wonderful five years, he said.
In his work with Exit International, Mr Curran has opened up about his own experiences, and said: It had to come out, otherwise, to a certain extent, what Marie fought for is a waste.
He admitted that he worries about a potential investigation into his role in assisting her death.
Its two and a half years ago but Im still afraid of the knock on the door. I was surprised at the time that there wasnt an investigation and that we could bury Marie in peace, he said.
Marie got her wish, which was to die peacefully, and were at peace now with her death but theres always that fear of the law and thats why it need to be changed.
Last year, Dublin woman Gail ORorke became the first person to be charged with assisting the suicide of her close friend, Bernadette Forde, in 2011.
Although she was acquitted on all charges, Mr Curran said it came as a bit of a shock.
Mr Curran argued that the laws should be changed, and if the government were afraid to make the decision themselves, a referendum could be an option.
I would have no objection to having it put to the people because I believe they would back it once the safeguards were built in to protect vulnerable people.
I dont know when it will happen but the law will be changed eventually. But, in the meantime, there are people who need help, there are people like Marie who made the decision for themselves and, unfortunately, to help, the law has to be broken, he added.
In a statement, the Department of Justice told the Examiner: There are no plans to bring forward legislative proposals in this area.
The minister with responsibility for battling floods has said the water from last winter's storms may have receded, but the "emergency" remains.
Sean Canney, the new Minister of State at the Office of Public Works (OPW) has said his priority is to speed up the building of flood defences and to develop an early-warning system. Independent Alliance TD Mr Canney, who is to opening a flood-relief scheme in Skibbereen today, has criticised the length of time it takes to bring such projects to fruition.
He said the flood prevention measures in the Co Cork town and others like one at Dunkellan in his Galway East constituency were planned after the major floods of 2009 and are "just beginning to happen now. That's something we need to address."
He said the Government has committed 430m towards flood alleviation. He also wants an early-warning system that would kick in when heavy rain is forecast to allow agencies that control rivers to try to lower water levels in preparation. It would also make sure homeowners have sandbags in place.
"The floods are gone away, but the emergency is not," he said. "If we get rainfall on the magnitude we had last December we will have the problems revisiting us." He said flooding will never be eliminated but "we have to learn from the past."
Mr Canney is sharing the brief with his Independent colleague Kevin 'Boxer' Moran, with the pair famously deciding who would serve for the first year with a coin toss. Both men have experience helping flood-hit homeowners in their constituencies. Mr Canney said he's working, along with Mr Moran, on solutions for people "living in fear" of floods and that "two heads are better than one".
The OPW still controls many of the garda stations closed in recent years. Mr Canney said there will be a review of the future of Stepaside station - in his Alliance colleague Shane Ross's Dublin constituency - as well as those in Corrandulla, Kilconly and Menlough. However, he stressed Garda authorities will make the decision on whether or not they should be reopened.
Mr Canney branded Irish Water "a fiasco", and said under the new Dail arithmetic, no similar project could be pushed through by guillotining legislation.
His Independent colleagues in Government, John Halligan and Finian McGrath, made headlines over their opposition to water charges. Mr Canney - who is a member of a group water scheme - insisted the controversy didn't get them in trouble, saying: "they expressed their opinions and that's what Independents do". As a first-time TD, he said adjusting to Government is "probably easier for me".
When he was canvassing, he told voters who questioned what an Independent could do in the Dail that he hoped to influence Government policy. "Luckily, that is what happened," Mr Canney said.
Severe rain causes flooding along the Derry-Buncrana road
Some 1,000 homes and business are still without power this morning after thunder and lightning storms hit Leinster, the midlands and the north-west.
Co Cavan is the worst affected area with some 700 homes still waiting for power to be restored after the storms hit last night.
Around 100 homes in Monaghan and Macroom in Co Cork are also still without electricity - as are scores of properties in Westmeath and Co Donegal.
At the height of the bad weather last night, some 6,000 ESB customers across the country were left without power.
ESB Networks described the lightning strikes as "severe" and said thousands of homes had power supplies cut off.
ESB crews restored power to most homes by 9pm last night.
Thundery downpours continuing tonight.Humid & close.Lows 13-15C.
Warm & humid again on Tuesday with thundery showers in Ulster & N Leinster Met Eireann (@MetEireann) June 6, 2016
At one stage yesterday there were 743 lightning strikes every hour across Ireland and western Britain.
A status Orange weather alert remained in place until 1am today but the worst of the storms cleared north Donegal by 8pm.
The first of the storms hit Wexford and Wicklow as flooding partially closed the road between the railway bridge and the harbour in Greystones.
In Longford there were reports of flooding and debris on the N4 Dublin/Sligo Rd between Longford and Edgeworthstown with local gardai urging extreme care in the area.
Dublin and Wicklow also experienced downpours as thunderstorms moved across the Irish Sea.
Forecasters say there will be further downpours today - in parts of the east and north - as the weather remains warm and humid.
While thundery weather is likely, some spells of hazy sunshine will develop nationwide during the day.
Read More
Met Eireann's Evelyn Cusack said the heavy thunderstorms were brought to Ireland by the same weather system which caused havoc in France last week.
"We're going to stay in this warm humid air mass until Thursday with temperatures into the mid-20s," she said.
However, there will be fewer showers on Wednesday and it will be drier and brighter on Thursday with daytime temperatures staying between 21C and 25C.
Nights will be warm and muggy with temperatures falling no lower than 13C.
Peter O'Donnell from Irish Weather Online said temperatures for the start of the Junior and Leaving Cert exams tomorrow could top 26C.
Thunderstorm in Armagh tonight, got a few bolts of lighting burning through the sky #Thunderstorm #lightning pic.twitter.com/PqTngLPyxD Patrick Hughes Photo (@Ireland_Aerial) June 7, 2016
"Thunder and lightning, it's getting exciting."
But seriously, I've never wanted it to rain so bad in Ireland in order to sleep. Arenas (@FussballKevin) June 6, 2016
I'm happy to report it was humid enough in Ireland today to bring on a really cool thunder and lightning storm tonight.It's been too long!!! Yvonne Connolly (@ConnollyYvonne) June 6, 2016
But he agreed normal June temperatures will return for the weekend.
"Friday through to Sunday will bring a more normal temperature regime with highs of about 18-21C and also more frequent showers, or intervals of rain, some of them heavy in parts of the north where 30-50 mm could fall during the period," said O'Donnell.
"The south is expected to remain somewhat dry with 5-15 mm rainfalls."
He added: "Models indicate that this more seasonable weather may hold for the following week, but there are some signs of a much warmer end to June."
The storms in Europe over the weekend saw more than 20 people lose their lives.
Thunderstorms in France left four people dead with Paris seeing its worst floods in decades.
The Seine has started to recede over the past 48 hours.
President Francois Hollande is expected to declare a state of emergency to trigger compensation payments to thousands of people who were forced to leave their homes.
In Belgium authorities say bad weather could have caused a train crash which left three people dead near Liege.
An increase in trampoline injuries is expected for children this summer. Image posed
Injuries are entirely preventable and in 35pc of cases, the injury was related to the presence of others on the trampoline.
Hospital emergency doctors across Ireland expect to see an increase in children suffering trampoline injuries this summer.
One study shows 40pc of children who need orthopaedic care after a trampoline injury will have surgery, said the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine.
Most falls occur while on the bed of the trampoline, not as a result of a fall from it. They are entirely preventable and in 35pc of cases, the injury was related to the presence of others on the trampoline. The injured child was supervised by an adult in only 40pc of cases.
The doctors said adults may also sustain or cause trampoline-related injuries, particularly when alcohol has been consumed. Because of deaths and serious injuries in the USA, the American Academy of Paediatrics recommends that trampolines are not bought for children. Parents should not allow their children to use a trampoline elsewhere.
As trampoline use is so common here, the Irish emergency doctors advise:
* Only one child at a time should use the trampoline
* Children should be supervised by an adult at all times
* Trampolines should be surrounded by appropriate safety netting to stop both ingress and falls from the trampoline
* Never use it under the influence of alcohol.
"Following these precautions will reduce, but not eliminate, injuries that otherwise might spoil enjoyment," they said.
Andrew Brennan has two adorable little daughters, a loving wife, and a sweet dog, and they all live in a charming stone house in the countryside.
However, their once perfect lifestyle has been marred by the fact that this 33-year-old has been diagnosed with an extremely challenging condition, that will probably limit his time with his family. But he's not giving in to this; in fact, he's doing all he can to enable research, so others might be spared the same heartache.
Andrew, who grew up in Castletown, Co Meath, became an apprentice lithographic web printer when he left school in 1999. He then began working at the Meath Chronicle in Navan. From time to time, he would nip across the road to place bets for himself and his fellow workers. That's where he met Yvonne Doherty, who worked in the betting shop. They soon fell in love and have been together ever since. Their daughters, Aoife (3) and Sophia (20 months), have inherited their father's russet hair, blue eyes and fabulous grin, but not his tall, strong build. It looks like they get their petiteness and porcelain skin from their pretty mother.
The Brennans live down a country lane, in Mullagh, Co Cavan. The two-storey building was once a Church of Ireland national school and place of worship. Andrew and Yvonne have lovingly restored the building, laboriously chipping away acres of plaster, to reveal the original stonework. The interior is now bright, cosy and comfortable, while the lush country setting is a paradise for children. However, their sense of perfection was shattered a couple of years ago when Andrew went to see his GP in Navan, about pain in his face (trigeminal neuralgia).
During the consultation, the doctor noticed an abnormality in Andrew's hand and detected spasms in his right arm. "What's that all about?" he asked Andrew, who replied that he hadn't had the symptoms investigated, because they'd never bothered him. But they bothered the astute doctor so much he took a video on his phone of the problem areas, and forwarded it to Professor Orla Hardiman, an eminent consultant neurologist at Beaumont Hospital.
Five weeks later, Andrew was sitting in the professor's waiting room, wondering why there were so many patients in wheelchairs, some unable to speak. "I mistakenly thought I was in a general area," he admits. Having been examined by Prof Hardiman, he was told that further tests would be required. However, he hadn't bargained on getting a call the very next morning, telling him a bed was already waiting for him in Beaumont. He spent a week there having various blood and nerve conduction study tests, and MRI scans. "Towards the end of the week," Andrew explains, "I expected bad news because they wanted Yvonne there when I got the results. My parents came as well."
In late February of last year, Andrew learned that he was suffering from motor neurone disease (MND). This is a progressive neurological condition that attacks the motor neurones, or nerves, in the brain and spinal cord. It causes messages to gradually stop reaching the muscles, which leads to weakness and wasting throughout the body. However, intellect is not usually affected.
When Andrew got his diagnosis, he knew nothing about the condition. So Prof Hardiman explained the ins and outs; but she also had to break the dreadful news, that the average life expectancy following diagnosis, was only three to five years. "I felt like I had been hit with a sledge hammer," Andrew recalls. "I asked to be left alone with my family." In time, the symptoms became more obvious and more debilitating. Having researched the condition, he came to the conclusion that inevitably he would land up in a "vegetative state" in a wheelchair. So he thought about ending his life. But later he changed his mind. "I realised it would be selfish of me to do something so drastic. The doctor told me that nothing happens overnight; to take each day as it comes."
Andrew then decided he could let the MND control him, or he could take a whole different approach, and be positive about the good things in his life. And that's what he and Yvonne have been doing ever since. "I know I am a bit slower these days and find it harder to walk, but what I do have, is really great. I'll wake up in the morning and think, I'm awake, that's a good start to the day. I am so grateful to be alive. It's my wonderful family that keeps me going. The glass is half full, that's my philosophy."
Currently Andrew uses medication to slow down the progression of the disease, he takes muscle relaxants, and has physiotherapy and occupational and speech therapies. He is appreciative of the support he has received from his HSE care team, from his GP, Councillor Shane O'Reilly, Prof Hardiman and the MND clinic at Beaumont. "They've all been fantastic," he says.
But he is especially touched by the unselfish efforts and generosity of his former work mates and his family, who have given of their time and energy to support and fundraise for him. "But most of all I want to thank Yvonne; she really is one in a million," says Andrew.
He and Yvonne are facing up to the challenges that lie ahead by building a self-contained unit on the ground floor. "There's no point in burying our heads in the sand. I will reach a point where I can no longer go up the stairs," he says. "I've had a couple of falls already; and while we were on holidaying in Spain, I had to hire a mobility scooter. There was no shame in it, but it was tough."
Andrew says he does get really angry sometimes, because, as he puts it, "this is probably going to rob me of the second half of my life. As I slowly lose my ability to walk, I'm realising I'm not going to get better. I will never fully accept this. But it is what it is, so you just have to get on with things."
What Andrew has done to make sense of his circumstances, is to offer to participate in any research that deals with MND. "I'm not expecting a miracle cure, but I am hoping, in the next 20 or 30 years, that a cure will be found, so everyone with MND will be helped. I'm not going to live with this; rather it's going to live with me. I plan to enjoy the time I have left."
The Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association asks people to take part in their Drink Tea for MND campaign, during the month of June, to increase awareness and to raise funds. For more information, Freefone: (1800) 403-403, or see imnda.ie
Imagine floating in a shallow Atlantic cove. Below you, a scallop sits like treasure in the sand. A crab creeps out from the rocks. A tiny goby looks like a castmember from Finding Nemo.
You've heard of Greenways... now get ready for a new Atlantic adventure.
Blueways are snorkelling and kayaking trails aiming to get visitors up close and personal with the marine environment, and five of them have just been launched in Galway and Mayo - at Boffin Harbour on Inishbofin, Killary Fjord in Leenane, Keem Bay on Achill Island, Mannin Bay near Clifden and Old Head at Louisburgh.
The trails are a pilot initiative developed with the support of Failte Ireland and Leader, and designed to complement the Wild Atlantic Way and encourage visitors to discover our coastline.
The Blueway initiative provides visitors with a safe haven to immerse themselves in some of the most glorious coastal waters anywhere in the world," said Minister of State for Tourism & Sport, Michael Ring, who launched the trails yesterday.
Expand Close / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp Snorkelling off Glassilaun Beach, Co. Mayo. Cillian Grey/Scuba Dive West.
Glorious they are, but be under no illusions - the water is cold. Average Atlantic temperatures range between 8 and 14 degrees in Ireland (the sea off Spains Costa del Sol, by contrast, fluctuates between 18 and 24 degrees).
Wetsuits are most definitely required for all but the most hardy of souls, or the height of summer.
The surprising underwater life, however, is absolutely worth the effort.
Fancy giving it a try? A series of taster days scheduled over the coming months sees local activity operators providing tuition and equipment together with safety advice to anyone interested in snorkelling or kayaking the Blueways.
Here's where you'll find them:
June 8: Killary Harbour (Glassilaun Beach)
June 15: Achill (Keel & Keem Beach)
June 22: Mannin Bay (Clifden)
June 29: Inishbofin (Harbour)
July 19: Achill (Keel & Keem Beach)
July 20: Mannin Bay (Clifden)
July 27: Killary Harbour (Glassilaun Beach)
August 3: Old Head (Louisburgh)
August 9: Inishbofin (Harbour)
More info: www.blueway.ie
From big hits to lesser-known gin and whisky bars, Nicola Brady pieces together a choice 24 hours in Edinburgh.
10am: Edinburgh Castle
Yes, its where all the tourists go. And yes, youll likely be bumping elbows and dodging selfie-sticks. But theres a reason the castle (16.50/22) is a hodgepodge of tiny, fascinating museums boasting a killer view of the city. Afterwards, make your way to West Port, a meandering street with old bookshops, vintage stores and Lovecrumbs, a cute cafe that serves only exquisite, delicious cakes.
How: edinburghcastle.gov.uk, lovecrumbs.co.uk
2pm: Surgeons Hall Museums
This isnt one for the squeamish. But if you have nerves of steel and a morbid interest in surgery, you will adore Surgeons Hall. Ancient surgical tools are on show, as well as an entire hall displaying preserved body parts, all riddled with ailments. Afterwards, pop into Spoon for a homemade ginger beer and a little slice of literary history its one of the spots where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter.
How: Entrance to Surgeons Hall costs 6/8. See museum.rcsed.ac.uk and spoonedinburgh.co.uk for more.
Expand Close On with the old (town), and the new: The only problem Edinburgh poses for the visitor is trying to fit all the attractions into a short visit / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp On with the old (town), and the new: The only problem Edinburgh poses for the visitor is trying to fit all the attractions into a short visit
5pm: The real Mary Kings Close
Its hard to believe, but beneath Edinburghs streets lies a perfectly preserved warren of 17th-century houses and pathways, which were covered up when the town was modernised. Walking down into the underbelly of the city is a haunting and bizarre experience, home to tales of murder, disease and despair. Oh, and the spookiest collection of childrens toys youre ever likely to see.
How: Entrance costs 14.50/19. See realmarykingsclose.com .
8pm: Whisky & Gin
Whisky fans will be in heaven at The Dining Room each of the courses on the Taster Menu (75/99) is paired with a unique, single cask whisky. If gin is your tipple, check out Heads and Tales, which has a huge array of brands, and a divine in-house blend, too. Grab a seat overlooking their copper stills, or hide away in a plush alcove.
How: thediningroomedinburgh.co.uk, headsandtalesbar.com.
Get there
Nicola travelled with Flybe (flybe.com), which flies six times weekly to Edinburgh from Ireland West Airport (Knock), from 35 one-way.
See also thisisedinburgh.com and visitscotland.com.
Ryanair has 'simplified' its bag charges in a move it says reduces fees for 92pc of customers. But is it really that simple?
The airline has replaced multiple bag charges with six year-round rates, a change it says will lower fees for more than nine out of ten customers.
Among the changes, Ryanair says customers on domestic flights of less than two hours can now save up to 50pc on checked bags, with those on all other flights of less than three hours enjoying a 5 reduction in the price of 15kg bags (from 30 to 25).
But there's a catch.
The new, year-round fares were introduced on June 2 - just one day after the airline hiked its checked bag fees by up to 15 for peak season.
The new savings are based on these high season prices - i.e. 30 in the case of a 15kg bag on European flights of less than three hours.
When compared to low season prices of 20 charged up to May 31, however, the new, year-round 15kg checked bag fee of 25 actually represents a 25pc price hike.
A similar scenario applies to 20kg checked bags on these flights.
Ryanair says it is important to note that 63pc of its customers flew during the six months from April to October last year, and that this period is also when the highest level of customers checked bags.
Passengers are also permitted a 10kg carry-on bag free of charge, as well as an additional smaller item such as a laptop or handbag.
However, the airline has also claimed that customers on flights lasting over three hours "will see no change to their checked bag fees".
This does not appear to be the case.
15kg bag fees on longer flights to Greece, the Canary Islands and other destinations of 3+ hours from Ireland previously cost 25 in low and 40 in high season.
These are now charged at 40 year-round, which actually represents a hike of 60pc on the old low season rates - i.e. for up to seven months of the year.
Ryanair's Chief Marketing Officer, Kenny Jacobs, said:
"Over 92pc of our 116 million customers will enjoy reduced bag fees and will pay the same price for checking-in a bag whether bought at the time of the initial booking or added to the booking, regardless of seasonality."
That may be true, but the savings aren't as simple as first appears - particularly for passengers flying in what the airline used to call "low" season.
The recent gangland murders in Dublin highlight the international dimension of serious crime. While murders are taking place on the streets of Dublin, the real decisions as to who can live or die rest with an international syndicate pulling strings from the Costa Del Sol.
It's patently obvious from recent events that European co-operation in tackling international crime is both dysfunctional and outdated. But more importantly, there has to be a willingness in those counties where they pull the strings to confront and tackle the bosses.
It's madness to think that we can fight international crime on a 'member state by member state' basis any more. Freedom of movement across the EU is an enormous benefit to European society. But the freedom of movement for gangland crime was not the original intention of the EU.
The truth is that for many years now Spain has been a home from home for many British and Irish criminals.
South American drugs cartels, people smugglers and elements of Russian mafia are also attracted to sunny Spain.
In the same way that the international community is finally tackling tax havens, the same rigour should be applied to those countries where criminal syndicates seemingly work and control their organisations from abroad.
It's not just an issue for Spain. There are other member states of the EU where gangland figures evade arrest. Later this week, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald will meet her counterparts from Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium.
It would be wrong also to presume that this problem doesn't exist in Ireland. But if the international community was asking questions of Ireland as to the presence of a Latvian, Italian or Polish drugs boss in Dublin, I'd like to think that we would take action. I'd like to think that we would care about the reputation of our country.
And that's the problem. Is enough being done in Spain and elsewhere to sit on those directing crime in Ireland?
There needs to be much more robust co-operation between the gardai and Spanish police in identifying and targeting Irish criminals based in Spain.
The gangland murders in Dublin are a clear warning to the gardai and to the public that 'narco-terrorism' is now a feature of Irish crime.
Such criminals are 'outlaws'. They have no respect for life and appear to have no fear of the law. Moving to Spain or elsewhere must never be a means of escaping justice. The gardai, in association with Europol and other national police services, must be in a position to follow Irish international criminal gangs and disrupt their activities at home and abroad.
The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) worked when it was introduced. An entire generation of criminal bosses was taken out. But it was obvious that another, younger group would take their place and continue to direct operations. Much of that is now happening from abroad.
Today, 20 years after the establishment of CAB, we see Irish gangsters showing off their wealth again - this time with pictures from beaches across Europe on social media. We cannot ignore that murders are being directed from abroad. We need a European version of our CAB to take down the kingpins. And while we are waiting for that, we need other EU member states to take seriously what's happening in Dublin and elsewhere.
FOUR years ago, Alan Shatter told EU justice ministers as much. Did they listen? No. Instead they decided to simplify the rules that allow EU countries confiscate criminals' ill-gotten gains after conviction. And that's the problem. When CAB takes on the gangs in Ireland, there has to be evidence that assets were obtained from criminal conduct and the courts must agree. It's then up to the people CAB are investigating to prove that the money was earned legally, otherwise the State is entitled to seize it.
That's not how it works in Europe. Many EU countries want a person to be convicted before they will consider confiscating their illegal cash. I believe this gives criminals the upper hand. The gang leaders can direct and profit from crime while their minions carry out their orders, leaving little evidence to convict the bosses.
I'm not suggesting that some EU agency be given powers without any checks and balances. Ireland and CAB have shown that our system of checks and balances works. The CAB laws have been tested in our courts and they met Ireland's strict constitutional property rights.
CAB keeps the confiscated money for seven years, to give the person the maximum length of time to prove they got it legally.
In hundreds of CAB cases in the past 20 years, guess how many times the person being investigated proved that they had earned the money legally? Never. As long as confiscation takes place only after conviction, a culture of impunity across the criminal world will continue to apply.
Until we can get all EU countries to choose a CAB-type system, Irish gangsters will continue to flaunt their wealth and direct crime from abroad. An EU-wide CAB-style agency could drive that change and make sure that crime never pays.
Premium
Colette Browne Opinion Every effort must be made to retrieve oral histories of mother and baby home survivors
With three days to go until the Mother and Baby Homes Commission ceases to exist as a legal entity, we are being told that audio recordings of hundreds of witnesses which were deleted may not actually be gone forever. It is another usual twist in a most emotional saga. For decades, survivors of mother and baby homes have been denied a voice and denied autonomy. When they fell pregnant, many through rape and abuse, they were marched to the doors of religious institutions.
So, the Leaving Cert is here - and if you're one of the 60,000-plus students sitting these exams, you're probably feeling pretty anxious right around now. Be warned - over the coming days you're going to hear lots of middle-aged radio and TV presenters telling you that 'it doesn't really matter', 'it will all work out in the end' and 'sure they're just a few exams - didn't I fail everything except art, and now look at me - CEO of this Fortune 500 company', or whatever.
Don't feel bad if you want to slap these people (hard) for their patronising dismissal of something you've been working your ass off on for the past two years. They don't understand, or maybe they do and they've forgotten. It's OK for this to feel like the most important thing in your life, ever. Because, guess what? It probably is.
Okay, first things first, let me tell you a bit about my own Leaving Cert story. I sat my exams back in 1997, three weeks after my 18th birthday, and I wasn't just 'pretty anxious', as I alluded to back in the first paragraph, I was a nervous wreck. All my life I had been a straight-A, people-pleasing exam machine, but somewhere around the age of 17 - and on the back of severe bullying, low self-esteem and more than a passing tendency towards obsessive perfectionism - things started to unravel.
I didn't notice it at first - although the fact that I felt constantly tired, moody and my periods had stopped ought to have been a warning sign (and just to clarify, there was zero chance of being pregnant. I mean literally zero). It was only when I became crippled with overwhelming panic attacks that warning bells began to sound. Even though I'd experienced anxiety all my life, this was different. Panic seeped into every facet of my life: public speaking, driving and, most damningly of all, exam-taking. If I didn't have that, what did I have?
Nothing, seemed to be the most obvious answer. Absolutely nothing.
During that time I was so overcome by fear I wasn't able to take my house exams at the end of fifth year, and so my parents arranged for me to see a psychiatrist, who diagnosed anxiety and depression and prescribed me Xanax and Prozac.
I had barely taken aspirin before this, and suddenly I was mainlining sedatives three times a day. It didn't feel normal but I had to admit it kept the panic at bay. For a while, at least.
Once summer was over, I returned to school, to begin the dreaded Leaving Cert year. I entered it as St George might have entered the dragon's lair. How would I cope with this thing? This enormous, terrifying beast?
My answer was by studying. Hour upon hour of joyless, airless cramming.
The night before the Leaving Cert started I found it impossible to sleep. I felt so terrified I thought I would be sick. What if I panicked in the exam? What if my hand shook so hard and I couldn't hold the pen? In the middle of the night, I slipped down to my parents' bedroom, tears flowing down my face.
My father hugged me and went to the other room, while my mother held open the duvet and allowed me to crawl in beside her. She reassured and soothed me, telling me everything was going to be OK. At some point I took a Xanax (I had a large stash of them ready to go - to carry me through this torturous time.)
Next morning, I woke up and my father drove me to my school - to my fate.
I felt every part of me shivering - I didn't know how I was going to do it, but I knew I had to face it. I couldn't turn back like I did during my fifth year exams - and so I walked through the door, to my friends, and prepared for the fight of my life. I took another half a Xanax. I took a deep breath.
I got through all 10 of my exams and didn't die.
(The bigger challenge, though I didn't realise it at the time, would be somehow learning how to live.)
As it happened, when results day rolled out, it turned out I'd scored maximum points - or, to be precise, six higher A1s and a higher B2 in Maths. I was interviewed on the local radio and featured in the local newspaper. Apparently, I was the only one in my county to get such high grades. I decided not to mention the psychiatrist or the Xanax. It didn't really fit with the 'golden girl' headlines.
Suffice it to say, as the coming months and years went by, the feeling of success waned somewhat. It turns out getting the perfect score in your Leaving Cert does not buy you the perfect life - or a sense of identity, or the confidence you so desperately crave.
But that's a whole different conversation. People tend to forget this, but the Leaving Cert can be about so many things - none of them connected with actual college courses.
Maybe you feel you need to do well in these exams to finally win your dad's affection, or to fly in the face of those bullies who've been putting you down for years - or because you don't feel pretty but you know you're smart and you want to show the world that it's your brain that will pull you through this life, not your face.
Whatever the reason, it all boils down to a desire to prove yourself and a belief that failure is not an option. (Although, of course, the irony is that once you declare something like 'failure's not an option', it suddenly becomes all you can think about.)
I was like that. I was that kid. I felt that the Leaving Cert was the most important thing I had ever undertaken - that if I didn't ace it, my life was over. I genuinely believed that.
But here's the truth. Yes, it is important. Yes, it will determine what college you go to, what course you take. It's undeniable that it will, to a greater or lesser degree, affect the path your life takes.
But here's what the Leaving Cert is not: it's not a definition of you as a person. It's not a moral guide to your inherent goodness or badness as a human being. If you do less well than you hoped, that's disappointing, but it doesn't mean you, as an individual, are a failure. It just means you had a bad day at the office. The converse is true - all the A grades in the world are not going to make you happy or fulfilled or content in yourself. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about here.
But, at the same time, it's complex. Would I give back my 600 points if I could turn back time and erase all that pain and anxiety? The psychiatrists, the Xanax? The truth is, I don't know. Because, in the end, I'm proud of what I achieved, of what I proved myself capable of.
When I was struggling to complete my novel 'Sisters and Lies' - on the brink of giving up because it felt too hard - the memory of my Leaving Cert spurred me on. I remembered that I had experienced these feelings of inadequacy and fear before, this sense that I was not up to the task. But I had proved myself wrong back then, and I could do it once more if I just trusted in my own abilities - if I had the courage to believe in myself.
And I suppose that's what it boils down to for you now: courage. Right at this moment, you have to gather every ounce you possess and face this thing head-on. It seems huge and terrifying and, in many ways, it is - but I'll let you in on a secret: most of the hard work involves simply showing up.
If you make it to that exam hall on the first day of English Paper 1, you're more than halfway there. The initial few minutes will be scary as hell but, as each day goes by, you'll feel more relaxed, more confident. By the final exam you'll probably be wondering what all the panic was about.
But if the panic does strike, promise me this - that you'll do your very best to ride it out. Do not be tempted to get up and walk out. You'll regret it.
Finally, may I wish you the best of luck tomorrow and remind you of the wonderful AA Milne line from 'Winie the Pooh': "You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."
Because you are. Have no doubt about that.
Bernice Barrington's debut novel, 'Sisters and Lies', published by Penguin Ireland, is out now
To say that local authorities are under-performing in housing provision is an under-statement.
The lack of progress is appalling. It beggars belief that an entire arm of the State has just 26 homes under construction more than a year after projects were approved.
It's not just city and county councils which have questions to answer. Has the department been tracking progress? Has it been in contact with the chief executives of local authorities seeking progress update reports?
And why did the previous housing minister, Paudie Coffey, see fit to claim that projects approved in May last year were "shovel ready" when they were clearly no such thing?
We are in the midst of a housing crisis. It cost the State 25m last year to house people in emergency accommodation in Dublin, in what is perhaps the worst value for taxpayer's money.
But yet houses are not being built. Just 72 were constructed by city and county councils last year, from a total of 12,666 - that means the State built just under 0.6pc of the total. What an achievement.
Part of the reason is the complicated approval process which must be undertaken by councils. The first stage (capital appraisal) is the initial approval where the council outlines the project, sets out how it meets a housing need and provides an estimated cost.
The second stage - the position where many of these projects are at - is developing a detailed design and securing Part 8 planning approval. This approval is required for local authority projects, and is faster.
The third stage involves a pre-tender cost check by the department, and the final stage - Stage 4 - comes after tenders have been received.
However, there is a fast-track approval process for projects of 15 units or less costing no more than 2m.
Around 70 projects currently have 12 or fewer units, but yet few local authorities are choosing to use the fast-track, single-stage approval process.
Why? Because there's an element of risk. If there are delays and there are cost overruns, the local authorities are stuck with the additional costs.
But what does it say about the councils that they don't have sufficient confidence in their ability to deliver units that they won't use this process?
The other main stumbling block is the planning process, which can be lengthy and subject to nimbyism around social housing. Delays here can add to costs.
Housing Minister Simon Coveney has previously outlined plans to give chief executives greater leeway in approving projects.
"When you look at the money allocated and the number of schemes with Stage 1 approval, the pace at which they are proceeding has been far too slow. There is a need here for a sense of urgency," he said.
Whatever about progress to date, this low rate of delivery cannot be allowed to continue.
Chief executives must be forced to take responsibility, and face sanctions, including dismissal, if they fail to deliver.
In the private sector, homes are delivered quickly because there's a compelling economic reason to do so.
In the public sector, there's an even greater impetus - taking families out of crummy hotels and B&Bs and providing them with a home.
It takes courage to speak openly about a private tragedy. I have found that by doing so, you can help many others to heal if they have suffered a similar sadness. Helping others is not to be dismissed. Our mental health can waver when faced with tragedy.
Our mental health can really suffer when this little country refuses to provide medical services for women in crisis.
After I wrote an open letter to a newspaper about my diagnosis of fatal foetal abnormality in 2002, I was invited to speak on 'The Late Late Show', on 'Prime Time' and the BBC. They wanted to hear about my experience of having to leave the country to have a safe medical intervention to terminate a pregnancy that would not survive.
To protect my other children, I could not go public. I just wanted to ensure that no other woman would have to suffer. I felt that the words of my letter were enough; they had created a national debate.
In 2007 I was requested by RTE's 'Morning Ireland' to comment on Miss D, a 17-year old carrying an anencephalic foetus, who was 'given permission' by the High Court to travel to England for a termination.
The HSE sought to prevent her going. The interviewer wanted me to share my experience of the diagnosis. I was nervous, I kept waiting to be interrupted, but they listened and listened more. After 29 minutes, we finished. There was tremendously supportive feedback. Men and women could identify with the reality of confirmed fatal foetal abnormality. Nobody had spoken personally about it before, there had been no balance in the debate.
In 2012, I found the courage to give a studio interview to Pat Kenny. As I drove away from RTE, I heard him ask an anti-choice campaigner on the phone to give her opinion about my story. Berry Kiely said that what I had done was like taking a terminally ill two-year old child off a life-support machine.
A stranger to me, she had analogised my decision into a completely false scenario, for the sake of drama and 'balance'.
Berry Kiely did exactly what I had anticipated had I gone on TV in 2002 - viciously attacked and verbally abused my personal choice, a choice that was legally available in Northern Ireland at that time, to ameliorate the tragedy that had befallen me.
There can be no balance in attacking a woman.
If some other woman wants to proclaim her delight at choosing to go full term with fatal foetal abnormality, that is a separate issue, she has that choice.
Graham and Helen Linehan shared their experience of fatal foetal abnormality on an RTE afternoon radio programme, with Ray D'Arcy, on October 19, 2015. Both parents spoke of how their tragedy had been dealt with humanely by their local health service in the UK.
Some people were not one bit happy about that, they said the interview was "biased and unfair".
The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland heard their complaints and upheld them.
Yes, the BAI upheld complaints about an interview given by a couple who had experienced the tragedy of fatal foetal abnormality. But unlike in Ireland, they were treated with humanity in the UK.
Hearing what it's like to be treated with humanity is not desired by certain sectors of our community.
The BAI said this interview was in breach of its code for news and current affairs reporting. It specifically took issue with the couple for advocating legislative and constitutional reform that would spare women the trauma of being denied access to termination of pregnancy in cases of fatal foetal anomalies.
'The Ray D'Arcy Show' had sought listeners' views in advance of the interview and then read out the views of two anti-choice organisations on both the Linehans' story and Amnesty International's campaign. It strikes me that fairness, objectivity and impartiality were achieved.
In contrast, media 'balance' from the anti-choice movement is to provide them with a platform to personally attack women in tragic circumstances and to rubbish the term 'fatal foetal abnormality', denying the existence of the medical fact.
Let me bring balance to this argument with the proclamation by the clerics of the Presbyterian Church at their annual assembly this week.
It is their "conviction that human life begins at conception" and their "responsibility towards the child with FFA (fatal foetal abnormality) is at one with (their) responsibility towards any unborn child" - to ban any intervention.
The clerics' conviction is to force the woman to carry for nine months without a thought for her or the burial she will have anyway.
A new battle over 'media balance' went to the streets on Saturday, demanding more attention for the right to total autonomy over women's bodies.
This argument over 'balance' will render the supposed Citizens' Assembly inert. The assembly is to be set up to consider the Eighth Amendment.
There is already a forum for this issue, it is called the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Ireland.
Until we have a referendum, the brave voices of those whose lives have been impacted by the Eighth Amendment should be able to participate in the public conversation without the fear of being verbally, cruelly abused about the choices that they made in the best interests of themselves and their families.
The impact of this BAI ruling is tantamount to censorship and is an obstacle to those who wish to help others by sharing personal experience and, therefore, an obstacle to free speech.
By 5.40am on June 7, 1996 Detective Garda Jerry McCabe had finished shaving at his modest home near Thomond Park in Limerick.
Dapper in a neatly pressed brown suit, he was all set for duty and looked, "as if he was heading off to see the bank manager to ask for a loan".
Jerry and his devoted wife Ann were over 30 years married. A talented mechanic, Jerry was planning to start a business after retiring from the force.
As he slipped away Jerry whispered to Ann that he'd be home for a cup of tea by mid-morning after a routine Post Office escort to Adare.
Jerry never made it home. Ann would never see Jerry alive again. Some of the men involved in his murder have never faced justice and the political leadership of the party that supported his IRA killers still decline to answer questions about their knowledge of the crime and the cover up that followed it.
Just like the ghost of Jean McConville, the bloodied shirt of Jerry McCabe has cast a long shadow over the credibility of the Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and raised profound concerns about that party's commitment to democracy and the rule of law.
Twenty years ago today, the war launched by the Provisional IRA against the Irish people came to the historic village of Adare in Co Limerick.
A unit of the Munster Brigade led by Kevin Walsh and terrorist Pearse McAuley stormed up Main Street in a stolen Nissan Pajero and rammed the unmarked Garda patrol car guarding the delivery of cash to the local post office. This unit had serious form. Ringleader Kevin Walsh had robbed banks and post offices for the IRA for 20 years. He had convictions going back to the mid 1970s. A close associate of his during all this time was Martin Ferris, now the Sinn Fein TD for Kerry.
By the summer of 1996 Ferris was free after serving 10 years for the failed bid to import weapons courtesy of the infamous Boston gangster Whitey Bulger.
In June 1996 the IRA had resumed its war and Walsh's gang was mobilised to rob and kill again for Ireland's "freedom".
Jerry McCabe and his lifelong partner Ben O'Sullivan stood in their way that morning 20 years ago. They were shot at point-blank range by a gunman who unleashed 15 rounds from a Kalashnikov assault rifle. This same weapon had been discharged in previous IRA raids at Kilmallock and Mill Street. Jerry died instantly, Ben suffered multiple gunshot wounds but miraculously survived.
Walsh's gang then menaced the post office driver Willie Jackson but were unable to access the IR100,000 locked in the truck and abandoned the operation.
For months McAuley and Walsh were on the run. For months they benefited from a network of Provo safe houses. When Walsh was tracked down to a house in Mullagh, Co Cavan, in 1998, he had a false passport and was armed to the teeth.
The killers' trial in 1999 was notable for the scale of witness intimidation that threatened to collapse the case. Then, with freedom beckoning, the accused strangely pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sent down. When they were released Martin Ferris was there to greet them.
Sinn Fein and the IRA at first denied any Provo role, but soon retreated to the position the movement publicly holds today. "The operation was authorised at a lower level", Gerry Adams subsequently admitted on 'The Late Late Show'.
Ten years ago I made a film with Ann McCabe. She challenged Adams about that statement. "Can you tell me who the lower level was?" she asked.
Adams declined to share his knowledge of the people behind the murder. Twenty years ago the political wing of the Provisional IRA had no TDs in Dail Eireann. Support for Sinn Fein was minuscule. Today Sinn Fein, the champions of Jerry McCabe's murderers, have 23 seats and the backing of one voter in every seven in this republic. The Garda inquiry into the murder is still open. Dickie O'Neill, Gerry Roche, and Paul Damery are three Republicans detectives still want to talk to. They haven't been home since June 1996. But "the man who knows so much", as Ann McCabe describes Gerry Adams, and who could help that investigation the most, is sitting in Dail Eireann keeping schtum.
Gerry Gregg is the Producer of the 2006 film 'Murder on Main Street' made for RTE and the Irish Film Board to mark the 10th anniversary of the killing of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe
The housing crisis has to be dealt with in a meaningful way. Teeing things up with a meaningless '100-day deadline' is pointless. (Stock photo)
New Housing Minister Simon Coveney wanted to make a good first impression. Why wouldn't he? After all, you can only do that once. So he and the new Government laid down a marker to come up with a plan to tackle the housing crisis within 100 days. Guess what? They have admitted defeat already. They won't make it because of August.
That's right, the month of August is the problem. True it is a perennial one, it generally can be relied upon to follow July, and precede September, but the Government hadn't allowed for it, or the fact that not much gets done that month.
So we're going to have to wait for a solution to the housing crisis. This is very bad news indeed, as today we reveal that the average age of a person buying their first home in Ireland has risen to 34. A decade ago most first-time buyers were in their twenties. But it's no great surprise that buyers are getting older. Rents are back at crazy Celtic Tiger levels. Factor in the Central Bank lending restrictions, and it is practically impossible for young people to get the money together to buy a home. According to last year's figures the average mortgage deposit in Dublin increased dramatically from 38,000 to 51,000.
That was a 38pc increase over 12 months. The sky-high deposits, coupled with the limits on the amount that can be borrowed based on income, mean that the dream of owning a home is receding for swathes of the population.
Our variable mortgage rates are also too high compared with the rest of the eurozone. The Central Bank has been heavily criticised for putting the interests of banks ahead of those of consumers on the variable rate issue.
People need homes; investors looking at Ireland will be thinking twice. The high cost of housing will inevitably put pressure on wages. Are we going to get to a point whereby first time buyers will be 65 before they can get on the property ladder? The housing crisis has to be dealt with in a meaningful way. Teeing things up with a meaningless "100-day deadline" is pointless.
Jerry McCabe's killers must be brought to justice
Early today, a small gathering took place in Adare to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the murder of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe. Two of the suspects believed to have taken part in the attack are still at large. They fled the country, yet they are known to come back and forth.
One of the suspects is believed to have made several trips back to Ireland to discuss the peace process with Sinn Fein.
It behoves anyone with an interest in democracy - and especially a party with representatives in the Dail - to furnish the gardai with any information they might have about the whereabouts of either suspect.
The murder of a garda is a grave offence and the fact that these men can enter and leave the country with impunity, when they are believed to have been part of the gang that took the life of Detective Garda McCabe, is an affront to all who believe in law and order.
'The Civic Guard' (renamed An Garda Siochana na hEireann on August 8, 1923) was first formed by Michael Collins and the Irish government. It has been the bulwark against those who would threaten society and the State ever since. Those who would attack its members must be made feel that there is nowhere to hide. Anyone with information on where either of these men may be has both a moral and a patriotic duty to contact the gardai.
Countryfile's Adam Henson has said he wouldn't want a career like Ben Fogle or Bear Grylls.
The farmer and presenter has a sizeable fanbase, but told the Radio Times that being the next big outdoors TV hero isn't for him.
He said: "No. Bear and Ben are London boys, and they love adventure and all that.
"But after a tough day on the farm, I don't feel the need to go and sleep on a hammock, in a wood. I wouldn't mind doing a sky dive, but I don't have a desire to do it."
Henson was born into the world of farming but broke into presenting in 2001, when Countryfile held a search for a new presenter.
He said: "What I do have a desire to do, and I am very happy to rough it while doing it, is look at the culture of farming and how they produce food around the world.
"Because I have a connection with the land and food production and I am genuinely interested in it."
Henson, 50, runs the Cotswold Farm Park which his father started in 1971.
Referring to the former Countryfile presenter Miriam O'Reilly, who won a landmark legal case against the BBC over age discrimination in 2011 after being dropped from the rural affairs show, he said he is fortunate to have something to fall back on.
He said: "Television is a fickle old world. It [the O'Reilly row] made me realise you aren't there for ever, you need to watch your back and you need to consider your future.
Video of the Day
"I am lucky I have got the farm. The Cotswold Farm Park brand has been around for 45 years, and we were getting a lot of visitors before I went on Countryfile."
:: This week's Radio Times is on sale on June 7.
Rescue cars stand near refugee accommodation where a fire broke out in Duesseldorf (Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa via AP)
Two people have been detained after a large fire at refugee accommodation in the western German city of Duesseldorf, police said.
City police spokeswoman Anja Kynast said the two men, both residents at the shelter, were taken in for questioning but not formally arrested.
Duesseldorf's fire department said about 70 firefighters rushed to the grounds of the city's convention centre after being alerted to the fire shortly after midday.
It said 24 of the 282 refugees living at the site were treated for smoke inhalation and one firefighter was treated for exhaustion.
Ms Kynast said authorities had been called to a previous fire at the shelter last month, but that the cause had not been determined.
Tuesday's fire created a large column of smoke over Duesseldorf that could be seen for dozens of miles.
Traffic at the city's nearby airport was not affected.
Police investigating Thailand's now infamous Tiger Temple found what they believe was a slaughterhouse and tiger holding facility used in a suspected animal trafficking network.
The discovery on Tuesday is the latest in a growing scandal surrounding the Buddhist temple, which was a popular tourist attraction that charged admission for visitors to take photos with the tigers and walk them on leashes.
Last week, authorities removed more than 137 tigers from the temple grounds and also found 40 dead tiger cubs in a freezer and 20 more preserved in jars.
Acting on a tip, police raided a home on Tuesday about 30 miles from the temple in Kanchanaburi province in western Thailand and found four live tigers and a dozen empty cages, said police colonel Montri Pancharoen, deputy commander of the Crime Suppression Division, which oversaw the raid.
Investigators believe the house, in an isolated area and surrounded by tall fences, served as "a holding facility and slaughterhouse", he said.
"We believe it was used by the Tiger Temple to hold live tigers before slaughtering them for their skins, meat and bones to be exported outside the country, or sent to restaurants in Thailand that serve tiger meat to tour groups," he said.
Expand Close Dead tiger cubs are displayed by Thai officials after they were found during a raid on the controversial Tiger Temple Credit: Daily News/via REUTERS. / Facebook
Twitter
Email
Whatsapp Dead tiger cubs are displayed by Thai officials after they were found during a raid on the controversial Tiger Temple Credit: Daily News/via REUTERS.
The house had a work area with a large chopping board and a variety of knives which authorities believe served as the slaughter area, he said.
Police detained two caretakers at the facility who claimed the tigers were the private property of the home's owner, said Mr Montri. Police were searching for the owner who was not there during the raid.
"The Tiger Temple is just a starting point, or a supplier," he said. "We have information that the Tiger Temple is not the only place that supplies tigers to illegal smugglers."
Animal rights activists have long accused the temple of mistreating its tigers. The government suspects the monks have been involved in illegal breeding and trafficking of the animals.
The monks resisted previous efforts to take away the tigers, but relented last week after police obtained a court order.
The seizure of tigers started on May 30. Two days later authorities discovered the 40 dead tiger cubs in a temple freezer.
A day later, police stopped a monk and two other men in a truck leaving the temple with two tiger skins, more than 700 vials containing tiger skin and a suitcase with tiger teeth, officials said.
The move is part of the EU's longer-term strategy to tackle the root causes of migration
The European Union has unveiled plans to seal agreements with African and Middle East countries in an effort to persuade refugees to stay close to home and to discourage people looking for jobs from heading to Europe.
The European Commission said that the agreements would target countries that migrants and refugees leave, travel through or stay in, often on their way to Europe.
The move is part of the EU's longer-term strategy to tackle the root causes of migration as the 28-nation bloc struggles to manage its biggest refugee emergency since the Second World War, with member states divided over what action to take.
EU politicians immediately expressed concerns that the deals would be another attempt to outsource the bloc's migrant woes, like the much-maligned migrant agreement with Turkey.
The commission said the new partnership "compacts" would combine funds to build border, asylum and counter-smuggling capacities, as well as develop infrastructure and promote investment. Development and trade incentives would also be offered.
"We propose to use a mix of positive and negative incentives to reward those third countries willing to cooperate effectively with us and to ensure that there are consequences for those who do not," European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans said in Strasbourg, France.
The main countries concerned are conflict-torn Syria's neighbours Jordan and Lebanon, where around two million Syrian refugees are sheltering. Senegal, Mali, Niger and Nigeria along the key migrant paths through western Africa are also targeted, as is Libya - where most migrants leave the African coast by boat for Italy - and its northern neighbour Tunisia. Ethiopia, where more than 700,000 refugees are sheltering, is on the list too.
But some politicians fear the agreements, which would not be legally binding, might see money and incentives thrown at countries already overwhelmed by migrants.
Greens politicians Ska Keller said: "How can we tell Jordan, Turkey, other countries, to house more refugees if we're not ourselves able to house a few million?"
"To say today that we have a solution to our problem, that we are going to simply duplicate the deal with Turkey, and we're going to roll it out to all the other countries - sorry, that is not the way forward," said Guy Verhofstadt, head of the assembly's Liberal bloc.
Others wondered whether EU states will pledge more money when they are already reluctant to commit funds and resources to current migrant efforts.
The European Commission believes about eight billion euros (6.2 billion) could be mobilised short term, and that an investment plan could raise up to 62 billion euros (48.2 billion) if EU nations match the sums being offered from the bloc's budget.
The announcement came as Turkish Foreign Minister Mehmet Cavusoglu renewed a warning that its migrant deal with the EU would collapse if Turkish citizens are not granted visa-free travel in Europe.
"This is not a threat or blackmail," he said. "If Europe doesn't apply the visa-free travel, then we will be forced to suspend the agreement on the return of refugees."
The EU wants Turkey, which hosts three million refugees, to curb the flow of irregular migrants from its territory to Europe. In exchange, it has offered Turkey several incentives, including six billion euros (4.6 billion) in refugee aid and fast-track EU membership talks.
Meanwhile, Sweden has launched a commission to analyse government agencies' response to last year's record influx of 163,000 asylum-seekers.
Interior Minister Anders Ygeman said the aim is to "learn from what happened" and improve the ability of authorities to deal with a similar situation.
After Germany, Sweden was the top destination for asylum-seekers entering Europe last year, with almost 80,000 arriving in October and November alone.
The government took measures to stem the flow in late 2015 and early 2016, including by introducing border checks designed to stop undocumented migrants from entering Sweden from Denmark and Germany.
Since then, new arrivals have dropped sharply.
Adolf Hitler had a disabled younger brother who died of hydrocephalus when the Nazi dictator was three years old, a historian has claimed.
Florian Kotanko said he has discovered documents proving that Hitler had a secret brother who died seven days after his birth after suffering from a build-up of fluid on the brain.
Mr Kotanko claimed that the discovery raised the possibility that at the age of three, Hitler was aware of his mother's pregnancy and could have been influenced by the possible memory or knowledge of his disabled brother.
He would go on to sign a euthanasia order for patients with life-threatening disabilities in 1939 as part of his mass-murder decrees in World War II.
The historian, chairman of the Braunau historical association, said he researched parish records in Braunau am Inn, the Austrian town where Hitler was born on April 20, 1889.
Hitler's brother Otto was born in June 1892. Mr Kotanko said the files therefore showed that Hitler was the third, not the fourth, child in his family.
Biographies about Hitler usually state that the first three children of Hitler's parents Alois and Klara - Gustav, Ida and Otto - died in infancy before Adolf was born, followed by two younger siblings, Edmund and Paula.
This was based on the family history as told by Paula Hitler, who was born in 1896 and was the only one of the children to survive World War II.
Under interrogation by the US military in 1945, she said that her first two siblings died of diphtheria in infancy, followed by Otto, without mentioning his disability or cause of death.
Psychological Edmund died of measles in 1900.
It is not possible to say whether she covered up Otto's disability or simply did not know about it.
Mr Kotanko told Austrian newspaper 'Oberosterreichischen Nachrichten': "The conclusions of many biographers about the psychological development of Hitler - who was said to have received special care from his mother, Klara, as the sole surviving child after the death of three siblings - is no longer tenable.
"To what extent this (the brother's condition)affected the subsequent behaviour of Hitler towards people with disabilities is an open question."
Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
One of Britains worst paedophiles, who posted on the so-called dark web as he abused up to 200 Malaysian children, has been handed 22 life sentences.
Freelance photographer Richard Huckle, from Ashford in Kent, admitted an unprecedented number of offences against children aged between six months and 12 years from 2006 to 2014.
Judge Peter Rook QC ordered the 30-year-old to serve a minimum of 25 years.
A stream of pictures and videos of his rapes and assaults on children were shared with paedophiles worldwide through the now defunct dark website TLZ or The Love Zone.
He even tried to make a business out of his horrific crimes by crowdfunding the release of the images
and was compiling a paedophiles manual at the time of his arrest by the National Crime Agency.
Twenty-three children from poor Christian communities in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur were identified in 71 charges, although Huckles tally of abuse which he catalogued on a Pedopoints ledger was much higher.
As Huckle was sent down, a woman who was in the public gallery shouted out: A thousand deaths is too good for you.
Officers had seized Huckles encrypted laptop and although he refused to hand over passwords, they managed to uncover 20,000 indecent pictures and videos.
They found Huckles paedophile manual called Paedophiles And Poverty: Child Lover Guide, and a Pedopoints ledger in which he awarded himself marks
for the abuse of 191 girls and boys.
A former astronaut has been charged with murder after a car crash killed two girls in Alabama.
State police said 59-year-old James Halsell Jr, of Huntsville, was arrested after a crash that killed 11-year-old Niomi Deona James and 13-year-old Jayla Latrick Parler.
Officers said a car driven by Halsell collided with a Ford Fiesta in which the girls were passengers. Both victims were thrown from the vehicle and died. Two others were injured.
Police said a preliminary investigation indicates alcohol and speed may have been factors.
An online Nasa biography says Halsell went to work in the aerospace industry in 2006 after a career that included five space shuttle flights starting in July 1994.
Later, a spokesman for the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office, lieutenant Andy Norris, said Halsell was released on 150,000 US dollars (103,000) bond.
He said Halsell was freed about 6.30pm on Monday, nearly 16 hours after the crash.
Selected as an astronaut in 1990, Halsell spent more than 1,250 hours in space. The Louisiana native and one-time test pilot commanded three shuttle flights and served as pilot on two others, according to the space agency.
Halsell led Nasa's return-to-flight planning team for the space shuttle after Columbia disintegrated during re-entry in 2003.
Following his retirement from Nasa a decade ago, Halsell worked for ATK Launch Systems, Utah, according to his Nasa biography.
Societe Generale has been ordered to pay Jerome Kerviel for unfair dismissal (AP)
French bank Societe Generale has been ordered to pay about 450,000 euros (350,000) to former trader Jerome Kerviel for unfair dismissal, after he was accused of one of the biggest trading frauds in history.
Mr Kerviel's supporters hailed Tuesday's decision in his favour by a labour arbitration court.
Societe Generale called it "incomprehensible" and vowed to appeal.
It is part of a web of ongoing legal cases involving Mr Kerviel since his trades spiralled into losses so big they nearly caused the collapse of one of Europe's biggest banks in 2008.
Mr Kerviel argues that his superiors knew about his questionable financial operations and permitted them as long as he was earning money for the bank.
Societe Generale insists it was not aware and says Mr Kerviel intentionally concealed unauthorised trading.
Mr Kerviel was fired after the trades came to light, and later sued for wrongful dismissal. The labour court ruled on Tuesday that he was fired "without real and serious cause".
"VICTORY!" Mr Kerviel's lawyer David Koubbi wrote on his Facebook page.
Societe Generale said in a statement the decision is "counter to the facts that have been judged" in other courts.
Mr Kerviel served time in prison over the trades after a criminal conviction, and a civil court ordered him to pay the bank back all 4.9 billion euros (3.8 billion) in losses he generated at the time.
France's highest court annulled the financial damages, however, saying the bank shared responsibility, and a new trial will be held next week in Versailles to determine how much Mr Kerviel should pay.
Beachgoers get caught in a sudden downpour when a band associated from Tropical Storm Colin came ashore at Clearwater Beach (AP)
Tropical Storm Colin has headed out to sea after dropping heavy rains from Florida to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, flooding roads and causing power outages, especially in the Sunshine State.
Tropical storm warnings have been dropped for most of the south-east coast, with the only area still affected ranging from Cape Lookout to near Nags Head. The National Hurricane Centre said that warning was likely to be dropped on Tuesday.
Earlier, the storm was moving into the Atlantic off the North Carolina coast, with maximum sustained winds up to 60mph, the US National Hurricane Centre reported.
Forecasters said up to another one inch to two inches of rain could fall along the Outer Banks, with up to three more inches of rain in central Florida.
The Hurricane Centre said Colin marked the earliest that a third named storm has ever formed in the Atlantic basic.
In Dare County, North Carolina, which includes pencil-thin territories from Kitty Hawk down to Hatteras Island, Emergency Management director Drew Pearson said rain had been falling nearly continuously since last week's Tropical Storm Bonnie but that, so far, major flooding had not impacted the area.
"We're really just seeing large amounts of water," Mr Pearson said, noting that many roads in the Outer Banks are at sea level, meaning that they can be quickly impacted by heavy rains, but adding that traffic may be slow but had not been stopped anywhere.
Mr Pearson said he expected skies to clear along the Outer Banks, good news for tourists who have flocked there for early summer holidays.
"We anticipate conditions to improve over the day," he said. "Don't let it ruin your day."
Schools in Wilmington, North Carolina, opened two hours later than usual because of the weather.
In Florida, a survey team was investigating a possible tornado related to the storm that damaged homes and toppled trees on Jacksonville's west side.
On Georgia's Tybee Island, Susie Morris said she awoke on Tuesday to no wind and no rain at the Lighthouse Inn Bed & Breakfast.
"I certainly don't have any flooding whatsoever, thank goodness," said Ms Morris, the proprietor of the inn, a restored 1910 home that was once part of the former Fort Screven military outpost created around the time of the Spanish American War in the 1890s.
Lifeguards on the island posted red flags on the beach to warn swimmers of rip currents and two- to three-foot breakers.
Along the Georgia coast, the marshes did their job and acted as "a big sponge system" as Colin passed over, said Tim Cutting, who runs fishing charters from his base on St Simons Island.
"The marsh does what it's supposed to do naturally - it drains and floods like it has done for a million years," Mr Cutting said.
The National Weather Service reported that about 2.7 inches of rain fell at McKinnon St Simons Island Airport as the storm passed over the area. About four inches of rain fell at the Liberty County airport near Hinesville.
Up to three inches of rain fell near Topsail Beach, north-east of Wilmington, while the coastal North Carolina city itself received 1.75 inches. More than two inches fell at Pawleys Island in South Carolina.
Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency as Colin moved across the state, dumping nine inches of rain in parts of Pinellas County along Florida's Gulf Coast.
Flood warnings were issued in many parts of the Tampa Bay area and Tuesday's commute was a difficult one with some roads underwater.
Mr Scott cautioned that the state has seen severe flooding in unlikely places after previous storms.
"We'll just see how well it runs off," Scott said. "I always remember back to (Tropical Storm) Isaac in 2012, it went west but we had unbelievable flooding in Palm Beach County."
No significant problems were reported in South Carolina, with a handful of roads closed in Charleston and near the Georgia-South Carolina state line.
The high winds and rain also knocked out power to about 10,000 Floridians heading into Monday evening from Tampa Bay to Jacksonville.
On Georgia's Tybee Island, Ms Morris said she would continue to pay close attention to weather reports for the remainder of this year's hurricane season, which runs through November 30.
SHARE Anderson County Council District 3 candidate Ray Graham (left) speaks with S.C. House of Representatives District 7 candidate Jay West. South Carolina Senate District 4 candidate Rockey Burgess (right) talks with Ed Sokol (left) and Sonja Sokol. RICHARD KELLY/SPECIAL TO INDEPENDENT MAIL Anderson County Council District 3 candidate Ray Graham (center) speaks with Jim Bright (left) and Paul Bayerl. RICHARD KELLY/SPECIAL TO INDEPENDENT MAIL 10th Judicial Circuit Solicitor candidate Rame Campbell (left) speaks with Elizabeth Waldrep (center) and Greg Leonard.
By Kirk Brown of the Independent Mail
About 200 voters turned out Monday evening to hear from candidates at a political event hosted by the Independent Mail.
A total of 22 candidates running in 10 different races were introduced by John Huff, the Independent Mail's retired executive editor, at Voices & The Voters, which took place at Earle Street Kitchen & Bar in downtown Anderson. Seventeen of those candidates will be on the ballot in next week's Republican and Democratic primaries.
The candidates covered an array of issues in their three-minute speeches.
Barbara Jo Mullis, a Democrat running for the South Carolina House of Representatives District 8 seat, said she would seek to legalize medical marijuana in the state.
Mary Geren, a Democratic running in House District 9, said she never dreamed that she would be celebrating her 18th wedding anniversary by making a political speech.
"We need to move beyond blind partisan politics," she urged voters. "You need to vote for people, not parties."
David Wagner, one of three Republicans running for 10th Judicial Circuit solicitor, recalled a case from the 1990s in which he won a life sentence against a repeat offender who killed a woman's dog and cat while burglarizing her home.
He said the case showed him that prosecutors "have the ability to stop crime."
Rame Campbell said one of the reasons that he is running for the solicitor's post is because "faith in the office has waned over the last several years."
Anderson County Sheriff John Skipper, who is facing two Republican challengers in his bid for a third term, acknowledged that more must be done to keep residents safe.
"We do have a crime problem, just like other counties have crime problems," he said.
State Sen. Kevin Bryant, who is seeking a fourth term, told voters that he has a "crystal clear conservative record."
Carol Burdette, the United Way of Anderson County president who is challenging Bryant in next week's GOP primary, said she has been endorsed by South Carolina Treasurer Curtis Loftis.
Burdette said she offers a different approach than Bryant.
"It is easy to go to Columbia when your answer to everything is 'no'," she said. "We can make a better Anderson County when we all work together."
Anderson County resident Jake Hudson said Voices & The Voters was a "terrific event" that helped him learn more about various candidates.
"I was able to get a better sense of who they are and what they are going to do," he said.
Follow Kirk Brown on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM
Christopher Chase Trinidad
SHARE
By of the newsroom@independentmail.com
A judge set an $80,000 bond Monday for the man charged in a Saturday shooting on West Whitner Street in Anderson County.
Christopher Chase Trinidad, 24, of Azalea Drive in Anderson, was charged after another man was shot in the leg and torso, according to a statement Sunday from the Anderson County Sheriff's Office.
Trinidad was charged with unlawful carrying of a weapon, attempted murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, according to the Anderson County Sheriff's Office inmate database.
Around 7:08 p.m. Saturday, deputies were called to 2300 W. Whitner St., at Chapel Avenue. Authorities found a 46-year-old man with gunshot wounds. The man was taken to AnMed Health Medical Center for treatment, according to the Sheriff's Office statement. Authorities have not released the victim's name.
Staff report
SHARE
By Latina Emerson, The Augusta Chronicle
In the distinctive, high-pitched voice that made her famous, actress Thelma "Butterfly" McQueen's words live on through a cassette tape as she recalls vivid memories of her childhood in Augusta and how she landed the role of Prissy in the classic film Gone With the Wind .
On Dec. 12, 1989, McQueen shared details of her life with Gary Swint, who recently retired as director of the Augusta-Richmond County Public Library. When McQueen learned that the library had an oral history project years before, she suggested Swint interview her, he said.
The interview is one of many with local politicians, historians and prominent citizens that the public library, Augusta State University's Reese Library, the Medical College of Georgia and The Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History are seeking grant funding to convert to digital recordings.
"I'm so terrified of playing one of these and somehow shredding it," said Dottie Demarest, a genealogy and local history librarian at the public library. "I want to keep them in as good a shape as possible until the information can be transferred, and then everybody can enjoy it."
The tape with McQueen's interview isn't available to the public, but fans of the late actress can read a transcript of the interview in the library's reference department.
Here are some excerpts from the interview.
BORN IN TAMPA, FLA., on Jan. 8, 1911, McQueen said that she couldn't recall how old she was when she moved to Augusta.
"I do know that my mother sent me up to live with my city uncle and aunt, and then when they separated, they put me in the Catholic convent there at Gwinnett and 12th, the Brown Sisters they called it then," McQueen said.
When her mother came up from Florida, she took McQueen out of the convent and took her to live with her "country aunt and uncle" in Turpin Hill.
She attended school for a while on Mauge Street, saying "it was kind of rough there," so her aunt and uncle took her to Walker Baptist Institute on Mill Street.
"They always gave me the lead at closing time," she said. "I remember I was Queen Tatanya, and I had a contingent of fairies behind me. I remember singing. Oh, the music was so pretty at Walker Baptist. We sang and we marched around the chapel. I had a very happy childhood."
Later on, when she discovered the harsh realities of life, McQueen asked her mother why she sheltered her.
"I sometimes think my mama shouldn't ... have hidden so much of the unpleasantness of life," she said. "When I looked back and I asked her, 'Why didn't you and the nuns and the priests tell us these things in life?' She said, 'You don't tell children these things.' "
As a child, McQueen attended Harmony Baptist Church. In the transcript, she acknowledged that she had become an atheist.
McQueen recalled walking from her uncle's house to ride the streetcar.
"And I noticed that we always sat in the back of the streetcar. They didn't tell me I was segregated," McQueen said.
Because she didn't know any better, she "didn't care because the back of the streetcar went the same way as the front" and they always arrived where they were going, she said.
In 1924, McQueen's mother sent for her to live with her in New York, where she had moved to find work. The New York school system was rigorous, and she said she was held back when people learned she was from Georgia.
"Once you say you're from Georgia, they put you back many grades. And she moved to Long Island, and they put me back again. And my mother begged them, 'Give her a test.' So they gave me a test and they put me up three classes," she said.
Her mother stayed in Long Island, N.Y., for eight years because she didn't want to risk having McQueen set back in school again.
McQueen was a member of a drama club. She got experience doing small parts, and when Broadway producer George Abbott was casting Home Sweet Harlem , later renamed Brown Sugar , she landed a role.
The positive press she received from her Broadway performance helped her secure the role of Prissy in Gone With the Wind .
Two years before, she had begged for the role, she said.
"The girl who named me Butterfly ... she came to work one day and she said, 'I've just read a book called Gone With the Wind . And in today's news they said they're going to make a movie. You go down to Selznick's Park Avenue office and tell them you are Prissy.' And when I went down they asked me my age, I told them the truth. They said, 'Oh, you're too old, you're too fat, you're too dignified. You could never be Prissy,' " McQueen said.
Because of her Broadway success, agents pulled some strings and she was on her way to Hollywood. She lived there for eight years before returning to New York, she said.
Though she considered Gone With the Wind the highlight of her acting career, working on the film was difficult, McQueen said.
"I don't think I can make anything better than Gone With the Wind ," she said. "When people ask me, 'What's the best movie?' I have to say Gone with the Wind . I didn't appreciate it when I first worked on it, because it was 1939 and I thought we would bring up to date the accomplishments of the black race. I didn't think I'd have to go back and be a slave. But now I'm very happy, because I make a living off of it. It was history."
She admitted that she was "terribly unhappy, having to go back to being a slave."
"But I did the best I could, but I didn't let them slap me, and I wouldn't eat the watermelon. Those are the only two things I wouldn't do. But everything else I did as well as I could," she said.
McQueen said that she went on to appear in 28 films and win an Emmy for a children's TV special. A few months before the interview, McQueen had completed the television movie Polly, starring Keshia Knight Pulliam and Phylicia Rashad.
MCQUEEN WAS PETITE and "always dressed to the nines," Swint said.
"She was always very, very well-dressed. I don't mean flashy or expensive, but she was very particular. She was very neat," Swint said.
In the 1980s, McQueen owned property in New York and had a house in Augusta. She came to Augusta in the winter and returned to New York during the summer, she said.
McQueen sent Swint postcards to let him know when she would be coming to Augusta. They became friends over the years.
"She always called me Mr. Swint, so I always tried never to call her Butterfly. I don't think she ever called me by my first name. It was interesting talking with her about things. She liked the library very much. She was a very literate person, and reading and the libraries meant a lot to her," Swint said.
Some of her most painful memories also involved the library.
"The most interesting point was that when she was growing up, she wanted to go to the main library here in Augusta," Swint said. "They told her that she couldn't come into that library, that she had to go to the library for colored children, which was the Wallace Branch. That was a very emotional moment for her, and she started crying and said at the time, she just couldn't understand."
Eldora Baker, a former librarian, said that she chatted with McQueen during her visits.
"She always impressed me. She was a very nice person," Baker said.
Alice Walker, of Aiken, a former reference librarian, recalls that McQueen came in during summers in the early 1980s for the library's movies at noon.
"She was really a character. If anybody asked for her autograph, she had xeroxed them. She had a whole bunch of them on a piece of paper, and she cut them out with pinking shears and she'd just hand you one of those," Walker said. "She was really a hoot. Everybody enjoyed talking to her. She knew she was a celebrity."
McQueen had a tragic death. On Dec. 22, 1995, she died at Augusta Regional Burn Center from injuries she suffered from a fire at her home on Dent Street. She was 84 years old.
McQueen had second- and third-degree burns over 70 percent of her body in the fire. According to The Augusta Chronicle 's archives, she told a neighbor that her clothing caught fire when she tried to light a kerosene heater.
James Pride was a Boy Scout who helped to rescue McQueen.
"There was a group of Boy Scouts, and we were working with the food bank to deliver food right before Christmas. We stopped because of the fire," Pride said.
They noticed her in her carport.
"She was there crying out for help. The assistant leader (Matt Wilby) told her to lay on the rug, and we all took sides of the rug and we pulled her on the rug out of the flames because the flames were engulfing the carport, too," Pride said.
The fire department arrived shortly afterward, he said.
"I asked Mr. Wilby if it was OK for me to hold her hand, and he said no because we didn't know what kind of burns she had," Pride said. "She was very burned, but she was saying thank you the whole time. That's all she said. She might have said it close to 50 times. I was there basically telling her, 'Jesus loves you.' And I kept saying that. We didn't know who she was. We had no idea this was somebody of notoriety."
Pride has written about the experience, but he has still never seen Gone With the Wind .
"I feel like I've had a connection with her since then. I just feel like she might be praying for me or something, looking out for me. I think of her sometimes," he said.
SHARE Jonathan Hill Albert Howard Don Bowen Poll Who will you vote for the fill the SC House District 8 seat? Jonathan Hill Albert Howard Don Bowen vote View Results Jonathan Hill: 49% Albert Howard: 15% Don Bowen: 36% Total Responses: 92
By Kirk Brown of the Independent Mail
In next week's Republican primary, a former legislator and a political newcomer are seeking to derail state Rep. Jonathon Hill's bid for a second term in the South Carolina House of Representatives.
Hill's primary challengers in House District 8 are former state Rep. Don Bowen and Albert Howard, a minister who works as an assistant manager of T.D. Bank branch in Anderson. The winner of the GOP primary will face Democrat Barbara Jo Mullis of Townville in the November general election.
District 8 covers western Anderson County.
Hill, 31, is a freelance software developer from Townville who founded the Anderson tea party several years ago. In the 2014 Republican primary, Hill defeated Bowen, who had held the District 8 seat for four terms and was actively involved with issues related to Lake Hartwell.
Hill opposes abortion and supports gun rights, school choice and medical marijuana. He has been endorsed by the National Association of Gun Rights, the National Rifle Association and the South Carolina Business & Industry Political Education Committee.
According to state disclosure reports, Hill has collected $9,649 in contributions for his re-election campaign, compared to $7,750 raised by Bowen. Howard has received $1,071 worth of donations to go along with $368 that he has contributed to his own campaign.
In an interview Monday, Howard, 29, described Bowen as a "typical politician" who does not deserve another chance to serve in Columbia.
Hill said Bowen did a poor job of responding to constituents when he was in office.
Bowen, 71, has not responded to phone calls seeking comment from the Independent Mail since he filed to run for his former seat in March.
Howard criticized Hill for recently voting against a $40 million aid package for South Carolina farmers whose crops were damaged by flooding last fall.
"We've got a lot of farmers in our district," Howard said.
Howard also took issue with Hill's refusal to support a bill that would have required transgender people to use public bathrooms corresponding with their birth gender. The bill failed to pass in the recently completed legislative session.
Hill said he opposed the farm aid package that was approved by the General Assembly because "I don't think it is government's job to be bailing out anybody's business."
Hill said he tried unsuccessfully to amend the aid bill so that farmers could receive assistance through five-year, interest-free loans.
He said he did not support that bathroom bill because he believes decisions about that issue should be left to local governments and school boards to decide.
Follow Kirk Brown on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM
SHARE
By Abe Hardesty of the Independent Mail
A south Texas man who drowned Sunday in Lake Hartwell simply overexerted himself, Anderson County Coroner Greg Shore said Monday.
Juarez Jose Luis, 47, of Brownsville, Texas, died as he was swimming near a boat ramp in the Ponderosa Point area near Townville. After an autopsy Monday, Shore said the death was an accidental drowning.
Shore said Luis had no known medical issues, "but had an enlarged heart, and apparently got into trouble when he attempted to swim across a cove" in water about 9 feet deep.
"He wasn't in the kind of physical shape needed to be doing anything that stressful. He got exhausted," Shore said.
Luis, who had been camping with co-workers at the site, went below the surface of the water around 4 p.m. His body was recovered at about 5 p.m. Staff members from the Anderson County Sheriff's Office, technical rescue team members, and medics responded to the scene.
The coroner sent evidence to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, which will test it to determine whether alcohol might have been a factor in the death. Shore does not expect to get a toxicology report back for several days, he said.
A welder, Luis was working at a Duke Energy steam plant in Belton at the time of his death, authorities said.
Follow Abe Hardesty on Twitter@abe_hardesty
SHARE
By Independent Mail
Deputies arrested a Seneca man Monday during the commission of a burglary in Pendleton, authorities said.
At about 1:20 a.m., deputies of the Anderson County Sheriff's Office were called to Cedar Lane on a report of burglary in which the suspect was still inside the home. Deputies found Cleveland Donell Williams, 35, of Lacey Lane in Seneca, barricaded in a bedroom, according to a Sheriff's Office statement.
A patrol K-9 helped deputies apprehend Williams, who was then taken to AnMed Health Medical Center for treatment of a dog bite he sustained while resisting arrest.
At the hospital, Williams was treated for the wound and was admitted for an unrelated issue, according to the Sheriff's Office statement.
Deputies later determined that Williams is a suspect in another residence on Cedar Lane that happened before the one to which authorities responded. He is charged with two counts of first-degree burglary.
After he is released from the hospital, Williams will be in custody at the Anderson County Detention Center until he appears before a judge for a bond hearing, according to the Sheriff's Office statement.
David Wagner (left), Rame Campbell (center), and Wilson Burr respond to questions Thursday during a forum for the 10th Judicial Circuit Solicitor candidates in Pendleton.
SHARE Poll Who will you vote for in the 10th Judicial Circuit solicitor's race? David Wagner Rame Campbell Wilson Burr vote View Results David Wagner: 52% Rame Campbell: 42% Wilson Burr: 6% Total Responses: 552
By Nikie Mayo of the Independent Mail
Three candidates vying to be the 10th Judicial Circuit's top prosecutor talked Monday about efforts to decrease the time that passes between when a person is arrested and when that person goes to trial.
The discussion prompted one candidate to issue a fiery challenge to one of his opponents.
The candidates for solicitor, all Republicans, spoke at a forum hosted by the 1st Monday Club of Anderson.
Rame Campbell, a former assistant solicitor who recently resigned, addressed the case slowdowns first. Campbell said he would work to get "lower level," nonviolent offenders out of jail faster. But Campbell also blamed offenders for delays in their cases.
"As they get closer to trial, they'll ask for a head check (psychiatric evaluation) when they have been fine up until that point," Campbell said. "Or they will say, 'Oh, I need to fire my attorney.' They know the system and they know how to work it better than we do."
Candidate Wilson Burr, the former chief public defender in Oconee County, said the next solicitor should be constantly working to move cases along. He said that sometimes, the court system breaks down.
"Take the criminals to trial," he said. "There is no excuse for having people stay in jail two, three or four years waiting for their cases to be heard. If there is a plea deal, they should get one offer. Take it or leave it. And if they don't take it, they should be scheduled for trial."
David Wagner, a deputy solicitor who leads the Oconee office, defended his efforts to move cases along quickly.
Wagner said that for complex cases, including homicides, his office may wait months for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to analyze evidence that is key to prosecuting the cases.
"That's nobody's fault," Wagner said. "SLED does that kind of analysis for the whole state and the agency's resources are limited, so there can be a backlog when it comes to cases."
Wagner said that in a recent matter where a person waited more than two years for case resolution, Wagner waited more than a year for SLED's evidence analysis. He also said that Burr delayed the outcome of the case by seeking more time to talk to the defendant. He said the case was further delayed when Burr left his job to run for solicitor and a new attorney took on the defendant.
Wagner did not identify the defendant or disclose specifics of the case.
He did, however, draw the ire of Burr. Burr challenged Wagner to prove, with documentation, that Burr has been responsible for holding up the prosecution of a case. Burr did not give a hard deadline, but did mention that the solicitor candidates would be meeting again for a forum Tuesday night. That forum, at the Walhalla Civic Auditorium, begins at 6:30 p.m.
The three solicitor candidates will compete in the June 14 Republican primary. The winner faces no Democratic opposition in the November general election.
Solicitor Chrissy Adams is not seeking re-election because of an ongoing battle with cancer.
Follow Nikie Mayo on Twitter @NikieMayo
SHARE
By Ron Barnett, rbarnett@greenvillenews.com
The group working to create a network of walking and biking trails that would connect points of interest across the greater Clemson area has identified two segments to focus on first a route from downtown Central to Southern Wesleyan University and one from Pendleton Road to Nettles Park.
Those were the priority recommendations that came out of a feasibility study for the proposed Green Crescent Trail.
The study outlines 35.7 miles of bicycle and pedestrian routes with a total cost of more than $25 million.
But in order "to eat the elephant one bite at a time," as Blake Sanders of Alta Planning + Design called it, the initial efforts will aim at those two segments, which carry a total price tag of $1.3 million.
They'll seek funding from a variety of sources, including municipalities, corporate sponsorships and individual donors.
"Keep it on the forefront," Sanders told a group of about 50 who met at Southern Wesleyan University on Thursday to hear the report.
The Central to SWU segment could be done for about $600,000, with the Nettles Park to Pendleton Road stretch coming in at $700,000, he said.
The Central trail involves use of an old abandoned railroad bed that is privately owned. And within six months, the group hopes to work out arrangements with the property owner and the state Department of Transportation while beginning fundraising.
The following six months would be taken up with the engineering and permitting process, with the project being built over the 12 months after that and opening two years from now.
The first phase of the Pendleton Road to Nettles Park segment would connect Mac's Drive In to Ashley Dearing Park. It would connect on the other side of Pendleton Road to the Pacolet Milliken property that is being redesigned as a mix-use development with trails.
The first phase could open as a natural surface trail in 18 months, with the asphalt surface completed within 36 months, according to the plan.
Those segments would link up eventually to a trail system being planned in Pendleton and five other segments on the long-range plan.
The Central to SWU trail would be extended down Church Street and Road 18 to Walmart near U.S. 123.
The plan calls for major improvements of an existing bike route from downtown Central along State 93 to downtown Clemson.
A Berkeley Drive corridor would link Clemson Elementary School and neighborhoods along that road.
Another route, which would include boardwalks along Lake Hartwell, would connect downtown Clemson to the North Experimental Forest.
A route would run along Pendleton Road from State 93 to the Pacolet Milliken Property.
A fundraising event is scheduled for June 11, with a walk from Nettles Park to Patrick Square, with bike events for kids and live music.
Details on the study are available on the Friends of the Green Crescent Trail Facebook page.
Salesforce, the Customer Success Platform and world's #1 CRM company, announced plans to significantly expand its presence in India with a new Centre of Excellence in Hyderabad, located in a new building under construction in the Divyasree Orion Tech Business Park. Salesforce also plans to add over 1,000 jobs in Hyderabad by 2020, tapping into the regions large community ofhighly skilled technology talent.
Salesforce plans to expand its team of enterprise software engineers as well as customer success representatives in Hyderabad, establishing one of its largest engineering and customer success centers globally. Plans forthe new building include modern workplace designs that focus on employee wellness with dedicated spaces for collaboration, mindfulness and social activities. Salesforce will begin moving into the new Centre ofExcellence by the end of 2016.
Comments on the News the Customer Success Platform andannounced plans to significantly expand its presence in India with a newlocated in a new building under construction in theSalesforce also plans to add over 1,000 jobs in Hyderabad by 2020, tapping into the regions large community ofhighly skilled technology talent.Salesforce plans to expand its team of enterprise software engineers as well as customer success representatives in Hyderabad, establishing one of its largest engineering and customer success centers globally. Plans forthe new building include modern workplace designs that focus on employee wellness with dedicated spaces for collaboration, mindfulness and social activities. Salesforce will begin moving into the new Centre ofExcellence by the end of 2016.
We are thrilled to be expanding our presence and deepening our commitment to India, home to some of the best technology talent in the world, said Parker Harris, co-founder, Salesforce. SalesforceHyderabad will provide a centre of excellence in the region and play a crucial role in growing our technology and product teams, as well as our customer success organization, to meet the needs of our customersworldwide.
"We're proud that global cloud computing leader Salesforce has chosen Hyderabad for one of their largest global offices outside their San Francisco headquarters by bringing over a 1,000 high end jobs and a strong commitment to supporting our broader community, said IT Minister, K.T. Rama Rao. It is a testament to how Telangana States policies and proactive approach has made it a preferred destination forinnovative companies like Salesforce.
"As the enterprise cloud computing leader with more than 150,000 customers worldwide, Salesforce will strengthen the thriving local tech ecosystem and further draw investments into the state," said JayeshRanjan IAS, Secretary IT, Government of Telangana.
Giving Back Committing to 10,000 Volunteer Hours
Today, Salesforce employees in India are committing to deliver 10,000 total employee volunteer hours to local nonprofits this year. Salesforce is dedicated to supporting India through its 1-1-1 integrated corporate philanthropy model, in which Salesforces product, resources and employee time are donated to the communities where employees live and work. To date, Salesforce has powered more than 28,000 nonprofit and higher education institutions, donated more than $120 million in grants through Salesforce.org and given more than 1.4 million volunteer hours throughout the world. Employees in India have supported a variety of organizations including Teach for India, Agastya International Foundation, Hope Foundation and DESIRE Society. In 2016, Salesforce gave grants of $25,000 to Agastya International Foundation and Teach for India. Through these grants,Salesforce will help educate more than 3,000 government school students on STEM education initiatives across Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Salesforce Momentum in India
India continues to be a growing region for cloud computing, with Gartner projecting that the public cloud services market in India will grow 30.4 percent in 2016 to total $1.26 billion.
Salesforce in India has seen tremendous growth with leading companies like Bajaj Finserv, PayTM, Snapdeal, Inmobi and Urban Ladder using its Customer Success Platform to connect with their customers in entirely newways.
Salesforce: Fastest-Growing Top 10 Software Company
Salesforce is the fastest growing top 10 software company in the world today. Over the last 17 years, Salesforce has expanded and redefined CRM, bringing social, mobile, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence technologies to its trusted cloud platform, enabling companies to grow sales faster, deliver smarter customer service everywhere, create 1-to-1 customer journeys, engage with customers in interactive communities, deliveranalytics for every business user and build modern mobile apps fast.
Telecom Secretary JS Deepak has called for a meeting of CEOs of top telecom operators on June 10 to discuss the call drop issue.In the latest report on drive tests conducted in Delhi by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the regulator pointed out that Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance, Aircel, Idea and MTNL need to further improve the call drop rate performance, as per reports.Supreme Court recently dismissed the call drop penalty, making the TRAI decision null and void.Telcos have been unanimously opposing the call drop penalty from day one of its proposal. They filed the call drop case in Delhi High Court after the regulator mandated the telcos to compensate the consumers with Re.1 per call up to 3 dropped calls per day starting from January 2016 to improve the call drops situation. However, after Delhi High Court upheld TRAI's compensation regulation, telecom operators approached Supreme Court filing a petition challenging the high court order.The apex court, however, said that the call drop levy is arbitrary and unconstitutional in nature. The Supreme Court ruled that Parliament can make and enact a call drop compensation rule.
Indian mutual funds assets under management (AUM) retreated from a record high of Rs 14.22 trillion in April to Rs 13.82 trillion in May, marking a decline of 2.8%, or Rs 403 billion, according to data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI). The fall was primarily due to outflows in liquid and gilt funds. However, assets of equity, balanced and debt funds increased. Fund managers pumped in Rs. 7,149 crore in equities in May, SEBI data shows.Liquid fund assets fell 20%, or Rs 673.03 billion, to Rs 2.70 trillion, following the largest outflow in nine months. The category saw a trend reversal, with an outflow of Rs 693.99 billion versus an inflow of Rs 1.34 trillion in April.Gilt funds witnessed their fourth consecutive month of outflows, indicating fading investor interest. The category has posted a cumulative outflow of Rs 28.31 billion so far in 2016, despite a rate cut of 25 basis points in April amid a view that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may not go for aggressive cuts. The categorys assets fell 4.8%, or Rs 7.71 billion, to Rs 153.52 billion.Investors continued to favour equity funds, pumping in Rs 47.21 billion compared with Rs 44.38 billion in April. This is further confirmation that the outflow of Rs 13.70 billion seen in March was but a blip for a category that has posted monthly inflows since May 2014. The categorys AUM rose 3.8%, or Rs 153.12 billion, to Rs 4.15 trillion, riding on the inflows and mark-to-market (MTM) gains. The equity market, represented by the Nifty 50 index, rose nearly 4% in May, as sentiment improved on hopes that a good monsoon will boost the economy.Given their exposure to equity, balanced funds also logged inflows, continuing a trend seen over the past two years. AUM rose to a record high of Rs 426.95 billion, up 4.7%, or Rs 19.31 billion, led by MTM gains and inflows. The category, as represented by the CRISIL Balanced Fund - Aggressive Index, rose 2.8% in May.Debt funds assets peaked to a new high of Rs 6.11 trillion, up 1.6%, or Rs 95.21 billion, thanks to MTM gains and inflows. The category attracted inflows of Rs 56.88 billion in May, after Rs 314.48 billion in April.Gold ETFs, which have seen persistent outflows over the past three years, saw a further Rs 0.79 billion exit in May. The categorys AUM fell 5% to Rs 61.59 billion due to the outflows and MTM losses.
The scrip opened at Rs. 330.35 and touched a high and low of Rs. 386.4 and Rs. 328.4 respectively. A total of 959867(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 707.11 crore.
The BSE group 'B' stock of face value Rs. 10 touched a 52 week high of Rs. 839.5 on 05-Aug-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 133.1 on 17-Feb-2016. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 345 and Rs. 315.3 respectively.
The promoters holding in the company stood at 73.25 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 1.18 % and 25.57 % respectively.
The stock traded above its 200 DMA.
Shreyas Shipping & Logistics rallied 20% to Rs.386.40 after the company said that it has recently entered into a vessel sharing arrangement (VSA) with Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) on two of the services connecting East coast of India to West coast of India and vice versa along with Persian Gulf with addition of new ports commencing with effect from 9 June 2016.
thehindu
Geeta Bali lived a short life of stardom. But whatever she achieved still remains a dream for many in the Indian film industry. The actress who belonged to the golden era of Bollywood - the 1950s and 1960s, died of smallpox at a young age of 34, leaving behind an incomplete Punjabi film and an elite body of work comprising of around 70 films. Her silver screen career stretched for only 14 years, but she accomplished enough, both professionally and personally, becoming a reference point for the future generations of actors and filmmakers.
Actress Vidya Balan is set to play her part in her Marathi debut Ekk Albela. It is a biopic on legendary actor Bhagwan Dada with whom Geeta Bali made a hit onscreen pairing delivering several memorable films together. The film's first song which released recently has Vidya recreating Geeta's magic in the iconic song Shola Jo Bhadke.
We go down the memory lane and give you some lesser known facts about Geeta Bali, a name that only remains alive in our minds, and the filmographies of classic Bollywood films.
1. Geeta Bali contributed a lot in making her husband Shammi Kapoor, a superstar.
wikinewforum
"If you see the way Shammi Kapoor danced, that was Geeta Bali's personality. My mother was a bigger and more successful star than my father when they got married" says their son Aditya Raj Kapoor who is writing a biography on his mother.
Geeta gave Shammi his confidence and personality. Whatever he did onscreen was a reflection of Geeta. She was a bigger and more successful star than Shammi.
2. During their wedding, unlike the stereotypical practice of putting sindoor, Shammi put red lipstick in Geeta's maang!
indianexpress
Yes, she was such a lady who didn't think twice before breaking rules. Shammi (23) and Geeta (24) fell in love during the shooting of their film Rangeen Ratein in Ranikhet. Though Shammi proposed to her, Geeta took her time to say yes. They had planned a simple temple wedding, but the temple was closed. They went again next morning at 4 AM and finally got hitched. Their wedding was as dramatic as their films. Instead of sindoor, red lipstick was used to do the needful.
Shammi, in an interview, had said that after they returned to Mumbai from the shooting of Rangeen Ratein, they realised they couldn't live without each other! Since she had worked with other men of the Kapoor family too, she was hesitant. But Shammi was adamant.
apnaorg
"We went to a temple where the priest informed us that the Gods have now retired for the night and if we wished to get married we should come back early morning at 4 o'clock. So we went back to my parents' house and then waited. It was raining heavily as we arrived at the temple at 4.30 in the morning. The priest performed the ceremony and we were declared husband and wife. Geeta took out a tube of lipstick from her purse and asked me to apply it on her maang. We went home to my place and rang up my parents and informed them that I was a married man now!" - Shammi Kapoor
3. She was the only woman to continue working in films even after becoming a Kapoor bahu, in that era.
Geeta was a career girl from a young age. After working in several Punjabi films as a child artist, she did the film The Cobbler at the age of 12. Geeta refused to become a sit-at-home mother. Her family remembers her as loving and full of life. She was adventurous too and went on long drives with her children. She was also a disciplinarian and a promoter of fine arts.
4. Geeta was a Sardar and knew martial arts too.
She was born in Amritsar in 1930. Her real name was Harkirtan Kaur. She did regular shows as a classical dancer. She even did stage plays and sang for All India Radio. That's not all! She knew horse riding and had learnt the martial art form Gatka. Quite a lot for a woman in those times.
5. She changed her name when she began acting in Bollywood.
rediff
She was just 16 when she came to Mumbai. That's when she also changed her name to Geeta, which was the name of one of the characters she played. She used "Bali" which was her maiden surname.
6. Geeta refused to play the typical crying heroine. Her pairing with Dev Anand is still remembered.
mrandmrs55
She did several hit films with Dev Anand, like Baazi, Jaal, Ferry, Milap, Faraar and Pocket Maar. Geeta's charm lay in her naughtiness and grace. Her vivacious character in Albela is one of the most memorable ones. Heard of the songs "Bholi Soorat Dil Ke Khote", "Balma Bada Nadan Hai" and "Shola Jo Bhadke"? All of these are from Albela.
7. She had also romanced her in-laws in films!
youtube
Geeta was paired opposite her future brother-in-law Raj Kapoor in Bawre Nain. She also shared screen-space with her father-in-law Prithviraj Kapoor in Anand Math.
8. Geeta's secretary was Surinder Kapoor.
skapoor.tributes
And Surinder Kapoor is the father of producer Boney Kapoor, actor Anil Kapoor and Sanjay Kapoor. He then went on to set up his own production house.
9. She is also the aunt of Yogeeta Bali.
filimside
And actress Yogeeta Bali is married to Mithun Chakraborty. Quite a family tree, isn't it?!
10. Geeta's sudden demise left Shammi heartbroken for many years.
The legendary actress got smallpox during the shooting of a Punjabi film, Rano, based on a novel "Eik Chadar Maili Si" by Rajinder Singh Bedi. She returned to Mumbai with high fever and passed away in just 15 days. Shammi couldn't come to terms with her death for a long time. Though he married Neela Devi, but he always maintained that no one could fill Geeta's void. It is said that filmmaker Bedi was so devastated by Geeta's untimely death that he abandoned the project. He even put the novel on her burning funeral pyre marking the death of the film as well!
Family and friends remember Geeta as a woman with a big heart. She agreed to do Albela starring then character artist Bhagwan Dada. She said '"This is a lovely script and you deserve success." We look forward to the way Vidya Balan will recreate her magic onscreen.
Check out the original song Shola jo Bhadke.
The much-awaited film of the second quarter of this year, 'Waiting,' starring Naseeruddin Shah and Kalki Koechlin has already become one of the most critically acclaimed films of this year. Naseer, who plays the role of Shiv Kumar, a common man awaiting his wife's speedy recovery, has yet again proved that there can be no one like him in the film industry who could have essayed the role better.
Twitter
Sitting on a comfy sofa, the actor addressed some of the most pressing issues plaguing the industry right now. Talking about his character in the film and facing any challenges portraying the same on screen, he shared, "The script of Waiting was so wonderfully written that I decided to do it after the first reading itself... that's why it resonates with everyone, because we've all had someone in the hospital, if not in a life-threatening situation."
He added, "Waiting turned out to be as pleasurable as I had expected. Anu Menon is a wonderful director. I have always found that when a script is well written, the actor's work is half done... For Waiting the writing was so wonderful that I fell for it."
Talking about getting into the skin of the character, he shared,"If you become the character, you become useless, it's all rubbish." Talking about working with new directors, he revealed, "The next film I have done is with a new filmmaker, Aparna Singh. It's titled 'Irrada.' Another film that I am supposed to do is an adaptation of Shakespeare, and is again with new directors. I choose a character if I find an element of it in me. I have never come across a character where I felt I will not be able to play this, except Gandhi (the play)."
When asked about how he feels on the latest issues raised by the Censor Board, the 66-year-old actor quips,
"The Censor should grow up. Wish they we have a group of enlightened people who are qualified and they should be left alone."
Talking about the remakes of old classics or cult films, the actor says he doesn't believe in the remake of films. When asked if he would like his film 'Masoom' to be remade, he said:
"It won't make sense in this era with Google and messaging and internet. However I hope no one tries to make films like Mughal-E-Azam ."
Talking about the current actors in the Indian film industry, he added:
TOI
"Akshay Kumar who has grown over the years. Shah Rukh, Arshad Warsi... they are far better than the actors of my generation. I am not particularly a fan of Shah Rukh's acting but I admire the way he has carved his way."
"My agent wanted me to audition for Dumbledores character after Richard Harris died. I was asked if I would like to audition for it. But I wouldnt audition for it!"
However, he also added:
#NaseeruddinLIVE: Was asked if I would like to audition for Dumbledore. I wouldn't mind playing it... pic.twitter.com/omrlZLNk27 TOI Entertainment (@TOIEntertain) June 6, 2016
Did he just hint at something? Well, only time will tell but it would be quite fascinating, right?
(Originally published in The Times Of India)
In his upcoming book called "Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley ," former Facebook employee Antonio Garcia Martinez reveals how CEO Mark Zuckerberg apparently declared 'lockdown' and vowed to destroy Google Plus in 2011.
Reuters/Represenatational image
The author notes that the launch of Google Plus in June 2011 had 'hit Facebook like a bomb.'
"Zuck took it as an existential threat comparable to the Soviets' placing nukes in Cuba in 1962," read an excerpt published by Vanity Fair .
Martinez states that during the early days of Facebook, "Google had been famously dismissive of it." This was primarily because Google's search monopoly somewhat made it 'feel untouchable'. However, when the search-giant witnessed the talent drain with its employees (aka Googlers) moving to Facebook, "Google got nervous".
"Google instituted a policy whereby any desirable Googler who got a Facebook offer would have it beaten instantly by a heaping Google counter-offer," wrote Martinez. Even this policy did not stop people from moving to Facebook.
Reuters
With the launch of Google Plus, it was clear that the search giant had Facebook in its crosshairs. The author noted that Google Plus "was pretty good, in some ways better than Facebook."
"Given you had a Google Plus sign-up button practically everywhere in your Google user experience, the possibility of its network growing exponentially was very real indeed," read another excerpt.
Fearing Google would take over social media with the power of its search, Zuckerberg declared 'Lockdown'.
Reuters/Represenatational image
"Lockdown was a state of war that dated to Facebook's earliest days, when no one could leave the building while the company confronted some threat, either competitive or technical," Martinez explained in his book.
Zuckerberg reportedly had delivered his first 'lockdown speech' on the day Google Plus was launched.
"You know, one of my favorite Roman orators ended every speech with the phrase Carthago delenda est. 'Carthage must be destroyed.' For some reason I think of that now," Zuckerberg said in while summing up his 'lockdown speech' as quoted by Martinez in his book.
Narendra Modi has reached the US for a three-day tour, during which he will meet US President Barack Obama in the home stretch of his White House stay. PM Modi's trip carries significance not just in the present scenario, but also for the India-US relationship of the coming decades.
Here are ten reasons why this trip is significant.
1. This is Modi's fourth visit to the US since he took over as PM in 2014. His first visit had come months after he had assumed office, for a UN session. The second visit had been a state visit that included a meeting with Obama at the White House. The third visit had come in April, when he attended the Nuclear Security Summit.
Reuters
2. Modi will have a bilateral meeting with Obama, which will be followed by a lunch at the White House on Tuesday. This will be the sixth meeting between the two leaders, that included Obama's historic visit to India as a guest of honour at the Republic Day celebrations in 2015.
Reuters
3. Modi is also set to become the fifth Indian PM to address a joint session of the US Congress. Rajiv Gandhi was the first, in 1985. All PMs who have served a full term since have addressed the Congress Narasimha Rao (1994), Atal Bihari Vajpayee (2000) and Manmohan Singh (2005). However, Jawaharlal Nehru had addressed the House of Representatives in 1949.
Reuters
4. Modi's delegation is expected to leverage his relationship with the US President and his administration to push for some key policies as Obama's presidency comes to a close.
Reuters
5. More critical perhaps, will be the foundation that Modi will look to lay for the next government that will be elected this November and take charge in January 2017.
AP
6. The invitation for Modi to address Congress, which came from Paul Ryan, a Republican and the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, is also an important bipartisan outreach that underlines the intention of the US political establishment to maintain a continuity in India-US relations.
Reuters
7. Modi is likely to meet members from both the Democratic and Republican parties, as well as members of the teams of all major presidential hopefuls.
8. Modi's visit comes close on the heels of the two countries signing an intelligence sharing agreement on terrorism and a recent logistics agreement that will allow US warships to make functional stops at Indian ports.
BCCL
9. The timing of the visit also comes in the middle of an ongoing escalation of tensions between Washington DC and Beijing over territorial disputes in the South China Sea. The US has been attempting to increase presence and influence in the Asia Pacific region under the Obama administration's 'Pivot to Asia' reorientation of US foreign policy.
US Navy
10. An issue of key interest that India will be looking to address during Modi's visit will be its attempts at a membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). While the US and a number of other countries support India's bid, it is extremely likely to face opposition from China, which has called for similar status to its 'all weather' ally Pakistan.
Read Also: Once Barred Entry Into The Country, Modi Will Address A Joint Session Of The US Congress On Invitation
Sourabh Shrestha, Rahul Kumar, Ruby Rai and Shalini - four of the Bihar Board examination class XII toppers, as well as the director of their school now have an FIR lodged against them.
"The guilty won't be spared"
After media furor over them being unable to answer the simplest of questions related to their respective streams, they received a re-examination - which 4 of them either failed, or refused to take.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said that the guilty won't be spared, adding the investigation into this matter will done with a criminal angle. "I am going to seek more information on this and take action. "" "The education department is looking into the matter and the state government will also intervene. Nobody will be spared. It is good that this issue came to light, as I am sure now that it won't happen again after tough action," the Chief Minister said.
"The probe can also take a criminal turn. Anyways, a probe is underway and I am confident that the education department will come through in its investigation," he added. On Saturday, the BSEB had cancelled the results of two toppers, including Sourabh Shrestha, of the Intermediate (Science) examinations after they failed to prove their merits in a re-test.
One of them threatened to commit suicide
Science stream topper had Saurabh Shrestha said he'll commit suicide - for being cross-examined. This comes after the state education board ordered that the toppers' results be evaluated, after videos showing how clueless Saurabh, and 'Prodigal Science' topper Ruby Ray were. Ruby Ray, another class XII student had in a video called political science 'prodigal science', and said the subject was about cookery. And the Bihar 'Prodigal Scientist' skipped the test, claiming she was depressed!
Bihar Board's Class XII arts topper Ruby Ray skipped the re-evaluation interview planned - her father said 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.
According to Board sources, both Ruby and Saurav were from Vishun Ray College in Vaishali. The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has initiated the process of cancellation of its affiliation to Vishun Roy (VR) College at Bhagwanpur in Vaishali district.
Meet Bihar topper in 'Political Science' who thinks that the subject is about 'cooking' #ITVideo
https://t.co/4sXTCBzAcZ
India Today (@IndiaToday) May 31, 2016
After the whole Censorship fiasco surrounding Udta Punjab and censor board's imposition of 89 cuts on the film, a source close to the production house revealed that the release of the film might just get postponed.
Phantom Films
The committee also demanded the filmmakers chop off all the references to politics and elections and all references of expletives and visual substance abuse to be dropped from the film. What is even left in the film? And like always, Twitter lost all its cool.
Audience and makers are hell disappointed with censor boards demands and while there are no reports that confirm the delay of films release, a report claims that the producers of the film might challenge the Censor Boards decision at the Bombay HC.
The producers of the film are planning to move to Bombay High Court against the panels verdict. It was after Shiromani Akali Dal raised an objection to the film and its depiction of Punjabs drug issues, the film censorship now looks more like a political agenda.
I always wondered what it felt like to live in North Korea .. Ab to plane pakadney ki bhi zaroorat nahin.. Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 6, 2016
There is no film more honest than UDTA PUNJAB .. And any person or party opposing it is actually GUILTY of promoting drugs Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) June 6, 2016
Starring Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosanjh, Udta Punjab was supposed to release on June 17.
A Siberian Husky a rarely kept breed in hot India was "abducted" while on its morning stroll in Vasant Kunj on Saturday.
VirtualWolf/flickr
Two men dragged the pooch into an SUV and drove off towards the Ridge near Sultangarhi Dargah. Police suspect the role of some animal traders dealing in foreign breeds because import of foreign dogs to India for breeding was banned in April. The incident is, therefore, a warning to owners of all such dogs to be careful about their pet's security.
Khan, a customs clearance officer, told police that the incident took place around 6.30am on Saturday when he had taken Zorro for his usual morning walk. He had unleashed the dog because the road was empty on the stretch near a forested area. It was here that two men accosted them and dragged the dog into a Toyota Innova car parked nearby. Khan said he had given chase for some time, but the men had driven off towards the Ridge area.
The pair had probably been tracking the dog for some time and planned their theft meticulously. Khan immediately informed the cops about the incident and later reached the Vasant Kunj police station to register an FIR.
i.ytimg
According to the police, a case of theft has been registered based on the complaint filed by Khan. According to canine experts, there are only four breeders in Delhi who deal in Siberian Huskies. A full-grown adult Husky usually costs around Rs 1 lakh, while puppies can be bought for around Rs 50,000 each. Rearing this dog, a native of the snow-bound Arctic regions, is difficult in India due to the hot weather.
Khan gifted Zorro to his daughter Alisha on her eighth birthday last year. "A friend had brought two Siberian Huskies from Europe, but neither was comfortable living with the other," explained Khan on how he got the dog.
Jena Fuller/flickr
"He often complained to me about the dogs. One day, I offered to adopt one of them and give it to my daughter as a gift. My friend was overwhelmed by the offer and I left his house with Zorro on Alisha's birthday."
A pall of gloom descended on the family after the news of their pet's abduction. "My vacations were on and this was the only time in the year when I could spend a whole day playing with Zorro," said Kashif, Khan's youngest son. "I often took him out for strolls. I hope he is safe wherever he is and comes back to us."
Family members say dogs of this breed require regular attention. Zorro was given cold water every half hour. His meals consisted of boiled chicken, curd, cheese and milk.
In what can be seen as a paradigm shift in its stand so far, China has for the first time, publicly acknowledged the role of Pakistan in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV9 recently aired a documentary on banned Pakistani terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) its role in 26/11 and its sponsors in Pakistan, ANI news agency has reported.
CCTV
Even though it is just a documentary, it is to be noted that never in the past has China acknowledged the role of its all weather friend Pakistan or terror groups based out of that country in the attack which left 166 people dead.
Twitter
It is also worth mentioning that Beijing has repeatedly blocked New Delhi's efforts at the UN to bring sanctions against Jamaat ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed.
Dawn
China had also recently raised similar objections recently when India tried to get UN sanctions against Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar the mastermind of the Pathankot Airbase attack.
His is a story of an undying spirit and a fight against all odds to achieve a weighty goalsomething you've set your heart on. Ganesh Hingmire has come a long way from studying under the streetlight and his stint as a paanwala to become an expert on intellectual property (IP).
Facebook
On April 26, Hingmire, chairman of Great Mission Group Consultancy (GMCC) Pune, will receive the National Intellectual Property Award from the minister of commerce and industry Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi for his work special effort in the field of Geographical Indications (GI). He was has been selected for the award based on the for best facilitation of GI registration and promotion of registered GI in the country.
The award has made the 41-year-old reminisce his past. Having lost his father when he was only six, his mother and an uncle who owned a paan shop in Budhwar Peth became his support system. Hingmare can never forget the tough days when he would prepare for his exams while helping his uncle at the shop.
Early in his life, Hingmire had seen only adverse situations which made him the person that he is. He lost his father at the age of 6 and was supported in his studies by his mother who made papad and an uncle who opened a paan shop in Budhwar peth. It was during these days that Hingmire studied under the street light while working at the paan shop and preparing for his exams.
greeningtheblue/Representational Image
As a youngster, Hingmare had decided And so it became the motto of his life to do something for people like him, to create opportunities for farmers to improve their income. With this vision, he pursued a course in law after graduation. he did BSc from Pune and then went on to complete a law degree from the prestigious ILS Law College where he met HP Deshmukh who mentored him.
"There is need for the society at large to get to know about Ganesh's story along with his accomplishments. His story is of great undying will and of fighting against all odds to achieve something you've set your heart on," says Deshmukh.
After completing the course, Hingmire went to Cardiff University to pursue an LLM in commercial law, specializing in Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in 2001. His love for the country made him give up his job and return home. Then, he pursued an MPhil in economics. All his education has been supported by the numerous scholarships he bagged for being a brilliant student.
Facebook
After that he was working there but left the job to bring the knowledge of intellectual property rights to India and also completed M.Phil in economics with 91% score. All his education was supported by the numerous scholarships he bagged for being a brilliant student.
While Hingmire was busy getting degrees one after the other, his mother didn't even know much about what he was studying. A class VI pass she had only one aim - to make papads and support the family.
Meanwhile, Hingmire has also undergone took training in IPR at the Indian Institue of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) Delhi, National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR) Delhi and Japan Patent Office at Tokyo.
Facebook
His two position papers on Geographical Indications (Communities Intellectual Property) issues have been accepted by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) secretariat and published on their website. His body of work on IPR and WTO includes extends from books and several to articles and seminars. Currently, he teaches the subject to university professors as well as senior government officers in the state.
"His work directly touches the lives of farmers and helps them get premium prices for their products nationally," explains HP Deshmukh, Hingmire's mentor from his days as a law student.
Hingmire's work achieves major significance since The work done by Hingmire in the field of GI is important because the GIs can ultimately turn the economic policies of a country in favour of the product in hand.
"I opted for GI as a tool for economic growth and made efforts to register maximum GI's," Hingmire points out.
17 out of the 19 GIs he has registered are related to agriculture, that he has got registered are agri GIs like sweetlime, ghevda, Mahabaleshwar strawberry among others which help farmers get good price for their unique products and an opportunity to enter the international market. Over the years, Hingmire has worked on GIs for a total of 28 products to get their GI's. While 19 of them have already got GIs, nine are still in the process to get registered.
Ganja valued at around Rs 75 lakh and meant to be smuggled to Sri Lanka was seized today from a dry river bed near Veepankulami village in Ramanathapuram district, police said. Acting on a tip off, police rushed to the spot in the village and found 158 kg of ganja packed in 170 bags buried in the river bed. Investigations are on in this regard, police said.
According to media sources, Sri Lanka is an important transit point for Indian smugglers who are shipping ganja to vairous nations. Authorities regularly find fishing boats from various points in Tamil Nadu and Kerala coast engaged in smuggling hemp. Grown in North Andhra and Kerala, ganja is then shipped to Sri Lanka, and the Lankan navy has busted many smugglers with substantial quantities of the contraband drug.
Carlos Gracia Flickr
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs even asked the Andhra Pradesh Police to investigate these illegal operations. The Andhra Pradesh government had even spoken about using satellite images to map fields where it is grown. Hemp is reportedly cultivated by tribals on the Andhra-Odisha borders.
Days after her heroic efforts resulted in the biggest crackdown on child labour in Gujarat, Jharna Joshi, a college student from Ahmedabad was attacked by unidentified men.
naidunia
She was been admitted to a local hospital with injuries on her forehead, arms and legs. Joshi was attacked by two men on motorbike on Sunday night while she was on her way to way to Morbi in Saurashtra region.
"They halted me by crossing my way and asked if I was Jharna the girl who rescued child labourers. Just as I said 'yes', they attacked me," Joshi told local media.
The attack on the 22-year-old student came days after she exposed the rampant child labour in one of the biggest ceramic factories Morbi. The children, of whom 100 were girls, were rescued from Sonaki ceramic unit on Friday.
theatlantic/ Representational Image
The BBA student who became suspicious about the use of under aged labours in the ceramic unit during a visit to her relatives house in April, went undercover and joined the company as an employee.
During her time at the company as an 'employee', Joshi said she witnessed children who were under the age of 18 made to work under dangerous conditions, made to work from 8 am to 6 pm and not allowed to go outside the work area.
TV9 News
After gathering enough evidence, she approached the concerned department, but to no avail. This made her write to the chief minister, who assured action.
"I wrote to the chief minister's office and personally visited Gandhinagar on May 24. Finally, I was assured that the action would be taken on Friday," she said.
Officials of social defence, police department, labour and employment department, factory inspector and child protection officer jointly raided the unit and rescued the children from the unit on Friday.
Many including prominent child rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi had congratulated Joshi for her efforts.
The Assam Regiment is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army which consists of 25 battalions; 15 regular units, three Rashtriya Rifles units, three infantry battalions of the Territorial Army, two Ecological battalions of the Territorial Army and two battalions of Arunachal Scouts.
BCCL
To celebrate the platinum jubilee of the Assam Regiment, the Indian Army has shared this video describing the rich history and culture of 'The Brave Rhinos'.
Watch the saga of valour and courage!
Raised on 15 June 1941 in Shillong by Lt Col Ross Howman to meet the claim of the then undivided State of Assam for its own fighting unit and to counter the threat of the Japanese invasion of India, the Assam Regiment is celebrating its Platinum Jubilee this year.
militarybadgecollection
In its glorious history, the Regiment has earned Seven Battle Honours, three Theatre Honours, nine Chief of the Army Staff Citation, 23 Army Commanders Citation and two United Nations Citations apart from 55 Individual honours and awards pre-independence and 1548 post independence.
Read Also: Assam rifles inducts its first batch of women soldiers to its 181-year-old regiment
Two liquor shop employees were killed when a mob set the shop on fire in this Madhya Pradesh district, Superintendent of Police Gaurav Tiwari told the media.
indiewire | representational image
According to a Deccan Chronicle report, the mob included members of a marriage party who were angered over the price of liquor.
The two shop attendants identified as Ram Vilas Yadav, 22, and Amrendra Singh, 25, were burnt to death in the fire, he said.
The police has arrested 15 people, including two main accused. The bride's brother began fighting with the shop owner while bargaining over the liquor price, and it soon turned hostile.
reuter
The liquor vendor chased him away - Sanjay returned with the bridegroom's side of the family. The shop owner fled, while two attendants - Ram Vilas Yadav (22) and Amarendra Singh (25) hid inside the shop, and were burnt alive in the blaze.
An Indian Is Killed By Alcohol Every 96 Minutes, Many Indian States Support Alcohol Bans
A 70-year-old Hindu priest was found hacked to death western Bangladesh, with his head almost decapitated from his body, in an ongoing spate of attacks on minorities by suspected Islamists.
cloudfront
The body of Ananda Gopal Ganguly was found near his home in Jhenidah district after he had gone missing on his way to morning prayers. Investigators have said the killings bore the hallmarks of recent attacks by Islamist extremists who have carried out 10 other similar killings in the last 10 weeks.
"He left home this morning saying that he was going to a Hindu house to offer prayers," the district's deputy police chief Gopinath Kanjilal told AFP.
"Later farmers found his near-decapitated body in a rice field."
cloudfront
"We do not know the identity of the killers. His body was found in an isolated area and we do not believe there any witnesses to the killing."
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.
Most of the recent attacks have been claimed by the Islamic State organisation or the local offspring of al-Qaida.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government has however blamed homegrown Islamists for the attacks, rejecting claims of responsibility from the IS and a South Asian branch of al-Qaida. Victims of the attacks by suspected Islamists have included secular bloggers, gay rights activists and followers of minority religions. Although it is officially secular, around 90 per cent of Bangladesh's 160 million-strong population is Muslim.
Ganguly's murder comes only two days after a Christian was hacked to death after Sunday prayers near a church in northwest Bangladesh in an attack claimed by IS. A Hindu shop owner was also hacked to death outside his store in the northern Gaibandha district late last month. IS said it was behind that killing as well.
Novak Djokovic always likes to set the bar higher and he is doing the same this time round.
AFP
Having won the French Open to complete a Career Slam, his next target is to secure a Calendar Grand Slam - all four majors in a year. With Wimbledon and US Open still to come, his current form certainly gives him the advantage.
AP
The 29-year-olds 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 win over Andy Murray allowed him to claim a 12th major and join Don Budge, in 1938, and Laver, in 1962 and 1969, as the only players to simultaneously possess the French Open, Australian Open, US Open and Wimbledon trophies.
"Well, I don't want to sound arrogant, but I really think everything is achievable in life. I'm trying to grasp and I'm trying to cherish, obviously, these moments right now. Whether or not I can reach a calendar slam, that's still a possibility," said the Serb.
He is right to be confident as he tightens his grip on the men's game. His victory over fellow 29-year-old Murray was his 24th in 34 meetings with the British world number two and eighth in 10 clashes at the Slams. He leads Federer 23-22 and is 26-23 against Nadal.
If he achieves the Calendar Slam, he will be level with Rafael Nadal with 14 Grand Slams and well on course to break Roger Federer's record of 17 majors.
AFP
"These two guys - and Andy, as well - the rivalries with all three of the guys have definitely helped me to become a better player and helped me achieve all these things. Nadal and Federer were so dominant in the sport when Andy and myself came in in the mix. But, again, at the beginning I was not glad to be part of their era.
"Later on I realized that in life everything happens for a reason. You're put in this position with a purpose, a purpose to learn and to grow and to evolve. Fortunately for me I realized that I need to get stronger and that I need to accept the fact that I'm competing with these two tremendous champions," said Djokovic.
It has been great run of form for the Serb in the last 2 years. He has won 6 out of his last 8 majors.
Were excited to announce that indmin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com.
A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving market with price data, news and market intelligence right here on Fastmarkets.
Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials.
If you already have a Fastmarkets account, youll still have uninterrupted access to your markets by logging in with your current details.
We invite you to join us at the seventh International Flow Battery Forum at Karlsruhe, Germany, bringing together all those interested in research, development, commercialisation and deployment of flow batteries.
The 2016 meeting will also include an industry day for manufacturers, developers, users and investors to address the specific issues relating to the market opportunities for flow batteries in the increasingly competitive energy storage market place, and an industry visit.
There will be an exhibitor area, inside and outside the conference area for suppliers, manufacturers and developers to display their products and services. Our introductory session will be of interest to newcomers to the industry.
Democrats Launch Severe Attack on Free Speech to Protect Israel
By Glenn Greenwald and Andrew Fishman
June 07, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " The Intercept " - One of the greatest free speech threats in the west is the growing, multi-nation campaign literally to outlaw advocacy of boycotting Israel. People get arrested in Paris the site of the 2015 free speech (for Muslim critics) rally for wearing pro-boycott t-shirts. Pro-boycott students on U.S. campuses where the 1980s boycott of apartheid South Africa flourished are routinely sanctioned for violating anti-discrimination policies. Canadian officials have threatened to criminally prosecute boycott advocates. British government bodies have legally barred certain types of boycott advocacy. Israel itself has outright criminalized advocacy of such boycotts. Notably, all of this has been undertaken with barely a peep from those who styled themselves free speech crusaders when it came time to defend anti-Muslim cartoons.
But now, New Yorks Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo (above, in 2016 Celebrate Israel Parade) has significantly escalated this free speech attack on U.S. soil, aimed at U.S. citizens. The prince of the New York political dynasty yesterday issued an executive order directing all agencies under his control to terminate any and all business with companies or organizations that support a boycott of Israel. It ensures that citizens who hold and express a particular view are punished through the denial of benefits which other citizens enjoy: a classic free speech violation (imagine if Cuomo issued an order stating that anyone who expresses conservative viewpoints shall have all state benefits immediately terminated).
Even more disturbing, Cuomos Executive Order requires that one of his Commissioners compile a list of institutions and companies which either directly or through a parent or subsidiary support a boycott. That government list is then posted publicly, and the burden falls on them to prove to the state that they do not, in fact, support such a boycott. Donna Lieberman, Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, told The Intercept: Whenever the government creates a blacklist based on political views it raises serious First Amendment concerns and this is no exception. Reasons Robby Soave denounced it today as brazenly autocratic.
To read the relevant provisions of Cuomos order is to confront the mentality of petty censoring tyranny, flavored with McCarthyite public shaming, in its purest form. See for yourself:
Making matters worse still is the imperious nature of Cuomos order. As Salons Ben Norton noted, the New York legislature has unsuccessfully tried to push through anti-boycott legislation for months. So instead, Cuomo just unilaterally decreed this punishment of boycott advocates.
New Yorks Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer wasted no time, now demanding a federal statute that tracks Cuomos order. Hillary Clinton, last July, wrote a public letter to her (and the Democratic Partys) billionaire supporter, self-described Israel fanatic Haim Saban, endorsing the core principle of this censorship effort: that boycotting Israel is a form of anti-semitism, and did so again in her March speech before AIPAC. Numerous Republicans support similar measures.
Beyond the McCarthyism and profound free speech threat, the stench of hypocrisy of Cuomo and Democrats is suffocating. Just over two months ago, Cuomo banned state officials from traveling to North Carolina in order to support the boycott against that American state in protest over its anti-transgender law. That pro-boycott executive order from Cuomo began by proclaiming that New York state is a national leader in protecting the civil rights and liberties of all of its citizens and thus barred publicly funded travel to North Carolina.
But in justifying this punishment for Israel critics, Cuomos counsel told The New York Times: Its one thing to say I want to engage in political speech. Its another thing to say Im going to sanction you or penalize you for engaging in commercial activity. But that Im going to sanction you or penalize you for engaging in commercial activity is exactly what Cuomo did just two months ago by boycotting North Carolina. Think about how warped that is: to the Governor of New York, its not only permissible but noble to boycott an American state, but its immoral and worthy of punishment to boycott Israel, a foreign country guilty of a decades-long brutal and illegal occupation. Questions submitted by The Intercept to Cuomo were not answered as of publication.
More ironic still is that Cuomo, in imposing a boycott of North Carolina, said he was doing so because in a free society the equal rights of all citizens . . . must be protected and cherished exactly the principle which the boycott of Israel is seeking to fulfill by ending oppression and discrimination against Palestinians. But even if you disagree with the Israel boycott itself, no rational person should want Andrew Cuomo and other elected officials to have the power to dictate which political views are acceptable and which ones result in denial of state benefits.
The free speech hypocrisy on the part of all sorts of people here is obvious. In 2012, conservatives were furious when Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that he would block the restaurant chain Chick-fil-A from expanding in the city as punishment for its owners anti-gay activism, depicting this move as a grave threat to free speech (a position we shared). Throughout 2015, pundits such as New Yorks Jonathan Chait wrapped themselves in the free speech flag when it came time to defend racist and anti-gay speech on campus, insisting that all forms of speech, even hate speech, should be protected (positions we also share).
Shut Down the Democratic National Convention By Chris Hedges June 07, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Truth Dig " - On July 25, opening day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Cheri Honkala, leader of the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign, who was denied a permit to march by city authorities, will rally with thousands of protesters outside City Hall. Defying the police, they will march up Broad Street to the convention. We will recapture our democracy in the streets of cities such as Philadelphia, not in convention halls such as the aptly named Wells Fargo Center, where the Democratic Party elites intend to celebrate the results of the rigged primary elections and the continuity of corporate power. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, other activists and I will march with Honkala. It is not as if we have a choice. No one invited us into the center or to the lavish corporate-sponsored receptions. No one anointed us to be Clinton superdelegatesa privilege that went to corporate lobbyists, rich people and party hacks. No one in the Democratic establishment gives a damn what we think. The convention is not our party. It is their party. It costs a lot of money to attend. Donate $100,000 and you become an empire donor, with perks such as VIP credentials for all convention proceedings, along with tickets to lavish corporate and Party receptions, photo ops with politicians at the convention podium, four rooms at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel and a suite at a Yankees game, where a special guest will be present. Short of $100,000? You can become a gold donor for $50,000, a silver donor for $25,000 or a bronze donor for $10,000. We have the best democracy money can buy. The Wells Fargo Center and the fancy hotels in Philadelphia will be swarming with corporate representatives and lobbyists from Comcast, Xerox, Google and dozens of other companies that manage our political theater. Honkala, who was once homelessshe lived for a while out of cars, in abandoned houses and under bridgesand who was the Green Partys vice presidential candidate in 2012, has long defied the elites on behalf of the marginalized and the poor. She led a protest at the 2000 Republican National Convention, (after being denied a permit for that as well), which saw 30,000 people shut down Philadelphias center over issues such as racial discrimination, police violence and poverty. She has fought for the homeless, the unemployed and the underemployed for three decades, through acts of civil disobedience marches, the construction of tent cities and homeless encampments, and sit-insthat often ended in arrests. She has been arrested more than 200 times. She will be on the south side of Philadelphias City Hall at 3 p.m. on July 25, with or without a permit. And thousands for whom the Democratic Party is another face of the corporate enemy will be there with her. (Contacts for the march are (215) 869-4753 or cherihonkalappehrc@gmail.com.) Philadelphia has a poverty rate of 26 percent, she said when I reached her by phone. It has the highest number of people who die from drug overdoses in the country. The city has not housed anyone within the homeless population within 10 months. It has lost its state certification for the Department of Human Services child protection agency because of gross negligence and substandard conditions for children. Foster kids are stuck in an abusive system. Hundreds are not being placed. And at the same time, the city will spend $43 million on security for the convention. It will spend upwards of $60 million to house millionaires and billionaires while it ignores the vulnerable and attempts, by denying us a permit to march, to render them invisible. She said that the difference between the march she led in 2000 and the one planned for July is that things are four times worse. She spoke about her north Philadelphia neighborhood, Kensington, the poorest district in the state. It has one of the highest homicide rates in the nation. It has a large homeless population. It has a poverty rate of 46.9 percent. The food bank is protected by barbed wire. Back then, someone could work three or even four jobs and barely survive, she said. I live in a neighborhood now of the permanently unemployed. There is an underground economy. We have to collectively keep each other alive. There are hundreds of young men who are not just attempting to live on a dollar a day, but go a couple of weeks with nothing. We try to figure out how to find food and housing. We try to figure out how to keep alive. The loss of faith in the political system and neoliberal ideology is widespread. The corporate elites are pouring $5 billion into the carnival of presidential electoral politics in a desperate bid to keep us mesmerized and controlled. Democracy is endlessly invoked on the airwaves to legitimize the corporate and political forces that have destroyed it. Congress has an approval rating of 11 percent. Half of qualified voters are not registered to vote, and half of registered voters do not go to the polls. A little more than half of 25 percentno more than 15 percentof the electorate determines who becomes president. And this is the way the elites want it. In our system of inverted totalitarianism, the political philosopher Sheldon Wolin pointed out, the object is to demobilize the citizenry, to render it apathetic, to convince the citizen that all political activity that does not take place within the narrow boundaries defined by the corporate state is futile. This is a message hammered into public consciousness by the corporate media, which serve as highly paid courtiers to the corporate elites. It is championed by the two parties that offer up fear of the other as their primary political platform. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton hold the highest candidate disapproval ratings in American historyin that order. These two candidates, the system insists, are the only rational options. Step outside the system and you are disappeared or ridiculed. Acceptable political opinions, as Wolin wrote, are measurable responses to questions predesigned to elicit them. We vote, in the end, for skillfully manufactured personalities. Neither Trump nor Clinton in office will hinder corporate hegemony. Nothing will change until we revolt, until we defy the corporate system, until we wake from our civic stupor. The goal of the elites is to keep us pacified. The crucial element that sets off inverted totalitarianism from Nazism is that while the latter imposed a regime of mobilization upon its citizenry, inverted totalitarianism works to depoliticize its citizens, thus paying a left-handed compliment to the prior experience of democratization, Wolin wrote in Politics and Vision. Where the Nazis strove to give the masses a sense of collective power and confidence, Kraft durch Freude (or strength through joy), the inverted regime promotes a sense of weakness, collective futility that culminates in the erosion of the democratic faith, in political apathy and the privatization of the self. Where the Nazis wanted a continuously mobilized society that would support its masters without complaint and enthusiastically vote yes at the managed plebiscites, the elite of inverted totalitarianism wants a politically demobilized society that hardly votes at all. The growing consternation of the state is apparent. Meetings held by groups that are considering protesting during the convention are routinely monitored by what Honkala called floorwalkers, whom she suspects work for the police, Homeland Security or the FBI. These meetings are saturated with floorwalkers, she said. They say they are Burners [those who say if Bernie Sanders is not elected there should be a political revolution] or from Occupy, and they are on our side. We are approached at every meeting. We are questioned by these floorwalkers about whether we will engage in violence during the convention. They want to know if we plan to be arrested. Are we going to do sit-ins? They tell us we have been infiltrated and point out people in the room, who, they say, are undercover cops. They are men and women. That is what we see face to face. They are also all over social media. The Clinton elements attack me for not being a true woman. They say I am a saboteur who will be responsible for electing Trump. They call us spoilers. They tell us not to march. We dont have any choices anymore, she went on. I have been doing this work for almost 30 years. In the documentary made about our march during the Republican National Convention in 2000, there are eight people in the film that are now dead. The poor live in a war zone. I do not know if my kid will get to school or come back alive, and this is even if he has a school to go to, because they are talking about closing down more schools. We either do everything we possibly can to build an independent political party, or we will have to organize the next American Spring. The poor are barely surviving. The planet as we know it may soon not be in existence. Across the street from where I live, five people were shot, all on the same day. Three of them were teenagers who died. Our kids are exploitable or expendable. Her neighborhood, she said, is a biohazard. It is filled with refineries and waste-storage facilities. Miscarriages, asthma, diabetes and cancer are epidemic. Low-income people cant afford Obamacare. They pay the penalty on their taxes. And health issues, including life-threatening illnesses, usually go untreated. Honkala is preparing for a confrontation. What happens before a lot of these events is they come and lock me up, she said. This is what happened before the [1999 World Trade Organization protests]. This is what happened when they opened the Constitution Center and we protested. I am trying to figure out how to keep cameras around me for safety reasons before the march. We need people to witness this. The last thing poor folks have is their voice. We cant let that be taken too. Chris Hedges, spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He has reported from more than 50 countries and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times, for which he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years.
Crimes of the War on Terror
Should George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Others Be Jailed?
By Rebecca Gordon
June 07, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Tom Dispatch " - "The cold was terrible but the screams were worse," Sara Mendez told the BBC. "The screams of those who were being tortured were the first thing you heard and they made you shiver. That's why there was a radio blasting day and night."
In the 1970s, Mendez was a young Uruguayan teacher with leftist leanings. In 1973, when the military seized power in her country (a few months before General Augusto Pinochets more famous coup in Chile), Mendez fled to Argentina. She lived there in safety until that country suffered its own coup in 1976. That July, a joint Uruguayan-Argentine military commando group kidnapped her in Buenos Aires and deposited her at Automotores Orletti, a former auto repair shop that would become infamous as a torture site and paramilitary command center. There she was indeed tortured, and there, too, her torturers stole her 20-day-old baby, Simon, giving him to a policemans family to raise.
Mendez was an early victim of Operation Condor, a torture and assassination program focused on the regions leftists that, from 1975 to 1986, would spread terror across Latin Americas southern cone. On May 27th, an Argentine court convicted 14 military officers of crimes connected with Operation Condor, issuing prison sentences ranging from 13 to 25 years. Among those sentenced was Reynaldo Bignone, Argentinas last military dictator, now 88. (He held power from 1982 to 1983.)
Those convictions are deeply satisfying to the surviving victims and their families, to the legal teams that worked for more than a decade on the case, and to human rights organizations around the world. And yet, as just as this outcome is, it has left me with questions -- questions about the length of time between crime and conviction, and about what kinds of justice can and cannot be achieved through prosecutions alone.
Operation Condor
Operation Condor was launched by the security forces of five military dictatorships: Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Brazil soon joined, as did Ecuador and Peru eventually. As a Cold War anti-communist collaboration among the police, military, and intelligence services of those eight governments, Condor offered an enticing set of possibilities. The various services could not only cooperate, but pursue their enemies in tandem across national borders. Indeed, its reach stretched as far as Washington, D.C., where in 1976 its operatives assassinated former Chilean ambassador to the U.S. Orlando Letelier and his young assistant, Ronni Moffitt, both of whom then worked at the Institute for Policy Studies, a left-wing think tank.
How many people suffered grievously or died due to Operation Condor? A definitive number is by now probably beyond recovery, but records from Chiles secret police suggest that by itself Argentinas dirty war -- the name given to the Argentine juntas reign of terror, disappearances, and torture -- took the lives of 22,000 people between 1975 and 1978. Thousands more are thought to have died before that countrys dictatorship ended in 1983. Its generally believed that at least another 3,000 people died under the grimmest of circumstances in Chile, while thousands more were tortured but lived. And although its story is less well known, the similar reign of terror of the Uruguayan dictatorship directly affected the lives of almost every family in the country. As Lawrence Wechsler wrote in a 1989 article in the New Yorker:
By 1980, one in every fifty Uruguayans had been detained at some point, and detention routinely involved torture; one in every five hundred had received a sentence of six years or longer under conditions of extreme difficulty; and somewhere between three hundred thousand and four hundred thousand Uruguayans went into exile. Comparable percentages for the United States would involve the emigration of thirty million people, the detention of five million, and the extended incarceration of five hundred thousand.
And what was the U.S. role in Operation Condor? Washington did not (for once) plan and organize this transnational program of assassination and torture, but its national security agencies were certainly involved, as declassified Defense Department communications indicate. In his book The Condor Years, Columbia University journalism professorJohn Dinges reported that the CIA provided training for Chiles secret police, computers for Condors database, telex machines and encoders for its secret communications, and transmitters for its private, continent-wide radio communications network. Chilean Colonel Manuel Contreras, one of Condors chief architects (who was then on the CIA payroll), met with CIA Deputy Director Vernon Walters four times. And what did the CIA get in return? Among other things, access to the results of interrogation under torture, according to Dinges. "Latin American intelligence services," he added,
considered U.S. intelligence agencies their allies and provided timely and intimate details of their repressive activities. I have obtained three documents establishing that information obtained under torture, from prisoners who later were executed and disappeared, were provided to the CIA, the FBI and the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency). There is no question that the U.S. officials were aware of the torture.
Justice Delayed
Why did it take 40 years to bring the architects of Operation Condor to justice? A key factor: for much of that time, it was illegal in Argentina to put them on trial. In the first years of the new civilian government, the Argentine congress passed two laws that granted these men immunity from prosecution for crimes committed in the dirty war. Only in 2005 did that countrys supreme court rule that those impunity laws were unconstitutional. Since then, many human rights crimes have been prosecuted. Indeed, Reynaldo Bignone, the former dictator, was already in jail when sentenced in May for his role in Operation Condor. He had been convicted in 2010 of kidnapping, torture, and murder in the years of the dirty war. As of March, Argentinas Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) had recorded 666 convictions for participation in the crimes of that era.
But theres a question that cant help but arise: Whats the point of bringing such old men to trial four decades later? How could justice delayed for that long be anything but justice denied?
One answer is that, late as they are, such trials still establish something that all the books and articles in the world cant: an official record of the terrible crimes of Operation Condor. This is a crucial step in the process of making its victims, and the nations involved, whole again. As a spokesperson for CELS told the Wall Street Journal, Forty years after Operation Condor was formally founded, and 16 years after the judicial investigation began, this trial produced valuable contributions to knowledge of the truth about the era of state terrorism and this regional criminal network.
It took four decades to get those convictions. Theoretically at least, Americans wouldnt have to wait that long to bring our own war criminals to account. Ive spent the last few years of my life arguing that this country must find a way to hold accountable officials responsible for crimes in the so-called war on terror. I dont want the victims of those crimes, some of whom are still locked up, to wait another 40 years for justice.
Nor do I want the United States to continue its slide into a brave new world, in which any attack on a possible enemy anywhere or any curtailment of our own liberties is permitted as long as it makes us feel secure. Its little wonder that the presumptive Republican presidential candidate feels free to run around promising yet more torture and murder. After all, no ones been called to account for the last round. And when there is no official acknowledgement of, or accountability for, the waging of illegal war,international kidnapping operations,theindefinite detention without prospect of trial of prisoners at Guantanamo, and, of course,torture, there is no reason not to do it all over again. Indeed, according to Pew Research Center polls, Americans are now more willing to agree that torture is sometimes justified than they were in the years immediately following the 9/11 attacks.
Torture and the U.S. Prison System
In a recent piece of mine, I focused on Abu Zubaydah, a prisoner the CIA tortured horribly, falsely claiming he was a top al-Qaeda operative, knew about a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, and might even have trained some of the 9/11 pilots. In another kind of world, I wrote, Abu Zubaydah would be exhibit one in the war crimes trials of Americas top leaders and its major intelligence agency. Although none of the charges against him proved true, he is still held in isolation at Guantanamo .
Then something surprising happened. I received an email message from someone Id heard of but never met. Joseph Margulies was the lead counsel in Rasul v. Bush, the first (and unsuccessful) attempt to get the Supreme Court to allow prisoners at Guantanamo to challenge their detention in federal courts. He is also one of Abu Zubaydahs defense attorneys.
He directed me to an article of his, War Crimes in a Punitive Age, that mentioned my Abu Zubaydah essay. Id gotten the facts of the case right, he assured me, but added, I suspect we are not in complete agreement on the issue of what justice for his client should look like. As he wrote in his piece,
There is no question that Zubaydah was the victim of war crimes. The entire CIA black site program [the Agencys Bush era secret prisons around the world] was a global conspiracy to evade and violate international and domestic law. Yet I am firmly convinced there should be no war crimes prosecutions. The call to prosecute is the Siren Song of the carceral state -- the very philosophy we need to dismantle.
In other words, one of the leading legal opponents of everything the war on terror represents is firmly opposed to the idea of prosecuting officials of the Bush administration for war crimes (though he has not the slightest doubt that they committed them). Margulies agrees that the crimes against Abu Zubaydah were all too real and grave indeed, and that society must make its judgment known. He asks, however, Why do we believe a criminal trial is the only way for society to register its moral voice?
He doubts that such trials are the best way to do so, fearing that by placing all the blame for the events of those years on a small number of criminal officials, the citizens of an (at least nominally) democratic country could be let off the hook for a responsibility they, too, should share. After all, its unlikely the war on terror could have continued year after year without the support -- or at least the lack of interest or opposition -- of the citizenry.
Margulies, in other words, raises important questions. When people talk about bringing someone to justice they usually imagine a trial, a conviction, and perhaps most important, punishment. But he has reminded me of my own longstanding ambivalence about the equation between punishment and justice.
Even as we call for accountability for war criminals, we shouldnt forget that we live in the country that jails the largest proportion of its own population (except for the Seychelles islands), and that holds the largest number of prisoners in the world. Abuse and torture -- including rape, sexual humiliation, beatings, and prolonged exposure to extremes of heat and cold -- are routine realities of the U.S. prison system. Solitary confinement -- presently being experienced by at least 80,000 people in our prisons and immigrant detention centers -- should also be considered a potentially psychosis-inducing form of torture.
Every nation that institutionalizes torture, as the United States has done, selects specific groups of people as legitimate targets for its application. In the days of Operation Condor, Chilean torturers called their victims humanoids to distinguish them from actual human beings. Surely, though, the United States hasnt done that? Surely, theres no history of the torture of particular groups? Sadly, of course, such a history does exist, and like so many things in this country, its all about race.
The practice of torture in the U.S. didnt start with those post-9/11 enhanced interrogation techniques, nor with the Vietnam Wars Phoenix Program, nor even with the nineteenth century U.S. war in the Philippines. It began when European settlers first treated native peoples and enslaved Africans as subhuman savages. As southern farmers started importing captured Africans to augment their supply of indentured English labor, they quickly realized that there was little incentive for those slaves to work -- none but the pain of whippings, mutilations, and brandings, and the threat of yet more pain. Torture and slavery, in other words, were fused at the root. From the first arrival of black people on this continent, it has been permissible, even legal, to torture them.
And it didnt stop with emancipation. After the end of slavery, southern states began the practice of convict leasing -- arresting former slaves and then their descendants, often on trumped-up charges, and renting them out as labor to farmers and later coal mine owners who had the power and legal right to whip and abuse them as they chose.
Then theres lynching. Many people think of it as an extrajudicial death by hanging. As it was practiced in the Jim Crow South, however, it was a form of public, state-approved torture, often involving the castration or disembowelment of the living victim, sometimes followed by death by fire. Lynching thus continued the practice of treating black minds and bodies as legitimate targets of torture. So maybe we shouldnt be surprised that, of the more than two million prisoners in the United States today, 40% are black, while the U.S. population is only 13% black.
Heres the problem, then. When we say that putting George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and other top officials in their administration in prison for war crimes would be justice, we endorse a criminal justice system that is more criminal than just, and where torture is a daily occurrence.
Do we want to do to Bush, Cheney, and their accomplices essentially what they did to their victims? There is, of course, a certain appeal to the idea of someday seeing such powerful white men among the suffering, tortured millions in our prison system, or even -- like the supposed dirty bomber Jose Padilla and Abu Zubaydah -- in perpetual solitary confinement.
And yet, would this truly provide even a facsimile of justice, given that American prisons are hardly instruments of justice to begin with? Those opposed to the acts at the heart of Americas never-ending war on terror were heartened when President Obama ordered the CIA black sites dismantled globally. We continue to demand the closing of Guantanamo (something that looks increasingly unlikely to happen in his presidency). How, then, can we find justice through a prison system that uses similar methods on an everyday basis here in the U.S.?
Forty Years to Go?
And then, of course, there is the question: Whom should justice truly serve?
The first answer is: the victims of the "war on terror," including those who were tortured, those detained without trial, the civilian "collateral damage" of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the "unintended" victims of drone assassinations. Then there are all those in the rest of the world who have to live with the threat of a nuclear-armed superpower that has in these years regularly refused to recognize the most basic aspects of the rule of law.
Many who work with survivors of organized repression like Operation Condor say that their primary desire is not the punishment of their oppressors but official acknowledgement of what happened to them. In his New Yorker article, Wechsler, for instance, pointed out that, for the victims of torture, accountability may not be identical to punishment at all.
People don't necessarily insist that the former torturers go to jail -- there has been enough of jail -- but they do want to see the truth established... It's a mysteriously powerful, almost magical notion, because often everybody already knows the truth -- everyone knows who the torturers were and what they did, the torturers know that everyone knows, and everyone knows that they know.
Seeing the truth established was the purpose behind South Africas post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Torturers and murderers on both sides of the anti-apartheid struggle were offered amnesty for their crimes -- but only after they openly acknowledged those crimes. In this way, a public record of the horrors of apartheid was built, and imperfect as the process may have been, the nation was able to confront its history.
That is the kind of reckoning we need in this country. It started with the release of a summary of the Senate Intelligence Committees report on the CIAs torture program, which brought many brutal details into the light. But thats just the beginning. We would need a full and public accounting not just of the CIAs activities, but of the doings of other military and civilian agencies and outfits, including the Joint Special Operations Command. We also would need a full-scale airing of the White Houses drone assassination program, and perhaps most important of all, a full accounting of the illegal, devastating invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Justice would also require -- to the extent possible -- making whole those who had been harmed. In the case of the war on terror, this might begin by allowing torture victims to sue their torturers in federal court (as the U.N. Convention against Torture requires). With one exception, the Obama administration has until now blocked all such efforts on national security grounds. In the case of the Iraq War, justice would undoubtedly also require financial reparations to repair the infrastructure of what was once a modern, developed nation.
Were unlikely to see justice in the war on terror until that cruel and self-defeating exercise is well and truly over and the country has officially acknowledged and accounted for its crimes. Lets hope it doesnt take another 40 years.
Rebecca Gordon, a TomDispatch regular, teaches in the philosophy department at the University of San Francisco. She is the author of American Nuremberg: The U.S. Officials Who Should Stand Trial for Post-9/11 War Crimes (Hot Books). Her previous books include Mainstreaming Torture: Ethical Approaches in the Post-9/11 United States and Letters from Nicaragua .
US Survey Reveals Public Support for Nuclear Strikes
By Dana E. Abizaid June 07, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " Truth Out " In the wake of President Obamas visit to Hiroshima last week, renewed debates over the use of atomic weapons against Japan in August 1945 have highlighted a disturbing trend: a rise in public support for US attacks on civilians across the globe. Never having withstood a prolonged bombing campaign on their soil, many people in the United States are quick to support and justify the use of bombs -- including nuclear ones -- on others. Academics Scott Sagan and Benjamin Valentino conducted research on the US public's attitude regarding nuclear bombing and recently publishing a summary of their findings in a Wall Street Journal story titled "Would the US Drop the Bomb Again?" From a survey of a "representative sample of 620 Americans" administered by YouGov last July, Sagan and Valentino revealed results that were "unsettling about the instincts of the US public." Specifically, the pair reported that, "When provoked, [US citizens] don't seem to consider the use of nuclear weapons a taboo, and our commitment to the immunity of civilians from deliberate attack in wartime, even with vast casualties, is shallow." Admittedly, the sample of 620 citizens can hardly be expected to reflect the sentiments of 320 million Americans. Nevertheless, the pairs findings should not surprise anybody who has paid attention to US foreign policy since 1945. In his 2002 book, Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace, Gore Vidal points out that, according to the Federation of American Scientists, there have been 200 aggressive US military engagements since the end of WWII. This was tallied before the debacle in Iraq and the "liberation" of Libya; the drone wars in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia; President Obama's plan to "degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL"; not to mention the unconstitutional drone strikes on US citizens abroad. The Sagan and Valentino survey sets forth a fictional scenario mirroring Pearl Harbor: an Iranian attack on a US aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf that killed 2,403 US sailors. Faced with this scenario, would the US public support the dropping of a nuclear weapon on an Iranian city killing 100,000 civilians? Sagan and Valentino found that the results were "startling." In this case, 59 percent of respondents backed "using a nuclear bomb on an Iranian city." The backdrop for their WSJ piece was Obama's visit to Hiroshima. While most US media focused on whether or not Obama would apologize for the dropping of bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, few considered the dangerous precedent the US set that summer. Instead, a chorus of justification echoed in the nation's press. This persistent practice of self-deception is epitomized by columnist Ramesh Ponnuru, who recently wrote, "We do not deliberately target civilians for killing whenever we think the consequences would be beneficial." Irresponsible statements like this ignore the bombing of civilians in Vietnam, Panama, Iraq and Afghanistan and represent the sad triumph of Orwellian indoctrination over education. To counter the public's perennial support for bombing, Sagan and Valentino tried to offer respondents a diplomatic solution to the fictional Iranian crisis. Simulating the Truman administration's dilemma between demanding unconditional surrender or allowing Hirohito Showa to maintain his imperial throne in Japan, the researchers "ran a second version of the survey that offered respondents the option of ending the war by allowing Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to stay on as a spiritual figurehead with no political authority." Still, 40 percent of respondents favored dropping the bomb and killing 100,000 civilians. Many historians challenge the contention that the atomic bombs were necessary to end the Pacific War and save lives. Not surprisingly, most Japanese believe they were unjustified. Perhaps US citizens would agree with the Japanese if they had also experienced the terror of air power. Speaking with people who have survived bombing raids is vastly different than reading headlines about collateral damage. The popular 1980s speed metal band Anthrax put it this way: "You pushed a button / That is all you did / It is much harder to kill a man, if you've seen pictures of his kids." Whatever public relations goodwill the Obama trip was designed to inspire, the facts speak for themselves. The president has worked to limit nuclear proliferation in Iran but not in the US. His administration has recklessly provoked Russia in Ukraine and pushed the US closer to nuclear war than any time since the tense days of the Reagan administration's revamping of nuclear diplomacy. The reliance on drone strikes distances the US public further from the reality of air power. Since the enemies we engage do not possess an air force, and our drone pilots operate thousands of miles from the battlefield, it is likely that attitudes toward civilian bombing and nuclear destruction will not change. There are few US citizens who have experienced what British prisoner of war Victor Gregg did in Dresden in 1945. In a BBC interview he stated: Nothing prepared me for seeing women and children alight flying through the air. Nothing prepared me for that after Dresden I was a nutcase. It took me 40 years to get over it. Gregg didn't talk about it for decades. "You can't talk about it because nobody who hasn't experienced it, their mind can't, they can't grasp it," he said. Sagan and Valentino's study concludes that, "the US public is unlikely to hold back a president who might consider using nuclear weapons in the crucible of war." These are the civilian and political minds that can't grasp the terror that Gregg describes. The question is, if they could, would they still support the use of nuclear weapons? Dana E. Abizaid is a history teacher at the Istanbul International Community School and director of studies for the Open Society Foundations New Scholars Program.
Hillary Clinton: Electing a Foreign Spy for President? By James Petras June 07, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - During her 4 years as Secretary of State of the United States (2009-2014), Hillary Clinton controlled US foreign policy. She had access to the most confidential information and state documents, numbering in the tens of thousands, from all of the major government departments and agencies, Intelligence, FBI, the Pentagon, Treasury and the office of the President. She had unfettered access to vital and secret information affecting US policy in all the key regions of the empire. Today, Mme. Clintons critics have focused on the technical aspects of her violations of State Department procedures and guidelines regarding handling of official correspondences and her outright lies on the use of her own private e-mail server for official state business, including the handling of highly classified material in violation of Federal Records laws, as well as her hiding official documents from the Freedom of Information Act and concocting her own system exempt from the official oversight which all other government officials accept. For many analysts, therefore, the issue is procedural, moral and ethical. Mme. Clinton had placed herself above and beyond the norms of State Department discipline. This evidence of her arrogance, dishonesty and blatant disregard for rules should disqualify her from becoming the President of the United States. While revelations of Clintons misuse of official documents, her private system of communication and correspondence and the shredding of tens of thousands of her official interchanges, including top secret documents, are important issues to investigate, these do not address the paramount political question: On whose behalf was Secretary Clinton carrying out the business of US foreign policy, out of the review of government oversight? The Political Meaning and Motivation of Clintons High Crimes Against the State Secretary Clintons private, illegal handling of official US documents has aroused a major FBI investigation into the nature of her activities. This is separate from the investigation by the Office of the Inspector General and implies national security violations. There are several lines of inquiry against Mme. Clinton: (1) Did she work with, as yet unnamed, foreign governments and intelligence services to strengthen their positions and against the interest of the United States? (2) Did she provide information on the operations and policy positions of various key US policymakers to competitors, adversaries or allies undermining the activities of military, intelligence and State Department officials? (3) Did she seek to enhance her personal power within the US administration to push her aggressive policy of serial pre-emptive wars over and against veteran State Department and Pentagon officials who favored traditional diplomacy and less violent confrontation? (4) Did she prepare a covert team, using foreign or dual national operative, to lay the groundwork for her bid for the presidency and her ultimate goal of supreme military and political power? Contextualizing Clintons Clandestine Operations There is no doubt that Mme. Clinton exchanged minor as well as major official documents and letters via her private e-mail system. Personal, family and even intimate communications may have been carried on the same server. But the key issue is that a large volume of highly confidential government information flowed to Clinton via an unsecured private back channel allowing her to conduct state business secretly with her correspondents. Just who were Secretary Clintons most enduring, persistent and influential correspondents? What types of exchanges were going on, which required avoiding normal oversight and a wanton disregard for security? Clintons covert war policies, which included the violent overthrow of the elected Ukraine government, were carried out by her Lieutenant Under-Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, a virulent neo-conservative holdover from the previous Bush Administration and someone committed to provoking Russia and to enhancing Israels power in the Middle East. Clintons highly dangerous and economically destabilizing brainchild of militarily encircling China, the so-called pivot to Asia, would have required clandestine exchanges with elements in the Pentagon out of the State Department and possibly Executive oversight. In other words, within the Washington political circuit, Secretary Clintons escalation of nuclear war policies toward Russia and China required secretive correspondences which would not necessarily abide with the policies and intelligence estimates of other US government agencies and with private business interests. Clinton was deeply engaged in private exchanges with several unsavory overseas political regimes, including Saudi Arabia, Israel, Honduras and Turkey involving covert violent and illegal activities. She worked with the grotesquely corrupt opposition parties in Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil Clintons correspondence with the Honduran armed forces and brutal oligarchs led to the military coup against the elected President Zelaya, its violent aftermath and the phony election of a pliable puppet. Given the government-death squad campaign against Honduran civil society activists, Clinton would certainly want to cover up her direct role in organizing the coup. Likewise, Mme. Clinton would have destroyed her communications with Turkish President Erdogans intelligence operations in support of Islamist terrorist-mercenaries in Syria and Iraq. Secretary Clintons e-mail would have shown her commitment to the Saudis when they brutally invaded Bahrain and Yemen to suppress independent civil society organizations and regional political rivals. But it is Clintons long-term, large-scale commitment to Israel that goes far beyond her public speeches of loyalty and fealty to the Jewish state. Hillary Clintons entire political career has been intimately dependent on Zionist money, Zionist mass media propaganda and Zionist Democratic Party operations. In exchange for Clintons dependence on political support from the Zionist power configuration in the US, she would have become the major conduit of confidential information from the US to Israel and the transmission belt promoting Israel-centric policies within the US government. The entire complex of Clinton-Israel linkages and correspondences has compromised the US intelligence services, the State Department and Pentagon. Secretary Clinton went to extraordinary lengths to serve Israel, even undermining the interests of the United States. It is bizarre that she would resort to such a crude measure, setting up a private e-mail server to conduct state business. She blithely ignored official State Department policy and oversight and forwarded over 1,300 confidential documents and 22 highly sensitive top-secret documents related to the Special Access Program. She detailed US military and intelligence documents on US strategic policies on Syria, Iraq, Palestine and other vital regimes. The Inspector Generals report indicates that she was warned about her practice. It is only because of the unusual stranglehold Tel Aviv and Israels US Fifth Column have over the US government and judiciary that her actions have not been prosecuted as high treason. It is the height of hypocrisy that government whistleblowers have been persecuted and jailed by the Obama Administration for raising concerns within the Inspector General system of oversight, while Secretary Clinton is on her way to the Presidency of the United States! Conclusion Many of Clintons leading critics, among them two dozen former CIA agents, have presented a myth that Hillarys main offence is her carelessness in handling official documents and her deliberate deceptions and lies to the government. These critics have trivialized, personalized and moralized what is really deliberate, highly politicized state behavior. Mme. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was not careless in managing an insecure mail server. If Clinton was engaged in political liaison with foreign officials she deliberately used a private email server to avoid political detection by security elements within the US government. She lied to the US government on the use and destruction of official state documents because the documents were political exchanges between a traitor and its host. The 22 top secret reports on Special Access Programs which Clinton handled via her private computer provided foreign governments with the names and dates of US operatives and proxies; allowed for counter-responses inflicting losses of billions of dollars in program damages and possibly lost lives. The Inspector General Report (IGP) deals only with the surface misdeeds. The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) has gone a step further in identifying the political linkages, but faces enormous obstacles from Hillarys domestic allies in pursuing a criminal investigation. The FBI, whose director is a political appointee, has suffered a series of defeats in its attempts to investigate and prosecute spying to Israel, including the AIPAC espionage case of Rosen and Weismann and in their long held opposition to the release of the notorious US-Israeli spy, Jonathan Pollard. The power of the Zionists within the government halted their investigation of a dozen Israeli spies captured in the US right after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Clintons choice of conducting secret private communications, despite several years of State Department warnings to abide by their strict security regulations, is an indication of her Zionist power base, and not a mere reflection of her personal hubris or individual arrogance. Clinton has circulated more vital top-secret documents and classified material than Jonathan Pollard. President Obama and other top Cabinet officials share her political alliances, but they operate through legitimate channels and without compromising personnel, missions, funding or programs. The executive leadership now faces the problem of how to deal with a traitor, who may be the Democratic Party nominee for US President, without undermining the US quest for global power. How do the executive leadership and intelligence agencies back a foreign spy for president, who has been deeply compromised and can be blackmailed? This may explain why the FBI, NSA, and CIA hesitate to press charges; hesitate to even seriously investigate, despite the obvious nature of her offenses. Most of all it explains why there is no indication of the identity of Secretary Clintons correspondents in the various reports so far available. As Sherlock Holmes would say, We are entering in deep waters, Watson. James Petras is a Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton University, New York.
Home Sign up for our FREE Daily Email Newsletter President al-Assad: Our War On Terrorism Continues - We Will Liberate Every Inch Of Syria
By President Bashar al-Assad
June 07, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " SANA " - Damascus, SANA President Bashar al-Assad said that the Syrian people surprised the world with their unprecedented participation in the Peoples Assembly elections, sending a clear message to the world that the greater the pressure gets, the more the Syrians commit to their sovereignty.
In a speech addressing the Peoples Assembly of the 2nd legislative term on Tuesday, the President started with congratulating the Syrian people on the advent of the holy month of Ramadan, hoping that in next Ramadan Syria will have recovered.
His Excellency said that while this is not the first time he stands at the Assembly after a new parliament was elected, but this time is greatly different from the previous ones as these elections came amid great international and regional and political events and amid harsh internal circumstances that led some to expect the elections to fail or not be accomplished, or if accomplished, they would be boycotted completely by the citizens, or at best they would be met with indifference.
But what happened was the opposite, as the Syrian people surprised the world once again with their wide participation in one of the important national and constitutional events, President al-Assad said, adding the unprecedented level of participation by voters to elect their representatives at the Peoples Assembly was a clear message to the world that the greater the pressure gets, the stronger the Syrian peoples commitment to their independence becomes, and that the further others attempt to interfere in their affairs, they more they prove to be committed to the constitution as the defender of independence and the pillar of stability.
This national stance was not represented by the level of participation only, but also by the unprecedented number of candidates, who also showed a high sense of patriotism and awareness.
All of that is a big and important message to you, the representatives of this people, as this unprecedented participation, despite all the circumstances, challenges and dangers, places on you an extraordinary responsibility towards the citizens who entrusted their hopes in your hands to maintain and preserve them through hard, sincere, and honest work that should rise up to the gravity of the challenges imposed on Syria and up to this turnout and this trust the people gave you.
President al-Assad noted that just as these elections were not ordinary and the level of participation was unprecedented, this Assembly also came different from the previous ones, as the voters who are used to electing representatives showed much responsibility and awareness and a high level of understanding of the changes in the situation and the value of sacrifices.
He pointed out that in addition to the people electing representatives of their social groups, they chose and voted for candidates who lived the suffering and are willing to give, adding your Assembly this time, and for the first time, includes the injured who sacrificed a piece of their body so that the homeland can be complete, the martyrs mother or father or sister whose children sacrificed their lives in order for Syria to persist, the doctor who kept the sublime character of the profession and was considerate of the people and their economic and living conditions and so treated the citizens for free, the artist who carried a gun and defended his land and honor.
His Excellency noted that this time, the number of women, youths, and holders of higher university degrees is much greater than before.
President al-Assad said that the world is currently witnessing unusual conditions with the West seeking to preserve its grip on the world at any cost, resulting in international clashes than in turn created regional clashes between states that seek to preserve their sovereignty and independence and states that do others bidding, and this reflected on the region in general and on Syria in particular.
He elaborated by saying that these conflicts reflect on the political process in Geneva, with international, regional, and local sides, along with some who have Syrian nationalities but chose to become puppets of either the most backwards states in the world or states that dream of returning to the days of colonialism, adding but facing those traitors are another group of patriotic Syrians that are entrusted with the sacrifices of the martyrs and the wounded, and who are endeavoring through political work to preserve their land, country, and its independent decision.
The President said It is no longer secret that the essence of the political process for the regional and international countries supporting terrorism has been, since the beginning and throughout the various initiatives, aimed at undermining the presence of any concept of the homeland through hitting its core, which is the constitution, and through continuous pressure to consider it null and stop it and freeze it under different names and terms, mainly the so-called transitional stage.
And of course, through hitting the constitution, two main pillars of any state get hit: the first is the institutions, on top being the institution of the army that is the defender of the state and the guarantor of the peoples security, as they started focusing on that greatly since the start and during any talk about Syrias future and institutions. The other pillar is the diverse national, pan-Arab, and religious identity of Syria, which they started to focus on when they realized that it was the underpinning of the homelands steadfastness at the beginning of the events.
They believed that the core of their political scheme, after their plot of terrorism failed, was to hit the constitution the scheme was for terrorism to come and fully take over and be given the quality of moderation and later be given the legitimate cover, of course from the outside and not the inside. Their scheme was to undermine the constitution, and consequently create absolute chaos from which the only exit would be a sectarian, ethnic constitution that turns us from people committed to their homeland into conflicting groups that cling to their sects and seek help from strangers against their own.
The President stressed that the sectarian experiences prove that sectarian regimes turn the people of one homeland into adversaries, and when there are enemies and adversaries anywhere, then in that case each party looks for allies, and the allies in such cases wouldnt be inside Syria, or inside the homeland, and since relationships would be based on doubt, grudge, and hatred in the sectarian model, then the ally would be found in the outside.
Here is when the imperialist states come and put themselves forward as protectors of those groups, and their interference in the affairs of that homeland becomes justified and legitimate, and then they move at some point to partitioning when the partitioning scheme is ready. Therefore, and in order to consolidate their scheme, we all notice that the sectarian terms occupy a significant space in the political discourse of the terrorism-sponsoring countries, the regional and the international ones, he added, stressing that all this seeks to consecrate this concept and make it seem unquestionable or even indispensable, at which point pressure would begin on Syria to accept this logic.
His Excellency explained that just like unity starts with the unity of the people and not with geography, division also begins in the same way by dividing the people, adding since we never have and never will allow them to take Syria down that way into the abyss, we proposed at the start of Geneva 3 a paper of principles that form basis for talks with other sides.
President al-Assad said that after reaching agreement over the principles proposed by Syria, then its possible to discuss other issues like the national unity government which would draft a new constitution via a specialized committee then put it to referendum, with parliamentary elections coming after that.
He said that everyone today asks repeatedly what is your vision for the solution, explaining that the solution has two aspects: the political side and fighting terrorism.
Returning to the issue of principles, the President said principles are necessary in negotiations or talks because they need reference points, and in the case of Syria they try to say that the reference point is decision 2254, but decisions contradict themselves, like the 2012 Geneva statement that speaks of Syrias sovereignty and at the same time tries to impose a transitional body on the Syrian people.
He said that when one sets principles, they prevent sides from proposing whatever they want and define limits, and any proposition outside these principles would be considered obstruction and lack of seriousness.
I will quickly mention the basic principles proposed in the paper: Syrias sovereignty and unity, rejection of foreign interference, rejection of terrorism, supporting reconciliations, preserving establishments, lifting the siege, reconstruction, and controlling borders. There are also other points that are mentioned in the current constitution and other constitutions like cultural diversity, citizens liberties, and independence of the judiciary, and other principles. We didnt agree to any proposition outside these principles, quite simply, and this is why they refused. We didnt hear anyone saying no but there was evasion.
President al-Assad said these principles would form basis for the success of talks if there was credibility and seriousness, in addition to showing a clear vision of the mechanism of political work that would lead to a Syrian-Syrian solution, adding but actual talks, up to this moment, havent started; rather we were holding dialogue during the rounds with the international facilitator, which as I said isnt a side to negotiate with. They didnt respond to the paper of principles. Our delegation would ask about other sides reactions, and we never got an answer, which shows that those sides are reliant on their masters and it became clear that they came unwillingly and submissively to Geneva, with them beginning since the first day with making preconditions. And when they failed, they declared clearly in the last round their support of terrorism and of undermining the cessation of hostilities.
His Excellency said that the principles paper was ignored by the other sides, and instead there was a suggestion from international sides to engage in indirect talks in different rooms with the facilitator playing the mediator, which also didnt happen, adding that what was proposed was merely a number of questions under the tagline of common denominators when in fact all these questions were traps that contained terms that would harm Syrias sovereignty, safety, its establishments, or its society.
President al-Assad said that the states involved in this issue wont let the mediators or envoys work in an honest and independent manner, with officials from these states working behind the states and drafting the aforementioned questions under the assumption that the Syrian Arab Republics team of negotiators isnt well-versed in politics, but in fact the Syrian teams answers were decisive and they couldnt let any of those suspicious terms slip past them, adding in truth, for us, whoever came up with these questions, whether they were from the facilitators team or from those states, are either amateurs or novices in the world of politics.
He went on to reiterate that the other side came to Geneva against their will after their masters forced them to go, and they came yelling and went and sulked in their hotels, and once in a while their masters would instruct them to make a certain statement, and apart from all of that there were no negotiations or agenda, as the only agenda approved for them by Riyadh is the agenda of when to wake up, sleep, and eat.
Of course, when they failed to achieve what they wanted in the first time, they wanted to withdraw and hold Syria responsible, but they couldnt do that in the second time. In the last time, their response was a public declaration of supporting terrorism and stopping the truce or withdrawing from the truce or what was called the cessation of hostilities, stressing that the aftermath of that was the brutal shelling of Aleppo and the targeting of hospitals, civilians, and children by terrorists.
Although most Syrian provinces, villages, and towns have suffered and still suffer from terrorism, and they resisted it and still do, Erdogans fascist regime has always focused on Aleppo because for him its the only hope for its Muslim Brotherhood project after he failed in Syria and after his criminal and extremist nature was exposed to the world, and also because Aleppos people refused to be a pawn and a tool in the hand of strangers and they resisted and persevered and remained in Aleppo, defending it and defending the homeland, adding that Aleppo will be the graveyard where the dreams and hopes of the butcher Erodgan will be buried.
The President went on to note that in addition to what happened in Aleppo, terrorism continued to strike, with massacres in al-Zara and barbaric bombings in Tartous and Jableh, with terrorists trying in vain to incite strife in Syria, because all Syrians are brothers in life and in martyrdom who cling to life, steadfastness, and victory.
In this context, the issue that was proposed constantly during the past few months was the issue of truce. Many of us hold the truce responsible for all that is happening. Lets talk objectively here; nothing in this world is absolute except divine ability, and for us humans everything is relative. The truce, like anything else, if is positive then it has negative points, and if its negative it has positive points. In all cases, this truce doesnt cover all areas in Syria in order for us to burden it with the negativities, he said, adding that the truce resulted in many reconciliations that prevented a lot of bloodshed of Syrian civilians and armed forces, in addition to having benefits on the international levels that wont be discussed now.
On the military level, it allowed for concentrating military efforts in specific directions and realize achievements, and the first proof is liberating Palmyra shortly after the beginning of this truce and after it al-Qaryatain, and in the Ghouta of Damascus several areas were liberated of course, the President said, adding that some of those areas were liberated in these months in much less than it would have taken to liberate them otherwise.
He explained that the problem with the truce is that it was reached with international consensus and with the agreement of the State, but there was no commitment by the US side in particular to the terms of this truce, and the US turned a blind eye to the actions of its Saudi and Turkish agents in the region.
President al-Assad noted that the Saudis openly declared their support for terrorism more than once, and Turkey openly sends terrorists across the borders to the northern areas in Syria, all while the Americans turn a blind eye to these practices, stressing that Erdogan, who caused chaos by sending forces into Iraq, blackmailed the Europeans with the refugees issue, and sent thousands of terrorists to Aleppo recently, has been reduced to a political bully or hoodlum.
They werent content with the terrorism of explosives and shells; they also backed it with economic terrorism through sanctions against Syria and through pressuring the Syrian Pound with the goal of economic collapse and bringing the people to their knees, the President said, noting that despite all difficulties the Syrian economy is still withstanding, with recent monetary steps proving the possibility of standing up to pressure and reducing the damage its caused and stabilizing the Syrian Pound.
His Excellency said that this will probably be a priority for the Assembly and for the new government that will be formed as per the constitution, explaining that the issue of the Syrian Pound is linked to the effect of terrorism in terms of its attacks on infrastructure and economic facilities, cutting off roads between cities, scaring off capitals, and the peoples reaction in general to terrorism.
President al-Assad pointed out that addressing with the Syrian Pound is a short-term issue, while the long-term issue is economy which was affected by the crisis in various ways, with some investors suspending their projects at the beginning in hopes of things returning to normal, while others continued with their work.
He stressed that what is needed for the sustainability of support the Syrian Pound and the economy is for investors to carry out projects regardless of their scales and for the government to look into laws and legislations to strengthen the economy, noting that after five years of the crisis, Syrians now have experience in how to deal with the current situation and dont have to start from the beginning.
The terrorism of economy and the terrorism of explosives and massacres and shells are one and the same, so I assure you that our war against terrorism continues, not because we like wars, because they imposed war on us, but the bloodshed wont end until terrorism is uprooted no matter where it is and regardless of the masks it wears.
Just like we liberated Palmyra and many other areas before it, we will liberate every inch of Syria from their grasp. We have no choice other than victory, or else there wont be a Syria and out children will not have a present or a future, President al-Assad affirmed, noting that this doesnt mean excluding the political track, explaining we will continue working on the political track no matter how slim the possibilities of realizing and achievement are, and this is based on the strong desire on the popular and official levels to stop bloodshed and destruction and to save the country. However, any political process that doesnt begin, continue, and end with eliminating terrorism is meaningless and will not produce results.
His Excellency reiterated his call for everyone who decided to bear arms for any reason to join reconciliations, because the path of terrorism only leads to destroying Syria and the loss of its people without exception.
The President addressed the Army and Armed Forces and the supporting forces, saying that no words can do them justice as they are the reasons why Syria persists, saluting them and their families and their comrades who were martyred or injured.
The defeat of terrorism must be realized as long as there are states like Iran, Russia, and China that support the Syrian people and stand by righteousness and assist the wronged in the face of the wrongdoer, President al-Assad said, thanking these states for their firm positions and for respecting their principles and supporting peoples right to self-determination.
Here I hope that we dont pay any heed to what is proposed in media about disputes and clashes and divisions. Things are much more firm than before and the vision is much clearer. Dont worry; things are good in this track, he added.
The President also thanked the Lebanese resistance for the help it provided in fighting terrorism in Syria and saluted its fallen heroes.
Addressing the Assembly members, His Excellency said that they are faced with serious tasks and major challenges, and while the sacrifices of Syrian heroes who gave their lives for their country is part the price of restoring security, triumphing over terrorism, reclaiming land, and rebuilding Syria, then the other part of that price is fighting corruption, chaos, and unlawful actions.
These heroes gave their lives in defense of the land and the people and of the country with its constitution, establishments, and law. The price we have to pay is preserving the constitution, preserving establishments and developing them, consecrating justice and equal opportunities. These heroes gave their lives to restore the homeland whole and intact. The homeland whole is made up of all these elements together, so live up to their sacrifices, be as the people hope you to be. Your mission isnt just a duty entrusted to you by the voters; it is also a duty entrusted to you by the martyrs and the wounded and bereaved mothers and all those who offered their blood, money, intellect, and position to protect their homeland. It is a great and serious duty, so let us all bear it together and live up to it. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load. What's your response? - Scroll down to add / read comments Sign up for our FREE Daily Email Newsletter For Email Marketing you can trust Donate
Please read our Comment Policy before posting - It is unacceptable to slander, smear or engage in personal attacks on authors of articles posted on ICH. Those engaging in that behavior will be banned from the comment section.
The Iraq Chilcot Inquiry, Apology from Alleged War Criminal Tony Blair.
UK Government Shameful U-Turn By Felicity Arbuthnot June 07, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - Its really 19th century behavior in the 21st century. You dont just invade another country on phony pretexts in order to assert your interests. (John Kerry, Meet the Press, 2nd March 2014.) If a week is a long time in politics, a quote attributed to British Prime Minister Harold Wilson (1964-1970 and 1974-1976) under David Camerons tenure a man who has been kicked into myriad U-turns over feckless, reckless decisions - a day is an age. On 3rd June it was announced that a free summary of the long awaited Iraq Inquiry (Nov 24th 2009 to 2ndFeb 2011) Chaired by Sir John Chilcot is to be finally released on 6th July and to be given free to the families of the Iraq invasions 179 British victims. The summary costs 30, the hard copy of the full 2.6 million word Report a staggering 767. The families would have to foot the bill for the latter themselves. The Inquiry has cost the British taxpayers ten million, with Sir John Chilcot during his various and complex work since, garnering 790 a day, also courtesy of the taxpayer. As the Independent points out (3rd June 2016): The process of drawing up the final Report has been beset by years of delays. The most recent substantial delay came during the so-called Maxwellisation process where people criticised in the report are given an opportunity to respond. A mind bending concession to alleged war criminals. Whilst: A spokesperson for the Inquiry said the free summary given to the families of the wars British victims would be substantial (Independent, 3rd June) to those whose sons and daughters lives were sacrificed for a swathe of mistruths, mega-incompetence and alleged illegalities, only every word, line, chapter and verse of the Report will do. Also, the summary would only go to immediate families, not relatives. Yes, the Report will be on line, but for those wishing to study in depth, hard copies are vital. And what would it cost even in ink cartriges and paper to download twelve volumes? The bereaved families responded with fury, demanding that Tony Blair pay for their copies. For a man who has made up to to an estimated hundred million, the gesture of a mere 137,293 the cost of 179 copies to those who have given their children for his assertions of Saddam Husseins non-existent weapons of mass destruction which could strike the West in forty five minutes etc., would be a minimal price to pay. It would be small change in Blair-land. Perhaps he could sign each one, with a dedication. It would surely read something like: Within these volumes you will find all my justifications for involving our great country in the invasion of Iraq. I took the view, which I still passionately believe, as I said at the time on national television it was the right thing to do, morally and legally. In making you this gift of the Report I would like to say that I am truly sorry for your loss. Our great country is indebted through the sacrifice of your child who, by obeying orders and upholding my deeply held conviction that the Middle East would be a better place, which of course is the case. I also take the view that there was no need for any Inquiry or shameful pointing of fingers at myself or my government, intelligence agencies or military. As my friend Madeleine Albright expressed so eloquently some years ago, there are times when the lives of the children of others are a hard choice but the price is worth it. As I said on television just prior to the invasion I know Im right. I still do. May my words be of some comfort to you in your grief. However, back to reality. Rose Gentle whose nineteen year old son Gordon was killed in Basra said of the denial of the full Report: Its disgusting Why should we have to pay have we not paid enough times with the lives of our sons? The families should get a free copy of this, we have paid the cost with their deaths (The Guardian, 3rd June 2016.) Roger Bacon, whose son Major Matthew Bacon was killed in 2005 said: we have already paid with our childrens lives. Emily Thornberry, the Shadow Defence Secretary, stated that it was grotesque and offensive that families should be asked to pay to read the findings. Indeed. In respect of those who died in Iraq, they have suffered first the terrible loss of their loved ones, then the lengthy delay for an Inquiry to be launched, then the even lengthier delay for that report to be published. Do not now add insult to these already grievous injuries by making them pay to read that Report. (1) Liberal Democrat Leader, Tim Farron wrote to the MoD demanding they give free copies to bereaved families on request: It is unbelievable that after all these years of waiting, of stalling and uncertainty, we now find out that the families will have to pay for a copy of the Report Families who have waited years, mother and fathers who have fought to have this Report see the light of day, should not have to pay for this The government now needs to provide some form of closure to the victims of this illegal war. (Emphasis added.) U-TURN. By the end of the day on 3rd June, after the furore from cross party MPs, the families and the public, No 10 Downing Street put out a statement saying that there was: no question of families of service personnel who died in Iraq having to pay for copies of the Chilcot Report. Better shamefully late, than never. Yet in all this, no government, Ministry of Defence (MoD) or relevant official has mentioned the disabled, limbless, chronically ill, resultant from the invasion. They and their families are forgotten, invisible, not to even get the summary free. Reported casualties are 5,970, but the total figures have not been released by the MoD. There are those who came back from this disaster built on a lie with no arms and no legs, brain damaged, others generally incapacitated by mega, but lesser limb loss and trauma. During the conflicts in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been reticent in publishing details of British casualties states Casualty Monitor (2) who also state: there are still serious problems with the accuracy and incompleteness of the information they release. In other words the MoD, to use Sir Robert Armstrongs memorable quote to an Australian Court in 1986, is economical with the truth. Moreover, numbers of Field Hospital admissions and the very seriously injured requiring Aero-medical evacuations were simply not available from the MoD during 2003, 2004 and 2005. See last chart at (2.) In a further venture into fantasy land, the probably two million Iraqi families bereaved between the embargo and the invasion surely deserve a copy courtesy Mr I know Im right Blair. Meanwhile in Iraq, Bush and Blairs body count continues thirteen years and 5 weeks after Mission accomplished, declared on USS Abraham Lincoln, 1st May 2003, by George W. Bush. According to the United Nations at least 741 Iraqis, including more than 400 civilians, were killed and 1,374 wounded in April this year alone, due to the ongoing violence a monthly nightmare which in pre-invasion Iraq was unthinkable. However, back to the Iraq Report as an astute Facebook friend commented: To those looking forward to reading the Chilcot report, the one paid for by your taxes, I hope you have saved your pennies up. Classic British Government. You might have paid for it once but you have to pay for it a few more times before you can actually have it. Another commented: Only Tony Blair will be able to afford it. Further input redundant. Notes: 1. http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/03/chilcot-report-iraq-war-soldiers-families-free-copy-david-cameron-intervenes 2. http://www.casualty-monitor.org/p/iraq.html With thanks to writer Lesley Docksey for inspired angle for Tony Blairs apology. The original source of this article is Global Research Copyright Felicity Arbuthnot, Global Research, 2016
Netanyahu Frets Over How To tackle French Peace Plan
By Jonathan Cook
June 07, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " The National " - In a familiar muddying of the waters, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spent the past week talking up peace while fiercely criticising Fridays summit in France the only diplomatic initiative on the horizon.
As foreign ministers from 29 nations arrived for a one-day meeting in Paris, Mr Netanyahu dusted off the tired argument that any sign of diplomatic support for Palestinians would encourage from them extreme demands".
France hopes the meeting will serve as a prelude to launching a peace process later in the year. French president Francois Hollande said he hoped to achieve a peace [that] will be solid, sustainable and under international supervision".
With astounding chutzpah, Israeli official Dore Gold compared the summit to the height of colonialism" a century ago, when Britain and France carved up the Middle East between them.
Earlier, Mr Netanyahu and his new defence minister, the far-right Avigdor Lieberman, had publicly committed themselves to an unceasing search for a path to peace".
In a two-minute interview on CNN, spokesman David Keyes managed to mention the formula two states for two peoples" no less than five times.
Rather than the French initiative, Mr Netanyahu averred, Israelis and Palestinians should be left to engage in the kind of face-to-face talks without preconditions" that have repeatedly failed. That is because Israel, as the much stronger party, has been able to void them by imposing its own conditions.
Mr Netanyahu, it seems, is keen on any peace process, just so long as its not the current one launched in Paris.
Part of the reason for bringing Mr Lieberman into the government was to provide more diplomatic wriggle room. With Mr Lieberman cementing Mr Netanyahus credentials with the far-right, he is now free to spout vague platitudes about peace knowing that his coalition partners are unlikely to take him at his word and bolt the government.
But while the domestic front has been secured, rumbles of dissent reverberate abroad.
Europe is increasingly fearful that an emboldened Israeli government may soon annex all or major parts of the West Bank, stymying any hope of creating even a severely truncated Palestinian state.
The Paris conference is a sign of the mounting desperation in Europe to restrain Israel.
While France is not about to engineer a breakthrough, Mr Netanyahu is nonetheless worried.
It is the first time Israel has faced being dragged into talks not presided over by its Washington patron. That risks setting a dangerous precedent.
Although US secretary of state John Kerry attended, he was decidedly cool towards the summit. Yet Mr Netanyahu worries that this time Washington may not be able or willing to watch his back.
If the conference leads to talks later in the year, that will be when Barack Obama is preparing to bow out as president. Mr Netanyahu is afraid of surprises. Israeli officials have been in near-panic that Mr Obama may seek payback for the years of humiliation he endured from Mr Netanyahu.
One way might be for Washington to agree to French oversight of the talks, following a tight timetable and establishing diplomatic teams" to solve final-status issues.
Even if negotiations fail, as seems inevitable, parameters for future talks might be established.
Mr Netanyahu also knows that the wider atmosphere is likely to leave him singled out as the intransigent party.
A report by the Quartet, due soon, is expected to criticise Israel for its past failure to take steps towards peace. And a report last week by a joint team of US and Israeli defence experts suggested Israels security concerns" about Palestinian statehood are not as intractable as claimed.
Mr Netanyahu wants instead to deflect attention to a regional peace summit". The key has been Egypts support for a revival of direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, based on the Arab Peace Plan of 2002. It promised Israel normal relations with the Arab world in return for ending the occupation.
Israels sudden interest in the plan is odd, given that it has not been discussed in cabinet since the Saudis unveiled it 14 years ago.
In truth, Mr Netanyahu backs the idea because he knows reaching a region-wide agreement would be impossible with the Middle East in turmoil.
Israeli officials have already insisted that parts of the 2002 plan need updating". Israel, for example, wants sovereignty over the Golan, Syrian territory it seized in 1967, and which currently promises newfound oil riches.
At the summit, the Saudi foreign minister said Israeli efforts to water down" the plan would be opposed. Egyptian officials have hurried to distance themselves from the Netanyahu proposal and throw their weight behind the Paris process.
Still, Israel will try to ride out the French initiative until Mr Obamas successor is installed next year. Then, Mr Netanyahu hopes, he can forget about the threat of two states once and for all.
Nigerias immediate Past President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, delivered a speech at the Bloomberg Studios in London, United Kingdom on June 6, 2016.
The speech was titled Civis Nigerianus Sum I am a citizen of Nigeria. INFORMATION NIGERIA brings you 4 things Jonathan said he did for Nigeria you probably never knew.
1.His political ambition was not worth the blood of one Nigerian; The reason why on March16th, 2015, just after the election, when the results were still being collated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Jonathan said he called his opponent, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) to concede, in order to avoid any conflict and ensure a peaceful transition of power.
2.Broke a record; That phone call to Buhari made him the first elected Nigerian leader to willingly hand over power via the ballot box, to the opposition party, without contesting the election outcome.
3.Job creation; He revealed that his administration took many steps to curtail the scourge of unemployment, in the areas of Finance, agriculture and petroleum. To take just one example, he said they drastically reduced corruption in the agricultural sector with the help of a simple mobile phone by by providing an e-wallet to farmers which grew the percentage of registered farmers receiving subsidy from 11% to 94%. And in the process they were also able to save billions of naira in fertiliser subsidies.
4.Built universities; He stated that his administration established a Federal University in every one of the 12 States that did not previously have them. Therefore, for the first time in our countrys history, every state has a university established by the Federal Government.
As preparations for the June 18 governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Edo State reaches top gear, an aspirant of the party, Don Pedro Obaseki, has announced his withdrawal from the race.
Mr. Obaseki, who made the announcement on Monday, claimed that information at his disposal indicate that the governorship primaries would be anything but free and fair.
The governorship aspirant, who ruled out contesting on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said he will make public his next destination after consulting with his supporters.
Addressing journalists in Benin City, the Edo State capital, Obaseki, who is also another APC governorship aspirant, Godwin Obasekis nephew, alleged that the sum of N600 million has been set aside to in his words bribe the about 3,000 delegates to the primaries to vote for a particular aspirant.
He said: I am undoubtedly running for, and shall contest the 2016 Edo governorship election slated for September 10, 2016.
I have lost faith in the APC primaries process. Unfortunately, I was in Abuja on Thursday and I stumbled on a document that I cannot divulge to the public for security reasons that makes it clear that all those who are buying or who had bought their forms to contest the primaries of the APC are wasting their time.
As an academic and someone who is guided by thesis antithesis and syntheses, I elected to withdraw my intention to contest the primaries of APC, I will not tell you that I am no longer a member of the APC but I am more interested in being an E.D.O. (Empower, Develop and Opportunities) man than an APC man, I will rather be an EDO man than being a PDP. I am not running for the election as an APC candidate anymore, I am running for the election as EDO candidate on September 10.
I have therefore, embarked on wide consultations with my immediate and extended family, supporters, friends and well-wishers and I wont advise any of the aspirants to pay the whole sum of N5,500,000 for the expression of interest, and nomination forms of the APC. The coming primaries of APC will be the most expensive in our history because there are plans to bribe the about 3,000 delegates with N200,000 each.
The South East zonal chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has accused the Peoples Democratic Party, in the zone of conniving with agents of disunity to hoodwink the people by inciting them to revolt against the Federal Government using the Indigenous People of Biafra, (IPOB).
The South East APC also warned clerics in the zone to desist from making inciting and provocative statements against the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government, saying the people are tired of war in Igbo land.
The South East APC made this position known in a statement issued on Monday in Enugu by its spokesperson, Hyacinth Ngwu.
According to the statement: We have taken notice of inciting and provocative statements by officers and agents of PDP in the South East in recent times, using false group names and sometimes masquerading as IPOB sympathizers to misinform and hoodwink our people by inciting them against the Federal Government led by APC.
Their sole aim was to bring the Federal Government to public hatred, contempt, ridicule or disrepute particularly in the South East zone, so as to divert attention from the agenda of the government to fully recover looted public funds and set our economy to a self-sustaining mode. This is quite unfortunate and we stand tall in condemning these acts of sabotage and deception.
These series of unwarranted attacks against the Federal Government by these agents have been carried to a disturbing level and are the reasons for the pockets of civil disturbances in the South East in recent times. PDP and their agents should learn to play fair politics rather than destructive politics.
They should learn to criticize policies constructively with a view to deepening our democracy and building a strong economy that will see many of our people out of poverty threshold, rather than fabricating lies with a view to hoodwinking our people, inciting them to violence and destroying our economic base. The clergy should not be drawn into politics with bitterness.
They should as a matter of fact, be peace-agents and not otherwise. Inciting and provocative statements are like ill wind. It blows nobody any good. Nothing compares to peace and dialogue.
We have had enough of marginalization; confrontation is not the answer. It is not the key. PDP with its array of prominent Igbo failed woefully in addressing the issues in their 16 years of reign in power.
Our roads and other infrastructures were neglected and abandoned. Contracts were awarded and recklessly abandoned. We cannot afford another war in the South East. And we cannot ask the Federal Government not to ask for refund of looted public funds. We understand their antics. They should please leave us alone, to be part of this Change Agenda so that we can benefit maximally from it and re-establish our major stakeholder ship in the Nigerian community. We are Nigerians.
Our people are true democrats. We hereby call on our people to show this by promoting the tenets of democracy and the rule of law. We should shun any political tendencies that preach disunity and hatred amongst us, and between us and other tribes or regions in the country.
It is time we told the PDP and their agents that being in opposition is not synonymous with abuse of and or making exciting, inciting and provocative statements against the government and a hysterical wolf crying. Politics should be played with the interest of the masses in the fore-front. We must liberate our people politically and economically. And the time is now and in AP
We urge our people to embrace this present administration with peaceful disposition and dialogue as ways to bridge the huge infrastructural gap and economic woes inflicted and perpetuated on the South-East by the previous Federal Governments in Nigeria. We should reciprocate President Buharis love to us, the Igbo.
It was President Buharis love to us that made him pick on his first and second trial to the Presidency, late Senator Chuba Okadigbo and Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, two prominent sons of Igbo land, as his running-mates respectively in 2003 and 2007.
And currently our eminent personalities are occupying vantage positions in his administration to bring about the desired change we needed in the South East.
Following weeks of sustained destruction of oil and gas installations in the Niger Delta by militant groups, President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the military to suspend operations in the region for two weeks to allow for de-escalation of tension and avenue for dialogue with the aggrieved groups.
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, made this known on Monday in Abuja.
The minister said the president is determined to explore the dialogue option with a view to restoring genuine peace in the Niger Delta region, which has seen tension build up in the last two months owing to activities of the Niger Delta Avengers.
Amid an economic crises, the Avengers have made good their threat to bring the country to its knees as Nigerias oil production tumbled from 2.2 million barrels a day to about 1.6 million barrels.
Just last week, two oil firms operating in Nigeria said they lost 140,000 barrels of crude daily as a result of attack on their facilities by the militants.
At about $48 per barrel, the two operators lost an estimated $6.72 million (N1.3 billion) daily to the attacks.
Determined to put a stop to the nefarious activities of the Niger Delta Avengers, which is hurting the already bleeding economy, Mr. Kachikwu said President Buhari has mandated the military to halt actions for about two weeks to ensure a team that will be led by the NSA, Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno (retd.) dialogues with the militants to ensure peace in the region.
While stressing that the president is genuinely interested in dialogue with the aggrieved militants, the minister pointed out that The avenue is open for them, provided the militants are willing to embrace dialogue and allow truth to reign because we are going to involve key leaders from the region who have had previous experience in that area to play whatever role they can.
Speaking at the handover ceremony of Federal Polytechnic of Oil and Gas to the Federal Ministry of Education, Kachikwu stated that the Federal Government was not just committed to securing oil and gas installations but the lives and property of people in the region.
According to Kachikwu, the Monguno team will consist of top officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, service chiefs and ministers from the Niger Delta.
The minister said the nation needed peace in oil production now than ever, given the circumstances currently facing the economy.
However, Kachikwu expressed hope that the dialogue would yield positive results and get Nigeria back to maximum production as the country was currently producing about 1.6mbpd, about 600,000 barrels, short of the 2.2mbpd production target of the 2016 budget.
The Nigerian Navy has announced the arrest of a suspected coordinator of the multiple attacks on oil and gas facilities in the creeks of Delta state.
The suspect was paraded yesterday alongside some other suspects by the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Delta in Warri.
Also paraded by the navy command were six other suspects arrested for other crimes, including one of the alleged killers of some security personnel and civilians at Batan community, Warri South-West council area of Delta state, on April 30.
Addressing a press conference at the base of the command in Warri, the Commander, NNS Delta, Commodore Raimi Mohammed, described the arrest of the suspected coordinator of the attacks on all the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) facilities in the state as a major success, expressing optimism that the development would curtail further attacks on facilities in the area.
Mohammed, who declined mentioning the name of the arrested suspects, particularly the three major ones, said the feat was made possible by the collaborative efforts of other law enforcement agencies.
He said: Today (Monday), I am pleased to announce that after several weeks of persistent efforts, the Nigerian Navy, in collaboration with other security agencies, has arrested the main coordinator of attacks on NNPC and Chevron oil and gas facilities that we have witnessed since May 4, 2016, with the attack on Chevrons Okan valve platform, offshore Escravos.
This arrest came after weeks of trailing and arrest of his foot-soldiers. It is important to mention that the suspect is also deeply involved in pipeline vandalism for stealing crude oil. He steals crude oil from about 35 abandoned oil well-heads and crude oil pipelines in Okpoko and Obodo in Warri South-West council area of Delta state. The Nigerian Navy believes with the arrest of this suspect, the attacks on Chevron/NNPC oil and gas facilities will abate.
The Navy commander further said the command was still on the trail of the suspects collaborators and foot-soldiers, who are now at large, adding that material used in blowing up and oil and gas installations in the region, had been recovered.
Commodore Mohammed further revealed that a key arrest had also been made in the attack on the Shell Petroleum Development Companys (SPDC) crude export pipeline in Forcados last week.
In response to the question if the key arrests had led to breakthroughs in identifying those behind the Niger Delta Avengers, the Navy chief said his concern was not about names of persons or groups, but about the actual persons involved in the attack on the nations economy, which he said had been deduced through painstaking investigations.
The All Progressives Congress in Edo State has reacted to allegations that some party leaders were buying up Permanent Voters Cards, PVCs, from delegates ahead of the June 18 governorship primaries in the state.
Two aspirants on the platform of the APC, Chris Ogiemwonyi and Godwin Obaseki on Monday traded accusations over an allegation that a serving member of the House of Representatives, Philip Shuaibu, was buying the PVCs from delegates on behalf of Mr. Obaseki.
Mr. Ogiemwonyi, who called on the Inspector General of Police to arrest the lawmaker, said the issue was of serious concern to him because delegates, who would eventually choose the APC flag bearer for the September 10, 2016 governorship election in Edo, would only be admitted to the venue of the primaries using PVCs and delegates list.
Reacting to the development, the Edo APC confirmed that some party leaders were indeed buying each delegates PVC for amount ranging between N10,000 and N20,000 without explanation on what they intend to do with them.
The State Publicity Secretary of the party, Comrade Godwin Erhahon, who made this known in a press statement in Benin, on Tuesday, accused some unnamed local government area party chairmen of threatening to delete from the delegates list, names of those that refused to part with their PVCs.
Erhahon warned those involved in the act of buying PVC to desist or face sanctions.
He also advised delegates who have submitted their PVC to any party leader to retrieve them.
According to statement, No one can delete any name from the delegate list as the authentic list has been released to stakeholders by the National Secretariat.
Delegates whose PVCs are withheld by anybody should forward written protest to the national secretariat urgently and copy the Director of State Security Service, Benin City.
The purpose is to distribute the cards to loyalist of the particular aspirant to impersonate the delegate at the primary. Edo APC hereby calls on the national leadership of the party to be pro-active and ensure that desperados do not succeed in their plot against the party.
Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose, on Tuesday, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for opting to negotiate with the especially the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) and suspend military action.
A statement issued by Fayoses Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka quoted the governor to have said the Niger Delta region as at today is still the golden goose laying the golden eggs on which all other regions are surviving and it will be suicidal for military action to be sustained against the militants.
Fayose had last week advised President Buhari to dialogue with the Niger Delta Militants, saying he was happy that for the first time, the President took to advice and suspended military actions in the Niger Delta and opted to dialogue with the militants.
Governor Fayose called on members of the negotiation committee to see the assignment given to them as one that is highly important to the revival of the countrys economy, saying that they should not act in anyway that will suggest that they were not sincere.
He noted that the hardline approach of President Buhari had already cost Nigeria billions of dollars in revenue, adding that; If our daily crude oil production of 2.2 million barrels per day had been sustained, Nigeria would have been having savings in the Excess Crude Account by now.
Crude oil bench mark is $38 per barrel while the oil is now being sold at $50 per barrel, meaning that we would have been having $12 per barrel saved in the Excess Crude Account.
The Federal Government on Tuesday sounded a note of warning to employers in the financial sector, especially banks, saying it would not hesitate to withdraw the operating license of any bank or telecommunication company that ignores its directive to stop mass sack of workers.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, expressed shock that his directive last Friday to banks to suspend the ongoing mass retrenchment of employees pending a stakeholders meeting scheduled for next month, was disregarded.
There were reports on Tuesday that 200 staff of Skye Bank were given sack letters.
The development did not go down well with the minister, who warned that government would not sit back and watch companies sack workers without recourse to laid down procedures.
Mr. Ngige stressed that it was governments duty to protect jobs in this harsh economy.
Speaking to Nigerian journalists on the sidelines of the ongoing 105th session of the International Labour Congress, ILC, in Geneva, Switzerland, the Minister, who earlier delivered a speech at the ILO National Assembly, said We will go a step further if they continue. We know what to do. After all, the banks have the licenses given by the government.
We know what to do. They need to comply. They need to come to the negotiation table. We did (halted the spate of sack to hold a stakeholders meeting) that in the oil industry and we succeeded. Even if you are going to lay off, there is a way to declare redundancy, there is a process.
According to Ngige, a former senator, Section 20 of the Labour Act says it. You must call the unions and discuss with them. You dont just treat them as slaves in their own country and you want us to keep quiet.
He stressed that the only way to avoid government sanctions was for the recalcitrant banks to maintain the status quo, vowing that as long as he remains minister of labour and employment, I will protect the interest of workers.
The minister stated that the directive applied to telecommunication companies, who he accused of compiling sack lists without discussing with anybody.
Flash floods have been reported in France and Germany but London is the latest to be hit!
SEE ALSO: flash Floods in France And Germany
40mm of rain in just under an hour turned a street in South East London to something of a river.
Several cars were left submerged as the London fire Brigade was called in to rescue three people who were trapped in their cars.
Thankfully, no casualties were reported in todays incident.
The Director General of the Kano State Zakkat and Endowment Board, Alhaji Sufiyanu Gwagwarwa says it has collected over N7 million as Zakkat (alms) from wealthy Muslims in the state for onward distribution to the poor.
As at last week, the collection committee has over N7 million which it collected from wealthy Muslims in the city, Gwagwarwa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano on Tuesday.
He explained that the Board had already requested for permission from Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje to disburse the proceeds to the poor.
The essence of collecting the Zakkat is to assist the poor to alleviate their sufferings, particularly during the Ramadan fast.
So, as soon as approval is given, we shall start distributing the money to less privileged people in the state, he said.
He advised wealthy Muslims to pay their Zakkat to enable the Board to disburse same to the needy in society.
The immediate past governor of Kogi State, Capt. Idris Wada, has rejected the verdict of the Kogi governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja, which on Tuesday, dismissed his petition challenging the emergence of Alhaji Yahaya Bello as governor of the state.
Mr. Wada contested for a second term on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but lost to Bello, who was the substitute candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the December 5, 2015 supplementary election.
However, Mr. Wada challenged the outcome of the polls and declaration of Bello as governor, alleging gross irregularities and substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
He also asked the tribunal to determine whether Mr. Bello was qualified to be declared governor-elect even though he did not take part in all the electoral processes that led to the supplementary poll.
The former Kogi governor said the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, contravened the electoral law by accepting to allow the APC submit Bellos name as replacement for its former candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu, who passed away before the announcement of the election result.
He also argued that Mr. Bello went into the supplementary poll without a valid running-mate as provided in the Constitution.
In a ruling on Tuesday, Chairman of the three-member Tribunal, Justice Halima Mohammed dismissed Wadas petition, saying he lacked the locus standi to challenge the process that produced Mr. Bello as the APC candidate.
Mrs. Mohammed said Mr. Bellos nomination was in line with the Electoral Act and that Mr. Wada not being a member of the APC, had no right to challenge the process.
Mr. Wada had also prayed in his petition that the tribunal reject the nomination of Mr. Bello as a replacement for the late Audu because it was done outside the 21-day period allowed by the Electoral Act.
To this, the tribunal ruled that the 21-day period for the substitution of candidate did not apply in the matter since Mr. Bello is a member of the APC and having come second in the primary election earlier conducted by the party.
On the former governors argument that Faleke did not submit a letter to INEC withdrawing as running mate to Bello and for the APC to make a substitution within the time provided by law, Justice Mohammed held that Falekes letter was submitted late to the electoral umpire because of the exigencies of the time.
She also reiterated her judgment on Monday in which the tribunal dismissed Falekes petition against Bello that votes cast in an election are for political parties not individuals.
In his reaction, Wada said he would appeal the tribunal ruling.
He said that as a believer in the countrys judiciary, he will challenge the decision at the appellate court.
Speaking through his media aide, Jacob Edi, the former governor said: We believe in the judiciary and we still have confidence in the judiciary of the country. Since the law of the land provides that we can still move ahead to a higher court, we will utilise the opportunities available to us.
We know that the judiciary is the last hope of the common man, so we are definitely going to file our appeal and we are confident of getting judgment.
Transportation Minister, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, Tuesday, assured Nigerians that the proposed Lagos-Ibadan segment of the Lagos-Kano rail line project will be ready and operational within the next two and half years.
According to Amaechi, the Port Harcourt-Calabar rail line will also be ready within the same ready.
The minister made this known at a maiden lecture series, themed; Migrating workforce: the challenges of mass transportation, organised by the Lagos Traffic Radio (96.1 FM), at Lagos Television, LTV, ground, Ikeja. He said the aim is to reduce the current pressure on road infrastructure with resultant accidents and avoidable loss of lives.
Amaechi also disclosed that the federal government plans to open up the rail transportation system to the active participation of the private sector. He said a bill to realise this has been forwarded to the National Assembly and currently receiving consideration.
The minister said the plan is to ultimately ensure that the rail system takes the centre stage in the nations public transportation system, with the private sector playing a pivotal role, unlike in the past where rail transportation was exclusive to the public sector.
Speaking further, Amaechi said there are also plans to further open up the maritime space for private sector involvement. He disclosed that proposals had been received from entities indicating interest to ply the water transportation system, and called on the Lagos State Government to take advantage of the open window by partnering with the federal in the development of the inland waterways.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has moved a step closer towards restoring the peace in its fold as the Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee formally took over the affairs of the party on Tuesday.
The immediate past Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus, performed the handing over on behalf of the dissolved National Working Committee at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja under the guidance of the Board of Trustees.
The Caretaker Committee is to run the affairs of the PDP until a national convention is held to elect new set of party leaders.
The formal hand over was sequel to a meeting held Monday night at the Ondo State Governors Lodge in Abuja in which the BoT, Makarfi group, the Concerned Stakeholders led by former Information Minister, Prof. Jerry Gana as well as some members of the immediate past NWC, under Ali Modu Sheriff, agreed to work together.
We are here to formally hand over to the caretaker committee appointed by the convention and we assure you that all politics is local, our leaders must go back to the grassroots, it is not enough to be in Abuja, Mr. Secondus said.
We no longer have government, we no longer have security forces, we dont have money, and so what matters now is the grassroots; the popularity of the leaders to be able to deliver.
Prior to his formal taking over as caretaker chairman of the PDP, Makarfi, a former governor of Kaduna State and two-term senator, had told the press at the end of Monday nights meeting that Mr. Sheriff would have been part of the gathering but for his trip abroad.
A former Chief of Air Staff, Mohammed Umar, who is being tried on a seven-count charge of laundering N4.8 billion has asked for an out-of-court settlement.
At the resumed hearing on Tuesday, Mr. Umars Counsel, Hassan Liman, informed the court of moves by his client to have the matter settled out of court.
Mr. Liman disclosed that his client has had several meetings with officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and a formal letter addressed to the Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, dated June 6, had already been dispatched.
Mr. Liman, therefore urged the court to grant an adjournment to enable them proceed with the out-of-court settlement in spite of the fact that the matter had been set down for trial but the prosecuting counsel, however, insisted that the out-of-court settlement was not a ground to stop trial since it was not a civil matter.
Justice Nyako, however adjourned the matter till June 16 for commencement of trial on the ground that the condition precedent for trial had not been met by the defence as the defence ought to have filed a summary of defence for the trial to commence.
Punch
The former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Uche Secondus on Tuesday, formally handed the reigns of authority to the Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee.
Vanguard
AbujaFormer President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, defended his governments record on fighting corruption and denied his successors assertion that the countrys Treasury was left empty when he handed over power last year.
The Sun
Lilian Chinyere Douglas-Ezeugo, a Computer Science graduate, needed a job so desperately that she chased prospective employers to Ikoyi-Lekki bridge with a placard in her hands. Not even her recent meeting and executive handshake with the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, few weeks later could fetch her a job.
Thisday
Releasing the names of persons from whom the federal government recovered looted funds and assets may jeopardise ongoing investigations, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) has said.
Daily Times
Guardian
Following the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) inability to investigate and take action against its staff, who allegedly assaulted a member of the House of Representatives at the premises of National Assembly in April this year, the victim, Onyemaechi Joan Mrakpor has filed a N4.4 billion suit against the service.
Daily Trust
The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, said the National Assembly will amend the Electoral Act before the end of the year to strengthen the countrys electoral process.
Leadership
Ahead of the June 18 governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Edo State, two aspirants on the partys platform have disagreed over alleged buying up of Permanent Voters Cards of some delegates of the APC.
While Chris Ogiemwonyi, a former Minister of State for Works, pointedly accused a co-aspirant of being behind the illegal buying up of delegates PVCs, the accused and rumoured anointed candidate of Governor Adams Oshiomhole, Godwin Obaseki, denied the allegation, calling on aspirants to focus their campaigns on issues instead of making unsubstantiated allegations.
But Mr. Ogiemwonyi, who called on the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, to arrest a serving member of the House of Representatives from Edo North, Philip Shuaibu, who he accused of buying the PVCs on behalf of Mr. Obaseki, also claimed to have video evidence to back up his claims.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja, Ogiemwonyi, who spoke through the Director of Planning, Strategy and Operations of his campaign organization, Akemokue Lukman said: This news conference has to do with attempts by highly-placed people in government, some of whom are lawmakers to smuggle in a gubernatorial aspirant in as the candidate of the party through the back-door.
This, they intend to do by disenfranchising the voters who are scheduled to take part in the forthcoming primaries.
We are telling the delegates to go back to their wards and LGA chairmen and collect back their PVCs because that is their ticket to vote, he said.
Accusing lawmakers of becoming lawbreakers, the APC governorship aspirant said government officials, including Mr. Obaseki were in attendance at the said meeting.
Mr. Ogiemwonyi, who said the issue was a serious one because both the partys membership card and the PVC would be used as means of accreditation during the APC governorship primary election, called on the IGP to arrest all those allegedly intimidating the delegates and asking them to submit their voters cards for untoward purpose.
In a swift reaction, Mr. Obaseki denied sponsoring anyone to help him buy up voter cards.
Speaking to journalists yesterday when he visited the APC national secretariat in Abuja to submit his nomination form, the governorship aspirant, who was flanked by Shuaibu and other federal and state lawmakers from the state, expressed surprise that Mr. Ogiemwonyi could make such an allegation against him.
I am not sure Engr. Ogiemwonyi would have made a statement like that, he said, adding He (Ogiemwonyi) is too responsible to say such a thing. Nothing like that happened. I was in Auchi yesterday (Sunday), where Hon. Philip Shuaibu hosted about 400 delegates from Etsako.
We were all seated there and they all (delegates) have their voters cards. So, for someone to make such an unguided statement, it is rather unfortunate. This is what we try to discourage in my campaign. We must run a campaign that is clean and truthful; a campaign that sticks to issues on ground, Mr. Obaseki said.
The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) will on Thursday, June 9, embark on a nationwide strike, the National President of the association, Dr. Muhammad Askira, has disclosed.
Speaking to journalists on Tuesday in Kano, Askira said the decision to go on strike was taken at the ordinary general meeting of the National Executive Council of the association held between May 30 and June 5 in Jos, Plateau State.
The NARD president recalled that 16 out of 58 federal tertiary institutions or centres were exempted from the initial centre-based strike as a result of the commitment of the Chief Medical Directors of the affected health institutions to implement the federal governments directives.
He, however, warned that if by midnight of Sunday, June 19 the demands of the resident doctors are not met, it would be an all-out industrial action as all members of NARD, including those initially exempted, would join the indefinite nationwide strike.
Dr. Askira said the association found it necessary to take the painful decision in order to draw the plight of the general public to the long period of deprivation and disenfranchisement resident doctors have had to endure, stressing that NARD will continue to be open to discussion and ready to partner government to ensure effective health care service delivery to Nigerians.
The Defence Headquarters on Monday said that the deployment of military personnel to Oporoza community in Delta State was to identify and apprehend members of the Niger Delta Avengers, who claimed responsibility for the recent attacks on oil and gas installations, and their sponsors.
The Acting Director, Defence Information, Rabe Abubakar, made this known yesterday in Abuja in response to claims that the military was in the community specifically to search for former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo.
Mr. Abubakar, a Brigadier General, pointed out that the military could only be concerned about Tompolo, if he was found to be part of the Avengers.
He stated also that the military was not aware of the claim by another militant group, the Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force, JNDLF, that Tompolo, who has been declared wanted in connection with alleged multi-billion fraud, had fled to Libya to escape arrest.
Abubakar said, We are not aware of that, I actually dont know. We are not particularly concerned about Tompolo.
The people we are after are those perpetrators and their sponsors. We are not after Tompolo himself; we are after the perpetrators and their sponsors. And if he is one of them, well, but we are not particular about him.
We are after the Avengers and their sponsors. And all the measures that we are putting in place are geared towards apprehending the perpetrators, whoever they think they are. And we will not rest till we get that done.
We are not particular about anybody. We are after the group that has been attacking oil facilities. We will be completely resolute. We will be systematic in doing that.
The Defence spokesman, who also spoke on the threat by the JNDLF to launch missile attacks on Aso Rock Villa and other strategic places in the country, said that the military would not join issues with the militants.
According to him, the military authorities had always taken proactive measures and would not be concerned with statements being made by the groups.
We dont like to join issues with them. No. We have been taking proactive measures and we will continue to do that, Abubakar said.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has disclosed that names of those who looted recovered funds were not released in order not to jeopardise ongoing investigations.
The Federal Government had, at the weekend, released a list of sums of monies and assets recovered in the last one year, excluding the names of individuals involved.
The vice president gave the explanation during a meeting with a delegation of the European Union (EU) led by the Ambassador in Nigeria, Mr. Michel Ariron at the Presidential Villa.
Said Osinbajo: We have released the list of recovered loot; we know people are asking for the names, but, releasing the names may jeopardise ongoing investigations.
The vice president further disclosed that the federal government was engaging leaders and people of the Niger Delta regarding the spate of attacks on oil installations in the area, an act he described as economic sabotage. Government, he said, was also beefing up security.
He said the focus of President Muhammadu Buharis administration is to ensure that the man on the street in the Niger Delta enjoys the benefit from all that is available there, while calling on the leaders in the region to be accountable to the people.
Osinbajo added that government was working round the clock to minimize losses arising from the attacks and added, we are talking, we are ensuring that we minimise losses and we are stepping up security. We are also engaging the international oil companies (IOCs) to see what options exists.
Source: Sun
By building a REST API, developers can create a foundation upon which either internal teams or a broader ecosystem can incorporate content or functionality into modern applications. Because most apps will need to persist data in some sort of database store, building APIs that expose CRUD (create, read, update, delete) functions on popular databases is often a critical requirement.
Common database choices include open source solutions such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB. With AnyPresence JustAPIs, developers can easily build and deploy APIs on top of these databases, wherever they happen to be hosted, be it in the cloud or on premises.
[ Download InfoWorlds essential guide to microservices and learn how to create modern Web and mobile applications that scale. | Cut to the key news in technology trends and IT breakthroughs with the InfoWorld Daily newsletter, our summary of the top tech happenings. ]
MongoDB is a popular document-oriented NoSQL database that stores data in JSON-like format and allows developers to perform SQL-like queries against it. In this article, we will walk through a brief tutorial to illustrate how easy it is to build and deploy an API on top of your MongoDB instance.
Lets get started
Before you start, sign up for JustAPIs. Once you have confirmed your registration through the link provided in the confirmation email, sign in and download the Samples.json found in Step 4 of the Quick Start Guide.
The only other requirement is that JustAPIs must be able to access your MongoDB instance. Our tutorial will draw on a cloud-based MongoDB instance hosted by mLab (formerly MongoLab). (You can sign up for a free account at mLab or Compose.io to get a hosted MongoDB instance of your own.) If you have MongoDB running locally, you can download the JustAPIs server from the welcome email and follow the same instructions.
In this example we will create a proxy endpoint that uses the JustAPIs single call component to update the name attribute in a MongoDB collection called hats . You can replace name and hats with any attribute and collection within your own MongoDB instance.
Step 1. From the JustAPIs home screen, click the Build button, enter a name for your new API, and import the Samples.json file:
Click Save, and youll find your API listed with its URL:
Step 2. Click on your new API and select the Remote Endpoints box at the left of the dashboard. Scroll down to find the MongoLab remote endpoint in the list of remote endpoints and click into it.
Step 3. When you are in edit mode, you will see that this remote endpoint has many fields available to specify all of the credentials of your MongoDB. Enter the credentials for your MongoDB where the fields say Change Me and hit Save:
In your MongoDB, create a hats collection with one document that has the key name , where name has the value Fadidas :
Now that we have set up our external data source, lets create our actual proxy endpoint.
Step 4. Find the MongoUpdate proxy, which should appear in the list of proxy endpoints, and click the edit icon that appears when you hover over the row:
Step 5. When you are in edit mode, you will see that this proxy endpoint has several properties that were specified when it was created:
There are a number of points to note here:
The proxy endpoints name is MongoUpdate, which is used for display purposes in the admin web app. The Active status is set to on, which means this proxy endpoint will run if the server receives a request for it. This proxy endpoint is assigned to the Dev environment, and any environment variables used will be populated from the Dev environment. This proxy endpoint is assigned to the Mongo group. There is one route defined, which is a Put method at /employee/{id} . This means that if the host is http://localhost:5000 , the full URL for this proxy endpoint will be http://localhost:5000/employee/{id} . Request parameters can be exposed to logic components via interpolated strings, in this case id .
Step 6. Note there is one step in this proxy endpoint workflow that is a single call component. Click on the single call component icon to view the details of the first step in the workflow:
You will see that this single call component is composed of several substeps. First, the Conditional option is set to If , which means that any JavaScript logic specified in the conditional logic block must evaluate to true to continue. Otherwise, the workflow will skip to the end. Second, there is no conditional logic specified, so the workflow will move to the next substep. Third, note that the before request logic block has several lines of JavaScript. The first line is:
var id = request.vars.id ;
This first line stores the request parameter that was exposed earlier in the route via {id} into a variable named id . Note that this type of parameter is exposed via the request.vars object.
The second line instantiates a new Mongo-type request:
mongo.request = new AP.Mongo.Request();
This line creates a new instance of an AnyPresence Mongo request, allowing the user to query the remote endpoints MongoDB.
The third line is:
var nameUpdate = JSON.parse(request.body).name ;
This line accomplishes several things at once. Note that the same request object we used earlier to grab the {id} also exposes the body data sent in the request, accessed this time with request.body . We only want to update the name attribute in this proxy endpoint, so we must first use JavaScripts JSON.parse() method to convert our request.body into a usable JSON object. By accessing only name , we can now store the newly requested name in nameUpdate .
The last line specifies the actual Mongo request:
mongo.request.query('hats', 'update' , {"__id":{"__id":id , "type":"id"}} , {"name": nameUpdate});
Using the query method, we specify in order as you see above, the collection ( hats ), operation type ( update ), the record (via id ), and the attribute we want to update ( name ). Note the hash value of id ; this is letting the AnyPresence Mongo method know that this ID is a Mongo hex-formatted ID.
Now we need to point the remote endpoint to MongoLab, which we set up in Steps 1 and 2. Each single call component requires a remote endpoint in order to know the data source being used in the component.
The final step in the single call component is the logic block located after the request. This block is typically used to form the response of the proxy endpoint including logic to define cases for different HTTP status codes. Our sample contains two lines in the after request logic block.
The first line is:
response.statusCode = 200
This line sets the status code to a 200 to indicate a successful call. Just as the request object is called request , the response object is exposed as response .
The second line sets the response body:
response.body = JSON.stringify(mongo.response.data);
Here we use JavaScripts JSON.stringify method, which converts a JavaScript value into a valid JSON string. Notice that the mongo object from the before request logic block is used here to access the response from the Mongo query. MongoDB does not return the updated document as the response to an update query, so the expected outcome of the body should be null.
Step 7. Now let us test this proxy endpoint. Click on the initial proxy endpoint bubble and create a test route with a hard-coded id of whatever your Mongo documents ID is, in this case 574f97ae8736449341751714 :
Click on the test-tube icon to create a new test that can run this route:
Set the method as PUT and create a request body that sets name to Nikie , for example. Save the test and hit Execute.
As expected, you get a 200 result and a null body. Check your MongoDB to see the update:
(Note: You can get a more informative response from your update call by returning the record itself by chaining another single call component after the update component you just completed, with another Mongo query using the operator find .)
Congratulations, you have built and deployed an API on your MongoDB instance!
Now that you know how to API-enable popular databases, you can become a microservices expert and enable rapid app development within your organization. Try out the other JustAPIs tutorials available and let the world know about the awesome APIs you've built.
Richard Mendis is co-founder of AnyPresence.
New Tech Forum provides a venue to explore and discuss emerging enterprise technology in unprecedented depth and breadth. The selection is subjective, based on our pick of the technologies we believe to be important and of greatest interest to InfoWorld readers. InfoWorld does not accept marketing collateral for publication and reserves the right to edit all contributed content. Send all inquiries to newtechforum@infoworld.com.
Founded in 1999 by a group of Jewish philanthropists led by billionaires Charles Bronfman and Michael Steinhardt, the Birthright Israel Foundation began with a simple idea: Give Jewish young adults between the ages of 18 and 26 the opportunity to visit Israel on all-expenses paid, 10-day educational trips. To date, over 500,000 have taken advantage of this boon to explore their Jewish identity and connect with the people of Israel.
It can be a powerful experience. Trip highlights include a visit to Masada, the last Jewish stronghold against Roman invasion. Another must-see is the Wailing Wall, a limestone vestige of the temple in Jerusalem that was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. The wall is the holiest place where Jews are permitted to pray, a site of pilgrimage for centuries. But maybe most resonant for participants are the many opportunities on Birthright trips for participants to bond with their peers in Israel.
Birthright Israel has attracted steady criticism over the years for its boosterism of Israel and Zionism, including by some Jews. But it has kept growing, enlisting new generations of participants anxious to visit Israel.
This operation is expensive. The trips average around $3,000 each, and the budget of the Birthright Israel Foundation in 2015 was about $95 million, according to its annual report.
Who pays for all this? The foundation's president, David Fisher, explained: When the program was started, there were going to be three fundamental partners: the government of Israel, the organized Jewish community and then philanthropists, roughly a third, a third, a third."
During the first seven or eight years, the founders' seed money played a big role in scaling up the organization. Over time, though, more major donors entered the picture. "After a few years, it was a few hundred donors then a few thousand donors, Fisher said.
These days, the Israeli government contributes about $40 million a year. Another large chunk of the group's funding comes from the Jewish community. Fisher said that most of its donors "are here in the states, but we have funders all over the world." Alumni of the trips are key to fundraising, and a great many of them give annually to the Birthright Israel Foundation. "We are building that base where they are giving $1000, $2000, $3000," Fisher said.
Fisher described a development operation that includes people around the United States, who are in "communities working one-on-one, having dinners having parlor meetings in peoples homes. We find a very effective tool for us is bringing in an educational resource from the program, maybe someone from Israel and having roundtable presentations in offices in certain industry sectors around lunches, breakfaststrying to meet donors when and where its convenient for them."
Some of these donors open their checkbook in a very big way. "We have individual donors who give us as much as $2.5 million dollars a year, lots of family foundations," Fisher said. In recent years, the Shimon ben Joseph Foundation, the Marcus Foundation, the Schusterman Family Foundation, the Steinhardt Foundation, the one8 Foundation (formerly known as the Jacobson Family Foundation), and the Klarman Family Foundation have donated a million dollars and more.
The biggest funder of all to Birthright Israel has been the foundation of Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, which has contributed over $200 million to the organization since 2009.
Jewish family foundations have proliferated in the 16 years since Birthright Israel was founded, and the organization's development staff works hard to cultivate these organizations. Its foundation relations program leads an effort that pulls in about $20 million a year from what Fisher described as "foundations that operate with a professional staff under professional leadership."
Birthright Israel also runs a direct marketing program, which is enormously successful, raising $2.7 million last year.
Does Birthright Israel hold galas? You bet it does. And in multiple cities: Fisher explained this growing piece of the fundraising picture. "Well have a gala here in New York this year where we will have 400 to 500 people. We will have a 300 to 400-person event in L.A. this year. We had roughly 400 people in Atlanta last year. We will probably have that again this year, but in many cities around the country, we are still in startup mode. Atlanta is a good example. Three years ago, we had 60 people come to somebodys home. The next year, we had 120 people come to a bigger home and in the third and fourth year we reached the point where we could have 300 to 400 people come. So it takes time, and some building, and consistency in these markets to get people to come out.
Fisher said the cultivation of bequests is an emerging area, along with plans for an endowment. He said the foundation so far has commitments of $100 million, but hasn't yet received any of that money.
A big advantage Birthright Israel has in fundraising, Fisher said, is the specificity of its niche and "ever improving its product and its program." The organization has also made a big investment in tracking its results. "One of the biggest selling points we have is our ability to show and demonstrate impact, measurable consistent statistical impact," Fisher said. "We have been measuring the impact of the program since the beginning. We know now, 16 years later, the kind of the impact the program has had, how participants have engaged in Jewish life three, five, 10 years after their experience."
That's powerful in an era when more donors are keen to give effectively.
In this case, though, the metrics matter less than the deeper emotional resonance of what Birthright Israel seems to deliver to participants. "The program engenders an understanding and acknowledgment of where the Jewish people have come from and what our story has been as a people," Fisher said.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts are No. 1 in more than half the surveys 21 categories.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch not only leads Institutional Investors Emerging Europe, Middle East & Africa Research Team for a fourth year running, it also trounces the competition insofar as sector coverage is concerned. Its researchers are deemed the best in 11 of the surveys 21 categories thats more than five times the number of first-place finishes captured by any other firm this year.
Listed below by sector are this years top-ranked squads:
Central & Eastern Europe (CE3)
Alexandros Boulougouris, Marta Jezewska-Wasilewska & team
Wood & Co.
Boulougouris, Jezewska-Wasilewska and their Wood & Co. associates score a rare first-place debut.
Chemicals
Sriharsha Pappu, Yonah Weisz & team
HSBC
After three straight years in second place, the HSBC team under Pappu and Weisz celebrates its first sector-topping appearance.
Commodities
Francisco Blanch, Michael Widmer & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Newcomer Widmer assists Blanch in guiding BofA Merrill to a second appearance atop this roster.
Construction & Real Estate
Athmane Benzerroug, George Buzhenitsa & team
Deutsche Bank
Benzerroug led the firm to victory in both Construction & Engineering (with Tomasz Krukowski) and Real Estate (with Ryan Eichstadt) last year, so its hardly surprising that he and new co-captain Buzhenitsa shoot straight in to first place in this newly merged category. Benzerroug and Krukowski also oversee the No. 2 team in Utilities. In addition, Buzhenitsa manages runner-up teams in Chemicals (with Aleksandar Stojanovski) and Metals & Mining (with Rene Kleyweg).
Consumer
Nicholas Ashworth, Michele Olivier & team
Morgan Stanley
Last year, when Consumer was divided into separate Discretionary and Nondiscretionary sectors, Morgan Stanley earned a runner-up spot in the former, under Ashworth and Olivier, and first place in the latter, with Ashworth as solo leader. This time around the group leads the lineup in the newly merged category.
Corporate Debt
Ali Dhaloomal, Kay Hope & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
This newly added sector was carved out of Fixed-Income Strategy, a category that BofA Merrill dominated for the past three years under the direction of David Hauner. Dhaloomal and Hope are newcomers.
Economics
David Hauner & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Hauner shepherds his BofA Merrill squad to a fourth consecutive first-place finish; he also co-leads the champions in Equity Strategy (with John Morris) and Sovereign Debt (with Arko Sen).
Equity Strategy
David Hauner, John Morris & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Hauner and Morris guide BofA Merrill back to first place after a year at No. 2. Hauner also directs top-ranked teams in Economics and Sovereign Debt (with Arko Sen). Morris and Ilze Roux manage the crew that outpaces all others for coverage of South Africa.
Financials
Stephan Potgieter, Mikhail Shlemov & team
UBS
Potgieter, Shlemov and their associates advance one level to land in the winners circle for the first time.
Frontier Markets
Andrew Howell & team
Citi
The Citi group under Howell debuts in first place, but the crew chief is no newcomer he has led or co-led teams that have ranked in overall Equity Strategy as well as in the Emerging-Europe, Middle East & North Africa and Southern/Sub-Saharan Africa strategy sectors.
Health Care & Pharmaceuticals
Jamie Clark & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
After spending the past two years at No. 2, the BofA Merrill crew under Clark leads the sector lineup for the first time.
Metals & Mining
Jason Fairclough, Eduard Faritov & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
The BofA Merrill troupe helmed by Fairclough and Faritov spends a third straight year at No. 1.
Middle East & North Africa
John Lomax, Raj Sinha & team
HSBC
Lomax, Sinha and their fellow HSBC analysts claim the top spot for the first time after two years in second place. Lomax also manages teams that earn runner-up spots for reporting on South Africa (with Nicholas Webster) and Turkey (with Bulent Yurdagul).
Oil & Gas
Anton Fedotov, Karen Kostanian & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
BofA Merrill claims a fourth consecutive sector victory, this time with newcomer Fedotov sharing leadership responsibilities with Kostanian, who also guides the top-ranked team in Utilities. The latter analyst also oversees the second-place squad in Chemicals (with Vladimir Osakovskiy) and a runner-up team in Russia.
Russia
Alexander Kudrin & team
Sberbank CIB
Sberbank was No. 1 last year in Emerging-Europe Equity Strategy under the direction of Kingsmill Bond. Kudrin oversaw the squad that ranked in Fixed-Income Strategy for five straight years, through 2015.
South Africa
John Morris, Ilze Roux & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Morris, who also co-directs the No. 1 team in Equity Strategy (with David Hauner), guided the BofA Merrill troupe to victory in Southern/Sub-Saharan Africa in four of the past five years. This year he shares oversight with Roux, a newcomer to this sector but not to the team last year she managed squads that ranked in Construction & Engineering (third place), Consumer/Discretionary (third place) and Consumer/Nondiscretionary (runner-up).
Sovereign Debt
David Hauner, Arko Sen & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
This year Fixed-Income Strategy, a category that Hauners BofA Merrill crew dominated from 2013 through 2015, is divided into Corporate Debt and Sovereign Debt and he oversees the winning team in the latter category with newcomer Sen. Hauner also steers the squad at No. 1 in Economics for a fourth year running and, with John Morris, the top-ranked team in Equity Strategy.
Technology, Media & Telecommunications
Haim Israel, Cesar Tiron & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Information Technology & Media and Telecommunications were separate sectors in last years survey. Israel and Tiron captained a runner-up squad in the former, while Israel piloted the top-ranked team in the latter. This year the BofA Merrill crew leads the lineup in this newly merged category.
Transportation
Elena Sakhnova & team
VTB Capital
Sakhnova drives the VTB Capital crew into the winners circle for the third time in the past five years. She also guides the firms Chemicals team to a runner-up finish for a second straight year.
Turkey
Kazim Andac & team
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank under Andac leaps from third place to land in the top spot for the first time; he also oversees the No. 3 team in Financials.
Utilities
Karen Kostanian & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Vaulting from runner-up to mark their first sector-topping appearance is the BofA Merrill group led by Kostanian, who also directs teams that are No. 1 in Oil & Gas (with Anton Fedotov), No. 2 in Chemicals (with Faisal Al Azmeh) and runner-up for reporting on Russia (with Vladimir Osakovskiy).
The 2016 Emerging EMEA Research Team reflects the opinions of more than 630 individuals at 375 institutions that collectively manage an estimated $320 billion in regional equities and $157 billion in emerging EMEA debt. To read more about this years results, click here.
Yesterday former secretary of state Hillary Clinton achieved the required number of delegates and superdelegates to secure the partys presidential nomination. Clinton must now attempt to mend rifts within the Democratic Party, notably with her still-battling challenger, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, as she prepares to take on presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in the race for the White House. For investors, a major question now is how this election cycle will affect financial markets. Trump has embraced protectionist rhetoric that has sparked concerns abroad while Clinton must address the strong anti-Wall Street sentiment from within her own party particularly from the Sanders camp. Any rhetorical shifts between the presumptive candidates on economic and fiscal issues could inject fireworks into the usual summer market lull.
Terror blast in Istanbul. The latest in a string of terrorist attacks left 11 dead and more than 30 injured in Istanbul today in the Beyazit neighborhood, near Istanbul University and world-famous tourist sites such as the Blue Mosque and Haghia Sophia. A police van appears to have been the primary target and seven officers were among the dead. Although no organization has claimed responsibility, both the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, and Islamic State operatives have staged attacks inside Turkey within the past eight months.
AB InBev offers deal to South African union. Anheuser-Busch InBev today announced an enhanced offer to settle a dispute with South African unionized workers at SABMiller who have fought the proposed merger between the two brewing giants. The proposed deal with the workers would guarantee the value of share units held by the union with a payment upon completion of the merger.
U.S. officials look at Goldman role in Malaysian wealth fund scandal. A report in The Wall Street Journal report published today noted that U.S. regulators are examining whether Goldman Sachs violated Bank Secrecy Act rules when handling financial transactions on behalf of Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB. Investigators globally continue to examine transactions by the sovereign wealth fund. Swiss regulators today announced an investigation into Swiss-based merchant bank BSI Banks role in money transfers from 1MDB coffers to politically connected individuals. Singapore pulled BSIs license to operate in the city-state last month and reportedly referred the names of six executives to the public prosector on criminal charges.
Valeant guides even lower. Embattled executives at Valeant Pharmaceuticals International lowered forward earnings guidance today after reporting a loss of more than $370 million for the first quarter of 2016. The company earned $1.27 per share. After an adjustment for the impact of one-time charges, the company earned $1.27 a share, ten cents below consensus analyst estimates.
Portfolio Perspectives: Bullish Set-up for U.S. Equities Karl Haeling, Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg
The U.S. stock market seems ready to set new record highs in coming weeks almost regardless of whether the Federal Reserve raises rates this summer or leaves them unchanged until later this year. Equities were strengthening last week before the May jobs report and did so again on Monday. Even bank shares joined in Mondays gains, recovering most of the losses made on Friday.
The more equities rally, the more underweight investors feel pressure to do at least some buying. Most of the various rally highs made during the past years sideways pattern have come at slightly lower peaks than the preceding ones. So every time one of these highs gets broken, the more likely it is that the breakout process has already started.
There is not much discussion about it among analysts and the financial media, but the real driver behind the equity strength probably involves expectations for the earnings cycle to soon turn positive. Citi reported that U.S. equities had one of their best weeks of the year last week in terms of net upward revisions to earnings estimates. In addition, continental European shares just saw their first week of net positive upward revisions since May 2015, a full year ago. Energy company earnings were the major reason for the so-called earnings recession of the past year or so, and with oil prices now rising, this increases the potential for more positive corporate results over the rest of the year.
An upside breakout in equities would likely draw liquidity out of bond funds but we do not see this as turning into anything particularly bearish for Treasuries, as international considerations should remain bullish for bonds for the foreseeable future, and the yield curve should resume flattening sooner or later even if the Fed keeps rates unchanged this summer.
Karl Haeling is a vice president at Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg in New York.
During his State of the Union address in January, President Barack Obama announced that Vice President Joe Biden would lead a $1 billion cancer initiative known as the National Cancer Moonshot aimed at backing the most promising research in the fight against the disease. Central to this goal is a growing sector of medical science known as immunotherapy, a method of treating cancer or chronic disease by stimulating a patients immune system, as opposed to attacking tumors or symptoms directly. The shift to this approach, which has achieved significant success in recent years and is expected to expand rapidly, means a move away from the often debilitating side effects of treatments like chemotherapy. For some patients, it also means a better chance of hearing the words cancer free.
Around the same time as Obamas Moonshot news, former president Jimmy Carter announced that his cancer, which had spread to both his liver and his brain, could no longer be detected by his doctors. Carter had undergone treatment with pembrolizumab, a monoclonal antibody developed by Merck & Co. that is more commonly known as Keytruda. The drug, which is delivered intravenously, works by blocking a pathway that some cancer cells use to avoid detection by the immune system. Its just one example of an expanding field that is grabbing the attention of both the medical community and the investment world.
Immunotherapy has the potential to literally end cancer as we know it, Biden told a crowd at Johns Hopkins University in March. He was there to recognize the $50 million in donations to the school from both former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and philanthropist Sidney Kimmel, specifically for the purpose of further research into immunotherapy to cure cancer. Though few doctors and researchers are willing to use the word cure even Carters doctors note that although he has no sign of cancer now, the tumors could return the consensus is that immunotherapy will drastically change the way cancer is treated, and dramatically improve many patients outcomes. But prior to the past few years, investors interested in cancer treatment had few options. They could buy individual stocks of companies working on oncology therapies, which involves a high level of risk, or invest in a biotech-focused exchange-traded fund. The problem with the latter, according to investor Brad Loncar, is that biotech is not just one thing.
Early last year Loncar created an index to track these companies everything from pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer to Kite Pharma, a smaller, Santa Monica, Californiabased outfit that expects to receive regulatory approval within the next year for a therapy to treat diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. In October 2015 Loncar licensed the index to Oklahoma Citybased Exchange Traded Concepts, which launched an investment vehicle based on it.
Known as the Loncar Cancer Immunotherapy ETF, or CNCR, the vehicle is still in its early days; it had about $19.6 million in assets as of June 2. The underlying index consists of the 30 leading companies in the immunotherapy sector, which naturally includes some of the major players in any biotech or pharma index Pfizer, AstraZeneca but also includes nearly two dozen smaller biotech firms working on second- and third-generation immunotherapy drugs that arent yet on the market but are promising. Currently, those include Kite as well as Seattle-based Juno Therapeutics, which recently reported promising clinical results for a therapy that aims to teach a patients white blood cells to kill leukemia cells. Also included in the ETF: Culver City, Californiabased NantKwest, a cancer immunotherapy company founded by billionaire doctor Patrick Soon-Shiong that achieved the highest-ever value for a biotech initial public offering when it went public in July 2015, and Woodland Hills, Californiabased Lion Biotechnologies, which licenses immunotherapy technology known as tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, or TILs, from the National Cancer Institute for clinical-stage cancer treatments. The equal-weighted ETF is rebalanced every six months, when a Loncar advisory committee considers public offerings, FDA approvals or changes in strategic focus and adjusts accordingly.
Its a basket of 30 different companies, but within that there are also over a dozen different immunotherapy approaches, says Loncar, who operates a small single-family office in Lenexa, Kansas, near Kansas City. Some will work, and some wont. Were focusing on the theme itself, rather than trying to pick winners.
The ETFs performance so far has been fairly well correlated with the larger pharmaceuticals industry, with a few important differences. Since its October 14 launch, CNCR was up 26 percent at its peak and down 27.1 percent at its lowest point. The largest pharmaceuticals ETF, PowerShares Dynamic Pharmaceuticals, was up 17.9 percent at its peak and down 11 percent at its lowest.
CNCR is much more volatile, Loncar says, noting that a lot of immunotherapy research is still in the developmental stage. My expectation is that over the short term, it will likely perform worse than pharma during bad times and better during good times. Over the long term, we of course hope that advances in immunotherapy will cause it to outperform.
CNCR was up 13.7 percent between May 18, when information about the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology was released, and June 6, the second-to-last day of the conference. This outperformance is because immunotherapy companies have been releasing good news here, Loncar said in an e-mail from the conference, which ends today. Juno and Kite both announced at the conference their expectation for 2017 approval of several immunotherapies.
The fact that the ASCO meeting received as much media attention as it did Fortune, Huffington Post, TheStreet.com and Forbes all published stories about it is itself a sign of how quickly immunotherapy is becoming a household word, at least in the medical and financial sectors.
The immunotherapy market is expected to grow 11 percent annually and reach $197 billion by 2020, according to London-based technology research and advisory firm Technavio. Immune checkpoint inhibitors, like Mercks Keytruda, are predicted to be the fastest-growing piece of the market, expanding more than 26 percent annually over the next four years. But even with the immunotherapy sector getting so much attention, a niche investment focus in this direction has its risks.
Were finally at a point where theres enough understanding of the technology, and understanding of genomics, to say why some people get cancer and some dont, and what it is about the body that has changed that is allowing this cancer to take place, says Howard Krein, a cancer surgeon and senior director of health policy and innovation at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia and chief medical officer at digital health start-up network StartUp Health. We havent even scratched the surface of what immunotherapy can do for chronic disease. Its a huge opportunity for development over the next few years.
Follow Kaitlin Ugolik on Twitter at @kaitlinugolik.
Get more on ETFs.
This content is from: Research
Some content in this section is locked. To get access to all of the research, please subscribe here or login.
This content is from: Research
In a tumultuous year, new analysts rise to the top as their firms compete for leading spots in the 51st annual ranking.
Storms that tore through parts of Queensland and New South Wales, including parts of Sydney, have officially been declared a catastrophe as the first estimate of insured losses has been released by the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA).The storms hit both states over the weekend had have seen insurers receive more than 11, 150 claims with estimated insured losses of $38 million.The ICA and its members are liaising with state governments, agencies and the emergency services in response to the damage caused by these storms, acting ICA CEO, Karl Sullivan said.So far most claims concern typical storm damage, such as roof and gutter damage, and damage due to fallen trees. There are also reports of cars being flooded in some locations.An IAG spokesperson told Insurance Business that, while it is still to early to tell the full extent of the damamge, the business will be able to provide an update in the coming days.Our immediate concern is for our customers affected by the east coast storm and we want to ensure they receive immediate help and support. We will be able to provide an update on the overall impact of the storms on IAG in the coming days. Suncorp Group spokesperson told The Sydney Morning Herald that it is still too early to know the impact on the business."The geographic spread of this storm is so large, we just won't know the cost to the business until we get more claims in, the spokesperson said."With this type of storm there are still places in NSW and Queensland without power. And we've seen a lot of water entry through roofs, both in motor vehicles and in homes. There's damage from flying debris and flash flooding."Spokesperson for GIO, Stephen Bell, said that the insurer is already arranging repairs for customers and urged claimants to get in touch with their insurer or broker as soon as they can.Our teams are already arranging make-safe repairs, temporary accommodation and emergency funds for customers who have been severely impacted by the weekends weather, Bell said.Affected customers should contact us as soon as possible, even if they dont have access to their properties. The sooner were notified, the sooner we can help.We also urge people to listen to local authorities in terms of whether areas are deemed safe, and beware of any fallen power lines, asbestos, broken glass and mould.Residents and business owners should be careful as they return to their properties. On arrival, there are some practical things they can do to fast-track the claims and recovery process.Storms moved south to Victoria and Tasmania and Sullivan noted that the industry expects to see more claims as evacuated residents return to their homes.The ICA expects the number of claims will keep rising over coming days as evacuated residents return to their homes to assess the damage, Sullivan continued.Insurers are also standing by to assist their policyholders in Victoria and Tasmania as the low pressure system pushes southwards.Policyholders who have been affected should contact their insurance company as soon as possible so the claims process can commence. Insurers have electronic records and policyholders who cant find their paperwork need only provide their name and address.In a statement, specialist insurer Nautilus Marine noted that they continue to support customers affected by the storms as senior claims staff are on hand to assist customers.At all times we have senior claims staff from Nautilus on hand to assist claim lodgement and provide immediate support, during these events, there are extra staff and infrastructure put in place to support any policy holders affected, the statement said.Our aim is to work with repairers and loss adjusters in the region to expedite repairs to have our clients ready as ever for their boating activities. Claims support is on hand 24/7 and we ask that immediate reporting of any damage or incidents as always are reported as soon as possible to our offices across Australia.Three people have been killed by the storms in separate incidents, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
A lawyer filing suit over a fatal Amtrak crash near Philadelphia blamed a colossal miscommunication for the deaths of two rail workers killed when a train traveling 106 mph struck a backhoe on the same track.
Lawyers filed a negligence lawsuit June 2 on behalf of the family of one victim, 61-year-old Joe Neal Carter Jr. The Wilmington, Delaware, man was working overtime on a Sunday morning and operating the backhoe when the Amtrak train struck him.
How could the operator of a scheduled train traveling at 106 mph not know of work being performed on the same tracks ahead? lawyer Robert Mongeluzzi asked after filing the lawsuit in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.
The precise cause of the April 3 crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. However, Mongeluzzi said he hoped to determine how a colossal miscommunication killed two men. The other person killed was Carters supervisor, 59-year-old Peter Adamovich of Lincoln University, Pennsylvania.
Mongeluzzi, along with fellow Philadelphia attorney Thomas Kline, represent Carters two adult children in the negligence lawsuit. They also represent 34 victims of the May 2015 Amtrak derailment that killed eight people and injured more than 200.
In that derailment, the speeding train jumped the tracks on a sharp curve shortly after leaving Philadelphia for New York. The NTSB concluded last month that the engineer was distracted by word that a nearby commuter train had been hit by a rock. The agency also said a contributing factor was the railroad industrys decades-long failure to fully install positive train control, GPS-based technology that can automatically slow trains that are going over the speed limit.
Mongeluzzi and Kline believe similar safety systems could have averted the April crash just south of Philadelphia that killed the rail workers.
Ten deaths in 10 1/2 months on Amtraks rails in Philadelphia alone, Mongeluzzi said at a June 2 news conference. How many more will it take before Amtrak wakes up and realizes that safety starts at the top and safety on the rails affects both employees and passengers?
Amtrak spokeswoman Christina Leeds said the company cannot comment on pending litigation.
The southbound train was heading from New York to Savannah, Georgia, when it struck the backhoe in Chester at about 8 a.m. The impact derailed the lead engine of the train, which was carrying more than 300 passengers and seven crew members. More than 40 people were hospitalized, most with minor injuries.
The train engineer had just five seconds to brake after seeing something up ahead on the track, investigators have said. The Federal Railway Administration has suggested the crash followed a breakdown in communications and issued a directive ordering Amtrak to retrain rail workers on basic safety rules.
Carter had worked for Amtrak for 40 years. Kline said he lived his life on the rails and, unfortunately, lost his life there as well.
The suit was filed by his daughter Montia Carter, of Richmond, Virginia.
Related:
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Topics Lawsuits Pennsylvania
Arthur J. Gallagher has appointed two former Willis aviation brokers, Mark Champion and Paul Rogers, as divisional directors.
With combined experience of nearly 70 years, Gallagher said the hiring of these industry stalwarts [underlines] its commitment to the aviation arena.
Champion joined Gallagher this week to begin the next phase of an already long and accomplished career in the London market, which spans more than 30 years, said Gallagher in a statement.
Most recently he served as regional director for Continental Europe for Willis Towers Watson where he had responsibility for a significant proportion of the aerospace divisions budget, was a member of its leadership team and led a team of 15. At the same time, he continued to manage a large portfolio of clients as a risk placement specialist to the airline industry, with a core focus on European Airlines, added Gallagher.
Champion began his career at Leslie and Godwin in 1985, before moving to the general aviation division of Willis in 1994.
Rogers will join Gallagher later in the summer, bringing nearly 40 years London market experience.
After an initial stint on the underwriting side, Rogers made the transition into broking with Cuthbert Heath where he made his mark as a senior broker specializing in business emanating from the U.S. on a wholesale basis, reinsurance from South America and new business development in Mexico.
Upon joining Willis Faber and Dumas in 1984, he developed a truly global footprint as a divisional director covering South and Central America, Continental Europe and the Middle East, said Gallagher.
Latterly he served as both executive director and client advocate at Willis, retaining accountability for a portfolio of clients within the aviation sector of the transportation practice.
Todays aviation market is arguably more challenging than ever, but we see that as every reason to grow, expand and develop new products rather than a reason not to, commented Mark Walters, executive director of Aviation for Arthur J. Gallagher.
To win out in such a tough market, you need to invest in the best. And there are few more experienced than Mark and Paul, or held in higher regard by clients, he said.
The longevity and strength of market relationships they have built and their continued focus on providing a personalized, innovative and responsive end-to-end client service make them ideally suited to join our team.
About Arthur J. Gallagher
London-based Arthur J. Gallagher, which is the brand name for the international broking division of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. outside of the United States, employs 6850 staff across the UK, Australia, Singapore, Caribbean, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Norway and New Zealand.
Source: Arthur J. Gallagher
Topics Agencies Europe Aviation London A.J. Gallagher
This summer and fall, the Atlantic Ocean might become a testing ground for competing scientific theories.
After decades of warmth, theres evidence that the ocean is cooling, a change that could mean fewer of the hurricanes that wreak havoc on coastal communities and their economies.
Part of a cycle called the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, the chill probably will even overshadow the fading El Nino in the Pacific that should have made the 2016 hurricane season one of the more active in recent years.
It is a very important pattern, said Gerry Bell, a hurricane climate specialist with the U.S. Climate Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.
The theory is that the Atlantic cools and warms every 25 to 40 years, changing the African monsoon and easterly jet stream, air pressure over the ocean and levels of wind shear, Bell said. All of these can add or detract from the lifespans of hurricanes, which can have consequences from Newfoundland to Nicaragua.
The thing is, not everyone believes the AMO affects hurricanes that way.
There are competing hypotheses for what has been happening in the Atlantic for the past 20 years, said James Done, a research scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.
Warm Phase
The AMO has been in its warm phase since 1995, when the number of storms across the basin jumped after two decades of comparatively minimal activity.
The last time there was a cold phase was 1971 to 1994, and it clamped down on storm activity in the Atlantic, Bell said. That is how strong that AMO signal really is.
This is why the Bell and other seasonal forecasters, including Phil Klotzbach at Colorado State University, are calling for a near-average hurricane season this year.
Usually when an El Nino fades, as is currently occurring, weather conditions across the Atlantic interact to form more hurricanes. In 2010, after the last El Nino diminished, 19 Atlantic systems reached tropical storm strength or greater. The 30-year average is 12.
La Nina, a Pacific cooling, can also kill off wind shear in the Atlantic, allowing more hurricanes to form. If a La Nina develops this year, as expected, its impact on the Atlantic probably wont be as potent because of the AMO. The AMO is a naturally occurring cycle and not part of patterns created by climate change.
Scientists Disagree
Another explanation for the drop in hurricane activity in the 1970s and 80s, as well as the dip in Atlantic sea surface temperatures, is air pollution, said Kerry Emanuel, a professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.
Emanuel said he believes the hurricane forecasters have it wrong. He defines the AMO as roughly an 11-year pattern, which he said is in line with the way oceanographers see it, and not the longer cycle Bell and others use it to explain changes in hurricane activity.
From World War I until the 1970s and 1980s, there was a rise in sulfate aerosols, Emanuel said. Governments then enacted laws to clean the air, and the levels of those aerosols, which blocked the suns heat, began to drop rapidly.
Hurricane Drought
Without the reflective aerosols, the sun could beat down on the Atlantic, warming it and thereby touching off an increase in hurricanes, which thrive in hot water.
So we think the hurricane drought was man-made, Emanuel said.
Bell said he wouldnt comment directly on Emanuels theory. However, he believes the evidence going back to the 1850s supports his view of how the AMO works.
Determining who is right will take more study and probably a longer record, Done said.
The theory Bell supports seems to have more proponents, though it would be best to have at least 10 complete cycles before declaring the existence of an oscillation, Done said, and that doesnt exist in the record yet.
Related:
Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Hurricane
Aon Benfield has appointed Martin Soto Quintus as chief executive officer of Aon Benfield Chile.
Reporting to Alejandro Galizia, CEO of Aon Benfield Latin America, Soto Quintus is responsible for the development and implementation of the firms growth strategy in Chile.
Soto Quintus has 30 years of industry experience across the Latin America reinsurance and retail broking sectors, and the Latin America insurance and reinsurance sectors, having worked for companies including Berkley International and Swiss Reinsurance America Corp.
He joined Aon Benfield in 2013 as facultative director a role he will continue to perform until a new candidate has been selected for the position.
At the same time, Roberto Molina has been named treaty director for Aon Benfield Chile, a role in which he will continue to develop a countrywide strategy for the firms treaty business and implement innovative solutions for clients.
Molina joined Aon Benfield in 2011 as a treaty broker, and in 2014 was made treaty manager of Aon Benfield Chile.
He has more than 18 years of industry experience, previously working at Chilena Consolidada (Zurich), AGF Allianz and Liberty Seguros.
Finally, Miguel Pizarro has been appointed to the role of operations and client services director of Aon Benfield Chile.
In his new role, Pizarro will lead the firms local Client Services Claims Department, as well as the Innovation and Product Development unit.
Pizarro joined Aon Benfield Chile in 2010 as Special Lines director, and has more than 22 years of insurance industry experience, having performed managerial roles in claims and liability underwriting at companies including Graham Miller Ltda, Compania de Seguros Security and AIG Interamericana de Seguros Generales.
Source: Aon Benfield
Topics Aon
Fort Wayne, Ind.-based DOXA Insurance Holdings LLC (DOXA) has named Timothy Wiggins as chief operating officer and managing partner.
DOXA, launched in April 2016, is a holding company focused on managing general agents (MGAs).
Wiggins has nearly 22 years of insurance-oriented IT and operations experience. He has held the positions of vice president of Operations and chief information officer at The Medical Protective Company (Berkshire Hathaway), several IT leadership roles with GE Insurance, and various consulting roles with EDS Insurance (now HP Enterprise Services).
DOXA partners with and acquires MGAs that focus on specialty commercial property and casualty niches.
Source: DOXA Insurance Holdings LLC
Topics Insurance Wholesale Indiana
Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) has expanded its North American cyber insurance team with three industry professionals: Laura Burke, Daniel J. DeLoof and Lester Shearn.
Emy R. Donavan was also promoted to regional head of cyber and U.S. deputy head of Errors and Omissions (E&O), including technology, media and specialty professional indemnity (PI).
Allianz said it is expanding its cyber practice in response to growing concerns about internet security from businesses globally.
Burke has joined as executive underwriter of cyber, technology, media and specialty PI. Based in Chicago, she is responsible for the placement of enterprise cyber and professional liability risks. Prior to joining Allianz, Burke was the cyber practice leader for Lockton Chicago.
DeLoof has been appointed senior underwriter for Allianzs cyber business and will be based in New York. He joins Allianz from ACE Group, where he was a claims representative for Professional Risk Cyber, Privacy Network and Liability Claims.
Shearn is joining the cyber team as an underwriting specialist. Shearn has more than 15 years of industry experience and was previously with AXIS Insurance as unit coordinator and held various financial lines positions with Zurich North America and AIG.
The new additions will report to Jenny Soubra, national practice leader, cyber, media and specialty PI, based in San Francisco.
Topics Cyber Excess Surplus Allianz
Israel-based financial software provider Sapiens International Corp. said it has agreed to buy Maximum Processing Inc., a property/casualty insurance software provider known for its Stingray System.
Maximum Processing is a privately-held company headquartered in Bradenton, Florida, with offices in Garner, North Carolina. Maximum Processings 2015 full-year annual revenue was approximately $6 million. Management said it expects the transaction to be accretive to earnings in 2017 and beyond.
The Stingray is a modular, web-based software that handles policy rating, issuance and administration for small carriers, managing general agents (MGAs), third-party administrators (TPAs) and insurance brokers. The transaction is expected to close by the end of June 2016. It has about 30 carrier customers.
Small carriers remain very active in core system replacement projects and Maximum Processing has had good momentum in this space, said Karlyn Carnahan, research director, Celent, quoted in the announcement by Sapiens. This investment by Sapiens will bring additional expertise, resources and relationships to Maximum Processing, driving their product, service and sales momentum, and making an immediate impact in the North American property and casualty market.
With this acquisition, Sapiens gains a foothold in the North American P/C insurance market.
Our growth strategy continues to include a combination of organic growth and M&A activity, said Roni Al-Dor, Sapiens president and CEO.
Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Property Casualty
Aspen U.S. Insurance is expanding its cyber team and has named Josh Ladeau, formerly with Allied World Assurance Co., as senior vice president for Cyber Risk. Ladeau will focus on the growing the cyber portfolio within Aspens U.S. Professional Liability team.
Aspen U.S. also announced the addition of three cyber underwriters from Allied World.
Ladeau has 12 years of industry experience, most recently having served as the practice lead for Privacy & Network Security at Allied World. He was responsible for helping clients better manage their cyber exposures. He also held previous roles at American General Financial Services. He will be based in Rocky Hill, Connecticut and report to Brian Flynn, head of Cyber Risk for Aspen U.S. Insurance.
Three cyber underwriters Jeff Bores, Mike Colford and Bobby Bianconi have also joined Aspen U.S. Insurance from Allied World Assurance Co., according to the company.
Topics USA Cyber Underwriting
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired Ashmore & Associates Insurance Agency Inc. headquartered in Lubbock, Texas.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 1984, Ashmore & Associates Insurance Agency Inc. (Ashmore) is a retail insurance broker providing property/casualty, employee benefits consulting, and risk management insurance services for their commercial and personal lines clients in the central United States. The firm specializes in placing coverage for the manufacturing, healthcare and energy industries.
Wilburn Ashmore, Elizabeth Ashmore and their team will continue to operate from their locations in Lubbock, Canadian and Midland, Texas, under the direction of Bret VanderVoort, head of Gallaghers South Central retail property/casualty brokerage operations, and John Neumaier, head of Gallaghers South Central employee benefit consulting and brokerage operations.
Source: Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Texas A.J. Gallagher
HCI Group, Inc. (HCI) has appointed Ted Blanch as president of TypTap Insurance Company, HCIs new online insurance company.
Blanch brings years of industry experience to TypTap, which offers an online platform to quote and bind residential flood insurance policies in Florida.
As president, Blanch will oversee the development and growth of TypTap. His responsibilities include driving sales, establishing reinsurance partnerships and overseeing the strategic direction and expansion of the company.
Most recently, Blanch was a partner with Advocate Reinsurance Partners, an intermediary services firm. Prior to that, he founded and ran Ted Blanch & Associates, an insurance and reinsurance consulting firm providing professional analysis, expert witness and arbitration services, reinsurance portfolio analysis, and executive management consulting.
Prior to that Blanch was with E.W. Blanch Co., a reinsurance brokerage firm, serving as chief executive officer from 1977 to 2001. E.W. Blanch Co. became the third largest international reinsurance broker and the worlds largest independent reinsurance broker.
TypTap Insurance Co. is a Florida-based property insurance company and a wholly owned subsidiary of HCI Group, Inc.
HCI Group, Inc. business activities include homeowners insurance, reinsurance, real estate and information technology. The companys largest subsidiary, Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Company, Inc., is a provider of property and casualty insurance in the state of Florida.
Related:
Florida Insurer Launches Company Offering Admitted, Standalone Flood Coverage
Topics Carriers Florida Flood Reinsurance
The Mississippi Supreme Court has decided not to throw out a negligence lawsuit against the Mississippi Department of Transportation over the death of a Gulfport Bandidos Chapter officer when he crashed his motorcycle in a construction zone.
The Clarion-Ledger reports that Christopher Adams died in December 2010 when his motorcycle wrecked on Interstate 10 in Jackson County. The lawsuit says Adams accidentally drove into a construction zone, then attempted to navigate back to an open lane, hit an uneven surface and crashed.
Adamss wife, Dominique Adams, filed a lawsuit against MDOT, the Mississippi Transportation Commission and Millette Brothers Construction Co. Inc. The lawsuit makes several allegations, including that the defendants failed to place proper warnings in advance of the lane closures.
In 2014 a lower court judge denied a motion from MDOT and MTC to dismiss the case.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Topics Lawsuits Mississippi
A former California Legislator on Monday pleaded guilty to crimes that included accepting bribes, some related to alleged bribes involving workers compensation fraud.
Former Democratic Assemblyman Tom Calderon pleaded guilty to one felony count of money laundering as part of an agreement in which federal prosecutors offered to seek a prison sentence of no more than 12 months, according to a report in the L.A. Times.
His conviction carries up to 20 years in prison, but prosecutors are requesting that he get no more than one year when hes sentenced in September.
The plea settles his part of a criminal case that includes his brother, former state Sen. Ron Calderon, who allegedly accepted bribes, according to a court filing released Monday by the U.S. attorneys office.
Ron Calderon is accused of accepting a bribe from a hospital executive in Southern California who ran an alleged workers comp scheme. Ron Calderon has pleaded not guilty and there is no plea agreement in his case, officials said Monday.
Tom Calderon admitted to hiding bribes his brother reportedly accepted in exchange for supporting legislation to expand tax credits for the film industry, according to the plea agreement. The legislation was never passed. The bribes came from an undercover FBI agent posing as movie studio owner.
Ron Calderon also is charged with accepting bribes from a former hospital owner to preserve a state insurance law that the government says helped the owner maintain a long-running and lucrative health care fraud scheme. The law was later repealed. At the time the investigation was launched Ron Calderon chaired the Senate Insurance Committee. He is alleged to have accepted bribes from Michael Drobot, who ran a spinal surgery clinic in Long Beach.
According to an FBI affidavit from 2013, Ron Calderon concealed bribe payments from Drobot through his brother, and his son, Zachary, a student at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Tom Calderon received a monthly consulting fee of at least $10,000 from Drobot, plus a one-time payment of $1 million. The affidavit says Drobot paid $28,000 to Ronald Calderon through his son, who worked a summer job at Drobots hospital, although most of the money went directly into the state senators bank account.
Drobot pleaded guilty on March 4 to allegations of conspiracy and illegal kickbacks, the L.A. Times reported. According to the report, authorities say dozens of doctors and chiropractors were illegally paid to send patients to Pacific Hospital, which resulted in $600 million in fraudulent billings over eight years, most of which was paid out in workers comp insurance.
Related:
Topics California Legislation Workers' Compensation
E arrivata lufficialita, dopo una giornata di voci rincorrenti: per il triennio 2018-2021 sara lemittente Sky a godere dei diritti televisivi per trasmettere, in esclusiva assoluta, le partite non solo delle prossime edizioni dellEuropa League ma anche quelle della massima competizione continentale, la Champions. Un pacchetto da favola per il quale la tv satellitare di Rupert Murdoch avrebbe messo sul piatto unofferta giudicata piu congrua di quella presentata dalla concorrente Mediaset. A dare lannuncio dellaffare concluso e stata la stessa Sky che, in un comunicato, ha spiegato che il nuovo format sviluppato dalla UEFA ci consentira di portare ai nostri abbonati un prodotto rivoluzionario per il calcio europeo in Italia. Per la prima volta la UEFA Champions League e la UEFA Europa League saranno insieme in unesclusiva offerta integrata, che permettera agli appassionati di seguire fino a 7 squadre italiane, mai cosi tante prima dora, impegnate nelle sfide con i migliori club europei.
Sky: Rafforzata leadership
Anche il livello tecnico dellofferta sara altissimo ed e ancora lemittente a rivelare i dettagli: Continueremo a fare innovazione, trasmettendo le partite piu importanti anche in 4K HDR. Questofferta senza precedenti rafforza la posizione di Sky come leader della programmazione sportiva in Italia ed e anche un altro passo importante di sostegno al calcio italiano. Insomma, per i prossimi tre anni, sara unegemonia totale quella della satellitare sul calcio europeo, avendo mantenuto il pacchetto Europa League (gia sua esclusiva) e affiancandola a quello ancor piu appetibile della Champions League ad appannaggio Mediaset dal 2015 al 2018.
Sfida Serie A
Ora la sfida fra i due colossi delle trasmissioni sportive si spostera sui diritti televisivi della prossima Serie A, per la quale si e ancora in attesa di un nuovo bando che, come annunciato dal commissario della Lega, Carlo Tavecchio, avra le stesse caratteristiche del precedente, andato pero a vuoto: solo una delle offerte presentate per i cinque pacchetti, infatti, superava la soglia minima richiesta dalla base dasta. Niente di fatto, quindi, anche in virtu della stessa Mediaset che, in sostanza, ha disertato il bando (giudicato inaccettabile) non presentando alcuna offerta. La battaglia, anche in questo caso, sara sulle esclusive: del resto, dopo essersi vista scivolare via una componente importante come la Champions, sulla Serie A Mediaset dara sicuramente battaglia.
Un ottobre da sogno per Antonio Conte: lex ct della Nazionale italiana, attualmente alla guida del Chelsea, nelle ultime quattro gare di Premier League ha collezionato solo successi, conditi da 11 reti segnate e addirittura nessuna incassata. Numeri da record che non sono certo passati inosservati alla Federazione inglese, la quale ha conferito al tecnico leccese lambito premio di Manager del mese.
Unavventura oltremanica iniziata in sordina, quella di Conte, pur a fronte di tre vittorie nelle prime tre gare di campionato. A far vacillare, anche se solo per un momento, le certezze del patron del club londinese, Roman Abramovich, i risultati conseguiti tra la 4a e la 6a giornata, coincisi con un pareggio sul campo dello Swansea City e, soprattutto, con le due pesanti sconfitte subite dal Liverpool, sul terreno casalingo di Stamford Bridge, e dallArsenal. In particolare, la debacle interna coi Reds, aveva irritato non poco il numero uno russo, poiche occorsa proprio nel giorno della sua 250esima partita da presidente della societa.
Come detto, solo un momento. Dopo lincontro dellEmirates, il tecnico salentino cambia modulo, adottando un piu equilibrato 3-4-3 e inserendo elementi di corsa come lo spagnolo Pedro. Una svolta totale perche, di li in poi, il Chelsea inanellera solo e soltanto vittorie: 2 gol allHull City e al Southampton in trasferta, 3 ai campioni dInghilterra del Leicester e 4 allo United in casa, con un meraviglioso numero zero nella casella delle reti subite. Un fantastico poker, ottenuto tra l1 e il 29 ottobre. Un cambio di marcia sbalorditivo, confermato dal 5 a 0 rifilato ai toffees dellEverton nel primo match di novembre, e una scalata che, man mano, ha portato i blues al secondo posto in classifica, a soli 2 punti dal Liverpool capolista.
E allora, non poteva mancare il riconoscimento di migliore allenatore del mese, ottenuto surclassando tecnici del calibro di Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool), Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) e Mark Hughes (Southampton). Tanta, ovviamente, la soddisfazione: E un grande onore e voglio condividerlo con i giocatori e con la societa ha dichiarato Conte sul sito ufficiale della Premier League -. E la prima volta che lavoro in un altro Paese, con una cultura diversa, e portare la propria filosofia non e facile, ma ora sono contento di questa scelta.
A completare la festa, la premiazione del fantasista belga, Eden Hazard, come miglior giocatore di ottobre. Due risultati importanti per il club, ottimo incentivo per la rincorsa al trono dei campioni, occupato dal Leicester di Ranieri. Il prossimo appuntamento per l11 di Conte sara al Riverside Stadium, tana del Middlesborough neopromosso. Il tempo di festeggiare e gia finito.
As compared with investment-grade bonds, high-yield corporate bonds offer higher interest rates because they have lower credit ratings. As treasury yields fall, high-yield bonds can seem increasingly attractive. However, high-yield bonds carry a higher risk of default than investment grade corporate bonds and treasurys. Bond funds can help to lower this risk by allowing you to easily own a broad portfolio of high-yield bonds. This means that any single default won't be as damaging to your portfolio.
Below, we've selected the top three high-yield corporate bond funds for 2020 by 1-year total return. The best-performing high-yield corporate bond fund, based on performance over the past year, is the Metropolitan West High Yield Bond Fund (MWHYX). All figures are as of April 14, 2020. We have excluded funds with under $100 million in assets under management (AUM), as low-AUM funds sometimes lack sufficient liquidity to be easily investable. Similarly, funds not open to new investors and those with a minimum investment of more than $10,000 were excluded.
Metropolitan West High Yield Bond Fund (MWHYX)
1-Year Total Return: 4.1%
1-Year Trailing Dividend Yield: 4.10%
Expense Ratio: 0.85%
Assets Under Management: $436.9 million
Inception Date: September 30, 2002
Fund Family: Metropolitan West Funds
This fund aims to provide exposure to the full high-yield bond universe, repositioning itself over the course of the credit cycle in order to better manage risk-adjusted performance. The fund's top holdings are bonds from the healthcare services company, HCA Healthcare Inc.(HCA); the food and drink packaging supplier, Reynolds Consumer Products (REYN); and healthcare services provider, Centene (CNC).
1-Year Total Return: 2.8%
1-Year Trailing Dividend Yield: 5.21%
Expense Ratio: 0.45%
Assets Under Management: $104.3 million
Inception Date: June 12, 2018
Fund Family: Fidelity Investments
FDHY typically invests at least 80% of its assets in high-yield bonds in its goals of seeking a high level of income and capital appreciation. Currently, the fund's top holdings are bonds from healthcare services provider, Centene; wireless infrastructure company, SBA Communications Corp. (SBAC); and credit scoring company, Fair Isaac Corp. (FICO).
1-Year Total Return: 1.5%
1-Year Trailing Dividend Yield: 4.74%
Expense Ratio: 0.20%
Assets Under Management: $151.3 million
Inception Date: January 11, 2018
Fund Family: Xtrackers
The Xtrackers Low Beta High Yield Bond ETF aims to match the performance of the Solactive USD High Yield Corporates Total Market Low Beta Index. This cap-weighted index is designed to mirror the performance of the low-yielding segment of the USD-issued high-yield corporate bond market. The fund's top holdings are bonds from aerospace component manufacturer, TransDigm Group (TDG); media company, Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (CCO); and medical services company, Centene Corp.
The comments, opinions and analyses expressed herein are for informational purposes only and should not be considered individual investment advice or recommendations to invest in any security or to adopt any investment strategy. While we believe the information provided herein is reliable, we do not warrant its accuracy or completeness. The views and strategies described on our content may not be suitable for all investors. Because market and economic conditions are subject to rapid change, all comments, opinions, and analyses contained within our content are rendered as of the date of the posting and may change without notice. The material is not intended as a complete analysis of every material fact regarding any country, region, market, industry, investment, or strategy.
When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site.
General Motors Company (GM) is the quintessential American company. Incorporated in 1908, the Detroit-based automotive company has weathered its fair share of boom and bust economic cycles. The company designs, manufactures, markets, and distributes new cars, trucks, and vehicle parts globally. GM additionally offers consumers automotive financial services.
In this article, we take a brief look at General Motor's stock history before reviewing the company's three largest individual shareholders.
Key Takeaways Founded in 1908 by William C. Durant, General Motors has weathered numerous ups and downs over the decades.
The decades after World War II saw the American car manufacturer flourish as demand for the company's cars spurred increased revenue and market share.
By the 1980s, the company began to decline as it faced strong competition from foreign automakers, including Toyota and Honda.
During the financial crisis of 2009, GM filed for bankruptcy and became largely owned by the U.S. government; the company recovered and relaunched in 2010 with an initial public offering of new GM stocks.
As of April 2021, GM's top individual shareholders were Mary Barra, Mark Reuss, and John Stapleton.
GM's Stock History
General Motors has an interesting stock history. The company was reincorporated in 1916 during a stock buyback campaign that led founder William C. Durant to rejoin the company after having been forced to leave in 1910 as a result of massive debt he incurred through the acquisition of other car companies. Durant added Chevrolet to the GM fold in 1916 and continued to acquire other automobile manufacturers over the years.
The decades after World War II saw GM dominate as a car manufacturer, growing its market share and revenue while simultaneously becoming one of the world's largest employers. The company's fortunes declined, however, beginning in the 1980s and through the 1990s. GM lost significant market share to foreign car companies, most notably Honda and Toyota.
General Motors filed for bankruptcy in 2009 amid the financial crisis and became largely owned by the U.S. government. When this happened, it was delisted from the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and old GM shares were retired. In 2010, General Motors relaunched with an initial public offering (IPO) of new GM stocks. As of Dec. 17, 2021, the stock price was around $55.16.
$80.1 Billion GM's market capitalization as of Dec. 17, 2021.
1. Mary Barra
Mary Barra was appointed as General Motors' chief executive officer (CEO) in January 2014 when former CEO Daniel Akerson departed from the company. Barra, who is General Motors' first female CEO, was also elected chair of the companys board in January 2016. At the time, Barra was seen as a perfect fit to take the company forward and advise the companys board due to her extensive experience in engineering and global product development, one of General Motors' most critical business areas.
Barra holds a bachelor of science in electrical engineering and a master of business administration (MBA). She has won a number of industry recognition awards and was named to Forbes' list of the world's 100 most powerful women for 2021. According to GM's 2021 proxy statement and annual meeting of shareholders notice, she is the company's largest individual shareholder with 2,753,251 shares of General Motors.
2. Mark Reuss
Mark L. Reuss is a president of General Motors, leading regional operations in North America, South America, China, and General Motors International. Reuss has had a long career with GM, joining the company as an intern in 1983 when he was studying at Vanderbilt University to be a mechanical engineer. He later got his MBA from Duke University. Prior to becoming GM president in 2019, Reuss served as GM's executive vice president for Global Product Development, Purchasing, and Supply Chain from 2013 to 2018.
Reuss is the second-largest individual shareholder of General Motors. As of April 2021, he owned 670,814 shares of the company.
3. John P. Stapleton
John Stapleton has been GM's North America chief financial officer (CFO) since January 2014. He joined the company in 1990 and worked his way up the ranks, serving in a variety of finance roles with responsibilities in operations, manufacturing, labor, and performance improvement. GM named Stapleton acting global chief financial officer in August 2020 following the resignation of Dhivya Suryadevara, executive vice president and CFO. Stapleton held the interim position until GM hired former Delta Air Lines CFO Paul Jacobson to fill the CFO position in December 2020.
Stapleton is the third-largest individual shareholder of General Motors. As of April 2021, he owned 183,211 shares of the company.
Top News - Investor Idea
Mullen (NASDAQ: MULN) Continues Acquisition Path With Purchase of ELMS Assets Including Factory in Mishawaka, IN., Enabling EV Production for Retail and Commercial Vehicle Lines
BREA, Calif. - October 19, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), an emerging electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturer, announces the US Bankruptcy Court approval on Oct. 13th, 2022 of its acquisition of electric vehicle company ELMS's (Electric Last Mile Solutions) assets in an all cash purchase.
Top EV Stock News - Investor Idea
Breaking EV Stock News: Mullen (NASDAQ: MULN) Announces the I-GO, New Urban Commercial Electric Delivery Vehicle Available Now for European Markets
BREA, Calif. - October 24, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), an emerging electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturer, announces today it has secured exclusive sales, distribution and branding rights to the new compact urban delivery electric vehicle, the I-GO, which is fully EU Standard homologated and certified for sale in select European Markets.
Top EV Stock News - Investor Idea
EV Stocks Driving Higher: (NASDAQ: $MULN) (NASDAQ: $TSLA) (NYSE: $NIO) (NYSE: $F)
Vancouver, Delta, BC - October 20, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Investorideas.com, a leading investor news resource covering EV and automotive stocks releases a special report featuring Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), covering the continued growth of the EV market as government policy and infrastructure plans sync up with consumer and investor interest in the EV space.
Top AI Stock News - Investor Idea
Breaking AI Stock News: FatBrain (OTCQB: LZGI) Acquires Confidential Computing Platform ZeroTrust to Protect Data Privacy and Accelerate Innovation for Millions of Growth Businesses
NEW YORK, NY - October 19, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) FatBrain AI (LZG International, Inc.) (OTCQB: LZGI), the leader in powerful and easy-to-use artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for star enterprises of tomorrow, has acquired the confidential computing and privacy intellectual property (IP) plus software assets of Zero2A PTE LTD ("ZeroTrust Platform"), a software company based in Singapore.
Check out our Podcasts for great investor ideas:
Get new posts by email: Subscribe Powered by
Investorideas.com Newswire:
Subscribe to Investor Ideas Newswire
For those of you that havent heard, Ireland has been having some amazingly pleasant weather for the past few weeks and the nation is taking advantage of it and taking to the beach. Whoever said itd be a great little country if only we could roof it would have been bowled over with the pleasant weather of the past month. Ireland actually saw very little rain and temperatures were up to 75F.
Photographer Darach Glennon, who loves his hometown of Galway and photographing light, stuck out on Sunday, June 5 when he took to Tracht Beach, at Kinvara to shoot the sunset. He took these shots of what he describes paradise on the west coast of Ireland between 9.30 and 10pm, he told IrishCentral.
Glennon wrote on his Facebook page:
I could have put my feet up after a long day today, but as the sun began to set, I took the chance of heading over to Tracht beach near Kinvara... and was I so glad I did! A magnificent sunset unfolded as the last few people took a dip in the Atlantic Ocean I know why I love Galway so much!!
Kinvara, Galway, is located along the Wild Atlantic Way, one of the longest defined coastal routes in the world. The popular trail is located on the west coast and hits nine counties. These amazing photos were taken just outside the sea port village of Kinvara.
For more from Darach Photography visit their Facebook page or website here.
My involvement with American holidays has usually consisted of partaking from afar, gladly accepting the day off work and going along with whatever plans unfold. Last weekend was no exception.
It was a last minute decision to join six girlfriends and spend the weekend on Long Beach Island, NJ, and writing this now as my skin rages with fierce sunburn and my hangover threatens to kill me, I can conclude it was a great decision to kick off the summer.
Recently, I was re-launched back into the single world in a bizarre turn of events that Im still struggling to process. When I finally manage to narrow it down into a digestible read that isnt pure angry vitriol, Ill attempt to share a version with the world.
For now, all that matters is that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, especially a woman who has been scorned thrice by three other women, now similarly furious. Ergo, the opportunity to come to Jersey Shore was perfectly timed.
The weekend began with a seven hour journey that should have been two. Arriving on 9th Avenue at 7:30 a.m. for the 8 a.m. bus, I was packed, punctual and ready to go.
Unfortunately, the bus wasnt. When it finally arrived at 10:30 a.m., my light layer of early morning sunburn was well underway.
Two iced coffees then decided to make their presence very well known and the bus driver decided that the best place to stop so that the women could relieve themselves was a church. As I found myself scurrying through a church hunting for a loo with 15 total strangers, I knew this weekend was going to be interesting.
Later that afternoon, bikini clad, I walked the length of the beach with my girls and began to absorb the culture of Long Beach Island, or LBI. Around our base camp in Surf City, the houses are identical.
Slatted, pastel colored, decked and decorated almost identically from one end of the island to the next, there is an impressive sense of consistency and respect for the overall aesthetic of the island. With only 80 year-round residents, the numbers soar high into the thousands once summer rolls in.
The best means of transport is by bike, running smooth tracks on the flat, straight length of the island to bars, restaurants and beaches. Our days were filled with sunshine activities, most of which resulted in sunburn.
We took out kayaks and jet skis, spectacularly managing to capsize everything, and we lay out in the sun until we felt faint. We drank 4,000 bottles of Prosecco and our magically weird hostess cooked us delicious homemade meals.
It isnt hard to see how and why people abandon the hot sticky city to come here for months at a time. The breeze blows away the cobwebs of stress and suffocation, and the outdoor activity and sunshine rejuvenate the soul.
Going out at night, you need to Uber your way there and back. On Sunday night, celebrating one of the girls birthdays, we decided to commit to a real night out in true Jersey Shore style.
And oh, did we get it. As we went out to hail a cab, we ran into four Jersey boys. Step one complete.
They offered to bring us with them in their cabs. They ordered a second one and thus began the process of them paying for everything which none of us objected to.
We got to Joe Pops which had 2002 emblazoned over the door at around midnight, just in time to catch the last hour of one of the most entertaining cover bands I have ever come across. The boys bought round after round of drink and shots and we danced and screamed like teenagers.
Safe in the anonymity of holiday mode, we were free to let loose and behave like total lunatics. So we did.
Eventually there were only two of us gals left dancing, and we were dedicated to the idea of making this a night to remember. With the four guys, we managed to conduct a night of completely juvenile behavior in a way that was so fun I woke up on Mnday morning with pain in my stomach from having laughed so much for so long.
We managed to hit every stereotype, skinny dipping in the bay, lounging in a hot tub, scampering around the free and open space like we had never been set free before. I woke up in the hot tub owners living room as his parents were calmly preparing the morning coffee.
They greeted us with genuine friendliness and sheer amusement and appreciation of the youthfulness that shines through the silliness of the Jersey Shore. Its the best hangover weve ever had.
The best cure for a breakup can be many things, but to escape with six of your most incredible single female friends and embrace the solidarity of your female tribe, unleash your wild womanly ways and do a little of the things you wouldnt ordinarily do has been the perfect cure for me.
We boarded a bus back to New York as sleepy, exhausted sunkissed ladies, leaving our antics behind on the beach, safe in the knowledge that what happens on LBI, stays on LBI.
Until we inevitably come back later this summer. I feel cured.
Suffocating political correctness, hatred of Hillary Clinton, admiration for what Donald Trump has achieved and a deep sense that America is slipping backwards seem to dominate feelings among Irish Americans who will vote for Trump.
The belief among many of the of 7,000 Irish Americans interviewed for a recent IrishCentral poll, is that America today is fading fast because of overly intrusice government, too many handouts, minority mollycuddling and a fear of saying the wrong thing. The poll indicates that 45 percent of Irish Americans plan to vote for Trump, 41 percent for Clinton and the rest are undecided.
The break with traditional ties to the Democrats and Clinton comes from a culture in which pulling yourself up by the bootstraps has become a powerful belief. Most Irish Americans spoken with had experienced a remarkable uplift in their lives.
Many were sons and daughters of World War II veterans, dubbed The Greatest Generation, who came home from war and used the GI Bill to arn college degrees, unheard of in so many families before then.
They then moved into the professional classes and out of the crowded cities to the suburban tracts, such as Long Island, where they had their own homes and neighborhoods which were mostly crime free.
Read more: In a poll of Irish readers, Donald Trump has the edge on Hillary Clinton
Their jobs, especially union ones, paid well, as retirement was hugely aided by social security. Two car families became the maxim. In a generation their worlds leaped forward generations.
Now they believe America is moving backwards at a rate of knots. Quotas in universities, firehouses and police stations have impacted them in once traditional Irish professions. Getting money for no work offends them (many strongly believe Mitt Romneys claim that 47 percent of Americans are on welfare). Government handouts are all seen as pecking away at what they considered their once-idyllic lifestyles, certainly in the rear-view mirror.
They're also aware that in the recent bank meltdowns, they got left holding the baby while bankers prospered despite the crash. A strong feeling of lost identity in a vastly changed world has became a powerful populist movement, amazingly mirrored on the left by Bernie Sanders supporters. America left and right is mad as hell and wont take it anymore.
Then along came Donald Trump, who seized the moment perfectly and ran an amazing campaign that articulated the prejudices and the dreams of so many. He catapulted himself to being the Republican nominee a scenario that top commentators openly laughed about six months ago.
Trump, as befits a publicity bloodhound, has his town criers, his adjutants who keep the masses informed of his every move.
The winged messengers of this new prophet are Fox commentators like Bill OReilly, Sean Hannity, Megyn Kelly, no surprise all Irish American. All grew up in suburban America and all genuflect nightly at the Blessed Trump altar even Kelly, though she became a prodigal daughter for a time.
Night after night, they pump out the same warning signals: America is falling apart, Hillary and Bill are kleptomaniacs whod steal your kids communion money, minorities are crime-ridden and getting special treatment, illegals are overrunning the country, and Trump is the only hope.
He would Make America Great Again, they bay, just like Ronald Reagan did. The old ways would be back a chicken in every pot, a job in every house, better wages, no more bankers squeezing the little guy, no more pesky foreigners sneaking into our beloved land. It is all very alluring.
Read more: Remote Irish island seeks Americans fleeing Donald Trump presidency
I have attended Trump rallies to observe and stood beside cops, firemen, teachers, factory workers; talking to them you realize they are not bad people at all but deeply disappointed people. They are struggling with jobs and with mortgages, their kids college tuition is as high as $50,000 a year. They are squeezed everywhere they look and they are ready to follow a new pied prophet.
But Trump is a deeply flawed vessel, something they fail to see. He is one of them the way that they are all part of the human race, but when he stands up with his fake pompadour and pluperfect family ranged behind him the initial response I had was to laugh. He reminded me of the bully Biff from Back to the Future. Biff had more substance.
Unlike the great populists like Huey Long or Al Smith, or even James Michael Curley, Trump has no authenticity whatsoever as a working-class hero delivering a populist message.
Yet, they believe the Irish in the forefront and one can see why. They desperately want change.
Once upon a time there were no more loyal Democrats than Irish Americans. The outreach by that party to the famine-stricken when they came off the boats and the connection of many Republicans to the anti-Irish Know Nothings seem to perpetually ensure that.
Except the tide has turned in recent American elections beginning with Ronald Reagan in 1980, when white ethnic voters known as the Reagan Democrats began to switch.
The Catholic vote went for Obama in 2012 over Romney by a razor thin 49 to 48 percent.
Judging from his rallies and Irish Americans I know, it is obvious The Donald has many Irish Trumpsters.
Why so? I asked two pro-Trump friends. Tim ORegan a former senior executive with Xerox and now a volunteer fire officer and community activist in Breezy Point, NY whose folks came over from Monaghan and Cork is emphatic why.
Authentic! Trump is resonating with the people educated and less educated alike. Over this Memorial Day weekend I witnessed one of my highly-educated friends coming out of the shadows proudly wearing a white, made-in-America Make America Great Again cap.
O'Regan asks, Should we be surprised that hard-working Americans (Irish or otherwise) have finally come to see the bullshittery dispensed by career politicians (of both parties) as inimical to their being all-they-can-be...?
Mike Mullen a successful entrepreneur whose roots are in Clare, Cork, and Galway and who founded a successful software company that eventually employed 400 has very strong views on Hillary Clinton, too.
I cannot remember a time when the choices for President were so poor. But, given the poor choice, I will have to vote for Donald Trump. There are many reasons for me to be disenchanted with Mr. Trump, but my opposition to Secty. Hillary Clinton far outweighs any and all of the issues I have with a Trump candidacy. Indeed, none of my issues with Clinton is greater than the upcoming Supreme Court appointment to fill Antonin Scalia's seat. I also think the Clintons (and without doubt Hillary) exhibit the lowest standards of integrity...
It is clear that people will find a way to vote for Trump despite all his drawbacks. Making America Great Again is their sincerely held belief, the problem is they dont see the message is being delivered by a modern-day Mephistopheles.
Niall ODowd is founder of IrishCentral, Irish America Magazine and Irish Voice newspaper in New York. This article first appeared in The Irish Times.
A former resident from Kincora Boys' Home has described being stripped naked and sexually assaulted on his first day at the Belfast facility.
The man, given the cipher HIA199/R3, broke down in tears, after telling the Norths Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry, how he was singled out and abused over four years.
He said: "When I came to Kincora I was an innocent 14-year-old boy.
"I never had a sex education and this is what I had to deal with for four years."
The witness, who spent his entire childhood in care, had three separate stints at Kincora during the 1960s and 1970s.
He left shortly after turning 18.
On the day he was admitted from Purdysburn Hospital, he recalled being taken into a bathroom and assaulted by warden Joseph Mains during what was supposed to be a medical examination, the HIA was told.
"The first thing he did to me was he took me into that bathroom, he stripped me naked, made a comment about my private parts and started to fondle me," he said.
"That was on my first day at 14."
There was systemic abuse with rewards and violent punishments such as being punched in the stomach or slapped in the face if he did not perform, it was claimed.
He added: "The punishment was cleverly worked out so that there would not be any bruising.
"It was done in private, in his office. It wouldn't happen very often but it would be often enough to remind me of the consequences if I did not perform."
The boy, who considered Kincora the only home he ever had, was threatened with borstal and feared speaking out because of Mains' influential friends, it emerged. Mains later pleaded guilty to two counts of sex abuse against the boy.
It has long been alleged that a high ranking paedophile ring preyed on vulnerable boys at Kincora during the 1970s.
It is further claimed that the UK security services knew about the abuse but did nothing, instead using the information to blackmail the prominent people such as politicians, judges, civil servants and police officers who were the perpetrators.
In 1980, Mains and two other senior care workers Raymond Semple and William McGrath were convicted for abusing boys at Kincora during the 1970s. It was widely believed McGrath, who had links to a shadowy Protestant paramilitary organisation, was working as an MI5 agent.
HIA199/R3 said he had no knowledge of any vice ring or of boys being taken elsewhere to be prostituted.
The witness said he was glad to have the opportunity to speak out.
"For 55 years I have had this hanging on my head," he said.
"No one believed me. I am just so glad for this committee, at last, to listen to the truth of what happened at Kincora."
The HIA was set up by the Norths Executive in 2013 and has been examining allegations of physical, emotional and sexual abuse at state and church-run residential institutions between 1922 and 1995.
It is chaired by retired High Court judge Anthony Hart, sitting alongside Geraldine Doherty, a former head of the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work in Scotland, and David Lane, who was director of social services in Wakefield, West Yorkshire in the UK.
Update 1.46pm: Childminding Ireland has issued a statement in response to todays strike from the Impact union.
To meet the changing needs of its members, Childminding Ireland has been undergoing a restructuring, it stated.
The new Childminding Ireland structure does not have the posts referred to by Impact.
Currently, 41% of Childminding Ireland members have QQI level 5 or above in Childcare, and it is Childminding Ireland's ambition to improve on that figure.
The two membership posts required to have a Childcare qualification will be in direct professional contact with members, providing advice and support.
Childminding Ireland has already confirmed support for training or refresher courses for staff as necessary, provided a 4 month consultation period and extended the application process.
Regrettably three members of staff have declined to engage and have taken strike action.
Childminding Ireland staff not involved in strike action will be continuing to support its members during the period of industrial action.
Earlier:
Staff at Childminding Ireland are beginning an indefinite strike this morning after five workers were served redundancy notices.
The company has indicated that future staff will be required to have a childcare qualification.
Their union Impact said that workers will continue the action until management reverses its decision, and enters talks over a proposed restructuring plan.
Stella Griffin from Impact said that Childminding Ireland has said that staff can reapply for the jobs.
"Childminding Ireland - it's a representative body and not a childcare provider, and it has indicated that in the future they'll insist that administrative, communications and accounts staff have to have a childcare qualification," she said.
Police in Turkey have detained four people in connection with a car bomb attack in Istanbul that killed 11 people, according to the state-run news agency.
The rush hour attack targeted a police vehicle and killed seven police officers and four civilians.
The Anadolu Agency said the four suspects are being questioned at Istanbul's main police headquarters. The private Dogan news agency said the four hired the car used in the bombing.
Speaking at the scene of the blast in the district of Beyazit, Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin said 36 more people were wounded, at least three of them seriously.
The explosion was caused by a bomb placed inside a car and was detonated as the police vehicle was passing by, Mr Sahin said.
The police bus was overturned by the force of the blast which also damaged nearby buildings, including a closed hotel whose entrance appeared gutted and windows were blown out.
The blast shattered windows at a famous 16th-century Ottoman mosque, Sehzadebasi, wrecked several cars and forced cancellation of exams at nearby Istanbul University.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited some of the wounded at Haseki hospital, where two people were undergoing surgery.
"These (attacks) are being carried out against people whose duty it is to ensure the security of our people. These cannot be pardoned or forgiven. We shall continue our fight against terrorists tirelessly until the end," he told reporters outside the hospital.
Foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu condemned the attack, which occurred on the second day of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
"They are cold-heartedly exploding bombs on a Ramadan day," Mr Cavusoglu said in a television interview.
Tuesday's attack was the fourth major bombing in Istanbul this year, two of them targeting tourists and two hitting security forces. The spike in violence has led to a sharp dip in tourism, a mainstay of the economy.
Rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, have targeted police and military personnel since July, when a fragile peace process between the rebels and the government collapsed.
Islamic State has also been blamed for a series of bombings in Turkey, which is part of the US-led coalition against IS.
An estimated 500 Turkish security personnel have been killed in attacks or in conflict with the Kurdish rebels, according to the military, which claims to have killed 4,900 PKK militants in Turkey and northern Iraq. Turkish warplanes regularly raid PKK bases in northern Iraq.
Daniel Ramamoorthy founder of The Treehouse, an organisation that offers co-working space and advice to entrepreneurs in Dublin helped set up the Revolution Workspace in the Penrose Wharf business centre.
Cork is actually a hotbed of incredible innovation, Mr Ramamoorthy said, and is leading the charge in Ireland in areas like synthetic biology, in particular.
Mr Ramamoorthy, who advised the former government on policymaking for entrepreneurs, said that there is a need for more co-working in Cork to capitalise on these innovations.
I get emails from people all the time who are in Cork and want to move to Dublin because they believe their business will grow faster there, he said.
I think its because they dont see a good landing space in Cork. I think that if there was a more visible landing space for startups, more Cork startups would stick around because there would be a resource for them to continue growing.
Without a major co-working hub, a number of smaller spaces have opened across the city. Fergus Murphy, manager and founder of the Plus10 space, became a co-worker by accident.
Myself and another crew were developing a travel software site, Mr Murphy said.
We needed space for a couple of programmers. When we went looking, all that was there was very expensive stuff for short-term [use].
Mr Murphy had access to a building on South Main St and decided to make it his base. After a while, one of the developers on his team suggested opening up the space to other startups.
It just kind of grew from there, to the point where we have 17 desks occupied most of the time, he said.
One of the benefits of operating out of a co-working space, Mr Murphy said, is discipline.
The idea of working at home is very practical initially, he said, but its very hard to work in isolation.
The social side of co-working helps entrepreneurs avoid being captured by your comfort and overlooking flaws in their business, he said. The open space allows them to bounce ideas off other workers and share problems or worries.
Theres a pool of different talents and skills there, he said.
Mr Murphy, who spoke at last years Co-working Europe Conference in Milan, believes Cork lags other European cities in development of co-working spaces.
Ireland is a bit behind the curve, he said. Cork is significantly behind the curve. The culture is different. The startup scene isnt as vibrant.
Mr Ramamoorthy agrees, but believes Cork could become one of the top 10 startup cities in Europe.
Ireland in general ranks very high as a startup hub, he said. Cork as a city is not yet. But I think its fast on the heels of becoming that, specifically because of the collaboration between investors, accelerators, the local enterprise office and the universities. I think that network is absolutely important in building a good startup ecosystem.
But it is not just startups that are attracted to co-working. Established companies have learned that the practice is not just about physical space, but a culture that promotes entrepreneurship and creativity.
We have mature practices that have been much bigger in the past and had to scale down, said Patrick Creedon of Magee Creedon Kearns architects, which set up Gate Design House on North Abbey St.
Theyve discovered now that they dont have to have the big overheads of taking on a whole space by themselves and yet they have a sense of scale in terms of the shared space.
Both Gate Design House and Plus10 have been approached by large organisations, some of which already have substantial offices in Cork, looking to rent their spaces.
Ive had cases where big companies have been working on a project but maybe they wanted some lateral thinking, Mr Murphy said.
They want to come out of the office environment and into a more creative environment.
As work becomes more flexible, Mr Creedon predicts a rise in demand for co-working. One or two individuals can do so much more now than five or six individuals could do in the past, he said.
Companies dont want their hard-earned cash going into bricks and mortar. They do want to be in an environment that is pleasant and attractive and buzzy.
The incident happened at St Josephs Park in Dunsink Lane, Finglas, shortly after midnight.
Gardai said the victim was stabbed once and died at the scene.
An 18-year-old man was arrested a short time later in relation to the killing.
He was detained at Finglas garda station under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis examined the body at the location yesterday morning.
It was the removed for a postmortem which was due to be carried out yesterday afternoon.
According to reports locally, the victim was a settled traveller who was not a resident in St Josephs Park.
Gardai appealed for witnesses who may have been in the area of Dunsink Lane between 11.30pm on Sunday night and 12.30am yesterday to come forward.
They can contact the incident room in Finglas Garda Station on 01 6667500, or the garda confidential line on 1800 666111.
Meanwhile, gardai in Cork city are investigating the stabbing of a man in the city on Sunday night.
Gardai said the 40-year-old victim was stabbed a number of times on Tuckey St, near Grand Parade.
He was taken to Cork University Hospital but his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.
A garda spokesman said no arrests were made and he asked for any witnesses to contact the Bridewell Garda station on 021 4943330.
That is in spite of a stated Government commitment to greater countrywide job creation.
The figures released by the Department of Jobs show there were five counties which had no visits at all in the first quarter of the year.
A further seven, including Kerry and Donegal, had just one visit.
In total there were 136 visits by companies considering an investment here in the first quarter.
Of those, Dublin accounted for 57 visits and Cork for 11. Galway had 10 and Limerick had nine. One of the countrys smaller counties, Westmeath, also had nine visits in spite of having roughly half the population of Donegal. Meath, which has more than twice the population of Westmeath had just two visits.
Deputy Niall Collins, Fianna Fails employment spokesman, said the figures demonstrate the difference between what the Government is saying and what is actually happening.
It should be the case that every county is receiving site visits, he said. The Governments action plan for jobs breaks it down on a regional basis, but it is not living up to its own rhetoric.
The percentage of site visits to Dublin does seem to be coming down in recent years. In 2014, the capital accounted for 57% of all the visits. Last year, the 242 site visits to Dublin represented 43% of the overall total.
Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell OConnor defended the Governments commitment to countrywide job creation saying its Regional Action Plan for Jobs saw eight plans published throughout 2015 and 2016 which identified a range of actions aimed at supporting each region to achieve its economic potential and raise employment levels.
These new regional initiatives are already showing promise. In 2015, 53% of all jobs created by IDA Ireland clients were based outside of Dublin, compared to 49% in 2014, she said.
Data on site visits is not an accurate measure of the level of Foreign Direct Investment activity in a region or county. That is because approximately 70% of all FDI investment won by IDA Ireland comes from its existing client base, rather than new companies.
Under ambitious programme for government plans to get the number of multi-denominational primary schools up to 400 by 2020, Education Minister Richard Bruton will soon set annual targets for the next five years. However, in order to add impetus to flagging efforts to cater for wider parental preferences, an emphasis may be put on the model of community national schools run by education and training boards (ETBs).
These have been opened in 11 of the areas where new schools were needed to match local population increases, but the Educate Together model was more popular among parents in 28 areas where demand for more choice emerged from surveys in 2012 and 2013.
Those surveys took place to establish if there was enough demand for Catholic bishops to be asked to transfer existing schools to alternative patrons. They were held in 44 areas with little or no choice for parents and no likelihood of new schools being built due to steady populations.
However, the divestment process has seen very little progress. Only eight new schools have been established in those areas to date, and most of them operate from temporary accommodation rather than in properties transferred to them from religious-owned schools.
Mr Bruton suggested community national schools offer strengths that could allow for smoother transfer, as well as the prospect for quicker response to any future changes in parental preferences. While he does not suggest promoting this over other models, he told reporters that it has many strengths.
A key difference between the ETB-run community national schools and Educate Together schools, both of which cater for children of all faiths and none, is on the timing of religious faith formation. The former allows for faith formation and sacramental preparation to take place within the school day, but Educate Together schools do not.
An increased focus on community national schools could be perceived as an effort to appease Catholic patrons, who may prefer a model where children can have faith formation provided in school time. However, Mr Bruton said his main focus is in catering in a better way for parents growing demands for choice.
What I want to do is get a variety of options out there that meets changing parental needs and I know those are changing very rapidly and we need to find a way of accommodating them, he said.
Another option to increase the mix of school types will be to develop a model of having different patrons on the same school site.
He has asked his officials for a clear set of targets for each year beginning from the 2017/2018 school year.
They had discussions earlier this year with Catholic bishops and other patron bodies, in which it was acknowledged that new life needs to be brought to the existing divestment process.
A spokesperson for Educate Together said: We welcome the commitment in the programme for government to addressing the need for multi- and non-denominational education. This need is growing more urgent as more and more parents express their preference for Educate Together schools.
FORMER leader of the Progressive Democrats Des OMalley, when attending an international conference at Adare Manor Hotel, was surprised to meet, Special Branch detectives, Jerry McCabe and Ben OSullivan.
They had often provided protection to Mr OMalley and his family.
Det McCabe told him they were on duty at the conference as there were a lot of dangerous men living in the area. Those dangerous men struck some months later on the morning of June 7, 1996, a short distance away on the main street of Adare.
An IRA gang gunned down the two detectives in cold blood. Det McCabe died instantly. Det OSullivan survived massive wounds.
Both had turned in for duty at 6am at Henry Street Garda headquarters that morning. They were deployed to provide an armed escort to the An Post lorry delivering 81,000 pension money to post offices in west Limerick.
They arrived outside the post office in Adare at around 6.50am. As Det OSullivan brought their Ford Mondeo to a halt behind the postal lorry, he noticed a Pajero 4x4 jeep driving up behind them at speed. Two men wearing balaclavas jumped from the Pajero.
One carrying an AK-47 stood by the detectives car and without warning fired off a hail of bullets. Neither detective had time to draw their guns a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver and an Uzi submachine gun.
Det OSullivan later described it as a deliberate, controlled shooting.
Two bullets hit Det McCabe; one severed his spinal cord, killing him instantly. Det OSullivan was hit by 11 bullets. Doctors said afterwards that his strong upper body developed through his love of rowing had saved him.
Jerry McCabe
Members of the gang who had gone into the back of the post office lorry were surprised to see that all the postal delivery consignments had been locked in individual metal baskets for each drop. They immediately abandoned the attempted robbery and made off in a Mitsubishi Lancer.
The IRA active service gang was led by Kevin Walsh from Patrickswell, the man who shot the two detectives. He was accompanied by Michael ONeill, also from Patrickswell, Jeremiah Sheehy from Rathkeale, Pearse McAuley from Strabane, Paul Damery from Cork, and Gerry Roche who lived in Shannon.
As they sped from the scene their stolen Mitsubishi Lancer was damaged and they abandoned it near Ballingarry. Other vehicles were then commandeered as the gang made their way by secondary roads to a safe house near Toomevara, Co Tipperary.
Two timed incendiary bombs planted in the Pajero and Mitsubishi Lancer failed to detonate and the Garda technical bureau was able to get critical clues as the chase for the gang went nationwide. Suspicions that an IRA unit led by Walsh was responsible were quickly confirmed by prints on the vehicles.
Kevin Walsh had been linked to numerous IRA robberies in the Limerick area. During one Christmas raid at the Crescent Shopping Centre in Dooradoyle the gang ran through the crowded shopping mall brandishing AK-47s which they fired as the sped from the carpark.
Hours after carrying out the Adare attack the gang split up and left the house in Toomevara. Damery and Roche made their way out of the country. Damery got to South America and Roche went to ground in Holland. Both are still wanted for the Adare attack. Sheehy, ONeill and McAuley were arrested within days. McAuley had previously escaped from Brixton Prison in 1991 with Limerickman Nessan Quinlivan while awaiting prosecution over an IRA campaign in the UK.
Meanwhile, gang leader Kevin Walsh got access to an isolated safe house in Co Cavan. Gardai said while on the run he was visited by senior Sinn Fein figures from the North.
After months in hiding, he was arrested by members of the Garda Emergency Response Unit which stormed the house. As gardai burst into his bedroom Walsh tried to grab an AK-47 near his bed. He was heavily disguised and gardai found forged passports, fake driving licenses and other documents indicating he was planning to skip the country.
In the hours after the gun attack in Adare, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams initially denied republican involvement. He later said the operation was not authorised by the Army Council, but authorised at a lower level by an authorised person.
Walsh, Sheehy, ONeill and McAuley were charged with the murder of Det McCabe and the attempted murder of Det OSullivan. However, the State case at the non-jury special criminal court hit major problems when witnesses refused to give evidence due to what the Minister for Justice Michael McDowell described as provisional movement intimidation.
The State accepted pleas of guilty to the manslaughter of Det McCabe. In sentences backdated to February 1999, Kevin Walsh and Pearse McAuley were each jailed for 14 years. Jeremiah Sheehy got a 12-year sentence and ONeill was jailed for 11 years.
Walsh and McAuley were released on August 5, 2009; ONeill was released on May 15, 2007 and Sheehy was released on February 4, 2008. After the trial, Ann McCabe fought a relentless campaign to prevent the killers getting early release as part of the Northern Ireland peace process. She had several confrontations with then taoiseach Bertie Ahern demanding him to say there would be no early release.
Mr Ahern told the Dail in December 2004, that they would be released early as part of the Northern peace process. Mrs McCabe only learned of this statement on radio. She produced a letter from then justice minister Michael McDowell which told her: I want to reiterate my assurance to you that if it had ever been necessary to deal with the issue of releasing prisoners or if it ever becomes necessary to do so in the future, it would not and will not happen without you and Ben OSullivan knowing in advance.
After Bertie Aherns Dail statement, Ann McCabe said she wondered who was leading the country, the government or Sinn Fein-IRA. During their time in Castlerea prison, the four IRA men were given special privileges.
Ann and Jerry McCabe
Pearse McAuley was allowed out on temporary release for a big wedding party when he married Sinn Fein councillor, Pauline Tully in Kilnaleck, Co Cavan, in January 2003.
Pictures of the celebrations sparked public outrage. McAuley is now serving a 12-year jail sentence for a frenzied attack on Ms Tully.
Since the shooting 20 years ago today, Ben OSullivan has kept clear of all the controversies, spending his time on the farm he bought near Limerick.
In an interview with this reporter last month, Det OSullivan said: If somebody asked me if I had forgotten it forgetting something is an impossibility if your memory is okay and thankfully mine is. I have learnt to live with it. What I wouldnt give to have Jerry still alive, but that is an impossibility.
In a plea to the Government to legislate for assisted dying, Tom Curran said the current situation ignored the reality that people facing prolonged and difficult deaths were secretly arranging to have their lives ended at a time of their choosing.
He said it was inhuman that they had to live with the threat of a criminal prosecution for assisting with a humane act, and he revealed that he still feared a garda investigation into his role in assisting Marie to die in December 2013.
Its two and a half years ago but Im still afraid of the knock on the door, he said. I was surprised at the time that there wasnt an investigation and that we could bury Marie in peace.
Marie got her wish, which was to die peacefully, and were at peace now with her death but theres always that fear of the law and thats why it needs to be changed.
Marie Fleming photographed in January 2013 at the Supreme Court during her appeal to be allowed die peacefully in the arms of her partner without facing the threat of jail. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire
Mr Curran said he was unsure how the authorities would react to his disclosure, particularly after the prosecution and acquittal last year of Dublin woman Gail ORorke on charges of trying to assist the death of her close friend.
However, he said: It had to come out, otherwise, to a certain extent, what Marie fought for is a waste.
Mr Curran said he had helped around 200 people make plans to die, mainly through the use of a medication that is banned throughout Europe and must be imported illegally.
These people are around Europe but they would primarily be in Ireland and England, he said. Some people who made plans have died since but I dont know how they died. They dont report back to me for obvious reasons.
He also said he had turned down many others who were irrationally suicidal and believes that legalising requests for assistance to die would enable people in this situation to be more open about their difficulties and get help to overcome them.
Mr Curran, from Arklow, Co Wicklow, cared for Marie full-time for more than 15 years as she battled with multiple sclerosis.
He supported her High Court challenge to the Criminal Law (Suicide) Act of 1993 which, she argued, was discriminatory as it decriminalised suicide for able-bodied people but prevented people with restricted movement from having someone help end their life because assisting a suicide can carry a jail sentence of 14 years.
Ms Fleming lost the case and subsequent Supreme Court appeal in early 2013.
Marie Fleming pictured with her partner,Tom Curran.
The court cases clarified that there was no constitutional bar on the Oireachtas legislating for assisted dying and Mr Curran, along with legal experts and Independent TD John Halligan, drew up the Dying With Dignity Bill, which was introduced in the Dail last December.
The bill provides for assisted dying for people with incurable and progressive illness and requires each case to be verified by two medical practitioners and a third independent witness. Mr Halligan, since promoted to minister of state for Training and Skills, complained immediately prior to his appointment that the bill was lost in the lottery system used to determine what private members bills get Dail time.
Mr Curran said if the Government feared tackling the issue through legislation, a referendum was an option.
I would have no objection to having it put to the people because I believe they would back it once the safeguards were built in to protect vulnerable people, he said.
The Department of Justice said: There are no plans to bring forward legislative proposals in this area.
If you are concerned about your home while away, or anxious about burglary rates, maybe its time to review your home security.
First choice for many is a monitored alarm system, which involves installing telephone or mobile lines, sensors and and other software. The monitoring company call the appropriate authorities in the event an alarm signal is received.
Probably the best known of these in Ireland is PhoneWatch. Their Home Safety System is priced at 699, but is frequently reduced to 499 on special offer.
There are many other companies around Ireland offering similar packages so it is worth shopping around to get the best value. For peace of mind, always check that the provider you choose is licensed by the The Private Security Authority at www.psa.gov.ie.
Customers also pay a fixed monthly charge for the monitoring service. One thing to be aware of is that homeowners are free to decide who monitors the house they do not have to stay with whoever installed it. Like mobile phone arrangements, after the contract period expires, they can switch to whichever provider offers the best value and most peace of mind. So shop around. A few phone calls could save significant amounts in monitoring charges.
I spoke to Colm Daly, CEO of Irish company Homesecure. They monitor more than 6,000 households in Munster and Leinster, and Mr Daly promises their rates could save homeowners 120 in the first year alone if they switch.
Alarms are not the only form of defence against burglary. If, for price or other reasons, a monitored alarm system is not for you, there are a number of ways to make your home more secure. Key areas to consider here are doors, windows and locks. If you go online there are any number of videos available showing how easy it is to break into standard external doors.
Standard pin locks and euro-cylinders offer little resistance to burglars and can be disengaged in well under a minute. An upgrade to anti-bump, anti-snap locks is an inexpensive way to improve security.
You should also consider whether the external doors themselves are strong enough to withstand attack. Security doors can be expensive, running into thousands for steel reinforced doors in steel frames. But there are cheaper options a Burglarybuster Nightlock Pull-Up Security Bar can be purchased for 69. This bar can be laid across external doors at night. It reinforces the lower part of the door and means efforts to knock it in will create far more noise always effective in deterring burglars. Windows should be fitted with locks. For ease of use, you can arrange for all locks fitted to be opened with a single key. If you go to www.burglarybusters.ie, there is a home security audit checklist on the site to help you identify potential weak areas in your security and offer solutions.
Sensor lights, patio bolts, door eye-viewers, and door chains are all inexpensive ways to make your home less attractive to intruders.
There are ways to defray security costs. After making any upgrade you should contact your home insurer and let them know. Depending on the company, you may be entitled to a reduction of between 5-15%. If youre not happy with the discount offered, and/or you have with the same insurer for years, now is the time to switch for a better deal.
Purchasing and fitting an alarm system counts as qualifying work for the Home Renovation Incentive. The minimum spend to qualify for tax relief under this scheme is 4,405, so a standard alarm system purchase is not enough to qualify. However, if you are doing additional work on your home, the money spent on security can be included in the total. Any number of jobs carried out and paid for from October 2013 to December 2016 by homeowners can be added together to qualify.
DEAL OF THE WEEK
If you or someone you love is keen on outdoor activities, the Full HD Action Camcorder from Aldi sounds like a terrific bargain.
The lightweight National Geographic action camcorder is designed to fit on helmets, surfboards, bikes and more to capture and share your adventures on the move. At 44.99 it is a fraction of the cost of better known brands that promise the same functions.
The design is intended to be versatile and tough, while still small and lightweight enough to be easily portable. It offers multiple video recording formats and resolution 1080p, 720p, WVGA. HDMI.
The camcorder is waterproof, with a 170 wide-angle lens and includes a four GB micro SD memory card. The bundle includes a waterproof case (up to 30m), bracket, clip and bike blip, cleaning cloth, adaptor and USB cable.
It is part of Aldis Fathers Day offers. The day itself is on Sunday June 19 - the camocorder and a range of other gifts are available in-store from Thursday June 9.
The proposed ban on the unauthorised possession of the drugs, including benzodiazepines, comes following concerns over the growing trade in the drugs in Dublins inner city. Health Minister Simon Harris told the Irish Examiner that long- awaited legislation would be enacted before the summer recess.
The development comes as Taoiseach Enda Kenny prepares to visit Dublins inner city this week, following a spate of gangland-linked murders there. There has been a rise recently in numbers presenting with addiction problems with benzodiazepines and overdoses linked to the tranquilliser.
Gardai say crime gangs are trying to run the supply of its trade and so-called z-drugs, which are hypnotic sedatives.
Benzodiazepines and z- drugs are controlled under existing misuse of drugs legislation whereby it is illegal to sell them without a prescription. Extending this legislation will make it an offence to possess the drugs without a prescription.
Benzodiazepines: Proposed ban on unauthorised possession.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Mr Harris said: I am determined to play my part in tackling the issue of drug misuse and the enforcement of the law relating to the sale of drugs, including prescription drugs. I believe stricter controls need to be brought forward urgently to assist An Garda Siochana in tackling the problem of street dealing of prescription medicines. For this reason, I asked my department to find a way to bring forward this element of the Misuse of Drugs legislation as quickly as possible. I intend to bring the bill before the House in the coming weeks, he said.
Reviews of legislation on the possession of certain prescription drugs began in 2013, but were derailed by a constitutional court challenge which overturned existing drug laws. Emergency legislation reinstated those last year but complicating factors put back work on banning the street use of certain prescription drugs.
Reacting to the proposals last night, Tony Geoghegan, chief executive of Merchants Quay Ireland, said: Benzos are a problem on the streets. The awareness of users is badly affected. Gardai can currently stop and confiscate them, but its a grey area.
He said more resources for services were needed.
The experts found that of the citys 120,000 inhabitants, more than 700 were homeless. They said that despite raising concerns with the government over the issue last September, they had received no response as yet.
Widespread homelessness is evidence of the failure of the State to protect and ensure the human rights of the most disadvantaged populations, said the UN special rapporteur on adequate housing, Leilani Farha.
She said the number of homeless has risen due to the lack of affordable housing and the impact of austerity measures.
Ms Farha said that, according to international human rights law, all levels of government are under an obligation to provide urgent measures, including financial assistance, to ensure access to affordable housing, and essential levels of drinking water and sanitation services.
The State must take immediate steps to provide these services to homeless people, and at the same time, it must plan and implement a strategy to eliminate homelessness and provide long-term housing solutions, said Ms Farha.
The experts pointed to claims that rent allowance allocations available to individuals and families in Cork city are grossly inadequate in relation to the cost of housing in the private market.
They said tenants with low or irregular income have no protection from sudden increases in rent, forcing them to either move out or face eviction, often resulting in homelessness.
It is deeply worrying that there have been no free and adequate public installations for water or public toilets in Cork for the last 10 years, said Leo Heller, the UN special rapporteur on the human right to water and sanitation.
This effectively means the denial of access to water and sanitation for the homeless.
The experts said that while the Government does provide some public emergency shelters, the locations of these water and sanitation services were inadequate. They said some shelters did not open until the evening, and existing shelters were not sufficient to acc-ommodate the growing numbers of homeless people in the city.
During the day, the only alternative for many homeless people in Cork is to request access to water and sanitation services from private residents or establishments such as bars, restaurants, or public institutions, said Mr Heller.
This extreme lack of autonomy experienced is a denial of their privacy and dignity, as well as a health concern, as the situation results in access to very low quantities of water and limited access to sanitation facilities.
The council has been battling for years to force financial institutions pay out insurance bonds to finish off projects left by bankrupt developers.
And council estates manager John Ahern, who has been lauded by councillors for his dogged pursuit of bondholders, has also made significant progress at unfinished estates in Kanturk and Boherbue. Mr Ahern said hed held a number of meeting with AIB officials and the receiver over releasing the bond for unfinished works at the Dun an Oir estate in Kanturk, where some unoccupied houses with serious cracks in their walls will have to be demolished.
He said AIB and the receiver had now agreed to funding a site resolution plan and would pay for the work to rectify a number of issues in the estate and also put in a pedestrian crossing at the nearby main road, that was part of the the original planning application.
Mr Ahern said a similar breakthrough seemed on the cards at The Beeches estate in Boherbue, where Bank of Ireland held the bond. He said he would shortly be assessing their site resolution plan which would involve Bank of Ireland paying to finish off roads, public lighting and sewers in the estate.
Details of the progress on unfinished estates were given by Mr Ahern at a meeting of the councils Kanturk/Mallow municipal district.
Residents in Lismire praised Cllr Bernard Moynihan for pushing their case, and Mr Ahern for the work he put in to get a resolution.
Its very good news for them [residents] and its been a long time coming, Mr Moynihan said.
Cllr Gerard Murphy (FG) said he wasnt sure the public would understand the amount of work gone into getting financial institutions to release bond money.
The Lismire estate was a complete disaster. The sewerage was backing up into the houses and the council stepped in and got it sorted, but some work is still required on the system, Cllr Tim Collins (Ind) said.
However, there is still one small stumbling block left at Lios na Greine.
Mr Ahern pointed out that Bank of Ireland owned one of the houses in the unfinished section (repossessed from a mortgage defaulter) and said he wasnt able to get its agreement to demolish the dwelling. Locals maintained the house was unsafe, had been broken into and was the subject of an arson attack.
Mr Mullane said he couldnt understand why Bank of Ireland wouldnt agree to demolition. Mr Moynihan, who is chairman of the municipal council, said the authority would write to the banks chief executive demanding it be knocked.
TERENCE MacSwiney is a key political figure in Irish history, his death by hunger strike when he was Lord Mayor of Cork bringing the struggle for independence to the international stage. However, it is MacSwineys cultural legacy that is being celebrated as part of a new exhibition at the Crawford Gallery in Cork.
Conflicting Visions in a Turbulent Age, 1900-1916 features poignant personal items belonging to MacSwiney, loaned from the MacSwiney Brugha collection, including a notebook, a crucifix and signed books gifted to him by the revolutionary ODonovan Rossa.
Curator Eimear OConnor was inspired to seek out the material by a serendipitous discovery. I was in New York when I was asked to curate the show and thats when I came across The Revolutionist, a play published by MacSwiney in 1914. It struck me that all a lot of people seemed to know about MacSwiney was that he was Lord Mayor of Cork, he was a very political person, and that he died on hunger strike. I thought we should really try and find out more and do more to celebrate MacSwiney. Looking at his material and being in his archive, the hair was standing up on the back of my neck.
As part of the exhibition, the Crawford gallery will also host a public symposium on MacSwineys work in Cork Opera House on June 17, attended by members of the MacSwiney-Brugha family. The programme of events will include performances of excerpts from The Revolutionist and talks, including one by MacSwineys grandson, Cathal MacSwiney Brugha. The events will be filmed, edited and then included in the exhibition.
Terence MacSwiney
Historian John Borgonovo, an expert on the Irish revolution in Cork, believes MacSwineys political and cultural contributions were interdependent.
The political aspect of his identity goes back to his cultural activities from the turn of the century onwards he was part of a small group of republicans, cultural nationalists and artists, who were challenging the status quo. There has been a lot of attention paid to WB Yeats, Lady Gregory and the Abbeys role in Dublin, but there was something similar, though on a smaller scale, going on in Cork and Belfast, says Borgonovo.
MacSwineys main collaborator in the cultural arena in Cork was writer Daniel Corkery, with whom he founded the Cork Dramatic Society in 1908. It produced many of MacSwineys plays.
What was distinctive about the Cork Dramatic Society was that they only put on productions of authors that were local, not Shakespeare or music hall. It was all about nurturing theatrical movements in Ireland. A lot of the people who became the revolutionary elite were involved in those productions, says Borgonovo.
He adds that MacSwineys work as a playwright is significant in terms of what it represented in his development as a revolutionary. He became used to writing for an audience, speaking in public, theatrics. When you think about what the independence movement achieved, a lot of it was through smoke and mirrors street theatre. MacSwiney would have been thinking along those lines, what symbolic steps can you take, how do you co-ordinate defiance of state authority, and doing so in a clear and public way so that the public can understand it.
MacSwineys cultural activities would also have helped nurture his organisational skills, says Borgonovo, which were crucial to the development of the movement towards independence.
He organised for the Gaelic League, which was a continuing education, at a time when most people didnt go to university. It brought people with common interests together and taught them skills such as holding meetings, keeping accounts, speaking in public, organising events, and publicity. These would have helped MacSwiney as a political organiser later.
MacSwiney, front centre, with the cast of his play, The Last Warrior of Coole, in Cork in 1911. Irish Examiner Archive
MacSwiney, who had left school at 15 to support his family after his father left home, later returned to education.
Theres often a misunderstanding that he was middle class, says Borgonovo. He wasnt, he was totally self-made. He got himself a degree at a time when nobody had a degree, by studying part-time. He set up his own newspaper in 1914, and in order to raise the funds he sold his library, which for him was like parting with his children. That gives a sense of who he was, someone who loved ideas.
MacSwineys talents and skills were so broad and numerous, it is only natural to ponder what contribution he might have made had he had sacrificed his life for his political ideals.
Terence MacSwiney was someone with a political vision for Ireland. He was well-read and curious about the world, and he was a significant loss because he was someone who would have thought imaginatively about how the State would function, says Borgonovo. He was a global figure because of his hunger strike. It wasnt just one of the biggest events in Ireland in 1920, but globally. It was huge, and really struck people that idea of moral force, particularly in the aftermath of the First World War. You could make the argument MacSwiney is the best-known Irishman of the 20th century. Maybe Yeats has become better known since, but in his own lifetime, certainly.
Conflicting Visions in a Turbulent Age
When it came to curating the Conflicting Visions in a Turbulent Age exhibition, Eimear OConnor was keen to do something different.
I have this thing about visual art and galleries being about us not just me. As a curator, one must create a narrative in order to know what to borrow and from where but it struck me that it would be a very good idea to get more of us. So I got permission to hold a peoples history day in the gallery last November. We encouraged the people of Cork to come in with their own historical material. We photographed everything and we got people to write why the items were important to them. We have included that digitised material in what we have called the Peoples Exhibition.
The exhibition also features rarely seen works held in private collections, including a John B Yeats portrait of Lady Augusta Gregorys son Robert, which will be shown in public for the first time.
He was a pilot in the British Army, shot down in error by a member of his own side in 1918, says OConnor.
John B Yeats, who was a very good friend of the family, did the portrait when Robert was only about 18, about to go to Oxford. It is beautiful. Its from a private collection so I cant say where it came from. It just so happened that we were looking for something else from this person and he came forward and said he had this. I nearly died of delight, it is a wonderful thing.
The exhibition also features a portrait by Sean Keating of his brother Claude. While Keating is renowned for his depictions of those involved in the struggle for independence, his brother joined the British Army.
Another work by Keating, Thinking Out Gobnait, a rarely-seen portrait of the stained glass artist Harry Clarke, currently on show in Boston, will be added to the exhibition later this month.
Clarke is also represented in the exhibition strand devoted to the Honan Chapel at UCC, which was consecrated in 1916.
ON the third of May, 1810, Lord Byron jumped into the waters of the Hellespont and swam the tumultuous four miles separating Asia from Europe.
In Greek mythology, Leander used to swim across this same stretch of water every night to visit his lover, Hero, who would light a lamp to guide his way.
Byron claimed that swimming the Hellespont was his greatest achievement. 174 years later, another English writer, Patrick Leigh Fermor also, like Byron, revered by many Greeks for his part in a war of liberation repeated the feat. Leigh Fermor, however, was 69 when he did it. Byron was 22.
The Hellespont swim, with its mix of literature, adventure, travel, bravery, eccentricity and romance, is an apt metaphor for Leigh Fermors life. Paddy, who died five years ago this month, at the age of 96, seemed to embody the lot.
And he claimed Irishness, too.
Leigh Fermor was born in London in 1915. His father was in Calcutta, where he worked in the Indian civil service. His mother, Aeileen, had planned to follow him, with Paddy and Paddys older sister, but the sinking of the Lusitania frightened her that both her children might die at once.
Paddy was packed off to a small terraced house in Northamptonshire. He was loved by his foster parents, and allowed to roam free around the town and countryside with their other children.
In June, 1919, his mother and sister returned from India and Paddy was whisked back to London. He did not adapt well to school. His education was a series of disasters and recoveries, experiments and ignominious expulsions.
After a time living it up with the fast set in London, Paddy decided to walk every mile from the Hook of Holland to the Gates of Constantinople.
Aged 18, this is more or less what he did. He disembarked in Rotterdam on December 8, 1933 and reached Istanbul on New Years Day, 1935.
By then, he had mingled with bargemen, peasants, nobles and gypsies, made countless friends, learned songs and languages, had love affairs, slept rough, slept in castles, and savoured a culture on the eve of extinction.
During the Second World War, he led a party of English commandos and local guerrillas, who, disguising themselves as German soldiers, kidnapped the general in command of Crete and smuggled him off the island.
After the war, he began to write, while continuing to indulge his eclectic tastes for travel, wild parties, seedy nightclubs and monastic retreats.
He eventually settled in Greece. where he was loved, with his wife, Joan, and became a legend among travel writers.
Patrick with Joan Rayner, after their wedding at Caxton Hall, Westminster, London, January 17, 1968. Picture: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The centrepiece of his achievement was a trilogy of books about his epic trek across Europe.
To get a flavour, new readers might try the opening pages of Between the Woods and the Water. The author is crossing the bridge at Esztergom, entering Hungary for the first time.
He attends the Holy Saturday ceremony at the cathedral. He is in the company of a local grandee, who carried his scimitar slung nonchalantly in the crook of his arm and who polished his rimless monocle with a silk bandana.
The passage concludes with the words I kept wondering if all Hungary could be like this. The first-time reader is left wondering whether all of Patrick Leigh Fermor could be like this. The books sometimes feel like a never-ending purple passage.
But this is not to say that everything they have to offer is there glittering on the surface. In A Time of Gifts, there is a charming vignette in a little tobacconists shop in Goch. Paddy picks up a stocknagel, a curved, aluminium plaque about an inch long.
On it is a view of the town and its name, and he tacks it onto his walking stick.
Then, with no preamble, the camera angle widens out to show a town hung with Nazi flags.
We hear the crunch of measured footfalls as Stormtroopers march into the square. It is the restraint of the writing that deepens the sick feeling in the readers stomach.
Intriguingly, Paddy liked to claim he was descended from Counts of the Holy Roman Empire, who came to Austria from Sligo.
Paddy could recite The Dead at Clomacnoise (in translation) and perhaps did so during a handful of flying visits to Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s, partying hard at Luggala House or Lismore Castle, or making friends with Patrick Kavanagh and Sean OFaolain in Dublin pubs.
He once provoked a massive brawl at the Kildare Hunt Ball, and was rescued from a true pounding by Ricki Huston, a beautiful Italian-American dancer, John Hustons fourth wife and Paddys lover not long afterwards.
And yet, a note of caution about Paddys Irish roots is sounded by his biographer, Artemis Cooper, who also co-edited The Broken Road, the final, posthumously published instalment of the trilogy.
Im not a great believer in his Irish roots, she told me.
His mother, who was a compulsive fantasist, liked to think that her family was related to the Viscount Taaffes, of Ballymote. Her father was apparently born in County Cork.
But she was never what you might call a reliable witness.
She was an extraordinary person, though. Imaginative, impulsive, impossible just the way the Irish are supposed to be, come to think of it. She was also one of those sad women, who grew up at the turn of the last century, who never found an outlet for their talents and energies, nor the right man, come to that. All she had was Paddy, and she didnt get much of him.
Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure, by Artemis Cooper
Paddy never tried to get to the bottom of his Irish ancestry, afraid, no doubt, of disturbing the bloom that had grown on history and his past, a recurring trait.
His memory was extraordinary, Artemis notes, but it lay dangerously close to his imagination and it was a very porous border.
But she is in no doubt about how exceptional a man he was: The thing that inspired me most about him was his responsiveness to people, whoever they were.
I had known him all my life. When I wrote the book, I was in my fifties and he in his nineties.
He didnt have to impress or charm me, and he never set out to do so. But he was so curious, so responsive.
Every time I mentioned a book I thought he might like he, he made a note of it.
Every time I told a joke, he roared with laughter. Every time I told a story, he sat forward, eager to hear how it was going to turn out.
That wasnt me, it was him. He made me feel funnier, better-read and more intelligent than I ever could be, and he did that to everyone, she says.
A bugler from his former regiment, the Irish Guards, delivered the Last Post at Paddys funeral five years ago.
It marked the passing of an extraordinary man: soldier, writer, adventurer, charmer.
We may not see his like again.
The only way to find out whats happening in the world of interiors its to go to the shows, and Rose Martin visited London last week for the niche, Clerkenwell Design Week.
Long- known for its beloved oyster festival, in recent years, Galway has raised its food game considerably, displaying a strong drive to place itself on the international food map.
The city hosts a plethora of food events; the Galway Food Festival is held every Easter while Food On the Edge, a symposium headed by Michelin starred chef JP McMahon, brings together some of the worlds top chefs to debate the future and sustainability of food.
The city was also recently announced as one of two European Regions of Gastronomy for 2018, an award which recognises innovation and integration in gastronomy, tourism, culture and economy and will offer a year-long showcase of the regions produce.
Galway won the award for its Food from the ground up - feeding our future pitch but most visitors to the region dont have such esoteric thoughts in mind.
They simply want to dive in and devour the best of the Wests produce.
They will quickly find that the regions food scene says a lot about its people.
Many Galway restaurateurs and food producers hail from families that have been in the hospitality and food business for generations.
Others are adopted Irish who came to visit the west coast, loved it enough to stay and are contributing to its growing food industry.
We cant begin a foodie tour of Galway without stopping off at Aniar ( www.aniarrestaurant.ie ) smack bang in the centre of town on Dominick Street.
The award-winning Aniar.
JP McMahons Michelin star restaurant looks like a simple eaterie but is truly about substance over style.
McMahon invents dishes using only produce from the west of Ireland.
In keeping with the Nordic food movement, he doesnt use pepper, lemon or chocolate at Aniar and replaces ingredients from far-flung places with local alternatives to create sublime and innovative flavours.
As well as running Aniar and Galways second Michelin star restaurant, Loam ( www.loamgalway.com ) is a stones throw away on Fairgreen Road.
Chef Enda McEvoy is an adopted Galwegian, having grown up in county Cavan.
He left Aniar in 2013 to set up Loam with his wife and specialises in creative simple cuisine thats strongly based on seasonal produce.
At the recent 2016 Irish Restaurant Awards, Loam won best restaurant in Connacht while McEvoy won Best Chef in Ireland.
A typical Loam menu looks pared back but the sparsity of words makes space for high quality local produce to do the talking.
Current dishes include crab with cabbage and yoghurt, squid with shitake and seaweed, and monkish, squid and brocolli.
Next on our tour is Martines restaurant and wine bar, owned by Martine McDonagh from one of Galways best-known families.
Most visitors have at some stage eaten fish and chips from McDonaghs fish cafe across the road and in fact, Martine grew up on Quay Street, right next to her restaurant.
Its is now run by her son Enda but Martine has long been and remains an influential voice on Galways food scene ( www.winebar.ie ).
One of the pleasures of eating out in Galway is the concentration of restaurants in a small area, all with their own story to tell.
Joe OFlahertys Brasserie on the Corner (Eglington Street) pays homage to the late Gerry Galvin, who was loved for his cuisine at Drimcong House in Moycullen ( www.brasseriegalway.com ).
On High Street, the Kings Head is a stalwart of Galways comedy and arts scene and part of the very fabric of the city. Its bistro offers a more casual dining experience for visitors who want to wander in for a platter of crab claws, scallops and prawns ( www.thekingshead.ie ).
Just a couple of miles away, situated on the banks of Lough Corrib and on the edge of Connemara, the recently refurbished five star Glenlo Abbey hotel ( www.glenloabbeyhotel.ie ) offers one of the most unusual and scenic dining experiences in the west of Ireland.
The Pullman at the Glenlo Abbey Hotel.
Its Pullman restaurant is set in two of the original carriages from the Orient Express, with stunning food and views to match.
Leaving the citys confines, we drive to Barna where both OGradys On the Pier and The Twelve Hotel offer up fresh seafood. Twelve also boasts an award-winning sommelier for those who like to pair wines with food courses. ( www.thetwelvehotel.ie ) ( www.ogradysonthepier.com ) .
Its in this area that we meet some of the regions local and adopted food producers.
We also get to pick Sheena Dignams brain for foodie info during her Connemara & Aran Island Food Tour ( www.galwayfoodtours.com )
Moving on from Barna, we stop in Spiddal, not just to enjoy the big skies and stone walls of Connemara but to meet Canadian woman Heather Flaherty who has opened a cafe within the grounds of Spiddal craft centre.
An Builin Blasta cafe and bakery serves home-made dishes and on any day of the week youre likely to sit next to Ros na Run crew and actors or TG4 presenters who work very nearby ( www.builinblasta.ie ).
Onwards to Rossaveal and we come across one of the regions most intriguing food production stories. Cindy OBrien grew up in Orange county suburbia in California before moving to Ireland and falling in love with the place.
She also married an Irish man and now runs an abalone farm along with daughter Sinead, braving all seasons of Connemaras weather to cultivate this unique shellfish.
Abalone is most popular in Asian markets but as well as exporting to the UK and selling to Asian food stores, Cindy has supplied the shellfish to top restaurants in Galway, including Kai, the Twelve hotel and in Dublin, to Thorntons restaurant and Musashi noodle and Sushi bar.
Participants on the Connemara & Aran Island food tour make a half hour visit to Cindys abalone farm and get to taste the numerous dishes she creates with it, including a Vietnamese broth and more intriguingly, cakes and cookies.
Leaving abalone behind, we go in search of Gabriel OFatharta and his herd of Inis Mor goats.
We hop on board for an eight minute scenic flight to the largest of the Aran Islands, taking in stunning views of the Cliffs of Moher and Dun Aengus as we go.
The tour is worth it for the flight alone and even more so when we meet Gabriel, a former fisherman who turned to goat farming and now produces goats cheese.
Full of character, Gabriel takes visitors through the process of making his award-winning cheese, followed by a tasting, lunch at Tigh Nan Phaddy and coffee at Gearoids cafe.
Gabriel also offers his own tours with the option of travelling by plane or ferry and overnight packages on Inis Mor.
We finish our island visit with a stop at the Independent brewery where Kevin OHara and his team brew a range of beers inspired by the sea life of Connemara - if that isnt a genius twist on the regions food tourism industry, nothing is.
WHEN Marie Fleming died, the last thing her grieving partner expected was to find himself part of a comedy duo cracking jokes on stage about voluntary euthanasia.
And yet he has recently performed at his second international comedy festival in the darkly comic and controversial show, Dicing With Dr Death, drawing laughs for what on the surface appears to be no laughing matter.
Its been a strange and strained two and a half years for Tom Curran who, for almost two decades, shared Maries life, her battle with multiple sclerosis, and her fight with the courts in her campaign for the right to assisted dying.
In some ways, to me it only feels like a couple of months ago. It doesnt feel like two and a half years because its still quite an intense feeling, says the Arklow man who helped Marie fulfil her plan to die on December 20, 2013.
Earlier that year both the High Court and Supreme Court had rejected Maries challenge to the Criminal Law (Suicide) Act of 1993 which decriminalised suicide, but makes it a criminal offence to assist another person to take their own life.
She argued that the law discriminated against people with disabilities because able-bodied people could end their life if they chose, but those, like herself, whose movement was severely restricted, needed help.
Tom, after initial distress at her request, had agreed to help her whenever she decided she didnt want to deteriorate any further or lose the power to communicate altogether, but both of them knew Tom risked prosecution and up to 14 years in jail if he honoured his promise.
In the end, his loyalty to Marie outweighed his fear of the law, although the latter still leaves him unsettled.
He has only begun in recent weeks to openly identify himself as someone who assisted a suicide and even then it was with reticence.
When Marie died, he announced she had passed peacefully at home in his arms, as she had wanted. No-one publicly questioned the manner of her passing, for which he was hugely grateful, as it enabled him and Maries son and daughter, to bury her with dignity and grieve privately without fear of a protracted postmortem and inquest, or a Garda waiting outside the cemetery gate.
Marie Fleming photographed in January 2013 at the Supreme Court during her appeal to be allowed die peacefully in the arms of her partner without facing the threat of jail. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire
But in his work with Exit International recently, Tom travelled to Australia and New Zealand and began to speak to audiences about his personal experiences.
I knew it would come out eventually and I suppose that was one of the reasons why I was a bit more open about it half way across the world. It had to come out, otherwise, to a certain extent, what Marie fought for is a waste.
His caution is understandable. The High Court had stated it felt sure that if there was ever a question of whether or not to initiate criminal proceedings, the Director of Public Prosecutions in this of all cases would exercise her discretion in a humane and sensitive fashion.
That was some comfort to Marie to hear that, says Tom.
But then last year Dublin woman, Gail ORorke, was put on trial in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on charges of attempting to assist the suicide of her close friend, Bernadette Forde, who also had multiple sclerosis and died in 2011.
It was the first prosecution of its kind in the country and although Ms ORorke was acquitted on all charges, it left Tom anxious and dismayed.
I thought after what was said in the High Court that Gail would not have been charged, so it was a bit of a shock that she was pursued.
Tom has already had his own dealings with the law, initially after his vow to assist Marie became public knowledge in advance of the court case.
Within a couple of days of that I got a telephone call from a detective inspector from Wicklow saying that they had had complaints and they had to investigate it.
I was taken in to Wicklow Garda Station on two different occasions and interrogated for nearly ten hours.
It was courteous but it was intense. They were investigating whether I had put this story out there as a cover for killing Marie for other reasons.
I kept saying, if you dont think this is Maries idea, come and talk to her, but they didnt. One garda said to me this is not what I joined the guards for, but the law is there, and I suppose they were under pressure to do something about it.
His next encounter with the police was in Scotland where he joined long-time voluntary euthanasia campaigner and founder of Exit International, Philip Nitschke, on stage at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to present Dicing With Dr Death last summer.
The hour-long show includes a demonstration of what Exit call the destiny machine a computer-controlled device that can deliver a fatal dose of gas while monitoring vital signs so that it shuts off automatically when the user dies.
Not surprisingly, the advance publicity left the authorities nervous.
The police and council came in to try and close us down during rehearsals, Tom recalls.
An obstacle course of criminal laws and public safety rules were thrown at them but they successfully negotiated each hurdle.
Every night before the show, we had a person come along and inspect our equipment and make sure that we were complying. That got us so much publicity, the show was packed.
Most came purely out of curiosity and heard a mix of campaign history, anecdotes and information from countries were voluntary euthanasia is legal and illegal.
One of the stories is about a woman who decided to end her life and made her plan perfectly. She gathered all her friends in and she had prepared her speech.
But she took the Nembutal [the drug of choice in some countries with a legalised right to die] before making her speech and she ended up saying this stuff tastes like shit and those were her last words. That actually happened. It does taste very bitter.
The reviews were almost entirely positive, as they were again in April this year when they took the show to the Melbourne Comedy Festival.
It did exactly what we wanted. It got ordinary people talking about the subject and finding out more about it, says Tom.
Nobody got up and walked out. We got a couple of people who found it distasteful and made that point after the show but the way I responded is that this is a matter thats happening all the time. Everybody is going to die. Death is not something that people shouldnt be talking about.
Its the only thing that were certain is going to happen to us and there are people who want to be in control of that and thats all this is about.
TOM says as Europe Co-ordinator for the campaign group, Exit International, he has helped around 200 people take control of their lives by assisting them put together plans to die.
He says they are located in various parts of Europe but are mainly in Ireland and England. Some people who made plans have died since, but I dont know how they died. They dont report back to me for obvious reasons, he says.
There are some people who have made plans who I do see regularly because they have become involved in the campaign but there have been some high profile people who dont want to be seen to be involved so they put plans in place and I dont hear from them again. There are a few that I would have heard on the news or read in the paper that they had died, and I wonder did they put their plan in place or did they just die.
He helps them plan to die at home rather than travel to the likes of the Dignitas facility in Switzerland.
The problem with having to travel is that a lot of people who have gone there have gone before they really wanted to. They had to go before they became too incapacitated to go, but it was sooner than they absolutely needed to go.
Tom says he turns down many requests from deeply unhappy people who want help making plans because he believes they have other options.
Im extremely careful about who I help. I know its my own personal judgement rather than a team of experts, but there are a lot of people that I just say sorry to and I suggest that you go and talk to your doctor.
These would be people who were irrationally suicidal. I have almost pleaded with them to make contact with the health or support services.
Ironically, Tom believes legalising assisted suicide could actually reduce the number of suicides among the general public.
If it was legal then these people would be approaching their GPs and legally requesting help to die and they would be caught earlier and they would be able to get help to live.
Living, Tom says, was as much a part of Maries campaign as dying.
Law lecturer Marie Fleming pictured with her partner, IT consultant Tom Curran. Marie wanted to be able to avoid a lingering death, but was no longer physically capable of taking her own life, so she wanted Tom to assist her to die peacefully at home among her family.
For most people, once theyve put a plan in place, they relax because theyre now in control and they can get on with their lives. In fact, an awful lot of people who put those plans in place die naturally. They die peacefully, they die without worrying. In Oregon [where assisted dying by lethal drug dose is legal] more than half of the prescriptions that are issued are never used.
Its like people getting insurance. Theyre concerned about a bad death, theyre concerned about not being in control, theyre concerned that their death will be long drawn out, painful and very difficult for the people around them, and once they get that control in their own hands, they relax and get on with living.
Thats what happened with Marie. When Marie decided not to go to Dignitas, that shed make a plan here, we got five more years of life together, a wonderful five years.
It wasnt easy for Marie but it was Maries choice because she was now in control. She was dependent on me, but she knew that she could depend on me. That was like being in control herself.
Its put forward that if palliative care was there, then maybe people wouldnt want to die. Thats a possibility but unfortunately there isnt sufficient palliative care and also theres a misunderstanding about what palliative care is.
Most people think that palliative care only comes in at the last couple of weeks of a persons life. To me, palliative care is making a persons life comfortable so it should start when a person is diagnosed with a life-limiting illness, not just in the last couple of days of their life.
Unfortunately... its only available at the end and, in Ireland, its almost exclusively available to cancer patients.
Tom had a long-running battle to try to get palliative care services for Marie, but it was just one of numerous difficulties the couple encountered with the health system.
Marie needed her catheter changed frequently and he was happy to do it for her to avoid trips to doctors surgeries and clinics or, in the case of a blockage emergency, to A&E where staff sometimes struggled with the technique.
A local GP agreed to train him up and monitor his early efforts but Tom says that kind of assistance is the exception so he badgered Leo Varadkar when he was health minister for funding to set up a pilot training course for family carers which begins this week and will cover many aspects of care.
I realised when Maries situation was getting worse that the only way she could avoid going into a nursing home was for me to have the skills that were necessary to deal with her illness at home, and there was no proper training to allow people to get that. Hopefully this pilot will be the start of changing that.
Most people think I go around helping people die all the time but I put more effort into helping people live. To me its a matter of choice. If a person wants to live they deserve every help to do that and to be as comfortable as possible while theyre living.
But if they want to die, thats a legitimate choice as well and they should be given the same level of assistance and acceptance to do that.
Another addition to Maries comfort was the use of marijuana, initially provided to her by a sympathetic garda from small seizures that were due to be destroyed, but later grown by Tom himself.
The two things that kept Marie alive, that gave Marie the will to live, were illegal. Its a fact. Marijuana and her plan for assisted dying kept her with us and they were illegal.
SINCE Maries death, the law has been changed to allow for a drug containing cannabis plant extract to be sold here for easing MS symptoms, but wrangling between the supplier and the Department of Health over the price means it is not yet available to patients.
Tom supports the campaign for the wider legalisation of cannabis for medical use, but hes not expecting a breakthrough on that front any time soon.
Neither is he holding his breath for progress on the Dying With Dignity Bill which he helped draft and which independent TD John Halligan introduced as a private members bill last December.
Just hours before he was appointed to the position of junior minister last month, Mr Halligan was addressing a Dail debate on Dail reform, and expressed frustration with the haphazard way in which new legislation gets or is denied an airing.
I understand a controversial bill I submitted on assisted suicide has been lost in the lottery system for the past two months, he said. I am not sure where it is.
Mr Halligans promotion may mean the bill gets more prominence but Tom believes it will struggle under the current government.
The way the Government is now, they will not want to tackle anything that is in any way controversial. This will be the quietest Dail for a long time because anything controversial could bring it down.
If they do touch it, Id say it will be put to the people in a referendum so that they dont have to make a decision themselves. The same as the marriage equality referendum, they abdicated their responsibility and put it to the people.
This doesnt need a referendum. The courts said the Oireachtas was completely free to change the law, that there would be nothing unconstitutional in doing so, he says.
But if they are afraid to make the decision themselves, I would have no objection to having it put to the people because I believe they would back it once the safeguards were built in to protect vulnerable people.
A number of opinion polls suggest the same, with 54% of respondents to a poll last year saying they would consider assisting a family member to die, and higher numbers willing to support GP-assisted deaths.
I dont know when it will happen but the law will be changed eventually, Tom says. But, in the meantime, there are people who need help, there are people like Marie who made the decision for themselves and, unfortunately, to help, the law has to be broken.
One of my two greatest political heroes outside Ireland is Abraham Lincoln (the other is Willi Brandt, but thats a different story). Lincoln is a hero because of what he did, but much more because of who he was. I have a bookshelf at home of Lincoln biographies, and the essence of the man shines out from all of them.
Humble, honest, endearing, modest, he was a man who endured great pain throughout his life. He was president less than a year, and in the middle of a great war, when his son Willie died. Willie was only 11, and his death broke Lincolns heart. But mourning was impossible for him. A day or two after Willies death, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated President of the Confederacy. Even as Willie lay dying, news of a great battle came through to Washington Ulysses S Grants first victory as Lincolns general.
Lincolns greatness, of course, rests on the preservation of the Union, and above all on the Emancipation Proclamation, the document that declared every single one of the three million slaves in America would be then, thenceforward, and forever free.
Lincoln was of course the first effective leader of the US Republican Party, its second presidential candidate and its first and greatest president. The party that chose him had as its founding motto, free labour, free land, free men.
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln wouldnt recognise the Republican Party today. The party he inspired to preserve the Union and end slavery is still, in its own eyes, the party of freedom. But it defines freedom in a completely different way, and for generations now it has celebrated and embodied the freedom of capital and wealth above all else.
In July this year, in Cleveland Ohio, the Republican Party will complete the most extraordinary transition in political history, when it chooses Donald Trump as its effective leader, and as the direct successor to Abraham Lincoln. It is hard to imagine anyone less like Lincoln in every conceivable respect.
The party that freed the slaves has now chosen someone who wants to brand every foreigner especially those with a different skin colour or religion as a threat to America. President Lincoln ended his first inaugural address, at a time when civil war was imminent, by talking about the mystic chords of memory that would swell the chorus of the Union when they were once again touched by the better angels of our nature. At the end of that war he set himself the primary task of binding up the nations wounds, with malice toward none, with charity for all He has now been replaced by a man who has promised, again and again, to build a giant wall between his country and Mexico. He has been replaced by a man who has sneered at people with disabilities, who has demeaned and belittled women, who has glorified in wealth and ostentation, who has encouraged his supporters to beat up anyone who disagrees with them.
There is nothing comic about Donald Trump, despite the fact that hes a clown. Hes dangerous and he has the potential to do immense damage to the entire world.
Because of my lifelong fascination with American politics, Ive followed Donald Trump for years. Like everyone else, it never dawned on me that he could get to where he is now, with a foot inside the gate of the White House. But hes there.
The only good news is that, unless something goes terribly wrong, he is up against a formidable candidate in the person of Hilary Clinton. And the demographics of this election are entirely against Donald Trump. When national opinion polls gave Mitt Romney a better than even chance in the last US election and even after Barack Obama heavily lost the first televised debate with Romney, the key Democratic strategists knew that the campaign they had run would ensure that their votes would come out in all the critical states.
In the end, what looked from the outside like a close race was in fact a landslide. The margin in the popular vote was only 4% in Obamas favour, but because of the work done in key states, and the demographic differences, President Obama, whose place in history as an outstanding president is surely secure, won nearly 50% more of the electoral college than Romney did.
Romney and Obama debating in 2012
Right now, there isnt a single reason to believe that the result wont be exactly the same this time. But more than any previous election in American history (and thats saying something) this election will be fuelled by hate.
America is more divided now than it has ever been. Its divided by colour, by class, by inequality, even by faith. That division has been fomented by politics since the day Barack Obama was elected there is a substantial number of people of influence in America that will not allow themselves to be governed by a black man. And there is a large, struggling class of people in the States who blame Washington for every aspect of their struggle.
Donald Trump has fed on all that. More than that, he has fanned the flames of hatred and bigotry at every opportunity, and hopes to ride a sea of hate into the White House. By the time he gets there, if he gets there, he will have made so many wild commitments, attacked so many people, that he will be utterly unable to control the forces he has unleashed, even if he wants to. The dangers of a Trump presidency, for all those reasons, are immense. They ought to make the whole world shudder.
And now, apparently, Donald Trump is coming to Ireland (again). What are we supposed to do?
Every bone in my body says we should protest, that we should do whatever is possible within the law to tell him that his views, his fomenting of hatred, arent welcome here.
A Trump protester
But thats exactly what Donald Trump thrives on. You only have to watch any of the countless videos featuring Trumps reaction to protestors to know that not only does he love the notoriety that protest brings, he uses it constantly to whip up his own supporters to an even more visceral passion.
Dont give him that. If he does come, ignore him.
Of course there are all sorts of groups already planning to get as much notice as they can for themselves by trying to ensure that theyre in the vanguard of protest against Trump. Well probably have to spend hundreds of thousands of euros, and a million Garda hours, to mount some massive security operation to get him safely off the island. What a waste of time and effort that will be.
If you do have to protest, remember this. The one thing Donald Trump cant understand is dignity. The most effective form of protest, the only thing that would really wound him, is to stand with your back to him on whatever route he chooses to travel.
Tell him that he and his ideas arent wanted, by all means, but do it silently, peacefully, and in the most dignified way possible. Show him the contempt he deserves dont give him the attention he craves.
KHADIJA, 28, owes her marriage to the Syrian war. She fled from Latakia with her uncle but in Turkey he decided hed had enough of her.
For five days she was on her own but the day she went for the ship to Lesbos, there he was, Abeda from Delazour, the man of her dreams. They got married in a tent in Piraeus.
Their starter home is a mobile home in the Eleonas refugee camp in the industrial suburbs of Athens. Dream home its not. We meet her on her way to Athens to interpret (through English) between her friend and the authorities, and she tells us that last night there was a fight in the camp.
Inside, forty-something Thenna, also from Latakia, locked the mobile home from the inside and shivered as the fight raged between Afghans and Kurds. She says the police fled the camp, leaving the gates wide open.
Wheres the human rights? she asks. They must protect us Or not? Its a fraught question. The truth is no-one takes responsibility for the human rights of these stateless people and the camps which run well are self-governed by refugees.
A Syrian refugee sleeping rough
In Eleonas, the system has broken down. This serves far right-wing elements within the police and defence forces very well though I am assured that most of them are well-intentioned.
What to do but lay out a divine Syrian breakfast on the floor of your mobile home for your Irish guest. Yoghurt, olives, flat bread, and a mixture of Syrian herbs and spices, all washed down with tea.
But this civilised breakfast is served between the bunks in which Thennas two boys, Eyad, 20, and Ossama, 18, are trying to sleep. A couple of weeks ago, Ossama lost all hope and they had to plead with him not to go back to Syria.
Their father went first to Germany because the men had most to fear from the Assad regime and ISIS. Because his kids are officially adults they cant access the reunion programme and their mother must choose to join her husband and not see her kids for five years, or stay with her kids under relocation and not see her husband for five years.
These are people who have already lost their home, and their extended family faces death every day from the Russian air force, and suicide bombers. Yet the European Union is engineering the break-up of their small nuclear family.
But Thenna is a hard woman to break. She is resolved to do something about the complete lack of the colour green among the mobile homes.
We need nature now, she says. We have psychological problems from the war.
When I tell her Ireland is very green she asks is English the main language. I tell her it is, and wed be lucky to have her among us.
Meanwhile, shes busy setting up a school in one of the mobile homes with Khadija, who weve met, and Sara, an Afghan girl from another part of the camp, who will teach English through Farsi.
But as we enter Saras section through another set of security gates, a young Afghan boy is being taken away in a police car.
Hes just ruined his life, says my interpreter. Hell go to prison.
A Syrian refugee
Afghans are officially immigrants, not refugees, and their best hope is to wait until January 2018 when their cases to stay in Greece will begin to be assessed.
This is despite the fact that Saras father Mohammed was working for the Afghan government and fled with his six children because of threats of torture from the Taliban.
Sara, 17, is elegantly dressed and has perfect English. She has been in Eleonas for two months to the day and she is going out of her mind with boredom. There is no air conditioning in their part of the camp and the plastic mobile is a pressure cooker.
She cant go to school, and college is a faint hope, though she may be able to access it before her familys case is processed. She is scared of the violence in the camp.
I dont know why they cant respect each other, she says, and adds that of course the main reason is that everyone is in a bad situation and they need to take it out on someone.
Teaching school with Thenna and Khadija, neither of whom she has yet met, would offer her some activity, but they still have to access any teaching materials.
Despite the heavily branded presence of several NGOs in the camp, the only tangible efforts for this lost generation are being made by refugees themselves.
At least 58 people died in the Black Sea area over the weekend, where thousands of Russian tourists were caught in flood waters that swept cars and tents out to sea. In the Czech Republics capital Prague more than 50,000 people, including visitors, were evacuated as floods threatened to swamp the city. Parts of the mediaeval area of the city were underwater as a persistent deluge forced dams on the river Vltava to open their gates. The Vltava has not been as high since 1890 and the water flow is estimated to be at 20 times the average for the time of year.
In Paris, some of the worlds great art collections had to be moved beyond the reach of the Seine which broke its banks in the worst flooding in three decades. Authorities in western Germany cancelled one of the countrys most popular open-air rock festivals over storm fears.
Freelance photographer Richard Huckle, from Ashford in Kent, admitted an unprecedented number of offences against children aged between six months and 12 years.
Judge Peter Rook QC ordered the 30-year-old to serve a minimum of 25 years in jail to reflect the public abhorrence over his campaign of rape spanning nine years.
A stream of pictures and videos of his rapes and assaults on children were shared with paedophiles worldwide through the now defunct dark website TLZ The Love Zone.
He even tried to make a business out of his horrific crimes by crowd-funding the release of the images and was compiling a paedophiles manual at the time of his arrest by the National Crime Agency.
Twenty-three children from poor Christian communities in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur were identified in 71 charges, although Huckles tally of abuse which he catalogued on a Pedopoints ledger was much higher.
The defendant stood with his hands together as if in prayer as he was sentenced by Judge Rook at the Old Bailey.
The judge told him his self-delusion knows no bounds and the 60-page paedophile manual he had written was a truly evil document.
He said: You were and are sexually obsessed with children.
You have spent years abusing them. In one of your postings you stated that you had become consumed by your paedophilia.
It is clear from your postings on hidden encrypted paedophile websites on the dark web, and from the manual you were in the process of drafting, that your life revolved around your obsession with your own sexual gratification by child sex abuse.
It is also clear that, had you not been arrested, you planned to continue the same lifestyle using the expertise that you were keen to show off to and share with other abusers so as to continue your sexual exploitation of the children of such communities.
In light of Huckles refusal to hand over encrypted passwords to hidden files on his computer, the judge added: In my view, you may well harbour feelings of regret but there is no feeling of genuine remorse in this case.
As Huckle was sent down, a woman in the public gallery shouted out that 1,000 deaths is too good for you.
Huckle first visited Malaysia on a teaching gap year when he was 19 and went on to groom more children posing as a respectable Christian English teacher and philanthropist.
The prime minister accused the Leave campaign of an undemocratic and reckless failure to explain to voters how they see Britains economic future in the case of a Brexit vote in the June 23 referendum.
Boris Johnson said it was a delusion to think Britain could boost its prosperity by bartering away our freedom and democracy.
A large portion of Floridas western and Panhandle coast was already under a tropical storm warning when the National Hurricane Center announced that a swift-moving depression had become a named storm. The centre said it is the earliest that a third named storm has ever formed in the Atlantic basin.
Colins maximum sustained winds yesterday had increased to nearly 80kph, with slow strengthening possible.
The storm was centred about 450km west-southwest of Tampa and moving north-northeast at nearly 25kph.
The latest forecast for Colin called for the storm to make landfall near the Big Bend area of Florida in the mid-afternoon, move across the Florida peninsula into Georgia, and then move along or just off the South Carolina coast before heading out to sea.
Schools in at least one Florida Gulf Coast county planned to dismiss students early.
Forecasters said up to 20cm of rainfall is possible across western Florida, eastern Georgia, and coastal areas of the Carolinas today.
Meanwhile, Mr Scott postponed a meeting last night with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in New York so he can remain in the state capital.
Mr 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.
Colin was expected to pass the Georgia coast before dawn today, with flash floods posing the greatest threat.
Mr Gauck told reporters at his office in Berlin he would complete his five-year term but did not feel he was up to another because the years between 77 and 82 are different than those that Im in right now.
Until the end of my term, I will seriously and happily fulfill my duties, he said.
Yet the former secretary of state barely noted her commanding wins on Saturday in the US Virgin Islands and Sunday in Puerto Rico, instead remaining focused on Tuesdays contest in California and five other states and a general election match-up to come against the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump.
Were going to have a very contentious campaign, Ms Clinton said late on Sunday night at a rally in the California capital, because Im going to point out at every single moment that I can why I believe the Republican nominee should never get near the White House.
Urging voters to come out today, Ms Clinton said she wants to finish strong in California. It means the world to me.
Ms Clinton is now 26 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to win the nomination. She won all seven delegates available in the US Virgin Islands and at least 33 of the 60 delegates available in Puerto Rico. She beat the Vermont senator there by roughly 61% to 39%.
She now has 1,809 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses. Mr Sanders has 1,520.
When including super- delegates, the party insiders who can vote for the candidate of their choice at the partys summer convention, her lead over Mr Sanders is substantial: 2,357 to 1,566.
Though Ms 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 senator Barack Obama with nearly 68% of the vote.
Im for Hillary, girl, said 83-year-old Candida Dones on Sunday as she cast her ballot. I cant wait for a female president. Shes one of us. She wears the pants. If we dont look out for our own interests, who will?
Both Ms Clinton and Mr Sanders spent Sunday in California, the biggest prize among the six states voting today. Mr Sanders strolled for more than an hour along the shops, restaurants, and amusement park rides of the Santa Monica Pier.
That included a stop at a charity Pedal on the Pier fundraiser, where Mr Sanders told people riding on stationary bikes that the US should have an economy that works for all people, not just the one percent.
Mr Sanders said during a rally in San Diego that Democratic leaders should take notice that the energy and grassroots activism that will be crucial to the party in the autumn is with us, not Hillary Clinton.
On Sunday, the militants shot and killed seven civilians and seven IS defectors inside Fallujah as they attempted to flee, Iraqi major Ali Hanoon said.
Maj Hanoon, who is with the elite Iraqi counterterrorism forces, yesterday put the number of civilians killed by IS since the operation started at dozens but declined to be more specific. Iraqi officials say the total is likely higher.
Iraqi forces, backed by US-led coalition air strikes, have been fighting to retake the IS-held city of Fallujah since late May but the advance stalled last week because of heavy resistance the militants have put up and because an estimated 50,000 civilians remain trapped inside the city.
On Sunday, Iraqi forces secured the southern edge of Fallujah, a largely agricultural area.
They know that if they trap the civilians, it will slow our progress, Maj Hanoon said.
Last week, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of civilians attempting to flee Fallujah, killing two people and wounded three others, according to police.
From Baghdad, the Norwegian Refugee Council, which works with refugees and internally displaced Iraqis, said late on Sunday that a number of fleeing civilians had been killed as they tried to cross the Euphrates River.
Iraqi officials had no immediate information on the river incident.
The council cited interviews with some of those who fled the city,
Our biggest fears are now tragically confirmed with civilians being directly targeted while trying to flee to safety, said Nasr Muflahi, the council country director in Iraq.
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 council put the total number of families who managed to flee from the outskirts of Fallujah in the early days of the Iraqi offensive, which started on May 21, at 2,980.
Only a couple more families have managed to escape from inside Fallujah since then, the council said.
The Fallujah operation in Iraq coincides with a twin offensive on IS-strongholds in neighbouring Syria.
Syrian Kurdish forces are advancing on Manbij, an IS-held city controlling the supply route between the Turkish border and the town of Raqqa, the militants de facto capital.
At the same time, Syrian government troops are advancing on Raqqa from the south.
Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deters said the childs mother had three other children with her, and she was attending to them when the 3-year-old just scampered off on May 28. He said childrens services made a visit to the boy and mother, and social workers were impressed by the childs environment.
Mr Deters said that the mothers actions were not even close to meriting reckless endangerment charges.
PC Simon Ryan will be one of the first officers in the North Yorkshire force to go before new-style hearings. These are open to the public and chaired by an independent lawyer, not a senior police officer.
One of the allegations against PC Ryan is that, whilst on duty at Northallerton police station, he wore a black woolly hat stating I love weed or words/pictures to that effect. Despite being advised to remove the hat, he resumed wearing the hat whilst on mobile patrol.
Caught Red-handed
US:
Police in northern California have arrested five men for stealing $4,700 of energy drinks.
Police officers nabbed the four adults, and one juvenile, as they wheeled a cart full of Red Bull out of a grocery store and loaded it into a van.
The Vacaville Police Department said the van was packed with the energy drink.
Life lesson
US:
More than 30 years after she was abandoned in a dorm at San Francisco State University, Jillian Sobol has graduated from the school where she began her life.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the 31-year-old graduated with a bachelors degree. She was left by a 19-year-old student, who had concealed her pregnancy, in a box in the dorm laundry room on November 5, 1984. The baby was found by students there.
She was later adopted by Sam and Helene Sobol.
Making a name for himself
Germany:
A German man who added nobility titles to his name after obtaining dual citizenship in Britain will have to settle with being plain old Nabiel Peter Bogendorff von Wolffersdorff in his native land, following a ruling from the European Court of Justice.
The Luxembourg-based court said EU member states are not obliged to recognise name changes of a citizen who has dual EU citizenship, nor obliged to accept tokens of nobility from another state.
Germany abolished titles of nobility in 1919, but the man added both Graf and Freiherr Count and Baron to his last name when living in Britain a decade ago, becoming Peter Mark Emanuel Graf von Wolffersdorff Freiherr von Bogendorff. Upon returning home, German authorities rejected the change.
Farmer brings house down
Britain:
A farmer ordered to tear down a mock Tudor castle he built has told a High Court judge of his plans to erect the work of art elsewhere.
Robert Fidler, who said he has now carefully dismantled his beautiful home, in Surrey, told Mr Justice Dove, at a hearing in London, on Monday: Hopefully, it will be rebuilt on another site, with full planning permission.
He built four-bedroomed Honeycrock Farm, in Salford, without planning permission in 2000 and, in 2002, his family moved into the property, which was hidden behind straw bales for four years.
Royal rhino gives birth
Britain:
A critically endangered rhino, given the royal seal of approval before being released into the wild, has given birth to a baby calf.
Grumeti, who was born at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park, in Kent, was visited by the Duke of Cambridge in 2012, before her 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.
US officials have expressed concern that an international court ruling expected in weeks on a case brought by the Philippines against China over its South China Sea claims could prompt Beijing to declare an air defence identification zone, as it did over the East China Sea in 2013.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which 4.4trn in ship-borne trade passes every year.
The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei have overlapping claims, as well as close military ties with Washington.
We will not recognize any air defence identification zone, by China, Taiwan defence minister Feng Shih-kuan said in parliament.
The comments came after Taiwans new government of president Tsai Ing-wen, of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, was sworn in last month. Ms Tsais election victory overturned eight-years of China-friendly Nationalist rule on the self-ruled island.
China, which considers Taiwan a breakaway province, drew condemnation from Japan and the US when it imposed its air defence identification zone, 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 a decision would be based on the threat level and that it had every right to set one up.
In the future, we dont rule out China designating an air defence identification zone. If China is on track to announce this, it could usher in a new wave of tension in the region, Taiwans National Security Bureau said in a report presented to parliament.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei asked whether China would set up a zone for the South China Sea, said many factors needed consideration, especially the level of threat faced in the air.
US secretary of state John Kerry said on Sunday the US would consider a Chinese air defence zone over the South China Sea provocative and destabilising.
Speaking at the beginning of a high-level strategic dialogue in Beijing yesterday, Kerry said he would make it clear the US was looking for a peaceful resolution to disputes in the South China Sea.
Almost 30 passengers were treated at the scene.
The accident came just hours after reported lightning strikes and a signal disruption on the line.
Two cars from the passenger train derailed when it rear-ended the freight train at around 11pm on Sunday in Hermalle-Sous-Huy, a hamlet on the Meuse River.
Belgian prosecutor Brigitte Leroy said the passenger train was travelling around 96kph, and the freight 10kph-15kph at the time of the crash.
State broadcaster RTBF said the dead included two passengers and the trains driver. RTBF TV reported many of the passengers were students in their early 20s returning to school after the weekend.
Francis Dejon, mayor of St Georges-sur-Meuse, told a news conference that the passenger trains first car was so badly smashed in the wreck it was curled back on itself.
Belgian railway police and state prosecutors were investigating the cause of the accident.
Belgiums King Philippe and prime minister Charles Michel visited the crash site.
A spokesman for Infrabel, a company that oversees Belgiums rail infrastructure, said installations where the wreck occurred were hit by lightning earlier on Sunday.
Its an element were going to have to look at, but its premature to see this as the cause of the accident, a spokesman said.
Asia Critic of Mao Persists in Documenting Chinas Turbulent Past
A prominent economists campaign to document Chinas turbulent past and hold the ruling Communist Party accountable continues to win him enemies.
BEIJING As Chinas Cultural Revolution descended into mob violence, teenage Red Guards dragged Mao Yushi and his father, two proud and bookish engineers, out of their home to sweep a boulevard as a crowd watched and jeered. The pair were then lashed with a copper-flecked whip until their backs were flayed. When Mao later stumbled into work, he didnt know blood was still seeping through his shirt until colleagues pointed it out.
I was whipped through my skin, but I didnt feel pain because in my heart I was so scared I would be beaten to death, Mao recalls. Every day they pulled dead bodies through the market on flat-bed tricycles. A piece of cloth covering every tricycle, just like that.
Fifty years later, the prominent economists campaign to document Chinas turbulent past and hold the ruling Communist Party accountable continues to win him enemies among die-hard acolytes of Mao Zedong, who unleashed the Cultural Revolution in 1966 in a bid to destroy his political foes and revive his radical egalitarian agenda.
The life and career of the 87-year-old economist, who is not related to the late leader, traces the twists of modern Chinas tumultuous history. He survived near starvation in the late 1950s and persecution during the Cultural Revolution only to battle a concerted campaign by neo-Maoists to vilify him today.
The one who brought calamity to an entire nation still hangs in Tiananmen Square and is still found on the banknotes we use every day, Mao wrote in a 2011 essay that placed him firmly in the crosshairs of the neo-Maoists. Chinas tragicomedy still hasnt had its curtain call.
Maos ordeals have only emboldened his criticism of a restrictive political system that gave rise, he says, to a climate in which rampaging teenagers could publicly whip him into a bloody heap five decades ago, and which continues to impose one-party authoritarian rule over an increasingly prosperous and diverse society.
A former scholar with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and co-founder of free-market think-tank Unirule, Maos arguments for market reforms and individual rights have brought him an international following, and won him accolades including the 2012 Milton Friedman Prize from the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, DC.
Yet, interviewed one recent afternoon in their west Beijing home, Mao and his wife, Zhao Yanling, said they are still paying the price for his widely circulated 2011 online column criticizing Mao Zedong as a power-obsessed sociopath whose legacy continues to warp Chinese society.
Neo-Maoists have left death threats on his voicemail, held protest rallies outside his public lectures and signed petitions seeking his arrest. One man threw a shoe at him at a lecture in eastern China; another barged into a speech in Washington to denounce him as a traitor to the Chinese people. The government has warned him to be less outspoken but has not employed harsher methods it has used on others critical of the leadership.
With this year marking the Cultural Revolutions 50th anniversary, the couple feels particularly under siege. In recent weeks police have intercepted suspected Maoists seeking to confront them at home, said Zhao, who dreads the sound of her own doorbell.
She lives in a state of constant fear, Mao said. So do I.
Mao was born in 1929. His father and an uncle were engineers trained at Purdue University in the United States. Mao moved 13 times in a dozen years as he followed the work assignments of his father, a high-ranking railway planner.
Although a strong supporter of the Communist Party following its violent 1949 takeover, Mao began openly questioning the planned economy while pursuing his own career as a railway engineer. Amid a far-reaching crackdown on dissent, he was labeled a rightist in 1957 and lost several pay grades.
Worse was to come. In 1960, he was sent to rural Shandong province to be re-educated, where he discovered the horror of the massive famine that resulted from Mao Zedongs headline drive to collectivize agriculture and build up industry. Mao Yushi and others survived by eating insects and birds, while all but one in a family of 12 in his village succumbed to starvation. An estimated 30 million or more are believed to have died over three years in an event that remains little discussed in the country.
Eventually reinstated to a comfortable life in Beijing, Maos existence was again upended on a steamy August evening in 1966 soon after the start of the Cultural Revolution. A neighbor directed a band of Red Guards to the Mao home, denouncing the family as capitalists and intellectuals who were ripe targets for class struggle.
Dont speak, one of the boys, no older than 16, warned as he led the family outside, adding ominously: If you speak, Ill dig another hole in the ground.
The thuggish youths carted away furniture, jewelry and clothes and burned the familys ration coupons, leaving just enough cash for a handful of meals. In the following weeks, they returned to whip both the father and son and shave the head of Zhao, Maos wife, as a particularly bitter form of humiliation.
Mao Yushi was soon banished to a locomotive factory in distant Shanxi Province while Zhao stayed in Beijing, leaving a portion of their monthly salary in a milk box outside to fend off the roving gangs. Maos father managed to keep his position in Beijing.
Mao returned to visit his wife and two children a few times a year until Mao Zedongs death in 1976 finally put an end to the decade-long paroxysm of violence and chaos, in which an estimated 1 million Chinese died from persecution, execution or by killing themselves.
Amid the 1980s economic reforms instituted under Deng Xiaoping, Mao turned to economics. He grew increasingly critical of the party following the bloody crackdown on the 1989 student-led pro-democracy protests focused on Beijings Tiananmen Square.
Armed with his laptop and several blogs , Mao continues to give his opinions on everything from state enterprise reforms to efforts to regulate the housing market.
All of the mistakes this country has made have been because there is no freedom of thought or freedom of expression, he said. Thats why things look dangerous right now.
Burma Women Fear Ban on Working as Foreign Maids Puts Them at Risk
With few economic opportunities at home, the number of women leaving Burma for jobs abroad as maids has fueled calls for the ban on such work to be lifted.
FALAM, Chin State Van Biak had only been away from her family in Leilet in northwest Burma for two weeks, but her mother was in tears as they embraced on the veranda.
Biak and her older sister Van Hnem left to find work as maids in Singapore with few job opportunities in their remote village in Chin State, the poorest region of Burma where 73 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.
Biak and Hnem were aware of the risks. Another maid from Leilet has been working in Saudi Arabia for six years without pay or hope of returnand this was not an isolated case.
A number of high profile cases of worker abuse prompted the government in September 2014 to put a temporary ban on women going abroad to find work as maids.
But with few economic opportunities at home, the number of women leaving to get jobs abroad as domestic workers has not abated and more do so illegally, prompting calls for the newly appointed government of Aung San Suu Kyi to lift the ban.
Im ready to work hard and face difficulties abroad in order to help my family, said Biak, who, at age 15, was too young to get a passport and so returned home.
Hnem, who is 18, made it to Singapore with six other girls from Leilet, lured by the chance to make up to US$370 a month compared to Burmas minimum wage of about US$67.
I am so scared they will be used as slave labour, said her mother, a fear echoed by all parents whose daughters are now working abroad illegally.
For the ban has not only failed to stop women from Burma going abroad to work, but it has led to a black market that puts the women at greater risk of exploitation and slavery, according to the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME), set up to protect migrant workers rights in Singapore.
In Debt for the Job
Since the ban was implemented, the fee paid by workers to secure a job abroad has increased in order to facilitate the bribes required to circumvent the ban. Workers do not start to see any money themselves until this debt is paid off.
Moreover, since these workers often leave their country as a tourist, they are not protected by labour or migration laws.
Jolovan Wham, executive director of HOME, said the number of Burma maids in Singapore grew 50 percent between 2013 and 2015 with over 30,000 there now, which was evidence that the ban was not effective.
Unfortunately, a lot of Singaporean employers request [Burma] maids because they are more affordable and generally more compliant, Wham told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Sian Men Mawi legally worked as a maid in Singapore before moving to China, lured by the promise of a lucrative employment contract. She arrived in Guangzhou on a tourist visa.
Sian Men, 26, said she was enslaved by her agent who locked a number of Burmese girls in separate houses and rotated them through different jobs, holding their wages and never letting them pay off their debts.
We didnt know the agent would exploit another human being like that, Sian Men said from her mothers home in the Chin village of Zawgnte.
Sian Men managed to escape and returned to Burma by bus, evading the police who manned checkpoints along the route.
We get into difficulty because of the agents but we cant do anything about it because we dont have legal passports or work permits. We have to do what the agency says, she said.
The Thomson Reuters Foundation managed to get hold of Melody, Sian Mens agent in Guangzhou, who admitted to enforcing a six month debt bondage period but denied exploiting her employees.
If their employer is unhappy then I have to replace them [before they pay off their bondage debts], she said repeatedly, without giving her full name.
The Myanmar Overseas Employment Agencies Federation (MOEAF) said it has become harder for the authorities to police the movement of domestic workers across Burmas borders because large employment agencies have been replaced by individual traffickers, often from within the victims social circles.
It is particularly difficult to track the trafficking of girls from Chin and [Karen] state because their church is often involved, said Win Tun, vice chairman of MOEAF.
There were 130 official cases of trafficking in Burma last year, with a total of 641 victims. Chin State was the only region of Burma not to have recorded any official cases.
The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Police Division does not have a branch in Chin State. The Thomson Reuters Foundation contacted the nearest office on Kalaymyo, Sagaing Region, but they were unable to comment on the presence of trafficking in their neighboring state.
In 2015, MOEAF signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with 12 employment agencies in Hong Kong who agreed to treat Burmese staff according to the federations employment standards and it wants to see similar deals in other countries.
These agreements would make it less dangerous for girls because we can ensure their labor rights are protected in their host countries, hold information about who is abroad and offer assistance to anyone that gets into trouble, said Win Tun.
But the last government didnt want to know anything about them.
MOEAF have met with members of the new government twice since it took over in April. The Department for Labour declined to comment to the Thomson Reuters Foundation but a parliamentary committee is now considering whether to lift the ban.
We are just waiting for permission from the new government, we are ready to sign MOUs with countries we know will offer good salaries and working conditions including Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau and Japan, said Win Tun.
But until they do, campaigners fear thousands of women in Chin Stateand across Burmawill continue to seek employment as domestic workers through illegal channels, putting themselves at risk of slavery, trafficking and exploitation.
When I am the right age, I will go again, said Biak.
Editorial Myitsone Dam Resumption Would Prove Suu Kyis Downfall
China should grasp that green-lighting the multi-billion dollar dam project in Burma would cost Aung San Suu Kyi her claims to leadership.
On Saturday, some 40 residents of the Kachin State capital Myitkyina staged a brief protest in front of the Palm Spring Resort. They were demanding a permanent halt to the Chinese-funded Myitsone dam and hydropower project in Kachin State.
The contentious project is sited 26 miles north of Myitkyina, and just downstream from the confluence that forms Burmas Irrawaddy River.
At the luxury hotel, a meeting was being held between Chinese Ambassador Hong Liang, Chinese investor China Power Investment (CPI) and chairman of the Kachin State Democracy Party (KSDP) Tu Ja. They discussed the resumption of the 6,000-megawatt US$3.6-billion Myitsone Dam, which is being pursued earnestly by China.
The demonstration was small and brief but reflected widespread public opinion in Burma. It is popularly assumed that the current government, which enjoys a huge mandate after the National League for Democracys (NLD) landslide win in the November election, would not resume the dam project but instead place it under review, along with other controversial mega development projects in Burma. It is about time that they did.
The former president Thein Sein boldly suspended the Myitsone Dam project in his first year of office, in 2011, in the face of sustained opposition both in Kachin State and across Burma. The risk of environmental degradation was the chief purported reason.
Thein Seins decision not only reflected public opinion but also sent a signal to the West that Burma was no longer in the pocket of China. Western governments welcomed the move.
However, many more Chinese-funded projects were waiting in the pipeline, several of which were allowed to proceed under the Thein Sein governmentwith no soliciting of public opinion, transparency or accountability. But the Burmese public had grown used to seeing generals, and former generals, selling off the countrys resources to China.
Now everything falls on the shoulders of the new government. If the NLD government decides to resume the Myitsone Dam, the Burmese people will demand that they leave office. China should understand this.
The truth is that many within the NLDincluding the large number elected to Parliament in Novemberdo not wish for the Myitsone dam or many other controversial projects to proceed. Many were veteran political activists who had grown concerned over the environmental, economic and social impacts of Chinese-backed giant infrastructure projects in Burma.
However, the decision rests with senior leadershipparticularly Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmas foreign minister, state counselor and head of the ruling NLD. But even her own party members appear not to know how she will proceed. Suu Kyi keeps everyone guessing.
The Myitsone dam is not even the biggest of the Chinese-backed projects planned for Burma. It is dwarfed in size by a proposed US$20 billion railway line linking Chinas southwestern Yunnan Province with a deep-water seaport being built off the coast of Burmas Arakan State. This would give China direct access to the Bay of Bengala key Chinese strategic goal.
The Chinese government was hoping that, with the election of a new government in Burma, the multi-billion dollar Myitsone dam would finally be given the green light to resume. The Chinese were betting on Suu Kyi, who was invited to Beijing to meet with President Xi Jinping a few months before the November general election. It was not known what they discussed.
A week after the NLD governmentde facto led by Suu Kyiwas sworn into office in Burma at the end of March, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi paid Suu Kyi a surprise visit. On meeting with reporters, Suu Kyi said she didnt discuss the Myitsone Dam project with the Chinese foreign minister because I havent become familiar enough with the details of the contract.
Turning to diplomatic niceties at a joint press conference, Suu Kyi in her role as foreign minister said: The social and economic relationship between our two countries is very important, since we are neighbors.
Our governments policy is for friendly cooperation with the whole world, and I hope neighboring countries will join hands with us in working for peace and human development, Suu Kyi said.
She is correct. We need to maintain friendly relations with Chinaas we should with all our neighbors, whether we like them or not. At the same time, Burma needs neighbors and investors who act constructively and responsibly towards it.
The Chinese at home, including the Myitsone Dams investors in CPI, and Ambassador Hong Liang should know that resuming the project would seriously tarnish Suu Kyis claims for moral and political leadership in Burma, and may even prompt a revolt among her own party members in the NLD.
It is time for Burmas government to review the Myitsone Dam and many other Chinese-backed projects that pose serious harm to the environment and the public at largeharm that could take generations to reverse.
Revisiting the Ties That Bind Singapore and Suu Kyi
With Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Burma, The Irrawaddy revisits a 2013 story on the relationship between the two former British colonies.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is scheduled to meet with President Htin Kyaw, State Counselor and Foreign Affairs Minister Aung San Suu Kyi, army head Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and speakers of Parliament during his visit to Burma from Tuesday to Thursday.
In light of this, The Irrawaddy is revisiting this article from Sept. 30, 2013, in which Editor-in-Chief Aung Zaw reflects on the enduring relationship between Burma and Singapore, both former British colonies, as well as on Lees standing in Burma, where he is widely respected but also controversial because of his support for the former military regime.
Burma and Singapore have a shared history of colonial occupation and a long relationship as Southeast Asian neighbors. As relations between Burma and Western nations continue to thaw and some bilateral ties are forged for the first time, Singapore and Burma are merely entering a new phase in their sometimes complicated but nonetheless enduring relationship.
Due to the strength of that bond, activists and dissident leaders have had a hard time over the years viewing Singapore as a friend of the democracy movement. But ideological principles aside, they quietly or openly admired the Lion Citys success storya tiny island city-state that became one of Asias economic powerhouses.
With democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyis landmark visit to Singapore last week, the relationship has the potential to enter a new, more dynamic phase, cementing deeper and more mutually beneficial bilateral ties. Perhaps, as Suu Kyi suggested, the two nations can learn more from each other. But what we learn from Singapore, I pray, will not be all about Asian values, censorship, cyber warfare, authoritarian rule and Singapore-style democratic elections. Rather, Burma would be best served if it took a page or two from Singapores book on city planning, tourism, trade, and banking and finance.
Perceptions of Singapore as a nation that doesnt pass muster on true freedom and democracy metrics are widely held, but in Burma they have a more personal resonance. Many Burmese still remembered elder Singaporean statesman Lee Kuan Yews controversial remarks on Burma and Suu Kyi.
In April 1996, Lee said the Burmese Army was the only institution capable of keeping the country stable and preventing civil war, and questioned the ability of Suu Kyi to govern if ever she came to power.
Indignant Burmese held protests outside various Singaporean embassies in the region and burned effigies of Lee, Singapores first prime minister. Some angry dissident leaders advised the father of Singapore to mind his own business, and refrain from insulting the Burmese people.
The National League for Democracy (NLD), co-founded by Suu Kyi, was more diplomatic in its response. In a curt statement, the NLD replied: Mr. Lee is a smart man, but he is not always right.
The flak Lee took was substantial, but perhaps he was simply offering a pragmatic assessment of the political landscape that the much-admired Suu Kyi was up against when he said the Nobel Peace laureate should face the reality of military rule and start cooperating with the regime.
The irony is that Suu Kyi is the one today being accused of being too pragmatic in cooperating with Burmas nominally civilian government, which is an offshoot of the previous regime.
Since 1988, when much of the world condemned Burmas military government for its brutal suppression of pro-democracy protesters, Singapore has remained important to Burma not just as a trading partner, but also for its friendly relations with the regime.
The island state has been accused of supporting the brutal and repressive junta in Burma, as were many other Asian governments who failed to even feign concern as Burmas government gunned down or beat to death thousands of its own citizens. That silence stood in contrast to Western governments that vocally denounced the regime and its abysmal human rights record. Singapore has defended its stance toward Burma by aligning itself with countries that backed a Constructive Engagement policy toward the regime that also locked up dissidents and waged decades-long war against its ethnic minority groups.
The Lion City is also known to have taken in several prominent Burmese nationals, among them the former dictators Gen Ne Win and Snr-Gen Than Shwe, who have sought medical treatment at Singapores first-rate facilities. Tycoons and cronies in pursuit of leisure or hospital care have also been warmly welcomed by the island, which has long been a home away from home to those Burmese who can afford it.
From the medical tourism of dictators and cronies to drug lords buying up luxury condos for holiday getaways, Burmas well-to-do few have in their own small way helped fuel the economic success story of Singapore.
On the lower rungs of society, Singapore is also a haven to many young Burmese who emigrate there seeking low-wage jobs or an education, perhaps settling down into a stable existence that allows them to support families back home. You can find these blue-collar workers in Peninsula Plaza, also known as Little Burma.
Recent reports that billions of dollars were being held in Singaporean bank accounts were just the latest allegations to highlight the special banking relationship that the two nations have. A widely held assumption among Burmese is that any time rumors swirl of state funds gone missing, a Singaporean bank is likely at the end of the money trail.
A well-connected businessman in Rangoon recently told me that several bank accounts have been opened in Singapore to procure weapons and hardware for a Burmese military that is still hindered by US and EU sanctions. But where is the evidence? I asked. He just laughed.
Singaporean banks have been repeatedly accused of serving as money laundering vehicles for Burmese narcotics traffickers as well. Robert Gelbard, former US assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, made the observation in February 1997 that, since 1988, over half of [the investments from] Singapore have been tied to the family of narco-trafficker Lo Hsing Han, a Burmese drug kingpin known as the Godfather of Heroin.
Lo Hsing Han passed away earlier this year. His son Steven Law, who is managing director of Asia World, was put on a US blacklist in 1996 for suspected drug ties.
I still remember when, in the early 1990s, regional publications including the now defunct Far Eastern Economic Review began reporting on private companies in Singapore that were allegedly arranging for the sale of weapons to Burma.
Several regional papers reported that Singapores role as a major arms supplier to the regime began in October 1988, when Allied Ordnance, a subsidiary of Chartered Industries of Singapore, the arms branch of government-owned Singapore Technologies, shipped hundreds of boxes, believed to contain mortars, ammunition and raw materials for Burmas own arms factories, to Rangoon.
Since then, it is believed that firms based in Singapore have continued to supply weapons directly to Burma, and Singaporean brokers have facilitated arms sales from other sources, including Belgium and Israel. It is said that Singapores armed forces have also cooperated closely with the Burmese military to provide training, while Singapore Technologies has provided the regime with a state-of-the-art cyber-war center.
Singaporean leaders deep interest in Burma remains evident today. It is different from the Thais, perennially prone as they are to misgivings about their neighbor to the west and perhaps mindful of the unpleasant historical memory of Burmese troops 18th century sacking of the ancient capital of Ayutthaya. And because Thailand is a refuge for many dissidents and exile advocacy groups, a mutual distrust from Burmas former military regime was understandable.
It is no wonder, then, that the Singapore bond is arguably one of Burmas tightest. While Western nations were putting the squeeze on via economic sanctions, Singapore increased its assistance and trade with Burma.
The late dictator Gen Ne Win was a friend of Singapores Lee Kuan Yew. But Ne Win didnt listen to his old pal, who since the 1970s had attempted to persuade the general and his ministers to open up the country and promote tourism. The late dictator instead shut the door.
Lee saw Burmas potentialthat it could one day count itself among the ranks of the Asian tigers, but Ne Win missed all that. With the Burmese generals death, Lees visits to Burma stopped, but his disciples kept comingand the message they carried was the same.
Backing the regime was costly to Singapore as Burmas domestic affairs increasingly became a headache for Asean diplomats and heads of state.
Asean leaders including Singapore condemned the brutal crackdown on monk-led uprising in 2007. In 2008, the regime was accused of ignoring the plight of victims of Cyclone Nargis, a catastrophic disaster that caused some 140,000 fatalities in the Irrawaddy delta. Western governments including the United States anchored warships off Burmese shores to provide humanitarian relief and disaster assistance, but the generals refused the offer. Asean finally had to step in to provide humanitarian aid.
While the southern part of country was under water and still reeling from Nargis, the regime forcibly approved a military-backed Constitution. Trouble did not stop there. In 2009, Suu Kyi had to stand trial in a kangaroo court after she was accused of allowing an American, John William Yettaw, to swim across the lake behind her home in Rangoon, coming ashore on her property in an act that Suu Kyi had no control over.
It was this incident that prompted Goh Chok Tong, Singapores senior minister, to fly to Burma with a message.
In meetings with Burmas top brass, Goh acknowledged that the Suu Kyi trial was a domestic affair, but he pointed out that there was an international dimension to it that should not be ignored. Goh then stressed that the upcoming 2010 elections must be inclusive and that the opposition NLD and Suu Kyi must be part of the process of national reconciliation.
Goh was the first foreign leader to meet then Snr-Gen Than Shwe since the trial began, and he used the occasion to deliver a political message to the leaders. I dont believe any Singapore investors would come in a big way before the picture is clear, before this move to democracy is seen to produce results. Burmese leaders received the message.
But then Goh, like his compatriot Lee before him, took a jibe at Suu Kyi.
Goh told reporters at the Asia-Middle East Media Roundtable in Singapore that while the West sees Suu Kyi as the solution to Burmas problems, she is also part of problem because she believes she is the government. He also suggested that the NLD needed to seek a fresh mandate in the 2010 elections, saying Suu Kyi should not dwell on the fact that her partys victory in the 1990 elections was not recognized by the junta.
That was 19 years ago, thats history. If she realizes she has to be part of the solution, she has to offer some concessions, such as to publicly say that she would be in favor of the lifting of sanctions.
Myanmar [Burma] has the potential to boom in the next 10 years and it can be like Thailands today in 20 years time, Goh said.
Many hope Goh was right about the future. Last week in Singapore, Suu Kyi met Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and several chief executives from some of the worlds biggest companies, along with visits to two universities and Singapores successful anti-corruption bureau.
Reflecting on her trip, Suu Kyi offered praise for her hosts, but also got in a dig of her own.
I want to learn a lot from the standards that Singapore has been able to achieve, but I wonder whether we dont want something more for our country, she told reporters as she prepared to return home.
She added: Perhaps Singapore could learn from us a more relaxed way of life.
As this latest chapter in Burma-Singapore relations unfolds, something more might also include a more principled stance on democratic values. Suu Kyis fight for a government beholden to its people propelled her to international fame, and its a Lion City shortcoming that Burmas pro-democracy forces have long felt the bite of.
Tuesday, June 7th, 2016 (2:11 pm) - Score 1,025
Openreachs (BT) big green FTTC superfast broadband Street Cabinets can be a bit dull and so an artist from Doncaster in South Yorkshire (England), Nick Boruk, has decided to help promote the new service by covering a few of them with a big Teddy Bear face (painted canvas cover). Ok then.
Nick appears to be basing the approach on his We Are BLOK HEDS characters, which were all originally inspire by British Youth Culture. Personally were not massive fans of having a giant Teddy Bear staring at us, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and if were writing about it then perhaps the publicity drive has achieved something.
Speaking of publicity, this is all an attempt by the local 22.4m Superfast South Yorkshire project to better promote their on-going roll-out of related FTTC/P broadband services with BT (SFSYs mascot is apparently a Teddy Bear, naturally), which aims to cover 97.9% of South Yorkshire by the end of 2017.
Apparently members of the public are also being asked to come up with a suitable name for their super furry figurehead and they can Tweet suggestions to @superfastSY (using the #SuperFiBear hash tag) by 30th June 2016. No doubt we can rely on people to only propose entirely sensible suggestions, as always happens when the Internet gets involved.
The good news is that the painted canvas covers wont torment local residents forever, the bad news is that the design can simply be removed and used on another fibre cabinet when the roll-out moves on to the next community; assuming it hasnt had swear words and pictures of male genitalia painted on it before then.
But perhaps of more interest to our readers is the confirmation that SFSYs roll-out will also bring 330Mbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) lines to a number of local business parks including Denaby Main, Capitol Park, Chase Park and Robin Hood Airport.
Bill Mordue, Local Councillor, said: Its great to be involved with this competition launch which also marks the start of the start of a flurry of fibre broadband upgrades in Doncaster. In the next few months 3,000 homes and businesses will be upgraded thanks to Superfast South Yorkshire, in areas such as Adwick, Armthorpe, Askern and Balby. Its also fantastic news that many business parks including Denaby Main, Capitol Park, Chase Park and Robin Hood Airport are also set to be upgraded to ultrafast broadband providing much needed speeds of up to 300Mbps. Superfast Broadband means that more people across Doncaster can now access fast reliable internet.
Mind you its not the first time that Openreach has tried to change the look of their Street Cabinets (example), although most of the time their aim has been to make them less noticeable.. with the odd random exception (here).
We should add that a further 4.8 million in additional funding has recently been secured, which should extend the reach of fibre broadband to 99% of South Yorkshire. Further details on this will be revealed in the near future.
Tuesday, June 7th, 2016 (11:17 am) - Score 527
The Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications (BEREC), which represents national telecoms regulators from across the EU (e.g. Ofcom in the UK), has published its first draft guidelines for Europes new Net Neutrality rules that require ISPs and mobile operators to maintain an open Internet.
The EU officially introduced new regulation to protect the open Internet from abuse last year (here), which essentially means that mobile operators and broadband ISPs cannot impose excessive restrictions against Internet traffic (e.g. blocking or slowing access to legal websites or Internet services).
The new regulation was followed a few months later by some official network neutrality guidelines from the Council of Europe (here), which also called upon national telecoms regulators to develop an appropriate legal framework for the rules. As such the new guidelines from BEREC represent that framework, albeit still in draft form pending the outcome of their consultation.
However some exceptions do exist, such as when ISPs need to tackle issues that affect the security of their network (e.g. cyber-crime, DDoS attacks, email spam, viruses) or to impose court ordered measures like blocks against Internet piracy or child abuse websites etc.
The rules also allow for general Traffic Management measures to be imposed, albeit only to prevent impending network congestion and mitigate the effects of exceptional or temporary network congestion, provided that equivalent categories of traffic are treated equally.
Broadly speaking BERECs new guidelines act as useful clarification and also appear to confirm that some services, such as Three UK and EEs proposed introduction of network-level ad blocking systems (here), might well fall foul of the rules unless they ensure that it is not enabled by default and only offered as an optional service.
Net Neutrality Guidelines (ISP Imposed Ad Blocking Systems) ISPs should not block, slow down, alter, restrict, interfere with, degrade or discriminate advertising when providing an [Internet Access Service], unless the conditions of the exceptions a), b) or c) are met in a specific case. In contrast to network-internal blocking put in place by the ISP, terminal equipment-based restrictions put in place by the end-user are not targeted by the Regulation.
Similarly any ISPs proposing to offer default network-level website blocking systems, such as the one being introduce by Sky Broadband (Parental Controls) to block porn sites and other legal adult content like dating sites or social networks (here), may run into a similar conflict with the new rules. The UK Government has already said that it may be able to get around that by proposing new legislation, although this could soon become a moot point if Britain votes to leave the EU.
In the meantime BERECs consultation will remain open until 18th July and they aim to post a final conclusion by 30th August 2016. We should add that the UK already has a somewhat self-regulatory approach through the Broadband Stakeholders Group and its Open Internet and Traffic Management Codes of Practice (here), which has actually been in-place since 2012.
The BSG recently reviewed their code and found no reason to make any major changes (here), although they are planning to publish a slightly tweaked version in the very near future and will no doubt be keeping an eye on what BEREC has just outlined. Broadly speaking the BSG sees the new EU legislation as a regulatory backstop for its own code.
The former head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Daniel Goldin, is the co-founder of the KnuEdge startup company that aims to build a neural chip for efficient computing in data centers.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Dan Goldin occupied the function of chief of NASA for 9 years. In this quality, he was overseeing complex projects like the international space station. Now Golding is ready for another challenging launch of his startup company that has been working in secret for 10 years on developing neural computing.
According to VentureBeat, Goldin, founded a decade ago the San Diego, California-based company with the former chief technology officer of NASA. KnuEdge has already raised $100 million in funding for its neural chip project.
The brain-like neural computing chip will be far more power and cost efficient than current chips based on the John von Neumann's computer architecture. In current machines, the processor and memory are separated and linked via a bus or data pathway.
Von Neumann machines have gotten faster over the years by sending data at higher speeds across the bus. However, the capacity of the bus often limits the speed of a computer, leading to the "von Neumann bottleneck."
In order to deal with the explosion of data driven by machine learning and artificial intelligence, the researchers are developing brain-like data center chips. One of the major high-tech companies working on research in neural computing is IBM.
On the surface, Goldin's company is working on the same kind of research as IBM, but its approach is different. The KnuEdge startup has been funded by angel investors.
Goldin hopes that his company will contribute to a fundamental transformation of the computing world. According to him, the company is actively engaged in Fortune 500 companies and hyperscale computing companies, and it has already generated $20 million in revenue. Among its clients included companies in the banking, aerospace, hospitality, health care and insurance industries.
Huawei is prepping up to release another mobile device on the market. Recent news and updates revealed that Huawei's manager has confirmed the making of another Nexus device.
It appears that the speculations might have some truth attached to it. For one, it has now been seven months since Huawei began selling its first Nexus smartphone. And consumers are already looking at what Google has planned for its 2016 refresh, reports Engadget.
The search giant typically keeps its manufacturing partners close to its chest, so it has fallen on the Chinese company to start teasing a future device on its behalf and to ensure its authenticity. Charlene Munilall, General Manager of its South African consumer business group, has suggested that Huawei is building another Nexus device, telling the gadget site "we're doing the Nexus again this year, by the way," as cited by the same post.
Underdog Huawei aims to topple the goliaths of the smartphone market -- Apple and Samsung https://t.co/mb2Qvdzg4U pic.twitter.com/Q6PUmn2QfB CNET (@CNET) June 6, 2016
It has been presumed that the Nexus devices are one of the most formidable gears released on the market. Moreover, the Chinese company developed its first Nexus device at the end of last year in the form of the Nexus 6P, alongside LG's smaller Nexus 5X, reports Gearburn.
On a different note, the Nexus 6P has gained much success. Many are projecting that the new device would take over and maintain the dominance and trend. All the same, Nexus devices are typically hitting the market to depict the recent upgrades of its Android modifications.
For instance, the Nexus 5X and 6P featured Android 6.0, while the Nexus 6 touted Android 5.0 upon its release. With that said, the upcoming Nexus device will almost certainly run Android N, the yet-to-be-named next release of Android, and will be launched more or less alongside it before the end of 2016, as noted by the same post.
It is irrefutable that the Nexus phones are considered as one of the staple gears of the Android segment. To prove the latter, it has remained resilient despite the strong competition in the tech sector. And as Huawei's manager affirms a new device is underway, it is anticipated to render thrills for the tech enthusiasts, especially if the device is projected to follow after Nexus 6P's legacy and dominance.
Lenovo has revealed a raft of new or updated products for the data centre in the areas of software defined storage, networking, servers and hyperconverged appliances.
Lenovo is following Dell's example by stepping up its attention on the data centre market, rather than being content to be a client device supplier.
The company's latest announcements are in the areas of software defined storage (SDS), networking, servers and hyperconverged appliances.
Lenovo's strategy in this market includes partnerships with established and recently founded vendors.
For example, Lenovo StorSelect storage appliances consist of Lenovo hardware with pre-integrated SDS software from companies such as Nexenta Systems (used in the Lenovo Storage DX8200N) and Cloudian (used in the Lenovo Storage DX8200C).The DX8200N provides scale-up unified file and block storage using flash, spinning disk or hybrid drives.
The DX8200C is an object-based scale-out storage appliance.
Both models will ship in the third quarter of 2016.
The company also announced its first Lenovo-branded mid-range storage systems, the V3700 V2 and V5030 hybrid and all-flash 12Gb SAN arrays. Deliveries will begin in June 2016. Lenovo did not indicate whether it is manufacturing or merely rebadging these arrays, but the model numbers match those of IBM Storwize products.
Turning to networking, Lenovo Cloud NOS will be released later this month. According to the company, it includes new functionality to enhance resiliency, cloud-level scalability and programmability.
The first fruits of Lenovo's reseller agreement with Juniper Networks will be seen in the third quarter, when the EX2300 and EX4550 Ethernet switches and the QFX10002-72Q data centre spine aggregation switch go on sale alongside Lenovo's own products.
The companies have jointly published a virtualised data centre reference architecture [PDF].
Updated Lenovo servers include new versions of the x3850 and x3950 X6 models using the latest Intel Xeon E7-4800 and E7-8800 v4 processors. The company says these servers will be available this month and are suited to in-memory applications like SAP HANA or Hadoop, and large virtualisation projects, big data and analytics workloads.
They also feature a new physical design for ease of maintenance and upgrading..
These new models have set 17 performance benchmark records (one SPEC, one TPC-E and 15 STAC).
Also new to Lenovo's server family is the ThinkServer sd350 (available from July), described as an ultra-dense, 2U four node (2U4N) system designed for more demanding software defined workloads and offering high density and efficiency combined with "highly attractive ownership costs".
Finally, new models of Lenovo's Nutanix-based HX series of hyperconverged appliances will ship in the third quarter.
They are the HX1000 series for remote office/branch office use, the HX2000 series for small to mid-size businesses (featuring Nutanix's recently announced Xpress software) and updated models in the HX3000 series (for VDI and smaller virtualisation workloads) and HX5000 series (for server virtualisation workloads with larger capacity demands).
"This dramatically expanded portfolio is a powerful demonstration of Lenovo's commitment to creating purposeful data centre innovation in a truly open ecosystem," said Lenovo data centre product group senior vice-president Tom Shell.
"With the latest advancements in server performance, software-defined storage, hyper-convergence and rejuvenated networking capabilities, all delivered seamlessly in a partner-centric model, Lenovo is striving to redefine the data centre inside and out."
Food and beverage ordering platform Ordermentum has completed a $2.5 million financing round, attracting some well-known investors.
Ordermentum aims to connect suppliers and outlets in the food and beverage industry, simplifying administration on both sides.
"Incredibly, there are over 60 million orders placed every year between supplier and retailers in the food and beverage sector," said co-founder Andrew Low.
"Until now there has been no single solution that significantly improves these manual tasks for both parties."
Australia's 60,000 cafes, bars and restaurants place over 60 million orders worth a total of almost $30 billion dollars, according to the company.
Ordermentum allows retailers to order from multiple suppliers in one place.
The system integrates with suppliers' accounting systems and processes, supporting features such as customised reminders, pricing, products, promotions and payment terms.
The company's $2.5 million series A funding round was led by Capital Markets Technology. David Gordon (co-founder of Nudie Juices and chairman of Ten Network Holdings), Alison Deans (Board director of Cochlear, Westpac, IAG and founder of eBay Australia), and David Skellern (co-founder of Radiata) also invested in Ordermentum.
Low was previously managing director of Toby's Estate Coffee, and his fellow co-founder Adam Theobald founded order-ahead service Beat the Q (now Hey You).
Telecommunications and network provider MNF Group owner of telco retailers MyNetFone, Connexus, CallStream, PennyTel and The Buzz has appointed a former executive from UK telco giant BT to a newly created role of head of products.
Lee Atkinson joins MNF Group from BT where he was director of customer operations for the past two years. He was previously head of services at Olive Communications UK, head of services at Wish Communications and held various management positions at Vodafone and Forensic Telecommunications Services.
Atkinson said: Advances in technology and the consequent shift in consumer behaviour means the communications sector is seeing a convergence of voice and data services. There is tremendous opportunity to drive forward unified communications products and services within the Australian market and Im looking forward to driving MNF Groups strategic growth into this area in particular.
MNF Group has a proven track record of being a true innovator since it was founded 12 years ago. Innovation is front and centre of everything they do and so the opportunity to lead and expand their product team was too good an opportunity to miss.
Atkinson will report to MNF Group CCO, Jon Cleaver.
Cleaver says Atkinson has a remit to further accelerate MNF Groups rollout of innovative products and services across its wholesale and retail portfolio and to ensure the company is well-positioned to develop the communications products of the future.
Lee brings a wealth of high-level experience from his roles in some of the largest telcos in the world and Im delighted we were able to convince him to relocate to Australia to lead our product strategy across our entire brand portfolio.
He will be pivotal in ensuring that MNF Group continues to be at the forefront of Australian telco innovation and that we consistently identify and offer our expanding consumer base the most value-add and up-to-date telco products and services available in Australia today.
Canon has appointed Gavin Gomes as its director, Canon Business Services in Australia, to lead B2B functions including business production printing, and Canon Finance Australia.
Gomes will also become a director of the Canon-owned cloud and IT managed services company Harbor IT, which it acquired in 2014.
Prior to Canon, Gomes held several senior executive leadership roles over the last 20 years with Australia Post Group, IBM, Procter & Gamble and Telstra.
Managing director of Canon Oceania, Yusuke Mizoguchi, said Gomes would be working with channel partners and customers, driving the business through a period of transition, to address the rapidly changing demands of the business market.
Im delighted to welcome Gavin to our team who brings a breadth of knowledge and experience in the B2B arena. A highly competent leader of sales and marketing teams, I am confident he will be an asset to our team and contribute to the dynamic culture of our organisation. We will continue to invest in diversifying our solutions and partnerships to place our customers' needs at the forefront of our business.
Canon Business Services deliver a range of solutions in the B2B space including office and professional print, managed services as well as a range of solutions and services enabling digital transformation, all underpinned by Canon technology.
Mizoguchi said in 2013 Canon undertook a business review which highlighted that to meet the future needs of customers in Australia, the companys business model needed to adapt, and the company recognised that it needed to diversify and increase the services it offered.
He said to achieve this goal Canon had made four strategic acquisitions Oce Australia to expand high-end professional printing capability, SUNSTUDIOS to expand the offering to professional photographers, Harbour IT to offer solutions in the Cloud and IT managed services and, most recently, Converga to expand Canons BPO capability.
Gomes said he is interested to find ways we can work with our channel partners to help streamline our customers business processes.
The Australian federal election campaign has just crossed the halfway mark but one topic both major parties seem eager to avoid is the national broadband network.
The Coalition made a statement on Friday that reiterated a number of points it has made in the past about the NBN. Labor has not had much to say on how it plans to proceed with the rollout if elected, apart from hinting that it will provide more fibre to the home than its political rival.
Last night, the extent to which the regions desperately need fast broadband was made clear by participants in the ABC's Q and A program. Business owners, the sick and those who were concerned about their childrens' education spoke up and as the discussion went on, it became clear that the NBN would provide answers to many of the problems raised.
And on the weekend, the stark difference between fibre to the premises and fibre to the node was also illustrated by a businessman in Brunswick who has a fibre connection to his office. However, his home is served by fibre to the basement of the building.
At his office, a music studio, this man gets something like 95 megabits per second. At home, he is lucky to get nine megabits per second. For him, the option of working at home does not exist as he needs to download really big files.
But this man, at least, can walk to his office, which is 30 minutes away, and proceed with his work. What happens to the patient in rural Australia who needs to have files containing scan images uploaded to a laboratory in a city for diagnosis? The option is to travel 500 kilometres and do it in person.
What happens to the business that needs something more than what FTTN or satellite offers in order to trade? What about the child who depends on a high-speed connection to follow an online education course that, once again, is available only in the cities?
Rural Australia rarely gets its voice heard in the mainstream media, simply because the cutbacks dictated by the parlous financial state of media companies mean there are no journalists to report on issues which concern the bush.
And the situation is getting worse. Yesterday, News Corporation announced it would be closing seven of its community newspapers. Fairfax has already given up on local news, preferring to depend on features in its local papers.
Neither Bill Shorten nor Malcolm Turnbull have ventured to say anything substantial on the NBN in four weeks of campaigning. Mitch Fifield and Jason Clare, the Liberal and Labor members respectively responsible for communications, haven't been forthcoming either.
The only time that the NBN figured in the campaigning was when the Australian Federal Police raided the offices of some Labor functionaries in a bid to find out who leaked supposedly confidential documents about NBN Co to a number of media outlets.
How long will we have to wait to see what the two contestants offer?
Enterprise solutions provider Acresta has announced that it has acquired Interactive First, a provider of social media and digital engagement solutions. The newly established Acresta Digital will extend Acresta's offering in digital strategy, social intelligence, digital experience and digital commerce solutions to help organisations connect one-on-one with their customers across any channel.
Fadi Geha, CEO of Acresta welcomed the acquisition, 'Together we can accelerate our vision to provide best-in-class personalized one-on-one experiences to our clients aross web, mobile and social channels. Acresta Digital with its tagline 'powering infinite conversations', will offer new and innovative solutions to enable the monetization of content in social media and online channels. We look forward to assisting our clients in their Digital strategy by finding new ways to improve their existing customer experience models.'
According to Ramesh Nagarajan, former Chief Strategy Officer of Interactive First and incoming Director, Digital Strategy and Innovation at Acresta, 'Interactive First and Acresta share the same vision and passion for providing innovative solutions with a core focus on effective customer engagement across all Digital channels. By joining the Acresta family, we will be able to focus on our vision to help our customers establish a Digital experience platform which enables them to construct and connect personalized user experiences across web, mobile and connected platforms.'
About Acresta:
Acresta is a provider of enterprise software solutions within the IoT, mobility and digital sphere. Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, Acresta delivers innovative business software solutions to meet the needs of today's enterprises and the environment in which they operate. Their loyal and global customer base covers a multitude of industries including local & state government, banking & financial services, logistics & distribution, engineering & construction services, mining & power generation as well as the health industry.
For more information, please contact:
Fadi Geha,
CEO, Acresta
p: +612 8208 3366
m: +61 411 141 065
e: fgeha@acresta.com
w: www.acresta.com
Ramesh Nagarajan,
Director, Digital Strategy and Innovation, Acresta
p: +612 8208 3366
m: +61 421 930 668
e: rnagarajan@acresta.com
w: www.acresta.com
At U.S. Cyber Command, the top brass has made recruiting top talent a leading priority, but those efforts have been slowed by challenges in attracting and retaining the next generation of cyber warriors.
Maj. Gen. Paul Nakasone, commander of Cyber Commands Cyber National Mission Force, spoke to those struggles in a recent online event hosted by Federal News Radio.
[ Related: HACKERS WANTED Report: NSA Not Having Trouble Filing Cybersecurity Jobs ]
Nakasone explained that at Cyber Command, the mission attracts most in the recruiting work at the inter-service unit that conducts a bevy of military defensive and offensive cyber activities.
We offer a sense of service to the nation, rigorous training, innovative approaches to hard problems of national security, and an opportunity to build a phenomenal network across that spans defense, interagency, allies and industry, Nakasone said.
Yet, even with this, we need to continue to offer some additional pay and benefits, he added. We must identify and recognize our best talent.
U.S. Cyber Command competes with private sector for top talent
Since its inception in 2009, Cyber Command, established as a consolidated military response to an escalating wave of Internet-based intrusions and attacks, has vied for top talent with the private sector, where firms often can offer dramatically higher wages to job seekers in a highly competitive field.
But like officials at other federal cybersecurity entities, Nakasone noted that the work that Cyber Command does is enough to inspire civic-minded security experts to consider a stint with the government. And even if the government remains something of a revolving door with personnel routinely rotating back to the private sector Nakasone doesnt see that scenario as a total loss, but argues instead that it could be seen as a furtherance of his organizations overall mission.
[W]e also must consider our work in training and building talent may often benefit the greater good, regardless of where your career takes you in cybersecurity, Nakasone said.
[ Related: U.S. government wants to sharply increase spending on cybersecurity ]
On balance, Nakasone judges that Cyber Command has done an effective job of fielding a skilled workforce considering the inherent challenges of the task, though he stresses that that work to continually monitor, assess and prepare is ongoing, given the evolving nature of the threats.
Talent management is the most important thing we do, he said. The near-term challenge we must address is keeping the already high level of trained, talented personnel on our teams.
Within Cyber Commands Cyber National Mission Force, which is comprised of 39 teams scattered around the country, about 80 percent of the personnel are military, with the balance made up of civilians, according to Nakasone. He says that the average team member is 28 years old, and roughly half of the personnel have combat experience. Every employee has a high-school degree, Nakasone said, but just 37 percent have degrees from a four-year college, and only 13 percent have graduate degrees.
One of the perennial challenges in the cyber arena is the attribution of attacks, a task that is complicated by a tangled and sometimes interrelated cast of malicious actors, ranging from hostile foreign governments to non-state entities such as terrorist organizations, criminals and activist hackers. But within that complex environment, the activities of nations like China, Iran and Russia pose the greatest challenge.
The most significant threats to the United States in cyberspace come from select nation-states, but we continue to watch closely for signs of non-state actors aimed against both government and private sector targets, Nakasone said, adding that Cyber Command actively monitoring for signs of non-state actors making significant improvements in their cyber capabilities.
Nakasone also emphasized the importance of building cybersecurity partnerships among the military and civilian government communities that would also include healthy relationships with vendors and others in the private sector, as well as friendly foreign nations.
[W]e need to better integrate our forces into the planning and execution of operations across the Department of Defense, [and] to build even stronger partnerships across the U.S. government, with allies and industry, he said.
Shaming carriers and smartphone manufacturers into applying patches faster is a step forward, but a lot more needs to be done to improve security of the Android platform, security experts say.
Last month, Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, reported that Google is considering releasing a list of vendors ranked by how up-to-date their headsets are.
This has long been a problem for Android. Unlike Apple, which can unilaterally push out updates to its customers as they come out, the situation with Android is a lot more complicated.
When a patch comes out, only Nexus phones get them automatically, said Kyle Lady, research and development engineer at Duo Security.
"If it isn't a Nexus phone, the manufacturer has to apply the patch to the software, then send it to the carrier, who has to approve it, and send it to customers running that phone," he said. "So there's a substantial delay."
For example, 60 percent of Android phones still don't have a patch for the QSEE exploit, even though the patch came out in January.
"There are way too many devices in the wild left completely unprotected from well-known, high severity exploits," said John Michelsen, chief product officer at Zimperium. "Manufacturers have a responsibility to provide important updates to the Android platform as soon as possible."
It's not just patches that aren't being distributed to the phones in a timely manner.
The Android 6 "Marshmallow" operating system, released last October, is currently only on 7.5 percent of Android devices.
"The older version of Android may have vulnerabilities that are not being patched by the OEM," said Kia Behnia, CEO at mobile security firm PowWow Mobile. "Google and OEMs must have a better model for updating those older devices for both security and usability reasons."
And some Android phones never get any patches or updates at all.
"According to Googles own report, a large portion of Android users -- over 30 percent -- never receive security updates," said Michael Shaulov, head of mobility product management at Check Point Software Technologies. "This leaves users defenseless against malware."
Putting pressure on manufacturers is a good step, he added.
"Im not sure theres much Google can do," he said.
For example, many manufacturers have customized the interfaces to better appeal to their users, he said, since many customers prefer customization to security. And carriers also add bloatware. All this customization slows down the patch process considerably.
Arian Evans, vice president of product strategy at security firm RiskIQ, agreed that Google's new tactic could be a move in the right direction.
"Hackers are increasingly using mobile as a new attack vector, using trusted brands with a high-profile public presence or associated with valuable data as lures to deceive end-users and steal sensitive information and taking advantage of relatively immature security practices in the mobile channel to conceal fraudulent activities," he said.
One problem is that patches and updates cost money while producing additional revenues, since the customers have already bought their phones.
"The phone manufacturers have enjoyed a lower development and maintenance cost for their non-undateable or high latency updatable devices," said Chris Wysopal, CTO and cofounder at security vendor Veracode.
Google should continue to put pressure on them, he added.
"Perhaps they could force a logo program where you need to have some minimum update latency to achieve the Android logo or perhaps a new 'Android Safe' logo," he said.
For carriers, releasing patches without fully testing them could disrupt their networks, which is a significant risk to them, said Stephen Newman, CTO at security vendor Damballa.
"Imagine if a carrier allows security patches to go untested and one of them brings down a major carriers network or multiple carrier networks," he said. "Colossal damage."
If Google presses harder for faster updates, it needs to make testing easier for the carriers, he added.
"Ultimately the carriers may elect to limit even further the number of devices they will sell, thus limiting the number of options for consumers but also limiting the amount of devices they have to test," he said.
Limited choices could mean that carriers lose customers, said Tim Strazzere, director of mobile research at security firm SentinelOne. In addition, carriers and manufacturers may become reluctant to use the Android operating system.
"If they push for updates while providing better tools and helping the OEMs and carriers, they definitely stand a fighting chance to improve the ecosystem, which in turn makes everyone have more up to date and hopefully safer devices," he said.
Meanwhile, if the industry is unable to make progress on the issue, the government may step in.
Last month, the FCC and the FTC announced that they are asking mobile carriers and device manufacturers about how they release security updates.
"Consumers may be left unprotected, for long periods of time or even indefinitely, by any delays in patching vulnerabilities once they are discovered," said the announcement.
"Shaming manufacturers and carriers may not be a silver bullet, but combined with pressure from the FCC, we may see security update timeframes start to improve," said Chris Eng, vice president of research at security firm Veracode.
Get unlimited access to all content and features at ivpressonline.com with our Full Online Access Subscription. Read our E-Edition, the digital replica of the print newspaper online, access content in exclusive sections including Family, Teen, Business, Databases, Farm and more. This option does not include daily home delivery of the Imperial Valley Press newspaper. For home delivery service, please select Premium or Premium Plus.
In a close run battle, the traditionally safe Labour stronghold returned former councillor Brenda Kirby by a majority of just 191 votes.
The former teacher and mother of two will now fill the gap left by ex-council leader Valerie Shawcross who stood down to follow her GLA aspirations in Lambeth and Southwark.
By of the
House speaker Paul Ryan is taking nothing for granted in his Republican primary against challenger Paul Nehlen, a businessman from Delavan.
On Tuesday, Ryan rolled out endorsements from all 16 Republican state legislators who represent portions of the 1st Congressional District.
The endorsers include Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester and four state senators, Steve Nass of Whitewater, Chris Kapenga of Delafield, Mary Lazich of New Berlin and Van Wanggard of Racine.
In a statement, Nass said that he has known Ryan since the early 1990s and during that time the Janesville native's values, principles and integrity "have not changed and they never will."
"People know Paul and they know he fights for us," state Rep. Samantha Kerman (R-Salem) said in a statement of support.
Ryan said he was "encouraged by the outpouring of support from our great state legislators."
"They work closely with their constituents and they understand how important principled representation and timely constituent service is to the people who live in southern Wisconsin," Ryan said in a statement. "My commitment will always be to serve my employers to the best of my ability."
Nehlen has previously received the endorsement of the Tea Party Patriots. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has also said that she would work to defeat Ryan, and conservative pundit Michelle Malkin has endorsed Nehlen.
The primary is Aug. 9.
By of the
A Milwaukee program that required an additional level of inspections for apartment buildings near the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and other neighborhoods is being terminated because of a new state law.
Supporters of the residential rental inspection program said it helped uncover building code violations, leading to improvements for older apartments that could otherwise drive down neighborhood property values.
Opponents, including the Wisconsin Realtors Association and the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin Inc., said it gave city building inspectors too much arbitrary power.
An ordinance recommended for approval Tuesday by the Common Council's Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee will drop the program and make other changes required by state law.
That legislation, Assembly Bill 558, was approved on party-line votes by Republican majorities in the Assembly and Senate in February, and later signed by Gov. Scott Walker.
It included a provision banning programs like that approved in 2009 by the Milwaukee Common Council and Mayor Tom Barrett. The program required apartments located mainly near UWM and in the Lindsay Heights neighborhood, on the north side, to be certified by city building inspectors before they can be rented.
Well-maintained buildings received a four-year certificate. Buildings with units that have what the city called "disqualifying violations" received a one-year certificate after the violations were corrected.
Apartment building owners said the ordinance unfairly imposed additional inspection fees, which were $86 for each apartment unit. They said building inspectors should instead focus on a relatively small group of bad landlords.
Supporters said the ordinance was needed to better deal with problem landlords. That includes building owners who create hazardous situations by illegally putting too many tenants into apartments.
Sen. Frank Lasee (R-De Pere), a co-sponsor of the legislation, told the Journal Sentinel in January that the programs in Milwaukee and other communities place an unfair focus on buildings in certain neighborhoods.
At Tuesday's zoning committee meeting, Alderman Nik Kovac said the program survived a lawsuit from opponents who made the same argument.
The program focused on rental properties in certain neighborhoods because that's where many of the problems occur, said Kovac, whose district includes the UWM area.
The legislation also restricts how much cities can charge landlords for inspection fees.
Milwaukee's fees started at $60, then escalated to $75, $200 and $350, if additional inspections were needed because landlords continually failed to correct building code violations.
The new state law says additional local building inspection fees can be no higher than double the original fee.
So, the proposed city ordinance, which needs Common Council approval, sets the initial fee at $100 and additional fees at $200.
Those lower fees, along with eliminating the fees from the residential rental inspection program and a separate code compliance program for single-family and duplex rentals, will reduce the city's annual inspection fee revenue by an estimated $1.5 million, according to a city report.
The lower fees also reduce the department's leverage to get landlords to fix building code violations, said Alderman James Bohl, who chairs the zoning committee.
Building inspectors will still respond to complaints from tenants and others about code violations, said Tom Mishefske, Department of Neighborhood Services commissioner.
Also, the city operates a program that allows tenants to pay rent to the department, instead of the landlord, if building code violations aren't fixed, Mishefske said. Known as rent withholding, the program allows the department to hold the rent in an escrow account until the violations are corrected.
However, many tenants are reluctant to do that because they're afraid of being evicted, he told committee members.
Barrett said the state legislation would hurt Milwaukee's efforts to fight bad landlords, and said it should be called the "Absentee Landlord Protection Bill."
A Journal Sentinel watchdog report, "Landlord Games," was published in April. It detailed how some of Milwaukee's most notorious landlords have learned how to game the system by paying the minimum on building code fines they owe the city.
The zoning committee endorsed another proposed ordinance in response to the new state law.
That proposal says a property owner who appeals a Historic Preservation Commission decision needs only a simple majority of the Common Council to overturn that decision. The current ordinance requires a two-thirds majority.
The state legislation initially would have prohibited Wisconsin communities from designating a building as historic if the property owner objects. That provision was opposed by historic preservationists statewide and officials from Milwaukee and other cities, and was later removed.
Facebook: facebook.com/JSBusiness
Twitter: twitter.com/TomDaykin
SHARE
By of the
With the expansion of Steinhaefel Inc.'s main distribution center in Pewaukee almost complete, the furniture retailer is hosting a job fair Wednesday to fill more than 25 openings.
The event is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Steinhafels corporate headquarters, W231 N1013 County Highway F.
Warehouse positions include drivers, assembly specialists, forklift operators and unloaders. Steinhafels said it also is looking for sales people and decorators at some of its stores.
Applicants should bring their resumes to the job fair or apply online before the fair at steinhafels.com/careers. Computers will be available for applicants at the job fair, and managers will be there to answer questions about open positions.
Steinhafels broke ground broke ground last summer on a 107, 000-square-foot expansion of its main distribution center near I-94 and Highway F in the city of Pewaukee, the first part of a $10 million, two-phase project. The second phase calls for adding 130,000 square feet to the facility, creating more jobs.
Family owned Steinhafels has more than 750 employees and 16 locations in Wisconsin and northern Illinois.
Wisconsin leads the nation in number of organic dairy and beef farms. That's not per capita that's total numbers of farms for the humble Dairyland.
Wisconsin is also second in the nation for total number of organic farms 1,228, behind California's 2,805. (New York is third at 917.) We're second only to California for total acreage in organic production, and we're home to more organic farmers than any other state.
Cheeseheads have a good thing here.
Yes, we've got outstanding organic cheese, but the cheese does not stand alone.
The breadth of local organic food in this state yields a blessed bonanza for the home cook.
Maybe we shouldn't be so humble.
How green is our valley?
Why is it our state has emerged as an organic leader?
"It's because of our heritage of dairy farms and small-scale farms, which is amenable to organic management," said Steve Pincus, who along with his wife, Beth Kazmar, operates Tipi (pronounced teepee) Produce, a 76-acre certified-organic farm near Evansville.
Kazmar added that open-minded customers in Madison and Milwaukee provided early encouragement of organic farming.
"Also, it's because of Wisconsin's long-standing tradition of cooperatives," Pincus said one in particular.
The Cooperative Regions of Organic Producer Pools, the largest farmers' cooperative in the country, began in tiny La Farge (population 757) in 1988. It developed the Organic Valley label for dairy, eggs, soy and vegetables, then the Organic Prairie label for beef, pork and poultry.
"We started the cooperative to save family farms through organic farming," said Hans Eisenbeis, communications manager for CROPP. He noted that it now serves more than 1,800 small family farms (owner-members) in 34 states and last year surpassed $1billion in sales.
Eisenbeis characterized Wisconsin as the "last holdout" for small, prudent family farms that barely survived the farm crisis of the 1980s.
"Then organics launched, and suddenly these small family farms had an option that would help them not only survive but thrive," he said. "Organic Valley was literally founded on the idea that a farmer should be able to make a living, and farmers should get to set the price of their farms' produce.
"Wisconsin has always been one of the two or three most important states for agriculture, especially when you are talking about dairy," Eisenbeis added. "So in some ways, it was natural for Organic Valley to find its beginnings here, and to stay here as we've grown."
Organic success story
Conventional farmers are currently struggling with oversupply and depressed commodity prices.
Meanwhile, organic food sales nationwide are approaching a milestone 5% slice of the total food market pie, totaling nearly $39 billion dollars in 2014, an 11% increase over 2013, according to the Organic Trade Association.
"The reliable markets we have now did not exist when I began farming," Pincus said. "Our customers now know and appreciate what organic means."
Particularly benefiting Wisconsin, organic milk production has been one of the fastest growing organic foods in the U.S., according to the United States Department of Agricultural.
"We see nothing but growth, frankly," Eisenbeis said. "We continue to see consumer demand outpace supply, and younger consumers are more concerned about the quality of their food than any previous generation."
Some wonder if the Farm Belt can keep up with surging demand.
Pincus and Kazmar were recently named the Midwest Organic Farmers of the Year by the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service, a high honor among farmers. Both Pincus and Kazmar said they are proud to be organic farmers and find their work very satisfying.
"Organic farmers have become more skilled, and we are producing much higher-quality products," Pincus said.
With decades of organic farming experience between them, they predict the industry will continue to expand.
"The trends are bigger markets, higher-quality products and many more farmers," said Kazmar. "From the farmers' perspective, there are more reliable sources of input like good-quality organic seeds."
"Younger farmers are very interested in organics," Pincus added. "I predict we will see more conventional land transitioned into organic production....I think organics will keep growing."
Pincus goes way back with organics. In 1970, he helped start and then manage Outpost Natural Foods Coop. He soon fell in love with the beauty of organic farms and decided to give it a try. Today, Tipi Produce is Outpost's largest local organic produce supplier.
"Feels like we've come full circle," he said.
Wisconsin's green acres
Foodies may argue, which is better: organic or local? Fortunately, home cooks here have an abundance of both, which deflates that dispute.
"Food should be simple, fresh and pure," Pincus said. "Better-quality ingredients means better meals."
Nowadays, organic food is available from down on the farm to big box stores. Some Wisconsin workplace and school cafeterias offer organic food choices; many restaurants do, too.
Community Supported Agriculture farms offer fresh products to members directly from the farm, usually with multiple pickup sites. Select state health insurers even partially reimburse members for CSA shares to promote wellness. Organic farms sell their wares at farm stands, u-picks and farmers markets, a favorite summer hangout for Wisconsin food lovers.
One such organic CSA farm, High Meadow Farm near Johnson Creek, offers weekly share boxes at several pickup areas; they even deliver to employers. Past boxes have contained summer goodies such as arugula, new potatoes, snap peas, wax beans and raspberries. Egg shares can be added a la carte. Financial assistance is available, along with the opportunity to work in exchange for shares.
High Meadow Farm also appears at the Fort Atkinson farmers market and hosts open farm days and picnics at the farm.
Other Wisconsin organic farms supply fresh produce to local retailers such as Good Harvest Market and Roundy's supermarkets. Roundy's has developed its own private-label organic line, Simply Roundy's Organics.
You know organics are mainstream when even mega-grocer Walmart offers organic food.
Still, Kazmar thinks both local and organic food is ideal.
"Supporting your local businesses has a profound effect on your local economy."
A Wisconsin transplant, Kazmar originally came here for graduate school.
"Never thought I'd farm, but then I met this cute farmer," she said. "We bought our current farm in 2001. It took six years of investment, but then our soils started acting like organic soils.... It has been wonderful to shepherd that change. It feels like a true accomplishment."
Wisconsin's organic rankings
Over the past few years, the Badger State has racked up some impressive statistics around organics. In addition to having the most organic dairy and beef farms:
Wisconsin ranks first in the number of farms raising organic hogs and pigs (yes, there is a difference), layer chickens and turkeys.
Wisconsin ranks first in the number of farms raising organic corn, oats, barley, winter wheat, hay, silage and several other crops. Many of these crops enable organic dairy farmers to economically grow feed for their cows. Organic livestock grain has been in short supply in recent years.
Wisconsin ranks third in the number of organic vegetable and melon farms, sits in the top five for organic berry farms, and is in the top six for organic fruit and tree nut farms.
Wisconsin ranks second (after California) in the number of farms transitioning to organic farming, positioning the state well for an anticipated increase in demand for organic food.
This is all according to the USDA Statistics Service's 2014 Organic Survey and "Organic Agriculture in Wisconsin: 2012 Status Report," published by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems.
Following are a handful of recipes that take full advantage of Wisconsin's organic foods.
SHARE
By of the
Air Wisconsin Airlines Corp. will close its facility at Mitchell International Airport, terminating the jobs of 53 workers there, according to a notice from the company.
The closure and terminations are the result of Air Wisconsin losing its contract with United Airlines, according to a letter to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Dislocated Worker Unit.
The permanent layoffs will affect 50 passenger agents represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, according to the letter.
They will also affect three salaried workers a manager, an administrative assistant and a shift supervisor and the final day of work for the employees will be August 16, according to the letter.
Video surveillance shows two suspects Wauwatosa police are seeking in a May 30 armed robbery in the 6700 block of Milwaukee Ave. and other incidents over the next two days. Credit: Wauwatosa police
SHARE
By of the
Wauwatosa police are looking for two suspects in an armed street robbery, chase and attempted bank burglary, all using a stolen vehicle.
In the early morning of May 30, the suspects fled an armed robbery in the 6700 block of Milwaukee Ave. in a stolen 2004 Jeep Liberty. Police did not indicate the name of the business targeted in the robbery Video surveillance shows them using the victim's credit card a short time later.
Later that day, about 1:15 p.m., a Wauwatosa officer attempted to stop the same Jeep Liberty, but broke off pursuit after a brief chase.
The next day, video surveillance of a window smashing t the UW Credit Union, 6510 W. State St., shows the same 2004 Jeep Liberty.
The vehicle was recovered 10 a.m. on June 1 in the 8200 block of W. Grantosa Ave. Four individuals were seen abandoning the Jeep and trying to steal another vehicle.
One suspect sought by police was described as a 14- to 16-year-old black male; about five feet, five inches tall; 120 to 140 pounds with short hair with small side part. He was wearing a dark colored zip up sweat shirt with red lettering (possibly WISCONSIN) and red inside the hood, tan shorts.
The second suspect is described as a black male also 14 to 16 years old, between five-feet-six and five-feet-9 inches tall, 130 to 140 pounds with taller Afro style hair. He was wearing a blue T-shirt and camouflage pants.
Police ask anyone with information to contact Detective James Short at (414) 471-8430.
Mykah Simmons, a biracial freshman at Westosha Central High School, has called for dialogue and racial unity at the school. Her mother, Niccole Simmons, says she was blocked from commenting about the need for more resources to address the issues during a school board meeting. Credit: Mark Hertzberg
By of the
After months of trying to get school administrators to deal with the racially charged climate at Westosha Central High School in Salem, Niccole Simmons took her concerns to the elected School Board.
Simmons told the Journal Sentinel she intended to plead for resources that would help Principal Lisa Albrecht address the issues at the high school.
But less than a minute into her comments, Simmons was cut off by Superintendent Scott Pierce, who deemed her remarks a "personal attack" on the principal.
"I was trying to say she's not capable of handling this 'without your support,'" said Simmons, whose daughter Mykah Simmons was the subject of a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story in May on racial bullying.
"My point was that it takes a village," she said. "But he never let me make my point."
Parents are more than welcome to make positive statements about school officials at public meetings, Pierce said, but negative comments must be addressed through an internal process, which is generally shielded from public view and can take months to resolve.
"This is only fair... as this is a public meeting and there is no opportunity for the staff member to publicly defend themselves," Pierce said in an email to the Journal Sentinel.
Critics say policies such as Westosha's, which allows the board's presiding officer to cut off "personally directed" remarks, limit public participation and keep legitimate grievances out of the public eye.
What's more, policies that allow public accolades of school officials, but no criticisms, may also violate the constitutional prohibition against viewpoint discrimination, according to legal experts.
"Viewpoint discrimination is the most fundamental of all free speech principles," said David Hudson Jr., who teaches First Amendment law at Vanderbilt University.
"When a school board creates a public comment period,... they can't selectively pick and choose to hear positive messages and not hear negativity," said Hudson, who also serves as ombudsman for Newseum Institute's First Amendment Center in Washington, D.C.
Wisconsin law offers little guidance on the issue of public participation at government meetings. School boards, common councils and other elected bodies in Wisconsin aren't required to allow public comment. And there's no constitutional right to speak at government meetings. But once boards open the door to public participation, there are limits to the restrictions they can impose, according to legal experts and the courts.
Wisconsin school boards have long placed limits on what's known as "time, place and manner" of public comments content-neutral restrictions aimed at maintaining order and the board's ability to conduct its official business.
The courts have generally upheld such limits. But some federal judges have struck down regulations prohibiting "personal attacks" and "personally directed" comments as viewpoint discrimination, and prohibitions against defamatory comments as attempts at unlawful prior restraint.
District examples
A survey of district policies across southeastern Wisconsin, obtained by the Journal Sentinel through open records requests, found an array of provisions that effectively limit who can speak and when, and what they can and cannot say.
Most district policies contain provisions barring personal attacks or personally directed comments or complaints regarding staff, school board members or, in at least one case, "anyone connected with the school system."
Most districts refer complaints about staff to district administrators. One district, Merton in Waukesha County, goes so far as to bar its board members from taking up complaints "outside of the adopted procedure."
Barry Forbes, an attorney with the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, called such provisions "reasonable."
"Dealing with individual complaints is not the role of the school board. It's the role of the administration."
In Pewaukee, citizens may provide information fliers and documents, for example to board members, but not to other citizens in attendance at the board meetings. Superintendent JoAnn Sternke said it has not been an issue in the 15 years she's served the district.
"I believe it's meant to let citizens know that the intent of the citizens comment section is to inform the board, not address the audience," she said. "As such, citizens need only bring seven copies of a handout."
In Shorewood, the policy limits public comment to three people on each side of an issue. The provision has been criticized by some parents.
Board President Paru Shah said it was added to discourage repetitive content and that the board can waive it if needed to ensure residents have their say on important issues.
Parental pushback
Parents have pushed back against participation limits in some area districts in recent years.
In 2014, a group of parents in the Mequon-Thiensville School District, upset about cuts to the special education program, objected because they were forced to wait to voice their opinions at one meeting until after the vote.
Superintendent Demond Means said the parents had ample time to speak at the previous month's meeting and to follow up with board members by email and telephone leading up to the vote. But parents saw it as a deliberate attempt to squelch their voices.
"The way it works in Mequon is you generally don't find out about things in time to organize," said Aaron Hurvitz, one of the parents, who ran unsuccessfully for a School Board seat after the incident.
Angry parents posted a video of the meeting at which a board member and parent pleaded unsuccessfully with board President Mary Cyrier to allow public comment before the vote onto YouTube. A veteran board member, Cyrier lost her seat in April.
Means said the district is in the process of re-evaluating its public comment policy to make it "more inclusive and inviting. He said the move is unrelated to the 2014 meeting.
"It's the result of our board being in tune with what our community members continue to share with us, and they want the ability to give feedback and input in what happens in the school district," he said.
In Shorewood, parents have bristled at changes adopted last year that limit the number of people who can speak to three people on each side and when those comments can be heard, as well as a policy that discourages board members from disagreeing in public.
"It appears to take a lot of things behind closed doors," said Judy Wood, who was among a group of Shorewood parents who last year urged the board not to renew the contract of then-Superintendent Marty Lexmond.
She said the restrictions remove the power of parents to speak as a group and to hear the range of concerns in their community.
"Not every issue is two-sided; not every issue is black and white," she said.
"When you're as strong as Shorewood, you shouldn't be afraid to hear what your weaknesses are," Wood said. "This just feels like a backlash against the people bearing the message."
Niccole Simmons said she tried to address her concerns about the racial climate at Westosha Central internally, speaking repeatedly with the principal and vice principal, before trying to speak to the School Board.
"I feel like I got shut down at every turn," she said. "I don't feel like anyone ever took it seriously."
After she was shut down at the School Board meeting, she went to a higher power, firing off a letter of complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.
Pierce's admonishment, she said, "made me feel like I don't have a voice," Simmons said. "It made me feel like I'm not going to deal with you anymore. I'll deal with the entities that govern you."
The state hasnt increased funding for student tuition aid since 2010. Credit: Journal Sentinel files
SHARE Ray Cross Associated Press
By of the
University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross this week will urge the Board of Regents to seek a 33% biennial boost in need-based financial aid from the state to help resident students better afford to attend a public university in Wisconsin.
While the governor and state lawmakers have frozen tuition for undergrad residents since 2013 in an attempt to reduce the growing burden of student loan debt, the state has not increased need-based financial aid funding for residents attending UW System institutions since 2010-'11, according to Cross.
The proposed $19.15 million biennial increase if regents decide Thursday to advance the request would boost the current $58.3 million in state funding for the Wisconsin Grant program by 33%.
Asked whether Gov. Scott Walker would support raising financial aid to residents, spokesman Tom Evenson said specific details about UW System funding would be presented along with the governor's budget proposal next year.
"Gov. Walker is committed to keeping college affordable for students and the working families who help support them, which is why he froze tuition for four years across the UW System," Evenson said.
The goal is to return the amount of each student's grant award to the 2009-'10 level of $2,161, according to information provided to the regents ahead of their Thursday and Friday meetings at UW-Milwaukee.
One in four resident undergraduates received a Wisconsin Grant award in 2013-'14, according to materials reviewed earlier this year by a UW System task force examining tuition-setting policies.
UW-Superior had the highest proportion of students receiving the Wisconsin Grant, followed by UW-Parkside, UW-Milwaukee and UW Colleges. UW-Madison had the fewest students receiving the need-based grant in 2013-'14.
The UW System average cost of attendance increased by 16% between 2009-'10 and 2014-'15 from $17,015 to $19,702, according to the UW System.
At the same time, the average Wisconsin Grant awarded to students in the UW System decreased by 18% from $2,161 to $1,773 because the same amount of money had to be divided among more students, according to the UW System.
The number of Wisconsin Grant recipients at UW campuses increased by 28% between 2009-'10 and 2014-'15 from 25,624 recipients to 32,885 recipients.
More students qualified for the need-based grants than received them. The number of resident students eligible for state support increased from 28,132 in 2008-'09 to 34,521 in 2014-'15 an increase of 23%.
While one in four resident undergrads received a Wisconsin Grant in 2013-'14, underrepresented minority students make up the largest group receiving some form of financial aid.
Of all African-American undergraduates enrolled in 2013-'14 at a UW System campus, 93% demonstrated financial need as defined by the Federal Needs Analysis Methodology. That compared to 75% of students who identified as white/unknown.
The average loan debt of UW System resident undergrads at graduation was $30,452 in 2013-'14.
To return average Wisconsin Grants to the 2009-'10 level of $2,161 would require an increase of $6,384,100 in 2017-'18 and an additional $6,384,100 in 2018-'19, or a biennial increase of $19,152,300, according to the UW System.
State money makes up about 7% of all student financial aid in the UW System, and federal sources account for about 75%. The remaining financial aid is generated by campuses, private and community sources.
"There are more variables in the equation than tuition alone, and we are committed to looking at every component as we help keep student debt loads down," Cross said. "This includes a close examination of fees and other campus-driven costs."
Cross said in a blog post Monday that the UW System is focused on reducing the net cost of college.
The Shimadzu Laboratory for Advanced Applied and Analytical Chemistry gives students experience and training in state of the art equipment. The laboratory is part of the Kenwood Interdisciplinary Complex on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Credit: John Klein
SHARE
By
As the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System meets at the UW-Milwaukee campus this week, it is important to recognize UWM's status as a "Research 1" university. Earlier this year, UWM was designated as one of only 115 "Research 1" doctoral universities in the country by the prestigious Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. This means that UWM ranks in the top 2% of research universities in the nation.
In Wisconsin, only UWM and UW-Madison have received the "highest research activity" rating. Other institutions with this elite status include Yale, the University of Michigan, Harvard and Duke. The next budget will be a great opportunity to help make sure UWM is in position to help Wisconsin thrive.
One of our greatest successes revolves around water. Wisconsin is a world leader in freshwater research due, in part, from an investment by the Legislature. In September of 2014, UWM opened the School of Freshwater Sciences, the largest water-focused academic research institution on the Great Lakes and the only school of its kind in North America.
I have visited the school and seen what a difference this investment has made. Multiple corporations license from UWM a hand-held sensor that can measure contaminants and heavy metals at low concentrations, using just a single drop of water.
This type of technology could have alerted officials in Flint, Mich., the minute contamination occurred. This sensor can help protect the millions of Americans who get water from lead pipes. UWM also is commercializing fish farming. A spinoff company is providing fish to small businesses, which then produce perch for the seafood industry.
The UWM Research Foundation was created in 2005 to bring UWM research to the marketplace. It has been a resounding success. Patents have grown eightfold and license agreements have quadrupled in just the last five years. This ability to commercialize UWM's research produces jobs and grows our economy.
One example is Kenosha-based toolmaker Snap-on Inc.'s license of a new industrial wrench created by UWM engineers designed to decrease shoulder, hand and back injuries. The tool reduces the muscle activity needed for utility workers' tasks by 40%. It is expected to drastically lessen workplace injuries, medical bills and lost wages.
There's a good chance the next big idea also will come from UWM. Thanks to a $10 million gift from the Lubar family, the university will construct the Lubar Center for Entrepreneurship. The Center for Entrepreneurship will introduce all incoming freshmen to the concept of entrepreneurial thinking the day they walk on to campus.
UWM is significantly contributing to Wisconsin's economy, and I want that trend to continue. I look forward to working with the Board of Regents, the University of Wisconsin System and my colleagues in the Legislature to help UW-Milwaukee build on the success of our state investments to date.
Sen. Alberta Darling represents the 8th Senate District in the state Legislature.
A photo released by Washington County Sheriffs Office appears to show the wheel that came off a stolen vehicle after it hit a telephone pole in Hartford in April. The car was stolen in Milwaukee.
By of the
A suburban Republican lawmaker ripped into Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett on Tuesday and said she would push for funding cuts to the city unless steps are taken to slash Milwaukee's crime rate.
The provocative statement was issued by state Rep. Janel Brandtjen (R-Menomonee Falls) and came in the wake of a high-profile Milwaukee carjacking that ended with a chase into Washington County and the arrest of five juveniles.
"Last week homeowners in Washington County were held hostage in their homes by the actions of five young criminals from Milwaukee," Brandtjen wrote. "All night long the Milwaukee police, SWAT teams and law enforcement from Washington County combed the darkness for five youths with guns. Families were forced to unlock their gun cabinets and instruct their loved ones to shoot to kill."
In response, Barrett's office issued a chart showing state aid to Milwaukee has dropped over the past decade, even as the police budget has climbed.
Meanwhile, a Democratic state representative accused Brandtjen of engaging in "dog whistle" politics to stir up racial animus. The top Republican in the Assembly called for a "constructive dialogue" without saying whether he would favor further cuts in aid to Milwaukee, as Brandtjen proposed.
GOP Gov. Scott Walker rejected the idea of cutting funding for Milwaukee, saying the city was safe overall but needed help in some areas to stop crime.
"I don't think combating crime by taking away money is the answer," he told reporters at a stop in Prairie du Sac. "To me, the bottom line is they need leadership and they need support."
Brandtjen accused Barrett of failing to control crime that had spilled into the suburbs.
"The people of southeast Wisconsin will not sit by and watch your administration destroy the entire region with failed liberal policies and a 10-second 'Tommy Tough Talk' sound bite," her statement said.
"If you do not fill the hundreds of vacant police officer positions, apprehend and arrest car thieves, demand prison for repeat criminals and start standing up to the judges who let repeat offenders off easy, you will be in my opinion 'assisting and enabling' the very criminals who are responsible for the record number of shootings, carjackings and murders."
Brandtjen said she would be "openly advocating for funding cuts to Milwaukee unless steps are taken to dramatically cut crime in Milwaukee. I will no longer sit by while you destroy Milwaukee and its flourishing suburbs. I cannot justify financing your failed policies in Milwaukee until you take public safety seriously."
Barrett spokeswoman Jodie Tabak issued a one-sentence statement on the issue: "Mayor Barrett is addressing public safety on all fronts and he would welcome the representative's assistance in improving the criminal justice system."
According to the city, state funding has dropped by $12 million a year, while city funding for the Police Department has increased by $91 million.
In an interview, Brandtjen said she wasn't familiar with those figures but said it was indisputable that Milwaukee, Wisconsin's most populous city, gets the "lion's share" of aid the state sends to cities.
Brandtjen said she had talked to many constituents affected by the search for the carjacking suspects, but declined to provide contact information for families that she claimed in her news release were "forced to unlock their gun cabinets and instruct their loved ones to shoot to kill."
She said tactical teams went door to door asking people if they had checked their basements for intruders and telling them to count their family members and remain indoors with their doors locked. She noted those team members came to the doors with weapons and helmets.
"If that's how the SWAT team comes to your door, how do you think you're going to respond?" she asked.
Washington County Sheriff Dale Schmidt could not be reached late Tuesday to discuss what the tactical team told residents as deputies searched for suspects.
State Rep. Mandela Barnes (D-Milwaukee) called Brandtjen's statement irresponsible, saying it underscored an anti-Milwaukee sentiment among Republicans. He said cutting funding from Milwaukee would make crime worse.
"This is a top-down message from the de facto leader of the Republican Party, Donald Trump," Barnes said.
Barnes said there is a racial undercurrent to Brandtjen's criticism of Milwaukee. "The majority of the time it's all dog whistle," he said.
Brandtjen rejected Barnes' comments, saying, "Bullets don't care what color you are. Crime doesn't care what color you are."
State Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) in a news release said Brandtjen was engaging in "dangerous rhetoric" because Milwaukee alone can't be blamed for problems with violence.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) did not say whether he favored aid cuts to Milwaukee but called for constructive dialogue.
Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan speaks outside the Washington-based charity House of Help City of Hope, where he unveiled a Republican initiative to combat poverty and called Donald Trump's claim about a judge the textbook definition of racism. Credit: European Press Agency
By ,
Washington House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday called out Donald Trump for a "racist comment" while rolling out policy prescriptions he says are part of a positive Republican vision.
As the Janesville Republican was laying out the GOP agenda, he was inundated with questions about Trump's suggestions that a judge is biased against him because of his Mexican heritage.
Ryan disavowed Trump's remarks as the "textbook definition of a racist comment" but said he still supports Trump because he is Republicans' best hope for getting their agenda enacted.
"At the end of the day, this is about ideas, this is about moving our agenda forward," Ryan said before pivoting back to GOP policies.
At an event at a Washington charity, he unveiled recommendations drawn up by a task force of House Republicans to combat poverty.
"This is how you create opportunity, this is how you help people move onward and upward," Ryan said.
On Thursday, he will release recommendations for national security, and in the coming weeks, ideas to tackle other subject areas in the "Better GOP" plan will follow, including taxes, regulations and health care.
Ryan is trying to unite the highly divided Republican Party around shared policies amid the cacophony of the presidential campaign. It's unclear if Trump, the party's presumptive nominee, is ready to embrace the platform. Ryan said he has had "exhaustive" conversations with Trump and he is confident the real estate developer likely will embrace the policies.
The plan released Tuesday includes somewhat broad recommendations, rather than specific legislation, including:
Instituting increased work requirements for welfare recipients and for recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, who are able to work but aren't.
Consolidating or streamlining 18 federal food-assistance programs and myriad housing programs, such as the Rural Housing Service rental assistance program and HUD's Housing Choice voucher program. The Government Accountability Office has identified making the programs efficient as a challenge.
Streamlining federal funding for at-risk youths and for 45 separate early childhood programs and giving states and local governments more flexibility to address their residents' needs.
Rolling back federal requirements and regulations for technical education programs and for colleges and universities, which one study commissioned by Vanderbilt University last year estimated cost schools $27 billion annually. The plan also recommends consolidating the nine federal-aid programs for higher education into three.
Making it easier for businesses to team up and offer joint 401(k) retirement savings plans.
Overall, federal funding of social programs should be more focused on results, the task force concluded, and measuring them by whether they are making a difference in people's lives are they getting people back to work, for instance, or reducing poverty.
"Common sense says the federal government should fund only programs that have a track record of success," the report says. "Yet the federal government frequently pays for well-intentioned programs and services that have no evidence of effectiveness and in many cases, even when the program is proven not to work at all."
The report cites statistics that show the poverty rate is roughly 15%, the same as it was in 1965, before many of the programs started. Those numbers have been criticized before as misleading. The White House issued a report in 2012 suggesting it went from 26% in 1967 to 16% in 2012.
In any case, the GOP task force says federal money should be spent on programs that "actually achieve results" and not those just "intended to help." And it says more data should be shared between agencies to help make those evaluations, and also to reduce improper payments from social programs, the report says.
The federal government in fiscal 2015 wrongly paid out $10 billion for unemployment benefits, food stamps, rental assistance and school breakfast and lunch programs. Those payments accounted for between 4% and 23% of all payments made under those programs, according to federal figures.
"With such high error rates in many of our nation's safety net programs, it is essential that agencies use all available tools to reduce improper payments and ensure benefits are going directly to those most in need," the report concludes.
Democrats swiftly assailed the report, with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) calling it a "halfhearted rebrand of their special interest priorities" that "will do nothing to distract from the radicalism of Republicans' standard-bearer or House Republicans' long-standing disdain for people in poverty."
"Sadly, beneath the sugary rhetoric of the poverty proposal unveiled today, Republicans are advancing the same callous, trickle-down policies they've been pushing for years," she said.
At the White House, press secretary Josh Earnest had said he was "bemused by this process."
"He's the speaker of the House. He doesn't just have to make policy proposals, he runs the House of Representatives," Earnest said. "Put it in a bill. Put it on the floor. Run it through a committee. Have a debate. That's the whole reason you presumably ran for the job in the first place. Let's have that debate."
Ryan has said the agenda is meant to be a starting point for legislation under a Republican president in 2017.
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (left), a Republican, faces an election challenge from former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold (right). Credit: Associated Pres
By of the
With Ron Johnson releasing his first television ad of the 2016 campaign Tuesday, one thing is now clear in the contest with his rival, Russ Feingold.
The two men who have worn the title of U.S. senator are pitching themselves as down-home Wisconsinites.
In his debut spot, Johnson, the Republican incumbent, went back to his manufacturing roots to talk jobs and the economy, taking a page from his 2010 political playbook when he first ran for public office and ousted Feingold, a Democrat. The spot is expected to be the centerpiece of the campaign's $1.3 million TV buy in June.
Appearing on the factory floor of Pacur, the Oshkosh manufacturing company he helped build, Johnson said in the ad: "Career politicians manufacture hogwash I manufacture plastic. And I respect you enough to tell you the truth. If you think it's time for Washington to start facing reality, I sure could use your support."
Before joining the U.S. Senate, Johnson was president of Pacur. He retains a 5% ownership stake in the company that is now headed by his brother, Barry Johnson.
The ad makes no mention of Feingold.
But in many ways the ad serves as a bookend to a digital ad the Johnson campaign pushed last month. Titled "Deficit of Trust," the earlier spot sought to portray Feingold as a career politician, charging he failed to adequately address the national debt.
Feingold campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said, "Senator Johnson spent the last six years in Washington rigging the system for giant corporations and multimillionaires like himself. Senator Johnson is not manufacturing anything now, he's just a typical politician who votes time and time again to send Wisconsin's jobs overseas."
Feingold, a former three-term senator, launched his first TV ad in April, titled "72 Counties." The ad took Feingold back to his roots, reminding voters of his annual pilgrimages around the state. Only, in this campaign, he's not the incumbent.
"I've visited all 72 counties, meeting people, listening to what they have to say. And I'm still at it. So if you hear a knock on your door, it just might be me," Feingold said in the ad.
The race will likely heat up as the candidates bid to reach voters ahead of the summer vacation season.
Over the next few weeks, the Johnson campaign is expected to zero in on jobs as well as Wisconsin-specific issues, including how Environmental Protection Agency rules affect farmers. The issue also has been raised in other states with a heavy reliance on agriculture.
The EPA used its authority under the Clean Water Act to redefine the types of waterways that fall under federal jurisdiction and regulation. The Clean Water Act gave the federal government broad powers to control pollution that runs off the land and into lakes and rivers.
Many agricultural interests believe regulations regarding U.S. waterways are overly broad and would limit the way farmers manage their land.
By ,
Appleton A week after fellow Wisconsinite Paul Ryan endorsed Donald Trump's bid for president, Gov. Scott Walker said Monday he will have no problems supporting the presumptive Republican nominee even though "he wasn't my first choice."
Walker, in the Fox Cities Monday for a listening session, said in an interview with USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin that he believes Trump is a better fit for the presidency than the expected Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton.
Walker, a onetime presidential candidate, said he has made it clear since the Aug. 6 Republican presidential debate in Cleveland that he would support his party's nominee, no matter who it is. That includes Trump.
"I said it then, and I'll repeat it now, that I felt like any of the people on that stage were better than Hillary Clinton," Walker said. "He wasn't my first choice. He wasn't my choice in Wisconsin. There are issues, not the least of which lately with his statements about the judge he commented on, which I just fundamentally disagree with him on, so just saying that I'll support him over Hillary Clinton doesn't mean I embrace all the things that he says or all the ways that he says it."
Walker said his support for Trump isn't a matter of party loyalty, but rather that he doesn't trust Clinton.
"She is still more concerning to me, not just on policy, but this is someone who has consistently misled outright lied to the American people. I think, as Bernie Sanders ironically said, she's unfit to be the president. It's probably one of the few things I agree with Bernie Sanders on."
Walker hit on a number of other topics during the interview. Among them:
Road construction:Transportation Secretary Mark Gottlieb told the Wisconsin State Journal last week that the budget he will present to the governor won't have new revenue for construction projects.
The administration's priorities are safety and making sure existing infrastructure is maintained at all levels, from state highways to county and municipal roads, Walker said.
That said, taxpayers won't see an increase in the gas tax or vehicle registration fees unless the administration can cut taxes elsewhere, such as income taxes, he said.
"I made it very clear when I ran for re-election that I wasn't going to raise revenues unless I could cut taxes elsewhere, so unless we can do that, what the secretary's saying is that he's going to present a budget that does not include any new revenues into it."
Open records:A Dane County judge recently ordered the governor's office to release records concerning the proposed changes to the University of Wisconsin System's mission, most notably the Wisconsin Idea, which states that the UW System should reach beyond the classroom and touch every corner of the state and that "the search for truth" is at the core of its mission.
"The same day the court ruling came down, we could've appealed it, but we just released all the documents from a year and a half ago," Walker said.
For a time, the GOP governor contended the changes constituted a "drafting error," but the emails showed his office was well aware of the effort.
Walker said he doesn't foresee changes concerning open records being proposed in the near future.
"That was something that one particular part of the Legislature was pushing and it wasn't an issue that we were aggressively behind in any way," he said.
UW System tenure:Changes to the tenure process in the UW System have sparked angry reactions across the state's four-year campuses in recent months, with faculty at many campuses passing resolutions of no-confidence in UW System leaders.
A few UW-Madison professors have found jobs elsewhere, and voiced their complaints publicly on their way out.
Walker said there hasn't been a mass exodus of faculty members leaving the system.
The issue with tenure, he said, is about value.
"We don't eliminate tenure, but we give the University of Wisconsin System administration more flexibility so, as an example, if a tenured professor has a course and maybe there's only a handful of people in it, they (UW System leaders) now have the ability to say, 'There's not enough students in this class. We're going to shut this class down and take those resources and put it into an area where there's high demand for students who need those credits to graduate on time.'"
No verdict reached after first few hours of deliberations 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.
Reddit Email 1 Shares
By Manipadma Jena | (Inter Press Service) |
Manipadma Jena interviews the director general of the International Organization for Migration, Wiliam Lacy Swing.
Owing to demographic drivers, countries are going to become more multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious, says William Lacy Swing, Director General of the International Organisation for Migration.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 6 2016 (IPS) Climate change is now adding new layers of complexity to the nexus between migration and the environment.
Coastal populations are at particular risk as a global rise in temperature of between 1.1 and 3.1 degrees C would increase the mean sea level by 0.36 to 0.73 meters by 2100, adversely impacting low-lying areas with submergence, flooding, erosion, and saltwater intrusion, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
But even before such catastrophes strike, the 660 to 820 million people who depend on a fishing livelihood more so subsistence-based traditional fisher families who already find catches sharply dwindling due to over-fishing will have no option but to abandon both home and occupation and move.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing at 11-26 million tonnes of fish each year, worth between 10 billion and 23 billion dollars, causing depletion of fish stocks, price increase and loss of livelihoods for fishermen.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) forecasts 200 million environmental migrants by 2050, moving either within their countries or across borders, on a permanent or temporary basis. Many of them would be coastal population.
William Lacy Swing, Director General of IOM, spoke with IPS correspondent Manipadma Jena at the second UN Environmental Assembly May 23-27 in Nairobi where 174 countries focused on environmental implementation of the work that would achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Excerpts from the interview follow.
Q: What are today the other drivers of coastal migration besides environmental crises and depleting fish stocks?
A: Political crises and natural disasters are the other major drivers of migration today. We have never had so many complex and protracted humanitarian emergencies now happening simultaneously from West Africa all the way to Asia, with very few spots in between which do not have some issue. We have today 40 million forcibly displaced people and 20 million refugees, the greatest number of uprooted people since the Second World War.
If we add to that climate change events like Typhoon Haiyan in Philippines, and the Haiti earthquake, there would be another additional group.
We do not know how many of these natural disasters are climate related, but increasingly we are paying attention to climate change. After the Paris talks it is more evident that we must figure in adaptation strategies, especially in places like Bangladesh and the Pacific Islands, so people can avoid and prepare for the natural disasters.
Anote Tong, president of Kiribati, was saying they were fearful they would lose some of their 33 atolls. They are already purchasing land in neighbouring Fiji for their people to migrate. This is the kind of adaptation action we need to take.
Q. How do you see the picture of global coastal migration by 2030 and subsequently by 2050? What are the approximate numbers of coastal people that are on the move today? From which countries are the maximum movements being seen?
A: Coastal migration is starting already but it is very hard to be exact as there is no good data to be able to forecast accurately. We do not know. But it is clearly going to figure heavily in the future. And its going to happen both in the low-lying islands in the Pacific [and] the Caribbean, and in those countries where people build houses very close to the shore and have floods every year as in Bangladesh. Also, we have to look out for places prone to earthquakes. Philippines officials were talking to me last week about preparing for a major earthquake that could happen anytime.
We have to have an adaptation policy. The more adaptation you have, the less mitigation you need. The more you prepare the less you have to lose.
Q. Are increasing incidences of conflict over depleting resources being reported within coastal communities or with other groups such as large fishing operators?
A: It is quite clear that we will have more and more conflicts over shortages of food and water that are going to be exacerbated by climate change. Certainly, if coastal stretches have been over-fished for years, there is going to be conflict.
But it may not be just conflict that occurs. In Indonesia for instance, IOM worked hard to evacuate hundreds of fishermen who had been kept for years in human slavery in the fishing industry. With the help of the Indonesian government we freed them, counseled them and got them back to normal life.
Q: Even while migration is increasingly being recognized as a critical global issue, the absence of strong policies on migration is often attributed to insufficient studies and hard data by migration experts. Has there been any improvement in this status after Syria, West Asia, East Africa migration crises?
A: IOM has undertaken several initiatives to support better policies. We just established a Global Data Analysis Centre in Berlin. We are in partnership with a number of leading agencies like Gallop World Poll, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) the research arm of The Economist Group. We are looking for other partners as we see large gaps in the data base.
While a lot of data we have is spotty, a lot of it inaccurate, we however have enough already to know which are the driving forces for migration today and in the future, including demographic drivers. We have an aging population in the industrialized countries that are in need of workers at all skill levels. And we have a very large youthful population in the global south that needs jobs.
Our forecast is that countries are going to become almost inevitably more multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious.
If this is going to work, economies are going to merge then it appears a pretty straightforward future scenario. But the problem is that more national migration policies are out-of-date, they have not kept up with technology. So we keep running into problems where we could in fact turn adversities into opportunities.
Q: What could be some mitigation, adaptation or preventive actions and policies affected countries should undertake? Which countries are already taking action?
A: Even if it is difficult to single out countries to mention as they are all members of IOM, Canada for instance took in 25,000 Syrian refugees earlier in the year. Several Asian countries like Thailand are providing migrants access to free public services because if this is denied you have unhealthy population living amongst you. There are other examples of proactive action being taken by countries but more is needed.
Licensed from Inter Press Service
Related video added by Juan Cole:
The LipTV: Climate Change May Create Uninhabitable Regions in North Africa & Middle East
Reddit Email 0 Shares
TeleSur |
The prediction is likely to stir controversy among Sanders supporters and critics of the superdelegate system, which has been branded anti-democratic.
The race between Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton is not even over yet, but the latter has already won the Democratic nomination, according to the Associated Press.
An AP count of pledged delegates and a survey of superdelegates purportedly shows Clinton clinching the nomination, reflecting comments made by Clinton when she dismissed the California primary as irrelevant to the outcome of the Democratic race.
I will be the nominee for my party That is already done, in effect. There is no way that I wont, Clinton said in an interview with CNN back in May.
Not including superdelegates, Sanders is just 291 delegates behind Clinton and campaigners for his political revolution have been going all out in California, which will allocate 526 delegates.
Sanders has also jumped in polls over the past few weeks and is close to clinching the Latino-heavy state from his rival. Leading up to Tuesdays vote, 44 percent of California Democrats said they would support Sanders and 43 percent said they would back Clinton, according to a new poll from the Los Angeles Times.
The prediction by AP is likely to stir controversy among Sanders supports and critics of the superdelegate system, which has come under fire over recent months.
United States Senator Elizabeth Warren, who herself is a superdelegate, recently said she does not approve of the Democratic Partys superdelegate system and thinks the three-decades long process must be scutinized.
The Democratic party has more than 700 superdelegates and at least 539 of them have already pledged support for Clinton. Many of them did so even before she had formally announced her campaign in April last year.
Via TeleSur
Related video added by Juan Cole:
CBS Evening News: Clinton looks to clinch Democratic nomination on Tuesday
Reddit Email 0 Shares
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |
So Gregoire Moutaux, 25, was arrested last month by Ukraine. The French national had a large cache of deadly weapons.
Ukraine Intelligence chief Vasyl Hrytsak said, The Frenchman spoke negatively of the activities of his government on mass migration of foreigners to France, the spread of Islam and globalisation. He also said he wished to stage a number of terrorist attacks in protest.
The BBC says, Mr Hrytsak listed bridges, motorways, a mosque and a synagogue among the suspects potential targets.
Ukraine is investigating Mr. Mouteaux for arms smuggling and terrorism.
But heres the kicker. France isnt.
France so far just has him being looked into by the unit in charge of organized crime.
This is so even though Moutauxs house in France was searched and authorities found explosive material and balaclavas (masks). Now explosive materials, maybe he was planning to sell in a dark alley. But balaclavas suggest a plan to do something in public that required hiding ones identity.
So, I was right about The Top Ten differences between White Terrorists and Others.
Apparently Paris suspects that Moutaux is just a run of the mill arms smuggler taking advantage of the situation in east Ukraine.
The BBC even managed to find a neighbor who said that Hes a rather nice guy, who I think is actually rather well-educated. Ive even invited him over for a glass of wine. I just cant understand this.
It is always the quiet ones.
So obviously Moutaux is innocent until found guilty (actually that isnt true in France).
But the French reluctance to at least start a terrorism investigation strikes me as very suspicious. Would there have been the same hesitation if Moutaux had been a Muslim?
Would the BBC have sought out that quote about a Muslim accused terrorist being a nice guy?
And, then I just cant get past this one: The Frenchman spoke negatively of the activities of his government on mass migration of foreigners to France, the spread of Islam and globalisation. He also said he wished to stage a number of terrorist attacks in protest.
So Ukraine intelligence is reporting that Moutaux himself insists that he planned terrorism.
And there is that little detail of explosives and masks being found in his house. There was also a white supremacist t-shirt.
I cant understand the reasoning of the French counter-terrorism folks who seem insouciant about all this. Do they think that Moutaux hopes to avoid drug smuggling charges by posing as a terrorist? Would the latter sentence be lighter?
Me, I think Paris needs to take a harder look at its white terrorism problem, which it is clearly reluctant to acknowledge.
-
Related video:
France24: Ukraine: Frenchman owning arsenal of explosives and weapons detained over planned terror attacks
Vancouver, British Columbia / TheNewswire / June 7 2016 - Centenera Mining Corporation (the "Company" or "Centenera") - (TSXV: CT), reports that it has signed a Letter of Intent ("LOI") with an arm's length individual (the "Vendor") to acquire the El Quemado Tantallum-Niobium-Bismuth-Lithium Pegmatite Project ("El Quemado" or the "Project") in Salta Province, northwest Argentina. Under the terms of the LOI, Centenera will have an option (the "Option") to acquire a 100% interest in the Project, subject to a 2% net smelter return ("NSR") to be granted to the Vendor, over a 24-month period (the "Option Period") in consideration for issuing 2.5 million common shares of the Company. In exploring the property, Centenera will primarily evaluate tantalum and lithium mineralization, while evaluating other potential by-product outputs such as bismuth.
Project Details
The Project area is located in Salta Province, approximately 80km west of the city of Salta (Figure 1) and consists of 7,959 hectares in 19 claims (Figure 2). The El Quemado pegmatite is part of the El Quemado pegmatite field, at the northern end of the Pampean pegmatite province. Several known pegmatite occurrences are located within the Property, most of which have seen some historical exploitation.
The Project includes the historic El Quemado small-scale mine, a former Tantalum-producing operation where Minera Anzotana Co. produced Niobium-Tantalum concentrates and Bismuth concentrates. Historical records indicate that tantalum-niobium oxide concentrate grades ranging from 7.16% to 53.85% (average 39.65%) tantalum and from 3.7% to 69.14% (average 20.98%) niobium in 11 concentrate shipments. Bismuth concentrate from 2 shipments graded 52.85% and 70.07% (average 61.46%). Historical production was achieved mostly through open-cuts with some underground adits, hand selection of mineralized material, and upgrading through rudimentary grinding and jigs. Historical concentrate grades indicate that historically, mineralized material of unknown in-situ grade was successfully upgraded to a saleable concentrate product.
Despite historical production, no systematic modern exploration has been undertaken and the occurrences have never been drilled or been the subject of formal resource estimation, although historical estimates do exist in the literature. Most historical information dates from 1943, when the deposits were first exploited through to 1981. Pegmatites are reportedly 4 meters to 40 meters thick in the Santa Elena area, west of El Quemado (Figure 2).
The Company cautions that the grade of concentrates is derived from private mining company records that are historical in nature. Investors are further cautioned that a qualified person has not yet completed sufficient work to be able to verify the historical information, and therefore the information should not be relied upon. In addition, the Company is quoting historical concentrate grades, being the grade of mined material after processing and upgrading. The Company is not disclosing any historical resource or reserve estimate and further exploration will be required to assess the in-situ grade of the mineralized material and to assess the potential for the existence of a mineral resource.
Click Image To View Full Size
Figure 1: Location of El Quemado Claims in Salta Province
The recent study of the El Quemado pegmatites (Marquez-Zavalia & Galliski 2012, Canadian Mineralogist paper) describes tantalum and bismuth minerals in the El Quemado system, which is a spodumene (lithium) subtype, rare element class granitic pegmatite. The 2012 study revealed systematic zoning; a. border zone; b. wall zone; c. outer intermediate zone; d. inner intermediate zone; e. core zone (Plate 1). Tantalum occurs throughout all zones while lithium (spodumene) is concentrated in the inner intermediate zone (d.). Outcrop is described as sparse in the area, with most of the pegmatites under shallow cover.
Click Image To View Full Size
Figure 2: Location of El Quemado Claims within the Pegmatite District
Click Image To View Full Size
Plate 1: Part of the El Quemado pegmatite in historical pit,
showing the zoned nature of the pegmatites (source: Marquez-Zavalia & Galliski 2012)
Work Program
On the completion of due diligence, Centenera expects to be able to move quickly to evaluate the El Quemado project through a combined geological and geochemical approach. Initial exploration is expected to focus on geological mapping, prospecting and detailed sampling of exposed pegmatites and historical surface extraction sites. Exploration for covered pegmatites will be completed using soil geochemistry and selective or partial leach appropriate to the target minerals. Lithogeochemistry is also expected to be an important geochemical tool. Pegmatites are not responsive to common geophysical techniques since they are not magnetic or conductive and do not present a significant density contrast. They can be detected using detailed radiometric exploration techniques but this is limited to outcropping pegmatites and not those under cover.
Commercial Terms
Under the terms of the Option, the Company will have 60 days to complete due diligence. On execution of a formal agreement, the Company will be required to issue 100,000 common shares to the Vendor. Thereafter, the Company can issue 165,000 shares (6 months), 265,000 shares (12 months), 540,000 shares (18 months) and 1,430,000 shares (24 months) for a total of 2.5 million common shares to exercise the Option. During the Option Period, the Company will be responsible for maintaining the Project in good standing. There are no work commitments associated with the Option.
Upon issuing 2,500,000 common shares to the Vendor, Centenera will be deemed to have exercised the Option and will have earned an undivided 100% legal and beneficial interest in and to the Project, subject to a 2% NSR to be granted to the Vendor. Centenera will have a right to buy one half of the NSR for USD $750,000. If Centenera abandons the Project after exercising the Option, the Project shall revert back to the Vendor, subject to a 1% NSR to be granted to Centenera.
About Lithium - Lithium is produced from both brines and hard-rock sources (pegmatites). Estimates from 2015 put global lithium production from conventional hard-rock mining of lithium minerals as high as 44% (source: Macquarie research 2016). Lithium pegmatites are a viable source of the metal because of their high concentration in the ores relative to brines, and production from these deposits mitigates global concerns about dependence on supplies from dominant brine producers in Chile and Argentina. Chemical-grade lithium refers to spodumene that is converted to lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide. Pegmatites are a source of technical-grade lithium, where spodumene is used directly in the ceramics or glass industries without processing.
About Tantalum - 70% of global tantalum supply is used in the electronics industry; smart phones and other modern "essentials". Global tantalum supply, which was formerly dominated by production out of Australia, is now dominated by production out of Central Africa, particularly Democratic Republic of Congo. This tantalum has been sold by illegal militias implicated in human rights abuses to fund civil war. The U.S. government signed the Financial Stability Act into law in 2010 to stem the trade of "conflict tantalum," and a system that includes mineral chemistry, geochronology, and mineral liberation analysis is being developed to trace the origin of tantalum ore.
About Pegmatites - Pegmatites are igneous rocks that form during the final stage of a magma's crystallization. To be called a pegmatite a rock should be composed almost entirely of crystals that are at least one centimeter in diameter. Most pegmatites have a composition that is similar to granite with abundant quartz, feldspar and mica. Pegmatites can be sources of valuable minerals such as spodumene (lithium) that are rarely found in economic amounts in other types of rocks. In the early stages of crystallization, the ions that form high-temperature minerals are depleted from the melt. Rare ions that do not participate in the crystallization of common rock-forming minerals become concentrated in the melt and in the excluded water. These ions can form the rare minerals that are often found in pegmatites. Examples are small ions such as lithium and beryllium that form spodumene; or large ions such as tantalum that form tantalite. Rare elements concentrated in large crystals make pegmatite a potential source of economic concentrations.
Qualified Person
EurGeol Keith Henderson, PGeo, the Company's President & CEO and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for portions of this news release, and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Henderson is not independent of the Company, as he is an officer and director.
About Centenera Mining Corporation
Centenera is a mineral resource company trading on the TSX Venture Exchange, under the symbol CT. The company is focused 100% on Argentina with three precious metals assets, a pegmatite asset and extensive exploration datasets. The Company's strategy is to acquire more high-quality mineral resource assets in Argentina. For more information on the Company's board of directors, management and assets, please refer to the Company's website at www.centeneramining.com.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors of
CENTENERA MINING CORPORATION
"Keith Henderson"
President & CEO
For further details on the Company readers are referred to the Company's web site (www.centeneramining.com) and its Canadian regulatory filings on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
For further information, please contact: Keith Henderson
Phone: 604-638-3456
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release, which has been prepared by management.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the statements of historical fact contained herein, the information presented in this news release and the information incorporated by reference herein, constitutes "forward looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Centenera Mining Corporation ("the Company"). All statements, except for statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that management of the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future including such things as the entry into of a formal agreement in respect of the El Quemado project, the exercise of the Option and the Company's exploration plans and schedule for the Project, the anticipated results of future exploration activities in connection with the Project, future capital expenditures (including the amount and nature thereof), business strategies and measures to implement strategies, competitive strengths, goals, expansion and growth of the business and operations, plans and references to the future success of the Company, and such other matters, are forward looking statements. Often, but not always, forward looking information can be identified by words such as "pro forma", "plans", "expects", "may", "should", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "potential" or variations of such words including negative variations thereof, and phrases that refer to certain actions, events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved.
These statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the management of the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Forward looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward looking information. Such risks and other factors include, among other things, operating and technical difficulties in connection with mineral exploration and development and mine development activities at the El Quemado project, actual results of exploration activities, estimation or realization of mineral reserves and mineral resources, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, the costs and timing of the development of new deposits, the availability of a sufficient supply of water and other materials, requirements for additional capital, future prices of precious metals, tantalum and lithium, changes in general economic conditions, changes in the financial markets and in the demand and market price for commodities, possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates, possible failures of plants, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated, accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, permits or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting mining operations, hedging practices, currency fluctuations, title disputes or claims, limitations on insurance coverage, the timing and possible outcome of pending litigation, environmental issues and liabilities, risks related to joint venture operations, and risks related to the integration of acquisitions, as well as those factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the management information circular of the Company dated April 28, 2016 and discussed in the annual management's discussion and analysis and other filings of the Company with the Canadian Securities Authorities.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward looking information in this news release or incorporated by reference herein, except as otherwise required by law.
-30-
Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
OTTAWA, June 7, 2016 /CNW/ - Northern Shield Resources Inc. ("Northern Shield" or the "Company") [TSX-V: NRN] is very pleased to announce that it has signed a definitive Option Agreement and pre-negotiated Joint Venture Agreement with South32 Limited ("South32") regarding its Huckleberry Cu-Ni-PGE property in the Labrador Trough of Northern Quebec. Northern Shield currently owns 100% of the Huckleberry Property. Northern Shield discovered significant Cu-Ni-PGE mineralization at Huckleberry in 2015 with 97 samples averaging 1.0% Cu, 0.2% Ni and 0.72 g/t PGE+Au. Huckleberry is being explored as a large-scale segregated magmatic deposit.
Under the terms of the agreement South32 can earn a 50% interest in the Huckleberry property by incurring C$2,500,000 in exploration expenditures within the first two years of the agreement and by making an upfront cash payment to Northern Shield of C$200,000. On successfully earning a 50% interest, South32 can elect to increase its interest to 70% by incurring a further C$2,500,000 of exploration expenditures by the end of the third year. Northern Shield will be operator during the earn-in and be paid a management fee of 10% of the cost of all exploration programs. Northern Shield's interest will be free carried to the completion of a PEA (Preliminary Economic Assessment) study on the Huckleberry property. South32 will have a first right of refusal on Northern Shield's neighbouring Sequoi Property.
"We are extremely pleased to be partnering with South32 on our Huckleberry project, whom we believe sets the new standard for agility and dynamism amongst the globally diversified mining companies" explains Northern Shield President and CEO, Ian Bliss. "Perhaps more importantly we share the same philosophy and strategy regarding the science of, and a model driven approach to, exploration. Northern Shield has built up a significant and unparalleled knowledge of the Cu-Ni-PGE potential of the Labrador Trough and from the onset we have recognized that the geology and mineralization we see at Huckleberry stands out as being very different from the surrounding area and has positive indicators for large-scale magmatic Cu-Ni-PGE deposits. This transaction evidences that South32 shares the same optimism for Huckleberry."
South32 is a globally diversified metals and mining company based in Perth, Australia with regional hubs in Perth and Johannesburg and marketing offices in Singapore and London. It is a public company (trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the NY American Depositary Receipts Program under the listing code of S32) which employs over 14,000 people. It has a market capitalization of nearly $US 6 billion and produced nearly US$6 billion of revenue, on an annualized basis, in the six months to 31 December 2016.
Northern Shield is also pleased to announce that its exploration crew are on the ground at Huckleberry. The exploration program as currently planned will include 2-3 weeks of outcrop sampling at Huckleberry followed by an airborne EM survey over Huckleberry and the recently acquired Sequoi property located 10 kilometers east of Huckleberry. The airborne EM survey will be used to guide diamond drilling under the option agreement planned for later on in the year.
The programs at Huckleberry and Sequoi will be overseen by Christine Vaillancourt, P. Geo., a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101.
Northern Shield Resources Inc. is a Canadian-based company focused on exploring for platinum group element ("PGE") and nickel-copper-PGE deposits. It is known as a leader in grass roots exploration for Ni-Cu-PGEs and the understanding of magmatic systems as it applies to exploration.
Forward-Looking Statements Advisory
This news release contains statements concerning the exploration plans, results and potential Cu-Ni-PGE and other mineralization at the Company's southern Labrador Trough properties, geological, and geometrical analyses of the southern Labrador Trough properties and comparisons of the properties to known Cu-Ni-PGE deposits, and other expectations, plans, goals, objectives, assumptions, information or statements about future events, conditions, results of exploration or performance that may constitute forward-looking statements or information under applicable securities legislation. Such forward-looking statements or information are based on a number of assumptions, which may prove to be incorrect.
Although Northern Shield believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements or information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forwardlooking statements because Northern Shield can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements or information are based on current expectations, estimates and projections that involve a number of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by Northern Shield and described in the forwardlooking statements or information. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks associated with geological, geometrical and geophysical interpretation and analysis, the ability of Northern Shield to obtain financing, equipment, supplies and qualified personnel necessary to carry on exploration and the general risks and uncertainties involved in mineral exploration and analysis.
The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and Northern Shield undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forwardlooking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE Northern Shield Resources Inc.
MELBOURNE, June 7, 2016 /CNW/ - OceanaGold Corporation (TSX/ASX/NZX: OGC) (the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on its exploration program across its operations in the United States, New Zealand and the Philippines. This update follows the update the Company provided to the market on February 29, 2016 and results herein reflect drilling after this date.
Key Highlights
Drill results at Haile continue to demonstrate a high-grade resource.
Recent intersections at Horseshoe have increased the confidence in the upper zone and include 58 metres @ 17.5 g/t, 50 metres @ 18.7 g/t, 61 metres @ 13 g/t, 17.1 metres @ 11.4 g/t and 31.7 metres @ 9.5 g/t.
Drill results at Waihi continue to demonstrate resource expansion opportunities from numerous high-grade targets including Correnso Deeps, Empire and Daybreak.
Recent significant gold intersections at Waihi include 4.8 metres @ 17.5 g/t and 5.1 metres @ 8.2 g/t from Correnso Deeps, 2.9 metres @ 21.3 g/t and 3.1 metres @ 20.6 g/t from Daybreak, 3.0 metres @ 35.7 g/t, 3.0 metres @ 9.9 g/t and 6.0 metres @ 14.7 g/t, 2.4 metres @ 10.9 g/t and 2.6 metres @ 5.6 g/t at other nearby veins.
Drill results at Macraes demonstrate an extension of known mineralisation both to the north and southeast of the previously reported Coronation North resource.
Recent significant gold intersections at Coronation North include 40 metres @ 3.6 g/t 1 , 15 metres @ 1.7 g/t, 21 metres @ 2.9 g/t, 18.7 metres @ 1.7 g/t and 4 metres @ 8.9 g/t 1 and at Frasers Underground 15.3 metres @ 4.0 g/t 1 and 78.5 metres @ 2.4 g/t 1 .
, 15 metres @ 1.7 g/t, 21 metres @ 2.9 g/t, 18.7 metres @ 1.7 g/t and 4 metres @ 8.9 g/t and at Frasers Underground 15.3 metres @ 4.0 g/t and 78.5 metres @ 2.4 g/t . Exploration activities have commenced in the broader FTAA area in the Philippines with drilling scheduled to commence in the third quarter of 2016.
________________________ 1 Some assays cut to 15 g/t Au
Mick Wilkes, President and CEO stated, "In 2016, we initiated an extensive exploration program with over 100 kilometres of drilling planned for the year and an investment of over US$30 million. In the first quarter, we were greatly encouraged from the initial drilling from this program. I am pleased to report strong ongoing results which further demonstrate the significant resource potential that exists in our assets." He added, "In addition to expanding our resource base, our exploration program will provide important inputs to the technical studies at Haile and Waihi already underway. I am confident these studies will demonstrate considerable additional value given the success of the exploration program to date."
Haile Exploration
At Haile, drilling has focused on expanding the resource at the Horseshoe deposit through diamond drilling of 42 holes utilising four surface drill rigs and completing over 12 kilometres of drilling since the start of the year. Drilling to date supports the current resource estimate and will feed into an updated resource estimate scheduled for the second half of 2016. Further work has been directed towards target definition and the planning of extensional and infill drilling of open pit resources and additional underground targets. In support of this work, the Company has commenced a geophysical survey which is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2016.
Additionally, the Company continues to advance the Haile underground technical study on the potential of Horseshoe as an underground mine, and investigating the development of an exploration tunnel to further define underground reserves. Furthermore, an optimisation study which will incorporate an updated resource estimate for the open pit and the Horseshoe deposit is advancing well. The primary focus of this study is to optimise the open pit design and the interface with a potential underground operation.
Table 1 Significant Intersections from Upper Horseshoe Drilling
Drill Hole
ID East# (metres) North# (metres) Collar RL (metres) Az# Dip From (metres) To (metres) Length (metres) Au Grade (g/t) DDH-521 667926.2 179748.9 161.0 150 -66 193.5 199.2 5.6 6.1 202.7 206.6 3.9 125.9 DDH-522 667877.5 179720.2 158.1 152 -59 164.4 230.8 66.4 4.6 Including 181.1 186.2 5.2 6.0 Including 213.8 230.8 17.1 11.4 DDH-523 667877.2 179720.8 158.1 153 -74 203.5 224.8 21.3 4.0 Including 218 222.4 4.3 13.0 DDH-525 667896 179724.3 159.0 148 -46 171.8 174.2 2.5 7.4 188.2 216.4 28.2 7.5 DDH-526 667895.5 179725.1 158.4 148 -55 172.8 233.8 61.0 13.0 DDH-527 667947 179748.4 161.6 146 -49 187.5 199.7 12.2 8.8 DDH-528 667968.8 179785.2 162.7 147 -57 212.1 243.8 31.7 9.5 247.5 253 5.5 9.2 DDH-529 667895.1 179725.3 158.3 152 -65 169.2 182.5 13.4 2.8 194.1 244.1 50.0 18.7 247.8 252.6 4.8 8.7 DDH-531 667924.4 179786.1 162.7 147 -57 155.4 179.8 24.4 2.5 203.9 218.5 14.6 1.3 DDH-532 667864.7 179775.6 160.2 149 -54 218.9 276.8 58.0 17.5 Including 223.3 265.2 41.9 22.3 DDH-533 667969.5 179784.1 163.1 146 -45 No Significant Intercepts DDH-534 667923.9 179786.5 162.1 148 -62 160.3 172.2 11.9 3.1 DDH-535 667946.3 179749.4 161.6 149 -57 216.4 222.5 6.1 2.4 DDH-537 667961.1 179762.6 162.5 149 -43 No Significant Intercepts DDH-538 668096.9 179678.9 160.5 242 -53 169.6 215 45.4 5.1
Waihi
At Waihi, the Company has completed approximately 16 kilometres of drilling in 2016 with three underground and four surface drill rigs. Underground diamond drilling has focused on reserve and resource drilling of Correnso Deeps and Daybreak (Figures 3-4). Geological and resource models have been updated on these veins. Mine design and planning in preparation for development, which is expected to commence in the third quarter of 2016 has been completed. Significant results are listed in Table 2 with additional assays pending.
Surface diamond drilling has focused on testing the resource potential of the major lodes, linking veins and stockwork zones beneath the current open pit. Significant results from this drilling are listed in Table 3 and illustrated in Figure 5.
Exploration drilling of other untested targets within the Waihi epithermal continued from both surface and underground platforms with significant results listed in Table 4 and illustrated on Figure 6.
A further 20 kilometres of drilling is currently scheduled for the remainder of 2016 at Waihi, including further drilling on the WKP prospect in the Hauraki region where previous drill campaigns returned high grade intercepts of 9.7 metres (7.5 metres true width) @ 17.2 g/t Au and 7.9 metres @ 5.1 g/t Au.
Table 2 Significant Intersections from Waihi Underground Reserve-Resource Drilling
Hole ID From (m) To (m) True
width (m) Gold
Grade (g/t) Silver
Grade
(g/t) Vein 844SP1CG0920 163.05 171.20 7.2 6.67 7.9 Correnso Deeps 844SP2CN0892 185.60 190.30 3.6 16.42 13.3 Correnso Deeps 844SP2CN0896 175.50 177.60 1.8 5.39 12.2 Correnso Deeps 844SP2CN0898 160.00 165.50 4.8 17.48 20.1 Correnso Deeps 844SP2CR0909 199.40 202.70 2.3 5.62 17.6 Correnso Deeps 844SP2CR0913 184.00 186.60 2.2 8.56 9.2 Correnso Deeps 844SP5CR0894 206.00 213.10 4.4 4.59 20.9 Correnso Deeps 844SP7CR0889 137.30 147.80 5.1 8.21 26.9 Correnso Deeps 844SP7CR0890 173.00 180.40 3.0 8.86 21.7 Correnso Deeps 844SP0DN0887 240.40 243.30 2.2 5.37 6.7 Daybreak 844SP0DN0891 218.20 221.60 2.9 21.30 14.8 Daybreak 844SP0DN0895 273.00 277.00 3.6 9.89 12.1 Daybreak 844SP0DN0899 196.20 198.00 1.2 4.12 8.5 Daybreak 953SP2DN0905A 96.90 98.10 1.1 11.50 50.1 Daybreak 953SP2DN0906 101.90 106.00 3.8 8.99 16.1 Daybreak 953SP2DN0911 106.30 111.90 4.8 10.12 19.4 Daybreak 953SP2DG0914 116.40 119.30 2.3 7.16 12.7 Daybreak 953SP2DG0914 130.50 134.40 3.1 20.60 19.3 Daybreak 953SP2DG0914 139.20 143.80 4.2 8.80 9.3 Daybreak 953SP2DR0917 111.60 116.80 4.4 8.70 30.2 Daybreak
Table 3 Significant Intersections from Waihi Surface Resource Drilling
Hole ID From (m) To (m) True width (m) Gold
Grade (g/t) Silver
Grade
(g/t) Vein UW469 1.90 8.70 N/A* 5.48 15.4 Welcome UW469 69.00 76.20 N/A* 4.75 14.0 Linking Vein UW469 241.90 248.00 4.7 8.95 52.4 Edward HW UW470 121.80 123.00 0.8 17.00 112.0 Edward UW471 119.00 124.00 3.5 6.82 69.8 Edward/Royal UW471 182.00 184.60 1.5 7.25 18.3 Edward FW UW472 122.40 130.00 2.3 2.53 150.6 Royal UW473 2.00 31.10 N/A* 3.05 17.1 Welcome UW473 80.50 89.50 N/A* 2.50 5.0 Welcome FW UW473 218.70 222.20 3.0 35.66 76.4 Edward splay UW474 0.00 13.30 N/A* 2.38 14.5 Welcome UW474 62.40 63.70 1.3 19.72 28.1 Welcome FW UW474 242.00 247.20 3.0 9.87 37 Edward/Royal UW474 259.00 265.40 6.0 14.65 29.1 Edward/Royal
*Note: Unable to estimate true width
Table 4 Significant Intersections from Waihi Exploration Drilling
Hole ID From (m) To (m) True width (m) Gold
Grade (g/t) Silver
Grade
(g/t) Vein 844SP0DN0899 223.3 233.9 6.1 3.53 5.5 Daybreak HW including 230.4 233 2.4 10.93 7.5 Daybreak HW 844SP0DN0899 301.25 304 2.6 5.75 8.3 Royal
Macraes Exploration
At Macraes, the Company has drilled over 14 kilometres in 2016 with a focus on resource development drilling at Coronation North, Coronation open pit, Coronation South, Horse Flat and Frasers Underground targets as shown on Figure 7.
Coronation North : 91 holes for 10,247 metres completed with a 50 metre x 50 metre drilling pattern and investigating potential extensions to the gold mineralisation to the north and southeast;
: 91 holes for 10,247 metres completed with a 50 metre x 50 metre drilling pattern and investigating potential extensions to the gold mineralisation to the north and southeast; Coronation open pit : six holes for 814 metres to follow-up on previous intersections;
: six holes for 814 metres to follow-up on previous intersections; Coronation South : seven holes for 847 metres to investigate the potential for ore shoot repetition between Deepdell North and Coronation;
: seven holes for 847 metres to investigate the potential for ore shoot repetition between Deepdell North and Coronation; Horse Flat : five holes for 386 metres targeting the Horse Flat Fault for a repetition of fault drag mineralisation seen elsewhere in the Macraes Goldfield; and,
: five holes for 386 metres targeting the Horse Flat Fault for a repetition of fault drag mineralisation seen elsewhere in the Macraes Goldfield; and, Frasers Underground: 13 holes for 1,850 metres testing down plunge extensions and a sheeted vein target.
Resource development drilling within the Hydes-Macraes Shear Zone continues to deliver encouraging results as tabulated in Table 5 and on Figure 8. Drilling completed at Coronation North since the start of the year has extended known mineralisation a further 100 metres to both the southeast and north and further drilling is planned for the remainder of the year.
Resource development drilling at the Frasers Underground, as shown on Figure 9, has continued to extend Panel 2 down plunge and exploration in the 3A Panel area has discovered a sheeted vein system that in the future may be amenable to bulk underground mining. Significant intersections are listed in Table 6.
Table 5 Significant Intersections from Coronation North
Drill Hole ID East# (metres) North# (metres) Collar RL (metres) Az# Dip From (metres) To (metres) Width (metres) Au Grade (g/t) DDH6091 69,874.9 21,020.3 596.1 325 -60 100.0 109.0 15.0 1.67 DDH6180 69,849.7 21,108.6 597.1 88 -65 134.0 151.0 17.0 1.33 RCD6132 69,996.4 21,047.3 594.5 355 -85 149.0 170.0 21.0 2.92 RCD6134 70,091.1 20,997.7 607.3 325 -80 155.0 173.7 18.7 1.67 213.7 221.0 7.3 1.49 RCH6103 69,393.5 21,549.2 616.7 0 -90 56.0 67.0 11.0 1.16 RCH6107 69,397.6 21,645.6 601.3 0 -90 48.0 57.0 9.0 1.47 RCH6136 70,046.6 20,949.5 637.1 270 -60 139.0 148.0 9.0 1.93 RCH6164 69,590.6 20,939.2 615.0 0 -90 40.0 44.0 4.0 8.87* RCH6178## 69,100.0 21,400.0 612.0 0 -90 66.0 73.0 7.0 2.34* RCH6179 69,166.6 21,351.1 653.8 0 -90 33.0 39.0 6.0 1.89 RCH6181 69,802.3 21,159.4 601.0 0 -90 84.0 124.0 40.0 3.60* RCH6199## 69800.0 21125.0 608.0 0 -90 57 80.0 23.0 2.18*
# Macraes Gold Project Grid ## Nominal hole co-ordinates *Note some assays cut to 15 g/t
Table 6 Significant Intersections from Frasers Underground
Drill Hole ID From (m) To (m) True Width (m) Au Grade (g/t) UDH7525 137 155 15.3^ 4.04* UDH8266 5.0 83.5 78.5^ 2.44*
# Macraes Gold Project Grid * Note some assays cut to 15 g/t ^ True width
Philippines Exploration
In the Philippines, the Company has commenced exploration activities within the broader Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) area including six kilometers of drilling (see Figure 10). Within the FTAA, six large copper-gold soil geochemistry anomalies, the largest measuring over two kilometres by one kilometre, have been defined with supporting rock chip and channel sampling indicative of both porphyry copper-gold and intermediate sulphidation epithermal gold mineralization (Figure 10). Target definition work across six priority targets consisting of further geologic mapping, soil sampling and ground geophysics has commenced with drilling anticipated to commence in the third quarter of 2016. The Company also continues to drill test its highest ranked targets within the Didipio Mine Permit Area and has completed approximately two kilometres of a three kilometre program.
Maps and tables showing drilling results can be accessed with the following link: http://www.oceanagold.com/investors-and-media/filings/. In line with ASX listing requirements, OceanaGold has provided the information required by JORC Code Table 1 for the Haile, Waihi and Macraes exploration results in its ASX announcement. JORC Code Table 1 is not required under National Instrument 43-101. Readers are referred to the ASX website at www.asx.com.au or the OceanaGold website at www.oceanagold.com to view JORC Code Table 1.
About OceanaGold
OceanaGold Corporation is a mid-tier, low-cost, multinational gold producer with assets located in the Philippines, New Zealand and the United States. The Company's assets encompass its flagship operation, the Didipio Gold-Copper Mine located on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. On the North Island of New Zealand, the Company operates the high-grade Waihi Gold Mine while on the South Island of New Zealand, the Company operates the largest gold mine in the country at the Macraes Goldfield which is made up of a series of open pit mines and the Frasers underground mine. In the United States, the Company is currently constructing the Haile Gold Mine, a top-tier asset located in South Carolina along the Carolina Terrane. The Company expects the Haile Gold Mine to commence commercial production in early 2017. OceanaGold also has a significant pipeline of organic growth and exploration opportunities in the Asia-Pacific and Americas regions.
OceanaGold has operated sustainably over the past 26 years with a proven track record for environmental management and community and social engagement. The Company has a strong social license to operate and works collaboratively with its valued stakeholders to identify and invest in social programs that are designed to build capacity and not dependency.
In 2016, the Company expects to produce 385,000 to 425,000 ounces of gold from the combined New Zealand and Didipio operations and 19,000 to 21,000 tonnes of copper from the Didipio operation at All-In Sustaining Costs of US$700 to US$750 per ounce.
Competent/Qualified Person's Statement
The exploration results were prepared in accordance with the standards set out in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves' ("JORC Code") and in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101"). The JORC Code is the accepted reporting standard for the Australian Stock Exchange Limited ("ASX") and the New Zealand Stock Exchange Limited ("NZX").
Information relating to Haile exploration results in this document has been verified by, is based and fairly represents information compiled by or prepared under the supervision of James Berry, a Registered Member of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration and an employee of Romarco Minerals Inc. Information relating to Waihi exploration results in this document has been verified by, is based on and fairly represents information compiled by or prepared under the supervision of Lorrance Torckler, a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and an employee of Oceana Gold (New Zealand) Limited. Information relating to Macraes exploration results in this document has been verified by, is based on and fairly represents information compiled by or prepared under the supervision of Sean Doyle, a Chartered Professional with the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and an employee of Oceana Gold (New Zealand) Limited.
Messrs Berry, Torckler and Doyle consent to the inclusion in this public release of the matters based on their information in the form and context in which it appears. The information contained in this public release is based on, and fairly represents, information and supporting documentation prepared by the named qualified and competent persons in the form and context in which it appears. All such persons are "qualified persons" for the purposes of NI 43-101 and have sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which they are undertaking to qualify as a "competent person" as defined in the JORC Code.
For further scientific and technical information (including disclosure regarding Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves) relating to the Haile Gold Mine Project, the Reefton Project, the Macraes Project and the Didipio Project please refer to the NI 43-101 compliant technical reports available at sedar.com under the Company's name.
Cautionary Statement for Public Release
Certain information contained in this public release may be deemed "forward-looking" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information relate to future performance and reflect the Company's expectations regarding the generation of free cash flow, execution of business strategy, future growth, future production, estimated costs, results of operations, business prospects and opportunities of OceanaGold Corporation and its related subsidiaries. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "estimates" or "intends", or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements and information. They include, among others, the accuracy of mineral reserve and resource estimates and related assumptions, inherent operating risks and those risk factors identified in the Company's most recent Annual Information Form prepared and filed with securities regulators which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com under the Company's name. There are no assurances the Company can fulfil forward-looking statements and information. Such forward-looking statements and information are only predictions based on current information available to management as of the date that such predictions are made; actual events or results may differ materially as a result of risks facing the Company, some of which are beyond the Company's control. Although the Company believes that any forward-looking statements and information contained in this press release is based on reasonable assumptions, readers cannot be assured that actual outcomes or results will be consistent with such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements and information, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. The information contained in this release is not investment or financial product advice.
SOURCE OceanaGold Corporation
Figure 1 Upper Horseshoe 2.7 g/t Au grade shell and recent drilling (plan view)
Figure 2 Horseshoe Long Section
Figure 3 Correnso Long Section
Figure 4 Daybreak Long Section
Figure 5 Plan Illustrating Table 2 Resource Drill Results
Figure 6 Level Plan Illustrating Table 3 Exploration Drill Results
Figure 7 Location of Macraes Exploration Drilling
Figure 8 Coronation North drill holes (plan view)
Figure 9 Frasers Underground drill holes (plan view)
Figure 10 Didipio greater FTAA exploration targets
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - June 7, 2016) - Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (NYSE:FSM)(TSX:FVI) ("Fortuna", the "Company") and Goldrock Mines Corp. (TSX VENTURE:GRM) ("Goldrock") are pleased to announce that they have entered into a definitive agreement (the "Arrangement Agreement") pursuant to which Fortuna has agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Goldrock (the "Arrangement"). Goldrock's principal asset is the 100% owned Lindero Project located in Salta Province, Argentina. The Lindero Project is an open pit, heap leach gold project with a completed 2016 feasibility study which has been granted the environmental permit necessary for development of the project.
Transaction Highlights:
Acquisition provides for continued expansion of low cost production
Fortuna will be focused on bringing the Lindero project into production by 2018
Potential production of approximately 26.5 Moz of silver equivalent (or approximately 346 koz of gold equivalent) annually by 2018 1
Pro Forma all-In Sustaining Cost ("AISC") of less than US$10/oz silver equivalent (or approximately US$765/oz gold equivalent) 2
Combined company with two operating mines and a development project in three top mining jurisdictions in the Americas
Development of the Lindero project benefits from Fortuna's financial flexibility through a strong balance sheet, zero net debt, and strong free cash flow generation
Shareholders representing approximately 26% of Goldrock shares have agreed to support the transaction
The combination of Fortuna and Goldrock is expected to expand Fortuna's already low cost silver equivalent production, and will add an asset with over 10 years of reserve mine life, the ability to add significant free cash flow once constructed, and property and district scale exploration opportunities.
Under the terms of the Arrangement Agreement, each common share of Goldrock (a "Goldrock Share") will be exchanged for 0.1331 (the "Exchange Ratio") of a Fortuna common share (a "Fortuna Share").
Based on the closing prices of Fortuna Shares and Goldrock Shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") and TSX Venture exchange ("TSX-V") respectively on June 6, 2016, the consideration to be received by the Goldrock shareholders pursuant to the Arrangement represents the equivalent of C$1.08 per Goldrock Share. The consideration to be received by holders of Goldrock Shares represents premiums of 58.2% based on the June 6, 2016 closing price of Goldrock Shares on TSX-V and 84.6% based on the 20-day volume-weighted average trading price of Goldrock Shares on the TSX-V as of June 6, 2016. The Exchange Ratio implies a total equity value for the Arrangement of approximately C$129 million on a fully-diluted in-the-money basis. Following completion of the transaction, each warrant to purchase a Goldrock Share will instead represent a right to receive 0.1331 of a Fortuna share. All options to purchase a Goldrock Share are in-the-money and will be exercised on or prior to completion of the Arrangement.
1Assumes 2018 as first full year of Lindero gold production of 127 koz from the Lindero Technical Report and Fortuna production of 9.1 Moz silver, 51 koz gold production, 25 Mlb lead production, and 33 Mlb zinc production using $1,150/oz gold, $15.00/oz silver, $1.0/lb lead, $1.0/lb zinc for metal equivalency 2Corresponds to 2018 estimated Fortuna AISC of $11.6/oz silver equivalent or $9.2/oz silver net of by-product credits and Lindero first full year of production AISC OF $549/oz gold
Benefits to Fortuna Shareholders
Lindero 2016 Feasibility Study: 26% after-tax IRR and NPV 5% of US$152M (US$1,200/oz gold) Fortuna has identified upfront capital project opportunities, which may marginally reduce the project IRR, but also improve the project's risk profile
of US$152M (US$1,200/oz gold) Pro Forma 2018 annual production of 26.5 million silver equivalent ounces including base metals (28% 3-year CAGR vs 2015)
Accretive to Fortuna on all key metrics including net asset value, reserves, resources and adjusted cashflow basis to Fortuna shareholders
Increases precious metals equivalent reserve base by +200%
Property and district scale exploration opportunities
Benefits to Goldrock Shareholders:
Immediate premium to Goldrock shareholders of 58.2% based on the closing price of Fortuna and Goldrock on June 6, 2016 and 84.6% based on the 20-day volume-weighted average price of Goldrock on June 6, 2016
Exposure to Fortuna's asset portfolio of operating mines, in particular the low cost San Jose Mine, and diversifies Goldrock's single-asset and development-stage risks, as well as metal exposure
Enhanced financial position with Fortuna's strong balance sheet, free cashflow from Fortuna's producing mines and access to low cost credit facilities
Construction of the Lindero Project will benefit from the combined Fortuna and Goldrock Latin American mine development and operating expertise
Increased trading liquidity with an enhanced and more robust capital markets profile
Jorge Ganoza, President & CEO of Fortuna, stated: "We are very pleased to bring this transaction forward for our shareholders. Fortuna has remained disciplined in its growth initiatives while building and preserving a robust balance sheet and positioning the Company for the value-creating opportunities that complement our existing portfolio of high-quality assets." He added, "We believe the addition of the low-cost, long-life Lindero gold Project provides such an opportunity while underpinning an industry leading business. The combination has the potential to expand our low cost production with significant free cash flow generation and diversified production, which will allow Fortuna to become one of the lowest cost precious metals producers globally."
Paul Matysek, President and CEO of Goldrock, stated: "We are very excited to combine Goldrock with Fortuna. This transaction provides our shareholders with an immediate premium while retaining exposure to longer term value creation that the Lindero Project will offer to the merged company. I am very proud of the tireless work exerted by the Goldrock team who has nurtured this quality asset under challenging conditions from discovery to development stage. We look forward to Fortuna constructing and commissioning this mine."
Transaction Summary
The proposed business combination will be effected by way of a Plan of Arrangement completed under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia). The Arrangement will be subject to the approval of at least 66-2/3% of the votes cast by holders of Goldrock Shares at a special meeting of Goldrock shareholders expected to take place at the end of July 2016. In addition to the shareholder approvals, the Arrangement is also subject to the receipt of certain regulatory, court and stock exchange approvals and other closing conditions customary in transactions of this nature.
The Arrangement Agreement has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of each of Goldrock and Fortuna. Fort Capital Partners has provided a fairness opinion to the board of directors of Goldrock that, subject to the assumptions, limitations and qualifications set out in such fairness opinion, the consideration under the Transaction is fair, from a financial point of view, to the Goldrock shareholders.
The directors and executive officers of Goldrock, as well as Goldrock's major shareholders including Orion Mine Finance and Waterton Global Resource Management holding in aggregate approximately 26% of Goldrock's outstanding common shares have entered into customary voting support agreements in favour of the Arrangement.
The Arrangement Agreement includes customary deal protection provisions including a non-solicitation covenant on the part of Goldrock and gives Goldrock the right to accept a superior proposal in certain circumstances and terminate the Arrangement Agreement. Fortuna has a six day right to match any superior proposal. The Arrangement Agreement also provides for the payment by Goldrock of a C$7.0 million termination fee if the Arrangement Agreement is terminated in certain circumstances and a reciprocal expense reimbursement of C$1 million payable under certain circumstances.
Further information regarding the Arrangement will be contained in an information circular that Goldrock will prepare, file and mail in due course to the Goldrock shareholders in connection with the special meeting of the Goldrock shareholders to be held to consider the Arrangement. All shareholders are urged to read the information circular once available as it will contain additional important information concerning the Arrangement. The Arrangement Agreement will be filed on the SEDAR.
Advisors and Counsel
Raymond James Ltd. is acting as the exclusive financial advisor to Fortuna. Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP is acting as legal counsel to Fortuna. Fort Capital Partners and Axemen Resource Capital Ltd. are acting as financial advisors to Goldrock. Stikeman Elliott LLP is acting as legal counsel to Goldrock.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Fortuna Silver Mines
By: "Jorge Ganoza"
President and CEO
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Goldrock Mines
By: "Paul Matysek"
President and CEO
Conference Call and Webcast Information
Fortuna will host a conference call on Wednesday, June 8 at 9:00 a.m. (Toronto, Canada time) for members of the investment community to discuss the business transaction.
A copy of the transaction investor presentation will be made available on the Fortuna website prior to the conference call.
Webcast Participants
To register, please copy and paste the link below into your browser: http://www.investorcalendar.com/IC/CEPage.asp?ID=175071
Teleconference Participants (required for those who wish to ask questions)
Date: Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Time: 6:00 a.m. Pacific / 9:00 a.m. Eastern
Dial in number (Toll Free): +1.877.407.8035
Dial in number (International): +1.201.689.8035
Replay number (Toll Free): +1.877.660.6853
Replay number (International): +1.201.612.7415
Replay Passcode: 13639093
Playback of the webcast will be available until September 8, 2016. Playback of the conference call will be available until June 22, 2016 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern. In addition, a transcript of the call will be archived in the Company's website: http://www.fortunasilver.com/s/financial_reports.asp.
About Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.
Fortuna is a growth oriented, silver and base metal producer focused on mining opportunities in Latin America. Our primary assets are the Caylloma silver mine in southern Peru and the San Jose silver-gold mine in Mexico. The Company is selectively pursuing acquisition opportunities throughout the Americas and in select other areas. For more information, please visit our website at www.fortunasilver.com.
About Goldrock Mines Corp.
Goldrock Mines Corp. is an emerging gold producer focused on the development of its 100% owned Lindero gold deposit located in Salta province, northwestern Argentina. The company has been granted the primary mining permit by the Salta provincial government allowing the Company to develop the Lindero open pit, heap leach gold mine. The company also has secondary permits in place for process water extraction, road construction, building and electrical permits. In addition, the company has received formal public declaration of support for the Lindero development by a Salta provincial government decree recognizing Lindero as the priority development project for Salta province. With the HPGR unit delivered into Argentina, the purchase of land in Pocitos, the completion of water supply wells and basic engineering including the preparation of construction bid packages, the company is positioning itself for a smooth transition to full construction. The focused activity taken by the company to date has significantly de-risked the remaining construction and development schedule deliverables for the project. Average annual gold production is anticipated to average 128,000 ounces over the first three years of production and to average 108,000 ounces during the first nine years. Total mine life is estimated at over 12 years, with significant exploration potential both at Lindero and the adjacent Arizaro deposit which has the potential to use the planned Lindero infrastructure.
2016 Lindero Project Feasibility Study Highlights
LOM Gold Production (oz Au) 1,149,000 Mine Life (Years) 12 Mine Throughput (Mt) 82.5 LOM Average Annual Production (oz Au) 96,000 Peak Production Year (oz Au) 138,000 LOM Cash Costs (US$/oz) $661 LOM AISC (US$/oz) $715 Strip Ratio (Waste:Ore) 1.22:1 Recoveries (%) 68.3%
Cautionary Statement for Public Release
Certain information contained in this public release may be deemed "forward-looking" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information relate to future events and future performance and reflect Fortuna's and Goldrock's expectations regarding the generation of free cash flow, execution of business strategy, future development and construction, future growth, future production, estimated costs, results of operations, business prospects and opportunities of Fortuna and Goldrock. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "estimates" or "intends", or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements.
Specific forward-looking statements in this public release include the expected timing for production at the Lindero Project, 2018 production estimates, 2018 AISC estimates, expectations with respect to the accretive nature of the Arrangement, enhancements to the financial position of Fortuna, impact of identified upfront capital project opportunities, mine life at the Lindero Project, increased trading liquidity and relative market position of the combined company, the completion of construction of the Lindero Project, the completion of the Arrangement and the estimated compound growth rate. Metals prices assumed for equivalency are US$1,150/oz gold, US$15.00/oz silver and US$2,200/t zinc and lead.
Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements and information. They include, among others, the accuracy of mineral reserve and resource estimates and related assumptions, inherent operating risks, the failure to obtain shareholder, regulatory or court approvals in connection with the Arrangement, adverse changes in the construction timetable or progress at the Lindero Project, and those risk factors identified in Fortuna's most recent Annual Information Form prepared and filed with securities regulators which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com under Fortuna's name and risks disclosed in information circular for the meeting of Goldrock shareholders that will be filed on SEDAR under Goldrock's name in due course.
There are no assurances Fortuna and Goldrock can fulfil forward-looking statements and information. Such forward-looking statements and information are only predictions based on current information available to the respective management teams as of the date that such predictions are made; actual events or results may differ materially as a result of risks facing Fortuna and Goldrock, some of which are beyond Fortuna's or Goldrock's control. Although the Fortuna and Goldrock believe that any forward- looking statements and information contained in this press release are based on reasonable assumptions, readers cannot be assured that actual outcomes or results will be consistent with such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information. Fortuna and Goldrock expressly disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements and information, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. The information contained in this release is not investment or financial product advice.
The scientific and technical data contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by the following independent Qualified Persons under NI 43-101: Edwin Gutierrez, Technical Services Corporate Manager for Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. Mr. Gutierrez is a Registered Member of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, Inc. (SME Registered Member Number 4119110RM) and is responsible for ensuring that the scientific and technical information contained in this news release is an accurate summary of the original reports and data provided to or developed by Fortuna Silver Mines.
The scientific and technical data contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by the following independent Qualified Persons under NI 43-101: David Keough, F.AusIMM (CP), COO and a Director of Goldrock Mines Corp., is Goldrock's designated Qualified Person.
The US Supreme Court [official website] on Monday declined [order list, PDF] to hear and appeal [cert. petition, PDF] by Google in a lawsuit filed by advertisers. The class action lawsuit [CNET report] claims that Google has displayed the companies ads on low quality websites. The lawsuit accuses [Reuters report] Google of violating California fair advertising laws because it misled advertisers. The court let the lower court decision [opinion, PDF] stand, allowing the lawsuit to proceed. Google argued that such a ruling was incorrect [WSJ report] as the damages must be calculated individually for each advertiser rather than all together. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] decided that such a measure is unnecessary and damages would be awarded based on the average advertisers experience.
Google is involved in numerous legal disputes. In May a US jury concluded [JURIST report] that Google was not in violation of copyright laws where it used Oracles Java programming language to develop its operating system, Android. The Supreme Court in April denied certiorari [JURIST report] in an appeal from Google against a finding for authors claiming that Google Books violated copyright law by scanning millions of books and placing them within an online search engine. The Fifth Circuit also ruled [JURIST report] in April that Google may not ignore a subpoena by the Mississippi Attorney General. In March, a Moscow arbitration court upheld a ruling against Google [JURIST report] that they broke anti-monopoly laws by abusing their position within the cellular application industry.
NEWSLETTER
Sign up
Tick the boxes of the newsletters you would like to receive.
Just Drinks Daily News
The top stories of the day delivered to you every weekday.
Just Drinks Weekly News
A weekly roundup of the latest news and analysis, sent every Monday.
Just Drinks Magazine
The industry's most comprehensive news and information delivered every quarter
French preserves company Albert Menes is expanding into the UK in partnership with local distributor Unique Foods.
Free Whitepaper What is the impact of historically high inflation on the UK consumer landscape? Inflation in the UK: The Impact of Historically High Inflation on the UK Consumer Landscape, to better understand shifts in consumer behavior and their impact on spending patterns, as well as the implications for UK businesses. This whitepaper covers: Why has global inflation returned with a vengeance?
What is the current inflation situation in the UK?
What impact is inflation having on UK retail sales?
What tactics are businesses relying on to tackle the effects of high inflation?
How are consumers changing their behaviors to cope with the higher cost of living?
Which industry sectors are most vulnerable to reduced consumer demand?
How is the government responding to high inflation?
How long will high inflation last in the UK?
How can your company survive and thrive in a high inflation environment? Enter your details here to receive your free whitepaper and ready your business for these increasingly uncertain times. The average UK consumer is experiencing a severe cost-of living crisis as inflation surges to a forty-year high and the price of goods continues to rise. This shock is the result of the sharply increasing costs of commodities, energy, and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and is threatening FMCG manufacturers, retailers, and foodservice operators ability to survive and grow. Inflation will have a profound effect on many consumer-facing industries in 2022 and beyond. Consult GlobalDatas new whitepaper,, to better understand shifts in consumer behavior and their impact on spending patterns, as well as the implications for UK businesses. This whitepaper covers:Enter your details here to receive your free whitepaper and ready your business for these increasingly uncertain times. by GD50 Custom Enter your details here to receive your free Whitepaper. Please enter a work/business email address Country United Kingdom United States Afghanistan Aland Islands Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, The Democratic Republic of The Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote D"ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and Mcdonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People"s Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People"s Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and The Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Viet Nam Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Download free Whitepaper By clicking the Download Free Whitepaper button, you accept the terms and conditions and acknowledge that your data will be used as described in the GD50 Custom privacy policy By downloading this Whitepaper, you acknowledge that we may share your information with our white paper partners/sponsors who may contact you directly with information on their products and services.
Visit our privacy policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address. Thank you.Please check your email to download the Whitepaper.
The company has secured listings for its preserve products in Sainsburys. Products that will go on sale this month include: sliced Corsican clementine marmalade, French apple extra jelly and rose petal preserve.
All the premium products are hand made in France in traditional open copper cauldrons, the company revealed.
Julien Moulas, export markets sales assistant at Albert Menes, said: Our jams and preserves are much loved in France by gourmets and connoisseurs and are much sought after for their quality and flavour. Some British people may have tasted our jams and preserves while visiting our country, and we hope that they, along with a new audience will enjoy an authentic taste of France.
Moulas said Albert Menes does have an export presence outside France, primarily in Europe. The company sells products in Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Portugal. It also sells into areas outside the EU including Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Related Companies
Indias ABT Foods is looking to boost its dairy production, to serve states in the south of the country.
Free Report Whats the forecast for the food and grocery industry? Market drivers and inhibitors
Five-year forecasts and the impact of COVID-19
The performance of the online channel versus offline
Major trends in the market including rapid delivery, ambient retailing, supply chain disruption, and inflation Assess developments within this sector to help your business thrive in 2022 and beyond. The food and grocery sector thrived during the pandemic, largely due to the shutdown of the food service industry and the sectors subsequent necessity, panic-induced bulk purchasing, and spending more time at home. The market has grown as a result of inflation. Consumer unwillingness to go out and socialize, and the reopening of several hospitality facilities, helped maintain the demand for groceries, particularly online, in 2021. As consumer behavior changes, we consume more food and drink at home, and inflation increases basket sizes. GlobalData predicts that the sector will continue to hold a higher share than had been predicted prior to the pandemic. This is true despite the fact that the food and grocery sector's share of overall retail will decline from its peak in 2020. This report will discuss market forecasts and key themes in the global food & grocery industry in 2022 and beyond. It covers:Assess developments within this sector to help your business thrive in 2022 and beyond. by GlobalData Enter your details here to receive your free Report. Please enter a work/business email address Country United Kingdom United States Afghanistan Aland Islands Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, The Democratic Republic of The Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote D"ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and Mcdonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People"s Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People"s Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and The Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Viet Nam Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Download free Report By clicking the Download Free Report button, you accept the terms and conditions and acknowledge that your data will be used as described in the GlobalData privacy policy By downloading this Report, you acknowledge that we may share your information with our white paper partners/sponsors who may contact you directly with information on their products and services.
Visit our privacy policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address. Thank you.Please check your email to download the Report.
The company, part of the Indian conglomerate The Sakhti Group, plans to invest INR1.8bn (US$27m) over the next three years.
C. P. Charles, senior president of operations within ABT Foods dairy division, told just-food: We want to increase our production from 600,000 litres [of milk] per day to 1,500,000 litres by 2025. We will expand the capacity of our existing Pollachi plant near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu to 1,000,000 litres per day and also set up a greenfield plant at Krishnagiri, nearer to Bangalore.
The group markets liquid milk brand Sakthi milk in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, as well as selling value-added products such as ghee and skimmed milk across India. The group wants to service other southern states such as Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh with the increased capacity.
Charles said a new centralised unit, set up with INR300m investment at its existing plant in Pollachi, will make ice cream, cheese and yogurt. The company plans to devote 35% of its milk to value-added products but demand for liquid milk demand is also rising. The proportion of ABT Foods dairy production put to liquid milk could rise to 70%. Charles would not rule out making acquisitions when ABT Foods sees growth through its investment plan.
Related Companies
French dairy co-operative Laita has announced plans to invest 24m (US$27.3m) over the next five years to modernise its butter factories and increase production.
Laita told just-food its new five-year strategic plan, which started this year, was expected to boost production of butter brands including Paysan Breton by between 5% and 10% at the co-operatives Ancenis site in north-western France.
The production plans follow Laitas recent launch of another butter line under the Payson Breton brand. The Pointe de Sel (Touch of salt) butter contains 25% less salt (1.4g per 100g) than the brands lightly salted butter.
According to Laita, its 26-hectare Ancenis site processes some 546m litres of milk every year for its range of dairy and related products. A total of nearly 22,000 tonnes of butter was produced in 2015, 60% of which was for the Paysan Breton brand.
Last year Laitas dairy maker subsidiary Eurilait announced plans to boost capacity at its UK-based cheese cutting and packing facility. The GBP650,000 (US$986,000) investment at the site in Somerset, which cuts and pack cheeses from across Europe, will see production lines added and packing facilities extended.
Mars Inc said today (7 June) it is assessing the next steps after a court in Sweden ruled the company could face heavy fines if it continues to sell its M&Ms confectionery in the country, following a long-running trademark tussle with Mondelez International.
The Svea Court of Appeal in Stockholm issued the ruling after Mondelez claimed M&Ms infringed its trademark Marabou M the name of a chocolate-covered peanut product it sells in Sweden.
The court ruled on 2 June Mars was prohibited from using the trademarks M&Ms and M in Sweden. Mars has yet to announce whether it will challenge the ruling.
A spokesperson for the US groups Mars Nordics unit in Sweden told just-food: Given the courts decision we will assess the next steps for our beloved brand in Sweden. We will of course comply with all local laws in this matter.
The spokesperson said: M&Ms brand candies have been a popular treat around the world since 1941 and we have always believed no confusion exists between the colourful M&Ms brand one of the worlds favourite chocolate products and the Marabou M Peanut brand.
Officials for Mondelezs business in the Nordic region could not be reached for comment at the time of writing.
BROKEN BOW The airplane Lynn French of Broken Bow built from a kit isnt one he can put in a display case. He actually sits in the cockpit and flies this homebuilt plane all around the United States.
On Aug. 21, 2002, Frenchs Quickie model plane N142LF took flight for the first time. The license number is fitting. All aircraft numbers must begin with N, while the rest stands for one airplane for two people built by Lynn French.
The 750-pound airplane flies at 180 mph and burns just 6.5 gallons of 100-octane aviation fuel per hour. Its wings are carved from Styrofoam and sheathed in fiberglass. Almost everything on the plane is home built, French said, except its standard Continental aircraft engine, which was manufactured by a division of the Rolls Royce automaker.
In January 2001, the Federal Aviation Administration inspected and certified the plane to make sure French used the correct hardware, followed approved construction techniques and produced a safe aircraft.
French said the Quickie is classified as the worlds most efficient aircraft based on a formula for fuel consumption, speed and payload capacity, which is 600 pounds.
Theres no other airplane that efficient, French said.
He became interested in airplanes as a young boy partly because his father, Gene French of Broken Bow, served in the Air Force. He used kits to build typical model airplanes and learned to fly while he studied avionics in college. Although he didnt end up in an aviation career, French used his pilots license to fly rented planes occasionally for fun.
In the mid-90s, Lynn and his wife, Laurie, went to the worlds largest air show. While at the Oshkosh, Wis., show, he saw a couple of airplanes like the Quickie and became interested in building one.
French spent two years networking and trying to find a kit because the company that made them had gone out of business in the 1980s. French calls the project a scratch-built airplane.
French said the aircraft is very rare because construction is difficult, and the flight, take-off and landing characteristics are different than those of general aviation airplanes.
There are only about 20 of them in the United States, he said. (Through networking) I know everyone in the U.S. who has one of these.
The owners share the mechanical and engineering knowledge required to build and pilot the planes, he said. French said the United States has the fewest restrictions on homebuilt airplanes, but he cannot legally fly his aircraft for hire.
Thats why some are being built (overseas), but not many are flying, he said.
Frenchs plane is the only one in Nebraska that currently flies, but one is being built in Omaha. French said there are three of the planes being built in the United Kingdom and a few more in Australia.
French said flying the Quickie versus a regular small airplane would be comparable to driving a Corvette versus a station wagon or minivan. Turbulence in the Quickie is less noticeable than it would be in general aviation aircraft, he said.
French flies his son, Levi, to firearm shooting competitions. In 2011, he hasnt made a trip shorter than 500 miles.
Levi also is interested in piloting, but French said his plane is not one in which someone should learn to fly. It takes experience and training, he said. The pilot uses a joystick to steer, bank, dive and climb.
I was extremely nervous the first time I took the plane into the air, French said. Although he felt prepared because he had trained and had a ground crew standing by in case something went wrong, he knew of several people whod had mishaps on their first takeoff or landing.
Theres nothing much that gets me nervous anymore, he said. Im very comfortable with the airplane.
Hes flown through storms, landed in the thin air on hot days and lost a fuel pump during flight.
He has a passenger most of the time, but in the beginning when he flew solo French said he was up there by himself having a blast.
Initially, French had about $20,000 invested in his plane. Since then he has purchased more gadgets, including radios, an additional fuel tank, GPS and in-flight music system.
Currently French is working on building a second high-performance plane. Hes four years into it and anticipates it will be several more years until its finished. His focus now is on raising his family, but when its done, the plane will be even faster than N142LF.
email to:
WAYNE - When John Agler went on the "Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson in 1986, it wasn't because he was an actor, musician or even comedian, it was because of his skillful impersonation of a chicken.
Agler, a Wayne farmer, earned the right to meet the king of late night when he won the national cluck off at the annual Wayne Chicken Show.
Now 53, Agler said his experience on the "Tonight Show" was one of the most memorable and fun moments of his life. "I was a nervous wreck the whole time," he said.
First celebrated in 1981, the Wayne Chicken Show began as a one-day event in July. Since then, it has expanded to a three-day festival.
Community festivals - sometimes the goofier the better - are major tourist attractions for some Nebraska towns.
Few document the local economic effect, but hotels booked months in advance and visitors numbering in the tens of thousands suggest the importance of such festivals to the local economy.
Heather Hogue, administrative assistant for the Nebraska Division of Travel and Tourism, is in charge of promoting the festivals statewide. She said approximately localities celebrate 1,500 festivals in Nebraska each year.
Nebraska City has Arbor Day, Beatrice has Homestead Days, Kool-Aid Days is in Hastings and Seward's is Fourth of July.
Small towns get involved, too. Wymore has its Sam Wymore Days, and Sterling has its Sterling Picnic. One of the more popular festivals, the Wilber Czech Festival, takes place in a town of 1,700 people.
Lori Warner of the Beatrice Chamber of Commerce said Homestead Days, a celebration in honor of the Homestead Act of 1862, brings in $100,000 to $200,000 every year.
Warner said the five motels in Beatrice are full during the Homestead Days weekend in June. That's 270 rooms averaging about $100 each, totaling $27,000 for lodging alone. Warner said sometimes those rooms are booked a year in advance.
People staying in those rooms also need gas and food, which pumps more money into the local economy, but it's impossible to know exactly how much.
The Nebraska Festivals and Events Association encourages cities and towns to be creative with their festivals and recognizes 24 festival categories with awards at its annual travel conference.
Two of the popular Nebraska festivals the Wayne Chicken Show and the Wilber Czech Festival.
Wayne Chicken Show
The Wayne Chicken Show's theme was chosen for three reasons:
- The potential for art materials;
- Most people are familiar with chickens; and
- Chickens can be funny.
Activities include anything and everything that has to do with chickens, said Irene Fletcher, office manager at Wayne Area Economic Development Inc.
Events and contests include: an egg toss, hard-boiled-egg-eating contest, chicken toss, parade and "The World's Largest Chicken Dance," which serves as an opening ceremony for the rest of the weekend.
The weekend also includes a street dance and beer garden, but Fletcher said that most everything else is geared toward families.
"It's for everybody," Fletcher said. "Our target audience is family-oriented entertainment."
Fletcher said the Chicken Show is popular, but it's impossible to gauge how many people it brings. She said hotels are usually booked full by April for the July event, which has drawn tourists from 50 states.
The main attraction is the national chicken cluck off, with categories for children and adults. Fletcher said the younger division actually draws more competitors than the adult contest, and the winner of the younger division has occasionally earned appearances on Nickelodeon and other network television shows.
The 1986 winner, Agler, was a farmer who grew up imitating the sounds that farm animals make, but admitted that when he first heard about the national cluck off, he wasn't interested.
"The first year Wayne had the chicken show, I didn't do it because I thought it sounded dumber than all get out," Agler said.
He said when the second-annual Chicken Show came around, he saw a video of the previous year's winner, who happened to be a friend. "He was terrible," Alger said. "So I decided I was going to go in and let him know what a real rooster sounded like."
Agler went on to win the competition five straight years. He doesn't compete in the cluck off anymore because he said he has nothing left to prove.
"I won it five times in a row and was on the 'Tonight Show,'" he said. "You can't beat that."
Wilber Czech Festival
For 361 days of the year, you could drive through Wilber on Highway 41 and barely notice the small town.
But the first weekend in August, the community of 1,700 swells to the third-largest town in Nebraska as more than 50,000 people from across the United States flood Wilber to celebrate its annual Czech Festival.
The inaugural Wilber Czech Festival was in 1962, and it has grown into the biggest ethnic festival in Nebraska. In 1963, Wilber was dubbed the Czech Capital of Nebraska, and in 1987 President Ronald Reagan declared it the Czech Capital of the United States.
Polka music, parades or dancing are family entertainment during Czech Days.
Vendors, games and art activities fill the streets, and provide a carnival-like atmosphere. The event has three parades, and many participants dress in Czechoslovakian costumes. Bars and beer gardens are filled during the evenings, and there are several street dances.
"Once you've lived through it, you couldn't stop (attending) it if you tried," said festival organizer Charlie Keller. "It just gets bigger and bigger because people are having fun."
The Miss Czech-Slovak pageant is among the highlights. Contestants from across the nation flock to Wilber in hopes of winning the title of Czech queen. A woman from Alaska won it last year.
Food is another popular attraction.
Wilber resident and event volunteer Lorine Mayers, who has attended almost every Czech Festival since it began, said more than 25,000 kolaches were made last year. The pastries with fillings of fruits, meats or cheeses sold out.
Kolaches aren't the only popular Czech food.
"I think (Wilber is) probably one of the only places where you can get a duck and dumpling dinner," Mayers said. "That's their specialty."
Keller said it's difficult to pick out a favorite Czech Festival memory because there are so many.
"All moments are good," Keller said. "Good, better and best, and we want to be the best. We are putting a little bit of love back in people's hearts."
LINCOLN The Board of State Canvassers on Monday ordered a recount of votes in the race to represent the Public Service Commissions District 5, covering the western two-thirds of Nebraska.
With nearly 44,000 votes counted, only 36 separated the two candidates in the Republican primary race:
Mary Ridder of Callaway led incumbent Jerry Vap of McCook, 21,913 votes to 21,877.
Thats easily close enough to require an automatic recount. Nebraska law requires a recount when the difference is within 1 percent of the votes cast for the front-running candidate, at this point 219 votes.
Neal Erickson, assistant secretary of state for elections, told the board that the candidate who is behind is allowed to waive the recount. He said Vap did not want to waive it.
In another close race, though for University of Nebraska Board of Regents District 6 no recount will be done. The third-place candidate, Mary George, said she wanted to waive the automatic recount.
George wound up 168 votes behind second-place finisher Marsha Fangmeyer. The threshold for an automatic recount in that race was 181.
The board accepted Georges waiver and decided to leave the election results as they stand, even though Webster County residents did not get a chance to vote for regent. Because of an error by the Webster County clerk, the race was left off the ballot there.
Secretary of State John Gale said it was unlikely those votes would have changed the outcome of the primary race.
In past years, when similar errors occurred, the canvassing board advanced more than the usual two candidates to the general election.
The recount in the Public Service Commission race will be done Wednesday. Erickson said results should be available Wednesday or Thursday.
The outcome of the GOP race will decide who claims the PSC seat, because no Democrats ran for the office. The commission regulates phone services, pipelines, grain warehouses and taxicabs, among other duties. District 5 covers 47 rural counties basically all of Nebraska west of Grand Island.
Donald Trump is on his way to being an authority figure. Some feel hes already there. When nominated, he will have the mantle of authority that comes from being the standard-bearer of one of Americas two major political parties.
Ironically, Trump will have captured the Republican nomination by winning only 12 million votes, or about 5 percent of the voting populations 225 million registered voters.
The same holds true for Clinton, who will have won north of 13 million votes, or about 5.7 percent of the total voters. For all the reforms in politics that have wrested deciding nominees from smoke-filled back rooms, a tiny minority still hands the majority our only choices.
The voting public is none too happy with the selections. The polls all agree that Trump and Clinton are both mining unexplored depths in terms of unfavorable ratings. An ABC poll found Clinton and Trump to be the most disliked nominees in decades. Trump beat Clinton hands-down in the thumbs-down category with a 60 percent unfavorable rating to her 53 percent.
But Trump isnt just setting records for unfavorable ratings and winning with tiny percentages of the total voters. He is winning almost without resistance from the public, including Americas mothers the unchallenged authority to wipe away our families and countrys core values.
Back on the campaign trail, Clinton warned, I do not want Americans ... to start to believe that (Trumps) is a normal candidacy. Her warning may be too late. Americans already know Trump has violated almost all national ethics and household beliefs that we have, and yet many have concluded he is somehow above the law.
We all know by now that Trump refuses to debate policy. He deflects every criticism of his proposals with nasty, crude personal attacks on his opponents their looks, their height, the way they talk.
I did the Donald Trump soft-shoe two-step. Trumps slick trick is to say something outrageous, and then soften the blow by saying he didnt say it. Ive never seen a candidate avoid responsibility for what comes out of his mouth the way Trump does. Maybe its because Trump has produced a reality show and voters figure its all part of the act.
But like a lobster that doesnt realize its being boiled alive because the heat is being raised gradually, our sacred American values, which are virtually engraved on the hearthstone of every American home, are being wiped out.
Its one thing for Trump to dig up quarter-century-old charges on Bill Clintons infidelity and claim Hillary was responsible. Its altogether another thing when Trump starts messing with our national morals, including the belief that we are a nation of equals. Trump assaults the Declaration of Independence by his constant attacks on nonwhite minority groups. Trump even attacked Pope Francis when His Holiness had the temerity to worry out loud about the humanitarian crisis of Hispanic children refugees.
Trump has proudly quoted his wife about his temperament: Youre too nice too long and then when you go bad, then youre too bad. Then she said, You get too vicious and you never forgive. ... Youre too nice, and then you flip, its too long, too nasty, too horrible.
I should be trembling, I guess, to repeat Trumps own words.
Donna Brazile is a senior Democratic strategist, a political commentator and contributor to CNN and ABC News.
Pump prices likely on the rise in coming months Gas prices are likely to go back up following the OPEC+ decision to cut oil production by 2 million barrels a day, starting in November....
Spindle Items .. ETERNAL HAPPINESS All of us are chasing happiness. None of us wants to be miserable, angry, frightened , depressed or the like. If...
Out of the Past 25 Years AgoOct. 22, 1997 Zoning laws in the Town of Tonawanda received much needed updating Monday as Councilman Raymond Sinclair presented amendments in underground...
Family fun for everyone Halloween is every kids dream holiday, with costumes and candy, tricks and treats. Some of my favorite memories with my family have centered around Halloween,...
1 of 11
10 Best tourist landmarks in Europe
Steeped in history, Europe is blessed with an array of attractions spanning the centuries and a variety of cultural influences, from Hagia Sophia to the Vatican City. Through millions of online reviews and ratings, TripAdvisor has compiled a list of their 10 best-rated tourist landmarks in Europe. TripAdvisor's Travellers' Choice Awards 2016 has revealed the site's top picks for the world's must-see attractions. Read More...
With the market near a record high, it takes extra effort for a value investor like me to find promising stocks. So when I was recently assigned to write a piece about attractive stocks selling for single-digit prices, I was determined to search broadly. I ended up looking at about 75 companies and eliminated all but eight.
Sorry prospects or high valuations quickly nixed most of the candidates. But a small homebuilder got cut for a different reason. In the weeks that it took to put together my story, the share price of AV Homes (symbol AVHI (opens in new tab)) soared above $10 and made the stock ineligible. After conducting some research, I bought 1,000 shares at $11.90 apiece for my Practical Investing portfolio.
AV Homes was a bit of a jack-of-all-trades in the early 2000s. It sold title insurance, offered cable-TV services and operated a small water utility. But its main business was real estate. The company developed communities for the 55-and-over set as well as industrial and commercial properties, primarily in Florida and Arizona, where it is based. The firm generated stellar revenue and profit growth from 2002 through 2006. But the Great Recession hit the Sunbelt hard, and AV lost money every year from 2008 through 2014.
Subscribe to Kiplingers Personal Finance Be a smarter, better informed investor. Save up to 74% Sign up for Kiplingers Free E-Newsletters Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplingers expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail. Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplingers expert advice - straight to your e-mail. Sign up
The stock, which peaked just shy of $85 in 2007, slid below $6 in 2011, when AV reorganized to focus on residential development. When I discovered AV in February, it traded for a hair under $10, but the stock popped some 20% in the weeks after the firm issued fourth-quarter results, which featured a doubling in revenues and a ninefold increase in earnings from the same period in 2014. Plus, AV reported its first yearly profit since 2007. First-quarter results were equally impressive, with big gains in every important measure, from the number of dwellings sold to average selling prices and, of course, profits and revenues.
To learn more, I tapped my Arizona contacts to find people who had bought AV homes. Linda Baldwin, a physicians assistant who bought into AVs Encore development in Mesa, Ariz., last December, is still waiting for some fixes to the home, but she has no regrets about the purchase. On Tuesday, I play dominoes. Wednesday is bocce ball. Saturday, they had a concert, she says. I love the people. We have a travel club and a book club and an arts and crafts center. Im having a blast.
Big-tech stumbles. Analysts expect AVs earnings to double in 2016 and jump another 50% in 2017. That said, its wise to be skeptical of earnings estimates, particularly in the late stages of an economic expansion. Disappointing results in April from Apple (AAPL (opens in new tab)), which I hold in the Practical Investing portfolio, and Microsoft (MSFT (opens in new tab)), which I just sold, underscore the point. In both cases, earnings for the JanuaryMarch quarter came in well below analysts forecasts, and the stocks tanked.
Short-term price drops rarely rattle me, but I worry about stocks that have reached lofty valuations thanks to what appear to be rosy projections. Thats the main reason I sold my Microsoft shares. Even after the decline, the stock, at $50, sells for 19 times projected year-ahead earnings, which seems too high for a company with only moderate growth and leaves the stock vulnerable to another spill if theres more disappointing news.
Apple and AV both trade for about 10 times estimated earnings. That, in my view, creates a margin of safety that should allow the stocks to shrug off a few quarters of subpar results. I dont know when the bull market might end, but when it does, I expect stocks selling for modest price-earnings ratios to provide some shelter from the bear market that follows.
What You Can Do About Medical Debt
Budgeting Millions of Americans are awash in debt from medical care. If youre one of them, we have your options, whether the bills are new or a collector is calling.
Gold Fields Ltd. (JSE, NYSE: GFI) says it has refinanced its $1.44 billion credit facilities that had been due in November 2017. The new facilities amount to $1.29 billion and have been concluded with a syndicate of 15 banks with three tranches -- two for three years and one for five. The company says the refinancing is a key milestone in its balance-sheet management, with the first maturity now due in June 2019, compared to November 2017 previously. In addition, since the start of the year, Gold Fields has successfully reduced its net debt by approximately $150 million following the tender offer on the bonds and the accelerated equity raising, the company says.
By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com
Lundin: Feasibility Study Determines Fruta Del Norte Project Economically Viable
Lundin Gold Inc. (TSX, OMX: LUG) says an independent feasibility study shows the Fruta del Norte project in Ecuador is economically viable. The study provides a solid basis to enable Fruta del Norte to advance immediately into development, ultimately becoming a landmark, high-quality and profitable mining operation, says Ron Hochstein, president and chief executive officer. The company says mineral reserves total 4.82 million ounces of gold and 6.34 million ounces of silver (15.5 million tonnes at 9.67 grams per tonne gold and 12.7 g/t silver). Average annual gold production of 340,000 ounces is envisioned at an average life-of-mine total cash cost of $553 an ounce and all-in sustaining cash cost $623. Life-of-mine production of approximately 4.4 million ounces of gold and 5.2 million ounces of silver is projected over an initial 13-year mine life, using an average gold recovery of 91.7% and average silver recovery of 81.5%, Lundin says. The estimated project capital cost, including contingency, is $669 million, net of taxes. Construction is targeted to start in mid-2017, with the expected first gold production in first quarter of 2020, the company reports.
By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com
Detour: New Conveyer Commissioned; Improved Tonnage To Offset Loss From Planned Shutdown
Detour Gold Corp. (TSX:DGC) says the company has commissioned a new conveyor system at its flagship Detour Lake gold mine, and the tonnage shortfall from a nine-day shutdown in April is expected to be recovered in the second quarter. "The constraint on the 410-conveyor system has now largely been lifted and the processing plant is performing at higher milling rates, says Pierre Beaudoin, chief operating officer. In May, the plant recorded an impressive 2.0 Mt (million tones) of ore processed, and while it is too early to confirm these rates for the long term, it is nevertheless a positive indication that we are on the right path to reach our target of processing 23 Mt of ore annually prior to 2019." Since a planned shutdown, the processing plant has averaged throughput of 64,462 tonnes per day, including 13 days at above 70,000 tpd, Detour says. The company adds that gold production for the second quarter is forecast to be at the mid-point of the quarterly range guidance of 125,000 to 150,000 ounces.
By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com
CEO: Oceanagold Encouraged By 2016 Drilling Program
The chief executive of Oceanagold Corp. (TSX, ASX, NZX: OGC) says the company is encouraged by its 2016 drilling program so far. Drill results at the Haile mine continue to demonstrate a high-grade resource, the company says. Recent intersections at Horseshoe have increased the confidence in the upper zone and include 58 meters at 17.5 grams per tonne, 50 meters at 18.7 g/t, 61 meters at 13 g/t, 17.1 meters at 11.4 g/t and 31.7 meters at 9.5 g/t. Meanwhile, drill results at Waihi continue to demonstrate resource expansion opportunities from numerous high-grade targets, including Correnso Deeps, Empire and Daybreak, Oceanagold says. Recent significant gold intersections at Waihi include 4.8 meters at 17.5 g/t and 5.1 meters at 8.2 g/t from Correnso Deeps, 2.9 meters at 21.3 g/t and 3.1 meters at 20.6 g/t from Daybreak, 3 meters at 35.7 g/t, 3.0 meters at 9.9 g/t and 6.0 meters at 14.7 g/t, 2.4 meters at 10.9 g/t and 2.6 meters at 5.6 g/t at other nearby veins, the company reports. Additionally, drill results at Macraes demonstrate an extension of known mineralization both to the north and southeast of the previously reported Coronation North resource, Oceanagold says. In 2016, we initiated an extensive exploration program with over 100 kilometers of drilling planned for the year and an investment of over $30 million, says Mick Wilkes, president and chief executive officer. In the first quarter, we were greatly encouraged from the initial drilling from this program.
By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com
Richmont Mines Completes C$31 Million Bought Deal Financing
Richmont Mines Inc. (TSX, NYSE MKT: RIC) has completed a previously announced bought-deal offering, the company says. Richmont issued 2,990,000 common shares at a price of C$10.40 each for gross proceeds of approximately C$31 million, including 390,000 shares under the underwriter's over-allotment option. The corporation intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to aggressively expand the current exploration program as well as potential organic growth opportunities at the cornerstone Island Gold Mine, the company says.
By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com
Eldorado Gold Announces Renewal Of Normal Course Issuer Bid
Eldorado Gold Corp. (TSX: ELD; NYSE: EGO) says it may purchase up to 2,081,168 common shares, representing 0.30% of the total outstanding as of the end of last week. The company says the Toronto Stock Exchange has accepted for filing the company's notice of a normal course issuer bid. Purchases will be made at prevailing market prices from June 13, 2016 to June 12, 2017, the company says. Based on TSX policies, daily purchases will not exceed 874,637 shares, representing 25% of the average daily trading volume of 3,498,550, subject to certain exemptions, the company adds.
By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com
SHARE
By Tad Sooter of the Kitsap Sun
BREMERTON It's said neither "snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night" will stop the mail, but the sight of legalized marijuana stores has apparently stalled one Bremerton letter carrier.
Operators of two recreational marijuana stores on Callow Avenue Pacific Cannabis Co. and The Reef say they've had trouble getting mail delivered to their shops in the past month, since a new U.S. Postal Service worker took over the route. They say the carrier frequently refuses to enter their stores and won't drop off mail unless an employee comes outside to collect it. They noted the same carrier routinely walks inside surrounding businesses to deliver and pick up mail.
Pacific Cannabis owner Kathy Hartwell provided security footage to the Kitsap Sun that shows the carrier handing a package to a bewildered customer on the sidewalk in front of the store instead of carrying it inside. Hartwell said mail addressed to Pacific Cannabis is often left at the arcade next door, which she also owns. The erratic deliveries have caused Hartwell to miss packages that require the recipient's signature.
"This is a serious problem for my business," Hartwell wrote in a letter to Bremerton Postmaster Harry Kleinfelter "... I expect the carrier to enter my business to deliver mail and to pick up outgoing mail, the same as any other licensed business in the state ..."
Hartwell and a manager at The Reef said the post office requested they install mail drop boxes outside their shops. Both said that solution would be expensive and impractical
Kleinfelter referred questions about the marijuana store complaints to regional Postal Service spokesman Ernie Swanson. The Sun contacted Swanson on Wednesday. The next day, Swanson said the carrier had been instructed to deliver to the businesses. But Hartwell said Monday that she still was not receiving mail at the proper address. Swanson did not immediately respond to a follow-up inquiry.
While legal for adults in Washington, recreational marijuana remains federally illegal. The disconnect between state and federal law has created some conflicts between legalized marijuana businesses and federal agencies. However, Swanson confirmed the Postal Service's policy is to deliver mail to recreational marijuana businesses in the same way it would for any other customer.
SHARE
By Ed Friedrich of the Kitsap Sun
BREMERTON One Kitsap County project is among 18 in the Puget Sound region recommended to receive a total of $67 million in federal funding.
Bainbridge Island and Washington State Ferries submitted a joint request, asking for $2.1 million for a Sound to Olympics Trail extension and $2.2 million to replace the ferry terminal pedestrian bridge. Puget Sound Regional Council, which distributes funding among Kitsap, King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, accepted just the trail half among its recommendations.
The Sound to Olympics Trail will provide a separated path along the Highway 305 corridor from High School Road to Winslow Way. The project will promote all modes of nonmotorized transportation.
A total of $210 million in funding was requested for 52 projects. The council recommended that 18 receive the $67.3 million available.
Five other Kitsap projects, plus the ferry pedestrian bridge, are on a contingency list. They are:
$6 million to build a Silverdale transit center.
$8 million to widen Tremont Street in Port Orchard.
$3 million for Warren Avenue corridor nonmotorized improvements in Bremerton.
$1.6 million to design and buy right of way for a park-and-ride lot on Highway 305 between Noll and Johnson roads in Poulsbo.
$740,000 for the Kingston Highway 104 realignment.
Funds would only become available for contingency projects if a recommended project can't proceed or the federal government decides to issue more money, which is rare. None of Kitsap's contingency projects is ranked highly.
The PSRC transportation policy board will review the funding recommendations in July. After public comment, the executive board will take final action in October.
A list of all of the projects can be viewed online at www.psrc.org/assets/14671/Final_RPEC_Recommendation.pdf.
photos by MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL The owner of the Farragut Hotel is having a dispute with the French Market on Gay Street and has had workers build a covered walkway that conceals the entrance of the restaurant.
SHARE The owner of the Farragut Hotel is having a dispute with the French Market on Gay Street and has workers erecting a covered walkway which conceals their entrance Tuesday, June 7, 2016.
By Mary Constantine of the Knoxville News Sentinel
Allen Tate says he's in a war to save his business.
Rick Dover says there is no war. Just a building code that both he and Tate are accountable to uphold.
Regardless of their conflicting positions, a wall of contention is in place between Dover, the developer of the Hyatt Place in the former Farragut Hotel building, 530 S. Gay St., and Tate, who with wife, Susan, owns The French Market Creperie, 526 S. Gay St. The creperie occupies space in the Farragut Hotel building and has another location in Farragut.
Of utmost importance to Tate is the recently erected plywood barrier built around the entrance of The French Market.
Dover said, "We plan to replace the historic canopy on the front of the (Farragut Hotel) building, and we have to get repairs done before we can hang the canopy back. I can't have someone go by and get hit by a falling brick, so I told him we were going to put scaffolding up."
Tate thinks it's just one more tactic by Dover to force the creperie out of business.
"Rick told us they would be starting construction and it might get difficult for us. We talked to him about putting a net above us and a wall like you might see in New York, but now he's erected a solid wood wall with a tunnel entrance into our space and there is no signage. Developers that want to keep tenants do not hurt their tenants. They build safety scaffolding above a tenant so as not to impede on the business below, not giant walls of wood, and those landlords place signage saying that the business is open," Tate said.
He added that he has been forbidden to place a folding sign announcing daily specials on the sidewalk outside the creperie. Dover says that's because of ongoing construction in that area.
"The French Market has a lease with the Farragut building, and we intend to honor that lease but keep in mind that they are about an 800-square-foot tenant in a 10-story, 99-year-old hotel that's being renovated and brought up to code," Dover said. "I know it's a mess and I know it's an inconvenience and I'm very sorry for that. We are doing a huge renovation attempting to preserve, restore and repurpose this space, and I think it's unrealistic for him to think there is not going to be some mess and inconvenience involved. We will get what we have to get done as fast as we can and get out of everybody's way."
Other complaints by Tate include getting the OK to expand his patio and then Dover rescinding the agreement, which Tate said cost approximately $2,000 in tables and chairs that he can no longer use.
Dover said the city did give Tate permission to expand the patio, "but once we began work in earnest on the building, the patio seating had to go."
Tate said Dover is trying to run him out of business by filing a complaint with the fire marshal, making false complaints to the health department's restaurant inspector and starting rumors that the restaurant is closing.
"We've had real estate brokers coming in asking when we are moving, and we are trying to squash that rumor," Tate said.
"They do have some construction issues in there because the building was owned by an out-of-state landlord who didn't pay attention and things were done without a building permit and without inspection," Dover said. "The building code is very specific to what we do, and we are going to expect them to follow it. I've asked them to bring their space up to building code standards."
Code violations at the creperie cited by Dover include a bathroom exhaust fan that vents into the lobby of the hotel, no exhaust fan over cooking area, and the use of extension cords and power strips.
Tate said when he first met with Dover they talked about growing the business bigger and taking up more space in the building.
"He gave us a lease that was three times what we currently pay plus full market rent for patio space and 6 percent of my sales. He got all mad and huffy when we declined. We said we were fine because we have a lease until 2023. Our opinion is that our landlord is stuck with a tenant and lease that they do not like or want. He has been picking away at us out of spite ever since," Tate said.
Dover agrees that communication with Tate has not been the best but said he wants to make it clear he's not trying to put them out of business. And he said he doesn't want that space to bring in a Starbucks, which has been another ongoing rumor.
"Starbuck's will be in the lobby. That is happening, and we have made no secret of that. He (Tate) is fine where he is, but he will have to comply with the codes just like the rest of us," Dover said.
The entrance of the Scripps Networks Interactive corporate headquarters in West Knoxville is shown in this 2014 file photo. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)
SHARE
By Ed Marcum of the Knoxville News Sentinel
Scripps Networks Interactive is joining the ranks of some leading U.S. companies that are offering their employees expanded maternity leave benefits.
The Knoxville-based company announced Monday it will be offering its workers 12 weeks paid time off for maternity and adoption leave, three weeks for non-primary caregivers and three weeks off for foster parents or legal guardians. The company is offering other maternity benefits as well.
"Families come in all shapes and sizes and with this plan we are supporting them all," Ken Lowe, Scripps Interactive chairman, CEO and president, said in a video announcing the initiative. "Just as we inspire our viewers to live their best lives, we want to do the very same for our employees as well."
According to the United Nations' International Labor Council, the United States and Papua New Guinea are the only two countries that do not mandate paid maternity leave for new mothers. However, many U. S. companies are seeing the value of offering such benefits in terms to help workers keep a better work/life balance so that they stay productive. Generous maternity leave policies also are seen as a way to attract and retain the best employees.
The Scripps Interactive maternity benefits also includes a phased return-to-work option meant to make the transition back to work easier for employees.
"We believe that a flexible approach such as this will provide employees with greater ability to be with family, while better engaging with work after leave," Kristin Alm, Scripps Interactive spokeswoman, said in a statement.
Scripps Interactive also will be instituting actions such as reserved parking for expectant mothers, private mother's rooms at its facilities and a dedicated coordinator to help parents navigate through paperwork and programs.
"We realize becoming a parent happens in different ways for different people," Alm said. "In fact, families come in all different shapes and sizes, from becoming a new parent as a biological mother or father, through adoption or perhaps through foster care or legal guardianship, and we want to support and celebrate that diversity."
In August 2015, Entrepreneur.com compiled a list of 10 leading U.S. companies with the most generous paid maternity leave programs, ranging from Netflix, which offered up to 12 months, to Microsoft, which offered 12 weeks. Other companies offering paid maternity leave within that range included Adobe, Twitter, Johnson & Johnson, Facebook, Goldman Sachs, Reddit and Bank of America.
Scripps Networks Interactive, which operates TV networks such as HGTV, Food Network, Great American Country, Travel Channel and DIY Network, reaches more than 190 million viewers a month in more than 170 countries and generates 3 billion annually in revenue.
A Blount County businessman was indicted on Monday in an elaborate "fencing" and illicit drug operation that involved almost $300,000 of stolen property from all over East Tennessee. (BLOUNT COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE)
SHARE
By News Sentinel Staff
A Blount County businessman was indicted on Monday for his alleged role in an elaborate fencing and illicit drug operation that involved almost $300,000 in stolen property from all over East Tennessee, authorities said.
Jesse Aaron Teaster, 43, was indicted on several charges, including criminal conspiracy to commit theft over $250,000; 16 counts of theft of property over $1,000; 12 counts of theft of property over $10,000; criminal attempt to commit theft over $10,000; several counts of delivery and possession of a controlled substance in a drug free zone; and possession of firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony.
In June 2015, authorities began seeing an increase in the theft of lawn mowers, utility trailers, ATVs and UTVs. In August, investigators located two trailers, one which was confirmed stolen and the other matched the description of several other utility trailers that had been reported as stolen the following day. The stolen trailers were returned and authorities kicked off an almost yearlong investigation that led back to Teaster and other individuals, according to the release.
Authorities said Teaster used a number of individuals, or "boosters," who stole property for him and would often pay them with narcotics and money for the stolen property. The property would then be sold either from his business Ernie's Auction and More on East Broadway and/or to other individuals in and around Blount County and adjacent jurisdictions.
On May 19, investigators executed a search warrant at Teaster's business. He has been charged with 27 thefts that occurred in Blount County over the past year. Most of the theft victims in Blount and other counties have been identified, and most of the items have been returned to their owners.
Investigators have recovered a total of $152,196 worth of property reported stolen in Blount and other counties. However, some of the property could not be traced back to original owners because the owners had not recorded serial numbers or any distinct features of the property.
Investigators also learned during their investigation that Teaster was involved in the distribution of prescription pills, namely Morphine and Oxycodone, authorities said.
Investigators arrested Teaster at his residence Monday. He is being held on bonds totaling $50,000. An initial court date has not yet been set.
If you've purchased any of these items lawn mowers, utility trailers, ATVs, or UTVs from Ernie's Auction & More, investigators are asking you to call the Sheriff's Office 24-hour Crime Hotline at 865-273-5200.
SHARE
By Bob Fowler of the Knoxville News Sentinel
CLINTON Two men have filed a complaint seeking a declaratory judgment that a new law allowing mental health therapists to refuse treatment to patients based on the therapists' religious or personal beliefs is unconstitutional.
Bleu Copas of Anderson County and Caleb Laieski of Virginia filed the complaint Tuesday in Anderson County Chancery Court.
Sought is an injunction to keep the law from being applied and a judgment voiding the statute. The legal action was filed against Gov. Bill Haslam, who signed the controversial bill into law.
Both men are identified as homosexuals in the complaint, and Laieski is described as a "national lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights activist" who lives in Alexandria, Va.
The new law "is a matter of great public concern," and LGBT individuals "are singled out for discriminatory treatment," according to the complaint. "There is no other group which could conceivably be the target of the statute," it continues.
"The effect of the statute is to give counselors and therapists an open door to discriminate against people of certain protected classes, specifically LGBT individuals and couples," the legal action avers.
"Mr. Copas and Mr. Laieski, along with all other LGBT individuals, cannot be treated differently through legislation than the rest of the population," it continues.
In the bill's initial form, it made specific reference only to religious beliefs as a valid reason to refuse some clients, according to the legal action. The complaint cites a poll that about 28 percent of people in the U.S. last year "believed that gay and lesbian relations should be illegal."
Another poll found that about 34 percent of U.S. residents "believed that gay and lesbian relations are morally wrong," it continues.
"It is well known that most anti-LGBT individuals are anti-LGBT based on religious beliefs," the complaint states.
Both the state and national constitutions state that people shall be treated alike, but under the statute, "LGBT individuals are treated differently," the complaint alleges.
The American Counseling Association opposed the new law in part because it allows for discrimination, according to the legal action.
Haslam has defended his decision to sign the bill into law, saying professionals should have the right to decide if their clients' goals don't match their own personal beliefs.
The statute says counselors and therapists in private practice can't be forced to provide services to clients whose behaviors are in conflict with "sincerely held principles."
SHARE
By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel
A Knoxville doctor who racked up more than $275,000 to write prescriptions for opiate addicts pleaded guilty Tuesday to being a drug dealer.
Deborah Gayle Thomas pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to distribute opiates. U.S. District Judge Pamela Reeves set an Oct. 20 sentencing hearing.
Thomas, whose medical license is listed as suspended and expired, was ordered jailed pending that hearing.
Thomas was among nine medical professionals indicted in the first prosecution in East Tennessee of doctors who worked for pill-mill operators as drug traffickers. Thomas was the last to plead guilty.
She and her co-conspirators worked at the now-defunct Breakthrough Pain Therapy Center on East Broadway in Maryville in 2009 and 2010.
The clinic was owned and operated by husband-and-wife team Randy and Sandra Kincaid, neither of whom had any medical experience and both of whom are now in federal prison for operating the clinic as a pill mill. Pain clinics in Tennessee now must be owned and operated by doctors.
Breakthrough was a cash-for-pills business that netted $2.5 million in 17 months from July 2009 to December 2010, when it was raided and shut down.
Although at least one overdose death has been linked to the clinic, defense attorneys Cullen Wojcik and Robert Kurtz negotiated a deal in which Thomas will not be held accountable for that death.
The plea deal ensures a prison term for Thomas, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Dale stating in the agreement Thomas wrote prescriptions without examinations for more than 2,000 patients and earned more than $275,000 in 16 months for doing so.
By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel
De'Ossie Dingus didn't follow the playbook for scoring big damages in a civil-rights lawsuit when he was wrongfully labeled a terrorist because of his Sunni Muslim faith and fired from his job as a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper.
He didn't go to a psychiatrist as proof of his emotional distress. He didn't see a therapist as evidence of psychological trauma. He didn't go to the doctor as corroboration for stress-induced illness.
Instead, Dingus hustled to pay his bills while quietly filing a claim with the Tennessee Civil Service Commission and negotiating an award for roughly $154,000 in back pay and lost benefits and early retirement. Then, he sued the Tennessee Department of Safety. On the witness stand last year in U.S. District Court, Dingus said he wasn't looking for cash. He wanted vindication.
He got it. U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell found the department and Dingus' THP commanders guilty of discriminating against Dingus because of his religion. But, citing a lack of proof of damages, she awarded him $1. Earlier this year, the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals called the agency's treatment of Dingus "egregious" and the $1 award "wholly inadequate."
Now, Campbell is faced with a legally tough task, given the absence of all the standard forms of measuring damages what price tag can be affixed to being falsely labeled a terrorist?
Dingus, a military veteran who worked for the THP for a decade, was fired in 2010 after military liaison Maj. Kevin Taylor called Dingus a potential terrorist based on a brief encounter in November 2009 in which Dingus complained about the airing of a video on the radicalization of children during a training class that was supposed to teach troopers how to recognize weapons of mass destruction.
Taylor claimed Dingus was disruptive and belligerent. But none of the 35 other troopers in the training class backed up Taylor's claim. An internal investigation showed none of Dingus' co-workers shared Taylor's view.
THP commanders fired Dingus anyway. Attorney Arthur Knight III presented documents showing Dingus' bosses began the process of firing him before the internal probe was even finished.
Since the 6th Circuit's ruling in April, both sides in the case have now weighed in on the issue of damages with their respective legal briefs. That, in turn, sets the stage for a ruling by Campbell. The issue of awarding compensatory damages without proof of harm is largely uncharted legal territory, and the 6th Circuit gave no guidance on an amount.
PDFs: De'Ossie Dingus' brief seeking damages | Tennessee Department of Safety response
Tennessee Assistant Attorney General Rachel A. Newton argues in her brief that while Campbell must be "mindful" of the federal appellate court's upset at the $1 award, she shouldn't throw much more cash into Dingus' pot.
"Plaintiff in this case has been unable to demonstrate a single physical or psychological effect of his emotional distress and is therefore not entitled to a significant award of compensatory damages," Newton wrote. "The defendant acknowledges that the 6th Circuit determined that some award of compensatory damages is warranted, but plaintiff's proof of only hurt feelings weighs against a significant award."
Knight counters that the amount of lost wages the state already agreed to pay Dingus makes for a good starting point, since his future employment opportunities and his reputation are forever blemished.
"How does one get justly compensated for being referred to as a terrorist? Such language/labeling goes beyond name-calling," Knight wrote. "(The Department of Safety) essentially labeled plaintiff a capital murderer, who would use department authority to kill innocent life. Not only has (the department) offered zero evidence to even suggest such a label, but being labeled a terrorist, especially in this day and age, is something that is difficult, if not impossible to overcome.
"The circumstances of plaintiff's experience ... can only be described as horrific and egregious. It is respectfully submitted that Mr. Dingus should not be punished for having a strong constitution or 'being able to take it.' If that was the law, (the department) and other employer defendants could get away with serious illegality because the employee, Mr. Dingus in this case, is not the proverbial eggshell plaintiff."
Campbell will file a written ruling in the coming weeks.
SHARE Tammy Lynn Talford, 56 (KNOX COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE)
By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel
A Knox County woman who killed her husband in a fit of rage over a text message pleaded guilty Monday.
Tammy Lynn Talford, 57, pleaded guilty before Knox County Criminal Court Judge Steve Sword to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter. She had faced a second-degree murder charge in the fatal shooting of husband, Lawrence "Leon" Talford, 52.
As part of a plea, Tammy Talford was sentenced to 15 years in prison and agreed to turn over the proceeds of life insurance she collected in her husband's death to his family. The punishment is at the top of the penalty range for voluntary manslaughter. Because Talford already had a criminal record, she must serve 45 percent of the 15-year term before she will be eligible for parole.
She initially reported to the Knoxville Police Department that the April 2015 shooting at the couple's home at 2715 White Oak Lane in the Whittle Springs area was accidental, according to prior testimony in a preliminary hearing in the case.
KPD Investigator Chas Terry's testified that Tammy Talford told arriving officers that she and her husband were passing a .38-caliber handgun back and forth, and then gun discharged.
Her husband had suffered a gunshot wound to his upper chest.
Leon Talford later died at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
Under interrogation, however, Tammy Talford admitted she and her husband were arguing over a text message he sent to another woman. Her husband concluded the text with the words, "I love you," according to Terry's prior testimony.
Tammy Talford told the police investigator she retrieved the gun from a night stand drawer and wound up shooting her husband.
In court Monday, she continued to insist she did not intend to kill her husband.
Members of Leon Talford's family have disputed the woman's claims that he was texting another woman.
Judge Shayne Sexton talks with lawyers about the status of the capital murder case against Joshua Comer Monday, June 6, 2016, in Campbell County Criminal Court. The state is seeking the death penalty against Joshua Comer, charged with the first-degree murder of 3-year-old Gabriella Orton who died June 10, 2014. Comer's girlfriend, Amber Leann Orton Rezentes, is charged with aggravated child neglect. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL)
SHARE Amber Leann Rezentes Joshua Adam Comer (CAMPBELL COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE)
By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel
JACKSBORO The first death penalty case in Campbell County in more than a decade in a case involving the death of a toddler has languished long enough, a judge said Monday.
"This is a capital matter that has been pending on this court's docket for two years," 8th Judicial District Criminal Court Judge Shayne Sexton said at a hearing Monday. "It's been underworked for two years."
Sexton's frustration came when Campbell County Assistant District Attorney General Tom Barclay sought to set a November trial date in the felony murder case against Joshua Adam Comer, 35, in the June 2014 death of 3-year-old Gabriella "Gabby" Orton but was met with resistance from one of Comer's two court-appointed attorneys.
Assistant Public Defender Dale Potter urged Sexton to hold off on setting a trial date, noting his co-counsel, John Eldridge, had a conflicting court appearance Monday. Potter also argued the defense had only recent secured funding for the services of a forensic pathologist to offer expert testimony on the cause of the child's death.
"We've hoping the pathologist gives us some information that we could (use) to dispose of this case," Potter said. It wasn't clear if he was suggesting a plea or a dismissal.
Gabby died, according to court records, as a result of child abuse allegedly at the hands of Comer, a roofer who was dating the child's mother, Amber Leann Orton, 31. Orton, who also uses the surname Rezentes, is not accused in the toddler's death but instead is charged with aggravated child abuse and neglect, in part for allegedly failing to protect her daughter.
Knox County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan conducted the autopsy and concluded she died from severe child abuse. The exact nature of the toddler's injuries has not been publicly disclosed. Mileusnic-Polchan is considered an expert in fatal child abuse investigations.
Comer and the child's mother were indicted via a special grand jury soon after the child was brought to the LaFollette Medical Center emergency room with life-threatening injuries. Prosecutors then filed notice of an intent to seek the death penalty as punishment, based on the child's young age and the "especially heinous" nature of her death.
Sexton ultimately agreed to delay for one month a decision on a trial date but vowed the case would be put before a jury by year's end.
"If I have to set it for trial on Christmas Eve, that's what we'll do," he said.
The child's mother is represented by attorney Mike Hatmaker, who has filed few motions in the case, suggesting a plea in return for her testimony against Comer may be in the works.
SHARE
By News Sentinel Staff
A 71-year-old Wyoming man was critically injured in a motorcycle accident on U.S. Highway 129 on Monday, according to a news release from the Blount County Sheriff's Office.
Authorities say that Dee John Bollin, 71, of Casper, Wyo., was traveling south on U.S. 129, also known as Calderwood Highway, near Six Mile Road on a 2010 Harley-Davidson motorcycle when he failed to negotiate a curve. Bollin and his motorcycle went off the right side of the road and struck a guard rail. Bolin went airborne and landed about 10 to 15 feet down an embankment.
Bollin, who was wearing a helmet, was taken by Rural/Metro ambulance to Lanier Elementary School, where he was flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville. He was listed Monday night in critical condition.
The Blount County Sheriff's Office Traffic Safety Unit is investigating the accident.
More details as they develop online and in Tuesday's News Sentinel.
SHARE
By News Sentinel Staff
Knoxville's 311 Center now has a new location that matches its phone number.
The center moved into Room 311 on the third floor of the City County Building, which was vacated recently when Knoxville's Parks and Recreation Department moved to its new headquarters at Lakeshore Park.
The new third-floor space also will house City Ambassadors, a new program aimed at improving internal and external customer service throughout city government, and a library with customer service training materials.
Signs throughout the building will make it easy for residents to find the center and receive in-person, one-on-one help, according to the city. The center has KAT bus routes, greenway maps, inspections forms and other information, along with customer service representatives who can answer questions and point people in the right direction, officials said.
Residents can also use the service both by calling 311 or by visiting the office to report potholes, overgrown lots and blighted properties.
About a year ago, the 311 Center also started handling calls made to East Tennessee's 211 help line, a United Way funded line that connects people in need to nongovernment, community services.
Every year, the call center handles about 200,000 calls to 311, and so far more than 12,000 people have called the 211 help line this year.
SHARE
The city of Knoxville will hold its second Landlord Summit on Thursday for property owners and managers across the city who want to make their rental homes more affordable and energy-efficient for tenants.
The event begins at 8 a.m. and will run until noon at the L.T. Ross Building, 2247 Western Ave.
The first Landlord Summit was held in November, and because of its initial success, the city decided to make the summit a more frequent event.
Other topics that will be discussed at the summit will include the new Cooperative Agreements to Benefit Homeless Individuals program, Section 8 rent assistance, the Knoxville Extreme Energy Makeover program, free lead testing, programs to assist military veterans with housing, Tennessee landlord-tenant rules and fair housing laws.
Workshops and informational booths will also be held by groups such as the Knoxville-Knox County Community Action Committee, Helen Ross McNabb Center, the Knoxville Extreme Energy Makeover program, Legal Aid of East Tennessee, Knoxville's Community Development Corp. and the Knoxville Knox County Homeless Coalition.
Although landlords are the target audience, the event is free and open to the public. All are welcome and encouraged to attend to learn about the programs that are available to Knoxville landlords.
Mayor Madeline Rogero praised the November Landlord Summit.
"These summits are opportunities for local landlords to learn more about resources that can improve their bottom lines while also improving the lives of their tenants," she said.
Visitors Mike Henry of Ann Arbor, Mich., and Matt Hutton of San Luis Obispo, Calif., round the walkway to the Clingmans Dome observation tower beneath starry autumn skies on Nov. 30, 2013, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The two made their nighttime stop at Clingmans while on a trip to visit all the "high points" in the continental U.S. At 6,643 feet high, Clingmans Dome is the third highest mountain east of the Mississippi and the highest point in Tennessee. (ADAM LAU/NEWS SENTINEL)
SHARE In honor of the National Park Service's centennial, the 2016 Partners in Preservation: National Parks campaign will award $2 million in grants to historic sites in need of preservation within national parks units, as decided by popular vote. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park hopes to be one of the winners of the campaign to help Clingmans Dome Tower. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL) In honor of the National Park Service's centennial, the 2016 Partners in Preservation: National Parks campaign will award $2 million in grants to historic sites in need of preservation within national parks units, as decided by popular vote. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park hopes to be one of the winners of the campaign to help Clingmans Dome Tower. (Special to the News Sentinel) In honor of the National Park Service's centennial, the 2016 Partners in Preservation: National Parks campaign will award $2 million in grants to historic sites in need of preservation within national parks units, as decided by popular vote. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park hopes to be one of the winners of the campaign to help Clingmans Dome Tower. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL) In honor of the National Park Service's centennial, the 2016 Partners in Preservation: National Parks campaign will award $2 million in grants to historic sites in need of preservation within national parks units, as decided by popular vote. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park hopes to be one of the winners of the campaign to help Clingmans Dome Tower. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL)
By News Sentinel Staff
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park needs your help as it looks to win a $250,000 historic preservation grant to rehabilitate the Clingmans Dome tower.
The iconic observation tower atop the park's tallest mountain is one of 20 historic National Park Service sites vying for $2 million in grants to be awarded by Partners in Preservation and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In honor of the National Park Service's 2016 centennial, the campaign will distribute the grant funding to historic sites in need of preservation as decided by popular vote.
Voting is open through July 5 at VoteYourPark.org.
As of Tuesday morning, the Smokies had slipped to second place in the competition, but there's still time to put it back on top.
"Please vote daily to help us win the challenge that will enable us to preserve one of the unique experiences in the park," park Superintendent Cassius Cash said in a news release. "With these funds we can ensure that people have the opportunity to walk the top of the Great Smokies and take in a view from the historic tower."
The Clingmans Dome tower straddles the Tennessee-North Carolina line at 6,643 feet. Built in 1959, the tower draws more than 600,000 visitors per year between April and November.
Park officials say the tower is structurally strong, but needs rehabilitation to correct 4 inches of foundation settlement caused by uneven force on the structure. Preservation maintenance also is needed to address general deterioration conditions along the stone masonry walls, concrete structures and flagstone terrace.
Sam Oakley and Drew Linkous of Sycamore Sign Service prepare the Tennessee Theatre for removal on Monday. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)
By Megan Boehnke of the Knoxville News Sentinel
Residents stuck their cameras outside condo windows in the Burwell Building, snapping photos of men in bucket trucks.
Passers-by clustered on the street corner, eating ice cream and sandwiches as they watched. A group of friends gathered outside Clancy's Tavern & Whiskey House, next door to the theater, to take a photograph.
The iconic Tennessee Theatre sign was coming down.
Molly Kiss, a senior at the University of Tennessee, was with two friends when they stumbled upon the work. They were alarmed, she said.
"At first we were like, why is it coming down? It's a symbol of Knoxville," she said. After a quick Google search, the trio all Knoxville natives learned the green vertical "Tennessee" sign would be coming down for the summer only for repairs.
The sign had served as backdrops for selfies and sorority chapter photos, they said.
"Whenever we take pictures down here, we try to get the sign," said Vishaka Motheramgari, a junior at UT.
Jennifer Costanzo of Clinton also stopped to watch the crews work on the sign with her husband after they got ice cream and coffee. Whenever friends and family visit from New York, the Tennessee Theatre is a stop on the Knoxville tour.
"It's real pretty and every time we come down here, like in the winter to see the trees, we take photos," she said.
The work began at 6 p.m. when the crew shut down the block of Gay Street between Clinch and Cumberland avenues. Bucket trucks, flatbeds and commercial cranes were then moved into the area. It took about two hours to clean nests from birds who had made a home inside the sign, said Laura Oran, the project manager for Pattison Sign Group.
By 9 p.m., they had not yet begun detaching the sign from the building. It would be at least another hour, if not later, Oran said. Then, they would use two cranes to suspend the sign, rotate it on its side and place it on a 53-foot flatbed truck. Steel supports would be bolted into the flatbed to brace the sign as it is transported to South Carolina for repairs, Oran said.
The $150,000 undertaking to restore the vertical sign and the horizontal marquee has been in the works for years. Between private fundraising, capital gifts and a city grant, the theater has raised about $115,000 of the goal so far, said theater Executive Director Becky Hancock.
The vertical sign, which went up in 2005 when the venue underwent a $24 million restoration, is a reproduction of the one installed when the theater opened in 1928. Pattison Sign Group will upgrade 5,700 lightbulbs and sockets for the sign and the marquee. They'll also repair hail damage and repaint the signs.
"The sign is such of symbol of not only downtown, but East Tennessee," Hancock said. "We're committed to taking care of the investment the community made 11 years ago when we did the full restoration."
The sign will be installed again by mid-August at the earliest, she said.
SHARE
By Bob Fowler of the Knoxville News Sentinel
OAK RIDGE State Sen. Randy McNally, widely expected to become the state's next lieutenant governor, said Tuesday he prefers the complete, gradual phaseout of the Hall income tax on certain stock dividends and bond interest payments.
The tax, which was set at 6 percent this tax season, will drop to 5 percent next year and decrease by another percentage point annually through 2022.
"By 2023, it (the tax) will be gone," McNally, R-Oak Ridge, told attendees at an Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce breakfast function.
McNally said the tax is "very erratic and difficult to predict" for the amount generated each year, but it typically yields about $45 million per year for the state and from $12 million to $14 million for counties and cities.
Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch has been lobbying against further reductions in the tax, which he says produced $708,000 in revenue for the city last year.
The state hasn't come up with a way to offset the revenue loss for cities and counties, Gooch contends.
But McNally says the state has more than made up for any shortfall in Hall tax revenue by increasing state-shared taxes to local governments by some $24 million to $25 million.
He said education funding for K-12 schools was increased by $261 million in the latest fiscal year.
McNally is considered the presumptive successor to Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey when the Legislature convenes Jan. 10, and his comments Tuesday left the impression he feels he's got the job wrapped up.
The lieutenant governor is next in line for the governor's post and is one of state government's most powerful positions.
"I hope nothing would happen to Gov. Haslam while I am there," McNally told the crowd. "It would be, I think, a great honor for my district as well as for Oak Ridge."
He noted no lieutenant governor has hailed from Oak Ridge before.
"It would be a great way to finish my service in the Legislature," McNally said.
After his remarks, McNally backpedaled any suggestion that he wouldn't seek re-election to the Senate in two years. But being elected lieutenant governor would be the culmination of his legislative career, he said.
As lieutenant governor, also called speaker of the senate, McNally would wield considerable authority, including the appointment of committees and their chairmen, as well as naming members to various state boards and commissions.
McNally has been in the Legislature for 38 years eight years as a state representative and 30 years as a senator. He represents the 5th District, which includes part of Knox County and all of Anderson and Loudon counties.
SHARE Lamar Alexander.
By Michael Collins of the Knoxville News Sentinel
WASHINGTON The chairmen of two key Senate committees moved Tuesday to block a new federal rule that would make millions of Americans eligible for overtime pay.
U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., filed legislation that would nullify the new overtime rule and prohibit the Obama administration from issuing similar changes without congressional approval.
Alexander, who chairs the Senate committee with jurisdiction over labor issues, mocked the new rule as a "time card rule," arguing it would force even mid-level managers to punch a clock as they come and go from work.
The changes will hurt people they're intended to help because employers would reduce work hours and be less likely to allow flexible work schedules, Alexander said.
"Employers are going to say, 'Don't come to work early. Don't stay late... Work your eight hours and go home. I don't have the money to pay you overtime,'" Alexander said in a speech on the Senate floor.
The new rule, unveiled last month by the Labor Department, is set to take effect later this year. It would let full-time salaried employees qualify for overtime if they make up to $47,476 a year.
Right now, salaried workers are guaranteed overtime only if they make less than $23,660. The Obama administration estimates that doubling that threshold could boost the salaries of 4.2 million Americans, guaranteeing employees get paid fairly for the hours they work.
Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, argued the rule change is just another regulation that would increase costs to business, non-profits and others and result in negative, unintended consequences for employees.
Alexander said colleges and universities have told him the rule change will cost them millions per year in operating costs, potentially resulting in higher student tuition.
The University of Tennessee has warned it would have to increase tuition an average of $200 per student each year and that some students could see an increase of more than $450 if the overtime changes take effect. Maryville College estimates the new overtime rule could cost its students nearly $850 a year in tuition increases.
The bill Alexander and Johnson have filed to block the rule is sponsored by 43 other senators, all Republicans. The cosponsors include Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.
A sympathy card rests at the feet of a gorilla statue outside the Gorilla World exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, Sunday, May 29, 2016, in Cincinnati. On Saturday, a special zoo response team shot and killed Harambe, a 17-year-old gorilla, that grabbed and dragged a 4-year-old boy who fell into the gorilla exhibit moat. Authorities said the boy is expected to recover. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
The American public has always been judgmental, and social media have created a population that believes itself to be expert in all fields of human endeavor ready to condemn based on a few seconds of video, with no idea of what preceded an actual event.
Police officers became the first casualties of what some call "citizen journalism" based on camera phone videos. "Why didn't the officer aim for an arm or a leg instead of shooting to kill?" "All the guy had was a knife, so why didn't the officer just use his night stick to knock the knife out of his hand?"
Those who have actually done the job of confronting the things citizens never see and don't want to see and who know the answers are the police themselves. But their role in society as keepers of the status quo makes any explanation they give sound self-serving.
America's taste for righteous indignation is by no means reserved only for the police. Last month at the Cincinnati Zoo, a 3-year-old boy managed to temporarily elude his mother and get through several barriers built to keep gorillas in, not people out and fell into a pit with two female gorillas and a male called Harambe.
Zookeepers immediately exercised the first protocol in the event that just such a situation occurred. They called for the gorillas to come to their cages. The two females obeyed, but the male gorilla did not.
The massive gorilla caused no immediate harm to the child, but he did handle him roughly, with actions probably intended as gentle by a creature that can crush a green coconut with one hand or rip a car tire apart. But we really don't know what goes through a gorilla's mind any more than we know what a fellow human being is thinking.
Staff members of the Cincinnati Zoo had trained and drilled for all eventualities. When they went into action they had both nonlethal and lethal weapons. The tranquilizer gun was nonlethal, but the staff knew it took a few minutes to work and being shot with the syringe might well have provoked a violent, startled reaction.
Had Harambe lost interest and walked away from the child, the nonlethal weapon might have been an option. I don't know because I was not there, entrusted to save a child at all costs.
So the gorilla was killed by a trained marksman who knew he could cause instantaneous death, and the child survived with minor injuries.
It's doubtful that anyone grieved for Harambe more than the staff who made the decision to kill him.
In the days after Harambe's death, social media filled with outrage as angry people called for the criminal prosecution of the mother many calling her vile names and demanding to know why nonlethal force was not used.
All the critics had one thing in common none were on the scene, responsible for the life or death of a 3-year-old.
I am not a "God gave us dominion" person who views animals as dumb brutes. I doubt the morality of keeping my fellow creatures in captivity. But this is not a philosophical discussion; it is a discussion of a specific instant in time.
A little compassion for all our fellow creatures, human and nonhuman, never hurts anyone.
SHARE
It was disturbing to read the column by Terry Mattingly in the "Faith and Family" section of the June 4 News Sentinel. It presented "religious" opinions that are outright lies and reflect the kind of thinking usually expressed by Nazi propaganda.
Mattingly presented the views of a conservative Catholic Church leader from Africa who believes, among other things, that gays and transgendered people are "demons" bent on destroying the family and society.
Such statements are in every way comparable to Nazis blaming Jews for Germany's problems and calling Jews "vermin." Calling people vermin or demons makes it very easy to justify how you treat them.
These kinds of statements are lies with no basis in any kind of evidence. They attempt to blame the complex problems of families on minority groups that desire equal treatment under the law and relief from centuries of lies and persecution often spearheaded by religious institutions and leaders.
Yet, because recent attacks on gay and transgendered people masquerade under a banner of "religious liberty," we are expected to give credence to lies and tolerance to hatred and not cry foul. No. Those opinions are lies; they are hate-filled. And they deserve vigorous denunciation.
It's the 21st century. Yet these incredibly hateful, wild accusations against gay people still appear in print as acceptable discourse. If such opinions must appear in "Faith and Family," here are some ideas for additional religious columns.
First, designate a few pages to a section called "Fear and Attacks on Minorities." Then, columns calling gays demons could be paired with religious discussions of witchcraft among elderly women, pastoral warnings about the likelihood of black men raping white women or denominational declarations that Jews will kidnap your children if you don't pay your bills.
That's all protected by "religious liberty," right?
Thomas Wright, Knoxville
By Lee Hyo-sik
Park Sam-koo
Kumho Asiana Group Chairman
Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-koo is expected to face an uphill battle taking back control of Kumho Tire from creditors, as he won't be able to acquire the tire maker through a third party.
Last December, Park successfully bought back Kumho Industrial, the group's holding firm, via a special purpose company that he had set up after attracting investments from corporations and financial investors. But this time, creditors have decided not to allow Park or his son Se-chang to mobilize subsidiaries or other third parties to take over Kumho Tire.
Woori Bank, Korea Development Bank and other creditors, who hold a combined 42.1 percent stake in Kumho Tire, held a meeting on June 2 and decided not to permit Chairman Park or his son to transfer a prior stock purchase to a third party.
The banks acquired the 42.1 percent stake in a debt-to-equity swap in 2010 when the company suffered a serve liquidity shortage. At the time, they signed an agreement that they would first negotiate with the Kumho chairman when unloading Kumho Tire stakes.
"We will announce a sales notice in July," said an official at one of the creditors. "The creditors decided to uphold a contract term that forbids the transfer of the right to prior negotiation to a third party. We will hold a fair and open bid for Kumho Tire."
The creditors have selected Credit Suisse as the sales manager, as it has been contacting multiple tire companies and private equity funds in Korea and abroad to encourage them to take part in the upcoming bid for Korea's second-largest tire maker.
Given Kumho Tire's market capitalization of 1.56 trillion won ($1.3 billion), the 42.1 percent stake is valued at about 650 billion won. Including management premiums, creditors expect the stake sale could reach as high as 1 trillion won.
But Park and his family are short of cash as they have already spent tens of billions of won to increase their shares in Kumho Industrial and other group units.
Kumho Asiana Group said they will draw up a plan to buy back the tire unit when the creditors announce their intent to sell their stakes.
By Jhoo Dong-chan
Hyundai Motor has signed a mega bus deal with the Turkmenistan transportation authority. A total of 500 Aero City Buses will be exported to the Turkmenistan capital of Ashkhabad, a company official said.
The deal is worth 78 billion won ($66 million), and is the largest among the automaker's bus export deals.
"Hyundai Motor has supplied buses to Turkmenistan twice, in 2009 and again in 2012," said a Turkmenistan transport official. "The quality and performance of the buses have already been proven. In addition, the Aero City model is excellent commercial value, especially with Hyundai outbidding other bus suppliers."
In order to improve public transportation and the environment, the Turkmenistan government is replacing all of its old public buses before the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games that will be held in September, 2017, in Ashkhabad. More than 2,000 athletes from 60 Asian countries are expected to participate in the event.
The transport authority requested enhanced engine performance and design modifications in the 11-meter long 27-seater model to better adapt it to the region's sultry weather.
A Hyundai Motor official said it will take bus production up to full capacity to fulfill the order before the Martial Arts Games.
President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow visited Korea last May to close the deal with Hyundai Motor.
"Trust in quality and safety is very important in the commercial vehicle market where clients generally place large orders for the long term," said a Hyundai Motor official.
"The Aero City bus supplied to the country will play an important role in promoting Korea as more Turkmenistan people are expected to ride the buses in the years to come."
Hyundai Motor has supplied 690 buses _ 490 in 2009 and 200 in 2012 _ to the country so far. The bus is popular for its safety, performance and reliability.
Beside Turkmenistan, Hyundai has sold a total of 1,600 commercial vehicles so far this year, including 120 County buses to Jordan, 100 to the Democratic Republic of Congo and 300 commercial trucks and buses to Panama.
By Nam Hyun-woo
Switzerland's rejection of a proposal giving all its citizens a basic monthly income has triggered a similar debate here as policies to fight income inequality are making little progress.
The Swiss voted against the proposal to provide 2,500 francs ($2,560) every month to everybody 77 percent to 23 percent in a referendum Sunday.
The idea is picking up momentum globally, after it was first talked about in Finland.
Economists here agreed that Korea needs to talk about a Universal Basic Income (UBI) program, though they had mixed views on whether it would come to fruition.
Supporters of UBI say the referendum has brought it into the light and garnered attention that it could be an option to fight income inequality.
"When the issue was first brought up in Switzerland, only 3 percent of Swiss people backed the idea, but this eventually increased to 23 percent. For now, an increasing number of countries are paying attention to UBI," said Prof. Kang Nam-hoon at Hanshin University.
From this year, Ontario, Canada, will test an idea of a guaranteed minimum income and a number of residents in Oakland, U.S., will also get a basic income.
A Dutch city plans a two-year experiment with a similar program, while the U.K.'s Labour Party is considering the plan.
"The gist of those experiments is to see if it would work to give everyone money. And countries and organizations endorsing UBI believe it will help its citizens work better," Kang said.
Though the concept is still unfamiliar with most Koreans, the country is not new to similar policies, especially for citizens of Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, which has become the test bed of experimental welfare policies.
Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung in October proposed a similar initiative providing 250,000 won every month to those aged between 19 and 24 who have resided in the city longer than 3 year whether they work or not.
The city allotted 11.3 billion won for the plan and implemented a trial run covering some 13,000 citizens on Jan. 20.
According to the city government, 10,574 received money in the first month and 11,162 in the second month. The city expected the system to result in generating production worth 19.26 billion won.
In Seoul, Mayor Park Won-soon is pushing for an initiative to provide 500,000 won monthly to 3,000 unemployed aged between 19 and 39 for up to six months. Also in the political sector, bills similar to UBI have been tabled by minor left-wing parties such as the Labor Party and Green Party Korea.
Too good to be true
Those opposing UBI, however, say the plan will not work for Korea where a referendum or national debate on such an issue is unlikely.
"Such a debate could be possible in Switzerland because it has a system enabling votes about various issues," said Prof. Kwon Won-soon at the Economics Department of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. "However, Korea has no system for a referendum, especially when it comes to provincial governments."
Kwon stressed that the idea itself will likely bring a hike in consumption as well as an increase in gross domestic product. However, the work ethic of employees and population of Korea are far from embracing UBI.
"Switzerland is a country that values craftsmanship and work ethics, while its economy is mostly comprised of small- and medium-sized enterprises," said Kwon. "In such a country, it would be possible to believe people would work even though their income is guaranteed. Also, the country is small, meaning less money is required, and has a widespread system of employees possessing a stake in their companies."
An economist at Societe Generale, Oh Suk-tae, also expressed skepticism.
"The biggest problem in UBI is that people will not work and supporters believe there will be no need for labor in the future," said Oh. "This is against the very fundamental of economics."
He also stressed how the government would fund the scheme. "People in countries such as Switzerland already pay a huge amount of tax and the government can substitute UBI for the existing welfare system. However, Korea will need extra money to implement UBI, given its current welfare system."
Ezio Manzini speaks during a design forum held at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul on May 31.
/ Courtesy of Seoul Design Foundation
Leading design thinker discusses design for social innovation
By Yun Suh-young
Design is no longer a concept for just tangible products. Design has evolved into a concept for the intangible, to create social change and innovation in lifestyle.
Change and innovation come from ideas but they aren't exclusive properties of designers. Ideas derived from the bottom up by the public can help reshape social systems and policies, and ultimately people's lifestyles.
In other words, anyone can design something and everybody can be a designer, according to Ezio Manzini, chair professor of Design for Social Innovation at the University of the Arts London and Honorary Professor at the Politecnico di Milano.
"When we say design, we imagine the typical concept of design of the last century. That's understandable because it has been the industrial period of design of chairs and computers. But you can recognize that design is changing," said Manzini, during an interview with The Korea Times.
"Normal people can invent new ways of doing things. Institutions can then recognize the value of this change and hopefully support it. What design experts can do is to help make solutions more accessible, lasting and spread them around."
Manzini was visiting Seoul last week to promote the publication of his new book "Design, When Everybody Designs: An Introduction to Design for Social Innovation" which was recently published in Korean.
In his new book, Manzini discusses sustainability in design for social innovation.
"The focus of the book is on social changes that are needed to make the steps toward a more sustainable way of living, producing, and consuming," he said.
"This is a specific angle because you can talk about new technology, or new energy systems. There are many different ways to talk about it. This starts from social change, in particular, that is mainly bottom up."
In the complexity of new societies it's difficult to do everything from the top, says Manzini.
"Even the most enlightened administration cannot see everything or even have the money for it. New governance that is emerging (in Milan for sure) is to create an environment in which many different things can happen independently from the administration. It's not there to do everything but to create better conditions in which different creative communities can start to exist using individual creativities," he said.
"Creative communities who invent different ways of living can be found in all areas of daily life from food, agriculture, elderly care, health care, transportation, and city management."
One of the examples of social innovation is elderly care. The elderly and the neighbors can collaborate and find solutions in helping each other with the resources they have. For instance, through "collaborative living," people can share services. An elderly person who has a vacant room can rent it to a young person who can then help out in facilitating the living of the elderly such as watering the plants.
"The elderly can help themselves. It's not the traditional notion of charity where somebody does something for somebody else. This is different we help each other. If charity is an economy of gifts, this is an economy of exchange," he said.
"This way, it is possible to solve problems that are otherwise difficult or costly to take care of. If you create a condition where people who know each other help out, people can ask for and reproduce trust.
"Contemporary society has many crises and one of them is the crisis of trust. One of the main responsibilities for a public organization is to try to create conditions to foster trust, both horizontally and vertically."
The role of administration then is to create an environment that can help and support the capability of people.
"To find this equilibrium is a new art of governance. This is not independent from the design issue. All this has to be designed. Somebody has to design it from the new way of governance," said Manzini.
Then where do professional designers who are trained in design come in the equation?
"That's a question I ask in my book to be answered. I think designers could and should play an important role. Professional designers should manage and develop the process in which design disciplines should change to be capable of playing a role," said Manzini.
"Designers should be creative and cultivate this creativity. Designers should be the ones who say what you see now can be shown like this' through a drawing, a storyboard, a scenario, storytelling or even visions that are not derived from drawings. Designers should visualize and make ideas tangible."
Poster for "Alice in Earnestland" and poster for "Non Fiction Diary"
By Kim Da-hee
Korean films are drawing moviegoers' attention to the Sydney Film Festival (SFF), which opens Wednesday.
The 63rd SFF, which continues through June 19, offers a special program titled "Korea on the Verge: Social Faultlines in Korean Cinema."
Five Korean films directed by indie filmmakers here will be screened from June 15 in the program, which is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia-Korea Foundation of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
The five movies are "Alice in Earnestland," directed by Ahn Gooc-jin, "Non Fiction Diary" by Jung Yoon-suk, "A Fish" by Park Hong-min, "Stateless Thing" by Kim Kyung-mook, and "Love and " by Zhang Lu.
The festival's guest programmer and program curator Tony Rayns said the five were selected for their stories exploring political scandals, social injustices, sexual deviances and re-examined traditions.
"Korean cinema remains in many ways the liveliest in East Asia, but the program has gone a little off-mainstream," Rayns said. "These edgy, combative films by fearless indie filmmakers don't paper over the cracks in Korean society, but expand them into social fault lines."
Poster for "A Fish" and poster for "Love and..."
The political satire "Alice in Earnestland," which won the best Korean feature prize at Jeonju International Film Festival last year, is about a debt-ridden woman struggling to pay for her vegetative husband's care.
Director Jung's documentary-style film "Non Fiction Diary" examines freedom and social control in the 1990s by capturing several cases of that period, including the notorious serial killings by the Jijon gang in 1994, the collapse of Sungsoo Bridge in 1994 and the collapse of the Sampoong department store in 1995.
The 3D film "A Fish" portrays a man seeking out his wife who becomes a shaman, while Chinese-Korean director Zhang's "Love and" is an omnibus film about varying perceptions and definitions of love and movies.
"Stateless Thing," which was invited to the Venice Film Festival in 2011, shows a North Korean defector meeting a sexual outlaw.
Poster for "Stateless Thing"
The festival, screening 244 films from 60 countries, opens with Australian director Ivan Sen's "Gold Stone."
Han Kang, author of "The Vegetarian" and winner of the Man Booker Prize, introduces her new book "The Elegy of Whiteness" at a press conference, Tuesday. / Korea Times photo by Shin Sang-soon
Man Booker Prize winner says honor came unexpectedly
By Park Jin-hai
Han Kang, the author of this year's Man Booker International Prize winning "The Vegetarian," said the award win was unexpected.
"I was in the U.K. to discuss my new book The Elegy of Whiteness that will be published there. I didn't expect the award," said Han, during a press conference at a book cafe in Seoul, Tuesday, to introduce her new book.
"The Vegetarian," a three-part novel first published in Korean in 2007, tells the story of Yeong-hye, a homemaker who has nightmares which cause her to become a vegetarian. It won the respected Man Booker prize last week for its English translation completed by British translator Deborah Smith in 2015.
"During the awards ceremony, I kept my composure and stayed calm because it was a book that I finished writing 11 years ago," she said. "It felt surreal and strange in a good way for my book to get the award after all those years and in a place so far away from my own country."
This is the second of a four-part series on the importance of translation in globalizing Korean culture. ED.
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Han Kang's novel "The Vegetarian" is seen in a bookstore in London, May 17. / Yonhap
Good translation holds the key to globalizing Korean literature and quality translation comes from translators of diverse backgrounds, according to experts.
Novelist Han Kang winning the Man Booker International Prize last month with "The Vegetarian" highlighted the importance of translation. Experts say that British translator Deborah Smith equally deserves credit for the honor.
Jung Ha-yun, professor of translation studies at Ewha Womans University, said literary translation is a complicated art, a walk on a tightrope, as it were, requiring both linguistic precision and aesthetic perspective.
"The situation is even trickier when it comes to Korean literature, which is underrepresented and viewed as unknown and unfamiliar on the world literature scene," Jung said. "There is great pressure on translators, especially within trade publishing, to render familiar a literary tradition based on a language and a culture that is very distant from Western languages, cultures and literature."
Smith, who studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of the University of London, learned Korean over seven years and now translates Korean literary works into English.
It was Smith who brought a sample of her translation of "The Vegetarian" to Portobello Books suggesting they publish the English edition.
Jung said Smith's foremost achievement was that she pushed hard for Han's book and persuaded the publishers to pay attention to a writer from an unfamiliar literary tradition, which does not happen often enough in English-language trade publishing.
However, Jung pointed out that it is Han's writing that won the prestigious award.
"Despite being a translator quite new to the Korean language and literary tradition, Smith singularly focused on delivering the narrative voice in English, which is of the highest priority in translating a first-person novel. This is why the translation is successful even when it does not adhere closely to the original Korean," the professor said.
"I do want to stress, however, that the infidelities of her translation did not contribute to her achievement but compromised it. Her translation is a great feat for a first-time literary translator, whose work I believe will get only stronger and more beautiful with time."
Three sisters get their daily dose of Korean TV. / Courtesy of Jane Han
By Jane Han
So it's been exactly a week since our dear nanny left.
As expected, there have been a few occurrences of mommy meltdowns throughout the seven whole days she's been gone.
I realized that going to the playground with me as the only supervising adult is like being on some kind of intense physical challenge reality show, where the contestant (me) is challenged to successfully prevent three flying balls from touching the ground.
And yes, my girls would be the flying balls.
I wish I was speaking figuratively, but the three toddlers really play like bouncing balls. Pretty funny sight.
Another funny sight is at the grocery store.
I decided to be brave and take all three to a nearby Korean supermarket, where they have normal-sized grocery carts, where you can only fit two in the cart one in the seat and one in the basket. Which leaves one to walk, run or pull some crazy act.
For some odd reason, we always seem to have the biggest disagreements at the grocery store over who sits where.
So of course, that day, the girls threw a pretty big fit over not being able to sit where they each wanted.
I quickly and successfully settled the situation by using the good old bribing method.
They got a bag of Korean snack to share and we miraculously managed to finish grocery shopping and return home in one piece.
But I promised myself that, when I'm the only chaperone, we will only go to retailers that offer carts that fit at least three kids.
Basically what this means is that we will only go to Costco.
Another thing I noticed after the nanny's departure is the change in screen time at our house.
Screen time is a pretty big issue among parents.
I think most parents can probably relate to being in some level of love-hate relationship with the television or iPad because of their kids.
There have been a countless number of times when my iPad or mobile device saved me from a dire situation in the car, airplane or even a restaurant by magically settling a tantrum and giving my children inner peace.
But there were definitely other times when I had to repeatedly turn down my children's request to "turn something on."
I don't want to be that inconsistent mom who is quick to turn something on when she needs the time, but in all honesty, I can't say that I was never that mom.
When it comes to TV, my general rule is to allow them to watch one 30-minute episode of "TV Kindergarten," a Korean equivalent to "Sesame Street," in the morning and "Ding Dong Dang Kindergarten," another 40-minute "educational" show, in the afternoon. No cartoons, including Pororo.
It sort of became a natural routine for the girls to watch the morning show when their nanny arrived for work at 9 a.m., but since a week ago, since the nanny never arrived in the morning, the kids never asked to watch TV in the morning.
I guess the doorbell sort of served as their trigger to turn on the TV.
Now, they just play, read and do their activities, sometimes with me sometimes without, until we leave for a brief outing before lunch.
I'm so thankful for this change because many times kids interestingly turn cranky after watching TV. They usually don't end up satisfied with just one episode, but throw tantrums as they demand for more.
Like other parents, I never appreciated that kind of behavior and often had trouble settling an upset child after getting too much screen time.
While writing this piece, I did some research on how experts advise parents to handle screen time.
It turns out, as of last year, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the authority on babies and children, has changed their stance on screen time.
Before, they said no screens for children under two and a maximum of two hours for children over two.
But they said their previous policy for children below two may no longer be valid because times have changed so much and media is now just another environment.
The AAP's new position certainly makes me feel a little less guilty when I see my 15-month-Lauren planting herself next to her sisters and getting absorbed into the TV set.
But that shouldn't mean I'm now going to go all out and leave the TV on 24/7, although it does give me a little relief as I'm still trying to get used to the post-nanny era.
After close to three short years of parenting, I figured if I'm not going to actively engage myself in playtime with the kids, we need to at least go outdoors and let nature be their playmate.
Fortunately, we live in Texas, where nature is plentiful just outside our doorstep.
The only catch here is that I'm the least nature-loving person that anyone will ever meet.
Ah, who said parenting is easy?
A U.S. cargo plane belonging to UPS stands on a runway of Incheon international Airport after it failed to take off at Incheon International Airport on Monday night at 10: 45 p.m. / Yonhap
By Kim Da-hee
A U.S. cargo plane belonging to UPS skidded off the runway while speeding up to take off at Incheon International Airport on Monday night at 10:45 p.m.
One pilot and three crew members were on board. None was injured in the accident. The plane, flight UPS 5X61, was scheduled to fly to Alaska.
As of Tuesday 7 p.m., the plane is being held on runway 1 for investigation. The airport's two other runways are operating normally.
The cause of the emergency has not determined yet. However, investigators believe that a malfunctioning landing gear caused the accident.
"Flights won't be affected by the incident because of the two other runways," an airport official told The Korea Times. "We checked the other runways for any problems due to the accident, but they are okay."
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it has launched an official probe.
"An investigation panel is inspecting the case, and a separate government-led team is preparing to tow the damaged aircraft," the ministry said in a release. "It will take three months to restore the airport facilities damaged from the accident."
The plane will be towed down the runway after the on-site investigation is concluded.
North Korean party officials have visited Vietnam and Laos, the North's state media said Tuesday, apparently as part of the North's diplomatic effort to break the international sanctions regime.
The delegation, led by Choe Thae-bok, a vice chairman of the ruling party's central committee, arrived in Vientiane on Monday after visiting Vietnam for talks with the communist party's officials, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Choe held talks with Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam's (CPV) central committee, during which the two men stressed the need to maintain their traditional friendly and cooperative relations, it said.
The KCNA reported that the visiting official said his country will contribute to defending global peace and security as a "responsible nuclear weapons state" in talks with Tran Quoc Vuong, secretary of the CPV's central committee.
The latest trip is seen as part of North Korea's diplomatic overture to break up tougher international sanctions imposed on it as punishment for its January nuclear test and long-range rocket launch in the following month.
Ri Su-yong, a vice chairman of the ruling Workers' Party, made a rare visit to China last week in an apparent bid to improve strained ties with Beijing following Pyongyang's nuclear tests.
North Korea's ceremonial head of state, Kim Yong-nam, also visited Equatorial Guinea last month to attend the inauguration ceremony of the president of the African country.
South Korea, on the other hand, is engaged in its own diplomatic blitz to rally international support to pressure Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons program.
In her recent visit to African countries, President Park Geun-hye has won support from Uganda to put pressure on North Korea so the reclusive country will give up its nuclear weapons program.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who had longstanding relations with North Korea, has said his country will cut off security and military cooperation with the North.
In a related development, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se on Sunday held talks with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez, breaking a decades-long absence of formal diplomatic exchanges that could help Seoul form ties with Havana. The visit to Cuba by the top diplomat is noteworthy because Cuba has close ties with North Korea. (Yonhap)
By Kim Da-hee
A pastor's personal use of offerings cannot be punished unless his or her church's statutory law bans it, a court said Tuesday.
The Seoul Southern District Court recently acquitted the pastor, 62, who was indicted for embezzling about 90 million won ($75,650) of church offerings.
The prosecution was made on the grounds that the pastor, registered with a church in Guro, western Seoul, paid his health insurance, personal tax, and housing expenses with the offerings between January 2006 and August 2015.
A person expelled from the church filed a complaint against him with the prosecution, which charged him with embezzlement. But the court dismissed the charge.
"There are no rules banning the use of offerings for a particular purpose in the church's statutory law," presiding Judge Suk Joon-hyup said in a ruling. "It cannot conclude that the pastor embezzled the money because each church can decide the range of support to its pastors and most churches provide their pastors with insurance fees and housing management expenses with approval of their church members."
"Since no one, including an elder of the pastor's church, brought up the issue before the expelled member raised the issue, it is hard to rule him guilty only based on the plaintiff's claim."
The prosecution has appealed.
By Kim Se-jeong
The government has renewed its push for telemedicine, reigniting debate in the political and medical circles over the issue.
At a Cabinet meeting, Tuesday, the government decided to submit the draft of a Medical Service Law revision to a session of the National Assembly, which has yet to launch operations.
This is the second attempt to adopt the system the first being scrapped by the 19th Assembly following a backlash from doctors, NGOs and the opposition party.
The current law allows telemedicine between medical staff, meaning doctors can provide help in diagnosis and treatment to other doctors.
But the revision aims to expand this to patient and doctor communication, helping the former receive diagnosis and advice through a wide area network.
According to the revision, the government will initially limit the range of people eligible for telemedicine to people in remote areas such as islands, and those with disabilities or severe illness.
It will also require medical institutes to continue face-to-face treatment and to use telemedicine only as a complementary system.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said telemedicine is part of a growing trend which can enhance people's lives and advance the development of medical equipment.
"We need to respond to a growing number ofrequests from the related sector and patients," a ministry official said.
The measure is also a part of government plans to lift regulations in the medical industry and sell Korea's medical knowhow, including telemedicine, abroad.
Some doctors quickly condemned the government's decision.
"We regret that the government plans to push the amendment again," Korean Medical Association (KMA) spokesman Kim Ju-hyun said, adding the administration should drop the plan.
The KMA said telemedicine could increase the possibility of misdiagnosis; and was costly, restricting its availability to only a small number of patients. "Telemedicine is unnecessary in Korea, which is a small country and has a good transportation system," he said.
The group said telemedicine could be misused by ineligible people, and could cause people to avoid visiting neighborhood clinics by seeking telemedicine diagnosis from big hospitals.
The Korean Federation of Medical Activist Groups for Health Rights, an NGO based in Seoul, sided with the doctors, saying the government's move was to create market demand for new medical equipment so that big companies could make money.
In 2014, the government invited doctors to join a pilot telemedicine project, but they refused to do so. The administration then pushed ahead with it alone, accusing doctors' groups of seeking self interest without enhancing health of the people.
Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Qiu Guohong talks with Kim Chong-in, the interim leader of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, at the National Assembly, Tuesday. / Yonhap
By Kim Hyo-jin
Denuclearizing North Korea and signing a peace treaty with the reclusive country are not separate matters, said Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Qiu Guohong Tuesday.
"I believe that we should wisely put the topics of helping Pyongyang and Washington sign a peace treaty and denuclearizing the North together on the negotiating table," Qiu said during a meeting with Kim Chong-in, the interim leader of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK), according to MPK lawmaker Rep. Park Gwang-on.
Stressing the importance of resuming the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program, Qiu said negotiating with Pyongyang is the best way to resolve the nuclear issue.
"Beijing thinks that talks and negotiations with the country will fundamentally resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula," Qiu was quoted as saying. "The six-party talks are the best multilateral stage and China will keep working for their resumption."
Qiu underlined that China is sync with the international community's voice for the sanctions against North Korea and his government is faithfully implementing the United Nations Security Council resolution against the reclusive country.
The ambassador commented that he thinks the sanctions will take time but will have the desired effect in the end, Park said.
China has called for holding peace treaty talks with North Korea in tandem with discussions on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. But the U.S. and South Korea remained against the proposal, saying denuclearization should come first.
Kim Dong-won, head of the Ministry of Education's school policy office, speaks during a discussion at the Government Complex in Sejong, Tuesday, on measures to improve working conditions for teachers in remote areas, following a recent case of the rape of a female teacher. / Yonhap
Ministry criticized for shortsightedness on rape case
The government's countermeasures following the recent rape of a female teacher on a remote island in the country's southwest are drawing criticisms for being shortsighted.
A female teacher in her 20s was raped by three men, including fathers of two of her students, at a residence for teachers on Heuksan Island in Sinan County, South Jeolla Province, last month.
After the case was made public late last week, the Ministry of Education initially announced that it would refrain from posting young female teachers to remote areas a measure which immediately drew backlash.
"How can not sending women to so-called dangerous places be the answer to preventing such crimes against women? What the government is supposed to do is to make a safe environment for women and minorities in society," said Yang Lee Hyun-kyung, the policy director of the Korean Women's Association United, Tuesday.
Following criticism for its shortsightedness, the ministry backed off, saying it would focus on improving safety at teachers' residences.
"Females account for close to 75 percent of the total number of teachers, so realistically we cannot refrain from sending them to remote areas," said Kim Dong-won, head of the ministry's school policy office, during a discussion with officials of regional education offices, Tuesday.
"We will create a safe environment for teachers in remote areas by drawing up a safety system through cooperation with local authorities and police," he said.
The ministry plans to beef up security at teachers' residences across the country, such as by installing surveillance cameras and emergency call buttons.
But teachers' groups say government measures to improve safety should be more comprehensive.
"Crimes can occur anywhere, not just at teachers' residences," said Kim Dong-seok, spokesperson for The Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations. "The government should come up with a more comprehensive plan to create a safer environment for teachers."
He said a measure is needed regarding socialization between teachers and parents outside schools, based on the fact that the victim and her attackers had been drinking at a restaurant owned by one of the offenders before the rape occurred.
"Korean culture is very tolerant of drinking gatherings. Especially in remote areas where a small number of residents live, there tend to be more such gatherings among teachers and parents, in the name of spending time to become better acquainted," Kim said. "It is difficult for teachers to decline such offers by parents, but efforts need to be made to fix this practice."
Kim said the government should set up guidelines for teachers in dealing with such cases.
"Currently, teachers are not taught about such matters," he said. "The education ministry and education offices should ensure that this is included in training programs."
Early on May 22, the three men allegedly raped the teacher who had been assigned to the island's school in March. She had dinner at the restaurant and the men joined, offering her drink after drink of alcohol and getting her drunk.
One of them said he would take her to her residence and allegedly raped her. The others also visited the residence and sexually assaulted the teacher.
The teacher reported this to police and the three were arrested. She has been on sick leave since.
By Kang Seung-woo
Cheong Wa Dae is making public information about President Park Geun-hye's health condition "too often," although the head of state's health should remain classified, critics said Tuesday.
According to Cheong Wa Dae, President Park, who returned on Sunday from her 12-day trip to Africa and France, canceled her schedule for this week due to fatigue.
"Despite her poor condition, President Park pushed ahead with her hectic schedule in Africa and France, relying on intravenous fluids and shots. Her personal doctor recommended that the President rest after returning home," said Ahn Jong-beom, senior presidential secretary for policy coordination, on Saturday.
In April of last year, the presidential office publicly disclosed that Park was bedridden due to stomach cramps and a sore throat following a 12-day trip to four Latin American countries. Her office also disclosed Park's high fever and cold symptoms in November after returning home from a 10-day overseas trip that included G-20 and APEC summits.
"The release of the head of state's health condition in any country reflects on a nation's sovereign rating and its security. In this respect, the previous administrations tried to keep such information confidential," said Yoon Tae-gon, a senior political analyst at Moa Agenda Strategy.
"Cheong Wa Dae's repeated announcements are igniting suspicion over whether they have any political ends."
While Park was visiting South America, the nation was swept by the "Sung Woan-jong bribery scandal" involving her former and current aides. Last fall, the President did not attend the funeral of former President Kim Young-sam, with whom she had a tense relationship, due to health problems.
While in Africa, she also vetoed a hearing bill that would empower Assembly committees to hold hearings on state affairs more frequently, an act which has escalated tensions between the National Assembly and Cheong Wa Dae.
Yoon Hee-woong, a senior researcher at Opinion Live, criticized Cheong Wa Dae for its inconsistent position on going public with the President's health condition.
During a parliamentary audit of the presidential office in October 2014, opposition lawmakers questioned Cheong Wa Dae's purchase of fitness equipment worth 100 million won ($86,000), but Kim Ki-choon, the presidential chief of staff at the time, declined to comment, adding that issues regarding the President's health are directly connected with national security and cannot be made public.
Park Jong-joon, the deputy chief of the Presidential Security Service, said, "The President's health condition is a Grade-2 secret and the government treats health issues accordingly."
Yoon said, "During the Assembly inspection, Cheong Wa Dae said it was a state secret, but then went public with it. Different stances on the issue are raising speculation that Cheong Wa Dae is trying to politicize the President's health."
Korea, US reviewing candidate locations despite China protest
By Jun Ji-hye
South Korea and the United States are expected to accelerate talks on the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here despite growing opposition from China, officials said Tuesday.
The issue drew keen attention at the three-day Asia Security Summit (ASS), which wrapped up Sunday in Singapore, as South Korea and the United States once again stressed the need for deployment.
Despite China's opposition, the Pentagon said Monday that the allies were moving forward in negotiations and are now focused on working out unspecified "complicated issues."
"The alliance negotiations continue, and my understanding is they are proceeding as planned and we are working through the complicated issues that need to be worked out before deployment can move forward," Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook told reporters.
During an interview with CNN in Singapore, South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo said that the deployment will "dramatically" help enhance Seoul's capacity to counter North Korean missile threats.
"South Korea only has the capacity to intercept missiles in their terminal phase. So we have limitations," Han said. "If the THAAD battery is deployed by the U.S. Forces in Korea (USFK), our capability will be dramatically enhanced. There are definite military benefits to this."
With Seoul and Washington having made it clear that they have the will to deploy THAAD, the speculation has been growing that they might announce a decision at the annual Security Consultative Meeting in October, during which top defense and foreign affairs officials from the two countries will gather in Washington.
Ahead of the ASS, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, U.S. media reported, quoting an unidentified military source, that THAAD deployment seemed imminent.
Following the North's launch of a long-range rocket in February, Seoul and Washington began official talks about placing a THAAD battery at a USFK base here to bolster defense against missile and nuclear threats from the reclusive state.
Military officials said Tuesday that the allies are currently reviewing the feasibility of possible locations.
These include bases in Daegu, or Pyeongtaek, some 70 kilometers south of Seoul. The missile interceptor system and its radar could also be located in non-urban areas, they noted.
But the THAAD talks still face a number of obstacles to be resolved in and outside of South Korea, as objectors cite that the system may have potential safety, health and environmental risks; as well as worsening relations with China and Russia.
During the Shangri-La Dialogue, China's Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army openly said, "China is opposed to the ongoing U.S. moves to deploy the THAAD system in South Korea. This will erode security in the region."
China, South Korea's No. 1 trade partner, has repeatedly expressed its opposition, apparently out of concern that the AN/TPY-2 radar system of THAAD could spy on its military activities and missile capabilities.
Rep. Woo Sang-ho, floor leader of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK), said Tuesday that his party was against deployment, citing the opposition from China and Russia.
"Cooperation with China and Russia is essential for South Korea to make the North abandon its nuclear program," he said during a party meeting.
The battery's possible safety and health risks have also been provoking resistance from residents living in possible locations.
Seoul City Suicides perform at Woodstock in Itaewon, Seoul, Sept. 26 last year. / Courtesy of John Redmond
By John Redmond
The long-running "Second Saturdays" punk rock concert series returns from the dead this weekend in a new location. Subtitled "Back from the Dead," it features five local bands performing at Club SHARP in Mangwon-dong, western Seoul, Saturday.
The lineup comprises blues rock band Wasted Johnny's, hardcore outfit Animal Anthem and rock/punk bands Full Garage, When the Feverish Fail and Seoul City Suicides.
The Second Saturdays series was initiated in February 2011 by punk booking agency World Domination, Inc. run by Jeff and Trash Moses. It began at the now-defunct Club Spot located in Hongdae, a popular nightlife district where rising rent prices have forced out many indie music venues.
Following the closure of Club Spot, the event moved to nearby Club Ruailrock which closed in March this year. This month it is being held a couple subway stops away at Club SHARP.
The choice of Club SHARP was obvious for them because of the location and management. It is close enough to Hongdae to be convenient, but far enough away for reasonable rent, says Moses. Its owner is Ryu Jinsuk, frontman of local ska-punk band Skasucks and leader of Team New Generation of Ska, which organizes an annual outdoor ska festival.
"SHARP is the newest punk venue in Seoul and has that great punk club feel of the places I grew up watching shows," said Jeff Moses by telephone to The Korea Times.
Popular three-piece band Seoul City Suicides has performed regularly in the local independent rock scene since forming in 2009.
The Korea Times spoke with one of Seoul City Suicides' guitarists, David Tizzard, about the unique lineup of the band.
"The first thing people notice about us, is that for a three piece, we have two guitarists," said Tizzard in a telephone conversation.
Currently in the studio, the Suicides are working on a new album and will perform songs from the past catalogue as well as some new material.
Sadly, this show also marks one of the final performances of the band's current lineup, as one of the founding members, Chad Fazenbaker, is set to leave Korea at the end of summer.
Club SHARP has no bar, but guests will be allowed to buy alcohol from a local convenience store located on the first floor of the building.
Doors open at 8:30 p.m. and entry is 10,000 won.
To get to Club SHARP, leave exit 2 of Mangwon Station and turn right. Walk straight about 200 meters to the IBK branch and turn right. Keep going another 200 meters until you see the With Me convenience store. Club SHARP is in the basement of that building.
Visit facebook.com/wdikorea for more information about the gig.
By John Redmond
The British Chamber of Commerce in Korea (BCCK) and the British Association of Seoul (BASS) held the 2016 Queen's Birthday Ball (2016 QBB) fundraiser at the Grand Hyatt Seoul, June 4.
Attracting over 350 guests from 100 companies and 60 sponsors, the evening featured a performance by the Dulwich College Seoul Senior Orchestra, which played the Korean and British national anthems, and welcoming speeches from U.K. Ambassador Charles Hay and BCCK CEO Sean Blakeley.
The event was hosted by MC Willy Wonka.
"Our theme tonight takes its inspiration from world-renowned British writer Roald Dahl's masterpiece, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," the event organizer said in the invitation.
The main event was the Grand Raffle to raise money for three charities: Angel's Haven, the BCCK Chevening Scholarship and the Jeon Jin Sang Center.
Angel's Haven is an organization located in northeastern Seoul that serves both the mentally and physically disabled. Money raised from the 2016 QBB will go towards building a residential care home.
The BCCK Chevening Scholarship in conjunction with the U.K. international awards scheme is aimed at developing global leaders. With donations from the evening, the BCCK will send business, international trade and economics graduates to the U.K.
Established in 1975, the Jeon Jin Sang Center offers free medical and welfare services including palliative care to the urban poor. The center was established by Dr. Marie-Helene Brasseur in a slum area in southwestern Seoul in 1975. Money raised from the 2016 QBB will be used to upgrade the center.
For more information, visit bcck.or.kr, angelshaven.or.kr, chevening.org and jeonjinsang.or.kr.
Kim Chong-in, the interim leader of South Korea's main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, urged China to expand efforts to roll out more effective measures to curb Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.
During his meeting with Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Qiu Guohong, the lawmaker said despite the international sanctions against the North, Beijing still maintains certain economic ties with Pyongyang, adding such exchanges will limit the effectiveness of global economic pressure.
"China, which holds significant influence over North Korea, should make more efforts for the denuclearization (of Pyongyang)," Kim stressed at the meeting.
The Minjoo Party said the two discussed various issues related to Seoul-Beijing ties as well as the peace of the Korean Peninsula.
The Chinese envoy said Beijing has been maintaining a consistent stance against the North Korean nuke issue, adding it is also making efforts to resume long-stalled six-party talks that aim to end the nuclear standoff on the Korean Peninsula.
"Seoul and Beijing hold the same goal when it comes to protecting the peace, stability, and realizing the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," China's top diplomat in Seoul said.
The ambassador also said the two countries are maintaining the closest relationship since the establishment of diplomatic ties, adding their trust in the political sphere has been expanding. (Yonhap)
South Korea said Tuesday it does not believe it is proper for local firms that ran factories at a joint industrial park in North Korea to visit the factory zone amid a tough sanctions regime imposed on Pyongyang.
On Feb. 10, Seoul shut down the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the North's border city of the same name after the North's fourth nuclear test and long-range rocket launch earlier in the year.
South Korean firms that ran factories there said they hope to visit the North to check their facilities and handle other issues such as the payment of wages to North Korean workers.
But South Korea's unification ministry made it clear that their move is not appropriate as the government and international community as a whole are in the process of implementing tougher sanctions against the communist country.
"It is not proper for the local firms to seek to visit North Korea at a time when the North has unilaterally announced that it will liquidate South Korean assets," said a ministry official.
On March 10, North Korea said that it will nullify all cross-border agreements on economic cooperation arrangements and liquidate South Korean assets. This announcement was made in response to Seoul's plans to slap fresh sanctions against Pyongyang separate from actions taken by the U.N. Security Council (UNSC). The U.N.'s latest sanctions are viewed as being the toughest yet and reflect the international community's resolve to get Pyongyang give up the development of weapons of mass destruction.
The South unveiled a set of its own punitive sanctions against the North including banning the entry of vessels that have made a port call in the North and blacklisting key officials and state-run entities. (Yonhap)
By Yi Whan-woo
South Korea is bolstering diplomacy with countries that have been friendly with North Korea in an effort to force Pyongyang to give up its nuclear ambitions.
In May, President Park Geun-hye became the first South Korean leader to visit Iran and Uganda, both of which were accused of maintaining military ties with North Korea.
Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se attended the China-led regional security forum, Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building in Asia (CICA) in April, while holding talks with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez in Havana, Sunday. It was the first time for a South Korean foreign minister to join CICA and to also visit Cuba.
Yun is also scheduled to make his first trip to Russia from Sunday to Monday and meet with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov.
South Korean officials and analysts said these efforts will help isolate North Korea further in line with the U.N. Security Council's (UNSC) toughest-ever sanctions imposed on Pyongyang on March 2.
"The visits to North Korea's traditional allies are being carried out under the government's roadmap to draw their support for Pyongyang's denuclearization," a government official said on condition of anonymity. "The roadmap is aimed at conveying the message that Pyongyang will be completely isolated if it does not give up its nuclear weapons program. And there seems to be an international consensus that North Korea must change."
Choi Chang-ryul, a professor of political science at Yongin University, said, "The importance of Park's and Yun's trips are to ensure that Pyongyang's friends will not exploit loopholes of the UNSC sanctions to help the Kim regime."
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he supports the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula following his summit with Park in Tehran on May 2. Iran had been suspected of colluding with North Korea on nuclear activities before it reached its nuclear agreement with world's major powers in July 2015.
In the summit with Park in Kampala on May 29, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni promised to "disengage" in military cooperation with North Korea after his country had purchased weapons from Pyongyang for decades.
However, it is not clear when South Korea's diplomacy against North Korea will take effect, according to Choi. He pointed out that Yun and Rodriguez did not reach a deal to establish diplomatic relations between their countries.
Cuba is one of the few countries that does not have diplomatic ties with South Korea although there have been trade and cultural exchanges between the two.
"It will be necessary for us to expand economic cooperation with North Korea's allies first to strengthen diplomatic relations," said Jeong Deok-rae, head of Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency's Havana office. "It can be said that Cuba is normalizing its ties with the United States due to economic benefits. In that sense, the diplomatic ties between Seoul and Havana may be influenced by our expansion of investment in Cuba."
A government source said that the leaders and family members of Uganda and Cuba have been in charge of their governments for decades
Museveni has been in office since 1986. Raul Castro succeeded his elder brother, Fidel, in 2008 after Fidel governed the country from 1961 to 2008.
"In the case of Cuba, convincing bureaucrats to pursue economic cooperation is important but it will be more important to encourage those bureaucrats to persuade the Castro brothers to set up diplomatic relations," the source said.
Meanwhile, North Korea has recently been trying to enhance its diplomatic relations with countries it has been friendly with.
In May, its ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam reportedly visited Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Gabon, Central Africa, Congo and Mali and had talks with their leaders.
Ri Su-yong, vice chairman of North Korea's Workers' Party, met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing last week as Kim's special envoy.
Poland has stopped allowing North Korean workers into the country as part of broader efforts to punish Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile programs, a South Korean government official said Tuesday.
Cho June-hyuck, spokesman of Seoul's foreign ministry, confirmed a report by the Washington-based Voice of America that Poland has not received any North Korean workers since the communist country conducted its fourth nuclear test in January.
"The issue of overseas North Korean workers has increasingly caused concern within the international community from the perspective of human rights abuses and the flow of money into the North," Cho said during a regular press briefing. "The Polish government also decided early this year to halt the issuance of new visas to North Korean workers."
North Korea is believed to have more than 50,000 workers stationed in some 50 countries, including China and Russia, to earn money for its cash-strapped regime.
Several hundred North Koreans are currently estimated to be working in Poland. Under the new measure, they will not be allowed to renew their visas.
Cho said other countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe have also taken steps to reduce the number of North Korean laborers they receive by cracking down on illegal immigrants and not renewing work contracts.
"Our government takes note of such efforts by the international community to address the issue of overseas North Korean workers and plans to continue to seek possible steps in cooperation with the international community," he said.
The U.N. Security Council in March adopted tough sanctions against Pyongyang to punish the regime for its nuclear test and banned long-range rocket launch in February.
The sanctions, along with those imposed separately by South Korea, the United States and other nations, are designed to starve Pyongyang of the resources it needs to develop its nuclear and missile programs. (Yonhap)
By Choi Sung-jin
Politicians often say one thing and do another. Still people forgive them and forget what they have said and done considering the "profession's characteristics." If some well-known appointed officials do the same, however, the public will have another look at them or think that before long they will jump into politics.
That's what many Koreans think after watching the behavior of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon while he was here May 25-30.
Upon ending a six-day visit to his home country, Ban asked Koreans to help him "bring 10 years of service as the top U.N. official to a successful conclusion" during the remaining seven months of his tenure.
Secretary-General Ban was asking the political parties and media to leave him alone and not try to drag him into domestic politics. His remarks came at the end of his most politicized itinerary in the nation, however. Upon arrival here, Ban attended a forum of senior journalists, during which he said Korea needs a political leader who could sacrifice himself or herself for national unity.
When Ban emphasized he is the only one maintaining a channel of dialogue with North Korea and boasted that he is as fit as a fiddle despite his age, 73, he was no longer the equivocating, self-effacing diplomat he had long been known to be. Later, Ban met with the political leaders of his home region of Chungcheong and visited key politicians of the ruling party at their political base in the Gyeongsang region, as well as Daegu, the hometown of President Park Geun-hye.
The motivation behind visiting the two provinces one the right-wing government's electoral power base and the other that has long held the deciding swing vote in national elections was unmistakable for anyone who has witnessed Korean presidential elections.
At a news conference, however, Ban complained that his words and deeds here were blown out of proportion. Yes we media people are notorious for exaggerating and over-interpreting things, but only fools and liars would take what Ban tried to convey as anything but a thinly veiled attempt to make clear his presidential ambition.
Come next Jan. 1, the former U.N. secretary-general will be completely free to play his "role as a Korean citizen," as Ban put it. That may include his candidacy on the ticket of the ruling conservative party, and maybes even the presidency after a successful campaign, even though a U.N. resolution in 1946 strongly recommends that former secretaries-general refrain from taking public jobs in national governments for at least five years after leaving their U.N. jobs. This resolution has no binding power but none of Ban's predecessors have violated it for their personal agendas or any other reasons.
Assessments of Ban's performance as the U.N. secretary-general are mixed at best. The London-based Economist magazine rated Ban as one of the worst secretaries-general. A contributor to the New York Times called him "a powerless observer," "the invisible secretary general" and "a nowhere man," sometimes quoting anonymous sources not very far from Ban.
Koreans might brush aside these scathing denunciations of Ban in Western media as based on racial bias or cultural differences. But it is harder to ignore reports about Ban surrounding himself with Korean staff, including an aide responsible for monitoring the Korean media to know what Koreans think of their compatriot at the top post in the world's largest organization.
Even these reports could have been slanders from his adversaries. Yet I can't help but think had he spent more of his time and energy on tackling global issues in a bolder manner, his reputation and that of his country could have risen higher.
Perhaps the U.N. secretary-general is the most impossible job in the world, as Ban once said. And few other secretaries-general, even the legendary Dag Hammarskjold or Ban's immediate predecessor, the charismatic Kofi Annan, could have solved major armed conflicts gripping the attention of global citizens.
The U.N. secretary-general holds the status of national leader but has no army of his or her own. All she or he can do is to speak out most forcefully, or at least audibly. I don't know what kept Ban from doing so the lack of resources or boldness or guts.
Ban might think these accusations are unfair as he has said not much, not explicitly at the least, about his future plans. Then he should not have made moves that could trigger political speculation. Since the U.N. chief showed unusual intimacy with the Korean President in New York and Seoul, rumors have been rampant here about sharing of power, in which Ban becomes president and one of President Park Geun-hye's political proteges gets the prime minister's post. This may not be an impossible scenario if only Ban manages to visit North Korea and meet Kim Jong-un for a major breakthrough in the strained inter-Korean relations.
To do so, however, Ban should be able to go much further than indirectly criticizing the Park administration's unimaginative North Korea policy, remaining content with advising Park to mix sanctions with some humanitarian aid. He should have called for a bolder rapprochement policy. Will he be able to do so in the future, in defiance of hardliners in Washington and Seoul?
It is understandable that Ban, like most of his predecessors, tried not to publicly cross his patrons the five permanent members of the Security Council. It was hardly so, however, why the incumbent secretary-general reportedly refrained from standing against even some dictators of small countries.
Can South Koreans expect that Ban will deal with, let alone face down, a more tyrannical and shrewd dictator in North Korea if the occasion arises, then?
If the answer to these questions remains "no" seven months from now, as many here suspect, the former U.N. secretary-general should keep his word: become a Korean citizen and not much more.
Choi Sung-jin is The Korea Times senior writer. Contact him at choisj@ktimes.com.
By Bernard Rowan
Donald Trump is the probable, but by no means assured, Republican candidate for President of the United States. I aim to get past some of the hoopla surrounding Trump's rhetoric on North Korea. This is important regardless of whether Trump represents the Republican Party or becomes the next U.S. President. South Korean interests dictate sobriety, not bombast, in managing diplomacy with the North.
The path of this American election plays into Pyongyang's theatrics. In some sense, with all due respect, Trump's rhetoric reminds me of Dennis Rodman. Media figures look to capture attention however they can, and regularly. Trump is just the more serious face of Rodman. Both declare openness to North Korea and to meeting Kim Jong-un. Those aims do not promise an end to the stalemate in relations. However, whatever goals both men have stand only as fodder for North Korean publicity schemes given what their "plans" amount to.
Meeting a world leader stands for nothing if the ground lacks preparation for concrete action. The Kim regime remains insecure. Its constant displays of military "prowess" and reports of sackings, jailings, and executions look like someone is in charge but betray a need to hide a deeper instability. At best, a grand plan to consolidate power using internal and external propaganda and related actions is at work. Occasionally, defectors arise who suggest politics in the North isn't what the regime tale portrays.
Trump, like Rodman, is an anti-establishment media figure, in at least some respects. Both are stolid conformists to that part of American culture intoning respect for money and fame without regard for their genealogies as diplomatic experts.
Trump might reject starting a conflict with the North. Or he might develop a policy proposal that outlines economic aid in exchange for the taking apart of a nuclear program. Or he might follow Ronald Reagan and develop further South Korea's and the United States' military defenses.
Trump might visit North Korea, but his fuller plan of using China to pressure the North or else face mammoth protective tariffs is a nonstarter. The United States has neither the leverage over nor the economic security to treat China like a naughty child in the playpen. Neither do the U.S. and her allies have the time to play footsy with Kim Jong-un and call it a media triumph or a win for personal diplomacy.
The North has significant military assets to attack the South. It is likely some offensive tactics escape detection. The South and its allies have enough military assets to win a conflict, but there is no way such a conflict would avoid significant harm to the South and to the United States.
Trump cannot think the North will give up its nuclear program in the near term. Available threats and carrots do not compare with what existed for Iran. Relations lack the context to develop a similar agreement soon.
Mind you, a good "talk" with Kim Jong-un or his ministers can occur, and there are many ways to do that, including over the phone. Talks occur at least indirectly on some occasions, through intermediaries or back channels.
We should be wary of any candidate in South Korea or the United States who pledges radical action to change in any immediate or quick way the status quo. North Korea is an anti-status quo power, and its legitimacy depends on dysfunction. The North's utopia is dystopia. Kim's government's survival and credibility need a grand story the South and her allies cannot accept.
To be leaders and peoples of societies that value freedom and democracy puts any credible candidate for high office in opposition to North Korean political culture. To be casually familiar with North Korea's totalitarian security state apparatus should always decide against being friendly-like with Pyongyang.
Deterrence and sanctions and vigilance to all seconds of minutes of hours of days are boring actions, less media appealing, harder to continue and much less popular than grand talk and bolstering. Any global leader faced with North Korea has to live in this harsh reality. North Korea needs to face a consistent diplomatic message that she fails to honor her own word. There is no point in talking much with a lying outlying nation. To help the North save face, Pyongyang must want and show concretely and consistently that it intends to act in a way that anticipates a future without war and conflict. Until that time, Trump should focus on trying to win his own nomination. Balderdash leads to failure in all courts.
Bernard Rowan is associate provost for contract administration and professor of political science at Chicago State University, where he has served for 22 years. He is a past fellow of the Korea Foundation and former visiting professor at Hanyang University. Reach him at browan10@yahoo.com.
KT researchers demonstrate the gigabit-class Internet service on the outdated 2pairs LAN at the company's research center in Seocho, southern Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of KT
By Yoon Sung-won
KT has developed a world-first technology capable of boosting the speed of local area network (LAN) internet services to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps), the telecom company said Tuesday.
KT said the new technology, 2pairs LAN GiGA, will accelerate the development of gigabit-class network services without the need for costly and disruptive physical upgrades to network cables.
"The new technology will strengthen our reputation as an IT powerhouse, following up on the world's first GiGA Internet and GiGA Wire," said KT Chief Technology Officer Lee Dong-myun. "We will continue to develop cutting-edge wired and wireless network technologies to take a leading role in the era of 5G."
The 2pairs LAN GiGA technology doubles network speeds by improving the modulation system between operators and subscribers. In Korea, buildings established before 2000 generally have the 2pairs LAN environment, which uses wires to provide network speeds between 100Mbps and 500Mbps.
This means subscribers who do not have high-speed optical-fiber cables fiber-to-the-home or 4pairs LAN systems can still achieve gigabit-class internet speeds. KT said about 39 percent of the nation's high-speed internet service subscribers are in a LAN environment and some have the outdated 2pairs LAN, which has meant they were unable to use faster fixed-line network service.
The telecom company also expects to export the 2pairs LAN GiGA Internet technology after having sold its GiGA Wire system to Spain and Turkey in February. The GiGA Wire system provides up to 600Mbps through existing telephone networks.
The St. Clair County Sheriffs Department wants help finding Samantha Leonard, 14. Her mother, Linda Campbell, reported her missing on Monday. The family lives on Highway B northwest of Osceola.
Campbell said her daughter left the house on Sunday and she assumed she went to her fathers house, which also is on Highway B. Campbell believes her daughter is with Jamie Huff, 17, of Osceola.
Huff is a suspect in another investigation in St. Clair County involving a stolen vehicle on Sunday. Kenneth Taylor reported Huff, his foster son, took a maroon 2003 Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck early that day without permission. The Missouri license plate on the truck is 4WV-321.
Other items missing from Taylors residence included camping supplies, dry storage food, flashlights, and batteries
Her mother says Leonard is 5-foot-8, 150 pounds, with blue eyes and shoulder length dark hair. His foster father says Huff is is 5-foot-7, 190 pounds, with hazel eyes and dark hair.
Officers are concerned for Leonards welfare. Sheriff Scott Keeler urges anyone with information regarding the vehicle or whereabouts of Samantha or Huff to call the St. Clair County Sheriffs Department at (417) 646-2522 or its Tip Line, (417) 646-5832, or email to tips@scsomo.org.
The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary
Read more
PRESS RELEASE
UN Blacklists Obama/U.K. Saudi-led Coalition in Yemen for Murdering Children
June 6, 2016 (EIRNS)The UN Secretary Generals Annual Report on "Children and Armed Conflict," released on June 2, has placed the "Saudi Arabia-led coalition" forces in Yemen on its blacklist of parties which recruit, use, kill, or maim children in situations of armed conflict on the agenda of the UN Security Council.
Not stated in the UN report is that the genocide being committed by that "Saudi Arabia-led coalition" is run from a warroom permanently staffed by U.S. and British officials providing intelligence on targeting, mid-air refueling for attack planes, and other kinds of vital support for their operations.
The UN Secretary Generals report warns that
"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.... alarming trends [which] continued into early 2016."
It then specifies that UN officials verified that 60% of the total child casualties they recorded in Yemen "were attributed to the Saudi Arabia-led coalition." That is, the killing of 510 children, and maiming of 667 others is laid on the Saudi coalition doorstep.
The number of attacks on schools and hospitals doubled in 2015 over those in 2014, with 90% of those attacks causing the partial or complete destruction of those schools or health facilities. The UN attributes 57% of all attacks on schools to Saudi coalition forces, and just under half (48%) of the attacks overall to that coalition.
Sixty percent of the child casualties were caused by air strikes, which continued to be carried out in 2016. Again, the report does not cite the U.S./U.K.-staffed warroom directing those air strikes carried out by the "Saudi Arabia-led coalition."
The genocide being carried out by Obama-U.K.-Saudi forces which started the war is vastly underestimated by the nature of this specific, technical report. On June 2, UN Coordinator for Yemen Jamie McGoldrick told a press conference in Geneva that the war has "broken almost completely" government services and the health system. He said the overall healthcare system throughout Yemen has all but collapsed, with more than 600 health facilities closing their doors due to the lack of financial resources to procure medicine, supplies and fuel for generators. "Thousands of medical staff have also gone unpaid or left the country."
The result?
"Ten thousand kids under five was mentioned as a figure of people, of children who have died from preventable diseases because of the lack of services, the lack of medicine,"
McGoldrick said.
"And, dying, you know, of things like pneumonia and diarrhea A lot of these deaths are covered up by the fact that a lot of them are related to nutrition as well."
"The scale of the emergency is tremendous," he said.
PRESS RELEASE
British Freakout, Demand JASTA Be Blocked
June 6, 2016 (EIRNS)The British have now directly weighed in to save their Saudi assets in the ongoing battle in the United States (now extended into Germany) to expose the direct Anglo-Saudi hand behind 9/11 and all the other jihadist terror attacks over the past decades. A Daily Telegraph article by Tory Member of Parliament Tom Tugendhat, former adviser to the Chief of the Defense Staff, argues that if JASTA passes, British intelligence and the British government could be sued for past support for terrorists in Londonistan. The article is bluntly headlined Why a US law to let 9/11 families sue Saudi Arabia is a threat to Britain and its intelligence agencies.
While the JASTA bill is not explicitly aimed against Britain, which enjoys close intelligence cooperation with the United States,
Under the bill, US citizens might sue the British government claiming negligent lack of effort to tackle Islamic radicalism in earlier decades. Some in the U.S. already accuse Britain of tolerating radical preachers in Londonistan during the nineties, an approach they say spawned terrorism.
The author cites the case of Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, who was radicalized at Finsbury Park Mosque under the watchful eye of MI5 and MI6.
A lawsuit brought under Jasta might force the U.K. government to reveal intelligence about the plot, why it failed to act and its reasons for doing so. Alternatively, Britain would have to agree to a financial settlement. Either way, Britains reputation would be severely damaged.
The author notes that there is a worst-case option, even under JASTA, which is for the President to invoke state secret privilege, which he can do even in private litigation. But, Tugendhat warns, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are supporting JASTAs passage and might not be inclined to act. One more reminder that the British and Saudi Monarchies are attached at the hipand elsewhere.
Of course, while it is true that Londonistan is truly the world capital of global terrorism, the British freakout is not about Richard Reid the shoe bomber or the Findsbury Park Mosque. The British are directly implicated in 9/11 through the BAE Systems Al Yamamah program, through which Prince Bandar was receiving enormous sums via the Bank of England, at the same time he was funding the San Diego 9/11 terrorist cell.
The real issue is that the release of the 28 pages opens the entire Pandoras Box of Anglo-Saudi-Bush collusion in the biggest terrorist massacre ever to take place on U.S. soil. The full expose of Bandars role immediately puts the entire BAE Al Yamamah issue back in the spotlight and forces a full re-investigation of everything surrounding 9/11.
A top House Republican on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping plan to replace the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, which has been fiercely criticized as overly burdensome by GOP lawmakers and Wall Street executives.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, called the 2010 law a grave mistake foisted upon the American people as he laid out the alternative that Republicans could seek if they win the White House in November.
Key provisions would reduce the power of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and allow banks to avoid stricter oversight by increasing the amount of capital they hold.
Advertisement
Simply put, Dodd-Frank has failed, Hensarling said in a speech to the Economic Club of New York. Its time for a new legislative paradigm in banking and capital markets.
Defenders of Dodd-Frank say it has made the financial system safer by increasing regulatory oversight and mandating rules to prevent a future crisis.
The complex new legislation has virtually no chance of passing Congress this year. And President Obama would almost certainly veto any bill rolling back Dodd-Frank, which is one of his signature accomplishments.
But Hensarlings plan is a road map of what Republicans could try to accomplish on financial regulation if the party wins the presidency and retains control of Congress in the November elections.
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said last month that he was drawing up plans that would be close to dismantling Dodd-Frank.
Even supporters of Dodd-Frank say that regulators have been slow to adopt new rules and that some provisions could be strengthened. Still, they said the Republican plan goes in the wrong direction.
Dennis Kelleher, president of Better Markets, a group that advocates stricter financial regulation, called the proposal little more than a laundry list of every wish Wall Street and its lobbyists ever asked for.
Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, strongly opposes Hensarlings plan, said campaign advisor Gary Gensler, a former head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Gensler said Republicans want to roll back measures that protect consumers and curb excessive risk-taking on Wall Street.
Dodd-Frank passed Congress with almost no Republican support in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
The law toughened regulations on banks and other financial firms, set up a powerful panel of regulators to watch for signs of instability and created a new consumer bureau, which has broad authority to oversee credit cards, mortgages and other financial products.
Republicans have been trying unsuccessfully to scale back the law since taking control of the House in 2011.
Hensarling said Tuesday that the financial crisis wasnt caused by lack of regulation but by dumb regulation.
Under his plan, banks could avoid tougher regulatory oversight if they held capital that was at least 10% of their assets.The current requirement is 3% for most banks and 6% for institutions considered systemically important.
Since the financial crisis, regulators have forced banks to hold more capital to cover potential losses. But Hensarling stressed that his proposal is voluntary. Banks could offset the higher requirements with the ability to avoid Dodd-Franks suffocating regulatory complexity and control.
To end the problem of financial institutions considered too big to fail, Hensarling would create a new section of the bankruptcy code to wind them down. That would replace Dodd-Franks orderly liquidation authority, which allows regulators to seize and shut down a major financial firm on the brink of failure. Republicans have criticized that power as a type of bailout.
Hensarling also targeted the new consumer bureau. The CFPBs single director would be replaced with a bipartisan, five-member commission and the agencys funding would be subject to congressional appropriations.
Hensarling also would take away the authority of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a panel of regulators created by Dodd-Frank, to designate any firms as systemically important. And his plan would repeal the Volcker Rule, which prohibits banks from trading for their own profit and limits their ownership of risky investments.
MORE BUSINESS NEWS
Gannett persists in bid for Tribune Publishing
Verizon to bid $3 billion for Yahoos core business, report says
Sumner Redstones firm changes Viacoms bylaws, creating a big hurdle for Paramount sale
UPDATES:
3:44 p.m.: This article has been updated with more reporting throughout.
This article was originally published at 7:42 a.m.
Genentech and another drugmaker will pay $67 million to settle claims that they misled doctors into prescribing a treatment to lung cancer patients for whom the companies knew it would not work.
As a result, some patients may have died earlier than they would have if they had taken more effective drugs, a lawsuit brought by a former Genentech employee and joined by federal prosecutors alleges.
Cancer patients only get one shot at first-line treatments, the lawsuit said, and defendants took that opportunity away.
Advertisement
Genentech of South San Francisco said it settled the claims to avoid more costly litigation over marketing of the drug, Tarceva.
See the most-read stories this hour >>
We believe our Tarceva promotional communications and practices were and are entirely proper and in compliance with the law, said Andrew Villani, a Genentech spokesman.
The lawsuit claimed that from 2006 to 2011 Genentech and its marketing partner OSI Pharmaceuticals promoted Tarceva to treat all patients with non-small-cell lung cancer even though studies had shown that it worked for just those who had never smoked or had a certain gene mutation known as EGFR. Epidermal growth factor receptor is a type of protein found on the surface of cells in the body.
OSI of Melville, N.Y., was acquired by Japans Astellas Pharma Inc. in 2010.
The whistle-blower lawsuit was filed in 2011 by Brian Shields, who worked as a Tarceva sales representative and then a product manager. Under the False Claims Act, Shields and his lawyers will receive about $10 million of the settlement.
The lawsuit said the companies gave their sales representatives promotional materials that discouraged doctors from testing patients for EGFR.
The companies also promoted Tarceva, the lawsuit said, by giving doctors illegal kickbacks disguised as fees for making speeches or serving on Genentechs advisory boards.
Sales representatives across the country were instructed to spend lavishly on physicians, the case said, and given an unlimited budget to wine and dine.
Genentech also organized lunches or dinners for lung cancer patients where patient ambassadors were paid fees to speak about how Tarceva could be used in ways never approved by regulators, the lawsuit said.
Genentechs Villani noted that the settlement did not require the company to sign a corporate integrity agreement, which prosecutors often demand when companies are found to violate the False Claims Act.
We have robust policies for good promotional practices, Villani said, and these policies and practices are enforced through training, management oversight and strict promotional review processes.
Shields, 44, a former Army helicopter pilot, now lives in Alamo in Contra Costa County. He said that when he complained to his supervisors about some Tarceva promotional materials, he was told he was not a team player.
This is about lives, Shields said Tuesday. Hopefully this will have a lasting effect and improve cancer care.
MORE FROM BUSINESS
House Republican unveils plan to overhaul Dodd-Frank financial reform law
Social Securitys finances can be improved without cutting benefits by even a penny. Heres how.
Uber tweaks its app in bid to appease drivers
A top House Republican on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping plan to replace the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, which has been fiercely criticized as overly burdensome by GOP lawmakers, Wall Street executives and industry officials.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, called the 2010 law a grave mistake foisted upon the American people as he laid out the alternative that Republicans could seek if they win the White House in November.
He outlined a plan that would repeal or loosen a slew of new Dodd-Frank regulations in order to offer all Americans opportunities to raise their standards of living and achieve financial independence.
Advertisement
Key provisions would reduce the power of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and allow banks to increase the amount of capital they hold to avoid stricter regulatory oversight.
Simply put, Dodd-Frank has failed, Hensarling said in a speech to the Economic Club of New York. Its time for a new legislative paradigm in banking and capital markets.
The complex new legislation has virtually no chance of passing Congress this year. And President Obama would almost certainly veto any bill rolling back Dodd-Frank, which is one of his signature accomplishments.
SIGN UP for the free California Inc. business newsletter
Obama last week criticized continued Republican attempts targeting the law.
How it is that somebody could propose that we weaken regulations on Wall Street? Obama said in a speech in Indiana. Because of their reckless behavior, you got hurt.
But Hensarlings plan is a road map of what Republicans could try to accomplish on financial regulation if the party wins the presidency and retains control of Congress in the November elections.
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said last month that he was drawing up plans that would be close to dismantling Dodd-Frank.
Dodd-Frank has made it impossible for bankers to function, Trump told Reuters. It makes it very hard for bankers to loan money for people to create jobs, for people with businesses to create jobs. And that has to stop.
Dodd-Frank passed Congress with almost no Republican support in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
The law toughened regulations on banks and other financial firms, set up a powerful panel of regulators to watch for signs of instability and created a new consumer bureau, which has broad authority to oversee credit cards, mortgages and other financial products.
Republicans have been trying unsuccessfully to scale back the law since taking control of the House in 2011.
Hensarlings Financial CHOICE Act, which stands for Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs, incorporates several bills that have passed the House but failed to become law with Obama in the White House.
Hensarling said Tuesday that the crisis wasnt caused by lack of regulation but by dumb regulation.
When they voted for it, supporters of Dodd-Frank told us it would promote financial stability, end too big to fail, and lift the economy. None of this has come to pass, he said.
Hensarling said his plan would address all those problems.
Banks could avoid tougher regulatory oversight if they held capital that was at least 10% of their assets. The current requirement is 3% for most banks and 6% for institutions considered systemically important.
Hensarling stressed the plan, unlike some other proposals, doesnt force any bank to raise capital. But if they choose to, banks would be safer and avoid Dodd-Franks suffocating regulatory complexity and control.
To end the problem of financial institutions considered too big to fail, Hensarling would create a new section of the bankruptcy code to wind them down.
That would replace Dodd-Franks orderly liquidation authority, which allows regulators to seize and shut down a major financial firm on the brink of failure. Republicans have criticized that power as a type of bailout.
Hensarling also targeted the new consumer bureau, which he and other Republicans have criticized as too powerful and unaccountable to Congress because its funding comes directly from the Federal Reserve.
The plan would rename the agency the Consumer Financial Opportunity Commission. The single director would be replaced with a bipartisan, five-member commission and the agencys funding would be subject to congressional appropriations.
Consumer groups, which strongly support the bureau, have said such changes would weaken its authority and allow Republicans to starve it of funding.
Hensarling also would take away the authority of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a panel of regulators created by Dodd-Frank, to designate any firms as systemically important. The designation subjects the firms to stricter regulatory oversight.
And his plan would repeal the Volcker Rule, which prohibits banks from trading for their own profit and limits their ownership of risky investments.
MORE BUSINESS NEWS
Gannett persists in bid for Tribune Publishing
Verizon to bid $3 billion for Yahoos core business, report says
Sumner Redstones firm changes Viacoms bylaws, creating a big hurdle for Paramount sale
Jacobs Engineering Group, one of the worlds largest engineering companies, is preparing to move employees from its Pasadena headquarters to Dallas, becoming the latest major corporation to relocate significant operations from California to Texas.
The Fortune 500 firm, founded in Pasadena more than half a century ago, already has 300 employees in downtown Dallas and is weighing a more significant relocation. Mendi Head, a spokeswoman for the firm, confirmed the plans in an interview Monday.
In an email statement, Head wrote that Jacobs is considering plans to move a portion of its corporate functions from its Pasadena location to Dallas later this year, pending a successful real estate process and final approvals for state and local economic development investments.
Advertisement
The company will keep some employees in its Pasadena office, Head wrote.
Dallas is trying to lure the company to set up its headquarters there with a $277,500 grant, according to an agenda for a meeting of the citys economic development committee.
It should concern everyone in the community. The kind of jobs Jacobs Engineering provides, especially at the corporate level, are exactly the type of jobs we want in our community, said Gary Toebbin, president of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. Professional services have been a bright spot for California, generating outsize job growth in recent years.
Jacobs has worked on monumental transportation and energy projects across the globe, including the first phase of the Expo Line expansion in Los Angeles, and a heating and power station at Heathrow Airport in London.
The company has a stock-market capitalization of more than $6 billion, brings in $12 billion in annual revenue, and employs some 64,000 people.
The engineering giant isnt alone. Jamba Juice said last month that it would move operations from Emeryville, Calif., to Frisco, Texas, and in 2014, Toyota announced a relocation of its headquarters from Torrance to Plano, Texas.
Jacobs did not say why it is eyeing Texas, or how many employees would leave. Toyota and Jamba Juice both cited the expense of California real estate as a motivation. Texas has no personal income tax as well.
No doubt there is a trend. Texas has been the number one destination every year for the last eight years for California companies, said Joe Vranich, the owner of Spectrum Location Solutions, a consultant for companies considering cross-state moves.
In January, Vranich released a study showing that 1,669 companies had left California since 2007, with Texas receiving the largest number. He estimates that many more companies actually departed, but the moves werent publicly reported.
Despite the moves, California added 450,200 jobs over the last 12 months, whereas Texas added 189,600 jobs.
Natalie.Kitroeff@latimes.com
Follow me @NatalieKitro on Twitter
ALSO
Tribune Publishing vote tally shows big support for Gannett bid
Pharma exec Martin Shkreli pleads not guilty to securities fraud
Mark Zuckerbergs Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn accounts hijacked
SpaceX is aiming to relaunch one of its four landed rockets this fall.
Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted Tuesday afternoon that the Hawthorne space company is shooting for its first reflight of one of its Falcon 9 rockets in September or October.
SpaceX has said that the first rocket to land on a droneship back in April would be the first to re-fly.
Advertisement
The company has said a number of customers have already expressed interest in launching their payloads on a reusable rocket. One of the most vocal is SES, a satellite operator based in Luxembourg that launched one of its satellites aboard a Falcon 9 three months ago and has a contract with SpaceX to launch six more.
In an interview this year, Martin Halliwell, chief technology officer at SES, said the company wanted to be the first commercial satellite operator to fly the same rocket twice.
SpaceX has landed four rockets one on land and three at sea. Its next launch of a commercial communications satellite is set for June 14 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
MORE FROM BUSINESS
Gannett sticks with its bid for Tribune Publishing
Snapchat bumps down popular feature in a redesign
Drugmakers pay $67 million to settle claims they exaggerated cancer drugs effectiveness
samantha.masunaga@latimes.com
For more business news, follow me @smasunaga
Facing a high-profile labor lawsuit and backlash from drivers complaining about lower wages, Uber Technologies Inc. is changing parts of its ride-hailing app to appease those behind the wheel.
Features announced Monday will allow drivers to turn down passengers who arent heading in the same direction, stop requests from coming in when theyre on their last ride, and earn money when customers take more than two minutes to hop in. Uber plans to expand that policy to a dozen cities nationwide this month.
The company will also begin offering drivers discounts if they need an Uber ride and allow customers nationwide to pay with Uber Instant Pay allowing drivers to receive compensation immediately through a GoBank Uber Debit Card.
Advertisement
See the most-read stories this hour
Many of Ubers changes, like the waiting fee and the ability to filter fares depending on their direction, are already provided by competitors such as Lyft. Analysts say the move could help Uber lure or retain drivers.
The whole ride sharing marketplace is getting very competitive, said Matt DoLorenzo, a Kelly Blue Book analyst. Among drivers they seem to like the terms of Lyft better than Uber. Its a defensive move from Uber to get their drivers happy.
Uber, which has an estimated value of $62.5 billion, has faced scrutiny from drivers since it announced rate cuts in more than 100 U.S. cities in January. The company said it did so because of a decrease in demand during the winter months -- but rates havent returned to previous levels, and drivers havent stopped complaining.
Meanwhile, the company has proposed a $100-million settlement in a class-action lawsuit filed by drivers in California and Massachusetts who sought to be classified as employees rather than contractors. The settlement is still awaiting approval by a judge, but could allow Uber drivers to begin soliciting tips a practice that Lyft already allows.
SIGN UP for the free California Inc. business newsletter
Augie Ray, a research director covering customer experience for Gartner Inc., said the changes to Ubers app show how the company is engaged in a balancing act.
Its going to be a constant struggle for Uber to stay as competitive as possible while still allowing drivers to make enough money to get the kind of features they want. What youll see the next few years is Uber trying to keep drivers as happy as possible while paying them the least the drivers are willing to accept.
Uber declined to comment on the record for this story.
alex.schiffer@latimes.com
MORE BUSINESS NEWS
Gannett sticks with its bid for Tribune Publishing
Keurig discontinues Kold soda machine and offers full refunds
With new venture capital funding, Loot Crate looks beyond comics and sci-fi
Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena will participate in Californias assisted suicide law when it takes effect Thursday. But that could change down the road.
I reported last month that medical leaders at the hospital quietly had voted for the facilitys hundreds of doctors and affiliated personnel to opt out of the End of Life Option Act, which allows physicians to prescribe medication to hasten the death of terminally ill adults.
The hospitals board of directors was expected to finalize the opt-out decision at its May 26 meeting. But Huntingtons top brass is proceeding more cautiously now that the controversial matter is public knowledge.
Advertisement
Its unlikely Huntington Hospital will make a decision regarding its participation under the act before June 9th when the act goes into effect, Derek Clark, a Huntington spokesman, told me by email. We are being thoughtful and deliberate in our process and will therefore not restrict ourselves to a set timeline.
For the time being, he said, Huntington Hospital will fully comply with the act regarding its patients and will ensure patients are made aware, as appropriate, of the full range of end-of-life and palliative care options available to them, both from our hospital and from other providers.
According to an insider, Huntington doctors have been told that the board has referred the issue to an ad hoc committee for further study.
The End of Life Option Act, which is modeled on Oregons Death with Dignity Act, allows physicians to prescribe medication to hasten the death of competent adults who have been diagnosed with terminal illness and have six months or less to live. The patient must be able to self-administer the medication.
Most, if not all, religious hospitals in California are expected to reject the law on moral grounds. For secular facilities such as Huntington, the question is whether helping a patient end his or her life is ethically consistent with a commitment to protecting peoples well-being.
Hospitals have been scrambling to determine how theyre going to respond to the law, said Felicia Cohn, a UC Irvine medical professor who also serves as medical bioethics director for Kaiser Permanente in Orange County. There are very strong feelings on all sides of this issue.
Kaiser will respect the law, she said, but will allow individual doctors to opt out. Sutter Health and UCLA have adopted similar positions.
However, Cohn said Huntington is by no means alone among non-religious hospitals in giving mixed signals about its intentions.
There are so many questions, what ifs and worries, she said. I think many hospitals throughout the state are having similar difficulties.
Tim Rosales, a spokesman for Californians Against Assisted Suicide, said he wasnt surprised to see hand-wringing among operators of secular facilities.
The healthcare industry is very divided on this issue, he said. The law allows doctors and hospitals to opt out, and I think many will do that.
Huntingtons medical leadership approved an amendment to the hospitals rules in late April saying that Huntington Hospital has chosen not to participate in the act, and therefore no Huntington Hospital employees, independent contractors, or other persons or entities that work at or with Huntington Hospital may participate in activities under the act while on the premises of Huntington Hospital, or while acting within the scope of any employment or contractual relationship with Huntington Hospital.
Cohn speculated that a blanket opt-out might have been intended to shield the hospitals more than 800 affiliated doctors from having to explain to terminally ill patients that they wont help them under the terms of the law.
Matt Whitaker, California state director for the end-of-life advocacy group Compassion & Choices, said the difficulty for hospitals like Huntington isnt that theyre unsure of the right thing to do. Rather, its a fear of the unknown.
This is a brand new thing, Whitaker said. People dont know what to expect. What weve seen in other states is that once a hospital understands its patients experiences under such a law, theres a lot more comfort.
Oldchella chairs
Another update: I wrote the other day about the organizer of the upcoming Desert Trip music festival snarkily dubbed Oldchella because of its geriatric rock acts forbidding general-admission ticket holders from bringing chairs and blankets.
This wasnt received well by aging audience members who previously had received online assurance that they wouldnt have to park on the ground for the three-day event on back-to-back weekends in October.
Well, Im glad to say that after I exposed the switcheroo to some sunlight, the concert organizer, Goldenvoice, has changed its tune.
We heard you loud and clear, the company is emailing ticket holders who complained about the no-chairs-or-blankets policy. Small blankets and low back chairs WILL be allowed in designated viewing areas of the venue. We apologize for the confusion our previous decision caused.
Lindsay Lyons, a Goldenvoice spokeswoman, declined to comment. But she forwarded a screenshot from the Desert Trip website acknowledging the more accommodating policy. She also helpfully provided examples of acceptable low-back chairs.
Desert Trip performers include Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Who, Neil Young and Roger Waters.
Rock on.
David Lazarus column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and followed on Twitter @Davidlaz. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com.
MORE FROM DAVID LAZARUS
Lesson 1 at Trump University: The hard sell
Cord cutting: A la carte channels looking more likely
A pain-in-the-neck change from organizers of the Oldchella concert
Photographer Michael Jang was on a San Francisco bus, near 4th and Howard streets, when he noticed a moribund parking lot inhabited by a lonesome Chevy. Park and Lock By the Numbers, read the sign, 85 cents up to 12 hours.
The black-and-white image he shot that day from the bus captures a broad view of the citys South of Market district, circa 1976. The triangular profile of the Transamerica Pyramid, a building that had been completed just four years prior, is seen in the distance, along with the Gothic Revival tower of St. Patricks Church on Mission Street and the Art Deco forms of the Pacific Bell tower on New Montgomery, backdrop to the seemingly abandoned Chevy under a moody pall of clouds.
It is a view of South of Market from an era in which the city was losing industry and population, a place about which a newspaper headline once asked, S.F. Undergoing Decline?
Advertisement
It really looks like no one wants it like people dont even want to park there for 85 cents, says Jang. Obviously now you cant even take that picture because youd be blocked by buildings.
The new South of Market
South of Market, as the photographers work is titled, today hangs in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, in the very neighborhood whose somnolent state Jang once captured on film.
The museum, at 3rd and Howard streets since 1995, reopened in mid-May after a three-year, $305-million renovation and expansion. Surrounding it is a restaurant-rich neighborhood with a W Hotel, the tony St. Regis and a new branch of the blue-chip Gagosian Gallery.
Like the rest of San Francisco, a lot has changed in South of Market or SoMA, as its come to be known.
We have a more robust working community down here, says SFMOMA deputy director Ruth Berson, who has worked in the area for more than 15 years. Were seeing people work and live downtown in a way that we didnt before.
In many ways, the unveiling of the new SFMOMA caps a period of transformation that speaks to forces at play in many U.S. cities the rehabilitation of what had once been dilapidated urban cores. But the museum is also indicative of the role that high culture can play in that process. With its very presence, a museum can help shift the dynamics of a neighborhood.
South of Market, which stretches from the 101 Freeway to the waterfront between Market and 16th Streets, in recent years has drawn young professionals seeking walkable neighborhoods and loft living. The old PacBell tower depicted in Jangs photo? Its now the global headquarters for Yelp.
SIGN UP for our free Essential Arts & Culture newsletter
Part of this revival has included the construction of an enviable cultural district featuring an array of museums. Along its northern edge, where Third and Fourth meet Mission Street, youll find the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, the Museum of the African Diaspora and the transformed SFMOMA.
Sometime in 2019, this cluster will be joined by the Mexican Museum, now in temporary digs at Fort Mason, an old army base on San Franciscos north end. Its expected to inhabit several floors of a new tower designed by Enrique Norten of Ten Arquitectos.
SFMOMA is right there, its really well trafficked, says Edgar De Sola, the Mexican Museums COO, on the benefits of being in South of Market. The big tech companies are all there, there are thousands of people coming through.
The SFMOMA renovation, overseen by the Norwegian architectural firm Snohetta, takes the South of Market culture zone to stratospheric levels. The museum has 170,000 square feet of exhibition space, a rack of new work to show off, dedicated galleries for its photography collection (the museum was a pioneer in collecting in this area), a restaurant manned by three-star Michelin chef Corey Lee and a street-level gallery that allows visitors to access a slice of the museums collection without having to pay the $25 admission fee.
The building represents an opportunity for us to mean a lot more to our community and beyond, Berson says. We are thrilled to show more of our collection, present more temporary exhibitions and were now in a position to provide free admission to people 18 and under.
Interior view of the newly renovated San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which opened in mid-May after a three-year renovation. (John G. Mabanglo / EPA )
But in its glossy new incarnation, the museum is, in some ways, a marker of some of the less appealing aspects of urban renewal. A splashy new cultural institution can spell doom for artists and members of the working class who live in its orbit.
An extreme case is Spains Guggenheim Bilbao.
Bilbao was really successful in economic terms, says Nizan Shaked, an art historian and museum and curatorial studies professor at Long Beach State. But there has also been a lot of critical work done about its effect on urban development, in the ways that it was used as a tool of gentrification. Populations get pushed away. It heightens stratification.
To be certain, Bilbao and SFMOMA cant be easily compared.
Bilbao was this international museum that had to integrate into local communities, Shaked says. SFMOMA is not a copy cat of that. It was already built. It was already part of the city.
A street divide
Founded in 1935, SFMOMA is a homegrown institution with a track record of supporting regional and avant-garde artists. It landed in South Market after 60 years at its original civic center location once re-development had already been underway for more than two decades. (It was preceded by the real game-changer in the neighborhood, the Moscone Center, which opened in the early 1980s.)
Market Street, for most of its life, has served as one of San Franciscos most prominent physical and social divides. A diagonal slash that connects the Castro to the Embarcadero, it was once known as The Slot, for the iron tracks of the cable cars that were the dominant form of transportation in the late 19th century.
Novelist Jack London summed up the divide in a 1909 short story: North of the Slot were the theaters, hotels, and shopping district, the banks and the staid, respectable business houses. South of the Slot were the factories, slums, laundries, machine-shops, boiler works, and the abodes of the working class.
In the 60s, the neighborhood became the site of San Franciscos first gay leather bar, the Tool Box, which opened at Fourth Street and Harrington in 1962. (Its since been replaced by Whole Foods.)
And during the 70s, the area drew artists, such Janet Delaney, a photographer who has spent years chronicling the shifts in its landscape. (She too has work featured in SFMOMAs inaugural show.)
It wasnt Chinatown, it wasnt the Mission, says Delaney, of the neighborhoods welcoming nature. No one was an outsider.
This may be why the re-opening of the new SFMOMA, with its emphasis on the blue chip art of the Fisher Collection, assembled by Gap founders Donald and Doris Fisher and on view at the museum as part of an unusual 100-year loan, drew sharp jabs from many critics for ... well, its exceeding blue chip-ness.
Welcome to winner-take-all art history, and the new SFMOMA, wrote Jason Farago of the Guardian, an often impressive, occasionally flabbergasting procession of big names and high prices. Its a mutated museum for a mutated city.
Ben Davis of Artnet described the museum as a very expensive tombstone for the local art scene, since the wealth that makes these types of mega-institutions possible tends to crowd out the art scene that they should really be servicing.
Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggens Geometric Apple Core (1991), part of SFMOMAs blue-chip Fisher Collection. (AFP/Getty Images )
Its true that in a neighborhood (and a city) where issues of money and displacement are top of mind, its hard to ignore the presence of a 10-story billowing white cloud of a building stuffed with world-class art on a street that was at one point in the 20th century lined with cheap hotels and a tavern bearing the spectacular name Mother Lode. To be fair, though, SFMOMA contains countless delicious sights, of the sort that can only be seen in San Francisco including David Irelands graceful sculpture Broom Collection with Boom or Robert Arnesons wry ceramic self-portrait California Artist.
But as Times art critic Christopher Knight wrote of what he called the blue-chip blowout of the museums opening, Going forward, SFMOMAs challenge is to broaden the purview.
SFMOMA may not be single-handedly responsible for transforming South of Market or the city around it. But it certainly serves as a bellwether of the ways in which money increasingly defines and shapes life in the city. And perhaps the story of art a museum might choose to tell.
Staying relevant
SFMOMA, of course, isnt the only cultural institution to reside on the ashes of a working class district. In New York, the African American neighborhood of San Juan Hill was razed to make way for Lincoln Center. In Los Angeles, both the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Broad museum sit atop Bunker Hill, a neighborhood that once teemed with working men and an important community of American Indians, before being razed to build towers.
Berson says that SFMOMA has looked long and hard about what it can do to stay relevant to the broader community, not just the local elite. Our commitment to triple the number of schoolchildren we serve from 18,000 to 55,000 thats a step in that direction, she says. Being able to offer free admission to 18 and under is a big step for us. Lets not forget that 44,000 square feet of space is art-filled and people can use it free of charge.
Richard Serras Sequence (2006) in SFMOMAs street-level Roberts Family Gallery, a part of the museum that is free to the public. (John G. Mabanglo / EPA )
Moreover the museum nods to the neighborhoods roots in its debut photography exhibition, California and the West: Photography and the Campaign for Art, which features works by Jang and Delaney, among others, that chronicle the neighborhood, the city, and the lives of its rich and poor.
It is perhaps in the galleries that the museum can best honor the soil that it stands on. Museums are institutions that hold culture in the public trust. That culture isnt just galleries full of paintings by Andy Warhol and Ellsworth Kelly. Its also the working men who helped build and rebuild the city who worked the docks and drank cheap beer at the Mother Lode.
No city is without change. No neighborhood is the same from one generation to the next. In 1909, London noted as much in South of the Slot. The old San Francisco, he wrote, is the San Francisco of only the other day.
But what a good museum does is gently remind us of what a place once was and what it might have been.
ALSO:
SFMOMA evaluating Triple Elvis after visitor falls into a Warhol
Art Review: SFMOMAs expansion offers a deep dive into blue-chip artists works
Architecture Review: SFMOMAs expansion tries mightily but ultimately rings a bit hollow
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art evaluating Triple Elvis after visitor falls into a Warhol
SFMOMA sneak peek: More space, more dude art and an Ellsworth Kelly-Agnes Martin surprise
The Mario Botta-designed SFMOMA lobby as revamped by Snohetta. (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times )
A view of the Art Deco Pacific Bell tower (now the Yelp building) in South of Market. (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times )
A view of the new SFMOMA and Yerba Buena Gardens with the PacBell tower to the rear at center, in 1994. (Patrick Forden / For The Times )
Find me on Twitter @cmonstah.
The high-profile dispute between Sumner Redstone and his lieutenants took center stage in a Massachusetts courtroom Tuesday, with lawyers haggling over what motivated the media moguls decision to oust two loyal advisors.
Attorneys for Redstone argued that plans to sell a stake in movie studio Paramount Pictures against his wishes -- and not mental incompetency -- contributed to his unexpected decision to remove Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman and George Abrams from the board of his familys investment vehicle. The men were also removed from a trust that will eventually oversee his controlling shares in Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp.
That prompted Dauman and Abrams to sue Redstone and his family members to reverse the decision, charging that the mogul is being manipulated by his daughter, Shari Redstone, in an effort to take control of the trusts assets.
Advertisement
The arguments, presented before a Norfolk County Probate Court judge on Tuesday, came a day after Redstones family firm, National Amusements Inc. -- which controls nearly 80% of voting stock in Viacom and CBS -- announced that it had amended Viacoms bylaws to require a unanimous vote to approve any Paramount sale.
Dauman supports selling a piece of the legendary studio as a means to reduce the companys debt. Redstone, however, has been vehemently opposed to the plan.
The hearing Tuesday was to consider a request by Dauman and Abrams to speed preparations for a trial. They are seeking access to Redstones medical records and an order for an examination of the mogul by an independent physician, rather than his own doctors.
Another issue to be decided is a venue for the case. Redstones attorneys want further legal proceedings to occur in his current home state of California, while Daumans team have pressed to keep the case in Massachusetts, where National Amusements and Redstones trust are incorporated.
Probate Judge George Phelan said he would rule on the matters later this month after listening to attorneys from both sides -- 22 were in the courtroom located in this small town outside of Boston -- debate the mental state of the 93-year-old Redstone, at times depicting scenes worthy of a Gothic horror novel.
Redstone attorney Robert Klieger described a visit to his clients home in March for a meeting of the familys legal team. Klieger said he had never met Redstone before, but one of Redstones nurses -- among a dozen to care for him around the clock -- brought Klieger in to see the mogul for a few personal words.
He asked me to communicate that he was not interested in selling any portion of Paramount, Klieger said.
The attorney said he believed that it was likely something that Redstone got worked up about early that day as reports had surfaced that the studio that Redstone acquired for $10 billion in 1994 was being shopped.
Klieger said that when he was back at the residence the next day, Redstone followed up with him about whether his wishes were passed along. After telling Redstone that he had informed Viacom counsel, Redstone replied, You need to send the message to the board.
Les Fagen, an attorney for Dauman and Abrams, countered that Redstones decision to randomly discuss Paramount with a stranger would be uncharacteristic of a powerful business leader in control of his personal situation.
Does this sound like the act of a competent man? Fagen asked. Or does it sound like a man in prison trying to get a message out.
Klieger later noted that he had worked for firms that had done business with various Viacom-owned properties over the years, and that though they were not personally acquainted, Redstone was familiar with him.
As for their encounter, he added, It surprised me not because why would he trust me? What was surprising was that the message not being listened to.
Attorneys for Dauman and Abrams presented a dire picture of Redstones condition, in which he requires a feeding tube and suffers cognitive impairment, at one point suggesting that he was hanging on to life by a thread. They said Shari Redstone has isolated the mogul from longtime friends and colleagues.
Mr. Redstone does not have the capacity to deal with the issues were talking about, Fagen told the court.
Though Redstone family attorneys acknowledged that he requires a speech therapist or one of his nurses to communicate, they said he leaves his home for visits with his grandson and friends and that his physical condition has stabilized.
There has been significant improvement in Mr. Redstones capacity in recent weeks, Redstone physician Richard Gold said in a declaration presented to the court. Far from being a prisoner in his house, the frequency with which he leaves the house has been steadily increasing over the past several months. I have also not observed any recent decline in Mr. Redstones mental condition.
Gold, who said he has treated Redstone since March 2013, added that the mogul continues to have the ability to make his own medical decisions.
Attorneys for the Redstone family also contend that he is still engaged when it comes to discussing his business, which includes Paramount, the movie studio he acquired after a bidding war with Barry Diller. Redstone has described the studio as his baby, and his lawyers said their client has been clear in his opposition to any deal that gives up all or part of Viacoms ownership.
Sumner Redstone may have a tube in his throat but there has never been any equivocations in his voice, Redstone attorney Peter Biagetti told the court.
ALSO
China box office: X-Men on top as U.S. films rule the week
Sumner Redstone should undergo an immediate medical evaluation, Viacom CEO says
CBS anchor Scott Pelley says Web users look to the evening news for the truth
House Speaker Paul D. Ryans attempt Tuesday to roll out an anti-poverty plan was quickly overshadowed by Donald Trumps impolitic assault on an American-born judges Mexican heritage.
Claiming a person cant do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment, Ryan told reporters in an African American neighborhood of Washington, where he unveiled the first part of a new GOP policy agenda.
Ryan, who reluctantly endorsed Trump last week, acknowledged that such outbursts from the presumptive GOP presidential nominee undercut the better-way agenda Republicans in Congress are trying to present to voters.
Advertisement
See more of our top stories on Facebook >>
On Monday, Trump continued his attacks against U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is overseeing a fraud lawsuit against the now-defunct Trump University. Trump said the Indiana-born judge is bias because his parents were Mexican immigrants and Trump has proposed building a wall along the Mexican border to stop illegal immigration.
Though Ryan and most other GOP leaders have condemned Trumps remark, the House speaker said Republicans had better a chance of getting GOP goals enacted into law with Trump in the White House than with Democrat Hillary Clinton, and that he was confident Trump was on board with most of his goals.
We have more common ground on the policy issues of the day, and we have more likelihood of getting our policies enacted with him than with her, Ryan said.
Ryan said he has also talked with Trump about the tone the candidate uses on the campaign trail.
Election 2016 | Live coverage on Trail Guide | Track the delegate race | Sign up for the newsletter
The better-way agenda -- once dubbed the Confident America project -- is intended to present a series of ideas that Republicans can campaign on this fall.
Ryan said he has had extensive conversations about the agenda with Trump.
Notably missing from the policy list are proposals on immigration and trade -- two areas where Ryan and Trump disagree.
The poverty agenda is in many ways a retread of past Ryan budgets -- emphasizing work requirements before the poor can gain welfare benefits.
Next up is a defense policy agenda, scheduled to be released Thursday, followed by proposals on healthcare and taxes.
But Ryan has struggled to corral rank-and-file Republicans for a common agenda, and there is no guarantee any of the proposals can be passed by his House majority.
Moreover, Senate Republicans have shown little enthusiasm for the effort.
ALSO
Column: Paul Ryans endorsement of Donald Trump isnt just a mistake, its a disappointment
5 million Californians are expected to vote by mail, a new record for a statewide primary
Donald Trumps attack on judge and other racial comments stir trouble for the Republican Party
re almost there, the end of the line. Voters in California and five other states New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana cast ballots Tuesday in the final big round of primaries in the battle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Heres what were watching for:
History will be made.
In 57 U.S. presidential elections, no major party has nominated a woman for president. Clinton is on track to be the first, and the Associated Press reported Monday night that she had secured enough delegates to clinch the Democratic Partys nod. Clinton is expected to solidify her hold on the nomination once polls close in New Jersey at 8 p.m. Eastern. Shes holding a rally in Brooklyn, N.Y., to mark the occasion.
Superdelegates, superdelegates, superdelegates.
Expect a lot of talk about Democratic superdelegates, elected officials and party leaders who can choose which candidate to support. Although the overwhelming majority of them plan to back Clinton, they dont vote until the convention in July, so Sanders has insisted Clinton should not be considered the presumptive nominee.
Advertisement
Such an argument ignores both recent history and the popular vote. Presidential candidates can ascend to presumptive-nominee status after securing a majority of pledged delegates, as Clinton is on track to do, not just when competing candidates have dropped out.
Its also unlikely that Sanders will be able to sway superdelegates to his side. Clinton has won more votes, more states and more pledged delegates, meaning superdelegates would have to be willing to override the preference of the majority of the electorate to support him. In addition, superdelegates are members of a Democratic establishment that has been solidly behind Clinton since the beginning of the race.
Can Sanders win California?
Although Clinton is widely expected to have claimed the nomination before polls even close in California, the state is still the single biggest delegate prize of the day. Sanders has been campaigning nonstop here, hoping a victory will strengthen his hand for influencing the party platform at the convention and show the staying power of his political coalition.
The reaction from Sanders in the coming days could signal how hard hes still willing to press his case.
During the 2008 campaign, Clinton dropped out in June after a hard-fought race and threw her support to Sen. Barack Obama. Sanders, however, has pledged to fight until the party convention in July in Philadelphia. But decisive outcomes have a way of changing candidates behavior, even those who vowed just days or hours earlier to fight on until the end. See Texas Sen. Ted Cruzs about-face after the Indiana GOP primary last month or even former Florida Gov. Jeb Bushs exit from the race after losing in South Carolina, despite having announced a schedule of campaign events in Nevada.
In recent days, Sanders has added new criticisms of Clinton to his standard attack lines. He has said she has a conflict of interest because of donations from foreign governments to the Clinton Foundation, which was set up by her husband. Democratic leaders will be watching to see if he keeps making a case against Clinton, or starts laying the groundwork for a unified front against Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
Does President Obama get the green light?
Obama was considered the presumptive nominee in 2008 once a mix of pledged delegates and superdelegates put him over the threshold, so hell likely apply the same thinking to Clinton. Hes been eager to hit the campaign trail against Trump, but has mostly stayed on the sidelines while waiting for the Democratic primary to play out.
Although hes hinted at his support for Clinton, this week might be his chance to make that explicit. Obama appears likely to only make a move once the after-effects of Tuesdays results have settled, including whether Sanders reiterates his vow to press on to Philadelphia or backs away from it.
chris.megerian@latimes.com
Twitter: @chrismegerian
ALSO:
Analysis: Clinton and Sanders are a study in contrasts on the final weekend of campaigning
Donald Trumps attack on judge and other racial comments stir trouble for the Republican Party
How President Obama is campaigning for a philosophy, not just a candidate
Museum director Michael De Marsche was in his element, presiding over the installation of an exhibit bound to raise eyebrows: photos of Bettie Page, the pinup with kitschy bangs, high heels, mesh hose and tasseled underwear who helped usher in the sexual revolution of the 1960s.
The photos taken in 1954 by fashion photographer Bunny Yeager are of a nude, and nearly nude, Page lounging with leopards, deep-sea fishing and cavorting at a carnival, and a January 1955 Playboy centerfold of her winking under a Santa Claus cap while placing a bulb on a Christmas tree.
The images helped elevate pinup shots to an art form, and unleashed a cultural movement, as well as commercial products Bettie Page lunch boxes, playing cards, towels, action figures and the 2006 movie, The Notorious Bettie Page.
Advertisement
See more of our top stories on Facebook
Now, leaders on Santa Catalina Island hope they will draw attention to the June 18 grand opening of the 63-year-old Catalina Island Museums new home in downtown Avalon, the $10-million Ada Blanche Wrigley Schreiner Building.
1 / 8 AVALON CA., MAY 26, 2016: Dr. Michael de Marsche, director of the Catalina Island Museum holds one of the 62 black and white portraits of notorious 1950s pin-up model Bettie Page during the installation May 26, 2016. The new $10-million museum in the heart of Avalon is changing course from a focus on historic Catalina to exhibits designed to attract younger crowds and compete with mainland institutions. De Marsche was hired 5 years ago to raise funds and then build the structure. That wasnt easy. He is leaving his post, and the island, on Oct 1(Mark Boster/ Los Angeles Times). (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 8 Michael De Marsche, director of the Catalina Island Museum, supervises the installation of 62 black-and-white portraits of pinup model Bettie Page. De Marsche still hasnt decided whether to post an advisory that the exhibition, Bettie Page Uncovered: The Unknown Photographs of Bunny Yeager, may be unsettling for some viewers. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 8 Work is nearing completion on the Catalina Island Museums new home in the heart of Avalon. With the Bettie Page exhibit, the museum, which had been housed in the landmark casino building, is shifting away from what critics had derided as a dull and predictable focus on the Avalon of decades ago, when it was a storied getaway for movie stars and L.A. power brokers. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 8 Dr. Michael De Marsche, director of the Catalina Island Museum, supervises the installation of portraits of legendary 1950s pinup model Bettie Page. De Marsche, who had been the founding director of three museums, including the Cafesjian Center for the Arts in Yerevan, Armenia, was appointed in 2010 to oversee fundraising and construction of the Catalina museum. He plans to step down in October, (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 8 The museums new home, the $10-million Ada Blanche Wrigley Schreiner Building, takes its name from Ada Blanche Wrigley Schreiner, the first grandchild of William Wrigley Jr., the chewing gum magnate who bought the Catalina Island Co. in 1919. Schreiner died in 2010. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 8 Dr. Michael De Marsche, director of the Catalina Island Museum, looks over the Bettie Page photos being installed in the museum. The point of this exhibition is to shine a light on a transformative moment in American history, one that changed attitudes forever toward sex. He added with a wry smile: Were not the Louvre. Our mission is to educate, entertain and test boundaries. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 8 Building the museum in a 3,800-resident harbor resort community hit hard by drought and struggling to recover from an economic downturn was a feat. Just a week ago, the California Public Utilities Commission granted a minimal water allocation needed to open the museum, ending months of delays over concern that its use of eight bathroom sinks would violate local laws enacted to conserve water amid Stage 2 restrictions. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 8 The new museum features 11,000 square feet of floor space, with galleries devoted to special exhibits and the collection from the existing museum. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)
With the Page exhibit, the museum, which had been housed in the landmark casino building, is shifting direction away from what critics had derided as a dull and predictable focus on the Avalon of decades ago, when it was a storied getaway for movie stars and power brokers of Los Angeles.
But De Marsche, the museums executive director, still hasnt decided whether to post an advisory warning that the exhibition, Bettie Page Uncovered: The Unknown Photographs of Bunny Yeager, may be unsettling for some viewers.
Interested in the stories shaping California? Sign up for the free Essential California newsletter
As work crews hammered and sawed in adjacent exhibit halls, the tall, droll and energetic man of 60 said, The point of this exhibition is to shine a light on a transformative moment in American history, one that changed attitudes forever towards sex.
Were not the Louvre, he added with a wry smile. Our mission is to educate, entertain and test boundaries.
De Marsche, who has been the founding director of three museums, including the Cafesjian Center for the Arts in Yerevan, Armenia, was appointed in 2010 to oversee fundraising and construction of the new museum. He plans to step down in October, and the organization has launched a search for his successor.
The new museum takes its name from Ada Blanche Wrigley Schreiner, the first grandchild of William Wrigley Jr., who bought the Catalina Island Co. in 1919. Schreiner died in 2010.
Her son, Steve Schreiner, a museum board member, donated $4 million to the museum project.
Not everyone agrees with what Michael has done, Schreiner said. For example, it was challenging to get everyone on our board to agree to the Bettie Page exhibit.
But in a time when millennials would rather cruise through museum exhibits online than visit them in person, he said, Michael has achieved our goals of creating a new museum, and exhibits that bring in people who also visit our shops, restaurants and watering holes before they leave.
Over the last five years, De Marsche has attracted record crowds here with exhibits featuring the Beatles, Marilyn Monroe and the Chicago Cubs, which had little to do with Catalinas heritage.
The museums membership grew from 300 to about 2,000. Some of its largest financial contributors were formerly allied with the nonprofit Catalina Island Conservancy, which manages the islands wild lands.
Building the new museum in a 3,800-resident harbor resort community hit hard by the ongoing drought and struggling to recover from an economic downturn was a feat.
Just a week ago, the California Public Utilities Commission granted a minimal water allocation needed to open the new museum, ending months of delays over concerns its use of eight bathroom sinks would violate local laws enacted to conserve water amid Stage 2 restrictions.
The new museum features 11,000 square feet of floor space, with galleries devoted to special exhibits, and the collection from the existing museum, which includes Catalina landscape paintings, pottery, vintage photographs, archival documents and Native American artifacts dating back thousands of years.
As for its decision to debut with an exhibition of Pages saucy poses, Avalon City Councilman Joe Sampson said, Im sure it will stir up mixed emotions.
Personally, I think its cool, he added. Bikini scenes are right at home in Avalon.
ALSO
Drought sparks larger wildfires throughout California
California sees surge in Chinese illegally crossing border from Mexico
Water conservation has saved energy, cut greenhouse gas emissions, study finds
Louis.Sahagun@latimes.com
Follow me @LouisSahagun for more exciting stories
By the time parents find out that their kids school will share a campus with a charter school, the decision to put it there has usually already been made.
Los Angeles Unified School District board member Ref Rodriguez, a charter supporter who founded a network of charter schools in Los Angeles, frequently hears from parents unhappy that they were not involved in the process, or principals who say they feel as if they are being punished for declining enrollment. The charters, in turn, might have a difficult time at the host school because of the hostility. A charter school receives public funding, but may operate independently.
Now Rodriguez wants to form a committee of charter and district leaders who can figure out how to make colocation, the practice of putting both charter and traditional public schools on the same campus, a smoother experience for everyone. Results would include a guide for principals and a process to make sure communities know whats coming.
Advertisement
A ballot measure passed in 2000, Proposition 39, dictates the process for allocating space to charters. Public school districts must provide available classroom space to charter schools.
Charter schools in L.A. apply for space by Nov. 1 each year, and receive their offers in April.
Between November and April, no ones talking to schools or communities, Rodriguez said. The school board could create policies to inform communities as early as the summer that their school might be eligible for colocation, he said in a recent interview.
That way, if the available classrooms are a result of declining enrollment and a schools leaders dont want to share them, they can try to recruit more students, he said.
Enrollment in L.A. Unified has been declining for more than a decade because of several factors, including shifting demographics and the growth of charter schools.
Although L.A. Unified board president Steve Zimmer said he doesnt think colocation is necessarily a good thing, the conversation should be centered around changing the law that requires it.
Its a bad law, Zimmer said, speaking of Prop. 39. Just because schools may technically have space ... doesnt mean thats the best solution for a charter school.
See more of our top stories on Facebook >>
Karen Wolfe, a Venice parent whose children have been enrolled in charters and are now in traditional public schools, said colocation can get nasty, with resentment from parents at the traditional school, and a lack of regulation of the charters sharing the campus.
Wolfe recently co-founded PS Connect, a community group that helps inform parents about traditional schools and advocate for them.
Finding an impartial group of charter and public school leaders, as the resolution suggests, will be extremely difficult, she said.
If you come to our schools you wont find anyone sitting on that fence, Wolfe told the board last Tuesday.
MORE EDUCATION COVERAGE
Black preschool kids still get suspended much more frequently than white preschool kids
Charter groups bridle at LAUSDs order to wand students to detect weapons
State says L.A. Unified spends improperly, must redirect hundreds of millions of dollars
Reach Sonali Kohli at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com or on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli.
Schools suspend minority students at much higher rates than their peers, starting from the beginning, preschool.
The Civil Rights Data Collection, a national survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, gathered information on more than 50 million students at more than 95,000 schools and found that although suspensions decreased by almost 20 percentage points between the 2011-2012 and 2013-2014 school years, gaps between the suspension rates of different groups remained, according to results released late Monday.
The survey included 1,439,188 preschool students in 28,783 schools. Of those, 6,743, or 0.47%, were suspended once or more than once. Although black girls represent 20% of preschool enrollment, 54% of preschool girls suspended once or more were black. And black preschool children overall were 3.6 times as likely to be suspended as white preschoolers.
Advertisement
The results dont paint a very good picture, said Liz King, senior policy analyst and director of education policy at the Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights. She called parts of it startling.
Across all grades, 2.8 million students were suspended once or more. Black students were nearly four times as likely to be suspended and almost twice as likely to be expelled as white students. Students with disabilities were also twice as likely to be suspended as general education students.
The disparity tears at the moral fabric of the nation, said U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. We will not compromise away the civil right of all students to an excellent education.
We will not compromise away the civil right of all students to an excellent education. U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr.
The findings came amid a nationwide debate over school discipline and just what statistics like these mean.
School districts across the country have reexamined the way they chastise students for misbehaving, in part because of previous civil rights survey results.
In 2013, the Los Angeles Unified School District banned suspensions for willful defiance. As a result, the districts suspension rate dropped to 0.55% last school year from 8% in 2007-2008. Instead, teachers were supposed to use restorative justice, tactics that include conflict resolution, to keep their classrooms orderly. But teachers have said that they havent been trained in these techniques sufficiently.
Under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, a new law, states are required to review school disciplinary statistics to reduce an overuse of suspension.
The disparities invite further investigation, said Catherine Lhamon, the assistant secretary of Education responsible of the Office for Civil Rights. Data by itself is not a reason to think theres intentional discrimination, but they are a reason to ask further questions, she said.
So why are there major disparities in school discipline?
Jason Okonofua, a social psychologist at Stanford University, began trying to answer this question in his research after reflecting on his own experiences. As a kid growing up in Memphis, Tenn., he attended seven public schools and noticed that in some schools, teachers were more rigid; in others, they were more supportive. After 10th grade, though, came a bigger difference: He won a scholarship to an East Coast prep school, where he was one of just several black kids, in contrast to the majority-black schools he attended in Memphis.
At the prep school, he said, teachers treated students like adults. Seeing how different school atmospheres can bring about different outcomes got me interested in this particular topic, he said.
Okonofua found in his studies that the disparities stem from problems in the relationships between teachers and students. Minority students, he found, expect to be the victim of bias which leads them to be less cooperative. On the other hand, he said, if a teacher feels disrespected and believes the student is a troublemaker, the student will get punished more severely, causing the cycle to continue.
Okonofua had 190 teachers review information about a student misbehaving. He presented a scenario in which a student interrupted class by walking around, but some teachers read about a boy named Jake a white name and others read about Darnell, a black name. After that first infraction, they opted to discipline either boy almost the same way. But when presented with an additional scenario this time, Jake/Darnell fell asleep in class some teachers punished Darnell more harshly.
The federal survey also tracked access to high-level courses and found that half of high schools didnt offer calculus and that more than one quarter didnt offer chemistry. Although 56% of schools with low minority populations offered calculus, one third of those with high black and Latino populations did.
Right now were talking a good game about college and career readiness, but not all students attend schools that offer courses that are necessary for college readiness, said Daria Hall, interim vice president for government affairs and communications at the Education Trust, a Washington-based advocacy group. You look across all of this information and it becomes very clear why we have gaps in achievement.
And there are also gaps in the people in front of high-needs classrooms. About 10% of teachers in minority schools were first-year educators, compared with 5% of those in schools with lower populations of black and Latino students.
The preview of the data provided to reporters included percentages and proportions of students who were disciplined across the country. A more comprehensive set of results that include state, district and school-level information will go online Tuesday morning, officials said.
MORE EDUCATION COVERAGE
Charter groups bridle at LAUSDs order to wand students to detect weapons
State says L.A. Unified spends improperly, must redirect hundreds of millions of dollars
Father of former Stanford swimmer reportedly refers to sexual assault as 20 minutes of action
joy.resmovits@LATimes.com
Follow me @Joy_Resmovits.
Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has given $100,000 to an independent committee supporting Elan Carr, a candidate for Los Angeles County supervisor, according to campaign finance disclosures.
Adelson, chief executive of Las Vegas Sands Corp. and now-owner of the Las Vegas Review Journal, gave $100,000 last month to the committee, Safe Neighborhoods Supporting Elan Carr for Los Angeles Board of County Supervisors 5th District 2016.
Adelson is a prolific Republican donor and one of the richest people in the United States, with Forbes pegging his net worth at $26.6 billion.
Advertisement
Carr, a gang prosecutor with the Los Angeles County district attorneys office, is one of eight candidates on the ballot to replace retiring Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich. Five of the eight, including Carr, are Republicans.
As of last months campaign finance filing deadline, Carr had raised about $950,000, putting him fourth in funds raised, behind Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch Englander, Antonovich chief of staff Kathryn Barger and state Sen. Bob Huff.
The independent committee formed to support his bid has brought in about $130,000, including the Adelson contribution.
Carrs campaign consultant, John Thomas, said Adelson and Carr know each other and added, Sheldon does have a home in Malibu and cares about the direction of L.A. County and wants it to be a safe place to live.
Adelson also contributed to Carrs unsuccessful bid for Congress in 2014.
Carr, like Adelson, has ties to Israel. Carr is the son of Israeli immigrants and served as an advisor to Israels Ministry of Justice in setting up the countrys first public defenders office. Adelson owns Israel Today, a right-wing Israeli newspaper.
See the most-read stories this hour >>
A spokesman for Adelson could not be immediately reached for comment on the contribution.
Other candidates in the race have received substantial support from independent expenditure committees.
Unions representing county firefighters and sheriffs deputies have given $1.2 million to an outside committee supporting Barger, while an independent committee supporting Englander has raised about $350,000 from construction trade unions, developers and others.
The other candidates running for Antonovichs seat are former Glendale Mayor Ara Najarian, a Republican; and three Democrats: entrepreneur and former former White House Office of Management and Budget staffer Darrell Park, Palmdale-area real estate investor Raj Pal Kahlon, and Altadena Town Council member Billy Malone.
abby.sewell@latimes.com
Twitter: @sewella
MORE LOCAL NEWS
Father of former Stanford swimmer reportedly refers to sexual assault as 20 minutes of action
Jurors vote for death sentence for Grim Sleeper serial killer
A California wedding scene: Beach on one side, fire on the other
In what must have been a bizarre scene for commuters, police in San Francisco could be seen pursuing one of the citys ambulances.
The reason: Someone stole it, officials said.
Firefighters and paramedics were retrieving a person who was reportedly suffering a life-threatening emergency inside an apartment building on Mason Street in the Tenderloin district shortly after 8 a.m. when they emerged from the building to find their ambulance gone, said Lt. Jonathan Baxter of the San Francisco Fire Department.
See the most-read stories this hour
Advertisement
The group requested a second ambulance and called police, who along with the California Highway Patrol spotted the van heading east on the Bay Bridge, Baxter said.
PIO on scene available on phone suspect in custody no injuries pic.twitter.com/JA76VnvUYW SAN FRANCISCO FIRE DEPARTMENT (@SFFDPIO) June 7, 2016
The ambulance didnt get far.
The driver an unidentified woman exited at Treasure Island, then crashed into a concrete barrier, Baxter said. Photos from the crash site show the ambulance leaning on its side, its undercarriage balancing on top of the barrier. It caught fire and its front end was charred.
Interested in the stories shaping California? Sign up for the free Essential California newsletter
The 2003 Ford ambulance was valued at about $150,000 and is a total loss, Baxter said. Its unclear if the equipment worth $50,000 to $75,000 was salvageable, he said.
Suspect in custody no injuries Caltrans working to remove so we can open the roads pic.twitter.com/wYoiorD8Ce SAN FRANCISCO FIRE DEPARTMENT (@SFFDPIO) June 7, 2016
The woman was taken into custody on suspicion of felony evading police, hit and run and vehicle theft, police said.
As for the initial medical emergency the patient was taken to the hospital and will survive, Baxter said. Authorities are reviewing the departments protocols to ensure Tuesdays event doesnt happen again, he said.
ALSO
California sees surge in Chinese illegally crossing border from Mexico
New Santa Catalina Island museum to open with Bettie Page exhibit
Water conservation has saved energy, cut greenhouse gas emissions, study finds
For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna.
A California man was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in federal prison for trying to enter Canada so that he could eventually travel to the Mideast to help wage holy war, prosecutors said.
After completing his federal prison term, Nicholas Teausant, 22, of Acampo, Calif., will be placed on 25 years of supervised release, according to the U.S. attorneys office in Sacramento.
Teausant, a former student at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, pleaded guilty in December to attempting to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.
Advertisement
See the most-read stories this hour >>
According to prosecutors, U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez condemned Teausants actions, saying, Terrorism has to become a zero-tolerance crime.
There is no margin for error, he said during sentencing. It is the courts responsibility to fashion a sentence to reduce any risk you might pose in the future.
Acting U.S. Atty. Phillip A. Talbert described Teausant as being fixated with violence.
His conduct was misguided and unacceptable, the prosecutor said in a statement.
Teausant was arrested March 17, 2014, in Blaine, Wash., where he tried to cross into Canada, according to a 23-page affidavit. Federal officials said Teausant planned to join Islamic State.
A paid FBI informant who posed as a radical Islamist befriended Teausant and learned that he had been looking for ways to support and provide materials to terrorist organizations, the affidavit states.
He made his interests known on social media, even posting comments under an alias on Instagram, authorities said.
Dont get me wrong I despise america and want its downfall but yeah haha, Teausant wrote. I been part of the army for two years now and I would love to join Allahs army but I dont even know how to start.
Teausant had enlisted with the National Guard, but failed to maintain the academic qualifications necessary to attend basic training, according to authorities.
According to the affidavit, Teausant told a confidential source that he and friends talked about hitting the subway in Los Angeles on New Years Eve and New Years Day. But authorities said the plot was canceled due to security concerns and fears that the FBI had identified and arrested someone.
Later, during a meeting with the source and an undercover law enforcement officer, Teausant insisted he wanted to fight and that he wanted to join the brothers abroad.
In court documents, Teausants attorney Heather Williams argued for leniency, saying the guideline sentence of 15 years sentence was too harsh.
Nick Teausant was an experiment for the Government, she said in a sentencing memorandum. The Government knew that all of Nicks statements were worth nothing if he did not commit an act that would qualify as an attempt to commit a crime.
ALSO
Drought sparks larger wildfires throughout California
Stanford rapists friends and relatives wrote to persuade judge to keep him out of prison
In U.S., 38% of adults and 17% of kids are now obese, CDC study says
For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLAon Twitter.
The number of Chinese immigrants illegally crossing the Mexican border into California has skyrocketed in recent years, the result of a lucrative smuggling industry, mass migration from China and a diversifying pool of migrants settling in the United States.
Between October and May, the first eight months of the fiscal year, Border Patrol agents in the San Diego sector apprehended an estimated 663 Chinese nationals, compared with 48 in the entire previous fiscal year and eight in the year before that, according to data provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Before then, we just werent getting [Chinese nationals], said Wendi Lee, a spokeswoman for the Border Patrol.
Advertisement
Lee said criminal organizations involved in smuggling maximize their profits by transporting Chinese immigrants, often charging premiums to get them across the border.
NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>
Were talking anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 per person, Lee said. The farther you travel ... the more arrangements these criminal organizations have to make, the more expensive it will get.
China has become one of the worlds leading sources of immigrants, according to a February report by the Migration Policy Institute.
High-skilled and high-value emigration from China is rising fast, while low-skilled and unskilled emigration is stagnant a divergence that has been widening since the late 2000s. The emigration rate of Chinas highly educated population is now five times as high as the countrys overall rate, the report said. Chinas wealthy elites and growing middle class are increasingly pursuing educational and work opportunities overseas for themselves and their families, facilitated by their rising incomes.
Many of the foreign students now enrolled in U.S. universities hail from China, a result of their countrys emerging economy and growing middle class.
The Chinese account for the fifth-largest population of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, according to an October report by the Migration Policy Institute. An estimated 285,000 resided in the country in 2013.
Non-Mexican immigrants apprehended by the Border Patrol generally are turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations, which is responsible for determining whether they will be detained or released while their cases are reviewed by an immigration court, according to ICE.
ICE makes custody determinations on a case-by-case basis, taking into account all aspects of the persons circumstances, including whether the individual represents a threat to public safety or is a possible flight risk, the agency said.
See the most-read stories this hour >>
Some request political asylum. Others ask to return to their home countries.
Xiao Wang, a lecturer of Chinese studies at UC San Diego, said economic opportunity is a common factor in Chinese immigration. Small-business owners travel to sell products perfumes, electronics and cosmetics in the United States.
Its people who are trying to make money, Wang said. I think this is happening more and more.
But Muzaffar Chishti, director of the Migration Policy Institutes office at New York Universitys School of Law, said its important to understand the bigger picture.
Its tempting to say that this is a dramatic rise. In the scheme of things, its not a dramatic rise, he said. [China] is the worlds largest country. In that sense, he said, the recent increase in border crossings represents a drop in the bucket.
Some people who cross the border illegally become victims of human trafficking, Lee said.
Last month, authorities discovered 12 such immigrants in the attic of a home in San Diegos City Heights neighborhood. They were being held without food, with very little water and with no access to a restroom, Lee said. Five of them were Chinese.
Two suspected smugglers were taken into custody, along with all of the immigrants.
tatiana.sanchez@sduniontribune.com
Sanchez writes for the San Diego-Union Tribune.
ALSO
Drought sparks larger wildfires throughout California
Stanford rapists friends and relatives wrote to persuade judge to keep him out of prison
In U.S., 38% of adults and 17% of kids are now obese, CDC study says
UPDATES:
4:25 p.m.: This article was updated throughout to add context.
11:07 a.m.: This article was updated with additional context and reaction.
This article was originally published at 9 a.m.
Someone tried to burn down the Kardashians clothing store in West Hollywood on Monday night, Los Angeles County sheriffs official said.
At about 11:20 p.m., a passerby called 911 and reported seeing a man throw a lit object through the front door window of the Dash store in the 8400 block of Melrose Avenue, said sheriffs Lt. Edward Ramirez.
The attack broke the doors glass but didnt cause any significant damage inside. When deputies arrived to investigate, the found the heavy object smoldering inside the store but nothing else had been burned, Ramirez said.
Advertisement
But because the store is connected to the Kardashians, the media has flocked to the site, he said.
Weve received numerous phone calls, even from overseas, Ramirez chuckled.
This is the first attack on the store Ramirez could think of. Typically, sheriffs deputies are dispatched to the store for crowd control when the Kardashians show up or when there is filming, he said.
The store was the beginning of the Kardashians retail empire and the West Hollywood opening in 2012 was its fourth location.
Deputies are investigating Monday nights incident as an attempted arson and will canvass the area for any cameras that may have captured the attack, Ramirez said. No arrests have been made.
ALSO
Black Lives Matter activist to be sentenced in Pasadena
Stanford rapists friends and relatives wrote to persuade judge to keep him out of prison
Ebola scare in Hollywood sends woman to hospital in serious condition
Outrage over six-month sentence handed to former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner last week following a sexual assault conviction has sparked an effort to recall Santa Clara County Superior Court judge Aaron Persky, but any effort to unseat the judge will be extremely difficult, according to experts.
Judges are rarely recalled from office in California. Most who do leave office are removed following an investigation by the state Commission on Judicial Performance with a hearing on an issue of serious abuse, according to Loyola law professor Laurie Levenson.
Judges almost never get recalled even when people are upset about a sentence, Levenson said Tuesday.
Advertisement
Veteran sex crimes attorney Dmitry Gorin said recall attempts are rare and usually occur when a judge not only gives a lenient sentence but makes comments from the bench that indicate some abuse of discretion.
Persky is one of 25 judges who are running unopposed in Santa Clara County this election year. Because Persky and the others are running unopposed, their names wont appear on Tuesdays California primary election ballots. They probably wont appear on the November general election ballot either.
That is unless they are challenged.
Most people dont realize how involved it really is, said Anita Torres, spokeswoman for the Santa Clara County registrar of voters.
To oppose Persky, who was appointed by Gov. Gray Davis in 2003, voters must turn in 600 signatures by Aug. 17 to include a write-in candidate in November.
But thats not all.
An opposing candidate must also submit nomination paperwork by Oct. 25 to challenge Perskys reelection bid, Torres said. Perskys opposition must be a qualified candidate.
From there, voters must write in that candidates name instead of Perskys.
However, voters do have a second -- and far more complicated option: Recalling the jurist through a special election.
In order to do that, petitioners must gather 58,634 signatures to trigger a special county election that would be held sometime next year, Torres said.
No signatures have been submitted to the countys registrar office so far, Torres said.
Online petitions are calling for Perskys recall after he rejected a lengthy prison sentence for Turner.
Prosecutors asked for six years in prison, but Persky, a former prosecutor, imposed a six-month term in county jail.
The judge and probation officials noted the defendants youth and lack of a prior criminal history. According to a probation report released Monday, the countys probation department recommended a moderate jail sentence because he had no criminal history and because his intoxication level about 0.13 percent blood-alcohol concentration reduced the seriousness of the crime.
Persky said that a stiffer sentence would have a severe impact on Turner.
Critics say the sentence was too lenient, arguing that yet another college athletes wrongdoings were treated lightly at the expense of a female sexual assault victim.
Gorin said the sentencing in this case is outside the norm in his decades-long experience as both a sex crimes prosecutor in L.A. County and as a defense attorney.
It is very unusual to have probation in a forcible rape case, Gorin said. His background and no record was a major factor. I cannot think of a similar local case where a defendant convicted by a jury of such a violent crime avoided prison.
Turner faced up 14 years in prison after his conviction in March on three felony counts of assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated person, sexually penetration of an intoxicated person with a foreign object and sexually penetration of an unconscious person with a foreign object.
Those convictions alone should send him to prison, said Steve Cooley, Los Angeles former district attorney. Its an extraordinary sentence. Hell spend just 90 days in the county jail after being convicted on three sexual assault charges.
The standard sentence for those crimes is six years, he said.
That is what Id expect him to receive, Cooley said.
Prosecutors, he said, have the right to appeal the sentencing decision, but reversal by an appeals court on the grounds of abuse of discretion is rare.
Anger over Turners sentencing escalated after Stanford University School of Law professor Michele Dauber released excerpts online of a letter Turners father penned to the court. Dauber has launched a campaign to oust Persky from the bench, saying we need women judges who understand rape is not a mistake and the law applies to athletes.
Dan A. Turner wrote that his sons and familys lives had been completely altered because of the verdict. That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life, he wrote.
Turner later sought to clarify his comments in a statement issued to Huffington Post, saying his words were misinterpreted.
In an emotional 12-page statement published online, the rape victim detailed her psychological trauma. Discord spread beyond California when her statement went viral.
She called the probation officers recommendation of a year or less in county jail a soft time-out, a mockery of the seriousness of his assaults, and of the consequences of the pain I have been forced to endure.
Santa Clara County Dist. Atty. Jeff Rosen criticized the sentence, but said he does not believe Persky should be unseated.
The punishment does not fit the crime, he said in a statement after the sentencing. The sentence does not factor in the true seriousness of this sexual assault, or the victims ongoing trauma. Campus rape is no different than off-campus rape. Rape is rape.
Gorin said Orange Countys bench has, in recent years, been the place where activists have targeted judges for their sentencing decisions.
An effort to recall Orange County Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly for sentencing a child molester to 10 years instead of 25 years to life failed earlier this year. Petitioners gathered more 90,000 signatures but needed more than 100,000 across the county to get the recall on the ballot. Kelly said he believed the minimum 25-year sentence required under Jessicas Law, adopted by voters in 2006, would be unconstitutional in this case.
Nancy Wieben Stock, a now-retired Orange County judge, weathered an unsuccessful recall effort in the 1990s after she awarded O.J. Simpson custody of his two children after he was acquitted of killing his wife and the childrens mother, Nicole Brown Simpson.
Staff writer Brittny Mejia contributed to this report.
ALSO
San Diego cracks down on illegal pot dispensaries
California sees surge in Chinese illegally crossing border from Mexico
Orange County waters reopen after sighting of large sharks; smaller ones remain
For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter.
For the second day in a row, two miles of beaches in Orange County were closed to swimmers Monday afternoon after a cluster of large sharks was spotted near the shore, authorities said.
A police helicopter was conducting a routine flyover of the coast about 3:30 p.m. when officials spotted three sharks near Anderson Street, close to the border between Huntington Beach and Seal Beach, according to Lt. Claude Panis with the Huntington Beach Fire Departments Marine Safety Division.
The sharks measured 10 to 12 feet in length and were seen about 50 yards from the shore, Panis added.
Advertisement
Officials restricted swimming in Sunset Beach and the adjoining Surfside Beach in Seal Beach. The same stretch of sand was closed Sunday afternoon after an Orange County Sheriffs Department helicopter spotted sharks near Anderson Street, Panis said.
See the most-read stories this hour >>
The beaches were reopened about 10:30 a.m. Monday after public safety officials surveyed the water off the coast by drone, boat and helicopter and did not spot any sharks, according to Joe Bailey, the chief of the Seal Beach Marine Safety and Lifeguards Department.
The beach closures come a week after a 52-year-old woman was attacked by a shark while swimming off the coast of Newport Beach.
No attacks or aggressive behavior by sharks were reported. Officials said the restriction on swimming and surfing was a precautionary measure.
Officials in each city will decide Tuesday morning whether to reopen the beaches.
MORE LOCAL NEWS
Father of former Stanford swimmer reportedly refers to sexual assault as 20 minutes of action
Jurors vote for death sentence for Grim Sleeper serial killer
A California wedding scene: Beach on one side, fire on the other
For more California news, follow me @MattHjourno. Email me at matt.hamilton@latimes.com.
Landlords and operators of two illegal medical marijuana dispensaries in San Diego must pay $830,000 total in civil fines, a Superior Court judge has ruled.
The ruling comes less than a month after operators of two other illegal dispensaries were criminally charged under a new, more aggressive approach by City Atty. Jan Goldsmith.
Goldsmith has previously resisted a criminal approach, contending that the civil injunctions his office has used for many years are the fastest and most effective legal method.
Advertisement
But the city attorney is under increasing pressure to shut down illegal dispensaries now that 14 legal dispensaries have made it through the citys complex and costly approval process, established in 2014.
See more of our top stories on Facebook
So Goldsmith has begun combining criminal and civil efforts to shut the illegal shops down. And the civil approach has been extended more aggressively to landlords, not just dispensary operators.
As we warned, we are going after property owners who profit from renting to these illegal operators, Goldsmith said. I strongly urge property owners to obey the law.
City officials say the illegal shops are dangerous because they dont conform to city zoning rules designed to ensure businesses selling marijuana are far away from housing, schools, parks, churches and other sensitive uses.
They are also being called unfair competition for the legal dispensaries, which were more expensive to open because the owners had to pay approximately $500,000 each for permits, land-use consultants and lawyers.
Based on evidence supplied by Goldsmiths office, San Diego County Superior Court Judge Gregory Pollack last week ordered fines of $175,000 to be paid by the landlord of the Green Room in the Mount Hope neighborhood of southeastern San Diego.
The landlord, Luis Eduardo Medrano, continued to collect rent with full knowledge that his tenant was illegally selling marijuana in the dispensary at 4218 Market St., Pollack said.
The city is also pursuing criminal charges against Medrano, who Goldsmith said allowed the dispensary to operate for 17 months in open defiance of a court order to shut down.
The operators of the Green Room -- North County Holistic and Hakeen Dequan Garrett -- were ordered separately to pay $600,000 in civil penalties and were banned from operating a dispensary in the city without proper permits.
Meanwhile, San Diego County Superior Court Judge John Meyer ordered the operator of the Nugget House, an illegal dispensary in City Heights, to pay $55,000 in civil penalties.
Interested in the stories shaping California? Sign up for the free Essential California newsletter
The operator, Maher Hanna, was ordered to close the dispensary at 3717 University Ave. in July 2015, but it remained open until January, Goldsmith said.
The fines bring to nearly $3 million the total the city has collected from the operators of illegal dispensaries.
On the criminal side, the operators of two other dispensaries -- a second in Mount Hope and one in Mira Mesa -- were arraigned last month on criminal charges of illegally operating an unpermitted dispensary in violation of zoning regulations.
Evidence for a third criminal prosecution was obtained last month when San Diego police executed a search warrant on a Pacific Beach dispensary that was ordered closed in August 2015.
Defendants in such cases face penalties of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for each count.
The defendants in the Mira Mesa criminal case are Wamidh Yousif and Alian Matti, who had operated Exclusive Alternatives Inc. at 8514 Commerce Ave.
The defendants in the Mount Hope criminal case are Mehdi Tahmouresie, Alexander Scott Johnson and Sadegh Vazeri, who had operated All-Star Meds at 4227 Market St.
The Pacific Beach dispensary, Limitless Care Collective at 1737 Garnet Ave., has continued to operate despite being ordered to shut down in August 2015. On May 10, police entered the shop with a warrant and seized marijuana, firearms, buyer lists and other records.
City officials urge medical marijuana patients to use only the citys legal dispensaries.
Zach Lazarus, chief operating officer of the citys first legal dispensary, in Otay Mesa, said that although he doesnt want anyone denied access to medical marijuana, its important for the city to shut down illegal shops that violate zoning and dont comply with safety standards.
He said Goldsmiths latest efforts are encouraging, especially considering how difficult it can be to shut down illegal shops.
Jan Goldsmith has done a wonderful job based on the tools hes been given, Lazarus said.
Eight of the 14 approved dispensaries have opened.
They are located at 3703 Camino del Rio South, 2335 Roll Drive in Otay Mesa, 3452 Hancock St. in the Midway District, 658 E. San Ysidro Blvd., 2405 Harbor Drive in Barrio Logan, 7128 Miramar Road in Mira Mesa, 5125 Convoy St. in Kearny Mesa and 10671 Roselle St. in Torrey Pines/Sorrento Valley.
The six that havent opened include two in Kearny Mesa and one each in eastern Pacific Beach, Linda Vista, Stockton and the Midway District.
ALSO
New Santa Catalina Island museum to open with Bettie Page exhibit
Woman steals ambulance in San Francisco, leads police to Treasure Island
Water conservation has saved energy, cut greenhouse gas emissions, study finds
Garrick writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune
david.garrick@sduniontribune.com
Deep in an industrial neighborhood of South Anchorage, a bald eagle known only as No. 1526 eats donated salmon and pet store rats as he is trained for use as a classroom exhibit.
Life could be worse. The eagle arrived here in October after he was hit by a plane in the stormy island town of Sand Point and somehow survived, rushed to emergency wing surgery. At a time when eagles are so prevalent that its hard to find zoos willing to take them, No. 1526 is young enough to learn new tricks.
Hes a pretty lucky bird, said Amy Kilshaw, an avian rehabilitation coordinator for the Anchorage-based Bird Treatment and Learning Center.
Advertisement
When you say, He got hit by an airplane, everyone gets taken aback by that, Kilshaw said. The eagle regarded her seriously from his perch a few feet away, ruffling an amputated wing. Especially because, obviously, hes still here.
No. 1526 might be fortunate, but hes not alone. A side effect of one of the great American conservation success stories, collisions between airplanes and bald eagles are on the rise across the country.
Reports to the Federal Aviation Administration of bald eagles struck by airplanes have increased 2,200% since 1990 as the once-threatened species repopulates its historical range. The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts that eagles, which can weigh as much as a Thanksgiving ham and slam into fast-moving planes as if they were fired from a cannon, pose an increasing risk at U.S. airports.
The FAA counted 17 such collisions last year nationwide, including four in Alaska. Although the chances of hitting the national symbol while flying are low, the stakes are high. The average collision costs $425,000 in repairs.
Eagle populations increased fivefold in the Pacific Northwest, Chesapeake Bay, Great Lakes and Florida over the past 20 years. Over the same period, airlines replaced older, louder jets with quieter turbofan engines that prove harder for birds to detect and evade, according to the USDAs Wildlife Services division.
We did start to see a sudden increase in [bald eagle] strikes, and we think that has to do with the population increase, said Mike Begier, who coordinates the federal airport wildlife hazards program for the USDA and oversees an FAA database of reported bird strikes.
Because of their large size, sometimes the consequences can be really dramatic, he said.
Alaska, in particular, has become a proving ground of sorts for the dangers bald eagles can pose to planes.
In 2010, passengers on an Alaska Airlines flight from Sitka to Seattle heard a loud bang during takeoff, followed by a tremor throughout the Boeing 737. An eagle had been sucked into the left engine, which burst into flames, according to a report to the FAA. The plane aborted takeoff and taxied back to the airport terminal.
------------
For the record
8:37 p.m.: An earlier version of this story said the Alaska Airlines flight out of Sitka that was struck was a Boeing 747. It was a Boeing 737.
------------
When a replacement jet took off with the stranded passengers, it hit an eagle too.
That was a real big one that really got people thinking about this issue with bald eagles, said Begier, who last year co-authored the first research report on the danger of bald eagle strikes at U.S. airports.
The paper concluded that bald eagle collisions represent an increasing problem for aviators and called for research into tactics for preventing crashes. A month after the research article was published, a bald eagle was sucked into the engine of a 747 departing Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, causing more than $1 million in damage.
When does a goose become an elephant? The instant it hits an aircraft. Mike Begier, federal airport wildlife hazards program coordinator.
Nowhere are more eagles struck than Alaska, where 60 reports of strikes or near strikes have been logged since 1990. Except for gulls, aircraft collisions with eagles are more common here than for any other bird, FAA records show.
For the first time, the problem appeared to turn deadly April 20 when a small propeller plane carrying four people on an aerial and surveying photography flight smashed into the dense spruce and birch trees near Anchorage. Everyone on board was killed.
Investigators found a foreign substance on the plane and sent samples to the Smithsonian Institute for DNA testing. The Cessna 172 had hit a juvenile bald eagle, the tests concluded. Unless a surprise cause is discovered in the ongoing investigation, the crash would mark the first human deaths following an eagle strike in the U.S.
We dont know if went through the cabin or the cockpit. Through the windscreen or if it took out one of the flight control mechanisms, said Clint Johnson, the National Transportation Safety Board chief for Alaska.
With an average weight of 9 to 12 pounds, eagles can shatter windshields or shut down a jet engine. Of the 234 eagle collisions with civil and military aircraft reported to the FAA between 1990 and 2013, more than half caused damage, Begier and his colleagues found.
When does a goose become an elephant? Begier asked, paraphrasing an old poster used in Canada to warn pilots of dangerous bird strikes. The instant it hits an aircraft.
Efforts by the USDAs National Wildlife Research Center to develop new lighting systems for aircraft could help reduce collisions by making it easier for eagles and other species to spot approaching planes, Begier said. The National Transportation Safety Board encouraged such research following the 2009 Miracle on the Hudson landing of a passenger jet that ingested a flock of Canada geese.
On the front lines are Wildlife Services biologists like Spencer Nelsen, who has patrolled the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport for three years. There have been two eagle strikes in that time, he said.
Ringed by a moose-proof fence above a blustery inlet, the airport is a pit stop for global travel and one of the busiest cargo hubs in the world. Eagles like to soar on thermals just off the end of the runway, Nelsen said as he patrolled the airport on a sunny afternoon this spring.
Were not doing them any favors by letting them stay here, he said of the eagles. Its really a matter of time before something bad happens.
While no longer listed under the Endangered Species Act, the birds remain protected under federal law. Even at airports, their nests can only be moved with a permit and then only if there are no eggs inside.
See more of our top stories on Facebook >>
The biologist pulled to a stop. High above, a familiar bald eagle was back, gliding in wide, lazy loops. Nelsen once removed a tree where the bird notable for a distinctive white mark on its wing -- nested near the airport, but the eagle remains. Ravens are craftier. They learn to avoid the planes and flee at the sight of his white pickup.
Nelson pulled a shotgun from the cab, loading noisemaker shells designed to scare the bird to safety. The 12-gauge boomed three times. The eagle paid no mind as another jet roared in for a landing.
The driver of a nearby UPS truck watched the commotion, leaning out of the window of his cab for a better look.
Good luck, he said to Nelson. That poor guys been around here all day.
ALSO
Florida attorney general asked Trump for donation before nixing fraud case
No charges filed against boys mother in gorilla death case, Ohio prosecutor says
U.S. cities see unexplained rise in violent crimes this year
Hopkins is a special correspondent.
Floridas attorney general personally solicited a political contribution from Donald Trump around the same time her office deliberated joining an investigation of alleged fraud at Trump University and its affiliates.
The new disclosure from Atty. Gen. Pam Bondis spokesman to The Associated Press on Monday provides additional details around the unusual circumstances of Trumps $25,000 donation to Bondi.
The money came from a Trump family foundation in apparent violation of rules surrounding political activities by charities. A political group backing Bondis re-election, called And Justice for All, reported receiving the check Sept. 17, 2013 four days after Bondis office publicly announced she was considering joining a New York state probe of Trump Universitys activities.
Advertisement
See more of our top stories on Facebook
After the check came in, Bondis office nixed suing Trump, citing insufficient grounds to proceed.
Bondi declined repeated requests for an interview on Monday, referring all questions to Marc Reichelderfer, a political consultant who worked for her most recent reelection effort.
Reichelderfer told AP that Bondi spoke with Trump several weeks before her office publicly announced it was deliberating whether to join a lawsuit proposed by New Yorks Democratic attorney general. Reichelfelder said that Bondi was unaware of dozens of consumer complaints received by her office about Trumps real-estate seminars at the time she requested the donation.
The process took at least several weeks, from the time they spoke to the time they received the contribution, Reichelderfer told AP.
The timing of the donation by Trump is notable because the now presumptive Republican presidential nominee has said he expects and receives favors from politicians to whom he gives money.
Election 2016 | Live coverage on Trail Guide | Track the delegate race | Sign up for the newsletter
When I want something I get it, Trump said at an Iowa rally in January. When I call, they kiss my ass. Its true.
In addition to the money given by his foundation, Trump himself has donated $253,500 since in Florida since 1999, most of it going to Republican candidates, the state party or political committees affiliated with GOP officials. His daughter, Ivanka Trump, also gave a $500 check to Bondi a week before her fathers money came in, as well as another $25,000 to the Republican Party of Florida the following year.
The AP reviewed thousands of pages of records related to consumer complaints about Trump University and its affiliates filed with Bondis office. The documents previously obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, which first reported Trumps donation to Bondi reveal a new reservoir of unhappy Trump University customers, despite recent claims from the presumptive GOP presidential nominee that the students of his real estate seminar company were overwhelmingly satisfied.
New York Atty. Gen. Eric Schneiderman and a separate federal class action civil lawsuit in California allege that Trump University which was largely owned by Trump himself defrauded consumers by as much as $35,000 each with promises of a real estate investing education that they either did not receive or found to be worthless.
All told, more than 60 people requested help from the Florida attorney generals office in obtaining refunds from Trump University and affiliates. Many alleged that they paid money for training materials and personalized instruction which were never delivered.
I was laid off work for the first time in my life and really need this money to support my family, wrote one of the many people seeking help, adding that he had been promised a refund but never received it. "$1,400 is so much money for my family.
The documents complicate prior claims by Bondis office that she received only one consumer complaint about Trump University at the time that she decided not to join the New York investigation.
Bondis office said that its statement about receiving only a single complaint was accurate at the time because most of the complaints dealt with the Trump Institute, a separate corporate entity from Trump University, and were made before she took office at the start of 2011. The Trump Institute was licensed by Trump to run his seminars, however, with Trump keeping a share of the profits. In internal emails, Bondis own staff appeared to lump Trump University and the Trump Institute together as New Yorks lawsuit has done.
Bondi was not the only GOP attorney general to shy away from suing Trump.
The Associated Press first reported last week that then-Texas Atty. Greg Abbott received $35,000 from Trump, three years after his office in 2010 dropped a proposed lawsuit over Trump U. Following APs report, former Texas Deputy Chief of Consumer Protection John Owens said the case had been dropped for political reasons. He also made public a detailed internal summary of his staffs strong case against Trump.
A spokesman for Abbott, now the Texas governor, said the case was dropped after Trumps organization agreed to stop offering his namesake real-estate seminars in the state. Within months, Trump University was out of business nationwide.
By choosing not to pursue Trump in court, the GOP attorneys general left the unhappy students in their states on their own to try to get refunds from the celebrity businessman.
Both Bondi and Abbott have now endorsed Trump for president.
ALSO
Bill Clinton shouted down by Bernie Sanders supporters in Boyle Heights
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump take shots at each other on Sunday shows
Donald Trumps attack on judge and other racial comments stir trouble for the Republican Party
Im Davan Maharaj, editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times. Here are some story lines I dont want you to miss today.
TOP STORIES
Lets Do This, California
Advertisement
If theres one thing this campaign season has taught us, it isnt over until its over. California and five other states go to the polls today. According to the Associated Press delegate count, Hillary Clinton has already become the first woman to clinch a major partys presidential nomination. But she didnt declare victory, and Bernie Sanders campaign criticized the medias rush to judgment. Live coverage of all todays proceedings is here.
More From the Campaign Trail
-- After AP calls the nomination for Clinton, will voters still turn out?
-- Republican critics line up against Donald Trump for his comments about a Latino judge.
-- A quick refresher for everything thats on the ballot.
The Grim Sleeper: Dead Man Walking
Just before Lonnie David Franklin Jr. sat down in court, Donnell Alexander muttered the words, Dead man walking. Alexander, who kept a journal of the trial, was there for his sister Alicia. She was among the 10 Grim Sleeper murders for which Franklin was sentenced to death by an L.A. County jury. This was the scene inside and outside the courtroom.
How to Solve Prison Overcrowding?
Californias prison population is again rising after hitting a low of about 127,000 in February. To comply with a federal order to reduce overcrowding, thousands are housed in private prisons as far away as Mississippi. What to do? It now seems likely that voters will get the chance in November to decide whether to make thousands more inmates eligible for parole. Gov. Jerry Brown says its an incentive for prisoners to behave well, while former Gov. Pete Wilson calls it a great leap backwards.
The Gangs of Caracas
The people of Venezuela are enduring a lot in the countrys economic crisis: lack of basic foodstuffs, political instability, social unrest and interminable lines. But the biggest worry may be violent crime, as marauding armed gangs mug pedestrians and force restaurants to close early. As Patrick J. McDonnell reports, a common saying is: Before the thieves would only rob you. Now they kill you.
Soar Like an Eagle, but Watch Out for That Plane
Good news: The number of bald eagles, once an endangered species, has been growing dramatically over the last two decades. Bad news: The number of collisions between bald eagles and airplanes has also risen rapidly. The FAA reported 17 such incidents last year in the U.S., including four in Alaska. Take a look at how officials are trying to figure out a way to keep the national bird out of harms way.
CALIFORNIA
-- Former Assemblyman Tom Calderon pleaded guilty in a federal money-laundering case.
-- The father of a former Stanford swimmer convicted of sexual assault draws outrage after reportedly stating that his son should not be imprisoned over 20 minutes of action.
-- South L.A. wins a Promise Zone designation that could help bring in federal money.
-- Hugh Hefners Playboy Mansion is under contract to sell to a billionaires son.
NATION-WORLD
-- A survey shows schools suspend minority students at much higher rates than their white peers, sometimes starting in preschool.
-- This is what its like to live in the worlds fastest-growing major economy.
-- Lancome draws outrage in Hong Kong after dropping a pro-democracy pop singer.
-- David Lamb, a longtime L.A. Times correspondent who covered the Vietnam War, has died at 76.
-- Part microbe, part machine: A bionic leaf sucks up carbon dioxide as it makes liquid fuel.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
-- Video: Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe discuss their hit show Outlander.
-- Peter Shaffer, the Oscar-winning British playwright whose stage dramas Amadeus and Equus were turned into acclaimed movies, has died at 90.
-- A view from inside the Kanye West concert chaos in New York.
-- The new SFMOMA reflects a sea change that has engulfed one San Francisco neighborhood.
-- The documentary They Call Us Monsters tackles the issues around juvenile offenders.
BUSINESS
-- Janet Yellen signals that the Fed will wait to raise interest rates.
-- Sumner Redstones firm changes Viacoms bylaws, creating a big hurdle for a sale of Paramount.
SPORTS
-- After a 3-1 victory over the Sharks on Monday, the Pittsburgh Penguins are one win away from claiming the Stanley Cup.
-- The Lakers DAngelo Russell is having a ball in China, but hes dead serious about his future in L.A.
-- Street-fighting MMA sensation Kimbo Slice has died at 42.
-- The UFC has lifted its ban on reporter Ariel Helwani, who was escorted out of the Forum for breaking two news stories about the organization.
OPINION
-- In case you missed it: Here are The Times endorsements for todays election.
-- There are 34 people running for Barbara Boxers U.S. Senate seat. Here are most, in all their glory.
WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING
-- A Syracuse law professor is compiling a database of war crimes in Syria. (Der Spiegel)
-- Plagiarism runs rampant in the world of self-publishing. (The Atlantic)
-- Would you like to buy a castle in the U.S.? (Bloomberg)
ONLY IN L.A.
The bride and groom said, I do. And then came the order to move. Quickly. The brush fire in Calabasas on Saturday forced the mandatory evacuation of the couples 50-person wedding party at the Inn of the Seventh Ray in Topanga. Heres how they picked up and partied on at a nearby beach.
Please send comments and ideas to Davan Maharaj.
Its election time once again, and that means huge amounts of money are flowing into candidates war chests, political action committees and independent expenditure committees.
How much? Record amounts. As of last week, more than $24 million had been reported in independent expenditures in state legislative races alone. Thats the most ever, and its not even counting the millions spent in direct contributions to those candidates.
Who is spending all this money? Who is receiving it? Good questions. Fortunately, voters can find out at the touch of a button with Californias state-of-the-art online campaign finance portal. Cash amounts, donors, independent expenditures, ballot measures, gifts its everything a voter needs to know about the special interests working behind the scenes to influence them before stepping into the polling booth.
Advertisement
Ha-ha! Just kidding. Thats merely wishful thinking. Thanks to years of ineptitude by past officials, the state that gave birth to Apple and Google has been stuck with Cal-Access, a 1990s-era campaign finance database thats ugly, difficult to use, doesnt aggregate data, crashes often and requires users to employ Microsoft Excel just to get basic information. The only highlights of Cal-Access are the two recently added search tools built by an outside organization, MapLight.
Its so clunky and user-unfriendly that good government groups like Common Cause dont send members there to get basic information. Its so old the software vendors responsible for the Cal-Access dont even support it anymore. Its so out of date that its making it hard for the Secretary of State and the Fair Political Practices Commission to make the public disclosures mandated by law.
Nobody loves Cal-Access. Its an embarrassment, its an impediment to open democracy and its time for it to be replaced. By the time the next presidential campaign rolls around it probably will be. But voters shouldnt have to wait that long.
A bill by Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), SB 1349, would help speed up the replacement of Cal-Access by removing some of the red tape that binds the state when it buys technology, which could shave a year off the time it takes to get a new system in place though the secretary of states office would still employ safeguards so money and time arent wasted. The bill would also commit the state to the upfront funding for the new system, which is expected to cost about $13.5 million. Otherwise, Secretary of State Alex Padilla may have to wait until the new Political Disclosure, Accountability, Transparency and Access fund saves up enough from the $375,000 in fees it collects a year to pay for it.
Padilla, the FPPC and those who care about transparent government support the bill, making for an unlikely alliance of business and taxpayer groups, labor unions, and good-government organizations. The Senate passed the bill unanimously last week, but its hard to say what Assembly members will do. We urge them to pass this bill as soon and possible and the governor to sign it, so that voters dont have to wait until another presidential primary for a campaign finance database that has all the things they need to assess candidates and ballot measures in the era of big money.
Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
Youve got to feel sorry for Republican Party leaders. They have painted themselves into an uncomfortable corner by falling into line behind Donald Trump before the convention leaving themselves no possible alternative to this loudmouth huckster who managed to con his way into the nomination.
Now they are in contortions trying to distance themselves from his latest howler, which Speaker Paul Ryan called the textbook definition of a racist comment. Thats Trumps statement that federal Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel cannot be fair in the Trump University case because hes Mexican and Trump wants to build a wall between U.S. and Mexico.
Im building a wall, Trump explained to the Wall Street Journal. Its an inherent conflict of interest.
Advertisement
Its a ridiculous claim. First of all, Curiel is not Mexican. Hes an American, born in Indiana to immigrants. Does Trump not know the difference? Does he consider himself a Scotsman because his mother was born in Scotland? And though Trump eventually walked it back to Mexican heritage, hes suggesting Curiel is intellectually incapable of looking beyond his own ethnicity to rule on issues of law.
Yet even Trumps lawyers have not asked Curiel to recuse himself. That may be because a judges ethnicity is usually not considered germane to how he or she will rule; judges are expected to put their personal backgrounds aside to make fair, rational decisions. And perhaps it also is because Curiel is manifestly qualified a former federal prosecutor who was first appointed to the bench in 2006 by a Republican, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Schwarzenegger tweeted Monday that Curiel is an American hero who stood up to Mexican cartels and said he is proud of the appointment.)
Ryan was right to denounce the remark, as he did Tuesday, and to call on Trump to apologize. But Ryan and others are making a mistake by continuing to insist that Trump is presidential material. Trump showed no contrition, only issuing a non-apology Tuesday, complaining that his comments had been misconstrued. But in fact they werent. He even doubled down earlier this week by suggesting that a Muslim would not be fit to preside over the case either (presumably because of the candidates previous offensive comments about Muslims).
Americans who continue to support Trump will not be able to say later in the campaign that they didnt know what they were getting with him. Its long been clear that he is impulsive, mouthy and a bit of bully, that he talks first and thinks about it only later, if at all. And it was clear from the start of his campaign that he holds ungenerous opinions of Mexican immigrants.
But now we know that even when seemingly every Republican sage in the country tells him hes not just a little wrong, but wildly so, he digs in his heels. Thats hardly the sign of presidential timber. And presumably the GOP notables who have rushed to endorse Trump know now that they have made a deal with the devil and that its the party itself thats feeling the heat.
Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
Michelle Gregg, mother of the 3-year-old whose fall into the Cincinnati Zoos gorilla enclosure necessitated the tragic shooting death of silverback Harambe, will not face trial for -- well, what, exactly?
Officially, Gregg was cleared of child endangerment charges by Hamilton County, Ohio, prosecutor Joe Deters on Monday. But to anyone who has ever cared for a toddler in a public place -- let alone several children, as Gregg was -- Deters statement seemed less about bringing an investigation to a close than hushing a chorus of people demanding summary judgment of the mother with that reflexive, ubiquitous question: Where were the parents?
Its a question several of our letter writers have asked, and at first it seems entirely appropriate -- parents are, after all, responsible for their kids behavior in public. But its also a loaded question familiar to fathers and mothers, and it assumes a kind of preternatural ability on our part to control the cohabiting cavemen that surround us (commonly known to you as children).
Advertisement
Greggs indiscretion strikes me, the father of 4-year-old twins, as pedestrian. She reportedly looked away from her 3-year-old for a few seconds after telling him to stay out of the gorilla exhibit. So he went into the exhibit, an irresistible act of defiance to anyone possessing the not-fully-developed prefrontal cortex of a toddler. Kids get lost in zoos and other public places all the time without the parents facing an investigation for negligence; this kid just happened to get lost in a gorilla enclosure.
Heres the thing: Thanks to the proliferation of smartphone cameras, Gregg is now being vilified for endangerment, but how many parents today face criticism for precisely the opposite mistake? As a father Ive received my share of judgmental stares for perceived acts of negligence as well as for hovering over my kids too closely -- it depends on whos doing the staring.
See the most-read stories this hour >>
Collectively, we cant seem to make up our minds about parents. What villain are we -- the nosy helicopter mom or dad who never lets his kid climb a tree or experience any other physical danger, who calls the cops when he sees a child walking home from the park alone? Or do we let our kids waste away in front of iPads and minivan TVs, too lazy to perform even the most basic tasks of parenting, to the point that 3-year-olds get dropped in gorilla enclosures?
No one suffered more than poor Harambe at the Cincinnati Zoo on May 28; running a close second was Michelle Gregg, who watched in horror as a quarter-ton silverback poked and effortlessly dragged her child out of sight. That many of us respond by asking Where was the mother? instead of simply acknowledging Greggs trauma and lamenting Harambes death shows how cruel we can be to parents today.
Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook.
MORE FROM OPINION
Theres a generational divide in Californias Latino voting bloc
It gave birth to Apple and Google, but California doesnt have the tech to track campaign contributions
Paul Ryans endorsement of Donald Trump isnt just a mistake, its a disappointment
Paul Ryan is a disappointment. Thats more difficult for me to write than it should be. My policy toward politicians has generally been similar to that of lab researchers toward their test animals: Do not get attached. For scientists, its a lot easier to stick a guinea pig with a needle if you know it as test subject 43A than if you know it as Mr. Fluffy. For the columnist, its easier to twist the knife if you dont feel personally invested.
But philosophically and temperamentally, Ive long felt that Ryan is my kind of politician, and that judgment didnt change after getting to know him (which is rare, given how most politicians are all too human). His vision for governments role and the kind of party the GOP should be has always resonated with me, even if I didnt agree with him on every policy or vote.
For those reasons I wasnt just pleased that he held the line against Donald Trump, I was proud. And for those reasons, his endorsement of Trump was a true disappointment.
Advertisement
On May 5, Ryan announced that he wasnt ready to endorse. Trump instantly retorted: I am not ready to support Speaker Ryans agenda.
Ryan is no naif. His stance was both strategic and principled. We were told that he was giving his GOP caucus cover so they wouldnt all have to bend the knee to King Trump at once.
Moreover, Ryan implied that he was holding out in order to push Trump in a more conservative direction; the businessman would have to show good faith and rein in his antics in exchange for party unity. GOP apparatchiks reassured the scattered holdouts, particularly among donors, that Trump would soon stop the scorched-earth insults and histrionics and get on board with the GOP agenda. Even Trumps supporters, such as Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, insisted that the presumptive nominee would get better.
But Trump never showed signs of improvement. He attacked New Mexicos popular Republican governor, Susana Martinez, for the effrontery of not supporting him. And he vilified the Indiana-born judge in his Trump University fraud case for being a Mexican.
The gulf in temperament and tone between Ryan and Trump is wider and deeper than the Marianas Trench.
You think Im going to change? he told reporters at a positively unhinged news conference last Tuesday. Im not changing!
Nevertheless, Ryan endorsed him.
Admittedly, his endorsement was about as grudging as possible. He announced it on Thursday in a local Wisconsin newspaper. In a video interview with the Associated Press, he showed all the sincerity of a POW muttering into a captors camera. Ryan said he was confident that Trump would help him advance his agenda. Alas, he didnt blink just kidding in Morse code.
In throwing his support to Trump, Ryan made two mistakes. The first was tactical.
Because Trump did nothing to earn Ryans endorsement, the presumptive nominee may conclude that he neednt negotiate with the GOP establishment, he can just count on its eventual submission.
As the Washington Examiners Philip Klein put it, If Ryan cant stand up to candidate Trump, why should we expect hed stand up to a President Trump?
Ryan also jeopardized the partys long game.
Trump often proves conservatisms harshest critics right. For example, the left says conservatives support wars for oil. Trump says that taking the oil of Iraq and Libya should be a top priority. Democrats claim that conservative immigration and national security policies stem from animosity for Latinos and Muslims. Ryans honest retort to such claims is that he abhors identity politics. Meanwhile, Trump is perfectly comfortable saying that an American judges Latino heritage is disqualifying. On Sunday, he said the same might hold for Muslim judges.
From entitlements to trade to the 1st Amendment, Trump has made it clear that his vision of government isnt Ryans. And the gulf in temperament and tone between the two men is wider and deeper than the Marianas Trench.
Trump, then, poses an Aesopian challenge to Ryan; the scorpion must sting the frog because that is its nature. The only way to avoid the sting is not to ally yourself with the scorpion in the first place. Trump will fade one day, but Ryans even-halfhearted embrace of Trumpism makes it more likely Ryanism will fade too.
jgoldberg@latimescolumnists.com
Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook
MORE FROM OPINION
Theres a generational divide in Californias Latino voting bloc
It gave birth to Apple and Google, but California doesnt have the tech to track campaign contributions
Harambe the gorillas death: Stop asking Where were the parents?
People who follow politics often insist that the Latino vote is not as monolithic as pundits let on. History says otherwise. Democrats have captured at least 60% of the Latino vote in every presidential election since 1984 with only one exception 2004, when John F. Kerry barely missed the mark by receiving 58%.
Within the confines of the California Democratic Party, however, theres a split that wasnt apparent eight years ago: Younger Latinos are embracing an outsider, rejecting the establishment candidate favored by their parents and grandparents.
In 2008, Hillary Clinton won 67% of the Latino vote in the California primary against outsider Barack Obama. Latino men and women of all ages preferred Clinton. Heading into Tuesdays primary, Clinton is once again the establishment candidate, but she is running a distant second to Bernie Sanders, her socialist rival, among the states younger Latinos. And she may lose the Latino vote outright to Sanders if younger Latino registrants make it to the polls Tuesday in large numbers.
Advertisement
The final Los Angeles Times/USC survey conducted before the election shows Clinton and Sanders tied at 44% among eligible Democratic primary Latino voters surveyed, which includes those who decline to state a party preference.
When respondents under age 50 are separated out, those younger Latinos choose Sanders over Clinton by 58% to 31%. Older Latino respondents, above age 50, still heavily support Clinton, 69% to 16%.
The Times/USC survey found that Sanders also has an edge in favorability ratings: 69% of eligible Democratic primary Latino voters surveyed said they have a favorable opinion and 16% an unfavorable opinion of the Vermont senator. The former secretary of States numbers are 67% and 33%, respectively.
Younger Latinos ... are behaving more like younger whites who are also siding with Sanders.
In the past, Latino voters in California followed the guidance of Latino politicians, celebrities and talking heads. That establishment is as united as its ever been: Not a single Latino Democrat who currently holds elected office in California endorsed or worked for Sanders. But, evidently, younger Latinos dont care. Theyre behaving more like younger whites who are also siding with Sanders than their Latino elders, suggesting the Latino voting bloc may one day be indistinguishable from the Democratic electorate at large.
Other states with large Latino populations are showing the same trend.
Before the Nevada caucuses in February, the Silver States Latino establishment lined up behind Clinton. Dozens of Latino elected officials in California and neighboring states packed their bags and headed to Nevada to canvass on behalf of Clinton.
Despite the intense push to drive Nevadas Latino voters toward Clinton, the young preferred Sanders, and the best she managed was a split down the middle. The 50-50 draw among Latinos in the caucus stands in contrast to the 68% of Nevada Latino voters who supported Clinton against Obama eight years earlier.
Sanders appeal among younger Latinos and Clintons slipping support may be an aberration based on the personalities of two specific presidential candidates. It might be a unique event, without lasting significance.
Or it might not be.
The generational rift could have far-reaching implications for future elections across California. Nearly 15 million Latinos live in California and they make up about 39% of the population. No state has a larger concentration of Latino voters.
The 2016 presidential primary may be remembered as the moment when younger Latino voters began to ignore the once-trusted ethnic surrogates who told their parents and grandparents how to vote and proved that, like young people in other demographic groups, they were open to radical reform.
Mike Madrid is a political strategist.
Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook
The biggest question in todays California election may be Bernie versus Hillary, but every voter in Los Angeles County has at least seven little questions as well: How should we mark our ballots in the races for Superior Court judge?
Judicial elections are a little weird. There is no shortage of information about presidential candidates, and in fact there often seems to be a discomforting overload of talk about the race for the White House but there is very little out there for voters who want to make responsible choices for judge. Even people who do as much homework as they can may find few options beside relying on the advice of strangers, or else puff from the candidates themselves.
Some of that puff ends up in the ballot pamphlet. Candidates have the option of purchasing a page in the official document that is mailed or emailed to all voters, and to use the space to make a pitch directly to the electorate. In L.A. County, the cost to the candidate runs in the tens of thousands of dollars, and not everyone can afford it. The practice has been criticized as an improper use of official voter materials.
Advertisement
But then wed be giving voters less information about judicial candidates, not more.
And of course each candidates name on the ballot is followed by a three-word title or designation that is supposedly an even-handed description of that persons current job, like deputy district attorney. But the candidates get to write their own job descriptions and they rarely choose such a boring one. As The Times noted recently, deputy district attorneys are a lot more successful at the polls if they use words like violent crimes prosecutor. Which they can do, even though there is in reality no such job title.
Wouldnt it be more fair for the ballot to list just the names, without the puffy ballot titles?
It would, and so would getting rid of paid statements in the ballot pamphlet. But then wed be giving voters less information about judicial candidates, not more.
Until the late 1990s, California had municipal courts smaller courts that handled only misdemeanors on the criminal side and smaller lawsuits on the civil side. Many municipal courts had boundaries that were the same as small or mid-sized cities. Pasadena, Glendale, Long Beach and Pomona each had municipal courts, for example, as did many other areas and candidates could go door-to-door or meet voters at community forums. Voters could more easily do their research and make their choices. But municipal courts are gone, and a candidate from Pomona has to make his or her pitch to voters in Palmdale, Pasadena and everywhere else in the county. There is the occasional candidate forum. But for the most part, judicial candidates get the biggest bang for their campaign buck by doing their marketing to voters on the ballot itself.
That leaves voters with the other option relying on advice, getting it from as many different sources as possible, weighing the time and work of those giving the advice, and making as educated a choice as possible.
The Times editorial page offers its advice on judicial candidates in the form of endorsements, which are reiterated in Tuesdays edition and also available here and here. In three of the races, a deputy public defender, a lawyer in private practice and a lawyer who stopped practicing for several years to go into business are challenging incumbent judges. Because each of those races has only two candidates, victors will emerge in the primary and there will be no runoff.
The other four seats on the ballot are or will soon become vacant, and each has more than one candidate. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in each race, there will be a Nov. 8 runoff between the two top finishers.
Email: robert.greene@latimes.com
Twitter: @rgreene2
The Associated Press called the Democratic primary race for Hillary Clinton on Monday night, based on its survey of superdelegates. CNN confirmed the count a few hours after that, based on the networks criteria, then declared that it had broken the story.
Calling the race early is neither an unprecedented nor, in this case, a particularly revelatory media move. But since superdelegates dont technically vote until the end of July, and there are six primary races Tuesday, both the Internet and the Democrats on the ballot had misgivings about it.
Surprisingly, APs declaration found Bernie Sanders and Clinton in wholehearted agreement for perhaps the first time since their smiley email moment at the initial Democratic debate, except this time they were both ticked off. Sanders ignored the news at his San Francisco rally, while his press people put out a statement condemning the early call and his supporters complained that it was simply one more pro-Hillary move from a biased media that had long ago deemed her the winner.
Advertisement
See the most-read stories this hour >>
Clinton insisted that she was merely poised on the precipice of victory, while at her Hollywood pre-vote party actress Eva Longoria told people they still needed to vote and in Oakland Bill Clinton told people from the back of a pickup truck that the primary wasnt over. Meanwhile, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump was off in Trumpland, talking about how hed broken the glass ceiling for women. (Dont think about it too hard; it wont make any more sense if you do.)
If voters dont turn out because they believe the presidential race has already been decided, then all the down-ballot stuff doesnt get voted on.
For Clintons camp, it was one more kick in the shins in an often flatline contest where she had again failed to animate the voters imagination. After months of taking flack for being an out-of-touch insider, it now looked like she had nailed the nomination because of her friends inside the halls of government, rather than the voters (never mind that over 3 million more have voted for her than Sanders; its perception, not reality, that matters in politics).
But, like so much in this race, the blowback on the early call is fanfare without substance. Clinton is all but certain to claim the nomination, and neither the AP nor CNN nor Sanders exhortations for superdelegates to flip to his side have the power to change that at this point.
Heres why it matters: if voters dont turn out in California because they believe the presidential race has already been decided, then all the down-ballot stuff doesnt get voted on. And those races and ballot measures matter a lot. Yes, the man or woman in the White House is going to have the nuclear codes, and far be it from me to downplay the significance of that; Im as terrified as everyone else. But local officials are more likely to control the issues that matter to Californians: fixing affordable housing and the growing inequality in our state, regulating agriculture, improving police oversight, and developing effective transportation. If we dont vote, we miss the opportunity to weigh in on who makes the decisions that will affect our day-to-day lives and our communities the most.
Were picking nominees for US Senate and congressional seats, a bunch of Superior Court judges and a proposition that has the potential to change the way state politics are played. Civic duty is local just as much as it is national. Even if you see no reason to check a box for Trump, Clinton or Sanders, you should still care about who will be setting the federal and state budgets, overseeing Los Angeles County and deciding court cases. If you dont show up to vote, those decisions will be made by someone else.
There are a few hours left. Get out there, Angelenos. It still matters.
Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
MORE FROM OPINION
Theres a generational divide in Californias Latino voting bloc
It gave birth to Apple and Google, but California doesnt have the tech to track campaign contributions
Harambe the gorillas death: Stop asking Where were the parents?
Were almost there, the end of the line. Voters in California and five other states New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana cast ballots Tuesday in the final big round of primaries in the battle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Heres what were watching for:
History will be made.
In 57 U.S. presidential elections, no major party has nominated a woman for president. Clinton is on track to be the first, and the Associated Press reported Monday night that she had secured enough delegates to clinch the Democratic Partys nod. Clinton is expected to solidify her hold on the nomination once polls close in New Jersey at 8 p.m. Eastern. Shes holding a rally in Brooklyn, N.Y., to mark the occasion.
Superdelegates, superdelegates, superdelegates.
Expect a lot of talk about Democratic superdelegates, elected officials and party leaders who can choose which candidate to support. Although the overwhelming majority of them plan to back Clinton, they dont vote until the convention in July, so Sanders has insisted Clinton should not be considered the presumptive nominee.
Such an argument ignores both recent history and the popular vote. Presidential candidates can ascend to presumptive-nominee status after securing a majority of pledged delegates, as Clinton is on track to do, not just when competing candidates have dropped out.
Its also unlikely that Sanders will be able to sway superdelegates to his side. Clinton has won more votes, more states and more pledged delegates, meaning superdelegates would have to be willing to override the preference of the majority of the electorate to support him. In addition, superdelegates are members of a Democratic establishment that has been solidly behind Clinton since the beginning of the race.
Election 2016 | Live coverage on Trail Guide | Track the delegate race | Sign up for the newsletter
Can Sanders win California?
Although Clinton is widely expected to have claimed the nomination before polls even close in California, the state is still the single biggest delegate prize of the day. Sanders has been campaigning nonstop here, hoping a victory will strengthen his hand for influencing the party platform at the convention and show the staying power of his political coalition.
The reaction from Sanders in the coming days could signal how hard hes still willing to press his case.
During the 2008 campaign, Clinton dropped out in June after a hard-fought race and threw her support to Sen. Barack Obama. Sanders, however, has pledged to fight until the party convention in July in Philadelphia. But decisive outcomes have a way of changing candidates behavior, even those who vowed just days or hours earlier to fight on until the end. See Texas Sen. Ted Cruzs about-face after the Indiana GOP primary last month or even former Florida Gov. Jeb Bushs exit from the race after losing in South Carolina, despite having announced a schedule of campaign events in Nevada.
In recent days, Sanders has added new criticisms of Clinton to his standard attack lines. He has said she has a conflict of interest because of donations from foreign governments to the Clinton Foundation, which was set up by her husband. Democratic leaders will be watching to see if he keeps making a case against Clinton, or starts laying the groundwork for a unified front against Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
Does President Obama get the green light?
Obama was considered the presumptive nominee in 2008 once a mix of pledged delegates and superdelegates put him over the threshold, so hell likely apply the same thinking to Clinton. Hes been eager to hit the campaign trail against Trump, but has mostly stayed on the sidelines while waiting for the Democratic primary to play out.
Although hes hinted at his support for Clinton, this week might be his chance to make that explicit. Obama appears likely to only make a move once the after-effects of Tuesdays results have settled, including whether Sanders reiterates his vow to press on to Philadelphia or backs away from it.
chris.megerian@latimes.com
Twitter: @chrismegerian
ALSO:
Analysis: Clinton and Sanders are a study in contrasts on the final weekend of campaigning
Donald Trump's attack on judge and other racial comments stir trouble for the Republican Party
How President Obama is campaigning for a philosophy, not just a candidate
It was yet another election day slap in the face for Californians on Tuesday: Hours before voters were to cast ballots that one presidential candidate promised would upend the race, the media declared that the race was actually over.
Once again, the presidential primary has been decided elsewhere.
Wait, didnt Hillary already win? asked Bernie Sanders supporter Pedro Gomez, an Uber driver in Los Angeles. He was confused about whether to even bother voting.
Advertisement
She did. The Associated Press declared Monday night that Hillary Clinton had, indeed, amassed all the delegates she needed. On the GOP side, Donald Trump was already the winner by the time Californians got to have their say.
Election 2016 | Live coverage on Trail Guide | Track the delegate race | Sign up for the newsletter
Its like, why vote? said Arie Gonzalez, a 36-year-old musician and bartender in Long Beach. The rules are ridiculous. I cant believe Democrats have all these superdelegates and that we vote consistently always with Iowa first and California has no voice by the time it comes down to it. Were a tenth of the population. Its ridiculous.
Yet, voters showed up at the polls, no small number of them motivated by a desire to cast a ballot in protest of the candidate who just clinched the nomination. Gomez and Gonzalez were among them.
Gomez said he wanted to register his displeasure with Clinton, even if it doesnt really count. The Mexico native has concerns about Sanders record on immigration, in particular his vote against a 2007 immigration reform bill in the Senate, but he was even more uneasy with Clinton. He described her as someone who only says what people want to hear.
It was a theme echoed by voters entering polling places across the state. Uneasiness with Clinton seemed to rule the morning, reminding her campaign that even on this celebratory day, the party that Clinton has been chosen to lead remains deeply fractured amid concerns about her trustworthiness, her ties to Wall Street and, of course, her email server.
A quarter of California Democrats and independents in the recent USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll said they would only reluctantly vote for Clinton in November and nearly that many said they would outright refuse. Democrats who say they would not vote for Clinton in November most often cited as reasons Clintons involvement in scandals and controversy, her ties to Wall Street and their feeling that she is not genuine.
But it was also clear as Democratic voters shared their opinions on election day that Clinton has a very powerful tool for uniting the party unavailable eight years ago, when intraparty divisions were just as deep. She has Donald Trump as her adversary.
In a head-to-head matchup with Trump, the poll found Clinton would win California by a landslide, 56% to 30%.
When were up against Trump, Ill vote for her, Gomez said.
While few of the voters who stopped to chat believed Sanders can still win the nomination despite what the candidate and his campaign insist many said they need to see Clinton do more to earn their trust. They are bitter about the way Sanders has been treated by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party. They worry about Clintons motivations and her values.
There are lessons to be learned for the Clinton campaign in California, a diverse state where the presumptive nominee saw her huge lead evaporate even as she was on the verge of winning the race and had already launched her general election-facing assault on Trump.
She has to have a positive, inspiring message. And right now her message is, its my turn, said Mike Belgard, a 47-year-old tech worker who made the decision to vote for Sanders as he approached his polling place in the Curtis Park neighborhood of Sacramento. I dont know what Hillary stands for, other than getting elected.
At the Inglewood Community Church, nestled next to a smog check and auto repair center, some Democrats could not wrap their head around the idea of ultimately supporting Clinton.
Its hard to trust someone who wont even release transcripts from speeches she gives, said Adilene Gloria, 26, an administrative worker. She was referring to Clintons refusal to provide transcripts of speeches shes given to Wall Street firms. Theres a long ways until the November election, but I need to feel some trust with her . Im not feeling that now, Gloria said.
Yet there were also plenty of Clinton supporters enthusiastically casting ballots for their candidate, some of them delighted by the chance to be a part of history in helping her become the first female presidential nominee of a major political party.
I like a lot about her, but one thing I like the most is that its time for a woman to run this country because the men, they dont do right, said Thelonious Cotton, 56, a newspaper delivery driver who cast his ballot in Long Beach.
I always watched her career and admired her as a young woman whos career-minded, said Kelly Crown, 25, a healthcare business analyst who voted for Clinton in Echo Park. Crown said she was a big fan of Clintons book Living History. Yes, shes made mistakes, Crown said. Shes gone through a lot of stuff in her life, and I have a lot of respect for her.
The newly wed Crown came to the polls with her husband, Kyle. He voted for Sanders. But like many others who did the same, he said he will vote for Clinton without reservation in the fall. Donald Trump, he said, must be stopped.
I think most Bernie supporters would be doing a disservice by letting Trump come anywhere close to winning, said Crown, a 25-year-old property manager.
Back in Long Beach, Cotton concurred, dismissing concerns that people see Clinton as untrustworthy or scandal-prone. I dont have any question about what she done did because people have done more crooked things than that, he said.
Throughout California, voters had no shortage of advice for what Clinton should do next.
In Berkeley, Valerie Dow suggested that Clinton reach out to Sanders supporters in their natural habitat: social media. Shes going to have to start building a network, said Dow, a 63-year-old employee of UC Berkeley.
Berkeley physician Laura Wise, who said she voted for Clinton even though I dont have a lot of faith in what she says, recommended that Clinton heed the Sanders message that corporate personhood is a threat to democracy.
In Santa Monica, however, film industry worker Tyler Romer, 41, didnt see point voting Tuesday morning. He opted instead to hang out in the Blue Daisy cafe with a plate of eggs Benedict.
He said California only matters in national politics when it comes to fundraising for campaigns, as the state consistently votes Democratic.
Raise your money here and leave thats the motto of presidential candidates, he said. Will California voters ever really matter? Not likely.
Lee reported from Inglewood, Mason from Berkeley and Halper from Washington.Staff writers Chris Megerian in Sacramento, Seema Mehta in Long Beach and Michael Finnegan and Kate Linthicum in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Twitter: @evanhalper, @kurtisalee, @melmason
ALSO:
As Republicans line up behind Donald Trump, some wonder what theyre in for
Clinton clinches Democratic nomination, making history on eve of California primary
Analysis: Clinton and Sanders are a study in contrasts
Hillary Clinton carved her name in history Tuesday, becoming the first woman ever chosen to lead a major party into the fall presidential campaign.
The former secretary of State, making her second try for the White House, laid claim to the nomination at an exuberant rally in Brooklyn, N.Y., the state she represented for two terms in the U.S. Senate. Her victory came eight years to the day after she ended her 2008 White House bid.
Addressing a flag-waving crowd filled with women of all ages and ethnicities, Clinton painted her triumph as a major stride in the march for womens rights, which began more than a century and a half ago at the Seneca Falls Convention in upstate New York.
Advertisement
See more of our top stories on Facebook
Tonights victory is not about one person, said Clinton, who took the stage after a filmed tribute to leaders of the suffrage movement and other political pioneers. It belongs to generations of women and men who struggled and sacrificed and made this moment possible.
Victories in New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota gave Clinton the delegates she needed to win the nomination on the first ballot at next months Democratic National Convention and dispelled the notion she might limp to her partys coronation.
She topped her performance with a surprisingly comfortable victory in California. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders notched victories in Montana and North Dakota.
In a nod to her fierce rival, Clinton praised his campaign and the issues he elevated.
Let there be no mistake, she said. Sen. Sanders, his campaign and the vigorous debate that weve had about how to raise incomes, reduce inequality, increase upward mobility, have been very good for the Democratic Party and for America.
Acknowledging her own disappointment eight years ago it never feels good to come up short Clinton invited Sanders supporters to join her campaign, saying the differences among Democrats pale in comparison to their disagreements with Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee.
She called the Manhattan business mogul temperamentally unsuited to serve as president or commander in chief and said his trademark slogan, a promise to make America great again, referred to a less enlightened, more exclusionary past.
Thats code for lets take America backward, she said, back to a time when opportunity and dignity were reserved for some, not all.
A grim-faced Sanders addressed a throng of supporters at Santa Monica airport late Tuesday night, drawing boos when he said he had spoken with Clinton and offered his congratulations. The crowd roared, however, when he vowed to continue his campaign even as he acknowledged it would be a very, very steep fight.
Sanders sounded familiar themes, calling for a breakup of the major banks and an overhaul of a corrupt campaign finance system. But he reserved his harshest rhetoric for Trump.
The American people, in my view, he said, will never support a candidate whose major theme is bigotry.
President Obama called both candidates Tuesday night to congratulate them on their campaigns and, at Sanders request, planned to meet with the senator Thursday at the White House. Just one election remains on the primary calendar, the Democratic primary next week in Washington, D.C.
In all, six states voted in the second-to-last week of the primary season, which started with Clinton eking out a narrow victory Feb. 1 in Iowa.
Tuesdays biggest prize, by far, was California, which offered 475 pledged delegates nearly twice as many as the other states combined.
But Californias import went far beyond those numbers.
It became, in effect, the last battleground of the grinding Democratic contest, a chance for Clinton to punctuate her climb to the nomination with a capstone victory in the nations most populous and diverse state or for Sanders to raise new doubts about her political durability.
Sanders and his supporters had hoped a California victory would send the senator roaring into the partys convention in Philadelphia with the momentum to reverse Clintons lead in pledged delegates and court enough superdelegates the partys unbound free agents to wrestle the nomination away.
Seizing the nomination from the front-runner at this point would be unprecedented in modern times, something Sanders acknowledged Tuesday night in an interview with NBC before the results had rolled in.
Defying history is what this campaign is about, Sanders said, though he was vague about his plans.
I am going to be meeting with our supporters, he said, to figure out the best way forward, so that we have a government which represents all of us and not just the [wealthiest] 1 percent.
But the beginning of the end was clearly at hand, with the only question being how vigorously Sanders would challenge the outcome and what, in turn, he might leverage in the process.
After holding back for months, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi endorsed Clinton even before the first polls closed Tuesday and nudged Sanders to get behind the partys presumptive nominee.
Election 2016 | Live coverage on Trail Guide | Track the delegate race | Sign up for the newsletter
Bernie knows better than anyone whats on the line in the election and that we at some point have to unify as we go forward, the San Francisco Democrat said on ABC.
Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a superdelegate and Clinton supporter, offered the same respectful but blunt counsel.
After Tuesday, there needs to be an understanding that Sanders goes to the convention with major clout and becomes a major Democratic player but Hillary Clinton becomes the nominee and gets his support, Richardson said.
Sanders, who has spent most of his decades in politics outside the Democratic Party as a democratic socialist, proved a much stronger challenger than Clinton and even his own campaign expected.
But he failed to overtake Clinton by every measure save, perhaps, the outspokenness and vociferous nature of his supporters.
Entering Tuesdays primaries, Clinton had won more contests than Sanders, 28-23. She received 3 million more votes than he did. She also led him in both pledged delegates and unbound superdelegates.
Still Sanders pressed on, for months after simple mathematics made clear it would be all but impossible for him to overtake Clinton.
For California, the result was something the state hadnt seen in generations: a bona fide presidential campaign.
The two candidates and their surrogates staged scores of events, from the Mexico border in the south to the redwood forests in the north. They ordered In-N-Out, visited black churches in Los Angeles and Oakland, strolled the Santa Monica Pier and Echo Park and San Franciscos Chinatown and Haight-Ashbury district.
They discussed gentrification in the pricey Bay Area, drought and poverty in the Central Valley and, in Sanders case, dived into the debate over a likely November ballot measure to legalize marijuana. It makes sense, Sanders said.
The fact that none of it would have very much impact on the trajectory of the Democratic race did little to tamp enthusiasm.
In the final six weeks of eligibility, nearly 650,000 Californians signed up to vote, pushing total registration to nearly 18 million voters, the most ever heading into a primary election.
A surge of Democrats widened the majority partys already sizable lead over Republicans, boosting Clintons prospects of carrying the state in November despite vows by Trump to put the state in play.
Clintons husband, Bill Clinton, moved California into the Democratic column in his first run for president in 1992, and the state has stayed there ever since.
Barabak reported from Los Angeles and Memoli from Brooklyn. Times staff writer Melanie Mason in Sacramento contributed to this report.
MORE ELECTION NEWS
California primary live updates: Polls are open in the Golden State
As Republicans line up behind Donald Trump, some wonder what theyre in for
Hillary Clintons expected claim of the nomination and other things to watch for in Tuesdays primaries
mark.barabak@latimes.com
UPDATES:
June 8, 3:25 a.m.: This article was updated with Clintons win in California.
11:22 p.m.: This article was updated with information on Sanders speech and his Montana victory.
9:11 p.m.: This article was updated to report Clinton won the South Dakota primary.
8:31 p.m: This article was updated to include more detail from Clintons speech.
7:29 p.m.: This article was updated to include Clintons remarks from her victory speech.
7:02 p.m.: This article was updated to report Sanders won the North Dakota caucuses.
6:14 p.m.: This article was updated to report Clinton won the New Jersey primary.
6:08 p.m.: This article was updated to report Donald Trump won the New Jersey primary.
This article published at 1:47 p.m.
In a political season filled with promises of revolution, something revolutionary happened: A woman has claimed a major partys presidential nomination.
That historic occurrence, overshadowed somewhat by everything else that has happened in an election year that has wildly defied expectations, will shape the general election clash to come. It sets up a November battle between presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump that will tread heavily on issues of gender.
Election 2016 | Live coverage of the primary on Essential Politics | Track the delegate race | Sign up for the newsletter
Advertisement
Clinton seized on history Tuesday night as she claimed the Democratic nomination during a campaign celebration in New York. She opened with an allusion to what she had memorably called the nations highest, hardest glass ceiling the one separating women from the Oval Office.
Exactly eight years ago Tuesday, as she departed the 2008 presidential contest, she said her campaign had knocked millions of cracks in that ceiling, one for each vote received in her losing effort.
It may be hard to see tonight, but we are all standing under a glass ceiling right now, she said with a grin Tuesday at the refurbished Brooklyn Navy Yard with a ceiling literally made of glass. But dont worry, were not smashing this one.
Issues of gender will dominate the general election for at least two reasons. It will be the first time a woman has led a ticket in a presidential general election, and the two candidates already have been jousting over women and their roles.
In recent days, Trump has questioned Clintons very presence in the race.
She doesnt even look presidential, he complained via Twitter as Clinton delivered a foreign policy address scathing in its criticism of the Republican.
The primary campaign has been loaded with such allusions to gender, and theres no reason to think that will change in the months before the general election.
The GOP primary contest in many ways was all about who was man enough to be president of the United States, said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.
She cited Trumps complaints that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush needed his mothers help to get elected, his criticism of Carly Fiorinas face as one that Americans wouldnt want on a president, and the dispute between Trump and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio over the size of Trumps hands and other body parts.
Its all this masculinity, she said. This is what presidential politics has always been about: Who is man enough, who is tough enough, to be leader of the free world? The default image is always male.
Trumps Make America Great Again slogan harks back not only to a time before the civil rights of minorities had been secured, but also serves as a gender dog whistle, she said:
It implies, Lets go back to a time when white men ran everything, Walsh said.
The official awarding of the Democratic nomination will occur during the summer convention, but media tabulations of delegate preferences indicated Monday that Clinton had secured the prize. On Tuesday, she increased her lead over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the popular vote, pledged delegates and superdelegates.
Her nomination would vault the country into the company of other nations that long ago elected women as leaders.
Only two women have served on major-party tickets Democrat Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Republican Sarah Palin in 2008. But both were picked for the vice presidential position, as opposed to winning the top spot outright, a distinct difference.
Now, in her reach for history, Clinton finds herself in a race with a surprising twist: In addition to being a referendum on a woman presidential nominee, it will also be a referendum on Donald Trump.
Trumps treatment of women has been at the forefront of the presidential contest since the first Republican debate last summer. Fox anchor Megyn Kelly incurred Trumps wrath after she asked the candidate why he had described various women as fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals and wondered how he would counter Clintons general election assertion that he was part of a war on women.
In April, Trump accused Clinton of being an affirmative action hire for the Democratic Party.
The only card she has is the womans card; shes got nothing else going, Trump said the night Clinton won Pennsylvania and three other states. And frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I dont think shed get 5% of the vote.
His criticism prompted a line in Clintons speeches that routinely draws her supporters into a shout-along.
He accuses me of playing the womans card, Clinton said Sunday night in Sacramento, before a community college gymnasium full of fans who burst into cheers at the line they knew was coming.
If standing up for equal pay, raising the minimum wage and family-leave policies is playing the womens card, she said, then you know what? Deal me in!
The fact that it was Trump who lit the fuse on the gender wars this year may influence the tenor of the fall campaign, according to those who have studied female candidates.
Hes the one making gender relevant and engaging in sexist talk, which opens the door to her response, said Jennifer Lawless, an American University professor who specializes in women in politics. She doesnt have to defend herself from accusations that shes putting gender out there.
Overall, Lawless said, Clintons achievement is incredibly important.
This is the first step to getting there, she said of the possibility of a woman in the Oval Office. But she still has to win.
Women remain underrepresented in U.S. politics. According to the Center for American Women and Politics, they make up 20% of the Senate, 19% of the House, less than a quarter of state legislators and only 12% of governorships, despite being half of the population.
Apart from responding to Trump, Clinton has not had to overtly dwell on the historic reach of her candidacy; its visible in every thread of her pantsuits. And it is deeply important to many of the women who have formed the heart of her campaign.
Some grow emotional at her campaign events when talking about the impact her nomination and election would have on them. For many, particularly those her age, Clinton is a stand-in for their own experiences with discrimination or, more benignly but no less hurtfully, being ignored or written off.
At a rally in April for female supporters in Manhattan, actress Sally Sockwell, a year younger than Clintons 68, gasped when asked how she would feel if Clinton achieved those historic firsts.
I think it will just rip my heart out, she said. Itll take my breath away.
That sentiment has driven the giant gap between the alliances of men and women in this years general election contest. In an ABC/Washington Post poll last month, Trump led by 22 points among men and Clinton led by 14 among women. That 36-point gender gap is twice the average seen in presidential election exit polls since 1996, the pollsters said.
Key to Clintons approach against Trump will be energizing the votes of women without sending a message to other voters that the campaign is all about her historic effort.
Gender is a tricky factor in political campaigns, said Rose Kapolczynski, who ran California Sen. Barbara Boxers campaigns, including the 1992 breakthrough election in which she and Dianne Feinstein became the states first female senators.
Voters want a candidate who is going to care about them and fight for them, and if candidates are too focused on identity politics, voters worry about whether they will fight for everyone, Kapolczynski said.
Clinton is addressing those concerns in myriad ways. Signs at every event read: Fighting for us. At appearances, she emphasizes her willingness to work with others a strategy that plays on positive notions of women being more collaborative than men.
Tuesday, she repeatedly credited women and men for securing rights for all.
When I started the campaign more than a year ago, I wanted to listen, she told supporters Sunday, an hour after a lengthy chat with Vallejo residents.
I know that was kind of boring to some people. Its like, There she goes, listening again.
I actually learn things when I listen, and I want people to know, not just in this campaign but in the White House, Im going to keep listening.
Eight years ago Tuesday, when she talked of the cracks in the glass ceiling, Clinton declared that light was shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope that the path will be a little easier next time.
If this time has not been particularly easy, Clinton acknowledged Monday that she now feels the weight of history, happily.
Her supporters, she said, share a belief that having a woman president will make a historic statement about what kind of country we are.
cathleen.decker@latimes.com
Twitter: @cathleendecker. For more on politics, go to latimes.com/decker and subscribe to the free daily newsletter.
ALSO:
Updates on California politics
Live coverage from the campaign trail
Donald Trump says he was justified in questioning judge of Mexican heritage
UPDATES:
9:30 p.m.: This article has been updated with additional details and changes throughout.
This article was originally published at 2 p.m.
What nomination? Neither Clinton nor Sanders seems interested in her history-making moment
It was the biggest news of the Democratic primary season: The Associated Press declared Monday that Hillary Clinton had clinched the partys nomination, becoming the first woman in U.S. history to claim the mantle of major-party nominee.
But neither she nor rival Bernie Sanders seemed much interested in acknowledging it.
Clinton briefly referred to the AP count Monday at a rally in Long Beach but downplayed its significance ahead of Tuesdays spate of primaries, including Californias.
According to the news, we are on the brink of a historic, historic, unprecedented moment. But we still have work to do, dont we? Clinton told several hundred cheering supporters in a college gym in Long Beach. We have six elections tomorrow and were going to fight hard for every single vote, especially right here in California.
.@HillaryClinton on "brink of a historic, unprecedented momentbut we still have work to do" https://t.co/RohDiUYLRF https://t.co/OnmZUqhswe ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) June 7, 2016
She didnt bother mentioning the development at all during a fundraising concert later at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.
And at Sanders rally in San Francisco on Monday night, it was as though the call was never made.
Sanders did not once cite the APs report later echoed by NBC and CNN during a 45-minute speech. Instead, he stuck with familiar themes such as income inequality, swiped at Donald Trump for his bigotry and contrasted himself with Clinton on issues including the minimum wage, fracking and the use of super PACs.
Above all, he insisted that Tuesdays primary in California would be pivotal.
Tomorrow, as you all know, there is a very important primary here in this beautiful state, Sanders said, standing in San Franciscos Crissy Field with the Golden Gate Bridge cloaked in fog in the background. This is the most important primary that we have had in the entire Democratic nominating process.
Neither candidate wants the perception of a settled contest to muffle their supporters turnout Tuesday in Californias close race.
A loss for Clinton in the state with the most delegates at stake in the primary season would be an embarrassing end to the spring campaign. And for Sanders, a win here would strengthen his influence over the party platform to be decided at the Democratic National Convention next month.
Sanders said his chances in California hinged on turnout, insisting he will win if the number of ballots cast is high.
Our job is tomorrow to make certain that here in California, we have the largest voter turnout of any Democratic primary in the history of the state, he said.
Attendees at his rally, where the Dave Matthews Band performed and campaign surrogates including Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner warmed up the crowd, said they saw no need for Sanders to weigh in on todays development.
Why dampen the crowd? said Joe Merer, 58, an IT specialist from San Francisco.
Merer said he had expected Clinton would be declared the presumptive nominee Tuesday.
Still, he said, he hoped Sanders would not concede.
Theres no reason for him to bow down, Merer said, adding it would be really, really hard to vote for Clinton in November.
I dont like being held hostage, he said.
Philip Dinolfo, 24, sounded more open to vote for Clinton in a general election, saying she did not pose the existential threat to the country that he believes Donald Trump does.
But he predicted that APs call for Clinton on Monday would affect turnout Tuesday.
All of us here are fairly loyal to Bernie Sanders, Dinolfo said. But for other Democrats or independents who may be on the fence, there may be a certain realization: Why vote your conscience when you can vote for the winner?
Times staff writers Seema Mehta in Long Beach and Kate Linthicum in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Im Christina Bellantoni. This is Essential Politics, and todays the day.
After all the rallies and television ads, after stacks of seemingly endless mailers, phone calls, texts, emails and delegate counts, theres nothing left to do but vote.
Polls opened for the California primary at 7 a.m. and they close at 8 p.m. (Find your polling place and enjoy our primary Spotify playlist.)
Advertisement
Keep track on our countdown clock and follow along via Snapchat as we show the inside of the Los Angeles Times newsroom during the bustling primary and from polling places across the state.
Well capture everything primary-related on our Essential Politics news feed, so stay with us throughout the day. Well also have a robust results page, so you can see how California is voting on the presidential contest and all of the other races were following.
CLINTON CLINCHES
The Associated Press scrambled timelines Monday when reporting that Hillary Clinton had passed the 2,383 delegates needed to secure the Democratic presidential nomination. Both Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders paid the alert little mind at appearances in California and urged supporters to show up at the polls no matter what the numbers say.
Will people still show up to vote? Sarah Wire talked to a voting data expert to get an idea.
As Clinton looks to make history as the first female nominee from a major party, Chris Megerian has the five things were watching as results come in tonight.
GET SMART FAST
Youve got voting to get to. If youre looking for something to read while youre waiting in line at the polling place, start here with our primary primer. Basically weve collected all the stories weve written about all of the state and local races on the California ballot so you can catch up quick, or scan for pieces about your district.
We also built a home for our coverage of the U.S. Senate race to replace retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer.
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
Are you voting in the primary? Show us what voting day in California looks like. Tweet @latimes photos of the polls, campaign signs in your neighborhood and mailers youve received. Colleen Shalby from our social media team will feature your tweets on our live blog.
TODAYS ESSENTIALS
Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger voted for John Kasich in the California primary.
This state Senate candidate walked the streets of Chinatown with Sanders on Monday.
Californians likely will be asked to decide in November whether to expand parole to thousands more inmates in what would be the states biggest change in sentencing law in decades. The proposed reworking of the parole system cleared a key hurdle Monday, when the California Supreme Court ruled 6-1 that the proponents of a ballot measure backed by Gov. Jerry Brown did not violate a state election law. The ruling, a victory for Brown, gives the attorney general wide latitude to accept last-minute, major changes to proposed initiatives.
Legislators, faced with a November ballot initiative that would add new rules to the way bills are passed in Sacramento, are trying to take action on their own. But odds of a compromise with the initiatives backers may be slim.
A state Senator wants new legislation to bolster police transparency after helping to kill a bill that would have done just that.
Former state Assemblyman Tom Calderon pleaded guilty Monday to one count of money laundering in exchange for a prison sentence of no more than 12 months in a criminal case alleging that his brother, former state Sen. Ron Calderon, accepted bribes, according to a court filing released today by the U.S. attorneys office.
What do you think of Donald Trump? Readers can weigh in with our quick survey.
LOGISTICS
Miss yesterdays newsletter? Here you go. Did someone forward you this? Sign up here to get Essential Politics in your inbox daily. And keep an eye on our politics page throughout the day for the latest and greatest. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics?
Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com.
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.
The League of Women Voters of Glendale/Burbank is seeking questions and concerns from the public as the California primary election draws near.
The local chapter is asking voters to submit questions to ask candidates running for the 5th District seat for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the 25th District of the state Senate, the 43rd District of the state Assembly and the 28th District for the U.S. Congress.
NEWSLETTER: Stay up to date with whats going on in your community>>
The League of Women Voters will host four candidate forums in the council chambers at Burbank City Hall next month leading up to the primary election on June 7.
Those who cannot attend the forums can watch them on the Burbank Channel and on YouTube.
On May 3, the Glendale/Burbank and Pasadena chapters of the national organization will host candidate forums for the 25th District state Senate race at 7 p.m. and for the 5th District seat of the county supervisors at about 8:15 p.m.
On May 4, members from the Glendale/Burbank and Los Angeles chapters will host a forum for the 43rd Assembly District candidates at 7 p.m.
The two regional chapters will host the final forum for candidates running for the 28th Congressional District at 7 p.m. on May 6.
Our mission is to educate voters so that they know what theyre voting about, said Thomas Carson, president of the League of Women Voters of Glendale/Burbank.
To submit questions, call (818) 925-4598 or email any of the following:
SenateForum@lwvglendaleburbank.org
SupervisorForum@lwvglendaleburbank.org
AssemblyForum@lwvglendaleburbank.org
CongressForum@lwvglendaleburbank.org
--
Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
--
ALSO:
A total of 16 Burbank, Glendale schools win states rare Gold Ribbon Award
Theater Preview: Red Velvet raises the curtain on a forgotten, barrier-breaking star
Suspect in Burbank mans assault arrested; victim did know assailant, contrary to initial report
Burbank City Manager Mark Scott has decided to push back his retirement a year from the Feb. 5 date announced earlier this month. However, he wont be staying in Burbank.
On Monday night, the San Bernardino City Council approved a resolution to bring Scott on as an interim city manager of the beleaguered city, the site of a recent terror attack, for a year, beginning Feb. 8.
San Bernardinos City Manager Allen Parker is set to retire at the end of this year and from New Years Day until Scotts first day, Police Chief Jarrod Burguan will fill the top unelected spot in the city, which filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy in 2012.
Scotts annual salary will be $248,000, Senior Deputy City Atty. Jolena Grider said on Monday. Thats roughly $40,000 less than he made last year in Burbank, according to the public compensation database Transparent California.
He will also receive up to $1,500 per month in rental assistance to rent an apartment within the limits of San Bernardino.
Scott said via email Tuesday that he first contacted San Bernardino a few days before the Dec. 2 shootings, but had been following the citys situation for a few years because of his experience as Fresnos city manager for three years, where he had worked to address that citys fiscal challenges before coming to Burbank.
In an email to the Burbank City Council in advance of the San Bernardino officials unanimous confirmation of his one-year contract, Scott said that he probably wont file for retirement for at least another year if confirmed.
This is good professional mission for me at this point in my life, he said, adding that the city has a massive workload involved in resolving their financial and organizational problems.
--
Chad Garland, chad.garland@latimes.com
Twitter: @chadgarland
The Junior League of Orange County California will present its first Lunafest, a fundraising film festival that will feature six short films made by, for and about women.
The festival will be held Saturday and Sunday. Saturdays screenings are at the Port Theater in Corona del Mar, 2905 E. Coast Hwy. Sundays is at the OASIS Senior Center, though tickets were sold out as of Thursday.
---------
FOR THE RECORD
March 31, 9:49 a.m.: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated that both screenings would be at the OASIS Senior Center. Saturdays screenings are at the Port Theater in Corona del Mar; Sundays is at the OASIS center.
---------
Proceeds from Lunafest will support the league, which is based in Newport Beach, and breast cancer research.
For more information and tickets, visit jlocc-lunafest2016.eventbrite.com.
*
Newport Beach academy gets new director
Halstrom Academy in Newport Beach has appointed Dorothy Lynn as its director.
The campus, which opened last spring, uses a one-to-one teaching model for students.
Lynn has more than 20 years experience as a teacher, tutor and school administrator.
Halstrom Academy has 15 campuses throughout California for students in grades six through 12.
*
Marketing pro joins Costa Mesa education group
Costa Mesa education program 5 Saturdays has a new member of its Leadership Council team, James Wright. He will oversee marketing activities.
Wright is currently the principal consultant at Go Time Agile, a group that offers strategic consulting, certification training courses and other services to companies and individuals.
5 Saturdays is dedicated to teaching high school students technology and business skills.
I am thrilled to bring my depth of experience with marketing using Agile principles to 5 Saturdays and support its commitment to opening the door for students to careers in information technology and business, Wright said in a statement.
*
Project Access gets $25,000 grant
Project Access, a Newport Beach-based nonprofit that provides health, education and housing services to low-income families, was recently awarded $25,000 by the Sharks Foundation of San Jose.
The money will help Project Access after-school programs in San Jose.
We are honored to receive this generous grant from the Sharks Foundation and will be putting the funds to good use for the youth residing in the San Jose apartment communities we serve, Project Access President and Chief Executive Kathy McCarrell said in a statement.
Thousands of supporters of front-running Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump descended on the Orange County fairgrounds Thursday, packing the Pacific Amphitheatre, where the billionaire businessman spoke at an evening campaign rally.
Late in the afternoon, the 8,500-seat amphitheater was completely full, forcing hundreds of backers to head home.
In his speech, which marked the beginning of his California campaign, Trump said, Youre going to see not only make America great again but make it greater than ever before.
We are going to bring jobs back to this country, Trump added. Our jobs have been sucked away like candy from a baby. Were not going to let it happen anymore, folks.
He used the Orange County event to repeatedly criticize the news media, calling reporters in attendance the horrible press, which prompted jeers from the crowd.
His remarks to build that wall referring to construction of a stronger barrier between the United States and Mexico was well-received by the audience.
Many supporters wore Trump hats and T-shirts with the candidates Make America Great Again slogan, as well as various apparel featuring the American flag.
Inside the amphitheater, which opened about 4 p.m. for people attending the 7 p.m. rally, one sign called Trump patriotically correct.
Another attendee, referring to the Democrats presidential front-runner, Hillary Clinton, wore a shirt declaring Hillary for prison 2016. Another Trump supporter put Trumps face on an image of World War II icon Rosie the Riveter on a shirt that read Build a wall 2016.
Im hoping we make so much noise tonight they hear us all across America, Rancho Santa Margarita Mayor L. Anthony Beall told the crowd. You are each part of a movement, something unprecedented in American politics. You, each of you, can help make America great again.
He urged those in attendance to register to vote and speak up about why they support Trump.
America is worth fighting for, Beall said. We have got a courageous leader in Mr. Trump ... but hes not just going to go and do this all by himself. We are an army.
Sarah Sandlin of Newport Beach had one of the rallys free tickets but couldnt get inside the venue. She said the line of people trying to get in looked like a mile long.
Costa Mesa resident Rich Hogan said he waited 45 minutes trying to get in, but like Sandlin, he couldnt.
It was disappointing, but it was sort of cool because Ive never seen an event like this, with how many people there are here, Hogan said. Its encouraging, just people being involved.
T.J. Sleboda of Oceanside was in line outside the amphitheater in the afternoon with his two children to support Trump, whom he called a breath of fresh air that we need in politics because hes a non-politician whos gonna shake things up.
For Sleboda, illegal immigration in California is a particular problem.
Everyone else is ignoring it, he said, adding that if Trump becomes president, we can finally address the shadow population that we have.
Slebodas 12-year-old son, Sean, said he supports the GOP candidate because of his education policies.
Sean said he doesnt like Common Core and that Trump, who wants it eliminated, would implement changes allowing him to take math classes that would keep him competitive when he grows up. Common Core is a set of standards that details what K-12 students should know in English language arts and math at the end of each grade.
Henry Mendoza of Orange walked near the amphitheater entrance selling handmade art and Trump buttons for his business, Jaboniez.
Mendoza said he likes how the New York real estate development magnate touts a need for American companies to stop outsourcing work abroad and that the White House needs a true businessman at its helm.
Dozens of extra law enforcement officers were assigned to patrol the fairgrounds area in anticipation of large crowds attending the rally.
At least 75 Orange County sheriffs deputies were expected to be present, in addition to 12 Costa Mesa police officers, Costa Mesa officials said. Some of the sheriffs deputies patrolled the fairgrounds on horseback; others were in the sky aboard helicopters.
The citys Emergency Operations Center, across the street from the fairgrounds and the amphitheater, was activated, said city spokesman Tony Dodero said.
Were prepared for the worst, were hoping for the best, Dodero added. Our hope is that the event is successful and everyone acts accordingly.
A protest near the fairgrounds and Costa Mesa City Hall was organized by Orange County Democrats. Trumps opponents have accused him of bigotry for some of his comments about immigrants.
In what may have been the first anti-Trump act of the day, around 2:30 p.m., Frank Farldow, who lives near the Pacific Amphitheatre in the Monticello condominium complex, played FDT, a rap song whose title is an abbreviation for an expletive aimed at Trump. The song, by YG and Nipsey Hussle, blasted from Farldows car, which was parked in his garage off Vanguard Way.
Hatred and discrimination are not for a man trying out for running the country, Farldow said.
Trump is pursuing Californias 172 delegates in his bid for the Republican nomination.
A Newport Beach man has admitted to participating in a massive fraud case in which doctors received hundreds of millions of dollars in payments in exchange for surgical referrals, federal authorities said.
Michael R. Drobot, 44, pleaded guilty March 4 to allegations of conspiracy and illegal kickbacks, the U.S. attorneys office in Los Angeles said Friday. Records of Drobots case were only recently unsealed, prosecutors said.
Drobot is one of nine defendants who have admitted participating in the long-running scheme, according to authorities. He faces up to 10 years in prison at his sentencing scheduled for Nov. 18.
Authorities say dozens of doctors and chiropractors were illegally paid to send patients to Pacific Hospital in Long Beach, resulting in $600 million in fraudulent billings in eight years.
Join the conversation on Facebook >>
Most of the money was paid out in workers compensation insurance, according to authorities.
Drobots father, Michael D. Drobot, was the owner and chief executive of Pacific Hospital until 2013, according to court documents.
The elder Drobot, a Corona del Mar resident, pleaded guilty in the scheme in April 2014. He has yet to be sentenced.
Federal authorities last week also announced guilty pleas from two other conspirators.
Michael Barri, 48, a chiropractor from San Clemente, and Linda Martin, 66, a Clovis resident who worked in marketing at Pacific Hospital, face up to five years in prison.
The Drobots and other defendants have agreed to cooperate with authorities who are still investigating and pursuing corruption charges against former state Sen. Ron Calderon, who is accused of accepting bribes from the elder Drobot, according to prosecutors.
--
Jeremiah Dobruck, jeremiah.dobruck2@latimes.com
Twitter: @jeremiahdobruck
ALSO
Costa Mesa man pleads guilty to manslaughter in 2011 stabbing death
Man arrested after truck chased by police crashes into parked cars in Costa Mesa
Drowning averted by passerby, police say
Police announced Tuesday that they have arrested two teenagers suspected of vandalizing police cars during a protest that turned violent after Donald Trumps April 28 campaign stop in Costa Mesa.
Authorities did not release the suspects names, saying only that they are male minors who live in Costa Mesa. One was arrested last week, the other about three weeks earlier, said Costa Mesa police Sgt. Matt Grimmond.
According to Grimmond, one of the teens is suspected of vandalizing a police cruiser by kicking in its door. Authorities allege the other was seen writing on a different police car with a blue marker.
Police are still looking for other suspects in the vandalism of a total of six police cars, Grimmond said.
Join the conversation on Facebook >>
1 / 28 An anti-Trump demonstrator lies at the intersection of Fair Drive and Fairview Road near the Pacific Amphitheatre, where the candidate made his first appearance of his California campaign. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 28 Protesters try to overturn a police car at the Donald Trump rally in Costa Mesa. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 28 Chaos on the streets outside the rally. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 28 Protesters outside the rally. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 28 Protesters in the streets. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 28 Police try to quell a protest against Donald Trump on the streets outside the Orange County Fairgrounds. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 28 Presidential candidate Donald Trump waves to the crowd during a rally at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 28 Protesters outside the Donald Trump rally. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 28 Law enforcement authorities line the street where protesters had gathered. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 28 Anti-Trump protesters take over an intersection near the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 28 A protester waves a flag before a phalanx of police officers in riot gear. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 28 A protester and law enforcement officers amid the raucous scene. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 28 Guadalupe Verdugo in front of a police line outside the Orange County Fairgrounds. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 28 A protestor, second from right, is escorted out of the amphitheatre before a rally at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 28 A wall of police and sheriffs deputies opposite demonstrators in Costa Mesa. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 28 Donald Trump with supporters at the rally. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 28 Donald Trump greets supporters at the rally. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 28 Donald Trump onstage in Costa Mesa. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 28 Donald Trump speaks at the rally. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 28 A Trump supporter yells build that wall before the start of a rally at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 28 A protester clings to a traffic signal at the intersection of Fairview Road and Fair Drive, which was taken over by anti-Trump demonstrators. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 28 Orange County sheriffs deputies separate protesters from supporters at Donald Trumps rally in Costa Mesa. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 28 A protester outside the Donald Trump rally in Costa Mesa. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 28 A Trump supporter at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 28 Trump supporters grab signs before a rally at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 28 Esvin Rivers waves a flag as he waits in line to attend the rally. (Barbara Davidson/ Los Angeles Times) 27 / 28 Sheriffs deputies patrol between the rival groups at the Trump rally. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 28 A Trump supporter, right, confronts a protester outside the event. (Barbara Davidson/ Los Angeles Times)
On Tuesday, investigators released photos of a male jumping on the dented roof of a police car. He was wearing black pants, a white shirt, a black hat with green under the bill, gray shoes and a gray shirt over his mouth.
Authorities asked that anyone who knows the suspects identity contact detectives at (714) 754-5198.
The arrests announced Tuesday came in the wake of Trumps rally at the OC Fair & Event Centers Pacific Amphitheatre. According to Costa Mesa police, more than 30,000 people descended on the area in hopes of attending the free rally or to protest outside. The amphitheater seats 8,500, and many supporters of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee could not get in.
After the rally, crowds flooded nearby streets and some demonstrators threw rocks, smashed car windows and tried to flip a police car.
In addition to the six damaged police vehicles, four civilian motorists reported damage to their cars, but police said they have no leads in those cases.
Police said they also are investigating two assault cases related to the protests.
In one incident, a Costa Mesa police officer wearing a helmet was hit on the head with a thrown rock. In the other, a civilian was hit on the head, police said.
The Costa Mesa Police Department continues to vigorously pursue investigative leads to identify and hold the responsible parties accountable for their involvement in the activities which occurred after the Trump rally in Costa Mesa, police said in a statement.
The Orange County Sheriffs Department is investigating another assault report and a case of reckless driving, according to Costa Mesa police.
Seventeen people were arrested the night of the rally on suspicion of unlawful assembly, police said. In May, the Orange County district attorneys office announced it had charged one of them with a felony count of vandalism and a misdemeanor count of inciting a riot.
Prosecutors allege that Luis Fernando Alarcon, 19, of Anaheim threw a rock or a roof tile at a California Highway Patrol cruiser. Alarcon has pleaded not guilty.
--
Jeremiah Dobruck, jeremiah.dobruck2@latimes.com
Twitter: @jeremiahdobruck
ALSO
Community says farewell to Brock McCann, 8, who was hit and killed by a trash truck
UC Irvine event featuring gay conservative speaker triggers protest
57 students graduate from Early College High School
On a recent episode of the television series Game of Thrones, the heroic Jon Snow lamented that he had tried to do the right thing, but he failed.
Good, another character tells him. Now go fail again.
It was the closest the show ever came to a touchy-feely moment. I had to chuckle, tickled as I was that a fictional character set in a fantasy land of cutthroat political machinations and remorseless violence would receive the same kind of pep talk that students in the real world repeatedly hear.
Were always telling our kids that its OK to fail. Learn from your missteps. It is only by falling down that we know how to pick ourselves up. Now that were in graduation season, commencement speakers across the nation are offering up some version of this go forth and fail, and fail again sentiment.
In Oprah Winfreys commencement address at Harvard University in 2013, she urged the graduating class to learn from every mistake. Last month, Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg delivered a poignant speech to UC Berkeley graduates, in which she spoke publicly for the first time about the sudden death of her husband.
It is the hard days the times that challenge you to your very core that will determine who you are, she said.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling even wrote a book about this idea, Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination.
Central to this message is the notion that failure and hardship can ultimately lead us to success if we use the wisdom gleaned from our experiences and refuse to buckle. Such up-by-your-bootstraps thinking comports with our can-do American mindset and entrepreneurial natures.
The trouble is that many of us dont always live by these words. Its great to pontificate to our kids about the virtues of failure and the valuable lessons imparted, but when they screw up, do we really show them through other words and deeds that we truly understand ? I wonder.
We love winning, after all, and we idolize those who we perceive to be winners, whether athletes, celebrities, billionaire tech nerds, a girl who gets a boyfriend on a reality show or the kid with the most trophies. And though we claim to embrace failure, isnt it more the case that we dont mind it when theres a great story to tell later about overcoming adversity?
Indeed, it often seems that we see value in the dark days of the journey when and only when someone later achieves success. When people are down and out, we tend to enjoy kicking them. In our social media-driven age, there are abundant opportunities to do so.
For parents, the tricky part is helping our kids get through their failures with love and forbearance. It is during the difficult task of holding them accountable, while not saddling them with our own self-involved frustration and dashed dreams, that we realize our kids are not perfect after all.
Our children will fail sometimes. Its an inevitable part of life, said Dr. Shannon Curry, a clinical psychologist who frequently addresses the parent-child dynamic at her Newport Beach practice.
Frequently, however, parents make these failures more about themselves, she said, by seeing their childrens missteps as a reflection of their parenting or as a personal disappointment. Some parents react by become angry, embarrassed or hypercritical. Others go the opposite route and make excuses for their childrens shortcomings. Some intervene too forcefully or to try to fix everything for them.
That isnt to say that parents shouldnt use discipline or take strong measures when their children are out of control. But too often, Curry finds parents responding to their kids problems in inappropriate and unhelpful ways, rather than in a manner that nurtures childrens capacity to persevere and work through difficulties in healthy ways.
Kids have a certain innate resiliency, she said, but parents mess that up.
Effective parents allow themselves to have conflicts with their kids and dont see their kids mistakes as something shameful or an example of them parenting poorly, Curry says.
When children mess up or go through a difficult patch, parents would do best to try to remove their own emotional baggage from the situation and help their kids learn how to problem-solve, Curry counsels.
She cites the example of a child who routinely misses homework assignments. First, have a calm conversation about it with the intention of getting to the root cause of the problem. Then engage the child in making a goal-setting plan and have him take responsibility for following through. Agree on the consequences.
And heres a particularly critical point, Curry says: Praise hard work and perseverance over performance. Were not going to lie to our kids and tell them theyre the best ones out there. Focus on effort and not achievement.
Allow them to feel disappointment and teach them that real success doesnt come from being the best. It comes from this feeling that I have people who love me. I work hard. I am caring and kind.
Its sage advice worth considering as part of the larger discussion about learning from failure. Tough times can be character-building, but parents focus should be on cultivating their childrens ability to weather the storm, not just the storm itself.
PATRICE APODACA is a former Newport-Mesa public school parent and former Los Angeles Times staff writer. She lives in Newport Beach.
When the Glen Roberts Big Band fires up for a session of classic swing standards, its an invariably glorious earful. Flawless as an ensemble and boasting soloists of remarkable grace and authority, the groups Thursday night performances at Viva Cantina have become a cherished institution among music fans. And bandleader Roberts, at age 90, is a yet unstoppable force who oversees it all with an irresistibly affable attitude and a sterling musicality.
The path that brought him here has been nothing less than remarkable. Born Aug. 18, 1925, in small town Bradford, Ohio, his two talented older brothers introduced him to music as a child and he was schooled in music, from elementary through high school, as a member of various marching bands and glee clubs.
In junior high I was playing the baritone euphonium, and in high school I switched to the sousaphone, Roberts said. This was just as WWII was beginning and there were no bassists around, so I was encouraged to play the string bass. I loved it, I loved the sound and the feel of the instrument. We moved to a larger city in Ohio, and by the time I was 16, I was in the musicians union, and when Saxie Mansfield, who played tenor with Woody Herman, came to town, I was playing with him in a quartet in the bar at one of the big hotels there.
------------
FOR THE RECORD
8:12 p.m.: A previous version of this article included a photograph that had been digitally altered.
------------
Roberts enlisted in the U.S. Army at 17, as part of a specialized training program aimed at turning out Army engineers but after one semester of college study the program folded and he found himself in the infantry, where he qualified as a Browning Automatic Rifle expert assigned to Pattons Third Army. We missed D-Day, but they sent us over to Europe not long after. We were waiting to go the front when I got a message to report to regimental headquarters, Roberts said. There was a fellow I knew there, and he said I was to be made a combat MP. I heard the next day that the BAR team I was supposed to lead had all been killed in action. Then the Bulge broke out, Patton sent us up to Belgium and we went all the way across Europe and through to Germany, where we met up with the Russian troops.
After we came back, I was playing in a band at the recreation hall on our base. It took quite a while to receive a discharge, so I was always in a band, playing somewhere. When I got out I studied to become a psychologist, got my bachelors degree in Ohio, my masters in Kentucky and my doctorate at Purdue, Roberts said. I kept playing the whole time, had gigs every night on weekends. In Lexington, Stan Levy, who had played with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, came in on drums. That was really something, and we became friends.
A few years later I was doing an internship in Wichita, Kan., and saw that Stan Kenton was coming through town. Well, Kenton was my idol so I went to hear them, and who do I see on drums but Stan Levy. And hes gesturing to me during the show, so I went and spoke to him on the break and he said their bassist wasnt cutting the book and asked could I leave town?
Well, fortunately the fellow who I was interning for was a music fan, and when I told him about it, he just said, Are you kidding? This is the chance of a lifetime. Go! So, I went, I got to ride in the car with my idol, and we were on the radio almost every night, Roberts said. I even have a transcription recording of us made from the Blue Room in Chicago. But I realized the road was not for me, finished up my doctorate, moved out here to California and I have been happy ever since.
Professionally, Roberts distinguished himself as a specialist in child psychology. Tests for children werent doing the job, they were outdated, all done back in the 1930s, and I wanted to do that, so I developed my own test. It took years, but I finally got it done, submitted it and it was published, Roberts Apperception Test for Children.
It was a groundbreaking work a simple effective method to evaluate a childs social understanding via a unique storytelling format and became the standard in its field all over the United States, and the most recent edition is now being used across Western Europe. But Roberts, who for years ran his Glen Roberts Child Study Center in Glendale, refused to abandon music.
The busier I got with psychology, the less time I had for music, Roberts said, But in the mid-'70s, I heard there was a big band looking for a bassist, so I signed up. Wed rehearse at the gym in my clinic and eventually the man who led the band just got too old, was in poor health and retired, but he gave us the book. We tried it as a leaderless band but after about 45 minutes it was obviously just a disaster. So I thought, Well, Ill try it, which is a bit unusual because the bass player is always stuck way back, right up against the wall. But it worked. And I was able to trade some charts with other bands and eventually we got a pretty good library.
Then we lost our rehearsal space at the clinic, there were financial issues, the DiDi Hirsch organization came in and took it over, and it was hard to find a rehearsal space, Roberts said. My wife suggested Viva. We live nearby, but it was strictly a country and western place at the time. I talked to [booker] Cody Bryant, and he really wasnt sure about the idea. So we pretty much just went in one day, set up and started playing.
That was 10 years ago. Roberts and his 17-piece aggregation have performed there weekly almost nonstop. Its a reliably intoxicating dose of classic big band jazz that pulls in fans of all ages. Roberts and his players swing sweet hard, taking an elegant straight-ahead tack thats richly enhanced by plenty of hot improvisation on the solos.
It really wasnt planned, but we tried it and it worked, Roberts said. Ill drag around the house all week, but I go down there on Thursdays and theres an energy in the room, I get it from the other musicians and from the music. The music just helps everything.
--
Who: The Glen Roberts Big Band
Where: Viva Cantina, 900 W. Riverside Drive, Burbank
When: Every Thursday, 7 p.m.
Cost: Free
More info: (818) 845-2425 www.vivacantina.com
--
JONNY WHITESIDE is a veteran music journalist based in Burbank and author of Ramblin Rose: the Life & Career of Rose Maddox and Cry: the Johnnie Ray Story.
ALSO
Theater Preview: Potential minefield of diplomacy showcased in The Engine of Our Ruin
Music Preview: Eco-friendly indie band promises high-wattage show at Sunstock festival
Dining Review: An authentic bowl of local comfort
In the early years of the last century, photography was still finding its place as art, and many battles of form and content were won and lost along the way. For a time, the pictorialists ruled, shaping photographs with a painterly, almost dreamy touch, layering landscapes and portraits with soft edges and texture.
In 1932, a small crowd of Bay Area photographers led by Ansel Adams and Edward Weston chose another way, forming an alliance called Group f/64. They were in total opposition to the intentional obscurity and romanticism of the pictorialists, and called for an aesthetic they initially labeled pure photography.
To Group f/64, the natural clarity and detail offered by the camera mechanism should be embraced, not buried beneath artificial effects. Prime examples of their vision can be seen among more than 80 pictures in Revolutionary Vision: Group f/64 and Richard Misrach Photographs From the Bank of America Collection, opening Saturday at the Autry Museum in Griffith Park.
The vintage photographs of several members of the movement share wall space with the contemporary landscapes of Richard Misrach, who was both influenced and diverted from the dogma of Group f/64.
A period of intense creative conflict about the real and contrived in photography might be hard to imagine now, when different styles of picture-making are as interchangeable as the apps on your iPhone. But in the 1930s, photography was still a young medium, and the arguments could be heated as the form vied for a place of respect as art.
Photography was definitely still struggling for legitimacy as a creative medium, said Amy Scott, chief curator at the Autry, who created the show from two collections from Bank of America. There is a lot of competitive vision, and certainly a lot of 19th-century baggage of what photography can and cant do. Its also the rise of modernist painting, and painting is getting a lot of attention as the vehicle of the avant-garde. Photography, being seemingly representational, was struggling to find its footing.
The Group f/64 name was taken from the measurement signifying the smallest opening of a camera aperture, where the depth of field is at its greatest, leaving details near and far in sharp focus. Joining Adams and Weston in the Depression-era group were Imogen Cunningham, John Paul Edwards, Preston Holder, Consuelo Kanaga, Alma Lavenson, Sonya Noskowiak, Henry Swift, Willard Van Dyke and the youngest member, Westons son, Brett. Half of them remain marquee names in the history of photography more than 80 years later.
The group collaborated for just eight years, a fraction of the time Adams, Cunningham and the Westons worked as leading lights of the medium, but their joint impact was lasting.
There is a tremendous clarity of vision and you can really sense that they are interested in putting photography out there in its own right, Scott said. Its not second tier to anything. Its not trying to mimic anything. Its an art form, and it is uniquely able to present the world in a straightforward way.
Its not second tier to anything. Its not trying to mimic anything. Its an art form, and it is uniquely able to present the world in a straightforward way. Amy Scott, chief curator at the Autry Museum
The same concern for detail was consistent from Adams epic landscapes and Westons nudes. While calling their pictures pure or straight photography, the pictures werent without passion and poetry. There is awe and emotion in Adams pictures from Yosemite, while both Westons were similarly drawn repeatedly to the lush sand dunes of Oceana, Calif.
Edward Weston could also find the deeply sensual in pictures of peppers or artichokes, capturing evocative layers of light and shadow. Adams begins with the extraordinary in a place like Yosemite, and then makes it even more so. Weston begins with the mundane and turns it into something worthy of obsessive focus, said Scott.
The art to them is in the selection, the composition and then the printing of the image. The camera itself produces the hardcore crisp, clean graphics that Adams becomes famous for.
The pictorialists, led by the gifted Hollywood photographer William Mortensen, were diminished as a contemporary force by the middle of the century, though soft-focus and other effects (scratches, fog, lens flare) would make a powerful return in the grunge 90s. Styles of photography scattered in myriad ways, the old debates on the true purpose of the camera little remembered now. (Mortensens work also was the subject of a revival with the publication of two books last year by Feral House.)
Misrachs early career was influenced by the example of Group f/64, and he has since become a leading figure in landscape photography, colliding beauty and content amid the clash of modern civilization with the natural world. At the Autry are vibrant color pictures from his series on the Salton Sea, his Desert Cantos images and cloud abstractions.
Combined with the black-and-white f/64 work, the show represents opposite ends of 20th-century photography, which was the crucial era of evolution and renaissance for the medium, closing at the beginning of an accelerated digital age.
Group f/64 is very much a West Coast phenomenon. Its very much a product of California, says Scott. Art in California has always been a little freer of the strictures of the East Coast, and that has granted it some unique moments in our history.
--
What: Revolutionary Vision: Group f/64 and Richard Misrach Photographs From the Bank of America Collection
Where: Autry Museum, Griffith Park, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles
When: Opens Saturday; through Jan. 8, 2017
Tickets: $10 general admission; students and seniors, $6; children (ages 3 to 12), $4
More info: (323) 667-2000, theautry.org
--
Steve Appleford, steve.appleford@latimes.com
Twitter: @SteveAppleford
ALSO
Theater Preview: Potential minefield of diplomacy showcased in The Engine of Our Ruin
Music Preview: Eco-friendly indie band promises high-wattage show at Sunstock festival
Dining Review: An authentic bowl of local comfort
The Outlaw country movement, codified in the early 1970s by a shaggy posse of Nashville rebels, is archetypal Americana. Dark, complex, self-possessed and self-destructive, always struggling to rectify sin and salvation, its a rich genre that continues to thrive.
When Outlaw cult hero Dallas Moore makes his West Coast debut at Burbanks Viva Cantina on Friday, Oct. 23, expect a high-velocity, double-barreled blast of rousing, defiant music.
A long-haired redneck who studied classical and jazz guitar at Northern Kentucky University, Moores 25-year career and relentless touring (he averages a staggering 300 shows a year) has gained him a formidable reputation in the hard country underworld. Moores songs, as showcased on his current Dark Horse Rider album, are meditative, irony-laden mid-tempo examinations of the outlaws troubled, disruptive psyche. While cleaving to the classic tradition of stark, scab-picking realism which mad-dog forebears like David Allan Coe and Johnny Paycheck introduced and epitomized, Moore is genuine, not derivative, and his growling, expressive vocals deliver with resonant authority.
Like Coe and Paycheck, Moore is an Ohioan, and music has been a lifelong avocation.
My mama always played lots of Hank Williams, Bill Monroe and Elvis Presley records around the house when I was growing up, Moore said. I got my first guitar at age 16 and started writing songs right off the bat. When I was at the university, it was my chance to play in a gig band during the day and at local honky-tonks at night. I found the common ground between Django Reinhardt and Willie Nelson, Benny Goodman and Bob Wills. It was a blast soaking up the different influences and putting them into my own music.
After graduating and forming his own band, Moore was inevitably drawn even further into these infamous iconoclasts orbit.
Paycheck used to park his bus across the street from my best friends house and sometimes wed catch him and his band loading up and hitting the road. It was a big black Silver Eagle bus that read The Last Outlaw on it, Moore recalled. A few years later we got to open a show for Paycheck in Kentucky, right after hed gotten out of prison in Chillicothe. Ive always loved ol Paycheck and he was a big influence.
Ive been friends with David Allan Coe for over 20 years, he added. He has always been kind to us and weve done hundreds of shows together. They broke the mold when they made D.A.C. There will never be anyone like him.
Informed, firsthand, by their lurid sphere of interest, Moore has produced plenty of his own memorable songs, like Blessed Be the Bad Ones, Crazy Again and Bottle and a Bible. He is an integral part of a booming Outlaw movement thats anchored by Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Billy Joe Shaver and contemporaneously upheld by younger artists like Hank Williams III, Sarah Gayle Meech and Sturgill Simpson.
Naturally, all of this occurs far from the glossy realm of Nashville and big radio. That stuff is not really my cup of whiskey, Moore said. Theres a lot of great new music being made, but you wont hear it on mainstream country radio. It all comes out in the wash either way, and were glad to hit the road and take our music to the people, one honky-tonk at a time.
For Moore, only one thing really matters: The love of the song. Thats where it all begins for me. I love being able to write my own songs, bring them to life and share em with people. Its a connection and a high like no other in the world. He said. Im most comfortable with my old guitar in hand, sharing my music, stories and jams. Its literally a different show every night and were all fired up to bring our music to California.
Who: Dallas Moore Band, with Tonya Watts, Cody Bryant, Ronnie Mack
Where: Viva Cantina, 900 W. Riverside Dr., Burbank
When: Friday, Oct. 23, 8 p.m.
Cost: Free (seating limited, reservation required at eventbrite.com)
Contact: (818) 848-8810; www.windsorlivemusic.com
--
JONNY WHITESIDE is a veteran music journalist based in Burbank and author of Ramblin Rose: the Life & Career of Rose Maddox and Cry: the Johnnie Ray Story.
Next month, Glendale Community College will debut a one-of-a-kind program to train highly functioning adults with autism to operate computer-numerical-control machines, setting them on a path to working as machinist apprentices or computer numerical control operators and programmers.
The upcoming training is the result of the colleges new partnership with the Uniquely Abled Academy, which is part of the Uniquely Abled Project, based in Valley Village. The project works with educators, nonprofits and corporations to place high-functioning adults with autism in high-performing and well-paid jobs.
NEWSLETTER: Stay up to date with whats going on in the 818 >>
Management consultant Ivan Rosenburg established the Uniquely Abled Project in 2013.
After consulting with aerospace companies, he discovered there was a need for computer-numerical-control operators in manufacturing. As the father of two children with autism, he also set out to shift peoples perspectives in placing people with perceived disabilities in high-skill jobs.
The Uniquely Abled Project is to shift the social paradigm from disabled to uniquely abled, he said, adding that adults with autism are a great match to work as computer-numerical-control machine operators and programmers because of the highly focused and repetitive work the job requires.
Nolan Askew, 17, of Monrovia, presses a go button on a CNC machine to begin making another part at during an information for the Uniquely Abled Academy at Glendale Community College on Thursday, May 5, 2016. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
You want to be able to follow objective orders. You want to be able to work alone very well, he said.
Employees can earn a median salary of about $18 per hour or more, he said.
An open house informing parents and prospective students about the training program was held Thursday evening at the college, where parents and students toured the manufacturing and engineering labs.
The 10-week program for 20 students will begin at Glendale Community College on June 20. Instructors will guide students through 300 hours of instruction, lab time and soft skills, such as interviewing and resume building.
To enroll, students must be able to function independently in social and academic settings, and demonstrate a competence in basic math, reading and computers. Students must also be at least 18 years old and have earned a high school diploma or GED.
Glendale Community College is a major manufacturing hub with state-of-the-art machines and certificate programs addressing the demand for manufacturing employees.
The community colleges most of them recognized this need for [computer-numerical-control] training, Rosenburg said.
Rosenberg met Jan Swinton, dean of the colleges workforce development, while both were serving on the Los Angeles Economic Development Committee.
Whittier parent Karen Chong heard about the program through a friend and drove to Thursdays open house with her 19-year-old son, Brandon, whom she thinks could excel with the training because his strength is in working with computers, she said. She drove 45 minutes from Whittier to Glendale for the open house, and is willing to make the drive many more times for his participation in the program.
If its something thats going to meet his needs, then, of course, Ill commit and do the driving, she said.
Rosenburg said he is hopeful the program will eventually expand nationwide on campuses that have similar resources and equipment to train students.
Hopefully, were starting a revolution, he said.
--
Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com
Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
--
ALSO:
Glendale school board expected to adopt voting district map later this month
Teen survivor of rollover crash meets teacher, students who raised money during her recovery
Committees input will guide Glendale school calendar
The Glendale Unified School Board took an opposing stance to a potential tunnel extension of the Long Beach (710) Freeway on Tuesday, siding with concerns from neighboring districts over possible adverse impacts to student health.
The unanimous vote by the local board is aimed at aligning Glendale Unified with the Pasadena, South Pasadena, Burbank and La Canada school districts within a group called the 5-Star Education Coalition.
The collective will then vote to pass along its concerns to Gov. Jerry Browns office in hopes the state government will intervene and compel Caltrans and Metro the key principals on the potential tunnel project to refine their proposal. The tunnel itself may end up being as long as 4.5 miles and would connect the 710 Freeway to Pasadena.
NEWSLETTER: Stay up to date with whats going on in the 818 >>
In the adopted resolution, Glendale Unified is challenging the findings of a draft environmental impact report conducted by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The [coalition] finds that the [report] does not adequately address the adverse health and potential cancer impacts and risks to school students, staff and parents given a potential routes close proximity as proposed in the study, the resolution states.
Increased traffic was also raised as a possible negative quality-of life-impact.
The [coalition] does not agree with the [reports] findings that the building of a tunnel and the expansion of State Route 710 will not bring additional traffic, according to the resolution.
The draft environmental impact report was released last year, and more than 2,500 public comments about it were submitted. Metro officials are currently working to respond to all the comments.
The root of the concerns is over an increased number of trucks passing through the Crescenta Valley, bringing additional pollution to schools along the Foothill (210) Freeway in La Crescenta and La Canada.
Join the conversation on Facebook >>
We are part of the impact, theres no question about it I think it does help the Crescenta Valley community to go shoulder to shoulder with them on this issue, said board member Greg Krikorian.
The city of Glendale is part of a five-city alliance that has already spoken out against the 710 tunnel extension. Other nearby groups have also expressed concerns.
Ive gone to the Crescenta Valley Town Council, and they talked about the health issue and the impact and all that, said board member Armina Gharpetian.
The coalition made up of representatives from each school district will vote Friday whether to adopt a final resolution to forward to Browns office.
--
Arin Mikailian, arin.mikailian@latimes.com
Twitter: @ArinMikailian
--
ALSO:
Glendale resident who wrote weight-loss book based on biblical principles to appear in Burbank
Glendale City Church to hear from Senate chaplain
New lighting schedule implemented at Bob Hope Airport transportation center
After nearly 70 years in business, the La Crescenta Motel continues to draw in travelers from around the world as well as film crews from all spectra of the TV universe.
The 11-room, L-shaped business at 2413 Foothill Blvd. has been a backdrop in shows such as the vampire-filled True Blood and more recently Mad Men.
NEWSLETTER: Stay up to date with whats going on in and around your neighborhood >>
But its a bit unclear how much longer it will be business as usual because the property was recently put up for sale with a price tag of $5.9 million.
Built around 1946 by Glen Hine an aircraft mechanic during World War I the motel used to be one of several in the area.
There were several motels along Foothill Boulevard, said resident Mike Lawler, a member of the Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley. This is the last one remaining.
The property is a 46,000-square-foot lot surrounded by trees, abutting a residential neighborhood.
The motel was also originally known as the May Lane, named after Hines two children, Maynard and Alane.
Hine died in 1964, and the business stayed in the family for another four decades before it was sold in the early 2000s.
About 10 years ago, O.J. Rodriguez was hired as manager and has met everyone from actor Christian Slater to people from down under.
I get a lot of repeat customers from out of town. When its wintertime in Australia, they come here for 30 or 40 days, he said. They like a little bit of country, and they can just walk out their door and see green and trees and flowers. Its not like being on the third floor of the Hilton.
La Crescenta Motel manager O.J. Rodriguez talks about the ten years hes spent managing the motel. Rodriguez said demand is as strong as ever thanks mainly to a few decorating efforts to spruce up the retro look of the motel. (Roger Wilson / Staff Photographer)
Rodriguez said demand is as strong as ever thanks mainly to a few decorating efforts to spruce up the retro look.
However, just because the property is sold doesnt mean a closure will be happening anytime soon.
Plans dating back nearly a decade detail tearing down the structure and constructing a strip mall, but the current owner didnt follow through.
Robbyn Battles, a local resident and Realtor, said the motel has been up for sale several times before, and it likely hasnt sold yet because taking on the property would be a huge task. She doesnt believe the motel could stay a motel under a new owner because its too old and run down.
You have to realize the cost involved the cost to purchase a property like that, develop it and then make money because thats what investors do. They buy properties to make money and that can be a very difficult sale and resale, Battles said.
A leveled lot, however, would be ideal for a new boutique hotel, but not necessarily a strip mall because La Crescenta is already home to many of those, Battles said.
Despite its age, the motel was never given any type of historic designation.
Even Lawler, speaking for himself and not the historical society, said he doesnt consider the motel historic and understands the need for new development.
Im not sure what that says about the Crescenta Valley, having a bunch of motels, he said. I dont think its terribly significant other than the nostalgic factor.
And nostalgia is what Rodriguez said he often hears from local residents.
He recalled a time when someone backed into the motels front sign and knocked it over, necessitating it be removed for some repairs.
During the time the sign was gone, Rodriguez said he got countless phone calls asking whether its disappearance meant the business had closed.
Theres a lot of sentiment, he said.
--
Arin Mikailian, arin.mikailian@latimes.com
Twitter: @ArinMikailian
A residents phone call to police led officers to a car full of stolen belongings and mail, along with United States Postal Service gear and burglary tools, police said.
Shortly before midnight on Sunday, someone asked police to check on two men inside a parked car that looked suspicious on the 600 block of West Harvard Street, according to Glendale Police Sgt. Robert William. Officers discovered that the car, which didnt have a front license plate, was stolen from Louisiana.
When police approached two men inside, identified as Cesar Lopez, 37, and Eduardo Hernandez, 29, they were sweating and trembling, William said. The duo told police theyd borrowed the car and denied being involved in burglaries or thefts.
Join the conversation on Facebook >>
Lopez, who was on probation, reportedly had on a U.S. Postal Service hat, which he said he found inside and wore because his head was cold.
In the car, police reportedly found methamphetamine, red and blue police strobe lights, stolen mail, a U.S. Postal service duffel bag, gloves, cutting tools, cameras, an identification card from Belgium and a new remote-controlled helicopter, among other items.
The pair was arrested on suspicion of vehicle theft, burglary, possessing burglary tools and receiving stolen property. A woman sitting in the back seat of the vehicle was not arrested.
--
Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com
Twitter: @atchek
ALSO
Laura Friedman, Ardy Kassakhian criticize, defend contributions in state Assembly race
Perseverance pays off for Hoover High grads
Glendale High graduation ceremony stresses friendship, inclusion
A 45-year-old Glendale man was sentenced to one year in federal prison for stealing trade secrets from his former employer, a Pasadena aircraft avionics company, and distributing them to three competitors in a revenge plot after he was fired, officials said.
A judge last year convicted electrical engineer Derek Wai Hung Tam Sing of 32 counts of violating the Economic Espionage Act when he distributed trade secrets of Rogerson Kratos and instructed competitors to reverse engineer the companys products, according to the U.S. attorneys office.
Sing who was reportedly late in arriving to work and on completing assignments and had an unprofessional attitude was fired in 2012, officials said. Prosecutors said hed created mugs and bottles referring to company employees as imbeciles, and distributed them to his colleagues.
Join the conversation on Facebook >>
Though hed signed a confidentiality agreement that prohibited him from disclosing proprietary information and trade secrets, he took home a trove of documents that included at least 27 schematics and failed to return them after his termination, officials said.
In 2013, Sing used email addresses created under a fake name and the public Wi-Fi at Starbucks to send the stolen trade secrets to competitors both foreign and within the United States that produced avionics.
A judge ruled that Sing illegally sent seven schematics four of which he possessed illegally to three different companies, along with a document explaining the importance of the information and with instructions to reverse engineer the products.
If not for one of the competitors that received the proprietary secrets alerting authorities, Mr. Sing might have caused a devastating blow to his former employer, U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker said in a statement. Intellectual property is the lifeblood of the American economy and provides critical value to businesses and employees.
--
Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com
Twitter: @atchek
ALSO
Laura Friedman, Ardy Kassakhian criticize, defend contributions in state Assembly race
Perseverance pays off for Hoover High grads
Glendale High graduation ceremony stresses friendship, inclusion
Special interests is a term frequently bandied about in political talk but infrequently explained. Like a bogeyman, special interests are understood to be bad, but thats about it.
As an outsider to business-as-usual politics, I have had quite an education as a candidate for state Assembly, and many of the lessons are more useful in the hands of you the voters than they are in mine.
Lesson No. 1: Donors and voters are not usually the same people.
Much of the money that candidates raise for their campaigns comes from outside of the district they are looking to represent. Many candidates make monthly trips to Sacramento years ahead of the election. To get a head start on policymaking? Not quite. To make commitments to lobbyists in exchange for financial support of their campaigns. Ironically, political insiders spend a lot of their time with outsiders to our community.
Of the campaigns in this Assembly race raising the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to fund these efforts, mine has the highest percentage of contributions coming from residents who live within this Assembly District.
Its not easy to raise such obscene sums 50 bucks at a time, but its the only way to do it without making promises to anyone other than the voters. So, in my view, its the only way to do it.
Lesson No. 2: Endorsements arent free.
If youre like me, you probably assumed that a candidate earned an endorsement from an organization because their values aligned with that of the organizations. Sadly, thats rarely the case.
These organizations ask candidates to answer questionnaires where they are typically expected to adopt only the most extreme position of an issue. In fact, often there are only two possible answers permitted: Support or Oppose.
Nuance is a vice here. It should help explain why so many rational proposals that make such common sense to you and me are so elusive in Sacramento most who get there did so with the support (money) of organizations that exacted as a price for that support an allegiance to the most ideological version of their position.
Some organizations dont even concern themselves with candidates policy preferences; they look for the candidate who they feel is most likely to win (in a case of dizzyingly circular logic, this is often based on other endorsements) and support that candidate, hoping their money will buy some allegiance later on.
Our campaign prefers to take money from real people not these political organizations. By comparison there are other candidates who have raised 21% 40%, or more of their campaign cash from non-individuals largely outside groups.
We want our commitments to be to our community. Thats why we post our thoughts on issues facing our community and California on our website where everyone can see them. Dont see what youre looking for? Call me on my cell phone: (818) 970-0129 or shoot me an email at aj.blumenfeld@gmail.com.
So what to do?
Aside from massive campaign finance reform which we desperately need an individual voter can help back against these perversions of our democracy by refusing to let them be successful. Candidates spend their time raising this money and earning these endorsements because they believe thats what it takes to win.
Prove them wrong.
Ask candidates what they had to say to raise more than $200,000 from people and organizations many miles from our community. Submit your own questionnaires to candidates on the issues you want to hear from them about. Dont substitute an endorsement for your own judgment about a candidates character and their commitment to our community those endorsements dont always mean what you think they do.
And consider making a small contribution to the candidate of your choice, the ones that refuse to let their path to Sacramento be paved with outside dollars.
Two-thirds of donors to our campaign have come from first-time political donors; these are people just like many of you, who have never before written a political check.
But they did so because they believe that their voice should matter; that their elections are theirs to decide. They believe people should come before money. I do, too.
--
ANDREW BLUMENFELD, a product of La Canada Flintridge and a fifth-grade teacher, recently completed service as a member of the La Canada Unified School District Governing Board and is running to represent the 43rd State Assembly District.
Longtime Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent David Lamb died June 5 in Virginia at 76, but his insights and advice will endure for years -- and not only in Lambs several books about Africa, Asia and the Arab world.
Through the years, Lamb also contributed frequently to the pages of Travel. In the last 11 years, retired from the paper and writing as a freelancer, he took Times readers along bike routes in New Zealand and Catalonia, Spain; aboard a four-masted cruise ship in the Aegean Sea; into a lakeside cabin in Maine; onto the Vietnamese Island of Phu Quoc; and around the world on a 23-day private jet tour priced at $64,950 a head (but Lamb, serving as a lecturer, flew free).
On this trip, he learned about 28-foot-long pythons and 2-foot-long rats.
Advertisement
Here, he roamed a 1,000-acre former prison site that once held 40,000 POWs.
Here, he was able to arrange seven nights of lodging, meals and bike rentals (with guide and transport van) for $1,600 per person.
Here, he glimpsed Gallipoli.
Here, he waded through knee-deep flooding to reach lunch in a 14th-century castle.
Lamb joined the Times as a reporter in 1970. Over the next 34 years as a staffer, he reported stories from more than 100 countries. Besides his stateside posts, he served as a correspondent based in Africa, the Middle East and Vietnam (during the war and then 20 years later).
ALSO
Let Star Treks George Takei lead you on a zero-gravity flight over Las Vegas
Please dont feed Hawaiis rare state bird, the nene, and dont run over it either
Whats Expedias most-searched destination over 20 years? You guessed it.
Wyoming: Learn how to rope cattle while staying at an upscale ranch
Joshua Wong, the face of the 2014 pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong, was acquitted Tuesday of two counts of obstructing a police officer during an earlier protest against mainland Chinas claim of complete jurisdiction over the semiautonomous Chinese territory.
While the protest was unrelated to what came to be known as the Umbrella Movement, his prosecution has been seen by many in Hong Kong as a heavy-handed response by authorities in Beijing to the territorys growing restlessness.
The judge made a fair decision, Wong said outside the courthouse, donning the turquoise T-shirt of his political party stenciled with the motto: Determine Our Future. Well still keep on fighting for Hong Kongs core values.
Advertisement
Shame on political prosecution, chanted a crowd of about 50 supporters. Carry on civil disobedience without fear.
In addition to Wong, fellow student leader Nathan Law; Albert Chan, a legislator from the so-called pan-democratic camp; and Raphael Wong, a leader of the League of Social Democrats party, all were acquitted.
In three weeks, however, Law and Joshua Wong are to receive verdicts on charges stemming from their involvement in the Umbrella Movement.
Thats a more challenging trial, said Wong.
In June 2014, Wong and some 20 other demonstrators torched an outsized replica of a controversial document issued by Chinese Communist authorities. The document asserted Beijings complete jurisdiction over Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under an arrangement known as one country, two systems.
Wong was seen blocking a police officer who rushed to put out the flames with bottled water. Video captured a confrontation that ensued after Wong snatched an empty bottle from one of the police officers and other demonstrators came to Wongs defense. The charges of obstruction stemmed from that incident.
The territory of 7.3 million has been allowed to preserve a wide range of civil liberties, its British common law system and a high degree of autonomy for 50 years under a mini-constitution known as the Basic Law. Because of those constitutional protections, Hong Kong has maintained a lively, freewheeling protest culture during its 19 years under Chinese sovereignty.
Last week, however, a social worker was sentenced to 12 weeks in jail for assaulting police officers during the Umbrella Movement by dousing them with what appeared to be bottled water. Seven officers are now on trial for kicking and punching him.
A conviction Tuesday would have fanned more anger against what has been seen as Beijings meddling in the territorys affairs and could have turned the student leaders into political martyrs. Many Hong Kongers regard the Liaison Office, the target of the protest, as the mainlands command center for exerting influence in local affairs. The office has seen numerous protests, most recently on Sunday, after a candlelight vigil for victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
And in April, Wong formed a new political party to field candidates for the Legislative Council elections this fall. At 19, Wong is two years too young to run for office, but any conviction would bar him from running even after he turns 21. And a sentence of any length may deal a blow to the fledgling party.
Law is a special correspondent.
ALSO
Journalists mourn NPR photographers killed in Afghanistan
What its like to live in the worlds fastest growing major economy
Lancome draws outrage in Hong Kong after dropping pro-democracy pop singer
President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took steps Tuesday toward a tougher alliance against climate change, though at a more tentative pace than White House aides might like as Obama seeks to secure a key legacy item before he leaves office.
During a working lunch at the White House, Modi pledged to support last years Paris agreement to limit greenhouse gases, a significant step toward bringing the historic deal into full force.
But differences were clear in a joint statement issued after the session. The U.S. side reaffirmed its commitment to joining as soon as possible this year, while India has begun its processes to work toward this shared objective.
Advertisement
Modi, who once was barred from entering the United States because of his alleged support for Hindu extremists, will address a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday.
It was the third summit between the current leaders of the worlds two largest democracies, and discussions focused on areas of joint concern, from solar power and counter-terrorism to wildlife conservation and communicable diseases.
U.S. and Indian officials agreed, for example, to start engineering and site-design work to build six Westinghouse nuclear power plants in India, a project intended to help the fast-growing country meet its energy needs while reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
Theres an understanding on the Indian side that this is important for President Obama Tanvi Madan
White House advisors and some environmental activists praised the apparent progress on climate change.
The Paris agreement enters into force when 55 countries, representing 55% of global emissions, actually join, as the White House sees it. Indias participation would reach that approximate threshold.
Obama and Modi are on the same page about bringing the Paris climate agreement into force, said Brian Deese, a climate specialist and senior advisor to Obama. Thats significant because it comes in the context of a growing number of countries that have made similar commitments.
Indias support should reinforce momentum that we can put the Paris agreement into force far earlier than anyone anticipated, he added.
With seven months until he leaves office, Obama is eager to move quickly, especially in politically sensitive areas like climate change where a Republican successor might ignore the work he has started.
The White House doesnt consider the Paris agreement a binding treaty and isnt submitting it to the GOP-led Senate for ratification. Still, Indian officials want to know that Obama will live up to his promises and get the deal implemented.
Theres an understanding on the Indian side that this is important for President Obama, said Tanvi Madan, director of the India Project at the nonpartisan Brookings Institution in Washington.
Their time frame is different, she said of Modis side.
Modi brought his own to-do list, and achieved at least some of his goals.
He wanted the Obama administration to push China to allow India, a regional rival, to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a multinational organization that seeks to stop nuclear proliferation by controlling export and transfer of nuclear materials.
See the most-read stories this hour
Obama said Tuesday that the U.S. will support Indias application when it comes up for review this month.
The administration also recognized India as a major defense partner, a designation that allows greater transfers of military technology, more joint exercises and other military cooperation.
The two sides agreed to work more closely on cybersecurity. The U.S. pledged to support broadband expansion in India, and to help promote development of Indias digital economy.
The advances on climate change looked like baby steps to some analysts, especially since the two sides failed to report a final deal for construction of nuclear reactors. The Westinghouse project has dragged on for a decade.
A third of people in India still have no access to electricity, said Katie Tubb, an energy specialist at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington.
The way you raise opportunity for people is affordable and reliable energy, Tubb said. Nothing against solar, but solar is not the solution to a shortage of affordable, reliable energy.
In her view, the meeting yielded more political statements than substance.
ALSO
22 of the worlds most polluted cities are in India
What its like to live in the worlds fastest growing major economy
Even in fast-changing India, kushti wrestling is a wellspring of power, pride and identity
christi.parsons@latimes.com
Getty Images photographer Peter Macdiarmid literally followed in the footsteps of World War II combat photographers to re-shoot scenes in 2014 from D-day captured in their historical photographs. He wanted to match them as closely as possible to show the changes in 70 years. On June 6, 1944, Allied troops landed along a stretch of French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy.
Drag the slider to compare the images.
WEYMOUTH, ENGLAND - MAY 5: A view of the seafront on April 5, 2014 in Weymouth, England. The Allied invasion to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation during World War II took place on June 6, 1944. Operation Overlord, known as D-Day, was the largest sea borne invasion in military history. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images) (Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images)
Left: U.S. troops on the Esplanade at Weymouth, England, on their way to board ships bound for Omaha Beach for the D-day landings in Normandy, June 1944. (Galerie Bilderwelt)
Right: The same scene on April 5, 2014. (Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images)
Left: German prisoners are gathered and an American flag is deployed for signaling on Omaha Beach, Normandy, in June 1944. (Galerie Bilderwelt)
Right: The same scene on May 6, 2014. (Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images)
Left: A French armored column passing through the French town of St. Mere Eglise during the Allied invasion of Normandy gets a warm welcome in June 1944. (Popperfoto)
Right: The same scene on May 7, 2014. (Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images)
Left: A group of U.S. soldiers stands at the village fountain in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, Normandy, on June 12, 1944. (Galerie Bilderwelt)
Right: The same scene on May 7, 2014. (Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images)
The U.N. human rights chief says there are extremely distressing, credible reports that Iraqis fleeing Fallouja are facing physical abuse and even summary executions as they escape the city held by Islamic State militants.
Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, on Tuesday cited witness accounts that armed groups backing Iraqi security forces have detained some men and teenage boys leaving Fallouja with force that at times degenerates into abuse. The city is about 43 miles west of Baghdad.
There are extremely distressing, credible reports that some people who survive the terrifying experience of escaping from ISIL, then face severe physical abuse once they reach the other side, he said in a statement from his office in Geneva, using an acronym applied to Islamic State.
Advertisement
See more of our top stories on Facebook
Zeid acknowledged that Iraqi forces have a legitimate interest in vetting individuals fleeing ISIL-controlled areas to make sure they dont pose a security risk, but said authorities or officially designated personnel should do so.
He said those fleeing must be presumed to be civilians, barring clear and cogent evidence to the contrary, and urged the Iraqi government to take steps to bring any rights violators to account.
The government must show its commitment to protecting civilians by fully investigating reports that people who have suffered 2-1/2 years of living hell under ISIL, and have faced enormous difficulties and dangers getting out of Fallouja alive, are now facing double jeopardy in the form of serious human rights violations after they have escaped, he said.
NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj
Militia forces, known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, are one of several different Iraqi security forces participating in an operation to retake Fallouja from Islamic State, which has controlled the city for more than two years. Allegations of human rights violations have surfaced on both sides of the operation.
Hundreds of civilians, many bearing marks of torture, were released Monday north of Fallouja after being detained by a group of government-sanctioned, mostly Shiite militias. Five of those detained died while in the groups custody, according to Yahya al-Muhamadi, an Anbar council member working with displaced civilians.
Inside the center of Fallouja, Islamic State fighters are holding some 50,000 civilians captive and reportedly shot at a group of civilians attempting to flee the city Sunday across the Euphrates River, according to an international aid organization and the Iraqi military.
The operation to retake Fallouja from Islamic State was launched in May. Iraqs elite counterterrorism troops began their push into the city center last week and secured the southern edge of Fallouja on Sunday.
ALSO
U.S. wants to digest Iran, supreme leader warns
Islamic States Syrian capital becomes the prize in an international fight for legitimacy
When Islamic State showed up in a corner of Afghanistan, Nothing was safe, not even the cows
Alicia Perez Gomez is on edge, waiting nervously for the results of Perus closely contested presidential election between Keiko Fujimori and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. On Tuesday morning, two days after the balloting, votes were still being counted and the race was still too close to call.
Whats the matter with ONPE? Maybe they dont know how to do their job, said Gomez, referring to the Spanish initials of the electoral commission that is tallying the votes. She stood vigil Tuesday with dozens of others outside the commissions Lima headquarters. Were going to sleep here until its done.
Many Peruvians share Gomezs anxiety as the results of the historically close presidential race trickle in. No violent clashes between partisans have been reported, as both candidates urge followers to remain calm until a winner is declared. But tensions are running high.
Advertisement
A Kuczynski win would demonstrate the depths of Peruvians fears about electing another Fujimori. Although Keiko has built a solid career as party leader and congresswoman, her father Alberto, an authoritarian who served from 1990 to 2000, is currently serving a 25-year jail sentence for corruption and human rights abuses.
See the most-read stories this hour >>
Peruvian presidential candidate Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, center, with his running mates, Martin Vizcarra and Mercedes Araoz, at a rally June 5. (Ernesto Arias / EPA )
Fujimori supporters, on the other hand, see her as the mano duro, or strong hand, that Peru needs to combat sharply rising violent crime and drug trafficking. She also campaigned on promises to bring more roads, schools and clinics to remote rural areas, as her father did when he was in office.
Although both are centrists, Kuczynski, 77, framed his candidacy as that of an experienced elder statesman with a steady hand on the nations commodities-driven economy. Fujimori directed a more populist campaign, promising evangelicals that she would oppose same-sex marriages, and law and order proponents that she would build more prisons.
Fujimori remained quiet as the votes were being counted, issuing a brief statement Monday from the headquarters of her party Popular Force: We are waiting with prudence.
Her opponent expressed a similar sentiment. We are waiting with patience and tranquillity, said Kuczyniski, a former finance minister, in comments from his balcony to followers outside his house Monday evening.
With 97% of the votes counted, Kuczynski claimed 50.1% of votes counted versus Fujimoris 49.9%, for a 47,000 vote lead. ONPE president Mariano Cucho said it may be Thursday before all outstanding votes can be counted and a definitive result can be declared.
About half the remaining votes come from rural areas where Fujimori enjoys much support, while many of the rest are from foreign countries where Kuczynski is thought to have an advantage among expatriates. Analysts said Tuesday they thought Fujimori would collect a majority of remaining votes but possibly not enough to overtake her opponent.
NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>
Peruvian presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of imprisoned ex-President Alberto Fujimori, greets supporters in Lima on June 5, 2016. (Silvia Izquierdo / Associated Press )
For Fujimori to achieve a tie, she would have to have 73% of the remaining votes. Given where the remaining votes [to be counted] are coming from, she should be able to make up some ground, but just a little, said Ivan La Negra, a political science professor at Catholic University in Lima.
Interviewed outside ONPE, Fujimori activist Alberto Tudela said he wasnt giving up on his candidate. We can still win. We lack the rural vote where she is strong. We wont accept defeat until 100% of votes are counted.
If Kuczynski maintains his razor-thin margin, it may well be thanks to Veronika Mendoza, a socialist congresswoman who finished third in the first round of presidential voting held in April. (As the top two vote-getters, Fujimori, with 40%, and Kuczynski, with 20%, advanced to the runoff.) Mendoza swung her support to Kuczynski in the final week of the campaign, which seems to have helped him win majorities Sunday in several southern states where Mendoza won in the first round, said David Scott Palmer, a Boston University international relations professor who is in Lima to observe the election.
The south was not expected to go his way. The 1% to 2% of votes that he picked up as a result of her endorsement are why he is ahead, Palmer said.
Special correspondent Leon reported from Lima and special correspondent Kraul reported from Bogota, Colombia.
MORE FROM WORLD
The biggest worry in crisis-ridden Venezuela: crime
Can another Fujimori win Perus presidency? Surge by opponent makes race a toss-up
Early results show major losses for Mexicos ruling party in nationwide elections
All material is subject to strictly enforced copyright terms & conditions and cannot be repurposed or reproduced. 19882022 Latin American Financial Publications Inc.
Could the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 6 actually be leapfrogging the name to the Samsung Galaxy Note 7?
That's what the rumors flying around Samsung's upcoming handsets are now saying, as a Chinese news source Zol has the Korean smartphone manufacturer skipping the next logical numerical progression of the Galaxy Note series in favor of the name "Samsung Galaxy Note 7."
New Name
Why would Samsung do this? There aren't a lot of details known about Samsung's plans, but one possibility is because its chief rival's smartphone this year is expected to be called the Apple "iPhone 7." And then there's the rumored large-screened iPhone 7 Plus or iPhone 7 Pro, which are even more direct competitors to the Samsung Galaxy Note phablet series.
It's of course not unheard of for tech companies to make adjustments in the numbering and naming of their devices. HTC has experimented with a number of different name configurations, ultimately dropping the HTC One hero lineup this year for the HTC 10 moniker. Microsoft, after customers were disappointed with Windows 8, skipped right to Windows 10 as a way to signal big changes.
Rival Phones
As PhoneArena relayed, there's another piece of evidence to add to the name-change puzzle, which is a hardware spec rumored to be included in the Galaxy Note 7 Edge (nee Note 6): a dual lens camera on the back. And surprise surprise, Apple is rumored to include a similar dual-lens camera for its iPhone 7 Plus.
We'll know more as we head into the summer, but Samsung's Galaxy Note Edge for 2016 is expected to run a 5.8-inch quad HD display with possibly as much as 6GB of RAM.
Even top Republican leaders have seemingly had enough.
Several media outlets are reporting top GOP officials and donors are growing increasingly concerned about the ongoing verbal assault presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has launched against the Mexican judge overseeing his Trump University fraud case.
Trump Insists Judge is Bias
U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel has become a whipping boy for Trump, who has repeatedly accused the judge of bias because of his Mexican heritage. The New York real estate mogul has since added he would have the same concerns about any Muslim judge.
House and Senate Republican leaders alike have condemned Trump's unabashed remarks, while donors openly worry it may lead to a down-the-ballot vote against party candidates come November's general election and may even leave longer scars as it relates to the party's ability to attract Latino voters.
"You own his politics," veteran republican strategist Rick Wilson wrote in a recent column for Heatstreet. "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."
Indeed, some GOP leaders are even concerned Trump's impact could be as lasting as the damage left by former Arizona Sen. and 1964 GOP nominee Barry Goldwater. A leader of the conservative movement, Goldwater opposed the Civil Rights Act, paving the way for Democrats to lock in the African-American vote for decades to come.
Trumps Hardline Immigration Posture
Still, Trump has yet to back away from such comments he made about Curiel as the judge is absolutely angered and bothered by his vow to deport millions of immigrants and build a wall along the Mexican border to further keep them out.
Even though the likes of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich have deemed Trump's attack on the judge as "one of his worse mistakes," campaign staffers have downplayed its impact.
In all, Republicans are faced with defending 24 seats in the Senate this election season and hopes of them maintaining their slim, four seat majority are growing thinner. Even in the House, where the party owns a 58 seat majority, there are grumblings some candidates are now facing bigger risks than they may have been without Trump's rhetoric.
Beyond raising more money and pouring more cash into down ballot races, one fundraiser with close ties to several GOP Super PACs admits donors have been "burning up the phone lines" trying to figure out how to help protect the parties majorities.
"The concern is -- do we get to the point that all the money in the world doesn't matter?" asked another donor, adding his entire focus this election cycle is to help protect House and Senate candidates and the party's suddenly fragile congressional advantages. "We're obviously not there right now, but stupid s--- like this really makes you wonder," he said.
The immigration court system in Illinois is swamped with more than 20,000 pending deportation cases, forcing immigrants seeking asylum to wait as long as three years simply to receive a hearing date for their cases to go before a judge.
The overflow number of cases is more than five times the total put before the court just a decade ago and the sharp increase shows little sign of abating any time soon.
Asylum Seekers Left in Limbo
According to Michael Jarecki, second vice chairman of the American Immigration Lawyers Association's Chicago chapter, many of his clients have cases strong enough to earn them legal status, but are instead "languishing as asylum applicants" due to the massive backlog.
Nationally, Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse reports the number of pending removal cases in the immigration court system has swelled over the last 10 years from roughly 170,000 in fiscal year 2006 to over 485,000 this fiscal year.
Of those cases, which are all overseen by the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review, roughly one in five are applications for asylum in which an immigrant has to prove he is subject to persecution or danger in his home country.
Other deportation cases involve defenses such as people who have children who are U.S. citizens or people who are victims of domestic violence.
In Chicago, on average an immigrant applicant is forced to wait 1,046 days to actually have a case heard and the wait has been that long for a while now.
"We've been dealing with backlogs here in Chicago for a number of years now, and we've just seen them get increasingly worse," said attorney Ashley Huebner, who also manages the National Immigrant Justice Center's Asylum Project, a legal clinic that handles many of Chicago's asylum cases. "Our court is basically grinding to a halt at this point," she added.
Number of Chicago Judges on Decline
At the end of fiscal year 2011, there were nine immigration judges in Chicago, but by early 2015 that number had dropped to just five, with a sixth judge being added about two months ago.
At any moment, any of those judges can be reassigned to hear cases involving people already facing deportation, prolonging the wait for asylum seekers.
Across the country, there are 259 immigration judges spread across 57 courts. The Human Rights First organization has recommended a total of 524 judges to ease the backlog, but this fiscal budget only calls for the addition of 55 new immigration judges.
Beyond the staffing shortages, much of the backlog can be attributed to the prioritization given to Central American related cases. In 2014, the U.S. saw a spike in illegal border crossings by immigrants from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, including many families and over 50,000 unaccompanied minors.
"We see this very devastating impact on asylum seekers due to these delays," said Huebner, adding that most of Chicago's asylum seekers come from Mexico, Central America and Central and East African countries. "It's been a real devastating impact on the family, on the clients' ability to have a stable existence in the United States and a severe impact on their psyche."
Prominent Latinos and Latino groups are fed up with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's comments about the Mexican American judge taking on the Trump University alleged fraud case.
Speaker Ryan Disavows Trump
On Tuesday morning, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., spoke against Trump's comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel. Trump had said the judge has a bias in the fraud case due to Curiel being "Mexican" -- although he was born in the U.S.
"I disavow these comments. I regret those comments that he made," said Ryan. "Claiming a person can't do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment. I think that should be absolutely disavowed. It's absolutely unacceptable."
Although he criticized Trump, Ryan still spoke in support of him.
"But do I believe that Hillary Clinton is the answer? No, I do not."
Latino Groups Take on Racist Trump
On Tuesday, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) issued a statement claiming the Republican candidate's comments are "a slap to the face" to minority judges across the U.S.
"Claiming a member of the judiciary cannot preside over certain cases because of his race or ethnicity epitomizes racism and is a slap in the face to minority judges across the country," said LULAC National President Roger Rocha, Jr. "Our three branches of government work independently from each other to run our system of government in an efficient, effective manner, and to suggest that ethnicity or race be used to demand a judicial recusal is not only xenophobic, but threatens the notion of an independent judicial branch."
Rocha said Curiel is much of an American as Trump, but the Indiana-born judge should not have his integrity put at risk in favor of Trump's political desires.
"Trump's attempts to disparage and discredit Judge Curiel through his racist comments must not succeed. His attempt to recuse Judge Curiel based on ethnicity effectively turns our merit-based system on its head. Sadly, in Trump's world, one's ability to perform a task is not based on merit or qualifications, but instead on race and ethnicity -- such is not the American way," added Rocha.
The Latino Victory Fund, a political action committee that supports Latino candidates or candidates that support Latino policies, also hit Trump for attacking someone based on his or her ethnicity or religious affiliation.
"Just when you think Trump can't hit a new low he somehow manages to one-up his own racism and surprise us. He's gone after Mexicans, Muslims and immigrants, now he's attacking everyday Americans whose heritage he doesn't like, accept or respect," said Cesar Blanco, interim director of the Latino Victory Fund, in a statement.
Blanco added that Trump's comments about Curiel are unfounded and the businessman is trying to play victim in the case.
"No matter how hard he tries, Judge Curiel will not be his scapegoat, and our community and the American people will not stand by and let him destroy the fabric of America," said Blanco.
Kica Matos, the director of immigrant rights and racial justice for the Center for Community Change Action not only criticized Trump but also Ryan for still supporting him.
"This is an outrageous disconnect. In any moral world the equation is simple: racists lose the support of good meaning people. For Paul Ryan to say, yes he's racist but I still support Trump does not compute in a just world," said Matos.
Trump's Response
Following comments from the Latino groups, Trump issued a lengthy statement about Curiel:
"It is unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage. I am friends with and employ thousands of people of Mexican and Hispanic descent. The American justice system relies on fair and impartial judges. All judges should be held to that standard. I do not feel that one's heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial."
Trump added that the media made inaccuracies about the Trump University case, and still called for the case to be dismissed.
__
For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.
A Texas judge has granted a stay on his order requiring the personal information of tens of thousands of young immigrants to be turned over to the court.
Judge Andrew Hanen's about face comes on the heels of intense pressure from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF). Hours earlier, the organization filed papers in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans seeking to block the judge's order stipulating that the names, addresses and other personal information of some 50,000 immigrant youth be made available to him.
All of targeted Youths are DACA Recipients
All of the youths targeted have received three years grants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) plan between November 2014 and February of the following year.
MALDEF was the only organization to legally intervene in the Texas vs. United States case. With the June 7 ruling, no information will be turned over to the court before Aug. 22, when Hanen plans to again consider the matter.
In the meantime, the organization plans to move forward with its appeal of the order.
"This order cannot survive an appeal because there is no legitimate basis for punishing innocent immigrant youth, who are not party to the case before Judge Hanen, in order to address alleged misconduct by attorneys for the United States," MALDEF President and General Counsel Thomas A. Saenz said in a press release. "We are grateful that this egregious order will not go forward while the matter is appealed."
The judge has previously argued he wants all the information so he can consider the option of passing it along to the states who have sued the Obama Administration over Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) and the expansion of DACA.
While Hanen hints his order is meant to sanction the government over the alleged misconduct of its attorneys, critics charge the people most harmed by it are the immigrant youths it targets.
"Today the voices of DACA recipients were front and center," said Nina Perales, MALDEF's vice president for litigation, who also argued the organization's case before Hanen. "We are pleased that Judge Hanen agreed to stay his order, and we look forward to pursuing the case on appeal in the Fifth Circuit."
MALDEF Argued President's Executive Action Case Before Supreme Court
Back in mid-April, MALDEF went before the Supreme Court to argue Texas vs. U.S., the the pivotal case challenging the constitutionality of President Obama's executive actions on immigration. In dispute is the president's legal authority in unilaterally enacting legislation that stands to provide deportation protections to millions of undocumented immigrants via both DACA and DAPA.
MALDEF represents South Texas mothers in the case, individuals who were the only parties granted intervention in the case and who intend to apply for DAPA once the matter has been favorably adjudicated.
Jun 7, 2016, 10:08am ET
Report: Tesla furthers battery-supply talks with Samsung
The company is broadening its battery supply network to prepare for Model 3 demand.
Tesla's rumored battery negotiations with Samsung SDI appear to be moving forward.
Despite Tesla's existing partnership with Panasonic to build the world's largest battery factory, recent report suggests the automaker has reached out to the biggest players in the game -- Samsung SDI and LG Chem -- to guarantee sufficient supplies for the Model 3.
The potential agreement with Samsung is said to be framed as a backup plan if Model 3 sales further exceed expectations, sources have told Reuters. Eager buyers have already logged nearly 400,000 pre-orders, more than a year away from the car's anticipated arrival date.
Strong interest inspired Tesla to move its 500,000-unit sales target to 2018 from 2020. Critics suggest the plan may be overly ambitious. Tesla is notorious for product delays, but it claims to have learned from prior mistakes as it attempts to bring the Model 3 to market late next year.
There is still a level of uncertainty surrounding the Model 3's sales potential. Some buyers could become impatient, and the market for cheaper long-range EVs is expected to include more than just the Model 3 and Chevrolet Bolt in the coming years.
On Saturday May 14th Mountmellick native Dominic Reddin was awarded a Fellowship from the Irish Photographic Federation in Mullingar at their Distinction sitting.
The Fellowship is the highest distinction awarded by the IPF and is normally awarded for distinguished ability/style in a specialist area of photography. To gain the F.I.F.P. Distinction a panel of 20 images is required to be assessed by a panel of assessors to see if the body of work reaches the required standard to permit the Fellowship to be awarded.
Dominic presented his panel on the shy and elusive Kingfisher, the fastest and most stunningly beautiful bird of Irish rivers, showing the kingfishers doing what they do best, fishing for minnows. The panel of images capture the story of Kingfishers from flying, fishing from perches, to diving, catching fish underwater and then their re-emergence and feeding behavior.
He also also captured what is known as 'the fish pass' which happens only after a pair of Kingfishers successfully build a nest by digging into mud banks on the river. Only then will the female accept fish from the male to signify she is ready to mate.
Over a period of four years Dominic has been photographing kingfishers in both the United Kingdom, and here in Ireland in Co. Laois on the Barrow River.
For hours on end and sometimes for days he sat patiently waiting to hear their familiar call and watched them and managed to photograph them which eventually resulted in a stunning panel of images been put together for to reach the Fellowship Standard.
Dominic is a member of Mountmellick Camera Club and has won many awards with the club over the last fifteen years including the club photographer of the year for the past six years. In January this year he was awarded the Midlands & West Region Nature Photographer of the year 2016.
The Fellowship awarded to him however is his most distinguished and personal achievement and one he says has been such a great relief to have finally achieved.
My intention with this panel was to show a photographic portfolio of the daily fishing behaviour of Kingfishers, that can only be fully appreciated in the quiet but exciting moments that I have enjoyed while capturing them through my lens.
On Saturday May 11th the Irish Photographic Federation will host a Judging Workshop in the Dunamaise Arts Centre, There will be presentations by guest speakers Stan Miller, from Scotland, and by Des Clinton from the IPF.
It will have special interest for anyone who is interested in judging & clubs intending to develop their members as judges.
Further information can be found over on the IPF Website: www.irishphoto.ie
Tidy up the town
Portlaoise Tidy Towns Let's Tidy up the Town - Part 2 takes place this June Bank Holiday weekend, Saturday June 4. Part one took place on a wintery Easter Saturday but a decent crowd of local people still turned out to spruce up the streets and estates of Portlaoise. Portlaoise Tidy Towns is hoping for a big turn out this weekend for the tidy up. Contact 086 2430670.
Old Fort Festival
An new street festival takes place on Saturday & Sunday, June 25-26 in Portlaoise. The Old Fort Quarter Festival draws its title and theme from the original Fort of Maryborough and offers a weekend of free family fun and live music. Events will run from noon to midnight each day. Features street theatre including: stilt walkers, jugglers, puppet shows, giant games, family art workshops and more fun daily. On Sunday, a range of medieval heritage displays offer a taste of life in Maryborough Fort. Inclues blacksmith, armoury and more from Irish arms re-enactment group. Live music on Main Street includes top acts; Interskalactic, Big Generator, Poguetry in Motion, Transmitter, Strength in Numbers, The Valves and more each evening.
The Organisers are working closely with the Gardai and Laois County Council to make sure all necessary advance arrangements, The Old Fort Quarter Committee is: Michael Parsons, Laois Heritage Society (Heritage Officer); Teddy Fennelly, Laois Heritage Society; Ivor OLoughlin, OLoughlins Hotel/The Blue Door (Festival Chairperson);
PJ Kavanagh, Kavanaghs Bar & Venue (Festival Secretary); Michelle de Forge, Dunamaise Arts Centre (Festival Arts Officer); Catherine Fitzgerald, Chairperson Laois County Council, Andy Bergin, Bergins Pub; Liam Browne, De Bruins Bar.
EXams
Best of luck to all Portlaoise pupils who are sitting junior & leaving certificate exams this year.
A mass will be celebrated to pray for all on Tuesday, June 7 in SS Peter & Paul's Parish Church at 7.30pm.
INTERCULTURAL PARTY
Doras Luimni is holding and Intercultural Community Party to recognise volunteers and service providers on Tuesday, May 31 at 4.30pm in the Macra Hall Portlaoise. Contact Hannah h.culkin@dorasluimni.org
ACTIVE RETIRED
Enjoy a game of Whist every Thursday at Sue Ryders with your host Sheila from 2.30pm-4pm. New members welcome. ARA meeting time Weds. 3 -5pm in the Parish Centre.
Girls Soccer
Portlaoise AFC are now recruiting players for their new Under 16s Girls team for the upcoming 2016/2017 season. All levels welcome. For more information, please contact: 087 1806184.
Tag Rugby
Social Tag Rugby stats at Portlaoise Rugby Club on June 31. No experience needed. Six week league. Thursday nights. Must be 16 or older. Team registration closes on June 17. Spaces limited. Contact 0873894272 email tagrugbylaois@gmail.com www.portlaoiserfc.com
Pioneers
Annual Pin & certificate presentation takes place on Friday, June 3 during 7.30pm Mass in the Parish Centre. Pioneers to contact Paddy Lalor 087 2868092, Lena Connolly 087 2176127, Jennifer McEvoy 085 1354959 or any committee.
Knock Pilgrimage
Dioscesan pilgrimage to Knock on Sunday, June 5. Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin Denis Nulty will be main celebrant on that day. Spiritual director Fr Paddy Byrne will be travelling on bus leaving Parish centre 9am. Tickets must be purchased at Parish Centre contact Maura O'Brien 0863344722.
Parish Lotto
Jackpot not won in Parish Lotto draw of May 26. Nos: 6,9,26,29. The 6 match 3s won 167 each. Next jackpot 20,000.
Alzheimers Thanks
Tje Laois Alzheimers Society thank all who contributed to the Alzheimers Tea Day and also the Bag Pack in Dunnes Stores. Your donations are greatly appreciated and all money raised in Laois stays in Laois. Thanks also to the Volunteers who gave up their time to make both events possible.
Cemetery Mass
SS Peter & Paul's Cemetery Mass, Sunday June 5 at 1pm. Replaces the 12.30pm Mass in Parish church.
Parish Retreat
Retreat in Parish Centre on Saturday, June 11 11-30am-1pm for all Ministers of Holy Communion.
AUTISM CHARITY BALL
Charity Black Tie Ball in aid of Laois Offaly Families for Autism will be held in the Portlaoise Heritage Hotel on Saturday, June 4. Drinks reception 6.30pm folllowed by meal and music. Tickets 50 from Sinead 0877779856 or online at www.eventbrite.ie
Youth Group
Portlaoise Youth Group is looking for volunteers to help run the Youth Club. If you like working with children and can spare two hours a week or month please get in touch. Child protection and garda vetting is available free of charge. If interested call the secretary on 086 1577773 for more details.
MENTAL HEALTH
The Triogue Communty Mental Health Centre, Bridge St, Portlaoise provides help and support in the area of mental health. Call Geraldine or Avril 057 8622295.
Grow Community Mental Health Support Group meets every Wednesday at 7.30pm in Room 1 Parish Centre. All welcome. Call John 086 8033126
The Aware Support Group for people experiencing depression, anxiety, stress and other mood related conditions meets every Tuesday at 7.30pm in SS Peter and Pauls Parish Centre, Portlaoise. This service is free of charge, no referral is required and you do not need to book. Further information contact 016617211 or www.aware.ie or the locall Helpline 1890303302.
Age Strategy
The Laois Age Friendly Strategy will be launched on Tuesday, June 14 at 2pm in the Abbeyleix Manor Hotel, Abbeyleix. Former TD & Minister Mary O'Rourke and Cathaoirleach Catherine Fitzgerald launch the Strategy. Followed by a tea dance and music by Paddy Bracken, Clara. Notification will be sent out to all Active Retirement Groups and ICA Groups etc but for anyone not affiliated to a group - all over 55's will be very welcome. Please contact Geraldine Delaney at Laois County Council if you are interested in attending or for more information on 057 866 4107 or gdelaney@laoiscoco.ie
Active Retired
Activites: Wed, June 1 Mastermind Quiz on the 1916 leaders & general knowledge.
Wed, June 8 25 card drive and board games.
Thurs, June 9 Marigold festival Mullingar - the club will not be going but members are free to attend.
Indoor bowling every Monday at St Mary's Hall 3-5pm. Bring a friend. Enjoy a game a game of whist every Thursday at the Sue Ryder Centre 2.30pm-4.30pm. New members welcome. ARA meets every Wednesday, 3-5pm in Parish Centre.
Late Marie WHELAN
Codolences to the family of the late Marie Whelan (nee Redmond) O'Moore Place Portlaoise and late of Arklow who died peacefully at St James Hospital on May 21. Beloved wife of Peter, Deeply regretted by her loving husband, relatives and friends. Reposed at Keegans Funeral Home. Removal to SS Peter & Pauls Church for requiem Mass. Burial afterwards in SS Peter & Pauls Cemetery.
LATE ELLEN O'SULLIVAN
Condolences to the family of the late Ellen (Nellie) O'Sullivan (nee McDonald)
Newpark, Portlaoise, Rosscarbery, Cork who died on May 24 peacefully at the Regional Hospital, Portlaoise. Beloved wife of Jerry and dearly loved mother to Joan, Eileen, Pat, Breda, John, and Martha. Deeply regretted by sisters Bridie, Kitty, brother Jermiah, extended family, relatives, neighbours, friends. Reposed at Keegan's Funeral Home. Removal to SS Peter & Pauls Church for 10am Requiem Mass. Interment afterwards in SS Peter & Pauls Cemetery, Portlaoise.
Late Joan FORREST
Condolences to the family of the late Joan Forrest Newpark, Portlaoise / Kanturk, Cork who died on May 26. Deeply regretted by relatives, friends, neighbours. Requiem Mass St Mary's Church, Clonmel. Burial Kanturk.
Ive heard quite a few people saying words along these lines:
Ive heard claims and counter-claims about the EU and I just dont know who to believe.
The solution to this quandary is but a quick Google away. Heres a list of some impartial fact-checking sites who are running a stream of articles on the main issues of the EU debate:
Please spread the word about these sites. It would be a crying shame if, on June 24th, we hear anyone saying:
I didnt vote because I was confused by the claims and counter-claims of both sides.
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
Yesterday we had a brief glimpse into a post Brexit future as sterling fell sharply on polls putting Leave ahead. Any shock to an economic system will hit growth and investment at least in the short term, as has been grudgingly conceded by Leavers. Voters must confront the reality that in a Brexit scenario swathes of the population may have to change their jobs, whether they like it or not, and face a period of unemployment whilst the economy is reconfigured.
Vote Leave discretely and disingenuously propose two mutually exclusive models for the nation post-Brexit, one outside the Single Market, one in. Acting like snake oil salesmen they offer a generally risk-averse British electorate (with much to lose) the possibility of having its cake and eating it, at the same time cynically denying the fact that is increasingly clear; Brexit is a gamble with uncertain odds.
Bandying about the discredited 350m weekly cost of EU membership, Michael Gove has suggested that Britain outside the Single Market would be free to spend his mythical saving on our own priorities (his is not the politics that favours increased public spending do not be fooled). This 350m is not only fictional in its calculation but, as the IFS has confirmed, very likely to be more than offset by lower growth and its depressing effect on tax receipts.
Withdrawal from the Single Market is the scenario most likely to damage the economy in the short term, with multinational manufacturers and financial organisations domiciled in the UK for EU access relocating to the continent, and UK exporters faced with new tariffs and trade barriers.
Others in the Leave camp seem to favour continued Single Market membership, and sketch out a utopian future where the UK continues to have access to the market like Norway and Switzerland: countries that contributes to the EU budget, accept unlimited EU migration and have no direct influence on EU decision making.
They must be clear, our options are:
a. Taking the plunge, withdrawing from the EU and Single Market, crossing our fingers and hoping for the best.
b. Exiting the Union but attempting to remain in the Single Market (with contributions to the EU budget and freedom of movement, but no say in the rules).
c. Continuing with the present unique arrangement (that will be enhanced with a Remain vote).
Gove, and others, have argued that there is another option, that our clout would allow us to dictate better terms than Norway and Switzerland, that we could gain access to the Market without any of the nasties. This is pure speculation. No country has left the EU, and given the significant electorates in other European countries also keen to exit the EU do we really think that European leaders will gift the UK exit terms that give succour to their own political adversaries? Irrespective of how many tonnes of cheese, litres of Olive Oil or BMWs they sell us (Im sure Im not alone in being tired of these cliches) this is simply not realpolitik.
* Pete Shallcross is a party member and a Business Analyst from Cardiff
LifeStyle
The best LifeStyle shows are right here, from Australia and around the world. Catch up with the experts on home design and interiors, food and cooking, the property market, and get fresh ideas with the savviest of renovators. Whether you need inspiration for cooking up a storm, to refresh a tired room, or tips to sell your property, Foxtel LifeStyle will always something new for you to watch. Enjoy your favourite experts like Andrew Winter and Neale Whitaker, or Deb Hutton and Jamie Oliver live or On Demand.
Get Foxtel
PARENTS and students across the city have received a boost, with the news that road works in Corbally are being suspended for the duration of the state exams.
For a number of weeks, there have been traffic delays on the Corbally Road, between Athlunkard Bridge, Scoil Ide and St Munchins College, due to roadworks brought about by Irish Waters lead pipe replacement scheme.
After residents complained about this, and with, it was agreed to suspend the work until June 30.
This Wednesday, June 8 is the first day of the Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate exams.
Cllr Frankie Daly, Labour, who lives in the Irish Estates, Corbally, said the roadworks caused tailbacks as far as Parteen.
The last thing these kids should have to think about on the big day is whether they will get stuck in a traffic jam. Exam time can be a time of tension and anxiety. I remember the butterflies in my own stomach as the exams loomed closer, Cllr Daly, who is chairman of the councils travel and transportation committee, told the Limerick Leader.
He added suspending the works for a few weeks is a pain free, win win solution.
The work to replace the lead pipes in the Corbally Road will see piping replaced with a more fit for purpose system.
Due to the complex nature of the scheme, it could take anything from between a few weeks to over two months.
UP to 100,000 people are set to attend Limericks upcoming annual Solemn Novena over nine days in the city.
A landmark festival of faith in the local religious calendar, the novena, running from June 17-25, draws crowds from across Limerick and the Mid-West to the Redemptorist church at Mount St Alphonsus, regarded as perhaps the most beautiful church in the city.
Over the coming three years, upwards of 500,000 will be invested in the church, while one of its shrine is currently undergoing an upgrade thanks to a generous donor.
The Redemptorists will continue to celebrate 150 years of devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help at this years novenas in Esker, county Galway, Clonard Monastery in Belfast and Mount St Alphonsus in Limerick.
The combined novenas are one of the most significant and well-attended religious events in the country with a combined footfall of about 250,000 people.
The Pilgrim Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help having visited all 26 Catholic Cathedrals will return to Limerick for the last three days of this years novena.
The novena this year will focus on the Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and the theme of the preaching will be Mary, Icon of Gods Mercy.
Each day the church will focus on an aspect of the Icon. Examples of the daily themes are Mercy is the Language of God, With the Lord there is Mercy and Redemption (the motto of the Redemptorists), Mercy for those who are Hurting and Mercy on the Margins.
There will be a Holy Door of Mercy in Mount St Alphonsus for the nine days of the Novena. Traditionally pilgrims had to go to Rome to celebrate a Holy Year symbolised by walking through the Holy Door but Pope Francis has decided that people can celebrate the Holy Year in their local Cathedrals or other churches designated by the local bishop.
Daily mass times will be at 7am, 8am, 10am, 11.30am, 1.10pm, 4.30pm, 6pm, 7.30pm, 9pm, and 10.30pm.
Fr Seamus Enright, rector of the Redemptorists in Limerick, said that Bishop Brendan Leahy has kindly agreed that they can have a Holy Door in Mount St Alphonsus during the Novena.
There are no unforgivable sins because, as God sees it, there are no unlovable people, said Fr Enright.
Among the regular Novena events will be:
The Blessing of Babies and Young Children on Sunday, June 19, 4.30pm
The Novena Celebration for First Communion Classes on Monday, June 20, 11.30 am
The Novena Celebration for the Sick and Infirm on Saturday, June 25, 11.30am
Priests will be available to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation every day except Sunday, June 19
There will be a free, drop-in Counselling Service in a caravan outside the church from Monday, June 20 to Friday, June 25 from 10.45am to 1.15pm and from 5pm to 9pm
The Novena will be broadcast on www.novena.ie
TWENTY years to the day, the hour, the minute that Detective Jerry McCabe was killed in Adare, the picturesque Limerick village came to a standstill this Tuesday morning to remember the fatal events of June 7, 1996.
At precisely 6.53am, the six-piece Garda Band played The Last Post, a song long associated with death and remembrance, traditionally sounded at military funerals.
Today it took on another, more haunting meaning as Adare remembered a man of the force killed indiscriminately by members of the IRA during the course of his duties during a botched robbery.
Ann McCabe lined up outside Adare garda station opposite the post office where her husband was fatally shot three times flanked by Ben O'Sullivan to her right, who was with Jerry that day and miraculously survived after being shot 11 times.
Twenty years to the day and hour: Ann McCabe lays wreath in Adare in memory of Jerry @Limerick_Leader pic.twitter.com/KsSrcPLK9j anne sheridan (@annesheridan1) June 7, 2016
Both detectives, who started in the branch together 23 years previously, were escorting a cash in transit van at 6.50am when their car was struck by a 4x4.
Of the 15 rounds fired, one hit their car, three hit and killed Det Gda McCabe, and 11 struck Det Gda O'Sullivan.
To Ann's left stood Chief Superintendent Dave Sheahan, and Superintendents Derek Smart and Tom O'Connor, among dozens of gardai and the public, who lined the road as it was cordoned off for the ceremony.
Chief Superintendent Sheahan said in advance that the brief memorial service would provide an opportunity for reflection for us all to help the healing process and remember our colleagues who have been killed in the line of duty.
Its a significant day for us, the 20th anniversary of his death. It was a traumatic time for the division and what happened shows the difficulties of the job and which many face."
It was a solemn, moving occasion where words were few but the emotion of the occasion nonetheless weighed heavily on the family, the gardai and the wider Adare community, who gathered in the early morning sunlight to pay their respects once again.
Supt Sheahan said the words of US President John F Kennedy, who visited Limerick more than 50 years ago, were particularly true and fitting on this occasion.
A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honours, the men it remembers, he said, quoting the assassinated US President.
Among those who acutely remembers the events of that day was Willie Jackson, 67, from the Ballysimon Road, who drove the delivery van to the post office.
"We just arrived in the village," he recalled. "I had the back of the truck open and was chatting to the lads [the detectives] before I started to unload the mail and the next thing the jeep arrived up in the village and crashed into the back of the patrol car and the two boys jumped out, started shooting straight away.
"I was sitting up in the back of the van and I jumped down because I thought if I got away from the van I might be safer. They just pushed me against the wall of the post office and their getaway car arrived then. They seemed to be in a panic, things didn't go accordingly to their plan. One started shouting 'Leave it, leave it, come on.'
"They sped off and I went back to the patrol car to see could I help the two boys and I was talking to Ben for a minute, and he realised that Jerry was dead. I was trying to keep him calm. It doesn't feel like 20 years now. It's kind of nerve wracking now being here. We're lucky to be alive. It happened so fast," he told the Limerick Leader.
Mrs McCabe, who was accompanied by her daughter Stacey and son John, as she laid two small bouquets of pink and peach roses outside the station, maintained a dignified silence at the ceremony.
In one of the prayers of the faithful outside the station, Stacey fought back the tears as she spoke of the support of the community in the two decades since.
"We pray for the love, life and laughter you brought to our lives," she said of her dad. "We pray God will bless the members of An Garda Siochana and all those working in the emergency services."
Jerry's son John, also a garda, offered prayers and thoughts for all retired members of An Garda Siochana, particularly Ben O'Sullivan.
Nephew Jerry prayed for "Jerry's gentle soul, and that he may be at peace. In the midst of the mystery of suffering, we pray the God will grant us serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
Fr Chris O'Donnell, St Michael's parish, said many people continue to carry Jerry in their hearts.
Mr O'Sullivan, now 72, and living in Corbally, was overcome with emotion, as he remembered his friend and colleague. He retired in 2001 and was twice awarded the Scott medal for bravery.
"The ceremony here this morning has brought me to my knees", he said, adding that he's thankful to be alive, when Jerry was not so fortunate.
"I have come to terms with living with what happened, but I'll never forget it, and all these people here today won't forget it either. Time is a great healer and time thankfully has come to my rescue with regards recovering fully.
"Jerry is gone in reality, but in memory he'll never be gone. Jerry and myself joined the detective branch in 1973, on the same day. For the length of time that we served, there was scarcely a day that we were separated because we worked as a team.
Wherever you saw Jerry, you saw me, and regrettably today you see me - without Jerry. A smile is useless unless you give it away, and every time I saw Jerry a smile was evident. No job is difficult if you have someone to smile to; the long face doesn't get you anywhere."
The events of that day are still "crystal clear" in his memory.
"You're not supposed to forget that. You're meant to take up the gauntlet and accept that it happened.
While Ann declined to comment at today's event, she spoke in recent times to this newspaper about how living without Jerry hasnt become easier with the passage of time.
It never goes away, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone else. I had one grandchild at the time [of Jerry's death], now I have six, one girl and the rest are boys. He's missing out on that because he was a great family man, but I'm sure he's looking down on all of them. We speak about him all the time. I wasn't that young when Jerry died too young for me, too young for Jerry, to lose him.
Pearse McAuley was sentenced to 14 years in prison for his part in the killing of Detective McCabe. The Tyrone man was one of four IRA men who pleaded guilty to his manslaughter.
Along with Michael O'Neill, Jeremiah Sheehy and Kevin Walsh, McAuley had been charged with murder but the charge was dropped when key witnesses refused to co-operate after IRA intimidation.
There was a notable absence of any political representation in Adare this morning.
Fine Gael deputy Patrick O'Donovan tweeted to say: "Twenty years ago this morning, Limerick and Ireland was numbed by the murder of Det Gda Jerry McCabe. May we never forget."
Twenty years ago this morning, Limerick and Ireland was numbed by the murder of Det Gda Jerry McCabe. May we never forget. Patrick O'Donovan (@podonovan) June 7, 2016
The Henry Street detective will also be remembered in his native north Kerry, where a memorial plaque will be unveiled in Ballylongford this coming weekend.
MORE than 75 groups and individuals have objected to plans to burn tyres at the Mungret cement factory.
Irish Cement is seeking permission to burn rubber tyres, and other waste at around 1,500 degrees.
But the plans are deeply unpopular with locals, with over 150 people attending two meetings in opposition, and 645 people signing a petition in opposition to the plans.
They cite concerns the burning of tyres will have on the local environment and public health. But Irish Cement says due to the high temperature involved, there is no danger of this.
Despite this, some 76 people have been in contact with Limerick City and County Council to express their opposition.
Representations have come from the board of management at the Mungret Educate Together National School, while a submission from the Sli na Manach residents association included the signatures of 70 locals alone.
There is a request for more information on the 10m project from the Russell Court/Lawn/Close and Rosebrooke Residents Association.
One objector said: It is reckless to suggest the proposed facility and its toxic emissions should be located so close to Irelands third city. The city and its population are directly down wind of the potential emissions.
There have been calls for a full public meeting which should demonstrate how this development will be 100% safe.
Irish Cement should bring its environmental, health and safety experts to this meeting and the public should have their chance to discuss and allay their concerns, one submission reads.
Mungret is the site for two new schools, with one person saying it is insane to allow the turning of tyres close-by.
Would any parent want their child to attend school so close to a source of potentially harmful gases and toxins, asked one objector.
Another pointed out to plans to increase ULs city footprint, saying development of an incinerator represents a significant reputational risk to the city.
In a statement, Irish Cement said: Using alternative fuels will help secure the long-term future of the Limerick cement factory and the 80 existing employees on site
Limerick council will make a decision later this month.
We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.
Ryan, Nathan, Ben, and Penny make up Oklahoma indie rock band BRONCHO. They talk to us about recording their new album Double Vanity, finding new artists on Shazam, performing at the largest Masonic temple in the world, and crazy stories touring in Europe.
See photos of BRONCHO in Toronto!
Artist's illustration of an asteroid that has been turned into a giant mechanical spacecraft, which could fly itself to a mining outpost.
A few decades from now, asteroids may be flying themselves to mining outposts in space, nobly sacrificing their abundant resources to help open the final frontier to humanity.
That's the vision of California-based company Made In Space, which was recently awarded NASA funding to investigate how to turn asteroids into giant, autonomous spacecraft.
The project, known as RAMA (Reconstituting Asteroids into Mechanical Automata), is part of Made In Space's long-term plan to enable space colonization by helping make off-Earth manufacturing efficient and economically viable. [How Asteroid Mining Could Work (Infographic)]
"Today, we have the ability to bring resources from Earth," Made In Space co-founder and chief technology officer Jason Dunn told Space.com. "But when we get to a tipping point where we need the resources in space, then the question becomes, 'Where do they come from and how do we get them, and how do we deliver them to the location that we need?' This is a way to do it."
Diagram of an asteroid that has been converted into a mechanical spacecraft by a robotic "Seed Craft." (Image credit: Zoe Brinkley
The plan
Made In Space's idea involves sending an advanced, robotic "Seed Craft" out to rendezvous with a succession of near-Earth asteroids in space.
The Seed Craft would harvest material from the space rocks, then use this feedstock to construct propulsion, navigation, energy-storage and other key systems onsite with the aid of 3D printing and other technologies. (Made In Space has considerable 3D-printing expertise; the company built the two 3D printers that were installed aboard the International Space Station in the past year and a half.)
Thus transformed into autonomous spacecraft, the asteroids could be programmed to fly to a mining station in Earth-moon space, or anywhere else they were needed. This approach would be much more efficient than launching a new capture probe (or probes) to every single space rock targeted for resource exploitation, Made In Space representatives said.
The converted asteroids wouldn't resemble the traditional idea of spacecraft, with rocket engines and complex electronic circuitry. Rather, everything would be mechanical and relatively primitive.
For example, the computer would be analog, akin, perhaps, to the Antikythera mechanism invented by the ancient Greeks to chart the motion of heavenly bodies, Dunn said. And the propulsion system might be some sort of catapult that launches boulders or other material off the asteroid in a controlled way, thereby pushing the space rock in the opposite direction (as described by Newton's Third Law of Motion), he added.
"At the end of the day, the thing that we want the asteroid to be is technology that has existed for a long time. The question is, 'Can we convert an asteroid into that technology at some point in the future?'" Dunn said. "We think the answer is yes."
Project RAMA is not starting from scratch. Autonomous 3D printers that use mechanically driven systems already exist, Dunn noted, as do mechanical computers made of 3D-printed parts.
Still, making it happen will require significant advances in a number of areas, including in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) the art of living off the land. Made In Space is counting on NASA to push ISRU technology forward, Dunn said. (Advanced ISRU tech will be vital for supporting astronauts on Mars and other off-Earth outposts, NASA officials have said.) [What Technology Will Humans Need to Explore Mars? (Video)]
Asteroids are fascinating for lots of reasons. They contain a variety of valuable resources and slam into our planet on a regular basis, occasionally snuffing out most of Earth's lifeforms. How much do you know about space rocks?
Asteroid Basics: A Space Rock Quiz
Early days yet
Made In Space's larger vision won't be realized for a while, because RAMA is still in the very early stages.
In April, the project received a Phase 1 grant from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, which aims to encourage the development of potentially revolutionary space-exploration technologies.
Phase 1 NIAC awardees get $100,000 for nine months' worth of initial feasibility studies. (Recipients can then apply for a Phase 2 NIAC award, which is worth about $500,000 and funds two years of further concept development.)
Any discussion of Project RAMA timelines is therefore incredibly speculative, Dunn stressed. Still, he estimated that the effort might require 20 years or so of technology development and other work. If that's the case, the first Seed Craft may get off the ground in the late 2030s perhaps just as asteroid-mining and off-Earth manufacturing are coming into their own.
"The anticipation is that the RAMA architecture is a long time line, and when it becomes capable is about the same time that people really need the resources," Dunn said.
Project RAMA could also have applications here on Earth, he added, saying that machines similar to Seed Craft could do a variety of jobs around the planet.
"You could build infrastructure in remote locations somewhat autonomously, and convert resources into useful devices and mechanical machines," Dunn said. "This actually could solve some pretty big problems on Earth, from housing to construction of things that make people's lives better."
You can read more about Project RAMA at Made In Space's NIAC page and in a piece that Dunn wrote for Medium.com.
Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
It is lunacy to believe you own the moon, and no amount of tomato juice you spill into the sea will make its water yours. Yet we ask the question who owns antiquity? as if it were a sane one.
There is a reason for this. Its the reason why Dennis Hope, founder of the Lunar Embassy and self-dubbed President of the Galactic Government, is no lunatic but an entrepreneur who has sold over 600m acres of extraterrestrial real estate to over 6m people. Its the reason why Nestle has rebranded itself as a corporate water steward, while bottling ground water at the expense of local communities.
Its also the reason why today, on the 200th anniversary of the British parliamentary vote to purchase the sculptures that Lord Elgin sawed off the Parthenon, the British Museum continues to insist that its trustees are legally entitled to the sculptures. And its the reason why human rights lawyers, marshalled by Amal Clooney, have once again advised a Greek government unwilling to put forward a legal claim that it should take this museum to court.
'Stones of no value'
In 1801, Elgin was the British Ambassador to the Ottoman court from which he obtained a limited license to collect some stones of no value from the Acropolis, with which to adorn his estate back in Scotland. The excised sculpted blocks were shipped back to the UK and in 1811, on the verge of bankruptcy, Elgin offered to sell them to the nation. Five years later, the state bought 15 metopes, 17 pedimental sculptures, and 80 metres of frieze for 35,000 (equivalent to at least 2.4m today, placed in the trust of the British Museum.
Guardian correspondent Helena Smith wrote: Activists have been counting down to what they call the black anniversary (June 7 2016). Nothing could be further from the truth. Most activists agree that had the parliamentary vote to purchase not been won, the sculptures may well have ended up in the illegal art market and vanished without a trace. The real controversy surrounding the debate concerned the fact that the British government was willing to spend such a huge amount at a time of national famine.
But all that was then and this is now. Among other things, Greece is no longer a subject province of the Ottoman Empire. In 2009 the country opened the New Acropolis Museum, which has been specifically designed to display all of the sculptures, and currently displays plaster casts of the London marbles next to the original Athenian ones.
A recent British Museum press statement claimed that the Parthenon sculptures are a part of the worlds shared heritage and transcend political boundaries. Greeces minster of culture, Aristides Baltas, similarly said that we do not regard the Parthenon as exclusively Greek but rather as a heritage of humanity. Yet the British Museum also asserts that the sculptures are a vital element in this interconnected world collection and the usually diplomatic Baltas was also quoted as saying:
We are trying to develop alliances which we hope would eventually lead to an international body like the United Nations to come with us against the British Museum.
These curious juxtapositions all echo those of Nestles chairman (and former CEO) Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, who claimed that when he said access to water is not a public right what he really meant was that water is a human right (albeit only the 1.5% of it that Nestle is content not to buy and re-sell). The New Acropolis Museum currently charges a 5 general admission fee for the heritage of humanity. The entrance to the British Museum is of course, free; but it leads to suggested donation boxes, gift shops where one can purchase Elgin Marbles memorabilia, overpriced cafeterias, and ticketed special exhibitions.
Parthenon regained
The Parthenon marbles form an integral part of a larger whole, a temple dedicated to Athena whose frieze, metopes, and pediments variously depict her birth, the Panathenaic procession, the sack of Troy, and an array of mythological fights and contests.
There is no other example of a piece of art as crudely dismembered as the Parthenon, with even the heads and bodies of individual sculptures located in different countries (a few rogue pieces somehow ended up in the Louvre and other European museums which have yet to make any gestures of return). If the missing sculptures and fragments of this aesthetic travesty were to be reunited with those in the New Acropolis Museum, visitors could study them as one entire whole, with a direct view of the monument to which they belong.
The time is right for all surviving sculptures to be reunited under this single roof. They should be displayed, for free, in a joint Greek and British international museum. This bicentenary provides the perfect opportunity for the two nations to collaborate instead of bicker over ownership. The British Museum would be praised worldwide for all its actions, culminating in a collaborative partnership that genuinely benefits humanity. It is high time that ownership of the past became a thing of the past and we began to think in terms of joint custody instead.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Built to carry passengers through the skies, a jumbo jet now lies under the surface of the Aegean Sea purposefully sunk to attract tourists in a new way.
See more
In hopes of drawing more diving tourists to the area, Turkish officials sank an Airbus A300 jet off the Aegean coast to create an artificial reef. The massive jet 177 feet (54 meters) long, with a wingspan of 144 feet (44 m) will act as a foundation for corals to attach to and other sea creatures to live in, creating an artificial reef.
Artificial reefs are popular with divers, and help divert people from the natural (and very delicate) reefs. Warmer oceans, more acidic waters, pollution, human interference and other threats are posing danger to coral reefs across the globe, scientists say. [12 Outstanding Artificial Reefs to Visit]
Tourism in Turkey is expected to suffer this year, after several deadly terrorist attacks, Reuters reported. Sinking the plane was both an effort to protect ocean life and to turn the area into a year-round destination for tourists who dive, Ozlem Cercioglu, mayor of the local Aydin province, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"With these goals in mind, we have witnessed one of the biggest wrecks in the world," Cercioglu said.
See more
Hundreds gathered to watch the jumbo jet be lowered to the seabed, "cheering and blasting their foghorns" from their boats as the plane found its final resting place, AFP reported.
See more
Taking two and a half hours to be submerged, the Airbus A300 "wreck" is considered the largest plane sunk voluntarily to become an artificial reef, according to AFP. In recent years, three smaller planes have been sunk off Turkish beach resorts, the Daily Sabah reported.
A local government agency bought the 36-year-old craft for the sinking, according to news reports.
Original article on Live Science.
The obesity rate among U.S. women continues to tick upward, with the latest study showing that about 40 percent of American women are obese.
However, the obesity rate in U.S. men has stayed about the same over the past decade, the study found.
In the study, researchers gathered new data on U.S. obesity rates from a national survey conducted during 2013-2014, and also looked at changes in obesity rates over the previous nine-year period. Obesity was defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more.
In 2013-2014, 40.4 percent of all U.S. women were obese up from 35.3 percent in the same survey from 2005-2006. The percentage of U.S. women who are severely obese, with a BMI of 40 or more (known as "class 3 obesity"), also increased, from 7.4 percent in 2005-2006 to 9.9 percent in 2013-2014.
But for U.S. men, the overall obesity rate in 2013-2014 was 35 percent, which was not a significant change from the rate in 2005-2006, the researchers said. The rate of severe obesity among U.S. men also did not change significantly during the study period, and was at 5.5 percent in 2013-2014. [The Best Way to Lose Weight Safely]
Earlier studies found that obesity rates increased among U.S. men from 2001 to 2004, but subsequent studies suggested that obesity rates might be leveling off for both men and women.
The exact reasons for the new increase in obesity among women are not known, and it's not clear whether U.S. obesity trends will "accelerate, stop or slow," the researchers, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics, wrote in their report, published today (June 7) in the journal JAMA.
Dr. Vincent Pera, director of weight management at The Miriam Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, who was not involved in the study, said it is concerning "when any segment of the population is showing an increase" in obesity.
However, researchers need more information to figure out why obesity rates are increasing in women, Pera said. A number of factors can affect whether people gain or lose weight including behavioral and socioeconomic reasons and so now, more studies are needed to determine which factors are impacting female obesity rates, he said.
In particular, rates of obesity are highest among black women about 57 percent of black U.S. women are obese, the report found. What's more, this high obesity rate remains constant across young, middle and older age groups among black women. In comparison, most other racial groups have lower rates of obesity in the younger and older populations than they do in the middle age groups. Future studies could look at why obesity rates among black women show this pattern, Pera said.
Dr. Jody Zylke, deputy editor of JAMA, and Dr. Howard Bauchner, editor-in-chief of JAMA, wrote in an accompanying editorial that "the news is neither good nor surprising," referring to the new study and another report, also published today, that found an increase in obesity rates among U.S. teens. Despite efforts to turn the obesity epidemic around, the new findings "certainly do not suggest much success" in these efforts, they said.
Future obesity-prevention efforts may need to focus more on involving the food and restaurant industries, which are "in part responsible for putting food on dinner tables," the editorial said.
"The food and restaurant industries may be the sector of society with the greatest potential to affect the obesity epidemic in a reasonable time frame These industries have been good at developing and successfully marketing unhealthy foods; perhaps it will be possible for them to develop and market healthy foods," the editorial said.
Original article on Live Science.
Author Camille Griep's new novel, "New Charity Blues" (47North, 2016) explores the enduring question of water rights through a post-apocalyptic lens. Camille Griep contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
Not a week went by last year that well-meaning friends didn't ask about the concept for my latest novel, "New Charity Blues." I could almost hear their eyes rolling back in their heads when I responded. "Dystopia? Hasn't that been done to death?"
Authors can use any framing device they fancy to look at the future, so why are dystopias so popular of late? From "The Hunger Games" to "Station Eleven," authors frequently examine the future through a dystopian lens that allows them to cut down the noise of the wider world, focusing on a microcosm of problems that are, on their own, typically too large to conceptualize clearly.
A longstanding devotee of chaos narratives, I've devoured accounts of mountaineering calamities, stories of airplane flights gone wrong and endless tales of the lost, the hopeless, the done-for. And I'm far from the only person wondering what the future will look like when there are relatively few of us left: The question of what will become of us after the apocalypse comes has seized the imaginations of writers throughout time.
Interviewed by ThinkProgress.org in 2012 after the release of his brilliant novel, "The Water Knife," Paolo Bacigalupi explained the inspiration for his story of an apocalyptic water war between Las Vegas and Phoenix. He said of traveling in Texas, "It occurred to me at that moment that I wasn't actually standing in the middle of a drought, I was time traveling. I had just leapt into the future."
Growing up in the eastern hills of Montana, my formative years were ensconced in drought: the threat of fire, the dust beneath my mare's hooves, the prohibition to light even one measly firecracker. My friends in town had water aplenty. But not us. Every two weeks, a water tanker trundled up the big hill, rain or shine, to fill two cisterns. (Finishing the entirety of "Bohemian Rhapsody"in the shower was never in the cards for me.) City girls never had to run a hose from the outside cistern to the inside one, so that the water tasted flat and earthen.
In keeping with the scarcity of water in my own past I used my newest novel to explore the Trojan War alongside one of the oldest conflicts in the world: water rights.
"New Charity Blues" is a story about a quiet conflict, a slow, cancerous boot on the throat of two communities who have already withstood devastating plague. On one side, a long-suffering desert town becomes a self-sufficient bastion, hoarding shared water in a new reservoir and stopping at nothing to protect its newfound success. On the other, a city fails in its quest to rebuild without basic hydroelectric infrastructure. Here, the water itself is our Helen of Troy the fought-over target essential to each side's survival. A post-apocalyptic apocalypse in miniature.
The novel strips down the complexity of the real-world problem. The western United States has long operated under "the doctrine of prior appropriation," meaning water rights belong to the first person to claim them, regardless of their location up or down the stream.
In "New Charity Blues," whatever agreements had been struck between the City and New Charity are voided when the town begins to irrigate its own sorry cropland, turning a wasteland verdant. This mirrors the west's current agriculture woes, as the "New Yorker" detailed last year. In that article, David Owen described how agriculture accounts for 80 percent of Colorado River consumption, meaning that city cutbacks have much less impact than agricultural conservation efforts.
Not that the problem is so black and white: Efforts to make agricultural water use more efficient, including reuse of wastewater, can, prevent excess water from returning to the ground, leaving downstream environments oversalinated or dry, Owen noted.
Similarly, at the terminus of the fictional Basalt River, the City of my novel watches its hydroelectric plant sit idle due to lack of water. In California, that near future scenario is happening now, though the state has had some success replacing its own drought-stricken hydroelectric power with alternate solutions.
Water issues are global in scale. The drought-stricken Middle East has begun importing water-intensive crops like hay, alfalfa and other grasses in order to lower their own usage of agricultural water resources. Areas with untapped resources of water, like Sitka, Alaska and its billions of gallons of unused reserves, have started to export excess supply to India and the Middle East, potentially improving economies on both sides of the ocean.
In my story, there's enough water if the sacrifice is shared between the two communities. Though global solutions in the real world are not so simple, fiction allows us to begin thinking about these trade-offs in a safe space. My hope is that by examining a fictional landscape of want, readers emerge with hope for our real-world communities.
Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates and become part of the discussion on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was originally published on Live Science.
Science and Storytelling
(Image credit: Vladimir Simovic/Shutterstock)
Whether you're interested in space travel, the inner workings of the universe, the mind of a brilliant mathematician or human behavior and the dark life of a patient who underwent a lobotomy, Live Science probably has a book for you here. Our writers scanned our archives for our favorite science books, those in which the storytelling is as compelling as the science and history itself, so you don't have to sift through Amazon picks or stocked bookshelves.
Packing for Mars (Mary Roach)
(Image credit: W. W. Norton & Company Ltd.)
Mary Roach is the author of a series of one-word-titled books that look at the stranger side of science. "Packing for Mars," published in 2011, breaks the title trend, but not the theme. This is a book about the nitty-gritty of travel among the stars. Is the food disgusting? Where do you go to the bathroom? Have you ever thought of how many skin flakes you wash down the shower drain each morning and where those dead cells would go if you were floating around, unbathed, in zero gravity? Roach digs deep into the NASA archives and brings to light all the basic biological minutiae that haunted the dreams of the space program's pioneers. In the process, she elucidates the quirkier challenges of getting humans to the eponymous Red Planet. Hopefully Elon Musk has been reading along.
The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America (Timothy Egan)
(Image credit: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
In 1910, an enormous wildfire immolated 3 million acres of Washington, Idaho and Montana, killing 87 people. This conflagration turns out to be the fulcrum upon which former President Teddy Roosevelt's dreams of conservation turned. Timothy Egan tells the story of Roosevelt and his forestry chief Gifford Pinchot and their efforts to wrangle Western lands into public hands. Half history, half science, this book is anything but dry. Egan picks through the letters and written reminiscences of survivors to describe vividly what it was like to face down the largest wildfire by area in U.S. history. Roosevelt's larger-than-life personality (and tendency to challenge houseguests to wrestling matches) provides plenty of jaw-dropping "wait, he did what?" moments. More urgently, this book is an important primer for anyone trying to understand today's battles over public lands in the West.
Related: The science websites that we read every day
The Demon-Haunted World (Carl Sagan)
(Image credit: Random House)
While neither as poetic as "Pale Blue Dot" nor as comprehensive as "Cosmos," "The Demon-Haunted World" remains one of Carl Sagan's most compelling books. In it, Sagan explains how to use the scientific method in everyday life, as well as how to protect yourself from charlatanism and expose pseudoscience. The Demon-Haunted World is partly a paean to rational, skeptical thinking, but it also tackles some topical issues, such as how politics can twist science to its own ends, and how conspiracy theories can poison an otherwise reasonable mind. One essay in the book, "The Dragon In My Garage," is possibly the best argument for religious agnosticism ever put on paper. Marshall Honorof, Live Science Contributor
Newton and the Counterfeiter (Thomas Levenson)
(Image credit: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Most know the story of Sir Isaac Newton: scientist, mathematician and sworn enemy of apple trees everywhere. What fewer people know is the story of Sir Isaac Newton: detective for the British government. In 1699, Newton became the Master of the Mint, and matched his considerable wits against William Chaloner, a charismatic and inventive criminal mastermind. Chaloner was one of the most prolific coin counterfeiters of the 18th century, and the scale of his plan was large enough to kneecap the entire British Empire. Thomas Levenson's "Newton and the Counterfeiter" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009) is not only a thrilling true crime account, but also a fascinating history of economics, coinage and currency. Marshall Honoroff, Live Science Contributor
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Rebecca Skloot)
(Image credit: Random House)
In her book, science writer Rebecca Skloot brings to life not only a tale of some of the most important cells in medicine, but also the life of the owner of those cells, Henrietta Lacks, an African-American tobacco farmer born in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1920. Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951; cells taken from one of her tumors astonished scientists when they reproduced indefinitely in a lab dish, according to "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" (Crown Publishing Group, 2010). No other cells were known to do this. Now called HeLa cells after Lacks, the cells have been instrumental in biomedical research and discovery unbeknownst to her children and others who mourned her death. In a New York Times book review, Lisa Margonelli writes, "Skloot narrates the science lucidly, tracks the racial politics of medicine thoughtfully and tells the Lacks familys often painful history with grace. She also confronts the spookiness of the cells themselves, intrepidly crossing into the spiritual plane on which the family has come to understand their mothers continued presence in the world." [Read a Q&A with author Rebecca Skloot]
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (Anne Fadiman)
(Image credit: Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
At the surface, "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012) is about a young girl with a severe form of epilepsy whose parents and doctors have conflicting ideas on how to treat her. But it's also the story of a Hmong refugee family from Laos and their attempt to navigate an American medical system that they neither understand nor trust. Referred to by some as an example of "medical anthropology," the book explores how illness is treated in the United States and makes a solid case that greater empathy is needed on both sides of the doctor-patient relationship.
The Emperor of All Maladies (Siddhartha Mukherjee)
(Image credit: Scribner)
This is an important piece of work about one of the most horrific and pervasive diseases of our time. Don't be turned off by the "heavy" subject matter Siddhartha Mukherjee does an incredible job of weaving science with storytelling. The book is extremely well researched, the stories are beautifully conveyed and Mukherjee is a masterful writer. I found myself talking about this book constantly to friends and family as I was reading it a sign of its true impact. Put down your phone, shut off Netflix and read this "biography" of cancer instead. It's well worth your time. Denise Chow, Live Science Contributor
Parasite Rex (Carl Zimmer)
(Image credit: Atria Books)
In general, the associations conjured by the word "parasite" are neither good nor pretty. Parasites attach themselves to a host for their own benefit, sometimes with deadly consequences, and typically offer nothing useful in return. But the ways in which parasites evolved to survive off plants and animals and the highly specialized mechanisms and behaviors that allow them to do so make for compelling reading, as Carl Zimmer demonstrates in "Parasite Rex" (Atria Books, 2001). Yes, parasites can be terrible, as the book name implies. Certain parasitic isopods eat fishes' tongues and then take up residence in their mouths as living replacements, and many wasp species use caterpillars as living incubators for their growing young, to name just a couple of grisly examples. But the book's often gruesome subjects serve to highlight the beauty of evolution, and Zimmer spins a captivating portrait of survival that highlights the uniqueness of parasitic creatures. Mindy Weisberger, Live Science Senior Writer
I Contain Multitudes (Ed Yong)
(Image credit: Harper Collins)
Many people like to imagine that humans are Earth's dominant species. But in reality, all the world's inhabitants including humans are shaped by their coexistence with trillions of microscopic organisms, which occupy every surface of their bodies. Ed Yong delves into these complex partnerships in "I Contain Multitudes" (Ecco, 2016), exploring the fascinating and frequently bizarre world of microbes, and the alliances that they share with every animal species on Earth. Yong reveals how scientists are just beginning to discover the many ways that microbes alter the creatures they inhabit and vice versa. And as researchers delve deeper into the evolution and genetics of microbial life, they uncover the long-established importance of microbes to our bodily functions and everyday health, and how interactions with microbes affect our vulnerability to disease and can even impact our behavior. Mindy Weisberger, Live Science Senior Writer
Lab Girl (Hope Jahren)
(Image credit: Random House)
Hope Jahren is a geobiologist a scientist who works with plants and soil. She is also a gifted storyteller, with an ear for the rhythms of language and an appreciation for the beauty of the green and growing world around us. That combination makes her memoir "Lab Girl" (Knopf, 2016) a uniquely compelling and stirring read, one that probes deeply into her own struggles and challenges as a scientist, and explores the relationships she nurtures along the way, despite her single-minded focus on her work.
Readers who are unfamiliar with the minutia of plant biology will be surprised to learn just how fraught with drama it can be. The odds are against most trees surviving at all, Jahren writes of the millions of seeds that they disperse, only 5 percent develop as seedlings, and of those, a mere 5 percent live past their first year. And humans can be similarly vulnerable until we find the people who nourish and complete us, who stand by us as we move through life, and who complement and support us as we change and grow. Hers is a fascinating story, and you will never look at a plant in the same way again. Mindy Weisberger, Live Science Senior Writer
A great white shark, the species suspected of fatally attacking two people in Australia between May 31 and June 5.
Shark attacks have dominated Australian headlines during the past week, with two fatalities occurring just a few days apart in waters near Perth.
Those attacks may not be just a coincidence or bad luck: Shark attacks have been on the rise, with more attacks reported worldwide last year than in any other year on record, according to an annual survey.
The International Shark Attack File (ISAF), a database of shark attacks maintained by the Florida Museum of Natural History (FMNH), includes a yearly summary of so-called "unprovoked attacks" aggressive interactions initiated by sharks against people in the sharks' habitat, without any prior contact and tallied 98 such attacks in 2015. The previous record was 88 attacks, which occurred in 2000.
Forty-nine percent of the incidents involved surfers, according to the ISAF. [On the Brink: A Gallery of Wild Sharks]
However, the report noted that the increased number of attacks likely does not indicate that sharks are attacking people more frequently. Rather, human populations are growing, so there are more people swimming, surfing and diving in the ocean.
But concerns about sharks are currently running high in Australia. On June 5, a woman diving near a marina near Perth died after being mauled by a shark, becoming the second person in one week to suffer a fatal shark attack while in Australian waters.
The 60-year-old woman was attacked by a shark (possibly a great white shark) measuring an estimated 16 feet (5 meters), according to the trio of fisherman who tried to help her and who claimed that the shark was "longer than their boat," the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.
ABC added that the woman was believed to have died before she could be moved to shore.
And on May 31, Ben Gerring, 29, was severely injured when he was bitten by a shark while surfing, also near Perth. Gerring was transported to Royal Perth Hospital and died of his injuries on June 3, ABC reported.
A dramatic photo taken near the location where Gerring was injured showed a surfer riding a wave with a shark visible in the water behind him.
See more
Are reported shark attacks on the rise? Absolutely that is, if you review the numbers over the decades and not just from year to year, said George H. Burgess, curator of the International Shark Attack File at the FMNH.
"If you go back to 1900 and look at the past 11 decades, each has had more attacks," Burgess told Live Science. "On a decade-to-decade basis, you see the big trends."
However, he cautioned, it's not because sharks have become more aggressive. Rather, throughout the world, there has been a growing human interest in aquatic recreation and an increase in people in the seas, Burgess said. In addition, both sharks and humans prefer the same nearshore ocean zones, thus increasing the likelihood of interactions.
In fact, nearly half as many people died of shark attacks in 2015 (six) compared with 2000, when there were 11 such deaths, the report noted. [8 Weird Facts About Sharks]
Shark numbers declining
But while the number of shark-human interactions may be going up, many shark populations are actually in decline, largely due to overfishing and the current popularity of shark fins as a high-priced luxury item in southeast Asian markets, Burgess said. Sharks are also vulnerable as bycatch because they follow schools of smaller fish, they are often caught along with their prey, Burgess added.
And once shark populations shrink, they take decades to bounce back, Burgess said. Sharks can take eight to 10 years to reach sexual maturity, and some species aren't ready to reproduce until they're 18 to 20 years old. Females carry their young for about 12 to 18 months and then can't reproduce again for one to three years.
"Once you knock a species down, recovery takes a long, long time," Burgess said.
So why were there more shark attacks in 2015? The increase was likely due to a combination of environmental factors as well as a greater number of people in the water, Burgess told Live Science. [How to Avoid a Shark Attack]
"They're just animals, living in their environment"
When attacks occur close together, as they did recently in Australia, "there's a good reason from a biological point of view," Burgess said. During the summer of 2015, there were seven shark attacks along the North Carolina coast in three weeks. Burgess explained that warmer-than-average ocean temperatures, an earlier spring and an abundance of bait fish in the water were likely factors that meant more sharks were in those U.S. waters at the same time as people, thus increasing the risk of an attack.
But when it comes to pinpointing the environmental conditions that attract sharks to beach areas, scientists don't always know what they are, Burgess said. "Sometimes, we can look back and see them, but sometimes, they're more subtle things, like an upwelling pushing more nutrients closer to shore." However, Burgess added, the one factor that humans can control is our own presence in the oceans which sharks call home. And although attacks can have tragic outcomes, demonizing sharks and hunting them down after an attack is not the answer, he said.
"They're just animals living in their environment we're the invaders," he told Live Science. "We need to understand that as ecotourists. If you know there will be more sharks in the waters because of environmental effects, it's incumbent on us to reduce the risk by avoiding certain areas," Burgess said.
Original article on Live Science.
Check out our latest E-Edition
Accessible anytime and anywhere on your desktop, tablet and smart phone devices. The Lodi News e-Edition is enhanced with the latest digital tools, including RSS feeds, social networking and much more.
Check out our latest E-edition!
A man whose parents say they cannot access vital services necessary for their son appeared at last weeks sitting of Longford District Court where the local judge called in the Health Service Executive (HSE) for assistance in the matter.
Thomas Delaney (19), Toome, Ballymahon, Longford appeared before Judge Seamus Hughes charged with being intoxicated in a public place and engaging in threatening, abusive and insulting words or behaviour at Ballymahon Garda Station on May 21 last.
In his direct evidence to the court, Inspector Padraig Jones said that on the date in question at approximately 1:55am, the defendant went to Ballymahon Garda station where gardai observed him to be in a very aggressive state.
He was being restrained by his parents and was very threatening towards his mother, the Inspector added.
He threatened to cause his mother harm so he was subsequently arrested.
Meanwhile, reminding the Judge of what occurred during a previous sitting in respect of Mr Delaney, the defendants solicitor Frank Gearty said that his client had been put under curfew and ordered to stay out of public houses and off-licences.
You referred him to the Probation Service and what has happened now has happened very regretfully, added Mr Gearty referring to the incident at Ballymahon Garda Station.
Meanwhile, Mrs Delaney took to the stand.
Mrs Delaney told the court that she and her husband had fostered the defendant since he was a small child and he had later changed his name to the family surname by deed pole, such was the bond and closeness to the defendant.
She said that her sons life changed at the age 10 and that she has had a continuous battle with State services ever since to try and get Mr Delaneys health and welfare assessed.
Thomas was diagnosed with autism when he was 10 years old and he has been neglected by Tusla and all the services, Mrs Delaney told Judge Hughes.
The best thing that could have happened for Thomas was when you, Judge, referred him to the Probation Service the last time because he now has an appointment with Dr Corcoran and his team in a few weeks.
Acknowledging Mrs Delaneys difficulties, Judge Hughes pointed out that there were also good people in the Irish health service.
The thing is for me to get those good people into this court, he added.
There is a very senior lady in the HSE who has been very good to this court so Im going to ask that she attend the next court sitting; she may very well be able to assist with this.
Addressing the defendant then, the Judge made no bones about the fact that he felt extremely let down by Mr Delaneys behaviour at Ballymahon Garda Station.
You were on bail and broke your promise to me by drinking alcohol, fumed the Judge.
Dont come in here again and do that; you toe the line now and do not take any drink for the next month...okay?
Proceedings were then adjourned to June 21 next with the hope that the senior HSE executive will attend.
Sports & Recreation, School & Education, Local News, Press Releases, Seasonal & Current Events
By Long Island News & PR Published: June 07 2016
Beginning in 2016, all Sportsman Education courses will require students to review course materials and complete a homework sheet prior to attending the classroom and field sessions.
New homework program will help provide a solid footprint for becoming a safe and ethical hunter and trapper.
Albany, NY - June 3, 2016 - Beginning in 2016, all Sportsman Education courses will require students to review course materials and complete a homework sheet prior to attending the classroom and field sessions, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced today.
"Hunter and trapper education teaches future sportsmen and sportswomen how to be safe, responsible, and ethical hunters and trappers, and is an essential part of maintaining our conservation heritage," DEC Acting Commissioner Basil Seggos said. "We are constantly seeking to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our Sportsman Education Program. Establishing a new homework portion for the courses enhances the quality of the training and will improve our excellent record of safe hunting and trapping in New York."
To become a licensed hunter, bowhunter, or trapper in New York, a person is first required to attend and pass a free training course offered by DEC. Trained Volunteer Instructors, certified by the DEC Sportsman Education Program, teach courses throughout the state on safe and responsible hunting and trapping and the important role of hunters and trappers in conservation.
Courses are offered for Hunter Education, Bowhunter Education, Trapper Education and Waterfowl Identification.
The new homework portion of the course is designed to present an introduction to the subject and enhance the students' understanding of the course material.
Proof of the completed homework is required in order to enroll in the classroom and field portions of the course. Students should register for the course well in advance in order to allow time to complete the homework requirement, which takes about 3 hours. All courses also require successful completion of an in-person field day to earn certification.
There are a few simple ways to obtain the study material from the Hunter-ed.com website to complete the homework requirement (the following links leave DEC's website):
With more than 300 courses completed so far this year, the homework requirement is proving to be popular with many instructors.
"With the homework now being completed prior to the class, the students are far better prepared for the classroom session," said Saratoga County instructor Bill Schwerd. "This is an improvement over the previous delivery of the course, where students got their training manual at the first class session and didn't have a chance to read it prior to the class."
Master Instructor Eric Minton from Niagara County said, "I coordinated a Hunter Education course in February of this year with the homework requirement for all students. Every student had their homework worksheet completed when they arrived at the first class. The students were better prepared and more readily engaged in classroom presentations, and the course was reduced from three sessions to two. With more time for field exercises, we were able to offer students more hands-on training."
For more information on Sportsman Education course registration, access to the course manuals and worksheets, and topics covered in the class, visit the Sportsman Education Program on DEC's web page.
School & Education, Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases
By Long Island News & PR Published: June 07 2016
Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano visited Dutch Broadway Elementary School in Elmont to celebrate the 4th Annual Building Homes for Heroes Walk-a-thon.
Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano stops to thank the 5th & 6th Grade Band from Dutch Broadway Elementary School in Elmont for their participation in the 4th Annual Building Homes for Heroes Walk-a-thon.
Elmont, NY - June 6, 2016 - Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano visited Dutch Broadway Elementary School in Elmont, on Friday, June 3rd, to celebrate the staff and students participation in the 4th Annual Building Homes for Heroes Walk-a-thon. The proceeds from the walk-a-thon are used towards Building Homes for Heroes, a national non-profit organization that rebuilds or modifies homes and gifts them mortgage-free to veterans and their families.
A.G. Schneiderman Honors The LGBT Community During Pride Month And Encourages All Community Members To Know Their Rights
Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases, Seasonal & Current Events
By Long Island News & PR Published: June 07 2016
Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman issued a statement to mark the first full week of Pride Month.
New York, NY - June 6, 2016 - Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman issued the following statement to mark the first full week of Pride Month:
My office is deeply committed to the principle of equal protection under the law, and assuring that all New Yorkers civil rights including LGBT New Yorkers are vigorously protected. This month we raise the rainbow flag, whose colors symbolize the diversity of the LGBT community in our state and nation, and honor the status of those diverse community members as equal citizens. Only a year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed what New York State had already made clear by law since 2011that it is an essential, and profound, civil right to be able to marry the person you love regardless of whether that person is of the same or opposite sex. This month we celebrate the incredible march toward equality, while at the same time recognizing that the LGBT rights movement is not over and more work remains to be done.
Over the past few years, the Attorney General has worked to ensure equality for all LGBT New Yorkers. These efforts have led to:
Sexual orientation: The New York State Human Rights Law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the areas of employment, housing, credit, education, and public accommodations. State law also prohibits discrimination on the basis of marital status, and together these protections do not allow for discrimination against same-sex couples. Because these laws cover public accommodations like event spaces or venues, catering companies, bakeries, florists, or photography businesses it is unlawful for those businesses to refuse to provide services to same-sex couples in the same way that they would provide services to opposite-sex couples. Nor does state law allow businesses to claim that they are exempt from providing services because of any religious objection to same-sex couples.
In addition to New York State law, many localities also protect residents from discrimination based on sexual orientation. Some of these include the cities of Albany, Troy, Rochester, Buffalo, Binghamton, Ithaca, and New York City, as well as Westchester, Nassau, Suffolk, Albany, Tompkins, and Onondaga Counties. If you or someone you know has been denied services on the basis of sexual orientation or being a part of a same-sex couple, the Attorney General urges you to contact his office at the number below.
Gender identity and expression: New York State law prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity. A persons gender identity is their actual or perceived gender identity, self-image, appearance, behavior, or expression whether or not it is different from that typically associated with the sex assigned to a person at birth. The New York State Human Rights Law, and associated regulations, also prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity in the areas of employment, housing, credit, education, and public accommodations. This prohibition includes discrimination against a person who is transitioning from one gender to another, and it also includes discrimination against a person who is gender non-conforming in appearance, behavior, or expression. Such discrimination can occur, for instance, when a public accommodation like a restaurant, store, hospital, or clinic forbids a transgender or gender non-conforming person from using a restroom or changing room that accords with the persons gender identity.
In addition to New York State law and regulations, many localities also protect residents from discrimination based on gender identity. Some of these include the cities of Albany, Rochester, Buffalo, Binghamton, Ithaca, and New York City, as well as Suffolk, Tompkins, and Westchester Counties. In New York City, Mayor Bill De Blasios March 2016 executive order guarantees people access single-sex facilities like public bathrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity, without requiring proof of identification. If you or someone you know has been denied services on the basis of gender identity, the Attorney General urges you to contact his office at the number below.
Protections for students: Students in New York State are also protected by the Dignity for All Students Act. This law seeks to provide the states public elementary and secondary school students with a safe and supportive environment free from discrimination, intimidation, taunting, harassment, and bullying on school property, school buses, and during school functions. The law explicitly protects students on the basis of sexual orientation, sex, and gender identity.
The New York State Education Department issued guidance last year concerning transgender and gender non-conforming students. This guidance, among other things, encourages schools to:
Develop a plan for addressing the needs of transgender students, including needs related to a students gender transition, like the students use of a new name and/or pronouns at school;
Update student records and maintain the confidentiality of student records related to or concerning a students gender transition, while ensuring a student receives appropriate medical care as needed on a school campus; and
Ensuring that transgender and gender non-conforming students have voluntary access to restrooms, locker rooms, and other changing facilities that accord with those students gender identities.
If you or a student you know has faced bullying or harassment at your school on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, the Attorney General urges you to contact his office at the number below.
New Yorkers who believe they have been discriminated against based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity are encouraged to contact the Attorney Generals Civil Rights Bureau at (212) 416-8250 to file a complaint.
Local News, National & World News, Press Releases
By Long Island News & PR Published: June 07 2016
New legislation is being introduced in the Senate that would finally require landline and mobile carriers to offer free robocall-blocking technology to all consumers.
Washington, DC - June 6, 2016 - U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced new legislation he will introduce in the Senate that would finally require landline and mobile carriers to offer free robocall-blocking technology to all consumers.
The Repeated Objectionable Bothering of Consumers on Phones Act (ROBOCOP) Act, introduced by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) in the House of Representatives, would also direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to require telephone companies to label and block calls with fraudulent caller ID, as a result of widespread spoofing.
"Robocalls are one of the things that annoy Americans the most and the ROBOCOP Act will finally help put a rest to these dreaded calls that are interrupting family dinnersor worsescamming people out their hard-earned money, said U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. Despite the existing Do Not Call registry, the robocall problem has returned in a serious way. Its an epidemic that weve got to stopwhether its the landline OR the mobile phone. Its taking far too long for telecom companies to act, so thats why Im introducing the ROBOCOP bill which will finally require all major landline and mobile carriers to work towards making robocall blocking technology available to all consumers. Now is the time for phone carriers to answer the call and free consumers of these dreaded robocalls.
"Most Americans have signed up for the Do Not Call list, but the unwanted calls from telemarketers and scam artists have just gotten worse," said Chuck Bell, Programs Director for Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy division of Consumer Reports. "Senator Schumer's bill will ensure that the phone companies take action and provide their customers with the tools they need to block robocalls. We urge Congress to pass this bill and provide their frustrated constituents with the relief they deserve."
Despite federal Do Not Call rules, hundreds of thousands of individuals continue to receive unwanted spam calls. According to data from the FTC, 2016 is on track to set a record for complaints about Do Not Call violations; if calls continue at the pace they are going for the first third of the year, there will be over 5 million total complaints in FY16, up from 3.57 million total complaints about Do Not Call violations in FY 2015, which is already up from 3.2 million in FY 2014. There were twice as many complaints about Do Not Call violations in 2015 as there were in 2010.
Specifically, average of total complaints in the first four months of FY 2016 are: 441,281.25. The average total complaints for the same time period in FY 2015 were 264,531.5.
In addition to being an annoyance, Schumer explained that robocalls can also hurt consumers financially when they involve scammers. In fact, according to Consumer Reports, robocalls have resulted in approximately $350 million in financial losses each year.
Earlier this year, Schumer urged major landline and mobile carriers to 1) Make robocall-blocking technology available to all consumers and 2) Make consumers aware of this service. The Senator also urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to put pressure on carriers to implement robocall-blocking technology. Schumer had said if nothing was done, he would consider legislation.
Robocalls are phone calls that use automated dialing machines to either play a pre-recorded message. In many cases, these types of calls are made by fraudulent companies trying to steal money from the person on the other end of the phone. Many times, these calls are placed using caller id spoofing. Companies that resort to caller id spoofing can make the caller id display the phone number of a government agency, credit card company or bank. Under the Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009, this practice is illegal if used for the purpose of defrauding or otherwise causing harm. However, despite the fact that many of these calls clearly violate the law, it is difficult if not impossible to catch the perpetrators, many of whom are overseas and/or hiding behind fake numbers.
According to the Consumers Union, robocall scammers cost consumers $350 million a year. Schumer pointed to the recent robocall tax scam that has threatened individuals, some in New York, by telling victims that they owe money to the IRS. Schumer noted that the FTC has led several efforts to identify and develop robocall-blocking technology and, as a result, Time Warner Cable Inc. announced that it would provide its customers with access to Nomorobo, a third-party robocall- blocking service for those with Internet-based service or Voice over Internet Protocol. Schumer said that because such technology, like Nomorobo, already exists, other landline and mobile carriers should similarly offer robocall-blocking services to consumers in order to eliminate future nuisances and even scams. Schumer explained that such technology works much like an e-mail spam box because it filters robocalls and other unwanted phone calls.
The National Do-Not-Call Registry, managed by the FTC, was implemented in 2003 after the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act of 2003. The registry is designed to give people a choice about whether they would like to receive telemarketing calls at home. It was created to limit the number of telemarketing calls and robocalls made to U.S. households. In order to register, one may log onto the Do-Not-Call website and their phone number will be permanently placed in the registry.
There are currently over 222.8 million phone numbers in the registry. If a person who is listed on the registry receives a telemarketing call, he or she can file a complaint on the Do-Not-Call website. According to YouMail, a robocall blocking service and data aggregator, there were 2.3 billion robocalls in April 2016 (the most recent month available for data). Atlanta is the number one area affected by robocalls. New York Citys 917 area code ranked number five in April 2016 on the list of top robocall affected area codes. New York Citys 347 area code ranked number ten on that same list. In total, these two NYC area codes were targeted by an estimated 50 million robocalls in April 2016.
In 2013, Long Island-based Nomorobo was one of two winners in the FTC's first Robocall challenge for the best overall solution to block illegal robocalls. According to the FTC, Nomorobo is a cloud-based solution that uses simultaneous ringing, which allows incoming calls to be routed to a second telephone line. The second line can identify and hang up on illegal robocalls before they ring through to the user. In addition to Nomorobo, there are several types of similar technology on the market, including both apps and devices. Some technology offers a 'blacklist' that blocks specific spam numbers from coming through. Some technology offers a 'whitelist' that allows consumers to enter certain phone numbers that may be accepted through the phone.
Since 2013, the FTC has announced another robocall blocking technology contest that would include both landline and mobile phones; that contest is underway. In 2015, the Federal Communications Commission ruled that phone companies are legally allowed to provide robocall blocking technology to customers who request it. Earlier this year, Time Warner announced it would offer Nomorobo for free to customers.
Schumer has long supported efforts to crackdown on robocalls. For instance, Schumer has supported federal legislation that would drastically increase punishments for telemarketing companies that continue to make robocalls.
The new bill Schumer is announcing, the ROBOCOP Act, will direct the FCC to enact regulations that require providers of telecommunications services or IP-enabled voice services, for no additional charge, to enable robocall blocking technology with exceptions for calls made by a public safety entity or where the recipient provides prior consent to receive the call. The bill also subjects to civil forfeiture penalties, criminal fines, or state actions persons who intentionally cause call-blocking technology to: (1) incorrectly identify calls as originating from an automatic dialing system or using an artificial or prerecorded voice, or (2) prevent the called party from receiving a call made by a public safety entity or a call to which it has provided its prior consent.
Local News, Crime, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases
By Long Island News & PR Published: June 06 2016
Suffolk County Police Sixth Squad detectives are seeking the publics help to locate a 16-year-old male who went missing last night.
Aaron Montemarano, 16, has been reported missing since June 5, 2016. Montemarano is on probation and resides at Montfort Therapeutic Residence in Port Jefferson.
Port Jefferson, NY - June 6, 2016 - Suffolk County Police Sixth Squad detectives are seeking the publics help to locate a 16-year-old male who went missing last night.
Aaron Montemarano, who is on probation and ordered by a judge to reside at Montfort Therapeutic Residence in Port Jefferson, was reported missing on June 5. Montemarano visited family in Mastic Beach during the weekend and did not return to the facility.
Montemarano is black, 5 feet 8 inches tall, approximately 135 pounds, with brown eyes and brown curly hair.
Anyone with information on Montemaranos whereabouts is asked to call 911 or 631-854-8652.
Crime, Press Releases
By Long Island News & PR Published: June 07 2016
Nassau County DA Madeline Singas announced that a NYC Corrections Department Captain was sentenced today for the attempted murder of his wife in December 2013.
Brian Martin, 38, of Roosevelt sentenced to 22 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision for 2013 attempted murder of his wife.
Mineola, NY - June 6, 2016 - Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a New York City Corrections Department Captain was sentenced today for the attempted murder of his wife in December 2013.
Brian Martin, 38, of Roosevelt, was sentenced today by Acting Supreme Court Justice William OBrien to 22 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision. The defendant was convicted on May 2 of Attempted Murder in the 2nd Degree (a B violent felony), Assault in the 1st Degree (a B violent felony), Criminal Use of a Firearm in the 1st Degree (a B violent felony), Assault in the Third Degree (an A misdemeanor), Criminal Solicitation in the 4th Degree (an A misdemeanor), and 19 counts of Criminal Contempt 2nd Degree (class A misdemeanors). The trial started on March 28 and the jury deliberated for approximately one week.
Brian Martin terrorized his wife for more than a year and nearly took her life when he aimed his service weapon at her face and shot her, DA Singas said. The victim needed multiple reconstructive surgeries to her face and suffers every day with the lasting scars of this incident. Domestic violence is an intolerable crime and my office is working every day to hold abusers like Brian Martin accountable for their actions.
DA Singas said that on Saturday, December 21, 2013, at approximately 2:15 p.m., the defendant shot his wife in the face after an argument in which she told him that she wanted a divorce. After a struggle with the defendant, the victim, also a NYC Corrections Officer, was on the ground trying to get up when the defendant, who was standing over her, fired the shot as she looked away. The argument was the culmination of a year-long marriage marked by violence on the part of the defendant. The defendant used his 9 mm Smith and Wesson Corrections Department approved service weapon to shoot his wife.
The victim was transported via ambulance to Nassau University Medical Center. The roof of the victims mouth was severely damaged in the shooting and she lost most of her teeth and must now wear dentures. Her face had to be reconstructed using several metal plates.
The defendant was arrested at the scene by members of the Nassau County Police Department First Precinct and First Squad Detectives investigated.
Martin was subsequently indicted for 264 counts of Criminal Contempt for violating Orders of Protection that were issued on behalf of the victim by calling her repeatedly from jail. Because of the large number of counts, only 19 were submitted for consideration by the jury.
Assistant District Attorneys Amanda Burke and Emma Slane of DA Singas Special Victims Bureau are prosecuting the case. Martin is represented by Dana Grossblatt, Esq.
Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases
By Don Miller Published: June 07 2016
Fast, flat 5K course at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow with proceeds benefiting Island Harvest Food Bank on Saturday, June 18.
Hauppauge, NY - June 7, 2016 - Join runners and walkers from all over Long Island on Saturday, June 18, 2016 for the 15th Annual Ellen Gordon CPA 4(a): Cause 5K Run/ Walk to End Hunger at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow. Each year, hundreds of Long Islanders, who care about our neighbors living with food insecurity and poverty come together to raise awareness and funds, so nobody has to go to bed hungry. Proceeds directly benefit Island Harvest Food Bank.
The 15th Annual Ellen Gordon CPA 4(a): Cause 5K Run/ Walk to End Hunger is a great opportunity to team up with friends, family, and co-workers to raise funds to help provide food, programs, and services to 316,000 Long Islanders who dont have enough food to put on their tables. You can make a difference in the lives of tens of thousands of children, seniors and veterans. With every step you take, you are changing lives and changing communities.
This is a fast, flat 5K course within Eisenhower Park. The event takes place by the large field house and is accessible from parking fields 1 and 2.Awards are given out in several categories, and there will be food and festivities for all.
Not a runner or a walker? Thats okay, come support those who are and cheer them on at the finish line!
For more information, or to register visit here
The Nassau Chapter of the New York State Society of CPAs has been sponsoring the 5K run/walk to benefit Island Harvest since 2002. In 2008, upon the untimely death of Ellen Gordon, one of the members of the committee that originally developed the idea, the chapter honored Ms. Gordons many years of service by renaming the event The Ellen Gordon CPA 4(a): Cause 5K Run/ Walk to End Hunger.
About Hunger on Long Island
Hunger is a state in which people do not get enough food to provide the nutrients for active and healthy lives. It can result from the recurrent lack of access to food. More than 316,000 Long Islanders face the risk of hunger every day, according to Island Harvest Food Bank and Feeding America, a national hunger-relief organization. Those facing hunger include adults (often working two jobs), seniors and veterans. Unable to make ends meet, they (and their children) are often forced to go without food. Approximately 70,000 individuals seek food assistance in Nassau and Suffolk counties each week through soup kitchens, food pantries and other feeding programs served by Island Harvest Food Bank.
About Island Harvest Food Bank
Island Harvest Food Bank is a leading hunger-relief organization that provides food and other resources to people in need. Always treating those it helps with dignity and respect, its goal is to end hunger and reduce food waste on Long Island through efficient food collection and distribution; enhanced hunger-awareness and nutrition-education programs; job training; and direct services targeted at children, senior citizens, veterans and others at risk. Approximately 96 cents of every dollar donated to Island Harvest Food Bank goes to programs that support more than 316,000 Long Islanders. Island Harvest Food Bank is a lead agency in the regions emergency-response preparedness for food and product distribution, and is a member of Feeding America, the nations leading domestic hunger-relief organization. More information can be found at www.islandharvest.org.
Looking to stay up to date about all of the news stories and local headlines that are important to Long Islanders? We've rounded up the top coverage for all of the important topics from multiple sources around Long Island, so you can be sure you've got the most recent update on the top stories for Long Island. Have an idea for a news story? Email us at news@longisland.com
Columnists Press Releases
Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Irans Qods Force, serves as an official advisor to the Iraqi government, the foreign minister confirmed yesterday. Soleimani and Qods Force have provided advice and support for the Popular Mobilization Forces and its component militias.
While hosting reporters in the Iraqi Embassy in Amman, Foreign Minister Ibrahim Jafari defended Soleimanis role in bolstering sectarian militias that have often acted outside of the law in Iraq as they battle the Islamic State.
Qassem Soleimani provides military advice on Iraqi soil, and this is with the complete awareness of our government. Jafari said. He also noted that terrorists from 100 countries are in the ranks of DAISH, the pejorative term for the Islamic State.
Baghdad is fighting DAISH on behalf of all the countries in the world, Jafari continued, implying that Soleimanis role in Iraq should be welcomed by all.
The Iraqi foreign minister had also defended Soleimani and Irans role in Iraq earlier in an interview with Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram on June 6. But he insisted that Irans role in Iraq was merely advisory and that no Iranian troops were on the ground.
Irans role is advisory and at the level of individuals, Jafari insisted. Only Iraqi forces are in the field of combat. Anyone that says anything otherwise is a complete lie.
We have nothing to hide and are not ashamed of anything, he continued. We declared from the beginning of the coalition that ground operations would be undertaken by Iraqis, and we would not permit the presence of any armies or groups from abroad be they neighboring countries or others. Advisors are present only in some areas. There are advisors from Europe, America and other countries as well and oversee the progress of the courageous Iraqi soldiers. But the presence of these military advisors do not affect the will of Iraqis. It is Iraqi soldiers who have taken arms, fight and are killed.
The Iraqi Foreign Ministers statements follow criticisms of Irans military role in Iraq, particularly by senior Saudi officials.
Despite protests by Jafari, Soleimani and Qods Force, which serves as the external operations branch of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, have done more than just advise Iraqi ground forces in their fight against the Islamic State. Soleimani and his deputies have helped create, organize, fund, arm, and deploy the dangerous Shia militias that dominate the Popular Mobilization Forces, which was created in June 2014 after the Islamic State overran large areas of Iraq. And Soleimani, Qods Force and IRGC officers have been providing more than just advice to the Shia militias.
Some of these militias, such as the Badr Brigade, Hezbollah Brigades and Asaib al Haq, were created during the US occupation of Iraq, and are responsible for killing hundreds of US troops. Others, like Harakat al Nujaba and Shahid al Shuhada, were created after the Syrian civil war escalated. Other militias, such as the Imam Ali Brigade and Saraya al Khorasani were created after the Islamic State ran roughshod over northern, central, and western Iraq. Each of these militias were modeled after Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia and organization that dominates inside Lebanon.
The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) is led by several agents of Iran. Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, a former commander in the Badr Organization who was listed by the US government as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in July 2009, directs the PMFs military operations. The US government described Muhandis, whose real name is Jamal Jaafar Mohammed, as an advisor to Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Qods Force, the external operations wing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). In addition to directing the PMF, Muhandis is also said to direct the operations of the Imam Ali Brigade as well as command Hezbollah Brigades.
Hadi al Ameri, the head of the Badr Brigade and Iraqs former minister of transportation, also plays a prominent role in the PMF. Ameri is a close confidant of Soleimani and his Badr Brigade fought alongside Iran in the Iran-Iraq war from 1980-88.
Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
Footage from Katibat Imam al Bukhari from Maarata
As the Jaysh al Fateh (Army of Conquest) coalition, which was cofounded by the Al Nusrah Front, continues its renewed offensive in southern Aleppo, two Uzbek jihadist groups are also taking part. The groups, Katibat al Tawhid wal Jihad and Katibat Imam al Bukhari, have long been integrated with Al Nusrah, Ahrar al Sham, and other allies on the battlefield.
In recent days, both groups have released videos showing fighters taking part in the battle for the small village of Maarata in the southern Aleppo countryside. Ahrar al Sham, a group which models itself after the Taliban and is a key al Qaeda ally, has videoed its forces in the village as well. The videos are short, but show heavy combat against regime troops and their allies for the town. Both Uzbek groups claimed working with each other, but only Imam Bukhari reported capturing regime troops during the battle.
Katibat al Tawhid wal Jihad was formerly a nominally-independent faction before officially swearing allegiance to the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaedas official branch in Syria, late last year. While it is a predominately Uzbek group, other Central Asian ethnic groups, as well as some native Syrians, serve in its ranks. Katibat Imam al Bukhari (also known as the Imam Bukhari Jamaat), is another Uzbek group that has long demonstrated its presence alongside Al Nusrah and other jihadist allies.
Imam Bukhari Jamaat has historically been loyal to the Taliban, having sworn allegiance to both Mullah Omar and Mullah Mansour. It has yet to release a statement swearing allegiance to the new Taliban emir, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada. It is likely the group will do so in the future, however.
The Jaysh al Fateh coalition is trying to strengthen its hold on the town of Khan Touman and its surroundings after capturing the town last month. Al Nusrah and other member groups in Jaysh al Fateh say their fighters have targeted the neighboring towns and villages, including Humayrah, Khalsah, Qalajiyah, and Qarassi, all of which are south of Khan Tuman. [See LWJ report, Al Nusrah Front and allies launch new offensive in Syrias Aleppo province.]
Footage from Katibat al Tawhid wal Jihad:
Footage from Ahrar al Sham:
Caleb Weiss is a research analyst at FDD's Long War Journal and a senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation, where he focuses on the spread of the Islamic State in Central Africa.
Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
Luton is a large town, borough and unitary authority area of Bedfordshire. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 258,000. Luton is home to Championship team Luton Town Football Club, London Luton Airport and The University of Bedfordshire. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter. For all the latest news from Luton sign up to our newsletter here.
Google Trends Show Spike in Yoga & Wellness Inspired Travel
Particularly in January of 2016, the U.S. searched the keywords: Yoga retreats/travel, Wellness Cruises/Retreats, Hotel with a Gym, and Zen Getaways, and Surf Retreats, a total of 373,890 times.From May 2015-April 2016, Americans searched for wellness-related travel a total of 3,878,920 times.Of those searches these were the top categories:- Yoga vacations/retreats was the top searched keyword with a total of 3,108,810- Wellness Cruises/Retreats: 308,482- Surf Retreats: 389,050From May 2015-April 2016, Americans looking to book a Yoga Retreat/Vacation searched a total of 517,210 times. Of those searches these were the top categories:- Yoga Holiday Vacations: 332,843- Best/Top Retreat: 48,360- Those looking to book a yoga: weekend, resorts, or getaways/travel: 51,905- International Yoga Retreats: 35,790With summer almost here, many people are getting ready to set off on various travel adventures and this year in particular, we are seeing an increase in several travel trends including those geared towards the "health-minded" traveler.
Speakers from Meta, Finnegan, Equifax and the LOT Network said it was important to use data, get involved and reach out more to improve diversity and inclusion
Chevron plans to sign a 5-year agreement to lease berthing space for its vessels from U.S. oil service company Edison Chouest Offshore, Chouest's head of Brazilian operations said on Tuesday.
Chouest's 950-million-real ($275 million) base is located at Prumo Logistica's Port of Acu, on the northeast coast of Rio de Janeiro state. It is scheduled to be completed by mid-2017, Chouest's Brazilian head Ricardo Chagas told reporters.
($1 = 3.4485 Brazilian reais)
(Reporting by Jeb Blount; Writing by Reese Ewing; Editing by Daniel Flynn)
The second of three new state-of-the-art Arctic Class tugs, the Denise Foss, was christened June 1, 2016 at the Foss Waterway Seaport in Tacoma, Wash. Built at the Foss Rainier, Ore. Shipyard, the Denise is designed to operate in the extreme conditions of the far north, and will enter service this summer.
Foss COO John Parrott conducted opening remarks. Parrott applauded the hard work and dedication of the people, designers, and customers that made this project possible. He also introduced Denise Tabbutt, the vessel's namesake and one of the three sisters who are primary shareholders of Saltchuk, the parent company of Foss Maritime.
Tabbutt spoke at the event and had the honor of breaking the ceremonial bottle of champagne across the hull of the Denise Foss. It's a proud moment for the people whose vision and leadership inspired the creation of this tugboat class to support our commitment to Alaska and the Arctic, Tabbutt said. In order to stay relevant in a fast and ever changing world, it's important we remain committed to our shared values and continue looking for opportunities to better serve our customers. The Arctic Class tugs are the perfect example of this commitment.
Mike Magill, Vice President of Foss' Technical Services, praised the team at the Rainier Shipyard-many who were present for the christening - for their commitment to safety, quality, and the obvious pride they take in their work. The Rainier shipyard is now gone 879 days without a Lost Time Incident, Magill said. In an industry where far too often injuries and accidents are answered with excuses, the Rainier team has taken responsibility to embrace our safety culture and the results bear this out.
The Denise Foss is ice class D0, meaning the hulls are designed specifically for polar waters and are reinforced to maneuver in ice. The first of the three Arctic tugs, the Michele Foss debut in 2015 and has performed above and beyond expectations. The Michele lead the way in safely pioneering a new route across the North Slope, while operating in extreme conditions of first year ice a meter thick.
Like the Michele, the Denise complies with the requirements in the ABS Guide for Building and Classing Vessels Intended to Operate in Polar Waters, including ABS A1 standards, SOLAS and Green Passport. She includes a Caterpillar C280-8 main engine, which complies with the highest federal environmental standards; a Nautican propulsion system; and Reintjes reduction gears. Markey Machinery supplied the tow winch.
Like the Michele, the Denise complies with the requirements in the ABS Guide for Building and Classing Vessels Intended to Operate in Polar Waters, including ABS A1 standards, SOLAS and Green Passport. She includes a Caterpillar C280-8 main engine, which complies with the highest federal environmental standards; a Nautican propulsion system; and Reintjes reduction gears. Markey Machinery supplied the tow winch.
The tug has a bollard pull of 221,000 pounds.
The vessel incorporates several environmentally focused designs and structural and technological upgrades, including elimination of ballast tanks, so there is no chance of transporting invasive species; holding tanks for black and gray water to permit operations in no-discharge zones (such as parts of Alaska and California); hydraulic oil systems compatible with biodegradable oil; energy efficient LED lighting; and high-energy absorption Schuyler fendering.
The Denise Foss has been designed to withstand the rigors of Arctic operations and is suited to work across the globe as Foss competes for opportunities in the oil and gas industry.
The christening ceremony is our way of honoring our history, Parrott said. The boat sitting behind me represents our future.
The promise of new modern classification solutions to deliver quality, fulfill customers needs, and implement innovative technologies was the key theme for DNV GL at their press conference at the Posidonia trade fair today. Classification society, DNV GL outlined some of the steps it is taking to respond to the tough maritime market and the impact of new technologies on both its customers and on the classification business as a whole.
DNV GLs Group President and CEO Remi Eriksen spoke about the importance of innovation and the coming digital transformation of the shipping industry. Our experts drive more joint industry projects than any other organization, and we share the new insight gained with the industry and authorities, he said. DNV GL wants to be a driving partner in the digital development by contributing with the combination of our vast global industry experience as a leading class society with our digital and software capabilities. We will also use half of our investments in innovations to be targeted to help us and our customers in making the digital transformation.
Knut rbeck-Nilssen, CEO of DNV GL Maritime, set out some examples of how DNV GL was working to modernize classification, with innovative class services that would help customers respond to the challenges of todays tough markets. Core class services were ripe for innovation he said, including the survey of vessels.
DNV GL had been testing the use of drones to conduct surveys inside ship tanks, he said, which had generated a lot of interest from the industry. DNV GL had now become the first classification society to complete production surveys using a drone to assist surveyors, he announced. The survey took place on the MV Apollo, a chemical tanker owned by Carl Buttner Shipmanagement GmbH in Bremerhaven, Germany.
The success of the first drone production survey shows how our investment in developing modern class solutions to benefit our customers is paying off, he explained. Over the next few years we will continue to work on expanding the ways drones can be used and the number of stations where we can offer this service. This is a very promising beginning and one that is already showing a significant benefit in terms of time and costs saved. At the core of DNV GLs push to modernize its class services was the development of the new rule set, which entered into force this year, Knut rbeck-Nilssen said. One of the key goals of the development process was to make sure the rules are future ready by taking future technologies into account including notations to enable alternative fuel use. This is why we are especially proud to announce the classification contract signing for Stena Lines new RoPax ferries to be constructed in Shanghai at the AVIC Shipyard. These are the first RoPAx vessels built to the new rules, said rbeck-Nilssen.
That a quality focused and innovative owner like Stena Line has chosen to construct these vessels to the new DNV GL rule set clearly shows that our customers are responding to the possibilities created by the rules, he added. The RoPax ferries will be gas ready, prepared to be fuelled by either methanol or LNG. The initial order is for four ferries, with an option for four more, with delivery planned in 2019 and 2020.
At DNV GL, using data in a smarter way has become one of our core strategies for the future, said Knut rbeck-Nilssen, as he examined some of the new ways DNV GL was helping its customers to more simply, transparently and quickly manage their classification needs and utilize the data from their vessels and fleet.
To reap the benefits from the increased amount of data that is available today, we need to be able to gather it, access it easily and keep it secure. This is why we have joined with NYK Line and MAN Diesel & Turbo in a joint development project, to establish a prototype data centre, he explained. The aim of the new project is to develop a working prototype of a scalable common maritime data centre, where operational data is collected and made available to all of the relevant stakeholders.
Many of our customers are at home in Greece and so are we which is why we are making Greece our third home market, said Ioannis Chiotopoulos, Regional Manager for the East Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Sea in his presentation. This relationship went back more than 100 years, he noted, and was very important to DNV GLs future. As a result, DNV GL had put in place a series of measures to enhance services to the Greek shipping community, boost response times and strengthen the responsibilities and capabilities in the region, he explained. Segment directors for bulk and tankers were also now based in Piraeus, he said, as was a DATE (Direct Access to Technical Experts) service centre. The approval centre would now perform all fleet in service approvals locally allowing Greek customers to conduct businesses more easily and directly in Piraeus.
Chiotopolous also examined some of the research and development projects being driven from the Piraeus office. A new project, LPGreen, sees DNV GL working with Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), Wartsila, MAN Diesel & Turbo and Consolidated Marine Management (CMM) on a design concept for a state-of-the-art next generation LPG carrier. The second phase of the award winning LNGreen concept design will focus on further optimization of the containment system, its general systems configurations and options for increasing its operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The final results of the LNGreen II project by DNV GL, GTT, GasLog and Hyundai Heavy Industries will be presented at Gastech in 2017.
China told the United States on Tuesday that it should play a constructive role in safeguarding peace in the disputed South China Sea, as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called for talks and a peaceful resolution.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims, as well as close military ties with the United States.
China has been angered by what it views as provocative U.S. military patrols close to islands China controls in the South China Sea. The United States says the patrols are to protect freedom of navigation.
Speaking at the end of high-level Sino-U.S. talks in Beijing, State Councillor Yang Jiechi, China's top diplomat who outranks the foreign minister, said China had the right to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights.
"China respects and protects the right that all countries enjoy under international law to freedom of navigation and overflight," Yang told reporters.
Disputes should be resolved by the parties involved through consultation, he said.
"China hopes the U.S. will scrupulously abide by its promise to not take sides in relevant territorial disputes and play a constructive role in safeguarding peace and stability in the South China Sea," Yang said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Saturday the U.S. approach to the Asia-Pacific remained "one of commitment, strength and inclusion", but he also warned China against provocative behaviour in the South China Sea.
Kerry said the United States did not take a position on the sovereignty of any land features in the South China Sea but thought all claimants should exercise restraint.
"We reiterated America's fundamental support for negotiations and a peaceful resolution based on the rule of law as well as our concern about any unilateral steps by any party ... to alter the status quo," Kerry said.
Kerry added that he and Yang reaffirmed their governments' commitment to upholding the freedom of navigation and overflight.
The Philippines is hoping for a favourable ruling from a tribunal in The Hague this month after it went to court in 2013 seeking clarification on its economic entitlements in the South China Sea.
China has said it will not respect the court's decision and there are fears in Manila that China may retaliate by declaring an air defence identification zone in the disputed waters or by reclaiming disputed Scarborough Shoal.
Gregory Poling, director of Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies, said China would not risk an escalation if it knew the United States would try to deter its actions on Scarborough Shoal.
"What we've seen over and over in the last years, China is unwilling to risk activities that threaten deadly force," Poling told diplomats and military officials at the main army base in Manila.
"It is possible to deter them. We'll have to keep deterring them over and over. That is the test for next 10 to 15 years in this game of whack-a-mole until the Chinese decide that this is not the way to do international relations."
By Yeganeh Torbati and Michael Martina
Engineers and analysts from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's (BSEE) Gulf of Mexico and Alaska Regions recently evaluated Spill Response Operations Training and Equipment Verification exercises conducted by the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company and its oil spill removal contractor at the Port of Morgan City, La. These exercises are required periodically to test spill response team training and resource availability, as part of each operators Oil Spill Response Plan.
The exercises were held in mid-May on board two responder vessels of Clean Gulf Associates, which was contracted by Tennessee Gas Pipeline. During the spill response exercise, BSEE staff evaluated Clean Gulfs Spill Response team and their training of a group of responders seeking team member certification. Along with the spill response training evaluation, BSEE simultaneously conducted an equipment verification of Clean Gulfs oil spill resources. Both vessels maneuvered offshore and deployed specialized equipment to simulate a spill response. The responders also tested the effectiveness of their oil boom apparatus, skimmers, motorized components and vessel performance. Staff from BSEE's Oil Spill Preparedness Division and Tennessee Gas Pipeline boarded each vessel and assessed response actions.
Spill Response Operations Training and Equipment Verification exercises are part BSEE's many efforts to make sure that offshore operators will be ready to effectively manage a real spill, should one occur.
Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway totaled 6 million tons in May, a decrease of 9 percent compared to a year ago, according to figures compiled by the Lake Carriers Association (LCA). Shipments also trailed the months five-year average by 7 percent, LCA said.
Shipments from U.S. ports totaled 5.5 million tons in May, a decrease of 8 percent compared to a year ago, while loadings at Canadian terminals dipped by 20 percent to 556,000 tons.
Year-to-date the iron ore trade stands at 15.4 million tons, an increase of 4 percent. Loadings at U.S. ports are up nearly 8 percent, but shipments from Canadian ports in the St. Lawrence Seaway are down 21 percent.
1898 - During the Spanish-American War, USS Marblehead (C 11), along with auxiliary cruisers USS Yankee and USS St. Louis, engage the Spanish gunboat Sandoval and the shore batteries at Guantanamo, Cuba for 2 1/2 hours.
1917 - During World War I, U.S. submarine chasers arrive at Corfu, Greece, for anti-submarine patrols.
1942 - Just after dawn, USS Yorktown (CV 5) sinks after being torpedoed the previous day by Japanese submarine (I 168).
1944 - The construction of artificial harbors and sheltered anchorages, also known as Mulberries, begins off the Normandy coast.
1944 - USS Susan B. Anthony (AP 72) strikes a German mine while approaching "Omaha" Beach to land reinforcements. After an unsuccessful effort to contain flooding, she is abandoned and, within a few hours, sinks. No lives are lost in her sinking.
1944 - USS Mingo (SS 261) torpedoes and sinks Japanese destroyer Tamanami, 150 miles west-southwest of Manila while USS Skate (SS 305) attacks a Japanese convoy in the southern Sea of Okhotsk and sinks destroyer Usugumo, 160 miles north of Etorofu, Kuril Islands. Additionally, USS Sunfish (SS 281) attacks Japanese fishing boats en route from Matsuwa to Uruppu, Kuril Islands, shelling and sinking No.105 Hokuyo Maru, No.5 Kannon Maru, Ebisu Maru, and Kinei Maru while USS Flasher (SS 249) sinks Japanese transport No.2 Koto Maru off Cape Varella, French Indochina. Lastly, USS Bonefish (SS 223) shells and sinks Japanese guardboat Ryuei Maru at the mouth of Tarakan Harbor, Borneo.
1945 - During the Okinawa Campaign, while serving with the Third Marine Battalion, Twenty-Ninth Marines, Sixth Marine Division, Pvt. Robert M. McTureous's company suffers casualties after capturing a hill on Oroku Peninsula, and the wounded can't be evacuated due to heavy Japanese fire. Waging a one-man assault to redirect enemy fire away from the wounded, McTureous attacks numerous times and suffers severe wounds in the process. He crawls 200 yards back to safety before asking for aid. His actions confuse the enemy and enable his company to complete its mission. He dies on June 11 on board USS Relief. For his "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity" on this occasion, McTureous is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
(Source: Naval History and Heritage Command, Communication and Outreach Division)
Seafarers continue to be the targets of pirates and armed robbers, with around 100 held captive ashore by various groups in different parts of the world at the moment. The training of seafarers, best management practice and hardening of ships has formed part of the response, but companies still need to be well prepared for seafarers being attacked or taken captive.
The ISWAN Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme has issued an updated "Good Practice Guide for Shipping Companies and Manning Agents - humanitarian support of seafarers and their families in cases of armed robbery and piracy attack." The guide has been updated with the help of the International Chamber of Shipping, the International Maritime Bureau, the International Maritime Employers' Council and the Oil Companies International Marine Forum.
The guide covers good practice in the support of seafarers and their families before, during and after an incident. It includes recommendations on planning, and also contains templates of leaflets, nominee forms and sample communications with families, as well as other information of more general use. It is designed to supplement the existing processes of companies, and comes with the benefit of the experience of dealing with over 200 seafarers and their families who have been held captive by pirates. It is available free to download and reproduce.
Andy Winbow, Chair of the MPHRP Committee of ISWAN, commended the guide to companies. "Piracy and armed robbery remains a real concern for seafarers and their families and the ISWAN Good practice guide fulfils a very real need. All the industry partners and related organizations that have contributed to the guide have the best interests of seafarers at heart and ISWAN looks forward to working with them to assist seafarers and their families affected by incidents of piracy and armed robbery when they occur."
Cyrus Mody of the IMB, who helped with the revision of the guide, said: "within the shipping industry many companies have well prepared and well-rehearsed SOPs to deal with all types of maritime crisis. This guide can positively supplement elements of these SOPs so that they comprehensively address the needs of seafarers."
Roger Harris, Executive Director of ISWAN, concluded: "the guide provides a welcome addition to the services ISWAN can offer to seafarers and their families. Access to our 24 hour helpline gives seafarers and companies easy referral to agencies on the ground who can help individual seafarers and their families affected by piracy and armed robbery. We will continue with appropriate training and tools to increase the resilience of seafarers and support affected families."
Plans for a second heavy icebreaker for service on the Great Lakes have taken another step toward reality with Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) including $2 million for initial survey and design work for a vessel that is at least as capable as the current icebreaker Mackinaw in the committee report on the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations bill.
The Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2015 had previously authorized a new heavy icebreaker for Lakes service. Senator Baldwins provision would provide the first funds specifically targeted toward acquisition of a second heavy icebreaker to partner with the cutter Mackinaw commissioned in 2006.
We applaud Senator Baldwin for her ongoing efforts to enhance the Coast Guards icebreaking capacity on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway, said Thomas Curelli, President of Great Lakes Maritime Task Force (GLMTF), the largest labor/management coalition ever assembled to promote waterborne commerce on the Fourth Seacoast. The winters of 2014 and 2015 were so severe that jobs and business revenue lost totaled 5,800 and $1.1 billion respectively, noted Curelli, who is also Vice President of Engineering for Fraser Shipyards.
I am proud to partner with the Great Lakes Maritime Task Force and its members on this critically important effort, said Senator Baldwin. It is an honor to fight for investments that keep our Great Lakes economy open for business all year round so maritime commerce and workers can move American goods to market.
Cargo movement during the ice season is crucial to meeting the needs of commerce. Ice can begin forming in early December and linger well into April, on occasion, into May. The cargos that move during those months can top 20 million tons, or 15-plus percent of the Lakes/Seaways annual total.
Iron ore for steel production and coal for power generation are the primary cargos shipped during the ice season, but limestone, salt, cement, grain, general cargo and liquid-bulk products move as well.
The cargos that move on the Great Lakes and Seaway are the backbone of the U.S. economy, said Brian D. Krus, 1st Vice President of GLMTF and Senior National Assistance Vice President of American Maritime Officers. It is estimated that Lakes/Seaway shipping supports 227,000 jobs in the eight Great Lakes states and Ontario and Quebec. It is imperative that both the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards have adequate icebreaking resources stationed on the Great Lakes.
The U.S. Coast Guard has nine icebreakers assigned to the Great Lakes, but one is undergoing modernization at the Coast Guard yard in Baltimore. When it is ready, it will return to the Great Lakes and another vessel of its class will undergo service life extension until all of the six 140-foot-long icebreaking tugs have been modernized.
Canada has two icebreakers permanently stationed on the Lakes and brings in other assets when required.
We cannot let the mild winter of 2015/2016 lull us into a false sense of security, said James H.I. Weakley, 2nd Vice President of GLMTF and President of Lake Carriers Association. Just 16 months ago a U.S.-flag laker with an ice-strengthened bow and 7,000 horsepower engine sat immobile within sight of land for 5 days. The Coast Guard icebreaker dispatched to the scene was unable to free the vessel and its last cargo had to be cancelled. The U.S. Coast Guard must have two heavy icebreakers in order to reliably meet the needs of commerce.
John D. Baker, 3rd Vice President of GLMTF and President Emeritus of the ILAs Great Lakes District Council, stressed icebreaking is critical to the St. Lawrence Seaway, even though it is closed from around January 1 to late March. Operators of oceangoing vessels cannot risk being trapped on the Great Lakes over a winter or suffering ice damage, so will exit the system sooner than necessary or delay their first cargos of the spring if they are concerned about icebreaking resources. Inadequate icebreaking resources can effectively shorten the Seaways season. Again, we thank Senator Baldwin and all the Great Lakes delegation for their commitment to keeping Great Lakes and Seaway shipping safe and efficient during the ice season.
Business / Companies
by Staff reporter
THE national airline, Air Zimbabwe, is experiencing massive loss of skills because of poor working conditions, an official told Parliament yesterday.Briefing a parliamentary select committee on transport on the state of affairs at the airline, Zimbabwe Flight Crew Association chairman Captain Otis Shonhai said Air Zimbabwe lost 10 pilots last year to rival airlines due to unattractive remuneration and lack of retention packages."We started off last year as 45 pilots, we're down to 35. So we've lost 10 pilots to other airlines and the company isn't making any efforts to retain the skills," he said.Capt Shonhai said AirZim employees had endured poor working conditions since 2009."From 2009 to date, our working conditions weren't the best. I commend these men and women for being patriotic. They've stood with the airline even at such times when we went for multiple months without getting a salary," he said."We haven't got proper working contracts; we're just on a working allowance. Our salaries have been far below the industry levels."Capt Shonhai said the airline is also failing to pay retention packages."The medical aid- sometimes it's working but most of the time it's not working. As for school fees for our children, it's long overdue. Air Zimbabwe is currently paying 2014 fees."There's lack of interest to retain the skilled manpower that we have," he said.Capt Shonhai said there are also two unfulfilled settlement agreements for outstanding workers' salaries.He, however, added: "We want to guarantee you that we will remain patriotic and if you see us coming to work we will be coming to do what we're supposed to do."AirZim has been struggling to regain lost market share since returning to the skies in November 2012, after being grounded in 2011.The airline is operating three weekly flights to Lusaka and twice Tanzania, in addition to flights into Johannesburg from Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria Falls.Air Zimbabwe is struggling with debts estimated at well over $200 million.
India plans to more than double its liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal capacity in six years to cater to the rising natgas demand from refineries, fertilizer and power plants, according to a report in the Economic Times.
A total of 15.15m tonnes of LNG was delivered into Indian terminals in 2015, a 5% increase from 2014, according to ICIS data.
India was one of the biggest importers of LNG in Asia buying approximately10.4 million tonnes in 2014. In 2015-16, the natural gas consumption in the country rose barely 2 per cent to 52 billion cubic meters, of which 40 per cent was imported as LNG.
With LNG prices hovering around a benign $5/mBtu for several months coupled with drop in domestic production of natural gas, Indias gas imports have risen a steep 45.4% annually in April.
Indias LNG sector is undergoing a major transformation as it is set to occupy a crucial part in the countrys energy portfolio after the federal government approved the use of imported gas for power generation and fertilizer production.
Now, India's plans to set up new terminals and expand existing facilities will push up LNG terminal capacity to 47.5 million metric tonne per annum (mmtpa) by 2022 from the current 21.3 mmtpa, according to an oil ministry document.
The fertilizer and power sectors have been key consumers of the natural gas in the country, depending mostly on domestic output, while refineries and petrochemicals plants have relied more on imported gas.
India and Qatar are expected to give a push to cooperation in the hydrocarbons sector, with the latter having the worlds third largest gas reserves and being Indias largest supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Currently, there are four LNG terminals at Dahej and Hazira in Gujarat, Dabhol in Maharashtra and Kochi in Kerala. The recently-built Kochi terminal is barely functional due to the delay in the construction of pipeline planned to connect the terminal with the consumers.
Total Qatari deliveries to India in 2015 stood at 9m tonnes, down from 11.9m tonnes from 2014. Qatars share in total Indian LNG supply was 59%, down from 82% in 2014.
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 Mexican Navy tall ship ARM Cuauhtemoc visited New London May 2-6, when U.S. Coast Guard Academy cadets met cadets from the Mexican Navy and hosted them for a ride on the T-Boats and a tour of the Academy.
A 270-foot barque built in 1982, the Cuauhtemoc serves as a training ship for the Mexican Navy. The vessel, commanded by Capt. Pedro Mata Cervantes, arrived May 2 at 10 a.m. following a sail training trip that began March 12 in Acapulco Guerrero, Mexico, its homeport. The ARM designation used before the name of the vessel refers to Armada Republica Mexicana. The ship set out on a journey that will include stops in 13 countries, including the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Greek cruise ship operators are worried of a lasting impact on the sector from an ongoing strike by port workers protesting against the sale of the country's biggest port Piraeus to Chinese shipping giant COSCO.
Greece in April agreed the sale of a 67 percent stake in Piraeus Port to COSCO for 368.5 million euros under a third international bailout.
Port workers have held 48-hour rolling strikes since late May, disrupting cargo operations and services provided to cruise ships docking at Piraeus over fears their jobs are at risk.
"We are very worried," said Theodoros Kontes, head of the Greek cruise ship owners association. "If they keep striking, we are expecting a 10 million euro impact on our business in Piraeus only for June."
Greece had revenue of 560 million euros from about 2.5 million cruise ship passengers last year and the sector has been growing since May after cruise lines shunned Turkey and Egypt for Greece, due to safety concerns.
But Kontes said he was concerned that this positive trend could be reversed after two cruise ships left Piraeus over the weekend to dock at other ports in Greece and Italy due to the port workers' labour action.
"If the strike continues and many companies perceive the situation unpredictable, there is a risk that they dock elsewhere, or even make more permanent changes to their schedule," said Giorgios Paliouras, a member of the board of the Greek travel agents association.
Port workers want COSCO to safeguard jobs for a minimum number of people, with current labour contracts, as part of a concession agreement to be signed later this year.
"Renewing the 48-hour strikes is what we have in mind," said George Georgakopoulos, the dock workers union director. "We recognise there is an inconvenience for passengers and that is why we ask the government to resolve the matter the soonest."
The Greek government called on workers on Monday to stop strike action and help find a realistic and viable solution.
(By Lefteris Karagiannopoulos; Editing by Angeliki Koutantou and David Evans)
GTMaritime, provider of shipboard software solutions, says too many shipping companies have yet to take basic precautions for cyber security onboard ship.
While cyber security has become a hot topic on conference platforms and industry events around the world, implementation plans and training for crew are lagging as companies take time to develop top-down strategies.
While shipping companies get to grips with the longer term issues of securing supply chains and remote monitoring systems, there is an immediate need for better shipboard practices, says GTMaritime Managing Director Rob Kenworthy.
At home or in the office, we would not question whether we needed an anti-virus solution, so why should it be any different on-board? A vessels computer systems are vulnerable, just like any others. Our email service already scans all email to ensure no viruses are sent to the vessel, but on-board protection is still required against malware from USB memory drives and the Internet.
Vessel crews have been identified as a front line in the fight against hackers, with dire predictions of potential targeting of vessels at sea and in port. However, when asked how many of their crew have received training on cyber security or the safe use of social media, not enough owners have addressed the basics of improving procedures onboard.
To help owners take their first step towards a shipboard cyber strategy, GTMaritime has partnered with one of the worlds leading security solution providers, ESET, to develop GTSentinel, an anti-virus solution optimised for the maritime market, designed to minimise the impact of low bandwidth networks.
Rob Kenworthy adds, In addition to firewall and anti-virus functions, GTSentinel can help protect vessels against malware and automated diallers, offering real-time protection and system monitoring as well as scheduled scans. Updates are designed for efficiency so are perfect for a low bandwidth or other well-managed connection and utilise local networking on-board. The software can be installed, configured, managed and monitored remotely from shore.
NGOs and regulators are increasingly paying attention to the subject. The U.S. Coast Guards cyber strategy, published in June 2015 makes threat response an integral part of a ship operators responsibilities. The International Maritime Organization approved its own interim guidelines at the recent Maritime Safety Committee meeting.
The industrys first cyber guidelines were launched earlier this year by BIMCO, CLIA, ICS, INTERCARGO and INTERTANKO and Greek IT managers association AMMITEC recently published its own similar guide for owners, operators and managers.
Classification society DNV GL has announced at the Posidonia trade fair that it had recently completed the first production surveys using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drone.
The survey took place on the MV Apollo, a chemical tanker owned by Carl Buttner Shipmanagement GmbH, in Bremerhaven, Germany. Two DNV GL surveyors used the drone to inspect 14 tanks over a period of two and a half days.
The advantage of using a drone over conventional staging inside the tank is absolutely clear, says Jochen Huhn, Marine Superintendent and Chief Security Officer, Carl Buttner Shipmanagement GmbH. Eliminating the risk of damage to the coating from staging means the drone survey is worth it, even before we factor in the time saved by this method. We were also all very impressed by the quality of the video and the details the drone was able to obtain in the inspection. We would certainly be interested in using this method more in the future and I am interested to see how the technology develops over the next few years.
The success of the first drone production survey performed by a classification society shows how our investment in developing modern class solutions to benefit our customers is paying off, says Knut rbeck-Nilssen, CEO DNV GL Maritime. Over the next few years we will continue to work on expanding the ways the drones can be used and the number of stations where we can offer this service. This is a very promising beginning and one that is already showing a significant benefit in terms of time and costs saved.
The inspection of ship tanks and holds can be a costly, time consuming and potentially dangerous operation. The condition of the coating, corrosion, damages, piping, access points, equipment and safety systems all have to be assessed on a regular basis. Using drones to visually check the condition of remote structural components has the potential to significantly reduce survey times and staging costs, while at the same time improving safety for the surveyors. DNV GL has now carried out several tests using drones for the inspection of cargo tanks or holds in a large oil tanker, a chemical tanker and a bulk carrier, both in Europe and in China.
In the future it may be possible to use drones that are fully autonomous. A 3D model of a vessel could be loaded into a drone's memory, which could then orientate itself inside the tank and follow a pre-defined route, stopping at points of interest inside the compartment to capture video and still images. The operator could use the camera and lights to document findings, while the drones autopilot takes care of the flight. At some stage it may be possible to have a drone with its own scanning capabilities. The drone could be dropped into an unknown space, make a scan, create its own 3D map and then proceed to carry out the survey independently.
Currently, DNV GL is also looking into utilizing drones and other alternative means for inspection of MOUs, both for topside and external structure and for internal tank inspections. Another ongoing project is to establish a certification service for external drone operators to qualify to perform inspection work on classed MOUs.
DP World has won a 50 year concession for the development of a greenfield multi-purpose port project at Posorja, Ecuador, 65 kilometers from the countrys main business city of Guayaquil.
The $500 million initial investment (Phase 1) will include the purchase of land, dredging of a new access channel, a 20 kilometer access road and a 400 metre berth equipped to handle containers and other cargo. Construction is expected to start within the next six to nine months and take around 24 months to complete, resulting in 750,000 TEU (twenty-foot container equivalent) of capacity.
Total investment will be over $1 billion for the entire project with thousands of jobs during construction, close to 1,000 jobs during operations, along with plans to develop a logistics zone to create a regional trading hub. The project will focus on containers with the capability to handle other types of cargo and will be implemented with DP Worlds local partners, Consorcio Nobis and Grupo Vilaseca.
Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO, DP World, said, We are delighted to extend our South American footprint with a major investment in Ecuador. The additional value it will bring to the economy is compelling, increasing competitiveness through the provision of modern container terminal services in central Ecuador.
Posorja will contribute to our continued growth in the developing markets of South America in the years ahead. This investment builds on our existing network in the region, with terminals in Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Suriname. We look forward to bringing DP Worlds world class productivity-enhancing, security, safety and environmental best practices in container terminal development and operation to Ecuador.
Roberto Dunn, Executive Director, Consorcio Nobis, said, "We are excited to partner with DP World and Grupo Vilaseca on this landmark project. DP World Posorja will offer Ecuadorean importers and exporters a unique deep-water alternative that will dramatically improve the competitiveness of their products in world markets and has the potential to transform the Ecuadorean economy.
Posorja Port will complement DP Worlds extensive network in South America by creating a new deep-water gateway for Ecuadors global trade with a range of benefits that include:
* Access to a 15m draft compared to the current 9.75 metre drafts at the existing Guayaquil ports
* Additional capacity for the Guayaquil terminals which last year recorded throughput of over 1.75 million TEU close to their existing limits
* Innovative solutions for the worlds largest banana exporting country enabling access to global markets
* Long-term expansion potential with up to about 2,000 metres of berth and over 200 hectares of terminal area
Amec Foster Wheeler has been awarded a contract by Indian Oil LNG Private Ltd. Co. (IOLPL) for the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Terminal in Ennore, Tamil Nadu, on the east coast of India.
This award follows the successful completion of a front end engineering and design contract for the terminal in 2012.
"Following our successful completion of the FEED contract, delivering this next phase of this project reinforces our position as a leading provider of LNG services to the Indian domestic market," said Roberto Penno, Group President of Amec Foster Wheelers Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa and Southern Europe business.
As part of the new contract, Amec Foster Wheelers responsibilities include the supervision of works related to various Engineering Procurement and Construction contracts for the LNG regasification and marine import facilities, as well as the LNG storage tanks.
Amec Foster Wheeler will also undertake Project Management Consultancy activities for the entire project, from engineering development and construction phases, through to pre-commissioning, commissioning and start-up of the terminal.
This is a 42 month contract which will be delivered at the end of 2018.
Indian Oil LNG Private Ltd. Co is a joint venture of Indian Oil Corporation (IndianOil), and India's largest commercial enterprise, with a sales turnover of US$ 73.7 billion.
Strong winds and heavy rainfall were expected across the southeastern United States on Tuesday even as the center of Tropical Storm Colin was moving into the Atlantic Ocean.
The storm was 90 miles (145 km) southwest of Charleston, South Carolina, at 4 a.m. eastern time (0800 GMT) and moving at 31 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
A tropical storm warning was in effect from the Altamaha Sound Georgia to Oregon Inlet in North Carolina on Tuesday morning. On its forecast path, Colin was to barrel along the coast of the southeastern United States before moving out to sea during the day.
As 50 mph winds were expected in the region, a tornado was reported in Lee County Florida, the National Weather Service said. The storm was forecast dump as much as 1 to 3 inches more of rain as flash flood warnings and watches were in effect across the region, the hurricane center said.
Florida Governor Rick Scott, who had declared a state of emergency on Monday in 34 of the state's 67 counties, said more than 6,000 Florida National Guard members were activated and ready for deployment.
Flooding and property damage resulting from the fierce winds remained threats into the day, and far beyond the storm's immediate path, forecasters warned.
A statement from Scott's office warned residents to be wary of rip currents and the possibility of 10 foot (3 m) waves along the Gulf Coast.
"It is critical that all Floridians use caution and remain alert," he said in the statement.
In the St. Petersburg beach town of Gulfport and in Charleston, South Carolina, roads were flooded, local authorities said on social media.
About 10,000 customers were without power in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, utilities reported.
The storm also threatened crops in Florida, the country's biggest citrus producer, which sent U.S. orange juice futures on Monday to their highest in more than two years.
Colin is part of a brisk start to the Atlantic hurricane season that runs through Nov. 30. Over the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend, the Carolinas were lashed by heavy rain and winds from Tropical Storm Bonnie.
Reporting by Brendan O'Brien
The Illusion of Falling Official 'Unemployment' Fades
Friday's employment report featured the headline unemployment rate falling from 5.0% to 4.7% - which is a huge move lower. About the only encouraging aspect of the report is that markets largely ignored the fantasy headline for a change and focused on the ugly details. Nearly everyone acknowledged the report as bad news and markets reacted accordingly.
"There are three kinds of lies - lies,
damned lies and statistics." - Mark Twain
But not all. Janet Yellen and her crew at the Fed must see through the phony statistics because they are so reluctant to tighten monetary policy. Publicly, however, they talk about job growth and the wonders their stimulus policies have worked.
President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton also talk triumphantly about putting people back to work. Obama has been parading around the country talking about the fabulous economic recovery he has led. Hillary takes credit for a recovery as well, but promises she can do even better.
They prefer people focus on the headline number and not ask too many questions. After all, their people at the Bureau of Labor Statistics have been hard at work "seasonally adjusting," modifying the formulas, and otherwise massaging the data. They are painting such a lovely picture for voters to enjoy.
The "unemployment rate" has fallen to levels not seen since before the 2008 financial crisis. It's like magic. And just about as real as when David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear.
The contradiction in their data just keeps getting bigger. The phony "unemployment" rate and the percentage of the population with a job, which readers get by digging into the report details, BOTH keep falling.
And the explanations are getting pretty outlandish. We're told people are "voluntarily" leaving the workforce in droves. Prosperity is so high lots of folks are retiring early, switching to part time work, or living on a single income so one parent can stay home with the kids. Riiiiight!!!
If people have stopped buying it, will officials and their friends in the financial press stop waging their disinformation campaign? One would think the loss of credibility and embarrassment might limit the amount of nonsense they publish each month.
At least, as said, the people didn't buy Friday's headline for once. If we are going to have free markets and find solutions, Americans will have to grapple with reality. James Quinn, of The Burning Platform, does a great job of looking past the headline and pulling some interesting facts out of the employment data:
Since 2007 the workforce has grown by 21 million people, while the number of employed has grown by only 5 million.
The labor participation rate has plunged from 66.0% to 62.6%, the lowest since the 1970s.
The number of Americans who have left the workforce, allegedly because their lives are so fulfilled, is 16 million. Meanwhile, enrollment for the food stamps and Social Security Disability programs is through the roof.
The number of people over the age of 65 who are still working keeps growing as older workers try to avoid starvation and homelessness.
Of the 5 million jobs added since 2007, only 2 million of them were full-time.
Obama's success in destroying the mining industry is borne out in the 207,000 jobs destroyed in the last two years.
The percentage of men aged 25 to 54 (prime working years) not working is at an all-time high.
Real median household income (using the official CPI, which is also highly manipulated for PR purposes) is still 1.3% LOWER today than it was in 2007. Wages continue to stagnate in the 2.3% growth range, while actual inflation for real people in the real world exceeds 5%.
That is the reality when it comes to jobs in the U.S. Keep questioning the official propaganda.
By Clint Siegner
MoneyMetals.com
Clint Siegner is a Director at Money Metals Exchange, perhaps the nation's fastest-growing dealer of low-premium precious metals coins, rounds, and bars. Siegner, a graduate of Linfield College in Oregon, puts his experience in business management along with his passion for personal liberty, limited government, and honest money into the development of Money Metals' brand and reach. This includes writing extensively on the bullion markets and their intersection with policy and world affairs.
2016 Clint Siegner - All Rights Reserved
Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.
2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.
Former Bank of England head Mervyn King joins Alan Greenspan in advocating Gold Ownership
In The End of Alchemy, Mervyn King, the former head of the Bank of England, writes of central banks frustration in dealing with the stagnant global economy. Central banks, he says, have thrown everything at their economies, and yet the results have been disappointing, Whatever can be said about the world recovery since the crisis, it has been neither strong, nor sustainable, nor balanced.
Similarly, former IMF chief economist, Olivier Blanchard was recently quoted in the Financial Times as saying: And so the question is why is it, that with no fiscal consolidation and banks in decent shape, at least in terms of lending, and zero interest rates, we dont have an enormous demand boom? That is now the puzzle.
Alan Greenspan, in a recent interview with Fox Business News, offers the beginnings of an answer to Blanchards question a question which happens to be on the minds of not just policy-makers but ordinary investors as well. Our problem, he said, is not recession which is a short-term economic problem. I think you have a very profound long-term problem of economic growth at the time when the Western world, there is a very large migration from being a worker into being a recipient of social benefits as it is called. And this is legally mandated in all of our countries. The western world, he concludes, is headed to a state of disaster.
The problem at its core is demographic. Retiring baby boomers are paying off debt, not borrowing more. As time goes by, they willl increasingly become consumers of government largesse, as Greenspan points out, rather than its suppliers. The Millennials and GenXers are struggling with student debt, low incomes and paltry savings. For them, owning a home, the traditional means to stimulating overall demand, is more a future consideration than anything imminent. (In 1960 62% of 18 to 34-year-olds lived in their own households. By 2015, that number had dropped to just under 32%.) Outstanding mortgage debt, as a result of these demographic shifts, has gone into a free-fall. (See chart immediately below.) Simply put, the problem for the global economy, as Kings successor Mark Carney recently pointed out, boils down to the lack of demand for goods and services and for money itself in the form of credit.
_____________________________________________________________
Reader note: This article is reprinted from the June, 2016 issue of USAGOLDs NEWS & VIEWS. For open access to the rest of this months issue, we invite you to register here. In addition, you will also receive e-mail notification when future issues are published. Free subscription. Over 20,000 subscribe to this widely-read newsletter.
_____________________________________________________________
Fiat paradigm falling apart
In short, the whole fiat paradigm of lending money into existence is falling apart, and no one seems to know what to do about it. If you would have told me in 2007 that within a decade we would be facing the possibility of a deflationary breakdown, I would not have believed you. King concludes that without reform of the financial system, another crisis is certain sooner rather than later.
Kings use of the word alchemy in connection with central banks policies conjures all sorts of allusions. As we all know, the purpose of alchemy was to transform base metals to gold. Likewise, the contemporary central bank is alchemic in nature in that it professes to replace gold-backed money with sound and effective monetary policies. Those who believe that the central banks are capable of delivering consistently on that promise are not likely to become gold owners. Those who question it will continue to own gold and silver in their investment portfolios as a countermeasure, and in fact add to those holdings as circumstances require.
It is quite clear that the former Fed chairman and the former governor of the Bank of England are in agreement that the global economy is tacking against some heavy headwinds. The demographic shift Greenspan cites and Kings admission of policy-makers failure in dealing with it point to continuing long-term demand for gold and silver not just among private investors, but among funds, institutions and central banks as well. In addition, it is the failures (or potential for failure) in policy, as cited by both King and Greenspan, that will give pause even to those who most ardently profess undying faith in the central banks. Along these lines, it is interesting to note that Greenspan has already suggested gold as a good place to put money these days given the policies of governments. Mervyn King may not be far behind.
Post publication editors note (6-7-2016): No sooner had the ink dried on the June issue of our newsletter (of which this article was a part) than Mervyn King was quoted in the World Gold Councils Gold Investor magazine as advocating gold ownership at a time of what he calls radical uncertainty. Some might think that we had an inside track on the World Gold Council interview released this morning, but we did not. Though we have a relationship with the World Gold Council that goes back decades, it does not send us advance copies of its publications. The similarities between Kings views and those of his old friend, Mr. Greenspan, were striking thus the conclusion that logically the former BoE governor might be headed in golds direction.
If we dont quite know what the future holds, says King, there is little point in getting carried away by very fancy mathematical calculations of optimal portfolios. Dont rely on past data to be a good guide. Try to think through what mix of assets gives you the best chance of surviving some big event. That must mean including assets that are negatively correlated or uncorrelated in your portfolio.
And I am very struck by the fact that over many many years, central banks, governments and individuals have always, despite the protestations of economists, held some gold in their portfolio. Obviously, there is no high running return, but when unexpected things happen, particularly when governments rise and fall, then gold is a means of payment that everyone is always prepared to accept. And I think thats why even central banks have always had a role in their portfolios for gold, he adds.
I might add that the very same logic applies to gold as part of the private investment portfolio. For the full article, which includes some of Mr. Kings prescriptions for the global economy, we recommend the World Gold Councils Gold Investor magazine. There you will find more good reading on current happenings in the gold market.
____________________________
Reader note: You just read the lead article for the June, 2016 issue of USAGOLDs NEWS & VIEWS. For open access to the rest of this months issue, we invite you to register at the link below. You will also receive e-mail notification when future issues are published. Free subscriptions. Over 20,000 subscribe to this newsletter . . . Please register here.
June issue: Whats behind golds recent sell-off? What is the real reason why central banks cant get the economy moving and what does it for future gold demand? Is there a major run on Londons massive gold vaults and where did all the gold go? What do 17th century Dutch tulip bulbs have to do with your portfolio today (the nature of financial mania)? And more.
___________________
By Michael J. Kosares
Michael J. Kosares , founder and president
USAGOLD - Centennial Precious Metals, Denver
Michael J. Kosares is the founder of USAGOLD and the author of "The ABCs of Gold Investing - How To Protect and Build Your Wealth With Gold." He has over forty years experience in the physical gold business. He is also the editor of Review & Outlook, the firm's newsletter which is offered free of charge and specializes in issues and opinion of importance to owners of gold coins and bullion. If you would like to register for an e-mail alert when the next issue is published, please visit this link.
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in commentary e do not constitute an offer to buy or sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any precious metals product, nor should they be viewed in any way as investment advice or advice to buy, sell or hold. Centennial Precious Metals, Inc. recommends the purchase of physical precious metals for asset preservation purposes, not speculation. Utilization of these opinions for speculative purposes is neither suggested nor advised. Commentary is strictly for educational purposes, and as such USAGOLD - Centennial Precious Metals does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of the information found here.
Michael J. Kosares Archive
2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.
Business / Economy
by Staff reporter
ZIMBABWE'S perceived country risk for foreign investors is exaggerated after success of junior miner, Caledonia Mining, which has operated in the country for the past decade and paying dividends to foreign investors in that time, according to a research on the firm.Caledonia has operated Blanket Mine in Gwanda, south of the country since 2006. It became the first mining house to comply with country's foreign ownership laws after selling off 51 percent of the mine to locals in 2012.Zimbabwe is seen as having high country risk, which levies an additional premium on the cost of funds, making the country more expensive. The country's low foreign direct investment flows have been blamed on the land reform and indigenisation programmes. Under the latter programme foreign-owned businesses in the extractive sector are compelled to sell 51 percent shareholding to local blacks.Caledonia does not face any such challenges after it became the first and so far only miner to meet the indigenisation criteria.It owns 49 percent, with the remaining 51 percent divided among Gwanda Community Trust (10 percent), Blanket Employee Trust (10 percent) the NIEEF (National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Fund (16 percent) and Fremiro (15 percent).In a research paper on the company released by Caledonia, WH Ireland said the miner is undervalued because of Zimbabwe's risk, which is overstated."We believe that the Zimbabwe risk has been overplayed considering the operating history demonstrated by Caledonia and the company is valued at only half the level of its African gold mining peers on most financial multiples," said WH Ireland.The mine is currently undertaking a major expansion project, which will see annual production capacity double from the current 40,000 ounces by year end."By the end of the year we expect Caledonia's cash position to improve measurably and see strong (and increasing) cash generation as the new Central Shaft is completed and the expansion concluded," WH Ireland said.Blanket Mine has operated in Zimbabwe for over 100 years and in the 10 years under Caledonia, has operated without hindrance."During this time there have been no production halts as a result of operating in Zimbabwe barring a period of non-production in 2008 as the country went from using Zimbabwean dollars to US dollars and the whole country stopped working for a while."Since early 2009 when production re-started following dollarisation of the country there have been no production stoppages out of the control of Caledonia, outside of the normal course of mining," said WH Ireland.Caledonia owns 49 percent of Blanket but receives nearly 80 percent of the dividend flow from the mine until the vendor financing loans have been repaid. In addition, Caledonia receives a management fee, currently $4m per annum and also makes a margin outside Zimbabwe on the procurement activities in Johannesburg.Current resources are only sufficient for another seven years of operation but the current reinvestment programme will prolong its lifespan. Caledonia also hold the bulk of the mineral licences in Gwanda and has two advanced exploration projects in the area which are seen as key to pushing production above the 100,000 ounces mark annually.The miner successfully moved its registration from Canada to tax haven Jersey, Channel Islands, on March 19 this year to avoid charges on dividends.
US Housing Market - It Looks Like the Dumb Moneys at It Again
New home sales just went up a staggering 16.6% in April.
619,000 new homes were sold the most since early 2008 just before the worst of the housing meltdown, and the highest rate of growth in 24 years.
So is this a sign that the economy is back on track?
Dont count on it.Home sales, like jobs, is a lagging indicator, not a leading one. Its a sign of where weve been, not where were going. So this isnt a big surprise to us.In fact, this is just like stock indicators near a peak.The dumb money is finally pouring in while the smart money is exiting. Except this time, its just in real estate.Millennials have held back on buying homes for a variety of economic reasons since 2008. Tighter lending standards, for one. The concern that home prices could fall again, for another. And Im sure $1.2 trillion dollars in student debt , falling real wages and higher unemployment for them (since more baby boomers are staying in the workforce longer) have something to do with it, as well.So even while more millennials cross that 28 to 33 age timeframe when theyd normally buy a house more and more of them have been opting out, choosing to stay at home with their parents, or rent. Theyve put off the biggest financial decision of their lives because they all know the worst could happen.But, home prices have continued rising, and the inventory of homes for sale has been falling. Hence, new home sales keep advancing.So last month, the most people in eight years decided that if theyre going to buy a new home, nows the time to do it.But how much longer can this trend continue?Even with last months boost, new home sales arent anywhere close to where they were at the housing peak in 2005 when a million or more new homes were selling every month.Were not even close to where we were before the bubble started in 2000 Just look at the reality of it in this chart, which adjusts new home sales for rising population growth:The baby boomers carried us to new highs in the middle of last decade. After that, real estate suffered the most drastic fall in U.S. history.The rise in new home sales since 2012 is nothing compared to that!This one-month, 16.6% rise hardly even shows up!A dead cat bounce is trader terminology for a very modest bounce that follows a substantial crash meaning theres more to come.Do the bounces following major crashes in the early 1980s and early 1990s forward look like this one? Not hardly!I warned of the bubble peak in housing prices in late 2005 before the bubble burst in early 2006.And Im warning now that the millennial generation will not carry the housing market to new highs the way the boomers did.Its not just the skittishness of these fragile new buyers. Their demand will simply not be enough to offset the retiring baby boomers who eventually die and become sellers by default.And thats why Im predicting net housing demand will fall even turning negative over the next two decades especially starting later this year.This critical demographic indicator shows it wont turn positive again until after the year 2039 23 years from now. The same indicator explains why the echo boom in Japan never caused a bounce in housing , even 25 years after its all-time bubble highs and 60% crash.What were seeing today is simply the dumb money, particularly the everyday household from the millennials, finally buying after holding back for years, now that they feel the risk of another housing downturn is waning.Meanwhile, the smart money is retreating from the highest-end real estate in bubble cities like London, Manhattan and Miami with more of them to follow.The smart money is selling, like the richest family in China, and the everyday household is finally buying
What does that tell you?
Harry
http://economyandmarkets.com
Follow me on Twitter @HarryDentjr
Harry studied economics in college in the 70s, but found it vague and inconclusive. He became so disillusioned by the state of the profession that he turned his back on it. Instead, he threw himself into the burgeoning New Science of Finance, which married economic research and market research and encompassed identifying and studying demographic trends, business cycles, consumers purchasing power and many, many other trends that empowered him to forecast economic and market changes.
Copyright 2016 Harry Dent- All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.
Harry Dent Archive
2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.
Detecting Cancer With White and Blue Light
Endoscopy is often used in the prevention, early detection, diagnosis, staging, and treatment of cancer.
X-rays and CT scans can show physical changes within the body and give information about the size, shape, and location of the changes. Endoscopes show details like color and surface texture allowing doctors to see exactly whats going on.
If you go to a doctor exhibiting certain symptoms, endoscopy could be used to find the cause:
Long-term hoarseness - Laryngoscopy to look at the vocal cords
Trouble swallowing - Upper endoscopy
Anemia (low red blood cell counts) with an unknown cause - Colonoscopy
Blood in stool - Colonoscopy
Colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy are used to look for cancer in people who have no symptoms by screening for colon and rectal cancer. They also help prevent cancer by finding polyps (growths in the bowels) that could become cancer. Thoracoscopy and laparoscopy can be used to find out if cancer has spread into a patients thorax or abdomen.
Most endoscopes can, with an attached tool, take small tissue samples called a biopsy. Instruments passed through an endoscope can also be used to cut out growths, a cautery or laser can be used to burn or vaporize them.
Minimally invasive surgery
Many types of endoscopic tools have been developed to let doctors perform minimally invasive surgery.
When endoscopy is used for the abdomen it is called laparoscopic surgery. Instead of one long incision several small cuts are made - usually in the chest or abdomen. A video endoscope a thoracoscope or laparoscope is put through one of the holes so that the surgeon can see inside during the operation.
This type of surgery, called video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery or VATS, can also be used to treat small lung cancers. It can also be used for the colon (laparoscopic colectomy), prostate (laparoscopic radical prostatectomy), and some other organs.
Patients, physicians, providers, and payers have wholeheartedly embraced minimally invasive therapy for many reasons:
Minimally invasive therapy obviates the need for major open-surgery procedures.
Minimally invasive therapy produces much less of the sequelae (a condition that is the consequence of a previous disease or injury) of open surgery procedures.
Minimally invasive therapy leaves minute scars versus open-surgery procedures.
Minimally invasive therapy results in shorter hospital stays and reduced outpatient treatments.
Minimally invasive therapy results in a much more rapid return to normal activity.
Reductions in length of hospitalization and the ability to return to work much sooner are economically attractive.
The demand for endoscopy as a tool in cancer detection has been increasing significantly because of the growing preference for minimally invasive surgeries, which reduce patients pain, speed recovery and reduce the overall costs to the healthcare system.
The endoscope is the most important weapon in the minimally invasive therapy arsenal.
Other factors driving the growth of global endoscopy include:
Aging population
Increasing prevalence of diseases that require endoscopy procedures
Bladder cancer
Fact; Advances in bladder cancer treatments, let alone a breakthrough, have been slow like in coming - no new products have been developed and Urologists have been using the same diagnosis and treatment methods for decades.
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) bladder cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the United States and the third most common cancer in men, with over 72,000 new cases diagnosed annually (380,000 worldwide). It is estimated that approximately 577,400 people are currently living with bladder cancer in the United States, generating over 1,500,000 physician consultations per year, and that approximately 16,000 individuals will died from the disease in 2015.
Bladder cancer facts:
Low grade non-muscle bladder cancer has a reoccurrence rate of 40%. High grade non-muscle bladder cancer has a reoccurrence rate of 70%. The average reoccurrence rate for this type of cancer is nearly 50%, which is one of the highest reoccurrence rates of all cancers.
Bladder cancer is the most expensive cancer to treat in the US.
Bladder cancer represents 4.6% of all new cancer cases in the U.S.
In 2016, it is estimated that there will be 76,960 new cases of bladder cancer and an estimated 16,390 people will die of this disease.
Age: Seniors are at the highest risk of developing bladder cancer.
Sex: Men are three times more likely than women to have bladder cancer.
Race: Whites have a much higher risk of developing bladder cancer than other races.
Bladder cancer is generally identified in the clinic by a procedure called cystoscopy, an endoscopy in the bladder.
When detected early, bladder cancer can be treated successfully. Initial treatment of bladder cancer is based on a tumors clinical stage, determined by how deep the tumor is thought to have grown into the bladder wall, and whether or not it has spread beyond the bladder. Other factors, such as the size and grade of the tumor, may also affect treatment options.
Unfortunately, bladder cancer has a very high rate of recurrence, one of the highest among the cancers. Because of the high risk of recurrence, patients who have been treated for bladder cancer undergo follow-up endoscopy every 3-6 months. For the rest of the patients life, a cystoscopy on a quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis is essential.
It is estimated that over 4 million cystoscopies are performed each year and approximately US$4B is spent on bladder cancer surveillance annually.
Bladder cancer is the most expensive cancer to treat over the lifetime of a patient.
The majority (about 70%) of bladder cancers are superficial meaning they are only in the lining of the bladder. However, if left undiagnosed and untreated, these cells can invade the muscle wall which could require complete removal of the bladder - a radical cystectomy.
It is important that cystoscopy imaging be both:
Highly sensitive by being able to detect subtle cancer
Specific meaning able to distinguish between benign and cancerous tumors
These two attributes enable surgeons to remove cancerous tissue at an early stage.
While cystoscopy is the gold standard for a routine surveillance exam its well known that standard cystoscopy has insufficient sensitivity and specificity. This is particularly true for flat appearing cancers that blend in with the bladder and may be confused with inflammation.
Various experimental studies demonstrate a 4-10% rate of missed bladder tumors by conventional cystoscopy carcinoma in situ bladder cancer (CIS) 4 is a high grade cancerous lesion, often diffuse and difficult to visualize it can be a very aggressive form of the disease.
There is an important need to improve the ability of endoscopy to 1. identify suspicious bladder lesions without missing any cancers and 2. to characterize bladder lesions as benign or malignant with high accuracy.
The most common symptom of bladder cancer is blood in the urine (hematuria) with little or no pain. It should ALWAYS be assessed by a physician.
Lets look at current endoscope technology as it involves cancer.
White Light and Cancer
White light is the standard convention and its whats commercially available in all endoscope devices manufactured today. White light has been utilized in endoscopes for decades to guide the physician and surgeon so they can see cancerous growths that protrude above an organs surface, do biopsies and remove suspicious growths.
White light is comprised of energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation that vibrates at many different wavelengths. Wavelengths between 390 nm and 780 nm are visible to the human eye and produce the different colors of the spectrum.
White light has limitations in visualizing certain cancer types because:
White light cannot pass through tissue or blood
White light cannot illuminate tumors beneath the skin surface.
White light is not effective in visualizing the borders of the tumor to determine where it begins and ends (the margins), especially after the initial removal of the main mass. If the surgeon does not remove all the cancerous growth, and a few cancerous cells remain, the tumor can grow back and spread, or metastasize to other parts of the body
Malignant and premalignant tumors that are flat or very small may look similar to normal tissues. As a result, a physician may not be able to identify some aggressive cancers. In order to be safe, they may collect random and repeat biopsies as the only possible way to ensure that cancer is not missed in high-risk patients
To summarize, white light has visualization limitations for all cancer types because white light cannot pass through tissue or blood and cannot illuminate tumors beneath the skin surface. White light is often not effective in visualizing the borders or margins of the tumor to determine where it starts and ends especially after the initial removal of the main mass.
Blue Light
Because of the limitations with using white light for visualizing cancers, various companies have begun using blue light (white light with blue filter) in conjunction with chemical tumor targeting/imaging agents. This improved technology introduces a red fluorescence to the tumor and has improved the ability to visualize cancers and margins.
Tumor visualization with endoscope using white light (left) and blue light (right) with Photocures chemical called Cysview)
Unfortunately these chemical agents can cause various adverse effects - including anaphylaxis shock and hypersensitivity reactions - with repeated usage at the high doses currently required for visualization. The FDA has limited use of these chemical tumor targeting/imaging agents to just once per patient. Doctors and surgeons cannot repeatedly examine a patient using these chemical imaging agents. This creates a huge problem treating patients with multiple tumors and those with recurrent tumors.
Red Light
Red lightrequires specialized laser light sources, ultrasensitive cameras and a unique optical design. Currently no commercial instruments are available using red light.
The Unmet Need
What is acutely needed right now, across the entire spectrum of the endoscope imaging space/sector, is an ultrasensitive system that uses white light while simultaneously using other wavelengths of light to visualize all tumors, and one that allows multiple usage in patents.
Future endoscopes should also have more advanced cancer detection technologies so that ultimately no chemical imaging agents would be necessary.
These future tools should provide ultrasensitive and advanced imaging capabilities and the system should be capable of being used in a physicians office or clinic for diagnosis, in the operating room and ambulatory surgical center.
Imagin Medical
Imagin Medical (CSE: IME) (OTC: IMEXF) is a biotechnology company founded to commercialize an ultrasensitive, next generation imaging technology for extremely accurate visualization of cancers.
Invented by Dr. Stavros Demos at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), this combination optical/laser technology uses white light and near-infrared fluorescence to accurately visualize and detect cancer. To validate this technology, Dr. Demos worked for over five years in collaboration with the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and Dr. Ralph deVere White, one of the worlds leading authorities on bladder cancer.
Imagin now holds the exclusive license to this intellectual property. The Company has entered into an agreement with UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics in New York, where Dr. Demos will support the company's effort to complete development.
IME believes it will radically improve the way physicians detect cancer through the use of endoscopes to image and visualize cancer and/or cancer markers.
Imagin is developing systems that will potentially enable physicians to accurately detect cancer with minimal use of, or no toxic contrast agent, and remove all tumor tissues and cancerous cells completely during the first procedure. This technology, after having being proven successful in the operating room, will greatly reduce the chances of cancer recurrence and allow safe, multiple follow-up screenings for patients that can be performed during routine monitoring by physicians in an outpatient setting.
Imagin Medicals advanced ultrasensitive imaging technology is based upon improved optical designs and components, and advanced light sensors. The results are:
Increased sensitivity and specificity for the detection of cancers and even premalignant lesions.
A potential decrease in cancer recurrence due to the ability to completely remove tumor tissues along with the cancerous cells in the margins.
A significant commercial advantage to Imagins imaging technology because of its adaptability to all endoscopes that are currently on the market.
Easy adoption of Imagins two ultrasensitive imaging designs for use in multiple other applications where endoscopy imaging is currently utilized.
Imagin Medicals ultrasensitive i/Blue and i/Red Imaging Systems use white light in conjunction with the Companys unique fluorescent wavelengths to radically improve the physicians ability to visualize (detect) cancer. This technology is estimated to increase sensitivity to an estimated 5 orders of magnitude (100,000 x) more than white light alone.
Beginning in 2010, the FDA approved blue laser light to be used with various imaging agents, but only on a one-time per patient basis because of potentially dangerous side effects. This limitation generally restricts physicians use of imaging agents for the O.R. so they can take advantage of this one-time opportunity to operate immediately, if and when cancer is found.
The early detection and assessment of bladder cancer relies on the accuracy of imaging technology via endoscopes. Conventional endoscopes use white light and produce less-than-adequate images to view during surgical procedures that can result in misdiagnosis or incomplete removal of cancer cells, leading to recurrence. These chemical imaging agents improve the quality of the image and the ability to differentiate healthy cells from cancerous, yet they require a one-hour prep time which can be logistically impractical and costly for the Operating Room.
Imagin Medical is developing the i/Blue Imaging System to help detect bladder cancer and reduce its recurrence by dramatically improving the urologists ability to visualize, identify and remove cancerous cells. This advanced combination of optical/light sensor technology, white light and near-infrared fluorescence delivers superior images in less than 15 minutes vs. the one hour required by conventional systems. The time savings will increase the efficiency of the Operating Room and reduce healthcare costs by potentially enabling the procedure to be performed in the less expensive physicians office for follow-up exams.
Additionally, physicians using todays standard blue light need to switch back and forth between the white light and blue light images, which is not necessary with the i/Blue Imaging System that blends both lights into one image.
The i/Red Imaging System, the Companys next advancement, uses a unique red laser light to illuminate the cancer and requires no imaging agents at all. This breakthrough totally disruptive technology uses only the fluorescence produced by the body and tumor itself.
The i/Red Imaging System will dramatically broaden the market to all cancer specialists using any type of scopes.
Competitive Advantages
Imagin Medicals advanced ultrasensitive imaging technology will lead the marketplace in illumination of cancerous cells and provide an improved surgical outcome as a result of an improved detection and resection, which will lead to more adequate patient management and follow-up.
Competitive Advantages:
Can be seamlessly adapted to any type of endoscopic or other type of imaging device commercially available.
Based upon improved optical designs and components, and advanced light sensors. The result is increased sensitivity and specificity for the detection of cancers, including premalignant lesions.
Will decrease bladder cancer recurrence due to the ability to completely remove tumor tissues along the margins.
Will add significant ease-of-use for the surgeon and staff in the O.R. because of the dual imaging capability.
Use less than 1 percent of the toxic chemical currently (such as Cysview) used per test. Cysview is already FDA approved.
Imagin Medicalhasan ultrasensitive red light endoscopy system that requires no chemical imaging agents.
Because there is no need for chemical imaging agents, this system can be used in a physicians office or clinic for cystoscopy (diagnosis), and in the operating room (O.R.) or ambulatory surgical center for tumor removal or resection.
Imagin Medical has patents covering these imaging systems that are estimated to be at least 100,000 times more sensitive in tumor detection than any other devices currently in the marketplace.
Provide improved detection of cancer superior to what is currently in the market place.
The instrumentation involved does not come into contact with the patient, thus significantly reducing regulatory requirements and associated expenditures.
The white light and fluorescence images are recorded and displayed simultaneously providing an effective real time navigation tool that can be farther enhanced using processing (such as overlapping and pseudo-coloring) of the two principal images.
An Execution Play
The companys products are based on the technology invented by Dr. Stavros Demos at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Dr. Demos worked in collaboration with the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center and Dr. Ralph deVere White, one of the worlds leading authorities on bladder cancer, for more than five years to prove feasibility. Imagin has moved the final stage of development to the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics, where Imagins engineering team, with the support of Dr. Demos, will complete additional clinical evaluations and prepare for FDA submission.
Conclusion
Fact; Current cystoscopy has well-documented problems associated with the limited ability to distinguish cancer from normal tissue.
Imagins strategy is to set a new standard of care in detecting bladder and other cancers by introducing game-changing disruptive advances in endoscope technology with its i/Blue and i/Red combination optical/laser systems.
Imagin Medical CSE - IME,and their significantly improved endoscope technology, need to be on your radar screen.
Is advanced endoscopy on your screen?
If not, maybe it should be.
By Richard (Rick) Mills
www.aheadoftheherd.com
rick@aheadoftheherd.com
If you're interested in learning more about the junior resource and bio-med sectors please come and visit us at www.aheadoftheherd.com
Site membership is free. No credit card or personal information is asked for.
Richard is host of Aheadoftheherd.com and invests in the junior resource sector.
His articles have been published on over 400 websites, including: Wall Street Journal, Market Oracle, USAToday, National Post, Stockhouse, Lewrockwell, Pinnacledigest, Uranium Miner, Beforeitsnews, SeekingAlpha, MontrealGazette, Casey Research, 24hgold, Vancouver Sun, CBSnews, SilverBearCafe, Infomine, Huffington Post, Mineweb, 321Gold, Kitco, Gold-Eagle, The Gold/Energy Reports, Calgary Herald, Resource Investor, Mining.com, Forbes, FNArena, Uraniumseek, Financial Sense, Goldseek, Dallasnews, Vantagewire, Resourceclips and the Association of Mining Analysts.
Copyright 2016 Richard (Rick) Mills - All Rights Reserved
Legal Notice / Disclaimer: This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment. Richard Mills has based this document on information obtained from sources he believes to be reliable but which has not been independently verified; Richard Mills makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of Richard Mills only and are subject to change without notice. Richard Mills assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission. Furthermore, I, Richard Mills, assume no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information provided within this Report.
Richard (Rick) Mills Archive
2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.
Comments
maphorn
11 Jun 16, 09:29 Cancer Cures are already available
The problem with cancer is the government! There are many KNOWN SCIENTIFICALLY DOCUMENTED cures for cancer but they keep getting shut down by government to protect big pharma profits. Just do a search for cancer cures and in particular reference to UK MHRA shutting down GcMAF which has over 60% CURE rate - not remission rate but cure! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnppbrQv15E Since the 1940's it has been known cancer dies if there is no sugar, cancer will die in an alkaline environment! Chemo therapy is the left over from chemical companies and is linked with MUSTARD GAS that was used to kill people - It is a poison and they even tell you this on the websites! So After chemo they give you chocolates and sweets! They are trying to kill you! They are not there to look after us! Marc
A local businesswoman is the second official candidate to file for a Martinsville City Council seat in the Nov. 8 election.
Efigenia Cuenca Mota of 549 Dillard St., Martinsville, submitted her candidacy paperwork to the city registrars office last week. Voter Registrar Cindy Barbour confirmed that Cuencas paperwork met requirements for her to be a certified council candidate. As a result, her name will appear on the ballot.
Cuenca, who declined to give her age, owns Effies Linens & More on Franklin Street uptown.
Originally from Mexico, Cuenca became a United States citizen this year. She has been living in Martinsville for about 10 years, having previously lived in California, she said.
"I like it" in Martinsville, she continued. "Its more peaceful" here.
Cuenca said she decided to run for a council seat because she has concerns about the city schools and she would like to see officials create more programs to help young people.
She also voiced concern over a perceived lack of communication between city officials and residents, and she said she wants to see more efforts to help small businesses be developed locally.
Cuenca declined to elaborate on her positions. She said she will do so at a later date.
Three council seats those held by Sharon Brooks Hodge, Mark Stroud and Danny Turner, the current mayor are up for grabs in the election. Hodge has said she aims to run again and is circulating her petition, but Stroud and Turner have said they are not seeking re-election.
In order to be on the ballot, a candidate must submit as part of his or her paperwork a petition signed by at least 125 registered voters in Martinsville. Barbour confirmed that Cuencas petition had at least that many signatures from people registered to vote in the city.
The only other certified council candidate so far is Ural Harris of 217 Stuart St., who is retired. He often voices his opinions on city issues during "business from the floor" sessions at council meetings.
Several other people have picked up candidacy packets from the registrars office but have not yet returned them, according to Barbour.
One of those people is Martinsville School Board member Lawrence Mitchell, who said that he picked up a packet for Cuenca after getting to know her and encouraging her to run for a council seat.
Packets also are available online at elections.virginia.gov.
The deadline to file paperwork for a council seat is 7 p.m. June 14.
BOONES MILL Nebraska farmer Art Tanderup choked up Tuesday during the ceremonial planting of corn in the path of the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline in Franklin County.
Two years ago, opponents to the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline planted corn considered sacred to the Ponca tribe of Nebraska on Tanderups farm which was then on the route of the Keystone pipeline and also included a portion of the Ponca Trail of Tears.
Seeds from that corn, considered medicine for the land by the Ponca tribe, were planted by about 30 people Tuesday in seven rows on the property of Anne and Steve Bernard off Grassy Hill Road.
Oklahoman Mekasi Horinek Camp, a member of the Ponca tribe, said the planting was intended both to protect Mother Earth and to provide a crop that, if certified as sacred, could alter the pipeline route.
I have children and grandchildren and I want them to grow up in a world with clean water, clean air and healthy food to eat, Camp said. Anything that threatens Mother Earth threatens my children and grandchildren.
I came to stand in solidarity with people here who are fighting to protect their way of life for their children and grandchildren, he said.
Tanderups voice caught while responding to Anne Bernards report of being haunted by fears that the pipeline would someday rupture and incinerate her, her husband and their lifetime of work.
As currently routed, the 42-inch diameter buried pipeline, which would transport natural gas at high pressure, would be within about 170 feet of the Bernards home, their art studio and water well. Federal safety officials have calculated that if the pipeline ruptured its potential impact radius would be about 1,115 feet.
Natural gas transmission pipeline ruptures are rare. But when they happen they have the potential to be especially destructive, experts say.
Tanderup said he and his wife lived with similar fears for years until the fight to stop the Keystone pipeline ended in November with the projects apparent defeat.
My wife and I, we can laugh, we can smile, we can sleep at night, he said.
Anti-pipeline activist Jane Kleeb, 43, a Nebraskan dubbed the Keystone Killer by Rolling Stone magazine for her role in organizing resistance to that project, returned to Franklin County to support opponents of the Mountain Valley project through the ceremonial planting. She first visited in April to share advice about grassroots activism.
Kleeb traveled this time with Camp, 43, and Tanderup, 64. Camp and Tanderup have been members of the so-called Cowboy & Indian Alliance that opposed the Keystone project.
Kleeb and her companions Seeds of Resistance tour stopped Monday for ceremonial plantings in Augusta and Nelson counties along the route of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a separate but similar natural gas transmission pipeline project whose partners include Dominion.
Kleeb said the ceremonial planting is intended to provide strength for pipeline opponents, building trust and a sense of solidarity.
We also deeply believe that the seeds are medicine for the land to help protect it from a pipeline being built, she said.
Mountain Valley Pipeline hopes to win approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build the pipeline from Wetzel County, West Virginia, to the Transco pipeline in Pittsylvania County. Mountain Valley has said its 301-mile, $3.5 billion pipeline would transport natural gas extracted through hydraulic fracturing from the Appalachian Basin to markets in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast.
In Virginia, the pipelines current route would take it through the counties of Giles, Montgomery, Craig, Roanoke and Franklin en route to the Transco pipeline.
There has been discussion of possibly siting a tap on the pipeline in Franklin County to provide natural gas that likely would be distributed by Roanoke Gas, which is a shipper on the pipeline and a subsidiary of RGC Resources. Another subsidiary, RGC Midstream, is a partner in the pipeline project.
The pipeline has received support in some quarters and stirred opposition in others. FERC is working on a related draft environmental impact statement. If FERC approves the project, Mountain Valley will have access to an eminent domain to acquire pipeline easements across private property.
Mountain Valley hopes to begin construction of the pipeline in December. The work would begin in West Virginia.
Six years ago the founder of Bold Nebraska began to organize what has been described as an unlikely alliance in the Cornhusker state of traditionally conservative farmers and ranchers, Native Americans, Libertarians opposed to eminent domains use by private corporations, faith leaders and environmentalists to fight TransCanadas Keystone pipeline.
In November, President Barack Obama denied the permit TransCanada needed to cross the border from Canada. TransCanada is challenging the legality of that decision.
Kleeb said the anti-Keystone alliance emphasized property rights, the potential impact of crude oil spills on Nebraskas agriculture and its water, including the Ogallala Aquifer, and, ultimately, climate change linked by many scientists to continued reliance on fossil fuels.
On Tuesday, Kleeb said efforts to defeat the Mountain Valley, Atlantic Coast and other transmission pipeline projects should emphasize the same issues.
Steve Bernard, 68, and Anne Bernard, 66, have lived off Grassy Hill Road since 1980. Steve said his familys roots in Franklin County trace back to the late 1700s.
Camp thanked the Bernards for hosting Tuesdays event in rural Franklin County, with Cahas Mountain in the distance and Teel Creek meandering nearby.
The land I see is beautiful, he said.
According to one history, members of the Ponca tribe of Nebraska lived in earth lodges and were primarily horticulturists who also made seasonal hunting trips.
In 1877, the tribe was forced by U.S. troops to abandon traditional lands in Nebraska and march south to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma.
Kleeb said the Ponca corn crop on Tanderups land has been certified as sacred by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She said pipeline opponents could petition the government to ensure that properties hosting similarly certified crops would not be impacted by a pipeline route.
Tanderup said later that he is not aware of an instance where a crop certified as sacred has stopped or caused the re-routing of a utility infrastructure project. He said the certification of the Ponca blue corn on his property was a complex process that took about seven months and initially seemed to perplex agriculture agencies.
On Tuesday, Tanderup and Camp guided volunteers, most of them members of regional pipeline opposition groups, as they planted the Ponca corn in holes one to two inches deep.
Tanderup said that based on the moisture in the soil he estimates seedlings should show up in a week or two. He anticipates the corn could be harvested in late September or early October, with the caveat that his expertise about growing conditions is Nebraska-based.
As the ceremony drew to a close, the Bernards presented gifts to Camp that included two arrowheads found by their family through the years on property in Franklin County.
Later, Kleeb, Camp and Tanderup traveled to the property of Jim Law in Montgomery County for another planting. Laws property also could be impacted by the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
The three are scheduled to travel Wednesday to two properties in West Virginia on the pipeline route.
Kleeb and Bold Nebraskas opposition to the Keystone project became a core issue for the organization after she attended a state department hearing in May 2010 where she heard farmers expressing fears about how a pipeline spill could destroy their livelihood.
She said Bold Nebraska is funded by donors large and small, including about 10,000 small donors.
As participants in Tuesday mornings ceremony left the Bernards property, Steve Bernard described his state of mind.
Im just humbled, he said. I appreciate all my friends being here.
Reporter Kylee Sapp contributed to this story.
News / Africa
by Staff reporter
Johannesburg - Two men accused of robbing SABC journalists on camera in March last year were on Tuesday sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court after they pleaded guilty to robbery with aggravated circumstances two months ago.Zimbabwean nationals, Alfred Ndlovu and Clement Ncube robbed the SABC crew, including contributing editor Vuyo Mvoko, with a toy gun on 10 March, 2015 outside Milpark Hospital shortly before a 7pm live news crossing.National Prosecuting Authority's (NPA) Gauteng spokesperson, Phindi Louw, on Tuesday confirmed that Ndlovu and Ncube had been handed down 15-year prison terms."I can confirm that both accused were each sentenced to 15 years today at the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court. They will begin their sentences immediately. There was overwhelming evidence against these two and that is why they had pleaded guilty," Louw said.Louw added that Ndlovu and Ncube had not indicated whether they would apply for leave to appeal their sentences.The men stole the SABC crew's valuables, including laptops and cellphones, before fleeing.Two other accused Pascal Manuel Junior and Motin Mortin pleaded not guilty in March.Louw said she could not immediately confirm what the status was of the other two accused as they were not at the court on Tuesday.SABC journalist Criselda Lewis, who was part of the crew that was mugged, took to social media saying she was delighted over the sentencing and that the incident had been very traumatic."Thanks to SAPS for working tirelessly to ensure those thugs are behind bars. 15 years in jail. Do it for other victims too. I almost feel sorry for them but think how I almost threw myself off the bridge to escape. Society doesn't deserve that rot," Lewis tweeted.
Savannah Guthrie
"Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie appears on the set during a broadcast, in New York.
(AP file photo)
"Today" co-host Savannah Guthrie revealed during the NBC morning show this morning that she is pregnant with her second child, and she will not participate in the coverage of the Summer Olympics in Brazil due to concerns over the Zika virus.
Guthrie, Matt Lauer and former co-host Meredith Vieira were slated to host NBC's coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the Rio Games on Aug. 5 in Rio de Janeiro.
"So I'm not going to be able to go to Rio," Guthrie said during Tuesday's broadcast. "The doctors say that I shouldn't, because of the CDC, because of the Zika virus. Yeah, so I'll miss it."
Brazil has experienced a significant outbreak of Zika virus, which has mostly been transmitted via mosquito bites. It has resulted in an increase in the number of babies born with microcephaly, a birth defect which can be passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus, according to the Center for Disease Control.
NBCUniversal said that employees concerned about traveling to Rio are not required to go. And so far, a handful of employees have declined.
Noah Oppenheim, NBC News senior vice president and executive in charge of "Today," told The Hollywood Reporter that Zika has "not been a source of very much angst" at the news division.
"We've created a transparent culture here where people feel very comfortable raising a hand and saying, 'You know what? I'd rather not make this trip.'"
Opioid Abuse Governors
New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, second from right, speaks alongside her New England counterparts during an opioid abuse conference Tuesday, June 7, 2016, in Boston. Seated from left are Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Maine Gov. Paul LePage, Hassan, and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker. The governors met to discuss strategies to deal with the opioid addiction problem in all their states. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
(Michael Dwyer)
BOSTON - Grappling with the opioid crisis ravaging their states, the six New England governors appeared together at the International Conference on Opioids, pushing to change the stigma associated with addiction and discussing their strategies.
In Massachusetts, along with implementing legislation that allows partial opioid prescription filling, state officials recently launched a public information campaign about calling 9-1-1. The campaign highlights a state law protecting individuals from prosecution for possessing a controlled substance if they're attempting to get medical assistance or helping someone else overdosing from a drug.
On Tuesday, Gov. Charlie Baker joined governors from New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont for a roundtable talk about what they're doing to combat the crisis.
Here are some highlights:
"We've built out treatment centers like mad,"
Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo
Like Massachusetts, Connecticut is looking at fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opiate that is often paired with heroin to up the potency of the drug.
Gov. Baker,
Maine Gov. Paul LePage
New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan
The governors agreed public education can help wash away the stigma associated with opioid addiction.
Some people in Rhode Island still see it as an issue confined to a "certain kind of person," Raimondo said.
"I spend a lot of time talking to people saying this could be you and your kids," she said.
"This is not poor people only, certain zip codes only," Raimondo added.
Boston Red Sox Home Opener: Sights from Fenway Park
Fans cheer and clap at the conclusion of the singing of the national anthem before the home opener baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park, Monday, April 11, 2016, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
BOSTON - If you hear gunshots at Fenway Park on Sunday, don't panic: It's probably the police.
Boston police and the Department of Homeland Security are holding a full-scale counterterrorism exercise at, and near, the home of the Red Sox from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., the exercise will feature simulated but realistic-sounding gunshots and inaudible simulated explosions.
"There will be a large number of role players, responders, and exercise staff in the area. During the exercise, there will also be a test of various security technologies, which may include the use of working dogs, metal detection, and unmanned aerial systems (UAS or drones)," said Boston police in a news release.
Everyone not participating in the exercise is asked to stay away from Fenway Park due to severe impacts on vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The park will be closed to the public for the duration.
Yawkey Way will be shut down from Brookline Avenue to Boylston Street, and Van Ness Street will be closed from Ipswich Street to Richard B. Ross Way
The U.S. Army Armament Research, Development, and Engineering Center is also participating.
BOSTON - State police are increasing high-visibility patrols at Belle Isle Marsh Reservation after two elderly men were attacked, one of them fatally.
On Sunday, May 29, 83-year-old Daniel Pepe of East Boston was assaulted at the park. He died three days later at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Investigators said his injuries were so severe that he could not provide any information.
On June 1, the day Pepe died, a 67-year-old man from Lynn was attacked at Belle Isle. His injuries are not life-threatening, according to state police, who are working to find out if the two incidents are connected.
The victim described the assailant as a white man is his late 20s or 30s, about 5-foot-9, wearing a hat, t-shirt and shorts that were all beige or brown.
Anyone with information is urged to call State Trooper Joel Balducci at (617) 727-8817 ext. 5670.
The park is on the Revere-East Boston line.
AGAWAM -- Big Y Foods Inc. and milk processor HP Hood LLC have announced an expanded partnership they say will support the regional farm economy, create jobs and strengthen operations at the two Massachusetts-based family businesses.
Hood now supplies Big Y's store-brand milk, allowing the dairy plant in Agawam to add 12 new jobs and process an additional 5 million gallons of milk every year, company representatives said at an informal luncheon celebration at the Hood plant Tuesday.
"We have long coveted a deeper relationship with Big Y," said John Kaneb, Hood's president and CEO. He said the two iconic New England companies built a strong, new partnership in a short period of time. "We see things the same way; we have very much the same values," he said.
"Our company, celebrating its 80th anniversary this year, is partnering with another great family business," said Charles D'Amour, president of Big Y Foods. "Hood is an institution in New England."
HP Hood is headquartered in Lynnefield and operates in the six New England states and New York, buying milk from two major dairy cooperatives. The company has been in business 180 years. Big Y Foods, headquartered in Springfield, operates supermarkets and convenience stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Members of the D'Amour family also said that in honor of National Dairy Month, for every gallon of milk sold during June, Big Y will donate five cents to a grant program for farmers run by the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation.
The Local Farmer Awards program makes mid-sized capital grants to farmers to purchase equipment to boost their business operations. Last year, the program supported physical plant improvements at 47 small farms in the four western counties of Massachusetts.
Cari Carpenter, who directs the program for the charitable fund started by Harold Grinspoon, said the goal is "to strengthen family farmers' ability to compete in the marketplace." She named some of the items acquired through the program, including a "potato digger, water wheel transplanter, Hobart spinner and plumbing connection from a well to a sugar house."
Julia Coffey, whose family runs a year-round mushroom farm in Westhampton, said help from the grant program was invaluable. She purchased a commercial autoclave to sterilize the mushrooms' growing medium, allowing for much greater efficiencies of scale. As a result, she was able to hire workers, "making us a viable family farm and employer."
D'Amour said that at Mycoterra Farms, "business is mushrooming" thanks to the grant program and Coffey's hard work and business sense.
Agawam Mayor Richard A. Cohen said Hood "creates and sustains local jobs for local people." The local plant employs around 400 people. Claire D'Amour-Daley, Big Y's vice president of corporate communications, said the company's partnership with Hood will allow for a "better, fresher product."
Donald D'Amour, chairman and CEO of Big Y foods, said the company has a longstanding relationship with local farmers. He said he "used to get Charlie up at 2 o'clock in the morning to go to the farmer's market in Springfield" and that he "taught him how to drive a truck to deliver from the market to our stores."
Executive Vice President Michael D'Amour said the relationships with Hood and Grinspoon are in keeping with the company's commitment to community. "We also help dozens of small farmers and food producers bring their products to market," he said. "Some of them only sell at one of two of our stores. We work with them to develop their businesses, give them feedback."
A healthy farm economy benefits not only benefits Big Y's bottom line, but helps support the quality of life in Western Massachusetts, he said.
This story is the fifth in a series on Chestnut Towers, Springfield's tallest apartment building. It was built 40 years ago as a luxury high rise, but has fallen into disrepair and become a high crime area, according to some residents and police.
____________________
In the Chestnut Towers apartment building several months ago, two women and a reporter climbed into the middle of the three elevator cars and pressed buttons for various floors.
The doors closed, but the elevator didn't move.
"Sometimes you have to help it," one of the women said as she pressed the button to open the doors. When they started to close again, in a move likely to make an elevator technician cringe, she placed both palms on the sliding metal door and encouraged it toward its destination.
The elevator started climbing upwards, but the indicator panel -- the electronic screen that displays the floor numbers as they passed -- was going haywire. It showed floor 4 and 5, then 10-12 and 14, then displayed 10 and 11 again, jumped to 21, and so on. When the doors slid open to let one person out, the floor number posted outside was different than the number on the screen.
A broken elevator at Chestnut Towers (Rebecca Everett)
The doors slid shut again, but the elevator had apparently forgotten where the other occupants were headed; the buttons for those floors were no longer illuminated and the elevator sat motionless until the second woman pressed the button for her floor again.
Residents of Chestnut Towers say they are accustomed to the quirky workings of the building's three main passenger elevators, plus the fourth that carries residents from the parking garage to the lobby.
The major problems, according to residents who spoke with MassLive, come when one, two and occasionally all three of the elevators break down.
Being down an elevator or two leaves residents of the 240-unit building waiting in a kind of interior rush-hour traffic: a line just to get into the elevator in the hours when people are headed to and from work or school.
Resident Steven Grace said that he tries to leave his apartment about 20 minutes early for everything because he never knows how long it will take to get an elevator from his apartment on the 23rd floor.
Often it's not a problem, he said, "but sometimes there's one elevator for 240 apartments."
Sometimes an elevator is down for a day, but occasionally it's more than a month, Grace said. He's lived in the building since 2004 and generally, he said, he thinks the breakdowns have been more brief and less frequent than they used to be years ago.
Residents can take the stairs if they're fit enough, but not everyone is up for a 20- to 30-story climb. Others don't even have that luxury. In the reportedly very rare times when all three elevators are down, residents who use wheelchairs or are otherwise not able to use the stairs are captives in their own apartments until repairs are made.
In the lobby of Chestnut Towers several months ago, a woman in an electric wheelchair who declined to give her name said it is "scary" that the elevators are often broken.
"Even if you can walk... it's chaos," she said, referring to the crowds of people that are waiting for one elevator.
The frequent breakdowns, repairs and the occasional order from the state to shut down an elevator are symptoms of a simple problem with an expensive answer. The elevators in the building are over 30 years old. They need to be completely replaced, property manager Jack Alger said, but that will likely cost $1 million for each of the three main elevators.
"We work on them constantly ... They're old, they go down, and we fix them," Alger said in an interview last fall.
He has not returned calls or voicemails seeking additional comment since then. Staff at The Dolben Company, the company that manages the property and is a part owner, have either not returned calls or emails seeking comment or have referred comment to Alger.
Alger said the property owner is trying to refinance so it can afford to "rebuild" the elevators and fix other problems. Five years ago, the company received a $200,000 loan from the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency to pay for significant repairs to eight elevators in the Chestnut Park buildings.
Chestnut Towers was built as a luxury high-rise 40 years ago as part of the Chestnut Park Apartments complex that stretches a little over a block between Dwight and Chestnut streets.
But by the late 1980s, as Springfield's downtown declined, so did the quality of the building and the interest from middle-income people to live in it. It's been overwhelmingly occupied by low-income residents ever since. About two-thirds currently have housing vouchers.
The owner, Related Springfield Associates Limited Partnership, got low-income tax credits to update the building, including repairs to the elevator, when it bought the property in 1995.
Now, the elevators are failing constantly. Part of parking garage deck is rotted and supported by scaffolding. There's a pool on the roof that has been closed for more than 10 years, according to Alger, because it needs so much work.
Residents have said they believe there is crime and drug activity in the building and police said they are keeping a special watch on it for that reason. In the past two months at Chestnut Towers, there has been a cocaine trafficking bust, an armed standoff, and an arrest of a man who allegedly robbed two banks and then threw the money off a balcony.
Passed their prime
Walter Zalenski, supervisor of state elevator inspections for western Massachusetts, said the average lifespan of the mechanical parts of a passenger elevator is 15 years. After that, all the repairs and replacements are just bandaids. An old elevator needs to be seriously updated, a process they call modernization.
And that 15-year lifespan is probably even shorter if the elevator in question is in constant use.
"If you have a building with only a few people live in and (the elevator) is only being used a few times a day, it's going to last longer than a building where it's going 24/7 like this one," Zalenski said in a recent interview.
A review of the building's elevator inspection records over the last 10 years shows that while the inspectors almost always named numerous repairs that had to be made, they were being inspected fairly regularly. The annual inspections were not always on time, but Zalenski said a backlog in the area prior to 2013 could be partly to blame.
In fact, because the elevators were constantly breaking down and being repaired by technicians, they were being checked out frequently by elevator experts. While they're not inspectors, they are licensed by the state and Zalenski said the state trusts them to inspect their own work after finishing and let the building owner know if there are other problems. Only if a problem is considered a "life safety" issue do they have to call a state inspector to review the work.
If an inspector instructs a building owner to make repairs, the owner has 90 days to do the work and apply for reinspection or an extension. If an extension is denied, the elevator is "placarded," an industry term for a shut-down order. In that case, the elevator cannot run again until the problem is fixed and the elevator is reinspected by the state, Zalenski said.
Any kind of life safety violation will get an elevator placarded immediately. They include an elevator in which the emergency switch doesn't work or that doesn't automatically stop if the doors are stuck open, Zalenski said.
A review of elevator inspection records going back decade show that the annual inspections rarely went off without a hitch. Only a few times for each elevator did the lift pass on the first inspection without any repairs being required.
Sometimes, according to the records, inspectors would show up to look at the elevators and find that one was not running, or actually broke down during the course of the inspection.
Some of the issues were due to vandalism, records show, such as damage to the various emergency service keyholes and small debris dropped into the elevator shaft.
According to inspection records, Chestnut Towers' three main elevators were placarded several times.
One placarding was in 2006, when an inspector ordered between four and seven different repairs on each of the building's three main elevators. The building's management applied for an extension, saying they could not afford to make all the repairs within 90 days. The extension was denied because the repairs "are of a safety nature" and a shut-off order was issued.
The repairs included replacing the stretched-out cables holding the elevator and replacing the governor, a safety feature meant to stop the elevator if it begins to travel faster than its regular speed.
More recently, records show that a problem with the elevators' backup generator was discovered at a Sept. 18, 2013 inspection. It took months for the problem to be corrected, and the elevators were only successfully reinspected 10 months later.
Zalenski said the backup power is essential because while residents are told not to use elevators during a fire, firefighters may need to use them to evacuate residents due to an emergency -- even when the power is out.
The only inspection certificate posted in an elevator in Chestnut Towers is in the lift that travels from the parking garage to the lobby. Alger said in an interview last fall that the certificates are on file in the maintenance office and are not posted in the elevators because of vandalism problems.
Zalenski said that state regulations require certificates be posted in or around an elevator, but an inspector will generally not mark this as a violation. Usually they will just advise the property manager to post it, he said.
The company that has worked most recently on Chestnut Park's elevators is Schindler Elevators & Escalators, a national company with an office in West Springfield.
A spokesperson for Schindler said the elevators are more than 30 years old, while the controls are over 20 years old and in need of updating.
"We have provided Chestnut Towers ownership with various proposals for modernization of its elevators to help ensure their continued safe, reliable operation," Kim Hoskins, Schindler's corporate communications specialist, said in a statement. "The safety of the equipment it maintains, of its workers and of the riding public is always a high priority for Schindler."
Currently, only one of the elevators is past due for its annual inspection, but that inspection has been scheduled to take place this month, Zalenski said. It was due March 31.
One elevator was inspected May 15 and work orders were issued to repair four things, including the governor switch. Zalenski said records show the reinspection has been scheduled for July 12.
Not surprisingly, elevator repairs don't come cheap -- some permits filed by the property manager estimate a repair project will cost $10,000. Plus, each annual inspection comes with a $400 fee per elevator. Reinspections cost $200. If an elevator is shut down and then reinspected, that's $400.
And the four elevators in Chestnut Towers are not the only ones causing problems for Chestnut Park management and residents. Park Tower, the 17-story building at 68 Harrison Ave., also deals with break-downs, and it only has two elevators.
Zalenski said that repairing old elevators that are worn out and becoming more outdated every day is not unlike shelling out to keep fixing an old car when what you really need is a new one.
"If you have an older car, you have things go wrong with it," he said.
News / Local
by Stephen Jakes
A man who lost balance while at the Southampton Building owned by the Zimbabwe Republic police and bumped on the glass door breaking the grass on the door has been dragged to the court charged with negligent causing serious damage to property.Khulisani Mlotshwa (27) of Pumula North pleaded not guilty to the charge when he appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Adeline Mbeure. The magistrate convicted and sentenced him ton two months in jail.One month of the sentence was suspended for three years on condition of good behaviour. The remaining one month was suspended on condition he restitute the police the sum of $57,39 which is the cost of the glass.The court heard that on June 1 this year at 10pm Mlotshwa was walking on the pavement at the Southampton Building at corner 9th Avenue and Joshua Nkomo street when he lost balance and hit against the glass door there by breaking the glass. This led to his arrest.In denying the charge he said he was hugging his former school mate and lost balance thereby bumping on the glass door.
ashe gulluni
Hampden County Sheriff speaks at Tuesday's press conference on the formation of the Hampden County Addiction Task Force. Behind him are, from left, Mark A. Keroack, President and CEO of Baystate Health, Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni, and Dr. Robert Roose, vice president of addiction and recovery services for Sisters of Providence Health Systems.
(Patrick Johnson / The Republican)
SPRINGFIELD -- A new partnership between Hampden County law enforcement, local health care providers, schools and community groups is intended to fight the problem of drug addiction by bringing together different entities that until now have been fighting it alone.
In a press briefing Tuesday, District Attorney Anthony Gulluni, Sheriff Michael Ashe, Mark A. Keroack, president and CEO of Baystate Health, and Robert Roose, vice president for addiction and recovery services at Sisters of Providence Health System, announced the formation of the Hampden County Addiction Task Force.
The task force is intended to bring together different agencies that have each been working on issues related to opioid addiction, but addressing it from different perspectives.
It is the first time anyone has created a county-wide body to look for solutions for drug addiction, Gulluni said. The new approach of addressing opioid addiction collectively, he said, "is a moral obligation."
Gulluni said that since he has taken office, he has spoken with many people who have been touched by addiction, including addicts and the families of addicts.
"We're motivated to take action," he said.
According to data released by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Hampden County recorded 734 overdose deaths between 2010 and 2015, roughly 7 percent of the state total of 10,743 in that time.
Ashe said 90 percent of the people sentenced to the Hampden County Correctional Center have substance abuse issues. Building more jails to incarcerate addicts is not a solution, he said. "We can't build our way out of this situation," he said.
Ashe said that, with proper treatment, someone addicted to drugs can regain control and avoid becoming a repeat offender. "When someone can confront their issue, they're not going to come back to the jail again and again,"he said.
He said the task force approach is "visionary" and has no doubts it will be successful. "A united community concerned with the well-being of all is our greatest weapon against drugs," he said.
Keroack said he has 20 years of experience dealing with what he called "the heartbreak of addiction."
With a partnership approach, he said, "We can finally get this behind us and get moving. I believe we have the right pieces and structures in place to combat this epidemic effectively."
Roose said the problem of addiction in Massachusetts is the greatest single threat to health and public safety, and drug overdoses have surpassed auto accidents as the leading cause of accidental and preventable deaths in the state. "Addiction has spared no one," he said.
Just as addiction impacts all aspects of society, he said, solutions must come from all aspects of society. "We are all on the front lines," he said.
Gulluni said that for now the focus of the task force will be "specific and measurable goals" in the following areas:
Collect data in real time.
Study and assess the necessary treatment beds needed county-wide.
Develop standardized messaging for addiction and addiction-related issues.
Provide a forum for law enforcement, health care institutions, service providers, schools and community coalitions to share best practices in prevention and education.
Leverage existing assets in seeking out new funding opportunities county-wide for addiction prevention.
Gulluni said the data collection is a critical first step as a way of gauging the scope of the problem and what communities are effected. Data collection can also identify spikes in overdoses by community and identify populations at risk. From there, agencies can focus on devoting resources for treatment options.
"That's the first tangible product," he said. "We'll start to look at what the need is for rehabilitation and treatment."
Once data is collected, the task force will be able to figure out what resources are needed for offering treatment. With data, officials will be able to go to Boston and lobby for funding for additional beds in treatment facilities, he said.
Peter Friedmann, chief research officer for Baystate Health, said different entities -- including the DA, the jails and the hospitals -- have different data going back years, but until now there has been no central point for sharing information. That is what he hopes the task force can accomplish. "A lot of data exists, but it's decentralized," he said.
At the end of the press conference, Gulluni opened the floor up for questions.
One man in the back of the room asked Gulluni how he could say he intended to focus on finding new ways to stress drug prevention when previous prevention efforts have not been successful.
"How does prevention work when it's never worked before," said the man, who later said his name is Mark Frodema and that he is working for the campaign to elect Jack Griffin as Hampden County Sheriff.
Gulluni said the idea is to identify and work with young people who are at risk. "That could make a big difference," he said.
"We've been doing that for years, and it's never worked," Frodema said.
Afterward, Frodema said the press announcement was little more than a display in public back-slapping and mutual attaboys, and he doubted it would produce any real change.
"Get these people out in the streets saving kids," he said.
Divers with the New York and Vermont state police on Monday unsuccessfully searched a quarry off Route 149 in search of evidence that could explain the 2014 disappearance of Jonathan Schaff, Vermont State Police said.
Jonathan Schaff
Diver spent several hours searching an enclosed pond at the quarry, and found no evidence linked to the Schaff case, police said.
Schaff, 23, of Granville, New York, went missing on Jan. 18, 2014. He was last seen walking along Route 149 near the New York - Vermont line. At the time, he had been in a bar fight in Granville.
Police have previously searched the Mettawee River, which runs alongside Route 149, without finding any trace of Schaff.
His disappearance is being investigated jointly by the Vermont and New York state police, and police in Granville, New York.
wastewater.jpg
The Holyoke wastewater treatment plant at 1 Berkshire St., which is formally known as the Holyoke Water Pollution Control facility.
(FILE PHOTO)
HOLYOKE -- The city could get closer to seizing some of the $700,000 owed in sewer bills if the City Council Tuesday votes to force delinquents to pay up by threatening to shut off service.
The council will consider adopting the sewer shut-off ordinance at 7 p.m. at City Hall.
Officials have estimated, and councilors have cited in meetings, that about $700,000 is the amount owed in long-standing sewer bills.
In the past, legal opinions have stated that state law prohibited shutting off water service for unpaid sewer charges. That means the city lacked leverage because sewer customers could ignore bills and continue to get service.
But Assistant City Solicitor Kara Cunha has said she researched a question from Mayor Alex B. Morse about whether the water in such cases could be shut off as a preliminary step in shutting off sewer service for unpaid sewer charges.
"It is my opinion that this could be done; however, it must be done as part of a clear sewer shut off policy," Cunha said.
A sewer shut off policy would include an initial notice from the DPW outlining the steps that will be taken in connection with a sewer shut off and notices from Holyoke Water Works that water will be shut off as the first step, she said.
If an account remains unpaid after the water has been shut off, the DPW must have clear next steps to shut off sewer service and be prepared to undertake those steps, she said.
Some cases are likely in which by statute a customer's water cannot be shut off. And Cunha said she was cautioning officials that water shut off could be subject to a legal challenge that the city has exceeded its authority under Massachusetts General laws Chapter 83 regarding sewers, drains and sidewalks.
"This is why it is important that it be made clear to the customer that the water is being shut off as the first step towards a sewer shut off for unpaid sewer charges," Cunha said.
In addition to requiring that the customer get a series of notices, she said all customers should be notified once a sewer shut off policy has been adopted, "which may encourage some to bring their accounts current."
The sewer shut off policy should mirror the clear series of steps used in similar cases by Holyoke Water Works, council President Kevin A. Jourdain has said.
Greg Neffinger 2015.jpg
Former West Springfield mayor Greg Neffinger is running to reclaim the seat he lost in 2013. During an interview at his home on Bonair Avenue, he acknowledged that his tenure was often marked by controversy and promised a new management style if voters give him a second chance to lead. Aug. 4, 2015. (Brian Steele / MassLive)
(Staff-Shot)
EAST LONGMEADOW -- As voters go to the polls to elect a Town Council Tuesday, members of the Board of Selectmen said they doubted one of the final major staffing decisions of the soon to be dissolved board will affect the town financially.
Last month, selectmen received a letter from Boston-based law firm Morrison Mahoney LLP notifying them that their client, former Interim Town Administrator Gregory Neffinger, is seeking about $20,000 in salary and benefits he alleges East Longmeadow owes him.
"I don't believe that he's entitled to a penny," Selectman Kevin Manley said on Tuesday.
On April 19, Manley and Selectmen Chairman Paul Federici voted to officially terminate Neffinger's contract with the town. The Board had favored the vote in a 2-1 action awith Selectman William Gorman voting against it- the previous week, but retook the vote to affirm the firing.
Neffinger's firing occurred after more than a month of scandal surrounding bribery allegations in the hiring process of a new police chief, as well as Gorman and then-Selectman Angela Thorpe offering Neffinger a position as permanent town administrator in March.
As East Longmeadow voters overwhelmingly approved a new town charter during the April 12 town election afor which Thorpe did not appear on the ballot after placing last in a field of six candidates in a preliminary election- Neffinger signed an employment contract placing him in the permanent position.
While the contract entitled Neffinger to two months' severance pay, said Manley, Selectmen rescinded the job offer on the grounds that the job was offered in violation of the state Open Meeting Law. Selectmen fired Neffinger the day after he signed the contract.
The Town Charter stipulates that selectmen may not make staffing changes in the interim from the charter's approval and the Town Council's establishment. However, it apparently allows such action in case of an emergency.
Language in the charter that prevents the selectmen from signing or terminating any employment contract, except in instances "not admitting of delay."
But Gorman, who was on vacation when the board took its second vote to fire Neffinger, believes the firing was illegal.
"I don't believe that last sentence saying that we can fire him," Gorman said. "I don't think firing him was an emergency situation."
However, Gorman does not believe that Neffinger should receive the money he seeks, because since his exit, administrative staff inTown Hall has taken over Neffinger's duties.
Gorman also questioned the fairness in firing Neffinger, whose relationship with many residents in East Longmeadow grew sour during his tumultuous four months in office amid the police chief search, and conduct in during public meetings, including one at which he suggested that residents are not allowed to publicly criticize him.
"I think if it was anybody but Neffinger, (the firing) wouldn't have happened," Gorman said.
Neffinger did not respond to a voicemail seeking comment.
But a unanimous vote on May 25 to reject Neffinger's assertion of what the town owes him solidified the board's position on his back-pay claim, Manley said.
Selectmen legally rescinded Neffinger's contract as a permanent town administrator, and terminated an active contract, which defined him as an at-will employee, subject to dismissal with no notice, Manley said.
While Manley noted that Neffinger said in a public meeting that he would not seek additional pay from the town if his position was dissolved with the passage of the town charter, he said he anticipated some kind of monetary dispute.
"Character-wise, it doesn't surprise me," Manley said.
NORTHAMPTON -- For a third time, the Northampton woman accused of purposely making her child seriously ill asked a judge to allow her to have contact with the 8-year-old girl and to reduce her bail, which has already been posted.
Julie Conley, 34, of Northampton, has pleaded not guilty to four counts of assault and battery on a child causing substantial bodily injury.
She and her husband, Christopher Conley, 33, also of Northampton, have both been accused of poisoning and otherwise causing their daughter's health problems.
Christopher Conley confessed to police that he poured Liquid Plumr in his daughter's cecostomy tube, which caused her intestines and part of her bladder to deteriorate in April 2015. His attorney later said it was a false confession.
Julie Conley's attorney, Bonnie Allen, said after the bail review hearing Tuesday that she was asking for bail to be reduced from $100,000 to $10,000 but what was most important to her client was that she be allowed to communicate with her daughter.
Conley is not allowed to have any communication or contact with her daughter. Allen said there is no reason to prohibit communication, especially since the Department of Children and Families is allowing Christopher Conley to exchange "cards and letters" with her at her foster home.
Julie Conley has been out on $100,000 bail since her parents posted it several days after her arraignment Nov. 5. She is working part-time as a mental health worker at the Brattleboro Retreat, Allen said.
She has already appealed her bail to the state's Supreme Judicial Court and was denied Feb. 4. She brought it before Judge John Ferrara Tuesday by arguing that a change in circumstances and new information warranted a new hearing.
Ferrara told Allen and Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Linda Pisano that he would issue a decision on the matter on a later date.
Pisano has set out in court documents and in oral arguments that both parents are suspected of causing the girl harm not just in the two years leading up to the Liquid Plumr incident, but also when she was just a baby.
In 2009, after doctors believed the couple might be to blame for the girl's unexplained health problems, the Department of Children and Families removed the girl from her parents care for over a year. Her health problems went away during that time, Pisano said, but returned soon after she was sent back to live with her parents.
Christopher Conley at his arraignment in Hampshire Superior Court. (Don Treeger / The Republican)
Between 2013 and 2015, she was hospitalized numerous times and suffered from a variety of issues, including seizures and digestive problems. In April 2015, when she was critically injured by an alleged corrosive liquid being introduced into her intestines by her cecostomy tube, police interviewed Christopher Conley. He was arrested after his alleged confession May 20 and has been held on $100,000 bail.
Six months later, Julie Conley was indicted on similar charges after the grand jury heard testimony from doctors who believed she had been making up and exaggerating her daughters illnesses, as well as causing some symptoms.
Differing narratives
In the bail hearing, the two attorneys painted very different pictures of the 8-year-old's health problems and what caused them. Pisano said that while two-thirds of the girl's intestines have "melted away" and she still has a hole in her bladder that leaks, many of her health problems have gone away since she has been separated from her parents.
That supports a theory of medical abuse, she said. A caregiver who makes another sick used to be referred to as the condition Munchasen by proxy, but is now more commonly called medical abuse.
But Allen said that in the last year the girl has actually been diagnosed with and shown symptoms of health problems that her mother has been trying to tell doctors for years that her daughter had. She said medical records indicate the girl was diagnosed with and treated for carotene biosynthesis disorder, which her mother had previously lobbied doctors to treat.
Julie Conley also believed and told doctors her daughter was hypoglycemic and had symptoms of mitochondrial disease, including fatigue and muscle weakness, Allen said.
The attorney said that while she does not have the medical records, Julie Conley has represented that the records show the girl had a "hypoglycemic episode" in January and has had genetic testing that supports the mitochondrial disease theory.
Allen said that even after the girl's DCF-appointed attorney told the child that "her mother hurt her on purpose," she still begged to see her mother. Ferrara interrupted and told Allen he wouldn't be swayed by that argument a child's longing to see a family member is evidence that the parent is not abusive.
Also conflicting with the prosecution's statement that the girl's health improved after being separated from her parents are records that she has been hospitalized twice since her initial release from the hospital in February, Allen said.
"This child is not doing well. She is suffering from many conditions that mom tried to treat her for and care for her," Allen said.
Pisano agreed that the girl is not doing well, but said that her health problems mostly stem from the disintegration of her intestines. One of the hospital stays involved an infection caused when her colostomy bag "exploded," Pisano said.
"Her condition was and is very grave," she said. However, she is no longer using a wheelchair, Pisano said, and some of her former symptoms are disappearing.
Pisano told Ferrara that the bail review Tuesday was not warranted because the bail amount and conditions have already been appealed to and ruled on by the Supreme Judicial Court.
She said that the child's myriad illnesses and problems, which she said were caused by the Conleys, have shortened her lifespan and resulted in dozens and dozens of surgeries at hospitals including Boston Children's Hospital and Yale New Haven Hospital.
"Our theory is she fooled the best doctors in the world," Pisano said of Julie Conley.
SPRINGFIELD - An email exchange between two former state chemists offers a window into the dysfunction at the now-closed Amherst drug lab, defense lawyer Luke Ryan told a Hampden Superior Court judge Tuesday in arguing for a bail reduction in a pending cocaine trafficking case.
Moreover, Ryan told Judge Tina S. Page the 2011 case of accused cocaine dealer Levon Johnson doesn't just intersect with the scandal created by former Amherst drug lab chemist Sonja Farak, who pleaded guilty in January 2014 to stealing and consuming drugs she was supposed to be testing. Johnson's case also involves former Springfield police officer Kevin Burnham, who is accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from the department's evidence room.
The convergence of a discredited, "shuttered" state drug lab and an indicted police officer means prosecutors will have a difficult time proving a case against Johnson, Ryan argued.
Page kept Johnson's bail at $15,000, saying Johnson has a history of failing to show up for court dates.
Assistant District Attorney Christopher F. Borbeau said Johnson did not come to court on the scheduled 2014 trial date for his case, and was wanted on a warrant until he was arrested in 2015.
"This is not making any comments on what may have gone on in the lab and transportation," Page said of her decision against a bail reduction, referring to the roles the drug lab and Burnham play in the evidence against Johnson.
Missing money
Page's comment about transportation referred to Ryan's information that Burnham transported the drugs to be used as evidence in Johnson's case to the Amherst lab in April 2011.
Burnham is charged in Hampden Superior Court with stealing nearly $385,000 in cash from the police department's evidence room between 2009 and 2014.
Ryan said Johnson also appears on a list of defendants who had money confiscated by police - and which Burnham is now accused of stealing.
Because the $986 taken by police in Johnson's case "doesn't exist anymore," Ryan argued, it will be a problem for the prosecution to use it as evidence in court.
Drug lab emails
The cocaine taken as evidence in Johnson's case was not tested by Farak, but she was working at the lab at the time and has admitted to taking drugs from samples slated for testing by other chemists.
At the hearing Tuesday, Ryan said information that has come to light over the past few months shows huge deficiencies in control at the now-closed Amherst lab. Some of that information has emerged because Hampden Superior Court Judge Richard J. Carey, who is presiding over all the Farak-related cases in Hampden County, recently ruled that Farak's emails could be disseminated and are no longer impounded.
Ryan gave Page a copy of an April 2011 email exchange between Farak and former Hinton state drug lab chemist Annie Dookhan, who was also convicted of tampering with evidence. The exchange took place on the same day the drugs from Johnson's case were brought to the Amherst lab, Ryan said.
The exchange concerned a drug called BZP, which Ryan described as an Ecstasy knockoff. It is classified as a prescription drug by the federal government but not by Massachusetts laws, which means people cannot be prosecuted for illegal possession or distribution of BZP in state courts.
In the exchange Farak, asked Dookhan how the Hinton lab chemists were classifying BZP. Dookhan explained, "[W]e report it as BZP and currently call it Class E" - despite the fact that it is not a Class E drug under state law.
Farak wrote back to Dookhan, thanking her for her "BZP input." Farak also said she knew BZP is not illegal under Massachusetts laws, adding, "you know how" Massachusetts General Laws are "for keeping up with the times."
Farak's message continued: "Just wanted to make sure that we are calling it the same thing as you do in Boston in case chemists from both labs are needed at the same trial."
In a February report on the Hinton lab, the state Office of the Inspector General wrote about the lab's improper classification of BZP, which would have opened the door to prosecution in state courts. The report said the Inspector General's Office had notified the appropriate prosecutor's office for each BZP sample classified by the Hinton lab.
Ryan said the emails between Farak and Dookhan show the Amherst lab was also wrongly classifying BZP. And, while Johnson's case does not involve BZP, Ryan said the emails show the state of the lab - and cast doubts on the reliability of its findings.
The exchange, Ryan told Page, is further proof of the lack of trust that can be placed in any results from the Amherst lab.
In January 2014, Farak, of Northampton, was given an 18-month jail sentence after admitting she stole some of the cocaine she was supposed to be testing. Farak, who pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence, began using drugs from the Amherst lab where she worked as early as late 2004 or early 2005, according to court documents released in May.
Dookhan, meanwhile, was paroled from prison in April after serving approximately two years and four months of her three- to five-year sentence. She pleaded guilty in November 2013 to several counts of obstruction of justice, perjury and tampering with evidence.
State Police said she faked results and tampered with evidence in more than 1,000 criminal cases. She tested more than 60,000 drug samples involving 34,000 defendants during the nine years she worked at Hinton State Laboratory Institute in Boston.
Granby school committee meeting June 6 2016
Parents, students, and teachers packed the Granby school board meeting on June 6 2016
(Jim Russell photo)
GRANBY - The large number of layoffs here has spawned student protests, and the educator's union blasted the administration at Monday's school committee meeting, saying teachers were informed -- in the middle of classes - that they were losing their jobs.
More than a hundred students protested outside the high school Monday afternoon against the layoffs. Another demonstration, slated to involve parents and students, is planned for 2:15 p.m. Thursday.
The school committee, including chairman Emre Evren, apologized to the teachers during the June 6 meeting, saying that they should not have been informed they were being let go in that manner.
Data provided by the school indicates 16 percent of teachers - 12.4 full-time equivalent positions out of 79 - have been told they are losing their jobs.
Granby teacher's union president Kristen Naglieri speaking at the June 6 2016 school committee meeting
Granby teacher's union president Kristen Naglieri told the school board at Monday night's packed committee meeting that administrators showed "no respect for people that just lost their jobs."
She said administrators went to classes last month while they were in session, asked to speak with the teachers, and then informed them in the hallway about the layoffs.
Naglieri also said the same process followed later in May, despite assurances it would not be repeated.
"It happened again," she told the school committee.
"That should not happen," Evren said. "We appreciate you brought it here. . . it will not happen again."
Granby Parent Teacher Organization co-chairwoman Diana Peltier addressed the committee, saying more money is needed to fund the public schools.
"Parents don't have to be up in arms if the town does the right thing," Peltier said.
After she spoke, Evren said the school budget would be decided at next week's town meeting on June 13.
AGAWAM -- Agawam police are reportedly searching for a man who may have attempted to kidnap a child Monday night on Walnut Street.
Lt. Edward McGovern told WWLP the incident was reported around 8 p.m. Monday in the area of 100 Walnut St.
The suspect is described as a black man with a mustache, in his mid- to late-20s, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, wearing black shorts, a white T-shirt and what appeared to be a white towel or shirt on his head.
McGovern told WWLP the suspect left in a silver/blue Dodge Caravan with Massachusetts plate of 672MP2.
Those with information are asked to call Agawam detectives at (413) 786-1717
Police were not immediately available Tuesday morning to comment on the incident.
This is a developing story. Additional information will be added as soon as it is available.
SPRINGFIELD Nancy Power cannot remember what happened to her five years ago. Her husband Steve Power cannot forget.
"I only know what I've been told," she said.
"She doesn't remember, but that's something I've got to live with every day," he said.
The Powers are owners of the Venezian Monumental Works on Boston Road. Five years ago, Nancy Power was critically injured when a nearly 6-foot-high tombstone weighing around 3,000 pounds fell over and crushed her.
Her injuries would put her in a coma for more than two weeks, and left her in the hospital for nearly three months. Five years later, she is still dealing with lasting affects to both her body and mind.
"You're talking to a living miracle," she said. "A multimillion-dollar miracle."
Nancy Power, 61, is blind in her right eye and deaf in her right ear. She has no sense of smell or taste, and sometimes needs to walk with a cane. She also has developed Addison's disease as a result of internal injuries that left her adrenal glands unable to communicate with her kidneys. The stone also crushed four vertebrae in her back but did not harm her spinal cord. There's also a permanent indentation in her left forearm where the edge of the stone was pressing against her.
"I've seen the CAT scan of my face. There are over 1,000 cracks in my skull," she said. "I can tell you 48 hours in advance when it is going to rain."
She also has lingering issues from suffering a traumatic brain injury that has affected her memory and her ability to multitask and leaves her prone to sudden mood swings.
But the falling stone took its toll on a second victim that day. Steve Power, 63, was who was driving the forklift when the stone fell on his wife, suffers from a form of post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the accident. He said he regularly goes to a therapist to deal with the memories, pain, depression and guilt associated with what happened that day.
"Coming back to the shop is difficult. Some days are still difficult," he said. "My spirit died that day."
Something dark and heavy
The accident happened May 18, 2011. It was at around 4:30 p.m., toward the end of the business day.
Steve Power was moving a massive headstone in the sandblasting room in the rear of the shop and needed help.
The stone, roughly 6 feet tall, 4 feet wide and 12 inches thick, was standing upright on a wheeled cart. Nancy Power remembers that the stone was so tall on the cart that she had to stand on a box to look at the very top of it.
Steve Power needed to move the stone with a forklift but he needed someone to hold onto it and sort of steer it. He said they had done this sort of thing dozens of times before without a problem.
The stone was bigger than what they normally worked on. It also had a higher center of gravity.
As they moved it, one of the cart wheels became lodged in a lip on the floor. The cart spun, knocking Nancy Power to the ground, Steve Power said. Then it started tipping back and forth, going a little further each time. The final time, it tipped over and landed on his wife, pinning her to the floor.
The stone weighed so much that Springfield firefighters could only lift it off of her with hydraulic-powered airbags.
She was rushed by ambulance to Baystate Medical Center with police blocking off each intersection along the way to allow the ambulance to go as fast as it could. Steve Power followed right behind in his car. He said he is still amazed at how quickly they went across town from Pine Point to Baystate.
Nancy Power said she remembers nothing about the accident. Her first memory afterward is waking up in an ambulance 21/2 weeks later and bring told they were on the Massachusetts Turnpike and headed for Boston.
For a time after she woke up in the hospital, she said had a vague recollection of something dark and heavy moving toward her. That too has faded with time, and she said she is reliant on others to fill in the details of what happened.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Venezian Monumental $4,900 for workplace safety violations, specifically for not having the proper equipment on site for moving stones that weighed as much as 2 tons, and for not having the stones properly secured to prevent tipping.
Having one employee physically holding the stone slab as it was being moved exposed the employee to a "crushing hazard," according to the report.
The report recommended the company purchase the proper equipment in order to move headstones that large. Steve Power said that as a compromise, he said he would no longer process stones that large.
It was initially reported at the time by area media that the stone weighed close to 10,000 pounds, or 5 tons. Steve Power traced the error to a woman who used to work in the office. When the fire department asked how much it weighed, she misread the packing list and gave them the five-digit shipping number as the weight, and that same number was given out to the press.
Steve Power doubts anyone would have survived getting squashed by a 10,000-pound stone. Nancy Power says she knows she wouldn't have.
The stone remains a sore subject, but not because it almost killed her. It would be stupid to hold a grudge against an inanimate object. Instead, they say the stone is a sore subject because of an ongoing dispute with the customer over the payment.
The unfinished stone cost them $9,999 from their supplier, Nancy Power said. The selling price after the stone was engraved was set at $15,000, which she said was well below what they could have charged.
After the accident, the customer would only pay $10,000 for it, claiming it got damaged in the fall.
"That stone was perfectly fine," Steve Power said. "I went over it with a fine-tooth comb."
It was placed on a grave in St. Michael's Cemetery on Boston Road in the city's Pine Point neighborhood, right near their shop.
"I know exactly where that stone is," Nancy Power said. "If I could take a hammer and chisel and smash it to smithereens, I would."
Adjusting to disability
St. Michael's Cemetery was established in 1871. Venezian Monumental was founded 10 years after that. The ownership has changed hands over the years until the Powers purchased it in 2000.
Since the accident, Venezian Monumental is open just three days a week from 9 a.m. to noon. Nancy Power has returned to work part time after her doctors agreed clerical work on a limited basis could be a kind of occupation therapy for her. It would let her work on her fine motor skills and her cognitive skills, both of which are affected by the traumatic brain injury, Steve Power said.
"It's keeping the mind active," he said. It also gives her a sense of normalcy instead of having to spend all her time going to doctors in Boston and to physical therapy.
"I'm sick of doctor's appointments. I'm tired of living on the turnpike," she said.
Steve Power said pre-accident Nancy Power was a kind of multitasking wizard around the office. She can do the same tasks today, but only one at a time, and each one from beginning to end. When her train of thought is interrupted, the train needs to back all the way up to the station and before starting again.
"I used to be able to run around here and multitask everything at once," she said. "Now it's like I can only do one thing, do it well and move on."
(This I found out the hard way. At the conclusion of the interview, I popped my head inside the back office to say goodbye and to thank her for talking with me. She was counting receipts at the time, and looked up with a smile. Then her face went blank and the smile became a frown. I apologized, and she began her count all over again.)
Since the accident, she said her memory is not nearly what it used to be either.
Nancy Power said she used to have a photographic memory, that if you walked in the door after three months, she would immediately remember your name, the type of stone you purchased, the name carved on it, and how much it cost.
Since the accident, she said, there is no guarantee that if she meets you today she will remember you tomorrow.
During a discussion on quilting, which they both do as a hobby, Nancy Power interrupts her husband to say, "I need to spit this out."
She proceeds to tell him about a customer who called earlier about a marker on a relative's grave. She recited the customer's name, the relative's name, the type of stone and how there's still $800 owed in the account.
"You see, she's got to tell me this now because she won't remember it later," he said.
These type of memory flashes occur frequently, they each said.
"If I don't spit it out now, it would be gone forever," she said. "It's now or never because chances are my memory will dump it."
The adjusting to her disability is perhaps the hardest part, as is the realization that she may be disabled for the rest of her life, she said.
"So, yeah, it's frustrating," she said.
While she was in the hospital five years ago, one of her doctors told her it would take a long time to recover.
"It's been five years and I'm still healing. For the rest of my life I'll be a work in progress," she said.
"Both of us will," Steve Power added.
A conversation starter
Anyone who enters the shop is greeted by a large sign on Nancy's desk. It reads: "My name is Nancy and I have sustained a traumatic brain injury." It lists her disability, explains how noise and feeling rushed can make it difficult for her to think. It concludes by asking the customer to "be patient, make eye contact and speak slowly and clearly."
The sign was put there to alert customers that, even though Nancy has no outward signs of a disability, she is disabled.
"Some people come in and read it and say, 'I remember you. I remember what happened five years ago. You're alive?'" Nancy Power said.
The sign is a conversation starter, she said.
She said it is a conversation she has gotten used to having. People remember the accident, they have questions, and she said she has learned to deal with answering them.
Steve Power, on the other hand, still has trouble.
"I'm the one who gets irritated," he said.
He said people will sometimes remark, seeing as how the shop is only open three half-days a week, that it must be nice to have bankers' hours.
"And I do the slow burn," he said. "I do the slow 'one thousand and one, one thousand and two....'"
Other times, he said, someone will say something and he has to get up and leave the room.
Part of the problem for him in returning to work is that everything in the shop more or less reminds him of the accident, which can send him into a downward spiral of depression, he said.
Coming back to the shop following the accident remains difficult, he said. Some days he is able to push memories of the accident far enough away that he can function, and other day's he can't.
"There are some days where I just sit back there," he said.
Although they have not yet reached a decision, the Powers say they are considering putting their business up for sale. Steve Power said his therapist advised that since the business is a continual source of bad memories that trigger his PTSD, maybe it is time to remove the trigger.
"I did 20 years in the service, we did 20 years here. I figure the two of us got 20 years left to do something else," he said.
cc.photo.JPG
Springfield city councilors are shown at June 6, 2016 meeting, in which they cast votes supporting proposed legislation to address gas leaks, and opposing any changes to weaken the bottle redemption system in Massachusetts.
(Peter Goonan / The Republican)
SPRINGFIELD - As encouraged by environmental activists, the City Council on Monday approved separate resolutions on Monday - one supporting legislation aimed at reducing gas leaks, and the other opposing any effort to weaken the bottle redemption system in Massachusetts.
The council resolutions, that are non-binding but express the stance of its members, were initiated by Ward 3 Councilor Melvin Edwards, triggered no objections from councilors, and were applauded by residents and activists attending the meeting at City Hall.
In one resolution, the council supported two House bills regarding gas leaks. One bill would prevent utility companies from charging customers for the cost of lost and unaccounted for gas, and the other bill would require companies to repair gas leaks whenever a road is opened up for construction, according to a summary of the bills by the Sierra Club of Massachusetts.
"I think this is just good common sense, fiscally, financially for the taxpayers of the Commonwealth and also the right thing to do environmentally and for our personal health and well-being," Edwards said.
Melvin A. Edwards
The council resolution states in part that there are more than 500 reported, ongoing natural gas leaks in Springfield. Statewide, the leaks result in many millions of dollars passed on to ratepayers,, that "has contributed irreparably to the degradation of the public's health (and) climate change...," the resolution states.
Columbia Gas, in a letter to activist groups, stated recently that the company has a "proven commitment" to address the issue of gas leaks in compliance with state and federal laws. The letter stated the vast majority of gas leaks are "Grade 3," which it described as "non-hazardous to persons or property at the time of detection," and re-evaluated over time.
Regarding the bottle redemption system vote, the council stated it "opposes any reduction in the scope of the bottle redemption system, and that the legislature's consideration of any replacement system that generates funds, that those funds be dedicated to clearing litter from the streets and sidewalks of the commonwealth."
Earlier this year, a bill was proposed to replace the Massachusetts bottle law with a temporary 1-cent fee paid by beverage distributors, triggering opposition from many environmentalists.
The council stated in its resolution that the bottle redemption system "has been successful in eliminating most of the covered beverage containers from the litter that pollutes our streets and roads."
News / National
by Pamela Shumba
Traffic police officers have no right to penalise motorists for having different tyre brands on their cars, national police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba has said.Her clarification came after an outcry from motorists who were being fined for having tyres from different manufacturers."We have noted with great concern an outcry by motorists who are being penalised by the police for using unauthorised tyres on their motor vehicles. For the avoidance of doubt, police would like to clarify and put on record that it's not an offence to have different tyre brands on a motor vehicle as long as they comply with provisions of Section 53 as read with Section 14(6) of Statutory Instrument 129 /15, which delineates that a motorist can't fit a tubeless tyre on one side and a tubed tyre on the other," said Snr Asst Comm Charamba.She said this law has nothing to do with brand names."The provision further explains that tyre construction may be radical or cross ply. This explains how the tyre is threaded rather than the manufacturer or brand name."The size of tyre has to do with the issue of tyre profile and dimension. Therefore motorists can't be penalised for fitting tyres of different brands if such tyres meet all other provisions of Section 14(6) of Statutory Instrument 129 /15."
villalobos.jpeg
Springfield native and University of Massachusetts Amherst journalism student James Villalobos reported from the White House in early May as part of a Newsroom U program.
(Courtesty James Villalobos)
With some luck, Springfield native and University of Massachusetts Amherst journalism student James Villalobos might be taking his camera to Cleveland for the Republican National Convention.
Villalobos is a finalist in "Crash the Parties," an initiative by the nonprofit group Voto Latino and the Fuse cable television network to send two young Latino journalists to cover the Republican and Democratic conventions this summer.
"My reporting experience includes the White House, traveling 18 hours by car to report on the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and even the Baltimore protests following the death of Freddie Gray," Villalobos said in a video entry to the contest.
Villalobos said he was pleasantly surprised by the selection of his entry, which is one of 10 finalists chosen from among nearly 200 applicants by an internet vote. The two winners will be chosen by a panel of judges.
"I never would have imagined it," he said.
Villalobos has long worked toward a career in broadcast journalism. He attended Forest Park Middle School and Central High School in Springfield, when he began writing for the Republican's now-defunct teen section "UNlisted."
As a senior in high school Villalobos was awarded the first Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover/Phoebe Prince scholarship by the Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover Foundation, a memorial scholarship funded by The Republican's Newspaper-in-Education program.
That class, with Central High School teacher Jim Adamopolous, led Villalobos to study broadcast journalismat UMass Amherst. Villalobos contributes to the Amherst Wire, a digital student publication, and will be a multimedia intern this summer at USA Today.
Villalobos also reported for MassLive and The Republican from Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, during the protests that rocked the city in the wake of police officer Darren Wilson's fatal shooting of Michael Brown, a black teenager.
And he has reported from the White House three times: for the 2014 New England Patriots Super Bowl recognition ceremony, the White House's Easter Egg Roll this March and as part of a student journalist program last month.
Villalobos, who is of Costa Rican descent, said if he wins he plans to use the opportunity to report on issues important to Latino Americans, beyond the headline-grabbing focus on immigration.
That is in addition, of course, to the camera-friendly uproar likely to unfold as the Republican party formally names Donald Trump its candidate for President.
"It's been such a crazy election season and such a crazy year all around," Villalobos said. "I can only imagine the protests going on."
Villalobos became aware of the contest when he saw that a chapter president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists had shared information about it on Facebook.
He recorded his entry video and solicited friends and acquaintances to boost him into the top ten of public voting, he said.
"I was probably annoying on Facebook for those two weeks, but it paid off," he said.
Now, it is up to the judges, who include National Public Radio's Maria Hinojosa, Los Angeles Times Director of Multicultural Content Alejandra Campoverdi and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow.
The winners of the contest will be announced June 18.
SPRINGFIELD -- Police arrested three suspects within the last 24 hours including two wanted for unrelated charges of assault with intent to murder.
Detectives Bobby Bohl, Robert Mariani and Chris Bates, up bright and early, arrested Maritza Estrada, 42, of 22 Williard Ave. at 6:45 a.m. on the second floor of that address, Sgt. John Delaney said.
Estrada was wanted on warrants for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault with intent to murder and threat to commit a crime, Delaney, public information officer for the department, said.
About a half-hour later, the three members of the Warrant Apprehension Unit arrested Michael Jarmal Ruiz, 30, of 85 Woodside Terrace at 155 Bay Street.
Ruiz was wanted for a shooting at 21 Forest Park Avenue on May 29, shortly after 10 p.m.
He was arrested on warrants for: Threat to commit a crime, carrying a firearm, firearm use during felony, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with intent to murder and discharging a firearm.
High bail was suggested for Ruiz because he is currently out on parole from previous drug and weapon charges, Delaney said.
Tara Lee Lehenry, 36, of 168 Bosworth St., West Springfield, was arrested on three counts of common nightwalker (Holyoke), three counts of trespassing and three counts of possession of heroin.
Officers Mike Chapin and Felix Romero arrested Lehenry shortly after 7:30 p.m. on Monday at 330 Main St.
WPI Main Entrance
The main entrance to the Worcester Polytechnic Campus in Worcester as seen in October 2013. (file photo)
(Megan Bard I MassLive.com)
While Worcester Polytechnic Institute came under fire Tuesday for reportedly implying that a student was partly responsible for her rape, court records show the school had actually come to her defense in a prior filing as part of a federal suit on the same incident.
A former WPI student filed a federal complaint in 2013 after being raped while studying abroad as a third-year student in Puerto Rico in 2012.
According to the federal filing in Puerto Rico, the student, who was 20 at the time, was raped by a security guard at the Ashford Imperial apartments where she was staying while studying abroad. The guard, identified in court filings as William Rodriguez, was found guilty of rape in a Puerto Rican court in December 2012.
The woman's suit names Ashford Imperial, the security company who employed Rodriguez and insurance companies covering those entities. She is seeking a judgment of $4.7 million.
WPI was added as a third party to the federal suit in 2014. At the time, Ashford Imperial filed a complaint against the school claiming the student had "developed a pattern of misbehavior, alcohol consumption and other disruptive conduct" that the college's on-site staff should have noticed. They also claimed the school's representatives failed to "adequately supervise and monitor" the student's behavior.
In a response filed by WPI's attorneys in June 2014, they said Ashford Imperial was trying to "blame the victim."
"The third party plaintiff expect this court to entertain a 'cause of action' whereby a victim of rape deserves to be raped because she was allegedly drunk," WPI's attorney's wrote. "This court should not condone pleadings that blame the alleged victims of rape for their rape."
The school came under fire Tuesday over Worcester Superior Court filing reported by the Boston Globe where they alleged that the victim was at least partially responsible for her assault because she had been drinking and followed a stranger into a dark area. Lawyers filed that response on behalf of the school in a civil suit the student brought against WPI in Worcester Superior Court last year. The student claims the college failed to provide a safe environment for students.
WPI Main Entrance
The main entrance to the Worcester Polytechnic Campus in Worcester as seen in October 2013. (file photo)
(Megan Bard I MassLive.com)
WORCESTER -- A superior court judge will decide whether Worcester Polytechnic Institute can defend itself against negligence charges in the rape of a student by pointing the finger at her behavior on the night of the crime.
The two sides of a civil case against WPI were before Judge David Ricciardone on Tuesday to argue how the evidence will be presented to a jury once the trial gets underway.
The case involves a student who was raped in 2012 by a security guard during a study abroad program in Puerto Rico while returning to mandatory student housing after a night of drinking.
In her suit, the student alleges the college failed to provide a safe environment for students. The college has responded that the student had at least some responsibility for her own safety.
Jane Doe's attorney, Audrey Poore, called the defense "offensive."
"Jane Doe's conduct should not be considered by the jury," Poore said. "The only thing that should be considered by the jury is consent."
WPI's attorney David McGough's argument, however, is based in Massachusetts law. McGough is representing insurance carrier for WPI at the time of the incident, but the college no longer has that insurance carrier.
Had the case been a criminal case, such an argument would not be allowed. But, once Jane Doe's team claimed negligence in a civil case, the defense can make a counter-argument. Whether or not the statute fits this case is what Ricciardone has to decide.
Doe's team is basing their case on several "facts." Namely, that WPI was negligent in that it did not properly vet the security guards and failed to report an earlier suspicious incident between the guard and a professor.
The rapist, William Rodriguez, was a former police officer who had prior criminal problems, including domestic violence.
McGough argued that WPI assessed the situation twice per year and relied on the vendor to hire security.
Ricciardone questioned McGough several times about the comparison, noting the matter specific to hiring is not comparable to Jane Doe's night out, the only way such a defense would be allowed.
"Hiring has nothing to do with how she conducts herself," Ricciardone said.
Poore noted that the student had no choice of where she would live, so that she could not control her own level of risk. In regard to WPI's warnings about traveling in groups and avoiding unknown areas, Poore noted the attack happened at the students' home, not on the streets. Ricciardone later raised the same point.
McGough said the college "makes no excuse for rape, but that's not what this case is about. It's about negligence."
"WPI is not blaming Jane Doe for the rape, what we are saying is, if the jury assesses the reasonable steps WPI took, then they should be able to assess the reasonable steps Jane Doe took to protect herself."
Poore refuted that argument, to which Ricciardone noted he had asked "pointed questions" of McGough. He will now consider those answers.
On Tuesday, WPI President Laurie Leshin released a statement regarding the media coverage of the case, particularly WPI's defense. In her statement, Leshin said that WPI would never blame a victim for being raped. Leshin also referred to the fact that the defense was arranged by the college's insurance carrier at the time of the incident, not it's current carrier.
Currently, lawyers are still in the deposition phase of the case. Ricciardone scheduled a pre-trial conference for Aug. 2.
WPI Main Entrance
The main entrance to the Worcester Polytechnic Campus in Worcester as seen in October 2013. (file photo)
(Megan Bard I MassLive.com)
WORCESTER -- The president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute said in a statement released to the college community Tuesday that WPI would never blame a victim for being raped.
The statement issued by WPI President Laurie Leshin came after media reported about the former college student's lawsuit in Worcester Superior Court claiming college did not provide a safe environment for her while studying in Puerto Rico.
A recent filing in court by lawyers representing WPI's insurance carrier at the time of the incident alleged that the rape victim is at least partially responsible for her assault because she had been drinking and followed a stranger into a dark area.
The female student was raped in 2012 while taking part in the college's study abroad program in Puerto Rico. The student filed a lawsuit against the college last year. There is also a federal lawsuit filed in Puerto Rico in connection to the rape.
The following statement was issued by WPI President Laurie Leshin:
Dear WPI Community,
You may have seen some very disturbing news coverage today, and I wanted to provide you with my perspective regarding an ongoing legal case.
In 2012, a WPI student was raped while off-campus. The person responsible for the rape, who is not a member of the WPI community, has been tried, convicted, and is currently serving a 20 year prison sentence.
As you would expect of us, in the aftermath of the rape, WPI provided extensive support and care to this woman, who has since graduated, as well as to her family, and the other students who were doing their project work at the location. WPI also worked closely with the local law enforcement in their successful efforts to convict the rapist.
A lawsuit has recently been filed alleging that the university was "grossly negligent" in failing to protect the victim from the criminal act of another. You may have seen headlines that imply WPI is blaming the victim for this rape, an idea in direct conflict with our values and our response to this situation.
When a lawsuit is filed, the university's insurance carrier at the time of the incident takes responsibility for the case. Although we parted ways with that provider several years ago, they are litigating this case. Their legal approach and language have not been vetted or approved by the university.
WPI has never and would never blame a victim for being raped. WPI strongly believes that the person responsible for this rape is the rapist. And he is in prison.
You know this, but it bears repeating: WPI is committed to the health and well-being of our students -- whether they are on or off-campus. Sexual assault is a national crisis facing every college and university in the nation. It's an issue that we take very seriously.
This university has been at the forefront of working to ensure that students are well educated about any potential risks of studying abroad, and to help them to minimize those risks. Every WPI student who travels to a project site is engaged in a series of four mandatory and rigorous training and orientation programs that teach them about potential safety risks - including sexual assault. We will continue to engage in those best practices to promote the safety of our students who are engaged in this signature WPI program.
I realize that this message will not satisfy every concern you might have. Due to the fact that this is an ongoing case, I cannot provide any further details. But please know that I fully understand how upsetting this has been for our entire community, and most importantly, to the victim and her family.
News / National
by Prosper Dembedza
A Harare soldier who allegedly stripped a civilian of his camouflage T-shirt before assaulting and robbing him was yesterday sentenced to four years in jail.Simbarashe Sithole (29) was facing robbery charges.The magistrate Mr Tendai Mahwe, however, suspended one year on condition of good behaviour.He also suspended another year on condition that Sithole pays back $81 to Lloyd Kuzondishaya.Mr Mahwe said Sithole will serve three years in jail if he fails to restitute the $81.In passing the sentence, Mr Mahwe took into account that Sithole was a first offender, however, he said such cases were prevalent in Harare, therefore a deterrent sentence was called for."Your behaviour as a soldier puts the name of Zimbabwe National Army into disrepute," he said.Mr Mahwe last week told Sithole that it was unlawful to strip civilians wearing camouflaged clothes.Sithole, who pleaded guilty, said he only took the camouflaged t-shirt from Kuzondishaya."I did not steal anything from him but I only took our camouflaged t-shirt he was wearing," he said.On May 31 Kuzondishaya was playing at Holly's Hotel where he is employed as a disc jockey while Sithole was drinking beer in the hotel.The court heard that at around midnight, Kuzondishaya finished playing and met Sithole who started accusing him of wearing a camouflaged t-shirt.It was proved that Sithole took Kuzondishaya to Simon Mazorodze flyover where he started demanding money upon arrival.The State proved that Sithole started assaulting Kuzondishora after he told him that he had no money and ordered him to do pushups.The court heard that Sithole started searching Kuzondishora's pockets while assaulting him. It was proved that he took the t-shirt, a dollar and a Sumsung Galaxy mobile phone, leaving Kuzondishora in agony.The court heard that Sithole was arrested on June 1 in at a local night club after being positively identified by Kuzondishora.
Pravind Jugnauth a repondu a cinq questions lors de la seance parlementaire du 14 Mai 2019 a lAssemblee National alors du PMQT.
Partager et informez vous aussi......
0 shares Share
Tweet
LinkedIn
Articles similaires
News / National
by Daniel Nemukuyu
The National Prosecuting Authority has filed an appeal to the High Court contesting the recent acquittal of a soldier Borman Ngwenya on allegations of attempting to throw petrol bombs at the First Family's Alpha Omega Dairy Farm.Ngwenya was last month freed by a Harare magistrate on the grounds that the prosecution had failed to prove a case against him.The magistrate, Ms Fadzai Mthombeni ruled that from the trial, it was clear that Ngwenya was a spy working for the military and that his arrest was not justified.Ngwenya was facing two counts of possessing weaponry for sabotage and money laundering.In the notice of appeal filed at the High Court on May 27 this year, Ngwenya and the trial magistrate Ms Mthombeni were listed as respondents.In the filed papers, the Prosecutor-General wants a re-trial, accusing the trial magistrate of failing to properly deal with the matter.The prosecution argued in appeal that the magistrate erred in throwing out the case on the basis that Alpha Omega Farm was a private property."The second respondent erred in fact in holding that the intended target for sabotage or terrorism is a private property when evidence from police witnesses and Owen Kuchata clearly proves that Alpha Omega Dairies is a property owned by the President," read the papers.A chief law officer in the NPA Mr Justin Uladi deposed an affidavit supporting the appeal.Mr Uladi's analysis of the matter suggested that the magistrate did not properly handle the matter."I have noted that the evidence led by the State is largely uncontroverted. The evidence against the first respondent is that the first respondent was found in possession of explosives, and that he had actually purchased the material used to make or manufacture the explosives, and that the explosives were intended for use in acts of terrorism," read the affidavit.Mr Uladi said the judgment by Ms Mthombeni was flawed."My view of the second respondent's judgment is that it is flawed. I say so because the second respondent failed to grasp the fact that at all relevant times, the intended target was the property of the President of Zimbabwe."The first respondent's co-accused who testified as a State witness clearly stated that (they) targeted Alpha Omega Dairy Farm, because it belongs to the President," said Mr Uladi.The State wants the magistrate's decision to be set aside.It is also the prosecution's request that the court must order a fresh trial in the matter before a different magistrate.Ngwenya was arrested together with Solomon Makombe and Silas Pfupa, who both have links with the military, and Owen Kuchata, leader of the little known Zimbabwe People Front political party.It was alleged that on January 22, at around 4pm, police received a tip-off that the four were planning to bomb Alpha Omega Dairy's processing plant and a tuckshop during the night.Acting on the tip-off, police proceeded to the farm and laid an ambush about 100 metres from the quartet's target.At around 10pm, the detectives saw the men approaching the dairy's processing plant and immediately arrested them.
News / National
by Thobekile Zhou
Bankers Association Zimbabwe (BAZ) president Charity Jinya on Monday told a parliamentary committee on finance that it used be wise to adopt the South African rand as major trading currency due to level of trade between the two countries.South Africa is Zimbabwe's largest trading partner, accounting for about 70 percent of imported goods on the local market. Zimbabwe's exports on the other hand have tailed off due to the strength of the greenback against regional currencies which rendered them more costly."It is not sustainable for the US dollar to continue as the major transacting currency so we would recommend that the South African rand be used as the main transacting currency. This would reduce concentration of risk on the US dollar," said Jinya."We also recommend that the US dollar be reserved to make off shore payments and local electronic payments that will reduce the amount of US dollars likely to leave the borders of Zimbabwe through unofficial means."The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe on May 4 announced the introducion of bond notes to tackle the cash shortages, but the five-month gap between the announcement and their planned October introduction has left banks open to a run on deposits by clients who fear the return of a loathed local currency.
News / National
by Staff reporter
Former liberation war collaborators have demanded an audience with President Robert Mugabe to register their displeasure over government's failure to compensate them for the role they played during the liberation struggle.Zimbabwe Liberation War Collaborators' Association (Ziliwaco) national chairman Pupurai Togarepi said he was under pressure from his membership to force through a meeting with Mugabe over the issue."War collaborators are angry even with me. They somehow think I have somehow benefited from the positions I have in the ruling party to the extent that I have now mellowed on our demands to be recognised just as happened with war veterans," he said."Our members bore the brunt of the war because these were civilians with no defence of any sort of security, but who dealt with both the enemy and the liberation fighters. In most instances, they turned into the biggest victims because they could not be trusted by both sides."Togarepi said Ziliwaco members ordered him to organise a meeting with Mugabe or begin preparations to sue the government for breach of constitutional provisions."War veterans got compensation because they used all manner of tactics including demonstrations and other things. We have remained humble, but this is how we are repaid for being obedient. There is need to respect the men and women who sacrificed their lives for thiscountry. Some women have children whose fathers they do not know."Our members are not asking for cash, but some sort of recognition such as medals or non-monetary benefits like not paying medical fees," Togarepi said."Around the time the President met war veterans in early April he gave a commitment that he would also meet war collaborators, but nothing has been communicated thus far.Togarepi said the Minister responsible for the Welfare of War Veterans, War Collaborators and Restrictees, Tshinga Dube, promised, when he was deputy minister, that by March this year all members would all have been vetted, but nothing has happened.However, Dube dismissed the war collaborators' claims."We never promised that we would vet anyone, but said their issues would be looked at once we have finished the re-alignment of laws. We are still working on the realignment," he said, adding Mugabe never promised to meet them.
News / National
by Stephen Jakes
Controversial Zanu PF activist Fidelis Fengu has said he is very sorry that the ruling party is far from implementing the people's manifesto and provide the 2,2 million jobs it promised."Sorry that what I have been campaigning for as a Zanu PF member has not been delivered. I am sorry that the People's manifesto is far from being implemented, am sorry the 2 million jobs are not yet here , am sorry that empowerment came with responsibilities that most of us failed to meet in order to deliver a better Zimbabwe," Fengu said."To the Dzamara family I am sorry that I doubted and ridiculed Itai's abduction. I am sorry my theory was wrong and I sympathise with you. I still believe in Zanu PF , but I am sorry i think the party will sink like MCP of Malawi if we do not handle succession carefully ... like the Cubans."He said he was sorry he will not be campaigning for Gushungo (President Robert Mugabe) in 2018."I am not sorry that I believe we need a stronger , balanced,,patriotic and capable youthful leadership that will engage the West without compromising our sovereignty . I am not sorry that I do not support both VP Emmerson Mnangagwa and VP Phelekezela Mphoko as successors," he said."I am not sorry that I believe Zimbabwe can do better under a new Zanu PF leadership. Zanu PF has the best plans for Zimbabwe but needs action oriented individuals who are distant from factional fights and corruption."
Chicken will be the best-positioned protein due to its low price position in times of pressure on consumer spending power but rises in production costs and the long-term impact of COVID-19 threaten to disrupt the sector, according to Rabobank.
News / National
by Staff reporter
Former Midlands governor Cephas Msipa has claimed that the late former army commander, Solomon Mujuru in 1983 suggested Vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa to be the next president."In 1983, Mujuru approached me and asked who could be the next leader in the event that Mugabe was no longer there. When I told him that (then Deputy Prime Minister Simon) Muzenda would ordinarily take over, he said 'never'," Msipa said."He mentioned the name (Mnangagwa) as being the preferred candidate by Zanla, Zanu's military wing. This is where the issue of hierarchy is coming from."Msipa's statements could likely embolden war veterans, who have been calling for Mnangagwa to succeed Mugabe."He (Mujuru) told me something similar to what war veterans are saying today. So you have to understand what Chris (Mutsvangwa, the war veterans' chairman) is saying today is in that context," Msipa continued."But it is not implementable today because we have a united Zapu and Zanu under Zanu-PF. The next leader must be chosen not because he comes from one region or another, but on merit and the wishes of the people in the party.
by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, June 7, 2016
The Association of National Advertisers this morning released findings of an extensive probe into the transparency, or lack thereof, of agency media-buying practices and said it found the practice of kickbacks or non-transparent media rebates to agencies to be pervasive.
The findings, which are the result of an eight-month study conducted by K2 Intelligence, found evidence of a fundamental disconnect in the advertising industry regarding the basic nature of the advertiser-agency relationship and called for full disclosure of the media-buying process.
Specifically, the study revealed that senior executives across the agency ecosystem were aware of, and mandated, some non-transparent business practices, the ANA said in a statement released this morning, adding: Contracts for rebates and other non-transparent business practices were negotiated and sometimes signed by high-level agency executives.
advertisement advertisement
Even worse, the ANA study implied evidence of potentially criminal activities. While it did not utilize that language specifically, it said the findings revealed potentially problematic agency conduct concealed by principal transactions; as a principal, an agency (or its holding company or associated company) purchases media on its own behalf and later resells it to a client after a markup.
The ANA was set to brief the industry later this morning, but the key findings indicate that non-transparent business practices employed by agencies, some of which may or may not have been contract-compliant, included the following:
*Cash rebates from media companies were provided to agencies with payments based on the amount spent on media. Advertisers interviewed in the K2 Intelligence study indicated they did not receive rebates or were unaware of any rebates being returned.
*Rebates in the form of free media inventory credits.
*Rebates structured as service agreements in which media suppliers paid agencies for non-media services such as low-value research or consulting initiatives that were often tied to the volume of agency spend. Sources told K2 Intelligence that these services were being used to obscure what was essentially a rebate.
*Markups on media sold through principal transactions ranged from approximately 30 percent to 90 percent, and media buyers were sometimes pressured or incentivized by their agency holding companies to direct client spend to this media, regardless of whether such purchases were in the clients best interests.
*Dual rate cards in which agencies and holding companies negotiated separate rates with media suppliers when acting as principals and as agents.
*Non-transparent business practices in the U.S. market resulting from agencies holding equity stakes in media suppliers.
*The study revealed that non-transparent business practices were found across digital, print, out-of-home, and television media. In addition, the non-transparent practices were found to exist across the spectrum of agency media entities.
The ANA said the report detailed source accounts from dozens of confidential, personal interviews as well as documentary evidence.
by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, June 7, 2016
Its a sign of the times: this week politicians in Australia decided to dump broadcast TV in favor of Facebook for their next debate, indicating a sea change in media consumption habits down under.
On Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of the ruling Liberal Party (which is actually conservative) challenged his main rival, Bill Shorten of the opposition Labour Party, to a debate on Facebook co-hosted by news.com.au, a News Corp. property.
Turnbull explained the decision to hold the debate on Facebook: These are the platforms that many people, many would say most Australians see most of their media or news on. I think its important that we have an innovative election and use the platforms that Australians use.
In addition to positioning the Liberals as tech-savvy and youth-oriented (both debatable points) the invitation was effectively a snub to the countrys 24-hour cable and satellite news channel, SkyNews, which recently launched a new Election Channel and had invited both men to speak at a Peoples Forum in Brisbane.
advertisement advertisement
Turnbull was apparently miffed that SkyNews simply named a time and place and invited both candidates, without prior negotiations behind closed doors to work out the details. Turnbull told a SkyNews reporter: Look, the answer is your network, your company Sky News, announced they were inviting me and Bill Shorten to attend a debate on a particular night. What weve said, normally you would have approached us and sought to come to some arrangement. You chose not to do that and to issue in effect a decree, and weve said no.
In fact the social network reaches at least as many Australians as the broadcast alternative.
According to SkyNews, its cable and satellite service reaches 2.5 million households and venues across Australia, and in September 2015 its coverage of the Liberal Partys leadership poll (a high-profile political power struggle) attracted a total audience of around 700,000 viewers.
By contrast, in January Facebook had around 15 million active monthly users in Australia, or 62.5% of the total population of 24 million, including 10 million daily users. Whats more, Australians spend an average of 1.7 hours per day on Facebook, according to Nielsen, and around five million watch a video every day on Facebook.
by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, June 7, 2016
Late last night, the Associated Press announced that Hillary Clinton attained the number of delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.
AP had spent the day canvassing super delegates, which ended up changing the electoral math -- pushing Clinton to the 2,383 delegate mark.
AP, however, added a caveat. Political editor David Scott explained: AP will not call her the nominee until she reaches that milestone in Philadelphia next month, when the partys delegates formally cast their vote at the convention.
While Hillary Clinton was widely expected to capture her partys nomination following the vote in New Jersey today, a loss in California, also voting today, could be another blow to what has been a tough campaign for the front-runner.
With the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders held a rally in San Francisco just as the news from the AP hit the push notifications on supporters phones.
advertisement advertisement
Despite the electoral math, die-hard Sanders supporters in California could be galvanized by what they consider a premature coronation by the mainstream media, which has been widely criticized throughout the primary campaign.
During the rally, Sanders pointed to the importance of high voter turnout, announcing that, if Californians came out to vote in droves, he would win the largest primary in the country. Low turnout, however, would most likely mean a loss for the self-styled democratic socialist.
It is difficult to dispute APs decision to call the race. Secretary Clinton has 3 million more votes than Sanders and a sizeable lead in pledged delegates. And with six months until the election, Clinton is eager to pivot to full-battle mode.
Yet the more Sanders pushes back, Democrats worry he could delegitimize Clinton in the eyes of many voters, a move which would have disastrous effects come the general election.
The counter-argument is that Clinton should welcome the challenge, which could potentially keep Bernie supporters engaged throughout the remaining months of the cycle, enough that they will feel like theyve been heard by the Clinton campaign.
It looks as though the Sanders camp will fight through to the convention at the tail-end of July. Spokesman for Sanders, Michael Briggs, chastised the untimely decision from the AP: It is unfortunate that the media, in a rush to judgment, are ignoring the Democratic National Committees clear statement that it is wrong to count the votes of super-delegates before they actually vote at the convention this summer.
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, June 7, 2016
Next week Apple will hold its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), where the company is rumored to release an updated AI platform across existing hardware and possibly new hardware similar to Google Home and Amazon Echo. This one from Apple could have a built-in camera that makes the technology "self-aware," similar to early versions of Microsoft Kinect. It would detect who is in the room, making it easier to serve up personal preferences.
AI puts Apple and marketers at a crossroads. Ryan Sullivan, SVP of performance services at Performics, told Search Marketing Daily that brands want to know how voice search and AI change optimization strategies and how to optimize for longer-form, conversational queries.
advertisement advertisement
Data from Fluent released Tuesday around consumer perceptions on current and prospective Apple initiatives ahead of WWDC suggests that slightly more than 50% of those surveyed would give up a little more privacy to have a better experience with across smarter Apple apps, said Jordan Cohen, CMO of Fluent. Some 42% of iPhone users said they would be somewhat more likely to purchase the newest generation iPhone with a vastly improved Siri, Apple's virtual voice assistant.
Using voice rather than text to search isn't new, but rather the ability to have a conversation with technology supported by artificial intelligence. "Rather than saying 'pizza in Chicago,' I ask 'where's the best pizza in Chicago near me,'" he said. "The technology will answer back, 'do you want thin crust or deep dish?'"
The quality of the service or product and the recommendations rating becomes critical. The data structure and technology allow for national language processing and other nuances in voice search where Web pages of blue links no longer exist and all individuals searching for answers to questions like "where's the best pizza in Chicago near me" make exact ad targeting through the combination of recommendations and data more promising, but increasingly complicated.
What does this mean for marketers knowing they will no longer see a blue list of links, but rather the AI will determine what's best for the individual based on preferences and past searches?
"Using a voice assistant rather than looking through Yelp requires me to rely on Google to tell me what a 'Good" rating means," he said. "It's kind of scary."
Small businesses that have not done due diligence to help the AI make a judgement call on recommendations will have a difficult time, Sullivan said.
Using technical optimization guidelines from Schema.org is important, along with making sure directories such as Yelp or YP have the correct information. He suggests brands begin optimizing more for long-tail queries. It's no longer just a programmatic technique, he said. When someone asks a question using a natural language the brand's content has a better chance of becoming the answer.
Seamless takes on a new meaning with voice search, making it easier for consumers to use. It takes time for search engines to sort through the content and only a small sliver on what's on the Internet gets indexed. "Businesses cannot continue to kick the can down the road," Sullivan said. "They must do a better job of marking-up their content."
Its common knowledge consumers tend to abandon technology products as the journey becomes too complex or it doesn't meet their needs. In fact 89% of consumers will return a technology product within a week if its too difficult to setup or use regardless of the price, and nearly two-thirds will stop purchasing products from that brand altogether, according to a study titled Customer Effort And The Direct Impact On Brand Relationship published by Support.com.
The New York Times, Tuesday, June 7, 2016 11:27 AM
The pro-Clinton super PAC, Priorities USA, has begun attacking Donald Trump on his crass comments about a disabled journalist. The ad is included in a $20 million buy running from Wednesday through the GOP convention in seven swing states: Ohio, Virginia, Florida, New Hampshire, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada.
Read the whole story at The New York Times
by P.J. Bednarski , Staff Writer @pjbtweet, June 7, 2016
I havent been wondering a lot about Chewbacca Mom, but I cant say shes not been on my mind, and Im really sorry about that.
At this early point, I feel I should remind you about who she is. (But why?)
A Texas mom named Candace Payne bought a talking Chewbacca mask at a Kohls because it cracked her up. In her car, she took out her cellphone, put the mask on and created a video of herself laughing, and laughing, and laughing. Hysterically.
She posted it on Facebook Live. It went viral, and now it has over 154 million views, more than any Facebook Live video has ever received. Shes been all over TV. Time Money estimates she has received at least $420,000 in gifts, from Kohls and other places, since its happened.
The video Kohls made delivering her gifts grabbed 33 million views. Afterward, Kohls app went to the top at the iOS store.
advertisement advertisement
Mary Meeker noted the Chewbacca Mask Incident in her influential trends report.
It has been given deep, deep meaning.
Observers feeling contagious joy triggered by Payne's laughter now carry that emotion with them, wrote Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley, on the CNN site. Feeling more joyous, they themselves will show the signs of joy and be disposed to share, cooperate and connect with others to broaden and build their social networks.
"Through these viral processes, suggest studies by James Fowler, our joy spreads virally to friends and acquaintances in our social networks, lifting their spirits later in time.
Candace Payne and her family are good Christians. When the president of Southeastern University, a Christian school in Florida, learned that, the entire family was given scholarships to the school. That caused a few people on social media and a writer on the MSN site to grouse about white mediocrity and that caused right wingers to pout about liberals and blacks always finding racism in every little thing, including the Chewbacca mask incident.
Jeez.
Once, even in this century, little odd news items were given space in alternative newspapers in a syndicated feature called News of the Weird. David Letterman featured both stupid pet and stupid human tricks. The attention seemed appropriate.
Now, ordinarily silliness has meaning. It drives commerce and culture and technology. Joel Espelien, at The Diffusion Group, explained how Chewbacca Mom was a legitimizing event for the newish Facebook Live:
Facebook clearly got it, which is why the Facebook Live team flew her to out to Menlo Park and gave her the heros welcome. And that team deserves some credit as well. Their small (but incredibly critical) contribution to the live mobile streaming space has been to auto-save the live videos to VOD as they stream.
"This feature allowed the Chewbacca Mom video to begin as a live post (to basically no one) and transition to a sharable clip that is still generating views worldwide. Candace Payne deserves credit as the first, but most certainly not the last, Facebook mom with more than 100 million video views.
Im so unsure. Once in this country, you could put on a mask that made you laugh hysterically, and that was that. And that was that, because its all that was worth. No controversy. No accomplishment, either. I cant help but believe in a little while many more people will realize thats all Chewbacca Mom should mean to any of us.
God, I hope so.
pj@mediapost.com
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, June 7, 2016
Android users who made purchases from Google's app store are asking to proceed with a class-action against the company for allegedly disclosing their names and other personal data to developers.
"Casting aside the express promises made in their own terms of use, for years, defendants have routinely and systematically disclosed to third-parties, their buyers personal contact and billing information -- including, names and email addresses -- which they now admit was not necessary to complete the transactions or otherwise authorized for disclosure," lawyers for the users write in a motion filed late last week with U.S. District Court Judge Beth Labson Freeman in San Jose, California.
The move marks the latest development in a lawsuit brought in 2013 by Illinois resident Alice Svenson. She alleged in a potential class-action that she purchased a $1.77 app that converts SMS messages to emails. Svenson, who bought the app from Google Play, said Google shared her personal information with YCDroid, the app's developer.
advertisement advertisement
Svenson brought the case several months after Australian developer Dan Nolan blogged that Google automatically shares app buyers' personal information with developers. His post drew headlines, but Google said at the time it intentionally designed its platform to enable app purchasers to buy them directly from developers.
The privacy policy for Google Wallet said the company may disclose information that is necessary to process transactions. Google initially contended it was necessary to share users' data, because the company doesn't process the purchase. (In 2014, Google revised its practices.)
Svenson alleged that Google broke its contract by disclosing her personal information to a third party. Freeman initially threw out the lawsuit, ruling that Svenson hadn't shown that she was injured by the alleged breach of contract.
Svenson subsequently revised her complaint to include allegations that Google lessened the value of her personal information by sharing it with YCDroid. She added that there is a robust market for that type of data, and that she -- and other app purchasers -- were deprived of the ability to sell their data themselves.
Last year, Freeman said that Svenson's allegations about the value of her data were sufficient to warrant further proceedings in the case.
Svenson now is asking to be able to proceed on behalf of a class of users who made app purchases of less than $300 between March 1, 2012 and April 30, 2014. The proposed $300 limit stems from Google's "varied" policies regarding purchases over that figure, according to the court papers.
Freeman is slated to hold a hearing about the matter on Aug. 24.
Last year, U.S. District Court Magistrate Paul Grewal in San Jose dismissed a separate lawsuit that also alleged Google violated app purchasers' privacy by sending their names to developers.
Grewal said the consumers couldn't proceed with their case because they didn't allege they were harmed by Google.
by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, June 7, 2016
While the big agency holding companies are pretty much uniform in their denouncements of the ANA-K2 study, at least one agency is disappointed with the 4As prioritizing the holding companies in the formation of its own transparency principles and with the groups inability to work better with the ANA to find common ground on the issue.
The agency is Empower MediaMarketing, the Cincinnati-based media agency, which today indicated that it has suspended its membership in the 4As indefinitely over the transparency issue.
In a letter to clients, posted on its Web site, Empower CEO Jim Price also noted his disappointment with the ANA reports reliance on anonymity.
advertisement advertisement
In principle, while we agree with the 4As transparency statement and we are in compliance, we have been disappointed in the 4As prioritizing holding companies in developing these principles and their inability to work with the ANA, Price wrote.
"In addition, were disappointed the names of people and the agencies who have violated clients trust were not released at this time. Its an unfair blanket allegation on those who have always done whats in the best interest of their clients, like Empower."
Price that effective today, Empower has decided to suspend its membership with the 4As until they further identify who is in violation and how they plan to take action. Its not in the best interest of our clients and Empower to be associated with agencies who have clearly dishonored clients trust.
Price added that the agency will evaluate options once the 4As has responded and the violators have been identified.
In the interim, we want to say again (like we have in all 31 years), we welcome audits at any time, Price wrote. Kickbacks, rebates and lack of transparency have never been, and will never, be a concern during your partnership with Empower.
The 4As issued this response: We are disappointed in Mr. Price's decision. The 4As is, and has been, working on solutions regarding Transparency for all our Members. We too are disappointed that the ANA has painted the entire industry with the same negative brush as we made clear in our statement earlier today. The 4As works on behalf of hundreds of agencies of all shapes and sizes, across the U.S. on all kinds of industry issues. We expect all our Members to operate by the transparency principles we issued earlier this year created by a task force that included both holding company and independent agency perspectives.
by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, June 7, 2016
Erin Johnson, chief communications officer at JWT, has urged the New York Judge hearing her harassment and retaliation lawsuit against the agency and former CEO Gustavo Martinez not to toss the suit. The defendants including the agency, Martinez and holding company WPP filed a motion to dismiss the case last month.
Although defendants are fully familiar with the law governing motions to dismiss, they urge the Court to make factual findings such that jokes about rape, and comments about African Americans being strange characters with a penchant to steal and act inappropriately, are not offensive as a matter of law, Johnsons latest brief, filed yesterday, stated.
advertisement advertisement
Johnsons filing also dismissed defendants contention that she did not endure a hostile work environment. WPP and JWT claimed in its motion to dismiss that Johnson sent a text message to Martinez shortly before filing suit that noted that she had decided to reject a job offer from another company, because I am loyal to you and what you are doing. She added: I felt like we had a good year together. So I hope I wasnt wrong to stay. Lol.
Defendants argued that the note helped to dispel the notion of a hostile work environment and that virtually nothing supporting such claims occurred during the nine-month period between when JWT Chief Talent Officer Laura Agostini said she was addressing Johnsons complaints about comments made by Martinez during an agency meeting in Miami and when Johnson filed her suit.
Johnson didnt address the text message directly in her rebuttal but did argue that the law didnt require her to note every instance that might indicate a hostile work environment.
What the defendants cannot explain in their tailor-made scenario substituting for facts: What was Agostini 'addressing' if there was nothing wrong with Martinezs comments? Johnson asked rhetorically in her filing.
The rebuttal filing also suggested that the declarations of 16 senior JWT executives attesting that they were not offended by Martinezs Miami remarks were somewhat farcical and clearly written by counsel.
Although sometimes stressful, moving to a new house can be an exciting time. It presents an opportunity to start anew and clear out the clutter that has been accumulating over the last several years. But a new study sheds light on an unexpected downside to moving houses for kids: it could affect their health and well-being into adulthood.
Share on Pinterest Moving houses during childhood can impact on health and well-being into middle age, the new study suggests.
The research was led by Dr. Roger T. Webb, Ph.D., from the Centre for Mental Health and Safety at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.
He and his colleagues publish their findings in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, with serious implications for child, adolescent, and adult mental health services.
They conducted a long-term study of Danish children born from 1971-1997 who were followed into adulthood. Every residential move from birth to the age of 14 years was included in the dataset.
Additionally, every move was connected with the age of each child so that the researchers could compare the impact of moves in early life with moves during adolescence.
Denmark is the only country where it is currently possible to conduct such a comprehensive national investigation of childhood residential mobility and risk of adverse outcomes in later life, says Dr. Webb.
He points to the countrys uniquely complete and accurate registration of all residential changes in its population.
Because there were several comprehensive national registries available to them, the researchers were also able to measure subsequent adverse events in adulthood, which includes attempted suicide, violent behavior, psychiatric illness, substance misuse, and both natural and unnatural deaths.
News / National
by Thobekile Zhou
Musician Alick Macheso wept on stage in Mutare after he was overwhelmed by emotions, as he belted out the song, Baba.Macheso temporarily broke off from the song midway, as he shed tears."You see, some of these songs are so touching," he told the crowd."This song reflects deeply into our lives. Sometimes I end up being emotional."The song Baba was based on the musician's upbringing and relays the story of a young boy, who accuses his father of neglect. This was after the parents divorced while the mother was pregnant.A handful of Macheso's fans from Mozambique also attended the show.
Malaria parasites cause hundreds of millions of infections, and kills hundreds of thousands of people annually, mostly in Africa. And in recent years the most dangerous malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, has become increasingly resistant to the main anti-malarial drugs. Now, an international team of researchers shows that some members of a class of compounds called oxaboroles, which contain the element, boron, have potent activity against malaria parasites. The research is published ahead of print in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
"We demonstrated that certain oxaboroles, selected from a large library produced by collaborating chemists, had potent activity both against cultured malaria parasites, and in an animal model of malaria," said Philip Rosenthal, MD, Professor, Department of Medicine, the University of California, San Francisco.
Additionally, the researchers gained insight into the mechanism of action of the compounds, knowledge that could be important for refining new antimalarial drugs based on oxaboroles, said Rosenthal. "New antimalarial drugs, ideally directed against novel targets, are greatly needed."
To that end, the investigators demonstrated that the mechanism of action likely involved an enzyme that is required for protein synthesis. They accomplished this by growing the malaria parasites in the laboratory and treating them with the oxaboroles, over generations. With time and generations, the parasites became increasingly resistant to the oxaboroles.
The investigators then performed whole genome sequencing, both on the resistant parasites, and on the original non-resistant P. falciparum, which had been stored for this comparison. They used the sequences to look for mutations in the resistant parasites that were absent from the non-resistant ones. "We consistently found them in this one gene," said Rosenthal. That gene, for the aforementioned enzyme that is involved in protein synthesis, is called the leucyl tRNA-synthetase (LeuRS) gene.
Thus, the interaction between the oxaboroles and the LeuRS enzyme is presumably what inhibits that enzyme, killing P. falciparum, said Rosenthal. Ultimately, Rosenthal's collaborators at Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, may study that interaction, so that they can tweak oxaboroles to improve their properties, said Rosenthal.
As for the resistance to oxaboroles that developed in the lab, Rosenthal said it did not mean that resistance would develop under clinical conditions. "You can select for just about anything in the lab," said Rosenthal. Furthermore, in malaria, as in the case of other dangerous diseases, such as HIV infection and tuberculosis, usually more than one drug is given to patients, which makes it much harder for the pathogen to develop resistance.
Although the research is an important first step, the investigators noted in their paper that developing antimalarials is particularly challenging. "In addition to obvious requirements for safety and effectiveness, antimalarial drug candidates should meet additional criteria, including rapid clinical response, requirement for no more than three days of treatment (and ideally single-dose treatment), oral bioavailability, low tendency to select for drug resistance, lack of cross resistance with existing antimalarials, safety in children and pregnancy, and low cost of production."
Oxaboroles appear promising on all counts. Among other things, safety of the general class has been demonstrated even in human trials of class members, though for purposes other than as antimalarials. Oxaboroles are also not difficult to synthesize, which would make them relatively inexpensive.
Nonetheless, no drug is ever a sure bet at this stage of development, and in the best case, a number of years will pass between the present, and approval of a new drug for malaria. But the potential prize is mitigation of untold misery.
Article: A physiologically-based pharmacokinetic model of rifapentine and 25-desacetyl-rifapentine disposition in humans, Todd J. Zurlinden, Garrett J. Eppers and Brad Reisfeld, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, doi: 10.1128/AAC.00031-16, published online 6 June 2016.
A panel of microRNAs from blood samples may predict patients at high risk of developing a common liver cancer from hepatitis B virus infection.
Hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common type of liver cancer, is increasing in incidence in the United States, and infection with the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) causes about 50 percent of cases. However, it can be difficult to identify who is most likely to develop this cancer. Although earlier research had discovered molecular signatures associated with HBV-driven liver cancer, new research from Thomas Jefferson University has proven that this panel of microRNAs can also predict the patients at high risk for developing the disease before the cancer develops, via a blood test.
The researchers, led by Hushan Yang, Ph.D., an Associate Professor of Medical Oncology and researcher at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson studied a large cohort of HBV-infected patients, some of whom eventually developed liver cancer, and analyzed their molecular signature from blood samples. Of the 373 HBV patients who were originally cancer free, 40 developed cancer over a median follow up of 4.5 years. The researchers analyzed a panel of 24 microRNAs - small molecules that regulate gene activity - and showed that 15 of these microRNAs had changed their normal gene expression pattern before patients developed cancer, suggesting these molecules could be used to predict patients with a high likelihood of developing cancer. The study was published in the journal Oncotarget,
Earlier studies had identified the 24 microRNAs that Dr. Yang and colleagues studied. However, it was unclear whether those microRNAs caused the cancer, or were a result of already occurring cancerous processes. By following this cohort of patients prospectively, and using blood samples taken at least one year before liver cancer diagnosis, the researchers were able to answer that question for the first time. In addition, prior studies analyzed samples taken from patient biopsies, which require invasive procedures, whereas the current study showed that microRNAs circulating in the blood could predict disease.
"This research confirms previous work on microRNAs and liver cancer and goes further to show that these microRNAs may be able to predict the development of liver cancer through a non-invasive blood test," says first author Chun Wang, a visiting scholar in the Department of Medical Oncology.
The current non-invasive test for determining cancer risk among HBV patients is a diagnostic for the molecule alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). It is also associated with Hepatitis C infections, but it isn't always a good predictor of disease. In fact, the Jefferson researchers identified 15 out of 16 patients, or 94 percent of patients who were misclassified as cancer-free by AFP. Likewise, in the 57 patients who were deemed at high risk of developing liver cancer by AFP, the microRNA testing correctly reclassified 33, or 58 percent, as low risk.
Although the panel of 15 microRNAs was useful, it wasn't perfect. "We need to find more microRNAs that may predict liver cancer in order to sharpen this tool for identifying high risk patients," says Dr. Yang. "Through collaboration with Dr. Hann in the Department of Medicine at Jefferson, we continue to work on improving this diagnostic method."
The work was supported by a Tobacco Grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, National Cancer Institute Grant CA159047, American Cancer Society Research Scholar Grant 123741-RSG-13-003-01-CCE, and a V Scholar Grant from the V Foundation for Cancer Research. The authors report no conflicts of interest.
Article: Prospective evidence of a circulating microRNA signature as a non-invasive marker of hepatocellular carcinoma in HBV patients, C Wang et al., Oncotarget, doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.9429, published 24 May 2016.
Please complete this form and we'll send you a personalised information that is requested
You may use this for your own reference or forward it to your friends.
Please use the information prudently. If you are not a medical doctor please remember to consult your healthcare provider as this information is not a substitute for professional advice.
Advertisement
"While we found that a substantial proportion of patients who took oral bisphosphonates remain at risk for hip, spine, and other major fractures, this class of drug does improve bone density in the majority of patients and should remain a mainstay of osteoporosis management," said Erik Imel, the Indiana University School of Medicine endocrinologist and Regenstrief Institute-affiliated scientist who led the study."We limited our study to patients who were considered to be compliant with taking their medication, based on drug dispensing days covered, with the presumption being that those who filled prescriptions took the medication properly. We would expect even less benefit if patients fail to take their medication properly. To increase treatment effectiveness, patients and their doctors should be vigilant that the drug is taken reliably and properly. However, osteoporosis drugs are not enough. Physicians and their patients are well advised to discuss additional important modifications to decrease fall risk and fracture risk. These include exercise, smoking cessation, use of assistive devices such as canes or walkers, modifying the home to avoid obstacles that might lead to falls, and taking appropriate amounts of vitamin D and calcium."Conducted under the auspices of a Regenstrief Institute-Merck collaboration, the retrospective cohort study utilized anonymized data from the Indiana Network for Patient Care, a health information exchange founded by the Regenstrief Institute. The study authors note that the data they used reflects real-life medical practice and patient behavior from a wide range of physicians and patient backgrounds. Adherence to bisphosphonate therapy was determined by prescription fulfillment records. Clinical data included information on bone density and fractures."We know that taking bisphosphonates decrease fracture risk compared to those not taking these drugs," Dr. Imel said. "But what about those women who weren't getting the anticipated benefit and are not improving bone density or even are losing bone density? What predicted that? The purpose of this study was to focus attention on those not doing well, in order to begin to decrease the odds of future fractures in this large group of vulnerable patients."Not everyone responds the same way to oral bisphosphonates or any drug. Various factors could convey continued risk of fracture in spite of bisphosphonate therapy, including other medical problems and risk factors for falling. Since we know that such a high percentage of women continue to have elevated fracture risk we - doctors and patients - need to focus on these factors," Dr. Imel said. "For example, we found that women who had other medical conditions in addition to low bone density - a frequent occurrence in this older population - had higher fracture risk. Taking some medications in combination with bisphosphonates seemed to increase fracture risk. However, having more medical conditions and taking more drugs are most likely markers of heightened risk rather than causative factors."Neurologic problems, often linked to heightened risk of falls, as well as inflammatory and other chronic joint conditions including arthritis were found to be associated with higher odds of having a fracture among those taking bisphosphonates."I always tell my osteoporosis patients, 'Don't fall'," said Dr. Imel. "They usually chuckle, and then we talk about things they can do to decrease the risk of falling, including proper footwear and assistive devices. Many patients are reluctant to use a cane or a walker. I try to get them to understand the importance of using any tool that decreases the chance of falling."Source: Eurekalert
A narrowing of the junction between the stomach and the lower intestine of patients after Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass surgery is known as stomal stenosis.
It is a common complication of gastric bypass surgery and is also known as anastomotic stenosis.
Gastric Bypass Surgery
Changing lifestyles have led to an increase in the incidence of obesity. Excessive obesity gradually interferes with daily activities such as walking and breathing and leads to a deterioration in the quality of life. It is also increases the risk of medical problems like diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, bone and joint ailments.
Weight loss surgery or bariatric surgery is gaining popularity as the treatment of choice for morbid obesity. A laparoscopic method of surgery is the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery. In this surgery, a small part of the patients stomach is converted into a pouch by stapling it and is directly joined to the jejunum, thereby bypassing the remainder of the stomach and the duodenum. This results in a reduced capacity of the stomach and the patient therefore eats less. It also reduces the absorption of calories and nutrients from the food eaten. Both the factors together lead to weight loss which signifanctly improves the quality of the patients life.
This surgery can be performed as an open surgery or a laparoscopic surgery, though the laparoscopic method is usually preferred. One of the complications that may occur after this surgery is the narrowing of the newly formed junction between the stomach and the intestine, known as stomal stenosis.
Advertisement
Stomal stenosis occurs when there is a narrowing at the new junction that is formed between the patients stomach and intestine following the gastric bypass surgery. The cause hasnt been proven scientifically, however it is thought to occur due to multiple factors that involve scar formation at the site or a reduction of blood supply (ischemia) in the region around the staple line. An increased incidence has been observed in patients:
Who smoke.
Take NSAIDS (Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs) or aspirin.
Suffer from peptic ulcer disease.
In whom anastomosis (surgical connection) was done with the help of a circular stapler.
Stomal stenosis usually presents as a late complication of the surgery, around 50 days after the procedure, when the patient makes the transition from soft food to solid food. The symptoms may be:
Nausea
Persistent vomiting
Dysphagia (difficulty in swallowing).
Food intolerance
Abdominal pain after eating
A suspicion of stomal stenosis arises when a patient demonstrates the mentioned symptoms in the late post-operative period. However, to establish a diagnosis, endoscopy must be done. An endoscopy will also help in ruling out other medical conditions that may cause similar symptoms. Radiological studies with a contrast may be helpful in diagnosing associated leaks.
There are two options for treatment or stomal stenosis: endoscopic dilatation and surgical.
Surgical treatment- In extremely rare cases where endoscopic dilatation fails to yield any result after multiple attempts, surgical revision may be needed in order to treat stomal stenosis.
In extremely rare cases where endoscopic dilatation fails to yield any result after multiple attempts, surgical revision may be needed in order to treat stomal stenosis. Endoscopic dilatation- Balloon dilatation is an effective method of treating stomal stenosis. Balloon catheters are passed through the endoscope and dilated with the help of water, saline or a water-soluble contrast medium at the level of the narrowing. This method allows dilatation under direct visualization with the help of the endoscope. A vast majority of patients are successfully treated with 1-2 dilatations. This technique is safe and avoids surgical intervention.
The exact cause of stomal stenosis is unknown but as it has been found to occur more commonly in cases where a circular stapler is used, more and more surgeons are resorting to linear staplers of appropriate size.
The patient, on the other hand, may also help in avoiding the complication by:
Strictly following the doctors instructions after the surgery.
Refraining from smoking.
Not taking any medication without the doctors prescription and knowledge.
Advertisement
Health Tips
Thirst is a feeling that arises when the water content in the body is reduced or the sodium content is increased. These signals reach the brain, making us thirsty and therefore encourages us to drink more water.
Polydipsia is a condition where a patient experiences excessive thirst thereby compelling him /her to drink excessive liquids.
Excess water is usually excreted from the body by the kidneys. Hormones play an important role in maintaining the fluid and electrolyte balance in the body. The antidiuretic hormone or vasopressin secreted by a part of the brain called the pituitary reduces the excretion of water by the kidneys. Aldosterone secreted by the adrenal glands increases the sodium level in the body and increases osmolality, thereby retaining water.
Polydipsia can alter the balance of fluid and electrolytes in the body thereby causing various complications, which include:
Water intoxication : Symptoms of water intoxication include headache, confusion, drowsiness, vomiting and seizures. Swelling of the brain and even death may occur
: Symptoms of water intoxication include headache, confusion, drowsiness, vomiting and seizures. Swelling of the brain and even death may occur Hyponatremia or low sodium levels, that is, sodium levels below 135 mmol/L: Due to excess water, the sodium in the body gets diluted. The patient may appear restless and disoriented.
Advertisement
There are several causes of polydipsia or excess thirst:
Low Blood Volume : Low blood volume due to significant blood loss or any other cause can cause excess thirst and polydipsia. Dehydration due to conditions like excess sweating, diarrhea and vomiting can reduce the volume of water in the body thus resulting in excess thirst.
: Low blood volume due to significant blood loss or any other cause can cause excess thirst and polydipsia. Dehydration due to conditions like excess sweating, diarrhea and vomiting can reduce the volume of water in the body thus resulting in excess thirst. Diabetes Mellitus: Diabetes mellitus is a condition where the blood glucose level of the patient is above normal. Excess glucose is lost in the urine, thereby increasing the osmotic pressure of urine. As a result, more water is pulled by the glucose into urine resulting in frequent urination or polyuria. As a consequence, the patient suffers increased thirst resulting in polydipsia. Polyuria, polydipsia and polyphagia (excessive eating) are the cardinal signs of diabetes mellitus. Diabetes mellitus is diagnosed based on blood glucose tests. Diabetes ketoacidosis, a complication of diabetes is also associated with polydipsia.
Diabetes Insipidus: Diabetes insipidus is a condition where a person passes a large amount of dilute urine. This may either be due to a defect in the production of a hormone called antidiuretic hormone (ADH) or due to the failure of kidney to respond to it.. It may occur following conditions like trauma, surgery, tumor or kidney disease. The excess water loss through urine could result in dehydration, thereby causing polydipsia. The condition can be diagnosed based on certain blood and urine tests. Patients are treated with a synthetic hormone similar to vasopressin called desmopressin, or some other drug like potassium sparing diuretic or a non-steroidal painkiller.
Hyperaldosteronism : Hyperaldosteronism is a condition where the adrenal glands secrete excess amounts of aldosterone. Aldosterone retains excess salt, because of which the patient may feel thirsty and drink excess water. The patient suffers from high blood pressure which does not respond to usual blood pressure medications. The condition is diagnosed based on blood tests. It may be treated with medications or surgery.
: Hyperaldosteronism is a condition where the adrenal glands secrete excess amounts of aldosterone. Aldosterone retains excess salt, because of which the patient may feel thirsty and drink excess water. The patient suffers from high blood pressure which does not respond to usual blood pressure medications. The condition is diagnosed based on blood tests. It may be treated with medications or surgery. Drug Intake: Lithium which is used in the treatment of manic depressive psychosis is a common cause of polydipsia. Antipsychotic drugs used in schizophrenia may also have a similar effect. Diuretics or water pills cause excess loss of water through the urine resulting in increased thirst. Some medications cause dry mouth, as a result of which the patient may drink excess water. These patients may experience bad breath. Therefore, it is necessary to inquire about the history of medication in a patient complaining of polydipsia. Smoking has also been associated with polydipsia.
Psychogenic Cause: Psychogenic polydipsia is quite common and is noted in around 20% of psychiatry patients. Patients with chronic schizophrenia are particularly affected, though other psychiatric conditions like anorexia nervosa, psychotic depression and bipolar psychosis may also cause polydipsia. Alteration in the levels of hormones secreted by the brain like antidiuretic hormone and dopamine may contribute to polydipsia. In addition, the patient may drink excess water to counteract dry mouth, a side effect of medications used in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Patients are treated with strict fluid restriction and behavioral approaches.
Advertisement
Sheehans Syndrome : Sheehans syndrome is a condition that occurs due to excess bleeding following delivery. The pituitary gland is affected resulting in reduced secretion of antidiuretic hormone. Lack of the hormone causes excess loss of urine, which can cause polydipsia. Other conditions that affect the pituitary glands like infections or injury may also cause similar symptoms.
: Sheehans syndrome is a condition that occurs due to excess bleeding following delivery. The pituitary gland is affected resulting in reduced secretion of antidiuretic hormone. Lack of the hormone causes excess loss of urine, which can cause polydipsia. Other conditions that affect the pituitary glands like infections or injury may also cause similar symptoms. Chronic Kidney Failure: Chronic kidney diseases like glomerulonephritis or pyelonephritis can cause excess loss of urine and high calcium or low potassium levels (hypokalemia), thereby causing increased thirst. Therefore, electrolyte levels should be regularly monitored in patients with chronic kidney failure.
The cause of polydipsia should be ascertained through history of the patient, physical examination and diagnostic tests. Blood tests can detect diabetes mellitus. Measurement of serum and urine osmolality, and hormonal levels of ADH and aldosterone may help to detect conditions like diabetes insipidus and hyperaldosteronism. The serum electrolyte concentration like levels of sodium, potassium and calcium should be estimated.
Treatment of polydipsia depends on the underlying cause.
On April 5, 2016, the website of the pro-Kremlin Russian think tank Valdai Club published an article, titled "How Will Brexit Affect Russia?" by the Director of Valdai Club programs and Associate Professor at the Moscow State Institute Of International Relation (MGIMO), Andrey Sushentsov.[1] In the article, Sushentsov asserted that Britain's exit (Brexit) from the European Union will negatively impact Russia's economy and foreign policy. Sushentsov explained that the outcome of the Brexit referendum, which will take place in Britain on June 23, will economically damage Russia in several areas. First of all, Brexit could spark a "trade war" between the UK and the EU, which can jeopardize Russian investments not only in Britain, but also in the Netherlands and Cyprus, Russia's leading partners. Furthermore, Sushentsov mentioned that Brexit may influence the safety of Russia's third-largest gold and currency reserves, as "EU Brexit-related economic problems" may cause the devaluation of these reserves.
Sushentsov wrote that Brexit will also harm Russia's foreign policy towards Europe. First of all, Brexit makes Russia's idea of merging Russian President Vladimir Putin's pet Eurasian Economic Union project, with the EU less viable. Second, Russia fears that Brexit could imply that the EU, minus Britain, will become a bloc dominated by Germany - a scenario that could have negative repercussions for Moscow. Lastly, as a result of Brexit, Britain may draw closer to the U.S., to form a new "Anglo-Saxon alliance", whose policy inclinations may prove more hostile to Russia.
Below are excerpts from Sushentov's article, which has been lightly edited for clarity:
United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron (Source: Valdaiclub.com)
'The Brexit Referendum Is Out Of The Limelight In Russian Media'
"Brexit will undoubtedly damage economically both the UK and the EU. Eventually it will affect Russia as well, making it modify its financial priorities and look for a safer haven for its money and investment. A central item on the European agenda, Britain's exit (Brexit) referendum in June is practically out of the limelight in the Russian media, although in Britain itself, Russia is described as one of the chief beneficiaries of Brexit. This is surprising because there is not a single statement by Russian politicians which could be interpreted as an assessment of Brexit's importance for Russia. In part, this is due to the fact that Russia has yet to stop and think about the consequences of this step. While at the same time, Moscow has much to lose if Britain withdraws from the EU, and this is likely the main reason why it is in no hurry to offer estimates.
"For Russia, a Brexit signals uncertainty, as it does for the rest of Europe. Referendum results are hard to predict, as is their impact on European politics and economies. Breaching the European status quo may have profound negative effects and pose questions no one is ready to answer. As a historical pessimist, Russia is not looking for the best possible way out. Rather, it is seeking to forestall the worst.
'Russia's Economic Well-Being And Its Strategic Economic Priorities Hinge On The Outcome Of [The Brexit] Referendum'
"The thing is that, to a certain extent, Russia's economic well-being and its strategic economic priorities hinge on the outcome of the British referendum. The Russian economy is closely integrated with the EU and Britain and will be automatically affected if the referendum results prove damaging to either. For several decades, the EU has been Russia's leading trade partner. In 2015, it accounted for 46% of Russian foreign trade ($249 billion). Britain's share of this trade is insignificant and both nations have almost no joint industries. But a Brexit-induced European economic earthquake will imply both direct and indirect consequences for Moscow because it will primarily affect the Netherlands and Cyprus, Russia's leading partners. According to some estimates, it is these two countries that are most closely linked with the UK economically and therefore will likely be hit the worst. It should be recalled that Cyprus' financial problems forced Russia to lend it $2.5 billion on easy terms in 2010-2011 in order to protect Russian Cyprus-based offshore businesses.
Brexit could spark a trade war between the UK and the EU, which will jeopardize Russian investments in Britain, the Netherlands and Cyprus. In early 2014, Russian direct cumulative investment in the UK amounted to $9.1 billion, with another $60.9 billion in BVI offshores. Russian investment in Cyprus totals $19.7 billion and in the Netherlands, $19.1 billion.
'If London Grows Less Attractive As The World's Financial Capital, Russian Companies May Start Offloading Their Stock'
"No less important a question is how Brexit will influence the safety of Russia's third-largest gold and currency reserves, 80% of which is invested in foreign securities and deposited with foreign banks. The UK accounts for 9.4% of these securities and the EU as a whole for nearly 62%. On top of that, about 41.5% of Russian reserves are denominated in Euros. Their current value is estimated at $360 billion but EU Brexit-related economic problems may cause the devaluation of these reserves.
"London is unlikely to become a less popular financial center if indeed Brexit occurs, but a development of this sort could also be expected. The leading Russian companies - Gazprom, Rosneft, Lukoil, Sberbank, Tatneft, Megafon, Rusagro - started trading their stock on the London Stock Exchange in the late 1990s. Currently the share of CIS corporates on the LSE is 17%. Five Russian companies are in the LSE Top-20, with Gazprom having held the lead in terms of capitalization for several years. If London grows less attractive as the world's financial capital, Russian companies may start offloading their stock. In recent years, Russian corporations were more willing to float their shares in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore, with some of them actually delisting from the LSE.
The EU's Current Fragmentation Came As A 'Slow Surprise' For Moscow While, however, Brexit's economic consequences can yet be calculated, its political fallout is practically unfathomable. The EU's current fragmentation came as a 'slow surprise' for Moscow. Russia was not ready for these developments and expected that the EU would eventually assert itself as an independent global player free of the U.S. patronage. It would be easier for Moscow to trade with a united EU than to discuss trade and visas with 28 EU members simultaneously. It was this logic that inspired the initiative for creating a common space from Vancouver to Vladivostok, an endeavor which Moscow continues to support. In creating the Eurasian Economic Union [EAEU], Russia intended to strengthen its negotiating positions for an 'integration of integrations', prospectively merging the EAEU and the EU. Now this priority is in question.[2]
"Brexit is certain to create a new balance in the Council of Europe. How will the German-French rivalry fare without the UK which used to allay the differences in the past? Will Paris and Berlin drift apart or close their ranks? It is not unlikely either that Europe will face a stronger Germany which will turn the EU into its own project by introducing common fiscal regulation and egging weaker economies like Greece to leave the organization altogether. In this case, the EU will cease to be a 27-country alliance and will become a bloc dominated by Germany and its allies. Is this good or something to dread for Russia? It's an open question but clearly not the best of scenarios for Moscow
'[Brexit] Will End Up In A New Anglo-Saxon Alliance...One Which Will Build A 'Polish-Baltic Wall' On Its Border With Russia'
"A no less important a question is what role the UK will choose after Brexit? Few people in Russia believe that it will seek to become an independent global player. To remain influential and avoid problems with territorial integrity, London can focus on a closer alliance with the United States. The new bloc could also be joined by pro-U.S. regimes in Eastern Europe. There is no doubt that its emphasis on anti-Russian sanctions will scare away Russian money. This will end up in a new Anglo-Saxon alliance emerging in Europe, one which will build a "Polish-Baltic wall" on its border with Russia. On the other hand, the main EU countries - Germany, France, Italy and others - will consolidate a bloc that will seek normal relations with Russia. A generation later, we may face two different Europes, both competing with and challenging each other. We could hardly wish a future of this sort... Eventually it will affect Russia as well [economically], making it modify its financial priorities and look for a safer haven for its money and investment. An indirect consequence of this is likely to be Russia's stronger 'pivot to the East' as a result of its dwindling presence on European financial markets and reorientation to Asian stock exchanges."
Endnotes:
News / National
by Thobekile Zhou
Tsvangirai's MDC-T has warned of an imminent civil 'commotion' due to worsening economic crisis and lack of political legitimacy of the Zanu-PF regime.In a statement, MDC-T national spokesperson Obert Gutu said the country is on a knife edge."At the rate that the Zimbabwean economy is imploding, there is a very real risk of civil commotion taking place in the country soon because millions of Zimbabweans have no access to food and even the Zanu-PF regime itself is struggling to timeously pay civil servants their salaries," said Gutu.He called on President Robert Mugabe to step down."President Robert Mugabe is now a visitor to Zimbabwe since he spends most of his time outside the country."The MDC-T calls upon President Robert Mugabe and his entire Cabinet to immediately step down and to allow for the holding of free, fair and credible elections that will be run and supervised by the United Nations with the active participation of both SADC and the AU".
Marking the 100th anniversary of the Sykes-Picot agreement, which divided the Ottoman Empire into several territories and thus largely shaped the map of the Middle East as we know it today, the Arab press published many articles discussing this agreement and its outcomes. Some writers focused on the agreements' adversary effects, and warned that the U.S. and Russia are currently formulating a new Sykes-Picot agreement that will subdivide the region's states into even smaller states on a sectarian and ethnic basis. This, in order to further weaken the Arab world and subordinate it to their control. There were also articles that accused the Arab regimes of cooperating with this plan, consciously or unconsciously, and some accused Israel of being party to it.
Conversely, other writers claimed that the disintegration of the Arab world along ethnic and sectarian lines stems not from external plots but from the division and hatred that currently prevail among the Arabs.
Yet another approach was taken by Lebanese journalist Khairallah Khairallah. He wrote that the Sykes-Picot agreement was actually a "gift from heaven," but the Arabs failed to take advantage of it. Instead of using it to develop states that benefit their people, they used it as an excuse to oppress their people and as to justify all their failures.
The following are translated excerpts from some of the articles.
The U.S. And Russia Are Formulating A New Sykes-Picot Agreement In Cooperation With Israel And Some Arab Regimes
The Egyptian daily Al-Ahram warned in an editorial against reappearance of the "the ghosts of Sykes-Picot," and urged the Arabs to unite in order to avert the danger. It wrote: "Today, May 16, is the 100th anniversary of the cursed Sykes-Picot agreement... that divided the Arab homeland between France and Britain... Today the Arab world is experiencing one of the worst periods of weakness it has even known. Many countries are dealing with internal wars, external plots and international intervention, in addition to domestic deterioration due to the struggle against terror and the economic crises... The plot [that exists today] is clear. Western research institutes and the American press are openly talking of a new Sykes-Picot [agreement] that will correct the mistakes of the previous partition. Nobody can fail to notice that five Arab countries - Iraq, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Sudan - are to be divided into 13 states. The ghosts of Sykes-Picot are tangibly present, [and plan] to divide the Arab region into mini-states along sectarian lines: [separate] states for Christians, Shi'ites, 'Alawites, Sunnis and Kurds... The danger is real and threatens all of us, and therefore we Arabs must awaken and unite, before we awaken to an even greater disaster."[1]
Nizar 'Abd Al-Qader, a Lebanese strategic analyst, wrote in the London-based Saudi daily Al-Hayat that plans for partitioning Syria, Iraq and other Middle East countries had been formulated in the U.S. as early as the 1970s, and that today some Arab states were cooperating with them: "American plans formulated in the 1970s and in the subsequent decades whetted [the appetite of] some sectarian and ethnic leaders and were met with encouragement by some corrupt and tyrannical regimes [that though these plans would] help them stay in power. Apparently, the U.S. administrations also continue to encourage [these plans]...
"Do the Arab rulers understand the danger of submitting to plans of redrawing the present borders - [plans] leading to religious and ethnic chaos that could last a century, as happened in Europe during the Middle Ages - [and all this] in order to serve the geo-political interests of Israel and of the world?"[2]
"100 years after the Sykes-Picot agreement," the "Kerry-Lavrov" pencil erases the existing Middle East borders (Al-Ghad, Jordan, May 19, 2016)
Fathi Mahmoud, a columnist for the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, likewise wrote that the Arabs are party to a new Sykes-Picot agreement and that the division of the region has already started: "What is happening now is a redrafting of the regional map that goes further than the [original] Sykes-Picot agreement and divides what was already divided in the past [into even smaller areas]. As usual, it is the Arabs who will suffer, even though this time around they are the main partners in the re-division of the region...
"The partition of Syria has already started in practice, in the north, with the establishment of [Kurdish] autonomous regions. [The creation of these regions] was dictated by the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, which has laid down the foundations of what looks like a mini-state for the [Kurdish] people. [This state] has a parliament, called the People's Assembly of Western Kurdistan, and it has formed military forces called the People's Protection Units, and it also has a government, a constitution and an education system. In Iraq, [too], the division along sectarian lines is proceeding with all speed." Mahmoud warned: "The new Sykes-Picot will be much more difficult and tragic than the previous one, which caused the loss of Palestine. It looks like we are in for another Nakba."[3]
Another Al-Ahram columnist, Dr. Mahmoud Al-Sa'id Idris, wrote that the present partition plan was drawn up by the U.S. and Israel and its implementation started with the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. He added that the plan was meant to weaken the Arab world, and warned: "All this is happening amid an almost complete lack of Arab awareness. [The Arabs fail] to draw the connection between Israel and the harming of their interests that is happening [today]. Moreover, Israel is playing a pivotal role in this second round of the plan for partitioning the Arab region, amid a climate of unprecedented cooperation, or at least understanding, between it and the Arabs.
"What brought about this transformation in the Arabs' awareness and understanding of the Zionist entity despite all the destructive roles it has played against them?... How did Iran become the enemy of the Arabs, after it was an ally for a while, at least of some of them? How did the Arabs become as hostile towards Iran as Israel is, and come to regard [Iran] as an existential threat? [And] what is the source of the terrorism that the Arabs have come to regard as their enemy and which competes with and even replaces the Zionist entity [as the Arabs' enemy]?..."[4]
"The Sykes-Picot agreement, 100 later" (Al-Watan, Saudi Arabia, May 30, 2016)
'Abd Al-Mun'im Ibrahim, a columnist for the Bahraini Akhbar Al-Khalij daily, likewise stated that there was an American plan to redraw the map of the Middle East and carve up the Arab states, and that Russia was party to this plan. He warned: "Are we, the Gulf states, immune to this partition plan? Of course not. But right now they [the U.S. and Russia] are delaying the implementation of their plans here [in the Gulf] because they recognize the economic and military might of these states. The alliance between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, or more accurately, between Egypt and the Gulf, is restraining the new colonialist partition plan. But once they finish [dividing up] Syria and Libya, they will take their scalpel to the Arab Gulf."[5]
The Internal Strife And Sectarian Hostility In The Arab World Are Worse Than The Sykes-Picot Agreement
Conversely, other writers blamed the Arabs themselves for the current state of their region. They stated that, for years, the Arabs have made a habit of cursing the Sykes-Picot agreement and blaming it for dividing the Arab world; however, today the Sykes-Picot borders must be upheld because they are better than complete chaos. They stated further that it is the sectarian and ethnic extremism prevailing in the region today, and not any plot by the superpowers, that is responsible for its disintegration.
'Omar 'Ayasra, a columnist for Al-Sabil, the paper of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood, wrote: "How saddening that the proverb 'hang on to the wretched thing [you have] so that you do not end up with something even worse' accurately describes the Arabs' attitude towards the imperialist plans that were imposed on them. This proverb exactly describes the Sykes-Picot agreement, which we cursed so much, regarding it as the source of the problems that made us so dependent and backward... On the 100th anniversary of the Sykes-Picot agreement that divided [the Arab world], we yearn for [this agreement] to hold up, because [if it doesn't] what will come will be much worse and much blacker.
"We never imagined that the states of whose [viability] we were never convinced would become a paradise compared to the hell of division and partition that may become a solid fact in the near future. The states of Syria Iraq, Libya, Yemen and others are being remade by destroying these countries and their societies and reviving the [old] ethnic and secondary loyalties.
"[Recently], Masoud Barazani, [president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region], declared that the Sykes-Picot [agreement] has completed its role and it is time to look for an alternative.[6] Walid Jumblatt, the leader of the Druze in Lebanon, [likewise] believes that Sykes-Picot is no longer valid and should be altered. The various minorities and sects aspire to establish states that will highlight their particular identity. I consider this a much bigger tragedy than Sykes-Picot."[7]
"The New Sykes-Picot": the tank of "sectarianism" divides Iraq, Syria and Yemen
Ayman Al-Hammad, editorialist for the Saudi government daily Al-Riyadh, stressed that the danger to the unity of the Arab world did not lie in a new Sykes-Picot agreement but in the sectarian and ethnic hostility that prevails among the Arabs. He wrote: "To tell the truth, I do not think that [we will see] a new Sykes-Picot agreement like the one [sighed] 100 years ago. Despite the considerable weakness and instability of the present Arab regimes, what is happening today is very different from the scenario that unfolded a century ago. [Today] there are entities whose borders are clearer. The facts are different, and the interests intersect in a more complicated manner. However, we may be in a new psychological state that [enables us] to bear the idea of the Sykes-Picot [agreement]. [I refer to what is] in the heart of the Arab citizen, whose attitude towards his neighbors in the region, [or even] in the neighborhood where he lives or in the next town, has become dark. This is because the events we are experiencing have sown a sense of alienation in every citizen in the country. Invisible yet tangible boundaries exist even between the residents of a single neighborhood. I think that is even worse than the Sykes-Picot [reality]."[8]
Liberal Saudi journalist Khalaf Al-Harbi wrote in the government daily 'Okaz: "It has come to the point that we mourn [the destruction] of the Sykes-Picot agreement, after for a whole century we lamented its outcomes... Today the Arabs do not need a new Sykes-Picot [agreement] and there is no need for foreign forces to redraw our maps - because our hearts, filled with sectarian hatred, and our minds, filled with ethnic and tribal extremism, serve as the despicable pen and ruler [with which we] divide [our own region].
"Sure, there are declared plans by the superpowers to [re-]divide the region that was [already] divided in the past and turn the [existing] mini-states into even smaller mini-states - but these plans would not have existed without the division that prevails among us... The Arabs will not derive much benefit from talking about a grand international plot [against them], just as they derived no benefit from cursing the Sykes-Picot [agreement] for the past 100 years..."[9]
Lebanese Journalist: Sykes-Picot Was A Boon For The Arabs, But They Failed To Take Advantage Of It
Conversely, Lebanese journalist Khairallah Khairallah, the former editor of the London-based daily Al-Hayat, praised the Sykes-Picot agreement, calling it a "boon" for the Arabs and "a gift from heaven." He wrote in the London-based daily Al-Arab: "There are those in the Arab world who have always cursed the Sykes-Picot [agreement], seeing it as the main [reason] for the [Arabs'] calamities and defeats in every field. [But] the Sykes-Picot agreement was not the main reason for these calamities and defeats, but merely the coat hanger on which many Arabs hung their problems and their helplessness, in order to excuse their inability and backwardness.... Sykes-Picot failed because the Arabs moved away from what is realistic and rational, though it could have been made into a success... Most Arabs thought that slogans were enough in order to realize their aspirations. They never distinguished between reality and dreams...
"Sykes-Picot was a boon, but not a single Arab regime managed to preserve it, adapt itself to it, and develop it so as to serve the people of the region and their future generations. On the contrary, the regimes used it as an excuse to oppress their peoples, sometimes in the name of Palestine and sometimes in the name of Arab unity and resistance to global colonialism and imperialism. On the 100th anniversary of the Sykes-Picot [agreement], the Arabs will [find themselves] lamenting [its loss]. It was a gift from heaven that they did not manage to preserve. [This is] only because they did not understand from the beginning... that they had states and political regimes that could be developed, instead of resorting to military rule and security apparatuses that gave birth to sectarian militias - from the Sunni organization ISIS to its Shi'ite equivalents, whatever their names."[10]
Endnotes:
News / National
by Staff reporter
The Acting Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Professor Jonathan Moyo has suspended Harare mayor Bernard Manyenyeni, a day after reinstating him.Manyenyeni, who was suspended last month for insubordination following his controversial appointment of James Mushore as the new Town Clerk, was reinstated yesterday but could not last 24 hours in office as Professor Moyo sent him on another suspension on fresh allegations.Professor Moyo said Manyenyeni has been suspended for blocking audits at Easipark and City Parking when he was informed of corruption at the two institutions.Professor Moyo said the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Cde Saviour Kasukuwere on 27 July 2015 instructed Mayor Manyenyeni to conduct a forensic audit of the two institutions within six weeks, before further instructing him on the 25th of January 2016 to expand the audit to all entities under Harare Sunshine Holdings Private Limited.Instead of conducting the audits, Professor Moyo said Mayor Manyenyeni instructed officials who manage the entities to block the audits."This was the gross violation of duty and abuse of office on [the Mayor's] part. The allegations of corruption levelled against entities under Harare Sunshine Holdings Private Limited constitute gross dereliction of duty bordering on incompetence and corruption to the detriment of the residents of the city of Harare," added Professor Moyo.During the period of the suspension, Manyenyeni shall not conduct any business for and on behalf of council and is not eligible to receive any allowance.
Opinion / Columnist
BANKERS and industry have recommended the adoption of the South African rand as the major transacting currency to reduce concentration of risk associated with heavy reliance on the United States dollar currently accounting for 95 percent of all transactions.This comes as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has moved in to expedite cash importation by banks after including cash imports under the priority one (High) category of foreign exchange payments.In separate presentations before the portfolio committee on Finance and Economic Development yesterday, representatives from the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe and the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, said the adoption of the rand would be one of the measures needed to address the cash challenges the country is facing."It is recommended that the South African rand be used as the major transacting currency. This reduces concentration of risk associated with heavy reliance on US dollar transactions (that account for 95 percent of all transactions up from 60 percent in 2010)," BAZ president Dr Charity Jinya said."In 2015, Zimbabwe lost $1,8 billion to externalisation. It is further recommended the US dollar be reserved to make offshore payments and local electronic payments only," she said.South Africa is Zimbabwe's largest trading partner with export to that country representing 78 percent of total exports. Imports from SA represent 22 percent of total imports in March 2016, according to statistics from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe."We have recommended that let us use the rand as the transacting currency. It does not have the same attractiveness as the US dollar," said Dr Jinya.Zimbabwe lost $1,8 billion to externalisation in 2015 while the informal sector employs roughly 80 percent of labour and is worth over $7 billion, predominantly consisting of vendors, farmers and small scale traders who are reliant on cheap imports.This has the effect of undermining local production resulting in Zimbabwean products failing to compete in the region.But adoption of the rand could mean that the cheap imports become irrelevant as local producers would also adjust cost structures to regional levels.Also, cheap imports will not find a market as prices will be at par with local goods."It will take away the incentive where we are having some of these products particularly some of the fast moving consumer goods which are landing at ridiculous prices are doing so for the purposes of securing the US dollar," CZI vice president Sifelani Jabangwe said.To promote efficient utilisation of foreign exchange and to re-orient import demand towards productive uses, the Reserve Bank and the Business Council, represented by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce and the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe came up with foreign exchange priority list to guide banks in the distribution of foreign currency."In order to expedite importation of cash by the banks to liquefy the economy, such importations shall be considered under priority one (High) of the priority list for foreign payments guidelines," RBZ director (Foreign Exchange) Moris Mpofu said in a circular to banks.Given the size of the informal sector, the bankers association is of the view that measures need to be put in place to formalise the sector.According to the World Bank statistics, current banking penetration in Zimbabwe is 17,3 percent of adult population banking and only seven percent of the bottom 40 percent of adults in relation to income earned possesses a bank account. The bottom 40 in terms of income generating capacity is predominantly the informal sector."The circulation of bond notes alongside the South African rand will force informal sector participants to open bank accounts. This will result in an increase in deposits in the formal banking sector," said Dr Jinya.Other recommendations moved by bankers include putting stringent measures in place to deal with smuggling of cash over the borders so as to limit leakages.The swift and fast transaction to a cashless society is recommended by encouraging the use of plastic money.This can be achieved by creating an enabling environment which will culminate in reducing the cost of transacting in plastic money.
Opinion / Columnist
It is sad to note that some Zimbabweans continue to import non-essentials or finished products while shunning local goods. The benefits that can be accrued by consuming Zimbabwean products are immeasurable."An economy that continually imports and fails to export will die." This statement proffered by a Zimbabwean economist Kipson Gundani is too true.The current Zimbabwe economic malaise can be attributed to this disproportion among other things. As early as 2005, the former Reserve Bank governor Dr Gideon Gono decried the adverse impact imports were having on the country and came up with a conceptual framework on the "Buy Zimbabwe Campaign" with the aim of creating "a platform for economic turnaround based on the realignment of consumption patterns with the economy's productive capacities".This was after the realisation that "contemporary evidence shows that no meaningful industrialisation strategy can occur without promoting local products".Some 10 years later after mooting this noble idea and the subsequent launch of the "Buy Zimbabwe Campaign" in 2011, we are still going around in circles. This has resulted in the trade deficit continuing to widen with recent 2015 statistics standing at $3 billion when trade figures showed that exports amounted to $2,5 billion against $5,5 billion imports.We cannot continue with this business as usual mentality as the country's over-reliance on imports has been identified as one of the contributors of the current liquidity crunch.Industrialists and economists have always advised that we need to keep money inside the country to avert the liquidity crisis and massive company closures in the absence of foreign direct investment to boost industry. In Shona we have a saying "wakarumwa nechekuchera", a situation which aptly describe our situation. We cannot relax as a heavily importing country and expect a change in our fortunes.Government is doing all in its power to address the anomaly, among other things the proposed domestic procurement index which will require retailers to cut imports and increase local product purchases. This in itself is not enough, but it's a start. Zimbabwe has been hailed for coming up with excellent policies which have failed on implementation.Maybe we need to really examine our modus operandi as a country if we are ever going to move forward. This is after the Minister of Industry and Commerce Mike Bimha said; "I do not think we are doing enough as Government. A lot of directives and policy measures have been put in place, but for various reasons, this has not been followed through". The minister's honesty is commendable.We could start with the proposed procurement legislation which the minister even admitted does not exist, "Right now, we do not have a single and strong legislation for local procurement, though we have reference in some pieces of legislation to address this issue."The need for legislation can never be over-emphasised. South Africa has managed to promote its local products by the "Proudly South African campaign" which has a 75 percent local procurement accord explaining their success.The United States of America enacted the Buy America Act of 1933 to certify that the government preferred procurement of local products.We have both regional and global examples of success where the governments took the initiative to promote local products, a move which has seen these countries change their economic fortunes. For example, in 1997 Thailand was faced with an economic crisis which encouraged the government to introduce the Buy Thailand Campaign as part of a seven-step programme to assist in curbing unemployment and boost the local economy.Reports also show that Government is doing everything possible to revive the economy amongst them the Cotton Pricing Model, Cotton to Clothing Value Chain, Industrial Development Fund, Leather and Leather Product Strategy, and National Competitiveness Bill.Of major concern is we don't follow through on matters.Right now we are talking of how the clothing industry collapsed because of "mabhero" or second hand clothes that are smuggled into the country. Government banned these on September 1, 2015, but nothing has been done to effectively deal with the problem. The second hand clothes market is still thriving. As much as we have sympathy for those whose livelihoods depend on "mabhero", the damage this has inflicted on the economy is inestimable. Is it not time to bite the bullet and enforce the ban if we have any hope of reviving our clothing industry?Commendation should be given to the Buy Zimbabwe which was launched in 2011 with the sole objective of raising awareness and the profile of home-grown goods and services. It also seeks to lobby Government to enact laws and policies that support local producers and connecting local producers to retailers, consumers and other relevant stakeholders. Buy Zimbabwe efforts through its annual Buy Zimbabwe Awards should be applauded. The Buy Zimbabwe Awards honour outstanding local companies and individuals that have demonstrated resilience and commitment to job creation and reducing the import bill. Resources should be availed to Buy Zimbabwe as their efforts have assisted Government in promoting local products.It is sad to note that some Zimbabweans continue to import non-essentials or finished products while shunning local goods. The benefits that can be accrued by consuming Zimbabwean products are immeasurable. Any laws that promote locally produced goods will increase industrial capacity utilisation which in 2015 had dropped to 34,3 percent from 36,5 percent in 2014. One of the reasons identified was low local demand, an anomaly that can be addressed by introducing a procurement accord and ensuring it is adhered to. The high demand for local products will translate into high employment levels. This is because consumption of locally produced commodities creates demand for local labour resources and contributes towards the reduction of the unemployment rate.Many have heard how Zimbabweans bemoan "zhing-zhong", a term used to refer to low quality products which have flooded our markets over the years. Locally produced goods which are certified by the Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) will never short-change consumers on quality.As the country leans towards local products, it is also pertinent that Government and the financial sector continue to help ailing companies through the Distressed and Marginalised Areas Fund (Dimaf). Dimaf was launched in 2011 as a $40 million fund to re-capacitate ailing companies in the country's second largest city of Bulawayo among others. As at March 2016, a sum of $29,5 million had reportedly been disbursed from the fund benefiting approximately 51 companies. Recently, Turnall Holdings secured $1million from Dimaf to improve its working capital levels. This is the kind of news we yearn for as a nation and not to hear companies folding and workers losing their livelihoods.As much as Zimbabwe's economy is driven by market forces, some of our challenges have been linked to "too open economy".We need to protect our own and the only way we can achieve that is to reduce the import bill and increase our exports. This is achievable if we protect our industries and consume our products.Local is lekker.
Opinion / Columnist
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's fear to name a successor stems from a deep sense of mistrust and fear that the chosen heir-apparent could make a volte-face and persecute him, a former Zanu-PF activist has claimed.Expelled Zanu-PF Mashonaland Central provincial youth leader, Godfrey Tsenengamu, made the disclosures on his Facebook page yesterday, saying Mugabe's continued indecision was triggered by his family's fear and insecurity over what a new leader might do.He confirmed his assertions in an interview with a local publication."Some in Zanu-PF choose to criminalise it (succession) and say it's treasonous to discuss the matter," he said."No, I prefer to differ. My President (Mugabe) should preside over this matter while he is still around and it is in his best interests to do so. We must understand that the succession issue is being fuelled by the insecurity that a lot of people are feeling. There is lack of trust and that is dangerous."Tsenengamu issued an ominous warning that if Mugabe failed to deal with the succession issue now, Zanu-PF was doomed."He (Mugabe) must preside over the matter now or else Zanu-PF is doomed. His family remains insecure, the economy continues to go down and those feeling insecure in the party continue to cause unnecessary divisions and fights," he said."It's not taboo to plan for our future. We can't afford to postpone reality."If anything were to happen to him, given the current factional fights, there will be chaos in both the party and government. Talking about a succession plan does not mean people do not want the President. It is in his best interests."Mugabe, two weeks ago, told a Zanu-PF gathering in Harare that "the small groups discussing succession are treasonous", adding, "I am not going anywhere."Tsenengamu insinuated Mugabe's family was discussing the succession issue."I am taking a cue from the First Lady (Grace Mugabe), who, at the Chiweshe rally, said they had been considering someone as a successor, but had lost confidence in that person," he said."That means they discuss the issue and are weighing the options. It's important that the President sees this process through. No investor will bring their money where they are not sure of the future and a clear succession plan will instil confidence in our people and the international community."Tsenengamu was expelled from the ruling party early this year, along with six other provincial youth leaders for alleged gross misconduct.His remarks came as war veterans have upped their demands for Mugabe to name Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa as his successor.The former freedom fighters have also demanded that Tsenengamu and his colleagues be unconditionally reinstated into the ruling party.Zanu-PF is bedevilled by fierce internal factional fights centred around the succession issue with Grace and Mnangagwa touted as possible contenders.Tsenengamu said Mugabe needed to open up and allow members to start discussing the matter and allow for a new leader for the country in 2018, while he retains the ruling party's presidency."Our leaders have come a long way and have every reason to be together and work together. We also have a role to play and help them mend relations and rebuild trust," he said.But Zanu-PF political commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere yesterday scoffed at the suggestion, saying the succession debate was being fanned by those who wanted to side-track Mugabe."We have always said the issue of succession is not on the agenda. But for us, we need to ensure that the party continues to run the government under President Mugabe. We have a President and he is our candidate for 2018. So we wonder whom the successor is going to succeed," he said."The President has consistently said Zanu-PF has a time-honoured tradition of leadership renewal that should be followed at congress when the timecomes."Our party is comfortable with President Mugabe. He has the confidence of the membership and given the numbers that turned up at the million-man march (last month), he has confidence of Zimbabweans."
Deputy Foreign Minister Ioannis Amanatidis met at the Foreign Ministry today, Tuesday, 7 June, with the new Serbian Ambassador to Greece, Dusan Spasojevic.
During the discussion, which took place in a very friendly and constructive atmosphere, there was a coincidence of opinion that, in the coming time, the traditional ties linking the two countries need to be the foundation for the dynamic development of bilateral cooperation in the sectors of politics, economy and culture.
Ambassador Spasojevic conveyed the Serbian sides gratitude for Mr. Amanatidis recent (18 April 2016) participation in the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the arrival and accommodation in Corfu of Serbian soldiers and citizens during World War I.
Subsequently, views were exchanged on the potential for further strengthening of bilateral cultural relations. In response to the Serbian Ambassadors expression of interest in the preparations for the Holy and Great Council of Orthodoxy, Mr. Amanatidis set out the actions the Greek government has taken to facilitate the Council, stressing the immense importance that a message of Orthodox unity would take on.
D. BUSHATI: Hello to everyone. I would like to thank my friend Nikos Kotzias for visiting Tirana today, together with his team.
As you know, we have met many times, in Tirana, in Athens, in Thessaloniki or in Brussels, as well as in international fora of which Albania and Greece are both members. We have been working together for nearly a year to deal with certain pending issues between the two countries. Issues stemming from the Second World War, issues of practical interest to the citizens of our two countries, as well as issues that we consider to be of decisive importance with regard to the common European future. Because it is well known that we have a strategic partnership interest in moving ahead and working together.
Of late, my friend Nikos and I have been exchanging certain ideas and we have been making an effort to move ahead to a joint programme for resolving the bilateral issues pending between Albania and Greece. Apart from our efforts to create a joint programme, I am happy to say that we agreed on a joint mechanism for the manner in which we will deal with these issues, which have now been prioritized by us and by our respective teams.
A mechanism that will meet at frequent intervals. It will be intensive, on all the issues included in our effort towards a joint package or a joint programme. There is no question of the prioritization of these issues alone sufficing. The issues are well known. We have stated them publicly to the news media, in our communication, in our communication with the parliamentary organs. All of our actions are now focused on how to find a solution on these issues.
Personally, when I compare the proposals of my friend Mr. Kotzias with those I have presented, I see that there are many common points and that there is a great dynamic for dealing with these issues. Whats more, there is a shared will on the part of the respective governments for us to move ahead.
Together with the mechanism for consultations on the manner in which these issues will be dealt with, today we also agreed on a roadmap, because it is important for the range of issues which is broad, of a varying nature and often interdependent to be accompanied by a clear roadmap, to be agreed on various levels, so that we can start to see the first results in this direction.
I very much appreciate the interest of the news media in meetings on such a level. This means that people are impatient for a solution rather than just a ranking of the issues on the part of the two governments. I also appreciate the work of the respective teams that have helped us reach this moment, which, I must say, wasnt easy, given that our relations are thousands of years old, complex. But I want to reiterate that it is a relationship of great potential.
Thanking my friend Minister Nikos Kotzias once again, I want to say that meetings like this will be more intensive from now on, until we find solutions on all of the issues, because we are neighbours and we have no other alternative.
Thank you.
N. KOTZIAS: I thank my friend Ditmir and the Foreign Ministry of Albania for the hospitality and the good will with which we are discussing and dealing with the problems.
Unfortunately, it is not seen as self-evident, in our time, to seek solutions when there are problems. There are some who consider seeking solutions to a problem to be a problem. I must respond to you that problems exist for us to resolve them and to move on. That is our shared philosophy;that we have to solve the existing problems and undertake the major projects of the future.
We have great duties before us, to our peoples and to the whole region; duties to the stability and security of the whole region. We have major networks to create, we have energy development to carry out, and we need to develop our cultural and educational cooperation and many other issues that my colleague Ditmir and I discussed.
The solutions to these problems that exist will need to be promoted in a creative manner, through a culture of dialogue and consensus; that is, in a European manner. Because the people who think problems are not to be resolved think that the European path is without Europe. The European path requires European methods and European understanding.
This is why the proposal made by Ditmir for a Roadmap and a timeframe is a proposal that is based on the tools of the EU itself. We have to lift the heavy weight of the European course of the Western Balkans, and this is why we have to resolve the problems we bring with us from the past and contribute to the European course of these states, and first of all the European course of Albania.
Greece is one of the oldest members of the EU. It has great experience and know-how, and it will always be at Albanias side to provide whatever is needed on its course.
In this context, I had the pleasure of Minister Bushatis accepting my invitation for us to hold a second meeting in Thessaloniki, in October, of the four states, and of his accepting my proposal for our holding, in September, the meeting of six European states and six Arab states, and also for our working together on a regular basis.
Again, I thank Ditmir for the open horizons he has, for the different views we have and that we always discuss openly, based on the culture of democratic dialogue.
I thank all of you who are here, and I thank the Albanian government for its hospitality.
JOURNALIST (Thimi Samarxhiu, TOP CHANNEL): One question for each minister. Mr. Bushati, the Cham issue has been under discussion in Albania for some time now, while Greece does not recognize it. Was there at least a discussion, during your joint meeting, of the Cham issue, which was foreseen as being in your package?
D. BUSHATI: Thank you for the question. I think I was clear when I referred to the complexity of the relations between the two countries, the list of issues and a kind of categorization which I have carried out in the past into three chapters/baskets. I also believe that the differing opinions I have with Mr. Kotzias on some of these issues are respected. However, there is no doubt, with regard to our side, that the Cham issue is part of the chapter or basket stemming from the Second World War.
We are neighbouring countries, and in a way it is natural including because of the fact that the Balkan and Mediterranean people are characterized as hot-blooded for us to have different readings of this matter, as well as of other matters. I believe that realistic handling would moderate the nationalist tones and restore justice. But I believe that it is the right moment for me to be clear and direct with public opinion in both countries: that there is no talk of territorial claims. Albania has no kinds of claims on Greece; it is a country that has signed the Helsinki Final Act.
Albania accepts and respects Greece as a decent neighbour. Albania is grateful for the support that Greece has offered over time, as in the process of accession to the Euroatlantic institutions, like now, with the process of European integration. But our approach, when we refer to this issue, concerns respect for the freedom and the fundamental rights of this Cham population and their descendants, who in reality were Albanians of Epirus, with Greek passports and citizenship.
There is talk of a process whereby every obstacle in the nature of discrimination should be removed regarding this group as well. We are a country that aims to create a society founded on justice, and by this we are certainly not referring to collective responsibilities, collective condemnations for any reason, but to individual calm and a respect for the right to property, freedom of movement, etc.
In this process of research, discussions, dialogue, regardless of the difficulties and biases that exist, we believe that it is possible to emulate best practices, such as the latest Franco-German practices, to pay homage to the victims of the First World War through various actions, like monuments or other symbols. That is, we are in the midst of this type of discussion, this type of process, where naturally the principles of good neighbourliness, of respect for the territorial integrity of our neighbour, are in effect above all else.
JOURNALIST (Thimi Samarxhiu, TOP CHANNEL): Mr. Minister, in the last meeting you had with Minister Bushati, you mentioned that the War Law is just a formality. Why hasnt it been withdrawn so far, and when are you thinking of rescinding this law? Have you undertaken any specific initiatives?
N. KOTZIAS: Let me start with the second question, about the state of war. Greece believes that the declaration of the Ministerial Council of 1987, to the effect that we are not at war, is in effect. Moreover, the Friendship Agreement of 1996, which is an agreement between two countries that are friendly, is also in effect. Albanias accession to NATO and its European accession perspective make us not just friends, but partners. If there are doubts on the other side as to whether or not we are at war, this will be a subject of a discussion that will take place, and I think we will both find a satisfactory response to this question.
Now, regarding the Cham issue, which you asked Mr. Bushati about in your first question, it is well known that there is quite a large group of Chams who are Albanian and live in Albania. I wish this group prosperity and hope it benefits from Albanias accession to the European Union. There are also some, the old Chams, Christians who were Islamized in 1611, who are today Greek citizens. There were also Chams who collaborated with the German conqueror, who created committees for controlling and looting the property of the rest of the population in areas of Epirus, and who were condemned by the Greek courts based on Greek and international law, and who, in contrast with other collaborators in Europe, fled the country and were not executed. I think we need to be careful: When we talk about the Chams, we do not mean any group of Albanian citizens, and we certainly dont mean Albania.
I say this because there are some who want to associate anyone who collaborated with German Nazism with some group of Albanian citizens who always lived in Albania and never lived in Greece, and then to also identify them with all of Albania. In this sense we say that, for us, there is no problem with the way it is handled by our neighbour. We have a different approach, and everything is well known from the point of view of history.
JOURNALIST (Nikos Meletis ERT): Mr. Bushati, I would like a clarification, first of all. By the statement you made earlier, do you mean that there were some Chams who really were involved in war crimes and collaboration with the Nazis? As you clarified that the responsibilities are not collective.
But my question has to do with the delimitation of maritime zones whether Albania intends to agree to a new delimitation of the maritime zones by December, so that such pending matters do not present an obstacle to Albanias accession course. And the second question concerns the properties of the Greek Minority. We constantly learn of and hear allegations of seizure of thousands of acres of Greek property, mainly in the minority area of Himara. What measures do you intend to take to protect this basic possession of the Albanian citizens who are members of the Greek Minority?
D. BUSHATI: Ill start with the last, regarding the Greek Minority, which is a minority much respected here in Albania and is also a minority that is not just a bridge of cooperation between Albania and Greece, but also has a major contribution to the democratic institutions and developments in the country. Albania is a party to the Council of Europe Framework Treaty for the Protection of National Minorities, and in all the reports and observations the CoE makes in this direction, there is recognition of the work done by the Albanian authorities with regard to respect for the freedoms and rights of minorities and as I have often said in meeting with various partners and with associations that represent the minorities here in Albania, with my friend Nikos, we are open to moving even further ahead with respect in the sector of minorities, and we are also open to looking at advanced models, both here in the region and in the rest of Europe.
Regarding the case of properties, we talked today, too, with the Greek Minister, Mr. Kotzias, about the possibilities, which perhaps we have not made good use of, between Albania and Greece. As for the Friendship Agreement, in it is article 15, of which the Greek Minority here in Albania, as well as the journalists, are well aware, and which includes the setting up of committees between Albania and Greece; committees of experts on the cases of the property of citizens of both countries or property of a state nature. We can say that we have not taken advantage of this potential which existed in the agreement as we should have in order to avoid all of those cases where there is abuse or obstacles, internal obstacles, legislative or administrative, in the respective states. We ask the Greek side to respect property rights in some cases, and we are also open to sitting down to discuss all those cases that have to do with property rights that may certainly affect the Greek Minority in Albania.
To your question on the difficulty that existed with delimitation of the maritime zones, or in the case of the sea, as we say here in Albania, the facts are clear with regard to the negotiation process as well as decision-making on the part of Albanias Constitutional Court. There are proposals from both sides, following a long more than two-year process of talks on how we will learn from the mistakes the Albanian side has made in this process, and we ourselves have learned lessons from the decisions that the Constitutional Court has taken. It has been stated clearly that the territorial integrity of Albania has been impacted, which is something I have said many times and will continue to stress as long as I am a minister. I dont want to put on a show, as happens in Parliament, but I would like to say that we are determined to move ahead with the Greek side for a solution based on the European spirit and the rules of international law. I have said many times including to the news media in Greece and Albania that, for both Albania and Greece, it is a matter of strategic interest that we find a solution.
With Italy, for a time, during the Cold War and when we had this distinction between East and West, it took seven years to find a joint solution, while the geographical layout of Albania and Italy is suitable and there arent a lot of questions or more complications. In the case of Greece and Albania, it took a year and a half, with three rounds of negotiations, which were afterwards rejected by the Constitutional Court. This shows a lack of seriousness on the part of the Albanian side, and I represent a government and a political force that is a part of the government that does not want to make such a mistake; a mistake that not only bears on the countrys territorial integrity, but also creates problems it is difficult to remedy with neighbours.
Regarding the comment you made on my statement concerning the case of Epirus, I believe I was clear with regard to the absence of territorial claims and with regard to the clear human rights dimension, which should indicate precisely our point of view in this case.
N. KOTZIAS: I would like to make a comment; International agreements are based on international law and produce international commitments. Thank you.
JOURNALIST (Klementina Cenkollari, Ora News): Mr. Bushati, what is your comment on yesterdays announcement from the Greek Foreign Ministry, which preceded Foreign Minister Kotzias visit and appears to have been a warning of a Greek veto of Albanias accession to the EU? Thank you.
D. BUSHATI: Allow me to disappoint you, but I didnt take it that way. I didnt take it that way for specific reasons, not just because of what my friend Mr. Kotzias said correctly and generously, but also because of the fact that I do not believe it is the desire, will, privilege or interest of Greece to implement a policy of conditions on Albania, which in reality Greece has never implemented, even in the most difficult days in Greek-Albanian relations.
Just as I do not believe it is to the benefit of Albania and the Albanians living in the region to have tense relations with Greece, or relations determined by sentiment rather than logic. I have said this and I will continue to say it, regardless of the institution I am representing; that relations with Greece are strategic relations and relations with a great dynamic that we have to capitalize on in the best possible manner.
I certainly appreciate the Greek Foreign Ministrys announcement, because it reminds us yet again of the issues of rule of law, of justice reforms, of respect for judicial decisions. We are at the peak or the final phase of the proceedings for the completion of the justice reforms, and from that point of view I have taken it as further encouragement for a successful completion of this process, so that Albania, too, can take the next step in the process of European integration.
It is also a clear indicator that our neighbouring country respects judicial decisions, and obviously this matter also shows in the respect for Albanias position by the Greek side with regard to the Constitutional Courts ruling on what we call the issue of maritime boundaries, as the issue is once again being tabled so we can reach a more just agreement that will be based more on international law and certainly on Constitutional law. Thank you.
JOURNALIST (Sofia Aravopoulou, Athens News Agency): Mr. Bushati, you talked about the good relations you want to have with Greece as a strategic partner, but dont you think that the persistence with which the Albanian leadership has raised the Cham issue of late is unfavorable for dialogue, perhaps tripping Albania up on its European path?
D. BUSHATI: The journalist asked me about the announcement from the Greek Foreign Ministry that preceded the visit here, and I referred to this announcement, taking as a positive example the stance at the press conference, neither for reasons of pressure nor to create non-existent situations; it was just an effort at a reading of an announcement in a specific context.
Regarding the question that was asked again on the Cham issue, I want to assure you that, on our part, there is no obstacle we raise to Greece. It is a sincere dialogue, not easy, between two neighbours who have stood and will continue to stand together in difficult and good times. But, with all due respect for multiplicity of views and freedom of information, it is difficult for me to understand the relationship between the resolution of one issue, which in my judgement is dictated by fundamental freedoms, human rights and the means of international law, which, as you know, has clear rules and methodology, and, as my friend Mr. Kotzias put it so eloquently, representing a veteran EU country. There is a process that is guided by very clear rules and principles.
This is why, with all due respect for the question you asked, when it comes from a Greek journalist, this question does not leave a pleasant taste when it is known that Greece is a country that supports the accession processes, the country that offered the Thessaloniki agenda to all of the countries of the Western Balkans, the fruits of which, for our part, we have started to taste all together. And I think that the process of Western Balkan reconciliation also started in Thessaloniki.
It is a country that has its glorious history within the EU, but also bias, due to various crises. For this reason, who more than Greece is in favor of the process of European integration of the countries of the Western Balkans? In my humble reading, and that of the Albanian Foreign Ministry staff, all of the moves made by Mr. Kotzias, as well as the work we did with his predecessor, Mr. Venizelos, have shown a firm, long-term line on the part of your country with regard to the regions European integration. And I take this opportunity to thank the Greek government and the Greek people for this very firm stance.
N. KOTZIAS: I thank my colleague Ditmir very much, because he clarified, in his way, that I have not made such statements, even in their positive interpretation. It is a view undersigned by Foreign Ministry circles.
The only statements I have made regarding Albania are that we want it in the EU, that we will help as much as we can and as much as Albania wants and nothing else. I think that if you will allow me, I say this as an academic the statement of the Foreign Ministry is one thing, the Foreign Ministers statement is another and Ministry circles say is yet another. There is a very different gravity and authority. Thank you very much.
Opinion / Columnist
IT was in 1991 when the government made a resolution to build a dam at the confluence of the Gwayi and Shangani Rivers in Matabeleland North province.The multi-million dollar project was to be a solution to Bulawayo's perennial water problems and a regional economic enabler in the drought-prone Matabeleland through the creation of a green belt of irrigation agriculture along the pipeline linking the dam and Bulawayo.The massive dam project not only won the support of the neighbouring Dete and Gwayi communities but received a big endorsement from national leaders such as the then Minister of Energy and Water Resources Development, the late Herbert Ushewokunze, the late Vice Presidents Joseph Msika and Landa John Nkomo, former Home Affairs Minister Dumiso Dabengwa, the late Retired Major General Jevan Maseko, traditional leaders, residents and councillors among others.The government floated the first tender for the project in 1994 and construction work was set to begin in the 1995/96 financial year.However, a Chinese contractor, who won tender to construct the dam wall, only moved on site 10 years later in 2004 due to lack of funding.Since then a chain of completion deadlines have been set amid verbal rhetoric, which has not translated to tangible progress on the ground.To date the project is still at its infancy with only foundation excavations done after sluggish progress.Works stalled in 2007 before resuming in 2012 only to stop without much progress the following year.Twenty five years since its inception, that long awaited hope and a developmental game changer still remains elusive.Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko came face to face with this grim reality when he visited the dam site last week Wednesday.Engineers told the VP that the contractor, China International Water and Electric (CWE), has deserted the site out of frustration with the government owing close to $18 million for the preliminary works that had been done since commencement of the project in 2012.In shock VP Mphoko retorted, "so at the moment there's nothing taking place here" to which the engineer replied "yes".According to the engineers the contractor, soon after winning the tender, moved to site by mobilising equipment, created access roads, erected requisite structures and machinery installations, which are lying idle and were seen by VP Mphoko.They told the Vice President and senior government officials that progress was hinged on the availability of funding and that, with adequate support, the project could be completed within a space of 24 months."Currently the project is on suspension due to lack of funding."The contractor stopped working citing funding constraints and we hope money will be found for it to resume," said one of the engineers during a briefing."The contractor has done concrete excavations, which were completed in December 2012 but couldn't proceed further because of funds."He had to stop operations five months later in May 2013."An estimated $90 million is required to complete the project, which would be the biggest in the province and third largest in the country after Mutirikwi and Tokwe Mukorsi.Analysts have pointed to inadequate funding from the government as a major hurdle.They observed that while the government has provided some funding for the project through budgetary allocations in 2012 ($8 million), 2013 ($8 million) and $10 million in 2014, no allocations were made in 2015 and this year.It is important that this dam project be given priority in the fiscus given its potential to impact positively in terms of job creation and food security in the region.As an agriculture based economy, Zimbabwe stands to benefit immensely from projects like Gwayi-Shangani, which could also increase earnings from exports and supply to agro-processing industries.In 2014 a high powered ministerial delegation visited the site and placed completion deadline for the dam in July this year and 2018 for the whole National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project at a combined cost of $1,2 billion.The July 2016 deadline was hinged on funding to the tune of $53 million, which was to be secured from China Africa Sunlight Energy (CASE), which pitched a $2,1 billion 600MW electricity project that is expected to draw water from the dam.The long history of missed targets tells the whole story of lack of support for this key project. Even VP Mphoko admitted that "this project has taken too long to complete".He was told that CASE has failed to meet its commitment to funding the dam project on the ground that it was having some challenge with its investors.VP Mphoko, who was accompanied by Matabeleland North Provincial Minister of State, Cain Mathema, expressed concern over delays in the completion of the project and vowed to engage the relevant ministries to ensure progress."This project has taken too long to complete."We don't need to tie it to this company alone but would rather get the required funding from other sources," said Mphoko."This dam is very important to this region, especially for the communities around this area for irrigation farming interests.We'll ensure this project is completed as soon as possible. As long as we've water this country will never have problems."The dam site is located at about 6km downstream on the confluence of Gwayi and Shangani Rivers and has a catchment area of close to 38,000 square kilometres extending from Gweru, Bulawayo, Tsholotsho, Nkayi and Silobela.On completion the dam would have a holding capacity of 635 million cubic metres. As part of the NMZWP, which was initiated in 1912, the project consists of a pipeline to Cowdray Park water works in Bulawayo.There would be another pipeline from the mighty Zambezi River to the dam that would run parallel to the railway line.Engineers say the bulk of the water would come from the dam with 20 percent coming from the Zambezi River.Apart from supporting agricultural activities within a 20km corridor on each side of the pipeline, the dam project is also set to facilitate establishment of a small hydro-power generation plant that would produce about 6MW.Mathema has indicated that the project was one of the priority investments under the mega deals that President Mugabe signed with China.
Opinion / Columnist
Zapu President Speech in Jotsholo over the weekend attracted all sorts of comments some of which included individuals that just oppose whatever he says. It's a deliberate ploy trying to prevent the people from hearing it as it is from him or to pour any dirty water on whatever he says.One calls it a "usual mistake". A mistake to whom and by whose definition? Is it a mistake to talk to the people about their experience, the things that they saw, the dreams and visions that they had when they supported the struggle and participated in it sacrificially to remove colonialism? Is it reasonable to ignore the fact that there was and there is still a clear tribal based hatred and marginalisation for the people of the region where he was by the Government? Sometimes one wonders why people can be so hypocritical. People want those who tell lies and say "do not talk about Gukurahundi. It is dividing the people" Rubbish! The people in that region want decent burials for their relatives who were brutally murdered for the crime of being who they were, in the false pretence that they were all supporters of dissidents. This included even the yet to be born babies whose mothers wombs were just cut open. Come on. You want Dabengwa to go to those areas and say nothing about this yet the genocidal acts were done to "crush ZAPU?" What mistakes?Let the people of Manicaland be allowed to attend a ZAPU rally. He will tell them exactly how this brutally corrupt regime has condemned them to be beggars in South Africa; where they have suffered all sorts of humiliations, being called all sorts of names yet their Province is one of the richest spots in Africa. Let them dare to allow just one ZAPU rally that Dabengwa will address. Certainly he won't talk about Gukurahundi there. He will point to them how their dreams have been shuttered as they are made to stampede to support one individual in the name of unity yet they are being hypnotised to render blind loyalty to a non-functioning system. I bet some of these people will not be able to defend this level of stupidity to their own descendants in future!Then there is this ridiculous and even babish one saying "he was Minister of Home affairs". Who has never been something in Mugabe's regime at one point? Usually it is the MDC-Ts who put up this one. They ride rough shod over the fact that their own leader Tsvangirai was once a youth leader in the Zanu-PF Jongwe during the period when Zanu-PF youths were terrorising every one. The brutalising of Muzorewa's UANC was at this stage. Gukurahundi was carried out during this same period. Yes, Dabengwa was Home Affairs Minister soon after the Unity Accord and he told everyone that he saw the futility of dining with murderers all his life. He rejected this and left. Those who care about the truth know this very well. Leaving meant that he was not agreeing. He could not just go on, but to these political Lilliputians or grasshoppers, they are saying he must be crucified. He was a Minister. Tsvangirai was a youth leader during the Gukurahundi but he left and formed MDC. Dabengwa followed Nkomo's orders after the signing of the now dead Unity Accord but he left. Where is the difference? The difference is there and it is Dabengwa's TRIBE!Dumiso Dabengwa left Zanu-PF on his own accord and he preferred to be with the real victims and survivors of Gukurahundi. Remember, he was imprisoned and charged for treason a charge carrying a death penalty during that period. It is ZAPU that was hunted down. It is those who were accused of supporting ZAPU who were taken from churches and are never to be seen again up to today. It was for ZAPU that villagers were driven into huts that were set ablaze. Dumiso Dabengwa is refusing to abandon their screams to death just to eat cakes every February. The cries for freedom from Zimbabweans who are not tribalists are too loud for Dabengwa to ignore hence, his call for genuine devolution of power. It is a nationwide rejection of this heinous politics of patronage that will usher in a new political hope in our country. Dabengwa leads a party with that vision. Transfer power to the regions. This is giving the people of Zimbabwe the freedom that they sacrificed for. Since 2010 we hear and read "he was he was" It makes one remember Zanu-PF's accusation of Joshua Nkomo that he left the country putting on a lady's dress". This is a very shallow argument indeed.As for the genuine ZAPU cadres they understand that a revolution cannot be destroyed. It can only be delayed. It can suffer even long, costly and painful setbacks but it will survive as it is nurtured by the very evils of exploitation of man by man. Evidence is there on the ground for those who have not allowed tribalism to shut their eyes to see why Zanupf is failing to deliver. It will fail forever as it thrives on reactionary tendencies such as tribal superiority and militarism over an unarmed population.---------------Mkhululi Zulu
Opinion / Columnist
The real quality visionary leader is he/she who knows where they are going and how to get there and can explain and inspire others to follow. They will lead from the front to help define the direc-tion and set the pace for other to follow. A good leader must be willing to drop back, lead from the middle, and allow others to leader and everyone the freedom to use their own initiative as long as the group does not lose its momentum and sense of purpose. The leader must drop back and lead from the back, helping the stranglers so no one gets left behind.It is good that people get to their destination. It is better if you reached the destination by the easi-est route because beside the leader, others too knew where they are going and the responsibility of leadership is shared; two or three heads are better than one. But best of all is reaching the destination by the easiest route and everyone is safely accounted for!The worst leader is one who abuses their position as leader to force other to go where they do not want to go! President Mugabe is one such nightmare leader.Of course the people of Zimbabwe did not want to live in a country with 90% unemployment rate, where millions now live in abject poverty whilst the few ruling elite waste the nation's wealth of extravagant lifestyles. Mugabe has systematically corrupt the country's state institution, rigged elections and used all manner of violence including cold blood murder of over 30 000 innocent Zimbabwean impose and sustain his corrupt and tyrannical one-party cum one-man dictatorship.Whilst leaders like Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti, Joice Mujuru, Emmerson Mnangagwa, Grace Mugabe and many others have not reached the nauseating heights of nightmare leadership Mugabe has but only because they have not yet occupied the highest office. They have already proven beyond all doubt that they are corrupt and incompetent and given their vaulting ambition to be president and arrogance, given the chance to be president they will be just another nightmare leader.One of the dead give-away of an apprentice nightmare leader is they propensity to tell you what you already know and pretend it is new and novel; brother Vince Musewe has become a master of this."It must be now crystal clear to the majority of Zimbabweans that our economy is spiralling down-wards and this spiral can only be arrested through a rapture from the past and a drastic change of political leadership and economic policy direction. Poverty, high unemployment, cash shortages, continued theft by ministers and their cronies are now normal as Zimbabwean families disintegrate through abuse and lack of money. That cannot be sustained," wrote Musewe in his latest article. See Bulawayo opinion, Zanu-PF will never deliver the Zimbabwe we want.Actually the overwhelming majority of Zimbabwe came to the conclusion that Mugabe will never deliver the mass prosperity he promised as far back as the mid-1990s. The people also realized that they only viable way to save the nation from the growing mass poverty was by removing the Zanu-PF from power is any election.The people were aware that Mugabe rigged elections and hence the reason the people called for democratic changes to ensure the elections are free, fair and credible. The people risked life and limp to elect Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends because they promised to deliver the demo-cratic changes the nation needed for free and fair elections.What is the point of Mr Musewe (other than to gain relevance by offering to lead where no leader-ship is not required) tell the people they are poor, unemployed, there is cash shortage, etc. when they unemployment has been 80% plus for the last ten years. Even those too poor to have bank accounts have seen the queues at the banks to make withdrawals.Mr Musewe, please tell the people something new that they have failed to figure out for them-selves, that they need made "crystal clear" for them to get out of this hell hole they find themselves stuck in. Tell them how your PDP leader, Tendai Biti and his fellow MDC leaders betrayed the nation and failed to implement even one democratic change the nation needed for free and fair elections and thus allowed Mugabe to blatantly rig the 2013 elections.Zimbabwe would not be in this economic and political mess if MDC had implemented the democratic reforms during the GNU because Mugabe would not be in power and making our lives a misery!Tell the people of Zimbabwe the truth of how Mugabe is set to blatantly rig the next elections in 2018 because PDP, MDC-T and all the other equally corrupt and incompetent opposition parties have still done nothing to implement the democratic reforms necessary to stop Zanu-PF rigging elections. Go on, tell them!"As PDP we have continually warned that Zanu-PF has no solution to this disaster which they have manufactured over the last 36 years. What they have been successful at, is to continually lie to Zim-babweans and create false hope that the economy is on the mend while diverting our attention to their endless internal succession battles which benefit nobody but Mugabe," continue Musewe.Well it is true that Zanu-PF has no solution to the nation's teething problems and has lied again and again to the people of Zimbabwe but then so has PDP; PDP, MDC-T and the other opposition parties will never deliver meaningful democratic change necessary for free and fair elections, that is a fact.Zimbabwe is stuck in this economic and political mess because whilst it was crystal clear twenty years ago to the Zimbabwe electorate that Zanu-PF is corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical, it has not yet dawned on the majority of Zimbabweans that the opposition parties are equally corrupt and incompetent.Yes Zanu-PF has been weakened considerably by the factional wars that have raged on and on since the dramatic entry of Grace Mugabe on the political stage. However Zanu-PF still remains unbeatable as long as the party continues to have billions of dollars looted from such places as Marange diamonds to bank roll it vote rigging schemes, total control of the whole electoral process from start to finish, etc.Yes "Zanu-PF will never deliver the Zimbabwe we want" but, like it or not, as long as the party is free to rig elections it will continue to impose the Zimbabwe Mugabe and his cronies want regardless! Instead of wasting the nation's time wittering about something we already know why does PDP implement the democratic reforms and deliver free and fair elections, something useful, we really want and elected you lot to do!-------------------Patrick Guramatunhu
PAWTUCKET, R.I.The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health is hosting its inaugural Sextended Family Reunion, slated for Aug. 12-14, in Belgrade, Maine.
"I hear from so many people in the field of sexuality that they're working in isolation, or feeling disconnected from people who share their values, said CSPH Executive Director Kira Manser. Sextended Family Reunion is an opportunity for people to connect with others from very diverse parts of the fieldadult industry, educators, therapists, sex workers, bloggers, and everyone in betweenand just have a good time. I hope people will have an unreasonable amount of fun, and get to meet and build memories, and real relationships, with people who also work in this field. I believe this supports the overall health and happiness of the folks who do this work, and makes for a stronger sexuality field as a whole!"
Every ticket registration for the event includes camping/tenting privileges for one adult from noon Aug. 12 to noon Aug. 14 (camping and tenting supplies are not included); six total meals (Friday dinner; Saturday breakfast, lunch and dinner; Sunday breakfast and lunch); access to all camp activities, including, but not limited to, bonfires and smores, water activities and hiking; movies by the water; sex trivia; open mic/talent show; sex-positive team relay race; and dance party.
The property in Maine where we are holding the event is the most special place in the world to me; it has been in my family for three generations, and everything at the property has been made by hand by family members, Manser said. It is an incredible privilege and pleasure to be able to invite my sextended family to build and share memories at a place which has been such a source of strength and connectivity for my family of origin."
For more information, or to register, visit TheCSPH.org/sextended-family/.
SEATTLEStarting this month and going forward into perpetuity, Yanks.com will be donating a portion of all new sales to Call to Safety. Call to Safety is an Oregon-based non-profit that works to ensure that everyone has a life free of domestic and sexual violence.
In a statement about the partnership YanksCash CEO Billie said: Todd and I, our employees and our models believe it to be a moral imperative that every business gives back to the communities that support it. Adult companies are no different. For us one of those communities is obvious: women. Without our photographers and our beautiful, strong, open-minded Yanks Girls, our site would not be possible. For many years, the environment was not friendly to giving back to that community in a meaningful way. 2016 however has finally given us that opportunity. Our entire company is proud to be able to leverage our brand and our fans to give to an organization that works to empower women and protect all the victims of domestic and sexual violence.
Rebecca of Call to Safety explained why they are working with Yanks directly: Were partnering with Yanks because we appreciate their commitment to the empowerment and safety of women. The world needs more solid businesses that contribute to the greater good and Yanks is doing just that.
Call to Safety, originally the Portland Womens Crisis Line (PWCL), was one of the first five sexual violence crisis lines in the United States. Throughout the years they have expanded their programs that now include their 24/7 Crisis Line, Sexual Assault Program, Community Outreach & Education and Sex Industry Outreach.
Call to Safety is not just a social service agency; it was also founded as a social change organization. They believe that domestic and sexual violence are widespread in our society. Their purpose is to not only to empower those who experience violence, but also to end the oppression and violence which causes people to seek out their services.
The enthusiasm for this partnership has spread beyond Yanks and Call to Safety. Feminist amateur model and regular Yanks Girl Jessica shared her thoughts on the relationship: "I'm always seeking ways to eliminate the taboo of female sexuality by empowering women through my work. However, it's important to realize that women face severe forms of domestic and sexual violence every day. That's why I'm extremely proud to work with a production company that has the same values that I do, by supporting an organization that seeks to provide support and resources for these women."
Like-minded affiliates of Yanks such as Sssh.com have also pledged to be ongoing supporters of the philanthropy through regularly focused campaigns.
"We at Yanks, through our own personal experiences with domestic violence, share the passion to empower the victims of domestic and sexual violence," the company said.
Interested advertisers, content partners and webmasters can contact [email protected] with any questions they may have about how to support the initiative by working with Yanks.com and YanksCash.com.
The spring was a little bumpy for the Wisconsin Republican, yo-yoing between his role as the top elected Republican in the country in the era of Donald Trump and manager of the difficult-to-control House.
Both roles have placed Ryan in difficult spots. He's openly struggled with the Trump phenomenon endorsing the New York billionaire as the GOP's presumptive nominee on Thursday despite "our differences" and he's found it difficult to corral wayward conservatives, just as his predecessor John Boehner, R-Ohio, did.
Summertime in presidential election years is often a time when Congress lowers its sights and focuses more on what it has to do rather than testing the limits of what the political thicket will allow.
This summer, that must-do list is short and achievable: Helping Puerto Rico through its fiscal crisis; funding the battle against the Zika virus; and reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration.
Ryan has fulfilled promises for more open House debates, deference to committee chairmen, and a lighter touch with tea party conservatives. But the return to "regular order" has also led to failure on the budget, delays on the Puerto Rico and Zika measures, and a small-bore legislative agenda that's been overshadowed by the presidential campaign.
Ryan will begin to roll out his "agenda project" a months-long effort to devise a positive vision, message and platform for the party this week, starting with a speech and proposal on poverty.
"We can keep doing the same things and getting the same results," Ryan said Friday in a video message. "Or instead of trapping people in poverty, we can get them on the ladder of opportunity, reward work, open our economy so everyone can make the most of their lives."
Ryan has a penchant for lofty rhetoric, but his new job also demands a focus on the nuts and bolts of lawmaking, where there are limits to what he can control.
For instance, it's taken weeks for Ryan and others to forge compromise legislation on Puerto Rico that would establish a control board to oversee a limited restructuring of the commonwealth's debt. Puerto Rico missed a May 1 debt payment and a larger July 1 obligation is looming, but the hard-won Puerto Rico legislation appears teed up to pass the House after a bipartisan committee vote last month; the Senate, both Democrats and Republicans say, is likely to deliver the House bill to Obama without any changes.
"That's a real test for the speaker. He's invested a lot of effort and time in (the Puerto Rico legislation)," said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. "I think he's wise to have done so and I think he will ultimately be successful. You certainly wouldn't want to go home for July break not having got that done. You would certainly like to get Zika done by the July break as well."
However, resolving legislation to fight the Zika virus, passed by both House and Senate in substantially different form, is more complicated. A bipartisan $1.1 billion Senate measure is acceptable to the White House and its Democratic allies, while a $622 million House measure that passed along party lines has attracted a veto threat from the White House as insufficient to fight the virus, which can cause severe birth defects.
Not long ago, a logical split-the-differences compromise to the Senate's spending level, accompanied by spending cuts demanded by House GOP conservatives, might have been a slam dunk. That's still a possible solution, but it could bleed support from both Democrats and Republicans, and presents Ryan with a difficult balancing act. A move by the House to attach an unrelated measure on pesticides permitting requirements is a complicating factor as well.
Meanwhile, a battle over gay rights has upended the appropriations process in the House, which involves 12 annual spending bills for federal agencies. Last month, Democrats succeeded in winning an amendment defending an Obama executive order protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people against discrimination by federal contractors. That scuttled the underlying energy and water measure and may lead Ryan to adopt a more closed approach in order to avoid a repeat.
Lawmakers must also pass a measure to reauthorize the FAA. A battle over a House plan to spin off responsibility for air traffic control operations to a private, nonprofit corporation has the House and Senate at an impasse. With the two key House and Senate committee chairmen at loggerheads over the issue, it's commonly assumed that lawmakers would opt to pass a short-term extension of FAA authority that would kick the problem into next year.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has generally played it safe and has had the Senate plug away on bipartisan legislation such as a measure to combat opioid abuse and an effort to revive the moribund process for appropriating annual agency budgets. The opioid legislation is in a House-Senate conference committee and could be ready for final votes before lawmakers leave Washington for the political conventions in July.
Despite Flipping in Surf 4 Times in a Year, Marines Say New ACV Is the Future of Amphibious Warfare
Some Marine veterans familiar with the vehicle and its operations have worried about the reliability of the ACV.
The officer in charge of the regiment to which all East Coast Marine recruits are assigned was fired Monday in connection with an investigation into a recruit's death at boot camp earlier this year.
Col. Paul Cucinotta, the commanding officer of Recruit Training Regiment at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina was relieved by Marine Corps Training and Education Command Commanding General Maj. James Lukeman, officials said.
In a release, command officials said the move was due to "a loss of trust and confidence in [Cucinotta's] ability to serve in that position."
The relief, according to a news release, was based on information revealed to Lukeman during the course of a command investigation that indicated instances where policies and procedures were not followed.
An official with knowledge of the investigation told Military.com it was connected to the March 18 death of 20-year-old Raheel Siddiqui.
Siddiqui died after falling 40 feet in a barracks stairwell, according to information released by Naval Criminal Investigative Service. While NCIS officials have said foul play is not suspected in the incident, the tragedy prompted a congresswoman from Siddiqui's home state of Michigan to publicly call for more answers.
Rep. Debbie Dingell, a Democrat, wrote to Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller in April, demanding an accurate timeline for the events leading to Siddiqui's death and information as to whether hazing was involved.
To date, this information has not been publicly released.
A spokesman for the training and education command, Capt. Joshua Pena, told Military.com nothing further could be said about the investigation, as it was still ongoing. He said it's not clear when the investigation will be completed. At this point, he said, there are no indications that Cucinotta will face further administrative action.
Cucinotta, an artillery officer, previously served as Marine exchange officer to the 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia, and completed a tour in Bahrain as assistant chief of staff for operations for Marine Corps Central Command (Forward). He took command of Recruit Training Regiment in July 2015.
This is the second commanding officer firing at Parris Island this year.
On March 31, the commander of 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, Lt. Col. Joshua Kissoon was relieved due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command. The decision to relief Kissoon was made prior to Siddiqi's death, according to information provided by Parris Island officials, but the cause for his firing has yet to be made public.
--Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
Civilians trying to flee the siege of Fallujah have to run two gauntlets -- sniper fire from Islamic State in Iraq and Syria holdouts in the city and then security "screening" by Iraqi forces that can include beatings and alleged summary executions, according to human rights groups and the United Nations.
"There are extremely distressing, credible reports that some people who survive the terrifying experience of escaping from (Fallujah) then face severe physical abuse once they reach the other side," the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, said in a statement.
The civilian families who "have faced enormous difficulties and dangers getting out of Fallujah alive, are now facing double jeopardy in the form of serious human rights violations after they have escaped," Zeid said.
Amnesty International reported that Fallujah residents who managed to escape have related harrowing stories of the dangers they faced -- from both sides.
"These include being caught by ISIS fighters and executed on the spot, treacherous routes out contaminated by mines and other explosive remnants of war, and the risk of arrests and other revenge attacks by the government-backed Popular Mobilization Units (PMU)" made up of Shia militias, Amnesty said.
The United States, which has backed the siege with airstrikes and artillery fire, has drawn the line against cooperating with the units and its Iranian advisers, but has pointed to statements by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that they will be kept out of the final attack on Fallujah.
Abadi on May 22 announced the campaign to retake Fallujah following a wave of ISIS truck and car bomb suicide attacks militants in Baghdad that killed hundreds and led to Shia protests that breached the walls of the "Green Zone," the seat of the Baghdad government and the site of the U.S. Embassy.
About 50,000 people were believed to remain in Fallujah, once a city of about 300,000, and the "Iraqi government has been clear that protecting these civilians is their priority," according to Army Col. Steve Warren, who was the main spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve before returning to the states last week.
"It's tough to get out" of Fallujah, Warren said. The fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria "want to hide behind the civilian population," he said. "It's going to be a hard challenge to find a way to liberate this city and still keep the civilian population as safe as possible."
The concerns about a possible bloodbath if the Shia militias enter mostly-Sunni Fallujah have also been voiced by the most revered Shia cleric in Iraq, the Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.
In statements attributed to Sistani from the Iraqi holy city of Najaf, he urged the Shia militias and the Iraqi Security Forces to adhere to "the standard behaviors of jihad" and avoid harming civilians: "Don't be extreme, don't be treacherous. Saving innocent people from harm's way is the most important thing."
The push to retake Fallujah appeared to have bogged down in recent days in the plus-100 degree heat in the area coupled with the onset of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.
However, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said Monday that there was "daily coordination" between the Iraqi Security Forces and Army Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, commander of Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve, on the progress of the campaign.
"We continue to provide support, air strikes being the most obvious example of support for the fight in Fallujah," Cook said at a Pentagon briefing. "And Gen. MacFarland remains our point person with regard to that contact with the Iraqis, continues to provide his advice and counsel along the way."
Amid the accounts of abuses, there have also been reports from fleeing Fallujah civilians on how surprised they were at being treated well upon reaching Iraqi lines.
"We were surprised that they treated us so well," said a man at a camp who was in his 50s and gave his name as Abu Muhammad. He said the ISIS fighters "had told us the Shiites wanted revenge and would kill us," The New York Times reported.
His account contrasted with the statement from the UN's Zeid, the human rights official.
"Eyewitnesses have described how armed groups operating in support of the Iraqi Security Forces are intercepting people fleeing the conflict, separating the men and teenage boys from the women and children, and detaining the males for 'security screening', which in some cases degenerates into physical violations and other forms of abuse, apparently in order to elicit forced confessions," he said. "There are even allegations that some individuals have been summarily executed by these armed groups."
While the ISF has a "legitimate interest" in vetting the fleeing civilians, Zeid said that "Where individuals are being held by other armed groups not legally authorized to detain individuals, the government must ensure they are either handed over or released safely.
"It is paramount that all individuals fleeing the violence around Fallujah must be assumed to be civilians without links to armed groups, unless there is clear and cogent evidence to the contrary," he said.
--Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
Marine Corps brass are assuring a U.S. congresswoman that any indication of hazing connected with the March death of a recruit at Parris Island, South Carolina, will be "carefully investigated."
In a June 6 letter to Rep. Debbie Dingell, a Democrat from Michigan, Brig. Gen. David Furness said two investigations into the death of 20-year-old recruit Raheel Siddiqui are ongoing. Few details are officially available yet.
Furness, the legislative assistant to Commandant Gen. Robert Neller, was responding to an April 4 request from Dingell for detailed information into the death of Siddiqui, a Muslim American from Taylor, Michigan, who had been at boot camp for just 11 days when he died from a 40-foot fall from a barracks building, according to Naval Criminal Investigative Service officials.
Dingell asked specifically for a timeline of the events that led to Siddiqui's death, whether hazing played a role, and if the March 31 firing of 3rd Recruit Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Joshua Kissoon was connected to the recruit's death.
Furness' letter comes the same day as the firing of another top officer at Parris Island: the Recruit Training Regiment Commander, Col. Paul Cucinotta. Cucinotta was relieved due to information that came to light over the course of an investigation regarding instances where policies and procedures were not followed, officials with Marine Corps Training and Education Command said.
An official confirmed to Military.com that the investigation was related to Siddiqui's death.
The top officer at Parris Island, Brig. Gen. Terry Williams, has so far avoided repercussions in relation to the tragedy. Following a scheduled change of command June 10 with incoming commander Brig. Gen. Austin Renforth, Williams is set to return to Washington, D.C., to become assistant deputy commandant for Installations and Logistics at the Pentagon.
Furness said Kissoon's firing was in response to an investigation unrelated to the tragedy. Siddiqui's family, he said, would receive the results of a command line-of-duty investigation into Siddiqui's death once it was complete, and they would be able to request the NCIS investigation as well.
"Regarding your concern that hazing may have played a role in Private Siddiqui's death, it would be premature to comment given that the investigations are still pending," Furness wrote. "I can assure you that any indication of hazing will be carefully investigated."
In a statement released by her office, Dingell urged the Marine Corps to act quickly to complete the investigations and provide answers to the Siddiqui family about their son, "a class valedictorian who was loved by all who knew him."
"I will continue working to ensure the Siddiqui family has the resources and support they need during the ongoing investigations and beyond, and will remain fully engaged with the Marine Corps and all stakeholders to ensure we have a clear picture of what happened, including the actions that led to the June 6th discharge of a commanding officer at Parris Island," Dingell wrote. "This is the very least Private Siddiqui's family and our community deserve."
--Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
The U.S. was in apology mode again Monday over the latest incident on Okinawa in which military personnel allegedly caused harm to Japanese civilians, fanning already strong anti-American sentiment on the island.
The Defense Department "deeply regrets" the accident Sunday in which an allegedly drunk U.S. Navy sailor drove the wrong way on a road and smashed head-on into two vehicles, injuring at least two Okinawa residents, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said.
"Obviously, this is a deeply concerning event that we wish had not taken place and we're all going to be cooperating with Japanese authorities fully in this investigation and in doing what we can to prevent these kinds of things from ever happening again," Cook said at a Pentagon briefing.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Aimee Mejia, 21, who was assigned to the Kadena Air Force Base on Okinawa, was arrested by Okinawa police who recommended Monday that she be charged with "dangerous driving resulting in injuries." If convicted, Mejia could face a maximum sentence of 15 years under Japanese law.
U.S. service members on Okinawa were already under a ban against off-base drinking when the accident occurred and a breathalyzer test showed that Mejia's blood-alcohol level was 0.18 -- six times the legal limit in Japan, local police said.
In response to the incident, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida once again summoned U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy to his office to demand that the U.S. do more to control the behavior of U.S. service members and civilian employees working at American bases in Japan.
Last month, Kishida called in Kennedy following the discovery of the strangled and bludgeoned body of 20-year-old Rina Shimabukuro, which was dumped in a wooded area near the Kadena base.
Kenneth Franklin Gadson, 32, a former Marine now working as a civilian contractor at Kadena, was arrested on suspicion of dumping the body. Gadson, who now goes by his wife's last name of Shinzato, was expected to face other formal charges.
The killing of the young woman overshadowed President Barack Obama's visit to Japan last month during which he sought to strengthen military ties and also made the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to Hiroshima, site of the atomic bombing in 1945.
At the outset of the visit, with Obama standing at his side, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that Shimabukuro's death "shocked all of Japan" and "I have firmly lodged a protest against President Obama as the Japanese Prime Minister with regard to the most recent case in Okinawa."
Following the alleged drunk driving incident on Okinawa, Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, commander of the 7th Fleet, and Rear Adm. Matthew Carter, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Japan, issued orders restricting liberty and banning the consumption of alcohol for all officer and enlisted Navy personnel in Japan.
"These measures are not taken lightly," Carter said in a statement. "For decades, we have enjoyed a strong relationship with the people of Japan. It is imperative that each sailor understand how our actions affect that relationship, and the U.S.-Japan Alliance as a whole."
"Effective immediately, sailors are prohibited from drinking alcohol on and off base. Additionally, all off-base liberty will be curtailed. Sailors who live off base will be permitted to travel to and from work and engage in official actions such as childcare drop-off and pickup, trips to the grocery store, gas stations or the gym," the order said.
"The liberty curtailment will remain in effect until face-to-face training has been conducted by unit commanding officers, executive officers and command master chiefs with all personnel," the order said.
The alcohol restriction was to remain in effect until Aucoin and Carter "are comfortable that all personnel understand the impact of responsible behavior on the U.S.-Japan Alliance and the United States' ability to provide security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific," the order said.
The U.S. currently has more than 50,000 military personnel in Japan, about half of them on Okinawa. Defense Department figures from last September showed that the Navy had about 22,000 personnel in Japan, the Marine Corps 15,700, the Air Force 12,000 and the Army 2,400. There were also about 4,700 military dependents living in Japan.
That's in addition to the roughly 8,500 direct-hire civilian employees of the department working and living in the country with their dependents, according to the figures.
The death of Shimabukuro and the alleged drunk driving crash were believed to have been factors in local elections on Okinawa on Sunday in which opponents of the U.S. military presence increased their majority in the prefectural assembly.
Many of the candidates campaigned against the long-stalled relocation of the Marine Air Station at Futenma to the less-populated northern part of the island in the Henoko district.
Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga, a staunch opponent of the relocation, said "The election showed that the people of Okinawa support efforts to stop the construction of a new base."
Since Shimabukuro's death, local newspapers have also published articles purporting to show that Okinawans have long had to deal with crimes committed by U.S. military and civilian personnel.
The Okinawa Times reported last month that 5,862 U.S. military personnel and civilian employees had been arrested between 1972 and 2014 -- 737 of them for serious crimes, including murder, rape, burglary and arson.
--Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
NATO officials are close to securing a deal that would station one U.S. combat battalion along with three allied battalions on Europe's eastern flank as an additional deterrent to future Russian aggression, according to military experts.
The plan to bolster military presence in Poland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania comes as NATO officials are preparing for the a summit in Warsaw set for July 8-9.
The U.S. military for months has been conducting joint exercises with other NATO military units in Europe to reassure allies and deter Russia from attempting future operations similar to its incursion into Ukraine in 2014.
So far NATO's military response to Russia deploying thousands of troops into Ukraine has come in the form of small-scale airborne operations involving several countries.
Swift Response 16, which began May 27 and is scheduled to run through June 26 in Poland and Germany, will include more than 5,000 soldiers and airmen from the United States, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
Swift Response will demonstrate the allies' ability to respond to a crisis scenario from staging bases in both Europe and the U.S. within 18 hours of notification.
A battalion of 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division will make a 10-hour transatlantic flight -- including en-route refueling, mission planning and parachute rigging -- from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to parachute into the exercise area near Torun, Poland.
The Pentagon also recently announced it plans to deploy an armored brigade combat team to Eastern Europe next February. That plan essentially calls for the constant presence of a third brigade in Europe. Two are already permanently stationed in Europe -- a Stryker brigade and an airborne brigade. And now a brigade will rotate in and out on a continual basis, according to the Associated Press.
In addition to these three combat brigades, the United States has agreed to commit one battalion to be stationed on the eastern flank, according to Heather Conley, director of the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington, D.C.
"I think the U.S. is making a commitment to a more sizeable, more credible deterrent," Conley said.
In addition to the U.S., Germany and the United Kingdom have also pledged to commit a battalion to the effort.
"We have pretty strong commitment," Conley said. "A NATO member has to come forward with one more battalion," she added. "I think we are there, but clearly this exercise demonstrates that NATO contributors are stretched."
The French, for example, have already made it clear "they just don't have the forces to contribute," Conley said.
Russia is likely to view the deployment of additional forces as a threat, but it's unclear how strongly it will react, experts say.
"They will probably be highly critical and may intensify some of their provocative activities, such as aggressive maneuvers in the Baltic and Black Sea areas and around NATO airspace more broadly," said Elbridge Colby, the Robert M. Gates Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, another Washington, D.C., think tank.
"It is unlikely that the Russians will do something highly dramatic, however," he said. "Moscow will likely understand that such a modest deployment of what appears to be relatively light forces does not pose a material new threat to it."
Conley noted that Russia has stated "they will move three divisions to the Western Military District." The country has been rebuilding and modernizing its military since it invaded Georgia in 2008.
"I think there is a growing consensus that since 2008 and the Georgia-Russian conflict, the Russians have put substantial focus on modernizing their military and particularly focusing on rapid mobilization," Conley said.
"They are able to deploy, some have estimated, upwards of 80,000 forces within 48 hours," she said. "Their combined arms operations are certainly improved their artillery has been extremely effective.
"I think defense officials realize this is certainly a peer competitor in some areas," she said.
While four battalions is not a significant deterrent, most NATO officials maintain this is just one step in a long-term challenge, Conley said.
"The point of this credible deterrence is to the recognition that should there be any thoughts of crossing into NATO territory, a significant amount of punishment will be inflicted," she said. "There is a recognition that we have got to do this; we just have to move a little faster and have policy makers keep focus on this area."
--Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
This article by Adam Linehan originally appeared on Task & Purpose, a digital news and culture publication dedicated to military and veterans issues.
Task & Purpose spoke with bestselling author Mary Roach about her latest book,Grunt, an investigation into the mind-blowing world of military science.
In 2001, after more than 20 years of Be All You Can Be, the U.S. Army changed its recruiting slogan to Army Of One. It didnt last long. In 2006, the Army changed the slogan again to Army Strong, citing slumping recruitment numbers at the height of the Iraq War. But there was another problem. As many critics pointed out, the short-lived slogan seemed to contradict one of the most essential truths about being in the military: No soldier, of any rank or job description, is an army of one.
The U.S. military is a team, and that team is far more inclusive than most people, soldiers included, realize. Every 2,000 meter head shot, every mission accomplished, every life saved on the battlefield, is the culmination of more than 200 years of trial and error, countless man hours, and trillions of dollars worth of experimentation and research. Even the most elite commando units, with their heavy emphasis on self-reliance, couldnt do what they do if it werent for geeks working around the clock in labs and proving grounds oceans away from the front lines. Army Strong is more than just a mantra. Its a scientific achievement.
Author Mary Roach first came to appreciate that fact several years ago when she was working on a story about the worlds hottest chili pepper, which the Indian defense ministry had weaponized. As a writer and journalist, Roach has covered everything from the science of sex to NASAs quest to colonize Mars. But it wasnt until she encountered Indias chili powder grenade that she realized military science is a no less expansive field. Weaponizing fruit requires not only the expertise of engineers, but also botanists, chemists, and other characters not typically associated with modern warfare.
And so Roach set off on a mission to find out what kind of unlikely behind-the-scenes characters are currently working to make the greatest fighting force in the world, the U.S. military, even greater. The result of her investigations is a compact, humorously-written nonfiction book called Grunt: The Curious Science Of Humans At War. Theres an entire chapter dedicated to the development of shark repellent, another to the history of stink bombs, and another to advancements in combat uniform design. And thats just the tip of the iceberg. Together, the 14-chapter book offers a comprehensive window into an underworld rarely discussed and hardly ever seen. You can read an excerpt here.
With Grunt due to hit shelves on June 7, Task & Purpose spoke with Roach about the evolution of military science, hanging out with Marine special operators in Africa, and how her perception of the military changed over the course of researching the book.
At what point did we really start to see major advancements in military science that improved the quality of life for the men and women on the ground?
What really got all the attention on clothing and tents and day-to-day life, I think, was World War II, because we had the extremes of weather like on the Aleutian Islands, the number of cases of trenchfoot and frostbite were alarming. We were just not equipped for that. And similarly with the tropics: Clothing was just mildewing, and disintegrating, and falling off, and there were bugs. Just the day-to-day existence of the soldier suddenly became that much more extreme and it was clear that somebody had to figure something out. Like, lets figure out how to make a boot that is lightweight, waterproof, and warm. And lets figure out a way to keep tents from disintegrating. Lets coat them with something. Lets bring in science.
So I think that era, World War II, and then Vietnam also the tropics and all of the tropical diseases and malaria and skin infections and all of the things that plagued the human body in the tropics Vietnam really brought that to the forefront. In terms of keeping a body comfortable and not beset with seemingly minor but actually quite devastating illnesses and conditions, I think Vietnam played a very big role. Now, technology has sort of taken over and its like, Hey, lets figure out a way to build a solar panel into a shirt, so you dont have to carry a big, heavy charger. Maybe you can wear it. So theres all of this miniaturization and solarization and GPS. The technology has really become the focus, but I think it really started in World War II.
What do you hope your civilian audience is going to take away from this book?
I think my civilian audience, like myself, had no clue about the scope of the work that goes on in this realm. So I think its just sort of educating them. But, also, generating some respect, which definitely happened with me. I know that there are problems with the VA, and there are definitely things that dont go right, but the dedication of the people who are trying to keep service members alive and then, basically, help put them back together afterwards is impressive. And I hope that civilians realize most of my readers are civilians that this is a much more nuanced world than they might think, and that theres a tremendous amount of work that goes on thats never seen. Its really interesting and pretty impressive.
What do you hope your military audience gets out of this?
I just hope that they read it and enjoy it and dont think, Oh my God, what a stupid POG. I think that they themselves might not be aware of this side of the military. Its so huge and sprawling and complicated. The fact that theres more than two different military entomology facilities. I never knew there was such a thing as military entomology. So, I guess I just hope that they would find it fascinating and interesting, and, yeah, basically that. I hope its of interest, because its a part of their world, but maybe a part that they never really explored.
When you would show up to these labs and research facilities, were people like, What are you doing here? As you write in the introduction, this isnt the sexy part of the military, and I imagine some of them were excited that you were there to shed light on the work they do
Yes, a lot of them were surprised and grateful that somebody wanted to tell their story. A few of them were bewildered. Occasionally, there was some concern that they were going to get in trouble. Theres a very firm hierarchy. Its not a freewheeling kind of place, the military. But for the most part, people were really psyched, because there are so many more compelling stories about combat whether its actual missions or the things that veterans have to deal with afterwards, like PTSD and other major issues that deserve a lot of coverage. So Im sort of covering the stuff that falls through the cracks. Yeah, the people were surprised and grateful that someone wanted to acknowledge what they do.
You spent a good deal of time with special operations guys when you were researching the book. Were you surprised by the different personalities you found in that space? Im sure you were expecting a lot of Rambo types.
Yes, totally. One of the guys was like a regional sales manager in Scottsdale. He was like a really nice, ordinary although, very physically fit guy. You would never look at him and think, Marine Corps special operations. But on the other side of it: Some of the guys in Djibouti totally fit absolutely 100% my stereotype of the stony, keeps to himself, sexy, incredibly strong, has seen it all kind of guy. Totally fit that stereotype, which made it an interesting stereotype for me, because Im there to talk about diarrhea. I cant even walk up to that man and say, hello, let alone ask him about diarrhea. I purposefully picked out the most special operations-y, Hollywood version, and was like, Thats the dude I want to talk to. So, yes and no, some of them completely turned that stereotype inside-out, and others lived it down to the finest detail.
Why did you decide to call the book Grunt?I know its more of a Marine Corps term, but to the general population it just suggests enlisted man dealing with a lot of shit. The book is about the shit that you deal with and how you make that shit a little more bearable. So it seemed to fit as a word to suggest that person is humping a hundred pounds of fear and being overheated and exhausted.
I think the book cover is a pretty accurate representation of my experience in Afghanistan carrying all of that gear and ammunition, like a one-man Army. We would always joke that wed rather be in Vietnam with nothing but a boonie cap, a rifle, and maybe a flak vest.
Yeah, exactly, and youre expected to be agile, able to respond, and quick on your feet. I talked to a guy in the Army Rangers for the chapter about heat, and he was like, People on high are making decisions, and theyre well-intentioned, but they dont know what its like to be carrying this load in the 100-degree heat, running across a courtyard with a machine gun. Like, no dont give me more body armor. I dont want it. Its slowing me down. But, of course, youre trying to keep them alive, so where do you draw the line?
Its a really interesting and baffling conundrum. How much do you compromise someones ability to do their job in the name of keeping them safe and alive? I feel for people on both sides of it. The people who are trying to create the policies to do the right thing, but just dont get the reality of it. And the reality changes for every conflict. What worked in Iraq doesnt necessarily work in Afghanistan. What worked in World War II definitely didnt work in Vietnam. And everything moves so slowly. Like with the MRAPS whatever you do, the insurgents are two steps ahead of you. Then the military responds, but how do you do that quickly? You cant. Youre talking about how many millions of dollars for each vehicle and you have to test them. There are just so many factors.
Whats one of the surprising things that you came across in your research? Was there anything that really blew your mind?
I think that as somebody whos never served and whos never had a family member in the military, I was just kind of blown away like, there was this guy, Gavin White, whose surgery I saw at Walter Reed. Just hearing his story, the first thing that crossed his mind after he got blown up was, Where are my buddies? Where is everybody? Whos hit? Like, nevermind that your leg is missing, and your other leg is mangled, and youve got an injury to your penis. Youre trying to stand up and see whos hit. I dont know. Thats something you read about parents parents running into a burning building to save their child. Thats how I define love. Thats an extraordinary thing. Thats not about country or cause. Thats a really strong bond. That really blew me away. I emailed Gavin the next day and wrote that: You really blew me away. And then I thought, Wow, thats a really bad metaphor. But, yeah, that was really the most memorable day of all the research I did, because Ive never been through that, and theres no way to experience that without living it.
Did your perception of the military change over the course of writing this book?
Yes, absolutely, because I had a very Hollywood perception. I had the perception that somebody has as an outsider. You have this perception of high drama, and fear, and excitement, and drudgery. Its a caricature of what its actually like. And then also a sense of the aftermath, of PTSD and the very real things that you go through when youre injured either physically or emotionally again, I had the Hollywood version. Id seen Coming Home and Band of Brothers and The Hurt Locker. So I had that, but I didnt have all the shades of gray. Theres nothing that makes it more real than sitting down and talking to somebody one-on-one whos experienced it. I wanted to embed. That was my original plan. I think that wouldve been good because it wouldve put me in touch with the everyday reality. I was supported by the Army but ISAF turned me down because it was during the drawdown. It wouldve made me less of a POG. Freakin ISAF!
Adam Linehan is a senior staff writer for Task & Purpose. Between 2006-2012, he served as a combat medic in the U.S. Army, and is a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan.
This article originally appeared on Task & Purpose. Follow Task & Purpose on Twitter.
More articles from Task & Purpose:
What Soldiers In The Infantry Go Through To Earn Their Title
How To Survive Mountain Phase Of Ranger School
These Are The 5 Best Places To Retire After The Military
Hillary Clinton Wins Enough Delegates To Clinch The Democratic Nomination
Trending News: Hillary Clinton Wins The Democratic Nomination
Why Is This Important?
Because Clinton can now focus on the Donald.
Long Story Short
Hillary Clinton has reached the necessary delegates to win the Democratic nomination, but Bernie Sanders isn't going anywhere. The primary contests will continue with the 74-year-old Vermont senator saying that he intends to convince the superdelegates to vote his way at the party convention.
Long Story
The Democratic primary campaign is finally over.
Or is it?
The Associated Press broke the political newswires with a tweet calling Hillary Clinton the Democratic nominee after tallying up the delegates and finding that the former first lady has enough to win the nomination.
BREAKING: @AP finds Clinton reached the number of delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination for president pic.twitter.com/e473F0G4vX The Associated Press (@AP) June 7, 2016
The Clinton campaign pooh pooh'd the announcement, saying she's got her focus on winning Tuesday's six primaries.
But is the AP forgetting somebody? Oh yeah, Bernie Sanders, the guy nobody expected to be in it this long and who held an incredible party changing campaign, isn't prepared to bow out to the party's presumptive nominee.
Bernie responded to AP's call with a statement calling the media out for rushing the judgement when the superdelegates haven't and allegedly cannot officially back Hillary until the party convention on July 25.
Here's Bernie Sanders camp's response to the @APs call that Clinton has hit the delegate count for the nomination: pic.twitter.com/Y7PCKIgv8p Mic (@mic) June 7, 2016
So what does this change? Not too much, really.
Hillary has already said the delegate math is on her side, and Bernie has vowed to stay in the race until the convention where he plans to convince the superdelegates that he's the best person to take on Donald Trump. There are still a bunch of primaries to be had, including a biggie in California this Tuesday, and democratic voters will still be able to cast their ballot for either candidate.
Rhetorically though, we've already seen the change. Clinton has already started looking past Bernie and begun firing attacks on her opponent come November.
It'll be interesting to see if this news sways voters in the Tuesday primaries to throw their support behind their de facto leader, or perhaps, they're not ready to stop feeling the Bern just yet.
Own The Conversation
Ask The Big Question
Is calling the win for Hillary an example of the negative media bias against Bernie?
Disrupt Your Feed
Bye bye Bernie.
Drop This Fact
Clinton becomes the first woman to win any party's nomination.
Its not often we see significant players swapped in June read this if you dont believe me but the White Sox made an early strike on Saturday to acquire James Shields from the Padres. Chicago gave up controllable righty Erik Johnson and young infielder Fernando Tatis Jr., with San Diego keeping about $31MM of the $58MM owed to Shields.
From Chicagos perspective, Shields represents a dependable if diminished rotation piece who can help keep the team in contention this year. Hell also likely be around for the next two seasons to come, though Shields has the right to opt out at year end. While theres little reason to believe that hes still a top-of-the-line starter, Shields is incredibly durable, still reasonably effective, and quite fairly priced with the discount included in this swap. He certainly deepens a rotation that has some questions at the back end.
If the White Sox felt that Johnson was a viable option to play that sort of role, they surely wouldnt have parted with him. The 26-year-old has failed to stick in four stints at the major league level, so hes had his chances. On the other hand, hes been much more effective at Triple-A even if he hasnt maintained a promising strikeout rate bump from a year ago and none of those four stints included more than six appearances. With just 89 days of service coming into the year, the Cal-Berkeley product could be a long-term asset for the Padres; on the other hand, hell also soon be out of options. As Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs explains, Johnson has a mediocre arsenal but still carries a bit of upside. Tatis, meanwhile, is a quality prospect in Longenhagens evaluation, though there are some limits to his ceiling and he remains a long ways from the majors.
So, MLBTR readers, did it make sense for the Sox to give up that package and take on that much salary? Were the Pads wise to act quickly to save some cash and get something back for Shields? Vote here (link for mobile app users):
Myanmar Oriental Bank has signed a deal with US-based VMware to upgrade its banking technology with cloud and virtualisation software, the companies announced yesterday.
All of Myanmars banks are in the process of installing core banking systems, the back-end software that centralises information and supports basic transactions, including internet and mobile banking.
VMware will help MOB to upgrade its physical data centre to a virtual one, which means that every transaction will be processed online through a cloud system, making the banks operations faster and more secure, with a better chance of data recovery in case of disaster.
The bank needs efficient infrastructure in order to grow its business and understands the importance of investing in a reliable IT system, said managing director Daw Kyi Kyi Than. We are going to offer better services to our clients and provide a 24-hour service, she said.
Around 49 percent of internet use in Myanmar is through phones and MOB will now be able to provide a fast and secure mobile service, according to a press release.
Yesterday, the bank set up VMware software including vCloud Suite, NSX and Virtual SAN, said country representative U Tun Tun Linn. MOB is the first bank in Myanmar to use complete VMware infrastructure, he said.
AYA Bank signed with VMware last year to virtualise its data centre and network infrastructure, and the Central Bank of Myanmar and Yangon Stock Exchange are also using the software, he added.
VMware also now has a chance to cooperate with Myanmars state-owned banks, he said, after Myanma Economic Bank, Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank, and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank were removed from the US blacklist of Specially Designated Nationals last month.
State banks account for more than 50 percent of all banking-sector assets in Myanmar, and are desperately in need of reform.
One of their main challenges, aside from a low level of transparency on operations and financial performance, is the need for modernised technology and IT systems, the World Bank said in its most recent Myanmar Economic Monitor.
A strain of paddy heavily promoted by the previous government is selling for only half the price of rice grown with local seeds, farmers in Nay Pyi Taw are complaining.
Nay Pyi Taw-based farmers and rice millers said Pearl Thwel seed had acquired a very low reputation, despite former agriculture minister U Myint Hlaings efforts to promote it.
Pyinmana township farmer U Myo Win said farmers are planting local seed this season, mostly Manay Thuhka, which sells for K750,000-K780,000 per 100 tins.
It can be stored for a long time, and can reach prices of K800,000. But farmers who planted Pearl Thwel are complaining that they can only get K400,000 for their rice, he said.
Rice miller U Maung Soe said on May 29 that Pearl Thwel paddy was in very low demand. We dont dare to store it, we only mill paddy if people will buy it, he said.
Former minister U Myint Hlaing encouraged farmers to grow Pearl Thwel rice, setting up 300,000 acres of model fields throughout the country and providing seeds, fertiliser and financing.
Farmer U Hla Than said, I only planted Pearl Thwel because I didnt have to worry about financing or fertiliser.
The new National League for Democracy government has taken a different view of the seed, and is not urging farmers to plant it.
U Moe Zaw, an official at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, said farmers could plant Pearl Thwel if they wanted, but the ministry would not provide any support.
Under the previous government the agriculture ministry was accused of favouring Nay Pyi Taw in its efforts to boost productivity at the nations farms.
Each year it allocated funding to upgrade private farmland into newly demarcated plots of land with access paths and irrigation channels, but the program focused mostly on the capital city.
Beyond this, farmers were largely left to take development into their own hands, despite government pledges to develop the sector, support the cultivation of crops with good yields and help farmers to adopt modern farming methods.
Hopes are high that the current government will adopt new policies to tackle high land prices, forced land confiscations, weak laws, a lack of infrastructure and rural credit, drought, flooding, and ineffective insurance policies.
Translation by San Layy
Holdout farmers are threatening to sue the Southeast Asia Gas Pipeline Company unless they receive the compensation they demand for damage caused by a pipeline running from Rakhine State to Chinas Yunnan province.
The company, known as SEAGP, has paid out K210 million in compensation to 200 farmers in Kyaukphyu township between October 2015 and April this year, its spokesperson told The Myanmar Times. But 20 farmers have refused to accept the money.
We paid compensation in accordance with Myanmar law, even to farmers whose land was not destroyed. We want to maintain good relations between the company and local residents. But 20 farmers have refused the compensation, said Henry Zhang, deputy public relations manager, adding that the company is prepared to compensate all the farmers affected by its operations, if they are recognised by the regional government.
The 20 farmers threatening legal action own land about 500 metres (1640 feet) from the plant that produces the natural gas to be pumped into the pipeline.
We have investigated all their claims. Some are valid, but most are not. Nevertheless, we have discussed the possibility of paying them the same compensation as the other farmers. I dont know why they are refusing, Mr Zhang said.
U Tun Kyi, a negotiator for the Kyaukphyu Rural Development Association, says the farmers want their land to be restored so they can cultivate it, rather than accepting money.
Daw Kyi Kyi Hnin, who owns 2 acres of paddy, said the dispute would not have arisen if the company had taken responsibility for the consequences of its operations.
All we want is to grow paddy on our own lands. If the company had not dumped waste, our land would not have been polluted, she said.
A storm in a teacup it certainly is not. Serious coffee artists gathered from the furthest corners of the land this week to take part in the Myanmar Latte Art Competition, where audiences watched enthralled as, with a dab hand swiftly sculpting foam, aficionados brought forth an image in the steam.
And do not call it superficial, still less groundless. These may not be works that will stand the test of time alongside your Mona Lisas and your Sistine Chapels. But for those of us Prufrocks who measure out our evenings, mornings, afternoons with coffee spoons, they are small but aromatic treasures.
The event was hosted by Food and Hotel Myanmar Exhibition 2016, June 1-3 at Myanmar Event Park, and was organised by the Golden Brown Coffee company. Amid hot and caffeine-laced competition, 10 finalists had to create two artworks each in four cups of latte, latte macchiato and latte freestyle within 15 minutes.
Ko Aung Zaw Lin, a contestant from Yangons Signature Restaurant, took the first prize, a coffee machine, with his creation of a shape of sun and tulip. Starting in 2008, he studied with a senior coffee maker from Thailand before branching out on his own. On learning of the competition, he was eager to take part without even knowing about the prizes.
I chose the sun and tulip for my final challenge. I didnt think about the coffee machine prize. I just did my best, he said.
Second prize went to Ko Nay Lin Soe, the owner of Jin coffee shop in Kyaingtong/Kengtung township, eastern Shan State, who came all the way to Yangon to demonstrate his love of coffee. His contribution was the face of an American Indian.
I wanted to know the difference between local and international coffee beans and to prove that Myanmar coffee makers can create their own designs too, he said. He has been creating his own designs since 2013, studying from the internet and coffee-table books on the subject.
A self-confessed coffee addict, he added, Now I want to know how to roast beans, and to learn all there is to know about making the perfect cup of coffee.
He also won a coffee machine.
Rival purveyors of the best in joe have been proliferating in Myanmar in recent years. The competition organisers wanted to expose international judges to the best of local talent and stimulate the job market, said Golden Browns admin manager Ko Thura Aung.
We were surprised when contestants demonstrated so much talent and skill. These remarkable outcomes were quite unexpected, he said.
Judges came from Spain, Thailand and Myanmar. Plans are already under way for the next coffee latte art competition at next years Food and Hotel Myanmar Expo.
Almost 150 students from basic and private schools took part in an art competition held at a Mandalay-area basic education high school June 4-5. A variety of budding painters, cartoonists, graphic designers and more showcased their skills to commemorate Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, to be held on June 26. On that day, prizes and reward money will be offered to winners from the basic, middle and high school divisions.
This competition can teach students the dangers of drugs. Their lives will also be clear from drug disturbance, said deputy force chief Police Captain Hla Lwin from Mandalay Region.
Translation by Khine Thazin Han
Campaigners for justice in the rape and murder of two teachers in Kachin State last year are appealing to President U Htin Kyaw for help in bringing the suspects to account.
The general secretary of the Kachin Baptist Convention, Reverend Samson Hkalam, told The Myanmar Times yesterday that he would submit the letter next week in the hope of generating some action in the case.
We need help from President U Htin Kyaw in the search for justice. We cant wait any longer to find out the truth, he said.
He said the KBC will await the presidents response before deciding whether to proceed in their bid to sue the commander and soldiers of the 503rd Light Infantry Regiment encamped near the scene of the womens death. The regiment was part of Northeast Region Command.
If the president doesnt respond, we will have no choice but to find other ways of moving forward. We will try to find the truth by ourselves, including by suing the military, he said.
Muse township police said yesterday they were unable to take further action since, they said, the KBC had failed to put questions to the regimental commander, Major Aung Phyo Myint, at a meeting last month.
The 503rd Light Infantry Regiment had established a temporary base in Khaung Khar village, about 100 metres (330 feet) from where the incident occurred, two days before two teachers were killed in January 2015. An army-issue belt and boot-prints were allegedly found at the scene of the crime.
Muse township Police Major Soe Than said the authorities had requested assistance from the KBC in interviewing four civilian villagers said to have entered a zone controlled by the Kachin Independence Organisation.
We have no plans to issue warrants to detain them. We cannot go into KIO-controlled area, so we would ask the KBC to call them for an interview. Otherwise, we may never know the truth or find justice, he said.
The KBC said the police had already interviewed the villagers at least three times, and the KBC did not know their whereabouts. The four are said to be an ethnic Bamar couple, aged 44 and 41, who lived in Kaung Khar village but have since disappeared, and two younger villagers who had also lived in the village at that time.
KBC has said it believed the local residents were being scapegoated. DNA results from the crime scene were never released.
In January, National League for Democracy MPs vowed to find out the truth about the case.
The two female volunteers, Maran Lu Ra, 20, and Tangbau Hkwan Nan Tsin, 21, were working for the KBC in Kaung Khar village teaching children whose education had been disrupted by fighting. Their bodies were found with stab wounds and head injuries after villagers reported hearing screams in the night.
It looks like Myanmar may be going cold turkey on its betel nut habit.
Chewing betel remains popular across the country, with the stimulant regarded by some as a national pastime.
Habitually gnawing at the combination of tobacco and areca nut both known carcinogens has destructive health effects. About one-fifth of all cancers in Myanmar are mouth-related.
Betel is now firmly in the crosshairs of the new National League for Democracy-led government.
Last month, the Union government instructed ministries, along with state and region governments, to develop and implement a plan for reducing the use of betel across the country.
The order also instructed all government employees not to chew betel during office hours, and not to allow any betel vendors within government facilities. The move was followed by an announcement in state media on June 5 that the Ministry of Health and Sport is in the process of a campaign to remove betel stands from public places and places of tourist attraction in urban centres.
There is also reportedly a public education campaign in the works, but repeated attempts to contact the Ministry of Health for clarity about the project went unanswered and unreturned yesterday.
Large segments of the population will likely be affected by the new ban.
A recent Ministry of Health and World Health Organization survey showed that 62 percent of men and 24pc of women in Myanmar use smokeless tobacco products such as betel. This is one of the largest rates of consumption across Southeast Asia.
Myanmars addiction rates were also sky high 44pc of men and 16pc of women use these substances on a daily basis.
A 2014 study conducted in Yangon found that 5pc of the population was so addicted that they lived with harsh oral lesions caused by the substances.
For local and international health experts, the latest curbs are welcome.
A spokesperson for World Health Organization in Myanmar was blunt. He said betel consumption was a serious public health threat in the country which is leading to dramatic increases in the likelihood of developing serious diseases of the gums, teeth, tongue, mouth and throat.
The spokesperson also said the product is a contributing risk factor for the development of other non-communicable diseases such as heart conditions, diabetes and hypertension.
U Than Sein of national advocacy group the Peoples Health Foundation was particularly concerned about the rising trend of usage among the younger generation.
Children start their habit of betel chewing as young as 10 or 12 years old, U Than Sein told The Myanmar Times. He also cited a Global Youth Tobacco Survey which showed that smokeless tobacco users among youths age 10 to 15 years in Myanmar tripled from 2001 to 2011.
We are seeing increasing morbidity and mortality associated with tobacco-related cancer and other diseases like cardiovascular problems, respiratory diseases, and liver, kidney and pancreatic diseases, he said.
How soon the massive industry can be cut back or even eliminated remains unclear however. The Myanmar Times saw several sellers continue to operate yesterday across Yangon.
The fate of the sellers themselves is also unknown. State media reported that initiatives will include arrangements to substitute the business of betel nut selling with other vocations.
The Tatmadaw is suing eight Theinni township residents under the Unlawful Association Act, according to police.
The northern Shan State villagers are accused of having connections with, and assisting, the Shan State Army-North (SSPP/SSA). A case against them was filed on June 2.
The eight men from Pan Son village were detained by Tatmadaw soldiers when they were allegedly carrying out an order given by the SSPP to collect data about the number of households, villagers and businesses in the village. A police officer from Theinni township told The Myanmar Times that the villagers had been sent to Lashio Prison.
The Shan State Joint Action Committee (SSJAC), a coalition including the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy and the SSPP, has committed to helping the men, according to Shan State MP for Theinni township Daw Khin Htar Oo.
I presented the case during the 20th anniversary celebration of the SSJAC, she said.
Sai Aung Ni, the head of Moe Tay village in Namtu township, said that village heads often were given no choice but to cooperate with armed groups.
All armed groups contact the heads of villages for what they want or need. Nobody dares to refuse their orders. Everyone lives in fear, he said.
A village head from Thibaw/Hsipaw township, who did not want to be named out of fear for retribution, confirmed the difficulties for villagers caught between different armed groups.
The military and ethnic armed groups regularly come to our village. I have to deal with them because I am the chief of our village. I have to answer and do what they ask because we dont have the strength to stand up against them, he said. They have weapons. We have no protection if they harm us.
Daw Khin Htar Oo said it was time for the Unlawful Association Act to be abolished.
The Unlawful Association Act shouldnt exist any more. The SSPP is already taking part in the peace process and Union-level peace talks. They also signed a ceasefire in 2012, she said.
Villagers in the conflict zone told The Myanmar Times that they were under constant threat and fear of arrest, torture or murder by various armed forces operating in the area.
In March, the military was accused of detaining more than 100 villagers in northern Shan State on suspicion of supporting the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA). All were released but some were tortured and others had to pay bribes to secure their release.
A reporter for the BBC Myanmar service has been found guilty of assaulting a police officer and was sentenced to three months in prison with hard labour yesterday.
Ko Nay Myo Lin has denied the charge, which stemmed from a crackdown on student protesters in Mandalay on March 27, 2015.
The reporter was covering the demonstration held in solidarity with students violently arrested in Letpadan during a march to Yangon when police phalanxes moved in. Students allege that police in Mandalay began the crackdown on the rally by knocking motorbikes to the ground.
During the scuffle, according to the Mandalay Region Police Force, Ko Nay Myo Lin got into an altercation and punched an officer in the face.
He was charged under section 332 of the penal code for attacking a civil servant on duty by the Chan Mya Tharsi court and faced up to three years in prison and a fine.
Despite nearly two dozen witnesses from the protest testifying in the reporters defence, judge U Tun Kyi settled on a guilty verdict yesterday after a 15-month trial. The judge said the testimonies did not all match up with Ko Nay Myo Lins statement, and added that it was important the public recognise civil servants on duty are protected under the law.
Although the accused said he is not guilty, I ordered the punishment after considering both the defences statement and testimonies, U Tun Kyi told media at the court after the verdict. No organisation controls [the court]. As I am a judge, I have to make a decision after considering every possible angle of the case. If Ko Nay Myo Lin is not satisfied with the decision, he can appeal.
But Ko Nay Myo Lin said he was not planning on fighting the courts verdict.
Most people saw that the police pushed over the students motorcycles at the protest. But the court ignored the evidence and sentenced me to three months imprisonment with labour. It is not fair, he said. There is no protection for the media. What I did was only report on people who were being treated unjustly.
Ko Nay Myo Lin added that he believes the police influenced the courts decision.
BBC Myanmar correspondent Jonah Fisher yesterday posted to social media about Ko Nay Myo Lins sentence, including videos from the protest, but tweeted that BBC could not comment further on the case at the moment.
Translation by Thiri Min Htun
And still they come: Yangon Region authorities are fighting a running battle against the constant proliferation of illegal shanties, which have continued to spring up overnight despite a city ordinance that any new unofficial residents will be arrested.
Most of the new shanties can be found in Hlaing Tharyar township, whose industrial zones are a magnet for unemployed workers across the country.
The newcomers could also be encouraged by the public commitment of Yangons National League for Democracy not to resort to the policies of its predecessor, which bulldozed unofficial homes under the gaze of armed police.
Hlaing Tharyar Township Development Committee administrator U Khin Maung Gyi told The Myanmar Times yesterday, We demolish new tents wherever they are reported, but dont touch existing tents. Most of them go up at night, and we knock them down when they are reported, he said, calling on township residents to keep the authorities informed.
As of May 30, about 110 tents had been removed following complaints by residents.
They come in and put up tents after dark, sometimes 20 or 30 in one night. People took notice when the chief minister of Yangon Region said squatters would not be removed by violence, and some of them are expanding their living space, said former Hlaing Tharyar Township Development Committee chair U Kyi Soe.
The tents cluster thickly along the Yangon-Pathein Road, while Hlaing Tharyar is the biggest township in the country by population. The population density has caused blockages in Taryarkone, Shwe Lin Pan, Ingaline and Sultan creeks, and fights are commonplace.
Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein said no more squatters would be allowed after May 25 while a headcount proceeds.
The regional government estimates that there are more than 430,000 unofficial residents in Yangon Region, including 157,400 in Eastern Yangon district, 93,000 in Southern Yangon, 8100 in Western Yangon and 170,000 in Northern Yangon district. Other accounts have put the number far higher, and say the previous administrations habit of violent evictions created a new breed of roadside squatters.
Of the 26 industrial zones in Yangon Region, nine are located in Hlaing Tharyar, providing jobs to more than 300,000 workers.
One unofficial resident, Ko San Shay, said, There are more tents every day, and the city development committee cant seem to remove them. Established squatters get worried when the new ones arrive. We feel people look down on us.
Translation by Khant Lin Oo
After three years of printing, Swe Sone Media Group announced on June 3 that it would temporarily cease publication of its Pyi Myanmar daily newspaper.
Yesterday, on the papers three-year anniversary, the dailys last edition was printed, with no confirmed relaunch date.
Pyi Myanmar is the first private newspaper to withdraw from the market since the new government took office in March this year.
The paper said it had faced various difficulties and financial losses. In its announcement, the company thanked readers and said that it would improve its operations before coming back into the market.
An editor from the paper confirmed the temporary halt, and said that the publication would continue providing news online.
U Tint Swe, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Information, told The Myanmar Times that a change in the way readers access news poses a significant challenge to publishers.
Years ago, we thought that there would be a huge development in our countrys print media industry. However, the trend has changed. People are increasingly relying on internet platforms, he said.
Various publications struggled to build good distribution networks, which had also hampered success, U Tint Swe said.
Criticism of state-run news-papers that started under the previous government has continued under the current administration, with some media already accusing the Ministry of Information of monopolising the market. U Tint Swe defended state-owned publications, saying each media organisation should define a clear operational strategy.
While some [companies] are producing papers by relying on back-up such as marketing and advertising income, other newspapers operate by having a high circulation number, he said.
The censorship board was abolished in August 2012 and the information ministry granted licences to private media companies to produce daily newspapers. According to the MOI, it granted more than 30 licences, but many dailies were soon suspended after struggling to survive. Only around one-third of licenced operations print regularly, according to the Press Scrutiny Department.
In January, The Irrawaddy pulled the plug on print editions, trimming its weekly publication and taking operations all online. The news outlet said continuing to publish ink-and-paper copies did not make financial sense. Last October, The Trade Times also ceased publication entirely and cited financial concerns.
The current private dailies in Myanmar language are The Voice Daily, The Union Daily, The Standard Time, 7 Day Daily, Daily Eleven, Mandalay Alin and Yadanar Times. The Myanmar Times is the only privately owned English-language paper.
A steel factory defying a labour tribunals order to compensate laid off and abused workers was told it can now pay less than the initially ruled amount.
The Central Arbitration Council ruled to uphold the order on June 1 despite the Yar Shin steel factorys most recent appeal.
The factory in Hmawbi township, Yangon, was told in April that it must pay three female staffers who had ceased their assigned work after finding it too dangerous.
K228,000 was to be paid to two workers, both named Ma Phyu Phyu Win, and K163,500 to Ma Cho Cho San.
But the June ruling dropped the amount to K114,000 for the first two, and K54,500 to the third.
We will take what we can get, Yar Shin steel factory worker Ma Phyu Phyu Win said on June 6.
We cant afford transportation to the [arbitration council] any more, and we are tired.
Hmawbi union deputy chair Ko Aung Ko Latt, who has been helping in the case, said although they arent satisfied with the central councils decision, they arent planning on taking the dispute to the high court because lawyer fees are very expensive.
Our workers feel aggrieved. They lost their jobs. Their compensation fees were reduced. I ask the council members to come and see the situation in the factory and judge from that who is right and who is wrong, he said.
Union members have accused Yar Shin of being a long-time violator of workers rights.
In February, a visiting inspection team from the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission and the Ministry of Labour slammed the factory for poor safety standards and deplorable working conditions, including workers being forced to handle boiling metal with no protective gear.
Shortly after the visit by the inspection team, the three women were transferred on March 3 from the sorting jobs to general labourer positions, which meant they had to carry out tasks like cleaning the worksite, carrying molten metal and cutting hot iron rods. They were the only women assigned to those roles.
They took leave on March 14 and reported their dispute to the township worker dispute resolution team at the Department of Factories and General Labour Laws. The following day, the women showed up for work and saw their names crossed off the staff list. They said they stopped going to the factory because they thought they were fired.
When The Myanmar Times contacted factory manager U Tin Tun he declined to comment.
How is democracy promoted around the world? What techniques are successful? Established state democracies are by no means the only inspiration for democracy or for good governance; these ideas can find inspiration in other cultures and societies, such as Myanmar.
As a country that so publicly repudiated democracy in 1990 by not allowing an elected party to assume power, Myanmar has been a major target for extensive, and well-funded, democratic activism for more than two decades.
After World War II democratic practice was mainly advanced through universal principles or values of the United Nations system. The principle authority for UN action is merely a statement by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon; there is no UN resolution, perhaps because UN Security Council Permanent Members Russia and China would not support such an ideological declaration.
Surprisingly, the UN Democracy Fund was not set up as a funding mechanism for spreading democracy until 2005 after the pivotal World Summit held that year. Until then, democracy had been supported institutionally, through UN specialised agencies the international financial institutions (IFIs) of the Bretton Woods arrangements. Global values were also disseminated through universally applied international law, including international conventions (only some of which Myanmar had ratified), international courts, and bodies with judicial powers such as the World Trade Organization, in most of which Myanmar was a member.
Some systemic funding, capacity building, and norm re-enforcement occurred through UN agencies with a presence or programs on the ground in Myanmar: for example, the UN Childrens Fund, UNICEF; the World Health Organization; and after 2002, the International Labour Organization; then later, the United Nations Development Programme Rule of Law in Myanmar under its democratic governance mandate. But the UNs own Guiding Principles for Business were not adopted by the UN Human Rights Council until 2011. Significantly, none of the IFIs had an office in Myanmar until 2012, so in that area there was initially a gap to be made up. But pontificating in global forums and declamatory feel-good resolutions in toothless international gatherings would have little impact on the situation on the ground in Myanmar, as successive Myanmar military regimes well understood.
Democratic precepts were also spread through influential international NGOs such as the International Commission for the Red Cross (ICRC), Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW), and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Some of these international NGOs exercised considerable influence on developments in Myanmar. For example, the ICRC at certain times had its representatives stationed in many locations around the country precisely in order to understand the situation on the ground and to have immediate access to prisons and detention centres. Amnesty International and HRW for many years regularly published detailed human rights assessments and reports on Myanmar and were responsible for documenting some of the most important problems. But they essentially telegraphed their messages and conclusions remotely, mostly without personal interaction, and not surprisingly could do little if the regime chose to ignore or deny outright their findings. They certainly exercised a powerful influence over the giants of the international media and therefore shaped international attitudes toward Myanmar in some circles quite effectively.
Much less influential inside Myanmar were the non-universal mechanisms, such as the codes of conduct for business (often under the auspices of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), and widely practised business concepts, such as corporate social responsibility. Commonly practised but informal or unofficial ideas such as responsible reporting or responsible tourism did not gain much support in Myanmar until more recently during the reform period of then-president U Thein Sein.
The main state advocate for democracy is the United States, which employs a number of institutions (mostly set up during Republican administrations) and considerable funding to achieve its objective of transferring democratic principles. Its main funding vehicle is the National Endowment for Democracy, set up in 1983 and receiving regular core funding from the US Congress. Another, Radio Free Asia (RFA), is a US-funded organisation, which began broadcasting in major Asian languages in September 1996 targeting countries that denied their citizens access to free press (it bears no relation to the organisation of the same name set up by the Central Intelligence Agency at the height of the Cold War.) RFA represents a fairly crude mechanism, which even its US critics say was ineffectual. Voice of America, which broadcasts to Myanmar and online, and RFA are both overseen by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, a State Department affiliate agency which is not especially transparent. Together they form part of the US governments soft diplomacy, and were part of the now defunct US Information Agency.
The National Endowment for Democracy also established the Journal of Democracy in 1990 as a vehicle for specialised research and articles by established scholars, mainly from the United States, about democracy. From time to time, the journal carries quality articles on Myanmar in English.
Outside Myanmar, innumerable organisations were set up to advocate for change. They monitored developments from outside the country and documented human rights abuses as well as political and military events. Specialist media groups such as The Irrawaddy, Mizzima News and Democratic Voice of Burma, each staffed by qualified and talented expatriate Myanmar journalists, began reporting regularly on the repression being dealt out to citizens. These media groups evolved into highly professional and influential organisations, which eventually, after 2011, could contemplate setting up operations inside Myanmar.
All these activities received generous funding from official and private institutions in developed countries. The National Endowment for Democracy in the United States, and the Open Society Institutes of George Soros in particular, implemented extensive grant programs for outside groups engaged in effective pro-democracy activities that reached ordinary people, and for a few in-country groups. The value of their contributions rose steadily after 2010 and most of this funding in support of democracy was directed to non-government organisations, mainly civil society groups, including political parties.
One of the main constraints on the campaign for democracy in Myanmar before 2010 was, ironically, the sanctions adopted by the West, which prohibited assistance inside Myanmar and direct funding of government agencies. Even after 2011 one of the few Myanmar government organisations to receive international funding was the Union Election Commission that organised the free and fair 2015 elections, in which the National League for Democracy (NLD) won a sweeping majority. Had suitable recipients government and non-government not existed inside Myanmar, and not been functioning across the full spectrum of political society, such extensive and effective programs supporting democracy could not have been implemented satisfactorily in such a short period. The direct benefits in terms of spreading democratic norms to Myanmar would not have worked.
The important role of the media, including social media, as part of the enabling environment for the spread of democracy internationally and nationally, cannot be overstated. This has been one of the early surprising positive results from Myanmars transition, following the U Thein Sein governments lifting of print censorship in 2012.
International civil society groups can also be quite effective in helping the spread of democracy. Occasionally, democracy has been promoted through effective political relationships, for example, by the European Union, through various bilateral and regional arrangements such as ASEAN and the Commonwealth of Nations, and through cross-border treaties. However, the effectiveness of such efforts depends on the political commitment this involves. In Myanmars case, ASEANs impact is not so impressive, partly because many ASEAN members are not especially democratic.
Myanmar is now said to be transitioning to democracy, and has taken some significant initial steps in that direction. In addition to the international democratising influence, domestic factors have been a major inspiration in this process.
Before 2010, the pro-democracy movement did not attach much priority to establishing or nourishing democratic institutions inside Myanmar, even though fairly effective authoritarian state controls up until that point would have made this very difficult to achieve in any meaningful way. Much of the public articulation of thinking about democracy inside Myanmar in recent decades can be traced to Daw Aung San Suu Kyis own activities: her writings, her speeches (some while under detention), and various official statements she made as chair or spokesperson for the NLD. Despite the relentless political restrictions under which she lived for much of her life, her views have become extremely well known, and respected, among ordinary citizens.
While the military played a role in opting for a democratic way forward for Myanmar, it did not spell out precisely how its tight authoritarian controls might be adapted. From the time the military publicly canvassed the idea of disciplined democracy in the lead up to the 1990 elections, it notionally embraced the concept of multi-party elections, although it missed opportunities for further reforms. U Thant Myint-U, a leading Myanmar intellectual, has said, Liberal democracy is the only sustainable form of government for a country as culturally and ethnically diverse as Burma, but we need to start from the way things are. However, other scholars have identified attitudinal problems in Myanmar that pose a challenge to the establishment of democracy. Ian Holliday also outlines obstacles to democratic transition in his 2011 Burma Redux, while recognising its historical roots.
In recent times, the weakness of some UN bodies in the protection of human rights has affected the overall prospects for democratisation around the world. Moreover, the non-mandatory UN General Assembly resolutions on Myanmar, adopted annually since 1991 and strongly supported by both OECD member countries and the pro-democracy movement, did not really help matters inside Myanmar where they were largely ignored in practice. In the case of Myanmar, such an exaggerated and highly prescriptive approach was not a successful strategy for the international community.
Judging by the enthusiasm of grassroots campaigns inside Myanmar for workers rights, land rights, collective community rights regarding the environment, and individual legal rights since 2011, there seems to be a hunger for democracy that exceeds what international campaigners might envisage. This may be evidence of ordinary people embracing democracy instinctively and intuitively, rather than under direction. But it in turn poses the question as to how amenable will such movements be to suggestions they should exercise restraint, tolerance, and obey the law. Only time will tell.
New Mandala
Trevor Wilson is a visiting fellow in the ANU Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs and author of Eyewitness to early reform in Myanmar. This article is republished with permission from New Mandala and Policy Forum.
[June 06, 2016] Significant Growth of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Market to Expedite the IoT Market in China Through 2020, Says Technavio
According to the latest market study released by Technavio, the IoT market in China is expected to grow at a CAGR of close to 19% during the forecast period. This research report titled 'IoT Market in China 2016-2020' provides an in-depth analysis of the market in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. This market research report also includes up to date analysis and forecasts for various market segments and all geographical regions. According to Amrita Choudhury, a lead analyst at Technavio for research on enterprise application, "The IoT Market in China is expected to exceed a revenue of 248 billion by 2020 should the market sustain a CAGR of close to 19% during the forecast period. The significant progress of RFID market is supporting the growth of IoT market. The government is the largest sector in terms of RFID market revenue in China." Request sample report: http://goo.gl/sxPpKl The report categorizes the IoT market in China into the following end-user segments: manufacturing, automotive, healthcare, and others. The top three segments are elaborated below: IoT market in China in the manufacturing sector The manufacturing industry will enable IoT technologies by connecting the physical and digital world in the coming years. IoT technologies help improve workers' health and safety in production units. Manufacturing units provide workers with a wearable device that alerts the worker if he enters into a hazardous area. However, Chinese manufacturers are facing some challenges while adopting IoT technology. There is a lack of integrated communication systems and platforms required to transfer information and data across and outside of their organizations.
As of 2015, the manufacturing sector was the largest end-user segment with 34.56% of the IoT market in China. However, by 2020, Technavio researchers expect the market share to decline to 33.5% as many domestic and international firms will start establishing manufacturing units outside of China in line with the rising labor costs in the country. China has recently lost a few new factory investments to lower-cost countries such as Vietnam. IoT market in China in the automotive sector
The introduction of connected car services and applications that include asset tracking and fleet management will boost the IoT market revenue in the country during the forecast period. Many Chinese firms such as Alibaba, SAIC (News - Alert) Motor, LeEco, and Baidu are looking to enter the automotive industry with IoT products and solutions. The smart car is an innovation in the automotive industry, and it can connect to the internet to enhance driver's experience. In 2015, the top ten auto companies in China manufactured 32.5 million cars. The major automotive companies in China are Beijing Auto, Brilliance, BYD, Chang'an, Chery, Dongfeng, FAW, Geely, Great Wall Moto, Guangzhou Auto, JAC, and SAIC. "The market share of the automotive sector will reach close to 23% by 2020 as the sector is receiving increased investments in IoT innovations. China Mobile (News - Alert) has formed an Internet of Vehicles company to utilize opportunities in the automotive industry," says Amrita. IoT market in China in the healthcare sector The IoT market in China's healthcare sector was valued at USD 16.54 billion in 2015 and will reach USD 42.5 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 22.02% during the forecast period. In the healthcare sector, the IoT can be used for remote monitoring of patients, maintaining medical records, creating real-time alerts about patients' health, choosing drugs and their dosage, and maintaining insurance details. The technology helps reduce medication errors by improving communication between patients and healthcare providers. Browse Related Reports: Electric Vehicle Market in China 2016-2020
Global IOT Devices Market 2015-2019
IOT Market in the Nordic Region 2016-2020 Purchase these three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact [email protected] with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160606005582/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[June 07, 2016] MaxLinear Bonded MoCA 2.0 Chosen by Hirschmann Multimedia for New Line of In-Home Networking Products
MaxLinear Inc. (NYSE: MXL), a leading provider of radio frequency (RF) and mixed-signal integrated circuits for cable and satellite broadband communications, the connected home, data center, metro, long-haul fiber networks, and wireless infrastructure, today announced that its MxL370x was selected by Hirschmann Multimedia BV for a new line of bonded MoCA 2.0-based home networking products. At ANGACOM 2016, Hirschmann Multimedia will expand its MOKA-brand MoCA product line to include a new MOKA plugin module for the company's newest In Home Amplifiers, a new MOKA Wi-Fi extender and a USB-powered MOKA Mini. These new products are added to a product family that includes the existing MOKA adapter series. The MoCA-enabled In-Home Amplifiers are designed to co-exist with DOCSIS 3.1 and enable the distribution of broadband throughout the home over existing coax. When combined with the MOKA Wi-Fi adapter and the USB-powered MOKA Mini, the user is able to easily deliver broadband rates to any device, anywhere in their home. As the consumption of content continues to grow, service providers are making significant investments in new service delivery technologies that can deliver data throughput of up to 1 Gbps to the home. But as operators' broadband speeds become more homogeneous, it becomes imperative that they look for other ways to differentiate and offer new services. Creating and managing a reliable in-home network is a natural extension of their broadband service and it has the added benefit of not only eliminating costly customer support calls but also increasing their average revenue per user (ARPU). Compared to other "no new wire" solutions, which are limited to about 200 Mbps and provide unpredictable performance, only MoCA delivers proven, "no-excuses" performance at speeds beyond 1 Gbps. With the transition to all IP, growth of Ultra HDTV consumption, and an increase in the number of connected devices, MoCA provides the most cost effective path to future proofing the in-home backbone without having to pull new wires. The MxL370x is a family of bonded MoCA 2.0 devices - the industry's only single-chip bonded MoCA 2.0 solution - that incorporates six generations of MoCA technology and the field experience gained from over 120 million chips shipped. With MaxLinear technology and unique chip architecture, the MxL370x features an enhanced mode making it capable of achieving over 1.2 Gbps when communicating with other MxL370x devices on a network. This additional capacity ensures subscribers achieve the 1 Gbps in all parts of their home when initiating a speed test to validate their home network performance. By establishing a high capacity, robust MoCA network in the home, operators are able to eliminate support calls from users who feel like their service levels are below those promised. "We are pleased to be working with Hirschmann Multimedia to address the market demand for delivering a eliable home network to the broadband subscriber," said Will Torgerson, MaxLinear Vice President & General Manager of Broadband Group. "Hirschmann has unique insight into the needs of the European consumer and, as a consequence, it has been a strong proponent of using MoCA over other technologies. By providing unparalleled performance, their new products will reliably support new services from the service providers for years to come."
"The growth of FTTH and DOCSIS3.1 means broadband delivery technologies have exceeded the capabilities of today's home network," said Daan Bonenkamp, Hirschmann Chief Technical Officer. "With MaxLinear's cost effective, best-in-class bonded MoCA 2.0 technology in our new line of networking products, we can provide an extremely reliable, easy to install, high throughput connection anywhere in the home without pulling new wires. Broadband subscribers will no longer be frustrated by constant service and buffering interruptions." Hirschmann Multimedia will be exhibiting the new MaxLinear-powered products in stand 10.2 / G14 at the 2016 ANGACOM Congress for Broadband, Cable and Satellite in Cologne, Germany.
MxL370x Technical Highlights
The MxL370x constitutes the world's highest-performance coax home networking solution with the greatest level of integration and lowest power in the market. The device can provide 1.2Gbps of aggregate MAC throughput between up to 16 nodes equipped with MaxLinear MxL370x devices. The device is backward interoperable with MoCA 1.x and MoCA 2.0 bonded and single-channel nodes. Packaged in an 8mm x 8mm QFN, the MxL370x is a single-chip MoCA solution consisting of an integrated RF power amplifier (PA), Tx/Rx switch, low-noise amplifier (LNA), Full-Spectrum (News - Alert) Capture (FSC) analog-digital converter (ADC), MoCA PHY and MAC. Supported interfaces within the MxL370x family include RGMII, 2.5G SGMII, and PCIe v2.1. For MoCA adapters, a host-less version of the chip is also available to provide the lowest possible bill-of-material cost. About Hirschmann Multimedia BV
Hirschmann Multimedia B.V is international development and manufacturing company, located in Weesp, the Netherlands. Hirschmann Multimedia provides leading, innovative products for cable, fiber and wireless industry. These access and in-home solutions provide state-of-the-art data and multimedia distribution serving millions of subscribers across the planet. About MaxLinear, Inc.
MaxLinear, Inc. (NYSE: MXL), a leading provider of radio frequency (RF) and mixed-signal integrated circuits for cable and satellite broadband communications, the connected home, data center, metro, long-haul fiber networks, and wireless infrastructure markets. MaxLinear is headquartered in Carlsbad, California. For more information, please visit www.maxlinear.com. MxL and the MaxLinear logo are trademarks of MaxLinear, Inc. Other trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners. Cautionary Note About Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, among others, statements concerning or implying future financial performance or trends and growth opportunities affecting MaxLinear, including statements related to the performance of MaxLinear's MxL370x. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current, preliminary expectations and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including (among others) risks relating to integration of our recently announced acquisition of assets from Microsemi (News - Alert) Corporation and our pending acquisition of assets from Broadcom; intense competition in our industry; the ability of our customers to cancel or reduce orders; uncertainties concerning how end user markets for our products will develop; our lack of long-term supply contracts and dependence on limited sources of supply; potential decreases in average selling prices for our products; currently pending intellectual property litigation; and the potential for additional intellectual property litigation, which is prevalent in our industry. In addition to these risks and uncertainties, investors should review the risks and uncertainties contained in MaxLinear's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015 as amended by Amendment No. 1 filed with the SEC (News - Alert) on April 28, 2016; our subsequent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2016; and our Current Reports on Form 8-K. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. MaxLinear is providing this information as of the date of this release and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160607005761/en/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
07.06.2016 LISTEN
Movie director, Frank Garbin professionally known as Director 1 has come for critics of his latest production titled Black Monkey.
Days ago, the trailer for the movie which features Van Vicker, Kwadwo Nkansah Lil Win, Joe Shortingo among others hit online and fans, after watching what the movie is about has expressed their disappointment with the title.
Many are those who believe Black Monkey as a title for the movie is an insult to the Ghanaian community and the African continent as a whole. According to them, the movie and its title appear to be a racist movie and with that, they find it too disappointing to see something like this come from a black man. However, the director who knows the kind of message he is sending out has laid his voice on these comments circulating around this creative production. According to Frank Garbin, he sees nothing wrong with the title.
Honestly I see nothing wrong with the title. But what i will say is this, after watching the whole movie and understanding the message in it, they will know Black Monkey is the perfect caption for this production. Frank stated
Sometimes its so pathetic that, in this 21st century, when someone is referring to we blacks, it is Black Monkeythat they use in reference to us. These and many other mental slavery actions in our generation that, it is only theBlack Monkey movie which will take off that perception away from our minds. You cant judge a book by its cover, you read the book and understand its content. Frank Garbin added
Black Monkey will be premiered on July 9 2016 inside the SilverBird Cinemas, Accra Mall.
Various Kumawood stars are set to invade the Accra Mall on the day of the premiere. Before you grab your ticket and popcorn for the first time watch of Black Monkey, watch the trailer below....
07.06.2016 LISTEN
I have been paying attention to the events that are taking place in Ghana, my motherland with great concern. I have read various write ups from President Mahama, ex-presidents Rawlings and Kufuor. I have also read from NDC representative Bagbin, Vice-Presidential candidate Bawumiah, presidential candidate for the NPP Nana Akufo-Addo Dankwa respectively.
In addition, I have read from Dr. Kwesi Ndum. Finally, I have read from honorable Kofi Annan who is the pride of Africa. He provided the invaluable service to the world as the General Secretary of the United Nations.
When I read such pieces and examine the events that have taken place in Ghana since President Mahama took the mantle of leadership after the demise of president John Atta Mills and his own run of the office in 2012, things are not faring well in Ghana. The economy of Ghana is in shambles and our young people including university graduates cannot find any employment. The nation is suffocating in unsustained debts. What is disheartening is that Ghanaians are not seeing the tangible projects for which these loans are taken on behalf of the nation. The sad thing is that Ghana has been blessed with various kinds of natural resources. In recent years the discovery of oil, its refinery, and proceeds were supposed to alleviate the sufferings of the populace but that have not been the case. Our people continue to work hard but their sufferings keep growing without any rest. Workers can work for about six months without being paid. However, the president and members of parliament continue to receive their fat salaries while ordinary workers continue to be deprived of their deserved salaries and wages. Some even have to borrow money to pay for their childrens school fees. All that the president and his administration do is to offer unfulfilled promise upon promise. However, the time of accountability has dawn upon Ghana. The time of political elections is here for the people to express their approval or disapproval by going to the ballot box to vote. The electorate have a decision to make.
First, I suggest that voters should vote their convictions and their conscience.
Second, listen and read every partys manifesto. What is the partys platform? Don't fall for any partys platform that is unrealistic and unachievable. In other words, the platform should not be so lofty that it is unattainable.
II. What Voters should Demand from the Presidential Candidates
What is the candidate going to do with the countrys resources? You know that the current government has not been transparent with the revenues of the nations resources. Availability of Job Opportunities What would the presidential candidate do to ensure and provide job opportunities for many of the young people who cannot find jobs? These include university graduates, technical school graduates, vocational school graduates, nursing school graduates, teacher college graduates, etc. How would Our Farmers Be Treated.
The farmers are the backbone of our economy but the government continues to take undue advantage of them. This is one of the many reasons we cannot encourage our young people to engage in farming. Are farmers produce given fair prices?
III. The Challenge for the Candidates
Is the candidate working for the electorates? Does he/she think of personal interest? Does the candidate have a servant spirit? A Sense of Entitlements Accumulation of Excessive National Loans Are the leaders accountable to the electorates?
How many people are going to benefit from the national cake? Is it still going to be a leadership of corruption, greed, and avarice? Are the leaders going to line their pockets with the national coffers as usual?
Finally, I exhort the electorate to pray for the country, the people, and the candidates that they trust God to help them. I also pray that the elections should be fair, firm, and transparent without the incumbent rigging the votes. Let's make history this year by Gods grace as we choose leaders who will put the interest of the nation ahead of them and their personal agenda and ambitions.
The fight to eradicate HIV/AIDS requires the need for world leaders to build robust and resilient societies capable of addressing future health crises and to restore dignity, health as well as hope to people left behind in the AIDS response, says the Executive Director, Michel Sidibe, of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.
"Our generation has been presented with an opportunity that must not be thrown away. We have the technology, medicines and tools to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, averting more than 17 million new HIV infections and saving almost 11 million lives," Sidibe emphasised.
AIDS-related illnesses are the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age globally and the primary cause of death among adolescents in Africa. Stigma and discrimination continue to stop people accessing health care, including HIV prevention and treatment services that reduce new infections and save lives. In some regions of the world, the numbers of HIV infections are actually increasing.
Currently, of the 36.7 million people living with HIV, less than half are accessing treatment. We are failing to reach the people most in need. These include adolescent girls and young women, sex workers, gay men and other men who have sex with men, transgender people, prisoners and people who inject drugs.
According to him, many nations have taken great steps in getting ahead of the epidemic.
"South Africa, for example, has reduced the number of new HIV infections from 600 000 in 2000 to 340 000 in 2014. Life expectancy has risen in many of the most severely affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa as access to HIV prevention, testing and treatment has been scaled up. Worldwide, there are now more than 17 million people living with HIV accessing live-saving antiretroviral treatment," he says.
But as world leaders grapple with a growing number of global concerns and threats, including massive displacement, climate change and an uncertain economic outlookit would be a misstep to let up on the response to HIV, says the Executive Director.
He noted: "AIDS deserves continued attention and a Fast-Track approach to serve as a beacon for what can be achieved through international solidarity and political will.
The United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS to place in New York, United States of America, from 8 to 10 June 2016 will bring people together around a common objective: ending AIDS by 2030 within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals.
"This global platform for innovators, implementers, investors, activists and leaders will challenge all of us to chart a course to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. It will take our combined efforts to source sustainable solutions to close the gaps and reach a set of new global targets, Sidibe stated.
Sidibe says achieving the 90-90-90 treatment target by 2020 will be a key factor to ending the AIDS epidemic.
"A Fast-Track approach to ending the AIDS epidemic requires a set of ambitious time-bound targets, including reducing the number of people newly infected with HIV from 2.1 million in 2015 to fewer than 500 000 in 2020, reducing the number of people dying from AIDS-related illnesses from 1.1 million in 2015 to fewer than 500 000 in 2020 and eliminating HIV-related discrimination.
"This calls for 90% of people living with HIV to know their status, 90% of people who know their HIV positive status to access antiretroviral treatment and 90% of people on treatment to have suppressed viral loads.
"Meeting this treatment target will set the world on course to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030. But bold leadership and stronger investment are required. By 2020, combined domestic and international resources will need to increase by about one third to peak at an estimated US$ 26.2 billion to achieve this vision.
"A lack of investment now will result in the epidemic being prolonged indefinitely and that would be a false economy, he stressed.
The Ewe community in Germany, spearheaded by the Hamburg branch wishes to invite the general public to their 25th Anniversary Celebration schedule to take place on Saturday, the 11th of June 2016 in Hamburg. The event is taking place at Hamburg-Berliner Tor 21 near the fire service. The full program begins at 18.00 to 24.00
The Ewe (Eeawo literally means Ewe People) are the ethnic group located in the Volta region of Ghana, the southern Togo and Republic of Benin. Their local language spoken is Eegbe and essentially, a patrilineal people. However, the unique characteristics of Ewes: They are tolerant, reserved, well educated, and able to learn vocational trades and specialized in handling adverse situations peacefully. Extended families is one of the most aspect of Ewe social life and have never supported a hierarchical concentration of power within a large state. The Ewes wear Kente as their traditional clothe.
The main goal of forming the union in Germany is to promote the Ewe cultural Heritage, foster peace and harmony amongst its people and their neighborhood, help their people to develop economically and politically. And also to undertake educational projects especially for the youth here in Germany, as well as being there for one another during special occasions.
The celebration shall highlight & showcase the rich ewe traditions, customs, drumming and dancing, social partying and interesting package from the youth.
Opening prayer shall be done by Pastor Ortiz Kossi from Berlin, speeches by Her Excellency Akua Sena Dansua, Ambassador of the republic of Ghana to Germany, Mr. Johannes Kahr (SPD) German Member of Parliament and Mr. Daniel Torkonu, President of Ghana Union Germany and Mamaga Ngoyinyanufiaga of Sasadu Traditional Area Volta Region of Ghana.
The special guest of Honor is Mr. Prosper Bani, Minister of Interior of the Republic of Ghana. Ngoyifiaga Cephas Bansah of Gbi Traditional Area of the Volta Region of Ghana, Togbui Antoinette Bosco from Benin, Togbui Adraki Ghana and Togbui, Akpabli of Togo have all confirmed their participation. A section of the Ghanaian community leaders in Hamburg are also expected to grace the august occasion.
Also expected to attend the event is the executives of Ewe Dukor Germany: Mr. Daniel B. Torkornoo (National President) Dr. med Yao Amengor (National Vice- President), Mr. Mensah Simon; (General Secretary), Mrs. Pat Govinar (Financial Secretary) and Organising and Social Secretary - Togbui Avanyo backed by his Assist. Organizer Mrs. Abrah Gifty Schmidt.
The host shall be led by Togbui Avanyo Philip, and the founder of the Ewe Union Hamburg Amega Dumashi Brown.
The Ewe community from Berlin shall put up a great Agbadze and Boborbor show. There shall be a Tombola draw with the owner winning an undisclosed prize.
The vote of Thanks shall be done by Irene Appiah (SPD) Hamburg. There shall be a lot to drink, eat and good music provided by Dj Cliff of Edinkafo radio.
The general public is cordially invited to witness and celebrate with the Ewe community in Germany. The event is sponsored by Charity Medal Ghana & Ewe Union Hamburg.
God bless Ewelands.
Long live Eeawo
Barcamp MOBEX is a free networking forum bringing people together for a day of learning, sharing, networking and mentoring. It takes place on 9th June 2016, at the Accra International Conference Centre.
The theme for this year is The Digital Economy: Untapped Resource for Accelerated Economic Growth.
The Africa Mobile ICT Expo - MOBEX16 is the platform to learn all about what it takes to transform your business into a digital future through the conferences, master-classes and products and services exhibition. MOBEX16 also seeks to direct the global spotlight on local Ghanaian and African technological innovations, in terms of attracting investments to breakthrough into the international market. MOBEX 16 is happening from June 7-9 at the Accra International Conference Centre.
BarCamp Mobex is being organized during The Africa Mobile & ICT Expo in conjunction with the GhanaThink Foundation. GhanaThink has successfully organized 57 BarCamps in Ghana as part of its Barcamp Ghana program since 2008 and 3 Affiliate Barcamps. Barcamp Ghana is building a network of changemakers, doers and entrepreneurs.
The Technical Partner for Mobex Africa, Nehemiah Attigah stated that, It is always a pleasure to host a BarCamp due to the value the initiative brings to young people in Ghana and as we gear up for BarCamp Mobex, participants can look forward to a day filled with quality technology and business centric content.
BarCamp Mobex will be the first of its kind being organized by The Africa Mobile & ICT Expo in collaboration with the GhanaThink Foundation. GhanaThink has successfully organized 57 BarCamps in Ghana as part of its Barcamp Ghana program since 2008 and 3 Affiliate Barcamps.
The Director of the GhanaThink Foundation Ato Ulzen-Appiah said, "Barcamps around the world have mainly focused on technology. Barcamp Ghana spread its tentacles to add entrepreneurship and leadership in order to sufficiently serve Ghanaian talent and the ecosystem. Barcamp Mobex would focus on the digital economy. It will help tap, mentor and network human resources for more accelerated economic growth".
Barcamp Ghana is building a network of changemakers, doers and entrepreneurs. The Barcamp Mobex 2016 will feature multiple user-generated breakout sessions about mobile, technology and development, alongside topics relevant to digitising Africa. There will be a speed mentoring session where mentors will give insights and answers to questions from attendees.
The Head of Brands & Communications for Mobex Africa, Alain Gbeasor articulates, A great coming together of great minds, ideas and innovators. Our future is being groomed right here. Ghana, Africa watch out for the evolution of Bar Campers.
Register to attend Barcamp Mobex 2016 at the eventbrite website (barcampmobex16.eventbrite.com). You can also contact barcamp at ghanathink dot org for partnership and sponsorship opportunities.
Stay tuned via our #Mobex16 on social media
13312697 1135193569835656 3743093612752523660 N
Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyeman
07.06.2016 LISTEN
I support Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyemans directive for tertiary institutions to ban the sale of handouts. The sale of handout to students has been a major challenge to scholarship for decades. Fortunately, by the time I got to the University of Cape Coast in 2004, the sale of handouts was not widespread, and the practice was dying out gradually. The university authorities had taken major steps to stop the production of handouts.
The challenge with handouts is that it discourages critical thinking and intellectual development among students. It leads to intellectual dwarfism. One of the many reasons for tertiary education is to provide the space for students to think critically and independently on issues and challenges that beset societies, and in the process forge ideas that could contribute to nation building. Tertiary education is meant to encourage students to contribute to national and global development, by developing their mental faculties and other precocious skills. The sale of handout, however, impedes the intellectual growth of students.
Students depend on handouts, and in consequence, do not read widely to contribute to knowledge production. Handouts discourage students from being intellectually curious and adventurous in their academic pursuit. Students who depend on handouts do not think beyond the box. They are usually intellectually confined to the knowledge that is produced by the lecturer.
The sale of handouts affects members of the faculty, too. Usually, lecturers who produce handouts do not do any research: they do only poor facts finding. In the tertiary institution, the American mantra that is constantly told lecturers is, Publish or perish. Unfortunately, the production of handouts does not help lecturers to excel in their chosen career as professors. The production of handouts by some lecturers is the easiest way of making money. The commodification of knowledge, through the sale of handouts feed into the neoliberal political economy, where money is worshipped as a deity. Production of handouts, thus, brings lecturers to the market place, where they trade knowledge with students.
The saddest part of the production of handouts is that most of the lecturers, who are involved in this enterprise, do no produce any new knowledge. They only ape as they reproduce knowledge produced elsewhere. In most cases, the handouts do not experience update for decades. The same handouts that featured in a decade ago remains the very same handouts used by lecturers. Just like students, the production and sale of handouts promote intellectual laziness among lecturers. Lecturers are the custodians of knowledge, so they cannot depend on apemanship to excel in the academic world. Apemanship has a broader impact on our quest as a nation to reverse the colonial legacy of underdevelopment.
We may decry the production and commercialization of handouts, but we also must take responsibility for the increasing trend in the sale of handouts among lecturers. We should also be interested in finding out why some students so much depend on handouts. First, some of our tertiary institutions do not have well stocked libraries. In instances where there are libraries, the books are not current. Some of the books are so outdated that they do not qualify to be on the shelves. Knowledge production goes with time, so it is important that tertiary institutions take charge of their libraries by stocking them with current books. Students struggle so much in getting current books on some courses. It is this development that gives some lecturers the justification to produce handouts. Sometimes, too, some lecturers provide references/bibliographies on course outline, knowing very well that it would be difficult for students to access such books.
Here, tertiary institutions should insist that books that are outlined on course outlines are readily and easily available to students. Also, to deal with the production of handouts, government or tertiary institutions should set a fund that would help reduce the cost of publishing. I know of some lecturers, who have been discouraged from publishing because of the cost involved in publishing. In our part of the world, we hardly have patrons who provide financial assistance for publishing. The publishing units of tertiary institutions should, therefore, provide satisfactory discounts for lecturers who want to publish. We should also have confidence in our Ghanaian publishers. It is about time African intellectuals stopped running to the so-called the developed world to have their works approved. I know of many Ghanaian academic dons whose works cannot be found on the Ghanaian market. Prestige is good, but ability to disseminate knowledge locally and globally should be the target of our academic dons.
That most of the books on Africa and Africans could mostly be found on the international market should encourage our academic dons to publish with Ghanaian publishers. I celebrate scholars like the late Prof. Noah Komla Dzobo, who published extensively with Ghanaian publishers. I pray and hope that other scholars would follow the steps of Prof. Dzobo. Africa must shine, and we must shine when we take charge of knowledge production. The Ewe of people of Ghana could not have said it any better, when they said that, Until the lions tell their own story, the tale about the hunt would glorify the hunter. Michel Foucault is right, Knowledge is power.
Satyagraha!!
Charles Prempeh ( [email protected] ), Makerere Institute of Social Research, Makerere University
07.06.2016 LISTEN
Niger Delta Avengers are bombing their own lives and that of next generations out of existence. If it was a foreign power, oil companies or Nigerian Army that is destroying this environment, we would be labeling the mute response from international communities racist. Even in Iraq and Syria; Falluja and Aleppo do get world attention. Juxtaposing the pitiful picture of Maroko in Lagos with that of beautiful Port Harcourt and Calabar will not raise empathy for Niger Delta.
Most people remembered how Boko Haram started as an offshoot of past radical religions that have devastated peaceful co-existence. Yet, we had men in power like Ciroma and Co. boasting they were going to make the country ungovernable if Jonathan won. They actually did. Little did these men of timber and caliber realized or had perceptive brains that the devil they unleashed was coming back to haunt them, not limited to churches, Southerners and Igbo in particular.
Now, you would think that these Avengers and their predecessors would learn from Boko Haram. No, they think destroying themselves as Boko Haram did in the North was worth the price. After all, victims are the poor and innocent that cannot defend themselves. Agitators will collect the billions as a result of blackmail, spilled blood, and polluted environment. What do they do with the money more than parade themselves as globe trotters and invest outside.
The oil companies gave a vigorous defense when they were sued for oil spills in the Niger Delta that there were overwhelming contributory negligence and actual deliberated indifference by the Niger Delta militias polluting and destroying their own environment. The cost of doing business in Niger Delta has driven good businesses and jobs to neighboring cities and countries to the detriment of hard working men and women that depended of their land for a living.
International communities have enough to deal with in terms of terrorists or refugees invading their borders. It is not their obligation to tell us to stop destroying one another unless they have strategic interest. We are so mean not only to one another but in our own homes. We are willing to do anything in the interest of a few no matter how many people suffered. If it is really about separation campaign for solutions to elect you as separatists from your neck of the hood.
This is blackmail. Every part of the country had an opportunity to either elect a civilian or forced on us a military leader. In each of those cases, those leaders have not gone ahead and bring into reality their regional and separation agenda. What weve had are Unitary Government, Any Government In Power, You Chop And I Chop Government and Its Our Money We Can Steal It Anyhow. As soon as they are out of favors or out of power, blackmailers and agitations rise up.
Right now, we are all fed-up and the country can break into pieces if it can. Each time terrorists raises their ugly heads, we see hypocrisy within the same areas, within the same ethnic group and families. Reasonable people within started wondering: why my brothers and sisters are killing my brothers and sisters. In laws that have lived peacefully for ages become enemies and local government areas started turning against one another. Others are blackmailed to join.
Niger Delta Avengers said they do not need Biafra for their cause, just as Edo, Urhobo and Itsekiri are not even Ijaw. The Ijaw were compensated with Presidency though they are minority compared to Edo, have turned into anything but appeased. They are more agitated today than they were before. As Africans, like to sit tight as President for Life! If each of us got what we wanted by raising hell, better be sure more hells would break out because it worked.
The irony is that we fight over ideologies that were bequeathed to us for our own destruction by colonial masters. We fight over democracy, capitalism, socialism, Christian as a preferred religion, Sharia as ideal legal system; though none of them are authentic African. It is easier to adapt to strangers behaviors as salvation, than to ours. Eh, it is a global world! No matter how good we are at their game, we can never perfect it, nor would we be accepted as such.
Stop using Lagos, Calabar or Port Harcourt to prop up senseless destruction of culture and means of livelihood. Lagos is the only State that had withstood the arrogance of Abuja without dent to its economy. Even Looters have more effect. The economy of Lagos was built before it became part of Nigeria and will not crash after. In spite of the glamor of Lagos, original people of Lagos lament the deterioration of their city. They wish the old Lagos could come back.
Though there is validity that Abuja was built mostly on oil money, the original natives of Abuja are not happy with the urbanization that has swept their villages out to suburbs and turned them into long distance visitors to their villages. Successive Nigerian Government have made lofty promises which they found unacceptable. Indeed, the native of Abuja may have the last laugh if they eventually win in court or if Nigeria separates. Nobody can run with infrastructure.
Unlike Niger Delta, the people of Lagos and Abuja can absorb it and fight another day to claim their land. They are not bombing themselves. Niger Delta is being destroyed by militants for the next generations. We have militants all over, but those that destroy their land like the so called Avengers and massacre their people like Boko Haram are not many. We have to go far into Arabian land to witness such senseless destruction of land, properties and massacre of people.
These are the consequences of encouraging thugs, illiterate and vagabonds to lead those that played by the rules, went to colleges and respected their parents. While highly educated and knowledgeable sons and daughters of Niger Delta with brains are left broke and homeless; the militias only think on impulse with their feet. Many Deltans cannot even live close to their place of birth. They are like refugees all over the world.
Their leaders are worse. They stole foreign oil income as if they are buying another country in Europe and America. We blame Nigeria leaders for stealing Nigeria blind and decided to make way for Nigeria Delta leaders at the helms of Nigerias affairs. They were worse. They claimed it was their money and could waste it anyway they want, without accountability. If Nigerians stole oil income blind, Niger Delta leaders stole it dead, without fear or consequences!
Sooner than later, Ghanaians will go to the polls with a choice to make definitely between incumbent President, John Dramani Mahama and the twice defeated main opposition leader Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo. While politics should be issue- based, the polarization of the Ghanaian political dynamics meant that the choice this time is between one perceived by opponents as leading a corrupt government and the other generally considered fantastically violent and divisive -credit David Cameron. So, in a few months, Ghanaians will have to make a choice between two evils with the lesser evil certainly going to lead Ghana for the next 4-year term.
Ghana in the eyes of the world is a peaceful and stable country where rule of law, press freedom, respect for the right of individuals, equality, and social justice prevail, thanks to Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Jerry John Rawlings, John Agyekum Kuffour and the son of the Jakpa warrior, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama.
Of interest is the criticism of how corrupt the current government led by John Mahama is and how desperate there is the need to change the baton of leadership come Nov. 7. If what happened during previous governments is anything to go by, what guarantee there is that a change of government will stop corruption in public service?
If we should use similar benchmark to measure others seeking the highest office of the land, we may probably admit that not all that glitters is gold. Do I hear my spirit say Nana Akufo Addo is incorruptible? Why then? If my memory serves me right, was it not under Nanas watch as Attorney General that the GNPC Drill Ship was sold without proper documentation? Could it be said also that the NPP has experienced its most corrupt internal structures under the leadership of Nana Akufo Addo? Campaign funds for the 2012 presidential elections have so far not been fully accounted for.
Prudential Bank at a point threatened to sell the partys headquarters to defray some of the whopping GHC 2 million debts facility which some leading members allegedly claimed to have been misused by Nana Akufo Addo and his 2012 campaign team. National Chairman, Mr. Paul Afoko and Kwabena Agyepong were suspended just for seeking accountability for funds misappropriated in the party.
There were allegations of misappropriation of funds by John Boadu during the Talensi by-election and before then, a Gh5000 reportedly given to Yvonne Nelson to support the infamous Dumsor Vigil. This later turned out to be false as the beautiful actress vehemently denied receiving money from John Boadu. These instances of gross corruption could not be investigated. But then, with the gross corruption written all over the NPP under his leadership resulting in NPP MPs refusal at a point to contribute funds to the party leadership, can we also say Nana Akufo Addo is corrupt? Please do not get me wrong, your guess is as good as mine is.
However, the most compelling issue which will inform the November 7 elections is the public opinion that the NPP leader is Fantastically violent and divisive. Having known Nanas demeanor, I beg to differ. But then, the overwhelming statistics of violence and divisive tendencies under his leadership seem to dwarf my personal view of the most vilified opposition leader in Africa. Some say most dangerous which view I honestly do not share. But I wished Nana Addo could be the Warren Kizza Besigye Kifefe of Ugandas Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Raila Amollo Odinga of Kenya, Julius Malema of South Africa, and Zimbabwes opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai who are more powerful and influential opposition leaders yet very peaceful.
Nana Addo is yet to apologize for the infamous All Die be Die mantra and Ghanaians have not forgotten and forgiven him for that . Under his leadership, the Upper East regional Chairman, Mahama Adams was murdered. The party national office became a security threat to the country with violent clashes. The Invisible Forces and Bolga Bull Dogs were resourced to dole out violent justice to those who do not tow a certain line.
You could be assured of a tragedy of violent justice and spill of blood of innocent partisans whenever there is a disagreement. The case of Kwabena Agyapong comes to mind. Thirty-seven years old Abubakar Saddiq was murdered at the NPP constituency office in Asawase, in the Ashanti Region over the suspension of Paul Afoko.
More recently, a party leading member Baah Acheamfour was brutally beaten by NPP thugs during a live radio program in the studios of Fox FM; the NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman, doled slaps on the Member of Parliament for Manhyia North, Collins Owusu Amankwaah with scores of leading members including the acting National Chairman applauding the awful act.
Paul Afoko has just exposed that Nana Akufo Addo stopped the disciplinary actions proposed to be taken against some leading members who preached tribal violence. Good old Nana has also failed to disassociate himself from the unsavory statement made by Yaw Osafo Marfo to the effect that some regions should be marginalized in an NPP government for their lack of natural resources. Now that the elected party executives, Paul Afoko, Kwabena Agyapong and Sammy Crabbe have been unjustly suspended and are now history, Nana and his trusted allies are having a field day in a divided party.
Those who are perceived to be Kuffuor loyalists are now targeted for alienation, even founding fathers--- Kojo Mpianim, Wereko Brobbey, Nyaho Nyaho Tamakloe to name but a few. Nii Noi Nortey who previously won the Klottey Korley primaries has been stripped off under mysterious circumstances with lawyer Phillip Addisson, the Pink Sheet lawyer an avowed Nana Addo loyalist given the nod. In similar mafia style, the NPP Guardian Angel was protected to win the Ablekuma West primaries even when the constituency executives resigned in protest. They can go to hell, this is our NPP.
One thing thusly became certain under Nanas leadership of the NPP. Either bow to those who wield the power and pray to bask in their glory, or run to the farthest ends of the earth and hide yourself.
Even colonial masters, Britain is not left out of the NPP attack as the party leading member, Maxwel Kofi Jumah described the High Commissioner as a fool and questioned the British government for sending a fool to Ghana. This could have created a diplomatic mess elsewhere all because Nana Akufo Addo must be President at all cost.
Ouch! I may have forgotten the Serbian and South African mercenaries who were imported by the NPP to train footsoldiers in military drills. For what? Violence rebellion?
But in a country with loud and politically sassy communicators like Felix Ofosu Kwakye, Sam George, Okudzeto Ablakwa, Koku Anyidoho, Twum Boafo and even babies with sharp teeth like me, the Ghanaian Police and Military have a lot of work on their hands to protect us all should Nana Akufo Addo win the November 7 elections.
There is not even a single doubt in my mind that come November 7, Ghanaians will vote with the destiny of Ghana in their minds. We have a responsibility to promote the rule of law, respect for all, peaceful co-existence in diversity and other measures to prevent conflict during and after the elections.
Inasmuch as I support change that will eventually divorce my marriage to high electricity bills, a change that will not guarantee the peace, and stability we currently enjoy is not a positive change.
So as we go to the November polls, we are compelled to vote for the lesser of the two evilsthe perceivably corrupt Mahama and the fantastically violent and divisive Akufo Addo. If I were you, I would go for the lesser of the two evils else, God will have to work overtime to keep us all safe and peaceful. I now believe the Chronicles Kofi Koomson when he said he could not afford to sleep with his eyes closed if Akufo-Addo became president. No, no, no; its not safe, its not safeI cannot sleep with Akufo Addo as President!! Koomson once lamented.
Justice Dansu Norvor ([email protected])
#0573335757
Oga Femi, eti sehin.
Eye, o. Na hun su e?
We dey push body small small. If we gravitate too much, the government might decide to slap a tax on our brisk walking.
You are funny.
What happened?
What do you mean? What happened to what?
Simmer down, man. Simmer. I just wanted to know we have not been reading from you of late.
The way you asked. Nothing happened. Man was just trying to obey Bob Marleys injunction.
Which Bob Marley injunction be that?
You are certainly curious this morning. The Great Man told us to take a break now and then, just to oberserve men and women, as they continue to run their endless rat race, which leads to nowhere.
Oberserve, you meant observe?
Whatever.
You are definitely not in a jolly good mood this morning. You are in a positively nasty funk.
This could be first trumpet, might as well be the last. Many people will have to suffer, many more will have to die, I dont tell no lie. Things are not the way they used to be, I wont tell no lie. There is a natural mystic blowing through the air, if you listen careful now, you will hear it.
What is the meaning of all this, Oga Femi?
Oh, I was just singing a Bob Marley tune.
We are in a rather pensive mood today.
Sarcasm will get you everywhere. Actually, you are right, we are pensive mood. In which other state can we be and still maintain our mental equilibrium in this land of our birth?
Heavy water!
You are funny.
May I ask you something?
Do I have choice?
As a matter of fact, no. it is a question that burned deeply and I wondered why you have not address it. It bothers me greatly that you chose to remain silent.
Shoot away.
What do you make of the Inspector General of police threat to ban social media during the coming elections?
And is that the burning question?
Dont you consider it serious enough threat?
No.
Just No?
Yes, just no!
I dont catch you.
I didnt throw myself.
Sorry, I dont understand why you do not think that is a potent threat to our democracy.
Hmmmmmm.
Meaning?
I meant to say that I think we waste too much precious time, energy and resources in Ghana Incorporation over trivialities, that we do not have the time to confront the big issues
Now, now, come on now. What could be bigger than this threat to our nascent democracy? The whole world tout our democratic credentials as the epitome of solid achievement. They point to us as the best thing to come out of Africa in a long time. The chief of police threaten to clamp down on our hard-won freedom, and you said it is nothing. What is trivial about it?
Quite funny how we in this shore do our best to big ourselves up all the time
What do you mean?
Why dont you let me finish my sentence before you start to get excited like a Biblical Patriarch, whose children have disobey Jehovah?
Sorry.
Ok. Take your assertion that the whole world look at us as some geniuses in the department of democratic dispensation. Nonsense. When the rest of the world look at us, the last thing they see are democrats. To be honest with you, the only thing that they see are a bunch of totally unserious people who eat, breath and drink politicking and religion all year round. The rest of humanity devote few days every four years to do politics, not us. We do politics 24/7/365. We do nothing else but politicize every issue. More serious people spend few hours on Sundays to praise their god. Not us. We spend all day, all night, and all the months in every year in every century in supplication. We converted every available space to cathedrals and mosques.
We give all airwaves to charlatans in priestly garbs, who do little but prophesize which president or important person will die. And we are too stupid to ask why the gods never revealed to them how we can begin to solve our myriads of socio-economic problem. No, sir, stop the nonsensical talk about people pointing to us as the epitome of democracy. We certainly are not. And it is time we deflate our bloated egos about packing some solid democratic credentials. Apart from rented mouths and serial callers making total fools of themselves on our airwaves, proudly exhibiting their abject ignorance, we contribute absolutely nothing to the development of democracy.
Even our professors of political science contribute zero original thoughts, they have all turned themselves into mere newspaper reviewers. Let us get real. The rest of the world look at us with utter scorn and they mock us. For good reasons, I might add. And why not? They know that almost sixty years after they gave us our independence, we still cannot feed ourselves without them. They know that we import virtually everything we need for our domestic and industrial consumption. They know that we still wear their discarded shoes, cloths, and even underwear. They know that we cannot get our minerals out of the ground without them.
They know that we lack the intelligence to add any value to any of our mineral. They know that we need their expertise to light our homes. They know that we need their brains plus their chemicals before we can treat and pipe water into our homes. They know that we do not know anything about finance or economics apart from issuing Eurobonds and begging for handouts. The rest of the world know that we cannot provide potable water for citizens. They know that we lack the brainpower to generate enough electricity to power the few disarticulate industries in the land. They know that every year, many of us die from cholera. They know that flood constantly devastate the unplanned urban ghettoes we call cities. They know that we are not champions when it comes to village or town or city or urban planning. Should I go on?
You have made some points, but actually I wanted to ask what you made of the police boss threat to ban social media during the coming elections.
Why should that be a concern to you? Why should it worry you?
You dont mean that you are not concerned. Dont you use the social media?
Of course, I use the social media. I am very active on a lot of platforms. But why should I be worried about a silly-assed threat to ban it?
What if he bans it?
So what?
Is that all you are going to say, so what? We talk of existential threat to our democracy.
Hyperbole. Hyperbole. You see, that is one of the problems we face as a people in this country. We react emotionally to issue, rather than sit down to analyse things and look for logical and rational solutions. What do we gain when we all jump up and down like mindless Yoyos whenever someone says something utterly stupid?
You meant the police boss statement was stupid?
You are not going to catch me with any trick question.
I dont get you.
Then wait and let me explain. If a police boss puffed himself up in his ridiculous colonial uniform, with all the epaulets, and say that he or she is going to do something, I will give him or her the benefit of the doubt. I will take it as given that he has been properly briefed by technically and legally capable advisors. Lets begin with the legality. Does he have the legal authority to carry out his threat? If yes, from whence did he derive such power? If satisfied that he has the legal right to do what he threatened to do, it is futile to waste time over it. If he has no such legal power, then instead of making noise, citizens should go to court and stop him. Simple. That is easier than to go and start vociferating loudly on the airwaves in futile efforts that will achieve nothing. Secondly, is what he proposed to do technically feasible? If yes, no amount of shouting on radio will help. If it is not technically possible, then he is a nincompoop out to make an ass of himself. Time to call him out. Simple.
Why did you say it is that simple?
I said it is simple because I believe that people should rather use their brains than their mouths.
So, you think that he should just go out and ban the social media because of elections.
You dont appear to have listened to me. If the police boss is legally empowered to ban social media, and the power is derived from an extant law of the land, and what he proposes is technical feasible, we are wasting time debating it.
But you what do you think?
I am not a lawyer, so I cannot speak on that aspect of the case. But I know that technically speaking, it is impossible to completely ban social media as long as a part, any part of the internet, remains open.
How?
A simple Google search will point you to the right tools to get around a ban. My point, my good comrade, is that people in our part of the world find it easier to employ their mouths than to engage their brains. They worry themselves unnecessarily over issues that are very easy to get around. Just imagine the amount of bandwidth, energy and resources expended on silly discussions over a matter that is very simple to handle, technically-speaking. No modern country can afford to completely shut itself out of the Internet. I dont have the statistics, but you can take it that a major chunk of the Ghanaian economy depend on the Internet. The managers of the economy will have heart attacks if the IGP completely shut the internet down, even for a few hours. I honestly dont know what is wrong with us in this country. We worry about the most trivial of things and left the big issues unattended. We live in a country where some people decided to spend US$20,000 to rent a venue just for the signing of a loan contract. The same audacious people saddled us with a bill of US$8,000 to register an internet domain name. Rather than vibrate against such daylight robbery of our patrimony, we are rather lamenting over the proposed banning of social media. Plantain have virtually disappear from our markets, instead of asking our president what his three minister are doing, we spent inordinate amount of time on debating uber stupid stuffs.
Plug for Femi Akomolafe books
Femi Akomolafe is a Freelance writer, Author, Film & Video Documentary Producer, IT Consultant and Web-Designer.
His highly-acclaimed books (Africa: Destroyed by the gods, and Africa: It shall be well, are now available for sales at the following bookshops/offices:
Freedom Bookshop, near Apollo Theatre, Accra. The Daily Dispatch Office, Labone Accra WEB Dubois Pan-African Centre, Accra Ghana Writers Association office, PAWA House, Roman Ridge, Accra. Nana Kwaku Nketsia, +233-27-8599250
They are also available on the internet. Here are useful links:
1. Africa: it shall be well: http://alaye.biz/africa-it-shall-be-well-introduction-in-pdf/
Africa: it shall be well is available for sale on Kindle books at this link: https://www.createspace.com/4820404
A FREE Chapter of Africa: It shall be well could be downloaded here: http://alaye.biz/africa-it-shall-be-well-a-free-chapter/
2. Africa: Destroyed by the gods (How religiosity destroyed Africa) http://alaye.biz/africa-destroyed-by-the-gods-introduction/
Africa: Destroyed by the gods is available for sale on Kindle books at this link: https://www.createspace.com/4811974
A FREE Chapter of Africa: Destroyed by the gods could be downloaded here: http://alaye.biz/africa-destroyed-by-the-gods-free-chapter/
Read a review here
Femi maintains a blog @: www.alaye.biz/category/blog
Twitter: www.twitter.com/ekitiparapo
Gmail+: www.google.com/ +Femi Akomolafe; LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/ Femi Akomolafe
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ Femi Alaye
Email: [email protected] ; Website: www.alaye.biz
The Writer
07.06.2016 LISTEN
Id to quit schooling last year since my mother can no longer afford to pay my fees. She was recently thrown out of a rented apartment we are living in which cost GH 800.00 simply because she cant afford to pay for the rent. This has left me with no choice than to sell ice cream to raise money to support her including myself. In a day Im able to make a meager amount of GH 17.00 sometimes a little lower, said a 12-year old little Kojo who lives in Mankessim.
I was born into a family of eight. My mother is poor and cannot afford to send me to school therefore I resort to selling pure water on daily basis in order to support my mother take care of myself including my siblings. On a daily basis, Im able to make GH 3.00 out of sales. It is very difficult for me living this way but I cant stop, said Joe, a 6 year- old boy who hails from Cape Coast, but resides in Mankessim and he spoke in Fante.
These are just two out of thousands and one chilling stories about many children involved in child labour in some parts of the Central Region of Ghana that will send shivers down your spine.
Child labour is when a person below 15 years of age is either cajoled to work or willingly do so due to circumstances prevailing at home that is depriving him/her of his/her childhood, potential and dignity - when the work is harming their physical and mental development. When a child is forced to leave school or combine schooling and work or when they are getting sick from the kind of work that they do this is considered child labour.
According to Wikipedia, child labour refers to the employment of children in any work that deprives children of their childhood interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations.
The most extreme and abhorrent forms of child labor involves child slavery, hard labour, prostitution and mutilation. Most of these children can be found working in the agricultural and textile sectors, factories, mining companies, sweatshops and home-based operations. Companies employ them for their low wages which drives down their operational costs.
The working condition of child laborers can be sub-human. Some of them are forced to work more than 12 hours a day. Some child prostitutes are forced to participate in sexual acts that permanently ruin their innocence. Most of them are paid a pittance for the long hours of work. One cannot imagine our own children going through the same plight.
Child labour that is proscribed under international law falls into three categories:
The unconditional worst forms of child labour, which are internationally defined as slavery, trafficking, debt bondage and other forms of forced labour, forced recruitment of children for use in armed conflict, prostitution and pornography, and illicit activities.
Labour performed by a child who is under the minimum age specified for that kind of work (as defined by national legislation, in accordance with accepted international standards), and that is thus likely to impede the childs education and full development.
Labour that jeopardizes the physical, mental or moral well-being of a child, either because of its nature or because of the conditions in which it is carried out, known as hazardous work.
Modern slavery also known as child trafficking, refers to the recruitment, transportation, harboring or transfer of a person from one place or the other against the real will of the victim for the purpose of forced labour, sexual exploitation or organ trade.
A new report by the Global Slavery Index revealed over one hundred thousand (100,000) people are estimated to be living in modern slavery in Ghana today ranking the country 34th with high rate of modern slavery.
Forced labour accounts for 85% of those enslaved in the country, while forced marriage represents 15%, the report released on Tuesday, May, 31, 2016 morning, quoted.
It listed farming, fishing, retail sales, manual labour and factory work as the sectors that accounted for the 85% of those enslaved in forced labour in Ghana.
"In Ghana, survey results suggest that there are an estimated 103,300 people enslaved, of which 85% are in forced labour, and 15% are in forced marriage," the report stated.
The Global Slavery Index which is spearheaded by the Walk Free Foundation provides a country by country estimate of the number of people living in modern slavery in today's world and the steps being taken by governments to respond to this issue.
A total of 167 countries were ranked in the 2016 study. The report mentioned economic conditions, violent conflict and territorial displacement, in addition to widespread humanitarian and environmental crises as the factors accounting for modern slavery in the Sub- Sahara region.
According to the report, the vulnerability of Ghanaians to modern slavery stands at 41.5 per 100 people, adding, "The exploitation of children is prevalent in the [Sub- Sahara] region. In Ghana, it is estimated that 21,000 child slaves currently work in the Ghanaian fishing industry along Lake Volta and its surroundings"
At Mankessim, a town located in the Mfantseman Municipality of the Central Region of Ghana, one can only imagine what young innocent school going age children go through on daily basis without going to school. The practice of child labour is ripe over there contributing adversely to teenage pregnancy, rape, low standards in education ruining the bright future of many children.
Majority of school going age children at Mankessim between the ages of 5-14 are meant to go through hazardous labour like fishing in the deep sea, child labour in farming, child labour in illegal mining (Galamsey), street hawking and sexual exploitation among others which is as a result of modern slavery. It is very intimidating to see these children of school going age selling all kinds of items often under the scorching sun and in the rain. These children who are sent to the streets to sell become victims of sexual harassment, rape and drug abuse and some are even knocked down by careless drivers.
According to childrens act 1998, act 560, every child has the right to go to school and is the parents responsibility to work to take care of that child but what do we see?
Parents have a major role to play in ensuring the proper upbringing of their wards and also provision of shelter, clothing and food. However, due to financial constraints, parents send their wards to sell on the streets in order to bring money home, but the Section 91 of the Children's Act states that, the minimum age for a person to work in a hazardous condition is 18 years. Hazardous work according to the act is work which poses some danger to the health, safety and morals of a person.
So what really accounts for children engaging in the act of child labour?
An open forum conducted by Engage Now Africa, an International Non-governmental Organization, held at Mankessim Township on Tuesday, May 31, 2016 revealed poverty as the main cause of all forms of human trafficking including child labour, child trafficking in fishing, head porterage (Kayaye), sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, forced marriages among others.
The result emanated from numerous concerns raised by traders, school children and parents at the forum. Other factors that emerged as the causes of child labour include increased number of broken homes in recent times resulting in single parenthood. It is sad to note that under such conditions, the single parent may not be financially sound to cater for child/children. In this case a child is sent to out onto the streets or elsewhere to labour or work to earn a living and to pay for his/her school fees if the child is desirous to be in school otherwise he/she is denied of basic education.
Some students who contributed during the forum cited the practice of some men marrying two or more wives [polygamy] in Ghana, especially in the rural areas] accounting for the barbaric act of child labour against the notion of some people that the more children one have the wealthier he/she becomes. But this in our modern society /world is not always true in the sense that, as more children are born into the family, the more money you need to cater for these children as they grow and become more expensive to look after. Thus the inability of the parents to provide them with the basic needs compel these poor and innocent children to engage themselves in all kinds of odd and exploitative jobs to keep them surviving.
Kojo a 12- year old boy, who sells sachet water (pure water) on the streets of Mankessim in an interview, revealed they are eight in the family and their parents are not in good jobs to be able to provide for their basic needs. For this reason he has been asked by the parents to sell pure water so as to earn a little money to support him and the family. At the forum, death of parent(s) was cited as another factor contributing to child labour in the Region.
In most communities especially in the Central Region of Ghana, child labour is such a common phenomenon that people have virtually stopped paying attention to it.
Indeed a situation of this sort where under- aged children are compelled due to circumstances beyond their control to do odd and difficult jobs just to earn a living must be given a serious thought.
It is a perceived notion according to most people that poverty is the main cause of most children not in school, but rather ended up in child labour. But do authorities really see that as a problem?
Speaking at the open forum at Mankessim on child trafficking, Mrs. Ankrah Halm, Mankessim Social Welfare Department boss disagrees with the view that poverty is the cause. According to her, parental misinformation and neglect are the main causes.
She said, It is what we tell the children and the kinds of pictures we paint for the children to see that is rather deterring children from going to school than the poverty that we always attribute school drop- out to or children engaging in child labour.
Poverty has been with us since the time of Adams, so why are we saying because of poverty children are not going to school, but engaging in child labour. We all went to school even though our parents are poor. It is the commitment and the zeal of that child coupled with the responsibility of every parent to inculcate that zeal in the child as soon as the child is born, she rebutted.
Ghana is blessed to have so many laws enacted especially that of children but the problem is lack of enforcement. If the Childrens Act, Section 91 states that, the minimum age for a person to work in a hazardous condition is 18 years, why do we see children below the ages of 5 and 14 working in such harsh conditions in the country?
Does that mean the authorities are not doing well enough to curtail the practice?
Government seems to have failed in its attempt to stop the act simply because it has failed to enforce its laws guiding the act. As a result, the future of most children has become bleak.
Nana Ama Amissah III, paramount queen mother of the Mankessim Traditional Area, believes for such a practice to end, Government alone cannot be held responsible, but for the collective responsibility of all Ghanaians to join in the fight including all stakeholders, Non-governmental Organizations and the law enforcement agencies.
Ms. Felicia Ankrah Halm, Director of Mankessim Social Welfare Department who seem to share in the view of the queen mother, further said that for Central Region for that matter Ghana to put a stop to the practice of child labour, it behoves on all stakeholders especially the Ghana Police Service to work in close collaboration with the Social Welfare Department to arrest and prosecute parents whose children are found engaging in the illegal act.
She believes the law must be enforced to the letter to ensure that every parent is held accountable for the upbringing of their children.
I believe the issue of child labour as well as modern slavery is a serious killer of the future of Ghana as we keep losing very brilliant children who are supposed to be undergoing proper grooming to get ready to take over from the older generation to this illegal trade. We must all pursue the curbing of it to the concluding end. Lets call a spade, a spade and not a digging tool. Let us all put our hands to the wheel and work together to halt this deadly monster. Its time to enforce the law. Lets enforce the law and save the future of Ghana.
Joseph Kobla Wemakor /[email protected]
ghananewsone.blogspot.com
07.06.2016 LISTEN
I put this up here eight months ago; it still carries a cymbal-effect within the deep fountains of my soul.
This is actually a true story. It happened on the third day of June 2015. The exact incident occurred few hours to the most nerving and heart-rendering debacle (after May 9 incident) that took the entire the nation by surprise.
A heavy downpour literally restricted movement- humans and vehicles. This was a young man who in a swift attempt to seek refuge in a nearby petrol station was met with outright rejection. The security personnel on duty confronted him, suggesting he finds another place since in an unlikely stampede, there would be many casualties. The truth was, the small space was fully packed.
This young man did not take it lightly with the guard. By a blink of an eye, a heated brawl almost set in. Other occupants jumped into the defense of the security personnel. The young man left the scene, walked through the rain (about 500m range), where he finally sought refuge in a friend's shop. The next hour saw the biggest news headline after a decade and more. The rest is history.
How do you respond to rejection? Do you throw fists around? It is okay to fight back. Do you still fight when the writings on the wall give you out? For every rejection, the need for a fight-back is chief. After proving enough points make no sense any longer, just let go. It is not cowardice. It means standing upright to defend your principles. For every rejection, there is a manual for a new direction.
Some of us ought to be appreciative enough for the lives of people who smashed our faces with rejections. Some people would never have worked hard to control a plump bank balance if they had not lost a beloved to a well-to-do dude. Had it not been the 'timely' stinking tongue-lash by a a driver's assistant (mate), some people would have never saved to own a car. If not for the prig-hell-of-a-boss, you couldn't have become a better employee and subsequently a well mannered employer. If someone had not spoke spitefully of a degree, you'd never had let academic credentials showed up in your arguments. Be glad you had a difficult landlord (lady), s(he) is the more reason you're now paying attention to that piece of land you never wanted to build anything on.
My brother! My sister! You say wetin?
Rejection is a catalyst of life. If it does not challenge you, it won't change you either. Be glad it happened. Until you come to a point you see every rejection as tool for upliftment, you'd blame people, systems. Eventually, you're the very person who loses BIG TIME.
Lilongwe (Malawi) (AFP) - Albinos in Malawi are being targeted in an "unprecedented wave of brutal attacks", Amnesty International said Tuesday, blaming police for failing to tackle a scourge fuelled by ritual practices.
At least 18 albinos -- who have white skin because of a hereditary condition that causes an absence of pigmentation -- have been killed across Malawi since November 2014.
Five others are still missing after being abducted, the London-based rights group said in a report.
The report titled "We are not animals to be hunted or sold" painted a chilling picture, with the body parts of victims, including children, routinely hacked off for use in witchcraft.
"The unprecedented wave of brutal attacks against people with albinism has created a climate of terror," said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty's director for Southern Africa.
The actual number of people killed may be much higher, Amnesty noted, as many cases go unreported due to the secretive nature of ritual practices in rural areas.
"Malawian authorities have dismally failed them, leaving this population group at the mercy of criminal gangs who hunt them down for their body parts," said Muchena.
- 'A macabre trade' -
"Talking will not end these attacks. Concrete action is urgently required."
The Amnesty report said the body parts were used as "charms and magical potions in the belief that they bring wealth and good luck."
"The macabre trade is also fuelled by a belief that bones of people with albinism contain gold."
Malawi police said they had recorded at least 69 crimes against people with albinism since November 2014, and some 39 cases of illegal exhumation of the bodies of people with the condition.
Police spokesman Nicholas Gondwa was unable to give earlier statistics for albino killings but confirmed that 18 albinos had been killed since November 2014.
He told AFP that the police "were doing all they can to educate people about the need for communities to provide security to albinos."
The Machinga district in the south of the impoverished country has been identified by police as the area where most attacks take place.
- 'Systematic extinction'
Amnesty documented several cases, including that of a 17-year-old boy, who was abducted and trafficked to Mozambique in April where he was killed.
Both his arms and legs were chopped off and his bones removed.
The attacks and discrimination have sown terror among the 7,000-10,000 Malawians living with albinism.
Amnesty called on the government to improve protection, including better policing in rural areas.
In April, Malawi's police chief Lexen Kachama issued an order for the police to shoot those who attack albinos, calling them "dangerous criminals."
The killing of albinos is also prevalent in Tanzania and Mozambique.
The UN in April warned that Malawi faces "systematic extinction" of people living with albinism if they continue to be murdered for their body parts.
"People tell me in my face that they will sell me," a 37-year-old man told Amnesty.
"One time someone said I was worth 6 million Malawian Kwacha ($10,000)."
Sorry, we can't find the content you're looking for at this URL.
07.06.2016 LISTEN
Mawuena Trebarh agreed hearing the quarrel from outside over the right cooking of Light Soup. Two women, sisters by blood, were fighting insulting each other to prepare tasteless food for their husbands.
Humans will in their core values never change, in the end as this is what makes them humans. GOD created everything in his wisdom to perfection, but his humans can only understand and worship him when they have to struggle in life to realize only their call on GOD can set them free from evil and hardship.
My life on earth therefore was needed by my Father in heaven as a sign and message to make you on earth understand him better and explain his intentions over you to you. I gladly enjoyed my stay on earth and I happily departed to my heavily father to help him in his daily work and to fulfill his vision he had for this earth way back when he created it for universal good. A human that does not have to struggle in life in which way ever, is a lazy human and will never ever reach his destiny.
This destiny can be seen by many in material things, at the outside of people, but it is the matured spirit and soul that forms the destiny of a human to make him a spirit person in flesh of a human body like I was once I walked among you. So, my daughter, he took his hands back, walked over to the door, touched the handle, turned around a last time, you see, life is worth living and to struggle for, it is the never ending journey of humans to find themselves and reach closer to GOD and me in heaven. He opened the door and his light disappeared in the light of the sun burning down on the railway tracks.
Mawuena Trebarh got up, wanting to leave the room while a small boy came into the room with some day light telling her: I am hungryI am so hungry. Do you have something to eat for me? Please, give me some money to buy myself something to eat. She moved closer to the boy, touched his head, tried not to respond, walked calmly out of the hut and looked around over to the tracks to the other huts seeing women taking their dried clothes from the dry lines ending the busy day. She had peace in her heart, a tender smile on her face, stood upright like a watch tower in time and space, turned around, looked full of understanding down unto the little boy and answered him: I have no gold, no silver with me, no food, but GOD will always be your feeding ground.
The little boy looked at her puzzled not understanding any of her words only feeling his empty stomach knowing not whether his mother had something to eat for him later.
Author: Dipl.-Pol. Karl-Heinz Heerde, Sakumono Estate, Block D10, Aprt. 9, Tema West, Ghana, phone +233(0)265078287, [email protected] , 23.05.2016
07.06.2016 LISTEN
Delivered to United Cadres Front (UCF) on the occasion of 4th June 2016 (37 Celebration of June 4th) at Catholic Social Centre, Bolgatanga
What is the Present System?
My understanding of the present system.
The present system I understand to mean the political, economic, cultural and social system that governs Ghana. I will be focusing my attention on the political and economic system. These two in turn create the whole fabric of society.
Explanation of competing political systems
The Industrial Revolution, Industry over Agriculture brought about the liberal economic system, especially in the Britain. The problems of capitalism led to the development of Keynesian economic consensus that led to the involvement of the state in the management of the economy. The contradictions within Keynesian led to neoliberalism, or Thatcherism/Reaganomics laissez faire economic management of the state, where it was assumed that the free market is the best regulator and the state has no business dealing with the economy and that it will improve productivity and lead to prosperity for all.
The failure of free market enterprise system has not brought about any meaningful changes in the economies of the major capitalist countries. Ghana was colonized and absolved into this world economic system and therefore cannot be independent from what happens around the world. Trade policies led by the dominant capitalist countries and supervised by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have direct effect on what happens in Ghana.
In present day Ghana, we operate a system that can be characterized as a neo-colonial system. Simply put, it means a system where the commanding heights of the economy or major means of production are not controlled by Ghana or the state. It does not mean that there are no capitalists or millionaires in Ghana. They certainly are, but they cannot be compared to what we have in the advanced capitalist countries. The capitalists that we have in Ghana are not capable of organizing massive capital to transform society.
They are mostly appendages of Western capitalists interests. They act as their representatives and by representing the interest of Western capital represent their own interest. They are mostly found in the distributive sector i.e. wholesaling and retailing of goods and selling. See what we have in the consumer market i.e. retail shops, cement outlets, etc. They do not control major factories. For example here, no capitalists in Ghana have come forward to take over and renovate the Tomato and Meat Factories.
The present day Ghana was colonized and designed for the interest of the British colonial empire. It took Kwame Nkrumah and the CPP to fight for our political independence. Beginning from 1951 self-rule to independence for Ghana in March 1957and up to the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah in 1966, the CPP undertook gigantic steps to bring about self-reliance. Many industries were set up and including the design of townships like Tema. In the Upper East Region we had the Tomato and Meat Factory. Import substitution factories were built.
It was these policies of real independence, removing Ghana from the appendages of capitalism that led to the overthrow of Nkrumah. Ghana was not colonized because the British loved us, or they were bringing civilizing mission to us. We were colonized because of our natural and human resources. By Nkrumah trying to disentangled us from colonial economic domination he was seen as playing a dangerous game. Internal economic forces were also not interested in genuine independent Ghana. That is why internal reaction forces led by Brigadier Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa and Lt General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka ganged with foreign interest and overthrew Kwame Nkrumah.
Since then various regimes have been in competition to see which of them deliver to imperialism: the interest of capitalism. Since 1966, Ghana has not been ruled in the interest of its people but in the interest of foreign business interest. General Kutu Acheampong of the National Redemption Council (NRC) made modest attempts to improve the economic conditions of Ghanaians. But just as any regime, it soon degenerated to pro-imperialist government and with rampant corruption that hastened its demise.
Let us now look at whether the current system can be bent towards social justice?
Strictly speaking and if it possible I will prefer a system that one can be bent in order to bring about social justice. But as the situation and experience stands out this has not been possible. Why has this not been possible? To answer this question let us look at our past.
After the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah, various attempts were made to continue with what Nkrumah stood for. This led us to the situation that we had to fight against Kutu Acheampong Union Government concept that resulted into a palace coup that brought General Fred Akuffo to power. The Akuffo regime scrapped the Union Government concept. The tension within the body politics and the heightened political consciousness led to the 4th June 1979 other ranks uprising.
Rawlings own bid on 15th May 1979 to overthrow the government failed but the opportunities afforded him through an open trial directly galvanized and led to the June 4th 1979 uprising. At the time of the uprising by the other ranks power was lying on the streets. However, it was possible for the military to prosecute and take over power because they had the guns. It was the mass discontent that favoured Rawlings at the head of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). The brief intervention by the AFRC tried to ameliorate some grievances of the people. However, the AFRC handed power to the Peoples National Party (PNP) in 1979 after what was termed the house-cleaning exercise.
However, the PNP underestimated the grievances that brought about the June Fourth uprising and also with intense internal wrangling and sabotage within the PNP may it possible for easy overthrow by Jerry Rawlings on 31st December 1981. Unlike June 4th 1979 uprising, Rawlings was the main architect and pillar of the coup of 31st December 1981. He recruited the other ranks and engendered civilian support for the coup, and that probably explains why he was able to stay in power for over 20 years. The mass support for the coup and the repression that followed it also enabled Rawlings to survive in power for so long.
31st December 1981
The 31st December 1981 coup was classified as a Revolution. The coup occurred at the time that though there were massive discontents with the policies of the PNP, there was not much appetite for a coup. As a result Rawlings had to couch the coup in terms that sounded like social revolution. Despite the many differences that many of us and the reservations that we had with Rawlings through his membership and hijacking of the June Fourth Movement (JFM), all of us in the JFM and other progressive forces and movements in the Ghana rallied to the support of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC). After all, it had within it fold progressive elements and either rightly or wrongly most of the progressive forces thought that this was an opportunity for progressive forces to make a change and some really and genuinely believed that this was a coup with a difference.
That is why the progressive forces worked very hard and ensured that Peoples Defence Committees (PDCs) and Workers Defence Committees (WDCs) were set up in the work places to defend what was conceived as the defence of the revolution. There were definite hesitations by workers when we were setting up the committees. Some of them stated that they had seen revolutions come and go and they were afraid that if they set up the committees, sooner or later, there happens to be a change in agenda and they could be victimized. How perceptive they were. However, we managed to convince them that this was a coup with a difference.
That is why the defence committees blossomed and became parallel structures to government.
The Struggles for People Power
Time will not allow me to go into details today on the various struggles to bend the coup into a real revolution that could bring about change in the body politics. Suffice me to mention that the progressive forces suffered setbacks. The Rawlings faction was determined to continue to implement pro-imperialist policies: Go to the IMF, accept the IMF conditionalities and continue business as usual. And this was championed by Dr. Kwesi Botchway, the Finance Secretary, and a person whom the progressive forces have put into power, and thought he would represent the interest of the people.
Due to internal wrangling and struggles within the PNDC and attempts by reactionary forces attempted coups, the genuine progressive forces in the June Fourth Movement (JFM) were chased out, some were arrested and incarcerated and the officers and other ranks supporting their perspective were equally liquidated.
Implementation of IMF policies
After Rawlings and his group had successfully driven out the progressive forces, the IMF and World Bank policies were implemented. A large section of the progressives forces represented in the Universities, for example the Tsikatas, etc. were incorporated to successfully carry through this right-wing agenda.
It was during the 20 years period of Rawlings rule, that Ghana was firmly consolidated back to the International Capitalist fold. Massive redundancies were undertaken. Health became a privileged. Couple with this there was internal repression and many people were incarcerated or lost their lives. It was under Rawlings watch who is crying wolf today that corruption and nepotism was at the highest order. The NDC people made the most money through corrupt means under his Presidency. What is simply happening today in Ghana is a carry-over from what he supervised when he was in power.
So can we bend the present system to for social justice in Ghana?
You will probably be wondering what is this Uncle Yen talking about. We have a government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that professes to be a social-democracy. And all the major players including the President himself at public forum attest to social democracy. However we have to look at the realm of the real implementation of economy policies to judge whether the system can be bent to social justice. I will say with a heavy heart the answer is NO. After the 8 years of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), where we saw the wanton sharing of state properties and entrenching of capitalism one to some extend shared a moment of relish when the NDC came back. And more particularly when President Dramani Mahama assumed the leadership of the country. And, the Vice President, Kwesi Amissah-Arthur was associated also with one of the progressive movements in the University of Ghana, Legon.
But let look at the body politics. To my knowledge the mobilization of the people in the various parties does not mean that the people are independent actors. Money is at the root of politics in Ghana.
Let concretely look the economy today. In a country like Ghana, where there are no big time manufacturers with their own source of income, it is incumbent on the state to use the state to mobilise resources to develop the country and create employment. But today that is not what we are seeing. What we are seeing is simply this:
The state has become a gigantic playing ground where various political parties especially the two dominant ones, the NDC and the NPP are struggling to take control of. If you take over the state there are areas of resources that one and supporters can use for their own benefit and that is why there is this do and die in our body politics. Real issues of democracy, what do we do, what can we do about the massive corruption, the high levels of unemployment, the desperation in our society is not attended to. Instead what we have is that various actors in the state have taken advantage of the situation, where the resources that are there are milked for personal interest. The National Service and National Health Insurance sagas are just some of the few instances to mention. We should not also forget about how state organisations/corporations have become instruments of graft and avarice among the educated elites that control them. They have become private enriching entities for state officials. The looting goes on abated. Incomes levels are extremely high between the highest and the lowest paid. Whereas some in the state sector for example government quangos can earn up to 30,000 Ghana Cedis, others like security personnel take home less than 200 cedis a month.
The quality of our health service is something that one cannot talk about. I have had the unfortunate experience of sending a relative, who have served Ghana to the hospital and we had to pay for almost everything. Yet we are daily told about how the state has extended health services. When fees for nursing and training colleges are put up we are told it is for our own good and that it has increased access to these institutions to ordinary people. These people must be living in cuckoo land. The daily struggles of people to pay these fees also fuel the corruption and greed in our society.
Our educational system has been run down. Even in Bolga here those who can afford it send their children to private schools.
In the entire fabric of the Ghanaian society it seems there is no hope. It is almost and nearly impossible to bend the present system to benefit ordinary people. Those who control power at the top will not allow it.
What do we do?
We should never give hope. Neither should we all say let us all join them. We must have group or groups of people who must constantly struggle for change. Things cannot always remain as they are.
We need a political movement with clearly defined goals on how to move with the people for social justice. We need to harness both our natural and human resources for the good of all. Our education, health and housing must be affordable and free and paid from our taxes. We must provide opportunities for the ordinary school boy or girl to realise his or her potential.
The struggle must be for socialism. Socialism if properly carried through with our commitment by our peoples, a strong and determined leadership will ensure that the full potential of our people will be realized. It will mobilise our resources, both human and natural for the betterment of our people. It is not easy to fight for socialism. It will require real grassroots organisation that must fight to protect its interest. There will be many obstacles including foreign one, but it is a better alternative than the present system. People do not have to go hungry.
President John Dramani Mahama
07.06.2016 LISTEN
The then Ghana Consolidated Diamonds was sold in 2011 by the National Democratic Congress government, through the influence of President John Dramani Mahama, to the JOSPONG Group at the time over 840 people were in active employment of the company.
Immediately after the divestiture, all the workers of the company were declared redundant and subsequently sacked.
At the handing over ceremony, a promise was made to inject US$100 million into the company to expand its operations to facilitate more job creation.
But five years afterwards, the project has turned out to be a white elephant, with the owners now engaged in illegal mining, depriving the people of Akwatia all the benefits they enjoyed from the company before it was sold.
Nana Adwoa Owusua, Asona Hemaa of Akwatia, recalls that prior to the sale of the company, it supplied pipe water to the entire communities within the exclave and other social services that enhanced the lives of the people.
The company gave us free electricity and scholarship for our children to study within and outside Akwatia. Since the company changed hands, we have been denied all these services. As elders of Akwatia, we had no knowledge about negotiations towards the sale of the company until it was sold in 2011. Interestingly, since the sale of GCD, the fortunes of the company have highly diminished and they have sacked all the workers. What they are doing now is illegal mining of diamonds which is not bringing any benefit to the people of Akwatia, she laments.
Some elders and opinion leaders of Akwatia are particularly angered by the fact that JOSPONG Group has so far paid only US$3.2 million out of the total cost of US$17 million for the take-over, while the Mahama government is not interested in collecting the balance.
They suspect something fishy was involved in the whole process of the divesture and are therefore calling on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice to launch investigations deal.
According to the aggrieved elders, due process was not followed in the sale of the diamond company because of the alleged deep involvement of President Mahama, who they suspect is a secret shareholder of the now Great Consolidated Diamonds Ltd.
Speaking to this paper in an exclusive interview, Nana Agyenim Buadu, a sub-chief of Akwatia and leader of the aggrieved group, said they would this week submit a petition to CHRAJ to investigate the presidents alleged involvement in the sale of sale of the company to Joseph Siaw Agyepong, owner and Chief Executive Officer of the JOSPONG Group of Companies.
According to him, President Mahama sold the diamond company to JOSPONG at a time it was active, though it faced some challenges.
Besides, JOSPONG has refused to fully pay for the cost of the company he claims to own and the government has not expressed any concern about the situation. As we speak today, the company has been shut down officially and all the workers have been laid off. The electricity connection to the entire GCD has been disconnected. Since January 2016, the electricity company of Ghana has disconnected the entire GCD area from the national grid for owing more that 4 million Ghana cedis, he narrated.
He added: What we are saying is that if the president had no shares in the company, he would have either forced JOSPONG to fully pay for the cost of the asset he purchased in 2011 or repossess it from him. Can you imagine that Siaw Agyepong has only paid US$3.2 million dollars from the US$17 million cost of the project and everybody is quiet and comfortably watching them do what they like with our heritage. We will not sit and watch and we have begun a process to take our resource back.
Nana Agyeman Boadu had more to say: As you can see, there is no job in Akwatia; the unemployment rate is high, a situation that is pushing most of the youth into criminal activities. The water supply situation is nothing good to talk about. When GCD was operating, we had free flow of pipe water but that has stopped since it folded up. What is happening now is that the new directors of the company claim that the company is not in active operation but they have allocated all the concessions of the company to private individuals to mine both gold and Diamonds under what they call tributary allocation and demands ten per cent from whatever they extract. We also discovered that they have not paid a penny, in terms of tax to the government of Ghana since they took over the management of the company.
The elders indicated that the recent claim by President Mahama in in London that he is not corrupt and had not taken bribe before should guide him to refrain from engaging in acts that undermine the wellbeing of the people of Akwatia.
If what he said is true, then we want him to do us an honour by salvaging the diamond company from the JOSPONG Group for the people of Akwatia. We have the capacity and expertise in Akwatia to perform better than what is being done here by these waste management people. We will do everything possible to take our company back, he stated.
Sammy Awuku
07.06.2016 LISTEN
The Youth Wing of the New Patriotic Party has expressed fears about the manner in which the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress is addressing issues relating to the youth in the country, especially the escalating joblessness.
Addressing a press conference yesterday, national youth organizer of the NPP, Sammi Awuku, stated that youth unemployment in the country which was at its peak.
He made reference to a World Bank report, which disclosed that 48% of the youth in Ghana were jobless, a situation he described as dangerous, criminal, suicidal and unacceptable for any nation.
According to Sammi Awuku, the President and his appointees keep playing politics with youth related issues whilst majority of Ghanaians suffer under their incompetent administration.
On the recent commissioning of the Komenda Sugar factory by President Mahama, which had to quickly shut down after just 48 hours for maintenance work, the NPP youth organizer described it as an NDC Propaganda hub and not a sugar production hub.
All across the country, from the Volta Region to the Northern Region, the youth, especially the many young people who voted for the younger President Mahama, have regretted doing so because not only has the President not delivered on his promises, he has actually killed the little hope that was there. In fact, what we have witnessed in the last 8 years has been gross mismanagement, which has brought about the collapse of productive initiatives created by the erstwhile NPP administration to solve the unemployment situation in the country, Sammi Awuku stated.
On youth employment, he criticized the NDC government for failing to provide policies that would empower and create opportunities for the teeming unemployed Ghanaian youth, stressing, We have witnessed the metamorphosing of the NPPs National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), to a series of stealing schemes, the Mills-led NDC GYEEDA, and now President Mahamas Youth Enterprise Support (Y.E.S.). The truth is that President Mahama has used the excuse of creating jobs for the young people of Ghana only to steal and abuse taxpayers money.
Over the years, the NDC has come up with different youth employment modules which have served as avenues for the NDC to loot from state coffers. To this, Sammi Awuku added: As we head to the November 7th elections, we expect the NDC to start rolling out numerous youth employment modules, which again will create avenues for the NDC to steal money and distribute monies and freebies, as they did in 2012.
Digging into the issue of qualified nurses and mid-wives who have not been posted for close two years now, he said if care was not taken, most of these nurses would end up traveling outside the country thereby worsening the brain drain problem in the country.
After cancelling Trainees Allowances, abnormal rise in school fees and cancellation of back pay, government is also refusing to employ those who managed to qualify under such harsh conditions. Young nurses are now reduced to picketing to deaf ears of officialdom. The situation becomes worse following reports from some nursing trainee institutes about lack of access to the Students Loan Trust. Students of the Koforidua Nursing Training School in March this year, appealed to government to speed up the processes with the Students Loan Trust to enable them access the loans. Anytime they went to the Koforidua Office of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), they were turned away with the explanation that Government had not entered into any agreement with them for nursing trainees to be given the loan facility, he added.
The NPP youth organizer further expressed his disappointment at the recent recruitment exercise carried out by the police service where the already unemployed youth were asked to purchase forms for GHS100.00, describing it as a rip off.
The money they borrowed from already overburdened and disappointed parents and guardians. Within three days of making the Police recruitment forms available for purchase, as many as 17,000 were bought. We are talking here about GHS1.7 millon, equal to 17 billion old cedis, callously taken away from the struggling Ghanaian youth, he bemoaned.
Sammi Awuku continued, Ladies and gentlemen of the Media, the Mahama-led administration says it is transforming Ghana and changing lives, yet the two areas that should drive this process are the worst hit: manufacturing and agriculture, sectors with huge potential for creating jobs for the youth. The manufacturing sector is collapsing under the weight of dumsor, high electricity bills and stifling duties and other taxes. Today, Ghana is importing plantain from Cote dIvoire, which has rather overtaken India as the largest exporter of cashew nuts, on top of cocoa, which we are now importing from our neighbours next door. The state owned media, The Daily Graphic, in March this year, under the headline: Kumasi Shoe Factory Dying Slowly Again After Revival, reported that some three years after its revival, the Mahama-led NDC government was yet to fulfill its promise of contracting the Kumasi Shoe Factory as the sole manufacturer of all the shoes for the Ghana Armed Forces and other security agencies in the country.
Sammi Awuku disclosed that the mismanagement of the economy by President Mahama and his administration should be a source of worry for all.
He however urged the youth not to lose hope but vote the government out come November 7, since the NDC were only interested in siphoning from state coffers.
He mentioned some of the achievements of the erstwhile Kufuor administration, including the National Youth Employment Programme, School Feeding Programme, Capitation Grant, the National Health Insurance Scheme, among others, which he said should serve as a yardstick for accessing what a Nana Addo presidency can do.
Finally, I end by calling on the teeming youth whose noble dreams have been turned into nightmares by the non performing NDC government to seize the opportunity November 7, 2016 presents to us by organising for Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and mobilising for change, he stated.
07.06.2016 LISTEN
From Ernest Best Anane, Kumasi
THE ASHANTI Regional Police Command has arrested a syndicate of four groups of armed robbers who perpetrate heinous crimes within the metropolis.
ACP Ampofo Kwaku Duku, Deputy regional commander, told a press conference that on May19, 2016, about 7:45pm, some young men, armed with AK 47 assault rifles, dressed in black attire and with their faces covered with hood (mask), attacked workers of Space Guest House at Atwima-Tekyiman-Denchemuoso, robbed them of two mobile phones, laptop and unspecified amount of money and in the process shot and killed No.39609 G/Cpl Frank Essel of Swat Unit/ASH, who happened to be at the Guest House.
On May 21, 2016, at about 7:30 hours, three armed men with AK47 rifles, dressed in black attire and masks attacked one Akomea Frimpong at Ahenema Kokoben new site and robbed him of GHc4,200 and in the process shot and killed one Kwabena Akomea Frimpong, a 33 year-old younger brother of the victim.
In a similar development, on May 31, 2016, at about 7:30pm, three armed men wearing hoods (mask) attacked one Joseph Baah Tweneboah at his residence at Abuontem new site, near Aputuogya, robbed him of one laptop computer, four mobile phones and an amount of GHc1,000 and shot him after the robbery, killing him instantly. Mr. Duku disclosed that, in all the named robberies, the robbers laid ambush in front of the houses of their victims and followed them immediately they entered.
He disclosed that, most of the robbers in the groups were arrested while others are at large, and pleaded with the general public to assist the police by way of accurate information to help bring them to book. He mentioned the names of the first group as Bona (Ye Bediboniewu), Killer, Baby Last, Solo, Adepa, Alonso and Hamidu, all at large, while Ama Serwaah was arrested at her residence at Asafo.
Exhibits found on her included unspecified amount of money, two ladies handbags, 42 wrappers of substance suspected to be Indian hemp and amount of GHc1,487. He stated that the second group comprised Abdullai, Tofik (Medownwodown/Wadada) occasionally seen at Aboabo, at large, and Kofi (from Poano) also at large.
Group three included Djallo Dzani from Ejisu, AzumahYahaya from Wa, Malam Lawyer from Chiraa and Sarakin from Takyiman/Ejisu, all at large. While the fourth group includes Murtala, a dismissed Policeman suspected to be having an assault rifle AK47, Salou, alias AK, who is at large and Tanko, ex-convict at large.
According to ACP Duku, the police suspect that, they (suspects) get their supply of weapons from one Ambulay at Agogo, who is now at large, while Tonka from Koforidua, Mark 2, Azana Kassim, alias 50 Cent at Ahensan, Sulemana Safiano alias Keshi, Kwame Anafo alias Indomie-all at Ahensan, were arrested. He underscored that, on Friday, June 3, 2016, a search conducted in the room of Mark 2 revealed that, two masks, four matches and a substance suspected to be Indian hemp were found.
On the same day, Tonka a brother of Djallo, a suspected armed robber was also arrested at his hideout at Atwima Koforidua near Abuakwa/Kumasi and is assisting Police in investigation. He said on June 4, 2016, Azuna Kassim alias 50 Cent, aged 32 years, was arrested at Ahinsan when he was offering a Pump Action Rifle with 32 rounds of BB cartridges for sale at the cost of GHc3,500.
Items also found in his room included two mobile phones, one faulty I-pad and a pistol barrel. Suspect 50 Cents was also arrested on May 26, 2013, in a narcotic case which is currently in court, but has not been attending court. His accomplices include Habib Ando, Mohammed Issifu, Ibrahim Danjana, and Kwame Antwi Boasiako.
07.06.2016 LISTEN
From IssahAlhassan, Kumasi
DEATH, as it is known, is an inevitable journey every living soul will embark upon, but for Lydia Botchey, losing your mother, husband, brother-in law and your four lovely kids is not something she bargained for.
But so it happened that on a fateful Friday, June 3, 2016, Mrs. Botchey was greeted with the horrendous news of the demise of perhaps the six most important persons in her life. With June 3 gradually gaining notoriety as Ghanas Black Memorable Day, a strange fire, cause of which remains contentious, gutted a residence at Asante Mampong, sweeping away with it an entire family and saving only a mother to brood.
Rev. Isaac Adu Botchey and his younger brother, Jonathan Adu Botchey, as well as their four children, namely Eben Adu Botchey, Lovia Adu Botchey, Isaac Adu Botchey and Princess Adu Botchey, got perished in the inferno. Sad, but interestingly, the unfortunate incident occurred at dawn when the country was preparing to celebrate One Year Anniversary of the biggest national tragedy, in which over 150 persons lost their lives in a twin fire and flood disaster.
But for mourners who thronged Asante Mampong to commiserate with the family of the victims, the decision not to allow the widow, Madam Lydia Botchey, to venture onto the funeral grounds, was a wise one. Dreading the fact that the worst could happen if she should be allowed to set eyes on the six coffins displayed at the burial grounds for public viewing before final internment, the family kept poor Lydia far away from the solemn occaision.
It is not clear whether one can describe it as a divine escape, but the widow perhaps was saved from the agony Godly because she was somewhere attending a burial service of her late mother. Only God knows what would have happened had she been home on that fateful day.
But today, she is now left with the hard choice of having to mourn for the rest of her life, the absence of her husband and their four children, as well as her brother-in law. It was a scene of sorrow and agony at the Asante Mampong Township as mourners, clad in black, cried in anguish during the burial service for the victims.
School children were also there to mourn their late classmates in an emotionally-filled occasion, which also saw in attendance the Chief of Suhum in the Eastern Region, where Rev. Isaac Adu Botchey hails from. Also present was the Member of Parliament for the area, Addai Nimoh.
07.06.2016 LISTEN
By mid-1945 when the Allied Forces had helped to liberate the last vestiges of the German occupation of Europe and end the atrocious concentration camps and gas chambers in Auschwitz and other locations, more than 6 million European Jews had been murdered in the genocide which became known as the Holocaust or the Shoah. The extent and ramifications of this evil boggled the mind of every decent and civilized person and society around the world. But the deed had been done and the only reasonable option left for our collective humanity was this all-important resolve: Never Again. The international community resolved from then onwards that as a collective and as individual nations, societies and peoples around the world, we can all make efforts and contribute all we can to help prevent, stop and punish all crimes against humanity, including genocides anywhere it is taking place in the world. Today 2016, there is an ongoing genocide of Igbo people in Nigeria. And it is the responsibility of all people everywhere to help stop it and punish the perpetrators of this heinous crime.
Since the last 15 years the agitation for the reestablishment of the State of Biafra has gained traction. For most observers who remember the events that led to the declaration of an independent State of Biafra on May 30, 1967, almost fifty years ago, this current agitation does not come to them as a surprise. It has always been expected. Frederick Forsyth, the British author who witnessed the Nigerian genocide of the Igbo in the 1960s made this observation in his 1968 book on the subject; The Biafra Story: The Making of an African Legend:
What had started as a belief was transmuted to total conviction; that they could never again live with Nigerians. From this stems the primordial political reality of the present situation. Biafra cannot be killed by anything short of total eradication of the people who make her. For even under total occupation Biafra would sooner with or without Colonel Ojukwu, rise up again. (Emeka Ojukwu led the Biafran resistance against genocide and the often reminisced Biafran revolution.)
By the time the Igbo Genocide ended in 1970, 3.5 million Biafrans of which 3.1 million were Igbo, had been murdered by Nigerians with help from the Arab League as spearheaded by Egypt which supplied, pro bono the pilots who bombed only civilian targets in Biafra. The British government and USSR (todays Russia being the successor state) supplied the bomber jets, the speed boats and other arms that enabled the genocidal Nigerian state to carry out an effective blocked of Biafra during the siege. Of the total deaths, more than 2 million died from starvation resulting from the economic blocked.
While the atrocity against the Igbo was going on in the west coast of Africa; in faraway New York in the United States, in the Spring of 1968, a particularly significant lone-conscientious protest of the evil took place. On the first anniversary of the Biafran resistance a young orthodox Jewish student of the Columbia University, Bruce Mayrock after writing hundreds of letters to world leaders to help stop the genocide to no avail, then chose to set himself afire on the premises of the United Nations protesting the genocide of Biafrans. He died a few hours later at the hospital from the wounds he sustained from the fire. The sign he had with him at the UN compound read: Please help stop the genocide of 9 million Biafrans. That sign is as current today 2016 as it was half a century ago when Mayrock first displayed it.
With the persistent state murders of Igbo people in Nigeria by government agents, the State of Israel and its citizens and other humanitarian minded people around the world today can still help to stop the continued genocide of the Igbo in Nigeria. As this is being written the government of the State of Israel continues to do business with the genocidal Nigerian state; cooperating closely with Nigerias security agencies as well as in other sectors of its economy. The government and policy makers in Israel can help stop the ongoing genocide of the Igbo today by boycotting all dealings with the Nigerian government. For a democratic and progressive state like Israel doing business with a genocidal state like Nigeria is nothing different from the state sponsorship of state terrorism, human rights violation and genocide. On another hand, it can be compared to any responsible or civilized state in the 1930s and early 40s aiding, abating and being complicit with Hitlers Nazi regime in Germany.
An independent State of Biafra became inevitable in mid-1967 because of the ethnic and religious cleansing of the Igbo population in 1966 by the people and government of Nigeria. The massacre in which 100,000 Igbo and other easterners were killed between May 29, 1966 and May 30, 1967, is also known as the 1966 Pogrom. It was a government organized and executed purge of the Nigerian country through massacres, looting and expulsion of its Igbo population. This systematic elimination of a people based on their ethnic and religious classification by a national government was led by the Nigeria military dictator Yakubu Gowon. It was aimed at cleansing the Nigerian society of all traces of Igbo people whom the others had come to hate and loath for being too enterprising, dominating all aspects of the society and unwilling to adopt the Islamic way of worship.
After the Igbo and other easterners had been expelled from Nigeria, more than 3 million of them were displaced. They went back to their ancestral homeland, and in an effort to protect and preserve what was left of their battered lives, they chose the path of Self Determination and independence. They unilaterally declared a sovereign independent state which they called Republic of Biafra. Upon this declaration, the Nigerian state wedged a war of aggression against the Biafran state. The Nigerian state had two clearly declared intentions on embarking on that misadventure of aggression. One, they wanted to capture Biafra land for the Islamic caliphate of Sokoto and convert the oil wealth in the Biafran homeland. Secondly, they wanted to exterminate the entire adult population of Biafra and convert Igbo children to Islam.
It was these and other factors that led states like Tanzania to choose to stand by Biafrans decision to choose to die fighting for their freedom. After Biafra was declared independent, the State of Tanzania clearly understood that it was only an independent sovereign state, separate from Nigeria that could help stop the genocide of Biafrans. Tanzania quickly recognized and advocated for Biafras right to self-determination and independence. In April of 1968 the Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere declared his countrys support for Igbo survival in these immutable and timeless indisputable words:
"Tanzania has recognized the State of Israel and will continue to do so because of its belief that every people must have some place in the world where they are not liable to be rejected by their fellow citizens. But the Biafrans have now suffered the same kind of rejection within their state that the Jews of Germany experienced. Fortunately, they already had a homeland.
They have retreated to it for their own protection, and for the same reason after all other efforts had failed - they have declared it to be an independent state. In the light of these circumstances, Tanzania feels obliged to recognize the setback to African unity which has occurred. We therefore recognize the
State of Biafra as an independent sovereign entity, and as a member of the community of nations. Only by this act of recognition can we remain true to our conviction that the purpose of society, and of all political organization, is the service of Man."
With the current political and social events in Nigeria, and with the renewed mass killings of the Igbo by Nigerian state agents, Nyereres words could have been spoken in April of 2016. An independent state of Biafra is still as valid in 2016 as it was in 1966. For some Biafrans like Col. Joe Achuzia, Biafra was defeated in 1970 but was not surrendered. Achuzia as part of Biafrans who negotiated peace with the Nigerian authority at the end of the war, insists that Biafrans did not submit to Nigeria any instrument of surrender or any such thing like Biafras insignia and symbols. The import of Achuzias claims is that what Biafrans negotiated with Nigeria in 1970 was cessation of hostilities or an armistice but not the sovereignty, the right to independence and the right to self-determination of the people of Biafra.
After fifty years and with the continuation of the systematic elimination and marginalization of Igbo people in Nigeria, the time is now ripe for the Biafran people the Igbo, to reclaim their sovereignty and independence from Nigeria. Therefore, it is necessary to note that in this renewed all-important life and death effort, the Igbo will appreciate the help and support of all well-meaning individuals and states like Israel which had gone through the same genocidal experience such as the Igbo are going through today in Nigeria. The truth is that since on the 29th day of May, 1966 the Igbo ceased forever to be Nigerians.
07.06.2016 LISTEN
The Public Utilities Workers Union (PUWU) has discredited claims by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) that complaints of overbilling of customers are traceable to the current billing software being used by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
They argued that the software, instead, inures to the benefit of power consumers, except for governments excessive taxes and levies, which the people are oblivious of.
According to the PUWU, the withdrawal of the 25% electricity subsidy, after government had increased tariffs by 59%, in addition to the increment in the rural electrification levy and that of the street light, accounted for the public outcry over the huge sums being paid as electricity bills.
Stressing that the PURC had caused public disaffection towards the ECG with its directive on the suspension of the billing software it claimed was faulty, the PUWU wants it (PURC) to retract that directive within seven days, failure of which would lead to withdrawal of services by frontline staff and field workers of the company.
At a press conference in Accra yesterday, the General Secretary of the PUWU, Kwamena Bondzie Quaye, revealed that as a result of this directive, workers of ECG have been exposed to several acts of intimidation, abuse, threats and in some instances, physical assaults.
He expressed regret that more than a week after the directive, management of ECG had not issued any formal public statement to debunk or explain the said directive of the PURC, adding that PURC as the economic regulator of ECG failed to discuss its findings with the ECG, after its investigations into the matter, though the commissions monitoring exercises, had been done.
Since January 2016, the media, including social media, has been awash with complaints from citizens, commerce and industry, about the effective percentage increases, which has made cost of living unbearable and led to business closures and failures.
The government, in its response, blamed faulty meters as the possible cause, and promised to address it. Following persistent public outcry over the extremely high electricity tariffs being slapped on them by the ECG, the PURC on May 24, sanctioned the power company to suspend the use of the Chinese-acquired software, as it was convinced it (software) was the reason for the overbilling of customers.
ECG to Chase Government for Debts
According to Mr. Quaye, over the years, ECG had observed that government had given assurances to pay off its debts to the company but had failed to do so. The outstanding debts coupled with the continuous consumption of power by government ministries, agencies, departments and other institutions are seriously affecting the revenue generation of the company, he explained.
Saying that management of the ECG was not showing interest in collecting the debts, the PUWU General Secretary, therefore, served notice that effective June 20, the ECG would embark on a disconnection exercise to retrieve all its arrears from government institutions indebted to it and also ensure that going forward, all such institutions paid for the power they consume every month.
He sounded caution that any attempt by any authority to frustrate or impede our move to collect the outstanding debts will be fiercely resisted and we will consider such interferences as a deliberate act to prevent us from carrying out our legitimate duties as workers.
Planned Privatization of ECG
Touching on the intended moves by government to release the Electricity Company of Ghana to a concessionaire for 25 years, the PUWU reiterated its objection.
This policy is not the best option to bring reforms to make ECG more efficient and profitable. We have already articulated our views and suggestions in our paper to MiDA and the Ministry of Power, but we are surprised that government has allowed foreign interest to still push it to follow this trajectory, which all intents and purposes, will inure more to the benefit of the foreign investor, Mr Quaye explained.
He further stated that the World Bank, which over the years had led the path for the privatization of the ECG, came out with its 2013 report on the energy sector, which did not support the lease of the ECG to a concessionaire that was being driven by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact, also known as the Ghana Power Compact.
To address the challenges of the company, the Public Utilities Workers Union, however, advised government to tackle the leadership problem of the ECG by appointing a dynamic and competent leader with a fixed tenure of about five years contract, insulated from political interference.
Besides, it called on government to provide the same conditions promised the private sector to create the enabling environment necessary to make any company operate efficiently, in addition to use of five year period of the MCC compact to prepare the ECG and list it on the Ghana Stock Exchange with Government retaining either a slim majority or significant minority holding.
By Pascal Kafu Abotsi
([email protected])
Niamey (AFP) - About 50,000 people have fled a town in Niger's troubled southeast after deadly attacks by Boko Haram insurgents, the United Nations said Tuesday.
The attacks began Friday against a military post in Bosso in Niger's Diffa region, killing 26 soldiers including two from neighbouring Nigeria.
"An estimated 50,000 people or so fled," UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesman Adrian Edwards told reporters in Geneva.
A total of 55 insurgents from the Nigeria-based Islamist group were killed and "many" injured, according to authorities.
Edwards said most of those fleeing the violence walked westwards to Toumour, some 30 kilometres west of Bosso.
"Many people are reportedly traumatised and worried about their safety. People are sleeping in the open and urgently need shelter and other assistance," he said.
A local journalist working with Radio Anfani told AFP he was sheltering in Toumour with no food, along with many others who fled the violence.
"The Boko Haram gunmen stayed in Bosso from 6:30 pm (1730 GMT) on Friday to 3:00 am on Saturday, burning the military barracks, police facilities and local administration office before looting shops and carting away food supplies," he said.
"Everybody started leaving the town and surrounding villages at dawn after the gunmen had left."
He said that the gunmen used heavy artillery which allowed them to overrun the town's garrison.
- 'Boko Haram in control' -
"They came in large numbers shouting 'Allahu Akbar' (God is Greatest)," he said.
The journalist, who declined to be named, said that he subsequently learned that the fighters returned later on Sunday and "engaged troops redeployed to the town in fierce battle".
"The troops retreated, leaving Boko Haram militants in control of the town," he said, although the claims could not immediately be verified.
However, Niger's defence minister Assoumana Malam Issa has said that the military had regained control of the town.
Edwards said some of those displaced had moved on from Toumour and were heading to the town of Diffa, around 140 kilometres west of Bosso, and northwards towards a camp for internally displaced people that is already nearing its maximum capacity of 10,000.
"The welfare of these people and others forced to flee the violence in Bosso is of great concern," he said.
The latest attack was among the deadliest by the jihadist group in Niger since it began launching raids in the country in February 2015 from its stronghold in neighbouring Nigeria.
At least 240,000 people have been displaced in the Diffa region since then.
UNHCR, which has not had a presence in Bosso since the Boko Haram raids began nearly a year and a half ago, said it was working with the authorities and local partners to coordinate the response to the mass exodus.
"A team will be en route to the Diffa region this week," Edwards said.
Boko Haram's seven-year insurgency has devastated infrastructure in Nigeria's impoverished northeast and forced around 2.1 million people in the country to flee their homes, according to UNHCR.
The unrest has left at least 20,000 people dead in Nigeria and made more than 2.6 million homeless.
NPPs flag bearer, Nana Addo Dankwa AKufo-Addo and President John Dramani Mahama of the NDC are the main contenders in the 2016 election.
The campaign manager of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Peter Mac Manu, has said the NPP could declare the winner of the 2016 elections. He is reported to have said in the Western Region that not even the IGP can stop them.
We cannot sit down and repeat the same mistake in 2016, he said.
Every level-headed human being in this country knows who is supposed to declare election results in this Ghana. The Chairman of the Electoral Commission is the Returning Officer for the Presidential Election.
It is safe to conclude that the NPP will not declare the National Democratic Congress (NDC) winner of the election. With this latest comment and other similar ones by some top party members, what the party is suggesting that if the NPP does not win the election, the party will not accept the verdict. If this is what the NPP wants to do, then it should go ahead and conduct its own elections. You dont take part in a competition when you do not follow the rules.
The NPP, which prides itself as a believer of the rule of law, has in recent times eroded what used to separate the party from its main opponents. Mr. Mac Manus statement is inciteful and irresponsible, to put it mildly. But beyond its irresponsibility, this latest statement portrays the insecurity the NPP has communicated through its actions and utterances.
This insecurity is unfounded. If there is any foundation the insecurity at all, then it was laid by the NPP. Governance in the past eight years has fallen below average. The hardship in the country now can be seen, felt, touched and smelled. Any political party of the caliber of the NPP should have taken advantage of this and told the voters why there should be a change.
When you shout for change, you should give us the reason for the change. I have said before that the failure of the NDC should not be a good reason to vote the NPP. I still stand by it. We cannot develop when opposition political parties do not give us concrete plans for developing this nation instead of counting on the misdeeds of the incumbent to win elections. We cannot, in this mess, be queuing every four years to choose between the lesser of two evils.
The NPP should tell us something different. They should tell us what they will do differently. We are complaining about corruption, but the stealing will not stop if Akufo-Addo becomes President tomorrow. Even if Akufo-Addo is not a thief, there will be thieves in his administration. Or is there anybody out there who thinks our money will not be stolen if the NPP wins? The party should tell us what they will do to stop the stealing. That should be the message.
It is true that the Kufuor administration did good things that the NPP can make reference to, but no matter how tall your grandfather was, you must do your own growing. We should know what the NPP has for us. Interestingly, Mr. Mac Manu also said the NPP would not release its manifesto now because the party is afraid the NDC would plagiarise its manifesto. Thats lame. Very lame. It is five months to the election. No political party is out with its manifesto. When are you going to release it, communicate its content to the voter before the election?
I think the 2016 election is an open race. If the NPP works hard, it can win. Nobody gave the NDC a chance in 2008. But the NDC can also win. The NPP does not need to steal to win. The NDC does not need to steal to win. Either party can win. Fairly!
The NPPs posture, however, seems to suggest some high level of insecurity. It seems the party has conceded defeat and is psyching its members up not to accept the election results.
NPPs 2016 Campaign Manager, Peter Mac Manu presented a very comprehensive position from the NPP
When the NPP could no longer find any creative ways of destroying itself through internal wrangling, it decided to fight the Electoral Commission. The party said the electoral register was ridden with names of foreigners. Then it fought the EC for a new register. When it failed, it revisited the STL propaganda with vigour. Then the party pushed for validation. The deletion of voters who registered with the National Health Insurance cards is yet to be concluded after the Supreme Court ruling. And here you have Peter Mac Manu saying the NPP could declare their own results.
You can go ahead and declare. We know you will not declare the NDC winner of the election. We know you are going to declare Akufo-Addo winner. It is possible your verdict may be the same as the Electoral Commission. It is also possible that President John Mahama will win. When that happens you will be declaring chaos.
What your posture is saying is that if Mahama wins, you will not accept the verdict. After the 2012 elections, you went to court. But these utterances suggest you have something more sinister up your sleeves. And you must rethink because Ghana is bigger than any individual or political party.
The truth is that both the NPP and NDC are not clean as far as this election is concerned. All of us need to be eternally vigilant to ensure that the ECs verdict will reflect the true decision of the Ghanaians in the 2016 elections. But that should not be the main message of the NPP.
Dr. Bawmumia is doing well. But his message of hope is drowned by the aggressive posturing of the party. This is not good.
Instead of the fighting the EC and suggesting to your supporters not to accept any result that favours the NDC, tell them why they should vote for you. The election is also a mind game. But play a positive mind game with your supporters, not a negatively aggressive one. Tell them why you are winning the elections. Give them hope. Inspire them to go out in their numbers and vote. The elections are won on Election Day. And at the polling stations. Tell them to spread your message to the grassroots.
Take advantage of the conditions we find ourselves in the corruption, the joblessness, the mismanagement of the economy and the rest you can think of. That is how to win elections. Your current actions are like conceding defeat to the NDC and telling your supporters to prepare for a fight after that. Thats the meaning of your posture. And its dangerous.
If the NDC could win the 2008 election, then the NPP can win the 2016 elections. Work hard and stop preparing people psychologically for violence. You may have nothing to lose. You may also have everything to lose.
Why?
The effect of violence is like rain. It does not fall on one roof. They that have ears
The writer, Manasseh Azure Awuni, is a senior broadcast journalist with Joy 99.7FM.
07.06.2016 LISTEN
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has released the second report of its campaign language monitoring project. The report, which is based on monitoring of 923 programmes on 40 radio stations for the period May 1-15, 2016, names individuals and radio presenters who used abusive language, radio stations on which such indecent expressions were recorded; and political parties whose officials, affiliates and supporters used abusive language on radio.
A total of 69 indecent expressions were recorded on 16 out of the 40 radio stations monitored. The report cites Unsubstantiated allegations as the most indecent expression used by individuals, political activists and radio stations hosts/presenters in political communications on radio.
Accra-based Montie FM recorded the highest number (16) of indecent expressions mainly on its Pampaso programme. Happy FM, also based in Accra, followed with 13 indecent expressions which were mostly recorded on its Democracy programme. Oman FM in Accra and Kumasi-based Ashh FM followed with 10 indecent expressions each.
Officials, affiliates and supporters of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) topped the list of culprits with a total of 26 incidents. This was followed by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the unregistered New Labour Party (NLP) with four (4) indecent expressions each. The others are: Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) - two (2), the National Democratic Party (NDP) one (1) and the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP) one (1).
The monitoring report is the second of several to be issued by the MFWA before, during and after the 2016 elections (April December). Under its Issues Not Insults campaign, the MFWA and its team of monitors are on daily basis, monitoring and tracking indecent expressions used by politicians and activists on selected radio programmes. The campaign also involves monitoring and reporting how presenters/moderators on the selected stations handle their programmes and whether or not they allow their platforms to be used to abuse others.
The project is being implemented with funding support from OSIWA and STAR-Ghana.
The full report which includes the names of individuals who used the 69 indecent expressions and the other radio stations on which indecent expressions were recorded is attached in this mail. For further clarifications, contact Abigail Larbi-Odei (0244 867 047) or Dora B. Mawutor (0246740358).
European teams which have Ghanaian players are set worried about the prospect of losing their stars when the Africa Cup of Nations begins in January next year.
Ghana has almost all their players based abroad with close to 80 percent plying their trades in Europe.
AFCON qualification means the clubs will miss their players for about four weeks if Black Stars reach final because of the 10-day preparation before the tournament.
Ghana will be making a 21st appearance at the finals to be held in Gabon.
The Black Stars missed out on the 2015 tournament when they lost 9-8 on penalties to Ivory Coast.
By Enoch Fiifi Forson
By Bertha Badu-Agyei, GNA
Asiafo-Amanfrom (E/R), June 6, GNA - Mr Jonathan Odonkor, an opinion leader of the Asiafo-Amanfrom community near Akaa Falls, has appealed to government to take over the running of the only school in the area to qualify it to benefit from the school feeding programme and capitation grant.
He said this has been necessitated by growing inability of parents to pay for the feeding and learning materials of their wards enjoying free tuition at the school, the sole basic school in that community started eight years ago, by an American philanthropist, Ms Lauren Grimamis.
'The Akaa Project' a non-governmental organisation (NGO) established by members of the community also provided support for the establishment of the school which also provides basic education to children from four adjoining communities.
Mr Odonkor who is also the project manager of the Akaa Project, said but for that school, children of school going age in those communities would have begun schooling late in life because they would be compelled to make a round trip of eight kilometre daily on foot to attend school at Akpamu, a nearby community, where the area's public school is located.
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 who are teaching and a retired educationist who serves as the school's administrator.
Mr Odonkor, recounted how he went through a similar experience when he also used to walk more than eight kilometres to attend school during his childhood and noted that it was the reason why many parents in the village shunned education.
He said for the past eight years, the American philanthropist who provided the school's six classroom block and a library centre, has been paying the teachers and the entire staff from her own resources.
Mr Odonkor disclosed that, most of the teachers are volunteers from the community and some of them have qualifications lower than Senior High School (SHS) Certificate and called for urgent intervention by the government for the school's absorption into the public stream to brighten the children's' chances of continuing to the Junior High School (JHS).
GNA
A GNA News Desk Report
Accra, June 7, GNA - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has stormed the Nadowli Kaleo and Lawra Constituencies of the Upper West region with the inauguration of Youth Working Committees to spearhead the grassroots mobilization for John Mahama.
The Youth Working Committee, which was inaugurated over the weekend, was to give responsibility to the youth of the Upper West Region to take ownership of the NDC campaign activities and to ensure that President Mahama wins massively in the Region. The committee is aimed at consolidating the youth front and to ensure effective mobilization of the grassroots to prosecute the agenda of the NDC.
The programme, attended by leading members from the National and Regional Executives, saw the inauguration of a 20-member working committee tasked to execute specific tasks in ensuring President Mahama's development projects and programmes in the Region were communicated effectively to the voter populace.
The Upper West Regional Chairman of the NDC, Mr. Mathew Song Aabo (Matco), urged the Committee members to take advantage of the deep affection of the people of the Region for the NDC in order to win more voters for the President.
He assured the committee of the support of the regional executives in ensuring an enabling environment for the committee to perform its activities.
On his part, the National Youth Organizer, Sidii Abubakar who was present with his two deputies, advised the youth to emulate the life of the Majority Leader of Parliament and the MP of the area, Mr Alban Bagbin, in their roles as true patriots of the party.
He said, at a time the NDC was in opposition, it took the selflessness, dedication and the sacrifices of Mr Bagbin as Minority Leader to bring the party back to power in 2008.
According to Mr. Sidii, Mr Bagbin as the Majority Leader, is the father to all constituencies across the country and, therefore, the Youth Working Committee should seek to take charge of all constituencies in the country and not only those of Nadowli Kaleo and Upper West Region to maximize the votes for the NDC.
He commended Mr Bagbin for inaugurating the Youth Working Committee of the party and extolled him for the support he is giving to other constituencies in the country to ensure a resounding victory for President Mahama.
Inaugurating the Working Committee, the Majority Leader and MP for Nadowli Kaleo Constituency, Mr Alban Bagbin assured the Committee members of his support in ensuring that their specific goals are met in the constituency, region and across the country.
He charged members to be willing to sacrifice their time and energy towards the NDC's goal of remaining the party of choice for Ghanaians. He called on the members to put the interest of the party first in the conduct of their duties and to ensure an overwhelming victory for President Mahama in the November polls.
He urged them to communicate effectively the government's development efforts to the people and in a manner that would convince them to vote massively for the party. He said, the NDC was blessed with young people, the greatest of blessings and the party will continue to empower and believe in the inexhaustible strength of millions of Ghanaian youth to give them opportunities to succeed.
He therefore urged the youth to advance vigorously and be forthright followers of the NDC with unstained loyalty and conscience.
The MP further assured members that logistics would be made available to the committees for effective execution of their mandate even as they extend their grassroots mobilization beyond the Upper West Region.
The Majority Leader was presented with a giant trophy in recognition of his immeasurable support to Youth empowerment in the Upper West Region. In a citation, the Regional Youth Wing noted that the contribution of Mr Bagbin to youth development and growth in the Region was unprecedented and expressed gratitude to him on behalf of the youth of the Region.
Other personalities who addressed the gathering were Mr Bede Ziedeng, Parliamentary Candidate of Lawra Constituency, Mr Soglo Kuunbioduro for the Council of Elders, Mr Dominic Zineyela, Regional Secretary, Nicodemus Dery, Regional Youth Organizer, and other national and regional executives.
GNA
On Monday, June 6, Dr. Kodzo Kpoku Alabo, Ghana's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Russian Federation & Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) presented his Letter of Credence to His Excellency (Mr.) Alexander Lukashenko, Belarusian President, in a colourful ceremony that took place in the presidential palace in Minsk, capital of the Republic of Belarus.
The Belarusian President also received new ambassadors from other foreign countries.
Addressing the foreign diplomats, Mr. Lukashenko highlighted the gradual diversification of export and equal distribution of trade in three major destinations, namely the Eurasian Economic Union, the European Union, and partners in Asia, Africa, North and South America, as the main priorities of the Belarusian economic policy.
By 2020, Belarus is planning to reach proportional balance of trade in every destination.
Mr. Lukashenko expressed hope that the activities of diplomats in Belarus will yield tangible results and help find new niches and resources for the enhancement of trade and economic contacts and implementation of high-profile international projects.
I want to assure you that our government and citizens will provide all-round attention and assistance. The most favorable conditions will be created for your work, the Head of State assured.
The Belarusian President received the credentials of ambassadors of Australia, Ghana, Guinea, Zimbabwe, South Korea, Nicaragua, the United Arab Emirates, Poland, Slovakia, Sudan, the Philippines, Ethiopia, and Japan.
The Inspector General of Police, John Kudalor has affirmed Ghana's commitment to world peace, saying "our commitment to duty and service therefore knows no bounds as reflected in our peacekeeping contributions".
He was addressing the first ever Chiefs of Police(COP) Summit at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Attended by more than 100 COP, it is reviewing current and emerging global threats affecting UN operations, including organized crime in all its forms, violence and extremism. It is also discussing how UN Police, in partnership with other entities can address these threats informed by previous lessons learned and best practices.
Ghana, he said had maintained her position of being among the top 10 troop contributing countries to UN peacekeeping operations for both police and military worldwide.
Acknowledging that peacekeeping in an era of ethnic cleansing and brutal civil war is not a tidy affair,and with many countries serving the UN in its quest for global peace and security by contributing their police, military, cash and in kind, the IGP stated that "very few countries can boast of Ghana's consistency and steadfast willingness to answer the UN call to duty".
Mr. Kudalor noted that after 56 years of consistent UN operations, neither the commitment of the Ghana government nor its peacekeepers had waned, since the country keeps on deploying men and women in almost all the UN peacekeeping missions.
True to the pledge made by the Ghanaian leader, President John Dramani Mahama last September at the UN General Assembly, Ghana deployed her first ever Formed Police Unit last year to the United Nations Mission to South Sudan and is now in the process of deploying the second FPU, he noted.
Further more, the IGP was happy that the partnership between Ghana and the UN had been mutually beneficial to both parties giving the complex and multidisciplinary tasks, including restoring public order, building local police, project management, reforms, restructuring, information technology, monitoring human rights and organizing democratic elections.
With regard to the new vision of the UN to have more female police in peacekeeping operations, Mr. Kudalor remarked that he was particularly happy with it since it formed part of the Ghana government's main policy of getting more women involved in all facets of national life.
Earlier during a three member panel discussion on "UN Gaps, Opportunities, Professionalism", the moderator, Ambassador Martha Pobee, Ghana's Permanent Representative to the UN stressed the importance of peace and security in the world. That is why all hands are needed on the deck to achieve it.
Ms. Jane Holl-Lute,Special Coordinator on Improving the UN response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse said the issue of sexual abuse persists at the UN missions and stressed the need to accelerate investigations into the system and to stop the practice.
Mr. Stefan Feller, UN Police Adviser, called for more female police in the various operations to ensure gender equality, since some aspects of the work can best be handled by female.
Mr Abdallah Wafy, Permanent Representative of Niger argued forcefully that the military deployment model mostly used for UN operations had affected the way policemen are deployed. To correct this anomaly, he said all police mandates must be based on the rule of law and peace building to achieve the desired results.
Bamako (AFP) - The chief of the UN mission in Mali promised extra support for personnel at a tribute ceremony Tuesday for the first Chinese peacekeeper killed among dozens who have died trying to stabilise the Sahel nation.
At least 65 peacekeepers have been killed since the mission's launch three years ago, the latest by jihadists targeting a UN camp with rockets and mortars in the northern city of Gao on May 31.
It is the deadliest active deployment for UN peacekeepers.
Mahamat Saleh Annadif paid his final respects to First Sergeant Shen Liangliang in Bamako, and underlined the "courage and commitment" of the nearly 400 Chinese peacekeepers serving in Mali.
China began sending troops to support the Mali mission, known as MINUSMA in 2013, carrying out security, engineering and medical work, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
Annadif said in a statement released by the mission he would "reinforce security measures and give our brave soldiers for peace the necessary equipment to allow them to better take on the challenges they face".
Also present were China's ambassador to Mali Lu Huiying, Danish commander of the Major-General Michael Lollesgaard, and Chinese general Su Guanghui.
Two other Chinese soldiers were flown to Dakar for medical treatment, Xinhua said, as their wounds were considered severe.
Al-Qaeda's North African affiliate AQIM and Islamist group Ansar Dine have both claimed attacks against MINUSMA, while protests have erupted against the force for what are viewed as unwarranted arrests.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Thursday the MINUSMA mission needed to add 2,500 troops to the 12,000-strong force along with more air assets and quick-reaction forces.
MINUSMA is already making use of drones and other technology to protect its bases.
Northern Mali has been the scene of repeated attacks since it fell under the control of three radical Islamist groups in 2012.
The rebels were largely ousted by an ongoing French-led military operation launched in January 2013, but they have continued to mount attacks on security forces from desert hideouts.
Mali's government has since been unable to maintain security with domestic forces alone.
07.06.2016 LISTEN
Prophet Emmanuel Badu Kobi, founding leader of Ghanas Glorious Waves Church International, reportedly made the following spiritual forecast for Ghanas 2016 general elections:
There will not be a second round, John Mahama will get 50 percent plus, but I saw us voting the next day which is 8th; which simply means some places across the country will vote the next dayWe must pray because some section of Ghanaians will not understand and those who will not understand will, this time, create confusion.
What this means among other possible scenarios is also that, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), its leadership and teeming supporters must pack their things and go homebecause God has already unilaterally declared President Mahama the ultimate winner of the yet-to-be-held presidential elections.
But why should God be involved in Ghanas general elections?
Is God an ultimate embodiment of the elective franchisemanifested and enacted through popular sovereignty?
No, the vote does not represent the conscience of God! It is exclusively and purely a man-madeanthropogenicartifact. For if it were not the case, then God will be usurping the free will of man, the rational choice component of the intellect, and the authority of the Electoral Commission (EC).
This leaves out the role of the atheist in divinely inspired matters of political action and his association with the concomitant variables of intellectual, philosophical and emotional investments in the elective franchise.
But as may should be expected, this is not why we are here in the first place.
And if this is so, it leaves the ultimate question of why the clergy should turn matters of physical existencesuch as electoral politicsinto one of political spirituality, that is spiritual lotto forecastingremains either not properly asked or insufficiently addressedor even un-interrogated.
In this scenario, the spiritual Prophet Kobi now becomes the secular lotto forecaster in the popular parlance of the Ghanaian.
Yet we are also told by these same self-styled Men of God, that chance as a critical actuation of stochastic phenomenology, has no place in the transcendental Cartesian coordinates of spiritual existence. In other words, chance does not matter as a pre-determined factor in spiritual existence.
An idea contrary to the so-called Heisenberg Uncertainty Principlethe theory of quantum mechanics.
But which may also seem to confirm one of Albert Einsteins famous quotes:
God does not play dice with the universe.
The agnostic, the secular spiritualist, and the pantheistic Einstein also once admitted in a couple of his private letters:
I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me, which can be called religious, then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal
My position concerning God is that of an agnostic. I am convinced that a vivid consciousness of the primary importance of moral principles for the betterment and ennoblement of life does not need the idea of a law-giver, especially a law-giver who works on the basis of reward and punishment.
Einstein here isno doubtpart Baruch Spinoza, part Stephen Hawking (see his book A Brief History of Time), part himselfand the remainder the seen and unseen worlds!
In other words, in just one statement he [Einstein] makes a sweeping rejection of a personal God in his worldview and puts the rational intellect instead in his [Gods] stead.
This, combined with his observation that God does not play dice with the universe, may eliminate any space for chance and pre-determinism in material existence.
It is, however, not too clear whether this maverick thinking played any role in his opposition to quantum mechanics though his work on photoelectric effect, for which he won a Nobel Prize, contributed to the formulation of quantum theory.
Yet the two-part attribution provides a level of clarity as not to require additional discursive layer of belaboring.
In addition, while we may never know if the word Waves in the name of Prophet Kobis church beyond the obvious, that is whether it has any relation to theoretical physics, we do know that Austrian theoretical physicist Erwin Schrodinger offered an exquisite mathematical expatiation on the wave theory of matter.
In addition, man is fundamentally matter.
All of these is to underscore the importance of the concepts of certainty and probabilityone way or the otherin Prophet Kobis spiritual mathematics, perhaps an artifact of a confused psychology of dilemmaa state of political, spiritual, diplomatic, intellectual and moral ambiguity.
The fact is, his spiritual coin-toss or coin-flip probability is not based on a fair coin but rather on a biased coin or unfair coin, in that he totally rules out the other presidential players in the political game of Ghanas kleptomaniacal duopoly beyond the familiar faces of Akufo-Addo and President Mahama.
Furthermore, his stochastic spirituality does not account for the 50 percent plus and whether a possible large negative margin of error exists to erode that one-touch victoryMaybe the concept margin of error does not exist in spiritual existence since chance is not a factor there!
On the other hand, one of the obvious corollaries of such spiritualized mathematical falsities is the intended and unintended ideological ammunition it gives political Luddites and reprobates, such as the infamous taxi driver or uber politicianMaxwell Kofi Jumahwho recently called Jon Benjamin, the British High Commissioner to Ghana, a fool for a charged situation he, Jumah, had no inside information about.
We are referring to the Allotey Jacob sensational political canard. The village champion and uncivilized Jumah has since apologized to the British High Commissioner for his diplomatic gaffe, uninhibited stupidity, and immaturity. Unfortunately, our illiterate journalists sporadically use the word maverick to describe Jumah as though he were some political or intellectual quantum genius, which he is evidently not. Jumah is the exact opposite of genius.
Having said that, what Prophet Kobi apocalyptically described as those likely to cause create confusion or mayhem in post-election include the likes of the incontinent philistine and verbally diarrheic politician, Jumah.
The latters Operation Let the Blood Flow is a natural corollary of Prophet Kobis misguided apocalyptic prophecy.
Uncivilized, immature politicians such as Jumah give fake clerics like Prophet Kobi moral and spiritual credibility in the body politic. It is as if the two are closely working together. Likewise, we may also recall a possible clandestine collaboration between Prophet T.B. Joshua and the National Bureau of Investigations (BNI), when the former came out with a sensational prophecy regarding an imminent terrorist attack in Ghana, a prophecy that the BNI later came out to confirm.
Yet it is Prophet Kobis surprising volte-face, a sudden retraction of his apocalyptic augury, a turnabout that may even erode his public respectability, which may be his undoing. Listen to him:
I never said President Mahama would win the electionWhat I said was that I had a vision that there was an attempt to rig the election in favor of one of the candidates, and this could lead to violence and confusionThe issue of President Mahama winning one touch never came up at all
An attempt, not even an already accomplished or completed actionable execution?
He continues nonetheless:
Spiritually, if you look at it, Nana Addo has won the election but how to make that manifest in the physical realm is another issue.
How did the electorate give Akufo-Addo that electoral win in the spiritual realm? Were there no problems with the voters register in the spiritual realm? Did Voltarians vote in this election? How about Togolese, Burkinabes, Ivoirians, and extraterrestrialsUnidentified Flying Objects (UFOs)? Did these foreigners bring along their NHIS cards? Was Madam Charlotte Osei or Afari Gyan the Chairperson of the EC in the spiritual realm? How exactly did Akufo-Addo win this spiritual election?
If Prophet Kobis God had indeed revealed to him that Akufo-Addo spiritually won the election, then it stands to reason that President Mahama may be the most likely candidate to snatch the covetous spiritual presidential prize from Akufo-Addo in the physical realm.
Of course, if this is true then none of the other presidential candidate is best fit to carry out this physical snatching other than President Mahama. Why? Because he should have the motive and the resources to do this in order to retain his incumbency at all cost. This is common sense borne out of political realism.
Elsewhere, though, Prophet Kobi gives us some useful clues, an indirect allusion, as to the identity of the potential physical snatcher. He says (see second sentence, our emphasis):
If Nana wants to win the election, he knows what to do. If he doesnt do it, President Mahama will once again snatch victory [from] him.
The word again implies that President Mahama has done this snatching before.
Maybe Prophet Kobi does not mean this in a negative sense, but what is the alternative to our theory if the other presidential candidates do not have the resources and unlimited power currently at the disposal of the Mahama presidency, not also forgetting that it was the same Mahama administration in collaboration with the ceremonial Council of Elders that appointed Madam Charlotte Osei?
Also if Nana Addo truly knows what to do to win the election, then what is he waiting for and how can he sit down unconcerned while some hypothetical thief snatches that win from under him?
Is the NPP going to declare the results of the elections on its own outside the constitutional jurisdiction of the EC, as Manu Mac suggests?
Is Akufo-Addo going to bring Serbian and South African mercenaries into the country to prevent this out-of-the-ordinary snatching, by forcing the hand of the EC to declare his presidential win when the results actually do not say so?
Prophet Kobi does not exactly say.
Moreover, if he, Akufo-Addo, does not do what he should do and loses the elections on that account, how does that become the responsibility of President Mahama to snatch victory from under him?
All these do not add up as Prophet Kobi may have been threatened to reverse course or face the ire or wrath of the NPP in a potential Akufo-Addo presidency, hence his strained circumlocution.
Of course, Akufo-Addo always knows what the outcomes of his presidential bids will be because he has always been told exactly what they should be whenever he made trips to Europe and Jerusalem (Wailing Wall) where he had sought the Face of God.
The major irony here is that more powerful men than King Solomon and Moses and Elijah and Nebuchadnezzar and Julius Caesar have sought the Face of God on Go Tell It To The Mountain and still died instantly.
But Akufo-Addo, fortunately, has consistently sought the Face of God on this Go Tell It To The Mountain and yet survived it all, still living.
Are Akufo-Addos teeming enemies and detractors not afraid of him by virtue of this great miracle?
To Prophet Kobi, if the NPP should pray for their leader as you say, what then should be done about those who may have initially decided to vote for him [Akufo-Addo] but, somehow, change their minds to vote either for President Mahama or for any of the other presidential candidates? Moreover, what if, perchance, Akufo-Addo and President Mahama pass on before the general elections are held?
Thus, Prophet Kobi makes it seem that Akufo-Addo is more important than the electorateas the latter cannot vote for himself for a win without contributions from the electorate.
The question is:
Who is going to pray for the electorate who can snatch this potential presidential win for Akufo-Addo and hand it over to President Mahama?
Again, Prophet Kobi does not say. This gloss constitutes the funny side of Prophet Kobis stochastic spirituality. In other words, he does not ask that the EC and electorate be prayed for.
Therefore, we wonder if it was God rather than Akufo-Addo who appeared in Prophet Kobis second vision after the backlash from the NPP.
We also wonder if Akufo-Addo had threatened to unleash a new batch of Serbian and South African mercenaries upon him.
Yet this was the same Prophet Kobi who made a public appeal to Ghanaian citizens, entreating them to help him locate or unravel the mysterious identity of a character that had posted a video online claiming he had prophesized about Bishop Obinims greatness which, among other spiritual manifestations, included his [the latters] much-vaunted therianthropic prowess.
Listen up, K.K. Kabobos says Onyame Eho Wo.
Ungrateful, hypocritical liars.
REFERENCES
Ghanaweb. Prophet Kobi: I Never Said Mahama Will Win One-Touch. June 6, 2016.
Ghanaweb. 2016 Election Is One-Touch For MahamaProphet Kobi. June 4, 2016.
Ghanaweb. 2016 Polls: Jumah Hints Of Operation Let The Blood Flow. June 6, 2016.
Kelly Dickerson. One Of Einsteins Most Famous Quotes Is Often Completely Misinterpreted. Science. November 19, 2015. (see the website for Critical Thought: Religious Liberty).
Christopher Hitchens. The Portable Atheist. New York: Da Capo Press, 2007, P. 155-165.www.stephenjaygould.org.
.
By Emmanuel Asante Attakora, GNA
Accra, June 7, GNA - Vodafone Foundation has presented books to the St Thomas Aquinas school in Accra.
The External Affairs and Legal Department of Vodafone Ghana presented more than 150 books covering various topics to the school.
The gesture which was in response to a TV3 news feature on the poor state of the school's library is also part of a 25 impactful community projects the company's employees are undertaking to mark 25-years of the Vodafone Group Foundation.
The team, which was led by the External Affairs Director, Gayheart Mensah and Head of Vodafone Ghana Foundation Nana Yaa Ofori-Koree, would also organise career counselling and mentorship activities for the students.
Commenting on the need to support the school, Nana Yaa Ofori-Koree said 'as a socially responsive company, we remain committed to providing platforms for our employees to truly impact their communities. We believe the books donated will inculcate in students the habit of reading and researching, while improving the teaching and learning process'.
The Headmaster of the school, Mr Cyril Dadey who received the donations on behalf of the school thanked TV3 for airing the plight of the school to the public for help.
'We are more than grateful the news item carried by TV3 has yielded results and today Vodafone Ghana is supporting our school with various books covering the SHS syllabi. I can assure you that the donation will certainly go a long way to develop the knowledge of the students as they prepare for their examinations,' he said.
GNA
07.06.2016 LISTEN
By Kodjo Adams, GNA
Accra, June 7, GNA - Sheikh Nuhu Shaibu Sharabutu, National Chief Imam has advised Muslim youth to be firm and refused being used by politicians as tools for electoral violence before, during and after the November polls.
He said it is only in the context of peace that development thrives, adding that it is incumbent on the youth to be discerning and not allow any group to use them as a tool to cause instability in the country.
The National Chief Imam gave the advice in Accra at the launch of Muslim and Zongo Communities Unite for Peaceful Elections on the theme: 'Let's live together, let's live peacefully,' organised by the Light Foundation, a non-governmental organisation.
He said the country is a beacon of peace in the West African Sub-region, hence the need to maintain and sustain it.
He said conflicts in neighbouring countries should serve as a warning signal to all Ghanaians especially the Muslim youth.
Sheikh Sharabutu said Muslims and Christians should be united in spite of their religious differences and be tolerant by respecting the views of others and always use dialogue to resolve differences instead of violence.
Professor Emmanuel Asante, Chairman of the National Peace Council, noted that the peace of the country is critical to national development.
He said justice and peace must be the hallmark of all political party activities.
He said the electioneering should be characterised with civility, issue-based discussions, transparency and exercise high sense of tolerant prior to the Election Day.
Dr Vladimir Antwi-Danso, a Senior Research Fellow at the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy said any activity that would endanger the stability of the country should be discouraged.
He said the experiences of other war zone countries should be a lesson to guide Ghanaians.
He urged the public to allow state institutions to work, expressing worry about the way political parties are commenting on the Supreme Court's ruling on Electoral Commission.
Mr Mohammed Mutawakil Napari, Vice President of the Foundation said the event is to ensure violence-free campaign ahead of the elections as well as promote cohesion among supporters of all political parties.
He said the gesture was also to use peer education as an effective tool for the prevention of the exploitation of Muslim youth to perpetuate electoral violence and build the capacity of Muslim groups within the communities.
GNA
We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message.
business Dhanlaxmi Bank needs capital, but isn't a takeover target: CEO In an exclusive interview to CNBC-TV18 Dhanlaxmi Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive G Sreeram says that the bank is looking for capital infusion of about Rs 100-150 crore and is in advanced talks with investors to raise the amount.
you are here:
business SCI vessel-share pact to help utilization: Shreyas Shipping Shreyas Shipping has signed a vessel-sharing deal with Shipping Corporation of India, in which the two companies will jointly use vessels in their respective loops.
ReGenerate, a high school arts leadership group led this past year by two GPS students, Caroline West 16, president; and rising senior Phoebe Warren, vice president, announced awards to Hamilton County Department of Education teachers. The grants, totaling $2,500, are going to seven of the countys elementary and middle schools for funding arts programs.
Caroline, Phoebe and members of ReGenerate from other high schools, held a fundraiser in March at ArtsBuild, Chattanoogas arts agency now in its 47th year. Ignite: A Celebration of Student Talent, raised enough money to fund seven projects:
Chattanooga school for the Liberal Arts: Teaching Theatre @ CSLA
Dawn School: Art Gallery Walk
Donaldson Elementary Environmental Science Academy: Creating a Composer Portrait Gallery
Hardy Elementary and Dalewood Middle: Girls Art Leadership Program
Harrison Elementary: Art Enrichment Club
Orchard Knob Elementary: Violins for Critical Thinking
Spring Creek Elementary: Strings Come to Life
ReGenerate was the brainchild of Carolines brother Thomas, who is currently in college. She stepped into his leadership role last year, and both she and Phoebe are pleased with the impact the non-profit is making on other students. Along with the other members of ReGenerate, they have met many local artists and spoken to staff at several arts organizations. Phoebe says, "I feel much more connected to the art world in Chattanooga. Helping teachers start a program or provide art to students is powerful."
The ReGenerate grants are very rewarding to the schools and teachers, enabling them to purchase arts equipment that will be used for many years, said Rodney Van Valkenburg, ArtsBuilds director of Grants and Initiatives.
Art supplies, musical instruments and teaching materials are among the needs at many Hamilton County schools. The student-driven leadership group and fundraising event will be led in 2016-17 by Phoebe.
current-affairs-trends Rajan comes 'prepared' with statement for query over extension I am personally intrigued by all the letters I am supposed to have written, Rajan told the press at the briefing on the credit policy.
live bse live
nse live Volume Todays L/H More
With an eye on Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections slated for Feb 2017, the Maharashtra Government has drawn out plans to launch infrastructure projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore ($15 bn) this year. Projects to be unveiled include Mumbai coastal road, Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, Mumbai metro expansion port and jetty construction, solid waste management et al. The work orders on one of the most ambitious projects the Rs 17500 crs ($2.6 bn) Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) - 80% funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) -would be awarded by October for completion by 2019. For Rs 13000 crs coastal roads, the RFQs (request for qualification) were recently issued. What's most heartening is that MMRDA's budget for 2016-17 is the highest ever - Rs 6647 crs vs Rs 3830 crs a year ago.
For all recommendations, click here
Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
The stock currently trades at 14.7x FY17e EPS of Rs 16.29 and 11.8x FY18e EPS of Rs 20.31. The stock's relegation in last few months stemmed from JKILs miserable order execution and unexpected delay in award of Mumbai L3 orders. Though order execution is expected to trump over the next two years, but risks (particularly external) cannot be undone. Yet Maharashtra's grand infrastructure plans cannot be gainsaid either. JKIL stands out for its ability to execute complex projects and forge JVs, hastening influx of awe-inspiring Mumbai Metro orders. On balance, we maintain our 'buy' rating on the stock with revised target of Rs 345 (previous target: Rs 437) based on 17x FY18e earnings (peg ratio: 1) over a period of 9-12 months.
Read More
business All eyes on RBI policy; USL, NMDC, MOIL among stocks in focus Some of the stocks that should be on your radar are: United Spirits, NMDC, MOIL, Godrej Consumer Products, Karnataka Bank, PTC India, Redington (India), Federal Bank and Castrol India.
The efforts of two McCallie eighth-graders and the generosity of their Middle School classmates has resulted in donations to a pair of worthy charitable organizations and a testament to a beloved faculty member.
Donate Life
Jack Young and Abe Lebovitz wanted to honor Physical Education and Human Development teacher Bob Cutrer after he announced his retirement following 22 years at McCallie. After much thought, the two eighth-grade students decided they could honor Dr. Cutrer and his wife Carol by raising money for Donate Life Tennessee, the states official organ and tissue donor registry.
Ms. Cutrer is a living example of the importance of organ donation after receiving a heart transplant last year. Donate Life TN is dedicated to saving the lives of thousands of Tennesseans who are waiting for lifesaving transplants.
Jack and Abe sold wristbands to their classmates to raise money, and they were able to present a check for $1,000 to Donate Life TN at the Middle School Awards day.
In yet another example of the giving spirit in the Middle School, students raised money to support the Zion Project, which is dedicated to the spiritual, physical and emotional healing of the victims of human trafficking.
McCallie Middle School raised money the Pie in the Face contest, Duck Day Dance, Duck Day T-shirts sales, and Donut sales and presented Zion Project founder Deven Wallace with a check for $2,000 to help with the organization.
Franklin Street announced the sale of Cloud Springs Plaza, a 113,000-square-foot neighborhood shopping center located in Fort Oglethorpe. The property sold for $3 million.
John Tennant and Bryan Belk of Franklin Street represented the seller,Cloud Springs ACD, LLC, in the transaction. The buyer, Americas Realty, LLC, is a private investor out of Baltimore, Md.
The buyer was able to acquire this property below market, which will give them a higher degree of success maximizing their return upon redevelopment, Mr. Tennant said. The buyer plans to add value through lease up of vacant space as well as potentially adding an additional outparcel.
Mr. Tennant added that the upside in the deal attracted multiple buyers for the asset. There is a large pool of buyers who continue to look for value-add opportunities through redevelopment and releasing well positioned older assets in secondary markets. The deal closed in less than 90 days.
The property is at 1503 Lafayette Road in Fort Oglethorpe. The property is situated near the Georgia-Tennessee border seven miles from Chattanooga on a 12-acre site along US Route 27 at its intersection with Cloud Springs Roadthe two primary routes within the city. Built in 1968, the property has sight lines to Highway 27 with multiple points of ingress and egress throughout the property. The center is anchored by Big Lots, Badcock Furniture and AutoZone.
Rushing said. Good urban design requires conscious, deliberate effort, and the community has reaped the benefit of that philosophy. Weve formed Chattanooga Design Studio to serve as a resource for the community and to be a steward of the civic conversation on design and urbanism. The role that urban design has played in Chattanoogas growth and reinvigoration over the last three decades cannot be overstated, Mr.Rushing said. Good urban design requires conscious, deliberate effort, and the community has reaped the benefit of that philosophy. Weve formed Chattanooga Design Studio to serve as a resource for the community and to be a steward of the civic conversation on design and urbanism.
"Chattanooga Design Studios work is largely public-facing: collaborating with the individuals and entities that design and develop the city, the organization undertakes campaigns to educate the community and its representatives about sound design principles, and inform public policies relating to urban development. Independently, the studio acts as a consultant to local designers and developers whose work impacts the citys urban areas.
"In addition to serving as resource and advisor, Chattanooga Design Studio seeks out opportunities to enhance Chattanoogas urban landscape, and when appropriate, to be a catalyst by facilitating the communitys vision for the future.
"Every endeavor of the Chattanooga Design Studio is guided by its beliefs that good urban design can be a powerful economic driver; that the character of the public realm is an expression of community values; that an inclusive approach to design and planning is essential; and that downtown is for everyone.
When urban design is well executed, it has the power to unite and elevate a community. We believe Chattanooga can and will become internationally recognized as a model of excellence in urban design. When that vision is realized, the lives of every Chattanoogan, and their experience in the public realm, will be changed for the better.
The board of directors of the Chattanooga Design Studio is open for business, under the leadership of executive director Christian Rushing. An independent nonprofit, Chattanooga Design Studio was established "to enhance the quality of life in Chattanooga through the promotion of excellent urban design."
Rep. Mike Carter was honored by The Citizens for Home Rule in Tennessee as Legislator of the Year.
John Avery Emison, the president of the organization, traveled from Alamo, Tn., to Ooltewah to make the presentation.
Former state Rep. Bobby Wood said, "Mr. Emison is a very influential and respected voice in Nashville who leads the organization in the fight against overreach in government at every level.
"Mr. Emison cited Rep. Carter's success in preventing the annexation of homes and property without first a referendum as a monumental and seemingly impossible accomplishment. He also pointed out the stature and influence he has gained in just two terms, for his contribution to a balanced budget without a tax increase while contributing to the 'rainy day fund' for future needs. All without an increase in taxes.
Their goal is to protect the rights of every citizen to live uninterrupted lives and assure them a decision making role in protecting their most valued possessions; their home and property and assuring them a voice in choosing their form of government.
"He said Rep. Carter's past judicial experience, serving with Hamilton County government and on key committees has proven invaluable to the legislative process and to all Tennesseans."
Worries around national average debt numbers are overblown, according to real estate veterans who argue the stats could be inflated by mortgages held by foreigners.The chartered banks lend to non-residents, Iain Macfadyen dominion lending centres, a Vancouver-based broker with Dominion Lending Centres , told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. If a mortgage is on a Canadian banks books, its going to be considered Canadian debt.Its an interesting take on the foreign investment trend and increased debt levels, which have both increasingly made headlines over the past year.The conversation was recently sparked by a real estate agent.The national debt carried by Canadian consumers and the fact that Canada allows foreigners to borrow money for homes and thats put into our debt [could have a major impact on debt levels], Derek Austin, an agent with Century 21, recently told MBN sister publication, Canadian Real Estate Wealth. Even 10 foreign borrowers taking out $10 million in mortgages each would throw the numbers out of whack.The average national household debt increased 5.1% in April, according to Statistics Canada. Mortgage debt showed the largest growth -- up 6.2%. The ratio of household debt to disposable income spiked to 165.4% in 2015, according to Statistics Canada.And that trend is expected to continue, according to Doug Porter, chief economist for BMO Capital Markets.Its tough to see anything turning this canoe around, as home prices continue to soar in Toronto and Vancouver, while theres little prospect of a big bounce in personal incomes, he told the Financial Post.The impact foreign-owned mortgages have on national debt stats is unknown. Many may argue it has little effect, noting that many foreign buyers pay cash.However, Austin isnt so sure.The Royal Bank of Canada took away its limits on foreign mortgages, he said. Why would they do that if foreigners werent taking out mortgages?RBC announced in late 2015 that it will no longer limit mortgage size for immigrant buyers in Vancouver."We're seeing a lot of affluent newcomers looking to buy high-purchase price homes," Christine Shisler, RBCs director of multicultural markets, told Reuters at the time. "Now we can actually service any mortgage amount."It should also be noted that the Canadian government admits its process for estimating national debt is far from perfect.Although estimates of household debt are produced on a regular basis at the aggregate level, less is known about the individual characteristics of borrowers, Statistics Canada says on its page on household debt. The Survey of Financial Security (SFS), last conducted in 2005 (and prior to that, in 1999), is one of the primary sources of information on household finances.Correspondingly, studies examining the characteristics of Canadian borrowers are relatively rare.
The laws covering non-U.S. owners of American real estate compel foreign investors to file a U.S. real estate tax return, and not doing so might cause problems down the line in case of death.
As explained by Roy Berg of Moodys Gartner Tax Law LLP in his analysis published by Mondaq, inheriting parties of Canadian decedents with U.S. properties need to make sure that their benefactors are up to date with the required documents.
If a US estate tax return was not filed as required, the new rules presume the inherited property's basis to be zero, even if no US estate tax is otherwise owed, Berg wrote.
[Failure] to file a US estate tax return is especially problematic for beneficiaries who wish to sell inherited US real estate. The result may also be a problem for a beneficiary who inherits income-producing property: having no basis in the property means that he or she cannot deduct tax depreciation until an estate tax return is filed, he expounded.
Berg emphasized that the provisions outlined in Code section 1014(f) of the United States' Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 limit the revised (as of March 2, 2016) consistency requirements to properties subject to tax if said assets generates liabilities that goes beyond the allowed limit.
Under section 2102(b)(1), the credit equivalent amount is limited to US$50,000 if the decedent is neither a US citizen nor a US resident for estate tax purposes, Berg said.
Section 6114 generally allows for an individual's treaty benefits regardless of whether a timely election has been made. Moreover, new regulation 1.1014-10(c)(3)(ii) provides that if no return has been filed, the value of the property described in regulation 1.1014-10(b) is zero, he added.
Thus, until the US estate tax return has been filed, the beneficiaries of an estate have no basis in inherited US-situs property, even if no estate tax is otherwise owing. However, when an estate tax return has been filed, the property's basis is adjusted to the value as of the date of death, Berg concluded.
Recent statements by a Liberal administration official pointed at the possible implementation of a luxury tax on high-end homes to introduce a modicum of moderation in Canadas most overheated residential real estate markets.
As reported by Jacques Bourbeau and Nick Logan of Global News, the remarks came in the wake of new numbers that showed the latest in the seemingly non-stop trend of price growth in the Canadian housing sector, with last month seeing a 36.9 per cent year-over-year spike in the benchmark price of a single detached property (bringing the figure to $1,513,800) in Vancouver.
Over the same period, the benchmark price for attached homes in Vancouver shot up by almost 25 per cent (up to $632,400), and that of condos and apartments by 22.3 per cent (up to $485,000).
Id say thats something were reviewing and Im sure the minister is looking at as well, according to Francois-Philippe Champagne, FM Bill Morneaus parliamentary secretary.
Various observers have warned over the past few months that the bubble is unsustainable, with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in particular saying that there is a direct correlation between the growth rates of prices and household debt.
Very low borrowing rates have encouraged household credit growth and underpinned rapidly rising housing prices particularly in Vancouver and Toronto which together are a third of the Canadian housing market, the OECD stated in its latest Global Economic Outlook released last week.
Several financial institutions agreed with the assessment, with the Manulife Bank of Canada revealing that its survey of Canadian home owners last month found that around 37 per cent of them were having trouble coping with the costs of living.
Here is the latest jail booking report from Hamilton County:
AMEY, ALEXANDER
303 SKIPPER PLACE ATLANTA, 30318
Age at Arrest: 22 years old
Arresting Agency: Chattanooga
POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE (MARIJUANA)
---
BIRDSONG, CORDELLIUS LOVETT
4718 METRO PARK LN CHATTANOOGA, 37343
Age at Arrest: 18 years old
Arresting Agency: Chattanooga
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT
POSS.A FIREARM DURING COMMISSIION OR ATTEMPT TO CO
FELONY RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT
---
BODINE, JESSICA MARIE
2216 N.W.
22ND AVENUE STUART, 34994Age at Arrest: 31 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---BRANNON, SAMATHA MICHELLE2232 CHIMNEY HILLS DRIVE SODDY DAISY, 37379Age at Arrest: 18 years oldArresting Agency: Alcoholic BEV CommSELLING ALCOHOL TO MINOR---BROWN, CHARLES EDWARD115 ARLINGTON TERRACE CHATTANOOGA, 37410Age at Arrest: 48 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaHARASSMENT---BURKHALTER, CHARLES FRANK4010 DODDS AVE CHATTANOOGA, 37407Age at Arrest: 64 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaAGGRAVATED DOMESTIC ASSAULT---BUSSEY, RONARDO SANTWOINE2005 HARDY ST. CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 21 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaCRIMINAL TRESPASSINGPOSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE---CAMPBELL, JOSEPH TAYLOR2627 HIXSON PIKE APARTMENT 253 HIXSON, 37343Age at Arrest: 26 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaAGGRAVATED ASSAULT (DOMESTIC)FALSE IMPRISONMENTDISORDERLY CONDUCTPUBLIC INTOXICATIONRESISTING ARREST OR OBSTRUCTION OF LEGAL PROCESS---CANTRELL, CHRISTOPHER ADAM238 JENKINS ROAD CLEVELAND, 37312Age at Arrest: 27 years oldArresting Agency:VIOLATION OF PROBATION (FAILURE TO APPEAR)---COSBY, TIMOTHY WAYNE1636 KEEBLE STREET EAST RIDGE, 37412Age at Arrest: 25 years oldArresting Agency: East RidgeDOMESTIC ASSAULT/VANDALISM---DAVIS, CORY107 REBECCAS LN JOHNSON CITY, 37615Age at Arrest: 30 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaPOSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIAPOSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE---DEARTH, BRANDON MICHAEL2700 ROSSVILLE BLVD CHATTANOOGA, 37407Age at Arrest: 24 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSEBLOCKING OR IMPEDING THE FLOW OF TRAFFIC---DEMOSS, STEPHEN MICHAEL200 BASS ED CHATTANOOGA, 37421Age at Arrest: 30 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDISORDERLY CONDUCTPUBLIC INTOXICATIONRESISTING ARREST OR OBSTRUCTION OF LEGAL PROCESSASSAULT ON AN OFFICER - (TATE)ASSAULT ON AN OFFICER (DEP HAWKS)---DENT, JEFF LAMAR8783 DAYTON PIKE APT 27 SODDY DAISY, 37379Age at Arrest: 49 years oldArresting Agency: Soddy DaisyFAILURE TO APPEAR---DOSTER, REED1851 TORBETT RD SPRING CITY, 37381Age at Arrest: 27 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE---FALES, SANDRA PULETT6895 A CONNOR LANE CHATTANOOGA, 37421Age at Arrest: 55 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCEIMPLIED CONSENT LAW - DRIVERSFAILURE TO MAINTAIN LANE---FREEMAN, STACI NICOLE8783 DAYTON PIKE LOT 4 SODDY DAISY, 37379Age at Arrest: 33 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---GADDIS, DESTINY MAE5003 NEWPORT DR EAST RIDGE, 37412Age at Arrest: 19 years oldArresting Agency: East RidgePUBLIC INTOXICATION---GRAHAM, JAMES ADAM14425 DAYTON PIKE SALE CREEK, 37373Age at Arrest: 19 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyFAILURE TO APPEAR---GRAHAM, TYMETRIC LEJUAN1906 NORTH HICKERY STREET CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 29 years oldArresting Agency: Federal MarshallFEDERAL---GRAYS, TONYA LASHUN2914 HAYWOOD AVENUE APT 1B CHATTANOOGA, 37415Age at Arrest: 45 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyDRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE---HESTER, DONNA DAVIS193 BROCK RD NE CLEVELAND, 37323Age at Arrest: 52 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyVIOLATION OF PROBATION (THEFT OF PROPERTY)VIOLATION OF PROBATION (FORGERY)VIOLATION OF PROBATION (FORGERY)---HUGHES, CADERIUS KISHAWN818 WOODMORE LN CHATTANOOGA, 37411Age at Arrest: 21 years oldArresting Agency: CollegedaleBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---INGALLS, WILLIAM AUSTIN7239 RIDGESTONE DRIVE OOLTEWAH, 37363Age at Arrest: 28 years oldArresting Agency:CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE IN SCHEDULE II - METHPOSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIACONTRABAND IN PENAL INSTITUTIONSPOSSESSION OF MARIJUANA---JACKSON, JACOB ANTHONY8487 COMMUNITY PLACE OOLTEWAH, 37363Age at Arrest: 21 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyREGISTRATION, DRIVING UNREGISTERED VEHICLEFINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITYPOSSESSION OF METHAMPHETAMINEPOSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIAPOSSESSION OF MARIJUANA---JACKSON, TERELL DEVAUGHN316 ZIGGLER STREET CHATTANOOGA, 37415Age at Arrest: 19 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---JONES, CEAIRA SHADI2726 6TH AVENUE CHATTANOOGA, 37407Age at Arrest: 24 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaPOSSESSION OF MARIJUANA---JONES, JANAY LAMEEKA315 NORTH CREST CIRCLE CHATTANOOGA, 37412Age at Arrest: 29 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---JONES, JOSHUA LAMONT1106 NORTH HAWTHORN CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 22 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyVIOLATION OF PROBATION (ATTEMPT POSSESSION OF COCA---LEE, COURTNEY DEONTE1257 CYPRESS ST CT CHATTANOOGA, 37402Age at Arrest: 26 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FOR RESALEAGGRAVATED CRIMINAL TRESSPASS---LEVERETT, GREGORY3025 NORTHWAY LANE CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 23 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyCONTEMPT OF COURT 10 DAYS---LUCE, SHAINA NICOLE4014 6TH AVE CHATTANOOGA, 37404Age at Arrest: 28 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaVANDALISM/MALICIOUS MISCHIEF---MACK, WILLIS L421 E 52ND ST CHATTANOOGA, 37410Age at Arrest: 51 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---MAPP, REGINALD NMN5119 WOODLAND VIEW CIRCLE CHATTANOOGA, 37410Age at Arrest: 48 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaAGGRAVATED ASSAULT---MATHIS, KYLIE DENISE136 RALPH STREET DAYTON, 37321Age at Arrest: 19 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyFAILURE TO APPEAR---MAXWELL, JOHN SHERRILL117 SANDY LANE RINGGOLD, 30736Age at Arrest: 36 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---MOFFETT, ANTHONY WAYNE2841 NEW JERSEY AVENUE CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 54 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCEDRIVERS TO EXERCISE DUE CAREFAILURE TO MAINTAIN LANEFAILURE TO CARRY AND DISPLAY LICENSEFINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY---MONTGOMERY, CHARLES COLLIN9043 WOOTEN RD CHATTANOOGA, 37416Age at Arrest: 35 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyVIOLATION OF PROBATION (POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA FOVIOLATION OF PROBATION (DRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FOR---MOORE, JOHN HENRYHOMELESS CHATTANOOGA, 37410Age at Arrest: 63 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaASSAULT---MULLIS, CATHERINE AMANDA1939 CANNONDALE LOOP CHATTANOOGA, 37421Age at Arrest: 31 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaPUBLIC INTOXICATIONRESISTING ARREST OR OBSTRUCTION OF LEGAL PROCESSCONTROLLED SUBSTANCE IN SCHEDULE IICONTROLLED SUBSTANCES SCHEDULE IV---NEALY, YOLANDA VANESSA906 SHOLAR CT CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 61 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaTHEFT OF PROPERTY UNDER 500---NESMITH, LUKE ALLEN510 SHADOW PARKWAY CHATTANOOGA, 37421Age at Arrest: 22 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaSELLING ALCOHOL TO MINOR---ORR, BRIAN WESLEY308 HOGAN CIRCLE ROSSVILLE, 30741Age at Arrest: 45 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountySTALKING---PARKER, JONATHON R2149 CRESENT CLUB DR #5 HIXSON, 37343Age at Arrest: 19 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyDRIVERS TO EXERCISE DUE CARE---PETTY, WILLIAM RICHARD887 SHADYFORK ROAD CHATTANOOGA, 37421Age at Arrest: 40 years oldArresting Agency: CollegedaleBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---PITTMAN, CALVIN LEE3919 RHINEHART ROAD OOLTEWAH, 37363Age at Arrest: 24 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---PURCELL, JARROD MICHAEL2225 LYONS LANE LAKESIDE, 37379Age at Arrest: 27 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyDRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCEIMPLIED CONSENT LAW - DRIVERSDUTY UPON STRIKING FIXTURES UPON A HIGHWAY---RHODES, MARY LEANNA1052 WHITE STREET CLEVELAND, 37411Age at Arrest: 41 years oldArresting Agency: Red BankFAILURE TO APPER ( PETITION TO REVOKE)---SCUDDER, GRAYSON PAIGE1471 PALISAIDES ROAD SIGNAL MOUNTAIN, 37373Age at Arrest: 20 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyPOSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCEPOSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIAREGISTRATION, IMPROPER DISPLAY OF PLATES---TAYLOR, ASHLEY JOHTA4307 HOWELL ROAD CHATTANOOGA, 37405Age at Arrest: 27 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyVIOLATION OF PROBATION (THEFT UNDER $500)---THOMAS, JT521 E 52ND ST CHATTANOOGA, 37410Age at Arrest: 76 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaAGGRAVATED ASSAULT DOMESTIC---THRASH, MARSHA LYNN513 JACKSON ROAD HIXSON, 37343Age at Arrest: 30 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyVIOLATION OF PROBATION (INITIATING THE PROCESS TO---WEAVER, EARL CHRISHONE619 SHANNON AVE CHATTANOOGA, 37411Age at Arrest: 19 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDOMESTIC ASSAULT---WHITE, DELVONTE JARON2513 OREAR ST. CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 19 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaPOSSESSING A FIREARM WITH INTENT TO GO ARMEDPOSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCECRIMINAL TRESPASSING---ZAMBRANO, MATTHEW4025 OAKWOOD DR. APT. 625 CHATTANOOGA, 37416Age at Arrest: 40 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDOMESTIC ASSAULTDOMESTIC ASSAULT (2ND OFFENSE)INTERFERENCE WITH EMERGENCY CALLS
Here are the mug shots:
AMEY, ALEXANDER
Age at Arrest: 22
Date of Birth: 09/09/1993
Arresting Agency: Chattanooga
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE (MARIJUANA) BIRDSONG, CORDELLIUS LOVETT
Age at Arrest: 18
Date of Birth: 11/21/1997
Arresting Agency: Chattanooga
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT
POSS.A FIREARM DURING COMMISSIION OR ATTEMPT TO CO
FELONY RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT BRANNON, SAMATHA MICHELLE
Age at Arrest: 18
Date of Birth: 07/15/1997
Arresting Agency: Alcoholic BEV Comm
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
SELLING ALCOHOL TO MINOR BURKHALTER, CHARLES FRANK
Age at Arrest: 64
Date of Birth: 10/28/1951
Arresting Agency: Chattanooga
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
AGGRAVATED DOMESTIC ASSAULT BUSSEY, RONARDO SANTWOINE
Age at Arrest: 21
Date of Birth: 07/23/1994
Arresting Agency: Chattanooga
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
CRIMINAL TRESPASSING
POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE CANTRELL, CHRISTOPHER ADAM
Age at Arrest: 27
Date of Birth: 01/16/1988
Arresting Agency:
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
VIOLATION OF PROBATION (FAILURE TO APPEAR) COSBY, TIMOTHY WAYNE
Age at Arrest: 25
Date of Birth: 06/06/1991
Arresting Agency: East Ridge
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
DOMESTIC ASSAULT/VANDALISM DEARTH, BRANDON MICHAEL
Age at Arrest: 24
Date of Birth: 02/23/1992
Arresting Agency: Chattanooga
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE
BLOCKING OR IMPEDING THE FLOW OF TRAFFIC DEMOSS, STEPHEN MICHAEL
Age at Arrest: 30
Date of Birth: 03/19/1986
Arresting Agency: Chattanooga
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
DISORDERLY CONDUCT
PUBLIC INTOXICATION
RESISTING ARREST OR OBSTRUCTION OF LEGAL PROCESS
ASSAULT ON AN OFFICER - (TATE)
ASSAULT ON AN OFFICER (DEP HAWKS) DENT, JEFF LAMAR
Age at Arrest: 49
Date of Birth: 08/30/1966
Arresting Agency: Soddy Daisy
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
FAILURE TO APPEAR
DOSTER, REED
Age at Arrest: 27
Date of Birth: 02/02/1989
Arresting Agency: Chattanooga
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE FREEMAN, STACI NICOLE
Age at Arrest: 33
Date of Birth: 12/03/1982
Arresting Agency: Hamilton County
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)
GADDIS, DESTINY MAE
Age at Arrest: 19
Date of Birth: 05/25/1996
Arresting Agency: East Ridge
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
PUBLIC INTOXICATION GRAHAM, TYMETRIC LEJUAN
Age at Arrest: 29
Date of Birth: 09/12/1986
Arresting Agency: Federal Marshall
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
FEDERAL GRAYS, TONYA LASHUN
Age at Arrest: 45
Date of Birth: 05/21/1971
Arresting Agency: Hamilton County
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE HESTER, DONNA DAVIS
Age at Arrest: 52
Date of Birth: 10/19/1963
Arresting Agency: Hamilton County
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
VIOLATION OF PROBATION (THEFT OF PROPERTY)
VIOLATION OF PROBATION (FORGERY)
VIOLATION OF PROBATION (FORGERY) HUGHES, CADERIUS KISHAWN
Age at Arrest: 21
Date of Birth: 01/03/1995
Arresting Agency: Collegedale
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)
INGALLS, WILLIAM AUSTIN
Age at Arrest: 28
Date of Birth: 07/08/1987
Arresting Agency:
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE IN SCHEDULE II - METH
POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA
CONTRABAND IN PENAL INSTITUTIONS
POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA JACKSON, JACOB ANTHONY
Age at Arrest: 21
Date of Birth: 08/17/1994
Arresting Agency: Hamilton County
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
REGISTRATION, DRIVING UNREGISTERED VEHICLE
FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
POSSESSION OF METHAMPHETAMINE
POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA
POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA JONES, CEAIRA SHADI
Age at Arrest: 24
Date of Birth: 02/15/1992
Arresting Agency: Chattanooga
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA
JONES, JANAY LAMEEKA
Age at Arrest: 29
Date of Birth: 05/09/1987
Arresting Agency: Hamilton County
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)
JONES, JOSHUA LAMONT
Age at Arrest: 22
Date of Birth: 01/19/1994
Arresting Agency: Hamilton County
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
VIOLATION OF PROBATION (ATTEMPT POSSESSION OF COCA LEE, COURTNEY DEONTE
Age at Arrest: 26
Date of Birth: 03/25/1990
Arresting Agency: Chattanooga
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
DRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FOR RESALE
AGGRAVATED CRIMINAL TRESSPASS LEVERETT, GREGORY
Age at Arrest: 23
Date of Birth: 04/10/1993
Arresting Agency: Hamilton County
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
CONTEMPT OF COURT 10 DAYS LUCE, SHAINA NICOLE
Age at Arrest: 28
Date of Birth: 08/04/1987
Arresting Agency: Chattanooga
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
VANDALISM/MALICIOUS MISCHIEF MACK, WILLIS L
Age at Arrest: 51
Date of Birth: 07/18/1964
Arresting Agency: Hamilton County
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)
MATHIS, KYLIE DENISE
Age at Arrest: 19
Date of Birth: 11/20/1996
Arresting Agency: Hamilton County
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
FAILURE TO APPEAR MAXWELL, JOHN SHERRILL
Age at Arrest: 36
Date of Birth: 12/12/1979
Arresting Agency: Hamilton County
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)
MONTGOMERY, CHARLES COLLIN
Age at Arrest: 35
Date of Birth: 03/11/1981
Arresting Agency: Hamilton County
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
VIOLATION OF PROBATION (POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA FO
VIOLATION OF PROBATION (DRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FOR MOORE, JOHN HENRY
Age at Arrest: 63
Date of Birth: 10/03/1952
Arresting Agency: Chattanooga
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
ASSAULT
MULLIS, CATHERINE AMANDA
Age at Arrest: 31
Date of Birth: 05/05/1985
Arresting Agency: Chattanooga
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
PUBLIC INTOXICATION
RESISTING ARREST OR OBSTRUCTION OF LEGAL PROCESS
CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE IN SCHEDULE II
CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES SCHEDULE IV NEALY, YOLANDA VANESSA
Age at Arrest: 61
Date of Birth: 07/18/1954
Arresting Agency: Chattanooga
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
THEFT OF PROPERTY UNDER 500 NESMITH, LUKE ALLEN
Age at Arrest: 22
Date of Birth: 10/15/1993
Arresting Agency: Chattanooga
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
SELLING ALCOHOL TO MINOR ORR, BRIAN WESLEY
Age at Arrest: 45
Date of Birth: 10/03/1970
Arresting Agency: Hamilton County
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
STALKING PARKER, JONATHON R
Age at Arrest: 19
Date of Birth: 07/28/1996
Arresting Agency: Hamilton County
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
DRIVERS TO EXERCISE DUE CARE PETTY, WILLIAM RICHARD
Age at Arrest: 40
Date of Birth: 09/22/1975
Arresting Agency: Collegedale
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)
PITTMAN, CALVIN LEE
Age at Arrest: 24
Date of Birth: 12/02/1991
Arresting Agency: Hamilton County
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)
RHODES, MARY LEANNA
Age at Arrest: 41
Date of Birth: 01/17/1975
Arresting Agency: Red Bank
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
FAILURE TO APPER ( PETITION TO REVOKE) SCUDDER, GRAYSON PAIGE
Age at Arrest: 20
Date of Birth: 09/09/1995
Arresting Agency: Hamilton County
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE
POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA
REGISTRATION, IMPROPER DISPLAY OF PLATES STRICKLAND, CHRISTOPHER WADE
Age at Arrest: 27
Date of Birth: 07/11/1988
Arresting Agency: Chattanooga
Last Date of Arrest: 06/06/2016
Charge(s):
THEFT UNDER 500
Part III: I have read several of your answers about referrals. It seems like everyone is trying to sell me a referral based system. I realize that I need to get more referrals, but I don't know where to start. Can you give me some direction?--Denise from New JerseyLast week we established the fact that our biggest issue is that we don't indicate to our referral sources how important their referrals are to us, and we don't tell them how to help us. Loan officers assume that you are in the residential finance business, if someone they know is looking to finance a home, they would seek you out for help. I would like to be confident about this assumption, but in reality many of us have not even gone this far with our key contacts. If you have not, you need to start at this point. But you need to go further. For example, if someone you know well is thinking about purchasing a house, do they know that you can refer a real estate agent to them? This is probably even more important than getting a loan referral because it can be leveraged.How about if someone moves out of state? Does your contact realize that you would like to know about anyone relocating to your area? Many would remove these "out-of-state" contacts from their database, yet in the context of providing these referrals, these contacts could be as valuable as ever. Referrals you can give to a real estate agent are significant. Thus, it is not just about asking for referrals. It is about asking for help and teaching everyone you know how to help you. And the loan process is a great place to start training your customers to refer prospects to you. More on this topic next week.--Dave HershmanDave Hershman has been the leading author and a top speaker for the industry for decades with six books authored and hundreds of articles published. His website is www.originationpro.com . If you have a reaction to this commentary or another question you would like answered in this column? Email Dave directly at [email protected]
A judge has ruled that a West Texas woman convicted of setting her uncle on fire is innocent of murder, basing his decision on new analysis of evidence presented at her 1993 trial.
"The cumulation of evidence supports Applicant's [Sonia Cacy's] claim of actual innocence, visiting state District Judge Bert Richardson said in his ruling, filed Monday in Pecos County. "This court finds that Applicant makes a compelling case for actual innocence, given the overwhelming evidence."
Sonia Cacy had served five years of a 99-year murder sentence for the 1991 death of her uncle, Bill Richardson. The two were living in his Fort Stockton home when it caught fire. Prosecutors said Cacy had set her uncle on fire, also burning the home, to get the money he left to her in his will.
But multiple experts including the State Fire Marshal's office concluded that Cacy did not set her uncle ablaze. Some suspected that Richardson, a smoker, likely died of a heart attack and that the fire was accidental. Cacy was released on parole after The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles received one of the reports. But her conviction was never lifted. The Pecos County District Attorney and the Bexar County medical examiner's office had stood by the original investigation results.
Judge Richardsons ruling was largely based on a 2013 state Fire Marshal's Office report that discredited trial testimony that there was an accelerant found at the crime scene.
"The findings of the State Fire Marshal's Office a state organized and endorsed office are the strongest evidence that no accelerant was present and that Bill Richardson likely died of a heart attack before being burned," Judge Richardson wrote in a ruling that comes two years after Richardson first heard Cacy's petition for relief in Fort Stockton.
If the high court rules her innocent, Cacy will no longer have to check in monthly - as she has since 1998 - with a probation officer.
Cacy, who is in her 60s and in ill health, would also be eligible for compensation for being wrongfully convicted.
The case automatically heads to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which has the final say on whether an individual is innocent or not.
Gary Udashen, Cacy's attorney, praised Judge Richardsons ruling.
"The most important [finding] is that he found her to be actually innocent," he said.
Richardson, who was a visiting judge before being elected to the criminal appeals court in 2014, will recuse himself from the case.
Udashen said he is confident that the Court of Criminal Appeals will rule in his client's favor.
"I feel sure they will because it is so clear," he said.
---
The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them - about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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. The South San High School student 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, Garcia said of her mom, Brenda Garcia. 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 Garcia 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 the prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship.
Friday evening at Freeman Coliseum, shell address her classmates as valedictorian and class president. Her message to her classmates 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.
Garcia credits her success to a long line of strong women in her family who made their children a top priority.
She said the best way she can honor her mother, who went to Texas A&M University for one semester, is to succeed. Brenda Garcia wasnt prepared academically or socially for college and didnt want Araceli to have the same experience.
Brenda 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 their grandmother Angelina Resendez until Araceli went to middle school.
Resendez cared for her and her brother, Andres, while their mother worked. Araceli slept with their grandmother and Andres slept with their 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, Brenda Garcia said of her children. That goes toward helping them become better people.
Brenda Garcia said the selection of her daughter 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 reaching her goals, she wants to help everyone along the way. She has a great heart and shes going to use it to help others.
MPD accepting Kids Academy applications
The Midland Police Department is taking applications for Kids Academy, which is June 20-24. The academy, for children 8-12, is set for 8-11:45 a.m. at the MLK Community Center, 2300 Butternut Lane.
Students in the academy will learn about the various divisions of the department and justice system, as well as life skills such as dealing with bullying and exercise.
Attendance is free. New applicants will be considered on a first-come, first-served basis for the 30 available spots, and those who have been through the academy before may be considered if there are spots remaining.
Deadline to apply is June 13. Parent or guardian must sign the application.
Applications are available at the police department, 601 N. Loraine, or can be downloaded at www.midlandtexas.gov/KidsAcademy. Completed applications can be returned to the police department, faxed to 432-685-7585, or emailed to Larry Woodruff, Community Relations officer at lwoodruff@midlandtexas.gov.
MC recognizes instructors, staff
Midland College employees were recognized earlier this month at the annual awards celebration.
A highlight of the event was the presentation of the Instructors of the Year for the 2015-16 school year. Students cast the ballots for this award, and nine faculty were chosen:
Pete Avalos, department chair, automotive/diesel technology; Doug Avery, economics professor; Rabon Bewley, department chair, drama and music; Sylvia Brown, program chair, business systems; Michael Dixon, mathematics associate professor; Chesley Herd, program chair, alcohol and drug abuse counseling; Doug Johnson, department chair, business; Donna Thompson, psychology professor; and Linda Penny, math faculty, was named Adjunct Instructor of the Year.
Staff excellence awards were presented to secretary Lisa Eddins; Emma King, library circulation clerk; and Kay Schipper, Veterans Affairs coordinator.
Curt Pervier, dean of applied technology, received the Institutional Ambassador award for his dedication in helping to promote Midland College programs to the community and advance the colleges mission of supporting economic development for the Permian Basin through a skilled workforce.
Retirement awards were presented to Lee Almaguer, government faculty; Joan Brooks, Petroleum Professional Development Center coordinator; Claudia Hinds, biology faculty; Judy Jordan, Student Support Services director; Bob Peetz, criminal justice faculty; and Dale Williams, counselor/disability specialist.
In addition, employees were recognized for years of service -- beginning with five years through 35 years. Those receiving 35-year service awards were Glenda Hicks, English faculty; Michael Jordan, music faculty; Cecilia Miranda, automation/technical services librarian; and Mike Stevens, director of Chaparral Center.
Midlander receives honorary doctorate
BANGOR, Maine -- Husson University conferred an honorary doctorate on Midland businessman Fred Newman during the 117th annual commencement exercises on May 8. Newman, a member of the Husson University Board of Visitors, is the grandson of William Newman, for whom the universitys Newman Gymnasium is named.
In addition, Newmans uncle created a scholarship in the familys name.
Piano students perform
Piano students who received superior ratings at the Texas Federation of Music Clubs District Festival played their pieces at the May 11 meeting of the Midland Musicians Club.
These students are: Mia Johnson and Sophia Johnson, twin daughters of Chris and Premilia Johnson; Michael Herrera, son of Phillip and Kristi Herrera; Gavin Yang, son of Qian and Zhibo Yang; Farah Ben Yacoub, daughter of Chems and Olfa Ben Yacoub; and Ellenie Avampato, daughter of Steve and Amy Avampato.
MC plans travel/study course
Midland College is planning a travel/study course Oct. 28-Nov. 4 to Chiapas, Mexico.
Margaret Wade, dean of Mathematics, Science & Kinesiology, and Edwin Barnhart of the Mayan Exploration Center, will lead the trip.
Estimated trip cost is $2,200, which includes hotel accommodations (two per room), ground and water transportation, museum and historic site entrance fees, private guides, two meals a day, evening lectures and travel insurance. Airfare and continuing education fee is extra.
Home base for the majority of the trip will be San Cristobal. Day trips will include guided tours of Mayan ruins and artisan villages in Amantenango and Tenejapa and Casa Na Bolom, a boat trip through Sumidero Canyon.
For more information, contact Wade at mwade@midland.edu or 685-4615.
ConocoPhillips hosts teachers workship
In an effort to spark an interest among future scientists and engineers, ConocoPhillips recently hosted a workshop to educate teachers about the science behind the energy industry.
Approximately 40 Midland-area primary and secondary teachers participated in the May 26 workshop, in which they learned creative ways to incorporate energy into their classrooms. Hosted in collaboration with the National Energy Education Development Project, the workshop provided teachers with classroom materials that emphasize all forms of energy, energy efficiency and conservation. Each teacher received state-correlated curriculum guides and hands-on experiments.
ConocoPhillips and NEED Project began presenting these workships in 2008.
Presidential hopeful Donald Trump has repeatedly put his worth at $10 billion, but Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says that Trump is worth significantly less.
Trump had, at most, $165 million in liquid assets, as of May 27, Cuban told Fusions Jorge Ramos on Monday.
Cuban, whose own worth is valued somewhere in the neighborhood of $3.2 billion, argued that Trumps self-financed campaign is likely blowing through that money and will need to start fundraising.
In fact, Trump is heading to Dallas next week for a fundraiser and possibly a campaign rally.
Cuban called Trumps attacks on opponents, including those against Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over the case against Trump and Trump University, desperate.
Donald Trump has a real problem with self-awareness, Cuban said.
Cuban has suggested that he would consider running for vice president, but he argues he wants to make a political impact rather than further his own political ambitions.
I think I could help either candidate, Cuban said. I am fiercely independent. I think I bring qualities that both could use in their campaigns.
He believes his technology background and position as an independent would help bring either candidate to the middle and make them more attractive in a general election.
---
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Incidents involving Africanized bees, or killer bees, have increased in frequency across the southwestern United States, according to recent reports of incidents in Arizona and Texas.
One recent attacked occurred Thursday in Midland: two dogs were stung more than 1,000 times and their owner 50 times when he opened the door believing his dogs were fighting. The dogs died the next day at a veterinarians office. Their owner, James Roy, was expected to recover, according to reports from television station KWES.
The man was rescued by neighbors and contractors in the neighborhood, who sprayed the man with a hose and successfully drove the bees away, according to the report.
Tim Cleverdon of Bee Busters Inc. was called to investigate the incident. He found bees but they were a colony of European bees. He said the Africanized bees were likely trying to overtake the more peaceful colony of European bees and establish their own colony.
I was able to treat everything pretty effectively to get rid of the bees, Cleverdon said Monday. When we were there, we did not see aggressive bees that people had had problems with before.
European bees are typically not as aggressive and pursue a perceived attacker only for a few yards, whereas Africanized bees are much harder to shake, Cleverdon said.
All bees will defend their colonies but the European bees, they may defend for 10 or 20 yards, Cleverdon said. With Africanized bees, Ive been pushed out half a mile or more. So the intensity and length of duration of defending themselves is a lot different.
Africanized bees release a pheromone when their stingers emerge and thats how they can chase victims for extended distances, Cleverdon said.
Incidents in Arizona and Texas have made the news. An Arizona hiker died in a bee attack on Merkle Memorial Trail in Usery Mountain Regional Park in May, according to reports in several media outlets.
Incidents have also occurred in or near Midland, according to Cleverdon.
One of my first jobs this year was in January, where some bees killed a pitbull on the east side of town, he said. Ive heard of horses killed south of Midland and I know for a fact of an Angus bull that was killed in another county several years ago.
A report by the Chicago Tribune attributed the rise in Africanized bees to their northern migration from Brazil.
Africanized bees are smaller in diameter and shorter in length and buzz with higher frequency. However, they are difficult to distinguish from European bees because all types of bees are social insects, meaning they survive in hives and swarms, Cleverdon said.
Cleverdon said if someone sees a colony of bees, they should leave the area.
Its best to call somebody who knows bees, he said. If you try to self-treat, you put yourself at risk as well as neighbors and other animals.
Follow Cassie on Twitter at @Cassie_Burton51
It sometimes creates an embarrassed inward chuckle within me when we sing certain songs in worship like, say, When the Spirit of the Lord moves within my heart.
Perhaps it shouldnt, but it does.
I think its because of this line, When the Spirit of the Lord moves within my heart, I will dance like David danced. It rings a touch false of course for a staid, khaki-clad, dance-averse, respectable people to be singing something that theyd never in a million years permit of themselves for fear of being foolish. After all, wouldnt the PWP (Presbyterian Worship Police) burst in immediately with badges and handcuffs if anything like a weird expression of exuberance emanated from us?
Chided by our Inner Decorum Chaperones
Half-dressed King David was of course chided and despised much as our inner-decorum chaperones do us by his respectable wife for his foolish enthusiasm in celebrating the return of the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem. Hed disobeyed the demands of couth, according to his jealous wife. David reminds her that being singled out as Gods hand-picked king is no shabby arrangement. He wasnt prepared to understate his delight at being so favored by God.
He wound up regarded as a man after Gods own heart, and a central hub in the family tree of Gods world-wide restorative intentions.
His shaming bride, were told, was punished with infertility until she was no more. Yikes.
It turns out that an unavoidable consequence for a bunch of fickle-faithed folks like us who are privileged with the moniker of aliens and strangers in the world is that we will seem, well, alien and strange. And we might just get labeled that way. Should we celebrate with all our might before the One who wed his mercy and might on the Cross on our behalf, well seem like freaks.
Freakish Aliens and Strangers
If we tell our friends in the midst of marital strife, yes, of course, you should continue to show kindness to your aloof and hurtful husband and even forgive him as you have been forgiven. Theyll look at us like we are from outer space---loving your enemy, even if its your spouse, never makes sense to a world that is always advocating the cut and run strategy from any commitment which no longer proves convenient to keep.
Should we insist that we spend devoted time in the Scriptures and prayer instead of in a frenetic flurry of activity, we will seem weird and irrelevant in a world where important people work their fingers to the bone with messianic pretensions and self-deceived credos that insist that our work is all that matters. If we give away the money we have labored to earn and recklessly share our stuff, but not our bodies, except with our spouses, well seem like Spielbergs ET, just as we will if we refuse to live above our means and reject consumption, debt, and the cultivation of an acquisitive spirit. Fanatics---not living in the real world---that will be the perception of our critics who resent the strangeness.
Who knows what well be called if we adopt the babies nobody else wants, spend ourselves on the hopeless cases, work in industries the world-wide as if we were actually Jesus presence in those jobs?
You must be willing to stick your neck out...
But of course, if we do seem strange, well be in good company with folks like the undignified but unable to contain himself King David, and foolish Apostle Paul whose life seemed to him to be as if a clown on a stage to be made a joke of before a watching world.
And of course there is always Jesus, homeless and economically unambitious, lingering with riff-raff, and shaming the powerful...and so bizarre in some fundamental ways that his opponents could, with a straight face, inquire, Arent we right in saying you are demon-possessed?
I recently read of a man who came into contact with the healing wonders of the Spirit of Jesus in a way that was active, pervasive, and contemporary as a text-message. He asked his mentor, How do I serve as a conduit for healing through the Spirit like this?
The reply, was simultaneously enticing and terrifying. You must be willing to stick your neck out, and try it---to pray for the sick, the troubled, and the hurting, with expectancy.
Wearing the Mantle of our Saviors Strangeness
Oh, if we stick our neck out relationally, economically, socially, prayerfully, to be the peculiar people of God there is a 99.34% chance that we will sometimes appear foolish, and sometimes, awfully foolish. And of course, these days, theres a live chance well be regarded as bigoted, hateful, narrow, backward, naive or homophobic.
Its mighty reassuring to consider that the early church, in a similar age as ours, where each man did what was right in his own eyes was routinely reckoned as atheist, seditious, and cannibalistic!
Because they worshipped Christ alone as God, and did not recognize the Roman pantheon and idols as, well, anything, they were atheists. And because they wouldnt say their morning pledge of allegiance to Caesar, instead saving their fealty, obedience and honor for Christ the Lord, they were trying to undermine the government. And then they had the strange practice of participating in their Lords life mysteriously through his presence in bread and wine, the body and blood of their Lord and ours. How could that be anything other than cannibalistic! Icky Christians eating the flesh of Jesus!
But those same icky Christians, weird as they were, left an aromatic appeal in their loving, generous, and sacrificial ways.
Similarly, sometimes, when we risk feeling foolish with tears, words, generosity, obedience, praise, prayers--you name itwhen we accept the mantle of our Saviors strangeness, well be privileged to see our inherited strangeness as a gift to the world whose coolness and respectability is a pretentious, self-absorbed sham.
Perhaps well be like Steinbecks character, Samuel Hamilton:
Samuel always kept a foreignness. Perhaps it was in the cadence of his speech, and this had the effect of making men and women too, tell him things that they would not tell to their relatives and closest friends. His slight strangeness set him apart and made him as safe as a repository.
Refusing to Rust
Perhaps as we refuse to rust in the comfort of prestige and good-report among our peers, but risk instead as apprentices of our Master well find more and more that we have His slight strangeness that sets us apart and makes us as safe to the hurting, disoriented, lost and confused as a repository.
In the places where the world has become most dilapidated and confused, it would make sense that the ways of heaven becoming embodied on earth in Jesus weird people would be, to some, as distressing as a boot-wearin Texan in a Japanese kimono.
Any time the Spirit touches down on this sad planet and begins to bring rehabilitation to lives, it may also seem strange, out of place, but uncannily alluring. What else could you expect though for a people who are riveted and fastened to a Savior who cant be easily categorized. In our times we frequently discover our love affair with love, but find loving actual people well nigh impossible. We adore weddings and will break the bank to celebrate them, but find the marriages created by them prohibitively expensive to maintain. So we quit as we get more and more of the poison ivy rash of domestic nastiness on our skin and in our relational bloodstream.
Unlike us, though, Jesus enduringly adores actual rotten, despicable people (like me!) despite how disappointingly self-absorbed they prove to be, and promises to beautify them with his strange and sacrificial world-defying allure.
And we who depend on Christ for mercy, are, for some uncanny reason, adored and inhabited by this weird Wonder.
Will it be any wonder if we ourselves seem every bit as strange as His peculiar Lordship increases in our lives?
-----
Eric Youngblood is the senior pastor at Rock Creek Fellowship (PCA) on Lookout Mountain. Please feel free to contact him at eric@rockcreekfellowship.org.
SAN JUAN, Texas (AP) A South Texas police officer is accused of leaving his police dog to die in a hot vehicle as temperatures outside rose into the 90s.
San Juan police Officer Juan Cerrillo Jr. was charged Friday with cruelty to non-livestock animals in the death of Rex, a Belgian Malinois (MAL'-ihn-wah). The 37-year-old officer is free on $4,000 bond.
Cerrillo called 911 from his McAllen home Thursday after finding Rex unresponsive in the unmarked vehicle.
San Juan police Chief Juan Gonzalez suspended Cerrillo without pay. Gonzalez says Cerrillo is an experienced K9 handler but that the dog's death is an "unacceptable loss for the department."
Internal and criminal investigations are underway.
The Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, which represents police officers, did not return a call for comment Tuesday morning.
Guns N Roses will not be allowed to perform late while on tour in Foxboro, Massachusetts.
The band is slated to perform at the Gillette Stadium on July 19 and 20, but unfortunately for them the town has a curfew of 11:15 p.m. for live music. Managements request for the curfew to be prolonged until 11:40 p.m. has officially been denied.
Ginny Coppola, who serves as a town councilor in Foxboro, said in a statement to The Sun Chronicle, This is on a Tuesday and a Wednesday. If this was a weekend, I wouldnt have a problem with it. But its a work night. This isnt going to be an acoustic evening. Its going to be loud.
According to NME, Taylor Swift received an extended curfew until 11:40 p.m. when she performed at the Gillette Stadium in 2015. But the town councilors claim that this was a different matter entirely since her show was on a weekend.
Apparently the stadiums advisory committee had approved the later show, but their approval was drowned out by the town councilors.
Their summer reunion tour is slated to run from June 23 to Aug. 22, and all dates willl be occurring in North America. Axl Rose is additionally on tour with AC/DC and performed his first concert with the group at Londons Olympic Stadium this past weekend.
Guns N Roses also has some special guests for their Not In This Lifetime Tour, including Alice In Chains, who will perform with them on opening night in Detroit, Michigan until their date in Chicago on July 3. Lenny Kravitz will be joining the band for their date in Foxboro on July 19, and will then perform again with them in New Jersey on July 24.
I dont normally do gigs like this, Kravitz recently said to Rolling Stone. But sometimes youve got to do things for the fun of it, for the experience. Im looking forward to playing with them and celebrating them coming back together.
2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
County Mayor Jim Coppinger on Tuesday morning presented a no-tax-increase budget that raises spending by $14,276,000 to $679.6 million.
He said there were over $11 million in cuts from budget requests by county departments, constitutional offices and supported agencies.
The last county property tax increase was in 2008. The last property tax hike for the schools was 2006.
However, county officials pointed out that the schools will be getting $10.2 million in new revenue from the state BEP program and over $4 million more in growth funds from the county.
The county schools had asked $24 million in new funding above the BEP and growth increases.
County officials said the county schools plan to use $1,208,000 in fund balance to meet the budget this year.
School spending is set to rise from a base starting point of $405.68 million to $417.7 million. The county school budget has been amended to around $411 million during the current fiscal year.
The county general fund is rising from $213.48 million to $218.8 million. The debt service fund is dropping from $39.6 million to $34.8 million as county debt is paid down.
County Mayor Coppinger said there will only be one new full-time employee - a veterans services officer. He said Hamilton County had been one of only two counties in the state (the other is Lake County) without such an officer. He said state officials say local veterans may be missing out on some $12 million in benefits due to the lack of such an officer, who will be paid around $55,000. The office was budgeted at $100,000. There will initially be no support personnel because it will be housed in the human services office and utilize some of its staff.
Officials said health insurance costs are up $5.2 million.
Employee salary increases will cost $2.65 million. It will be a 2.5-percent raise with a floor of $1,250.
Spending for constitutional officers is rising from $25.1 million to $27 million.
The sheriff's office request was cut by $2 million, but its budget will still rise from $31.59 million to $33.47 million.
The assessor of property is getting an increase of $553,000 and the election office a rise of $253,000. It was noted there is an upcoming reappraisal as well as additional elections.
The Criminal Court clerk, who this year had to ask for a special appropriation to meet the budget, is getting an increase of $372,000.
The Planning Agency will get $15,000 more. The organizers of the Armed Forces Day parade were granted $15,000 instead of $10,000.
Capital outlay requests totaled $10.5 million, but only $4 million were approved.
The county fund balance will remain at over $90 million. It was at a low of $58 million in 2006 and a high of about $112 million in 2014.
A vote on the budget by the County Commission is set for June 29.
"If it requires removing all cabinet ...
There are just a few weeks left to save $5 off of an adult registration to the largest Thanksgiving race in Chattanooga, the 17th Annual Grateful Gobbler Walk. Participants interested in receiving the discount should register by 11:59 p.m. on June 30.Beginning July 1 through the race day, the price will increase to $25 for adults. The price for walkers ages 12 and under is $10 and $15 for both Sleep and Virtual Walkers. The family fun event will be held on Thanksgiving morning at 8 a.m.at Coolidge Park."One hundred percent of the proceeds of the Walk will benefit The Maclellan Shelter for Families located onsite at the Community Kitchen on 11th Street in Chattanooga. This emergency shelter opened in December 2014. It features 13 units with 64 beds and is the first of its kind in Chattanooga, as it provides a stable environment for an intact family to remain together as they search for permanent housing solutions. Since last December more than 130 families, comprising of approximately 450 men, women, and children, have benefited from the programs including meals, case management, and job training provided by the Maclellan Shelter for Families. Other emergency shelters in Chattanooga have gender restrictions that result in most intact families being separated. As a result, fathers with young daughters are unable to be sheltered with their daughters and mothers with young sons must be separated, sometimes those as young as 6 years old," officials said.To register for the 17th Annual Grateful Gobbler Walk, visit www.gratefulgobblerwalk.org
The City of Chattanooga Waste Resources Division will hold a public meeting this Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Hixson Youth and Family Development Center to discuss construction and rehabilitation at the DuPont Pump Station and impact on traffic flow.
At the meeting, Hixson residents will learn about upcoming sewer rehabilitation and construction in the Hixson area and traffic plans. The public is encouraged to attend.
The Hixson YFD Center is at 5401 School Dr., Hixson.
The City of Chattanooga is committed to providing the best possible water quality and wastewater service to its approximately 90,000 users in the Greater Chattanooga and Northwest Georgia areas. This effort includes replacing aging infrastructure and making improvements to the system overall.
Before starting work on this phase of the DuPont Pump Station project, a Sanitary Sewer Evaluation Study was done to identify pipes that needed to be rehabilitated or replaced. Now construction is underway at the DuPont Pump Station to make those upgrades.
GOP: A More Inclusive And More Inspiring America
House Speaker Paul Ryan has announced the launch of A Better Way, the House Republican election-year agenda project Ryan believes Trump will support if he wins in November.
Ryan was Tuesdays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. Here are his words:
Lets face it: people know what Republicans are against.
Now we are giving you a plan that shows you what we are for.
Our ambition is a confident America, where everyone has the chance to go out and succeed no matter where they start in life.
That is the American Idea.
But right now, the country is on the wrong path.
How do we get back on track?
Well, we can get angry, and we can stay angry
Or we can channel that anger into action
We can start to tackle our problems before they tackle us.
This is what Americans do.
We dont accept decline.
We dont give in to division.
We find a better way.
Take poverty.
For yearsdecades nowWashington has spent trillions of dollars on dozens of programs to fight poverty.
But we have barely moved the needle.
The war on poverty is a stalemate at best.
So we can keep doing the same things and getting the same results.
Or, instead of trapping people in poverty, we can get them on the ladder of opportunityreward workopen our economy so everyone can make the most of their lives.
As you will see, this is what our plan does.
It takes our timeless principlesliberty, free enterprise, consent of the governedand applies them to the problems of our time.
It makes clear what needs to change.
You will have a clear choice on poverty, jobs, taxes, security, health care and government itself.
After decades of executive overreach, it is time we restore our Constitution.
That means we take control away from unelected bureaucrats, and give it back to the people and their representatives, so we are writing the laws that we live under.
All of us, not government, should have the biggest role to play in our lives.
Thats what this is about.
Thats why a clear choice is so important.
Because it is easy to get caught up in all the back-and-forth and the finger-pointing.
But to do this, to set things right, we need to raise our gaze. We need to go bold.
This is a chance to pull together and be part of something greater: a more inclusive, more inspiring, a more confident America.
This is a better way.
The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning on AM 1450 KVML at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 AM.
Tuolomne County Election Office View Photos
Sonora, CA It is Election Day, and voters are heading out to decide who will be on the Sonora City Council, Board of Supervisors, Assembly, US Congress and other seats of interest.
Polling locations opened at seven oclock this morning, and your specific location is listed on your voter ID card. To view a map of the polling locations in Tuolumne County, click here. You can also stop by the main election office at 2 S. Green Street in Sonora to vote up until 8pm.
New this year, vote by mail ballots will be counted through Friday, assuming that they are post marked by today.
Some races will be decided today while others will simply move on to the November General Election. Under Californias open primary system, the top two vote-getters in the race for Assembly, Congress and Senate will move on to November, regardless of party affiliation. In the Board of Supervisor races, if a candidate receives over 50% of the vote, they win outright. However, if no one receives over 50%, the top two vote-getters move to a runoff during the General Election in November. The Sonora City Council race will be decided today, with the top three vote-getters winning the open seats. Click here to see the various candidates.
A reminder we will have local election updates throughout evening immediately after the polls close and continuing through the night on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML, Star 92.7 and 93.5 KKBN. The results will also be posted on myMotherLode.comclick here.
Human remains have been found in a 9-foot gator captured Tuesday night by a contract trapper with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), confirm Lakeland Police.
Its believed to be the same gator that was seen with a mans body Tuesday afternoon. The mans identity is still unknown at this time.
Alligator reported near man's body on shore of lake
Cause of man's death undetermined
Body may have been in water at least a day, police say
The man's body was found on the shore of a Lakeland lake with an alligator near the body, fire officials said.
A person called 911 to report seeing the body off Lake Hunter Drive.
Caller: Hurry up. I got a dead boy over here at the lake."
Dispatcher: Alright.
Caller: Looks like an alligator is trying to pull him down under.
Dispatcher: Alright stay on the phone with me.
It's not clear how the man died or whether alligators attacked him at all before he died. Lakeland Police have not identified the man, who police say may have been in the lake for a day or more, police say.
"The first officer spotted that gator with what appeared to be a gator with a body in its mouth turning and thrashing in the water," Lakeland Police Public Information Officer Gary Gross said.
Police say the body is with the medical examiner and an autopsy was conducted Wednesday.
The suspect in the disappearance of a 9-year-old girl has been charged with child pornography, according to the Lee County Sheriffs Office.
The Innocent Images Task Force of the Fort Myers FBI Field Office filed the charges against Jorge Guerrero. He is currently being held on no bond at the Lee County Sheriffs Office Jail.
Guerrero was located and taken into custody Saturday morning. Investigators believe he is involved in the disappearance of Diana Alvarez, 9, of Fort Myers. She is still missing.
An Amber Alert was issued for Alvarez after she was reported missing last week. She was last seen wearing a short-sleeve shirt and shorts. She is 4-feet, 5 inches tall and weighs 95 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes.
Deputies say investigators are diligently looking for clues and following leads that may help in finding Alvarez.
Anyone with information that could help investigators in the case is asked to call 911 or contact the Lee County Sheriffs Office at 239-477-1000. You can also contact Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS.
A reward of up to $1,000 is being offered.
Dusty Groove Will Revive A Chicago Jazz DJ Tradition At Its Free 20th Birthday Party
By Mae Rice in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 7, 2016 2:30PM
Photo via Facebook
West Towns Dusty Groove (1120 N. Ashland Ave.) turns 20 this year, and to celebrate, the store is throwing itself an epic, free birthday party on July 16. The party will be more like a block party than a street fest, owner Rick Wojcik, 49, told Chicagoist. Nothing will be for sale; instead, as a thank you to Dusty Grooves loyal customers, everything will be free, from the historic DJ sets to the record giveaways to the (non-alcoholic) ginger beer bar hosted by Marias Packaged Goods and Community Bar. Overall, it'll be sort of like how Lakeviews The Alley threw itself a funeral? But more fun, less hearse-y.
Its a given, at Dusty Groove, that the music will be the main attractioneven when its up against free food. One of the best record stores in Chicago and the whole dang country, Dusty Groove began as a web-only affair back in 1996. Since then, founders Wojcik and JP Schauerwho started the store while DJing at University of Chicagos WHPK radio stationhave taken it all the way to brick-and-mortar store status. First, Dusty Groove occupied a back-alley room in Hyde Park (with no front door!). Then, it moved to a Wicker Park store, and finally, in 2001, it reached the West Town storefront its still thriving in today.
The store has succeeded in spite of competition from streaming services, Wojcik said, because it both embraces technology (see: the online store) and Chicagos history as a hub for jazz, soul and hip-hop (see: the actual record collection). The owners connection with local history shows especially in their DJ lineup for the block party: eight to ten Chicago DJs, many of them pushing 70. Led by Al Carter-Bey, a Cabrini-Green native, the DJs were all part of a jazz DJ scene in the 60s and 70s on 51st Street.
"It's not a hip-hop DJ thing where they're mixing it all up, Wojcik explained. (The 51st Street scene was largely a precursor to hip-hop and Jamaican sound system, he said.) Instead, the DJs battled head to head in what were termed cutting contests by playing sets of back-to-back songs, hewing to strict guidelines about how many vocal performances, drum solos and the like were allowed.
"It was a really creative reuse of records, Wojcik said.
These battles arent well-documentedaccording to Wojcik, even the Jazz Institute of Chicago doesnt have record of them. But Wojcik wants to preserve the memory of the cutting contests, and theylll be revived, at least for an afternoon, at the Dusty Groove party.
Photo via Facebook
As for the food and drink situation: It's not a massive kegger, Wojcik said. But it wont be completely dry, either; Revolution Brewery is making a donation to the festivities. Other participating institutions will include Dark Matter Coffee, Antique Taco, Scone City and Dove's Luncheonette. Kimski, Bridgeports new Polish fusion restaurant that just opened next door to Marias, will donate food, tooas will Dusty Groove. Well be grilling ourselves, Wojcik said.
Partygoers will also have a chance to play a smattering of carnival games, win records in giveaways, and watch a 2 p.m. performance from Meridian Trioa pretty well-known avant jazz group in Wojciks estimationin Corbett vs, Dempsey, the art gallery on the third floor of Dusty Grooves building. Its all one big thank you to Dusty Groove's Chicago base.
"Right now, Chicago is maybe one of the best cities in the world for record stores," Wojcik said, and he would knowas a traveler, hes bought and sold records all over the world, but hes kept his home base here.
Dusty Groove's 20th anniversary party will run from noon to 5 p.m. on July 16. Read more about how Dusty Groove is celebrating its 20th anniversary here.
The search for a 9-year-old girl reported missing last week out of Fort Myers moved to rural Osceola County on Tuesday.
Diana Alvarez, 9, last seen in Fort Myers area
Amber Alert issued Thursday, June 2
Jorge Guerrero, 28, taken into custody
Crews searched Osceola County on Tuesday
A statewide Amber Alert was issued Thursday, June 2. She was last seen in the Fort Myers area, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Several agencies, including the Osceola County Sheriff's Office and the Lee County Sheriff's Office, were searching an area along Highway 60 near Peavine Road in an unincorporated area near Yeehaw Junction.
The suspect in the case, 28-year-old Jorge Guerrero, was charged Monday with child pornography, according to the Lee County Sheriff's Office.
The Innocent Images Task Force of the Fort Myers FBI Field Office filed the charges against Guerrero. He is currently being held on no bond at the Lee County Jail.
Authorities spent several hours Tuesday searching one specific property off Highway 60 in connection with the case.
Deputies used all-terrain vehicles and horses to methodically move through grassy, muddy and wooded areas. The area has been saturated with rain from what was Tropical Storm Colin, which made it difficult for deputies to thoroughly search the area.
Deputies dug for clues in several spots, as well.
Lee County investigators said they will continue searching anywhere Guerrero might have traveled as they follow up on all leads in the case.
It's unclear if the search in Osceola County will continue Wednesday.
Anyone with information that could help investigators in the case is asked to call 911 or contact the Lee County Sheriff's Office at 239-477-1000. You can also contact Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS (8477).
A reward of up to $1,000 is being offered.
An 18-year-old man who was shot in the head Tuesday afternoon remains in critical, but stable condition, according to Leesburg police.
Courey Nelams, 18, was shot in head Tuesday afternoon
Police believe a fight at the apartment complex escalated
So far, no arrests have been made
Police responded to the Birchwood apartment community on Birchwood Court just before 3 p.m. about reports of gunfire.
While they were there, they received more calls about a person who had been shot, Leesburg Police Public Information Officer Maj. Steve Rockefeller said.
Officers found Courey Nelams, 18, near the entrance to the community with a gunshot wound in the head. He was conscious and responsive when emergency personnel arrived. He was taken to Ocala Regional Medical Center.
According to investigators, initial findings suggest a fight at the apartment complex escalated, resulting in Nelams being shot. Police are still trying to determine the reason for the fight.
So far, no arrests have been made.
The Lake County Sheriffs Offices Crime Scene Investigations unit is there assisting Leesburg Police.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Leesburg Police Department at 352-728-9862 or Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS.
An investigation is underway after a man called 911 on Monday night and said he accidentally shot his wife in the head while he was cleaning his gun.
Deputies: Man called 911 to report he accidentally shot wife while cleaning gun
Woman was taken to hospital with apparent gunshot wound to the head
The wife died at the hospital, deputies said
The woman, 62-year-old Katie Reid, has since died, deputies said.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office responded around 8 p.m. to a home on Winifred Road in response to a shooting.
Darrell Reid, 63, told deputies that he accidentally shot his wife while he was cleaning his firearm, a report states.
Orange County Fire Rescue crews were already working on the woman, who reportedly suffered a gunshot wound to the head, when deputies arrived at the home.
Katie Reid was transported to Florida Hospital Apopka, where she later died.
"This is an active and open death investigation being conducted by (Orange Count) homicide detectives," a report states.
No arrests have been made.
Mary Hooton (left), Melody Brown and Cameron Courtney departed Monday morning for Camp RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) with District 5730 representative John Early. Sponsored by the Plainview Rotary Club, students will attend the week-long camp at Plains Baptist Assembly. The purpose of Camp RYLA is to help students gain an understanding of the fundamentals of leadership, ethics of positive leadership, communication skills of effective leadership, building self-confidence and self-esteem, good sportsmanship and elements of community and global citizenship.
AUSTIN The Texas Workforce Commission announced that it will change providers for its unemployment benefits prepaid debit card from Chase Bank to U.S. Bank.
The new U.S. Bank ReliaCard is a Visa-branded prepaid debit card that provides claimants with a fast, safe and easy way of receiving their unemployment benefits. The ReliaCard also features additional benefits such as a mobile app, email and text alerts, and a large number of free (in-network) ATMs.
U.S. Bank sent letters to all current TWC debit card claimants on May 24 about the upcoming debit card changes and explained how it will affect those receiving unemployment benefits. Beginning June 20, current unemployment claimants receiving benefits on a debit card will receive a ReliaCard in the mail from U.S. Bank.
TWC will continue to provide our customers with efficient, cost-effective services while they search for employment, said TWC Chairman Andres Alcantar.
The U.S. Bank prepaid debit card allows claimants to make purchases, get cash, and pay bills everywhere VISA is accepted. Funds are protected if the prepaid debit card is lost or stolen.
Improving the TWC debit card system will allow unemployment claimants more time to focus their efforts on returning to the workforce, said TWC Commissioner Representing Employers Ruth R. Hughs.
Claimants receiving benefits by direct deposit will not be affected by this change.
TWC is dedicated to helping Texas workers with access to enhanced services for online unemployment benefits, seeking employment or improving job skills with training, said TWC Commissioner Representing Labor Julian Alvarez.
Upon receiving the new ReliaCard, claimants will need to follow the instructions on the card carrier to activate their cards and contact ReliaCard customer service at 800-657-6343 or visit the website at www.usbankreliacard.com. Remaining balances on the Chase debit card will not transfer to the ReliaCard, so claimants should keep the Chase card and continue to use it until the balance reaches zero. Visit the TWC website for more information on Receiving Benefit Payments by Debit Card.
The ReliaCard offers claimants a robust set of features focusing on security and convenience including 24/7 access to funds with no fee for domestic purchases, a large free ATM network, text and email alerts and online bill pay to name a few, said Dave Smith, senior vice president of prepaid products at U.S. Bank.
For questions about unemployment benefits in Texas, including eligibility requirements, how to report earnings and appeal procedures, visit the TWC website at Job Seekers & Employees Unemployment Benefits.
BERLIN More than a dozen board members, educators, and community members packed the Town Council chambers Monday night to voice their opinions on revisions to the town Charter.
The biggest upset was the proposal to switch the Board of Education from non-partisan to partisan. Several former and present members of the board spoke their disagreement on the change.
For the nine years that I was on the board of ed., we never really talked about our party affiliations and in fact none of us really cared to know our party affiliations, it never really came into the discussion, said former board member Julie Erickson.
She explained that other surrounding town boards envied Berlins board because of its non-partisanship.
Current board member JoAnn Angelico-Stetson also spoke to the high-quality of the non-partisan board. She voiced her concern that the switch to partisan may be dangerous in the outcome.
Anne Reilly, Republican Town Committee Chair, explained that the switch would benefit the town. She compared Berlins board to other successful town boards that are partisan, like West Hartford and Simsbury.
They sometimes, unfortunately, have better student achievement results, but never the less those boards also have the ultimate goal to make education better for our students, she said, I think its a disservice to say that otherwise.
It wasnt just the political agenda that people talked about, the two-year term proposal was also a topic of disagreement. Current board member Julia Motte explained that the learning curve was enormous and that she was still learning in her first year as a member.
I couldnt imagine having this year under my belt and going into next year, with having somewhat to contribute, and then having to start over or just not being reelected and having someone new come in, Motte said.
Mixed reviews were brought up in terms of having the school budget as a separate vote from the town budget at referendum. While some talked about wanting to keep them consolidated, others brought up that there would be more transparency if it was separate.
Another proposed change that caused some controversy was the idea to split the planning and zoning commission into two separate commissions. Economic Development Commission Chair Dave Cyr spoke about the consequences of going forward with such a big change.
What will happen if the two commissions have different interpretation or disagree? he said, That will make the process more difficult and uncertain for applicants.
Term limits were also discussed as board members, like Cyr, believed that experienced participants would have to leave a board even if they were doing well.
The commission reconvened after the hearing for a meeting to talk about the arguments presented. The biggest discussion revolved around whether to make the Board of Education partisan. Chairman Paul Argazzi explained that voters did not have a way to really change things with the way the current board stood. The commission also questioned the consequences of putting it on the ballot, especially if it got rejected.
Im just thinking, is it worth it to put that sort of bomb shell out there? Commissioner Maggie Morelli said.
Millerd commented that the most important aspect to keep would be to make the school budget separate from the town budget vote.
The commission deliberated on possible compromises based on public comments.
The commission will meet again to make final changes Monday, June 13, before submitting the Charter draft the next day. From there, the Town Council will have the draft on its agenda for the June 21 meeting.
CHESHIRE State police have identified the trooper who was seriously injured in a crash while assisting a disabled motorist on Interstate 691 Monday evening.
Jack Kulig, 36, was taken to St. Marys Hospital in Waterbury, according to state police. A St. Marys spokeswoman could not provide information on the troopers condition Tuesday afternoon.
On Monday just before 5 p.m., Kulig was assisting a motorist on I-691 west near Exit 3, state police said. The trooper tried to block traffic so a disabled vehicle in the center median could move to the right shoulder. While the disabled vehicle attempted to move, a Honda Civic struck the back of the troopers vehicle, causing it to spin out into the wire rope guardrail. The troopers vehicle had its emergency lights on.
Steven Veras, 25, of 215 Ohio Ave., Providence, Rhode Island, and Enrique Trinidad, 29, 56 Gilbert Road, Meriden, were also taken to St. Marys Hospital with suspected minor injuries.
State police issued a statement on the agencys Facebook page Tuesday, stating troopers block and close highway lanes to protect you. They turn their emergency lights on to warn you of a hazard. We cant help you if you put us out of service and injure us.
blipiner@record-journal.com 203-317-2444 Twitter: @BryanLipiner
Michael Ferro Is Amused By Your Reactions To #Tronc
By Rachel Cromidas in News on Jun 7, 2016 6:37PM
"Go home Tribune, you're #tronc," and other fun slogans for the Tribune Publishing company's rebranding as tronc have been filling our Twitter feeds all week.
Many wondered what bizarre, alternate-universe business playbook the Tribune's fledgling board chairman, Michael Ferro, was reading when he supported the peculiar rebranding, which puts a cynical corporate tone around the journalistic works of the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, and other legacy Tribune Publishing newspapers. Ferro, who is perhaps most widely known in Chicago for firing the Sun-Times' photographers as head of that paper's parent company, went on CNBC Monday to explain himself a bit more.
It's already been a hard year for the media company. Last year it split off from the once-bankrupt Tribune Company in an effort to ready the company's assets for sale. In one of the weirder outcomes of the split, the Chicago Tribune, among other Tribune Publishing papers, had to pay for office space in it decades-long home the Tribune Tower.
Recently Gannett, another legacy media company, offered to by Tribune Publishing for a price nearly 60 percent higher than its value on the stock market. When the board, led by Ferro, rejected this bid, Gannett offered even more. Ferro's board still said no, promising that the company would be worth even more than Gannett's $15-a-share offer soon, once it pushes through a series of vague re-branding and new strategies designed to "monetize content"a cynic's way of saying, to make people pay for journalism, even when that journalism has no value.
Ferro has been roundly criticized for turning down Gannett's make-money-fast offer, but, as he told CNBC, he doesn't mind the haters.
"It's been fun reading the Twitter feeds," he said, understatedly referring to the deluge of Tweets devoted to mocking the name #tronc within hours of the new name and logo's release to employees. Ferro explained that the name "Tribune" did not belong to Tribune Publishing, and it had to rebrand or face paying money to Tribune Media (its twin from last year when businessmen broke up the Tribune Company) to lease the name the same way it must lease office space in its former homes.
But Ferro says he can raise the company's value to $15 a share, cut costs, and "raise journalists' salaries across the board" in the process. With raises few and far between in the journalism industry, this could be the salve for tronc's wounded egos. Or there could be hope yetGannett announced Tuesday that it is still pursuing its bid for Tribune Publishing, due to news that as many as 40 percent of shareholders withheld their support for the company's directors at a June 2 meeting. And in one of the bigger insults to the entire concept of tronc, Gannett reps suggested that the "rapid series of changes taking place inside the Tribune" may "diminish the value of Tribune to Gannett." Ouch.
Photo: Flier Warns Humboldt Park Of Man-Bun-Having 'Urban Colonists'
By Mae Rice in News on Jun 7, 2016 3:57PM
The flier above, essentially a PSA warning of gentrification and gentrifiers, was spotted in Humboldt Park by an astute Imgur user this weekend. The flier advises locals to watch out for Millennial gueros especially those that vaguely resemble Bon Iveron quests for artisanal coffee. These people (full disclosure: me, though I don't have a beard) will displace "el corazon y el alma"the heart and the soulof the neighborhood.
This flier is just the latest salvo in the heated discussion about gentrification and displacement in Chicago, especially on the city's West Side. In mid-May, hundreds of protesters took to the 606 trail to protest the wave of gentrification and displacement it's triggered in the neighborhoods it runs through. Back in late March, Logan Square renters also took to the streets to protest rent hikes and mass evictions from notorious landlord M. Fishman. And in February, a collective of performance artist-witches gathered to "hex" Northwest Side gentrifiers.
A recent study also found that in Pilsena gentrifying, historically Hispanic neighborhood not unlike Humboldt ParkHispanic residents are being displaced in the thousands as rents rise and the white population grows.
Basically, it's hard to argue this flier is entirely unreasonable (and even harder to argue it's not funny). If you made it or know who did, shoot us an email at tips@chicagoist.com.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
A spate of technical issues Tuesday morning at polling sites throughout San Mateo County prompted election officials to resort to handing out traditional paper ballots to California primary voters as workers rushed to fix about 140 devices throughout the county.
When poll workers began booting up the eSlate machines Tuesday about 7 a.m., they realized that about 10 percent of the 1,400 machines were not functioning properly. Within an hour, though, all were back up and running, according to Jim Irizarry, the countys assistant chief elections officer.
Irizarry chalked up most of the problem to coding and cabling issues, though some machines simply werent plugged into a power source correctly. Voters had to use traditional paper ballots cast everywhere else in California, except Orange County, which also offers the electronic machines as workers went poll to poll fixing the issues.
Your browser does not support the iframe HTML tag. Try viewing this in a modern browser like Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Internet Explorer 9 or later.
Generally speaking, its a very good, safe and secure system, Irizarry said. But I think its getting close to the end of its useful life. ... Every election we have technical issues that surface. But it wasnt insurmountable. It wasnt something we couldnt handle.
In some cases Tuesday morning, the machines werent properly coded to communicate with a central control console. In other cases, the cables werent wired correctly, Irizarry said.
A reddit user said that his wife, a poll volunteer in East Palo Alto, was given the incorrect password to start the machine.
They are offering paper ballots or wait for someone from the county to come and fix it, the reddit user posted on the online message board before the problem was resolved.
The problems faced Tuesday were more significant than what the county has previously experienced, officials said, but voters were still able to cast their ballots without major delays.
Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: kveklerov
While the number of bank branches in the San Antonio area and in Texas overall have been shrinking, Frost Bank is looking to buck the trend.
The San Antonio financial institution has plans to open at least five branches in the state, including two locally. It currently has 26 branches in San Antonio and 127 overall all in Texas.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
San Antonio restaurants The Hoppy Monk and Cookhouse are two of several Texas restaurants competing in a national competition to blend the best burger using ground beef and mushrooms.
The #BlendedBurgerProject is an opportunity for cooks across the country to showcase their skills at making a burger for the James Beard Foundation thats considered more sustainable through the use of blending ground beef with mushrooms, according to the website.
RELATED: San Antonio loves burgers, but these gourmet creations are the cream of the crop
The goal is to also make a tastier, healthier burger, which must consist of 25 percent mushrooms.
There are currently 24 different Texas restaurants fighting to win this competition, two of which are based here in the Alamo City. There are a total of 316 restaurants who have entered in the competition nationally as of Tuesday.
The five restaurants with the most votes from the public will win a trip to New York City to be featured at the James Beard House on Oct. 16, according to the organizations website.
RELATED: San Antonio favorite Chris Madrid's makes national 'best burgers' list
The Hoppy Monks entry, the Fungi Monk Cheeseburger, is made with Akaushi ground beef, crimini mushrooms, oyster mushroom, beef tallow, truffle oil fonduta, caramelized onion aioli, salsa and arugula. This burger will be available until July 31 at 1010 N. Loop 1604 E, according to the restaurants Facebook page.
Meanwhile, the Cookhouses concoction is made of 40 percent mushrooms and 60 percent Wagyu beef. It is topped with arugula pesto aioli, bread and butter pickles, smoked gouda, vegan mushroom bacon, fresh arugula and served on poboy bread, said Cookhouses morning lead cook Brandon Wright. The Cookhouse is located at 720 E. Mistletoe Ave.
Those interested in voting for the burgers can do so here. You can vote once a day, with voting concluding at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on July 31. As of 11 a.m. Tuesday, the Hoppy Monk has 67 votes and the Cookhouse has zero votes.
RELATED: Texas' best burgers, according to The Daily Meal
The James Beard Foundation, which is hosting the competition, has a mission of celebrating, nurturing and honoring Americas diverse culinary heritage through programs that educate and inspire, the website said.
[h/t Culture Map San Antonio]
twhite@mysa.com
Twitter: @tylerlwhite
Albany
A day after receiving abundant praise for his latest executive order, Gov. Andrew Cuomo weathered the backlash.
Issued Sunday, the order will require state agencies to stop doing business with and divest public funds from institutions and companies associated with the boycotts, divestment and sanctions, or BDS, campaign against Israel, a movement supported by Palestinian groups and advocates who object to Israeli policies in the West Bank and elsewhere.
On Monday, civil liberties groups who have objected to similar anti-boycott sanctions in other states said the order was certain to face a legal challenge.
"Gov. Cuomo has decided that his moral compass points in the direction of Joseph McCarthy rather than Rosa Parks," said Columbia Law School professor Katherine Franke, referencing the notorious red-baiting U.S. senator and the heroine of the Montgomery bus boycott, respectively. Franke chairs the board of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a progressive advocacy group that works on a range of issues touching on domestic and international policy.
In an interview with the Times Union, she called the order an "end run" around previous legislative efforts to wound the BDS movement in New York, and "dog-whistle politics to (Cuomo's) more extreme right-wing Jewish supporters."
"I don't have any doubts we'll be litigating this," she said.
Franke noted that previous Supreme Court rulings have upheld boycotts as protected forms of speech and political actions. She cited the high court's 1982 decision in NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co., which concluded that the civil rights group's decision in the late 1960s to boycott a set of businesses in rural Mississippi was protected as a form of political speech as long as organizers didn't engage in violence to enforce the boycott.
"The state cannot penalize individuals or entities on the basis of their free expression, and political boycotts are a form of free expression," said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the state Civil Liberties Union, in a statement. "Creating a government blacklist that imposes state sanctions based on political beliefs raises First Amendment concerns, and this is no exception."
ACLU branches in other states have opposed legislation similar to Cuomo's order. In its critique of Iowa's anti-BDS law, the state group pointed to the Claiborne ruling as well as the Supreme Court's 1996 decision in the case of O'Hare Truck Service v. City of Northlake, which held that the Michigan city violated the First Amendment by firing a towing contractor in retaliation for its owner's refusal to support a mayoral candidate. "If the government could deny a benefit to a person because of his constitutionally protected speech or associations, his exercise of those freedoms would in effect be penalized and inhibited," the majority concluded. "This would allow the government to produce a result which it could not command directly.
"Such interference with constitutional rights is impermissible," the court said.
In an essay published online by The Daily Beast, attorney and constitutional scholar Alan Dershowitz said comparing Cuomo's actions to those of McCarthy represented an insult to "the victims of real McCarthyism who were punished for their ideas, speeches, and associations, not for their actions in refusing to do business based on national origin.
"Yes, there will be a list of companies that discriminate against Israel, just as there are lists today of store and building owners who refuse to do business with, for example, African-Americans, LGBTQ, or Muslims," Dershowitz wrote. "There will have to be proof that a business engaged in a discriminatory boycott by singling out Israeli entities, or individuals based on their national origin, or political convictions, and a process for challenging inclusion on any list."
In an interview, Cuomo's counsel Alphonso David said the governor's action was fully supported by the law, and narrowly tailored both in terms of the type of groups targeted and the sort of government business it would withhold.
He noted that state agencies operate under a "vendor responsibility" construct that governs whether they may enter into contracts with certain businesses based on a variety of statutes and regulation including state Human Rights Law, general business law and more. "The executive order relates specifically to the state's investment of its dollars," David said.
Citing the likelihood of a legal challenge, David declined to offer a detailed legal case for how the order conformed with the Claiborne and Northlake decisions.
"You may want to compare different types of boycotts, but you have to look at the government action what is the government seeking to do? in order to determine whether or not you can compare the different instances," he said.
David also noted that Iowa was one of four other states also including Illinois, Indiana and South Carolina that have passed similar anti-BDS laws. And he pointed to the recent passage of the federal Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, which includes language opposing boycotts of Israel, or other forms of state-sponsored economic sanction against that nation, sponsored by foreign governments.
Cuomo's action was his most direct response to an issue that has been bubbling for years in the state Capitol and around the globe.
According to the order's language, state Office of General Services Commissioner RoAnn Destito will assemble within 180 days a list of institutions or companies found to be involved in the BDS movement. Any entity named on the list would then have 90 days to present evidence that it was not involved in any kind of boycott against Israel.
While the Republican-controlled state Senate has passed similar legislation, the Assembly's Democratic majority has been reluctant to approve anti-boycott measures including one sponsored by former Speaker Sheldon Silver before his arrest in January 2015. Those bills were prompted in part by a controversial academic boycott of Israel approved in 2013 by a majority of members of the American Studies Association that, while almost entirely symbolic, was viewed by supporters of Israel as a U.S. beachhead for the BDS movement.
Legislation that would have cut off funding to any academic institution that supports a BDS-backing organization such as the American Studies Association was roundly criticized by numerous groups, including New York State United Teachers, as a violation of academic freedom protections. Opposing a bill grinding its way through the legislative committee process, however, is politically less perilous than rebuking the governor in the final two weeks of a legislative session, six months before legislative elections. "We are going to review the executive order, but we have not taken a position on it yet," said NYSUT spokesman Carl Korn on Monday.
cseiler@timesunion.com 518-454-5619 @CaseySeiler
STRATFORD After a delay of almost nine months, work will continue Monday on the final phases of a massive runway safety project at Sikorsky Memorial Airport.
The Federal Aviation Administration following a site inspection Tuesday lifted the ban the agency imposed last Labor Day.
But Sikorsky will still be without one of its two runways until late summer or early fall.
Owned by Bridgeport, the airport is located in Stratford.
The safety work was prompted by a 1994 plane crash that killed eight people.
Following years of complications, the mostly federally funded project finally commenced in late 2014. It included the realignment of nearby Route 113 Main Street in Stratford to install a bed of concrete-like material designed to decelerate aircraft that overshoot the runway.
Work also entailed runway reconstruction, an upgraded drainage system and removal of hazardous waste.
Last Labor Day weekend a contractor allegedly drove a truck through an area where planes taxi a major problem for the FAA. In the course of investigating what happened, the agency found other issues with the management of Sikorsky, and the remaining runway work was brought to a halt.
The FAAs comfort level was improved recently when the Connecticut Airport Authority agreed to assign a staffer to temporarily run Sikorsky following the death of acting manager Steve Ford in February.
That new boss, Kurt Sendlein, said Tuesday that there are 65 days left in the runway construction scheduled, followed by an additional 30 to 45 days of line painting and other work needed before the project is completed.
So youre looking at somewhere between 90 to 100 days out, Sendlein said. If weather goes with us, (the runway could reopen) conceivably in late August.
David Faile, president of the Friends of Sikorsky organization, has been frustrated with the long work stoppage.
And Faile still was not happy Tuesday, arguing that city and airport officials have been claiming there were only 65 days left total.
Now all of a sudden today its another 30 to 45 days, Faile said. Thats a total surprise.
A Buddhism-themed ink painting of master Zhang Daqian, which was among dozens of his copies of Dunhuang murals, fetched 63.8 million yuan ($9.7 million) at a Beijing auction on Saturday night.
The Buddhism-themed ink painting by Zhang Daqian [Photo provided to China Daily]
The painting portrays a Dakini goddess in Tibetan Buddhism which literally translates as "sky goer" in Tibetan, and features a heavy coloring scheme. It was hammered by Beijing Poly International Auction during its major spring sales.
A devout Buddhist, Zhang lined the subject matters in this painting with expensive gold powders.
Zhang arrived at the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, Gansu province, in 1941 with a team of assistants. During their stay for two and a half years, Zhang copied many murals inside the caves. He later exhibited these copies in Chengdu, helping publicize the excellence of Dunhuang art.
The sold painting came from the collection of a Taiwan collector. It was believed to be transported to Taiwan along with other of Zhang's copies and art collection, when he was aboard a plane heading for the island in 1949.
TROY A $22 million state Neighborhood Revitalization Program to combat "zombie properties" will bring 20 to 30 buildings back to life in the city.
Troy was identified as one of six communities in New York with a high concentration of these properties.
"Abandoned and foreclosed 'zombie properties' drag down surrounding home values and can impact the economic health and public safety of entire communities," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in announcing the initiative Tuesday. "With these new programs, we are taking action to crack down on these neighborhood blights, and help more New Yorkers achieve and maintain the American Dream of homeownership."
Mayor Patrick Madden welcomed the opportunity to expand local home ownership while cleaning up blight as the city embarks on a program to spend $500,000 to raze at least 11 buildings that are severely deteriorated.
"Homeownership continues to be the cornerstone of stable and vibrant neighborhoods. The funding made available through the Neighborhood Revitalization Program will go a long way in confronting the challenge of blighted and abandoned 'zombie properties' in the City of Troy," Madden stated.
Troy Rehabilitation and Improvement Program (TRIP) will administer the program, with funding through New York State Homes and Community Renewal from JPMorgan Chase settlement funds. Home purchases will be made through HCR's State of New York Mortgage Agency Purchase Renovation Mortgage, which allows qualified low- and middle-income buyers to receive up to $20,000 in additional funds for home improvements with no interest
kcrowe@timesunion.com 518-454-5084 @KennethCrowe
ALBANY An Albany County resident is the latest New Yorker to have a confirmed case of Zika virus this year.
That brings the total number of cases in the state to 189, with 135 of them among New York City residents.
1 Freddie Gray case: An officer charged in the death of a young black man whose neck was broken in the back of a police wagon has filed a federal defamation lawsuit against Baltimores top prosecutor. Lt. Brian Rice sued States Attorney Marilyn Mosby and Maj. Sam Cogen of the sheriffs office for defamation of character, false imprisonment and violation of rights. Rice cited Mosbys public comments during her May 1 press conference when she announced charges against six officers, including statements about the legality of the knife found on Freddie Gray. The officers maintain the knife was unlawful. Mosby said it was legal.
2 Ex-astronaut charged: A former astronaut who flew five missions and helped lead NASA back into space after the space shuttle Columbia disaster is charged with murder after an early morning wreck that killed two girls in Alabama, state troopers said. James Halsell Jr., 59, of Huntsville was arrested after a crash killed 11-year-old Niomi Deona James and 13-year-old Jayla Latrick Parler of Brent, said a statement from Alabama state troopers. A preliminary investigation indicated alcohol and speed may have been factors in the crash. The wreck happened at 2:50 a.m. on U.S. 82, a rural highway east of Tuscaloosa.
Foreign tourists join local residents to make Zongzi (Chinese tamales) in Xi'an, the capital city of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, on June 6, 2016. Chinese people make sticky rice bundles to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on June 9th this year. [Photo / Xiancn.com]
Alameda County Sheriffs Office / /
A 34-year-old East Bay transient was charged Tuesday in the slaying of a San Francisco Muni driver and attempted killing of two other people, during an altercation outside a San Leandro bar last week.
Sophy Kong, who is known to frequent the San Lorenzo and Oakland areas, was charged with murder and two counts of attempted murder in the attack early Saturday outside Shooters bar on the 1500 block of 150th Avenue, officials said.
The Sevan Driller, which is constructed by the Nantong Shipyard under China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO), is unveiled during a launching ceremony in Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, June 28, 2009. [File photo]
China COSCO Shipping Co, the country's largest shipping company by fleet size, officially launched COSCO Shipping Energy Transportation Co in Shanghai on Monday, creating the world's largest oil tanker fleet in terms of both ship numbers and deadweight tonnage.
With a total of 105 oil tankers, including nine liquefied natural gas carriers and a deadweight tonnage of 17.04 million, the new company has the world's biggest fleet of oil tankers and the largest transport capacity of its kind. The asset value of COSCO Shipping Energy Transportation accounts for 11 percent of COSCO Shipping's total assets, and its oil tanker fleet holds 20 percent of the group's entire shipping capacity. COSCO Shipping Chairman Xu Lirong said that the establishment of the new company is a practical way to achieve business scale and synergies particularly in the sectors of energy shipping and logistics, in order to better compete with other established global rivals.
"This move is also part of ongoing restructuring of State-owned enterprises," Xu said at the inaugural meeting in Shanghai.
"The group will use this new setup to strengthen its capabilities in shipping oil, gas and other energy resources to ensure China's energy security."
The new company was formed by the previous China Shipping Development Co and COSCO Dalian Ocean Shipping Co.
COSCO Shipping Energy Transportation is also involved in investing in up to 25 LNG carriers, and it has more than 200 large domestic and overseas business partners in the oil and gas sectors such as China National Offshore Oil Corp, Royal Dutch Shell Group and BP Plc.
"COSCO Shipping's new step will transform its businesses into a more diversified operation model that can take full advantage of the opportunities likely to come from the Belt and Road Initiative and the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt," said Wang Mingzhi, deputy director-general of the waterborne transport bureau at the Ministry of Transport.
Wang said the group will not only improve the country's ability to ensure its energy, economic and transportation security, but also play a key role in demonstrating that "reform is the fundamental way for SOEs to grow and prosper".
COSCO Shipping Energy Transportation will develop business operated by LNG carriers as a priority during China's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).
Eager to develop businesses in logistics, energy development, industrial equipment manufacturing, financial and shipping services, COSCO Shipping also launched COSCO Shipping Financial Holding Co in Hong Kong last week to diversify the group's businesses in the financial services including vessel leasing, investments, finance management and insurance.
Yi Gang (C), vice governor of the People's Bank of China, attends a press conference during the eighth round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogues and the seventh round of China-U.S. High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange, in Beijing, capital of China, June 7, 2016. [Photo / Xinhua]
China will grant the United States a quota of 250 billion yuan (US$38 billion) under the country's Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII) program, an official with the central bank said Tuesday.
"China values the cooperation with the U.S., and both sides will jointly promote renminbi businesses in North America," Yi Gang, vice governor of the People's Bank of China, told press at the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogues on Tuesday.
The RQFII mechanism was launched in December 2011 to widen investment channels for overseas renminbi funds on the Chinese mainland, allowing those that qualify to invest in China's securities market within a permitted quota. It aims partly to increase the international use of renminbi.
Yi said China was considering appointing qualified foreign institutions as settlement institutions and bond underwriters, and is simplifying the approval procedures for its RQFII program.
The new quota will expand the mechanism by about 50 percent. The combined RQFII quota stood at 501.77 billion yuan at the end of last month.
By the end of May, China had approved RQFII quotas to 165 institutions from 10 countries and regions.
Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang told a news briefing Tuesday that China and the U.S. welcomed continuous cooperation between financial platforms and both sides would strive to connect their financial markets and products.
Financial regulators from both countries are willing to enhance cooperation in information sharing and cross-border law enforcement, Wang said.
The vice premier added that the two sides had agreed to promote exchanges to address money laundering, the financing of terrorism and counterfeit bank notes.
The two sides reiterated that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should increase quotas, the voting power and maximum financial commitment, for emerging markets and developing nations.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Fort Worth emergency crews discovered a burnt cat near flames and ritualistic articles in a cemetery Sunday, according to reports.
When Forth Worth police and fire departments arrived at Harrison Cemetery, they found the feline "likely used as part of a 'religious ritual or sacrifice'" at a headstone, near "bottles, candles, a knife and other various items," according to the local ABC affiliate, WFAA.
RELATED: Last known 9/11 search dog euthanized in Houston area
Authorities also told the station the animal was "severely burnt," "stabbed" and looked to be domesticated.
WFAA crews "observed cash, latex gloves, cigars, a crucifix, and peppers at the site," according to the report.
The cat, now named "Poe," was taken in by the Animal Hope shelter, a Fort Worth organization committed to helping "second chance" cats and dogs receive behavioral and medical care before adoption.
RELATED: North Texas man accused of lighting dog on fire with gasoline
Benjamin Morris, of Animal Hope, told mySA.com on Tuesday that veterinarians started Poe's treatment on Monday and he is in "stable condition" at Animal Hospital Southwest in Fort Worth.
"Hospital staff say he's a really nice cat," Morris added.
RELATED: Texas A&M Corps of Cadets members charged in ritualistic dumping of dead dog
No arrests have been made in the case and a cruelty investigation continues as does Poe's care, according to Animal Hope. Morris said donations towards the cat's medical needs can be made via the shelter's website.
RELATED: Dog left for dead during Texas floods saved by Fort Bend rescue crews
Animal Hope addressed the suspects in a Facebook post on Monday.
"Congratulations, nameless stranger, you've affirmed humanity's excellence in that one trait that dogs and cats lack: malice," the post said.
mmendoza@mysa.com
Twitter: @MaddySkye
A former Texas police officer was convicted of capital murder on Monday for the shooting death of Little River-Academy Police Chief Lee Dixon, 53, that occurred in June of 2014.
David Gene Risner, 59, shot and killed Dixon after Dixon came to Risner's door to write him a ticket for a road rage incident involving a gun that had occurred earlier in the day according to a report from KWTX.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
A new family detention facility could be opening its doors in Jim Wells County.
Alan Hill, the senior vice president for corporate communications and government relations at the private prison operator Serco Inc., said his company responded to a request for information from the federal government earlier this year and is in talks with the county government to build a facility in San Diego, which straddles Jim Wells and Duval counties.
In its March request for information, a preliminary step in the contracting process, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it wants to construct 1,000 more family detention beds.
ICE has stated that they will choose one or more facility to reach this target, Hill said in an email. The San Diego facility we are planning to propose would only accommodate a portion of this amount. The exact bed count is still under development.
ICE officials and Jim Wells County Judge Pedro Trevino Jr. did not immediately respond to requests for comment made Tuesday morning.
The Corpus Christi Caller Times reported that Jim Wells commissioners on Monday authorized Trevino to begin negotiations with ICE and Serco to put the detention center in a 114-bed former nursing home.
Serco has international experience of managing immigration facilities, Hill said. We are committed to looking after all those in our care with trust and respect. We are currently consulting with the local community about our proposal for a facility in San Diego, Texas.
The announcement drew criticism from immigration activists and opponents of privately run prisons.
The answer to the family detention crisis is not contracting for new detention camps, regardless of where they are or who operates them. The answer is ending the practice of locking up kids and their moms once and for all, said Bob Libal, executive director of Grassroots Leadership. The Obama administration has a choice - will its legacy be ending family detention or codifying the largest trend in locking up families in this country since Japanese internment.
jbuch@express-news.net
Twitter: @jlbuch
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
About two hundred people gathered on the block of San Fernando Street where 7-year-old Iris Rodriguez was fatally shot last week, enough to block traffic in both directions for about 30 minutes.
The large turnout, participants said, signaled a community in mourning.
Balloons in Rodriguez' favorite colors red, purple and green were scattered around the crowd. People held candles, as Rodriguez' grandmother, Josephine Juarez, led the vigil.
I appreciate your help, because I'm in pain, Juarez said. You're all angels. You're family now.
Then Juarez instructed the crowd to release the balloons into the sky.
Love you, Iris! she said as the balloons ascended. Love you, baby girl!
The support was wonderful, Juarez said, adding, The whole community came together in honor of her. It's not about color or race. It's the whole community coming together.
Witnesses told police a group of men, arguing among themselves, had approached Rodriguez, her mother and mother's boyfriend Wednesday before at least one of them opened fire. Rodriguez died in a hospital Thursday evening. Her mother, Eva Juarez, was still recovering from a gunshot wound.
Roseanne Levi said the vigil for Iris took over her emotions.
Oh my God, I was crying, Levi said. I feel for my cousin. That was her daughter.
People wore T-shirts for the girl. The Guardians of Children motorcycle club was in attendance.
So was Police Chief William McManus, who said the community support was pure San Antonio.
As the balloons ascended out of sight, Juarez looked towards the sky.
She was a happy little girl, Juarez said. Loved by everybody. She was just extraordinary.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Adult film star and former MTV reality show actress Tila Tequila posted a photo to Facebook on Monday in her "cowboy boots" with a caption that read: "Ain't nuthin better than riding around Texas in my cowboy boots to hunt down these damn illegals! #SendThemBack," stunning fans and critics alike.
RELATED:Tila Tequila wishes Hitler a happy birthday on Twitter
Texans quickly stormed the comments of the post noting that the porn star's shoes weren't exactly cowboy boots, and reminded her of her own ethnic background born to Singapore emigrants to the United States.
"As a Texas native I must inform you that those are no way in hell cowboy boots ma'am," one Facebook user, Josh Rodriguez, wrote.
RELATED: Tila Tequila Booted From 'Celebrity Big Brother' Over Hitler Views (Report)
Others renounced their appreciation for the adult film star as a result of her racially insensitive post, and criticized her "uneducated" commentary on the issue of immigration.
The porn star was in headlines earlier this year after she made a GoFundMe asking for funds to move into a new home and buy furniture.
MMedina@mySA.com
Twitter:@MariahMedinaaa
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, plans to visit San Antonio on June 17, smack dab in the middle of the Democratic Convention at the Alamodome. And on the same day, some 1,100 people will be protesting the reality star's visit.
Maestranza, a local community outreach and activist group, organized an event titled "Dump Trump San Antonio!" on Facebook, set for next Friday at 2 p.m.
RELATED: Donald Trump to visit Dallas, Houston and San Antonio
Denise Hernandez, the founder of Maestranza, said the location of the protest will be decided this Thursday, adding they might not be right next to Trump's fundraiser, because of the violence that has erupted across the country at the candidate's events.
RELATED: Hillary Clinton under fire for $12, 495 Armani Jacket
But Hernandez doesn't foresee violence being a huge problem.
"San Antonio is largely a friendly city," Hernandez said. "But, of course, there's always people who want to wild out."
The Donald Trump campaign did not immediately respond for comment.
The plan for the protest includes music, signs and maybe, if they're lucky to find them, Trump pinatas. Organizers of the protest are hoping to keep things "peaceful," Hernandez said. There will also be "different cultural music," maybe even some Selena, to show that people who are against Trump and his "hate rhetoric" come from all different walks of life, she said.
RELATED: Texas congressman Filemon Vela tells Donald Trump to 'shove it'
Hernandez finds it pretty comical that Trump would visit San Antonio after making, now infamous, comments about Mexican immigrants.
Last year, when he announced his candidacy for president on June 16, Trump 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 crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume are good people."
In a year when Trump said women should be punished for having an abortion and there should be a database of Muslim Americans, his statements on Mexican Americans are almost forgettable. But not for those who are headed to next week's protest.
"This is a Tejano town and that's what's so funny about it," Hernandez said. "This is a traditionally Mexican town. We've been here and we're going to be here."
After Trump's visit was announced Monday, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (TX-20) tweeted the Republican candidate would be visiting a city that is 60 percent Mexican-American, calling San Antonio the "last place he'd fit in."
Hernandez said it was no coincidence that Trump would be visiting the same time the Democratic Convention was taking place.
Bexar County Democratic Party Chairman Manuel Medina told the San Antonio Express-News Monday that the timing of Trump's visit is "a provocation-- exactly what you'd expect from Donald Trump."
kbradshaw@express-news.net
Twitter: @kbrad5
After passing through multiple checkpoints, including facial recognition, fingerprint verification and a metal detector, students will finally be granted access, not to a bank vault, but to a radio-shielded room where they will take the national college entrance exam.
Chinese authorities are imposing strict measures to prevent cheating in this year's testknown as the gaokaoand those who cheat could get three to seven years in prison.
The anti-cheating measures also include the printing and transportation of test papers and the selection of exam supervisors.
Local education bureaus are collaborating with public security bureaus to introduce advanced technology that can identify cheaters.
For example, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region will use finger vein recognitiona new-generation biometric authentication technique that goes beyond fingerprintsto verify the identity of exam takers.
In Luoyang, Henan province, local authorities will use drones hovering 500 meters overhead to intercept any radio signals around the test buildings.
In a number of cities and provinces including Beijing and Guangzhou, all smartwatches that can transmit data will be banned.
Despite the deterrent value of harsh penalties, some cheaters are still willing to take the risk in other national-level exams.
For example, leaks of test documents to be used in this year's civil service exams occurred in Jiangxi and Anhui provinces.
"Under the current talent-selection system in China, exam performance is decisive for one's future. As a result, the general public pins high hopes on the fairness of large national exams such as the gaokao, the national postgraduate entrance examination and the civil service recruitment exams," said commentator Wang Jie of Beijing-based Science and Technology Daily.
Guo Dan, a Beijing mother whose daughter will take the gaokao in two years, said, "There is a benefit chain behind leaking test papers and organized cheating. So adopting stricter exam regulations will bring more fairness.
"That's why I support the new policies."
This year's gaokao will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. About 9.4 million people are expected to take the exam.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
One Australian Wild Card participant made a Texas-sized splash in the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series competitions' first stop in Graford, Texas on Saturday when she upset the odds and finished in first place over two other divers including San Antonio diver Cesilie Carlton.
RELATED: 'America's queen of cliff diving' is winning world championships and is a native of San Antonio
Red Bull wild card diver Rhiannan Iffland, 24, finished just 10 points ahead of the competition at the Possum Kingdom Lake event. With only four weeks of preparation afforded to her since officials confirmed her participation in the event, she said she went "to the gym a lot to improve (her) fitness and fine-tune (her) technique."
The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series is slated to make eight more stops across the globe before its conclusion. The competition, which features more than 30 divers from around the world began in 2009 and has been an annual event since.
RELATED: X Games' three-year stay in Texas coming to end
While Iffland won the competition, Carlton, the only Texas-native participating, was the first wild card to win a competition since the tournament's inception.
RELATED: Shark kills Australian diver in second deadly attack in days
Divers will travel to Copenhagen, Denmark for the next competition.
Click through the slideshow above to see photos from the diving tournaments' Texas stop.
MMedina@mySA.com
Twitter:@MariahMedinaaa
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
The Falfurrias mayor pro tem on Monday pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting an illegal gambling business in her small South Texas town, federal authorities announced.
In March, a federal grand jury indicted Leticia Hernandez Garza, 58, the mayor pro tem of Falfurrias, for aiding and abetting a gambling establishment from January 2009 to May 2015. She later admitted to using her influence as an elected official to aid and abet several of the local illegal gambling businesses, federal prosecutors said.
Garzas arrest was part of a larger undercover operation into nearly a dozen illegal casinos in the Falfurrias area, leading to the arrest of 20 owners, operators or managers of multiple illegal casinos in the Falfurrias area.
RELATED: More than 200 gambling machines, $400K seized in S Texas bust
In all, law enforcement raided 11 game rooms and residences of the owners, seizing $4.9 million in what officials said at the time was the most comprehensive crackdown ever on illegal gaming establishments in the state.
Casinos lined with dozens of slot machines, known as eight-liners or maquinitas, had proliferated across the small South Texas town of nearly 5,000 residents. The businesses operated out of ordinary repurposed buildings where law enforcement agencies have scant resources to enforce gaming laws.
Eight-liners are regulated by the Texas comptroller, collecting $10 million a year statewide. Eight-liners also generate tens of thousands of dollars in taxes for local coffers but regularly operate with little oversight. They are legal unless they provide cash payouts or goods that can be redeemed for money.
RELATED: Gunmen with AK-47s rob illegal gambling arcade near Texas-Mexico border
Falfurrias officials had approved a city ordinance that allowed for a dozen gaming establishments from which the city would collect a $1,000 annual fee per eight-liner machine.
U.S. District Judge Nelva Ramos set Garzas sentencing for Sept., when she will face up to five years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine. She was permitted to remain on bond pending that hearing.
The two-year investigation into the illegal gaming establishments in Falfurrias was handled by federal, state and local law enforcement, including Texas Rangers, Homeland Security Investigations, Kingsville Specialized Crimes and Narcotics Task Force and the Secret Service.
anelsen@express-news.net
Twitter: @amnelsen
A woman accused of molesting a 6-year-old girl during video-recorded sex sessions with her husband pleaded not guilty Tuesday to producing child pornography.
U.S. Magistrate Judge John Primomo entered the plea for Ashleigh Browning Welsh, 22, after asking her lawyer, Tom Clarke, if he was comfortable with her ability to understand the arraignment proceedings.
SAN ANTONIO A man was hospitalized with a cut to his neck on Tuesday morning following a fight at a North Side senior living community.
San Antonio Police Department officer Johnny Perez said a construction crew was working on renovations inside the Brookdale Senior Living Solutions facility in the 3300 block of Oakwell Court around noon when one of the workers got into an argument with a coworker about who works faster.
San Antonio Police Department investigators arrested a man on Tuesday suspected of stealing thousands of dollars worth of property from vehicles across the city.
The man, identified by police as Jaime Villanueva, 36, was taken into custody at Roosevelt Avenue and Dagley around 12:30 p.m.
COURTESY/COURTESY OF THE BEXAR COUNTY SHE
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
SAN ANTONIO A 15-year veteran of the San Antonio Police Department and a fellow officer who resigned in January have been arrested on bribery charges following a months-long investigation by the department.
Daniel Joseph Schmitt, 42, has been charged with eight counts of bribery for his alleged role in incidents ranging from July of 2013 through December of 2014, according to a Bexar County Grand Jury indictment.
RELATED: S.A. family gets reality TV show 'Texas Trocas'
San Antonio Police Department spokesman Sgt. Jesse Salame said investigators received information from the Texas Department of Public Safety in 2015 that Schmitt may have been giving passing inspections to Texas Chrome Transport Inc. in exchange for cash.
Public records list the companys owner as Lorena Mendez, who was featured along with her family on on the Discovery en Espanol's 2014 series "Texas Trocas."
At this point, no members of the family have been tied to any wrongdoing and it is unclear whether any additional charges will be filed.
Laura Mendoza, a member of the Mendez family said Texas Chrome Transport Inc. is not affiliated with "Texas Trocas" but Lorena Mendez has been feature on the reality show.
A call to the company requesting comment was not returned Tuesday.
RELATED: Ex-Maverick County officials sentenced in bribery and kickback scheme
He was essentially working for a trucking company and giving them passing inspections, Salame said.
According to the indictment, Schmitt received more than $7,000 from the company over the 2-year period.
Salame said authorities caught on to Schmitt after realizing that Texas Chrome had too clean of a record.
(Investigators) realized that this one particular company had an unusual number of passing inspections with very few violations reported, which is not the norm, he said.
RELATED: Crystal City FBI raids the latest in a string of federal corruption cases
Schmitt was immediately placed on administrative duty when the allegations surfaced, and later handed an indefinite suspension in May.
He was booked into the Bexar County Jail on Monday and released on bond the same day.
The indictment also said that another SAPD Officer, Johnny Diaz, accepted $400 from Schmitt as part of the scheme.
Diaz, a 19-year veteran of SAPD, resigned in January, according to Bexar County Court records and the San Antonio Police Department.
He was booked into the Bexar County Jail on last week on a bribery charge on June 3 as well, according to jail records.
mdwilson@express-news.net
Twitter: @MDWilsonSA
You are here: Home
China released a remote sensing report on Monday, detailing ecological information related to land cover, vegetation, agricultural conditions and marine environment on a global scale.
The report, compiled by the National Remote Sensing Center under the Ministry of Science and Technology, has covered a land area of more than 56 million sq kilometers and more than 22 million sq kilometers in sea area.
In particular, the report included environmental data of countries covered by the China-proposed "Belt and Road" initiative, said Li Jiahong, chief engineer of the center.
The report highlighted the China-Central Asia-West Asia economic corridor, noting that the arid environment in China's Xinjiang, Kazakhstan and Iran is extremely fragile and water resource must be a top consideration when formulating economic and urbanization policies.
The report and relevant data will be published on the website of the center www.nrscc.gov.cn and the website of the group on earth observations chinageoss.org.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate
Democratic presidential hopefuls and their backers swept through the Bay Area on Monday in a frantic final day of campaigning before Tuesdays California primary.
For former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, whom polls show locked in a virtual dead heat, turnout is the only concern now. In an election this close, the winner is the candidate who can get supporters to the polls.
But Clinton may already have taken the primary seasons ultimate prize. Weekend victories in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, combined Monday with a surge of officially uncommitted superdelegates now promising to support Clinton, have given the former first lady and New York senator the 2,383 delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee, the Associated Press reported.
Reaction from the two campaigns, not surprisingly, differed.
While Robby Mook, Clintons campaign manager, called the APs report an important milestone, he said Clinton is still working to win California and the other five states up for grabs Tuesday.
Superdelegate fight
The Sanders campaign repeated the senators argument that the unpledged delegates shouldnt be counted until the partys convention in July, regardless of whom they say they will support.
Clinton does not have and will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to secure the nomination, until those party insiders actually vote on July 25, said Michael Briggs a campaign spokesman. Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump.
About 8 million voters are expected to cast ballots in Tuesdays election, representing nearly 45 percent of Californias 17.9 million registered voters, according to a Field Poll report. While thats far more than the 31 percent turnout in the 2012 presidential primary, its nowhere near the 57.7 percent of voters in 2008, when Clinton beat Barack Obama in a presidential primary held in February.
Whats missing this year is a competitive primary on the Republican side, where New York businessman Donald Trump already is the almost-guaranteed nominee, said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll.
As far as turnout goes, its the bigger the better as far as Sanders is concerned.
If the turnout is high, we will win, Sanders said Monday at a news conference in Emeryville. If the turnout is very high, we will win by big numbers. If the turnout is low, we will lose.
Youth and independents
Sanders needs a huge response from independent, no-party-preference voters, who are allowed to vote in Californias Democratic presidential primary if they request a Democratic ballot. Those voters, often younger and more ethnically diverse than rank-and-file Democrats, have carried the senator to victory in other states with open primaries.
The problem, though, is that young, independent ethnic voters dont always cast ballots, DiCamillo said.
No-party-preference voters are not likely voters in a primary election, he added, while the older Democrats targeted by Clinton are much more likely to vote.
Both campaigns are doing everything they can to persuade their backers to show up at the polls on Tuesday.
Sanders has done 38 events in 34 California cities and towns over the past few weeks, a grueling campaign schedule that closed with a rally and concert Monday evening in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The event drew thousands to the Presidios Crissy Field. By 4 p.m., the line to get in stretched for at least half a mile. Vendors hawked Captain Bernie T-shirts and marijuana buttons. Some attendees pushed young children in strollers, while others had dogs in tow.
Michelle Larsen, a 43-year-old stay-at-home mom from the Sacramento foothills, said she drove two hours to hear Sanders speak.
He stands for the same values I do, she said. Id rather have money spent on universities than on war.
Fans seemed buoyantly optimistic, dancing and waving baby-blue Bernie signs as the rock band Fishbone played a throwback funk set which ended, appropriately, on the refrain you got me burnin.
Sanders got onstage around 7:30 p.m., and spent more time denouncing Trump than he did talking about Clinton.
He highlighted the recurring themes of his campaign income inequality, taking on Wall Street, shrinking the prison system and cutting the cost of college and tried to drag Clinton to the left, urging her to come on board with us and fight for a tax on carbon. He also gave supporters something to cling to:
When we began, we were considered a fringe campaign with fringe ideas, he told the crowd. That is not the case today.
Over the course of the evening, the mood shifted from blind hope to grudging resignation and then to anger and scorn for media outlets that earlier in the evening had called the nomination for Clinton.
Fight on!
There are some people and some forces who want to call this race already, former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner said over jeers. But Im going to tell you something. The movement that Bernie Sanders has started is so high, you cant get over it.
Turner exhorted Sanders supporters not to listen to the mainstream media.
Fight on! she bellowed, as the fog rolled in, and attendees huddled together to keep warm.
But at least some supporters, were setting modest goals for Tuesdays primary.
Jacob Chase, a 50-year-old sailor from Sausalito, said he was content to dream big and fall short.
What I like about Bernie is hes honest, hes not part of the oligarchy, hes not sold out, and he doesnt use a lot of money, Chase said. But, he hastened to add, its beautiful when he loses, too.
The senator also targeted would-be voters Monday afternoon with a hastily arranged appearance at the Mission District campus of City College of San Francisco.
Sanders got my attention when a Black Lives Matter group interrupted one of his campaign events, said Rafael Miles, 25, a San Francisco resident who attends UC Merced. Miles said he was drawn primarily by Sanders promise to bring down student debt and eliminate tuition at public universities.
Its getting hard for me as a Latino man to continue getting an education, he said.
With Clinton campaigning in Southern California, her husband, former President Bill Clinton, spent Monday taking her campaign message around the Bay Area and stressing that her backers still had work to do.
You got to vote, he told a lunchtime crowd in Oakland. Go get some more votes.
Several hundred supporters crowded in front of the Fox Theater on Telegraph Avenue to hear Clinton, speaking from the back of a pickup truck, as he made his pitch for his wife.
I understand why people are scared, Clinton said. But you cant close the door on the future. You cant close the door on the rest of the world.
Rallying supporters
Betsy Massar, an Oakland volunteer for Hillary for America, said Bill Clintons talk was designed to fire up his wifes core supporters and volunteers to energize them to get out the vote on election day, rather than an effort to rally thousands on the street.
But Clinton also got his message to at least one not-so-friendly voter.
We cant lose either way, said Raphael Gilbert, 66, of Oakland, who supports Sanders and was walking around town clad in Sanders gear when he happened upon Clintons speech. Billary or Bernie theyre both so far and away from anyone else on the other side. We need to unite America.
The former president was in San Franciscos Bayview district later in the day for another get-out-the-vote rally, this one at the brightly colored Lee Recreation Center.
He pushed the distinction between his wife and Trump without naming the presumptive Republican nominee, taking a not-so-subtle jab at Trumps campaign slogan.
Look folks, I am a white Southern Protestant. I know what Make America Great means. It is code, and what it means is something ugly, he said. I have this to say about it: America wasnt so hot for a lot of people 50 years ago.
One supporter, Eric Diamond of San Francisco, used his first hour of waiting in line to call more than 30 voters to remind them of Tuesdays primary and lobby for Clinton.
I already voted, but Im super-excited for (Tuesday), the 53-year-old said. I know I did some good even sitting right here.
Linda Fadeke Richardson said she already has voted for Clinton.
As a Democrat, Ive been watching the race and I think to stop Donald Trump we have to support Hillary Clinton, she said. Shes not perfect, but right now we have to unify the party and just get Bernie Sanders out.
San Francisco Chronicle staff writers Jenna Lyons and Kimberly Veklerov contributed to this report.
John Wildermuth, Joe Garofoli and Rachel Swan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com, jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com, rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: jfwildermuth @joegarofoli @rachelswan
Were about to embark on a tour of Italys most beautiful and historic regions by way of the wines produced there. At Total Wine & More, its time for Discover Italy, our two-week exploration of the countrys wines, with in-store tastings, classes and special deals on some remarkable Italian wines.
Italys wines come from all over the boot-shaped peninsula, which boasts a mix of terrains and climates providing ideal conditions for many types of vines. Combined with Italys reputation for wonderful cuisine and the Italian tradition that considers wine part of a meal its no wonder Italy is the source of so much good wine.
Its wine regions crowd the map from the Alpine peaks of the Alto Adige to Puglia, in the heel of the boot, plus the islands of Sicily and Sardinia. Some of the greatest wines come from five regions:
Piedmont This northwestern region translates as foot of the mountains, and its abundant hillsides offer optimal terrain for vines. Barolo and Barbaresco are classic Piedmont red wines made with Nebbiolo grapes; Gavi and Arneis are fresh and delicious white wines produced in the region.
Valdadige In Italys northeast, the cool climate is ideal for producing dry white wines especially fine Pinot Grigios.
Veneto
The Veneto is Italys largest wine-producing area, home of the zesty Pinot Grigios and bubbly Proseccos we love. The regions bright Bardolino and Valpolicella wines are wonderful reds for warm weather.
Tuscany
This beautiful and central region is home to Sangiovese, the iconic Italian grape that produces the famed red wines Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, among others.
Southern Italy
The regions south of Rome have produced wine since the Greeks crossed the seas and planted vines 3,000 years ago. The warm south is a source for ripe and flavorful wines in both traditional and modern styles.
Thats just a hint of the wines produced across the Italian map. Looking to really get to know a region and its wines? Consider our Under the Tuscan Sun class, a deep dive into the wines of Italys most storied wine region, held in our area stores Thursday, June 9. Reserve a spot at www.TotalWine.com.
Or just stop by this weekend or next, when well be pouring crisp whites, classic red styles and lovely aromatic sparkling wines, so you can Discover Italy one sip at a time.
Del Norte
125 NW Loop 410
San Antonio, TX 78216
(210) 524-9300
The Rim
17530 La Cantera Parkway
San Antonio, TX 78257
(210) 877-9155
You can also shop online at www.TotalWine.com.
Editors Note: This content is made possible by Total Wine & More. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of The San Antonio Express-News' or mySanAntonio.com's editorial staff. Learn more about our advertising products at www.hearstmediasanantonio.com.
Posted on 06/07/2016, 1:10 pm, by mySteinbach
Budget 2016 includes an additional $4 million in funding to support the provision of cancer drugs for patients across the province. This announcement was made by Premier Brian Pallister.
The national work to ensure affordability is significant because there are many new drugs being developed and it is anticipated that cancer drug costs will continue to rise, said Pallister. We are committed to working with other stakeholders to look at ways to strengthen our system and improve the affordability, accessibility, appropriate prescribing and use of prescription drugs, both across the country and here at home.
The Provincial Oncology Drug Program includes funding for all intravenous drugs provided for cancer patients provincewide.
Cancer is the leading cause of death in Manitoba. However, thanks to research, innovative treatments and new drugs, the cure rate for cancer is steadily improving, said Dr. Sri Navaratnam, president and CEO, CancerCare Manitoba. We are very lucky that Manitobans with cancer are able to receive the intravenous drugs they need, whether at CancerCare, at regional cancer hubs or in their own home, at no cost to them.
CancerCare Manitoba administers the Provincial Oncology Drug Program, purchasing the drugs centrally and undertaking comprehensive reviews of new drugs or medications to determine if they will be introduced for use in Manitoba.
The additional funding will bring the budgeted amount for providing intravenous cancer drugs to approximately $50 million annually, the premier said, adding that Manitobas Home Cancer Drug Program provides cost-free access to approved oral cancer medications and cancer support drugs including anti-nausea medications that counter side-effects of chemotherapy.
The premier also said Manitoba is working with other provinces and territories to look at ways to ensure the long-term affordability of cancer drugs.
Every year, cancer steals mothers from their children, husbands from their wives and friends from each other, said Health, Seniors and Active Living Minister Kelvin Goertzen. By continuing to increase our investments in cancer drugs, we help fight this terrible disease and support health-care providers working to keep our loved ones with us longer.
For more information on cancer drug coverage, visit www.cancercare.mb.ca.
The Group of Seven (G7) wrapped up their latest summit accompanied with protest echoing from the Japanese public. As the presiding country, Japan dominated the meeting, and included the East China Sea and South China Sea issues in the communique.
The G7 advanced economies have now become an ideological group, which abandoned its original target of discussing global economic management. Thus, the G7's guiding role of global economic management should be replaced by the Group of Twenty (G20).
Three months later, the 2016 G20 Summit will be held in east China's Hangzhou, and vows to focus on a range of practical problems in the global economy. The upcoming summit will be under the theme of "Building an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy." Here, these four words not only precisely identify the "new mediocre" position of the world economy, but also present the answer of how to solve it.
However, identifying problems and finding the solutions doesn't mean the existing problems in the world economy can be solved immediately. Globalization involves various interests and complex politics. As developed countries and emerging economies feature different marketing environments, legal foundations and economic management systems, the suggestions and ideas initiated by the G20 can only periodically promote the market.
From "inclusiveness, implementation and investment for growth" in 2015 to "Building an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy" this year, we can see that the G20's goal to manage world economy has never changed.
As U.S. economy begins to recover, the G20 seems to have lost its value. But compared with the G7's controversial political issues, the G20 has never changed its focus on the global economy. For G20 members, the most depressing question is why the economic crisis originating on Wall Street is lasting such a long time, and why the G20 couldn't lift the global economy out of it.
As a complicated process, global economic management calls for open and inclusive mechanisms to coordinate conflicts. If there was no G20, the world economy would have fallen into a state of higher disorder. From the G7 to the G20, the world has witnessed an adjustment of global economic order. Before the crisis, the global economy was dominated by Western countries; now, it is guided by both developed countries and emerging economies.
A sluggish economy brought about by a crisis is troublesome, but the adjustment of global economic order will bring benefits. In future, global economic management will be more balanced, and the global economic order will become more equitable.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has distributed more voting rights for China, Indian and other emerging economies. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has become a global financial management institution like the World Bank Group (WBG). All of these are the fruits of the crisis. Whether or not it is formally admitted, the G7's function of managing the global economy is being replaced by the G20.
In order to justify its existence, the G7 has to expand its topics from economic to political. However, it's interesting that the G7's existence relies on issues related to China, including the East China Sea and South China Sea issues, as well as the influence of overcapacity in the Chinese economy.
Different from Japan, as the presiding country of this year's G20 Summit, China won't introduce or worry about political issues. The upcoming G20 Summit will focus on the global economy, and try to find practical solutions in dealing with the current recession.
Zhang Jingwei is a researcher with the Charhar Institute.
The article was written in Chinese and translated by Lin Liyao.
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
Constructed in the year of 1488 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the A-Ma Temple is the oldest temple in Macao to commemorate Mazu, the sacred sea goddess who blesses the fishermen and seafarers of the city. The temple was built by the cliffs. With winding paths around and up the hill, it offers silence and spectacular views. Containing a series of classical Chinese architectural treasures, the temple became one of the designated sites of the 'Historic Centre of Macao' inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List, in 2005. [China.org.cn/Photo by Wang Qiong]
The owner of Quechee Mobil Mart pointed to credit and debit card usage as leading to her decision to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
QUECHEE, Vt. For years, the Quechee Mobil Mart has welcomed visitors to Woodstock, selling them gasoline, convenience store stapes and gifts. Sheryl Trainor has owned the business since 1995.
But in mid-May, Quechee Mobil Mart locked its doors and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy statusall because of the fees associated with accepting credit and debit cards, Trainor told the Vermont Standard. The biggest single factor leading to the financial situation at my business was the prevalence of credit and debit card use in todays society, she said.
Mike Pearce, who owns Mikes Store and Mobil gas station, agreed. Ten years ago, credit card purchases were less than 30% of our business, he said. Today, most of our sales are paid for with plastic.
With credit card companies charging retailers between $1 and $4 per transaction, the profit margins are so low on a lot of our merchandise that on small sales we actually lose money because of the swipe fees, said Pearce.
The American public is deceived into thinking that the convenience of not carrying cash and the benefits of cash back and airline points have no negative consequences, only benefits, Trainor added. They are wrong. Trainor pointed out that at her store, credit card fees ranked second after labor costs in terms of expenses.
In a business where the bulk of my sales (gasoline) yielded little more than pennies per gallon, Trainor said, losing half or more of those pennies in swipe fees and other charges to the big banks and credit card companies, guaranteed a broken business model.
Customers flock from all over to munch on teriyaki and fried rice at a Washington State store.
YAKIMA, Wash. Flightline Convenience Center serves up typical convenience store products, but has also become a destination for customers craving Asian cuisine, the Yakima Herald reports. Owners Tae Soo and Hye Jeong Choi added teriyaki and other dishes eight years ago to increase salesa strategy which has paid off for the couple. Hye Jeong, who was a chef in South Korea, put her kitchen skills to good use in developing the dishes.
In-store foodservice at convenience stores grabbed 20.8% of sales in 2015, according to NACS State of the Industry data. At the Flightline Convenience Center, foodservice sales garner around 40% of overall sales.
As more retailers have moved to offering candy, gasoline and soft drinks, convenience stores have supplemented with fresh prepared foods. TV shows such as Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network have piqued interest in food found in untraditional locations, such as gasoline stations. That can play in the convenience stores favor, said Jeff Lenard, NACS vice president strategic industry initiatives.
Flightline Convenience Center also tapped into another foodservice trend by making freshness a top priority. Hye Jeong Choi shops each day for the ingredients to make her Asian dishes. She wants everything fresh, said her daughter, Jihye Choi. But the Chois also realize that convenience store food must be affordable. The most expensive dish tops out at $7.99.
Clinton loyalists are now showing their true colors. And they are not pretty.
Initially, it seemed better to leave Brad DeLong alone when he made a drive-by misfire at my Politico article on why many Sanders voters will never vote for Clinton. Its a badge of honor of sorts when a Clinton hack, um, tribalist, gets so upset about a pro-Sanders story that he rushes in on the offensive.
However, DeLongs piece was sorely deficient in intellectual integrity. He make it obvious he had not read the story by misattributing a reader comment to me and then compounding the error by riffing on the reader remark (Politico even provided the link so its audience could see the quote in context).
What is telling is that diatribes against Sanders supporters are increasingly of the shoot the messenger or shoot the voter variety, as the case may be. The Clinton camp is responding with ever-escalating levels of abuse to evidence that Sanders supporters have serious, reasoned objections to the Clintons track record, Obamas policies, which Hillary Clinton embraces, and her neoliberal economic stance. If you want to confirm the view of the Sanders bloc, that the Democratic party is not interested in their issues, this is precisely the way to do it.
But the Clinton loyalists are stooping even lower and are purging dissenters on the left. Mind you, this isnt a new practice. As Jane Hamsher pointed out in 2009, the Obama Administration successfully most put left-leaning groups in a veal pen, by attacking individuals and organizations that stepped out of line by doing things like criticizing Blue Dog (pro-corporate, pro-bank) Democrats, or criticizing the payment of bonuses to AIG staffers. Those organizations that didnt fall in lime and had institutional funding (most) would be disciplined by calls to important backers pressing them to end their financial support.
A lot of good that did in the long run. Controlling the message in the Beltway hothouse did not seem to have much sway with voters at large. Theyve somehow managed, all on their own, to have a good enough grasp of basic things like their purchasing power and their job security to notice that things were not going well for them. Blue Dog Democrats in Congress were turfed out in 2010 and 2012, while the bona-fide progressives overwhelmingly held their seats.
But the purges are now becoming personal. As Corey Robin and others have pointed out, in a mere two weeks, Matt Bruenig was fired from Demos and Emmett Rensin was suspended from Vox. The Bruenig dismissal was seen by the Beltway insiders as retribution for his daring to target a widely-seen-as-sleazy Clinton backer, as opposed to the trumped-up charge of violating unwritten rules of discourse. But someone working for a neoliberal think tank, which Demos is, is at risk of being subject to loyalty tests. By contrast, as Robin stresses, the sanctioning of Rensin at the supposedly apolitical Vox is rank hypocrisy.
And now, in a sort of piling on, Brad DeLong threatens Zach Carter, a Huffington Post journalist who has done some fine work in the financial services beat. This is the headline and first sentence of his post (emphasis original):
The Huffington Post Has a Serious, Serious Quality Control Problem with Seth Abramson Live from the Huffington Posts self-made Gehenna of Lies: It has a serious quality control problem with Zach Carter too. But the time to talk about that wont come until November
So we have a former Clinton Administration official calling a journalist a liar (with no supporting evidence) and threatening him with unnamed consequences in November. That is presumably on the assumption that Clinton wins, which is not at all a given.
So what can we expect will happen then? That the transition team will issue a hit list of disfavored journalists and Carter is sure to be on it? That seems to be the drift of DeLongs thuggish promise.
And this was not an isolated threat. DeLong has been even more overbearing:
Mind you: The day will come when it will be time to gleefully and comprehensively trash people to be named later for Guevarista fantasies about what their policies are likely to do. The day will come when it will be time to gleefully and comprehensively trash people to be named later for advocating Comintern-scale lying to voters about what our policies are like to do. And it will be important to do so thenbecause overpromising leads to bad policy decisions, and overpromising is bad long-run politics as well.
Gerald Friedman is pretty sure he is on DeLongs hit list:
Is Brad really threatening to trash me after the election?https://t.co/n2UPCEvQ9Z Gerald Friedman (@gfriedma) May 1, 2016
Now mind you, this blood lust comes from an economist who is part the Center for Equitable Growth, a think tank founded by John Podesta, who is also the chairman of Clintons 2016 campaign. Its steering committee includes Melody Barnes, who as former Director of the White Housed Domestic Policy Committee, was an Obama advisor, former Fed Vice Chairman Alan Blinder, a Bill Clinton appointee, and former head of the Council of Economic Advisers Laura Tyson, another Bill Clinton pick who later advised the Obama Adminsitration. DeLongs posts, and his confidence that he will be able to serve up his revenge, thus isnt simply a communication by an isolated blogger. It should be seen as official messaging.
This is from an economist who was part of the Administration that gave us Nafta, which instead of creating jobs as promised, cost America an estimated 850,000 to 1,000,000 jobs. This is from an economist who stood with the mainstream, pro-bank deregulation which led to the near-collapse of the financial system and to bailouts that constituted the greatest transfer of wealth in world history. This is from an economist who has consistently stood with mainstream neoliberal economic theories that have led to a flat real wages for ordinary workers, which only now as the chickens are coming home to roost, is being acknowledged as one of the causes, and arguably the cause, of secular stagnation. And he has the temerity to declare himself and his allies as having been truthful about the impact of their policies and having superior acumen as to what works and doesnt work. On top of that, he charges others with overpromising when that is what he and his fellow travelers have done again and again.
Good liberals are supposed to respect the freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and academic independence. But good liberals circa 2016 are looking a lot like good Germans circa 1936.
As the Israelis say, Love your enemy, for you will become him. DeLongs threats show that the difference between him and Trump are ones only of degree, not of kind.
By Jomo Kwame Sundaram, formerly the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development. Originally published at Project Syndicate
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement is being portrayed as a boon for all 12 of the countries involved. But opposition to the agreement may be the only issue that the remaining US presidential candidates can agree on, and Canadas trade minister has expressed serious reservations about it. Are the TPPs critics being unreasonable?
In a word, no. To be sure, the TPP might help the US to advance its goal of containing Chinas influence in the Asia-Pacific region, exemplified in US President Barack Obamas declaration that, With TPP, China does not set the rules in that region; we do. But the economic case is not nearly as strong. In fact, though the TPP will bring some benefits, they will mainly accrue to large corporations and come at the expense of ordinary citizens.
In terms of gains, one US government study on the topic projected that, by 2025, the TPP would augment its member countries GDP growth by a meager 0.1% at most. More recently, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) estimated that, by 2032, the TPP would increase Americas economic growth by 0.15% ($42.7 billion) and boost incomes by 0.23% ($57.3 billion).
But TPP advocates have largely ignored these results, preferring to cite two studies by the Peterson Institute of International Economics, a well-known cheerleader for economic globalization. In 2012, the PIIE claimed that the TPP would boost total GDP in member countries by 0.4% after ten years. In January, it declared that TPP would augment total GDP by 0.5% over the next 15 years. In a World Bank study released the same month, the authors of the PIIE research projected a 1.1% average increase in GDP in TPP member countries by 2030.
Something is clearly amiss.
A closer look reveals that these studies findings concerning the TPPs purported benefits lack supporting economic theory, credible modeling, or empirical evidence. The only advantages presented that are consistent with mainstream research methodology are tariff-related trade benefits. But if the PIIE authors had used conventional methods to estimate total gains from trade, such benefits would comprise a very small share of the alleged gains from the TPP. According to the PIIE and the World Bank, about 85% of overall growth from the TPP is due to non-trade measures and related foreign investments.
Meanwhile, the studies ignore employment and income distribution where some of the leading risks of trade liberalization lie. Instead, they simply assume that all countries are at full employment and have a consistent income distribution, trade balance, and fiscal position.
The ITC study, which used a slightly different model, predicts an increase in the trade deficit that would destroy 129,484 American jobs (yet, inexplicably, it estimates that the TPP would raise employment by 128,000 jobs). It also projects a net increase in exports of $25.2 billion in 2032 (in 2032 US dollars), a small fraction of the PIIEs projection of $357 billion in 2030 (in 2015 dollars).
For our study, my colleagues and I used the PIIEs own 2012 estimates of trade-related gains, despite our reservations, along with more realistic economic specifications, including for income distribution and employment. We projected downward wage pressure, which, by depressing domestic demand, would lead to lower employment and higher inequality in all country groupings. Projected job losses would total some 771,000 across the TPP countries, including 448,000 in the US alone. These losses would offset any growth benefits, with the US and Japan suffering small net income losses (-0.5% and -0.1%, respectively).
Even if the TPP is found to conflict with the national or public interest, participating countries are obliged to follow its provisions. Powerful lobbies, mainly from the US, made sure of that. And, unfortunately, that is not all they did.
Despite being portrayed as a trade deal, the TPP is not even really about trade. Many TPP countries are already among the worlds most open economies, with most merchandise trade among them having already been liberalized by earlier agreements and unilateral initiatives. The main remaining trade constraints involve non-tariff barriers, such as US agricultural subsidies, which the TPP does not address.
Instead, the TPPs most important provisions strengthen, broaden, and extend intellectual property rights. That will give pharmaceutical companies much longer monopolies on patented medicines and keep cheaper options both generics and alternatives that are deemed too similar off the market, hurting both consumers and governments that provide subsidies.
Moreover, the TPP weakens national regulation, such as over financial services, and strengthens the rights of foreign investors, at the expense of local businesses and the public interest. Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions allow foreign investors to pursue binding private arbitration against governments if new regulations reduce their expected future profits.
Governments that lose those lawsuits will be obliged to compensate foreign investors; but even those that win will incur high legal costs. In fact, potential ISDS compensation payments or settlements alone could far outweigh the TPPs limited economic benefits. Fear of incurring such high costs are likely to weaken governments incentives to implement regulations that hurt foreign corporate interests, even if they serve the public good.
Finally, though the TPPs biggest impact will lie outside the trade realm, the agreement has been used to undermine multilateral trade-liberalization efforts. The most obvious victim has been the World Trade Organizations ongoing Doha Development Round negotiations, but Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the ASEAN Economic Community will also suffer.
The TPPs advocates have, for years, been grossly exaggerating the deals projected benefits, while downplaying its potentially high risks and costs, most of which will be incurred by ordinary citizens. The reality is that the TPP will have a barely perceptible impact on GDP, benefit large corporations almost exclusively, and significantly constrain the policy space governments need to accelerate economic development and protect the public interest. Some partnership that is.
You are here: Home
Flash
Senior Chinese and U.S. officials on Monday expressed willingness to address climate change together.
The remarks were made in a special joint conference on climate change as part of the Eighth Round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogues that kicked off here Monday.
Breakthroughs in negotiations of the historic Paris agreement on climate change, adopted without objection in December, were attributed to effective China-U.S. cooperation, according to Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang.
Successful cooperation between China and the United States on climate change demonstrated that the two countries can win major achievements to benefit both themselves and the whole world, said Wang.
China has set its peak carbon emissions target for around 2030. The country also pledged 20 billion yuan (about US$3 billion) to establish a fund for developing countries to jointly tackle climate change.
Wang said he hopes developed countries will honor their commitments to give 100 billion U.S. dollars to developing countries annually before 2020,realize emission reduction targets, and transfer environmentally friendly technology to developing countries.
China and the United States should expand cooperation on energy conservation and emissions reductions, clean energy, smart power grids, green ports and low-carbon cities, said Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi.
The United States and China should make joint efforts to push the Paris agreement to become effective as early as possible, according to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
Kerry said he expects stronger leadership from the two countries in shifting away from intensive, high-polluting energy consumption.
Public voting now open for the EnvisioNano nanotechnology image contest (Nanowerk News) Members of the public are invited to vote for the best images in this round of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) EnvisioNano contest.
Now in its third round, this contest has drawn submissions from students at top labs and schools across the United States.
The SEM micrograph shows large collection of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes, along with amorphous carbon in the shape of tigers and a ball. Carbon nanotubes are 1-D material with mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties that exceed conventional engineering materials. (Image: Ben Davis, University of Missouri)
In the first two rounds of the EnvisioNano contest, student images racked up over 41,000 online views and both previous winning images were featured on the back cover of the NNI Supplement to the President's 2017 Budget!
We encourage everyone to cast votes for their favorite images.
All students have provided a description of their photos and research, allowing the viewer to envision where the research is headed and to learn how seeing at the nanoscale is important to reaching that vision. So, as you view the pictures, take a moment to learn about the research and how nanotechnology may improve your life.
The SEM micrograph shows an isolated and wrinkled hexagonal graphene grain supported on copper. Graphene is a 2-D material with mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties that exceed conventional engineering materials. (Image: Ben Davis and Ryan Hines, University of Missouri)
Voting starts Monday, June 6th, and is open until June 17th.
View the images and cast your vote at www.nano.gov/EnvisioNanoVoting.
From living computers to nanorobots: how we're taking DNA beyond genetics (Nanowerk News) DNA is one of the most amazing molecules in nature, providing a way to carry the instructions needed to create almost any lifeform on Earth in a microscopic package. Now scientists are finding ways to push DNA even further, using it not just to store information but to create physical components in a range of biological machines.
Deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA carries the genetic information that we, and all living organisms, use to function. It typically comes in the form of the famous double-helix shape, made up of two single-stranded DNA molecules folded into a spiral. Each of these is made up of a series of four different types of molecular component: adenine (A), guanine (G), thymine (T), and cytosine (C).
Genes are made up from different sequences of these building block components, and the order in which they appear in a strand of DNA is what encodes genetic information. But by precisely designing different A,G,T and C sequences, scientists have recently been able to develop new ways of folding DNA into different origami shapes (Nature, "Folding DNA to create nanoscale shapes and patterns"), beyond the conventional double helix.
This approach has opened up new possibilities of using DNA beyond its genetic and biological purpose, turning it into a Lego-like material for building objects that are just a few billionths of a metre in diameter (nanoscale). DNA-based materials are now being used for a variety of applications, ranging from templates for electronic nano-devices, to ways of precisely carrying drugs to diseased cells.
DNA-based nanothermometers
Designing electronic devices that are just nanometres in size opens up all sorts of possible applications but makes it harder to spot defects. As a way of dealing with this, researchers at the University of Montreal have used DNA to create ultrasensitive nanoscale thermometers (Nano Letters, "Programmable Quantitative DNA Nanothermometers") that could help find minuscule hotspots in nanodevices (which would indicate a defect). They could also be used to monitor the temperature inside living cells.
The nanothermometers are made using loops of DNA that act as switches, folding or unfolding in response to temperature changes. This movement can be detected by attaching optical probes to the DNA. The researchers now want to build these nanothermometers into larger DNA devices that can work inside the human body.
Biological nanorobots
Researchers at Harvard Medical School have used DNA to design and build a nanosized robot that acts as a drug delivery vehicle to target specific cells (Science, "A Logic-Gated Nanorobot for Targeted Transport of Molecular Payloads"). The nanorobot comes in the form of an open barrel made of DNA, whose two halves are connected by a hinge held shut by special DNA handles. These handles can recognise combinations of specific proteins present on the surface of cells, including ones associated with diseases.
DNA barrel. (Image: Campbell Strong, Shawn Douglas, & Gael McGill)
When the robot comes into contact with the right cells, it opens the container and delivers its cargo. When applied to a mixture of healthy and cancerous human blood cells, these robots showed the ability to target and kill half of the cancer cells, while the healthy cells were left unharmed. DNA barrel. Campbell Strong, Shawn Douglas, & Gael McGill
Bio-computers in living animals
Because DNA structures can act as switches, moving from one position to another and back again, they can be used to perform the logical operations that make computer calculations possible. Researchers at Harvard and Bar-Ilan University in Israel have used this principle to build different nanoscale robots that can interact with each other, using their DNA switches to react to and produce different signals.
Whats more, the scientists implanted the robots into a living animal, in this instance a cockroach (Nature Nanotechnology, "Universal computing by DNA origami robots in a living animal"). This allowed them to develop a novel type of biological computer that can control the delivery of therapeutic molecules inside the cockroach by switching elements of their structure on or off. A trial of these DNA nanorobots is now scheduled to take place in humans.
Light-harvesting antennas
As well as creating minuscule machines, DNA can provide a way for us to copy natural processes at the nanoscale. For example, nature can capture energy from the sun using photosynthesis to convert light into chemical energy, which acts as fuel for plants and other organisms (and the animals that eat them). Researchers at Arizona State University and the University of British Columbia have now built a three-arm DNA structure that can capture and transfer light that mimics this process (JACS, "A DNA-Directed Light-Harvesting/Reaction Center System").
Photosynthesis occurs in living organisms thanks to tiny antennas made up of a large number of pigment molecules at specific orientations and distances from each other, which are able to absorb visible light. The artificial DNA-based structures act as similar antennas, controlling the position of specific dye molecules that absorb the light energy and channel it to a reaction centre where it is converted into chemical energy. This work could pave the way for devices capable of more efficiently using the most abundant source of energy we have at our disposal: sunlight.
A new molecular toolkit for the de-novo design of bioactive agents
(Nanowerk News) Nature provides mankind with a wide variety of valuable bioactive agents ranging from vitamins over vital fatty acids to cancer inhibiting substances. Many of these substances are difficult to obtain directly from the environment or can not be produced effectively by chemical total synthesis.
Scientists of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) are taking a new approach: Using synthetic biotechnology methodologies they have developed a biochemical strategy to synthesize natural and completely artificial medical agents by a templated enzyme design process. First products, a precursor of the anti-cancer medicament Taxol, anti-inflammatory substances and omega-3 fatty acids prove the successfulness of their strategy.
The bark of the pacific yew tree (Taxus brevifolia), for example, contains Taxol, an agent that is used in the treatment of breast, ovary and lung cancers. Unfortunately, this yew species is not widespread and it is protected.
Essential omega-3 fatty acids, a component of infant nutrition, for example, are currently produced predominantly from fish and crustaceans - placing a further pressure on the already strongly affected marine ecosystem.
The aim of the workgroup led by Thomas Bruck, professor for Industrial Biocatalysis at the Technical University of Munich, is thus to obtain chemical substances in a sustainable manner on an industrial scale using methods of biochemistry, bioinformatics and biotechnology.
Taxadien synthase with the substrate geranylgeranyldiphosphat in the active center of the enzyme. The green dots mark the catalytically relevant Mg2+-ions, which are involved in the initial hydrolysis of the phosphate residue. (Image: Max Hirte / TUM) (click on image to enlarge)
"Gold" from straw - a yeast with great potential
Now Bruck and his team have succeeded in genetically altering the hitherto biotechnologically unexploited Trichosporon oleaginosus yeast by coercing it to produce essential omega 3 fatty acids alpha-linoleic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and the anti-inflammatory conjugated linoleic acid (CLA).
The yeast can thrive cultivation media derived from agricultural waste, including straw, wood chips, wheat bran, and even hitherto unused marine waste materials like crab shells. "This yeast is quite unique because it can also exploit monomer sugar substances, which are normally difficult to metabolize," explains Bruck. "We thus obtain valuable chemical substances from waste - without harming the environment."
When Trichosporon oleaginosus cells become stressed in nature, from a shortage of nitrogen or phosphate, for example, they build up energy reserves in the form of fat. Even though the yeast cells no longer grow optimally, the resulting triglyceride fat reserves make up as much as 70 percent of their dry weight.
In future projects the researchers led by Bruck hope to further modify the oil producing yeast so that it produces the desired fats in adequate quantities, even under normal nutrient conditions and without limiting their growth.
From simulations to custom-tailored enzymes
A methodology recently presented by Bruck's research group in the highly ranked scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) takes the idea one step further: Molecular-mechanical computer simulations allow them to decipher the individual steps in which a specific class of enzymes produces bioactive natural products. These include precursor stages of the cancer medication Taxol.
Employing only computer simulation, Bruck and his team correctly predicted, for the first time ever, all intermediate stages in the complex cascade of reactions that take place in the presence of this enzyme. In this manner they elucidated the enzyme's precise mode of action, as well as the relationship between its structure and function. This was previously not possible using classical biochemical methodologies.
"This approach is very promising because using computer simulation we can change enzymes in a targeted manner and predict which products will be produced as a result," says Bruck. "If we then interconnect different enzyme activities with each other, we can even create new molecules that are not found in nature."
43-fold increase of product yield
The production of cyclooctatin, a potent anti-inflammatory agent, provides a good example: The scientists coupled a diterpene synthase enzyme with a new hydroxylase/reductase enzyme complex in an Escherichia coli-based microbial production system provided for the production of trihydroxylated diterpene cyclooctatin.
It was the in-silico discovery and experimental verification of a new reductase/ferredoxin system derived from the recently published genome of Streptomyces afghaniensis, which enabled the scientists to raise the product yield by a factor of 43, compared with the native producer.
In the future, biotechnologists could adopt approaches similar to those deployed by engineers when they develop production steps for a new automobile. Making use of the synthetic biotechnology insight, they could put together a synthesis method for new active agents using a chain of reactions with modified enzymes. This would significantly reduce the long and arduous process of "puzzling out" new synthesis routes in the laboratory, as commonly applied today.
The present research of Bruck's research group was funded by the European Community (ChiBio project), the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Advanced Biomass Value, SysBio Terp, OMCBP) and the German Federal Ministry of Economics ([email protected] project), as well as the Bavarian Ministry for Science (Algenflugkraft), the Bavarian Ministry of Economics (Algenflugkraft and sustainable production of bioinsecticides) and the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment (geo-biotechnology and PHB).
Due to the enormous potential of these methodologies, the Technical University of Munich created a new teaching and research focus, Synthetic Biotechnology, in May. The Werner Siemens Foundation is funding the setup of the new research focus to the tune of 11.5 million Euro.
Publications
P. Schrepfer, A. Buettner, C. Goerner, M. Hertel, J. van Rijn, F. Wallrapp, W. Eisenreich, V. Sieber, R. Kourist, T. Bruck; Identification of amino acid networks governing catalysis in the closed complex of class I terpene synthases; PNAS, 2016, 113(8), E958-E967 - DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1519680113
Gorner, C., Redai, V., Bracharz, F., Schrepfer, P., Garbe, D., & Bruck, T.; Genetic engineering and production of modified fatty acids by the non-conventional oleaginous yeast Trichosporon oleaginosus ATCC 20509. Green Chemistry, 2016, 18, 2037-2046 - DOI: 10.1039/c5gc01767j
"Making Space," by Betsy D'Jamoos at the Elements of Abstraction Exhibition at the Center for Visual Arts Bonita Springs June 10-23.
SHARE Betsy D'Jamoos at Theresa Girard Abstract Workshop at the Center for Visual Arts Bonita Springs. Patrice Shields/Special to The Banner "Bravely Apart," by Betsy D'Jamoos at the Elements of Abstraction Exhibition at the Center for Visual Arts Bonita Springs June 10-23. "Coexistencia" by Noel Aquino at the Elements of Abstraction Exhibition at the Center for Visual Arts Bonita Springs June 10-23.
By Patrice Shields, Special to The Banner
It's about thinking outside the boxor taking a step out of reality.
On Friday, June 10, the Centers for the Arts Bonita Springs (CFABS) will host the Elements of Abstraction Exhibition Opening Reception from 6-8 p.m. at the Center for Visual Arts.
The first in CFABS' monthly summer series of juried exhibitions, Elements of Abstraction showcases artwork from artists working in a variety of media with more than 100 pieces of abstract representations. CFABS' exhibition openings are a local favorite, offering residents the opportunity to mix and mingle with fellow art lovers and local artists while enjoying hors d'oeuvres, wine and music.
"Using of the elements and principles of design, artists were challenged to create a visual language that communicates ideas and emotions," said Ehren Gerhard, the shows and exhibitions director of the Centers for the Arts Bonita Springs. "This approach to visual art is always a great exercise for both the artist and viewer."
The Elements of Abstraction Exhibition, which is slated to remain on display through June 23, will offer visitors an opportunity to take a step out of reality and jump into a world where line, shape, texture and color influence emotions in unexpected ways.
Abstract art can have a transformative effect on the viewer and artist alike.
One local artist whose life and art has been transformed by the medium is Bonita Springs resident and emerging artist Betsy D'Jamoos who has two striking acrylic pieces "Bravely Apart," and "Making Space," included in this exhibition.
"My artistic process began as a child when I was told she had no artistic talent by a teacher," said D'Jamoos. "It took 40 years to conquer the voice in my head that said I cannot paint or draw."
Following a successful career in consulting and government policy, D'Jamoos' picked up a paintbrush for the first time in 2014 when attending a workshop by artist Theresa Girard at CFABS.
Proving that it's never too late to follow your creative calling, D'Jamoos was chosen this year as one of only 16 artists from across Florida whose work was included in the Baker Museum's Florida Contemporary Exhibition. D'Jamoos' art was also shown at the Center for the Arts of Bonita Springs (CFABS) 26th Annual Members Juried Exhibition and CFAB's 2016 "Surf and Turf" exhibition and hangs in private collections in Southwest Florida.
To meet D'Jamoos and view her artwork, join the Centers for the Arts Bonita Springs' at the Elements of Abstraction Exhibition Opening Reception on Friday.
IF YOU GO
Elements of Abstraction Exhibition
When: 6-8 p.m. Friday, June 10 (on display June 10-23)
Where: Center for Visual Arts Bonita Springs, 26100 Old 41 Road, Bonita Springs
Cost: Free
Information: Join the Centers for the Arts for the first time as an individual member receive a free 4-, 5-, or 6- week class, or join for the first time as a family member receive a free 4-, 5-, or 6- week class and two free tickets to a Live! Performance. The Centers for the Arts offers this benefit for first time members and it is for a limited time only. The class and performance must be used before Dec. 31. Call 239-495-8989 or visit artcenterbonita.org to learn more.
Sandi Smith, owner of the Antique Mall in Fort Myers, holds her 25-year-old cat Tiger on June 1, 2016. Smith took in Tiger from a rescue so she could live out the rest of her days in the shop. (Erica Brechtelsbauer/Staff)
SHARE Tiger, a 25-year-old cat, sits among the merchandise in the Antique Mall in Fort Myers on June 1, 2016. Sandi Smith, the owner of the store, took in Tiger from a rescue so she could live the rest of her life in the shop. (Erica Brechtelsbauer/Staff) Sandi Smith, owner of the Antique Mall in Fort Myers, holds her 25-year-old cat Tiger as customer Pat Rehder pets her on June 1, 2016. Smith took in Tiger from a rescue so she could live out the rest of her days in the shop. (Erica Brechtelsbauer/Staff) Sandi Smith, owner of the Antique Mall in Fort Myers, holds her 25-year-old cat Tiger on June 1, 2016. Smith took in Tiger from a rescue so she could live out the rest of her days in the shop. (Erica Brechtelsbauer/Staff) Tiger, a 25-year-old cat, hides among the merchandise in the Antique Mall in Fort Myers on June 1, 2016. Sandi Smith, the owner of the store, took in Tiger from a rescue so she could live the rest of her life in the shop. (Erica Brechtelsbauer/Staff) Related Photos PHOTOS: 25-year-old cat finds a new home among antiques
By Kristine Gill of the Naples Daily News
Tiger the cat has been around for a quarter century. Adopted as a kitten, she spent those 25 years growing old alongside her owner in Lee County.
But a medical procedure forced her owner to give her up for adoption. And suddenly Tiger, the orange tabby with the hazel eyes, was homeless.
"She's a sweet old girl," said Trinity Hansen, who runs a canine rescue group in South Florida called Big Hearts for Big Dogs.
Tiger was originally turned in to Lee County Domestic Animal Services, but workers there soon learned she didn't like other pets. So the shelter reached out to Hansen, hoping for some help. Tiger was the wrong animal, but Hansen couldn't refuse.
Through her network of foster homes and adopters, she found Sandi Smith, a cat and dog lover, who had a bright idea.
"My heart just broke," Smith said.
Now the feline lives at a second-hand furniture store among other antiques and items appreciated for their age.
Smith adopted Tiger at the end of May, despite her husband's protests. The Smiths already have seven cats and two dogs at home. But there was something so pitiful about a cat who had lived for so long only to be homeless during her golden years.
"I just couldn't stand the fact that she had been there even for a week," Smith said.
Now Tiger is the official greeter and mascot at Paris Market Antique Mall, 2161 McGregor Blvd, Fort Myers.
She has the run of the place and there are plenty of knick-knacks everything from mid-century furniture to fine china for her to hide behind and explore.
"It was an interesting solution, but it got her out of the shelter and there are no other cats there," Hansen said.
She's friendly, but she's been a bit skittish since she moved into the new surroundings, Smith said.
To help Smith, Big Hearts for Big Dogs has offered to pay for all of Tiger's expenses for the rest of her days. It's a program they offer for senior dogs at their rescue to help place them in homes.
So far she hasn't needed the medical help. Aside from a little cold she likely picked up at the shelter, Smith said she seems perfectly healthy.
"It's pretty impressive," Hansen said. "Twenty-five and still kickin'."
Credit: Getty Images/iStock
SHARE
By Liz Freeman of the Naples Daily News
The first case of measles in Collier County since 1997 was reported Tuesday in a man, according to the Florida Department of Health.
Health officials are reaching out to people in the community who may have had contact with the resident, Jennifer Gomez, a spokeswoman for the Health Department in Collier, said.
"Potential contacts have been identified and are being (reached) by phone," she said.
Gomez said an investigation is ongoing into how the man contracted the measles, which is a contagious respiratory disease. People with exposure risk to the contagious disease need to be evaluated.
The department received laboratory test results June 3 confirming the man's diagnosis, she said.
The Collier case is the first case of measles this year statewide, according to public health officials in Tallahassee.
There were five cases in Florida in 2015, three in Indian River County and two cases in St. Lucie County.
"Measles is a very serious disease," State Surgeon General and Secretary of Health Dr. Celeste Philip said in a news release. "The best way to protect yourself and others against measles is to get vaccinated."
People should check their immunization records to make sure they are current, Philip said.
Children should be immunized against measles, mumps and rubella and receive two doses.
Anyone with underlying health conditions should talk to their doctors about booster doses. Anyone who has not been immunized should get the vaccine.
Measles is transmitted when an infected person coughs or sneezes and droplets spray into the air, according to the Health Department. The virus lives in mucus in the nose and throat of an infected person. The virus can live on surfaces for up to two hours.
Measles typically begins with mild to moderate fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and sore throat. The virus grows in cells that line the back of the throat and lungs.
Symptoms generally begin seven to 14 days after infection with mild to moderate fever.
Two to three days after symptoms begin, tiny white spots may appear in the mouth. Three to five days after symptoms begin, a red or reddish-brown rash appears, usually on a person's face at the hairline and spreading downward, according to the state Health Department.
Dr. Scott Needle, chief medical officer of the Healthcare Network of Southwest Florida, said anyone who has not been vaccinated can reduce risk of developing measles if they get the vaccine within 72 hours of being exposed to it.
At the health care network, which is the largest outpatient clinic group in Collier, it is rare that patients have not been vaccinated, Needle said.
"Most of the patients we see understand the value of it and appreciate the doctor's recommendation and do get it," Needle said.
All insurance plans, including Medicaid, cover the vaccine cost for children, and it is available at no charge to uninsured low-income families at the health care network, he said.
The first dose provides 95 percent protection from infection after exposure, and the second dose provides 99 percent protection, Needle said.
The vaccine is available at no charge for children up to age 19 at the Health Department and is available for a fee for adults, said Gomez, with the Collier Health Department.
Needle said the health care network will be watchful for patients with symptoms.
"A lot of it right now is wait and see if we get more infections from the Health Department, and if we see secondary cases go around," he said. "The problem with measles is that it is incredibly contagious. Measles is one of the most contagious viruses there is."
The respiratory disease is rare in countries where there are high vaccination rates, but there are sporadic cases in the United States, primarily because of visitors to the U.S. from counties with low vaccination rates or where U.S. citizens travel abroad and are exposed.
The last confirmed death from measles in the U.S. was in 2015 in Washington state involving a woman with an undetected infection, which was discovered during her autopsy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Before 2015, there had not been a measles-related death in the U.S. since 2003, the CDC said.
Children should be immunized against measles with the combination measles, mumps and rubella vaccine with two doses, with the first at 12 to 15 months and the second shot at age 4 to 6 years old. Teens and adults may require two doses.
For more information visit http://www.floridahealth.gov/diseases-and-conditions/vaccine-preventable-disease/measles/index.html. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention measles web page is available at http://www.cdc.gov/measles/.
Credit: iStock
SHARE
By Alexandra Glorioso, alexandra.glorioso@naplesnews.com
Collier County's Republican Executive Committee endorsed several local candidates Monday, including state legislative candidates and incumbent county property appraiser, Abe Skinner.
For House District 80, which is Rep. Matt Hudson's former House seat and includes portions of Collier and Hendry Counties, the screening committee recommended both Naples attorney Joe Davidow and candidate Byron Donalds of Naples. Donalds got the endorsement with 69 votes out of 83, to Davidow's 42.
In House District 105, which stretches from Collier into Miami Dade, the committee recommended incumbent Rep. Carlos Trujillo of Miami, but did not recommend opponent Victor Dotres of Naples. Trujillo walked away with 68 votes and the endorsement, and Dotres received with 18 votes.
The screening committee recommended businessman Bob Rommel of Naples for House District 106, Rep. Kathleen Passidomo's former seat, which stretches from Naples to Marco Island, but did not endorse opponent Lavigne Kirkpatrick of Naples. Rommel received 78 votes and Kirkpatrick 16.
Both Passidomo and Hudson were recommended by the committee for Sen. Garrett Richter's newly redrawn State Senate District 28 seat, which includes Collier and Hendry counties. However, only Hudson was endorsed with 66 votes, whereas Passidomo got 51.
While the screening committee suggested Skinner should retire, he was recommended nonetheless, whereas property appraiser R.C. Lussy of Naples, was not. Skinner cleared house with 70 votes, while his opponent took one.
Before the meeting, the screening committee consisting of Chairman Mike Lyster and 10 others conducted a series of 45-minute interviews with the candidates. Lyster read their endorsements just before the members voted.
To endorse a candidate, a quorum needed to be present, which is 47 out of 117 members. Eighty-five members were present and 83 cast ballots. To receive an endorsement, candidates needed support from either 60 percent of present voters as well as more than half the membership, or two-thirds of the votes of members present.
Lyster said the committee's decision to endorse candidates this year is unusual and breaks a decade-long stretch of silence on the matter. He said many of the committee members are more conservative than the county party members over all, which could be one of the reasons they voted to endorse candidates in the first place, because it gives them a chance to voice opposition to the establishment.
The chairman said it's possible the endorsements didn't necessarily reflect GOP voter attitude overall for this same reason, citing as an example how the committee failed to endorse Mayor Bill Barnett of Naples, who won his election.
"This endorsement process has its downsides also," Lyster said.
You are here: Home
Flash
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit China from June 12 to 14 and co-chair a bilateral intergovernmental consultation with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Monday.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (L) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel attend a joint press conference after the third round of bilateral governmental consultations in Berlin, Germany, Oct. 10, 2014. [Photo/Xinhua]
It will be Merkel's ninth visit to China since she took office, Hong Lei said at a regular news briefing.
In Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping and top legislator Zhang Dejiang will meet with Merkel. She will also visit Shenyang, capital of northeastern China's Liaoning Province, Hong said.
He said the consultation, established in 2011, is a dialogue mechanism aimed at coordinating and enhancing cooperation between the two countries. More than 20 ministers and vice ministers from both sides will be present at this edition.
In recent years, the China-Germany relationship has witnessed a rapid development with frequent high-level exchanges, the spokesperson said. In March, German President Joachim Gauck visited China, strengthening political mutual trust.
Hong suggested China and Germany, the host country of the Group of 20 summit in 2016 and 2017 respectively, maintain closer coordination in global and regional affairs.
It serves the fundamental interests of both countries to strengthen bilateral cooperation, Hong said, adding it will benefit the China-EU relations and promote peace and prosperity in the world at large.
China attaches great importance to the development of ties with Germany, and stands ready to take the consultation as an opportunity to advance bilateral practical cooperation in various fields, he added.
SHARE
With Tropical Storm Colin expected to drop two or three inches of rain on Southwest Florida by Tuesday night and the last big wave of primaries Tuesday likely to solidify the Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton matchup in November, some folks may be inclined to take cover indoors.
If you're among them, there are discussions you could tune into this week as local government agencies address aspects of an issue we consider important for 2016 planning for future growth.
Collier and Lee counties weren't among 34 Florida counties Gov. Rick Scott included in a state of emergency Monday as Colin approaches the upper Gulf Coast. Flooding is a concern in some areas of Southwest Florida, however.
Meanwhile, voters in six states cast rainmaker ballots Tuesday in primaries that should land Clinton enough delegates to become the Democratic presidential nominee, with Trump already there on the Republican side. Clinton's weekend victories in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico left her some 30 delegates shy of the 2,383 needed for the nomination, an Associated Press count shows. New Jersey, with 126 at stake, could get her there even before results are known for California's 475 delegates. Primaries also are on tap Tuesday in New Mexico, South Dakota and Montana for both parties and for Democrats in North Dakota.
Roads to future
Planning for future growth includes making sure there's a road network to enable residents and visitors to get around. Two meetings this week head in that direction:
++ A traffic study affecting key road corridors in south Lee is before the County Commission on Tuesday. A committee ranked companies interested in doing the study and Lee commissioners are to choose one as a consultant in the next step toward an agreement to do the work. Called the Corkscrew Road Environmental Enhancement and Preservation Communities Overlay Study, records show the chosen firm will do "an extensive traffic study to determine significant impacts on existing roads and make recommendations for road improvements."
The study would include whether wildlife underpasses in the area east of Estero are necessary near planned developments, such as Corkscrew Farms and WildBlue. County documents show the study area includes Alico Road, Corkscrew Road, part of Ben Hill Griffin Parkway, State Road 82 near Corkscrew Road and Interstate 75 from Bonita Beach Road to Daniels Parkway.
Lee commissioners meet at 9:30 a.m. in chambers at the Old Lee County Courthouse, 2120 Main St., Fort Myers.
++ Collier's transportation agency comprised of elected city and county leaders, the Metropolitan Planning Organization, has future road projects on its agenda this week. The state is to provide an update on plans for work along deadly State Road 82, west of the State Road 29 intersection near Immokalee.
Approval of the 2016 priority list for future transportation work on roads, bridges and pathways is expected. The plan, for example, calls for improvements or traffic signal work in 2021-25 at I-75 interchanges at Immokalee Road, Pine Ridge Road and Golden Gate Parkway, along with Collier Boulevard completed at six lanes from Golden Gate canal to Green Boulevard in that same time frame.
The MPO meets at 9 a.m. Friday in Collier commission chambers at the government center, U.S. 41 East at Airport-Pulling Road.
Golden Gate plan
Another future-planning effort for Collier County moves forward this week.
Four long-term growth plans are in various stages of updating. One is for the unincorporated community of Golden Gate, looking 10 to 20 years into the future. The plan was first done in 1991 and last updated in 2003-04.
The next meeting with a focus on the future of Golden Gate is 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Golden Gate Community Center, 4701 Golden Gate Parkway.
More information on all four: www.colliergov.net/GMPrestudies
Attention drivers
Drivers, be careful out there. The last school day in Collier is Tuesday. In Lee, there are early dismissal days Wednesday through Friday, which is students' last day.
SHARE
Stephen Goldenberg, Naples
GLSEN defined
How sorry to read the recent diatribe in a letter about the "LGBT agenda" and the bashing of Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
The writer believes GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) is some sort of Machiavellian organization that somehow wants to indoctrinate our children into believing perversity is a normal thing and wants all children (and presumptively adults) to accept the LGBT "lifestyle" is normal.
First, let's see what GLSEN believes. The mission states "we believe that all students deserve a safe and affirming school environment where they can learn and grow." Does anyone really believe otherwise? Don't you want to know your children are in a safe school, free from bullying, where the purpose of the school is to teach so children can learn and grow.
Yes, GLSEN does believe that LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) students should be treated no differently than all other students. GLSEN goes on to state the goal is "to ensure that LGBT students are able to learn and grow in a school environment free from bullying and harassment."
I assume we all want our children to do so, whether they are black, Asian, Cuban, Mexican, Jewish, Catholic, Hispanic, white or any other designation.
Please recognize that perversion isn't the goal of GLSEN. Not even close! The American Medical Association, American Psychological Association and American Psychiatric Association all agree LGBT people are normal and don't believe LGBT people are "perverted."
I simply ask the writer of that letter: Why do you? Think seriously before answering. You believe tolerance is "a good thing" and bullying "is a terrible problem." Perhaps, you should practice what you preach and be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
SHARE
Wilma Boyd and Amy Gravina, Naples
Penta the choice
A quality education is critically important for every child's future, and in Collier County we are very fortunate to have Louise Penta, a passionate supporter of children, running for School Board.
She is a highly effective advocate for young people in our community and in recognition of her dedicated efforts was named Mentor of the Year in 2015 for the state of Florida's Take Stock in Children program and recently received the Women of Initiative Award from the Community Foundation.
We have witnessed her leadership in action during her eight years on the board of directors for The Immokalee Foundation, where she has successfully mentored five students who each graduated high school and are attending college. She began her career as an operating room nurse in Boston and has been a tireless volunteer since moving to Naples in 1999.
She will bring a new voice and fresh perspective to the School Board with a focused approach to listening to her constituents, nurturing relationships and building consensus. Please vote for Louise Penta on Aug. 30. School Board is a countywide election.
Sue Huff of E. Sue Huff & Associates, Inc. will be the featured guest speaker for WNOCC (Women's Network of Collier County) on Tuesday June 14.
The luncheon begins at 11:30 a.m. with networking followed by luncheon and speaker. The luncheon ends at 1:00 p.m. and will be held at Etudes de Ballet & Company located at 3285 Pine Ridge Road in Naples.
Huff is the owner of E. Sue Huff & Associates, Inc., a marketing and management consulting firm that targets small to mid-sized businesses and non-profits in Southwest Florida. As a business owner and entrepreneur for over 30 years, she is known for her creative ideas, enthusiasm, hard work and professionalism. She will discuss marketing in todays world at the luncheon and how to "Listen, Learn, and Laugh."
WNOCC luncheons are open to all women. The cost per member is $22 and guests are $25 each. Reservations are required and may be made online at www.wnocc.org/june-2016.
The Womens Network of Collier County (WNOCC) is a non-profit organization created for working business women to create a network in the Collier County area where women can be empowered via networking, education, seminars, and raising scholarship funds for single working moms in a positive atmosphere. For more information, visit www.wnocc.org.
SHARE A waterspout photographed from a condo in Bonita Bay on Monday, June 6, 2016. (Photo submitted by Bill Demmert) A waterspout photographed from a condo in Bonita Bay on Monday, June 6, 2016. (Photo submitted by Bill Demmert)
By Maryann Batlle and Patrick Riley of the Naples Daily News
An eyewitness reported a waterspout might have landed on Bonita Beach late Monday afternoon and moved inland as a tornado, according to the National Weather Service.
The tornado was wrapped in rain, so NWS could not confirm whether the funnel touched the ground, said Rodney Wynn, a NWS meteorologist in Tampa.
"It was hard to see," Wynn said.
Heavy rains and winds are expected to continue through the day, as Tropical Storm Colin makes its way from the Gulf of Mexico and into Florida. NWS has predicted Colin will make landfall on Florida's northwest coast.
Early Monday, Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency in 34 Florida counties. Lee and Collier counties were not among them.
NWS issued a tornado warning for East Central Lee County shortly after 4 p.m., despite the uncertain sighting. The tornado was projected to move north from Bonita Beach toward Three Oaks Parkway in Estero.
NWS canceled the warning by 4:30 p.m. No damage or other tornado sightings were reported, Wynn said.
The severe weather is expected to last through Monday. Colin's east side is flooding coastal areas as it moves ashore, Wynn said.
"People should not go down to the beach," he said. "Even if they want to see the big waves crashing."
Before the tornado warning expired in Estero, Assistant Chief Mark Wahlig of Estero Fire Rescue said the district was monitoring the storm as it swept through south Lee County.
"It was just a big dark cell going through," Wahlig said. "It was moving northeast."
Residents should "keep an eye on the radar" and the weather, he said.
"It's very spotty," he said. "It's important to stay vigilant."
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to change how it calculates title insurance fees as part of the new integrated mortgage disclosures.
Seventy-four members of Congress signed a letter to CFPB Director Richard Cordray arguing that consumers are receiving "incorrect" title insurance premium disclosures.
At issue is how the Truth-in-Lending Act/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act integrated disclosures, or TRID, defines title insurance fees. The rule does not allow for the calculation of what's known as the "simultaneous issue," the rate title insurance companies provide to consumers when they purchase a lender's and owner's title insurance policy at the same time. In many cases, the consumer receives a discount on such transactions, but would not see that reflected on the mortgage disclosure form.
The CFPB's recent proposal asking for feedback on TRID "is a great opportunity to fix this issue and ensure that your new forms serve as a credible source of accurate information about the true costs of buying a home for consumers," the lawmakers said in the letter, which was signed by Reps. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., and Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., among others.
The letter is being pushed by the American Land Title Association, which says the CFPB's calculation is confusing.
"We do not think that showing the consumer the actual number they will pay and putting a totally different number on the disclosure is accurate or fair to the homebuyer who already has questions about the transaction, said Wayne Stanley, a spokesman for the group.
CFPB declined to comment on the title insurance issue. But the agency is working on a TRID mortgage disclosure rule that it expects to issue in July.
"We remain engaged with stakeholders on implementation of the 'Know Before You Owe' mortgage disclosure rule and are conducting listening sessions with groups of stakeholders to gather additional insight into concerns," a spokesman said. "We look forward to receiving all comments on the matters discussed in the proposal once it has been issued."
Meanwhile, ALTA has created a grassroots network of more than 12,000 title agents who are "prepared to send letters and emails to CFPB staff to let them know what they are seeing around closing tables across the country," Stanley said.
Flash
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said an estimated 40,000 people were displaced in one of its deadliest offensives by Boko Haram in Niger, a UN spokesman told reporters Monday.
A picture taken on May 21, 2016 in Buni Yadi shows burnt computers littering a destroyed computer room of the Federal Government College in Buni Yadi. Piles of blackened furniture, iron bed frames and computers still litter the burnt-out shell of the Federal Government College in Buni Yadi, more than two years after it was attacked by Boko Haram. [Photo/Xinhua]
Boko Haram attacked a military position in Niger's Diffa region last Friday killing and wounding soldiers, after a string of attacks, including in the town of Yebi, on May 31, UN spokesman Spokesman Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.
"It is estimated that the attacks in Yebi and Bosso displaced some 40,000 people, although no official figures are yet available," he said. "Initial reports indicate that the displaced people urgently need food, shelter, psychosocial support, health care, household items, water and sanitation. "
Around 30 humanitarian organizations operate in Bosso, a city near Niger's border with Nigeria, and are mobilizing existing relief stocks to the affected areas, Dujarric said. "An inter-agency assessment mission is planned for today."
At least 30 soldiers from Niger and two from Nigeria were killed on Friday in the wake of Boko Haram's attack on the two neighboring countries' border near the city of Bosso, reports said.
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 Boko Haram fighters.
The eastern part of Niger, close to the border with Nigeria, has witnessed since February 2015 repeated attacks launched by Boko Haram, who has claimed the lives of hundreds of Nigerien civilians and soldiers, the group has also displaced thousands of Nigerians as well as Nigeriens.
Pedestrians walk in front of a Bank of America Corp. branch in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Wednesday, March 14, 2012. Federal Reserve stress tests on 19 of the biggest U.S. lenders show that most of the banks are "getting stronger," according to former Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Bank of America will move its mortgage servicing back onto Black Knight Financial Services' LoanSphere MSP servicing system of record.
The Charlotte, N.C., bank signed an agreement with the Jacksonville, Fla., mortgage-technology company on June 3 to service first and second mortgages, according to a Black Knight regulatory disclosure filed Monday.
B of A used to service its mortgages with MSP when the system was managed by Black Knight's predecessor, Lender Processing Services. But after acquiring Countrywide in 2008, the bank moved its roughly 4 million loans to Countrywide's proprietary technology.
Black Knight, which holds approximately a 55% market share among servicing system of record vendors, has been vying to regain B of A's business ever since. At an investor conference nearly two years ago, an executive even went so far as to confidently predict that B of A would migrate its loans at the time, a roughly $782 billion portfolio to Black Knight's servicing system of record.
"This deal is important, in our view, as B of A was the largest of three major servicers not on Black Knight's platform," SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analysts Andrew Jeffrey and Oscar Turner wrote in a note, citing Citigroup and Nationstar as the other servicers still using in-house systems. "While B of A has lost considerable share in recent years, it still represents 5% to 7% of the total market."
In 2008, Countrywide's servicing platform, called the Loan Servicing, or LS, system, was already managing a portfolio of about 10 million loans for what was at the time, the country's largest mortgage servicer. Back then, the move off MSP made sense because Countrywide's technology infrastructure was considered to be among the strongest assets B of A got in the $4.1 billion, all-stock deal to acquire the troubled lender.
Since then, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has introduced two sets of sweeping rules changes to regulate key mortgage servicing functions. And growing scrutiny of how the hand-off of mortgages is managed after loan closings and bulk sales has forced servicers to overhaul their processes and technology to create a consistent and accurate onboarding experience for borrowers.
Black Knight's stock price was up $1.30, or 3.66%, to $36.80 at market close Monday.
Certain sites blacklisted
Human element acknowledged
(NaturalNews) Facebook recently admitted in a letter to John Thune, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, that news curators hired by the company had the power to decide which stories to highlight in the Trending Topics section of the site.The company said that some of those contractors could have used their discretion to discriminate against stories based on their political bent. The company also did not dispute claims that news curators had avoided linking to certain news sites, such as, instead waiting for the same story to appear in a larger outlet.Facebook said that these editorial decisions did not reflect company policy, and that news curators would be retrained to eliminate bias. Allegations of censorship surfaced following aarticle in which anonymous Facebook news curators revealed that Trending Topics are not selected solely by computer algorithm. Instead, the computer generates a list of topics for curators, who decide which stories to post and then write headlines and summaries for them.The curators toldthat different editors imposed very different standards for what stories passed muster."Depending on who was on shift, things would be blacklisted or trending," one former curator said.That source suppliedwith a list he had made, while working for Facebook, of trending stories on conservative political topics that had never made it onto the feed.Curators also toldthat they avoided publishing news from certain websites, includingand, until they found a larger outlet covering the same story. It is unclear which other sites, including, might have been censored by overzealous curators.Gizmodo noted that it was unknown whether other curators had also censored news on liberal topics or from left-leaning websites In its letter to Thune, Facebook acknowledged that the Trending Topics feed is not as automated as its name might imply."We currently use people to bridge the gap between what an algorithm can do today and what we hope it will be able to do in the future to sort the meaningful trends from gibberish and duplicates, and to write headlines and descriptions in clear, natural-sounding language," company counsel Colin Stretch wrote.The company admitted that employees had the ability to "blacklist" a story for 24 hours, ostensibly to give them time to figure out whether the story was accurate and still current.Facebook also announced new "controls and oversight" to help eliminate bias. It said it would eliminate certain policies that had made biased curating more likely.Among the policies to be eliminated is the ability of curators to decide that a source is unreliable, as well as a list of 10 mainstream news outlets (includingand the) that could be used to judge whether a story was important.But the company insisted that there was no "systematic political bias" at work. It said it had conducted a review of seven different topics that critics said were censored , and concluded that the topics had received just as much coverage, over time, as other news stories."Our investigation has revealed no evidence of systematic political bias in the selection or prominence of stories included in the Trending Topics feature," Stretch wrote. "In fact, our analysis indicated that the rates of approval of conservative and liberal topics are virtually identical in Trending Topics."Thune, who is investigating the allegations of political bias, said the letter answered most of his questions."Facebook's description of the methodology it uses for determining the trending content it highlights for users is far different from and more detailed than what it offered prior to our questions," he said. "We now know the system relied on human judgment, and not just an automated process, more than previously acknowledged."
The Coca-Cola Company, together with Coca-Cola FEMSA, has signed an agreement to purchases Unilevers AdeS soy-based beverage business in Latin America for US$575 million.
Founded in 1988 in Argentina, AdeS is the leading soy-based beverages brand in Latin America. As the first major brand launched in the category, AdeS pioneered the development of the second-largest global market for soy-based beverages. The brand is currently available in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile and Colombia.
Miguel Kozuszok, EVP, Latin America, Unilever said the sale is a step in reshaping the company's portfolio in Latin America to deliver sustainable growth for Unilever. In 2015, AdeS sold 56.2 million unit cases of beverages and generated net revenues of $284 million. Kozuszok said the brands potential can be fully realized within the Coca-Cola system.
The acquisition of AdeS marks another milestone for the Coca-Cola system in providing increased choice of nutritious and delicious products to our consumers," said Brian Smith, president, Latin America Group, The Coca-Cola Company. AdeS is a leading brand in its category and we are very excited to add it to our stills portfolio. This continues our successful joint venture partnerships with our Latin American bottling partners and brings more innovative offerings to our markets."
Once completed, the AdeS business will become part of the noncarbonated beverage platforms Coca-Cola FEMSA shares with The Coca-Cola Company in its franchise territories. In all other territories, The Coca-Cola Company will work with its local bottling partners to develop AdeS through similar noncarbonated beverage partnership arrangements.
NASA's Kepler Space Telescope is responsible for searching the universe for possible "habitable" and Earth-like exoplanets.
From more than 2,000 exoplanets discovered, there are those who stand out. In 2013, NASA considered Kepler 62f as one of the candidates for 'small habitable planets'. Recently, a team of researchers from the University of California published a study that says the atmospheric property of Kepler 62f might indeed be warm enough to hold water and be conducive to human life.
According to NASA, there were eight Earth-like habitable exoplanet candidates discovered, including Kepler 62f.
"Each result from the planet-hunting Kepler mission's treasure trove of data takes us another step closer to answering the question of whether we are alone in the Universe," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, in a statement.
NASA's confidence in the existence of a potential Earth-like habitable planet was the inspiration behind the recently published study by the University of California.
Kepler-62f is about 40 percent larger than the Earth and is approximately 1,200 light-years away, located within the Lyra constellation. This celestial body is said to possess water and because of that, lives may also thrive. But aside from water, other factors should be considered before life can thrive, just like the heat emissions by the star, the orbit of the planet and the overall atmospheric condition.
Kepler-62f is located farther away from the Sun, and to be livable, it has to contain a higher amount of carbon dioxide for the surface to be warm enough to hold water.
"We found there are multiple atmospheric compositions that allow it to be warm enough to have surface liquid water," said lead author Aomawa Shields, in an interview with Space.com. "This makes it a strong candidate for a habitable planet," Shields added.
To arrive at their findings, the researchers run simulations pattern over existing climate models. From the models, they were able to figure out that the said exoplanets need to have three to five times thicker atmosphere than that of the Earth to be able to sustain life.
With the new findings of the researchers from the University of California, NASA is confident that it is only a matter of time before a new planet conducive for manking will emerge from hiding.
Tiger Temple, a multimillion dollar tourist attraction that prides itself as an animal sanctuary, has recently been in hot water after 40 dead tiger cubs in jars had been found inside a freezer within their territory.
Even before the ruckus, the Tiger Temple had been suspected of having been participating in black markets, selling tiger parts for a big money and engaging in unethical breeding.
They have also been accused of poorly treating the animals--beating them and starving them on a daily basis, but the monks of the temple had denied it repeatedly.
Buddhists who are known to promote good relationship with the environment and compassion for all beings are now being questioned.
Here's everything we know so far about the scandal:
What is Tiger Temple?
Tiger Temple, or formally known as Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno, has been keeping the ferocious cats and other animals for 15 years. It charges tourists to take photos with the "tamed" tigers.
The Raid and Accusations
On June 1, 40 dead tiger cubs were found in a freezer in the Tiger Temple. The raid came after officials from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (and police shut down the temple to relocate 137 tigers to government-run sanctuaries.
Aside from the tiger cubs, a small rare species known as a bearcat was also found dead. This discovery further fueled the allegations that they are engaging in unethical breeding. Tiger skins and charms made out of the big cats' organs were also seized.
Few days after the initial raid, more than 30 dead cubs have been found, Australian network news reported.
The raid is the conclusion of a battle that has been going on for years between the government and the temple.
On June 4, officials said the week-long operation to remove nearly 140 tigers from the tiger temple has been completed, as per BBC.
The Denial
The temple denies accusations of abuse and trafficking. In their Facebook page, the temple said the dead cubs were packed in jars to preserve their parts and not to sell them illegally. It added that Thai authorities were "fully aware" that the cubs were kept frozen.
Tiger parts, including bone and penis, are used in traditional Chinese medicine.
According to NBC News, Thai authorities charged three Buddhist monks after they were allegedly caught trying to smuggle tiger skins and other parts out of the tiger sanctuary at the center of abuse allegations. The truck carrying the tiger skins and charms made out of the animal's parts were also seized by the authorities.
The Fall Down of Tiger Temple
The Tiger Temple is closed indefinitely and DNP is following protocol to ensure justice is served.
The DNP facilities, being "unfit" for the tigers' conditions, are currently pressured to improve their sanctuary for the animals. Authorities are also thinking of building a new sanctuary for tigers, along with the other animals.
The United Nations recently warned that extreme weather conditions are prompting crops to release toxins, and eating these crops is detrimental to human health.
The toxins that crops release is a reaction to protect themselves from the drought and high temperatures.
"Crops are responding to drought conditions and increases in temperature just like humans do when faced with a stressful situation," said Jacqueline McGlade, chief scientist and director of the Division of Early Warning and Assessment at UN Environment Programme.
According to the report, wheat, barley, maize and millet are among the crops most susceptible to nitrate accretion, which is caused by lingering drought.
Nitrate is an inorganic compound that occurs under a variety of conditions in the environment. Even a short-term exposure to it may be harmful, especially to infants.
Nitrates are generally not dangerous to the body. But when ingested, it becomes a concern as nitrates are converted to nitrites. According to a study published in Pesticide Safety Education Program, their immature digestive systems of infants are more likely to allow the reduction of nitrate to nitrite. In particular, the presence of nitrite in the digestive tract of newborns can lead to a disease called methemoglobinemia, which can be fatal.
Eating nitrite-rich foods like processed meats can increase your risk of stomach and esophageal cancer, according to Live Strong.
In animals, nitrate consumption can lead to miscarriage and death, which directly affects the livelihood of farmers.
Meanwhile, heavy rains that break prolonged drought can also result in the hazardous buildup of another toxic compound called hydrogen cyanide or prussic acid. These are produced by crops like flax, maize, sorghum, arrow grass, cherries and apples.
Hydrogen cyanide is a systemic chemical asphyxiant. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, delayed effects of exposure to it may include brain damage due lack of oxygen, or possibly due to insufficient blood circulation.
Finally, aflatoxins are another emerging problem in crops. These are fungal toxins that can cause cancer and stunt fetal growth. The new finding is threatening especially to the 30 million people who are already starving due to meager crop yields and an insufficient amount of food aid.
Countries in more temperate regions endure these new threats and dangers even more.
The UN report also identified zoonotic diseases and plastic pollution as budding issues that the world now faces due to climate change.
A talking parrot is a possible witness to a crime after he was heard repeating words that hinted on the murder of his owner.
Martin Duram, 45, was shot and killed in his Michigan home in May 2015, while his wife Glenna suffered a gunshot wound in her head but survived.
According to NBC News, police initially thought it to be a double homicide case. But investigators now list Glenna as a suspect in her husband's murder, suggesting that it was a murder-suicide attempt. Glenna has denied allegations and has not been charged.
However, an unlikely witness has emerged: the couple's pet parrot.
Bud, the African grey parrot, is now in the custody of family members. But they said it was unsettling to hear Bud repeat this foul phrase: "Don't f---ing shoot!"
In a video of the parrot, which was taken several weeks after Martin was shot, the family said that the bird was mimicking both Martin and Glenna as they were arguing. And then all of a sudden, the parrot shouted out the phrase repeatedly.
"I personally think he was there and he remembers it and he was saying it," Duram's father, Charles Duram, said in an interview with woodTV.
Relatives of the victim said that they believe that the bird has remembered Martin's final moments and that he is trying to relive the incident.
The Witness Speaks Up
In a report published in TheStar, owner of Casa La Parrot Doreen Plotkowski said that the African grey parrots typically vocalize phrases they've heard many times, but they are also capable of using words they've heard only on a few occasions.
Upon seeing the video, Plotkowski said that she "definitely" heard the bird mimicking an argument between a man and a woman.
According to police reports, the couple's marriage had been plagued by financial and gambling problems. Michigan police also said Glenna had left several suicide notes, but she denied doing so despite a positive match during a handwriting analysis.
Police reports also showed that a witness asked the police whether a parrot can be used as a witness to a crime, but records do not confirm whether the question was answered.
Newaygo County Prosecutor Robert Springsted told the media that he was aware that the couple had a parrot but had not seen the video yet. He said that he plans to make a decision on charges in two or three weeks after the outcome of Michigan State Police's investigation.
Following the massive coral bleaching in Australia's Great Barrier Reef, more than 10 diving sites in Thailand shut down for the same reason.
According to reports, action is taken to protect the marine parks as the bleaching crisis continues in the country. The ban takes effect in certain areas of popular national parks of Similan and Phi Phi, as well as sites in Tarutao, Chao Mai, Chumphon, Phetra and most of Surin.
"The coral reefs are affected by unaware tourists--when they go diving they may touch or step on the reef. Closing those spots will help the reefs recover naturally," National Park officer director Reungsak Theekasuk told AFP.
The move to close the diving sites will affect the tourism industry in the country, but Reungsak believes the government made the right decision.
As reported by Taipeitimes, Thailand is a popular destination for divers with more than more than 3,000 kilometers of coastline,
According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), coral bleaching occurs when there is an increase in ocean temperature. Ocean temperature is affected by runoff and pollution, overexposure to sunlight and extreme low tides. When corals are stressed, algae--which have a symbiotic relationship with coral--abandon its host coral.
When algae leave, the coral is left exposed to the elements and becomes bleached and destroyed.
The global coral bleaching due to climate change threatens the whole world. There has been notable coral bleaching in the Lizard Island in Australia, Maldives, the Indian Ocean, Hawaii and Samoa.
Dr. Mark Eakin, the head of the U.S. government's Coral Reef Watch programme, told The Guardian that according to previous studies, coral bleaching would not occur until 2020s. Yet it has been happening back-to-back since 2014.
"This year is especially telling. In the past, big bleaching events happened pretty much during the course of a year. This current bleaching event started in mid-2014," he said.
Evidence suggests that by 2020, bleaching is predicted to become a yearly event.
At present, 500 million people worldwide rely on the so-called "rainforests of the sea" for food, protection and income. Reefs contribute approximately $29.8 billion to world economies each year, NOAA said.
NASA and the commercial space industry are looking at near-Earth objects (NEO) to seek their valuable contribution to Earth. There are companies whose asteroid-mining technologies are already in the works. But aside from that, asteroids can be of use to men in an entirely different manner.
NASA is funding a study to see how asteroids can be turned into spaceships for off-Earth mining.
The California-based company, Made In Space (MIS) was recently funded by NASA to develop the technology. The retrofitting of asteroids is called the Reconstituting Asteroids into Mechanical Automata (RAMA) project. This is part of MIS' plan to initiate space colonization by making off-Earth manufacturing more effective and economical.
Man's capability to bring objects off-Earth is no longer in question, what needs to be developed is the capacity to bring back resources from outside the planet.
"But when we get to a tipping point where we need the resources in space, then the question becomes, 'Where do they come from and how do we get them, and how do we deliver them to the location we need?' This is a way to do it," said Jason Dunn, co-founder and chief technology officer, in an interview with Space.com.
"How We Want to Turn Asteroids Into Spacecraft" by @ImJasonDunn about our @NASA NIAC grant https://t.co/1aRJGQxT97 Made In Space (@MadeInSpace) June 1, 2016
RAMA was established to study the possibility of existing computer mechanisms to transform an entire asteroid into autonomous spaceships, said NASA in a press release. According to the report, when complete, the project will be beneficial for NASA's long-term goals in deep space explorations.
The technology is called "Seed Craft." The company is looking at attaching the mechanism to a near-Earth asteroid. To turn the asteroid into an autonomous off-Earth mining spaceship, propulsion, navigation, energy-storage and other operational systems must be installed in an asteroid. MIS is also looking at using 3D printing technology with the Seed Craft.
MIS will receive $100,000 funding under NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts program. Once an asteroid is successfully retrofitted, its maximum potential can be used for the benefit of the Earth.
"Upon completion, the asteroid will be programmed mechanical automata carrying out a given mission objective," said Dunn, in a statement published by Daily Mail.
The company is likely to finish the project in 20 to 30 years. Asteroids have immense power; which are said to have obliterated dinosaurs. This is why scientists wanted to make use of the asteroids for the benefit of the Earth. NASA is continuously funding different commercial space companies with projects, which the agency deems to be useful in their future space missions.
An 8-year-old boy struck by a trophy truck in a weekend off-road race in Mexico was the son of a Southern California youth pastor, church officials confirmed Tuesday.
Pacific Coast Church in San Clemente said spectators Xander Hendriks and his mother, Melissa Hendriks, were hit while standing next to the course during the SCORE Baja 500 race in Ensenada on Saturday.
Video captures the crash as it occurred just after 10:30 a.m. near an area known as the Ensenada wash.
Screams can be heard from the crowd as a trophy truck turns a corner and then drives along the edge of a hillside only to then continue down the hill into a crowd below.
Xander was fatally injured. Melissa Hendriks was hospitalized in stable condition. A third person was also hurt.
GoFundMe
The church says Xander was the son of student ministries pastor Brandon Hendriks.
The family was visiting some friends in Mexico and decided to go check out the race, the churchs lead pastor Mark Ambrose told the congregation on Sunday.
Brandon and his two younger sons were able to get out of the way but Xander and his mother Melissa were hit, Ambrose said.
Ambrose asked his congregation to pray for the driver of the truck, Todd Pedersen, CEO of the Utah-based home security company Vivint.
Pedersen said he lost control when he failed to negotiate a turn.
"I'm devastated by the tragic accident that happened this weekend. My heart goes out to the family at this time, Pedersen said in a statement released after the crash.
Authorities recognized that it was an accident. No charges were filed.
Bloggers covering the event also reported the victims in the crash were standing in an unsafe area.
The Baja 500 has been running for 48 years. The competition has held its start and finish lines in the city of Ensenada dozens of times.
Score International, Off-Road racing, the company that organizes the annual event, publishes information for fans on their Spectator Safety Guidelines page.
Because vehicles can easily reach speeds of over 100 mph, spectators are advised to stay at least 100 feet from the course at all times.
Children under the age of 16 and infants should ALWAYS be accompanied by adults who are responsible for their behavior, the site states. At no time should adults allow children to play within 100 feet (30 meters) feet of the race course.
Logan Autry's autographed Donald Trump hat has seen better days.
The California third-grader was banned last week from wearing the cap to school in Fresno. Days later, his stepmother's dogs got ahold of it.
The 9-year-old told NBC affiliate KSEE he left his hat on the patio while swimming over the weekend and returned to find it in shreds.
"I just really want another signed Donald Trump hat," Logan said, showing the tattered remains of the cap that reads "Make America Great Again."
Fortunately for Logan, Trump's campaign has offered to make that happen.
Campaign staff called Logan's stepmother on Monday and offered to send a new autographed hat, KSEE reports.
"I'm very excited," Logan said when his stepmother broke the news.
Logan was in the front row at Trump's rally last week in downtown Fresno. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee shook Logan's hand and signed his hat.
The cap became Logan's favorite and he wore it to school every day. But it soon became a center of controversy.
Officials at Powers-Ginsburg Elementary School told KSEE the hat was causing problems on campus and Logan was bullied for wearing it.
"Our job as educators is to facilitate a safe learning environment where we encourage robust conversations of diverse ideas and thoughts," district officials said in a statement, adding that Logan had worn the hat for several days.
"However, its also our responsibility to take precautions when the discourse begins to impact our school climate and interrupt school operations," school officials added.
According to district rules, hats may be worn outside the classroom, but must be taken off if they create a distraction, KSEE reports.
"They told me to take my hat off because it brings negative emotions to the other children who dont like him," Logan told the station.
His stepmother, Angela Hoffknecht, told KSEE she's proud of Logan and doesn't believe he should be penalized for voicing his opinion.
"I think the hat is what broke the story but the hat is not the story," she said. "Logan is what made the story. Logan standing up for his beliefs and standing up for his rights to wear the hat at school."
Former President Bill Clinton was making the rounds in the Bay Area on Monday, stumping for his wife in the run-up to Tuesday's primary.
At his fifth and final stop, the Joseph Lee Recreation Center in San Francisco, people were lined up to see the 42nd president as he campaigned for the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton.
"The stakes in this election are maybe even bigger than we know," Clinton told a gathering in Oakland earlier Monday.
"People look to California," he added. "You represent our future."
The former president was in Los Gatos on Sunday, attending a fundraising event at a private residence. On Monday, he made five appearances, including stops at Hayward City Hall, the Fox Theater in Oakland, Marsh Elementary School in Antioch, the Richmond Art Center in Richmond and finally wrapping up the day at the recreation center in San Francisco.
Many supporters were excited to potentially make history by electing the first woman to the White House.
"I cried when I voted for President Obama, and I'm very excited to vote for the first female president of the United States," said Jennifer Freland. "I can't wait."
NBC News projected early Monday evening that Hillary Clinton had clinched the Democratic nomination.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that South San Francisco-based Genentech Inc. and another drug company have agreed to pay $67 million to settle a federal lawsuit that alleged the two companies made misleading statements about a cancer drug.
The settlement in federal court in San Francisco concerns the drug Tarceva, used to treat a type of lung cancer and pancreatic cancer.
It resolves a so-called "whistleblower" lawsuit filed under the U.S. False Claims Act in 2011 by Brian Shields, a former senior product manager for the drug.
Tarceva was marketed jointly by Genentech and OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Farmingdale, N.Y., the second defendant in the case.
The Justice Department said while the case was settled, there was no finding that either company was legally liable for the claims.
The lawsuit alleged the two companies made misleading statements to doctors between 2006 and 2011 about the effectiveness of Tarceva in treating patients with non-small-cell lung cancer.
It alleged that there was little evidence to show that Tarceva was effective with those patients unless they had never smoked or had a mutation in a protein known as the epidermal growth factor receptor.
The department said the federal government will receive $62.6 million and state Medicaid programs will receive $4.4 million of the settlement. Shields will receive about $10 million of the government's proceeds.
Genentech was acquired in 2009 by Hoffmann-La Roche AG of Basel, Switzerland.
The last known living 9/11 search dog has died in a Houston suburb at age 16.
Bretagne, a golden retriever, was euthanized Monday at a veterinary clinic in the Houston suburb of Cypress, according to a statement from the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service.
Bretagne was 2 years old when she and her handler, Denise Corliss, were sent to the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan after the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001. They spent 10 days at the scene searching rubble for human remains as part of the Urban Search and Rescue Texas Task Force 1.
About two-dozen first responders lined the sidewalk leading to the veterinarian's office Monday and saluted Bretagne as she walked by for the final time, The Houston Chronicle reported. An American flag was draped over her body as she was carried out of the facility.
Bretagne retired from active duty at age 9. At 15, she was taken by Corliss to the 9/11 memorial and participated in an interview with NBC News' Tom Brokaw. Corliss told NBC's "Today" that in recent weeks Bretagne began experiencing kidney failure and slowing down.
Bretagne was nominated for a Hero Dog Award from the American Humane Association in 2014. An online biography posted by the organization says Bretagne served as an ambassador for search and rescue dogs in retirement, often visiting elementary schools.
Bretagne and Corliss met with former President George H.W. Bush at his presidential library late last year.
A post on the Texas Task Force 1 Facebook page remembers "the valiant effort and dedication to finding a victim trapped in a destroyed building that Bretagne showed us on a regular basis."
A Hawaii yoga instructor has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of her twin sister after police said she intentionally plunged the car she was driving off a cliff, NBC News reported.
Alexandria Duval, 37, pleaded not guilty Monday in the fatal May 29 crash in Maui. She was critically injured. Her sister, Anastasia Duval, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses told investigators they saw the women fighting inside the vehicle moments before the fall.
Alexandria Duval was arrested Friday, following her discharge from the hospital. She was ordered held without bail Monday. A preliminary hearing was set for Wednesday.
Her defense attorney, Todd Eddins, told reporters that she was not trying to harm herself or "the person she most loved and was closest to in the world."
After Gov. Bruce Rauner compared some Chicago Public Schools to "crumbling prisons," Mayor Rahm Emanuel likened his rhetoric to that of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and insinuated that the governor was pushing to be the billionaire's vice president.
"Last week, I said his rhetoric of division and divisiveness- of targeting [and pitting] one group of people against another- was Trump-like," Emanuel said during an appearance at Chicago's 1871 tech hub, according to the Sun-Times. "Now, it sounds like he's auditioning to be Donald Trump's running mate."
During his speech Monday, the mayor claimed Rauner "may have a stereotype that plays to his political philosophy, but those are not the results" with CPS during Emanuel's five-year tenure as mayor.
He referenced a study by the University of Chicago's Consortium on Chicago School Research that shows open enrollment high schools driving a steady rise in citywide graduation rates over the past 15 years.
"I would just say to him, 'This is not about right-wing ideology. It's about results,'" Emanuel said. "And the test scores that came out today from the University of Chicago speak to what our children and our teachers in our [schools] are doing."
Rauner, who also toured 1871 Monday, made comments about the "tragic" state of some CPS schools.
"The simple fact is that when you look objectively at the state of Chicago Public Schools, many of them are inadequate," Rauner said. "Many of them are woeful, and some are just tragic. Many of them are basically almost crumbling prisons. They're not a place a young person should be educated."
Rauner also outlined his plan to change the formula.
In order to change the funding formula, so Chicago can get more money and other low-income districts can get more money, in the end we need more revenue, we need more money going into the school system, Rauner said. We just need to put more money in and Im eager to do that and Ive proposed this for over a year as a way to get a compromise, a balanced budget and more resources and revenue with reforms.
The governor claimed that the effort to accomplish these measure have been affected by Democrats unwillingness to stand up to powerful House Speaker Mike Madigan and exacerbated by "kicking the can" and "borrowing."
In private, [Senate] President Cullerton and Mayor Emanuel are supportive of the reforms and they know we can get a balanced budget and we could have more revenue, they know that, Rauner added. But they havent been willing to stand up to the speaker and the speaker doesnt want a compromise, doesnt want a grand bargain, doesnt want any reforms right now. Hes been pretty clear about that.
Rauner toured the state last week, pushing stopgap measures to fund schools and other essential government services after the Illinois General Assembly did not pass a budget plan before the end of the spring legislative session last Tuesday.
A group of Chicago aldermen, including Ameya Pawar, Howard Brookins and Danny Solis, also wrote a letter to Rauner last Friday rebuffing comments the governor made during last weeks tour.
Earlier this week, you made a stop downstate where you let Chicago residents know how you really feel about us when you claimed that our city isnt filled with hardworking families who pay the taxes in Illinois, the aldermen wrote. Then you took it a step further when you said taxes should go into all communities except Chicago.
The group also noted that Chicago Public Schools shouldnt be punished for their demographics.
After completing a brief tour of the state last week touting stopgap funding measures for K-12 education and other essential state services, Gov. Bruce Rauner reportedly compared some Chicago Public Schools to crumbling prisons."
The comment was made during a Monday press conference at Chicagos 1871 tech incubator, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
"The simple fact is that when you look objectively at the state of Chicago Public Schools, many of them are inadequate," Rauner said. "Many of them are woeful, and some are just tragic. Many of them are basically almost crumbling prisons. They're not a place a young person should be educated."
CPS in a statement Monday called Rauner's comments "disrespectful and beneath his office" and called for an apology.
"In Chicago, our students' remarkable achievements- in their graduation rate, in their ACT scores, in their college enrollment, in elementary reading and math- have come because of their hard work, and they deserve our support. Instead, their own governor is bad-mouthing them, de-funding them and demeaning everything that they have accomplished," the statement read. "We call on the governor to apologize for his hurtful, divisive and inflammatory rhetoric- and just as importantly, to stop being an obstacle to badly needed education funding reform."
Nevertheless, during the stop at 1871, Rauner also outlined his plan to change the funding formula.
In order to change the funding formula, so Chicago can get more money and other low-income districts can get more money, in the end we need more revenue, we need more money going into the school system, Rauner said. We just need to put more money in and Im eager to do that and Ive proposed this for over a year as a way to get a compromise, a balanced budget and more resources and revenue with reforms.
Rauner claimed that the effort to accomplish such measures has been affected by Democrats unwillingness to stand up to powerful House Speaker Mike Madigan.
In private, [Senate] President Cullerton and Mayor Emanuel are supportive of the reforms and they know we can get a balanced budget and we could have more revenue, they know that, Rauner added. But they havent been willing to stand up to the speaker and the speaker doesnt want a compromise, doesnt want a grand bargain, doesnt want any reforms right now. Hes been pretty clear about that.
During his Monday speech, Rauner also faulted Emanuel for kicking the can, borrowing."
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who toured 1871 seperately on Monday, rebuffed the claims, comparing the governors rhetoric to that of likely Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Last week, I said his rhetoric of division and divisiveness- of targeting [and pitting] one group of people against another- was Trump-like, Emanuel said. Now, it sounds like hes auditioning to be Donald Trumps running mate.
Superintendents from 15 Illinois school districts urged Rauner Monday to update the states beleaguered school funding formula.
The formula is broken, the group wrote. Yet despite collective agreement on this from across the state, including your own acknowledgement of that fact, you continue to push a proposal that puts more money into this worst-in-the-nation K-12 funding system in the same way.
The superintendents claimed that many Illinois schools would not be able to open in the fall without proper funding.
Rauner toured the state last week, pushing stopgap funding measures after the Illinois General Assembly did not pass a budget plan before the end of the spring legislative session last Tuesday.
Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk said Tuesday he will not back presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the upcoming election and he hopes other members of the Republican party will do the same.
The announcement comes on the heels of Trumps statements about the heritage of a Hispanic judge presiding over civil fraud lawsuits against his beleaguered Trump University. In his statement, Kirk called the comments un-American.
As the Presidential campaign progressed, I was hoping the rhetoric would tone down and reflect a campaign that was inclusive, thoughtful and principled, Kirk said in a statement. While I oppose the Democratic nominee, Donald Trump's latest statements, in context with past attacks on Hispanics, women and the disabled like me, make it certain that I cannot and will not support my party's nominee for President regardless of the political impact on my candidacy or the Republican Party.
In a March exclusive, Kirk told NBC 5 that he would support Trump if he were the Republican presidential nominee.
"If he is the nominee I certainly would [support Trump]," Kirk said at the time.
But on Tuesday, Kirk said in an interview with NBC that Trump's comments about the judge were "too racist" and when asked if it was the final straw said "it was a big straw for me."
"I think we should send a strong message that racism and bigotry will not be tolerated in our party," he said in the interview.
Illinois Gov. Rauner also turned against Trump Tuesday, saying he's "disgusted by these recent comments."
"And as I've said many times," Rauner continued, "I'm appalled by the rhetoric in the presidential race. Those comments do not reflect the values of the Republican Party. They do not reflect the values of America."
On Tuesday afternoon, Trump said his comments on the judge were "misconstrued" as an attack against people of Mexican heritage, the Associated Press reported.
Rep. Tammy Duckworth, Kirks opponent in his bid for re-election, slammed the senator after he declined to comment on the billionaires controversial statements Monday.
"To my opponent, Senator Kirk, I would simply say, as Dr. King did, there comes a time when silence is betrayal," Duckworth said. "Any politician who stays silent, or hopes to fly under the radar, is complicit in his campaign of hate and division- and deserves to be judged harshly. It may not happen immediately, but I fundamentally believe history will not be kind to those who stood by or shrugged off the shameful candidacy of Donald J. Trump."
On Tuesday, Duckworth's campaign issued a statement responding to the senator's announcement and asking "what took so long?'
"Yesterday, Tammy Duckworth called Senator Kirk's silence in the face of Trump's bigotry a betrayal, and we're standing by our statement," Duckworth's deputy campaign manager Matt McGrath said.
Similarly, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee called the move a "politically self-serving stance."
Mark Kirk and his GOP Senate colleagues stood by while Donald Trump insulted his way to the nomination and took over the Republican party," the committee said in a statement. "Though he belittled women, immigrants, minorities and people with disabilities, it was not until the political fallout of Trumps divisive politics began to hurt Kirks own reelection [sic] that he second-guessed his support. In fact, too often Kirks own offensive rhetoric made him almost indistinguishable from Trump. Regardless of whether or not Kirk actually sticks to this latest position on Trump, voters wont buy his politically-motivated self-serving stance. Its Trumps Party and Kirk helped build it."
In the past week, Trump has lodged multiple attacks at U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was born in East Chicago, Ind. to Mexican-born parents, calling him a hater of Donald Trump." Many Republican leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have condemned the likely nominees incendiary claims.
Trump doubled down on his attacks against Curiel during an interview with CBSs Face the Nation Sunday.
"I say he's got a bias," Trump said during the interview. "I want to build a wall. I'm going to build a wall."
During the same interview, he also said that, based on his proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the county, it was possible that a Muslim judge would also be biased against him.
It is absolutely essential that we are guided by a commander-in-chief with a responsible and proper temperament, discretion and judgment, Kirk said. Our President must be fit to command the most powerful military the world has ever seen, including an arsenal of thousands of nuclear weapons.
After much consideration, I have concluded that Donald Trump has not demonstrated the temperament necessary to assume the greatest office in the world, he added.
In May, Kirk told USA Today that he would be willing to serve as a national security advisor to Trump.
I had my reservations, Kirk said. Ive been thinking, in an age of Trump where you dont know the direction of the country, the person you need most is a steady conservative hand like Mark Kirk in the Senate to be advising the president, especially on national security topicswhich is my particular expertise after 23 years in the Navy.
Nevertheless, Kirk called Trump a river boat gamble and plans to skip Julys Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Kirk previously condemned some of Trump's incendiary comments about Mexicans.
"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best," Trump said during the announcement of his campaign last June. "They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists."
Kirk publicly disavowed these statements and distanced himself from Trump's foreign policy in a conversation with John Gregory last June.
"In a typical Chicago way, to my Mexican-American friends, I would say, 'Donald Trump callate'- shut up," Kirk said.
A 6-year-old girl is in critical condition after being shot while playing outside on Chicago's Northwest Side Monday night.
The young girl was outside a Logan Square neighborhood home at a party in the 2100 block of Bingham when witnesses said they heard anywhere from eight to 10 shots ring out.
A car pulled up and someone inside started shooting at the group, according to witnesses. The girl was the only one hit by gunfire, police said.
Family members rushed the girl to Sts. Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center, where she was treated before being transported to Cook Countys Stroger Hospital. Her name has not been released.
"It really hurts because there are so many innocent people that are just [enjoying the] nice, beautiful weather," said one witness, who wished to remain anonymous. "Thats not fair. Thats not fair for the kids. Thats not fair for our neighborhood."
A law enforcement source told the Chicago Tribune police are searching for a silver vehicle, but police have not released those details.
Authorities said Tuesday that Chicago police have responded to four calls at the home since last month. The calls range from shots fired to noise disturbances.
"The house is always reported at the CAPS meetings," said neighbor Joe Kopera. "They're always asking about it because it's been a continuous problem for years."
Bullet holes were seen in the front window of the home Tuesday. A man who lived inside declined to comment, but told NBC 5 the bullet holes were from a a different shooting. He insisted the home is "not a gang house" like others are making it out to be.
In a statement, Ald. Joe Moreno said he has been working with police to address issues at the home "prior to this tragic incident."
Community members say regardless of the circumstances, someone must be held acccountable for the shoting.
"This baby is laying here in pain overnight, inumaginable pain," said activist Andrew Holmes. "I can't imagine the pain. Let's gives these individuals pain, let's bring them to justice."
The injury bug has bitten the Chicago Cubs again, as outfielder Jorge Soler will be placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring.
Soler, who left Mondays game against the Philadelphia Phillies after suffering the injury, underwent an MRI on Tuesday. The scan did not reveal any tear in the muscle, but the team will still play it safe and allow the injury to heal.
The Cubs will make a corresponding move with Soler going on the DL, calling up outfielder Albert Almora from Triple-A Iowa.
Almora, who is batting .318 with 18 extra base hits and 30 RBI so far this season in Des Moines, was the Cubs first round pick during the 2012 MLB Draft. Selected sixth overall, Almora has long been considered one of the top fielders in the Cubs organization, and with his hitting finally starting to come around, the team will look to get him his big league debut at some point in the near future.
As for Tuesdays game, Almora will not be in the starting lineup for the Cubs as they take on the Phillies. Instead, Kris Bryant will head out to left field for the team, with Tommy La Stella getting the start at third base.
The Democratic Party of Illinois launched a website Tuesday with a who said it? quiz Tuesday featuring Sen. Mark Kirk and likely Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
The site gives users the opportunity to guess which Republican is responsible for each of the sixteen provided quotes.
Im OK with discrimination against young Arab males from terrorist-producing sites, Kirk is quoted as saying on the site.
The quote stems from a 2005 issue of the Chicago Tribune. Kirk was speaking at a technology conference at Northwestern protecting U.S. borders from foreign terrorists.
The quiz also includes some quotes from the divisive Trump.
Ive never seen something so incompetently negotiated- and I mean never, Trump is quoted as saying about the Iran nuclear deal.
CNN reported that the billionaire made the comments on the steps of Capitol Hill last September.
All told, twelve of the sixteen quotes belong to Kirk, who is battling Duckworth in one of the nations most highly-contested Senate races.
Nevertheless, Kirk announced Tuesday that he will not back Trump in the upcoming election, calling his statements about the heritage of a Hispanic judge presiding over civil fraud lawsuits against his beleaguered Trump University un-American.
As the Presidential campaign progressed, I was hoping the rhetoric would tone down and reflect a campaign that was inclusive, thoughtful and principled, Kirk said. While I oppose the Democratic nominee, Donald Trump's latest statements, in context with past attacks on Hispanics, women and the disabled like me, make it certain that I cannot and will not support my party's nominee for President regardless of the political impact on my candidacy or the Republican Party.
Duckworth, who faces an August trial related to a workplace retaliation lawsuit stemming from her time as Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, has been hammering Kirk for pledging his support to Trump in March.
Duckworth also slammed Kirk Monday after he declined to comment on Trumps statements about U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over the Trump University case.
"To my opponent, Senator Kirk, I would simply say, as Dr. King did, there comes a time when silence is betrayal," Duckworth said. "Any politician who stays silent, or hopes to fly under the radar, is complicit in his campaign of hate and division- and deserves to be judged harshly. It may not happen immediately, but I fundamentally believe history will not be kind to those who stood by or shrugged off the shameful candidacy of Donald J. Trump."
In the past week, Trump has lodged multiple attacks at Curiel, who was born in East Chicago, Ind. to Mexican-born parents, calling him a hater of Donald Trump."
On Tuesday afternoon, Trump said his comments on the judge were "misconstrued" as an attack against people of Mexican heritage, the Associated Press reported.
Duckworth also touched on the upcoming trial workplace retaliation trial Monday in an interview with WLS AM radios Bill Cameron. Duckworth told Cameron the she looks forward to getting the truth out there about what happened. When asked to elaborate, she said she couldnt because of the trials ongoing nature.
Well look, I cant say anything about the case because it is still a pending case, she said.
The Kirk campaign responded to Duckworths claims Monday.
"The problem for Rep. Duckworth is that the truth is out there, and it outlines a scenario where Duckworth was more concerned with covering up for Rod Blagojevich instead of addressing the claims of veteran abuse and mistreatment," Kirks campaign manager Kevin Artl said in a statement. "Duckworth admitted in emails that she was wrong and then asked employees to help her cover it up--that's the truth--even according to Duckworth."
A person was taken into custody Tuesday morning after leading police on a high-speed pursuit in a stolen ambulance.
Just after 7:30 a.m., someone took off in the ambulance from the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center near the 1700 block of West Taylor Street on the city's Southwest Side, according to Illinois State Police.
The chase began around 7:35 a.m. and ended about 20 minutes after when the driver was arrested on I-294 near 127th Street in Alsip.
No one was inside the ambulance at the time except the driver, police said.
A spokesperson for the ambulance company, Medical Express Ambulance Services out of suburban Skokie, did not immediately return a request for comment.
This story is developing, check back for details.
Rep. Tammy Duckworth slammed Sen. Mark Kirk Monday after he declined to comment on likely Republican presidential nominee Donald Trumps statements about the heritage of a Hispanic judge presiding over civil fraud lawsuits against his beleaguered Trump University.
Kirk is facing a tough bid for reelection against Duckworth in November. During a Monday speech in Chicago, Duckworth condemned Trump for his comments and behavior and slammed Kirk for not disavowing and distancing himself from the billionaire.
"To my opponent, Senator Kirk, I would simply say, as Dr. King did, there comes a time when silence is betrayal," Duckworth said. "Any politician who stays silent, or hopes to fly under the radar, is complicit in his campaign of hate and division- and deserves to be judged harshly. It may not happen immediately, but I fundamentally believe history will not be kind to those who stood by or shrugged off the shameful candidacy of Donald J. Trump."
Nevertheless, Kirk announced Tuesday that he will not back Trump in the upcoming election, calling his statements un-American.
As the Presidential campaign progressed, I was hoping the rhetoric would tone down and reflect a campaign that was inclusive, thoughtful and principled, Kirk said. While I oppose the Democratic nominee, Donald Trump's latest statements, in context with past attacks on Hispanics, women and the disabled like me, make it certain that I cannot and will not support my party's nominee for President regardless of the political impact on my candidacy or the Republican Party.
In the past week, Trump has lodged multiple attacks at U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was born in East Chicago, Ind. to Mexican-born parents, calling him a hater of Donald Trump."
Trump doubled down on his attacks against Curiel during an interview with CBSs Face the Nation Sunday.
"I say he's got a bias," Trump said during the interview. "I want to build a wall. I'm going to build a wall."
During the same interview, he also said that, based on his proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the county, it was possible that a Muslim judge would also be biased against him
Top Republican officials have attempted to distance themselves from Trumps comments this week. During an interview with Meet the Press Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he couldnt disagree more with Trumps attacks against Curiel.
McConnell pushed for Trump to move on from the attacks and work towards unifying the GOP.
"You unify the party, by not settling scores and grudges against people you've been competing with, McConnel told NBCs Chuck Todd Sunday. We're all behind him now and I'd like to see him reach out and pull us all together and give us a real shot at winning this November."
Last week, House Speaker Paul Ryan also condemned Trumps comments in an interview with WISN, one day after officially endorsing the likely nominee.
On Tuesday afternoon, Trump said his comments on the judge were "misconstrued" as an attack against people of Mexican heritage, the Associated Press reported.
In March, Kirk told NBC Chicago that he would support Trump if he were the Republican presidential nominee. In May, he told USA Today that he was willing to serve as a national security advisor to Trump.
I had my reservations, Kirk said. Ive been thinking, in an age of Trump where you dont know the direction of the country, the person you need most is a steady conservative hand like Mark Kirk in the Senate to be advising the president, especially on national security topicswhich is my particular expertise after 23 years in the Navy.
Nevertheless, Kirk called Trump a river boat gamble and plans to skip Julys Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Kirk previously condemned some of Trump's incendiary comments about Mexicans.
"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best," Trump said during the announcement of his campaign last June. "They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists."
Kirk publicly disavowed these statements and distanced himself from Trump's foreign policy in a conversation with John Gregory last June.
"In a typical Chicago way, to my Mexican-American friends, I would say, 'Donald Trump callate'- shut up," Kirk said.
Republican Donald Trump says his attacks on the judge handling the Trump University case have been "misconstrued."
Trump said in a lengthy statement Tuesday afternoon that "it is unfortunate" his comments "have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage."
Trump has complained repeatedly that federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel is biased against him and cited his Mexican heritage. Curiel was born in the U.S.
His comments have sparked a backlash among members of the Republican Party, with House Speaker Paul Ryan saying Tuesday that they are "the textbook definition of racist comments." Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois said Trump's comments are un-American and he cannot support the presumptive presidential nominee.
Trump said in his statement, "I do not feel that one's heritage makes them incapable of being impartial," but said that he feels justified to question whether he is receiving a fair trial based on the ruling.
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the only black Republican senator, called Trump's comments on the judge "racially toxic" yet said, "He needs to get onto the general election and we need to win."
"From what I know about Trump, he's not a racist. But he does make a lot of outrageous statements. And I think he ought to tone it down a little bit," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, while calling on the media to give Trump "leeway" for what he called a "mistake."
A 27-year-old Newington, Connecticut woman who was riding a bicycle in a Brooklyn, New York bike lane was struck and killed by a fuel truck early Tuesday, according to authorities.
Leah Sylvain was riding in a bike lane on Evergreen Avenue in Bushwick when the 52-year-old truck driver made a left turn and hit her shortly before 7 a.m., police said.
Police responding to a 911 call found Sylvain on the pavement with head trauma and she was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The driver, who remained at the scene, was arrested on charges involving failure to yield and failure to exercise due care, among other offenses.
Police continue to investigate.
Midlothian police say lab tests show blood on a shirt Missy Bevers' father-in-law dropped off at a dry cleaning business is not human blood.
The women's long-sleeved shirt that appeared to be stained with blood was dropped off at a Midlothian dry cleaner four days after Bevers was found murdered.
The family said the blood came from a family dog, who was involved in a fight with another family member's dog. Police said Monday the test results from the University of North Texas Science Center Laboratory show the blood was definitively not from a human.
Bevers, 45, died April 18 after she was attacked inside the Creekside Church of Christ in Midlothian. The mother of three had arrived at the church around 4 a.m. to prepare for her early-morning Camp Gladiator fitness class.
On April 22, Randy Bevers, 64, brought a white XXL women's long-sleeved shirt to the Dry Clean Super Center of Midlothian, according to a previously released search warrant.
Kristi Stout, Missy Bevers' sister-in-law, told NBC 5 that her father, Randy Bevers, had to separate dogs that began fighting in her kitchen.
Stout said one of the dogs a 13-year-old Chihuahua that belonged to her step-mother, Vikki Bevers died in the fight.
"Carrying the dog from the house to the veterinarian clinic, it was bloody. So, therefore, blood on the shirt," said Randy Bevers.
Investigation Into Missy Bevers' Death Continues
Oak Farms Dairy has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and grand jury indictment of the person or people responsible for Missy Bevers' death.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the department's tip line at 972-775-7624. Tipsters may be eligible for a cash reward and can also remain anonymous by contacting Ellis County Crime Stoppers at 972-937-PAYS (7297).
A Democratic congressman said Monday that Donald Trump's criticism of a Latino judge overseeing a lawsuit involving Trump University shows that the presumptive Republican nominee for president is a racist -- and told Trump to take his proposed border wall and "shove it up your ass."
Rep. Filemon Vela of Texas said in an open letter that Trump's "ignorant anti-immigrant opinions," border wall rhetoric and continued attacks on the judge "are just plain despicable."
Vela, who represents a district in southern Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border, called Trump a racist, adding, "You can take your border wall and shove it up your ass."
In the Senate, top Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada lobbed a blistering fusillade at Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for failing to denounce Trump's attacks on the federal judge presiding in a lawsuit in which Trump is the defendant.
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 them secrets of success in real estate, an allegation Trump has denied.
U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel is presiding over the San Diego suit, and Trump has said Curiel's Mexican heritage means he cannot ensure a fair trial for Trump, 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 words, "a hater of Donald Trump."
Republicans have warned Trump to drop his attacks on Curiel, which they said have hurt the GOP's efforts to reach out to Latino voters.
Vela said in his letter that Trump's position with respect to the millions of undocumented Mexican workers who live in the U.S. is "hateful, dehumanizing and frankly shameful."
The vast number of undocumented immigrants work in hotels, restaurants, construction sites and agricultural fields across the United States, Vela said.
"If I had to guess, your own business enterprises either directly or indirectly employ more of these workers than most other businesses in our country," he told Trump in the letter. "Thousands of our businesses would come to a grinding halt if we invoked a policy that would require `mass deportation' as you and many of your supporters would suggest. That is precisely why the Republican-leaning U.S. Chamber of Commerce agrees that these workers deserve a national immigration policy that would give them a pathway to citizenship."
Meanwhile, Reid said "McConnell is the poster boy for Republicans' spinelessness that allowed Donald Trump to be the Republican nominee" after the Kentucky Republican declined to label Trump's assault on Curiel as racist.
Reid said Trump is the natural result of Washington Republicans' anti-Obama agenda, saying GOP leaders have "embraced the darkest elements within their party."
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a reporter's requests for comment.
Trump promises to build a great wall along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border and make Mexico pay for it. Some 650 miles of border fencing now sits on the border, including roughly 15-foot-tall steel fencing in many urban areas that is designed to stop or slow those trying to cross the border on foot.
Vela said he would rather "tear the existing wall to pieces."
While there's no doubt that Mexico "has its problems," it is also a U.S. neighbor and its third-largest trading partner, Vela said. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has documented that trade with Mexico accounts for at least 6 million jobs in the United States, he said.
"Why any modern-thinking person would ever believe that building a wall along the border of a neighboring country, which is both our ally and one of our largest trading partners, is frankly astounding and asinine," Vela said.
Taking aim at Trump's penchant for personal insults, Vela said Trump should not "dismiss" him as "just another Mexican," noting that his great-grandfather came to the U.S. in 1857 -- well before Trump's ancestors arrived in the U.S.
An early-morning apartment fire in Arlington damaged four residences and left 18 people with out a home Tuesday.[[382105821,R]]
Firefighters arrived at the Park Row East Apartments on the 1300 block of Timberview at about 1 a.m. to find several vehicles on fire and flames coming from residences on both the first and second floors.
Due to the intensity of the fire, a second alarm was immediately requested, fire officials said. Ultimately eight engines were dispatched, as well as three ladder trucks, two battalion chiefs and an ambulance.
"Crews engaged in an aggressive interior attack to control the fire and search for occupants. All occupants escaped safely, but several reported smoke inhalation. The occupants were evaluated by paramedics, but none required transport to the hospital," fire officials said in a statement.
Once the fire was out, firefighters confirmed damage to four residences that housed 18 people. The Arlington Fire Department requested the Red Cross assist those who were left homeless by the fire.
Arlington fire investigators have not yet determined the cause of the fire, but they did say it originated on a ground floor patio.
The fiancee of the Texas soldier killed in last week's flooding accident at Fort Hood is now planning a funeral instead of a wedding.
Deje Lara said the couple had planned to get married next month.
Private Isaac Deleon, 19, was the youngest of nine soldiers who died when their truck overturned Thursday morning in floodwaters during a training exercise. He's the only Texas native killed.
Deleon and Lara, 18, met at Central High School in San Angelo when she was a freshman and he was a sophomore.
"He was so funny and knew how to make everyone laugh," Lara said in an interview Monday.
Isaac Deleon, 19, was the youngest and the only Texan among the nine soldiers who died when their truck overturned in floodwaters at Fort Hood. He was also engaged to be married.
But it wasn't exactly love at first sight, she said.
"When I first saw him, he was mean," she remembered. "He was one of those mean class clown boys."
Then, they took ROTC together. They started talking, and he invited her to homecoming.
"It was like we were friends," Lara said. "He didn't know how to hold my hand or give me a hug or walk me to class. I was like, 'This is what you've got to do.'"
Lara said Deleon learned quickly.
"By month three of our relationship, we were best friends. Inseparable," she recalled.
Deleon graduated in 2015 and decided to go into the Army.
"I told myself I would never marry into the military because of reasons like this," Lara said. "And he always reassured me. He was like, 'Babe, I will always come home to you. I will always be there.'"
[NATL-DFW] Faces of the Fort Hood Fallen
The two talked on the phone every day while Deleon was away at Fort Hood.
He called Thursday morning before he died.
"There it is, 10:17," Lara said, looking at her cellphone. "We were on the phone for a minute."
Deleon told her he was going on a training exercise and they'd talk later, she said.
"So I told him OK, that I loved him and just to be safe, because he told me it was raining bad over there," Lara said. "And he told me, 'I love you.' And I go, 'I love you too,' and then he hung up the phone."
That was the last time she heard his voice.
She tried to call him later, never thinking there was a problem.
"I was calling him and calling him and nothing," she said.
A friend shared the news of the training accident, but Lara didn't believe Deleon had been a part of it.
"And I left him a voicemail, and I was like, 'Babe, this is not happening right now. I need you to call me so I know you are OK.' I was texting. I was like, 'Why aren't you answering me?'" Lara said. "I texted him, 'You should be off already.' I was telling him, 'Thanks for telling me you were going to turn your phone off.'"
A paramedic who treated three Fort Hood soldiers said they survived by clinging to a tree branch and, exhausted, kept asking about their missing fellow troopers.
As the night dragged on, her messages grew more desperate.
"Isaac, I love you so much. Babe please answer me," one message said.
She kept texting.
"You're my strong soldier, Isaac. Baby, I'm right here with you," another message said.
At about 2:30 a.m. Friday, Deleon's parents showed up at her house after Army chaplains delivered the news.
"I was so in shock, I froze," she said. "I didn't want to believe it. I wanted him to call and say, 'It's a misunderstanding; I'm right here.'"
She said Deleon had been planning to see her later that day. The couple had intended to reveal their wedding date next month to family and friends on Saturday.
NBC 5 News
Instead, she went to get a tattoo on her left arm: "I am because you were."
"I am the person I am today because of the person he was," she explained.
Lara has questions for the Army about why and how the accident happened.
Fort Hood commanders said they were in the process of closing roads when the soldiers' truck overturned. Lara wants to know why they didn't do it sooner.
"I hate to be mad at the Army for this because it's what he loved doing. But I am," she said. "And I blame whoever called the orders."
The Army is investigating, while Lara is grieving.
Even now, she still sends text messages to Deleon the last on Sunday night.
"Goodnight and I love you," it read.
"I'm just hoping I wake up and he's there," she said.
She said Deleon was planning to go to Iraq later this year.
"I was prepared if he didn't come back from deployment," she said. "But I was not prepared to hear that he got killed in a training exercise."
Every day, thousands of North Texans receive freshly prepared meals from volunteers at Meals on Wheels, Tarrant County.
But soon, those volunteers will be tasked with more than just delivering meals. They'll also help clients with their overall health by just asking a few questions.
Homebound, disabled people become very isolated very quickly and most of them do not have daily contact with anyone else, Meals on Wheels, Tarrant County, president and CEO Carla Jutson said.
Volunteers that deliver meals already provide Meals on Wheels with concerns about clients. Every day, the organization uses a rotating crew of about 5,000 volunteers to deliver 2,300 meals and receives 50 to 100 calls about concerns to follow up on. Case workers than check on those clients to alleviate such concerns.
The food is just the tip of the iceberg, Jutson said. If they cannot perform to make their own meal, just think of everything else theyre not able to do. Personal hygiene, shopping assistance, financial assistance, do they remember to pay their utilities all come into play when you have somebody whos in a very disabled condition.
Meals on Wheels Tarrant County is one of six local chapters of the national organization that is preparing to take part in a new two-year study to see how volunteers can improve the health and safety of clients simply by asking a few questions or making a few observations.
One of the things that we always felt was very important is that daily contact by the volunteer, that could then observe any problems the client is having, Jutson said. Is their health deteriorating very quickly, are they more confused, are they having problems being able to communicate, those kinds of issues.
The study is called More Than a Meal phase 3 and is funded by a $200,000 grant from the San Diego-based Gary and Mary West Health Institute. Meals on Wheels is providing the on the ground data collectors and Brown Universitys Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research is analyzing that data.
Meals on Wheels volunteers will be trained in a serious of questions or observations, Jutson says, that can then help get the client medical care before there is a serious health threat. The assessment will identify health, safety, and social needs like loneliness, depression, fall risk, or other concerns.
We certainly expect that it's going to show that the daily contact with the meal being given to them by a volunteer, and the volunteer checking on them every day, is going to make a world of difference, versus if the meals were just drop shipped to them, Jutson said.
The study hasnt started yet, but Meals on Wheels hopes it will make a concerted effort to improve the lives of the clients they are already helping.
For more on the study, click here.
Step into a bar in Fort Worth right now, and you're likely to step out smelling like smoke. It's the last major city in Texas without a comprehensive smoking ban.
But one well-known business recently made the change on its own and thats helping galvanize a new push to ban smoking city-wide.
There's a cold drink in your hand and decades worth of country music history echoing off the walls. You're in Billy Bob's Texas. But there's something in the air now and it's not smoke, it's change.
"It's a sign of the times, I guess," said Billy Bobs Texas President Concho Minick.
Billy Bob's banned smoking a month ago, except for on a new outdoor patio.
Managers say it was a simple question of responding to customer demand.
"One of the biggest complaints about our service is that smoking was allowed inside," said Minick.
However, some customers are not on board.
"It's a honky tonk. You should be able to come in and have your whiskey and your smoke. Why not? This is America," said customer Diane Carlson.
They've heard a lot more comments like this one from customer Craig Mangos.
"It wouldn't be comfortable for us to spend more than 10, 15 minutes in a place where smoke was around because of the whole health issue of second-hand smoke is well-known."
That's exactly what made Dr. Mark Koch of John Peter Smith Hospital step up to lead the new group Smoke-Free Fort Worth.
"We know that 41,000 people are going to die this year as a result of second-hand smoke," said Koch.
Now a coalition of community and business leaders is pushing for a comprehensive ban on smoking everywhere in Fort Worth. Right now, you can still smoke in places like bingo parlors and bars with more than 70 percent of sales from alcohol.
"Fort Worth is the last major city in Texas to go smoke-free," said Koch.
He thinks that hurts the city's image and hopes bans like Billy Bob's will show you can cut out smoking without losing business.
While the honky tonk's not ready to go political, Minick said it's been a good thing.
"It's been overwhelmingly positive," Minick said.
The Smoke-Free group hopes city council will make a chance to its smoking ordinance by the end of the year.
No one from city hall returned NBC 5s calls for comment on Monday.
For more information or to get involved, click here or here.
Arlington police are investigating after a vehicle fatally struck a pedestrian late Saturday and then drove away.[[382012101,R]]
Police say they were called at about 11:50 p.m. Saturday to the 1800 block of East Park Row Drive, where a man had been struck while crossing the street.
Witnesses told police the vehicle that fled the scene was a small, light-colored sedan with a broken front windshield.
Investigators released a photo Monday of a vehicle of interest that may be possibly related to the crash.
The man who was struck was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His identity has not been released, but police said he was in his mid-50s, visually impaired and was using a walking cane to cross the street.
Police ask anyone with information about the vehicle or its driver to call crash investigators at 817-459-5635 or Tarrant County Crime Stoppers at 817-469-TIPS (8477).
A man accused of killing an 11-year-old Houston boy as the child walked home from school sobbed in court Monday as prosecutors told the judge the boy was stabbed at least 20 times.
Andre Timothy Jackson Jr., who is charged with murder in the May 17 slaying of Josue Flores, appeared before a judge as prosecutors described the investigation that led to his arrest. Jackson didn't speak during the hearing.
Prosecutors say the 27-year-old Marine Corps veteran admitted he was the man seen on a surveillance video near the crime scene and also told police he was at the crime scene.
Jackson will remain in jail on $100,000 bond. An attorney listed for him in court records didn't immediately return a call to The Associated Press.
If convicted, he faces a maximum punishment of life in prison.
More than 30 supporters, including Flores' sister, showed up for the hearing wearing white T-shirts with the boy's photo on the front.
Jackson was arrested Friday at the Salvation Army in downtown Houston, where he had maintained a room since mid-April, according to investigators.
Police have said there is no motive in the slaying and no known connection between Jackson and the boy.
Authorities initially charged a 31-year-old man with a long criminal history days after the killing, but that charge was dropped when detectives found evidence to support his alibi.
Police said they found three people dead in a Houston apartment where there were signs of an apparent struggle.
The bodies were found late Monday afternoon at the Park Houston Apartments in southern Houston, about 2 miles west of Houston Hobby International Airport.
Police said at a news conference that two men and a woman were found in the apartment. Family have identified the woman as 25-year-old Lakeisha Lewis. The two male victims have not been identified.
Family say victim is 23 yo Lakeisha Lewis shot and killed by her ex boyfriend. @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/RB0d91LxVP Sofia Ojeda (@KPRC2Sofia) June 7, 2016
Det. David Williamson said some of the victims may have died from gunshot wounds, but it's too early to tell.
Police said residents reported seeing a man fleeing the scene. Houston police told KPRC-TV that Darryl Mitchell is suspected in the shooting.
What to Know Gov. Chris Christie said Donald Trump had the right to express himself regarding civil lawsuits filed against his eponymous university.
Trump has come under fire for saying a judge hearing the suit couldn't be objective because his parents are Mexican immigrants.
Several politicians, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham have lambasted Trump for the comments.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Tuesday that "Donald Trump is not a racist," days after the GOP's presumptive presidential nominee came under fire for comments about an American-born judge's Mexican heritage.
Speaking after casting his vote in the New Jersey presidential and congressional primaries in his hometown of Mendham, Christie said Trump had the right to express himself regarding civil lawsuits filed against his eponymous university.
"Those are Donalds opinions and he has the right to express them, the same way that anyone has the right to express any of their views regarding how theyre treated in the civil or criminal courts in this country," Christie said. "That's what free speech is all about."
Trump has said U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel who was born in Indiana can't be impartial in lawsuits against Trump University because Curiel's parents were born in Mexico and Trump wants to build a wall along the border.
Christie, a Republican, added that he didn't know Curiel or the specifics of the Trump University lawsuits. Speaking generally, he said Trump has told him in the past "there are things he's said that he shouldn't have said."
He said Tuesday that Trump isn't racist, and that "allegations that he is are absolutely contrary to every experience I've had with him over the last 14 years."
The New Jersey governor called the controversy over Trump's comments the "judge kerfuffle."
But those comments were blasted by politicians from both sides of the aisle including several top Republicans who had endorsed Trump.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday that Trump's assertions were "the textbook definition of racist comments" and that the "mature and responsible thing" would be for the presumptive nominee to retract them.
"I do absolutely disavow his comments; I think they're wrong," Ryan said, but added that "I'm going to be focusing on these ideas, these solutions, and not attempt to try and defend the indefensible."
Christie also bristled at comments made by Sen. Lindsey Graham, who told the New York Times that fellow Republicans should rescind their endorsements of Trump over his comments on Curiel. Graham ended his presidential bid in December.
"Lindsey Graham has changed his mind about who he's endorsing and not endorsing so many different times that it's hard for me to keep track," Christie said.
He added, "Lindsey's lost any credibility he's had. He should worry about going back to South Carolina and trying to rebuild his base in South Carolina or he won't be in the United States Senate for much longer."
Later Tuesday, Graham told NBC News it sounded like Christie was auditioning to be vice president. The senator said he won't be voting for Trump or presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and will instead write in a candidate when he votes for president in November.
Christie, who himself ran for president but dropped out of the race after the New Hampshire primary, was among the first major Republican figures to endorse Trump.
The two have said they are friends. Last month, Trump picked Christie to lead a team planning the billionaire businessman's transition to the White House should he win the general election.
A 13-year-old boy was hospitalized Monday after he was pulled from the bottom of a pool at a school band "end-of-the-year" swim party in Murrieta last week.
"I just looked back and I just heard people saying, 'He's drowning,'" Toyo Kodama, a student, said. "It was really, really scary."
Alex Pierce, a 7th grade student at Dorothy Mcelhinney Middle School, was one of nearly 100 students attending a school-sponsored pool party at Vista Murrieta High on Friday, Murrieta police said.
It was 6 p.m. when students saw Pierce floating underwater at the bottom of the pool, police said.
High school student lifeguards rushed to pull him from the water, placing him on a floating backboard, and called 911 immediately.
Paramedics from Murrieta Fire arrived within four minutes of the call, and performed CPR before taking Pierce to Inland Valley Hospital. Surveillance footage showed he was under for about 95 seconds before he was rescued.
The party, chaperoned by parents and teachers, was organized by the choir booster club and band.
"At this time, Murrieta police have determined there is no criminal culpability and the incident appears to be an accidental drowning," Murrieta police said in a news release.
Pierce was airlifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center for specialized treatment, police said. He was in critical condition Monday.
Detectives have reviewed surveillance footage during the time of the near drowning and saw no horse play or inappropriate behavior. They believe he may have floated too far to into the deep end of the pool and was unable to stand up, but are still investigating.
"It just kind of reaches out to your heart as a mom, as a parent, as close-knit as this community is," Judy Payne, the parent of a student who attends the school, said.
The parents of Alex have asked for privacy. Those who wish to contribute to a GoFundMe to help pay for Alex's medical expenses can find the link here.
Eight candidates will battle Tuesday to replace Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, who will have served the 5th District for 36 years before being forced out by term limits at the end of this year.
Antonovich is backing his chief of staff, Kathryn Barger, to succeed him. Barger also has strong backing from unions representing sheriff's deputies and county firefighters, as well as the Service Employees International Union Local 721, which represents most county employees.
But Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch Englander has a narrow edge in fundraising, with $1.3 million to Barger's roughly $1.2 million, based on the latest available filings.
And the field is crowded with other hopefuls, including Deputy District Attorney Elan Carr; Sen. Bob Huff, R-San Dimas; Glendale Mayor Ara Najarian; real estate investor Raj Pal Kahlon; Altadena Town Council member Billy Malone; and entrepreneur Darrell Park.
Carr and Huff are neck-and-neck in fundraising, with approximately $950,000 and $977,000 in their respective war chests. Najarian has raised $505,000.
Park's war chest holds just $64,000, while the balance of the candidates have not submitted filings or have raised less than $10,000. But that doesn't necessarily mean they can be counted out in a race where no one candidate is likely to be able to garner a majority of votes in the primary election. The top two vote-getters will move on to the November ballot.
Kahlon challenged Antonovich in 2012 with little to no financial backing and picked up 20 percent of the vote as the only other candidate.
The 5th District includes the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys, along with a portion of the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys and foothills, an area widely viewed as more conservative than the balance of Los Angeles County. But eligible voters will come from wide-ranging communities with diverse concerns, from Porter Ranch to Palmdale.
Though it is a non-partisan seat, Antonovich may be the most conservative of the five supervisors and the race for his and Supervisor Don Knabe's 4th District seats could significantly reconfigure the board's politics. Of the board's three liberal members, Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Hilda Solis aren't up for re-election yet and Mark Ridley-Thomas is running unopposed.
Five of the eight candidates are registered Republicans, while Kahlon, Malone and Park -- who has the endorsement of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party -- are Democrats.
Kuehl and former Supervisor Gloria Molina have endorsed Barger.
Englander has touted his wide-ranging experience as an elected official and Huff highlights his ability to work across party lines to solve problems.
Carr is running on his crime-fighting background, but it is Barger, who has never held public office, who has picked up endorsements from former District Attorneys Gil Garcetti, Steve Cooley and Robert Philibosian.
Barger cited her deep knowledge of county matters and highlights the fact that she's not a career politician, while Najarian reminded voters of his work as board chair of the Metropolitan Transportation Association and record of creating jobs as mayor.
Politician or not, Barger has garnered the backing of dozens of mayors, former mayors, council members and school district board members in the 5th District as well as from former Govs. George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson and former Reps. David Dreier and Gary Miller.
Englander has a long list of high-profile supporters, including all but two of his fellow council members -- the holdouts are David Ryu and Paul Koretz. He also has the backing of City Attorney Mike Feuer, seven current or former Assembly members, including Mike Gatto, and former Rep. Buck McKeon, Rep. Brad Sherman and Secretary of State Alex Padilla. The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce is also backing him.
U.S. Sen. John McCain is among Carr's supporters, who also include syndicated conservative radio show host Dennis Prager and a state police union.
As for Najarian, he is the choice of the Los Angeles Times editorial board, former longtime Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and more than a dozen mayors, former mayors and council members in the district.
The unpredictable race could also upend the board in other ways. If front-runner Janice Hahn takes Knabe's seat and Barger wins the hotly contested 5th District post, the next board could be four-fifths women.
Hahn, D-San Pedro, has a significant edge in name recognition, high-profile endorsements and campaign funding in the race for supervisor of Los Angeles County's 4th District going into the primary against former Manhattan Beach City Councilman Steve Napolitano and Whittier School District Board member Ralph Pacheco.
Hahn has raised nearly $1.4 million for her campaign, according to the latest filings, compared with Napolitano's nearly $1.1 million, $790,000 of which was self-funded. No filing for Pacheco was posted on the registrar- recorder's website.
L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti endorsed the congresswoman Thursday as best suited to replace incumbent Supervisor Don Knabe, who has held the seat since 1996. Garcetti cited Hahn's compassion for poor and working-class families and her tenacity in getting things done as factors in his endorsement.
Orange County voters approved two measures on Tuesday's ballot -- one that would establish an ethics commission to enforce local campaign finance laws and another that would give voters an idea how much future measures would cost taxpayers.
The proposed ethics commission drew the most attention, particularly when a war of words erupted last week between Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer, continuing a feud that has raged since Rackauckas fired Spitzer six years ago.
Measure A was the dream of Shirley Grindle, who for years has taken on the enforcement of TINCUP, or Time is Now Clean Up Politics, ordinance. Grindle has complained, however, that the ordinance lacks teeth since she believes Rackauckas has done nothing to enforce it.
"It kept most of the candidates playing by the same set of rules and saved the county from hiring somebody to do it, but I'm not going to be here forever and it's time for them to step up to the plate," Grindle told City News Service last week.
Under Measure A, the commission's executive director will have subpoena power. It will establish an administrative hearing process for violations of county ordinances and would give an executive director investigative authority to pursue civil violations.
The commission will hear appeals and would report to the county Board of Supervisors.
Rackauckas held a news conference last week blasting Spitzer for doing a robocall to voters on the issue, with the county's top prosecutor claiming the call gave residents the false impression Spitzer still holds the job of assistant district attorney. Spitzer said the only person confused is Rackauckas and accused the district attorney of shaming him in public as retaliation for recent criticism of the management of his office.
Measure B, meanwhile, will amend the county's charter to mandate that the auditor-controller review future ballot measures to analyze how much they would cost taxpayers.
Voters across Los Angeles on Tuesday reported problems at their polling places as the primaries kicked into high gear.
Voters said they encountered problems in from the San Fernando Valley, to the Westside and the Eastside. At one voting place in Beverly Hills poll workers were locked out.
The problem was reported at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills and it is listed as a polling place for three precincts.
But when poll workers showed up at 6 a.m. the doors were locked so they had to improvise.
Workers had to set up a makeshift polling place outside the Paley Center because its doors were locked. Workers say a supervisor told them the center had decided not to allow voting to take place inside the museum.
"Nobody got back to us from the Paley Center so we really were stuck," said Farzad Tabatabai, a poll volunteer. "She had costumes she wanted to protect so she didnt want to let us in."
Four hours later, in an apparent change of heart, voters were let inside.
But dozens who had voted outside did not have access to the machines to check their ballots for mistakes.
Several people said the same machines were either unavailable or not working at several polling places, leaving these voters in hollywood worried about their ballots.
"I'm just amazed that in 2016 we still have to go through this," said Brian Donnelly, a Hollywood voter.
Andrew Strickland, another Hollywood voter, was frustrated.
"You're leaving the poll not knowing if your vote's really going to count," he said.
A polling place in Sherman Oaks opened more than two hours late after volunteers failed to show up. Richard Lewis says he was turned away at 7 a.m. but fortunately had the time to come back at 9:30 a.m.
"There was three or four guys here that had to go to work so they probably won't vote today," he said. "One of them works till midnight so he won't be able to vote at all."
Officials said that with more than 4,000 polling locations, such problems were rare. Tabatabai said despite the delay here, it was still a privilege to volunteer.
"People give their lives all over the world for the right to vote," he said. "We have a right to vote. We shouldnt take it for granted."
Paley Center officials did not respond for comment as to why workers were initially locked out.
Los Angeles County Registrar officials said they're investigating.
Another family is coming forward saying their loved one died during a popular plastic surgery procedure in South Florida.
Daryl Thompson spoke exclusively to the NBC 6 Investigators about the death of his mother, Dr. Christina Thompson.
"I lost my best friend. I lost my mother," said Daryl Thompson. "Its hard, its a day to day struggle."
Daryl Thompson said his mother died due to complications undergoing a fat transfer, which is commonly referred to as Brazilian Butt Lift. Thats when fat is taken from a patients stomach or back and injected into their backside.
Daryl Thompsons mother, Dr. Christina Thompson, was a well-known doctor in the Bahamas. She traveled to a clinic in Lauderhill in July of 2015 to undergo plastic surgery.
"She was very caring. She was one of those doctors that if you couldnt pay all your bills she didnt mind, shed do all she could to make sure you were alright, her son, Daryl, said.
Christina Thompson had made plans with her son after the procedure was done with her surgeon, Dr. Christopher Kelly.
"She was just looking forward to her procedure getting over so we could go get something to eat, because youre not supposed to eat before," Daryl said.
Her son thought it was going to be a simple procedure until paramedics rushed his mother to the emergency room.
"She kept crashing and she crashed like four or five times in the emergency room," Daryl said.
Christina Thompson died. She was 54 years old.
"It was a shock. Its still a shock, because people still call looking for her," he said.
Daryl Thompsons attorney, Andrew Yaffa of Grossman Roth Yaffa Cohen Trial Lawyers, said he's preparing to file a lawsuit. He claims Thompsons doctor removed and injected too much fat during the procedure.
"This should not have happened," Yaffa said. "They took more than double the amount theyre allowed to take and then injected way too much fat for which there was room."
In a statement the attorney for Dr. Kelly, Mark Leibowitz, denied the allegations. The statement said in part: "The Florida Administrative Code allows far more supernatant fat to be removed than was done in this surgery, which was performed in a registered office surgical setting. The amount of fat transferred back into the patient was also well within the guidelines. Unfortunately, this patient succumbed to a known complication of this surgical procedure."
Medical examiner records show Christina Thompson died of acute pulmonary adipose tissue emboli which is commonly referred to as a fat embolism. According to the Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons, thats when a piece of fat gets into someones blood stream and causes them to stop breathing.
Doctors say a patient dying of a fat embolism during plastic surgery is a rare occurrence. The NBC 6 Investigators have identified six women who have died of fat embolism while undergoing a Brazilian Butt Lifts in South Florida during the past six years. That includes Heather Meadows, a mother of two, whose death was widely publicized after undergoing plastic surgery in May.
Daryl Thompson said he hopes the story of what happened to his mother will help make more women aware of the risk.
"If its not a necessity you should just walk away because we can live without these things, these arent important things, said Daryl Thompson.
In a statement, Dr. Kellys attorney said: "As a physician herself, [Christina Thompson], the patient was acutely aware of the potential for a fat embolus occurring during a fat transfer. The consent forms utilized and signed by her are detailed in their description of that risk."
Six Cuban migrants came ashore in South Florida Monday evening on a makeshift sailboat.
The migrants landed in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea in their boat, which had "Miami 305" on the back and "Barack Obama" on another side.
Broward County officials said the group included four men and two women. Among them was a pregnant woman, who was transported to the hospital.
After nine days at sea, one of the migrants said: "It was a little rough. It was okay. We were just hungry."
"We came to have a look at the state of the boat to see how on earth they managed to travel that far," one tourist said.
Traveling from Cuba to South Florida, the group probably didn't realize they were racing against Tropical Storm Colin.
"It just shows how bad it is in their home country. They resort to this kind of thing," another tourist added.
No further information has been released. Stay with NBC 6 for updates.
Lakeland police have launched an investigation at Lake Hunter, Florida, where an alligator was seen with a man's body in its mouth.
Lakeland police spokesman Gary Gross said officers were able to retrieve the body, and said a trapper was called to capture the 8-foot reptile.
According to NBC affiliate WFLA, someone at Florida Presbyterian Homes called 911 to report the incident Tuesday afternoon.
It wasn't known whether the alligator killed the man or simply found the body. Gross said a medical examiner will have to determine the cause of death.
Lakeland police have not released the identity of the man.
Florida Presbyterian Homes is a senior living community located in Lakeland, which is halfway between Tampa and Orlando in Polk County.
Last week, two fishermen discovered alligators eating a dead man in a South Florida canal.
A case of child abuse in South Florida has appalled even the most hardened detectives. A mother stands accused of letting her boyfriend physically harm her young child so violently, he broke her skull.
20-year-old Ernesto Gomez was arrested for aggravated child abuse. The 275-pound man is accused of manhandling his girlfriend's child, who is either 3 or 4 years of age.
Police said it happened at a home in southwest Miami-Dade. They said Gomez lifted the child up by the neck, in a choke hold, and dropped her to the floor, three separate times.
The girl's mother, 28-year-old Norelys Gomez, has been charged with child neglect for allegedly doing nothing to stop the abuse.
The judge said Norelys Gomez needs to choose which is more important, her daughter or her boyfriend. The woman's parents were in bond court, pleading for an affordable bond.
"She has a bad choice in men. They need her to take care of the kids. She's never been arrested before," they said in court.
Judge Mindy Glazer allowed Gomez to have supervised visits with her daughter: "She can go to the hospital and see the child."
"The state's concern is, on three separate occasions, there was violence against her daughter and she didn't do anything to stop it," a prosecutor said during the hearing.
The child remains in the hospital suffering from a cracked skull, broken collarbone and internal injuries.
What to Know An Orlando woman is facing charges after being accused of burning her son's hands on a hot stove as punishment.
Arrest reports say her 15-year-old son found a bag of marijuana under his parents' bathroom sink and sold it so they wouldn't use it.
An Orlando woman is facing charges after being accused of burning her son's hands on a hot stove as punishment.
WESH-TV reports 34-year-old Zayme Flores appeared in court Monday on felony child abuse charges and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Arrest reports say Flores' 15-year-old son found a bag of marijuana under his parents' bathroom sink and sold it so they wouldn't use it.
As punishment, Orlando police say Flores told her son to put his hands on the kitchen stove, burning his palms.
Police who arrived at the family's home say the boy had blistering on his hands from the burns.
The child and another sibling were placed with relatives.
Officials say Flores was released from jail on bond. It's unclear whether she has an attorney.
The search for a missing girl and her mother led police in a new direction. Officials were at a South Florida lake Tuesday, combing for clues.
There has been no sign of 43-year-old Liliana Moreno or her 8-year-old daughter, Daniela, who have been missing for more than a week.
Miami-Dade Police blocked off an area along the shore of a lake at Northwest 127th Avenue at 17th Street.
Aerial footage showed MDPD moments after officers put a boat in the water. Two divers were on the boat for about an a hour, using some sort of computer to search, but they never got into the water.
Liliana and Daniela disappeared under suspicious circumstances a week ago. Their family has been searching for them, passing out flyers to spread the word.
"We don't live here so we can feel alone but the community helps us, that is more important," said Eduardo Moreno, Liliana's brother.
Authorities have looked for Liliana and Daniela in the Everglades and other waterways, and Tuesday in west Miami-Dade, but nothing has been found.
Gustavo Castano, the girl's father has been questioned, but not named a person of interest. He's been in the hospital since Friday when police said he threatened suicide. He lost an eye when officers tased him. He is maintaining his innocence as the search for the mother and daughter continues.
Meanwhile, dozens gathered Tuesday evening for a mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, praying the two will come home safe.
"It's so surreal, it's hard. We try to stay strong and positive and pray as hard as we can. We can't sleep at night, we can't continue like this, we need help from the public," said Aislinn Dias, family friend.
"They have faith. I just talked to the brother and they have faith. They're waiting for a miracle, like we're doing," said Deacon Manuel Jimenez.
Anyone with information on Liliana and Daniela should call police immediately.
The search continues for the missing mother from Doral and her 8-year-old daughter, who have been missing for more than a week.
Officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and police fanned out in an area near the vicinity of Miccosukee Resort & Gaming off Krome Avenue Monday afternoon.
An FWC officer noticed a large number of buzzards flying nearby and called in a search.
Family members of 43-year-old Liliana Moreno and her daughter, Daniela, headed to the area, but nothing was found.
Also Monday, the attorney for the child's father, Gustavo Castano, told NBC 6 he wants their safe return, just like everyone.
"My client, at this point, wants to see Daniela and Liliana home safe. He obviously maintains his innocence. It seems like law enforcement has put him out into the public eye," said Michael Grieco, attorney.
Castano has been in the hospital since Friday when he cut his own neck with a box cutter when police approached his rental truck. Grieco said Castano lost his right eye when he was tased by police.
"Contemporaneous to him being in the vehicle, officers, from what I understand, tased him multiple times and one of the taser prongs actually went through his eye and he has lost his eye as a result," Greico explained. "I can't picture where tasing someone in the eyeball is appropriate."
Police said Castano was suicidal when they approached him. They said the way the tasers are deployed, it would be impossible to try and shoot someone in the eye.
If you have any information on the whereabouts of Liliana and Daniela, call police immediately.
Miami-Dade Police are investigating a burglary at a cash advance store in Kendall that occurred overnight.
Caution tape surrounded the back of Advance America on Southwest 116th Avenue and 88th Street.
"There was security outside, inside here, there was a lot of people moving around out here as well," explained Jacqueline Echemendia, who works next door.
It appears the thieves opened a hole in a wall to enter the store. The hole led them straight into the bathroom of the business.
"I think it was by the roof area or the back. It has to be in the back because you hear all the repairing going on back there," Echemendia said.
Echemendia can't believe they broke in just steps from her job. She hopes a heavier security presence will deter any burglars from returning.
"There should be security there. I know that they have the buzzing store, but I've never seen security present and I think there should be, or at least walking around too," she said.
Employees at Advance America did not want to comment on the situation.
It's unclear whether the thieves got away with any cash or whether any arrests have been made.
It will be a little while longer before final vote totals are known in Puerto Rico's Democratic presidential primary, because the U.S. territory's election commission workers took the day off on Monday.
Officials will resume manually counting votes on Tuesday and expect to issue a final certification later that day, Roberto Prats, the island's Democratic Party chairman, told The Associated Press.
He said officials worked until nearly dawn counting results of both the presidential primary and a local primary in which voters narrowed their choice for the island's next governor, legislators and mayors.
"We will resume tomorrow morning and try to close the local and presidential primaries at 100 percent," Prats said, adding that election workers received compensation time on Monday.
Griselle Lopez, the elections commission spokeswoman, did not return messages for comment.
Hillary Clinton won the race over Bernie Sanders. She has just over 60 percent to Sanders' nearly 39 percent, with roughly two-thirds of the vote tallied. Clinton is 23 delegates short of the 2,383 needed to win the nomination, according to an Associated Press count.
Prats said that in the future, Puerto Rico should reconsider holding local and presidential primaries on the same day.
"It presents some operational challenges like long lines like we had yesterday," he said. "We just have to learn from the lessons and make adjustments moving forward."
Some people became exasperated by the long lines and left without voting during Sunday's primary.
Prats said the local Democratic Party was given roughly $300,000 to run the primary, compared to the roughly $1 million it received for the 2008 primary.
"I am sure everybody has an idea of how they can make it better, but we were working with limited resources," he said.
Puerto Rico is mired in a 10-year economic slump and seeking to restructure $70 billion in public debt that the governor has said is unpayable.
The upstate New York prison guard who was sentenced to up to seven years in prison for her role in helping two convicted murderers escape from a maximum-security lockup is pleading for clemency in a handwritten letter obtained exclusively by NBC 4 New York.
Joyce Mitchell was sentenced to 2 1/3 to seven years in prison in September after pleading guilty to charges related to providing hacksaw blades and other tools to Richard Matt and David Sweat, who broke out of the Clinton Correctional Facility last June.
Remorseful and tearful at her sentencing, her letter to Acting Department of Corrections Chief Anthony Annucci echoed the statements she previously made in the courtroom.
"Mr. Annucci, I realize what I did was very wrong. No one will ever know the remorse I feel for everything that happened due to my part in the Clinton Escape," Mitchell writes in the three-page letter from April.
Matt was serving 25 years to life for the killing and dismembering of his former boss. Sweat was serving a sentence of life without parole for killing a sheriff's deputy in Broome County in 2002.
Officials said the convicts used tools to cut their way out of their adjacent cells and get into the catwalk between the cell block walls. They crawled through an underground steam pipe and reached a street near the prison walls through a manhole.
The pair eluded more than 1,000 searchers who combed the thick woods and bogs of northern New York for much of the next three weeks. Matt was killed by a border agent June 26. Sweat was wounded and captured by a state trooper two days later.
Mitchell admitted becoming close with the pair while she worked as an instructor in the prison tailor shop. She told investigators she agreed to be their getaway driver before backing out after suffering a panic attack at the last minute. The escapees were forced to scrub plans to head to Mexico and instead ran away after emerging from a manhole near the prison.
Police documents show that Mitchell performed sexual acts on one of the men, sent X-rated selfies to the other, provided tools to aid the prisoners' escape and knew the duo planned to kill her husband.
In her letter, Mitchell describes Matt as a "powerful inmate" who had such sway over prison guards that they would leave open for him the cells of other inmates he didn't like. By the time they returned, she writes, "the inmate would have been beaten, they would just close the gate and walk away laughing and joking."
Mitchell says she felt fearful that Matt would have her husband and family killed while he was on the run.
"Please understand the person I was at the time was someone very scared for their family," she writes.
Mitchell repeatedly speaks of her "remorse" and "regret," saying "I cry every day when I think of everything that everyone that was involved in the search and the community went through. I cry for all the pain my family is going through."
At the same time, she adds, "I did go to the police station several days on my own to try and help, I turned myself in, and like I said above I tried to help with any information I could to try and bring these men back to prison."
And Mitchell appears indignant when she takes issue with being publicly associated with prison breaks: "This will never go away, every time I turn around someone is saying they saw my face on TV with all these other prison breaks. I am in here, please tell why my face is being put up with something I had nothing to do with."
Ultimately, she concludes, "I take complete responsibility for the wrong I did. I just hope you can help me."
Only the governor has power to grant clemency to prisoners in New York state. But the head of Department of Corrections can make recommendations to the governor.
Mitchell's description of poor prison oversight at the Clinton Correction Facility matches the inspector general's findings, released in a report Monday.
Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott found "that longstanding, systemic failures in management and oversight by DOCCS enabled two convicted murderers to meticulously orchestrate their escape from a maximum security facility almost in plain sight."
The report found that there should have been more than 400 prison checks in the months leading to the escape, any of which, if done properly, should have foiled the convicts' plans. One inspection failed to find the 18-by-14 inch hole cut in Matt's cell wall, the investigation found.
The inspector general recommended strict compliance and monitoring of security procedures and expanded use of security cameras, restructuring the prison system's internal affairs division, and creating a general inspector general audit team to monitor security procedures at all state prisons.
New York corrections authorities say they have made several security upgrades at the prison in northern New York where two killers escaped a year ago.
The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision says it will implement reforms throughout the prison system, and new cameras and security gates have been installed at Clinton Correctional Facility at Dannemora, 25 miles south of the Canadian border.
Spokesman Thomas Mailey says the prison also has retrained staff, disciplined employees responsible and named a new superintendent and senior administrators.
The union representing 18,000 corrections officers at New York's 54 prisons says this "disturbing incident" shined a light on the need for sustained investment in training, technology and tools.
The Wisconsin Department of Administration has named its fourth communications director since January.
Current Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. spokesman Steven Michels will take the job starting Monday.
Michels has served as communications director for WEDC since last fall and was previously an agency legal counsel. His salary will remain $93,017.
He replaces Laurel Patrick, who previously served as Gov. Scott Walker's spokeswoman until April. Patrick, who also worked at the Department of Revenue, Department of Children & Families and in the State Senate, is moving to New Hampshire with her husband who is taking a job with Procter & Gamble.
In January, Cullen Werwie left the DOA communications director post for a private sector job. Current Department of Natural Resources spokesman Jim Dick held the position until April.
What to Know Commercial solicitors in the town have to get a permit to go into residential areas
Homeowners can opt out of any contact by signing up on a registry
A Rockland County legislator is introducing a bill that would make the no-knock policy countywide.
Officials in Rockland County are looking to crack down on a widespread practice in Rockland County of realtors going door to door to pressure people to sell their homes.
Cellphone video obtained by the I-Team shows residents are exasperated with the practice, including one irate Chestnut Ridge resident who lets loose on two realtors who come to her door and chases them away.
Door-to-door soliciting by realtors is not illegal in Chestnut Ridge, but a grassroots organization is trying to pass a so-called no-knock ordinance that already exists in neighboring Orangetown.
Orangetown Supervisor Andy Stewart told the I-Team that commercial solicitors there have to get a permit to go into residential areas and that homeowners can opt out of any contact by signing up on a registry.
Sue Collins, of Pearl River, was one of the first to register. She said she is upset by what she called "blockbusting" techniques by members of the ultra-Orthodox community.
"I think it is unfair to force people out of the community to take over the community," she said.
Rockland County Legislator Laurie Santulli, a Republican, is introducing a bill that would make the no-knock policy countywide. Santulli's plan would automatically exclude Rockland residents from any commercial contact.
Rather than opting out, they would opt in if they wanted door-to-door solicitors, she said.
Several New Jersey counties have also adopted so-called no-knock ordinances, including Montvale, Jackson and Toms River.
Police say they've arrested a 25-year-old man in a brutal chokehold sex assault and robbery in the East Village last month.
Frankie Simmons of Hamilton Heights was arrested on robbery, sexually motivated assault and strangulation charges, police said Monday.
Police said a 30-year-old woman was walking in the area of East 18th Street and First Avenue at around 2:15 a.m. Saturday, May 29, when a man came up from behind her, put her in a chokehold and dragged her to the floor.
When the woman tried to fight back, the man punched her in the face several times, and she was knocked unconscious, police said. When the victim came to, she realized her cellphone was missing and her underwear had been lowered.
EMS transported the victim to Beth Israel Hospital for treatment and evaluation.
Attorney information for Simmons was not immediately clear.
New Jersey voters on Tuesday capped a primary season that started with Republican Gov. Chris Christie running for president and ended with wins for presumptive Republican pick Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.
The outcome lacked much suspense because Trump had already wrapped up the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination, while an Associated Press count Monday found Clinton had commitments from the number of delegates needed to win her party's nomination over Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.
But the day was not without drama. Christie declined to criticize Trump for saying an American-born judge of Mexican descent could not fairly judge him in a case related to the Trump University real estate education program because he has proposed building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Christie said Trump is not a racist, but other prominent Republicans denounced Trump's comments.
With the win, Trump picked up 51 delegates, cementing his hold on the GOP nomination. Clinton wins the majority of the state's 126 pledged delegates.
Voters also picked party representatives for the U.S. House in the Nov. 8 election:
Seven-term incumbent Republican Rep. Scott Garrett has fended off two challengers, Michael Cino and Peter Valloros, to win the Republican primary in the 5th District
Eleven-term Republican incumbent Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen defeated Rick Van Glahn, of Denville, in New Jersey's 11th District.
Six-term incumbent Democratic Rep. Albio Sires defeated primary challenger Eloy Delgado, a school teacher from Elizabeth, in the 8th House District
Freshman Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman handily defeated primary challenger Alexander Kucsma, a self-described Democratic tea party candidate, in New Jersey's 12th District
Incumbent Democratic Rep. Donald Norcross defeated political newcomer Alex Law, a 25-year-old supporter of presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Four-term incumbent Rep. Leonard Lance has defeated two Republican challengers in the 7th District House primary.
See full results for New Jersey primaries here.
There are no Senate contests or state-level races this year in New Jersey.
The presidential contest now swings into the general election, with Trump hopeful he might be able to turn New Jersey from Democratic to Republican and Clinton aiming to get Sanders supporters in her camp. New Jersey voters have chosen the Democratic candidate in each presidential election since 1992.
Christie voted with his son Andrew Christie on Tuesday morning in Mendham Township. Both are delegates for the presumptive nominee.
Trump picked Christie to lead his White House transition team, but Christie's backing in New Jersey might not go too far with polls showing he's at record-low approval. In response to a question about whether he could win New Jersey in the general election recently, Trump replied, "I am New Jersey."
What to Know The knife-wielding bandit struck again Monday night, this time targeting a Subway restaurant in Rockaway Beach, Queens, according to police.
The sub shop was held up at 9 p.m. and the robber got away with about $600. The robbery comes a day after another Subway shop was robbed.
The FBI said Monday that it is assisting local police departments in a push to catch the bandit, who is believed to have hit 24 businesses.
Police say a knife-wielding bandit struck again Monday night in Queens, just a day after he allegedly held up another business in the borough.
A man in dark clothing who was carrying a knife walked into a Subway restaurant on Beach 20th Street in Rockaway Beach around 9 p.m.
The man stole $600 from the shop before taking off into the night, authorities said.
Police think the robbery is part of a pattern in Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties. If the robberies are all connected, this would be the knife-wielding bandit's seventh robbery in Queens and 24th robbery overall since March, with the other 17 robberies scattered across Long Island.
The Rockaway holdup comes the same day that the FBI announced it was assisting local police departments in a push to catch the masked man.
The bandit hit a Subway restaurant in Queens Sunday afternoon. He got away with around $500 in cash before he took off, police said.
Hes thought to be the same man who hit a Subway restaurant in Forest Hills on Friday night. In that robbery, a man with a knife robbed a Subway around 9 p.m. before possibly fleeing in a gray Honda, according to police.
Last Wednesday, a Subway restaurant was robbed at knifepoint in Bayside by a man with a knife. The man is also suspected to be behind heists at restaurants in Forest Hills, Flushing and Howard Beach.
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 them.
Anyone with information about the robber should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
Police are searching for a group of robbers in hooded sweatshirts who held up a Paterson, New Jersey, bodega last month, one of them wielding a machete and another a gun.
Police released surveillance video Monday of the May 26th robbery at Nickymania bodega on Fourth Avenue. It shows the men barge into the store and demand cash from the store employees.
One robber is seen pointing a gun in the store clerk's face. Another waves a machete.
"I don't know what happened. He comes in and says 'Give me everything,'" store clerk, Vezturo Guzman recounted. "He put a gun to my head and grabbed me here. 'Give me the money.'"
Guzman handed the robbers about $40 he had in his pockets. The robbers are then seen on surveillance video leaving the store carrying a black safe.
Their theft turned out not to be fruitful, though. The safe was empty and happened to be on sale inside the store.
Ariel Mancheno, who lives across the street, saw the men carrying the safe out of the bodega. He told NBC 4 New York that he hopped in his car with one of the store employees and chased the robbers, but they ultimately got away.
"I wouldn't want this to happen to anybody. This is my neighborhood and I think we should always have a commitment to protect our neighborhood," Mancheno said.
The robbers got away in a dark-colored, older-model Audi station wagon. Paterson police are asking anyone with information to come forward.
Five of 10 Rikers Island correction officers on trial have been found guilty in the beating of an inmate who stared down a jail official, according to the Bronx district attorney's office.
Five of the guards were found guilty of all charges in the beating of Jamal Lightfoot, who suffered broken teeth and eye sockets and a nose fracture in the 2012 attack. A sixth correction officer was acquitted of all charges.
The DA's office initially said the sixth officer had been convicted on lesser charges but later issued a correction saying he had been acquitted.
The attack started after officers responding to two slashings at the sprawling complex began searching inmates, tossing over mattresses and rifling around cells for contraband.
During the search, Lightfoot made eye contact with the jail's assistant chief of security. Angered by the stare-down, the assistant chief shouted to a captain and five officers Lightfoot "thinks he's tough" and should be attacked, Bronx prosecutors said.
The assistant chief, a captain and eight other officers were later charged in a 53-count indictment that includes attempted gang assault, evidence tampering and other charges.
Prosecutors had alleged that the officers cooked up a plan on how to explain Lightfoot's injuries and wrote false use-of-force reports and witnesses statements that claimed Lightfoot had slashed an officer with a sharpened piece of metal. Three of the officers are accused of aiding in a cover-up.
The group was suspended from the force after they were arrested but the Daily News reported Tuesday that seven of the officers were reinstated with pay on Feb. 8.
The judge presiding over the case signed a gag order in February prohibiting lawyers in the case from commenting.
In a statement Tuesday, Norman Seabrook, president of the union that represents rank-and-file correction officers, said the verdict is unfair and unjust.
"Today's verdict is an absolute travesty and yet another example of how Correction Officers are treated differently and disrespected for doing the job they are sworn to do protect New Yorkers," he said.
New York City Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte said he had "zero tolerance for any illegal behavior on the part of staff" and that officers convicted of felonies would be terminated. He said he's confident the department is taking the right step toward reforming Rikers.
The trial came amid ever-increasing scrutiny on the city's jail system. NBC 4 New York's I-Team uncovered accounts from visitors who were strip-searched, and it was recently reported that a woman who was later acquitted of charges was forced to spend two years in solitary confinement. Politicians had also suggested closing the jail complex earlier this year.
After months of requests, authorities have finally released two mugshots of a former Stanford University swimmer who was convicted in March of sexually assaulting an unconscious, intoxicated woman on campus, NBC News reported.
Brock Turner, 20, was sentenced to six months in prison in connection with the January 2015 assault. Many decried the sentence as being too lenient.
The sheriff's office had said it was Stanford's place to release Turner's mugshots, but Stanford maintained it was the sheriff's job.
The photos were made public Monday after a filmmaker and freelance journalist in Michigan published her formal request to Stanford authorities rebutting their reasons for withholding the mugshots.
Resentment toward the news media, which, until Monday, had never published Turner's mugshot, sparked the #NoMugShot hashtag on Twitter and Instagram.
What to Know Lonnie Franklin Jr. was sentenced to death for the killings of nine women and a teenage girl.
The killings spanned from 1985 to 2007.
They were dubbed the "Grim Sleeper" killings after an apparent 14-year gap in the violence.
Jurors recommended the death penalty Monday for the South Los Angeles man convicted of the "Grim Sleeper" killings of nine women and a teenage girl.
Lonnie Franklin Jr. stared straight ahead and showed no emotion as a court clerk read 10 death penalty verdicts.
Family members of the victims cried as the verdicts were read. One rocked back and forth, while another whispered to himself, "Thank you."
"We got what we came to get, a just verdict," said Porter Alexander, the father of 18-year-old victim Alicia Alexander. "I'm glad I lived to see it. It's a long time coming."
Franklin, a former city trash collector and garage attendant for Los Angeles police, was convicted of 10 counts of first-degree murder last month for crimes dating back more than 30 years.
A prosecutor had asked jurors to show Franklin the same compassion he showed his victims and give him the "ultimate penalty."
An emotional defense lawyer asked jurors to sentence him to life without parole to hasten the healing process for the victims' family members.
Franklin's only words during the proceeding Monday were, "Yes, your honor." As he walked into court, family members of the victims whispered, "Dead man walking."
Samara Herard, 45, the foster sister of the youngest victim, 15-year-old Princess Berthomieux, said the verdict was bittersweet.
"This closes out a chapter and you have to go on ... but I'll never get my sister back," Herard said. "She'll never get a chance to grow up. She'll never go to college, she'll never be married ... At 15 years old it was stripped from her."
The judge set formal sentencing for Aug. 10.
During the trial, defense lawyers questioned forensic evidence and said DNA from other men was also found on several bodies.
They suggested a "mystery man," possibly a relative of Franklin's, was the real killer.
On Monday, Franklin's defense attorney slammed the amount of money prosecutors spent on the case and the costs associated with the death penalty.
"Now what happens is millions of dollars will be spent on appeals because we have no choice but to do that," lawyer Seymour Amster said, adding that money would be better spent in the neighborhood where the killings happened.
He declined to speak about Franklin, saying the concentration should be on healing society.
Franklin is unlikely to be executed. Nearly 750 convicted killers sit on California's death row, the largest in the nation.
But because of legal challenges, no one has been executed in over a decade and only 13 have been put to death since 1978. Far more have died of natural causes or suicide.
Most of Franklin's slayings fit a similar pattern. Women were either fatally shot, choked or both their bodies dumped in alleys and trash bins.
Police didn't connect the crimes to a serial killer for years, and victims' families and community residents complained the killings weren't thoroughly investigated because the victims were poor and black, and some were prostitutes who had been using cocaine.
Franklin came under suspicion after a task force began re-examining the cold cases following the final killing in 2007 and DNA from his son showed similarities to genetic evidence found on some of the victims.
A detective posing as a busboy at a pizza parlor later collected utensils and crusts from Franklin while he was attending a birthday party. Lab results connected him to the bodies.
The culprit had been dubbed the "Grim Sleeper" because of an apparent gap in slayings between 1988 and 2002.
Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman was able to introduce evidence of four additional slayings during the penalty phase, including one that linked Franklin to a killing in 2000. She also presented evidence of a 1984 slaying a year before the first murder he was convicted of.
Prosecutors said they didn't charge Franklin with the additional killings because it would have delayed the case that took nearly six years to bring to trial.
The survivor who Franklin was convicted of attempting to murder helped prosecutors establish the killer's modus operandi.
Enietra Washington described getting a lift from Franklin in his orange Ford Pinto and then having him shoot her in the chest while she sat in the passenger seat.
As she was losing consciousness, he sexually assaulted her and she remembered seeing the flash from a Polaroid camera.
A photo of a bleeding and partly nude Washington was later found hidden behind a wall in Franklin's garage. Police found photos of other victims in the home.
Nearly 30 years after Washington was left for dead on the side of a road, she pointed at Franklin in court and said: "That's the person who shot me."
Southwest Philadelphia pizza deliveryman Gafar Surah didn't put up a fight when armed robbers forced him to kneel on the ground and demanded cash Monday night. He gave up $60 -- all he had on him at the time.
But $60 wasn't enough, and the two heartless young men put a bullet in the back of Surah's head anyway, Philadelphia police said.
Now, Surah, who recently came to the U.S. from Ghana and worked as a deliveryman to support his wife and baby daughter, is lucky to be alive. He remained hospitalized Tuesday in stable condition as police continued to search for the men who lured him to a narrow Southwest Philly block by ordering a pizza, then carjacked, robbed and shot him.
Police are still on the hunt for two young men who lured a delivery driver in Southwest Philadelphia by calling for a pizza, and then carjacked, robbed and shot the man.
Surah, 35, was working his delivery shift at Chillin Pizza on Elmwood Avenue when police say the suspects called for a pizza about 10:40 p.m. Monday. They asked for the food to be delivered to Beaumont Avenue near 57th Street in Kingsessing, according to police.
That's when things went terribly wrong for the driver trying to make an honest living.
"As he gets onto the block he makes a phone call [to the customer] and tells him he's out front, at that point he tells them, 'All right, we'll be right out,'" Lt. John Walker of Southwest Detectives said.
Two men, at least one with a gun, then approached the driver as he got out to bring the food out of the passenger side of his gold Toyota Corolla, police said.
The pair forced Surah back into the car drove him to nearby Cobbs Creek, police said, where they forced him out of the car and demanded money.
Philadelphia Police suspect neighborhood teens could be responsible for shooting a pizza delivery driver and stealing his car after he was called to a Kingsessing address.
"They tell him to go on his knees," Walker said. "At that point, one of the men returns to car and acts as though hes going to run him over."
The victim tried to run, but his assailants threw him back on the ground and then got back into the car and opened fire, striking the deliveryman in the back of his head, according to police.
"He then gets up and runs near Cobbs Creek, he's yelling for help, yelling for help and finally he collapses," Walker recounted.
Police scooped up the deliveryman and rushed him to Penn Presbyterian Hospital in critical condition.
The victim's sedan was found running, its lights on, along Belmar Street a few blocks away from the shooting scene.
Investigators didnt have much information on the offenders outside of Walker's guess that they believe they could be "juveniles who live in this community."
Investigators asked anyone with information to contact police.
The law firm connected to consumer advocate Erin Brockovich announced Tuesday its investigating water contamination in Montgomery County amid growing concerns that cancers and other illnesses may be connected to chemicals used on local military facilities.
Like so many other communities across the country also facing a PFOA-contaminated drinking water crisis, this community has many questions about how long they have been drinking this dangerous water, what effect it is having on their well-being and who is at fault. This investigation will seek to answer those questions, said Robin Greenwald, head of the Environmental and Consumer Protection Unit at Weitz & Luxenberg in written statement.
Concerns about the drinking water ramped up last month after the EPA issued new guidelines showing elevated levels of the cancer-causing chemicals PFOA or PFOS in Horsham, Warrington and Warminster which are all near the shuttered Willow Grove Naval Air Station and current day Horsham Air Guard Station where firefighting foam containing the chemicals have been used.
U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Phila., called Monday for a congressional hearing into allegations of contaminated groundwater.
It feels like we won, just a small thing, said Valerie Secrease, crying when she heard the firm has agreed to look into contamination. Secrease helps run a private Facebook group of people who worked at Willow Grove Naval Air Station and want to know if their cancer or life-threatening ailments are connected to the water on the base.
Valerie Colonna Secrease leads a growing group of people enlisted and civilians who worked at Willow Grove NAS, and family members of people whove since died. Many question if their cancers are connected to contaminated groundwater on the base.
The group has swelled to more than 1,600, many of whom have either suffered health issues themselves or lost a loved one. Secrease worked on the base for more than 25 years and has been living with malignant melanoma for the last two decades.
"There are nights I dont sleep and it goes over and over in my mind about the people who have passed and the people who have suffered and the women who are still crying over losing their husbands, said Secrease. The joy I feel is not for myself, but for all the rest of the people who have been suffering. Maybe, just maybe, theyll get some kind of closure.
Weitz & Luxenberg has conducted similar investigations in New York, Vermont and New Hampshire. Recently, the firm filed a federal class action lawsuit against a plastics company for its role in PFOA water contamination in Hoosick Falls, NY.
"Communities across our country are realizing that the source of life water could in fact be making them seriously ill, said Brockovich. "It is time to give this community a voice and make sure those responsible are held accountable for this issue.
Tim McNees for eleven years has struggled with a rare and disabling blood disorder. He wonders if his health problems are connected to his work at Willow Grove NAS.
We've reached out to the EPA and Navy and are awaiting their responses.
Police in New Jersey are searching for a 5-year-old girl believed to have been taken by her mother.
Passaic prosecutors and police are asking for the public's help locating Valentina Manzueta and her 32-year-old mother, Cecilia Manzueta, both of Passaic.
They were last seen at the Holiday Inn located at 450 Route 1 & 9 South in Newark, prosecutors say.
Manzueta drives a white four-door 2016 Honda Accord with temporary license plate no. L516472.
Prosecutors say the disappearance seems to have stemmed from a domestic disagreement between the girl's parents and don't believe the girl is in danger, but urge the public to contact Passaic Police at 973-365-3900 with any information.
Melanie Bowen landed the chance of a lifetime to compete on one of her favorite game shows recently, and better yet, the Montgomery County high-school teacher walked away a big winner.
Bowen started watching "Wheel of Fortune" when she moved in with her aunt after college. Snagging a spot as a contestant on the show seemed like something that would never happen, but that didn't keep her from trying.
When the "Wheelmobile" visited Atlantic City, she decided to try her luck again. This time, she landed an audition, and a few weeks later, she received a letter telling her she had secured a place on the show. She hopped a plane to Los Angeles to appear on the show's "Philadelphia Week."
Down on her luck during the first two rounds, but still high in spirit, Bowen was anxious going into round three with $0 after going bankrupt twice.
"I know in 'Wheel of Fortune,' it's not over until the final spin and I still had time. I tried not to let it shake me," Bowen said. In the final round, her luck turned around as she won the prize puzzle and managed to move on to the bonus round.
Bowen explained the double Ls were the key to solving the final puzzle: "Paid in Full." In the end, she walked away with more than $63,000 -- including an all-expenses-paid trip to the Dominican Republic and a brand new car.
Bowen said the support from her Spring-Ford High School community was overwhelming.
"I'm still being congratulated when I'm out at the store or wherever. My students were super excited for me and thrilled to hear about my experience," she said. "Things have pretty much returned to normal at school, but I'm hopeful that my 'Wheel' experience showed my students that they can do anything that they set their minds to."
Moving forward, Bowen is planning on taking her trip to the Dominican with her husband and surprising her 4-year-old daughter, Josie, with a trip to Disney World in June.
Police in a Bucks County town are challenging the person who posted a sign about violence against police to come and speak to them face-to-face.
Falls Township Police Lt. Henry Ward shared a photo of the sign on Monday evening. It reads "Only good cop is a dead cop."
The message was spray-painted on a piece of particleboard. Ward said it was discovered early Monday morning along Lincoln Highway near the Pennsbury Enterprises facility in the township.
"I know whoever did this did it out of ignorance," Ward said in an email about the sign. "I would like to sit down with them and show them what we do as police officers so they can base their opinion on facts and not ignorance."
Relations between police and communities nationwide have been especially strained in recent years as departments have come under increased scrutiny about the use of deadly force.
In nearby Philadelphia, former commissioner Charles Ramsey asked the Department of Justice to review police-involved shootings. Across the river in Camden, New Jersey, the department operates a community policing model to better partner with residents and improve interactions and trust.
Ward said he doesn't expect the sign maker to come forward because "they hung the sign in the middle of the night like a true coward."
He added that anyone is entitled to share their opinion and that he hopes they will "prove him wrong" by coming to the police station for a discussion.
A woman accused of throwing hot coffee in another woman's face outside a Starbucks in Center City has turned herself in, according to police.
Yvonne Montgomery, 47, of Wyncote, Pennsylvania faces terroristic threats, simple assault, reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct charges stemming from an April 25 tussle with a 54 year-old female at a Starbucks on the 1600 block of Arch Street.
The suspect allegedly tossed a coffee stirrer at the other woman during a heated altercation inside the coffee shop. After both women went outside, a security camera caught the suspect throwing a hot cup of coffee in the woman's face before punching her in the head and body, said Philadelphia Police. She then pulled the woman to the ground by her hair and continued beating her until a passing bystander intervened and separated the two.
Montgomery turned herself in on May 24.
The number of ballots cast in San Diego County Tuesday is expected to far exceed local turnout in the states 2012 Presidential primary.
I'm going to say about 55 to 60 percent, County Registrar of Voters Michael Vu told NBC 7 in an interview Monday.
Californias primary election may not have turned out to be all important in the national scheme of things.
But it still appears to be generating considerable interest, in terms of both news media coverage and voter registration.
Theres been a surge of new voters signing up.
The last time there was a Presidential primary election with an open seat (2008), there was a 61 percent turnout," Vu said. "In 2012 when there wasn't an open seat, we saw a 37 percent turnout."
The countywide numbers show early ballots cast by Democrats outrunning those of Republicans by nearly three percentage points.
In the last week of registration, the number of Democratic voters increased by nearly five percent, versus 1.5 percent for Republicans.
Independents, meanwhile, are voting well below their original registration totals -- in large part, it's believed, because many have re-registered to qualify for the otherwise "closed" Republican primary.
While the metrics indicate high interest and participation, interviews with voters leaving the Registrar's office indicate something less than enthusiasm.
I'm actually pretty scared for the future, said Evrin Peavy, a Clark Atlanta University graduate student spending the summer in San Diegos Webster district. It could go really good or really bad, so we'll see what happens. I'm not pumped for it. I hope I made the right decision."
"We know exactly what we're going to get with Hillary Clinton, said Encinitas resident Craig Senes. We have no idea what we're going to get with Donald Trump. And with a lot of people, that's preferable. A complete unknown."
Other voters seemed to think that what's been happening at the top of the ticket" among both major parties is kind of a turn-off.
"It feels like there's such polar opposites, and people are not backing down, said University City resident Eve Selis. They don't want to listen to each other. It's very hard-line -- you're either this, or you're that. And it's kind of scary. It feels very angry to me."
Anger is what gripped the country during the 1968 Presidential campaign, with blood in the streets and tear gas in the air.
Has this election cycle not seen enough violence already?"
"We need to look at ways -- some people say -- to bridge the gaps, not try to create more, suggested Poway resident Bob Shuttleworth. I'm just worried about what our political system's going to be if this kind of thing keeps up I hope it doesn't. I hope we have a better look down the road."
A prowler convicted of sneaking into two little girls' rooms in San Diego's North County, rubbing one of their backs under the covers, has been sentenced to prison.
Dwayne Farrell was sentenced to seven years and 25 years to life in prison for two counts of residential burglary, two counts of annoying or molesting a minor and one count of a lewd act on a minor during the process of residential burglary.
A mother from one of the affected families spoke, describing the emotional turmoil the man caused her family.
"Every time we come home, I have to do a 'creep check', make sure nobody is in the house, look in the closets, look under the beds," testified Diane R, one of the victim's mothers.
"The day that happened to us was the most devastating day for our kids," she said.
One of the victim's mothers described the event as a "nightmare that turned real."
Farrell broke into two units at the Terra Cotta Apartments in the 500 block of Rush Drive in 2014.
In the first incident, Deputy District Attorney Ryan Saunders said Farrell sneaked in through an unlocked sliding glass door and went into a room where an 7-year-old girl was sleeping in her bed near her 3-year-old sisters crib.
He was kneeling down next to her bed, rubbing her back under her covers but on top of her shirt, said Saunders.
Thinking the man was her father, the girl noticed he may have been filming her with his phones camera. However, when she pulled on his beanie, she realized he was a stranger. Farrell quickly fled after that, according to Saunders.
The second incident took place just 25 minutes later. Saunders said Farrell got into a second-story unit through another unlocked sliding door and walked into a bedroom where a mother and her 8-year-old daughter were sleeping on two twin beds.
The 8-year-old awoke to find a strange man asleep on the floor beside her bed. She woke up her mother, and the woman chased the man out the room.
Farrell ran to the balcony, jumped off and hit his head on the ground, causing it to bleed, Saunders said.
That blood later recovered by San Diego County Sheriffs deputies helped them identify Farrell as their suspect.
Investigators compared the bloods DNA to the DNA in their labs system. Within a day, they had a positive match.
Farrell had a previous felony conviction for attempted burglary in 2012, as well as two misdemeanor charges for peeping and resisting an officer, which is why he was in the system.
On Farrells confiscated phone, detectives discovered downloaded images of sleeping, nude teenage girls, according to Saunders.
Again, these were images that were sexual in nature, and the titles of the images were things such as nude sleeping girls, sleeping teens, things of that nature, said Saunders.
Three people were injured when two cars collided Tuesday along State Route 78 just west of the junction with State Route 79.
The head-on crash happened just before 8 a.m. near Dudley's Bakery.
A Nissan Altima was traveling eastbound on SR-78 when it crossed the double yellow line, according to California Highway Patrol officers.
The Altima crashed head-on into a BMW traveling westbound.
The BMW burst into flames, according to the CHP.
A 27-year-old man from Ridgecrest, California was driving the BMW. He was airlifted to UCSD Medical center with what was described by CHP as life-threatening injuries.
His passenger, a 20-year-old Julian woman, was driven to Sharp Memorial Hospital.
The driver of the Altima, described by CHP as a 45-year-old Julian woman was also injured and taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital.
One person was trapped in a fiery crash along State Route 78 in Santa Ysabel.
California Highway Patrol officers and Cal Fire crews responded to find a major injury accident with one car on fire.
SR-78 was closed in both directions and a medical helicopter was requested.
As of 9:30 a.m., there was one-way traffic in the area.
No other information was immediately available.
What to Know The Newseum re-dedicated its Journalist Memorial, adding the names of 20 journalists to represent those who died covering news in 2015.
Among the 20 names added were cartoonists from Charlie Hebdo, and reporter Allison Parker and videographer Adam Ward, who were killed on TV.
The re-dedication ceremony came just a day after NPR reporter David Gilkey and interpreter Zabihullah Tamanna were killed in Afghanistan.
The Newseum rededicated its Journalist Memorial Monday, adding the names of 20 journalists who died covering news in 2015.
Among the 20 names added to the memorial were broadcast reporter Alison Parker and videographer Adam Ward, who were shot and killed on live television in Roanoke, Virginia, in August. Parkers father spoke at the ceremony and advocated for gun reform.
French Ambassador Gerard Araud, the keynote speaker, honored cartoonists from the French magazine "Charlie Hebdo" in his speech.
Along with the ceremony, the Newseum blacked out the Todays Front Pages exhibit as part of the #WithoutNews campaign, showing a world without news.
The rededication ceremony came just a day after NPR reporter David Gilkey and interpreter Zabihullah Tamanna were killed in Afghanistan after their Humvee was hit by grenades.
Scott Williams, the Newseums chief operating officer, said Gilkey and Tamannas deaths were daily reminders of the dangers that journalists face worldwide in gathering and reporting news.
The Journalist Memorial includes 2,291 journalists who have been killed dating back to 1837. The Newseums goal is to raise awareness about the threats to journalists and the First Amendment.
A woman drowned and a 13-year-old girl was rescued after kayaks and tubes a family was using in the Shenandoah River capsized Monday, an emergency official said.
Katrina Anne Meeks, 40, of Purcellville, Virginia, died after a rope connected to the tube she was using got caught on something and she went underwater, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said.
Meeks and five family members were using kayaks and inner tubes they had tied together when the accident occurred near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, close to the Maryland border, according to Bakerton Fire Department Chief Josh Smith.
None of the family members were wearing life jackets, officials said.
A 13-year-old girl who was stranded on a rock surrounded by rapids was rescued by helicopter from the scene near Bull Falls rapids, Smith said. The other family members were also rescued from the scene, checked out at a hospital and released, he said.
The sheriff's office is investigating the incident and took as evidence the tube Meeks was using.
Sheriff Pete Dougherty warned residents of the dangers the river can pose.
"Be careful when you go out," he said. "The water is a great place, water resources are wonderful places to be, but make sure you take some safety precautions when you go out."
What to Know Dominique Hodges-Stone is 5' 1" and weighs 125 pounds with black hair, brown eyes and braces. Police said she might be with an unknown man.
Hodges-Stone was last seen entering a black Chrysler 200 with Maryland license plate 4CE9611, police said.
Anyone with information related to the case should call 703-777-1021.
The Loudoun County Sheriffs Office is asking for help finding a missing 17-year-old girl.
Dominique Hodges-Stone first was reported missing May 30, police said. She returned to her house in the River Creek community of Leesburg on Friday and left again, according to the sheriff's office.
A family member saw Hodges-Stone get into a black Chrysler 200 with the Maryland license plates 4CE9611, police said.
She stands 5-foot-1, weighs 125 pounds and has black hair, brown eyes and braces. She may be with an unidentified man, the sheriff's office said.
Anyone who has seen Hodges-Stone is asked to call police at 703-777-1021.
What to Know Daiquan Fields, 32, faces felony child neglect and involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of the 2-year-old girl.
Court documents suggest a change in Fields' routine dropping off the 2-year-old and her siblings may have contributed to her death.
An investigator wrote that when Fields was back in the car, he saw the toddler in the back seat.
The man accused of leaving a 2-year-old girl in a hot car this spring is due in court Tuesday morning.
Daiquan Fields, 32, faces felony child neglect and involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of the little girl.
Investigators say that on April 20, Fields drank a beer and watched television as his girlfriend's toddler sat forgotten in the car in Annandale, Virginia. The child was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Court documents suggest a change in Fields' routine dropping off the 2-year-old and her siblings, who are 10 and 15, may have contributed to the tragedy.
Fields said in an interview with police that he normally dropped the toddler off with a babysitter and then took the two older children to school. But that day, they were running late dropping off the oldest child. Fields dropped off the oldest child first and then the middle child, he told police. Fields then returned to the family's apartment in Annandale, leaving the 2-year-old strapped in her car seat.
A change in routine can contribute to a child being left in a car, Don Goddard of the Fairfax County Police Department said.
"When people get into routines like this, they become accustomed to doing things in an order," he said. "If that routine or habit changes, sometimes it leads to a tragedy."
Fields told police he was home all day, even meeting a housing inspector who stopped by. He drank a beer and watched TV before he left late in the afternoon to pick up the children's mother from her job at the mall in Pentagon City, he told police.
An investigator wrote that when Fields pulled up at the mall and sent a text message to his girlfriend, he saw the toddler in the back seat. The child appeared blue and fluid dripped from her nose, he told police. He called 911 and told the dispatcher he was trying to perform CPR. The toddler was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The temperature April 20 was about 70 degrees, but the toddler had a body temperature of 107 degrees when she was rushed to a hospital, a search warrant said.
What to Know The testimony from 23-year-old Nicholas Castillo focused on video from a neighbor's security camera.
He testified he recognized a man seen in a neighbor's security camera video the night of his mother's death as his father.
He said he recognized the way he ran and the legs his father has a limp in his right leg.
The oldest son of a Virginia CEO accused of killing his wife and making it look like a suicide testified against him Monday.
Michelle Castillo, a mother of five children, was found hanging in a basement shower in an Ashburn home March 20, 2014. She and her husband, Braulio Castillo, were in the middle of a bitter divorce and child custody battle, and he was barred from the home.
The testimony from 23-year-old Nicholas Castillo focused on video from a neighbor's security camera.
In the hours before Michelle Castillo's body was found, a man whose face cannot be seen is seen jogging up the street, pausing, then crossing the street and going up the Castillo driveway. Then at 12:30 a.m., the same figure is seen running away. The next morning, the four youngest Castillo children woke up to find their mom missing.
I recognize the person in that video as my father, Nicholas Castillo testified.
He said he recognized the way he ran and the legs his father has a limp in his right leg.
Defense attorneys pressed, suggesting his father had surgery to correct his leg problems.
He always had a limp, yes he did, the son testified.
Michelle Castillo's best friend, Stephanie Meeker, and her husband also testified about the video, coming to the same conclusion. Meeker and her husband are now the foster parents for the four young Castillo children.
The prosecution rested its case Monday.
A passenger on an all-terrain vehicle was killed in Frederick County, Maryland, on Monday after the driver of the ATV veered into opposing traffic and smashed into an SUV, officials said.
Chris Munday, 21, of Middletown, died after the head-on crash on Michaels Mill Road near Buckeystown, according to the Frederick County Sheriffs Office.
The driver of the ATV, a 29-year-old man, crashed the vehicle into a Kia Soul with a woman and her 12-year-old son inside, police said. Police were called to the scene about 2:45 p.m.
The driver of the ATV suffered critical injuries and was rushed via helicopter to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at University of Maryland Medical Center.
The woman driving the SUV and son were taken to Frederick Memorial Hospital with less serious injuries.
Investigators believe that speed and "failing to obey a traffic control device" were factors in the crash.
Michaels Mill Road was temporarily closed near the scene.
Anyone with information on the crash is asked to call police at 301-600-3743. Information can be submitted anonymously by calling 301-600-4141.
When a major manufacturer known for quality electronics accidentally advertised a deep discount on one of its latest smart TVs, customers jumped on it, but when the company realized the mistake, it canceled the orders and sent a gift certificate instead.
Robert Williams of southeast Washington, D.C., and Essence Hunter of Manassas, Virginia, both were in the market for new TVs.
Both learned of a huge deal from Samsung: A 40-inch TV for $100, the ad read, a savings of almost $950.
So of course immediately I started sending it to my friends and family, and we ordered it as quickly as we could, Hunter said.
I almost passed out, Williams said. It was that big of a deal, that great of a deal.
But the TVs never shipped.
A couple of days later I got an email saying that my order has been canceled, Hunter said.
Samsung told customers there was a glitch, an error in the price posted.
Williams and Hunter each called NBC4 Responds.
Samsung said the TV was mistakenly listed on sale for $100, and as soon as the mistake was discovered, Samsung provided the correct sale price of $799.99. Samsung said it did not charge customers but instead canceled the orders and issued them $50 gift certificates.
I dont want your $50 gift certificate, Hunter said. I want my TV that you advertised for $100.
The Federal Trade Commission confirmed there's no federal law requiring companies to honor the price.
Though the customers got their money back, Hunter said she still feels like they should get the TVs.
It comes down to customer service. In this case, Samsung offered a gift certificate, and it didn't have to. A company is allowed to make a mistake.
Samsung provided the following statement:
On May, 15, 2016, it came to our attention that the model UN40KU7000FXZA 4K UHD Television was mistakenly listed on sale for $100 on Samsung.com. As soon as this was discovered, we addressed the error and provided the correct sale price of $799.99. Any customers who placed orders at the incorrect price using a credit card saw the order as authorized on their account, but they were not charged as these orders with the incorrect price were cancelled prior to shipping. Customers that used PayPal did receive a charge, in accordance to PayPal policies, but where immediately refunded. Any customer that placed an order at the incorrect price will receive a $50 eCertificate. We deeply apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused to our consumers. Should consumers have any questions, please contact Customer Service at 1-855-726-8721.
The life of a pregnant Virginia mother of four young children was cut short this week when she was stung by wasps and suddenly died.
Sarah Harkins was in her Spotsylvania County backyard Sunday afternoon when she was stung by wasps, her family said. The 32-year-old mother had an allergic reaction to the bites.
"She fell unconscious and went to the hospital, and it was discovered there was a brain aneurysm, and during the trauma of it all, it burst and caused her death," Sarah's brother Tom Schulzetenberg said.
Schulzentenberg said his sister had always wanted a big family. She had four young children, and another girl on the way.
"It's something that you never really prepare for. We're doing our best to hold each other up," Schulzentenberg said.
He told News4 his sister was beloved by all. She made rosary beads and home-schooled her children.
"With Sarah gone, [her husband] Eric is not equipped to do this by himself," Schulzetenberg said.
Her family -- as well as her husband's co-workers -- have set up online donation sites to help with expenses related to her passing and the care of her four children.
As of Friday morning, donations on the two sites had exceeded a total of $158,000.
"We've received donations from France, Germany, Japan." Schulzetenberg said. "Pray for the children. Pray for Eric. Pray for peace and strength for them."
Sarah would have celebrated her 33rd birthday on Saturday.
UPDATE: This encounter did not take place in Fairfax County as originally reported by the victim, police said. It took place in Carroll County, Maryland. Authorities there have been notified.
A rabid cat was found in the Springfield, Virginia, area on Sunday after coming in contact with a person along the Long Branch Trail, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
Police said a man was walking along the Long Branch trail, near the 6200 block of Levi Court, about a quarter-mile north of Franconia-Springfield Metro Station, when he encountered and was scratched by the cat around 8 a.m. The cat was extremely aggressive and died during the attack.
The cat was tested for the rabies virus on Monday, June 6, and the results came back positive for rabies. The victim is undergoing preventative treatment for exposure to rabies.
Police said during the time it was infectious, the cat may have had contact with other people or pets. The cat is described as a domestic shorthair, with a black and brown tortoise shell coat pattern and a clouded left eye. It is an adult female estimated to weigh up to 15 pounds.
If anyone had direct contact with the cat between May 27 and June 5, they are urged to call the Fairfax County Health Departments Rabies Coordinator at 571-274-2296, TTY 711.
A pharmaceutical executive who came under fire for jacking up the price of a lifesaving malaria medication has pleaded not guilty to new charges in his securities fraud case.
Martin Shkreli appeared Monday in federal court in New York City. He declined to speak to reporters as he left the courthouse.
A revised indictment filed last week alleged Shkreli and his former attorney Evan Greebel schemed to defraud potential investors of his former drug company Retrophin Inc., based in San Diego. Greebel also pleaded not guilty Monday.
Prosecutors said the two allocated company stock to seven employees to conceal Shkreli's ownership of it.
Before his arrest, Shkreli already was reviled because another drug company he owned raised the price of Daraprim by 5,000 percent.
Shkreli's attorney has said the securities fraud prosecution is based on a "flawed theory." Greebel's lawyer had no comment.
A trial is expected early next year.
The city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, will now have a new name for Columbus Day.
City counselors unanimously voted to rename the holiday "Indigenous Peoples' Day" on Monday night.
The resolution commemorates indigenous people and recognizes the suffering they faced after Europeans invaded their land and killed native tribes.
Necn has reached out to Cambridge's mayor for a comment.
A Connecticut man who spent 48 years on the lam after escaping from a work camp in Georgia has not entered a plea and his case was continued until August.
Robert Stackowitz, 71, was arrested at his home in rural Sherman, after officials processing his Social Security application discovered a warrant for his arrest.
Imprisoned on a robbery conviction, he escaped in 1968 from a prison work camp in Carrolton, Georgia. He's now detained on $75,000 bail and an extradition hearing was held today, where the case was continued until Aug. 1.
Stackowitz's lawyer, Norman Pattis told the Associated Press his client is in poor health.
Pattis provided previously undisclosed details of Stackowitz's life before the robbery and his time on the lam, including stints as a high school auto shop teacher, Ford dealership mechanic and boat repairman.
Pattis gave the following account:
Stackowitz grew up in Bridgeport and did modeling work as a child. He later got married and had a daughter. He divorced at age 22, which broke his heart and prompted him to hit the road traveling for a while.
Stackowitz ended up in Georgia in 1966, where he met two other men who asked him to be the getaway driver for a home burglary in Henry County, Pattis said, but the homeowner was there, and the burglary turned into a home invasion robbery. Pattis said no one was injured.
All three men were arrested and sentenced to prison.
While in prison, officials learned of Stackowitz's mechanic skills and allowed him to tune up the warden's car and work on school buses at a facility next to the prison camp, Pattis said. It was at the bus facility where he escaped from custody.
Stackowitz, apparently with enough cash to buy a plane ticket, went straight to an airport and flew back to Connecticut and went on to teach automotive class at Henry Abbott Technical High School in Danbury and worked at a few Ford dealerships, Pattis said.
He eventually settled in Sherman, a small town in western Connecticut along the New York border where he repaired boats at his home. In Sherman, he went by the alias Bob Gordon, but some people also knew him as Bob Stackowitz, Pattis said.
Stackowitz never remarried, but lived for several years with a woman who later died of cancer, Pattis said.
"This is a great guy who made horrible mistakes as a young man," Pattis said. "He would freely admit that what he did was wrong. My hope is that Georgia officials will be inspired by a realistic view of justice."
Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said an investigation has found that two officers who shot and killed a suspect in Lowell, Massachusetts, were justified in the use of deadly force.
Jose Perez, 39, of Lowell, was shot and killed by police after he charged at officers with a knife and meat cleaver on Cambridge Street on March 26. Two 911 callers said Perez was "threatening to kill everyone."
Ryan said the investigation conducted by her office, Massachusetts State Police and Lowell Police also determined that there was no criminal conduct involved in Perez's shooting.
The officers have been identified as Chase Suong and Guillermo Rojas. Suong has been with the Lowell Police Department since 2010 and is assigned to the gang unit. Rojas has been with the department since 2012 and is assigned as a district response officer.
The investigation into the officer-involved shooting included interviews of all the responding officers and civilian witnesses, ballistics examinations and reviews of radio transmissions, police reports and the medical examiner's findings.
A mother and her children were ordered to leave their Franklin, New Hampshire, home after police found them living in deplorable conditions.
Police released photos from inside the home on West Bow Street.
Officers showed up to the home Sunday to arrest Joseph Hern, who was wanted on a warrant for selling drugs. Hern jumped out of a window and made a run for it and was caught after a foot pursuit.
When police went inside the home they found it filled with so much garbage they could not see the floor.
There is no word on whether charges will be filed against the mother.
New England's largest egg farm has become the target of an undercover Humane Society investigation.
Video captured by an undercover worker appears to show egg-laying hens living in filth, with rodents and decomposing chicken carcasses in cages at Hillandale Farms in Turner, Maine.
"The facilities are horrendous," said Humane Society Vice President of Farm Animal Protection Paul Shapiro. "The problems are rampant, and we documented exactly what we saw."
The HSUS undercover worker alleges the decomposing chicken corpses were kept in cages with live chickens for weeks, and that the hens were kept in cages so tight, the birds could not extend their wings. The worker also says birds were often trapped by the necks and wings, caught on rusty wires, unable to access food or water.
The Humane Society is requesting state and federal officials launch an investigation into egg farm, which is owned by Jack DeCoster. The DeCoster family has repeatedly plead guilty to, and paid fines for workplace safety violations. Father and son Jack and Peter DeCoster, may even serve jail time for a salmonella outbreak in 2010 that sickened thousands of people.
"Considering the sordid history of this particular facility, and the gruesome images in this video, we hope they'll take it seriously," said Shapiro.
A spokesperson for the Maine Department of Agriculture acknowledged that the department has received the complaint, and is "taking the matter seriously."
In a prepared statement, a spokesperson for Hillandale Farms said the following: "At Hillandale Farms, we take great pride in the quality of eggs we produce, and have high standards for hen care and egg safety.
"When we took over management of the Maine farms last July, we were aware the barns were aging. Since then, we have invested in equipment and process upgrades to enhance our production operations, as well as expanded training for our team members.
"We reviewed the video, and we are investigating the practices in the barns where this footage may have been captured to ensure this is addressed immediately. The worker who shot the video did not meet Hillandales standard of care and is no longer employed by us. For example, it is our practice that any mortality be removed from cages within a day.
"We have engaged our farm veterinarian, food safety and quality assurance teams to act swiftly to assure that we meet or exceed all animal health and food safety guidelines. In addition, we have reached out proactively to ask the Maine Department of Agriculture to conduct an immediate inspection."
Vendors visiting the farm Tuesday defended Hillandale, and said the Decoster family is not involved in the daily operations.
"[Hillandale] is always very strict on the rules, aware of employees and safety," said Russ Schmelzer, who does packaging for the egg farm. He told necn he has never observed chickens living in the conditions depicted in the HSUS video.
The Humane Society is urging consumers to purchase cage-free eggs, and is collecting signatures to create a ballot referendum question in Massachusetts that would prohibit the sale of eggs and other animal products that come from "extreme cage confinement."
A Palermo, Maine, man is facing charges after allegedly assaulting his domestic partner and pointing a handgun at Waldo County Deputies, necn affiliate WCSH6 reports.
Police tell WCSH 43-year-old Chris Gidney attacked his partner last Friday, and when deputies tried to restrain and arrest him, Gidney pointed a gun at the deputies.
Gidney ran into a wooded area close to his home, but was arrested and charged.
A Fall River, Massachusetts, man charged with shooting a woman in the head during a drug deal in 2012 heads to trial next week.
The Herald News reports that jury selection for the trial of 23-year-old Brandyn LePage is scheduled to start Monday.
Prosecutors say LePage killed 31-year-old Aja Pascual on Sept. 29, 2012. Pascual was found by police slumped behind the wheel of her car.
LePage has been held without bail since pleading not guilty to charges including first-degree murder.
Police say they found a shirt belonging to LePage with Pascual's blood on it and a revolver with his DNA on it.
LePage's lawyers have questioned ballistic evidence in the case and are seeking information from a Fall River man's Facebook account they say could help clear LePage.
Police are looking into claims that a man hid a camera inside a Gatorade bottle to record "inappropriate" images of young women and girls at Hampton Beach over the weekend.
Hampton Police now have the bottle, according to the Union Leader. Deputy Police Chief David Hobbs called the accusations "disturbing and concerning," but said it isn't clear if a crime was committed.
A woman who was at Hampton Beach on Saturday posted a message to Facebook describing the incident.
"After a couple hours of being there, we noticed a very sketchy and suspicious man with his eyes glued to his phone and holding a gatorade bottle," she said. "But the bottle was black? He would walk slowly or just stand in random places for awhile. Finally a brave woman snatched the bottle out of his hand and proceeded to tear it apart only to find a video camera installed into it."
The man quickly ran away, the woman said, disappearing into the crowd.
She said the camera contained close-up pictures of her and other young women and girls.
A teen has been indicted in connection with a shooting that killed a 19-year-old Massachusetts man and left six others injured.
The Suffolk district attorney's office announced Tuesday that a 17-year-old boy was indicted on Monday as an accessory after the fact to the murder of Pablo Villeda in Chelsea on March 6.
The teen will likely be arraigned as an adult; however, his name was withheld for the time being.
The DA says the teen did several, unspecified things to help 16-year-old Emmanuel Marrero. Marrero is accused of killing Villeda during a party in a vacant apartment.
There are millions upon millions of systems on the internet that offer services that should not be exposed to the public network, and Rapid7 has determined which countries are the most exposed and therefore the most hackable.
Using Project Sonar, Rapid7 set out to understand the overall internet threat exposure in general and at a country level. In the new research paper, exposure is defined as offering services that either expose potentially sensitive data over cleartext channels or are widely recognized to be unwise to make available on the internet.
The report noted: While there are 65,535 possible listening ports for every IP-addressable endpoint on the internet, we are concerned primarily with a sampling of the most popular TCP ports on the internet.
The researchers took the 30 most popular TCP ports and performed cross-country comparisons to come up with a National Exposure Index.
Below is a small sample of Rapid7s findings.
The table on the left shows the top regions that have devices listening on all of the 30 most prevalent TCP services. There was no double dipping, as a node in the 30 ports exposed category had all 30 scanned ports exposed and was not in any other port-count category.
The table on the right shows a small portion of the national exposure index, the most exposed nations with insecure servicesthe most hackable countries.
Notice that the U.S. has a ridiculously high number of devices listening on all 30 ports examined in this study, landing in the top spot with over 43 million servers or devices exposing every port combination in the Sonar study. Yet it ranked at 14 in the exposure table for offering insecure services. China had considerably fewer devices listening on 30 ports, over 11 million, yet came in fifth for most hackable country. It's doubtful that many people taking a wild guess at the most exposed country would have said Belgium.
Rapid7 found a correlation between the GDP of a nation, overall internet presence in terms of services offered, and the exposure of insecure, cleartext services. The report explained, By surveying available services on the internet, and grouping by geolocated IP address, we can see that, in general, there is some correlation between internet connectivity and a regions overall economic strength as expressed by GDP.
Of the 30 ports scanned by Rapid7, below are the top 20 ports and protocols.
Sadly, most services are unencrypted even though it is possible to enable encryption on some of the protocols. Rapid7 called the lack of encryption for most services worrisome for any standards or enforcement body charged with keeping up a reasonable security profile for an organization.
HTTP, port 80 and HTTPS, port 443 make up a little less than a third of all the service ports on the internet. SSH is the third most-common service, with its insecure counterpart Telnet being the seventh most-common service. Rapid7s scan found nearly 15 million devices still use Telnet services. Additionally, the report noted that non-web-based access to email (via cleartext POP or IMAP protocols) is still the norm versus the exception in virtually every country.
11.2 million nodes offer direct access to relational databases. The researchers scan counted 7.8 million MySQL databases and 3.4 million Microsoft SQL Server systems, but the study did not include ports for PostgreSQL and OracleDB.
United States, China, Hong Kong, Belgium, Australia and Poland expose 75 percent of discovered Microsoft SQL nodes. Those same countries expose 67 percent of MySQL nodes, according to the report.
Some of the facts in the full report, but you dont see in the above sampling, include 5.4 million unencrypted Microsoft Remote Procedure Call services exposed via port 135. A whopping 4.7 million systems expose one of the most commonly attacked ports used by Microsoft systems, 445/TCP. When scanning port 5000, 4.5 million Universal Plug and Play services were exposed, and another 4.5 million printer services were exposed via port 9100.
Rapid7s National Exposure Index report concluded:
These results all speak to a fundamental failure in modern internet engineering. Despite calls from the Internet Architecture Board, the Internet Engineering Task Force, and virtually every security company and security advocacy organization on Earth, compulsory encryption is not a default, standard feature in internet protocol design. Cleartext protocols just work, and security concerns are doggedly secondary. This state of affairs cannot last for much longer without dire consequences for the worlds largest economies. It is difficult to imagine a future where healthy, robust economies make less use of the internet, rather than more. Recall that since the internet was effectively standardized on TCP/IP in 1982, 40 percent of the worlds population now uses the internet directly on a regular basis, and virtually everyone is indirectly dependent on the internets functionality. The internet is far too important an engine of economic growth and stability to leave to legacy, security-optional services. With the race towards an IoT-dominated future well underway, we must rethink how we design, deploy, and manage our existing infrastructure.
You can grab a copy of the report here and read Rapid7's blog post about the new research here.
Who is The Daily News Athlete of the Week? Here are the 7 nominees.
high-school
Champaign, IL (61820)
Today
Cloudy with rain developing after midnight. Low 43F. Winds NW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 60%..
Tonight
Cloudy with rain developing after midnight. Low 43F. Winds NW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Parents are being warned of the major health risks of children mistaking potentially harmful dishwasher and laundry capsules for sweets, after figures showed at least one case is happening every day.
The Local Government Association, which represents more than 370 councils with responsibility for childrens public health, says the tablets should be kept well out of childrens reach, with hundreds of incidents reported every year.
While products display safety warnings, many parents are unaware of the dangers of a child swallowing one of the tablets.
The liquid or gel detergent capsules are often small and brightly coloured, deceiving children into thinking theyre sweets.
Yet the tablets contain a cocktail of harmful chemicals which when ingested can cause serious harm, such as burn-related injuries, internal swelling, breathing difficulties, or the risk of falling into a coma. Exposure to the eye can also cause damage, including temporary blindness.
The LGA has joined forces with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents to raise awareness of the possible dangers and this growing problem ahead of Child Safety Week, which runs from 6 to 12 June.
Latest figures show that there is more than one incident every day involving laundry capsules and a child, usually under five-years-old.
A survey by the UKs National Poison Information Service found there were more than 2,000 recorded cases in five years. Four children had breathing difficulties, one had a burned airway and four needed the support of a ventilator.
According to the most recent yearly breakdown of data on reported exposure in the UK, there were 404 cases in 2014, 424 in 2013, 422 in 2012, 434 in 2011 and 486 in 2010.
LGA Community Wellbeing spokeswoman, Cllr Izzi Seccombe, said:
Councils with their responsibility for public health have concerns over the growing number of incidents involving a child and laundry capsules. Their brightly coloured appearance and small size mean a lot of children mistake them for sweets. If they bite into the capsule it will cause a cocktail of harmful chemicals to dissolve in their mouth and be ingested, causing serious harm. Keeping these tablets in a place where children cant access them, either locked away or in a cupboard where they cant reach, would significantly reduce the chances of a young child getting hold of them. The frequency with which these incidents are happening at least once a day is deeply alarming and yet they can be easily prevented with a few simple steps of caution.
Sheila Merrill, Public Health Adviser at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), said:
Children are naturally inquisitive and tend to explore the world with their mouths coupled with the fact liquid laundry capsules can be mistaken for sweets, and that the casing dissolves in contact with saliva, it makes it important to safely store them out of the reach of children. All household chemicals should be stored either up high or in a lockable cupboard. Keep an eye out if you are doing the laundry while children are present too, as it only takes a second for them to get hold of one.
Source: http://www.local.gov.uk/
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.
Lab Diagnostics & Automation eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today
"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.
Janssen-Cilag International NV today announced that data from an interim analysis of The Prostate Cancer Registry, Europes first and largest prospective study of men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), indicate that the presence of distant metastases (M1) at initial diagnosis may be a critical indicator of future treatment and prognosis for mCRPC patients.
The data, presented today at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2016 Congress, Chicago, USA, described characteristics at study entry of men with mCRPC who had distant metastases at primary diagnosis (M1) as compared to those whose cancer had not metastasised at primary diagnosis (M0). The data demonstrated higher prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, increased incidence of bone lesions and slightly worse level of functioning, in terms of their ability to care for themselves, daily activity, and physical ability (measured by the ECOG Performance Status Scale) for patients with M1 at initial diagnosis compared to patients with no metastases (M0) at initial diagnosis.
PSA levels were 34.4% higher (61.7 ng/mL vs 45.9 ng/mL) for M1 vs M0
Incidence of bone lesions (>5) was 24% higher (51% vs 41%) for M1 vs M0
The proportion of men with an ECOG Performance Status of >2 was 39% higher (17% vs 13%) for M1 vs M0
These data can help to better inform the way we treat mCRPC patients. It demonstrates that patients who present with metastases at diagnosis require particularly close attention from healthcare professionals to tackle the disease head on with prompt and effective treatment for the best possible outcome, said Dr Simon Chowdhury, Guys Hospital, London. Real world data, such as these, provide us with valuable insight into the true patient journey. They include a wider population, such as men of a broader age range and with other existing health problems, than the more restricted and closely monitored populations seen in interventional clinical trials.
The Prostate Cancer Registry has enrolled over 3,000 mCRPC patients in 199 centres across 16 European countries. It aims to address the key medical and scientific questions concerning the optimal care of mCRPC patients in routine practice. The size of the database will enable analysis on sub-populations relevant to healthcare professionals. In this dataset, 1323 patients with mCRPC were analysed, including 549 who had M1 (41.5%) and 526 who had M0 (39.8%) disease at initial diagnosis, and 248 men for whom state of metastasis was not measureable (Mx, 18.7%) at initial diagnosis. Follow-up of these patients over time will clarify how these clinical differences and subsequent treatment may affect clinical outcome.
Jane Griffiths, Company Group Chairman, Janssen Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) said:
Janssen is proud to be supporting The Prostate Cancer Registry, which is the largest of its kind in Europe. As there are currently limited data available on the everyday experience of mCRPC patients, we hope that the insights from the trial will lead to an improvement in the quality of care and prognosis for men with mCRPC.
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men, with over 400,000 new cases diagnosed in Europe each year. Latest prostate cancer figures show that there are currently three million men living with the disease in Europe.
Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered a new cause of Parkinson's disease -- mutations in a gene called TMEM230. This appears to be the third gene definitively linked to confirmed cases of the common movement disorder.
In a study published in Nature Genetics, the scientists provided evidence of TMEM230 mutations in patients with Parkinson's disease from both North America and Asia. They also demonstrated that the gene is responsible for producing a protein involved in packaging the neurotransmitter dopamine in neurons. Loss of dopamine-producing neurons is a defining characteristic of Parkinson's disease.
Taken together, the study's findings provide new clues to explain how Parkinson's disease develops in the brain. Those clues may inform future therapies for the disorder, which currently has no cure and few known causes.
"Previous research has associated Parkinson's disease with various factors in the environment, but the only direct causes that are known are genetic," said principal investigator Dr. Teepu Siddique, the Les Turner ALS Foundation/Herbert C. Wenske Foundation Professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "Many genes have been claimed to cause Parkinson's disease, but they haven't been validated. We show that mutations in this new gene lead to pathologically and clinically proven cases of the disease."
About 15 percent of Parkinson's disease cases are thought to be caused by genetics, primarily by mutations in two genes called SNCA and LRRK2. Siddique said that other genes have only been associated with features of parkinsonism, a general term for neurological disorders with motor symptoms.
The Northwestern Medicine team's proof that mutations in TMEM230 lead to Parkinson's disease is the result of 20 years of research conducted with collaborators around the world.
How they uncovered the gene
The project began in 1996, when Siddique and study first author Dr. Han-Xiang Deng, began investigating a family with 15 members who had typical symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Using DNA samples provided by co-author Dr. Ali Rajput, from the University of Saskatchewan, Siddique and Deng performed genome-wide analysis on 65 of the family's members, including 13 with the disease, in hopes of finding a common mutation that could explain the prevalence.
They were able to narrow the search down to a small region of DNA on chromosome 20 that contained 141 known genes. Using whole exome sequencing technology, they then compared DNA variations -- genetic differences -- in one healthy family member to those in four family members with the disease. The scientists found more than 90,000 variants before eventually identifying TMEM230 as the gene with disease-causing mutation.
Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today
"This was a totally new gene. We didn't know its function," Deng explained. "So we did a series of studies to find out where the protein encoded by this gene is located and what it does."
The scientists discovered that TMEM230 encodes a protein that extends across the membrane of tiny sacks inside neurons called synaptic vesicles, which store neurotransmitters before they're released from one cell to another.
"Current symptomatic treatments for Parkinson's disease increase the neurotransmitter dopamine that is released by these synaptic vesicles to cells that project into different parts of the brain controlling motor activity, mood and many other organ systems affected by the disease," Siddique said.
The scientists hypothesize that the protein is involved in the movement of these vesicles.
"We believe that vesicle trafficking defects are a key mechanism of Parkinson's disease, not just for cases with this mutation, but a common pathway for the majority of cases. All three of the authenticated genes are concentrated on synaptic vesicles," Deng said. "Our new findings suggest that normalizing synaptic vesicle trafficking may be a strategy for future therapeutic development. We can develop drugs to promote this critical pathway."
Verifying the gene across populations
Importantly, the research team also found mutations in the TMEM230 gene in cases of Parkinson's disease in additional families in North America and as far away as China. They verified that these patients had both clinical characteristics of the disease (symptoms like tremors, slow movement and stiffness) as well as pathological evidence in the brain (loss of dopamine neurons and abnormal accumulations of proteins inside surviving neurons).
"This particular gene causing Parkinson's disease is not just limited to one population in North America," Siddique said. "It's worldwide, found in very different ethnic and environmental conditions. These mutations are that strong."
In future research, Siddique and Deng plan to explore how TMEM230 mutations cause disease using mouse models.
Scientists have discovered unexpected functions of small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) that explain the cause of some diseases. The loss of small nucleolar RNAs is associated with a number of diseases, including Prader-Willi syndrome and several forms of cancers; and genetic duplications of some snoRNAs could play a role in autism. However, it is not clear how the change in snoRNA expression could lead to these diseases. Using RNA sequencing and molecular biology techniques, the researchers found that snoRNAs not only modify ribosomes, but can also regulate alternative splicing. Through this second function, they regulate protein function and inhibit the generation of wrong protein variants. This explains the role of snoRNAs in human diseases, as upon their loss the formation of wrong protein variants can no longer be prevented.
An international team of researchers has discovered unexpected functions of small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) that explains the cause of some diseases. The research, led by Prof. Stefan Stamm from the University of Kentucky and Prof. Ruth Sperling from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, appears in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The loss of small nucleolar RNAs is associated with a number of diseases, including Prader-Willi syndrome, characterized by an unstoppable appetite, and several forms of cancers: smoldering multiple myeloma, breast and prostate cancer. Also, genetic duplications of some snoRNAs could play a role in autism. However, it is not clear how the change in snoRNA expression could lead to these diseases.
Hereditary information is stored in DNA, which is accessed through an intermediate form, called RNA. To make proteins that function in cells, a "photocopy" of the genetic information stored in the DNA is made, termed precursor messenger RNA (pre-mRNA). From these precursor molecules the important information containing the blueprint for proteins has to be extracted through a process termed splicing, where parts, called introns, are cut out and the remaining parts, called exons, are pasted together to generate messenger RNA (mRNA). This can be compared to the splicing of movie film, where excess images are cut out and the remaining parts are joined together to create a seamless movie.
Importantly, most mammalian pre-mRNAs are multi-intronic, that can be spliced out in different combinations. Therefore, an important major mechanism that is at work for building complex organisms and organs is alternative splicing, in which by different combinations of alternative splicing a single gene can code for multiple proteins. The misregulation of the alternative splicing process contributes to numerous diseases, including cancer.
Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today
The RNA that makes mRNA, the coding RNA, contain the information to make proteins, which form the body, but most RNAs are non-coding, and contain regulatory information controlling the expression of genes. Among the non-coding RNA, the about 250 small nucleolar RNAs or snoRNAs one of the longest-studied RNAs are a class of small RNA molecules that primarily guide chemical modifications of other RNAs. These are shown to control the modification of ribosomes, cellular entities that read mRNAs to make proteins.
Using RNA sequencing and molecular biology techniques, the researchers found that often snoRNAs not only modify ribosomes, but actually perform a dual function: they can also regulate alternative splicing, resulting in regulating the alternative inclusion of small pieces in proteins, which regulates protein function, thus inhibiting the generation of wrong protein variants.
These new functions can explain the role of snoRNAs in human diseases, as upon their loss the formation of wrong protein variants can no longer be prevented.
In mechanistic studies, the researchers also showed that short synthetic RNAs could be used as a substitute for the missing snoRNAs. This could point to a possible therapy for genetic hyperphagia (a condition that causes extreme hunger or appetite) and some forms of cancer.
"This research helps us to understand the unexpected dual role of snoRNAs in gene regulation. It further points to the important role played by small non-coding RNAs in alternative splicing, which is a major contributor to the diversity of the human proteome, and defects in which result in numerous diseases including cancer. With further research in this area we may be able to design new therapies against human diseases," said Prof. Ruth Sperling from the Department of Genetics at the Hebrew University's Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences.
More than one thousand people have had their entire genetic make-up decoded as part of a long-term study to gain insight into why some people's brains age better than others.
Scientists in Edinburgh have sequenced the DNA of more than 1300 people taking part in a decades-long study into ageing and memory.
The development will enable in-depth analysis of the genetic make-up of those taking part, and may help to identify the genetic basis of why some people's brains age better than others.
The Lothian Birth Cohorts comprise two groups of people born in 1921 and 1936, who were tested on their mental abilities at age 11, originally as a way of informing education policy.
Over the past 15 years, members of the cohort have been regularly tested by researchers at the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology (CCACE). Their follow-up mental examinations, blood tests and brain scans have yielded a trove of valuable information on mental and physical ageing.
Now, researchers have decoded the entire genetic make-ups of those taking part. By linking this genetic information with the cognitive testing carried out over the past 15 years, researchers hope to shed new light on the factors underlying healthy ageing.
When participants were first recruited to the Lothian Birth Cohorts, each person's genome would have cost US$100 million to sequence. Today, the cost of sequencing a person's genome is around US$1000 (about 700).
The genetic sequencing was conducted at Edinburgh Genomics at the University of Edinburgh, one of the largest sequencing facilities in the UK. It was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
The Lothian Birth Cohorts are funded by Age UK and the Medical Research Council.
Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today
Professor Ian Deary, the Director of the CCACE, said "This genetic data will prove invaluable for understanding why some people's brains and thinking skills age better than others. The flip side of having such comprehensive genetic data is that we will also understand better how the environment and lifestyle choices can contribute to healthy ageing."
The study was made possible by a major investment in gene sequencing technology by the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow to form the Scottish Genomes Partnership.
Joel Fearnley, Edinburgh Genomics Chief Operating Officer, said: "This pioneering work has been made possible by our highly skilled team and the Scottish Genomes Partnership's investment in equipment that enables rapid sequencing and delivery of high quality data at a viable cost."
Professor David Hume, Director of the University's Roslin Institute, which houses the gene sequencing facility, said: "This achievement builds upon many years of BBSRC support for genomic research in Roslin, through the ARK Genomics National Capacity Grant. Aside from the opportunities to gain new insights in human genetics, the work opens the door to similar large-scale initiatives in other species.
Professor Tim Aitman, Co-Chair of the Scottish Genome Partnership and Director of the University's Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, said: "We are delighted with the quality and volume of data coming out of the Edinburgh Genomics facility. This tremendous rate of genetic sequencing is a testament to an incredible team effort which will accelerate our work towards radically improving disease diagnosis and management of patients in the Scottish NHS."
In the last month of their lives, younger cancer patients continued to be hospitalized and receive other aggressive treatment at high rates, a University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center-led study found.
A national health claims analysis of cancer patients who were younger than age 65 and had metastatic disease revealed that nearly two-thirds were admitted to the hospital or visited the emergency room in the last 30 days of their lives. The researchers said nearly a third of patients died in the hospital.
The preliminary findings (LBA 10033), presented Monday, June 6, at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago, raises concerns for clinicians and researchers that there is substantial overuse of aggressive care for patients with incurable cancers, even after ASCO issued recommendations in 2012 encouraging physicians to reduce aggressive end-of-life care.
"Cancer treatments have side effects, and as patients get closer to the end of life, aggressive treatments can also be less effective," said study co-author Aaron Falchook, MD, a resident in the UNC School of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology. "In essence what we're doing is we're giving patients side effects without giving them the benefits of the treatment, and that's really the fundamental problem with aggressive care at the very end of life."
For the study, researchers analyzed claims data from the HealthCore Integrated Research Database for 28,731 patients from around the country under age 65 and with metastatic lung, colorectal, breast, pancreatic or prostate cancer. They looked for how often patients within the last 30 days of their lives received chemotherapy, radiation, an invasive procedure, went to the emergency room or were admitted to the hospital, or received intensive care; or died in the hospital.
Across the five types of cancers examined, the rates of patients receiving one or more forms of aggressive care in their last 30 days of life ranged from 71 to 76 percent.
Looking at chemotherapy alone, they found that rates ranged from 24 percent of prostate cancer patients receiving chemotherapy in their last 30 days to 33 percent of patients with breast cancer. Rates of hospital admission or emergency room visits were some of the highest, with 62 percent of colorectal cancer patients and 65 percent of lung cancer getting hospitalized or visiting an emergency room.
"Overuse of aggressive care at the very end of life for a cancer patient can translate to increased burden on patients and their families," Falchook said. "If these treatments are making patients sick, and if patients continue to go to the hospital, this can reduce their ability to really spend time with their loved ones at the end of life, and to get the most time out of the life that they do have left."
And while Falchook said some treatments can be not only recommended, but beneficial to patients at the end of their lives to help ease suffering or pain, it's important to be thoughtful about delivery. For example, researchers said radiation therapy can be used to reduce pain.
"The goal shouldn't be that there should be zero percent of patients getting radiation in the last 30 days of life, or chemotherapy, or any of these treatments," Falchook said. "There is some degree of what we'd call 'appropriate care' at the end of life. The goal is not zero, but finding that three-fourths of patients continued to receive aggressive care was surprising."
Ronald C. Chen, MD, MPH, a UNC Lineberger member and associate professor in the UNC School of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology and the study's first author, said that physicians should be having earlier discussions with their patients about palliative care, which is treatment that focuses on relieving pain or other symptoms. Palliative care focuses on maximizing a patient's quality of life.
"Is it hard to assess when somebody has only a month to live? Maybe," Chen said. "But palliative care discussions, and hospice enrollment, should happen much earlier than a patient's last month of life."
Researchers also found that rates of aggressive care did not decline after the release of ASCO's 2012 "Top Five" recommendations in 2012. The recommendations advised against using treatments to stop, slow or eliminate cancer for patients with solid tumors for whom there is not strong evidence for the treatment's clinical value. Instead, ASCO recommended using palliative care or supportive care. The recommendations were issued as part of the Board of Internal Medicine's "Choosing Wisely" campaign.
"What this study shows is that recommendations by themselves may not be enough to change practice," Chen said. "Along with published recommendations, more interventions targeted toward physician and patient education may be necessary to get actual changes in practice."
Related to their finding of high rates of aggressive care at the end of life, the investigators also found that only 15 to 19 percent of patients received hospice services.
"Studies have shown that hospice can help patients preserve their quality of life at the end of life," Chen said. "We think there's too much aggressive care, and it might relate to the fact that too few of these patients are enrolled in hospice. It's not clear which phenomenon is causing the other, but I think these are complementary findings."
Chen said there were limitations of the study including the fact that they could not determine the intent of the treatment delivered in their study of aggressive care. More research is needed to identify drivers of the use of aggressive care.
Breast cancer patients significantly benefit by taking hormone therapy drugs called aromatase inhibitors for an additional five years, according to a major study presented at the Plenary Session of the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Loyola University Medical Center is among the centers funded by the National Cancer Institute that enrolled patients in the trial. "This will have enormous implications for thousands of women with breast cancer," said Kathy S. Albain, MD, FACP, FASCO, principal investigator for the Loyola site. "It will change practice standards worldwide." The trial included postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer. Some of the women had taken anti-estrogen therapy with aromatase inhibitors for five years. Other women in the study had taken the anti-estrogen drug tamoxifen for five years, followed by five years of aromatase inhibitors. The study found that in both groups, extending the use of aromatase inhibitors for an additional five years significantly improved the amount of time the women lived without their cancer returning. "This is the first time ever that we have proof that taking anti-estrogen therapy for five years longer than the usual five-to-ten years makes a big difference in breast cancer outcomes," Dr. Albain said. The study was led by the Canadian Cancer Trials Group.
Researchers from The University of Adelaide in South Australia found that a specific peptide in the spider venom could be used to understand how people sense pain.
Picture: Tracey Adams
Two toxins from the tarantula species Heteroscodra maculata were found to specifically target Nav 1.1, a voltage-gated sodium channel in the nervous system to initiate the electrical impulses that signal pain.
Associate Professor Stuart Brierley said the study demonstrated that Nav 1.1 contributed to mechanical, but not thermal, pain signalling.
Using the highly specific peptide in the spider toxin we were able to work out how pain nerve fibres signal in a healthy situation and also in chronic abdominal pain such as what you see in Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Assoc Prof Brierley said.
We found that the spider toxin was able to cause a lot more pain in the IBS state than what it was in the healthy state.
Its important to note that because of the studies we should be able to develop treatments for IBS based pain blockers for Nav 1.1 that only target the peripheral and dont go to the central nervous system.
The causes of IBS are still unknown but it affects about 10 per cent of people globally.
Chronic abdominal pain is the predominant symptom of IBS.
Assoc Prof Brierley said that until recently there had not been much research into the role of the Nav 1.1 channel subtype on the peripheral nervous system.
Over a long period of time we were able to work out that one particular compound was in the venom that you could isolate, separate out and acted on this Nav 1.1 channel, he said.
It gave us a highly specific and highly selective tool to look at its role in pain.
Many nociceptors or pain sensing nerve fibres use Nav channels to initiate the electrical impulses that signal pain.
Although the study focused on the peripheral nervous system, the findings also pose potential implications for central nervous system diseases such as epilepsy.
The study was a collaboration between the University of Adelaide, Flinders University, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), the University of Queensland, The University of California, John Hopkins University and the Medical College of Wisconsin. It was published in Nature last week.
Source: http://www.theleadsouthaustralia.com.au/
Dr. Ralph Holme THOUGHT LEADERS SERIES ...insight from the worlds leading experts
Please can you give a brief overview of otosclerosis? How much was previously known about the way the condition can be inherited?
Otosclerosis is a common cause of hearing loss, particularly amongst young adults. It normally starts in their 20s or 30s and it affects about 1 in 200 hundred people. In the UK, about 300,000 people are affected by the condition.
Otosclerosis affects the small bones in the middle ear. More specifically, it affects the stapes, which is actually the smallest bone in the body.
snapgalleria / Shutterstock.com
Normally, these middle ear bones play a really important role in conducting sound vibrations from the eardrum to the inner ear. In otosclerosis, a bony growth develops on the stapes that causes it to become fixed. It then can't vibrate, so the sound vibrations can no longer pass into the inner ear.
We know that otosclerosis can be inherited and in about a quarter of cases, there's a strong family history.
Researchers have known for a long time that there is a genetic component. Until the publication of the research that we funded, we had no idea of the identity of the actual genes involved, so our research is important because it identifies the first gene that can cause this conductive form of hearing loss.
What did scientists at the Ear Institute at University College London recently show with regards to the SERPINF1 gene?
They're really interested in trying to identify which genes cause this condition. They studied ten people from four different families that had inherited otosclerosis.
They used whole exome sequencing, which is where you sequence all the coding parts of the genome, so the parts of the genome that encode proteins. They sequenced the entire exome of these ten people.
They then looked for changes in the DNA sequence that correlated with otosclerosis, which narrowed them down to nine possible genes. Then, they looked at another 53 people with a history of inherited otosclerosis, which narrowed it down even further, to SERPINF1. Through this filtering process, thats the gene that they found.
They've gone on to identify six different changes to the gene that can cause otosclerosis. In the study, they were actually also able to collect the stapes from the patients because, often, that's removed as part of the treatment. By analyzing these bones they were also able to show that SERPINF1 was switched on and expressed in the stapes. They also showed that the mutations reduced the level of expression of the gene. This is all consistent with SERPINF1 causing otosclerosis.
What does this gene reveal about the biological processes involved in the development of otosclerosis?
SERPINF1 encodes a protein called pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF), which is a serpin peptidase inhibitor. It is known to bind to collagen. We also know that it's involved in bone growth and bone repair.
Interestingly, the same gene can cause brittle bone disease. The mutations are different, but they occur in the same gene. There's a good link to bone growth processes and I think the gene definitely gives us a clue and a way in to developing new treatments for otosclerosis.
The research has also found that, even in people that don't have mutations in this gene, its expression is still down regulated when they have otosclerosis.
The gene seems to be part of a pathway that could be common to a large proportion of otosclerosis cases, which makes it a very attractive target. A therapy that targets this gene could not only help people who actually have otosclerosis because of mutations in SERPINF1, but it might also help those who don't, because it seems to be part of a common mechanism.
How many different changes in SERPINF1 did you identify that can cause the condition?
Theyve identified six different mutations. All of these mutations ultimately reduce the amount of this protein in the stapes. Interestingly, there are two versions of SERPINF1; a long form with eight exons and a shorter form, which has just four exons. That shorter form is more commonly found in the stapes. It is perhaps a more ear-specific version of the gene.
Interestingly, three of the mutations found that cause otosclerosis were found to affect the shorter version of SERPINF1, which might explain why not everyone who has otosclerosis has the brittle bone disease which is also associated with this gene. It might just be that the shorter form of the gene is more relevant to hearing.
Are there likely to be more genes that cause this common form of deafness?
Definitely. It's hard to know how many more there are. Within the study that we funded, they looked at 57 individuals and mutations in SERPINF1 accounted for 10% of inherited otosclerosis in that small population. Clearly, there are other genes involved.
We're actually funding another study at the Ear Institute to look at a further 57 cases of otosclerosis, to try to identify more genes. It will be really interesting to find out whether they're in completely different biological pathways or in the same pathway.
If they're in the same pathway, then it perhaps gives us more hope that a single treatment can be developed to help a wide range of people. If the study starts to suggest there are lots of different biological pathways, then we'll probably need more than one treatment.
How is otosclerosis currently treated and do you think this research could lead to the development of drug treatments to prevent abnormal bone growth on the stapes?
Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today
Our ultimate goal in funding this research is, obviously, to develop much needed treatments for people who've got hearing loss.
At the moment, the only way the condition can be treated is either by giving people hearing aids, which can help improve hearing or, if it gets really bad, by performing surgery to remove the damaged stapes. Often, that's replaced with a prosthetic device, but the success rate varies.
Typically, you might get a 20 dB improvement in about 80% of patients. Therefore, although there are some treatments, they're not ideal and we definitely need better ones.
Understanding the biological processes involved throws the door wide open to being able to develop drug treatments to intervene and block these processes that are going wrong. Identifying this first otosclerosis causing gene is the first step.
The middle ear is also an attractive part of the body to deliver drugs to because it's quite accessible; it's easy to inject drugs through the eardrum. It's also a relatively self-contained organ, so we could deliver drugs locally and not have to worry too much about side effects in other parts of the body.
What further research is needed to understand the genetics of otosclerosis?
We urgently need to find the other genes that are playing a role. We definitely know there are more out there. We're funding more research using exactly the same techniques to identify these.
We also now need to develop and study animal models of otosclerosis to really understand how changes in SERPINF1 cause otosclerosis. We need to find out what's actually going on and what we need future drug treatments to do.
In what ways do Action on Hearing Loss hope to improve hearing loss research moving forwards?
Research into hearing loss is incredibly important, but it's neglected. There are 11 million people in the UK that have hearing loss, most is age-related. We know that by 2035, there will be 15.6 million people with hearing loss.
Hearing loss can really affect people's lives, causing them to feel cut off and isolated. It's a really neglected and invisible condition. The treatments for it are also really limited.
At the moment we have hearing aids and cochlear implants. We definitely recommend people make use of this technology, but they are really just a sticky plaster over the problem. What we really want to do is drive forward research so that in the future there are treatments to actually prevent the progression of hearing loss, as well as treatments to repair the root causes of hearing loss, so people get back natural hearing.
We're also really interested in tinnitus the ringing people get in the ears or head when there's no obvious sound to cause it. Again, it's really common, but there's no cure and no treatment to make it go away.
We're funding the training of scientists so that in the future, we have more scientists working on treatments for hearing loss and tinnitus. We're funding break-through research like the otosclerosis research we've just been talking about, to make discoveries that will lead to treatments in the future.
We're funding research into stem cells, which we think hold great promise. Our research has already shown that stem cells can repair damage to the ear and restore hearing in animals and we are now funding research to develop safe and efficient ways of delivering stem cells into the ear. We're also working to make sure that when discoveries are made, that they are taken forward by the pharmaceutical industry and actually turned into treatments.
We work closely with pharmaceutical companies, to encourage and support their involvement in developing hearing treatments. We also fund research into the later stages of development, where evidence is needed to demonstrate that a particular treatment is likely to work in humans.
These kind of translational research projects aim to progress promising new treatments to a point where they attract private investment from pharmaceutical companies. For example, we've just started funding a new project with a biotech company called PRAGMA in France, to develop a drug that we hope will lessen hearing loss following exposure to a loud noise, which is clearly a problem in the military.
Finally we're a charity. Everything that we fund, we raise from donations and we rely 100% on the generosity of our supporters. We urge everyone to help us raise awareness of how important research into hearing loss is and to help us support more research.
Where can readers find more information?
We've got a great blog on our website, written by Tracey Pollard, about the otosclerosis research. It is written in a very accessible way.
The full research paper is published in Human Molecular Genetics, which is open access: www.hmg.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/05/01/hmg.ddw106.long
https://www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/news-and-events/all-regions/press-releases/new-research-discovers-gene-that-causes-common-deafness.aspx
About Dr Ralph Holme
Dr Ralph Holme is Head of Biomedical Research at Action on Hearing Loss. He is responsible for the charitys biomedical research program which aims to accelerate the discovery and development of new medical treatments to prevent, and ultimately cure, deafness and tinnitus. This involves funding world-class research and training, working closely with the pharmaceutical industry and campaigning for increased investment in hearing research.
Before joining the charity, Ralph was a Postdoctoral Scientist at the MRCs Institute of Hearing Research in Nottingham investigating the genetic basis of deafness. Ralph completed his PhD on vertebrate eye development in 1998 at the MRCs Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh.
Breaking his silence over the speculation surrounding his reappointment as the Reserve Bank of India governor, Raghuram Rajan on Tuesday said the decision will be taken after a discussion with the Centre."The decision is taken after discussion between the incumbent and the government. The best I can do is to point you towards the statements of the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister," Rajan said while unveiling the Second Bi-monthly Policy Statement for the year 2016-17.However, he did not miss a chance to take a jibe at the hullabaloo over a second term for him. "It will be cruel of me to spoil the fun the press is having on my extension," he asserted.Rajan has been in the firing line of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Subramanian Swamy who has been repeatedly seeking his resignation and even went on to the extent of calling the RBI Governor 'mentally not fully-Indian'.Levelling allegations against Rajan, Swamy had written to Narendra Modi requesting the Prime Minister to immediately terminate his services.The BJP leader claimed that Rajan has been sending confidential and sensitive financial information using unsecured Chicago University email id and publicly disparaging the BJP government. "This is a reckless disregard of the national security interest of India," Swamy had said.Swamy has been claiming that Rajan is responsible for keeping rates high and has also alleged that the policies of the RBI Governor have slowed down industrial growth.
Bravery comes in different forms. We don't often get to witness it, but we know what it is, whenever we do. Such is the story of 28-year-old Sarwan Singh.A turban is a very important part of Sikhism and it is considered dishonourable to remove one unless it is for sleep or for bathing. But time and again, the Sikh community has proven to us that for them, even honour comes second to humanity and kindness.When he found a dog drowning in a canal, Sarwan took of his turban and tried to rope the dog in. Not being able to swim himself, the brave man held on to one end of his other turban and walked down to the canal as a few bystanders held on to him. The maneuver, which in itself was a risky one, paid off as Sarwan was able to pull the dog in after a few minutes of struggle.In an interview with Mirror , Sarwan said: I was travelling when I saw a group of men pointing towards the canal. I stopped my car and went over to check what was happening. I was shocked to see that there was a dog drowning but no was actually helping."The moment I started taking off my turban, people watching around were shocked. They thought I was disrespecting my faith. But what was important at that point was to save the animals life," added the braveheart.Watch the full video right here:
Delhi Police has arrested three alleged donors linked to the illegal kidney transplant trade. The donors -- one male and two females -- have been arrested from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh and Siliguri in West Bengal.
They are allegedly linked to the illegal kidney trade in Delhi. The police are verifying documents of the kidney recipients and some doctors are also being questioned in connection with the illegal trade.
Two clerical staff members of Apollo Hospital in Delhi's Sarita Vihar and four others are already in the police net for the illegal trade.
Three of those arrested are believed to be middlemen. They are suspected to have sold at least four kidneys in Delhi so far. Three potential donors, including two women, are also among those arrested.
The police found about the racket after a couple was seen fighting in a hospital. The husband had allegedly donated his wife's kidney without her consent.
The two arrested staff members were said to be working closely with Apollo's senior nephrologist Dr Ashok Sarin.
The mastermind of the kidney trade racket has been identified as Anish. The staff of the Apollo hospital allegedly used to inform him about needy patients and Anish, in turn, provided kidneys to those in need at exorbitant prices.
Patna: An FIR has been registered against the three toppers of the Bihar Secondary Education Board (BSEB) after they failed to answer questions on subjects they topped in. Police will question the trio and officials involved in the examination process.
The Bihar government on Monday dissolved a committee constituted by BSEB to probe into alleged irregularities in evaluation of marks in this year's class 12 examination. The decision to dissolve the committee was taken after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar held a meeting with state Education Minister Ashok Choudhary, Principal Secretary (Education) DS Gangwar and BSEB chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh.
"The government has dissolved the committee," Choudhary said after the meeting. He added that it was decided to go for direct action into irregularities without any further delay by registering an FIR against education mafias.
"It was discussed that the committee constituted by the Board would have taken time and arrived on a conclusion that irregularities have been committed, which prima facie has already been established. There is no point delaying action and hence, the state government decided to go for direct action by registering an FIR and initiating action against the culprits," the minister said.
The Chief Minister ordered that the entire matter be probed by the police and stern action be initiated against those found guilty, the statement said.
The Chief Minister instructed to make arrangements for continuous assessment of students in higher school levels, it added.
Kumar had on Suday asserted that no one would be spared and action would be taken after fixing responsibility.
The BSEB had on Sunday constituted a four-member committee headed by Patna High Court Judge Justice (retd) Ghanshyam Prasad to probe the irregularities in the evaluation of marks for 10+2 Intermediate exam.
The BSEB had on June 4 decided to cancel the results of topper Saurabh Shrestha and third topper in Science stream Rahul Kumar after they were found not up to mark during a re-test conducted by a team of experts on 13 toppers in Arts and Science streams of Intermediate level in the current year.
Arts topper Ruby Rai, in an interview to media, had called Political Science as "Prodigal Science", which according to her was about cooking, and has been directed to face experts on June 11.
(With additional information from PTI)
Bengaluru: A Karnataka Police officer resigned and then challenged Karnataka Labour Minister PT Parameshwar Naik to quit for allegedly getting her transferred for not answering his phone calls.
"I have resigned already, Parameshwara Naik, when will you?" Kudligi Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Anupama Shenoy, who quit the force on Monday, posted on his Facebook page.
Earlier she had taken to Facebook to come down heavily on the alleged liquor mafia prevailing in Kudligi where she was posted before she quit in protest.
It is suspected that Anupama resigned as she was upset over a protest by a liquor shop owners against the detention of three persons who wanted to construct an extension to the building housing their liquor shop.
She had already been transferred twice because she allegedly did not answer a phone call of the Labour Minister, who is also district in charge minister of Kudligi.
In her resignation letter, she mentioned that she was quitting due to personal reasons.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Naik stated that they were not aware of her resignation.
After her sudden resignation on Tuesday, former Karnataka DSP Anupama Shenoy vented her anger through a Facebook post and threatened to expose Karnataka Labour Minister PT Parmeshwara Naik with a CD or an audio clip.
Her post read, "CD beke, audio beke which means want a CD or audio clip". The post, however, has since then been deleted.
In an earlier post, Anupama had directly targeted the minister over her resignation. Parameshwara Naik allegedly transferred Anupama twice because she did not answer his calls. She resigned after a protest over her action against a liquor shop.
It is suspected that Anupama resigned as she was upset over a protest by a liquor shop owners against the detention of three persons who wanted to construct an extension to the building housing their liquor shop.
She had already been transferred twice because she allegedly did not answer a phone call of the Labour Minister, who is also district in charge minister of Kudligi.
In her resignation letter, she mentioned that she was quitting due to personal reasons.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Naik stated that they were not aware of her resignation.
It has crossed 50 degree Celsius on the India-Pakistan in Gujarat and Rajasthan this summer and the Border Security Force soldiers on duty in the area are struggling for something as basic as sun glasses and clean drinking water.
A huge force of 11,000 soldiers and 7000 office staff is posted along the 1545-kilometre long India-Pakistan border in Gujarat and Rajasthan. The soldiers expressed the need for at least 10 RO plants and sunglasses to fight the heat.
Skipping the bureaucratic red tape, the Minister of State for Home Affairs Haribhai Chaudhary has decided to tap into the powerful diamond merchant lobby to address BSF's needs.
Chaudhary spoke to diamond merchants in Surat and Mumbai to help out the border guarding force.
In an unique model the diamond merchants will participate in an auction on the June 19. The highest bidder will get an opportunity to travel with Home Minister Rajnath Singh to the border areas and distribute sunglasses and the other items the force needs.
"I aim to raise Rs 25 crore through this auction and 100 traders can be taken to the border," said Chaudhary, himself a former diamond merchant.
BSF Director KK Sharma welcomed the initiative. "It is a welcome initiative and we are thankful to the minister," he said.
In ordinary circumstances such procurements need the local BSF unit's permission. If the amount involved is huge then it will also require the permission of the IG and DG level officers, and finally the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs.
Apart from the RO plants and sunglasses, the BSF has a long list of demands which includes ambulance to ferry those suffering heatstroke, ECG machines at the force's hospitals, 32 living quarters for families of soldiers and shades in the firing range so that the personnel can get some rest from the heat.
Hyderabad: Clad in a burqa, Syeda Salva Fatima has been an inspiration for many young girls and is an example of women empowerment. Residing in the old city area in Hyderabad, Fatima is among those handful of Muslim woman in India who hold a commercial pilot's licence.
To help Fatima achieve her dreams, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao personally sanctioned Rs 35.50 lakh for her advanced training.
But it's been more than 14 months and Fatima is still running around government offices for the funds.
"I was surprised when I was called to the Chief Minister's office and he was personally there. They sanctioned Rs 35 lakh. But for months I kept waiting for training at Telangana Aviation Academy," Fatima says.
The course for which the government had released fund was not available in Telangana State Aviation, so Asia Pacific Flight training academy was the only option. With a delay in the release of funds, Fatima has not only missed many opportunities but she is also losing crucial time.
Helpless but determined to fly high, Fatima has appealed to the Chief Minister to release the fund soon.
"My licence will expire in 2018. I need to complete the training and get a job before that. If it gets delayed how will a achieve it? I appeal to the Chief Minister to personally look into my case and help me," Fatima adds.
Coming from poverty-stricken background, becoming a pilot was never easy for Fatima.
Her father Syed Ashfaq Ahmed had never imagined his daughter will be flying an aircraft. He works as daily wage worker and earns Rs 350 per day. But now he is forced to leave his work, and accompany her daughter so that she can achieve her dreams.
"Personally the Chief Minister issued orders. With no money my daughter's career is at stake. We have come to various offices numerous times but all in vain. We cannot meet the Chief Minister directly to tell about our grievances," Ahmed says.
Since her school days, Fatima aimed to become a pilot. She underwent five years of rigorous training at Andhra Pradesh Aviation Academy and got her Commercial Pilot's License in 2013. She even has 200 hours of flying.
Fatima has defied all odds to become a pilot, but due to the bureaucratic red tape, her struggle continues.
Prime Minister Narendra Modis 5-nation tour that began on Monday could be Indias biggest push for membership into the 48 member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) .
According to sources, the 5-nation tour was planned keeping the NSG membership in mind.
In fact the decision to visit Switzerland and Mexico were also with the idea of getting support from these member countries.
Ahead of the important meeting of member countries on June 9th in Vienna, India is trying its best to build a consensus in its favor.
It is also collecting endorsements from countries like Turkey, South Africa, New Zealand and Argentina who seem reluctant to give a final go ahead.
Top MEA officials have also rushed to these countries to pitch Indias case with at least three secretaries asked to assuage any concerns raised by them.
Sujata Mehta - Secretary West and Preeti Saran - Secretary East are among the three officials who have been sent to convince the reluctant nations to offer support.
As per sources, Indias main strategy is to isolate China who is playing a pivotal role in denying Indias entry into the nuclear club.
According to Indian diplomats, India has finally managed to enter the missile technology control regime (MTCR) on Monday giving a boost to the country's efforts to purchase Predator drones from the US and export its high-tech missiles to friendly nations. .
Earlier, Italy was opposed to Indias entry in the 34-nation MTCR after the arrest of two Italian marines who were accused of killing Indian fishermen.
But with the release of Italian marines, Indias application for MTCR has been given a go ahead which in turn has further strengthened India's case for NSG.
Bengaluru: Shoddy work by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) in filling trenches dug for a pipeline project on Kammanahalli Main Road of the Karnataka capital claimed the life of a woman on Monday.
The victim, Jolly (45), was going with her husband Abraham to her workplace on a motorcycle when the front wheel got stuck in a trench which was not filled properly.
Jolly, a preschool teacher, was not wearing a helmet. She fell down and sustained injuries to her head leading to her death.
The police booked Jollys husband Abraham, an ex-serviceman, for causing his wifes death due to rash and negligent driving. The police said that Abraham will be arrested soon.
The BWSSB engineer and contractor who executed the project have been mentioned as accused number 2 and 3, respectively.
The poster and motion teaser of Ashutosh Gowariker's 'Mohanjo Daro' looks interesting!A film based on one of the earliest civilisations of the world, the motion posters establishes a background for the trailer. 'Before India As We Know It', means a lot of creative liberties has been taken to design a world thousands of year ago. The film is an epic romantic drama starring Hrithik Roshana and Pooja Hegde.Hrithik Roshan and Ashutosh Gowariker have been invested in the project for two years now. After staying away from screen all this time after 'Bang Bang', we can't wait to see out very own Greek god to set the screens ablaze.Gowarikar's dream project is set to release on August 12, this year.
In a major blow to the Congress in Tripura, six party MLAs have handed over a letter to Assembly Speaker Ramendra K Nath announcing their decision to disassociate from the party. The MLAs have decided to join the Trinamool Congress.
Among those quitting the party are former Tripura chief minister Samir Ranjan Barman and his son Sudip. All the six MLAs will join the Trinamool Congress after the end of Ramzan in July.
"I along with five other Congress MLAs and my father, former chief minister Samir Ranjan Barman, will join Trinamool Congress after the end of Ramzan next month," Sudip Roy Barman said.
"We want to fight the Assembly election in Tripura under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee. In Tripura, Congress has lost all credibility after it entered into an alliance with CPI-M in West Bengal. How can you fight against CPI-M when you have an alliance with them in another state?" he said.
The development comes after TMC general secretary Mukul Roy held a closed-door meeting in Agartala with the six rebel Congress MLAs of Tripura to explore the possibility of inducting them into the party.
The MLAs whom Roy met had fallen foul of the Congress high command after they criticised the party leadership for entering into a tie-up with the Left in West Bengal saying it reflected badly on the party's position as the principal opposition party in Tripura.
The Congress high command had suspended MLA Sudip Roy Barman who led the five disgruntled legislators.
On Monday, the Congress suffered yet another blow with its senior leader Jiten Sarkar resigning as MLA without assigning any reason.
"The decision is personal. I will not say anything more," Sarkar, also a former Speaker, said. Sarkar had earlier said that he was asked by "some influential" TMC leaders of the state to join their party but he had declined.
Even though the Punjab Assembly elections are several months away, the Congress is going all out to woo the voters.
With Prashant Kishor's Indian Political Action Committee strategising the election campaign, Congress' chief ministerial face Captain Amarinder Singh will be meeting over 2000 retired defence personnel in Pathankot on Wednesday.
Ex-servicemen are a very influential community in Punjab, which is one of the biggest contributors in terms of manpower to the defence forces.
The venue of the meeting with ex-servicemen, called Coffee With Captain, has been chosen very carefully as the Indian Air Force Base in Pathankot witnessed a major attack by Pakistani terrorists in January 2016.
Captain Amarinder Singh, who fought for the country in the 1965 war against Pakistan, will highlight terror and security related issues. He will emphasise that the government chosen should be sensitive to the border issues.
One-Rank-One-Pension (OROP), better healthcare, defence canteen related issues will also be raised.
Ex-servicemen from Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Tarn Taran districts are expected to attend the meeting.
Several ex-servicemen associations will also be present.
Congress has been out of power in the state since 2007 when the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party combine won the mandate for the first time. The alliance defeated the Congress in the 2012 elections too.
Panaji: The Central government should ban Nigerians from entering India, former Goa chief minister Ravi Naik has demanded, adding that the state does not need Nigerian tourists.
Referring to Nigerians with the pejorative "negroes", the senior Congress leader also said Nigerians have been causing "problems" in Goa as well other metros.
"The government of India should ban them. They should be probed. It should be checked whether they are here to study or for picnic or to sell drugs," said Naik, a former home minister in the erstwhile Congress-led coalition government.
"Nigerians come here and do 'dadagriri', in Delhi, Bengaluru and the entire country. We should chase the Nigerians out of here. Have they come here to study? Are they really studying? Are they really going to college, schools? Are they really going to bogus schools or bogus typing schools, this has to be probed. It is very important," Naik said, adding that even Aam Aami Party leaders had a fight with Nigerians in the past.
"They create problems everywhere. We do not want Nigerian tourists," Naik said, demanding a probe into the activities of Nigerians in Goa, who he alleged masquerade as students.
Naik's comments come a few days after Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on May 30 said that Goans were unhappy with the attitude and the lifestyle of Nigerians living in the coastal state.
On the same day, Goa's Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar also said that Nigerians create problems in Goa and sell drugs.
In 2014, during the monsoon session of the Goa assembly, the state home ministry referred to Africans as 'negroes', an error for which then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had to tender an apology after an outcry.
Dhaka: Suspected terrorists in Bangladesh hacked an elderly Hindu priest to death on Tuesday, in what police suspected was the latest in a spate of attacks by Islamists on members of minority groups in the majority-Muslim country.
Three attackers riding on a motorcycle killed Ananta Gopal Ganguly, 70, when he was on his way to the temple he served in Jhenaidah district, about 100 miles (161 km) west of Dhaka, the capital, police said.
The attack bore the hallmarks of previous killings by Islamist terrorists, police official Hasan Hafizur Rahman said by telephone from the scene of the attack.
"They slit his throat so he died instantly, Rahman said.
The attack came just a day after the government banned more than one person riding pillion on a motorcycle after the wife of a prominent anti-terror security official was shot dead by three suspected terrorists on a motorbike on Sunday.
Also on Sunday, machete-wielding assailants killed a Christian grocer in a separate incident.
But since February 2015, terrorists in Bangladesh have killed more than 30 people, including members of religious minorities, liberal bloggers and academics.
Hindus make up about 9% of Bangladesh's 160 million people.
In homage to heroism and indomitable courage. PM @narendramodi at the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial pic.twitter.com/HXJwgPFs8f Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016
After history & culture, it's current & strategic affairs. Think tanks meet PM, share perspective on various issues. pic.twitter.com/WHSckWXOuf PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 6, 2016
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday touched down at Washington DC on a three-day visit to the United States. During his visit, he will hold talks with President Barack Obama to review bilateral ties and address a joint session of the US Congress.Modi has a packed schedule in US, including the address to a joint session of the US Congress. Modi is visiting the US at the invitation of President Obama.He began his US visit by paying tributes at the Arlington National Cemetery. In a sombre ceremony, the PM was given a 19 gun salute. He laid the wreath there and paid his tributes. The cemetery holds importance in American history as veterans from many wars have been buried there.Modi also visited the memorial of the Columbia Shuttle which is dedicated to the astronauts and crew of the Columbia Shuttle, including Indian American Kalpana Chawla who died in the disaster.Apart from his meeting with Obama, Modi will meet legislators and captains of American private industry.He also attended a meeting of heads of US think tanks and a function at which some rare Indian artifacts were repatriated.Modi arrived at the Joint Base Andrews from Switzerland where he secured the European nation's support for India's NSG membership ahead of a key meeting of the 48-nation bloc.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", a senior US official had said ahead of the meeting.This is Prime Minister Modi's fourth visit to the US. "In my meeting with the President on June 7, we will seek to build upon the progress achieved in providing new vigour and momentum to our strategic partnership in diverse areas," Modi had said before departing for his five-nation tour to Afghanistan, Qatar, Switzerland, the US and Mexico.From the US, Modi will visit Mexico before heading back to India.
More than 300 guests are expected. Keynote speakers include Peter Betz, medical director for Centra Geriatric Psychiatry, speaking about Even Seniors Get the Blues from 9 to 10 a.m.; and Linda Larsen, speaking about Staying Right Side Up When Everythings Upside Down at 3:40 to 4:45 p.m. Keynote addresses will occur in Sydnor Performance Hall. The conference features breakout sessions on a variety of topics related to aging, such as spirituality and health care. Registration begins at 8 a.m. Fees apply.
A Richmond-area man who was the son of a prominent Stafford County businessman was found dead Sunday after his boat struck a pier at Monroe Creek in Colonial Beach.
Brian McCarty, 44, was ejected from an 18-foot Neptune center console during the collision early Sunday morning, according to Laurie Naismith, a spokeswoman with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. Officers from Charles City, Md., recovered his body from the water shortly before 5 p.m. that day, she said.
McCarty was the son of Frank McCarty, who in 1970 founded White Oak Equipment in southern Stafford.
The Virginia Marine Police is still investigating the incident. McCarty appears to have been traveling north at a higher rate of speed when he hit the pier, which is owned by the Monroe Point condo neighborhood, Naismith said.
The body was transported to the Medical Examiners Office in Richmond.
Naismith said the agency does not know whether anybody else was in the boat, but police continued to search the area Monday.
McCarty was the manager of White Oak Equipments branch in Glen Allen, according to the companys website.
Frank Payne, who was friends with McCarty, described him as a great man who will be missed by a lot of people. Payne, who lives in Henrico County, said McCarty invited him to Colonial Beach when the two last talked on Saturday, but he was too busy to come.
He said he finds it hard to believe McCarty was speeding, calling his friend a good boater and a very responsible person.
Hes got too much to live for, Payne said of McCarty, who was married with three children. The marine spokeswoman didnt provide an exact time of the accident, but Payne said he thought it was dark outside. Its unclear if the pier was lit.
Right now, Ive lost a friend, Payne said. Im trying to understand why. Its heartbreaking for all of us.
Payne and McCarty are both Stafford High School graduates, though they didnt become friends until about six years ago. They played a lot of tennis together and last year qualified for a national tournament in Arizona as teammates.
Payne, who sells traffic control equipment, also did business with McCarty.
He said McCarty was always there for White Oak Equipments annual oyster roast fundraiser for charities. Proceeds from this years event went toward the family of a 10-year-old boy with a rare form of brain cancer.
Ive never heard anybody say one bad thing about that guy in my life, Payne said. Ive been around a lot of people. [McCarty] was just a nice easy going guy that cared about people, his family, his friends.
BEDFORD Frank Draper Jr. William Gray Perdue. Ray Stevens.
For the first time, the names of all 2,499 American soldiers who died on D-Day were read aloud at the National D-Day Memorials observance Monday of the invasions 72nd anniversary.
Those names included the 19 Bedford Boys, whose sacrifice on June 6, 1944 ultimately brought the memorial to a hill overlooking the town.
The naming of each American D-Day fatality was a solemn centerpiece to day of remembrance at the Bedford site, which drew hundreds of visitors, including World War II veterans and D-Day survivors.
The National D-Day Memorial is the only organization in the world to have compiled a list of D-Day fatalities and ours is by far the most complete accounting of these losses, said Gen. Richard Rick Devereaux, chairman of the National D-Day Memorial Foundation.
Devereaux said the recitation of the names honored all of the brothers in arms and heroes who gave the ultimate sacrifice for freedom on June 6, 1944, during the Normandy invasion.
This is their final roll call, he said.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe, participating from offsite via a video feed, began the readings, which lasted three hours. He was followed by staff, volunteers, veterans, family members of the fallen and dignitaries.
Bedford County Administrator Carl Boggess read his uncles names, Bedford Turner Hoback and Raymond Samuel Hoback.
The day began with a ceremony commemorating the Normandy landing and honoring those who had given their lives.
Its particularly remarkable to reflect on how one generation, over a half century ago, did the undoable, Devereaux said. This memorial stands as a visual reminder of the need for each one of us to say thank you.
He said it was gratifying to see so many generations at the ceremony as well as a large number of D-Day and World War II veterans in the audience at the site, which was dedicated in 2001.
Its a special day for us at the monument as we celebrate our 15th anniversary, he said. For 15 years now the memorial has given emotional comfort, solace and closure to those who needed it and has educated so many about the importance about remembering that our liberty and our way of life comes with a cost.
Norwood Thomas, who joined the U.S. Army in March 1942 at the age of 19, retold his memories from June 6, 1944.
The Virginia Beach resident parachuted into Normandy with the 101st Airborne, which was a division of the 82nd infantry division.
When the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor,I knew that we had the greatest Army, Air Force and Navy in the world, he said. I knew they would last two weeks and thats about it. After about three months I kept reading about us having to back up so I joined the army.
In August 1942, the 82nd division was split to make two airborne divisions the 82nd and the 101st. The two trained closely together and then departed for England.
It only took us 45 days to get there because the old ship we went on broke down twice, Thomas said.
As the day for the invasion approached, he explained he knew D-Day was coming soon, but it was put off by a storm.
So I was without sleep on the night of [June 4], he said. On the fifth we went out and loaded the planes. The flight into Normandy was smooth but when we hit the coast of Normandy, we hit clouds. The aircraft dispersed. On the landing zone we were supposed to land on, we were supposed to have 2,000 men. We wound up with 95 that morning. I think we accomplished our mission with the fewest number of men that could have possibly done it.
Thomas said he parachuted into Normandy four miles inland of Utah Beach on June 6.
Mondays ceremony included a flyover of an original P-51 Mustang, painted with the Operation Overlord recognition stripes, and a dedication of a new plaque at the memorial commemorating the role of combat medics.
Dozens of medics went into battle on June 6, usually without a weapon, Bryon Allison, with the U.S. Army, said. The large red crosses on their helmets were supposed to protect them and the Germans usually respected that. But even so, it was a dangerous assignment.
Medical teams on D-Day found many challenges, but nevertheless the medics of Operation Overlord improvised ways to treat as many found as they could with great personal risk, he said.
Greg Reed, commander of the enduring Freedom Honor Team in Fredericksburg, read Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhowers D-Day Order.
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months, the order reads. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
Maj. Gen. Timothy Williams, adjutant general of Virginia with the Virginia National Guard, said the veterans of World War II were not about to back down from the Nazis, and nobody else for that matter.
As a young boy I grew up listening to their stories and then learning in school what they went through, he said. The more I learned the more I realized how special they were. In retrospect I wish terribly that I could go back in time to talk with them, thank them, shake their hand and look them in the eye one more time to let them know what a privilege it was to know them and the inspiration they provided me.
He reminded the audience to take time to thank those who have served and to think of it as a great opportunity to take time out of a busy schedule to be thankful for the men and women who fight to preserve and protect the freedoms they hold so deeply.
I believe that each generation of America rises to the challenges that they face, he said. The young soldiers and airmen will never know the terrible carnage of Omaha Beach or the shattered forest of Meuse-Argonne but they meet their own challenge in the hills of Afghanistan or in the dust of Iraq and Syria.
As staff collected donations, Charles Buster Shaeff Jr., a D-Day veteran, asked everyone to be inspired to give.
It is an honor to be here today. I speak for all my fellow veterans when I say it is my deepest desire to not only keep this memorial open but to see it grow so that younger generations can see what was achieved 72 years ago today, he said.
April Cheek-Messier, president of the National D-Day Memorial Foundation said it was her privilege to address a distinguished body of men who belonged to the Allied Expeditionary Force and invaded occupied France 72 years ago.
You are seated throughout the plaza of this magnificent national memorial to the valor, fidelity and sacrifice that you displayed with such abundance while doing what you believed to be nothing less than your duty, she said.
She added that although many of their brothers in arms were not there with them, she hopes they know their story lives on.
Your story is one of uncommon accomplishment, collectively pinned by common men. The sixth of June 1944 was a day during which uncommon acts of valor, fidelity and sacrifice occurred in such abundance so as to become common common in the best sense of the word.
The Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance is getting a new home.
Instead of moving into the former Billy Joes Ice Cream Parlor building on Border Street near the Lynchburg Expressway as planned, the organization is moving into the James River Conference Center.
Located at 400 Court Street, the 24,000-square-foot downtown facility will provide offices for the organization, meeting space for members and investors, as well as tenant space for regionally focused businesses.
Megan Lucas, CEO of the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance, said the move shows the alliance has big plans for the region.
The one organization responsible for the businesses in this region needs to be positioned literally and figuratively in the center of commerce to enhance growth and opportunity in the region, Lucas said.
Following the June 30 closing on the sale of the building, the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance will select a contractor and solidify renovation plans. The organization will move into the space as soon as possible, but no timeline has been set.
Before the merger of the Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Business and Regional Economic Development Alliance, the plan was to relocate into the Border Street building. But that space is only 10,000 square feet and needs substantial renovations after a long period of vacancy.
At the organizations February board meeting, Altavista-based First National Bank presented the idea of moving into the James River Conference Center. According to CEO Todd Hall, First National Bank is excited to support the Regional Business Alliance.
We want to support them in promoting the business climate, not just supporting existing businesses but expanding existing companies, Hall said.
In the final deal, First National Bank will take possession of the Alliances current office on Memorial Avenue and the Border Street property as credit towards the purchase of the James River Conference Center. It is important to note that the Alliance has no debt, Lucas said. Both of these buildings will be conveyed to [First National] with agreed-upon valuations credited against the purchase price of the new facility.
As of now, First National plans to sell the Border Street facility for development and hold on to the Memorial Avenue office space.
Theres a lot of improvements that have been obviously happening with the crosstown connector in that area, Hall said. With whats happening with that corridor and knowing that its a corner site, we thought it would be a good property for us to own.
In addition to the deal with First National, the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance plans to apply for enterprise zone funds from the City of Lynchburg, which are designated to incentivize businesses to develop downtown.
GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heres why you can trust us.
Who is Cassie Lang - the comic history of the new Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania teen hero
Cassie Lang is the daughter of Ant-Man - but she's got a superhero legacy all her own as both Stature and Stinger
Recall of Sleep
Apnea Device
Is Not Going Well
The world's biggest taxi hailing app, Uber has raised jaw dropping amounts from a slew of investors over the years but the latest round of investment has certainly raised a few eyebrows not only due to the huge sum of money involved but also due to the fact that investments have dried up on a global scale over the past few months. Last Wednesday the company released a statement confirming the fact that they had received a jaw dropping $3.5 billion investment from the Saudi Arabain Sovereign Wealth Fund, the investment arm of the state that has huge assets all over the world and the latest round of investment values the revolutionary company at $62.5 billion. At this point of time, Uber is the most valuable company in the world which has been funded entirely by venture capitalists.
The CEO of Uber, Travis Kalanick stated that the funding was a "vote of confidence in our business.". In this regard, it must also be stated that the company has also created a considerably war chest that would allow it to battle against rivals in different parts of the world as they try to become the dominant taxi hailing app in all the markets in which they operate. A report on Reuters further added, "Uber has committed to investing $250 million in the Middle East and North Africa, where it has grown aggressively and is now operating in nine countries and 15 cities in the region. But, as in other regions including China and India, Uber is competing in the Middle East against local ride-hailing startups such as Careem, which operates in 20 cities across the region.
In the first quarter of the year, Uber had more than 395,000 active riders across the Middle East, a five-fold jump from the first quarter of 2015, and 19,000 active drivers, representing a four-fold increase over the same period."
The investment also means that Yasir Al Rumayyan, who is the managing director of the Saudi Arabia SovereignWealth Fund would have a seat on the board of Uber and needless to say, would have a say on the key decisions that the company makes at the board level from now in.
Redmond-based Microsoft is set to release its hybrid device, the Surface Pro 5, in October. Recent rumors suggest that the software giant may include a 4K display upon its launching.
As per Australian News Network, the two-in-one portable PC will sport a 4K display with 3840 X 2160 pixels resolution. Its predecessor featured a 12.3-inch screen with a 2736 1824 pixels resolution.
Currently, expectations are building up as the hybrid laptop faces competition against Transformer 3 Pro which looks like a genetic clone churned out from Taiwan-based Asus' sweat shop. It will also compete with the media-hyped anticipation of forthcoming laptop flagship from Apple, the Retina MacBook Pro. However, if a rumored 32GB of RAM (via the BitBag) proves accurate, there's no doubt that tech buffs would jump in to buy Surface Pro 5.
Under the hood, the Microsoft Surface Pro 5 will reportedly run on the latest and more powerful generation of Intel processor. Coming out with the product is a Surface Pen equipped with a rechargeable battery.
"With rechargeable batteries, you're assuming you are going to have time to charge it before you use it. For us, we believe creativity will strike at any moment and you'll want to know your pen is going to work without having to plug it in to charge it first," Microsoft's brand manager Markus Weickenmeier said as quoted in a report by Delhi Daily News.
The upcoming Microsoft two-in-one flagship will have feature a microSD card slot for external storage offering, an audio jack, and a Mini Displayport for video. The hybrid device will sport an enhanced Type Cover that is expected to enrich user experience plus a longer battery lifespan that can power up the gadget for up to more than 10 hours.
Meanwhile, three models are purportedly slated for release. The Core i5 base model is rumored to arrive with a $899 price tag. The Intel i7 processor model, on the other hand, will cost $999. The priciest of them all will be the Intel Core i7 which will come out with a hefty $1,599 tag.
As for the release date, Yibada indicates that the 2016 release sometime in June is unlikely with Microsoft getting their hands full on other projects like the Surface Book 2 and two upcoming variants of the Windows 10 Mobile-powered Surface Phone tipped for late March 2017 unveiling. The report further suggests that all new devices including Surface Pro 5 are likely to be rolled next year.
Thank you for reading!
Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.
The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574.
New Delhi:
Rejecting Modi governments charge of judicial overreach, Chief Justice of India T S Thakur has said that judiciary intervenes only when the executive fails in its constitutional duties.
The CJI also said, the government should do its job instead of hurling accusations and that the people turn to the courts only after they are let down by the executive.
The courts only fulfil their constitutional duty and the need would not arise if governments do their job, the CJI was quoted as saying in an interview to ETV News Network.
Amidst the tug of war between the executive and the judiciary, the CJI has said that if there is neglect and failure on part of government agencies, judiciary will definitely play its role, the network said in a release.
We only fulfil our duties as laid down by the Constitution. If the governments do their job better, any need of interference would not arise, Thakur said when asked about a recent statement by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley regarding alleged judicial interference in executive functions.
Dealing with the huge vacancies in judiciary, Justice Thakur said, I have requested the Prime Minister on several occasions and am sending a report on the same issue to the Centre too.
For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:
According to the US delegate counts released on Monday Hillary Clinton has clinche the Democratic nomination for US president after reaching the required number of delegates. The count puts Clinton on 2,383 and this makes her become the first female nominee for a major US political party.
Clinton reached the big threshold with a big win in Puerto Rico and a burst of last-minute support from superdelegates, to which rival Bernie Sanders said Mrs Clinton had not won as she was dependent on superdelegates who could not vote until July's party convention.
Now who are superdelegates? They are party insiders who can pledge their support for a candidate ahead of the convention but do not formally vote for them until the convention itself.
Hillarys unprecedented rise to presumptive nominee arrived nearly eight years to the day after she conceded her first White House campaign to Barack Obama.
Shortly after the news broke, Clinton at an appearance in Long Beach, California said, We are on the brink of a historic and unprecedented moment but we still have work to do.We have six elections tomorrow and we're going to fight hard for every single vote, especially right here in California.
Clinton has 1,812 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses. She also has the support of 571 superdelegates, according to an Associated Press count.
For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Washington:
According to a NASA study, Arctic regions of North America are getting greener, with almost a third of the land cover looking more like landscapes found in warmer ecosystems, owing to the climate change. With 87,000 images taken from Landsat satellites, converted into data that reflects the amount of healthy vegetation on the ground, the researchers found that western Alaska, Quebec and other regions became greener between 1984 and 2012.
The new Landsat study further supports previous work that has shown changing vegetation in Arctic and boreal North America. Landsat is a programme that provides the longest continuous space-based record of Earths land vegetation in existence.
It shows the climate impact on vegetation in the high latitudes, said Jeffrey Masek, scientist at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Centre in the US.
Temperatures are warming faster in the Arctic than elsewhere, which has led to longer seasons for plants to grow in and changes to the soils.
Scientists have observed grassy tundras changing to shrublands, and shrubs growing bigger and denser - changes that could have impacts on regional water, energy and carbon cycles.
With Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 data, researchers found that there was extensive greening in the tundra of western Alaska, the northern coast of Canada, and the tundra of Quebec and Labrador.
While northern forests greened in Canada, they tended to decline in Alaska. Overall, the scientists found that 29.4 per cent of the region greened up, especially in shrublands and sparsely vegetated areas, while 2.9 per cent showed vegetation decline.
Landsat, like other satellite missions, can use the amount of visible and near-infrared light reflected by the green, leafy vegetation of grasses, shrubs and trees to characterise the vegetation.
Then, with computer programmes that track each individual pixel of data over time, researchers can see if an area is greening - if more vegetation is growing, or if individual plants are getting larger and leafier. If the vegetation becomes sparser, the scientists would classify that area as browning.
With finer-resolution and better calibrated data from Landsat, the researchers were able to mask out areas that burned, or are covered in water, to focus on vegetation changes.
The resolution with Landsat is drastically improved, it lets you look at the local effects of things like topography, such as in areas where you might have small woodlands or open areas, Masek said. The study was published in the journal Remote Sensing of Environment.
For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Washington:
The US today returned to India over 200 stolen cultural artifacts, some dating back 2,000 years, estimated at USD 100 million, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi describing the cultural heritage as a great binding force in bilateral relationships.
Usually relationship between the countries of the world are very often covered by the present. It is present that plays a big role, but sometimes heritage becomes important in the relations of two countries. Sometimes what cannot be done by living persons is done by idols, the Prime Minister said at a ceremony held at the Blair House for the return of stolen artifacts to India.
Speaking in Hindi, the Prime Minister said that in the last two years various countries have endeavoured to return Indias stolen cultural heritage. Both governments and law enforcement agencies of these countries now have become more alert on trafficking of cultural artifacts and are not only working to prevent it but also to send it back to the place of its origin, the Prime Minister said.
I am grateful to the United States and President (Barack) Obama for returning these treasures to India which join us to our past, he said. For some, these artifacts may be measured in monetary terms and could be in millions for them, but for the people of India, it is a part of our culture and heritage that joins us to our past, that joins us to our values, the Prime Minister said in his brief remarks.
Modi said many tourists dont want to see only modern sites, but also they want to see the rich history a place offers. People are attracted to India for its ancient civilisation, he said.
Referring to the Indus Valley civilisation, he said tourists are now flocking to India to see towns dating back 5,000 years. There treasures are to be enjoyed by the entire world. Technology can help us catch those indulging in illicit trafficking, the Prime Minister said.
Indian Ambassador to the US Arun K Singh said on Monday 12 artifacts have been returned and process has begun for the transfer of rest of the treasured artifacts. Items returned included religious statues, bronzes and terra-cotta pieces, some dating back 2,000 years, looted from some of Indias most treasured religious sites.
Among the pieces returned is a statue of Saint Manikkavichavakar, a Hindu mystic and poet from the Chola period (circa 850 AD to 1250 AD) stolen from the Sivan Temple in Chennai, which is valued at USD 1.5 million. Also included in the collection is a bronze sculpture of the Hindu god Ganesh estimated to be 1,000-year-old.
For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
London:
Serving wine in larger glasses may encourage people to drink more, even when the amount of the drink remains the same, a new study suggests.
Researchers from University of Cambridge and University of Bristol in the UK found that increasing the size of wine glasses led to an almost 10 per cent increase in sales.
Alcohol consumption is one of the leading risk factors for disease and has been linked to conditions such as type 2 diabetes, cancer and liver disease.
Researchers carried out the study in The Pint Shop in Cambridge from mid-March to early July last year. The establishment has separate bar and restaurant areas, both selling food and drink.
Wine (in 125 millilitres or 175 millilitres servings) could be purchased by the glass, which was usually a standard 300 millilitres size.
Over the course of a 16-week period, the owners of the establishment changed the size of the wine glasses at fortnightly intervals, alternating between the standard (300 millilitres) size, and larger (370 millilitres) and smaller (250 millilitres) glasses.
Researchers found that the volume of wine purchased daily was 9.4 per cent higher when sold in larger glasses compared to standard-sized glasses.
This effect was mainly driven by sales in the bar area, which saw an increase in sales of 14.4 per cent, compared to an 8.2 per cent increase in sales in the restaurant, researchers said.
The findings were inconclusive as to whether sales were different with smaller compared to standard-sized glasses, they said.
We found that increasing the size of wine glasses, even without increasing the amount of wine, leads people to drink more, said Rachel Pechey from Cambridge.
It is not obvious why this should be the case, but one reason may be that larger glasses change our perceptions of the amount of wine, leading us to drink faster and order more, said Pechey.
But it is interesting that we did not see the opposite effect when we switched to smaller wine glasses, she said. The findings were published in the journal BMC Public Health.
Mumbai:
Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar has dismissed reports that Radhika Apte will be seen in his next film. There were reports that the Badlapur star had bagged a role in the National award winning directors next, Main, Indu.
When asked, Bhandarkar told PTI, No nothing like that (has happened). I have denied it previously. Dont know where these rumours are coming from. I havent signed anyone.
Reportedly, the film will be set in the emergency era and will apparently revolve around the life of a poetess who rebels against the system.
The Fashion director, however, did not divulge any details. Radhika was last seen in Phoboia and will feature opposite superstar Rajinikanth in Kabali.
For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi :
People across the globe celebrated World Environment Day (WED) on 5 June which was centered on the theme "Fight against Illegal Trade in Wildlife". The theme was aptly set as eco crimes, like illegal logging, ivory smuggling, are on the rise. The recent incidences, like discovery of corpses of 40 tiger cubs in Thailand's famed tiger temple, more tigers poached in the first five months of 2016 in India than in the entire 2015 and many more, all the more fuel insecurity across the globe.
The illegal trade in wildlife is a matter of grave concern as it is causing startling problems by undermining economies and promoting organized crime. Moreover, by overexploiting the animals and the plants in their natural habitats by means of overfishing, trapping and mutating the natural habitats the wild lives are rendered rarer and scarcer sending the commercial value uncontrollably soaring.
According to a report by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Interpol, "The amount of money lost due to environmental crimes is 10,000 times greater than the amount of money spent by international agencies on combating it -- just $20-30 million.
Experts believe that eco criminals are flourishing with money and the laws are not stringent enough to stop such crimes. "Go Wild for Life", says this year's theme -- and the crime syndicate has already turned towards "the wild".
Besides, the forest officials and wildlife conservators say that the demand as well as rates for animal parts and specimens has increased over last year. "One kilogram of rare pangolin scales would fetch a poacher around Rs 9,000-10,000 till last December; now it fetches them between Rs.18,000-20,000," told a forest officer of Madhya Pradesh to a news agency.
It is quite shocking to learn from the experts that wildlife crime poses threat to iconic species such as elephants, rhinos, tigers, gorillas, sea turtles, pangolin, sea-horse, ghariyal, sea urchin, North Ring and Red Crown turtles, Gangetic sharks, Fishing Cat etc. These species might go extinct in a few years, given the speed at which they are being targeted.
Wildlife experts and investigators, like Debbie Banks of Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), have their hopes focused on the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties - CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna), which is to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa in September, to force governments around the world to stop the "licensed victimisation" of wildlife species, like tigers and lion.
As per a joint report by the UNEP and Interpol, with an estimated 'black revenue' of $258 billion, the illegal environment trade or "Environmental Crimes" has outstripped the illegal trade in small arms.
"International criminal gangs and militant groups profit from the plunder of Earth's resources," a UNEP statement released on World Environment Day said.
The UNEP-Interpol report adds that environmental crime has notched an annual growth of 5-7 per cent. This is 1.9 to 3.9 times higher than Global Economic Growth, says the International Monetary Fund.
Crimes like trafficking hazardous waste, poaching and logging cost the world economy between some $91-258 billion in 2015, which was 26 per cent higher than previous estimates, while it stood at $70-213 billion in 2014.
Furthermore, according to government records, which experts claim widely under-report, about 3,622 cases of wildlife crime were reported in India in the last three years. A group of elephant poachers was arrested last year from Kerala with 18 elephant carcasses and 538 kg of ivory. Most of the poachers, however, go free.
"The biggest issue is sustaining prosecution and investigation efforts when it comes to wildlife crimes. Poachers arrested with tiger bones and hides get away with bail for a mere Rs 400 to 500. That is the problem we need to deal with to stop all this," Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder of wildlife conservation organisation Wildlife SOS, told a news agency.
The dimension of the illegal wild life trade is very deep and multi-faceted and hence all possible means to control this crime is welcome. Stringent rules and regulations have to be formulated and implemented well.
The need of the hour is to raise voice against illegal trade in wildlife and support the global fight against the illegal trade in wildlife for a better future. Zero Tolerance towards the illegal trading of wildlife is the need of the hour.
For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Dhaka:
A 70-year-old Hindu priest was today hacked to death in Bangladesh by three suspected Islamic State jihadists who nearly severed his head, the second priest from the community to be killed this year in the Muslim-majority nation which has seen a string of brutal attacks by Islamists on minorities and secular activists.
Ananda Gopal Ganguly was attacked at around 9:30 AM by three bike-borne men who slit his throat with sharp-edged weapons in the western Jhinaigah districts Noldanga village, Assistant Superintendent of Police Gopinath Kanjilal said, adding that suspected militants carried out the murder.
As it appears Ganguly was killed by the militants as it matches the pattern they followed previously, Jhinaidahs police chief Altaf Hossain told PTI.
He was an old ordinary man who was known little beyond the neighbourhood and we found no clue as well that he had enmity with anyone... the circumstances led us to point our figure to militants as we launched the investigation initially, he said.
Police said they have recovered the body and sent it for an autopsy. An investigation was launched into the incident.
The near-decapitated body of the priest was discovered by farmers at a farmland near his home.
Meanwhile, IS claimed responsibility for the killing of the Hindu priest. The terror group said it assassinated the priest while he was going for prayers, the SITE monitoring group quoted the terror groups Amaq news agency.
Ganguly, who was a priest at the Noldanga temple in Sadar upazila, was on his way to the temple riding a bicycle to offer prayers when the unidentified assailants struck. They first shot him and then hacked him to death to make sure that he was dead.
Launching a massive crackdown on extremists after a spate of attacks, Bangladesh police today gunned down three suspected Islamists.
The three were operatives of the outlawed Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) outfit which was targeted by Superintendent of Police Babul Aktar whose wife was brutally killed by the militants on Sunday.
There have been systematic assaults in Bangladesh in recent months specially targeting minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and foreigners.
On Sunday, a Christian businessman was hacked to death by unidentified machete-wielding men near a church, hours after the wife of a top anti-terror police officer was shot dead by religious extremists.
In February, militants stabbed to death a Hindu priest at a temple in Bangladesh and shot and wounded a devotee who went to his aid.
In the same month, a Hindu tailor was also killed by IS militants in his shop while Bangladeshs first gay magazine editor was brutally murdered along with a friend in his flat in Dhaka by Islamists.
Bangladeshi authorities have been coming under mounting international pressure to end the string of attacks on religious minorities and secular activists that have left more than 40 people dead in the last three years.
The IS and al-Qaeda in Indian Peninsula have claimed responsibility for some of the attacks although the government denies their presence in Bangladesh and has blamed homegrown Islamists for the killings.
For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Agartala:
Six dissident Congress MLAs in Tripura, led by former Leader of the Opposition Sudip Roy Burman, today submitted a letter to Assembly Speaker Ramendra Debnath saying they are quitting the party and joining the Trinamool Congress.
Of the six dissident MLAs, Burman, Biswabandhu Sen, Diba Chandra Hrankhawl and Asish Saha were present when the letter signed by the MLAs was handed over to the Speaker.
Two other MLAsDilip Sarkar and Pranajit Sinha Roy were physically not present on the ground that they were unwell but spoke to the Speaker over phone, official sources said.
Burman said all the six MLAs would formally join Trinamool Congress and that TMC General Secretary Mukul Roy has arrived in the state today from Kolkata.
Burman has already been elected the leader of the TMC legislature group in Tripura and is expected to stake claim to the post of the Leader of the Opposition.
Meanwhile, another dissident Congress MLA Jiten Sarkar, who has resigned from the Assembly, has expressed willingness to join ruling CPI(M), according to CPI(M) state secretary Bijan Dhar.
Dhar said that Sarkar is a former member of CPI(M) who had won Assembly elections five times on CPI(M) ticket and was Speaker of the Assembly for nine years. He would be taken back in CPI(M), he said.
In the 60-member House, the Left Front has 50 seats and of the 10 MLAs of Congress, six submitted the letter to the Speaker. State Congress president Birajit Sinha and two other MLAs remain with Congress.
Burman had earlier resigned from the post of the Leader of the Opposition in protest against the Congress-Left tie-up before the West Bengal Assembly elections.
For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Mumbai:
A 43-year-old homemaker in Mumbai, who appeared for Class X examination along with her 16-year-old daughter this year, is elated after both managed to pass it together. Sarita Zagade, mother of two girls, who appeared for her first ever Secondary School Certificate (Class X) examination in March, has scored 44 per cent marks, while her daughter Shrutika scored 69 per cent.
The results were declared yesterday. A resident of Wageshwari Nagar in Sewri, Sarita had to drop out of school after Class 4 due to financial constraints.
I was not able to complete my education. I was in Class 4 when my father died. We were four sisters and one brother. Sisters then got together to earn money to run the household, she said.
Sarita joined a night school in Class 8 after her husband Vishwanath, who works with the Tax Appellate Tribunal, motivated her to continue education.
Initially, I was very scared to go back to school after almost 35 years, but my husband motivated me. I thought of giving it a shot and told him I would continue only if I liked it. Within just a few days, I began loving it, Sarita said.
Saritas elder daughter Kshitija also appeared for the Higher Secondary Education (HSC) examination this year and scored 48 per cent marks.
All three of them studied together, juggling between studying and household chores according to their exam schedules. The three of them were assigned different examination centres.
As I was the eldest one in the exam hall, everyone seemed to be looking at me and I realised that they werent used to older people in the exam hall, Sarita added.
For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Etah:
Hitting back at Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for questioning what his party has done in the past two years, BJP chief Amit Shah today said it has given the country a Prime Minister who speaks.
Recently Rahul baba asked what BJP has done in two years...at least we gave a Prime Minister who speaks, otherwise in 10 years regime of UPA except Soniaji and Rahul baba, no other person heard the voice of the PM, he said.
Claiming that BJP will get two-thirds majority in 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, Shah also hit out at the ruling Samajwadi Party, questioning what it had done for the people of the state in the last four years.
We are presenting a report card of two years of NDA government, but Akhilesh babu (Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav) you should also tell people what your government did in four years, Shah told booth-level workers in Kasganj.
Asking people if they get power for 24 hours power in the state, he said, There is no shortage of power, the shortcoming is in intentions. In two years, we (NDA government) gave power to 9,000 villages.
Shah alleged that in the 10 years of UPA regime, which was supported by SP and BSP, scams worth Rs 12 lakh crore took place.
They left no place whether its sky, earth and underneath where corruption did not take place, Shah said.
There is not a single allegation of corruption against the present regime, the BJP chief said. People ask as to how we will get a majority government in Uttar Pradesh. It will become possible due to your (workers) efforts, he said.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought a number of schemes for the welfare of people, including free LPG connection for BPL families.
For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Istanbul:
A car bomb ripped through a police bus near Istanbuls historic centre today, killing seven officers and four civilians in the latest attack in Turkeys biggest city.
The blast targeted a shuttle service carrying anti-riot police as it passed through Beyazit district, close to many of the citys top tourist sites, Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin said on Turkish television. Thirty-six people were wounded, three of them seriously, he added.
There was no early claim of responsibility, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was behind the attack. For the PKK to target major cities such as Istanbul is nothing new, he said after visiting the injured at an Istanbul hospital. We will fight against terrorists relentlessly to the end. In a statement from his office later, Erdogan also vowed the culprits would pay in kind the price for the bloodshed.
Kurdish militants have repeatedly targeted Turkeys security forces, but Islamic State (IS) jihadists have also staged several attacks in Turkish cities in the past year. Reports said the explosion took place close to Vezneciler metro station, within walking distance of some of the citys main tourist sites including the famed Suleymaniye Mosque.
The metro station was closed as a security precaution. The blast reduced the police vehicle to mangled wreckage and windows in nearby shops were shattered. Reports said that shots were heard afterwards.
The attack occurred opposite an upscale hotel favoured by foreign tourists, the Celal Aga Konagi Hotel, a converted Ottoman mansion. The 16th-century Sehzade Mosqueconsidered one of the greatest masterpieces of Ottoman architect Mimar Sinanwas also damaged by the force of the explosion.
Television footage showed its windows blown out and debris littering the floor.Loudspeakers on mosques warned people to vacate the area, after which a controlled explosion was carried out on a suspect vehicle.
French President Francois Hollande condemned the attack as intolerable act of violence that should strengthen common resolve to fight terrorism. US Ambassador to Ankara John Bass said in a Twitter message: Such senseless violence could never be rationalised by any cause.
The United States will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Turkey in the fight against terrorism, Bass said. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also reaffirmed support.The bombing, which occurred on the second day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, is the latest in a string of attacks that have rattled citizens and damaged tourism.
Two blasts in Ankara claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) -- a radical splinter group of the better-known PKKearlier this year claimed dozens of lives.
For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Lucknow:
Bowing to opposition demand, Uttar Pradesh government today ordered judicial probe into last weeks Mathura violence in which 29 people, including two police officers, were killed. The probe will be conducted by a retired judge of Allahabad High Court and the inquiry committee has been asked to submit its report within two months.
A judicial probe has been ordered into Mathura violence. Retired Allahabad High Court judge Imtiyaz Murtaza will conduct inquiry, an official spokesman said here.
The spokesman said the inquiry panel will go into the circumstances that led to the incident. It has been asked to make suggestions that would help in ensuring that such incidents do not recur.
29 people, including two police officers, were killed during clashes between encroachers and police in Mathura last week. The violence had claimed the lives of Superintendent of Police (City) Mukul Dwivedi and SHO Santosh Kumar.
Political parties had been demanding a judicial inquiry into the violence. BJP Member of Parliament from Mathura Hema Malini had demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident.
For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Kolkata:
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today expressed confidence and optimism on rolling out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), even as she raised concern over Smart City project, another flagship project of the BJP-led NDA government.
We are fighting for GST as it will help industry with single point tax instead of multiple layers of taxation. Our Finance Minister Amit Mitra is leading the committee on GST and I think in the next one or two meetings it will be resolved, Banerjee told a gathering of business and industry chambers at a felicitation programme here.
I am politically opposed to BJP government but we support programmes which are pro-people and industry, she said elaborating her governments stand on GST.
The GST Billwhich creates a single national sales tax to replace several state and central levieshas already been approved by the Lok Sabha or Lower House of Parliament and is pending in the Upper House where the NDA government doesnt have a majority.
On the Centre according smart city status to Rajarhat, she said, The theory (of Centres smart city) is wrong as we will have to give Rs 500 crore to get Rs 500 crore.
The project aims to make a building with all smart facilities. We can do a lot with that money for the benefit of the masses, Banerjee said.
The state government has handed over a concept plan to develop Rajarhat New Town as a smart green city to the Union Urban Development ministry. The plan has been prepared by the National Institute of Smart Governance (NISG).
Rajarhat is an oversmart city, she commented.
We (Bengal government) already have six smart (theme) city projects. What is Bengal Credai (real estate body) doing?, she said and asked the chambers of industry to iron out any issue with the state finance minister and begin the projects.
For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi :
Amid a raging controversy, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today made a strong pitch for release of film Udta Punjab, noting that the state has a crippling drug problem and censoring the movie would not fix it.
Punjab has a crippling drug problem. Censoring #UdtaPunjab will not fix it. The government must accept the reality and find solutions, the Congress Vice President said on Twitter.
Anurag Kashyap, one of the producers of Udta Punjab, has compared the ongoing censorship regarding his upcoming film to the dictatorship in North Korea.
The Bombay Velvet director said there is no sense of freedom here. I always wondered what it felt like to live in North Korea... Ab to plane pakadney ki bhi zaroorat nahin..., he posted on Twitter. The 43-year-old filmmakers tweet came after Censor Board had purportedly raised certain objections regarding references to Punjab following which the movie may have to go through some changes.
Udta Punjab, starring Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosanjh in a pivotal role, deals with the substance abuse in the state and its effect on the youth. There is no film more honest than UDTA PUNJAB... And any person or party opposing it is actually GUILTY of promoting drugs, Kashyap said.
Directed by Abhishek Chaubey, the film is slated for release on June 17.
Patna:
An FIR has been registered against four toppers of the Bihar school boards and three others on a complaint filed by the state education department for alleged irregularities in the exams, police today said.
FIR has been registered against seven persons by Kotwali police station in connection with the controversy surrounding toppers of 10+2 candidates of the state board, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Law and Order) Shibli Nomani told PTI today.
The FIR was registered on the complaint by the Director, Secondary Education, late last night. It also includes unnamed officials of Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), Nomani said.
Those who have been named in the FIR are: management of Vishun Rai College, Hajipur; Centre Superintendent of G A Inter College, Hajipur, where the exam was conducted, Centre Superintendent of Balak High School, Rajendra Nagar, Patna, where copies were evaluated and marks alloted, the DSP said.
Besides, the names of Intermediate Arts topper Ruby Rai, Science toppers Shalini Rai, Saurav Shreshth and Rahul Kumar have also been included in the FIR.
They have been booked under relevant sections of IPC including section 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).
Bihar Education Minister Ashok Choudhary also confirmed the registration of the FIR against for allegedly committing irregularities in the 10+2 exam of Arts and Science streams.
The government, prima facie, found there are some irregularities and hence, the FIR has been registered in the case. Follow up action will take place. DGP will tell about further action, Choudhary said.
Meanwhile, a team of state police and CID visited Bihar BSEB today and after perusing the results of the Intermediate examination.
Police sources said the probe team questioned BSEB chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh and impounded a computer.
For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Beijing:
In a rare rebuke to its all weather ally Pakistan, Chinas state-run channels have aired a documentary naming Lashkar-e-Taiyaba for the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and even showed footage containing confessions of Ajmal Kasab, the lone Pakistani terrorist caught alive during the 26/11 carnage.
The footage was first-aired by the state-run Shanghai Television weeks ahead of President Pranab Mukherjees visit last month and was subsequently shown by another state-run Chinese television channel as well, officials here said.
The documentary containing vivid details of planning and execution of the Mumbai attacks by LeT militants caught Indian officials here by surprise as Chinese state media shows extreme care and caution in airing negative news about the all weather ally Pakistan.
The state media largely refrained from allegations that militants of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) from Muslim-majority Xinjiang province had training bases in Pakistans tribal areas.
We have to wait and see what is the significance of the documentary on LeT on Chinese state television, an Indian diplomat, who has seen the programme, told PTI.
It was a surprise as China has earlier blocked Indias bid to get a UN ban on LeT operational commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attack.
China had put a technical hold when India sought a ban on him after he was released from prison.
In March, China had put a technical hold again on attempt to get UN ban on Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar, accused of masterminding the January Pathankot terrorist attack.
Chinas attempts to block the UN listings against the two has cast a shadow on its relations with India and diplomatic efforts were on between the two sides to resolve the issue.
Officials say the airing of the footage against LeTs involvement in Mumbai attacks comes at a time when technical holds put in by China in the UN sanctions committee on some of the LeT leaders was set to expire in a few days.
It is to be seen whether there will be a change of stand in Chinas position in UN, officials said.
For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi :
The Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE) is gearing up to declare its Class X Results verysoon. The RBSE 10th Class result 2016 will be on the official RBSE website which can be accessed by going to RBSE.edu.in or the candidates can directly visit the results section of the Rajasthan Board from the link of their official website. (Read more: RBSE BSER Rajasthan Class 10 result 2016 to be released soon; check results at @ rajresult.nic.in)
RBSE 10th result 2016 and all other updates regarding RBSE can be found on its official website which is mentioned above.
The Board of Secondary Education, Rajasthan is an Education Board that conducts exams every year. The class 10 exam for the year 2016 in Rajasthan was conducted by the Rajasthan Board and for successful conduction of this exam RBSE had to allocate a number of different examination centres all over the state of Rajasthan. (Read more: RBSE/BSER 10th Results 2016 expected today, Check @ rajeduboard.nic.in, rajresults.nic.in)
The results will be declared on 8 June. Students are advised to stay calm and be patient as the result page may take some time to respond due to heavy traffic on the main website.
Some of the simple steps to Check RBSE Class 10th Results 2016 are as follows:
Visit the official website
Click on the link Class 10 Results 2016
Enter the details like hall ticket number, date of birth and click on Submit
The results will be displayed on the screen
Check the results and Save it for further reference
RBSE BSER Rajasthan Class 10 result 2016 to be released soon; check results at @ rajresult.nic.in
For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Beijing:
The recent Indo-Iran deal to develop the strategic Chabahar Port is part of Indias larger geo-strategic calculations to gain access to the Middle East and Central Asia and to counter Pakistan-Chinas plan to develop Gwadar port, a media report said today.
Actually, Chabahar is just the tip of the iceberg of Indias geostrategic ambitions. Besides building new berths and upgrades to Chabahar, what interests New Delhi more is a comprehensive scheme that can reshape Indias geopolitics to the northwest and extend its influence further into the Middle East, Central Asia and the Trans-Caucasus, an article in the state-run Global Times said today.
To this end, India has recently committed USD 400 million in steel to construction of the railway connecting Chabahar and Zahedan, near Afghan border, the report said.
Although New Delhi ostensibly highlights economic considerations, such as facilitating trade along the International North-South Transport Corridor and extracting minerals, natural gas and oil from the region, its larger geo-strategic calculations and ambitions are obvious, it said.
A direct gateway through Pakistan provides the shortest and the most economical access for India to enter Afghanistan and Central Asia, it said.
However, due to long-standing mistrust, Islamabad is reluctant to grant India access.
The sea-land route of Chabahar Port is designed to bypass Pakistan. With the new route, some Indian strategists suggest that India can take further advantage of its ties with Iran and Afghanistan and gain new leverage and positioning while reducing Pakistans political and economic influence in the region, the report said.
Besides bypassing the overland blockage, India also views its investment in Chabahar as a counterweight against Pakistans Gwadar Port, a Chinese-funded deep sea port 72 kms east of Chabahar, it said.
China and Pakistan are currently building a USD 46 billion economic corridor linking Pakistans Gwadar port with Xinjiang to improve connectivity between the two countries.
Although Indias expectations of Chabahar and the sea-land route are running high, especially following the lifting of international financial sanctions against Iran, major challenges remain. India may not be able to meet its generous offers and high-sounding rhetoric, it said.
Iran may not always align itself with Indias geostrategic goals. China is also crucial to Tehrans core interests. Iran never publicly articulated its opposition to the Sino-Pakistani project in Gwadar. Instead, it had aided the project by providing fresh water and fuel, it said.
The report said that if India expected too much from Iran, it is bound for disappointment.
Chabahar port, located in the Sistan-Balochistan Province on the energy-rich Persian Gulf nations southern coast, lies outside the Persian Gulf and is easily accessed from Indias western coast, bypassing Pakistan.
For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to meet US President Barack Obama at the White House today for over two hours that will include a working lunch to be attended by Vice President Joe Biden.
The seventh Modi-Obama meeting will highlight the deepening of the US-India relationship in key areas since the Presidents visit to New Delhi in January 2015. It is Indias biggest push for membership into the 48 member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:
The monsoon is very likely to hit Kerala by June 9, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) today said. It said that the southwest monsoon has furthered advanced into some parts of south Arabian Sea, Maldives, Comorin area and some parts of southwest Bay of Bengal.
In view of strengthening of cross equatorial flow and deepening of westerlies over south Arabian sea and development of feeble off-shore trough along Karnataka-Kerala coast, onset over Kerala is very likely by June 9, the IMD said in its latest bulletin.
The IMD had yesterday said that conditions continue to remain favourable for the onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala in next 48 hours, marking the start of rainy season in the country.
The IMD had earlier said that monsoon should hit the Kerala coast on June 7, with an error margin of plus or minus four days.
Several parts of Kerala are already witnessing heavy rains. Rains also lashed many parts of Tamil Nadu in the last 24 hours ending at 0830 hours today, the regional weather office said.
Summer rains, accompanied with lightning and thunder, were witnessed in many parts of the state including Chennai, it said, adding, Sembarambakkam recorded the highest rainfall of five cm, followed by Chennai at four cm.
The weather office forecast rain at a few places in South Tamil Nadu and over one or two places in the northern parts of the state for the next 48 hours.
Thunderstorms were likely in Chennai during the period, it said.
The IMD has also made a forecast of heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places over coastal Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim and heavy rains at isolated places over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Rayalseema region of Andhra Pradesh and south interior Karnataka.
However, there is going to be no significant change in maximum temperatures in northwest India for the next 2-3 days which is reeling under intense heat.
Heat wave to severe heat wave conditions are very likely at a few places over West Rajasthan, at isolated places over east Rajasthan and west Madhya Pradesh. Heat wave is likely at isolated places over Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Gujarat.
For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Fatehabad (Haryana):
A couple was injured today in an explosion in a private bus at Bhuna in Fatehabad district, the second such incident in Haryana in two weeks. The explosion took place at around 11 AM near Bhuna when the vehicle was on its way from Jakhal to Fatehabad, following which panic-stricken passengers jumped off to save themselves.
Two persons including a woman have been injured in the explosion, Fatehabad SP, O P Narwal said, adding that they have been taken to Fatehabad hospital. They have been identified as Bhagirath Luhar and his wife Raj Bala of Kanoh village near. He said forensic experts have been summoned to the spot.
The incident comes two weeks after a low-intensity blast took place in a state-run bus near Pipli in Kurukshetra, leaving 12 passengers injured.
Asked if todays explosion bore any similarity to the earlier incident, Narwal said, At this stage, we cannot comment on that. Investigations are on.
He, however, said according to preliminary accounts gathered from the spot, it appeared some passenger was carrying a chemical powder which caught fire either because of smoking or some other reason.
It could be possible that some farmer was carrying the chemical powder, which is used in agricultural fields to scare away birds by causing an explosion, Narwal said.
The SP said no passenger had come forward to claim the chemical substance yet. The private bus, belonging to Bhuna Friends Cooperative society, left from Jakhal at 10 AM for Fatehabad.
Haryana has witnessed three low-intensity blasts this year, two of which occurred in trains in Panipat.
The explosion on the bus on May 26 had occurred when the vehicle was on its way from Sonepat in Haryana to Chandigarh.
Earlier, on January 16, a bomb blast had taken place on a passenger train at Panipat railway station. The explosive material was planted in a compartment next to the engine, but there was no casualty.
On May 13, an explosion had rocked an EMU train which had reached Panipat from Delhi and had been moved to the yard. Again, there was no casualty.
For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Panaji:
Congress leader and former Goa Chief Minister Ravi Naik today said the Centre should ban Nigerians from entering India as they create trouble in the country, the latest in controversial comments by politicians from the state on people from the African nation. Allegedly using a racially insulting term, Naik said, The government of India should ban them (Nigerians).
They should be probed and it should be checked whether many of them are here to study or for picnics or to sell drugs, Naik said, adding they create trouble in the country.
The Congress leader, during a press meet, alleged that Nigerian nationals stay in the country and indulge in illegal activities.
Nigerians come here and get involved in ruckus. Look at the cases in Bengaluru and Delhi (which reported incidents related to Nigerian nationals). Do they come here for studying? he asked.
He also demanded that the bogus educational institutes, which give them admission, should be probed by the law enforcement agencies.
The Congress leaders controversial statements comes days after similar remarks about the Nigerian nationals made by Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and his Cabinet colleague Dilip Parulekar.
Parsekar had termed Nigerians as annoying and having different attitude. He had later said that his statement was distorted and taken out of context by a section of media.
State Tourism Minister Parulekar had said, the problems of Nigerians are not only in Goa, but across the country. They (Nigerians) come here to study but create problems. People were not happy with Nigerians.
The comments by Parsekar and Parulekar, both of BJP, were made in the wake of attacks on Africans in New Delhi last month.
For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Washington:
US President Barack Obama today supported Indias candidature for membership of the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) as he discussed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi ways to take the bilateral ties to new heights. Addressing the media jointly with Modi after over hour-long talks at the White House, Obama said it was natural for India and the US, two biggest democracies, to deepen and broaden partnership.
Modi said the two leaders discussed a wide range of issues, particularly ways to take the bilateral economic ties to new heights.
The other issues discussed by them included terrorism, clean energy, climate change, regional security and cyber security.
During his remarks to the media, Obama said they discussed progress made in the Civil Nuclear agreement.
I indicated support to India being a part of NSG, the US President said amidst opposition by China to such a move.
Obama underlined that India needs technology which is critical for its progress and prosperity.
Modi later said, I am thankful for the help and support that my friend President Obama has extended with regard to membership in MTCR and NSG.
Traditional security challenges as well as new challenges, like cyber security, were discussed during the talks, the US President said.
While informing that they also discussed important regional issues, he said the US and India have shared vision of peace and development and that complex issues should be resolved diplomatically.
Modi said India and the US, the two biggest democracies, have worked shoulder-to-shoulder in meeting the challenges that face, not only the two countries, but the entire world.
Over the last two years, India and the US have been cooperating on global issues like climate change, nuclear security, terrorism...I feel proud, not just as friends but as two countries, on this and we will continue to work shoulder-to-shoulder, he said.
The more we work together in new areas, the better it is for the benefit of the world as well as our two countries, which our dream, the Prime Minister said.
The President said Modis leadership generates new excitement, not only among the Indian Americans but also among Americans.
After his seventh meeting with Obama since 2014, Modi said India and the US are working as friends and partners in leading the world, and to protect the legacy that we both are proud of.
At the outset, Obama recollected his visit to India in January last year as Chief Guest for the Republic Day celebrations and the incredible hospitality he received.
I still have fond memories of being honored by the PMs invitation to participate in the Republic Day parade in India, he said.
As worlds two largest democracies and with strong bonds between peoples and businesses, scientific and educational communities, it is natural that the US and India deepen and broaden our partnership across the whole range of issues, the President said.
Referring to the Climate Change summit in Paris in December last year, he said the joining of forces between India and US helped forge the historical agreement to effectively deal with climate change.
We discussed how we can, as quickly as possible bring the Paris agreement into force, how we can make sure that, how climate financing that is necessary for India to embark on the bold vision for solar energy and clean energy that PM Modi has laid out, can be accomplished, Obama said.
Modi said the US is well aware of the talent of India, a country which is young with 800 million people below 35 years of age. Our youth power can work with the United States to achieve new heights, he said.
The Prime Minister said India today is the fastest growing economy of the world and that the two countries should cooperate more in new areas.
He said he and Obama would meet in September on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit (in China). Till that time, he hoped, they would be able to make progress in a number of areas, including the dream of climate justice.
For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi/Chandigarh:
The row over drug-themed Bollywood film Udta Punjab slated for release on June 17 escalated today with co-producer Anurag Kashyap hitting out at Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani, calling him oligarch and dictator and that it was like living in North Korea.
The Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Diljit Dosanjh starrer movie that delves into how the youth in Punjab have succumbed to drugs, also unleashed political sparring, prompting Kashyap to ask parties to stay away from the censorship row. Punjab goes to polls next year.
The makers of the film are said to have been asked by the Revising Committee of the Censor Board to remove all references to Punjab and to make 89 cuts. Kashyap, however, said they are waiting for an official letter from the Board in this regard.
Kashyap got the support of several filmmakers including Karan Johar, Mahesh Bhatt, Ram Gopal Varma and Mukesh Bhatt. It is a dark day for freedom of expression and creativity in the country, Mukesh Bhatt said, calling Nihalani a stooge of the government.
The Bombay Velvet director took to Twitter to vent his ire at the Censor Board and said there is no sense of freedom.
I always wondered what it felt like to live in North Korea... Ab to plane pakadney ki bhi zaroorat nahin..., he posted on Twitter.
I request Congress, AAP and other political parties to stay out of my battle. Its my Rights vs the Censorship. I speak only on my behalf.
The Gangs of Wasseypur helmer, who often faces the burnt of censorship, says his fight is not against the Censor Board.
Its my fight Vs a dictatorial man sitting there operating like an oligarch in his constituency of censor board, thats my North Korea, he said.
Rest of you go pick your own fights. I will fight mine. So please dont colour my fight with any political affiliation because there is none. The movie is produced by Kashyaps Phantom Films and Ekta Kapoor-led Balaji Films.
AAP and Congress accused Punjabs ruling SAD-BJP alliance of exercising its influence to censor the movie, a charge denied by the state government.
Punjab Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister Sohan Singh Thandal said, any movie or film which is not in the interest of state and which tries to defame Punjab should always be opposed.
Punjab BJP Chief and Union Minister Vijay Sampla hailed the move of the Censor Board and any attempt to defame Punjab, which is a foodbowl of the country, should be dealt with sternly.
Attempts to reach Nihalani over phone were met without success. When contacted, I&B ministry officials said the CBFC is independent when it comes to certification of films.
The ministry is, however, re-looking at the entire process of certification of films in the light of the Shyam Benegal committee report which had given its suggestions recently, they added.
For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:
Four days after the busting of the kidney racket in Apollo Hospital here, T Rajkumar Rao, the kingpin, and three others were today arrested, even as police said 10 doctors are likely to be questioned in connection with the case. Rao, aged around 40 years, who is believed to be associated with similar rackets in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, was arrested in West Bengal today. He will be produced before a court there and brought to Delhi on transit remand, a senior police official said.
Rao, who was under police scanner for operating similar rackets in Jalandhar, Coimbatore and Hyderabad, was identified with the interrogation of the middlemen in the racket and teams were rushed to several states to track him down.
The official said all ten doctors in Apollo Hospitals internal assessment committee for transplant surgeries will be quizzed. The committee comprises senior doctors working at the hospital, independent doctors and a government doctor.
Earlier in the day, police arrested a married couple and a woman, all identified as kidney donors associated with the racket.
The three were identified as Umesh and Nilu, who are husband and wife residing in Kanpur, and Mamta alias Maumita, wife of one of the five accused arrested last week.
During interrogation, Umesh and Nilu told police that they had sold their kidneys for Rs 4 lakh and Rs 3 lakh respectively as they were in urgent need of money for their minor sons leg surgery.
They also told police that when they came to know about the actual price in which their kidneys were sold, they felt deceived, an official privy to the investigation said.
The third accused, Mamta, is the one who actually led police to the kidney racket.
On the day it was busted, Mamta was spotted indulging in a heated exchange with her husband, Devashish Moulik, and when the police intervened, on receiving a call regarding the matter, they were stunned by what they heard. Mamta accused Devashish of cheating her with the amount he received after her kidney was sold.
During investigation, it came to light that Devashish had offered his own kidney first but on being declared unfit he convinced his wife to do so, the official said.
For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
File Photo\Wendy Carlson / File Photo
An opening reception for a new ceramic art exhibit at the Brookfield Craft Center will be held at 5 p.m. June 11.
Bridgewater resident and artist Elizabeth MacDonald will be on-hand for the reception in the Lynn Tendler Bignell gallery. Her exhibit will ve on view until July 4.
DANBURY A coalition of concerned leaders in education, social services and local government condemned the states broken school-finance system Tuesday and called for systemic reform.
Connecticut currently finds itself with a school-finance system that not only defies logic but also funds public schools arbitrarily and inequitably, said Katie Roy, founder of the Connecticut School Finance Project, which organized the coalition. Connecticut needs and deserves an equitable school-finance system that is based on the learning needs of students, and the schools that serve them.
The appeal for a fair funding formula that accounts for the growth of mostly urban districts that are less affluent and more diverse is the strongest call yet to fix a problem that started three decades ago.
But it comes after the close of a contentious legislative session in Hartford, where Gov. Dannel P. Malloy fought with lawmakers over cuts to close a $1 billion budget gap, and it comes one week before school lets out for the summer.
The coalition, which includes Danbury schools Superintendent Sal Pascarella, Bridgeport schools interim Superintendent Fran Rabinowitz and 16 organizations, says now is the time to call for action.
If not now, when? asked Pascarella, who is part of a group suing the state over promised aid that was never delivered.
Can we do it overnight? No, Pascarella said. But can we do it over time with the right cooperation in place? I think we can.
In a joint statement, signed by statewide groups including the Connecticut Association of Schools, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and the Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission, the coalition said the state system set up in 1988 to help needy school districts has been altered so many times that it exacerbates the problem it was supposed to solve.
These formulas have little relationship to students learning needs and create a system that is unfair to students, schools and communities across the state, the statement reads.
As a result, in growing schools districts that have been underfunded such as Danbury, Fairfield and Stamford, taxpayers have had to take on more of the burden of funding public education.
We are at a tipping point, Pascarella said, whose district is seeing an enrollment increase of up to 2 percent annually. This is all falling on the shoulders of the kids in the urban centers.
A response from Malloys spokesman was not available before deadline. But his office has said the state added $440 million in funding to school districts across Connecticut since 2011, despite tight state budgets.
A state Department of Education official agreed.
Graduation rates are the highest theyve ever been in Connecticut were setting new records, said Abbe Smith, the communications director at the state education department.
We score amongst the top states in the nation in reading, and we continue to whittle away at achievement gaps, Smith said. Its a track record to be proud of. Yet, we always celebrate feedback and listen to those who want to make our schools even better.
But critics said the state system of awarding block grants does not take into account the needs of individual districts that require more resources and have less ability to pay for it.
Danbury is probably the primary example of that, said Michael Morton, communications manager of the Connecticut School Finance Project. The changes in the district are not being reflected in the state funding system.
The states block-grant funding system does not account for years of underfunding. A 2015 report found the state had underfunded Bridgeport by a total of $37 million, Danbury by $31 million, and Stamford by $11 million.
Connecticut has reached the point in its fiscal condition where it can no longer ignore the problem, Morton said. Lawmakers have been talking about re-examining and re-evaluating priorities, and in that respect, this is the perfect timing for this issue.
rryser@newstimes.com; 203-731-3342
My name is Kim Gallo, and I am proud to serve as principal of Shepaug Valley School, Region 12 School District, Washington, Connecticut. I am writing this letter to address some of the questions that have arisen concerning the AgSTEM/Science Lab project.
This project was approved in a Nov. 10, 2015, referendum by the citizens of Washington, Bridgewater, and Roxbury with more than a two-to-one majority. However, the Legislature chose to delay our funding for a year, due to the precarious economy in Connecticut. It is important that facts, and not conjecture, define our project moving forward.
Dr. Patricia Cosentino, our Superintendent of Schools, received a letter from Melody Currey, Commissioner of the Department of Administrative Services (DAS), on May 25, 2016. For those who are not aware, the DAS controls all projects that comprise the Connecticut bond. In the interest of brevity, I am quoting the most relevant sections of this letter:
At the Office of School Construction Grants our mission is to build schools and provide our students with the best facilities possible. We did not want to disappoint any district and searched for a way to accommodate everyone on the Priority List this year. As a result we have altered the process to ensure that every project on the Priority List would move forward when prepared to do so.
Senate Bill 503, Sections 261, 262 and 263-320, which passed the Senate and the House, establishes the priority Schools time line. In effect, we divided the program into two categories. The first category comprises of those districts which are still not prepared and a delay of a year would be beneficial to them and the taxpayers of the State of Connecticut.
In effect the second grouping shall become next years Priority School placeholders automatically. The district will have the opportunity to keep the same reimbursement or if the following year is better, utilize that rate. The district will not be required to submit new documents. Those that have been submitted have satisfied the automatic placement for next year. The only document we will request from the district is a letter indicating your desire to go forward with the project as submitted.
Also be aware that the Office of School Construction Grants encourages you to continue on with your process of design and development. We would like to see the architects working with the contractor to develop outstanding construction documents which in turn reduces change orders, reduces costs and quickens the construction process to get our children in the schools. Once grant commitment is received you will be reimbursed for your advanced spelling at your reimbursement rate.
Thank you to all who supported this important project. If you would like to see the letter in its entirety, please contact me at gallok@region-12.org, and Ill be happy to provide a copy. You may also wish to see state Rep. Art ONeills comprehensive explanation of the issue from the May 23rd Board of Education meeting at http://bit.ly/25ywguR .
It is not my intention to sway the public the voters have already spoken. My only intention is to share accurate facts.
Kimberly Gallo is the principal of Shepaug Valley School.
OTTAWA, June 7, 2016 /CNW/ - The Canadian Teachers' Federation (CTF) is appalled a Canadian researcher was arrested and questioned by Ugandan police over two days because of false accusations made by an edu-business operating in that country.
Curtis Riep, a PhD student at the University of Alberta, was in Uganda working legitimately on behalf of Education International (EI) to study the impact of Bridge International Academies Ltd. (BIA). The company runs a chain of 'low fee' for-profit schools in Uganda as well as in Kenya, Nigeria and soon, Liberia.
In his own words, Riep explains: "The senior police officer investigating the case explained to me that BIA accused me of being an "enemy of Bridge" but they could not clarify what that meant exactly."
On the day he was released, Riep says the police sat down with him and urged him to use caution because they suspected BIA would try to prevent him from conducting research.
"The police cautioned me not to go out at night, to move to a more secure hotel, not to interact with anyone I didn't know, to restrict my movements, and to protect my research data and the information I had already collected on BIA," says Riep who is now back at home in Calgary.
For her part, CTF President Heather Smith adds: "BIA's attempt at intimidation demonstrates how the company fears transparency about its own operations. We know their practices have been the subject of significant criticism, including the employment of unqualified staff delivering a scripted standardised curriculum in inadequate school facilities.
"Our heartfelt thanks go to our partner organization, the Uganda National Teachers' Union http://www.unatu.org/ for coming to Riep's defence -- as if he were one of their members," explains Smith. "We are also extremely grateful to the Canadian embassy for its help in securing Riep's safe release."
BIA's expansion plans were recently halted by the Ugandan government for its failure to meet regulatory requirements applicable to schools. Its operations are supported by global edu-business Pearson, billionaires Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, DfID-UK and the World Bank, among others. More information on the EI Website: https://ei-ie.org/en/news/news_details/3988
Founded in 1920, the Canadian Teachers' Federation is a national alliance of provincial and territorial teacher organizations that represent over 200,000 elementary and secondary school teachers across Canada. CTF is also a member of the 32-million member Education International. @CanTeachersFed
SOURCE Canadian Teachers' Federation
For further information: Spokesperson: CTF President Heather Smith; Media Contact: Francine Filion, Director of Communications, o-613-688-4314 or m-613-899-4247
OTTAWA, June 7, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Innovative Medicines Canada is pleased to welcome Elaine Campbell as Interim President of the association, starting June 13, 2016.
Ms. Campbell brings with her 26 years of experience in the pharmaceutical sector, most recently as President and CEO of AstraZeneca Canada Inc., one of the world's leading biopharmaceutical companies. This appointment afforded Ms. Campbell the opportunity to sit on Innovative Medicines Canada's Board of Directors, where she worked closely with industry and association colleagues on improving the Canadian environment for the discovery, development and delivery of new medicines.
"On behalf of Innovative Medicines Canada's Board of Directors, I would like to welcome Elaine Campbell to the team and thank her for coming on board to help steer the association through a period of exciting change," said Michael Tremblay, Chair of Innovative Medicines Canada's Board of Directors and President of Astellas Pharma Canada, Inc. "It's great to be working with Elaine again, and her past experience and involvement with the association will be strong assets for us."
Prior to her leadership role at AstraZeneca Canada Inc., Ms. Campbell held a number of senior leadership roles within the AstraZeneca US and Global businesses, including product development and commercialization roles, as well as overseeing multiple Global Marketing teams. She was previously a Vice President and member of the Business Operating Team with DuPont Pharmaceuticals. Her wealth of knowledge about the pharmaceutical discovery and development process will be assets to Innovative Medicines Canada as the association turns towards a renewed commitment to ensuring Canadians have timely and equitable access to new medicines.
Ms. Campbell holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto and a Master of Business Administration from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. She has recently completed the ICD Directors Education Program in Toronto, in May 2016.
A search process will begin shortly to identify and appoint a permanent President for Innovative Medicines Canada.
ABOUT INNOVATIVE MEDICINES CANADA
Innovative Medicines Canada is the national voice of Canada's innovative pharmaceutical industry. We advocate for policies that enable the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative medicines and vaccines that improve the lives of all Canadians. We support our members' commitment to being valued partners in the Canadian healthcare system.
SOURCE Innovative Medicines Canada
Image with caption: "Innovative Medicines Canada is pleased to welcome Elaine Campbell as Interim President of the association. (CNW Group/Innovative Medicines Canada)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160607_C3031_PHOTO_EN_708054.jpg
For further information: Sarah Douglas, Media Relations, Telephone: 613-883-7250, E-mail: [email protected]
Pathways to Education Program offered to youth in Waterloo Village and the South End to boost high school graduation rates
SAINT JOHN, June 7, 2016 /CNW/ - The Teen Resource Centre (TRC) and Pathways to Education Canada are pleased to announce that they have partnered to help support Saint John youth to graduate from high school and successfully transition into post-secondary education, training, or employment.
Scheduled to launch in September 2016, the TRC will deliver the award-winning Pathways to Education Program a combination of academic, financial, social, and one-on-one supports proven to lower high school dropout rates to high school students living in Waterloo Village and South End.
"We are thrilled to partner with Pathways to Education Canada to support Saint John youth from Waterloo Village and South End, where poverty rates exceed 30 per cent, and the child poverty rate is 49.5 per cent," says June Breau-Nason, Executive Director of the TRC. "We are proud to be the host agency and Program partner for this great initiative for youth who need it most."
Pathways to Education and the TRC acknowledge the Government of Canada's continued support of the Pathways Program and Canada's youth. The provision of $34.5 million over four years to Pathways to Education has been a vital component in making this expansion possible.
"Pathways to Education Canada does great work in helping at-risk youth in low-income communities," says the Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour. "The new Saint John Program will help Pathways extend its reach to more young people who are facing barriers, and provide them with the tools they need to graduate from high school."
Recent community studies indicate that, among respondents, 90 per cent of Waterloo Village and South End youth identify social issues like bullying, feeling misunderstood, issues at home, or anxiety as a major contributor to having trouble in school. One quarter of youth do not believe they will graduate from high school. A further 25 per cent say that, if they do, it will take at least five or six years. Nearly half think that there are significant barriers preventing them from continuing to post-secondary.
"Pathways to Education has a successful track record of improving high school graduation rates in low-income communities across Canada. We welcome our partnership with TRC to begin the process for the youth and families of Waterloo Village and the South End in Saint John," says Sue Gillespie, President and CEO, Pathways to Education Canada. "Improving high school graduation rates has proven to have a positive impact on youth, their families, their communities, and our country. We are proud to be working together to break the cycle of poverty through the power of education."
Celebrating 15 years of programming, Pathways to Education's results have been groundbreaking. High school graduation rates have increased by an average of 75 per cent, and 73 per cent of all students who graduated from high school while in the Pathways to Education Program have gone on to post-secondary education or training.
Pathways to Education provides students with weekly tutoring, flexible and personalized mentoring, financial incentives and scholarship funding, as well as advocacy support to provide a bridge between the student and their school, family, program, and community. These supports come at no cost to the youth or their families.
"Anticipation is really building for our first cohort of Grade 9 students starting the Program in September 2016," says Heather Doyle, Pathways to Education Program Manager for the TRC. "Each year we will welcome a new Grade 9 cohort, and work with each group of young people until they graduate. We look forward to working with Pathways to Education and the community to close Saint John's educational achievement gap."
About Pathways to Education Canada www.pathwaystoeducation.ca
Pathways to Education is a national, charitable organization working to make Canada a Graduation Nation. Partnering with dedicated organizations in low-income communities, Pathways supports youth to graduate from high school and achieve their full potential. Celebrating 15 years of successful programming, our award-winning combination of academic, financial, social, and one-on-one supports continues to successfully break the cycle of poverty through the power of education.
About the TRC www.trc4youth.org
The Teen Resource Centre (TRC) provides a safe and encouraging environment for youth to explore their full potential. We offer services and programs for youth between the ages of 12-24, designed to foster in them the creativity, energy and leadership our community needs to grow and thrive. We also provide services and programs that assist youth with their physical and mental health, provide on-site services to assist youth who are homeless or living in vulnerable situations, facilitate career path and mentoring to help youth build life skills, create opportunities for community volunteerism and leadership training, and encourage youth to explore and discover their interests and passions. The support and services provided by the TRC directly contributes to a healthy and vibrant youth population, reducing the risks associated with crime, homelessness, addiction and recidivism.
SOURCE Pathways to Education Canada
For further information: Colleen Ryan, Director, Marketing and Communications, Pathways to Education Canada, Phone: 416 646 0123 x 503, Email: [email protected]; Heather Doyle, Pathways to Education Program Manager, Teen Resource Centre, Phone: 506 632 3301, Email: [email protected]
By GMM 7 June 2016 - 12:14
F1s newest street venue has no immediate plans to step up to night race status.
Although all eyes are on Montreal ahead of this weekends Canadian round, the sport will quickly move on to the Azerbaijan capital of Baku early next week for the second instalment of a hectic flyaway double-header.
FIA race director Charlie Whiting is currently in Baku, giving the spectacular street circuit the final green light.
"You can see the quality of all the installations wherever you look," said the Briton.
Indeed, the closest look was enjoyed by local 19-year-old driver Gulheseyn Abdullayev over a four-lap test of the circuit in a GP3 car.
"Baku does not fall behind other street circuits, I would say it even exceeds other street tracks," he said afterwards.
In fact, Baku is different to most street circuits in that it is lined by historic buildings and includes a particularly narrow section defined by an old town wall.
But it will also be remarkably fast, with the authoritative Auto Motor und Sport predicting that engines will be stressed even more than at Spa or Monza.
Whiting said: "If I had to compare one circuit to this one, it would be Singapore, but the speed here will be much higher."
What will be conspicuously different to Singapore, however, is that Baku will take place under natural rather than artificial flood lighting.
But race promoter Arif Rahimov admitted that the topic of a night race has at least been discussed.
"A night race brings with it additional costs and added complexity in the construction of the circuit," he told Russias Championat.
"I think in the first year we have enough problems without lighting, so there is no clear plan for that. Maybe one day.
"Baku is very beautiful at night, but our city is also beautiful in the afternoon," Rahimov added.
Ayodele Daniel Dada, who graduated with a 5.0 CGPA from the University of Lagos, Akoka, has claimed that the rewards promised to him by so...
Ayodele Daniel Dada, who graduated with a 5.0 CGPA from the University of Lagos, Akoka, has claimed that the rewards promised to him by some companies have not been giving to him.Dada made this known on "Rubbin' Minds", a talk show hosted by Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, on Channels Televisions.The Unilag graduate was questioned on the programme concerning if he had received the gifts from Sujimoto, who promised him an apartment.He responded by saying, No, I havent, at all,Dada became popular after breaking his department record to become the best graduating student in the University of Lagos, in over fifty years.Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, of the Federal House of Representatives, made a call to members of the lower legislative house to honour Dada for his accomplishment.Though some rewards are still be withheld, the Unilag genius is already a recipient to the following, UNILAG VC's prize, UNILAG Dean's prize, UNILAG Parent Forum prize, Tony Elumelu Legacy prize, the UNILAG Alumni Association prize, the late Eni Njoku Academic prize, Prof Tolu Odugbemu prize, and the late Prof. Adetokunbo Sofoluwe prize.
The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is far from over as Ali Modu Sheriff, former chairman of the party, has yet again ex...
The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is far from over as Ali Modu Sheriff, former chairman of the party, has yet again expressed reservation over the caretaker committee.Back in May when the committee was inaugurated in Port Harcourt, Sheriff described it as a contraption, vowing to challenge the process through which Ahmed Makarfi emerged.Though there have been many attempts to reconcile warring factions in the opposition party, the PDP has not been able to put its house in order.The last of such meetings held at the Wadata Plaza headquarters of the PDP in Abuja on Tuesday, where the partys board of trustees (BoT) handed over the partys secretariat to Makarfi.Sheriff was absent at the meeting, but Makarfi said his rival did not attend because he was outside the country.But reacting through Inwa Bwala, his spokesman, Sheriff accused the party leaders of impunity.Our attention has been drawn to the activities at the national secretariat of the PDP to the effect that some individuals masquerading as leaders have handed over to Ahmed Makarfi under a contraption called caretaker committee, read a statement issued on Sheriffs behalf.We state as a matter of fact that going by proceedings still pending in the courts to the effect that Senator Ali Sheriff remains the national chairman, whatever transpired was null, void and of no effect whatsoever.Sheriff has not mandated anybody, nor was his authority obtained by Uche Secondus, who has been parading himself as acting on behalf of the national chairman.While we await the verdicts of the courts, we wish to state that Senator Ali Modu Sheriff is and remains the national chairman of the party, until otherwise declared by the courts.We allowed the charade to go on at the secretariat without any form of challenge in strict obedience to careful pronouncement on the matter, but we must also state that there is no gathering of groups or individuals, however powerful, such groups or individuals may be, that can be said to take precedence over the law.For the avoidance of doubts, we state categorically that what took place at the PDP secretariat on Tuesday June 7, 2016 was a total disregard to court orders. And an extension of the impunity for which the party has been accused of and which has taken the party to where it is today.The public should disregard all the actions and pronouncements.
Hillary Clinton has reached the number of delegates needed to clinch the Democratic U.S. presidential nomination, according to tallies o...
Six states are still set to vote in nominating contests, Reuters reports.A former senator and US secretary of state, Clinton would be the first woman to ever be the presidential candidate of a major political party in the countrys 239-year history.But the campaign of her rival, Bernie Sanders, vowed to keep up the fight in what has been a protracted and increasingly antagonised primary race that has exposed deep rifts between the left-wing and the more centrist of the Democratic Party.A Sanders campaign spokesman said it was wrong of the Associated Press and NBC News, which made the calls on Monday evening, to count the votes of superdelegates before they cast ballots at the Democratic National Convention in July.Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump, Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said in a statement, castigating what he called the medias rush to judgment.While most delegates are awarded by popular votes in state-by-state elections, superdelegates largely consist of party leaders and elected senators, members of Congress and governors, and can change their mind at any time.For that reason, the Democratic National Committee has echoed the Sanders campaign, saying the superdelegates should not be counted until they vote at the convention in Philadelphia.But that has not deterred the news media. The AP and NBC reported that Clinton reached the 2,383 delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee with a decisive weekend victory in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, and a burst of additional support from superdelegates.
A leading Nigerian doctor has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of reneging on a promise to end medical tourism by seeking treatment ...
A leading Nigerian doctor has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of reneging on a promise to end medical tourism by seeking treatment in the United Kingdom.Nigerians spent $1bn (690,000) on foreign medical trips in 2013, most of which was unnecessary, said Dr. Osahon Enabulele.Nigerian politicians were mostly treated by Nigerian doctors in the UK, he added.Buhari flew to London on Monday to be treated for an ear infection, the BBC reports.It is unclear where the 73-year-old would be treated for what his office described as a persistent infection.Dr. Enabulele, vice-president of the Commonwealth Medical Association, said it was a national shame that the President went to the UK for treatment when Nigeria had more than 250 ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists, as well as a National Ear Centre.Buhari should lead by example by using Nigerian doctors and facilities, and ensure government officials do not go abroad on frivolous medical trips, he told the BBC.The UK had more than 3,000 Nigerian-trained doctors, and the United States more than 5,000, Dr. Enabule said, accusing the government of failing to address the brain drain by improving working conditions and health centres.
Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday defended his tenure, saying he fought corruption, but added that he is being investigated for g...
Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday defended his tenure, saying he fought corruption, but added that he is being investigated for graft by the Muhammadu Buhari administration.He also denied leaving an empty treasury.In an interview with Bloomberg Television in London, aired yesterday, Dr.Jonahan said the threats by the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) will be peacefully resolved.I cannot say the country from the beginning of our independence, that there was no corruption; yes there has been corruption. I did very well also to curtail corruption.My approach to corruption was dont make money available for anyone to touch.We made sure that area of fertiliser subsidies was cleaned up and the whole corruption there was removed.I tried to do the same in the oil industry, but the very people that were accusing us of corruption, were the same people frustrating it; its unfortunate.Asked if he was concerned that he would be investigated for corruption while in office, Jonathan said he was being investigated. Obviously, Im being investigated.Asked if he would be found guilty of corrupt practices, Jonathan said: I wouldnt want to make certain comments because, when a government is working, its not proper for immediate past presidents to make certain statements.I will allow the government to do the work its supposed to do.I wouldnt want to make serious comments on that; its not proper.After all, these investigations, the whole stories will be properly chronicled.Ive just left office and I should allow the President and his team to do what they believe is good for the country.Jonathans aides have come under heavy scrutiny since he left office, a situation he warned them of at the presidential dinner to mark the end of his tenure on May 28, 2015.Officials of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have also been arrested and arraigned for corruption, but the anti-corruption agencies are yet to make public their findings from investigation on Jonathans involvement.Dr. Jonathan expressed confidence that the authorities can reach an agreement with militants in the Niger Delta to stop their attacks that have slashed production.Definitely, it will be resolved; yes, government can always overrun restive movements and so on, but the Niger Delta is too delicate. The level of damage will be too much for the government to bear. We used dialogue, he said.Jonathan was vice-president when the government offered an amnesty and monthly stipends to militants to end years of instability, which had cut oil output. In February, Jonathans successor, President Muhammadu Buhari, reduced the stipends and cancelled security contracts with former military leaders.A militant group known as Niger Delta Avengers has claimed attacks on facilities belonging to companies, including Chevron Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Agip Oil Co., causing Nigerias output to drop to an almost 30-year low of about 1.4 million barrels per day.The violence has deepened the crisis facing Africas largest economy, which is already reeling from a slump in crude prices. Nigeria gets as much as two-thirds of its revenue and more than 90 percent of foreign income from oil.Dr. Jonathan denied leaving the countrys finances virtually empty.Theres no way he would have inherited an empty Treasury, Jonathan said , adding: Its not possible.Nigerias economy is contracting after a decline in the price of Brent by about half since the middle of 2014. Crude exports accounted in 2014 for as much as two-thirds of government revenue, with most state budgets relying on monthly handouts from the federal administration.Finance Minister Mrs. Kemi Adeosun said last month that a long-delayed 2016 budget may not be fully implemented. The cash crunch has dampened optimism around the election of Buhari who campaigned on an anti-corruption platform, beating Jonathan in the first election victory by an opposition candidate in the nations history.Nigerian authorities have gone after corrupt officials, recovering more than $500 million in cash so far. Investigations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have brought top officials of Jonathans administration under scrutiny, such as his National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and then-spokesman of his political party Olisa Metuh.
An online medium, Sahara Reporters , reported that President Muhammadu Buhari might extend his 10-day trip to London, where he had gone...
An online medium,, reported that President Muhammadu Buhari might extend his 10-day trip to London, where he had gone to treat an ear infection.According to the report, Buhari needs to undergo treatment for a terrible cough that has persisted longer than the ear infection.The President had in the last few weeks cancelled official visits to Lagos and Rivers states, where he was represented by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.The online medium also reported that a source said that Buhari would stay in Abuja House, the official residence of the Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom during the tripMeanwhile, President Buhari has said there is no big deal in his having an ear-related infection.He said, Is there anybody that doesnt fall sick? That was President Buharis parting shot to Nigerians on Monday as he departed the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja for London where he is expected to see specialists over what the Presidency described as a persistent ear infection.The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, had announced on Sunday that Buhari would be proceeding on a 10-day vacation beginning from Monday during which he would see an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist in London.During a brief interaction he had with journalists before leaving the Presidential Wing of the airport, Buhari was asked to react to the tension being created by his ailment.It was at that point that the President asked the reporters if there was anybody that would not fall sick at one point or the other in his lifetime.When asked what his message to Nigerians would be at this time, Buhari simply said, I have already told Nigerians that I am going for 10 days to get my ear checked.When further asked if he had communicated his decision to go on vacation to the National Assembly as required by law, the President said, The National Assembly knows; they have been formally informed.With the notice to the National Assembly, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo is expected to act as President for the period Buhari will be away.Shortly after Buharis interview, Adesina insisted in an interview with journalists that the President was not ill.He said although the President had an ear infection, that had not in any way stopped him from performing his duties as the President of the country.The presidential aide said, The buzz going round the town is that the President is ill, but ill will be a misnomer, it should not be the right word to use.The President is going for a 10-day rest and during that period he will see specialists who will look at his ear because he has been treating that ear locally for some time.Nigerian physicians have looked at it and now they have said you are going to UK, when you get there, let specialists look at the ear.They have treated it locally so it is not a question of whether the President is ill. If he is ill, it presupposes that there are certain things that he cannot do.But till the very last minute that he is travelling, the President performed the duties and functions of his office as the President. So illness is not the issue.Adesina, however, said as a human being, Buhari was entitled to a vacation.He said with the latest vacation, the President would have rested for only 15 days since he assumed office.He urged Nigerians to pray for Buhari so that God would take care of him and the country.As a human being, yes he can rest. He has been President for one full year, you know that in February he took five days leave, he is taking another 10 days now. That means 15 days leave in one year.You and I take more than that. So, it is natural that the President, as a human being, is taking 10 days rest but he is not ill.We need to underscore that. Rather than going into a frenzy I will urge Nigerians to just show goodwill and patriotism, they should pray for him and wish him well.Things about health, life and death are in the hands of God, but I believe that all is well with our President and God will take care of him and take care of the country, the presidential spokesman said.
The notorious Decree No. 2 of 1984 under which persons were detained without trial for security reasons during the military era shou...
The notorious Decree No. 2 of 1984 under which persons were detained without trial for security reasons during the military era should be reintroduced for journalists, Danladi Umar, chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), has said.The military government of Muhammadu Buhari made the decree in 1984 and it was only abrogated in May 1999 by Abdulsalami Abubakar, shortly before handing over to an elected government.Speaking on Tuesday afternoon on what he called false publications in the media regarding him and the CCT, Umar said that journalists should be punished for publishing falsehood.It is a criminal offence, he said, asking for the reintroduction of Decree No 2.He singled out a story in one of the national newspapers where it was said that the tribunal had adjourned the trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki indefinitely.He fumed: Just because they want to sell their papers and make money they publish falsehood.However, Kanu Agabi, lead counsel of Saraki, intervened, calling for calm.He advised the press to ensure that they do reports that would promote peace in the country.The tribunal, thereafter, adjourned to June 15 for continuation of trial.
The German government said Monday night that it would commence the supply of military hardware to support Nigerias effort to address secu...
The German government said Monday night that it would commence the supply of military hardware to support Nigerias effort to address security challenges in its North East and Niger Delta regions, before the end of 2016.Permanent Secretary, German Foreign Office, Mr. Markus Elderer, stated this in Abuja at the meeting of defence session of the Nigeria-Germany Bi-National Commission.He said the decision to support Nigerian security forces towards addressing security challenges was at the instance of a request by President Muhammadu Buhari at the last G-7 summit hosted by Germany.The German official said the equipment involved comprised ground surveillance equipment, anti-mine equipment, gun boats and others adding that Germany would commence the supply of the equipment as soon as the aid agreement was signed between the representatives of both countries.Elderer said the military aid to Nigeria would also include training of Nigerian military personnel especially military engineers in the handling and maintenance of the equipment.It was during the visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to Germany at the occasion of the G-7 summit that it was decided that we will very practically help to address Nigerias security concerns he said.The Nigerian government requested equipment support and military training so we are incorporating all of these in this agreement.We are doing this through training, through equipment supply like the ground radar system, mine clearing equipment and mobile health units for the security forces in order for them to carry out these difficult tasks of combating terrorism.We are almost at the finishing line and we are just waiting the signing of the agreement so that we can begin implementation, I think everything will be done this year he said.Elderer identified other aspects of the agreement as bio-security, mopping of small arms in the country, police training and health support.In his address, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Amb. Danjuma Sheni noted that the efforts of the German government to support Nigerias quest for peace and security in the sub region was laudable.He said Nigeria would leverage on the opportunities created through the Nigeria-Germany Bi-National Commission to boost other aspects of relations that was beneficial to both countries.Sheni said the secretariat of the commission was working tirelessly to ensure that the agreement was signed before the end of June.
Senator Shehu Sanni representing Kaduna Central has alleged of plans by Governor Nasir El-Rufai to kill him. Sani, in a statement by hi...
Senator Shehu Sanni representing Kaduna Central has alleged of plans by Governor Nasir El-Rufai to kill him.Sani, in a statement by his aide, Suleiman Ahmed, claimed that El-Rufai made the threat at a Town Hall meeting in Giwa Local Government on June 4.In the statement Hate speech and threat to life by Governor Nasiru El-Rufai against Distinguished Senator Shehu Sani, Sanni said Nigerians should hold the governor responsible if anything untoward happened to him.The statement reads: Our attention has been drawn to a hate speech and threat to life made by Governor Nasiru El-Rufai against Senator Shehu Sani in the Governors circus christened as Town Hall meeting in Giwa Local Government on June 4.The Governor evidently referred to Senator Sani, Dr Hakeem Baba Ahmed, Isa Ashiru Kudan as Ants he will match and crush. We could have ignored this statement as tantrums of an accidental governor, but we decided not to take things for granted in view of his mean and vicious history, and his allergy to criticism.We hold Governor El-Rufai responsible for any harm done to Sani. This statement is to alert security agencies and the public that in the event of any injury or assassination of Senator Shehu Sani, Governor Nasiru El-Rufai should be held responsible.We advice El-Rufai that he doesnt need to crush Ants or spill the blood of Senator Shehu Sani and others to realise his political ambitions. Since he is not appeased with Sanis suspension, he has now resorted to threats of crushing and matching.We wish to let governor El-Rufai know that threats of crushing or execution cannot deter us from our noble path in protecting our people from his brigandage.But the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State has said Sani should not be taken seriously.Acting Publicity Secretary, Salisu Tanko Wusono said: Crying wolf and insinuating that anyone wants to attack them further exposes them as lightweights. These are people clinging on straws, and trying to create mischief conscious of their political weakness as a coalition of the defeated, the deluded, the selfish and the discontented.Their leaders lost bids to become state chairman and governorship candidate. They were trounced by democratic means, and they know it. The same democratic instruments and the rules of the party is what they seek to undermine. Since 2014, they have been engaged in these irresponsible antics. The party is now saying no more.They have isolated themselves and demonstrated the inability to be disciplined or to commit to wider interests beyond their ego. The APC and its leaders have every right to warn them to desist from puerile politics. No one will be allowed to thwart the APC from deepening its roots and being strengthened as a party of the people, disciplined and focused on the public good, Wusono said.
A group under the aegis of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, ERA/FOEN, has described as mere jamboree the recent f...
A group under the aegis of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, ERA/FOEN, has described as mere jamboree the recent flag-off of the clean-up of Ogoni, Rivers State.It said that apart from the usual fan fair, there was no serious commitment by the government to the exercise.Executive Director of ERA/FOEN, Dr. Godwin Ojo, made this disclosure during the World Environment Day in Abuja.He urged the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to come out and state in a clear and unambiguous terms the commitment of government and Shell Petroleum Development Company in the exercise.Ojo also frowned at the non passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, which his organisation has been at the fore front of the campaign for its passage, noting that what was presently before the National Assembly as PIB was highly deceptive.Ojo said Environmental challenges have been politicised along ethnic lines. The failure of natural resource management in Nigeria is the failure of governance in the lack of compliance and enforcement of the extant laws.Let us put a halt to the plundering of natural resources in the name of foreign exchange earnings. This has so far been counter to local production and consumption. Two profile cases are worthy of mention: The Petroleum Industry Governance Bill 2015, and the implementation of the United Nations Environmental programme, UNEP, Assessment on Ogoniland Report.First, the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill 2015 (PIGB) for oil sector reform currently before the National Assembly falls short of peoples expectation because it does not recognised local participation in the management of natural resources.The 10 percent equity devolved to the community in the previous Bill had been deliberately left out and environmental protection is not provided for. The Bill is not comprehensive and highly deceptive because although it anticipates other bills, yet the timing, shape and content of such future bills are virtually unknown.The Bill should not be passed by the lawmakers unless the promoters put all the cards on the table in respect to other expected bills and incorporate critical views from the impacted communities and civil society groups.Almost five years on from the submission of the report (August 4, 2011), nothing has changed. Spill sites identified by UNEP remain heavily contaminated even after claims by Shell that it has carried out clean-up operations.The Ogoni environment is worse off, and the people are dying in droves on a daily basis in a place where life expectancy is shortest in Nigeria.To reiterate, the high point of the presidents speech delivered on his behalf by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo was the approval he gave for the setting up of the structures such as the Governing Council and the Board of Trustees recommended for driving the clean up process, he added.
Those were the words of James Faleke, running mate of the late Audu Abubakar, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015 Kog...
Those were the words of James Faleke, running mate of the late Audu Abubakar, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015 Kogi governorship election, shortly after the tribunal dismissed his petition against Yahaya Bello, governor of the state.The tribunal held that Faleke could not be declared governor because he did not participate in the APC primary.But Faleke told journalists in his Abuja residence on Monday, that he would have to consult his lawyers before appealing against the judgment.I watched the verdict of the tribunal on TV, one thing I can say is that, the judges have delivered their own judgment, I will consult my lawyers, upon which I am very certain that we will appeal the judgment, he said.I am not a lawyer, but I can say that it (the judgment) is not in tune with our constitution.He said that the tribunal was wrong to have ruled that he had no locus standi to file the petition.Delivering her judgment, Halima Mohammed, justice of the tribunal, held that the APC was right to have nominated Bello to replace the late Audu as its candidate in the December 2015 supplementary election.The judge held that Faleke had no locus-standi to file the petition since he was not nominated by the APC as its governorship candidate.Mohammed further said that votes cast in an election belong to a political party which nominates a candidate; hence it was lawful for the party to transfer votes polled by Audu to Bello.She, thereafter, dismissed the petition for lacking in merit.However, Mohammed held that Faleke remained the valid deputy governor of the state because there was no evidence to show that he wrote to his party withdrawing his candidature as deputy governor as required by law.Faleke had petitioned the tribunal challenging the declaration of Bello as governor of Kogi state.Faleke, who was the running mate of Audu in the election, felt slighted by the action of his party; he then asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare him winner of the election.But INEC declined to oblige him.He contended that he ought to have inherited the votes of Audu, who was leading in the election before it was declared inconclusive, since he was his running mate.But electoral umpire went ahead to hold a supplementary election with Bello as a substitute candidate for the APC.Bellos argument was that he was duly nominated by his party to represent them in the supplementary election, and that he scored the highest number of votes in the exercise.But Faleke maintained that Bello was unqualified to be governor of Kogi state.Idris Wada, former governor of the state and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), also petitioned the tribunal asking it to declare him winner of the election.He contended that Bello was an interloper who had no business with the exercise.The tribunal will deliver judgment on his petition on Tuesday.
Former governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff, has accused some individuals at the partys national secretariat of conducting a se...
The statement reads in full: Our attention has been drawn to the activities at the National secretariat of the PDP to the effect that some individuals masquerading as leaders have handed over to Ahmed Mohammed Makarki under a contraption called caretaker committee.
We state as a matter of fact that going by proceedings still pending in the courts to the effect that Senator Ali Sheriff remains the National Chairman, whatever transpired was null, void and of no effect whatsoever.
Sheriff has not mandated anybody, nor was his authority obtained by Uche Secondus, who has been parading himself as acting on behalf of the National Chairman.
While we await the verdicts of the courts, we wish to state that Senator Ali Modu Sheriff is and remains the National Chairman of the party, until otherwise declared by the courts.
We allowed the charade to go on at the secretariat without any form of challenge in strict obedience to careful pronouncement on the matter, but we must also state that there is no gathering of groups or individuals, however powerful, such groups or individuals may be, that can be said to take precedence over the law.
For the avoidance of doubts, we state categorically that what took place at the PDP secretariat on Tuesday June 7, 2016 was a total disregard to court orders. And an extension of the impunity for which the party has been accused of and which has taken the party to where it is today.
The public should disregard all the actions and pronouncements, Mr. Bwala said.
The partys former deputy national chairman, Uche Secondus, had earlier handed over the reins of office to Mr. Makarfi at a brief ceremony held at the Wadata Plaza in Abuja.The opposition party has been dogged by crisis over the chairmanship position.Powerful party organs have rallied behind Mr. Makarfi who, himself, was appointed under controversial circumstances. Mr. Sheriff who had been in charge of the party for months, insists he remains the chairman.The two men had secured favourable court injunctions restricting either of them from parading themselves as national chairman and or caretaker chairman of the party respectively.Mr. Makarfi said the former Borno governor would have attended the partys meeting on Monday night if he had not travelled out of the country.But in a press statement issued Tuesday evening, Mr. Sheriff, said through his spokesperson, Inuwa Bwala, that he was still in charge.
Former President, Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday said Nigeria may revisit the law that banned same-sex marriages.
Former President, Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday said Nigeria may revisit the law that banned same-sex marriages.He said as the quest for Nigerians and other citizens worldwide to have equal rights deepens, there is need for Nigeria to appropriately revisit the law.Jonathan said this at a forum in Bloombergs European headquarters in London.According to him, When it comes to equality, we must all have the same rights as Nigerian citizens.The nation may at the appropriate time revisit the law in the light of deepening debates for all Nigerians and other citizens of the world to be treated equally and without discrimination and with the clear knowledge that the issue of sexual orientation is still evolving.It would be recalled that in January 2014, Jonathan signed into law the Bill which outlaws same sex marriage, gay groups and public displays of affection by homosexuals.The signed bill says the gays; lesbians in Nigeria will risk a 14-year jail term if they do not retrace their steps and renounce such marriage.Also, any person who operates or participates in gay clubs, societies and organisations directly or indirectly will earn a 10-year imprisonment.Those who administer witness, abet or aid the solemnization of a same sex marriage are going to bag a 10-year jail term.The decision, however, triggered condemnation by religious leaders, human rights groups and Western governments.
Oyo State yesterday ordered the closure of primary and secondary schools as a way of protecting the lives and properties of the citizen...
Oyo State yesterday ordered the closure of primary and secondary schools as a way of protecting the lives and properties of the citizenry.In a statement, the government said it took the decision following alleged attempt by some members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Nigeria Union of Teachers (TUC) to expose our staff and students to danger arising from the on-going court action against their members.The statement reads: Todays incident whereby some students and members of the public were once again coerced by labour to disrupt school sessions and engage in an unwarranted public protests and wanton destruction of property is highly condemnable.Members of the public will recall that members of the two bodies (NLC and NUT) and their hired collaborators last week disrupted the stakeholders forum organised by the government on the proposed participatory management of some public secondary schools.The decision of the leadership of the NLC to declare total strike without existing labour dispute or ultimatum to the government contravenes all known labour laws and conventions.It is quite unfortunate that labour leaders at the national level, who ought to know better, also failed to avail themselves of the opportunity of meeting with officials of the state government to clear apparent misconceptions about the intention of the government.The state government wishes to state for the umpteenth time that it never had any intention to privatise, commercialise or cede any of its public secondary schools to any individual or group.Rather, the intention of the government is to partner willing stakeholders in the participatory management of a negligible number of the public secondary schools, which may not be more than 10 per cent of the existing 631 schools in the end.Discussions are still ongoing with stakeholders on the matter and this informed the invitation extended to those concerned, including labour, NUT and other members of the public to come and contribute to the discourse before a final decision is taken by the government.The unpatriotic role being played by the disgruntled labour leaders and their external collaborators will not proffer solution to the dilapidated state of infrastructure, poor performance of students in public examinations, low morale of teachers and unconducive teaching-learning environmentThe state advised parents to warn their children and wards not to allow themselves to be used for any unlawful gathering or protest, because law enforcement agents have been placed on red alert to disperse any unlawful assembly.Workers who have been directed to embark on strike over a matter that is still in the conception stage should have a rethink and report at their duty posts, while the government intensifies efforts to clear arrears of salary, the statement said.
President Muhammadu Buharis letter informing the Senate about his medical vacation in the United Kingdom was Tuesday read on the floor...
The letter entitled Medical vacation read by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, was dated June 6th June, 2016.President Buhari said in the letter addressed to the Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, In compliance with Section 145 (1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, I wish to inform the Distinguished Senate that I will be away on a short medical vacation from 6th-16th of June 2016, and while I am away, the Vice President will perform the functions of my office.Please accept, as always assurances of my highest esteemed consideration.The President travelled to the United Kingdom on Monday to rest as well as seek medical attention to an ear weakness.
Following the release of a controversial 'Sacrifice Form' Issued by pastor in charge of Region 14 of the Redeemed Christian Chu...
Following the release of a controversial 'Sacrifice Form' Issued by pastor in charge of Region 14 of the Redeemed Christian Church of God to church members, The Church headquarters has released a statement reacting to the controversy.See the statement belowAccording to the sacrifice form, N1 million and above is a "divine sacrifice".Full month salary is an abundant sacrifice, but if you give your half month salary, it is dominion sacrifice. N200,000 gets you greatness sacrifice, N50,000 - golden sacrifice and N20,000 is a sacrifice for those wishing for the next level.The 'Sacrifice Form' sparked outrage on social media, with many accusing the pastor of exploitation in the name of religion.According to a photo also revealed yesterday to justify the release of the 'Sacrifice form' The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Region 14 explained the benefits of sacrificial giving.See the benefits below...
Blatant lies of the presidents team
With the news to the nation by presidential spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina, that President Muhammadu Buhari will begin a 10-day vacation to the United Kingdom on Monday and during the period, seek medical attention for a persistent ear infection, the lid has clearly now been blown on the contempt and disrespect some members of the presidents team have for Nigerians in the blatant lies they tell. This is because just 24 hours earlier, it was the same Adesina who told the media that the president is as fit as a fiddle as well as hale and hearty. Didnt you see pictures of him receiving Anglican bishops yesterday? Did he look sick? The president is as fit as a fiddle. Anyone who says he is sick is telling lies. That is a figment of the persons imagination. Just yesterday he received the Primate of the Anglican Communion and Archbishops at the Presidential villa. He also received former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He is hale and hearty. The imagination of whoever says that is on overdrive, Adesina had told TheCable last Saturday.Even The Nation, a newspaper sympathetic to the APC, the Presidents political party, also published a news story on Sunday, Presidency: Buhari is not sick in which the Presidents spokesman further dismissed and described as false media reports that the President was ill and treating an infection in his left ear known as Meniere Disease. Adesina told the newspaper that Buhari was fine and discharging his duties as President of Nigeria.But its obvious the man lied!Now, what is wrong with being sick?Anyone can fall sick anytime just as President Buhari himself rightly said. So, why on earth would Adesina lie about the presidents health? In whose interest is it? Why make such statement when the winds of time would expose such hypocrisy? Why the deceit? Just why?Mr. Adesina said anyone who says the president is sick is telling lies. With President Buhari off to the UK, its now apparent who the liar is! Verily, verily I saith unto you, Nigerians, lying is corruption!For a leading editor and columnist whose writings many Nigerians loved to read while he was at The Sun, it is surprising and shocking to see what being at the corridors of power is turning an otherwise distinguished journalist to. If he doesnt already know, Mr. Adesina must realise his fans are seriously hurting.When he told the country that President Buhari was as fit as a fiddle, he knew it was a lie. It wasnt correct information. Yet he chose to deceive over 170 million Nigerians about the true position of things as if he didnt know that if a lie travels for 20 years, the truth will catch up with it in just a single day. In his case, the truth caught up with him just the next day.How much is the life of the poor worth in Nigeria?But be that as it may, President Buharis medical trip to London again raises the question about our health care system in the country and particularly the fate of sick but poor Nigerians who are neither privileged to get state-sponsored care abroad like some of our leaders and politicians nor can even afford self-paid treatment for their illnesses and diseases at home. Really, how much is the life of the poor worth in Nigeria?And why do we allow problems that can be addressed promptly to fester and degenerate out of hand?For instance, Nigerians now know, through the CBN, that a significant portion of the increasing forex demand in the country is because many of our citizens go for treatments in hospitals abroad and enjoy spending summer holidays overseas. Why do we continue to encourage medical tourism abroad? What stops us from bringing at least other Africans to Nigeria for the best medical treatment when our doctors and nurses are doing wonders in other parts of the world? Where are our thinkers and visionaries in government like the fantastic guys doing wonders in the United Arab Emirates?Meanwhile, we are a people who seem to forget things so easily and this pattern, despite persistent lamentations by concerned patriots, evidently hasnt changed. We also dont quite learn from history. I believe the tragic death of former President Umaru Musa YarAdua in Aso Rock back in May 2010 six months after he was hurriedly flown to Saudi Arabia for medical attention where he was diagnosed of having pericarditis, an inflammation of the lining of the heart, should have taught us some unforgettable lessons as a country.Nigerians deserve to know about the true state of Buharis healthIn all of these, there are enough evidences of how Mr. Adesina has talked down on Nigerians in the last one year. But with embarrassing lies and rigmaroles that have now been discovered from his mouth as the presidents spokesman, it has only gotten worse.I expected that a media leader like him would have acted better in the circumstance and understood that the president is no longer a private citizen and Nigerians deserve to know about the true state of his health with the scenario one of his predecessors in that office, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, THISDAY columnist and chairman of the newspapers editorial board, confronted six years ago during the YarAdua saga.Adesina has the duty and responsibility to tell Nigerians the truth at all times in his position. I believe he ought to apologise to Nigerians if he wont resign. As humbling as tendering an apology may be for him, its an action he owes the country and himself because there will be life after being presidential spokesman. The country needs to set a standard which no one must breach whoever such is. Its for Nigerias overall good.And lest I forget, as patriotic and godly citizens, we must always pray for our country and leaders. I wish President Buhari soonest recovery and more grace in the task of rebuilding our fatherland. God bless Nigeria.Kolawole is an award-winning Nigerian journalist and author based in Lagos. You can reach him via ofemikolawole@gmail.com. Twitter: @ofemigan
Why, yes, that WAS Patrick Stewart at Cafe du Monde
The federal government plans to pour $125 million into the fight against a mysterious disease that has ravaged corals in Florida and much of the Caribbean, and now poses a dire threat to the treasured reefs off the Louisiana and Texas coasts.
WASHINGTON (AP) The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump. The nine-member panel sent a letter to the former president's lawyers on Friday, demanding his testimony under oath by mid-November and outlining a series of corresponding documents. The decision by lawmakers to exercise their subpoena power comes a week after the committee made its final case against the former president, who they say is the "central cause" of the multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It remains unclear how Trump and his legal team will respond to the subpoena, if at all.
For all practical purposes, Kevin Elwoods punishment is to take a long vacation.
Ordinarily, the superintendent of the Treynor Community School District wouldnt get four weeks off in the summer. However, his forthcoming, prolonged absence will be the result of his acceptance, at long last, of a state agencys ruling that he committed a professional ethics violation.
Elwood told The Nonpareil hell be paid for much if not all of his suspension of his superintendency license, owing to vacation and personal leave days he accrued during the 2015-16 school year in which he said he saved to use for that very suspension.
His punishment amounts to a lengthy spell out of the office and no pay raise for the 2016-17 school year. But those sanctions are little more than a slap on the wrist; they hardly begin to address the magnitude of his actions, or lack thereof, toward keeping students safe.
Elwood was accused of failing to protect the districts students from his son, Kreighton Elwood, after learning about the teens sexual assault of a female student. After hearing an admission from his son in the presence of a law enforcement officer, Kevin Elwood allowed his son to remain employed as a part-time summer custodian.
The superintendent allowed an employee of the district he oversaw one who had admitted, and later pleaded guilty to, inappropriate, criminal acts with a student to continue to work in close proximity to fellow students, even after criminal charges were filed against him.
The board found Elwood in violation of Iowa Administrative Code for failing to make (a) reasonable effort to protect the health and safety of the student or creating conditions harmful to student learning.
Without question, we feel that ethics sanction was absolutely appropriate for the circumstance.
Elwood failed to protect the children hes hired to grow and educate from an employee whose actions put others in danger despite ample warning. Furthermore, he failed to recuse himself to allow an impartial administrator to handle a clear conflict of interest.
Regardless of the fact his son was the accused party, there is no excuse for any manager to allow any employee accused of sexual assault to work in an environment with children.
Yet, Elwood will remain the superintendent of a district and community divided over his actions.
A joint statement released late last week by Elwood and the Treynor school board apologized for his actions, saying mistakes have been made, and situations, especially those involving bullying and harassment, should have been handled better.
The settlement appears to be an attempt to sweep the events of the past three years under the rug. However, it fails to hold the superintendent accountable for his own misdeeds that could have had far greater consequences for students than they already have.
As long as Elwood remains at the helm of Treynor schools, those scars will never fully heal.
DETROIT --- Wayne County Judge Brian Sullivan today ordered the immediate release of Davontae Sanford, who has been wrongly imprisoned since age 14 for a quadruple homicide that occurred on Detroits Runyon Street. Since 2008, professional hitman Vincent Smothers has repeatedly insisted that he alone was responsible for the murders. Now 23 years old, Davontae will be released from custody imminently after serving nearly nine years of a 37- to 90-year sentence.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy also has agreed to dismiss all charges and not to re-try Sanford for these crimes. Worthy based her decision on a lengthy report by the Michigan State Police detailing that agencys yearlong reinvestigation of the Runyon Street quadruple homicide, completed on May 20, 2016. Specifically, that report alleges that former Detroit Police Deputy Chief James Tolbert committed perjury when he falsely testified that Davontae Sanford drew a diagram of the crime scene in its entirety, including the location of the victims bodies, during his interrogation by police.
The Northwestern Pritzker School of Laws Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth and the Michigan Innocence Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School filed the motion for relief from judgment that Judge Sullivan granted today.
Pro bono attorneys from Dykema Gossett PLLC handled the final negotiations with the prosecutors office leading to todays stipulated order. The Northwestern team was headed by Megan Crane and supported by Steven Drizin and Laura Nirider, and the Michigan team was headed by Dave Moran. Valerie Newman from the State Appellate Defender Office, which formerly represented Sanford on appeal, also served on the legal team.
In April 2015, the Michigan Innocence Clinic and Northwesterns Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth filed an extensive Motion for Relief from Judgment highlighting the detailed, corroborated confession by Smothers to the Runyon Street murders and highlighting the obvious unreliability of Davontae Sanfords confessions, given their complete lack of corroboration and many inaccuracies. As a result, the Michigan State Police reinvestigated the murders. On May 20, 2016, the Michigan State Police provided the report to the Wayne County Prosecutors office.
After 3,185 days of prison time for a crime he did not commit, Davontae finally got justice today, said Megan Crane, co-director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth at Northwestern. Davontae and his family, and many lawyers, have fought long and hard to show the truth in this case. We could not be happier that this day is finally here.
In particular, we want to applaud the Michigan State Police (MSP) for their truly extraordinary reinvestigation of the Runyon Street murders and Davontae Sanfords innocence. The evidence underlying Judge Sullivan and Kym Worthys decision today was uncovered by the MSP and they deserve immense credit, Crane said.
We are pleased that Davontae Sanford finally will have this injustice corrected, albeit nine years too late, said David Moran, director of the Michigan Innocence Clinic. This has been an extraordinary case in which the guilty party took responsibility, but the justice system took many years to acknowledge the complete breakdown that allowed for Davontae to sit in prison for nine years. Davontae can now return to his family and, for the first time in his adult life, live as a free man.
Crane added: This case highlights the critical need for juveniles to be represented by counsel in the interrogation room. Here, 14-year-old Davontae confessed to a crime he did not commit only after he had been interrogated repeatedly over the course of two days without an attorney, or even a parent, present. His confession made little sense and got more wrong than right. If an attorney had been by Davontaes side while police were questioning him, he would never have falsely confessed and this injustice would never have happened.
Case Background
At age 15, Davontae Sanford was convicted of fatally shooting four people at a house on Runyon Street in Detroit in 2007. He confessed after several hours of police interrogation over the course of two days. He subsequently entered a guilty plea in the middle of trial, once he realized his defense attorney was not going to do anything to defend him.
Two weeks and two days after Sanford was sentenced to 37 to 90 years in prison, Vincent Smothers, an admitted professional hitman now serving time for eight murders, told Detroit police offices that he and an adult accomplice not Sanford were responsible for the four homicides on Runyon Street. He admitted his role in 2008 while voluntarily confessing to a string of other killings and he has detailed his role in the shootings during numerous interviews with police, attorneys, and journalists since then.
Smothers has been convicted of all of the other murders to which he confessed but not the Runyon Street killings, even though Smothers led the police to one of the murder weapons used in the Runyon killings. The second murder weapon also has been linked to one of Smothers other hit murders, for which he is serving time. Furthermore, Smothers used a gun he stole from the Runyon house to kill a police officers wife in late 2007.
Read more about the case here.
Penrith's Sam McKendry will miss two matches after pleading guilty to a shoulder charge, while Roosters prop Dylan Napa will challenge his careless high tackle charge at the NRL judiciary on Wednesday.
McKendry will miss the Panthers' upcoming matches against Manly and South Sydney over the hit on Melbourne's Cameron Munster late in the Panthers' loss to the Storm on Saturday night.
Raiders duo Shannon Boyd and Jack Wighton are also suspended this week after pleading guilty to a shoulder charge and making contact with an official respectively.
Bulldogs hooker Michael Lichaa has entered a guilty plea to a dangerous throw charge on Cronulla's Chris Heighington but won't miss any matches.
AMKUS Rescue Systems has begun manufacturing its rescue tools in Indiana, after being bought earlier this year by Task Force Tips and moving production from Downers Grove, Illinois, to Valparaiso.
The manufacturer of fire and rescue equipment relocated to a 50,000-square-foot facility at 4201 Montdale Park Drive in the Montdale Business Park in Valparaiso, where Task Force Tips invested $2.6 million in renovations. AMKUS will add 10 jobs at its new home, which is less than one mile from its 168,000-square-foot headquarters.
Task Force Tips is a homegrown Indiana company headquartered in Valparaiso and known worldwide for its top-quality firefighting equipment such as nozzles and valves.
Indiana is a great place to do business and the state has been a strong partner for Task Force Tips as we have grown, said Martin Sonnenberg, president and chief operating officer of Task Force Tips. Northwest Indiana specifically has a wealth of talented people that make us successful. We believe that AMKUS will benefit greatly from being located in Indiana going forward.
AMKUS will share Task Force Tip's research and development facilities but will maintain its own identity, marketing, field managers and distribution network. It's one of more than 20 Illinois companies that's moved from Illinois to Indiana since 2013.
In this case it's because of an acquisition by Task Force Tips, which was founded in 1971 when a fire chief in Gary designed a new automatic fire nozzle. It is now a global leader in firefighting equipment manufacturing. The purchase of AMKUS lets the company, which employs 225 in Indiana, diversify into extrication tools for firefighters.
"Task Force Tips has been part of the Valparaiso community since the early 1970s and a leader in civic engagement and philanthropy," Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas said. "Their success is a product of good management and a strong commitment to innovation. We are very happy that AMKUS and its employees will be joining Task Force Tips and calling Valparaiso home."
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. gave Task Force Tips $200,000 in tax breaks for the relocation. AMKUS has pledged to hire 10 workers in production, assembly and shipping.
Anyone who's interested in a job can look online at tft.com.
GARY A 34-year-old Gary man was shot in the stomach early Monday, police said.
Police responded about 12:05 a.m. to the 4400 block of West 24th Court for a report of shots fired, Lt. Nelson Otano said.
Officers later found the man, who told police he was walking in the 4400 block of West 24th Avenue when someone pulled up and started shooting at him.
The man was hit in the stomach, and police located him about a block away, Otano said. He was take to a local hospital.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Sgt. John Basaldua at (219) 881-1210. To remain anonymous, call (866) CRIME-GP.
GRIFFITH Police arrested the same Kankakee woman twice, took a Gary man into custody and seized more than 7.5 pounds of suspected synthetic marijuana and $2,050 in cash during two raids at a business, officials said.
Police obtained the first warrant for One Stop Shop, 1045 E. Ridge Road, after learning the store was doing little to no legitimate business despite many patrons coming and going each day, according to a news release.
Officers executed the first warrant May 31 and seized more than $1,400 in cash, more than 4 pounds of suspected synthetic marijuana and a ledger used in drug transactions, police said.
A 40-year-old Kankakee, Illinois, woman was arrested, police said.
The woman, who refused to speak with police after the May 31 raid, was arrested again Saturday when police returned with a second warrant, officials said.
A 35-year-old Gary man, who also refused to talk with police, was arrested in the second raid, too, police said.
Officers seized more than $650 in cash, about 3.5 pounds of suspected fake pot and drug paraphernalia in the second raid, police said.
Formal charges of felony dealing in synthetic marijuana against the two suspects are pending lab results, police said.
Police began working with town officials after the first raid to pull the store's business license and have the store evicted. Results are expected soon, police said.
EAST CHICAGO An East Chicago man suspected of being high on heroin Tuesday in a South Shore train station may have been more than a little late for court in Illinois.
Corey Jones, 36, was found in physical distress about 10:10 a.m. at the East Chicago South Shore Station, Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District Transit Police Chief Robert Byrd said.
Jones told police he was taking a train to a Cook County courthouse in Chicago, where he was to be sentenced and imprisoned in a drug case.
Police discovered a warrant had been issued for Jones in May for manufacturing and delivery of heroin and probation violation, Byrd said.
Byrd asked Jones about his physical state again, and Jones admitted he snorted heroin just before arriving at the train station, a police report said.
Prompt Ambulance arrived and the crew administered the opioid-counteracting drug naloxone and took Jones to St. Catherine Hospital for treatment, Byrd said.
Jones refused medical treatment at the hospital and was returned to Transit Police headquarters for transport to the Lake County Jail for extradition proceedings, Byrd said.
MICHIGAN CITY Sunday was a proud day for the 62 graduating Marquette Catholic High School seniors.
The graduation ceremony began with a traditional baccalaureate Mass celebrated by the Most Rev. Donald Hying, bishop of the Diocese of Gary. He spoke to the students about the opportunities they have had.
Isn't it amazing that we are here? Hying said.
Hying also spoke about remembering what is important in life and loving what you do.
After the baccalaureate service, Principal James White welcomed everyone and thanked the staff, students and their parents. He also thanked and gave flowers to Superintendent of Schools Barbara OBlock for her hard work.
Graduate Abigail Garza spoke about the wonderful experience Marquette offers its students and recalled memories of each school department.
As much as we can owe our success to ourselves, we could not have succeeded by ourselves, she said.
Principal White and Hying then presented the graduates their diplomas.
Graduate Quinn White addressed the class of 2016 about the highs and lows of life and the importance of remaining hopeful and humble.
We need to constantly remain hopeful, he said.
After his speech, the students' dedication song, Hallelujah, was sung by the Marquette Music Ensemble.
The Postal Service hosted a stamp dedication ceremony Tuesday at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis where the stamp was available for purchase to those attending. Gov. Mike Pence and first lady Karen Pence attended the ceremony. The governor's office says the stamp will be available Wednesday at post offices statewide.
The image on the stamp was taken by 25-year-old Milford native Michael Matti and shows clouds streaming above a cornfield in northern Indiana's Kosciusko (kahs-ee-AHS'-koh) County.
The stamp comes as Indiana celebrates the 200th anniversary of its statehood. Indiana became the nation's 19th state on Dec. 11, 1816.
INDIANAPOLIS Gov. Mike Pence believes Donald Trump was wrong to claim that a California federal judge, who was born in East Chicago, should be disqualified from presiding over a civil lawsuit involving the Republican presidential nominee due to the judge's Mexican heritage.
"Of course I think those comments were inappropriate," Pence told reporters Tuesday.
"I don't think it's ever appropriate to question the partiality of a judge based on their ethnic background."
Though Pence, who is a lawyer, conditioned his remarks by first declaring: "Every American is entitled to a fair trial and an impartial judge."
Trump repeatedly has said U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel is "Mexican," and, as such, unfit to rule in a class-action fraud lawsuit involving the now-defunct Trump University, because Trump plans to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border if he's elected president.
The presumptive GOP presidential nominee later Tuesday said his remarks have been "misconstrued" and he is justified in questioning the legal proceedings.
"I do not feel that one's heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial," Trump said in a statement.
Both U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Republican Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner have condemned Trump for his remarks.
In light of Trump's appeal to ethnic discrimination, Pence declined to say whether he's reconsidering plans to support Trump on the campaign trail and to vote for him in November.
"You know, if I wanted to comment on everything that's being said in the presidential campaigns, I would have run for president," Pence said, before aides shuffled him off to Charleston for a fundraiser on behalf of a West Virginia gubernatorial candidate.
Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb, who previously served as chairman of the Indiana Republican Party, responded to Trump questions by proclaiming, "I'm supporting our nominee."
When reporters pointed out Trump was attacking a Hoosier and that even conservative Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse described Trump's effort to remove the judge as racist, Holcomb twice repeated: "I'm supporting our nominee."
Indiana Democratic Party leaders, including former East Chicago state Rep. John Aguilera, blasted Pence and Hoosier Republicans on Monday for being slow to condemn Trump's disparagement of an Indiana native.
Jeff Cardwell, the Republican chairman, who has not condemned Trump's remarks, described the Democratic effort to unite Hoosiers in defense of one of their own as "another typical stunt from the Democrat Party."
U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., said he was disappointed the Indiana Republican Party so far has refused to speak out against prejudice and stand up for Hoosiers.
"It most definitely is not a stunt," Donnelly said.
"Hoosiers know we are a stronger country when we work together, and it's fair of them to expect their elected officials to believe the same.
GARY The National Black Political Convention that was to have drawn presidential candidates and a couple of thousand participants has been scaled back significantly.
The convention was originally scheduled to run Thursday through Sunday at the Genesis Center, but has been shorted to three days, with a Saturday concert featuring the Sounds of Blackness. Organizers initially had hoped to have a political forum featuring the presidential candidates Saturday and a dinner featuring a speech by President Barack Obama that evening.
Linda Haithcox-Taylor, executive director of the National Policy Alliance, said the California primary taking place this week made the event a lower priority. Some of the candidates had offered to send representatives instead, but organizers decided to cancel the forum and shorten the event.
Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson said while the candidates' attention on the California primary made it hard to get an attendance commitment from them or their representatives, the more important issue is organizers wanted to make it more of a working meeting designed to establish an agenda. She indicated a candidate forum may have taken away from that aspect and besides, she said, there have already been a lot of debates and people know the candidates' platforms.
The whole point of the convention is to provide information to those individuals who can make a difference, she said.
For example, in the last eight years, the various federal agencies have worked in collaboration in assisting communities like Gary and she and others want to see that continue.
"That is the type of thing we want to see come out of this convention," Freeman-Wilson said.
She said they want to look at various ways they can help improve communities, such as addressing environmental challenges that were recently highlighted by the water crisis that impacted Flint, Michigan. Some other sessions will focus on criminal justice reform, black veterans, educational justice, and jobs, economic opportunity and income equity.
Freeman-Wilson, who anticipates 200 to 300 people at the convention, said the agenda will be given to both political parties as well as be shared with various state officials and community organizations.
Organizers hope to create an agenda that can help guide the nation and assist local communities in the future.
Although presidential candidates are no longer expected to attend the event, it still features some prominent local and national figures like Mayor Ras Baraka, of Newark, New Jersey, and Cheryl Pruitt, superintendent of the Gary Community School Corp.
The convention, with the title of "Setting the People's Agenda," begins Thursday at the Genesis Convention Center. U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., is the keynote speaker at a noon luncheon Friday.
In 1972, the first National Black Political Convention was held in Gary and developed an agenda that included such items as a call for the elimination of capital punishment and the establishment of a national health insurance system. It was also believed to have led to a dramatic increase in the number of African-Americans holding public office.
According to a convener of this year's event, Mayor Johnny Ford, of Tuskegee, Alabama, the new convention "will be an organization meeting where we will accomplish the same thing by developing a Black agenda that will be presented to the Democrats, Republicans and the Third Party persons. We will also make a decision during the meeting regarding any further or follow-up meetings."
Registration is $100 for the meeting, lunch and Saturday afternoon concert. Free tickets also will be available to the public for the concert. Call (219) 881-1314 for information. Registration is still available online at www.thenbpc.com by clicking on regular delegate or by visiting the Civil Rights Hall of Fame office at 487 Broadway.
Winning was the furthest thing from 13-year-old Crown Point resident Mia Stewarts mind when she entered the 2016 Hometown Festival Days Annual Handbill Contest. The 7th grader and her classmates in Ane Talevskis art class at Taft Middle School in Crown Point were given an assignment to draw a cover for the festival handbill. The entries were then turned over to the festival organizers to judge and they soon selected the winning submission.
The talented 7th grader was declared the winner and her drawing was chosen because the selection committee felt her design best represented the spirit of the Hometown Festival Days. Mias drawing features a bulldogwhich is the Taft Middle School mascoteating corn on the cob while sitting back and enjoying a fireworks show.
When asked what one word describes how she felt when she was announced as the winner, Mia says, surprised. She explains that there were two components that were required to be incorporated into the design: one was to identify the event as the Crown Point Hometown Festival Days and the other was to include the June 10, 11, 17 and 18 dates.
Mias mother, Laura Stewart, was also pleasantly surprised that her daughters drawing would be featured on the cover of the festival handbill. When I found out she won I was amazed, Laura says. Mia has had no prior art training so I am very proud of her. Laura adds that art is an at-home-type hobby for Mia. She creates works of art just for fun and currently, she is producing paintings on canvas to hang in her bedroom.
In addition to her interest in art, Mia is a well-rounded and very busy middle school student who is involved in a wide variety of activities. She is a member of the Taft Middle School National Junior Honor Society, sings in the school choir, enjoys competitive gymnastics and competes in track, including shot put, relay and long jump.
Mia and her mother say that the family definitely plans to come out and enjoy the Crown Point Hometown Festival Days. Its a pretty sure bet they will enjoy seeing Mias design on the cover of the handbill, as well.
GARY Police are looking for a man who committed an armed robbery early Monday at the South Shore train stop outside the Gary/Chicago International Airport.
A Gary man, who police aren't identifying, was waiting to board a morning train to Chicago 4:19 a.m when the suspect walked up to the station at 2nd Place and Clark Road, asked the victim for directions pulled a gun, Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District Transit Police Chief Robert Byrd said.
The victim attempted to run away, but the assailant chased him down, tackled him in a nearby yard, struck him in the head with the gun, robbed him of his money, a black Harley-Davidson wallet and a black and orange Michael Jordan backpack, Byrd said.
The assailant then kicked the victim before fleeing on foot south on Clark Road toward Fifth Avenue, he said.
Gary police and Gary firefighters also responded to the robbery. The victim was taken to Methodist Hospital Northlake Campus in Gary and treated for his injuries.
NICTD Transit Police are searching for a black male, 19 to 20 years of age, armed with a black semi-automatic handgun and wearing blue jeans and a gray or white hoodie.
Anyone with information about the suspect should call the NICTD Transit Police at (219) 398-6000. All calls are kept confidential.
EAST CHICAGO Political newcomer Brenda Walker is the citys new 3rd District councilwoman, having been selected via caucus of Democrats on Monday to fill the seat that had belonged to Robert Battle.
The East Chicago City Council voted on May 16 to remove Battle from office.
Battle remains incarcerated in Porter County while facing federal drug charges.
He also is accused of shooting and killing Reimundo Camarillo Jr. on Oct. 12 in East Chicago, an act Battle has claimed was in self-defense.
Battle ran unopposed in the November general election and won despite being behind bars.
A crowd of about 35 spectators watched at American Legion Post 369 on Monday as the five precinct committee members who make up the 3rd District voted to choose a new representative.
A majority winner was not chosen after three rounds of voting, which left it up to John Buncich, Lake County Democratic Central Committee chairman, to break a five-way tie of one vote apiece.
Complicating matters was that four of the precinct committee members who voted also were among the seven candidates who applied for the open seat.
Aida Gonzalez, Terence Hill, Jim Ventura and Inez Williams all threw their hats into the ring. Frank Rosado was the only precinct committeeman who voted who did not seek the seat.
Residents Eddie G. Tucker and Michael Velasquez also applied for the vacancy but did not attend the caucus.
Those applicants who did attend were given three minutes to state why they felt they were the right fit for the position.
Walker spoke of her membership in the Concerned Calumet Citizens Committee and of how she volunteers at a nursing home in East Chicago.
Prior to his selection, Buncich told those gathered of the importance of walking out of the meeting as unified Democrats regardless of who might be chosen.
This is one of the toughest decisions of my life, Buncich said.
After selecting Walker, Buncich said she stood out because of the work she does in the community, including with senior citizens.
Ive known Miss Walker for many, many years, Buncich said.
Walker, 68, is a lifelong East Chicago resident.
She is retired but continues to own a beauty shop in the city and had driven a school bus for the School City of East Chicago.
She was sworn into office by Buncich and addressed the crowd.
I am humbled to be your next 3rd District councilperson, Walker said. My doors are always open day or night.
She said she will make sure all five precincts in her district get their fair share.
GARY Police are looking for 35-year-old LaDiamond Dixon who has been missing for several days.
Sgt. Brian Ferro said Monday afternoon that Dixon was last seen leaving an apartment where she previously lived in the 1400 block of Jackson Street in the city's Midtown section. She has family members in Merrillville and Chicago.
She is described as a black female, five feet, four inches tall and weighing 100 pounds. She was last seen driving a green 2000 Volkswagen Passat.
Anyone with information on Dixon should call Ferro at 219-881-7420.
MICHIGAN CITY Indiana State Police reopened one eastbound lane early this evening following a crash between two semitrailers that closed all eastbound traffic on the Indiana Toll Road for more than four hours Monday afternoon.
Indiana State Police said about 7 p.m. that one eastbound lane and all westbound lanes were open.
Police said the accident took place 3:16 p.m. Monday on the Toll Road, 2 miles east of the US 421 exit.
Police said traffic congestion from road work further east, forced a 2011 Kenworth semi, driven by Orville McDougall, 38, of Riviera Beach, Florida, to stop in the right eastbound lane on the Indiana Toll Road.
A 2015 International failed to stop and hit the Kenworth from behind. Paper goods in the International caught fire. It became engulfed in flames, trapping the driver inside. The driver of the International was pronounced dead at the scene by the LaPorte County coroner.
Police are awaiting notification of the family before identifying the deceased driver.
McDougall was taken to Francisan St. Anthony Health in Michigan City for non-life threatening injuries.
Police had been diverting all eastbound traffic off the highway at Ind. 49 near Chesterton and the US 421 exit and had asked drivers to seek alternate routes to avoid continued delays.
WASHINGTON Republicans roundly scolded their own presidential candidate Monday, demanding Donald Trump apologize for and just stop talking about the ethnic background and impartiality of the American judge overseeing a lawsuit against Trump University.
Leading the roll call were two former rivals.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich tweeted that Trumps offensive against the impartiality of U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel is flat-out wrong.
Trump, Kasich wrote, should apologize to Judge Curiel & try to unite this country.
Chimed in Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Its wrong and I hope he stops.
Other prominent Republicans piled on, drawing a solid line between themselves and the billionaire candidate with whom theyve developed a fragile peace. But that detente comes with caveats chief of which is the understanding that Trump, nomination nearly in hand, will now focus on uniting the fractured GOP.
Trump, too, showed some deference for the truce, declining to immediately hit back at the Republican lawmakers who have demanded he move on.
But Trump insisted earlier Monday that his criticism of Curiel came in defense against relentless questions from reporters and others about lawsuits against Trump University. Trump said Curiel cant be impartial in the suits because the jurists parents were born in Mexico and Trump wants to build a wall along the border. Last week, he denied on CNN that his remarks are racist.
Public Service Announcement: Saying someone cant do a specific job because of his or her race is the literal definition of racism, tweeted Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., a longtime Trump critic.
Curiel is a former federal prosecutor who was born in East Chicago to parents who came from Mexico. He is a 1971 Bishop Noll Institute graduate and practiced law in Dyer before moving to California.
He has not responded to Trumps attack, and Trumps legal team has not sought his removal from the case. Judges generally are thought to have conflicts of interest only in more specific situations, such as a financial interest in the outcome of the case.
Trump University is the target of two lawsuits in San Diego and New York which accuse the business of fleecing students with unfulfilled promises to teach them secrets of success in real estate. Trump has maintained that customers were overwhelmingly satisfied. Curiel is presiding over the suits in California.
All Im trying to do is figure out why Im being treated so unfairly by a judge, Trump said Monday on Fox News Channel.
The Republican establishment responded in rare unison: Just stop.
He needs to stop saying it. That man is an American born in the United States, Rubio, son of Cuban immigrants, told Orlando television station WFTV. I dont think it reflects well on the Republican Party. I dont think it reflects well on us as a nation.
Added Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine: Donald Trumps comments on the ethnic heritage and religion of judges are absolutely unacceptable. His statement that Judge Curiel could not rule fairly because of his Mexican heritage does not represent our American values.
And from the House side, Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz urged Trump to move on.
Why doesnt he just say, Look, its up to the attorneys ... and leave it at that? Chaffetz, R-Utah, said on Fox News Channel.
The cascade of condemnation began on the Sunday talk shows, when a trio of prominent Republicans firmly rejected Trumps focus on Curiel and urged him to make good on his promise to unite the fractured Republican Party. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he couldnt disagree more with Trumps statements about Curiels impartiality, adding that were all behind him now an implicit warning that such unity might not be the case for long. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said he doesnt condone Trumps statements about Curiel, then complained that his interview was supposed to be about foreign policy.
And former House speaker Newt Gingrich pointedly suggested that Trump start acting like a potential leader of the United States.
Trump already has rejected calls for him to adjust his approach.
Im 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 Trumps plan to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., Trump responded: Yeah. That would be possible, absolutely.
From ancient times, amphibious military invasions are rightly regarded as especially challenging. Early summer includes the 72nd anniversary of the greatest such operation, the Allies invasion of France in World War II, on June 6, 1944 D-Day.
The Normandy invasion combined thorough planning, mobilizing vast material, and great imagination. When the operation already underway was publicly announced, a U.S. newspaper highlighted a front-page drawing of invading soldiers cascading into Europe, as a terrified Hitler fled. A year of extremely brutal, almost continuous combat lay ahead, but the end of Nazi Germany was in sight once the beaches were secured.
The leadership of Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was crucial. Ike demonstrated great executive ability in supervising an unprecedented logistical challenge, and his remarkable interpersonal skills welded and held together the most diverse military alliance in history. Related to this, he was able to establish overall unity of command. This was never achieved even among the American military in the Pacific, where Gen. Douglas MacArthur pursued one strategic vision, while Navy admirals implemented a different approach.
Extensive bombing of transport routes and supply depots in France was viewed by Eisenhower as crucial preparation for the land invasion. Such action would bring an estimated minimum of 60,000 civilian casualties, and perhaps far more. For that reason, many American and British air commanders resisted such widespread destruction, arguing for a much more limited effort.
Eisenhower was adamant about the absolute need for extensive bombing, arguing that less would put the invasion at severe risk. He was able to turn to the leader of the Free French, Gen. Charles de Gaulle, whose nation was the target. De Gaulle agreed completely, and gave unequivocal support. Uniquely among senior Allied commanders, Ike had managed to establish an effective working relationship with the demanding, difficult French leader.
Simultaneously, the American leader never lost awareness of the terrible human costs of war, borne primarily by the enlisted ranks. He constantly stressed the fundamentally important role of the combat soldier, and regularly went to see troops in the field. This dimension is captured especially by classic photographs of his visit with young American paratroopers preparing to depart to initiate D-Day.
Finally, Eisenhower demonstrated truly brilliant imagination. During heavy fighting for Sicily in 1943, Gen. George S. Patton Jr. slapped two U.S. soldiers suffering extreme combat stress, and in the ensuing intense public maelstrom he was almost fired. In reaction, Nazi leaders dismissed the controversy as fabricated propaganda; the German military annually, routinely executed thousands of their own men for various infractions.
Eisenhower responded by isolating Patton in England, to reflect on his behavior while a fictitious army was created around him. Actors were assigned roles, bogus information generated, phony buildings and vehicles constructed. The trick worked. On D-Day and immediately thereafter, crucial German units were held back, in part because Pattons (fictitious) forces had not yet moved.
Carthage College teachers over many years have made good use of the ancient classic The Art of War by ancient Chinas philosopher Sun Tzu, who stressed the importance of deception. Ike may or may not have read the book. He could have written the book, easily.
When Eisenhower died, newly inaugurated President Richard M. Nixons insightful eulogy rightly compared him to George Washington: first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.
On this anniversary, Ike provides enduring lessons for all of us.
It is general knowledge that substance abuse is a contributing factor, if not the direct cause, behind the high incarceration rates in the United States.
The incarceration rate in the United States is second-highest in the world, behind only the Seychelles, a tiny East African island nation, according to the London-based International Center for Prison Studies.
So its refreshing to see a new substance abuse treatment program in Starke County helping inmates from throughout Northwest Indiana.
The inmates are participating in an experimental program to determine whether offenders who are addicts have a better chance of recovery in county jails than in state prisons.
Jails tend to be smaller, have less drug and gang activity, and are closer to family members.
So far, the results are promising. When it was done in prison, before the jail experiment, graduates of the program had a recidivism rate about half that of the general prison population.
Breaking addiction is key, but so is teaching the addict how to function in society. The peer-driven program teaches parenting, job training, control of emotions and more.
Megan Fisher, an addiction counselor with the Indiana Department of Correction, said the size of the unit is important.
When youve got 600 guys in a program, its easy to find a corner to hide in and just kind of skate through, Fisher said.
When you have this small of a group, theyre pretty much forced to get real or get out.
The program at the Starke County Jail in Knox services addicts from Porter, LaPorte, Jasper, Pulaski, Fulton, Marshall and St. Joseph counties as well as Starke.
Tim Lisak, 27, of LaPorte, said when he was at the Westville Correctional Center, drugs still made it into the unit where the addiction treatment program took place. At Knox, its different. Everyone wants to live.
Steven Thompson, 33, a New Chicago native, said the Starke County Jail approach is better than any rehab program hes tried before. There, we just sat around in a group, glorifying drugs, he said. It made me want to do it more.
Starke County is a hotbed of methamphetamine production, even for a state that ranks No. 1 in the nation for meth use. An Indiana State Police map of clandestine meth lab busts is staggering.
But inside the jail, offenders get the treatment they need, including injections of Vivitrol, a medicine designed to reduce the cravings for opioids and alcohol. They are referred to a local community health center after release for continued treatment and monthly injections.
This program remains an experiment, but it offers hope as a way to reduce both addiction and the prison population. If it proves successful, this program should be replicated elsewhere.
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama is ready to make it official.
With Hillary Clinton close to securing the Democratic nomination for president, Obama is on the verge of formally endorsing his former secretary of state and starting to aggressively make the case against Republican Donald Trump. White House officials say the announcement could come within days, although not before Democrats in New Jersey, California and four other states vote today in contests expected to solidify Clintons claim.
The timeline is likely to hold regardless of how Clinton rival Sen. Bernie Sanders reacts to todays outcome, the White House said Monday.
Obama called Sanders on Sunday to discuss next steps, according to a Democrat familiar with the call. The Democrat spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the private conversation.
White House and Clinton campaign aides have been discussing the sequencing of the long-expected announcement, and Obamas schedule has several possible opportunities for maximizing the impact. On Wednesday, hes due in New York City to address donors at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Clintons home state. Hell also tape an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, a favorite with the coveted young demographic, for the show set to air Thursday night.
The news likely will be followed by a first joint appearance before long.
Choosing the setting and timing is delicate diplomacy for the White House. Officials are trying to negotiate as gentle an ending as possible to what has become a contentious primary, hoping not to alienate Sanders most passionate voters.
But key dynamics remain unsettled. Although Clinton is within reach of the nomination, it remains unclear whether she will seal the deal on a high note, with a victory in California, or whether a Sanders win in the state would make Obamas endorsement appear more meddlesome.
On Monday, Clinton noted the timing of the expected endorsement has symbolic weight: Tuesday marks eight years since her concession speech and endorsement of Obama after their 2008 primary showdown.
Campaigning in Los Angeles, Clinton said she looks forward to campaigning with the president and everybody else.
Sanders, asked by reporters in San Francisco if he had talked to Obama, demurred. Right now we are campaigning, he said.
Last week, Obama declared the Democratic contest was almost over and suggested he was waiting for todays contests before making his move.
The president said hes been waiting on the sidelines rather than be big-footing the situation, to ensure voters are deciding the outcome. Still, at key moments, Obama has offered high praise and needed defense for Clinton and little comparable support for Sanders.
The White House and the Clinton backers are hoping the moment will serve as something of a reset button, ending the surprisingly long and contentious primary and refocusing Democrats on the history in the making Clinton would be the first female major-party nominee and the job of defeating Trump.
It remains unclear whether Sanders and his backers are ready for reset. Although the Vermont senator is looking at an insurmountable delegate deficit, hes not said hell go quietly.
Asked Monday whether an Obama endorsement of Clinton would affect his campaign, Sanders deflected, saying he was being asked to speculate before an important primary in California.
Meanwhile, many of his supporters have expressed a deep distrust in the Democratic primary process particularly the influence of party leaders.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Monday suggested the president had no qualms about the math.
Certainly somebody who claims a majority of the pledged and superdelegates has a strong case to make, Earnest said, adding that once voters weigh in Tuesday, we may be in a position where we have much greater sense of what the outcome is likely to be.
One of Obamas tasks will be bringing along the young, progressive voters who have been a key part of his base but have lined up behind Sanders this year. The president wants to retain his goodwill with those voters.
White House officials say the president is planning to be a steady and active player on the campaign trail. Unlike recent sitting presidents, Obama remains popular enough to be welcome in swing states and Democratic strongholds.
Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey in Los Angeles and Ken Thomas in Emeryville, California, contributed to this report.
City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito condemned Donald Trump Monday for his remarks about the ethnicity of the judge presiding over the Trump University lawsuit.
Elected officials held a press conference outside Trump Tower in Midtown to speak out against the real estate mogul.
Last week, Trump said U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel should withdraw from a lawsuit against Trump University because of his quote "Mexican heritage."
He claims the judge is biased against him because of his plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
"He's quite literally saying Judge Curiel can't do his job, because of his ethnicity," the Council Speaker said. "That is the definition of racism. It's gross. It's vile and it is not normal behavior for anyone let alone someone running to be President of the United States."
Top Republican leaders have also criticized Trump for his attacks on Curiel, saying he went too far.
State leaders still have no agreement on extending Mayor Bill de Blasio's control of city schools, which expires later this month if lawmakers don't act. The Republican-controlled State Senate wants to give the mayor a short leash, extending control for just one year and adding state oversight. State House Reporter Zack Fink has the latest.
State Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan says he favors an extension of mayoral control of city schools.
But he only wants to extend it by a year, and he wants to add a state inspector to monitor the schools and report back to the Governor.
"I think there should be oversight for all school districts across the state of New York," Flanagan said. "I've said unequivocally all along that we believe in mayoral control. And I think it's important to ultimately hold one person accountable."
Mayor de Blasio declined to comment on the Senate's proposal at an unrelated event in Manhattan.
"We're going to see you a little later in the week on that," the mayor said.
Last year, the mayor asked lawmakers for a permanent extension of mayoral control, but Senate Republicans, still smarting over the mayor's support for a Democratic state senate, only gave him a year, which was widely seen as political payback.
This year, Republicans held two hearings, one in Albany where the mayor testified for roughly four hours, then another one near City Hall where the mayor was a no show.
We asked Governor Cuomo where he stands on the Senate's bill at a Hudson Valley event Monday.
"I haven't looked at the bill, but I don't support that bill," the governor said. "I support mayoral control for a period of three years. 100% mayoral control."
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie also supports a three-year extension and without state oversight.
"That's the senate's opinion, we stand by the Bill we passed," the speaker said. "We are glad the governor agreed with us on that. We will try to figure it out before the end of session."
But Flanagan is getting support from independent senate conference leader Jeff Klein who continues to have an alliance with the Republicans for control of the Senate.
"Everyone is focusing on the oversight," said Klein. "Also contained in that bill is some initiatives that I think engage parents a lot more."
With the legislative session scheduled to end next week, some fear that Republicans may just pass their bill and go home, essentially forcing the Assembly's hand. But Flanagan says leaders continue to negotiate the issue.
WASHINGTON In 2001, Sonia Sotomayor, an appeals court judge, gave a speech declaring that the ethnicity and sex of a judge may and will make a difference in our judging.
In her speech, Judge Sotomayor questioned the famous notion often invoked by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her retired Supreme Court colleague, Sandra Day OConnor that a wise old man and a wise old woman would reach the same conclusion when deciding cases.
I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasnt lived that life, said Judge Sotomayor, who is now considered to be near the top of President Obamas list of potential Supreme Court nominees.
Her remarks, at the annual Judge Mario G. Olmos Law and Cultural Diversity Lecture at the University of California, Berkeley, were not the only instance in which she has publicly described her view of judging in terms that could provoke sharp questioning in a confirmation hearing.
In a move sure to bring cheer to junior associates at major law firms, one of the industrys most elite, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, on Monday said it had increased the annual salary for its first-year lawyers to $180,000, from $160,000.
Salaries for other associates have also been increased by $20,000 to $35,000 annually, up to $315,000 for associates in their eighth year. The news, which came in a memo from the firms partners, is a signal to other big law firms to fall in line or potentially lose the best new law school recruits.
The salary increases are likely to be matched quickly by high-earning firms including Davis Polk & Wardwell; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; and Sullivan & Cromwell if for no other reason than to make it clear that they all play in the same prestigious league.
It has been nearly a decade since entry-level lawyer salaries were last increased. Law firms, buffeted by a changing economy, have been struggling to adjust to corporate clients who are increasingly demanding billing discounts and refusing to pay steep rates for junior associates to learn on the job.
West Virginia faces perhaps the greatest fallout from the flood of coal bankruptcies that have hit the courts in the last year because many of its mines are scheduled to close and will require extensive cleanup. The state took the unusual approach of hiring a seasoned bankruptcy lawyer from New York who grew up in West Virginia to represent its Department of Environmental Protection in the Alpha case.
The goal is to make sure the coal companies clean up the mess when they leave, said the lawyer, Kevin W. Barrett of Bailey & Glasser, who was named a special assistant attorney general for West Virginia and is taking the lead on the Alpha case.
Regulators and environmental groups in Appalachia have tangled with coal companies for decades over their mining practices, particularly mountaintop removal mining, which involves removing mountain summits to extract coal.
But in the bankruptcy cases, West Virginia has been pressuring the industrys lenders to share more of the responsibility for mine reclamation and water remediation, arguing that they exert great influence, if not outright control in some cases, over the bankrupt mining companies.
Still, figuring out who holds the industrys debt can involve a cat-and-mouse game. Earlier this year, Alpha denied knowing the identity, or the holdings, of its so-called first-lien lenders, which are in line to be paid before many other creditors, according to a court filing.
WASHINGTON The Republican chairman of the House Financial Services Committee outlined on Tuesday a legislative proposal that aims to dismantle significant portions of the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory overhaul.
The plan, whose details will be released in full later this month, has little chance of passing Congress this year. But the proposal by Representative Jeb Hensarling, Republican of Texas, may influence the presidential debate and help shape the Republican agenda in the next term.
The conservative lawmaker has been a longtime critic of the financial reform law. The Financial Choice Act, which stands for Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs, builds on longstanding efforts by House Republicans to roll back or repeal major elements of the law, and would strip financial regulators of significant authority to oversee some of the countrys largest financial institutions. The plan is an outgrowth of a call by House Speaker Paul Ryan for Republican lawmakers to offer affirmative policy proposals that go beyond criticisms of Democratic policies.
Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has said that he will dismantle Dodd-Frank, though he has not provided detail about how he would replace or rewrite the law.
Oddly enough, one of the firms suing Dell, T. Rowe Price, was deemed to be ineligible to receive a payment because through a series of technical mistakes it voted in favor of the transaction. (A shareholder has to vote against the deal to be eligible for a payout.) On Monday, T. Rowe Price said it would make its investors who held Dell shares whole, paying out a total of $194 million.
The rules around Delawares appraisal rights of fair value are aimed at helping long-term shareholders protect themselves in instances of self-dealing or other chicanery. In recent years, however, using the courts to negotiate fair value has become a full-time industry for investment funds and lawyers looking for a quick score.
Wei Jiang, a professor at Columbia Business School, recently noted in a study that Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock III in Delaware had commented in one case that the shareholders bringing the lawsuit were arbitrageurs who bought, not into an ongoing concern, but instead into this lawsuit. Ms. Jiang wrote that the number of appraisal petitions has increased from a trickle of cases in the early 2000s to over 20 a year in recent years, or close to one-quarter of all transactions where appraisal is possible.
Whats so peculiar about the Dell decision is that the judge found no chicanery and still didnt think the price was fair, explaining that it was possible a boards actions might pass muster for purposes of a breach of fiduciary claim and yet still generate a sub-optimal process for purposes of an appraisal.
Thats not to say that Dells buyout was a model of perfection; no buyout in which the founder is trying to buy shares from the public will ever be conflict-free. Management always has the distinct advantage, and its decision to pursue a deal often makes it harder to attract competing offers. In its ruling, the Chancery cited a column I wrote about this very issue in the Dell case.
At the same time, Mr. Dell appears to have genuinely tried to make the playing field even for bidders: He spent more time with the Blackstone Group, which ultimately dropped its bid, than with the winning group he led. And the judge said as much in his decision.
All of this raises serious questions for dealmakers and public shareholders: Whats the appropriate way to determine a takeover price? And if the highest bid is not deemed fair assuming the auction is run competently what is?
The Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary have served others across the world for more than a century. They have salved wounds in the slums of India, prayed with prisoners in Brazil, built schools in Cameroon and provided aid to a shaken Haiti.
Hundreds of the sisters of the Immaculati Cordis Mariae have also passed through the brownstone-framed doors of 236 and 238 East 15th Street. Since 1948, the sisterhood, begun in Belgium, has resided here on Stuyvesant Square.
For all their globe-trotting, many of the sisters still consider Manhattan their spiritual home.
I remember seeing the park, and being so excited to have some greenery, Sister Rosemary Cicchitti said last week during a tour of the house. She arrived in the summer 1953, before departing for Antigua. When I was away, I would think of the park. And when I moved back, it was so nice to have it outside my window again.
Sister Rita Cavaretta, who came to the house the same year, said: It was so beautiful. The only problem was there was no air-conditioning then, and the drunkards would gather in the park and keep us up at night, so we had to yell at them to be quiet.
3. Indias prime minister, Narendra Modi, goaded by concern over a possible Trump presidency, showcased an unusually cooperative approach on his second visit to the White House in two years. He took crucial steps toward ratifying the Paris climate accord and finishing the purchase of nuclear reactors, with a military deal to come. Modi wants to get as much as he can out of Obamas last months in office, an analyst said.
______
Arthur Brooks: Hi, Gail. I hope you had a nice break from talking politics with me. Did you finish writing your book? Or did you do what I usually do when a book is late binge watch episodes of Get Smart?
Gail Collins: Pretty close. I re-re-read Pride and Prejudice. Does Donald Trump remind you of Mr. Wickham? Of course he has money, but still theres something.
Arthur: In my misspent youth I considered that stuff too cheerful and never read it, so I have to take your word for it. My tastes were much darker. While you were reading Austen in high school, I was carrying around a book of Dylan Thomas poetry. I can still recite some of the more famous parts by heart:
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Gail: Wow, do you realize were not going to have another whos-going-to-win-tomorrow discussion until November? What will we do with ourselves when we cant speculate about voter turnout on the basis of no information whatsoever? Things will get so tough were going to have to discuss issues, and when we do, I have dibs on infrastructure repair and recreational drones. You can have fracking and Syria.
It was quite a revelation when leaked documents, made public in April, showed that Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm, had helped 14,000 clients worldwide create offshore accounts to conceal assets or dodge taxes. On Monday, a report by The Times found that there were at least 2,400 clients based in the United States over the past decade.
Some clients are sure to argue that the tactics used were legal forms of tax avoidance, not illegal tax evasion. And in some instances that is true. Many of the transactions examined by The Times were not illegal, including the use of offshore accounts to set up a business overseas. But many of the transactions are extremely suspicious and demand investigation and, if warranted, prosecution by federal authorities.
At its most basic, the law requires American citizens to disclose their foreign holdings and pay any taxes on capital gains, interest and dividends earned on those holdings. Noncompliance with the law is rampant: Unpaid taxes on foreign accounts are estimated at $40 billion to $70 billion a year.
Emails and other correspondence between Mossack Fonseca and some of its American clients discuss efforts to conceal assets and evade taxes. In one exchange, a citizen in Washington State asked the firm how to invest money in Panama without the United States government knowing anything about it. Instead of telling the potential client that that would be illegal, the firm wrote back that it had effective solutions for the problem, involving interlocking and anonymous offshore accounts, a private foundation and a shell corporation.
Federal judges have repeatedly and emphatically refused to recuse themselves from cases because of their race or ethnicity. These rulings were driven by two realizations: Ethnically based challenges would reduce every judge to a racial category, which would be racist in itself. And such challenges would make judges vulnerable to recusal motions for reasons of race, ethnicity, gender or religion in every case that came before them.
In other words, once these challenges were allowed, there would be no end to them.
The gravity of this matter has clearly eluded Donald Trump, who has cast aside the Constitution and decades of jurisprudence by suggesting both ethnic and religious litmus tests for federal judges. These pronouncements illustrate that Mr. Trump holds the rule of law in contempt.
San Francisco ASK people to identify a few landmark Supreme Court decisions on race, and they are likely to point to classics like Brown v. Board of Education, which ended segregation in schools, or Loving v. Virginia, which prohibited restrictions on interracial marriages. But 40 years ago Tuesday, the Supreme Court decided a pivotal case on race and equality whose legacy has profoundly shaped American race relations. And most people have never heard of it.
The case, Washington v. Davis, involved the constitutionality of Test 21, developed by the federal government and used by the District of Columbia police force to assess people looking to become police officers. From 1968 to 1971, 57 percent of black applicants failed Test 21 compared with 13 percent of whites, leading two black would-be officers to file suit. The issue was whether a race neutral test that led to vastly different racial outcomes violated the Equal Protection Clause.
Consider three questions from Test 21:
1. Laws restricting hunting to certain regions and to a specific time of the year were passed chiefly to
A) prevent people from endangering their lives by hunting
B) keep our forests more beautiful
C) raise funds from the sale of hunting licenses
FRONT PAGE
An obituary on Sunday and in some editions on Saturday about Muhammad Ali misstated the name of a Broadway show in which he appeared. It was Buck White, not Big Time Buck White. (Buck White was a musical version of the play Big Time Buck White.) The obituary also misstated the outcome of the 1963 fight between Ali, then still known as Cassius Clay, and Henry Cooper. The fight was stopped in the fifth round, after Cooper had knocked Clay down in the fourth; Cooper did not go down in the fifth round ... after he had staggered Clay in the fourth.
An article on Friday about the naming of Robert F. Smith as chairman of Carnegie Hall referred incorrectly to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, to which he has made substantial gifts. It is to open in September; it has not recently opened.
INTERNATIONAL
Because of an editing error, an article on March 25 about the simmering frustrations of many Belgians over the countrys deep and longstanding divisions, which were highlighted by the terrorist attacks of March 22, misstated the Empire State Buildings tribute to the Belgian victims on that day. The building remained dark; it was not lighted in the colors of the Belgian flag. A reader alerted The Times to the error shortly after publication, but editors failed to follow through with a correction.
SPORTS
Because of an editing error, a picture caption in some copies on Wednesday with an article about the Toronto Blue Jays recent success against the Yankees misstated the day Torontos Jose Bautista was shown throwing an imaginary ball to Yankees fans was taken. It was during the Yankees 6-0 win on May 24 at Yankee Stadium not during the Blue Jays 4-2 victory of May 30, which was played in Toronto.
Identity. Look hard and then harder at that word until it wavers, fragments and dissolves before your eyes, and you begin to wonder if it amounts to anything other than an assemblage of diversely shaped letters that might as well be runes. Its enough to give you a headache, isnt it?
Well, thats sort of the experience of watching Branden Jacobs-Jenkinss War, a portrait of family as a state of civil conflict that opened on Monday night at the Claire Tow Theater at Lincoln Center. This is a heavily confused play about cultural confusion, a consideration of identity racial, social, political, anthropological, even biological that never settles into a coherent identity of its own.
You could call it a casualty of the very existential maladies it investigates. And it seems fitting that it should befall a work by Mr. Jacobs-Jenkins, who is both one of the most exciting young dramatists working today and one of the hardest to categorize. His specialty is the ambiguity of self, particularly as defined by skin color, and the futility as well as the necessity of looking for solid answers.
To explore this knotty subject, Mr. Jacobs-Jenkins has taken such radically different approaches that it would be hard to immediately determine the authorship of his individual plays if his name werent on them. His works have included a satisfyingly cynical thriller, about murder in the workplace (Gloria, a Pulitzer Prize finalist this year), and a genre-bending detonation of a 19th-century melodrama about interracial love (the brilliant An Octoroon).
WEST
California: Jury Recommends Death
For Grim Sleeper Serial Killer
A serial killer known as the Grim Sleeper should be sentenced to death in the murders of nine women and a teenage girl over more than two decades in South Los Angeles, a jury decided on Monday. Lonnie Franklin Jr., 63, was convicted of 10 counts of first-degree murder last month for crimes dating back more than 30 years. A defense lawyer had asked jurors to sentence him to life without parole to hasten the healing for members of the victims families. Sentencing was set for Aug. 10. Most of the victims were dumped in alleys and trash bins in the impoverished area where Mr. Franklin lived. He had been called the Grim Sleeper because of a perceived interval in the killings, between 1988 and 2002. The authorities now believe there were killings during that period. (AP)
MIDWEST
Missouri: Family to Get Transcripts
Of Jury Work in Ferguson Shooting
The family of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager who was killed by a white Ferguson police officer, will get unredacted transcripts of grand jury proceedings, a federal judge said Monday. It will be the first time someone other than a prosecutor or a grand juror will see the full details of the proceedings. An order by Judge E. Richard Webber of Federal District Court requires St. Louis County prosecutors to hand over the testimony and the names of grand jury witnesses to lawyers for the family, who are pressing a wrongful-death lawsuit. The order bars the lawyers from making the information public. The grand jurys November 2014 decision to not indict the officer, Darren Wilson, who has resigned, rekindled protests over the death. (AP)
Between 2008 and 2010, Mr. Trumps lawyers went even further turning angry accusations into an unusual, elbows-out legal campaign to remove not one but two New York judges who oversaw the lawsuit. One judge was an African-American man, the other a white woman.
Taken together, the episodes highlight Mr. Trumps unusual approach to the American judiciary: Unlike most parties in court cases, who try to curry the favor of judges, he can turn publicly hostile toward them, assailing their motives, biography and fitness.
Over the past 48 hours, Mr. Trump expanded his musings about courts, doubting whether a Muslim judge could fairly adjudicate a trial involving him. That earned him a rebuke from Hillary Clinton, who wondered on Monday whether Mr. Trump would soon claim that a woman judge couldnt preside.
Throughout a career that has been marked by legal proceedings that either involved or fascinated him, Mr. Trump has not always seen judges as the ultimate arbiters of legal principle, but as adversaries who deserve mockery or bulldozing when they do not agree with him.
Even in cases where he is merely a spectator, Mr. Trump has plenty to say about those on the bench. The judge overseeing the 2014 trial in South Africa of Oscar Pistorius, the Olympic runner, for the murder of his girlfriend, was a moron, Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. Ridiculous decision, he said of the five-year sentence. Mr. Trump ridiculed a Pennsylvania judge appointed by President Jimmy Carter as not his most brilliant appointment, and wrote that the judge was a willing accessory to any crimes of convicts she had released from prison.
Continuing its run through the opposition ads of the Never Trump movement, the super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton released an emotional ad on Monday featuring an Ohio family with a disabled child who criticize Donald J. Trump for mocking a disabled journalist.
On Screen
A husband and wife tell their story, side by side, of learning through an ultrasound that their daughter, Grace, would be born with spina bifida, a spinal condition. Images of young Grace flicker by as a newborn in the hospital, sleeping near a cross, smiling and offering a hug from her wheelchair while her parents tell of her loving personality: She brings out the goodness in each person.
Twenty seconds in, the mother shifts to Mr. Trump, saying, When I saw Donald Trump mock a disabled person, I was just shocked. A well-known clip plays in full of Mr. Trump imitating the journalist, a New York Times reporter who has a condition that limits the functioning of his joints. Then the mother offers a reproach: The children at Graces school all know never to mock her. And so, for an adult to mock someone with a disability is shocking. Visuals of Mr. Trumps imitation are played again for good measure.
The husband concludes the ad: When I saw Donald Trump mock someone with a disability, it showed me his soul. It showed me his heart. And I didnt like what I saw.
Pressed on how he would appeal to women despite his dismal approval ratings with them, Donald J. Trump said in an interview on Fox News on Monday night that he had broken the glass ceiling for women in the construction industry.
I was the one that really broke the glass ceiling on behalf of women more than anybody in the construction industry, and my relationship, I think, is going to end up being very good with women, Mr. Trump told the interviewer, Bill OReilly.
Hillary Clinton, who The Associated Press said on Monday night had secured enough delegates to become the first female presumptive presidential nominee from a major party, invoked the glass ceiling in her concession speech in the 2008 presidential campaign.
Mr. Trump has often pointed to his hiring of women for executive jobs, including his first wife, Ivana, at his company in the 1980s.
A veteran Republican strategist now helping lead a super PAC in support of Donald J. Trump argued in a confidential memo last year that it would be dangerous to give Mr. Trump the power to launch a global war.
The strategist, Alex Castellanos, has acknowledged that he had been publicly critical of Mr. Trump, but said on Sunday that he now considered Mr. Trump a superior choice to Hillary Clinton.
In a private document presented to top Republican donors last fall, however, Mr. Castellanos suggested that Mr. Trump could be a threat to American security as president. He and another strategist, Gail Gitcho, drew up plans for a group named ProtectUS, and proposed to spend heavily against Mr. Trump in the Republican primaries.
In the memo, Mr. Castellanos proposed to urge voters not to put Mr. Trump in the Big Chair in the Oval Office, with responsibilities for worldwide confrontation at his fingertips. He also intended to highlight Mr. Trumps past bankruptcies and predicted that his nomination would be ruinous for Republicans.
Several doctors have announced that they will proceed with offering assisted suicide to patients despite the absence of any formal system beyond a mix of various guidelines from provincial regulatory bodies. (Quebec has already passed its own assisted dying law.)
Jane Philpott, the health minister who is also a doctor, said on Monday that the legal limbo leaves doctors with insufficient guidance and support, and potentially at legal risk.
Doctors may have inadequate protection, and I expect in these early days many physicians will be extremely reluctant to provide assistance to patients wanting medical assistance in dying, she said in a speech at a health care conference in Ottawa. We will have a patchwork approach to protection of the vulnerable, as safeguards vary across the country.
Though there are lawmakers in the House of Commons and the Senate who strongly oppose assisted suicide, the greatest resistance to the bill has come from lawmakers who argue that it does not go far enough to fulfill the courts requirements. It would allow assisted suicide only for adults with a serious and incurable illness, which has brought them enduring physical or psychological suffering, and whose natural death is reasonably foreseeable.
Among other things, many of the bills opponents want assisted suicide to be available to anyone with an illness or handicap that causes intolerable suffering, even if it is not likely to kill the person in the near future.
CAIRO Egypts anti-corruption czar thought he was just doing his job when he estimated how much endemic graft had cost his country: About $76 billion, he said, mostly in corrupt land deals. But the estimate, it turned out, was itself a criminal offense.
The now-former official, Hisham Geneina, is to stand trial in Cairo on Tuesday, just over two months after he was unceremoniously fired by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as the head of the Central Auditing Authority.
He faces a charge of spreading false news and disturbing the peace that carries a potential one-year jail sentence.
Mr. Geneina, who served as a senior judge for 34 years before taking the anti-corruption post in 2012, said the prosecution is politically motivated and driven by powerful enemies inside Mr. Sisis government. I was expected not to touch certain corruption cases, he said in an interview.
UNITED NATIONS For two years in a row, the exercise of naming and shaming armies that kill and maim children on the battlefield has been subject to intense political jockeying among the powerful at the United Nations.
Last year, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, after intense pressure from Israel and the United States, kept both Israel and Hamas off the global list of childrens rights violators, despite the recommendations of a senior envoy.
On Monday, just four days after adding to the list the Saudi-led military coalition that has been bombing Yemen, Mr. Ban announced that he was scrubbing it off while he awaits a review conducted jointly with a team from the accused coalition.
In a statement, Mr. Ban said he had invited the coalition to send a team to New York as soon as possible for detailed discussions.
The most marvelous element of American Ballet Theaters new production of The Golden Cockerel was contributed by someone who died 54 years ago: the artist Natalia Goncharova. In a flood of blazing color, the Metropolitan Opera House stage erupts in a style at once storybook naive and neoprimitivist-modernist. Emphatically two-dimensional with strong elements of cartoon, it says This is mere fantasy at the same time as it fills your heart. Details (the gorgeous pattern of intensely individual skirts for eight supporting women, some breathtakingly hued stools for some attendant boyars) are as thrilling as the overall charm of a fairy tale told in a blast of reds, yellows, golds and stinging sky blues.
The credits say that the scenery and costumes are by Richard Hudson, inspired by Goncharova (1881-1962). Theres no moment when we feel hes misjudged the original. Ive watched two other Goncharova designs innumerable times (The Firebird and Les Noces at the Royal Ballet); this Golden Cockerel production richly honors the spirit of this great artist.
[ The long history, onstage and in the literary imagination, of The Golden Cockerel ]
As choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky, The Golden Cockerel honors the spirit of its composer, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1848-1908) engagingly, but less completely. This is the 2012 two-act ballet adaptation of a one-act 1937 ballet of a 1914 three-act opera-ballet production of Rimskys 1907 opera, which had its first production in Russia in 1909, the year after his death. Though that sounds bewildering, the basic story has changed little.
Vandals with spray-paint struck a towering new artwork that was recently opened to the public in the desert outside of Las Vegas, forcing the site around the sculptures to be closed on Monday and Tuesday so the graffiti could be cleaned off, officials with the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno said.
The work, Seven Magic Mountains, a collection of Day-Glo-colored stacked boulders near Jean Dry Lake south of the city, was created by Ugo Rondinone with the help of the museum and the Art Production Fund, the New-York-based public-art organization. The totem-like sculptures, inspired by natural hoodoo rock formations in Utah, have been attracting hundreds of visitors over the past few weeks and generating a huge reservoir of desert-themed, colorful selfies on Instagram.
Amanda Horn, a spokeswoman for the museum, said that the damage which included misogynistic slurs and profanity and depictions of genitalia was believed to have occurred between 10:30 p.m. Saturday and early Sunday morning at the site, which is monitored by workers and local police, but not round-the-clock. The limestone boulders were coated in a clear, anti-graffiti protective layer before they were put in place, so the cleanup is expected to go quickly, without any need to repaint the sculptures, Ms. Horn said.
The museums reaction to the damage, she added, was absolute disappointment.
But unfortunately we werent terribly surprised, she continued. Its always the risk when you install public art. For the most part people have been nothing but respectful and treated this like its their own.
WASHINGTON A bipartisan collection of senators said on Tuesday that it was their moral obligation to ensure that Holocaust victims could recover art confiscated from them during World War II and, in many cases, still hanging in museums and private collections more than 70 years later.
In the latest development in a complicated fight that has pitted Holocaust survivors and heirs against a bureaucratic and legal tangle of governments, museums and collectors across the globe, lawmakers are considering a bill to ease the repatriation of art taken by the Nazis and their allies.
The Senate bill would primarily loosen the statute of limitations to allow claims made within six years of when victims or their families find looted art and prove their right to it. The bill was drafted to respond to previous cases in which, its proponents say, claims were decided based on legal technicalities, not the merits.
It is our moral duty to help those survivors and their families achieve what justice can be found, said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York and a co-sponsor of the bill.
LONDON Nearly a decade ago, Guy Hands, the British founder of the European private equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners, made a big bet on the storied music group EMI.
The acquisition announced in 2007 and valued at 4 billion pounds, or about $5.8 billion was the largest private equity transaction ever completed in Britain. But it proved to be a disastrous one for Mr. Hands, damaging his reputation as an astute deal maker and erasing much of his personal wealth.
Facing a crushing amount of debt, EMI was seized by its lenders in 2011 and acquired by the Universal Music Group the next year.
Mr. Hands has placed much of the blame at the feet of Citigroup, which was Terra Firmas preferred bank before a falling out over the EMI transaction. He initially sued in New York, claiming that the American banking giant made a variety of misrepresentations ahead of an auction for EMI in 2007 that encouraged him to pursue a deal.
Arlo Devlin-Brown, a veteran federal prosecutor in Manhattan who led a string of prominent Wall Street cases and more recently oversaw the prosecutions of two of New York States most powerful politicians, is departing for the private sector.
In August, he will join the law firm Covington & Burling as a partner in New York, the firm said on Tuesday.
Mr. Devlin-Browns departure caps a nearly 11-year tenure in the United States attorneys office for the Southern District of New York. Under Preet Bharara, the United States attorney there, Mr. Devlin-Brown took aim at JPMorgan Chase, SAC Capital and other Wall Street giants.
He spent the last two years as chief of the public corruption unit, when it won the convictions of Sheldon Silver, the former State Assembly speaker; Dean G. Skelos, the former State Senate majority leader; and other public officials. Mr. Devlin-Brown is expected to be succeeded as the units chief by his deputy, Andrew D. Goldstein, 42, who joined the office in 2010.
FREMONT -- Three individuals were arrested Monday as a result of an investigation into the Fremont shooting of Jason Marty on Sunday morning.
According to a release, the Dodge County Sheriff's Office arrested William D. Cady, 32, of Dodge City, Kansas, and Andria N. Cady, 31, and Jacob Cross, 43, both of Fremont.
William Cady is charged with attempted first-degree murder, a Class IIA felony; use of a weapon to commit a felony, a Class 1C felony; and tampering with evidence, a Class IIA felony.
Andria Cady is charged with accessory to a felony, a Class IV felony; and aiding and abetting -- attempted first-degree murder, a Class IIA felony.
Cross is charged with two counts of accessory to a felony, a Class IIA felony and Class IV felony.
Marty, 41, of Fremont, is in stable condition after being shot in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Deputies were dispatched at 4:30 a.m. to BP Fuel Express, 1305 E. Morningside Road in Fremont, in reference to a man who had driven to the location after sustaining gunshot wounds.
Upon arrival, deputies discovered Marty drove his 2002 Dodge Dakota pickup truck near the front entrance of the business where he was found.
Marty was transported by the Fremont Rescue Squad to Fremont Health Medical Center and later taken via helicopter to the University of Nebraska Medical Center where he was operated on and is currently in stable condition.
An investigation led to the discovery that Marty was shot while his vehicle was at a rural location approximately 2 miles southeast of Fremont. He then drove himself to the gas station.
Released information says William Cady and Andria Cady (William's estranged wife), Cross and another male, who has not been charged, were together in a vehicle driven by William Cady.
While riding in the vehicle, Andria Cady was in contact with Marty, with whom she had been in a relationship for the past couple months, via phone and text message. Arrangements were made to meet at the location southeast of Fremont and discuss an argument from a few days prior.
The investigation showed that William Cady and Andria Cady conspired to arrange the meeting with Marty for the purpose of robbery and/or assault.
William Cady parked the vehicle on the side of the gravel road and exited the vehicle, while the others remained in the vehicle. As Marty arrived at the location and toward the parked car, William Cady began firing a .40-caliber handgun, striking both Marty and the vehicle. Marty then drove from the scene, colliding with a parked vehicle and a utility pole at a residence on Hills Farm Road before arriving at the BP Fuel Express.
The Douglas County Crime Scene Investigation Team was in charge of processing the scene and additional assistance was provided by the Nebraska State Patrol.
The investigation is ongoing.
WASHINGTON A proposal by a senior House Republican to dismantle portions of the 2010 Wall Street reforms known as the Dodd-Frank Act has rekindled a partisan debate over the state of banking regulation eight years after the financial crisis.
Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas, who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, outlined the main parts of his plan on Tuesday during a speech in New York. He plans to introduce the legislation this month. The debate shows how divided Washington remains over how to supervise the financial industry, from the big banks to the small community institutions.
Mr. Hensarlings plan, called the Financial Choice Act, builds on longstanding Republican hostility to the financial reform law, rolling back significant provisions and limiting the role of regulators in overseeing the countrys biggest banks. But it also advocates stronger penalties for financial fraud and puts a focus on capital buffers for large banks.
Simply put, Dodd-Frank has failed, Mr. Hensarling said in remarks to the Economic Club of New York. Its time for a new legislative paradigm in banking and capital markets.
ROBOTICA HARDER BETTER FASTER STRONGER! The future of robot development - is to create more skillful, or more human-like robots. They need to communicate with humans, which means they have to be able to see. They have to judge from a humans perspective and know what is right or wrong. They also need to understand the instructions we give them, and carry out these instructions without mistakes. BUT its impossible for robots to fully replace humans. Jonah: What is the projects called? And what is the goal for planning? GOV guy: The project is called replacing humans with robots. The total population of Shunde is 2,400,000, half of whom are immigrant workers from other provinces. Our goal is to reduce the number of employees by half, and many companies are working towards this goal. VO: This robot is making compressors for Midea, which makes a third of the worlds air conditioner compressors. The same robot also makes LEGOs, assembles cars, and packs ham. Theyre cheaper, faster and more efficient, and theyre quickly changing how things are made in China Worker at MIDEA: After the robots arrived and took over some of our labor, we have always treated it as our brother. We work next to it, snuggling with it every day. When the robots came here, some workers got to choose new positions, which made them happier. VO: We came here to find out how Chinas workers feel about their new colleagues. But on our tour of Midea, The company only allowed us to speak with this one worker, under supervision. Worker at MIDEA: In the past, when I would get home I felt very tired, very exhausted and miserable. Now when I get home, Im happy to see the kids. GOV guy: Its become a huge challenge for companies to recruit workers, and its getting more expensive to hire them as well. Current migrant workers born in the 1980s or 1990s their endurance and hard-working spirits are inferior to the older generations. VO: The government program replacing humans with robots offers grants and land subsidies to companies that go robotic. Since that launched in 2011, Midea has cut its workforce nearly in half. Zou Renhao quit his Midea factory job today, due to an injury. ZOU RENHAO: Any boss would prefer a robot. So if you want to stay here and make money, you have to learn [to operate the robots]. If you cant learn, you wont be able to keep your job. VO: The company says that when robots join the factory floor, they offer workers new jobs. Several employees who didnt want to go on camera told us those new jobs are so tedious and back-breaking, that many end up quitting. ZOU RENHAO: Just like your phone, one generation after another, when iPhone 7 is out who will use iPhone 6? VO: Mideas robots are made here, at Kuka, one of the worlds largest industrial robotics manufacturers. The robots here are still built by people, for now... KUKA CEO: Chinas demand for industrial robots has been on the rise year after year. Compared to America, Japan and Europe, the increase in demand is enormous. Using robots, humans can be liberated from dangerous, monotonous and heavy-labor work, so they can undertake more creative and meaningful jobs. ZOU RENHAO: If you want to talk about big dreams, dreaming to become a doctor or a scientist when you are young, for us workers, thats not a reality. For us, whats real is to make more money so we can live a better life. Thats my dream, other dreams are too fake. VO: In Guangdong province, there are dozens of manufacturing cities just like Shunde...and millions of workers like Mr. Zou. GOV guy: Let them go back to work in their hometowns. They all have opportunities to be employed in their local areas, even if they dont come to Shunde to work. Jonah: What happens if the factories back home decide to do the same thing? GOV guy: Perhaps they will face the same problem in 10 or 20 years, and they can follow the same path, follow the same path.
Somebodys always on the move at La Sirena.
Trotting up the steps to the entrance above Ninth Avenue. Getting up to say hi to a fellow prowler of the Chelsea galleries. Breezing across a full dining room to exit through a glass door to the terrace.
Descending from a room in the Maritime Hotel upstairs and settling in for pancakes made with mascarpone and crushed almond cookies after the kitchen opens at 7 a.m. Casing the bar at night. Backing up to frame a picture that will prove they ate at Mario Batalis new restaurant, his first in New York City since Eataly came along.
The perpetual motion that supplies a lot of La Sirenas energy the rest comes from the dressy trattoria cooking overseen by Josh Laurano, the executive chef and a partner is a function of geography and scale. There are matching north-and-south dining rooms, one near 17th Street and the other over by 16th Street. Each seats about 120 people. In between is a bar with the approximate dimensions of a jet runway. On warm, unrainy days and nights, another 150 or so chairs dot the terrace.
Its been easy to forget the excitement of eating in huge, kinetic restaurants lately because so many of them dont offer much beyond that. The whole genre has gone out of fashion as modest little chefs lairs have grabbed all the attention. Operations on La Sirenas scale sometimes get knocked as big-box restaurants, as if any place seating more than 40 people were the equivalent of a Best Buy at the strip mall.
Times Insider delivers behind-the-scenes insights from The New York Times. In this article, Jessica Bennett, who writes for The Timess Style Section, provides a behind-the-scenes look at her experience writing a profile about Paula Broadwell, David Petraeus and the afterlife of a scandal, and about questions over language.
It was another story, about another woman and another label, that prompted Paula Broadwell to email me a year ago. I was in Vancouver at the time, finishing up a profile of Monica Lewinsky, who gave a TedTalk about her struggle to overcome her own shame.
When Ms. Broadwells email appeared in my inbox, I knew I recognized her name but I couldnt place it. I typed it into Google and immediately knew why she was emailing. Ohhhhhhh, I thought to myself. That Paula Broadwell.
Ms. Broadwell is the former lover, and biographer, of Gen. David Petraeus, once the director of the C.I.A. and the commander of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, who resigned in disgrace after it was revealed that he and Ms. Broadwell had had an affair. She is also a Harvard-trained counterterrorism expert, an accomplished athlete and an Army reservist. But most people dont remember those things. Because, much like Ms. Lewinsky, Ms. Broadwell has been defined by the collection of seemingly scarlet letters that spell out mistress.
AMSTERDAM Anyone familiar with the movies of Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch or Lars von Trier knows Robby Mullers work, even if they cant immediately say why. As director of photography, Mr. Muller, a Dutch cinematographer, created an enduring visual palette for such independent classics as Mr. Wenderss Paris, Texas, Mr. Jarmuschs Down By Law and Mr. von Triers Breaking the Waves.
Now, after decades of behind-the-scenes influence, Mr. Muller is the subject of a retrospective, Master of Light Robby Muller, that opened Saturday and runs until Sept. 4 at the Eye film museum here. Directors and fellow cinematographers revere him for what they describe as an intuitive sense of rhythm and framing, the lyricism of his camera movements he always operated his own camera and his ability to use available light to extraordinary effect.
Theres a certain kind of magic or poetry to whatever he shoots, but hes much more grounded than that, said the Amsterdam-based filmmaker and artist Steve McQueen, who worked with Mr. Muller on Caribs Leap, part of a film installation he created for the Documenta exhibition in Germany in 2002. I compare him to a blues musician in a way. He plays just a few chords and he conveys what he needs to convey. Hes a purist.
By the time David Sweat spoke to investigators from the office of New York States inspector general last year, he had spent three weeks on the run, been shot by a state trooper, and was facing the prospect of spending the rest of his life in solitary confinement for pulling off a Hollywood-ready prison break that riveted the country.
But Mr. Sweat, a convicted murderer, was apparently eager to talk. And talk he did. In the 150-page report on the escape by the inspector generals office released on Monday, Mr. Sweat comes off as unrepentant and smug, describing prison guards as lazy and incompetent and his sidekick, Richard W. Matt, as a bumbling, overweight tag-along. Mr. Matt was shot and killed by law enforcement authorities during the manhunt.
Here, in Mr. Sweats own words quoted in the report, are five key factors that were crucial to the success of his plot to break out of the Clinton Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison in the far northern part of the state.
Image Joyce E. Mitchell, the civilian supervisor in the prison tailor shop, at her sentencing in September 2015. Credit... Christinne Muschi/Reuters
Seduction
Mr. Sweat needed tools, and to get them he needed to find a willing accomplice among the prisons employees. Enter Joyce E. Mitchell, the civilian supervisor in the prison tailor shop, whose loneliness Mr. Sweat said he exploited, writing love lust notes to placate her.
Because she was so infatuated, [Matt and I] played off that Yeah, well be together, itll be great well go down to Mexico and well get a nice place by the beach, and I just kept placating that.
The plan worked. In the months before the escape, Ms. Mitchell gave Mr. Sweat and his partner at least eight hacksaw blades, two chisels, a steel punch and two concrete drill bits, often smuggled in frozen hamburger meat.
For 10 days after the terrorist attacks in Lower Manhattan, Bretagne, then 2, worked 12-hour shifts as she searched for survivors and offered comfort to emergency responders, sleeping outdoors with Ms. Corliss.
They had traveled to the city with Texas Task Force 1 to assist in rescue efforts, but were unable to find any survivors, just remains.
After 9/11, everybody all of us felt such sadness, Ms. Corliss told Today in 2014. We all wanted to help. I just felt so honored that we were able to respond.
The dog and her owner had twice returned to New York in recent years, where Bretagne was greeted with a heros welcome. Bretagne continued to serve with the Texas Task Force 1 and Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Department, assisting in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, before retiring at age 9 from search activities.
The golden retriever remained active, however, in community events, demonstrating search techniques. In recent years, she visited an elementary school once a week to help first graders practice their reading, attentively lending a floppy ear to grateful students.
Next to a shopping mall, Cedar Lane stables sit on a scraggly triangle of land dotted with shipping containers. In 2013, six horses died in rapid succession there, prompting the city to close the stables temporarily over concerns for the animals welfare.
The stables have been run since 1994 by the Federation of Black Cowboys, a group that promotes the history of blacks in the American West through school field trips. Many pioneering cowboys were escaped slaves, according to the group, an often overlooked past.
The stable was run on what is known as a rough board system members of the federation who owned horses were responsible for their daily upkeep. The method kept costs low since there were no stablehands to pay. Of the six horses that died, three died of natural causes and one was killed in an accident. The other two belonged to an absentee owner, members of the federation said at the time, and may have starved to death.
Since GallopNYC was awarded the contract for Cedar Lane, the parks department has promoted conversations between the groups in an effort to allow the federation to stay at the stables. Gallop has agreed to rent stalls to the federation, but the cost will increase to $650 per month from $175 a month.
The guilty verdicts were a blow for the officers, who did not testify, and their lawyers, who had maintained that their clients committed no wrongdoing and rested their case without calling a single witness or presenting any evidence. A contingent of correction officers has faithfully attended the trial, with dozens of them packing the benches at times.
Todays verdict is an absolute travesty and yet another example of how correction officers are treated differently and disrespected for doing the job they are sworn to do: protect New Yorkers, said Norman Seabrook, the president of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association.
Glenn Garber, a lawyer for Mr. Rodriguez, had said in his summation that the prosecutions case had ignored the dangerous environment the guards worked in, under daily threat from armed gang members. He had argued that this is simply not the case to make a point about the culture of corruption at Rikers.
The officers, who are scheduled to be sentenced in September, face up to 15 years in prison on the most serious count alone. When convicted of a felony, officers are automatically fired from their jobs under state law, according to correction officials. Even with an acquittal, an officer could still be disciplined by the department, including possibly dismissal.
A 10th officer, Michael Pollard, has also been charged in the beating but will be tried separately because of medical problems.
We have zero tolerance for any illegal behavior on the part of staff, and the officers found guilty of felonies will be terminated, Joseph Ponte, the correction commissioner, said. The vast majority of our officers carry out their duties with care and integrity, and we are taking many steps to ensure that all staff adhere to the highest professionalism.
Bronx prosecutors had contended that Mr. Perez, a former assistant chief for security, and Mr. Vaughn, a former captain, ordered five members of an elite correction squad to beat Mr. Lightfoot after he caught Mr. Perezs eye during a search of inmates for weapons. They said that Mr. Perez thought the inmate was a tough guy and told the officers to kick his teeth in.
Theres an intangible side to this thats horrible, he continued.
Insurers have generally refused to pay for repairs, strictly defining the coverage of collapse by inserting the word abrupt in policy language. Repairing the homes requires replacing the entire foundation at costs that typically range from $100,000 to over $200,000. So far, 223 residents have filed formal complaints about crumbling foundations with the department, but officials believe many homeowners may be reluctant to contact the state, fearing problems from their banks and insurers.
Because the affected swath of the state is home mostly to working- and middle-class families, many face financial ruin since their homes represent the biggest part of their nest egg. Ms. Miller, whose insurance company has provided no financial assistance, rented a nearby condominium after she was told that her family was no longer safe in their home.
But Ms. Miller said she could not pay both the monthly rent and the mortgage. Paying out of pocket to replace her homes foundation, she said, is well beyond reach. I dont know too many people that have $170,000 in their wallet, she said. And thats what its going to cost to fix my home.
Mr. Neal, the structural engineer, has inspected hundreds of houses. In nearly all, he found concrete walls with distinctive crack patterns that resemble a road map with lines and fissures snaking in all directions much different than the vertical cracks typically seen in foundations as they settle.
After hearing from tearful, angry residents at packed public meetings, state officials stepped in. In October, the states Insurance Department warned insurers not to cancel policies because of a foundations condition. Since insurers are denying claims, that warning may not help with the concrete problem, officials say, but it should at least prevent homeowners from losing insurance protection all together.
Last month, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a bill that would, among other things, allow homeowners with failing foundations to request a reassessment of their property values and require contractors to record the supplier of concrete for residential foundations. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, signed the bill into law last week.
SINGAPORE The food courts in the basements of shopping malls and the ubiquitous hawker centers, covered markets where scores of stall-holders sell cooked food, are a mainstay of eating out in Singapore. At one of my regular lunch spots, I watch the cleaners diligently tidy away the trays. They scrape leftovers into bins and wipe the tables and floors with disinfectant.
They perform these unskilled, repetitive tasks with often surprising enthusiasm. What is striking is, first, that the workers are local Singaporeans, not the foreign-born recent immigrants one might otherwise expect to do such work in a wealthy country like Singapore. More important, they are frequently of, or even beyond, retirement age.
The cleaning staffs have names, of course, but whenever I speak to them, I address them as Auntie or Uncle the honorific terms used here when one is speaking to someone of an older generation.
I chat with them about health and happiness in old age, and I hear their varied reasons for wanting to keep working in jobs that others might consider demeaning. Some do so because they see it as a way to continue to contribute to society, and theyre reluctant to become a burden on their families. Others among them wish to escape the loneliness of an increasingly sedentary retirement. Many need the extra income that even such modest work provides (typically less than the equivalent in Singapore dollars of about $1,100 a month).
To the Editor:
Re War Record Fuels Debate Over University Appointment in Vietnam (news article, June 3), about former Senator Bob Kerreys role as chairman of the board of Fulbright University Vietnam:
Mr. Kerrey directly participated in the massacre of innocent civilians women and children in the Vietnamese village of Thanh Phong on Feb. 25, 1969. This is indisputable, and Mr. Kerrey has acknowledged it. We cannot obliterate such facts by invoking the need to look to the future.
While Mr. Kerrey has expressed remorse over his role in the Thanh Phong massacre, a leadership position at a university with the status and ambitions of FUV, a joint American-Vietnamese venture set to start up in the fall of 2017, should not be viewed as an opportunity to atone for past wrongdoings. That opportunity can take other, uncontroversial forms.
Mr. Kerrey said he would step down if his chairmanship was detrimental to the project. Such a gesture would show self-respect and grace, and would be appreciated by the Vietnamese.
The university must be an institution that is sensitive to the feelings of all Vietnamese, not an institution in Vietnam conceived and decided upon by Americans disregarding our self-respect and dignity.
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam Lives can turn in an instant. For former Senator Bob Kerrey, that moment came on Feb. 25, 1969, when, as a young lieutenant in the Navy SEALs, he led his squad into the Vietnamese village of Thanh Phong. By the time they withdrew, 20 civilians had been slaughtered, including 13 children, according to survivors.
It haunted me from the moment we pulled out of the area, Kerrey told me in a telephone conversation. I knew we had done something wrong. I did not walk away saying that was great. It did not go away. But if you dont adjust you end your life, and we are talking, so I did not end my life.
In fact, Kerrey went to work to build a special relationship between the United States and Vietnam. He was an early advocate of the normalization through which many wounds have healed. Trade has flourished. The rapturous reception extended last month to President Obama the warmest accorded by any nation during his presidency, as he confided to an American diplomat was a measure of an almost miraculous reconciliation.
One area in which Kerrey has worked hard is education, both as senator and later as president of the New School in New York. For many years he helped to raise money for a project Obama announced: the opening of the Fulbright University Vietnam, the first such private institution in the country. Financed in part by the U.S. Congress, the school will accept its first students next year. Kerrey has been named chairman of the board.
In contrast to reconciliation, disciplinary justice even if delivered under international law would destabilize efforts to unite our nation by keeping alive anger and hatred among the people of South Sudan.
That is why we call on the international community, and the United States and Britain in particular, to reconsider one element of the peace agreement to which they are cosignatories: support for a planned international tribunal, the Hybrid Court for South Sudan. We call on them instead to commit to global backing for a mediated peace, truth and reconciliation process.
The international community must consider the current state of our country. Years of war have left South Sudan with one of the highest levels of military spending by gross domestic product in the world. The army and its former opponents now need to be integrated. Over time, tens of thousands of soldiers must be decommissioned and introduced into civilian life.
We fear that this task could be put in jeopardy if members of once opposing forces from officers to privates find themselves targeted with legal action. It is easy to see how some people, having known nothing but war, may prefer to return to the battlefield than stand trial in a foreign country.
By taking this path we understand the consequences. We know that it could mean that some South Sudanese guilty of crimes may be included in government, and that they may never face justice in a courtroom. However, there are recent precedents that demonstrate that this route is the most certain guarantee of stability. In Northern Ireland, a peace process brought bitter enemies to the negotiating table under a pledge of legal amnesty, and then into high office. Now, the country has guaranteed peace. The same is possible in South Sudan.
We do not wish to forget what happened during our civil conflict. Indeed, the recollection of the catastrophe unleashed during those terrible months must remain in our memories as a warning. Neither side won our war. But both sides, together, must now win the peace. That is all that matters. In that quest, it is why anything that might divide our nation is against our peoples best interests.
The investors criticized the company over its share price, conflicts with its external adviser and management decisions. The ouster of its chief executive, Nicholas Schorsch, who sat on the boards of the REIT and the advisory firm, propelled activists further. They requested big changes and, ultimately, a sale.
Image Worldwide Plaza at 825 Eighth Avenue, a coveted office property, is owned by New York REIT. Credit... G. Paul Burnett/The New York Times
Under pressure, New York REIT sold off four noncore properties for $75.7 million to focus solely on higher-quality properties in Manhattan, and added two independent board members. It also resumed a search for a buyer, which it had started in October 2014, months after going public, and had abandoned in May 2015.
Its stock price surged on the takeover chatter, and by December, there was talk of a possible deal to sell. The shares rose to a high of $11.90 in December, from a low of $8.87 in May. Two weeks ago, New York REIT announced a plan to merge with JBG Companies, based outside Washington, but New York REITs stock has fallen back to $9 a share again.
Mr. Cohen, who bought into New York REIT in mid-2015 when its stock price was at about $9, sold his stake in October and November at more than $11 a share and collected dividends as well, netting about a 25 percent return for his six-month investment. I thought it was close enough to fair value, he said. And we didnt want to hold it because of the risk that a transaction wasnt consummated.
New York REIT declined to comment.
In the past, many activists have avoided the REIT sector because of its smaller size. REITs also have a reputation for being ruled by chief executives more concerned about building empires than stock prices, and reluctant to sell their companies.
But analysts expect that turbulence from activist investors will continue this year. At least seven new campaigns began in the first four months of 2016.
REIT activism will become more frequent and more mainstream in 2016, Adam Emmerich, a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, said in an interview last month.
Although deer help spread ticks that carry Lyme, Dr. Esvelt explained to about two dozen residents at the meeting, the disease can also be controlled earlier in the ticks food chain. Ticks typically contract the pathogen from white-footed mice, which they often feed on while still larvae, passing it on to humans and other mice when they bite again.
Using new genome-engineering tools, he proposes to create mice that are immune to the Lyme-causing pathogen, or to a protein in the ticks saliva, or both, to break the cycle of transmission.
If that worked and there is reason to think it would he would then apply for permission to release thousands of the mice on a smaller, uninhabited island. If the number of infected ticks proved to be sufficiently reduced after two years, Nantucket could be next. The release of a few hundred thousand engineered mice over the course of about a year, Dr. Esvelt said, would ensure a stable population of resistant mice.
There is no company behind the project, which Dr. Esvelt estimated could take as long as a decade to complete. But he said he thought he could get government and philanthropic funding because it would provide evidence that might justify the use of another technology he has helped to pioneer, called gene drive, to attack Lyme disease elsewhere.
By turns toxic and tantalizing, the digital cultures spurred by the internet have become an endless source of fascination.
Just look at Donald J. Trump and Twitter. The ousting of Ellen Pao, the interim chief executive of Reddit, the online message board, last year. And over the last week, the online outrage that followed the six-month sentence many deemed it too lenient of a Stanford University student who had been convicted of sexual assault.
The New York Timess technology reporters decided to take a closer look at the topic of digital cultures. Over the next few days, we will publish a series of stories on whether the web has helped spur more empathy, the state of online reviews, and digital games that have spilled into the physical world, among others, from writers including Farhad Manjoo, David Streitfeld and Vindu Goel.
First up is Mark Scotts profile of the small Spanish town Jun, which has decided to run all of its town communications on Twitter. In addition, we have Cecilia Kangs interview with Mignon L. Clyburn, a Democratic member of the Federal Communications Commission, on how millions are left out of online cultures entirely because of a lack of technology access.
Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon will not just be trading barbs in a new production of The Little Foxes, by Lillian Hellman, set for the Manhattan Theater Club next spring theyll also be swapping roles.
Echoing a move seen on Broadway in 2000 with the acclaimed production of True West, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly, Ms. Linney and Ms. Nixon will alternate the roles of Regina Hubbard Giddens and Birdie Giddens, two sisters-in-law doing ferocious battle over the family business in Alabama in 1900. Daniel Sullivan, a Tony Award winner in 2001 for Proof, will direct the production, which is to begin previews on March 29.
Ms. Nixon, for those keeping score, has one Tony, for Rabbit Hole (also directed by Mr. Sullivan), and two nominations, against Ms. Linneys three nominations. Which actress will play which role at each performance wont be announced until the spring. But with any luck, the audience will face the same happy problem posed by True West, of which Ben Brantley wrote in The New York Times: If youve followed Mr. Hoffmans and Mr. Reillys work on film, you probably have your own ideas who was meant for which part. Forget it. Whichever way youve sliced it, youre right.
A writer struggling with a story finds himself unexpectedly assaulted by two men with pistols and a pizza delivery woman wielding a cleaver. They all have the same demand: a new tale. Ill bet this doesnt happen to Philip Roth. Or Amos Oz, the writer (Kenneth Talberth) complains. He is probably right.
Suddenly, a Knock at the Door, at Theater for the New City, is based on a collection of stories by the Polish-Israeli writer Etgar Keret, a proponent of darkly whimsical magical realism. The opening, which is borrowed from the book and positions the piece as a cracked, contemporary One Thousand and One Nights, has a certain wild confidence. But the ensuing play, adapted by Robin Goldfin and directed by David L. Carson, emphasizes the difficulty of translating prose works for the stage.
In many of the scenes, the words simply dont leap far enough off the page. One of the men who threatens the writer tells him, Work that imagination of yours, brother, invent something let it flow, but too many of the scenes betray their short-story form. Rather than transmuting the stories into dialogue and action, the script has an over-reliance on direct address and observation. Mr. Goldfins ways of tying the stories together too often show the seams.
As if to compensate, Mr. Carson has encouraged his actors to emote as though their lives depended on it, and not all are up to the task. The tone and pacing are too consistently hectic, the characterizations quite broad. But the two onstage musicians are a fine touch, providing underscoring sound effects and occasional commentary with their acoustic guitars. And the show does manage to convey Mr. Kerets casually mordant worldview, his sense that fiction so often palls before the quiet and terrible absurdities of everyday life.
Toni This is what I found, a news release.
SAN FRANCISCO U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders spokesman, Michael Briggs, on Monday issued the following statement: It is unfortunate that the media, in a rush to judgment, are ignoring the Democratic National Committees clear statement that it is wrong to count the votes of superdelegates before they actually vote at the convention this summer. Secretary Clinton does not have and will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to secure the nomination. She will be dependent on superdelegates who do not vote until July 25 and who can change their minds between now and then. They include more than 400 superdelegates who endorsed Secretary Clinton 10 months before the first caucuses and primaries and long before any other candidate was in the race. Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump.
Nate Yes, but he gave a whole speech, and he didnt mention it once.
Toni So you think hell drop out. How does it play out?
Nate To be clear, I have no inside information. Im just saying that, if I had to bet, Id say that hell concede sometime this week or at least before the D.C. primary (June 14).
Update I just think theres a lot of evidence coming together. Jeff Merkleys comment.
Sanders having his event at 1 a.m., which is after the California polls close and after Clinton clinches pledged delegates, but before he could plausibly lead in California, given the early vote.
Toni Do you think a lot of his supporters would be ready for that?
Nate Not the ones that tweet at me.
Toni Ha. But theyre the ones who could vote for Jill Stein and help Trump win the election. Or maybe just vote for Trump?
Nate They could. They say they will, at least on Twitter.
I do think that some of them will be swayed by the likes of Barack Obama, Elizabeth Warren and perhaps even Bernie himself. But not all though I wonder how many of them would have voted for Obama.
Toni I think almost all of them in 2008, but fewer in 2012 and fewer still as time went on and disillusionment set in. Thats one of the big questions remaining for this election: whether Sanders supporters put it behind them and eventually accept Clinton. The way it happened tonight may not help, but in the end, it may not matter. Trump could persuade Bernie supporters all by himself, and this week he seems to be doing a heck of a job.
Nate Yeah, I think thats probably right. And it is very hard to imagine how Trump is supposed to make inroads anywhere if he keeps up this pace, let alone among people who supported a Democratic socialist.
It may now be time to seriously consider what would happen if Britain left the European Union.
For months, opinion polls indicated that Britons would vote on June 23 to remain within the 28-nation union. But recent polls have shown a lead for the leave camp, including one that puts it five percentage points ahead.
Brexit, as Britains potential exit from the European Union is known, would be a big deal. It could batter global markets, weigh on economic growth, alter the balance of power in Europe, and affect the United States relations with the Continent. President Obama took it upon himself to urge Britain to stay within the union.
Just as it would be a mistake to read much into a few polls, the recent move toward Brexit should not be dismissed out of hand.
First off, the polls may be more accurate than their critics give them credit for.
Britains pollsters came in for derision after the countrys general election just over a year ago. Polls before that vote overwhelmingly forecast a too-close-to-call race between the Conservative Party and the Labour Party. After a solid Conservative victory, an independent commission found that the 2015 polls were probably the most inaccurate since polling began in 1945. The main cause, said the commission, was that the polls used samples of people that underrepresented Conservative voters, people who now are more likely to favor leaving the European Union. The polling companies have attempted to fix such flaws, and they performed quite well in recent contests, including the vote for Londons mayor.
There is a twist, though: Residents often do not even have a chance to vote.
Once 15 percent of eligible voters have signed a petition, a project qualifies for the ballot, and local elected officials can call a special election or accept the proposal without negotiating changes. Officials often approve the project to avoid paying for a special election that could further strain tight budgets.
Supporters of the ballot measures say they allow residents to override a broken system in which lawsuits and environmental reviews can delay projects for years.
But environmentalists argue that the arrangement grants special privileges to developers, even if only a relatively small fraction of residents support a project. And land-use experts say the strategy will become more common unless the state government steps in to curtail it.
So far, the issue has failed to attract much attention in Sacramento.
Weve ended up with a warping of direct democracy to defeat strong environmental laws, said Douglas Carstens, a lawyer specializing in land use and the environment. Its ramping up. Within a year or two, people will realize what a bad situation this is.
Developers have complained for decades about the California Environmental Quality Act, which is far more exacting than federal regulations. The state law requires them to identify and mitigate the environmental effects of their projects. No state agency oversees the law; it is enforced only by lawsuits. Written broadly, the law allows almost anyone to sue, claiming environmental harm that can range from destroying animal habitats to blocking a view. The litigation can add years and millions of dollars to a projects cost.
Giving Suspects an Out
Officials said they were keenly aware that such cases would almost inevitably lead defense lawyers to charge that the F.B.I. had entrapped their clients. That is why, the officials said, they often gauge suspects commitment to carrying out an attack and give them an out to back away.
F.B.I. officials are also quick to point out that, despite dozens of challenges to undercover terrorism cases brought since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a judge has yet to throw one out on the grounds of entrapment. Not that some judges have not considered it.
I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that there would have been no crime here, except the government instigated it, planned it and brought it to fruition, Judge Colleen McMahon of the United States District Court in Manhattan said in 2011 in a case involving four Muslim men in Newburgh, N.Y.
The F.B.I. planted an undercover informant inside a mosque in Newburgh as part of what became an elaborate, nearly yearlong plot to launch a Stinger surface-to-air missile at a local air base and two synagogues. The F.B.I. even built a fake Stinger missile and had it delivered to the men.
Judge McMahon said she was troubled by the F.B.I.s conduct, but she upheld the charges. So did the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, finding that the F.B.I.s conduct did not amount to entrapment.
The stings have left many Muslim leaders wary, even as the F.B.I. has sought to build bridges to Muslim Americans. At mosques in Oregon, imams sometimes warn of F.B.I. informants and caution that we have those among us who are not with us, said Tom Nelson, a Muslim lawyer in Portland who has represented a number of local men in terrorism-related cases.
His message for his Muslim friends, Mr. Nelson said, is blunt.
Avoid the F.B.I. like the plague, he said. Theyre definitely not an ally. Thats what the F.B.I. does they infiltrate.
A 4-year-old boy who was clinically decapitated in a recent car accident in Idaho survived after a rescuer resisted the urge to pick up and cradle the screaming child and instead held his head in place for a half-hour, most likely saving his life, his mother and the rescuer said.
The story of the boy, Killian Gonzalez, who endured one of the worst traumatic injuries that can affect small children in car crashes but escaped with his life through the actions of a good Samaritan, unfolded on State Highway 51, a two-lane road slicked by a hailstorm at the time.
Killians mother, Brandy Gonzalez, said she was driving home to Nevada after attending a party in Idaho to celebrate the boys birthday when her car skidded and went into a lane of oncoming traffic, colliding with another vehicle.
Pinned in the wreckage and with broken bones, she tried to turn to reach her son, who was strapped into a booster-type car seat in the back.
Democrats will vote in six states on Tuesday, just hours after Hillary Clinton secured enough superdelegates, according to a survey by The Associated Press, to make her the partys presumptive presidential nominee. But the focus will be on just one of those states: California, the nations most populous state and a liberal stronghold, where Senator Bernie Sanders is hoping to seize a victory to make the case for staying in the race until the partys convention in July.
The question of the day is not whether Mrs. Clinton will declare victory, but in what terms, and how she will begin to frame the general election race against Donald J. Trump, the Republican Partys presumptive nominee.
But there will also be something to watch on the Republican side, as Mr. Trump is expected to hold a news conference in New York to mark the end of primary season. He has been heavily criticized including by many in his own party for his attacks on a federal judges Mexican heritage, and he faces questions about how he will respond.
Voting will also take place on Tuesday in Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota. Here are a few of the dynamics well be watching:
How will Clinton cross a historic barrier?
In her speech Tuesday night, Mrs. Clinton will become the first woman to claim victory in a major partys presidential nominating fight. She has intermittently emphasized the historic nature of her candidacy, and it may work to her benefit to stress that theme amid Mr. Trumps continuing struggles with female voters.
Passionate supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders awoke enraged on Tuesday after learning that his slim hopes for winning the Democratic presidential nomination had been effectively dashed as a batch of superdelegates revealed their support for Hillary Clinton.
After months of dancing around the phrase, news organizations on Monday night finally bestowed a much-coveted label on Mrs. Clinton: presumptive nominee.
The Sanders campaign immediately assailed the media for rushing the process and undermining the will of voters who were set to head to the polls in six states on Tuesday.
In a late-night fund-raising email, Jeff Weaver, Mr. Sanderss campaign manager, urged voters to defy the pundits and deliver a stunning series of victories for the Vermont senator.
It was with that same grit that Mrs. Clinton picked herself up after a bruising defeat by Mr. Obama in 2008, when she assured a crowd of tearful female supporters, eight years ago to the day, that they had made 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling.
For 14 straight years, and 20 in all, Mrs. Clinton has been named the woman Americans admire most, according to a yearly Gallup poll. But her campaign, and the controversy over her use of a private email server as secretary of state, have taken a toll: Her favorability and trustworthiness ratings have plummeted. And she is being caricatured, once more, as a calculating and inauthentic career politician: Lady Macbeth, now in her own play.
In the same way, her longevity and fame are not undiluted assets: The baggage she brings as a consummate Democratic insider, pointed up most damagingly in the enormous sums she commanded as a paid speaker to Wall Street banks, has weighed Mrs. Clinton down in an election cycle in which outsiders have had the wind at their backs.
Mrs. Clintons career has not taken a predictable route by any stretch. She came of age in the feminist movement in the 1960s at Wellesley College where she urged her peers to spurn incremental change and instead work at making the impossible possible then was drawn to the South in furtherance of her husbands ambitions. She was one of her husbands chief campaign strategists and overseer of a failed health care effort, while holding her marriage together through his sex scandals and impeachment.
But if she seemed to embody contradictions, they also reflected a society in which expectations of women, and womens expectations for themselves, were rapidly changing.
And it has always been hard to parse opinions about Mrs. Clinton and about powerful women in general.
For the Americans, the most important part of Mr. Modis visit was his announced intention to formally join the Paris climate change agreement by the end of this year. So far, countries representing about 50 percent of global emissions have announced that they will submit legal paperwork to the United Nations documenting their compliance with the deal.
The pact will become binding when at least 55 countries representing 55 percent of global emissions formally join. The inclusion of India, the worlds third-largest emitter after China and the United States, would guarantee that the deal will go into effect before the next American president takes office.
Mr. Trump has vowed to cancel the Paris climate agreement if elected, something Mr. Obama is eager to prevent. Once the accord enters into legal force, no nation can legally withdraw for four years.
If the Paris agreement achieves ratification before Inauguration Day, it would be impossible for the Trump administration to renegotiate or even drop out during the first presidential term, said Robert N. Stavins, the director of the environmental economics program at Harvard.
Mr. Obama and Mr. Modi also announced a separate agreement to cut the use of hydrofluorocarbons, potent planet-warming chemicals produced by coolants in refrigerators and air-conditioners. India and the United States have been at odds on the details of such a deal, but the agreement announced on Tuesday means both governments now expect in October to sign on to an international accord to phase out the chemicals. Phasing out the chemicals could reduce by 25 percent the expected warming of the planet by the end of the century.
This is the most significant step the international community could take to reduce climate warming, Brian Deese, a senior adviser to Mr. Obama, said in a call with reporters.
The two sides also announced joint efforts for the United States to invest in Indias renewable energy development, including the creation of a $20 million finance initiative.
WASHINGTON Speaker Paul D. Ryan, the nations highest-ranking Republican, on Tuesday called Donald J. Trumps remarks about a Latino judge racist, an extraordinary indictment that generated a fresh wave of criticism and panic from other Republicans. By the end of the day, Mr. Trump was forced into a rare moment of damage control and said that his words had been misconstrued.
Mr. Trump, who said last week that a Mexican-American judge in a case involving Trump University was biased against him because of his heritage, issued a statement Tuesday saying, I do not feel that ones heritage makes them incapable of being impartial. He added that he was simply questioning whether he was receiving a fair trial, but he did not apologize for his remarks, something many Republicans had urged him to do.
Mr. Ryan said Mr. Trumps criticism of the judge, Gonzalo P. Curiel of United States District Court, was the textbook definition of a racist comment. But Mr. Ryan also reiterated his support for Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
I disavow these comments I regret those comments that he made, Mr. Ryan said. I think that should be absolutely disavowed. Its absolutely unacceptable. But do I believe that Hillary Clinton is the answer? No, I do not.
As Republican candidates began televised debates last summer, the Republican campaign strategist Mike Murphy invented a term for Donald J. Trump: zombie front-runner.
Mr. Murphy, the architect of the campaign of Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, insisted that voters would tire of Mr. Trumps antics and gravitate toward conventional candidates in the Republican primaries.
It never happened.
Now the longtime strategist is watching, like everyone else, to see what Mr. Trump will do next. And he replays what he might have done to block the rise of Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, who has his party on edge five months before Election Day.
The pro-Bush super PAC that Mr. Murphy directed had more than $100 million to do it with. Some Republican peers have argued that he should have used the money to blast Mr. Trump from the start, but Mr. Murphy insists that would have only benefited rivals like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.
The possible end of the Democratic presidential contest will dominate Tuesdays voting, but lots of competitive congressional primaries will also be taking place. Much of the attention will be on a race pitting two Republican incumbents in North Carolina against each another.
Representative Renee Ellmers is a candidate in a redrawn North Carolina district against a fellow Republican representative, George Holding, whose current district was also moved in the reorganization, leaving him looking for a friendly place to run.
Ms. Ellmers, who rode the Tea Party wave into the House in 2010, fell out of favor with the movement because of some of her votes on abortion and spending, and she has been a top target of conservative advocacy groups hoping to unseat her. But she got some late help from Donald J. Trump, who recorded an automated telephone call for her his first congressional endorsement.
With both parties trying to establish their lineups for November, important primaries are taking place in several other states, including California. Attorney General Kamala D. Harris and Representative Loretta Sanchez, both Democrats, could end up competing for Californias open Senate seat because of the state system that puts the top two finishers forward for the general election, regardless of their party affiliation. Four open House seats in California have attracted multiple candidates to replace long-serving Democrats including Lois Capps and Sam Farr.
Kenyas opposition leaders have been organizing regular protests on Mondays, to many Kenyans chagrin. The opposition leaders immediately rejected the ban as unconstitutional.
Kenyas courts may have to decide the appropriate balance between protecting security and allowing free expression. On several occasions, the courts have sided with Kenyas opposition, affirming its right to hold peaceful protests.
On Monday, demonstrations erupted in several parts of the country. Many protesters were peaceful, singing as they marched through downtown Nairobi, the capital, but others in its slums burned tires and barricaded roads.
In Kisumu, in western Kenya, the police battled mobs, shooting several people. The government said on Tuesday that 50 people had been injured and two killed, and it blamed the protesters for the violence. Witnesses in Kisumu said police officers had opened fire on a crowd, hitting a 5-year-old boy in the back. He was hospitalized and his condition was listed as critical.
Kenyas opposition has been mobilizing supporters to press the government to disband the national election commission, which is widely viewed as biased and corrupt. President Uhuru Kenyatta has refused to do so, and opposition leaders have threatened to increase their protests to two and then four times a week.
It seems the attackers were following the priest from his home and killed him at a convenient place, Mr. Kanjilal said. Mr. Gangulys throat was slit, and he was almost beheaded, said Mr. Kanjilal, who said he had suspected that Islamist militants were responsible.
In recent years, Bangladesh has had a series of similar killings. The initial targets were secular writers and intellectuals, but recently the victims have included foreigners, gay activists and members of religious minorities. Islamist militants are suspected in many of the attacks, which appear to have accelerated in recent weeks.
On Sunday, the wife of a police official known for pursuing Islamist militants was fatally stabbed and shot while taking her son to a school bus stop in Chittagong, in southern Bangladesh. Also on Sunday, in the countrys north, a Christian grocer was hacked to death.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for some of the attacks, while a branch of Al Qaeda has claimed others, according to the SITE Intelligence Group. Officials in Bangladesh deny that foreign Islamist militants have a presence in the country.
Also on Tuesday, the police said they had killed two members of the banned militant group Jamaat-ul-Mujahedeen Bangladesh in a gunfight in Dhaka, the capital. One was involved with the bombing of a Hindu temple in the countrys north in December and the murder of a professor in northwestern Bangladesh in April, and the other was involved with an attack on a Shiite mosque in November, said Masudur Rahman, a spokesman for the Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
BEIJING A cheater in China used to have it easy: His family might be subjected to a harsh scolding, and his exam results might be thrown out. Now, a student caught cheating could face a prison sentence.
As more than nine million students filed into testing centers on Tuesday to take the gaokao, the life-defining college entrance exam, officials made clear that they planned to enforce a new law making it a crime to cheat, punishable by up to seven years in jail.
Officials said the law, approved last fall, was necessary to preserve fairness in the exam, widely regarded as the most important test of a Chinese citizens life. A high score can mean a ticket to a renowned university and a high-paying profession, while a low score can bring shame and a future confined to menial jobs.
Many students and parents praised the effort to impose severe punishments on cheaters, saying it would serve as a powerful deterrent. But several were less certain of the laws merits, saying it was too harsh.
BEIJING Secretary of State John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart laid out diverging positions regarding the South China Sea on Tuesday, indicating that annual talks between the United States and China had done little to bridge the differences over what has become one of the most volatile issues in their relationship.
In Beijing, a senior American official also revealed that President Obama had warned President Xi Jinping of China during a meeting in March about the maritime friction and about Washingtons obligations to a regional ally, the Philippines.
On Tuesday, at the end of what is called the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, Mr. Kerry praised the talks as an essential mechanism to air differences and nurture cooperation.
But comments both by Mr. Kerry and by State Councilor Yang Jiechi of China suggested that their governments remained far apart on the continuing disputes in the South China Sea. China has laid claim to many islands and outcrops across the sea that are also claimed by Southeast Asian countries, notably the Philippines and Vietnam.
Net annual migration to Britain rose slightly, to 333,000, in 2015, according to the Office for National Statistics. European Union citizens made up 55 percent of that figure (184,000).
Britons migrate to other European Union countries, too, especially retirees who can live more cheaply elsewhere and still get free medical benefits. About 300,000 Britons left the country last year more than the 184,000 European Union citizens who moved to Britain. About one million Britons live in Spain, about 255,000 in Ireland and about 175,000 in France
Britain has taken substantial measures to try to reduce immigration, raising the skills requirement for non-European Union citizens and reducing incentives for European Union citizens coming into the country for low-paid jobs.
As for strains that immigration puts on public services, there is no question.
Rapid population increases in some cities and towns across Britain have put pressure on hospitals, housing, schools and policing. Since the 2000s, the East Midlands and Northern England have experienced the biggest percentage increases in non-British-born populations.
Boston, a town of 67,000 in the Midlands, experienced a sixfold increase in foreign-born residents, driving many people out of town for doctors appointments and emergencies because practitioners in town were overstretched. At one point, the towns Council arranged for children to be taken by taxi to schools in neighboring towns because there were not enough places locally. The crisis eased somewhat as increased tax revenue, a result of the growing population, helped finance new schools and hospitals.
A 2011 government study found that national spending per person on health care attributed to foreigners, who are mostly young adults, was lower than for Britons; spending on education was higher, but outlays for government aid for both groups were comparable.
But immigrants also contribute substantially to the National Health Service, which relies on them to function.
MADRID Catalans may still be weighing whether to quit Spain, but Catalan cities with Jewish histories have already made up their minds. Quietly, last month, they decided to withdraw from a Spanish network of cities with historic Jewish medieval quarters.
The planned exit of five Catalan cities, which account for one-fifth of the network of Jewish quarters, will also force the network to appoint a new leadership, as both its president and secretary general were Catalans.
Marta Madrenas, the mayor of Girona, one of the Catalan cities that has decided to leave, said in an interview that she and her colleagues would instead create their own Catalan network soon because we think we can do better in terms of showcasing our Jewish patrimony.
We want to do it in a more serious manner, with more cultural and scientific rigor, she said.
Girona, she noted, has already set up a center of Jewish studies. A new Catalan network, she said, can put an emphasis on introducing more conferences, debates, as well as developing student scholarships it must be about culture and cant be all about tourism and tour operators.
LONDON As Britain prepares to vote on June 23 on whether to remain in the European Union, skepticism about the bloc is on the rise across Europe, with about two-thirds of Britons wanting some powers returned to their national government, according to an opinion poll released on Tuesday by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan institution based in Washington.
The survey of respondents in 10 European countries showed increasing dissatisfaction with the European Union since last year, a period of low growth and during a migrant crisis, particularly in France and Spain.
In France, 38 percent of respondents viewed the European Union favorably and 61 percent viewed it unfavorably. In Greece, 27 percent viewed it favorably and 71 percent unfavorably.
In Britain, by contrast, 44 percent of respondents viewed the bloc favorably while 48 percent viewed it unfavorably.
ISTANBUL A car bomb destroyed a police vehicle near a central tourist district in Istanbul on Tuesday morning, instantly killing 11 people and wounding dozens more, Turkish officials said, the latest in a series of deadly attacks in the country.
Explosives in a parked car were detonated by remote control as a police shuttle bus passed through the historic Beyazit district during rush hour, Gov. Vasip Sahin of Istanbul said in a televised statement.
Seven of the dead were police officers, Governor Sahin said. Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, militants from two groups Turkey is currently fighting the Islamic State and the Kurdistan Workers Party, or P.K.K. have staged major suicide attacks in urban areas this year.
Militants from the P.K.K., which has carried out an insurgency against the Turkish state for more than three decades, have claimed responsibility for similar attacks against Turkish security forces since the breakdown of a fragile peace process last July.
WASHINGTON Syrias president promised to retake every inch of the country from his foes on Tuesday in a defiant speech that appeared to reject the humanitarian relief effort and peaceful transition of power that the United States, Russia and more than a dozen other nations have pressed for since last fall.
The speech by President Bashar al-Assad was his first major address since the effort to mediate an end to the civil war broke down in Geneva in April. It reflected his sense that Russian intervention in the war has bolstered his position and his ability to remain in power for the foreseeable future as the war enters its sixth year.
Mr. Assads defiance was notable partly because of efforts in recent months by Secretary of State John Kerry and other leaders of a 17-nation collaboration, known as the International Syria Support Group, to set a series of deadlines and limits that Syria could not violate.
Every one of the directives has been broken. A cease-fire devised in Munich in February collapsed. Mr. Kerrys demand at that time that humanitarian access had to begin within weeks was briefly observed in a few towns before access was again largely blocked.
JERUSALEM The Israeli police briefly detained a leader of a Jewish womens rights group on Tuesday for bringing a Torah scroll to the Western Wall, signaling a resumption of the battle over rituals at the holy site here.
Lesley Sachs, the executive director of Women of the Wall, was detained as she exited the Western Wall plaza Tuesday after prayers to mark the start of a new month in the Hebrew calendar. Women of the Wall is a feminist group of Jews that has fought for 27 years for equal prayer rights with the male-dominated religious establishment that has enforced strictly Orthodox and traditional practice at the site.
A police spokeswoman said that Ms. Sachs was taken in for questioning after a complaint was lodged against her, and that she was released within a few hours.
The rancor over the wall has caused deep discord between the Israeli authorities and Jewish leaders abroad, and tensions are rising again as a government plan approved earlier this year to resolve the issue has stalled.
DUBAI Saudi Arabia has handed over to Yemens government 54 child prisoners who were captured during fighting with the rebel Houthi militia, Yemens foreign minister said Tuesday.
Foreign Minister Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi said that the children were between 8 and 17 years old and that their release showed that Yemens government and the Saudi-led military coalition supporting it reject the Houthi crime of using children in war.
The children will be freed in addition to those who had been freed in Marib, Mr. Mekhlafi posted on his Twitter account, referring to a previous prisoner release in a province east of the capital, Sana.
Human Rights Watch said this month that both sides in Yemens conflict had deployed child soldiers, and Unicef reported in March that 900 children were killed and 1,300 wounded during the conflict in 2015.
Registering your new boat? Clah-thunk.
Change of address? Clah-thunk.
Invoice? Clah-thunk.
The pounding of official stamps has sounded out the rhythm of bureaucracy in Croatia for decades, well after many other European nations had stopped relying on paper and went digital. Practically any government or business document in the country has required some sort of official seal or endorsement.
All that stamping and paper-shuffling helped make life in Croatia a Kafkaesque morass, though, so the government has decided its time to stamp out the stamp before it suffocates an already weak economy.
Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic recently ordered official rubber stamps out of nearly every aspect of Croatian life. But the new rules will be phased in over the course of the year and to put them into effect, some documents will probably have to be stamped.
It will surely take a while for the government and ordinary citizens alike to shed the deeply rooted clah-thunking habit. The countrys National Archives contains more than 1,000 official seals, some dating to feudal times, that were used by titled nobles, elected politicians and every functionary in between to bash their imprimatur in wax and ink. Croatias national seal even had its own dedicated guard until 2000.
The other day, Ann Pyne, president of McMillen, Inc., the design firm, and the real-life model for Serena, said recently that while her character throws away all of Toms letters, she saved Mr. Stillmans, and has them still, tied in ribbons in a cardboard box. They are romantic dispatches from another world, written in perfect cursive on letterpress stationery and filled with musings on agrarian socialism and Mr. Stillmans appreciation of Ms. Pynes charms.
Whit wasnt a very natural 15-year-old, she said. He was playing a literary role and he had cast me into a literary role as well. As a grown up, I remember feeling flattered by my part in Metropolitan, because, at 40, I wasnt worried about being a bitch. Whereas dreary? That was cause for worry.
Mostly I remember weeping with excitement that Whit had gotten everything exactly right, which is not to say that he just took the biography and put it out there. As an artist, he liberated the material from its time and place.
On a recent Saturday night, Mr. Stillman and Ms. Monnier met Carolin Young, an American friend, gastronomic historian and culture writer, at Cafe Hugo on the Place des Vosges, after which they toured Victor Hugos house. Noting the Parisian pretensions of the characters in The Cosmopolitans, Ms. Young and Mr. Stillman said emphatically that Paris wasnt exactly home for them, but it was certainly home base.
What confuses people about Whit is that his films are autobiographical, but they are also fiction, Ms. Young said later. And that gets problematic sometimes. Its hard to separate the characters in the films from Whit himself. Part of what he loves about living here, I think, is that not many people know the films, so he doesnt have to play Whit Stillman. He can just be Whit Stillman.
Mr. Stillman, however, doesnt quite agree. Im not really sure I know what that means, he said. As an American in Paris, I think Ive enjoyed the isolation when I wasnt horribly lonely.
But there has also been another force at play: Facebook.
Many in the trans community will tell you that the social network has played an indispensable role in changing for the better what its like to live as a transgender person in America. Despite much to be wary of about Facebook its ubiquity, its invasiveness, its capacity to alter much about the national mood it has also become a critical tool for visibility and equality, and may be one reason that mainstream attitudes toward transgender people are shifting so rapidly.
Television made a huge different to the civil rights movement. Absolutely, for this community, its been Facebook. Now we have something thats even more rapid than TV, said Aidan Key, a transgender rights organizer who runs an annual conference on gender identity issues. Now you can see real-life transgender people. You can hear their stories. You can see the parents who have transgender children. Just imagine what kind of impact that has had.
The idea of a social network prompting tolerance may sound more than a tad dreamy in an election year marked by interminable online strife, in which Twitter and Facebook sit at the center of a daily five-alarm fire of outrage and recrimination.
There is now widespread concern that online news is pushing people toward adopting more polarized points of view, not to mention indulging acceptance of baseless ideas and conspiracies. Interacting on the internet, it is usually assumed, dehumanizes us all; it can deaden our capacity for understanding other people. Every day brings fresh horrors from our dystopian online life, whether its terrorist recruitment efforts, illegal gun sales on Facebook or the special symbol created by neo-Nazis to target Jews for attack. In other words: Yes, the internet on most days feels like a cesspool.
But the experiences of transgender people on Facebook suggest that many of these assumptions arent so open-and-shut. Scholars who study online interaction say that humans do feel empathy online. We can be moved by what happens on the internet and we carry what happens there to our interactions beyond it.
WASHINGTON United States history is marked by modernization efforts aimed at leaving no one behind. In the 1930s, it was lighting up farmsteads with electricity. In the 1950s, it was paving highways to every town. Today, the federal government is trying to bring broadband, which it considers a utility, to an estimated 33 percent of residents who dont have the service.
At the Federal Communications Commission, Mignon L. Clyburn, a Democratic member, has supported regulations to connect those remaining Americans. The agency recently approved broadband subsidies for low-income families. The F.C.C. also converted rural phone service grants to companies willing to bring broadband to remote areas.
We sat with Ms. Clyburn, a former public utilities commissioner from South Carolina, to discuss the challenges of closing the digital divide.
Q: What do we know about the people who arent able to obtain access to or afford broadband?
A: Tens of millions of people are caught in the divide, and what we know is many are low-income and in rural areas. In total, 10 percent of Americans, or 34 million people, lack access to what we define as high-speed internet. Many more do not adopt broadband for many reasons especially cost and the adoption problem particularly affects low-income people.
Jun is one of a group of islands of innovation in the public sector, said Arthur Mickoleit, a researcher who until recently was a digital government adviser at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. Theyre tapping into social media to improve public services.
Juns embrace of Twitter did not happen overnight.
Mr. Rodriguez Salas, a career politician, was elected Juns mayor in 2005 the year before Twitter was founded after serving as deputy mayor. In 2011, he asked all town officials from his deputy to the street sweeper to open accounts on Twitter and send messages about their daily activities. The goal, he said, was to create greater accountability and transparency over how Jun was run. Mr. Rodriguez Salas added that he chose Twitter over Facebook because Twitter allowed quicker interactions.
Juns officials also started asking residents to verify their Twitter accounts at the town hall a relatively simple process of checking peoples government IDs with their online profiles to ensure their concerns were answered online.
Officials began with basic services like public maintenance, letting people tweet when they saw a broken streetlight or a road that needed cleaning.
Mr. Rodriguez Salas said such activities built good will with residents, who at first opened Twitter accounts sporadically. But since 2013, the online activity has become almost universal as people saw how their neighbors used the service.
Maria Jose Martinez, Juns information technology chief, also ran courses at the community center to teach Twitter 101, such as sending direct messages and using the right hashtag during local campaigns.
Youve resisted signing on as a series regular since Friends ended in 2004. So why this one?
When I look at making such a big commitment, I look for a couple of things: Is the character someone that I really love and feel like Ill be challenged by playing? Is the showrunner someone I can see being married to for six or seven years? Is he going to be my partner in crime? And I felt that right from the first meeting with Clyde Phillips. But the fact that it shoots locally made the decision much easier, because I dont want to be away from my daughter.
Did you train to play a sommelier?
My first call was to my buddy Josh Nadel, who oversees all the wine and beverage for Andrew Carmellinis restaurants. I said, Youve got to give me a crash course. So wed do tastings and talk about the different regions. And Id videotape him opening bottles and pouring with that gentle turn of the wrist, so theres no spill while youre presenting the label the entire time. Id thought I had a little knowledge about wine. Now I realize I know nothing.
Is that real wine on the set?
The wine is different combinations of grape and cranberry juice. There was only one scene where I requested a real bottle, because they were going to use an extreme close-up of the pour. I bought it myself, because I wanted those wine freaks out there to be happy when they watched. I had to taste it, so we had to be careful. I had a lot of dialogue, and I didnt want to be buzzed.
Any summer plans?
Im taking my daughter to Chicago, because my [Lookingglass Theater Company] has a summer program for kids. So were going to do a father-daughter theater camp for two weeks.
Friends is hugely popular on Netflix with millennials. Are you surprised?
Im amazed by it. And it makes me wonder, will Friends have legs when my daughter is of age? What is it about the show? Is it that sense of nostalgia: Wow, thats what the 90s were like? Could it also be that its a show before texting and social media became prevalent, so the idea that six people could sit on a couch and talk is just so foreign an idea to young adults? These days theyre all together sitting on a couch, but theyre looking at their devices instead of each other.
In its current usage, rigged exposes a structure that is rotten to the core and lights a match to burn it down. Dating back to the 19th century, the word rig has meant a trick, a scheme; it also carries an association of expert hands setting up equipment or tinkering with machinery. To rig a fleet (or jury-rig another conveyance) connotes competence and pluck. But the rigging Sanders and Trump have in mind involves a swindle, and it has been deployed in American politics at several points over the last century, including in the Great Depression. Calling for an inquiry into the stock market in The Washington Post in 1932, a Republican senator attributed its gyrations to a rigged game of crooked gambling pools. In the wake of Watergate in the 1970s, rigged appeared frequently in the press. Liberal leaders, some newly elected after the scandal, attacked not only Nixon but also campaign finance, the primary process and government agencies as being controlled by corporate and political elites.
The system is rigged has served, beyond politics, as blunt and useful shorthand for systemic injustice and the limits of American meritocracy. The congressman and civil rights activist John Lewis wrote about finding in Alabama in 1962 a system rigged against them, in which only 2 percent of black people were registered to vote in Selma. Black intellectuals have also used rigged to reveal the power of more hidden barriers to full citizenship and prosperity. Ta-Nehisi Coates, in his influential 2014 Atlantic article The Case for Reparations, enumerates the predatory lending practices, redlining and restrictive covenants that prevented black people from buying homes in middle-class white neighborhoods, setting patterns of segregation and wealth disparity that continue to this day. He describes these strategies as the plunder quiet, systemic, submerged. The rigged system is working as intended when it privileges the few, he wrote me in an email.
And yet white people may now be the most pessimistic group about the direction of the country; a 2015 Atlantic/Aspen Institute poll found that 81 percent of whites believe that the American dream is suffering, while 57 percent of their African-American counterparts do. Senator Elizabeth Warren became a progressive hero by affirming voters sense that the system is rigged against average Americans. Heres the painful part: Theyre right, she said, in her prime-time address at the 2012 Democratic convention. Warren took aim at oil companies guzzling billions in subsidies, wealthy executives paying lower tax rates than their secretaries and C.E.O.s who wrecked our economy and still strut around Congress, no shame, demanding favors. The crowd roared. Warren thought about naming her 2014 memoir Rigged (she went with A Fighting Chance instead), and her office issued a report this year called Rigged Justice, arguing that corporate offenders get off easy when they break the law.
While some on the left embrace the tell-it-like-it-is realism of rigged, they risk leaving people despondent about the brokenness of law and government which Democrats, more than Republicans, want the public to see as effective. Last August, the Harvard University law professor Cass R. Sunstein took Warren on, in an op-ed in Bloomberg View titled The American System Isnt Rigged. Arguing that the United States is in a period of extraordinary reform, Sunstein listed a series of changes, including Obamacare, the Dodd-Frank rules for the financial system and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that Warren herself helped create. Despite these strong examples of repair, rigged still captures a widespread sense of futility which Trump milks for his own gain.
2008 2016 Share of all delegates With superdelegates Clinton Obama 50% 50% Without superdelegates 40% 40% 30% 30% Clinton Sanders 20% 20% 10% 10% Feb. March April May June Jan. Feb. March April May June 2016 2008 Share of all delegates With superdelegates Clinton Obama 50% 50% Without superdelegates 40% 40% 30% 30% Clinton Sanders 20% 20% 10% 10% Feb. March April May June Jan. Feb. March April May 2016 Share of all delegates With superdelegates Clinton 50% Without superdelegates 40% 30% Sanders 20% 10% Feb. March April May June 2008 Share of all delegates Obama 50% With superdelegates 40% Without superdelegates 30% Clinton 20% 10% Jan. Feb. March April May Note: Superdelegate counts for 2008 are based on surveys by The Times.
Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders by more delegates than Barack Obama had over Mrs. Clinton in 2008. As of June 6, when The Associated Press announced that Mrs. Clinton had crossed the 2,383-delegate threshold needed to secure the Democratic nomination, she had nearly 300 more pledged delegates than Mr. Sanders and more than 500 superdelegates. After the primaries on June 7, she reached a majority of pledged delegates, increasing her pledged delegate lead to nearly 400.
In 2008, Mr. Obama led Mrs. Clinton by about 100 pledged delegates and 100 unpledged delegates on June 3, the day he was declared the presumptive Democratic nominee.
The Sanders campaign has argued it is wrong to say Mrs. Clinton is the nominee because superdelegates can change their allegiance any time before the Democratic National Convention in July.
However, in 2008, Mr. Sanders endorsed Mr. Obama for president two days after a last-minute rush of superdelegates helped push Mr. Obama over the threshold needed to be nominated at the partys convention and before Mrs. Clinton officially dropped out of the race.
Sanders Would Need Hundreds of Superdelegates to Switch Sides to Win
ESTIMATED PLEDGED DELEGATES* SUPERDELEGATES 2,216 571 Clinton Sanders 1,835 48 500 2,383 to win ESTIMATED PLEDGED DELEGATES* SUPERDELEGATES Clinton 2,216 571 Sanders 1,835 48 500 2,383 to win ESTIMATED PLEDGED DELEGATES* SUPERDELEGATES Clinton 2,216 571 1,835 48 500 Sanders 2,383 to win *Projected number if the candidates evenly split the remaining pledged delegates from the contests on June 7 and in Washington, D.C. on June 14.
If Mr. Sanders and Mrs. Clinton evenly split the remaining pledged delegates, Mr. Sanders would still need to win the remaining 95 superdelegates and convince about 400 of those pledged to Mrs. Clinton to shift their support to him.
The Popular Vote Was Also Closer in 2008
Mrs. Clinton did not leave the race immediately after Mr. Obama passed the threshold of delegates needed to secure the nomination (she waited four days). Like Mr. Sanders, she presented the case that she was the stronger candidate. She also argued that she had won the popular vote, a notion disputed by the Obama campaign and that hinges on whether you count votes from Michigan, where Mr. Obamas name did not appear on the ballot. According to factcheck.org, both candidates received roughly 18 million votes and, any way you slice it, the totals are within less than 1 percent of each other.
LINCOLN Nebraskas Ag Department on Monday released the first draft of new guidelines intended to offer a standardized approach to locating and approving large livestock operations.
Construction of large livestock facilities can become contentious with neighbors concerned about smell, the impact on quality of life, pollution, roads and other issues. Designers of the Nebraska Livestock Siting Assessment Matrix intended it to be a science-based tool to balance farm growth with protecting neighbors and natural resources.
Its a tool that has been designed to site livestock regardless of who owns them, said Mark McHargue, a pork producer and vice president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau, who served on an advisory committee.
This was designed to be a third-party analysis of the siting process.
The matrix is only a suggested guideline. It will be up to local and county officials whether they follow it. The Nebraska Department of Agriculture will accept comments on it through July 31. The committee will review and consider submitted comments prior to final publication of the assessment matrix in August.
It could soon be put to the test, McHargue said.
Costco Wholesale Corp. is looking to build a massive chicken processing facility south of Fremont and looking to sign up farmers to raise the poultry.
To support the facilitys need for chickens -- it would process nearly 350,000 birds daily -- the company plans to create a network of 330 barns.
Farmers could sign up to host as many as 12 barns. Each barn would house up to 43,000 chickens and produce about 300 tons of litter a year, which is used or sold for fertilizer.
Costco scrapped its first choice for the plant south of Nickerson earlier this year after the village board voted against a rezoning proposal. The decision came in the wake of local outcry against it, with opponents citing concerns about potential impact on area schools, housing and roads.
The Greater Fremont Development Council has said the plant would create 1,100 jobs and give the economy a $1.2 billion annual boost.
Nebraska legislators this year also passed a contentious measure to lift the states ban on meatpackers owning swine. Proponents of the move say itll make Nebraska more competitive with neighboring states and allow new pig farmers to enter the business without assuming the financial risks of ownership.
The Nebraska Legislature called for the creation of the matrix last year with the passage of LB106, which was only approved after removing language from the bill that would have made abiding by the siting regulations mandatory for elected county officials.
The matrix can be viewed at nda.nebraska.gov. Comments can be emailed to agr.webmaster@nebraska.gov, or sent by mail to Nebraska Department of Agriculture, Attn. Steve Roth, 301 Centennial Mall South, Fourth Floor, Lincoln, NE 68509.
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO The citys first try at electing City Council members by district will involve an area north of downtown where 44.37 percent of the people eligible to vote are Latino.
The City Council voted 3-1 Monday to adopt a map splitting San Juan Capistrano into five City Council districts, two of which will be up for election Nov. 8. The other three at-large council seats dont expire until 2018. When the incumbents holding those seats complete their terms, those seats will be filled by district.
Historically, voters have picked all five council members citywide. But a lawsuit filed in January by a Latino voting rights group asserted that at-large voting in San Juan is unfair to the Latino minority and violates the California Voting Rights Act. Nearly 40 percent of San Juans populace is Latino.
The City Council decided not to fight the lawsuit and is taking steps to switch to districts in time for this falls elections. Under terms of a lawsuit settlement agreement, one of the two seats at stake this fall will be filled by a candidate from the district that has the largest Latino population. The City Council expects to vote June 21 to decide which other district will elect a council member on Nov. 8.
That decision was to have been made Monday, but the council was short a member. Councilman John Perry was absent due to a family emergency. The remaining four council members could not agree on a second district for Nov. 8 they deadlocked 2-2 so they postponed a vote until June 21 hoping to have all five present.
The map adopted Monday breaks San Juan into five voting districts of roughly 7,000 residents each. The most heavily Latino area, the enthnicity is still a minority, with 44.37 of eligible voters there being Latino. In the second 43.35 percent of eligible voters are Latino. In each of the other three districts, fewer than 10 percent of eligible voters are Latino.
The city hired a demographics firm, Q2 Data and Research, to draw up the map, based on census blocks and public input collected at workshops and hearings. Council members praised the firms work and the way the five districts meet legal criteria. Councilman Derek Reeve voted against the map, saying he is open to districts but declaring that a persons skin color shouldnt be the basis for the districts.
When it came to selecting the second district to participate in this years election, Reeve and Councilman Sam Allevato wanted to use a blind drawing to select the district, to avoid any perception that politics might be involved in the selection. Mayor Pam Patterson and Councilwoman Kerry Ferguson wanted to select a district in the southeastern part of the city, saying it would provide the best balance. Reeve and Allevato said arguments could be made for the most northeastern district, as well.
Tina Auclair, a resident who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, called Mondays mapping a crucial first step toward a more inclusionary electoral process. Resident Patricia Tiempos suggested that the two highest-percentage Latino districts should be the ones voting in this falls elections areas that she said have not had much representation in the past.
Resident Robert Parks suggested there should be four voting districts not five and the two Latino areas should be melded into one voting district. Youre doing an injustice to the other groups, he told the council.
One option the City Council had considered was to divide the city into four districts and keep the fifth seat as a mayor elected separately, citywide.
Contact the writer: fswegles@ocregister.com or 949-492-5127
INDIANAPOLIS The federal judge who has been criticized by presumed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for a ruling in a lawsuit involving Trump University is not a Mexican as Trump once suggested, but a native-born American whose immigrant father worked in a Northwest Indiana steel mill.
U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel was born in East Chicago, Ind., and graduated from Indiana University before moving to California, where he was a federal prosecutor before his elevation to the bench.
Here are some things to know about Curiel:
BORN IN THE U.S.
Curiel is the youngest of four children born in the U.S. to Mexican immigrants who relocated to East Chicago for work in the steel mills.
Curiel graduated in 1971 from a Catholic high school in Hammond and completed his Indiana University law degree in 1979. He practiced law for several years in Dyer, a city in the northwest corner of Indiana about 30 miles south of Chicago, before leaving the state.
My parents were not wealthy, or well connected, or even educated, Curiel said during a 2014 commencement address at his alma mater, Indiana Universitys Maurer School of Law. My parents came to Indiana from Mexico 70 years ago with little more than a fourth-grade education and a belief that they could build a life for their family.
FEDERAL PROSECUTOR
As an assistant U.S. attorney in southern California, Curiel helped negotiate the extradition of Mexican drug traffickers to the U.S. and oversaw the prosecution that brought down the Arellano Felix drug cartel. At the time, Curiel received a death threat and was placed under protection of the U.S. marshals for about a year, his friend Gregory Vega, a former U.S. attorney in the Southern District of California, told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
Curiel was appointed to the federal bench in 2012 by President Barack Obama. In 2006, then-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, appointed Curiel to the Superior Court of San Diego.
CONTINUING TIES
Curiel is a decorated alumnus of IUs Maurer School of Law in Bloomington. In April, he was named an Academy of Law Alumni Fellow the schools highest award recognizing graduates who have distinguished themselves in their careers through personal achievements and dedication, according to the school.
Curiel also helped start a scholarship program named for his deceased brother Antonio, who also was a Maurer graduate.
During the 2014 commencement address, Curiel urged Maurer graduates to have civility and respect for those working with you and those opposing you.
Your reputation will be based as much on your legal ethics and civility as your work ethic and work product, he said, according to a transcript of the speech.
SANTA ANA The city is enticing the Civic Center crowd to head downtown for lunch with a free ride.
Starting Tuesday and every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., a Downtown Santa Ana, or DTSA, Lunch Trolley will run in a continuous 15-minute loop, carrying up to several dozen passengers.
It will have hop-on and hop-off points at the Central Justice Center, City Hall and three downtown spots Fourth and Birch streets, Third and Sycamore streets, and Fifth and Bush streets aimed at driving workers and visitors to the restaurants that have put Santa Ana on the foodie map.
This trolley idea has been sort of a romantic notion for a lot of people for a long time, said Ryan Smolar, lead consultant for Downtown Inc., which facilitates the DTSA Restaurant Association.
Its replacing car trips for public transportation for county and city workers, jurors and other people in the neighborhood.
Downtown food service businesses, many of them on Fourth Street, are doing well, Smolar said, but they tend to be busier at the end of the week.
The midweek trolley is intended to increase the customer base, he said, with an estimated 20,000 people daily at the Civic Center. A guide will point out historic sights.
The lunch trolley was proposed as one of the beneficiaries of revenue from raised parking rates that City Council members approved in August, the first hike in more than a decade. Funds from parking meters have already paid for four dedicated downtown police officers.
During trolley test runs last week from the courthouse, Victor Negrete, the citys downtown development liaison, said 9 out of 10 riders said it was their first time visiting the area.
We definitely saw the value of bringing them. We had the opportunity while riding the trolley to tell them whats going on in downtown, like First Saturdays Art Walk, Negrete said.
It was fun.
Santa Ana is chartering the vehicle from Long Beach Trolley for a 90-day trial period and tracking ridership numbers before bringing the contract to the City Council for renewal. The trolley is currently budgeted at $100,000 per year.
The free trolleys life may be limited, though, at least on its current configuration. The OC Streetcar in the pipeline would service the citys downtown beginning in 2020.
At that point we could consider not running it entirely or finding another route connecting it to downtown, Negrete said. Its still a ways away.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7762 or jkwong@ocregister.com or on Twitter: @JessicaGKwong
Michelle Evans is willing almost eager to share from her deep well of life stories.
The 60-year-old Lake Forest resident is full of them some that involve her love of space and others that recount struggles in her personal life that went on until 2006.
Evans found an outlet for her storytelling in her 2013 book, The X-15 Rocket Plane, Flying the First Wings into Space. It was the culmination of about 70 interviews with professionals involved with the hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft that set speed and altitude records in the 1960s.
The book took her 30 years to complete. And the reason for that is tied to another story about her years of fear and confusion and how they ultimately gave way to acceptance and love.
Evans is transgender, and has struggled with her identity for much of her life. She hid her true self until about 10 years ago, when her affirmation of being female allowed her to transition.
Im tall, Im big, I have this crappy voice and I stand out in a crowd, Evans said, light-heartedly. Theres no way in the world I ever believed I could transition, and that was one of the reasons I stayed in hiding.
Following her transition, she finished her book and started a new project the support group TG Rainbow to show other individuals who identify as transgender that they are not alone.
Last month, Evans was celebrated by the O.C. Human Relations Committee at its AWARDS 45 ceremony at the Grove in Anaheim for her work in providing support for the transgender community.
The award is hard to put into words, which is a really dumb thing for a writer to say, Evans quipped. Its a validation of what were doing.
To this day, I still cant believe it. Theres people out there building homes for the homeless. What am I doing here? But I am so utterly honored.
RETELLING THE SPACE RACE
Evans stories about space go back as far as kindergarten, when her father, R. Bryce Evans, pulled her from school one day to show her Edwards Air Force Base, where he worked as an aerospace engineer.
Her father had to work, so Evans got a tour of the base from other employees. On one occasion, Evans stopped to watch a pilot exit from an X-15 simulator.
He could have just walked away, but he comes over and introduces himself to a kid who is just standing there, she recalled. It was Neil Armstrong. This was back before anyone really knew who he was, but it left a profound impact on me.
Evans entered the Air Force after high school and was stationed in Washington, working on missile systems.
Her passion for the X-15 returned when she moved to California and began working as an aerospace engineer. In 1993, she started Mach 25 Media, a gateway for education and display services for astronaut appearances and other space-related events.
I always wanted to be a writer, but never put two and two together until one day I read an introduction to a book about X-Planes in general and it said that each one of them deserved its own book, she said. It was like a light switch went off. Thats it!
The next day, Evans was back at Edwards Air Force Base, looking through old records and photos. Dr. Richard Hallion, the base historian, introduced Evans to one of the X-15 pilots who was still with NASA as its chief engineer.
Evans interviews included a trip to Ohio to interview Armstrong in an ice cream parlor.
Michelle was one of the first people Neil allowed to interview him and it was because her questions were not about Apollo 11, said Cherie Rabideau, Evans wife.
Pilots, engineers and builders of the X-15 rocket plane are included in the book, part of a project called Outward Odyssey Series: The Peoples History of Space Flight, headed by the University of Nebraska Press.
Buzz Aldrin, Ron Howard and Tom Hanks are among those who have the book, Evans said.
If theyd only buy the rights we could get a bigger place, she quipped.
AN UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
Evans said she was 2 or 3 years old when she knew something wasnt right.
My mind and my body didnt work together, she recalled.
When she was younger, she felt more comfortable around girls and thought it was something everyone experienced. It wasnt until she was in her 20s that she heard the term transgender.
In 1980 she moved from Washington back to California, and not long after that, met Rabideau at a small gathering thrown by mutual friends in Hollywood.
They instantly connected. And Evans confided in her.
For whatever reason it was, the biggest, darkest secret I had in my life, I told her the very first day we met, she said. I dont know how she got it out of me, but there was a connection there and I could not lie to her.
Despite Rabideaus support, Evans suffered from a crippling depression. In 2002, she tried to commit suicide.
Fearing for her safety, Rabideau called the police.
I was just done with it, I couldnt do it anymore, Evans said. She saved my life.
According to a study by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 41 percent of transgender individuals will attempt suicide at one point in their lives.
Four years later, Evans began her transition. It wasnt always easy for Rabideau.
As I started to become happy, (Cherie) started thinking, What did I get myself into? Evans said. Then it came to her that she didnt care what others thought and thats what made it all possible.
She and Rabideau have been together 34 years, living in Lake Forest for 30 of them.
In August 2011, Evans put the finishing touches on her book.
Longtime friend Debbi Bennett, who nominated Evans for the OCHRC award, said Evans book and the turmoil of her personal life worked together.
The need to create paved the way for her to transition, Bennett said. In turn, the transition cleared her mind to finish what she started.
SPREADING AWARENESS
With each step of her transition, Evans said she found more happiness. And as the years went on, she discovered she had more support than she could have imagined.
Now, she and Rabideau help others dealing with similar issues. Six years ago, Evans was asked to speak at Church of the Foothills in Tustin, where she met the Rev. Mike Holland, who was looking for resources and guidance for a young member of his church who is transgender.
We set up a time for Michelle and some others to do a panel for our church, Holland said. It was a very enlightening, wonderful thing that happened.
After that talk Evans support group, TG Rainbow, moved to the church.
I thought I was alone, she said Now were finding kids come out younger and younger because theyre finding out theyre normal and its great to see that.
In addition to her support group, Evans spends time with Orange County Sheriffs deputies during their diversity training, talking about the issues with the transgender community.
She tells them that until she got a drivers license identifying her as female, she wouldnt drive one mile-per-hour over the speed limit for fear of being arrested and put in a mens prison.
Evans, who keeps track of all the talks she gives about being transgender, recently gave her 200th at Santa Ana College on May 3.
Two days later, she was honored by O.C. Human Relations for her work with her support group and sheriffs deputies.
I cant imagine all that shes been through in her life, the Rev. Holland said. She puts people at ease and has a wonderful way about her. Im just so thankful that our church made the connection. It made us more conscious of how to act toward those who are transgender.
Contact the writer: 714-796-2247 or npercy@ocregister.com
AMIRIYAT FALLUJAH, Iraq One of the Iraqi civilians who risked an escape from the sprawling battle for Fallujah made it as far as the Euphrates River. He was there for all to see on Sunday morning: His body, tied to the side of a boat, bobbed in the muddy waters next to a rickety bridge that separates Baghdad from the violence of Anbar province.
Sheikh, sheikh, see this man! He drowned, said a young boy, pointing, as he approached the window of a truck that was slowly crossing the bridge, carrying medicine. See, see his body.
The thousands of civilians who managed to flee Fallujah and its outskirts and make it to government-controlled areas in recent days faced harrowing journeys, often at night and under fire from Islamic State militants who had been trying to use them as human shields.
Many crossed the wide Euphrates in makeshift boats, and local officials said more than a dozen had drowned in the past few days, dying in their own country in the same way that thousands of Syrians and Iraqis have died on the seas trying to reach Europe.
The survivors in Iraq arrive at aid camps tired, hungry, thirsty and scared and their ordeals are far from over. They are now in the arms of a government without the resources to care for them.
I risked my life because I was very concerned for my children, and there was almost nothing inside Fallujah no food, no electricity, no fuel, nothing, said a woman who arrived recently at a camp in Amiriyat Fallujah, a government-held city south of Fallujah. She gave her name as Umm Bariq.
But in the camp, she said, there are shortages of food, medicine and clean water. So we are suffering here under difficult conditions, she said. We need help here.
As bad as conditions are for civilians caught up in the battle, they are likely to get much worse.
At least 50,000 civilians are trapped inside Fallujah under Islamic State rule, perhaps 20,000 of them children, according to the United Nations. Last week, the worry was that they would be killed in the crossfire as Iraqi forces and their Shiite militia allies stormed the city.
Now, as the fighting has stalled on the outskirts in the face of fierce resistance by the Islamic State, a siege lasting weeks or months, in the heat of summer, could lead to mass starvation.
There have been frantic negotiations, through intermediaries, between international aid agencies and Islamic State officials inside Fallujah, seeking to open corridors to deliver food and medicine.
The problem is made worse, some aid workers say, by the Iraqi governments tight control of traffic between Baghdad and Anbar province, which has delayed the delivery of supplies to the camps and the Fallujah area.
The government-controlled areas of western Anbar province, a Sunni-dominated region that has been a heartland for the Islamic State, have become vast wastelands of human suffering.
Bare-bones tent cities are sprouting up all over, providing little more than basic shelter and some, but not nearly enough, food, water and medicine. The heat is terrible, always well above 100 Fahrenheit during the day, and most tents do not have fans or the electricity to run them.
When Iraqi forces reached his town of Saqlawiya, north of Fallujah, last week, Hatem Shukur waved a white flag to catch their attention.
He said he and his family had been given cold water, watermelon, apples and bananas delights after months of being under siege.
But now we are facing another problem, Shukur, 58, said. Can you imagine your family living here in this heat?
He waved his arm around the space where he and his family live, a small square of concrete floor, a metal frame and plastic sheeting for walls. On the floor, lying on a blanket, was his 8-month-old granddaughter, Rawan, flies buzzing around her as she slept.
Aid workers expressed frustration at their inability to meet the basic needs of civilians caught up in the war there is not even enough fresh drinking water in the camps, officials said. There is always this question: Why is there always so much more money for military operations than for water and food for the civilians uprooted by them?
It just doesnt make any sense to have invested so much in a military campaign to defeat Daesh and not provide lifesaving support to Iraqis in their hours of greatest need, said Lise Grande, the U.N.s top humanitarian official in Iraq, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
Grande, who emphasized that the United Nations has not had difficulty with the Iraqi government in arranging deliveries of aid to Anbar, said that the effort was still facing a steep shortfall in funding from international donors.
The Sunni extremist fighters for the Islamic State have warned civilians that the Shiite militias would slaughter them in revenge attacks whenever possible. The news media in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have framed the battle in crass sectarian terms, warning that Irans militias were intent on killing Sunnis.
But for the most part, civilians who have fled the areas around Fallujah have said they had tired of the grim life under the Islamic State and had been treated well by the militias and Iraqi soldiers.
We were surprised that they treated us so well, said a man in his 50s who gave his name as Abu Muhammed, standing on Sunday in a camp outside his tent. Daesh had told us the Shiites wanted revenge and would kill us.
Instead, he said, he was given cookies and orange juice.
SANTA ANA A man already serving time was sentenced to life in prison on Monday for attempted kidnappings and assaults on three women in Westminster.
Arnold Eduardo Martinez, 37, was already serving 20 years for kidnapping and sexual battery in Florida in 2011 when authorities in Orange County linked his DNA to a 2008 attack in Westminster that led to charges in the other two cases as well, the authorities said.
Martinez was extradited to Orange County where a jury convicted him in May on multiple felony counts of assault with the intent to commit a sex offense, kidnapping and battery, court records show.
On Monday, Martinez was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison.
Prosecutors said Martinez on July 18, 2008 grabbed a woman in Westminsters Sigler Park and forced her toward his car in an attempt to sexually assault her. He fled after she screamed for help and struggled to get away.
A week later, Martinez approached and grabbed a woman walking near the park in an attempt to drag her to his car. He punched her multiple times before she escaped.
Martinez struck again in January 2009, when he attacked a woman as she was walked to church and forced her into his car. The woman escaped and Martinez chased her, dragging her into nearby bushes, where he slammed her head against the ground, prosecutors said.
Aftter the Westminster assaults, Martinez left California and was arrested and charged in Florida for kidnapping and attacking other women.
Contact the writer: kpuente@ocregister.com
Sometimes I can predict what kind of response Im going to get even before I write a column, whether its going to be love, hate or (shudder) indifference.
And other times, you surprise me.
That happened last week, when I wrote defending the unnamed mom whose 4-year-old son fell into the gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo, causing the zoo officials to feel compelled to shoot and kill the 450-pound animal.
I mentioned how slippery and pugnacious little boys are, how their limbs seldom operate in tandem with their brains, and brought up a few thousand times that both my kids vanished in a flash. Eventually, I had to put a halter on my daughter, Curly Girl, to keep her from escaping to Canada when my back was turned.
Now that shes 17, I wish I could still put a halter on her, but thats another story entirely.
I was expecting to get a few letters from animal rights activists telling me the mom was to blame for the death of a majestic animal, and I did get a few of those.
But what I mostly received was an outpouring of support for the mom, and anecdotes about your own Houdini-style escape artists, most of whom seem to have survived to adulthood.
Here are a few:
Johnnie Marie Urban, Laguna Hills
As soon as (my son Joseph) turned 18 months old it was like I had to put on my running shoes and never take them off.
Eventually I, too, added a wrist harness to his wardrobe (at the time this is all they had) after his father lost him three times at Sea World when he was 2 years old.
I remember a time when I almost lost him over the edge of the Newport Pier because he attempted to crawl under the railing.
Hes all grown up now (33 years) and the only one of my 3 children who never broke a bone. Hes survived a tour in the Navy and works with heavy dangerous equipment. So I guess he was just practicing for his future.
Kellie Frankeny, Fountain Valley
My daughter, Becca, was the flash. She is 20 years old now and is still here one second and gone the next. (Hiking the haiku stairs in Hawaii today I pray a lot ) Every family picture that I am not in, when she was a little younger, has her older brother Tim with the death grip around her while Im five feet away, taking the picture.
She has been lost at Disneyland a few times and we never left an elementary school open house without having her name called on the loudspeaker.
She is the fourth of five kids. None of the others ever were lost or announced It is just how they are made. Thank you for being a voice for mothers of active children they are my favorites, but I am tired.
Sharon Komorous, Tustin Ranch
I lost my son, Jack, at the San Diego Zoo when he was just 2 years old.
We were standing side-by-side at the concession stand deciding on a snack to buy. I literally looked down for a response to my question what kind of snack would you like? and he was gone! It happened so fast.
What followed was my desperate and hysterical search for him, running from place to place and involving any parent and security guard who would help find him.
Imagining the worst, I found myself pounding on the counter of the concession stand yelling to a poor teenage employee Call security! Close the zoo! My child is missing! assuming hed been abducted!
What probably amounted to maybe 5-7 minutes, but seemed like an hour, someone hollered, We found him. Hes over here! And sure enough, there he was.
A perfectly calm and oblivious 2-year-old boy sitting on the massage chair that had curiously captured his attention and lured him away from me.
I was relieved beyond any description, and then it set in OMG, now I have to leave the zoo!
Im mortified that I lost my child and everyone knows it! What kind of mother does that? The judgment. The scrutiny. What if I run into these people at the next exhibit? The glares. The finger pointing. The shame will follow me from one animal encounter to the next. And with that, I grabbed his little hand and raced out of the zoo.
And, then, theres my friend and colleague, Deepa Bharath, who told me this story after she read my column:
I had traveled with my 18-month-old son to India. We had a great vacation in Grandmas house and were on our way back to the U.S. when the plane stopped in Tokyos Narita Airport for refueling.
We were happy to get off and stretch our legs. I decided to change my sons diaper and did so successfully.
But, before I knew it, he bolted across the gate and out of my sight. I froze, dirty diaper in hand, open suitcase by my side.
Thankfully, a kind fellow traveler ran after my son. He had to chase him for a couple of long minutes before bringing him back to me.
The easiest thing in this case would have been to blame the mom me. But throw in dirty diapers, lack of sleep and toddler tantrums into the mix and you have a recipe for disaster, no matter who you are and where you are.
Thanks for the memories, my friends. Im sure we all feel sad about the death of a majestic gorilla. But fingerpointing at everyone in sight wont bring him back.
They might revoke my journalism card for this, but I still dont know the name of the mom in this case, and I dont want to know. Let her retain a semblance of privacy before the nuts go after her.
After 30 years as a reporter, I know what thats like.
Contact the writer: mfisher@ocregister.com or 714-796-7994
SANTA CRUZ Standing on stage before more than 3,000 people last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders took an unusual poll for someone vying to be the Democratic Partys standard bearer for 2016.
Ive never asked this question before, and Im kind of curious to know the answer, said the senator from Vermont. How many people here have at one point or another gone to a Democratic Party meeting?
Only a hundred or so members of the audience put up their hands.
I would say thats about 3 percent of the people here, said Sanders. I understand why that is the case. The message to the Democratic leadership is that the Democratic Party is to be the party of working people and young people and the middle class, theyve got to open up the doors.
In the course of a year, Bernie Sanders has managed to shift the Democratic Party to the left, in part by leveraging the power of liberals who feel disconnected from it. Now, the partys leaders have begun the delicate task of trying to bring those voters back into the fold.
And Sanders isnt making it any easier for them. With questions like that one in Santa Cruz, he continues to position himself outside of the party. He has done so in other ways as well notably in his selections to sit on the 15-member Democratic platform committee.
Now, it may fall to that committee to broker a peace between Sanders supporters and the rest of the party.
Sanders was given the appointments as a concession by Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Now, the committees makeup is a hybrid of long-time party activists and elders and leftist critics, a combination of figures appointed by Sanders, front-runner Hillary Clinton and Wasserman Schultz.
While the Wasserman Schultz and Clinton appointees have worked within the party for years including its chairman, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Md., former Rep. Howard Berman, Calif, and former top aides to President Obama Carol Browner and Wendy Sherman Sanderss picks include a climate activist who has been arrested while protesting at the White House fence and an Ivy League African American studies professor who dubbed Obama a Rockefeller Republican in blackface.
They were provocative picks and were meant to be, said David Axelrod, a Democratic strategist who help guide Obamas two presidential campaigns and served in the White House. Bernie has built his campaign around distinct positions and he appointed outspoken exponents of his point of view to the platform committee. The question is whether common ground and language can be found, or whether his appointees will take an all-or-nothing approach.
Several members of the platform committee, which has yet to formally meet, say they are committed to forging a consensus.
Were not going into this platform discussion to pick a fight, said James Zogby, a Palestinian rights activist and DNC member whom Sanders placed on the panel. This isnt pitchforks and torches at night. This is a mass movement in the country, like the civil rights movement and the womens movement created a different dynamic in the country.
Center for American Progress president Neera Tanden, whom Clinton appointed to the committee, said the two presidential candidates share similar policy goals on issues ranging from college tuition to child care and regulatory reform.
There is a debate about the speed and scale, but not the subject or end goal, Tanden said. There really isnt a difference in the analysis of the problem.
Plenty of differences
Still, there are significant differences between the campaigns on a handful of issues, including whether to ban all fossil fuel extraction from federal lands and waters, the use of U.S. miltary force abroad and how to address the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
At a Wednesday morning press conference next to a Monterey County lettuce field, Sanders said that the old Democratic platform that blandly referred to safe exploration of natural gas needed to be updated, with a ban on fracking.
There are tens of thousands of homes, right here in California, where you can turn on the faucet but cant drink the water, said Sanders. Absolutely, the Democratic platform going into the general election should make it absolutely clear that the Democratic Party stands with the American people, stands with the people of California, for a ban on fracking.
One of Sanders platform committee appointees is Middlebury College professor and 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben, who engaged in acts of civil disobedience at the White House to protest the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and blasted Obama for allowing Shell to pursue drilling in the Arctic Ocean last summer. McKibben said in an email that the pace of climate change means the next administration must take more aggressive action to curb the nations carbon output.
The science has gotten steadily gnarlier over the last eight years, as we break one temperature record after another, he said, so the policy response needs to get steadily tougher.
McKibben said he had not attended a Democratic Convention since he covered it for Harvard Universitys Crimson in 1980. A lot of people in funny hats!
One of Sanderss picks was blocked: Roseann DeMoro, the no-holds-barred executive director of National Nurses United. The DNC informed the campaign it did not want an additional labor representative on the platform-writing committee since one already sat on the full platform committee.
Sanders did get to appoint Cornel West, a prominent racial justice activist who holds appointments at both Princeton University and Union Theological Seminary, and who has attacked Obama for several years. In a 2014 interview with the author Thomas Frank, West said of the president, He posed as a progressive and turned out to be counterfeit. The following year West described him as the first niggerized black president, which he defined as a black person who is afraid and scared and intimidated when it comes to putting a spotlight on white supremacy and fighting against white supremacy.
Both sides need to be heard
Cummings, who is also African American, said in an interview that his goal is not to bring the platform committee members to common ground, its to get us to higher ground. Im going to preach that.
My position is that both sides need to be heard, he added. And they need to be respected.
Cummings said he will welcome the insights academics such as West, who can present their vision of the way the things should be, and then you balance that with folks who are in the trenches working on things day to day. Speaking from his home in inner-city Baltimore Tuesday, the congressman noted that on his way home he ran into five young black men who were begging for jobs, and yesterday he found a family on his stoop, seeking help with housing.
We need to come up with practical solutions, contrast our positions with the Republicans and show the American people we are on their side.
No Democrat has come to the convention with enough delegates to demand platform and rules changes since Jesse Jackson in 1988. Sanders, Jackson said, ought to use his forces to expand the party, and cement his more progressive economic ideas.
Everybodys talking about the $15-per-hour minimum wage now. Everybodys talking about student debt, credit card debt. But Bernie cannot let himself get so far out where he cant control his own troops, Jackson said. The language you hear from Hillary now tells you that hes already winning.
He added that Clinton Democrats this year are not the moderates of Bill Clintons Democratic Leadership Council of the 1980s and 1990s. Theyre the rainbow Democrats, Jackson said.
Several top Democratic strategists said in interviews that they remain confident that several politicians embraced by the partys progressive wing including Obama and also Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), whose advisers are regularly talking with the Clinton campaign will be able to win over the left.
Obamas approval ratings among liberals, at 93 percent, are higher with that group than with moderate Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, according to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll.
One of the people party operatives will have to win over is Chris Siennick, a 26-year old who attended Sanders rally in Santa Cruz this week. His right arm was tattooed with an image from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and his left arm bore the slogan Peace Land Freedom from a 1917 uprising in Ukraine.
Getting this many people registered as Democrats can really move the party in a progressive direction more socialist, less capitalist, said Siennick. I think that starts at the Democratic National Convention and moves onward from there.
Before Bernie, I thought it was just another profiteering, capitalist party. I never thought the party could be salvaged. But Bernie pulled it left.
SEAL BEACH A fire that destroyed an iconic, vacant restaurant at the end of the Seal Beach Pier last month was caused by an accidental electrical malfunction near a closed bait shop, a councilwoman said late Monday.
The origin of the dramatic May 20 fire that gutted the former Rubys Diner and shut down the pier is detailed in an Orange County Fire Authority report, Ellery Deaton said in an email newsletter to constituents.
It was not arson, she said, adding that the Fire Authority plans to release the report publicly this week.
OCFA Capt. Larry Kurtz confirmed Monday night that Seal Beach officials have been briefed on the fires origin.
Seal Beach officials are in possession of the post-fire incident report and know the cause, he said, declining to elaborate.
Later, in a Tuesday evening tweet, the OCFA confirmed the fire was caused by an electrical problem.
The blaze drew a massive response firefighters on the pier, fire boats at sea and spectators on the shore.
Thick, black plumes of smoke from Rubys Diner could be seen for miles. Damage from the fire was contained to the restaurant site, the last 100 feet of the pier.
The wooden pier, one of the longest of its kind in California, is owned by the state and maintained by Seal Beach. The city insures the pier.
Deaton said she is committed to getting the pier reopened as soon as possible after the needed repairs. The council on May 23 declared a local emergency to expedite pier repairs. As of Tuesday, the pier was entirely closed off.
There has been a structural analysis performed and the insurance authority and the (city) staff are working together on the demolition and repair of the pier, she said in the newsletter. Parts of the pier will be opened as it becomes safe for public access.
After Rubys Diner closed in January 2013, the end of the pier was blocked to visitors. Ever since, the boarded-up building and locked gate have been an eyesore on the citys scenic emblem perched above a surfers haven.
City officials have hoped to lure another restaurant to the location. Talks two years ago with owners of The Original Fish Co. in Los Alamitos looked promising.
However, the city learned that it would first need to put $4 million into repairing the pier before a new business could begin construction. The restaurant owners decided not to move ahead with their plans.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7767 sschwebke@ocregister.com Twitter: @thechalkoutline
BUENA PARK A man on a rooftop who pointed a weapon at officers and firefighters responding to a garage fire Sunday afternoon was actually brandishing a pellet rifle, police said.
Shortly after midnight, the suspected gunman, 28-year-old Edgar Salazar of Buena Park, surrendered to authorities following a brief standoff with a SWAT team, said Buena Park police Sgt. Mike Lovchik.
Salazar was booked into the Orange County Jail on suspicion of making criminal threats and brandishing a firearm in the presence of a peace officer, Lovchik said.
It hasnt been determined why Salazar pointed the gun at officers.
Around 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Buena Park police responded to a residence in the 7700 block of 11th Street with the Orange County Fire Authority following an explosion that destroyed a detached garage, Lovchik said.
Officer were flagged down by a bystander who reported seeing a man on top of a roof with a rifle several houses away from where the explosion occurred.
When police went to investigate, the suspect pointed a weapon at them as well as firefighters and a police helicopter, Lovchik said.
At some point, police lost sight of the suspect, and they began searching houses on 11th Street between Beach Boulevard and Stanton Avenue. No shots were fired by police or the suspect.
Neighbors were asked by police to shelter in place. Multiple agencies responded to assist, including the Orange County Sheriffs Department, Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, Anaheim Police Department, La Habra Police Department and Huntington Beach Police Department.
The explosion and the incident involving the man with the gun are unrelated, Lovchik said.
Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Larry Kurtz said the explosion was accidential due to butane used in an illegal honey oil operation. Butane is often used to extract honey oil from marijuana.
A man in his 30s suffered second- and third-degree burns to about 30 percent of his body in the explosion, authorities said. He was taken to UC Irvine Medical Center; details about his condition have not been released.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7767 sschwebke@ocregister.com Twitter: @thechalkoutline
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed fraud charges and frozen the assets of a Laguna Niguel husband-and-wife team accused of misusing money raised for a cancer treatment center.
Charles C. Liu and Xin Lisa Wang raised $27 million from 50 investors in China to build a proton beam radiation therapy center in Southern California, the SEC complaint states.
The couple in promotional materials said the project would create more than 4,500 new jobs across the region and have a substantial impact on the local economy while giving foreign investors an opportunity for future U.S. residency, the SEC stated.
The couples proton center project was conceived using the EB-5 program, in which immigrants can get a green card for themselves and their families if they invest at least $1 million and create 10 or more jobs or at least $500,000 if the project is in a high-unemployment area.
Attempts to contact Liu and Wang have been unsuccessful.
The SEC complaint, which was filed in U.S. district court in Los Angeles, states Liu, from 2004 to 2009, sold medical equipment relating to proton therapy for a company based in Hong Kong. Wang was trained in China as a pharmacist, and worked in China as a pharmacist for approximately one year.
After more than 18 months of collecting investments, there was no sign of the proton center. Liu, the SEC stated, instead had transferred $11 million to three firms in China and diverted another $7 million to his and his wifes personal accounts.
Proton therapy supporters say the expensive radiation technology is more precise in targeting tumors and safer for healthy tissue than conventional X-rays, especially for some pediatric cancers. Critics say the technology has not been proven better than cheaper alternatives for some cancers, the Washington Post reported.
Experts generally agree, the Post wrote, that the therapys greatest potential is in treating children, particularly those with brain and eye tumors, because the therapy can be administered at higher doses than conventional radiation and causes fewer long-term side effects.
A district court order prohibits the couple from raising any more money from investors or spending the remaining funds. The SECs complaint names Liu and Wang along with the companies behind the EB-5 project: Pacific Proton Therapy Regional Center, Pacific Proton EB-5 Fund, and Beverly Proton Center LLC.The SEC is seeking repayment of ill-gotten gains plus interest and penalties.
The Government Accountability Office last year found foreign investors had been victims in dozens of fraud cases under the EB-5 program. Immigrant investors, the report said, may be vulnerable to fraud schemes because they may be primarily focused on obtaining their visas.
Contact the writer: hmadans@ocregister.com or Twitter: @HannahMadans
SAN CLEMENTE An 8-year-old Orange County boy was killed and his mother was injured Sunday while watching the Baja 500 off-road race in Ensenada, Mexico.
The boy was identified as Xander Hendriks, son of Brandon Hendriks, a youth pastor at San Clemente-based Pacific Coast Church, church officials said in a statement Monday. The boys mother, Melissa Hendriks, was also hurt, the statement said.
The boy was struck by racer Todd Pedersen of Orem, Utah, while Pedersen was negotiating a turn, according to a statement from Score International, the race sponsor.
Xander was pronounced dead on arrival at an Ensenada hospital while his mother was listed in stable condition with head and leg injuries, the statement said.
A GoFundMe page for the Hendriks family had raised more than $50,000 as of Monday night.
The Deseret News reported that a third spectator was injured during the race, but didnt have more information on the person and the specifics of the injury.
Race officials declined Sunday to say whether the crowd was inside or outside the designated spectator area, Deseret News reported. Ensenada Municipal Police were still investigating.
Pedersen released a brief statement Sunday about the crash.
Im devastated by the tragic accident that happened this weekend, he said. My heart goes out to the family at this time.
Pro Moto Unlimited racer Travis Livingston, 34, of Palmdale, also died after a separate crash during the race.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7767 sschwebke@ocregister.com
Among the many disturbing signs of our times are conservatives and libertarians of high intelligence and high principles who are advocating government programs that relieve people of the necessity of working to provide their own livelihoods.
Generations ago, both religious people and socialists were agreed on the proposition that he who does not work, neither shall he eat. Both would come to the aid of those unable to work. But the idea that people who simply choose not to work should be supported by money taken from those who are working was rejected across the ideological spectrum.
How we got to the present situation is a long story, but the painful fact is that we are here now. Among the leading minds of our times, including Charles Murray today and the late, great Milton Friedman, there have been proposals for ways of subsidizing the poor without the suffocating distortions of the governments welfare state bureaucracy.
Friedmans plan for a negative income tax to help the poor has already been put into practice. But, contrary to his intention to have this replace the welfare state bureaucracy, it has been simply tacked on to all the many other government programs, instead of replacing them.
It is not inevitable that the same thing will happen to Charles Murrays plan, but I would bet the rent money that there would be the same end result.
Just what specific problem is so dire as to cause some conservatives and libertarians to propose that the government come to the rescue by giving every adult money to live on without working?
Poverty? Poverty today means whatever government statisticians in Washington say it means no more and no less. Most Americans living below the official poverty line today have central air-conditioning, cable television for multiple TV sets, own at least one motor vehicle, and have many other amenities that most of the human race never had for most of its existence.
Most Americans did not have central air-conditioning or cable television as recently as the 1980s. A scholar who spent years studying Latin America has called the poverty line in America the upper middle class in Mexico.
Low-income neighborhoods suffer far more from social degeneration, including high rates of crime and violence, than from material deprivation.
Welfare state guarantees of not having to work, however the particular policies are applied, are not a solution. Relieving people of personal responsibility for their own lives, however it is done, is a major part of the problem.
Before there can be a welfare state in a democratic country, there must first be a welfare state vision that becomes sufficiently pervasive to allow a welfare state to be created. That vision, in which people are entitled to what others have produced, is at the heart of the social degeneration that can be traced back to the 1960s.
That vision featured nonjudgmental rewards and nonjudgmental leniency toward counterproductive behavior, whether crime or irresponsible sex and its consequences. But relieving people from the responsibilities and challenges of life is doing them no favor. Nor is it a favor to society at large.
American society has become more polarized under the welfare state vision. Nor is it hard to see why. If we are all entitled to benefits, just by being present, why are some entitled to so little while others have so much?
In an entitlement context, all sorts of gaps and disparities become inequities, and a reason for lashing out at others, instead of improving yourself. Only in a society in which rewards are based on contributions is there any reasonable reply to the question as to why Bill Gates has so much and others so little.
The track record of divorcing personal rewards from personal contributions hardly justifies more of the same, even when it is in a more sophisticated form. Sophisticated social disaster is still disaster and we already have too much of that.
Today is Californias open primary election.
Voters can cast ballots for any candidate regardless of party affiliation except in the presidential race, in which there are partisan restrictions.
Here are some things you should know as you cast your ballot:
O.C. poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Poll locations: Check the back of the sample ballot sent to you by the county. Or find it at ocvote.com.
Who can I vote for in the presidential primary? Voters registered with a political party can vote only in that partys primary. Unaffiliated voters can request a Democratic, Libertarian or American Independent ballot, as those three parties allow voters with no party preference (NPP) to participate. At the polling place, voters wishing to vote in one of those primaries must request a ballot for the desired party.
Im an NPP mail-in voter and want to vote in the presidential primary. If you didnt request the partisan ballot in time to receive it by mail, you can go to a polling place and request a partisan ballot. It will be processed once it has been verified that you didnt cast a mail ballot.
Im a mail-in voter but havent cast my ballot yet. If its postmarked by midnight June 7 and received by Friday, it will be counted. You can also hand deliver it to any polling place.
Ive moved and havent re-registered. Can I vote? If youve registered in the county at an address different from your current one, you can vote at any polling place by requesting a provisional ballot. If youre registered outside the county, you cannot vote here.
Can I vote at a polling place other than the one Im assigned to? Yes, request a provisional ballot at any polling place in the county, so long as you are registered to vote in the county.
Orange County Registrar of Voters: 714-567-7600, ocvote.com
Julie Feingold still cant believe she landed the part of a young damsel standing on the step of a carriage awaiting a kiss in Gerolamo Indunos 1877 painting The Perfect Match: A Kiss on the Hand.
Feingold, 14, is among a cast of 450 volunteers who this summer will re-create artworks in life size in the Pageant of the Masters 83rd show of living pictures, or tableaux vivantes this year themed Partners.
I never thought last year Id be doing this now, she said, beaming. Not a lot of people my age even know about this.
Despite her pride in being cast, shes kept her role a secret from her friends because she doesnt want them to think shes doing something boring. If they dont understand the process, the cool costumes and technology, Feingold thinks her friends might not get how much of a get it is to have her part.
Id like to Instagram what I look like, but were not allowed to do that, she said. I think if more people my age could see what the process and the show were like, more would want to come.
Making an 83-year-old show relevant for a world caught up in the fast-paced noise of life is the challenge for pageant director Diane Challis Davy and scriptwriter Dan Duling. Twenty-two years ago, Challis Davy developed the idea of bringing pop culture into the show and having themes. But over the years, even that wasnt enough to keep expand the audience.
So Challis Davy and Duling have brought in other components creating more of a variety show. This year the addition of videos, groups of dancers and surprises will help turn 90 minutes of art under the stars at the Irvine Bowl on the Festival of Arts grounds into an unforgettable performance, said Challis Davy. The shows pace has sped up; the music had changed.
This year, six composers have written parts. An MGM poster replica of La Fontaine des Mers in the movie An American in Paris was this years greatest challenge, said San Clemente resident, Richard Hill, technical director for the show. Its different because the pageants replicas are generally inspired by original pieces. Here the fountain is reconstructed to look like a hazy image on a movie poster.
Theres an effect weve never done before, Hill said. It will be very surprising.
Challis Davy came up with this years theme while she did research for the 2012 show, The Genius. She discovered a portrait of the Lavoisiers, an influential husband and wife doing scientific research in 18th century France. Their union was a partnership of science and art. Challis Davy wanted to explore their relationship more. Thus, this years theme, Partners, stories of compelling collaborations that led to the creation of unforgettable art.
The pageant includes artwork from many nations, including France, Spain, Sweden, Italy and Mexico. Partnerships include husbands and wives, artists and models and even artists and their patrons. In the show, Challis Davy shows how partnerships can be subjects for masterpieces devoted to family, love and courtship as well as historic and scientific endeavors.
There are so many artworks inspired by partnerships, its difficult to narrow them down. she said.
The show will also recognize the power of dance in movies and end Act 1 with whats described as a stunning number. Though Challis Davy and Dulling are constantly looking to make the show better, they also insist on staying true to its roots. It will include a tribute to the partnership of Roy and Marie Ropp, who in 1936 presented as the pageants finale Leonardo Da Vincis The Last Supper (1495-98).
The living representation of the painting left audiences so moved that word of this new event quickly spread and even generated national attention for the pageant and the festival. Since then, the tableau of Jesus and his disciples sharing a final, emotional meal has concluded the pageant, with only three exceptions in 83 years.
Each January, casting calls draw thousands of hopefuls from across Southern California. More than 1,200 tried out this year. They are selected based on height, shape and size as needed for the artwork they will represent.
The volunteers, wearing costumes, makeup and headpieces, pose in the artworks frozen for 90 seconds as a narrator provides the story and an orchestra performs. The cast is divided into two groups of 150 that rotate each week. Richard Doyle will narrate for his sixth season.
The end result presented under the stars in the Irvine Bowl amphitheater is a combination of theater, performance art and art history lesson. The show is on the grounds of the Festival of Arts, a juried art show taking place over the same period.
Contact the writer: 714-796-2254 or eritchie@ocregister.com or on Twitter:@lagunaini
In an attempt to increase respect for grave digging and attract more people to the job, three dozens of the best gravediggers in Hungary competed in a unique grave digging competition, last Friday.
The bizarre competition took place at a graveyard in the city of Debrecen. 18 two-man teams were assigned their plots arbitrarily by pulling numbers out of a hat, and supplied with regulation-size shovels, rakes, axes and pickaxes to use in digging the best grave in the shortest amount of time. Contestants were judged on speed, grave neatness and whether they complied with the regulation size: 200 cm long, 80 cm wide and 160 cm deep (7 feet by 2 feet 7 inches by 5 feet). Enjoying the home advantage, the local team came out victorious, digging their grave in less than half an hour. Thats pretty impressive considering some of the other teams took almost an hour to complete theirs.
Each team had their own technique. Some preferred to dig simultaneously and clean up after the hole was finished, while others had one man digging and the other arranging the dirt into neat piles around the grave site. They all agreed that the conditions were just right on the big day, with the earth being quite soft and humid.
Photo: Off Media
I dont think this is morbid, said Zoltan Juracsik, the Hungarian Undertakers Associations deputy chairman. This is a profession, and the colleagues who toil in competition today are proud and deserve our respect. Human gravediggers are still necessary in crowded cemeteries where mechanical diggers cant fit, but with an increasing number of people choosing cremation over the traditional burial, and young people avoiding manual labor, the profession is under threat. The grave digging contest was meant to make the job more appealing to youth looking for honest work.
The hardest part of the job is to deal with the mourners, local gravedigger said. But its a good job, with good colleagues and a good environment.
Photo: Off Media
This job chose me, 21-year-old Csaba Halasz told Reuters. Its hard but its worth it. Relatives come and thank me every time. The profession just lured me in. His grave digging career started as a summer job after high school, but he stayed in the business even after graduating college with a degree in physical education.
The winning team will now go on to represent Hungary in a regional competition to be held in Slovakia later this year.
Sources: BBC, Off Media
Westhampton Beach outside counsel Brian Sokoloff has signed a deal with the East End Eruv Assn. giving it permanent permission to put Jewish religious symbols on 46 telephone poles on public property.
The agreement, which has deep flaws in the opinion of this writer, a resident and registered voter in WHB, has the signatures of nine participants in the EEEA but no signatures of either Mayor Maria Moore or the four other TrusteesBrian Tymann, Rob Rubio, Charles Palmer or Ralph Urban.
Tymann and Rubio were elected last June 19 on the promise that they would never sign an agreement allowing permanent religious symbols on public property. The other three Trustees have not said how they stand on this issue.
Legality Could Be Questioned
This deal is being done in such a sneaky way that its legality is open to question.
It is on the WHB website today but it is not highlighted. Visitors to the site have to go to Eruv Litigation to find it. That has been a very uninformative and incomplete place to go to since it basically has legal decisions but no explanatory essays by law professors who have shown the unconstitutional nature of eruvim. The previous entry on the eruv on the site is dated June 30, 2015. At right is U.S. Constitution.
We have emailed Mayor Moore as follows:
Mayor Moore:
The legal agreements are on the website in the Eruv Litigation area and not on the main page. A lot of people will not see this.
Also, neither Mayor Moore nor any of the four other Trustees signed the papers, only Brian Sokoloff, outside counsel. I want to know, as a citizen, taxpayer and registered voter in WHB, how Mayor Moore and the four other Trustees voted on this.
Brian Tymann and Rob Rubio were elected in 2015 on the promise they would never sign an agreement allowing an eruv in WHB.
Nine people signed their names for the EEEA. They are not hiding behind their lawyers. They are Marvin Tenzer, Morris Tuchman, Clinton Greenbaum, Alan Schechter Carol Schechter, Jeffrey Lean, Aleca Lean, Deborah Pollack and Simcha Pollack.
As a citizen, I would like to know how the five Trustees voted on this and why no signatures of any of them are on this legal noticeTymann, Rubio, Moore, Charles Palmer and Ralph Urban. Its possible this is an illegal action.
This has been signed by Sokoloff before residents had a chance to read it or discuss it at a town hall meeting; before the WHB election of June 17, and before many residents have returned for the summer. That is three strikes against this action.
Religious Nature of Eruv Denied
The agreement falsely says that the settlement of this case is not a recognition or endorsement of any religion or religious boundary by the Village of WHB when that is exactly what it is.
A map of the WHB claimed eruv is in about one million copies of the New York Times of May 30 as depicted on the Hampton Synagogue website.. That demolishes claims in court documents and the Southampton Press that the claimed WHB eruv is somehow invisible or hard to see or that the entire nation including residents in WHB somehow does not know the religious nature of eruvim.
The WHB agreement does not make the claim that was in the Southampton agreement with EEEA that "erection of the eruv is not an unconstitutional establishment of religion under the First Amendment." That false claim was in the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in its summary order dated Jan. 6, 2015, revised as an opinion dated Feb. 11, 2015.
The problem is that the eruv is an unconstitutional establishment of religion. That is why that sentence does not appear in the WHB settlement. Calling eruvim Constitutional defies a number of court orders including the 2005 decision in McCreary County vs. ACLU of Kentucky that barred permanent religious displays on public property. Temporary displays were allowed.
Also, the reasonable observer that is the lynchpin of decisions that allow an eruv is a concept from the 1971 Supreme Court Lemon decision. Retired Justice Sandra OConnor said in 1995 that a reasonable observer is now more informed than the casual passerby.
Of course they are! Near universal access to the web came in about 20 years ago and wiped out all claims that the public cant see eruvim and if they could they would not know what they mean. Even schoolchildren know what is going on in WHB.
This is a black day for the Village.
Sincerely,
Jack ODwyer
Bernie Sanders legion of supporters were outraged by the medias decision on Monday evening to project Hillary Clinton the presumptive Democratic nominee, one day before polls opened in several late primary contests, including California, with its coveted 475 delegates.
That projection, first reported by the Associate Press before quickly being snatched up by The New York Times, CNN, NBC and many others, drew waves of indignation from the blogosphere, where critics admonished these outlets for what they perceived to be a premature calculation of superdelegate votes, delegates who can change their vote anytime until the July convention in Philadelphia.
Corporate Media Attempts Clinton Coup detat on Eve of Super Tuesday, read financial news blog Wall Street On Parade. Perfect End to Democratic Primary: Anonymous Superdelegates Declare Winner Through Media, wrote famed journalist Glenn Greenwald for online publication The Intercept. Why the media shouldnt have declared Hillary Clinton the nominee last night, wrote news site Vox.com. Some criticisms were more articulate than others, and others still came from parties with a predilection for conspiracy, many of whom are either willfully ignorant, or at least very bad with math, or simply dont remember recent history or even understand how the political process works.
Did the media exhibit poor timing in projecting Clinton the presumptive nominee right before the CA primary? Its debatable. The media cares about two things: getting the story right, and getting the story first (arguably, a veneration for the former has grown muted in recent years). In this case, all the AP did was tally up the pledged delegates won in primaries or caucuses, then interviewed hundreds of superdelegates and asked them who theyll vote for at the convention, and finally, applied some simple math.
If you remember its clear that many dont the same process was utilized to project Barack Obama the presumptive Democratic nominee all the way back on June 3, 2008, when a surge of superdeletes moved their support in his favor after a series of late primary wins. And when that superdelete-included projection came out, Obama still had several hundred fewer pledged delegates than Clinton has now and also held a narrower lead over Clinton than Clinton currently holds over Sanders. My memory could be fuzzy, but I dont remember many Obama supporters complaining about that bit of good news eight years ago.
The argument goes, in the Sanders camp, that general election polls show Sanders beating Donald Trump by far wider margins than Clinton, and superdeletes, who will vote based on what they feel is right for the party and are left with the unencumbered freedom to swap their support for a candidate at any time, may be persuaded to vote for him based on this fact. Moreover, superdelegates residing in states where Sanders won that primary or caucus represent their constituents and thus, should follow their decisions at the ballot box, which, technically speaking, they have no obligation to do.
This desperate reliance on superdeletes to save Sanders campaign has been very funny, considering, if youll remember, that several months ago superdelegates were seen as a pariah to the Sanders camp, an undemocratic mechanism created by the establishment to override the peoples vote. Now that Sanders doesnt have a chance of winning without them and a nigh-zero chance that such a massive swing would occur superdeletes are suddenly seen as a lifeline, a last-ditch effort to override the candidate who already received the most votes and pledged delegates.
Of course, this wont happen. The Democratic National Committee is a private governing body. That doesnt mean the club is rigged, but it would be disingenuous to deny that party loyalty is a feature of its machinations, and it's one reason why a surplus of the partys superdelegates have favored the establishment candidate and not the candidate who was an independent until a year ago. Im pretty sure Bernie knew this when he signed up with the ticket.
As someone whos supported Bernie from the beginning, Im certainly disappointed with the direction the Democratic contest has taken, but if theres one positive achievement this mess of an election cycle has accomplished, its the fact that it has brought to light the terrible inefficiencies in the primary/caucus system as well as myriad problems in the DNCs delegate selection process. Maybe we can do something about that.
In this sense, though Bernie might be on his way out, it deserves mentioning that hes galvanized a movement that has turned a much-needed critical eye toward the election process. This isnt say that more nuthouse cries of fraud anytime someones preferred candidate loses a state election is going to fix anything, and neither will complaining about the primary rules in your state that you didnt bother to figure out before you went to vote for a nominee. Ideally, this entire ordeal will result in a better system and a more educated electorate next time.
Lets just hope there is a next time.
07/06/2016 - The European Union should reform its legal labour migration policies to get its fair share of the global talent pool, according to a new report published by the OECD.
Europe is facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, and this requires a coordinated, bold and comprehensive response by Member States. This does not diminish, however, the importance of addressing the challenges related to the management of legal labour migration in Europe. The long-term competitiveness of the EU and its ability to move to a strong and sustainable growth path is at stake.
Recruiting Immigrant Workers: Europe finds that migrants to the EU are younger and less well educated than those in other OECD destinations. Of the total pool of highly-educated third-country migrants residing in EU and OECD countries, the EU hosts less than one-third (31%), while more than half (57%) are in North America. Some progress has been made in the past decade, with a sizeable increase in the share of highly educated among recent migrants -- from 21% of the total in 2000 to 36% in 2011. But this is still less than received by North America (41%) or Australia and New Zealand (52%).
The EU is experiencing a decline in the overall number of labour migrants in the aftermath of the global economic crisis -- from more than a half-million in 2008, to less than 250 thousand annually since 2012. This contrasts with stable flows to other OECD destinations. But most importantly, many labour migrants are not coming to the EU under programmes for skilled workers. Among those who do, most come under national schemes, since the EU permit for highly-qualified migrants, the EU Blue Card, is hard to obtain. Only about 10 000 new arrivals would have qualified for the EU Blue Card in 2014, and of these, just 5 000 received it. In total, EU Member States covered by EU legal migration policies received annually less than 80 thousand highly qualified third country labour migrants. By comparison, Canada and Australia have annual admissions under their selective economic migration programmes for highly-qualified workers of 60 thousand each.
The EU has overtaken the United States as a destination for international students, but most of them dont stay after they graduate. Depending on the method used for calculating, between 16% and 30% stay on in Europe, which is lower than what is observed in non-EU OECD countries where more than a third of students usually stay.
The long-term competitiveness of the EU and its ability to move to a strong and sustainable growth path is at stake, said Stefano Scarpetta, OECD Director for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs. Skilled migrants can play an important role in addressing labour market shortages, drive innovation and promote productivity growth. Employers in most EU Member States already report more difficulty attracting and retaining talent than those in competing non-EU countries.
The EU needs to address demographic decline and shortages of specific skills. Talent from outside can help the EU deal with these challenges. said Belinda Pyke, Director for Migration and Mobility in the Commissions Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs.
The report identifies three main channels through which EU instruments can help make Europe more attractive for global talent.
First, the EU should adapt its labour migration channels to ensure that talented foreigners can choose Europe over other destinations. As is being proposed today by the European Commission, the EU Blue Card should be expanded by lowering the wage threshold, notably for youth. A Blue-CardReady pool of candidates whose qualifications have been recognised could also be considered in the longer term. It should be easier for people graduating in the EU to obtain a work permit in the EU. More generally, the authors point to the need to build more flexibility into EU Directives on labour migration.
Second, the EU should simplify procedures and processes which are currently an obstacle to attracting and recruiting talents. Recognition of foreign qualifications should be simplified. Existing national good practices such as trusted employers can be incorporated into EU schemes and extended across Europe A single application platform for labour migration would also help, while maintaining decision making at national level.
Third, the EU should reinforce and promote the single labour market for highly qualified third country nationals. As is being proposed with the reform of the EU Blue Card, provisions for intra-EU mobility for talented workers should be strengthened and emphasised so as to present Europe as a single labour market for global talent, and to help employers offer an enticing package to potential recruits abroad. EU labour migration instruments need to be part of EU external action with third countries (e.g. training, mobility and recruitment initiatives). The EU could do a better job in branding itself as a single destination and in advertising options for the highly qualified third country nationals.
The report is part of a joint research project by the OECD and the European Commission in response to objectives set by the Juncker Commission in 2014, which called for a new European policy on legal migration [to] address shortages of specific skills and attract talent to better cope with the demographic challenges of the European Union [and] the legal immigration that Europe will sorely need. The report examines the shortcomings which limited the uptake of the EU Blue Card scheme and identifies limits over existing EU instruments to manage labour migration. This report was one of the inputs ahead of the Blue Card reform presented today on 7 June 2016 by the European Commission.
For more information on Recruiting Immigrant Workers: Europe, journalists should contact:
Spencer Wilson (OECD, +33 1 45 24 81 18)
For more information on the Blue Card reform see :
Link to the European Commission's press release and reform proposal.
Loading... OilVoice will be with you shortly...
Description:
If you'd like to attend Game #1 of the 2021 World Series, enter Lysol's Protecting Home Base Sweepstakes. The winner will receive a free trip for two people to the location of the game, a prize worth up to $4,300.
Sweepstakes Links:
Click Here to Enter this Sweepstakes
Click Here for the Official Sweepstakes Rules
Click Here for the Sweepstakes' Home Page
Note: If the sweepstakes entry link doesn't work for you, try entering through the home page and looking for a link to the sweepstakes.
Category:
Jewelry & Fashion, Sports Sweepstakes, Free Ticket Sweepstakes, US Vacation Sweepstakes, Medium Sweepstakes, One Entry Sweepstakes
Eligibility:
USA, 21+
Start Date:
July 08, 2021
End Date:
October 06, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. ET
Entry Frequency:
One time per email
Sweepstakes Prizes:
Grand Prize: A two-night trip for two to attend Game #1 of the 2021 World Series including airfare, hotel, tickets to the game, and a $500 cash allowance. (ARV: $4,300)
1st Prizes (2): An authentic MLB team jersey. (ARV: $350)
Additional Comments:
You can earn bonus entries by sharing the sweepstakes on social media.
If youre still changing your engine oil every 5,000 miles, or even 3,000 miles, then you may just be flushing money.
Most new vehicles sold today can go at least 7,500 miles between oil changes, and sometimes more than 10,000, said Mike Calkins, technical services director for the AAA travel services organization.
Calkins listed two key reasons most new vehicles can last far longer between oil changes:
Many use synthetic oil, or a blend of synthetic and conventional oils, which maintain their lubricating properties longer.
Most late-model vehicles come with oil life monitors that signal when its time for fresh oil based on how the car is driven instead of mileage or time.
Some oil life monitors are based solely on mileage the type of monitoring system should be explained in the owners manual but most current systems do much more.
The more sophisticated systems take into account the number of cold starts, outside temperature, average engine temperature, vehicle speed and a whole range of other operating parameters. Theres an algorithm that calculates oil life based on those, and theyre quite accurate, Calkins said.
Mercedes-Benz, for example, uses full synthetic oil, and some owners have reported that the oil life monitor didnt call for an oil change until 15,000 miles, Calkins said.
On General Motors vehicles, most of which use a synthetic blend, surveys have found that under normal driving the monitor will call for an oil change every 7,000 to 8,000 miles, but with mainly highway driving it can stretch to 10,000 miles.
Towing puts more stress on the engine and the oil inside it. In such a case, the monitor may signal a need for new oil every 5,000 to 6,000 miles. Towing falls under what auto manufacturers call severe service, which calls for more frequent oil changes and other maintenance. Frequent short trips and cold engine starts also qualify as severe.
With these oil life monitors, it is absolutely essential that the vehicle owner use an oil that meets the manufacturers specifications, Calkins said. Those systems are calibrated based on using oil that meets certain standards. Toyota says if you use full synthetic oil, its a 10,000-mile oil change interval. Toyota also says that if you use a semi-synthetic or conventional oil, the oil change interval is 5,000 miles.
In addition, the oil has to be the correct viscosity (such as 5W20) and service classification set by the manufacturer and certified by the American Petroleum Institute.
Every oil isnt suited for every engine, and using the wrong oil can even void the engine warranty. How do consumers know theyre getting the right oil?
Calkins said to choose a quality repair shop that shows customers it uses the correct oil for a particular vehicle.
Another way is to educate yourself and get out the least-read book in history: the owners manual. Turn to those boring pages in back that list the specifications and find out what your car is supposed to use, he said
The owners manual also will recommend intervals for oil changes and other maintenance.
For those who drive only 6,000 miles or less per year, Calkins said manufacturers typically recommend changing the oil once a year. Moisture and other contaminants can build up in the oil, especially with frequent cold starts and short trips, so owners shouldnt let it go more than a year.
Because synthetic oil and blends are more common today, Calkins said, many vehicles no longer qualify for $20 to $30 oil changes. Instead, the cost often is $60 to $70. That means frequent oil changes, long dubbed cheap insurance, arent so cheap.
DALLAS (AP) American Airlines is following other airlines by basing perks, such as free flights, on how much passengers spend on tickets, not how many miles they fly.
The change, which matches those at Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, will start with flights on Aug. 1. It will reward Americans highest-paying passengers.
Elite-status members of Americans AAdvantage frequent-flier program will earn bonus miles for every dollar they spend.
American signaled last October that changes were coming but gave few details until Monday.
AAdvantage has about 100 million members, making it the biggest and the oldest major airline loyalty program. The program has long featured easy math: Fly one mile, earn one mile.
Today that simplicity is a quaint throwback. Airlines now compete fiercely for high-paying customers. They lavish elite travelers with upgraded cabins, lie-flat beds, better food and bigger frequent-flier rewards.
American said most members will earn five miles for every dollar they spend on base fares and carrier-imposed fees. That multiple rises to seven, eight or 11 for elites, the gold, platinum and executive-platinum members.
Miles alone will no longer make you elite. Starting Jan. 1, youll have to hit annual mileage and spending marks $3,000 for gold and $12,000 for executive-platinum.
WASHINGTON A key House Republican will try to overturn Volcker Rule limits on speculative investing by banks and to revamp the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau two of the biggest financial reforms to grow out of the Great Recession.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, wants to undertake a broad effort to overturn the 2010 law containing those reforms, the Dodd-Frank Act, according to people familiar with the matter.
Hensarling is scheduled to outline his plan today during a speech in New York. The people familiar with his thinking say he also wants to:
Spare banks that meet certain capital levels from the strictest requirements of Dodd-Frank.
Revoke regulators ability to determine which companies are systemically important and thus subject to greater oversight.
Give the Securities and Exchange Commission, the primary U.S. agency regulating Wall Street, more tools to punish individuals and institutions that commit fraud and other abuses.
Incorporate other measures already introduced by GOP lawmakers, such as steps to help community banks.
Hensarlings proposal isnt likely to become law this year. In fact, critics in Congress and in the financial services industry say some of the plans details serve mainly as fundraising tools and are unlikely to get support from Democrats.
Some aspects of the proposal could filter into other policies, including plans by presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump to rewrite Dodd-Frank. Trump has said he plans to deliver his own overhaul proposal in coming weeks.
More specifically, said those who know of Hensarlings plan, he wants to triple the amount the SEC can fine companies for illegal activity and give the agency power to impose fines equal to investor losses in cases of fraud or deceit. Fines for insider trading would be increased, with all proceeds used to reduce the federal deficit.
Hensarling also wants to end a Dodd-Frank provision that lets the government take over a financial company and direct the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to dismantle it. He reportedly would replace that with a strengthened bankruptcy code to let such failures be handled in court.
Billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch have made plenty of profitable business decisions over the years. Placing millions of dollars with Ponzi-scheme mastermind Bernard Madoff might have been one of them.
Koch Industries Inc. invested an unknown sum with the con mans now-defunct securities firm years ago, and walked away with $21.5 million in profits before Madoffs arrest in 2008. Since 2012, the company run by the conservative-activist Koch brothers, today worth a combined $109 billion, has refused legal demands to return the money.
Irving Picard, the trustee liquidating Madoffs firm, argues in a lawsuit that the cash is fraudulent proceeds of the fraud and should be shared among the thousands of victims.
Koch Industries and dozens of other early investors named in 87 other lawsuits argues that the company can keep the money because it was sent overseas and is beyond U.S. jurisdiction.
At stake: a total of $2 billion.
The battle is coming to a head in Manhattan bankruptcy court, where Judge Stuart Bernstein could rule within weeks on a key issue affecting Picards suit. The defendants claimed a victory in 2014 when U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said that money transferred overseas is generally out of Picards reach. In the Koch case, the $21.5 million was sent in 2005 to a fund based in the British Virgin Islands, and then to a Koch entity in Britain, filings show.
Picard is claiming the transactions were essentially domestic transfers made to appear foreign.
The trustee is not crazy. He has a very decent argument, said John Pottow, a bankruptcy law professor at the University of Michigan Law School.
Koch Industries says the suit lacks merit.
The Koch entity involved made an investment in an entirely separate fund, Koch spokesman Rob Carlton said in an email. That Koch entity no longer exists, and its investment was redeemed in 2005, long before anyone knew of Madoffs fraud. The Koch brothers are controlling shareholders in the company, and have other investors.
Picard isnt accusing Koch and the other defendants of wrongdoing. As in his many previous suits to recover cash, he aruges that the returns arent legitimate because Madoff used money from new investors to cover the fake profits of older ones.
He has used that argument successfully, mostly in domestic cases, to claw back more than $11 billion for victims, who lost $17.5 billion in principal altogether. (Some foreign defendants settled with Picard and moved on.)
Most of the $2 billion in the current case involves transfers from funds that were operated by Fairfield Greenwich Group by far the biggest feeder fund that channeled investors money to Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, or BLMIS. Several other suits involve funds run by Tremont Group Holdings. Both are based in New York and dealt with their shareholders from their offices in Manhattan, even though they had feeder funds based in the Caribbean to capture foreign investments for Madoff, Picard said.
Regardless of where these feeder funds maintained operations, their transactions related to BLMIS were predominantly domestic, Picard has said. Moreover, the customers knew their investments were subject to U.S. law, he argues.
If Picard wins on this issue, his fight to recover the $2 billion still isnt over. He must prove that the transfer in each defendants case was domestic. Then, for transfers that occurred more than two years before Madoffs arrest, Picard must establish one more thing: that the feeder fund in which the defendant invested had actual knowledge of the fraud.